Chapter 9: Real deal
06: 16 AM (Japan Time), Friday October the 14th…
"I can't properly sleep knowing we've got an enemy out there that could strike anytime and anywhere. What's their game, anyway? New world order? Sure! Those mimics were SO weak. They weren't worth a cent. They must have something else! According to Slur, they've got that robot thing… Gray Thunderbolt beat it but next time it won't be so easy…"
Solo, about 25 years old and over 1'90 meters tall, was strolling the dawn streets of Densan Town while muttering to himself.
"Hmmm… Solo, my fellow… I've got a bad hunch about this… Let's hope it doesn't escalate into mass murders next or attacks to the citizens."
A screeching sound rang out nearby, startling him.
"What was that?"
He spotted a green Hyundai running north through the same street he was in and circulating faster than what was allowed.
The road forked into 3 a bit ahead and the straight route led to the City Hall.
The car continued speeding and soon the security guards opened fire, but missed.
"It can't be!" He gasped.
The car managed to get through the lowered barrier and ran up the flight of stairs leading to the main doors (automatic glass doors).
It smashed through them, invaded the hall and exploded with a bang.
The shockwave shattered some windows close by and soon enough all apartments' lights turned on as smoke began to rise from the City Hall entrance.
"More, more!"
"Bring another!"
"Damn! The carpet, the desk!"
"Are you sure nobody is inside?"
"Absolutely!"
The security staff were doing what they could to contain the fire with fire extinguishers but it looked like they didn't have enough with that.
Sirens rang out and 3 police vans arrived, from where SWAT members jumped down and formed a perimeter while signaling for people to back up.
More and more people rushed there and some began to take photos or film with their smart-phones or PETs.
Solo remained silent and looked on while glancing around.
Shadow Nova. Speaking of the devil! This is the real deal… Terrorism! They hit the very heart of the city… I'm sure this is their form of setting fear on the citizens… They purposely chose an hour it'd be empty to make it look like it's no big deal but the purpose wasn't to generate victims! Their goal is to destroy the feeling of safety. Give way to mass panic!
He noticed a vibration so he took out a purple PET with his clothes' emblem set on it from inside of his chest pocket.
He discreetly slid out of the crowd as the firefighters and ambulances reached the area.
Some TV crews' vans stopped outside the perimeter too and some radio crew vans did as well, so photographers rushed in and began to take photos too.
In less than 5 minutes, this'll be spread like wildfire across the Network and across the globe. If they wanted publicity then they already have it! I'm sure that they'll sure announce authorship of the attack too. Let's figure out who's calling me.
He entered a nearby alley and patched the call in.
"So. You're the famed Solo." A voice calmly told him.
"… You must be "Spiral"."
"Hmpf. So you've heard of me already."
"Slur told me about your Gundam wannabe. That bunch of scrap recycled from the scrapyard." He tried to taunt him.
"I'm a lame rip-off." He shrugged.
Thought as much… Taunts don't work.
"State your purpose." Solo demanded.
"Purpose? I'm merely assessing you."
"You lack data on me and want to avoid something like that of Wednesday." Solo quickly deduced.
"Bravo, Holmes." Spiral taunted.
"Hmpf. And how did you figure out my number?" He wasn't impressed by the taunting attempt.
"Even if we couldn't copy that program we managed to figure out its signature. I've got a scan device I built myself that can catch it up and then intercept the device's output waves. I merely had to track them to the source to figure out your phone number. It's always being relied to the nearest 3G antenna so it's a piece of a cake. You being here is but a coincidence, obviously enough. But you'll do better public than that ignorant lot over there." Spiral dully exposed.
"Hmpf. I'm praised. What can you actually do sans your petty Gundam wannabe? Bark?" Solo tried to taunt him again.
"Who knows?" He merely shrugged.
Solo glanced around and took out a couple of binoculars.
He turned on their IR function and spotted a figure about 25 meters away atop a building's rooftop that was also looking over there with a couple of binoculars.
There they are! Hmpf! Looking from above, feeling like the King!
