Tuan: I'm sorry, Miach.

---

Man: السلام عليكم, tribal of medicine.

Tuan: وعليكمالسلام, warriors of the Tuareg.

Man: What do you say, is our tribe's Arabic name. Do you know what it means?

Tuan: I'm afraid I don't.

Man: Tuareg means "the people abandoned by God." Only enemies and outsiders call us this.

Tuan: A god that turns blind in eyes and leaves you alone doesn't sound all that bad.

Man: Do you have so little love for your own Gods?

Tuan: The Medicine Gods. Ha, they're always watching, and the most of the time, too closely for my taste...They can't see us in a desert. And yet, that doesn't mean they're not here. I'm surprised you wanna the immunization programs in these memory cells. I had heard your tribe was opposed to WatchMe.

Man: We'll partake of your imperiousness software in moderation. If we do not, your gods will collect of what health data, and use to control us in the name of Prisoner in Life. That is why we update with hardware only. It allows us to be vaccinated while staying off the main sonner.

Tuan: You almost make this backroom deal some like a fine act of charity.

Man: All thing's in moderation, this's what you people say, yes? ...However, you no longer practice what you preach. Instead, you simply impose your way of life on others.

Tuan: We are not here to impose anything. We're no one's side. Not the government of Niger, or the Tuareg. Our only order is to monitor the ceasefire. I just don't follow them.

Man: So, why stay? Come, live with our tribe. We have great respect for a woman like you.

Tuan: You're kind, but I've made the choice to come here. I can't leave. ...I'm just not the product of reason, I am a coward.

---

Tuan: If I had known then, what I've known now. I would've realized that I wasn't strong enough...I wasn't brave enough to follow her to the other side.

Miach: You and me. Let's do it, Tuan. Die with me.

---

Man B: Nigerian military aircraft on approach! Damn it! It's the WarBird, and it looks fully armed!

Man: Calm! And back to the desert!

Uwe: Hurry, Tuan. We gotta go!

Man: Listen to him. There would be serious trouble if the WHO finds out one of its elite inspector's trading for contraband with the likes of us. ...For now, I bid you good bye. But come, find us if you ever change your mind. Huh!

Tuan: Thanks, I will.

Uwe: It's coming in too fast! [No fable?] shake it!

Tuan: Even if we could loose, they already know we were here, and no doubt that they got the pictures to prove it!

Uwe: Yeah, but they won't send them to their back in the on air space. It's too vulnerable on the recon zone!

Tuan: Then let's hurry up and take care of them before they can let this out! Uba, take the wheel!

Man C: Bullshit! We're gonna crash!

Uwe: Come on!

Tuan: Try to keep it steady! I gotta time this just right!

Uwe: 7500 meters! ...3000 meters! 2500! 2000! Tuan!

Tuan: So much for a break in the battlefield, you should've left us alone!

Uwe: Eh...!

Tuan: Hah...I cooked, you clean.

Uwe: Ugh...

Tuan: Sigh...

---

Tuan: Thanks for my high and mighty job as a Helix inspector, I found myself tread thing across just about every war zone on the face of the planet. I fled Japan, fled from a society that felt like a prison, fled from a culture that was slowly killing its people, with kindness...

Miach: You and me. Let's do it, Tuan. Die with me...We're both cut from the same cloth, Tuan Kirie...We're two of a kind.

Tuan: ...I fled from her, from my memories of Miach Mihie.

---

Tuan: Miach!

Miach: How about all three of us do it? We'll make it declaration right here, now. Then, never grow up.

Tuan: Ah?!

Miach: Our bodies...our tits...our pussies...our wombs... These are ours. They belong to us. We shout it on the rooftops without saying a word... Everyone here gets WatchMe installed it birth, but no one questions it. They're so grateful for medical salvation. They don't see the true cost... It's like a timer, counting down until we become adult for it can activate. For once it start, we're prisoners. Our bodies are no longer our own. They won't allow us to get fat, or die. The admedistration will be in control how big our boobs get. Do you honestly think you could live like that?

Tuan: Stop it, Miach! That hurts!

Miach: Doesn't it make you angry, Tuan? Are you just going to sit back while WatchMe replaces your flesh, blood and bone with intangible data?! Oh, I can't...I won't...I won't...

Tuan: Miach...

---

Uwe: Wake up, Sleeping Beauty. We're back.

Tuan: Helix inspectors. We are the elite soldiers of lifeism. The watchmen in the world health organization. As the name imply, our founding mandate is monitor the world genetic research programs, to ensure no prohibited manipulation is taking place. The genetics version of world wide nuclear institute. As the operation expanded, we became something akin to the old U.N. peace keepers. Arm to the teeth in butting into conflicts all over the world in the name of "preserving the right to live"...

Uwe: Try, with a hint of sand! Here!

Tuan: I fled all the way out to this desert battle field just to find the ways that damage myself. I made my clever escape from their prison, from the society what slowly killing me with kindness... Breaking out was easier than I thought. I pretended to accept adulthood and tricked the system...

Man D: Yo!

Tuan: Aha!

---

Tuan: Uh...

Os Cara: It's about time, Senior Inspector Kirie. What kept you?

Tuan: Chief Os Cara?! ...These are my private quarters, what are you doing here?

Os Cara: For starters, why don't you show me what you just hid behind your back?

Tuan: Heh...

Os Cara: Hmm...Château Petrus. Good choice. While most Bordeaux are made from a blend of grapes, this one is an interesting exception, made from hundred percent Merlot.

Tuan: ...

Os Cara: I am familiar with alcohol. I may not look it, but I'm seventy-two. My generation was the last to experience it.

Tuan: Yes, chief, I'm aware...

Os Cara: Overseeing the Nigerian's cease fire is a vital mission, demanding complete impartiality. The situation is delicate and very tenuous. The Helix inspection report you submit for determine witch side of administration backs. Yet, instead of remaining neutral, you're running ongoing illegal trades with the Tuareg. Furthermore, if words would get out that our agents for consuming alcohol and tobacco, it would create to total beyond night mare! Injecting those substance to short up trigger the warning from the heath management server. Why did your WatchMe not report the self-abuse?

Tuan: Eh, you know what's girls in our feminine wiles? Or, should I say those of us who are still young enough to remember how to use them?

Os Cara: Don't get saucy with me, inspector. I don't know how you managed to get to veil with this, but do you even comprehend how much your action have damaged this operation?

Tuan: They haven't. And, they won't. Nothing I do. Could ever tarnish this emblem of the office it's stands for? Because you are not going to tell anyone, anything.

Os Cara: ...

Tuan: We both know if the integrity of Helix inspectors is even questioned, the WHO loses all credibility, and all its hard work to heal the world becomes meaningless. And, I highly doubt you be eager to see that happen.

Os Cara: ...Well played. But, don't think for a second you get all scold free, you will be punished! For your insubordination, effective immediately, you are relieved from active duty.

Tuan: Relieved from...? You wanna just up and send me home?! You can't do that!

Os Cara: I already did. This is a battle field, not a tavern. You need to be re-educated. You've forgotten about its right to love and be loved by your neighbors. This is for your own good.

Tuan: Damn it...Japan... After I've done to escape that gulag, as a teenager, I detested it. And, Miach Mihie hated it even more...

---

Tuan: I failed...I'm here...I'm still alive...That means I failed... How powerless. How completely depend I was... I thought all I was needed is Miach. She gave us not only her vision, but the tools, the weapons to go through with it. If she couldn't help me to do it, I know I'd never be able to... I would be condemned to live. ...Or, so certain, I didn't believe my will wasn't strong enough. That, I wasn't strong enough on my own.

Tuan's mother: Tuan! You awake?!

Tuan: I failed again...

Tuan's mother: Tuan! Tuan, can you here me? I'm here! Mommy's here. Everything's fine. You're okay. Ah! I'm so happy! So happy we found you until I...hic...

Tuan: ...And, Miach...?

Tuan's mother: Miach...she's...(weeping)

Tuan: I see...She succeeded. ...What are you doing, mom? Don't cry! I mean just stop! Your tears are empty, useless. You didn't cause this. It's not your fault. How can you feel so guilty over the death of someone you never even met...? Society has tricked us into believe in all care about each other. They compels you to bring yourself for not being able to stop her. Even though, there's nothing you could've done...It's not real! I can't stand it! I've had enough...!

