Chapter 14: Chapter 12

It had been a week since Sora was released and returned good as new and it was now a Saturday, July the sixth. There was a small earthquake off the coast of Japan a few days ago, but fortunately nothing was damaged and no one was hurt. Classes had resumed and we returned to our usual hectic lives of studying.

Sora apologised profusely to Kouta when he came back, but Kouta just brushed him off with a smile, saying it wasn't much of a problem. Still, Sora was adamant and has since been paying for Kouta's lunch, which no doubt he was taking full advantage of despite his half hearted protests.

Natasha and I had stayed with him for the duration of his time in the infirmary to keep him company since we didn't really have anything to do anyway, personally I wanted to know more about the situation and Natasha just wanted to have a chat with Sora who was her usual conversational partner.

The rest came when they were free because they wanted to do something else in their spare time. For now there didn't seem to be any problems and no one else had any signs of acting up due to the X syndrome, but it was a looming worry that we now would have weekly check ups on Friday.

We got used to the pills eventually, although it didn't really make it any less disgusting to eat. Today we were called to gather at the Colosseum because we were going to meet our new 'family'. As Dr Komachi said, we were to pose as children of various up and coming diplomats and civil service members in various embassies or places of influence, so they were invited over to meet us. We were assigned our new 'parents' and then moved to individual rooms to get to know them better.

There were forty two of us, but obviously a single family with seven children all of the same age would no doubt raise suspicions and so each team would be split up across the couples. Each couple had been from families and parties who were long-time sympathisers to Ms Rikka's cause.

Unfortunately they could only find thirty five couples, seven short of the forty two couples required, and so it was decided that Natasha alone would not be 'adopted' since she was obviously not Japanese while a pair from each team posed as twins. I had to be with Kouta as his little twin sister which annoyed me to no end and I punched him a few times when he made mention of it, so to make it up to me we agreed that we would use my birthdate as our shared birthday. Apparently Kouta's birthday originally was in September as well, before he became an Exile so he had no qualms with the arrangement. The rest were grouped as the single child of each couple.

Our 'parents' were the Hirano's, Kenji and Fumio. They had been married for some time and were in their early thirties. The couples were not well known in the public eye, but according to Ms Rikka Mr Hirano would soon be put in an important position in the embassy as a 'promotion'. Our job now is to appear on the world stage along with them. For all intents and purposes, they will be our new parents from now on.

The Hirano's appeared to be rather friendly and insisted we call them mother and father immediately. In any case every single couple here was vetted by a team from Ms Rikka's party so they were as clean as could possibly be.

I wondered how they would deal with the extended friends and family problem, but apparently Ms Rikka had that covered already since their families were all in the know and secrecy was fully enforced amongst them. The couples had little to no social contacts outside of each other, and virtually no social media presence whatsoever. Frankly, it appeared as though Ms Rikka had been planning this for quite some time now, from way before S-42 was even a thing, possibly even a decade ago.

"Well you could say we are sort of like an unofficial secret service, of course we are known by the Prime Minister and various influential members of government," Mr Hirano explained, "but unlike what you think, our job is basically to keep an eye on things you see. Nothing too adventurous like the John Bard movies."

"I see, but you would have been in high school when your family was recruited, no?" Kouta said.

"Yes," Mrs Hirano replied, "but our families were originally in a similar business anyway, I won't go into detail though. Rather than recruited, you could say that our ideals align with Ms Rikka's and soon enough we were pulled along with her schemes."

Based on what they told us, apparently their families had experience in the shady side of business. During the Hamamatsu Revolution, they had temporarily joined with Ms Rikka's cause, and after that they just got caught up in her tailwind and continued working with her ever since. I had to honestly wonder what kind of person Ms Rikka was, to be able to pull something like this off, she was just too capable despite constantly saying she was 'just an upper house councillor'.

"Well I hope to get along in future Mr and Mrs Hirano–"

"My, I told you just call us mother and father," Mrs Hirano said, "no need to be so formal."

"...Understood Mother."

"Okie dokie mom and pops!"

Unlike me, Kouta seemed to be adapting well. As I had music classes later I had my violin with me, so they insisted I play for them. Well, I had improved enough during this time so I had no objections, but I was still fairly embarrassed. Currently Mr Johanne was teaching me how to play Bach's air on G, modified for the violin instead of a cello and I had learnt enough to be able to play it albeit a little slowly.

"That was beautiful, Hotaru." Father smiled. It was a reassuring smile, much like my own dad when I was young. Somehow I felt rather nostalgic at that memory.

"Is something wrong dear?" Mother asked.

