Chapter 9 - Kiyama Harumi
- Pronouns
- She/Her
8th of April 2003, One Year and 2 months before the start of Canon A Certain Magical Index
I stifle a yawn as I walk back to my office from the MAR HQ cafeteria. Normally I would have already finished my lunch and returned to my office but I am behind on everything today. I was so worried about Dolly's first day of school I could barely focus on work yesterday. Then that ridiculous dinosaur cloning project from the department of agriculture 'lost' their pets in the middle of District 10. An absurd attempt at ass covering from Director Nakimoto. He probably just wanted to see what dinosaurs fed on human meat taste like. Well I hope he ends up breaking a tooth on the buckshot I used to put his pets down. Then I finally got Dolly calling about her day and instead of having a fun, wholesome school day like I hoped she'd had a panic attack which Mikoto and I had to help her through. I was ready to tear Tatsuki General Hospital's safety accreditation to shreds for Miss Tatsuki scaring Dolly like that but I didn't even have to make up any faults in their safety procedures in the end. Finding a Project Radio Noise off the books lab under Tatsuki General Hospital had been an unexpected boon of letting my anger make me rush and do the safety inspection right away.
Still, the extra work had kept me up until the wee hours of the morning. First the hours-long effort to save the hospital, its residents and the evidence from the fire some bright spark started to try and hide the trail of the project when they found out about my surprise safety inspection. Then the even longer task of properly processing and charging the malefactors. MAR having investigatory and arrest powers was very convenient for its use as my personal army in the city but it makes much more work for me when I try to actually be moral with their use. Ruri chewing me out when I got into work this morning for going off half cocked and getting people hurt has put me even further behind on my work. It all worked out in the end anyway. What did it matter if I rushed this once?
"I really should have told Dolly that Miss Tatsuki's father was a good scientist when I texted her the update on the Hospital last night." I mutter to myself as I navigate the labyrinthine halls of my personal fortress, "Oh well, I'll call her tonight and let her know that he just likes cutting up corpses in a normal way." A shame about him ending up in the emergency ward but he should make a full recovery and the Tatsuki's have plenty of extended family and shared wealth to call on. I couldn't feel any sympathy for Miss Tatsuki's mother however. She probably wasn't involved in Level 6 Shift but she was still knowingly working on mass producing expendable clone child soldiers. If that woman didn't want to be caught she shouldn't have broken the law. It's not like the ban on human cloning is hard to follow. Before I turned in for the night I put my legal weight on making sure that she felt the full force of the law. I'm sick of people like her getting away scot free from all this. It's nice to finally be able to properly nail one of them to a metaphorical tree. My smartwatch beeps to remind me to take my antipsychotics. I dismiss the alert and make a mental note to take my pills when I get back to my desk.
Someone is sitting in the waiting area outside my office when I arrive. She looks vaguely familiar but I can't quite place her face to a name. My secretary Mr Hamada spots me first and hurries over.
"My deepest apologies Dr. Lifeline." he says with a bow, "This woman doesn't have an appointment but she refuses to leave. Normally I'd have had security escort her out but she mentioned one of the keyphrases you asked me to look out for. From the way she said it I'm not sure she actually knew it as a keyphrase but she expected it to mean something to you." Mr Hamada slips me a scrap of paper with Gensei's name written on it. I quirk an eyebrow, there aren't many people who know my connection to him who don't also know about our antagonistic relationship. "She says her name is Dr. Kiyama Harumi." Ah. His protege working on Crystalized Esper Essence at the Advanced Education Bureau. Well, I had expected him to make another move soon. The question is whether she is here as a messenger or a sacrifice?
"Thank you Mr Hamada. You've done your job well. I'll see her in my office. I'm not sure how long this will take but to be on the safe side let Captain Hinata know that I might not be able to make it to today's threat analysis briefing." I stride past her and invite her to follow me into my office with a dismissive gesture.
