Dahdhadhahdah!
Jul. 15th, 2008 12:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spottoDahdahdahdahdahdah!
Sorry, I've recently started listening to Trance music and I haven't hated any of the songs (at the same time none have stood out, LOL)
I'm not very good at finding songs or making a giant song collection like others do and so I just listen to internet radios now. XP
Plus they sound awesome as I play Soldat. I think I play better listening to it. It makes the shooting exciting, as if I have to GO OUT AND KILL. Hahaha.
But this entry is mainly for this...
I love happy cliffhangers, don't you? ;)
Sorry, I've recently started listening to Trance music and I haven't hated any of the songs (at the same time none have stood out, LOL)
I'm not very good at finding songs or making a giant song collection like others do and so I just listen to internet radios now. XP
Plus they sound awesome as I play Soldat. I think I play better listening to it. It makes the shooting exciting, as if I have to GO OUT AND KILL. Hahaha.
But this entry is mainly for this...
Before the story begins I must repost that awesome Yuuna shot because of how awesome it looked for she pwned in the OAD, and for its awesomeness I am reposting it:
Now to the story!
“I never said she killed anybody,” Ako countered, starting to feel offended at how Madoka was talking down of Yuuna.
“Did she ever tell you what happened to her victim?”
Ako shook her head, “No…”
“Obviously because that victim died, and she is completely ashamed of it.”
Ako frowned, “Even if she did kill someone, the fact that she feels shame must mean she has some sort of moral in her! She isn’t a psycho or anything!”
“Just because someone has a conscience doesn’t mean they can’t repeat their crime. She could have killed her victim in rage. What if you accidentally made her so angry that she attacked you? I don’t want that happening, Ako!” Madoka started getting louder, almost frightening the inmate.
Ako clenched her fist, feeling helpless, “I honestly don’t think she’s that kind of person…”
“Fine. All we have is that crime anyway. Has she done anything else completely shameful? Be honest here, Ako,” Madoka continued.
“Well…” Ako didn’t want to say it, but Yuuna once mentioned something else, “She uh, attempted to stab another inmate once, I think…but that was because she had to!”
Madoka crossed her arms, “She had to? She has a choice, Ako. To stab or not to stab, I’m sure a sane and morally aware person would choose the second option.”
“She was being threatened. She would’ve been killed if she didn’t do it, and she never went through with it anyway!” Ako stared at Madoka straight in the eye, trying to challenge her in the argument.
“Then why isn’t she dead? If she never actually stabbed that inmate, why wasn’t she killed for not going through with it?” Madoka asked, “If she was never killed, then she was never threatened. She must’ve lied to you about that second part, just to look more pure. That’s strike two, Ako!”
Ako had to admit, Madoka was coming up with some applicable points, but something deep within her told her that Yuuna wasn’t like that. Perhaps it was intuition, but since when did Ako ever have good intuition? She didn’t know what to think. The nagging feeling that this person she had only known for three days was in some way, a friend, could not leave her. She continued to search for counterpoints.
“It was probably because she got sent to the hole before she could have been killed!” Ako said, starting to sound desperate.
Madoka raised her eyebrow, “The hole?”
“Er, segregation,” Ako said.
“And how many times has she gone there?” Madoka asked, expecting an answer to swing to her side of the argument.
“Uh, as far as I know, twice…” Ako said uneasily.
Madoka asked, “What was the other time for?”
“Well, she recently was sent there because she was pulling pranks on a guard,” Ako explained, “She scared her three times in the morning…”
Madoka frowned, “Sounds kind of cruel. Did your shameful little friend feel ashamed of that?”
The prisoner sighed, feeling defeated, “…not really…”
“Strike three, then,” Madoka stood up, “Ako. I want you to stay away from this person. She is insane!”
“Y…Y-Yuuna is not insane!” Ako suddenly stood up, her chair slammed into the floor creating a sudden bang noise. The other three girls were surprised at Ako’s defensive nature for this ‘Yuuna’.
“So that’s her name, is it?” Madoka grumbled, “I don’t understand why you’re so stubborn about this. You’ve only known her for three days! Why do you trust people so easily, Ako!?”
Misa, who was strangely quiet for the entire argument along with Sakurako, said, “I think I know why!” A grin formed on her face, “It’s because you LOVE her, isn’t it?” Her eyebrows twitched up and down about fourteen times.
“W-w-w-w-what are you saying!?” Ako suddenly jumped backwards, while her pale face changed its colour several times before deciding on red.
“That’s right! You, Ako Izumi are in love with this mysterious and dangerous convict! Forbidden love sounds completely romantic…and sexy!!!”
They all heard the sigh and face-palm from Madoka, but Misa still continued, “You have dreams of her unbelievably hot naked body just pulsing on the bed, waiting for you to pounce, DON’T YOU!?”
“M-M-Misa! How did you get from that to something so…p-perverted!?” Ako was shaking.
“REALLY!? Wow, Ako! I didn’t know you had that in you! My opinion is changed of you!” Sakurako said, grinning with a mouth so large it almost looked bigger than her actual face.
Ako shook her head uncontrollably, “No! You know I don’t swing that way, Misa! I had a crush on my MALE soccer coach before!”
