The Golden Star Enigma
By Zoram Selrof
Chapter 1: The Scheherazade Symphony
18:44 PM (Japan Time), Thursday January the 9th, 2010…
"… Hmpf… So this is the SS Scheherazade Symphony… Well. No big deal, I'd rather say."
"True, Enzan – sama."
"Departing time is at 19:45 PM so we're one hour early. But I don't see that guy around even though we agreed to meet at this hour and in front of the ship…"
"Maybe they are about to arrive, sir."
"Well. Guess so."
"Yo~! Enzan! Been a while~!"
"Hikari Netto. So you made it on time."
"What… We meet again after half a year and the only thing you can come up with is "you made it on time"…? You don't change, Enzan!"
"Guess so."
"Hello, Blues."
"Rock Man. It's been a while."
Ijuuin Enzan, aged 14, stopped walking when he reached the dock where a passenger ship with the name SS Scheherazade Symphony was docked at: he looked rather unimpressed and began chatting with his Net Navi Blues when Hikari Netto (aged 14 too) rushed towards him: Enzan merely lifted his eyebrows while Netto looked amused: both Operators carried sports bags hanging from their right shoulders while Rock Man EXE greeted Blues who replied with his usual dryness.
"Superintendent Oda isn't here yet?" Netto asked.
"No."
"Uncle Merton says you're - FIRED!"
"Yikes!"
"Heh, heh, heh."
"S-superintendent Oda…!"
"Yo! Hikari – kun. Been a while… Uncle Merton would rather say you've sharpened your face with a katana…"
"HUH?"
"Oh. Come on."
Superintendent Oda of the Net Police's Cyber CID suddenly showed up from behind Netto while looking in a very good humor indeed and startling Netto with his joke: Netto jumped backwards out of instinct, taken aback, while Enzan looked skeptical.
"The problem with Ijuuin – kun there is that he doesn't have a sense of humor and is so dry that all coffee in the office goes dry!" He laughed at his pun.
"Excuse me, sir, but isn't coffee dry to begin with?" Netto didn't seem to catch the irony.
"It's a joke!" He laughed again.
"Ah… W-well…" He muttered.
"Ahem, ahem." Enzan cleared his throat.
"Oh. True, true. I called both of you here because I received an invitation for this mini-cruise which extended to you two. It'd seem a gentleman wants to know more about our exploits… By the way… How long ago was it? That battle you had…" Oda asked.
"Oh, that…? Hum… Well. Pretty long ago… July 2007… I started 6th grade on that year's September and I'm already at the 2nd grade of middle school… I've stayed outta battles ever since that one…" Netto recalled.
"My, my… That long ago… Feels like yesterday…" Oda muttered while rubbing his chin.
"Are we gonna ride on that or not?" Enzan asked.
"Sure." Oda grinned as he showed them a wheeled suitcase he carried along with him.
"You're not gonna tell me you brought a manual of puns." Enzan muttered with some skepticism.
"Who knows?" He teased.
"Oh. Whatever."
He turned around and began climbing the ramp followed by Netto and Oda: the three of them stepped into the hall of the ship where the reception counter was at: the decoration was reminiscent of an hotel and didn't give the impression of being a ship: a clerk bowed upon spotting them and put on a professional smile as they headed over the reception clerk.
"Welcome aboard, gentlemen. How many rooms will you be using? We have single and shared cabins." The clerk greeted.
"… Hikari." Enzan called out.
"You decide." Netto shrugged his shoulders.
"You snore at night?" Enzan asked.
"EH? That's a rude question! Of course not! Right, Rock Man!"
"Well… Yeah. Netto – kun doesn't snore." Rock Man confirmed.
"Good. Then I'm gonna say shared." Enzan formed a smug smile.
"Oi, oi…" Netto looked suspicious.
"I'll have a single then." Oda told the clerk.
"Roger, sir. What might your names be?"
"Sam Merton Who Comes To Haunt Your Dreams!"
"Do excuse me?" The clerk looked horrified.
"Ahem, ahem. Sorry, young man. Here." He cleared his throat and drew his police ID.
"Superintendent Oda… Should I write it down like this, sir?"
"You may. Unless May Man has an objection to it." Oda laughed at his newly improvised joke.
"E-excuse me, sir?" He looked baffled.
"Don't mind him. He's fond of puns." Enzan warned.
"W-well…"
"Ijuuin Enzan." He announced his name.
"Hikari Netto!" Netto smiled.
"Excellent. Wait a minute."
The clerk turned to look at the board and picked two keys which he handed to Enzan and Oda.
"Rooms 21 and 26, gentlemen…"
"Good. By the way… Did Mr. Jisep come already?" Oda asked.
"Oh. No, sir. In fact… We haven't even met him yet. All transcations were handled by email and the bank…"
"Maybe this is a lil show in which he gets in as one of the invited passengers and we gotta unmask them…" Oda grinned.
"Is that "Jisep" guy the one who invited us?" Enzan asked.
"Of course. Unless you wanted it to be Count Negretto Sylvius of 136 Moorside Gardens, NW…" Oda grinned.
"No." Enzan drily settled.
"Who's that?" Netto asked.
"He collects bandanas."
"So what?" Netto frowned.
"He likes to take them from people."
"Yikes." Netto gulped.
"Along with some strands of hair…"
"Uh-oh."
"Come on." Enzan didn't buy it.
