Chapter Text
WARNING.
PLEASE READ IN A WELL-LIT ROOM, AT A GOOD DISTANCE FROM THE SCREEN.
1998
“Hey mom,” Hiroshi Midorikawa gently greeted as he laid a bouquet of flowers on top of a grave, flakes of snow flying around him. The man pulled his coat tighter around him. “How are you doing? I’m doing pretty okay myself.”
“Stuff at the lab has been okay. I mean Johnan University is great but….part of me wishes I could do more,” Hiroshi sighed. “I should be grateful you know. I have a good job. I’ve got food on the table. I’ve got my best friend by my side…but I dunno. I just wish I could do more.”
The snow began to fall harder, and Hiroshi began to shiver. “Sorry, mom. I’d love to talk more but it would be hard to talk to you more if I get a fever. Love you.”
Hiroshi began to walk through the graveyard as he endured the snow, tightening the blue scarf around his neck. But as he walked to the graveyard gates, he heard quiet sobbing. The man began to look around, believing he was the only one in the graveyard.
As he searched, he finally found the sobbing’s source:
A petite young woman sat beneath the cover of an autumn-worn tree, shadows of the branches covering her face like scars. Despite her large blue and white coat nearly enveloping her, the man could make her pretty face, which was scrunched up in agony. At her feet, empty bottles laid before her.
Midorikawa began to walk away once he saw this. It was just another grieving person in the graveyard. It was best if he just left her alone. The man continued his way out but kept looking at the woman every couple seconds. The snow was beginning to fall harder and harder, so he was worried if she was going to actually leave.
The man finally made his way to the graveyard gates and took another look at the woman. But this time, the woman finally stared at him back.
Her eyes were so….empty.
“You might want to leave!” Hiroshi called out as he pointed to the sky. “The snow is starting to build up. It’ll probably be best if you head somewhere warm for the time being.”
The woman gave the man an interesting gesture with her finger.
Hiroshi said as he took one last look at the woman’s empty eyes and pushed through the gate. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Waiting in the adjacent parking lot, Hiroshi spotted the flickering lights of his friend’s car. The man pushed through the now downpouring snow and into the warmth of his car. “Thanks for waiting up, Sento.”
“No problem,” The man responded, a slight smirk on his face. Hiroshi rolled his eyes a bit as he realized what he’d say next. “After all, I am the very best.”
“Whatever, Rabbit Head,” Hiroshi joked as he looked at a slight patch of hair on Sento’s head that stuck up like a rabbit’s ear. “You’re the best at looking like an idiot.”
“This is natural hair!”
“Naturally stupid.”
“Whatever,” Sento laughed as the two drove onto the road. The lights on the car became brighter as the snow came down harder and harder. Hiroshi looked through the snow-covered window and couldn’t help but think of the woman. “Anyway, I got a call from the Lab. They’re gonna close it down. Apparently, the entrance is pretty much buried already.”
“What?” Hiroshi’s attention was still on the woman. “Uh…yeah. Lab.”
Sento raised an eyebrow at Hiroshi’s slightly zoned out response. The man cleared his throat. “So….what do you want to do? We really haven’t had a snow day since we were in middle school. What do you want to do? We’re stuck together for the day since we’re roommates and all.”
“Yeah.”
“What about that nanite research!” Sento responded excitedly as he tried to get Hiroshi’s attention. “We finally have a day off. Let’s do something fun like work with microscopic connecting quantum devices. Or we can work on that Cerebral Computer Chip that I’ve been brilliantly working on. We’ll bust out a pizza, grab some 60 Hour Energy, and do some good old guerilla science. Just like middle school!”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, what’s up?” Sento sighed as his wipers pushed away the snow accumulating on the windshield. “You’re out of it. Did something happen with your mom?”
“No! It’s just….” Hiroshi sighed as he pulled his scarf tighter around his neck. “We gotta go back.”
“Okay….I trust you but I kinda want a reason why.”
“There’s someone there who wouldn’t leave,” Hiroshi explained as he remembered the woman’s empty face. “They could get sick or even worse if they stay out.”
“Maybe they left.”
“If you saw her, you’d know she wouldn’t leave.”
Sento sighed as he flipped a switch on the dashboard. The windows glowed bright orange for a second as the snow completely melted. Another pair of headlights flipped up on the hood of the car. “You’re lucky I fine-tuned the car to survive in extreme weather conditions.”
“Thanks, Sento.”
A couple minutes later, Hiroshi found himself at the gates of the graveyard, pushing through the now extreme snow. He groaned as the wind nearly pushed him to the ground. But he endured the wind as his now slightly blue fingers gripped around the handle of the gate. With all of his might, he pulled the gate open.
The crunching of snow and the blowing of wind stung Hiroshi’s ears, but he persevered. The man squinted through the winter air until he finally spotted her. He spotted the empty woman leaning against the decrepit tree, slouched over as snow piled around her.
“Hey!” Hiroshi called out as he trudged through the snow all the way towards her. He gently pulled the woman out of the snow, carrying the woman in bridle carry. The man ignored his blushing face as he brushed snow from her face. “Stay with me! I need you to stay awake. Oh god, you’re freezing!”
“Leave me.”
Hiroshi’s eyes widened.
“Leave me.”
“I can’t….I can’t!” the man stammered as he trudged through the snow. “You’ll die!”
“I don’t care.”
“I do! Look, I don’t know what you’re going through,” Hiroshi panted as he got to the gate. He groaned as he realized the blowing wind had slammed it shut. Coupled with the cold, the metal gate was practically frozen shut. “But killing yourself is not the answer.”
“I’m alone,” she croaked.
“Not at the moment!” Hiroshi yelled as he slammed the gate as hard as he could with a mighty kick. The gate flung open, and Hiroshi allowed himself a slight moment of pride. Of course, this pride was followed by unending pain in his knee. Even so, he limped through the snow, carrying the woman.
The second he got to the car, Sento busted through the door, running to him. His eyes widened as he saw the woman. “Get her in the back! She doesn’t look too good. We better get to the hospital right now.”
Hiroshi got in the back, gently placing the woman next to him, leaning her against the window. The woman barely reacted as if almost freezing to death had no effect on her as a whole.
“Sento, how fast can we get to a hospital?”
“Fast enough!”
The car sped through the blizzard.
“Frostbite,” the woman grumbled as she pulled the IV drip out of her arm. Hiroshi tried to stop her, but she just pushed him aside as she pulled on a jacket, still in her hospital clothes. “Hooray. Needed that on top of all my preexisting problems.”
Sento and Hiroshi immediately jumped from their seats. They had gotten to the hospital about two hours ago. The woman was thankfully not too heavily injured, but she did have a case of frostbite around her fingers. The plan was for her to be kept in the hospital overnight for observation with a possible release in the morning….
But she obviously had other plans.
The woman strode through the hallways of the ER, shoving nurses and patients alike out of her way. Hiroshi trailed behind her, saving the pushed nurses and patients. “I don’t think you’re allowed to leave!”