Tuan's mother: Cian's gonna be okay. She's being treated in emergency ethic center. They're taking very good care of her there.

Tuan: I'm sorry, Miach.

---

Miach: Well, I'm a goner. ...Are you gonna die with me?

Tuan: Miach was the smartest girl I've ever met. So thorough, so well prepared. No problem existed that she couldn't find the solution to. I knew she come up with the perfect way to strike back at the system...

Miach: Here. I had my parent's medcare unit. One a day, and your body will stop absorbing all nutrients, will start to death.

Tuan: ...Okay.

Cian: ...(Nod)

Miach: Cian and I were the followers of her little cult. Miach was its charismatic leader. She was a radical idealist who knew too much, and hated even more. Things were always going to come to this. It wasn't inevitable. ...I'm sorry, Miach.

---

Miach: I'm not interested in normal people.

Tuan: Miach Mihie. Problem child, juvenile delinquent, have the best grades in our class. She kept herself, preferring a beautiful kind of solitude, shunning the various clicks that invited her in. Aside from me and Cian Reikado, she never spoke to anyone unless with absolutely necessary.

---

Miach: If you serious about truly isolating yourself, paper media is the best way to do it. Movies are work, too. But nothing beats a physical book.

Tuan: Why is that?

Miach: Because it's the most intimate. Just you and pages. Isolated.

Tuan: Tangible paper books have become over obsolete. But that didn't deter Miach. She would download texts she wanted from the internet, take it to one of the few remaining printers, and have them make a physical copy. She spent her day swimming through a vast sea of words, searching for anything that would give her the edge she wanted.

Miach: Giving reincarnation. If you people could easily kill everyone in Japan, all they need is the medcare units. ...Every home and business has at least one of these magic boxes.

Tuan: Ah? Miach?!

Miach: Say you could lick the multi dispense poison...You'd have millions of tiny chemical weapons in peril and just to perform. The admedistration conditions us to trust medicine, and makes us healthy, makes us feel good...No one bothers wondering what if they synthesize for us, could ever be harmful. Exploiting those witnesses wouldn't take much.

Tuan: Hah...

Cian: ?!

Miach: Turn the system against itself and we overthrow the world.

---

Tuan: Day by day, the world becomes healthier, safer, more beautiful and whole someplace, where peace and prosperity reign supreme, so full of kindness and good intentions I wanna retch. I hate this country, and detested so much, I ran far away as I could.

PA: Good afternoon. Welcome Japan, Tokyo Haneda Airport. Tired from the long flight, Tokyo Haneda Airport has a wide variety of medical services available. Relax, take your time, and please receive at the nearest health care center as your wish. Hope you enjoy your stay in Japan...

Tuan: It's all the same. Everyone looks the same, sounds the same, does the same things as everyone else...

PA: ...to take medcare recommended suffrage prior to departure, and after the arrival. Always remember to be kind to another. Love by neighbor and good will towards your fellow men. Then we always...

Tuan: Hah...

PA: ...Do no forget, you are an irreplaceable resources and...

Cian: Tuan! Tuan! Tuan, over here! Oh my gosh, I was so worried, I've missed you!

Tuan: Long time no see. How do you know I'd be here?

Cian: Well, I didn't 'till yesterday. Well, when I found out, I was so happy. I just had to come welcome you home!

Tuan: Yeah, it all happened, kind too fast. Cian Reikado, my old friend who agreed to die with me thirteen years ago.

PA: ...We hope you enjoy your stay in Japan, the land of friendship and hospitality. All international travelers will be scanned for infectious diseases departure or disembark. Passengers who test positive, I'll ask you report to...

Cian: Ah, Tuan, you tracking a lot of attention. Maybe you shouldn't travel in your uniform, it kinda makes you standout.

PA: Comes with a territory, I'm Helix inspector, this is what we wear. Most of my time it spent on the battlefield, I couldn't care of less if I'd run down here.

Cian: Heh-heh...It must be exiting to have such an important job. You get to tell me the world better place! Are you going to be staying with your parents?

Tuan: Nah, I'll just find a hotel. No point going home.

Cian: But you've been away for so long! I'm sure everyone will wanna see you.

Tuan: Who's "everyone?" My mom gathering the neighbors for welcome home party? Yeah, no thanks.

Cian: Why not?

Tuan: I wouldn't know what to say to anyone.

Cian: What do you mean?! Tell them about your adventures in the Sahara, or Columbia! People wanna know what you've been up to.

Tuan: No one wants to hear my war stories. The grand parts would be too upsetting. And, most of it is not as exciting as you think.

Cian: But after all this time, you're finally home! People need to get to know you again. Still you come in, join the community.

Tuan: I'd rather be on my own for a bit. What have you been up to?

Cian: Volunteering, mostly. My day job isn't anything special, so I tried to donate my time at least three days a week. Delivering meals, caring for the elderly, stuff like that. And of course, I still go to morality sessions and health ethics meetings online, but that's only fifteen hours a month.

Tuan: Oh, really.

Cian: You should come sometime, Tuan. They hope a lot. ...Are you hungry? Why don't we grab a bite? There's new restaurant near my place that just opened.

Tuan: ...Just us two?

Cian: Yeah, and you could stay over after instead going to hotel.

Tuan: Cian. My friend, who wants to die with me to rebel against this world, was now fully immersed in it. She connected herself to it. Her WatchMe was tethered to an admedistration server, and taught how deliver life. She plunged head first into adulthood. While, here I stand, stubbornly refusing to jump, can't decide if that's admirable or pathetic. Uh!

Cian: Tuan? What's wrong?!

Woman: Do you feel unwell, Helix Inspector? If you like, I'd be happy to give you my sheet?

Tuan: I'm fine! ...If I don't get the hell out of this country fast...I wind up slashing my list or killing someone...I can't stand the kindness...but that's not the only reason I've left. On the battle field, I've met all kinds of different people, from countries allover the world. In medically standardized population here, feels more like a house of mirrors...

Cian: Why do you storm off like that?! It was rude not to accept her offer. With that high-end SA score, she might be a public official.

Tuan: I know, I saw. Sorry. ...Cian and I took different path after Miach's death. She let go of her defiance and conformed to what society wanted of her. But it all been like a ride of passage for her. Her face she grew out and discarded once she grep up. On the surface, it appears as though I'd done the same thing, I wanna out of friends, got good grades, eventually, I took Miach's place as the head of the class. But the whole time, I secretly clung to her radical ideal she had instilled in me...

---

Cian: Wow, this takes me back. It's been a while since we ate lunch together.

Tuan:That it has.

Cian: Fu fu...Doesn't it feel weird though, we just are two of us?

Tuan: Without Miach? I guess. But she's been gone for a while.

Cian: She always finished eating way before us. Then, she'd make paper airplanes just like that, remember?

Tuan: ...No, I've forgotten.

Cian: You grew your hair up. It's nice. ...Makes you look like more Miach.

Tuan: ...

Cian: You guys already knew each other when we met, right? Have you been friends for a long time?

Tuan: ...I wouldn't say friends. More like she took me hostage.

Cian: What is that mean?

Tuan: I've never told you this? One day in a park, she just run up and grabbed me, she wouldn't let go until I listen to what she had to say.

Cian: Sounds like her. How she get to snare someone in a web? ...Maybe when she saw you, she knew you were the friendship she's waiting for, and she didn't wanna lose you.

Tuan: I don't think so.

Cian: Huh...?

Tuan: Miach wasn't looking for a friend. She wanted to find a kindred spirit.

Cian: ...Ain't those pretty much the same thing?

Tuan: Not really. Friends are your companions. We're as kindred spirits of people who share your beliefs. More like comrades in arms, who wanna fight for the same causes.

Cian: Oh, you mean, like soldiers. Guess, we didn't turn out to be what she'd hope for. Or, at least I didn't...Tuan, there's something I need to tell you. I have a confession to make...

Tuan: What is it?

Cian: I never took any of the pills Miach gave me. I put the first one of my mouth that day but I didn't swallow, then I told my mom and ratted you out...

Tuan: ...I didn't know that.

Cian: I was too scared to go through with it. Tuan...are you mad at me?