“You apparently do not know the meaning of BISEXUAL, do you, Ako?” Misa nudged the extremely red inmate, “Besides, what kind of men will you find in an all-girl’s jail? Old perverted ones waiting to pounce on you! I think you should be wary of them more than the ‘dangerous convicts’ surrounding you! Did you know ten percent of female prisoners are raped every year!?”
Madoka yelled, “MISA! YOU’RE SCARING HER! And that can’t seriously be true!”
“If you get to scare her, I get to scare her too.”
“I was WARNING HER!” Madoka gritted her teeth.
Misa shrugged, “Same thing!”
An argument erupted between the two, while Sakurako approached Ako, suddenly holding a bass guitar, “I think those two make a great couple, don’t you?”
“Couple?” Ako watched Misa and Madoka argue: the realist and the pervertist…if that word exists.
“Yeah, they both talked to me once about being ‘in love’ with someone, but never mentioned who. Their descriptions were incredibly obvious though, ahahaha. Ako! We brought you your bass guitar from your house! Our band hasn’t been the same without you!” Sakurako said.
Ako looked at her bass sadly, “But I’m only a supporting role in your band. You could find a replacement easily!”
“No way. No one can replace you. Even if it is a supporting role, it’s still important! C’mon, play it for us for old times! You’re an awesome bass player!” She grinned, passing the bass to Ako.
Ako took the guitar and started strumming. She was attempting to play a certain tune, and finally got a hang of it. The music surprised the other two, who by then stopped arguing, for some reason Ako’s play was better than before despite the fact that she hasn’t played bass for a while now. They sat there, silent, just listening to the music. It was completely mesmerizing. After five minutes or so, Ako stopped, and they were too surprised from the playing to clap, but clapping did occur, just not by who Ako expected.
“Wow Ako! I didn’t know you played the guitar! That was awesome!” Ako turned around, it was Yuuna.
“Y-Y-Y-Yuuna!? What are you doing here!?” Ako stuttered, almost dropping her guitar onto the ground.
The rest of them eyed the new arrival, noting the fact that this was the convict Ako had defended so much. Sakurako was the first to break their silence and bowed, “Oh! You must be Yuuna! Ako said so many things about you! I’m Sakurako, and this is Misa and Madoka, we’re Ako’s school friends!”
Yuuna introduced herself as well, “So you’re the people responsible for making Ako like such an angel, hm? I’m Yuuna Akashi, Ako’s cellmate!” She did a salute instead, while at the same time winking, “Hahaha, I’m not really supposed to be here. Some dumb new recruit forgot to cuff me after I got off the gurney. I heard some beautiful music down the hall and got curious. Who knew it was Ako making it?”
“Uh, gurney?” Ako raised an eyebrow.
Yuuna scratched the back of her head, “Well, Akira caught me smashing my head against the wall and thought that the only way to prevent me from ‘hurting myself’ was to treat me like some suicidal maniac and strap me down to a gurney. It’s kind of embarrassing, ahahaha.”
“Is that why you have a bandage on your head?” Ako asked.
“Aye.”
After that comment, Officer Oukouchi entered the room. She was the one in charge of watching Ako in the visiting room, and had gone to the washroom. She now returned, noticing Yuuna there.
“Yuuna!?” Officer Oukouchi grabbed Yuuna by the wrist, “You’re not supposed to be here!”
“I know that. Why do you guards state the obvious so much?” Yuuna said jokingly, while sticking her tongue out.
Officer Oukouchi rolled her eyes, “If you’re not where you belong, you could be charged with escape. That’s about five years added to your sentence. Would you like that?”
“You can tell that to your new co-worker who forgot to cuff me and walked off suddenly,” Yuuna started, “I heard some nice sounding music and I went to take a look. You’re going to add five years onto my sentence because some guy can’t do his job and I get curious?”
“You almost sound like you want five years added,” the officer said.
“Five years wouldn’t really make a difference,” Yuuna murmured, but the officer managed to hear her.
The officer continued, “It could affect when you’re eligible for parole.”
“So! When are we going back to the good ol’ hole!?” Yuuna suddenly said, smiling, and pointing at the direction of the special housing unit.
Madoka tapped Ako on the shoulder, whispering, “They sound like good friends.”
“They are good friends,” Ako whispered back. She found herself smiling at that thought. At least Yuuna wasn’t alone in this cold-blooded institution. She wasn’t either, and she was thankful for that. Still, she would wonder what occurred in these people’s minds when they committed their horrible deeds. She certainly never experienced such, or if she did, never remembered it, so she didn’t know how it felt. In some politically-incorrect way, Ako felt sorry for the inmates.
“Alright, time to go back to your cell,” Officer Oukouchi said and cuffed Yuuna immediately. She picked up her radio, about to ask for another guard to come watch Ako, when the alarm unexpectedly went off. It was so loud and sudden that it caused Ako and her school friends to jump, but the officer and Yuuna must’ve been used to it, as they didn’t look as startled. A blue light on the ceiling was flashing as fast as an ambulance siren.
The officer narrowed her eyes, cursing, “Damn it. I’m going to have to ask you three to leave.” She motioned towards Sakurako, Misa, and Madoka, “The premises are extremely dangerous right now.”
A frantic call came from Officer Oukouchi’s radio, “Konoka to Akira! Akira! We have a…what code number was it again Secchan!?”
