Cold Shoulder
Kaito and most of the crew was stunned into silence. Kokichi however only laughed. Honestly this shouldn't have surprised Kaito, but he found himself admiring the confidence.
"Oh no, that's like, super terrifying. Someone hold me!" He exclaimed, giving the crew a terrified look before laughing again. "I'm like, shaking in my space boots."
"How exactly is this funny, Mr. Ouma?" the woman asked. Kaito couldn't see her, but he assumed she was narrowing her eyes.
"It's funny cause you send us up here as a last ditch effort to stop the space invaders, but when we do something to stop the space invaders, you get all bitchy."
"We are not prepared for a confrontation!"
"Well get ready. Lucky for you there weren't any aliens on the ship. Well, not smart ones anyways." Kokichi looked at his nails. "We done here?"
"Do you understand what you have done?!" The woman was practically screeching. "You have singlehandedly ruined plans that have been in motion for years!"
"Cry me a river." Kokichi sighed. "And when you're done, I got some questions for you."
"You are not authorized to ask for information."
"And why's that? Scared we're gonna realize you're a controlling bitch? You're so mean! I hate you!"
Kaito stared. The aggression Kokichi was showing faded into a childish whine. Was he just trying to get on the woman's nerves?
The woman seemed to relax, judging by the tone of her next words. "I am alright with being a bitch. Now I need you all to listen carefully-Mr. Shinguji, where are you going?"
"To work." Kiyo said bluntly. "There is nothing in this conversation that interests me."
"The entire human race-"
Kiyo laughed, a surprisingly hair raising sound. "Will be just fine. I highly doubt one destroyed craft will call for a war. Not yet anyways. Regardless, humanity is almost parasitic in its will to live. Humanity will not perish. Not yet. Perhaps every individual we all hold dear with die terribly, but humanity itself will live on. How beautiful."
For the first time, the woman seemed stunned into silence. Kaito understood her feelings. First Korekiyo had seemed to sympathize with the aliens, and now he was calling humanity "parasitic" and showing no distress over millions dying?
"Oooh, that's suuuper freaky to think about." Kokichi said. "Oh! Hey I got it! You don't have any leverage on him either! He's like me!"
Kaito had no idea what Kokichi was talking about and judging by the looks of his crewmates, no one else did either.
Kiyo sighed before speaking. "I do not care for your doomsday predictions. I for one will better spend my time working instead of crying. Unless you have anything to specifically say to me, do not bother seeking my attention." with that he left, leaving the stunned crew and equally stunned woman to watch.
"Yup, I'm out too. Have fun guys." Kokichi said, jumping up. "I'm gonna go sleep or something. Or build a little memorial for humanity."
The woman was silent for a few moments after Kokichi left. Kaito assumed that she wasn't used to not being obeyed, and it was possible the entire administration hadn't counted on anyone not obeying.
"Let's make something very clear." the woman said. "Disregard basic orders again and the first of a series of consequences will be issued. Mr. Momota. Please step into the hallway. I wish to speak to you alone.
Swallowing hard, Kaito slowly made his way over. The woman had retained her hold over them, and Kaito couldn't shake the feeling of being very, very small. Once the doors slid shut, cutting Kaito off from his crew, the woman spoke.
"As you are the captain of this mission, we have decided to present you with additional information. It is highly classified and sharing it with other members of the crew will result in additional punishment. Understood?"
"Yeah. Understood." Kaito said. A screen in the hallway flickered on, showing a picture of his grandparents. While the familiar sight should have made his heart swell, he suddenly felt sick.
"In addition to the mission, you and your crewmates are the subject of a social experiment, the exact details of which will not be given as to preserve the results. Although we were certain that all orders would be followed to the letter, we devised a series of consequences designed to keep you and your peers on track. The actions today have proven that we will now launch the consequences, starting with the abduction and torture of loved ones."
"Wait, what the fuck!" Kaito yelled. "Hold on!"
"Relax Mr. Momota." The woman said, as if she had delivered mildly bad news. "You have been cooperative. The only two eligible for punishment would not be affected by this. For now, your loved ones are safe."
For now. The message was clear. Behave or else.
"We considered a group punishment, punishing you all for the action of one, but in this case we have decided to hold off on that as that would also hold no effect on Mr. Ouma and Mr. Shinguji. You are very lucky Mr. Momota."
Kaito's chest hurt, and not from the Plague. He felt sick, angry, horrified.
"We are on your side." The woman said soothingly. "That is why we have given you this chance. Control your crew and nothing has to happen. Can you do that?"
