Author's Notes: Another set of side quests. Nothing else I need to say for now.

~NAKANO~UNDERGROUND~

Takumi sighed in relief when the data transfer was finally complete. He tensed up though as the door to the command room opened, but quickly activated his Stealth Hide. A doctor walked in with a clipboard and sat at the computer Takumi had been accessing. The woman blinked when she didn't remember activating the terminal. "Huh…?" She checked to see if there was a bug in the system but found nothing. Dismissing it as a colleague using it before her, she returned to her work.

The redhead held his breath as he quietly slipped out of the room. He would have to use the other terminal in the Special Ward to get out, but that shouldn't be a problem. He kept his footsteps light as he continued down the narrow hall, but paused when a door at his side suddenly opened. He brought a hand to his mouth to stop from crying out in surprise as Yuuko entered the hall.

A nurse kindly bowed to the teen. "We'll do our best until your next visit, Kamishiro-sama."

"Yes, thank you very much," Yuuko nodded, sadly staring past the nurse's shoulder. The woman returned to her work but the raven-haired girl remained still for a moment to gather her thoughts. After a while, she frowned to herself as she unknowingly passed Takumi. She soon paused though when she noticed something strange. Curiously, she turned her head towards Takumi and stared through his invisible body.

The redhead nervously stared back before realizing she was staring at what was probably behind him. He carefully stepped to the side and turned around before he noticed Yuuko was staring at his actual body. Takumi frowned to himself since his body's condition still hasn't changed. He let out a heavy sigh and tensed up as Yuuko seemed to have heard him.

"Eh?" the girl looked around the room. "Is someone there?" Yuuko waited a few minutes before shaking her head. She looked towards Takumi's body once more before leaving the Special Ward.

Takumi let out the breath he had been holding before jumping as his Digivice began to beep. He quickly answered it. "Y-yes!?"

"A new job has come in," Kyoko urgently told him. "Please come back to the office." She paused when she noticed she was staring at a blank screen. "Where are you right now? Did you finish collecting the new files on EDEN Syndrome?"

"I-I did," Takumi nodded as he deactivated his Stealth Hide so Kyoko could get a lock on his position. "I'm still in the Special Ward though."

"I see… Then quickly make your escape and return to the office," the detective directed him.

"Understood," Takumi nodded.

Client: Government

Place: Nakano Underpass

Details: This is a case from the government. The door in the Nakano Underpass has been unlocked. What waits on the other side?

"Eh!?" Takumi blinked at it. "Are you serious, Kyoko-san? The government!?"

"I'll explain the details," the detective nodded to him. "The client this time is the local government that takes care of the utilities for Nakano… Basically, it's a bureaucratic agency."

"Ah… that makes more sense," Takumi nodded. He blinked a few times before jumping at a thought. "W-wait, but why did they come to us!?"

"Why are you so shocked?" Kyoko chuckled at him. "Of course, we specialize in the supernatural and complex cyber crimes, so we usually have a very specific clientele. But we cooperated very well with Detective Matayoshi's police force, so they consider us to be a pretty good detective agency. So we've received a case from a public agency… It's quite a rare event," she remarked.

"Even so, shouldn't the police handle it?"

"The case was originally discussed by Detective Matayoshi with the government agency," she nodded. "It's a bit special though so Detective Matayoshi passed us down to the government like a sort of ace up his sleeve and now it's our case. Got it?"

"For the most part, yeah," Takumi nodded.

"Good," the woman smirked at the boy. "The case is to unlock a gate in Nakano Underpass. It seems the gate is locked due to some electronic glitch and can't be opened."

"Ah… So it really is an important case for me," Takumi brought his hand up to his mouth. "Um… What's the Nakano Underpass?"

"Huh?" the detective stared at him in surprise. "What, you don't know about the Nakano Underpass? It's a facility that houses the equipment used to provide Nakano's public utilities, such as power cables, water pipes, and so on… They are moving forward with a plan to improve the look of the city center above ground by housing the public utilities underground. It looks like the visible power cables and telephone poles are set to disappear in the not-too-distant future. Underneath Nakano there is a vast complex of tunnels, so there are of course many entrances. One of these entrances is the place where the gate we need to unlock is."

"Alright, I get it," the boy nodded. "Is there anything special about the lock?"

"It's a password-protected electronic lock," Kyoko answered, "but it seems some time ago it locked for no reason and no one has been able to open it since. They contacted the manufacturer, but they gave up. If needs be they will destroy the gate, but obviously that would incur serious costs. While the costs were discussed, a weird groaning sound was heard coming from the other side of the gate. It seems something strange is going on."

"Weird groaning?" Takumi knit his eyebrows together.

The detective smiled and crossed her arms. "The manufacturer had a bad feeling about it and didn't want to open the gate, but the government suspected criminal activity and called Matayoshi."

"I see," the boy nodded. "So then the buck passed to the Kuremi Detective Agency."

"Well after all, we have the best people for the job if you want to access a place that is off bounds to most," Kyoko smugly stated. "This is actually a good opportunity. I've been wanting to investigate the rumors surrounding Nakano's underground system for a while," she chuckled. "The gate in question has an electronic lock, so naturally there's a cyberspace inside it. You're the only one who can break into the gate without destroying it. We've already received permission from the government to access the underpass."

"Open the gate without damaging it," Takumi nodded. "Understood."

"All right then," Kyoko chuckled at him. "Shall we go and find out what the real situation with this underground gate is? Where is that groaning voice coming from? What kind of strange world lies beyond the gate? This is gonna be so much fun!"

"Wouldn't it just be a plain old tunnel?" the redhead crookedly smiled.

"Huh? It's an underground gateway, so there will just be an underground tunnel behind it, right?" Kyoko blinked at her assistant. She chuckled at the boy's lack of an imagination. "Have you ever heard of the Stochastic process in quantum mechanics? I guess I should tell you about Schrodinger's cat."

"No need," Takumi shook his head. "I know about that experiment. A cat is placed in a box where it is then gassed with poison as well as irradiated. In such a state, the cat is theoretically both alive and dead, but the observer can only witness only one of the two overlapping possibilities."

"Well then," the woman gave him a satisfied nod, "Until we open up the gate, we cannot know if we will find an underground tunnel or the void of space. Until you open that gate, the world is in a flux of overlapping possibilities… so just try to enjoy it." She looked over to her monitor. "Let's go. The case is a simple matter of unlocking the gate, but… What's behind the gate? Your job is to find that out."

"I still think it's going to be a simple tunnel, but alright then," the teen shrugged his shoulders. "I'm off!"

"Have a safe trip," the detective called back as he left.

"Did you arrive at the underpass?" Kyoko asked as she answered her assistant's call. "The gate we need to unlock is inside."

"Yeah, I'm here," Takumi nodded.

Tracking his position, the detective directed him to the lock. "The control panel should be beside you. Do you see it? Connect Jump into it and unlock the gate."

Takumi looked around the concrete room and soon spotted it. "I see it," he told her. He quickly held up his gloved right hand towards the box and tried to Connect Jump. After a few seconds, nothing happened. "Huh…?"

"What happened?" Kyoko asked him.

"I can't access it," the boy shook his head.

"What?" the woman frowned. "Your Connect Jump isn't working? That's strange… It's an electronic lock, so there should be some kind of network inside it…"

"There is," he confirmed. "I can see a distortion, but the only problem is that I can't access it."

"Perhaps it's just that you didn't activate the Connect Jump properly?"

"I just did what I usually do for a Connect Jump," Takumi frowned. "I stick up my arm and let the network pull me in. I don't think about," he shook his head. "It just happens."

Kyoko smirked at him. "Right, I think it's time I verified your ability to perform a Connect Jump."

"Eh!?" Takumi blinked at her new experiment.

"Raise your hand…" she directed him and he obeyed. "Now, concentrate…"

Takumi closed his eyes and focused on accessing the lock. When nothing happened, he opened his eyes. "Now what?"

"That's it," Kyoko simply stated.

"H-huh…?" Takumi frowned. "That's it?" Kyoko didn't reply back and Takumi stood in the silence for about half an hour before he shook his head. "Kyoko-san… How long do you want me to do this?" The detective still didn't reply and soon another slow hour came to pass. "You know… I'm getting tired of just standing here…" he complained. He closed his eyes and sighed as what felt like a few more hours ticked by. "A hundred years later…" he tiredly muttered.

"What were you doing just now?" Kyoko asked as he was beginning to nod off. "Whatever you're doing, it seems like it's not working."

