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“You are truly a blessing, mon chérie! This batch may just very well end up being the best I’ve ever made!”
The short, eccentric chef held the little glass vial in his hands, borderline lust in his eyes as he admired the yellow-tinged liquid. He never bothered to learn what was in the compounds that he was provided, of course; he just knew that his peers with more athletic talents couldn’t get enough of the stuff.
“You’re sure you wouldn’t like any credit?” Teruteru eyed the rather timid girl who stood by the lab counters, who lowered her head ever-so-slightly in response.
“It’s okay… I’d really rather you didn’t; it makes it harder to get work done when people keep asking me…”
“Say no more, I understand! I’ll simply tell them it’s an old family recipe!”
It was obvious Teruteru didn’t understand at all— Seiko Kimura liked seeing her peers succeed, yes, but she was a typically solitary person and had learned to like it that way. She had hoped he would take her polite hint that she couldn’t keep helping him with his new food combinations.
Though… I guess some of them are pretty interesting, she thought to herself. Using them under the table feels wrong, but… perhaps I could do more with it down the road. In particular, the engineering of rice that synthesized greater amounts of beta-carotene in an effort to combat vitamin A deficiency sprung to mind. She wasn’t doing anything near as complex as genetic modification like that, of course, just chemistry… but it was the same general idea: save lives through scientific advancement.
“In that case, I’ll be on my way! Don’t you worry, Miss Kimura, hard as it may be I will keep my lips sealed about your little concoction. Ohh, rien ne pèse tant qu'un secret!”
As the door to the lab swung shut, Seiko breathed out a long sigh of relief. She enjoyed the occasional joint-venture with Hanamura, but he was such a handful to deal with that she tried to limit her exposure as much as possible. She’d seen how he acted toward a fair amount of the girls, and counted herself lucky that he tended to avoid those kinds of… interactions with her. Whether it was because he wanted something out of her for his recipes or because her face was nearly always obscured behind a cloth mask didn’t matter.
She found further relief in the fact that she had successfully danced around his requests for some form of chemical aphrodisiac for… a surprisingly long time, thus far. The idea sounded nice in theory, and she had actually synthesized one with startling ease, but no doubt someone as perverse as Hanamura couldn’t be trusted to wield it wisely.
She closed her small, brown trunk that contained row upon row of meticulously-labeled vials— which she affectionately referred to as her “showcase”, as it contained some of her most popular compounds— and latched it shut before carrying it to the back room.
At the far right of the lower, windowless cabinets was one that remained locked at all times. This cabinet was where Seiko kept her most important chemicals— not that the entire storeroom wasn’t full to the brim with such things. All of her efforts were important, and she wouldn’t hear otherwise.
The trunk fit neatly into its space at the bottom, and in exchange Seiko took the case two to the left— silver in color, and only slightly less bulky than the last, but far more secure.
As she brought it back out into the lab, she withdrew something from her breast pocket: a small, black rectangle that, at a passing glance, could easily be mistaken for a flash drive or something of the like. It slid into a small port on the side of the case, instantly popping the tabs on either side with a quiet beep.
To think one of the underclassmen could create such a simple yet effective device.
The voice of an excitable student in the hall tore Seiko’s attention from the case and for a moment she stood there, violet eyes transfixed on the door like a deer who had just heard a branch snap in the distance. Quietly, her thumbs slipped the latches back down and she crossed the room to the door, locking it in a slow and steady motion.
And once more, she exhaled a relieved sigh.
She couldn’t have someone barge in again. Especially Ruruka.
After unlocking the case once more, she opened it and took a cursory glance through its contents. There should still be enough to last for a good while, I think, but…
Her fingers halted on a lavender cap, and she pulled the test tube halfway out to examine before releasing it back into its slot.
I need to check storage for triphenylphosphine… I can’t afford to be out. Oh, well…
She plucked another, shorter vial from its home— this one with a plain white cap— and then the syringe beside it, before settling back down onto the stool she had been perched on earlier.
Once sanitizing the syringe, she inserted it into the vial and watched the clear liquid rise up and into the tube.
Tap, tap.
She drew her other hand down to her thigh, where she felt for a particular small hole that was torn in her leggings. It was hardly noticeable— there was much more about Seiko Kimura’s appearance that garnered attention from her peers than a small rip in her tights, after all— but she always made sure to wear this particular pair on her injection days.
Once found, she took a slow and deep breath, closed her eyes, and…
Nngh…
She winced, but held her leg firm. It never got any easier for her, and upon withdrawing the needle once again she simply sat there, taking long, steady breaths for another minute or so.
Ruruka would never believe I’m strong enough to do this kind of thing, she thought as she collected herself. Once she felt calm and stable again, she stood and began cleaning up the minor mess, nodding to herself once again as she remembered her note-to-self from earlier.
Triphenylphosphine. Right.
Seiko had been extraordinarily gifted with regards to chemistry since she was very young, and it showed— she was only a teenager now and yet had produced a number of compounds and serums that changed the face of modern medicine. And despite her somewhat frantic energy when confronted with the unexpected, she honestly enjoyed the challenge; it was rare for her to get genuinely upset that she was unable to figure something out, as it generally presented itself as a logic problem waiting to be solved by rigorous methodology.
