Post by Knowledge on Mar 17, 2013 16:21:52 GMT -5
Kyousuke's chambers were silent save for the soft, repetitive grinding sound of a blade being sharpened on a grindstone.
Well, that and Haruna Kotegawa's incessant chattering. She was babbling about some new project they were working on down in the labs, a memory editor of some sort. Kyousuke was only half-listening, trying instead to concentrate on sharpening Kannaduki (a pointless endeavor, he knew). He sighed for what must've been the sixth time and looked up, the bright light reflecting off the frames of his glasses. "Haruna, why are you in here?" he asked, his patience finally at an end. He knew the answer, but he also knew it would never come directly from her lips.
Her voice trailed off, and her gaze fell to meet Kyousuke's for a moment before hurriedly looking away. "I had some time off, I felt like telling you about our progress," she explained, unconvincingly.
For a week or two after the incident in the generator room, Kotegawa had stayed away from Kyousuke, as if she was afraid of him, but then there had been a sudden turnaround in her behavior and she had tried to spend more time with him than ever before. It hadn't been long until his promotion had come, and if anything, Kotegawa had been more excited about it than Kyousuke had been. She too had been promoted—to Kyousuke's old rank of fifth seat—so her quarters were just down the hall. Her frequent visits to the spacious lieutenant's chambers had started to draw attention. As with all attention, to Kyousuke it was unwanted.
He put a few finishing touches on Kannaduki with a fine grindstone, and then he slid her into her sheath. "While I appreciate your attention, Haruna, you are beginning to raise eyebrows in the rest of the division. You know how much that bothers me."
The junior officer tossed her long, dark hair rebelliously and snorted derisively. "I don't care what other people say, we aren't doing anything wrong."
"They don't know that. For all they know, we could be in there," he pointed at the adjacent room, his bedroom, "doing all manner of things."
She laughed at that. "Kyousuke, you keep your bedroom locked tighter than your lips, and I don't mean for secrets. I've never even once heard of you getting close to a single person. Why would you start now?" She crawled slowly toward him on all fours, a seductive look on her face, her movement accentuating her perfect body. She reached Kyousuke's lap and brought her face in close to his, her deep brown eyes staring into his grey through her long eyelashes. She was mocking him and tempting him at the same time, he knew, but beneath the feigned seductress's gaze, deep in her eyes, he thought he saw something else, something not so fake. She smelled fresh despite having just come from a long shift down in the labs, and Kyousuke knew she would welcome a kiss.
But he did what he always did: turned away ever so slightly and rose to his feet, leaving her on all fours. She slackened, and laughed again, the laughs rocking her body gently.
"What is it exactly that makes you tick, Lieutenant?" she asked between laughs.
Kyousuke remained silent as Kotegawa got to her feet. "Oh well, I have to get some sleep," she sighed tiredly, a yawn escaping her delicate lips. "I'll see you in the morning, Kyousuke."
He walked her to the door and saw her out before returning to the corner room. He slid open the wall, letting the cool evening air into his quarters, and he sat down to commune with Kannaduki.
*
The color melted away from Kyousuke's surroundings as he meditated, his soul resonating with Kannaduki's. A light sound behind him made him turn, and there she was, eyes closed, stretching contentedly. "That was quite something, Kyousuke," she said, relaxing and opening her softly glowing eyes. She was referring to the sharpening Kyousuke had been doing—a habit of his that seemed to equate to giving Kannaduki a massage. A half-smile crossed her lips and she crossed the room to sit at Kyousuke's side. "I think Haruna has a thing for you, you know."
"If you'd kindly refrain from stating the obvious, that'd be wonderful, thank you," he replied, staring out at the rock garden.
"If you choose to ignore it, that's your business, but the girl is clearly enamored. It's impolite to leave it hanging like that."
"I'm not looking for companionship, Kannaduki. It's enough that you talk my ear off, I don't need another woman in my life."
"Flattering," she said, toying absentmindedly with her hair, "but ultimately pointless. You're forgetting that I'm a part of you."
"You're a part of me only to the extent of being everything I lack, Kannaduki. You're my complementary half, nothing more."
She sighed and leaned back, looking at the enormous moon hanging in the sky above them. Her tone was melancholy, but as with all her emotions, they were exaggerated through no choice of her own. "You're right, I suppose. I'm not much more than the emotions you lack. As your emotional compass, though, I advise you to do something about her."
"Likewise, as the emotionless husk I am, I will continue to ignore that advice."
Kannaduki got up, brushed off her red hakama and stepped out onto the walkway, the darkness enveloping her. "Your captain doesn't trust you," she practically blurted out as she spun suddenly to face him.
"I know."
"Why not?"
"Does it matter? He has something to hide, but to be quite honest I have no intention of trying to find out what it is. He gives me work to do and I do it. The workload's doubled since Kuramoto disappeared, so I don't have time to think about inconsequential nonsense. Running the Fourth actually involves work, unlike most of the other divisions."
"It bothers me that you care so little."
"Having him dislike me is one thing, having him actively antagonize me because I'm snooping around is another."
She had no reply this time, so she stayed silent and turned back to the rock garden, shoulders slumped.
Kyousuke watched her, waiting for an angry outburst that never came. Instead, she shrugged and Kyousuke stood up. "I have things to do, so this is it for tonight. Good night, Kannaduki."
"Good night, she murmured, and faded as color rushed back to fill the black and white world around them. The moon above melted and was replaced by the real starry sky, and Kyousuke padded softly to his desk, setting Kannaduki down in her stand, and opened one of the drawers.
He pulled a slim black notebook from the drawer and opened it. The pages were covered in diagrams and specifications, density charts and resistance tables. He flipped through them, finding at last a page with a single diagram on it, depicting a mask with an impassive face on it. He remembered the process, he had spent a week trying to design something to his liking, tearing out sheet after sheet of failed drawings, until one evening he had sat down and closed his eyes.
The drawing he had produced with his eyes closed had been simplistic, minimalistic, expressionless, and above all, sublime. It was as if he had tapped some dark recess of his soul and drawn what he had found there; it represented him perfectly.
He put the notebook back in the drawer and closed it before yawning. It was late and he was tired, but his schedule for tomorrow was empty. He'd go see Konishi about having it made in the morning. He got up, slid the wall closed, and turned off the lights. Then Kyousuke went to bed, drifting off to sleep almost instantly.
*
The next day dawned dull and grey, and Kyousuke awoke from his dreamless sleep to the soft patter of rain. He had an odd sensation of déjà vu, somehow—as if he had experienced something similar before, only slightly different. It was still early, but he knew the labs would be occupied already by the more zealous researchers, and he knew he could count on one in particular to be down there. He dressed quickly, splashed some water on his face and slid Kannaduki out of her sheath briefly to check her blade, completing his morning routine. On his way out, he fished out the notebook from the evening before, stopping long enough to flip through it casually before tucking it into his uniform and leaving.
