Author's note: If you're wondering why Rei is suddenly smiling more, I'm trying to subtly point out that his Gemini is growing.

Please note that Ichiro still doesn't know he even has one.

Shattered Illusions

…

Ichiro watched the rigid atmosphere; Fuuten's eyes burned intensely, but all of Arai's focus was on the morose man in front of her. After a brief pause, the color came back to her face and she suddenly looked exhausted. Arai took her seat at the end of the room, which was beginning to look like an impromptu trial.

The defendant raked her fingers through her hair and sighed deeply.

"Where do I even begin…?" she muttered to herself. Den leaned forward, slamming both hands on the table in between them, startling his daughter.

"You can start by explaining why you've put my children in—!"

"DEN!"

"No, Sensei! This has—"he was silenced with a severe glare from his mentor.

"That will do for now. We will get to the bottom of this in due time. I do not get the impression that the young lady intends to run from this anymore," he said calmly, hoping to ease the heated atmosphere.

"Hey, Old man!' Ichiro called from the hallway entrance heatedly, 'what the hell is going on? Why's the puffed-up old geezer barking?"

"Ichiro!" Jiro interjected sternly at the sudden disrespect. Ichiro raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, that's pretty much what he looks like right now and I just want to know why," he replied, unapologetic. Fuuten shook his head and muttered under his breath, attempting to conceal his ill-timed mirth.

"Ichiro, you are almost honest to a fault. But if everyone will calm themselves, we will be sure to get some answers, now I ask that everyone—' here he cast a furtive glance towards Den, '—remain under control."

Rei and Mieko entered silently through another corridor, confused and curious to hear what was happening at the moment.

"The other volunteers chose to take over dinner and bathing the children for the time being. Please continue," Rei assured. Fuuten nodded appreciatively and chose to take his place beside the detectives who had remained quiet against the wall as everyone settled. Hanpei looked grim, almost guilty while Etsuko still appeared to be recovering from the shock of seeing Den lose his temper as he did.

"Hey, eh…why don't I start off first just to get the ball rolling, ok?" Hanpei said, trying to lighten the mood and urge on conversation with his informality.

Unfortunately, he only succeeded in turning all intensive gazes towards him with the exception of the monk, the girl in question and the guest. He did manage a semi-sympathetic look from his assistant though.

Hanpei coughed and adjusted his lapel to regain his composure.

"Well, as we know, Arai showed up without telling much of her background, so as a detective, I'd obviously wondered about it. Well, apparently our resident monk was just as interested as I am, so we ended up searching for more information on her back-story together. By some sharp snooping and a lot of luck, Fuuten managed to recognize you as bearing a resemblance to this woman—" he broke off to shove the dated magazine clipping towards the center of the table.

Mitsuko leaned in closely and gasped and Jiro too found the image having such a similar appearance to the young girl Mitsuko and Masaru had come to call family—except for the eyes. The eyes of the woman in the photo were green…like polished jade.

Unfortunately, Ichiro was not as meticulous in his scanning. After about ten seconds of staring at the image, he pointed an accusatory finger at the seated girl and raised his tone accordingly.

"I KNEW IT! You're NOT human! Otherwise you'd look like an old hag by now!"

…

Ichiro was met with blank, disappointed stares. Arai shook her head slowly, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Dumbass…look closer. The eyes are different—or are you already so much of a man that you failed to notice?"

"Hah, funny—I'd have to have a conscience circuit thingy to become more like a human—No thanks…but having a closer look…maybe…this isn't you after all. She's prettier," he said, throwing in the insult to help mask the slight embarrassment of failing to notice the most obvious difference.

Den looked confused for a moment.

"But Ichiro, you do hav—," he started, but Rei held out a silencing hand in front of him. Den waited for an explanation, to which Rei only shook his head gently as if to say 'It is better that he just not know for now'.

"Yes, I know my mother is pretty—she'd have to be if she made a living out of it…" Arai confirmed snappily.

