16 December 2023
I wake up; it's around 9 in the morning, and my alarm is blaring in my ear. I turn my face towards the sound, stick my tongue out, and get ready to slip back into sleep.
Koko-chan, get up! No sleeping in today, Kylie says to me. I'm not letting you miss a chance to be social
"I don’t want to," I answer blearily.
The nurses are at the door, cherie. You have to get up, says Jolie kindly.
I roll over in my bed and stare at the ceiling. It’s been three months since I last lost control, eight months since I was sent here. I never protested, though. I think…maybe it’s for the best. It’s mostly quiet here, and they allow me enough alone time for me to keep my mind. And I’m allowed to sleep as long as I like…most of the time.
“Koko, breakfast was started half an hour ago. Would you please come down now?” The nurse at my door asks me politely, but I hear the true message beneath: “Come to breakfast, or we’ll assume something’s wrong and schedule you another meeting with the doctor.”
“I’m coming,” I say just loud enough for her to hear, and shuffle out of the bed.
I don’t see why they force us to eat breakfast with the others, I mutter in my mind.
Social interaction is key to correct human development, dovey, says Kylie cheerily.
Says the one with narcissistic personality disorder, retorts Jolie.
But I have you for social interaction, I answer gloomily. I don’t need other people.
I throw on a pair of grey sweatpants and a soft cotton T-shirt. I briefly wish for a mirror to assess the state of my hair, but decide it’s a moot point anyway. Nobody would be looking.
I sigh, and Kylie speaks up again. What about your friends? You really should hang out with them more, and take more pride in your appearance! Breakfast is the perfect time to socialize and make yourself more well-known.
“I don’t need to socialize, Ky,” I mumble as I wearily open the door. I plaster a phony smile on my face as I turn to the nurse. She smiles back at me. How annoying.
“How was your night, KoKo?” she asks. They all call me by my nickname, “KoKo,” from the ends of my name, Michiko Kumiko.
“Fine,” I answer simply as we walk to the cafeteria. The rest of the walk is spent in silence.
We arrive at the cafeteria. Unlike my high school cafeteria, this one is orderly and relatively chaos-free. The nurse leaves me at the line for food, and I pick up a tray, albeit unwillingly. Kylie forces me to eat.
If you don’t eat, I’ll start messing with you, she warns.
I sigh, and grab a bowl of rice, along with a small bowl of miso soup and some tamagoyaki. Turning away, I look for my usual tables of friends.
There’s Nicola Vespertucci and Tisha, his friend. The doctors say he’s a paranoid schizophrenic and that Tisha is just another hallucination. Nicola says that Tisha is real, that he's not schizophrenic, and Tisha tells him things he wouldn't have know otherwise. I believe Nicola, not only because he's my friend, but because I'm not one to judge people like that. People have done that to me too many times.
"Buon g-g-giorno, b-b-bella," he says to me. He's Italian, but when his mother died, his father moved him to Japan, where he met another woman, and remarried. The father is dead now, and his new wife could have cared less about Nicola. I think KIRA killed his father, a rather corrupt man who abused his son and was wanted for several rapes, but I've never told Nicola about my suspicions. Somehow, I think he already knows, and accepts the fact.
"Ohayo gozaimasu, Nicola," I answer. "How are you feeling this morning?" He's prone to nightmares, and sometimes they get really bad.
"I'm f-f-f-fine," he says. "No n-n-nightmares l-l-last n-night. "
Two more of our friends, Phineus Attrell and Dante, come over to sit with us. "Mornin'," says Phin. Typical American.
"Ohayo...Phin?" We're never sure if it's Phin talking to us, or his split personality, Maximillian Fortuna. Phin is the happier of the two, Max is rather violent, and they constantly switch, but we all love them both. This morning, it seems to be Phin. He nods.
