Disclaimer: I don't own Guilty Crown, Tetsuro Araki and Production I.G. do.
Very special thanks to Beatrice of So Beat! for drawing the wonderful cover artwork for the story. Check out her Tumblr at beatradical dot tumblr dot com, her Deviantart at deviantart dot com/fuyukichi, and her Instagram at instagram dot com/fuyu_tjondro/
Dedicated to Assault Godzilla
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Prologue
Year 2017
100 kilometers away from Bautzen, Germany
The faint tapping against the glass casing. The greenish liquid all around her. The oxygen mask wrapped around her mouth and head. The two men dressed in lab coats standing in front of her.
These were the first things a young girl at the age of 8 noticed as she awoke from her slumber. While floating helplessly inside what seems to be a large cylinder-shaped glass tank filled with greenish liquid, she could also hear the conversation between the two men as they now turn their attention away from her and face each other.
"I am assigning this patient to you, Kurosu Ouma. Treat her with utmost care and delicacy." The man on the right said to the other with his hands placed firmly behind his back. He is a tall man with dark gray eyes, short dark gray hair that is neatly swept back, and a medium-sized dark gray moustache above his upper lip. He is dressed in a white lab coat with a white suit underneath it, white pants, and black shoes.
"Yes, Keido-sama. I will." The other man now known as Kurosu Ouma replied while giving a solemn bow to his superior. As Keido turns around and leaves, the girl sees Kurosu turning and walking over to her. As he gives her an awkward smile and a wave of his hand, the girl takes the time to observe his appearance. His messy hair is brown with a blonde streak forming from the crown. He wears a pair of glasses in front of his brown eyes, as well as a similar white lab coat with a white shirt underneath it, a black belt with a silver buckle around his waist, dark gray pants, and black shoes.
"Hello. You must be Inori Yuzuriha." Kurosu said to his patient. "I know you can hear me. I read your files. You were originally from Niigata, Japan and, I don't mean to demoralize you, but you are diagnosed with stage 2 bone cancer. It's always a shame to see such a promising child like you suffering from a serious illness at such a young age. I believe everybody deserves to live a long and everlasting life. But not to worry though. Your illness is still in an early stage, and thankfully, you are being housed in a special medical facility that has the technology to prevent your cancer from evolving. You were specially selected…"
As Kurosu continues his explanation, his words become indistinct to her ears as Inori now takes a moment to look around her surroundings. She already knows that she is wearing an oxygen mask that is wrapped securely around her mouth and the back of her head. But when she looks down, she also notices some long tubes and electrodes attached onto her chest and upper arms. She is also almost naked, with only her white undergarments to protect her modesty. And when she turns her head to her left, she notices other scientists just like Kurosu standing in front of their respective patients and casually talking to them.
"There's nothing for you to be afraid, ma'am." Kurosu said as Inori looks back at him. "Everybody here, including me, are trying to help you and your fellow patients. We would have to extract your blood and DNA from you from time to time, but it is for a greater cause." His smile suddenly flips into a solemn frown. "It will take some time. But I promise you that no matter how long it takes, we will find a cure for you and your friends."
Inori watches Kurosu turn around and place himself behind the console that he has been standing in front of. After pressing several keys, Kurosu holds up his hand above the large red button on the left and briefly looks up at Inori. He gives her a reassuring smile before finally pressing it.
Inori winces and twitches her body as she could feel some of her blood being extracted out from her body. Her blood flows through the tubes, out from the bottom of the tank, and into a smaller glass tube that is placed securely on the upper right side of the console. When the tube is full, Kurosu quickly presses the red button again to stop the procedure. He looks up and sees Inori taking a few deep breaths while whatever blood is left inside the tubes are flowing back into her body. Kurosu sighs inwardly, feeling relieved that his patient will be fine. He turns to the smaller glass tube and carefully removes it from the console slot.
After collecting the blood samples from their patients, Kurosu and the other scientists head to the laboratory at the other side of the facility where they can begin their work and research. After sitting down at his cubicle at the center right side of the room, Kurosu gently inserts the glass tube of Inori's blood through a rack placed on the left side of his desk. He now turns to his right and picks up a picture frame. Inside it is a photo of him, his wife and only child that was taken before he left Japan and flew here to Germany. As the family of three look towards the unknown photographer, Kurosu and his wife were smiling warmly as they wrap an arm around each other's shoulders. They place their other hands on the shoulders of their 9-year-old son, who stands in front of them and gives a sulking frown to the camera.
Kurosu smiled weakly as he gently strokes his hand across the picture frame. He wished his son would be a lot happier, but nevertheless, he still loves and deeply cares for him just as much as his beautiful wife. After putting the picture frame aside, he turns to the desktop computer in front of him. He closes his eyes and slaps himself on both sides of his head.
"Right. Let's get to work." Kurosu murmured to himself. After turning on the computer, he grabs a syringe and carefully extracts a small amount of Inori's blood from the glass tube. He slowly turns to the right side of his cubicle, stands up from his chair, picks up a small glass tray and gently plants a tiny drop of blood onto it. He puts the syringe aside and places the tray underneath the microscope to begin his research.
Meanwhile, a group of workers dressed in plain white uniforms enter the tank room. Inori woke up in time to see each of them standing in front of the tanks and pressing several keys on the console. A few seconds later, she could feel herself being gently brought down to the floor as the liquid inside her tank is drained away. The casing of her glass tank soon slides open, and she looks up at the large-sized man who is now walking over to her. She notices 'Guin' written on the man's name tag as she pulls back the strands of hair that were dangling in front of her eyes.
"Get up." Guin said flatly to her.
After Inori and the other patients are escorted to the dressing rooms based on their gender, they are ordered to walk over to their respective lockers and put on the outfits that they have been given. When all the girls, including Inori, have found the right locker with their name stamped on it, they open them up and change into their new clothes.