Etsuko chose this moment to step forward and add her input.

"Yuri Ichiharu, who later became Yuri Komyouji and then took another name after that though I could not find much information as to who her second husband was—only that he was a wealthy technology developer. It seems that measures were taken to keep the second marriage quiet," she said, keeping her gaze lightly on the daughter of the acclaimed model. Arai gave no reaction.

"I never would have believed…" Den murmured absently, staring disbelievingly at the image. Fuuten allowed himself a small smile, but said nothing. Hanpei took this as his cue to continue, figuring he didn't want to know why Ichiro suspected the girl of being...not human.

"Anyhow, that's kind of where Momochi comes in," he said, waving a hand at the man who loosened his collar subconsciously. Taking a big gulp of air, Ganta Momochi began to speak.

"Yes, I…I had just received my degree in journalism and visual arts. Because of some string pulling, I managed to land a job photographing for fashion magazines for a while and Yuri was my first model. We got along pretty well later on, and I still managed to keep my ties with her after she got married the first time. In fact, I took her wedding photos—,"here he paused pulling out a manila envelope extracting the pristine image. Sure enough, as Den carefully handled the photo, he found his younger brother beaming back up at him, an arm around the waist of his new bride.

"When was…why was I not even informed of his marriage…?" he said, unable to hide the hurt in his tone. Arai scratched her temple, chewing her lip as she considered her words.

"About that…well, do you recall getting into an argument with my father a few years before that? Around the time of your marriage to Sakamoto?" Arai asked cautiously.

Den took a few minutes, scanning his memories. Oh yes…the start of it all; he nodded grimly.

"Yeah…well, Dad never did approve of Miss Sakamoto because he couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right about her. He also thought you were moving really fast considering that your son had just..." Arai's voice stilled, not wishing to open another old wound.

Jiro couldn't help feeling somewhat awkward at this mention, since the Doctor's first son had been murdered around the time they had begun constructing him. To his relief, Mitsuko slid her hand into his and kept it there.

"Well…you remember how it happened soon after that…when he decided to wed a few years later, Dad was not sure that you had forgiven him or not as there had been no contact between you since the falling out—he thought he might have offended you by asking you to attend his wedding when he still didn't approve of Sakamoto…"

"And he was right to do so…much as I loathe to say it…" he grumbled bitterly. Arai offered a sympathetic smile.

"Hmm…at least you came out of that with gains, right?" she offered quietly. Den closed his eyes and nodded in agreement; no matter the circumstances, his children were his blessings.

Etsuko sighed, slightly relieved that the angry tension seemed to relax to some extent. Hanpei was also grateful for the calm, and went on.

"Heh, say, why don't you tell us a little bit about your mom?"

A sudden chill ripped through the room. Ichiro raised an eyebrow at Arai, for though she smiled politely, her eyes implied she would have much rather bit off her own tongue.

"Aa—mother…yes, what can I say about her? Apparently, I had been a difficult birth and she was unable to return to work—I daresay she might have held it against me"—Momochi cut across her abruptly.

"Arai, don't say such things! She loved you very much and doted on you—," he said, halted at the icy stare he received in turn.

"I never said she resented me openly. She put me through a lot of hell in the claim that it was for my own good…heh, I wasted so many years in classes I hated and never had any real use for," Arai scoffed, reminiscing with irritation.

"She wanted you to be educated!" Momochi defended firmly. Arai shut her eyes, considering his words; the memories floated to the surface…

"Please do this for mommy; you want me to be happy, don't you?" Yuri coaxed absentmindedly, as she was already preparing to drive off; her child stood in front of the building, shuffling her feet in front of the dance studio. Three-year old Arai sighed disappointedly, knowing this was only the beginning of a long day.

Present-day Arai clenched her jaw as another cold memory followed.

