Jikken-yō nezumi

#1 It doesn't matter…

Nothing to do around here. It's kind of sad, in a way. Being judged based on a curse, it ain't fun, believe me. I am Teruji, a kid who was "blessed" with an ability, which isn't uncommon here. Pyrokinesis, magnetism, gravity control, you name it. Normally, you'd be thinking that it's cool to have powers.

Not for me. Having resilient powers is nice and all, but it's not worth it. You've got people all in your face 24/7, practically making you a celebrity. That's not my issue though. I'm currently at a lab as an experiment. Hooray, am I right? I dunno if I'm the insane one, but it's gotten into my head now. This place is hell. You can go days with being lucky by getting a single crumb of food. I feel bad for the other experiments, especially the ones that tend to be weaker. They’re just simply disposed of without much word nor care given. Of course, I can’t be busy sympathizing for these folks I don’t even know because I got to keep myself alive and managed.

Teruji. I don’t know my given name, so I’m known as that “formerly.” I must say I’m pretty smart considering I haven’t had a proper education. Never been to school and I suck at math. I’m pretty sure when I was first brought here I couldn’t even do simple addition and I doubt I can do it now. Common sense and street sense though, I’m a genius.

A lot of people be thinking I'm this huge dude, brawny as hell walking around, shocking people for fun. They wrong though. Just your super-scrawny-flat-chested girl. My ragged up dark skin, blackened face marks and whatnot. My knotted-up, spiky hair falling to my knees, stuff you could think of to make someone ugly.

At least, that's what I think of myself. Who knows, maybe this place made me lose my self esteem. I’m definitely exaggerating at some point but I guess I’m not that bad looking. Probably because I'm one of the only female experiments here, but looks are kind of the least of my concern considering the fact that everyone is deranged, but whatever. It doesn't bother me.

"Teruji," a lab worker called out to me, opening my confinement room. Yeah, one of those rooms you'd see in an asylum or something of the sort. I stand up, my slender legs shaking a bit. The worker dressed in a white lab coat gestures me to come, to which I shake my head. I would be an idiot to think they’re just calling me to have a little talk. What I wanted to say was how terrible her fashion sense was. I mean, you literally have the free choice to choose what you want to wear, yet you wear a dingy looking lab coat. Totally unfashionably if you ask me. Of course, I keep that to myself since it’s not like my opinion mattered anyway. Still…

My criticizing thoughts are interrupted as the worker steps towards me. She has her hands behind her back, the sensation of an electromagnetic pulse is radianting from her hands though. Basically a sensation of electricity pulsating from her hands simplistically.

It's weird, but I feel a sensation coming from her hands even though I don't know what she’s holding. She's got something metal, charged with electricity behind her, that's all I know.

"Get back lady. I don't plan on hurting no one." I said, raising my hands. Electricity starts forming around me as I get worked up. "This lady's an idiot," I say to myself, stepping back from her as she continues to walk towards me. Even though she's stepping to me, I don't do anything. If my attempted bluff didn’t work, this could be pretty bad. For her sake. In all honesty, I can barely manage this power of mine. I haven't heard them say what it was exactly, I just know it's something with electricity. I'm a little spooked now, my eyes widening. "Get back!" I demand, throwing my hands onto her shoulders, letting out a stream of volts into her body. Her body shakes, being fried from the inside by my electricity. I can't stop though. I keep releasing volts into the poor woman's body.

Her skin is frying up. I can't even let go of her. The static electricity building up from me making contact with the fabric of her coat making me hold onto her. The other workers had started banging on the door, trying to get in. They can't though. The lady's insides been fried. Her nerves all out. She's a goner. After a few minutes, I feel drained as most of my electricity finally exits my body. My vision is darkening and my body begins trembling. I take a step back finally letting go of the lab worker, her corpse burnt to a crisp. I fell unconscious after letting out all them volts. I warned her, so not my fault, right? I felt something fall onto my body that fell onto the floor. It was completely charred, and my unconscious-self believed it was the lady’s corpse.

As more time passes, I regained consciousness. The lights around the lab were flickering. More than likely because of my electrical outburst. Should have had the lights powered by solar.

I think a blackout happened though. The workers got in and removed the corpse from my room. After that, I was put in solitary confinement or whatever it's called. I know I'm deranged in a way, but that place. I can't... even speak about it. They threw me in this pitch-black dark room, locking the door behind them.

