For the most part, Akira's voice barely rose above a whisper. Her answers were short and quiet, a clear sign she still didn't feel safe.
After the second long silence settled, Geisha noticed Akira's eyes always landing on a distant little dot on the walls.
Geisha let out a soft breath.
Then...
She leaned back, fingers lightly tapping rhythmically against the cold marble floor.
Tap.
"You know..."
Tap.
"I used to be just like you..."
Tap.
The hidden cameras blinked once and then withered into tiny green particles as certain officers in the watch room stiffened.
Their eyes, now grim with unease, stared at the black screens.
"She noticed..." one said, already pacing around.
"No...she didn't." the female officer said, leaning forward, hands still shaky. "The hybrid did. She just...caught up."
In the other room, now devoid of distractions, Geisha's fingers kept a steady rhythm that reverberated lightly against Akira's subconscious.
Constant.
Light.
Gentle.
Safe.
Her shoulders loosened as she shifted slightly from the corner.
Geisha didn't finish her sentence.
A simple technique, yet quite effective.
She saw Akira move slightly.
Her lips twitched.
"No. Not yet..." she thought to herself, eyes watching Akira very, very closely.
Slowly but surely, Akira's breathing stabilized.
The shorter woman didn't move yet.
Just observed.
The plan was simple.
Let the wounded animal come to her.
Give her space.
Then, and only then, could the interrogation really begin.
Then, after the 21st tap—yes, she counted—a soft question broke the quiet rhythm.
"...what do you mean?"
Hoshinoi's brows slipped a bit further.
"I mean," she began. "I used to be scared too. Of who I was. Who people wanted me to be and...what I wanted to be myself."
The lavender shifted.
Not gone, just carrying less tension now.
"...you mean...you were once...like me?"
Hoshinoi smiled faintly.
Her eyes met Akira's as she finally leaned forward.
"Yes."
The rhythm stopped as a hand broke the space between them, slow and steady.
It hovered over Akira's knee, then slowly, so slowly it was almost unbearable, her palm rested on her knee.
Cold.
Shaking.
Still scared, but not shutting out completely.
The contact should've made her tense up more.
But instead...
It made the hybrid's throat bob.
"...what do you want from me?" she asked, her voice ruined by the simple act of kindness.
"They want you gone, Akira..." Geisha muttered, her hand wiping the tear away from her cheek. "...but I won't let them."
A tiny shiver escaped Akira, another tear slipping past without permission.
And a thumb cleaning it without asking first.
"...but before I give them the okay, I wanna know who you are, Akira..."
Closer.
Hoshinoi's hand rested lightly on her shirt, right above her heart.
"Not the 'monster' they see."
An embarrassingly sharp hitch escaped her mouth.
"...but the scared little girl inside here." she whispered, pressing gently against her cascading heartbeat.
More tears slipped and before long, a certain hybrid woman was clinging desperately onto the only person in the facility who didn't seem to outwardly hate her.
...
Earlier: 10:25 AM.
"We have a problem."
A particularly short woman with sharp green eyes glanced over her shoulder as she examined the Director's grim expression.
"What kind?" she said flatly.
He removed his cap.
"...the kind that needs you, Ms Hoshinoi."
Her eyes landed on his gun, the one that was barely ever used unless...
"...a Hybrid." Geisha said, a faint curve touching her expression, her eyes glimmering with an almost sadistic delight.
Almost.
...
Her tiny voice shyly intruded into the lavender-heavy atmosphere as she cried on her shoulder.
"I just wanna fit in..."
Sniff.
"I just want friends..."
Tighter.
"I'm tired of being hated for who I am—"
Her voice cracked on the way out, ugly and broken.
She fisted Geisha's shirt, smearing the light makeup she had on all over the pristine white clothing.
"They're scared. Anyone I meet gets scared of me for what I can do..."
A small bitter laugh escaped her as her nails dug into the fabric.
"And you know what's funny?" another hitch, sharper, air-deprived. "I don't blame them..."
Geisha didn't hush her.
Didn't speak.
She knew better than that.
Instead—
"You're not a monster, Akira." she patted, voice small and delicate as she brushed through her hair. "You're just...someone whose potential isn't known..."
She pulled back just enough to peek at her.
"And you know how humans are...They're afraid of the unknown."
Akira laughed quietly at that.
"Guess that's my fault...I'm too naive..."
Geisha's fingers ran across Akira's violet strands, slow and calming as her eyes shimmered.
"You don't have to be..."
...
"Should we go and check up on her—?"
"No."
"But Director—!"
"She's the specialist. She knows what she's doing."
The old veteran leaned forward, brushing a scar on his beard.
"Besides...you forget..."
...
Geisha cupped Akira's face, her irises shimmering as her brows knit together again.
"Oh...Akira..."
The air tickled the back of her hairs the wrong way.
That made the hybrid stiffen.
"...you don't have to keep your abilities hidden from the world anymore..."
Akira sniffed.
"W-What do you mean...?"
...
"Besides...you forget..."
The Director looked over his shoulder, staring one of the officers in the face.
"If anyone can turn even a monster into a valuable asset..."
He looked forward at his own reflection through the black screens.
"It's her."