"Target sighted. Repeat, Mature Man, this is Party Group, the target
is sighted."
"Is it blue?" Amarao said back over his cell phone. The group of agents he had briefed an hour earlier were sitting outside Naota's apartment inside a van that looked like a party entertainment service. Amarao was sitting in his own car outside the park. Kitsurubami was with him.
"'Mature Man'." She groaned to herself, sinking down into the seat. "Sir, Medical Mechanica doesn't use code names, why are we using them?"
"It sounds professional. Now hush." He talked into his phone again. "Once you have a confirmed blue, move in. Keep me updated."
"Why aren't we with them?" Kitsurubami said, watching her boss out of the corner of her eyes.
"I don't entirely trust our...informant in this matter. I want to be right here to see what he's up to."
"Who is this informant you keep talking about? Is he the guy who did that to you?" she said, pointing toward the bandages over Amarao's eyes.
"I told you already, I'd prefer not discuss that." He said, whimpering slightly at the memory. Kitsurubami remained silent for a while.
Naota looked down at his reflection in the water of the fountain. His whole form rippled with the flow of the water, reflecting the inner turmoil he felt. This day had started out so calmly, now it was all turning into total chaos. First he ran into Eri, which was nice. Then he talked to Kitsurubami, which was strange. Then he got seduced by Haruko, which was disturbing. And now he was being threatened by Jakun, which was terrifying. If he knew what else was going on at that very moment, he would have felt even worse.
The sound of a guitar suddenly being played nearby shook him from his thoughts. He spun around to find Jakun, seated on his motorcycle not ten feet away. He sat, casually strumming his guitar, acting almost as if Naota wasn't there.
"What do you want? Where's Mamimi?" Naota said, trying his best to sound threatening. Jakun stopped playing, and then turned his eyes to Naota, as if Naota had just walked up to him in the street.
"You're woman is fine. Both of them."
"Both of..." Naota considered this for a moment before horrific realization flooded to him. "Eri!" he shouted, as if she were somehow going to respond at that exact moment.
"They can't hear you kid. They are both far away from here. I needed to use the both of them so we can talk." He paused a moment for effect, then went on. "I heard you play in that coffee shop. You play pretty good. But you're good at other things, I expect. Like the N-O Channels that come out of your head. You seem to be good at those too."
"I'm not good at those. I don't have any control over them. Now what do you want?"
"Don't you?" he hissed as he slid off his bike seat and started to walk toward Naota. "Didn't you ever notice how they started whenever you panicked? Whenever you were in danger? And you claim you have no control over them?"
This left Naota speechless. His mind began to wander back, to retrace from the very first time he remembered something leaping out of his head. And he remembered the emotional turmoil that had raged through him each time it had happened. "You've got potential, kid" Jakun went on. "No human can open N-O Channels like that. And they way you merged with Atomsk, controlled his infinite N-O. Remarkable. But you don't know how to use it yet. It's reacting to your emotions, not to your thoughts. You need to learn, to refine it. Haruko knows it. Why do you think she came back?"
"She said..."
"She lied." Jakun was standing directly in front of Naota now, towering over him like an adult over a child. But still, he made no aggressive maneuvers, no sudden actions. He kept Naota firmly locked with his eyes. "She told people about you, Naota. Important people, who are just dying to meet you now, that's why she's here. Its her ticket back in, and she knows it. But I can take you so much farther; make you so much greater than she ever could. You can be more than her, more than me, more than the Pirate King himself. All you have to do is say yes, Naota. Come on board, we can help you shine." With these last words, the water of the found rippled as if touched by an invisible force, sending sparkling drops flying into the air.
Naota was silent. The enormity of Jakun's words had drained all his convictions away, and he struggled for a response.
"Its blue!" shouted the lead agent of the IIB's team as he kicked in the door to Naota's apartment. The door flew off its frame, and they swarmed into the narrow hallway.
"Blue!" echoed five more agents as they crashed through the windows of the living room and bedroom. They rolled along the floor and leapt to their feet, weapons leveled. But to the surprise of each and ever one of them, they found nothing but empty space. They all stared at each other in the darkness.
"So what do we do now?" one of them muttered. The response came in the form of Haruk's Vespa crashing through the wall, screeching to a stop in the center of the living room. Haruko cackled maniacally as she leveled her bass and began firing on the IIB agents, her guitar firing like a shotgun.
"It was a trap!" one of them screamed in confusion as he ducked behind Naota's couch, which was promptly blown to pieces.
"It was a trap!" the voice over the phone screamed, followed by the sound of weapons firing and the screams of the team.
"Party Group? Party Group! Respond!" Amarao shouted into his phone. He ground his teeth. If he had still had his eyebrows, they would have twitched with irritation. "They're gone." He growled as he clicked his phone shut.
"Are you sure?" Kitsurubami asked, disbelieving.
"This whole thing is coming apart," Amarao said. He reached into his coat and produced his own pistol. "We're going to have to move on this ourselves."
