Post by Nakajima Kimiko on Dec 25, 2023 16:53:52 GMT -5
Jodanapur was once a city of innovation, of science, and of modern progress. It was meant to be an enclave of research and productivity for both the Indian people as well as the rest of the world, one that would welcome great minds from all around the globe in order to promote the advancement of society. However, in a sudden twist of fate, this objective was cut short throughout the course of one faithful month, three years after its inception, during which all communications to the settlement and its people were lost. This was cause for concern for the Indian people, as they believed this to be a strange and almost-impossible occurrence. It was also cause for concern for those of the spiritual world, most evidently after they were able to detect great amounts of spiritual energy being released all around the city. Thus, in an attempt to properly comprehend the situation, two Shinigami officers were sent to Jodanapur: Nakajima Kimiko, Captain of the Eleventh Division, and Satoshi Fuuko, Fourth Seat of the Fourth Division. Their mission? Eliminate the source of spiritual energy and investigate in order to obtain more information on the matter.
Throughout their investigation of the city, the officers were able to discover several occurrences that pointed towards something strange happening in it. The first was the complete disappearance of the population. Indeed, it appeared as though most of the settlement's denizens had abandoned their homes and their businesses in favor of instead heading towards a particular facility in the middle of the city's industrial district. The second was the presence of a Hollow acting oddly near the facility, as though it was tasked to protect it at all costs against its will. Then, finally, the third was the discovery of a single Human survivor - a nurse from the Yumiya Aid & Healthcare Foundation who introduced himself as Hayasaka Yū - who accused the people of the city of having been infected by root-like appendages. Combined, these three facts were ample enough to convince Kimiko that the aforementioned facility needed to be investigated through and through above all else. In so doing, she, Fuuko, and the Human survivor who wished to follow them all headed down into its basement to accomplish this goal. It would be there that they would find an elevator leading downward into the facility to levels that were currently unknown to them all.
As they descended, the three of them had been conversing with one another. Yū, previously left terribly embarrassed by Fuuko's vulgar attitude, was now silent as he considered what Kimiko had just told him. The man had obviously taken into consideration everything that had been told to him, and unsurprisingly, it seemed as though it had started making him think about what he was going to face once he and the officers would leave this accursed city. The mere mention of seeing what people like she and Fuuko hunted on a daily basis was enough to cause him to bite his lip with great worry, and the blonde medic's words about him potentially becoming like them as well as their treatment of Humans were not making him feel much better. "W-What? Y-Y-You abandon us after y-you take care of your problems?" He repeated Fuuko's assumption with widened eyes of shock and panic, almost instantly believing her words to be the truth.
Hearing the man becoming so loud all of a sudden, something which was clearly bolstered by the existential crisis spewed about by what has been revealed to him thus far, would cause Kimiko to let out a sigh. She understood why the man was feeling the way he was; after all, he was a Human, and in normal circumstances, a Human should not be able to see anything that they were doing right about now nor even so much as learn anything about the afterlife worked. Still, she had hoped he wouldn't have sided with Fuuko on such a ridiculous assumption. "What? No, of course not. We have a whole squad - Rokubantai - whose sole goal is to repair stuff. I've heard some people of Yonbantai also take care of wounded Humans on the field," she made sure to correct as quickly as possible with a comical look of disbelief pointed towards Fuuko, clearly showcasing that she had thought her student should've known about that by now. Quickly enough, though, this expression turned into a more serious one as she turned her attention towards the previous question that was told to her. "Anyway... Every Human is gonna be like us some day, but that doesn't mean we should tell every Human about our existence. At least, that's how I see it."
The Captain would then attempt to remain quiet so that they could move on from the next subject as quickly as possible. Simply explaining to the office worker that he was now going to be able to see ghosts and Hollows had already shaken him to the core, so she couldn't even imagine dumping even more information about the spiritual world onto him. It was possible that, should he ever try to spread this information around once he returns to Japan, no one will actually believe anything he says, but so far, his company appeared almost knowledgeable enough to create spiritual monstrosities like Rider. She couldn't even imagine that company actually starting to spread that information in his place publicly and beginning to reveal to the whole world that there is an invisible and endless conflict happening all around them pitting super-powered beings such as she and Fuuko against Hollows such as the reptilian fiend they had just slew. The sheer panic that such information would cause... It would be unstoppable.
Fortunately, it would not take very long for them to find another subject, or rather two of them. Yū's mention of morphine would be the first. Fuuko was indeed right about how unusual it was for a hospital to get a whole batch of the stuff. While Kimiko wasn't entirely knowledgeable about medical apparatus and other chemicals, she knew that this particular stuff was meant for treating intense pain. This would be normal for something akin to a military hospital or wartime healthcare camps, where it is normal to treat terrible injuries to the body dealt by all kinds of weaponry, but why would a normal hospital even possess so many doses of the stuff? Was it simply because Yumiya, the company affiliated with the hospital, was capable of purchasing it, and thus had made sure to buy so many to never run out of it? Or was it instead because there was some kind of innate purpose for it all? It was a curious thought, and for a moment, the Captain couldn't help but think about it after she showed her student the phone that the Twelfth Division had reserved for her missions...