"That sounded so… improbable. Really." Rock Man muttered with some annoyance to his voice.
"Welcome to the club." Blues sarcastically told him.
"I get the irony, thanks." Rock Man muttered.
"Eh… Do excuse me but…" A voice called out.
A fellow passenger walked over to them: he was a man on his forties with some stomach together with a largely bald head (having some patches of black hair) and having no beard or moustache: his eyes were closed.
He wore gray pants, a simplistic navy blue wool sweater and an open brown sleeveless jacket over it along with brown shoes.
He was currently holding a small brown cylinder not even half a meter tall and made of wood on his right hand's thumb and index finger to show it to the other three.
"So? Do you need something?" Oda asked.
"Ah… Eh… I am sorry. I mistook you… Goodbye."
He turned around but dropped the cylinder when he was going to pocket it: Enzan and Netto crouched to pick it up and both spotted something on it which picked them: Enzan walked over to the man.
"Mr. Passenger! You dropped this, sir." Enzan called out as he showed it to him.
"Oh! T-thank you." He timidly thanked as he retrieved it.
"No, no. It is us who should be thankful." Enzan replied.
"Huh? Ah… Well… T-thanks anyway." He seemingly didn't get what Enzan meant.
He pocketed it and headed for the dining room when he spotted another passenger there: he looked on his forties as well and had abundant jet black hair plus some beard hanging from his lower chin.
His frame was slender and tall: he wore a gray wool sweater plus navy blue pants and simple brown shoes.
He was currently leaning his back against the wall and folding his arms while keeping his eyes closed: a smug smile was drawn on his face and he seemed to be waiting for something.
"Yo." He announced.
"Huh? D-do you have some business with me, sir…?" The bald passenger looked on his direction.
"Been waitin'…"
He opened his eyes to reveal green irises and at the same time held out a small key: the bald passenger smiled and seemed to recognize him given how the slender passenger walked over to him and patted his back as if they were old-time friends.
"How 'bout a drink over there? I treat. And we'll have a chat like in the good ol' times…" He invited.
"Delighted."
Both men headed into the dining room while a member of the staff walked over to the counter.
"Well. The organizer said 9 persons were invited… They all have come aboard by now. We should get ready to sail soon." He told his partner while looking up from a list in a clipboard.
"Aren't we forgetting that elderly gentleman who came out because he'd forgotten something ashore?" The clerk asked.
"Huh? Ah! No. He came back onboard and is resting on his cabin by now so there's no need to be worried about that."
"No problem then… Let's close the door already."
The group of three headed downstairs into the rooms and Enzan unlocked his and Netto's room: it had two bunk beds, a small desk plus a chair and a small adjacent bathroom: there were individual low-power lights built at the northern end of each bed to allow for individual reading without bothering the other passenger.
"Good. I'll be on the topmost bed yet…" Enzan trailed off in purpose and directed a glance at Netto.
"I told you I don't snore. Do you snore?" Netto grumbled.
"No."
"So what's with the look? I'm not a noctambule either."
"Soft, medium or hard?" Enzan suddenly asked.
"What? You mean the soy sauce?" Netto frowned.
"… Never mind then." He shrugged his shoulders.
"I thought you were serious." Netto reminded him.
"Sometimes."
"That sounded like a lawyer, ya know." Netto grumbled as he placed his suitcase atop his bed and unlocked it.
"Going to pick the katana?" Enzan asked.
"What in the… I'm just gonna put on jeans and a coat because it'll be cold out there in the sea. I don't wanna catch the flu." Netto protested as he took a pair of jeans out plus a brownish coat.
"Alright. By the way. 4, 4.5 or 5?" Enzan suddenly asked next.
"What's that? The level of spiciness?"
"You never know. I'm going on ahead to the deck. Meet ya there."
Enzan came out and closed the door while having a smug smile on his face and ignoring Netto's yells of protest: he shrugged his shoulders and climbed upstairs into the reception: he then walked past the dining room where only the two passengers were at and came out into the front deck to look at the sea: Oda was sitting in one of the hammocks and chatting with someone over the cell-phone.
"… and then Aunt Matilda appeared as if summoned by a magician and claimed an omelette had abducted her cat. Wait a min! The pun is that the criminal was named Rodrigo Tortilla and "tortilla" means "omelette" so that's why she said that! Mwah, hah, hah, hah!" He laughed at his own lame joke.
Enzan headed to the front of the ship and spotted a woman passenger there: she appealed as being on her thirties and was rather slender in frame too: she was giving the back to Enzan so he could only see she had brown hair.
She sported a green sailor's coat plus a pair of jeans and black knee-high boots and a cap: her hands were closed around the railing and she was looking forward.
Enzan walked over to that same spot and tried to look at her face but the cap hid most of it yet her face's overall shape was smooth and soft but not too beautiful either.
Your everyday type…
"… Ah. So we finally get to see some diversity. And here I thought this ship would be filled with dull men." She told Enzan.
"So it seemed." Enzan calmly replied.
"The sea… Is not magnificent? Such vastness… Such enigma… It shall swallow everything… Be it sorrow, despair, grudges, hatred… Such vastness can only be compared to outer space… And many things are swallowed by the sea… Corpses as well…" She muttered as if reflecting upon it.
"Well… True." He admitted.
