Takane no Hana - 35 New Positions
Title: Takane no Hana - 35 New Positions
Authors: Esana Bridges & akilei & lilblooskies & mpemba_effect
Note: So yeah...I finally got lazy too. :P
Light -
I wonder if that's the light they always talk about - the one that ghosts are supposed to head towards.
Kotone lifted her hand slowly and strained towards the light.
It didn't come any closer - or get any brighter. It just hovered in her mind's eye, in exactly the same place.
Strange. How do I get there?
Again, Kotone reached. Nothing. She gave up on the reaching - it clearly wasn't doing anything for her. She instead tried to recall how she'd gotten wherever she was - which reminded her, just where was she anyways?
She came out of it slightly, trying to see around the light -
Red - everything was red - even the light in her mind's eye was tinted with it, a deep, crimson red that slowly faded to black along the edges of her vision -
Blood, Kotone surmised. It's blood. Did I die bloodily? She wondered - but inside, she already knew what was going on.
Well, I guess I failed, She thought.
Closing her eyes shut tighter, Kotone tried to recall what exactly had happened.
They'd caught her - somewhere - the place was too fuzzy for her to recall - before she'd managed to do anything to herself. It had been - Ryuu and Mitsuru, and Ryuu had had tranquilizer bullets. She had dodged all the shots that he sent her, but hadn't been careful enough - Mitsuru had gotten her with a hidden dart in the shoulder blade, and it had only taken a few seconds for the tranquilizer to get through to her system.
It must have been a new kind - she had immunity to most of the common ones since she'd been shot with them so many times, both in real life and in simulations, probably just designed by Yuzuki or Rikuto -
Rikuto. Something seemed to break inside of Kotone briefly. Betraying Rikuto up to the government, revealing what had been going on between him and Yuzuki, revealing that he hadn't kept his secret that secret - essentially, killing, Rikuto -
Kotone pushed the thought away before it could do anything else to her psyche.
Alright, I know how I got here now. Just - where am I?
Very stealthily, Kotone slid one eyelid partway open, maintaining it at that level without any of the twitching that would accompany a novice's attempt at such an action. But then, she wasn't a novice - she was an expert.
The room that she was in was very - orange - in fact, everything but the light was colored that way, and even the light seemed to be tinted towards that way. The ceiling was smooth with interesting flower designs, designs that looked vaguely familiar -
An annoying voice interrupted her observations and, instinctively, she almost closed her eyes fully again, but held off just in time. "Kotone ~ Welcome back to the world of the living ~" And then, when Kotone didn't respond, "I know you're awake, Koto ~ Don't even try to hide it from me."
Very slowly, Kotone opened her eyes.
Standing above her, smiling his usual mischievous little smile, was Kaim.
A crush. Brief infatuation. A complete waste of time. Manami's face and her words flashed in Kazue's mind. A scowl came to her face just thinking about it. Especially if you waste precious time to do nothing but - She searched for the right adjective - bubble - she shuddered just thinking the word - about them.
About him. Ryuu's face was amazingly clear in her mind, his body tilted towards her, the gun in his hand, the very cold way his finger pulled the trigger with no hesitation.
It made her shiver just a bit, though she wasn't quite sure what the feeling inside of her was. Maybe fear - maybe, but it didn't really feel like it to her. She'd felt fear before, but this was different. She had every reason to be afraid. Ryuu was a good killer - an amazing killer - that much, she was absolutely sure of.
But what else was there to him? Was there anything else?
"Is he cute?"
Her father's question came back into her mind and distracted her briefly from what she was doing - weaving blades of grass together to create a sort of net - just in case they had to stay outside that night and needed to catch their own food. She had already set up a small stack of firewood and found a few good rocks for making a fire.
Which would be silly, Kazue thought. There was no real point in wildlife survival - not when technology dominated almost every inch of the world now. Still, it might be something the government tested them on - they'd already done a lot of silly things that day - and it might even come in handy someday, if they were ever sent to some ridiculous place that had yet to catch up with the rest of the planet.
Her mind drifted back to her father's question as she slowly began to weave again. Her fingers occasionally got caught between the grass and she had to carefully unwind that part without undoing any of the rest.
