Doodahdumdahdoo!

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Yet another part has come to beseech us. I'd like you to enjoy. (Or ignore it, the latter of which I completely expect P: )

PART THIRTEEN

Ako awoke in an empty cell. The cracks on the ceiling were more noticeable, and she did not feel the sting in her eyes from any sunlight beaming from the window. She sat up and noticed how utterly sore her back was and suddenly realized how rough her bed was. She stared down at it, and noticed that it was simply a rectangle of concrete connected to the wall. She looked up and saw that the room was significantly smaller than the cell she was used to, and that the door looked like a door used to seal money in a bank. There was no window, which explained why she felt no sunlight, and there was no window on the heavy-duty door either. All she saw was a bunch of omniscent-looking airholes.

 “W-where am I…?”

She heard her own echo, and was suddenly hit with a realization. Her fuzzy memory cleared and Ako recalled all those horrible things Asakura had told Yuuna. When she saw their fighting, but most of all Ako recalled the frightening face she saw on Yuuna when she attacked. The inmate grabbed her head and lowered it to her knees, which were bended, putting Ako in a fetal position. She started to sob quietly, fearful and ultimately…traumatized.

 “Ako?”

Ako’s head jolted up; completely overtaken from the sudden voice she heard that was definitely not her’s. Was she going crazy?

 “W-who’s…t-there?” Ako muttered, shifting towards the edge of her ‘bed’.

The voice replied, “It me, Ku Fei, aruyo!”

 “K-ku…?”

 “Yeah! It me! Why you in here, aruka? It not like you to be in here!” Ku Fei asked. Her voice was clearly coming from the left side of Ako’s room, which was where her ‘bed’ was, so it made sense that the blonde Chinese inmate could hear her.

Ako shivered, starting to feel cold, “Uh…where is…h-here?”

 “Why you be so silly, aru!? This is hole of course! Lonely, sad and cold punishment for me break window, aruyo! Why you here, Ako?”

 “I’m i-in the h-hole…?”

Ku Fei replied, “Yes, aru! You no sound so good! You okay, aru?”

 “U-hm…I don’t know…”

 “What happen? I hear something about fight in cop talk, but why you be in fight? You no violent, arune!”

Ako sighed, resting her sore back on the equally as hard wall, “I guess all that wasn’t a dream like I had hoped.”

 “I are confused, aru?”

 “I don’t really want to talk about it Ku Fei…I hope you understand…”

Ku Fei nodded, although Ako wouldn’t have been able to see that, “I respect your request then, aru! But remember, if you ever change you mind, I be right here!”

 “Okay, thank you Ku Fei.”

There was an uncomfortable silence, and then Ako slouched onto the rock she was sitting on until her back was flatly on it. She sighed.

 “I wonder why Asakura in hole too,” Ku Fei said, “I try ask her what happen. She no want to tell me, aruyo…I hate miss important things!”

 “What? Asakura’s here?” Ako asked, starting to sit up.

Ku Fei nodded again, and yet again Ako wasn’t able to see that, obviously, “Yeah. She not sound very happy, aru.”

Ako stroked her chin, while staring at her feet swinging from the concrete bed. She was wondering why Asakura was in the hole yet Yuuna was not. Why would Yuuna not be though? Did something happen when she was unconscious that sent Asakura to the hellhole of the hellhole, and yet spared Yuuna? It didn’t make any sense to Ako. She got off her hard-as-rock bed and approrached the door. She tried to make out anybody through the airholes, and finally managed to recognize a red scruffy hairdo in a cell across the hall.

 “Uhm…Asakura-san…?”

The red scruff started to move a bit, “Sayo?”

 “Uhm…no?”

 “Wait…DAMNIT! THAT WAS A DREAM!? ^&*$(@^$@#%!@&!!&@#$^!*&$^&~!!!!!!!!”

Ako continued to listen to the string of profanity until she finally lost her patience and coughed a little, “Uh…ahem…?”

 “Oh right. What?”

 “It’s uh…Ako…?”

Asakura growled, “This better be important. I was having a nice dream.”

 “…uhm, of what, exactly?”

 “…that’s not of your concern,” Asakura turned her head, and Ako, although very much handicapped in terms of seeing the gang leader in the other cell, managed to see the cheeks of such inmate turn a little red.

Ako scratched her head nervously, “So…uh…why are you in here…?”

 “Same reason as you.”

 “…oh…then how come Yuuna’s not in here?”

