The Mind Control Assassins

Chapter 1-1

Chapter 1

We were only 13 when the government halted Transhuman Development Project. It was because the microchip implant in the body caused side effects to the test subjects. As a result, many of them had developed some behavioral side effects. The known side effects were apathy, hallucinations, and cognitive dysfunction. Not only that, some of them died due to the brain death.

The lead researcher, Dr. Nobuhiko Hayama, insisted that the side effects were only temporary. But somehow, the side effects lasted longer than what they’ve expected. And they didn’t expect death would occur to the test subjects. They believed that death was unlikely in this situation. Because of that, Dr. Hayama and the other researchers involved were pleaded guilty. Instead of being convicted, they were put under the surveillance.

There’s no telling if the government decides to abandon the project for good. After all, this project is one of the best ways to solve the aging and declining population. This project will become another breakthrough for the aging population besides the medical advancements.

Well, that seems like a noble idea. But there are still some people who reject the thought of using a microchip implant on their body. Maybe this is about to change if they see the positive outcome from this project. But with the project’s failure, I doubt that people are still okay with this idea.

The parents whose children were the test subject became furious with the government’s action. They believe that the government still wants to continue this dangerous project. Despite their anger, there’s nothing much they can do about this. At least, the government is willing to compensate for the damage incurred.

Of course, the compensation does come with a caveat, though. The government is willing to pay for the damage if the parents keep this incident as a secret. If they’ve decided to come clean, they will receive a death threat instead. No one will think that the government will go that far just to bury the secret. It’s not surprising they’re willing to do it as long as it won’t cause a public outcry.

Luckily, the children who survived are now able to lead a normal life. It all thanks to the therapists who the government hired to reverse the side effect. It’s not easy, but their effort pays off. But then again, the therapists still need to keep an eye on them. There is a possibility for any of the abnormalities to occur at any time. But for the time being, nothing strange happened to them so far.

While it’s true that Dr. Hayama is the lead researcher on this project, he’s more or less a puppet who runs the show. In reality, the key people who drive the research are Satoru Yuuya and Dr. Frederick Choo. Both of them are researchers from UC Berkeley. Dr. Hayama is only there to camouflage their involvement in this project. It was unfortunate that Dr. Frederick Choo died in a car accident later that year.

There’s not much information about Satoru Yuuya. We only know that he used to be a biomedical engineer and neuroscientist in UC Berkeley. He was charged with a murder of his former colleagues while he was still working there. The cause of their death and the motive behind the murder was unknown. But FBI and CIA assumed that he must have used a microchip implant to kill them. Their death remains a mystery even until now.

Even until to this day, they’re still pursuing him in the hope that they will find the truth. They only list him as a suspect, but they have no proof which indicates he committed the murder in the first place. They’re only making an assumption based on his final research. At that time, he was doing research about using a microchip implant as a mind control device. They drop the assumption later because the research itself is incomplete. So, he’s less likely to use such method to kill everyone in the research lab.

A diet member, Saburo Matsuda didn’t know that Satoru Yuuya had a criminal record. At that time, he was the Minister of Health, Labor, and Welfare, who was overseeing the top-secret project. He ended up resigning from the position as a way for him to take the responsibility. Even after he takes the responsibility, CIA insists on capturing Satoru Yuuya. It’s because he’s a Japanese national who committed murder in the United States.

But somehow, the government doesn’t give them permission to do anything they please on our soil. Director Kagami insists that it’s PSIA’s responsibility to capture him, not theirs. The CIA representative doesn’t look so pleased with the government policy. But still, there’s nothing much they can do at this point. After all, Satoru Yuuya is nowhere to be found ever since the day the government halted the project.

The government wants to handle this issue in a confidential manner. So, the Cabinet assigns this covert mission to PSIA Special Activities Division. Public Security Bureau will also be working together with us as well. Director Kagami assigns this mission to dad. So now, we’re currently investigating Satoru Yuuya’s current whereabouts.

The investigation was already on the way before both Yuuto and I joined PSIA. We join the investigation once we’re in the first year in the high school. As a part of our covert mission, dad opens a coffee shop in Ichigaya, Shinjuku. He will conduct intelligence activity and data gathering from there.

Besides him, Mr. Sakakibara will also open a bar which is next to our coffee shop to do similar activities. As for Ms. Chiyo, she’ll be staying upstairs above Mr. Sakakibara’s bar. She’ll be processing the information we gather.

Just like their other covert missions, the rest of them are operating under a fake name. Dad’s name will become Akira Kimizuki, and Mr. Sakakibara is now known as Azuma Uehara. Even the kanji name for Azuma is different than the one used in his real name. Ms. Chiyo doesn’t need to have a fake name since she’s not going to make any contact with the outsiders. As for Yuuto and me, we can still use our real name since we’re just a PSIA agent.

