"Good morning. Sleep well?"
"Yeah. I think."
"Something bothering you?"
"I kept thinking of MegaMan again."
"I saw him last night, actually."
"You didn't wake me?"
"I didn't want to bother you," he replied, while Lan busied himself getting up. "I knew what you wanted to ask him anyway."
"What did he say?"
"Not much. He told me a little about Chaud, thanked me about earlier. Asked me to take care of you."
"Him?" Lan seemed surprised.
"Strange, I know. It sounded like he knew you better than we thought."
"Maybe there is some kinda connection then?"
"I don't know. He was hiding something, that's for sure. Are you ready?"
"Breakfast, Angel. Can't go anywhere without having breakfast."
"I should have guessed."

Lan ate his breakfast quick, as he always did, made Dad a morning coffee, then left for Marine Harbour. Being a man-made island, there were only two ways to reach it, the Metroline or by ship.
The Metroline was preferable, as it was quicker. Even at this relatively early hour, it was packed with people going to work, and those on the night shift going back home again. Marine Harbour was open all the time, so the line to it was always busy.
As usual, Lan tuned out along the way, paying attention only enough to keep himself out of other people's way, and keep his balance. He always preferred to stand when it was busy, other people often needed a seat more than he did, and he didn't mind it really.
Marine Harbour's station was as busy, if not more so, than the route itself. People packed the platforms, making it difficult to get to the escalators. Several times, commuters in a hurry pushed past him, most hurriedly apologising before dashing off again.
Busy or not, it wasn't impossible to get back outside into the streaming sunlight at the Harbour.
"At least it's quieter out here," Lan said, taking a breath of fresh air, untainted with some of the less pleasant smells inside.
"Quiet here usually means something is happening though," Angel replied.
"You're a pessimist," he accused.
"At least that way, if something turns out well it's a nice surprise. We should go on inside, Lan. I asked them to have everything waiting for us."
"If they have anything useful."
"Pessimist," Angel teased.
"Told you so," Lan told him quietly as they approached the desk. There was a folder waiting on it that looked quite thin.
"It might not be ours."
"With 'Hikari' written on it? Dad's not working, remember."
"Point."
The receptionist further confirmed this by handing it to him even while continuing to talk to person beside them. Multitasking became second nature to anyone who worked these desks.
"Well?" Angel asked.
"Give me a few moments to read it."
There were only two sheets inside. Apparently they were right to suspect them of having very little.
The first detailed what was known about MegaMan. An independent Navi known for appearing seemingly out of nowhere, and disappearing just as quickly. He'd been spotted not far from many incidents they'd been involved in, and had been suspected of having unconfirmed links to all of those involved in them. Attempts to track or find him had returned nothing.
Chaud's page was slightly more detailed, but not by much. His mother had died when young, and his father, the president of a large multinational corporation, had pressed him into taking on a job at the corporation. Chaud had apparently found this difficult to manage around his education and dealing with the loss of his mother, becoming increasingly more noticeable as his work quality began to worsen. His father eventually had to ask him to leave, unable to even use family ties to overlook it. With his father being at home very rarely, Chaud was left to his own devices. He avoided his father as they frequently broke into loud arguments, which may have been the cause of his leaving home of his own accord. The real reasons weren't known for certain.
Since then, little has been known of his activities. His father didn't bother to look for him, let alone help. Sightings of him were few and far-between, the most recent being in a built up urban part of the nearby ElecTown, a little over a week ago.
"Depressing," Lan commented, filling Angel in.
"You'd think his father would have done a bit more for him instead of just pushing a job on him."
"Or at least given him time to recover from it."
"At least there's something useful in it."
"Yeah, a recent sighting. Not very though."
"It's a start. Do we have a picture of him?"
"Not a recent one. His staff photo from before he was forced to leave is here though. Dark hair dyed white, wearing black and red."
"That's probably changed by now. The dye won't have lasted this long, that's for sure. Where in ElecTown?"
"It doesn't say specifically." Lan looked back at the folder, spotting something he hadn't before, and could have sworn wasn't there before. "There's a chip here too. Probably the same information for you."
"Plug it in anyway, I'll have a glance through it."