Asakura fell back onto her back, feeling the need to slumber again, “I told them I started the entire thing. I’m quite the negotiator too. Even though I sustained the most serious injury,” She pointed to her black eye, “I managed to convince them that it was mostly my fault that fight happened. They usually send the one who didn’t get hurt into the hole.”

 “Wait…why would you do that? Did you start it?”

 “Psh. Hell no. I was minding my own business staring off into the distance being cool and smoking,” Asakura explained.

Ako turned her head, “Uhm…smoking’s kind of…bad…and I don’t really think it makes someone look…‘cool’.”

 “Okay, BESIDES your personal opinion, why am I awake talking to you and not asleep having fun with Sa—I mean dreaming?” Asakura asked, “And if you’re so worried about it, they confisgated my cigarettes because they cast me in here.”

Ako looked down at the ground, “Sorry if I bothered you…I just don’t know why you’d take all the blame…”

 “Because if they put Yuuna in here all alone for two weeks, she’s going to crack. I tried to avoid this sentence too, but the Captain was pretty fumed about the fight so I guess I wasn’t able to get everything I wanted. Oh well,” Asakura explained.

Ako felt intrigued by what Asakura had just said, “What? Why would Yuuna crack? Why do you care so much about her? Or me? Why does she even care so much about me anyway?”

 “LOVE!”

Both Ako and Asakura whipped their heads towards Ku Fei’s cell, who had suddenly intruded into the conversation with a rather interesting answer. There was some blushing found in their faces, and an awkward silence that seemed to last an entire century. They heard a clock that was located in the hall tick slowly, causing a feeling of torturous suspense to engulf the entire segregation unit.

Asakura cleared her throat, “Ku, you really should stop spending so much time with Paru.”

 “But she cool, aru…” Ku Fei tried to counter, “And I no know what you talk about so I feel left out.” She frowned the most adorable frown one has seen.

The redhead rolled her eyes, “We’ll tell you later, okay?”

 “Okay…” Ku Fei answered disappointingly.

Asakura took a deep breath, “Well Ako…Yuuna’s in my gang. I, being the leader of it, must make sure the gang is at top shape both mentally and physically. Even if she can be completely annoying at times and really, really, really stupid…oh and sometimes psychotic, but I think we all have lapses of that.”

 “…what?”

 “Ahahaha, nevermind what I said there.”

Ku Fei popped, “I no get psy…psych…crazy!”

 “Ku Fei…” Asakura glared at the blonde.

 “Oh! I sorry! Continue your very important conver…conversa…talking, aruyo!”

 Ako added, “But you pretty much pushed her over the edge with those words…you seemed really harsh back there…”

 “Criticism is almost always harsh, at least from me. I did not want her to make that costly mistake I did so long ago,” Asakura said.

 “It three weeks ago, aru.”

 “There you go again, Ku.”

 “Sorry!”

Ako frowned, “That wasn’t criticism! You compared her to a sociopathic murderer!”

 “Well, the ‘murderer’ part is right,” Asakura continued, “What we were discussing then was not meant to be heard by you, but unfortunately that was what happened. It would have been better if you found out that part from Yuuna herself. Besides, didn’t she basically prove my point when she jumped me?”

Ako shook her head, not knowing how to respond to that, “I…I don’t know…”

 “She is clearly capable of doing such a crime, but she does have morals and she is severely crippled by guilt. Of everybody in this gang she is the weakest despite possessing the most brute strength. Even you are stronger than her in that sense,” the redhead said.

 “I…I didn’t know…and I was being so commanding to her back there…She must feel awful,” Ako looked down at the ground.

Asakura crossed her arms, “I don’t think she would want your pity.”

 “Hey! I thought me had most brute strength in gang!” Ku Fei spoke up yet again.

 “You’re not even in the gang, Ku.”

Ku Fei chuckled, “Oh, oh yeah.”

 “What? Ku Fei isn’t in the gang?” Ako’s curiosity piqued.

Asakura explained, “It’s basically an unwritten rule not to have mixed races in one gang. We’re not racist or anything, but other gangs do have a problem with it, and if Ku Fei were in it we’d have numerous enemies from that alone. It’s too much of a disadvantage. Besides, she’s pretty much an ‘aquaintance’ to the gang so in spirit she is one of us. Heh.”

 “Oh…I see,” Ako said, nodding, “So, you loved Sayo right?”

