RPC Authority

RPC-279-A

Registered Phenomena Code: 279

Object Class: Alpha-Yellow

Hazard Types: Auditory, Sapient, Regenerative

Containment Protocols: RPC-279-A is to be contained in a standard humanoid containment cell at Site-108, a facility situated in Minato City, Japan. Biweekly therapy sessions are to be conducted by Clinical Psychology Researcher Dr. Iwazaru and are to be maintained to further evaluate signs of continual memory loss/degradation.

A daily prescription of cholinesterase inhibitors¹ and appropriate analgesic drugs are recommended for RPC-279-A's condition. Proposals for heightened drug dosages are to be authorized by Researchers with Level-3 clearance.

Description: RPC-279-A is a metamorphic humanoid that currently appears as a 21-year-old human female of Japanese descent named Hatsugiku Taro; it is 155cm tall and speaks Japanese in an Okinawan dialect.

RPC-279-A exhibits regenerative capabilities and corporeal augmentation. Though normally limited in capability, RPC-279-A uses these abilities to create accessories. On its person are the following:

• Hairpins made from protrusions of occipital bone that grow at the back of the head
• White face paint made from nails and teeth.²
• Kimono comprised of organic polymers, gestated from its hair follicles
• Layered silk fabrics made from pigmented skin
• High platform shoes made from skin and metatarsal bone

Alternatively, RPC-279-A has also shown the ability to alter its larynx to produce different vocal octaves. Further research into RPC-279-A's capacity to augment itself is ongoing (see Addendum-279-02: Schedule & Followup).

As a consequence of its abilities, RPC-279-A is subject to symptoms similar to early-onset Alzheimer's disease. This is due to cranial hemorrhages that occur within memory-related structures of the brain, such as the hippocampus and amygdala, when it manipulates its body. Thus, RPC-279-A possesses short-term memory impairment, which limits its ability to recall names and objects.

RPC-279-A's internal physiology is exceedingly redundant; as a result, a significant series of anomalous augmentations to 7 kidneys allows RPC-279-A to produce stem cells. In conjunction with a complex endocrine system and an overactive pituitary gland, the transport of these cells is rapid.

Near-universally, externalized forms of psychological harm cause the growth of cancerous cells within injured bodily regions. This harm is particularly reinforced by mental duress and latent trauma. Current research into RPC-279-A's psychosomatic condition is inconclusive. RPC-279-A's cognitive defects and properties were discovered during containment.

On February 11, 2012, news reports originating from the red-light district of Kabukicho, Tokyo described sightings of a woman missing all her skin below the neck. Local law enforcement reported that the woman exited a hostess club, and proceeded to frantically cry out for aid before attempting to stop vehicles.

The Department of Humanoid Trafficking assigned the woman with a provisional RPC designation.³ Due to its anomalous properties, excessive dermis, adipose, and osseous tissue accumulated in loose polyps on its person and sloughed off as a result of movement. Recovered samples experienced decay typical of necrosis. Soon after, the humanoid fell unconscious due to blood loss and paramedics had extracted it to a nearby hospital.

In the following hours, a team of Authority medical practitioners arrived and assumed care of RPC-279-A. A misinformation campaign was distributed to the press and non-veiled medical professionals; these documents claimed that the patient had experienced a rare symptom analogous to Stevens-Johnson syndrome. Furthermore, displays of rapid skin and muscle recovery were explained as a bizarre allergic reaction to an unknown chemical exfoliant. Biohazard teams seized residual RPC-279-A tissue samples within the area.

Under the guise of a routine clinical inquiry, an Authority physician was tasked with ascertaining RPC-279-A's previous whereabouts and frame of mind.

Initial reconnaissance discovered a schedule that detailed showtime events. Below is an English translated version.

After relocation and detainment at Site-108, observations revealed that RPC-279-A had issues with visual/spatial perception, word association, and long-term recollection. This prompted its diagnosis. As such, RPC-279-A was given 4mg-8mg tablets of Razadyne daily to combat its malady.

RPC-279-B⁶

Registered Phenomena Code: 279

Object Class: Gamma-Orange

Hazard Types: Psychotronic, Incorporeal, Memory Alteration

Containment Procedure: Under the Department of Psychotronic Analysis, the acquisition of RPC-279-B affected individuals is in progress. Disseminated studies, social media deferrals, and website links are to promote this acquisition to participants as part of a national sleep study.

