Miki Fujimoto
Facility, Antarctica
October 11, 6:25 AM
Something was very, very wrong in Japan's Antarctica
facility, but Miki didn't know what it was.
On the fifth basement level of the dark and deserted
compound, hundreds of feet beneath the snow, Miki
stood in front of what appeared to be a full-blown mansion
made of white brick. There was a fountain behind
her, potted plants, even a decorative merry-go-round.
She'd been led there, presumably because someone
wanted her to go inside, but she didn't know who or why.
Her instincts were telling her to get the hell out, but
she ignored them. She had to, not knowing if she was a
lamb being led to slaughter or if she was being taken to
Eri.
Miki was amazed that the jet she'd found at Rockfort
was entirely auto-pilot based- meaning all she
had to do was to sit down and push a few marked control
panels and she was off, but it almost felt as if the jet
itself was being pulled by something....- and since
landing the jet in the roof hangar, she'd
been guided every step of the way—walking into halls
and having doors lock behind her, others opening up in
front of her ... twice, she'd found jewels on the cold cement
floors, pointing her in a particular direction, and
once, after taking a wrong turn, all of the lights had
gone out. They'd come back on when she'd groped her
way back to where she'd gone "wrong."
It had been strange enough just getting to the facility,
passing over endless miles of gray ice and
snow ... and then seeing it for the first time, rising up
from the blank plains like an illusion ...
But to be herded someplace like an animal, shuffled
along without knowing the reason...
Miki was scared, more scared than she wanted to
admit. She'd tried to stop, to look around for weapons or
clues, but everything had been shut off, every door she
tried locked—except for the ones she was supposed to go
through, of course. The cameras that had to be watching
her every move were so well hidden that she hadn't seen
even one of them... but it almost seemed that her shepherd
knew her mind, knew what signals to give her,
knew how to keep her going. She'd thought initially that
it was Aya, that it was all some setup to trap her—
but why bother? She could have strangled Miki at the island
if she'd wanted to.
No, she was being guided for
some other reason, and it seemed she had no choice but
to follow along... not if she wanted to find Eri.
She took a deep breath and opened the front door of
the mansion, stepping inside.
It was beautiful, as extravagant as the front of the
building had suggested, grand staircase, arched pillars—
and strangely familiar, though it took her a moment
to see how, the colors and decorations different. It
was the layout—the same basic layout as the front hall
of the charred mansion she'd passed by in Rockfort.
It was surreal, but so perfectly
harmonious with all the other weirdness that she didn't
bat an eye.
Miki stood for a moment, waiting, looking around for
another signal—and then she heard what sounded like a
laugh coming from behind the stairs. It was the same
laugh that he'd heard at the Rockfort facility, that woman.
What had she said? Something about wanting to play?
It definitely felt like a game, like Miki was a character
being moved around for someone else's enjoyment—
and it was starting to piss her off. That she was afraid
only made her angrier.
Miki stalked toward the back wall, ready to confront
this woman, to demand some answers—
—but when she stepped around one of the decorative
pillars, she saw that there was no one there.
"What the hell is this," she muttered, turning—
—and there was Eri. Webbed to the back of the
stairs as if by some giant spider, her eyes closed, her
head hanging limply.
Topic: Eri Kamei vs. Morning Musume (Read 84872 times)