"Who the hell…?" Abe muttered.

"Like I said, I'm Responsible." The second Mihashi said. "As in, I am the physical form of Mihashi's sense of Responsibility. I'm pretty much in charge of everyone else, so I think I can shed some good light on this situation."

"I think I get it, if what you say is true." The doctor said, standing from his desk. "When Mihashi's emotions and personality traits were pushed from his head, they took a physical form in this world and act according to what they represent." Responsible nodded.

"There are eighteen total, and with me here that means you only have seventeen to find." He said. "Err, more like sixteen, since one won't show himself until the others have all been gathered, but that's to be handled later."

"Who are the sixteen then?" the doctor asked.

"We are as follows," Responsible answered, "Happiness, Sadness, Anger, Mischief, Nervousness, Fear, Recklessness, Determination, Tiredness, Hunger, Lust, Evil, Love, Hate, Maturity, Innocence, myself Responsibility and the final who will come later. As the Responsible one, both figuratively and literally, I know where they all are, but I can't gather them all on my own. So that's where you guys come in."

"We have to help find them all, right?" Hanai asked. Responsible nodded. "Do you intend on helping us?"

"Of course," he said, "I'll take care of rounding up the ones who are harder to handle, namely Lust, Reckless and Evil, while you guys round up the others."

"Where do we even start then?" Izumi asked. "They could be anywhere."

"The easiest place to go first would be Mihashi's house." Responsible said, turning to leave. "I have Mihashi's cellphone on me, so give me a ring with your findings."

Once he was gone, Abe turned to the doctor.

"We'll try to round them up as quickly as possible." He said. "We'll keep Mihashi here until we do, and hopefully we can get him fixed." The doctor nodded and the Nishiura team went on their way. Mihashi's house was their first stop.

The team rode their bikes from the hospital to Mihashi's large house, finding a third Mihashi at the front door waiting for them. The third said nothing, but led them inside. He motioned over to the living room, where a fourth Mihashi was half-laying on the coffee table, coloring with crayons. When the team looked over, the fourth waved before humming to himself and continuing his coloring. The third Mihashi then led the team upstairs.

"…So who was that downstairs?" Sakaeguchi asked.

"Innocence," the third Mihashi finally spoke, "easy to handle." He put a finger to his lips as he came to Mihashi's bedroom door. Opening it, he pointed over to the bed where a peacefully sleeping Mihashi lay. "Tiredness, easy to handle." He closed the door and pointed across the hall to another room. "Fear. He's hostile to anyone who gets close, so don't disturb him."

"And you are?" Nishihiro whispered.

"I am Maturity." The third Mihashi said. "I'll be in charge of the parts of Mihashi you find and return here."

"Do you have any tips for us in regards to the others?" Abe asked. Maturity tapped his chin for a moment before nodding. He led them back downstairs to the living room before speaking.

"With the exception of Responsible," he said, "we can be placed in pairs or groups of three. For groups of three, there is one member that controls the other two, and those are Sadness, Hate and Love. Find any of those three and their subordinates will follow promptly. Happiness, Sadness and Anger always remain in close proximity to one another, so if you find one, the other two should be close by. Honestly they should be the easiest to find, with Hunger and Nervousness being hardest because they're wanderers. That's about as much as I can tell you for the moment. Responsible is being picky about what I relay to you."

"But as 'Maturity', don't you have a little more authority over 'Responsibility'?" Oki asked.

"It's complicated." Maturity answered. "But I'm sure it'll all be explained in due time."

"So do you have any suggestions as to where we should start looking?" Suyama asked.

"Try the school's baseball field." Maturity said. "The one you find there will probably be willing to play bloodhound to find the others."

"Which one's at the field?" Sakaeguchi asked, and Maturity zipped his mouth shut. Abe scowled at the amount of information, or lack thereof, Maturity was giving them, but took a moment to take out his phone. Responsibility recommended they call him, so it was possible he might give them some hints himself.

After dialing Mihashi's number and hearing it ring, Responsibility answered. Though the only way Abe knew it was Responsibility was because the personality announced himself as such when he answered. All these Mihashis sounded the same.

"We've got Maturity, Innocence, Fear and Tired here at the house." Abe said. "And Maturity has directed us to the school field for another. Is there anything else you'd like to add to that?"

"Oh, that sure was fast." Responsible commented. "Hmm, let's see… I know you'll find a lot of them out in town. If anything, carry a picture of Mihashi around and ask if anyone's seen him. A few of the others tend to leave trails in their wake. So just keep your eyes open and be careful. Mihashi as a whole might be harmless, but parts of him like Mischief and Anger can be pretty dangerous if mishandled."


Part 2!

Part 3 in progress!