"Nothing, it's just that I had always wanted to play for my family when I was younger. I can't do that anymore…" I think I might've teared up a little, but I repressed it and held on. I missed them a lot, but no matter how much I want it I can never see them again.

"...Hotaru, don't be so down. Someday, maybe the opportunity will come." Father said, "Fumio and I cannot replace the family you have lost, but I hope we can be as good a family to you in future. Let's work together to make that a reality, not just for you but for all the Exiles too."

"...Okay, Father, Mother." I said, smiling a little.

"Yea lil sis, let's take good care of each other Kay?"

"...don't call me lil sis, it's creepy." I said, pouting a little.

"Wha– my cute little sister has finally grown up! I miss the days when she would look at me and call me 'big brother' with such cute eyes!" Kouta said in mock sadness and dramatically fell to his knees. Mother and Father laughed at our little play and soon, I too began to join them.

Someday, I will return to my original family, but for now I think I'm alright with this one.

With our introductions done, we gathered up again and our parents and the rest had to leave. We said our goodbyes and mother and father gave us a hug each before they left.

"They will make good parents huh…" Kouta whispered as we waved them off.

"Yeah…" "Say, I wonder when the time comes, if they will even be able to bring us out into the mission."

"What do you mean?"

"We are to be bait, nothing more." He said softly, "Despite being a 'family', if they form such an emotional connection to us I wonder if they will be able to put us in danger when the time comes."

"I wonder too, but we'll worry about that when the time comes. Whatever be the case, take care of me okay? Big brother." I said with as cute a smile as I could possibly muster.

"...Somehow you look extremely creepy when you try to force a smile." It annoyed me somewhat so I punched him in the stomach. Softly of course.

—+-=-=-=-=-=-]|[-=-=-=-=-=-+—

"So, how's your family?" Shiho asked.

When our new parents had left, we gathered together in one of the free balconies as we discussed our situation.

Shiho was with the Ichijou's, Reika was with the Fujimiya family. Sora and Kaoru were paired with the Touda and the Takamatsu family respectively.

"That's nice~ you all have families." Natasha said, pouting.

"Don't be like that, Tasha, my parents said you can still come over as a friend." Sora said. He had apparently discussed it with his new parents and they had no objections letting her come over as well. Of course various arrangements needed to be made first to make that happen.

"My family is quite nice. What about yours?"

"Well, it's a little awkward still but I think they're good people." Shiho said.

Reika was of the same opinion. Her family apparently would be working as civil servants under my parents' in future, they would be in charge of analysing data along with Kaoru's family. This of course made Reika extremely happy, although Kaoru was a little worried because he was still inexperienced with this sort of work.

Shiho's family, along with mine, would be the main ambassadors and diplomats in future. Sora's father would act as our secretary and we would be the main intelligence gathering team.

You are reading story Exile:Law at novel35.com

In terms of physical capability, Shiho and Kaoru were the best, but since Kaoru was a lot smarter than Shiho, it was decided that he would be an analyst as well as work with Reika to defend the analyst team.

A similar system was set up amongst the other units, although it appears that unit C, D, and F would be the reserve force in case the rest of us fail or are unable to carry out the mission. In the meantime, they will act as normal members of the public in the civil service and will go around to infiltrate and gather information independently of us. Their families will be placed in positions high enough such that if one of our families were to 'resign' due to circumstances, they could easily be promoted and take over the job. Team F would be our Team A's reserve and so we would work together very frequently.

"Still, to think we actually have to do something like this…" Sora said quietly.

"Why, you scared?" Kouta said. "I am too, but cheer up man. We'll get through this. It'll be well worth it once we are back on the mainland anyway."

"If we survive that is."

"Yeah…but if you're that worried about it, Hotaru and I will back you up. We can handle the more dangerous stuff, you can just take care of our backs, isn't that right lil sis?"

"I said don't call me that."

"Pfft, Lil sis~"

"Shut it Tasha."

But Sora was right, the mission was very dangerous and we were given no guarantees. It had been weighing on my mind recently ever since Sora was taken to the infirmary, but I was wondering why we seemed to be taking things a little too lightheartedly. Naturally none of us wanted to die, but despite knowing of the dangers we willingly stayed. In some ways I felt our sense of self preservation was a little compromised.

More than once, I had willingly put myself in harm's way to force a certain situation like that of Mei and her lackeys in Campus One. I had actively taken the blame of the various newcomers to spare them the pain, it was almost as if I didn't care if I died or not even though when I started thinking about it, I really did not want to die at all.

My suspicions were confirmed during my visits and talks with Dr Iroha. According to her, it was what made us very good soldiers, more so than our enhanced physical strength. Although it was not known at the time when the conscript arrangements were made and the Exile district came to being, various psychological studies since then have consistently shown that Exiles made very good soldiers because our sense of self preservation wasn't as strong compared to the normal soldiers.

