Act VIII: Treason

     Munenori walks down the hallway after finishing his lunch, he nears his room when he is
surprised to see someone he knows walking towards him.
     "Aritsune!" Munenori exclaims. "Where have you been?"
     "Places," Aritsune answers haphazardly.
     "Um, well, there is some stuff to talk about."
     "Not right now."
     "It's kind of important," Munenori pleads.
     "So say it then."
     "Well, just to let you now, Akari could probably use some friends right now."
     "Yeah, okay, that it?"
     "Aritsune..." Munenori stares confused. "It's important."
     "Yeah, well I have important things to do, so leave me alone."
     Aritsune stalks off hurriedly.
     Munenori thinks to himself, What got into her?

     Akari wakes from her slumber, reaches down and pets Yamaneko, and leaves her room.
She walks to the cafeteria to get something to eat. After she gets something she looks for a seat.
She looks towards a corner of the room where a television is turned on to a news station. Akari
notices someone looking familiar sitting there watching it.
     Akari walks and over and sits. It turns out to be who she thinks it is and Akari exclaims,
"Aritsune!"
     Aritsune turns from the television to look at Akari.
     "Oh, hello," she says dully.
     "I haven't seen you for quite awhile," Akari says excitedly.
     "Yeah, I've had to do stuff."
     "Um, I have something to tell you."
     "What?"
     "Well, I'd prefer a place a little more private to tell you," Akari says.
     "What is it? Just say it here," Aritsune says annoyed.
     Akari is startled by her response.
     "Well, I'm pregnant."
     Aritsune looks her over but her attention is quickly drawn back to the television when a
news bulletin flashes across the screen. A news anchor reports:
     "Chaos runs rampant in many cities in Transmuted Venus. A gang, known to be led by
Ennosuke Kano, has claimed responsibility. The Kano gang are notorious for their impact
working with the resistance and for their alliance with Acting Ruler Hitoshi. The reasons for the
devastation caused by the gang are as yet unknown."
     Aritsune gets up excitedly and leaves Akari. Akari sits there thinking to herself, Why
does it feel as if she is not really her.

     Aritsune stands in an alleyway as the sky remains dark in it's space atmosphere. She
stares up the side of the building Hitoshi's office resides in. Aritsune takes something out from
beneath her cloak. She takes the weapons she stole from Munenori's room, and with a strength
not her own, slams them into the cold concrete of the building. She slams the other weapon in a
little bit higher, and so forth climbing the building.
     Soon she is next to a window on the floor of Hitoshi's office, towering above the
settlement below. She carefully places one hand against the glass. She starts letting electrified
energy leave her hand and it enters the window. The glass begins to melt from the heat. 
     After a little while, the window has melted away enough for Aritsune to slip through. She
enters the building, finding herself in a maintenance room. She walks to the door and finds it
locked. Aritsune places her hand on the handle. Again she lets electricity heat the objects.
Focusing all her energy into it, Aritsune melts the handle and the lock within. 
     She carefully opens the door a little bit. She sees a security guard finish walking down
the hall and turn a corner. Aritsune opens the door and closes it behind her as she leaves the
room. She quickly walks down the hall to the door to Hitoshi's office. Aritsune takes a step back
and concentrates hard whilst holding both her hands to her side in a collective motion. A ball of
energy gets created in her hands. With a skill never available to her before, she sends the ball out
in a thin streak right into the keyhole. The bolt lasts no more than a couple seconds, but it melts
the lock within the door. Aritsune hears running steps from down the hall and she darts into the
office.
     The security guard appears, he looks around with a flashlight, but sees nothing. He says
to himself, "Am I seeing things. I thought for sure I saw some kind of bright flash down here."
     Confused, the guard walks back down the hall. Inside Hitoshi's office, Aritsune opens
some of Hitoshi's drawers in his desk. She finds one that contains many confidential letters. She
pulls out a couple from her cloak and mixes them within the others before closing the door.
     She heads to the door. She sees that the guard is nowhere in sight. She quickly leaves
Hitoshi's office and finds his secretary's desk. Knowing the mail in the building gets delivered
early in the morning, Aritsune places a letter in the box on the secretary's desk. She then moves
to the maintenance room. She goes in and goes to the window. Once outside, she uses
Munenori's weapons to climb back down the tall building.
     After she reaches the ground, she finds transportation back to Kourou's home.