After doing so, Inori turns to her right and stares at her reflection on the mirror inside her locker. She sees that she is now dressed in a white long-sleeved shirt with orange outlines, plain white pants, and plain white shoes. But what surprises her the most is her own facial appearance, as she didn't realize she has dark red eyes and long bright pink hair that goes down to the back of her shoulders.
Inori only has a few seconds to examine her appearance before a female worker steps into the dressing room and knocks her baton against the wall beside her.
"If you are done dressing up, line up outside the room right now!" The woman yelled at them. Inori takes one last glance at her reflection before she closes the locker and joins the other girls in leaving the room.
Inori and the other patients are now brought to what appears to be a large training room, with wall pads on all sides and corners, and a very large blue mat placed across the entire floor. Guin ordered the patients to kneel at the other side of the room in two horizontal rows as they wait for the arrival of their instructor.
Inori quietly looks around to see about twenty-nine other children and adolescents kneeling alongside her. Most of them looked straight and did not display a hint of emotion at all. Some however do look afraid and concern over what is going to happen to them. She also wonders why the teenage girl kneeling beside her on her right has light pink skin and pale-yellow horns.
"Are you alright?"
Inori turns to her left upon hearing the voice. She sees the 17-year-old boy with long blonde hair and light blue eyes on her left staring back at her.
"I believe so." Inori responded. "Do you have any idea what is going on here?"
"I don't." The man shakes his head. "But I guess we'll have to go along with it for now. What is your name?"
Inori lowers her head for a moment until she remembers what Kurosu said to her before. She looks back up and replied, "Inori Yuzuriha."
"My name is Gai." The man said to her with a slight nod. "Gai Tsutsugami."
"Attention!" Guin suddenly shouted, causing Inori, Gai and the other patients to quickly straighten themselves up and look back straight. The door at the other side of the room soon opened to reveal three people making their entrance. Two of them are men dressed in black ski masks, military helmets, and Kevlar vests. The third person walking between them is a young woman with red eyes and wears a red ribbon that is tied at the left side of her long white hair, and a black long-sleeved dress with multiple thin vertical red stripes. She is also currently holding a clipboard in her left hand.
Inori slightly widens her eyes as the woman and two masked men placed themselves in front of her and the patients. The woman takes a few moments to flip through the papers on her clipboard which consists of photographs of each child and adolescent, as well as their names, age, gender, nationalities, and blood type written beside them. It only took a short amount of time for the woman to memorize their names and faces before she hands the clipboard over to the masked man standing at her left. The man takes it away from her hand before she folds her arms and looks sternly at the children and adolescents in front of her. A few of them, excluding Inori and Gai, flinched in response.
"Welcome, all of you, to Matou Industries." The woman spoke. "My name is Sakura Matou, and you have all been selected by my grandfather to become a part of something greater for this world." Inori and Gai briefly stare at each other in confusion before they look back at her when she continued, "Since the beginning of history, our world is plagued with conflict, war, and terrorism. No matter how hard we try to live in a world of tranquility, there will always be someone out there who will disrupt it. Fortunately, my grandfather is an amazing person who has created a special serum that can save human lives and put an end to all violence in the long run. He had already injected this serum inside me…and all of you." Inori, Gai and a few other patients gasp and widen their eyes. "But there is nothing to be afraid of. This serum not only makes us stronger and faster, but it also helps our bodies heal their wounds and injuries by themselves without the need of rest and medication. I have felt a lot stronger and more fearless with this serum inside me since. Every terrorist now fears me as I have truly become the perfect soldier to perform my duty in maintaining order and stability across the world, and you can become one as well. I will not lie that for the indefinite future, all of you will go through an intense amount of training. But I promise you that within time, it was all for the greater good. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes." Inori, Gai and most of the patients replied.
"Y-Y-Yes…" A few others however responded with fear and hesitation.
"LOUDER!" Guin shouted, causing them to yelp.
"YES MA'AM!" All the patients yelled in unison this time.
"Good." Sakura said with her eyes narrowed. "Let's get started."
For the next seven days, Sakura and the facility staff ordered Inori and the patients to do all sorts of exercises around the facility. As Sakura, Guin and a few masked men stand at the side, the patients are jogging around the training room and have been doing so for about an hour now.
Feeling like her legs are on fire, Inori moans in exhaustion as she collapses onto the floor on her face. When Gai heard this, he stops, whirls about, and quickly runs over to her before one of the masked men could walk over instead. Guin is about to intervene when he sees this, but Sakura holds out her arm in front of his chest to stop him. Inori looks up as Gai crouches in front of her and extends his hand out.
"Come on. We can get through this." Gai said to her encouragingly. Inori pursed her lips before she grabs his hand and Gai pulls her back up on her feet. Sakura and Guin remain silent as they idly watch the display.
Meanwhile, at his cubicle in the laboratory, Kurosu is frantically tapping his fingers on the keyboard while the monitor of his desktop computer shows an anatomical illustration of a human DNA. He made several configurations to the DNA before pressing the Enter key. The illustration now shows the DNA twirling around normally for a moment before it soon burst into multiple particles, showing that Kurosu's latest thesis is also a failure.
Kurosu blows out a heavy sigh before he takes a short break by grabbing and unwrapping an onigiri beside his computer and taking a bite of it. Although he is back to the old drawing board, he is not giving up just yet.
The last of the patients currently present in the training room groaned in pain as a masked mercenary swings his staff across his face, sending him tumbling onto the floor with a hard thud. The three mercenaries in the training room place down their staffs as all three patients are now defeated and struggling to get themselves back up.
"Sloppy." Guin commented as he and Sakura stood at the side and watches the display in front of them the whole time.
Sakura holds up her radio and ordered, "Send in the next three."
The door soon opened and Inori, Gai and another patient walk into the room with a masked mercenary following them from behind. Inori and Gai turn their heads to the right and see the three patients groaning and rubbing their arms as they stagger past them and out of the room.
