Machii’s foot stomped down like an elephant trampling a fence, crashing down on the girl’s panicked face with glee. “Don’t move!” Machii laughed, repeating her order over and over knowing that Gemmei would be able to hear it. “Don’t move an inch! Stay right there, until I’m done with you!” Even if she did have earplugs in, the repeated smashing would have knocked them out anyway. Nothing short of a concussion was going to let Gemmei escape now!

There wasn’t anything Gemmei could do, except to beg for mercy. It appeared, for a moment, that was exactly what she intended to do. Her own cracking voice broke out over Machii’s as Gemmei shouted out over the still ringing fire alarm. “Machii, stop!”

For a fraction of a second that was exactly what Machii did. She glowered down at the bloodied Gemmei and spittle flew from her mouth as she gave an enraged reply. “Don’t tell me what to do!” That was just the window Gemmei needed, and at once her arm swung around from underneath the wagon. Machii’s attention snapped back to reality as she saw what Gemmei held- a tire iron! Just the kind used to replace spares, it no doubt had been stowed away under each wagon in case of emergency, probably next to the extra gas canisters. The wide arc of her arm nearly clipped Machii’s ankle and no doubt would have caused serious damage but-

But!

Again Machii proved too nimble. In a split second, even with one foot still midstomp, she kicked Gemmei’s weapon away and then jumped back and out of range of any more desperate attacks Gemmei might launch. Frantically Gemmei scrambled out from under the wagon back up onto her feet, coughing as she did so but still managing to pull herself back together with remarkable composure. Machii let out a little ‘tch’ in response. For the girl’s frailty, her skull sure could take a lot of abuse.

No, that wasn’t all. As they both caught their breaths, Machii noticed something else. Her strikes bruised and bloodied Gemmei’s face considerably, but there was a wound that her stomps hadn’t caused. Copious amounts of blood dripped from both of Gemmei’s ears. Machii understood completely now what Gemmei had done.

The crazy imbecil stabbed out her own ears to avoid hearing Machii’s commands!

As Machii tried to process this development, Gemmei’s wheezing voice immediately brought her back to full attention. The girl’s order came out as clear as possible given her state, an impressive feat for someone as tiny as her. “Machii, don’t move!”

Two words, as simple as it got. Maybe a fresh fish on their first night with the Houzou Hakkyou ink still warm on their cheek would have fallen for it. Machii’s face contorted into a scowl, and she belted out her response. “Don’t tell me what to-”

As if teleporting, Gemmei was suddenly upon her. Though she held no weapon, her fist crashed into Machii’s with a solid jaw strike, the kind typically aimed at ending a fight early. How naive! Machii leaned away from the punch and whipped out her box cutter at the same time, sinking it deep into Gemmei’s chest. The feeling was tremendously satisfying and Machii couldn’t hide her smile as she did so. She twisted her weapon and opened her mouth to speak again, but Gemmei belted out her reply first.

“Stop.”

“Don’t tell me-” Gemmei smashed Machii across the face again, this time with a headbutt. Machii sputtered out the rest of her words and reeled backwards, letting go of her box cutter in the process. She reached out for her head while putting distance between herself and Gemmei, ready to snap into a vicious kick if she had to.

But the girl didn’t move. Instead, Gemmei stood stock still, and looked down at the blade stuck in her chest. As expected of Machii, her aim was precise and perfect. Gemmei touched the handle with her still burned fingers as if unsure what the object was. Machii just grinned. A girl her size couldn’t lose too much blood before going into shock. With a clean strike like that, she would bleed out in minutes, even faster if she-

Without hesitation Gemmei plucked the razor from her chest. The move was so swift that Machii expected a spray of blood to follow. Instead the torn flaps of Gemmei’s jumpsuit fluttered open, revealing a very familiar looking item.

“Good stuff.” Gemmei wheezed, and tapped the tip of the box cutter onto the padded armor that had been concealed behind her prison uniform. “Warden Keio spares no expense protecting her men. I’m impressed.”

