Takane no Hana - 30 Afterwards
Title: Takane no Hana - 30 Afterwards
Authors: mpemba_effect
Note: Short and particularly sucky chapter this time, I'll start editing it as soon as the next chapter is up (without adding any additional important plot things, of course).
Attempt blocked.
"What? Come on, I'm not trying to hack top-secret files or anything. I'm just calling my good friend Yuzuki~"
Predictably, the phone didn't respond. Ryuu groaned, then reached for another bite of cake. He really didn't want to hack this - it was a government injunction, not one of Yuzuki's pet firewalls - without any other choice. However primative it looked, someone "up there" would probably notice if it were taken down. And he would be immediately suspect, given how few people actually had a motive for calling Yuzuki.
This is annoying. I want more cake...
He slid to the computer, tried to call up a few of Mitsuru's security cameras. Amazingly, they still worked at this range - he, or maybe Yuzuki, would have to do something about that, they couldn't have foreigners hacking the security equipment.
Another bite of cake; there was no need to think about that right now. He'd get someone else to reprogram all of it - later.
Ten minutes later, he was piloting a small robot to the doors of Yuzuki's lab.
And eating voraciously, in case the following scene should - unthinkably - make him lose his appetite.
* * * *
Age twenty-one. The year that psychologists designated as the prime age for both fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. The thought made Yuzuki feel old. What had she been doing at age twenty-one? Designing rockets. What had Rikuto been doing? Giving electric shocks to dead frogs. She wasn't quite sure that she should feel as satisfied as she did, but in any case, seemed that her competitiveness had persisted past Rikuto's death.
It was unfortunate that this dead frog paper proved so much more comprehensive difficult to read than her rocket paper, whether it was the academics or her own frustration that got in the way.
She allowed herself to startle at the sound of the door opening, even if she had expected it. The two girls who stood in the doorframe were not familiar, but they wore the tags of a military unit. Yuzuki frowned. They had sent goons to get her, to bring her to a new lab, with higher security and a military unit on watch every second so that Ryuu wouldn't stumble in like she did. She could probably sneak a lot past them, but had already made up her mind not to try it.
The government had obviously realized it's mistakes with Yuzuki's predecessor. And with herself. Rikuto hadn't lied, this whole fiasco was her fault in the end. It had been obvious that Rikuto had no faith in the project's success from the outset; he had just pumped in numbers and data in the hope that "they" would tire of it eventually. Yuzuki had just ruined everything by not being patient enough to play along - she killed Rikuto.
"I'll come quietly."
* * * *
"Aha."
There had been nothing to see in Yuzuki's lab, but after a few minutes of searching, Ryuu had stumbled across the police records of Rikuto's shooting, complete with a video stolen from some store's external security camera. He had winced briefly at the blood, but it had scared him a lot less than finding out for the first time.
Besides, he was a government official. There weren't many things that could faze him.
To prevent anyone from tracing it back to the true perpetrator, Ryuu had registered the session under Rikuto's name and citizen ID. Incredibly, it had worked for fifteen minutes before the police system realized there was a dead person prowling on the internet. And even then, they had probably attributed it to a glitch in the system. Ryuu smirked at that. If such a crack had appeared in his system, every programmer in A1, A2, and quite possibly the entire government would rush to fix it.
"Hey, Ryuu-chan~~~~"
...It was fortunate that he was ordering cake when Kotone walked in. Of all people, she should be the last to know.
"Oh, Kotone. I'm not sure if I can finish all this cake, so you can have some."
"Oh, really~? You're toooooo sweet~"
Ryuu turned to watch her descend the steps into the basement, still smiling and nearly - and probably on purpose - tripping on the fourth stair from the bottom, causing her to jump and land on her feet at the base of the stairs. It was then that her entire aura seemed to turn dangerous, even with that innocent smile: a phenomenom that Ryuu had witnessed a thousand times, but never in a time like this, or nearly so intensely.
"Ryuu. Agreeing to share cake with me without a bribe?" Glittering red eyes. Ryuu would have looked away if he wasn't so lazy. "What's wrong~?"
"Nothing. I just wanted you out sooner so that I could nap."
"Is~ That~ So~?"
"K-Kotone! Let go of my-AAAAARGH."
There would surely be black and blue spots where she let go of his cheeks this time.
"Remember anything now?"
Enduring the pain, Ryuu shook his head. Wow. That took energy.
