Setting
Something cold made goosebumps rise to the young teenage girl's pale porcelain skin. Her bright blue-grey eyes fluttered open to a... distorted room? She reached out, her extremely long hair that piled up on the floor rustled, sending air to the surface. Wait what?! The confused and startled girl jumped towards what looks like a door, only to smash head-first into cold glass. At first, she was taken aback, and pounded on the glass, but then she felt something else. Something slithered against.. that area. She shrieked, letting out bubbles from her mouth, letting them rise to the surface, and looked down. A-A-Am I naked?! A-And..! I have a perfect body! And I have blonde hair! No scars, no fat, I actually have boobs, and my legs are f*cking long! She thought to herself, peppy and jittery. Then the fact that she was naked finally smacked her in the head and she grabbed her freakishly long hair and wrapped it around herself, but let it billow out at the bottom so she could move. After tying a large bow to hold her hair together, she floated over to the glass wall of the tube and peered at the red letters. 5:45 AM, Friday, January 6th, 2073. 2073?! What the hell?! She looked down and gazed at the soft blue light that enveloped her in the mysterious water. She looked around in the room and noticed other blue tubes, with other people in there too! She was at first, taken aback, and then noticed that there were two other girls and three other boys, who all were also awakening in terror. Her face lit up as she began pounding and shouting out towards the others. Why do I act and feel so different? The thought briefly appeared in her mind and was shoved to the back of her head.
The girl pounded until her fists hurt, and slumped back to the bottom, sitting down. She looked up and noticed that there was a surface. A way out! She excitedly swam to the top with an abundance of effort, for some reason, this water didn't seem to have any buoyancy, and clasped onto the edge, only to be met with a terrifying wave of electricity. She briefly jerked back, and then grabbed it again, resisting the pain greatly. She lifted herself up, her hair unraveling in the process, and opened the sliding lid halfway, so she can rest on it. As she sat on the lid, the first thing that had hit her nose was the strong smell of antiseptic. She nearly gagged and covered her nose. Her bare butt felt something on the lid, and she slid over a bit to see what it was. She focused on the engraving that read: SHIKENKAN F01 - RYORI MIKI. The girl pointed at herself and took a minute to absorb what she had just read. "My name... Is Ryori Miki...?" It had appeared that her past life was just foggy memories that swam somewhere in the unknown parts of her head, wandering endlessly and waiting to be found. "Ryori... Miki....." She silently said to herself. Ryori Miki looked at the bewildered people of her kind and glanced at the chrome plaque on the wall.
HUMAN-GODS
Ningen no Kami is the name of the new species of humans that are sleeping dormant in these tubes right now. They have been in these tubes since they were embryos and will awaken once they have reached the age of eighteen. These tubes are called Shikenkan and are basically their mothers' wombs. Ningen no Kami are the "perfect humans" that excel in everything,and specialize in up to five things. They have been genetically altered to look flawless and beautiful in every aspect, and will be used as our organization's successors in order to plot the next revolution, making Japan the world's ruler. Like in Las Vegas, What happens in here, stays in here.
Miki sat there, stiff, unwilling to move from the shocking truth. "I'm... not... human... Wow, that's really hard to believe, but I guess that's the truth.. Right?" She blankly re-wrapped herself loosely and hopped off of the top of her "mother." She pressed her fingertips against the cold glass and silently muttered, "Goodbye 'mother'." She could still feel her body warmth in through the glass and impulsively climbed back to the lid, this time, she slid it shut and trailed her long delicate fingers across the engraving. "I wonder where are my real parents..?"
"Crow, c'mon. Just eat something." Chase said, like he had a million times in the last hour. Crow finally got annoyed at walked towards the door.
"I'm not f*cking hungry!" he yelled, slamming the door behind him. He walked angrily down the long streets of Japan, taking his phone out of his pocket. His phone seemed to calm him down, like electronics always did. He didn't know what it was about them. They just somehow calmed every aspect of his body. Stopping short, Crow noticed the black blobs and ignored them, knowing nothing good would come from touching them. When he tripped and fell so his shoulder hit the wall, he was shocked, but when he looked at saw his whole arm gone, he fell back in shock. No. . . No! He thought, his whole body starting to fade away slowly, as the alley completely caved in and he yelled, the darkness consuming him. Wake up! Just wake up, and you'll be back at home with Chase. he thought, but for some reason, he knew it was real. He shivered as his eyes reopened in shock, and the sight scared the hell out of him.
His emerald eyes searched the room in shock as he touched the glass. Crow saw another girl knocking on her glass. . . what was this? The room was twisted to him, and his eyes never settled on anything properly. When he looked down, he blushed a bright red, before wrapping his hair around his body. Wait, long hair? It was down to his ankles! He tied it around his body, the body he stared at awkwardly. There were no faults. He had no body hair whatsoever, his skin was perfect and silky, and his hair, oh god, his hair was so long! And it was purple at the top, where halfway down his back, it faded into black. He shivered, seeing the girl who was awake and moving be shocked by something, before climbing out the lid.
Lid! Crow swam up, after some effort, and grabbed the edge. He gasped as he was shocked by an insane amount of electricity. The boy didn't let go, since he didn't really feel the pain that should be there, pulling himself up and ignoring the electricity running through his body. When he sat on the lid, his shivered and coughed on the horrible stench of anti-septic in the air. He looked at the lid under his butt, staring at the text there. SHIKENKAN MO2 - KARASU HŌNO. He stared at the name. "Doesn't Karasu mean Crow?" he thought, before looking back on his life before. Somehow, Crow felt nothing for his past life. He didn't even miss the people he should, such as Chase. He grabbed the hair on his head tightly. Was that all a dream? None of it was real? What a strange predicament. He thought, his thoughts whirling around too much and he began to feel faint, but he ignored it. He jumped down from the lid, his hair still covering an area he'd rather never show to anyone, ever. He'd gone through the 'Clothing is the enemy!' phase as a child, and his mother had taught him wearing clothes was good. He didn't know why he covered himself though. It felt like standard protocol.
HUMAN-GODS
Ningen no Kami is the name of the new species of humans that are sleeping dormant in these tubes right now. They have been in these tubes since they were embryos and will awaken once they have reached the age of eighteen. These tubes are called Shikenkan and are basically their mothers' wombs. Ningen no Kami are the "perfect humans" that excel in everything,and specialize in up to five things. They have been genetically altered to look flawless and beautiful in every aspect, and will be used as our organization's successors in order to plot the next revolution, making Japan the world's ruler. Like in Las Vegas, What happens in here, stays in here.
He stared at the stupid plaque blankly. "I'm not staying in here." he sighed, before walking back up to his 'mother'. "Thank you, mother." he said, feeling a bit of warmth. It was probably just his own body heat anyways. It had no effect on him. Crow wandered over to the girl who was awake and out. "We have to get out of here."
"Ready when you are Len." replied Shin,smiling.
"Let's go!"
And they were off.Both of them ran on the top of a building and leaped over the gap that separated two buildings from one another.When Shin landed,he quickly fell into a front roll to lessen the impact of the jump before recovering from the roll quickly and continued his run.The thrill and adrenaline was making this fun,and the wind on his face gave him a great feeling.Another jump.
"Hey,hey!Len,wait.Let's make this a tag game." he ran over to the older man and tapped his back. "You're it." then he ran,laughing.
"Oh you rascal!" the man named Len chased after him.
Shin quickly utilized one of the gaps between the buildings to slide down to ground base.He tapped his shoes on the floor.He smelled burning rubber.
"Ugh..." he checked his shoes. "I slid down from 12 floors...looks like I'm going to have to get some new kicks..." he looked up and saw Len sliding down after him.He quickly ran down the alley.There was no way Len would be able to tag him.He jumped up and kicked off from one side of the wall to the other,then kicked off again,gaining height and evading the hands of Len,who had managed to close the gap.He did a quick flip and landed on top of a dumpster's cover.He looked back and saw Len running after him.He smirked before standing up and frontflipped over Len,who jumped onto the dumpster at the same time.
"See ya!" Shin taunted,before running away.He heard a small sigh from Len,and he smiled to himself.
In front of him was a small wall,and he had to get over it to escape from Len.Smiling,he jumped and grabbed hold of the ledge,before using his legs 'walk' on the wall.But for some reason,his feet didn't meet anything at all. He looked down to find that his feet had disappeared.In his panic,he let go of the wall and fell down on the alley floor.