Armor! Machii’s teeth ground together at the realization. That dumb guard she paid off, the same one Gemmei injured earlier in the day, must have been stripped clean by the girl- Machii should have realized that when Gemmei came after her with that club. After a pause, Machii let out a soft exhale through her nostrils, then shook her head and laughed. A few lucky shots was all Gemmei managed to land so far. Machii knew herself to be faster and stronger than the twiggy teenager. She took a confident, swaggering step forward. Box cutter or not, she would simply beat the tar out of Gemmei. The difference of skill in a head on fight was just too large!

Machii approached and swung out with a wicked jab as soon as Gemmei was in range. Her flawless technique couldn’t be faulted. Gemmei didn’t even look ready to dodge, instead she merely gawked with that wide mouth of her’s and said something stupid, and-

Her father tried to yell again, but-

That same grimace of defiance shot across Machii’s face as she shouted. “Do not!” Her fist swept through the air, catching nothing. How had that dumb brat dodged a second time?! Gemmei’s mouth opened again and then her body blinked to the side.

-she could see the beads of sweat pouring down his face. The fear in his eyes-

“Tell me!” Another punch met with the same fate, the instant Machii tried to make contact, the insufferable freckled face of Gemmei seemingly teleported just inches out of range. Undeterred Machii followed up with another.

-elation, with every spray of blood. A liberating freedom took hold in her chest-

“Whatl!” A kick. “To!” A sweep. “Do!” A grab.

Nobody would control Machii ever again.

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Miss, miss, miss. After one last feral snarl Machii finally appeared to have caught Gemmei and slammed her fist right into...the metal frame of the wagon. Every swing failed to hit her target.

The inexplicably slippery Gemmei lashed out and scored a deep cut under Machii’s face. It took all her strength to pull away before the blade of her own weapon could cut too deep, though it sheared a nasty gash right along where her Hakkyou was located. Cursing like a maniac Machii flailed and fell back, a dreadful sense of confusion falling onto her face. What trick was the girl playing now? How could she move so quickly?

The stale, smoky air still swirled around the air as the fire alarm continued to ring. Both took long, heaving breaths. The misty lighting made it difficult to tell but blood did gush down both their faces, from Gemmei’s ears and from Machii’s cheek. The box cutter still rested between Gemmei’s slender fingers, while the bruised knuckles of Machii flexed and unflexed in a rhythmic pattern. To the untrained eye this looked like a stalemate.

The free hand of Gemmei rose to point at the wounded Machii. She spoke in a repulsive tone, like a parent lecturing a child. “I figured out your dumb secret.”

The room suddenly felt very cold and clammy. Machii’s pupils dilated.

“I saw your lips moving when I spoke, like a reflex, right?” Gemmei raspy voice cracked as she spoke through the pain. “Why would you respond to me, knowing I can’t hear you?” Shaking her head, Gemmei’s posture sagged from fatigue as she wiped blood from her face. “I'm gonna hazard a guess... you can’t control it, when you bypass your Hakkyou, can you? It kicks in whenever you hear an order and...you replay some kind of stock phrase in your head? Like a photographic memory or something. Your Hakkyou never activates, because you’re not disobeying an order- you’re just recollecting something from your past. And because of that, you can’t even perceive me when it kicks on. Bet you’re confused as hell!”

The upturned sides of Machii’s face twisted downward in an instant, an exact mirror of the crazed grin now spreading on Gemmei’s mug. “I’m right, ain’t I? You can even recall perfect muscle memory, that’s why you fight so well. When you hear an order, you replay that same petulant ‘don’t tell me what to do’ phrase instead, and when you fight, you just recall your form perfectly...that’s so damn stupid, but it makes sense. It’s just some fancy mental earplugs. Don’t bother flapping your gums to let me know I’m right, I couldn’t hear your answer anyway.”

Still breathing heavily, Gemmei rose her head up to meet Machii’s gaze once again. “That means, you can’t win.” She stood shorter than Machii normally, but their relative positions now put her almost a head taller than the HCC’s most dangerous criminal. “You aren’t used to fighting without relying on your advantage. All I gotta do is trigger your bitchy memory, and you can’t land a single blow on me. Even Nishioka, that ape, would do a better job now. You’ve lost because you’re stuck in your own head. Give up.”

