Chapter 10: Beneath the mask

11:46 AM (Japan Time), Sunday June the 30th…

"… Heh! This pendant Bertha – san sent to me via Hikari – kun isn't bad, really. She must've had a fancy."

"Well! As long as it's just a fancy…"

"I know."

"Good. Let's try to catch some sharks."

"Roger, Admiral."

"Oh come on. Stop with that joke already."

Kage was pacing across a Game Center while chatting with Andy's hologram and watching a pendant of some kind of rock he carried around his neck: he looked amused and Andy didn't find his jokes funny.

"There! Hit 'em! Long Sword!"

"Wide Sword!"

Kage headed for some spectators gathered around a Net Battling machine and gasped when recognizing Eisei amongst them having his hands pocketed and grinning: Kage quickly looked at the holographic projection but saw that none of the two standard Navis had the "Forbidden Boundary" crest on their foreheads: he looked at the Battle Chips both Operators had laid on the ledge for that and the infamous Chip didn't seem to be there either: he spotted one on Eisei's right pocket which was being drawn so he quickly circled around the outer edge, put his hand on his overcoat's right pocket and did something before silently approaching Eisei from behind and pressing something against his body from inside of the coat which obviously was his gun: Eisei calmly looked over his right shoulder and his grin didn't fade.

"Hiya~… If ain't Shadow Man's Operator." He joked with his broadening smile.

"I ain't Shadow Man's Operator."

"Then why are ya named "Kage", eh?"

"What a stupid joke."

"You'd prefer VBN's ones to mine?"

"Oh yeah."

"So! What do you suggest?"

"One: you nap. Two: you go." He summed up.

"Three: we settle our score somewhere else."

"Why not… I've been itching to do that."

"Settled, ain't it? Well! You know the construction materials warehouse for that new shoe-shop which is gonna open three blocks SE from this place soon enough? There'll be enough space and no interlopers. Will be waitin' there… See ya…"

Eisei pocketed his tool and walked out while whistling: Kage quickly lowered the gun inside of the pocket so that it wasn't noticeable but since both had talked in a hushed tone and there was loud background music then the other spectators hadn't noticed anything.

"Good enough. Let's go."

"Alright."

"Yeah! I win! My 3rd victory!"

"Wow!"

"Man!"

Kage ignored the Net Battle and quietly made his way out of the building and down some streets until he reached the warehouse the door of which was ajar: Kage stepped inside and found Eisei sitting on a crate and playing with his PET by tossing it into the air and catching it again as it fell down: he quickly jumped off the crate and stood up.

"So! Ya came."

"Yeah. Let's get down to business."

"Before that… Why don't we Shuffle each other's Folders?"

"Why not…"

Kage handed him his PET and Battle Chip pouch while Eisei did the same with his PET and Battle Card pouch: Kage selected a Folder edition option named "Shuffling" and waited as he also picked the Battle Card by the reverse side and changed their locations: they handed each one's items back less than two minutes later.

"I'll provide the "DCs"… Engage!" Kage announced.

Four "Dimensional Converters" popped out on the four cardinal points of the room and formed a "Dimensional Area", a space where all colors became distorted and the building was encompassed by a dome made of fused hexagons the colors of which were constantly shifting.

"Synchro Chip…"

He drew a special-looking Battle Chip: it had no label and instead had an emerald dome made of some slightly transparent material similar to glass in the center of it surrounded by a black edge: the Golden Star logo had been set at a small scale SE of the dome and the contacts were different: the feeling of it was something else as well: Kage removed the sunglasses and pocketed them while he tossed his overcoat away too to reveal a black featureless t-shirt below.

"… Slot In! CROSS FUSION!"

"Coming!"

A sphere of white light began to form on the PET and it expanded to cover Kage's body as he instinctively spread his arms and legs: Eisei had to use his right hand to shield his eyes.

"It came!"

The light dimmed to reveal how Kage had undergone some kind of "transformation" procedure.

"Cross Fusion Kage! Get ready, Eisei! Today we settle the score, you villain!"

This fusion, or, rather "Cross Fusion", had Andy's bodysuit over his normal clothes but with some design differences: the plating over his shoulders had a more pyramid-like form and was aiming towards the NW and NE, respectively.

