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Author Topic: Quid Pro Quo - Chapter Ten (11/28)  (Read 24670 times)

Offline kjpop

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Quid Pro Quo - Chapter Ten (11/28)
« on: June 07, 2012, 11:10:18 PM »
Howdy everyone!! So I received some feedback for that crazy vague one shot I recently wrote, and because of the encouragement, I've decided to go ahead and make it my latest project. Once Honto no Kimochi is finished, Quid Pro Quo will be my new baby <3 And luckily, HnK is wrapping up soon.

I'm kind of hesitating to actually post this fic here, however. After discussing plotlines and whatnot with my crazy roommate, he brought up a pretty good point. The subject matter is kind of heavy, and there are a lot of situations that aren't very wide-audience friendly, and I'm not talking about perv-levels either. It's bound to get borderline uhhhhh "mature" I guess, and I can't exactly control the audience that reads it no matter how many times I warn ya'll, you know? The idea of kiddies reading this fic doesn't settle well with me, so I'm thinking of just posting this fic off the site. But that's a hassle for everyone so meh, I'm not even sure anymore.

I'm being really vague right now so I might as well be out with it: to put it lightly, this fic has a lot of abuse and unpleasant sexual situations (that are not meant to turn you on at all >__< and I'm not talking 50 Shades of Grey here) from the get-go aka it's definitely not HnK quality, with all the lovely jokes and funny situations and shit. So, I guess this is my final errr warning? LOL Don't read it unless your ready to see the girls getting used and abused. I swear I'm not doing this for my own sick amusement T__T but my roommate and I kind of started going apeshit crazy with ideas, and this was the road we wanted to go with (and trust me, the ending is pretty epic lol we've outlined everything from start to finish already haha). He's not even an H!P/japanese idol fan in general lol we're just sick people, apparently.

Anywho, that being said, if you do happen to read this, I'll be working on Russian Roulette simultaneously, and that's a lot more fun and light-hearted than this one LOL So if you need a happy balance in your life, there ya go. I just don't want to be responsible for scarring you or anything. That's not my aim. Also, just another note: if you're a big movie buff, I apologize ahead of time if various elements in this fic remind you of certain movies. I'll admit this isn't the most original fic, and for that I apologize. But hopefully you can give it a shot and enjoy reading eat as much as I'll enjoy writing it ^__^ I've incorporated a huge cast of most of the H!P ladies in this fic, so if Morning Musume just isn't your fancy, stick around anyway, because everyone plays an important role eventually ;D Yes, that means graduates, too!!!

I just wanted to get this out there to say I was actually going to come through with it. Probably won't update for months though ahhah but since it's just hanging out here, I'm going to want to finish it eventually. PROMISE! So without further ado, here's chapter one! *Last note I swear: I don't know crap about the judicial system PERIOD, nor the prison system in japan haha*

------------------

Prologue found here: http://forum.jphip.com/index.php?topic=32897.msg1049368#msg1049368

-------
Chapter One: Condemned


"Has the jury reached a verdict?"

A nervous-looking middle aged man rose from his seat in the jurors bench, walking towards the microphone placed toward the front of the courtroom. He tugged at this tie knot with jittery fingers, swallowing hard as his eyes darted in all directions. His heavy breathing reverberated through the otherwise silent room as he slid sweaty fingers down his chest pocket to grab hold of the piece of paper that held the unanimous vote of the jurors. His squinty eyes met with the judge, waiting for a sign to proceed as he swallowed hard against the knot of his tie.

He received a nod to proceed.

"The jury finds the defendant guilty."



--------

Takahashi Ai was nothing more than a quiet office worker, spending the typical 9-5 schedule delivering files to and from various levels of her corporate office setting, taking part in monthly branch meetings where she often contributed absolutely nothing of value, and if she were lucky, making phone calls and setting up appointments for the heads of her department. It was a boring, but simple job, and she certainly couldn't complain about having some sort of occupation to pay the rent. Besides, her low-class status in the corporate totem pole suited her just fine and the lack of responsibility was a small relief. She always thought of herself as more of a wall flower, a fly on the wall, perfectly aware of her surroundings without herself being noticed.

Apparently that made for sufficient grounds for accusations of murder and corruption.

The scenario was simply this: She had been summoned to meet with her department head for a brief consultation. His personal secretary had stopped Ai before she entered his office, handing her a fresh cup of green tea to deliver to him in her stead. Ai had done accordingly, greeting the advisor and placing the drink upon his desk. He had summoned her to discuss her productivity that month, stating that her levels were once again stagnant, concluding their meeting with another threat of firing her from her position unless she would do something to increase her productivity levels by the end of next month.

Within 10 minutes of his tirade, the department head had begun foaming at the mouth and choking, violently tearing at the skin of his throat as he ripped his tie and the buttons on his collar apart. Ai rushed out of the office, screaming for help only to find that the personal secretary had collapsed on the floor. There was no sign of life in the room. The simple office worker rushed to call the police and the medics to save whomever they could, while she was immediately ushered to the police department for interrogation of the apparent crime.

After a week's worth of investigation, lethal traces of poison had been detected in the bodies of both the secretary and the department head, yet both had managed to survive by the skin of their teeth. To add fuel to the fire, detectives were able to unravel a series of complex codes and evidence of under-the-table deals of laundering using corporate finances on her personal computer at work. The backlog revealed 3-years worth of conversations and deals with rival companies, mainly involving Ai auctioning marketing plans and tactics to the CEOs of various other companies for large sums of money.

Upon discovery of these encrypted documents, Takahashi Ai had been placed under arrest for corporate espionage. Today, she sat with her attorney in an unpleasantly stuffy courtroom, listening to the state attorney deliver his final theories of her supposed crime in hopes to convince the jury to send the convict to jail after a week's worth of theoretical banter and accusations spewing forth from the attorney general and her own lawyer.

"Your honor and people of the jury...I would like for you to imagine the following scenario," the attorney general began, pacing from the the judge's stand to the jurors. "This woman, Takahashi Ai, has the face of an angel, an unassuming way about her. She carries herself confidently, quietly as she goes about her daily routine in the the departmental office. Her coworkers are hardly aware of her presence since she keeps to herself, often times slipping into her cubicle without making anyone even remotely aware of her arrival.

"She has worked in this office for 5 years now, without a word of praise or promotion from her senior advisors and bosses. No ounce of appreciation. In fact, she was summoned on her final day, only to be threatened by her departmental head!...It was the perfect set-up. No one would think of her, the quiet ghost of the department, to be capable of something like this. How could she? With zero status in her own department, how could she even manage to perform a crime of this particular caliber?

"But who better than the one that no one knew existed, the one who could get away with it all. She was silent, barely noticed. She had as much access to personal corporate records and documentations, typed notes from department meetings,...she had everything in her possession. And the motive? Her monthly threats of being fired for lack of productivity, of course. To extract the perfect revenge, Takahashi Ai would bargain with rival corporations, auctioning off marketing plans and strategies that had launched this company to the top of the financial food chain. She gained money and occupational stability with future job offers at other corporate settings while her current company crumbled to nothing.

"And the cherry on top? Murdering the man responsible for her misery. Though she could have simply delivered her two weeks notice to the department head because no one deserves to be harassed and threatened on a monthly basis, the woman had chosen a more extreme means of handling the matter. So how does one expect a quiet, unassuming woman to go about her murder? With poison. Gun shots would have echoed, stabbing would be too time-consuming, too messy. Poison is so easy, so quiet and unassuming. Familiar? Of course. The method matches the murderer, no? It's always the quiet ones, after all.

"So I leave you with this, honorable people of the jury. Recall simply the overwhelming evidence of documented digital conversations locked in encrypted code, the convicted woman's motive of murder through constant threats from a higher power, the evidence of the materials necessary for a poison concoction hidden so perfectly in the secretary's French press. It is through some sheer miracle that both victims survived this attempted murder. I only ask you to consider the future lives at stake if we were to let this woman free..."

The general attorney walked back to his seat, pausing briefly to make eye contact with the accused. His eyes were cold, and though his words were crafted perfectly to deliver a monologue that even Ai herself would believe if she were on the other side, the doubt in those orbs seemed to speak a different story.

The court was dismissed for a brief recess while the people of the jury met to determine the verdict of guilt or innocence. During this time, Ai and her lawyer could only sit in silence in the hallway. The evidence was overwhelmingly against her, though none of it had been her own doing. Indeed she was rather unsatisfied with her job, and it was true that she was annoyed with the constant threats of being relieved of her position if productivity levels wouldn't rise, but it was nothing she would even be upset over.

As for the enterprise corruption and encrypted documents on her computer, she had not a damn clue how those managed to even be unraveled or get there in the first place. She could hardly even handle online spreadsheets! And she barely even knew who these other corporate CEOs were that she supposedly contacted! And personal company files? She never touched them, much less had access. Her work was centered around scheduling and filing mundane documents of little importance. Her mind flashed for the nth time, trying to desperate think of anyone in the office that would have any motive, but none came to mind. She simple didn't know any person she worked with, and none knew her enough to even deliver testimony against her in court. It was all too confusing, but she hoped her words and her lawyer's final testimony would be enough to save her...

But as the court was summoned back into the courtroom, and as the nervous man from the jury stood and stated the outcome of her trial, all Ai could hear was every bang of the judge's gavel, and all she could do was watch helpless as her life flashed before her eyes.

"By the power vested in me, I hearby order the defendant Takahashi Ai to serve a life sentence for laundering of company finances, partaking in corporate espionage, and attempted murder. Court dismissed."

Bang.

-----

The tears had long dried, along with any sense of hope in heart. "We're here," she heard the uniformed officer said gruffly from the front seat. Cuffed hands clenched on her lap as near-bloodshot eyes stared outside her passenger window to examine her new home for the rest of unfortunate eternity. There wasn't much to see beyond the gargantuan stone wall that surrounded the prison's perimeter, save for perhaps one or two of the top most floors of the main housing building she could see through barbed wires.

The burly officer appearing before her window interrupted further interrogation as he opened her door and gestured for her to exit the vehicle. "No point in looking around now. You've got the rest of your life to get an eyeful of this place," the officer said snidely, pushing her forward to walk through the gated entrance of the facility. The fact of the matter was how right his words were, and she began to feel the warm tears strolling a familiar trail down her cheeks as she walked forward.