"I want the best for my beloved child so that she'll be happier than her mommy!" The smile was so fake; the green eyes were dull and miserable. The five year old Arai stood apprehensively on the threshold of her vocal instructor's classroom; the child wasn't sure she could sing that day as tears welled in her eyes—'why isn't mommy happy...?' she had worried.

…

The current Arai forced her eyes closed, willing the painful throb of her heart to decrease.

"…I don't doubt that, Ganta-jii…but claiming that she wanted my happiness when I would have rather stayed at home and just played with Dad or played with her—you can't say she really paid attention. Being loaded down with tedious subjects and practices one after another left me little time to make friends—that's why I ended up having to home-school."

The photographer silenced himself after that, recalling the distressed letter he had received from his friend about this matter long ago.

"So is that why you're such a pain in the—?"

"Ichiro," Rei interrupted him to avoid the argument, as he would have with the younger children. He quite frankly did not want to find out if Arai would bite her offenders as Rieko had done days before.

To his luck, she ignored the comment and continued.

"Well, I don't think Mother was very happy after I was born. Not being able to model anymore cut off her income and Dad wasn't really making a lot of money building motorcycles because the area around our home had more open spaces instead of paved roads at the time. She poured most of our money into paying for the overpriced classes that I did not particularly enjoy. One day she finally got fed up and left to marry someone who had more money than he knew what to do with," she said, picking a bit of dirt from her nails nonchalantly, 'it really surprised her when I chose to stay with father instead, though she shouldn't have been really..."

Ganta cast a very stern glare at her behavior.

"Arai, I don't claim to understand the anger or resentment you have for your mother, but you will please respect her in front of me as she is no longer alive to defend herself!" he said, almost regretting his words the instant they were out of his mouth. Her indiscernible smile unnerved him.

"For you, of course," she murmured breezily.

Hanpei gulped nervously, praying that they could get through the whole story without another explosion of some sort.

"I see…so why don't we just get off the subject of your mom since I doubt there's much left to tell at this point anyway…what about your dad? Why didn't he ever make any mention of you to his brother?"

Arai looked at him much like she was trying to teach a child that one and one equal two.

"Well, I'll be first to say that my father was a brave man…but there was just one thing he couldn't face and that was being hated by his brother. Not that Den ever said he hated him, I don't think—but my father was always afraid that if he contacted his brother too soon and thus offended him, he might finally hear those words that would hurt him so much. So he kept thinking that he'd tell him later…and 'later' eventually became the fourth of never," she said, poking her index fingers together in slight embarrassment. Mieko, thinking the situation sad, found the sudden expression amusing and stifled a smile, causing the butterfly ornament in her hair to stir gently.

Hanpei nodded, seeing complete reason in this as he had his own qualms with his brother.

"I get it…so what did you do later? How did you survive if your dad wasn't pulling in enough money?"

Here she finally grinned.

"Without having to pay for all those classes, which I dropped almost immediately after mom left, we were doing just fine. Dad then finally built a bike that could manage almost any terrain and earned a good income that way. I still wasn't very good with other people my age though, so I did things together with Dad part of the time before I finished my home schooling early, then all of the time after. He taught me all he knew about motor mechanics and when we got bored with that at times…we decided martial arts would be fun to do together. He enrolled us both in a class, but he dropped out later when he got more calls for custom jobs."

Hanpei nodded as he filed it all away in his head when a sudden thought struck him.

"Hey wait! If you finished schooling early…then how old are you exactly?"

She took this moment to get her information in chronological order.

"Let's see…I finished at about 16…and that was about one or two summers ago…hm. Almost 18, I think—soon anyway. I haven't exactly been keeping up with the date," she admitted sheepishly, scratching her head.

"I see…anyhow,' Hanpei said, clearing his throat, 'I think we ought to move this along just a bit. Now, the reason we went looking up your background was because something didn't seem right. Fuuten noticed this too: why would a secret underground society go making unnecessary killings simply because of a last name? I can understand if maybe they were going after the doctor because he created Jiro and his brothers—but no attacks have ever been made on him; for a group with enough money to pay for spies, it wouldn't have been that hard to find Dr. Komyouji if they'd really wanted to snuff him," he explained, watching her closely. Her expression stayed blank, but her hands lightly gripped the armrests.