Even though Gemmei was clearly deaf, Machii’s reflex kicked in anyway and she shouted back at the smug, damaged girl. “Don’t tell me what to do!”

The canned reply made Gemmei smile even more. Machii barred her teeth in defiance and disgust. Gemmei couldn’t be allowed to leave the garage alive.

Gemmei dug into her shredded jumpsuit and tossed out something small. With a metallic clink it hit the floor and rolled towards Machii. She looked down at her feet, and saw a bloodied screw with some fleshy fibers clinging to it.

“It’s because you just had to gloat.” Gemmei pointed the knife to her own chest. “That term, ashi ne, is something only MOED uses. It seemed strange to me that you’d bother remembering it at all. But you didn’t have a choice, did you? You just parrot whatever you can remember, because you have perfect recall. What a goofy ass power to keep secret. I bet the warden will love to hear all about it.”

“But you know,” Gemmei thrust a thumb towards her own bloodied ear and gave it a twist for emphasis. “You could stab your eardrums out with that. Then you couldn’t hear me give orders and your memory reflex wouldn’t kick in. Come on, don’t you want to have a fair fight?”

Machii glanced towards the now very far door. Nishioka lay just behind it. The blaring siren of the fire alarm still made giving specific commands impossible at this distance. The rows of wagons would take time to climb around. In her confidence, she willingly walked into this dire situation. A deep, resistant exhale exited her lungs.

Then with a roar of rage she kicked the screw aside, sending it careening off somewhere unseen. Machii’s face contorted with anger, unbridled and raw. The cut across her Hakkyou even let out a squirt of blood as her vessels constricted. This was it! Gemmei stepped back and held the knife out as if facing a wild animal, taken aback by the ferocity and quickness with which Machii shifted gears. Her perfect martial form evaporated as she dove towards Gemmei with a guttural bellow. Gemmei tried spitting out an order. “Machii, stop-”

It was no use. Machii’s warcry rose up so loud that it was like trying to talk to an avalanche. The other terror of Machii now laid itself bare, and this one couldn’t be manipulated. She could still bypass the anger dulling effect of the Hakkyou, and now Gemmei was going to get run over by the primality of all that unleashed wrath!

Rather than surrender to Gemmei, Machii surrendered to her memory. What twisted the woman in her past to such a degree to make this fury so potent? It was impossible for Gemmei to know. She couldn’t step back fast enough, and soon Machii was upon her. The box cutter clattered away as Machii swatted it out of Gemmei’s hands before she could even maneuver it, and in the next moment a rain of blows descended onto the girl’s face. Gemmei tried to hold up her hands for protection but Machii’s fierceness could not be so easily defended against. A fist to the stomach, another to the chest, two in the kidneys, too many hits to the ribs to count- the onslaught was just as bad, if not worse, than anything Gemmei felt in her past, even as a soldier.

Like an inevitable tide Machii overwhelmed Gemmei and she fell to her knees, still desperately protecting her head. Each blow pushed her back even farther and father until yet again, she was driven completely into a corner.

Skin split and bones cracked. Machii abandoned everything, leaving nothing left for Gemmei to exploit. This memory of rage, this recall she abused to avoid the penalty of her Hakkyou, could not be reasoned with or exploited. This murderous fury from her past could only be overcome by matching its intensity.

However, that was impossible. Those all consuming flames of anger didn’t exist Gemmei anymore, there was simply no way to get mad enough to fight back. She would have to do one of the things she despised the most as one last final way out.

Timing her movement in between Machii’s furious pounding Gemmei snapped out from her balled up position. The woman’s fury did not abate and once, twice, three times she delivered savage blows with her head as Gemmei forced her way in between her arms. Gemmei bent her own arms up and hooked them around Machii’s neck as the enraged Machii’s assault didn’t relent, and like a rabid dog Machii sunk her teeth right into Gemmei’s neck while trying to pry her loose with her hands.