“00I6H… O-Ojou-sama,” the other voice was further in the distance, and sounded as if the speaker was panting. Because she was not by the radio, her voice was barely audible on it.
“A 00I6H! Hurry, Akira! It’s so scary! Secchan, hold on!!!”
Officer Oukouchi held a button on the radio, “Affirmative. I’m on my way!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Ako isn’t going to get hurt or anything in this, will she?” Madoka asked as she started towards the door to leave, visibly concerned.
“It is our responsibility for the inmates’ safety, don’t worry. Please leave now, it is extremely dangerous!” Officer Oukouchi warned, and shuffled the three visitors through the door, “We’ll be on lockdown, so you may not be able to visit next week. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
“Remember my advice, Ako!” Madoka yelled before she left.
Officer Oukouchi turned her attention to the two inmates still standing in the visiting room, “Shoot, I don’t have spare handcuffs,” She had forgotten that she used Ako’s pair on Yuuna’s. The fact that she needed to get to the incident as soon as possible gave her little time for action, “I’ll have to improvise!”
The officer took out a long chain, and wrapped it around a pillar. She unlocked the left cuff still latched on Yuuna’s left wrist and closed it around Ako’s wrist. She then finished the job by hooking the long chain onto the cuffs, “I’ll come back for you two.”
“Gee Akira, now I feel like a dog!”
“I don’t have time to argue!” She immediately ran out the door afterwards. A few seconds later she ran back and closed the door, locking it, and ran off once again. The visiting room was now silent, besides the alarmingly loud alarm.
Ako coughed, feeling slightly awkward. Her wrist was cuffed to Yuuna’s wrist. She looked up at her cellmate who was staring out the window, likely wondering what was happening. It looked pretty urgent to Ako though. Lunch was about to start, perhaps people were being escorted out of their cells to the cafeteria and something happened then. She hoped it wasn’t anything too bad. Ako disliked lockdowns, and with Yuuna at the hole she would be sitting alone for a long while. A slight tint of red retained itself on Ako’s cheeks as the girl remembered the conversation she had with her school friends. Was what Misa said true? Was what Madoka said true? Or even worse, were they both true?
Yuuna chuckled, “What are the chances of this happening, eh Ako?”
“Not much, I guess,” Ako said, but quietly.
“Hey, did you get my letter?” Yuuna started, “Or note, seeing as it was really short, eheh.”
Ako nodded, “Yeah. I got it.”
“When I found out how much it cost, I almost swore at Asakura in another letter, hahaha. Oh well, a dollar isn’t that much I guess,” She looked at Ako, “What do you think of her so far, anyway?”
Ako tried to find the perfect word in her head to describe the gang leader. She ran through several, such as malicious, brutal, cunning, and strange, but she ended up with the word she started with, “She’s scary.”
“Really? I don’t think she’s that scary. I mean compared to Captain Tatsumiya…”
“I don’t think Captain Tatsumiya is that scary,” Ako started, “She just seems very strict and emotionless…doesn’t necessarily equal fear…”
Yuuna jumped back a little, almost yanking the handcuffs, “Are you CRAZY!? Her eyes spell EVIL! Rumour has it that she’s executed three inmates for accidentally stepping on her foot!”
“But isn’t that only a rumour?”
“Rumours must be true! Paru said so!” Yuuna insisted. Ako could see her slightly shaking at even the mention of Captain Tatsumiya, but Ako didn’t know why she did not think the same of Asakura. Being feared makes sense in a prison, since it brought authority. Why did Yuuna not fear the gang leader?
Ako shrugged, “Maybe she’s just doing her job? Punishing us?”
“Geh, whatever you say,” Yuuna said, “Asakura might look a little intimidating from the start, but she is nowhere near the hell that is the captain…”
“What did she ever do to you?” Ako asked.
“Did you see her shoot Master Ku in the forehead the other day?” Yuuna replied with a question. She saw Ako nod, and continued, “I got that once. She also hit me with those zappy-things from hell!”
“…you mean a stun gun?”
“Whatever they’re called,” Yuuna had a pained look on her face remembering it, “I don’t think they should be allowed. You have no idea how much it hurts! It’s like torture! I’m so glad I’m not Asakura. She has one strapped around her calf! Someone once died from it!”
Ako then remembered something she saw before on her first day. She was running around the yard doing exercise as some burly man had commanded so, and there was a ruckus among some inmates. One fell to the ground in horrifying pain, and she had some sort of strange belt around her calf. This was what she saw on Asakura before, and now she knew its horrific potential. It must have only been given to those inmates of an extremely different level of danger, frightening the inmate even more. The gang leader really must’ve been as dangerous as she thought, or even more.
“If Asakura wears it…then she really is as dangerous and scary as I think she is, isn’t she?” Ako countered, rather concerned for her life.
Yuuna almost started laughing at Ako, “Oh hell no. Asakura has potential to do something of that calibre, but as far as I know, she probably won’t. She got that stun belt recently. They’re either given to really dangerous inmates, or gang leaders.”
“Oh…” Ako wasn’t completely convinced, but if Yuuna was so set on this, maybe it was some sort of basis that Asakura really wasn’t as scary and evil as she thought, “Why are you so convinced, Yuuna?”
“About what?” Yuuna asked, almost as if she never said anything at all.