So, of course, as soon as she grew old enough to realize her body would soon be changing, she set upon a particularly ambitious goal for herself: shift the chemical composition of her body so that she could keep from loathing it. There were enough things that she sometimes loathed about herself, anyway.
It was far easier than expected: manufactured estrogen, as well as androgen blockers and inhibitors, had been in medical circulation for quite a while, so it’s not as though it was difficult to figure out synthesis for. It was easier for her to produce her own, though. …Well, maybe not easier, but Seiko had been self-medicating for quite a long time now, so she was used to it. Her health had always been a little bit troublesome, and while it was something she was quite capable of controlling, the medicines she needed in order to live a normal life had the side-effect of making sucrose borderline fatal for her to consume. Despite being close to Ruruka, the fact seemed to cause a strange rift between the two of them.
… Ahh!
Despite being alone, Seiko practically shrieked as she realized she had forgotten about an additional errand. She rushed to the chiller in the back, and upon opening it, plucked the tray of small, white tablets from the top shelf.
This should be enough for a starting dosage, she thought, compiling them into a small pill container she pulled from a nearby drawer.
The ‘patient’ hadn’t asked for them herself; rather, Seiko had been approached by a terrifyingly daunting man, nearly a foot taller than her, who despite his sheer muscle mass spoke with quiet discretion…
“Hey, you. Octopus hair.
You’re some kinda chemist or somethin’, yeah?”
Seiko had been standing idly in the hall, triple-checking a few of the plastic containers full of serum in her bag, when the man approached her. She had never really seen him around before, so she had to assume he was an underclassman. Either way, he looked as though he could tear her in two if she looked at him wrong.
“Well, um… I’m the Ultimate Pharmacist, so in a manner of speaking, I guess—”
“Got a favor to ask ya.”
“O-oh, well… I’m sorry, I’m trying not to take on new requests right now? It’s just that—”
Seiko flinched as the hulking man’s fist collided with the wall behind her. She was almost certain she heard cracking behind the wallpaper. As the man brought his hand back to his side, he dropped his head and stared at the ground.
“… That was my bad. I don’t wanna scare a girl. I’d never raise my hand to one, promise. Just… hear me out, would ya? It’s for a friend. She… needs help.”
If he was telling the truth, then this was precisely the reason and opportunity that Seiko Kimura had wanted to reserve her talents for. As she listened to the man speak, the situation sounded all too familiar.
“I’m trustin’ you not to be weird about this, alright…? But, my friend… she’s not like other girls. She’s real quiet and mousy, but still, she, ah… … has more testosterone than she’d like. I’ve been readin’ and shit, and turns out there’s like medicine girls like her can take to make them… more like other girls.”
He paused, giving a half-shake of his head before mumbling to himself.
“I’m probably not making any goddamn sense. But can you make that kinda crap, or…?”
Seiko’s eyes were slightly wide, but not for any reasons that the man could have guessed. Without a moment of hesitation, she replied.
“So… likely she needs something like a testosterone inhibitor, coupled with an estrogen steroid hormone? Does… that sound correct?”
As the man’s head raised, a surprised look in his eyes, his stiff pompadour wobbled slightly.
“You understood all that?”
“Um, yes…” Seiko gave a quiet nod. “I’m quite familiar with them. It shouldn’t take long at all. I’m producing something similar for, um, another client.”
A gruff sigh of relief left the man’s mouth.
“You’d be doin’ me a huge favor. And her.” He paused for a moment before adding an additional note. “Just… don’t tell anyone about this shit, yeah?”
It would have been a bit easier to just supply the girl with the estradiol she was already making, but according to the man who approached her the poor thing seemed like she would be terrified of needles… so, pills it was. Not that it was an inconvenience for the Ultimate Pharmacist. If anything, it was good practice.
She made her way to the South District, and then to the first-year student dormitories. She didn’t know any of them, really— she’d only met a few from the 77th Class, never the 78th— but at the very least the student who had come to her for help gave her a name. For something like this she would have preferred to remain a third party, for confidentiality’s sake… but since it was something that would require further doses, it was best the girl knew who was producing such medicines for her.
Ah…
She stopped at the door with the nameplate Fujisaki and withdrew the slip of paper from her coat pocket. There, in the crude handwriting of the man from before, was confirmation.
She set the small, brown parcel by the foot of the door, knocked politely three times, and then turned to head back to her lab. She was far too uncomfortable with the idea of meeting a patient under such strange circumstances, even if it was someone she clearly shared a certain degree of common ground with. But that’s why she left a note.
“Huh? A package?”
The timid girl knelt down in the doorway, slipping a small folded card out from beneath the red string that held the parcel together. As she read it quietly to herself, her heart did a small— but ecstatic— flutter.
Fujisaki—
A friend of yours came to me with a special request, and so I’m delivering these to you. When you are running low, please feel free to visit me in the chemistry lab where I’m most often doing my work and I will synthesize more. I apologize if this feels like an invasion of privacy, but I want to assure you that I’m taking something very similar to these as well, so you’re safe with me.
— Seiko Kimura
Ultimate Pharmacist
Hope’s Peak Academy 76th Class