As I take a seat behind my desk I use the time to examine her more closely. Her new hairstyle suits her, the longer hair frames her face nicely and makes her look more mature. Sadly the effect is undercut by bags under her eyes which suggest she hasn't had a solid night's sleep in weeks if not months. I wonder if that is due to an unhealthy work ethic or the remains of a conscience? She also looks like she isn't eating or exercising enough with slightly sunken cheeks and baggy sleeves.
I slide the bowl containing the sweets spiked with the primer half of a paralytic poison across to Dr. Kiyama.
"No thank you."
"I insist."
With obvious reluctance she takes one of the sherbets and eats it. Her half lidded eyes widen slightly,
"They are delicious." Of course they are, they would hardly be a good vector for poison if people didn't want to eat them.
"Thank you, they are a personal recipe. Now Dr. Kiyama. We haven't seen each other in, about 10 months I believe? What does Gensei want that brings you to my door unannounced?"
Her face darkens at my mention of Gensei.
"I didn't come here for him! He-!" she takes a calming breath, "When I saw you meet him the two of you mentioned you had undergone a precursor to the experiment we were conducting. Was that true?"
I let her stew for a few seconds as I contemplate her response. There was a possibility she was lying but her physical state would take weeks of work to achieve minimum. That level of pre-preparation just to fool me would be uncharacteristic of Gensei. Like I told him 10 months ago, he likes to move fast and break things. However, it wouldn't be impossible. I'll play things close to my chest for now.
"I am not entirely sure what experiment you were running at the Advanced Education Bureau but if it had anything to do with Crystallized Esper Essence then yes I did." Her hands clench at the mention of ability body crystals. So I was right. Gensei wouldn't have personally overseen one of the mass production operations though. So I wonder what the goal of the experiment actually was?
"How? How are you awake then!" I'm shaken from my musings on Gensei's motives for the experiment by Dr. Kiyama's outburst. "Why? Why are my student's in comas while you just traipse around without a care!" The pupils of her hazel eyes are dilated, her jaw and fists are clenched as she jumps out her seat. Standing we are about the same height but right now she looms over me. Wait comas?
"Comas? Are you sure they are in comas? Not dead?" The question seems to shock her out of her anger at first before it comes rushing back and she reaches over the table to grab my lapel and drag me face to face. It's a struggle to meet her eyes rather than watch her lips as she yells.
[Calculate Relative Space-Time Position of Object "Dr. Kiyama Harumi". Apply Macro "Standard Gravity" to Object "Dr. Kiyama Harumi".]
"Dead? They could have died and you just left them there! What the fuck is wrong with your family!" She punctuates her speech by throwing me back into my chair. I stabilise it with Gravity Shift before it can pitch backwards totally and result in me falling onto the floor.
"Too many things to list Dr. Kiyama." I begin as I try to control my breathing, "However, while we could spend all day talking about that. The fact that your students are only in a coma means there is still a chance to save them. We should focus on that instead for now." Either she's a terrific actor or she's genuine at this point. I try to fix my collar and control my blush. Now isn't the time. "Where are your students now? Do you have custody or does Gensei? If it is the latter this will be much harder."
"I… I don't know. They aren't in my custody at least. They got split up across multiple hospitals after the experiment. Some of them were at Tatsuki General Hospital. Reading about you saving them from the fire this morning was where I saw your name and remembered our meeting at the AEB."
"Gensei then. That's a favourite tactic of his." I activate the noise canceller and signal jammers in the office walls. At Dr. Kiyama's look I say, "Until now everything we have been talking about is legal, or at least not sufficient that the Board of Directors would care that I got caught telling you." I rest my chin on my hands. "I burned all my good will with him 6 months ago when I rescued the subject of another one of Gensei's experiments. The one that he was giving me access to the day we first met."
"So my students were acceptable casualties to you?" Her disdain is palpable. It hurts more than it does from most people but I can't let myself be swayed by a pretty face right now.