"We did a little research on you, obviously, to check out your story and we found it really surprising that your mother's life was taken on the same night…." The detective continued to watch.

Still no visible reaction.

He then turned to the photographer who had sunk his face into his hands and took a few deep, steadying breaths.

"It's my fault," he said, eyes suddenly very heavy. Etsuko placed a comforting hand on the man's shoulder.

"Of course not, it was—"

"—my fault. There is no getting around it: my own stupidity sealed the fate of two people I considered dear friends…and I have a feeling that is only the beginning of the consequences of my folly," Ganta said, cutting the assistant detective off and casting a remorseful glance at Arai, who broke from her immobile position. She turned slowly towards the mournful man with interest barely visible on her features while the others leaned in, eager to listen.

"About two years ago, I had long since expanded my resume of photography outside of the modeling world and dabbled in taking shots for newspapers and the like. I had heard about DARK in whispered rumors and thought how famous I would become if I were able to expose them and bring the rumors to light, so I kept my ear out and collected information as discreetly as possible," he paused to swallow heavily. Den was on the edge of his seat, almost fidgeting until Fuuten laid a restraining hand lightly upon his shoulder, nodding for the story to continue. Ganta swallowed once more and went on.

"One night I came home and sifted through my mail when a piece caught my eye. It was addressed to me from Yuri—I hadn't been able to keep up much contact with her after her second marriage, so it was a shock to see her name. When I opened up the letter, she had written that her only daughter was turning sixteen and that she hadn't seen her in almost ten years. She asked that as a favor to an old friend that I might take some nice photos and send them to her since she was unable to do so herself for some reason," he cast a furtive look at Arai, who remained firm, but silent. Her expression remained unreadable, though her white hands implied that the information was news to her.

"I contacted Ryo first, asking his permission though I already knew he'd let me. We had kept contact on and off for years ever since he and Yuri had wed, and took solace in one another over drinks when recalling the good days when Yuri had been best friend to both of us. I then came over the next day and Ryo had arranged it so that she just believed it was a friendly visit to catch up—"

He paused briefly, struggling to maintain his composure. Ganta brushed off his pant leg needlessly before continuing.

"Yes…well, the photo shoot was a success and I went home. That evening, when I arrived back home, my answering machine had recorded a message from a friend of mine who also wanted DARK exposed for what it was and helped me look out for leads. My partner, Misao had called, telling me of a tip-off she'd discovered and when we should meet up. When I looked at the clock, I'd realized that it was almost time for the rendezvous, so I ran out with my camera before I had thought about it."

Ganta's hands began to shake, so he set his photo envelope down on the table and tightly gripped his hands together.

"Well, the information paid off big time. We managed to spy on a major meeting between the remaining members of DARK. They had been discussing the recent downfall of Professor Gil and how to cover the rest of the society from being discovered. I managed to take pictures of all the leaders; some blueprints of cybernetic designs and my friend had been recording the whole meeting on tape. Unfortunately, the tape ran out and the record button snapped up too loudly; it caught their attention and we had to split. Misao took off in one direction and I took off in the other. Miraculously, we both managed to come out unscathed."

Mitsuko eyes had grown large, imagining the kind of danger that the aging man had placed himself in. Jiro listened closely, squeezing her hand gently to reassure her as she had done for him earlier.

"However…I was too hasty. I developed the photos that night and made two copies so that Yuri and Ryo could have photos of Ume-chan-"

"Ume-chan!" Ichiro snorted, not even trying to stifle his mirth at the affectionate name. Arai noticeably reddened and spat at him.

"SHUT UP!" she snarled impatiently. There was pause before Arai settled back down and gestured for the photographer to continue. He shut his eyes tightly and his voice became a bit strangled.