“That Asakura isn’t dangerous?”
Yuuna thought for a moment, “I never said she wasn’t dangerous, just that she probably won’t beat you up or suck your blood like that Dark Evangel, ergh.”
“…but, why do you think that?” Ako continued pressing. She noted Yuuna’s side-comment about the blood-sucking in her head, remembering more people to fear.
The girl beside her slid to the floor, bringing Ako down with her. She leaned on the pillar, staring up at the cracked ceiling, “You ever wonder where that wound on her head came from?”
“…uh, I usually don’t think about it,” Ako replied, not wanting to remember blood.
“Yeah. Well, she was the person I was supposed to stab, ordered by my bitch-of-a-cellmate. I got her forehead, and then I stopped.”
Ako was surprised, “Ehh!?”
“Everybody else would have probably demanded for my head on a platter once I came out of the hole, but she didn’t. I don’t think I ever figured out why.”
“Oh…”
Yuuna grinned, “Now look at me! I’m in the gang and I follow her commands! Funny how that works.”
There was a silence. The alarm had stopped long ago, but no one had come back for them yet. They both sat on the floor, leaning on the pillar, just watching the outside of the window, watching the freedom never reaching them.
“Well, enough about Asakura and all those people! Tell me about you, Ako!” Yuuna blurted out all of the sudden, almost scaring Ako.
“Ahh, I don’t really have much to say about me…I’m pretty boring, actually.”
Yuuna shook her head, “Nonsense! You never told me you played the guitar! That’s far from boring!”
“I suppose so, but…lots of people have normal talents like that. It isn’t anything special, really,” Ako insisted. She couldn’t think of anything in her life to really talk about. Ako was more of a listener, and the only thing interesting about her was her scar, which she definitely didn’t want to talk about.
Ako continued, “You know, I was thinking about something my friends talked to me about earlier…why don’t you ever talk about yourself?”
“Hm?” Yuuna eyed her, while twiddling her thumbs.
“I mean…you talk about a lot of things, sure, but never about yourself.”
Her cellmate replied, “Whaddaya mean? I told you earlier why I went to the hole. If that’s not about me, I don’t know what is!”
“No…before you came to prison. Or why you came here, or who you were as a kid with all the freedom in the world. I’m just…wondering.”
Yuuna sighed, scratching her neck. She seemed like she was hesitating to explain, but eventually she did, “Most people don’t talk about themselves when their lives are filled with shame.”
“Oh…I’m sorry if I hit a sensitive spot, or—“
The door finally reopened, and inside came Officer Oukouchi. She was panting, and several of the items that were strapped on her belt were no longer there. It was almost as if she had just survived a cataclysmic snowstorm. It looked to be a snowstorm that lacked snow, but was instead replaced by frozen blood drops. She was a wreck.
“Akira!? What happened?” Yuuna quickly turned her attention to the officer, feeling rather concerned. Ako was fighting to stay conscious, so much so that she clung onto Yuuna’s arm, attempting not to slouch onto the ground. Yuuna spun her head back, suddenly concerned for someone else as well. Ako had her head resting on Yuuna’s chest.
“Ako!? What happened?” Yuuna said, now wondering what to do. She swung her arm around Ako’s back, in a child-like embrace, “Are you okay?”
Ako murmured, in a whisper that rivalled Yuuna’s softness earlier, “T-the sight of b-blood…makes m-me…l-l-lightheaded…”
“Uh, uhm, Akira! Why are you covered in blood?” Yuuna glanced back at Akira, slightly feeling more worry for Ako, but still curious at the same time. Ako only heard one more phrase before she completely blacked out…
“…found a head…stuffed in one of the pipes…”
END OF PART EIGHT
Now to the story!
PART EIGHT
Ako Izumi, a fifteen-year-old girl wrongly incarcerated for a crime she did not commit, sat depressingly on her bed at 0900 hours. SUDDENLY, an ominous shadow appeared from the door, causing the poor girl to become extremely anxious and afraid. Who was this dastardly demon crawling up on her cell door? Will such a demon come and gobble Ako up? Or is this just a little mouse whose shadow got over-expressed!? GASP! The door opens, and in comes a huge disgusting man! And his hand reaches for the chest of Ako, will Ako’s female sexual harassment powers come into play, so she can punch this disgusting evil man into the depths of the universe!? Tune in next time, for the documentary of the wrongly accused innocents!
Ako blinked, “Uhm, that’s some imagination of yours, Misa…”
“I’m just wondering if we can make any money off of your case once your name is cleared, that’s all!” A girl with long flowing violet hair exclaimed, while flailing her arms in the air to show expression.
The inmate sighed, “That’s only if my name gets cleared…”
Ako was in the visiting room, which was filled with tables and chairs. Since she had good behaviour in the penitentiary so far, she was allowed to have the least secure visits. The other more-restricted way of getting visits was the kind where the prisoner and visitor had to sit between panes of glass, using a phone to communicate. She was allowed hugs and contact with her three friends sitting before her in this case, and for that she was glad.
