Chapter 4

The next morning, Kazuki got a phone call from the hospital. He was shocked to hear the bad news: Yuu Inagawa was attacked last night. Mizuki arrived after hearing the bad news.

"This is terrible. Yuu was attacked last night."

"What happened?"

"They said she was knocked on the head severely; she is suffering from a concussion and is needed for stitching."

"Oh, no!"

Mizuki & Kazuki arrived at the hospital room, where Yuu is in bed, still in pain.

"Yuu, what happened?" Mizuki asked.

"Well…" Yuu said weakly, "I remember when I was walking home thinking about the project coming up, when without prior notice, I heard a faint meow. And as I turn around, everything went black. When I came to, here I am."

"And that's it?" Mizuki cried, "Who'd do that to you?"

"I don't know…" Yuu said, "But when tried to look at her, I got knocked out before I could see her."

"Do you think it might be…?" Kazuki asked.

"It must be Eimi! I knew that stinky anchovy did this to me!" Yuu cried, but fell on her pillow after her anger exhausted her.

"Yuu, you need bed rest," Mizuki said, "I'll go see Eimi in "Feline Nya Nya" first thing later this afternoon."

"Please do," Yuu pleaded, "Just be cautious of her secretary."

"Yeah, more like 'Security'." Mizuki thought aloud.

Kazuki & Mizuki left the room and went home. As they walked home, Kazuki asked her, "Mizuki, how did you end up all battered last night?"

"I happened to meet a friend, who is a big fan of Eimi, but-."

Just then, a Maki appeared and stopped both Mizuki & Kazuki.

"Excuse me, Mister Sendo," she said, "But I need to ask you questions about the assault to Miss Inagawa."

"What? What are you saying? I had nothing to do with!" Kazuki shouted.

"Sir," Maki said, as she took hold of Kazuki by the arm, "If you don't respond to me, I'll have to detain you for resisting."

"Mizuki, do something!"

"Oh? You must be the girl from the other night when we questioned you. Where were you when this horrible disaster occurred?"

"Leave Kazuki alone! He was… He was…" Mizuki pleaded, "He was with me the entire time."

Maki let go of him and said, "That's all I needed to hear. By the way, what were you two doing when Gemini showed up last night?"

"Who?" Kazuki said.

"I happened to ran into Gemini; I was almost assaulted by those two," Mizuki said.

"Okay, then," Maki said, "Gemini is already in custody; so don't worry about it. In the meantime, someone is attacking citizens from left to right. Stay a keen eye on then at all costs."

"You can depend on us, Maki," Mizuki said.

Maki leaves, they continued to walk.

"What was she talking about?" Kazuki said to her.

"I ran into those twin guppies, and they attacked me very hard; they almost threw me off the bridge."

"I see…" He said.

"Do you have any idea why Eimi did this? Or rather… what does Eimi have against Yuu?" Mizuki asked.

"Well, Yuu & Eimi were once best friends. They shared together a laugh and a moment that friends could remember for as long as they can. But then one day, the world of Doujinshi came, and driven these two girls apart. Since then, they've had a war between each other. All Eimi could do in "Feline Nya Nya" is write & draw to her heart's content, and even hire some Cos-Bots to help out. While Yuu's Circle, The Nippon Tsumi, is all natural; she never allowed Cos-Bots into the fold."

"Well, what does that have to do with earlier? Could it be… revenge?"

"Maybe… but I'll let you in on a secret: One of their Cos-Bots is a very strong fighter."

"Subaru!"

"Exactly! Uh… who's Subaru?"

"She's the girl that attacked me last night! I'm sorry, but I should've known Eimi would really be behind this! She summoned her secretary at me when I told her about the Pervert Cluster last night."

"And that's how you were bloodied?"

"Oh, please don't tell Yuu. I don't want to disappoint you."

Kazuki let out a sigh and said, "Well, at least you're okay. We'll go see Eimi right now and explain."

