Fucko promised yesterday that it would give me answers soon, and I suppose I'm enough of a wet noodle to allow that to placate me for the time being. I don't feel bitter about it, though. Not in the least bit, which may seem strange, but it's good enough for now just to be assured that there are answers for me, even if I can't be provided with them yet. It's like wondering if you'll be receiving a birthday gift, and then being assured that there is one on the way, but the shipping's been delayed so it will arrive a little late. In the meantime, I just need to listen to what it decides I should do next. Today is Tuesday, so I won't be able to talk to anybody in the Light Music Club after school.
I know that Fucko will tell me who I'm supposed to be talking to, but I can't help but try and figure out who it could be each day that I'm supposed to have a conversation with. I have to assume it's somebody I haven't talked to much yet, so maybe one of the other members of the occult club...
Wrong.
I don't need this.
Anyway, the real situation is this. At lunch, you should speak with Maka Nishikikouji, then after school you'll want to have a conversation with Shizuka Inbo.
Oh, Maka. We haven't talked much yet, just a few passing words on the school trip and when she was in the science room yesterday. I'm sure Fucko won't give me direction on where she eats her lunches, so I decide to go searching for her instead and find that she's sitting under a tree in the courtyard, eating french-fries out of a takeout box with chopsticks. I walk up to her and crouch down, then sit cross-legged a few inches from the ends of her feet. She sets her chopsticks down and pulls her mask back up over her face from around her neck before she speaks, "Ah, hello, Hako-chan... What brings you here?"
"I just want to have a conversation," I shrug, pulling out my own lunch from my bag. It's leftovers from last night's dinner. Rice and grilled chicken were good warm with fresh vegetables, but I mixed in some seaweed salad to have it cold today, "Is that okay? You can keep eating. It's fine if I see you without the mask on, right?"
"It's rude..." Maka mumbles, then startles in place and waves a hand around as she corrects herself, "Rude to you, not rude to me! The mask is a symbol that I stand for protecting the girls of this town, you included, so to remove it in your presence feels like I'm saying that I don't intend to protect you, which isn't the case at all..."
"Is that why when we all ate together the first day in Kyoto, you all kept your masks on? I thought you were just scared of city germs," I note.
"Nope," Maka shakes her head, "It was out of respect for you and Shorty-chan."
"I see Kaiba-san's nickname rubbed off on you," I chuckle, feeling a bit bad for Sayaka. I am glad that Kaiba doesn't know me well enough to come up with an embarrassing nickname for me, but then again, Sayaka didn't seem too bothered by it. It's all in good fun, it seems, "I don't need protecting, though, so it's fine. You can eat with convenience instead!" I lean towards her, 'Why are you eating fries with chopsticks, though?"
"Oh, that's simple," Maka answers, lowering her mask at my permission, then holds up her right hand, "I grew up in a place that taught me the left hand is unclean, and it's kind of ingrained. I'm left-handed though, and the first knuckles on my right hand don't move. All I can do is flex the fingers themselves and move my thumb, I can't do anything like make a fist or do fine-motor tasks. Picking up finger food is impossible, too, so I just use utensils. They exist to be used, after all, I may as well use them even if it's for a less conventional purpose."
"That makes sense," I agree, starting to eat my own lunch, "Where did you get that, anyway? I didn't think there was any western takeout in town."
Maka glances at the bag, and I note that there's not even a logo yet, it's just a brown paper bag, "It's a new place. I heard about it, and decided to try it. Here, try some! I think it's pretty good, though I'm not exactly a meat connoisseur."
"That is good!" I am not a meat connoisseur either, though. In fact, I am not a connoisseur of anything, "I bet everyone here would be happy to hear a place like that's opened up in Korekara, you should spread the word!"
"I wish I could," She shrugs, stretching out, "But, you know, I don't have a lot of presence at all. It's hard to get anyone to pay attention to me in the first place. I think you're actually the only person outside of No Boys who has ever acknowledged me. It's a shame... I even do my best to stand out. I dyed my hair, and I tie my neckerchief, and I wear yellow shoes. None of that seems to get me noticed, though. Kaiba-kun says it's a skill, and I guess it is, but I would still prefer to have a different skill than natural stealth, maybe?"