The three of them walk to the center of the room and pick up their own staffs from the floor. The three armed mercenaries walk up to them and get into their fighting stances. Inori, Gai and the third patient remain calm as they hold up their staffs and prepare to fight as well.
Guin folds his arms and said flatly, "Begin."
The mercenaries immediately attack the patients first. As the mercenary in front of him swings his staff horizontally at his head, Gai quickly blocks his attack by holding up his staff to his left. The mercenary quickly performs an overhead strike at him, and Gai blocks his attack again by holding his staff up above his head. He pushes back the mercenary's staff, causing his opponent to stumble backwards. Gai quickly thrusts the tip of his staff at his abdomen and the mercenary grunts in pain as he throws his head and upper body forward. Gai goes over and lifts his knee up to knock him in his face, and as the mercenary stumbles back again, he swings his staff across the left side of his head to send him falling to the floor.
After his opponent falls flat on his face, Gai hears Inori groaning in pain after her opponent swings his staff across her left cheek and sends her tumbling onto the floor. Gai glares at her opponent before running up to him. He thrusts his staff onto his chest, causing the mercenary to stumble back. Gai quickly swings his weapon across his right cheek to send him falling to the floor. Before the mercenary could get up, Gai goes over to him and brings the bottom of his staff down onto the back of his head to knock him out. He turns back to Inori who has recovered from the blow, and she stares at him dumbfounded as she stays lying on the floor. Gai sighs in relief before the third and last mercenary suddenly thrusts his staff across the right side of his head from behind. He yells in pain as he falls onto the floor.
Gai turns around and sees the mercenary about to bring his staff down onto him with an overhead strike until the third patient suddenly jumps on him from behind and wraps his staff around his neck. The mercenary gasps and drops his staff, completely dumbfounded that the opponent he thought he had knocked out has suddenly sprung back up to continue their duel. He grabs the patient's staff and tries to pull it off from his neck, but he could not.
As she and Gai watch the third patient strangling his opponent in horror, Inori turns to her right and sees Guin and Sakura still standing at the side of the room looking unfazed. Do they not care that the life of one of their men is in danger?
Soon, the third patient manages to bring the mercenary down on his knees as the last amount of air is being forced out of his lungs. But just as he was on the verge of death, Sakura finally holds up her radio and ordered her men stationed outside the room, "Get inside."
Two masked mercenaries suddenly storm into the room. They grab and pull the patient from behind, causing him to drop his staff while his opponent wraps his hands around his neck, curls on the floor and takes several deep breaths. Inori and Gai look up at the patient in shock as despite being restrained by the two masked men behind him, he laughed maniacally with a huge grin on his face as he watches his opponent lying on the floor in pain.
"Let Yuu here serve as an example." Sakura said flatly to Inori and Gai as they turn to her and Guin. "Showing mercy in the battlefield will get you killed. If your enemies won't do that, why should you?" She turns to the two masked men who are restraining the patient. "Let him go."
After releasing his arms and neck, Yuu stumbles forward and growls at the two mercenaries before walking up to Inori and Gai. As a wide smile forms on his face, he strokes back his light blonde hair and extends his hands to his fellow patients.
"Don't be reckless next time." Yuu said to them with his icy blue eyes now softened. Gai glares back at him before he and Inori both reach out for his hands. But before they could grab them, Yuu playfully removes his hands and places them behind the back of his head. He whistles as he turns to the door and makes his way out of the room. Inori silently watches Gai get up from the floor and turns to her.
"Don't let him get to you." Gai said as he extends his own hand to her. Inori quietly stares at him for a second before grabbing it.
Three months have passed since their job began, and none of the scientists have found any significant progress in their medical research. One day, because the latest blood sample he extracted from Inori a week ago had dried up, Kurosu requested permission from Keido to meet his patient again, which he allowed. Inori was later brought to a clinical room where she sees Kurosu sitting beside a procedure chair as always.
"Nice to see you again, Yuzuriha. As always, please relax and lie down." Kurosu instructed Inori with a warm smile. Inori obliged and walked over to the procedure chair. She lies herself down on the chair and Kurosu grabs a small bottle of alcohol and a piece of cotton from the table on his right.
"How have you been?" Kurosu asked.
"I'm fine. And tired." Inori replied flatly.
"I can tell." Kurosu said. "Just wondering, have you been making any friends here in this facility?"
"What is a friend?" Inori asked.
"Are you serious?" Kurosu chuckled. When Inori did not respond, he began to explain, "A friend is someone who deeply cares about you. They provide you calm and happiness whenever you feel lonely, sad and anxious."
"Like showing you emotion?" Inori asked. Kurosu shrugged and pours a bit of alcohol onto the piece of cotton.
"I guess you can say that." Kurosu said as he places the bottle down and turns back to his patient.
"Is it really necessary? Does a person need to have friends?" Inori inquired as she could feel the scientist now wiping the soaked cotton across her lower left arm.
"Of course, they do." Kurosu said as he puts the cotton aside and grabs a syringe from the table.
"How so?" Inori asked. Kurosu stares at his patient, confused that she is asking him quite a handful of hard-hitting questions.
"Well…" Kurosu chuckled. "I may sound a little dramatic with this. But let's just say that the world we lived in isn't full of sunshine and rainbows. Life will hit you hard in unexpected ways every once in a while. But if you have a friend, even just one, they can help you get through bad times, make your life feel easier, and even remind you that despite all of us living in a dark and depressing world, there will always be a sliver of hope and kindness out there. That's how I ended up falling in love with an amazing woman who would later become my wife. Now hold still."
As Inori kept staring at the ceiling and contemplates what Kurosu had said to her, the scientist carefully injects the syringe into her body. The girl did not wince at all as she felt its tip going through her skin and flesh. After extracting a handful amount of blood from her, Kurosu slowly removes the syringe and quickly places a small bandage over her tiny puncture wound.