Tuan: We were kids. I can't really blame you. I owe you my life.

Cian: Thank you for saying that. But, I don't deserve of your forgiveness. I betrayed both of you. And it still didn't save her.

Tuan: It wasn't your fault, Cian.

Cian: Nn-uh, it was though. I thought like I was paralyzed. I didn't take the pills but I didn't tell right away either. Fear overwound me and I locked myself to my room. After a few days, my mom took me to the emergency ethic center. But before I could even see one of the counselors, that all came pouring out. My mom told the counselors immediately, so of course they called your mom...They were able to get to you in time. But, not Miach...By the time anyone made it over to check on her was too late. She'd been taking those stupid pill so long that she become emaciated and her organs started shutting down one by one...Her body was so damaged, they wouldn't even allow her parents to bury her.

Tuan: No burial? So then, what did they do with her body?

Cian: Miach's mom told us they donated it to science for medical research...Visiting after the funeral was hard but I wanted to beg her forgiveness...

Tuan: Maybe this is hard for you.

Cian: No. I want to talk about it...Even Miach was alive, I used to wonder sometimes why I was your friend. We were so different. Why would I hang out with her all the time.

Tuan: Ever figured out?

Cian: Strange that sounds...I think it's because I felt like she needed me. Not to say we had nothing in common. I wasn't sure I belonged either. And all that pressure to fit in...was just too much.

Tuan: Huh.

Cian: All I wanted is to find a way out before it crushed me, but that wasn't enough for her. She was determined to fight. Even though I agreed with her, I didn't think we need to die or kill anyone to prove our point.

Tuan: She lived on the edge.

Cian: I know. She was always so outspoken, always had to push the limits. Which is why I felt like she needed me...I was there to keep her from going too far. On some level, I think that's what she wanted... She was relying on me to be the voice of reason an hold her back. But when it really mattered, I was too scared.

Tuan: I never realized you've been friend with for her sake. You're braver than you know.

Waitress: More water?

Cian: ...I'm sorry, Miach.

Tuan: Eh?

Waitress: Eek!

Cian: Ehgu,

Tuan: ...!

Cian: ...I'm sorry. I'm so...I'm sorry...Mia...ch...

---

Inspector A: Disgraceful!

Inspector B: It's affront to Lifeism in sense!

Inspector C: Currently, we have nearly twenty-eight hundred confirmed dead. But that number could climb.

Inspector D: As the exact number, six-thousand five-hundred eighty-two people simultaneously attempted suicide. Two-thousand seven-hundred ninety-six of them...were successful. Eight hours counting since we [???], dozens are in hospitalized be critical condition. Final death toll could be well over three-thousand.

Inspector E: No common method, or other recognizable pattern links these incidents. However, over half of those involved were wearing augmented contact lenses at the time. Those visual feeds've been uploaded to the server. We're analyzing the data now.

Man E: Haa...haa...haa...ugh!

Inspector B: This is clearly a terrorist attack to the very foundation of lifeism!

Tuan: What's the condition of the survivors?

Inspector C: Those who did not perish immediately, have fallen into irreversible comatose state. We are so far unable to question them about what they did or why.

Os Cara: As of this moment, the Helix Inspection Agency officially classified this incident is a criminal attack against admedistrative society. We will investigate and find those responsible. In two hours, an emergency WHO meeting will convene in Geneva. Each of you should be familiar with the treaty between the WHO and your respective admedistration territories. Now is the time to make them honor those treaties. Take the initiative. Show the world this office will not sit idly by, while someone threatens our way of life!

---

Tuan: Nn...Why are you calling on a secure line?

Os Cara: Not only one of the victims is a friend of yours, but she did it right in front of you. You've been emotionally traumatized. Procedure dictate you be suspended until you received drug therapy and at least one-hundred hours counseling.

Tuan: You really think I'm traumatized? Heh, rather it sounds more like you're trying to find a way to keep me office case. And I don't think you wanna do that...If you did, I might have to go to the press and talk about Niger, I'm sure they'd love to hear about our troop's consumption of illegal substances.

Os Cara: You cannot be serious.

Tuan: Oh? I am deadly serious. When it comes to blackmail, I don't screw around.

Os Cara: Damn...!

Tuan: Besides, Helix inspectors who witness traumatic events in the field can be given a reprieve before reporting for mandatory therapy in order to complete their missions...The only condition is that chief inspector sign off on it.

Os Cara: ...Alright, I shall approve your request for a five day reprieve. But, understand, this will grant you nothing beyond of brief delay. Not even I have the power to do more than that.

---

Tuan: What if I never returned to Japan, what if I never went to lunch with Cian...would she still left taking her own life...? Miach once said something like..."Anyone can kill themselves, or kill someone else. It only depends on whether they have the will. People hold the power to destroy things even more important than life" she said. Only she never told us what that meant. For these years later, does Cian figured it out...? Does she do this just to prove Miach right...? Whatever they knew, they took it with them...and left me behind. Five days, that's all the time I have to figure out why Cian died. I hope it's enough.

Tuan(in video): I never realized you've been friend with for her sake. You're braver than you know.

Cian(in video): I'm sorry, Miach...haa...haa...haa...haa...Gobh...guh...goah!...huuu...Miach...I...I'm sorry...I'm so...

Tuan: Sigh...

---

Cian: I'm sorry, Mia...ch...

---

AI: Approximately, one month after the death of their only daughter, the Mihie family was relocated to the Fifth Tama district.

Tuan: Activate information isolation mode. Authorization: Tuan Kirie.

AI: Authorization accepted. Profile data for Senior Inspector Tuan Kirie will display only to those at least level five clearance. Fifteen minutes until arrive let Mihie residence. WatchMe data indicates Reiko Mihie is at home. With isolation mode engaged, she will not be notified of Inspector Kirie's impending visit.

Tuan: Back then, it hadn't occurred to me to wonder about Miach's parents. We never met each other's families, or even talked about them. It just never matter to us.

---

Miach: Throughout history, people are made a habit of letting outside influences to control their lives. The families, carriers, religion, and perhaps worst of all, money. They have money used to be made of nothing more than flimsy paper. Back then, people would say "Money can't buy happiness!" ...But no one actually believed it. Money send many great nations to war, money's made women and girls sell their bodies. Nearly all aspects of everyday life somehow evolved around it. ...But WatchMe is far more dangerous than money ever was. It permeates our every cell, holding our bodies as its hostage. And in the process, it robs us of something that money never could.

---

Tuan: What kind of people are Miach's parents, to the evillest daughter like that? A girl who romanticized the downfall humanity, who delighted to how easy it would be to poison thousands of people...

---

Miach's mother: Yes, how may I help you?

Tuan: I'm a helix inspector with WHO. We're investigating yesterday's mass suicides, and I was hoping you could answer some questions.

Miach's mother: Such a tragedy. I heard about the news this morning. But, what's the got to do---

Tuan: It's about your daughter.

Miach's mother: ...I don't understand. She passed away over ten years ago.

Tuan: I'm aware. I'd like to ask you about what she was like before her death.

Miach's mother: Before? ...All right, please, come in.

---

Miach's mother: It's not a pleasant story. She tried to kill herself many times before she succeeded.

Tuan: Yes, our record show she made prior attempts.

Miach's mother: Miach was beyond our control. She was incredibly strong willed, and clever. However, she was also a sensitive child. A delicate, fragile girl. We'd loved as much as possibly could. When she came to us, they said that would be enough.

Tuan: Came to you?

Miach's mother: We adopted Miach, when she was eight.

Tuan: Eh...She was adopted? That's not in her records.

Miach's mother: The admedistration had launched campaign urgent childless couple to adopt. Perhaps you remember the conflict in Chechnya?

Tuan: Of course. Conditions are still horrible there.

Miach's mother: The day we brought her home, they told her she came from ethnic minority in the region, and that she'd been founded in refugee camp.

Tuan: She was a war orphan...

Miach's mother: They gave us few other details. All they said was she had been through truly horrific experiences there. Log before we got her, she'd already undergone intense trauma therapy. However, because she was so young, the doctors believe she could still grow up to be a productive member of society. But all she needed was a warm, loving home. They said it would be enough...but they were wrong...Time and time again, we stopped her and sent her back to treatment. She was determined...Eventually, she found a way...