There was something still depressing Ako about the visiting room though. They were the only ones in there. She was saddened to find that visits didn’t happen often. Even if prisoners did commit some pretty awful sins, did they really deserve complete detachment of the outside world? Ako knew she would feel terrible if no one ever visited her. Perhaps visiting a killer would not be the most comfortable thing someone could do, but not everybody was a cold-hearted killer in the prison. Yuuna and Ku Fei seemed nice enough, and even Makie seemed like the type to have a lot of friends. The thought of having no one to love you after one horrible mistake you committed must’ve been heartbreaking.
“Don’t be so pessimistic, Ako!” Sakurako, the strawberry redhead, perked up, “They’ll find the mistake and let you go! Then they’ll have to pay you lots of money because they mistakenly surrounded you with psychos!”
The third girl, who seemed much more reasonable than the others glared at Sakurako and Misa, “Do you guys only care about money? This is a serious issue here! The last place someone like Ako belongs in is the hellhole of the Earth!”
“Oh c’mon Madoka, don’t suck the life out of everything! Just because Ako is around a bunch of psychotic people, doesn’t mean everything is bad! Right, Ako?” Misa asked, turning her attention to the quiet girl they actually came to the prison for.
Ako was staring at the ground; her expression was clearly not of happiness, “I don’t really think they’re all psychotic…”
“Hm? Did Ako make some friends?” Sakurako grinned.
Ako looked up at her school friends, trying to make a smile, “Maybe not completely, but some are…really nice, for some reason. I don’t know…”
“Then they’re just manipulating you,” Madoka suddenly said. Ako looked up at her, hearing her bold statement, “Don’t you remember what we were taught? Every criminal is bad, or else they wouldn’t be criminals. They’re here for a reason Ako, don’t fall for their tricks.”
Sakurako frowned, “Oh c’mon Madoka! There can be diamonds in a coal mine!”
“True, but it’s extremely rare. You have to understand Ako that I’m worried about your safety. Now I’m not sure how the people in this building work, but its best if you stay with one of the trusted guards, or someone else who hasn’t broken the law.”
Ako thought for a bit, trying to figure out if she could see anything malicious about Yuuna, in particular, “I don’t know Madoka…She doesn’t seem like a person that would do that…”
“That’s what she wants you to think,” Madoka started, “So you’re saying a particular person is being nice to you? Well, let’s see some facts then. Do you know why she is in prison?”
The inmate tried to search her memory banks of anything Yuuna might have mentioned about her crime. She never really talked about it much, maybe because it was something she didn’t want to remember. Then, Ako suddenly remembered something Yuuna had blurted out once, “I think she said she shot someone…”
Yuuna had never said why. She was randomly throwing out excuses to save herself from one of the guards, if Ako’s memory was correct. Ako never pressed for any answers out of Yuuna anyway. Though from the sentence Yuuna received, Ako assumed the person she shot must’ve lived.
“I never said she killed anybody,” Ako countered, starting to feel offended at how Madoka was talking down of Yuuna.
“Did she ever tell you what happened to her victim?”
Ako shook her head, “No…”
“Obviously because that victim died, and she is completely ashamed of it.”
Ako frowned, “Even if she did kill someone, the fact that she feels shame must mean she has some sort of moral in her! She isn’t a psycho or anything!”
“Just because someone has a conscience doesn’t mean they can’t repeat their crime. She could have killed her victim in rage. What if you accidentally made her so angry that she attacked you? I don’t want that happening, Ako!” Madoka started getting louder, almost frightening the inmate.
Ako clenched her fist, feeling helpless, “I honestly don’t think she’s that kind of person…”
“Fine. All we have is that crime anyway. Has she done anything else completely shameful? Be honest here, Ako,” Madoka continued.
“Well…” Ako didn’t want to say it, but Yuuna once mentioned something else, “She uh, attempted to stab another inmate once, I think…but that was because she had to!”
Madoka crossed her arms, “She had to? She has a choice, Ako. To stab or not to stab, I’m sure a sane and morally aware person would choose the second option.”
“She was being threatened. She would’ve been killed if she didn’t do it, and she never went through with it anyway!” Ako stared at Madoka straight in the eye, trying to challenge her in the argument.
“Then why isn’t she dead? If she never actually stabbed that inmate, why wasn’t she killed for not going through with it?” Madoka asked, “If she was never killed, then she was never threatened. She must’ve lied to you about that second part, just to look more pure. That’s strike two, Ako!”
Ako had to admit, Madoka was coming up with some applicable points, but something deep within her told her that Yuuna wasn’t like that. Perhaps it was intuition, but since when did Ako ever have good intuition? She didn’t know what to think. The nagging feeling that this person she had only known for three days was in some way, a friend, could not leave her. She continued to search for counterpoints.
“It was probably because she got sent to the hole before she could have been killed!” Ako said, starting to sound desperate.
Madoka raised her eyebrow, “The hole?”
“Er, segregation,” Ako said.
“And how many times has she gone there?” Madoka asked, expecting an answer to swing to her side of the argument.
“Uh, as far as I know, twice…” Ako said uneasily.
Madoka asked, “What was the other time for?”
“Well, she recently was sent there because she was pulling pranks on a guard,” Ako explained, “She scared her three times in the morning…”
Madoka frowned, “Sounds kind of cruel. Did your shameful little friend feel ashamed of that?”
The prisoner sighed, feeling defeated, “…not really…”
“Strike three, then,” Madoka stood up, “Ako. I want you to stay away from this person. She is insane!”