"Hmpf. So you've found me. Whatever. Before you can take a step out of there I'll be gone. Gone with the wind.That is, if you catch the reference, brat." He sneered.
"How cultured of you." Solo fumed.
"You're an eyesore. Sooner or later I'll come to take your head and bring it to Lord Void."
"I'm SO afraid. Bring out your machine and I'll make sure to make scrap out of it."
"Boast while you can. Infinitus will be stronger next time. Far much stronger…" Spiral icily warned.
"I'm SO scared."
"Hmpf."
The call ended and there was a flash on Spiral's position that overloaded the binoculars' IR function, so Solo had to look away to avoid having his eyes damaged.
He looked back there, but Spiral was gone so he pocketed the binoculars, interacted with the PET, and brought up an Internet stream of the DNN.
"We have just received notification that an organization named "Shadow Nova" claims the authorship for this terrorist attack. Police has been mobilized and it'd seem the SDF is going to look into the matter as well… As you can see, the firefighters are doing their best to contain the fire yet it'd seem it's going to take time and effort." A woman reporter explained.
"I'll go inspect the Cyber World in case there are traces of anything! However, I doubt it! If there were anything, Golden Star would've gotten a hold of them! Unless they disguised their presence! Maybe I can figure out if they've got some new weapon they plan on using from now on or if they've got stuff better than those weaklings! I'd better go assess that! I don't want to suddenly find myself into a pinch. Even less facing an overwhelmingly powerful opponent. If they've got anything that powerful, that is." He muttered as he rubbed his chin.
He continued down the alley and spotted another side-alley that led to an inner yard of an apartment building.
He drew his PET after checking the surroundings.
"Stealth field: on." He whispered.
He formed a stealth field to hide himself from any viewers and then inputted some commands into the PET.
"Denpa – Henkan. Solo, On Air." He whispered next.
The PET glowed and the "Denpa – Henkan" process began, making energy surround his body.
"Burai, on the scene!"
Solo became "Burai", his "Denpa – Henkan" form, and rubbed his shoulders.
"Warp."
He warped into the Cyber World of the area and noticed many Navis gathered around the virtual version of the City Hall, which was burning and it'd seemingly been attacked as well.
He looked around and noticed a Heel Navi looking at the burning building with binoculars from the same position Spiral had been.
The guy's Navi? Or a decoy? Whatever. If it's a trap then so be it because I won't run away.
Burai silently warped behind the Navi and it turned out it was a hologram projector tossed into the ground.
Four big and brute-looking Security Navis surrounded him.
Each one carried a chainsaw on the right arm and a wrecking mace on the left one.
"CRUSH! DESTROY!"
"Hmpf."
Burai ducked and swung his blade in a wide arch, cut off the 4 enemies' legs and they collapsed into the ground.
They formed a tripod base to stand up and charged for Burai but he jumped into the air above them, and had them cut each other.
He cut off their heads to finish them off and then scanned the surroundings.
Another group of 4 of them dropped around him and Burai, so he stabbed the floor with the blade and drew a circle.
He kicked the ground and fell inside of the building as the 4 of them vainly brought down their maces into the hole.
Burai landed inside of the empty building and kicked a side-door open to get out into an alley, where there were another 2 of them blocking each side.
He switched the sword to his left hand before jumping into the chest of the leftward one and plunging his right hand through the body.
He gripped something and the Navi turned into stone as he jumped away when the other one hit the stoned Navi with the mace.
He took profit of the distraction and cut the stoned Navi into pieces.
"That all you can do? Spiral. You don't impress me in the least. Of course… Battle data! Hmpf. But no "battle data" will help you overcome this ability." He muttered as he glanced at his right hand.
"Who goes there?"
"Blues. Been a while."
"I heard reports of fighting here… That's it?"
"Wait a min."
Blues showed up there with his Long Blade drawn but lowered it when he recognized Burai.
"What?"
He looked past him at the remaining Navi and Burai ran towards it, jumped as it brought down the mace and plunged the sword into the head.
It stopped working and collapsed face down on the ground, making it shake due to its weight.