I assumed they was going to keep me there for a few hours at most. I was wrong.

They tossed me in the room, chaining me against the wall with titanium made metal cuffs, so that my electricity can’t pass through it. I sat there silently for eerie minutes which turned into hours, hours which turned into days, then finally sitting in there for weeks. No hydration, no food. No nutrition. I’m exhausted, my stomach hurts. I lay on the floor silently. The sound of nothing scared me. I hated being alone. I cried, tugging on the cuffs, begging for forgiveness from the gods. That was the first time I had ever prayed so hard.

I was alone. At least... I thought I was. Through all my tears, I saw something shuffling around in the darkness. Yellow vibrant eyes gleaming at me, watching me cry. I wasn't even scared when I saw it. I crawled over to it, sniffling. "Please... I don't care if you're going to hurt me... I want to leave... I hate this..." I muttered. "Kill me if you want. I just want to be comforted before I die..." I say, reaching my hand out to the eyes. I feel my hands touch something. Whatever was there, it felt soft and delicate. I then felt something wrap its arms around me. The smell of blood rushed into my nostrils. I leaned my head into the thing's shoulder, whimpering softly. I could feel fluffy hair running through my fingers as I held my hands behind its back. I nuzzled in its shoulder, sniffling as I held onto it. The feeling of warmth comforted me. I then started to doze off peacefully, holding onto the thing.

While still peacefully sleeping, I feel the warmth of… someone carrying me. I shuffle in my sleep,to where I open my eyes and murmur to myself. Someone is carrying me. My eyes can’t adjust to the brightness outside of the confinement. I tremble, latching my arms around whoever is carrying me.

It looked like they were wearing a lab coat but with a white suit underneath it? Somewhat fashionable I would say. We walked together for a while. I still can’t see, it’s really blurry. The person enters a room, the lights a bit dimmer in there. I blink rapidly, rubbing my eyes. They place me onto the ground, which was just some roughed up rug and I simply lay there. I try lifting myself up, I’m too weak though. I haven’t had any food in awhile. I can only move my head.

This lady is standing above me, having a gentle smile on her face. She's a pretty good looking woman, having black fluffy hair with green locks and bangs, vibrant yellow eyes. She's colored to be light beige and has pretty face. “Why is someone like her here?”, I think to myself.

“You must be Teruji, it’s a pleasure!" She says brightly, smiling at me. I scoff, burying my face in the floor.

"Here to get fried like the other lady? I don't wanna ruin your pretty face miss." I sigh, my voice being muffled and raspy. After the days of silently sitting inside of confinement really drained me. The lady smiled at me again, crouching down at me. I tilt my head up, looking at her silently. "Did you not hear me-? Surely you know that I won't-" I start to say before being interrupted by her putting some food in my mouth.

I don't know what it was, but it was good, something my inexperienced taste buds had never tasted. It had a tingly feeling to it, it was chewy and juicy as well. While I bit into it, my teeth came across something bony. I didn't care. I kept biting into the food, savoring every bite of it. After I finished what was practically the biggest meal I had in years, I looked up to see the lady smugly smiling at me.

"Awh, look at you...! You're so scrawny and tiny, I was scared for a second when I was assigned to you!" She said brightly, pulling the bone away from my face. She pulls her arms underneath my mine and lifts me up to where we made eye contact. I hang from her arms, feeling somewhat irritated by her carefree-nature. "She thinks I’m some sort of kitten or something?" I'd mutter internally, letting out a huff of irritation.

"Mmh, someone's a little angry, hm? C'mon... Teru.

 She moves her hands towards my wrist, gripping onto them.

“O-ow!” I wince as I’m falling to the ground. The lady looks down at me smugly again. I’m on the floor, flailing my legs around trying to break free of her grip. “Okay, okay I give!” I say frantically. The lady lets go of me and I hold onto my wrist, rolling on the floor in pain. “

Ow… that hurt..” I say, looking up at her soberly. The lady looks surprised at me.

“From what I’ve heard, you were this heartless monster that wasn’t affected by pain. Was that a lie?” She teased in a sarcastic tone, lifting her finger onto her chin.

“Mostly.. I’m still just any normal child, so I dunno why everyone expects me to be so big and evil. In reality, it's just boredom or self defense when I use my electricity cause it got a strain on my body.” I say, sitting up, resting arm in my lap.