“Y…Y-Yuuna is not insane!” Ako suddenly stood up, her chair slammed into the floor creating a sudden bang noise. The other three girls were surprised at Ako’s defensive nature for this ‘Yuuna’.
“So that’s her name, is it?” Madoka grumbled, “I don’t understand why you’re so stubborn about this. You’ve only known her for three days! Why do you trust people so easily, Ako!?”
Misa, who was strangely quiet for the entire argument along with Sakurako, said, “I think I know why!” A grin formed on her face, “It’s because you LOVE her, isn’t it?” Her eyebrows twitched up and down about fourteen times.
“W-w-w-w-what are you saying!?” Ako suddenly jumped backwards, while her pale face changed its colour several times before deciding on red.
“That’s right! You, Ako Izumi are in love with this mysterious and dangerous convict! Forbidden love sounds completely romantic…and sexy!!!”
They all heard the sigh and face-palm from Madoka, but Misa still continued, “You have dreams of her unbelievably hot naked body just pulsing on the bed, waiting for you to pounce, DON’T YOU!?”
“M-M-Misa! How did you get from that to something so…p-perverted!?” Ako was shaking.
“REALLY!? Wow, Ako! I didn’t know you had that in you! My opinion is changed of you!” Sakurako said, grinning with a mouth so large it almost looked bigger than her actual face.
Ako shook her head uncontrollably, “No! You know I don’t swing that way, Misa! I had a crush on my MALE soccer coach before!”
“You apparently do not know the meaning of BISEXUAL, do you, Ako?” Misa nudged the extremely red inmate, “Besides, what kind of men will you find in an all-girl’s jail? Old perverted ones waiting to pounce on you! I think you should be wary of them more than the ‘dangerous convicts’ surrounding you! Did you know ten percent of female prisoners are raped every year!?”
Madoka yelled, “MISA! YOU’RE SCARING HER! And that can’t seriously be true!”
“If you get to scare her, I get to scare her too.”
“I was WARNING HER!” Madoka gritted her teeth.
Misa shrugged, “Same thing!”
An argument erupted between the two, while Sakurako approached Ako, suddenly holding a bass guitar, “I think those two make a great couple, don’t you?”
“Couple?” Ako watched Misa and Madoka argue: the realist and the pervertist…if that word exists.
“Yeah, they both talked to me once about being ‘in love’ with someone, but never mentioned who. Their descriptions were incredibly obvious though, ahahaha. Ako! We brought you your bass guitar from your house! Our band hasn’t been the same without you!” Sakurako said.
Ako looked at her bass sadly, “But I’m only a supporting role in your band. You could find a replacement easily!”
“No way. No one can replace you. Even if it is a supporting role, it’s still important! C’mon, play it for us for old times! You’re an awesome bass player!” She grinned, passing the bass to Ako.
Ako took the guitar and started strumming. She was attempting to play a certain tune, and finally got a hang of it. The music surprised the other two, who by then stopped arguing, for some reason Ako’s play was better than before despite the fact that she hasn’t played bass for a while now. They sat there, silent, just listening to the music. It was completely mesmerizing. After five minutes or so, Ako stopped, and they were too surprised from the playing to clap, but clapping did occur, just not by who Ako expected.
“Wow Ako! I didn’t know you played the guitar! That was awesome!” Ako turned around, it was Yuuna.
“Y-Y-Y-Yuuna!? What are you doing here!?” Ako stuttered, almost dropping her guitar onto the ground.
The rest of them eyed the new arrival, noting the fact that this was the convict Ako had defended so much. Sakurako was the first to break their silence and bowed, “Oh! You must be Yuuna! Ako said so many things about you! I’m Sakurako, and this is Misa and Madoka, we’re Ako’s school friends!”
Yuuna introduced herself as well, “So you’re the people responsible for making Ako like such an angel, hm? I’m Yuuna Akashi, Ako’s cellmate!” She did a salute instead, while at the same time winking, “Hahaha, I’m not really supposed to be here. Some dumb new recruit forgot to cuff me after I got off the gurney. I heard some beautiful music down the hall and got curious. Who knew it was Ako making it?”
“Uh, gurney?” Ako raised an eyebrow.
Yuuna scratched the back of her head, “Well, Akira caught me smashing my head against the wall and thought that the only way to prevent me from ‘hurting myself’ was to treat me like some suicidal maniac and strap me down to a gurney. It’s kind of embarrassing, ahahaha.”
“Is that why you have a bandage on your head?” Ako asked.
“Aye.”
After that comment, Officer Oukouchi entered the room. She was the one in charge of watching Ako in the visiting room, and had gone to the washroom. She now returned, noticing Yuuna there.
“Yuuna!?” Officer Oukouchi grabbed Yuuna by the wrist, “You’re not supposed to be here!”
“I know that. Why do you guards state the obvious so much?” Yuuna said jokingly, while sticking her tongue out.
Officer Oukouchi rolled her eyes, “If you’re not where you belong, you could be charged with escape. That’s about five years added to your sentence. Would you like that?”
“You can tell that to your new co-worker who forgot to cuff me and walked off suddenly,” Yuuna started, “I heard some nice sounding music and I went to take a look. You’re going to add five years onto my sentence because some guy can’t do his job and I get curious?”
“You almost sound like you want five years added,” the officer said.