Kazuki & Mizuki went on their way to "Feline Nya Nya".

A knock on Eimi's door appears.

"Fumiuun?"

The door opens, revealing to be Kazuki & Mizuki. Eimi let out a hard "Fumiuun!" They walked to her desk in a fit of anger.

"You again? Haven't I taught you a lesson than before?" She shouted.

Kazuki slapped his hands down on the desk and shouted, "Enough games! Why the hell did you hurt Mizuki?"

Eimi said, "Well… she brought up the Cos-Bot theory: three rogue robot girls that came to Cosmo-Tropolis, and went on a killing rampage!"

"Well, you didn't take it out on Mizuki! Come clean, you blue sardine!"

"Sardine?" Eimi cried.

"Why didn't you believe me?" Mizuki said.

"I do believe you; honest!" Eimi said, "But what price does a wannabe cosplayer like you have any knowledge about the three Cos-Bots: Peach, Vash, & Neco?"

Mizuki then said to Eimi, "Funny… I never mentioned their names to you. Didn't I?"

"You did so!" Eimi shouted, "You said that the two Cos-Bots, Vash & Neco could return!"

"I mentioned two! Not three!"

Eimi let out a big gulp and said in nervousness, "Okay, fine! At first, I thought it was a trick made by that stupid panda! But then, I had the urge to help out the matter. So, I formulated a search for Vash & Neco to appear in my next comic! Why not hire these girls on as the new characters to my new line!"

"YOU DID WHAT?" Mizuki shouted.

"Oh, and there's more," Eimi continued, "I hired two girls to help reenact the situations; two girls that go by the names: Reiko Haga & Aya Hasebe."

Mizuki then thought to herself, "Reiko & Aya? Those are the same girls I met back in the boardwalk!"

Kazuki then asked, "And so you decided to hire the girls to recreate the situation last night concerning Yuu, right?"

"What are you talking about?"

Mizuki then told her that Yuu was attacked by the two Cos-Bots last night.

Eimi had a startled look and shouted, "ME? ATTACK THAT HOT SPRING PANDA?"

Mizuki shouted, "Don't play dumb! Yuu told us about you!"

She walked away all upset.

"Mizuki… wait!" Kazuki called to her.

"I need no more questions from her!" She sniveled, "And to think Eimi & Yuu were friends!"

"WAIT!" Eimi cried.

Mizuki stopped and asked, "Do you hate her? That's all I'm asking."

Eimi got up from her chair and started to snivel a bit, "Why are you two perturbing me with those arbitrary questions? Yes, I hate her! But I had nothing to do with her attack! I still remembered what she did for me back in Kobe."

"What happened?" Mizuki asked.

Eimi explained what happened in Kobe:

She & Yuu were once friends, until Comic Party came along. They both had the same dreams, but they had different ambitions. Yuu & Eimi were separated, but would meet each other later at Comic Party. Yuu gave her a stuffed blue fish named Leaf, and Eimi said that she'll treasure it forever, since these two cannot be friends in competition. As Eimi & Yuu departed, they have been extremely popular; Yuu went on to form "Nippon Tsumi", while Eimi formed "Feline Nya Nya". Since then, the two businesses were at war with each other; they have completely forgotten about their friendship.

Eimi started to cry a bit and shouted, "THERE! Are you happy, you jerk?"

"I didn't know that. I'm sorry we mistrusted you," Kazuki said.

Mizuki added, "But then, why did you sick Subaru at us?"

"Simple… I wanted to investigate this matter myself." Eimi stated, "Besides, what could be better: Comics, Cos-Bots, or the welfare in Neo Tokyo?"

"Uh, my guess it's the welfare of Neo Tokyo."

"EXACTLY! And do you honestly think the great Eimi Ohba will sit back and watch those two Cos-Bots gamble and annihilate the fabric that is the human race?"

Kazuki added, "I think you mean gambol and annihilate."

"Answer my question!" Eimi shouted.