"I hope you don't mind me asking and telling you all of this out of the blue." Kurosu said, putting aside the syringe for a moment. Inori turns her head to him. "It's just that I know you all have been kept here in this facility for over three months now. It is no surprise that you are feeling contained and isolated from the rest of the world. So am I. However, I assure you that every day, we are doing everything we can to find a cure for your illness." Kurosu paused for a moment as he places his hand inside a metal tin on the table. "We scientists should be thanking you all too. Once we find it, you would all have done your part to help billions of people around the world suffering the same illness as well. Until then, stay strong, take good care of yourself, and cherish whatever friends you have made here."
"Friend…" Inori murmured as she sees Kurosu now holding out something to her. It is a shiny red lollipop wrapped in clear plastic.
"I hope to see you again soon, Yuzuriha." Kurosu said, smiling warmly at her.
Later that night at his cubicle, Kurosu frantically taps on his keyboard as he once again made several configurations to the anatomical illustration of the human DNA on his computer. After pressing the Enter key, the DNA twirls around for a moment, and it bursts into a million particles again.
"Dammit!" Kurosu cursed as he slams his hands on his desk. He leans back on his chair and removes his glasses before rubbing his saggy eyes. After putting his glasses back on, he slightly turns his head to his right and upon seeing the picture frame of his family, he is immediately reminded of the promise he made that he would return home to them one day. He smiled for a moment before he sits back up and stares at his computer again, frowning with renewed determination. He grabs his cup of coffee and takes a sip before getting back to work and starting all over.
Meanwhile, Gai, Yuu and the other patients kneel at the side of the training room and watch Inori fight against a group of eight masked mercenaries on her own. She had already taken down three of them, and after she knocks out her third opponent by swinging her leg down onto the back of her head, the fourth mercenary runs up to her on her left and swings his right fist at the back of her head. Inori swiftly dodges the punch by tilting her neck and head to the left and grabs the mercenary's right arm. The mercenary yells as Inori throws him over her shoulder and sends him flying across the room. His back slams against the padded wall and he lands back down on the floor headfirst, much to the shock of everyone in the room except Yuu, Guin and the remaining mercenaries.
The fifth mercenary runs up to Inori from behind and wraps his right arm around her neck before taking a few steps back with his opponent in his custody. But Inori quickly retaliates by grabbing his right arm with her left hand and jabbing her right elbow against the right side of his lower torso, causing the mercenary to groan and loosen his grip. As he does, Inori lands on the floor, turns around while still holding onto his right arm, pulls him forward to make him bring his head and upper body down to her level, and she swings her right fist across the left side of his head to send him falling and rolling over the floor.
Inori briefly takes a deep breath as the earlier toss she did to the fourth mercenary had drain up a lot of her strength. But she is snapped back to reality when the sixth mercenary runs up to her on her left and punches her on her left cheek with his left fist. Inori briefly stumbles to her right before she turns to the sixth mercenary and throws a punch at him with her right fist. However, the sixth mercenary swiftly grabs her right wrist to stop her at mid-punch. Inori throws another punch at him again with her left fist, but the mercenary also swiftly grabs her left wrist. Inori tries to break free, but by that point, most of her strength is gone. The mercenary brings his forehead down on her head, causing Inori to grunt and collapse on her back. The other two mercenaries take the opportunity to run up to her while she is down on the floor. The seventh and eighth mercenaries stomp on her body and kick her at the sides. Inori holds up her arms in front of her and rolls side to side, trying to block their attacks.
Guin stops his watch and holds up his hand, signaling the mercenaries to stand down. The three of them step away from Inori, who rolls to her right and looks down at the floor while Guin walks up to her.
"Your time is up. Pathetic." Guin remarked before he suddenly kicks Inori in the face. The girl grunts in pain again as her head is thrown back for a moment before she finds herself looking down at the floor again. Gai grits his teeth and narrows his eyes at Guin for a moment before the man turns to the patients.
"Gai Tsutsugami! Your turn!" Guin ordered him.
As the mercenaries who were defeated by Inori earlier now get up from the floor, Gai stands up and walks over to his friend, who glares at the floor while breathing heavily, hating herself for her latest failure. When Inori looks up at Gai and sees him extending his hand out to her, she instead quietly gets up on her own and walks back to the other patients. Gai watches her leave in concern before he goes to the center of the room and gets into his fighting stance while the mercenaries now surround him.
Another three months later, Kurosu places his hands together and bows in front of his computer.
"Please let this work." Kurosu begged, hoping that his latest thesis will be a success this time. He places his hands on the keyboard and began tapping frantically as he makes his newest configurations to the human DNA on his computer monitor. After doing so, he takes a deep breath and holds his finger above the Enter key for a brief moment before finally pressing it.
The human DNA twirls around and Kurosu stares intensively at the monitor. About fifteen seconds have passed, and it continues twirling around like normal. Kurosu widens his eyes and drops his jaw. He slowly pushes himself away from his work desk, and as he sees the DNA still twirling normally for another thirty seconds, the scientist throws his head back and pumps his fists up in the air.
"I DID IT!" Kurosu cheered, causing his fellow scientists to turn their heads to the direction of his cubicle in shock and bewilderment. "I FINALLY DID IT!"
As the scientists began murmuring in confusion over what is going on, Kurosu lets out a huge sigh of joy and relief while letting his arms hang limply at his sides. He picks up the picture frame and gazes happily at it.
"Let's go to Hawaii as soon as I get back."
The next day, Inori walked between Guin and a masked mercenary as they escort her through one of the facility's hallways. The three stopped beside a pair of doors, and Guin turns to his left to open one of them.
"Get in." Guin ordered Inori.
Inori enters the room and looks around it. It is mostly dark, with only a single bright light shining down on Kurosu Ouma, who is standing beside a procedure chair and near a rolling TV cart placed at the center of the wide and large room. Behind them were several men and women dressed in business suits and sitting in three semicircular rows of seats, making the entire room look like an operating theatre. There are only two people sitting in the frontmost and bottom row seats. One of them is Shuichiro Keido himself, while sitting beside him is a man with shoulder-length dark brown hair and dressed in a dark blue trench coat with a black suit underneath it.
