Chapter warnings: mentions of attempted suicide; mentions of violence against children; canon dysfunctional/unhealthy family dynamics; medical procedures performed without informed consent; identity loss.

4 April

The enemy has won the first battle before they even knew there was a battle to be fought.

They've spent all this time preparing for the wrong thing entirely. Himika should have noticed the trap sooner. The trace fragments of information about the pieces – they'd been left deliberately, to bait Himika and Reiji into pursuing a false trail while the enemy prepared to snatch the true target. She can't begin to guess at the purpose of it all, at the true significance of the pieces. But she has to assume that Academia now holds three of the four. It is nothing more than luck that the fourth has fallen within LDS' reach.

As far as Maiami is aware, though, this was just a random kidnapping that ended, thankfully, with the girl returning to her family alive and mostly well. Only five people know that Hiiragi Yuzu is not the real Hiiragi Yuzu.

Reiji handles the LDS press release with all the skill she expects of him. It simply wouldn't do for Himika to give it, not when she holds the knowledge she does; and Reiji lies so prettily when he doesn't know he's lying. He speaks well. His youth, and his status as a duelist, count in his favour. His serious, earnest manner persuades even those least disposed to listening. People will walk away convinced that LDS did all they could to assist the police investigation and that they will continue to assist in the search for the perpetrators. Even Himika couldn't have done better.

Out of the public eye, though, he voices his concerns that Academia will soon make another attempt on the girl. He doesn't know, and Himika can't tell him, that Academia won't come looking here. Only five people know that she's not the real Hiiragi Yuzu. That's five people too many. She won't add a sixth, even if that sixth person is Reiji.

There's no point in telling him information that she only plans to erase.

Everything would have been considerably simpler had LDS found the girl first. If nothing else, they would have had more time, more options. Keep the girl safely hidden until they understood the situation. Continue the public search for Hiiragi Yuzu. Continue the private search for a way into the Fusion Dimension –

But they're not ready for a conflict with Academia. They may never be ready in time to stop tragedy befalling their world.

It's done now. For all the problems it causes, Himika has to admit that Hiiragi-san made the best call in a terrible situation, yesterday. Who knows what would have happened to the girl, had she been left in police custody? A second media storm, born out of her similar face to the missing girl from Maiami. A search for her family. Publicity, and if the enemy left spies here in Standard (and Himika knows that there will certainly be spies, if not now then in the future; that man would never leave them entirely unwatched), sooner or later the news would filter back to Academia.

No, better by far that they pretend, for now, that she is Hiiragi Yuzu. There'll be a handful of news items at most, which Reiji is already working to keep hidden from online searches. Keep those hidden, he believes, and it delays how quickly they'll find her again. It's an admirable goal. That is, if the girl was really Hiiragi Yuzu. But why would anyone look for the missing piece outside of her home dimension?

She's forced to gamble. The current plan hinges on there being no spies at all left in Standard. Everything is far too uncertain for her liking, but there are no other options. They're trapped. Himika can only hope that she's guessed the enemy's hand correctly.

And Hiiragi-san is forced to keep a cuckoo-chick in his nest, until such time as they manage to recover the real Hiiragi Yuzu... or, she can't help but think, that they fail and let this piece, too, fall into Academia's clutches.

She orders the remainder of her meetings to be rescheduled. Fortunately, all of them are internal to LDS. As everyone is fully aware of how involved the Akabas have been with the search for Hiiragi Yuzu, or her kidnappers, neither the secretaries nor the affected faculty staff question her decision. It has always been Akaba Himika's policy to personally visit any students who have gone through something especially trying; and while Hiiragi Yuzu isn't within LDS' jurisdiction, her abduction and subsequent retrieval has certainly affected LDS' image. Nobody sees anything suspicious in her choice.

Nobody except Reiji.

She is in her office, mentally fortifying herself for the meeting ahead, when the elder of her sons appears. Gone is the confidence with which he'd held himself during the press release earlier; he slips through the door as though he half expects somebody to stop him. It's the way he moved when he was thirteen and forever looking over his shoulder, constantly wary of watching eyes.

"Mother."

"Reiji." Himika makes sure that he can't see the log of her conversation with Hiiragi-san, and moves around her desk towards him. "Has something happened?"

