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Second Chances	By : walkerofdarkness Category: +G to L > IS: Infinite Stratos Views: 4423 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Infinite Stratos or the characters from it. I do not make any profit from this story. I do own my OCs though.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
Chapter 2

Then it comes to be that the soothing light

at the end of your tunnel was just a freight train coming your way.

Song lyrics, Metallica
Maya Yamada stood under the café awning, watching the rain start to slacken off. What had been a steady downpour ten minutes ago had settled into a light patter now. Turning her attention back inside to the counter, she accepted the proffered tea and pastry. Scanning the room for a seat, Maya finally selected a spot near the big windows to watch the rain.
Taking a moment to savor the aroma of the exotic tea blend, Maya picked at the pastry as she watched a car pass by outside. I wonder how Orimura-sensei is doing right now, she thought absently.   She seemed like she was going to break down again. A piece of the sweet found it’s way into Maya’s mouth as sea green eyes gazed past two layers of glass, not seeing anything at all. Hands mechanically raised the tea to her lips, her eyes never leaving the far off space as if watching her friend.
The loud trilling of Maya’s phone went unnoticed for a long instant as her reverie continued. Finally snapping to alertness, she dug quickly into her handbag to extricate the phone. Thumbing it on without looking at the display, Maya casually placed it against her ear. “Hello, Maya Yamada here.”
The voice on the other end got her attention instantly. “This is the IS Academy,” it said abruptly. “We’re looking for Chifuyu Orimura, but couldn’t reach her at home or on her cell. Do you have any idea where she might be right now?”
Eyes snapping forward, Maya’s body pulled itself straighter in response to the commanding authority the voice demonstrated. “Orimura-sensei? I left her a little while ago, at the entrance to the cemetery where her brother is.”
Softening slightly, the stern voice displayed a touch of regret over the phone. “Oh. Yes, today is that day isn’t it?” The line hung open for a long pause as muted voices were heard in the background. Finally the speaker came back to Maya. “Ms. Yamada, are you still close enough to Ms. Orimura to get a message to her?”
Maya blinked once, her mind racing through information. “Yes I am.”
“Tell Ms. Orimura that we have had a situation at the Academy and that we need her here immediately—wait a moment.” More muffled voices came through the open call as Maya started to clean up her table one handed. A sense of urgency started pushing at her, making her motions clumsy. The tea cup tipped over, scalding Maya’s outstretched hand and earning a momentary hiss of pain. A new voice, asserting an extreme authority clicked on the line. “Ms. Yamada, this is Assistant Director Bogdanova. Tell Ms. Orimura that we are sending a car out to pick her up and that she needs to report to the Academy immediately. Neither of you is to talk about this with anyone from outside the Academy.”
Going pale from the director’s instructions, Maya quickly dumped her trash into the nearest receptacle and headed out the door. Giving the Academy Chifuyu’s current address, Maya tapped the phone off and almost ran towards the gate of the cemetery. Passing through the entranceway, she found a groundskeeper and got directed to the proper pathway. Her steps were muted on the stone walkway, but as fast as possible without breaking the area’s solace.
Turning around one corner, Maya found Chifuyu standing near a headstone twenty meters away. From the distance, Maya noted the older woman’s bowed head and decided not to shout. Slowing down to a respectful pace, she walked steadily towards her friend.
“Um...Orimura-sensei?” Chifuyu’s head snapped up at the voice, her eyes tracking around to find the source. Settling on Maya Yamada’s form, the eyes focused quickly as Chifuyu’s body started to twist around. Chifuyu settled comfortably as she faced the younger woman. “I got a call from the ISA. They need you to come in immediately. Orders from Assistant Director Bogdanova herself.”
Chifuyu blinked hard at the message, then looked around the area once. Failing to find anyone else around besides Maya, she bowed her head and muttered something under her breath. Maya struggled but only caught, “...should have known she’d be gone.” Chifuyu looked back at the gravestone, wiping away one last bead of water. “Bye Ichika. I’ll try to come back more often.”
<—*—>
“Wow,” Maya whispered, almost too softly to hear. “I guess that answers one question.”
Chifuyu just nodded as the car rolled through the gate. “And raises a bunch more.”