I shrug, "It happens. People end up in situations that aren't preferable all the time, but you know, I do think that it's important that you find a way to use your talent for a good cause. If you have a unique ability, something that most people need to learn to do but that you're naturally good at? Use it to help people, then do what you really love to do for yourself."
"Are you in a situation which isn't preferable?" She questions, and I freeze. Am I? Would I prefer to be anything other than following Fucko's instructions? I guess it depends. Somebody would need to be doing what I am, instead. I'm using my talent to help people just the same as I just told Maka to do, and I'm proud of myself for it. It's still strange to think what I'd be doing if this burden belonged to somebody else instead. Probably just sticking to Amai all the time, like when we were little kids. Or, if I'd never been in a coma, with her and Hiromi and Sayuri. It's for the better, though, that we went our separate ways, so I'm not even sure now that I'd want that change.
"No," I answer, and it's the truth. My situation is preferable. I wouldn't want to have any other responsibility than this. I wouldn't want to be anyone else but me; and having a different experience would have made me a different person than I am right now. I'll let time take its course to decide who I'm going to be, and I won't change that.
That same fate which seems to desire the deaths of all your friends?
I wouldn't mind if somebody else changed my fate. And I'll change the fate of others, too. I would never do anything, though, to try and alter the path I'm supposed to take as a person. And it really does feel like the path I'm meant to take, at least for now, is the one that Fucko's leading me down.
----------------
After school, I set about looking for Shizuka, as I was instructed to speak with her today. She isn't anywhere I'd expect her to be, though. Nowhere to be found, even, when I start looking in the places that I would not expect her to be. How am I supposed to follow my instructions if the girl I need to speak with is not around? Nobody's even seen her that I ask, so I decide to ask Kemuri. She'll know if Shizuka left the campus, anyway, though I'm not sure how I'm supposed to speak with her if she's not even around. Unfortunately, even she has no clue where Shizuka could be. I'm thinking about giving up, since Fucko's once again giving me the 'telling you the details would break the rules' schtick. I don't understand how the rules are more important than me actually completing my goal, though. I sigh and sit down against the wall in the hallway.
"Hako-san?" Somebody questions, and I look up to see Iwako standing over me. She's standing as if somebody taped a ragdoll to a stick, in contrast to her usual sharp posture. I guess she's not trying to be intimidating right now, "What are you doing here? Are you waiting for somebody?"
"No, I was looking for Inbo-chan, but nobody's seen her today. Doctor, do you know where she is?" I question, standing up to look her in the eyes with my hands behind my back. She only holds eye contact for a moment before glancing away.
"I-Inbo-san...?" She stutters. I never took the doctor for the type of woman to stutter.
"Yeah," I nod, "Shizuka Inbo. I guess I can't just assume you know who everybody in the school is though, huh?"
She pauses a moment, taking one deep breath before she answers me, "I do know who Shizuka Inbo is. She's not the first in her family to attend this school, however. I'm sorry, I was remembering her elder sister..."
"Oh, her sister attended?" I ask, pushing against the ground to get to my feet, brushing the dust off the front of my skirt.
Iwako hesitates, then gestures for me to follow her, turning back around to enter the infirmary again. She unlocks it, her movements slow and unrefined. This seems very unlike her. I follow her into the infirmary, and she closes the door behind us, then just throws the key onto her desk. She pushes her glasses up her nose before she speaks again, "I can trust you, right?"
"I'd like to think I'm trustworthy," I answer.
"It isn't a matter of you being trustworthy," Iwako shakes her head, "It's a matter of me being able to trust you. There's a big difference there. I know you're trustworthy, but I also know that you're talking to a lot of people. I don't know if you would keep quiet if you learned of a crime."
"I definitely would. I have, so far," I nod, "I would never tell the police about a crime. Usually crimes aren't that bad. When they are bad, it's better to leave things to the vigilantes. Incarceration rates may be high in this country for people who go on trial, but indicting can be a problem for a lot of the things which I think are actually terrible to do."