"Is it blue?" Amarao said back over his cell phone. The group of agents he had briefed an hour earlier were sitting outside Naota's apartment inside a van that looked like a party entertainment service. Amarao was sitting in his own car outside the park. Kitsurubami was with him.
"'Mature Man'." She groaned to herself, sinking down into the seat. "Sir, Medical Mechanica doesn't use code names, why are we using them?"
"It sounds professional. Now hush." He talked into his phone again. "Once you have a confirmed blue, move in. Keep me updated."
"Why aren't we with them?" Kitsurubami said, watching her boss out of the corner of her eyes.
"I don't entirely trust our...informant in this matter. I want to be right here to see what he's up to."
"Who is this informant you keep talking about? Is he the guy who did that to you?" she said, pointing toward the bandages over Amarao's eyes.
"I told you already, I'd prefer not discuss that." He said, whimpering slightly at the memory. Kitsurubami remained silent for a while.
Naota looked down at his reflection in the water of the fountain. His whole form rippled with the flow of the water, reflecting the inner turmoil he felt. This day had started out so calmly, now it was all turning into total chaos. First he ran into Eri, which was nice. Then he talked to Kitsurubami, which was strange. Then he got seduced by Haruko, which was disturbing. And now he was being threatened by Jakun, which was terrifying. If he knew what else was going on at that very moment, he would have felt even worse.
The sound of a guitar suddenly being played nearby shook him from his thoughts. He spun around to find Jakun, seated on his motorcycle not ten feet away. He sat, casually strumming his guitar, acting almost as if Naota wasn't there.
"What do you want? Where's Mamimi?" Naota said, trying his best to sound threatening. Jakun stopped playing, and then turned his eyes to Naota, as if Naota had just walked up to him in the street.
"You're woman is fine. Both of them."
"Both of..." Naota considered this for a moment before horrific realization flooded to him. "Eri!" he shouted, as if she were somehow going to respond at that exact moment.
"They can't hear you kid. They are both far away from here. I needed to use the both of them so we can talk." He paused a moment for effect, then went on. "I heard you play in that coffee shop. You play pretty good. But you're good at other things, I expect. Like the N-O Channels that come out of your head. You seem to be good at those too."
"I'm not good at those. I don't have any control over them. Now what do you want?"
"Don't you?" he hissed as he slid off his bike seat and started to walk toward Naota. "Didn't you ever notice how they started whenever you panicked? Whenever you were in danger? And you claim you have no control over them?"
This left Naota speechless. His mind began to wander back, to retrace from the very first time he remembered something leaping out of his head. And he remembered the emotional turmoil that had raged through him each time it had happened. "You've got potential, kid" Jakun went on. "No human can open N-O Channels like that. And they way you merged with Atomsk, controlled his infinite N-O. Remarkable. But you don't know how to use it yet. It's reacting to your emotions, not to your thoughts. You need to learn, to refine it. Haruko knows it. Why do you think she came back?"
"She said..."
"She lied." Jakun was standing directly in front of Naota now, towering over him like an adult over a child. But still, he made no aggressive maneuvers, no sudden actions. He kept Naota firmly locked with his eyes. "She told people about you, Naota. Important people, who are just dying to meet you now, that's why she's here. Its her ticket back in, and she knows it. But I can take you so much farther; make you so much greater than she ever could. You can be more than her, more than me, more than the Pirate King himself. All you have to do is say yes, Naota. Come on board, we can help you shine." With these last words, the water of the found rippled as if touched by an invisible force, sending sparkling drops flying into the air.
Naota was silent. The enormity of Jakun's words had drained all his convictions away, and he struggled for a response.
"Its blue!" shouted the lead agent of the IIB's team as he kicked in the door to Naota's apartment. The door flew off its frame, and they swarmed into the narrow hallway.
"Blue!" echoed five more agents as they crashed through the windows of the living room and bedroom. They rolled along the floor and leapt to their feet, weapons leveled. But to the surprise of each and ever one of them, they found nothing but empty space. They all stared at each other in the darkness.
"So what do we do now?" one of them muttered. The response came in the form of Haruk's Vespa crashing through the wall, screeching to a stop in the center of the living room. Haruko cackled maniacally as she leveled her bass and began firing on the IIB agents, her guitar firing like a shotgun.
"It was a trap!" one of them screamed in confusion as he ducked behind Naota's couch, which was promptly blown to pieces.
"It was a trap!" the voice over the phone screamed, followed by the sound of weapons firing and the screams of the team.
"Party Group? Party Group! Respond!" Amarao shouted into his phone. He ground his teeth. If he had still had his eyebrows, they would have twitched with irritation. "They're gone." He growled as he clicked his phone shut.
"Are you sure?" Kitsurubami asked, disbelieving.
"This whole thing is coming apart," Amarao said. He reached into his coat and produced his own pistol. "We're going to have to move on this ourselves."