"Come over here, Yuzuriha. There's nothing to be afraid of." Kurosu said to Inori with a reassuring smile as she approaches him and the procedure chair. "Please, lie down."
Without saying a word, Inori did what she was told and Kurosu slowly adjusts the chair down until the girl finds herself lying on her back and staring at the ceiling. Kurosu presses a few buttons at the right side of the chair to bring up two curved panels emerging from both sides. The panels join together to form an arch above Inori's body, and Kurosu turns the chair around to show his patient to everyone in the seats. He walks over to the TV cart and turns on the monitor to show the configurations he made to his anatomical illustration of the human DNA.
"Thank you all for coming here on such a short notice." Kurosu bows to everyone in front of him and Inori before looking back up at Keido and the brown-haired man. "Keido-sama, Kotomine-sama. For a very long time, we struggle to find a silver bullet to erase every known type of cancer in existence. But after spending six months in this facility, my research has finally led me to a cure. One that can work on the human body regardless of blood type and sex chromosome. And depending on the type of cancer, it can also work on every one of them with just a few tweaks and modifi-"
"You can give us the details later, Kurosu Ouma." Kotomine said tersely, forcing Kurosu to cut himself off. "We just want to know if your vaccine actually works."
"Proceed with the live demonstration, Ouma-san." Keido said to Kurosu. The scientist stares wordlessly at them for a moment before he adjusts his glasses.
"Very well." Kurosu said before gesturing everyone in the room to his patient. "This is Inori Yuzuriha. She has turned 9 this year and suffers from stage 2 bone cancer. Therefore, the vaccine that I'm using for our live demonstration today is specifically treated for the human bone." He grabs the remote from the top of the TV and gestures everyone to see what is displayed on screen. He presses a button to let the TV play his 1-minute-long video of the altered human DNA twirling around normally. "What you see here is an anatomical illustration of our human DNA. Here, you can see that even after the configurations I've made to it to create my vaccine, the DNA still functions perfectly fine, showing that it is 100 percent safe to the human body."
He walks back to the chair and places his hand on top of the arch to turn on the monitor which he can now see Inori's body through it. After a vertical line appears on screen, he places his finger down on it and drags it to the left where Inori's left arm is. He taps on the area of the line that is directly above her lower left arm before he turns back to the TV and presses the remote again to switch the screen. This time, the TV shows everyone present in the room a visual feed of some of Inori's cancer cells attached onto her left radius bone. He gave a nod to Keido and Kotomine. "And now, a live demonstration of my vaccine."
He looks back at Inori and places his fingers on her lower left arm to indicate where her radius bone is. When he found it, he places the remote down on the table next to him and grabs a marker to draw a line above it. He grabs an alcohol swab and wipes it across the area of Inori's arm that he had drawn on. He leans over to Inori's ear and whispered, "Breathe normally…and relax."
After seeing Inori closing her eyes, Kurosu now picks up the syringe with his vaccine contained inside it. He takes a deep breath before he proceeds to inject the syringe slowly into Inori's lower left arm. After removing the syringe, Kurosu places it down on the table and rushes over to the television to take a good look at the visual feed as he stands beside it. He and everyone else in the room waited for thirty seconds until they could see doses of Kurosu's vaccine now flowing through Inori's body and making contact with her cancer cells. As the cancer cells began to change color, Kurosu looked back at Inori and sees her breathing heavily as she laid on the procedure chair. He not only prayed hard that his vaccine would work, but also that Inori would stay alive throughout the demonstration.
"Come on Yuzuriha…" Kurosu murmured before looking back nervously at the television screen.
Then, about another thirty seconds later, Inori exhales one more deep breath, before her breathing rate returns to normal. Kurosu's mouth gape open as he and everyone in the room watch the cancer cells on Inori's radius bone break and crumble into tiny pieces, and whatever veins that remain on her bone also disappear.
Kurosu blows out a sigh of relief and a wide smile takes form on his face. He turns back to the audience and bows to them.
"There you have it." Kurosu said as he looked back up. "The patient, Inori Yuzuriha, is finally freed from her cancer."
As the audience including Keido and Kotomine began discussing among themselves, Kurosu turns around and walks back to the chair. He sees that Inori has closed her eyes and slumped her head to the side. He places his fingers on the side of her neck and felt relieved again upon feeling her pulse.
"Finally…you can live a normal life again." Kurosu said softly to her.
Five minutes later, two workers came into the room while bringing in a hospital bed, and they go over to where Inori is. They carefully carry her up from the procedure chair and gently place her down on the bed. Kurosu, Keido and Kotomine watch the workers push Inori out of the room for a few moments before turning to each other.
"You have done a great job, Kurosu Ouma. I've made the right decision to hire you after all." Keido said to Kurosu with his hands behind his back.
"You should actually thank your sister for suggesting me to you." Kurosu chuckled, smiling sheepishly as he rubs the back of his head.
"Kurosu Ouma…" Kotomine spoke, causing Kurosu to lower his hand and turn to him. "Your research and intelligence have helped and saved billions of people around the world. Everyone is in your debt, including me. Arigatou."
Kotomine and Kurosu bow their heads to each other before they look back up and the latter replied, "You're welcome, Kotomine-sama. But my patient, Inori Yuzuriha, deserves credit too. Without her, I wouldn't be able to achieve any of this in the first place. And I can only hope moving forward, my research will be used in the right hands. As a man of science, I believe our intelligence should be used for humanitarian purposes, not for avarice and violence."
"I believe so too." Kotomine replied.
"I wish to see my patient now, hope that she is still alright." Kurosu asked politely.
"Very well." Kotomine nodded.
"We'll catch up with each other later, Ouma-san. I believe it's been a while since we sat down together for a decent conversation after all." Keido said to Kurosu with a wan smile.
