“Understood. I am of the same opinion. In the time since we took her into our custody, Runa Urumi has not used her powers. This is despite her having had the opportunity to.”
“The opportunity?”
“Yes. Under the guise of a careless mistake, I made it so that we were alone together in the hospital. She understood the situation, but made no attempt to do anything.”
“That was an awfully bold move, huh?”
“Perhaps it was. I had people watching us, however, and they were instructed to contact the two of you if I was taken down.”
“Still... She’s dangerous.”
Toriko was stating the obvious, but she was right. If Runa Urumi commanded a person to “die,” they would.
“I cannot force all of the risk onto the two of you, after all. She underwent what you might call a period of probation, and her behavior during that time was acceptable. I think it is about time we realistically considered her release.”
It felt like it had been a long time coming. While I couldn’t completely free myself of my concern over whether it was okay to let a Fourth Kind contactee with a Voice that could control other people out into the world, we weren’t part of the justice system, and Runa Urumi’s sins weren’t the sort that could be judged by the law. In the eyes of the law, DS Research was way worse for imprisoning a minor.
That meant that we had to let her go at some point, and when we did we’d have to bring her into our “family” in order to manage her... It was a conclusion born from a mix of an adult’s sense of responsibility and craftiness. I wasn’t entirely on board with it, though, since I distrusted the whole framework of family.
“I’m fine with releasing her, but what did you mean when you said you wanted to use this training to do it?”
“Runa Urumi originally created the Farm. I thought that her knowledge and ability might be of use during the training.”
“I guess it’s like having her do volunteer service as part of your sentence,” Toriko said, sounding satisfied with the explanation.
“It is perhaps similar, yes,” Migiwa agreed. “As part of her reintegration into society, having her engage in some labor as a part of ordinary society will let us see if she is able to cooperate with others.”
“I don’t think we’re part of ordinary society, but I get your point,” I said. “But...we won’t be able to watch her the whole time. I think it would be impossible to look after her while also overseeing Torchlight’s training.”
“I understand. In regards to that, I have thought of an alternative method.”
“An alternative method?”
“First, let me call her in before we talk about it.”
Migiwa used the phone on his desk to make a call on an internal line. Some time later, there was a knock at the door.
“Excuse me.”
The office door opened, and Runa Urumi was led in by a nurse. The moment she looked in our direction, her face lit up.
“Kamikoshi-saaan!”
Yeah, yeah. I raised my hand to greet her. It felt like she was going to jump on me, so it doubled as a way of stopping her.
“Please, be seated,” Migiwa said, gesturing towards an empty sofa. Runa blinked, then sat down as she was told.
The nurse was someone I hadn’t met before. She was muscular, like someone who did judo. As she was about to leave, Runa gave a friendly wave, and said something in sign language. The nurse grinned, then bowed her head and left. Was that the deaf nurse I’d heard of who was in charge of taking care of Runa?
“Erm? So, what’re we all here for?” Runa looked around at each of us. “Uh, actually, is it okay for me to be here? I probably shouldn’t say this myself, but—”
“Runa,” I cut her off.
“Yes.”
“Wanna go camping?”
“Um...?” Runa gave me a dubious look.
“Camping. In the mountains. Do you want to go?”
For some reason, Runa kept getting paler as she looked at me. “Am I going to be killed?”
“Huh?”
“Does this mean you’re going to bury me in the mountains? I had the feeling it was coming eventually.”
“No!”
“Well, what’s it a euphemism for, then?!”
“I’m telling you, it’s not a euphemism.”
Seeing that Runa was afraid, Migiwa spoke up. “Urumi-san. After discussing the matter, we agreed that we should be able to release you from this facility. I am sorry to have inconvenienced you for so long.”
“Release me...?”
“I believe it will be possible for us to provide some support for your reintegration into society. However, before that, we have a favor to ask of you, which is why you have been called here today.”
Runa had been listening with a blank look on her face, but now she reacted like a startled bird, rapidly looking from me, to Toriko, and then to Migiwa.
“You mean I can get out of here?!”
“Well, yeah,” I said with a nod.
Runa thrust both arms into the air. “Woo-hoo! I’m getting out of the slammer!”
“Oh, come on. The ‘slammer’?”
“Let’s have ramen! We gotta! Won’t you go with me, Kamikoshi-san?”
“Before you get ramen, there’s a job that needs doing first.”
“A job? For me?”
We explained to Runa that a private military company was going to be holding a training camp at the Farm, and we wanted her to help with it as the former owner.
“Wow, you sure messed around and did whatever you liked with my Farm, huh?”
“Yeah, ’cause it’s mine now.”
“There you go, acting like a Sengoku Era warlord again.”
Pffft! I heard a big laugh from Toriko’s direction. I dunno why, but it had apparently tickled her funny bone.
“Mmm, I get what you’re saying. Basically, this is like a graduation exam, huh? To test if it’s okay to release me.”
“Yeah, maybe something like that.”
“Fine with me. Let’s go camping. With campfires, and marshmallows and everything.”
“It’s the middle of summer, though...”
I was good with camping, but that was my one concern. Even though we were going to be up in the mountains, wasn’t it going to be super hot, and weren’t there going to be tons of bugs if we went camping in August?