Chapter 20: Surgical Precision
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In the end, Riko didn’t need to sing. Kyo, Riko, and Aimi all hearing the same heartfelt music was enough to put them on the same mental wavelength, Kyo’s superhuman memory and Aimi’s two-way telepathy combining into a single ability. Through that, the three of them could explore Kyo’s memory vault, learning all they wished about the cloning project that might have given Riko a sister.

Maybe Riko’s touch and Kazuko’s music weren’t strictly necessary; after all, these were abilities the two espers already possessed. However, Aimi and Kyo distrusted each other, but both trusted Riko to some degree. They might not have pulled this off without her as a conduit, passing their thoughts to each other through her touch.

After this bittersweet ending to the afternoon’s karaoke event, the five members of the parapsychology club and their guest went off in three different directions.

Nana volunteered to escort Kazuko to the park near the school, where they would find a comfortable spot to plant Jun, who was now a massive atavistic prehistoric proto-tulip poorly suited to potted living.

Kyo, after absorbing roughly three years of singing practice from Riko, and then beaming a similarly massive amount of information into Riko and Aimi’s head, wished to go lie down in the nurse’s office. Chiyoko of course volunteered to help her there, though Kyo likely didn’t lean a whole lot of her taller body against her.

Funny, Riko thought, Aimi doesn’t look too tired, and if her theories about Resonance were correct, the fatigue inflicted by psychic abilities should have been drastically lessened. Something else must be weighing on Kyo, Riko decided. Riko tried to reassure her that she didn’t need to feel bad about keeping the laptop’s contents a secret, but Kyo wasn’t easily dissuaded.

“Thank you for your kindness, Riko,” Kyo had said, “but I still need to consider my actions and the consequence they may have had on your trust.” Riko wasn’t sure what to say to that. She could forgive Kyo all she wanted, but getting Kyo to forgive herself seemed harder. All she could think to do was let her get a night’s rest.

That just left Aimi and Riko. Riko wanted to storm home and confront her dad over what she learned; that some shady military organization may have cloned her after her father volunteered her for an experiment. But if she left for home right now, he’d probably still be at work. She didn’t particularly feel like having this conversation over the phone, either.

Surprisingly, however, Aimi was willing to hang out. Riko couldn’t even think of another ulterior motive this time for her sudden interest, like wanting to get inside of Kyo’s head, so she couldn’t help but feel a bit elated. They strolled around Roppongi a bit, taking a course along a walkway full of storefronts.

“If I do have a sister out there, where do you think she grew up?” Riko asked as they walked. Where do you think she is right now?”

Aimi shrugged and replied, “The information was redacted. Could be any black site held by the JSDF, United States military, or any allied intelligence agency. Or a civilian laboratory with privileged access. No way to know. Kyo knew she couldn’t tell you either.”

Riko brought her gaze closer to Aimi, grabbing her sleeve, which Riko had learned didn’t bother her as much as true physical contact. “So why were you so hard on her then?”

“Don’t know. Never seen a mental guard before. Reacted how I did.” Aimi was looking down.

“Isn’t that a good thing? Wouldn’t you rather let people have their privacy?”

Aimi had to consider the question. “It’s never been that easy. I wanted to know what was happening.”

Riko needed to think about it too. “You’re not the world’s only telepath, right? If telepaths exist, then there has to be those who can hide themselves from telepaths too, right? It’s something you’ll have to deal with, same as people who overload you with thoughts.”

“I know why Kyo was bothering me now. It’s no longer an issue,” Aimi muttered.

Riko shook her head. “Kyo’s still going to feel bad for a while. That’s an issue. How are you going to fix that?”

“How can I fix that? She believes her actions were in error. You already attempted to dissuade her of this notion, and failed. What can I do differently?”

Riko grinned. “Easy. Get her a present!”

Aimi’s eyes narrowed. “What would that accomplish? She wants for nothing. Anything she can't store in her head is extra baggage to her. Nothing I could give her could make her ultimately happier.”

Riko turned towards a bookstore that was looming nearby. “Wrong. Anything you gave her would make her happier. She needs to know you’re her friend, and not just her fellow club member.”

Aimi gave her arm a gentle jerk to pull her sleeve free from Riko’s grasp, but followed her into the bookstore. “It’s you she kept a secret from though. Why would a gift from me help?”

“It’s you she had an argument with,” Riko replied, a smile beaming on her face, “and I don’t think Kyo gets into arguments very much. Ever wonder about why she doesn’t join debate club, or shogi club, with her talents? I don’t think she likes fighting, especially not with those people closest to her.”

