A/N: This took such a long time to do because I forgot to plan this part out. But whatever, I think I'm back on track with my plans... Actually, not yet. I still have a few more things to do before things go my way.

All Guts, No Glory

"Sanity is a madness put to good use."
- George Santayana

"Is this the place, hehehe?" a brown haired teen asked himself as he looked at a fancy hotel that gave the impression of being a part of the Italian variety. The teen was a first-year in high school, but was rather skinny and had average height. He wore black jeans, a black shirt including drawings of all kinds of music over it, with a blue and black striped jacket. He also wore a pair of wireless headphones that were hanging on his neck.

"Well, I sure hope so," said a somewhat low voice. The former person turned his head around and saw another kid the same age as him wearing a trench coat. The teen felt jealous of the coated man since he was a bit taller. "Come on, we shouldn't be late for such an event as this" The long coated man said as he grabbed the brown haired teen's arm and dragged him to the hotel.

"Hey! Don't grab onto me like that! Hehehe," the teen exclaimed but the other didn't seem to hear it or decided not to listen.

In a certain hotel room (A/N: I can't seem to remember what the name for it was, but it's one of those rooms that people rent at a hotel for a party or something), a party was held with shining chandeliers probably made out of zirconium and three round wooden tables with a snow white sheets on top. There was a rectangular table with quiche, crab, teriyaki, and steak (A/N: and other fancy foods that I didn't really care to put down). Some jazz music was playing in the background through a boom box, making the scene seem a little unfitting.

"…The party planner didn't expect many people to come," Jufuku Miho whispered quietly to herself.

"Who turned out to be right anyways since there are only ten people here," replied a girl that wore a long sleeved shirt with large green and brown horizontal stripes; there is also a hole in each sleeve for thumbs to go through. Additionally, she wore a long pair of jeans that went to her ankles. The girl lifted her arm around the room towards the small amount of guests as if she was a butler welcoming new visitors to a hotel.

"…Who are you?" Jufuku inquired silently.

"Oh yeah, the name's Amaterasu Miyazaki; Level 4, by the way. Et tu, Brute?" Jufuku noticed that the girl's eyes were of a golden yellow.

Certain that the French phrase was used incorrectly she answered, "… I'm Jufuku Miho; a level 2…" The shy girl was obviously embarrassed.

"Really, so what kind of power do you have?"

"…Dummy Check…"

"Wow, that's one of the least threatening names that I've ever heard." The two girls looked at each other; it seemed that Miyazaki forgot to interrogate the shy girl further.

"…It's to become invisible to the naked eye…"

"Oh, right," Miyazaki put her palm to her face since she forgot to continue the conversation. But she did seem somewhat glad that Miho carried on the conversation on her own. "So that means I'll be able to see you if I wore contacts or saw you through something that isn't just my eyes. Like, even if you do use your powers?"

Surprised at how quickly the Miyazaki found Jufuku's weakness so quickly, she became rather speechless.

"Right on the money, huh? Anyways, did you get the invitation?" Miyazaki asked with a half-assed smile on her face.

Jufuku was still for a moment because of the previous shock and the confusion caused by her next question. Then figuring out what the taller girl meant, Miho reached into her pockets searching for something. She pulled out her hand that was accompanied with an envelope and held it in front of Amaterasu as if she was showing a VIP pass to a security guard at a rock concert. "…Is this what you're talking about?"

"Yes, thank you," Amaterasu half-heartedly responded while fiercely examining the envelope. Jufuku felt a few butterflies in her stomach as she looked at the mail so intensively. For a second there, it seemed like the envelope cringed from the staring, too. "Hmm, odd. There's a seal on here; it kind of looks like some kind of a K in a circle." She took the envelope out of Miho's hands and turned it from its upright position about ninety degrees clockwise. The seal now appeared to be an A within a circle instead. "Heh, that's funny. I never knew he believed in that."

Miho raised her eyebrow, confused and asked, "…You never knew what?"

"That the person who sent this to you is a bomb-throwing terrorist," she said with a smile on her face as she handed the envelope back to a shocked Miho. "Don't worry; I'm sure he hasn't bombed anyone yet." The reassurance didn't quell the new fears that Miho had.

Suddenly, the feedback of a microphone was made and everyone looked to the stage. After the sound of someone teleporting, a male wearing a trench coat appeared on the stage. He had short black hair that looked like it was combed by a pillow with slanted eyes and a round nose. His eyes brightly showed a scarlet red as he began to speak.

On the other side of the room, two boys were conversing with each other. One wore a long coat and the other a pair of definitive headphones. The one that appeared to be endowed with music was a bit more reserved and shy than the other.

"So, what do you think of this 'party' so far?" asked the man in the trench coat. "I hope the Level 5 guy really comes."

"It's pretty bland, hehe. There isn't really much to do but to chat and eat here, hehehe."

"That's not very nice. But this is what formal parties consist of," the teen thought to himself that the musical teen must not go out much into society.

