Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue. Even if the tongue is talented, and the lips luscious.
Neon Psalms 120:2
- - -
Hitomi and Sakura had set about familiarizing themselves with the local embassy network, and, as Mr. Yamada had promised, they were able to make system administrator accounts for themselves using Mr. Ueno's credentials.
They were both pleasantly surprised to learn how separated out the embassy network was from the various other networks it connected to. There were specific privileges and accesses that neither girl would be privy to in a million years - like being able to send messages directly to the Tokyo ministry directly.
It was, after all, just two girls doing glorified technical support for all the laptops and desktops strewn around the building.
Even in a crisis someone needed to be around to reinstall Windows, it turned out.
They were chaperoned during their work hours by a soldier who occasionally looked over their shoulders to make sure they were staying on task, but staying on task wasn't hard! There were so many things to do and Hitomi felt like she was back in Japan: helping her school by volunteering her hours doing computer related maintenance chores.
Poor Minako.
Hitomi was gossiping away with Sakura, telling her about how Minako always got stuck on hard jobs back at school like having to clean out the sports equipment storage shed, or scrubbing the locker rooms, or how one time she had to stay late to sweep the roof.
Sakura had pointed out that each of those locations were great for lovers to hang out, and Hitomi's eyes went as wide as saucers, realizing that Minako was way smarter than she looked.
Although, obviously Minako was smart. She might act like a ditz, but she was an amazing poet. It was her English writing skills that had gotten her an exchange position along with Hitomi - who was immensely gratified that her best friend had come with her to the states.
Even if they were total opposites on most stuff.
"So, have you heard from Minako lately?" Sakura asked.
Hitomi shook her head, "Nope, well, lemme check my phone."
She fetched her pink-clad iPhone out of her bag and scrolled through the messages. Phone service had improved throughout the day, and she had been able to respond to everyone - including her family - who wanted to check in on her.
Her father was inordinately pleased that she was assisting at an actual embassy, no doubt thinking of the connections he could develop through her to bolster his own international business endeavors. Hitomi's mother had been more concerned about the latest attack, which had made the Tokyo news already, but Hitomi wisely downplayed her part in it.
Daiichi wasn't fooled though, figuring something was up, and during a call had asked who the other girl was working with her, putting two and two together about how the news report said two Japanese female citizens had resisted the terrorists.
So, yeah, Sakura got introduced to her family and they all cheered that Hitomi had found a new friend.
Yay?
Oh! Speaking of friends: Hailey had just messaged her. They had been talking back and forth for the better part of the day, sort of speaking in code about Hitomi's abilities and the incident with the terrorists. Another of picture of Josh with some crutches was attached, and he had a goofy, drug-addled smile from whatever they'd given him during a recent surgery.
At least the hospitals weren't completely out of order.
The word was that Mr. Ueno was sick with an unknown stomach ailment, and at one point his lips had even turned blue! Hitomi hoped he got better soon - he had been very nice.
Hailey had asked who her new friend was, and Hitomi thought nothing of telling her, but Hailey had sent back a strange text that made her feel a bit uncomfortable. It had said, "Tried to figure out who she was when you sent us that cute pic, but nothing came up."
They were "Analysts" and Hitomi was slowly realizing that probably meant "spies."
Not like, Bond 007 British MI-6 movie spies, but sort of a domestic sort of spy. She was, admittedly, concerned about her relationship with the nice couple, but didn't want to go to Mr. Yamada with those kind of worries. Didn't she owe them something for getting her most of the way to the embassy?
She just wouldn't give them any information they could use against her or her country.
Yeah.
The work day passed pretty quickly: they fixed a few computers, installed some apps, cleaned up some malware; the usual kind of things you do in IT.
Near its end, maybe an hour before dinner, Mr. Yamada had appeared and asked to talk to Hitomi, so they'd left Sakura alone in the IT department.
They were walking down the hall, and for once the everpresent guard that seemed to stick to embassy head was missing.
"Ms. Hisakawa, the Ambassador and I have been thinking about your unique situation," he said.
She softly replied, "Yes?"
"We have made discreet inquiries, along with the security apparatus of our intelligence services. You seem to be alone, Ms. Hisakawa. There's been no word of any other... incidents such as the ones you seem to find yourself involved in."
"Oh... I don't know what that means, sir."
"It means, Ms. Hisakawa, that you are an object of great fascination for our country's leadership. Further, we have learned that more information about you is leaking out to our international competition than we would like."
He paused in front of a window, hands clasped behind his back. The hallway was empty except for the two of them.
She didn't know what to say.
"How?" she wondered.
"That is the question, isn't it? Everyone in the staff has been vetted repeatedly, but the visitors - our country's refugees, if you will - we don't know as much about all of you as we'd like. I'll be blunt, Ms. Hisakawa: you're one of the leaks."
He pointed at her bag, which meant her cellphone.
She gasped, a rush of fear going through her - shame, too, and instinctively gripped her satchel's strap.