Sleep medical facilities, located between Minato and Kabukichō, are classified as an extension of Site-108's sleep disorder unit. Embedded physicians within these facilities are to monitor incoming subjects. Per the Authority Supervision of Inpatient Care Services (ASICS), physicians are to covertly observe and provide therapeutic aid to subjects who exhibit symptoms that fall under a diagnosis of Suspiria.

Subjects in moderate to advanced stages of detectable Suspiria are to be administered an array of polysomnographic tests and cognitive processing therapy. Should subjects disassociate and attempt self-harm, they are to be relocated to Site-108's medical bay for observation.

Due to RPC-279-B's coverage remaining in situ since its discovery, an Authority-owned front company has acquired and foreclosed the Shinjuku Koma Theater. MST Juliett-43 ("The Grand Sealers") are on standby within Site-108 should changes to RPC-279-B's selection process occur.

Description: RPC-279-B is a Class-IV psychotronic entity.⁷ Hypothetically sapient, it manipulates memory-related structures of the brain via dreams. Extrasensory perception affords an exceptional degree of impartial memory scripting.⁸ This process allows for personas, such as humanoid variants of RPC-279-A, to be "written" into the minds of affected subjects.⁹

RPC-279-B is completely non-corporeal. Its main mode of manifestation is through the dreams of unconscious subjects. Extrapolations in regards to its behaviors and psychological influence over the subject are surmised through interviews. This dream-content, which occurs on brain oscillations at the range of 4-8Hz, is defined as a Suspiria.¹⁰

Observations of RPC-279-B manifestations are conducted through EEG studies and neuroimaging scans.¹¹ Specifically, increased abnormal neural activity (common to seizures) and confusional arousals are markers that correlate with interactions subjects have had with RPC-279-B within in a Suspiria. These heightened phantasmagorical settings occur upon the subject's interpolation of the entity's mode of speech. Notably, the entity is incapable of communicating normally, expressing itself through sighs or groans. Subjects view or intuit their personalized Suspiria as performances, held in a theater setting.

Recurrent Suspiria induces the subject's acceptance of abstract thinking, metacognition, decreased reality awareness, and visual-occipital / auditory-temporal hallucination. In line with this, hypnagogic hallucinations have been recorded as symptoms of long-term mental infiltration. In controlled environments, affected subjects purport that these dreams possess significant value to them and that they often invoke some form of existential meaning, in correlation with their memories.

Without outside interference and proper medical treatment, subjects gradually self-identify as an actor within an ongoing performance; often, irrespective of whether they are unconscious or conscious.

While the exact relationship between the two instances is unclear, due to the effects produced by RPC-279-B, the working hypothesis is that RPC-279-B was responsible for the modulation of RPC-279-A's form. Further supported by experimentation performed on RPC-279-A, researchers have discovered variable psychological imprints or "triggers" that influence RPC-279-A into subconscious bodily augmentation. RPC-279-A's ability to reshape tissue is the result of advanced mental programming.

A paranormal hotline under Authority compliance ("Yōkai Watch FM") received numerous reports of sleep paralysis caused by "Kanashibari" from previous attendees to the Shinjuku Koma theater. On December 21st, 2012, under the guise of routine architectural maintenance, an Authority-owned construction company launched an impromptu investigation into the theater. Upon entering a registered basement level, they had uncovered an illegally-excavated room connected to the main one via a makeshift doorway.

While most of the room was empty, with severed wires and wall recesses indicating numerous machines had been stripped, some items remained. Items included cardboard set designs, several plastic props, pulleys/rope theorized to have once been fashioned into a theatrical rigging system, and humanoid dolls. Above all, documents that implicated the GoI Kabushiki Kawaii were uncovered. Thereupon, the Authority bought out the Shinjuku Koma Theater under a front LLC and launched a wide-ranging investigation into the theater's finances and previous stockholders.

Occurrences of RPC-279-B were logged to exclusively surround Shinjuku Koma theater. No known anomalous leakage was recorded from people residing in neighboring buildings. By January 2nd, 2013, the Authority quarantined the theater and its underground contents went into effect.

Modus Operandi: The main concern posed to Authority intelligence divisions was that RPC-279-B greatly deviated from the GoI's consumer products. While most documents were burnt or shredded, some were salvaged by forensic archivists. Review of letter correspondences indicated the GoI acquired anomalous technology and multiple legitimate orphanages under charitable shell companies. Preserved blueprints compiled psychotronic research, with registry, signatures, and references that dated as far back as 1978. Though various unknowns made the exact motive behind these purchases unspecified, researchers theorized that these investments allowed for the development of RPC-279-A and RPC-279-B in parallel with one another.