"Even so, the party's boring. I'm just here to see whether or not I can become a part of this program."

"Oh, really? Who are you? I must know," the man with the coat asked.

"My name is Akira Ito, no one of consequence, hehehe."

The other laughed, "Well then, what do you think of the person who's hosting this event?"

"He's probably some asshole who thinks he's better than everyone, hehe," Akira said with a shrug.

"Oh, so you got some plans to give him a hard time, right?" The coated man raised one eyebrow playfully.

"That's plan B, but plan A was hooking up with someone … which was spoiled because a certain odd person derailed it, hehe," Akira looked at the other teen as if he wasn't expecting the other to understand his joke.

"Well, we have a problem with plan B."

"Why's that?"

"Watch…" The coated man smiled as he ran up to the stage.

"Hello, hello. Welcome to this hotel, which I've forgotten the name for, and allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kelvin Lei and I am the second weakest Level 5 in the city." Akira was clearly dumbfounded and surprised over the turn of events and seemed to immediately regret what he said. "I will say that as of now you can leave at anytime that you want. Anyways, I'm sorry for such short notice, but I have gathered you all here today because you are all potential participants in a Level-Up program. Well, you've probably already read that in the letter I have sent all of you. So-"

"Just how are we going to level up? Don't tell me we have to get comas again for temporarily better skills?" The brown haired teen asked in the crowd of ten while silently chuckling to himself.

"Ha, ha. I assure you that you will not be involved in anymore events such as the Level Upper Incident. Initiation phases are completely safe, well as safe as they can be. And just to put all of your fears in place, I will also go through the program with you." The man on the stage responded. After hearing this, three people left the room in fear of their own health.

"But what's the answer to the first question?" Someone yelled out.

"You all will go through intensive training to reach higher levels, mentally and physically." Two more people walked out of the room at this point. Both of them were complaining about how working hard is such a hassle. Amaterasu Miyazaki, Jufuku Miho, the brown haired teen, and two girls were left in the audience; one in a wheelchair and the other being an escort.

"Hmm, tough crowd. A nice thing about this course is that you'll get to travel far away into other countries and the like." Kelvin smiled a bit over the deluding numbers.

"Isn't the outside dangerous?" The voice came from the unnamed girl in the wheelchair. She was a young girl with shoulder-length brown hair swept back by a yellow hairband.

"Do you really plan to stay in this city forever?" He responded. "I think that people should definitely visit places far away from home and try to experience authentic things there instead of getting second-hand experiences here." This time nobody left the room.

"Oh, that's more than I expected," Kelvin shrugged as he pulled out some small and clear sheets of paper in his pocket. "Then for those who remain, you will get these tickets to go to where our next meeting will be held," the coated teen said as he handed the tickets to the five others. "The meeting will not accept any late attendees, so if you can't make it on time. Then that'll be too bad." When he gave one to Miyazaki he smirked a little. "There are no entries fees or any hidden costs or whatever. In fact, you will get payment for participating in the program."

"Wait, these tickets are blank," the girl in the wheelchair said as she examined the clear sheet of paper.

"It's a special kind of material. When the time to attend the meeting grows near, the letters and such on the ticket will become more apparent. Why don't you guys look at it again." Suddenly lines faintly appeared on the tickets. The group was surprised at the pieces of technology they were holding. "However, you must be careful since the tickets will only show a set amount."

"Then how would we know where to go-nano?" The girl that was helping the person in the wheelchair asked. She was also a young girl who had neck-length brown hair with a few strands off to the side; the strands were tied together by a pink band.

"Ha, ha. Figure it out." Kelvin smiled as he disappeared after the sound of a fwoom.

Everybody looked at each other in disbelief. "…How are we supposed to know where the meeting is if we're only given a part of the map…?" Nobody responded after the moment of confusion. Then without anything more to say they all left.

The two girls looked at each other and smiled, as if communicating with their minds, when they left the room. "Banri-chan, let's go back to the hospital-nano."

"Yea. Now I'm kind of tired, Eri. Think you can stay with me?"

Miyazaki looked at her ticket and saw nothing on it. "He knew I wasn't invited. Clever Kelvin, but you can't kick me out just yet." Amaterasu gave a sly smile when she walked away from the building.

Somewhere else in a certain heavily guarded prison, a girl with black, frizzy hair slept at her cell in the terribly comfortable beds that was provided to her. A guard was also sleeping, rather loudly, on his chair in a room outside of the row of prisons cells. A clog of footsteps started to sound and a teen that was wearing a trench coat walked towards the guard of that sector of cells. The sleeping man's body made the correct decision to wake up at that point, however the body reacted in a rather violent kind of way; the guard fell off of his chair. "Huh? Oh, h-hi there. I was j-j-just resting my eyes! No p-p-problems here!"

"I'm not here to question your work ethic," Kelvin laughed. He pulled out a picture of a girl with frizzy hair and a scary looking face, "I'm just looking for this lady here. Her name is Nunotaba Shinobu."