He waved her off: "No, no, it's understandable. How would you know? Cell phone texts and chats are trivial to eavesdrop on, I'm sure you've heard this. We are... less concerned with your American friends. I would call them 'known quantities' given they witnessed your powers first hand."
He held up his finger: "But there's a second leak, and it began *after* the crisis."
"So it's one of us?" Hitomi said, thinking about the large assortment of people, young and old, who had come fleeing to the embassy.
"So the thinking goes," he confirmed. "We'll be watching everyone, but I'd like you to watch as well. I'm sure someone as clever at computer programming as yourself can think of numerous ways someone might be smuggling data out of the embassy."
Hitomi could think of dozens of ways.
"In short, you have my blessing to be suspicious, and report anything odd you find to me directly. If I'm not available, approach a soldier and tell them its urgent to speak to me."
She nodded, truly unsure what role she could conceivably play, but willing to do her part.
"I'm sure I don't have to tell you not to tell anyone, no matter how close you might be, about this? The same as with your powers?" he gently questioned, looking behind her towards the IT room.
"No sir, I understand."
"Good. Good, well, now, dinner will be held shortly, if you could go fetch Ms. Tanaka I think you'll appreciate the gifts the JSDF brought us, hmm?"
"Yes sir! Thank you, sir!" she said, bowing, and then turned around and went back to get Sakura.
- - -
Hitomi's mouth had died, gone to heaven, and then been returned to the world to spread the good word: dango.
Dango was the god of the new world.
Sweet, sticky, sugary: dango.
She picked up another skewer, waving it wistfully in front of her, and then popped one of the little rice flour balls into her mouth.
"Mmmhmmmmm," she said to Sakura, who was staring at her in fascination.
"Um, that good, huh?"
"MMMMMhrrmmm," she responded by making another sticky-sweet-sauce-smothered ball disappearing into her mouth.
Sakura, for her part, had also been enjoying the sweet treat, but had nothing on what she had just called Hitomi's "O-face."
Hitomi was confused, until Sakura explained the English phrase to her: O is for Orgasm.
"I didn't know a person could turn so red!" Sakura teased her.
"Mmmpffffh," Hitomi said, trying to chew and swallow the bite she had foolishly taken before Sakura had explained her earlier quip, "Mff, hey! No fair!"
"Hehe, it just reminded me of that dream you must've been having," Sakura started to say, but Hitomi was incensed.
"Oh yeah!? What about you! What were YOU dreaming about Ms. Polite and Perfect, hmm!?"
A bunch of eyes swiveled towards their antics and Hitomi, however it was possible, turned even redder. There was some reserved laughter from some men a few tables down, but Sakura seem unperturbed, confident in her verbal victory.
She put her chopsticks down and leaned back, shrugging. "No clue, I don't remember any dreams from last night," she said nonchalantly.
Hitomi didn't believe her, and said so, "Liar."
She pouted, but her pout was interrupted all of a sudden by a gentleman who had come over. Hitomi thought he was going to ask them to be quiet, but instead, he sat down a bit from them both and asked, "Excuse me, but did you say you didn't have any dreams last night, miss?"
Sakura blinked.
"Well, no, I didn't. I just, went to sleep, and woke up. That's all. Why?"
Well that happened to Hitomi sometimes too, so that wasn't a big deal.
"I asked," the man seemed hesitant, "Because I didn't either, and not the night before - not since, well, the Incident."
There were murmurs around them, which quickly grew to surprised voices mingling together as everyone began comparing their experiences.
It rapidly became apparent that something was going on.
"OK, everyone! Everyone! Up here!"
What the heck? There was another guy on the far side of the hall, standing on a table, holding up his arm and hand to get their attention.
"Everyone, by a show of hands, who hasn't had any dreams at all since the Voice spoke to us on Monday?"
Every hand, at different speeds of course, lifted into the air. Hitomi saw Sakura's hand moving and, not being stupid, quickly joined her. Sakura's eyes watched Hitomi's hand rise up, catching on that she didn't want to stand out, but there it was: everyone had "voted" the same way.
Not a single person could remember having any dreams of any kind since the "angel" had appeared and announced that they no longer had "souls."
The voices grew louder and a few arguments broke out, but nothing violent. Everyone was just trying to figure out if it were related (how could it not be?) or whether there could be a simple, rational explanation.
Had the rest of the world already figured this out? Hitomi hadn't seen anything on the news, but it wouldn't be weird if nobody had noticed it at the "mass social" level since there were so many other problems going on in the world and it had only been two nights.
All the stories were the same: they went to sleep, they woke up. Just a quick moment of darkness and then: awake and refreshed.
No one was having dreams.
Hitomi was the only outlier. Not that she could tell anyone, but Sakura was already suspicious because she was basically on top of her that morning to try to tease her. She knew that Hitomi was experiencing something during her sleep.
But even Hitomi's dreams weren't really dreams. They were just extended periods of time in a white space where her self image could do what she wanted.
But these people... good god. Once the rest of the world put the pieces together and realized there was ANOTHER piece of evidence that made it seem like their "souls" were gone...
She had to tell Mr. Yamada.