"No," he says. "There's been no sign of anything. Is she really – "

"There is no doubt," she tells him. "I have spoken with Hiiragi Shuzou. The girl did manage to escape her captors, and she managed to find a way to Maiami. I hope to find out how."

"She's definitely Hiiragi Yuzu?" asks Reiji. Probing. Seeking assurance. Seeking out the truths she has to hide.

Himika looks him in the eye. "Yes," she lies.

He doesn't quite believe her, but he hides his uncertainty almost as well as Himika hides her deceit. Eventually, he nods in acceptance and turns to leave. Himika lets him.

Then she turns back to the message log and scours it from existence. If Reiji does suspect her of hiding information from him, she cannot risk him finding evidence of it. She cannot afford to lose his trust when there is so much at stake.

She leaves LDS soon after. By late afternoon, she stands on the pathway to the Sakaki household. Sakaki Yoko opens the door before she even has the chance to knock. Both of them watch until the car pulls away; then Sakaki-san invites her inside. Nakajima will return when she calls for him.

There's nobody else in the house. Strangely, that makes Himika almost relieved. There are issues she needs to discuss before she even talks with the girl, and of the two adults, Sakaki Yoko is the one more likely to consider what she has to say.

Even if she can't be sure that Sakaki Yoko is somebody she can trust.

"Shuzou took the children out for a bit," Sakaki-san explains, briefly busying herself in the kitchen. Himika can hear a kettle boiling. Tea, again. "Ruri wanted to see more of the city, so it might be a while before they're back."

Himika nods. "How much did Hiiragi-san tell you of our conversation yesterday evening?"

It takes a moment for Sakaki-san to reply. "Enough," she says, carrying the tea through. "Are you really stopping the search for Yuzu-chan?"

Of course Hiiragi Shuzou would take that impression from her words. "We will continue to search for a way to travel between dimensions," she assures Sakaki-san. "But it has been two years since we first learned of the Academia, and we still have no way of accessing such a pathway. We are no closer to finding one. How can we reach Hiiragi Yuzu when we cannot even reach the Academia?"

"Your people don't know they're looking for a way to get to Yuzu-chan."

Himika tamps down irritation. Important as the girl is, she is not and cannot be LDS' sole concern. There's this second girl to think about, too; and most of all, the safety of all of Standard is at stake.

"They know they are looking for pathways between our dimension and the Academia. They know of the danger that the Academia poses to us," she says, careful to keep her frustration from showing. She reminds herself that Sakaki-san doesn't know what she does, doesn't realise how dangerous the knowledge they hold is. She can be forgiven her ignorance. "I simply cannot allow any more people than necessary to know that this girl is not Hiiragi Yuzu."

Sakaki-san doesn't reply. She quietly sips her tea, contemplative. Himika glances at the clock. How long will it be until Hiiragi-san returns with the children? There is still too much to discuss to waste time on this subject.

She has to gamble, again. Has to hope that Sakaki-san's loyalties lie with Standard rather than with Sakaki Yushou. Wherever he is. Whichever side he is truly on.

"All of Maiami City believes that Hiiragi Yuzu has been found," she says. "At present, only five people know the truth of the girl's identity. But every person who knows that truth is a security risk. The only solution I can see is to suppress it... to suppress our memories of these events as much as possible. LDS is in possession of the technology..."

"You want to erase our memories," interrupts Sakaki-san, incredulous. "You expect us to agree to that?"

"Suppress," Himika insists. The distinction is important. "Memory suppression can be undone. It will be necessary only until we recover Hiiragi Yuzu - "

Sakaki-san sets her mug down with a clatter, and fixes her eyes on her clenched hands. "I can understand why you think it's necessary for the children," she says, in a voice that trembles with anger. "I don't like it at all, but I understand. Yuuya wouldn't be able to keep up the pretence, and it's too much to ask of Ruri." Sakaki-san looks at her, then, eyes blazing, and Himika is glad they're facing each other across a coffee table rather than a dueling field. "But for us? We can't keep Ruri safe if we don't remember what to keep her safe from!"

"I know." Himika exhales, closing her eyes. "I know. One of us will have to keep their memories. And it cannot be me." If the children are the greatest risk to the charade... as the current leader of LDS, somebody that man surely suspects of attempting to act against him, she is the second-greatest risk. She cannot allow her memories to betray them all. Her knowledge of these events must be suppressed at all costs.