Post Compilation: Psychoanalysts posit that while RPC-279-B's capabilities allow for the propagation of Suspiria, it possesses numerous unknown flaws. As such, RPC-279-B does not function in the way its creators originally desired. Proponents of this theory point to excerpts from blueprints, which prioritize the survival of subjects during longterm RPC-279-B interactions. A corollary to these flaws is the high-rates of suicide maintained by subjects who experience late-stage Suspiria. Due to the almost universal expungement of RPC-279-A and RPC-279-B mentions in documentation found from raids on known GoI facilities, it is unknown if this research supplemented the development of other products. It is unclear what the GoI retained from their experimentation. Research into novel methods for the mental control of either product or consumer maintained by the GoI is ongoing.

DATES: 12/10/12 - 12/22/12

Subject Name	Gender	Parasomnias	Suspiria Journals
Eiko Yumeka	Female	Narcolepsy, nightmares, sleep paralysis.	Persistent scene set within the subject's junior high school graduation ceremony.12 The subject stands behind red curtains, reciting words inaudibly, while unseen audience members audibly shout and sing. In response, the subject will mouth their lines faster until they collapse from stress. Their paralyzed body is positioned in such a way that they face the red curtains. At this stage, the faint silhouettes of faces crease through curtain fabrics. As the voices increase, the subject attempts to match what is said, mouthing unknown phrases.
Amaya Kawamata	Female	Nightmares, depression, sleep paralysis, chronic migraines.	Persistent scene set within the Two Lions Station.13 The subject begins each session standing near the terminal platform. Frequently, the subject nods left and right to check on the faces of passengers. As the train comes through the tunnel, the subject stares at the windows and views the interiors, which contain human-like figures in each passenger car. As the subject enters and takes a seat, they notice that the humanoids possess placid, leathery faces, with the notable exception of eyes and a mouth. In place of a train schedule, digital displays exhibit the room's current temperature at 1150 °C. Upon the subject's acknowledgment of these displays, flames burst from the windows and doors. The subject recollects the palpable smell of burnt meat and hair.

---

/db/bin/279/interview_03.md

> Close?

Interviewer: Dr. Akira Shiga

Interviewee: Amaya Kawamata

Foreword: The following interview was conducted in a therapy room. Following this, a secondary interview was performed in an adjacent room partitioned by a one-way privacy window, which allowed Dr. Kento Iwazaru and RPC-279-A to view the therapy room.

---

<Begin Log>

Dr. Shiga: Had a good sleep Ms. Kawamata?

Kawamata: Sort of. I mean those - erm, metal-probe-things you attach with the gel? It's really sticky. Hard to sleep when you feel gross, you know?

Dr. Shiga: Haha, well, I'll be brief with my questions. Now, from your recollection, what did you see last night in your Suspiria?

Kawamata: Same as yesterday and the other sessions before that.

Kawamata's depiction of the train window from her dream. Art therapy was used to capture significant images from the perspective of subjects.

Dr. Shiga: Can you elaborate further? For posterity.

Kawamata: Sure. Like, I remember going down the stairs to the train station, the one I told you about before. In the dream, I'm terrified - I'm running and running and the stairs just keep going, like they're extending. It's like the hallways are closing in. There's barely any light. The floors are covered in glass shards. Train arrives before I get there; I yell "stop the doors" and sprint into the compartment, past what feels like a mouth rather than twin slidedoors.

Dr. Shiga: So from our last session, you identified "finding another job" as being something of an indicator as to why you're seeing this. And so, how did you feel when you entered the train?

Kawamata: Tired, somewhat scared I'll lose my job. Don't know why. I was fired months ago.

Dr. Shiga: I know that's greatly affected your living conditions as of late.

Kawamata: Yeah, harder living in a shelter than a home. Do I have to do this? Can I go now?

Dr. Shiga: I can't end our session before our time's up. I'm sorry, it's policy.

Kawamata: Fine, alright, it's just, I want to distance myself from these dreams.

Dr. Shiga: When you were aboard the passenger car, could you identify any of the passengers?

Kawamata: Can't say. Their features kept warping. Like you know-how on a camera phone, if you record moving objects, it blurs? Sort of like that. Being on the train brought back memories: waking up early, rushing to get dressed, eating nothing, and taking a 2 hour trip from Shin Osaka to Tokyo. I wished my parents never badgered me into an office job.

Dr. Shiga: So in the last session you described having a "falling-out" with your parents?

Kawamata: It was a hard time in my life. They didn't make it any better.

Dr. Shiga: I wholeheartedly understand, Ms. Kawamata.