"Yes." I frankly admit. "And I would make the same choice again. I regret what happened to your students. I should have thought to try and save them. However, if it is a binary choice between them and Dolly?" or the sisters, "I will choose my daughter every time." That gives Dr. Kiyama pause, but before she can respond I continue, "So do you still want my help in healing them?"
"Can you even help?" she asks bitterly, ""I've tried to gain access to Tree Diagram to find a way to fix them 10 times already. They keep refusing me. If you are truly as out of favour with Dr. Kihara as you say then what chance would you have of getting access." I stifle a snort, mocking her naivete would be cruel and unnecessary.
"My grandfather is far from the only power broker in the city. I have my own favours with the board I could call on and I receive a stipend of access to Tree Diagram every month as Commander of MAR regardless. However, Tree Diagram would likely be useless to help fix your problem."
"How? It's the most powerful computer ever built!" Gosh she's cute when she's indignant.
"It's still just a computer. Certainly it can run numbers extremely quickly but ultimately it's only as smart as its coders. Unless you already have a solution to their comas, Tree Diagram will only be able to give you projections based on their current biometric data."
"So it's hopeless? I refuse to believe that!"
"Good. I never said your student situation was hopeless. Just that Tree Diagram would be unlikely to help. You asked earlier why I wasn't in a coma but your students were? I don't know for sure, though I do have hypotheses, but I have the data from the essence crystallisation experiment I underwent when I was 6 years old and I have the Ability Body Crystal extracted from me in that experiment." I smirk, "I scammed Gensei out of it the day we met 10 months ago."
"So if we gain the data from the experiment that my students went through and compare them we can find out how they were different." Dr. Kiyama catches on. "Together with their biometrics we can work out what went wrong and fix them."
"Hopefully." I nod, "Preferably we will be able to get their ability body crystals as well for more data but I'm not sure if Gensei will have kept them for further study like he did mine or sold it for funds on the black market like he does with the mass produced ones." Dr. Kiyama looks aghast.
"Mass produced?"
"You didn't think the only experiments were 20 years apart did you? Gensei optimised the process for mass production back when I was 9. I don't know what new data he hoped to get from your experiment but as it stands on average one child error is murdered to create ability body crystals every day. Gensei then sells those crystals to esper mercenary groups to fund the experiments he actually thinks will help him reach SYSTEM."
Dr. Kiyama stands and sways over to the bucket in the corner before emptying her stomach. After a moment's hesitation I go over to her, hold her hair out of the way and rub small circles on her back. I realise that just like with Misuzu I had drastically overestimated how immersed in Academy City's underbelly Dr. Kiyama was at our first meeting. Once she is done vomiting I guide her over to the visitor couches rather than the desk and give her a mint containing the neutralising agent for the poison I fed her earlier.
"So that's why you didn't care about my students. They got off lucky. Given everything else… The Board of Directors are aware as well aren't they? That's why my requests for the use of Tree Diagram are being rejected. You are all complicit." she says once she has finished chewing the mint.
"Most likely." I nod as I take a seat on the couch across from her, "Though I would thank you not to lump me in with monsters like Nakimoto, Unabara or Neoka. I am complicit through inaction, it's true, but I have spent my adult life fighting against Gensei and what he stands for. Tatsuki General Hospital last night was just my latest attack in our shadow war. For what little I'm sure it's worth, I am sorry that I wrote your students off as acceptable casualties to strike a more telling blow."
"What is your daughter to him then? What is she that she is worth 10 other innocent children? Is it just that you share blood?" I can't hold back a small smile at that. She's asking the right questions. It's a shame she would never believe me about Level 6 Shift right now. That knowledge makes my moral calculus much more obvious.
"I actually adopted her. Even that was over a month after I rescued her. I tried to get her biological parents to take her in at first but that wasn't possible." I carefully consider just how much I should reveal before continuing, "Dolly is a clone of another girl. She was chosen for her high potential chance of becoming a Level 5 as predicted on the Parameter List. Dolly is only the prototype for a mass production line of clone soldiers based on that girl. Gensei hopes to get closer to SYSTEM by mass producing high level espers." Not the full truth but it is close enough to the truth to explain his actions without making her think I'm crazy. "Freeing Dolly slowed down his research efforts on mass production. Tatsuki General Hospital was hiding one of the labs working on that. I have my own lab looking over the few research notes from them I was able to rescue from the fire now."