Stay calm...stay calm...
"Ryuu~~~~~~ You know that Miaki is my best friend in the world, right?"
He decided that there was no safe answer to that question. And nodding took a little less energy.
"Well then." Kotone's eyes flashed - as much as human eyes could, anyways - and she finally dropped all traces of a smile. "She really is keeping secrets from me, huh~ Tell me exactly what is wrong with Miaki."
* * * *
"Fireworks?"
Mitsuru had pretended not to notice Miaki's expression when she had approached him (there were trainees around, after all), but he took all the time he needed afterwards to ponder it. Miaki had seemed in better shape than Ren through the first days of their vacation, but that look had given him doubts. He was certain that it was a signal of some sort and not a lapse in control, and so he made a note to himself to watch those two more carefully.
Everyone seemed in a worse mood than usual today; it felt quite like he was being kept from some important secret. He couldn't imagine that Kotone's mood was anything but the product of stressing over Yuzuki or Rikuto, though, and the cause for Kyuki's and Kazue's pains were quite obvious.
The first of the fireworks lit the sky - Kotone was babbling away at a silent Kazue about how beautiful it was and how - oh look! - that one looked a bit like a bunny! Kyuki had joined them, his therapy apparently having aversively conditioned him towards Miaki. Satisfied that they were safe - both from outside dangers and from becoming dangers, Mitsuru let his gaze drift closer to the garden, where Dante was presenting Miaki with some sort of flower as Ren stood guard.
Looking back, he saw Kotone following him with a questioning stare, and shook his head slowly. The smile she returned was almost cold, but as she turned back to Kyuki, Mitsuru didn't see any signs of anger in her body language.
Still glancing backwards, though not nearly enough to arouse suspicion, he crossed over to Miaki. Upon noticing him, the spy beckoned him closer and gave a quick apology to Dante, who backed away with what was either the pain of separation, frustration, or a look of conspiracy. And probably not the third one.
"Is it a mission?" He let Miaki ask him, as Dante was still within hearing range.
Mitsuru nodded, realizing that it was the first time in a while that anyone had led him. He was used to being the informer. Ah, well. This change of position would be good for him.
"Yeah. A mission."
-----------------------------------
<--- Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty-One--->
Authors: mpemba_effect
Note: Short and particularly sucky chapter this time, I'll start editing it as soon as the next chapter is up (without adding any additional important plot things, of course).
Attempt blocked.
"What? Come on, I'm not trying to hack top-secret files or anything. I'm just calling my good friend Yuzuki~"
Predictably, the phone didn't respond. Ryuu groaned, then reached for another bite of cake. He really didn't want to hack this - it was a government injunction, not one of Yuzuki's pet firewalls - without any other choice. However primative it looked, someone "up there" would probably notice if it were taken down. And he would be immediately suspect, given how few people actually had a motive for calling Yuzuki.
This is annoying. I want more cake...
He slid to the computer, tried to call up a few of Mitsuru's security cameras. Amazingly, they still worked at this range - he, or maybe Yuzuki, would have to do something about that, they couldn't have foreigners hacking the security equipment.
Another bite of cake; there was no need to think about that right now. He'd get someone else to reprogram all of it - later.
Ten minutes later, he was piloting a small robot to the doors of Yuzuki's lab.
And eating voraciously, in case the following scene should - unthinkably - make him lose his appetite.
* * * *
Age twenty-one. The year that psychologists designated as the prime age for both fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. The thought made Yuzuki feel old. What had she been doing at age twenty-one? Designing rockets. What had Rikuto been doing? Giving electric shocks to dead frogs. She wasn't quite sure that she should feel as satisfied as she did, but in any case, seemed that her competitiveness had persisted past Rikuto's death.
It was unfortunate that this dead frog paper proved so much more comprehensive difficult to read than her rocket paper, whether it was the academics or her own frustration that got in the way.
She allowed herself to startle at the sound of the door opening, even if she had expected it. The two girls who stood in the doorframe were not familiar, but they wore the tags of a military unit. Yuzuki frowned. They had sent goons to get her, to bring her to a new lab, with higher security and a military unit on watch every second so that Ryuu wouldn't stumble in like she did. She could probably sneak a lot past them, but had already made up her mind not to try it.