"What!What's going on!!LEN!LEN!I lost my legs!Save me!!Somebody!" he yelled out,almost crying with fear.He looked at the wall and saw that there was a black hole in the middle of it,where his feet had gone through.Was that what made his legs disappear?The black hole seemed to grow larger and larger in size,much to Shin's disbelieving fear,and soon,everything was dark.That was the last thing Shin could remember as he screamed out in the dark.
Shin slowly opened his eyes.He blinked a couple of times,adjusting himself to his surroundings.He looked up and saw himself in the glass.Wait...in the glass?And what was with his extremely long hair?And he was stark naked!WHAT?!He looked around and saw 5 other similar glass tubes,each holding their own inhabitants.He looked at himself again.He looked...different.There wasn't any blemishes on his body.And there was no more scars on his knees from a free-running accident.And the surgery scars on his chest were gone.He looked perfect,skin as smooth as a baby's.He watched as one of the girls climbed out of her tube,followed by one of the guys.He decided to follow suit as well.Besides...could he even breath inside here?He cut through the liquid with strong,heavy strokes.The liquid wasn't water,that's for sure,there was no buoyancy at all.But to Shin,it seemed like a piece of cage to reach for the top.He popped the lid of and grabbed onto the edge.He relinquished his hold on the edge when a surge of electricity shocked him.Right...He swan back to the top again,and this time,instead of holding the edge,he kicked off the glass and grabbed hold of the lid instead before sitting on it.The smell was awfully heavy with anti-septics.Shin wrinkled his nose before looking at the lid.
"So I'm Inoue...Inoue Shin." He proceeded to jump off the lip onto the floor.
HUMAN-GODS
Ningen no Kami is the name of the new species of humans that are sleeping dormant in these tubes right now. They have been in these tubes since they were embryos and will awaken once they have reached the age of eighteen. These tubes are called Shikenkan and are basically their mothers' wombs. Ningen no Kami are the "perfect humans" that excel in everything,and specialize in up to five things. They have been genetically altered to look flawless and beautiful in every aspect, and will be used as our organization's successors in order to plot the next revolution, making Japan the world's ruler. Like in Las Vegas, What happens in here, stays in here.
'I've been asleep for 18 years?The National Sports Team...my life...everything from the start.Were they merely a dream?A dream that has just been taken from my hands.Did I lose everything I cherished?Is this solid reality?Or is it merely another cruel dream,waiting in the shadows to grasp my life once more?' he thought to himself,looking back at the Shikenkan.He threw a punch right at the glass,bruising his knuckles.
"This Shikenkan...is not my mother." he muttered to himself,rubbing his knuckles before he calmed himself down and stood straight.He had no business here.He wanted out.And he wanted out NOW.He looked at the door.
The girl felt that something was wrong, even though she couldn't put her finger on it. She decided to play her piano to take her mind off of it, but no matter what, she couldn't concentrate. Black flashed across the white keys, confusing her and ruining her songs. The sunlight streaming through the window suddenly took on a hellish red hue, bathing the apartment in crimson light. The sky flashed from blue to jet black, as though it had become night time in an instant. But when she blinked, it was gone.
"Am I going insane?" The girl wondered aloud, rubbing her head before attempting the song again. No luck. Yet again, her fingers moved to the wrong keys - it was so hard to play by sight when the appearance of the keys changed at random! This was so frustrating! Slamming her hands down angrily on the keys, she resolved to go get something to eat, then take a nap. Maybe things would clear up a-
A scream tore through the air as the girl fell backward, staring in horror at the stumps that were once her hands. The darkness was spreading from the keys, it was trying to devour her whole! No, no, no, no, this was a dream, it couldn't be happening!
Another scream. Oh no, it had gotten her leg, she had to escape, she had to get away! She desperately crawled across the floor as it faded to black right behind her. She had reached the door, if she could just get out-
No, no, no! Without her leg, she couldn't stand high enough to open it. The darkness was coming coming coming coming-
She bashed against the door, screaming incoherently for help. No one responded. The darkness was right behind her now, she had to get away! Desperately, she turned to her only avenue of escape - the window. Dragging herself across the ground as the darkness crawled up the stumps of her arms and leg, she hurled herself through the glass, shards of the substance tearing painfully into her skin - but she couldn't worry about that now. The darkness was right behind her, even if the fall would probably kill her, she had to get away!
It was useless. She screamed in terror to find the very sky cloaked in darkness, looming over her as though to swallow her up. Like some terrible nightmare abomination from beyond the world she knew, the darkness closed in for the kill, and her body was sucked up. She struggled to the last, screaming and thrashing and fighting - all in vain. She could not escape.
"Mother! Father! Help me!" She screamed as the darkness crawled across her once beautiful face, devouring it. The last thing she saw was that horrible blackness, darker than the darkest night, consuming her form and sending her plummeting helplessly into its shadows...
The girl lurched awake, thrashing about wildly. Suddenly, what surrounded her was water, not darkness. Maddened by fear, she thrashed about wildly, trying to carry herself out of the liquid. Agony tore through her body as electricity jolted through her prison, but she cared not. Hauling herself out, she rolled up on top of the tube, looking around frantically to discern where she was.
She was not at home, wherever she might have been. As her panic subsided, she noticed several things - firstly, she was in some sort of laboratory. Secondly, she was stark naked. Thirdly, she was in the same room as several other people. On instinct, she folded her arms over her chest, curling up on top of the tube and crawling backward, hoping not to be seen. What was happening?! Where was she?!
Then, she noticed a few other things. She wasn't embarrassed. She wasn't even afraid anymore. This discovery should have frightened her more than anything else, but she couldn't help but feel... empty. It was as though she couldn't feel anything at all.
Filling herself with a cold, logical rationality, she examined the room around her. She noticed the plaque, as well as the name written on her own tube. "T01 - Hitori Ayumu."
So... she wasn't Human. That meant that the memories she still had must have been some sort of dream meant to prepare her for the real world. She could understand that, she supposed. Well, the next steps obviously would be to find out where she was, to get some clothes so as to blend into society, and to discover exactly what the real world was really like. It didn't seem like anyone was here, which meant she would just have to find them.
Crawling down from the top of her tube, she dropped softly to the floor. Although she wasn't embarrassed, per say - she couldn't feel any emotions at the moment, after all - she still covered herself as best she could with her arms. She had been taught by her past experiences that showing herself like this was not socially acceptable, which meant it was something she must not do.
"Hello," She greeted coolly. "Did you all just wake up here, too?"
Setting
0.00 INK
She looks over her shoulder angrily to the sound of chuckles. Her cheeks burned before she went into a rant of "You caused me to drop the paint, that was the last two too!". The boy only responded with a laugh but stops seeing her serious expression. "haha.. Sorry Ayano, I just couldnt help myself, you just looked so out there...as always" He mumbles off giving her a peck on the cheek. The girl now introduced as Ayano smiles just a bit. "I guess..its alright but now i have to get new paint because of you, so you have to help me!" Ayano stubbornly responded hiding her embarrassment..
"Hai, Hai~!" He waved it off, picking up the buckets handing it to her with a sheepish look.
She sighs exaggeratedly taking the buckets quickly, before walking into the forest with nimbly steps, a jump in every step. Suddenly animals raced past her, instead of running away she stood there in shock. A buck came charging at her, but before it hits, strong arms pushed her down to the floor protecting her body. Once everything settled down, she opens her eyes feeling shadows covering her. "Oh my god, are you alright!" The one upon her shouted not noticing the blood leaking from his forehead. Ayano blinks her dark wide golden eyes, soon it filled with large tears. "Takashi..y-your bleeding...b-because of me...!" She cried, beganing to sob, but frail fingers wiped them away gently with a soft smile. At that moment Ayano began to smile her heart skipping a beat. "Its okay, im glad your oka-." He stops, and his eyes widen. "Ayano!" She began to fal in a hole while Takeshi stayed above looking like there was an invisible wall between the two. "Takeshi!" "Ayano!" They both cried after each other. He pushed his fingers through trying to reach her, to no avail. There fingers touched before she got sucked in forcefully.
With a bitter smile, she stares at him fading away, as he pounds against the wall. It all came to her now. "It was too good to be true..but I wished it was still real..good bye takeshi.." Everything went black until a surge of cold thick water swooshed around her body waking her up from her perfect reality.
