MHG-V3-4 (Initial Draft)

Chapter 17 - Tamiya stalks

*** (Samantha talks to Ken)

Samantha closed her eyea as she slumped in the back of a taxi. It had been a long day, and her job seemed to demand so much of her there was no opportunity for her to investigate the things she wanted to investigate. That was probably the point. They thought if they worked her hard she would have no time to do anything bad, and it was basically true. Thats why now, two days after that incident, she wanted to go to Ken's house and talk to him personally. On her own it seemed, there was nothing she could do.

Ken had finally transfered back to his home the day before. Now that the compound had been laid to waste, there was little point in him remaining there, and since the only risk to his home location was with her, he should be safe enough. Still, Ayaka had her mercenaries posted outside at all times. She saw them sitting in their cars whenever she came home from work. That was how she knew he was at home.

Ayaka shuddered as she thought of the ptedicament they were in. Really, it didnt seem like there was anything they could do to stop the madness of Mark. She had been monitoring the progress of Teruko, and according to their calculations it would only be a short time before she could join the ranks of the nsa synthsou army. She would make a powerful addition - the main reason she and Ayaka had failed to break through the nsa security measures was because they were up against seven of her own kind, amd even then there were many times Teruko had come close to breaking in. It seemed in the whole nsa the only synthsou that came close to Teruko's ability was Tamiya. That was why, if Ken was to ever free Teruko he would have to do it soon. Once her will had been broken she would join the ranks of those that kept the nsa safe, and rescuing her would become an impossibility.

Still, even now it seemed like an impossibility. But still, she felt responsible to talk to Ken about what she had learnt. Perhaps something she knew would be of use to them and maybe, just maybe there would be something they knew that could benefit her as well.

Samantha waited the 55 minutes it took to get from the central business district to her apartment complex in Highriver Residential District and then stepped into the lift. Instead of her apartment's floor she pressed the number for the Kagomi household.

It struck her at that point that of Ken lived in the same apartment as hers, his parents must also be reasonably well off too. She wondered what kind if job Ken's father had. Probably an office job like hers, but considering how technical Ken was perhaps something related to IT?

The lift stopped and Samantha walked out. Unlike her floor, which three apartments shared, this one had only one apartment. She had never considered the floors might be different, usually they were all the same layout except the penthouse at the top. Samantha shrugged and walked up to the door, passing her hand in front of the door scanner and waited.

After a short wait, the door opened and there stood Ken in shorts and t-shirt looking out at her. His eyes grew wide as soon as he saw her.

"What? You didn't check who it was before you opened the door?" Samantha asked smugly.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, still in apparant shock.

"I live here, remember?"

"Eh?"

"Downstairs..."

"Oh.. right.. but..?"

How did she know his floor number. That was a simple enough matter, but since it might have sounded creepy - like she had been stalking him or something - Samantha avoided the question.

"So.. are you going to invite me in?"

"Ah.. right..."

Ken opened the door wider and Samantha entered the house.