The hallways were deserted as Kyousuke made his way silently through the barracks toward the laboratories. It was the time of day that meant that the members of the Fourth were doing one of two things: sleeping or pulling all-nighters. Despite the mess hall being open around the clock, there wouldn't be traffic in the halls for another hour or so; until then, meeting someone was highly unlikely. Kyousuke stopped in to get himself some breakfast to go. He passed the initial levels of security, two medium-sized bowls of rice in his hands, and made his way deeper into the facility, navigating the mazelike structure with practiced ease.
At last, he reached a familiar office, and knocked gently with one of the bowls. A tired voice from inside told him to enter, and he pushed the door open to reveal a familiar catastrophic mess.
"Do you never clean this office, Konishi?" he asked the tiny blonde behind the desk as he closed the door softly behind him.
Chisame Konishi was a tiny woman, living proof that not all blondes were stupid, and one of the sharpest tongues in the Shinigami Research Institute. At the moment, however, she seemed nothing but exhausted as she looked up from her desk.
"Oh, it's you. Good morning to you too, Kyousuke. Is it morning? What time is it?"
"Early enough. I brought you breakfast. I was also hoping you'd do a job for me."
"In a moment. Help me find some pills, I had a bottle of them right here a moment ago," she mumbled, looking back down at the desk in front of her. "I seem to have misplaced them."
"Are they the ones in your left hand?"
She looked shocked for a moment, as if noticing the little bottle in her hand for the first time. "Oh."
The blonde popped it open and poured a liberal amount of the little red pills into her mouth before swallowing them whole. The effects were almost instantaneous: the light returned to her eyes, the lines on her face smoothed out, and she perked up significantly. Kyousuke was impressed.
"Good God," she said with an involuntary shiver of pleasure, "that really hit the spot. Gimme one of those bowls, Kyousuke, I'm starving. What was it you wanted?"
Kyousuke handed over one of the bowls and they dug in as Kyousuke pulled out the notebook. "I want you to make something for me, off the record." He passed the notebook to her across the desk and she flipped through it, chewing mouthfuls of her breakfast greedily. "A mask?"
"That's right, a mask. I'd like a few, if you don't mind. Needs to be impact-resistant, but I won't be wearing it as armor. I'll need a few, I think."
"They're all for you?"
"Yeah, I'd like some spares in case they break."
"I think I have just the material for this." She looked up, meeting Kyousuke's eyes. "Why the secrecy?"
"You know me, I like my privacy. The fewer who know about this, the better. I'd prefer it if you worked on it alone, if possible."
"When do you need it?"
"Soon enough for it to be a top priority, but not soon enough to justify cutting corners. I want it made properly. That's why I'm asking you. As a friend, not as the lieutenant."
"I can have it done by tomorrow evening. Drop by then to pick it up."
Kyousuke finished the last of his rice and stood up to leave. "Thanks, Chisame. I owe you one." He opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, before turning back to her. "And get some real sleep. Those pills are gonna make you crash hard."
She grunted in response, her mouth full of rice, as Kyousuke closed the door.
*
Seireitei had begun to stir from its sleep, and Kyousuke made his way back to the mess hall, empty bowl in hand. The members of the Fourth were up and about, and although the amount of people in the halls was still small, the morning rush would soon begin. He hoped to find Kotegawa having breakfast, he needed to ask some questions before he departed for Earth—he had an assignment, and it would be the perfect way to kill time while he waited for Konishi to make his masks.
Sure enough, he spotted Kotegawa in the sparsely populated mess hall, sitting alone at a table digging in to her breakfast. Not quite satisfied himself, Kyousuke ordered some for himself and made his way toward her.
"Seat taken?" he asked, motioning at the seat across from her. She looked up from her meal and a brief look of surprise followed by happiness crossed her features before she shook her head.
"No, go ahead. Good morning, by the way."
Kyousuke sunk into the chair as he returned the greeting, and began to eat. He noticed she was looking intently at him, and he glanced up to meet her eyes and she quickly looked away.
"Sleep well, Haruna?" he asked, a smile forming in response to her reaction.
"Just fine, thank you. You?"
"Well enough. I'll need it for today, I'm heading out on assignment."
A plan was forming in Kyousuke's mind, it had taken root the evening before and was quickly blossoming into a full-grown endeavor. If all went well, he wouldn't have to trust Konishi to keep his order a secret, she wouldn't have a choice. "I was hoping you'd tell me some more about the memory editor you've been working on before I go, though."
The mention of her project made her face light up and she leaned forward eagerly. "What do you want to know?"
"Is it working yet? The prototype. How easy is it to use? What can it do?"
"Of course it's working," she sneered indignantly. "It's my project, isn't it?"
Kyousuke had no response to that, and let her continue.
"It's very simple to use, you can add, modify, or remove memories through the terminals. Unlike most things like it that've been done in the past, the modifications seem permanent and there aren't any reported side effects. There's no intrusive surgery of any kind, it's all done via other means—and the process is very quick. You could essentially plop down just about anyone on the table and do it without any kind of preparation. The subject would wake up feeling slightly woozy, no recollection of being tampered with." She sounded incredibly proud of herself. "It's genius. Simple genius."
Kyousuke could not have hoped for better. Whatever it was, this device was perfect.
He finished his breakfast and rose, thanking Kotegawa for the company. She looked up as he left, calling to him. "Why did you want to know?"
"Call it administrative curiosity, Haruna. I'll see you later."
He left the building five minutes later, heading toward the Senkaimon. His plan was simple enough, he would get the goods from Konishi and overpower her, erase her memories, and that would be that. He knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't be keeping any records of the process, so the only factor that had to be adjusted for was Konishi herself. Without the memory of it happening, it would officially never have happened.
He stepped through the Senkaimon to Earth, the fine weather in Karakura a sharp contrast to the dismal grey of the Soul Society morning. Tomorrow evening couldn't come soon enough.
*
The morning sun warmed Kyousuke to the core as he flitted from roof to roof in the financial district, scanning in either direction for activity that was out of the ordinary. He wasn't scheduled to go back to Soul Society for another thirty-six hours or so, so he had time to spare.
Kyousuke didn't think he would run into Urufu; they had seen one another less and less since the boy had departed for Hueco Mundo. He had grand plans and they were advancing just as fast as the teenager was growing in power. It was a sight to behold, really, and Kyousuke was impressed with his progress. He would factor that into his decisions in the coming weeks, things were beginning to look a little grim, and Kyousuke had to act accordingly.
He refocused on the task at hand with a quick shake of his head. His mind was wandering, and he needed to stay sharp. Surprises weren't exactly very high on Kyousuke's list of favorite things, and he hoped to avoid any on this particular mission—making it back in one piece was imperative to his plan, and he had no wish to see it unfulfilled. A stray surge of reiatsu caught his attention, and he identified it as a shinigami not far from his current location. Several shinigami on simultaneous Earth duty in Karakura was not an entirely uncommon sight lately, and although Kyousuke was loath to assist someone in the middle of their job, he had little else to do. He changed direction mid-air and sped off toward the surge's origination.
It took him in the direction of the park, and the sunlight gave the leaves of the trees a healthy, rich green look that instilled a sense of calm in Kyousuke for no discernible reason other than serving as a visual reminder of fair weather. In the distance, he could see a struggle taking place between a hollow and a shinigami, and he stopped a moment to watch as he decided what to do.