"In that case, I suppose I can tell you. You've been informed of Yui Asahi, and the rest of her graduating class, yes?" Iwako asks, and I nod, so she continues, "Inbo-san's elder sister was in that class. She was a nice girl, but everything was so chaotic for that class. Sasane... Well, Ikimura-sensei, she wasn't assigned to that class that year. The english teacher at that point was a woman named Mercury Mars. We thought she was trustworthy, but it seemed she engineered the downfall of that class, since she disappeared shortly after Asahi-san's death. Meiko Inbo was one of that year's innocent victims."
"Oh..." I mumble, shifting between my feet, "So it's because of that teacher, what happened to them that year?"
Iwako shrugs, "We never could have known that. We only suspect her because she disappeared without a trace in the end of it all. Everyone said she was a good teacher, they liked her. I guess we're only even pinning it on her because we don't want to believe that everything would have happened without her there. The public release blames Yui Asahi, though, because... We didn't want to admit that we'd made a mistake in our hiring process."
"Some people think that it's a conspiracy," I note.
"I don't blame them, it's pretty conspiratory," Iwako gives a bitter chuckle, "Meiko was murdered by one of her classmates, and Mars-san brought her to me in a panic. I wasn't able to save her... So I killed her killer. I contributed to the loss of that class. It was this day two years ago, that Meiko died. So, I sent Inbo-san home early. She came to me looking for advice on her mental health, and all I could do for her was tell her to go back to her house and rest."
"Doctor," I ask, taking a step towards her, "Can you tell me more about the class of 2015?"
"I can't," Iwako shakes her head, "I wish that I could, but there's more important things for you to be worrying about right now. I'm sure you'll find out more about them someday in the future, but I'm sure you have things to focus on. Oh, you wanted to speak with Inbo-san, right?" She turns to her desk and scribbles something out on a scrap of paper. Her handwriting is awful. She hands me the paper, "Her address, assuming she didn't go back to her family home."
"Thank you, Doctor," I nod, then look down at the paper. I should have expected that Shizuka doesn't live in one of the dorms, given she comes from such a rich family. I recognize the street name, though, so I get going. It's still close enough to the school to walk, though it may take me a while. Half an hour of walking at a brisk pace, a while, it turns out, but I find myself in front of her home. It's quite large, but not as big as I expected it to be. I knock the door, and I don't get an answer, but it swings open. I frown and step inside, even though that's probably a bit rude of me to do. I don't see her anywhere.
Just investigate, it should be fine.
I think it's weird to just wander around somebody's house, uninvited, trying to find them... But I'll do as Fucko says. It turns out that though the house is large, the rooms are not; the first floor consists of a fairly normal layout, with a kitchen, living room, bathroom, and empty bedroom which I'm assuming is the one that Shizuka uses. Upstairs, however, just seems to be made up entirely of small rooms off of branching hallways, each one with a different theme. They don't appear lived in at all, more like photographs of fake houses used to advertise things in catalogs. As I'm searching through all of these different rooms, I eventually stumble across the one that Shizuka's actually in, though I don't say anything after opening the door. She seems to be on camera right now, which makes sense. I know she makes gaming videos and streams. The room is themed like an ultra-cute kitchen, and it looks like she's playing a cooking-themed game.
So I now understand the nature of all of these rooms. She's really dedicated to her gaming channel, it seems. I like seeing that; it's a nice reminder, when I'm trying my best to help everyone through their traumas, that everyone is also working hard at those talents which they all have. That's what Natsuki was saying to me yesterday. Everyone here is recognized for excellence, but there are still, for some reason, dangers.
As talented as everyone at Korekara is, that excellence had no future for them before being invited here. As long as the faculty can twist it around when releasing information to the media, there's nothing to be done but accept it. It's survival of the fittest. We fail, then we die. We succeed, then we go on to rise above the rest. It's a test of youth. Even with the declining birthrate, nobody really wants anyone who's incapable of contributing society to continue living here, even if they say they're better than that.
As talented as everyone at Korekara is, that excellence had no future for them before being invited here. As long as the faculty can twist it around when releasing information to the media, there's nothing to be done but accept it. It's survival of the fittest. We fail, then we die. We succeed, then we go on to rise above the rest. It's a test of youth. Even with the declining birthrate, nobody really wants anyone who's incapable of contributing society to continue living here, even if they say they're better than that.