Dante Niedame sits down with a quiet, "Hello," and then stares at his hands. He has avoidant personality disorder, but has been doing better since he met Phin. He's still very quiet, though, and still avoids contact with other residents.
"So did you hear the news, Michiko?" Phin asks. "I know how you like to sleep late."
I shake my head, and Phin continues. "That Natsuhiko Takamura? The killer that had his case yesterday? Well, he got off right? And then--"
"If you don't stop asking questions, oni-sama, she'll never hear the story," says Dante quietly. We know him well enough to know he's joking. Dante trusts Phin enough to know he won't hurt him for it. Dante is a very fearful boy, only a year younger than me.
Phineus rolls his eyes and continues. "Point is, all of a sudden he flips a shit and grabs this one reporter lady. He starts dragging her off, and then all this blood starts gushing from his nose, his eyes, his mouth--everything! Minutes later, the guy's dead. Is that crazy or what?"
I frown a bit. "That is...pretty weird," I say. "Do they know what it was? An aneurysm, or something?"
Phin shook his head. "Nope. They have no clue at all," he says.
"That's s-s-such a s-s-strange way to d-d-die," comments Nicola. He turns to the side a bit, and then says, "Tisha s-s-says he thinks it s-s-sounds awfully uh-uh-uncomfortable."
I can't help but think about my idol, KIRA, at his words. Even though it had been ten years since the entire KIRA case, I still hoped that some day, some one would take up the role again, and this time, do it right. I would do it myself, but I know I can't trust myself, with my volatile nature. Just the mere thought of killing someone makes Dolce act up; she would never be satisfied with just writing and dictating the deaths of people. She's more of an action person.
Still, this death really is too strange for it to merely be chance. If KIRA is indeed back...then this could be my chance to help him or her. KIRA would be the one to bring in a new world, one where people like Nicola, Dante, Phin, and myself wouldn't be forced to fracture our minds in order to survive the cruelty of others. I would do, will do, everything I can, offer all of my talents.
"Nicola, Phin, Dante, I think I'm going to leave early today," I say, rising from the table.
Nicola frowns at me. "Y-y-y-you're leaving? Going out?" He looks upset. I think it's because he likes me. I don't mind. I kind of like him too.
Nodding, I answer, "Yes. If you want to come with me, you would keep the others from talking to me. If Tisha doesn't mind, that is?"
He smiles ruefully. "T-t-tisha won't mind. H-h-he l-l-likes you. S-s-says you're g-g-good for m-m-me," he mutters.
"Hai, then meet us--I mean, me, in the front in twenty minutes," I say. Hopefully, I can gather some information on my hunch. Hopefully, KIRA has returned.
I was still in a mild state of shock. Sakamoto-san had said yes....I couldn't believe it! Sure, she looked like she hough I was crazy and sure she was probably just doing it to be nice, but it was a chance! It was a yes! I smiled brightly and my brain kicked into 'womanizer mode', she'd agreed to a movie or something, well, a movie was a good place to start, but I remembered that there were quite a few popular celebrities that had spoken out against KIRA a few years back, 'Support KIRA' mode kicked in at this point. “A movie is fine, you pick, just...you know, nothing that features a lead who has said derogatory things towards KIRA...I get very...HOSTILE when faced with people who disrespect KIRA and what they did for this world, yeah?” Again, she looked at me like I was crazy. Damn, I was getting bad at this whole seduction thing! But...maybe I could turn it around! “Actually...the reason I like you so much and why I'm pestering you right now is because I can tell that, while you may not feel as strongly about Lord KIRA as I do, you don't hate KIRA either...is this making any sense?,”
I think I had her speechless, all she did was nod slightly. That was all I needed. I could still feel it around me, the strange climate that surrounded me when I was near Sakamoto-san...not a bad thing, all it did was produce an incredibly strong desire...to obey, and that's why I hung onto Sakamoto-san's every word. I can't hate what loves KIRA. Even if only to me, it made her special...the last person to give me a feeling like this was....Hikari, Mao too, but that was different, that was pride.