“Bite me,” she scoffed as she finally made her way to the exit. The snow fall had lessened since they arrived at the hospital. But it was still quite heavy. She groaned as she went up to the ER Receptionist, snapping her fingers to get his attention. “Yo. I gotta leave. Can you call <insert Faiz Reference>
“Ma’am. I’m pretty sure you’re a patient.”
“The name’s Shoko Isurugi, you troglodyte. And my patience is wearing thin,” The woman, who Hiroshi know knew as Shoko, snapped. The receptionist was less than happy as she gave the frostbitten woman an interesting gesture. The woman returned the gesture in kind. “Fine. I’ll just do this the old fashion way.”
Shoko went back to the exit and into the snow. Hiroshi sighed as he gently pushed Sento. “Let me deal with this. I got us into this situation. So, I’ll deal with it.”
Hiroshi immediately tightened his scarf around his neck and rushed out. Thankfully, Shoko got a total of five feet out, the cold forcing her to shiver in place. Hiroshi grabbed the woman and then pulled the two of them back into the warmth of the hospital.
“Hey hands off!” Shoko scowled as she shoved Hiroshi back, flakes of snow falling onto the hospital ground. “I can take care of myself. Alone!”
“Look, we’ll drive you back to…wherever you want to go,” Hiroshi rubbed the bridge of his nose. “After that, we’ll leave you be. Just…just let us help you.”
Shoko stood in silence, pondering her answer.
A couple minutes later, the three were back in Sento’s car, a thick awkward silence permeating the entire drive, the only sound being that of the GPS. Shoko would grumble a bit, Sento would cough, and Hiroshi would try his best not to feel the awkward silence.
Fittingly, Hiroshi broke first.
“So….” Hiroshi considered the things he wanted to ask. He wanted to ask who the woman was visiting in the graveyard. He wanted to ask why she wanted to freeze to death in the blizzard. But he knew those were things you wouldn’t just drop on random strangers, even if they were strangers that saved your life. “Uh…you got insurance? You sorta just dined and dashed at a hospital.”
“My work will take care of it,” she muttered, Hiroshi speaking a bit at her. The woman looked tired as she watched the falling snow. Was she imagining being back in the deadly cold? What was going on in that head?
“Crap,” Sento scowled as the extra headlights that he had built into the car’s hood began to spark and flicker. What made things a bit worse was now the actual headlights were sparking and smoking as well. “Now that isn’t supposed to happen.”
“You probably hardwired the resistors in series than in parallel,” Shoko began to spout out, Hiroshi’s eyes widening in surprise at the woman’s words. “Doing that will help ease the insulation and allow better flow of current. Resistors working in tandem than in a singular line tend to have better results when it comes to mechanized turn switching like what you did with the car. Also, you probably wired them like a moron.”
“Holy crap,” Hiroshi managed to spout out causing the woman to smirk. Sento was less impressed as he rolled his eyes in annoyance.
“Smartass.”
“Smarter than you.”
“I doubt it,” Shoko snorted as the car began to smoke, causing the snow on it to melt. The car began to sputter as it rolled into the parking lot of a large apartment complex. First, the surprisingly genius mind of this random person he’s met and now she lived in a penthouse. This Shoko Isurugi was just full of surprises.
“Hey, can we not do this right now,” Hiroshi snapped as the car shook from the blowing snowy winds. “Good news: we’re here. Bad news….I think we’re stuck here. The engine just conked out.”
Shoko was quiet for a minute, once again pondering that snow outside. She groaned as smacked her forehead against the window. “Okay, look. I’ll let you guys stay here for the night. But if you do anything weird-“
“What? You’ll kill us?” Sento laughed.
“No. That’ll be too quick.”
“Awesome apartment,” Hiroshi managed to breathe out as he walked around the massive space. Paintings lined the walls, ranging from azure butterflies to the wide expanse of space. Midorikawa walked up and observed the many framed certificates that mixed with the expanse of paintings. From PHDs to other doctorate awards that Hiroshi didn’t even know existed, she was quite the science wiz.
However, Sento remained unimpressed causing Shoko to roll her eyes. “Ours is smaller sure but we’ve got personality.”
“I don’t even want to imagine the rent on this place,” Hiroshi breathed out as he looked to the size of the living room, three large plasma flat screens and a fancy looking recliner catching his eye. A small electronic fireplace blazed contrasting with the snow outside. Hiroshi looked through the glass doors of porch and winced at the weather.
They really were stuck in for the night.
“I’m not sure,” Shoko shrugged as she gestured for the two men to follow her. Hiroshi and Sento’s jaws dropped at the two guestrooms which were about as large as their own apartment. The young Midorikawa looked with excitement at the large comfy bed, his back aching from sleeping on a beanbag. “I don’t even pay for it. My bosses do.”
Shoko leaned against the frame of Hiroshi’s door as she watched Hiroshi explore around the large guestroom. Hiroshi felt his face reddened as she saw Shoko slightly smiling at his wonderment. “Wow. They must….uh…really love you.”
Shoko’s small smile disappeared. “The Alan Institute looks out for the specially gifted. Since I’m pretty smart….guess they look out for me. Well….mostly. I guess today’s the exception. Better check with Mister Yoshi if I can remote work tomorrow.”
“WAIT, YOU WORK FOR THE ALAN INSTITUTE?” Hiroshi blurted out with Sento immediately barging into Hiroshi’s room. “How do you work for the Alan Institute? Who are you?”
“Yeah. I work for them. Don’t say anything about that by the way. The last thing I need is people banging on my door asking questions about the mysterious Alan Institute. That shit would just be annoying. I like my peace and quiet thank you very much.”
“If you didn’t want us,” Sento asked slowly as if Shoko was a child who couldn’t understand what he was saying, “Then why tell us?”
“I don’t really give a shit. The Institute doesn’t really punish people for knowing anyway.”
“What do they even do?” Hiroshi asked. “I mean….are they philanthropical? From what I’ve read and been able to find in articles, you guys seem nice.”
“I can’t tell you or I’d kill you?” Shoko laughed as Hiroshi’s face whitened. “I’m joking. It’s cute when you get flustered. Anyway, that I can’t tell you. Gotta upholds that honor code.”
“Come on!” Sento pouted as he tapped his foot over and over like an annoyed rabbit. “What is it? Do they want control of the world? Do they want to hold the world ransom for diamonds or something? Love and peace. What’s their goal?”
Hiroshi saw how annoyed Shoko was getting and gently placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Sento, it’s her business. We’re all tired so let’s hit the hay.”
Sento and Shoko glared at each other at the man left the room, leaving just Hiroshi and Shoko. The young woman sighed as she opened up a wardrobe that was next to the door. “Pajamas and blankets are in here. The pajamas should fit you and the blankets are artificially spider-silk so you should feel comfortable. Kikuchi Cleaners always pick up my load in the morning so it’s okay if you get them messy. I don’t really give a shit.”
“I get that impression you don’t care a lot.”
Hiroshi felt sad as he saw how empty Shoko’s eyes were once again.
“There’s nothing much for me to care about.”