Security at the Academy was out in force. Teachers and other staff members were milling around weapons visibly clenched.   Two Revives had been posted at the gate; each bearing an impressive arsenal of heavy guns. The teachers piloting them kept the guns trained on the car as each woman presented identification. Numerous other Revives were seen patrolling the sky over the grounds as the pilots scanned for any threat.
Maya blinked behind her glasses at the older woman’s comment. “What questions got raised by this?”
“For starters, what happened here to cause the lockdown? And why was it important to give us the orders they did?” Chifuyu’s mind raced for a minute as options presented themselves to her. Why bring ME into this? kept bouncing around Chifuyu’s consciousness.
The car rolled to a stop in front of the main administration building with a quiet squeak of the brakes. It’s passengers got out easily, thanking the driver before closing the doors behind them. Yelena Bogdanova walked out of the admin facility, her sharp features locked into frown. A silver ponytail bobbed in time to strident click of heels on the ground. Her emerald eyes focused on the two women watching the car drive away. “Good, you’re here,” Yelena stated bluntly as her frown deepened. “Come on.”
Chifuyu and Maya fell into step behind the assistant director without a word as she strode back into the facility. The three women walked in silence, each step increasing the tension higher and higher. Finally entering a conference room, the assistant director sat down at the table and motioned for the teachers to do the same.
Once all three were seated, Director Bogdanova cleared her throat softly. “I’m sure you are both wondering as to what happened here. And curious as to why I had you come in under...unusual orders.” Reaching out to tap a control on the table, Yelena turned on the display in the center of the room.
“Approximately four hours ago, an intruder managed to somehow teleport into arena three. She then evaded the students using the arena and escaped into the building proper.” Images flashed across the display in accompaniment to the director’s monologue. Chifuyu’s eyes widened slightly at the sight of the intruder as she bounced from one Uchigane to another. Director Bogdanova noted the reaction but kept on speaking, her tone rigidly neutral. “The intruder then assaulted a couple of students working in the Maintenance Branch, stole an Uchigane IS that was being used to test some new modifications and flew it outside the Maintenance Branch building.
“Once outside the building, our IS thief was then engaged by Candidate Representative Maria Velasquez, plus instructors Aki Tetsuhara and Sariko Migaki. Using unorthodox tactics, both student Velasquez and instructor Migaki were defeated. Instructor Tetsuhara then defeated the intruder, resulting in severe injuries to the thief in the process.”
Assistant Director Bogdanova paused to take a breath, her emerald eyes staring intently on Chifuyu’s face. “Doctor Saunders managed to save the intruder’s life, even though their current condition is marked as ‘critical’.” The director’s voice turned a little colder now, matching the expression settling on her face. “Now that we’ve gone over the basics, let me get to the reason YOU were called here, Chifuyu Orimura. Once we had the intruder apprehended, we started trying to identify them. Facial recognition software hasn’t come up with anything, but DNA analysis came back with an eighty percent match.” Emerald eyes locked onto Chifuyu’s brown ones. “To you.”
Shock broke through Chifuyu’s composure, her mouth opening in a gasp. “What?”   Her mind came up with one answer as reason tried to overcome emotion. No, it can’t be. She wouldn’t have done all this, would she? “That’s—that’s impossible. I only have a brother, and he’s dead.”
Nodding mechanically once, Director Bogdanova’s face showed a touch of sympathy for the first time during the conversation. “Yes, that is what your file says. Regardless, we have run the tests twice more since calling you in. Each time the results are the same, so I must consider it to be accurate.”
Chifuyu’s head dropped to the table, the stress of the moment overwhelming her. Maya reached out and ran an arm along her friend’s back, trying to calm Chifuyu down as much as possible. They stayed like that for a long moment as the only sound being heard was a few muffled words barely comprehensible. “No—it can’t be—why now?”
Director Bogdanova’s felt her emotional control waver at the sight of another person in so much pain, but years of experience managed to barely keep herself in check. She waited for the younger woman to regain her composure while making a mental note to have Chifuyu’s personnel file updated,. After a couple of minutes, Chifuyu finally pulled her head off the table. Conflicting emotions passed across her face in an instant before settling into a determined resolution. “I need to see her,” Chifuyu stated simply as she rose shakily to her feet.
Yelena nodded once at the statement, wondering exactly what was going through the dark haired woman’s mind. “I was going to suggest it as well. Come with me.”
