Chapter 3: Investigation
15:49 PM (Japan Time), Friday July the 2nd…
"… Huh… Fua~h…! Huh… Good afternoon, sir…"
"Come in, Enzan – kun…"
Ijuuin Enzan stepped into Commissioner Kifune's office while carrying a clipboard with some papers attached to it: he looked like he'd had trouble sleeping as well.
"Commissioner. Good afternoon. I bring Commissioner Malenkov's report on the incident." Enzan announced.
He handed the clipboard to Kifune and stood still in front of his desk while Kifune read it.
"Hmmm… The wagon was found twenty kilometers SSW of the mine's south exit and in the bottom of a gorge… It was obvious that it'd been vacated and then tossed into there to dispose of it: it was too easy to track. The culprits then switched transportation… No more info is available: the wagon itself was deliberately burnt with napalm and is a wreck… We have no leads, then…" Kifune muttered as he read the report aloud.
"No, sir… We've tried to track the former Neo WWW Operators given how the man known as "K. S." tipped off that Twilight had restored their memories along with their Navis before his death. Inukai Takeo's whereabouts are yet unknown but he can be discarded: he's already has his "revenge" so as to speak. Narcy Hide can also be discarded: he would rather prefer to pain the whole city in pink. Sunayama Noboru and Saiko Rei might have had connections somewhere. Tesla Magnets is discarded as well given Charlie Airstar's witness." Enzan listed.
"… You haven't slept enough, I'd say, Enzan – kun." Kifune told him.
"… True… I just… feel like something bad… is about to start…"
"Hmmm… I see. Well then… Try to get some sleep. We're all working hard on this." Kifune suggested.
"Yes, sir… If you shall excuse me…" Enzan replied.
"Go."
Enzan stepped out of the office and barely repressed a yawn as he walked down the corridor.
"… Enzan – sama. Should we retrieve the list of persons granted an "Asteroid" Net Navi?" Blues asked.
"… No… There aren't any capable of doing such stuff. None of them would bother to go by something so complicated…" Enzan replied.
"… Roger, Enzan – sama."
Enzan stopped in a corner of the corridor and looked out into the mockingly sunny skies.
Netto… Saito… What happened to you two? Why did that "Dark" Net Navi resurrect?
"… I see. We are stuck."
"We are sorry."
"No. I know you are doing all you can, Commissioner."
Hikari Yuuichirou was speaking with Kifune via videoconference while he was working in the Science Labs: Meijin was also standing nearby.
"… Are you still trying to communicate or pick up the GPS tracker?" Kifune asked.
"We are. But the last signal placed him at the spot of the abduction. The culprit switched off the PET. And we can't pick it up so it must be somewhere underground or with bad coverage." Yuuichirou replied with a sight.
"I see… That's a pity." Kifune sighed.
"… Please contact me if something were to happen."
"Understood. Good afternoon."
Yuuichirou sat down on a chair: he closed his eyes and leant both arms on the desk.
"Hikari – hakase…" Meijin muttered.
"… Meijin… Try to see if you can pick up any "Dimensional Converter" activity. They might have used them instead of any transportation method…" Yuuichirou commanded.
"… Roger."
Yuuichirou sighed and looked depressed once he'd been left alone in the empty room.
"… Netto… Saito… Are you two alright? What's happened?" He wondered aloud.
"… Damn. Nothing."
"You didn't get any clients today?"
Charlie Airstar walked into his apartment to find Tesla Magnets shuffling through a society magazine's pages.
"… Didn't I tell you? Netto's been abducted while he was in Sharo with Laika!" He grumbled.
"Yeah. And the culprit was a Navi who was supposedly gone forever, you say… I dunno who'd bother to do that." Tesla replied while looking unimpressed.
"Tesla…!"
"Oh, oh! Airstar – kun… Calm down." Gauss Magnets told him as he rushed in and stopped next to him.
"… Mr. Gauss! Your honorable Ms. Daughter should know what "worry" means!" Airstar told him with obvious sarcasm.
"Huh! Eh… I mean… Tesla! At least show some interest, will you!" Gauss told her.
"… Jawaii would do fine, too." She merely replied.
"This person…!" He was beginning to get angry.
"Tesla! You wouldn't care if something happened to me?" Gauss questioned.
"It's obvious that I'd care if something happened to Father, but why should I be concerned over an interloper?" She merely replied.
"Interloper…! The "Neo WWW" was annihilated! Your precious lackeys are scattered around the world! The office was destroyed! I was there, you know! I rescued you!" He growled in clear anger.