"And dinner will be on me. See you later, Keido." Kurosu said, giving him a pat on the shoulder before he turns around and makes his departure.
After Kurosu left the room, Kotomine gets out his radio from underneath his trench coat.
"Bring in the boss's granddaughter." Kotomine ordered.
A few minutes later, Sakura and Guin enter the room and the former sits down on the procedure chair. A doctor goes over to the table and picks up the syringe containing Kurosu's vaccine while Sakura rolls up her left sleeve.
"A little something for you before we leave for our mission in Iceland." Kotomine said to Sakura as the doctor wipes an alcohol swab on her lower left arm. He, Keido and Guin stand at the other side of the chair and watch.
"Do it." Sakura said flatly without making eye contact with anyone. Kotomine gave a nod to the doctor, who proceeds to inject the syringe into Sakura's arm.
"Guin." Keido said to the captain as they turn to each other. "Once my men have replicated Kurosu's serum, order the workers to distribute and inject it into every one of our subjects."
"Yes sir!" Guin gave him a salute.
Kurosu walked into a resting room where Inori has been placed at the left side of the room and beside several empty hospital beds. He walks over to her and stands at her bedside, just in time to see his patient slowly opening her eyes as she regains consciousness.
"How are you doing, Yuzuriha?" Kurosu asked with a warm smile. Inori slightly turns her head to him.
"I'm fine." Inori simply replied.
"Good." Kurosu nodded before fresh tears form in his eyes, much to Inori's confusion.
"Why is there water in your eyes?" Inori asked.
"Oh." Kurosu choked as he quickly removes his glasses and wipes away his tears with his sleeve. He puts his glasses back on and takes a gulp. "It's just…I am so proud of you. I wouldn't have found the cure that everyone has been desperately wanting for years if it weren't for you. Arigatou."
Inori quietly watches Kurosu bowing down to her with gratitude. He is completely unaware that some stray tears have splashed onto her shirt. Kurosu looked back at her with tearstained eyes and sniffled as he rubs his nose.
"Now rest, Yuzuriha. You deserve it." Kurosu said softly.
Inori stared blankly at him for a few moments before responding stoically, "I can't rest."
Kurosu frowned. "W-what?"
"I have to get back to training as soon as possible." Inori added.
Kurosu widens his eyes in shock, completely baffled by the words that came out from her mouth. "T-T-T-Training?!"
The next day, Inori, Gai and four other patients are inside a shooting range. The other twenty-four patients including Yuu stand inside a room at the back of the shooting range and watch the training session through a bulletproof glass window in front of them.
After Gai fired all six bullets inside his pistol, his shooting target slides towards him, showing that he managed to fire two shots barely above the chin and four others around its collarbone and chest.
"43 out of 60. Try harder, Gai." Sakura said as she and Guin stand at the side of the range.
After recording Gai's score on his clipboard, Guin yelled at Inori, "Inori Yuzuriha! You're next!"
Inori swiftly holds up her pistol and fires all six bullets at her target within five seconds. Her shooting target slides towards her, showing that she fired at least three bullets through the center of the head and the other three through the bottom of the eyeline, much to the surprise of Gai and every other patient in the shooting range. Yuu also whistled in amusement at Inori's amazing performance.
"57 out of 60. Not bad, Inori." Sakura remarked while Guin records her score. Inori places her pistol down on the table, steps out of her station, and bows solemnly to Sakura and Guin.
"Next!" Guin shouted at the patients in the viewing room, ordering the next group of six to come out.
As he watches Inori walking over to the viewing room with a cold and emotionless face, Gai wonders what happened to the girl whom he had made a connection with.
Unbeknownst to everyone inside the shooting range, someone has been watching the whole thing through the glass window at the door. It was Kurosu Ouma, who could only stand there with his eyes wide and his mouth gape open in shock and horror.
Eight days later, Inori, Gai, Yuu and the other patients are ordered to put on the safety helmets and bulletproof vests and grab the pistol that have been placed inside their dressing room lockers. After doing so, they are escorted by Guin and the other mercenaries to a different room at the other side of the facility. As they walk in, Inori, Gai, Yuu and the patients look around and see that they are now inside a large and wide room, with a flat floor at the far-left side, a large pool of water at the center with two long and narrow wooden beams placed above it, and a tall metal ramp at the far-right side, with a red flag hung to a metal pole at the top of it. There are also two sand pits in the room, one between the flat floor and the pool, and the other between the pool and the ramp.
Guin and the mercenaries order Inori, Gai, Yuu and the patients to walk over to the flat floor at the far-left side and stand alongside each other in two horizontal rows. When they are done lining up, Guin places his hands behind his back as he and the mercenaries stand at the side of the obstacle course and near the doorway.
"Listen up, everyone! This is a live fire exercise, and our superiors will be watching your performance today!" Guin yelled at them. Some of the patients widen their eyes and gape their mouths open in shock while Inori and Gai slightly turn to their right and look up at the large and wide glass window above the doorway. Through the window, they could see Keido, Kotomine and several men and women sitting alongside each other inside a viewing gallery and waiting for their exercise to begin. They quickly look back at Guin as he continued, "Your objective is to run through this obstacle course and be the first to reach the top of the ramp and grab the flag! But if you get shot once, you are eliminated! If anyone of you is feeling afraid right now, suck it up as no matter how many wounds you may receive in this exercise, the enhanced version of the serum inside you will keep you alive! Now let us see if you all been taking everything we taught you for the last seven months into your heart and mind! Remove the safety locks of your guns now!"
The patients obliged and held up their pistols after doing so. Guin takes out his own pistol and holds it up in the air.
"BEGIN!" Guin suddenly shouted and fires a bullet at the ceiling, signaling the start of the exercise.