The walk to the infirmary was done in silence, the only sound of the three sets of shoes clicking on the floor. Two more security personnel were waiting at the doorway to prevent any unauthorized intrusions. The grim faced women relaxed their grips slightly at the sight of the Assistant Director but kept their eyes wandering around the hallway.
Inside the infirmary were two more guards, both watching one bed that was isolated from the rest. Doctor Saunders looked up from her work to frown at the guards, face lined with a scowl that deepened at the sight of her new visitors.
Chifuyu surged forward, her chest tightening up in anticipation. Blood started to scream in her ears as her pulse tripled. The privacy curtain was the only barrier now as a guard and Dr. Saunders tried to stop her. Reaching out with a single hand, Chifuyu shoved the curtain away on it’s track, finally revealing the form in the bed. Relief washed across her as eyes tracked over an unfamiliar form to a muttered, “It’s not her.”
Surrounded by medical machines, the figure in the bed was a sight to behold. A round, almost oval, face with just a hint of angles in the cheeks and jaw. Dark, almost black hair lay in shaggy waves falling across the eyes. The chest was too flat to be the girl Chifuyu remembered, certainly not after these years. The form leaned towards being on the tallish side, feet almost touching the bottom edge of the bed. Chifuyu let her eyes track across the rest of the body, noting the gauze wrapping on the left arm, the breathing tube taped across the mouth. She also took note of a large amount of restraints, solidly binding the woman to the bed at hands, feet, waist and chest. A twinge of pain settled in Chifuyu’s gut, touching off a momentary lapse in her focus as an image started to drift in her eyes.
Dr. Saunders put on hand on Chifuyu’s shoulder tentatively, bringing the younger woman back to reality. “As you can see, there was quite a few injuries. Second and third degree burns on the left arm. Grenade shrapnel in the right biceps. You can’t see it, but there were some bullet fragments in the shoulders. Punctured right lung and lacerated kidney, from when the Uchigane’s sword went in. Lost a bunch of blood to the hole the sword made too. Managed to save them, though, but I need to watch it to make sure.”
Chifuyu heard the words mechanically, the words holding little meaning to her. “But she’ll live?” Chifuyu asked tentatively, the slightest hint of hope present in her voice.
“I repaired the internal damage, plugged all the holes. Now it’s up to them,” Dr. Saunders said neutrally. “If they don’t go into shock or have any complications in the next couple of days, the odds are good.” She paused a minute, her lips pursing into a frown as she debated how to broach the next topic. “There is something else, something I just noticed recently.”
Both Chifuyu and Director Bogdanova turned to face Dr. Saunders expectantly. Grabbing a pen from behind her ear to stick in her mouth, Dr. Saunders motioned the women away from the bed. “Once I was done trying to save a life, I had a minute and started getting the patient set up for a stay here.” A sardonic grin appeared around the pen now. “Imagine my surprise when I went to put in a catheter and found that the plumbing is wrong for a female. It is in fact correct for a male.”
Everyone in the room reacted to the shock in their own way. Director Bogdanova’s jaw dropped, Maya Yamada made a squeak and covered her face. The guards’ weapons almost slipped out of open hands. Chifuyu’s eyes grew to the size of tea saucers as her lips opened breathlessly. The assistant director recovered first. “Bozhe moi, that’s impossible. He FLEW an IS, and males can’t do that!”
Nodding acknowledgment, Dr. Saunders looked at all of them individually. “Normally, I’d agree with you. But I ran a basic genetic analysis and it came back as a perfectly normal male. Standard X-Y chromosomal configuration with no signs of abnormalities.” A slight blush creased her face for a moment. “And when I was putting in the catheter, well, let’s just say Mr. Happy rose to the occasion as I started touching it for a prolonged period due to my mind wandering about the ramifications.”
The words rang around Chifuyu’s mind, connecting facts and coming rapidly to a conclusion. A quick sidestep around the older women brought her to the bed’s edge. One hand, the shaking visible even in the distance, crept up towards the resting face. Unkempt locks of hair were slowly pushed aside to reveal the full face. Upon seeing the entire profile, Chifuyu let out a shriek of agony and fell to her knees as a solid chunk of ice formed in her gut.
Dr. Saunders was first to reach the younger woman, her hands professionally checking for a pulse. Tilting Chifuyu’s head to notice the dilated pupils and unfocused gaze, the doctor tried to push her new patient down to the ground. Barely fighting the motion, Chifuyu kept muttering the same word over and over. “No no no no no no no no no no...”
