Chapter 4: Ugly guys
07:03 AM (Kabul Time), Saturday January the 20th…
"… Hell Two, Hell Three. I assume you have come on time."
"Yes, our Lord! Command us."
"Good enough. We need more battle data."
"What do we use to gather it?"
"I have prepared a little "something"… Use them."
"Your will."
"Remember. We are the Lords of the Cave. They shall not conquer us so easily. We shall not openly engage. We shall maneuver behind the scenes and manipulate to achieve our goals."
"Hell One" was standing inside of an almost unlit room somewhere illuminated only by the glow of a nearby LCD screen and the LEDs set on a server group: the hum of AC could be heard along with the one of the servers: "Hell Two" and "Hell Three" were kneeling in front of "Hell One" yet only "Hell Two" was talking while "Hell Three" was silent.
"Your will."
"I am charging you with this, Hell Two. Hell Three. You will assist me on preparing the emergency plan in case the main one were to fail. That is all. Move it." "Hell One" commanded.
"Hell Two" bowed and de-materialized while "Hell Three" stood up and followed "Hell One" towards the LCD screen linked to a laptop.
"Finish testing this batch of data. I will upgrade security."
"Hell Three" silently bowed and began to work with the laptop while "Hell One" merely opened a holographic screen and began to look at some data.
"Only rats and mice… Anything bigger would trigger the alarms. Good. It was a good idea to use this place. Fools… Regret getting in our way!"
09:48 AM (Japan Time)…
"… So, Boss… What's the job?"
"Easy, Miquel – kun… Some small Navi gang that's doing some petty thieving around Nara…"
"I see. Piece of a cake, eh, Andy?"
"Don't get cocky~… Kage – chan…"
"HUH? Oh come on. Andy. That was LAME!"
"I dunno~! Heh, heh!"
"Guess that it's Andy – kun's payback for something."
"For pulling that joke~!"
"Fine, fine!"
"Anyway… Noir – sama. Should I go too?"
"Sure. The more the cheerier and faster it'll end."
Four guys (two humans and 2 Net Navis) had gathered in an office room inside of Purgatory and were animatedly talking.
This office room had a desk, two chairs for visitors, one for the owner, and a canvas depicting a German u-boot surfaced in the middle of a lagoon somewhere which seemed to be somewhere in South Ameroupe.
One of the 2 humans was sitting on a chair behind a desk.
That someone wore a black monk's tunic with hood which hid the face and their voice was soft yet it was clear it was a man.
"Roger, Noir – sama."
"By the way, Legato… What's Alfred's newest madness? Did you pick it up as I asked of you?"
"Yes, sir. "Such a cat can't be such a cat."."
"Sounds like the guy, alright. Heh. I feel like it."
Legato, Noir's Navi, used black as his main "skin" color, yet his upper torso had red blood armor built over it: there were two black shapes drawn over the shoulders having a golden rim and a thin black line spread from the base of the neck to the lower edge of the armor.
His helmet's main color was blood red as well, yet the inner edges surrounding his thick red shades had a tint of purple to them:
An emblem with a black edge was set on the chest: it consisted of white and black halves split by a thunderbolt-shaped line: white was golden and silver was right.
A purple band formed on the forehead and circled the whole diameter of it: two valley-shaped cavities had been inserted into the sides of it and they ended in golden circles: a "fin" sprouted from the top of the helmet thus giving it a menacing-like look.
The forearms were colored blood red and had two purple-colored parallel formations which originated at the sides of the emblem atop each hand's palm: they spread over the edge of the forearm while forming a pyramid-like shape.
His right forearm currently held a purple-colored Long Sword with a customized hilt.
The central body of the forearm was now colored metallic gray and had two purple circles colored yellow inside: a purplish-colored blade emerged around a cone-shaped purple-colored formation: the blade looked sharp and menacing for some reason or another.
His boots began slightly below the knee and had purple-colored diamond-like shapes which extended as high as the knee: they were colored blood red as well: the soils were colored purple, too.