That’s when a pungent taste hit Machii’s mouth and nose. Of course Gemmei would have a foul taste- she was Gemmei, after all. The stink of the lagoon and their relative distance had covered up the odor that now filled her throat, though. Like a switch Machii’s anger went off, and the realization of just why Gemmei’s dour appearance looked particularly awful that night finally reared its literally ugly head. Gemmei, straining to keep her grip around Machii in the forced hug, didn’t say anything as she brought something in her hand close to where both their faces met.

Machii understood too late and tried to pull away, but Gemmei wouldn’t have it, holding the embrace just long enough to flick her fingers with a sizzling snap.

Back by the wagon, Machii had only seen half her lighter. The important part, the flint wheel that struck the spark, still sat in Gemmei’s palm. That in and of itself wouldn’t have mattered except for what Machii got a whiff of now that they were face to face: Gemmei smelled like a kerosine soaked rag.

The intention now became all too clear. This wasn’t a fight. It was a suicide pact.

With a flash of searing, blinding light, Gemmei’s hair erupted into flame. The relatively dry Machii caught fire moments later despite her attempts to pull free, though she managed to plant a few knees into Gemmei’s torso and finally slipped out after alright having been ignited. Machii’s hands quickly tried to put out the fire but she’d gotten too close to Gemmei- and, only now realizing it, those sought after and luxurious hair care sprays and oils were not exactly doing her any favors here. The garage filled with Machii’s now truly panicked screaming as she hit the cement and started rolling, doing whatever she could to try and extinguish the flames. The heat tore into her face and eyes and down her back, melting the cheap material of the jumpsuit and spreading despite her best efforts.

It was said that crossing the boundary of the HCC felt like being set on fire. At that moment Machii’s screaming mind found it hard to believe anything could be as agonizing as this. Prison life certainly taught her how to inflict pain; suffering through it was another ordeal altogether.

Gemmei, on the other hand, was faring far worse. Blinded by the inferno sweeping along her body she smashed her arm against the garage wall, then started careening down it like a drunkard. Still, she moved with more precision than the wailing Machii managed, and soon hit the far end with a painful thud. She started striking the garage wall with her twisted fist, and opened her mouth despite how hard it was to breathe just to shout out a single phrase.

“NISHIOKA! MACHII SAID TO OPEN THE DOOR!”

Less than a second later cool air blasted Gemmei’s face, letting her know exactly where the exit was even while blinded. She could vaguely see the gargantuan shape of Nishioka through the flames but ignored it. Instead she hurled herself outward and ran as far as she could into the storm. The drops of rain sizzles and hissed as they hit her, though seemingly to no avail as the fire continued to burn hot and bright. Like a little beacon Gemmei flailed out into the prison night, flapping her arms like mad, until she finally collapsed into a water-filled ditch just outside the garage.

Paralyzed Nishioka stood and watched with zero understanding, until the howls of Machii snapped her from her trace. As she turned to look into the garage and the chaos raging within, a very unamused voice rumbled out from behind her.

“Stay where you are, Inmate Nishioka.” A deep, clearly angry sigh fell out of Warden Keio’s lips. “I ain’t in the mood to haul three dumbass prisoners into the infirmary tonight.”

A sudden knocking at her heavy door shook Warden Keio up from her sleepless stupor. The last few days of antics drained her energy and despite the fifth refill of her coffee thermos, it was taking every bit of her attention to not just drift off now that the action packed storm finally showed signs of abating. No more reports of violent inmates came through the radio, and the technicians already succeeded in fixing the radio tower. Every head was accounted for including from that rat Gemmei- and Machii somehow ended up in the infirmary! It was the best of both worlds: the scheming Machii was out of commission, and her enforcer Nishioka was keeping the ship running in her absence so no deadly power struggles loomed on the horizon. All things considered Keio’s ability to manage the nightmare had paid dividends. Nobody escaped, nobody was dead. Her legacy was still intact.

Well, she would have to fire those guards who left the generator fuel out by the garage. She didn’t need any other inmates getting ideas about setting themselves on fire in protest or something.