I understand it, now, but I won't fight it. I'll go with the flow, honestly, because I'm the same as everyone else. I don't want anybody to die. But were I told that somebody did something self-destructive and died because of it, and that a certain place just gathers up the people who'd do that kind of thing, I wouldn't blame the place which gathered them. I'd feel bad, and wish it didn't happen, but being told that it's someone's own fault, what sort of outrage could I muster? Even when I might be targeted by this same type of media manipulation someday, I'm not angry at all.
Ten minutes later, after I've gone to wait in the hallway, Shizuka walks out of the recording room and sits down next to where I'd slid down to sit on the floor. Neither of us say anything for a while, until she speaks up, playing with her hands in front of herself, "Hako-senpai. Why did you come here?"
"I was looking for you after school today," I shrug, "Then Same-Hakase told me this was the anniversary of when your sister died at Korekara two years ago, and gave me your address."
"Meiko..." Shizuka sighs, looking up at the ceiling, "We were going to share this house, before that happened..."
I have to take time to think before I speak again. I want to avoid being disrespectful, "Why did you decide to attend Korekara after it killed your sister?"
"Korekara Academy didn't kill Meiko," Shizuka answers with a shake of her head, "How could you blame the school for what happened to her, when it was just one student?"
"That's what everybody does," I note, "Korekara Academy is dangerous, that's the opinion."
"Everywhere is dangerous," Shizuka mumbles, crossing her legs, "The whole world is just full up with danger, and there's nothing to be done about that. Just because certain places get a reputation... That doesn't mean they really are any more dangerous than others. It just means that the truth has been made clearer there. Meiko could have been killed just as easily while on a train, or in our own family home. So of course I won't blame Korekara Academy. Anyone who does is an idiot."
I stay quiet for a while longer again, sitting on my hands. Trying to explain the way that I feel about our school, "Well, of course it's not the school itself, but I hear things. People think the faculty have a hand in it all."
"I don't care if they do," Shizuka answers, glaring at the far wall, "I don't. I blame only the person who killed Meiko, and she's dead too. It's closure, I have closure. I'm not going to open myself up to other possibilities when I'm already content in what I have. Of course I'm still grieving! Anybody would," She hisses, then returns her tone to a mellow one, "Why would you bother theorizing that more people are against you than probably are?"
Shizuka has a good point, and it's one that I haven't heard before. Now that I think about it, it's probably important that she disregard conspiracy theories and worst case scenarios, as somebody whose made a name for herself on the internet. So many people look to her for entertainment, so many people looking to criticize her every move. It goes beyond the raw skill she needs to play games well on stream, she also has to give them charisma and a collected appearance. To let herself think for even a moment that the people she works so hard for might be after her head, I can only imagine that would be unbearable.
That definitely provides some perspective to the idea that ignorance is bliss. That saying always seemed strange to me before, but I can understand it as it relates to this particular situation. Maybe that's why Amai is always talking about how weird things are common knowledge. She'd rather be ignorant and blissful than admit that something's wrong.
"Anyway," Shizuka starts again, eventually, as she stands up, "Since you're here anyway, I guess I may as well make two portions for dinner..."
"Oh, it's fine, you don't have to!" I'd hate to impose, "My parents actually live in Korekara too, so I can always eat dinner with them. I did show up unannounced at your house and just walked in and went searching for you. I think I've caused you quite enough trouble for one day."
"Trouble? I mean, I have to cook my own food anyway. The least you could do to make all that up to me is let me actually be a good host for once in my life," She rolls her eyes, then holds a hand out to me. I take it and stand up, then she goes downstairs to the real kitchen rather than the prop one, and I follow.
"So what game were you playing?" I ask, deciding to make small talk now that the heavy topic's out of the way. I still don't know quite what Shizuka's real reason for being invited to this school is, it can't be a result of Meiko's death given they were planning to live together when Shizuka arrived. My earlier decision still stands, though. I won't press her on the matter, because she has better friends to open up to.