Cuteness was in the eye of the beholder and Kazue really didn't have -
No, that's a lie, Kazue interrupted herself. Even if she could lie perfectly to anyone else, she found a harder time lying to herself - her mother had always told her never to do it. Ryuu's face flashed in her mind again, and there was an uncomfortable warm tingling on her cheeks, though that quickly faded.
Kazue looked down at the half-made straw net in her hands, the weaves small and well-done.
Cute...
"So, Koto - ne is with Kaim?" Miaki asked. She had started with it, but she just couldn't bring herself to use Kotone's nickname - not right now, not with what she knew and what had just happened. It felt too odd - like Koto was someone who had died, and Kotone was a new person, someone that she didn't really know.
And maybe, I really don't, She thought, a bit sadly.
She was sitting in the meeting room - Mitsuru's room. They'd originally planned on meeting in the sunroom in order to get some natural air and light, but it had been too much, what with Kotone's special scent still lingering there, so they'd moved to Mitsuru's room. Mitsuru was sitting at his desk, hands folded before him, Ryuu on his bed, his gun next to him, his head bent - Miaki wasn't quite sure if he was awake - and Ren on a random chair that she had dragged from another room.
Mitsuru nodded. He had managed to calm down after several unidentified pills and a very quick, cold shower. "She won't be able to escape from there. Security has been tripled."
There were some moments of silence as all of them contemplated - or tried not to contemplate - what had happened.
After a very long moment, Miaki realized that there was something missing, though she wasn't quite sure what it was. She looked around and then realized, "Where are the trainees?"
Ren looked up, the mist in her eyes clearing. She stared around the room too and then her head turned towards the wall closest to the forest - it was an inside room and had no windows. "...Oh shoot."
The words brought a slight smile to Miaki's lips - it felt like a rush of normality. She got to her feet, trying to keep her feet from dragging. "I'll go get them."
Looking at her, Mitsuru shook his head. "No. You should probably start your preparations, especially since you start as soon as we get back." He looked at Ren and, after a moment, asked, "Would you bring them back?"
Nodding, Ren got to her feet. "Yeah, sure." She exited quietly, an unusual thing for her.
That left the three of them in silence for several moments.
Miaki watched Ren leave, her hair dangling in front of her eyes. She pushed her hair from her face and sighed as they fell again. She should get going as well. As she walked towards the door, she asked, "Why do you think they chose me?"
Glancing at her, Mitsuru said, in as light-hearted a voice as he could manage, "Well, that's obvious. Ren's reckless. I have to lead here. Ryuu is lazy." Ryuu didn't even react." And no one else is senior enough to do the job. You're the best person for it." When Miaki didn't reply, Mitsuru looked at her more closely. She looked so tired, so sad. He hesitated and then said, "Do you want to ask for a trade?"
After a moment, Miaki shook her head and left.
"What am I doing here?" Kotone asked, struggling to a sitting position. Kaim didn't try to help her, just watched, that cheerful expression still plastered to his face. "Not that I don't love you, brother dear, but shouldn't I be in a normal hospital?"
Smiling down at his sister - though whether it was in joy at getting to see Kotone or joy at seeing her struggle to get up and fail, Kotone wasn't sure - Kaim said cheerfully, "Nope! From today until I deem you healthy again, you belong to me ~"
"You -" The dots were slowly falling in place for Kotone - very slowly - the drugs clearly hadn't been cleared from her system yet. Still, she was placing the facts that she had together. Kaim was a psychiatrist. She was in his care -
"Oh and don't be worried about your team," Kaim added, breaking off Kotone's train of thought - he always seemed to do that to her. It was one of the things that she found just a bit irritating about him, though she'd been told that she did the exact same thing to Yuzuki and Rikuto - she flinched at the name again and pushed it away.
While she'd been drifting, Kaim had still been talking, "Headquarters decided that while you were here, Miaki would transfer over be the substitute leader."
Miaki -
"Wait," Kotone said, her brain working a little slower than normal. "Are you saying -"
"Yep!" Kaim grinned at his sister. "From today on, you're my patient!"