They walked through a maze of dimly lit hallways, up various rusting stairwells to the top most floor of the institution. The plethora of moonlight that seeped through the several windows that decorated the walls and the lack of institutionalized fluorescent lighting of this floor was a strangely welcoming sight. Her step was stopped abruptly by the burly officer in front of her, and she turned her head to face the large oak door he was facing. The officer twisted the knob and pushed the door open, tilting his head to signal the convict to enter.

Upon crossing the wooden threshold, curious tear-stained eyes wandered the elaborately decorated office. Vinyl records and posters of various famous music artists from the 70's and 80's had adorned the four walls of the room. Two wooden chairs with plush velvet seats were placed side by side before a large, vintage oak desk and another posh velvet seat that seemed to look more like a throne than anything else. On one side of the oak table was a gramophone, playing a very soft, classical piece of Mozart as the vinyl record spun soundly against the needle. On the wall directly behind the throne and the oak desk was an enormous religious cross that took up perhaps an estimated 1/4 of the length of the wall. Above the religious relic was a phrase written in Latin that read Promotor Fidei. One simply could not ignore it if they tried.

As the oak door behind her shut to a close, Ai felt large hands on either side of her arms, gripping her firmly in their grasp. She watched in silence as the velvet throne spun on its axis to reveal a sharply dressed man. He seemed to be in his 40's, though his ostentatiously colored designer suit and dyed hairstyle seemed to indicate otherwise. The man reached to pause his gramophone and stood from his seat. He walked to the front of his table, leaning his waist to rest against the giant oak as he examined the convict in front of him through keen eyes. His tanned, wrinkled skin stretched awkwardly as his thin lips eased into a smile.

"Ah, you must be our latest addition. Your name...?"

"T-Takahashi Ai, sir." Her voice was cracking. She refused to make eye contact, opting to burn holes through the carpet floor instead.

She heard his heeled designer shoes step closer. Clank, clank, clank. At the sight of his meticulously polished shoes before hers, she looked up to meet his gaze, holding her breath when she felt his fingers tilt her chin upward slightly.

"That's a lovely name," the man said as he engrossed himself with the vision of frightened beauty before him. He eased her head side to side, examining her with sharp eyes. After what seemed like hours of awkward and silent investigation, the man walked back to sit in his velvet throne and proceeded to play his Mozart piece once again. "For the remainder of your lifetime, you will be spending your days here at the Project Morning Reformatory in Yokohama. If good behavior is observed during your stay here, you might be lucky to receive parole." He paused to peruse some documents on his table top. "Though from what I can read here, I doubt you will be that lucky.

"Your mornings will begin at 6 A.M. sharp, with daily morning roll call and a guard-mediated examination of your cell. Breakfast will be served promptly at 6:30 A.M. From 7 A.M. to 11 A.M. you will be expected to perform various tasks depending on where you are assigned. By 11:30, you are expected to line up before your station for a brief roll call before you are delivered lunch at noon. Afterwards, you will be given an hour of exercise and leisure time in the prison courtyard outside. From then until 6PM, you will return to your station to continue work until dinner at 7PM. You will end your day by returning to your cell. The final roll call begins at 8:30 and lights out by 9PM. Understood?"

The convict nodded.

The older man smiled, flashing his unusually shining white teeth. "Excellent. I trust you understand why you're here, so there's no need to discuss those matters. Here at Project Morning, we strive to re-mold your lives, to help you find God, and to instill a sense of right and justice into your depraved souls. That way, if you die here, you can die with dignity. You will be wise to part ways with your former, wretched ways and welcome this new mindset unless you would enjoy harsher forms of punishment...?"

The convict shook her head.

"Good, good. Now, be off with you. It's well-passed roll call for the evening, and you need all the rest you can get before your new life begins tomorrow," he said simply, gesturing his hands in a shooing motion.

The guard began to pull the tiny woman out of the room, until the well-dressed man spoke up suddenly. "Oh, I forgot to mention some things. My name is Tsunku, and I am the warden at this reformatory. Be prepared to meet with me again in a few days to personally examine your assimilation into prison life." He shooed his guests off again, before easing his back into the velvet cushions of his chair.

The large oak door slammed shut and Ai was once again being marched unceremoniously through the winding hallways and rusting stairwells to the main portion of the institution that housed the inmates. With only a flashlight to guide them, the guard strained his eyes through the darkness to search for cell number 914. Upon the discovery of said cell toward the end of the 2nd floor hallway, the guard freed the convict from her handcuffs and pushed her all but gently into her new home. "Toilet, bed," said the officer, pointing to each piece of furniture, if you will, with his flashlight. "Your day begins at 6 A.M. Be prepared."

And with those simple instructions, he was off. She waited until the metal bars of her entrance were closed to wander her cubicle of personal space. With no ounce of light to aid her vision in shrouded darkness, Ai could only use her hands to feel her way to her spring-less mattress. The innocent convict curled up on her worn mattress and tucked her head against the cold and mold-infested wall of her cell.

For tonight, all she would do was cry.

-----


Sorry if it's a bit slow. Had to start somewhere  :P It only gets interesting from here though, promise. This is all you get until HnK is finished  teehee~

« Last Edit: November 29, 2012, 03:46:20 AM by kjpop »

Offline Quietriot

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Re: Quid Pro Quo - Prologue and Chapter One 6/7
« Reply #1 on: June 07, 2012, 11:38:53 PM »
-makes weird girly noises and will come back to edit later-

Oh my, poor Aichan.  :( what a whirlwind shes just gone through... Man oh man this set-up is so promising though. Its a great start and I'm definitely hooked and waiting for more! Especially knowing where she and Reina end up in that prologue!
« Last Edit: June 08, 2012, 01:17:24 AM by Quietriot »

Offline mochi.rini

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Re: Quid Pro Quo - Prologue and Chapter One 6/7
« Reply #2 on: June 08, 2012, 01:54:23 AM »
waaah~  New fic of AWESOMENESS! :O  :bow:  First thing I thought of when I read the title was Silence of the Lambs.  Hopefully...no one gets cannibalized o.O Of all the weirdness in fanfiction AUs, I don't think I could imagine the girls eating each other  :nervous

How the heck did they manage to frame Aichan so perfectly?  Man...whoever did this must be completely evil...  :cry: 

As much as I hope that the guards and Tsunku-papa will quickly realize that she's innocent...the justice system of any sorts is too risky and complicated to come to these decisions Dx  Makes me feel bad for all the people in the world who have been wrongly placed in prison~

Project Morning Reformatory...it sounds kind of fun? ^_^;  Well, until the daily tasks were revealed XD  Hopefully, Aichan won't get beat everyday.  She's to fragile to take it in~

Rini can't wait for more :3  You have such a spiraling imagination full of brilliance!  :deco:
« Last Edit: June 08, 2012, 02:08:35 AM by mochi.rini »
Hi~iiya!~  (>^_^)>
I support T a k a G a k i
Tumblr/blog \(^ - ^)/

Offline risa_ai

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Re: Quid Pro Quo - Prologue and Chapter One 6/7
« Reply #3 on: June 08, 2012, 02:22:00 AM »
Uso! Ai-chan's in court?! T.T and this's a aireina story? Or will gaki-san come as ai's saviour? xD
I WILL READ THIS. xD
« Last Edit: June 08, 2012, 11:56:49 AM by risa_ai »

Offline rndmnwierd

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Re: Quid Pro Quo - Prologue and Chapter One 6/7
« Reply #4 on: June 08, 2012, 09:42:43 AM »
Oh man, someone set Ai-chan up the bomb! And now she's getting cozy with the mines, so to speak. Looks like she's going to have a lot of time to end up like the tragic prologue.

Offline kjpop

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Re: Quid Pro Quo - Omake I Updated 6/8
« Reply #5 on: June 08, 2012, 09:32:59 PM »
I know I said I was going to wait until I finished HnK, but damnit all. I buried myself a hole I couldn't get out of after I started re-reading freakin' Black and Blue and started reading Rockstar's Guide last night. And it's my day off and I've cleaned just about everything three times over, and I've done just about everything you could possibly do on your free day, and all before dinner LOL

So seriously, this is it. I swear I'm going to stop writing. I swear it. UNLESS YOU KNOW, EITHER OF THOSE STORIES GET UPDATE OR SOMETHING. OR WHATEVER. YOU KNOW. HINT HINT. WINK WINK. NUDGE NUDGE. *crying* Gonna go on vacation and leave my laptop behind.


Quietriot - I wave banners in your honor. You realize this right? And now all I hear whenever I see your screen name is freakin' Gangster's Paradise LOL Your jail life portrayal btw, is bloody inspiring. Just putting that out there. Can I love you some more? Chocolate? Love? Affection? Sex? Pie? LOL I don't even know anymore.

And it's just going to keep getting worse and worse for Ai TEEHEE Hope this omake makes that clear.

mochi - BAHAHHA You caught movie reference #1!!! There won't be any cannibals...that I'm aware of...maybe........yeah LOL I think I have enough crazy sh!t thrown into this. Any more would make it really difficult to read hhahah

Pay attention to the details of the crime. It'll all come back. Just a hint-o~ Actually, just pay close attention to the tiny details. I'd love to hear what your speculations are after I put 'em out there for everybody. Remember, I like playing games ;D

PM Reformatory ain't fun and sunshine, sweetie LOL And don't think so highly of Tsunku and his guards just yet. And Ai's fragile alright, but as for the beatings...well, you'll see...*runs for life*

risa_ai - errrrr...this won't be a very...uhhhhh, romantic sort of story. It's going to be a little heavier than the usual. I'll try to lay down some romantic undertones between some of the girls, and you can interpret it however you'd like. How does that sound? ^^

HO HO HO Funny thing about Gaki btw...

rndy - It's gonna take a few years, but thanks to the wonderful world of fanfiction, we can time travel! Necessary details need to be mentioned first though. It'll all come together nicely in the end ;D

-------------

Omake I


"Get up."

The convict slowly opened her eyes at the gruff sound of a stranger's voice.

"I said get up."

Ai dragged her curled form off the flattened mattress to stand on unsteady legs, trying to take in what was going on despite her sleepy daze. Through droopy eyes she watched as two female guards entered her jail cell, while two male officers stood at the entrance with their backs facing her direction. The two women paused in front of her with a click of their heels.

"What...time is it?" Ai asked, her voice raspy from the amount of crying she had done the evening prior. For all she knew, it was still evening. From what little she could see outside her cell, the hallway was still relatively dark and no other soul was active in their respective cell.