"I'm just doing what you told me to," Takumi shook his head. "It's not my fault nothing's—" he blinked as the network suddenly opened up and sucked him in. When he landed in the digital space, he blinked in confusion. "H-huh!?"

"Oh no! It looks like I can't verify it!" Kyoko frowned in disappointment. She shook her head and smirked at her assistant. "Well, it seems that you can only Connect Jump if you feel disappointed."

"That sounds inaccurate somehow," the boy crookedly grinned at her.

"If I were to posit a theory as to how your Connect Jump works…" she began, "Your ability locates a Digital Wave, piggybacks on it to the target location's Digital Space and then enters it. It can be a network, a PC server… It doesn't matter what the target location is. If it has a Digital Space then you should be able to access it. However, there seem to be certain limitations when interfering with the Digital Wave. In other words, when you can, you can and when you can't, you can't."

"That seems a bit arbitrary," Takumi crossed his arms and frowned.

Kyoko shook her head at him. "What we've determined is that you connected before by chance, even if there are specific reasons why you were able to each time. Put simply, cause and effect are connected to the Digital Waves."

"Hold on! How does that explain what happened just now?" the redhead asked her.

"Wait a second?" she blinked at him. "How could you Connect Jump this time, then? I don't have any proof to support my answer, but… Perhaps there were others like you who tried and failed to open the lock and were disappointed?" She shook her head and chuckled. "Yes, 'disappointment' is definitely key…"

"Maybe for this instance, but not for my other Connect Jumps," Takumi crookedly smiled.

"I've rambled on long enough…" Kyoko smirked at him. "Please get this lock opened as quickly as you can."

"Alright, I'm on it," Takumi nodded before heading further into the network.

Takumi sighed in relief as he finished loading the data onto the stand. "The door should be unlocked now! Let's head back and check!" He quickly exited the network and accessed the elevator to take him down to the tunnel. His blue eyes widened as he stepped out into the tunnel. "Eh…!? What's this?" His Digivice began to ring and he quickly answered it.

"It seems you've managed to unlock the gate, so thanks for that," Kyoko smiled at him. "It must have been easy for you, given your skill."

"Yeah, that part wasn't difficult, but I'm in the tunnel right now," Takumi told her. "It looks like the tunnel became a labyrinth of sorts. The air is a bit thick with Digital Waves…"

"What?" the detective blinked at him in surprise. "There's a bit of a labyrinth in the underground tunnel? What do you mean by 'a bit'?" she seriously asked him. "Is there any sign of a Digimon or an Eater in there?"

Takumi closed his eyes and felt his way through the Digital Waves before shaking his head. "No. I only sense random wild Digimon."

"I see…" Kyoko mused. "It's strange to see just a small section of the labyrinth…" She chuckled as he brought her hand to her mouth. "I know I said we couldn't know what we would find, but I wasn't expecting that… I believe we have witnessed a special Digital Wave occurrence. It's as if it's some kind of current…" She closed her eyes for a moment to consider something. "I see. This is definitely a 'ley line'."

"Ley line…?" Takumi tilted his head to the side.

"Have you ever heard of 'ley lines' before? There are many in Tokyo," the woman explained. "They are also called 'dragon chains'. 'Dragon' signifies the undulating landscape, the hills and mountains. The 'dragon chain' is what we call the flow of the land's 'spirit'."

Takumi crossed his arms as he remembered having this conversation once before. "Ah… Kenji-san from the Occult Club had told me the something similar about how Shibuya was the valley of Tokyo, collecting information and energy due to the surrounding hills. Is it a bit like that?"

Kyoko nodded as she continued her explanation. "It's well known that Tenkai Sousei, advisor to Tokugawa Ieyasu, turned Edo into a great feng shui city. It is said that he built a waterway and path to lead the chi from Mount Fuji and Tokyo Bay to Edo Castle. Of particular note in this instance are Kan'ei-ji and Asakusa Shrine to the northeast and Zojo-ji and Hie Shrine to the southwest, all big religious institutions."

"Why only those directions though, Kyoko-san?" the boy curiously asked.

"In feng shui, those directions are thought to draw negative energy their way. The shrines hold big festivals to purge and expel that energy," she informed him. "And if you look at the lines that connect the Buddhist temples Ken'ei-ji and Zojo-ji, and Shinto shrines Asakusa and Hie… You'll find they cross right inside the old Edo Castle, home to today's Tokyo Imperial Palace. It's really quite fascinating to see," she chuckled. "Nowadays the waterways have been swapped out for rail lines and radio towers dot the northeast and southwest. You could say we've finished what Tenkai started. Viewed from the eyes of current society, those rail lines and radio towers are artificial ley lines that supplement the old roads and waterways."

"I see…" Takumi nodded as he brought a hand up to his mouth. "So the Digital Waves work in harmony with the land's natural flow of energy…"

"Naturally, where you're standing underground constitutes another ley line running through Tokyo, too. Not just any ley line, either," she added as she crossed her arms. "The one that's believed to emanate from Mount Fuji is supposed to run right through there. The manmade tunnel layered on top of it allows the Digital Waves to keep flowing in perpetuity. It's really a peculiar thing going on down there."

"Ah… so the Digital Waves get trapped here and eventually build up…"

Kyoko nodded at her assistant's deduction. "That's what's producing this quasi-labyrinth you're seeing before you. Knowing that, those weird voices that people are supposedly hearing probably belong to the Digimon that are appearing as a result."

"Yeah…" Takumi nodded as he looked around the labyrinth.

"I could go on for a while yet about this subject, but you at least somewhat get what I'm saying, right?" Kyoko asked him.

"Of course!" the boy cheerily smiled and nodded.

Kyoko laughed at his capacity to absorb information. "I'll take that to mean you understood it well enough, then. At this point, your work is essentially done, but…" she smirked, "we can't exactly just ignore this newfound discovery of yours, either. Why don't you go a little further in and check things out for me?"

"Even if you didn't ask, I would have gone in anyway," Takumi nodded. "I'll let you know if I find anything."

After about two hours, Takumi frowned as the tunnel seemed to be endless. "Kyoko-san?" he called the detective. "I don't think I'm anywhere near the end of the road. I don't even know where I am anymore…"

"The tunnel just keeps on going, you say?" Kyoko raised an eyebrow at him. She checked her monitor and tracked the path he had taken. "If it stays on course like that, you're going to end up in Roppongi, which would mean… Hmm…" she paused to bring her hand up to her mouth. "You know, this reminds me of something else I've heard about before," she told him with a smile.

"What is it?" the boy asked as he continued forward.

"As I mentioned before, Tokyo's ley lines stem from Mount Fuji, which is of course not all that a coincidence given that it's a sacred place," she began. "And that energy takes old highways like the Koshu Kaido and the Tokaido to get to Tokyo from Mount Fuji. That energy joins up with underground waterways going along the highways that carry Mount Fuji's snowmelt to Tokyo, flowing into the city together. One theory holds that the first place where that water appears above ground after reaching Tokyo happens to be where else but Nakano. Put simply, all the ley lines that flow throughout Tokyo could well be coming out of our own stomping grounds, believe it or not. Wouldn't that be amazing to think about if it turned out to be true?" she chuckled.

"That would be cool," Takumi nodded. He stopped walking when he noticed a spacious area opening up at the end of the path. "Ah! Kyoko-san! I think I've made it to the end!"

"Stop right there!" she urgently told him. "Don't go any farther."

Takumi had been about to take a step into the room, but he quickly retreated back a few steps. "Huh? What's wrong?"

"You're standing at the border of the municipality. Go any farther and you'll be in central government territory," she explained. "That's a hive we'd best not poke."

"The central government!?" Takumi asked in disbelief as he stared at the room before him. He frowned as he noticed some strange equipment inside.

"Color me intrigued, though," Kyoko stated. "That's a hell of a thing to stumble into just walking around inside that tunnel. We aren't prepared just yet to pick that sort of fight. There's still too much we don't know. This little tangent of ours has gone on long enough, I think," she said with a satisfied smile. "Head back the way you came and regroup at the office."

"Understood," Takumi nodded. He wryly chuckled to himself as he looked back at the road he came from.

"Though it's not as strong as we're used to," Kyoko nodded at Takumi's detailed report of the new labyrinth, "that tunnel is causing a Digital Shift. We should probably keep it locked up like before after all." She brought her hand up to her mouth and hid her slight frown. "I have no idea how I'm going to explain all of this to our client… No matter how you spin it, it'll probably all be a lot to take in. I wouldn't be surprised if we come away looking even sketchier than we already do."

"Is there no way to avoid it, Kyoko-san?" Takumi asked.

