It is that time again...

[spotto]

...for me to go paranoid and insane.

PART THREE

There was quite a crowd in the cafeteria. Ako looked around, studying every inch of the interior before being shoved through the lunch line. Some cells lined the wall on the second story, and there were tables scattered about on the lowest level, where she assumed they would eat. Ako was wondering why dinner and breakfast was served in their cells while they had to line up to eat for lunch, maybe movement wasn’t as limited as she thought.

”Oh boy! What’s for lunch today!?” Yuuna exclaimed she moved through the line.

A lunch lady, eerily resembling the one at Ako’s old middle school, scooped some sort of unknown squishy substance from a giant pot, and poured it onto her tray. It was light brown, and was also bubbling, yet Ako saw no steam rising up.

”Uh, does this lunch lady know what she’s feeding us?” Ako asked quietly, but apparently it wasn’t quiet enough.

”How DARE you call me a lunch lady!” The lunch lady said.

Yuuna shook her hands in front of her face, chuckling a bit, “Oh! There’s nothing wrong with your food, and you’re certainly not a lunch lady, Takane!”

Ako looked at the lunch lady making quite a fuss, “I’m confused, why can’t I call the lunch lady, the lunch lady?”

”THERE YOU GO AGAIN WITH THE LUNCH LADY!” Takane screamed, “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?”

The new inmate stepped backwards as she saw Takane attempt to lash at her. Yuuna tried to drag Ako away.

”Wait, I don’t understand. I thought she was the lunch lady—“

A great eruption occurred. It was greater than Mount St. Helens and Mount Fuji combined. Someone from space could see the smoke piling up in the atmosphere of the earth. There was quite a tremor from such eruption as well, caused by the terrible loud sound that came with it. Amazingly enough, no one died. One person suffered a headache, and one window broke though, causing sixty dollars in damages. The reaction to such a disaster was quick, as many officers ran towards the thunderous peak, and pinned that ‘lunch lady’ down.

Yuuna cracked a smile, “Quick thing to note, there’s no such things as lunch ladies here. The people who serve the food are also inmates, so calling them ‘lunch ladies’ is like a racial slur.”

”Oh…I’m sorry—MFFF!” Ako’s mouth was shut close by Yuuna’s hand.

”Maybe you just shouldn’t say anything for a while, eheh…” Yuuna chuckled, looking uneasy as she stared back at the struggling Takane under the ridiculous number of cops in a dog-pile. She dragged Ako and her food towards the table farthest away from the serving counter, at a dark and broody corner. The dark and broody corner had several cobwebs and tons of carved graffiti on the walls adjacent. Yuuna set the food down. She finally released Ako’s head.

Ako proceeded to smack her forehead against the table, “Uwah! I really messed up back there, didn’t I?”

”Ohhhh yeah, Stripperific and her troops are going to kill you,” Yuuna said, but she was also mildly amused.

Ako’s pupils zoomed around in her eye sockets insanely as the new convict bit her lip, “Oh no! What do I do!? What do I do!? I didn’t mean to insult her! Aaagh!”

The girl continued to panic, looking around and shaking her hands wildly. Yuuna stared at Ako, then at her food, then at Ako again, then back at the food. She stuck her spoon into Ako’s tray and took a bite. A satisfied smirk appeared on the more experienced of the inmates’ face. After a few minutes of Yuuna eating and Ako panicking, Yuuna finally decided to grab onto Ako’s shoulders and hold her in place.

”Do you have short-term memory loss or something!? I said I’d keep you safe! Now eat your delicious lunch!” Yuuna pointed at the food that Ako still could not identify, even though she had consumed the same thing for yesterday dinner and today’s breakfast.

Ako took a deep breath, and then stared down at her tray, which looked like it had less food than she thought she was given. She picked at the slop with her spoon, and then watched Yuuna happily eat her own share rather happily. The girl was dumbfounded. Yuuna peered up from her food, staring at Ako’s staring.