"If you made us forget about Yuzu-chan... Shuzou would never forgive you if he found out," says Sakaki-san. "And his forgiveness wouldn't mean anything to you at all, would it? But you can't run the risk of alienating him, not when he's the only person who can keep Ruri safe."

It's the same conclusion that Himika came to.

It's the reason why Sakaki Yoko has to be the fourth one to forget.

The anger drains from Sakaki-san's voice. "That's a terrible burden for one person to bear."

"We have no other – "

"We do. I have to remember as well. Please – it's not just them," Sakaki-san says, with sudden urgency, "Yuzu-chan, Ruri, Selena, that fourth girl – they're not the only ones who share a face. There's somebody who looks like Yuuya. Ruri mistook him for somebody from her dimension at first. What if Academia targets my son, too?"

Himika understands that concern more than she'd ever dare admit. She doesn't know what she would do if the war arrived in Standard tomorrow and she found herself unable to protect Reiji and Reira. But this isn't the time for sentiment. She turns her thoughts to what Sakaki-san said, about the further dimensional counterpart. There was nothing out of the ordinary about Hiiragi Yuzu, except for a diligence not often seen in such a young duelist. There's nothing particularly special about Sakaki Yuuya, who is consistently not good enough to qualify for the Maiami Championship. Why are these two children the ones with counterparts?

With a frown, Himika says, "There's nothing that suggests your son is in any more danger than the rest of Standard – "

"Until the Academia abducted her, there was nothing that suggested Yuzu-chan was in any danger," Sakaki-san interrupts. "Besides, Ruri's friend might be dead."

...Dead?

In any other situation, Himika would look past such a word, would focus on the inherent uncertainty of the 'might be'. But one week ago exactly a thirteen-year-old girl vanished, just minutes away from the safety of LDS, because they failed to realise she was being targeted by Academia. Yesterday, a different thirteen-year-old girl was found, ragged and terrified. One of her sons is heavily involved in the efforts to protect Standard from the Academia, while the other may be targeted solely because of his family's actions.

Sakaki-san's son is just thirteen years old. The four pieces, most likely, are all thirteen years old. This girl's friend... if he was a counterpart to Sakaki Yuuya, as the girl is to Hiiragi Yuzu, then he, too, must have been thirteen. Just thirteen. If the Academia are willing to kill a thirteen-year-old child, then she came so close to losing Reiji, two years ago. Had he encountered anyone other than his – than that man, then Reiji could have so easily never returned from the different dimension, alive or otherwise.

They're all just children.

"Is there really no other way to keep her safe?"

Before Himika can reply, there's a sound at the front door. Sakaki-san leans across the coffee table and whispers a hurried warning: "Yuuya doesn't know about the dimensions, just that the Academia exists." Himika frowns. That makes things more difficult than they ought to be.

Sakaki-san stands, grabs the two empty mugs – wait, empty? – and hurries away to the kitchen again; moments later Hiiragi-san leads the children into the house. His face clouds over when he spots Himika.

Himika's gaze moves past him, her attention captured by the child who has unknowingly derailed the Academia's plans and bought them all time.

The girl really does look remarkably like Hiiragi Yuzu. The hair, of course, is the most obvious difference. However, the police did mention, in their press release, that the kidnappers changed the girl's hair colour. People will not second-guess Hiiragi Yuzu's newly pink hair. It's so obvious a change that even Himika almost misses how the girl's eyes are a brighter, purer blue than Hiiragi Yuzu's, which bore the same slight green tinge as Hiiragi-san's. Yes, people who don't know the girl will explain away the change as odd lighting in those photographs; people who do know her will be distracted by the vivid pink of her hair, and assume it merely brings out the blue of her eyes.

With luck, the deception will hold.

Himika glances down. There's the bracelet, peeking from under the sleeve of the girl's tracksuit. Silver, subtly embellished. It resembles overlay units. Almost certainly, that makes her the piece from the Xyz dimension – No, she chides herself, best not to make such assumptions. Hiiragi Yuzu's bracelet should have been plain silver, if the bracelet reflects on its home dimension's native summoning method. Moreover, Reiji couldn't remember enough about the Fusion girl's bracelet to describe it, beyond it vaguely matching the description of Hiiragi Yuzu's. Unless they can confirm this girl's origins, no matter how many clues seem to point towards her being from Xyz, Himika won't take it as fact.

