Silence In Numbers: File One (32 page)

The room they were in was now set up to be a living room, with comfortable seating and a TV. She also had a bedroom, a bathroom, and a small kitchen. It was far more than she’d expected. She and Sano had gone again to get more of her things that morning, so now she had the place the way she wanted.

Having finished their quiet exchange Ayane looked around the room, admiring the set-up. “You’ve really put some effort into this place, Hitomi. It seems very homey.”

She smiled, looking at Ayane. “Thank you. They’ve been very generous, and honestly it was rather unexpected. When I first heard I’d have to stay here I thought it’d just be, you know, a bed in a room.”

“You aren’t the first person we’ve had to keep here for protection,” Katsumi responded. “I’m glad you find it acceptable.”

“It’s more than acceptable.” She turned away from the window then, smiling a little shyly. “Honestly, I’ve never been a person to have a lot of friends. I have people I know, but I spend a lot of time alone.” She clasped her hands in front of her, walking over to take a seat at the table. “It’s nice staying here surrounded by people. And you’re all friendly.”

“What about the danger aspect?”

“Honestly? I thought I’d be bothered by it more than I am. Instead it’s… exciting.” Hitomi gave a grin, looking back out the window. “I’ve always been interested in ghosts and spirits and creepy things. It started because of my experiences, but moved beyond that. I’m so happy now that I’ve been shown I wasn’t crazy or anything. More than that, I’m interested. It’s all so different and incredible.”

Katsumi gave a slight smirk, tilting her head. “Want a job?”

Hitomi blinked, looking at her in surprise. “What?”

“A job.” Katsumi’s smirk widened into a grin. “You’re a Silent. You have a very rare gift, one that could be put to incredible use here. You’re already forming bonds with the team. You’re interested in what we do, you have an admirable ability to adapt to new situations, and most importantly for me, it seems you
want
to be here.”

“Do you…” Hitomi leaned forward, speaking in disbelief. “Do you really think I could?”

“Well I’m not going to send you into combat, but I don’t send Reno into combat either. And given enough time your abilities would make that a moot point anyway. But if you’re willing to put in the work and dedication it takes, then yes, I think you could.”

Hitomi broke out into a huge grin. “This is… This is amazing! Are you… Do I really get to do this with this team? I mean, two weeks ago I was selling flowers, now I’m going to be dealing with ghosts, spirits and demons?”

“Katsumi has a unique way of choosing people,” Ayane added, drawing the attention to her. “You’re getting the offer because you’re a Silent, obviously, otherwise you’d have nothing to add to the team. But she wouldn’t offer it to you even though you are one without you being the person you are. It’s that combination she wants.”

Katsumi nodded. “Everyone on this team was hand-picked by myself and M. I had the final say, and while each person has a set of skills I wanted, the specific individuals were chosen based on factors like personality, morals and personal history.”

“What about Rufus?” Hitomi asked quietly. “He said he was a terrorist…”

Katsumi raised an eyebrow. “He did? That’s odd.”

Ayane shook her head. “He said he’d worked with them. She assumes it’s the same thing.”

“Oh, I see,” Katsumi nodded. “Yes, Rufus didn’t have any particular preference when it came to employer. I actually met him when we were both on a job after the same person, he for another criminal organization and myself for a counter-terrorist unit.”

“Why did you choose a criminal to add to your team?”

Katsumi looked at her sadly. “It’s nice to think the way you do; to believe that right or wrong comes down to a simple choice, and anyone doing something you consider ‘wrong’ simply chose that path. The fact is that everyone’s concept of these things is different. Rufus didn’t wake up every morning and think to himself, ‘I’m going to do some evil things today’. No, he woke up and said, ‘today I’m going to do my job’, just like I did, just like you did. He doesn’t see his job here as any different than that one.”

Hitomi shook her head. “That’s such an odd way to think…”

“Maybe,” Katsumi said with a shrug.