"So you thought you could save an even larger number of innocent kids in the future." she sighs, "I can't condone it but I do understand the maths you must have gone through when you made your decision." I consider letting her keep such a positive view of me but I know I don't deserve it because it's not the truth.
"That is why I chose to save Dolly, yes. However, the truth is that I didn't even stop to learn how many students Gensei was experimenting on at the AEB. You heard just now how many kids he's already killed with experiments like that. The truth is that I'm just jaded and burnt out. Until you came in today I never gave your students a second tho-" she reaches across the table and slaps me. I deserved that.
"You feel safe keeping your daughter in a city where this happens? How do you know he won't just grab her off the street?"
"A few reasons. She goes to Tokiwadai now. If he attacked School Garden to get to her he'd piss off Director Unabara. Additionally she's a powerful esper in her own right and I've trained her in self defence. In truth the outside world isn't any safer for a young esper or a clone. At least in Academy City I have power and can actively keep her safe. In the outside world I have no leverage or military force. Finally and most importantly though? He knows that if he hurts her or kidnaps her then our shadow war will become open war on the streets and he's no longer confident in winning that." Of course, even more important than that is Tabigake's deal with Chairman Aleister. According to Tabigake the Chairman is set on Project Radio Noise going ahead and unapologetic about it. However, he is willing to hold off and delay Level 6 Shift if we can provide a better alternative. As well as protect Mikoto and Dolly from any retaliation from Gensei in the meantime. I can't tell Dr. Kiyama any of that though.
"While you haven't already started said street war because you aren't sure you'll win either." You're much quicker on the uptake now you've calmed down a bit Dr. Kiyama.
I nod, "Along with the issue that if I am seen as 'starting it' then Anti-Skill would come down on MAR like a ton of bricks. If Gensei 'provokes me' first then they would most likely let me take the offensive without interference." I hope at least. I'm less sure about the Board letting me get away with that than I am presenting to Dr. Kiyama.
Dr. Kiyama sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose, "So. You've said you'll help me. What should our first step be?"
"Our first actions should be to secure your students so that Gensei can't use them against you. I'm not sure if he is actively blocking your access to Tree Diagram or if the Board of Directors just doesn't want to 'waste' the processing time on this. That will determine how difficult to retrieve they are. Either way he won't let them fall into my care out of spite currently. So it would be best if you could get them transferred into your own care. Do you have the resources to maintain them?"
Dr. Kiyama starts crying as she shakes her head. I wish I could reach out and wipe those tears away but that would be a massive breach of personal space. I compromise by moving to sit on the same couch as her and leaving me hand in between us for her to hold if she chooses. I hate to bring him up but he's probably her best chance right now.
"In that case I know someone who will help you heal your kids. Are you familiar with Heaven Canceller?"
"T-the famous surgeon? Yes. Y-you sound like you don't like him. W-what skeleton is in his closet? W-why would he h-help?"
"You remember how you called me complicit in the state of Academy City?" I say with a frown. Dr. Kiyama nods.
"He's at least 100 times as complicit as I am. However," I continue before Dr. Kiyama can ask why I trust him in that case, "His personal morals mean that he always tries his hardest to heal his patients. He won't proactively prevent harm but once someone has been harmed then he will move heaven and earth to heal them. I don't agree with his philosophy but between the three of us I'm sure we can save your kids Dr. Kiyama." Dr. Kiyama takes my hand and dries her eyes with her other sleeve. I squeeze her hand and tell her Heaven Canceller's phone number. "It is better that the request for help doesn't come from me. Between my family name and our personal animus he might not pick up if I call. Though don't worry, he won't refuse to help because of my involvement."