"Yeah." Kaito said, clenching his fists.
"Excellent. Let us hope this never happens again. Your grandparents send their love." with that, the audio clicked off. Kaito returned to his crew, feeling nauseous.
"Are you ok?" Kaede asked.
Kaito forced a smile on his face. "Yeah, totally fine. I talked it over with the boss lady. We're in the clear but we shouldn't pull anything like that again. Everyone take some down time. You've earned it."
Kaito quickly turned to leave before his false bravado could crack.
Kaito had taken a few minutes alone in his room to try and calm his nerves. His grandparents already had suffered so much for his sake, and now their lives were in his hands. No, not just his. There were two people he needed to have a serious talk with.
Kokichi's room was nearest to his own, and Kaito found himself pounding on the door.
"Go away, I'm not in here." Kokichi said grumpily.
"Open the damn door." Kaito said. He was too shaken to say anything else.
Kokichi opened the door, took a look at Kaito, and grinned. "They showed you huh? Told you they were nasty."
Kaito shoved Kokichi back inside, closing the door behind him. "Let's make something clear. You're going to listen to me."
"What? Sorry I wasn't listening." Kokichi said innocently.
Kaito punched the wall, making Kokichi jump. "I'M SERIOUS MAN! THEY'RE THREATENING MY FAMILY! My family." He finished weakly. "All because you won't get with the program."
For a split second, Kokichi almost looked guilty. Then he shrugged. "That sucks, but what am I gonna do about it? They're not my grandparents."
"You bastard." Kaito said. "Are you serious? You don't give a fuck about people dying because you're too much of a stubborn bitch?"
"Let me tell you something." Kokichi said, crossing his arms. "I'm the Ultimate Supreme Leader, and that's no lie. If I gotta kill a few grandparents to get ahead, that's no biggie. I'll light a candle or whatevs."
"You're disgusting! You're a coward!" Kaito could barely get the words out.
"And you're an idiot. This is what you do? You saw the truth dimwit! And you went right back to believing in the bad guys. Anyways, get out of my room. Bye bye, have a good day." Kokichi said, shooing him out.
Kaito's entire body felt weak with shock and anger. He'd never thought of Kokichi fondly, but this ruined any chance of ever liking him. To think he was selfish enough to risk Kaito's family...
"Um, Kaito, you ok?" He looked up to see Shuichi.
"Yeah, I'm fi-"
"Do you wanna talk?"
Kaito was mildly surprised that Shuichi had cut him off. It was something, although the detective still kept his eyes on the floor. "Yeah, guess I do."
Shuichi listened calmly as Kaito told him everything, even things he'd been told not to tell the others. Kaito could hear his voice shaking with anger when he spoke about his encounter with Kokichi.
"I can't deny what he's saying is awful." Shuichi said slowly. "And by no means am discounting it, but from what I've seen he always acts with a purpose."
"What purpose could that possibly serve!"
"I don't agree with his methods, ok? But now we know that there's some serious consequences lined up for us. I think he might have figured it out, what they were planning. And this is his way of showing us."
"And he couldn't have just told us?"
"Would you believe him? Even if he wasn't a liar, would you believe him?" Shuichi asked. "I wouldn't. I wouldn't want to. I'd have to see it like you did. I don't agree with his actions, but he accomplished something."
Kaito nodded. "Guess so. Dammit. God, I'm an idiot aren't I. I mean, look at me." He laughed bitterly. "Flying around space acting like everything's fine. Just because I want to achieve my dream."
"You're not an idiot. I'm the detective. I should have looked at the evidence." Shuichi said. "Ignoring the truth is too easy..."
Kaito took a deep breath. "Ok, it's neither of our faults. But we can keep going and change things. We just gotta believe in ourselves."
Shuichi looked up at him. "A-are you serious? With the believing again?"
Kaito grinned. "Of course! Don't get me wrong, I feel like I've been run over by a train, but I gotta believe in us if I'm gonna keep going. And you should too."
Shuichi nodded. "Ok, I don't know how much help I'll be, but-"
"Actually, I think you'll be a lot of help." Kaito said. "It'll be like an investigation."
"How so?"
"Well first we're gonna start by talking to the other witness."
Kaito had to admit, the Ultimate labs were cool. He'd looked inside a few, and most were reasonably bare with only equipment, but Korekiyo's had been completely transformed. Notes and sketches lined the walls. Books were splayed open to specific pages with more scrawled notes. It looked as if he'd been using it for months, not a few days. Kaito carefully reached up to touch some of the notes.