Tuan: I never knew Miach carried such a profound darkness inside her...It wasn't something she shared with me. After all, she'd been through...that she could still hate Japan so much spoke volumes. She was a child of war. Yet, it was like she preferred that true hell to this false heaven...

Miach's mother: The doctors recommended we get rid of anything she had that remind of her former life. But, I...just couldn't bring myself to trough that away.

Tuan: Hm...?

---

Miach: Ever seen a business card? People used to use these to share information...but only with who they wanted to. The picture is our logo.

Tuan: That's so cute.

Cian: I like it!

Miach, Tuan: Fu fu fu...

---

Tuan: May I ask about Miach's body? Her death certificate list no place of internment. Or, she returned to Chechenia?

Miach's mother: No, old researcher from a university asked if he could have her remains. Just before she dies, she said she wanted to donate her body to science.

Tuan: Who was this researcher?

Miach's mother: I'm afraid I can't help you. I don't know his name. We never had any direct contact.

Tuan: This is an investigation, so I need to know. And, my authority as helix inspector allows me to access confidential information. So, if you don't mind, this will just take a moment.

Miach's mother: Ah...?

Tuan: ...?! Keita Saeki?! His theoretical research on pharmacology and medicule's was the basis for WatchMe... And a man who used to call himself my father, Nuada Kirie, once worked in his lab...He left out on us never to be seen or heard from again, thirteen years ago, immediately after I tried to die alongside my two friends...

---

Saeki: Please, come in. I've been expecting you.

Tuan: Thank you for seeing me, professor. You're looking well?

Saeki: Looking well is a given in this day and age. Thanks to WatchMe, who doesn't? They want harsh reality of illness and ageing are things of the past.

Tuan: It's an antiquated term of phrase perhaps, but it's something I've always wanted to say to the father of WatchMe.

Saeki: I never imagined voraciously health conscious society would use it that way it has...The Maelstrom changed everything. The result is the world we now live in.

Tuan: What do you mean? People didn't always want this kind of future?

Saeki: What happened over fifty years ago was a cataclysm of per apocalyptic proportions. More than ten million lives lost in North America alone. The chaos of nuclear war that follow nearly destroyed the planet. There was violence and terrorism on a global scale. Fear in supreme, and the world that we know what would its WatchMe and admedistration was born with that fear...A fear that's never fully gone away. But I'm certain that you didn't come here for a history lesson, so what can I do for you, helix inspector? I assume this is about yesterday's mass suicides?

Tuan: It's about Miach Mihie. You took custody of her remains after her death. Her body was supposed to be delivered to this lab...But it wasn't. All specimens passing through this facility get processed in catalog, yet there's no record of her. The reason why...? You didn't actually take Miach's body. However, my father, Nuada Kirie, did.

Saeki: Hold on now. When did your father come into this?

Tuan: I don't have time for games. Tell me the truth, where did he take her? What did he want with her, and does any of this connected to what happened to yesterday? ...Fine, I'll get warrant, that's what it takes.

Saeki: ...Nuada's little girl grew into a real ball breaker. He'd be proud.

Tuan: I wouldn't know. It's an occupational hazard though, I've been known to break more than just balls.

Saeki: Hmm...he's in Baghdad, at one of the labs of the SEC neuroscience consortium. My one time student now surpass his teacher. He moved on to far more advanced research. The two of us had no communication since the day he left.

Tuan: What was he researching?

Saeki: A few years back, a Russian scientist published ground breaking thesis on the mesencephalon, and how its neurological synapses affect to human will. Sounds rather complicated, but in layman's term, it's simply the theory of "Why we do what we do?" This area here is the mesencephalon, or mid-brain, sometimes known as the mind's reward center. It's where structures called substancia nigra supplies brain with dopamine. People tend to think of human will a singular focus like a soul or the conscious. You have an angel and a devil on each shoulder, and the only choice between right or wrong.

Tuan: But it's not that simple?

Saeki: Not even remotely. Picture a clouded business meeting with lots of individuals clamoring to get their point across. The vast variety of desires of brain experiences function much the same way. They shout and kick or piss among, competing each other to get our attention. Out of all leads possible motivations, we only act on one. Deciding which one is our will. But, behind the decision, our brain's reward center is trained with dopamine to respond...like, giving a treat to a dog. This fascinated your father. He became obsessed with what might be possible of this chemical reward system morale officially influenced.

Tuan: You mean, mind control? ...Big shock. How that feeling here on something to do with the suicides?

Saeki: There's no evidence with that, but I'm rather surprised you could possibly suspect your own father.

Tuan: He stopped being my father years ago. As far as I'm concerned, I don't know who he is or what he may be capable of.

Saeki: Don't be so quick to judge him. This is the science behind the human soul itself. Many researchers have long been tempted to pursue it. We only seek the truth...

Tuan: I'm leaving for Baghdad, ascertain the whereabouts of Miach Mihie. I intend to find her remains. Even if it means confronting him.

---

Tuan: ...Hm?

Vashlov: I can give you a lift to the airport. Baghdad, it's yes?

Tuan: That is classified. And, who are you?

Vashlov: Since I'm in isolation mode, allow me to introduce myself. Elijah Vashlov, Interpol Special Investigate. Ever seen one of these before?

Tuan: ...A card?

Vashlov: Ah, it's less fun if you know.

Tuan: Do you try to pick up everyone when you meet the business card?

Vashlov: It usually goes over better. ...The whole countries' scared. Things are quiet. Everyone's afraid of what might happen next. Until the up that day, almost no one had seen death for themselves. They all assume they would never have to deal with it. People dying right in front of you, isn't something that should happen anymore. Yet it did, therapy centers have reached it's capacity. Admedistration [theaters?] will happy in their ignorance. Confident that nothing present ever knock on their doors. We are conditioned to careful to one another, and protect life by all costs---That beliefs has kept the society running. But, now everyone knows this world has never been the utopia it appear to be...

Tuan: Does that frighten you?

Vashlov: Of course it does. ...Right now, most people are terrified of what they don't know. Well, I more afraid of what I do. The group Interpol's been surveying, for instance.

Tuan: What group?

Vashlov: Oh? WatchMe research consortium, called "Next-Gen Human Behavior Monitoring Group." My division has been keeping an eye on it for a while. A meet all of the scientists you are to expect to find the heads of medical-tech companies, and powerful admedistration elders...Not exactly the line of unusual suspects.

Tuan: So long name for a secret society.

Vashlov: We are more concerned to their ideology. And why they've been trying to fly on that [eraser?]. They seem to have strong memory of The Maelstrom. Historians may not agree on how it began, but there's not doubt about how fast went wrong. Humanity is reverted to savagery and barbarous in the brink of an eye. No one thought our species were still capable of that. Not until several million of people die, so now this group wants to use WatchMe to ensure it never happens again.

Tuan: Huh, that's quite a conspiracy theory. What's the rest of their evil plan? World domination?

Vashlov: I'll speak slowly since you don't seem to understand what I'm telling you. This one group has the entire planet on the observation. They don't trust people to control themselves, so they exploit that their holding WatchMe which allows them to manually override better choices we might make.

Tuan: Take away our free will?

Vashlov: Exactly. Interpol believe the suicides that happened the other day will...a first test.

Tuan: What if they create them to override to keep people from killing each other? Why test had by making kill themselves?

Vashlov: ...What would you say to you and I join forces? We both want to get to the bottom of this, then two heads are better than one. Of course, Interpol may take some convincing, not everyone in the office thinks highly of helix inspectors. They mean not like one [hanging?] you on their trough...Rumor has it WHO's missions abroad aren't so much about peaces they are about spreading the religion of lifeism? And, their no need to affluence policy is bull.

Tuan: Well, that's true.

Vashlov: Look, I know a lot this sounds crazy, but you have to believe me. Time is short, and I need your help. ...? Vashlov here...Turn on [???], Network 24, some sort of breaking news!

---

Newscaster: The interrupt to regularly scheduled programming to bring you a special report with new information on the mass suicides. Moments ago, our studio received a memory cell containing an anonymous message from person who claiming to be responsible. We will now play that message in its entirety. Viewer discretion is advised.