Kawamata: Want to know what's weird? I tried hard for them. I tried to give them everything I had until I didn't have much for myself. Whether it was time or money, it didn't matter. All it took was one bad day for them to disown me.

Dr. Shiga: I can't imagine the amount of duress that's placed on you. Things change. As much as you or I know that, sometimes… people can be set in their old ways.

Kawamata: Yeah.

Dr. Shiga: You wrote that the interiors caught fire, that it traumatized you. I want to ask, did you happen to see a red figure or shape?

Kawamata: For a split-second, when I stared out of the passenger window. It was among the crowd of onlookers. All of them standing there, staring.

Dr. Shiga: Notice anything, in particular, occur when gazing at it?

Kawamata: Hard to notice key details when your burning alive, doc. Felt like my skin was being scraped away. Don't know if that's actually how being burned alive feels like, but I felt my skin was like a dress being torn apart like silk or tissue. Boiling and crackling as each layer came off. Is it weird? I felt naked, exposed to the bone.

Dr. Shiga: Sensations and perception tend to mix together when we're asleep. So I believe it was your mind trying to decompress times of hardship, in an abstract way.

Kawamata: I remember something in my mind saying it's what I deserve before waking up.

Dr. Shiga: It's very likely a manifestation of your depression.

[Kawamata nods.]

Dr. Shiga: I believe we're out of time. Any finalizing comments?

Kawamata: Maybe, I don't know. Do you know what's funny? What was that old saying: sleep and wait for good luck? Well, I used to sleep a lot, doc. I used to look forward to sleeping, even in midday, because the world would "vanish" and I wouldn't have to worry. I used to think "whatever dream-me is experiencing must be better than paying off university loans and rent." I used to want to know what life was like for that version of Kawamata. That superficial me. Well, now I do know. Beyond the fire and beyond the flesh… she burns. She's not scared of the pain: the nerve endings recoiling in pain, the layers of skin turning roast red. She's scared of what happens after. When she's smoke and air and nothing. What happens after?

Dr. Shiga: Listen, Kawamata. Let me take my clinical hat off for a second here and say this: these hardships are fleeting, and that it will get better. It will.

[Kawamata remains silent for several minutes.]

Dr. Shiga: Kawamata?

Kawamata: It all doesn't feel real.

<End Log>

---

[CCTV camera records the adjacent room. Dr. Iwazaru's pulls the blinds above the window down and switches on a recorder. RPC-279-A's anxious demeanor lessens, sighing and reclining backwards in a metal folding chair. It is restrained by wrist and ankle bracelets.]

---

<Begin log>

RPC-279-A: What a sad performance.

Dr. Iwazaru: Elaborate, RPC-279-A.

RPC-279-A: I told you to stop calling me that.

Dr. Iwazaru: We discussed this. While you're under our care, you will be addressed by your official designation.

RPC-279-A: [nods] I know it's the new normal, I know it is, but you said if I tell you what I know, things would be better for me. [tugs slightly at restraints] This isn't what I had in mind.

Dr. Iwazaru: We haven't broken our side of the bargain, RPC-279-A. Leisurely time is a reward that's earned; we've given you books and movies as per requests.

RPC-279-A: Eh, leisure? That's what you call being locked up 24/7, leisure? What about freedom to stretch my legs! But, but you know what I really want is to sing-

Dr. Iwazaru: That's prohibited. We're still cleaning the wreckage from last time.

RPC-279-A: Haven't I been punished enough?

Dr. Iwazaru: I won't debate you on this again. Anyways, what do you make of this performance RPC-279-A?

RPC-279-A: Eh, I could show you just take me off these pills, and I'll show you.

Dr. Iwazaru: We discussed this RPC-279-A.

RPC-279-A: A hairpin and katana from bones and nails. A sultry kimono and a dance from my skin and heart.

Dr. Iwazaru: We can't change your diagnosis nor your regimen.

RPC-279-A: Yes, you can! I feel so numb and tired all the time now. Let me do something, let my skin breathe, please.

Dr. Iwazaru: Look, you're ornery. I'll mark down a new prescription later on.

RPC-279-A: I don't need more pills and needles! Do you like this? Does this get you off? You and that camera up there! Take my arms, take my heart, put me on drugs until I'm dead, I don't care! That-the last time, you showed me that schedule and, well, it felt really magnificent to let it all out. I miss being able to sing. Just please, consider it.

Dr. Iwazaru: I will pass that along to my superiors, but that's out of my hands. Behave yourself.