The helmet's design was different as well: a silver-colored fin-shape piece formed at the sides, emerging from the ear pads' upper edge and extended until the end of the helmet: an arch was drawn over it and the space inside of it had a deeper tonality of silver.

A complicated drawing was imprinted within the forehead and the helmet's front now extended until the start of the nose: his hair now flowed out in a more natural manner from behind it.

A bronze-colored border formed around the shoulders and a straight line travelled towards the emblem to form a curve surrounding the lower half of it: the curve ended with a small "spike" drawing pointing downwards.

His forearm design included a thin separation around the elbow: the two combined section formed a hexagon with a golden-colored jewel set on its center.

The short section set on the rear half of the elbow was colored bronze while the rest of the forearm was slightly brighter.

The bronze borders travelling down the sides of his upper body ended around the hips: two circular bands of a bronze color were drawn over them with a small separation between them.

His boots' design was based upon that of his forearms: the soil was painted black and separated from the rest of the foot by a thin bronze-colored line.

The jetpack design had changed a bit, too, and it now included bright silver pieces connecting the upper right and left edges with the body: a curved golden line was drawn half-way across it: the rest of the backpack looked identical to Andy's usual form.

"Denpa – Henkan! Eisei Aaron! On Air!"

Eisei became Gray Thunderbolt and immediately joined his golden-armor covered hands which began to frizzle with electricity.

"100,000 Volts!"

He shot a blast of electricity at "CF Kage" but the guy seemingly saw it coming for when he was hit a cloud of smoke ensued, a chibi doll dropped into the ground and ten shuriken fell down on Gray Thunderbolt's body one after the other.

"No way! First round and ya already came up with the "Bodyguard" Program Advance?" He groaned.

"I always have some ready. I don't depend on the Ryuusei Form to win, mind you. You could feel that on our previous two encounters."

"Grah! 1000 HP deduced! 1000 HP! And my max is 2000!"

"Don't say it wasn't fair because you came up with that idea of shuffling our Folders." "CF Kage" reminded him.

"I know! Grah! Rocket Knuckles!"

Two copies of his forearms formed in the air and used rocket propulsion to shoot towards Kage but they hit a small familiar statuette which he'd suddenly placed in the ground.

"Ojiouzan!"

"No way! Uack! Another 200 HP deduced? This can't be!"

"It can be. You're not the only ones who haven't been sitting idle ever since March."

"I dunno why but this gives me a bad feeling." Andy whispered over a radio burst to Kage.

"Why? We've got the upper hand: anyone would agree."

"He could be planning to strike back with the Muramasa Blade for all we know."

"Hum! True. My max HP is 1000 and the Muramasa Blade would deduce 500, so half of them… Let's try not to get close."

"Volt Sword!"

"Shirahadori!"

Three consecutive counter attacks from "CF Kage" forced Gray Thunderbolt to step back, groaning.

"Another 300 HP less? 1500 HP lost and I haven't even deduced 1 HP outta that guy! I'm not Jounouchi!"

"What? Ah. The "ordinary" guy or Kaiba names him… I think that you are feeling rather cocky as of late while I came prepared to face you reviewing all of the battle data from out two previous encounters. Your own idea of shuffling the Folders has backfired on you."

"Grjftx! Heavenly Thunderbolt!"

"Element Trap!"

"Fuck!"

The attack was nullified and another attack was shot at Eisei instead: he groaned and began to pant.

"No way! 240 HP? This thing rests as much? I've lost 1740 HP out of my brilliant 2000 HP?" He groaned.

"Yeah. How about giving it up? My next attack will beat you."

"Bring it on!"

"Okay. You asked for it. W-what? What's this thing doing here in my Chip selection menu?" He gasped as he found something odd in there.

"By all the…! The boundary thing!" Andy cursed.

"Heh! So it finally came out."

"You! You smuggled this into my Folder with the excuse of the Folder shuffling, didn't you?" Kage growled.

"Yeah! If you're the "Shadow" then prove it!"

"Prove what, that I have a "Dark side of the Force" or what? Besides! I don't have that pendant thing which energizes the program."

"You sure of it?"