"Done."
"I it'd seem that the real world car was unmanned and that Viruses were causing it to speed up to then detonate the C4 bombs loaded on it… Same for the Cyber World…" Blues told Burai.
"As expected."
"Obviously!" Enzan joined the chat.
"Awake, Ijuuin?"
"I could ask you the same, Solo."
"Guess that." He smirked.
"Damn it all!" Punk caught up to them.
"What's wrong?"
"Some bulky guys suddenly cornered me and I managed to shake them off somehow… That was close!"
"Hmpf. So they sought someone else to fight and found you."
"Guess we're not so lucky." Meijin barely repressed a yawn.
"You needn't tell me." Enzan grumbled.
"First the break – in now this…" Blues grumbled next.
"Break – in?"
"Someone broke into the physical archive and stole a hi-rank folder of some years ago! Something rather inconvenient. It was censored but it'd seem that even with the censorship one could figure out what the report was about." Blues whispered.
"These same bastards?" Burai signaled the City Hall.
"Same ones alright. Sounds like them." Enzan confirmed while repressing a yawn.
"But they haven't claimed it yet?" Burai asked.
"No. They haven't."
"Maybe they're still deciding what they'll do with the file. Maybe they'll do nothing just to make us turn impatient and anxious." Enzan sighed and rubbed his eyes.
"They could be planning on a form of attrition warfare… Wear the enemy down through time…"
"In essence."
"If I had to guess then maybe we're gonna have these bulky weaklings next just to gather further battle data! Maybe the rascal in person will assault us as well." Burai warned.
"Sounds like it…"
"Here you are!"
"Legato?"
"Hmpf."
Legato joined them and Blues crossed his arms, looking elsewhere as if saying he didn't want to take part into the conversation.
"Blues. Not again."
"I apologize, Enzan – sama."
"Go walk around there and I'll call you when we're finished with the chat. Maybe that'll vent off those random moods of yours which are so annoying." Enzan ordered.
"Roger."
"Oh man. Ani – ue – sama and his moods…" Legato sighed.
"What's happened?" Punk asked.
"We just got a report that someone's broken into Akihara Middle and stolen an old file of some years ago! The security guard caught the thief red-handed but they used a flash grenade! They jumped off through the second floor's windows and easily ran away through a hole that had been opened on the west wall…" Legato explained.
"Why would they bother to steal a list? And from the description maybe it was a Navi."
"I guess they're investigating us, and they wanted to confirm if Kage had indeed been a student there some years ago! We recently rewrote all data stating that to erase any connection between him and Hikari. But it'd seem they got a hold of the rumor and decided to check it out themselves… This is bad. Because you know what's happened twice before." Legato explained.
"Shit." Enzan cursed.
"Maybe they want to use that as something to threaten Kage with and impede him from fighting them?" Burai guessed.
"Good point. Hadn't thought of it like that. I thought they would target his friends to try to lure him out like in the past."
"If they want to prove they're different then they'll surely go for this second method." Burai told him.
"I don't think they'd stage the City Hall thing just to distract us and carry out the theft in the meanwhile! The City Hall must've been part of their plans! The theft is something they just thought of recently."
"There's no compromising info about Golden Star on your archives?"
"We did go over them, both physically and digitally, but found nothing too compromising or which wasn't already known. The investigation at the time never established the identities of Hades and Noir so the file closed like that. We made sure to conceal the names of the members that have another work or affiliation."
"Good. As long as you do that…"
"I know."
"You guys be on the look – out too and make sure to dispose of any inconvenient files and all. And why didn't you destroy it years ago?"
"We needed the Chief's permission to do that. He didn't give it to us because he always forgot. I know that Chief Sorodo replaced him but by then we'd forgotten about it. With you guys taking all of our attention!"
"Well then! My bad! It's not like we knew there was such a file either, Enzan!" Legato protested back.
"Stop. It looks like we're dancing to their flute's tune." Burai scolded them with a glare that could kill.
"Oh boy." Meijin sighed.
"Their next hit which will surely be nothing compared to this. Maybe they could strike overseas as well. I've got that hunch." Burai warned them.
