Truth, Perjury, and Sacrifice

Temporary Success

The girls ended up needing to stay in a hotel room close to the facility. Karen and Toko had gone to bed hours ago, while Komaru and Miu stayed to continue working. Once 2 AM rolled around, however, the door to the hotel room burst open. "We got it!" Miu blurted, causing both Karen and Toko to bolt up in bed and glare at her.

Komaru rushed in and pushed a cup of coffee into both of their hands. "Get up! We need to get going right now!" She tossed the girls' clothing at them to hurry the process along.

Karen pointed at Miu while putting her pants on, "Talk. What did you figure out?" She asked.

"Well, the air purifier was basically done right after we got there, with the help of my genius of course, so I started helping with the cure for this stupid mutant disease!"

"Take your voice down a notch, will you?!" Toko sneered as she took another large sip of coffee.

"But Miu accidentally knocked over some of the samples, which mixed something together, and then the scientists were talking about all these formulas-."

Karen grabbed Komaru's shoulder, "Komaru! Do we have a cure?"

"Technically, no, but it can help buy us some time to develop one," Miu quickly said. "We already made a bunch of it and sent it to Tokyo!"

Although it felt a little too soon to be celebrating, Karen couldn't stop the smile that quickly formed on her face. She launched forward and hugged both Miu and Komaru. She placed a quick call to the Towa lab, telling them to distribute the formula to other labs and hospitals, as they rushed to get to the nearest train station.

As they traveled back to Tokyo, Miu explained how to use the sanitizing light. "There are two versions: the hand-held type," Miu held the light stick up. "And the stationery type, which is the large circulating fan-looking things you'll see when we get there."

"Ultimate Inventor at her best!" Komaru cheered.

"Damn straight! I fucking rule!"

Karen and Toko exchanged very tired glances. They had already depleted the coffee in their cups half an hour ago and they still had another half hour to go. At the same time, both Karen and Komaru's phones began to ring. "This is Karen," she greeted with a sigh.

"You sound tired," a weak voice said.

Karen perked up immediately, "Byakuya?" She looked at Komaru and Toko with wide eyes and an unfaltering grin. Komaru was also smiling, so Karen assumed Makoto was also awake.

"I just woke up, so I apologize for how I sound."

"Don't you dare apologize. I was starting to think I wouldn't be able to hear your voice ever again. Wait, if you're awake, then are Nagisa and Kotoko?"

"Not currently, but they were. Tsumiki informed me that they removed the ventilators a few hours ago and they were awake long enough to eat."

"Good, good, I'm so glad to hear that," Karen said. Her smile faltered as she saw Miu, sitting and staring at her phone. "Hey, I'm about to arrive back in Tokyo, so I'm going to hang up and come visit you, okay?"

"Okay, I will see you soon," Byakuya said.

Once they hung up, Karen called Kyoko. "Hey, I know it's super early, but do you know if the students received treatment yet?" She watched Miu perk up and listen intently.

"Perfect timing for once. Yes, they did and are in stable condition. Do you know how much time this will buy us?" Kyoko asked.

Karen gave Miu a smile and a thumbs up, "No, I don't know how much time, but if this works, then we should hopefully see a cure within a few days.

Do you know if we can visit anyone yet? Are the purifiers working?" Karen asked.

"She's with Makoto, I can hear her talking in the background!" Komaru said, giggling. Karen could hear Kyoko put her hand over the phone and say something, to which Komaru started laughing more.

"You can complain all you want, Kyoko, but she's your sister-in-law," Karen said.

When they finally arrived back in Tokyo, Toko escorted Miu back to Hopes Peak Academy, while Komaru and Karen immediately headed out for Tokyo General Hospital.

Before being allowed to enter, they were required to be fully sanitized with the brand-new UV light sanitization robots that Miu developed. However, the Towa Group logo was proudly stamped on the front of them. Kyoko was waiting inside for them, where she guided them into a different hospital wing than what Karen had entered before.

Komaru immediately rushed into Makoto's room. Almost instantly, Kyoko and Karen could hear her burst into tears. The two looked at each other and smiled, "Good work," Kyoko said.

"Same to you," Karen said. She reached out and gave Kyoko a hug. "Thank you."

"For what?" Kyoko asked, hugging back.

"Just for being you and a great friend. I couldn't have pulled through this without you." Karen released Kyoko and started walking further down the hall toward Byakuya's room.

"Hey," Kyoko called out. She glanced into the room where Makoto and Komaru were, "Thank you." She entered the room and shut the door behind her.

Karen smiled and glanced through the window in the door before entering. Carefully pushing the door open, she noticed that Byakuya and Nagisa were sleeping, but Kotoko was sitting up and alert. "Karen!" Her voice was weak, as expected, but still showed her joy.

Karen shut the door and rushed over to Kotoko, enveloping the young girl in a tight hug. "I'm so glad to see you awake. How are you feeling?" She asked as she released Kotoko.

"Still pretty tired and the shot they gave me made my arm really sore, but I'm okay!" Kotoko glanced at Nagisa, "If we have to get another shot, he might need someone to be there for him," she whispered.

"And we will be," Karen said as she crossed the room to the bed where Byakuya slept. She glanced back at Kotoko, "You weren't conscious, but I promised you both that we were going to keep you safe."

Kotoko tucked herself back under her blanket, already almost falling asleep again, "I'm gonna keep you to that promise then."

Karen pulled a chair up to Byakuya's bedside and sat down. Within seconds, her head was resting on the side and she was fast asleep.