"What? Ah! So Bertha – san didn't send this but you did using her name, then! But! I'll just toss it away and simply…"

"Wouldn't you know?"

"What now?"

"I'm here because Urateido asked me to."

"Urateido, you say!"

"Yeah. He's gone back to wrap up the loose end."

"It couldn't be!"

"Wait! Miquel – kun! It's a trap! We gave a new-gen Copy Roid to Ice Man so that he could materialize and defend Hikawa – kun!"

"I filled Urateido's Folder with Elec – Attribute Battle Chips. I'm sure the dwarf Eskimo is fried by now. Hmmm… I hope he shows me the recording 'cause it'll be totally worth it…" He chuckled.

"This fucking son of a bitch…!"

"Calm down!"

Heh. Ya can't know it: but, when applied to Cross Fusion, the "Boundary" works just like one of those "Dark Synchro Chips" Twilight of Nebula developed but never came to implement… You'll seal up Andy's consciousness and deepen into your rage and hate… You'll come at me in a reckless and wild manner, but I'll be waiting to use my Muramasa Blade to hand half of the damage… And then I've got a terrific combo ready for ya too: Holy Panel, Attack+30, Double Point and Holy Dream. It'll get rid of your other half of HP in a flash. Then I'll be able to confirm if my little theory is right… Gray Thunderbolt inwardly thought.

"… Toss that bloody pendant away already, Miquel – kun! Then wait for the "Elemental Cyclone" Battle Chip to come out and you'll be able to win over him easily!"

"Shut up! This is MY battle! I'm fighting to protect MY friend! And to protect the others you need power!"

"You have power! Bring out the Ryuusei Form, then!"

"No! I'll blow him up with his own bloody gizmo! I'll be ten times more satisfying!"

"Miquel – kun! If you're going to keep that behavior then our Cross Fusion will break apart!" Andy warned.

"… Forbidden Boundary! Activate!"

"NO!" Andy gasped in horror.

It was too late: the pendant began to agitate and the exterior layer shattered to reveal the mineral below it: a column of pale turquoise light formed around "CF Kage" and the "Boundary" was drawn just below his feet before it expanded by circling around until it reached its maximum range: a powerful greenish light could be seen coming out of the building's windows.

"Yeah! I did it!"

Gray Thunderbolt, with a smile on his face, inclined his head towards the right to look towards "CF Kage" while seeing how the crest began to be drawn on his forehead: two segments of the circle formed on the north-west and south-east corners and began to draw the circle: the north-west end grew towards the south-east portion and the south-east portion grew towards the north-west portion.

Keep at it…

The initial three lines forming an "N" shape were drawn on the inner side of the circle which kept on growing as the fourth line began to span towards both ends and the symbols began appearing inside of the rim: the drawing, the circle and the symbols were completed

Yeah! I did it! I win!

A flash forming the shape of the Alphabet "X" character emerged from the center of it while the rest of it glowed outwards: his eyes now shone with a tint of crimson and the purplish aura could be seen around him as he looked furious.

"Power…! I have power! All of my Battle Chips gain a 50% boost! Eat this! Program Advance! Hi - Cannon, Triple Slot In! Giga Cannon! Its normal 500 points are elevated to 750! DIE!"

He shot the powerful blast towards Gray Thunderbolt, who had a hand on the hilt of his Muramasa Blade and looked ready to leap towards his opponent any time now.

"Magnet Force!"

He crossed his arms and formed some magnetic waves which expanded and formed a kind of barrier: the Giga Cannon's blast hit it and was redirected at the opponent.

"Holy Panel! Dream Aura!"

How lucky. You'll save me the Holy Panel activation… No! The more Holy Panels the best!

Despite the Holy Panel's effect the Dream Aura was shattered by the attack of the Giga Cannon but "CF Kage" suffered no damage: before he could react, though, Gray Thunderbolt was jumping towards him.

"Panel Format! Muramasa Blade~!"

"What! The son of a…! Ugra~h!"

The blade left a deep cut on the upper chest section of his bodysuit and had him recoiling.

"The end, Kage! Holy Panel! Double Point! Holy Dream! Attack+30! Too bad but you lose! That of Urateido was a trap! Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h!"

