New Line von Xanderionas ================================================================================ Kapitel 12: Chapter 12 ---------------------- Chapter 12: The next time Yagami woke up, she found herself in a foreign, white room, a strong smell of antiseptic in the background. Her eyes slowly grew accustomed to the halogen lamps, before becoming enveloped by a blur of purple hair: “Kou! You’re awake!” Rin’s hoarse voice betrayed her exhaustion, tear streaks clear as day on her cheeks as she hugged Yagami tighter. Sensing her breath shortening, Yagami tapped her back. Rin took the hint, letting go so she could breathe normally. “Rin.” Yagami began, “Where am I?” The light having become gentler on her vision, Yagami recognised more people around her, consisting of Futaba, Ahagon, Aoba and the Character Team. Nene sat on a nearby chair, peeling an apple with a knife while putting up a brave smile. “In the hospital.” Ahagon’s voice echoed in her ears, “You suffered a pretty bad shock to your system and fainted. Unfortunately, that included striking your head.” Yagami reached up to feel bandages wrapped around her blond hair, explaining the dull pain she felt. Rin wiped her cheeks clean of tears: “You started bleeding really badly so we called an ambulance. It wasn’t anything outright serious in the end, but I…” She stopped, tears again threatening to crash down. “I thought I had lost you for a moment there, Kou.” Now more aware of the situation, Yagami reached out and patted Rin on her head, giving a reassuring smile. “I’m not going to die that easily, Rin. I’ve gone through all-nighters worse than this, relax.” Ahagon chuckled, the gesture extremely rare from her. “Normally I would doubt that but, coming from you, I’d actually believe it.” The mood in the room lightened somewhat, allowing Yagami to slowly reflect on what had happened. Futaba then spoke up: “Yagi. Are you able to remember anything before fainting?” She looked up at her underclassman, seeing a young girl with trembling shoulders as if carrying a great burden. “Yeah, I remember. Anders, the arrest, the paper…” Bile rose in her stomach as she recalled the line on the white background, Futaba interrupting her: “Yagi, there’s something I need to discuss with you. Alone. Are you well enough for it or do you want to wait?” The group looked at Futaba with clear surprise in their expressions, some beginning to voice their concerns, when Yagami raised a hand to silence them. “It’s alright. Fuba, if you want to talk we can talk. I think we both need that right now anyway. Guys, could you give us a moment?” It was clear that nobody liked leaving her, yet as Aoba took charge and left the room, the rest soon followed, Nene leaving the peeled and cut apple in a bowl beside her. Rin glanced back one more time before closing the door behind herself, the mechanical silence in the room almost oppressive. Futaba grabbed Nene’s chair and seated herself, her hand trembling slightly. Yagami already dreaded what she was going to say, therefore she began: “I’m not going to interrogate you, Fuba. So relax. But answer me this. Are you in on any of this?” She didn’t speak, only giving a small nod. Yagami sighed as she hung her wounded head. “Alright, so that’s a fact. Then tell me why Anders is suddenly guilty of causing the attack in the first place. You and me both know that’s impossible.” Again Futaba nodded, before uttering with a small voice she hadn’t heard in years: “Yeah, because it’s not true. Nobody else knows that though.” Her tone somehow evoked a shallow level of anger to develop in Yagami, who sensed her faded image of Anders at risk to tear apart. “Then why did this happen? Why has he been arrested? And why the hell did he write that? Don’t tell me…” Futaba glanced up at her, her depressed expression speaking volumes. “Yagi, you and Eagle Jump were set up.” “What?” she answered, shocked. Futaba merely nodded. “Did Boss ever tell you how he came to the position of Manager?” A bit perturbed by the change in topic, Yagami nodded. “He said a higher-up in the company helped him to it.” “That’s half of the truth. It’s true he had support from above, but Boss rose to the position mainly through his own smarts and willpower. That alone puts him high above electricians who try to implant thumb drives with malware into one’s home.” “Wh-What?” Yagami’s mind raced back to the electrician she had let in earlier today. “I didn’t enter your apartment to go to the bathroom, but to find out if anyone had hidden something to incriminate you with. Boss assumed that regardless of what happened to him, the ones responsible would try to drag you and Eagle Jump along with him just out of spite. So he sent me to your office on Tuesday to sweep your workplace for any intentionally planted malware and remove it. Just in time, as the police came the day after and I had dug up no less than three thumb drives with the same malware in three different locations, your table being one of them.” “You’re joking!” Yagami exclaimed, though it was clear she wasn’t. “No, I’m not. When the police ended up finding nothing in your office, whoever was responsible tried to directly target employees by leaking an anonymous suggestion to the police. However, only one person was targeted to our knowledge. You, Yagi.” Yagami was yet again speechless, the events of this morning adding to the stress that formed a wave of pain in her forehead. She rubbed her temples to try and alleviate the pain, Futaba offering her a cup of water and the apple slices: “Here. You lost a good bit of blood and need to refill your water and sugar level. Sakura was very kind. She ran to buy you the apples as soon as she heard. Turns out she has a friend with anemia who often fainted in school so she has experience.” Genuine thanks welled in Yagami for Nene as she took a bite. Giving a small smile, it soon faded to a more grave look. “Fuba, who? Just who tried to target you and us at the same time like this? You seem to know everything.” To her surprise, Futaba shook her head. “I don’t. I only know what Boss told me to watch out for and to do. Had it not been for his foresight, your company would have become part of a grand trial where you risked losing everything. Not to mention how many people could be wrongfully imprisoned. We’re still in Japan, after all. Anyway, I was able to clean your apartment of the thumb drive they hid in there. But these people