Watching Maya Yamada kneel next to her friend, Director Bogdanova felt her patience fade away. “What is it?” she demanded in an imperious tone.
“This intruder, the person lying there,” Chifuyu started, only to have her tongue dry out and her voice fade. “I know them. But it’s impossible.”
“Why is it impossible?” Yelena Bogdanova nearly shouted.
Chifuyu’s face went pale enough to turn the collar of her white shirt grey by comparison. “Because that person lying in the bed there is my dead brother.” The entire room went silent except for the beep of a machine.
“His name is Ichika Orimura.”
<—*—>
The rest of the day passed by in a blur, all of it focused on Chifuyu Orimura. Forced to recount the last time she’d seen Ichika, watching him die in her arms. Dr. Saunders had given her a mild sedative which kept Chifuyu calm enough even as her voice cracked during the retelling.
Maya had been an emotional rock as she listened, providing strength to her friend as best she could, bringing tea and snacks to the briefing room as Chifuyu told her ghastly tale. “...and that’s all I really know,” Chifuyu concluded.
Director Bogdanova mulled over the story she had heard. It matched up to the official record, but something kept nagging in the back of her mind. There’s something she’s not telling me, I’m sure of it. “Are you sure you don’t know anyone who might have the ability to do this?”
Chifuyu’s eyes unfocused as her mind tracked down possibilities. Judging quickly how much she should tell, Chifuyu came to a fast decision. “I can’t think of a single person who would have the knowledge and technology to try this.” Dr. Saunders walked in to the room quietly, observing the tension in the room. Chifuyu continued without acknowledging the new prescence, “I’d like to know who did this as much as you would though.”
Yelena Bogdanova tried to keep her face neutral at the comment, but found her control slipping. “We shall, of course, investigate fully,” came her response in a probing tone. Turning to face the room’s newcomer, the director’s tone settled to a coldly professional one. “I believe Dr. Saunders has some new information for us. Doctor?”
Clearing her throat slightly, Dr. Saunders held a small tablet in her hands. “Ichika’s showing promise, so I removed the breathing tube. I’ve still got him on pure oxygen, but from his current stats, I should be able to wean him off it within a handful of hours as well. The general anaesthesia should be wearing off in a few hours, and I expect him to recover consciousness tomorrow morning.” Consulting the tablet’s data with a few finger swipes, she looked up around the room. “I compared mitochondrial DNA from both Chifuyu and Ichika. The results were identical: you two share the same mother. There are some irregularities though. From the public records, your brother would have been fifteen this year. X-rays I did of the person in my infirmary show the person to be somewhat older.” Tapping the tablet brought up ghostly black and white pictures on the room’s monitor. “The growth plates in the arms and legs appear to be more calcified than they ought to be. Blood chemistry is a bit off as well, even regardless of the trauma suffered. I’d estimate the Ichika in my infirmary to be approximately sixteen or seventeen years old. I also did a MRI scan of his brain and found something else.” A new multicolored image appeared on the monitor. “This pattern is troubling, but I need him awake to run the right tests.”
Dr. Saunders’ face grew pained as she struggled on the next topic. “With your permission, Ms. Orimura, I would like to have your brother’s grave opened and the remains brought here. I want to compare that DNA with the person lying in my infirmary, and verify the body is who it claims to be.”
Chifuyu could only numbly bob once as her voice failed her. Maya ran one hand lightly over the taller woman’s shoulders comfortingly as tears started to form in Chifuyu’s eyes. “What—“ Chifuyu started, her voice barely a whisper. Closing her mouth and taking a breath, she summoned up reserves of emotional control she wasn’t aware of having. “What,” Chifuyu said louder, “else do we need to do?”
Director Bogdanova frowned as she leaned on her elbows, hands clasped in front of her face. “That is a good question. Right now I’m sure the board is having a heated and impromptu session trying to figure out the exact answer. Even if it wasn’t for the Alaska Treaty stipulation requiring the free transfer of information, there’s no way to suppress this incident. All the students and staff here who are from outside Japan,” Yelena paused for a moment to let that tidbit sink in, “will report to their respective countries and organizations about this incident, and the fact that a man flew an IS will probably set off riots. If not outright wars to get a hold of Ichika for research purposes.”