"I…I am to blame for their deaths! I sent the wrong photos and didn't find out until too late! Ryo and Yuri ended up with the evidence shots and the media and police force got the shots of Arai. I only found out when Ryo called me and told me what had happened and for some reason…he requested that I turn in any other evidence I had gathered to him as well. He also then told me to make arrangements to get out of the country as fast as possible. After much convincing, I received the tape recording and got over to Ryo's place as soon as humanly possible. Ryo then assured me that he would protect all the information and—"

"—Then had me drive you to your house to pack, and then to the airport that same day…" Arai said emptily, fitting the pieces together for the first time. She then removed the fan secured to the small of her back and stared at it with half-lidded, sad eyes.

Ganta went silent, as though he might tear apart at the seams if he said another painful word. Arai continued on in her disconnected, hollow tone.

"I came home that evening and the house was a worse mess than usual. I ran into the garage and found Dad in the middle of a fight with a girl I'd never seen before—Ayatsuri. I didn't even have time to ask what was going on, he just threw these at me," she said, gesturing to her belts and the fans. She blinked and continued on, 'then told me to grab my mother and hide for the time being…and then to seek out Den Komyouji when the worst had passed."

Hanpei took a step forward and supplied the rest of the story for her.

"And when you got there, your mom was already…"

Arai lowered her eyes.

"So you found your way here eventually…but you told us that DARK was after Dr. Komyouji and his family. What was your real objective?"

Her brown eyes froze and closed momentarily. When she opened them, she smiled in a very feline manner.

"Every bit as sharp as you were reputed to be…what was I really after?"

Here, Ichiro leaned in closer, just as eager as the others now.

"In a word: revenge," she answered, interlacing her fingers and peering over them with cool eyes. Another pause of silence passed before Etsuko swallowed thickly and stepped closer to the girl with her own question.

"And how exactly did the Komyouji family fit into all of this?" she uttered, almost afraid of the answer.

"Hm…yes…I asked myself that at first, but then I came across some old articles talking about a red and blue robot with destructive capabilities. I had remembered then that my father had once told me that my only uncle was a robotics genius when I was curious one day. Then, as I mentioned before, I figured out that the robot…no, android…was linked to my estranged uncle when I noticed the vehicle in the picture; Sidemachine was the second custom vehicle my father and I had ever worked on, the first being Doublemachine—my father had built them with the intention of making them peace offerings, though I believe Dr. Komyouji was a bit too occupied at the time. Anyhow, once I had recognized the link…' she paused, her face still hidden partly by her hands.

Jiro was taken aback. Though he had known the girl for such a short time, he had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that she had harbored an ulterior motive. Her eyes gave nothing away as she continued to confess.

'…I was determined to have that force unleashed upon the one responsible for the death of my parents." Ganta lowered his head with disgust at himself, but the girl turned towards him, wearing an expression as though she had read his mind.

"No, not you, Ganta; the one who gave the order to send Ayatsuri after my father and who either killed or had someone kill my mother—I will end that person," she clarified. There was no doubt evident in the way she said it, nor was there a trace of emotion in her expression—save for her eyes. It was the intensity of her eyes that invoked a fearful reaction from the group; this was not the boast of an immature anger, but rather a promise of blood in cold fury found only at the brink of insanity.

Mieko's head swam as she listened in silence with Rei, though he appeared to be observing Arai closely instead of showing how he felt on the matter. The female android did note that something about the girl's tone seemed off…as if she were relieved and yet despairing at the same time, though it did not much show in her words.

Ichiro recovered from his shock before the others, adopting a cynical smile in an attempt to reassert something familiar into the situation.

"So why not just say what you wanted at the beginning? Why go through all of this?" he asked, thinking this was the obvious answer. Arai faltered, raised one disbelieving eyebrow at him.

"How many people do you think would offer to help me, not knowing of me or even my existence beforehand? Especially people who already know how dangerous DARK can be firsthand?" she retorted skeptically.

