The Goddess of Sibyl

File 04 - A Little Bit Peckish

October 31, 2110 - Early Evening

Kyouko Sakura returned to her cell with a bit of a headache from her talk with Therapist Mukojima. The slivers of memories that surfaced from time to time in her mind were still weren't helping her either. Lately, she was remembering the police raid where she was captured - a memory she didn't exactly want to remember. As much as Kyouko racked her mind, however, she couldn't remember why she was there in the raid at the first place. Was she doing another one of her con-jobs for that anarchist group again? She couldn't tell.

"Ah, screw it." Kyouko moaned, leaping backwards into the bed of her cell. Staring at the drab grey ceiling of her cell, she wondered just she could do to shake off the unpleasant memories.

Before long, her stomach gave her an answer and grumbled.

Her meeting with the therapist went on much longer than she had thought. The last time she ate was quite a while back already, it seemed. It was time to 'order' some food, she thought with a heavy heart. Even though Kyouko loved food, she wasn't all that enthusiastic about ordering.

Two nutrition-fortified oat bars with a packet of flavoring gel - that was the usual 'meal' that was served to her in her cell. 'Hyper-oats bars', they were called - the miracle food that eradicated hunger from Japan. Just thinking about those oat bars, though, was almost enough to eradicate her appetite but never quite went all the way. Kyouko winced when she thought about shoving another one of those cardboard-like 'food products' into her mouth, but she was hungry. Defying her own gag reflex, she walked over to the computer panel at her viewing window and requested a food delivery with a couple of keystrokes.

Once Kyouko hit 'enter', the panel sounded a beep and then spoke to her.

"Inmate 00558-KKRF-51088-P, due to your improving Crime Coefficient and hue, you have been granted access to the facility's inmate mess hall for your meals."

"A mess hall, huh?" Kyouko hummed with intrigue, "Please tell me they serve better food there than those goddamned bars."

The screen then displayed a small menu with pictures. There was an assortment of simple meals - potatoes and meat with tomato soup was that evening's fare - that helped Kyouko make up her mind.

"Goddamn - real food! Sign me up, computer-thingy!" Kyouko said gamely, "So… uh, how do I get there exactly? I'm trapped in a high-security box, you know."

"Please wait - a pair of drones will escort you to the mess hall shortly." The screen then announced, "After your meal, you will be escorted back."

"Sure, sure. Just get me to my food already." Kyouko said with a grin as she looked at the menu pictures with delight, "It's been so damn long."

File 05 - Amari and Torii

A few minutes later, the hungry Kyouko arrived at the mess hall with the two security drones flanking her. The drones opened the mess hall doors for her and closed it once she stepped through. The red-haired inmate wore a small smile. Having to eat her food with those two wheeled trash cans watching her up close was enough to make her puke.

Kyouko grabbed her share of food - twice the normal ration size of meat and potatoes, but she didn't bother to get any tomato soup. With her food tray filled with a decent pile, she started to look around the mess hall for a place to sit.

The hall was a rather modest space. There were no more than a dozen tables in the hall and even less inmates occupying them. On her way there, Kyouko must have counted thousands of occupied prison cells spread out over a number of wards. Whoever designed the facility must have thought that more of the inmates kept there would have healthier minds. There were more cameras and hue scanners in that room than there were people. As a matter of fact, the food servers were all drones.

"This is kind of depressing." Kyouko sighed as her eyes swept around the hall once more.

There were a total of four people eating there in the mess hall that evening, occupying three of the twelve tables. Even in the exclusive 'marginally healthy minds club', the inmate members avoided each other, Kyouko thought.

There was a pair young women, a blonde and a black-haired one, seated together at one table - the only two people sharing a table in the hall - and they seemed to be having a lively chat. The two young women were just a little bit older than Kyouko. The blonde seemed rather lively, wearing her hair in fashionable pigtails and laughing heartily as she cracked jokes. The black-haired woman was much more reserved and was busy reading through a small pocket book as she listened to her friend's rambles.

A few tables away, a young man with wavy red hair and rings in his eyes was sitting alone. He had his food laid out before him, but he didn't seem to be touching it much. He was engrossed in a formless screen that hovered slightly over his wrist-mounted device. Kyouko probably could have sat there, finished her whole meal then get out without him ever noticing that she was there.

Then, much further away, an older, middle-aged woman sat alone in the corner. She seemed to be a little bit familiar to Kyouko, but the red-haired girl wasn't quite sure. The older woman's fixation with the shaker of salt on her table also told Kyouko to steer clear of her.

It was at this time that the blond-haired young woman from the shared table waved to Kyouko and gestured her to come on over. For a lack of better choice, Kyouko obliged and set her tray down on their table. The blond smiled at Kyouko when she sat down while the dark-haired one took one glance at Kyouko before returning her eyes to her pocket book.