There appeared to be no doubt of the outcome, but ultimately Kyousuke decided to aid his comrade and zipped over with a flash step, drawing Kannaduki simultaneously. A quick slash and the job was done, the other shinigami registering it with a blink and a look of shock.
Kyousuke could only smile and incline his head before jetting off once again without a word, leaving a somewhat confused junior shinigami in his wake. His own restlessness bothered him, getting through this entire assignment was going to be a strain if he kept acting like had just done; but he found himself uncharacteristically impatient. Why did he want the mask so badly? What made him want it? Patience is a virtue, he reminded himself as he reached the outskirts of the park, leaving the lush greenery behind him.
Patience was indeed a virtue, and he usually had it in abundance, why did it seem different now? He pushed all the thoughts from his mind, trying to clear it of the mess. He decided he would take a moment later that evening to speak with Kannaduki to pass the time. Karakura seemed dull at the moment; the Quincies were keeping to themselves, there was no activity from the spiritually gifted humans, and the eternal clash between shinigami and hollows seems to have abated for the time being. Just my luck, he thought. A thirty-six hour tour of Karakura and not a single thing of import. Next time I'll order one of the junior officers to do this.
*
"Kyousuke, there's something I need to tell you."
Evening had fallen and the lieutenant of the Fourth Division was sitting atop a skyscraper, a gentle breeze rustling through the fixtures that kept the building beneath running. Far below, traffic lights shifted slowly from one shade of grey to another, and the ruddy orange moon above loomed enormous.
"There's an note of urgency in your voice that usually isn't there, Kannaduki. Is it something serious?"
"I've never explained how it is my ability works, have I?"
"You replicate motions by bending the laws of physics. I know that."
"That's what my ability does. Not how it works."
Kyousuke pondered that. She was right, he had never really understood how it was done, only that it happened when he wanted it to. "So enlighten me."
"Well," she began, "I've never had to tell you before because you grasped how to use it almost immediately. You have enormous skill in that sense, but my ability goes beyond simple replication. The way it works is by manipulating dimensional fabric around the sword space, and pulling out duplicates from adjacent dimensions. Cuts that can't be dodged or blocked, stabs from different directions, cuts, parries and blocks with the force of several movements behind them, they're all results of the openings I can create."
"Is that why more replications are more difficult? Their dimensions are farther away?"
The sword spirit shook her head in the orange glow from above. "No, that's not quite it. It simply becomes too taxing to create more openings simultaneously. The nature of dimensions is that they overlap and are infinite, we are adjacent to all of them at once. One opening to all the dimensions would create an force of infinite magnitude, it would quite literally be unstoppable. Sadly, that's impossible, openings can only join two dimensions at a time."
"And the more of these connections you make, the harder it becomes to keep them open?"
"Precisely. As you might imagine, though, a larger, longer-lasting opening is possible if only one exists, but it would still be temporary."
"So you're saying you can create openings to parallel dimensions? Such as Soul Society and Hueco Mundo? Big enough to walk through?"
"Theoretically, yes, but you've never tried so I can't be sure."
"Why tell me this now?"
Kannaduki shifted uneasily next to him, as if something was troubling her, more unusual behavior. "Something has occurred deep in your subconscious, Kyousuke. You won't have noticed it yet, but I have, and it frightens me. It will frighten you, too. I can't tell you what it is, but I'm warning you all the same: you are undergoing subtle psychological changes that will sooner or later affect your body as well as your mind. You have to be prepared for what's coming. You need to know what I'm capable of because at some point in the future, I may not be around to tell you."
Whatever she meant, it was an enigma to Kyousuke, but he glanced at her and nodded slowly anyway. Whatever it was she was talking about, it was clear that it was upsetting her. He pondered it for a while, ending his conversation with her, and the real moon—nothing but a sliver at this time of the month—watched silently from far overhead.
*
The rest of Kyousuke's deployment sped by rapidly, the hours seemed to have become compacted into smaller packages that passed quicker. Kannaduki's words still echoed in the recesses of his consciousness, her warning not falling on deaf ears, but rather confused ones. What did she mean by a change in his subconscious? What should he be expecting? The questions were ricocheting around his mind but there were no answers in sight.
The remainder of his time on earth passed without incident and he returned to Soul Society deep in thought. Passing through the Senkaimon, he couldn't help but wonder if he could make unauthorized gates to other worlds. If transdimensional openings were possible, he could go anywhere he wanted without anyone knowing. Earth, Hueco Mundo, wherever he wanted. It was worth some experimentation, but he was hungry, so he made a stop at the mess hall on his way to his quarters and ate heartily.
Weariness had not yet caught up with the Fourth's lieutenant, so after his rather large meal he went back to his quarters to kill time before meeting Konishi. He closed the door firmly behind him and made sure nobody could be watching, before he drew Kannaduki and peered at his own reflection in the short blade. He didn't look any different; he was still the same Kyousuke Tsukimiya. He spoke her release phrase softly, controlling the surge of reiatsu making the shikai impossible to detect.
He held her out, as if he was feeling the air with her, and he thought hard of Earth. He thought of the rooftop where he had engaged in conversation with Kannaduki the evening before. Armed with the knowledge that it should have been possible, he slid the blade horizontally at chest height.
A sound like static filled his ears, and a slit opened in the middle of the room where his blade had passed. It widened, and Kyousuke saw Karakura sharpen into existence through the gap. It was a little wider than a meter and almost three meters tall, and the edges were difficult to focus on, as if his eyes knew that he was looking at a physical impossibility. The sound of a city far below filled his ears and a fresh breeze drifted into his quarters. He swallowed once and stepped through.
He was on Earth, there was no doubt about it. Looking back, he could see his living space through an identical opening in the fabric of reality, and he willed it closed. The edges shrank and the opening vanished. He hoped he would be able to recreate it, and held out Kannaduki once more, cutting the air at chest height, only making a half-meter incision this time. The static filled his ears once more and the slit opened like a maw, not as wide this time, but he could still pass through into his chambers. Once back, he closed the opening and slid Kannaduki back into her sheath, a smile playing out on his face.
This was perfect. He thought he could hear Kannaduki's voice in his ear. "You learn fast, Kyousuke."
*
It was time to meet Konishi. Kyousuke had spent the last few hours practicing his portals, and he had thought of a name for them. Shinmon is what he called them. Shrine gates. In honor of Kannaduki's clothing. He was pleased at his accomplishment, but what he was really looking forward to was what was yet to come. He moved swiftly through the barracks, past the general-purpose buildings and descended into the laboratories. The walk to Konishi's office was quick and the corridors were empty at this time of night, and he reached it, excitement building up as he knocked on the door.
"Enter," came a voice from inside, and Kyousuke swung open the door, revealing Konishi sitting behind her desk looking rather pleased with herself. "I hoped it was you, Kyousuke. Come in, shut the door."
He did as he was told, and approached the desk. "Are they done?" he asked, trying to hide the eagerness in his voice.