The female guard directly in front of her swiftly landed a punch below the convict's diaphragm, causing the woman to bend forward in painful retaliation of the sudden motion. "I didn't direct you to speak, woman." Her voice was firm, and from what Ai could see through tearing eyes was a hardened scowl planted on the officer's face.

She was no taller than herself, probably no older than herself either. Her dark brown hair fell plainly against her shoulder, nestled underneath her officer's cap. Her uniform was decorated with various stars and badges, each embellishment polished to shining perfection and not a single thread out of place. No doubt these indicated her powerful status amongst the other guards of the reformatory.

Her other female guard companion, however, was a different story. Her long black hair cascaded well passed her shoulders, concealing her own set of uniform accessories. She had a much kinder expression on her face. Her eyes at one point even looked like she pitied the convict as she straightened back to her original stance. But she simply remained silent behind the stern female officer.

Ai stood back at ease, groaning as she fought to catch the air that was blown right out of her from the powerful blow of the commanding officer. She heard the woman speak again. "Take off your clothes." The convict looked at the female guard with disbelief? Here? Now? This was a prison, not a brothel! What the hell was going on?

"Don't make me repeat myself, woman."

Ai looked to the other guard for any sign, pleading through the silence for some sort of intervention. But the other woman offered no such thing. The convict's eyes darted to the male guards that stood in front of her cell, and then back to the intimidating female officer before her. She could tell the woman was getting impatient, and she did not want to receive another punch from her either. Ai carefully took off each article of clothing until she stood before the female guards as naked as the day she was born.

The stern female officer handed the clothes to her partner then said, "Follow her."

Immediately, the kinder-looking black-haired female began to walk out of the cell, and Ai tentatively followed. As she stepped passed the metal bars, the two male officers on guard began to march along both sides of her naked form, with the stern female officer following behind her. Ai was humiliated, but somewhat thankful that the other prisoners of her wing seemed to still be sleeping.

She felt an intrusive hand wandering along her backside. Twisting her head, she found that hand had belonged to one of the male officers at her side. She caught lewd look in his snake-like eyes and the slightest trace of a smirk on his thin, thin lips, but bit down on her lips instead of crying out. Surely the stern female officer behind her witnessed this, and Ai was praying the woman would intervene in her defense, but no prayers were answered during her march of humiliation.

Thankfully, the black-haired female officer stopped before a cell that was isolated from all the others, and gestured for Ai to walk in. "Hold on tightly to the bars," she instructed. Her voice was nowhere near as brusque as the other female's; she almost sounded kind, even.

Ai did as she was instructed, avoiding the salacious stares of the two male officers as she did so. She found herself screaming in pain, however, once a powerful stream of scalding hot water began to hose her down at full force. The convict felt her grip slipping as the water lubricated the metal bars she held onto, and as the sheer pressure from the hose began to force her back.

The hose stopped abruptly and the drenched woman took in deep, heavy breaths as she sought to regain some composure, wiping remnants of hot wetness from her eyes. A dry, white powder was thrown at her, and she coughed as the powdery soap dust invaded her airways. Before she could even breathe again, her body met with a brief and powerful thrust of scalding water. It had taken all the effort she could assemble to not fall over.

"Turn around."

The convict did as she was told, this time making sure to grab hold of the metal bars. Another slap of powder soap met with her back, followed by another heavy stream of hot water from the hose. The water was making her back arch painfully out of position, and the boiling temperature against the sensitive skin of her back caused a sharp shrill to tear from her mouth.

As the stream died down to a trickling drip, Ai heaved, gasping for air in the steaming and humid cell as her grip hung limply against the metal supports. She felt coarse material meet with her raw skin, and she looked up to see it had been the black-haired officer wielding a crap piece of towel. The officer did what she could to carefully not irritate the convict's body any further, patting the poor woman dry with as much haste as possible.

Once the kinder female walked away, the stern-looking female appeared to pass her some under garments, a white t-shirt, socks, plain looking shoes, and a neon orange one-piece that resembled something of a jumpsuit. "Hurry up and get dressed," the officer instructed briefly before turning curtly on her heels, and instructing the remaining officers to wait outside of the cell with her as the convict made herself decent.

After a few minutes, the black-haired officer stepped back inside to check if the convict was ready, and the group fell back into the initial formation with the two male guards at her side and the two female officers standing before and behind her. As they marched through the hallways, Ai saw the sun rising through the only window in the main hallway of her prison wing.

"Hey look! Officer Niigaki brought us a new toy to play with!"

Ai was broken from her trance, looking along the walls of the hallway to find that women were lined side-by-side in front of their respective cells. It was time for the morning roll call. The stern officer and her female partner remained at the first level of the wing, settling in with the group of guards that were already there. Once the male guards dropped Ai back to her position at her own cell, they soon after joined the officer named Niigaki down on the first floor.

She could feel eyes from all directions staring at her. Ai nervously passed glances down the line of her side of the hallway, down toward the first floor of the opposite hallway, and coming back full circle to the portion of the hallway directly opposite of her cell. The women in her wing all seemed relatively young, and Ai began to wonder if she was in the midst of high-security juvenile delinquents. It was difficult to base any sort of opinion on first impressions, and she surely had no idea what these other convicts were capable of. There was no taking chances here, not with these kinds of women.

"All cells cleared, except for cell #1111," reported a male officer making his rounds on the second floor cells grouped across from Ai's cell.

The innocent woman looked down to the first floor, watching as the officer named Niigaki gritted her teeth and whipped out her officer's baton from its sheath at her side. Her heels clanked and echoed as she stomped her way to the second floor. "Damnit Tanaka, I will have your head if you don't hurry your ass up and get out of here," the officer seethed, banging her metal baton against the bars of the cell. The convict in cell #1111 did not appear to be fazed by the ruckus caused by the irritated officer, however.

"The rest of you are dismissed. I'll deal with Tanaka."

As the convicts lined up and marched in single-file to the prison dining area, Ai tried to catch a peek of who this Tanaka woman was. She watched as Niigaki and two other male officers stepped inside the cell, but the convict behind her in line pushed her forward. The cafeteria was more than a few meters away from the cell hallways that housed the inmates.

The sound of marched steps transitioned to the familiar sound of women engaged in regular conversation upon entering the dining area. But as Ai and the rest of the women ushered in for breakfast settled down to their routine that morning, friendly banter was soon interrupted by the sound of horrific screaming, no doubt originating from the cell of the perpetrator that had made the mistake of crossing paths with officer Niigaki.

--------------


Ok. This is it, I swear. I'm not writing anymore. I'm gonna go on vacation and just not bring my laptop. Yep. That's it. I swear. I've written enough. I want you all to update now. Go <3 PLEASE <3333333 I quit. I'm on hiatus. I mean it. Foreal.




« Last Edit: June 08, 2012, 10:04:33 PM by kjpop »

Offline darkacex99

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Re: Quid Pro Quo - Omake I Updated 6/8
« Reply #6 on: June 08, 2012, 10:57:08 PM »
Huh??? Wat??? Haitus?!?! For real?? Noooooo :panic: i wanna know wat risa did to reina and juss how the rest of the story develops... :huhuh dont gooOo this story is too good

Offline mochi.rini

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Re: Quid Pro Quo - Omake I Updated 6/8
« Reply #7 on: June 08, 2012, 11:13:55 PM »
Vacation?  :cry: No updates?  :gyaaah: SAY IT AIN'T SO~ :pleeease:
...
...
...
...
...
...fine...but if you're not updating relatively quick afterwords, expect your thread(s) to be spammed with annoying messages full of emotions AKA whining (>w<)

AND THEY SHOULD TOTALLY UPDATE B&B + RGTGU~  :panic:  Anyone know how to contact UFA and demand them to stick Risa in an action film with a gun, battle scars, tattoos, and a brilliant attitude? :3

ANYWAYS~
officer Niigaki~ <3  :luvluv1:  Though you are a complete turd to these people....still so cool~ :3  Is the other officer Sayu?  Half of me thinks Kame, just because of the spam of Kame pictures from Reina and Sayu's blogs :)  And I feel like Sayu is evi~iiiiiiiiiiiil!

Back to Risa....:luvluv1:  even if she probably did hurt Reina (or so I assume)...still cool ^_^

This is going to be Aichan's first full day at this reformatory and within the first second...it S.U.C.K.E.D :O  As much as I wanna say "Ooh hopefully it'll get better and they can all have a happy ending~ <3" NO.  THIS IS JAIL.  HAPPINESS=getting beat by Officer Niigaki (:heart:)

You didn't specify who screamed at the end...Reina's too epic to scream...Risa's too epic to scream...it must've been one of the guys.  Yup. :3

I HOPE TO SEE MORE!  or I shall stalk you  8)2

P.S. if there's more Silence of the Lamb references, I may not get them.  I only know of the title one since my sister (who had a phase of being completely and utterly obsessed with the Hannibal series) would recite lines 24/7 and that was one of the main ones XD
Hi~iiya!~  (>^_^)>
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Offline kawaii beam

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Re: Quid Pro Quo - Omake I Updated 6/8
« Reply #8 on: June 08, 2012, 11:59:39 PM »
theres no way you can leave us hanging like that!!!! D: think of the stuff u'll miss! D: have a good vaycay though ;3;
please visit kawaii-chan's avie's and siggies!

Offline risa_ai

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Re: Quid Pro Quo - Omake I Updated 6/8
« Reply #9 on: June 09, 2012, 03:14:56 AM »
I see a cliffhanger~ *sings*
HOLY. An angst story? >< ME NO WAN AI DIE! D:

Offline rndmnwierd

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Re: Quid Pro Quo - Omake I Updated 6/8
« Reply #10 on: June 09, 2012, 04:06:30 AM »
Dang, Gaki is a badass guard! And Sayu, too?! There's no way Gaki's a bad guy... Is there? :shocked

Offline Quietriot

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Re: Quid Pro Quo - Omake I Updated 6/8
« Reply #11 on: June 09, 2012, 05:39:43 AM »
Oh my hearts, stars and horseshoes. Okay first, let me just say I've basically died with laughter over all of your comments today, and had to endure strange looks from my best friend for my :D face. Except maybe, imagine it with evil fangs and maybe that's more accurate, heheh. (Gangster's Paradise? Well, I did grow up in the ghetto...) I can always be bribed~ that being said, I'm starting to get the hint about updating from, uh, EVERYONE. lol perhaps something tonight...