"Hey there!" The blonde started with an earnest, friendly expression, "My name's Hina Amari - and my friend here is Tsubasa Torii. Nice to meet you!"

The black-haired woman gave Kyouko a polite nod before sinking back into her reading again. If there was such a thing as a 'resting bored face', this 'Torii' woman had it.

"Nice to meet ya too." Kyouko said as she laid down her food tray, "The name's Kyouko Sakura."

"Well met, Sakura-san." Amari reciprocated with a new smile, while Torii gave another nod before she extended her left hand to Kyouko.

"Huh?" Kyouko was dumbfounded at first, but then Torii pointed to the metal device on her wrist.

"She wants to exchange contact information." Amari then spoke on Torii's behalf. Torii then pouted at Amari and the blonde broke off into a lighthearted chuckle. Amari then extended her right hand to Kyouko, pointed to her own device then asked, "Sakura-san, please bring your WristComm over here - exchanging information is pretty easy with these things!"

"So that's what this was for." Kyouko hummed with intrigue, giving her 'WristComm' device a fascinated once-over. She placed her WristComm in between Torii's and Amari's and her device suddenly beeped. Two formless screens then appeared, displaying a short brief on the information of the two women.

...

Name: Hina Amari

ID: 00399-TCNE-72891-E

Occupation: MSWB Division 3 Enforcer (Former)

...

Name: Tsubasa Torii

ID: 00372-TCNB-73821-E

Occupation: MSWB Division 3 Enforcer (Former)

…

"The two of you were former Enforcers in the MSWB..." Kyouko was surprised as she scrolled through their files.

"Indeed we were." Amari said with a bit of a tired smile, "When a person becomes a Latent Criminal, we're stripped of most of the rights and freedoms that normal citizens with healthy minds enjoy."

"Freedom of movement in particular." Torii finally spoke as she scrolled through Kyouko's file in return, "We're confined to facilities like these and separated from the rest of society as if we were carrying some sort of disease. Any employment opportunities, business ventures, even marriage prospects vanish into thin air once you're branded a Latent Criminal."

The black-haired young woman then turned to Kyouko with a serious expression and said, "This society's biggest fear is Nietzschean - that if you stare into the abyss, the abyss will stare back at you."

"Shit, that's tough." A frown formed on Kyouko's lips.

Reading through Amari's and Torii's files, Kyouko's frown deepened. Amari was confined in the facility at a very young age, flagged as a Latent Criminal as early as elementary school. In spite of that, she still managed to earn a high school accreditation while studying behind bars. Torii, on the other hand, was a published writer who was flagged during her university days.

"Tsubasa and I became friends here in the facility." Amari said with a small smile, "I was a fan of her books and she helped me study to get my school credits. In exchange, I helped her edit her works and sometimes interpret for her."

Torii promptly glowered at Amari, but the blonde-haired woman just laughed.

"It's true though, Tsubasa!" Amari stuck out her tongue, "Tsubasa here goes on tangents all the time and does all these weird gestures, so it's kinda hard to keep track of what she's trying to say sometimes."

Amari then grinned at Kyouko and said, "I've cracked her code though, so I can interpret for her."

"Is that so…" Kyouko hummed, "Who would you have had to interpret for, though? Inmates hardly get to meet each other in this facility, and people still do keep to themselves."

"Tsubasa and I got out of the facility once for a job." Amari then said in a light tone, "There is one occupation that we, Latent Criminals, are able to take after all. If the Sibyl System concludes that you have the skills, the right attitude and a healthy enough mind, then you may be offered the chance to become an Enforcer in the MSWB's Criminal Investigation Department."

"'Enforcer', huh?" Kyouko repeated. She looked at the two women seated at the table before her. It only occurred to Kyouko then that the two of them were actually closely watching her, observing her with inquisitive eyes. Those were the eyes of investigators alright - seasoned investigators who knew their jobs inside and out.

Kyouko remembered Therapist Mukojima's offer just over an hour ago,

"The Sibyl System has chosen you as a candidate to become an Enforcer of the MSWB… Are you interested?"

Kyouko rubbed her temple as the curiosity in her mind brewed. Thus, she turned to the two ex-MSWB Enforcers and asked them about the job. Amari smiled at the question and happily obliged. This time, though, Torii also joined in on the conversation as well.