As he guessed, Hiroshi walked down to see the patio open, Shoko sitting in the blowing snow. Wrapping his blanket around his body, the man shivered as he stepped barefoot onto the snow-covered patio. Shoko’s eye widened as he saw the man sit right next to her, snow immediately starting to build on his head.
“You’ll freeze to death,” Shoko sputtered out. Hiroshi did his best to hide in how much pain he was in. Acting as cool as the winter air around him, he simply shrugged.
“So will you.”
“Fine,” Shoko snapped. “See if I care.”
“Okay.”
The two sat quietly shivering together in the snow. And the first one to break was Shoko, the woman standing up and grabbing the back of Hiroshi’s collar. Snow dripped onto the carpet as she pulled the man into the kitchen. “You’re an idiot!”
“I’m actually pretty smart.”
“You were going to get yourself killed with me!” Shoko snapped as she jammed a finger into Hiroshi’s chest. “What’s wrong with you!”
“I….I was worried about you.”
“And so, you were going to get yourself killed with me?”
“I don’t want you to get hurt,” Hiroshi whispered as he looked at the woman’s still empty eyes. It was so uncanny that despite her angered state, she still had no life in those eyes.
Shoko’s began to jam her finger into Hiroshi’s chest over and over. “Stay out of my business! Stay the hell out of my business!’
“I have nothing left!” she screamed frustratedly as she continued to push Hiroshi. “My mom is dead!”
She stopped pushing Hiroshi and grabbed him by the collar, pushing him against a wall. “My dad is dead! My mom is dead. I…I never got the chance to tell Satsuki how I felt…I don’t have anyone left.”
“So, what else do I have left,” Shoko’s gripped loosened as she collapsed onto her knees, tears spilling onto the floor, “but to hurt myself?”
“Mom….dad….big sister….Satsuki…” She croaked as she curled into a ball. “I’m alone.”
Hiroshi stood there for a minute just watching the crying woman.
But then he sat down next to her. “You aren’t.”
“Why are you doing this for me?” Shoko sniffed her face still buried in the protection of her arms. “I’m just a stranger?”
“You’re someone who needs help,” Hiroshi resolutely responded. “That’s reason enough.”
Shoko was quiet and then a second later, Hiroshi felt her finger jam on the side of his head. He looked to the woman, her face poking out of her arms. And those eyes were now shining with life.
“You’re a dummy.”
2000
“Come on, Professor Okamura!” Hiroshi pleaded as he slammed his fist into a nearby tree. “This project will help local responders work at a more efficient rate!”
“I don’t care about firemen or local responders or your naïve dreams about making the world a better place,” his phone buzzed. “I’m shutting down the project!”
“You’re a piece of shit!” Hiroshi snapped, his anger getting the better of him. “Your unruly sack of—”
Erika cringed at what Hiroshi said. “Wow….I didn’t think some of those words existed. You’ve anger issues man.”
“Yes. That’s something we BOTH have in common don’t we.”
“I’m so sorry I’m late!” Shoko breathed out as she ran to Hiroshi, dust kicking up from her boots. Hiroshi simply smiled as he got up from the bench, trying not to hit the hanging welcome sign of the Mount Fuuto Trail. Hiroshi kissed her cheek, and the woman blushed as she awkwardly kissed his. “Yoshimatsu was a freaking slave driver today. Dude’s got control issues.”
“I’m aware,” Hiroshi sighed as he rubbed his temples remembering the late nights that Shoko had spent yelling about Yoshimatsu. Romantic date nights had become rage date nights where she’d scream about how much she hated his pompous attitude and general condescension. “You’ve complained about him daily. And you have a dartboard with his face on it.”
“I have no regrets about that,” she smugly smiled. “Anyway, we’re hiking this sucker, right?”
“Yup. We’re going all the way to the summit,” Hiroshi smiled, trying to hide his fear as they began to trudge through the path. If his calculations were correct, and they usually were, by the time they got to the top and were sitting down…
The sunset would come out and shine all over them.
The perfect romantic atmosphere to do what he wanted to do.
“Man, this is tough,” Shoko panted out as she nearly tripped on a rocky incline. Hiroshi quickly grabbed her by her armpits, giving her legs control to reorient themselves accordingly. “You really want to go this summit huh?”
“Yup.”
“By the time we get there, it’ll be like sunset.”
“I’m okay with that.”
“Okay weirdo,” Shoko laughed as she took Hiroshi’s hand. “How’d your day go at the lab?”
“Meh,” Hiroshi groaned as his head slammed into a tree branch. He had recently gotten a research grant with Sento and the two had thought of project to help out local firemen. Instead of wearing cumbersome fireproof uniforms, they had developed a more flexible fireproof suit that would also be quick to deploy. It was…a work in progress. “The suit deployment was a mess. When the firefighter deployed the device from the belt, the suit ended up getting mangled.”
“The sleeves got tangled didn’t they.”
“Yeah,” Hiroshi groaned with Shoko simply laugh as she curled her fingers through Hiroshi’s. “It’s a bit hard to start fires when your arms are twisted around. The project’s getting shut down.”
“Sorry honey. What now?”
“Well,” Hiroshi sighed. “Me and Sento have been working off my dad’s old trust fund for our projects. There’s still a little bit left but not a lot.”
“Still using science to help the world huh?” Shoko rolled her eyes, a bit annoyed. “That’s naïve.”
“Can we not do this right now?” They’ve had this argument a lot.
“Fine. “Well, if it makes you feel better, you’ll get it to work,” Shoko scratched her chin, her face taking on her thinking mode as her eyebrows scrunched in thought. “The suit is stored as nanite particles that form together in response to a stimulus. Maybe you miscalculated the suit timing. How is it even activated?”
“A button presses to initialize electrical impulses to start the suit formation.”
“Maybe you need a verbal command to allow the impulses to work more properly,” Shoko explained. “The nanites respond to the electrical stimuli but they all are receiving it at different times due to how current naturally travels. If you make them all listen and respond to a verbal command, they’ll all receive the stimuli at the same time which could help ensure suit forming naturally.”
“Huh. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Still….firefighters?” Shoko raised an eyebrow. “you’re creating a fireproof nanite suit for simple firemen? Your brain should reach higher heights.”
“Well….I am limited by…well was limited, by my grant money,” Hiroshi shrugged. “Plus, these guys work hard. The least we can do is try and make their lives easier.”
“You should be making exceptional lives easier,” Shoko snorted causing a flare of annoyance in Hiroshi. Looks like they were doing this conversation again. “Not insignificant lives.”
“There’s nothing insignificant about firemen.”
“I never said they were. It’s just there are so many others that deserve scientific help.”
“Look, just because the Alan Institute only helps the exceptional doesn’t mean science should be limited to that,” Hiroshi groaned. “Have you ever considered that, heck, maybe their mission is kind of….low scope? You’ve shown me the work they’ve done, and it could change the world! It seems really, I don’t know….uh…. unpure? Yeah. It feels unpure to just limit that to people they consider special.”