<log:media=Network24:id=225-78495hu6r-yti5h23j-09>
A lot of people have died.
They all ended their lives in the same moment.
This must've been shocking for you.
Some of you experience the horror firsthand.
And, if you didn't, you now hear that you will.
We did this.
We are responsible.
How we did this, is for us to know, and you to find out.
But you will.
The weapon we use is already inside you.
You can't remove it.
It's too late.
You've seen what we are capable of.
We have held you hostage.
Are you frightened?
Angry?
You would probably feeling several things all at once.
Treasure these emotions.
They are real.

Here, the society we live in considers them dangerous, unhealthy.
It doesn't want you to feel.
We don't have to stop feeling.
This isn't written anywhere.
It's not a law.
But we are compelled all the same.
Haven't you had enough of this constant public caution?
Don't you want to escape?

Let's make a declaration.
Right here, now.
To create the new world.
But, before we can embark on this great endeavor, you have to prove you are ready.
Sometime within the next seven days, each of you must kill at least one other person.
Use any means necessary.
How you do it is not important.
The only thing we care about is "why?"

Show us how selfish you can be.
Demonstrate that you care about self preservation.
Those unwilling aren't able to complete this task will die.
Simple as that.
This is no empty threat.
We will kill you without warning without mercy.
All we have to do is push a button and you will kill yourselves.

Don't believe us?
Don't worry.
We'll remove any shadow of a doubt.
This is real.
And we're very serious.
Keep watching.
It'll only take a moment.
You won't want to miss this.
We promise you won't disappoint.
Stay tuned.
</log>

Newscaster: That's all. And this station has receive no further messages. At the present time, however, we are unable to verify the message's origin. Please remain calm. Until authorities are able to authenticate these statements, there is no need to panic...AAAGH! Ah! Uggg...! Ugh!

---

Vashlov: What the hell did I just see?!

Tuan: ...It's her..."Let's make a declaration." It's Miach...Those are her words...!

---

Miach: "The Sorrows of Young Werther," this book killed a lot of people, you know. Rather impressive.

Tuan: It's just a book. How can it kill someone?

Miach: Werther, the title character, falls on love with a woman named Charlotte. But she's already engaged, marrying another man. This creates unfortunate love triangle. And, when Werther realizes his affections aren't returned, he takes his own life...

Tuan: Sounds like a tragic love story, sure, but still I don't see how it could kill.

Miach: The book was so popular. People try to emulate Werther. They dressed like him, ate like him, so amazing, killed themselves like him. Fiction is just that, but the emotions that [can arrested her?] very real. In this case, the power of suggestion was strong enough to kill. I think that's amazing...

---

Tuan: What's wrong with me...? Am I chasing a ghost?

---

Tuan: Cian was the only one who got a call? ...I know whose wise I'm expecting...But I don't wanna believe it...Cian did too...Even said her name...

---

Miach: Hi Cian, long time no speak. I'm lonely. I've missed you. You and Tuan didn't come with me, even though you promised me you would...You let me die alone...

Tuan: ...!

Miach: I know it's been thirteen years, but I wanted to get to hold of you, talk about right and wrong...What do you think they are? Being a good person, helping your fellowmen, those things are right, aren't they? Or, is it only because the society tells you they are...? When push comes to shove, right and wrong are just words. What matters is what you do, how you act, what you believe...What matters is making sure the world keep spinning, making sure family goes on, happiness goes on, peace goes on...That everyone's need is to be done to make life go on. That's what's right...right?
Accept life doesn't go on. Nothing last forever. We are born, we grow up, we grow old, we get sick, and we die...That's nature. An original right or wrong in nature only change. But I guess, things are different now...WatchMe change nature. Illness and aging as the world once knew them happen virtually eliminated. "Well being" triumphs all. Health is the new God.
In ancient times, Kings and Queens threaten to execute any who oppose them. They ruled by force. Might made right. Then the Bastille fell, and tea was dumped in Boston Harbor, and power of the people became the order of the day...But, what if people are the problem? How do we fight the enemy within ourselves? When we let our bodies decide what's right for us, the question and the answer are both the same.
...You were supposed to come with me, Cian. You and Tuan made promise.

Tuan: ah...?!

Miach: We swore we would end this together. We made a pact...You hurt me. I was upset. But, if you make it up to me, I'll forgive you. There's still time to join me. Still time to show the world nothing last forever...Right here, now, prove your body belongs to you and you alone.

Tuan: Ah...!

Miach: You control your body, it doesn't control you...Be brave for me, Cian...Finish what you started...

Tuan: Ugh...

Miach: That's it. Show me how strong you can be...show it to the world...

Tuan: ...Uh...I'm sorry, Miach...! Egh...! Cough! Cough...cough...

Announce: Northern Passengers flight 947 from Tokyo will be arriving soon at Baghdad Medical City. Passengers and flight clue, please prepare for landing...

Tuan: Haa...haa...A...hic...Miach didn't die...She's alive...she's alive. Somehow, someway...Miach Mihie survived. Now she's reappeared in a dramatic fashion, and thrown down the gauntlet to the world...Kill and live, or don't and be killed. This is a new declaration. Miach intents to test us all...

---

Tuan: The Dian Cecht complex. After the Maelstrom, Baghdad became a metropolis of teaching hospitals, industrial medical centers, and research labs. Taxes were low, low's relax, and the admedistration here didn't ask what anyone doing behind closed doors. The perfect place for my father to disappear to...and he took Miach with him.

---

Gabrielle: Beautiful, isn't it? Looking out of the air for garden is easy to forget where you are. Good morning. I'm Gabrielle Étaín, SEC Neuroscience Consortium. I hope this isn't a surprise inspection, agent Kirie? Not we're doing anything the WHO need to be concerned about. The experiments at this facility adhere the strict medical, and ethical guidelines. Everything is above board.

Tuan: ...I'm not here for that.attempting to locate someone. A Dr. Nuada Kirie, who I'm told he's part of your team?

Gabrielle: Yes, he did work with us. But it was sometime ago, I'm afraid.

Tuan: Do you know where I might find him?

Gabrielle: I do not, sadly.

Tuan: You're sure?

Gabrielle: ...Why, such an interest?

Tuan: Dr. Kirie is my father. But, you know that.

Gabrielle: ...Of course. I do have the clearance. So if you are not here for surprise inspection, you've come all the way Baghdad for a...family reunion, is it?

Tuan: I'm here is part of an official investigation. Your cooperation is not optional. Tell me about the research you're doing and how my father was involved.

Gabrielle: Very well. Our focus is value judgements. For instance, I offer you ten thousand credits now, or twenty thousand credits one year from now. Which amount do you choose?

Tuan: ...Probably, the former.

Gabrielle: Most do. Given the choice, the majority of human beings prefer instant gratification. But, so do other primates, birds, dogs and cats. Organisms are exhibit this behavior, tend to overvalue that which is easily obtained.

Tuan: ...Hmm.

Gabrielle: It's genetic programming. Consider a heron, if it doesn't eat the fish, it cease immediately. That fish will be eaten by another heron, but if another fish doesn't come along, the first heron starves to death. This is not survival of the most fit. It's an ongoing conflict between small short-term desires and larger long-term desires. An illogical game of choice, we call "will." And, according with this theory, even pain is something we choose to feel.

Tuan: Explain that.

Gabrielle: The pain we experience, the moment we prick of finger, is a feedback agent. A short-term desire, trying to leave an impression on the mind, and get us to take action, usually it stops that pain. However, I'm sure you've heard of instances where machiner or construction worker has sliced off their finger, and not noticed right away, because they were concentrating on something else. This phenomenon occurs when the agent for pain competes with the agent for focus and loses. That's the consciousness delays getting at attention.

Tuan: So, reality is not shaped by our experiences, it's subjective. All the varies feedback agents in our brains shout up top of their lungs, and our minds only listen to the loudest?

Gabrielle: That's a simplified way of looking at it, but you seemed to grasp the concept.

Tuan: ...Before I go, I'd like to ask an expert opinion, I assume you've heard the audio recording, do you think the threats are credible? Could I pull off such a thing?

Gabrielle: I doubt it. Judging by the research done here, controlling another person's will, a presenting them an alternate reality, is impossible. Not to mention, unethical and immoral.

Tuan: What about the ultimatum they issued? Will you do anything before the deadline comes, or let it pass?

