Chapter 95: Chapter 93: Life in Captivity
Time passed quickly, or so I would like to say. But in reality, only two months had passed, and I was still as clueless about this place as I was when I first arrived into this world.
There wasn't any information that I could get my hands on, apart from some occasional conversation that the scientists leaked when they thought no one was near them.
Too bad my hearing was enhanced with my fox ears out.
In my room, there was nothing other than basic things. Unless you counted the fan and air conditioner, there was no computer, phone, or anything related to technology.
I also checked that there were no cameras in my room; that was as far as I was concerned. If there were any hidden cameras, then I would have missed them.
But I don't think there were any, seeing that I still wasn't cut up with them trying to figure out why I had tails. I only had various injections that I couldn't resist. I have no idea what the injections would be doing to me, and I had already planned to (try and) escape the moment the first signs of something wrong happening appear.
Two weeks have already passed with the daily injections, and I don't feel any negative things happening. It was the only reason why I remained here, alongside the fact that I could hardly dodge guns, something the guards who were guarding the main gate and patroling around the property were carrying.
This feels weird...
Apart from that, I had a lot of free time in this place, so I did what I planned to do.
Train my tails. First, all twelve tails moved as one bundle, and once I managed to properly balance myself with the new additional weight behind me, I tried moving all my limbs as well.
And trust me when I say I have a lot of experience in training motor skills and limb coordination. Being a baby once with all your memories intact has that benefit.
After I've finished my first step, which took me about a day, I split into two bundles of six tails each. And that was where things went wrong.
It was a lot harder than I expected and took up about one week to fully control the two bundles like my four limbs.
Splitting my tails into three bundles of 4 tails took me one month, and currently, I'm still learning how to multitask my five limbs (including head), along with four bundles of 3 tails each.
Apart from tails, I've also learned how to use my claws. They weren't very long, so I needed to mix them within my Taekwondo mastery. It was true that it dropped all the way to intermediate proficiency, but as long as I remember the movements, I can easily imitate everything I learned when I reached master proficiency.
It might not be as smooth as back then, but it was better than just counting on the intermediate proficiency.
My claws were white in color (surprise, surprise), just like my hair, tail, and ears. Although I say "claws", they were basically my fingernails being sharpened, extended, and strengthened.
Simple.
Sigh, learning how to control all my twelve tails separately with an excellent degree of control is going to take forever...
At the very least, the presence of Shiro helped elevate some of the loneliness and dreariness in this place.
Knock, knock...
The sound of knocking made me immediately retract my tails as I turned to face the door. I was getting used to immediately retracting my fox features.
"Good morning, Fuutarou. How was your sleep?" The same man who greeted me the first time I opened my eyes greeted me for the 62nd time. It seems like he was some sort of a personal caretaker for me.
"Good! Can I play with Shiro today again?"
"I'm afraid not. Today, Shiro is undergoing something...important."
He hesitated at the last word. So it was the experiment...It was basically confirmed by me by this time. Even though I haven't seen them personally experiment on her, it was pretty apparent from the number of bandages on her limbs.
It was a wonder as to why she wasn't broken yet.
"You can play with her tomorrow, but for now, it's the usual medicine." The man grabbed my shoulder as he gently guided me to the dreaded place.
Nothing terrible happened to me at that place, but the sheer atmosphere of that place creeped me out. That was why I termed it as the "dreaded" place. The "medicine" that the man spoke off was also just an excuse to inject something into my body.
"Must I take medicine?"
"Unfortunately not. But the medicine is good for you."
Yeah, sure. Whatever you believe in, man.
"Aw..."
"Don't worry; your daily medicine intake will end soon."
Well, that's terrible news. The scientists had already "fattened" me up like a pig, so is it finally time to escape before they cut me down for my "pork"?
As we talked, I was led to the usual room - a pure white, clean, and sparkly room. It was not your standard typical horror room, where it was filled with blood, flickering dim light, and some scientist stained with blood.
Nope. As a professional scientist, cleanliness is always the number one priority.
"Good morning to you too, Fuutarou." Another scientist with dark eye circles beneath his eyes spoke with a smile that looked faker than plastic surgery. His name was Hagire, and he looked dead.
I didn't bother greeting him since I didn't like him, something obvious to everyone around us, so no one was concerned with me and my feelings.
He must have spotted me eyeing the needle warily because he commented, "Don't worry. This will only help you be healthier. Too bad, the effects are getting weaker, and we would have to shift to another type of injections in a few weeks, all right?"
I don't know why he was asking me, but only a fool would believe his words. Nevertheless, I nodded my head, and he went back to busying himself with the needle that was needed to be injected into me.
"Take a deep breath..."