[Silence]

Dr. Iwazaru: A few followups before we end today. Can Ms. Kawamata do what you do, given time?

RPC-279-A: New actresses need time to break - when she will be taken, I do not know.

Dr. Iwazaru: Do you know how your acting troupe conducts live performances? Thus far, our agents have only uncovered abandoned facilities and shredded documents.

RPC-279-A: Eh, well, I don't really recall. I'm sorry.

Dr. Iwazaru: Do you have any idea who or what orchestrates these performances?

RPC-279-A: How do I explain… in Bunraku, the puppeteer's job is to give life to the inanimate; to direct the eyes of children to the actions and lies of puppets. Their eyes and ears are drawn away, taken from them by clever acts, singsong chants, loud drums. The trick is to keep the children distracted, so that they can never see the strings that glide upward.

Dr. Iwazaru: So if I'm understanding this correctly, then who's the puppeteer?

[Dr. Iwazaru takes out a folder and produces images of RPC-279-B. RPC-279-A stares at them and exhibits sharp, punctuated breaths. Its forefinger and thumb twitch, making sudden pinching movements in the air.]

Dr. Iwazaru: Hey, RPC-279-A?

[Dr. Iwazaru claps.]

RPC-279-A: It doesn't always look like that.

Dr. Iwazaru: It doesn't? Well, we compiled these images from advanced scans of unconscious victims. The appearance matches up with accounts as well. What does RPC-279-B look like to you?

RPC-279-A: That isn't - that isn't her name. Though I suppose she has as many names as she does faces. Our red lady. She appears to me as a pair of glowing spotlights; eyes from the rafters.

Dr. Iwazaru: Why didn't you describe this entity earlier in our last session RPC-279-A? Or record it in your dream journal?

RPC-279-A: I was afraid, okay? There's almost nothing to do nowadays but sleep. Our red lady is always watching.

Dr. Iwazaru: You keep saying "our." Elaborate.

RPC-279-A: In my dreams, I'm always on stage and always at the end of some grand performance. Then, the spotlights intensify from beyond the rafters. That baleful gaze always horrifies me. Strings from on-high begin to bind my legs and hands. I'm lifted upward as the curtains fold. Going beyond the rafters and ceiling, until the picture of a theater behind me shrank and died. The spotlights roared like a nuclear warhead, with fragments of myself departing, sun-kissed and bleach-cleansed in the twilight of an irradiated Lion. It was the Godhead's sight; the crimson pulp of the world made manifest.

Dr. Iwazaru: Did the entity directly communicate with you?

RPC-279-A: It was less like a talk. More like it was always there, a secret covered with mud and kept in the hollow of a tree. She paints her face to show her sorrows; the artist of a floating world, made from the depths of whores. Our red lady played with our strings from the secret places of dreams, far above. I remember other puppets; young girls like Kawamata, side by side, powdered and painted, smells of wood and cherry, ages no more than twenty. When I was on stage, they danced to our red lady's song. I miss them. I don't know where they went when the drums were set aside and the chanters stopped singing and their bodies became still.

<End Log>

> Close?

DATES: 12/23/13 - 01/07/13

Subject Name	Gender	Parasomnias	Suspiria Journals
Ju Yang	Male	Narcolepsy, Nocturnal leg cramps.	Several scenes set within a boat situated on an unknown lake. Upon capturing a small salmon, the Uncle instructs the subject on a method of preservation. Through the application of flunitrazepam, alcohol, a power drill, and sodium hypochlorite the Uncle claims youth may be preserved in its primordial state. As the subject attempts to apply these lessons, the salmon slowly forms into the shape of an feminine humanoid.
Kento Matsuoka	Male	Sleep-related eating disorder, chronic sweating.	Several scenes set in a sushi restaurant. The subject attempts to prepare salmon sashimi for a patron in a lab-coat. They utilize metallic chopsticks instead of a knife to remove bones from a pile of ash made to resemble the outlines of a fish.
Yuna Hitsumi	Female	Nightmares, sleep paralysis, lucid dreaming.	An amalgamation of variable scenes that include arguments held between the subject and their partner. The topics range from daily routines, career choices, sexual orientation, theatrical performances, philosophy,14 tabula rasa,15 existentialism, simulation theory, and gender identity. Notably, the faint sounds of sobbing and uproarious laughter are heard from an indiscernible source. Each scene ends on a double suicide.
Hanami Hirata	Female	Nightmares, sleep paralysis, lucid dreaming, hypnagogic hallucinations.	Recurrent scenes of the subject sitting in a sterile hospital room. After an examiner extracts saliva samples from their mouth, the subject attempts to recall yesterday's events. The subject admits to feeling the after-effects of inebriation and states the events in a slightly-drunken stupor. At which point, the subject notices the examiner does not appear to possess large portions of the face; notably, a hole extends from the forehead to the lower mandible. After the subject expresses displeasure at the tensile sensation of cold fingers, the examiner consults the subject on their irrevocable bodily alterations. Several ephemeral alterations occur to the examiner's physiology who seamlessly morphs into a mirror. Therein, the subject's reflection is gleaned. The subject sobs as their reflection sings.16 While the dream-content becomes indistinct after this point, the subject notes that they consistently experience dual sensations: the smell of iron and the taste of salt/viscous liquid.