Aimi looked confused. “We’re not close though. She doesn't like me. Out of the three of the original social circle that became the parapsychology club, only Ishihara-sama regards me positively, and only because she saw me fight.”

Riko grinned with one of her soul-penetrating expressions. “Oh, you’re close, even if neither of you realize it. You just need to be less scary is all.”

Aimi looked away, unable to face those sparkling white teeth and wide-open glittering eyes. “I can’t not be scary. It’s my nature.”

Riko picked up a book from the nearby shelf. “Anyone can be less scary. They just need to ask for help once in a while. Show others that they need them.” She handed the book over to Aimi, who warily accepted it. It was titled: Genetics & Cloning—An Untold History. “It’s a big book full of jargon. I doubt anyone else could get through it as quickly as her. And I think she’ll be happy to share what she learns this time.”

Riko paid for the book, but Aimi was the one who took it home with her.

Having killed enough time, the two of them made their way to the train station and parted ways. Instead of diving in for a hug and getting spurned with Aimi’s psychokinetic grip, Riko gave her a pat on the shoulder and said, “See you tomorrow, Aoki-san.”

Riko could feel the tingle of a two-way telepathic bond forming from the over-the-clothes touch, so she kept her thoughts as un-lewd as she could. She was probably successful, since Aimi didn’t push her or pull away. A feeling of mutual calm passed through the nascent link between them.

“See you tomorrow, Nomura-san,” Aimi replied, letting the touch linger until they finally split up to grab their individual trains.

It was a long train ride home for Riko, who had to think of just how she was going to confront her father. She remembered those experiments from her childhood, but nothing seemed sinister about them at the time. She was happy to help her dad with his research, even. They were closer back then, before she stopped caring about school, and started running with a less savory crowd.

She passed her way out of the train station, where she saw they had patched up the damaged roof to keep the rain out until proper repairs could be arranged, and the burnt tree was healing a bit. Maybe she’d try to get Kazuko to come by some time and help it recover faster. She did owe the tree a favor for saving her life, after all.

First, however, came finding out what dad knows. Or tried to avoid discussing. She wondered just how much she could bring up without revealing Aimi’s telepathic intrusions into his head, or the laptop full of classified information that they stole. Well, that came down to seizing the initiative and keeping him on the defensive. So she kept herself as angry as possible on the march home. Which admittedly, wasn’t all that angry. She was a pretty cool-headed person most of the time.

Taking off her shoes as she reached the entrance to her house killed some of her moment, so she took a moment to recharge, taking shallow breaths and imagining her father knowingly hiding a sister from her all of these years.

Alright, it’s time. “I’m home!” proclaimed Riko, and opened the door. “Dad?”

“He’s up in the study,” called Riko’s mother from the kitchen, where she was working on dinner. Figures. He was never really off the clock. He often had some massive proposal or report to read, and chose to do so from the comfort of home instead of his work desk.

Riko nodded to her mom, and stomped her way upstairs, knocking twice on the door to the study before throwing it open.

Her dad was seated at his desk, a sizable pile of paperwork before him. “Ah Riko, what did you need? I hope you’re preparing hard for midterms-”

“Not now, dad. We have to talk. About that little sister you never told me about,” Riko said, fuming. Or, at least, attempting to fume.

Dr. Nomura put his face in his hand and let out a sigh. “Has Higashi started to spread rumors about me already? I can assure you, regardless of what you may have heard about my popularity in college, there are no love children-”

“No!” Riko yelled, “I mean the clone they made of me when those military researchers drew my blood.” Despite her attempts to be outwardly aggressive, she was on edge inside.

“Clone?” He  seemed to be carefully choosing his next answer. Whatever it was, she’d have to turn it back on him, rather than let him probe at her sources, Riko realized. “Who told you such a thing?”

“That’s not a denial! So where is she? Is she comfortable in her lab? Did they give her a nice name, or something cruel like ‘Experiment 7’?” Riko inched closer as she started spouting off every counter question that came to mind, focused on not ceding any ground.

Her father adjusted his glasses, maintaining his composure as best as he could with a hysterical teenage girl in his face. “I hope you’re spending more time studying than you are indulging in this boyhood science fiction fantasy. As far as I’m aware of, the Psychometrics & Psionics division did have a geneticist on the team. But human cloning remains an impossible dream with-”

“Impossible? Like psychic abilities were once thought impossible?”

Dr. Nomura smiled, the debate shifting into territory he was clearly more comfortable with. “No, not impossible, there was just a lack of evidence supporting the existence of psychic powers that exists now. If you want to speculate on the possibility of viable human cloning, the burden is on you to come up with a novel theory and support it. If you want to do that, I’d suggest starting on your journey by scoring above the median result on your next Biology test.”