"I am surprised, though. I have never met any "Mr. Jisep" and I am but an office lady so I am wondering why I got called here. I checked the passenger list and none here are people I have ever known. Maybe someone spoke of me and they thought I would bring some diversity to this otherwise dull cruise." She admitted aloud.
"Same thing here… I don't think our CO has ever met that "Mr. Jisep" person yet… I've figured out who they are."
"Is that so?"
"That bald man over there in the bar… He dropped a seal a while ago which had the name "Jisep" engraved into it…"
"Hum. I think he is named Konda – dono, though…" She seemed to be frowning.
"Maybe "Jisep" is an alias and he threw this together to recreate the cliché that you meet important people in a ship…" Enzan shrugged.
"It may be so…"
"Hello there! I'd say: a wonderful sunset! Don't you think so?"
A new passenger walked over to them: he appealed to be on his forties and had abundant brown hair plus a moustache: his eyes' irises were brown and he wasn't fat but had some build.
He wore a pale brown suit over a reddish shirt combined with pants of the same color, a green tie and shoes.
He currently had both hands stuffed on his pockets and looked friendly given his broad smile.
"Without mistake…" The woman formed a smile and seemed to snap out of her earlier slightly gloomy mood.
"So you're one of the young lads… It's good to see some variety around here and erase the dullness which comes with all of us being in the same age group…" The man told Enzan.
"True, sir."
"… Wait, wait. There's more! Rocky Rocking delivered a Super Fast Express Ultimate Crusher Punch at Ugly Masky's jaw and knocked him out so he won the match in just 49 seconds! How's that?" Oda laughed.
"I doubt that." Blues drily muttered.
"It obviously never happened to begin with." Enzan deduced.
"Yo! Sorry for the hold-up, Enzan…" Netto called out as he walked over to him having changed the shorts for the jeans and put on the jacket over his vest.
"So, Hikari. Who did it to begin with?" Enzan asked.
"Who did what?" Netto asked.
"You know."
"I'm not following."
"Well. We can settle it later then."
"Settle what?"
Enzan merely walked off without replying to Netto's question and headed for the dining room which had been lighted up and the setting completed so he picked a seat.
"Attention all customers: supper is ready so come inside if you may to start." A voice rang out through the PA speakers.
"Yum! Supper." Netto came in and looked like he was day-dreaming about it already.
"Come on, Netto – kun. Focus." Rock Man sighed.
"When it comes to food he tends to lose focus, right?" Blues dully asked of Rock Man.
"Sure thing…" Rock Man rolled his eyes.
"So? How's it been like? Middle school…" Blues asked.
"Oh. Good. It's challenging but I've survived." He summed up.
"Here are the menus, gentlemen…"
"Thank you."
"So! Hikari – kun. Ijuuin – kun. Who was the Emperor of Mongolia in the year 666 AD?" Oda asked as he sat down in a chair next to their table and leaning forward with a smile on his face.
"No – one. The Mongolian Empire didn't exist until 1206 AD." Enzan replied with a skeptical look to his face.
"There you go!" Oda laughed.
"How silly." Rock Man complained.
"Totally." Blues agreed on it.
"So? Mr. Shoes is gonna beat Mr. Sandals?"
"Who knows?" Enzan shrugged his shoulders.
"Hmmm… I'll have the soup plus the beef having green salad as side and water..." Netto settled.
"Alright. Then I'll have the pork rice and some water…"
"Bring me the takoyaki and water too…" Oda requested.
"Roger."
The waiter walked off while another two took orders from the other passengers: the two friends had picked one table while the other man and the woman shared another: the woman had removed her cap to reveal eyes with brown irises and her neatly combed brownish hair but had a dull look to her as the man tried to start a conversation.
"By the way… I thought there were supposed to be 9 passengers onboard today? I only see 7." Netto commented to the waiter as he brought their orders.
"True. The remaining two are a gentleman on his mid 20s and another on his 60s. The first one requested just yoghurt and is working on some business while the other is resting and wasn't hungry."
"Guess we'll meet them tomorrow. The ship is doing a two-night and three-day cruise after all." Enzan shrugged.
"Here you have."
"Yum! Itadakimasu~!" Netto grinned.
"And then Masked Catastrophe summoned Unmasked Catastrophe whose ugliness was more than enough to make Armored Storm faint and be knocked out! How's that one like?" Oda joked.
"Those boxing jokes are lame and vain." Enzan directly replied.
"Lame and vain goes vain and lame~!" He improvised a rhyme.
The other passengers glared at him with annoyed faces and he gulped so he remained quiet while the others had their suppers: Enzan and Netto along with Blues and Rock Man sighed in relief.
"Desserts?" The waiter offered.
"Banana, please." Netto requested.
"Nothing, thank you." Enzan thanked.
"Merton ice-cream." Oda joked.
"Excuse me, sir?" The waiter frowned.
"Sorry. Ahem, ahem. An apple if you may." He cleared his throat.
"Certainly."
"… Can you believe it that someone can gain so much money just from being a syndicate member that doesn't imply any real job? No wonder our economy is still struggling after the disaster of the 90s!" The white suit passenger told the woman.
"No wonder." She drily replied.
"But we should be glad: I've seen reports of other countries having those "informational picket" which in truth try to stop people from going to work during general strikes and later commit vandal acts…!"
"By the way… I now remember… That elderly gentleman… Is he a researcher? He struck to me as… He had that monocle on his face and that spiky hair too… And that curious coat… I saw him carrying a folder with some documents and one looked like circuitry blueprints… What is his name?" The woman asked the waiter.