Gabrielle: ...I shall do nothing. Clearly, they are just try to frighten us. If you'll excuse me, I must return to my work.

Tuan: One last question. Are you familiar with a research consortium I was advised to look into called "Next-gen Human Behavior Monitoring Group?"

Gabrielle: I'm not.

---

Tuan: Take me to the hotel. It's about time I'm checked in.

AI: Reservation confirmed at the Baghdad Hotel on Saadoun Street.

---

Inspector B: Senior Inspector Kirie is online.

Os Cara: Request immediate aug meeting participation! ...Status report! How many homicide cases into broadcast?

Inspector B: Currently unable to calculate exact numbers. But they are increasingly alarming rate!

Inspector D: Admedistration's authorities across the globe are desperately trying to calm down their citizens, but there is a only so much they can do.

Os Cara: What's the latest on the alleged masterminds?

Inspector E: Chief inspector, urgent report! Just in from Japan, more suicides!

Inspector A: This latest just over three hundred!

Inspector D: These are different. Many leave death notes.

Inspector B: Ugh...what is this mean then?

Inspector E: Incoming dispatch. Similar incidents! Notes also discovered postmortem in both Germany and Spain!

Inspector A: But why?!

Os Cara: What's read in these notes?

Inspector E: "What one would expect I can't kill anyone. To my wife, forgive me, if I took another's life, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I realize my life is a precious commodity, but so with everyone else's. This is an impossible situation. There's no other way out. I must do this." ...Rest of area's apologies to spouse and his children, siblings, friends, and neighbors. They regret choosing to end their lives.

Tuan: I don't believe the perpetrators of the original incident behind this. It's simple cause and effect, people are over reacting out of fear. And, if it's not contain, then the panic'll only continue to spread. Who else knows?

Inspector D: As it now, these deaths have nothing reported to general public. So far, local authorities have kept quiet.

Os Cara: A priority is damage control. We must prevent this information from being leaked on the net. Initiate the total media blackout!

Tuan: That should buy a some time but probably no more than a few days. Call it a hunch, but I think this chaos is part of the perpetrator's master plan...It's the Werther effect...

Inspector A: Can't we just sever the link between WatchMe and Health Management Servers?!

Inspector B: Impossible. WatchMe is tied to every aspect of daily life. If we went abruptly disconnected, all hell could break loose!

Tuan: Hm...?

Os Cara: Inspector Kirie?!

---

Tuan: Abu Nuas...Outside the admedistration's security zone?

Woman newscaster: Curfews have been put in place, and WHO troops are out in force to keep order in the streets. Governments, authorities from around the world are pleading with citizens to remain calm and wait for further information. And, we just received word it appears that Canada and Italy have now joined the list of nation that declared state of marshal law...

---

Gate guardian: Confirm your identification, please. I'm obligated to inform you that beyond this check point, your WatchMe will have limited functionality, and your safety cannot be guaranteed.

Tuan: I understand.

Gate guardian: Access granted. Proceed on your own risk.

---

Tuan: Now WatchMe inside my body must be screaming, cautioning me about unfamiliar foods, unknown calorie counts and danger of adjusting at all. But I'm here, and without my AR lens, I'm unable to listen. Only other side of the wall, this is central of the medical world. Yet none of these people are connected to the server, so even have WatchMe installed. They haven't surrender their physical body to someone else's control. They are living their lives. They get colds, headaches, cancer, They die in their 60 or 70s, just as they did the decades ago. Life here is business as usual. While a stone throw away, terrified admedistrations, citizens are hiding under their beds...These people don't get our news stations. I mean not even aware anything is going on...?

---

Nuada: Civilization was born here. The ancient's called it Mesopotamia.

Tuan: I know that voice. I could never forget it...

Nuada: It literally means "The land between two livers."

Tuan: The Tigris and Euphrates.

Nuada: Ha ha...somehow, I ended up stuck in the middle here, too. It's good to see you, Tuan.

Tuan: ...Your eye?

Nuada: My fault. I was experimenting one too far.

Tuan: It's really you...?

Nuada: How many years we last saw each other? Eight? Ten?

Tuan: Thirteen, you bastard...You walked out mom and me like we meant nothing to you...of course, you don't remember, why would you? ...People allover the world are killing themselves.

Nuada: I've heard. It's unfortunate.

Tuan: It's unfortunate?! Is that really all you have to say?! This is your fault!

Nuada: ...Pretty sure your friend Miach deserves some of the blame.

Tuan: ...

---

Tuan: Why her? Why Miach?

Nuada: Even before recent events, the teen suicide rate was going up year after year. You tried it. Your friend Cian considered it. Miach was ready to go through with it. Many children rejected WatchMe when it was first introduced, to became determine to hurt themselves. Lacking any kind of solution, all the admedistration could do was round up the kids and put them in the treatment. The Next-Gen Human Behavior Monitoring Group took custody of the specially resolute individuals...who made multiple attempts. They were singled out to receive an experimental treatment. We needed strong willed guinea pigs to test the Harmony program on...Your friend Miach was a perfect candidate.

Tuan: ...What is this "Harmony program?"

Nuada: "Harmony," as in synchronicity, order, coordination, like musical notes blending together to form a chord...except what we were after, was a mean to unified the synapses on the human mind. The intent was to find a way to save mankind from its own savagery. We're working under Professor Saeki, I began the Thesis on the brain mechanics behind choice and determination. When word of my research came to the attention of certain top officials, who fear to repeat of the Maelstrom, they asked me to join their consortium...That's how it started. And eventually, it led to my choosing Miach whose rejection of society made her ideal subject. I believed if we could conquer her mind, somehow, we focused the way from its relentless pursued her own death, the program would be powerful enough to control anyone...Ha ha, that was the presumption, at least. Perhaps, we oversimplified it. Anyway, welcome to my humble abode. Come on in.

---

Nuada: ...Assume you are not to oppose to caffeine?

Tuan: ...You do your research here?

Nuada: No, not here. Until recently, I had a lab at Dian Chect.

Tuan: That's where you took Miach.

Nuada: ...There were side effects.

Tuan: Huh?

Nuada: The Harmony program has one very serious flaw. In hindsight, the result was obvious. We should've anticipated what would've happen...But, we were on the verge of the major breakthrough...We created a human mind with a brain and entire feedback metrics worked in perfect harmonious accord. However, consciousness...was destroyed.

Tuan: ...

Nuada: Prior to test on Miach, we were unaware of this consequence. It wasn't detected in any trials before hers.

Tuan: Can a person even live on that?! So what happened once you have done with her? Did she end up drooling in a wheelchair?!

Nuada: No, nothing like that. I'll try to explain. Go on shopping, eating, living, that goes on as usual. Just...no choice.

Tuan: ...?

Nuada: Decision making is no longer necessary. Because competing feedback agents have been removed. From the outside, it's impossible to tell who has consciousness and who simply go on through the emotions. They act the same.

Tuan: Then, Miach...?

Nuada: She appeared to be living a typical average life. She did homework, ate meals, carried on conversations. When we first brought out of it, she described what she gone through with pure ecstasy. After her consciousness has restored, she couldn't remember any details about what happened during the test. Nevertheless, she recalled the sensation of being in the blissful happy place. She characterized that as a positive experience...But, living without freewill is a kind of death. Giving such serious concerns with those authority should decide how the best proceed...and, they did. Using WatchMe, they uploaded the Harmony program to every man, woman and child throughout the admedistration. It's in both you and me, whether we like it or not. It's not activated, obviously, but it's there in our brain as a safety mechanism in case of emergency. If war or chaos like the Maelstrom would threaten mankind again, Harmony can be turned on to stop it.

Tuan: No, that's...

Nuada: For the time being, at least, it's going to stay off. Depriving humanity of their souls is the last resort. Though, some within the organization disagree, they think we should be using the program now.

Tuan: Of course they do...Miach's one of them...

---

Nuada: Miach is the reason I asked you here. I need your help with her.

Tuan: Do you now? So, you made a mess, and want me to clean up after you? You're just a selfish as ever...

Nuada: There's a splinter group, targeting me. It's not safe here. You have to leave. Find Miach. She'll listen to you. You're the only one who can stop her. I'm sorry to put this on you, Tuan. It's the only way.

