May 11, 4:20 pm, Tokyo, j.a.pan

Something was wrong.

Michi sat next to the door in Ayai's kitchen, waiting as he stared at his phone. He read over the message Sakura had sent him earlier again and again. It was brief; "Got Bunta. Where 2 meet?" Definitely Sakura's texting style.

But to text him without trying to call him first?

That was not like Sakura at all.

"Have I ever told you that you're weird?" said Ayai. "Like, not in a bad way. But also not in a good way either."

She had just gotten out of the shower, hair wet as she dried it with her towel, already in track pants and a tank top.

"You haven't mentioned it yet," said Michi, still distracted by his phone. "But you've been giving off those vibes for a while now."

Ayai raised an eyebrow, and sighed as she opened her fridge.

"I've been thinking about what you guys have been doing," she said, scanning the fridge for food.

There was a small pause, Michi still on his phone, and Ayai frowning at the ingredients in her fridge.

"And?" asked Michi eventually.

Ayai closed the fridge door, opened the cupboard instead, and took out some cup ramen. Once Michi refused the offer of cup noodles, Ayai continued.

"The thing is, I want to think you guys are being paranoid," she said. "But from what I've seen so far, you guys are really in deep trouble."

"That's putting it lightly," said Michi, still not looking up.

Ayai leaned back against the counter as her water boiled.

"So that got me thinking," she said slowly. "That must mean you're up against the government or something."

"Not...exactly," said Michi, looking up from his phone for the first time.

"Who else would be able to do...whatever it is...they're doing then?" asked Ayai, frowning. The sound of the water boiling slowly got louder.

Michi said nothing for a while.

"We're just cogs in a machine," he said eventually. "We all know this."

Ayai nodded.

"A machine called society," she said. "Which we all agree to work within to get the best outcome for everyone."

"I don't think I need to tell you that it's easy to get lost in that machine," said Michi. "With you being...y'know. Ainu."

Ayai raised an eyebrow.

"What does this have to do with anything?" she asked.

"The machine is bigger than we think," said Michi. "j.a.pan is an industrialized country that export to and imports from other countries."

Ayai narrowed her eyes.

"You're telling me that you're up against a foreign government?" she said incredulously. "A foreign government that has the power to kidnap people on j.a.panese soil?"

"Not exactly," said Michi. Then he frowned.

Actually...wasn't that exactly what was happening?

Neurix wasn't a j.a.panese company. Sure, they were part of Congo, but Congo wasn't j.a.panese either.

How could they have so much power in j.a.pan that they were able to do all this?

"Then what?" asked Ayai, folding her arms as the kettle boiled. "If it's not a government, then what could possibly be..."

Her eyes went wide as she connected the dots.

"A company," she said. "Multi-mil- no. Billion dollar. Has to be in order to carry out experiments like the ones in the doc.u.ments. And that means..."

Forgetting her cup ramen, Ayai suddenly walked into the other room, leaving Michi at the door. At the same time, Michi heard the faint sound of footsteps on the other side. The sound grew louder, until it was a whole group of people on the floor moving together.

Michi looked through the intercom camera at what was happening in front of the door. If he was right...

A group of men in black were all walking past the door. Michi didn't see Jason, but he recognized them.

They were Jason's men.

Michi gripped his phone tighter as he watched them walk past the door and to the neighbors'. He heard them knock on their door.

His hunch had been right. Thankfully, he had given them a the apartment number for the neighbor instead of their own.

But...now what?

Michi bit his lip and looked down at his phone. If Jason had used Sakura's phone to text him, that meant that she was probably captured. Best case scenario was that she had lost her phone and Jason had found it, but he found that very unlikely.

"A company that could do this sort of large scale research, it would have to be something with a lot of money, and a lot of resources," said Ayai suddenly coming back into the kitchen. Michi turned to find her placing her laptop on the kitchen counter and scrolling through doc.u.ments. He recognized them as the Neurix doc.u.ments.

"And when thinking of global multi-billion dollar companies, the first one that comes to mind is Congo," Ayai laughed. "But there's no way that a delivery company like Congo could..."

Ayai's laughter trailed off as she looked at the expression on Michi's face.

"Did something happen?" she asked.

"Do you want to be part of this?" asked Michi. "Because if you don't, now is the time to decide."

Ayai blinked at Michi's sudden forcefulness. She bit her lip and considered.

"Is it Congo?" she asked. "Because if it is, I don't know what I could possibly do to help."

"We don't know what we're doing either," Michi replied honestly. "We didn't expect to find what we did."

Ayai went silent.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

Michi and Ayai jumped as someone knocked on the door. They both frowned and looked at each other.

"Police! We'd just like to ask a couple of questions," said a voice Michi recognized.

His eyes widened.