"Oh. He did give me a visiting card… Eh… Ah. Here… Well. He is a researcher specialized in robotics and energy… I believe he is a foreigner who has been living here for long given his good Japanese… I believe he is on his 60s… Yet… He had one or two stitched wounds which picked me for some reason or another…" The waiter commented.
Enzan was frowning and seemed to be picked by the conversation while Oda was writing something down and Netto was apparently checking his inbox: they'd already eaten their desserts by now.
"… Dr. Joseph Wily… That's his name." The waiter announced.
"WHAT!"
All passengers gasped and looked at the waiter who seemed surprised: Oda suddenly stood up and raced over to the waiter.
"Where's that old fox at!" He demanded.
"R-room 23, sir…" He uttered.
"Joseph Wily…! Was that not the demoniac genius scientist who tried to destroy the world back in the year 2007?" The woman gasped.
"Ugh! I suddenly feel bad… I'm going to my room…! To lie down for a while…!" The bald passenger suddenly stood up and looked nervous.
"Cha keep on being the type susceptible to sea sickness, huh? Good night, anyway." His partner asked with some sarcasm.
"Hikari – kun! Ijuuin – kun! Follow me! We're going to apprehend that old fox! Waiter! Come along! You have a master key, don't you? I'm Net Police Cyber CID so let's go!" Oda rallied.
"R-roger, sir…"
The group ran down the stairs and into the corridor with the rooms before stopping at both sides of Room 23.
"Open it and we'll cover you. I brought my service revolver today and the old fox might be armed…" Oda whispered.
"R-roger, sir…"
"You two be ready to disable any foul machine he might carry inside of that suitcase too…" Oda instructed.
"Roger." Both nodded in understanding.
"It's o-open, sir…!" The waiter whispered.
"Good. Ready… Go!"
Oda drew his revolver and pulled the door open with the left hand while aiming forward: the room was unlit so he quickly switched the revolver to the left hand and then hit the light switch with the right hand: the lights turned on but the room was empty and didn't look like it'd been used to begin with.
"What in the Merton?" He cursed.
"The room looks clean…" Netto muttered.
"Too clean." Enzan grumbled.
"Are you sure that the old man's room is this one?"
"Yes, sir. There can't be any mistake. I knocked earlier before supper but he replied "my bad, I don't feel hungry" and thus I headed back after checking with Room 19's gentleman…"
"Room 19's… The yoghurt fella, you mean? Is he there?" Oda asked the waiter.
"I think so." The waiter admitted.
"Let's check with him."
"Alright… Here it is."
"Oi! Yoghurt Fella! Uncle Merton says you gotta be a Dow Jones stock broker! Let devil bite my hat if I'm wrong!" Oda yelled as he banged on the door.
"By all the… Mr. Passenger! I demand to know the reason for such a commotion!" An annoyed voice rang out.
"Net Police's Cyber CID Superintendent Oda!"
"N-Net Police's Cyber CID…?" The man gasped.
He quickly unlocked the door: he was a man on his mid-20s with abundant brown-colored hair and eyes having blue irises: he looked clean shaved and his face was smooth and suave.
He wore a black suit with a black tie over a white shirt plus black pants and brown shoes.
"Alright! Show me the ID." Oda commanded as he showed him his police ID.
"R-roger…"
The man handed Oda his passport and he looked at it.
"Kanou Shade. 25 years old. Birthday: October the 21st, 1984… Nationality: Japanese… Current residence… Densan City 5th district… So… What's your job?" Oda read before asking.
"Winterthur Inc. employee, sir… I am a clerk in the Densan City office although I work part-time there… I'm still finishing an online course on finances…" He admitted.
"Good. Have you seen the fellow in Room 23?"
"The gentleman with the hostile look…? I have." He replied.
"When was that?"
"Shortly after coming onboard, around 18:00 PM… I'd come out of my room to head to the deck and have a look when I saw him unlocking his and directing a hostile glare at me and then slamming the door shut."
"Slamming the door shut… Maybe he wanted to work on something and didn't want anyone to bother him or something had gone badly and thus was in a foul mood…" Oda muttered.
"Is there a problem?" Kanou asked.
"There is! The man is the infamous Dr. Wily who led the WWW!"
"But hadn't he died in an explosion after the "Dream Virus" was destroyed and thus the WWW collapsed?" Kanou asked with a gasp.
"Weeds never die! The guy seems to be alive and unless he had a twin which I'm sure as Merton that he didn't then he survived somehow and has been hiding ever since then." Oda grumbled.
"W-what should I do, sir?"
"Have you heard him coming out afterwards?"
"I wouldn't be able to say, sir. I was working with my laptop and listening to music at the same time so I don't think so, sir." He admitted with a shrug of the shoulders.
"So he came out along with his suitcase… What kind of suitcase was it, anyway?" Oda asked.
"A silver attaché case… And he also carried a folder with some documents loosely stuffed there… But I only saw him for a moment anyway before he slammed the door shut." Kanou replied.
"Alright. I'm off to checking with the staff."
Oda ran off and both boys shrugged while Kanou looked worried at the prospect: he sighed and picked a gray trench coat hanging from the perch behind the door plus a brown hat having a black band around it which he put on.
"I'm going to the deck. I don't feel like working with a crazy old man so close to my room." He muttered.