Rather than soldiers, it was very easy to make us into a sacrifice because even if we were given a chance to back out, chances are we would willingly dive in when told to do so. We were already doing so. Dr Komachi gave us a chance to back out and none of us did. It was something I only belatedly realised.

The situation would be made worse because the pill would suppress our emotional capacity further. We may be laughing and smiling in joy now, but apparently after a while it simply becomes an act. Because we are used to smiling and laughing and crying, we continue to do so even when our sense of joy and sadness has been diminished.

The effect would not appear so soon, but now I remember Kou's smile and laughter in the coffee shop, along with all the customers. How many of them were really smiling, how much of it was really an act?

"I don't think we will have to worry about it soon." I said.

"What do you mean Hotaru?" Kaoru asked.

How much was I willing to tell them I wonder. Natasha was with me, along with Sora when Dr Iroha gave her explanation. With a cold and dispassionate explanation that befitted her, the same voice and eyes she used when we first met in the hospital on the first day. Like she really couldn't give a damn. It was the same voice that Dr Komachi used too, to break the news that I was an Exile.

But are we really emotionless? Sufferers from X syndrome display emotion all the time. That was the very same question I posed to Dr Iroha. The answer was that it was only one emotion at the cost of everything else. Without the pill, our emotions as a whole will diminish while a single emotion would be amplified.

There can be more than one amplified emotion, but it was extremely rare. The pill merely represses them all equally. For Dr Komachi it was her lust, for Dr Iroha it was loneliness. For Headmistress Keiko it would be joy while for Sora it was fear. I did not know mine nor did Tasha, but Dr Iroha said it would only be a matter of time.

For many of us, it would not adversely affect our everyday life except for the over stimulus of the specific emotions. But what if the emotion was wrath or sadistic pleasure, or even both? What if you were incapable of feeling sadness or hurt and could only feel joy, even when you were in immense pain?

The damage to our brains during the LiGHT process is unpredictable, no matter how good a surgeon is they could not possibly hope to expect a procedure to go so perfectly on a cellular level. Given enough damage, the effect will appear almost immediately. Those were the Class Five's who suffered from the Early Onset X syndrome, they were almost as rare as the Class One's and made the lower five percent of the population.

The rest of us however, our condition will deteriorate to a certain extent eventually. Some suffer less while others suffer more. There's no telling who's who. It was why every year there were huge fluctuations in the Class systems as people would be shuffled across the schools. By the age of ten, it would have stabilised and is hence the reason why there usually were no changes made from them on.

It was risky choosing us forty two children for the program so soon in our development and ideally Ms Rikka would have waited a few more years to properly ascertain if we could handle it. But the augmentation process would no longer be safe by then and mortality rates would increase as time passed by, so reluctantly she had allowed Dr Komachi to push the project forward.

"Hotaru, I think we should tell them." Tasha said.

Sora nodded in agreement as well, but he was slightly hesitant.

"Tell us what?" Shiho asked.

It could be safely assumed that at the end of it all, some of us here may not even be classified as Class One or Two and hence may not even be deemed safe to leave the island. In other words even after all the trouble and danger, a few of us may not receive the reward we were promised.

I don't know how Ms Rikka will solve this problem, and I have yet to ask her about this matter. But there is a saving grace, in that as long as we are aware of this looming problem we can ensure that none of us fall behind. The brain chemistry thing can be balanced with the pills, but as long as we are conscious of our actions and decisions and not let our mental problems affect it, we should be able to maintain our Class One status.

"There's something you guys should know." I said, and I briefed them in detail everything that I knew and the steps we should use to prevent an unfortunate outcome.

"I see. That's really helpful to know lil sis."

"But what about the other teams? Do they know as well?" Asked Shiho.

"I doubt it, only Tasha, Sora and I were present."

"Then I think we should let them know as well." Shiho said, "I will tell the other team leaders later."

"That'll be helpful." Reika then made a confession that she suspected her amplified emotion was sorrow. She had been noticing that she was feeling down for some time and told us that we should probably be cautious for now, at least until our own amplified emotion is known.

"I'll tell this to the other team leaders as well." Shiho said.

"Well~ it seems we have a plan for now." Tasha said. "It's getting late so lets watch a movie at the mini theatre~"

The rest seemed to agree to her idea and began discussing what movie to watch. Unfortunately I wasn't free.

"I have music lessons soon so I can't. I'll join you guys later."

"That's a shame~"

They left soon after and I ordered a cup of coffee to be sent up to the music classroom. It was a little early but I knew Hiyori would be there, and she was exactly the person I wanted to talk to.