Jason.

Why was he knocking on the door?

At that same moment, the kettle boiled, alerting everyone that it was ready.

Michi looked at Ayai, whose face had settled on a determined expression. She jerked her head back, telling Michi to stand back. He got out of the way, and she pressed the intercom on.

"h.e.l.lo? What's going on?" she asked.

"May we please come in?" asked Jason smoothly, sending chills up Michi's spine.

For a moment, Ayai said nothing. Then:

"For what reason?" she said, sounding a little frazzled. "It's just, I haven't cleaned up, everything's a mess and-"

BBZZZZZZZZZZZZT!

Michi's phone rang, loud enough for everyone to hear. He checked to see who it was, and almost swore.

Sakura. He looked up at the intercom camera, and saw that Jason was holding a phone up to his ear.

If he answered, Jason would know he was in here. If he didn't he would also know, from the sound that Michi's phone was in here.

What could he do?

...

Nothing.

Nothing he did would stop Jason from coming in.

He had no options.

"Hold on sir, my phone is ringing," said Ayai, looking at Michi's expression. "Let me just answer that."

She let go of the phone, and took out her phone. She opened her alarm app, and Michi understood. He cut the call without picking up, and Ayai turned on the alarm.

They watched as they saw Jason look at his phone, then hear the alarm still going off inside the apartment.

Ayai turned off the alarm, and pretended to answer. She tried to do a fake laugh, but ended up coughing a bunch instead.

All the while, Michi watched Jason. This was the man who had kicked him out of his own house. Who had crashed into his life, with no regards for how it would affect him. He clenched his fist as his anger rose in his throat.

How had a man like this become a police officer? Especially when he already had a job at Neurix?

He watched as Jason got a call, and answered it. For a few moments, he listened to his own call, expression blank.

"Sorry about that Mr. Police Officer," said Ayai, pretending to put her phone away. "My mother. Asking me about marriage again. You know how they can be."

She tried to fake laugh a little more successfully this time. But Jason didn't seem to be paying attention. Instead, he stood there, in front of the door, blank faced.

Slowly, he put the phone down and ended the call. He spoke through the door once more.

"My apologies," he said calmly. "It seems we were misinformed about a few things. Have a good day."

Ayai and Michi both blinked in confusion.

"Ah? O-okay," said Ayai. "Have a good day!"

With that, Jason turned around, and punched the wall opposite them. Ayai and Michi looked at each other, confused by this act of anger, before watching him walk away.

"What was that all about?" Michi asked once they had left.

Before Ayai could open her mouth, Michi's phone rang again.

This time, the number was unknown. His heart skipped a beat as he quickly answered. He had a feeling...

"Sakura?" he asked.

"Who were you expecting, Cinderella?" said Sakura's familiar voice. "Listen, I just got off the phone with Jason-"

"That was you?"

"Wait, what?"

Michi quickly explained the situation, about how he had given the wrong address.

"Why didn't you give the address to the building across the street?" asked Sakura.

"I couldn't see them if I did, could I?"

"You could look out the window and see if there were a bunch of black cars out," Sakura countered.

Michi realized that she was right.

"Okay, well, I'm not trained at this journalism thing like you, Sakura," said Michi. "So cut me some slack."

"Slack, cut," said Sakura. "Look, I've redirected his attention, but he'll probably track us soon. I need some help with Bunta though."

"Where are you?" Michi asked.

Sakura told him.

"Are you safe?"

For a moment, Sakura didn't say anything.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Sakura answered truthfully. "I don't know what to do anymore."

"Hang tight. We'll be there soon," said Michi.

"Thank you."

With that, she cut the line.

Once more, Michi and Ayai shared a look.

"Let me get my coat," said Ayai, grabbing her keys.

***

Sakura

May 11, 4:37 pm, Tokyo, j.a.pan

Sakura smiled and handed the phone back to the lady she had borrowed it from, then walked back to the park bench.

The day was bright and clear; the exact opposite of how Sakura felt. She felt as if she was walking in a dream. Her movements felt weirdly disconnected, like she was controlling a puppet with her thoughts instead of her own body.

She looked over to Bunta, bloodied and bruised, lying on the park bench. She had illusioned it so that he looked like a couple, just sitting there, but she could still see through it. That was another thing she would have to add; she could now see through her own illusions if she wanted to.

She reached him, and sat down next to him. She took a deep, surprisingly shaky breath.

She was alive.

She was still alive.

And she knew everything now.

She looked up at the sky, all this new information swirling about in her head, and a single tear rolled down her face.

No. Calm down.

She was still alive. She had made it out.

Somehow, she had made it out.

Focus on that. On the one win she had today.

Because no matter what, that was a win.

Right?

She had made the right decision, hadn't she?

Well...

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