"Huh? Oh, I set up my wii in there. I was working on one-hundred-percent completion on Cooking Mama. I guess that's not really an impressive game, but I think after completing a no-deaths stream of Dark Souls I deserve to play something a little less hardcore," She shrugs, opening up the fridge, "Is it fine if I make pasta primavera? I have a lot of vegetables I need to use before they rot."
"Sounds good to me," I nod, "I mean, you're being nice enough to offer me dinner, you don't have to ask me what I'd like... Make what you want to, and I'll eat it."
"Pasta Primavera indeed," She decides, pulling out several bell peppers and cherry tomatoes from her fridge. Most grocery stores outside of metropolitan centers only carry produce in season, so I'm a little surprised to hear that she's got two vegetables whose seasons are decidedly not October. I guess when you're rich you can get any type of food you want anytime, no matter where you live.
Shizuka's food is good, though obviously not mind-blowing like Amai's is. That's only to be expected, since her talent is video gaming and she isn't even in the cooking club. It's still pretty great, and I would almost say it's unfair that she actually has two talents, but she's just so much better at the one she was admitted for that I wouldn't call them comparable.
Either way, her food's better than either of my parents', and way better than anything I could do myself, given that I learned almost nothing spending my first year in the cooking club. I really was mostly just in it to spend time with Amai. I'd have joined it again when I got back, probably, if not for Fucko's instruction to aid at the infirmary.
I'm glad that I am the infirmary aid, though. Iwako is actually nice, at least to me, and she seems to have information about the class who all died. I also get the feeling that she knows what Fucko and I are trying to do, since when I started asking about that class she told me that I have more important things to worry about right now. I guess she's right about that.
---------
"Apollo, come in," The communicator inside my ear buzzes with those words, waking me from sleep. I sit up and rub my eyes.
"Apollo here. Roxie?" It could be any number of a few different people, but I'm pretty sure I recognize her voice, "What do you want?"
"Don't be rude," She continues. I stand up and wander around the room, pacing despite the fact that I've been advised against moving around too much for the time being. Something about it wearing away on my joints until later on. I can't say that worries me much, though, and talking on the phone while sitting still just feels very tedious, "Do I have to want anything to contact you?"
I freeze where I stand, then deadpan, "Yes."
"Well, I don't," Roxie says, shocking me, "I don't need anything from you, I just wanted to update you on the situation. Everything is proceeding just the way that Fucko wants, though the subject is beginning to become curious about unrelated matters, such as how the AI knows what needs to be done, or what happened to the class of 2015. You still have some influence, right? Do you think you could push her back on track?"
"Influence or no influence, it's impossible to change what she thinks. Now, why is it a problem if she wonders about those things? Is the control function broken?" I question, tapping my fingers on a desk as I lean against it, "I thought I witnessed it working just yesterday."
"Witnessed?" Roxie questions.
"This is what happens when you don't check in, Roxie, you don't even know what sort of options I have at my disposal. This whole place is wired with security cameras. Collaboration between Kira and the club," I can't help but taunt her as I power up the monitors again, just to check them. I don't expect to see anything but Sakazaki and Yamiko around the school grounds in the middle of the night, but I may as well have a look around, "Very useful asset, as long as we don't let it fall into the wrong hands. Lucky for us, Sakazaki Yuu is the only possible leak, and our esteemed president has her under control."
"Are you sure that Kira's not the wrong hands?" Roxie asks, and I think about that for a moment. Well, we couldn't have gotten these set up without permission from the headmaster, so it's not like that's even a relevant part of the equation. Roxie continues speaking, though, "And isn't it very suspicious for you to be spying on an all-girls' school like this, Apollo?"
"As a man, yes. As me, Apollo, no. As men go I'm not exactly on the scale of likely to peek at the girls' locker rooms," Just as I say this, I notice something on one of the screens. That's... Odd. I expand it to the full monitor rather than just the quarter it was taking up to get a better look, and just as I was worried, there's somebody standing in the middle of the courtyard, wading in the fountain, "Hey, Roxie? Any info on an unidentified student who stands in the fountain on this night?"
"You know where I get my data, right? What possible reason could she have ever had to witness this?" Roxie questions, and I realize that she's right. This is a variable we couldn't have possibly predicted, and unknown variables have a habit of throwing things off. I realize what I have to do. There's only one option, I can't go investigate it myself. I have to outsource.