"Oh sure, don't ask me how I'm doing or anything. I'm fine, by the way. As far as your mask goes, I think I've outdone myself." She swiveled around in her chair, dialing the combination on the safe behind her desk. It popped open, and she reached in to retrieve something small and white. She closed the safe again and tossed the small white object on the desk, where it lay motionless.
Kyousuke couldn't help but feel a little crestfallen. "Chisame, this isn't quite what I asked for. This is a shard of something, not a mask. And I thought I asked for several."
The tiny woman grinned smugly, steepled her fingers in front of her face, and bored into Kyousuke's face. "You're quite the looker with that pained expression on your face, Lieutenant. I have a suggestion, however, that may in fact turn that frown upside down. Pick it up."
Kyousuke reached for the shard, looking at it with skepticism written all over his face.
"Now, apply some reiatsu."
Kyousuke obliged, and watched with fascination as the shard reconstituted itself into exactly what he wanted: a mask, chalk white with a face on it that mirrored exactly what he had dug out of the pit of his soul. "I'm impressed."
"You should be. That's synthetic hollow mask, it's tough as nails and it weighs next to nothing. No matter how badly that thing breaks, you will always be able to repair it. The surge needed is so small that you can do it without alerting anyone if you're suppressing your reiatsu. That's why I only made one, this thing will outlast even you."
Kyousuke tried it on, finding it a perfect fit. He could see out of the eyes knowing that nobody could see in, and the visibility was superb. "How does it look?"
"Intimidating. Mysterious. The design is rather unique, it suits you almost uncannily well. It'll take about as much punishment as a hollow mask does, and you know how tough that stuff is. It's like ballistic ceramic."
Kyousuke knew all too well what a mask could stand up to. "Aren't there any adverse effects? Due to it being hollow mask material?"
"None that we know of, but tests show that it's unlikely. That mask is the first practical application if the stuff, so you're test subject number one. That okay with you?"
Kyousuke removed the mask, revealing his wide grin. "You wouldn't believe how okay I am with it."
*
Still smiling broadly, Kyousuke tucked the mask into the recesses of his uniform and bowed gracefully to Konishi. "You've outdone yourself this time, Chisame, and you have my deepest thanks." He rounded the desk to shake her hand, and as she rose from her chair to take it, he grabbed her and spun her round, locking her head in a vicelike headlock. His smile was gone now, his expression mirroring that of his mask: flat, uncaring. She struggled weakly, unable to muster the strength to break free, and Kyousuke tensed his arm muscles, cutting off the blood flow to her brain.
Ten seconds later, she was unconscious. He picked her up and tossed her light frame over his shoulder, carried her to the door and peeked out. The hallways were still empty and would no doubt remain so for a long while. Even if someone did spot them, Konishi had a reputation of crashing hard after entire weeks of work at a time, he could simply say he was carrying her to a proper bed.
He made his way through the twisting innards of the research facility, reaching at last the chambers that Kotegawa had been talking about incessantly for the past few days. He punched in a manual override code and the door slid open noiselessly. He was met with a towering apparatus that stretched toward the ceiling, pointing downward at an operating table of sorts. He closed the door behind him, placed Konishi's limp body on the table and strapped her in before finding the nearest terminal.
It booted up, and sequences of text flashed past as it initialized all the systems and warmed up. The interface was impressively simple, memories were sorted by date and had little references to other memories next to them. The latest memory was hazy, as if it was already being forgotten. Kyousuke pressed play and watched their brief struggle from Konishi's eyes before it blacked out entirely. He deleted that memory. He then went systematically through her memories of the past few days deleting anything that was even remotely related to his mask. He watched her plan it, he watched her make it, he watched her burn the little notebook Kyousuke had given her. All of it was deleted. He copied an earlier, mundane memory and put it piecemeal into the empty space with a few minor edits so she wouldn't become suspicious about losing two days' worth of memories. He double-checked his handiwork and sat back, satisfied, as the machine processed it all and edited her mind. It was very impressive, he had to admit.
The machine chimed softly when it was done, and Kyousuke turned it off, retrieved Konishi, and brought her back to her office without once being seen. He shook her awake softly and her eyes fluttered. "Kyousuke? Where am I?"
"You're in your office. You crashed hard. I've warned you about those things."
"Nonsense," she retorted, rubbing her neck. "My neck hurts."
"You were sleeping in a very odd position. I didn't know a body could twist like that."
She frowned as she kept rubbing her neck, but broke into a smile almost immediately. "If you want, I can show you exactly how much my body can twist, Tsukimiya. I could use some exercise, are you up for it?"
Kyousuke sighed and stood up straight. "No thank you, Konishi. I don't think I could handle you." He moved for the door as she laughed at him, and he paused long enough to tell her to get some proper sleep before leaving.
*
The excitement Kyousuke was feeling was uncharacteristic, but he couldn't help it. He had gotten off scot-free, and nobody knew he was in possession of his new tool. His build and hair were common enough, with the mask he would be near-impossible to identify. He smiled to himself as he sauntered through the empty corridors. He hoped he wouldn't run into anyone, the last thing he wanted now was to engage in conversation. He dreaded the possibility of Kotegawa to pounce on him as he passed the junior officer's quarters. He would have to do his best to sneak by, hoping to go unnoticed.
As he passed, he breathed a sigh of relief, but it was cut short when he turned the corner and ran into Kotegawa, whose expression brightened almost immediately.
"Kyousuke! I was just about to—" she began, but Kyousuke cut her off.
"Not now, Haruna. I'm tired, I've had a long day, and all I want to do is sleep."
"You don't want to go check on my project with me? I want to show you how it works."
"Knowing you, you'd remove whatever memories I have of us not dating, Haruna," he joked, feigning weariness.
"That's not true! It's a good idea, but it's not what I had in mind! I just wanted to—"
Kyousuke raised a hand for silence. "Tomorrow. You can show me in the morning. I'm free tomorrow, so I promise I will let you show me your project. Agreed?"
She looked annoyed for a moment, but eventually smiled and nodded. "Agreed. I'll see you tomorrow, Lieutenant."
With that, she passed him and strode down the corridor, humming tunelessly. Kyousuke sighed and made his way to his own chambers, where he sunk on to the floor and pulled out the mask to look at it. It was beautifully made, sturdy, and it had an excellent fit. The little intricacies in the expression were hard to pick up on at first glance, but they were definitely there when you looked a little closer. First practical use of synthetic hollow mask material, huh? Guess we'll see if it's as safe as she said it was.
He pondered the risks as he stood up again and entered his bedroom, undressing and hiding the mask in a hollow space under the floorboards. What could possibly happen? It was synthetic, it wasn't even the real deal. Surely he would be safe from any adverse effects, if there even were any to begin with. There was no reason to doubt Konishi, there never really had been during the entire time Kyousuke had known her. She was consistently right about these things.
He rolled out his futon and laid down, the lids of his eyes getting heavy. His mind slowly went over what he had accomplished, what he could have done differently, and if he had made any mistakes. He could think of none, the execution had been flawless. As he drifted off to sleep, he emptied his mind of it, confident that it was over and done with.
That night, for the first time in several decades, Kyousuke Tsukimiya dreamt.