That being said, onwards to this chapter. OW MY KOKORO. The description of Ai's first day is just painful, bro. I know I've made her out to be a pseudo-bad guy in my own fic but I think I gotta establish that I am a fan of Aichan and during this whole chapter I just wanted to scoop her up and give her a big damn hug. T___T

Black haired female I'm assuming is Sayu. She's really the only one who comes to my mind anyway, with that description. Badass Officer Gaki?! Yes please. :heart: She can slap cuffs on me any day of the year, man, I'll go willingly~ I agree with Rini, even if she just beat the crap out of Reina (which I'm doubting, I have my own guesses as to what just happened) she's still swoon-worthy.

...Anyway so it's an update war you're looking for, eh? You gotta know you've just thrown down the gauntlet to the wrongggggg girl. I have the tendency to make people beg. And this is gonna end up being one of those "Well, I just updated so NO MOAR FIC UNTIL YOU UPDATE TOO!" things.

Challenge accepted.

Offline CHLoe_Li

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Re: Quid Pro Quo - Omake I Updated 6/8
« Reply #12 on: June 09, 2012, 03:07:52 PM »
More.. moree.. moreeee about Takagaki... Pleassseeeeee  :P :jphip: :peace:

Offline kjpop

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Re: Quid Pro Quo - Chapter Two 6/11
« Reply #13 on: June 12, 2012, 03:37:37 AM »
I think I speak on behalf the other writers when I say we do not plan to all update at the same time xD It just happens to work out that way.


darkacex99 - Just hang around. You'll see in good time ;D

mochi - I totally support putting Gaki into some action movies. Her reactions would be flawless xD She just needs to grow back her Renai Hunter hair and she'll be golden aha I swear, UFA has some brilliant actresses under their wing, and they have even more brilliant scripts and plots under their disposal HERE AT JPHIP WOOP WOOP  :jphip: Sometimes I wish we could just actually direct these movies IRL They'd be best sellers, box office hits FO SHO.

Nah, that was the only Silence of the Lambs reference. I don't think I'm gonna be making references about fava beans or something like that here LOL But there will be other movie references along the way =]

LOL @ your getting beat by gaki with <3's comment lol I think we're both sick sadists or something. I'm just going to keep making jail worse for Ai, and I feel kind of bad for doing so, but girl's gotta build some character, right? HAHAHAHIMSUCHASICKHUMANBEINGOHMYGOD.

kiwi - <3333 I won't be gone for long~ NOT WITH THIS CHALLENGE GOING ON! NOT ON MY DIGNITY DAMNIT.

risa_ai - not angst LOL not yet anyway. *cue villainous laughter*

rndy - I'll leave it to you to decide. Details details!!!! We're essentially playing a huge game of CLUE lol

Quietriot
- I'm sorry for making your friend think you're crazy ^^; I like showering authors with love and affection, because I know how much a bitch it can be to just sit down and write <3 Just showing my appreciation <333

Be prepared, btw. You're only going to want to hold her for the rest of the damn story LOL You might wanna skewer me (and some other people) along the way haha Sayu and Gaki are a tag-team...sort of LOL You'll see. And I totally agree with getting cuffed ;D Totes wouldn't mind lol And we're gonna see here who won the battle in cell #1111~ sorry ahead of time for disappointing you hahah

AND HO HO HO, THIS CHALLENGE IS SOOOOOOO ON~ Who told you of my gambling addiction, HMM?!?!? I can't say no to bets T__T It's a problem ahha

CHLoe_Li - I feel so bad whenever I see people want Takagaki, or like ships in general here LOL It's not meant to be that way, unfortunately. Maybe in a roundabout way, but definitely not the usual. Go read the other wonderful fics by all the other wonderful authors here for your fluffy romance fix <33333 They're all wonderful and great!! Only come here if you want to see me ruin your OTPs and destroy their lives hahha

---------

Chapter Two: The Inferno

She felt like she was in high school all over again, if one were to only trade the co-ed uniformed, semi-innocent population of impressionable youths for a large number of female criminals dressed in neon orange jumpsuits. Ai picked up her tray of gruel and stale-looking rice and stood off in a corner of the dining area, searching for a table. Prison life, from what she deduced, was really no different from high school. Most of the women seemed to be conglomerated into groups, or gangs rather, and many of the convicts shot her dangerous glares whenever she tried to occupy a portion of their respective tables. If this were high school, Ai was the loser that ate her bento alone in a bathroom stall until it was time for classes to resume.

Luckily, she spotted a table off by the garbage area in the opposite corner of the room. It smelled quite literally of trash, but it was a table, and no threatening stares were passing her way. She picked at the rice on her tray with her wooden chopsticks, hesitating for a short while as she examined the stale grains before popping it in her mouth to find that it was just like chewing on small pebbles. The "rice" scraped against her teeth like sandpaper with each bite, but damn it all she was hungry, even if it would take some getting used to. There was little she could do to dispute the matter anyway.

Five trays suddenly slammed on the table, with five different women materializing at the table shortly after. Ai looked up to see her company was an odd group of women that all seemed somewhat friendly at first glance. One could never be so sure, though.

"Prison food not to your liking, new girl?" one of them quipped as she settled herself beside the innocent loner. She had very long black hair, and her eyes turned into pleasant half moons as she smiled, her lips parting and revealing a cute little snaggle tooth whenever she did. This one didn't seem too...dangerous.

"...I can't complain," Ai muttered, poking at the questionable looking substance she dubbed as gruel.

"Don't eat that if you value your guts, new girl," another stated flatly. This one had long black hair also, but her appearance seemed less welcoming in comparison to the first. Ai couldn't read an ounce of expression on her face, and that made her feel unsteady as she took a seat beside her.

"...So what's your name, new girl?" a third one questioned. She seemed relatively taller than the rest of the four girls, even while sitting. Her hair felt just past her shoulders, and though her expression was as blank as a piece of printer paper, Ai felt a little more at ease with this woman than the former. She had an airhead-like quality about her voice that made her seem a bit more endearing than harmful, and that alone was comforting.

"T-Takahashi Ai."

"What're you in for, new girl?" the last two asked in unison, giggling like school girls after realizing they had just verbalized the same thoughts. Unlike the other three of the group, these two younger looking girls had their hair dyed into different shades of brown, though one had shorter hair and the other had hers tied back in a high ponytail. They both seemed much too young to be locked up in these prison walls, but their seemingly innocent exterior undoubtedly hid their true, conniving natures.

Ai looked up from her puddle of gruel to look each of the five girls in the eyes. None of them seemed like they wanted to outright cause any bodily harm to her, which was something of a relief after the morning she had. Paranoia might have wanted her to believe otherwise, but in this sort of hostile environment, she needed all the friends she could get, even if it was merely false security. "I'm...I'm innocent. I don't belong here..."

The group of five shared an amused look amongst themselves before bursting out in a fit of uncontrollable laughter, earning a few murderous stares from nearby tables directed their way. The unwanted attention made the innocent woman even more uncomfortable, and she sank lower in her bench to avoid the stares from other inmates.

Their hearty display simmered down eventually, and each of the girls took in a few deep breaths to calm themselves down back into the conversation. "Sorry about that, new girl, but you're a funny one. You'll fit right in," the snaggle-toothed one said, patting the innocent woman on her back appreciatively. "But seriously, what are you in for 'supposedly' then?"

"Laundering finances, corporate espionage, and attempted murder..."

The dense looking one whistled. "Damn, new girl. Triple threat, huh?"

"Corporate espionage, hmm? We've got a real badass over here, ladies. You must be quite the smart one to be making money off an honest living," the expressionless woman responded as she swirled her chopsticks in the pool of crud on her plate in boredom.

Were they toying with her? She was never one to be so easily unnerved by insolent taunting, but being thrown in jail for a crime she did not commit and being humiliated in the course of 24 hours or so was enough to wear her patience to its breaking point. "I said I didn't do it," Ai retorted, slamming her fists against the table in her frustration.

"Whoa whoa, calm down there, new girl. No one said you did." The snaggle-toothed female carefully took Ai's tray away from her proximity before speaking again. "I'm Suzuki Airi by the way, and that right there is Yajima Maimi," she pointed to the dense looking woman, "...and this one here is Nakajima Saki," she pointed to the the expressionless female beside her, "...that one's Okai Chisato," she pointed to the short haired younger woman, "...and finally we've got Hagiwara Mai right there," pointing to the ponytailed girl.

Ordinary looking girls, with ordinary sounding names. It was hard to believe that these women were capable of crime at all. Ai was slow to question, but eventually curiosity had won the battle. "It's a pleasure, but...what are you all in for?"

Again, the snaggle-toothed one named Airi spoke up for the group while the rest busied themselves with eating the crap off their plates. "Nothing quite as impressive as yours, new girl. We were arrested for partaking in a contraband circle. You know, providing yakuza members all over Japan with decent artillery and whatnot. It's nothing really."

Chisato scoffed. "Pfft, don't be so modest, Airi," she paused to wave her chopsticks and make sure she had the new girl's attention. "You heard about that epic robbery attempt at Asahi bank in Tokyo two years ago? Made headlines for weeks! Those idiots were using our smuggled firearms. Top of the line stuff. They were just too stupid to use 'em right," she said proudly, taking a bite out of her stale rice.

Ai opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted when an uproar of jeers and catcalls overtook the entire dining area. She looked toward the entrance of the vicinity to find that officer Niigaki had strolled in with her usual hardened scowl and not a single hair out of place, followed by the inmate that she could only assume to be the one called Tanaka from cell #1111. It didn't take a genius to figure out who had won that battle, however.The convict looked like she had seen better days. She had sported a black eye, a bloodied lower lip, and a few red hand marks around her neck like some sort of choke hold imprint. The broken inmate shot her adoring crowd with a deadly glare as she walked through the cafeteria line to get her breakfast.

The innocent woman examined the convict carefully. She noted her honey brown hair and the woman's misaligned sharp eyes through her ruffled fringe; her orange uniform resembled a giant neon garbage bag that was two sizes too big. Ai almost wondered if the defiant inmate was starved during her stay here at the reformatory; the inmate's stick thin arms exposed through rolled sleeves were a frightening indication of possible starvation, and it made her sick just thinking about it. This woman didn't seem like being capable of any sort of criminal activity either or capable of a good fight for that matter, but she did prove to be a thorn at officer Niigaki's side. Ai quickly averted her attention away when she noticed the beaten up woman taking a seat at the far end of her dining table. The way she sat and picked at her grubby meal resembled something of a yankii, her lips muttering some presumable silent curses as she grudgingly ate her breakfast.