"Eh, let's just let Detective Matayoshi deal with it," Kyoko shrugged. "Some jobs are just best left to others."

"Ah… but about that area past the tunnel…"

"Hmm? You're curious what exactly was actually beyond where you stopped?" Kyoko smiled at him. "That makes two of us, believe me. Actually, while you were on your way back, I decided to look into it a little bit. Apparently what you found was a Kamishiro research lab, of all things," she crossed her arms.

"Eh!? But you said it belonged to the central government!" Takumi exclaimed. "If it was actually a Kamishiro research lab, I could have—"

"Oh, don't be dense," she shook her head at him. "I told you, that area is under the jurisdiction of the central government. That's not the sort of place you wander into for fun."

"Ah… so you're saying," the redhead frowned, "this particular Kamishiro facility is being protected by the central government."

"If nothing else," Kyoko nodded, "it indicates that Kamishiro and the government have a tighter relationship than what we previously suspected. Going after Kamishiro could well mean that we'd also be ruffling the government's feathers."

"But that's…!" Takumi brought his hand up to his face and knit his eyebrows together. "Ugh…"

"That's why we can't be hasty right now," the detective smiled at him. "We'll do what we can to prepare and cross that bridge when we come to it. This is just a guess on my end, but I imagine it was Kamishiro that changed the password on that door and rendered it impossible to get open. They probably weren't counting on us being able to actually break in and snoop around," she hid her smirk behind her hand. "Knowing that, it could well serve as our ace in hole later when the time does come to confront them, hopefully unawares. But again," she nodded to her assistant, "let's not worry about hashing out the details until we have to and just be grateful we have that up our sleeve if need be."

"Right," Takumi nodded.

"On that note, I realize this case is technically closed, but what do you say about heading over to Roppongi for me one more time?" Kyoko asked him.

"Why?" the boy asked her. "Is there something I should investigate there?"

"I don't mean on official business," she shook her head. "Rather, I'm keen on doing a little independent intelligence gathering for our own internal use. Surely you're interested in knowing why Kamishiro has built a research lab underneath the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, too, right?"

"Of course," he seriously nodded.

"So how about you just walk on through the front door there and see what you can find?" she suggested to him. "Sound good?"

Takumi chuckled a bit. "Will it really be that easy?" he asked with a crooked smile on his face. "Well, I suppose it doesn't hurt to check."

Takumi stared at the skyscraper with wide blue eyes. "Whoa…"

An earnest civil servant spotted the curious redhead and smiled at the student. "Oh, are you here for a tour of the lobby?" he asked.

"Eh? Can I really?" the Cyber Sleuth asked in mild surprise.

The man nodded to him. "Please, come on in inside."

"So I can really tour the entire building?" Takumi asked with a tilt of his head.

"You must be confused," the man smiled. "Let me explain. Construction on this new Metropolitan Building isn't entirely complete as of yet. Well, it was at one point, that is, until a major firm came in and it was decided the upper floors merited additional construction. As such, while that's going on, the lobby here remains free and open to the public to visit."

"Ah, I see," the boy gratefully nodded. "Thank you for your explanation." The man bowed his head before walking away and Takumi quickly called the agency.

"Did you make it inside the building?" Kyoko asked him.

"Not yet, but it looks like the lobby is open for tours," Takumi told her.

"All right, I get you," she nodded. "So they're all right with you hanging around the lobby. Well, that makes our work a little easier, then. Go on in. All you need at this point is a terminal somewhere so you can infiltrate their systems. Piece of cake at this stage, I'd say," she said with a smirk.

"Alright, I understand," Takumi nodded.

"So once you find a terminal, just slip on in and work your magic like always," Kyoko chuckled. "I wish I was there to see it myself," she crossed her arms and smiled enviously at the young boy. "It seems like quite the sight… It reminds me of the Tower of Babel in a way."

"I guess that's one way to look at it," the boy stated as he lifted his gaze upwards to stare at the building again.

Kyoko chuckled and shook her head. "I guess I'm starting to ramble again, though. Don't worry about me. Feel free to get back to work now."

Takumi blinked as he noticed a distortion at one of the terminals. Closing his eyes, he could feel a slight disturbance within the Digital Waves around him. That sensation was apparently concentrated into this one terminal so he quickly approached it. When he was close enough, he paused. "There's a small Digital Shift happening here…" he muttered to himself before quickly contacting Kyoko again.

"Is something wrong out there?" she blinked at him.

"The Digital Waves here are threatening to shift," he told her.

"Oh? You found a terminal that's Digital Shifting a little?" She brought her hand up to her mouth. "Huh. If this Shift is weak while still prominent enough for you to notice it, it could be a sign this place will turn into a labyrinth later on."

"Ah…! That's right!" Takumi suddenly realized.

"Well, for now, try Connect Jumping into it," she directed it. "We have no idea what could be inside there, so stay on your feet, all right?"

"Understood!" The teen nodded as he held up his right hand towards the terminal.

Takumi directed his Digimon to return to him as they finished off the Eater they encountered. "Let's go, everyone! Xros Combo!"

"Rapid Fire!" Rapidmon rose into to the air and pointed his cannons at the Eater before shooting out blasts of energy.

"Flower Cannon!" Lilimon pointed a blooming flower at the Eater before firing.

"Spiral Sword!" Andromon held up his right hand as it rapidly rotated before throwing out a blade of energy at their opponent.

After patting his team for a job well done, the Cyber Sleuth quickly called his boss. "Kyoko-san," Takumi began, "I just defeated an Eater."

"Hmm… So you found an Eater inside there after all," she seriously mused. "But you couldn't find any other evidence of note?"

"Not at all," the redhead shook his head as he looked around. "If there had been anything else, Kamishiro probably would have gotten rid of it by now."

Kyoko chuckled at his short-sightedness. "You're not seeing the forest for the trees here, Takumi! The fact that there was an Eater inside the terminal at all is big evidence in and of itself!"

"I… guess…" Takumi wryly smiled.

"Regardless," she nodded to him, "let's call it a day here. Get on back to the office now."

"I'm home," Takumi exhaustively sighed as he returned. "That sure was a lot of walking…"

"That was probably hard work going all over the place today," Kyoko smiled at him. "But thanks to you, I think I'm starting to piece it all together now. While you were out and about, I decided to measure the Digital Waves coming out of that building. And I found out that the Metropolitan Government Building itself is one big Digital Wave force field."

"Eh…!?" Takumi flopped onto the ground as he missed the sofa. "W-wait… How is that even possible!?"

"From what I can tell, energy is flowing straight into the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building via the ley line inside Nakano Underpass," Kyoko explained. "So that underground lab Kamishiro has beneath the building is probably controlling the energy flow. You remember what I said about ley lines when you were inside that tunnel, don't you?"

"Of course!" the redhead seriously nodded.

"There are two things at play here, like you said: the natural energy flow from the earth along the ley lines and Digital Waves emanating from a sea of electrons. If you can make a massive structure like the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building a hub for those things, then you can manipulate their flow," Kyoko theorized. "Why do they need to do it that way? Well, for one, Digital Waves might be invisible to the naked eye, but they have mass and therefore require a vessel. And the bigger the vessel is that contains those waves," she brought her hand up to her mouth, "the more energy you can build up. It probably also explains the new construction going on, as more space would mean that much more energy Kamishiro could stockpile. That extra energy would then go on to impact the building beyond the facility, hence the Digital Shift you ran into in the lobby. And with any good Digital Shift comes an Eater, of course… Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if that place goes labyrinthine eventually."

"Eh!?" Takumi stared at her in surprise. "If that's the case—"

"But we don't have to be concerned about that threat anymore now that you've cleaned the joint up," Kyoko reassured him. "On the other hand," she seriously frowned to herself, "it's worrying in its own way that things resolved so cleanly this time. The fact that Digital Waves can be concentrated in such small quantities as to attract individual Eaters and produce a micro-labyrinth is scary. If you hadn't been there, it might well not have been caught until much later. The whole thing doesn't sit well with me at all."

"I'm also worried about why Kamishiro would want to concentrate that much energy," Takumi crossed his arms. "There has to be some purpose for the lab and Metropolitan Government Building besides a storage unit…"

"This case has taught us that there's technology that can mostly suppress large amounts of Digital Waves as they're built up and placed wherever," Kyoko nodded as she crossed her arms. "The deliberate and calculated nature of it all indicates that somebody's got big plans in the works, suffice it to say. This, of course, calls for more investigating. We need to figure out how long this has all been going on and just what exactly it's for."