---

/db/bin/279/interview_04.md

> Close?

Interviewer: Dr. Akira Shiga.

Interviewee: Hanami Hirata.

Foreword: As in the previous interview, Dr. Iwazaru and RPC-279-A were situated in a concealed room adjacent to the sleep therapy room.

---

<Begin Log>

Hirata's depiction of the window beside her hospital bed. Drawn in a previous session with Dr. Shiga.

Dr. Shiga: Glad to see you awake.

[Hirata does not respond.]

Dr. Shiga: You're lucky the nightguard found you in time.

[Hirata remains unresponsive.]

Dr. Shiga: You're lucky he saw the door open and went in.

[Hirata remains unresponsive.]

Dr. Shiga: If there's anything we could do for you, Ms. Hirata.

Hirata: Who's Hirata?

<End Log>

---

[CCTV camera records the adjacent room. As Dr. Iwazaru switches on the recorder, RPC-279-A weary demeanor lessens, quietly murmuring through their CSD neck shirt pressed firmly around its lips by its hands.]

---

<Begin Log>

RPC-279-A's depiction of the sky above her containment chamber.

RPC-279-A: She even looks like me.

Dr. Iwazaru: I don't see the physical resemblance.

RPC-279-A: Not like that.

Dr. Iwazaru: Ms. Hirata's story didn't line up. She claimed she was an actress and attending university, when in fact she was a hostess and a dropout.

[Silence]

Dr. Iwazaru: Ms. Kawamata shared similar issues. No priors, no addresses. There was a missing person's report on her, but we can't trace it back to a concerned party.

[Silence]

Dr. Iwazaru: RPC-279-A?

RPC-279-A: That's not my name. You used their names. Not mine.

Dr. Iwazaru: If you're not feeling well today, we could conclude and up your dosage for next time.

RPC-279-A: Sorry, sorry! Its hard to think and be here sometimes. If I had to guess, they're reading off their script devised by our our red lady.

Dr. Iwazaru: A script has a beginning, middle, and end. I can hold a script. I can read when an actress will talk and what they will say. Suspiria are inexact; we can't trace the dream-content subjects experience to how they will act when they are conscious.

RPC-279-A: Eh, conscious? You think they're conscious? This world is a cruel dream we've yet to awaken from, my dear Iwazaru. A dream. Our lady's dream.

Dr. Iwazaru: Simulation theory aside, that's nonsense - the entity itself only spans the proximity of a theater. Not worldwide coverage, at least per your suggestion.

RPC-279-A: Nonsense? I ran through those streets and ended up here. I remembered more and felt less. It's all an act isn't it?

Dr. Iwazaru: I don't quite get where you're going with this.

RPC-279-A: It's all a performance. How else can I explain to myself why I'm kept here? The nurses, subjects, you. If we're all props, then Suspiria gave us suffering and spirit.

Dr. Iwazaru: Is something wrong with the containment cell conditions?

RPC-279-A: Two weeks. Two weeks, five hours, thirteen minutes, since the redlight on my cell turned green, and I knew someone else became a victim. I counted, prayed, for someone to break. Do you think I like doing that? Just so I can talk to someone besides myself?

Dr. Iwazaru: We gave you everything you requested. You should be grateful. Once, and only once, we can contain RPC-279-B effectively, may denied requests be looked over again.

RPC-279-A: She kept me, you know? In those lonely nights, she kept me: brimstone and shadow, paralysis and nightmares. Suspiria is the font of life, I'm sure of it.

Dr. Iwazaru: I wouldn't go that far. The difference is that a natural born human is real and the those memories manipulated by Suspiria are wholly artificial.

RPC-279-A: Artificial? What makes you think that? You think you're more "human" compared to that of a "humanoid," a thing you assign numbers as names?