<-- Chapter 34
Chapter 36 -->
Authors: Esana Bridges & akilei & lilblooskies & mpemba_effect
Note: So yeah...I finally got lazy too. :P
Light -
I wonder if that's the light they always talk about - the one that ghosts are supposed to head towards.
Kotone lifted her hand slowly and strained towards the light.
It didn't come any closer - or get any brighter. It just hovered in her mind's eye, in exactly the same place.
Strange. How do I get there?
Again, Kotone reached. Nothing. She gave up on the reaching - it clearly wasn't doing anything for her. She instead tried to recall how she'd gotten wherever she was - which reminded her, just where was she anyways?
She came out of it slightly, trying to see around the light -
Red - everything was red - even the light in her mind's eye was tinted with it, a deep, crimson red that slowly faded to black along the edges of her vision -
Blood, Kotone surmised. It's blood. Did I die bloodily? She wondered - but inside, she already knew what was going on.
Well, I guess I failed, She thought.
Closing her eyes shut tighter, Kotone tried to recall what exactly had happened.
They'd caught her - somewhere - the place was too fuzzy for her to recall - before she'd managed to do anything to herself. It had been - Ryuu and Mitsuru, and Ryuu had had tranquilizer bullets. She had dodged all the shots that he sent her, but hadn't been careful enough - Mitsuru had gotten her with a hidden dart in the shoulder blade, and it had only taken a few seconds for the tranquilizer to get through to her system.
It must have been a new kind - she had immunity to most of the common ones since she'd been shot with them so many times, both in real life and in simulations, probably just designed by Yuzuki or Rikuto -
Rikuto. Something seemed to break inside of Kotone briefly. Betraying Rikuto up to the government, revealing what had been going on between him and Yuzuki, revealing that he hadn't kept his secret that secret - essentially, killing, Rikuto -
Kotone pushed the thought away before it could do anything else to her psyche.
Alright, I know how I got here now. Just - where am I?
Very stealthily, Kotone slid one eyelid partway open, maintaining it at that level without any of the twitching that would accompany a novice's attempt at such an action. But then, she wasn't a novice - she was an expert.
The room that she was in was very - orange - in fact, everything but the light was colored that way, and even the light seemed to be tinted towards that way. The ceiling was smooth with interesting flower designs, designs that looked vaguely familiar -
An annoying voice interrupted her observations and, instinctively, she almost closed her eyes fully again, but held off just in time. "Kotone ~ Welcome back to the world of the living ~" And then, when Kotone didn't respond, "I know you're awake, Koto ~ Don't even try to hide it from me."
Very slowly, Kotone opened her eyes.
Standing above her, smiling his usual mischievous little smile, was Kaim.
A crush. Brief infatuation. A complete waste of time. Manami's face and her words flashed in Kazue's mind. A scowl came to her face just thinking about it. Especially if you waste precious time to do nothing but - She searched for the right adjective - bubble - she shuddered just thinking the word - about them.
About him. Ryuu's face was amazingly clear in her mind, his body tilted towards her, the gun in his hand, the very cold way his finger pulled the trigger with no hesitation.
It made her shiver just a bit, though she wasn't quite sure what the feeling inside of her was. Maybe fear - maybe, but it didn't really feel like it to her. She'd felt fear before, but this was different. She had every reason to be afraid. Ryuu was a good killer - an amazing killer - that much, she was absolutely sure of.
But what else was there to him? Was there anything else?
"Is he cute?"
Her father's question came back into her mind and distracted her briefly from what she was doing - weaving blades of grass together to create a sort of net - just in case they had to stay outside that night and needed to catch their own food. She had already set up a small stack of firewood and found a few good rocks for making a fire.
Which would be silly, Kazue thought. There was no real point in wildlife survival - not when technology dominated almost every inch of the world now. Still, it might be something the government tested them on - they'd already done a lot of silly things that day - and it might even come in handy someday, if they were ever sent to some ridiculous place that had yet to catch up with the rest of the planet.
Her mind drifted back to her father's question as she slowly began to weave again. Her fingers occasionally got caught between the grass and she had to carefully unwind that part without undoing any of the rest.