“Five years wouldn’t really make a difference,” Yuuna murmured, but the officer managed to hear her.
The officer continued, “It could affect when you’re eligible for parole.”
“So! When are we going back to the good ol’ hole!?” Yuuna suddenly said, smiling, and pointing at the direction of the special housing unit.
Madoka tapped Ako on the shoulder, whispering, “They sound like good friends.”
“They are good friends,” Ako whispered back. She found herself smiling at that thought. At least Yuuna wasn’t alone in this cold-blooded institution. She wasn’t either, and she was thankful for that. Still, she would wonder what occurred in these people’s minds when they committed their horrible deeds. She certainly never experienced such, or if she did, never remembered it, so she didn’t know how it felt. In some politically-incorrect way, Ako felt sorry for the inmates.
“Alright, time to go back to your cell,” Officer Oukouchi said and cuffed Yuuna immediately. She picked up her radio, about to ask for another guard to come watch Ako, when the alarm unexpectedly went off. It was so loud and sudden that it caused Ako and her school friends to jump, but the officer and Yuuna must’ve been used to it, as they didn’t look as startled. A blue light on the ceiling was flashing as fast as an ambulance siren.
The officer narrowed her eyes, cursing, “Damn it. I’m going to have to ask you three to leave.” She motioned towards Sakurako, Misa, and Madoka, “The premises are extremely dangerous right now.”
A frantic call came from Officer Oukouchi’s radio, “Konoka to Akira! Akira! We have a…what code number was it again Secchan!?”
“00I6H… O-Ojou-sama,” the other voice was further in the distance, and sounded as if the speaker was panting. Because she was not by the radio, her voice was barely audible on it.
“A 00I6H! Hurry, Akira! It’s so scary! Secchan, hold on!!!”
Officer Oukouchi held a button on the radio, “Affirmative. I’m on my way!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Ako isn’t going to get hurt or anything in this, will she?” Madoka asked as she started towards the door to leave, visibly concerned.
“It is our responsibility for the inmates’ safety, don’t worry. Please leave now, it is extremely dangerous!” Officer Oukouchi warned, and shuffled the three visitors through the door, “We’ll be on lockdown, so you may not be able to visit next week. We apologize for the inconvenience.”
“Remember my advice, Ako!” Madoka yelled before she left.
Officer Oukouchi turned her attention to the two inmates still standing in the visiting room, “Shoot, I don’t have spare handcuffs,” She had forgotten that she used Ako’s pair on Yuuna’s. The fact that she needed to get to the incident as soon as possible gave her little time for action, “I’ll have to improvise!”
The officer took out a long chain, and wrapped it around a pillar. She unlocked the left cuff still latched on Yuuna’s left wrist and closed it around Ako’s wrist. She then finished the job by hooking the long chain onto the cuffs, “I’ll come back for you two.”
“Gee Akira, now I feel like a dog!”
“I don’t have time to argue!” She immediately ran out the door afterwards. A few seconds later she ran back and closed the door, locking it, and ran off once again. The visiting room was now silent, besides the alarmingly loud alarm.
Ako coughed, feeling slightly awkward. Her wrist was cuffed to Yuuna’s wrist. She looked up at her cellmate who was staring out the window, likely wondering what was happening. It looked pretty urgent to Ako though. Lunch was about to start, perhaps people were being escorted out of their cells to the cafeteria and something happened then. She hoped it wasn’t anything too bad. Ako disliked lockdowns, and with Yuuna at the hole she would be sitting alone for a long while. A slight tint of red retained itself on Ako’s cheeks as the girl remembered the conversation she had with her school friends. Was what Misa said true? Was what Madoka said true? Or even worse, were they both true?
Yuuna chuckled, “What are the chances of this happening, eh Ako?”
“Not much, I guess,” Ako said, but quietly.
“Hey, did you get my letter?” Yuuna started, “Or note, seeing as it was really short, eheh.”
Ako nodded, “Yeah. I got it.”
“When I found out how much it cost, I almost swore at Asakura in another letter, hahaha. Oh well, a dollar isn’t that much I guess,” She looked at Ako, “What do you think of her so far, anyway?”
Ako tried to find the perfect word in her head to describe the gang leader. She ran through several, such as malicious, brutal, cunning, and strange, but she ended up with the word she started with, “She’s scary.”
“Really? I don’t think she’s that scary. I mean compared to Captain Tatsumiya…”
“I don’t think Captain Tatsumiya is that scary,” Ako started, “She just seems very strict and emotionless…doesn’t necessarily equal fear…”
Yuuna jumped back a little, almost yanking the handcuffs, “Are you CRAZY!? Her eyes spell EVIL! Rumour has it that she’s executed three inmates for accidentally stepping on her foot!”
“But isn’t that only a rumour?”
“Rumours must be true! Paru said so!” Yuuna insisted. Ako could see her slightly shaking at even the mention of Captain Tatsumiya, but Ako didn’t know why she did not think the same of Asakura. Being feared makes sense in a prison, since it brought authority. Why did Yuuna not fear the gang leader?
Ako shrugged, “Maybe she’s just doing her job? Punishing us?”
“Geh, whatever you say,” Yuuna said, “Asakura might look a little intimidating from the start, but she is nowhere near the hell that is the captain…”
“What did she ever do to you?” Ako asked.