Lastly, a wild flock of silver hair came out from behind the helmet and covered all of his body's back.
Overall, he looked like a revamped Blues.
"So. Kage. Did you find that invention that makes your shadow go alive?"
"Heh. That was in one of the short stories… Haven't… Yet."
"Maybe we need to invent something like it."
Kage Miquel, the other human, had blonde hair and, since he'd put sunglasses on, his eyes weren't visible.
His choice of clothing consisted on a brown overcoat, a pair of jeans and black knee-tall boots.
He also wore a black wool bandana which contained a five-pointed golden star set against a black background inside of a silver circle as emblem.
"You guys get too cocky~… You need a lukewarm shower."
"Heh. Guess that, Andy."
"Alright. Let's get on the move."
Andy, the other visitor, was about standard height, that is, over a meter and seventy, maybe closer to eighty.
His eyes' irises were a mix of red and golden and he didn't seem to be too surprised or amused, either.
Some silver-colored hair could be seen emerging from beneath his helmet as well.
His whole body with the exception of his forearms and boots was painted in a bright silver color.
The boots and forearms, however, had been tinted in a slightly rusted bronze color.
A bronze-colored thin vertical stripe ran across his body from the neck to the end of the crotch crossing over his silver-edged chest emblem (the very same on Kage's bandana).
"I've sent you the coordinates."
Andy merely nodded in agreement as he de-materialized along with Legato: Kage drew a golden and silver PET and opened the screen while Noir used the laptop to keep track of Legato.
"48 seconds until destination."
"We beat them a bit and then the local police do the rest. Right?"
"Correct."
"31 seconds."
"By the way. Make sure that your end of the hi-speed lane is properly protected. We don't want those Carnival punks slipping inside during that opening." Andy warned.
"You're right. I'll increase the security level from 6 to 7."
"Good. Before Slur – sama's mood worsens…" Kage sighed.
"I know. It'd seem President Hades is attempting it all but it's not having the desired effect. I was hoping that that XY guy could contribute and he's tried as well but… Huff." Noir sighed.
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Arrival!"
"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh… So you've come to be beaten to a pulp, eh, rival gang rascals?"
"Hmpf. Hah!"
"Wha!"
"Elemental Sword!"
Kage looked at the screen how Andy and Legato were facing a crowd of bad-looking guys with crude weapons like steel bars, hammers, spikes and so: Legato formed a weapon on his right forearm made of two parallel purple-colored shapes running down the sides of it: they looked reminiscent of planes missing the wings and seen from the sides: the central body of the forearm was colored metallic gray and had two purple circles colored yellow inside of a black pattern: reddish electricity began to form on it and then gave way to a sphere of red energy which shot at the crowd: it caused an explosion and took out 6 of them at once: Andy rushed in with the Program Advance and calmly attacked 4 in a row: the remaining 30 or so stepped back.
"Who the hell! Ya aren't the rival gang!"
"Nope. We're the strong guys." Legato sneered.
"Friends of BIG SARU!"
"Big Monkey~?" Some wondered.
"It's a secret." Andy sneered.
"Heh, heh, heh. Big Saru's the master of MGS!" Kage chuckled.
"Who cares? Let's bust! HORRA~H!" One of them roared as if trying to encourage the others.
Some of them rushed for the duo: Legato switched to a Long Sword with a customized hilt colored purple and swung: he formed a reddish Sonic Boom that hit one of the Navis and formed a red energy spheroid that began to rise into the air along with the Navi before giving way to a blackish tornado: several Navis got trapped inside and began to be cut by energy inside of the tornado: there was a sudden sound and a gigantic meteor suddenly crashed inside of the warehouse and caused a gigantic explosion: Legato and Andy were able to escape in time but the building collapsed and began to burn.
"What the hell? That's not one of my moves!" Legato gasped.
"I didn't input anything either!" Kage gasped next.
