Author's notes: Hello, just here to upload a new chapter, don't mind me. I've also tried to cut down on waiting time on my replies by PMing to reviewers and leave the Author's notes to larger things. Like the promise that in the future Nero will be appearing in this fic in all her glory.
Chapter 4 I Spy
19.3.2009
Iwatodai Sports Center, 3rd POV
Hakuno screamed mentally while throwing herself backwards to avoid a hit to her stomach. However, as she tried to balance the wild motion by bringing her other leg behind her, the lack of feet caused her leg to keep going and dropped Hakuno to the ground in what would have been a painful split to a human, but was just an uncomfortable move to an ASW. Her opponent wasn't surprised for long by the unplanned move, however, and turned the punch into a tackle, prompting the flailing gynoid to roll to safety.
Mitsuru, who was observing the spar from afar, found the ensuing chase scene giggle worthy, though she kept that thought private. Hmph, maybe now she'll think twice before wasting Garu gems on half-dead Mayas, she thought with a very slight smile as Kishinami narrowly avoided getting her hair stuck under Akihiko's stomping leg.
Hakuno then finally caught her wits and aimed her paintball gun, a real gun as nobody wanted to change her parts just for a short training bout, at Akihiko and pulled the trigger without actually aiming, causing the boxer to weave out of the way and stop his charge.
Besides the loss of resources caused by Kishinami's liberal use of spell gems, the excursion to Tartarus a few days ago had turned into a quite headache to the young Kirijo heiress. While S.E.E.S. had managed to make clear headway into Tartarus back then, the precise mission objective was left at the wayside as nobody had actually seen Kishinami herself fight. Sure, they had observed clearly how utterly overpowering her Saber was against the Shadows, but the ASW herself had stayed behind her Persona the whole time and quickly resorted to spell gems when her main weapon wasn't available. It irked Mitsuru to think that she had let her own enthusiasm get to her, forgetting the mission objective in favor of what was basically just quick romp to crush Shadows. It didn't even mean anything in the larger scale, as Tartarus changed shape every night, rendering all distance made inside basically worthless. They didn't even have new types of Shadows to be added to the records to show for the night. Mitsuru expected more from herself.
Akihiko found himself in a bit of a pickle. He had vowed to himself that he would get through this whole training session without getting tagged by Hakuno's paintball gun, and while it had begun well, with Akihiko winning the first few bouts, the ASW had then started to show which one of them was the true fighting machine.
Sure, the gynoid had clumsily fallen on the ground again, and the first few shots were just sprayed in his direction with the solitary goal of slowing him down, but the change was becoming more apparent by the second.
The gynoid was reading him. That in itself wasn't a new experience, as a famous figure in the boxing rings he had run into more than his fair share of opponents who had studied his strategies and favored maneuvers. A few of those were even good enough to last against him for a while in the ring. But none of them had ever come to really read him for the simple fact that he didn't really plan that far ahead. Sure he played to his strengths, speed and power, and varied his approach to suit the current enemy, but he mainly went with his instincts and those were really hard to read as there wasn't necessarily anything intelligent behind them.
But somehow Hakuno was reading his actions a few steps ahead. She wasn't always correct, but more often than not she managed to send a bullet in just the right direction to throw Akihiko off his game. Probably one of her combat protocols. Heh, its like straight out of a manga, I wonder if she's analyzing my muscle movements or just calculating from previous records, Akihiko humored an errant thought as he evaded yet another paintball aimed where he was going to dodge.
Hakuno herself was racking her brain trying to think of a way to defeat Akihiko, as she was painfully aware that her gun was running out of ammunition and that robotic strength or no, Akihiko would take her apart in a fistfight, especially since she was already on the ground. At least she now had a good grasp on how Akihiko fought, allowing her to predict his most likely reactions, in battle at least.
Thanks to that, Hakuno noticed when Akihiko made up his mind. He won't wait, too aggressive, trusts his reflexes to evade the shot, ready to take a hit in exchange for winning, Hakuno realized and adjusted her aim just in time to catch the moment when Akihiko's circling movement turned into a straight rush.