The girl is watching her, too, wary and considering. Her hands are wrapped tightly around an object – an apple – which she clutches to her chest protectively. "Are you the leader?" she asks in a voice barely more than a whisper.

"Leader?" echoes the boy. "What do you mean, Ruri?"

"Of the people who are standing against the Academia," Himika cuts in, before anyone can confuse the girl. "You could say that I am, yes."

The girl relaxes slightly. "Okay," she says, mostly to herself. Then she nods, walks to the couch, and sits down, taking a second to compose herself. She's trying to give the impression of strength, of certainty. All Himika sees is a frightened little girl in too-big clothes, clutching an apple like it's the most precious thing in the world. "You want to talk to me?" she asks.

"You're from LDS," interrupts Sakaki Yuuya. "Why should we trust you? You didn't stop them from taking Yuzu away!"

"Yuuya," says Sakaki-san in warning; at the sound of her voice, he flinches, and bolts for the staircase.

Curiously, the girl remains unfazed. Himika glances towards the staircase in time to see a mop of red and green hair duck out of sight. Eavesdropping. They still have to be careful what they say.

"I can't go home, can I?"

...That was exactly the topic Himika wanted to avoid with Sakaki Yuuya still around.

"Oh," says Ruri, taking Himika's silence for confirmation. She turns the apple over in her hands. Sakaki-san and Hiiragi-san drift towards them.

"Ruri," says Hiiragi-san, gently, "can you tell us where you actually come from?"

She's quiet for a long while. Then, in a rush, she says something that vaguely sounds like it contains the word "heart".

They share surreptitious looks. With Sakaki Yuuya eavesdropping, it's as close to an answer as they dare to get. Himika can check the records this evening, to see whether any clues were left in the system that can help identify the girl's homeland properly.

She doubts she will find anything.

They ask more questions, some of which the girl answers, others she avoids; and in turn she carefully probes at them. Tiny things start to build up to a larger picture, but there are still gaps and pieces missing, and no way of getting them while Sakaki Yuuya is nearby.

Yet she can't drag this out forever.

"Ruri-san," Himika says, finally getting to the true motive for her visit, "how did you escape from the Academia?"

The girl goes stiff with fright. She shoots a tiny, furtive glance at the other adults, but drops her gaze when Hiiragi-san gives her a nod of encouragement. It's a strange reaction. What is it this child doesn't want to say?

Himika backtracks. "Were you taken to their... stronghold after your capture?"

Ruri shakes her head. She doesn't meet their eyes.

"So you haven't met any of the other girls?"

Again, a shake of her head.

"Did your captors mention anything about their plans for you?"

She hesitates, then whispers, "They said they needed me alive. That's all."

There's a sudden, furtive scuttling on the staircase, followed by the sound of a door closing upstairs. One glance at Hiiragi-san and Sakaki-san shows that they, too, have realised what this means. Before it had only been a hope, but now they have confirmation: Hiiragi Yuzu is alive. A prisoner, yes, but alive. There is still a chance of recovering her.

"Nobody was coming for me," Ruri continues, all bravado draining from her voice. "I'd hoped, but... I managed to keep them from drugging me again. I thought I remembered the area well enough. I managed to get away. They couldn't catch up – I knew Hea—home better than they did."

"Ruri," says Hiiragi-san; the girl ducks her head lower still, and pretends she hasn't heard him.

"There were too many." She's trembling, but her voice is steadier than Himika expects it to be. "In the end I couldn't outrun them – they almost had me cornered – and then... There was a light. Just over the edge. I thought... if I went through that light then the Academia wouldn't get to me anymore." The dam breaks; her shoulders hitch with barely restrained sobs. "I just wanted to be with my comrades again," she says. "And then I woke up, and I was here, and I don't know what happened at all – !"

Hiiragi-san looks stricken; Sakaki-san is shaken, but hiding it better. Himika keeps any trace of her own emotions safely locked away. Instead she observes the girl. If this were a ploy for sympathy, an attempt to distract them, she would expect... noise. But this is the quiet, stifled crying of somebody who can't afford to be noticed, who doesn't even want people to realise her distress.

Hiiragi-san reaches out a hand to her in an attempt at comfort. Ruri shrinks away from him.

They'll be lucky to get anything more out of her.