“Their mission is pure. Science should only be done for the exceptional,” Shoko snapped, her eyes starting to blaze with anger. “Some people aren’t worthy of science. People are just sheep. Me and you? We’re not sheep. We’re the exception. We’re deserving of power. Not lower masses.”
“Shoko, which isn’t right.”
“Hiroshi, people are morons!” Shoko snapped. “I mean come on! You work at a university! How many times have you ran into some morons who got too drunk at parties or ended up using AI to write their essays?”
“I won’t deny that people can be stupid but,” Hiroshi realized that he needed to backpedal on this very quick as her ego was getting out of control now. Especially if he was going to do what he wanted to do tonight. “Shoko…can we not do this now?”
“Fine,” Shoko sighed. “Sorry for making things awkward.”
The rest of the hike was a bit quieter with some bits of conversation coming in and out. To be honest, Hiroshi didn’t mind the lulls in the conversation. He was getting too nervous to talk now.
Soon, the two sat on a blanket, overlooking the sunset. They had reached the top of the mountain.
Shoko laid her head on Hiroshi’s shoulder, the two cuddling as they took joy in the warmth of each other. “So…why Mount Fuuto?”
Hiroshi gently pulled himself from Shoko, the woman raising an eyebrow in confusion.
And he got on one knee.
“Oh god,” She began to tear up. “Oh god.”
“Shoot uh…too much?”
“Keep going,” she sobbed as more tears began to stream down her face. “It’s okay. Just keep going.”
“Okay. Shoko Isurugi….you are the love of my life,” Hiroshi gently proposed as he held his wife’s hand. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box, flipping it open. A blue jewel shined in the middle of a shimmering silver ring. “We’ve known each other for over two years. And we’ve been dating for those two years. I know your heart. You’re stubborn, sarcastic, and hard-headed and I love that about you.”
“Oh god.”
“And I want to keep being by your side, loving you, until the end of eternity,” Hiroshi Midorikawa proposed. “Shoko Isurugi, will you marry me?”
The passionate kiss that Shoko flung towards Hiroshi gave him her answer.
2008
The door to the apartment clicked open. Hiroshi smiled as he saw the beautiful blue eyes of his wife meet his own. She smiled briefly as she gave a small wave with her foot. “Hey.”
“Hey honey! I’m making curry tonight!” Hiroshi called out from kitchen, brushing away some circuit boards that Sento was playing with as he placed down a cutting board. Sento’s apartment had accidentally burned down thanks to him accidentally blowing up the electrical breakers. Until he could pay off the damages and find a new apartment, he was staying with Hiroshi and Shoko….much to her dismay. She was fine when Hiroshi moved in, but a lot less enthused with Sento did. “What’s with all the boxes?”
Shoko’s face and the many boxes she was carrying said it all.
Sento was the first to break the silence, his eyes open with confusion. “I know I’m smarter than you….but they really got rid of you? You’re a freaking genius! Like full stop genius! Not genius level me but genius!”
“I quit.”
“YOU WHAT?”
The box clunked to the ground as Shoko sat on the sofa, rubbing her temples as if cradling a headache. “Sento, I could I get moment with my husband?”
“I imagine you have a lot of talk about,” Sento muttered as he walked out of the apartment. Hiroshi stopped cutting the vegetables and took his place next to his wife. His own fingers curled around his wife’s.
And he responded in a dignified manner.
“You are freaking quit?”
“I’m aware.”
“I’m not judging you, Shoko,” Hiroshi sputtered out, trying to keep his baffled tone to a minimum. “But…the Alan Institute is your life! Why would you quit?”
Shoko took a deep breath. “I was recently put on a project to develop artificial hearts.”
“Wait why would that be a bad thing?” Hiroshi once again responded completely baffled. “Shit. Was it Walnut again? Did that bastard delete all your stuff again? I swear, he’s such a nuisance.”
“No, it wasn’t that piece of shit this time around. I heard he died or something. Anyway, It…it’s complicated.”
“Then talk to me.”
Shoko immediately began to tear up as her heart spilled open. “I couldn’t…I couldn’t agree with them anymore, Hiroshi. It…it all started when we were looking over the schematics for the heart last week. They were sound but they still needed some work on the heart valves and how that would interact with the heart’s internal battery. So….to do that we needed to do a firsthand look at a heart. Specifically, a child’s heart to get the specifics down.”
“Oh…”
“So….we visited a morgue at a nearby hospital and….” Shoko shuddered. “I didn’t do anything. I just stood to the side while the others cut that poor dead girl open. And I cried. I just cried. I don’t even like kids, but I couldn’t help but cry. And you know what the others did when I cried?”
Shoko’s tears fell down harder. “They just looked at me like I had the Plague. They looked at my emotional outburst and just thought it was confusing.”
“I needed some time to myself, so I excused myself to sit down. And as I did, I watched as dozens of patients went past me,” Shoko continued, her voice sounding like she was seeing a ghost. “I never looked at the hallways of the hospital just the hospital itself. And there were just so many people. And….and I felt guilty.”
“Guilty?”
“Hiroshi, you know what we do. You’ve seen what we do!” Shoko stammered. “I mean artificial eyes, advanced prosthetics, and more, the Institute is basically at the forefront of intelligence…and we do nothing! Hello, I talked with some other workers, and they feel the same way I do. We could do so much more….but we’re limited to only those chosen by that damn Alan.”
Hiroshi had never heard her speak of Alan in such a venomous manner. And truthfully, he wouldn’t blame her. He never agreed with the Alan Institute’s philosophy, and this was just confirming how screwed up it was.
“After we got back from the hospital, I asked Mister Yoshimatsu if I could talk to Alan,” Shoko rubbed her temples. Hiroshi got up and turned on a kettle, gesturing to her to continue. “I had done Yoshi a big favor recently with the development of the artificial eye project and so he decided to help me out. I met Alan today.”
“What did you ask him?”
“What do you think?” Shoko laughed bitterly. “I asked if we could expand the Institute’s mission to expand it to everyone instead of those who were special. I told him what I saw. I told him the ideas I had to implement artificial hearts in clinics across the country. I even showed him diagrams and sketches of how we could implement our works in various charities to get around any tax costs.”
Hiroshi grabbed two cups and poured the steaming tea into them. “So that’s what you’ve been staying up about for the last couple days about. I thought you were up because of all that vomiting you’ve been doing.”
“Well…that’s true about the vomiting but staying up that late to vomit gave me time to think about the future more,” Shoko laughed with an uncomfortable amount of bitterness. “And when he said no to my ideas….I knew my future couldn’t stay with the Institute.”
“So…what now?” Shoko responded to Hiroshi’s query by getting up and going to their bedroom. After a couple minutes, she came out with a large box filled with files and loose scraps of paper. Placing it down in front of Hiroshi, the man began to rummage through the files and paper, skimming over each page.
But despite the diverse information scrawling upon the many pages and files, there was only one thing that was a commonality amongst all of them.
“SHOCKER?”
“It’s just an idea for a start-up company organization thingy,” Shoko explained, her voice taking on an excited edge. “But I still have a lot of cash from my time with the institute and the money I got from my parents’ will. And some other workers have been talking about joining me in this.”