“You have to remember,” Ayane spoke up, “that his past wasn’t yours. Katsumi and I have done things I
know
you wouldn’t approve of, and the thing is, most of them we don’t regret. It’s idealistic to think that you’ll always have a ‘correct’ choice you can make, but thinking that way would’ve driven us insane in our lives.”

“That’s how Sano thinks,” Katsumi added. “He’s far more idealistic than we are. He often has problems with actions I take. You probably have the most in common with him, and that’s fine. One of the reasons I picked him was because of that. I think our team needs someone like that, someone who will strive for the most just and righteous path, because if I don’t have someone like that, I know how I’ll act.”

“How will you act?” Hitomi asked softly but curiously.

Katsumi’s eyes grew a bit distant, but she answered. “I’m very… pragmatic. As well as judgmental, vengeful, violent, and harsh. I have a lot of what are considered ‘personality flaws’ by others but ‘lessons learned’ by myself, due to the life Ayane and I have led. If I believe someone will be a threat, I’ll usually pursue a very final solution as the first option. Sano, though, can usually keep this from happening. He’ll tell me about how people can change and who deserves a chance, and many times, I’ll realize he’s right and listen. I’m cynical so I rarely think of it myself.”

Hitomi looked to Ayane. “What about you? Are you the same way?”

Ayane smiled. “Katsumi’s very
direct
,” she started, looking at her sister and receiving a smile. “She tends to be outwardly harsh and abrasive with others, even when she knows them. Whether or not she’s friendly depends on her mood and the situation, but she’s always caring, and I think that’s important to remember.” Ayane looked back to Hitomi. “The reason I’m saying this is that I tend to be a lot friendlier and more welcoming. I’m easier to meet, not to mention a lot less intimidating because I don’t often do that ‘grrr’ glare.”

Hitomi smiled as Katsumi laughed, making Ayane grin at her sister before looking back to the other girl and continuing, “I’m more light-hearted with everyone, while Sumi tends to only be that way with me. Because of this personality difference, people often tend to assume I’m different from Katsumi in terms of actions, morals, and what I’m willing to do. Right?”

Hitomi nodded a little. “I admit, I’ve thought that.”

“Right.” Ayane smiled, but this time it didn’t reach her eyes and seemed dry. “Well, that’s why they’re always more surprised when I break someone’s neck than they are when she does it. Here’s the thing to remember: Katsumi and I? We’re dead in agreement on how things should be done, and what’s okay. We’ve had the same life, we’ve learned the same lessons, and we’ve never been apart for more than a week, not in over thirty years of life. We’ve both killed many people, we’ve both done things that we’ll probably never tell you not because we’re ashamed, but because, really, it would be impossible for you to understand.”

Hitomi sighed. “I guess I can see the logic in what you’re saying. I just grew up with that whole ‘superhero’ mindset; you know, thinking only the bad guys killed people and the good guys were shining knights without a stain on them. I know it’s not realistic, I’ve always known that, but I suppose ‘idealist’ just describes me well.”

“And that’s okay,” Katsumi said with a smile. “In truth, all we ask is that you try not to judge people like me, Ayane and Rufus at face value, because you don’t really know what our lives have been like or why we’ve done anything we’ve done.”

“I won’t,” Hitomi promised them. “I’d never do that. I don’t care what you’ve done in your past; you saved me, and you’re becoming my friends, and you want me to work with you. And more than that I care about you. As far as your past goes… I’m sad that you had to go through what was obviously too hard for me to understand. But the only feeling I have about the things you did to survive is that I’m glad you did it so you could be here today.”

Both sisters smiled and Katsumi nodded gratefully. “Thank you. Few people are understanding enough to accept someone wholly that way.”

“We appreciate it more than you know,” Ayane added. “And now that that’s over, we can get to what we came here for in the first place.”

Hitomi blinked. “Oh, right! I didn’t even think about a reason for your being here.”

“We don’t really need one,” Katsumi assured her. “But it’s even more important if you’re joining. We need to teach you how to control your Silent abilities.”

“It would be nice to even know what they are. I mean, starting with basic things, why is it called a ‘Silent’?”

