As they stepped out of yet another shop with a number of naked girls in tow, Kiru asked a question that was on her mind. Maybe Qelu would answer it. “Out of curiosity, why are we hunting in the mall? Wouldn’t you find more girls if you visit a school?”

Qelu nodded, “Yes, but I haven’t been tasked with that, and as I said earlier, this is technically my free time. I do have a school inspection coming up in my schedule though. We start inspecting the schools around this time every year.”

That would explain why they hadn’t seen an Iniri inspecting a school yet. Between her cell’s own recent arrival, and the apparent long intervals between Iniri school inspections there had simply not been enough chances to cross paths with an inspection in progress, quite yet. It sounds like they might encounter one soon enough going by Qelu’s comment. Although there was still the question of what they were doing with the girls. 

Unfortunately, Qelu hadn’t provided a clear answer to that one quite yet. Her answers so far had worryingly indicated that these girls they were taking may be separated from their families for months, or even years. While who knows what was being done to them. Undoing what the Iniri had done to the Imperium was starting to look like a logistical nightmare.

So many displaced and brainwashed young girls. Separated families, and more. Fixing this mess was not a task she envied. At least Megumi was an AI, one she had every confidence could fix this problem. The problem was would she have enough time? Ava had mentioned some rogue assimilator. That sounded like a problem that would need to be nipped in the bud before it could become a threat.

“You do inspections every year?”

Qelu nodded, “Yep we have been for a few years now. As new potentials emerge, people like me locate them so that they can be trained and awakened.”

Kiru blinked. Emerge? She was silent for a moment shifting on her feet a little. “What do you mean by ‘emerge’?”

Qelu stopped in her tracks and turned around, “Not every Neku has potential. We have found a way which makes it so that almost every Neku can be nudged into developing it. Don’t ask me how, but we have been nudging the Neku into developing potential. We hope that eventually the entire population will develop potential. Although that may take some years more.”

Kiru wanted to smile. That sounded like something very interesting, and something important. Unfortunately by the sound of it, Qelu wouldn’t be able to tell her anything really interesting about this item. Still, she found it interesting that they were somehow ‘nudging Neku into developing potential.’ Something her cell had determined to be related to psionics. It still left unanswered exactly why they wanted Neku with potential. What exactly was being done to them was also left unanswered. She had tried asking, but Qelu had left that question unanswered. She sent an update to Megumi.

Almost immediately she received a text: Interesting. That indicates a rather advanced knowledge of bioengineering. We will have to look into this. In the meantime continue to stay with Qelu. She has been quite helpful.

After digesting the text, Kiru decided to try asking again. So she asked, “I see, so what do you need so many Neku with potential for?”

“As I said before there are many uses. Maybe I’ll give you more specifics later..”

Kiru sighed it seemed the girl was deliberately avoiding the question. Now that left her wondering why. Hopefully she would find out before too long.

She didn’t learn more at the mall, and the visit to the clinic afterwards was brief. She stayed close to Qelu, and didn’t speak unless she had to while there. They simply delivered the girls and stayed long enough to see them assessed. Before she knew it, she was driving Qelu out to the neighborhood she had been inspecting yesterday. She landed the truck on a neighboring block as instructed, and helped Qelu out of the vehicle.

Qelu smiled at her, and then said, “Thanks Kiru. Knock on the first door for me will you?”

Kiru sighed. She could scarcely believe she had actually agreed to do this. Once again she briefly wondered what she was thinking, taking a job like this. The cool breeze even reminded her of the fact that she was walking around practically naked. The only thing she was wearing was a courier’s belt. It was hardly adequate clothing in her opinion.

It only took a moment before her own training helped her put those feelings aside. She headed for the first door. She already knew which residences they were inspecting, as Qelu had gone over that on the way over. They were only doing this one block today. Last time the truck had been full after doing a block, and Qelu said there was a good chance of the same today.

She knocked on the door, three times like she had seen the other courier do. After a moment a young girl answered the door, seeming a bit excited. Kiru was kind of hoping that she didn’t have potential, as she was quite young. Qelu smiled at the little one, and said “Allow us in. This is an inspection, and leave the door open.”

The girl nodded, and stepped back as she had already opened the door wide in her excitement about someone being at the door. The pair headed in, and Qelu told the girl to fetch her family. Although her mother was already entering the room.

