Part 17 (1/2)

He had a bad feeling about this and threw the film onto the desk. He gulped down a mouthful of coffee.

Certainly mitochondrial expansion was known to occur from cyclosporin use.

Yos.h.i.+zumi had also heard that the ethacrynic acid in oral diuretics sometimes caused a mutation in mitochondrial structure. However, considering the small amount of cyclosporin he had administered so far, this was highly unlikely.

If anything, this was evidence of cyclosporin's toxicity. But could there be another reason? If the kidney had been abnormal from the beginning, why had it functioned properly until now?

He then remembered that inexplicable heat he felt during the transplant procedure when he touched the kidney. His heart had been strangely excited by the contact. The kidney had seemed, almost, to be working his heart.

Maybe there was a connection.

Yos.h.i.+zumi felt goose b.u.mps rise along his skin. He had to keep this from Mariko. But what was he going to do about this anyway? He could only hope that no ill came of this development. These mitochondria probably had nothing to do with the rejection symptoms.

The kidney had been functional until now, and it could still take.

Staring at the film upon the desk, Yos.h.i.+zumi prayed it would.

16.

SHE remembered clearly the first time She became one with Tos.h.i.+aki. When he entered Kiyomi's body, her face tightened as she stifled her cries. She, on the other hand, s.h.i.+vered with the pleasure of antic.i.p.ation and plunged into a state of inordinate excitement.

Kiyomi sensed Her excitement. No wonder, since She thrived in the major nodes of Kiyomi's brain and nervous system. Kiyomi's nerves, her spine, and her synapses were all crucial for conveying information to her brain. Over the years and months, She had come to dominate all of Her host's organs so that they could no longer manage even the simplest Junctions without Her. When She was excited, so were Kiyomi's brain cells; the result of a spectacular burst of neurotransmitters between her synapses. No wonder Kiyomi was ecstatic.

Her special stimulation was one that put others' joy to shame. And so Kiyomi soon forgot the pain and devoted herself to the act. And She, too, surrendered to the pleasure that Tos.h.i.+aki gave. Oh, this Kiyomi, whose first time it was, how loudly she did moan, how gamely she quivered, how she pa.s.sed out at the end!

Making love with Tos.h.i.+aki was pure bliss. Recalling the instances from Kiyomi's memory, She relished them. Tos.h.i.+aki's skill wasn't honed, sometimes he was even puerile. Even so, She felt a most supreme happiness being loved by Tos.h.i.+aki, and controlled Kiyomi's body from within to receive his love as often as possible.

She transfigured Kiyomi's body in various ways to make it more desirable to him. As time went by, She gradually altered Kiyomi's face into one that Tos.h.i.+aki would be most fond of. She reworked Kiyomi's nervous system to accommodate Tos.h.i.+aki's transgressions. Kiyomi never knew why she experienced things so intensely. But for Her, Kiyomi's nerve structure was laughably simplistic and easy to manipulate. Kiyomi was so innocent in her purity, it was pitiable. To the end, she was unaware that the joy by which her own body was possessed was something not her own. But for Her to receive Her joy, and to capture Tos.h.i.+aki's heart, it was necessary that Kiyomi feel what She felt. She couldn't afford to let him abandon her. He was just the man She'd been searching for. She needed to focus Tos.h.i.+aki's love.

On Kiyomi...

And then on Her.

Her body fluttered with joy. Soon. Perfection was within reach.

Though She could manipulate a host's cellular reproduction, it was difficult to maintain the structural changes. The forms She created tended to break down easily. She had to work on the genomic level.

Fortunately, there were sufficient tools here to perform genetic mutations. Right beyond the door was a clean bench where a bluish UV lamp was probably s.h.i.+ning. Various carcinogens were lying in the office beyond. With a little hike, it was even possible to get irradiated. There was no shortage of catalysts, either.

She let loose now and unleashed her power to multiply.

Asakura looked away from the monitor with a sigh of exhaustion.

She had shut off the air conditioning a while ago, so the room was silent, save for the refrigerator which interjected with an occasional hum.

She stood up from her chair and stretched. It was already close to midnight. Tos.h.i.+aki had left for home three hours ago. She could hear other footsteps around the time he left, but now there was only silence. She was likely the only one left in the building.

She took a plastic bottle of iced tea from the refrigerator and poured some into a mug with a gurgle that sounded strangely loud to her in this quietude. She brought the rim of the cup to her lips and took a mouthful. The sensation of cool tea in her throat helped to ease her fatigue.

She was still making slide diagrams for the annual meeting. Though she had drawn up some charts before for her senior thesis, she was still not fully accustomed to the whole process. No matter what she did, it took an immense amount of time. She watched the monitor, moving the mouse around. In what felt like a moment, two hours had flown by, and she'd finished only one diagram.

With cup in hand, Asakura returned to her desk and studied the image glowing on the monitor. She had taken her time with it, initially unsure of how to combine it with the other pictures she had scanned. She'd regretted not having asked Tos.h.i.+aki while he was still around. Looking at the finished diagram, though, she was quite proud of it.

The lab really had an atmosphere all its own this time of night. Asakura took another sip of tea. By day it was just like any other lab. When evening fell, however, its mood changed. Maybe it was from shadows cast by the fluorescent lights, but the unusual shapes of the equipment on the experimentation table were much more vivid, somehow lurid. The contrast of the antiquated desk with the much newer machinery added to the ambience of strangeness. A most eerie place for a stranger to get lost in.

Maybe I should stop for today and go home.

At this thought, a chill ran up her spine, settling at the base of her head. The downy hairs on her nape tingled and stood up on end.

She turned around full circle, her eyes flitting across the room. The air was stagnant.

Not even a draft. Her tingling had a different cause.

Nothing in the lab was different. Only silence, populated by her and the shadows on the floor. Everything was cold and lifeless.

The tingling was almost intolerable, turning into sharp pain. Asakura put her cup on the desk and pressed a hand to her neck. The pain began to spread.

Her entire body was shaking and she felt weak at the knees.

That name came to mind.

Eve 1.

Eve 1 is the cause of this.

A dragging noise.

Something was moving. She called out, but heard only hoa.r.s.e air escaping her lungs.

She wanted to run away, but her feet were stuck to the floor. It was hard for her even to move her eyes. She strained her ears and gazed at the wall. On the other side of it was the Cultivation Room.

She heard the noise again, more clearly this time. It had come from the Cultivation Room. Something was moving around in there.

Eve 1's name rang in her head like a siren, lighting up in pure red. Still, it made no logical sense that Eve 1 would be making any noise at all. Right now, Eve 1 was in the culture flasks, which were themselves in the incubator. There was simply no reason for the noise, not to mention the movement.

At that moment, she heard a moist, formless sound, like a large damp ma.s.s falling to the floor.

Asakura gasped in surprise. Her knees began to shake. She was planted firmly in her chair. She jerked her knees inward. Just then, her fingertips touched the cup, knocking it over. A piercing shatter. Droplets of tea and ceramic fragments flew into her face. Pain swelled in her cheeks.

SHE stopped, upon noticing the noise.

Someone was here.

She'd been sure no one was in the laboratory. It couldn't be Tos.h.i.+aki. He'd gone home.

She searched Her memory. The figure of a tall woman came to mind. It was her.