“Well, you shouldn’t have to worry about that now! That collar should prevent you from overusing your power now!” she says brightly. I blink, grabbing onto the collar on my neck. I didn’t even realize she put it on.

“Ack!! Take it off!” I hollar, standing up, hopping towards her clutching onto her shoulders and shaking her.

“H-Hey, It’s for our safety!! Stop shaking me-! Besides, you can still use your powers, it's just so you can measure out how much electricity you use!” she said, trying to push me off. Instead of me able to keep a hold of her because of my static electricity, she still pushed me off. I pushed my legs under me as I fell, landing on them as I stood straight, looking up at her again.

“Tch, your safety.” I scoff, clicking my tongue and sticking it out at her mockingly. She crosses her arms.

“Now, now, didn’t I just feed you? Surely your tiny little head hasn’t forgotten about that already?” She says, poking my cheek. It’s weird. She doesn't have any rubber gloves and she ain’t even a little scared of my power malfunctioning. What’s worse is my power doesn't work on her? How? Why? It’s not logical.

“Hello-? Earth to Teruji-” She says, flicking my forehead.

“Ow-” I smack her hand away from my face, looking up at her, blinking. I know I’ve said this before, but she’s got a real cocky attitude. It’s irritating me.

“So, the only reason you came here was to put a collar on me? What, you guys going to get me a leash next?” I spat, tugging on the collar with an exasperated sigh. She tilts her head before smiling at me.

“If you keep acting like this, we just might! Oh, and by the way, Just call me Haikru, okay?” She joked, nudging my shoulder as she walked [ast me and I raised a brow, sighing again. She keeps joking with me, and after a while she waves, smiling as she begins to step out the room.

“Finally, good grief.” I sigh, loud enough where she can hear. Despite that, she’s still smiling at me. Why? Why does she smile? She should plaster that fake grin off her face and show how she really feels.

I sit in my room silently. I haven’t heard from the lady for a few hours now, which was normal. But I felt as if something was off. I say I was displeased by her presence, but in reality, it gave a sort of comforting feeling. I knew I was lying to myself, I just didn’t want to admit it.

I fidget with my fingers, making them into gun shapes as I fired electricity out of my fingers.

“Pew, pew.” I mumble, small shocks of electricity shooting from my finger. I smile slightly, before the smiling drops from my face as I face plant onto the floor in boredom. “This rug stinks. I want to shower. I need to go to the bathroom. I’m hungry.” I mutter, crossing my legs as I rub my face, yawning. Stiffly sitting down as I hold my head up with my arm on my lap. I can’t do anything. I’m not trying to sound emotional or anything but I kinda want to cry. I wipe my face, sighing as I fall back, resting on the sturdy and dirty floor. I look up at the air duct on the ceiling. If I really tried, I could get up there and try to escape, but there's probably cameras in the duct so I doubt it. I’m not the biggest fan of closed spaces anyway. “Man at this point, I just want to… nevermind.” I mutter, moving my hair from my face. “I don’t think they're going to be trying any experiments today.” I whisper, sitting up now. It was so strange.

It was like I was missing the interaction I had with the lady. But why? I didn’t like her, so it makes no sense why I want to see her again. The absence of noise stays in the room for a while. I sniffle slightly now, looking down at the stained floor.

Some tears start dropping from my eyes. “I just wanna talk with someone… please…” I say, wiping my face. I know no one can hear me, but I cry anyway. I sit there, waling like a baby for at least five minutes.

To my surprise, I hear something in my room. I turn quickly to where I heard the sound, wiping the tears from my eyes. Nothing there. I tilt my head. “Wow, I must be really out of it. Hearing random noi-” I was interrupted by something grabbing ahold of my mouth with their hand. It firmly held onto my mouth as I realize something had latched onto me. “Mmhn!! Let go!!” I yell in a muffled voice. I lift my elbow to strike whatever it is in the chest. It lets go of me, staggering back. I dash away from it, and turn towards it and clench my fist as I wipe my mouth.

A black liquid oozed from my upper lip as I wiped it. Now looking up at the thing, I see its abnormal being. Long, nappy black and green hair, black horns protruding from its head. It had gray skin, and wore a headband over its eyes to cover them up. Some type of monster, I dunno but out of fear and hesitation but I step back. “I dunno what you are, but you should stay away from me.” I mutter. My body’s shaking in fear.. I shook my head, blinking quickly as my breath quickened in fear. Just staring at it was scary. I bit my lip, preparing for the thing to attack me. It didn’t though. It was holding onto its chest, where I had elbowed it.