The first shot clipped his shoulder, but Akihiko didn't stop and just used the impact of the hit to cock his arm back in preparation for his next strike. Hakuno hesitated for a fraction of a second, her instincts screaming at her to aim at Akihiko's face, before shooting into the boxers chest. However, Akihiko had gotten too close, and after the first shot he slapped the gun barrel away with his offhand before delivering a strong left straight into Hakuno's face, knocking the sitting gynoid flat on her back.
"That's enough for today, team!" Mitsuru chose that moment to interrupt the spar. It would motivate Akihiko to prepare for the next sparring session if this ended with his loss and Kishinami, well Mitsuru still wasn't sure if it was necessary to let her feel good about her progress. With a human Mitsuru would have done it in a heartbeat, morale was important, but she still wasn't sure if it was an issue with the robot. While she acted very humanlike most of the time, like how she got embarrassed when Mitsuru had told her to lose the school uniform for the duration of the spar, but then she became a completely different person when it was time to fight. Mitsuru was sure she had some sort of specifically tailored combat programming that actively changed her personality when it was activated. She certainly hadn't shown the efficiency she had had in Tartarus in daily life, though from what Akihiko had told her, the frivolous use of resources had stayed. Apparently, Hakuno had spent her first whole salary on curtains of all things. Mitsuru admitted they looked nice, were of great quality, and that she wasn't an expert, but spending over 80 000 yen on curtains felt a bit extravagant to her (No, she didn't know how much her own room's furnishings had cost).
Meanwhile, Hakuno was worriedly eying Akihiko's hand. After all, regardless of how he had thrown her about with his punch, Hakuno's body was metal under the synthetic skin. Even with the padded gloves he wore, he might have hurt himself while throwing such a huge punch. However, Akihiko didn't seem to care and offered Hakuno his good hand. Not wanting to seem rude, Hakuno took the offered appendage and while Akihiko was pulling her up, she activated her medical scan and checked his condition. The scanning took a few seconds, which Hakuno spent wobbling on her leg stumps, it always took her a little while to catch her balance after falling like that, but soon she had the results on her HUD that told her that Akihiko's hand was fine.
"Good job you two," Mitsuru began before addressing Akihiko, "I know this training is mainly aimed to help Kishinami, but I hope you are also learning something from this."
"I am. She's visibly improving with each bout," Akihiko confirmed, "It would be a blow against my pride if I just watched her shoot past me." Both Hakuno and Mitsuru noticed that he didn't specify how he was going to accomplish that. Mitsuru suspected it would involve copious amounts of protein.
"As long as that is clear. And Hakuno? I may have a few sessions with you too at some point," Mitsuru added, "But, now the Sports center's private meeting room is prepared for us for the next few hours. We will need to discuss and prepare for next week's operations. Akihiko, take a shower and meet us in there." Akihiko nodded in understanding before heading to the dressing rooms. Hakuno too, excused herself so she could pick up her school uniform. And double check from a mirror her HUD's report that she was fine, as Akihiko had punched her with all his weight behind it and she didn't completely trust the HUD to inform her of cosmetic damages.
Iwatodai Sports Center
Hakuno's POV
"As you all know," Mitsuru directs a short glare at Akihiko, but judging from his confident expression he has read the files this time and Mitsuru seems to realize it too, so she continues, "Yukari Takeba will return from her class's skiing trip this Sunday. While normally we would arrange a meeting with her which just happens to coincide with the Dark Hour to reveal her Potential, the chairman has come to me with an alternative plan enabled by Kishinami's joining." Mitsuru then uses the video projector, a far cry from the old film reel version that Julius used to spy people in Tsukumihara, to show us a building blueprint. The numerous identical rooms next to each other with communal bathrooms and a kitchen reveal it to be a dorm, although much larger than the Iwatodai Dorm S.E.E.S. uses. One room on the second floor is highlighted in red.