There was a crash heard from the cell across. Ako watched the redhead fall head first from such a surprising and random question Ako had popped. The hole didn’t seem bad so far for Ako, but she was in for a world of solitary confinement once Ku Fei and Asakura would be moved. She was not worrying too much of that at the moment, as she had too much thought on her mind about Yuuna. Ako did not know who that girl was anymore, and all she could do was feel sorry for her.

Two weeks later…

Five weeks has passed since Ako had been incarcerated. Life had been quiet since she was put in solitary confinement, along with the gang leader, Asakura. Ku Fei had since been released back to general population, to mingle with the other inmates. There were cages sitting outside on the grass, a few hundred metres from the yard where the majority of the inmates were. It was yet another sunny day as the heat wave continued on its brutal assault of the inmates. The entire yard ground felt like it had been sucked dry of every drop of water possible. People were steaming in the yard, and inside the cage further away from the yard sat Ako Izumi. She was at the corner of the cage, and she felt like a zoo animal, just sitting there, waiting. She looked ahead completely straight and did not move her pupils at all, as if she were dead.

 “Inmate Izumi?”

Ako looked up to see an officer standing by the door, staring back at her. Her vision was slightly blurred as she tried to make out the guard. She eventually managed to figure out that it was Officer Oukouchi. The guard was motioning for Ako to come forward, and she did in the end, walking towards her slowly.

 “It’s time to go back to the cell. You get to go back to general population after they finish the paperwork,” She said, “Are you okay?”

Ako did not respond. She just waited by the door for the officer to take her out.

Officer Oukouchi sighed, “This is the one punishment I dislike. They all get psychological problems after being in the hole for too long…” She escorted Ako out of the exercise cage and walked back towards the segregation unit. The walk was slow, and the officer examined the inmate for a bit during the journey. As they reached the hall, heading into the cell, Officer Oukouchi did something no officer did before. She went into the cell with Ako, and asked the inmate to sit down.

 “Inmate Izumi-san?” The officer shook Ako a little, “Please speak.”

Ako shook her head, indicating a no. She continued to stare at one direction for a lengthy period. Another sigh escaped from the officer’s mouth as she picked up a pillow and fluffed it, “This isn’t just because you’ve been stuck in a small place alone for two weeks. Now is it?”

The officer noticed Ako’s pupils focus on her for a second after she said that, indicating progress, “This is because of what Yuuna did. Am I right? Since you’ve been alone for some time, you had time to think about it, right?”

Ako nodded.

 “Look, I’m not going to defend Yuuna at all. What she did…well…it’s not something I’m going to touch, but it’s all up to you. If she deserves another chance, then I say go for it. You will have to go back there anyway, and it would be better to ease the tension if you two were talking rather than like this,” The officer explained. She stood up, heading for the door, “I’ll be back shortly to take you to general.”

Ako sat there, swinging her legs slightly as she looked at the bleak grey concrete walls, just sitting there, not moving. The entire time she had been here felt like eternity, as if she were aging and was about to die soon, but she stared at her hands and skin. There were no wrinkles, just a smooth youthful gleam. Something that oddly enough made the inmate even more down, and so she sighed.

And yet, Ako thought about going back, facing a person she did not know. She would be in the same room, not just with an inmate, a criminal, but the worst of all criminals that existed: a killer. Not only a killer, but a killer with a lethal anger, and she feared that setting that person off would end her crumpled useless life. Even if somehow death seemed to be an option of freedom from such a depressing lifestyle, the fear of how it could come to her was too much for Ako. She hugged her cold and wafer-thin blanket as she heard the footsteps come closer to the door.

 “Izumi, come to the door,” Officer Oukouchi was heard. There were a few other officers with her.

To the surprise of those guards, Ako shook her head, indicating a no. She remained where she was seated.

 “Izumi, you can’t stay here forever. Please comply,” the officer continued, only to be given the same response. She sighed and turned to face her fellow crew, “I’m going to keep negotiating. If she still persists we’re going to have to use brute force.”

Ako heard the voice of that officer yet again, “Izumi-san, it is in your best interest to follow our orders. Please do what we say and come quietly.”

Again, it was the same response.

Officer Konoe stepped up to the door, “If you come to the door we’ll give you cookies!”

Ako raised an eyebrow to the offer, but gave the same response yet again.

 “We don’t have any cookies, Konoka!” Officer Iincho said, “Besides, all these lowlifes deserve is mush. No! They deserve to starve!”

 “Okay, but that’s not helping us get her out of there,” Officer Oukouchi replied.

The blonde officer crossed her arms, “We could save some time from negotiating by just dragging her out here with force.”

 “We will save that as a last resort.”