”You’re staring at me like you’ve never eaten before, or something,” Yuuna said.

Ako rested on her palm, “…we ate this for dinner and breakfast…don’t you get tired of it?”

”What!? Get tired of the mystery stew!? ‘You kiddin’ me!?” Yuuna grinned, “We only get this awesome stuff two days a month! Almost as good as pancakes, I tell ya’.”

The mush on Ako’s tray did not get any tastier, but on the bright side, at least it didn’t get worse. She started to empty the tray of food, already missing her mother’s delicious homemade cooking at home. The inmate looked up to stare at the high windows of the facility. The light shining inside was some sort of cruel teaser to a place she could no longer go to.

”Say, Yuuna…” Ako started, still looking at the window.

”Oi, Ako. No eye contact is a sign of disrespect, you can get beat up if you don’t look at someone when talking,” Yuuna noted, causing her to look back down at Yuuna.

”Do you think there’s a chance they’ll clear this mistake up?”  

Yuuna’s left eye narrowed, and her grin became somewhat twisted, “Pfft…the chance of that happening is like the chance of me bringing world peace.”

She no longer kept her gaze on Yuuna, instead Ako chose to stare at the cold hard ground. After what she heard from her cellmate, it had cut her insides deep, so much so that they were fried and thrown at wolves to eat. Her firm grip on her spoon loosened considerably. There was nothing but silence entering her ears. She never really understood the justice system much, but now it seemed that it was rather flawed. Ako could feel the ends of her eyes getting damp.

”Ako…not in public, of all places…”

”But…”

Yuuna grabbed Ako’s wrist. She glared at the saddening figure in front of her as she continued on, “You insult me. Not only do you not stare at me in the eyes…you think the chance of me bringing world peace is impossible! That’s just mean, Ako!”

”Wait, but your attitude and tone of…”

”The point is, there is a chance. Even though that chance is small…you got to have faith!,” Yuuna finished. The look on her eye showed great promise to Ako, but she knew that in reality there wasn’t much hope. Still, if there was even one tiny crack on the dam, maybe she could break it. Yuuna seemed to believe that, at least.

Ako looked up from the depressing tiled floor, “So there is a chance, even if it’s just a little?”

”You idiot, there’s always a chance. It’s just so small that there’s no point in hoping,” there was another voice that joined into the conversation. Was someone eavesdropping on Yuuna and Ako? She turned to see someone sitting at a table quite close to them. Ako did not notice her cellmate about to get up.

The other inmate’s arms were crossed, and her eyes of an icy menacing glare. She had long flowing blonde hair, and was smaller than even Ako. Yet, she had some sort of invisible aura of evil and fear surrounding her.

”E-e-e-evangeline! What…brings you to our space of…uh, inferiority!? Eheh!” Yuuna suddenly spat up. Ako looked at Yuuna. The girl was almost shaking, just like when they were confronted by Captain Tatsumiya. Suddenly remembering the eye contact advice, Ako turned to stare at Evangeline, despite the fear she brought upon people.

Ako gulped. This was the serial killer Yuuna had told her about. She didn’t seem as evil as she had imagined though, which was why she wasn’t running off screaming her head off. It was hard to believe that someone so small like this girl here was capable of all those horrifying deeds. Ako’s ignorance was what kept her from freaking out like Yuuna did.

The small girl smirked, “World peace from you? Of course that’s impossible. Why don’t you use an analogy that’s actually close to the situation at hand!?”

”O-o-f course! What do you purpose!?” Ako could barely decipher Yuuna’s words. She was talking far too fast.

Evangeline pointed at Yuuna, “People like you who pounce on every slim chance sicken me,” she turned her head and faced Ako, pointing, “And you should face reality. There are dozens of people every year who are apparently innocent, and end up dying here. In fact, that just happened yesterday.”

”What are you saying?” Yuuna’s mannerisms seemed to have died down. What Evangeline had just said caught her attention greatly.

”You mean that brainless redhead never told you?”