“Ack… that hurt..” it says in an eerie voice. It turned its head towards me, with an irritated expression plastered along its face. I stepped forward, stopping as I heard the sound of dripping. I look up, seeing the usual air duct where black liquid was dripping from.

“That’s where it came from, for sure. How did I not notice it when I looked up at it earlier?” I think to myself as I now charge towards the monster. I lift my leg, trying to kick the monster but as I make contact with the thing, my leg phases through it. “Did it transform into a liquid…? My leg? Nevermind, my electricity will be more than enough to-” I say to myself, the monster interrupting me by its body solidifying as it lunged its claws towards me. I swiftly yank my head to the right but I realize how slow I’m moving.

“This is a dream, so I’ll be fine if it h-” I say to myself, my cheek being cut open violently by the monster's claw. I fall back, my face tensing up as blood trickles down my face. I held my cheek in complete shock.

This feeling of fear runs down my spine. Bloods on my hand now as I look up at the monster. My face is swelling up, my vision is blurring. My cheek hurts… is this not a dream…? My hands shake as I fearfully stare at the monster who licked the blood of its hand. My cheek is stinging, my face is all swollen up. I’m shivering, continuing to crawl away from the monster.

“Suffer with me.” It says. I stammer, tears running down my face as I look up at it fearfully. I continue crawling away. My legs feel weak. I can’t pull myself up. What’s going on? Am I going to die? Countless thoughts run through my head as I continue rapidly breathing in fear. “Teruji!”

I lift myself off the ground, crying out. I blink, placing my hand on my cheek noticing the pain was gone, along with the bleeding. I look to my right, Haikru by my side with a worried smile.

“Oh, Teruji? Are you okay?” she asks, tilting her head. She’s holding onto my hand gently, smiling at me, trying to keep me comforted. I nudge her away, still visibly sweating and in fear.

“I’m fine, let go of me.” I mutter, scooting away from Haikru.

“Now, now, don’t be like that. You were clearly having a bad dream.” Haikru explains, a soft smile on her face as she grabs my wrist. “Do tell me anything that happened during your sleep, if you can.” Haikru says to me reassuringly. I don’t say anything, shoving her hand off again. I keep my eyes locked to the ground. “Geez, why are always playing hard to get, I know you appreciate my care for you-!” Haikru says brightly, grabbing onto my cheek with her hand.

“Ugh, let go of me…” I grab onto her wrist trying to pull her hand off of my face. Haikru grins at me, laughing softly at my attempts to make her let go of me.

“Tch, whatever. It felt more like a nightmare than anything. Like I couldn’t move or control myself.” I ask, giving in to her pinching.

“Ah, I see. Could you infill me more on what happened maybe?” Haikru explains, letting go of my cheek, crossing her legs and resting her hands in her lap. I look down at the floor silently.

“Maybe opening up to her wouldn’t be a bad idea… But… can I really trust her… I don’t know if her actions are genuine…” I mutter silently, Haikru blinking with a blank smile on her face.

“You know your talking out-loud, right?” Haikru says, tilting her head. I start blinking, opening my mouth to finish my sentence but pause.

“Mmh, I wasn’t talking out-loud. What’re talking about?” I murmur, turning my head to the side and looking away in embarrassment. Haikru lets out a small sigh, smiling gently at me.

“You don’t have to trust me, believe me, if I was you, I wouldn’t either. But if you ever need to get anything off your chest, I’ll do what I can to help. That’s my job and just something I would love to do to help you out.” Haikru calmly says, warmly smiling at me. I can’t help but stare at her, feeling flattered by her passion to care for me.

I notice my own face flashing red and cover slap my cheeks with my hands. “Geez, what is up with me? I can’t be softening up for this stupid lady!” I think to myself. Haikru chuckles as she crosses her legs and rests her hands in her lap. A smug smile went across her face as she saw me.

“Anyway, I came in here originally to inform you about something important.” Haikru recalled, twisting her curly dyed green bangs with her finger. I slowly inch my head towards her direction as she mentions this.

“Which is?” I questioned with a frown as she had that irritating smug look.

“You’ll be having a little roommate! Yay, isn’t that nice?!” Haikru exclaimed as she threw her hands in the air with her eyes sparkling. My frown turns into an irritated one.