What to say to a child whose entire life is in tatters? Himika deliberates, leans forwards, and promises, "Once the Academia is defeated, we will do everything in our power to return you to where you belong."

Ruri says nothing. She stares at her hands in dazed silence. Himika wonders if the girl even heard her, but eventually she nods, slow and tired and helpless.

Then she abruptly flees.

Sakaki-san is on her feet at once, staring after the child in mute distress. She looks as though she wants to follow, to offer what support and comfort she can, but indecision paralyses her.

"...she tried to kill herself," whispers Hiiragi-san. "What did they – "

"It must have seemed like the only way." Sakaki-san sits back down, unsteady and shaken, and folds her hands in her lap. "That poor girl."

"If she dies," Hiiragi-san says, his voice rough with despair, "if Ruri dies, what will happen to my daughter?"

Himika says nothing. She has to collect her thoughts first. "It might be that the girls are still useful tools, even without the fourth," she suggests. "We have no idea what they need these girls for."

"Say it." The tone is harsh, harsher than she thought him capable of. "They'll kill her, won't they. If she's no longer useful to them, they'll kill her."

Whether it's true or not... But Ruri's friend might be dead. Ruri's words from before all but confirm it, if the girl had truly hoped to reunite with her comrades in death. If Academia would kill Ruri's friend, there is nothing that stops them from killing the pieces when they become worthless.

Himika looks away and concedes, "It is possible."

"Ruri doesn't want to die," Sakaki-san points out. "Her first thought was to escape. It was only when she had no other options that she – that she tried to do what she did. She won't try again."

Hiiragi-san buries his head in his hands. "She will," he whispers. "If they find her again. If she's in that situation again. Ruri would do it."

"But the other girls – "

"Hiiragi-san is right."

"You don't know that," Sakaki-san retorts.

She does. She can see herself in this child. It's the choice Himika would make. If it could protect her sons, if it was the only thing she could do to protect this world, she would consider it. Even if it condemns a handful of strangers to the same fate.

Himika looks at Sakaki-san. Truly, she cannot think of another way. From the expression on Sakaki-san's face, the other woman is coming to the same conclusion.

Sakaki-san stands up. She crosses to the kitchen and briskly, purposefully, fills the electric kettle – but doesn't prepare a single mug for tea. Instead she uses the cover of the boiling water to muffle her footsteps as she checks that neither of the children are eavesdropping again. She looks across at Himika and nods.

Himika turns back to Hiiragi-san. "There is one thing we can do," she says, and quietly explains the same plan she'd outlined to Sakaki Yoko – albeit without the suggestion of suppressing their memories as well. Hiiragi-san remains silent throughout. Himika almost preferred Sakaki-san's interruptions.

Eventually, Hiiragi-san speaks. "And it'll keep them both safe?"

"As safe as we can manage." Himika glances between the other two adults. If nothing else, she can count on their feelings for the missing girl. And Hiiragi Shuzou already cares about Ruri. Even if it's just as a shadow of his daughter, a way of atoning for failing to protect his own child, he cares. "It can be undone the moment we recover your daughter."

"...No choice but to keep walking," Hiiragi-san says, and it's such a strange thing to say that Himika and Sakaki-san both look at him askance. He exhales shakily. Nods. "Okay."

5 April

It was, they had agreed, much too late to take any action that day. Better to give Ruri time to recover from recounting the events of her escape than to rush her straight into another harrowing situation. The longer they leave it, the more Himika risks the truth extending beyond their cabal of five; but some concessions always have to be made.

One day, though. One day more is all they can afford.

They have enough time, now, to prepare. They have a better idea, now, of what they face,

and how to counter the threat in the future.

But for now, everything hinges on keeping Ruri safe. She must ensure that the girl is adequately prepared for playing the role of Hiiragi Yuzu, no matter what that entails.

No matter what.

It's too late to start doubting their choices. Just thirty minutes remain until the others are scheduled to arrive. Mechanically, she shuffles the pages covering her desk into order, then pulls out two fresh pieces of paper.

Reiji, she writes.

Then she pauses. There is so much she wants to say. So much he needs to know. She can only hope that they have enough time for her to guide him. That what she fears will not happen. She puts pen to paper again. This will have to be enough.