”Told me…what?”

Evangeline sighed, “Ugh. It’s so obvious. There’s no point in pointing it out if you’re that dense.”

Yuuna frowned, but she did not counter the girl’s statement. Fear was a tool of power in prison politics.

”One more thing,” Evangeline started, “this brat here…” She turned and pointed to Ako once again, while still staring at Yuuna coldly, “has already passed you in terms of facing reality, despite being thick-headed.”

”Huh?” Ako scratched her cheek, wondering what the heck Evangeline was talking about.

”Bloody hell, it’s like I have to explain everything in here,” the small girl continued, “She already follows the most important rule in this place, you do not, Akashi.”

Yuuna’s expression clearly showed to Evangeline that she was still being her dumb little oblivious self. The slightly-frustrated murderer sighed, and dropped her pointing hand back to her side. She suddenly stood up, reaching just above a water fountain nearby.

”The most important rule: Trust no one,” Evangeline hesitated, but expected for the others to not react in stark confusion, and so she continued, “She doesn’t trust you, moron.” She quickly took her leave, joining a rather tall girl with long green flowing hair towards the doorway to the yard.

Ako watched the feared ‘Dark Evangel’ take her leave, while thinking about what she said. Was there truly no way to correct the mistake justice had down on her life? Would she spend the rest of her adolescence and then some locked up with dangerous people? There had to be some way to appeal the sentence. What was wrong with her alibi? She was at home when the supposed assault happened. Her entire family confirmed it. Still, there looked to be no way out from this terrible place.

”She didn’t seem that scary,” Ako muttered, about to turn back to her lunch. Her cellmate did not move.

The newcomer turned to Yuuna, “Uh, Yuuna?”

”Heh…doesn’t trust me. What does she know!” Yuuna grinned uneasily, “You trust me, don’t you, Ako?”

Ako froze, not knowing what to say. Yuuna had been rather nice to her so far, but it had been less than a day since Ako was incarcerated. She didn’t know Yuuna that much anyway, and the thing she was eager for the most was to see Makie again. Despite everything Yuuna had done, something kept her from completely giving in to the convict. She was raised, like so many other children would be, to always view people who go to prison as automatically evil and undeserving people. It did not fare well in her mind to one day have to befriend these ‘evil’ people.

 Yuuna kept looking at Ako, and noticed how nervous the girl got, “…do you, Ako?”

”Uh…yeah…” Ako mumbled rather quietly, trying to squeeze out of this spot. She kept staring at the ground.

”Has anyone ever told you that you’re a bad liar?” Yuuna’s grin became only a small smile, “couldn’t even lie to my face, huh?”

”It’s not that, Yuuna…I just…”

Her cellmate shook her head, “No, I get it. You don’t need to say anything.” She started walking off from the table, not even finishing the lunch that she actually enjoyed. Yuuna took the path Evangeline had just took moments before, picking up her pace as she continued on. Before she reached the door, she turned to stare at Ako one more time.

”Alright Ako, if you don’t trust me yet, let’s see how you can get around without me!” Yuuna’s grin had a devious feeling to it, as she walked faster, getting farther away from Ako.

Ako had a sudden fear , “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Where are you going!?”

”You can’t learn anything if I’m always there,” Yuuna finished. She waved to the panicking and flailing girl, and finally ran off, leaving Ako in the middle of the cafeteria all alone and afraid—and a little regretful.

The girl ran after Yuuna, trying to figure out where she went. It was too cruel for her to just leave her there. Letting her wander around alone was like leaving a canary wandering around in a pound full of cats. Ako ran faster, thoughts of what horrible things could happen streamed in and out throughout her mind only scared her further.

It was also quite a distraction.

Oof!

Ako found herself sprawled onto the ground. She sat up and wondered what hit her. It took a few seconds before she realized she had bumped into someone, and all panic arose once more. The person she had crashed into had stood back up, and from the looks of the orange outfit, she was definitely not a prison guard.