Four minutes later, tragedy struck during the middle of the exercise as Gai lies dead and motionless on the sand after a bullet shot through where his heart is, and all Inori did was stand beside his body and stare down at his lifeless eyes without a hint of emotion on her face. Two mercenaries lay a blanket over his dead body before they lift him up and place him on a stretcher. As the other patients stood by and watch, some of them cried and shed tears over the death of their fellow patient, while Yuu shakes his head with a smirk on his face and his hands on the sides of his hip.
As Inori continue standing at the middle of the sand pit even after Gai's body had been taken away, Keido and Kotomine are now standing in front of each other and conversing inside the viewing gallery after the other members of the audience have left.
"That girl, Inori Yuzuriha, is truly an amazing specimen." Keido said to Kotomine.
"Not even Sakura Matou herself has such a capability." Kotomine rubs his chin. "We need to know more about her. How her body works, and why she is special from the others."
"Are you suggesting vivisection, sir?" Keido asked. Kotomine nods his head.
"Do everything you can to learn more of her. Zouken Matou's dream of creating a better and peaceful world depends on it." Kotomine said. Keido places his hand on his chest and solemnly bows his head to him.
"Yes, Kotomine-sama."
The next day, Kurosu Ouma types the correct numbers on the keypad with his gloved hands to unlock the door to the security room. He was able to secretly watch a security guard do so yesterday. He carefully turns the doorknob and slowly pushes the door open. After looking around to make sure no one is inside, Kurosu quickly goes over to the workstation which consists of five computers and chairs at a worktable and eight different monitor screens hung on the wall and showing every part of the facility. He stands in front of the center computer and places his hand on the mouse. He quickly brings up the start menu and uses the search bar to find any security camera footage of the live fire exercise yesterday. Upon clicking the first result, Kurosu has opened a folder containing several video recordings of the obstacle course and viewing gallery from every angle of the rooms. He watches the videos of the live fire exercise itself first. His eyes grew wider, and his jaw drop down further upon seeing every video in their entirety. He now opens the video recording of the viewing gallery, and he sees Keido and Kotomine standing in front of each other as its thumbnail. He watches through the video and gasps upon hearing their intentions to vivisect Inori.
Just as the video ends, the lights in the security room turn on. Kurosu whirls about and sees Keido standing at the doorway.
"That is a dirty hobby you got there, Kurosu." Keido said icily to him. Kurosu clenches his fists and narrows his eyes at him.
"You deceived me all along, Keido. This isn't a cancer research facility at all, isn't it?" Kurosu inquired, quivering with rage.
"No, it isn't." Keido said calmly as he folds his arms. "The patients, or should I say, subjects, never had any sort of cancer at all. And those weren't cancer cells in their bodies. They were particles of the original version of our serum. We just hired you all to help create enhancements to it."
Kurosu grits his teeth. "Damn you. DAMN YOU, KEIDO!" He widens his eyes as he roars at him. "Not only did you deceive me to create an enhanced version of your weapon of mass destruction, but you also helped Matou Industries kidnap children?! Injecting them with the Od serum?! Training them to become killing machines?! And now you are willing to tear open the body of one of them?! All for greed and power?! What kind of human being are you?!"
"So, you think I'm a monster." Keido stifled a chuckle. "Then again, God kills innocent people every day through natural disasters. How is he any different from us?"
Kurosu snorted. "Your sister would be so disappointed in you."
Keido glares at him as he lowers his arms. "I no longer have one when she decided to marry you."
Suddenly, before Kurosu could react, Keido quickly draws out his pistol and fires a bullet at his chest. Kurosu gasps and slowly lowers his head to look down and see the pool of blood now forming on his shirt. He trembled for a moment before collapsing on his knees and falling to the floor on his side. Keido casually puts away his pistol and looks down at his brother-in-law.
"Rest in hell…Ouma." Keido said one last time before he turns around and leaves him to die.
After he was gone, Kurosu manages to get himself up from the floor and holds onto the chair beside him for support. As soon as he gets back up on his feet, he sits down on the chair, slouches back and gets out his smartphone which he placed inside a seal bag. He gets it out and begins recording himself.
Inside the tank room, Inori and the patients are floating and resting peacefully inside their tanks, taking their time to regain their strength and energy before the next training session in about an hour.
But the peace was interrupted when the doors to the tank room were suddenly pushed wide open by Kotomine, who was sent flying through the air by two people, and later rolling over the floor. Inori briefly opens her eyes and barely sees Kotomine getting up to look at his two assailants, who are now joined by five other people who just entered the room. Because of her exhaustion however, Inori could not continue watching what is unfolding before her as she closes her eyes and returns to her slumber.
About twelve minutes later, Inori is awakened from her sleep again when she finds herself lying on a pool of greenish liquid on the floor, and her body being cradled in the arms of someone beside her. She turns to her left and sees her superior kneeling beside her.
"Matou, ma'am." Inori uttered with her eyes slightly widen, and another thing that surprises her is the fact that her superior is curving her lips upward.
"It's okay, Inori. You're free now." Sakura said with a weak smile before she slowly gets up and carefully brings Inori up to stand on her feet. When she lifts her arm up and points in the direction of the facility's exit, Inori turns to the doorway and stares blankly at what is beyond the tank room. "Now leave this facility, and don't let them catch you."
Inori turns around and tries to question her superior, but Sakura had already run off to join the other intruders who are helping to get the other patients out of their tanks. Those who are already freed and awakened quickly run past Inori and make their escape. As much as Inori wanted to know why Sakura is helping the intruders, she cannot bring herself to disobey her order. So, she turns back to the doorway of the tank room and began running away.
As she ran through the next room, which has missiles placed at both sides and are carefully stacked onto each other, she soon came to a halt when she heard her name being called.
"Y-Yuzuriha…"
Inori turns to her left and sees Kurosu limping out of the hallway at the left side of the room. His face is pale and almost drained out of its natural color. His right arm is supporting against the wall, and his left hand is placed over his chest wound in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding.
"Kurosu." Inori murmured. The scientist groans as he slams his back against the wall and falls to the floor on a sitting position. Inori quickly runs over and kneels beside him.