Yelena’s eyes unfocused as her mind started to consider other factors. “There is also the problem of legally bringing someone back from the dead. I confess to not being knowledgeable about Japanese law on the matters, but in Russia it is no small feat.”
Worry creased Chifuyu’s forehead as dark eyebrows slid down into a tightened expression. “Is there anything that can be done?”
Blinking hard at the question, Director Bogdanova let her hands drop flat to the table. “Possibly,” she admitted cautiously. “It will depend on the board’s decisions about such things. It will also depend entirely on whether or not Ichika survives in short term. After he has done that, we can try to help him have a future.” Rising from the table smoothly, Yelena motioned her head slightly towards Dr. Saunders. “There are some things I need to go check on, see if the board has made any preliminary decisions.”
Dr. Saunders caught the cue and rose stiffly. “I need to get back to keep an eye on my patients as well. Instructor Orimura, you should try to get some sleep. If you need something to help you, come down to the infirmary.”
Both older women walked out of the room, leaving the room without another word. Chifuyu watched them leave, her lower lip trembling as she maintained a brave face at the closing door. As the door clicked shut, she dropped the pretense and collapsed onto her arms, sobbing piteously. Maya leaned in close and just held her friend as the taller woman’s body was wracked with sobs.
“What’s wrong Chifuyu-sensei?” Maya whispered as she leaned in close.
Taking a moment to collect herself, Chifuyu looked up at into a pair of worried green eyes. “I thought—“ she began, breaking down into tears again. A deep breath helped to try and compose herself further, even as her eyes kept crying. “After all this time, I thought I was starting to recover from it all. But now that I might have really come to terms with things,” she started to sob again, “I might have to lose Ichika a second time.”
Cringing internally, Maya tried not to let her friend’s feelings get to her. “Come on, Chifuyu. All those stories you told me about how strong Ichika was. All the times he got up when you was sure he was done.” She paused a moment to stare into brown eyes that were now rimmed with red. “Have faith in him Chifuyu. He’ll get through this.”
Wiping away a few more tears, Chifuyu slowly let her head settle on her arms. Staring down in the shadows offered from her hair, the words started bouncing around her trouble mind. After a dozen heartbeats, Chifuyu felt an uneasy peace settle on her. She’s right. Ichika has always surprised me with how strong he was. The fights he got into protecting Houki. Every time I knocked him down during training, he always got back up. Ichika will get through this. “You...you’re right Yamada-kun.” Chifuyu admitted, her voice barely reaching to the younger woman. “I will have faith in him.”
Chifuyu brought her head off the table, slowly turning it to face her friend. “Maya, I need a favor.” Maya mutely nodded as her face settled into a professional mask. Chifuyu hesitated for just a heartbeat as she focused on finding the right words. “Can you go to my room and check the cabinets. I brought in a couple of bottles over the years. I need you to remove them from my room.”
Good for you, Chifuyu, Maya thought as her face stayed calm. “I can do that Orimura-sensei.” She stood up and walked out of the room with only a single glance back over her shoulder, checking on Chifuyu one last time.
The door had only barely closed before Chifuyu collapsed onto her arms again, crying quietly and muffling the sounds with a shirt sleeve. She really is too good to be my friend at times like this, Chifuyu thought as feelings collided inside her. The intercom panel on the conference table beeped once, but she was too distracted to notice. It beeped a second time, and then started beeping continuously.
Finally recognizing the insistent chiming for what it was, Chifuyu reached one hand out tentatively to toggle the intercom on. “Hello?” she called out while forcing her voice to stay calm.
A cheerful and familiar voice came out of the compact speakers. “Hello Chi-chan! I must say, you don’t look too good right now.”
Chifuyu stared at the speaker for a long second as her brain tried to sort out what was happening. “Tabane?” she asked increduously. “What—how—why are you calling me now?”
The speaker echoed Tabane’s bemused chuckle, giving Chifuyu a clear mental image of her friend’s expression. “I’m calling you now because you’re alone. Although I wouldn’t mind dealing with that Maya person. The boobies on her are ginormous, even bigger than Houki-chan’s. I just want to bury my face in them until I can’t breathe. Then make some rope bondage videos while I fuck her ass with my biggest strap-on...”
Tuning out Tabane’s monologue of increasing perversions, Chifuyu struggled to pull herself mentally together. “How did you know to call me in this particular room Tabane?”