All emotions rushed out of her to the point she felt nothing. Peering around, she began to feel the glass around her, it was sturdy and strong. It seems others were around her naked and with long hair just like her and were oddly... perfect. "No one can be perfect.." She thought wistfully before noticing her reflection in the glass. She had a slim, frail, tall figure and moon-lite kissed skin which matched her moon light colored hair which were covering her genitals. Her body changed, perfecting everything she had before, larger breast, bigger eyes, brighter complexion and perfect shade of hair. Normally she would be embarrassed and happy in this situation but it seems like it doesn't matter any more. Watching a girl climb upon the lid, she did the same with perfection ignoring the mistakes the girl made herself like being electrocuted. Sitting upon the lid, she observed some print against the a silver plague.
Ningen no Kami is the name of the new species of humans that are sleeping dormant in these tubes right now. They have been in these tubes since they were embryos and will awaken once they have reached the age of eighteen. These tubes are called Shikenkan and are basically their mothers' wombs. Ningen no Kami are the "perfect humans" that excel in everything,and specialize in up to five things. They have been genetically altered to look flawless and beautiful in every aspect, and will be used as our organization's successors in order to plot the next revolution, making Japan the world's ruler. Like in Las Vegas, What happens in here, stays in here.
"Perfect eh.." She observes herself with keen eyes, seeing every detail in herself that seemed to change. "Being perfect should be a flaw.." She question, looking up from her body to the others. Her golden eyes flickered to the right and the left watching the girls and boys. They seemed "perfect as well.." dipping her feet in the liquid under her, she watched her reflection blur. "Was he and the world just a creation of this..thing..a fake and a dream.." Disgust and regret filled her but she let it go burying it beneath her. She never met her mother before so it doesnt matter. She pats the glass, stopping upon hearing the voices of the others. Their voices sounded perfect as well. Ayano remains quiet, staring at the new world around her. She felt her lungs burn breathing the polluted air around her. She was so very sensitive to this because of her original environment..or so she thinks.
Riku fingered his split lip. It wasn't as if the other boy's punches could get past him, but the point of a meaningless fight was mutual pain, not simply to show off. Riku had allowed his defenses down for the weaker, less skilled boy, just to keep the fight going. There was nothing else that he was interested in at school. It was stupid. He didn't care about the principal's warning. It didn't matter. The odds were that the statement was a lie, like the last two times the principal had told him such a thing, and he didn't care even if the old fart spoke the truth. Expulsion would be just dandy with him. Better than school, anyway.
"Now, Mr. Natsume, your father has been notified of this incident, and I will leave it up to him for your home punishment, as for your detentions, i find it only fair that-"
Riku let the meaningless ramble hit him like a bunch of nonsensical murmurs. It wasn't hard with Japanese. He could tune it out easily and make his brain work as if he could only recall German. Though, his German wasn't too hot either. While his Japanese held remnants of an accent, no matter how hard he tried, his German was simply childish, and he sounded like a five-year-old, despite understanding most of it. An exchange student had come from Germany a few years ago, and when speaking to her, though she was impressed at his past and his comprehension, she found the way he spoke laughable. Cute, even.
Something caught his eye suddenly. Black wavered in his sight in front of the old man.
Riku stared at it, his narrow blue eyes widening. He stood from his seat and slammed his hands onto the desk, trying to get a better look at it.
"Mr. Natsume?!" The principal shouted, unaware of the spectacle.
"Don't you see it?!" Riku shouted, pointing his finger yet trying not to touch it. "It's right there!! Look, you old coot!!"
"Mr. Natsume!!" The principal shouted once again, slamming down his fist. "Take your seat and calm yourself this instant!!"
Riku gritted his teeth, pushing the papers off of the principal's desk. "You blind old bat!! Forget it, I'm out of here!!"
His outburst was nothing short of a tantrum, but the old coot, could he really see nothing? Perhaps it's my imagination, Riku thought, biting his already raw lip as he stormed from the principal's office and ignored the teachers trying to halt him. He stomped his feet heavily as he walked, staring at the walls that were now speckled with the small black holes. People stared at him like he was crazy, they leaned over and whispered to one another. What is going on?! Am i going insane?! His wild thoughts continued, running through all of the possibilities as he escaped the school building and began running. He didn't bother to worry about running into the people on the streets. They didn't matter, they couldn't see it. His worries about suddenly being insane were suddenly accompanied by the worry that it was reality. That it was truly a horror only he could see.
The sidewalk narrowed to being the side of cracked road that signaled his approach on his crappy little neighborhood. He slowed, taking a look around. At least there were few people here to watch his breakdown. Riku watched as the black voids meshed together, split, and meshed together again with another black void. They grew larger, and occupied more space, and-
Riku collapsed to the pavement as he attempted to put his weight down on his left leg. He clawed at the cracks in the pavement, digging his fingers in and bending his knee to try to push himself upward again. He had to keep moving, he had to-
His eyes looked back, his leg dissipated into blackness at the thigh, gone. A black hole in the ground had consumed it.
Riku screamed in terror, squeezing his eyes shut a moment and opening them once again to stare wildly at anyone. "Please!!" He called, letting himself collapse, and reaching his hand out to a couple. "Help me!! Please!!" He watched the vision fade and his last sight was the two smiling and whispering. They saw nothing. Only a boy crying for help from nothing.
Riku's eyes flashed open to slightly distorted room. His eyes couldn't settle on one particular thing, but chose to try and witness everything at once. Images came in blurs. He jolted slightly, the sensation of being underwater processing finally. His eyes widened and his hands slammed against the glass as he eyed the surroundings to the end of the glass and the beginning of the exit. Panic rushed through him though his body processed it differently. He simply wanted a way out, and a way out quickly. He let himself sink to the bottom, and pushed against it with his feet, clawing upward on the glass to get the rest of the way up. He pushed at the lid immediately, and suddenly grabbed the edge of the tube.
Riku's body convulsed with the shock, though his body didn't react to the pain regularly. He found himself simply thinking, hey, that hurt... and continued to grab it again.
This time, he held back any reaction, and hefted himself up to the air. He took a deep breath and immediately covered his nose. What a god-awful smell. He wished he hadn't caught a whiff of it at all!
Riku sat on the edge and examined his surrounding thoroughly, now that he'd escaped the fluid. Five others crawled from their tubes, nude, were already awakened. It would seem that he was a little late... But..... Nude?? He looked down to examine his own body. He was completely exposed, his pale skin free of all the 'battle scars' of his fights and his abuse. His unnaturally long, pale blonde hair clung to his body in most places, the moisture of the liquid weighing it down. He was so... different.... He felt so different.
He turned to examine the lid beside him.
"Susumu Riku, huh?" He muttered, processing his new name. He fingered his lip, golden-brown eyes widening at the stunning lack of being split, but what else had he expected?
He began reading yet another inscription....
HUMAN-GODS
Ningen no Kami is the name of the new species of humans that are sleeping dormant in these tubes right now. They have been in these tubes since they were embryos and will awaken once they have reached the age of eighteen. These tubes are called Shikenkan and are basically their mothers' wombs. Ningen no Kami are the "perfect humans" that excel in everything,and specialize in up to five things. They have been genetically altered to look flawless and beautiful in every aspect, and will be used as our organization's successors in order to plot the next revolution, making Japan the world's ruler. Like in Las Vegas, What happens in here, stays in here.
"Perfect, huh?" He muttered, and looked down toward the ground. He let his body drop, but his feet connected with the ground clumsily, and he slipped slightly, reaching out with his hands to lean against his 'mother' to regain his balance. He straightened, not feeling the embarrassment he should have felt at his fumble, and brought his hands away. If that thing was his mother, he surely wanted nothing to do with 'her'.
Riku pulled his hair in front of him, recalling a little bit of 'I shouldn't be nude in front of other people', to cover his exposed genitals. He hugged it in front of him, not caring about his bare ass, and began slowly approaching the others, not speaking. He would see what they would have to say first.
"Shut up, damn it."
Pulling his hand back under the covers he curled into a ball and lay there in his bed. A few more minutes wouldn't hurt. He had been up all night and he needed sleep. School could wait.