     Morning comes and Akari sits in the cafeteria eating breakfast when Munenori joins her.
     "Did you talk to Aritsune yesterday?" Akari asks.
     "Yeah, she was very hostile," Munenori answers.
     "I told her about my pregnancy and she said nothing. She heard the news report about
that gang from Venus and ran off delighted."
     "Really?"
     "Yeah."
     "That's strange."
     "I know."
     Akari and Munenori continue eating in silence. Someone turns on a television within the
cafeteria and it is on a news station just as a report is coming in. Akari and Munenori listen to it.
     A news anchor speaks: "Acting Ruler Hitoshi suspected of involvement in Kano gang
activities."
     They are surprised to hear this, especially Akari. She gets closer to the television to hear
better.
     The anchor continues: "Hitoshi's secretary found a letter in his mail addressed from the
Kano gang. With the group's sudden change, the secretary feared that possibly a biological
weapon was enclosed and called the authorities. In a contained area, they opened the letter only
to find suspicious material concerning Hitoshi's involvement in an overthrow of the soon to be
set up government. The authorities gained permission to search Hitoshi's office and home. In his
office they found more letters addressed from the Kano group. It has been made clear to us that
they contained a plan to establish Hitoshi as the absolute ruler of the empire, starting with his
home colony of Transmuted Venus. Hitoshi was not at his office when the discoveries were
made. Officials are currently looking for the suspected conspirator as well are the Venus
authorities looking for the Kano gang."
     All the people in the room are greatly startled by the news. Akari turns to look at
Munenori, and he is speechless. Akari says, "I thought that man could be trusted."
     Munenori responds, "Well, power corrupts."
     "No," Akari says. "There is something else, I can sense it. I need to find Hitoshi and talk
with him."
     Akari leaves Munenori. Munenori exits the cafeteria and heads back to his room. He
finds Aritsune walking towards him from his room again.
     "We have to stop meeting like this," she says. "It's nerve-racking."
     "Huh? How?" Munenori asks of her peculiar demeanor.
     "Oh, nothing."
     Aritsune walks past him. Munenori just stares baffled.

     Akari paces uncomfortably back and forth in her room thinking of the new report.
     "When I met him, I felt assured that he could be trusted. No one who has been in the
struggle so long would push to establish himself as the same tyrant."
     She continues pondering whether or not she chooses to believe the report.
     "I need fresh air to think."
     She leaves her room and goes for a walk outside the building. She wanders the dark
streets of Europa still not willing to think of Hitoshi as a someone who would commit treason.
     As she passes an alley a voice calls out to her.
     "Akari Jemu?" the voice asks.
     She stops and stares in the direction, "Yes?"
     "Where does your support lie?"
     "What do you mean?"
     "Someone wishes to speak with you, as the one most trusted by the one who should have
been emperor," the voice says referring to Naitsuu.
     "Who?" Akari asks.
     "Do you believe what you hear on the news?"
     "You are confusing me," Akari remarks. "Just say what it is you want me to do."
     "Come with me."
     Akari is confused, but does as she is told. A man appears from the shadows and leads her
into a dilapidated part of the settlement. They enter a building that is falling apart all over. The
room the enter is large, with a single large light hanging from the middle of the ceiling that only
illuminates the center of the room and not the sides. The man continues talking to Akari.
     "To be more specific, do you still trust the man, Hitoshi."
     Akari responds, "Because I feel like something is not right about it all, I will say that I
do."
     "You say so quite confidently," the man says. "What if we were a secret police force
trying to see who else might be linked with him?'
     "Well, are you?" Akari asks.
     "No, we are not. If you will go through this door, you will find the one who wishes to talk
to you."
     Akari walks past the man and finds a door. She opens it and walks into an office, where
Hitoshi sits behind a desk.
     "Akari Jemu?" he asks.
     "Yes."
     "Please, sit down."
     Akari sits in the chair across from Hitoshi.
     "This is a troubling time for me," Hitoshi begins.
     "As it is for us all," Akari remarks.
     Hitoshi stares at her for a moment.
     "I think I know who is behind what has happened to me," Hitoshi says. "I think that your
friend, Aritsune, is the real conspirator."
     Akari does not appeared surprised at all.
     "That look on your face tells me that you do not doubt me."
     "She is not herself anymore," Akari comments. "She is not a friend of mine anymore."
     "I see. I was hoping you would help me..."
     Hitoshi's request is cut off by a loud noise from the other room. Shouts are heard and it is
clear there is a struggle going on.
     "What's going on?" Akari asks.
     "We've been found," Hitoshi answers. "Quick, follow me out the back."
     The two move quickly out the back of the building.