Flames guided Chifuyu through the night like a beacon. Her arrival on the scene showed her that the fires weren't as bad as their brightness indicated. She looked around and realized that only a few houses had their lights on. Only one or two of them were still looking out the window in curiosity at the scene. What a scene it was though. In the parking lot where the meteor landed the parked vehicles were fine for the most part. One or two of them were on fire, but clearly residual with the worst of it over. What's left over was a disturbing scene. In the place where the semi-spherical crater rested, flames were scattered and any car unfortunate enough to be in range was annihilated. Those that survived were cleanly cut where rough damage should be. Oddly enough the damage did not really indicate a clean cut, more rather the metal twisted cleanly away from the impact, some oddly while most were shaped in the imagined sphere in Chifuyu's mind.
Sweeping her vision around, she wondered whether she should inform her superiors that she was on the scene or rather to let the Japanese government handle this. The event was mostly out of her jurisdiction, smelling practically nothing of an IS related event.
The night's darkness made things hard to see, despite the bright flames about. Chifuyu leaned in to see if the meteor had survived the collision with the ground. Nothing, it was all black. The former Brunhilde stood tall and decided to let the government handle it in the end. That is until she noticed the darkness in the middle of the crater move. No... not darkness, black! A mass of black that seemed strangely familiar to her.
Much unlike her normal self, Chifuyu jumped into the hole, skidding against the rounded slope. She was wondering if she was seeing things. When she got a better look at that inky blackness properly, she recognized it. But how was it possible? Wasn't this a meteorite? Didn't it come from another planet? Chifuyu broke into a run once the ground ran parallel enough to her feet. Questions storming her mind as she tried to dispel the ludicrous assumptions she had of what was really in the crater.
Once close enough, Chifuyu stopped. It was more out of shock than issues with proximity. There, in the middle of this scooped up section of land, was not a rock. It was a young man. Safely assumable to be in his middle to late teens. Chifuyu confirmed her earlier suspicions and identified the mass of black she saw to be... an old gakuran. As far as the woman was concerned, all schools nowadays used the ensemble of slacks, blazers and ties instead of the old gakuran. Those, along with the older sailor fuku's were considered obsolete designs. Nowadays only delinquents wore gakuran. As that thought struck her mind, Chifuyu felt a migraine come on when she saw the young man's face, or more like what rested above it.
“Pompadour?”, she wondered out in disbelief. Either this was an elaborate prank that she found unamusing or this creature lying on its back before her was actually an alien in a very very bad human guise. Considering the feeling of alcohol in the troubled woman's veins was no longer felt, she was strongly inclined to believe the latter.
Chifuyu got closer and knelt down to check the young man's pulse. He was still alive, only unconscious. She found no injuries on his person, but other than the odd but normal gakuran, he wore a strange belt around his waist. She traced her fingers along the smoothened edges of the metal gadget that replaced the buckle. It was pretty big, covering most of the waist. Four holes were located on it, spread out uniformly side by side with two flanking a black screen left and right. They looked like something was inserted in the holes but she wasn't sure what.
Chifuyu checked his pockets and found a wallet. She took a peak and found a student's ID.
“Kisaragi Gentarou, Amanogawa Highschool. Third year.”
The name of the school didn't ring a bell. There were other pieces of biodata on that card but Chifuyu decided to keep that to herself. With surgical precision, she replaced the object exactly where it was found. As she continued to search him, a crunching sound alerted her to something underneath her heel. She picked the object off the dirt ground and inspected it. It looked like a switch. An odd switch but a switch nonetheless. She curiously checked it and realized the bottom shape was identical to the holes in the belt.
Chifuyu slotted the switch into the belt experimentally, a digital sound confirming it to be secure. The screen in the middle lit up showing a right arm. Looking around, Chifuyu located three more and filled in the rest of the holes. A process of trial and error teaching her that each switch seemed to belong to a specific slot signifying a body part.
Once they were all filled, She wondered how she what the next step would be. Taking a wild guess, she flipped the switches and leapt back as a digitized voice counted down.
“3”
“2”
“1”
A small buzz floated in the air. It was almost like energy humming as it awaited in a machine on standby. Chifuyu studied the belt once more and found one switch she had not touched nor noticed before, a lever on the side. She pulled it and was thrown back in a blast of wind and light.
When it was all over, Chifuyu no longer saw the young man in that outdated uniform and hairstyle. Instead, she saw something that made her gut feel like a rock was sinking to its bottom all over again, only this time it was worse than the alcohol. She checked her watch and cursed as noting that five minutes had already elapsed.
Still a bit jittery, Chifuyu hardened her resolve and reverted to her usually cool demeanor. She got on her feet and reached for her communicator. It flipped open with a snap as a familiar number on speed call was dialed.
D-R-R-R
D-R-R-R
Chifuyu tapped her heeled shoes as she anxiously awaited for the other end to pick up. A soft click ended her impatience as a sleepy voice greeted her.
“Hwaaah. Good evening, Yamada Maya speaking.”
“Maya, it's me.”
“Ch-Chifuyu-senpai!”, the cold tone of Chifuyu's cutting through Maya's lethargy.
The raven-haired woman eyed the being in front of her with apprehension as she spoke her next words. “Get dressed and call the mechanics block of ISA. I need a recovery team here in less than ten minutes.”