Vol 1 Chapter 2 (2/2)

left to right Oeufcoque searched for the right words, but all he could come up as, “I think it’s

nice”

Then, craning his neck: “Not too tight?”

When Balot heard this, she squeezed both arested that she preferred a

snug fit She looked like so her, warmly She took some fashi+on belts from the

packages and fastened a few tightly around her hips and stos Over this she put on a

leather jacket She looked like she was bound from head to toe As if she would be snatched away if she

didn’t wrap up tight

She dropped in on the Doctor before leaving the building

“H special, but I think I may have met

my match with your outfit”

Balot scowled a little at the Doctor’s honesty

“It looks like we’re in for a chilly night tonight Don’t get caught out just because spring’s begun And

make sure you take your medicine with you There are still a few places where your cortex hasn’t

completely stabilized”

Balot h, she seemed to say Then she

patted her pockets Like a child wordlessly answers a nagging parent

“Well then, shall we head off?”

Oeufcoque, on Balot’s shoulder, changed his shape with a squelch He turned into a velvet choker and

wrapped himself around Balot’s neck, then extruded the shape of a piece of metal

Not so

Balot touched this, entwined it in her fingers as if she were o the piece

of -shaped piece of crystal, and froold-colored mouse winked

The Doctor looked at the pendant with a complex expression

“Our current client sees should be, doesn’t she?”

“Well, it’s good that we’re flexible enough to offer a variety of different services…”

Oeufcoque’s voice, serious to the last

“Can we reconfirm that we have all our necessary documents, Doctor? And can you let the public

prosecutor know about our deferred court appearance? There’s always the possibility of doing it by

proxy, but the question is whether that would be enough to get the Broilerhouse ”

“The court doesn’tto an individual’s convenience, you know It’s a power game—

and a ame—run by the letter of the law”

“Yes, and I’ainst the interests of the Concerned Party in

this case”

“Sure, sure Well, I’ll look for so constructive to do”

“Sorry about earlier” The voice sounded a bit different now In tone, if not timbre

“Uh, in ay?”

“I hurt your feelings But thank you And I’ll be sure to pay you back your money”

“U Oeufcoque’s voice when you’re

speaking? It’s pretty disconcerting”

Balot touched the crystal with her hand

–I can’t remember what my own voice sounds like

She h-pitched than Oeufcoque’s voice She opened her mouth and took a

wheezy breath Like a draft in a wind tunnel

“She’ll get it back one step at a time, you’ll see Step by step” This time it was the real Oeufcoque

who spoke, in his real voice

02

Balot took one step out of the doorway and stood still She looked petrified

She closed her eyes and felt the sunlight, read her surroundings with her body There were no

disruptions in the surrounding air

Noat the bend in the road, ready to ambush her

Fros in the distance that intersected like a chess board, she heard the noise of a

gasoline-powered car

Everything was different fro Balot had ever before experienced

It was different from the time she’d lived in the industrial quarter of the harbor tohere she grew

up, and different again from when she’d arrived in Mardock City 170 miles to the north The time in her

life she was allowed to receive money, and the time when she wasn’t

“Let’s go straight to the main street We can hire an electric car,” Oeufcoque said fromher neckline

Balot opened her eyes She started walking, head bowed at first, but soon she lifted her chin The

sideas clean and tidy, with manicured lawns on either side of the street It really didn’t look like

the sort of place in which you’d expect to find a ue

After a short walk she ca mall A hardware store, a computer shop, a

dressetable market—all were immaculately kept

She arrived at a large intersection and was assaulted by dizziness Her attention had been focused on

the insides of the buildings, and she hadn’t realized that she was in such a big place She stopped on the

sidewalk for a while, considering what the best thing was to do She soon decided She set her own

personal boundary A field of recognition

A circle of roughly fifteen meters in diameter That was Balot’s personal space

“That’s it You can hire cars fromthe kiosk in front of you”

There was a car kiosk on the other side of the intersection Balot crossed at the green light—walk

