It had been an hour since the conference had begun, and though they'd been surprised by a couple of late arrivals - it seemed they were going to have a full house after all when it came to Net Saviors - nobody had slipped up in conversation. Luckily, Meiru and Enzan were prepared for that. "Do you think we've missed anyone?" Enzan asked.

"Not as far as I can tell," Meiru said. "You think we should - oh, wait!" Coming towards them was a familiar, green-clad figure. "Laika!" she called, waving. Though they'd never worked together in Meiru's years as a Net Savior, she still remembered the Sharan Net Savior well. When it came to tactics and strategy, Laika was second to none; and though he could sometimes seem cold, his bravery and dedication had proven themselves time and again. She was glad to see him - they could use someone like him when it came time to force their mysterious kidnapper into submission. Other than a larger hat and shorter hair, Laika seemed the same as ever to Meiru. He even towered over her a lot like he had when they were kids.

To both Japanese Net Saviors, he said, "It's been a while, hasn't it..." To Meiru, he asked, "Sakurai? You've grown."

"Well, yeah! The last time you were in town..." Upon remembering, Meiru sighed, "Wow... Before Netto's funeral, wasn't it?"

"I was starting to wonder what happened to you!" Enzan said, jokingly. "You should come by more often. Once we've sorted out the kidnapping incidents, I'm sure you could be spared long enough for a visit to Japan."

"I'd be happy to take you up on that." Laika sounded a little tired as he said, "It's going to be such a relief to have the kidnapper locked up at last."

"It must be scary for you," Meiru said, concerned. "Are you... I know you're not doing all right over there, but..."

"I'm doing all I can to keep the Net Saviors of Sharo safe as their Chief. Which basically means keeping myself safe, since I'm the only one left," he said with a self-deprecating smile. Neither Enzan nor Meiru returned it. "At least the Irregulars' activities have been limited. They wouldn't be much of a concern, but the way things are now..."

"If you ever need help, just tell me and I'll do what I can," Enzan said.

"Same here!" Meiru added.

"Thank you. But I've heard you've started to see disappearances as well...?"

Meiru nodded, sadly remembering, "Yes. Misaki-kun disappeared at the beginning of summer."

"What's more, that throws out a lot of our theories." Enzan looked to be on the verge of starting to pace. Meiru was even more worried for him than she was for Laika; she knew how much stress this was putting on him. He explained the problems that Meiru had heard stated too many times. "At first, we thought it was through the Internet, but there's no way to get Dimensional Area components over the Japanese islands without us hearing about it. They can't even be carried into Japanese ports by boat. Either they're using a different method to get to us, or we've been totally wrong this entire time and we're back at square one."

"That is odd. Perhaps there's some detail that no one's been able to find so far. If anyone else vanishes from Japan, feel free to call up myself and Searchman," he said solemnly. "Still no suspects so far?"

"We're thinking it's a Net Savior or someone close to the program," said Meiru. "They obviously know a lot about us, and nobody's noticed anyone following them or behaving oddly, so that's the only way."

"I see. And I'm sure that's part of what this meeting is about."

"Yes," Enzan said. "There have been many separate investigations, but it's time for us to pool our resources and find the solution together. The measures we've been taking obviously aren't working, and time is running out." For most Net Saviors, like Laika, that was where the current state of things began and ended. It was only the Japanese branch of the Net Saviors that knew the primary goal of the conference was to lure out the culprit.

Laika folded his arms over his chest. "Agreed. I've got a few theories of my own that might interest the other Net Saviors. But what if the culprit is one of us? You can't expect the perpetrator to simply surrender when we begin discussion."

"Of course not," Meiru said. "We're both keeping our eyes and ears open, and I'm sure everyone else is as well. And we know a few of the people here already, like yourself. If the culprit puts a toe out of line, we'll know."

"Glad to hear it. Knowing you two are on alert puts me more at ease." Laika said, "Well, I ought to be taking a look at that defense technology." He took a few steps into the crowd of people. Enzan and Meiru had already returned to scanning the room when he surprised them both. "Good luck narrowing down your list of suspects. I hope for all of our sakes this trap of yours snares the right man."

Meiru and Enzan watched his figure until it completely disappeared into the sea of people going in and out of the exhibit hall. "Poor guy. Sharo was where the disappearances started, wasn't it?"

"I'm sure he's being careful. But it'll only be a matter of time before the kidnapper decides to finish the job in Sharo." Enzan's hand curled into a fist at his side. "We've got to find our culprit..."

A/N: So if I say the update schedule is "a day somewhere around the weekend" and "a day somewhere around Wednesday", that really just says a chapter could happen at any time during the week, doesn't it? oops.