"Thank you Dr. Lifeline. I, I had almost given up hope." Dr. Kiyama really does have a pretty smile.
I stifle a yawn as I walk back to my office from the MAR HQ cafeteria. Normally I would have already finished my lunch and returned to my office but I am behind on everything today. I was so worried about Dolly's first day of school I could barely focus on work yesterday. Then that ridiculous dinosaur cloning project from the department of agriculture 'lost' their pets in the middle of District 10. An absurd attempt at ass covering from Director Nakimoto. He probably just wanted to see what dinosaurs fed on human meat taste like. Well I hope he ends up breaking a tooth on the buckshot I used to put his pets down. Then I finally got Dolly calling about her day and instead of having a fun, wholesome school day like I hoped she'd had a panic attack which Mikoto and I had to help her through. I was ready to tear Tatsuki General Hospital's safety accreditation to shreds for Miss Tatsuki scaring Dolly like that but I didn't even have to make up any faults in their safety procedures in the end. Finding a Project Radio Noise off the books lab under Tatsuki General Hospital had been an unexpected boon of letting my anger make me rush and do the safety inspection right away.
Still, the extra work had kept me up until the wee hours of the morning. First the hours-long effort to save the hospital, its residents and the evidence from the fire some bright spark started to try and hide the trail of the project when they found out about my surprise safety inspection. Then the even longer task of properly processing and charging the malefactors. MAR having investigatory and arrest powers was very convenient for its use as my personal army in the city but it makes much more work for me when I try to actually be moral with their use. Ruri chewing me out when I got into work this morning for going off half cocked and getting people hurt has put me even further behind on my work. It all worked out in the end anyway. What did it matter if I rushed this once?
"I really should have told Dolly that Miss Tatsuki's father was a good scientist when I texted her the update on the Hospital last night." I mutter to myself as I navigate the labyrinthine halls of my personal fortress, "Oh well, I'll call her tonight and let her know that he just likes cutting up corpses in a normal way." A shame about him ending up in the emergency ward but he should make a full recovery and the Tatsuki's have plenty of extended family and shared wealth to call on. I couldn't feel any sympathy for Miss Tatsuki's mother however. She probably wasn't involved in Level 6 Shift but she was still knowingly working on mass producing expendable clone child soldiers. If that woman didn't want to be caught she shouldn't have broken the law. It's not like the ban on human cloning is hard to follow. Before I turned in for the night I put my legal weight on making sure that she felt the full force of the law. I'm sick of people like her getting away scot free from all this. It's nice to finally be able to properly nail one of them to a metaphorical tree. My smartwatch beeps to remind me to take my antipsychotics. I dismiss the alert and make a mental note to take my pills when I get back to my desk.
Someone is sitting in the waiting area outside my office when I arrive. She looks vaguely familiar but I can't quite place her face to a name. My secretary Mr Hamada spots me first and hurries over.
"My deepest apologies Dr. Lifeline." he says with a bow, "This woman doesn't have an appointment but she refuses to leave. Normally I'd have had security escort her out but she mentioned one of the keyphrases you asked me to look out for. From the way she said it I'm not sure she actually knew it as a keyphrase but she expected it to mean something to you." Mr Hamada slips me a scrap of paper with Gensei's name written on it. I quirk an eyebrow, there aren't many people who know my connection to him who don't also know about our antagonistic relationship. "She says her name is Dr. Kiyama Harumi." Ah. His protege working on Crystalized Esper Essence at the Advanced Education Bureau. Well, I had expected him to make another move soon. The question is whether she is here as a messenger or a sacrifice?
"Thank you Mr Hamada. You've done your job well. I'll see her in my office. I'm not sure how long this will take but to be on the safe side let Captain Hinata know that I might not be able to make it to today's threat analysis briefing." I stride past her and invite her to follow me into my office with a dismissive gesture.