Cuteness was in the eye of the beholder and Kazue really didn't have -
No, that's a lie, Kazue interrupted herself. Even if she could lie perfectly to anyone else, she found a harder time lying to herself - her mother had always told her never to do it. Ryuu's face flashed in her mind again, and there was an uncomfortable warm tingling on her cheeks, though that quickly faded.
Kazue looked down at the half-made straw net in her hands, the weaves small and well-done.
Cute...
"So, Koto - ne is with Kaim?" Miaki asked. She had started with it, but she just couldn't bring herself to use Kotone's nickname - not right now, not with what she knew and what had just happened. It felt too odd - like Koto was someone who had died, and Kotone was a new person, someone that she didn't really know.
And maybe, I really don't, She thought, a bit sadly.
She was sitting in the meeting room - Mitsuru's room. They'd originally planned on meeting in the sunroom in order to get some natural air and light, but it had been too much, what with Kotone's special scent still lingering there, so they'd moved to Mitsuru's room. Mitsuru was sitting at his desk, hands folded before him, Ryuu on his bed, his gun next to him, his head bent - Miaki wasn't quite sure if he was awake - and Ren on a random chair that she had dragged from another room.
Mitsuru nodded. He had managed to calm down after several unidentified pills and a very quick, cold shower. "She won't be able to escape from there. Security has been tripled."
There were some moments of silence as all of them contemplated - or tried not to contemplate - what had happened.
After a very long moment, Miaki realized that there was something missing, though she wasn't quite sure what it was. She looked around and then realized, "Where are the trainees?"
Ren looked up, the mist in her eyes clearing. She stared around the room too and then her head turned towards the wall closest to the forest - it was an inside room and had no windows. "...Oh shoot."
The words brought a slight smile to Miaki's lips - it felt like a rush of normality. She got to her feet, trying to keep her feet from dragging. "I'll go get them."
Looking at her, Mitsuru shook his head. "No. You should probably start your preparations, especially since you start as soon as we get back." He looked at Ren and, after a moment, asked, "Would you bring them back?"
Nodding, Ren got to her feet. "Yeah, sure." She exited quietly, an unusual thing for her.
That left the three of them in silence for several moments.
Miaki watched Ren leave, her hair dangling in front of her eyes. She pushed her hair from her face and sighed as they fell again. She should get going as well. As she walked towards the door, she asked, "Why do you think they chose me?"
Glancing at her, Mitsuru said, in as light-hearted a voice as he could manage, "Well, that's obvious. Ren's reckless. I have to lead here. Ryuu is lazy." Ryuu didn't even react." And no one else is senior enough to do the job. You're the best person for it." When Miaki didn't reply, Mitsuru looked at her more closely. She looked so tired, so sad. He hesitated and then said, "Do you want to ask for a trade?"
After a moment, Miaki shook her head and left.
"What am I doing here?" Kotone asked, struggling to a sitting position. Kaim didn't try to help her, just watched, that cheerful expression still plastered to his face. "Not that I don't love you, brother dear, but shouldn't I be in a normal hospital?"
Smiling down at his sister - though whether it was in joy at getting to see Kotone or joy at seeing her struggle to get up and fail, Kotone wasn't sure - Kaim said cheerfully, "Nope! From today until I deem you healthy again, you belong to me ~"
"You -" The dots were slowly falling in place for Kotone - very slowly - the drugs clearly hadn't been cleared from her system yet. Still, she was placing the facts that she had together. Kaim was a psychiatrist. She was in his care -
"Oh and don't be worried about your team," Kaim added, breaking off Kotone's train of thought - he always seemed to do that to her. It was one of the things that she found just a bit irritating about him, though she'd been told that she did the exact same thing to Yuzuki and Rikuto - she flinched at the name again and pushed it away.
While she'd been drifting, Kaim had still been talking, "Headquarters decided that while you were here, Miaki would transfer over be the substitute leader."
Miaki -
"Wait," Kotone said, her brain working a little slower than normal. "Are you saying -"
"Yep!" Kaim grinned at his sister. "From today on, you're my patient!"
<-- Chapter 34
Chapter 36 -->