Tuan: Why me? You really think I'm the one who's gonna save the world?

Nuada: I do.

Tuan: Eh? ...Dad! Dad, are you alright?

Vashlov: Elijah Vashlov, Interpol Special Agent. So nice to meet you, Dr. Kirie. I am placing you under arrest for collusion in the mass suicides. Easy, Tuan, I wouldn't try that again if I were you. I'll have you charge with accessory after the fact.

Tuan: Cut the crap, Vashlov, I know you're conspiring with Miach Mihie.

Vashlov: Ha, yes, typical Helix inspector. You come up with such wild theories?

Tuan: You tried to manipulate me to get my father right from the start. I was bait. It's why you tipped me off about the "Next-Gen Behavior Monitoring Group?" You knew if I started asking about them, it'll get their attention any try to contact me.

Vashlov: Nice work, inspector, I sense you figured it a lot. What's my next move?

Tuan: Kidnapping my father.

Vashlov: Ah, collect again. Your sweet papa is coming with me. He is a key player in this game, and he could ruin our plans. But if I remove him from the equation, then there will be nothing to stand in the way of us getting---

Nuada: I was key. But, these days, I'm not as important as you seem to think.

Vashlov: Your false modesty insults us both. You invented WatchMe, you discovered Harmony, you are the mastermind behind it all.

Nuada: And you are doing this to get...what?

Vashlov: Oh, Tuan, don't tell me you missed that---

Tuan: Move it, dad, run!

---

Nuada: Ugh...

Tuan: You're hurt!

Nuada: It's not bad.

Vashlov: ...Heh.

Nuada: Tuan!

Tuan: Dad! No! Why did you...

Vashlov: Pity. She told me not to kill him unless I had to...guh...Gha!

Nuada: ...In the...end...I got to be the father, I should have been...

Vashlov: Without him...they won't be able to stop it...He was the last voice of reason...anyone will listen to...All it's left...out chaos...The threats...the suicides...just a thing in motion...They were...catalysts...meant to cause a...chain...reac...Cough...Gaha...

Tuan: Tell me where to find her, Vashlov.

Vashlov: For a new world to be born...The old one must learn...From the ashes of this chaos...Harmony will rise...Death and destruction are means to an end...They are first episode in past...Miach...showed us...the truth...showed us the future...She...will guide humanity...to the promise land...If you want to fight her...contact the Anti-Russian Freedom Front...in Chechnya...She is there...You are once her friend...She said it was okay to tell you...Don't...make me suffer...anymore...It...it hurt...hah...so this...this is pain...Like through WatchMe and medcare...I've never known...ah, it felt like...P-please...kill me...

---

Miach: WatchMe's began as a noble idea, then became law. And now, the very active living is controlled by the powers that be. But "death is power's limit, the moment that escapes it; death becomes the most secret aspect of existence, the most 'private'"...Society is assigned itself the task of administering life. But it can't let you serve the power of death.

Tuan: Who is you according today?

Miach: Michel Foucault.

Tuan: ...Does that mean, there is no other way and death is the only way out of this?

Miach: ...I lived somewhere else when I was little. People in charge there did what every they wanted to...It was a hell on Earth.

Tuan: Huh?

Miach: You won't believe me if I told you what I've known, but being here is just as bad...

Tuan: Bad as what?

Miach: ...The exact opposite of here. There was so different there, and yet...somehow, the same. Over there, guns kill people. Over here, kindness does.

---

Tuan: Even before that conversation, I suspected Miach had a dark past. We spent so many hours, whispering at our desks, discussing plots for mass murder. I knew there were something behind it. Was she still carrying around such hatred? I had just grown and fester over the last thirteen years...Was this happening because she finally had the power to turn on her cold fantasies into reality?

---

Os Cara: So, deadline to kill or to be killed is the day after tomorrow. Fear and trembling have completely overwhelmed on mass as things continue to get worse. Both the murder rates, and the suicide rates are exploding. Combination murder suicide's rate's all-time high. As of yet, no word of violence or self-harm was in the police ranks or military forces. But I think soon the reports are coming, and I won't be surprised when they do.

Tuan: Might even be one of us Helix Inspector who cracks, perhaps.

Os Cara: I know I don't have to worry about you. You've already killed someone.

Tuan: It was a self defense.

Os Cara: Then you don't have to feel guilty about it, lucky you.

Tuan: The man murdered my father. He claim to be from Interpol, but I have since confirmed that he was a double agent who misused classified intelligence to service own ends. The organization he actually worked for is known as the "Next-Gen Human Behavior Monitoring Group." They are a covert research consortium founded shortly after the Maelstrom. From what I was able to ascertain are only objective is to prevent such an apocalypse from ever happening again. For this purpose, they enlisted of aid of several prominent neuroscience experts. My father was one of them, and I believe Gabrielle Étaín is another. I suggest we bring her into questioning immediately.

Os Cara: Ms Étaín died, three hours ago.

Tuan: ...

Os Cara: Her death was reported as a random murder. But if your suspicion is collect, that could easily be a cover story for an assassination. What is your current location?

Tuan: Right now, on the way to Chechnya.

Os Cara: Why?

Tuan: I don't wanna say too much...But there's a splinter faction within the NGHBMG. They pose a serious security risk. I'm concern they may have info traded with WHO as well as Helix Inspection Agency.

Os Cara: ...? We'll have to continue this later. Everyone except Inspector Kirie, please, log off now.

---

Elder A: History seems always repeat itself. We stand on the brink of another Maelstrom.

Elder B: Is this simply the fate of humanity? To plunge into violence over and over? After all we do prevented, how could this we have new again?

Tuan: The Next-Gen group...?

Elder C: Peace, for over half a century we carefully molded and crafted to society to sustain it. But all we truly build was our house of cards...

Elder D: And I'll think to if terrorist since about come crushing down.

Os Cara: You know who we are. Assemble before you as members of council responsible for protecting humanity from itself.

Tuan: Eh...so it was all true?

Os Cara: Your father was a respective member of our science team. His untimely death was truly unfortunate.

Elder E: We knew rift within our organization became a divide. Nuada Kirie became in marked man.

Tuan: But he wasn't the only one under surveillance?

Os Cara: We were hoping Miach Mihie would established contact with you. Or, that somewhere over the course this investigation, you would find her. You and she were friends both.

Tuan: ...Which explains why you gave me five days without much fight.

Elder A: This sight being in hiding. Mihie and her accomplices have still been able to hack into the brain feedback mechanism of the limited number of individuals.

Elder B: They have the means to control far few of people than they claim. Yet they are using their power to incite chaos throughout the world.

Os Cara: What Miach Mihie wants? Or, why she's doing this? Unclear. Ours is a peaceful society. Dedicated to the preservation of life. Why would she want to destroy that? What is her end game? ...You're one of the few she'd let get close to her. We need to learn her true motives, inspector Kirie. And stop her.

Tuan: ...Ha.

Os Cara: Find something funny?

Tuan: A little. You see, my father has said almost the exact same thing. So? if you don't mind.

Os Cara: We don't have time for this, Tuan...So, fate of the entire world's rest on your shoulders.

Tuan: Then, I must be pretty important?

Os Cara: ...We are begging you for your help. Please.

Tuan: I don't give it damn about helping you are saving your precious world. I will find Miach. But my reasons for doing so are no one else's but my own. My father and Cian Reikado are dead...She killed them. There's only one thing I care about now.

Os Cara: Ugh, Tuan!!

Elders: Life has to be preserved at all costs. But is life without the soul...truly life? There can't be no second Maelstrom. The world cannot descend into chaos again. If mankind can no longer repress its savage nature...we must activate and apply of last resort.

---

Tuan: Give that to Miach Mihie. She all know who that's from, and what it means.

Uwe: Dealing with Anti-Russian Freedom Front now, huh? I brought some WarDog, just like you asked me. It's fully equipped.

Tuan: Thank you, Uwe.

---

Tuan: Back when we were young in defiant, Miach and I agreed on something. We wanted the world without a society that what stifle us. We wanted a world where our bodies are our own. Where we had more of the choice on our own destinies. Why would she want something so different now? Why would she want a world where we ceased to be ourselves...?