As I take a seat behind my desk I use the time to examine her more closely. Her new hairstyle suits her, the longer hair frames her face nicely and makes her look more mature. Sadly the effect is undercut by bags under her eyes which suggest she hasn't had a solid night's sleep in weeks if not months. I wonder if that is due to an unhealthy work ethic or the remains of a conscience? She also looks like she isn't eating or exercising enough with slightly sunken cheeks and baggy sleeves.
I slide the bowl containing the sweets spiked with the primer half of a paralytic poison across to Dr. Kiyama.
"No thank you."
"I insist."
With obvious reluctance she takes one of the sherbets and eats it. Her half lidded eyes widen slightly,
"They are delicious." Of course they are, they would hardly be a good vector for poison if people didn't want to eat them.
"Thank you, they are a personal recipe. Now Dr. Kiyama. We haven't seen each other in, about 10 months I believe? What does Gensei want that brings you to my door unannounced?"
Her face darkens at my mention of Gensei.
"I didn't come here for him! He-!" she takes a calming breath, "When I saw you meet him the two of you mentioned you had undergone a precursor to the experiment we were conducting. Was that true?"
I let her stew for a few seconds as I contemplate her response. There was a possibility she was lying but her physical state would take weeks of work to achieve minimum. That level of pre-preparation just to fool me would be uncharacteristic of Gensei. Like I told him 10 months ago, he likes to move fast and break things. However, it wouldn't be impossible. I'll play things close to my chest for now.
"I am not entirely sure what experiment you were running at the Advanced Education Bureau but if it had anything to do with Crystallized Esper Essence then yes I did." Her hands clench at the mention of ability body crystals. So I was right. Gensei wouldn't have personally overseen one of the mass production operations though. So I wonder what the goal of the experiment actually was?
"How? How are you awake then!" I'm shaken from my musings on Gensei's motives for the experiment by Dr. Kiyama's outburst. "Why? Why are my student's in comas while you just traipse around without a care!" The pupils of her hazel eyes are dilated, her jaw and fists are clenched as she jumps out her seat. Standing we are about the same height but right now she looms over me. Wait comas?
"Comas? Are you sure they are in comas? Not dead?" The question seems to shock her out of her anger at first before it comes rushing back and she reaches over the table to grab my lapel and drag me face to face. It's a struggle to meet her eyes rather than watch her lips as she yells.
[Calculate Relative Space-Time Position of Object "Dr. Kiyama Harumi". Apply Macro "Standard Gravity" to Object "Dr. Kiyama Harumi".]
"Dead? They could have died and you just left them there! What the fuck is wrong with your family!" She punctuates her speech by throwing me back into my chair. I stabilise it with Gravity Shift before it can pitch backwards totally and result in me falling onto the floor.
"Too many things to list Dr. Kiyama." I begin as I try to control my breathing, "However, while we could spend all day talking about that. The fact that your students are only in a coma means there is still a chance to save them. We should focus on that instead for now." Either she's a terrific actor or she's genuine at this point. I try to fix my collar and control my blush. Now isn't the time. "Where are your students now? Do you have custody or does Gensei? If it is the latter this will be much harder."
"I… I don't know. They aren't in my custody at least. They got split up across multiple hospitals after the experiment. Some of them were at Tatsuki General Hospital. Reading about you saving them from the fire this morning was where I saw your name and remembered our meeting at the AEB."
"Gensei then. That's a favourite tactic of his." I activate the noise canceller and signal jammers in the office walls. At Dr. Kiyama's look I say, "Until now everything we have been talking about is legal, or at least not sufficient that the Board of Directors would care that I got caught telling you." I rest my chin on my hands. "I burned all my good will with him 6 months ago when I rescued the subject of another one of Gensei's experiments. The one that he was giving me access to the day we first met."
"So my students were acceptable casualties to you?" Her disdain is palpable. It hurts more than it does from most people but I can't let myself be swayed by a pretty face right now.
"Yes." I frankly admit. "And I would make the same choice again. I regret what happened to your students. I should have thought to try and save them. However, if it is a binary choice between them and Dolly?" or the sisters, "I will choose my daughter every time." That gives Dr. Kiyama pause, but before she can respond I continue, "So do you still want my help in healing them?"