Airi leaned from the table to get a better angled view of the yankii at the opposite end. "Another day, another beating, hmm Reina? Just can't get enough of that officer Niigaki, hmm?" she jeered, before leaning back to her original position.

The yankii was not amused. She threw her chopsticks at the snaggle-toothed woman, but the latter had managed to duck from the line of fire just in time. Growling over her poor aim, the yankii shoved her untouched tray out of her way so she could rest her head upon folded arms on the table.

Airi laughed in her seat, her attention returning to the new girl in her midst. "Those two are like fire and ice, you know? Anytime Reina can get under officer Niigaki's skin, she will. And then the officer will proceed to beat the shit out her. It's like this at least once a week. Wouldn't mind getting caught in a cell with that officer though," she mused airily, leaning her chin against a loose fist as she gazed upon the decorated officer pacing along the cafeteria.

Maimi slapped Airi's head playfully, earning a frown from the daydreamer. "You know you're a messed up con that's spent one too many days in prison if you start developing some Stockholm complex over the resident head of the guards."

The five girls of the group laughed, while Ai smiled sheepishly in good nature. She herself didn't have the most pleasant first encounters with the stern officer. A shiver ran down her spine as she recalled the events of this morning. Perhaps Airi's strange infatuation with the cold-hearted officer had some actual substance behind it, though...

As if on cue, the officer of interest emerged from the crowd to their specific table. She wore her usual pokerface as she perused the faces, pausing to linger on the yankii at the end of the table before addressing the latest addition to the facility. "Takahashi, you've been assigned to work with the cleaning services. You will follow officer Michishige to your respective location upon roll call. Understood?"

Ai nodded, and the officer paced back to the front of the cafeteria with the other guards on duty.

Airi sighed happily, and the other four girls rolled their eyes. "Laundry duty for the new girl? What a drag for you," Saki commented, taking a sip from her cup.

"Is it that bad?" Ai asked.

"Not really, if sorting soiled cloth strikes your fancy. It's the dumps, though," Maimi commented. "And you've got two of the most spineless ass-hats in the facility working down there."

"You'll see when you get there," Mai chirped happily.

---------

The innocent convict hadn't a clue what any of the contraband girls meant by their "spineless ass-hats" comments as she was marched through the hallways of the housing cells with a roller collecting bin. There was hardly anyone else in her midst, aside from the few guards that were scattered about to keep watch. The black-haired officer from that morning was the Michishige figure that officer Niigaki had referred to during breakfast, and Ai was incredibly thankful to be under this guard's watch as opposed to the latter. Though her voice had a somewhat irritating nasal-quality to it, at least she seemed to have more of a heart than the head of the guards.

After collecting all the dirtied sheets, Ai was directed to a lower level of the facility. It was a dark, tangled maze of corridors and rooms, boilers and furnaces, piles upon piles of cleaning detergents and lines of retrograde washing machines along the very heart of the lowest level. Here the innocent convict found herself in greater company, spotting more than a few orange uniforms scattered about the area, with officers lined up along the perimeter as expected.

Michishige kept a close eye on her; she could feel it. She could feel the officer's eyes following her as she rolled her cart to the nearest washing station, and a familiar shiver ran down the convict's spine. So much for any benefit of the doubt with that one. Ai wondered if the seemingly kinder officer was capable of driving inmates to their knees like her commanding officer. It was difficult to fathom as she recalled how gently the woman had handled her post-shower earlier this morning, but the paranoia was making her manic, and she chose instead to focus her mind on the mundane task she was assigned.

"Hey, slow down with dumping that crap in here, new girl." Ai turned away from the penetrating gaze of the black-haired officer to meet the eyes of her scolder. This woman was as young as the Mai and Chisato contraband girls from lunch, maybe older, and her hair was just about the same shade of brunette as well. With her thin lips and puppy dog eyes, she hardly seemed like a threat just like the rest of them. Ai slowed in passing off the dirtied sheets, wondering what this woman was in for...

When the other half of their two-way assembly line wasn't responding and receiving her sheets, Ai looked up to find her brunette partner bickering with a taller, black-haired female for bumping into her for the nth time that morning. This other female was impressively tall, but looked incredibly lanky and ditzy to boot. Her bright, wide eyes were so doe-like, she seemed more like a lost child than a criminal. And it wasn't until the two women were up in arms, that Ai realized how sickeningly pale both inmates were against the fluorescent lights of the room.

"You two!!" The bickering women stopped their argument upon hearing the oddly stern squeaky sounding voice at the opposite end of the room. "Shut up and get back to work!"

Though the order was not directed towards her, Ai couldn't help but stare at the commanding officer of the division. It seemed as though with each passing second, her initial impressions of the woman were being torn down brick by brick. This was bothering her to no end, and she had no idea why. Despite herself, Ai had this nagging inkling that the officer was not the person she portrayed herself to be. Whatever that true personality would be was a thought for another time of day.

"So, Takahashi right? Corporate espionage criminal who insists she's not guilty?"

The innocent woman stopped mid-pass to look at the brunette in disbelief. "How did you...?"

"Find out?" the taller woman interrupted, grabbing the sheets from the confused Ai. "You're in a women's penitentiary. Word gets around faster than a bad case of chlamydia."

"Gotta hand it to you, new girl, that's pretty impressive," commented the brunette as she struggled to stuff the last of the sheets into the washing machine. "...Even if you didn't supposedly do it."

"...Thanks, I guess."

The trio rolled the collection bin off to the side while the machine did its business, and waited in the wings by few crates of detergent. They remained relatively silent for some time, and Ai could somehow feel officer Michishige's eyes once more piercing straight through the crates right at her. Her involuntary shiver was interrupted when the brunette randomly face-palmed herself. "How rude of us. I'm Mitsui Aika by the way, and this idiot here is Kusumi Koharu."

Ai nodded her head to acknowledge her new company, her attention briefly caught by the sudden appearance of the black-haired officer rounding the corner of the room to finally come into her line of view. Something...just wasn't right with her, Ai mused. "...And what are you in for?...If you don't mind me asking..."

Koharu shook her head, a goofy grin on her face as she replied. "Hacking."

"Yeah, we got a little careless," Aika added, rolling the collection bin with the heel of her foot. "We started out with hacking into bank computer systems to get some penny change for some good times after classes at university. But after we realized how easy it was, we moved on to breaking into corporate finance holds."

"But even that wasn't enough!" the taller woman chirped. "We started making some contacts with the black market, and a lot of money was on the line for some of Japan's nuclear weaponry. So we hacked into the National Defense system and managed to re-route a fresh set of nukes to the North Koreans for some big cash."

"...We obviously got caught. The government managed to trace the codes back to our apartment and here we are..." Aika sighed, pushing the cart away with a half-hearted kick.

The cart rolled off toward the washing machines until a hand prematurely stopped it along the way. Officer Michishige pushed the cart back toward the trio, who in some fearful act of nervousness stood straight upon her arrival, arms pinned tightly along their sides. Ai dared to make eye contact with the phantom guard, finding herself at a loss with the woman all over again. The officer lacked that chilling look in her eyes that Niigak had, but there was something else trapped behind those seemingly unfeeling black orbs...but what?

"Get in line. It's time for lunch." Her voice was uncharacteristically low, and somehow still managed to squeak as it left her throat. She was a peculiar figure to Ai, and she watched the officer carefully as the trio marched to their positions and proceeded to the main floor of the institution.

----

This really was high school, Ai thought to herself.

As the innocent convict settled herself at an empty table by the garbage for lunch, she found herself in the mixed company of the contraband group from that morning and the hackers from the cleaning services. The combination was explosive. It had been mainly Saki and Maimi exchanging insults with the hackers, discussing their superiority in the realm of crime and execution to the "tech geeks'" cowardice driven set of algorithmic manipulations, while the remaining contraband convicts ignored the additional company altogether. This childish dispute obviously happened far too frequently for the rest to even feign interest anymore.

"So what's with that Tanaka girl?" Ai questioned the trio.

Airi shrugged her shoulders. "No one really knows why Reina's the way she is, or why officer Niigaki seems to have it out for her. Our group has been here the longest, as far as we know, but Reina's been here even longer. Whatever caused this probably happened well before the time we arrived. You're better asking her yourself."

"But good luck with that. Reina isn't exactly as welcoming as the rest of us. If anything, she's single-handedly managed to have everyone in the reformatory put her on their personal shit lists," Mai added.

Chisato laughed into her drink, spotting portions of the table with her beverage. "Do you guys remember that one time she got caught in a fist-fight in the showers? That was AWESOME!"

As the convicts recollected the scene happily amongst themselves, Ai tuned out from the conversation to steal a glance at the yankii. She sat by her lonesome at the edge of another dining table, looking bored as she poked at her meal in her own disinterest. There was no reason for Ai to hold any suspicions or ill-will against the inmate, but much like officer Michishige, and to an extent, officer Niigaki, there was something about these three figures that piqued her interest, something...she just couldn't place her finger on.

------

Similar to the times of recklessness and injury-causing incidences on the playgrounds during the recess periods of one's middle school days, leisure time at the reformatory held the same potential for danger according Ai's observances. The innocent woman wandered the dirt grounds of the open recreational field, tossing a pebble up in the air and catching it as she silently surveyed the environment.

The hackers opted to huddle together against the shade of the institution, no doubt as a result of their habituation from several years of cooping themselves before their computers. The members of the contraband group were off in a corner, surrounded by other inmates Ai was not familiar with. They seemed to be engaged in some sort of auction-like activity as Airi and the members of her group pointed left and right to raised hands in the surrounding crowd.

As she wandered closer to the group, she noticed Reina standing with her back against the wall, her mismatched eyes scanning the grounds for any potential intruders venturing into her personal space. The two had made brief eye contact, causing Ai to drop her pebble absently. The yankii did not seem to care enough to acknowledge her existence as she broke their contact to continue scanning the area. Unsatisfied with their all too brief "encounter," Ai's eyes chose to not leave the lone wolf yankii's, her sights set solely on the isolated woman as her feet led her to wherever her destination happened to be.

"Hey, new girl, care to join?"

The sound of Maimi's airy voice tore Ai's attention away from her figure of interest. The crowd surrounding the contraband members parted to allow the innocent woman entry. "What exactly are you doing?"

The convicts exchanged knowing smiles. Airi reached out a hand to pull their latest addition closer inside their circle. Verifying she had the innocent woman's full attention, the snaggle-toothed convict held out her arm, tilting it downward until a several packs of cigarettes slid straight into her open palm from underneath her sleeve.