If this letter is in your hands, then two things must have happened. Firstly, I am no longer with you. Secondly, the girl known as Hiiragi Yuzu is once again in danger. Her real name is Ruri. I suspect that she originates from the Xyz dimension but could not verify her origins.

Yes, I lied to you. I will not ask for your forgiveness. It was all in the interests of keeping as many people as possible safe, and of keeping you and Reira safe, in case the Academia started searching Standard for the girl that evaded them.

Hiiragi Shuzou and Sakaki Yoko know about the different dimensions. They are our allies in the effort to keep this girl from the Academia. You can trust them.

She doesn't sign the letter. There's no need. Reiji will surely understand. The second letter is harder to write, though. In the days after Hiiragi Yuzu's disappearance, Reiji had discussed with her the options of more advanced training for Reira. Now, with one of the pieces once again within LDS' reach, it looks less and less optional.

It's not what they want. None of this is what anyone wants. But it's what is needed.

Reira,

If this letter has come to you, then neither Reiji nor myself are in a position to receive it. Take the information I enclose to the current leader of Standard's defences, if they can be trusted. Stay alive.

She wants to say more; but what is there to say? It's necessary, but that doesn't make it justified, and she has to shoulder that anyway. Has she said enough? Done enough? None of the words she wants to write are adequate.

Carefully, she adds one last line: I am sorry, Reira.

Sorry. An empty, hollow word. It doesn't matter if it's in pursuit of the girl or of the greater goal: sooner or later, Academia's war will spill over into Standard. She will consciously, if not gladly, make the choice to put Reira's future welfare over his current happiness. At least this way he'll be alive to see it (she hopes, she hopes both her sons survive this war).

She puts the two letters with her notes, and seals them in a manilla envelope. Later, she will pass this to Nakajima's keeping. He was not her first choice – his affiliation with LDS puts him at risk – but giving it to Hiiragi Shuzou is too dangerous, and Himika does not trust Sakaki Yoko. Nakajima is the only person she can rely on. Even to prioritise this information over Himika's own life.

At last, the appointed time arrives. The bustle of activity around LDS starts to die down to a simmering hum. There are still enough people around to warrant care, though, so Akaba Himika stands at one of the side entrances to the building. They don't need people seeing the girl.

She doesn't have to wait long. Her allies of circumstance arrive right on time, with both children in tow. Hiiragi Shuzou struggles to meet her eyes, but even with his doubts, he is here all the same.

"Dr. Ikeda is one of my most trusted staff," Himika assures Hiiragi-san and Sakaki-san, as she leads the group towards the medical wing of LDS. The children are more or less oblivious to what they are saying. Ruri shuffles along, observing everything, watching for any sign of a trap; Sakaki Yuuya stays close to her, eyes hidden under his goggles. "She has worked on... delicate cases before."

"Yuuya knows not to mention her real name," Sakaki-san says in a low voice, careful that the children don't overhear her. "We can trust him to keep up the pretence. He... really doesn't trust LDS to keep her safe, after what happened to Yuzu-chan."

"Good," Himika says. The other adults look taken aback at the thin smile that spreads across her lips. She walks on. No need to explain. Children so young shouldn't have to learn such lessons in trust, but with what lies ahead, it's an important lesson to learn.

Hiiragi-san speaks up. "Are we doing the right thing?"

Nobody can offer an answer. Himika doesn't have time for believing in 'the right thing'. There's only what they can do, and what they can afford to give up.

Ruri enters the medical wing like she's preparing to face a battle, not a doctor. Sakaki Yuuya trails in behind her, a reluctant ally. The adults wait outside. Ostensibly, it is so that Ruri does not get overwhelmed, but they all know that these tests are little more than a smokescreen.

"I'll go first," Sakaki-san says quietly, leaving no room for argument. She glances at Hiiragi-san, who hesitates only for a moment before nodding at her in reply. Though it rankles, slightly, that they would think she might betray them at so late a juncture, Himika respects them for it too. She overplayed her hand when she suggested that Sakaki-san ought to have her memories rewritten.

"Please, through here." Himika leads Sakaki-san to an adjoining room, where two machines await them. At Himika's direction, Sakaki-san removes her hair clasp and jewellery and sets a visor in place over her eyes. This won't take long. She only needs a small amount of information. Enough for the procedure to create replacement memories for Ruri.