"Hang on. I will take you to safety." Inori said. But when she is about to help him, the scientist quickly holds up his hand.
"N-no! I-It's too late…f-for me." Kurosu said before he gave a few hacking coughs that causes blood to pour out from his mouth and splatter on his clothes. "B-But…you can still…help me."
Inori watched as Kurosu inserts his hand underneath his lab coat and takes out the seal bag containing his smartphone. He holds it up for Inori to see.
"F-Find Haruka Ouma…and Shu Ouma…G-Give this…to them…" Kurosu coughed again. "T-they live in…Minato, Tokyo…and my wife…m-must see…the last eleven videos I've recorded in this phone…D-do it for me…as your superior…"
As Kurosu's breathing became swallower, Inori takes the seal bag from his hand.
"Haruka Ouma. Shu Ouma. Minato, Tokyo. Understood." Inori said with a solemn nod. Kurosu suddenly grabs her left upper arm and looks back at her with his eyes flittering dangerously.
"One more thing…" Kurosu took a deep breath. "Don't become what they made you. Live your life normally…live free…" Inori stares wordlessly at Kurosu until his grip around her arm loosen and his hand fell limply onto the floor. "Now go…"
Inori nods her head one last time before she gets up, turns around and makes her way out of the facility.
"Good…luck…" Kurosu hangs his head down and draws out his last breath as his life finally slipped away from him.
After going to a local fashion store to steal a plain sleeveless bright turquoise dress to wear over her undergarments, and a black pouch bag which she places Kurosu's smartphone inside it, Inori Yuzuriha would spend the next 81 months travelling all the way from Germany to Japan entirely by foot. She refused to take any sort of public transportation throughout her journey, not wanting any enemy or authority to track her down and let any civilians be caught in harm's way. Thanks to the training she had been given by Matou Industries, she managed to cross over every international border undetected, and survive through every known terrain. Whether it was the heavily militarized borders of Russia, or the dangerously hot and windy Gobi Desert, they were never an obstacle that Inori fails to overcome.
Upon arriving at the coast of Shandong province in China, Inori realizes that Japan is separated from the rest of the Asian continent by sea. It took only three days for her to find the right tools and material to build a makeshift motorized boat that can maintain itself for at least ten days. She sailed her way to the east side of Japan and finally arrived in Tokyo five days later without ever being found by the Japan Coast Guard. But after spending a whole month searching high and low in Minato City, she came to the conclusion that Haruka and Shu Ouma are no longer living in Tokyo. So, she went to a local cybercafé, hacked into the government servers, searched through the citizen database, and discovered both of them have renounced their Japanese citizenship back in 2018 and since moved to Bali, Indonesia.
After finding the location of Bali on the map, Inori returns to her boat and sails her way to the small Indonesian island. She managed to survive a typhoon while travelling through the Philippine Sea, but by the time she arrived at the Celebes Sea, the state of her boat is now on the verge of collapse. Finally, when she is about a hundred kilometers away from her destination, her boat fell into pieces and Inori is now floating in the sea for her dear life. But her desire to complete the mission she had been given by Kurosu was too strong, and she just kept swimming towards the island of Bali despite the strong and violent tides. She kept swimming, and swimming, until she eventually passed out.
August 2024
Bali, Indonesia
Inori suddenly chokes and coughs out some water from her mouth after a man had successfully performed CPR on her. His wife and children felt relieved as they all kneel beside her.
"What a relief! She's alive!" The teenage boy beside the man said happily. A young girl who kneels at the other side with their mother lets out a heavy sigh as she droops her shoulders.
"Oh, thank God! I thought she was deaaaadddd." The girl cried.
"Farah! Show some respect!" The mother scolded her.
Inori slowly opens her eyes a few seconds later. And when her vision became clearer, she realizes that she is currently lying on the sand on her back, with a family of four, all dressed in plain shirts and shorts, kneeling around her. As they all look down at her, Inori turns to her left and the father holds up his hand to her.
"Hi there. Are you alright?" The man asked in concern. "When my family and I first arrived here, we all saw you lying motionless near the sea. We quickly drag you over here and call for an ambulance afterwards. Thankfully, because I had some experience in lifesaving, I was able to perform CPR on you until you regain consciousness."
"What happened to you? How did you end up over there?" The mother inquired.
"Were you shipwrecked?" The teenage boy added.
"Do you remember anything that happened before?" The young girl asked.
Inori remained silent however as she casually gets herself back up on her feet, much to the family's confusion. She turns around and sees the form of human civilization built outside the boundaries of the beach.
"This place…is this Bali?" Inori asked, gazing at the town beyond.
"Yes, it is." The father responded with a nod.
Inori bows her head and says flatly, "Haruka Ouma. Shu Ouma. Bali, Indonesia."
"Are you okay?" The teenage boy asked. Inori did not reply as she proceeded to trudge through the sand and make her way out of the beach.
"W-wait! Shouldn't you rest until the ambulance arrives?" The mother asked incredulously. Again, Inori stayed silent as she continues heading towards the town.
"What a weirdo." The young girl commented with an arched eyebrow.
After stepping out of the beach, Inori walks across the road and sets foot into the port town that is brimming with life and traffic. Most people would love to walk around the town and experience what it has to offer. But not Inori, for there is only one thing she has in her mind right now. Finish the mission that Kurosu assigned her to do all those years ago.
She must find Haruka and Shu Ouma.
Song Suggestion:
Euterpe by EGOIST (After you have finished reading the chapter)
Sovereign: And that is the very long first chapter of my latest story. I hope you all enjoy reading it so far and stay tune for more!
If you want to know what exactly happened to Sakura Matou and Kirei Kotomine, as well as who the intruders in the tank room are, check out chapters 23 to 25 of my other story, Dangerous Losers.
Chapter Revised on 26th February 2022
Chapter Revised again on 9th July 2022