"YOU DAMNED SON OF A BITCH! I'LL KILL YOU YET!"

The Holy Dream's series of energy bubbles impacted on "CF Kage" one after the other thus making him back up: suddenly, though, a weird noise rang out inside of the room.

"What?"

Gray Thunderbolt spotted how three of the "DCs" were frizzling and looking like they were malfunctioning: one of them suddenly shone and a column of white light formed below "CF Kage" and expanded upwards while making him levitate some centimeters from the ground: the "Boundary" suddenly converged on him and was returned into its container.

"Uh… Ugra~h!"

"No!"

"CF Kage" had his body slowly whitened by some phenomenon and it vanished altogether while the column of light quickly lost thickness and vanished altogether: the "DCs" then began to explode one after the other and the "DA" collapsed: Gray Thunderbolt looked furious and angered as he remained there.

"Fuck! What the fuck! What happened?"

He began to look around and suddenly heard whisperings and muttering around the building along with the sirens of police cars: cursing under his breath he warped and reappeared inside of the still-under-construction shoe shop's first floor: the blinders had been lowered so he looked out through the small gaps to see a crowd of curious who had gathered around the spot where the edge of the "DA" had been at: two police vans halted and some riot squad policemen jumped out to run inside of the building: Gray Thunderbolt snickered.

"Hmpf! Search all you want. You'll only find the remains of the "DCs" but nothing will tell you what happened: Net Battles don't leave forensic evidence, by Moriarty! But I'll go back to the base… Kage! Don't think you can fool me anymore with the clever set-up… I've figured out your true colors by now and today's battle is the ultimate proof!"

12:13 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Fua~h… It's a bother to have to go through all this red tape and such just to pay the rent of the warehouse building. Jeez. I hate bureaucracy and red tape: but who doesn't? Huh?"

Noir had been sitting on a chair next to a round wooden table inside of a room somewhere in Purgatory which seemed to be his bedroom given the presence of a king-sized bed set against the north wall, a cupboard on the NW corner, a door on the west wall and another on the SW corner plus an LCD TV on the south wall: it looked practical and simple.

"What's that?"

He spotted the familiar white column of light forming there and expanding until the body of "CF Kage" appeared there: he collapsed into the ground face-down and his "Cross Fusion" broke into raw data which jumped into the air to them reassemble in the form of the Link PET which hit the floor and skid twenty centimeters across it before stopping: the word "ERROR" was showing up onscreen but it vanished to be replaced by the "Forbidden Boundary" drawing: it "shattered" and Andy's upper body and face appeared onscreen.

"Phew!"

"Whoa! Miquel – kun! Andy!"

Noir ran towards them and crouched next to the knocked out Kage who was lying there: he then spotted his overcoat five centimeters to his left as well: Noir suddenly lowered his hood to reveal a youthful face which didn't look like it was older than fifteen or sixteen years old: its profile was plain and wasn't anything out of the ordinary and his eyes' irises were of a navy blue color: but it was highly reminiscent of that of Kage's face to begin with.

"Andy! What happened?"

"Well, Kuroshiro Oriol… We got into a mess."

"What?"

"First of all… Can you connect me to my "cyborg body"? I want to get out of here."

"A-alright… Legato! I summon you!"

"You called, Oriol – sama…? Ah! Kage! What happened, Andy – kun?"

"I'll now explain. Connect me to my body, Legato."

"Alright…"

"Oriol. Place him on the bed."

"Okay…"

Noir or Kuroshiro Oriol picked him with softness and placed him face-up on the right side of the bed: Kage's face looked like he'd been in pain and Kuroshiro looked nervous.

"Miquel – kun…!" He muttered.

Legato picked the PET and crossed a corridor communicating with another room: this corridor had two doors set at right and left labeled "BATHROOMS" and "SHOWER ROOM" which he ignored: he opened the adjacent door and came into a room which was a duplicate of Kuroshiro's own room: Saito could be spotted sitting on a chair and apparently sleeping given his pose: Legato crouched in front of him and slightly opened his right eye while aiming the IR port at it.

"Plug In. Transmission."