"Yeah. But that's long ago. I now prefer to see new spots." She countered.
"Okay! Have it your way, Tesla! But what would've you done if you were turned into data back when the "Nebula Grey Incident"? The ones who stopped that were Netto and Rock Man!" Charlie told her.
"Huh-uh. And you'll then bring up the "Twilight Tower" day." She guessed without bothering to look up from the magazine.
"… What if it turns out that a new organization wants to make your "Neo WWW" look pale in comparison?"
"What!"
She actually stood up and dropped the magazine.
"If we can find Netto, we can find them and then tell 'em that they suck 'cause you're the Boss." He improvised.
"I won't let anyone laugh at my face! Magnet Man! Start searching for suspicious bank account movements!" She announced before issuing an order.
"Roger, Tesla – sama." He confirmed while bowing.
"Okay. Gyro Man! Try to find out if someone has spotted that silver-haired guy before." Charlie told him.
"Okay, Charlie." Gyro Man confirmed.
"They won't laugh at my face! My word!"
18:29 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Heh, heh, heh, heh…! What booty!"
"What a disgrace."
"Grah!"
A man had been drinking sake somewhere.
He had greenish hair and looked on his thirties or forties.
He was dressed with a white wool shirt over another green one below while his silk pants were colored green and black: he had purplish boots on too.
A voice had ringed out from behind the man and he'd uttered a gasp of fear upon recognizing it.
"Come here, you."
Someone grabbed him from the right and lifted him to have a closer look to him: Dark Miyabi was the one.
"Deep Kabase."
"Miyabi…!"
"You lowlife were given "Asteroid" Sword Man: the last of the personal "Asteroids"." He announced.
"So what!" Kabase shot back.
"You lowlife were arrested for bank-looting. And now I find you lowlife in an infamous underground deals pub: the "Black Dog". I'm sure even you lowlife can put two and two together." Miyabi told him with a hint of suspicion on his voice.
"Well…" Kabase trailed off.
"Speak." Miyabi commanded.
He let go of him and had him fall on the stool while he stood in front of him: he had a serious face.
"I d-didn't escape! They never brought me to the courtroom to begin with!" He exclaimed.
"Interesting. Shadow Man!"
Shadow Man appeared with the hologram while folding his arms.
"You called me, Miyabi?" He asked.
"Yeah. Go call the Net Police. I need a patrol car to come to the "Black Dog". I've got a clue." He commanded.
"Roger."
Miyabi then sat on the stool next to Kabase and glared at him, making him sweat.
"…Hmpf… I'll listen to the rest of you lowlife's history once the Net Police comes. If you have two and a half millions on that PET, then you'll be able to pay that stupid sake." Miyabi told him.
"Uh! Eh… Y-yeah…" Kabase muttered.
He aimed the Link PET at the register machine and it beeped while displaying the amount paid.
"… The car has come, Miyabi." Shadow Man announced.
"Good." Miyabi replied.
Two policemen stepped inside, drawing gasps from the other customers, who looked nervous.
"Deep Kabase. You are under arrest for bank-looting and private property destruction." One of them announced.
"Come with us." The other commanded.
They handcuffed him and escorted him out while Miyabi followed them into the patrol car: he picked the rear seat next to Kabase while the policemen sat in the front seats.
Hmpf. What a fool.
18:51 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Sit there!"
Kabase was made to sit down on a chair inside of an office room: Kifune, Superintendent Manabe, Detective Misaki, Enzan and Miyabi were present.
"Speak. Why didn't you get to go the courtroom to begin with?" Miyabi questioned.
"Y-yeah… Eh… The police transport was attacked while on its way there by a Net Navi who then claimed they had a use for me…" Kabase began.
"Let me guess: that Navi had a red body and silver hair." Miyabi guessed.
"Y-yeah! He claimed that his name was Legato… I dunno where he got it from, though…" Kabase admitted.
So! That evil Navi is now named Legato. Enzan thought while he kept his arms crossed.
"And that "use" happened to be building the same model of bombs you placed on the "haunted" department store where the "Net Saviors" and I fought Sword Man back in October." Miyabi guessed next.
Everyone gasped and seemed to have realized something.
"Y-yeah! He had me build four pairs of them. I spent a week and finished… hum… Four days ago, on Monday June the 28th… I questioned who he represented, but he admitted that they didn't have a definitive name as of yet…" Kabase admitted.