"Well if you know how dangerous it is, why would you be dumb enough to go after them in the first place?" he countered, slightly hoping to make her angry…something about her hollow eyes made him fidgety.

"What else did I have to lose?"

The room grew cold and silent.

"… Having no family is like having a big hole in your chest; a void you'll always try to fill in. You have no idea just how impossible that really is…"—Ichiro recalled her earlier words and his brow furrowed slightly.

'…Is that why some of these kids cry at night in their sleep? Is it really that painful?' he silently pondered to himself, trying to understand why someone would willingly walk into a defeat. His eyes fell on Jiro, his younger brother; he noted a sad depth to his large, dark eyes that spoke volumes of his empathy.

Ichiro suddenly knew and he fell silent.

Conversely, Mitsuko had just found her voice—and it choked with pain.

"So…this whole time…from the very beginning—you were planning to use us? Even worse, you were planning to use Jiro? And when you saw me…was that part of your plan too?" Jiro could hear the tears Mitsuko fought to subdue in her cracking voice.

Ganta could feel the rising anger and tension in the atmosphere; it was almost smothering. He felt his guilt press down harder on him, further suffocating him.

Arai only lifted her eyes to her cousin with a wistful smile.

"The very beginning? No—not quite…to be honest, I was still formulating the details of my plan with every complication that came up along the way—but yes, the initial plan was to gain trust so that it might be easier to receive aid or assistance in pursuing my goal," she confirmed, touching her lip as she had been considering the answer.

Mitsuko was frozen.

"How…how can you say that all so calmly?"

The plum head lowered for a moment before a reply was received.

"Perhaps because it really doesn't matter what happens next; I knew for some time that I was going to fail in this part. Hell, I might even be somewhat relieved—" she cut off as she stood up to stretch. When she looked up, she smiled far too casually for the situation. Rei continued to watch her closely as the monk did, though the monk seemed to be filing away information as the detectives were doing.

Den had heard enough.

"Get out," he ordered, eerily calm. Mitsuko gasped as Etsuko did. Even Mieko's mouth fell open a bit.

"Father!"

"I mean it, get out. My family has been put at risk and betrayed far more than enough—I want no more of it. Leave. Now. I don't ever want you to return."

Jiro was at a complete loss for words, having never seen the kindly old man so angry before this night. In fact, everyone seemed to be visibly shocked at the sudden demand…except perhaps for Arai.

She regarded him quietly for a beat before giving a small nod.

"Fair enough," she complied, turning with her eyes lowered to the ground; her pensive smile held no warmth.

The others exploded with various protests.

"You can't! Come live with me—it's my fault this happened in the first place!"

"Ganta,' she said firmly, '—mistakes happen. We fix them by learning from them, isn't that right?"

"What?" he said, the question taking him off guard.

"You told me that once… when I practiced taking pictures with your camera that time, remember? You told me that in this way, photography helps to teach one of the valuable lessons for life, right?"

His chin quivered feebly; he was at a complete loss as to how to respond to that.

"Where will you go? What will you do?" he implored. The smile vanished and her eyes lifted just so they could barely be seen between the loose bangs.

"I have some work to finish anyway…now quit blaming yourself. Daddy would knock you out for it if he saw right now," she gave a tiny grin as she took a few steps away from the group towards the door leading to the outside.

"Wait a minute, Fruit loops!' Ichiro said, grabbing hold of her upper arm. Then to Den Komyouji, he turned and attempted to keep his tone low, 'Geezer, if you send her out there on her own, those two freaks will find her and pick her off in no time!"

"Father, Ichiro is right! They are bloodthirsty and will not hesitate to kill anyone in their way—" Mitsuko pled to her father, springing to her feet. The intensity of his glare startled her as Den cut across her plea.

"And because of her, you know this first hand!" he said, pointing accusingly at her bandaged leg.

"Father!" she yelled in protest, growing frustrated. Den continued to ignore her attempts.