"That Spiral gives off the vibe of being a foreigner." Enzan suggested.
"Maybe they use drugs and such to finance themselves? Or other shady, illegal stuff?" Meijin offered.
"But maybe they do it in foreign countries and then launder the money or hide it on tax havens." Legato argued.
"Let's go hunt for clues! Anything will do at this stage. Better than stay still waiting for them to strike first." Burai set a goal.
"That's fine. Blues! Let's go. Time to shake up some rascals. And desert jackacls while we're at it." Enzan ordered.
"My blade desires action… I'll prove it with some!" Blues got in the mood as he checked his Long Blade.
"Let's begin by beating up some thugs to see if they know anything, Blues. The usual routine." Enzan grinned.
Shadow Nova… I won't let you cowards get away with it… My word!
11:23 AM (Japan Time)…
"… Sheesh. I need something to take off my annoyance!"
"Why not some M & F?"
"Why not. Better that than banging walls, anyway."
Tozukana was standing on Purgatory's deck and looked annoyed as she leant her arms on the left handrail.
Lily was standing a coupe meters behind her and to the left while leaning her back against one of the buildings.
"Sheesh! Leiter, the…! Beat me 3 to 1! Why did my second shot go slower than the first?"
"Because the rifle lacked maintenance." Lily dully reminded her.
"Sheesh. Next time I'll turn the tables around on the Window Shooting duel!"
"I know. Now what?"
"Alright! Play the deal."
"Good."
"V! B! N! On Air! Nightmare: chapter 3! Action: start!"
"…"Attention! M & F! Stop anything you were doing and report to Mr. S! ASAP!"…"Did ya hear that? The jungle's call! Move the feet!"… M & F were carrying a safe! M runs off! It drops on F's right foot! "Feet! I'm so gonna make you walk with the elbows!"…"The speaker said to stop doing what we were doing! Obey the orders!"…M runs and crashes head-on with a piano! "Horror! What a catastrophe! Gotta do something!"…"Gotta apply anti-bump emulsion! Administer a streptomycin compound! Perform X – ray scan! Inject…!"…"No need! It'll only take a bit of varnish!"…He worried for the piano wound than M! "Covering varnish! I'm so gonna cover with you 6 feet of ground!"…"
"As expected!"
"..."Hold back, man! If you take the guy out the personnel chief is gonna scold us!"… M tries to attack Mr. S with a blade and only manages to cut off the brush! "Why! The brush has turned shorter! It must be some contagious illness!"…"
"Piano more important than your men?" Tozukana laughed at it.
"Really…" Lily rolled her eyes.
"…"What do you think of this piano? Music is my true passion!"… "Not surprised that some composers have committed suicide as of late!"…"Sit down! I'm going to play the 7th Hungarian Rhapsody by Michael Jackson!"…"
"What!? 7th! Hungarian! Rhapsody! By… Michael Jackson! Talk about CREATIVE!" She exploded into mad laughter.
"Oh come on." Lily fumed.
"… "Through the armored concrete room divider! Unleash the dogs! They can't have gone too far!"… "Gotcha, Mr. Super! They were in the 33rd!"… "The 33rd? Bus Line 33? Plaza Botija – Clavichord Avenue, right?"… "No! The 33rd Legion Battalion stationed on Addis – Aba!"… "I'll remember this, you gangster wannabe!"…"Hope you get leg osteoarthritis and Saint Vito dancing at the same time!"…" Be ready to flavor your hearing."… "Allow me! I prefer to blow up my Eustachian Tubes!"…M put on TNT cartridges on his ears! * distorted melody plays * * both snore *!"
"I knew it! That guy doesn't even know how to play the piano: it sounds so terrible and boring that you fall asleep!" Tozukana laughed.
"…"Let's go patrol!"…"Like the Tuna members!"…"Beware! This is the REAL downtown! Don't lower the guard! They stab you in the back for less than 2 Reales!"… Note: old Spanish currency! ..."
"A knight wannabe?"