Torii had a lot of strong opinions about working for the MSWB as an Enforcer. It was easy for Kyouko to see that Torii wasn't completely sold on the whole idea. Torii joined her hands together on the table and then faced Kyouko to explain,

"It's not glorious, Sakura-san, I'll tell you that now. Long story short, you become a hunting dog of the police. The basic concept is - we're Latent Criminals, so we tend to have a better understanding of the criminal mind. We can put ourselves in the shoes of criminals and use that insight to corner criminals and apprehend them. More often than not, though, we end up having to kill them."

Torii's voice then grew frigid as she added, "That's another thing that the Sibyl System takes into account - we Latent Criminals aren't afraid to kill."

Watching Torii speak told Kyouko that this was that Torii was someone who had killed before and had seen people being killed. The firmness of Torii's voice and the unyielding look in her eyes made Kyouko wonder just how many deaths this girl had seen.

Flickers of remorse were flashing here and there in Torii's eyes, of course, but her composed expression never wavered. Amari, on the other hand, showed much more regret than her friend.

Once Torii finished her explanation, she turned to Kyouko and promptly deduced,

"You've been offered a job as an Enforcer, haven't you?"

Kyouko was surprised by the woman's perception, so she conceded with a small nod.

"If I were you, Sakura-san, I would think long and hard before you take on that position." Torii advised in a measured tone, "But you have to make peace with one indomitable fact - there's no coming back from becoming a Latent Criminal."

The black-haired girl set down her book on the table firmly and continued,

"They will come to you and promise you a chance to work on your hue and improve your Crime Coefficient - but that is just wishful thinking. That's how they get you." She then turned over to her friend with a look of compassion and added, "Amari and I have been trying for years now, but our hues only got worse - especially after all the shit we've had to see and endure. It's why we're back here in the facility."

Amari turned to Kyouko and gave a somber nod of agreement.

"We've managed to recover enough to regain our mess hall privileges again." Amari then added, "But Torii is right - you have to set your expectations, Sakura-san."

"Don't worry - I'm not really hoping for a miracle anyways." Kyouko said, "I'll definitely think carefully about it. Thanks."

File 06 - Job Offer

November 5, 2110 - Morning

The next few days flowed on by as they always did - with Kyouko lazing around her cell, basically waiting for the next mealtime to come. More often than not, she ate at the facility's mess hall with Amari and Torii. Sometimes it was just Amari - and sometimes it was just Torii - but Kyouko didn't really mind. The meals at the mess hall were worlds apart from hyper-oats bars anyways after all, and she quite enjoyed the company of the two former Enforcers.

When morning came on November 5th, though, Kyouko awoke to see the powder blue light of her cell window terminal beeping - it was a notification, just like when Therapist Mukojima made an appointment with her. This was the day, Kyouko thought. The red-haired woman got out of bed and then got ready for the inevitable.

Kyouko was escorted again by a pair of drones through the facility. This time, though, she was headed for the visitor viewing center all the way at the other end of the facility. The drones led Kyouko through the facility's many cells where she saw a plethora of disturbing sights - people with unfocused eyes drawing ominous things on the wall, people sitting curiously in the corner of their cells in absolute silence, people screaming muffled screams. The red-haired woman stopped paying attention after the first two dozen cells - watching them and listening to them only made her feel depressed. She wondered just how bad those people's hues and Crime Coefficients have gotten .

She earnestly wished that she wouldn't end up like one of them.

On the way to the viewing center, though, she passed by the cells of Amari and Torii who were across the hall from each other. The two of them waved to her as she passed on by. Torii gave Kyouko an encouraging thumbs up, but Kyouko didn't know if it meant 'Take the job!' or 'Stick it to the man!'. She turned to Amari's cell for an interpretation, but the blonde shrugged with confusion.

So with that, Kyouko waved back to the two ex-Enforcers and carried on down the hall into the visitors' center.

Kyouko was seated on a swivel chair behind the visitors' window and the drones left her once again. When she looked at the glass, she couldn't see through the other side.

"A hologram layer, huh?" Kyouko recognized the minute distortions of the mirror with her keen eye. It wasn't that intricate, she thought. An avid arcade-goer like her has seen much more complex and believable holograms than whatever this facility had. Moments later, as she expected, the opaque mirror transformed into a transparent window and she finally managed to see the other side.

Seated beyond the mirror was a golden-haired young woman in a fashionable khaki blazer over a blouse with a matching knit khaki scarf. She wore her hair in distinctly- curled pigtails with twin floral hairpins. All-in-all, she looked like a civilian - but Kyouko knew better. This woman had a 'WristComm' device similar to the Therapist's. She was from the MSWB.

"Good morning, Sakura-san." The woman spoke in a friendly tone. She then wore a smile for the red-haired woman and introduced herself, "My name is Mami Tomoe - I'm a Junior Inspector of the MSWB. I'm here to talk to you about our job offer. Have you already made up your mind?"

To Be Continued