°6,035
This is an old solo thread that was lost twice: once during the purges in mid-March 2011, and once when the Pendulum section was purged. Resubmitted for posterity; the thread has long since been claimed.
Well, that and Haruna Kotegawa's incessant chattering. She was babbling about some new project they were working on down in the labs, a memory editor of some sort. Kyousuke was only half-listening, trying instead to concentrate on sharpening Kannaduki (a pointless endeavor, he knew). He sighed for what must've been the sixth time and looked up, the bright light reflecting off the frames of his glasses. "Haruna, why are you in here?" he asked, his patience finally at an end. He knew the answer, but he also knew it would never come directly from her lips.
Her voice trailed off, and her gaze fell to meet Kyousuke's for a moment before hurriedly looking away. "I had some time off, I felt like telling you about our progress," she explained, unconvincingly.
For a week or two after the incident in the generator room, Kotegawa had stayed away from Kyousuke, as if she was afraid of him, but then there had been a sudden turnaround in her behavior and she had tried to spend more time with him than ever before. It hadn't been long until his promotion had come, and if anything, Kotegawa had been more excited about it than Kyousuke had been. She too had been promoted—to Kyousuke's old rank of fifth seat—so her quarters were just down the hall. Her frequent visits to the spacious lieutenant's chambers had started to draw attention. As with all attention, to Kyousuke it was unwanted.
He put a few finishing touches on Kannaduki with a fine grindstone, and then he slid her into her sheath. "While I appreciate your attention, Haruna, you are beginning to raise eyebrows in the rest of the division. You know how much that bothers me."
The junior officer tossed her long, dark hair rebelliously and snorted derisively. "I don't care what other people say, we aren't doing anything wrong."
"They don't know that. For all they know, we could be in there," he pointed at the adjacent room, his bedroom, "doing all manner of things."
She laughed at that. "Kyousuke, you keep your bedroom locked tighter than your lips, and I don't mean for secrets. I've never even once heard of you getting close to a single person. Why would you start now?" She crawled slowly toward him on all fours, a seductive look on her face, her movement accentuating her perfect body. She reached Kyousuke's lap and brought her face in close to his, her deep brown eyes staring into his grey through her long eyelashes. She was mocking him and tempting him at the same time, he knew, but beneath the feigned seductress's gaze, deep in her eyes, he thought he saw something else, something not so fake. She smelled fresh despite having just come from a long shift down in the labs, and Kyousuke knew she would welcome a kiss.
But he did what he always did: turned away ever so slightly and rose to his feet, leaving her on all fours. She slackened, and laughed again, the laughs rocking her body gently.
"What is it exactly that makes you tick, Lieutenant?" she asked between laughs.
Kyousuke remained silent as Kotegawa got to her feet. "Oh well, I have to get some sleep," she sighed tiredly, a yawn escaping her delicate lips. "I'll see you in the morning, Kyousuke."
He walked her to the door and saw her out before returning to the corner room. He slid open the wall, letting the cool evening air into his quarters, and he sat down to commune with Kannaduki.
*
The color melted away from Kyousuke's surroundings as he meditated, his soul resonating with Kannaduki's. A light sound behind him made him turn, and there she was, eyes closed, stretching contentedly. "That was quite something, Kyousuke," she said, relaxing and opening her softly glowing eyes. She was referring to the sharpening Kyousuke had been doing—a habit of his that seemed to equate to giving Kannaduki a massage. A half-smile crossed her lips and she crossed the room to sit at Kyousuke's side. "I think Haruna has a thing for you, you know."
"If you'd kindly refrain from stating the obvious, that'd be wonderful, thank you," he replied, staring out at the rock garden.
"If you choose to ignore it, that's your business, but the girl is clearly enamored. It's impolite to leave it hanging like that."
"I'm not looking for companionship, Kannaduki. It's enough that you talk my ear off, I don't need another woman in my life."
"Flattering," she said, toying absentmindedly with her hair, "but ultimately pointless. You're forgetting that I'm a part of you."
"You're a part of me only to the extent of being everything I lack, Kannaduki. You're my complementary half, nothing more."
She sighed and leaned back, looking at the enormous moon hanging in the sky above them. Her tone was melancholy, but as with all her emotions, they were exaggerated through no choice of her own. "You're right, I suppose. I'm not much more than the emotions you lack. As your emotional compass, though, I advise you to do something about her."
"Likewise, as the emotionless husk I am, I will continue to ignore that advice."
Kannaduki got up, brushed off her red hakama and stepped out onto the walkway, the darkness enveloping her. "Your captain doesn't trust you," she practically blurted out as she spun suddenly to face him.
"I know."
"Why not?"
"Does it matter? He has something to hide, but to be quite honest I have no intention of trying to find out what it is. He gives me work to do and I do it. The workload's doubled since Kuramoto disappeared, so I don't have time to think about inconsequential nonsense. Running the Fourth actually involves work, unlike most of the other divisions."
"It bothers me that you care so little."
"Having him dislike me is one thing, having him actively antagonize me because I'm snooping around is another."
She had no reply this time, so she stayed silent and turned back to the rock garden, shoulders slumped.
Kyousuke watched her, waiting for an angry outburst that never came. Instead, she shrugged and Kyousuke stood up. "I have things to do, so this is it for tonight. Good night, Kannaduki."
"Good night, she murmured, and faded as color rushed back to fill the black and white world around them. The moon above melted and was replaced by the real starry sky, and Kyousuke padded softly to his desk, setting Kannaduki down in her stand, and opened one of the drawers.
He pulled a slim black notebook from the drawer and opened it. The pages were covered in diagrams and specifications, density charts and resistance tables. He flipped through them, finding at last a page with a single diagram on it, depicting a mask with an impassive face on it. He remembered the process, he had spent a week trying to design something to his liking, tearing out sheet after sheet of failed drawings, until one evening he had sat down and closed his eyes.
The drawing he had produced with his eyes closed had been simplistic, minimalistic, expressionless, and above all, sublime. It was as if he had tapped some dark recess of his soul and drawn what he had found there; it represented him perfectly.
He put the notebook back in the drawer and closed it before yawning. It was late and he was tired, but his schedule for tomorrow was empty. He'd go see Konishi about having it made in the morning. He got up, slid the wall closed, and turned off the lights. Then Kyousuke went to bed, drifting off to sleep almost instantly.
*
The next day dawned dull and grey, and Kyousuke awoke from his dreamless sleep to the soft patter of rain. He had an odd sensation of déjà vu, somehow—as if he had experienced something similar before, only slightly different. It was still early, but he knew the labs would be occupied already by the more zealous researchers, and he knew he could count on one in particular to be down there. He dressed quickly, splashed some water on his face and slid Kannaduki out of her sheath briefly to check her blade, completing his morning routine. On his way out, he fished out the notebook from the evening before, stopping long enough to flip through it casually before tucking it into his uniform and leaving.
The hallways were deserted as Kyousuke made his way silently through the barracks toward the laboratories. It was the time of day that meant that the members of the Fourth were doing one of two things: sleeping or pulling all-nighters. Despite the mess hall being open around the clock, there wouldn't be traffic in the halls for another hour or so; until then, meeting someone was highly unlikely. Kyousuke stopped in to get himself some breakfast to go. He passed the initial levels of security, two medium-sized bowls of rice in his hands, and made his way deeper into the facility, navigating the mazelike structure with practiced ease.