The government had obviously realized it's mistakes with Yuzuki's predecessor. And with herself. Rikuto hadn't lied, this whole fiasco was her fault in the end. It had been obvious that Rikuto had no faith in the project's success from the outset; he had just pumped in numbers and data in the hope that "they" would tire of it eventually. Yuzuki had just ruined everything by not being patient enough to play along - she killed Rikuto.
"I'll come quietly."
* * * *
"Aha."
There had been nothing to see in Yuzuki's lab, but after a few minutes of searching, Ryuu had stumbled across the police records of Rikuto's shooting, complete with a video stolen from some store's external security camera. He had winced briefly at the blood, but it had scared him a lot less than finding out for the first time.
Besides, he was a government official. There weren't many things that could faze him.
To prevent anyone from tracing it back to the true perpetrator, Ryuu had registered the session under Rikuto's name and citizen ID. Incredibly, it had worked for fifteen minutes before the police system realized there was a dead person prowling on the internet. And even then, they had probably attributed it to a glitch in the system. Ryuu smirked at that. If such a crack had appeared in his system, every programmer in A1, A2, and quite possibly the entire government would rush to fix it.
"Hey, Ryuu-chan~~~~"
...It was fortunate that he was ordering cake when Kotone walked in. Of all people, she should be the last to know.
"Oh, Kotone. I'm not sure if I can finish all this cake, so you can have some."
"Oh, really~? You're toooooo sweet~"
Ryuu turned to watch her descend the steps into the basement, still smiling and nearly - and probably on purpose - tripping on the fourth stair from the bottom, causing her to jump and land on her feet at the base of the stairs. It was then that her entire aura seemed to turn dangerous, even with that innocent smile: a phenomenom that Ryuu had witnessed a thousand times, but never in a time like this, or nearly so intensely.
"Ryuu. Agreeing to share cake with me without a bribe?" Glittering red eyes. Ryuu would have looked away if he wasn't so lazy. "What's wrong~?"
"Nothing. I just wanted you out sooner so that I could nap."
"Is~ That~ So~?"
"K-Kotone! Let go of my-AAAAARGH."
There would surely be black and blue spots where she let go of his cheeks this time.
"Remember anything now?"
Enduring the pain, Ryuu shook his head. Wow. That took energy.
Stay calm...stay calm...
"Ryuu~~~~~~ You know that Miaki is my best friend in the world, right?"
He decided that there was no safe answer to that question. And nodding took a little less energy.
"Well then." Kotone's eyes flashed - as much as human eyes could, anyways - and she finally dropped all traces of a smile. "She really is keeping secrets from me, huh~ Tell me exactly what is wrong with Miaki."
* * * *
"Fireworks?"
Mitsuru had pretended not to notice Miaki's expression when she had approached him (there were trainees around, after all), but he took all the time he needed afterwards to ponder it. Miaki had seemed in better shape than Ren through the first days of their vacation, but that look had given him doubts. He was certain that it was a signal of some sort and not a lapse in control, and so he made a note to himself to watch those two more carefully.
Everyone seemed in a worse mood than usual today; it felt quite like he was being kept from some important secret. He couldn't imagine that Kotone's mood was anything but the product of stressing over Yuzuki or Rikuto, though, and the cause for Kyuki's and Kazue's pains were quite obvious.
The first of the fireworks lit the sky - Kotone was babbling away at a silent Kazue about how beautiful it was and how - oh look! - that one looked a bit like a bunny! Kyuki had joined them, his therapy apparently having aversively conditioned him towards Miaki. Satisfied that they were safe - both from outside dangers and from becoming dangers, Mitsuru let his gaze drift closer to the garden, where Dante was presenting Miaki with some sort of flower as Ren stood guard.
Looking back, he saw Kotone following him with a questioning stare, and shook his head slowly. The smile she returned was almost cold, but as she turned back to Kyuki, Mitsuru didn't see any signs of anger in her body language.
Still glancing backwards, though not nearly enough to arouse suspicion, he crossed over to Miaki. Upon noticing him, the spy beckoned him closer and gave a quick apology to Dante, who backed away with what was either the pain of separation, frustration, or a look of conspiracy. And probably not the third one.
"Is it a mission?" He let Miaki ask him, as Dante was still within hearing range.
Mitsuru nodded, realizing that it was the first time in a while that anyone had led him. He was used to being the informer. Ah, well. This change of position would be good for him.
"Yeah. A mission."
-----------------------------------
<--- Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty-One--->