—and halted underneath the red light—stop Without looking at thes of

the traffic lights She comprehended them fully, down to the fact that they moved like clockwork, never

a beat

Balot gently brushed against the pillar supporting the traffic lights She gently interfered—snarced the

signals

The signals on the traffic lights quickened Seeing the light had started flashi+ng, pedestrians sped up,

flustered The gas-powered car stopped with a loud noise, and the driver looked up at the light with a

surprised expression

Balot crossed the road Oeufcoque said nothing

There was a billboard for eCar Rentals Just beloas a sign: MINIMUM AGE 14 YEARS Balot stared

at the phrase MINIMUM AGE 14 YEARS She was a little surprised at the fact that she indeed qualified

Fifteen had snuck up on her And she was still fifteen

“What is it?” Oeufcoque asked Not knohat to answer she just shook her head

On the other side of a thick layer of bulletproof glass, the shopkeeper sat reading a azine

“How can I help?”

He looked at her carefully Balot pointed at the rental sign and touched the crystal at her neck

–A red car, please I’m fifteen

Balot spoke like a htly sealed, and the shopkeeper watched her with a vague

expression before speaking

“We also have a car suitable for the disabled What do you think? You get free parking with those

too”

Balot gave a small nod and stuck her cash card in the

“Your signature”

Rune-Balot, she wrote on the blank foriven Oeufcoque secretly whispered the

address in Balot’s ear It was obviously not the address of their hideaway It’s a decoy address ,

Oeufcoque said

“If anything happens, press the eency button You can use a telephone?”

–Yes, I’ll be fine

This tih The shopkeeper looked a little concerned

“It’d be swell if it didn’t come back broken, that car And if you encounter any trouble I’d appreciate

it if the blame didn’t come back to—”

–I’ll be fine

She adjusted the voice so that it had as calave her the

obligatory lecture about fastening her seat belt as he handed over the keys

The car was a two-seater, with space for luggage in the back As she turned the keys the Nav, the incar

navigation system, started up and offered a list of possible routes to take

It was touch-screen activated, but Balot didn’t touch anywhere

She sensed the car’s structure and applied her will There was no steering wheel or mirrors, and the

only things that were adjustable were the destination and the speed—and even the speed was limited by

the eCar regulations There was a stereo and TV, and the TV started up auto

guide She turned it off and put the stereo on

The car pulled out into the intersection, acco tune Warm rays of sun filled the

car, and having commandeered the Nav, she traveled down the road for a while before pulling up at a red

light

Balot looked through the windshi+eld at the traffic lights She could easily snarc themfromhere…

“Stop it, Balot”

Balot stiffened under Oeufcoque’s sudden words of restraint

“Are you being threatened by the traffic lights at the moment? To the extent that you feel your life is in

danger?”

His voice was strict Balot gnawed on her lips Cheerful

–Why didn’t you stop me earlier?

She asked directly through the car speakers without using Oeufcoque’s body She sounded somewhat

vexed

“I was observing your self-restraint Ideally your powers should be used purely for self-defense One

of the reasons I gave the go-ahead for this little excursion was in order to have you learn this for

yourself”

Balot looked sullen The lights changed and Balot raised the speed Right up to the limit

She tried to lift the electronic restraint on the car, and found she could, increasing the speed further

and further

“What about your seat belt? You want to drive the car at full speed, have some fun? Then let’s set our

course for a theame where you can experience Mach 2”

–Why are you suddenly being nice to ain?

“Because I want you to obey the rules—and to learn to choose for yourself which rules are worth

obeying”

Obey the rules—those words again Balot swung her head back She really didn’t want Oeufcoque to

be telling her this

–But you lied when you gave a false address Is it right to lie?

“It’s a perfectly legiti address There’s an apartment and a postal address there It’s

just set up so that no one can tell who lives there”

–Are you angry with hts?

“No, not angry It’d take ry Even if we’d been hit

by a car, it’d be you as hurt, not me Even if someone died as a result of your actions I’m sure no

one would be able to work out the cause of the accident, and I wouldn’t turn you in And even if there was

then another si, but I still wouldn’t be angry

Just sad”

–I just got a bit carried away Don’t get sotrip

“I just want you to pro your abilities in ways that could hurt innocent bystanders

You don’t want to throay your rights to use your Scraht?”