mean business. Now that Boss has been arrested however, I think they’ll stop trying anything.” The topic of Anders let Yagami’s mind rush with anger again, the sweet apple slices evidently already having an effect. “Stop hiding it from me please, Fuba. If Anders had such foresight, then he’d know who was behind it as well, wouldn’t he? You know how he always continues to surprise you.” The two women in the room exchanged a knowing look, before Futaba sighed and gave her answer: “Boss believes the death of the higher-up at the meeting and the attack to be connected. Most likely, the one behind it is Takamura.” She had pronounced the name like acid, Yagami’s own ire bubbling up to the surface. A toad-like face occupied Yagami’s entire mind, pushing her to ask: “That guy? How on earth is the death of somebody connected to that?” “This is purely speculation on Boss’ end, but the higher-up who died can’t suddenly have had a heart attack because he was in near prime physical condition. One of those health addicts who go to the gym everyday even at his age. The thing is however, he had hereditary diabetes and needed an insulin shot every day. That morning, there was a very sweet breakfast prepared for all the guests of the conference and the guy took his insulin beforehand to handle it. Question is, what if the syringe he used wasn’t filled with insulin?” Horror rushed through Yagami’s mind, causing her to turn paler than ever before. “Please tell me that’s not true.” “I can’t say, Yagi. Boss is the one who came up with the theory. We can’t prove it either without evidence, all things we don’t have. The thumb drives were used to try and bring you down. When that wasn’t an option, they went straight for Boss.” The shift in her tone from factual to emotional was clearly audible. “I received a notice this morning from the main office. Boss was fired for negligent handling of the situation in addition to poor managerial action during his time. Meanwhile, I’m to replace him as Manager on account of my ‘stellar track record’. The order was signed by Takamura, who replaced Boss’ benefactor as head of our branch. This has been what Takamura wanted all along.” “Why? What does he gain from doing all this? Why target Anders?” “Simply put, it’s because Takamura hates him. As for why, you need to ask Boss for that. I’ve been dealing with Takamura as long as I’ve been in the branch and there has never been a moment where he hasn’t insulted Boss for every little thing he did. It’s good that he’s an idiot, otherwise Boss wouldn’t have been able to twist the situation so much in his favor.” “Favor?” Yagami nearly yelled, “He got arrested and put on trial! How is that in anyway favorable to him?” “Because he got what he wanted. You read the paper, didn’t you?” Unable to respond, she watched as Futaba rummaged in her pockets and produced the crumpled page. “I don’t have the right to intrude on what Boss and you have going, Yagi. Regardless of what it may be.” she added, seeing Yagami’s mouth opening in protest, “I only know that, right after the police arrived on Monday, Boss texted me and told me to help ensure nothing would happen to you or Eagle Jump. I asked him yesterday why he would go so far.” Opening her phone to her messages, Futaba let Yagami read the latest entries: - Boss, what the hell are you thinking? You want me to put the drives in YOUR house? - Don’t question it Futaba. I already dropped an anonymous hint at the police that I might be involved in the crime. They’ll have a warrant for inspecting my home by tomorrow. - But you’d be the criminal in the case! And we both know that toad is behind all of it! - Yeah, but so what? Let him have his glory. - You’d go to jail! - Fine with me. I only need to make sure nobody gets involved in this apart from me. If I can at least prevent others from getting hurt in the process I don’t care. Futaba took back the phone from her, Yagami mute as she processed what she just read. She looked up to see a deeply troubled expression on Futaba, her own voice faint as she asked: “So the bag you put in Anders’ home?” “All the drives they planted were in there, along with papers Boss wrote on how to circumvent our security program. I had sent him a report on what had been targeted and he used it as reference. He knew his stuff with coding as well so that all the work checks out as having been prepared well in advance. The police arrived soon after and made their final conclusions without much fuss.” Nothing made sense anymore for Yagami. The faded outline of Anders in her mind had been reduced to a mere smear, any understanding beyond her help. She leaned back in her bed as the world began to spin around her, Futaba already moving to push the emergency button. Yagami barely managed to grab her wrist beforehand, squeezing it tightly as she hissed: “I’m fine, Fuba. Just give me a moment.” It was clear she disliked doing it, yet Futaba honored her wish and retreated, waiting patiently as Yagami stared up at the ceiling, muttering under her breath: “You idiot. You absolute idiot, Anders. How could you do this to yourself?” “Yagi.” Futaba began, “Don’t get so angry about it. Boss has always been like that. The amount of times he nearly got fired before due to his crazy antics is beyond my count, but he always did it with good intentions.” Yagami turned her head fast enough towards Futaba to incite nausea, her face twisted with anger: “So what about him then, Fuba? Who’s there to think for him? He’s acting like some superhero, but all he managed is to imprison himself without chance at ever returning to society as a normal person. He lets somebody clearly at fault run away with everything he had, pretending to be content with having helped others without their consent. Just how…” Yagami paused to catch her breath, her emotions beginning to run wild as she yelled: “...is he supposed to be happy about any of this?” Her breathing slightly ragged, she watched as the door got ripped open, Rin and the others rushing in to see what happened. Unable to hold herself together, Yagami covered her face with her hand while tears began to form. She brought up a massive effort to not cry, eventually managing to suppress the urge and look out again over the wave of concerned faces. She sighed as she sank into her pillow, mumbling quietly enough that nobody could overhear: “I need a drink.” Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)