“Okay, but what is it exactly?”
“Sustainable Happiness Organization with Computation Knowledge Embedded Remodeling,” Shoko spouted off, her voice taking on a proud demeanor. “SHOCKER. We’ll remodel the world to create happiness that will be sustained with our science. I’m going to do what the institute will do….but for everyone.”
Hiroshi raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t against this plan but….others would not like it. “That won’t go well with the Institute. Especially if it’s being led and worked on by former employees. They aren’t exactly the nicest people.”
“Yeah, that’s why I’m keeping it down low,” Shoko continued as she began to pace around the room. “Considering that the Institute has its grips in a lot of government organizations too, we’ll have to especially stay out of government stuff.”
Shoko’s pacing stopped as she looked at her husband. “So….thoughts?”
“I love you and I support you,” Hiroshi answered honestly. He wasn’t against this idea, but idealism was one thing. Practicality was another, “but this is going to be a lot of work. And we’re going to have to double on our work if we’re going to do all this stuff in secret.”
“I think you underestimate how much the Institute was paying me. And how much the severance check I got was,” Shoko muttered as she reached into her pocket and placed a paper check in Hiroshi’s hand.
“Holy fuck. That’s a severance check?”
“Yup. The Institute made it large so I would be incentivized to keep my mouth shut about any of their stuff,” Shoko shrugged. “You think that’s large? Multiply that by 1.5 and that’s what’s saved in my bank account.”
“I knew you were rich but….holy fuck.”
“Holy fuck indeed my love. Holy fuck indeed.”
Hiroshi laughed. He wasn’t going to quit his job at Johnan University but with the funds and resources that Shoko could afford, he could help a lot with this SHOCKER as well. The man placed the check on the table. “Well….what’s the game pl-”
Hiroshi looked up and found that Shoko was gone. Following the sound of vomiting, Hiroshi walked over to the bathroom and pulled back Shoko’s hair. “Okay. This vomiting is starting to get out of hand. We need to go to the doctors.”
“Yeah. I really hope I don’t have the flu. That’s the last thing I need. God, this has been going on for a while too. Plus, I’ve been feeling kind of bloated.”
“Huh….I hope it’s nothing too bad."
The wind blew through the open windows, pushing past the two parents and gently brushing over the new members of their family.
Hiroshi sniffed as he gently rocked his daughter, the baby slightly cooing as he moved. Shoko sniffed as she gently rocked the other baby. She kissed the forehead of her child and looked at the baby girl with loving eyes. “Hey Mari. You’re so beautiful.”
“You want to hold Mari’s sister?” Hiroshi giggled and Shoko nodded enthusiastically. Carefully, the two switched babies, Hiroshi holding Mari and Shoko holding the other baby.
Shoko gently cradled the other baby, the wind gently brushing past the baby’s face. “Hey. I’m your mama now.”
The baby vomited on Shoko’s shirt.
“You’re going to be handful huh, Ruriko?”
2012
Hiroshi sighed as he walked onto a familiar scene.
“No!” Shoko snapped as she slammed the textbook shut in frustration. The mother and her daughter sat at the dining room table, tears dripping onto the wood. Ruriko sniffed as she rubbed her red puffy eyes with her small hands.
“Ruriko, this is simple calculus! It isn’t that hard!” Shoko yelled as she rubbed her throbbing temples. She had been trying to teach Ruriko things she had learned at her age but for some reason, she wasn’t understanding rudimentary integrals and infinite slopes!
“I’m trying, mama!” Ruriko sobbed. “I’m really trying! But it’s just really hard to get!”
“What’s hard to get?”
“I dunno like the part with the slopes? I don’t get why they’re slopes!”
“ARGH! IT’S SIMPLE!” Shoko yelled as she slammed her hands on the table. Ruriko jumped back and was trembling from head to toe. “Why don’t you understand! Your sister understands all of this perfectly!”
“I’m sorry!”
“Don’t be sorry! START UNDERSTANDING!”
Ruriko began sobbing as she ran from the table.
A couple minutes later Hiroshi sat at the table. He set down a glass of wine for Shoko and sipped from his own glass. “Don’t you think you’re going too hard on her?”
“My parents were like that, and I ended up great.”
“Yeah, but Ruriko just four, she’ll understand this stuff in time,” Hiroshi sighed as he rubbed his temples. “You need to go easy. Mari couldn’t sleep because of your yelling.”
“Ruriko needs to learn this stuff!” Shoko huffed as she sipped from the glass, nearly downing the entire glass in one gulp. “I just don’t get it. Mari is understanding this stuff perfectly! I gave her problems from your old Johann University textbooks, and she finished it without error!”
“Maybe Ruriko doesn’t want to be a science genius.”
“Oh god,” She smacked her face as she downed more of her glass. Hiroshi saw her face began to redden with frustration and the building alcohol within her system. “Did you hear what she said yesterday? She wants to be a reporter! Seriously?”
“Stop it.”
“I mean then Sento gave her that stupid box thing?” Shoko laughed with a hint of maliciousness that made Hiroshi very uncomfortable. “What was it? Like a camera?”
“It was his dad’s old Minolta-16 MG camera,” Hiroshi snapped back, a bit frustrated at his wife’s dismissal of Sento’s gift. He remembered how late Sento stayed up, refurbishing the device back up to working condition. “Since she wants to be a reporter and Sento’s dad had a reporter camera….it seemed like an obvious gift.”
“Reporter really?” Shoko finally finished her glass. “Mari wants to be like us! Why not Ruriko?”
“Look….Ruriko isn’t Mari. And you need to stop seeing her as such!” Hiroshi countered, not taking this nonsense anymore. “You know she thinks you don’t love her. She was crying last night after your little math lesson, and she couldn’t sleep unless I was there with her. She kept getting nightmares about you.”
“I do!” Shoko protested; her eyes wide in shock. “How could she think I don’t love her! I do…It’s just Mari….Mari is just perfect!”
“So is Ruriko. Look I know…I wish she was like us too sometimes. But she isn’t.”
“See!” Shoko called out as she pointed at Hiroshi. “Even you agree!”
“SHOKO!”
“Fine! I’m sorry,” Shoko smacked her forehead on the table over and over, thick thuds sounding out into the air over and over. “I know it’s just….”
“Look, I know your frustrated, ”Hiroshi finally finished, not deciding to entertain these thoughts any longer. “But don’t take it out on our kids. Please.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not the one you should be apologizing too.”
Shoko sighed as she got out the table and walked to Ruriko’s room.
“Happy birthday!” Sento called out as he pulled a party popper. Blue and purple confetti was flung into the air, landing on Mari and Ruriko’s faces. Hiroshi laughed as he snapped a picture of Mari being absolutely elated and Ruriko looking like a nervous wreck.
Mari giggled and gave her uncle a large hug. Sento ruffled the girl’s short black hair in response. “Thanks, Uncle Sento!”
Ruriko just meekly nodded in response as Sento ruffled her own hair as well. Hiroshi looked to see Shoko sigh. “Ruriko, what do you say to your uncle?”