"Mr. Hattori, you said so yourself, she's been out on her own for a while, she's quite capable of fending for herself!" Hanpei looked as though he would have loved to sink into a black hole at that very moment.

Ichiro could feel a growl emanate from his throat, but it abruptly halted when he felt Arai's arm muscles tightening beneath his fingers at Den's cold remarks.

"They're right; I'll be fine on my own. Just like before!" she said cheerily. Ichiro was about to snap at her stubbornness when he saw her give a poor attempt at a bright smile.

Ichiro had an epiphany then: Arai could not hide her emotions in her eyes, so she hid them with a smile to keep from revealing just how deeply she had been stung.

Apparently, while he was still recovering from the revelation, she had gently pried his fingers from around her arm and started for the door again.

"Wait!" called the detective. She paused hesitantly.

"Hm?" came the quiet response. Hanpei looked remorseful, though he forced out his question.

"You didn't have much contact with your mom after the divorce, right? How did you manage to find her?" Though her back was turned, the detective's keen senses told him that she was swallowing with difficulty.

"You're right, I didn't have any contact—except for this letter," she explained with an impressed smirk, pulling a wrinkled envelope from a side pocket. Arai unfolded it and tossed it back towards the detective who managed to catch it. Ganta regarded the letter and the girl with surprise.

"You kept it with you all this time?" he said, almost in disbelief, scratching his long, shaggy, dark hair. She nodded, turning her back once more.

"Of course. It was my mother's only written apology to me. Well…good bye," she said, finally heading out the door and towards the garage. Etsuko ran after her in an attempt to stop her, throwing a furtive glance to her employer before she exited, meaning she wanted Den Komyouji calmed down and recollected by the time she returned.

Hanpei gave a hopeless nod and unfolded the envelope, removing the long letter inside.

'Why did this have to happen…?' he thought miserably.

On the other side of the kitchen door, adjacent to the lounge room where the adults had been discussing just then, three children hovered just outside the door, in shock at what they had just overheard.

"This is terrible, Masaru!" Rieko whispered mournfully. Masaru had stood stock still for quite a while, clenching his fists. Akira frowned sadly at the situation.

"I'm so sorry, Masaru…this must be very complicated for you…" he murmured softly.

"Not just Masaru, Arai-neechan too! She's going to have to go out there on her own with two killers hunting her down! Not to mention, it's cold…" Rieko hissed, shivering suddenly as though the cold air had seeped under the kitchen door and grabbed her ankle.

"I can't let him do this…" Masaru muttered after a pause.

"Eh?" Akira questioned cautiously. Masaru's face snapped up, angry and determined.

"I can't let him do this!" he repeated, bursting through the door.

"Masa—!" Akira attempted to yell, but Rieko smartly clamped a hand over his mouth and dragged him out of the line of vision as the door swayed.

"Akira, if we're going to help, we're going to have to plan while he has his word in there! We don't have much time either, let's go!" she said, taking his hand and sprinting silently towards the window that kept the garage in view.

"Rieko…what can we possibly do?" he cringed, almost pleadingly. She turned towards him with the familiar gleam in her eye, though without the feral grin.

"Akira, do you remember that time you told me about the things you could see when you focused a little?"

He nodded nervously, not sure where this was going.

"Yes…it's because of a side effect from all those…"

Rieko nodded, indicating that she remembered well, tightening her hold on his hand in a comforting manner.

"We might be able to put that to use…but what we need to figure out is how to get you a ride," she said, wrapping her coat around her and handing Akira his. They carefully walked towards the back door and exited after putting on some shoes, and exited, treading softly towards the back window of the garage…

Etsuko pleaded to the girl who responded with a deaf ear.

"Just wait, you'll see! My boss will get the Doctor to come back to his senses and then we can figure out what to do, just—will you please listen!" she begged frantically, pulling on the girl's arm. Arai shrugged it off and continued to inspect Sidemachine for any last minute improvements she could make as promised. Finding nothing to adjust, she returned her attention to her own vehicle, checking the air pressure in her tires.