BEEP BEEP BEE- *SMACK* *CRASH*
Great. Now the damn thing was on the floor out of reach. If it went off again he would have to get up and shut it off. The world was harsh..... at least to him anyways. Letting out a loud groan, Shirasaki Yuuka threw off the covers and swung his legs, lazily over the side of the bed. Glancing at the digital clock at his bedside, he sighed. 7:28 A.M. If he rushed and skipped breakfast then he would possibly make it to class about seconds before the bell. But rushing was out of the question. He wasn't in the mood. Getting to his feet with a grunt, Yuuka stretched and made his way to the bathroom.
"OW! What the-?" Something cold and hard hit his feet and he looked down to see what had dared get in his way. A small chrome cube lay at his feet. How did that get there? Remembering that he set it on his desk last night, Yuuka probably fell asleep using it. Picking up the shiny box, Yuuka's finger automatically slipped to the large red button on the side. The bright holographic screen popped up and Yuuka stared at it in awe. Apple was cooking up some pretty amazing stuff these days and the iCube was just a prototype nobody thought was possible. But here it was. Many folders, readings, icons and different apps floated in front of his eyes. Bringing his finger up, Yuuka scrolled through the screen finally coming to what he was looking for.
Project Ningen no Kami [TOP SECRET]
Finger frozen above the icon, Yuuka suddenly threw the cube onto his bed, the impact instantly deactivating the holographic screen shutting the thing off. Human gods. What the hell was this world coming to? What would happen to the rest of them that "weren't perfect"? It was like Hitler all over again.
Finishing his shower, Yuuka felt refreshed, but the events of last night still left him feeling drowsy and exhausted. Slipping on his school uniform, Yuuka dragged his feet down the stairs as he struggled to tie his tie. He hated the thing but the school made it mandatory to wear it correctly. The Shirasaki house was pretty enormous. Being the son of a multibillionare had its advantages but it got extremely lonely at times. Especially with Her gone......
Finally getting his tie to cooperate, Yuuka stepped into the large kitchen. State of the art, and neat, the place wasn't to terribly decorated but it was still fancy. No time for breakfast. He was already running late.
"Crap!"
Bolting back up the stairs Yuuka rummaged about his room wildly. "Where are you, where are y- There!"
Holding up his cell phone in triumph, Yuuka flew to his closet and snatched out a red hoodie. Making his way back to the door, he paused. Without any reason at all, Yuuka snatched up the iCube. What the hell. He might as well bring it. Wouldn't want the maids finding it and telling his parents. That would be the worst. Yuuka made it to the back door without breaking anything and slipped on his shoes. Grabbing his school bag by the door he set the cube gently into the side pocket. The bus was out of the question. He could steal his dad's car, but since he was coming home early, Yuuka didn't want to risk it. Then it hit him. The bike! Flipping up his hood, Yuuka opened the door leading to the garage. If he wanted to get to school on time, he would have to get there fast. And he had just the thing.
The boy turned the golden knob, pushing softly against the door and poking his head out, looking both ways so he wouldn't crash into one of the maids or housekeepers. Once the coast was all clear, he picked up his feet a bit more, so he wouldn't gather up static electricity and shock himself. The house was quiet, other than the faint flicker of speech every so often by the other workers of the house. His parents were both gone. They'd been gone for awhile. It was just him in the house, but he learned to get along with everything. Though, he hated getting caught by one of the head maids, Eva. She was just plain haughty and strict. Speaking of the devil spawn, Masanori quickly back-stepped into a room, shutting the door as the Russian passed in a huff, glancing both ways before stalking off once again. The boy breathed a sigh of relief, looking around the room. He scratched his head softly, as if trying to remember something that was some-what important. Then it prodded him. He realized that this was his mother's office, and the safe was just over there. His head tilted slowly to the side, and he then walked over to the desk. He fumbled around for some wire, bending it and then poking it into the keyhole with a yawn followed by a cough before it clicked, the drawer popping out. Inside was a small cube. The iCube, a worthless piece of crap that made incessant beeping noises and blinding lights.
A frown stitched itself onto his face, and he growled quietly, jabbing the side in irritation. And then a small hologram popped up, and he nearly gave a start, falling on the ground with a soft thud. Instead, he remembered at the last second the maid was still stalking about the place, and he clamped his mouth shut, his eyes narrowing and squinting from the bright light. He rubbed his eyes once more, and then looked a bit more carefully towards the name. Project Ningen no Kami [TOP SECRET]. Masanori merely gave another growl, his mother having already told him she was off on a job to make a more perfect human. And this must have been what the job was exactly labeled. Back then, it had shattered his heart that his own mother cared little to nothing about him; that he wasn't perfect enough for her love.
He slammed the drawer shut, stalking out of the room and down the stairs of the mansion. Such a drag.... He thought to himself, detouring into the kitchen and grabbing an English Muffin with jelly and biting into it carefully as he continued walking through the house. The boy quietly stopped near the end of the next flight of stairs, squatting down and grabbing his backpack, shoes, and camera before scratching his head with another cough. However, he smiled lovingly at the camera, it being his only friend. He then glanced around, and opened the door out into the morning. He grumbled once more, his eyes narrowing once more from the sunlight. They just need to adjust, that's all.... He stepped down the porch, and veered off to the left under the trees through the grass. He had plenty of time, he could manage walking in the cool morning.
Mai quietly walked over to her father's lab. She'd gotten instructed early on, just upon her arrival, when she was only a child, that she was never to enter that room. But what could be there? Surely it wasn't something dangerous - Mai wasn't a kid anymore, she wouldn't try to blow up his lab or anything!
She quietly gave the door a slight push, and it slid open. Weird. It always used to be locked... she tiptoed in quietly, closing the door behind her so the maids wouldn't find her in there. Her eyes quickly surveyed the room - there was nothing special about it. Just a bunch of papers with complicated formulas written on them, a few bottles scattered around, an empty cup with some cool coffee in the corner that the maid had forgotten to take care of... nothing special. She was about to leave when her hand accidentically touched something. Suddendly, a hologram popped up. "Project Ningen no Kimi - Top Secret" it read in big letters.
Ningen no Kimi? She knew for sure that Ningen meant human in japanese, but she still wasn't sure about the kimi part. Had her father been experimenting on humans? She quickly surveyed the room once again for documents marked with this title... she stumbled over one that told her passwords for a variety of experiments, one of them being this. Quickly she typed in Cho Jintekina, unsure what this meant, and the text dissapeared. Instead it was replaced by throughout reports about...six teenagers?
Mai looked closer, reading the text the documents said. Her father...had he been experimenting on these teens? Giving them different... talents, creating fake lives for them...just what was he doing?
Well, they weren't going to be released before they turned 18, which meant he would experiment with them for two more years...did he hate her that much? Was she really just a part of a puzzle, being of no other importance to him than as someone that could be used to study human behavior?
Mai couldn't take it. She ran out of the room, rushing past a confused maid and locking the door to her room, curling up on her bed. These unnatural humans...she would never forgive them for stealing her father away from her, for making him just use her as a part of his plan. No, if she couldn't beat her father, surely she could beat these inhuman creatures?
Setting
0.00 INK
It still served as something of an awkward surprise, having other individuals walking around the place...and was something she had a pronounced dislike for. She had no need for anyone else's labour. Thankfully by that time, she and the staff had reached a more or less mutual understanding. They left each other alone. Her room was not tidied, her food was not made, her clothes were not washed. She did everything regarding her personal upkeep and in return she paid them no mind.
At the end of the building was a solid, roofed area that served as a laboratory of a sort. The door hung halfway open, and was the source of the music that seemed to be emanating through the place. It was in fact an old record player sat in one corner of the darkened room, playing away. On the other side sat a desk and a high-blacked black office chair. Inside the chair in question, sat the figure of Oren Kovalenko, balancing the bizarre cube object in her gloved hands, eying it in an appraising fashion. She had come across the device about an hour previous, though had yet to access much of it, thanks to the password protection. She was not really a fan of technology. As far as she knew, neither was her father...that was what had set alarm bells ringing almost immediately. It seemed unlikely that he'd be in possession of such a device unless it was work-related. It was also partially due to his technophobia that she was able to access it.
Through the years, the young woman had learned a lot about her father, more than he realized. Flicking through the files she came across a text file, something that appeared to be, at first glance, a collection of nonsense letters.