"Yeah…" Takumi gravely nodded.

"Let's keep our eyes peeled as we move forward, Takumi," Kyoko smirked at her assistant. "We're onto something here. I know it."

The redhead brought up his hand and made a fist. "So long as we take this one step at a time, we've got this for sure, Kyoko-san."

The detective chuckled at his optimism. "Your drive is really admirable. Keep it up! One way or another, we'll definitely deal with Kamishiro when the time is right."

~RYOTA'S~YOUTH~

Takumi skimmed his DigiLine messages and frowned when he noticed one of his friends was spamming him nonsensical gibberish. "Eh? What is this? 'FOREVER I swear by your sincere gaze. My only love, MY HEART crazed with pain!' Eh… Sakura… Just what are you trying to say?" He quickly messaged the girl back and blinked as she immediately replied. "Eh…? Jimiken's song?"

"Oh?" Kyoko curiously looked up from her screen. "The same Jimiken who started a schism in Zaxon? As a hacker and public celebrity, it seems as though he carries an air about him that attracts youth towards him." She chuckled as she noticed Takumi frowning. "You don't think so?"

"I admit that he does know how to draw a crowd, but that's more in line with people gathering to see a performance than having actual charisma," Takumi stated.

"Hmm… If we're talking about charisma, then it is true that Yuugo of Team Zaxon surely is charismatic," the detective smirked. "He carries an air of mystery and authority to him that makes it difficult to defy him. But back to the matter at hand," Kyoko crossed her arms, "your friend is fan of Jimiken?"

"It looks like it," Takumi nodded. "Ah… she sent another message," he blinked at his DigiLine. "I think it's another line from one of his songs… She's been doing that more often lately. Not only does she keep posting his songs on my DigiLine though, her fanaticism has gotten to the point where she asks me every day if there's a Jimiken merchandise sale upstairs at the CD shop."

"That explains the number of visitors to Broadway recently," Kyoko mused with a small smirk on her face. "Come to think of it, there's a kid from your school in the K-Café," she remembered. "Do you know each other?"

"Can you describe them?"

"A boy your age with short brown hair," Kyoko told him. "Other than that, he wasn't very memorable. When I was picking up more beans earlier, he mentioned the name 'Sakura'," the woman shrugged. "A mutual friend of yours, perhaps?"

"Ah… it sounds like Ryota," Takumi frowned to himself. "I should probably see how he's doing. He must be worried about Sakura too."

Takumi noticed Ryota sitting at a table with his arms crossed. The brunet had an intense frown on his face so the redhead quickly approached his side to hear what the boy was muttering to himself. "Hmm… Lemme see…" Ryota closed his eyes and concentrated. "Hmm…mmm…mmm hmm…"

Takumi raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Ryota? What's wrong?"

"Nghh. Eugh, what!?" Ryota nearly fell out of his seat in surprise. "Takumi!? What are you doing here?"

"I told you before, didn't I?" Takumi asked. "About my job?"

"Oh, I see," the brunet smiled at his friend. "You're the Cyber Sleuth. The office is around here, I'm pretty sure." He lowered his gaze as he considered something. "Hmmmmm. Cyber Sleuth?"

"What about it?"

"So, cyber sleuths will take on any case at all, then?" Ryota hopefully asked him.

"A case is a case," Takumi nodded with a smile.

"I see…" the boy cheerfully smirked. "In that case, could I send a request to your office?" He didn't even wait for Takumi to respond before rising to his feet. "Okay, it's settled! I'm gonna send in a request to your office and watch you, the great Cyber Sleuth, work!" he declared.

Client: Takei Ryota

Place: K-Café

Details: Ugh… Work… Work… Work… I want an easy job with lots of money. There aren't many jobs like that…

Takumi crookedly grinned at the note Kyoko handed to him as he met with his friend back at K-Café. "You really did put in a request…"

"Oh! You took my case!" Ryota stared at the redhead in surprise before flashing him a wide smile. "Thanks! Still, that woman you work with… Kyoko-san, is that her name? Yeah, she's kinda weird."

"How so?" Takumi tilted his head to the side.

"When I went in to the office to submit my request," Ryota frowned, "she said something weird. 'I'm getting a nasty vibe coming from you'. And she even said 'It's like the detestable aura of a male pursuing a female!' I mean, what the hell is that about?"

"Eh…?" Takumi closed his eyes and placed his hands on his hips. "If Kyoko-san thinks so, then it has to be true…"

Ryota sighed at his friend. "You try and send in a serious request and this is what you get… But, Kyoko-san is really pretty and she seems like a nice person! When I was in the office she asked me if I wanted some fresh coffee, but I said I didn't have the time."

"That… was for the best," Takumi frowned into his hand.

"Oh yeah! The case! I forgot!" Ryota chuckled to himself. "To be honest, I need money at the moment. I'd like to try to find a part-time job so I can pick up a little extra spending money."

"You have enough to cover the case though, right?" Takumi asked.

"Huh? Ah, right," Ryota frowned. "I need to pay a fee if I'm sending an official request to a detective agency… So, could you please try to find a nice, cushy job that will make up for the fee as soon as you can? And anyway, if it's a job in EDEN, you and that woman would know a lot about it, right?"

"You want a job in EDEN?"

"Yeah, that's right," the brunet nodded. "What I'm looking for is a part time job in EDEN. Those are usually the easiest ones. Please find me three options to choose from for a part time in EDEN. I don't mind if they're a little shady! I really need the money! I'm begging you!"

Takumi closed his eyes to think about it. After a while, he opened his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, I'll take your case. I'll discuss it with Kyoko-san once I get back to the office."

Kyoko raised an eyebrow at her red-haired assistant. "Hmm… He wants us to look for a part time job for him in EDEN… That's a pretty easy request. All the same, I'd say it's a good case for you to handle as my assistant," she smiled at Takumi. "He'll accept a nice, well-paid part time job and it's okay if it's a little shady… Looking for a job like that here in Nakano shouldn't be too hard. I'm sure if we quietly ask some of 'those' kind of people here in Nakano we'll find something for him. I've heard of cushy, shady jobs quite close to here," she chuckled.

"This doesn't sound very… safe…" Takumi frowned, "but if it's what Ryota wants… It sounds like he really needs the cash."

"All the same, if he needs money urgently…" Kyoko brought her hand up to her mouth. "I wonder what he needs it for?"

Takumi took a moment to ponder it too. "Well, besides to cover the case fee, he probably wants to buy something important. Ryota's a pretty simple guy." He shrugged it off though. "Anyway, I'm heading out to look for a job for him. I'm off."

"Have a safe trip," she nodded to him as she returned to her own work.

"Excuse me, young man," a man wearing a suit called out to Takumi. "Are you interested in a job? You can work in EDEN and it's a nice, easy part-time job. If you like, I can give you a private introduction for the job…"

"What is it?" Takumi blinked at him.

The man smiled at the teen. "In the business it's called 'room laundering'… One way or another people die. You just have to live in one of these so-called 'rooms with a shady history' for three months. If you do, we can cover up what happened in the room. You might be able to see that which is normally unseen, become possessed by regretful things… If you aren't squeamish, it's quite an easy job. If you want I can give you an introduction, but… please don't talk to anyone else about this."

"E-eh…?" Takumi frowned as he backed away from the dodgy realtor. "I-I'll keep it in mind…" He quickly caught the elevator and frowned at the job. "Somehow I don't think Ryota will like that one…" he nervously chuckled to himself as he continued looking around. Soon he found himself on the third floor and he spotted a man wearing a Laundromat uniform. "Ah! Excuse me! Are you hiring part-time workers?"

"Whaaa!?" the man stared at Takumi in surprise. "You're looking for a part time job in EDEN!? Not just that, but a nice, easy, well-paid job too!?"

"That's right," the redhead nodded.

"In that case, I have good news!" the odd Laundromat-owner smiled at him. "I have the perfect job for you! For this job…" he looked around carefully before continuing, "You just need to wash some… eh… stuff picked in formaldehyde. It couldn't be easier!"

"What kind of stuff are we talking about?" Takumi curiously asked as this was also way too shady for his liking.

"Huh?" the man frowned at him. "What kind of stuff? What are you, stupid? Don't ask such questions… If you want to feel freaked out and disgusted, work in underground rooms in hospitals at night and be terrified all the time then, be my guest!"

"I… see…" the boy sighed.

"It's pretty grotesque, but it's a really easy job. Please think about it," the man seriously stated to him.

"Alright… I… will…" Takumi nodded before starting back down the hall. "Man… what is with these jobs? I'm lucky I landed a pretty good job myself, but what other jobs in EDEN are there?"