"Roxie, I'm gonna have to call you back," I say, then hang up on her before making another call.
"...Hello?" Sakazaki questions, answering without a hint of grogginess. It's nearly two in the morning, she should be asleep. Then again, she is a disaster. I'm pretty sure she's been drinking from the pitch of her voice, but I can just hope it's been a light beer night rather than any heavier liquor.
"Yuu-senpai," I refer to her with respect despite not technically being her underclassman. I'm still younger than her, "It's Apollo. We've met once before. I need you to take on a mission for me."
"A mission?" She questions. Good, I've piqued her interest.
"In the courtyard right now, there's a girl wearing the Korekara uniform who has waded into the fountain at the center. I can't make out her identity. Think you could find that out for me?"
"Can do, Apollo sir!" Sakazaki agrees, and stays on the line as she makes her way out to the courtyard. I watch her on the cameras, though I keep my focus on the courtyard camera. The girl standing in the fountain hasn't moved. Sakazaki arrives in the courtyard, then approaches the fountain. Since the only way to identify the girl is to see her face, and to do so would require shining a flashlight at her, Sakazaki doesn't bother to be stealthy. She moves to the edge of the fountain then calls out, "Hey, you! What's the big idea?" The girl in the fountain turns to face her, and she exclaims immediately, "T-Tomoe-chan!?"
"Saka...zaki..." I can hear Tomoe through the communicator as she steps toward the wall of the fountain, reaching out, "Please, don't make us... go back there..."
"Us?" Sakazaki asks a clarifying question, and on the screen I can see another silhouette behind her. The frame is human, but the slow, creeping movements like a cat stalking its prey. Animal and unnatural. I act on instinct.
"Yuu!" I shout, "Get out of there, now!"
"H-Huh?" She questions, then Tomoe grabs for her wrist. She avoids it and starts running, only for both of them to chase after her. Tomoe's legs hardly seem to be moving, but she's keeping up with the other's savage movements. As she's running, Sakazaki yells back at me, "It's Tomoe and Nami, but... it's not them! Apollo, they're Class X agents, aren't they?? What are they doing here!?"
"Good inferring," I can't help but praise her observation, "They're definitely not human. Nami and Tomoe Kaguya died gruesome deaths, and-"
"That's the thing," Sakazaki continues, checking the doors as she goes for one that's not locked which she could hide inside, "Tomoe's got an eyepatch, it's on the same eye that those thugs- That she got hurt. You have any clue what the Hell those scientists are up to this time?"
"You're more in with 'Assis-co' than I am at this point," I answer, "I know less than you do. If I had to hazard a guess, though, Kira sent off the bodies for experimentation. Maybe they're being controlled by AIs. Robots in flesh bodies," It's the only theory I can think of, since I know that those scientists haven't dabbled in demon magic since Ren Massou-Kobayashi turned up dead. Given the fact that Fucko could, if it wanted, take complete control of Box's body means it's also entirely possible that a corpse could be managed by an AI, if all organs and the like were restored to normal working order first. I can't imagine Doctor Same could manage a process like that, since she splits her time between surgery and chemistry, but there's always Doctor Martin...
"I really fuckin' hate Kira sometimes!" Sakazaki sounds like she's on the brink of tears, but manages to get one of the doors open. The infirmary. She shuts it tight behind herself, and locks it. There's one loud crash against the door as the thing which used to be Nami tries to get inside, but then the both of them give up and instead make a break for the school gates, both escaping into the night and out of my field of vision. Don't make them go back there. Were they trying to force Sakazaki to help them escape? Why were they at Korekara in the first place? I run back through the footage from earlier in the night, and my suspicions are confirmed. Certain cameras were disabled for a short time. Whoever created those two wanted to show them off to Kira. Further investigation of the footage proves to me that they must have escaped from Kira's office, but probably received some sort of halt command which was only broken when Sakazaki appeared.
I worry about that.
Things have been going so well. Box is doing so well. I'd hate for Fucko to have to start all over again. I call Roxie again.
"Please put the appearance of Class Experimental agents Nami and Tomoe Kaguya into your permanent databank. Maybe we'll know what to do about them the next time around."
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