At last, he reached a familiar office, and knocked gently with one of the bowls. A tired voice from inside told him to enter, and he pushed the door open to reveal a familiar catastrophic mess.
"Do you never clean this office, Konishi?" he asked the tiny blonde behind the desk as he closed the door softly behind him.
Chisame Konishi was a tiny woman, living proof that not all blondes were stupid, and one of the sharpest tongues in the Shinigami Research Institute. At the moment, however, she seemed nothing but exhausted as she looked up from her desk.
"Oh, it's you. Good morning to you too, Kyousuke. Is it morning? What time is it?"
"Early enough. I brought you breakfast. I was also hoping you'd do a job for me."
"In a moment. Help me find some pills, I had a bottle of them right here a moment ago," she mumbled, looking back down at the desk in front of her. "I seem to have misplaced them."
"Are they the ones in your left hand?"
She looked shocked for a moment, as if noticing the little bottle in her hand for the first time. "Oh."
The blonde popped it open and poured a liberal amount of the little red pills into her mouth before swallowing them whole. The effects were almost instantaneous: the light returned to her eyes, the lines on her face smoothed out, and she perked up significantly. Kyousuke was impressed.
"Good God," she said with an involuntary shiver of pleasure, "that really hit the spot. Gimme one of those bowls, Kyousuke, I'm starving. What was it you wanted?"
Kyousuke handed over one of the bowls and they dug in as Kyousuke pulled out the notebook. "I want you to make something for me, off the record." He passed the notebook to her across the desk and she flipped through it, chewing mouthfuls of her breakfast greedily. "A mask?"
"That's right, a mask. I'd like a few, if you don't mind. Needs to be impact-resistant, but I won't be wearing it as armor. I'll need a few, I think."
"They're all for you?"
"Yeah, I'd like some spares in case they break."
"I think I have just the material for this." She looked up, meeting Kyousuke's eyes. "Why the secrecy?"
"You know me, I like my privacy. The fewer who know about this, the better. I'd prefer it if you worked on it alone, if possible."
"When do you need it?"
"Soon enough for it to be a top priority, but not soon enough to justify cutting corners. I want it made properly. That's why I'm asking you. As a friend, not as the lieutenant."
"I can have it done by tomorrow evening. Drop by then to pick it up."
Kyousuke finished the last of his rice and stood up to leave. "Thanks, Chisame. I owe you one." He opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, before turning back to her. "And get some real sleep. Those pills are gonna make you crash hard."
She grunted in response, her mouth full of rice, as Kyousuke closed the door.
*
Seireitei had begun to stir from its sleep, and Kyousuke made his way back to the mess hall, empty bowl in hand. The members of the Fourth were up and about, and although the amount of people in the halls was still small, the morning rush would soon begin. He hoped to find Kotegawa having breakfast, he needed to ask some questions before he departed for Earth—he had an assignment, and it would be the perfect way to kill time while he waited for Konishi to make his masks.
Sure enough, he spotted Kotegawa in the sparsely populated mess hall, sitting alone at a table digging in to her breakfast. Not quite satisfied himself, Kyousuke ordered some for himself and made his way toward her.
"Seat taken?" he asked, motioning at the seat across from her. She looked up from her meal and a brief look of surprise followed by happiness crossed her features before she shook her head.
"No, go ahead. Good morning, by the way."
Kyousuke sunk into the chair as he returned the greeting, and began to eat. He noticed she was looking intently at him, and he glanced up to meet her eyes and she quickly looked away.
"Sleep well, Haruna?" he asked, a smile forming in response to her reaction.
"Just fine, thank you. You?"
"Well enough. I'll need it for today, I'm heading out on assignment."
A plan was forming in Kyousuke's mind, it had taken root the evening before and was quickly blossoming into a full-grown endeavor. If all went well, he wouldn't have to trust Konishi to keep his order a secret, she wouldn't have a choice. "I was hoping you'd tell me some more about the memory editor you've been working on before I go, though."
The mention of her project made her face light up and she leaned forward eagerly. "What do you want to know?"
"Is it working yet? The prototype. How easy is it to use? What can it do?"
"Of course it's working," she sneered indignantly. "It's my project, isn't it?"
Kyousuke had no response to that, and let her continue.
"It's very simple to use, you can add, modify, or remove memories through the terminals. Unlike most things like it that've been done in the past, the modifications seem permanent and there aren't any reported side effects. There's no intrusive surgery of any kind, it's all done via other means—and the process is very quick. You could essentially plop down just about anyone on the table and do it without any kind of preparation. The subject would wake up feeling slightly woozy, no recollection of being tampered with." She sounded incredibly proud of herself. "It's genius. Simple genius."
Kyousuke could not have hoped for better. Whatever it was, this device was perfect.
He finished his breakfast and rose, thanking Kotegawa for the company. She looked up as he left, calling to him. "Why did you want to know?"
"Call it administrative curiosity, Haruna. I'll see you later."
He left the building five minutes later, heading toward the Senkaimon. His plan was simple enough, he would get the goods from Konishi and overpower her, erase her memories, and that would be that. He knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't be keeping any records of the process, so the only factor that had to be adjusted for was Konishi herself. Without the memory of it happening, it would officially never have happened.
He stepped through the Senkaimon to Earth, the fine weather in Karakura a sharp contrast to the dismal grey of the Soul Society morning. Tomorrow evening couldn't come soon enough.
*
The morning sun warmed Kyousuke to the core as he flitted from roof to roof in the financial district, scanning in either direction for activity that was out of the ordinary. He wasn't scheduled to go back to Soul Society for another thirty-six hours or so, so he had time to spare.
Kyousuke didn't think he would run into Urufu; they had seen one another less and less since the boy had departed for Hueco Mundo. He had grand plans and they were advancing just as fast as the teenager was growing in power. It was a sight to behold, really, and Kyousuke was impressed with his progress. He would factor that into his decisions in the coming weeks, things were beginning to look a little grim, and Kyousuke had to act accordingly.
He refocused on the task at hand with a quick shake of his head. His mind was wandering, and he needed to stay sharp. Surprises weren't exactly very high on Kyousuke's list of favorite things, and he hoped to avoid any on this particular mission—making it back in one piece was imperative to his plan, and he had no wish to see it unfulfilled. A stray surge of reiatsu caught his attention, and he identified it as a shinigami not far from his current location. Several shinigami on simultaneous Earth duty in Karakura was not an entirely uncommon sight lately, and although Kyousuke was loath to assist someone in the middle of their job, he had little else to do. He changed direction mid-air and sped off toward the surge's origination.
It took him in the direction of the park, and the sunlight gave the leaves of the trees a healthy, rich green look that instilled a sense of calm in Kyousuke for no discernible reason other than serving as a visual reminder of fair weather. In the distance, he could see a struggle taking place between a hollow and a shinigami, and he stopped a moment to watch as he decided what to do.