Ai felt her jaw drop in surprise. These criminals quite literally had a variety of tricks up their sleeves, so to speak. "How did you manage to get those?"

Airi winked at her shocked onlooker. "We may be stuck here in jail, but that won't stop us from doing what we do best! We can get you whatever you'd like."

"The five of us might have been unlucky enough to get caught, but there are even more of us out there. Connections are key, after all," Saki added, handing some cigarettes to a few inmates in the crowd.

"What's the catch?" Ai asked as she watched Saki and the others bargain and barter with other female  convicts.

"No catch, really. We need to have our fun somehow. So we make bets with one another, and to the winner go the spoils. Plus, it's fun to know how easily we can get away with these things even under 'high security'," Chisato stated, a mischievous smirk plain on her features.

The innocent woman shrugged her shoulders. She was definitely impressed with how these women managed to take advantage of the system, and their cunning and skills would surely be an asset someday.

Ai eased away from the crowd to return to her original task of observing. She noted a particular group of women running laps around the periphery of the field, only because they had made regular passes around the loner yankii against the wall. Tugging on Mai's sleeve without losing sight of the marathoners, Ai asked, "Who are they?"

The youngest of the contraband group walked closer to Ai as she pointed to the female running laps. "Oh, you mean the bombers?"

"Ehhhh?"

"Yeah," Mai began, walking away towards their direction and away from the rowdy auction crowd. "Shortly after we arrived, these girls got stuck here, too. They're all bomb specialists and mercenary fighters, assassins, stuff like that. Can beat you up and blow your guts in one fell swoop. You'd be wise to not get on their bad side, new girl. They've been known for killing other inmates that rubbed them the wrong way."

"What the- Watch where you're standing, bitch!"

Ai had wanted to look into the eyes of the person she had the misfortune of running into, but soon felt her heart racing in a frenzied panic when she realized the victim in this scenario would be herself instead. The innocent woman began to cower back in fear once she recognized the oncoming attacker to be one of the convicts that belonged to the bomber assassins group running their rounds, her breathing growing more frantic when she found herself cornered between the stone wall fence and the raging beast coming toward her. She could only shut her eyes tightly and turn away as she felt the attacker's strong hands lifting her body up against the wall and smashing her against the stone foundation repeatedly.

"HEY, HEY! MAASA WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

At once, the thrashing stopped, but Ai could still feel the woman's hands pinning her shoulders forcefully against the wall. She cracked open an eye to find the contraband girls, the hackers, the beast's ragtag comrades, and officer Michishige surrounding them in a concentrated half-circle. "Put her down, Maasa."

The beastly woman growled, crushing the innocent woman's shoulders against the wall one last time before dropping her gruffly to the ground. The monstrous convict clashed shoulders with the petite guard as she made her exit, making sure the officer heard every last curse she muttered under her breath as she returned to her laps.

"Get on your feet, Takahashi," the dark-haired officer ordered.

Ai did as she was told, though she found it a bit difficult to breath steadily after that beating. Her eyes once again met with the black-haired officer's as the latter surveyed her beaten body for any alarming bruises. The guard seemed to be satisfied with the victim's current condition, giving her a hard look before walking back to where the other officers stood on duty.

"What was that about, new girl?"

She broke from her trance to find Airi and Koharu patting the dust from her dirtied uniform. "I'm not...too sure."

Shaking her head from anymore thoughts about the peculiar guard and stilling her heart after facing death in the form of a beastly bomber, Ai scanned the half-circle of bodies that surrounded her. Most of the wild woman's posse had evacuated the scene to return to their previous activities, except for one of the shorter members of the group. The petite figure pushed passed the hackers and the contraband girls to face Ai directly.

"I apologize on behalf of the group for what happened, new girl. Maasa's got...quite the temper, to say the least," the tiny woman stated, extending her hand in front of her for an apologetic shake. "Captain, by the way."

Ai took the gesture kindly, shaking the woman's hand in return. The innocent convict looked around to find her new circle of "friends" smiling in relief. They were definitely a motley crew of females, but at least it made Ai feel a bit less alone in Project Morning. She was convinced she wouldn't make it through her first night, that the despair of being convicted for a crime she did not commit would lead her into suicide. But through some forgiving stroke of luck, here she was in the company of some friendly faces, willing to at least give her the impression that they would help her ease into her "new life."

The injustice of her conviction would never be erased from her mind, not this easily of course. But that was something she would worry about tomorrow. For now, it was necessary to establish some human connection to protect her overall fragility, to set the foundation of her vengeance into place. Before making some noise of her own, she would settle for the serene silence of the new world around her, the rapid beating of her heart finally stilling to its regular pace.

...Until a heart-dropping cry of absolute pain ripped through the otherwise calm skies of the common grounds. The women in the half-circle exchanged silent looks of confusion, soon joining the rush of other inmates toward a specific corner of the grounds to get a look of what just happened.

The group pushed their way through the crowd, only to be restrained by some officers that separated the inmates from the scene. To Ai's horror, she found a group of young girls isolated from the rest of the convicts, no older than 15 perhaps, standing off toward one side of the crowd while two other teenage girls stood at either side of the bloodied remains of what could only be a male officer. Both of the girls had blood dripping from their arms and staining even their mouths, yet neither the duo or the group off to the side surrendered any expression on their faces. They were frightfully expressionless.

Officer Niigaki and a group of muscular male officers broke through the crowd to retrieve the two bloodied inmates and dragged them with little struggled to a separate corridor of the institution. Ai wondered if this gruesome occurrence was routine with the way the guards had acted without any direct orders from their head.

Michishige walked up to her commanding officer, who was currently examining the remains of one of their own. It made Ai shudder as she noted the equally blank expression on the head guard's face. Did that woman have a soul? The two women exchanged words as other guards busied themselves with carrying the shredded remnants of a corpse to a separate corridor in the facility. Niigaki nodded in silence while her black-haired partner presumably reported the events of the crime, apathetically kicking dirt over the pool of blood as she listened.

Interest amongst the inmates dissipated as they all began to line up at the sound of the alarm signaling the conclusion of their leisure time. As Ai fell into position, she felt a tapping on her shoulder. She looked behind her to see Aika smiling, her index finger motioning the innocent woman to lean in before they processed back to their cleaning service duties. "Welcome to Project Morning, Takahashi, where the good times just keep rolling."

-----


And now you've met our lovely jailbirds. Well, most of them anyway LOL Toned it down a few notches since the omake kind of wasn't so sweet lol I mean, if you completely disregard that last scene lol

Have you been paying attention to details? ;D Have I successfully made you suspicious of the guards, and Reina? HMMM!??!?! lol

All this serious bidness is making me go rawr ahha I should probably go back to HnK and get all happy again xD Because I miss writing Takagaki~ And Ai being the smoothest operator and Risa being in denial LOL And you know, love and funny things in general LOL Because after this chapter, things will just keep getting worse for our heroine T__T

 
« Last Edit: June 12, 2012, 04:20:25 AM by kjpop »

Offline risa_ai

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Re: Quid Pro Quo - Chapter Two 6/11
« Reply #14 on: June 12, 2012, 03:59:44 AM »
RISA IS AN OFFICER?! Well, GOOD AFTERNOON. xD ohmahgosh. Ohmah. I don't know what to ;_;

Offline Quietriot

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Re: Quid Pro Quo - Chapter Two 6/11
« Reply #15 on: June 12, 2012, 05:23:56 AM »
Oh my goodness. OH MY GOODNESS. I've read the chapter twice now and still Im all asdfghjklasdhklfsl- In a good way of course. :heart: I'll come back to edit this with a decent response, perhaps after a third pass. XD

Help, still not composed, but gonna do my best now to comment. XD

Quote
I think I speak on behalf the other writers when I say we do not plan to all update at the same time xD It just happens to work out that way.

LOLZ. Yeah what even is up with that... It's like this place is a wasteland for a few days and then BAM-  :panic: And I gotta spend like two days recovering from the writing and editing and commenting XD

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I'm sorry for making your friend think you're crazy ^^; I like showering authors with love and affection, because I know how much a bitch it can be to just sit down and write <3 Just showing my appreciation <333

Heheh~ don't apologize <3 When I complain it's mostly lies so read everything like its opposite day and you'll get what I'm sayin'.

And, bleh, my intuition is really hit or miss when it comes to stories. Either I'm dead on or dead wrong, but I'll keep trying to speculate about stuff! I'm getting a good cop, bad cop vibe with Sayu and Gaki butttt Sayu scares me so damn much I do not think she's the good cop half. xD and you can't say no to bets? I shall keep that in mind... -cackles-

Now, onto the chapter itself. C-UTE! BERRYZ! AIKAKOHA COMBI! All my excitement. All of it. I think I'd forgotten you said this was gonna be an extended cast so upon first mention of H!P Kids I rolled around on the floor with much happiness (jk, but I did it in my head, fa sho XD ) I'm certainly interested to see what roles they all play, and as much as I'd like to think Ai could just be pals with all of them all the time happy happy unicorns rainbows I am SUSPICIOUS that that won't happen.

Still, seems like the greater threat to our heroine's well being here might be the cops and guards. (Especially Sayu. Do not trust. IT'S THE QUIET ONES, MAN. Er- THE ONES THAT WATCH YOU WITH THEIR CREEPY EYES.)

...And I still... just can't get Tanagaki off the brain. XD Help.