"Hm. Dvorak cipher. So predictable." the young woman mused, strong eastern european accent pervading the classical music.
Mr Kovalenko often used codes for his work..however in earlier years he'd taught Oren about many of the ciphers...before his interest had waned and apparently turned to loftier goals.
Soon enough she was able to decipher the password, with use of a pen and notepad. Soon after, Oren entered the result into the device. Some sort of japanese term.
The young woman drummed her slender fingers on the worktop as she waited for the application to load, head cast backwards and dark hair tumbling over her shoulders. She had taken to the language with reasonable aptitude, though attempting to juggle so many languages at once still proved a bit of a challenge. There was also the big culture adjustment. The different diet, different social graces and drastically different attitude to entertainment took quite a lot of getting used to. Then again, she'd never been a social animal even in her native country, so why adjusting should concern her she wasn't sure....perhaps it was due to the questionable decision to send her to a rich school. She had been home-schooled for the most part, when her father had been invested in her, and had had little contact with people her own age, aside from short stints in various european schools during her father's contract. Being pitched into a school full of rich kids seemed to her like a terrible idea. She had nothing in common with her peers.
It was a few moments before a synthetic ping effect from the device drew her attention. Oren looked down at it, a frown crossing her face as she looked over the data. This...project that her father was apparently working on. Project seemed like a rather loose word for it. Seemed more to her like some variety of sick preoccupation. What on earth could be the practical use of something like this? Besides, what sort of scientist would even try and define 'perfect' in concrete terms? It was moronic.
"This is the prestigious job post?" she remarked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.
"What a joke."
She stood up, too quickly, and slipped off of her "mom", falling down on top of someone. "Ack, sorry about that." She shifted and felt her chest slide smoothly against someone's.. And it was not a girl. Miki, being the dense girl she is, just slid off calmly and asked, "Ah, are you okay? Wait.. Who is this?? I can't really see." The room went silent for a moment, only to let the "newborns" hear the clacking of someone's shoes. The footsteps rose like a crescendo, steadily rising the tension in the room with every step. Just at the zenith of the tension, the sound stopped, and the lights outside flashed on. Miki's heart was practically jumping out of her throat in the suspense. Cold sweat was blending with the mysterious water that she was covered in and slowly slid down across her fair skin, making her shiver. She stared, wide-eyed, at the shadow of the stranger's feet at the door and clung onto the nearest person. She heard the jingling of keys and silent sinister laughing. The loud sound of a giant vault lock rung in her ears, she clung on closer to the person. Adrenaline rushed through her blood, and finally, a shout broke the tension. It came from outside..? "Hey! What are you doing?! This room is to not be disturbed until the next secret tour! Go home before you get killed!" The instant the word "killed" was uttered, Miki heard the sound of shoes taking off at top speed. She sighed in relief as the lights shut off and the room went silent. The clock buzzed, and all of a sudden, some kind of steam filled the air. The Shikenkans appeared to suck them up and the water turned even more blue. Miki jumped and looked at the clock. 6:13 AM. "What?! It's already passed about half an hour?!" Then something finally panged in her head. School. "Ah! Shouldn't we go to school? I wanna go to school! Can I?" she smiled, giddy. She stood there anticipating, her hair covering her important parts, most of her chest, and her "area".
It's really hard to believe... For the first - what, 15? - years of my life, 85 centimeters was as far as I could reach? And I thought there was a whole world in there... Lies. Nothing but lies. Everything about me is nothing but a lie! My name is a lie. My personality is a lie. My family, my friends, my home, my life... all of my memories are lies as well! The only truth I can grasp is this body. This room around me. But what if all of this is just another lie...?! She thought angrily, resisting the urge to pound her hand against the nearest object, to cry and wail and scream over what she had lost. The only reason she didn't was because she knew it wouldn't do any good. She doubted she could just climb back inside her little tube and fall back into the dream she had just escaped from. No, she had to embrace reality, if that was what this truly was. For now, she just had to calm down, and work on finding out about the "real" world around her.
"Relax. For all we know, there might not even be such a place as 'school,'" Ayumu said quietly. "And even if there was, I doubt we'd just be allowed to stroll out of here. Can't you read the poster on the wall? It says 'what happens here stays here,' doesn't it? I'm pretty sure that includes us, given that this entire facility seems to have been designed to create us. I don't know what kind of fake lives all of you guys were living in those tubes, but I, for one, have read some sci-fi, even if none of it was 'real.'" You could almost hear the air quotes. "I'm Hitori Ayumu. Let's all just introduce ourselves, and then figure out some sort of way to get out of here quiet-like."
And to find some clothes... Augh! This is so embarrassing. To top it all off, did they have to let me wake up naked?! She added mentally.
"I want out.And I want it NOW." he stated blankly to the scientist. "If you won't comply,I will use force."
Setting
0.00 INK
"Karasu." he said quietly, before correcting himself. "But call me Crow." The boy didn't really mind when people called him Karasu, but he generally doesn't respond to that name. Since he was called Crow since birth, his mother just put down Karasu so it sounded like a proper name and not a nickname.
Other people were starting to approach them, and Crow tensed up a little. Being unable to see fully made him feel a bit out of his comfort zone. He looked at the people, but only concluded that they were Ningen no Kami, like him, and just wanted to get out. He was busy observing the room and trying to find a way out when someone landed on him. The boy didn't make a noise, and didn't see the girl properly, but he felt weird all the same. He probably shouldn't, since he wasn't feeling anything earlier, but now, he could feel the embarrassment. "Hey!" he said angrily, standing up when he finally felt the girl get off him, and he stood up. One of the guys, he could see, was taller than him. The other was around the same height. The girls were all generally his height too. Before, he was always smaller than everyone else, so it felt weird.
When he heard footsteps outside, he only flinched slightly, but was more relieved that there was an 'outside'. And that there was obviously a way to get in, if there was a way to get out. A steam filled the place, after someone more or less scared off the first person, and was a bit surprised. He zoned out for a second, thinking of his life before. He murmured the simple name "Chase" under his breath, feeling bad that he didn't apologise.
"Ah! Shouldn't we go to school? I wanna go to school! Can I?" The voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Relax. For all we know, there might not even be such a place as 'school'," Came another voice, replying before he could. "And even if there was, I doubt we'd just be allowed to stroll out of here. Can't you read the poster on the wall? It says 'what happens here stays here,' doesn't it? I'm pretty sure that includes us, given that this entire facility seems to have been designed to create us. I don't know what kind of fake lives all of you guys were living in those tubes, but I, for one, have read some sci-fi, even if none of it was 'real.'" Crow felt the air quotes there, smirking a bit. He always understood the concept of 'air quotes', since he tended to use them a lot when talking. "I'm Hitori Ayumu. Let's all just introduce ourselves, and then figure out some sort of way to get out of here quiet-like."
"My name's Crow L- no, wait. Karasu Hōno." he said, almost forgetting the name which was on his Shikenkan and very nearly said his old name. "But seriously, just call me Crow. There's probably a way out, since there's a way in. That person earlier, was he trying to get in? The way in is the way out, so there must be a mechanism like whatever I heard him using in here somewhere. But I can't see." He said, before adding, rather sarcastically: "Duh."
And it didn't work. Well at least not yet. Yuuka thought that he had everything just perfect but strangely enough, when he started up the engine, the machine gave off a strange grinding noise and nothing else. He would have to check it later. 'Maybe it was th-' Something caught his eye. No, someone. At the corner of his vision Yuuka could make out a tall figure on the other side of the sidewalk. He couldn't see his face, but Yuuka could feel eyes boring straight into his back. He had heard stories of school kids being killed or kidnapped on this side of town. Quickening his pace, Yuuka calculated the time and distance he had before he reached the school. Ten minutes. That was too long. Yuuka reached into the inside of his hoodie and felt around. Cold metal touched his hand and he felt reassured. Good. He didn't remember to take it out. A Bersa .38 cal semi auto handgun sat, rested in the small pocket he had made in the red jacket just for small pistols like this if he ever needed them. Yuuka took a quick glance over his shoulder and the figure that had been on the other side of the road was now on this side and he was much closer. "Sh*t! What the hell is this?" Panicking wouldn't help, but the figure was drawing nearer by the second. If only he had his sword with him. Without thinking, Yuuka broke off into a sprint. Looking back, the man was also running full speed after him. The man pulled something out of his pocket. It was cell phone. Where there more of them? This was bad.