Not good, Riko thought. Dad stole the initiative. Well, she couldn’t give up now. “My theory is that an esper did it.” It certainly made sense to Riko; she saw Kamei-sensei and Kazuko do things that defied easy scientific explanation.

“Ah, that old refrain, ‘an esper did it’,” Dr. Nomura replied with a chuckle. “A man who has never held steady employment, and has a problem controlling his temper, claims an esper cursed him to forever have a poor love life. Should we believe him too?”

Well, they were back on familiar territory, but Riko would have to reveal one of her cards to use it. “Lifeforce manipulation is a known ability. Contact Kamei-sensei, the counselor at my school, if you want a demonstration. I’m sure she’d be happy to hear from you.”

Her father set down the sheet of paper he was reading, his expression no longer coy. “Suke-chan is an esper?” Crap, Riko realized, I forgot she never told him.

“Please don’t tell her I told you, dad, and I won’t tell mom you called her Suke-chan.” Riko calmed herself down, and grabbed a chair by her father’s desk.

“Very well. I can see you’ve thought this through better than I had realized. But I really don’t know about any attempts to clone you. Bring your telepath friend here if you don’t believe me.”  Phew, Riko thought, he doesn’t realize Aimi already dug around in his head once before. “If there’s nothing else, I really do need to prepare for the Minister’s upcoming retirement. Higashi is slated to win his seat unless I get aggressive. His family has been in politics since Japan became a democracy, and he’s by all estimates considered ‘next in line’.”

“You like a hard target, don’t you dad? I remember you saying politics were more challenging than brain surgery.” Riko thought about her quest to become more than friends with Aimi, and where she might have gotten that notion. Though she doubted she would ever be in a position to call brain surgery ‘not challenging enough’.

Her father smiled, and leaned over to look her better in the eyes. “You like a challenge, too. Four months ago, you were about to flunk out of the only high school that would accept you, and spent all your time slumming with delinquents and pursuing a dead end idol career. Then that counselor of yours convinced you that was the coward’s way out of life. Now you’re at a great school with a track into a solid university.”

Riko grinned. “I’m still going to be an idol, dad. I’m just going to be an educated one who knows how to be a veterinarian. Or maybe a botanist; it turns out plants are pretty cool! Or learn psychology like Kamei-sensei and Brinsfield-sensei.”

“Like I said, work on those biology scores first.” He was taking her seriously, at least. Whoops, she almost forgot about the clone during all this bonding, Riko realized. “But you’re on your way. It must have been putting off chasing boys until college, but you seem to have done it.”

Riko went quiet. Oh right, he thinks I like boys, she thought. Another thing he doesn’t know about me. Right when the mood was improving, too. Time to change the subject.

“Hey dad, can you tell me about the geneticist working for the military?”

Her father pushed his glasses up his nose dramatically. “Promise me you’re not going to harass her about human cloning and such nonsense?” Her. More brainy female associates, mused Riko. No wonder he’s worried about his rival spreading rumors.

“I promise! Not without due cause and the burden of evidence satisfied, anyway,” Riko replied, sitting up with a smile.

Dr. Nomura had pulled an old address book from his desk, flipping through it to the desired entry while cross-referencing LinkBook on his computer. “Here we go. Dr. Kohaku Sawa, currently a researcher and demonstrator at Yokohama National University. That’s a busy career, you realize?”

Riko thought about Aimi’s talent at getting information from people without talking to them, and the fact that her club was planning a trip to that very place this weekend. “You have my word I won’t bother her, dad.”

Riko had a lead she didn’t have earlier this afternoon, so that was a start. She wasn’t certain her dad wasn’t hiding something, but he was convincing enough that Riko decided to drop the subject of cloning, at least until the next time Aimi agreed to come visit. He did say that she was welcome for dinner any time she liked.

There were those experiments Blue claimed he was involved in, but that might be better left to Aimi as well.

For now, she had a lot of work to do. She had to write up Kazuko Kaneko’s profile for the school newspaper and the Jiyuuna Kokoro. She had to compose her observations on the Resonance effect into a halfway decent article as well. Not to mention, her dad was right about needing to study hard for her Biology exams. Her Math and English could use work as well.

It wasn’t all work and stress, however. Despite the drama, Aimi had shown more warmth to Riko than she had ever before. Thinking about this new side of Aimi meant that when Riko was finally ready to take a break, she was able to have a very nice evening bath.

Riko was eagerly anticipating school tomorrow. Four months ago, she would be dreading it. Funny how being surrounded by beautiful, brainy girls can change a delinquent.

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