"Which means that…"
They looked up and spotted one of the "Hell" trio hovering in the air above the collapsed warehouse.
"Intended to kill two birds with a stone… Literally." Legato fumed.
"If you're SO strong come down and fight me!" Andy challenged.
The enemy didn't reply and a rain of meteors bigger than the Meteor 9 Battle Chip began to rain down: Andy hissed and formed a Dream Aura to protect them as the meteors rained down: a figure headed for the enemy from behind and delivered a kick to the back.
"Gotcha!"
The enemy, caught with the guard down, fell into the ground: a dice rolled next to the enemy and ended up in the number 6 so six consecutive explosions rang out followed by a Count Bomb and a ball having the number 100 written on it.
"Hra~h! Number Man's come!"
"Number Man…! Net Police collaborator…!"
"Hum. Not bad. Managed to catch the guy with the guard down but problem is how the guy will counter."
Andy and Legato calmly looked on as Number Man drew his Number Tembou: the enemy stood up and faced Number Man while gesticulating in a manner that seemingly displayed their annoyance.
"Like I care." Number Man shrugged.
The enemy seemed to get further annoyed and grabbed the robe with the right hand as if intending to pull it away: they began to pull but, for some reason, it wouldn't move: they stopped and seemed surprised at that: they suddenly got forcibly retrieved an annoyed voice rang out.
"Hmpf."
"You must be "Hell One"." Andy guessed.
"Hmpf."
"And that was the quiet "Hell Three"…" Legato guessed next.
"Hmpf."
"Heh. You're a CD player set in repeat track mode, I see."
"Sheesh."
"Why did you try to delete us, huh?"
"You could get in the way of my plans." "Hell One" fumed.
"Don't they all say that? You shouldn't have started a brawl with us."
"I thought you were mere hypocrites that would start shivering with some criticism by the society."
"Hypocrites, huh? Talk about yourself. You don't show your true colors to anyone. Maybe you're as ugly as an Orc?"
"Who knows?"
"Nobody does. Expect for maybe… BIG SARU." Legato snickered.
"Who's that? An ally of that man?" "Hell One" questioned with obvious suspicion.
"That man?" Both wondered.
"Yes. That man."
"Sorry. But without specifics…" Andy shrugged.
"And here I thought you were buddy-buddy."
"Something tells me we aren't and we never were. I think you lack data somewhere."
"Hmpf. Fine. So I lack data. And what if. Sooner or later I will have it. Time is my ally. Patience is the key to victory. Not some show-off Navi that spends days annoyed and not giving orders."
"Don't you do that too when your pride is attacked?" Andy challenged next.
"I don't need pride. It's on the way. So I deleted it."
"I wonder about that. It's true that it should be possible for Net Navis yet… You never know. Maybe our own AI is so advanced that it will notice it lacks that and eventually it will regenerate it?"
"Hum. Maybe. Bah. I only need to delete it again and again. Until it's completely gone. Eyesores… If only they went down with a bang…"
"Wouldn't we all wish that, anyway?"
"Hmpf. You got lucky. Once. No – one gets lucky twice. It is Fate."
"Fate? Oh come on. Fate doesn't exist. It's not proven." Legato sighed, disappointed.
"Like I care. If I say it's Fate then it's Fate. End of the tale!"
"Reality distortion field, I guess?"
"Go, my Viruses! Annihilate them! Die."
"METTO~!"
A horde of about 200 Mettools rushed out of nowhere and towards them: both gasped and jumped into the air along with Number Man: Noir inputted some commands and formed a floating disc-shaped platform: Legato and Andy began to attack from there along with Number Man.
"Why were you here, anyway?" Andy asked.
"I got an email by Punk saying he needed help… Yamitarou and I checked it and no matter how much times we dissected it… It was real! But I couldn't establish contact with him or Meijin so I rushed here…"
"Maybe the enemy was hoping to wipe you out along with us… I guess they've accessed Meijin's PC and sent the mail from there so that you would be convinced it was real." Legato deduced.