Setting
0.00 INK
Oren didn't relish the ignominy of wearing a uniform for school, especially considering that sort of thing tended to attract just the wrong sort of attention.
She pulled her trench coat on over her shoulders, and some fingerless gloves onto her hands, before sweeping her school bag up over one shoulder and making her way outside. It was rather a walk from her house to the school, but Oren had little interest in catching a bus or anything. The fact that she had to attend school meant that she had less time for training than she would have liked, and the morning walk was at least a way to partially make up for it.
The european slipped out of the gate and broke into a half-jog, her watch alerting her to the advanced hour. The walking-only philosophy fell apart a little when one was running late. It fell into an odd, rather precarious balance between keeping up a decent level of speed, without messing up and rumpling her clothes. She didn't really want to show up to school sweaty and with her clothing askew. While the opinions of the inhabitants of the Seisei-Honfuna Academy rarely fazed her, she saw it as important to keep some degree of presentation and self-respect, if only for herself.
Attempting to shave some time off her trip, she hopped across into a narrower street, hoping to find it less crowded, though was instead almost knocked off her feet as a young man came running past. Oren sprang backwards, grasping hold of a wall to steady herself. She caught sight of the guy, rushing off along the street. He was one of the other students...Yuuka something or other. She didn't keep track of names all that often.
"Watch it!" Oren exclaimed, though paused as she looked back, catching sight of what the guy happened to be running from. A man was going after a him. A man who looking far from friendly. She paused, considering whether to intervene. Well...she was going that way anyway. Feigning a lack of notice, she began at a brisk pace on the side of the road, trying to work out how long until the pursuer overtook her, whether he would pay her any mind, and what he was talking about on that phone. Just jumping into the fray seemed like a very bad idea.
The boy had found a very intricate looking bird, and he was just about to press down on the button before there was a crashing sound on the other side of the street, and another student running across. The bird flew off, and that frown deepened and he groaned. However, it was shortly cut off as he saw someone pursuing him. Adrenaline kicked in, and he immediately got up from his squatting position. He called out loudly to the man who was pursuing the boy. "Hey, mister!" He waved one of his arms madly, his camera propped up in the other as he attempted to catch the attention of the man.
Without waiting for any response, he sped across the street, narrowly missing an incoming car, quickly going down the path and trying to catching up to him. "Mister!" He called once more, coughing quietly. "Guy, you have like the perfect look for this shoot I'm doing. Slow down, would you!?" The arm he had been previously flailing dropped down to his pants on a pocket. He felt the reassuring metal of the knife he always carried with him just in case. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly, hoping to distract him. If this didn't work, he'd at least attempt to nick the guy somewhere by throwing his hunting knife.
She scratched at the glue and then noticed a box in the corner, barely visible in the dim lighting. She quickly got out of the tube, avoiding the electrical edge, and flipped open the box. The dull cardboard box contained a piece of paper on the top, and a pile of weapons underneath. She quickly dumped the contents and pulled back her hair. The paper flew up into the humid air, and floated down into Miki's lap. The curious girl peeled the paper off of her thighs and squinted to read it in the eerie blue light.
Congrats! Looks like if you've found this box, then you must be a Ningen no Kami!
Miki stopped and stared at that one sentence in shock. [i]What..?! She continued to read in the dim light and felt a dagger cut into her leg slightly.
I know what you're thinking, What the hell?! How...?! Psh, don't worry! I'm your supporter! And the reason why I know you, a Ningen to Kami found it is because I've secretly injected a drug that allows you to see items that I've specially crafted in order for only select few to be able to see! But no worries, the weapons are visible, the box is not! Anyways, I cannot reveal my identity, but I am always going to watch you. -Sōzōnushi
Crimson blood trickled quietly down the girl's leg, creating a small puddle. The mysterious water that was in her hair dripped onto the wound and the would closed instantly and healed without a trace. What the...?! Miki shook off the newly-learned knowledge and picked up the dagger that was stained with her blood and swiftly jumped back into the Shikenkan, scratching and cutting at the glue until the light popped off. Miki resurfaced and cut off the electricity, making it easier to access the Shikenkan. Miki stared at her outrageously long hair, which was only being an obstacle, and shrugged it off. The pile of weapons sat there, still untouched sitting next to the small puddle of blood. Her eyes immediately darted to a dark chrome chain with a weird object on the end, and she impulsively pulled it from the pile. The object had four adjustable holes to place the fingers in and a switch to flip open a curved blade which wrapped around the knuckles. Perfect. She curiously pressed another button, in which the sleek chain morphed itself into a chain of blades which sliced a part of her leg in the process. "What the-!" She quickly probed at the button again, which morphed it into a chain with protruding needles, which stabbed her leg once again. "Ouch!" Pressing the button once again made it into it's sleek chrome self. Miki tied the light to her chain and retracted the chain enough to hold onto the light.
She rummaged through the countless pile of weapons and found yet another box. She opened the box and emptied the contents once again. There were six small bottles that appeared to have necklace chains attached to each. Each bottle had it's own color: one shone with light shades of red, darkening at the bottom, topped with a scarlet ribbon, another glimmered in a warm chrome orange with a tiny golden star charm that dangled from the neck of the bottle, another that was clear, yet foggy, and glowed in an silvery ivory color, and a small, clear, crystal ball dangled from the neck by a silver thread. Another set seemed simple, yet pretty, one that was a opaque blue with specks of pink camouflaging in the glass, another was a blazing opaque red, another that was a mysterious opaque jet black, yet it still glowed a deep violet. Miki plucked the orange one instinctively and hung it around her neck comfortably. She dived into her Shikenkan to heal her wounds and noticed her bottle actually trying to float in the anti-buoyant water. "I should probably keep some of this healing water..." she mumbled to herself as she popped off the lid. Soon enough, the bottle was vacuuming up the entire Shikenkan and she shut it quickly so she could climb out. "What the.. How in the world can this little bottle which is as small as my finger fit so much water?!" Miki began to see odd green waves of light radiating from the walls of the Shikenkan and finally figured out the puzzle. "So it's not the water that's giving that surge, but those rays! Either way, those rays must mean no good.." Miki curiously wandered to the Shikenkan next to hers, and read the owner's name: Susumu Riku. The blonde guy? She opened her bottle inside of his water, and nothing happened; it didn't even empty out! She sat on the rim, avoiding the electricity, befuddled. She opened it and looked her quarter-empty Shikenkan, noticing the water was beginning to weakly make it's way to the bottle. Is this bottle supposed to be for me?! Miki shut the bottle and the water ceased to move. The girl scurried to the pile of bottles and randomly choose the opaque red one, popping it open and then looking around, to see Susumu Riku's water reacting. "What the f*c-!" she dropped the bottle, surprisingly, it didn't break. Miki stood there, stark-naked with only her hair to cover herself, her light-chain, the bottle in hand, and her dumbfounded face.
[TnevdaNai, umm.. The scientist didn't enter, and the Ningen no Kami are currently locked in the room!]
She might have fumed a while longer if she hadn't seen Niki rushing over to a small crate in the corner, then repeatedly making exclamations of "ouch!" Wandering over, to Ayumu's surprise, she found a rather large pile of weapons lying around. What the hell was that doing here? Most of them were rather strange. Daggers, spiked chains, and so forth, but one of them caught her eye. It was a curved pole made from black wood, about five feet in total length. About a foot and a half of this length was made up by its rather oversized hilt, while the remaining portion was a skillfully crafted wooden imitation of the curved blade universally affiliated with Japanese swords. She knew what the blade was - a Nagamaki, or at least a wooden imitation of one. While she hadn't specifically trained in that weapon, even in her past life, she had learned enough Aikido to use both a Jo staff and a Bokken. This weapon was sort of like a mash-up between the two, which meant that maybe - just maybe, she might have been able to use it.
"Well, what have we here? Someone clearly doesn't know enough about the sci-fi genre to realize that you don't leave potentially dangerous weapons in the same room as your God-person prototypes," Ayumu said sarcastically, picking up the weapon. To her surprise, when she grasped it by the hilt, a metallic sound greeted her ears, and a blade slid partially out of the wooden sheath which she had previously thought to be the blade itself. This surprised her even more. A real weapon? And of this craftsmanship?
