PLACEBO

Creator's Choice

"Keisari, what happened?" Chrome panted, his head peeking out of the stairwell. He thanked his lucky stars that he found what he wanted here, in a building that was more or less weathered away by age. Running around town searching for a single person had taken its toll, and the last place he expected to have to look was an abandoned commercial building. The moth-eaten billboards and withering advertisement posters were the only things that reminded Chrome that the place was once an economic hot-spot.

"Nothing," Keisari crouched down, sitting on his heels. "Had to deal with this sociopathic teenage girl who had a fancy idea about conquering Versailles. Kids these days..."

"Kei, really?" Chrome demanded, stalking towards the boy and towering over him with his hands on his hips. "You ran out of the Tarot house all of a sudden and wound up over here. Moreover, Aruna told me that there was suspicious activity on the roof. Right over here where Slade was."

Keisari laughed.

"Slade, huh? Well 'Slade' doesn't exist anymore, so you needn't worry about that. The Link from Miyanna's blood made him go insane. Miyanna as in Slade's lackey that you're meant to be after, and Link, as in the very Link which makes the Placebo Children all in-born killers."

— So that's what he was on about...

Chrome bent down and picked Keisari up by the collar. 

"If you suddenly went insane, it would hardly be anything new, stupid."

"... Chrome! Put me down."

He obediently loosened his fingers, allowing for the boy to stand firmly on his feet and releasing him after a firm shake. 

"Good grief... You'll only speed up the senility process like that. So, to put you out of my misery, let's go back to school before Enma decides to stock up on the stationary."

"Hey! You punk," he ran a hand through his hair, then proceeding to drag Chrome back down the flight of stairs, "aren't you going to have to bring Miyanna to Arun?"

"Well..." Chrome stuttered. He hadn't prepared for a thorough interrogation such as this one, but he knew for sure that he would be physically, as well as mentally, unable to bring the girl to Aruna. "Before that happens, I'd like to ask some questions."

"Right..." 

"About you, too."

"Huh?"

"Later, under my governmental authority," he crossed his arms in mock formality. "Right now, I want food. What do you say?"

"Ramen."

"Yeah," Chrome agreed, "ramen."

~ 

"What exactly are the Placebo Children?"

Keisari figured that it wouldn't matter, anyway. His mind was blank; he in the first place had never been entirely sure as to what the Placebo Children stood for, and much less did he know how to explain it to some officer working for the government.

Right. The Placebo Project worked outside of the government, much like Versailles.

"It's an um... Non-Governmental Organization."

"I know that," Chrome snapped in response to Keisari stating the obvious. He more or less slammed the mug of peppermint mocha that he'd been drinking down on the table.

— At least he doesn't have a stapler.

Keisari winced inwardly.

"We're the living source of Link itself." Why was he even telling this to Chrome? Maybe it was just an obeisance that needed to be fulfilled, in response to Chrome preventing him from getting shot up on his first day of college. "Link, as far as anyone's concerned, was first developed by the aristocratic people of Versailles in France. By all means, those nearest to royalty. The drug increased human adrenaline, speed and strength by ghastly levels. The extended generation of Versailles exploited its usage, and slowly Link became more widespread. The organization formed and became the center of the underworld, a mafia of sorts."

"Then there was the Link outbreak?" 

"Yeah. Link devoured humane conscience, and ultimately led to crime. Crime carried out in order to obtain it, and crime committed after consuming it. The government, as you know, declared war on Versailles. 

"To combat this, the organization bought kids from orphanages and parents that lived in poverty. They put these kids through surgical therapy and circulated concentrated Link in their bloodstream. They were still young, so they were able to adapt to a higher tolerance of the substance. In some cases they would develop seemingly superhuman powers, but not always.

"However, before some of them ever saw battle, the matter vanished into thin air. The government had eradicated the worst of its problems, moved on, and left the remaining minority to indulge in all the Link they wanted. As the Placebo Children no longer served purpose, some just left to lead normal lives, and others became assassins with their gift of exceptional talent.

"... Chrome, are you even listening?"

"What do you think?"

Keisari muttered something inaudible in regards to that, and Chrome ignored him.

"Kei, you should be a history teacher."

"Hell to the no!"

Chrome shrugged, digging a pair of chopsticks into the bowl of ramen that sat otherwise untouched. He had more than a few questions he wanted to ask, but he doubted that Keisari would be all to happy about answering them at all. 

— I can always find this Miyanna and ask her, right?

He sighed. He hardly knew how to track down the girl, and what to do in the event that he did somehow manage to do so. What common sense he had told him that for someone to be of a similar social status as Slade, their power would be a force to be reckoned with, too. 

"Chrome, hurry up and eat."

"Who are you, my mother?" He blinked, breaking out of his train of thought.

"No, I'm implying that I'm about to take your food."

Chrome buried his face in his palm, sighing as he pushed the remainder towards Keisari.

"Should've just said so." He stood up, head tilted a few degrees to the left with a small smirk. "I'm going back first, alright? I'll pay you back later. Maybe."

Giving the stool a small shove back underneath the table, Chrome turned to leave.