"Please do not touch anything."
Kaito nearly jumped out of his skin. Kiyo hadn't been visible when he and Shuichi had entered, but now he had somehow gotten behind them. He seemed irritated.
"Sorry!" Shuichi said quickly, moving back. Kiyo regarded him with mild interest before turning to Kaito.
"I assume you want something."
"Huh? Why?" Kaito asked, still looking around the room.
"We're hardly friends. I'm hardly the type of person you'd come to merely "hang out with." So what is it?"
"You're really observant." Shuichi said. "How long have you been working?"
"On and off since we arrived." Kiyo said. "I'd prefer more time."
"Well, it's amazing." Shuichi said. "Is all of this just from the stuff we got earlier?"
"While minimal, yes, I can work with it." Korekiyo said. "I've cross referenced the writing samples with almost every written language known to human kind, and unsurprisingly it's almost completely unique, however my earlier theories of the written language being similar to hieroglyphics seems to be correct. Instead of writing the word for frog, they would draw a symbol for frog. Similar to Asian characters, but more picturesque."
"Damn." Kaito said. He was impressed. He still had no idea what anthropology was, but he was very impressed.
"Sorry if I'm wrong, but anthropology is the study of culture, right?" Shuichi said.
"Yes and no. Social and Cultural Anthropology is the study of human societies, cultures, and the development of said cultures. Forensic or Physical Anthropology is the study of human biological characteristics and evolution."
"Like the blood." Kaito cut in.
Kiyo nodded. "My expertise lies with more physical remains, bones and the like. I do not believe I will get far with that. I was in the lab just now, and unfortunately I do not have the needed skills to get any reasonable information from it."
He spoke with disdain, and Kaito guessed that this was what he was irritated about.
"What about behavior patterns?" Shuichi asked.
"Hm? Interesting question. Yes, I feel I have an advanced understanding of human behavior due to my studies."
"And do you use those skills at all?" Shuichi's voice was becoming stronger with every question, although he still kept his gaze downwards.
"Yes. I am an analytical person, and I prefer to observe my surroundings and those around me to gain insight."
"And you knew we were being played with." Kaito finished.
"And you did not? How interesting. I was right. You're truly a joy to observe."
Kaito debated making a comment that despite his understanding of human behavior, Kiyo's own behavior was quite strange, but he had a feeling that now wasn't the time.
"How did you know?" Shuichi asked.
"Humans are obsessed with control. With horses they placed reins to control their actions. The controlling actions expand to other humans with the likes of slavery, tyranny, dictatorships. Of course these humans want to control us. Naturally we have reins placed on us. It isn't hard to guess what they'll do. Naturally most of us are motivated by our emotional attachments to others, hence their choice to threaten them."
"And you didn't care about that?" Kaito asked.
"There's no one left for them to hurt. Not for a few years now." Korekiyo stated calmly. "So therefore those reins have been cut from me."
"What about the rest of us?" Kaito challenged. "Did you think that your actions might end up with someone else's family getting the axe?"
"No." it was as blunt as the rest of Kiyo's words, but he sounded the slightest bit regretful. "I chose to not take your families into consideration."
"WHY?!" Kaito yelled. "Seriously, what's with you! First you literally agree that the aliens are right to kill people-"
"I never sa-"
"And now you just "don't consider" other people's families?! What's so important to you that you're willing to risk things? You knew what was happening, and you obviously knew that doing what they wanted would leave everyone alone, but you didn't care!" Kaito had never made the best choices when angry, and what he said next was regrettable. "For all that time you spend studying humans, you barely act like one!"
Kiyo weaved his fingers through his hair. "And what would you have me do?"
Unbelievable. He didn't even care Kaito was angry. He heard Shuichi saying his name, but at the moment, he refused to listen.
"I don't freaking know man, apologize!"
"What?" Kiyo's fingers tightened around his hair.
"You heard me didn't you? I said apologize. Apologize!"
Korekiyo jerked back as if Kaito had slapped him. Finally Kaito had gotten a reaction, but he hadn't been expecting this.
"Woah hey-"
Kiyo turned and quickly walked out of the room, muttering under his breath. Kaito turned to follow, but Shuichi grabbed his arm. "Kaito, let him go."
"What the hell was that about?!" Kaito asked.
"I think...he's been through something. Something not good." Shuichi said slowly.
"What?"
"Um, I could be wrong, but I've seen trauma victims before, talked to a few, and um, anyways he reacted to what could be a trigger word, and he was yanking on his hair, which, um, could be a coping mechanism, and he was repeating that."