The mother frowned at them entering, “Can I help you two?”

Qelu nodded, “Yes this is an inspection.”

The mother’s frown vanished, and she nodded.

Not long after, her little girl came back with her three older sisters. It seemed the first house of the day was a larger household. Qelu, looking at the little girl, smiled and said “Thank you, sweetie. Now take those off, and go with Kiru dear.”

Kiru blinked, “Huh? You haven’t...”

“She’s way too young to be checking for suitability. I already checked her potential, it’s high. I’ll get quite the bonus for one as young as her with that much potential.”

Kiru was now a little confused. It seemed there was more to this inspection than just looking for potential. The little one was already naked and had come over. So Kiru took her hand and led her out to the truck. She made sure the girl was comfortable, and after hesitating a moment headed back. Where she was promptly given two of the other sisters. She led them back to the truck, and made them comfortable before coming back. Already she had questions.

“About the little one, do you know what will happen to her?”

Qelu said, “Depends on what the others decide, but since she is that young the others will take their time training her. It will be a few years before she sees her family again. Why ask?”

“Don’t you think it’s a little cruel to be taking her from them so young?”

Qelu shook her head, “Nah she’ll be better off for it, trust me. Besides, they won’t miss each other, I’ll make sure of that.”

Kiru sighed. She clearly wasn’t getting through to her. Internally she made a note to make this right later, when she has the chance. As for Qelu’s comment about not missing each other, that was only because they were being brainwashed to effectively forget each other.

That was something she hadn’t done to them quite yet, but she already had the remaining girls packing. Clearing out clothes and mementos. Practically sanitizing the home of the individuals being removed today. Kiru decided to ask something else, “You said something about getting a bonus for her. What was that about?”

Qelu said, “I get paid for every girl with potential I bring back. Younger girls with higher potential however are worth more.”

Kiru frowned, not sure what to think about that. After a moment she remembered something from yesterday, “Yesterday you commented about this neighborhood being selected. Selected for what?”

Qelu lit up, “Oh, you will quite like it when we are done. No one here will be wearing stupid clothes, and most of your silly taboos will have been trained out of you. We are making this into a district for us and enhanced Neku only. ‘Normal’ Neku won’t be allowed in this neighborhood. Afterall we can’t trust them near our children, and quite a few of them will be running around this neighborhood soon enough.”

Kiru wasn’t sure what to think about that. It implied a few things about what they were planning about this neighborhood. A few big questions had been added as a result however. What did she mean with this mention of ‘enhanced Neku?’ Kiru guessed it had something to do with the girls they found suitable and were taking during these inspections.

Then Qelu’s mood shifted, “Anyway enough with the questions. Let’s talk about something else.”

Kiru nodded, “Uh, sure. What do you want to talk about?”

Qei was taking a walk. She was a little worried about Kiru since she hadn’t seen her since yesterday, and she was being cryptic about what happened. At least she had heard from Kiru, which indicated that she was at least alright, but that didn’t make her less worried. So to take her mind off the problem she decided to take a walk. Especially since she had the free time for it, she felt some more fresh air would do her some good.

She rounded a corner. Several houses came into view and down the road a school could be seen. It was one of the many public schools in the city. It was actually a fair distance from their apartment. She recalled on the map that there were a couple of schools closer to her apartment. Not that it mattered. It wasn’t a point of interest. Not as far as they could tell anyway. It seemed no different from any other school.

Her mind wandered back to what she had witnessed at the bank. Remembering how that woman had been asked to make herself available for a four-day weekend. She was honestly curious as to what they were planning with that. What was the purpose of that? Clearly they were going to do something to her. Was it just brainwashing or something more?

Befores she could linger on speculation however she noticed an Iniri girl cross the street towards the school. Even from here she was quite noticeable since the streets near the school were nearly empty since it was midday. It would be a few hours yet before things get busy around here. Qei however was wondering why she was heading to the school at this hour.

Seeing no one looking her way, she cloaked. Then she approached. She was worried that this girl would be able to sense her through the cloak like the other girl that Kiru had followed, but she was too curious not to take the risk. She followed her into the building trying to keep her distance as much as possible. She did have to hurry though to get in the door before it closed.