To Fly Free: Resolve

Chapter 12 - Units and Sections

Looking at the clock hanging on the wall in the living room, Himari realized how late it was getting. "It's getting late and we still haven't finished discussing what the volleyball team knows about winged children. Would all of you boys want to just stay the night?" She looked around at each of them.

They all agreed and then texted their parents to let them know they would be staying at a friend's house. Asahi and Evan would have to stop by their houses in the morning before school since they didn't have their school things, but other than that, there would be no problems.

"Alright. Now that that's settled, we can move on without worrying about getting you guys home too late." Himari settled further into her seat.

Noya took that as his cue to continue, "After Enno told us about the photos he said he didn't have time to do any more searching before we all met up, so he asked us to help him with doing more research on winged children in general. Looking for any other possible sightings, conspiracies, stuff like that, but also the history side of things. Enno said that if winged children exist, which I now know they do, there is bound to be traces of them somewhere in history, so he had us looking for things like old legends, stories, beliefs, cultures, and gods." He briefly explained, getting a few nods. "We all ended up doing research for the rest of the weekend and we met again at Kageyama's house today to share what we found."

Shoyo looked thoughtfully to the ceiling. "So that means there wasn't anything else that you guys found that was super personal? Just about our kind and how people have seen us throughout history?"

Noya nodded. "For the most part. Which is why it would most likely be a bit of a waste of time to go into full detail about everything that was found, but I'll give you guys a quick summary." He continued, "But there is one thing that might be important. Ennoshita read more about the experiments that Secret Facility does." He fidgeted as he glanced in Shoyo and Evan's direction. Both boys had sat up straighter at that. "It didn't get anyone closer to figuring out that you guys were there I don't think, but I assume it's still pretty personal and you'd want to know that everyone found out."

Shoyo looked down at his hands that were resting in his lap. Evan looked to make sure Shoyo was okay before turning his attention back to Yuu.

"Yeah." He said, "Please tell us."

Noya got up from his seat, "I wrote some stuff down, but I left my bag upstairs. I'll be right back." He explained before hurrying to get his things.

When he returned he pulled out a notebook and flipped to a page somewhere in the middle. He swallowed the lump in his throat before speaking again. "So, first there was the initial testing. It said it was blood, tissue, and other DNA samples to see if there were any components or abnormalities that were common in winged children. They found none. These experiments were discontinued." Shoyo, who had laid down with his head on Evan's lap, hummed.

Noya continued, "Next was what they called 'wing studies'. They did things like examine different kinds of wings, tried to figure out how they disappeared when retracted, if they could force the wings out, what happens to the wings when the winged children die, if they could surgically remove wings. Stuff like that. Apparently there's a specific way that the wings have to be removed and kept or else they disappear. It's only said to have been done once, and they still have the wings-" Noya hesitated, "hanging on the wall in the facility in Saskatchewan." Evan glared at the wall, anger written all over his face. Shoyo closed his eyes and clenched his jaw.

Noya kept going, "The winged children also can't survive for very long without them. These experiments are apparently still ongoing." He paused, looking in his book. His face scrunched up in disgust at what was there. "The next ones are 'adaptation experiments'." He took a deep breath, "Apparently winged children's bodies are much more adaptable and tolerant of certain things than a person without wings. To figure out what these things were they have been testing drugs, chemicals, poisons, various other substances, and animal DNA on winged children." Evan went rigid.