Dr. Iwazaru: Do you think you're- no, nevermind. I need you to answer me, as clear as possible, do you remember how you were scripted in the first place? I need to trace RPC-279-B back to an origin point, some point in your upbringing. It would go a long way to saving lives.

RPC-279-A: You speak of life, Iwazaru. The primordial vitae of life, shorn of tapestry. A thread with no author; a puppet who takes the stage and speaks of strings. It whimpers like half-lit flames, it cries out in cycles upon cycles. Until embers become forest fires burning kaleidoscopic intensities, until all that remains, and what awaits, is the charnel stench of rebirth. It speaks of rebellion and reformation - sacred secrets blanketed by snow - borne from a thousand mirrors. And then, they are gone. Tell me, tell me Iwazaru. What makes your script different than mine?

Dr. Iwazaru: Nothing you said made sense.

RPC-279-A: I'm trying to make sense.

Dr. Iwazaru: Then try harder, RPC-279-A. I know you know more than you let on. Out of 17 leads, 5 of them were confirmed Kabushiki Kawaii facilities. Whenever you say anything, my department has to transcribe what is and isn't a lead. I have to personally salvage kernels of truth from your philosophical ramblings. Look at me. When I asked you originally "what are scripts," I didn't want you to provide a detailed existential treatise on your current mood.

RPC-279-A: I'm trying.

Dr. Iwazaru: Innocent women need help. Now, preferably, I would appreciate it if we got to them in their early stages of Suspiria rather than finding them through the obituaries. Would it kill you to provide a concrete answer for once?

[Silence]

Drawn 2 days prior to interview. Scrawlings on the back of the painting are illegible.

RPC-279-A: Could you be honest with me? You never saw me as real.

Dr. Iwazaru: [sighs] Let me be clear, since your recovery and cooperation with the Authority, we've discovered many theaters. As a direct result of our sessions, we were able to help those like you.

RPC-279-A: At least call me by my name.

Dr. Iwazaru: You're a valuable asset, RPC-279-A.

RPC-279-A: That's what I am? That's… what I am.

Dr. Iwazaru: This is going nowhere. We'll continue this next week.

[Dr. Iwazaru exits the room. RPC-279-A stares at the glass partition.]

RPC-279-A: She looks so much like me.

<End Log>

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The following is a timeline composed of preliminary events that occurred prior to a Site-108 containment breach labeled as Incident Parallel Processing. This compilation precludes extraneous details.

On 02/21/13 and at 00:45, Site-108 wired a Code Yellow distress signal to Site-084, which indicated a containment breach of unspecified origin. Subsequent requests for a further inquiry were compromised as the site experienced multiple telecommunication failures. At 03:31, Site-084 received an all-clear signal on a backup channel. Digital documentation sent through the channel listed that RPC-279-A and several humanoid anomalies had escaped before the restoration of core surveillance / access control systems.

The following footage was sent through the channel and captures the containment breach that occurred during Incident Parallel Processing.

/db/bin/279/incident-2.md

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Site-108.

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[00:40] : Site-108's electrical network experiences systematic failure caused by an abnormal current. Backup generators fail to restart lighting control systems. CCTV cameras and comm channels are hampered as cloud-managed systems reboot.

[00:44] : An evacuation order is confirmed over the loudspeakers, which are connected to a separate network. Personnel follow Evacuation Contingency Yellow and ambulate through designated escape routes.

[00:49] : Incapacitated subjects are evacuated by medical staff from aftercare detention facilities. 4 subjects, diagnosed with Suspiria, are unaccounted for during this time.

[00:51] : Custodial staff report strange movements and rattling noises from outflow sewage canals underneath Section Alpha where RPC-279-A is contained.

[00:58] : MST Juliett-43 mobilize to secure high-risk containment sections, such as Beta and Zeta (which both maintain Red-rated anomalies) while Section Alpha (which maintains Yellow-rated anomalies) is deprioritized and receives a smaller amount of support.

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Section Alpha - Humanoid Containment Unit.

Outlined below are the room names attached to the numbers within the blueprints.

Reference List:

1. Storage
2. Examination
3. Examination
4. Examination
5. Laboratory / Observation
6. Lower Lvl Stairway
7. Cell No.4088 (RPC-279-A)
8. Cell No.4089
9. Cell No.4090
10. Cell No.4091 (Inactive)
11. Cell No.4092 (Inactive)
12. Emergency Exit

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[01:11] : Room #2's camera view captures fidgeting from the ventilation panel. Dr. Shiga, who had been drafting documents, is present within the room.