Takumi paused when a man carrying a camera laughed as he overheard the redhead talking to himself. "So, you want to earn a quick buck in EDEN now, do you?"

"Do you know of a job that can accomplish that?" Takumi asked.

The man crossed his arms and smirked at the boy. "All right then, I'll introduce you for the job. It's so easy anyone could do it. I want you to take pictures of ghosts in EDEN. All you need to do is get a photo of a ghost and I'll pay you big bucks for it… Not bad, eh? If you're interested, let me know…" he laughed before walking away.

Takumi crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at the man but shook his head. "Okay, I've got the information. Let's go back to Ryota."

Ryota looked up when Takumi returned to the café. "Oh, you've found one already? Where!?"

"So far, I've found guys who are looking to hire someone for a room laundering scheme, washing things pickled in formaldehyde, and ghost photography around EDEN," Takumi told him.

Ryota frowned as he considered his options. "Hmm… 'Room laundering'… 'Stuff pickled in formaldehyde'… 'Taking pictures of ghosts'…" He shook his head at the last one. "That's all just urban legends, though. It doesn't have anything to do with EDEN."

"Well, yeah… but that's all I found," Takumi stated, bringing a hand up to his mouth.

"All the same," Ryota smiled, "this ghost picture thing sounds good. Seems like a nice, easy job… Seems like getting paid for just one photo is easy money."

"Why do you even need a job?" his friend curiously asked.

"Huh? Why do I want to earn money from a part-time job in the first place?" Ryota looked away from the redhead. "I… It doesn't matter why. It's none of your business!" Both boys paused as the door to the café opened.

Takumi blinked when he recognized who it was. "Sakura! It's been a while!"

"Oh, hi, Takumi!" Sakura smiled at the redhead before blinking at Ryota. "None of your business…? What isn't?"

"Ah, Sakura!?" the brunet tensed up.

Sakura frowned at him and placed her hands at her hips. "Hm? 'Ah'? What do you mean, 'Ah'?"

Ryota shook his head and glared at her. "Nothing, it's nothing!"

"Ryota, are you, by any chance… talking about doing anything strange?" the girl worriedly asked him.

"Huh!? Uh… I… eh…nn…" the boy frowned. "The only strange thing lately has been you!" he yelled at her. "You're always talking so carelessly!"

"Hey, Ryota," Takumi shook his head at the brunet. "Calm down. What's gotten into you?"

Ryota shook his head and turned towards the exit. "Oh, there's no point in talking to you! Come on, Takumi! Let's go! Take me to the client!"

"Ah… A-alright, sure," the redhead frowned at him. Ryota quickly took off and the blue-eyed boy flashed Sakura an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Sakura. I'll see you later, okay?"

Sakura watched the two of them leave before frowning to herself. "Ryota… Takumi…" She placed her hands on her hips as she wondered what was going on.

"I knew you'd come…" the occult magazine editor laughed maniacally.

"Really?" Takumi brought his hand to his mouth. "Can I ask how?"

"Huh? How did I know? I tapped into my spiritual powers…" he laughed. "I want you to look into a ghost—'The Pale Boy'—who has been appearing and disappearing around Cron recently. This time I'd like you guys to take a photo of this 'Pale Boy'. If you take a good picture I will pay you big money for it! Not bad, eh?" the man cackled.

"Just how is that supposed to work exactly?" Takumi skeptically asked.

"Huh? You think it's strange that you can take a photo of a ghost in this Digital Space with a digital camera?" the man frowned as he chuckled at the simple-minded detective. "Well, I suppose if you think about it, the very appearance of a ghost in a Digital Space is in and of itself strange."

Takumi frowned. "But it's not—"

"Accept it!" the man cried out. "It's reality! Stop pretending you haven't seen them! Firstly, did you know that more than 70% of the people in this world have seen ghosts and…"

Takumi and Ryota frowned to each other as they lost interest in the loon. "Hey, Takumi… Is it just me or he plain nuts?"

"It all started with the incident at Roswell," the man continued to ramble. "The government and the aliens are all connected. They're just covering it up…"

"No, I see it too," Takumi sighed as he closed his eyes and rested his hands on his hips.

"Cattle mutilation, flying humanoids and even animals falling from the sky, they're all part of the same conspiracy…"

Both boys sighed. "Are you done yet?" they asked the man simultaneously.

"Anyway!" the editor finally breathed. "There is no analog nor digital in the occult! Please get this rumored specter on camera!" he directed them before walking away.

Ryota frowned at his friend and shook his head. "Well, what would you expect from the editor of an occult magazine? He obviously lacks any kind of common sense…" The brunet frowned and lowered his gaze. "The Pale Boy… The specter of Cron… To tell you the truth, I'm a bit scared to go now. It sounds pretty terrifying…"

"Yeah," Takumi nodded, "but not for the reason you think…"

"Well, I suppose you might as well come along," Ryota smirked at him. "Okay, let's go to Cron and take some ghost pictures!"

"H-huh!?" the redhead blinked at him. "Me too!?" He paused as he remembered something. "Oh, that's right… You're not a hacker, are you, Ryota?" Takumi chuckled as he nodded to his friend. "Alright, I'll come along. Just leave Cron to me!"

"I'm telling you the Pale Boy isn't a good sign," Takumi shook his head. "He's kind of like a dangerous omen…"

"In the end though, it will actually be a good thing if this 'Pale Boy' appears," Ryota stated. "We need a picture after all. Anyway," he said as he looked around Cron, "let's hang around here for a while."

"All right, but stay close," Takumi warned him. "Cron is filled with all sorts of danger, whether it's wild Digimon or rogue hackers."

Ryota nodded as he followed the Cyber Sleuth through the underbellies of EDEN. After a while of searching Cron, the brunet sighed. "I didn't think it'd be this hard to find a ghost in EDEN."

"Huh?" a hacker loitering around the area frowned at them. "You're looking for a ghost?" He thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Ah, it's about that 'Pale Boy' I've heard about recently, right?"

"Huh!?" Ryota jumped at that. "Have you seen the ghost!?"

"Yeah… I think anyone who gets all flustered by things like that is a real idiot."

"What do you mean?" Takumi asked.

"Okay? This is a Digital World. The real world is a different story, but that doesn't mean that ghosts can appear here," the cool hacker shrugged. "You've gotta think calmly about this… You won't be able to find them because there is no such thing." The hacker laughed at them before leaving.

Ryota let out a heavy sigh. "Hmm, at the end of the day, I suppose there is no such thing as a ghost. We will never find a ghost like this, not even the faintest trace…" He looked over towards his friend. "What should we do, Takumi?"

The redhead placed his hands on his hips as he considered their options. "We could always go back to doing the room laundering or cleaning the pickled stuff, but I'd rather not." Takumi shook his head as he had a better idea. "We're not giving up. Let's stage a picture!"

"You mean you want to fake the picture?" Ryota blinked at him in surprise before closing his eyes to think about it.

"Why not?" Takumi shrugged with a smile.

"That's…" Ryota smiled brightly at his brilliant suggestion, "a good idea, actually!" He chuckled to himself. "That stupid old man should be easy to trick! Right, if we do this, Takumi," he pulled up his camera and pointed it at the blue-eyed boy, "you should play the part of the ghost."

"Eh!?" Takumi's eyed widened. "Why me!?"

"But, you're the only one who can!" the brunet exclaimed.

Takumi crookedly smiled. "F-fine…" The redhead tried posing a few times as he thought a ghost would as Ryota snapped a few pictures. "S-so like this…?"

"No, no," Ryota shook his head. "Do it more like this! Do it more ghost-like! More like a ghost!"

"What does that even mean?" the Cyber Sleuth asked.

"Remember, you've done things in life that you regret, there are people alive with whom you have unfinished business," Ryota stated with a nod. "That kind of thing."

"Okay, but—" Takumi paused as a familiar sensation washed over him. "H-huh…?" He saw the ghostly boy appear behind Ryota and tensed up. "N-no way. You show up here of all times!?"

"Hey, what are you doing?" Ryota frowned at his tense friend.

"Ryota, turn around!" Takumi quickly told him

"Huh?" The brunet turned but saw nothing. "Oh… there's nothing there…"

"I just saw him! The Pale Boy!"

"Huh!? What!?" Ryota turned around again and searched for the ghostly figure. "The Pale Boy!?"

"Y-yeah!" Takumi looked around too, but he was mainly focused for signs of an Eater.