"Huff. Today's not my day, huh? Starting with Yamitarou getting burnt because he overheated the instant noodles on the microwave heater… If only he paid some more attention…"
"Well. Maybe he because he lives in the dark he's careless when it comes to the heat?" Kage attempted a pun.
"Talk about yourself, Miquel – kun." Noir warned with some annoyance.
"Oh come on! Boss! I didn't want to annoy ya!"
"Then don't criticize others in such a carefree manner!"
"We're managing somehow… Now the Mettools are confused and attack each other which makes it easier. Keep loading PAs into my cache memory." Andy reported.
"Number Dice! Number Ball! Count Bomb!"
"Hrah! Hah! Hyrah!"
"OK! Dream Sword: loading complete!"
"Dream Sword!"
"Less than 30 left, sir." Legato reported.
"Good. Pull out once you're finished. And, Number Man… Next time go straight to the Net Police HQ." Noir suggested.
"Understood."
"How could they know we'd appear here?" Kage wondered.
"Hmmm… Maybe they leaked the info in purpose to lure us."
"That's gotta be it, yeah." Andy agreed on it.
"But I still find it strange that that Navi didn't talk. Is his speech program damaged or he's trying to pose as a "cool and silent" character in the first place?" Number Man wondered.
"Could be either. But if they can program those things then it should be easy to fix a speech program. Or update it with a new version. Maybe it's more like the latter. Trying to play cool." Legato argued back.
"That's the last one. Mega Cannon!"
"Phew! Well then. See you around, Number Man. Look out on the way back. The guy could come back with a vengeance." Andy warned him.
"Wouldn't surprise me. I'll go straight to report to Blues."
"To ani-ue-sama, eh? Good luck." Legato chuckled.
"Don't get cocky." Noir scolded.
"Same for you, Miquel – kun." Andy warned.
"Yeah, I know! You needn't remind me. Sheesh." Kage sighed.
"Rascals… They want war? They'll have it. My word!"
15:45 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Hey, Corvus… Don't you hear yells?"
"Odd. I thought this area was deserted, Wolf…"
"I detected about… 200 signatures closing in!"
"What? A Virus horde?"
"No. The reading's different… It's more like…!"
"YA~H!"
"Huh? These guys… Haven't we seen them before?"
"Who cares? Let's bust 'em! Evil Corvus danna!"
"Heh! Well said, Venomous Wolf, my buddy! Time to go wild!"
Two Navis had been apparently chatting inside of a warehouse when yells rang out: a crowd burst in so both began to fight them back while chatting amongst them.
One of them, Evil Corvus, had a small diamond-shaped purple piece of armor directly over his head, on his helmet's topmost spot, to shield it despite the rear of it being open and unprotected: the dominant color here was a shade of metallic-like gray coloring plus two small parallel lines which looked like a reclined seat symbol when seen from the profile, starting on the forehead's armor lower edge and reaching until the end of the helmet's length.
He had two large wing-like extensions popping out of both sides of the head: a pair of transparent reddish shades protected his eyes.
The chest armor's centermost spot contained the Alphabet initials "EC" painted in blood red color there.
The armor included a partial ring around the base of the neck to shield it and a thin orange stripe signaling the border between the neck's base and the start of the armor: the frontal plate protruded out of it while forming a shape reminiscent of a hexagon yet slightly different at the same time.
The shoulders' armor included orange stripes which got thinner as they headed for the outer edges and two extensions aiming downwards like triangles protecting part of the arms: two small wing-like triangles originated on the eastern and western sides of the shoulders' armor and extended in a diagonal angle.
The forearms and boots design was a total copy of that of the other "Shunoros" members colored on his own shade of gray coloring and having metallic soils on the boots.
"Eat claws! Eat wind! Hah!"
"Au~h! I'm not as cool as Wolverine but I can slash!"