“Th-thanks you,” she sputtered out causing Shoko to groan quietly in frustration. Sento wasn’t frustrated as he simply gave the girl another ruffle of her hair.
“Course! God, I still cannot believe you all are five,” Sento whistled as he walked into the kitchen bring out a plate of goodies: rice molded into the shape of a rabbit. Mari gave a bow of thanks as she gently took one and nibbled on it. Ruriko grabbed two and immediately shoved them in her mouth. “Time goes by way too fast.”
Shoko groaned at Ruriko’s demeanor, but Hiroshi gently elbowed her. “Shoko, can you not?”
“I’m trying.”
“Uncle Sento, what did you get me for my birthday?” Mari asked excitedly. “Did you get that Junior Super Deluxe Chemistry Set? Or are you gonna put that super cool computer thing in my brain!”
“Good guess. I can’t say no to my favorite nieces!” Sento smiled as he flashed a peace sigh. “And uh….no. The Faust Chip is still a work in progress. And how do you even know about that?”
“I got into your laptop. The password thing wasn’t too hard! Momma has been teaching me how to get into computery stuff!”
“You did what!”
Mari laughed once again, her joyful demeanor making Hiroshi ache from the massive smile he was having. She gently took another riceball and nibbled on it. Shoko gently interlocked her fingers with his. Quietly speaking up amongst Mari’s laugh and Sento’s exclamations about how she should not hack into people’s personal data servers. “Never expected to have this in a million years.”
“I’m glad you are now,” Hiroshi whispered as he kissed the side of her. Hiroshi felt Shoko absolutely melt into him. “We’ve got this kind of life ahead of us, Shoko.”
“I’m…I’m glad that I do,” Shoko whispered as she looked at her happy family. “I’m going to remember moments like this for the rest of my life.”
Ruriko opened up her gift and smiled, hugging a green grasshopper plushie.
Mari smiled as she opened up her gift, hugging a box of flasks and chemistry books.
Hiroshi wished this moment could last forever.
But time was not a thing that can stop.
Only move forward.
“Huh?” Shoko looked at her husband with confusion. Hiroshi had no answer as well. There wasn’t any party and Shoko did not invite any of her current SHOCKER start-up colleagues. No one besides Sento knew it was Mari and Shoko’s birthday anyway. “I….I didn’t invite anyone. Did you invite anyone else?”
“Sento is my only friend.”
The door busted open.
Hiroshi quickly stepped in front of his wife as a man in a black hoodie and shaking blue eyes pointed a gun at him.
“Cash right now!” He shakily barked, his arm shaking as he pointed the gleaming black barrel at Hiroshi, Shoko, Sento, and the children. “And no one gets hurt!”
“I thought the security system was on!” Sento snapped as he stepped in front of the two children. He quickly enveloped them in his arms, hugging them tight and trying to cover their eyes, the two girls trying to peak at what was happening.
“We had to shut it down an hour ago for updates to be installed,” Hiroshi answered. “We didn’t think anything would happen in an hour.”
“I’ve been staking this place out for the best time to bust in,” The man responded, his hands shaky. Hiroshi’s eyes widened as it was just a young man, no older than 23 from the looks of it. “When I saw that your security was poof, I took my chance. Now…”
He pushed the gun against Hiroshi’s chest, his heart beating even faster. “Cash. Valuables. Now!”
“Put down the gun, you little shit!” Shoko snapped as she tried to lunge at the man. However, Hiroshi quickly gripped her arm, trying to keep her steady. Her anger was slightly quelled by Hiroshi’s calm demeanor and pleading eyes.
Unfortunately, the home invader was less than calm. “Shut up!”
“Mama? Papa?” Hiroshi quickly looked at his children as he heard Ruriko’s quiet voice call out. Ruriko had pulled Sento’s fingers off her eyes. She tried to glance to see what was occurring, but Sento quickly covered his entire hand over her face. “Wh-what’s going on! What’s happening?”
“Nothing sweetie!” Hiroshi pleaded back, keeping his eyes on the man and the barrel of his gun. “Just not at the kids alright?”
“Shut up and give me what I want!” He screamed, a shaking finger over the trigger. “I will goddamn pull this trigger if I have to!”
“You touch my children or the rest of my family,” Shoko once again snapped, and Hiroshi saw her bare teeth like a rabid wolf. “I will slice your throat.”
The home invader’s shaking increased, his face making him only more open to anger. “Shut up!”
“Shoko! Stop it!” Sento snapped, trying to keep his hands over Mari’s eyes, the tiny girl flailing around as her curiosity was peaking. “Look, no one has to get hurt. We’ll comply, okay?”
“Okay, look we’re gonna go get what you want okay?” Hiroshi added as he saw the home invader’s shaking only seeming to increase. There was no telling what could set him off right now. “Let’s just calm down!”
“Mama, why does that man have a gun?” Mari asked as she finally pulled off Sento’s fingers. Quickly, she tried jump up and see what was going on, her short stature making it hard to make out what was happening as Hiroshi was still trying to block the view of the home invader.
He was hoping that would at least get the girl’s calm.
It didn’t.
As she jumped to see what happened.
Her little hands knocked the box of glass flasks and books to the ground.
The sound of shattering dreams screeched out in the apartment.
“SHUT UP!” The home invader screamed.
Hiroshi’s eyes widened as he saw his already shaking finger twitch over the trigger, the sound of breaking glass being the home invader’s own breaking point.
The bullet flew through the air.
Erika felt tears begin to stream down her face. She looked at Ruriko, whose face was completely unchanged and unaffected. She looked to Hiroshi and saw an equally unaffected face. “I’m so sorry, you two. God, I….I….I can’t even imagine…”
“The man ran after that. We were too distracted to find him to really care. After Mari’s funeral….we hunted for that man.” Hiroshi whispered his eyes utterly empty. “You know what happened next. My wife tracked down the man who shot our daughter. And….we didn’t take it well.”
Shoko closed the empty warehouse door behind her, leaving only her, Hiroshi, and a tied-up man in the center of dimly let warehouse room. Besides the man was a silver tray covered in various medical tools courtesy of Hirohi and regular working tools courtesy of Shoko. The floor was covered in plastic wrap and windows were covered in metal sheets.
His mouth gagged; the man pleaded for mercy but only came out as muffled gags.
The two of them considered saying something.
But decided to let their actions speak for themselves.
Hiroshi picked up a scalpel.
Shoko picked up a hammer.
With every cut of tendon and snapping of bone….Hiroshi felt his grief disappear. The man always heard of stories about how revenge was never satisfying, and it would bring you nothing in the end. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
He felt so happy.
He felt so in control of his life.
His family was lost.
His scientific career which was spent trying to help those in need was ridiculed.
And his Mari was dead.
But with this pain?
The pain of others?
That made him feel better.
Erika already knew what happened but couldn't help but whisper it. “You tortured him to death.”
“Yes.”
“This is where it started….didn’t it?” The orange-haired girl whispered. “Shoko’s bloodlust? Her desire for blood?”