"What?!" Kaito asked, more confused by the minute.
"Did you not hear what he was saying? He was saying "I'm sorry" over and over." Shuichi said.
"So what...oh." Kaito said. He cursed himself. Dammit, he really fucked that one up. "Shit, I gotta apologize."
"Maybe...don't use that word?" Shuichi said. He appeared to be deep in thought.
"Hey here's a question." Kaito said. "Why'd they send someone unstable up to space?"
"Yeah. I've been wondering that for a while." Shuichi said.
"Jesus did you catch on to this earlier? I'm blind aren't I." Kaito groaned.
"No! No, actually I was thinking about myself, um..."
"Wait, are you ok?" Kaito asked, examining Shuichi. The detective blushed and took a step back.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just depression and stuff, um, I don't really want to talk about it, but it's a thought. We noticed the lack of physical training, but wouldn't people normally have to be cleared mentally? In case an environment wasn't safe for them? Um, just a thought."
Kaito put a hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to talk about it. I don't see you any differently either ok? Anyways, putting a pin in that. You're right. Some of the people here are barely suited to be up here, and honestly Kiyo's one of the better adjusted ones. I mean, look at poor Himiko."
Shuichi nodded. "Yeah. I don't understand why they'd send her her. Or Kaede. I'm not trying to be offensive!" He added quickly.
"Hey, you're fine. Do you ever state your opinion without apologizing for it?" Kaito asked.
"Um, no. Not really."
"Ok. Well, you're right. Dammit, yeah I've been ignoring the sketchiness haven't I." Kaito said.
"I think we all have. Well, maybe not Kiyo or Kokichi, but they're still trapped too." Shuichi said. Suddenly his eyes lit up. "Ah, sorry, I just thought of something, um, I'll see you later."
Before Kaito could ask what the hell was up, Shuichi had hurried away. Were all mission leaders this confused by their crew, or was this just him?
Despite Shuichi telling him to wait, Kaito went in search of Korekiyo. He couldn't stand the feeling of knowing that he'd unintentionally hurt someone, and swore to do whatever he could to fix it.
He found Kiyo alone in the lounge with his tablet. He looked up and regarded Kaito with an almost fearful look before moving to get up.
"Hey, hey wait!" Kaito said. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those things. This is a batshit crazy situation, and we're all gonna react different."
"And what obligated you to say that?" the question caught Kaito off guard.
"Uh, because I wanted to? I didn't want to leave things like that. Look, we got off on the wrong foot. I think I misunderstood like thirty percent of the things you've said, and I'm sorry. I wanna get along with you and I want to trust each other."
"You're saying this because you want to." Korekiyo said. "How interesting. Aren't you a rare person."
"Was that an insult?" Kaito asked before he could stop himself.
"No." Kiyo sounded surprised. "Did it sound like one?"
"A little." Kaito said. "Sorry."
"No, my apologies. I realize now my words towards you can be easily misinterpreted." he sighed. "Teamwork has never been one of my skills."
"Hey, that's totally ok. Like I said, we're all way out of our element."
"But you're not. This is all you've ever wanted. Naturally you ignorantly believe every obviously coated lie fed to you." he paused. "That sounded insulting, didn't it?"
Kaito laughed. "It's ok, you're totally right. I've been trusting the wrong people, and now I want to start trusting the right ones. So now I'm approaching you as a leader and as a friend. We need to trust each other, all of us."
"I cannot promise I can trust you." Korekiyo said. "While trust is easy for you, it is less so for me. But I will consider myself allied with you until further notice."
"Works for me!" Kaito said. "Seriously though, I don't know what happened to you, and I don't need to know. But if you ever do wanna talk, I'll hear you out."
"Funny how you haven't called me crazy yet." Kiyo said mildly.
"What? You're not crazy. I'm crazy for blindly believing in stuff."
"No. You're not crazy either." Kiyo said. "Unique yes, but not crazy." He suddenly looked Kaito dead in the eyes. "Have you ever thought about the diffusion of written language?"
"Um, no. Not really." Kaito admitted.
"You're aware how many languages have similar letters or alphabets or characters yes? That's because they are all human languages. They all sprouted from similar sources."
"Yeah, I can see that."
"And now we have this alien language." Kiyo continued. "Naturally it is barely similar to earth languages. Why would it? It comes from an entirely different source, isn't that right?"
"Yeah." Kaito said, wondering what he was getting at.
"So why did we find earth originated numbers in that room?" Kiyo asked. "Think about that. I know I am."