Gently, she removed the weapon from its sheath, looking at it in the faint blue light of the Shikenkan. She smiled approvingly. This would do just fine, if it came to violently breaking out and escaping the compound. Although, she noted, a stark naked girl battling her way out of a secret research facility using an antiquated bit of Japanese weaponry seemed too much like something from some anime to be plausible. Come to think of it, only in fiction would something like that ever work! Whatever guards this place had must have been armed with the latest in weaponry, and given that the current year was decades beyond when she had "lived," there was no way of knowing whether or not they had carbon-freezing death rays, or something cheesy like that. Even if they were still using normal projectile weaponry, a likely muscle-atrophied girl - she'd been suspended motionless in a tank for 15 years! - wielding a nagamaki wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in hell!
She sighed. In short, she was still shafted. She sheathed the blade again and continued looking through the pile. A small object slipped into her hand as she brushed aside a small dagger, careful not to cut herself as the manic klutz before her had done. Raising it, too, into the eerie light, she examined it. It looked to be a small vial of some enigmatic black substance. Glancing up, to her surprise and amazement, she saw Miki sucking up almost all of the liquid inside her own Shikenkan, storing it somehow inside her own tiny flask! Ayumu looked at the small black container with a newfound respect. It must have contained some sort of pocket dimension inside it that would allow it to store possessions related to its owner, or something. Well, hey, it was the only explanation Ayumu could come up with, and she supposed it would just have to do.
It looked like the water from the Shikenkan had some sort of restorative property. So, without much other practical choice, she quickly and nimbly clambered up on top of her own Shikenkan, and, avoiding the electrified edge, dipped her own dark vial into the glistening waters below. Just as she had suspected, the liquid swiftly sucked itself inside the small bottle, until the tube where Ayumu had slumbered for the past decade and a half was entirely empty. There was no telling when this mysterious liquid would come in handy, after all, nor could she predict how much she would need. Deftly dropping from the tube, she picked up her nagamaki and glanced around.
"Well. I honestly don't know what to think anymore. First weapons, then physics-defying bottles. In any case, I suppose we should just arm ourselves, fill up these weird vials, and see if we can't slip out of here without alerting any of the guards like the one we all just heard outside. And, if that fails, we can always make a berserk rush for whatever exits there might be. I doubt they'd just gun down the precious little experiments they've worked for so long on. I wouldn't bother with the lights, though. There are obviously people in this building, and carrying around a big light would just tip them off."
But there she was, calling "Hey! You should join us!" and probably expecting him to do just that.
If he hadn't been so full to the brink with plain simple not-caring, he would have ignored her. But the situation seemed to call for cooperation, and making enemies wasn't going to do Riku any good. So he simply gave up and approached the rest of the way. He'd get this girl later if she ended up giving him a headache, which he estimated would happen sooner or later.
He stayed quiet, coming up to the group and staying on the edge of things, getting as best a look as he could in the lack of lighting to see the others in the room. There was the peppy blonde-haired girl, along with two others, and then two other boys. One sported vibrant hair, which caught Riku's eye pretty quickly, while the only thing to really catch his attention on the other boy was the fact that he was obviously taller than both Riku and the purple-haired kid. But it did spark a little curiosity about height in Riku. He gave a glance around at the other girls. He was about the same height as most of them, maybe slightly shorter or slightly taller, depending on the girl. And.... he was beginning to hope that perhaps these girls were just really tall... But that seemed unlikely.
Damn, he thought, biting down on his lip. Even if his lip wasn't raw and bleeding at this point, it would be soon. Habit would assure him of that. This means i'm short, doesn't it? He gritted his teeth, glaring at the taller boy in the room. He had to loom over Riku by a good half-a-foot, give or take, and it was beginning to draw out a little light envy.
Why couldn't they just make my body like the one in the fake world?! He thought jealously, straightening his back and stretching his neck as far as it could go, but just coming out disappointed further. He even lifted the heels of his feet of the ground slightly and tried to balance on the balls of his feet, but dropped down shortly after and looked away. Being bothered about not being a big tough guy wasn't going to do much. After all, Riku didn't need to be big and tough to fight in the first place. His style was built around the least amount of force with the maximum amount of damage. A light body would be good for evasion as well. But he still found himself looking at the other boy for comparative height as well. This one seemed about the same height. Any difference in stature would have to be measured by a third party. At least there was still the minute chance of being, like, a centimeter taller. But there was also the chance of being slightly shorter and his disappointment simply growing. He agreed with himself to leave the topic alone.
Riku suddenly drew himself back into reality, doe eyes trailing to a light source and listening with a touch of anxiety to a conversation on the other side of what must be the way in or out of the room. A way out... He repeated to himself. at least that isn't half bad...
But he still found himself frozen, listening intently and hugging his long hair in front of him a little tighter.
"Hey! What are you doing?! This room is to not be disturbed until the next secret tour! Go home before you get killed!" Someone called at the event that was taking place just beyond the exit, and the other person scattered. The light source disappeared.
Riku's body relaxed. At least the threat - if it could really be called a threat - was nullified.
But the talking started up again... Something about school, coming from Miki. He was only half paying attention in the first place to the comment, but found himself commenting back, regardless.
"What kind of person wants to go to school?" He scoffed, and made a mental note to himself that all the so-called 'perfect' in the world couldn't get rid of the way he fumbled on the pronunciation of certain words. It got unnoticed by some people, but some words just got him, and people would wonder what kind of accent he had, or if it was even just a speech impediment. Most of his word fumbles were subtle, just little mispronunciations or incorrect vowel sounds. A person not really paying attention probably wouldn't notice. But even with having lighter, more delicate sounding voice than he used to, he was glad to still have the same basic speech patterns. It was like losing everything you owned in a fire, and finding that there was just one little keepsake in the ashes that was preserved. It kind of made him feel good.
Another girl in the group seemed to clash with Miki's statement pretty instantly, and started going on about some kind of nonsense about there might not even be a school. The word 'sifi' came into the speech and Riku finally got the gist of what on earth she was going on about.
Oh, great, he thought sarcastically. Just what we need, a conspiracy-theorist si-fi buff....
Riku opened his mouth to retort to her about what an idiotic theory that was, but suddenly shut his trap. He had no reasons to deny what she was thinking, actually, and the whole deal about waking up in a big laboratory inside a big tube did seem to qualify as a possible government conspiracy.... So he simply decided to ignore the comment and disprove it later. Even he knew when to shut up. Even if he could be a bit of a hot-head.
"I'm Hitori Ayumu. Let's all just introduce ourselves, and then figure out some sort of way to get out of here quiet-like." She said suddenly.
Well, Riku supposed the task seemed rational enough. Better than calling out, 'hey dude, yeah, you!' to everyone. And trying to identify people by features probably wasn't going to fly well. Riku wasn't even positive of what he looked like now, aside from apparently being shorter and having blonde hair... He was about to answer to that, too, but the conversation went on without him. Oh well, someone would bother trying to learn his name eventually, wouldn't they?
He watched Miki suddenly start going for the shinkenkan again, something about lights, and asking the violet-haired boy, Crow, for some assistance. But then came a request for the others to try and get the lights out of their own Shinkenkans. Riku scowled, hugging his hair a bit tighter and giving a glance back at the sloshy liquid in his own. No way. Not a chance in f*cking hell. He was not going back in that thing! It had been freaking hard enough to get out. Sure, it wasn't really water, and he was already positive there was going to be no drowning and asphyxiation inside - after all, he'd spent 16 years of his life in that thing, hadn't he? - but there was something about being submersed that still bothered him. It was still far to much like drowning. He wanted nothing to do with it.
Miki crawled back out and suddenly started dumping the contents of a box she'd found onto a pile on the ground. Well, this, he felt, couldn't be as bad as investigating that Shinkenkan. Riku took a few steps over and came up behind her, peering at the contents that she'd scattered on the floor. Seemed like a shit-load of weapons.... And good ones at that. But that was another confusing point. Why put weapons in here with their little experiments? It hardly seemed like a rational decision in the least, unless they were trying to get everyone in this room to fight their way out through people who probably had much more advanced weapons. In a fight like that, everyone in the room would probably end up down for the count, and then where would the scientists be after that?