“No, that sounds terrible.” I replied with a look of sorrowful exasperation.

“Awh, don’t be like that Teru, I’m sure you’ll be just fine.” Haikru said as she nudged my shoulder playfully. My eyebrows furrowed as she said this.

“Just another annoying idiot to deal with.” I muttered as I tilted my head at her stupid enthusiasm. I lifted my hand and scratched my chin gently and sighed.

“Don’t look so down, I think you’ll enjoy this persons company!” Haikru exclaimed once more and wrapped her arm around my shoulder.

“Tch…” I smacked my lips, nudging her hand away in which it didn’t budge. Haikru’s enthusiasm was internally bothering me, sighing again with irritation to show that I was bothered by her. She seemed to notice this, while still having her hand on my shoulder.

“Oh come one, Teruji your acting like this is the worst thing you’ve had to deal with, stop complaining, I’m trying to make things better for you..” Haikru stated, sounding a bit fed up with my pouting now. I notice this but remain silent and turn my head away from Haikru, now with the room filling up with awkward silence. I get the feeling the tension was caused because of me but I decide keep quiet anyway.

The silence was broken by the sound of the door sliding open, in which another lab worker entered. I would tilt my head in confusion because I didn’t see anyone else with the worker. It just took a few moments for them to enter the room…

A tall and well toned woman stepped forward, so tall she had to crouch to get into the doorway. My eyes widen as such a giant. She towered above the lab worker and if she wanted to, she could definitely crush my head with a single hand. The hairs raise on my hairs, completely petrified by her presence. The woman had long extended light gray hair in a half-up half-down ponytail. Her hair that was left down extended down to her waist while the ponytail itself went to her shoulders.

Haikru’s eyes widened as well. Not out of fear though. Something almost like nostalgia.

“Haikru, you’ve now been assigned to watch both Teruji and Tenshi. I wish you luck.” The lab worker informed before stepping out rather quickly and forcing the door shut. They were probably terrified of this titan as much as I was. Tenshi, the titan I was speaking about glanced towards me, which only set me off further. The hairs on my neck rose as she looked over at me. She had big black eyes that darted as she kept her eyes on me for moments before turning back to Haikru. I noticed something on the side of Titan’s head, something that looked like a needle penetrating her head. She wasn’t bleeding but it still looked pretty painful. I kept my thoughts to myself, remaining silent though.

“So uh, your name is Tenshi, right?” Haikru curiously spoke, hiding the hesitation and nervousness in her tone. The woman nodded softly, seeming to remain silent. “Heh, well this is Teruji here!” Haikru exclaimed as she directed her hands towards me in attempts to introduce me. I simply looked up at Tenshi and don’t say a thing. Tenshi’s actions are mutual. Haikru’s face remains a nervous smile. “Uhm, it’s hard to interact when you’re silent you know…” Haikru recalls as she walks behind me and pushes me forward towards Tenshi. My face tensed up and electricity sparked from my head in fear. Once again, my electricity did not harm Haikru for whatever reason and she continued pushing me forward. I then charge the electricity beneath my feet and using static electricity to make me unmoveable. “Gosh, its okay Teruji..!” Haikru whispered into my ear. “She’s not going to hurt you, I swear just calm down…” She added. I shook my head, still not wanting to budge. Haikru sighed once more as she looked up towards Tenshi with a anxious smile.

“Heh, little Teruji is just a bit nervous…” Haikru replied, trying to ease the tension of the two just staring at each other. Tenshi lifted her hand and shook her head, still not speaking. Just gesturing that it was fine. She lifted her hand higher, pointing to the object that was impaled into her head. “Oh, right. You can take it out.” Haikru added with her smile becoming a bit less anxious as she saw Tenshi seemed gentle. Tenshi pressed her finger against the object that was stuck into her head and it slowly exited her head. Blood trailed from it yet she seemed unbothered by it. The object fell onto the ground, making a “clunk” sound as it did. My eyes watched the object, which looked something like a needle fall to the ground. “Why would she have a needle in her head? Is it supposed to be a restrainer like my collar?” Multiple questions ran through my head as I watched the needle fall. Haikru probably knew something about it, but wasn’t going to tell me until I asked.

“Yes… sorry for frightening you.” Tenshi turned towards me, her voice soft. My head turned up towards hers and nodded in response. Likewise, she didn’t seem hostile. I didn’t necessarily see her as a threat. As of now.