The IR light jumped into the eye and Legato let it close: Saito began to stir and mumble before bringing the right hand to his forehead and groaning as if he was having a headache: Legato helped him stand.

"Let's go back to Oriol's room… I'll explain…"

"A-alright, Saito – kun…"

Legato helped Saito walk back into the other room and he sat on a chair next to the bed: he looked at Kage.

"Well. We met Eisei."

"You met Eisei? In the Game Center?" Kuroshiro asked.

"He suggested settling the score so we went to a nearby warehouse: we shuffled each other's Folders."

"Like in Duel Monsters…" Legato muttered.

"It began pretty neatly. We'd soon taken out about three quarters of his HP and crushed all of his attack attempts. But then we found out that the guy uploaded the software of his own "Forbidden Boundary" Battle Card into the PET's flash memory."

"What!"

"He then began to provoke Netto by telling him he'd come to distract us while Urateido went to try to drive Hikawa – kun mad. It turns out that the pendant Bertha – san had sent us was a fake and contained a real piece of mineral…"

"Ah the bastard!" Kuroshiro hissed.

"… And Netto, falling for the trap, didn't listen to me and turned on the damned thing which tried to shut down my processes! But I transferred myself out of the Cross Fusion using the Wi-Fi and into one Dimensional Converter which I began to reprogram to take us away and then self-destruct with the other four. It was a very close thing because Gray attacked Netto with the Muramasa Blade and then the Holy Dream combo while admitting that that of Urateido was a lie: before the damage computation could reach 0 HP I pulled Netto outta there and here we are: I re-installed myself and since the damned Boundary had noticed that Netto's HP were less than 100 points it had cancelled hence why I could delete its file right now." Saito described.

"I see…! That was a narrow escape…!"

"Legato."

"Yes, Saito – kun?"

"Please toss that damned mineral into the harbor right away before it can do any further harm." Saito requested.

"My pleasure."

Legato quickly picked the mineral: he ran out while Kuroshiro sighed and walked over to "Kage" to caress his face in a soft manner while looking worried.

"Face Camo: de-activate." He commanded.

His face suddenly faded away to give way to a black leather-like mask covering his whole face and neck including the base: it lacked any facial features whatsoever and covered the eyes as well.

"Let's take it out."

Kuroshiro unfastened his black bandana and then pulled it out to reveal Netto's face underneath it: he also looked like he'd had a painful experience: Kuroshiro frowned and leant closer to spot that he was even crying and trembling.

"… It's my fault… I'm such an idiot…!"

"Netto – kun?"

"Saito – niisan…! I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…! I risked your life again! I never learn the lesson…! You were always ready to sacrifice yourself for my sake: the Dream Virus battle, the Super Cybeast battle…!"

"I think he's not conscious but having nightmares." Saito muttered with a sigh.

"Netto – kun…" Kuroshiro muttered.

"But we had to do it: we had to cast away our old selves and rise again as new men… Who'd believed that the very Net Police Cyber CID staff was afraid of us? Afraid of our powers? Filled with zeal and selfish fear because they wouldn't try to understand? And then… One of them blurted too much on the street and five bully idiots took profit of that to corner Netto in one corridor of the HQ next to Superintendent Oda in August, 2008, and beat him! Superintendent Oda had to go and shoot for real into the air to scare them! And Netto… He was broken. He had a doctor admit that he could've died there…!" Saito began to cry too.

"I know…! Netto – kun's system crumbled and collapsed! He lost all interest to live, all fun, all joy…! He became dull and depressed… And nothing would impress him! Not even manga, anime, drawing, reading novels, going out with the friends…!" Kuroshiro sobbed too.

"So that's when you and Legato appeared… That September! As Kage Miquel and Andy…! You were our classmates and soon we began to hold secret meetings in your house where you told us about Golden Star and how we could rise again! And bury the ghosts of the past!" Saito tried to dry his tears.

"And all went splendidly…! We remained with you guys until the summer where we came up with some tale to make us "vanish" and during that "disappearance" you guys began your training and assumed your new identities: it made life flow back into you two… And all was fine! Given our early role, no – one could question that Kage Miquel and Hikari Netto were two separate persons! There were witnesses, documents, photos, videos…! No – one could doubt it! And it's worked!"