 “No, shooting them dead with a gun is the last resort,” Iincho said.

 “Okay, again, not helping.”

Officer Iincho reasoned, “Oh c’mon! When she was a murder suspect they pulled her out with force!”

 “That’s because she was a murder suspect then, Iincho. Now she’s just staying in her cell.”

Officer Oukouchi turned to face the door once again, “Izumi, I’m not going to ask again. Please comply or we will be forced to use…uh, force.”

 “Very nice, Akira.”

 “You can keep negotiating. I’ll grab one of our brand new taser guns and see if we’ll be using them,” Officer Iincho headed off towards the equipment room, “Which I hope because we haven’t used them yet.”

Officer Konoe said, “That’s because they arrived just this morning, silly!”

 “I’ve been edging to use them since! Don’t they give three hundred percent more jolt and thus are three times as painful as the old ones?” Officer Iincho grinned, “Excellent!”

Oukouchi spoke up, “But they’re for the inmates where taser’s don’t affect them as much. Perhaps we should use an old one if necessary!”

 “We’ll never get to try them out then! If you care so much about the people here you ought to be working in a daycare!” Officer Iincho came out of the equipment room with a brand new taser gun, “Hmmm, it’s quite lightweight. I do like this model.”

The officer turned back to the door, “Izumi, I’m afraid you’ll regret your decision if you refuse to come to the door. Please comply!”

Ako, who almost seemed as if she never overheard the taser conversation, once again shook her head. The fear instilled in her at this moment was almost limit-breaking.

 “Alright that’s it! We’re going in!” Officer Iincho yelled. The door swung open, and three guards rushed in. Ako raised her head just in time to get ambushed. She did not seem to be putting up much of a fight, but as each of her thoughts started to bring more and more fears into her already-fragile mental state, the more she started to struggle. She did not want to go back. She did not want to go back. She did not want to go back.

Officer Iincho was yelling, “Get her on the ground! On her front! On her front! Grab her arms! Hold her! She’s probably as light as a math textbook! You can pin her down! Oh for the love of—”

 “Izumi! Stop struggling or we will go to extreme measures!” Officer Oukouchi yelled, “It’s in your best interest! I strongly advise you stand down now!”

After two weeks, the inmate finally broke her wall of silence, “I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to go back…”

 “Inmate Izumi! This is your last warning! Stand down! Don’t make us use our weapon!”

 “No, please make us use it,” Officer Iincho asked.

Officer Oukouchi glared at the blonde, “Izumi! Don’t say we didn’t warn you!”

 “Please don’t make me go back…I don’t want to face her…I don’t want to face her…I don’t want to face Y-Yuuna…I don’t want to d-die…” A single tear fell from Ako’s left eye, and Officer Oukouchi tightened her grip.

She nudged the blonde officer, sighing, “…tase her.”

 “Why thank you,” Officer Iincho said.

There was but a click, and then a shaking sound, like the sound of a rattlesnake.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!

 “Ah…AHHHHHHHHHH! P-please s-stop…ahhh…AHHHHHHHHHHHH!” The jolt was too much for Ako, and besides, she never was the stubborn type. This incident would follow her for the rest of her life in that aspect.

Officer Oukouchi ordered, “Okay Iincho, you can let go now!”

 “Awww.”

Ako clenched the ground, breathing hard after the painful shock. She had never felt something so excruciating before. She was shackled on her hands and legs. The officers around her dragged her off the ground roughly. It made the inmate felt like she was some sort of security threat, when in reality the girl would never even hurt a fly. Her legs felt weak, and she would have caved into the ground if she didn’t feel completely pressured and thus forcing herself not to faint, not to fall, and most of all not to be weak. They soon removed her from her cell, when suddenly Officer Oukouchi was contacted on her radio.

 “Oukouchi here. Hm? What? What do you mean? No? Why? What? Are you serious? And he’s giving it to…who? What? And she wants everybody there? But we’re about to send them to the yard…no. I’m not sure. Okay. Okay. Affirmative, captain.”

Officer Konoe giggled, “That sounded more like chatting on the phone then a radio message!”

 “You know, we really should replace these primitive radios with mobiles…” Officer Iincho said.

Officer Oukouchi sighed, “There’s a surprise meeting of some sort.”

 “What happened?”

 “You go ahead to the meeting and find out. I’ll take Izumi back to general population,” the officer responded and set off towards the larger and more populated building. There was complete silence along the way, until they reached the gates of general population.