"Well. I'd say we go up and try to think of where the guy could hide because he can't be in the cabins…" Ennzan suggested.
"Obviously… They're all locked." Netto realized.
Kanou Shade locked his and the three of them headed into the topmost deck where they sat on the benches while looking around the unlit sea surrounding them.
"So… They never found his body back then?" Kanou asked to break the silence.
"No." Enzan merely replied.
"I never bothered to ask. I had other things going on my mind." Netto sighed as he glanced at his PET.
"Yet… What a bizarre coincidence. Of all places in the world he ends up being invited to ride in this ship and the ones who witnessed his defeat are invited as well… This "Mr. Jisep" knows something. And I don't think that bald man is him either… I'd rather think it's someone unseen but that the bald man was given that seal as a red herring…" Kanou muttered as he rubbed his chin.
"Guess so." Enzan lazily replied.
"It's starting to get cold so why don't we go to the rec room? It'll be warmer, I'd say." Netto suggested.
"Yeah. Let's go there. What time is it, anyway? Hum. Past 21:00 PM already…" Enzan agreed as he glanced at his PET's digital clock and confirmed the time.
"I don't feel like sleeping until we figure out where did Wily go off to and if it's really him although it has to… I mean, they've seen him open the door and so…" Netto muttered.
The group headed inside of the rec room where they found the other passengers expect for Oda and the bald man named Konda: the woman was having a drink on the bar's counter while the other two were chatting while sitting opposite each other in the sofas with the table being placed in the middle.
"So? Did that man appear?" The woman asked.
"Sadly, no, ma'am… They seem to have vanished into thin air and they were not in their room…" Kanou took off his hat and made a courteous bow.
"You seem somewhat… out of time… with your manners." She seemed to be trying to find the appropriate adjective.
"Truly."
"Hmpf… Fine… Yet… I brought a deck. Why do we not play before retiring to sleep? Surely the old man will have been found by then. We shall not bet any money either…" She invited as she finished her drink.
"Delighted. Gentlemen?"
"No problem, miss." The slender man grinned.
"Excellent." The man in the white suit agreed.
"Sure!" Netto grinned.
"Why not…" Enzan shrugged.
They sat around the table and began to play while soft background music began to play: the barman whistled a tune and drew a small portable radio which he turned on and put on a pair of earphones to listen to its broadcast.
"… I'm going to the toilet for a moment… I'll be right back. Please carry on…" The white suit man excused himself.
"Alright."
"By Merton! That guy's a wizard!"
Oda came back in while looking defeated and sat on one stool while yawning and stretching.
"What?" Enzan asked.
"You heard me! He wasn't in any room or any of the decks! He wasn't in the toilets either! All rooms were locked! The crew's quarters were untouched as well! This is madness!" He cursed.
"What's madness?" The white suit man asked as he returned while cleansing his hands with a handkerchief.
"The old man! He's nowhere at all and yet 5 persons saw him onboard the ship! It's crazy! Totally crazy! No master keys are missing either and I checked all rooms!" He grumbled.
"Truly strange, truly…"
"Full house." The woman announced.
"Man. I'm so bad at these… My bad. I'm gonna go nap. Now that we know the rooms are safe… Good evening." The slender man rose and stretched before barely suppressing a yawn.
"By Merton's swollen right eye and nose! I won't give up so easily! Ah! Yes, yes… By the way… now that I think of it… What are your names? Just for the record." He called out.
"Koyota Shayo." The slender man lazily replied as he came out of the rec room and waved a hand.
"Nazanazo Mary." The woman introduced herself.
"Kyundai Augen." The white suit man admitted.
"Alright. I already know the bald fellow is named Konda Tarou from the passenger list… I didn't want to wake him up." He muttered as he wrote then down on a small notebook.
"Do you desire something to drink, sir?" The barman asked.
"An orange juice…" He sighed.
"Roger, sir."
"This rings a bell somewhere…" Enzan suddenly muttered.
"Is that so, sir? I don't seem to recall…" Blues began.
"No, no. I mean that I've read somewhere about a similar thing. But I can't recall where or when right now… Well. I'm sure I'll eventually remember what it is." Enzan frowned.
"By the way… Are you really the boy who defeated those "Cybeasts" back in 2007?" Nazonazo asked of Netto.
"W-well, yeah… But it wasn't just me… There were others who backed me up and we all poured our strength together…" Netto blushed and scratched the back of his head.
"I had a part on that too." Enzan drily added.
"Of course! Who said you didn't?" Netto asked back.
"So? Did you find a girlfriend yet?" Nazonazo smugly asked.
"E~H? N-n-not yet… ma'am…!" He blushed and sounded nervous at the question.
"Guess it's the other way around." Kyundai grinned.
"Ah. You think so… On what grounds?" Nazonazo asked.
"Huh! I was joking, ma'am, just joking…" He admitted.
"Hmpf… Pointless…" She muttered with some annoyance to her voice and while looking offended.
"… And Uncle Steve said his perfume smelt like a revolver…" Oda was joking with the barman.
"I find that highly unrealistic, sir." The barman replied.
"Come on! Don't be so stiff: imagine! Imagine~!"
"The John Lenon song…" Enzan muttered.
"Imagine~!"
"What vanity." Nazonazo muttered.
"It might be named as such." Kanou simply replied.
"My voice is the best!" Oda kept on singing.