"Can you even help?" she asks bitterly, ""I've tried to gain access to Tree Diagram to find a way to fix them 10 times already. They keep refusing me. If you are truly as out of favour with Dr. Kihara as you say then what chance would you have of getting access." I stifle a snort, mocking her naivete would be cruel and unnecessary.
"My grandfather is far from the only power broker in the city. I have my own favours with the board I could call on and I receive a stipend of access to Tree Diagram every month as Commander of MAR regardless. However, Tree Diagram would likely be useless to help fix your problem."
"How? It's the most powerful computer ever built!" Gosh she's cute when she's indignant.
"It's still just a computer. Certainly it can run numbers extremely quickly but ultimately it's only as smart as its coders. Unless you already have a solution to their comas, Tree Diagram will only be able to give you projections based on their current biometric data."
"So it's hopeless? I refuse to believe that!"
"Good. I never said your student situation was hopeless. Just that Tree Diagram would be unlikely to help. You asked earlier why I wasn't in a coma but your students were? I don't know for sure, though I do have hypotheses, but I have the data from the essence crystallisation experiment I underwent when I was 6 years old and I have the Ability Body Crystal extracted from me in that experiment." I smirk, "I scammed Gensei out of it the day we met 10 months ago."
"So if we gain the data from the experiment that my students went through and compare them we can find out how they were different." Dr. Kiyama catches on. "Together with their biometrics we can work out what went wrong and fix them."
"Hopefully." I nod, "Preferably we will be able to get their ability body crystals as well for more data but I'm not sure if Gensei will have kept them for further study like he did mine or sold it for funds on the black market like he does with the mass produced ones." Dr. Kiyama looks aghast.
"Mass produced?"
"You didn't think the only experiments were 20 years apart did you? Gensei optimised the process for mass production back when I was 9. I don't know what new data he hoped to get from your experiment but as it stands on average one child error is murdered to create ability body crystals every day. Gensei then sells those crystals to esper mercenary groups to fund the experiments he actually thinks will help him reach SYSTEM."
Dr. Kiyama stands and sways over to the bucket in the corner before emptying her stomach. After a moment's hesitation I go over to her, hold her hair out of the way and rub small circles on her back. I realise that just like with Misuzu I had drastically overestimated how immersed in Academy City's underbelly Dr. Kiyama was at our first meeting. Once she is done vomiting I guide her over to the visitor couches rather than the desk and give her a mint containing the neutralising agent for the poison I fed her earlier.
"So that's why you didn't care about my students. They got off lucky. Given everything else… The Board of Directors are aware as well aren't they? That's why my requests for the use of Tree Diagram are being rejected. You are all complicit." she says once she has finished chewing the mint.
"Most likely." I nod as I take a seat on the couch across from her, "Though I would thank you not to lump me in with monsters like Nakimoto, Unabara or Neoka. I am complicit through inaction, it's true, but I have spent my adult life fighting against Gensei and what he stands for. Tatsuki General Hospital last night was just my latest attack in our shadow war. For what little I'm sure it's worth, I am sorry that I wrote your students off as acceptable casualties to strike a more telling blow."
"What is your daughter to him then? What is she that she is worth 10 other innocent children? Is it just that you share blood?" I can't hold back a small smile at that. She's asking the right questions. It's a shame she would never believe me about Level 6 Shift right now. That knowledge makes my moral calculus much more obvious.
"I actually adopted her. Even that was over a month after I rescued her. I tried to get her biological parents to take her in at first but that wasn't possible." I carefully consider just how much I should reveal before continuing, "Dolly is a clone of another girl. She was chosen for her high potential chance of becoming a Level 5 as predicted on the Parameter List. Dolly is only the prototype for a mass production line of clone soldiers based on that girl. Gensei hopes to get closer to SYSTEM by mass producing high level espers." Not the full truth but it is close enough to the truth to explain his actions without making her think I'm crazy. "Freeing Dolly slowed down his research efforts on mass production. Tatsuki General Hospital was hiding one of the labs working on that. I have my own lab looking over the few research notes from them I was able to rescue from the fire now."