"Uh, no," Mizuki replied.

"HELL NO! I worked my butt off just to get to where I am," Eimi continued to ramble on, "And this is the thanks I get?"

"Mizuki, we should leave," Kazuki said.

"Right. We're really sorry that we treated you like a wanted fugitive."

"Oh, it's okay," Eimi stated. "You've got to play ball, when you want to talk the great Eimi like that."

Eimi pressed the button on the intercom and said, "Subaru! Get your butt over her and escort these two off my premises!"

But she did not answer. Eimi tried again.

"Subaru! Hey, Subaru!" She cried.

"This is bad," Mizuki said.

"No… Subaru must've had a low battery again!" She cried, "Damn these new-bungled models!"

"New-fangled models!" Mizuki shouted.

"Don't correct me! Just shut up and let's go!" She cried

They all headed down to the lobby to find Subaru.

When they got to the back way, they found Subaru by the alley, all bloodied, battered, and with her left arm disconnected. She started to spark a bit, repeating "Pagyu…" over and over again.

"Subaru's a Cos-Bot?" Mizuki thought.

As they approached the fallen Subaru, two girls approached Eimi, dressed as Vash & Neco.

"Excuse me, Miss Eimi," Reiko, who was the girl in the Vash costume, said, "We're sorry, but Subaru had a bit of an accident. She wanted to talk to us, but a vicious thug attacked her."

Aya, who wore the Neco costume, nodded.

"Well, bring her in and fix her!" Eimi shouted, "The things we do for an honest Yen…"

Kazuki sighed, "What a relief. Though, I don't think she'll be honest business."

Mizuki then called to Eimi, "I think we'll leave you be. We'll show ourselves out."

They leave, as Eimi carried Subaru away. Reiko & Aya let out an evil smirk as soon as Eimi turned away from them.

Reiko whispered to Aya, "I see Peach is with that Sendo geek. We tail him after work, and see what he's doing."

Aya nodded. Eimi then called for them; they rushed over to help her.

Later that night at Mizuki's house, Mizuki began to pose for Kazuki. Kazuki began drawing the poses she made. After countless tries, he's finished his work on Mizuki.

"Nicely done," He said, "But, you have not been cheerful lately."

Mizuki sobbed, "I don't know… all this with Vash & Neco… and Subaru & Yuu…"

Kazuki then tried to comfort her. He hugged her and said, "It's okay. These things never end."

As Kazuki hugged, Mizuki started to remember flashbacks:

She remembered how she sided with two girls, and was confronted by a boy with a camera. Just then, she sees a flash go off in her eyes, which blinded her, and went down to the ground. When she recovered, she saw the boy on the floor, lifeless and bloodied. She approached the boy, but…

The flashback ended.

Mizuki pushed Kazuki off and started to gasp. Kazuki fell to the floor as he grew worried.

"What's wrong? Mizuki?"

Mizuki grew frightened and said, "I… I'm sorry."

Mizuki ran to her room and locked the door. Kazuki tried to help, but couldn't open it.

Mizuki was in her room, balled up and scared. She started to sweat and pant.

"No… did I just… did I…" she started to hyperventilate, "It… it cannot be…"

Mizuki got up and screamed at the top of her lungs, which surprised most of the people throughout the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, Reiko & Aya, dressed in their costumes, took a quick look at Mizuki through the window.

"She's starting to remember… who she is…" Reiko said.

"I agree. But will she ever discover the truth soon?" Aya asked.

Reiko replied, "It won't be long now, Neco. I think we should meet with her personally, real soon."

Reiko & Aya fled near to the darkness as Mizuki started to grow scared even more.

The next day, Mizuki came to Kazuki's apartment and wanted to apologize. But she found a note that said, "Mizuki, meet us at the Pier in one hour. Signed, a friend."

Mizuki doesn't know what's going on, but she was destined to find out. She left to the pier. Meanwhile, a mysterious figure watched on, seeing Mizuki leaving. Who was it?