"So? Did he let out anything else?" Miyabi questioned.
"Oh! I once heard him speak with someone named Monsieur Noir… I guess it was his boss." Kabase let out.
"Monsieur Noir… Mr. Black…" Misaki muttered.
"You didn't hear that man's voice?" Miyabi asked.
That could be a clue.
"He only reported that everything was going "according to the plan". But he then asked something about "THE device", asking if it was completed already."
"…"THE device"… Interesting. So it wasn't just the bombs… Maybe they meant a "Dimensional Converter"…" Enzan muttered aloud.
"So? Do you know anything else?" Manabe interrogated.
"W-well… He told me something weird which sounded like a riddle… "The laughing mountain claims that the pillar mountain is useless. The great lake separates them. The hills are silent and so are the farms. But the underground may be noisier than the surface."…" Kabase quoted.
"… It's a riddle… But it sounds like it's supposed to lead us to their location. Maybe it's a foreign name translated in a literal manner which can pinpoint specific places…" Blues muttered.
"That's all, I guess." Miyabi guessed.
"Y-yeah… That's all I know. Oh! He added that they would make sure to keep the Net Police busy." Kabase remembered.
"Obviously." Misaki shrugged.
"Take him away." Kifune commanded.
The two policemen escorted him out of the room.
"When Laika told me that the explosion happened after Hikari tripped, it rang a bell. I then realized that it had had to be Kabase's own explosive model. I guessed he was at large since I searched the logs and he didn't show up on them. I tracked him down afterwards." Miyabi explained how his investigation had gone like.
"So! Legato's master goes by the title of Mr. Black. And they left behind a riddle to be deciphered. Send a copy to Laika – kun in Sharo: he might realize something." Kifune summed up.
"And things are not going to be quiet for long. Legato's message hinted towards that." Misaki guessed.
"… If I cross paths with that one… I shall slay it." Blues muttered.
"Yeah. I'd like to do the same thing, too." Enzan nodded in agreement.
However, they didn't spot a dragonfly hidden atop the metallic structure of one fluorescent light tube.
"What do we do now?" Manabe asked.
"Let's get working: Mr. Miyabi, please take care of the underground rumors to see if we can get a lead to Mr. Black." Kifune commanded before addressing Miyabi.
"Leave it to me. No villain fools a Sengoku Ninja descendant twice. Maybe Yuriko will help me too." Miyabi announced.
"Yeah. That's our motto." Shadow Man added.
Miyabi opened the door and stepped out while crossing paths with a cleaning staff person who was cleansing the adjacent office and waxing its floors: Miyabi paid no heed and walked past the person.
… Hmpf…
The rest of the persons came out and headed away towards another spot of the Net Police HQ building without minding the person.
… Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh…
"… By the way! Did Yuriko return from that investigation in Hokkaido she was taking care of two months ago?" Enzan asked Miyabi.
"Yes. It'd seem she was investigating why the underground had suddenly turned very active… There seemed to be some kind of hiring of some band going on and it'd seem one did get to get hired but that's all she got to figure before their source, a drunkard, got silenced."
"Rather vague… But if she bothered to check it out then maybe it was to be a repetition of Twilight's Western Europe double-sided bank-looting strategies…" Enzan guessed.
"Guess so. I wouldn't mind that too much by now."
15:08 PM (Moscow Time)…
"… A riddle, you say? I'll get working on it."
"Thanks, Laika."
"Don't mention it."
Enzan had contacted Laika and told him about what had happened while Laika had been working inside of the Command Center.
"Call me again if you get results." Enzan requested.
"Sure." Laika confirmed.
He then stretched and sighed as he resumed working.
We've got some clues… I'll definitely unravel this riddle! Netto! Please hang in there!
"Laika – sama. I just received a mail from Private Onderson."
"Private Onderson? What does he want NOW of all times?" Laika looked annoyed by now.
"He wants to know if you can atomize an atomizer, sir." Search Man read aloud.
"Not again with that stupid motto which someone made up of the blue and which spread like a virus across the social networks…! I'm fed up with that thing. Tell him to ask that to his soul. Try some soul-searching or ask the snowman." Laika fumed.
"Roger, sir."
"Onderson…! Go troll your own hide." He grumbled.
But, really… Who'd make up that kind of riddle? It's a challenge to our intelligence, alright, but does it really lead somewhere or it's a blind alley to begin with?
"Atomize the atomizer of atomizers!"
Someone shut them up. Netto, Saito! Hang in there!