“It sounds like a bit of a misnomer at first,” Ayane admitted. “Really, you’d think it should be called a ‘Speaker’ considering you can speak with spirits. But the name ‘Silent’ is very, very old. It was coined thousands of years ago. People thought that, since someone could speak with spirits, the spirits would be able to use them as a sort of vessel into our world.”

“So they were forbidden from speaking normally,” Katsumi continued. “In extreme cases they were forced to wear masks, had their tongues cut out, or had their lips sewn together. The whole point was to prevent them from speaking to anyone but spirits because they feared the spirits would escape through their speech.”

“That’s horrible,” Hitomi said as she subconsciously traced a finger over her lips.

Katsumi shrugged. “People fear the unknown. Really it isn’t that surprising; they had no reason to believe otherwise, and it isn’t the only time ignorance caused such things to happen. Fortunately this is a better age since most people don’t know we exist. Now we keep quiet about
what we are, which means the name ‘Silent’ is still fitting. You can’t tell anyone outside of this group what you are unless they’re a spouse; it’s simply too dangerous.”

Hitomi nodded. “All of that makes sense. So what, specifically, is a Silent? What can I do?”

“Those are two different questions,” Katsumi said with a smile. “I’ll handle the first one?” At Ayane’s nod she continued, “A Silent is basically a conduit between both planes. It’s kind of like you have one foot in the Underworld, so you can see and interact with everything else that’s in the same position.”

“Okay… So, being in that position, what can I do?”

Ayane jumped to her feet. “My turn!” With a grin she lifted a hand, holding it before her as if she was holding a ball. The room instantly became colder as senses seemed to dull; the colors of the room washed out a bit and sound seemed like it was coming from further away, and even touch was strangely distant. Ayane closed her hand into a fist and she faded, her image now blurry and transparent.

Hitomi just watched without an idea of how to respond, not really knowing what was going on, until Ayane waved and stepped through a wall, at which point she jumped. “What… I mean… What?!”

Ayane stepped out through the wall beside her, swinging a fist at her with a wide grin. Hitomi flinched but the hand simply passed through her, leaving a cold feeling behind. She heard Ayane laugh as the girl backed away, returning to normal. The room also returned to normal as Ayane explained, “Basically, becoming a ghost is one of your abilities. If you weren’t a Silent I’d have been invisible to you. You’ll be invisible to most people. If you stay too long you’ll make the room cold, though, and electronics will start going all crazy, so it’s not perfect.” She tilted her head. “Unless you
want
to create cold spots and mess with technology to scare people, then it’s
really
useful.”

Katsumi smirked. “Playing tricks isn’t something a responsible Silent would do, though, I’m sure.”

Ayane folded her arms. “If by ‘responsible’ you mean ‘boring’, then sure.”

Hitomi leaned forward. “What else can you do?”

Ayane’s smile returned, wider than before, and she lifted up her hand again. Blue flames appeared and licked over her hand, beginning to coalesce into an orb above her palm. “Aya… If you let that go you’ll damage her room.”

The flame disappeared and Ayane pouted at Katsumi. “It was only going to be a little…”

“What was that?” Hitomi questioned, glad it had stopped; it’d felt a little threatening.

Ayane looked back to her. “Have you heard the stories of spirits with blue lanterns? Or spirit lights? It’s basically that. Spirit Fire is the actual name, and when concentrated, it can be pretty destructive. Great weapon in the right situations though.”

Hitomi sat back. “Do you use it a lot?”

“Oh, no, not us,” Ayane said as she shook her head. “We’re…” She looked back at Katsumi and only continued after seeing her nod. “We’re artificial Silents,” she explained. “We weren’t born with the abilities, so they’re different. Similar enough to teach you, especially with our knowledge of the subject, but different. Your pure Silent abilities will be a lot stronger.”

Hitomi frowned. “What do you mean you’re ‘artificial’?”

Katsumi sighed. “Our father had a lot of… ideas for us. Turning us into what we are was one of them. We don’t know exactly what he did; I think only he could answer that. He’s not human, either, so maybe we’re something like him.”