"…"Boss! Surely it's no big…!"…"Maybe you think these are mosquito bites! Luckily I've got the armored jacket!"… F has all kinds of knives and sabers stabbed into his back! "Devil! Freddy's here! Run for it!"…"
"…"Calm down! This is but a nightmare! You only need to turn around: nightmares vanish if you ignore 'em!"…"You sure?"… "They vanish! You sure are gonna vanish! Like a saccharin in a bog!"…"Get lost!"…"Stop discussing and come back 'ere! You gotta pay attention to me! This ain't serious!"… "Wait, Boss! I've got an idea to beat the guy! Fire! Didn't you see it on the movies?"…"
"See what? The make-up?" Tozukana laughed.
"…"All ugly guys vanish if you expose 'em to fire! Hold it high up and when he shows up you set the guy's head on fire!"… "Good! I've got a beard that could rival Redbeard in person! I'll expose it to the sun! UV revitalizes it, regenerates it and…D-DEVIL!"… A guy with a huge bear pops his head out and catches fire from the torch! "Wait there, I'm going to give you a treatment for the eyebrows!"…"Forget it, mister! This guy only uses mascara made of sea lion pate!"…"Shut up and run, you moron! Run!"… "Better to keep it low and hit the feet with it!"… That's it!"…"Warning! He's coming! Get ready!"... A dog stops just around the corner to relieve!" ..."It was starting to itch!"…"4, 3, 2, 1… FIRE!"…"Gotcha, you dog! Crap! It's a dog!"…"Get the leg outta the mouth! It might bite you! What ideas!"… "You know what? Let's use a Molotov instead! I fill up the bottle with fuel! Hold it while I fetch a cloth to use as fuse!"… A familiar claw shows up from the corner!"
"Freddy strikes back!"
"Obviously!"
"…"Why! You were planning on throwing that fuel to me?"…"Fuel? Wrong! It's ferruginous water for beans indigestion!"… "I'm so gonna give ya a ferruginous slash!"…"See: I'm drinking it!"…"Someone's comin'! I'm outta 'ere!"…"Buddy! Do ya have fire?"…Vomits a torrent of fire and burns up the random guy! "T-thanks, man…!"…"Boss! You look like a Maserati car! Bad aiming, man! Entrance was a bit more right!"…Crashed through a parking's wall! "There's another bottle! Let's ready another one!"… "Hurry up! The guy's coming!"…"Done! Quick! Throw it!"… "Here goes!"…"It's a glue pot! It's sticky! It's stuck and…!"… WHAM! "Damn you! Eat ideas! Eat fuel! Eat FLAMES!"…"
"…"Don't shade others when the Sun hits ya! Burn up your back and say it's BBQ eel!"… "The guy's back for more! We're done for!"… "Not yet! Let's make a flame barrier! This will keep the guy busy while we take shelter! Devil! It slid into the sewers through the cover's hole!"…"The rats are gonna burn up!"… "And something else apart from rats too!"…"
"Some brute guy~?" Tozukana guessed, laughing.
"Knowing them…"
"A brute guy throws the cover! They run! "OK! I'll climb into the tree and when the guy comes I'll throw fuel into him! And you set the guy on fire!"…"Good!"…"What the devil are you 2 doing? What?"…* ignition * * scream *! They actually set Mr. S on fire! "Brute burning attempt! Soak a superior with fuel, set him on fire and flee. Ddespite having even the pylorus burnt runs off the ICU, yelling, "gonna kill 'em!" in a horrid manner!"…"GONNA KILL 'EM!"…"T-think he'll do it, Boss?"… "Shut up and keep digging!"… M uses a whack-a-mole disguise to dig a small tunnel while Mr. S patrols the surface, carrying anti-tank cannon!"
"I knew it was gonna end up in trouble! It indeed did! That Super guy is to blame for his lame piano skills!"
"And thus… This ends today's chapter! V! B! N! Off air! See you next time at the GS Nerds!"
"I feel in a better mood. By the way, Lily!"
"What now."
"Did ya have a hot night with Akemi~?"
