Chapter 8 Blast From The Past: The Lost Kihara

"And who might that be?"

"She's in a holding cell at the moment but I can put you in touch. I know a guy who knows a guy who owes me a favour that sort of thing."

Holding cell? That sounds like the person I'm supposed to see has been arrested for an offense of some kind. Why would someone like that know about my past?

"That doesn't tell me much about who I'm supposed to be talking to."

"Oh, I think you've met her before though. Telestina Kihara Lifeline."

At that point in time I couldn't decide whether my blood froze or boiled. The name alone invoked a mixture of fear and anger that I did not think was possible as I shivered on the spot from emotions that I barely held in check it took every ounce of concentration I had to keep my voice level to conceal the rage that threatened to overwhelm me as I maintained the call.

"What would that bitch know?"

"Hey now no need to swear, she knows even more than I do. I was just hoping to point you in the right direction."

"Wait, knows more than you do? What do you know?!"

Thankfully the streets were empty at this time of night otherwise I would have definitely made myself the center of attention as I yelled into the receiver.

"Calm down. I know that Proximity Trace is not your true ability. I also know about your friend who's stowing away in your room. I also know that you have played a small part in the cessation of the Level 6 Shift program and that you are living next door to one of the participants."

At the mention of what was undoubtedly Akiha I stopped in my tracks. I was on the way back to the dorm while talking to Tamari but now I simply stood like a scarecrow in the middle of the street. How does she know all this? Who else knows? A thousand and one questions immediately crossed my mind as I stood stunned on the spot trying to come up with an excuse, a denial, any response that could somehow dissuade her from the truth.

I came up with nothing.

It seems I had been silent for quite some time as Tamari's voice came through the speaker once again, her voice now lilted with an amused tone.

"Speechless? Please Ryusuke-kun, as your handler you give me a lot less credit than I am due. When we first met I told you I was the researcher assigned to you and technically I am a researcher and I was assigned to you. But what I was actually assigned to do was monitor your progress, any people you meet and report on any changes."

After taking a few breaths to lower my sprint paced heartrate I managed to cough out a reply.

"Report to who?"

"The Kihara family of course. Though you've been holding back on your last few SYSTEM scans, I might have omitted that part in my report. Teehee!"

An image of Tamari playfully knocking her head anime style briefly making its way through my mind for a moment, I quickly got back on track to the task at hand.

"So why would you organise a meeting with Telestina for me out of the blue?"

"Because sooner or later you'll find out the truth. Wouldn't you prefer to hear it from the horse's mouth instead of a garbled version after you use that brand of hacking that is obviously not pioneered by you?"

She definitely knows more than I can give her credit for...

One thing is for sure, the night was long and definitely sleepless. While Akiha laid out like a log and died in the futon on the floor, I cradled my head as I stared at the ceiling counting imaginery blemishes on the pristinely smooth surface. The time it took me to fall asleep varied depending on how many thoughts were left in my mind at the end of the day but in this case it is the single thought that managed to keep me from sleeping.

Telestina Kihara Lifeline. After the run in I had with her I had heard she had gotten arrested after the whole poltergeist affair. That should have been the end of it. Yet somehow I have managed to enter another tango with her, a dance I have half a mind not to attend.

The debate raged on for a good hour until Akiha started to stir below me. Whether it was thirst or simply due to unfavourable sleeping conditions I paid her no heed as my mental war raged on. Until I felt a weight on the right side of the bed.

"Penny for your thoughts? I got weird dreams of a chestnut haired woman, I have a feeling it's because of you."

A sigh escaped my lips as I turned my body to face the wall, relinquishing a bit of the blankets that I was hoarding for her to share as I mumbled a reply into the wall.

"Not really. Go to sleep."

"I would but you seem to be having problems sleeping, and seriously are you trying to tempt me? Leaving yourself so open like that, even if I'm not hungry I'll still get the urge to dig in."

Another sigh. Now unable to leave my back towards her any more I lay on my back and gave Akiha the answer she wanted.

"I have a lead on my past, but with a person I don't want to see."

"Then see her. Life's about dealing with difficult people anyway. Trust me I would know."

After being reassured by the vampire that was slowly sliding her arms around me, I closed my eyes as the exhaustion finally claimed me. Hopefully she does not decide to feed me on as I sleep, I do have an unpleasant meeting to get to in the morning after all.

A few hours, at least four security checks and just as many security doors later, I stood in a dark and badly lit room wondering how I got here and why did I even bother coming. As if to answer my unspoken question, the lights in the cell in front of me lit up to full blast in no seconds flat causing me to reflexively shield my face or be blinded by the sudden assault on my retinas.

Now with a functional light source in the room I was able to take a better look at my surroundings. The floor walls and ceiling all shared the same rectangular metal sheets bolted down with heavy inch diameter bolts. What was more surprising however was the material. Although the sheets were made of a strengthened titanium alloy that was laced with palladium to bolster its corrosion resistance. The bolts that seemed to be there for the sole purpose of holding the plates down were actually individually functioning AIM jammers. A single bolt simply distorted the field a bit and made calculations a bit harder to formulate and requiring additional countermeasures but with all the bolts in the room, the effects amplified to the point any ability would be reduced to a mere fraction of its full potential. An unnecessary precaution seeing as the woman being held had no known esper ability but nonetheless a very potent defence.