"Yeah… But I suspect the jerk had a hunch… He might have realized that Netto's wound from the SS Scheherazade Symphony was still there despite Kage Miquel not having such a wound during the Seraph Tower battle when he hit that spot and Netto couldn't suppress a wince of pain…"

"Shit. Now what?"

"Hopefully the guy won't tell anyone else…"

"Let's hope so, yeah."

"Uh-unh… Uh-unh… Huh… Damn it… What a headache!"

"Netto – kun? You awake?"

"Oriol…? This is… Purgatory…? Damn it… I've screwed it up, right? And I had to have my hide saved again, right?" He grumbled.

"Yeah. That's what happened." Saito told him as he looked at him but still looking like he had a headache.

"Shit."

"… I disposed of that, Oriol – sama… Hikari… How do you feel?" Legato reported as he came back in before asking Netto.

"Like shit."

"Guess I shouldn't have asked."

"Don't try to last out at Legato because he ain't guilty of anything." Saito told Netto.

"I didn't intend to!"

"Just in case."

"Whatever. I owe you a big apology: I fell for the simplest trap ever and I should be ashamed of it. I'm 16 already, damn it! I'm not that gullible 11-year old guy who got tricked by Hinoken into attacking the Education Board's Cyber World with a replacement Navi and then finding out the guy wanted to dispose of Rock Man in a treacherous manner!"

"Calm down! Agoras got Hinoken a year ago. And the guy's now rotting in jail, see!"

"Speaking of jail…" Kuroshiro muttered.

"Shunoros let loose some guys?" Netto deduced.

"Saiko Rei and Inukai Takeo…" He admitted.

"Flash Man's and Beast Man's Operators… How lovely. But the one who beat Saiko Rei was Punk, right? So he'll target Meijin… And Blues is the one who helped bring down Beast Man… Have they bothered to rebuild them or what?" Saito fumed.

"We dunno yet. Zero got the news 16 minutes ago." Kuroshiro shrugged his shoulders.

"Hum."

"Say… Why don't we shatter the ice with the latest broadcast's replaying, anyway?" Legato suggested.

"Sure. What do you think, Netto – kun?"

"Let's give it a try."

"Good… Wait a min… Here."

"…Welcome again to the VBN's trio broadcast! Today we bring you the "King – Kong Chapter"! You ready, Burner Man?"

"Ou! Always ready!"

"You ready, Needle Man?"

"Shah, shah, sha~h! Of course!"

"3! 2! 1! Start! "I'm going to see the looks of the weather"… * sees a gorilla's large face from the 1st floor's window, then runs off * … "A~h!" … "Why! Melanio! What's the matter? Does the weather look so bad?" … "Why! A dwarf! They gotta work in some circus." … Note! The guy who said that is Rompetechos, the short-sighted guy who always brings trouble to your doorstep! Anyway! Burner Man!"

"… "Well! There's the diamond company's storage building… Heh, heh! I can get rid of these bars in just two minutes. Done! Let's store the burner." … "UA~H! BLOM!" … "By all the… What are you doing, you fool?"… "You're the fool! Brrr! You dropped the burning burner on my head, see!" … "W-why! The pocket must've gotten a hole. Well then, let's place each one atop the other again and keep at it." …"

"Heh… Yeah… The King Kong is in truth two short guys piloting both halves of the disguise…" Netto began to form a smug grin.

"…"What a thing! A hen with the legs on the head has been born in Pernambuco! It must be scary to see! HUH! A~H! AH! AH! A~H!" … "What a scandal! Like she'd never seen a monkey before!" … BRRR! The problem is that we've reversed our positions!" … "What…? Why! Yes! I was thinking that my head felt pretty light…" … "Well! We're alright now, so let's get back to work… And take the foot outta my mouth!" … "Lucky burner! If not there'd be no getting past these bars!" … "UA~H! CLANG!"… Guess time, my audience!"

"Easy. The upper body was below the lower was above."

"And then one employee ran out in fear and got through the window bars even…" Kuroshiro grinned.