Ahah~ Quite pleased with the setup here~ <3 You fantastic writer, you. I'm too excited to even throw down anymore right now! XD


« Last Edit: June 12, 2012, 03:58:53 PM by Quietriot »

Offline mochi.rini

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Re: Quid Pro Quo - Chapter Two 6/11
« Reply #16 on: June 12, 2012, 08:24:57 PM »
I'm leaving a comment.  I swear I will.  :bow: I just need to read this a few more times to swoon (officer Niigaki~  :heart:) and gasp before I gush :3

Yeah...prison with a million cute, but scary girls?  Totes not worth willingly getting arrested (SO DON'T YOU DARE FEMALE WOTAS XD)

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She looked toward the entrance of the vicinity to find that officer Niigaki had strolled in with her usual hardened scowl and not a single hair out of place, followed by the inmate that she could only assume to be the one called Tanaka from cell #1111. It didn't take a genius to figure out who had won that battle, however.The convict looked like she had seen better days. She had sported a black eye, a bloodied lower lip, and a few red hand marks around her neck like some sort of choke hold imprint. The broken inmate shot her adoring crowd with a deadly glare as she walked through the cafeteria line to get her breakfast.
Ouch.  I guess Reina was easier to beat then I thought...though she's most definitely holding back.  Reina's too much of a yankii to get pwned that easily  8)  GO OFFICER NIIGAKI!~  :heart: way to enforce the rules~ \(^ u ^)/

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Michishige kept a close eye on her; she could feel it. She could feel the officer's eyes following her as she rolled her cart to the nearest washing station, and a familiar shiver ran down the convict's spine. So much for any benefit of the doubt with that one.
You call it "keeping a close eye"....Rini thinks Sayu is just being her pervy self and checking out some Aibutt  :hehehe:

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"But even that wasn't enough!" the taller woman chirped. "We started making some contacts with the black market, and a lot of money was on the line for some of Japan's nuclear weaponry. So we hacked into the National Defense system and managed to re-route a fresh set of nukes to the North Koreans for some big cash."
wtf?  That's messed up dude!   :shocked That's is SO SO SO messed up!  Gah if that were to really happen..I'd have to hide.  Why would you do that MittsiKoha?  Gaaaaaaaah~  :panic:

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The innocent woman began to cower back in fear once she recognized the oncoming attacker to be one of the convicts that belonged to the bomber assassins group running their rounds, her breathing growing more frantic when she found herself cornered between the stone wall fence and the raging beast coming toward her. She could only shut her eyes tightly and turn away as she felt the attacker's strong hands lifting her body up against the wall and smashing her against the stone foundation repeatedly.
:shock: When the Hulk turns angry, he turns into Sudou Maasa  :on kimbo:

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The group pushed their way through the crowd, only to be restrained by some officers that separated the inmates from the scene. To Ai's horror, she found a group of young girls isolated from the rest of the convicts, no older than 15 perhaps, standing off toward one side of the crowd while two other teenage girls stood at either side of the bloodied remains of what could only be a male officer. Both of the girls had blood dripping from their arms and staining even their mouths, yet neither the duo or the group off to the side surrendered any expression on their faces. They were frightfully expressionless.
:stoned:  ...was that....holy crap...you DID NOT just...oh geeez.  :on freeze: GET THESE LADIES SOME FAVA BEANS AND SOME CHIANTI!  STAT!

Quote
Michishige walked up to her commanding officer, who was currently examining the remains of one of their own. It made Ai shudder as she noted the equally blank expression on the head guard's face. Did that woman have a soul? The two women exchanged words as other guards busied themselves with carrying the shredded remnants of a corpse to a separate corridor in the facility. Niigaki nodded in silence while her black-haired partner presumably reported the events of the crime, apathetically kicking dirt over the pool of blood as she listened.
why are they acting like this is okay?   why is everyone else acting like this is okay?  WHAT THE HECK KIND OF REFORMATORY IS THIS?   :panic: Man...does this happen as often as Officer Niigaki (:heart:) beats Reina?  Jesus christ man!

Quote
"Welcome to Project Morning, Takahashi, where the good times just keep rolling."
:imdead:

Man...if I were Ai, I'd beg to be locked away forever.  With the crazy psycho murderers and crackheads that are stuck in a cell all day long~  IT'S NOT AS SCARY AS THESE McCANNIBALS :O :O :O 

Sheesh...I had a bowl of rice reheating in the microwave...but I suddenly don't wanna eat anymore...nor do I want to cook chunky spaghetti for dinner o.O

You needs to update.   :mon pray2: Pronto.
« Last Edit: June 12, 2012, 08:59:01 PM by mochi.rini »
Hi~iiya!~  (>^_^)>
I support T a k a G a k i
Tumblr/blog \(^ - ^)/

Offline kjpop

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Re: Quid Pro Quo - Chapter Two 6/11
« Reply #17 on: June 19, 2012, 06:50:27 PM »
risa_ai - yezzir!!! biggest badass in all of PMR ;D THE PROTECTOR OF JUSTICE, THE PROMOTER OF THE FAITH...or is she? :O

fim-face - lol, this is your new nickname...unless you don't like it ahha then I'll just call ya fimmy or whatever =] It's not so much a case of good cop, bad cop...or maybe it is LOL at this point things are kind of up in the air. Sayu and Risa are both capable of pretty evil things, and we'll see that in just a minute. And also, not necessarily H!P kids ;D they're a bit too young-ish haha, but you'll see!!!

I had to give Ai something to hang her hat on, because I have some heart. I think I'll give this much out for you guys to chew on: Airi and her crew are pretty much set in stone to be a support system for Ai; everyone else is up in the air. And how right you are about the guards. There's just something fishy about 'em ;D As for Tanagaki, I was totally debating over making an omake for their little cell brawl, but I thought it was just too soon to spill the beans. We need a bit more development before I give you guys dessert.

And in addition to my horrible addiction, I'm a sore loser too ;D

mochi - like I told fimmy, I really was tempted to write up an omake for the brawl, but nahhhh. Their time will come~ but you are right to believe that Reina's too much of a stubborn yankii to lose so easily. might explain those battle scars, ne? lol And I think you're mistaking my Sayu for the rockstar's guide Sayu xD

I must admit, I had the most fun thinking of the crimes for each of the girls, but I was at a standstill with Aika and Koha ahha if it were to happen...well, let's just not think about it ahha THAT FREAKIN HULK COMMENT THOUGH, OH MY GOD I WAS LAUGHING SO HARD IN REAL LIFE. I AM USING THAT FOREVER NOW. bahah fava beans. Let's not get too hasty and assume things ;D We'll see just what happened soon. Can't judge a book by its cover after all~ And you certainly can't judge a reformatory by it's bible-thumpin', well-dressed warden either ;D



Alrighty, here's part two of update extravaganza!!! I had fun writing HnK again, but uhhh this one won't be as fun to read lol unless you're like, really into this kind of thing haha Part three's gonna take a little longer, but hopefully it'll more than make up for the cockblockage in HnK and the shit that hits the fan in this update~ What a productive lunch break lol

-----

Chapter Three: Requiem


"Beautiful, isn't it?"

The warden stood before an arched window of his office, idly watching as entrenched guards and convicts alike went on with their mundane duties outside. "Schubert's take on Ave Maria never fails to bring tears to my eyes. Do you feel the same way, Niigaki-san, Michishige-san?" He turned around to find both officers at attention, their faces surrendering neither an expression of affirmation or negation. The warden smiled, taking a seat in his velvet chair and closing his eyes as he drowned in the haunting string melody.

Without opening his eyes to properly acknowledge his company, he questioned the guards dreamily, "I trust that you will take care of this?" The warden opened a single eye lazily, hoping to catch a proper reaction from his silent officers. Upon seeing both women nodding their heads in confirmation, Tsunku straightened up in his seat, reaching a hand to lift the stylus off the spinning record of his gramophone.

"Excellent. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some important matters to attend to. You are dismissed, ladies."

The hardened female officers turned on their heels and began pacing with matched steps towards the oak door, until the Warden's voice interrupted their stride. "Oh, but before you leave...let's try to be a little more...subtle about how we handle the situation this time, shall we?"

The two female officers exited the warden's office together, but diverged ways once stepping into the spacious hallway. "Niigaki-san, where are you going? The solitary confinement cells are this way," the dark-hair officer noted astutely.

The head of the guards stopped in her tracks, turning to face her subordinate with cold eyes. "The warden had specifically requested for us to not escalate these matters any further. We will handle this my way, and you will learn something useful." Without waiting for any response from her partner, the head officer continued to walk her end of the hall without much haste in particular.

Risa had learned from her past mistakes, and Sayu would be fortunate enough to reap the benefits of her labor.

And justice would be served.

---------

It was largely a relief for her frantic heart to find that officer Michishige had not once stepped foot into the lower level during her cleaning service duties. The dark-haired guard was undoubtedly occupied with the post-murder scene with her fellow officers.

...Oh right. A guard had just been murdered. And by mere children. Even outside of these prison walls, that was something one just did not witness on a day-to-day basis. Curiosity overcame fear and disgust, and Ai finally spoke up to ask, "Ne, Mitsui-san, what's the story with those girls?"

The hacker lifted some freshly cleaned sheets from the dryer and began to fold them, a trace of a smirk playing on her lips. "You sure like butting your head in places it doesn't belong, don'cha new girl?"

"Oh come on, Aika, you can't blame her after seeing something like that," Koharu added, rolling in a fresh batch of sheets to be cleaned. "Those girls are some serious business, Takahashi. When they first arrived here, Tsunku-san even went out of his way to publicly announce that unless we wanted a premature death-sentence, we were not to disturb or even communicate with these kids. He never does that, even with the high profile criminals that come here."

"You've been out in the real world longer than we have, so I'm sure you've heard about them. Eight pre-teen psychotics are pretty difficult to overlook. I'm sure it made headlines for days!"

Ai struggled to recall anything on the news related to these kids, but nothing in particular came to mind. Then again, she did have the tendency to ignore the news completely and watch music variety shows instead. "I can't say I have."

Koharu and Aika exchanged confused looks with one another. The brunette hacker shook her head, and went on with her work. "Go figure. The stupid government is probably trying to hide their own incompetencies with handling those psychos. 'For the good of the nation' or some shit like that. Bahhh..."

"Well, since you haven't heard, we might as well fill you in. Those eight girls were all friends from the same neighborhood. Apparently, they were always kind of strange. They never really hung out with other kids, and always played by themselves or stayed at home. In school, they never spoke up, and they weren't bullied or anything because the other kids thought they were just weird and not worth the effort.

"But one day, one of the younger girls of the group didn't come to school. And each day of that week, another member of their group didn't attend school. That happened for eight straight school days. The faculty was growing concerned because they had called each of the girls' respective homes and received no answers, even after all the voice messages they had left. So, their principals personally dropped by to pay each of the girls' homes a visit. Each and every one of the girls was found alone in her home, dripping in blood and just staring at her dead parents' and siblings' bodies. Whenever their principals had asked what had happened, none of the girls spoke. It was only after investigation that the girls were found to have been responsible for their own families' deaths. Whenever they were interrogated on the matter, the girls would lash out and attack the police and no one had a damn clue why.

"So they were all transferred to a mental facility for juvenile delinquents because they were obviously too young for jail, and even if they never verbalized it, they needed help. But every time a psychiatrist had managed to get a little closer to the root of the problem, the girls had managed to somehow force the doctors to quit or commit suicide. And because each of the sessions were private encounters, no one knows why things ended the way they had, and lord knows you can't ever decipher a doctor's handwriting.