Several years ago, when Reiji was no older than Reira is now, the then President of Leo Corp funded research into a certain type of technology. Technology pertaining to memory. That research was soon abandoned due to ethical concerns, or so she had believed.

She'd been so naïve to believe it.

When they'd discovered the technology hidden away in the depths of LDS, in the months after that man's abandonment of Standard, she'd justified keeping it in the name of protecting their dimension. She had envisioned using it against Academia spies, to find out their goals and their aims, to strip them of any knowledge they'd obtained – perhaps to turn them away from the enemy entirely. Lofty ideals, in the end, nothing like what she now has to do. She had never envisioned using it on a scared little girl trapped a world away from home. She had never envisioned using it on herself.

If only LDS had found the girl first.

Himika brings the machine to a halt. This should be enough. "You may remove the visor now," she says.

Former Pro the woman may be, but Sakaki-san cannot quite disguise the naked relief on her face when she realises nothing has happened to her memories – of either girl.

"I'm going to check on the children," says Sakaki-san.

Himika nods acquiescence, still checking through the borrowed memories (she hadn't realised Sakaki-san was, in essence, Hiiragi Yuzu's mentor; her concern for the child makes much more sense now). Satisfied with what they contain, she glances out the door, down the corridor, to where Sakaki-san has reunited with Hiiragi-san and is talking to him in quiet whispers. An expression of profound relief appears on Hiiragi-san's face.

That expression is gone by the time he steps into the room, replaced by the same subdued fatigue he has worn ever since she met with them last Friday. Himika repeats the procedure in silence, steeling herself against Hiiragi-san's despair. She thinks, again, of Reiji. Of how easily she could have lost him. She cannot allow her empathy for Hiiragi-san to show.

"Could we have done anything differently?" Hiiragi-san asks after the process is over.

"No," she replies. There was nothing they could have done. Not with the knowledge they had then.

It's not the answer Hiiragi-san wanted to hear. It's the only answer she can give.

Damn you, Leo.

She rejoins Sakaki-san in the corridor, Hiiragi-san trailing behind. Now they can only wait. Inside the medical room, Sakaki Yuuya hops down from a stool, rubbing slightly at his eyes – for once, they are not covered by his goggles – and nods encouragement at Ruri. The girl steps forward and reluctantly allows Dr. Ikeda to shine a torch into her eyes. Her hands worry the hem of her tracksuit.

"She panicked over one of the tests," Sakaki-san explains quietly. Her voice wavers between pride and regret. "Yuuya thought she wouldn't be so scared if he did them too."

Just as they'd discussed last night. At least one gamble has paid off.

"There's just one last test we need to run," says Dr. Ikeda, leading the children out of the room and towards where the machines wait. Dr. Ikeda doesn't know who the girl really is, doesn't know what this is truly for, believes only that the suppression is to help Hiiragi Yuzu overcome the trauma of her kidnap. And she knows that the girl has to remain unaware of the machines' true purpose. "It'll help us check whether the drugs those people used on you have caused any lasting problems."

But the moment she sees them, Ruri's paranoia reasserts itself. "I'm fine," she tries to protest, tries to squirm away from the machines.

It's Hiiragi-san, of all people, who comes to their rescue. He kneels down and looks right at her. "Those drugs made it difficult for you to remember me and Yuuya," he reminds the girl. "You're still having trouble remembering Maiami, aren't you?"

It takes a moment to understand what he's saying. When Ruri glances at Dr. Ikeda and bites her lip, Himika realises that this must be their cover story.

"I'll be fine," Ruri insists, but uncertain now.

"Some drugs can influence you for days. They could make you a danger to yourself, or to others," Himika says, turning her eyes towards Sakaki Yuuya as she speaks. Sakaki Yuuya, who looks like Ruri's dead comrade. "I would not ask you to do anything I am not willing to do myself."

Ruri drops her gaze. Her abortive escape attempts die away. "...What do I need to do?"

She listens quietly as Dr. Ikeda explains the procedure, watches carefully as Sakaki Yuuya steps forwards to serve as guinea pig once again. Goggles off, pendant off, placed on a tray at the side of the bed; visor replacing the goggles over his eyes, as Dr. Ikeda directs him to lay back on the narrow mattress in demonstration.

Then, when it comes for Ruri to do the same, they hit another snag.

"No," says Ruri, one hand straying to the back of her head. "No, you can't make me."