“You know her so well….” Hiroshi emptily laughed. “Shoko was never that stable to begin with. Add happiness to the foundation to her already broken psyche….and then take that happiness away. And what you get is what’s ruling this country now.”
The two quietly walked into their bedroom, their hands covered in blood.
They found the man who had shot their daughter and tortured him to death.
Shoko whistled as she cleaned herself up.
Hiroshi just sat on the bed, staring at a static TV.
“That was fun,” Shoko called out as the sound of the shower echoed out. “That….that was amazing. I feel amazing.”
Her voice was like an earthquake, shaking and uncontrollable as she laughed and laughed. “I keep hearing his screams! I keep hearing them! I don’t hear Mari anymore. I don’t feel sad anymore!”
“It was beautiful! His pain was beautiful!” Shoko went on. “Don’t you think, Hiroshi?”
Hiroshi was quiet as he thought about how he felt from the way he sliced at the man’s tendons and tore out his teeth. He knew revenge wasn’t right. But it certainly felt right.
And he wanted to feel right.
He wanted to feel the happiness he felt in that moment he killed the home invader. He wanted to feel that again.
Because the alternative was dealing with the idea his baby girl was shot in front of him.
“Yeah….it was.”
2013
“I’m sorry but what is going on!” Sento yelled as he kicked the door down to the facility with frustration and shock. Hiroshi followed the man from behind, feeling completely empty. “First, I find out that you have secret lab in the middle of the damn forest like a creeper and then I use my chip tracker to find Ruriko in your damn secret lab!”
Sitting in front of a large, tinted glass screen, Shoko swiveled around her chair and looked at Sento with annoyance. Sento spotted her and solved, pushing past the masked scientists, only to be stopped by two men carrying gleaming rifles. Hiroshi glared at the men, and they moved aside.
“What do you want, Sento?”
“Shoko, what is going on!” The man pleaded as he ran his fingers thorough his hair, his eyes wide with worry. “Why are you in some secret lab in the forest? And why is Ruriko in your secret lab in the forest?”
“You aren’t here for the fact I stole your experimental brain chip? Don’t worry. It’s in Ruriko’s head. You were wanting human trials anyway.”
“Ruriko takes priority over the fact you stole my stuff!” Sento snapped as he grabbed the lapels of Shoko’s azure jacket, slamming her against the tinted window. However, he took a breath and let her go. “Sorry….I lost my cool. Look, I understand. I’m really sorry what happened to Mari. But whatever you’re doing….it won’t bring her back. It won’t make you happy.”
Shoko immediately burst into laughter, sounds of euphoric joy echoing out through the lab chamber. Hiroshi didn’t know what was going on….but he had a feeling he knew what just happened. Shoko had been studying and doing the math for Augmentation, but he didn’t know she’d do it on Mari.
And as he stared at Sento’s horrified face, he felt sick as he realized what his friend was about to see. “I concur. I will be very joyful if this works.”
“What did you do, Shoko!”
Shoko snapped her fingers, and the tinted window cleared. Sento stepped back in horror as he looked upon Ruriko. Green patches of scales covered Ruriko’s skin and blood red eyes replaced Ruriko’s soft hazel ones. Hiroshi saw Sento covering his mouth, trying to hold back vomiting, as he saw two mandibles jutting out of Ruriko’s cheeks along with thin antenna coming out of her forehead.
“Oh my god.”
Tears streamed down Ruriko’s scarred face as she quietly sobbed. As her little chest heaved with grief, the cables connected to her chest trembled. Hiroshi snapped his fingers as the window tinted, trying to hold back his grief.
“What did you do!” Sento screamed as he grabbed Shoko without restraint, slamming her so hard against the glass that it cracked. “What did you do to your daughter!”
“I gave worth to my worthless daughter,” Shoko snapped as she pulled Sento’s hands off of her. “I made her better.”
“Hiroshi,” Sento turned to his friend as he grabbed both of his shoulders. He looked at the man with fearful and pleading eyes, “we got to go the authorities. Or a hospital. Or anything! Your daughter just got forcibly turned into a mutant grasshopper robot! This is insane!”
Hiroshi ignored Sento and turned to Shoko. “You did this without consulting me. We both agreed that we would both choose a test subject.”
“My word means more than yours,” Shoko scoffed, rolling her eyes. “I formed SHOCKER not you.”
Sento looked horrified as he took a step back, only to be stopped by the armed men once again. In front and behind, the moral man was surrounded by SHOCKER members. “Hiroshi?”
“Sento, I didn’t know this was happening to Ruriko, hand to God, I didn’t,” Hiroshi took a breath as he tried to convince himself of the excuse he was about to spew out. “But….but this is for the best!”
“Hiroshi….I know she’s gone but-“
The Midorikawa immediately cut Sento off as he approached his friend, pleading with both his eyes and words. “Look, this is cruel, but it’ll make Ruriko better! She’ll be smarter and faster and better! She won’t get hurt like Mari”
And to everyone’s surprise….
Sento began to laugh.
Shoko and Hiroshi both began to look confused at the man’s laughter.
The man gestured to the numerous diagrams and other screens around the lab area. From diagrams of vibrational sharp cutters to experimental designs of high-velocity wing packs to schedules of illegal weapon shipments, Hiroshi knew that Sento knew he was just making an excuse. “Why are you really doing this?”
“It’s to help the world.”
“Why are you really doing this, Hiroshi?”
“It’s….it’s to protect those I love.”
“Tell me the truth,” Sento whispered, his quiet voice containing so much booming rage. Hiroshi knew that this man was a wildfire right now, an unyielding storm of ethics and morality. The SHOCKER scientist prayed that Sento would forgive him for what needed to happen.
“Sento, my mother is gone. My father left me. I lost Mari,” Hiroshi snapped as tears began to stream down his face. “All I do is lose and lose and lose! I’m tired of it. I want to be happy….and there’s only one way that’ll happen.”
“World domination?”
“Yes,” Hiroshi’s shoulders sagged in both shame and relief at the vocalization of the truth. “The pain of others will lessen my own. I learned that when me and Shoko killed the bastard who shot Mari.”
“Hiroshi….this isn’t you.”
“When you lose a daughter….you’ll understand,” Hiroshi countered as he jammed a finger into Sento’s chest, sending his friend tumbling back a bit. “When you lose a family member, you’ll enter that abyss. You’ll understand that never-ending misery. And you’ll do anything to get out of it.”
“I’m losing one right now,” Sento sighed as he looked behind at the soldiers with their rifles. He closed his eyes as he saw one of them loading a bullet in. The horrid sound of the reloading gun echoed out through the lab. “So….are you really going to let them do this?”
“For my happiness……yes. I choose me over you.”
“Hiroshi….to think,” Sento laughed maliciously as he stared his former friend straight in the eye. Hiroshi tried to look away, but Sento grabbed his collar as he forced Hiroshi Midorikawa to look at him, wanting to see what would happen, “that you would do this. I’m disappointed. Years of screwing around in elementary, hacking the announcement system in high school, blowing up lab equipment in college, and being each other’s family….all of that really didn’t mean a damn thing.”