The scent of blood tinged the humid air, and Riku looked at Miki again. Oh, great, she was a clutz, too. Brilliant... And how many times was she going to get her leg sliced before she realized that she was letting her skin get a little too close to sharp objects? As she got up, though, He noticed that her wounds had closed. That was quite a surprise, but he figured it had something to do with that odd fluid.
Well, as long as she wasn't dripping blood all over the place with an open wound, he figured he didn't have much of a reason to pay too much attention, and headed over to the pile to inspect what there was. Though another girl, the one who seemed to clash so easily with Miki, was inspecting the weapons too. Riku recalled that this girl was the conspiracy-theorist, Ayumu. Her attitude seemed much-to-be-desired, too, and he figured a conversation with her would probably not end well, so he gave her little more than a couple glances, and tried to focus on the pile. He noticed Ayumu pick some sort of sword up from the pile out of the corner of his eye, sort of like what Miki had done with that odd looking chain, and tried to see if any weapons appealed to him. Normally, he fought hand-to-hand. A weapon in one hand was a dead give-away where an attack would come from, and Riku knew that from experience. Fighting a person with a weapon was occasionally easy, and he could determine what kind of defenses and moves to put down in order to disarm the person, and then they were useless against him. But he found himself picking up a weapon anyway.
It seemed like a staff, almost, at first - black, and metallic, with chrome patterns that reminded him of something futuristic and star-wars-y. Though, he wasn't quite sure why star wars came to mind exactly. He'd only watched those once as a kid, with German subtitles. He just had liked to watch the fight scenes. But he almost expected a big read beam to come shooting out one end. He inspected the odd weapon a little while, unsure of why he'd picked it up in the first place. Honestly, what was it even used for--
He stopped turning the thing in his hands and noticed a slight seam in between what seemed like two halves of the object. After a moment of considering, and biting his lip, he pulled the two halves apart, revealing the blades that each half concealed. Each side was both a blade, and a sheath for the one on the other side. Now this he could work with. Weapons that simply extended his blows, but an attack or block could still come from either side. Twin swords. The weapon seemed good enough for him. Nice.
He re-sheathed the blades back into each other, bringing them back into one staff-like weapon, and held it down at his side in one hand. It was nice, but the size was hardly convenient. He'd need some sort of holster or something for it. Well, after he got clothes of course. That was more of a priority than convenient carrying of a weapon.
But that Miki girl seemed to be a it again. What was she doing now? He watched her suddenly suck up a good portion of the liquid in her tank with some sort of vial, and his doe-eyes only widened. What the f*ck?! How the hell did that make any sense?!?! Suddenly the girl hopped back out of the Shinkenkan and grabbed another vial-thingy, this one being a firey, opaque red color, and suddenly, the liquid inside the Shinkenkan that Riku had come out of had a sort of.... reaction with it being opened. The Girl dropped the vial suddenly, but it didn't break. Which was... odd.... to say the least...
Riku walked over to her, bending down and picking up the small vial. He closed it and watched the reaction of the fluids from the Shinkenkan die down. His attention turned to the vial a moment, looking at it and inspecting the design. It was appealing to him, at the very least. He'd always loved the color red. But it was difficult to study in such abnormal and little lighting. Who could say if perhaps it were more intricate a design that he could completely tell?
Riku averted his gaze and looked at Miki. "Soo, what? This one is mine then?"
Setting
0.00 INK
His mind started to wonder. His life in the Shikenkan had its difficulties, but it had its charms. So was it really all just thought up? It was all just some meagre dream to pass the time? How ridiculously stupid.
The boy's attention started to drift back into the room, being greeted by the smell of blood. Considering the fact he lived on the streets for a while, that was a smell which he was used to. Unlike some others, the smell never made him nauseated or something, thank goodness. He looked at the girl, staring at the piles of weapons. He couldn't really see anything he really liked, so he jest stood still. However, he walked over to the small bottles in the box which Miki had just opened and his hand plunged in taking the one with the silvery colour on the inside. He looked at it in the dim light of the Shikenkans, and revelled at the beautiful crystal ball, dangling in the centre. It reminded him of those foggy days where he'd just sit at home and watch TV, not another care in the world. And finally, his eyes caught sight of something.
Guns. A small pile of them, hiding under the daggers and knifes. There were two there which made him most interested, however, and his hand run along the iron guns, his eyes sparkling wildly. He'd finally found something he could use, something he actually knew how to use, and it made him happy. The guns were matching, except for one small difference. The cross running down the guns were different colours; one was a light silver and the other was ruby red. He stood in a perfect shooting position, aiming at where he believed the door to be, before resting and looking at the others.
"The door's there, I think." he said, opening the bottle around his neck and letting the liquid from his Shikenkan flow into the small bottle, watching it happen. His eyes looked around, before closing the lid when his Shikenkan was three-quarters empty, and flipped the guns in his hands.
"So, are we going or what?" Crow said, his eyes sparkling like the liquid in his necklace charm, probably due to the fact he could actually do something with those weapons. After all, even guns are technology, even of they aren't the electronic kind.
(Short post, sorry!!!)
Miki excitedly turned around and grinned, "Guys! I found an air vent! But it's really high..." She peered at the vent that was 10 feet out of her reach and nimbly, with the flick of her wrist, latched her chain around on of the flaps and secured it. She turned around and called towards the others, "Hey! I found a way out!" And yanked off the cover with the help of her blade function.
EDIT: I choose the vial colors based off of the color section in your character application!
'What if it's just another stupid dream...' he thought,walking over to the pile.As if on autopilot,he snatched the blue vial,flecked with pink dots.He pulled his hand out from the pile,and admired the colors.
"Just like a sky filled with cherry blossoms..." he muttered to himself,slightly cheered up.He imitated what the other Ningen No Kami were doing,and walked over to his Shikenkan,and popped the lid,drawing in the strange liquid from the Shikenkan.He watched as the vial seemed to be able to hold in several times it's own space.Finally,he capped it and tied the vial around his neck before moving over to rummage around the weapons.There wasn't really a need for weapons in his opinion...if anything came up,he could escape easily.He kept looking until he landed his eyes on a pair of black,ordinary looking gloves.He reached over to grab them and pulled them on.Tight.Snug.He tried touching things with them.Quite good,the gloves had more friction than he though.
He looked at the girl with pink hair when she mentioned that she found an air vent.He shifted his glance above her,and saw it.It was quite high up,and the fight alone seemed to bring up a small rush of adrenaline in Shin.Miki called out once more that she found a way out and he made his way over.He managed to grab the vent cover when the girl yanked it open.He placed it on the ground and looked at her.
"That was a little reckless...it would've made a din and we'd be found out." he chided,then broke a ghost of a smile. "But good find...Miki,was it?"
He took a look at the pole that led upwards towards the air vent,then tapped his gloves hands on the pole.His gloves made good friction with it.He grabbed a good hold on the pole and kicked off the floor,planting his legs firmly on the pole,and began utilizing a free-running move to make his way higher.
"I'm going up first." he called out,focusing on the air vent above him.He was nimble,far more nimble than he was in his 'fake' life.He made it up the the air vent,and slide himself into it.The 'exercise' had gotten his adrenaline pumping very hard.If he could continue doing this all day.He took a look at the vent.Standard movie-vent setup.He poked his hand out the air vent and waved an affirmative to the others.
'Doesn't seem too dangerous inside here.' he thought,hoping to himself that that was the truth.
Slapping her palm to her face, she sighed. This was getting nowhere. Oh well, might as well crawl into the air vents. With any luck, the walls were extra thick to prevent traditional forms of escape, or something lame like that. At least that would muffle the noise of a bunch of people crawling through incredibly echo-y air vents. On second thought, though, they hadn't moved or really eaten for their entire "real" lives, meaning they probably had almost no body fat. If they were all light as feathers, the noise might not have been as bad as she expected.
Ayumu sighed. "Alright, fine. We'll take the airvent. But I'm telling you, this is a bad idea. Anyway, I'm going up next. When they inevitably start shooting the ceiling, I want to be near the front." With that snide remark, she stepped in front of the others and began to shimmy up the pole with relative ease. Once she had reached the top, she loosened one arm from its grip around the pole, and, catching onto the air vent, deftly pulled herself up, as quietly as she could, although every tiny noise rang on with a violence that terrified her due to the reverberations. Still, it looked like they were okay, so far.
"Let's move away from the edge. That way, they'll have more room to climb up," She whispered, keeping her voice as low as possible.