"So you thought you could save an even larger number of innocent kids in the future." she sighs, "I can't condone it but I do understand the maths you must have gone through when you made your decision." I consider letting her keep such a positive view of me but I know I don't deserve it because it's not the truth.
"That is why I chose to save Dolly, yes. However, the truth is that I didn't even stop to learn how many students Gensei was experimenting on at the AEB. You heard just now how many kids he's already killed with experiments like that. The truth is that I'm just jaded and burnt out. Until you came in today I never gave your students a second tho-" she reaches across the table and slaps me. I deserved that.
"You feel safe keeping your daughter in a city where this happens? How do you know he won't just grab her off the street?"
"A few reasons. She goes to Tokiwadai now. If he attacked School Garden to get to her he'd piss off Director Unabara. Additionally she's a powerful esper in her own right and I've trained her in self defence. In truth the outside world isn't any safer for a young esper or a clone. At least in Academy City I have power and can actively keep her safe. In the outside world I have no leverage or military force. Finally and most importantly though? He knows that if he hurts her or kidnaps her then our shadow war will become open war on the streets and he's no longer confident in winning that." Of course, even more important than that is Tabigake's deal with Chairman Aleister. According to Tabigake the Chairman is set on Project Radio Noise going ahead and unapologetic about it. However, he is willing to hold off and delay Level 6 Shift if we can provide a better alternative. As well as protect Mikoto and Dolly from any retaliation from Gensei in the meantime. I can't tell Dr. Kiyama any of that though.
"While you haven't already started said street war because you aren't sure you'll win either." You're much quicker on the uptake now you've calmed down a bit Dr. Kiyama.
I nod, "Along with the issue that if I am seen as 'starting it' then Anti-Skill would come down on MAR like a ton of bricks. If Gensei 'provokes me' first then they would most likely let me take the offensive without interference." I hope at least. I'm less sure about the Board letting me get away with that than I am presenting to Dr. Kiyama.
Dr. Kiyama sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose, "So. You've said you'll help me. What should our first step be?"
"Our first actions should be to secure your students so that Gensei can't use them against you. I'm not sure if he is actively blocking your access to Tree Diagram or if the Board of Directors just doesn't want to 'waste' the processing time on this. That will determine how difficult to retrieve they are. Either way he won't let them fall into my care out of spite currently. So it would be best if you could get them transferred into your own care. Do you have the resources to maintain them?"
Dr. Kiyama starts crying as she shakes her head. I wish I could reach out and wipe those tears away but that would be a massive breach of personal space. I compromise by moving to sit on the same couch as her and leaving me hand in between us for her to hold if she chooses. I hate to bring him up but he's probably her best chance right now.
"In that case I know someone who will help you heal your kids. Are you familiar with Heaven Canceller?"
"T-the famous surgeon? Yes. Y-you sound like you don't like him. W-what skeleton is in his closet? W-why would he h-help?"
"You remember how you called me complicit in the state of Academy City?" I say with a frown. Dr. Kiyama nods.
"He's at least 100 times as complicit as I am. However," I continue before Dr. Kiyama can ask why I trust him in that case, "His personal morals mean that he always tries his hardest to heal his patients. He won't proactively prevent harm but once someone has been harmed then he will move heaven and earth to heal them. I don't agree with his philosophy but between the three of us I'm sure we can save your kids Dr. Kiyama." Dr. Kiyama takes my hand and dries her eyes with her other sleeve. I squeeze her hand and tell her Heaven Canceller's phone number. "It is better that the request for help doesn't come from me. Between my family name and our personal animus he might not pick up if I call. Though don't worry, he won't refuse to help because of my involvement."
"Thank you Dr. Lifeline. I, I had almost given up hope." Dr. Kiyama really does have a pretty smile.
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