When the door swung open and the uniformed MOED officers walked in, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread. Behind her the morning sun was just beginning to show up through her window. The military only moved this fast when there was something serious going down, and she hurried to stand and salute as half a dozen of the decorated officers filed in one after the other. Hands were shaken, introductions given, then the leader of the group gestured to Keio’s large office throne. “Please, sit.”

She did so immediately. The others remained standing. “I apologize, truly, for this state of affairs.” Keio tried clearing some clutter off her desk, as if it would make a difference. “The storm last night was particularly brutal. I’m sure you want a full report, and you’ll get one. Does anybody want any coffee?”

“We aren’t here for chitchat.” The officer adjusted his sunglasses, then slid a file onto the desk in front of Keio. Swallowing her hesitation she scooped it up and read through the cover page. “Sign these. We’re changing the transfer agreement for some of your...problematic residents.”

“Transfer?” Machii stared down at the document, then flipped between the few pages within it incredulously. “From- this is coming from the top brass? I didn’t request these to be expedited.”

“You were not consulted, as the matter doesn’t concern you.”

“I mean- no, I’m fine with it!” A heavy sense of relief burst out of Keio’s lungs as she yanked open a drawer to pull out a stamp. “I didn’t think I’d be rid of both these tumors until after the monsoons were finished. Their misbehavior was so bad they even noticed at headquarters, huh?”

“That’s classified information.”

“Yeah, no, I get it.” She stamped a few pages, then rapidly scrawled a huge signature across the dotted lines. “Take ‘em. Throw away the key. This red-headed demon in particular-” She tapped the folder with a long finger. “I’d put her away somewhere dark and never let her out again. I mean, until she serves her sentence, as is ascribed by law.”

“Naturally.”

“Naturally.” Keio allowed herself to chuckle a bit, then slid the folder back to the MOED representative, who snatched it up right after. All that worrying and for nothing! Both Machii and Gemmei would be out of her hair for good. Prisoners transferred to MOED’s personal prisons never saw the light of day again. Her reputation was in the clear.

As they left, the last MOED officer turned to Keio, staring down at the relieved woman with an indeterminate expression. “Your service has been valuable, Warden Keio. We look forward to your continued successful management of the Hibiya Correctional Complex.”

“Ah, yes! Of course, sir!” Keio smiled as she saluted, even though she wasn’t a ranking officer anymore and didn’t need to. In the distance the prison’s breakfast horn went off, signaling the start of the day. She stood in the doorway of her office for some time after the military representatives left, just soaking in the success of her amazing leadership style. Then she turned back to her office and watched the sun rise in earnest. As expected, following the rules paid off!

Though, in all the excitement, one thing didn’t quite add up. Keio kept the whole prison on lockdown. No news should have escaped those walls. She hadn’t expected MOED to show up either, and they usually gave some kind of warning. How, exactly, had they moved so quickly?

Warden Keio stared at the portraits at the wall for a while, then just as quickly as those questions rose to the surface, she shrugged them off. Those kinds of things were above her paygrade. All that mattered is how smoothly she could run the prison. At that moment, undisputedly, she was the top dog. Why bother looking for answers to questions that didn’t matter?

The notepad slid back across the hospital table. Other than the soft light from the table lamp, no other source of illumination made it through to Gemmei’s room. Allegedly, the nurses told her, that if the normal lights in the ceiling were turned on, her burns would start hurting more. To Gemmei that just sounded like an excuse to keep her in the literal dark.

Her handcuffs rattled against the bed as she picked up a pen and scribbled an answer onto the sheet of paper before tossing it back. That movement alone made her face scrunch up in pain. Heavy bandages around her head and ears made it hard enough to move. On top of that, they had to shave her head again during the treatment- other than maybe the day she got arrested, or maybe her wedding day, Gemmei hadn’t looked worse in her life.

The MOED agent on the other side of the table picked up the paper and read it, then repeated it aloud so the suited men in the back of the hospital room knew what it said. “I wasn’t lying on the radio, you twat. Reread my letter unless you’re too illiterate to even manage that”. He tapped the end of the pen on the table in irritation. “Sorry, sir, I’m just dictating what she is writing. Come read it yourself if you don’t believe me.”