The other, Venomous Wolf, was about Leon's height: his helmet's color was a shade of green which looked closer to blue: the helmet was already rather reminiscent of a wolf with two small ear-like extensions popping out from the top and aiming upwards in a 45º angle.
Just below those there were two small curved orange stripes which looked like pupils: the round plain ear-pads had two small teal brown-colored paws emerging from the left side of them and forming a shape reminiscent of a crab's pincers; two larger paws aimed backwards popping from the NW and NE edges.
The forehead also had a white metallic triangle which could be the jaw: transparent greenish shades covered the eyes.
His shoulders were plain with a small circling brown band where the forearms emerged and two large paws popping out of the outer edges while curving like a shark's fins.
The chest armor included the initials "VW" written in an orange color: other details were the two small squares of that same orange color set on the SW and SE corners of the armor.
The forearms' armor (starting around the elbow and past the exposed segment of arm covered by green "skin") only had a small ramp aiming past the armor and emerging from close to the upper edge: the forearms were green and the hands were covered in green "skin".
His boots were also simple in design: they just had a trapeze-shaped piece of armor set vertically over the knees and one small triangle-like piece close to the star of the toes which had two small openings.
These opening looked like they could vent off heat building up inside of the boots: the soils were plain metallic gray.
"Gua~h!"
"I remember! These are the crowd enemies of Biohazard 6! The thugs of Neo Nebula…!" Evil Corvus recognized.
"I don't think this is Golden Star's idea…" Venomous Wolf muttered.
"Sharp! Are we not, runts?"
"Huh? Ah! You're the railgun rascal!"
"Indeed! Hell Two is my name!"
"Hell Two", armed with the railgun, showed up higher in the air as both were busy dealing with the crowds: there were all types of armed men with masks and yelling.
"Sheesh. These are the guys in the Choina part of the game: the masked rascals… And they don't stop coming for more!" Venomous Wolf complained as he dashed forward while crossing his claws in the shape of the "X" letter.
"You needn't tell me. Hurricane Dance! Hammer Weapon X!"
"Hum. Those Battle Chips…" "Hell Two" muttered.
"Battle Cards! Old-timer." Venomous Wolf tried taunting.
"Kuroban designed them."
"And what if? Got a problem, complain to the Danna – sama. If he doesn't turn you into scrap before that, that is." Evil Corvus shrugged.
"Hmpf! We shall use his weapons against him! Hah!"
"Think again! Radar Missile!"
"Mugroh!"
A few missiles flew across the air, having locked into "Hell Two" and impacted him yet they didn't make a single wound to the robe: he still held the railgun and he loaded it up to shoot at Evil Corvus but Venomous Wolf jumped in front and used his claws to block it.
"I'm Wood – elemental so Elec attacks are null!"
"And here I thought you were Sword – type. Hmpf. Those idiots could've bothered to gather far more data. Or not to delete it when their stupid leader got defeated." "Hell Two" fumed.
"I see. So the data those "unlucky Greeks" gathered got deleted when Shadow Nova's leader got busted. That explains why you bother to gather it again." Evil Corvus snickered.
"Hum. And what do you gain from such lust?" "Hell Two" suddenly questioned.
"Huh? Ah! You mean our playtime? What do we gain? Ain't it obvious? We have fun and pleasure!"
"Pleasure? I thought that only came with victory."
"That's true but pleasure can come with many things. Old-timer."
"Hmpf."
"Garu~!"
"Garuus next! How annoying! Wide Wave X!"
Garuus rushed in next and Venomous Wolf grumbled as he shot a Wide Wave attack at them: Evil Corvus began to toss Count Bombs at the crowds as well: there was a hum and Spark Bees rushed in next so Venomous Wolf began to attack them using his elemental advantage: both then quickly warped out of the building as a powerful tornado appeared and tore it off the ground and tossed it into a nearby magma lake: "Hell Two" grumbled.
"We know what you've done this morning."
"Same trick won't work twice!" Venomous Wolf exclaimed.
"Hah! Meteor 9!"