”Ow…” Ako rubbed her head, looking up at whatever—or whoever she had ran right into. Her sights started giving her heart a reason to break the world record in the number of beats it could reach in a minute, “Aaah! I’m sorry!”

When the face of the inmate she had run into finally registered, something looked different.

”Aaah! You’re…b-b-bleeding…”

She quickly looked away from the injured inmate, and tried to get away, as quickly as possible. She could feel her head getting slightly dizzy after that. The sight of blood did not compliment Ako well. Before she took another step, the girl realized something.

”Oh no! I’m not supposed to apologize!”

Ako reluctantly turned around to face the injured inmate, trying not to actually stare at said inmate. She pointed to her, and that hand was shaking considerably, “Uhhh…um…how dare you bump into me!? I mean…something like that…er…ahh! YUUNA! WHERE ARE YOU!?”

Her panic was unrivalled. She once again raised her arms into the air and sprinted off, looking for Yuuna. She could still feel a nagging dizziness affect her head, and in the midst of horror, was screaming at herself internally not to faint or it would be the end of her out here.

After a while Ako realized how ridiculous she looked, and dropped her thrashing arms back to her side. She could not find Yuuna, and running around like a blind cat was going to give her a lot of attention if she continued doing that. Attention was the last thing she needed. Ako finally sighed in a breath of defeat, still staring around at where Yuuna might have gone. The yard was actually quite massive. She followed the concrete sidewalk, staring at numerous inmates who were staring back. She could hear them talking behind her back, and she felt one single droplet of sweat follow a similar trail down her spine. Ako felt her hands shaking a bit by her loose and baggy pants. She stared at every inch of the yard, just searching, searching for Yuuna, more calmly this time, of course.

”I knew it…I knew I would’ve messed up further. Why can’t I do anything right!?” Ako closed her eyes, trying to imagine her sitting in front of the hardwood table in her kitchen with her parents, just to escape reality. She imagined the delicious roasted chicken sitting atop a plate only inches from her savouring mouth. She imagined her school, her friends, and her teachers. Sure, her old life was normal and boring, but she would rather have a normal and boring life than…than…than this, whatever this life could possibly be called.

She could picture her room, and her cute little stuffed chick that she would always sleep with from when she was but a baby. If only she could wrap her arms around that one thing; it would be all she needed to get her mind out of her predicament, but she couldn’t even take that with her into his…hellhole. It was truly a cruel punishment for Ako.

”Uh, hello? Are you there? Awake?” A voice from behind Ako quickly made her come to her senses. Who was that?

Ako turned around, and didn’t see anybody there at all. Where did that voice come from? She looked around to see if any inmate could’ve been up close to her, but all of them were too far away or doing something rather busy than to have been right up to her back. Suddenly, a very large man, that’s right, a man, walked into the yard and started yelling at people. What?

”Okay, you lazy inmates! I’ve been personally hired by the Warden here to be your exercise coach!!!” He yelled, and held up a whistle. Several dozen inmates groaned and complained about exercising. They would rather play cards or chat with each other than exercise. The only ones that did exercise remotely were the ones who were slightly stronger than the rest and thus ‘rule’ the yard.

He continued, “Shut up! I don’t care if you lift weights or do chin-ups—“

”We’re girls, bastard! At least get a female coach!”

”Shut up!”

”Girls don’t lift weights or do chin-ups!”

”Sure you do! Don’t be sexist to yourselves! But I’m here to make you run and do things like PLAY BASKETBALL! Look how empty that basketball court is! Not even a single person is running around over there!”

”And why would we listen to some new recruit here!?” A few inmates argued. They weren’t too nice towards any newcomers, and Ako feared that counted for newcomer inmates too, like her.

Captain Tatsumiya emerged from one of the buildings, still equipped with dangerous weapons from before, “If you don’t listen to him, I’ll use you all for target practice.”