The needle was injected into me, and some clear fluid entered my bloodstream. I waited for some sort of reaction from the injection, but it seemed that nothing happened again like usual.
"Good...his body still hasn't rejected the substance..."
Hagire was muttering very softly, but my enhanced hearing managed to hear him quite clearly, especially since this room has impressive echo and acoustics.
As expected...as soon as I find an opening, I'll escape this place. Maybe I'll bring Shiro out as well, but there was no promise to that. My life here is the priority; I have my own girls to worry about and prioritize. Shiro may be close to me, but I would still choose Shouko and Kaori anytime, and I don't want to risk my life for a girl I might never meet again after this trial.
"Thank you for your time, Fuutarou. You may leave now for your breakfast." Hagire spoke without turning his body, his face still plastered onto the screen.
Without a word, I left the seat and walked out of the room. Today, no one was guiding me out, so I had a tiny window to explore this eerie place before I needed to be back at the designated area.
∞
Black, black, black, black, ooh, white! Black again...
The number of rooms in this seemingly small facility was countless. And what I thought was a small research facility was immense; I haven't even discovered one-tenth of the whole place.
Most were empty, though some currently had experiments happening. I avoided all of that and only walked around, trying to memorize the entire layout of this place.
This was definitely going to come in handy in the future.
I continued walking around, then I heard it.
The sound of music. Something I haven't heard for a long time, something I missed.
"Piano?"
But unlike what I usually play, this song was somber, yet it somehow felt like a lullaby, a childhood song meant for children.
The naughty little woodpecker ♪
Knocked holes, crumbling the forest.
The angry wood god turned his beak into poison! ♪
At this point, the sound suddenly stopped, and a female voice rang out, "Who?!"
Hearing her, I didn't bother satiating my curiosity and left silently.
Who is the mysterious woman who was playing the piano in a room surrounded by experiments happening?
∞
Today, I was playing with Shiro again. It seems like, despite the lack of environment and toys that we were provided with, Shiro could come up with some of the most intriguing ways of playing.
I didn't reject playing with Shiro because I was essentially always pushing my body to the limit every day while I played with her. The worst part? Every time I felt like I had improved, Shiro also improved, making it nigh impossible for me to surpass her without some sort of external interference.
That girl is a monster, I swear to God.
"Hehe, you can't catch me!" Shiro giggled as she swung from branch to branch, avoiding all my grasps by an inch.
"You just wait! I'll definitely catch you like every other day!"
"Hehe, not today~!"
Shiro leaped from the tree and onto the ground - a full three meters in the air - and she didn't even gain a scratch. I followed her without a second thought and landed perfectly as well, but Shiro had already dashed a few meters ahead of me.
Running after her with all my might, I tried catching her once more with a leap forward, but she continued dodging like some sort of slime.
"Damn it..."
I could catch her, but catching her always exhausts me to the point of collapsing.
"Hahaha..."
Shiro's bright laughter echoed around the small area, and I immediately continued my chase.
The chase continued for another hour before I made my final leap.
"Finally!" My hand grabbed onto Shiro's arm and held in place, but...it was strangely light?
"?!" The arm in my hand dropped to the floor as I let out a gasp of surprise. Shiro looked back to see one of her arms missing as well before yelling in shock and pain.
I wanted to curse and scream and complain, but it was no time to be doing so. Shiro was bleeding heavily, so I quickly took her fallen arm and pressed it against the stump as I yelled loudly for the person in charge to come.
It was probably an idiotic idea to try and reattach an arm just like that, but I was panicking at that time and wasn't thinking straight.
"Fuutarou! It hurts!"
"I know, but please bear with it," I comforted as I leaned her body against mine, trying to make her relax so that more blood wouldn't flow out, "There, there. I'm here."
In her still-attached arm, the Aceman figurine was almost being crushed by Shiro's strength as she continued groaning in pain.
"What happened here?!" What's with all the yell-oh my God!" A passing guard asked before he noticed the horrible condition Shiro was in. He quickly informed the others with his walkie-talkie and wrapped his shirt around the stump of Shiro's arm, hoping it would slow down the blood flow.
"Fuutarou..."
"I'm here, I'm here...Aceman is here with you!"
At my words, it seemed as though Shiro was hypnotized as she stopped wailing. Only sobs were left as a small, weak smile appeared on her face, "Aceman is here..."
"Yes! Aceman is here, and you'll be safe from now on!"
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A/N: Since the title I originally planned to put was a spoiler, I changed it. But after everything becomes clearer and you guys know what world we are in, I'll put in a better title.
If you want to support me or/and want chapters in advance, link:
https://www.patréon.com/spirits_everywhere. We are currently 8 chapters ahead~
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