"Zetsumetsu Meteor!"
"What!"
"Hell Two" summoned the rod to make meteors fall down but bigger and faster ones began to bombard his position with precision all of a sudden and in a row: he roared and jumped away as he panted yet his robes were undamaged.
"An invisible "Dark Aura"… So that's your trick…" Evil Corvus spotted.
"Sheesh."
"And our Battle Cards are designed with counter-measures to avoid being scanned or copied. The Prince isn't going to hand over his inventions so easily. The Oreichalcos fragment was unexpected but same trick won't work twice." Venomous Wolf snickered.
"Hmpf! Whatever. We can always recreate them using the battle data: don't underestimate our capabilities! Go, Obelisk! God Hand Crusher!"
The "Giant God Soldier of Obelisk" suddenly formed there, roared and flung both fists forward: they hit the ground and a powerful shockwave originated, hitting both combatants because they'd lowered the guard, and pushing them several meters away: they got to their feet and panted because some segments of their armors had suffered grave damage and were breaking down into data.
"Farewell! Crush them to death, Obelisk!"
"Fuck. That thing's over-powered!" Venomous Wolf cursed.
"It's useless to try to fight it in our state! Let's pull out!"
Both distorted the air around them as a black circle formed behind each one so they quickly jumped backwards inside of them and vanished as Obelisk's next attack made the ground crumble and collapse towards the depths of the Reverse Internet: it roared and then vanished…
19:44 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Heh, heh! I'm invincible~!"
"Or so you think. The ultimate weapon's coming!"
"Oh crap!"
"Chance!"
"Heh, heh! Too bad, Netto – kun! 1st place's mine!"
"I got 2nd!"
"Oh heck! I got 4th because another online player used a Golden Mushroom to accelerate while I was trying to get control back! I lowered the guard!"
"You didn't do badly either, Raito – kun!"
"T-thank you very much, Saito – san."
"Don't be shy! It's just a game, Raito…"
Netto (wearing his usual outfit but having changed the shorts for jeans) and Saito (wearing similar to Netto but with a blue vest instead and no bandana) had been playing on their bedroom Mario Kart Wii along with a guest named Raito.
Raito appealed to be on his early teens: maybe he was close to a meter and sixty tall.
He had brownish smooth hair and brown eye irises: he also had reading glasses on.
He wore a simple grey sports vest and black sports trousers along with white socks.
"Man. That was close." Netto sighed.
"Hmmm? Wait. One of these players is named "King of Napalm"… Maybe it's Napalm Man?" Saito spotted.
"Wouldn't surprise me." Raito calmly muttered.
"Yo~! King of Napalm here~! How's it goin', Golden Leo's apprentice~?"
"Napalm Man – san. It is rude to intrude into others' PETs." Raito sighed as he glanced at his PET (colored brown and with no emblem).
"Heh, heh! And there are Andy's pals, right?"
"Don't you have anything better to do?" Saito sighed.
"Hmmm… Maybe!" He laughed.
"Oh come on." Netto sighed.
"Napalm Man! Stop meddling around and get back!" Legato scolded over Napalm Man's radio.
"Geh! It's the Danna!" He gasped.
"Do you want to further anger Slur – sama or what?"
"N-no, man! I'm coming, I'm coming!"
"Phew." They all sighed in relief.
"Really." Legato fumed.
"Ah yes. Tomorrow senpai and I will be going to have a walk at the mountains for some fresh air."
"Excellent idea. Maybe it'd do us wonders too."
"Yeah. Guess that. I'm glad that we finally made Dekao land back to Earth… Really. Talk about a troublesome guy." Netto sighed.
"You needn't tell me."
"Maybe we could call for Tooru – kun to join us."
"Good idea. The more the merrier. But don't worry, Raito – kun. We'll pick another route so that you and Leon – kun can chat without interruptions and take as much time as you want."
"Thank you very much."
"It's nothing."