Sento snorted with annoyance as tears began to stream down Hiroshi’s eyes. The man gave one last laugh. “You were my brother, you know? Hiroshi Midorikawa and Sento Kiryu. I thought we were a Best Match….a pair of brothers that would never hurt each other. Guess I was wrong.”
A soldier pointed his gun at Sento’s head.
And pulled the trigger.
“You are freaking psychopath,” Erika whispered out with Hiroshi simply hanging his head in shame. Erika looked at Ruriko whose face was turned away, her forehead leaning against the Cyclone. “I thought….I thought…I don’t know what to think about you anymore.”
“I know.”
Resisting the urge to throw a fist at Hiroshi’s face, Erika knew there was still so much more she needed to know. “So…what happened next?”
This time Ruriko interjected, a veil of frustration overlaid her typical monotone voice. “Stuff was horrible. End of that phase of the story.”
“There sounds like you skipped a lot.”
“It was accurate. After Ruriko’s Augmentation,” Hiroshi looked at his hands with anger and horror. “We spent the next couple of years advancing our study in Augmentation, weapon manufacturing, biological warfare manufacturing, black hole generation, and so much more. Think of any science fiction idea you’ve ever heard of, and I can confirm we explored.”
“You guys are like something out of anime,” Erika laughed humorlessly. “You all are damn insane you know that?”
“And it was mostly fruitful. We created Wasp-Aug, the first Second Generation Augment and one of strongest Augments to boot,” Hiroshi continued. “We realized we weren’t just limited to animal DNA and were able to create Plant-Human Augments. I repurposed my nanite suit idea to be used with Augments so they would be able to generate automatically deploying battle amor that would be both convenient and practical to use. With each advancement, SHOCKER grew stronger and stronger.”
Erika sat back as she tried to process what she had been told. She wanted to vomit but was doing everything to keep her composure. She already had lost so much already. And she had already come too far to really stop now. This SHOCKER….they were responsible for her becoming this….this mutant. She needed to see where all of this went.
She needed all of the truth.
After a couple minutes of silence, Erika finally spoke up. “You’ve been hiding so much. Can at least get some details about that time of you in SHOCKER? You owe me at least that.”
Ruriko spoke up once again, her voice utterly breaking. “I really don’t like to hear about my time in that hell. Please….”
Erika’s eyes widened as she saw how much Ruriko was shaking. What had they done to her in there? She wanted to just hug Ruriko right then and there, but she was afraid what could happen if she did. “What happened?”
2013 - 2020
Hiroshi typed away on his computer, ignoring Ruriko’s pained screams and the sound of whirling medical equipment.
He pushed away the guilt.
He pushed away the pain.
He pushed away any emotion that would restrict him from SHOCKER’s goal of domination.
The screams became louder.
And Hiroshi pushed the guilt further down.
Rationalizations all came into his mind:
It was for her own good.
SHOCKER’s goal was more important.
My role as father died with Mari.
Over and over, he played those realizations in his mind.
Over and over and over, trying to drown out the screams of Ruriko.
Over time, he didn’t have to drown them out. He simply didn’t hear them anymore. The screams continued, but his work was more important. The end goal of SHOCKER was more important than anything.
Even his own daughter.
“HENSHIN!” Erika yelled as she jumped on Hiroshi. Frustrated as no armor formed around her, Erika didn’t care as she began to slam her fists into Hiroshi’s face. “You monster! You goddamn monster! You let her get experimented and tortured for seven years!”
“I know,” Hiroshi croaked, a slight bruise forming around his eye. “I was so desperate to feel happy. And when I felt happy from torturing Mari’s killer to death….I just wanted to feel that again.”
Erika continued to pummel the man’s face with bloodied knuckles.
“Miss Janome!” Ruriko cried out as she grabbed Erika from behind, pulling her off. Erika tried to escape her grip as she hissed and clawed at Hiroshi. “Just…just let him continue!”
“I’ve heard enough! You’re no better than Shoko!” Erika called out, relishing the pained look Hiroshi had. “Goddamn you! Goddamn you to hell!”
Ruriko’s arms gently squeezed around Erika’s waists. “Please….stop.”
Slowly fizzing out, Erika found her anger disappear, her breaths evening out as she finally slumped in Ruriko’s arms. Slowly, Ruriko pushed herself away from Erika. The young Janome slumped on the floor, tears dripping onto the moldy wood. “Why?”
“Grief makes you a monster……you would know that.”
Erika looked back at Ruriko; her face absolutely neutral despite what went down. Everything about Ruriko seemed to make sense.
It was all Hiroshi and Shoko’s fault.
“What’s next?” Erika managed to snap out.
“What do you think? We discovered besides the Alan Institute, there were a lot more secret organizations out there in Japan. Care to guess who they were?”
2020
Shoko and Hiroshi watched as SHOCKER cleaners collected fresh corpses and cleaned off the puddles of blood all over the dock. A large empty shipping container stood before them, the lingering smell of gun oil being the only proof of weapons ever being there.
“What the actual hell,” Shoko whispered as Hiroshi quietly counted the number of bodies. There were thirty men: fifteen that delivered the weapons and fifteen SHOCKER members that were supposed to pick them up. Even without preliminary examination, Hiroshi knew they died quick from a coordinated assault. “Is it them?”
“Alan? Could be them.”
“Damn it. Damn it. Damn it!” Shoko snapped as she slammed her fist on a nearby shipping container, denting the rusted metal. “If it is, then we’re screwed. Hiromi, do you have the footage of the attack?”
“Hurry it up! We don’t have all night! If we’re here any longer, we’ll get detected by the local authorities! So, start moving it!” Hiromi called out, her yellow sundress being out place in everyone else’s grey and black armored coverings. After a couple more minutes of berating the speed of the cleaners, Hiroshi went over to Shoko and bowed. “Yes, Great Leader. I recovered it from the nearby security cameras. I’ve also wiped the footage as well to keep our anonymity.”
“What the actual hell happened?”
Hiromi’s eyes widened with fear at those words. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. “Great Leader, you know I respect your authority and intelligence.”
“Stop brownnosing and get to it.”
“What you are about to see is 100% accurate. I did not fake this. It could not have been faked,” Hiromi handed Shoko the phone. As Shoko press played, Hiroshi watched alongside her and understood why Hiromi was giving them a forewarning.
Hiroshi Midorikawa, the second smartest scientist in SHOCKER and Shoko’s second in command, could not believe what he was seeing. He had created human-animal hybrids and commanded the forces of nature with weapons of his designs. He had stared into the abyss of hell and walked back.
And yet he wasn’t sure if he could handle what he just saw.
Shoko’s jaw dropped as she played back the footage over and over and over again, Hiroshi guessing she believed if she re-winded it, it could rewind time itself. But time remained unchanged and as did the footage.
And after closing out the video feed, Shoko had only one thing to say.
“Did….did we just get our asses kicked by teenage girls?”
“Yatagarasu,” Erika said with a tone of fear.
“Yatagarasu,” Hiroshi confirmed. “We found out about LilyBell, HollyHock….and the Lycoris.”