“That’s easy Chi-chan. I got a notice about something happening at the ISA when I was patching up Houki-chan. After I left you at the graveyard, I went back to my lab and saw the replay of events. It was really exciting in it’s own way. When they had the genetic analysis done, I knew they’d call you in.”
Chifuyu listened to the explanation in silence. “You didn’t really answer my question there Tabane.”
“Oh? Sorry Chi-chan. I hacked the ISA computers ages ago, left myself some invisible backdoors to the security, and a variety of programs to monitor anything I might find interesting.” The speaker paused for a minute and Chifuyu began to wonder if Tabane had cut the connection. “I am a super genius after all. Don’t worry Chi-chan, I disabled the cameras in this room before I called you. And the cameras in your bedroom haven’t ever worked. Except for me.”
A surge of near panic flashed through Chifuyu before she got it under control. There were cameras in my bedroom? “So why are you calling me Tabane? You have to know I’m a little busy.”
“Right, right.” Chifuyu could see Tabane waving one hand at the comment. “First off, I’ve already run my own DNA test. I managed to get the material to check this new Ik-kun against the old one. It is a nearly complete match. Ninety-one percent, give or take two percent. I’m sure the nice doctor will confirm that though. I’m also trying to identify the transport method, since it surprised me.”
Pinching her eyes shut for a moment, Chifuyu tried not to get frustrated at her friend’s erratic behavior. “Tabane, I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but I need to ask it: DID YOU DO THIS?”
All of the playfulness dropped out of Tabane’s voice as it came clearly through the speaker. “Chi-chan, I wish I had done it. I might be a super genius, but even I have some limits. Cloning Ik-kun is beyond me currently. Though I will admit I did consider it in the first year after he died.”
Raising one eyebrow in surprise at the revelation, Chifuyu considered the information. “Really?”
“Sure. I figured out most of the basics. I even got enough DNA to do it. And you and Houki-chan were just so sad back then. There was even that one time...” Tabane’s voice drifted off as memories overwhelmed her. Chifuyu didn’t press her friend to continue. “But I decided that bringing Ichika back from the dead wasn’t going to help the situation. Even when you broke down, and Houki changed, I cried myself to sleep as I clung to that promise not to bring him back if I could. I was sad about losing Ik-kun too, but I managed to find a state of peace by just focusing on my research.”
Chifuyu heard the raw emotion in her friend’s voice, the pain laden tension backing the words and almost broke herself. Her throat tightened up as Chifuyu’s head tilted down for a moment. “Thanks for being honest, Tabane. It means a lot to me.”
“I’m going to go do some checking on this Chi-chan. You should do like that nice doctor said and get some rest.” The intercom clicked off with a soft beep, leaving Chifuyu alone in the room. Mulling over her options, Chifuyu finally decided to head to her room.
Walking into her assigned room alone, Chifuyu found Maya had been thorough in her cleaning. The stress of the day came crashing down on her as she collapsed onto her bed. Sleep claimed her quickly without any of the usual aids, bringing with it the blackness of unconsciousness.
<—*—>
Pain nibbled at the edge of Ichika’s consciousness. The pain was diffuse and unfocused, but it rested mainly in his arm and his side. His back hurt a lot as well. A muted beeping sound started to percolate through the haze, rhythmic and regular.
The soft feeling of a light fabric on his skin made itself present now. Parts of him itched terribly, the discomfort of it starting to bring clarity to his mind. Ichika absently noted how hot his feet felt. His breath echoed loudly in his ears, the sound distorted in his white place.
Focusing on the pain in his existence, Ichika started to concentrate. Slowly, ever so slowly, his head straightened up. Eyelids fluttered once, the eyes underneath them shifting as his brain forced muscles to accept it’s commands again. The eyelids crept up now, opening fractionally to reveal brown eyes as Ichika took his first look at the place he was in.
There was a pair of blobs close to him. Struggling to focus, Ichika watched the blobs resolve themselves into the form of people. The closer one was a blond woman in middle age, wearing a teal shirt and pants under a white lab coat. The second one was younger, in a dark suit and matching skirt. The face was still fuzzy, but the black hair was familiar enough. “Hey,” he whispered, his voice a hoarse croak. The older woman leaned in close to hear him through the breath mask over his face. “Did—did it work Michelle?”
Repeating Ichika’s statement, Dr. Saunders looked up at Chifuyu to see confusion cloud the younger woman’s face.
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Second Chances