"Oh, s-she's the last one o-on the l-left." The guard pointed down the hall where the chambers were located. Kelvin half-heartedly thanked the man.

He walked towards the row of convicted criminals in a chillingly calm fashion, even though some of the prisoners were still making odd noises and actions in the middle of the night. At the last part of the corridor he turned towards the cell which housed the woman he was searching for. Instead of sleeping, she was sitting on a stiff and plastic chair as if waiting for a visitor to come. Her head was down so Kelvin couldn't see her face and her hair gave no indication of her looks either.

"Hello, Miss Shinobu. My name is Kelvin, it is very nice to meet you." He extended his hand through the bars.

"What does a lame Level 5 want with me?"

"Well that's not nice," Kelvin shrugged. "I just wanted to know if you were willing to take an opportunity to free yourself from this oppressive life."

She looked up to finally communicate with him. Her eyes were large yet the pupils were small; creating an image of an insane person. "What did you just say?"

Kelvin scolded playfully, "It's not nice to divide your attention away from a conversation you're having. But anyway, do you want to get out of this place?"

"If you're talking about leaving this prison so then I can return to my normal life, then yes."

"Oh, but your life wasn't normal anyways. Dealing with 20,000 clones was quite the hassle wasn't it?" Kelvin said with an amused look on his face as she reacted almost immediately to his question. "I mean seriously, having to deal with raising all of these pieces of trash just so then they would be thrown away again. That'd be so annoying. What kind of person would want to look after trash that didn't even have feelings in the first place? I mean they're there for a few minutes and the next they become useless, decaying trash waiting to be recycled. I see, so that's why you were arrested. You wanted to be rid of these pieces of crap and decided the best way to do so was to make yourself look like a traitor so then you wouldn't have to deal with them anymore."

"You're wrong, I would never think that! They all have their own lives that they could have lived. They would have become real people … but I couldn't save them, even when I met with the original, even when I hacked the system and implanted feelings into them. They were just kids…" A single tear came down the face of the insane looking woman.

Kelvin looked at her with sympathy and told her, "Well, here's some good news that I think you weren't told since you came here: The Level 6 Experiment has stopped."

She got off of her chair and grabbed still-extended hand, "What do you mean? If you give me an answer I don't like I'll break your arm."

Kelvin smirked to himself. "Oh, I thought you actually did research about me. But I guess not and you'll probably land yourself in a worse place than this if you injure me." Nunotaba separated her hands from his arm at the moment she realized her threat was somewhat empty. "The Level 6 Experiment has been stopped with ninety-nine hundred seventy-eight sisters still remaining. They are alive and well and living their lives." With those words her figure relaxed a bit and she sat back down on her chair. "You know, they were saved by some Level 0; he even managed to beat the strongest esper alive. Now that's something. Hah, ha… Even though they were the reason you are in this hell, you still care for them. That's very nice."

"You don't understand the situation at all. I'm glad that they were able to be saved and it was my own decision to act as I did. However, I do not think that you were here just so then you would tell me some news that has been long past."

"You already expressed desire to go outside again. The room even says so." They both looked around her prison cell: It was clean and it looked like an occasionally used cell. "The reason why everything here is so tidy and neat is that you didn't expect to be here long. You're trying to get out of here by getting enough credits, but the fact is that prisons do not give early discharges. The scratch markings are shallow and very new, meaning that you're losing hope. You wanted to go outside, that's why your chair is near the bars; to see the window that showed the sunlight. The markings on the sink, there is a single one that's written in your own blood. Since it looks like something resembling lightning, it seems you want to meet them again."

There was barely any reaction on her part. "So what?"

"You wanted people like me to notice that bloody sign. Well I did, so you tell me what happens next?"

The crazy looking girl didn't say anything for a while.

"Looks like you have some new things to think about. So while you're here doing whatever it is that you do here," Kelvin pulled out a yellow envelope, "I would like to invite you to join something called the Gentlefolk's' initiative." The coated man turned around and started to walk towards the exit when the prisoner in the cell next to Nunotaba spat at and missed Kelvin.

"Wait!" Kelvin walked backwards onto the side of a wall so the other prisoner couldn't aim at him again. "I'll do it."

"Hmm? Already, you haven't even looked at the files."

"I will do anything to get out of here and see them again."

"Even if I'm just leading you into another trap?"

"A Level 5 esper wouldn't go out of his way just to do this."

"Well then," Kelvin snickered to himself, "let's see how far we go."

He turned back around and started towards the exit when the girl's voice was heard again, "Wait, aren't you getting me out of here?" His footsteps haven't stopped as if he didn't hear her.

Without looking back Kelvin responded, "Pack up your things, you're leaving tomorrow. I think you're going to need some time to say goodbye." Without another word the footsteps stopped and Shinobu tried to angle her head to see down the hallway; the man that spoke to her left no trace of his presence behind.

A/N: Yeah... I had a lot of difficulty putting in the Japanese honorifics. Kind of makes me cringe, I guess it's fine if I don't use it too often.