Lan waited a few moments, re-reading the file on Chaud to memorize it.
"It's a clip from a security camera, dated yesterday night," Angel told him finally.
"Showing?"
"Chaud, of course. Unless he's moved, he's sleeping in a back alley not far from the Jomon store."
"A back alley? Out of all places to stay, he picked a back alley?"
"Look at it from his point of view. He probably doesn't have much, and doesn't want to get in anyone's way. Few people go down places like that, so he's practically guaranteed privacy, some degree of protection and isn't likely to cause trouble."
"I guess I never thought of that."
"You've never been in his position."
"Neither have you."
"No, but it does fit."
"Guess we should make our way there then. Will you be able to tell which alley?"
"I'll have to see them to be able to tell, but I think I'll manage. The clip was fairly detailed."
They handed back the folder to the receptionist. It'd be refiled. Unknown to any of them, the chip inside disappeared again, as if it had never been there in the first place.

Some time later, Lan stood looking down a street in ElecTown.
"Any ideas?"
"I'm working on it. I'm just trying to find some kind of landmark, something I recognise from the clip. Carry on down the street Lan, it might help."
"I'm starting to think this is a wild goose chase, Angel."
"How so?"
"You just happen to run into MegaMan last night, who just happens to mention Chaud, and now we just happen to have a sighting of him from last night... that's a lot of coincidences."
"I think I just found one more unlikely coincidence."
"What's that?"
"I've found where the camera that took the clip should be."
"Should be?"
"Above that intersection ahead."
"There's nothing there."
"I know. It'd be impossible to have a camera there, let alone keep it as still as the clip is."
"A trap?"
"It could be. There's only one possible alleyway it showed though."
"I see it."
"Be careful Lan."
Warily, he approached and glanced down the alley.
Since it was between two food joints, the alleyway was filled with overflowing bins, bags that showed evidence of being torn open, and trash from them littered around. It left a distinctly unpleasant smell in the air.
Behind some of the bins were stacks of boxes. Many of them showed evidence of having been rained on, with the lettering stained and running. They also looked as if a passing wind had just scattered them randomly around.
"There's definitely someone here," Angel murmured quietly.
Lan said nothing. He could move quietly, but speaking quietly wasn't his best point.
He moved up the alley, listening hard. There was a faint snuffling sound from under the boxes.
Quietly he shifted several aside, stacking them beside a door. Underneath them, curled up in a somewhat bedraggled tartan cloth, was a boy with dark hair. Just visible was a dark shirt, peeking out from under the cloth with him. He looked to be asleep, and quite dirty. Rather astonishingly, Lan found that the boy smelled worse than the rest of the alleyway.
He glanced down at Angel, who shrugged, so he crouched nearby, and said, "Uh... excuse me? Wake up please?"
"You could shake him," Angel sighed, when this had no effect.
"But... he's all..."
"You're worried about a little dirt?"
"Well, no..."
He didn't need to do so though. Chaud stirred, then quickly pulled away.
"It wasn't me!" he told them. "I didn't do anything!"
"I wasn't saying you were," Lan told him.
"Oh... well, you can't have anything, I don't have anything to give."
"I wasn't going to ask for anything either."
"What do you want then?"
"Well, I thought I'd offer you someplace to stay," Lan said, straightening up again. "And maybe a shower and a decent meal, but if you're not interested..."
Chaud considered it. "What's the catch?"
"No catch."
"There's always a catch."
"Consider this," someone said from behind them. Lan stood aside to see someone looking remarkably like him, but dressed in blue pants and a matching shirt. "Would you continue living like this Chaud? They offer you a home and all you need to get back on your feet. Then you can go your own way, and not have to go back to this."
"Why should I believe you any more than them?"
"Haven't you said, every night before you try to sleep, that you wish you didn't have to go through this?" Chaud's eyes widened at this. "Consider it carefully. If you won't believe me, you can believe them. They're good people."
"Wait," Lan called as the strange boy turned to leave. "Who are you?"
"Me? Oh... I'm Hub. I'll see you around. Maybe."
Now it was Angel's turn to look after the boy with wide eyes.