The officer closed the gate behind her as she led Ako further in the cellhouse, “I apologize for letting Iincho be the one to tase you. She’s a little jumpy with those things and that shock back there wasn’t supposed to last that long.”

Ako simply nodded as she stared down at the ground. She felt like an idiot back there. Why did she think she could disobey an officer’s orders and expect to be left alone because of it? She was regretting it, but also listening to her own heartbeat pick up pace the closer she got to her usual cell. As the door slid open, Ako noticed that the cell was almost entirely empty. The TV was missing and many towels and belongings that once occupied the room were no longer there. She stepped in and heard the door slid close behind her in a sound she unfortunately was now used to.

She took one step further and tripped onto the ground, but what she landed on was not the ground. She opened her eyes to notice that she had fallen on Yuuna, who was all but awake. Ako gasped as she fell backwards, not noticing that her cellmate was sprawled on the floor. The blanket was also sloppily on the floor as well, and it easily transformed the sleeping inmate into an illusion of mess. Yuuna did not flinch or move.

Ako couldn’t help but notice how peaceful her cellmate looked. She seemed to be more comfortable resting on the floor moreso than even the bed. Ako thought back to the fight that led her into solitary confinement. She couldn’t imagine that someone who looked so completely at peace to actually be a convict suffering in such a horrible building like this. Almost as if Yuuna was just an infant sleeping all day, dreaming of what life would bring her in her vast feature.

But Ako frowned. Yuuna didn’t have one. Yet this view of peace somehow negated the fear within Ako, as if she was paranoid the entire time and got tased for absolutely no reason. She noticed the brunette stirring awake, and felt slightly anxious.

 “A good warm glass of milk…mhmmm…” Yuuna smiled as she scruffled around the floor slightly. She started to sit-up, eyes still closed. She yawned as she stretched her shoulders, arms, legs, and every other part of her body that was stretchable. She rubbed her neck and finally opened her eyes, “Oh hi Ako…mmhmm…”

Ako was staring at Yuuna blankly, “Hi…?”

 “Yeah…” Yuuna whispered while letting out another yawned, but stopped herself from finishing it partway through it. The girl widened her eyes and rubbed them as well, “A-A-A-Ako!?”

 “Hi.”

 “AHHH! AKO!” Yuuna jumped backwards into the wall, almost as if trying to escape from the albino-like girl in front of her.

Ako could not help but smile from her cellmate’s reaction, “Yeah, that’s me.”

 “I didn’t expect you back today! Uhm uh…” Yuuna scratched the back of her head, “Uh…”

 

Ako stood up and started to climb up onto her bed on the top bunk. After sleeping on hard concrete for a few weeks, she wanted to lay on something soft, “I think I’ll rest a bit up here.”

Yuuna looked nervous as she diverted her eyes from Ako’s, “Okay.”
 
As Ako fell onto her nice bed, she breathed in the smell of her beloved mattress. Compared to the one she had in her home, it was a bed of spikes, but it was better than the cold and bumpy surface of the holes’ beds. She opened her eyes to see Yuuna still sitting down on the ground, leaning on the wall. The cellmate finally continued.

 “Uh…I-I’m sorry, Ako…”

Ako turned her head, staring at the wall. She didn’t think much of the apology. What happened before was still fresh in her mind and she had wanted to forget it right now, just to get some comfort on her bed.

Yuuna murmured, “You don’t have to forgive me…I just wanted to say it.”

The inmate turned over on her bed, staring back down at Yuuna. She kept in mind what her cellmate said, but did not address it further herself, “Why are you on the floor?”

 “Well, after what I did to you, I don’t deserve the bed. So I sleep here. I thought I didn’t deserve a blanket either, but I got so cold I used it anyway. I’m too weak for my own good, huh?”

Ako did not comment. She fluffed her pillow and lay back down upon it, staring at the cracks on the ceiling once more, “Can I ask you something, Yuuna-san?”

 

Yuuna flinched, hearing the honorific associated with her name. This was something Ako did not call Yuuna before, and it made the inmate sink even more. She frowned, but inside of her vowed to work with her cellmate once more, “Whatever it is I’ll answer, with a hundred percent…no, a thousand percent of truth!”

 “Who are you?” She turned to stare at Yuuna right in the eyes. Yuuna stood up, facing her cellmate with a sombre gaze in her eyes, fist tightened and eyebrows focused low. Her voice came out in a low rasp, floating between a strong call and a whisper.

 “My name is Yuuna Akashi, and I am a murderer.”

END OF PART THIRTEEN

And here I goooooo~!