–I won’t do it again I’ll think before I do anything Don’t be mad at me

“I’ot such incredible aptitude I was surprised by your manipulation of the

traffic lights They’re specifically designed so that they can’t be controlled remotely, at least not easily

You’re full of surprises”

–Don’t put it like that

“Okay, okay, sorry”

–I’ll promise

“Sure And for my part, I’ve no desire to make you obey any arbitrary rules”

Oeufcoque spoke in a soothing voice

“In other words, when I’ about a fairly basic precept when it comes to

using your powers It’s also so that will protect you And, similarly, if I tell you not to do

so it either Absolutely not As a basic precondition forwith you

This is the deal between us—do you understand?”

At that moment, out of nowhere, she remembered the Doctor’s words Balot had chosen her current

body, chosen her circumstances This was part of the answer to the question—Why me?—it was, she

thought, an established fact

Balot gripped the crystal Not to snarc it She just held it tight

After that she put on her seat belt and reduced the speed of the car

The car now entered a district filled with clusters of tourist shops and was about to settle at the base

of the ied its destination to the East Side

The harbor drew near, and both the sidewalks and the roads started to grow ested All

around her were gasoline-powered cars, and a malls of the Cheap

Branchers—the middle classes—she found the flea market

Now and thenher in the car alone, but they showed no signs

of advancing on her, guns in hand, grinning maniacally

Balot opened theand sniffed the air, which carried a hint of brine

Eventually the car canated car park for rental cars

As she got out of the car and started walking, she ca of obviously able-bodied

teenagers who had parked their gas-powered cars in the free spaces designated for vehicles with placards

for the handicapped

As she walked past Balot snarced the gate of the parking lot The teenagers looked on in horror as the

gate slaency aid button Faces that were silently

calculating the fines they would have to pay for being caught using the handicapped spaces without a

permit

–Well, you’ve got to obey the rules, right? Balot asked through the crystal, using a silent, electronic

signal

“Uh, yeah”

Oeufcoque see else, but in the end that was all he said

The h the arcade

The people were co purposefully, and the occasional pair of Hunters—the city police

—walked past on patrol, but they showed no sign of looking for an easy target to beat up Rather, they too

walked with a sense of purpose, and there was no particular scent of anyone on this street looking to find

any sort of warped pleasure

Responding to her surroundings, Balot put on a purposeful expression and started walking Her heels

clicked along as if she were testing the their sensation, and Oeufcoque called out to her,

“Let’s get some papers It’s hard to keep track of what you’ve spent when you’re using a card”

Like a dad He wasn’t going to buy anything Just cast a watchful eye over her purchases

They found a nearby ATM and used the card to draw out a wad of notes

Twenty twenty-dollar bills The aht be too

much and wanted to take fewer than ten, but Oeufcoque said that she would be better off having a few

nerves to keep her on her toes, so she did as he said

She folded the crisp new bills in half and crammed them into her card holder She put one bill in her

jacket pocket and deliberately scrunched it up As if to say This is all I have

She bought a bag fro the crumpled note the shopkeeper

threw in a cheap leather wallet, giving it to her along with her change at no charge

Balot meekly obeyed the rules of the street

She transferred the bills fro and put them

away in her bag, and now, instead of scrunching up another bill, she captured the movements of all people

within a fifteen-meter radius

She wore her bag diagonally over her shoulder and then put her jacket on over it in order to protect it

frompurse snatchers

Now all she had to do was think about what she wanted to put in the bag

She bought soht some handkerchiefs and

hairpins, then wandered aih the oods

She examined the handicrafts and souvenirs as she chatted with Oeufcoque about nothing in particular

That frame doesn’t suit the picture, or you couldmy body as a mold, that sort

of thing

“Aren’t you starting to get hungry?” Oeufcoque asked He’d been keeping track of Balot’s biorhythm

He had constant tabs on her pulse, and at the sas to make sure there

was no danger

–Can I eat whatever I want?