Amazingly enough, every inmate stood up and followed the captain’s orders. Ako stared at the inmates’ faces; they showed great fear in them. This Captain Tatsumiya really must have a lot of authority here. Even Yuuna thought she was going to get executed by the presence of the captain. Ako thought she was just being silly then, but if what she told her was true, and the actions of everybody else here could tell, Ako also had to be very afraid, be very, very, VERY afraid.

The Captain turned to face the large ‘coach’ of the inmates, “Treat these people as prisoners, not schoolyard children.” She glared at him and walked back into the building to work on some papers. Ako felt another drop of sweat crawl down her face.

The coach laughed, “Ahahaha…I’m not sure I’ll get used to this, but oh well! My name is Jack Rakan. You will call me Coach Rakan. If you don’t, uh, that scary old lady will use you for target practice.”

”Hahaha! He call Captain old lady-aru!”

Out of nowhere a flying rubber bullet went towards the direction of the laughing inmate, who, surprisingly, at least to Ako, dodged it.

”You miss me—“

Thwack!

The second bullet was not dodged. The gun of Captain Tatsumiya was smoking. Did she have the ears of a fox, or something? Ako shivered at the sight of defying such a frightening woman.

Ako also shuddered at the feeling of being hit by a rubber bullet. She looked at the cold menacing eyes of Captain Tatsumiya. Indeed, it seemed like this would be a long and terrifying day. The coach paced back and forth, staring at the forty or so inmates standing in front of him.

”Let’s start with something easy and simple…” He said, “Hmmm, how about twelve laps around the yard?”

”Are you crazy, old man!?” One of the inmates said, with a low growl accompanying her annoyed grunt. She didn’t look like someone too used to physical exertion. In fact, Ako would think from the size of her round glasses that she was a computer person, or something similar.

”I am not, miss! In fact, I think thirteen laps would do because you are all complaining that it’s just too easy!” Coach Rakan laughed, “now start running, ladies!”

Ako started running behind some girls, staring off into the distance. She eventually lost count of how many laps she had finished by the middle of running. She could clearly see the inmate that had complained lagging behind most of the rest. She must have been an indoor person. A few minutes later and she saw in the distance several girls crashing into each other. They started arguing with each other, and when she saw some guards approaching them, something spelled trouble.

”Hey! Calm down!”

There was even more profanity than words that weren’t profanity in the argument.

The one who seemed the angriest of the bunch had something on her leg. It was some sort of belt tightened around the calf, and Ako wondered what it was. She then remembered that she saw it on someone else before, but strangely could not recall which inmate it was. She noticed an officer pressing something on her belt. What happened next shocked her. (Haha, get it? …I’ll stop now.  >>)

”Oooooh…”

The girl in question had suddenly unleashed an anguishing cry, falling onto the ground. The other inmates didn’t seem too fazed other than reacting to what happened, but Ako was quite horrified. She almost immediately put two-and-two together, and that the device attached to that rather dangerous inmate’s leg must’ve been some sort of modern torture device. If only Yuuna was around to explain to her. Ako knew she must’ve been running with everyone else, but she just couldn’t manage to spot her. Did she go somewhere else?

Finally, the large and rather buff coach stopped them all from running. Ako noticed quite a few inmates angry at him, and soon learned that even Rakan had lost count of how many laps the girls were doing, and so did not tell them to stop. Ako estimated that they must have circled the yard over twenty times. Luckily for her, she was used to intense running from being in a soccer team back in her normal boring life.

”Well, it’s almost four! You happy ladies better get to the showers!” Rakan said. He clearly still wasn’t treating the inmates like prisoners, as Captain Tatsumiya had told him to. Ako did not know what was going on in that man’s head, calling all the annoyed inmates ‘happy’.

As the girls reached the main cell block, Ako didn’t seem to see any showers at all. She started to get confused, and now was even more desperate to find Yuuna, but still she could not find that evasive cellmate.

”Huh? Where are the showers?” She finally said out loud, hoping someone might reply, and hoping they wouldn’t punch her or something equally as painful.