Netto's PET rang so he picked it up and answered to the call: Ayanokouji Yaito showed up onscreen.
"Hey, Hikari – kun! News!"
"What news, Yaito?"
"The Alabama Punks are back for more!"
"Alabama Punks? What the heck's that?" Netto frowned.
"Huh? Wasn't that your favorite heavy metal band?"
"No. My favorite group is "The Rasmus", a Finnish rock band."
"Oh crap. Sorry! I got them wrong!"
"Oh don't worry. Anyone can make a mistake. Speaking of which: I guess you're taking your business training seriously?"
"O-of course I am! I'm not going to lose to the likes of egg-head!"
"Egg-head? Enzan? Ever since when?"
"I just dug up an old book in one of my manor's libraries: it says that my family, Ayanokouji, and egg-head's family, Ijuuin, have had a rivalry since several generations ago! So I'm not going to lose to the guy to protect my family's honor! I'M BURNING!"
"Ya-Yaito – sama! C-calm down, ma'am!" Glyde gasped.
"You take care I don't run out of strawberry milk!"
"Y-yes, ma'am…"
"And that's it! See ya next week! Wait for me, egg-head! I'm gonna beat ya with my own hands! HMPF!"
Yaito ended the call and Netto calmly placed the PET back where it was, hardly surprised: Saito wasn't either and Raito only looked slightly surprised.
"Ijuuin Enzan – san… He was the Operator of the famed Blues, no?" He seemed to recall.
"Sure. And a member of the Net Police Cyber CID. You know I and Rock Man were members of it too but we quit years ago after that duel in the Colosseum." Netto shrugged.
"Yes. I know."
"Netto, Saito, Raito – kun! The cake's ready~!" Haruka called out from downstairs.
"Woho~!" Netto suddenly got into high spirits and stood up.
"You don't change when it comes to food. You still get all energetic like years ago." Saito grinned as he calmly stood up as well.
"How can't I? Mama's cakes, curry, the meat spaghetti…!"
"Heh." Saito grinned.
The group headed downstairs and washed their hands by turns on the restroom before sitting on the table where green tea and a recently baked pea cake had been placed: Haruka was humming a tune as she sliced it up and served it into dishes.
"It's just come out of the oven so be careful!"
"OK!"
"KO by heat!" Saito made a joke.
"How original." He sighed.
"Hey. At least it's better than M&F."
"I know."
"Because, you know… "We got another sample, a 20 Euro note. Look and compare… What do you see?"… "Man! I'd say they stuffed Minister Casco's face, no?"… "I'd rather say it's the President of the Athletic of Madrid…"…"It's that Schwarzenegger guy from the movies! Which makes us think that these fake notes were printed in the Very United States of Ameroupe!"…" Saito suddenly played back an audio file with the PET.
"Yeah. They got back from Japan empty-handed…"
"OK! Let's eat. Itadakimasu!"
"Yessir!"
"Itadakimasu…"
"Enjoy!"
The 3 them of them began to ate the cake: Netto was highly spirited, Saito looked amused and Raito was calm while Haruka giggled and drank some of the green tea.
"Excellent as always! The Saturday cake is the best!"
"Followed by the Sunday pork curry rice?" Saito asked.
"Of course!"
"And 3rd place is for the meat spaghetti?"
"Yessir!"
"Heh. Anyway… I'll write the mail to Tooru – kun to invite him. I'll try inviting Andy as well: you write to Kage – kun."
"I know. But I'm afraid the guy's gotta be busy and all."
"It's worth a try, anyway."
"OK!"
"KO by green tea!"
"Sheesh."
"I'm sneaky~…" Saito grinned.
"Sneaky Snake, yeah, I knew that." Netto chuckled.
"It is as excellent as always, Aunt." Raito timidly told Haruka.
"You needn't be shy, my dear. Have as much as you want!"
"Anyway… Netto – kun. Next time let's storm a storm."
"Very funny! Oh well. Let's have fun! Heh, heh!"