“Of course I was asking for you I don’t really need much, after all”

They had a quick look at a plan of thefor the entries for

food and drink stalls, and found a block of open-air food carts Balot headed in that direction

Without having to walk for too long she saw a row of carts linked together all serving colonial food

There hite plastic tables and chairs in a courtyard, and Balot went up to the tableware section

and took a disposable tray before heading over to some of the stalls The place was a real salad bowl of

races, and anyone working at the stalls could handle a nues They picked themup

naturally in the course of business with various different custo

even when they couldn’t understand a word of what the other person was saying

Balot took her tray, laden with paper plates full of food, and found a seat

Her main dish was a plate of Tick Noodles smothered in red Charlie Sauce It contained boiled squid

and chunky slices of vegetables She’d also bought a dish of deep-fried fish slices and chilled whole fish

on the bone

“You’re pretty good at that, aren’t you?”

Oeufcoque watched with admiration as Balot skillfully used her chopsticks

“Chopsticks have always been a o out of their

way to turn one piece of cutlery into two smaller pieces”

Balot sifted through the fish with her chopsticks She elegantly separated the bones from the flesh,

for two piles

–I was always the best at this The other girls used to sayI was handy

She transmitted the words to Oeufcoque electronically as she ate Well, wasn’t this convenient? She

could eat and talk at the same time

–I think I’d probably be good at excavating fossils, that sort of thing

“Is that so into in the future?”

–I’d like to, butI can think of that’s at all

related to myskills

Balot started thinking about the things that had died such a long tis that had been buried

underground for otten Why did they then have

to be dug up again?

–I don’t really know

Oeufcoque changed the subject “Isn’t it about time for your medication?”

Balot tidied her tray away and went to the self-service water cooler to take the medicine the Doctor

had given her Skin stabilizers, hair growth agents, medicine to fix her eyelashes, vitamins, calcium

tablets Lots of things she had to take—and she took themall

As she sed her ht about the fossils One fossil in particular A swirling

shell What were those things called that stayed hidden in their shells except for their moplike hands and

feet that they used to crawl along the seabed?

“A, wasn’t it?” Oeufcoque answered conscientiously when

asked

After she’d walked through the mall for a while, she did indeed come across a collection of spirals

They were in the forraphics projected onto the wall of a building Balot stopped

in front of the stall that sold them

The shop sold Eject Posters Small square boxes that, when fitted to a wall, would project ies

onto the space just below There were a number of patterns lined up in a row, and there was a memory

card that contained over a hundred different pictures of fossils

“Why not buy so that takes your fancy? It’d be a pleasant diversion, and the decor in your room

is pretty dull,” said Oeufcoque

Balot took advantage of his offer She bought an Eject Poster and a card with the fossils on it, then

walked on, eyes on the instruction manual Computer simulations of live ammonites, nautiluses, trilobites,

along with photographs of the fossilized creatures, mixed with other minerals and fossilized into spirals

of silver and gold and crystal

After a while she put it away in her bag She was somehow excited

–Is it okayif I buy a few things I like?

“Of course”

Balot went to the stationery section of a departht

use—and six different types of colored ht her eye in a

shop that she happened to pass by Because she liked its bright poppy red and the design of the case

As she went around the department store she felt more and more that she and Oeufcoque were

beco one

No matter where they went they were as one Like theabout

in the blues

But there was a moment when Oeufcoque resisted

“Stop, Balot I’ll be waiting outside, so…”

The pendant turned back into the forht off

Balot’s shoulders Balot correctly read his path of flight and plucked hiht

“I’ve already said, haven’t I? That I don’t want to be called a Peeping Tom?”

He spoke so pitifully that she snarced hi him turn into an alarm bell A poppy-red alarm

bell She looked around to check that no one atching before sticking it on the ith a fluid

movement

“I’ll keep an eye out for you, so off you go”

He spoke as if to a child as scared of the dark

Balot went into the women’s restroom

The toilets were clean and empty She went into the stall at the very end, loosened her belt, and

lowered first her shorts, then tights and underwear, down to her knees, layer by layer