There appeared to be no doubt of the outcome, but ultimately Kyousuke decided to aid his comrade and zipped over with a flash step, drawing Kannaduki simultaneously. A quick slash and the job was done, the other shinigami registering it with a blink and a look of shock.
Kyousuke could only smile and incline his head before jetting off once again without a word, leaving a somewhat confused junior shinigami in his wake. His own restlessness bothered him, getting through this entire assignment was going to be a strain if he kept acting like had just done; but he found himself uncharacteristically impatient. Why did he want the mask so badly? What made him want it? Patience is a virtue, he reminded himself as he reached the outskirts of the park, leaving the lush greenery behind him.
Patience was indeed a virtue, and he usually had it in abundance, why did it seem different now? He pushed all the thoughts from his mind, trying to clear it of the mess. He decided he would take a moment later that evening to speak with Kannaduki to pass the time. Karakura seemed dull at the moment; the Quincies were keeping to themselves, there was no activity from the spiritually gifted humans, and the eternal clash between shinigami and hollows seems to have abated for the time being. Just my luck, he thought. A thirty-six hour tour of Karakura and not a single thing of import. Next time I'll order one of the junior officers to do this.
*
"Kyousuke, there's something I need to tell you."
Evening had fallen and the lieutenant of the Fourth Division was sitting atop a skyscraper, a gentle breeze rustling through the fixtures that kept the building beneath running. Far below, traffic lights shifted slowly from one shade of grey to another, and the ruddy orange moon above loomed enormous.
"There's an note of urgency in your voice that usually isn't there, Kannaduki. Is it something serious?"
"I've never explained how it is my ability works, have I?"
"You replicate motions by bending the laws of physics. I know that."
"That's what my ability does. Not how it works."
Kyousuke pondered that. She was right, he had never really understood how it was done, only that it happened when he wanted it to. "So enlighten me."
"Well," she began, "I've never had to tell you before because you grasped how to use it almost immediately. You have enormous skill in that sense, but my ability goes beyond simple replication. The way it works is by manipulating dimensional fabric around the sword space, and pulling out duplicates from adjacent dimensions. Cuts that can't be dodged or blocked, stabs from different directions, cuts, parries and blocks with the force of several movements behind them, they're all results of the openings I can create."
"Is that why more replications are more difficult? Their dimensions are farther away?"
The sword spirit shook her head in the orange glow from above. "No, that's not quite it. It simply becomes too taxing to create more openings simultaneously. The nature of dimensions is that they overlap and are infinite, we are adjacent to all of them at once. One opening to all the dimensions would create an force of infinite magnitude, it would quite literally be unstoppable. Sadly, that's impossible, openings can only join two dimensions at a time."
"And the more of these connections you make, the harder it becomes to keep them open?"
"Precisely. As you might imagine, though, a larger, longer-lasting opening is possible if only one exists, but it would still be temporary."
"So you're saying you can create openings to parallel dimensions? Such as Soul Society and Hueco Mundo? Big enough to walk through?"
"Theoretically, yes, but you've never tried so I can't be sure."
"Why tell me this now?"
Kannaduki shifted uneasily next to him, as if something was troubling her, more unusual behavior. "Something has occurred deep in your subconscious, Kyousuke. You won't have noticed it yet, but I have, and it frightens me. It will frighten you, too. I can't tell you what it is, but I'm warning you all the same: you are undergoing subtle psychological changes that will sooner or later affect your body as well as your mind. You have to be prepared for what's coming. You need to know what I'm capable of because at some point in the future, I may not be around to tell you."
Whatever she meant, it was an enigma to Kyousuke, but he glanced at her and nodded slowly anyway. Whatever it was she was talking about, it was clear that it was upsetting her. He pondered it for a while, ending his conversation with her, and the real moon—nothing but a sliver at this time of the month—watched silently from far overhead.
*
The rest of Kyousuke's deployment sped by rapidly, the hours seemed to have become compacted into smaller packages that passed quicker. Kannaduki's words still echoed in the recesses of his consciousness, her warning not falling on deaf ears, but rather confused ones. What did she mean by a change in his subconscious? What should he be expecting? The questions were ricocheting around his mind but there were no answers in sight.
The remainder of his time on earth passed without incident and he returned to Soul Society deep in thought. Passing through the Senkaimon, he couldn't help but wonder if he could make unauthorized gates to other worlds. If transdimensional openings were possible, he could go anywhere he wanted without anyone knowing. Earth, Hueco Mundo, wherever he wanted. It was worth some experimentation, but he was hungry, so he made a stop at the mess hall on his way to his quarters and ate heartily.
Weariness had not yet caught up with the Fourth's lieutenant, so after his rather large meal he went back to his quarters to kill time before meeting Konishi. He closed the door firmly behind him and made sure nobody could be watching, before he drew Kannaduki and peered at his own reflection in the short blade. He didn't look any different; he was still the same Kyousuke Tsukimiya. He spoke her release phrase softly, controlling the surge of reiatsu making the shikai impossible to detect.
He held her out, as if he was feeling the air with her, and he thought hard of Earth. He thought of the rooftop where he had engaged in conversation with Kannaduki the evening before. Armed with the knowledge that it should have been possible, he slid the blade horizontally at chest height.
A sound like static filled his ears, and a slit opened in the middle of the room where his blade had passed. It widened, and Kyousuke saw Karakura sharpen into existence through the gap. It was a little wider than a meter and almost three meters tall, and the edges were difficult to focus on, as if his eyes knew that he was looking at a physical impossibility. The sound of a city far below filled his ears and a fresh breeze drifted into his quarters. He swallowed once and stepped through.
He was on Earth, there was no doubt about it. Looking back, he could see his living space through an identical opening in the fabric of reality, and he willed it closed. The edges shrank and the opening vanished. He hoped he would be able to recreate it, and held out Kannaduki once more, cutting the air at chest height, only making a half-meter incision this time. The static filled his ears once more and the slit opened like a maw, not as wide this time, but he could still pass through into his chambers. Once back, he closed the opening and slid Kannaduki back into her sheath, a smile playing out on his face.
This was perfect. He thought he could hear Kannaduki's voice in his ear. "You learn fast, Kyousuke."
*
It was time to meet Konishi. Kyousuke had spent the last few hours practicing his portals, and he had thought of a name for them. Shinmon is what he called them. Shrine gates. In honor of Kannaduki's clothing. He was pleased at his accomplishment, but what he was really looking forward to was what was yet to come. He moved swiftly through the barracks, past the general-purpose buildings and descended into the laboratories. The walk to Konishi's office was quick and the corridors were empty at this time of night, and he reached it, excitement building up as he knocked on the door.
"Enter," came a voice from inside, and Kyousuke swung open the door, revealing Konishi sitting behind her desk looking rather pleased with herself. "I hoped it was you, Kyousuke. Come in, shut the door."
He did as he was told, and approached the desk. "Are they done?" he asked, trying to hide the eagerness in his voice.
"Oh sure, don't ask me how I'm doing or anything. I'm fine, by the way. As far as your mask goes, I think I've outdone myself." She swiveled around in her chair, dialing the combination on the safe behind her desk. It popped open, and she reached in to retrieve something small and white. She closed the safe again and tossed the small white object on the desk, where it lay motionless.