"Oh by all the. Someone stop him." Enzan cursed.
"My lady~!"
BANG!
Everyone jumped off the seats, startled, at the sound and looked around in a confused manner.
"G-gunfire… From the upper deck...? What time is it?"
"Huh… 21:34 PM…" Netto checked.
"Damn! I gotta check it out! It might be the old man!"
Oda ran out and the two boys followed him upstairs and into the uppermost deck where they found something unexpected: the flag was on fire.
"T-the flag's on fire…!" Netto gasped.
"What in the…" Enzan cursed.
"The old man…! Where are they…?" Oda grumbled.
"What was that sound?" Kyundai's voice rang out.
"Wasn't that fireworks?" Kanou asked.
"I doubt it." Nazonazo replied.
The other three passengers rushed into the deck as well and stared at the still burning flag with disbelief.
"Who the hell did this? Wily?" Netto cursed.
"Enzan – sama! Look… On that bench's reverse… A 10,000 Z note with some words scribbled on it has been stabbed into it using a knife! It could be a message!" Blues pointed.
In effect: the Net Police trio rushed over to it and checked the note yet the poor lighting made it hard to read: they were about to draw their PETs and use their flashlights when Nazonazo stepped forward and flipped open her cell-phone to illuminate the note.
"… "Having accepted the life granted by the Sea God Poseidon… My shadow shall be revived." …" She dully read aloud.
"A~H!"
"Kyu – Kyundai – san?"
Kyundai suddenly gasped in horror and began to erratically move forward while looking terrified.
"Huh! W-was alive…! Thought as much…! Ah! That guy was…! That guy was…! WAS ALIVE~!" He muttered before turning to face everyone and yell in a horrified manner.
An explosion suddenly took place behind Kyundai and from the lower deck which reached past the upper deck before turning into a continuous column of smoke: everyone gasped and a loud alarm began to ring out across the ship.
"The f-fire alarm…!" One staff man gasped.
Enzan and Netto wasted no time in racing downstairs, past the rec room and into the stern of the ship where a square box was burning with unusual fierceness: the heat was too intense to allow for them to approach it and they had to remain there looking at the strange phenomenon.
"W-what's burning?" Netto asked.
"That's… the emergency rope stair's box…! I saw one earlier so I can't be mistaken!" Enzan realized.
"The rope stair's box…? But then… What caused the explosion and why is it burning so fiercely?" Netto wondered.
"Ah! L-look!" Rock Man gasped in horror.
They look there and saw the unmistakable shape of a man's arms burning inside of the flames: both were paralyzed at the sight of the already blackened form and that of what seemed to be a strap-watch on one of the wrists.
"Step aside, you two!"
"Huh! Y-yes, sir!"
A staff man aimed a fire extinguisher there along with another staff man and they began to put the flames out until it stopped burning altogether and the smoke receded: the other passengers had gathered there by now and looked horrified.
"Damn it. It's so burnt out that it's impossible to say who this fellow is until we get to shore and do a dental identification… It could be old man Wily for all we know." Oda cursed.
"Excuse me. Does not that person carry a strap-watch? I am pretty sure Koyota – dono owned it." Nazonazo pointed.
"Oh. True. It's mostly melted and deformed but it is a true gold strap-watch…" Oda realized.
"Shouldn't we call for that other passenger, that Konda – san? Maybe he knows something?" Netto suggested.
"I'd rather ask that guy, Kyundai, first. His words of a few minutes ago were pretty suspicious." Enzan replied as he glanced at Kyundai over his right shoulder.
"Almost as if he was expecting Wily to be alive…" Blues added.
"Which reeks." Rock Man concluded.
"Anyway. The explosion's origin is this can of gasoline which seems to have been ignited somehow yet I don't see any remains of a detonation device. And this guy's pose reminiscent of a boxer is because the heat stiffens the body and the body automatically gets into this position while burning. Nothing spectacular here. This was done deliberately because the boxes were secured from the outside when I searched for the old man around here." Oda listed.
He then walked over to Kyundai and scrutinized him with his glare: Kyundai broke into cold sweat and looked nervous: he began to step back and Oda took another step forward.
"Cha and I gotta talk a lot, fella… And let devil bite me if you don't know something about old man Wily." He warned.
He signaled for him to follow him and the other passengers followed suit while the staff put a cloth over the corpse to hide it from sight: the group came into the dining room and Oda signaled for Kyundai to sit down in front of him: Oda picked the chair opposite him and leant forward while Kyundai avoided eye contact: the other passengers were standing next to the western side doors.
"So! Speak."
"I k-know nothing!" He tried to waltz outta it.
"Ah? And what did you mean a while ago then?"
"Huh! Eh… It's nothing, I say!"
"You say but I'm not satisfied with that. Lemme remind you I'm Net Police Cyber CID and I'm a Superintendent. You better don't joke around with me, fella." Oda warned next.
"By the way… Shouldn't we bring Konda – san in and ask of him if he has any idea about Wily? That of the seasickness seemed like an improvised excuse to get out of the dining room." Enzan suggested.
"Go fetch Mr. Clean and I'll fetch Uncle Merton. Let devil bite Uncle Merton's beard if you're not trying to waltz outta it, Kyundai. I know cha are hiding something. And I'll find it out like it or not." He icily warned Kyundai by leaning forward.
Enzan came out followed by Netto and they headed downstairs into the passengers' rooms: Enzan knocked on Room 27's door.