"For last time. We're not lesbian. Got nothing against it but I'm not the type to begin with. So stop with the pointless jokes, will ya? Not like they'll help you turn the tables around." She fumed.
"I like teasing ya!"
"Like I didn't know that already."
"I'm sure that Miquel's a distant cousin of Elvis Presley!"
"Oh come on." Lily rolled her eyes.
"So? Not gonna stick around with the handsome hero~?"
"Who, Andy? Oh come on. Why should I bother in the first place?"
"Ya never know! Life's enigmas! The guy might be the guy of guys that weren't guys until the guys were guys and it goes on!"
"Not Alfred again… The guy's CRAZY. For REAL. Makes you wonder why nobody has locked the guy in the madhouse… And I feel some déjà vu for some reason or another." She fumed.
"Maybe Needle Man's to blame? For giving the guy too many needles to play with?" Tozukana laughed.
"Sheesh. Needle Man doesn't give out syringes to anyone. Don't make pointless jokes."
"This morning I swear I saw an angel stalking ya!" She grinned.
"Wha? Angel!?"
"I saw a white figure atop one of these buildings while ya were going ahead of me to look at the morning sea!"
"Sure. Are you sure you weren't still half-asleep?"
"Believe what cha want. I'm going to have some push – ups there! And then I'll go tease Oscar!" Tozukana shrugged and forgot about the topic.
"You'll only call for further trouble. As if we didn't have enough!"
"Who cares? This ship needs some excitement! Else it's as boring as a college campus!"
"We don't need it thank you very much! ENOUGH!"
"GONHEU! The newest non-macho hero! Rather looks like a woman in the first place! We need more of 'em!"
"Then do a drawing and submit it to Devian ART or Pixiv or whatever site you prefer! Sheesh!"
17:04 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Hard to believe it's already Friday afternoon, senpai…"
"Time flies by when you're absorbed into something."
"Is that…?"
"Yanada…"
Leon and Raito were chatting as they headed for the entrance of the middle school compound.
Raito signaled another student and Leon calmly announced the guy's name.
"The troublesome subject?"
"In a sense."
Yanada had messy blackish hair and brownish eye irises and was about Leon's age and height.
He looked annoyed, and walked apart from the rest of the students.
"… Pst! Bruce!"
"Cousin Samuel!"
"Hullo. Danna."
"Sieg too…"
"And me too!"
"Eisei! The club's gathered!"
"It's them… The group I saw…!"
"Let's hide behind the other students…"
Yanada met up with Urateido, Sieg and Eisei so they hid.
Urateido wore a brown sleeveless vest over a red t-shirt, a large two-row leather belt, jeans, green socks and white sneakers.
His eyes' irises were blue.
Sieg sported sunglasses, one black long-sleeved t-shirt with a "broken heart" drawing colored purple, jeans with a brown leather belt, white socks and black sneakers.
"Let's go! The preparations are done." Urateido announced.
"Good! I missed it." Yanada looked eager.
"Me too! Need something to shake off the tension." Sieg snickered.
"The troublesome quartet is on the move." Eisei laughed.
The headed away so both sighed in relief and headed a bit down the street.
Ms. Secretary was waiting there in front of a blue Subaru car and both came closer.
"Good afternoon, Leon. I see you avoided the troublesome lot."
"Yes, ma'am. It's better to ignore them."
"Indeed."
"Alright, senpai… Let's meet again on Monday."
"Sure. Maybe I'll ring you up if there's a movie we can go see."
"Thank you. Good afternoon, ma'am."
"Good afternoon."
Raito headed away and saw how Leon climbed into the seat behind Ms. Secretary and she drove away.
Raito soon heard some rushed footsteps, and Netto and Saito (having their high school uniforms on and Netto having taken off the bandana) came to meet him.
"Raito. How was your day?" Netto asked.
"It was absorbing."
"Same here. Turns out someone hid all blackboard erasers… Hard to believe they still pull these pranks in high school…" Saito rolled his eyes.
"Not like all high – school guys are excellent students either. Look at Jounouchi or Honda." Netto reminded him.