Relief and anxiety assaulted her in equal

She sat down on the toilet seat and took some ointment from her jacket pocket She squirted some

bright white hydration creahs These were the only

parts that were still rough, still scabbed

As she rubbed the crea off, like the thin

She brushed the skin off and rubbed the re creamon her shoulders and elbows

She sat on the toilet, waiting to pee She stared absentle

piece of graffiti

All of a sudden she felt that soht about

why shethis way

Her urine shteen different pills she had to take every day

Not a single one of those was a tranquilizer—the Doctor himself was surprised by this fact

Your psyche is incredibly tenacious—the Doctor was full of adht that, in all

honesty, if her then so

as much as she could handle

Even after she had finished on the toilet, washed herself with the bidet, and flushed all the evidence

away, there was still a faint smell of medicine in the air She fixed her clothes and fastened her belt even

tighter than before

Then she put herwas out of place

She soon discovered why—a plastic bubble fixed to the tank that connected the toilet to the flush

button She gave the bubble a wrench and it caertip-sized camera

eed

Balot expanded her consciousness and interfered with the ca it

The two hundred hours of continuous footage stored in the camera’s many microchips was replaced bit

by bit by i into the ca the

doll costu for all eternity

Balot then put the ca

A LITTLE HORROR SHOW

She wrote on the wall right next to the bubble And then she added this:

WARNING

Balot left the booth Purely for self-defense, she murmured to herself as she washed her hands

But the department store wasn’t about to stop its dirty tricks just because she revealed the existence of

a caiven to the cleaners and security guards

She even knew all about the money paid to the shi+lls, the woht” the most

expensive itee real customers to spend more

She knew everything, right down to how much they were paid

03

As she eed into the shape of a mouse and jumped onto

Balot’s shoulder Withouta beat he ran to her neck and became a choker complete with crystal

pendant

“You took your sweet time”

–Don’t bla Tom

“Look, I…”

–Not you There was a camera in the ladies’ room I just fixed it up a little

“Caht about this for a while before it clicked “You al cameras set

up in order to get close-up footage of women’s bodies?”

–But do you really understand? What that means to me?

“Well, I think I kno you feel, at least Right now you’re angry Very angry And irritated and

also embarrassed Mortified That’s what you smell of, anyway”

–Smell?

“Body odor A h body odor Didn’t you know?”

Balot squeezed the crystal tightly and started prodding it with her fingertips Violently And full of

grief

And then Oeufcoque did indeed understand Balot’s feelings

“Oh, sure, sorry If I’ I don’t really have the

iination to comprehend it I’mnot a woman, after all, or even a human”

Balot found that her feelings were calmed down somewhat by Oeufcoque’s words

–I think you’re kinder than a human, and more humble too

Oeufcoque was now attuned to Balot’s change of heart, as if he were sniffing everything up He

noticed the chee in her pulse, and e in

atmosphere

“There’s a café just above us We should be able to get some work done there”

The Internet café that Oeufcoque was talking about was on the top floor of the department store

They could see the harbor city sprawled out in a mess down below and farther in the distance the thin

line of the sea

The seats were set a co down to some work

When the waiter came over to take her order, Balot ordered a cappuccino by pointing at the menu, and

then opened up the laptop-style monitor embedded in the table

She was about to connect to the net but then she stopped herself

–Do you mind if we talk for a while about my new hobby?

They’d cootten about this since the spy careed

Balot took her PDA froside the instruction

booklet for the CG fossils She chose the yellow andof the

manual

Then she snarced the PDA and brought up the word that she had just highlighted The nae

spiral-shaped shell As she read theher

personal iate, or If these were still alive I’d like one as a pet, that sort

of thing

–I’inal

“Brilliant When you grow up you could becouist, or a poet”

–Well, I alanted to go to school and have a dictionary like everyone else The sort of

school that children like o to So this is instead of that My own self-studyclassroom

“And you could still go to school As soon as this case is closed we’ll apply for re-enrollment”

–Won’t work You need both your parents’ signatures, Balot replied, bluntly

–Children who don’t have any get put in the Welfare Institute I don’t want to go back there

“But aren’t both your parents still alive?”

–They don’t think of me as a child Not their child, anyway

She infor the marker Wordlessly As an

electronic signal

Balot stopped writing only when the young waiter ca her the drink she’d ordered

“Is it