I pulled the pen out my pocket and spun it, then I reached over and snagged a napkin from near Sakamoto-san and began writing yet another 'ghost note' to KIRA.
Lord Kira, no justice has been delivered since that first day....have you truly returned to this world? Or is this merely another MOCK KIRA? I don't care! I refuse to give up! My hope is that you have returned, my lord. If you command, I will obey!
~HAGAREN
I slid the note across to Sakamoto-san as I stood up, “Toss that somewhere on your way home, don't ask me why, please,” I said as I walked away. “By the way! I'll see you later, to make plans! Ciao,” Then I ran off to the police station, it was time for some information gathering. I had read online that KIRA needed a name and face to pass judgment....I would provide that to him...her...it...whatever, it was the least I could do to repay lord KIRA for those brief moments of peace...more than we'd ever asked for, more than we deserved. I headed for the police station.
I tossed my Sony into the bushes, slipped my Blackbird, Fly around my neck, took the disposable from my pocket and put on a handsome smile. There didn't seem to be too many officers on duty, so I walked up to a female officer working at a computer, a list of criminals plastered on the screen, my smile widened. “Excuse me miss, I'm writing an article for my school's paper about female officers, would you mind if I took a few pictures of you?,” She smiled nervously, my boyish charm was working, she shyly nodded, I extended my hand, “Nishikawa Tatsuma,” we shook, I repositioned myself under the premise of getting a better angle. I snapped a few shots of the woman with my disposable, when she looked down for a 'working' shot I quickly used my Blackbird to capture a picture of the screen, no noise, and I doubt anyone saw.
Two male officers had to check my camera before I left, they didn't bother with the Blackbird, it was just a toy analog camera, too difficult to use for a recon mission. I walked out with a smile, threw the disposable down and crushed it, reclaimed my Sony, and headed home. The Blackbird photo would come out perfectly....Just as planned.
Name: Michiko Kumiko Okada
Nickname: KoKo
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Birthday: November 11
Occupation: Resident at local asylum; is allowed outside for a short while everyday
Division: KIRA supporter
Time in Division: 6 years; when she was 11, she read about KIRA's deeds and fell in love with his ideals
Personality: Koko is a shy, quiet person, but opens up a little to those close to her. She doesn't make friends easily, and was often teased and made fun of at her high school. Her family doesn't view her as good enough for them, and she often feels lonely. She is very smart, one of the brightest students at her former school, and greatly idolizes KIRA for his bold courage in standing against his enemies.
Appearance: She usually wears grey sweatpants and a white T-shirt when roaming around the asylum, but when she goes out, Koko dons Harajuku styled clothing. Her favorite accessory is a black collar with changeable charms.
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Green
Height: 5' 5"
Weight: 102 lbs
History: Admitted eight months ago…after committing the murder of Miss Trina Baskovych at her high school during a Biology class. A psychiatric evaluation revealed multiple personalities. Regarding the nature of her disorder, Okada has six separate personalities, each with the distinct symptoms of a psychiatric disorder. Dolcé, who exhibits signs of psychopathy, seems to be the most dangerous, along with Diana, who shows signs of sadistic personality disorder. The other four—Kylie, Charlotte, Jolie, and Morti—show signs of varying disorders but do not seem to be an immediate threat to the world at large.
Likes: Quiet, studying, observing, good people, her friends at the asylum, KIRA
Dislikes: Bullies, incompetence, stupidity, carelessness, showy people
Quirks/Talents: She seems to be able to control her personalities to a certain degree, and sometimes accidentally speaks out loud when she talks to them in her head.
Any questions? Feel free to comment! ^_^
"Ahh!..I think I’ll go nuts!!"
It’s been two days already since I first heard the news and people are still talking about it. Words like murderer, hostage, death and blood seemed to be on everyone’s tip of the tongue. If birds were to speak they would probably say the same things. Fortunately that’s not the case.