Hiiragi-san startles. Does she know? Has she realised what will truly happen? The look passes between them all.

"It's only so that we can fit the visor on your head properly," Dr. Ikeda says, patient in her ignorance. "It won't work if your hair is tied up."

Ruri hesitates for a long while. At last, she reaches up and takes the ribbon out of her hair with trembling hands, then winds it through the fingers of her left hand, a stubborn set to her jaw. Himika would much rather remove it from her entirely. Items of sentimental significance can cause a hindrance to the procedure. But Ruri is looking at Dr. Ikeda and daring her to make comment.

Dr. Ikeda is wisely silent on the matter.

Then Ruri turns to look at them, eyes shining with such terrified, fragile trust that Himika almost regrets the necessity of it all. It's a relief when the visor finally hides those eyes from view.

After that, everything proceeds without a hitch.

Suppression is the quietest, gentlest procedure. It's not like the procedure for erasing memories, which can cause irreparable damage to the subject's mind if wielded imprecisely. Memory suppression has been developed to not cause undue stress on the subject's mind, because the memories are merely being tucked away, out of sight; in more complex cases, a veneer of false memories will be put in place, to create the illusion of stability.

To her knowledge, nobody has ever used this technology on such a grand scale before.

The girl's memories of being drugged are among the first to be suppressed. The process can cause drowsiness, and the last thing they need is for the girl to panic out of the fear they're drugging her.

The twin machines whirr softly, soothingly, and smooth out the other memories that cannot be kept. Then quietly, secretly, the girl's machine starts to weave together snapshots of Hiiragi Yuzu's life. Himika has done her work well enough. Dr. Ikeda doesn't notice anything out of place. Then again, Himika is one of only a handful of people in LDS who know how to operate the machines.

Using the memories borrowed from Sakaki-san, Hiiragi-san, and Sakaki Yuuya, the girl's own mind creates a new history based on the information provided to her. The false memories won't hold up under intense scrutiny, Himika knows. Neither can they create a complete picture. But they can trust that they've put in enough safeguards that the girl won't realise there's a disconnect between what she thinks she remembers and the blank spaces they can't entirely fill.

The belief that any muddying of her memories is because of the drugs her abductors injected her with.

The compulsion to re-dye her hair whenever the roots start to show again, before she realises her hair isn't the ginger her memories insist it should be.

She would have preferred to input a second compulsion – keep your bracelet hidden; keep it out of sight – but for all she knows, the bracelet is the thing that saved the girl's life. Keeping her alive is vital to reclaiming the real Hiiragi Yuzu in the future. They cannot separate her from such a safeguard.

The girl's mouth opens a fraction. She whispers something that nobody can hear. Her fingers slacken, and the ribbon slides from between them and puddles on the floor.

It's over.

Rather, the procedure is over. Dr. Ikeda is still busy checking for traces of the drugs – or for any sign of a tracker hidden on the girl's body – but the important work is now done. Now all they have to do is to see how successful the effort has been.

Sakaki Yuuya stirs first. He mumbles something and reaches for the visor.

"Slowly," Dr. Ikeda says, moving across to him. "How are you feeling, Sakaki-kun?"

As soon as Dr. Ikeda removes the visor from his eyes, he's casting around for a glimpse of the girl. "How's Yuzu?" he asks with no hesitation. Sakaki-san exhales in shaky relief. Next to her, Hiiragi-san is staring at the girl with an expression of bitter regret.

It's a difficult act he will have to uphold. But circumstances have made him the only person who can protect the girl— Himika glances back at the child before she too starts to regret their choice.

Now the girl is starting to stir as well. As the visor is lifted from her face, she blinks, bleary-eyed and groggy. The fingers of her left hand flex, searching for something that isn't there.

"Yuzu!" exclaims the Sakaki boy, tumbling from his narrow mattress in his eagerness to get to the girl and almost tripping over his own feet. "Yuzu, are you..."

She tilts her head towards him. There's the smallest trace of a frown on her lips, despite her drowsiness. "Yuu—" she says, then hesitates, as though a different name is attempting to claw its way out of her mouth.

But the moment passes. "Yuuya," whispers Hiiragi Yuzu.

And she smiles, closes her eyes, and drifts back into a quiet slumber, her searching fingers curled tight in the hand of her childhood friend.