They stood in silence as Arai determined that her motorcycle was in optimal condition.

"Miss Etsuko…"

Etsuko stopped chewing her lip and looked up.

"Yes?"

"Thanks." Etsuko was confused by the response.

"What for?" she asked, her curiosity taking over her defeated mood.

"Had you not taken pity on me, I might not have ever met the rest of my family. I'd always wondered what they were like because my dad wouldn't—or couldn't—tell me much. I'm happy I met them. I'm happy I met everyone, in fact…and I wouldn't have that if not for you. So I owe you a lot—but I need to ask one more favor, if you could humor me…" Arai elaborated, unhooking one of the long belts from around her waist and handing it to the assistant detective.

Then she extracted a scrap piece of paper from her pocket and a pen, scribbled a quick note and folded it, also handing it to Etsuko. Etsuko received both with a perplexed face.

"Give those to Masaru, please?" she offered, smiling softly. Etsuko scanned the belt, suspecting its true purpose.

"In case something goes wrong, I want him to be able to protect himself at least," Arai explained, not looking Etsuko in the eye. She then steered the crimson motorcycle towards the garage opening. Etsuko felt her chest constrict tightly as though the cold air had frozen her lungs.

"So you're really going? I can't stop you?" Etsuko called as the girl mounted the seat. The only response she received was a small shake of the head. The assistant detective sighed sadly, removing her second coat that she had worn for the trip to the orphanage, shivering slightly at the sudden draft that her normal pink coat couldn't immediately protect her from.

Arai took it without word, but before starting the engine, she turned back and grinned once more.

"Take care of Hanpei, ne? He'd self-destruct on his own, you know," she said, tying the belt of the coat. Etsuko nodded in response and watched the lone girl drive away as a small tear escaped and rolled down her face from behind her glasses.

…

Arai had been driving at illegal speeds for at least half an hour when a sudden pain flashed across her face. She swerved to a stop along the powdered road, removing her goggles and flexing her already numb fingers before bringing them to her face.

Sure enough, a smear of crimson indicated she was bleeding.

"You're late," she called cynically to the trees. A sudden drop was heard in the snow about fifteen feet away, then slow footsteps. The clouds opened up to reveal the moon for a few minutes, shedding light upon Arai's aggressor, dancing off of a stunning viridian pendant.

"I'm not here to play anymore, Arai," Ayatsuri said as she transformed her synthetic fingers into claws. Likewise, Arai shed her borrowed coat and extracted the fan from the small of her back and the one from the strap that extended diagonally across the top of her back.

"That's great to hear, because I'm really not in the mood tonight," she replied dully, opening the weapons to expose the blades.

"This is the last time we do this. I am not allowed to fail again," she said, forming her legs into fighting stance. The Emerald pendant swung heavily with her movements.

"If you say so—let's go!"

And with each countered blow, the fighters plunged further and further into the forest as the clouds darkened and gathered, hiding the moon once more…

Elsewhere, in a city neglected by the sun almost all year long, a ragged stray found itself collapsed upon a doorstep. Ironically, the doorstep seemed familiar, as though the creature had come upon it a lifetime ago…

"Oh…? It looks as though you need some patching up," spoke a soothing, feminine voice. The bedraggled stray's vision cleared only slightly amidst the hazy snowfall only to meet a particularly beautiful face as it was lifted up towards it.

The cat amazingly did not fight the compassionate woman, and relaxed almost immediately within her embrace.

...

Glossary: Ichiharu 'first spring', Yuri 'Lily'

Misao is another character from the live action version of Kikaida 01. She is also seen in Jerry Trumble's 02 fic (not to be confused with the remake MEIMU manga). Speaking of which, read if you're curious about how the live action was sorta done. Anyhow, back to Misao, in the live action, she was Hiroshi's (Prof. Gil's other son) tutor/caretaker.