"Oh! Hey, quick! Take a picture!" Ryota cried out. "The camera, get the camera! Quick!" The brunet fumbled around with his camera, taking pictures of something that wasn't there, before Takumi decided it was time they returned to the agency.

Kyoko sighed at the two teenage boys. "So, let me get this straight," she began. "You couldn't get a photo of the Pale Boy, so you decided to fake the picture?" She frowned at their ridiculous attempt at trying to pass Takumi off as a ghost.

"Yeah…" Ryota frowned. "That's pretty much it."

"Even so," the woman shook her head, "this picture…" She brought her pointer finger up to her forehead. "An elementary school kid could have taken a better picture than this… In the end we will have to reject this case."

Takumi chuckled to himself. "I had a feeling you'd say that…"

"What!?" Ryota exclaimed. "No way… Takumi and me… We put everything we had into this one!"

"It doesn't matter," Kyoko crossed her arms. "Sit down. I'm going to show you how to take a picture of a ghost properly…"

"E-eh!? Kyoko-san…!?" Takumi blinked as the detective began lecturing them on the arts of supernatural photography.

She smiled as she began. "Terror basically arises from the human imagination. 'Anything looks like a face from the right angle.' This is how you can stimulate a person's imagination with a photograph… That is the key technique in ghost photography. So, you just need to invoke the uniquely human phenomenon of pareidolia… For example, here, the perspective in this picture…" she suddenly stopped speaking as she spotted something strange.

"Huh?" Ryota blinked at her. "What's wrong?"

"Hmm, looks like this camera took a photo…" Kyoko nodded.

Takumi peered over her shoulder. "Really!?"

"Huh!?" Ryota got up from his seat and fumbled over the coffee table to get a look too. "Wh-where!?" The brunet's eyes widened as he spotted it too. "Look! Behind Takumi you can see a human figure, but… it has no head!"

Kyoko pensively brought her hand up to her mouth. "But…"

Ryota shook his head and took his camera back. He let out a triumphant cheer. "This, this is a real ghost photo!" He quickly turned towards the exit. "Okay, let's go take this to the editor right away! Takumi, Kyoko-san, thank you both!" Without another word, he quickly took off.

Takumi knit his eyebrows together as he noticed Kyoko was still thinking something over. "What is it, Kyoko-san?"

"Ninety percent of ghost photos are fake…" she mused. "I never thought that this one would be part of the ten percent that are real…"

"Then it's probably fake, right?" the redhead asked as the door behind him opened again. He turned to see Sakura coming in. "Oh, Sakura! What are you doing here?"

"I…" she began with a frown, "I think I'm the one in the photo…"

"Huh? You?" Kyoko frowned at her.

"I… I was worried… about Ryota…" Sakura nodded. "So, I… I followed him to… to Cron…"

"Sakura!" Takumi frowned at her. "That's dangerous!"

She gave him an apologetic nod. "I was trying to watch him from the shadows… but, I… I must have slipped into the frame…"

"Hmm…" Kyoko continued to study the brunette. "I wonder, is there a connection between you and Ryota's actions?"

"Actually, my birthday is coming up soon…" Sakura nodded.

"Oh yeah," Takumi remembered. "Ryota had been talking about it a few days ago. He was wondering what I was planning to get for you so he wouldn't get the same thing or something similar."

"I see, so that's why he needed the money…" Kyoko smiled.

"He… he needed money to buy me a present, so he was looking for a job where he could make a lot in a short space of time…" Sakura frowned. "He… he shouldn't have tried to buy me a present that he couldn't afford…"

"So he was doing his best to find a part time job to buy a present for a girl he was in love with…" Kyoko smirked as she crossed her arms. She began chuckling at the high school boy's motives. "Ah, young love!" She studied Sakura's expression once more. "Hey, are you okay? You have a blank expression on your face. It's like your mind is somewhere else…"

"Sakura?" Takumi worriedly stared at his friend. "Is something wrong?"

Kyoko chuckled some more to herself. "By any chance, is there someone else you are in love with?"

"It's not Jimiken, is it?" Takumi asked in concern. "Anyway, Sakura, thanks for stopping by. I think you should go find Ryota now."

Sakura blinked at the redhead. "Oh, right, yeah. I'm glad I could help clear things up. Oh, and thanks for looking out for him, Takumi. I'm sorry we're always relying on you for this."

"Hey, it's no problem," the blue-eyed boy smirked. "You both have been my friends since the beginning of middle school. Of course I want to help whenever I can." She gratefully smiled at her reliable friend before leaving. "I'll catch you around, Sakura." He kindly let his friend out of the agency before taking a seat at the sofa to begin filing his report.

Kyoko returned to her desk and shook her head out of amusement. "So it was about a present for an unrequited love, eh?" she smirked. "You know," she looked up at her assistant, "our case load has gotten a lot more colorful since you got here."

"I'll take that as a compliment, I suppose," Takumi smiled. "But still, since when did Ryota like Sakura? With as much as he complains about her, I didn't think he actually liked her that way… And for him to go to such lengths for a simple birthday present…" he sighed as it didn't really make any sense given how long the three of them had been friends.

"Oh?" Kyoko curiously studied her assistant. "You don't have someone you'd willingly go to such lengths for? Well, I suppose for an irregular such as yourself, you're beyond such things. Still, I'm a bit curious myself as to how this will all play out. Despite his detestable aura, your friend seems like an earnest client. He'll surely return with another case for us in the future."

~TAWA~REIKO'S~CASE~FILE~

Takumi frowned as he demoed another single only to deem it no good. He sighed and shook his head. "None of these songs quite match up to Sakura's taste in music."

Kyoko raised an eyebrow at her assistant. "Are you looking for a gift for her too?"

"I had a gift prepared for a while but then it was maliciously caught in an accident where my Digimon may or may not have destroyed it on my orders," the redhead chuckled.

"Did you dislike the music that much?" Kyoko smirked at him.

"Oh, the music was fine," the teen shrugged. "It was the artist himself I—or rather my Digimon—had a problem with." Takumi shook his head as he stopped playing another track he didn't like. "I checked the CD shop upstairs too, but all the shelves are once again lined with Jimiken merchandise. There has to be another place I can visit…"

"There's a lot of action over at Shibuya Records in Shibuya" the detective absently suggested. "You've been there, right?"

"Hm?" Takumi paused at that. "Shibuya Records?" He stopped searching the internet with his Digivice and got to his feet. "That sounds promising. Okay, I'll go check it out."

Takumi browsed through the CD selections but frowned when he noticed a lot of the cases didn't quite match up with the disc inside. "Hm? Is someone mixing the discs?" He looked around the store and saw an employee standing near the entrance. The Cyber Sleuth smiled as he approached her for some assistance. "Excuse me."

The girl let out a loud yawn but was surprised when Takumi came up to her. "Ah! What!? Who!?" she sheepishly frowned at him. "S-sorry. I can't believe I conked out like that in front of a customer."

"Is everything all right?" Takumi asked in concern.

"All the crazy things around here in the last couple days have really tuckered me out," she sighed.

"Is there anything I can help with?" Takumi offered. "I'm Aiba Takumi, a Cyber Sleuth."

"A Cyber Sleuth?" the girl blinked at him. "You do random acts of kindness and sleuthing?" She smiled at him. "That's awesome!" She suddenly gasped in surprise. "Ah! I really shouldn't be talking to customers like this… My bad… Let's start from the top. I'll be on the ball this time. Okay? Okay!?"

"Ah… Sure thing," Takumi crookedly smiled at her. "Can I get your name? I can refer you to the detective I work for and we can help if you have a case."

"Ah! Right!" the girl nodded to him. "I'm Tawa Reiko! If you don't see the CD you'd like, I can backorder it for you, so don't hesitate to ask."

"Uh… Thanks," the redhead nodded before returning to the office.

Client: Tawa Reiko

Place: Shibuya Records in Shibuya

Details: There have been some weird pranks at Shibuya Records where I work. We need the help of a Cyber Sleuth!

Takumi smiled as he returned to Shibuya Records. "You submitted a case request, Reiko-san?"

"Hi!" Reiko brightly greeted him. "You're the Cyber Sleuth, huh? Here to take the case? It's a pleasure to meet you! I'm Tawa Reiko! I'm a fan of anime, music, and anime music, so I got a part time job here at Shibuya Records."

"Can you tell me about your case?" Takumi asked her.