"Konda – san? Excuse me? Konda – san? They're calling for you, sir, so please come to the dining room… Huh?"
Enzan spotted how the door was badly locked and he pulled it open for a little portion to look inside: the room was unlit.
"Hello? Konda – san? Hello? Can you come with us, sir? Are you hearing us, sir? Eh…" Enzan kept on calling out.
"Konda – san! Please wake up!" Netto called out.
Enzan tried the light switch and found only a suitcase in the room and no – one else: the bed was untouched as well and the restroom was empty as well.
"By all the… He's given us the slip and vanished into thin air too? What's going in this ship?" Enzan cursed.
"We should tell Superintendent Oda, right?" Netto guessed.
"Obviously! Come!"
"R-roger."
Both ran back into the dining room where Oda was merely folding his arms and staring at Kyundai who avoided eye contact.
"Superintendent Oda! Konda's vanished into thin air."
"By all the… What the hell's wrong with this ship? Steve Dixie and Barney Stockdale are running this show or WHAT?" He cursed with obvious sarcasm to his voice.
"So! Now we have that old man who is nowhere to be found, Konda – dono vanishes and Koyota – dono shows up as a corpse. How lovely, really…! What is this, a hidden camera TV… event… or what? Someone should rather explain what is going on." Nazonazo adjusted her glasses and looked annoyed.
"For all we know…" Kanou shrugged his shoulders.
"Ugh! You can't detain me here! I'm off to the toilet!" Kyundai suddenly stood up and tried to look challenging.
"Whatever! The coastal police will be less kind."
"I'll complain to your superiors!"
He came out of the room and everyone else sat around the chairs while looking defeated and tired: Oda grumbled and took out some chewing gum from his breast pocket which he began to chew.
"So… What next?" Enzan asked with a sigh.
"We obviously aren't going to continue the whole route: I've called the coastal authorities and they've ordered the captain to head for the closest port which we'll reach tomorrow morning." Oda replied.
"Have you tried asking about if they can trace the transactions made to reserve the ship?" Enzan suggested.
"They're on it."
"Leave no stone unturned, huh?" Netto guessed.
"Obviously." Enzan confirmed.
"Whoa. It's past 10 PM by now. Well. Luckily my winter break doesn't end until Monday so I still have some days." Netto whistled in surprise upon checking the hour.
"… Hmmm!"
Kyundai came back in and grumbled as he sat in a chair in one corner and began to tap the edge with the right hand's index and middle finger as if trying to vent his bad mood.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
"F-four shots!" Enzan gasped.
"Don't tell me Wily is intending to manslaughter us all!" Netto cursed as he looked around.
"You stay here, Hikari! We'll check it out!" Enzan replied.
"Huh! Eh… W-well… A-alright…"
"Good! Come with me, Ijuuin – kun! You pick the west I pick the east and we'll corner them!" Oda ordered.
"Roger, sir!"
Both ran out and down both corridors to converge on the stern yet they found it empty: Oda quickly pulled the cloth off the burnt corpse to check that there wasn't anyone hiding there: it wasn't the case and no – one could be seen on the scene.
"Impossible, by Merton!"
"Superintendent! There's a maintenance hatch here which I believe leads to the engine room… He could've snuck back inside the ship like this and hidden there…!" Enzan realized as he opened it.
"Going inside just like that is suicide. But I've got my service revolver and I'll use it to disarm that old fox if they show their hide around! Wait and see, Wily!" Oda grumbled.
"E-Enzan! Superintendent! Kyundai says he wants to talk: he's broken into cries and yells that Wily wants to kill him!" Netto reported as he rushed in from the eastern side.
"What! Then what are we waiting for? Let's seal this hatch with something, though… Hmmm… There: another emergency rope staircase box… Let's drag it and block the hatch." Oda spotted.
They dragged it atop the hatch and then returned to the living room where Kyundai was sitting on a chair looking towards the bow of the ship so Oda sat in front of him and Netto stood to Kyundai's right while looking curious at his terrified face: Enzan leant his back against a column on the right side of the room.
"Alright… I… worked for the WWW… as a fifth column…" He confessed with a sigh.
"What! Fifth column… So you aided that Count Elec guy in their infiltration of the Silver Tower where the Science Labs are housed at…?" Oda quickly caught up.
"Yeah… We set everything up but it was for them to take the glory: yet we were also evacuated when Wily – sama commanded… But by then I and another two pals had begun to investigate rumors of a gigantic fortune in black budge… We'd been eavesdropping on him and checking his bank movements for over a year by then… We suspected something could go wrong so we all changed our names and erased our data from the databases in advance… We got a hold of his passwords and aliases as well so we were ready to take the money…" He continued.
"So you backstabbed the old fox." Oda summed up.
"Yeah. During the confusion brought upon by the "Dream Virus" and its activation we split the money into several portions and vowed to wait at least two years before withdrawing our portions… We parted ways and took a slice each… The one who came up with the idea of the ship meeting was Koyota… But now Koyota's dead and Konda has vanished… I fear I'm the next one… Wily made it through that somehow and has chased us: he must've intercepted Koyota's letter and faked a copy of it to get onboard so… I began to suspect someone of being on my trail about a month ago when I came out of the bank after depositing some money… And I couldn't figure out who they were… But now I think it was Wily…" Kyundai continued while looking at the ground.