"Good point. Or Kaito – kun and his mischiefs. Since he gets good grades then it can be excused… To some level."
"To some level."
"By the way… The news of the morning… Was that…?"
"The guys Miquel talked about, Shadow Nova! They're getting serious at last." Netto sighed.
"But there's little we can do."
"Is that so?"
"They've shifted from being an org that heavily uses Net Navis to a terrorist org. That means that the normal police is the one who must take care of them! Only if they do something Cyber World – related is when the Net Police Cyber CID comes in…"
"And we quit years ago. Sure, Rock Man still has some battle level but it's gotten pretty low with the years. Since it was our decision to quit it and focus on important stuff…" Netto shrugged.
"By the way… Are they worrisome? Those "Jet – Black Phoenix" people I've heard about…"
"They're the least of our worries. Their Boss doesn't want to become anyone's enemy. He just wants to experiment on them to see if he can make them boil their brains. If they can become cleverer or they'll forever be blinded by ego and arrogance." Saito replied.
"I see."
"And it'd seem he's tired of their behavior so he's surely punished them all and they won't be popping out for a while either. So we can focus on those other guys instead."
"I noticed, though. They had some odd pendants. Do they mean anything?"
"It's a symbol to show that they're part of "Shunoros". Not many know that… It also serves as energy source of a special Battle Chip they own and tended to use time ago but stopped because it was pretty much a cheat… Have you seen YGO: DM?"
"I did. All seasons."
"Remember the 4th season? The Doma Arc? The Field Magic Card that prominently featured then… They've recreated it! In part, that is."
"Of course! It's not like it could just go and steal someone's soul."
"Exactly. They use it to trigger that trump card. Maybe they'll use it if they see the need for it. From what we've heard, though, Prince Kuroban used to have a battle strategy very similar to that of the TV series! Guess he got in the mood to copy them."
"Sorry. We suddenly began to chat and chat… Guess it felt boring to be bombarded with all of that." Netto apologized.
"It's alright. An email…"Your number one admirer"…Sounds like spam!"
"Just send it to the spam folder."
"Maybe it was Sieg & the others, even." Netto grumbled.
"From what senpai said that Sieg person is pretty self-centered…"
"So it'd seem. It's not like we've had much interacting with the guy either: but he's the type to stir up trouble! I heard that he snuck into a military base overseas and filled the air ducts with tear gas! Of course, he got punished by the Prince after that!"
"Excuse me. Now that I think about it… Why do you call him "Prince"? He is not the Emperor's son, right?"
"Of course not. No. He's the descendant of an ancient monarchy that ruled over a kingdom that occupied the north of Thailand and some of the surrounding countries…"
"Curious!"
"They were invaded. The heir to the royal family died in the battles. Some surviving members went underground and maintained the continuity of it until nowadays! He happens to be the current Prince of that monarchy even if they've got no real authority! It's a symbolic title, a link from the past." Netto detailed with a smile.
"So he does have royal blood?"
"Sure thing. We've almost never interacted with him either! Since he's an adult he tends to interact with Slur because they share the position of being the leaders of both orgs. And he seems to be a strict leader! Even those 3 shiver when exposed to his anger." Saito added.
"And what is their purpose?"
"They wanted to be a counterpart to Golden Star, something to incite them to be constantly training and fighting so that they wouldn't get rusty and lower the guard when a new enemy appeared… Like now or when those Phoenix guys began to show up in the summer…"
"Things seem to be somewhat complicated around here…"
"At first. With time you'll realize it's all pretty simple."
"Here is my home. Well then. Good afternoon."
"You know that if you feel lonely you can drop by at any time: if you need a hint about the homework then you can ask us too."
"You know the drill. Drill, drill 'till you complete the tunnel."
"That's not a bad joke either."
"Or this one! "Mr. Policeman! They've stolen my car's handle, pedals, gear shift…!"… "Wait Are you sure of it?"…"Turns out I climbed into the back seat!"…"
"Talk about a simplistic one but funny one too."
I've now re-found happiness… I'm not going to let go of it…!