"Eh? You wanna know more about the case? Can do!" Reiko looked around the store with a slight frown on her face. "There's been a bunch of weird stuff going on in the store. Like… pranks or something. The CDs on display keep switching without me switching them! Plus, this weird… amateur-kinda CD keeps popping up right in the middle." Reiko lowered her gaze to the ground. "It's not just weird. It's freaking me out! The police said they couldn't do a thing about it. I can't eat. I can't sleep. It's a problem! I mean, there's gotta be an explanation, right? Someone's gotta be doing this. Please, won't you find out why?" she asked the Cyber Sleuth.

"Just leave it to me," Takumi nodded to her. "Do you have any leads on who might have done it?"

"Maybe there was a witness in the shop," Reiko stated as she looked around the store. "Would you mind asking around for information? If you find anything just give me a shout!"

"Right," the redhead smiled at her. "Just leave it to me."

The teen went around asking the various customers about the CD pranks, but he mostly received complaints about how the mixed up cases were making it difficult to find the music they were looking for. Eventually, he found a boy from his school who seemed to know something. "Hm?" the brunet smiled at Takumi. "You're the one investigating the weird stuff going on? I'm not sure I know anything that would help."

"That's fine," Takumi nodded. "Just tell me anything you might know."

"I guess someone keeps adding this mysterious CD to the racks," the boy stated, nodding to the displayed discs. He brightened as he spotted the CD in question. "Oh, look! Here it is."

Takumi took it out from the shelf and blinked as he stared at it. "Huh? Is this… Digimoji?"

"See, the cover's just got these odd-looking symbols," the boy nodded, pointing at the Digimoji. "There's no band name or anything. I mean it's not Led Zeppelin, y'know? Here, you wanna give it a listen?" The CD-loving boy took out a portable CD player and handed Takumi a pair of headphones.

Curious, Takumi put them on and winced as his ears were assaulted by a mishmash of noise. "Eh…?" He continued to listen but the dissonant sounds continued to pound in his skull. "Eh…!" Unable to listen to any more, the Cyber Sleuth quickly removed the headphones. "What is this…?"

"It's pretty awful, isn't it?" the other boy chuckled. "Some people were cracking jokes about some kind of 'monster' composing it. Those rhythms and stuff are definitely inhuman. Kinda tribal…"

"That on top of the Digimoji… a Digimon really might be involved," Takumi muttered to himself. "Okay," he looked back up towards the boy. "Is there anything else strange I should know about?"

"Well, on top of that, the display keeps getting changed up so that, somehow, this CD is always right in your face." The boy nodded as he told the Cyber Sleuth his hypothesis. "My best guess is that someone sneaks in at night. Maybe that's how you find out. Come back after dark and watch the place."

"At night, huh?" Takumi pensively brought his hand up to his chin. "Thanks for the info," he nodded before starting back to the store's entrance. "Let's go talk to Reiko-san again."

Reiko curiously tilted her head to the side as Takumi returned. "Did you listen to the CD?"

"I did," the Cyber Sleuth nodded. "The only thing I can say though is that it… doesn't exactly suit my tastes," Takumi wryly chuckled.

"It's… Well, it's unique! That's for sure," Reiko nodded with a smile. "The artist is definitely creative, just not always… good."

The boy shook his head. "It was horrible," he bluntly stated.

"Eh? You really thought it was that bad?" Reiko paused for a moment before bringing her hand up to her mouth. "Aw, I'm sorry. I myself don't dislike it, per se." She shook her head as she returned her attention to the case. "So? How's the investigation going?"

"Maybe we should come back at night," Takumi suggested.

"After the store closes?" the girl blinked at him. "All right!" she nodded. "If that's how we get to the bottom of this mystery, then we gotta do it!"

"Kyoko-san, I'm here," Takumi spoke into his Digivice.

"Hm…" the woman smirked as she hacked into the boy's Digivice to get a good look at his surroundings. "You wouldn't even recognize this place at night, huh? It's almost creepy. I ran a scan of Shibuya Records and definitely picked up traces of a Digital Wave. These, uh… 'pranks' are Digimon related. I'm almost certain. The strange symbols on the CD cover art may very well be Digimon writing."

"I think they are," Takumi told her. "It only reads 'King of Digimon' though so I don't know who the culprit actually is…"

Kyoko stared at her assistant in mild surprise over his strange fluency in the Digimon language. "There has to be some clue we're missing," she crossed her arms. "Head in and give the place a full rundown."

"Understood," her assistant replied as he looked around the store.

Reiko smiled as he approached her. "Hey there, Cyber Sleuth. Are you ready to do this? The manager said we had the run of the place until morning. Let's solve this mystery, okay?"

Takumi closed his eyes and brought his gloved hand up to his chin. "Reiko-san, I think it's best if you stepped out. It might get dangerous if a Digimon is involved."

"Huh?" the girl blinked at him. "What do you mean, 'It's too dangerous'?" The girl gave him a smile. "Whoever made that CD is dedicated to their music. I want to meet them! That's why… I want to come along too, Detective! Is that okay?"

The redhead nervously scratched his cheek. "I… guess… But be careful and if anything happens, make sure to keep your distance."

Reiko nodded to him in understanding before looking around the store. "Shibuya Records is great at night. I want to play something with a nighttime feel to it…" she paused though and let out a sheepish laugh. "Oh, we should probably be quiet through, right?"

"Yeah," Takumi nodded as he looked around. He paused when he saw a strange digital passageway. "Huh!? Is that… a labyrinth entrance?"

The raven-haired girl turned to see what it was he was staring at. "Wh-what's going on!?"

"It looks like a Digital Shift," Takumi seriously frowned as he approached it carefully.

"Huh?" Reiko started at him in confusion. "What do you mean, 'Digital Shift'?" She was about to follow him, but Takumi held out his arm in front of her.

"Reiko-san! Get back!" he cried out as he sensed a Digimon coming out from the passageway. His Digivice ran a quick scan on the orange monkey Digimon and Takumi knit his eyebrows together. "Etemon?"

The girl behind him let out a surprised cry. "What is that!? Did I fall asleep on my feet again?"

"Who would come here this late at night?" Etemon asked with a wide smile on his face. "I wonder. Perhaps they're here… for me!" He posed for them and began bouncing in excitement. "My faaaans! My adoring public is here to greet me! Tell me. Are you crazy-obsessed with my awesome tunes?"

"Eh…?" Takumi placed his hands on his hips. "We're obsessed with something else entirely."

"Huh? You sure?" Etemon tilted his head to the side and stared at the serious redhead. "I mean, you don't seem all that psyched to be in my presence. What kinda fans are you?"

Takumi sighed as he mustered up as much enthusiasm as he could. "I'm a huge fan…!" he awkwardly exclaimed. "You know it!"

Etemon chuckled and nodded his head at the boy. "Finally, recognition! You know the true sonic arts when you hear them! Well, since you clearly rock hard to my thundering beats and epic melodies, I'll have to drag you onstage!" he declared.

"H-huh!?" Takumi blinked at him in surprise. Before he knew it, the Digimon grabbed him by his shoulders.

"Now! Come on!" Etemon let out a shriek as he pulled Takumi through the passage.

"Aaah! Mister Cyber Sleuth!" Reiko cried out as the boy disappeared.

Takumi looked around in confusion. "What happened!?" He quickly calmed himself down and considered his situation. "That Digimon dragged me here… But… where is here?" He nervously chuckled to himself as his surroundings were reminiscent of a subway station. "I don't think I'm in Shibuya Records anymore." He paused as his Digivice began to ring. "Kyoko-san!"

"Hey, look at that!" the detective smiled. "It finally reconnected!" She crossed her arms and seriously nodded to the boy. "Our link with you went dead a while ago. We figured it must have been the Labyrinth, so we've been trying to get you back ever since. Now that we've found a way around it, we should be able to stay in contact despite any other Digital Wave anomalies…" She paused for a moment. "Well, with luck."

"That's good enough for me," Takumi nodded to her.

"So, anyway, you're in the Labyrinth?" Kyoko asked him. "Tell me everything!"

"It looks like the labyrinth is a part of Shibuya's train lines, but there was a passage leading here from the store itself," Takumi explained.

"Shibuya Records, huh…? Who'd have thought there was a path hidden there. Hmm…" Kyoko brought her hand up to her chin. "Every analysis I run comes back the same. The Labyrinth under Shibuya has definitely grown. Even so, it's nothing compared to the one beneath Shinjuku. Given the situation, there was only one logical Digimon response… The creature had no choice but to drag you into the Labyrinth with it. And I assure you, I have no doubt in my mind that it was a Digimon."

"Well, yeah," Takumi sighed. "Reiko-san and I met Etemon in the store before he pulled me in."

She nodded to him. "You need to find him and fast. The Digimon can't have gotten very far."