At that time I didn’t even pay that much attention. Returning from school like always, having my dinner while watching the news… Even the news looked ordinary; except for the one where that well known Japanese murderer, Natsuhiko Takamura , died in front of the other people around him, right after he had been declared “not guilty” (although even a 10 years old kid could see that person was a killer). It was pretty odd to see someone die in front of the cameras, on TV, but the fact that he suddenly started to bleed to death, and before that he even took a hostage, having been declared innocent…now that is really strange. Anyway, I decided not to pay too much attention and , in the end, the bastard was a criminal, so I thought it serves him right. Surprisingly, on the next days I found out that the others were thinking exactly the same thing, and they weren’t even trying to hide it. As a result, wherever you turned you would hear about that incident, including at school. That’s why I decided to skip classes and go play some basketball.
J-chan said she’ll be here in about 10 minutes, so I can finish my sandwich until then.
Actually, her real name is J.J., although I can’t imagine how that can be a name. And she’s very popular in school due to the simple fact that her dad is the founder of this school. Chi!.. I really hate famous ignorant people. But with her, the story is different, because she didn’t seem to be that kind of person. I first met her at the train station, while she was clumsily trying to use the train ticket. I remember laughing at that scene and thinking “yeah…it seems popularity or having a car and a driver isn’t everything..”. But I helped her with that. I even walked her home, because she seemed so disorientated (and because my home was nearby) and she said a lot of “thank you”s for that. We talked about different things on the way and we found out that we have many things in common. By the end of the road I had completely changed my mind about her, and after that we became good schoolmates, especially regarding sports…
"Hey, sorry I’m late!" said J-chan coming closer.
"Ah, don’t worry.. I’ve just finished my sandwich. So let’s play!"
"So, J-chan, what do you think?"
"What do I think about what?"
"You know…The Murderer, the blood, the death…"
"Murderer…blood…"
"Yes, haven’t you watched the news?"
"No…"
"NO?? Well then, haven’t you heard the other people’s conversations, the radio stations, the newspapers… It’s everywhere!" I exploded, throwing the ball over the basketball panel.
"OK..calm down.."
"Ah..sorry.. It’s just that people are so obsessed about this stupid incident and.. I can’t believe that there’s actually someone who doesn’t know what’s going on."
"Yeah..kind of.."
"Although now I’m not sure if that‘s normal or not. People started acting crazy, and more.. they’re inventing all kinds of stories related to his death, all kinds of diseases that the guy could have had, trying to find a cause for it. They even invented a story about some kind of God of Justice named KIRA who punished his crimes like that.."
"KIRA?"
"Yeah.. How stupid.."
"Don’t you believe in that story?" J-chan asked me.
"In what? In an almighty God of Justice who took his magic wand and made Takamura’s blood pour out through everywhere until he died, and then everybody else lived happily ever after?"
"Don’t you believe in God?"
"It’s not that I don’t believe in God, it’s just that I don’t believe that God would act exactly like that. It looks more like the Devil to me."
"Maybe he’s a different kind of God. Maybe he’s the kind of God who…"
"..who what? Likes justice? I’m sorry but I can’t possibly see the justice in that sort of act.. it looked more like a murder to me than like God’s doing.’
"I see…so you don’t believe in this KIRA story…"
"No.. I don’t believe in the Tooth Fairy.. But I do believe in my watch who says that if I don’t hurry I won’t make it in time for my guitar lessons. Sorry, I have to go now."
"Ah, no problem. I have some things to do too so.."
"Well, see you later then, J-chan!"
"Later!"
That day I couldn’t fully concentrate on my lessons. In my mind there were confusing thoughts about Gods, criminals and justice.
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Success in adding the link to Rei's pic
many thanks to Quiet Noise "tasukatta!"
http://www.theotaku.com/fanart/view/285688/yoko