---

Tuan: Coordinates? Ha, alone. Like it goes without saying, Miach, I've been alone ever since the day I thought you died. Chechnya...the place where you were born. The place where your consciousness was born. You once describe it as a hell on earth.

---

Nuada: Decades ago, in amidst of the Russian-Chechen conflict, an isolated ethnic minority group was discovered. Anthropologist said no official records of them. Their existence was largely unknown. The mountain villages where they live were remote. In such a secluded environment, they were having little contact with outsiders. The people inbred over many generations.

Tuan: What are you trying to tell me, dad?

Nuada: Because their pure blood lines, the members of this minority group all share a certain recessive trait. Though, this trait can be found in the general population, the likely for to bid occurrence is extremely rare. The trait I'm referring is a chromosome anomaly, which result in the missing gene. The gene for the human soul. The gene in control of consciousness.

Tuan: So, these people's natural state is the same as the Harmony program's side effect?

Nuada: Yes, they're what didn't seem inhibit from their living their lives, they're developing their own culture. They were just extremely adept logical thinking. These people evolved without the consciousness because they had no need for one. A self re-enforcing cycle in natural selection resulting in the innate state of Harmony.

Tuan: What's this got to do with Miach?

Nuada: Miach came from at that minority. When she was eight years old, Russian troops raided her village, and kidnapped her. They took her to a camp for human trafficking, a truly unspeakable place. I told her she could open up about it to me, but she never said much. Only that her consciousness had awakened there.

Tuan: Awakened?

Nuada: When she was in being physically abused or tortured, she remained in constant fear. Her mind needed a way to cope. That has created her consciousness, or, something like one. A region on her cerebellum began to emulate the functions the chemical reward system. Functions typically handled by the mid-brain.

Tuan: Not a true consciousness, a replica...an imitation of a consciousness, an imitation of a soul.

---

Miach: I've decided to burn my books. Every last one of them. I have to. They are very precious to me. As long as they are here, I can't leave.

Tuan: Does that mean, we're almost ready?

Miach: Yup. You know, in China, when a new emperor came to power, they would burn all the old schools containing historical records, so that, they could write a new history...Do you know why people writing things down?

Tuan: No, why?

Miach: Because, words will remain. More long after the writers have left this world. The verses in the Bible, and engravings in the Pyramids were meant to be immortal. People have always thought, they have pieces of themselves go on forever...Would you mind doing the rest? I just can't seem to...

Tuan: You love these books, I can't imagine you without them.

Miach: ...Before the Maelstrom, they used to burn the dead like this. It was called "cremation." They had a custom, they will place someone's cherished possessions in the coffin to be burned with them...This...is my cremation. My books are the source of my power. So I'm taking them with me. Everything they've built, that they're so certain will last forever...I want to destroy. And they think this perfect moment in human history is frozen in time. I want to hit them where it hurts...and shatter the moment...

---

Tuan: As long as the world turns, society will continue to evolve to change. Previously acceptable concepts become impugnant and disregarded. Who has to say we won't outgrow the need for consciousness as well. Why mustn't we tamper with free will? Why am I fighting it? Where is that written that I must have a soul?
Guess, I'm on my own here. Wait for me, I'll be back. ---Alright, Miach, I'm here.

---

Miach: It's been a long time, Tuan. Thirteen years...Put the gun now. You don't need it. We're the only ones here. Just you, and me...I know it. I knew you'd come. And I knew you'd come alone even if I hadn't asked you to.

Tuan: ...?

Miach: Over here! Tuan!

Tuan: !

Miach: You grew your hair alike mine. It suits you...I'm sorry, about your father.

Tuan: That's all you've got? You're not gonna tell me that couldn't be helped?

Miach: Right. His death...couldn't be helped.

Tuan: Liar! There's always another way. My father didn't have to die.

Miach: True.

Tuan: Then why? The suicides, the murders, what's the point of this violence?

Miach: We had to. If we didn't those geezers on the Next-Gen group, we're never gonna push the button...We had to make sure they were terrified. Otherwise, they would not activate the program. This time, I'm going all the way, no turning back. We will create the Brave New World.

Tuan: What is that mean?

Miach: ...Tuan, I don't know if you are aware, but I was born without a consciousness.

Tuan: ...I am. My father told me.

Miach: Oh...The Russian army used this building as a base of operations for their prostitution ring. They would kidnap women and girls, flame from the horrors of war, bring them here, and rape them every single day...One of the girls they stole, was me...I was only eight years old. And I didn't have the ability to feel pain and fear like I do now. There was an officer who took particular interest in me. His prized possession was an antique Tokarev. He would make me strokes the gun while he penetrated me. "This is a gun." He'd say, "This is steal. This is power." Then, he shove the barrel on my throat and forced me to suck on it. Over and over, and over, he did this. Until one day, with this hard flesh inside my body, and his cold steal inside my mouth, covered my saliva, my consciousness awakened. Look at the concrete floor beneath your feet. It is permanently stained with blood, sweat, tears, piss, and semen. All mixed together. That liquid of evil and despair became the amniotic fluid from which I was reborn.

Tuan: Enough, Miach...Stop it. I've heard enough...hic...Please, no more...

Miach: Here, in Chechnya, I learn the true evil of men, the true cruelty of men. But in it's own way, Japan was worse. They kill you with kindness, no cruelty...Just another type of hell. When I was twelve years old, the boy from my neighborhood committed suicide by hanging himself. He said he hated this world. He said he always knew he didn't belong here. And then, he died.

Tuan: ...

Miach: You remember what that felt like, Tuan? You were once young, and frustrated, rejecting this world, and what it wanted to make you become?

Tuan: ...I do. But I still don't understand why are you doing this, Miach. Is it because you hate the world that much?

Miach: Fu fu...No, Tuan. I used to hate it, but now I love it with all my heart. This world is infected with "me"s and "I"s. Souls who don't get in tortured by self-consciousness. I want to save them! I want to give them perfect "harmony!" ...People are dying. They take their lives everyday because they can't cope with the world...Only those who adopt survive, with human nature. And since we can't change our nature, we must stop being human.

Tuan: And, become what...? Living beings, without souls?

Miach: Exactly. Those are thought of that scared some of the old folks from Next-Gen group, including your father. They felt the person's soul is their life...So they were all against it.

Tuan: ...I don't blame them. What about the people who are happy with the world the way it is? People like Cian...

Miach: You think she was happy? Are you certain? ...What about you, Tuan? Are you happy? Do you want this world to stay the way it is?

Tuan: ...

Miach: Human beings are still animal with that heart. Beneath the surface, we are savage and primal creatures...But, we can change. We can evolve beyond the emotion and irrationality our beings are hardwired for. We can stop self regulating. We already have the software for it. Humanity is outsourced everything else that makes us human. So why do we even need a consciousness anymore? Aha...Where the world teetering on the blink of destruction, the elders will have no choice but to activate the Harmony program. It'll be perfect! Just like the world I once knew! A world without suffering...A world without uncertainty! Ha-ha-ha...! Hah...aha ha...

Tuan: Miach, you never change...It's come further in a way. Still smart, self-righteous, still trying to push the world away, and yet, you don't wanna be alone. This isn't about making a better world. You just wanna go home...To the life you have before consciousness.

Miach: Hah...Fu fu.

Tuan: So, as the real reason I came here occur to you yet? Or, are you blinded by what you want? Are you envisioning utopia, a world without individuality or free will? Really? Is that the Heaven you think everyone would want?

Miach: Come with me! Let's go to Harmony together!

Tuan: Hmm...I'll do whatever you ask of me...Wherever you lead me, I'll always follow...Even to the gates of the hell...If you want the world to have Harmony, then I won't do anything to stop it...I'll let it become a reality......But I can't allow you to be a part of it...! I'm sorry! You have to stay the Miach I love! ...I love you, Miach.

---

Miach, Tuan, Cian: Fu fu fu...

Miach: Ever seen a business card? People used to use these to share information...but only with who they wanted to.

Tuan: That's so cute.

Cian: I like it!

Miach: I thought you would. Take the look at the back.

Cian: What's this picture? Did you draw it, Miach?

Miach: It's a symbol I designed. Our logo.

Tuan: Ours?

Miach: Yeah, it stands for the three of us. Cian, me, and you.

Tuan: Oh.

Miach, Tuan, Cian: Fu fu fu...

---