"Eventually, the mental facility was losing too many staff members to suicide and emergency room deliveries from random attacks, and they were making little to no progress with any of them anyway, so the eight teens were transferred to serve the rest of their lives here at the penitentiary. Tsunku-san and the other guards leave the girls to their own devices, only interrupting their periods of isolation to feed them. As far as we know, even though the girls are kept altogether in one huge, isolated high security room, none of them ever talk to one another. They just...sit there and stare. It's the freakiest thing..."

Ai gulped as she followed the two hackers as they rolled their empty cart toward the entrance of the cleaning facility. "What will happen to the two girls that killed the officer?"

"Well," Aika began, grabbing a new cart from one of the guards at the entrance, "This isn't exactly the first time this has happened, but it's definitely been a while. He was probably new, and he probably deserved it anyway...They'll probably just shove those two into solitary confinement, since they hate being separated from the group. I've heard it drives them crazy, more than usual, but it gets the message across to them in its own sick way. That group of girls...they're just too young to deal with the kind of punishment the rest of us are subjected to on grounds of bad behavior."

Ai stopped,  and the hackers turned around to face at her. "What exactly do you mean by our kind of punishment?"

The two hackers glanced at one another, communicating warnings, concerns, and indecipherable messages through the sounds of silence. It should have concerned her, honestly, but the hackers' wariness to deliver information only fueled her curiosity. Her mind couldn't help but wander into the realm of the unspoken, the no man's land that possessed all the seemingly dark secrets of this damnable facility.

"That's a story for another day, new girl."

------

The taller of the two women perused the orders scribbled on the plain sheet of yellow notebook paper in her one hand, smiling upon realization that she and her partner could finally have some good ol' fun again. In the other hand was a plastic bag filled with all the materials they needed to do the job. She passed the piece of paper to her shorter partner, who laughed light-heartedly while reading.

"We haven't had to make this in a long time, eh Lin Lin? They must be desperate this time."

The smaller Chinese woman returned the order to her companion and reached for her apron resting on the bench, tying a knot around her body as she put on the grubby protective wear. "Oh boy, we're going to have a rowdy crowd in the morning, Jun. It's gonna be the talk of Project Morning!"

"Good thing, too. It's been way too quiet here lately." The hint of amusement in the taller woman's voice was chilling, but all too expected. Even with their third-rate treatment at the penitentiary, these girls would relish in their rare moments of fun and assistance. After all, this was what they did best.

Jun Jun reached inside her pockets to reveal a lighter. She crumpled the piece of paper into a crude ball and set it on fire, allowing the ashes to collect into pile of black on the grease-stained tiles between her feet. The two Chinese chefs laughed as they made their way into the kitchen.

------

She was greeted by egregious amounts of sunshine and surprisingly no music as she stepped inside the warden's office for the second time that day. Risa had sent Sayumi to deliver the additional reports of facility going-on's after the two female guards had taken care of their business with the juveniles. While performing circulatory rounds at the various occupational facilities at the penitentiary, the head guard was requested to meet with the warden to discuss some areas of concern.

"No need for you to stand at attention. At ease, officer," Tsunku laughed, relaxing into his velvet throne of a chair. "It's been quite some time since we've chatted like this, Niigaki-san. How have you been? And how has your mother been? Doing well, I hope?"

"Yes, sir."

"Ah, good, good." Tsunku revolved his seat to properly acknowledge his guest, resting folded hands upon his giant oak table. "Now, officer Michishige has brought to my attention some instances of rough-housing and insolence by some of our inmates. Would you say that's true, Niigaki-san?"

"Yes, sir. But the cases themselves are nothing dire, and I can personally discipline the perpetrators as needed."

The warden shook his head, the pads of his forefingers rubbing to soothe his temples. "You've said this countless times, and while it has worked wonders for some, Tanaka-san does not seem to understand the meaning of the word 'discipline.' Perhaps harsher methods need to be implemented for her?"

Fighting to not betray any expressions of consternation, the head of the guards stood tall in her place and nodded in total compliance with the warden's suggestion.

"I'm glad we can agree on these matters, Niigaki-san. Really, it warms my heart." He paused to rotate his chair again, so the velvet back of his throne faced the guard. "However, realize that you must be punished as well for your continual incompetence on the job."

"I understand, sir, but officer Michishige is outside your office, waiting for my orders."

The warden smiled a crooked smile. As he walked around the span of his desk, he lifted the stylus of his gramophone to rest upon the rotating record on the stand. For the moment, Tsunku happened to be in the mood for some Beatles, as the spinning record played 'Help!' while he stepped closer to the head of the guards. "Officer Michishige is also a junior officer who holds a greater understanding of crime and punishment than you apparently do. And like a good officer, Michishige will wait."

------

Risa had finally emerged from Tsunku's office. As she re-adjusted the officer's cap on her head, she found her junior officer leaning against the wall, head tilted to rest on its side while she slept. She had been disciplined for far longer than initially expected. The head of the guards let out a sigh of relief as she tucked the shirt of her uniform back into place. Returning to her typically cold semblance, the higher officer shook her subordinate awake.

"Ah senpai, that was a rather long meeting with Tsunku-san. Is everything alright?"

Risa narrowed her eyes at the lazy officer until the latter straightened up accordingly. She pulled the younger officer away from the wall and began to march the both of them down to the cafeteria. "Fine, just fine. We have some more loose ends to take care of, Sayumi."

------

Ai could have very well blamed it on the gruesome tale just told to her by the hackers, or their inauspicious decision to not reveal anything regarding the penitentiary's punishment regiment. Whatever the case, it made swallowing her dinner that evening particularly difficult.

"Isn't it a bit too early for you to be giving up on the food around here, new girl?" Airi laughed to herself, happily munching away on the suspicious looking gruel on her plate.

Koharu's expression contorted to that of disgust as she watched the snaggle-toothed inmate, finding the urge to vomit almost immediately. "That's probably our fault. We told her about the psychopaths."

The contraband girls "oh-ed" in unison and offered the latest addition to their gang a sympathetic pat on the back. "Well, unless you happen to get into shit of your own, new girl, you should be safe if you hang around us," pipped Mai.

Dinner was the final hurdle of the day, the last stage to overcome before Ai could return to her cell and thank god for allowing her to survive unscathed, for the most part. It relieved her to know she had made some "friends" throughout the day, despite the occasional moments where life had flashed before her eyes. Valuable relations had been made and the insight she gained from the eyes of her companions made the formulation process all the more simple. Timing, however, was a delicate thing.

As Aika once again engaged in a verbal battle of intelligence and dignity with Maimi over their areas of criminal intent, Ai noticed the two female guards circling the cafeteria. She could have likened them to any scavenging beast on a patient hunt for its dying prey, their eyes cold as ice as they scanned the convicts within the enclosed space. They were searching for someone.

"Ho, ho, ho~ Looks like Reina got in some deep shit again, ladies!" Saki chaffed, jutting her chin forward to the yankii's direction. All eyes immediately darted to the rebel and the head of the guards. The yankii wasn't giving the officer the light of day, and Risa had her hand resting on her baton, ready to beat the infuriating woman into submission. What was it this time?

"We're not done yet, ladies. Seems like Michishige's got a beef with the bombers," Chisato noted, and eyes moved on to examine the second encounter with the dark-haired guard. What the hell was going on?

The bombers had stood up without struggle or complaint, following the junior officer toward the exit of the cafeteria. After an exchange of scowls and presumable threats, the other party of two stood, and the head of the guards pushed the yankii toward the exit as well. The other inmates in the room did not seem to pay the scene any mind and went on about their evening meals as usual. Perhaps another regular encounter? It was expected of Niigaki and Reina, but the bombers and Michishige? Well, aside from the brief fiasco during leisure time today, Ai did not think anything of it.

"Where are they going?" Ai asked, curiosity once again leading her to dangerous territory.

"Oh, that's right. You're new. Well, let's just say, you better keep up your best behavior, new girl. Punishment around here is pretty rough," Airi stated, popping a few bites of rice into her mouth.

"Punishment? But they didn't even do anything!" Ai looked around the table for any evidence of sympathy in the group, but her searching was fruitless. Uncaring shrugs and leery eyes were all she received despite the silent please for some sense of humanity. "What...do they do to you?"

Airi watched as Reina and the bombers finally reached the exit of the cafeteria, solemnly shaking her head once they all vanished into the shadows of the hallway. "Just hope you never have to find out."

-----

What an eventful first real day for our latest jailbird!! Didja catch any hint-o's? =]

Offline Quietriot

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Re: Quid Pro Quo - Chapter Three 6/19
« Reply #18 on: June 19, 2012, 07:07:06 PM »
I turn my back for one second to update and BAM, there you are. XD Reading nao~

I'm gonna have to resort to my German soon, cuz English just isn't cutting it everytime I'm like OH MY GOD at the beginning of your updates. BECAUSE DAMN. Wow I love your writing~ can I just gush about you for a moment?! I get so deeply immersed in reading your work it's like I'm watching a movie in my head, it's fantastic. :heart: Also, I read Fim-face as Fish-face XD but I can tolerate pretty much any nickname as long as its not like, stupid bitch or something. Bahaha~

So we catch a longer glimpse of Tsunku. Fucking gives me chills. Ever seen Sucker Punch? Because I get a Blue vibe from him in a way and I DON'T LIKE IT. (In the best way, of course XD ) Something tells me that the 'punishment' Gaki got served with is likely not too much better than what's about to happen to Reina and the bombers... And I can only imagine all sorts of sick, terrible things. Lol which might be an indicator that I have a sick, terrible mind, I DON'T KNOW. XD

Glad to see you did give Ai support tho. I feel better knowing she's not completely surrounded by sharks but then again I don't trust her to find much happiness or comfort since this isn't that kinda fic. Still, I'm totally hooked so like, bring on the heavy, man. I ain't afraid of no ghosts shitstorms. xD

P.S. I was totally in the midst of posting my update when you posted yours, so YOU stop reading MY mind. XD jkjk :heart:
« Last Edit: June 19, 2012, 07:26:00 PM by Quietriot »

Offline darkacex99

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Re: Quid Pro Quo - Chapter Three 6/19
« Reply #19 on: June 19, 2012, 10:54:26 PM »
YESSSS :D an update!!! Whoo hoo :w00t: poor reina always get targeted, i wonder wat the punishment is  :?  This story is. Getting way interesting keep up the good work :twothumbs
« Last Edit: June 20, 2012, 07:53:17 AM by darkacex99 »

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