Telestina sat in a metallic chair likely the same material as that which made up the room cross legged and smiling a gentle smile that was extremely out of character for her. Through the non-symmetrical bars of her cell I could only imagine how much pleasure she was deriving from the look of pure hatred on my face.

"Well well well. Look what the cat brought in. Long time no see, Kaho-kun. Or is it Isha-san that I'm speaking to?"

"Wipe that smug grin off your face. It doesn't suit you very well."

"Ah Isha-san then. If only Kaho was still in there, I'd love to ask him how foolish he felt when he realised no matter how hard he tried to run, now matter how well he tried to hide. There is no escaping the darkness of this city."

I had not realised it but I now stood right at the bars of Telestina's cell, a wave of heat rising through my face as my blood rushed through my cheeks not out of shame or humiliation but barely controlled rage. This woman manipulated everyone and treated us like test animals. Someone who does not even respect the most basic of human dignity should be tried and hanged not locked up in a cell.

"Without people like you there would be no darkness."

Her lips curled into an infuriatingly vicious sneer, Telestina already had her next shot loaded.

"Without people like me? You don't know how deep and dark that pool of "people like me" goes do you? Without people like me there wouldn't BE an Academy City. The darkness of this city stretches all the way to the top and it is only the guinea pigs like you who are unaware of such. Wise up and embrace it brat or let it consume you."

With her piece said and done, Telestina uncrossed and recrossed her legs while resting her chin on her armrest supported fist as if waiting for my reply.

"I will embrace it if I have to in order to destroy it. No one should be hurt because of the inhumane shit that you scientists do."

"Ahahaha! I like your spirit. A lot better than my previous visitor and her talk about ideals and friendship. But you haven't told me why you're here yet."

"You know why I'm here. As a fellow Kihara you would know more about my past and the memories and alter ego that have been locked away. Tell me about my past."

Faced with my request Telestina stood up and sauntered over to the bars as she looked me straight in the eye.

"And what's in it for me? You think you can just waltz in here and demand answers without offering anything in return? That's not much incentive to tell the truth you know?"

"Right back at you. I have nothing of value to offer you and even if I did you might just lie anyway. But whatever you tell me can be cross checked or followed up on. Even a lie provides insight on what the truth might be."

Her smug grin rapidly degraded into a vicious snarl as she glared down at me.

"You sure you want to know the truth? It might not be what you want to hear or expect. Of course I could be lying but in this case I think the truth would be sooo much better."

Now my turn to give her the smug grin I returned her glare with a steady gaze as I rested my weight on one leg and cocked my head.

"Right back at you. For all I know you could be lying to get under my skin. Everything you say will be thoroughly checked out before I even believe a word of it."

Her snarl becoming more twisted by the second as her face contorted into a delicious mixture of disgust, contempt and hatred all in a spiteful little package, Telestina pulled out her cylindrical chocolate container and held it out.

"Open your hand."

It does not take a genius to know what is supposed to happen next. With a single tap a bright green chocolate appeared in my hand which I promptly ate down to her surprise.

"Aren't you worried if it's poisoned?"

"I'm sure you won't resort to such petty measures. Of course if you did, I'll be sure to puke it out on the floor just out of reach so you can bask in the stench until someone deigns to clean it up."

"Tch, if there's one thing that you haven't lost it's your tendency to be a complete smartass."

"I don't know much about the history between us but suffice to say I think you've always been an insufferable bitch."

The mud slinging would continue as neither of us seemed ready to back down but it seemed she was finally starting to tire of my presence and she knew that simply sending me away would result in me coming back again and again if not to annoy her but to spite her.

"Dual skill."

"Huh?"

"Research into dual skill. That was your main project as a Kihara. It was a splendid failure that lost you quite a bit of reputation but you did it anyway knowing the risks. The result was the esper ability you're so fond of, Reality Shift. You could have quit while you were ahead but you insisted on reproducing your results. Now we don't really care about body counts as you got the results but after sacrificing your brother and sister to this fringe science enough was enough. After your little science project got shut down you started doing it in secret without the proper equipment. I think you know what happened from there."

"What happened."

"A poltergeist that manifested as a localised earthquake happened destroying your underground laboratory. After Anti Skill pulled you out, we slapped a new identity on you and left you to rot with the other guinea pigs."

Beneath the calm facade on the surface my mind in the background started going into overdrive. How much of this is true? How much of it are lies to get under my skin? As more and more questions continued to surface I had less and less answers to give them as Telestina slammed the bars to get my attention.

"Recently your "sister" died didn't she? Isha Minami."

"So? You're going to tell me that I had a hand in her death? I know that already."

"Oh not the fake history that paints her sacrificing herself for you in a humbling act of nobility. I'm talking about the true reason she was left in that state. You experimented on her. After running out of money, equipment and test subjects you performed your own little experiments on her and failed. That's why she ended up in that state. And she's not dead."

"What? Where is she?! Who has her?!"

After finally getting a reaction out of me, Telestina dismissed me with a wave of her hand.

"I've told you what you wanted to know. Get out of here."

With her piece said and done Telestina turned the metal chair around and faced the opposing wall clearly not intending to say another word.

My purpose fulfilled I had no choice but to leave the facility. Pestering Telestina would get me nowhere, not to mention the very fact that I had to come face to face with her irks me. The truth in her statements would definitely need to be verified. I'm not believing a single word out of that snake's mouth until I have corroborating evidence to prove it.

-End of Chapter 8-