"… "Look at this tree! We can hide on its branch! ZU~M! CLONC! ZU~! I-it's occupied, Boss!" … "BLOF! GRRR!" … "What fear!" … "It's going to make mincemeat of us!" … "J-just a sec, by mercy! I wanna smoke my last "Celtic" before I die!" … "Heh! Dying in a pointless manner…" … * lights cigarette *… * exhales smokes * … FLOASH! … "I thought as much! Synthetic fiber! It burns in a flash!" … "OW! OW!" … "OW!" … "We bring you another present, Mr. Super!" … "The original wrapping got burn a bit, you know?" … "Ow! We got this coming… for acting like monkeys!" … "And in the blackness and mystery of some den"… "This is the "Mastermind", on the phone! That silly monkey failed so the next turn to shine is for the otherworldly being! No! Your Albacete cousin won't do, you moron! It's gotta be an EXTRATERRESTRIAL!"… Next in the VBN's trio radio broadcast… "Extraterrestrial Chapter"! Look forward to it!"

"Your Albacete cousin, an otherworldly being…" Legato laughed.

"It's a somewhat crude joke that southern Spain guys are different from the other regions' guys…" Kuroshiro smiled.

"… I guess that what I need is to go back home, have a shower and lie for a while… After a good meal, though…"

"Alright… Here's the Face Camo…"

"Good… I'm going back already. Saito – niisan: can you forgive your baka otouto for today's idiocy?"

"I can. It was a trap. We fell for it. The point is that we mustn't gather grudge or hatred: that's the enemy's aim and we won't fall for such an old-fashioned trick." Saito told him as he sat beside him and patted his back with a sigh.

"Yeah… Guess there's still a lot I gotta learn…"

"But nothing can break our bond, right?" Kuroshiro asked.

"Let's fight together! And defeat the enemy!"

12:02 PM (Philippines Time)…

"…Sheesh!"

SPLASH!

"… Sheesh!"

SPLASH!

"… Fuck."

SPLASH!

"What's the matter, Gray?"

"Huh? Hum. Aibou, huh."

"What happened in that warehouse?"

"Ya heard the news already? No surprise. Ya must think I'm a big idiot, ain't that right?"

"Why should I? I dunno what happened."

"Well! Whatever."

Eisei was sitting on the corner of the beach and tossing stones at the water while seemingly trying to vent off his bad mood: Kuroban walked over to him and Eisei grumbled.

"I lured Kage into a fight."

"And you lost?"

"No! I turned it around!"

"How?"

"I stuffed the Boundary on his Folder by saying we should shuffle 'em! I lured 'im into turning it on and I'd managed to deliver a combo attack! But before his HP could hit the 0 mark he was fished outta the spot by Noir and he blew up the "DCs"! I was so close! So close, really!"

"That was rather unfair." Kuroban warned.

"All's fair in war!" He shot back.

"Well. For me… It isn't fair." Kuroban insisted.

"Fine. Then next time I'm gonna hit 'im with a hammer!"

"Gray. Behave like a man." He sighed.

"Oh yeah? I'm behaving like a brat?"

"Yeah. You are. Play fair next time around."

"Whatever the ever in ever!"

"And that means…?"

"Fine!"

"Good. But remember: no more tricks to toy with his morale or feelings because I won't recognize that as a fair battle. Later."

"Yeah. Later."

Kuroban headed back while Eisei stood up and grumbled.

"I'll go to one of our places tonight. I need to vent off. Urateido can tell me a good one. And when I say I came to check the stuff they won't dare to tell me there's a time limit or have me pay. I'll just show 'em a photo of a corpse and that'll make them realize we're serious stuff. I gotta make sure Urateido doesn't talk about this to Ernst, though. They could get to the hands given Ernst's fiery temper." He muttered.

He stuffed both hands on the pockets and began to circuit around the island: he spotted Umisama bathing nearby and practicing "crawl" at the same time: he grinned.

"Hey. Umisama's got some looks, yeah… No wonder that stupid aunt of his had wanted to turn 'im into stuff… Let's tell Urateido not to mess with this guy either or else aibou will get mad… Kage! No… Hikari! I've found your little dirty secret… If only Laika knew… But I've got no sympathy for that moron either so… Whatever! I'll keep this to my own…"

Too bad! I saw through the camouflage! Heh, heh, heh!