As for Hayato, he will help dad with managing the coffee shop. But he will do a specific data gathering and intelligence activities for us. Hayato is more or less work as an undercover. It’s easier for him to do it since he doesn’t have a record in the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare database. Well, it’s not that his record doesn’t exist. Ms. Chiyo is the one who camouflages his record so then no one knows about his existence.

Even though the coffee shop works as a disguise for our mission, both Yuuto and I love helping them there. Maybe it’s because it reminds us of the old days. Back then, we used to help dad on the organic farm while we were still living in Tochigi prefecture. So, helping dad and Hayato in the coffee shop brings us the same feeling. But then again, dad keeps on reminding us that what we do is a part of the mission. Though, he doesn’t mind with us enjoying the task.

Life as operations officer isn’t as glamorous as what we’ve seen in the Hollywood movies. Our life can be as plain as vanilla when there’s nothing much going around. Despite that, we still need to continue with our investigation.

But then again, something strange happened recently involving the former researchers. Despite the heavy surveillance, 4 out of 5 key researchers have died for an unknown reason. Their death remains a mystery. There are no prominent signs that they have committed suicide. There’s also no sign that they’ve been murdered either. So, some people begin to speculate that they died because of the work of supernatural power.

The officers from Public Security Bureau think it must be the work of parents who want to seek revenge. But all parents denied the accusation. They admit that they’re angry with the researchers. But they know that seeking revenge on them won’t even bring their dead children back to life. At the end of the day, they’ve decided to drop the investigation. They don’t have enough clues and evidence to investigate the case further.

Regardless of what people say, the fact remains that these researchers have died mysteriously. Now, the only remaining researcher left is Dr. Hayama. They also suspect that he must be the one who killed his former colleagues, but he denies the accusation. He thinks that the accusation is absurd because he has no reason to kill them in the first place. And he’s not going to gain anything if he does that.

The surveillance record has shown that he had never contacted any of them since then. So, he has concrete proof that he’s not the one who killed them. Public Security Bureau drops him as a suspect later on. But we still think that Dr. Hayama must have known what triggered their death in the first place. It’s just that, he won’t be so open to talking about it.

Now, our current mission is to make sure that Dr. Hayama is safe. We know that they also have a microchip implant within their body besides the test subjects. But theirs was only for accessing the research facility back then. So, we suspect that the microchip implant they had is the cause of their death. But he denied about having a microchip implant when the officers asked him about this. Maybe what he says is true, though. It’s because the autopsy report doesn’t state anything that these researchers have a microchip implant.

But then again, we can’t just brush it off. We still think that the microchip implant is the cause of their death. It works as a mind control device that triggers them to commit suicide. Maybe Satoru Yuuya’s research about the mind control device is complete by now. If this is true, then the death of these researchers is just the beginning. It’s possible that the same thing will happen to Dr. Hayama as well.

Despite Dr. Hayama’s denial, we still check on him from time to time. We just want to see if there’s anything strange about his behavior. So far, he hasn’t done anything that we deem strange. According to Ms. Chiyo, he always does the same routine almost every day. So, there’s nothing unusual about his behavior for the time being.

Day by day, nothing happens to Dr. Hayama. He just goes about his life as usual. That is until one day, Ms. Chiyo notices that Dr. Hayama is no longer in his house. According to the rules, he’s not even allowed to leave the place no matter what. It’s because he’s under the surveillance. He can’t make any contact with anyone, not even to his family. In a nutshell, his life isn’t that different from living in a prison. He’s always under the surveillance all the time.

We head to Dr. Hayama’s house in Setagaya ward as soon as we receive a report. Something must have happened to him since he left the house in the middle of the night. “Chiyo, are you sure that Dr. Hayama is not even in his house? Maybe he’s hiding somewhere, looking for a chance to run,” dad says to her. Ms. Chiyo replies after that through our earpiece. “Yes, the surveillance footage indicates that he did leave the house. But he looks terrified when he leaves. I think something must have happened to him there.”

Dad looks anxious when he finds out about this news. We do hope that nothing happens to Dr. Hayama until we arrive there. He’s the only one left who knows about Satoru Yuuya and the microchip implant. If he also dies, then it will be more difficult for us to investigate about Satoru Yuuya. “Can you find out what’s happening there, Chiyo?” Dad asks her.

“I can’t say for sure,” she says to us, “But I do detect a lot of unidentified signals in that area. Based on the signals identified, the signals are like the one emitted from a microchip. I thought that it must be drones or something. But that’s not the case when I check the surveillance footage. From the footage, there are a group of people in that area. And they’re all chasing after Dr. Hayama.”

We find it weird that a group of people is chasing Dr. Hayama right now. Don’t they realize that he’s under the heavy surveillance? “Do you think that these people may have a microchip implant inside their body?” Yuuto says to us, “There are no drones in the area, anyway, other than a group of people who are chasing him. Maybe they do have a microchip implant within them.”