"Understood," her assistant nodded as he started deeper into the labyrinth. His blue eyes widened when he spotted the Etemon ahead of him. "You…!"

"Huh?" the Digimon turned towards him in surprise. "Oh, welcome!" He suddenly turned around and started running away.

"Hey! Get back here!" the teen frowned as he increased his speed.

"Okay then," Etemon called back to him. "Go ahead. Just try to catch me!" Takumi frowned as the monkey began taunting him. "Over here! This way!" the Digimon laughed. Takumi spotted a dead-end up ahead and smirked, but as he tried to corner the Digimon, Etemon slipped around him. "This way, this way!"

Takumir quickly backtracked but the agile monkey dodged past him again. "We're never going to catch him like this!" the boy exclaimed. He looked around for a moment as he considered a way to trap the Digimon. "We might be able to catch him if we cut in around from behind… Do you have any suggestions?" he asked himself. He paused as he spotted a network he could connect to. With a smirk, he quickly held out his right hand to perform a Connect Jump.

Etemon jumped as his red-haired fan suddenly appeared from behind him. "Hey! You're getting a bit carried away!" He paused as he noticed the glare on the boy's face. "Wait!? Is it… is it possible!? You've become such a rabid fan of me—Etemon? Such fierce fandom that it spiraled into an obsession!?"

Takumi's expression broke into a confused frown. "H-huh…?"

"And that love—Oh, that love!—turned to cruel hatred," Etemon shamefully shook his head. "You would kill me, so that none else can have me…" He looked up towards the teen with a frown. "No! I can't allow that! I'm simply too much for one hacker to handle!" He pulled out a microphone and took in a deep breath.

Takumi's blue eyes widened as he promptly covered his ears before sending his Digimon ahead to attack the crazy monkey. "Everyone! Stop him!"

"Love Serenade!" Etemon cried into his microphone and his cry amplified into an attack that partially stunned Takumi's team.

Andromon quickly shook it off before raising his right arm. "Spiral Sword!" He threw a blade of energy at Etemon as Rapidmon sped behind their opponent.

"Rapid Fire!" the Cyborg poodle cried, firing his arm cannons.

Yukidarumon flexed before raising his fist. "Zettai Reido Punch!"

Etemon dodged the snowman and laughed as he flipped onto his hand. "Monkick!" he kicked at the Vaccine Digimon before bringing his microphone up again. "Love Serenade!"

Takumi kept his hands up over his ears throughout the battle as he figured out a way to quickly end it. "Andromon, use Gatling Missile!"

The Digimon obeyed and launched two missiles from his chest plate. The homing missiles opened up before firing shots at Etemon, disarming him. Etemon panicked as he lost his microphone. "Eh!?"

"Zettai Reido Punch!" Yukidarumon managed to strike the monkey and soon, Etemon was frozen in place.

The orange monkey groaned as he lost the fight. "Wow… You're much better than I thought. I guess this round goes to you." He lowered his gaze and frowned at the ground. "If you don't want my CDs on the shelves, that's cool. I'll take 'em back. And I promise I'll never use that secret path again. Okay? We good?"

"All right, then…" Takumi nodded before bringing his hand up to his mouth. "Now that we're here, I'm not quite sure what to do," he frowned to himself. His eyes went back up to the strange Digimon. "Hm… So this Etemon. He doesn't… look… like an evil Digimon." The redhead nodded as he decided to head back. "I guess the best move is to report back to the client. To Shibuya Records!"

Reiko gasped as Takumi returned to the store. "Mister Cyber Sleuth! You're back! That's a relief," she sighed. "You were gone for so long! I didn't know if something happened to you. I-I didn't know what to do…"

"It's alright, Reiko-san," the redhead smiled at her. "I took care of the Digimon behind the case."

"Huh…?" the girl blinked at him. "A Digimon? Does that mean what I think that means? Even outside of Cyberspace EDEN? So that weird thing wit the CDs, all those pranks, it was all that Digimon?"

Etemon began crying from behind Takumi. "Oh, come on! Pranks!? That was art! You sell all kinds of music here. What's the harm in selling mine, too?" he asked. "Why? Why!? I worked hard to make those beats and drop those vocals. Mixing the right amount of guitar is not as easy as it looks! You just don't get my sound."

Reiko shook her head at the Digimon. "W-well… That's not quite what I meant…"

"Huh?" Etemon and Takumi blinked at her in surprise.

"It's just that your music is such an abhorrent assault on my senses that it makes me wish I could claw out my ears…" she stated. "But on the other hand it has a really unique sound that both reinvents and transcends genre. I think people will really dig it."

"R-really!?" Etemon hopefully cried out.

Takumi smiled at the girl's attitude towards music. "You think so?"

"Yeah!" the girl happily nodded. "It just takes a while for new stuff like that to really catch on, y'know? But, hey! Don't ever give up on music!" she stated to Etemon. "It won't give up on you. You have to believe in what you've created or you'll never succeed!"

Etemon cried into his arm. "Y-you…!"

"If you promise to knock off all the freaky stuff, I'll talk to my manager and do my best to get your CDs stocked for real," Reiko nodded. "I'll even give it another listen. Who knows? Maybe I'll end up President of your Fan Club."

Etemon quickly turned around to hide his face from the teens. "Wow… I…" he sniffled. "Thanks you so much! I've never had a real fan before. Much less on this nice to me!"

Takumi smiled to himself as the case ended on a really good note. "This wasn't too bad after all…" he stated in satisfaction.

"So," Kyoko brought her hand up to her mouth, "after all that, it was a Digimon looking for a little exposure… Taking a shot at fame," she surmised. "I kind of feel like he wasn't punished much for the whole breaking-and-entering thing though."

"It wasn't about that in the end," Reiko shook her head. "We got to the bottom of the mystery and got to hear a really cool up-and-coming artist! Actually, I'm starting to get into his album," the girl told them. "That's the best part about music. There's room for anyone to try their hand," she smiled. "His music may be strange—it's definitely strange—but it pushes the boundaries! You gotta respect that in an artist."

Takumi and Kyoko smiled at each other before the blonde woman raised an eyebrow at their client. "Oho? I like that. You're not just in it to help the store grow. You're trying to expand the world of music. And I would expect no less," she nodded to her.

"Music is the soundtrack of our lives!" Reiko nodded, raising her hand into the air. "Thank you so much, Mister Cyber Sleuth," she bowed to Takumi. "Now I can get back to doing what I love. Always feel free to drop in! Shibuya Records is like a shrine to amazing music! See you soon!"

"Take care, Reiko-san," Takumi nodded to her as she left.

"Hmm…" Kyoko gave her assistant a pleased smile. "She really believes in that store. I hope they know how lucky they are to have someone like her." She chuckled to herself and shook her head. "You can't argue with that level of devotion."

Takumi let out a satisfied sigh as he finished his report on the case. "Alright, Kyoko-san, here it is," he nodded as he turned it into her.

The detective smirked as she accepted the completed file. "So did you find a proper CD for your friend?"

"Not yet," the redhead shook his head. "I'm still trying to figure out what sort of music to get her."

"Reiko has made a corner just for Etemon's CDs," Kyoko informed him with a smile. "You should definitely go and check it out when you have the time."

"Ah…!" Takumi brightened at that. "That actually sounds like a good idea. Given Sakura likes Jimiken, she'd probably like Etemon's music too!"

"They are rather eccentric artists," Kyoko crossed her arms and chuckled. "I wonder if it would be possible to combine their sounds and personalities…"

The redhead crookedly smirked at his boss. "Somehow I think that would be dangerous…"

Final Notes: Underground Nakano is a lot of technical exposition. It also brings up a strange problem with detail I have with the Underground Lab and the actual Metropolitan Building. That is... why isn't there an elevator or something between the lab and the building's main floors? And how would one normally access it if there is no direct entrance? Still, this case was pretty interesting thanks to Kyoko's info dump. For Ryota's case... I kinda feel bad that Ryota and Sakura aren't more important than they are. I mean... they're Takumi's real life school friends but Takumi's much closer to his online friends Nokia and Arata than them. I guess it's precisely because they're his school friends and Takumi's not really a student anymore that they're only secondary characters. As for Reiko's case, it was pretty random, but a good reprieve from the usual. I remember my first playthrough, I had an Etemon on my team and kept confusing the one following me for the one I was chasing. It freaked me out a few times actually... Also, a cool thing to note, I'm pretty sure the original voice actor for Etemon in Adventure voiced Etemon here too. It's the same with Agumon and Gabumon. I think it's pretty neat.