The grumbling continued, with the back and forth lasting for over an hour as Gemmei laid bare without holding back her intentions. She couldn’t really talk due to her injuries, but the communication continued fluidly despite that handicap. The radio call to the private MOED frequency that night, saying Machii was going to kill her, hadn’t really been a lie...even if Gemmei had been the one to instigate the conflict in the first place. Her deductions, the damage she caused, the people she hurt...selfish, yes, but with the goal of shutting Machii’s control of the prison down. Even at the cost of her own demise it felt worth it. Gemmei couldn’t lie, after all. The cursed brand on her cheek made sure of that.

“And you give us this information with no expectation of a reward?”

Gemmei didn’t even bother taking the paper back, just nodding and waving the paper off when they tried to hand it back to her. There was no point in asking for anything anyway and Gemmei never really expected anyone to honor a deal. She used to be MOED. She knew how these things worked. Warden Keio was right: nobody sane would reward a chaotic firebrand like herself.

A final question came, written down on a new sheet of paper, as if her interrogator expected a long response. She scooped it up after he was done writing, and her eyes glossed over the words.

“Where do you expect to end up after all this?”

It took some false starts, with a couple lines of texts getting scratched out, before Gemmei settled on something she liked. The paper went back, and the dutiful officer read it aloud for everyone to hear and consider.

“I don’t care, as long as I can take some deserving assholes down to hell with me.”

Nobody offered any response even though Gemmei’s piercing eyes strained to pick up on any hint of what might come. Someone unseen, in the far back, offered only a short reply, not to the deafened Gemmei but instead to those in attendance.

“We’ll see, won’t we?”

After the exchange, the military officers exited the room one after the other. Gemmei’s last statement went unanswered and she watched them all disappear as quickly as they arrived. The door locked shut behind them, and once again she found herself surrounded mostly by darkness. Exhaling through cracked lips she leaned back into her bed and tried closing her eyes, briefly opening them a couple times to stare at the window. A pair of heavy steel shutters shut off any attempts for her to look outside, likely installed to prevent her escape. That part didn’t bother her so much. She closed her eyes again and tried to imagine what the world looked like now that she was back on the ‘outside’...then remembered it was monsoon season, so everything was going to look wet and gray and nasty for months anyway. Great, she and the world had something in common, finally.

The sterile smelling hospital room, the bland looking wallpaper, the miserable weather, the splitting headache, the blistered skin...even outside the Hibiya Correction Complex, her Houzou Hakkyou still tingled and burned every time she dwelled on those old memories of passing the boundary. Now that she was here, back in her normal reality (however temporarily), shouldn’t things have felt better?

Nah, that would have been too easy. Maybe she was headed somewhere lower and more unpleasant now. Maybe all she did was make things worse. The world might be better off if she’d burned up entirely that night. At least, that was the case right now. Gemmie’s debt wouldn’t be so easily overwritten by taking down a single gangster. Still, it kind of felt good in a different way than her soldier work did. Usually she risked her life to achieve some result. This time, she had tried sacrificing her life instead. The difference seemed meaningless on paper, but somehow, on the inside, she knew it wasn't the same.

Then again, who knew? Gemmei wasn’t going to dwell on it. The anger-dulling effect of the Hakkyou wouldn’t let her get riled up anymore about how unfair the world was. She’d never overcome the pleasure she felt when breaking a bone or twisting an arm- and she wasn’t going to be able to live a life without that addiction always hanging over her, either. With the seal across her face tempering her emotions, though, at least she could at least try managing it better. For however long left she had to live, anyway. Usually the glee she felt after a successful mission lasted days, maybe only hours, before her seething anger robbed her of feeling anything else. How long would this tiny Machii victory last, without that wall in her way any longer?

As she finally drifted off to sleep, the last thought she had was a saying that her vile elder Mao used to scream at her while being disciplined.

Enjoy your attitude while it lasts.

Spoke through unconscious lips, Gemmei wheezed out her response to nobody. “I will.”