Kyousuke couldn't help but feel a little crestfallen. "Chisame, this isn't quite what I asked for. This is a shard of something, not a mask. And I thought I asked for several."
The tiny woman grinned smugly, steepled her fingers in front of her face, and bored into Kyousuke's face. "You're quite the looker with that pained expression on your face, Lieutenant. I have a suggestion, however, that may in fact turn that frown upside down. Pick it up."
Kyousuke reached for the shard, looking at it with skepticism written all over his face.
"Now, apply some reiatsu."
Kyousuke obliged, and watched with fascination as the shard reconstituted itself into exactly what he wanted: a mask, chalk white with a face on it that mirrored exactly what he had dug out of the pit of his soul. "I'm impressed."
"You should be. That's synthetic hollow mask, it's tough as nails and it weighs next to nothing. No matter how badly that thing breaks, you will always be able to repair it. The surge needed is so small that you can do it without alerting anyone if you're suppressing your reiatsu. That's why I only made one, this thing will outlast even you."
Kyousuke tried it on, finding it a perfect fit. He could see out of the eyes knowing that nobody could see in, and the visibility was superb. "How does it look?"
"Intimidating. Mysterious. The design is rather unique, it suits you almost uncannily well. It'll take about as much punishment as a hollow mask does, and you know how tough that stuff is. It's like ballistic ceramic."
Kyousuke knew all too well what a mask could stand up to. "Aren't there any adverse effects? Due to it being hollow mask material?"
"None that we know of, but tests show that it's unlikely. That mask is the first practical application if the stuff, so you're test subject number one. That okay with you?"
Kyousuke removed the mask, revealing his wide grin. "You wouldn't believe how okay I am with it."
*
Still smiling broadly, Kyousuke tucked the mask into the recesses of his uniform and bowed gracefully to Konishi. "You've outdone yourself this time, Chisame, and you have my deepest thanks." He rounded the desk to shake her hand, and as she rose from her chair to take it, he grabbed her and spun her round, locking her head in a vicelike headlock. His smile was gone now, his expression mirroring that of his mask: flat, uncaring. She struggled weakly, unable to muster the strength to break free, and Kyousuke tensed his arm muscles, cutting off the blood flow to her brain.
Ten seconds later, she was unconscious. He picked her up and tossed her light frame over his shoulder, carried her to the door and peeked out. The hallways were still empty and would no doubt remain so for a long while. Even if someone did spot them, Konishi had a reputation of crashing hard after entire weeks of work at a time, he could simply say he was carrying her to a proper bed.
He made his way through the twisting innards of the research facility, reaching at last the chambers that Kotegawa had been talking about incessantly for the past few days. He punched in a manual override code and the door slid open noiselessly. He was met with a towering apparatus that stretched toward the ceiling, pointing downward at an operating table of sorts. He closed the door behind him, placed Konishi's limp body on the table and strapped her in before finding the nearest terminal.
It booted up, and sequences of text flashed past as it initialized all the systems and warmed up. The interface was impressively simple, memories were sorted by date and had little references to other memories next to them. The latest memory was hazy, as if it was already being forgotten. Kyousuke pressed play and watched their brief struggle from Konishi's eyes before it blacked out entirely. He deleted that memory. He then went systematically through her memories of the past few days deleting anything that was even remotely related to his mask. He watched her plan it, he watched her make it, he watched her burn the little notebook Kyousuke had given her. All of it was deleted. He copied an earlier, mundane memory and put it piecemeal into the empty space with a few minor edits so she wouldn't become suspicious about losing two days' worth of memories. He double-checked his handiwork and sat back, satisfied, as the machine processed it all and edited her mind. It was very impressive, he had to admit.
The machine chimed softly when it was done, and Kyousuke turned it off, retrieved Konishi, and brought her back to her office without once being seen. He shook her awake softly and her eyes fluttered. "Kyousuke? Where am I?"
"You're in your office. You crashed hard. I've warned you about those things."
"Nonsense," she retorted, rubbing her neck. "My neck hurts."
"You were sleeping in a very odd position. I didn't know a body could twist like that."
She frowned as she kept rubbing her neck, but broke into a smile almost immediately. "If you want, I can show you exactly how much my body can twist, Tsukimiya. I could use some exercise, are you up for it?"
Kyousuke sighed and stood up straight. "No thank you, Konishi. I don't think I could handle you." He moved for the door as she laughed at him, and he paused long enough to tell her to get some proper sleep before leaving.
*
The excitement Kyousuke was feeling was uncharacteristic, but he couldn't help it. He had gotten off scot-free, and nobody knew he was in possession of his new tool. His build and hair were common enough, with the mask he would be near-impossible to identify. He smiled to himself as he sauntered through the empty corridors. He hoped he wouldn't run into anyone, the last thing he wanted now was to engage in conversation. He dreaded the possibility of Kotegawa to pounce on him as he passed the junior officer's quarters. He would have to do his best to sneak by, hoping to go unnoticed.
As he passed, he breathed a sigh of relief, but it was cut short when he turned the corner and ran into Kotegawa, whose expression brightened almost immediately.
"Kyousuke! I was just about to—" she began, but Kyousuke cut her off.
"Not now, Haruna. I'm tired, I've had a long day, and all I want to do is sleep."
"You don't want to go check on my project with me? I want to show you how it works."
"Knowing you, you'd remove whatever memories I have of us not dating, Haruna," he joked, feigning weariness.
"That's not true! It's a good idea, but it's not what I had in mind! I just wanted to—"
Kyousuke raised a hand for silence. "Tomorrow. You can show me in the morning. I'm free tomorrow, so I promise I will let you show me your project. Agreed?"
She looked annoyed for a moment, but eventually smiled and nodded. "Agreed. I'll see you tomorrow, Lieutenant."
With that, she passed him and strode down the corridor, humming tunelessly. Kyousuke sighed and made his way to his own chambers, where he sunk on to the floor and pulled out the mask to look at it. It was beautifully made, sturdy, and it had an excellent fit. The little intricacies in the expression were hard to pick up on at first glance, but they were definitely there when you looked a little closer. First practical use of synthetic hollow mask material, huh? Guess we'll see if it's as safe as she said it was.
He pondered the risks as he stood up again and entered his bedroom, undressing and hiding the mask in a hollow space under the floorboards. What could possibly happen? It was synthetic, it wasn't even the real deal. Surely he would be safe from any adverse effects, if there even were any to begin with. There was no reason to doubt Konishi, there never really had been during the entire time Kyousuke had known her. She was consistently right about these things.
He rolled out his futon and laid down, the lids of his eyes getting heavy. His mind slowly went over what he had accomplished, what he could have done differently, and if he had made any mistakes. He could think of none, the execution had been flawless. As he drifted off to sleep, he emptied his mind of it, confident that it was over and done with.
That night, for the first time in several decades, Kyousuke Tsukimiya dreamt.
°6,035
This is an old solo thread that was lost twice: once during the purges in mid-March 2011, and once when the Pendulum section was purged. Resubmitted for posterity; the thread has long since been claimed.