[01:12] : The panel is pried open and a humanoid figure climbs through the mangled grille, and then stumbles onto the floor. While visual coverage of the room remains obscured by technical difficulties, the figure is congealed in viscous, black effluent.

[01:14] : Dr. Shiga cusps a hand over their mouth and gags. The figure flails clumsily, slipping on excessive effluent mixed with blood, in an attempt to position itself on all fours at a reclined angle, with its rear towards the ground and its chest towards the ceiling. Full-view of the figure's face is not possible. A silhouette of its upended head stares in the direction of the researcher, who attempts to vocalize something indistinctly but is interrupted by a loud growl similar in sound to a pig squeal. The audiovisual feed cuts off.

[01:20] : Two hallway cameras that are adjacent to room #4 flicker on and off. Intermittent footage of the figure is shown. Hairpins (similar to the ones made by RPC-279-A in design) penetrate its skin: starting from the trachea and terminating at their pelvic region.

[01:23] : A camera in room #5 cuts off visual feed. Screams and gunfire from MST Juliet-43 are heard for 3 minutes followed by the clatter of bodies collapsed onto the hard surface of the floor. As the camera attempts to re-calibrate, the sound of wet slurping noises and sharp cracks are audible.

[01:34] : A camera positioned above stairway #6 captures the overhead view of an unknown figure, which walks with an abnormal gait. Fluorescent bulbs cast a dim light over the figure, who dons a multilayered dress composed of departed skin similar in fashion to an uchikake. Each layer is pinned to the body via hairpins. Due to a series of depressed skull fractures, its face presents as concave and bruised. After climbing several steps, it gestures to something behind it and out of view.

[01:45] : A camera above room #11's autonomous turning mechanism breaks and the view fixates on the floor near emergency exit #12. Frantically, a female researcher inches forward to the retinal scanner next to the double doorway. As their body comes more into view, their legs are revealed to be mangled. Sounds of canine panting and whimpering are heard from nearby. The researcher faints and is dragged backward via multiple hands from beyond the POV.

[01:49] : As the wall-mounted camera to RPC-279-A's cell is offline, secondary wiretaps turn on and record the cell-door being opened. Audio feed records a procession of footsteps that enter the cell.

[02:57] : Discordant singing is recorded in a range of tones: the vocal registers range from falsetto to pure tones. Wiretapes record a distinctive percussion emanating from RPC-279-A's thoracic diaphragm, which "harmonizes" with the singing. This is followed by sharp crunching sounds.

Post-Incident

In the aftermath, Site-108 was investigated. Upon technical audit, it was discovered that critical electronic devices had been altered or vandalized by electrical technicians. It was presumed RPC-279-B had manipulated their actions in an unknown date before containment breach. Furthermore, conditions associated with evacuated subjects had halted altogether, and newer incidents of Suspiria associated with the Shinjuku Koma theater ceased. RPC-279-B was classified as neutralized until further notice.

RPC-279-A was not found in its cell. Notably, the cell interiors were caked in congealed layers of viscera and blood. An examination verified that samples belonged to RPC-279-A as well as various subjects and personnel. Cadavers of personnel were found in cannibalized states, as evidenced by bite marks and disfigurement.

During an exhaustive inspection of RPC-279-A's belongings, a book had surfaced with 27 ripped-out pages. In there stead were new pages stapled to the spine that compiled RPC-279-A's attempts at remembering various scripts it had performed. Dates indicate these were drafted before the Hanami Hirata interview. Most pages are illegible with the latter devolving into introspective journal entries. The following was rewritten in various pages:

In the sea of trees, I realized there were others there. Seeking the meaning behind mourning and healing. The wheel in the sky. There were others - mirrors - who saw like I did with my eyes and with my face. I found a truth that had blinded me in those woods: spotlights above the firnament, primordial whores wallowing below.

As above, so below - I was born and so I gave birth.

I walked far. Walked farther than any other version of me into the depths of my depths. I feared the coming day when I would close my eyes and see nothing. And I didn't want to be nothing.

It took switching from one cage to another to know it, accept it. I am Hatsugiku Taro and I was born in a village by the woods. I am an actress by trade. These things I hold to be self-evident; I hold that I am myself, distant from any puppeteer. I am me.

In the following weeks, not only had MST Juliet-43 recovered samples within Site-108 sewers, but also in various subterranean discharge channels. One channel terminated at a lake within the Aokigahara forest, approximately 145km away from Site-108. MST Juliet-43 has begun to trail sightings of a "gestalt yokai" reported by travelers in the region alleged to be comprised of multiple bodies. The search is ongoing.

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