“Did you see her shoot Master Ku in the forehead the other day?” Yuuna replied with a question. She saw Ako nod, and continued, “I got that once. She also hit me with those zappy-things from hell!”
“…you mean a stun gun?”
“Whatever they’re called,” Yuuna had a pained look on her face remembering it, “I don’t think they should be allowed. You have no idea how much it hurts! It’s like torture! I’m so glad I’m not Asakura. She has one strapped around her calf! Someone once died from it!”
Ako then remembered something she saw before on her first day. She was running around the yard doing exercise as some burly man had commanded so, and there was a ruckus among some inmates. One fell to the ground in horrifying pain, and she had some sort of strange belt around her calf. This was what she saw on Asakura before, and now she knew its horrific potential. It must have only been given to those inmates of an extremely different level of danger, frightening the inmate even more. The gang leader really must’ve been as dangerous as she thought, or even more.
“If Asakura wears it…then she really is as dangerous and scary as I think she is, isn’t she?” Ako countered, rather concerned for her life.
Yuuna almost started laughing at Ako, “Oh hell no. Asakura has potential to do something of that calibre, but as far as I know, she probably won’t. She got that stun belt recently. They’re either given to really dangerous inmates, or gang leaders.”
“Oh…” Ako wasn’t completely convinced, but if Yuuna was so set on this, maybe it was some sort of basis that Asakura really wasn’t as scary and evil as she thought, “Why are you so convinced, Yuuna?”
“About what?” Yuuna asked, almost as if she never said anything at all.
“That Asakura isn’t dangerous?”
Yuuna thought for a moment, “I never said she wasn’t dangerous, just that she probably won’t beat you up or suck your blood like that Dark Evangel, ergh.”
“…but, why do you think that?” Ako continued pressing. She noted Yuuna’s side-comment about the blood-sucking in her head, remembering more people to fear.
The girl beside her slid to the floor, bringing Ako down with her. She leaned on the pillar, staring up at the cracked ceiling, “You ever wonder where that wound on her head came from?”
“…uh, I usually don’t think about it,” Ako replied, not wanting to remember blood.
“Yeah. Well, she was the person I was supposed to stab, ordered by my bitch-of-a-cellmate. I got her forehead, and then I stopped.”
Ako was surprised, “Ehh!?”
“Everybody else would have probably demanded for my head on a platter once I came out of the hole, but she didn’t. I don’t think I ever figured out why.”
“Oh…”
Yuuna grinned, “Now look at me! I’m in the gang and I follow her commands! Funny how that works.”
There was a silence. The alarm had stopped long ago, but no one had come back for them yet. They both sat on the floor, leaning on the pillar, just watching the outside of the window, watching the freedom never reaching them.
“Well, enough about Asakura and all those people! Tell me about you, Ako!” Yuuna blurted out all of the sudden, almost scaring Ako.
“Ahh, I don’t really have much to say about me…I’m pretty boring, actually.”
Yuuna shook her head, “Nonsense! You never told me you played the guitar! That’s far from boring!”
“I suppose so, but…lots of people have normal talents like that. It isn’t anything special, really,” Ako insisted. She couldn’t think of anything in her life to really talk about. Ako was more of a listener, and the only thing interesting about her was her scar, which she definitely didn’t want to talk about.
Ako continued, “You know, I was thinking about something my friends talked to me about earlier…why don’t you ever talk about yourself?”
“Hm?” Yuuna eyed her, while twiddling her thumbs.
“I mean…you talk about a lot of things, sure, but never about yourself.”
Her cellmate replied, “Whaddaya mean? I told you earlier why I went to the hole. If that’s not about me, I don’t know what is!”
“No…before you came to prison. Or why you came here, or who you were as a kid with all the freedom in the world. I’m just…wondering.”
Yuuna sighed, scratching her neck. She seemed like she was hesitating to explain, but eventually she did, “Most people don’t talk about themselves when their lives are filled with shame.”
“Oh…I’m sorry if I hit a sensitive spot, or—“
The door finally reopened, and inside came Officer Oukouchi. She was panting, and several of the items that were strapped on her belt were no longer there. It was almost as if she had just survived a cataclysmic snowstorm. It looked to be a snowstorm that lacked snow, but was instead replaced by frozen blood drops. She was a wreck.
“Akira!? What happened?” Yuuna quickly turned her attention to the officer, feeling rather concerned. Ako was fighting to stay conscious, so much so that she clung onto Yuuna’s arm, attempting not to slouch onto the ground. Yuuna spun her head back, suddenly concerned for someone else as well. Ako had her head resting on Yuuna’s chest.
“Ako!? What happened?” Yuuna said, now wondering what to do. She swung her arm around Ako’s back, in a child-like embrace, “Are you okay?”
Ako murmured, in a whisper that rivalled Yuuna’s softness earlier, “T-the sight of b-blood…makes m-me…l-l-lightheaded…”
“Uh, uhm, Akira! Why are you covered in blood?” Yuuna glanced back at Akira, slightly feeling more worry for Ako, but still curious at the same time. Ako only heard one more phrase before she completely blacked out…
“…found a head…stuffed in one of the pipes…”
END OF PART EIGHT
I love happy cliffhangers, don't you? ;)