"So! Wily is aiming to have you pay for your betrayal and such must be hiding in the engine room plotting something… I'm sure that we'll find Konda's corpse there… Maybe he went in when Konda was returning to his room, he got curious, followed him and got done in… Wily then intercepted Koyota after he'd called it quits for the night and put him inside of the box which he then set fire to with a fuse but not before calling us into the upper deck by detonating the gun there and then rushing down while we decided what to do." Oda suggested.
BANG!
"Guwra~h!"
"Hikari!"
"Netto – kun!"
"By all the…!"
A shot rang out and Netto collapsed into the ground and rolled across it by inertia while clutching his right arm below the elbow and closing his eyes from the pain: he was clenching his teeth too.
"Get down!" Oda ordered.
"Quickly!" Enzan added.
Everyone crouched while Oda crawled over to Netto who was groaning and in pain: Rock Man looked horrified at the sight of some thin trails of blood sliding down his right forearm and hand.
"Netto – kun! Hang in there! Netto – kun!"
"Hikari – kun! Where did they hit you? Answer me!"
"Guh… Kruh… Ugh!" He managed to hiss.
"Right forearm…?"
Oda pulled back the coat's right sleeve and the shirt's sleeve as well to see a fresh bullet wound on his right forearm below the elbow and before the wrist which was slightly bleeding.
"By Merton! A bullet wound…! Hell! Who the…?"
BANG!
Another shot rang out and Enzan crawled towards the front viewing windows to then sit on the ground and use a column as covering to glance outside into the largely unlit bow.
"A person… There's a person shape there in the bow!" He reported while forming a grimace.
"Alright! Time to make my revolver sing! Ijuuin – kun! Tend to Hikari – kun: try to stop him from moving around too much or the wound could worsen." Oda commanded.
He ran out through the eastern door and used the glassed wall as momentary cover while he looked towards the figure sitting on the bow and leaning against the railings: he drew his revolver and took out the safety.
"Alright, Wily! No more cat-and-mouse! Drop your weapon and lift your hands where I can see them! Ya listening? By Merton! I'm getting annoyed, you know! Oi! Answer me, old man! Hmmm?"
Oda spotted a small spotlight set above him which he aimed towards the figure and immediately gasped.
"… Ko… Koyota…! That's Koyota…!"
"By all the…!" Enzan cursed from inside the dining room.
In effect: Koyota, missing his sweater and having a white shirt on, was sitting on the ground and had a gun on his right hand plus a bullet wound on the right side of his head which was slightly bleeding: his eyes were lacking life and his jaw was wide open.
"You gotta be kidding me." Oda cursed.
"W-what… going…?" Netto slowly opened his eyes and asked in a hoarse voice which didn't conceal his fear.
"Calm down. You got shot. By Koyota."
"Huh…? Why…? It wasn't… Wily…?" He slowly asked.
"Doesn't seem like it… Someone bring a first aid kit!"
"I'll go." Kanou offered.
"This is madness. So who the hell is the burnt body? Wily?" Oda cursed aloud.
"Could that not be Konda – dono?" Nazonazo suggested as she adjusted her reading glasses again.
"Bloody Merton. Then Koyota's the culprit? Wait a min… "Wily" was seen a while before we came… And then said he had to retrieve something and come back… Hmmm…"
He then spotted a rope ladder attached at the lowest spot of the railing and hanging in front of the ship's bow.
"I see. He has rope marks on the cuffs and ankles from securing his hands and feet there while he hid… He's gotta be the one who put Konda in the box after putting his sweater on him and giving him the clock. Then he drew us away by shooting in the rear and rushing back inside using the hatch to come out in the front and hide below the windows during out chat with Kyundai… I see a motive by now: get all the money! That's why he called them here to begin with."
"… There. You won't be able to use that arm for a week or so but before that we'll get you to a hospital where you can get that bullet removed in the first place…" Enzan told Netto as he finished bandaging the arm in a calm manner.
"Kyundai. I think you know something about "Wily" being onboard because I'm starting to doubt that." Oda came back in and loomed over Kyundai.
"T-that's…"
"Koyota did it, right? He has the right body shape for that. He boarded the ship as Wily, came out, and returned to register as to produce a "ghost" in the form of Wily… He surely carried the disguise on his luggage… Once he was witnessed by Kanou – san he took it off and began to wander around as Koyota… He then waited for someone to bring out the name "Wily" and all would start to move according to his plan. We were invited as camouflage and to hide the obvious. Who'd imagine that a former WWW member would invite the Net Police's Cyber CID to begin with?" He deduced.
"G-guess so… T-the seal and key were signs to recognize each other while I brought a sign… In the past you had to have a sign, a key and a seal to use a safe deposit box so…" He admitted.
"Anyway! Case Closed, I'd say. Koyota staged it all but seeing how he missed his shot he decided to drop into Hell by his hand out of despair seeing how everything went wrong at the last moment… Let's get to port and you're gonna have a talk with my buddies there."
Kyundai nervously nodded while Netto seemed to slowly shake off his tension: Enzan patted his back as if to cheer him up while Nazonazo and Kanou looked relieved that the tale was over.
"Alright! And now I say: Uncle Merton will - RECRUIT YA! Into what, you'll ask? Into the - MADNESS CLUB!"
"Oh heck. Not again." Enzan cursed.
"Mwah, hah, hah! Madness Club Goes Mad with - MADNESS!"