... that was, until she heard that same student suddenly criticize the age of her phone. Blinking in confusion, Kimiko would turn her head towards Fuuko, wondering why she was even saying such a thing. Then, she saw something being pulled out of her student's cleavage that left her comically frozen. There, right in the blondie's palm of her hand, was a more modern version of the exact same device that she had been supplied with. It clearly appeared to be a newer rendition of the thing, as it bore a greater resemblance to the phones that Kimiko interacted with while she was still a Human so long ago. Bewildered, the Captain would stare at the device for a moment, then pull out her own phone with that same look of earth-shattering disbelief. It would only be after a moment of silence that her face would contort, seemingly going through a myriad of emotions before it finally froze onto a single bright smile. "Y-Yeah, well, this one has been able to stand the test of time! It's strong ! Very strong! If it can handle my reiatsu while it stays in my pocket, then it can handle anything!"
Desperation. This was utter desperation through and through, an attempt to look as cool as she possibly could in front of her student without looking too lame. In a way, though, she wasn't entirely wrong. Maybe there was a reason that the Twelfth Division had given her this old model. Even to this day, whenever she hears anyone talk about phones within Seireitei, she has heard a number of them mention that the ones supplied to them during missions easily broke even from the faintest of gravitational pressure. Meanwhile, she has had this exact same model for literal years without it ever breaking once. Yeah... Yeah! She was in the right here, actually! This was totally cause for celebration! She totally had the best phone here and Fuuko couldn't deny it in the slightest, even if she tried! She didn't need that stupid modern design with that useless touch screen! Yeah! Those are totally extra and not at all useful for anything other than looking fancy!
As the Captain held her phone with such pride and accomplishment, so much so that she was almost beaming with positive energy, Yū simply watched her from afar. He seemed to be rather taken aback at how easy it was for the serious facade of this woman to just melt away like that, but at the same time, there was something about her attitude that he found to be somewhat endearing. It made him a little bit happier, if anything. "W-Well, um... Miss, if it makes you feel any better, I-I do prefer that model too... See?" he said with a nervous tone, unsure of how to properly tackle this social interaction, but not unsure enough to avoid it entirely. He would even go as far as to pull his own cellphone, which appeared to also be a flip phone, albeit a newer one in comparison to Kimiko's. This would cause the swordswoman to beam for a moment, then turn her head towards Fuuko with a look that clearly told the blonde woman "See? I told you so?" all the while the office worker answered the Shinigami medic: "Uh, no, I don't really... have a map either... B-But there's probably an emergency map w-we can find somewhere! Every hospital I worked in has one!"
And with that, after this conversation finally came to an end, the elevator stopped. This would cause the trio to return their focus onto the matter at hand, with Kimiko deciding to take the lead again as she became serious once more. Ready, she watched the gate before them as unlocking noises began to be heard from it, like it had been locked shut by several security mechanisms. Then, slowly, it opened... revealing what stood behind it all along.
At a glance, what stretched before them appeared to be a rather-sizable hallway. Its design was sleeker than Kimiko expected. For what appeared to be several meters ahead, it went on and on in a show of white, blacks and greys, alongside a hint of red and green every now and then. Lifting a brow, the Captain would find herself taking a couple of steps onward into the hallway for a moment as she analyzed it, trying her best to understand what she was looking at. Eventually, though, she found herself frowning as she noted both its size as well as the many doors and tinted windows. "Man, look at this place... Hmph. Kinda reminds me of Juunibantai's headquarters," she commented, admittedly both impressed by the looks of the area and annoyed by how overtly-bright it all was. With all of that being said, she would then find herself blinking as her head found itself unconsciously towards a nearby panel that displayed a single number. "... Huh?"
"S-So this is the first floor... out of twenty-three?" Yū would interject as he remained close to the Captain, holding his crowbar up in front of him for any threat that may somehow suddenly jump onto him from out of nowhere. Meanwhile, the Captain stared at the panel, somewhat taken aback by the sheer ludicrousness of the number. She was expecting the underground section of the facility to only really contain at best two or three floors, nothing more, nothing less. Why would such a huge amount of floors be required? More importantly, however, was perhaps what was located by the side of the number, which the office worker made sure to point out as well. "A-Ah, look! There's a map here! O-Or... I think it is..." he said, unsure, as he tried to direct the Shinigami towards what appeared to be some kind of holographic rendition of the underground area. Each floor were tagged with various names, such as "Laboratory A" or "Power Plant", and they each contained appeared to note their status. The most of them, oddly enough, were tagged as being "operational", though it appeared that every floor after the 18th were completely offline.
The more she found herself staring at the map, the further the frown on Kimiko's face went. Something about this place... It just felt off to her. It was too advanced, too clean. Why would Jodanapur need what appears to be such a costly facility? Moreover, how were they able to pay for this? Surely, they must have received aid from someone.