An inmate growled, who was the same girl with the glasses who had complained about the running, “What are you, an idiot? The showers are in that room right there.” She pointed to a room that read ‘public showers’ at the top of the door frame. Ako finally realized something.

”W-wait…you mean the showers are…public?”

”You expect some sort of five-star hotel room or something? Of course they’re public. What’s the matter with you?” She said, crossing her arms as a bunch of officers finally approached the girls.

Ako looked down at the ground, gripping tightly onto her shoulder sleeve. If the showers were public that would mean she would be in the same place with a bunch other female strangers, naked and wet. Now, it wasn’t so much that she was uncomfortable with showing her nude body, actually she was rather worried about people seeing that.

”Huh, aru? That girl is uncomfortable with public shower, aruka?”

Another bad chill hit Ako, as she realized that talking about something like this would ultimately end badly for her. Yuuna had told her before that this was showing weakness, and Ako was going to be targeted by all the bullies, which was probably everybody, at this rate. She closed her eyes and raised her head, opening them to look straight at the same inmate who got shot by Captain Tatsumiya.

”Oh…uh, nothing wrong with that at all! Eheheh…” Ako uneasily said. Her nervousness, unfortunately, was rather obvious. 

Another spectacled inmate spoke up, overhearing the dispute at Ako, “Oooh! A girl is nervous in getting naked! Ehehehe…maybe she’s got a paipan…”

”PARU! DON’T BE DISGUSTING!” A small girl shouted rather loudly back at the inmate known as ‘Paru’.

”You’re only saying that because you have one, don’t you, Yueecchi?” The spectacled girl grinned. The smaller girl blushed greatly, and started yelling back at ‘Paru’. After several seconds of that, they took a glimpse of Ako, who was obviously new to this group of inmates.

A few other inmates also eyed her strangely, but turned back to their business. This was a wonderful time for officers to perform the twice-a-day strip search, since they were all going into the showers anyway. Ako gulped as Officer Oukouchi motioned for her to come forward. She was next in line for this rather indecent ritual. She walked up slowly to the officer.

Officer Oukouchi smiled. Such a smile almost lifted all of Ako’s worries off her chest. The only officer she started to trust was this one, who also, oddly enough, was new around here. She was the one who seemed to handle Ako’s business the most after all, and not only that, but there was some sort of relation between her and Yuuna. If she had to be forced to show her disgraceful mark to anyone, it would be to Officer Oukouchi. The first time Ako was strip-searched, the officer then didn’t bother to look at Ako’s backside. Also, Ako had not even seen this officer since then. She assumed he had left the force.

”Ah, Izumi-san, “ the officer started, “we haven’t done the medical check-up on you yet. We would’ve done so when you arrived but because of the lockdown it was impossible. So after the shower, we will be escorting you to the first aid room rather than the cafeteria. You will have to eat dinner late back in your cell.”

Ako nodded as she started to unbutton her shirt, “Uhm, may I ask what is done at the medical check-up?” Ako, as someone with some nursing knowledge, had some experience with medical check-ups back at the school, but they were relatively short and unlike most schools didn’t require girls to take off their clothes or anything. That very much relieved her. The reason was the doctors instead would provide the school with any thing notable about student’s health instead of the school finding it out themselves.

”Oh, it’s just like a regular check-up at a doctor’s appointment. We also have to note down any tattoos, marks, or scars just to see if you’re in any gangs or anything that might tell us about what your personal life must’ve been like. For example, if we see a great number of scars we would ask if you’ve been abused by someone before arriving. I do have a good feeling there’s nothing like that on you though, correct, Izumi-san?”

Ako’s eyes widened.

END OF PART THREE

I decided NOT to friend it...
Spotto's "second chapters" (I know it says part three, >>; ) are fail.

Comments

Finally

[chobo-chan.livejournal.com]

Ah I finally got to read this, and I'm glad u put out another part. ^-^



(had no int fer weeks) >->;