He left again, but Kaito felt satisfied. However, right under the satisfaction was the confusion. Kiyo had a point. What were earth numbers doing there anyways?
Kaito had always had a habit of wandering whenever he had nothing better to do. He just let his legs move, and then just see where he ended up. After an encounter with an open storm drain, he'd taken a break from this, but now it was the best activity he had to try and calm his nerves.
As he walked the length of the ship and back, he was impressed at the amount of work his crew was putting in despite technically being on break. Tsmugi was diligently working on the uniforms, and Tenko was in the gym, kicking the crap out of a myriad of objects. Kirumi was cleaning the ship with Himiko as an assistant, while Kiyo and Angie poured over different images taken from the Imperial. Maki, Kokichi and Shuichi were nowhere to be seen, but Miu was tinkering with the damaged shuttle, and Kiibo had yet to move from his position in comms. (Kaito debated telling him that Kokichi had been messing with him, but Kiibo looked so happy to be helpful.)
Ryoma, Rantaro and Kaede were seated in the lounge area talking. Kaito decided to join them when something caught his eye. Gonta slipped out of his research lab, looking guilty.
"Hey Gonta, what's up?" Kaito asked.
Gonta jumped, looking startled. "Huh! Oh, hello Kaito. Gonta just...doing nothing suspicious."
Kaito raised an eyebrow. "Ok?"
Gonta smiled. "Yes, nothing suspicious. Oh look! Friends." Gonta pulled Kaito over to the previously mentioned trio.
"Hey guys." Kaede said. "What's up?"
"Nothing suspicious." Gonta said quickly. Ryoma gave him a weird look, before deciding that it wasn't worth the effort.
"What are you talking about?" Kaito asked. Kaede held out her tablet.
"Have you not seen this?"
Kaito's heart dropped into his stomach. Across the screen was an official threat against his crewmates families. "When did that happen?"
"A few minutes ago." Ryoma said. "I knew it. I knew something like this was going to happen. Why else would I be here?"
"What do you mean?" Kaito asked.
"I've been in prison for the last year or so." Ryoma sighed. "Tried for murder, multiple accounts, found guilty, and now they let me loose in space. Of course nothing good's going to happen."
"Don't say that." Kaede said. "This is just a warning."
"But they're showing they're not afraid to push us now." Ryoma said. "We still have a long ways to go to complete this mission, and it sure as hell isn't going to get easier."
"Do you guys have people in danger?" Kaito asked.
"You could say." Rantaro smiled sadly.
"Nope." Ryoma said. "Just my cat, and Racket's a sly little bastard. I doubt they'd assassinate a cat, but if they tried, I'm pretty sure he'd outsmart them."
"You named your cat Racket?" Kaede asked. "That's adorable."
Ryoma actually smiled. "Yeah, he is. But even if I don't have anyone, you do. I'd never forgive myself if anything I did lead to anyone else getting hurt." he turned serious again.
"We're not gonna let anyone get hurt." Kaito said. "As your leader I promise that. I'm gonna put a hell of a lot more effort into building us up as a team. I'm sorry I haven't really taken the time to do that before. I promise that things'll be better going forward."
"Gonta will protect friends!" Gonta said brightly.
"Atua smiles upon us! What a lovely sentiment!" Angie said, entering the room, spreading her arms wide. Kiyo trailed in behind her.
"Hey Angie, Kiyo." Rantaro said.
"Greetings to all!" Angie said brightly. Kiyo waved awkwardly, which was an appreciated effort in Kaito's eyes. "We come bearing excellent news!"
"Finally." Rantaro said. "What do you got for us?"
"Atua is pleased by their language. There are so many fun, cute little swirls. Using Korekiyo and myself as his vessels, he has made a slight headway into understanding the language!"
"That's great!" Kaede exclaimed. "And so fast too!"
"Atua is divine." Angie said, clasping her hands together. "I told you all he would protect us! He has revealed a divinely ominous message!"
"Hold on, ominous?" Ryoma asked.
"Yes, unfortunately." Korekiyo spoke up. "It's not much, but we began breaking down commonly repeated symbols. Angie has quite the eye for them."
"Through Atua's grace!"
"Anyways, not to alarm you but I believe we've found some degree of a military command. They are assembling their forces, if the word we translated is to be believed." Kiyo continued.
"What's the word?" Kaito asked nervously.
"Ironically, they seem to call themselves the Swarm."
Kaito could almost hear buzzing in his ears. The Swarm. A perfect name for the insect like aliens. And it seemed the Swarm was preparing to attack Earth.