"This is Takeba's room at the Gekkoukan Female Dormitory. Since Takeba herself is away, the chairman proposed we simply smuggle a spy camera into her room during the Dark Hour tonight and use that to make certain whether she Transmogrifies or not." Wait, what?
"That simple? Remind me why haven't we done this before?" Akihiko asks with a smile on his face. Am I the only one bothered by this?
"A normal camera wouldn't work during the Dark Hour. But now we can just hook the camera into Kishinami and she can power it from her Plume. The plan is to transfer Kishinami to the Dormitory for this weekend with the cover story that as a new student, she is checking out the Dormitories. There is an empty room above Takeba's where she can pretend to 'spend the night' while she uses the camera." Out of the corner of my eye, I register another room now highlighted in blue, but I ignore it and focus on the essentials everybody else seems to ignore.
"Just wait a second!" I stand up from my seat, "You want me to spy her in her room? That… That's just wrong. And illegal." Well, that last bit didn't actually bother me that much. Spying on someone was probably the least lawbreaking thing I've done, and the real world was a lot laxer about this kind of thing compared to the Moon Cell.
But spying her in her Room, just… felt hundred, no, million kinds of wrong. I mean your Room is your sanctuary. The one place where you don't have to keep your guard up, where only you and your Servant can enter. Where you are safe, where you can talk freely without fearing you accidentally drop a name that reveals all your weaknesses to people who want to kill you. And they want me to just violate that sacred place?! I knew they were already violating that trust with the cameras in my room, but I knew that and they too must have known that. And they still let me cover the cameras with curtains and the mics with duct tape.
"I admit it is a bit… underhanded and a violation of privacy. A few years ago I too wouldn't have thought of doing something like this," Mitsuru confesses while looking me resolutely in the eyes, "But looking at the growing amount of Apathy Syndrome cases, I also see that something has to be done about the Shadows. That's why I believe that doing this is necessary. We need more Persona users and according to the chairman, Takeba has a lot of promise."
"I get that, its why I'm here after all. But going so far as breaking into her room to spy on her is too much to just ascertain her potential. Is there no other way? Like scanning her with either a regular scanner or with Penthesilea."
"We do have equipment to detect people with Potential, but the mobile equipment is far too imprecise to determine anything beyond if the target has Potential or not. The bigger machine that can detect dormant Personas on the other hand, cannot be moved. We would have to bring her to the lab and making a cover story for that is too complicated to be feasible," Mitsuru responds in a practiced manner, maybe this is an old argument? but then she stops to consider for a moment, "Using Penthesilea's scans on the other hand… It might work, as Personas are a part of their users so if the Persona has a special quirk like elemental resistance, then its influence can be detected in the user too. Although the effect will be considerably lesser if the Persona hasn't manifested before, but don't you have some sort of built-in amplifier for Penthesilea's sensory ability?"
"Yes I do. During my initial tests it activated without problems, but we couldn't actually test its functionality as it is completely useless by itself," I confirm and take a seat again. This is starting to look good, but I'm not out of the woods yet. It's a smaller evil, to just briefly touch Yukari with Penthesilea's mind while she was in her room, but it was still an affront to me.
But what can I say here…? They want to know if Yukari has a Persona and to find that, she must be scanned during the Dark Hour, which means at midnight so she is most likely going to be in her room at that time. Except that she is now on a skiing trip with her class. We could intercept her there, but how could I convince Mitsuru to do it? Being in an unfamiliar environment affects mood so might it affect Potential too? No, while mood might affect one's Potential, it isn't that drastic of an effect. And people tend to be more on guard in foreign environment so I can't say that the chance we're caught is less, not to mention that getting caught is almost impossible if we use Penthesilea.
There is no other option, she has to be scanned within the Dormitory. Maybe I can lure her out of her room just before the Dark Hour begins.
"We'll test that amplifier tonight then. If it works, we'll return the spy camera back to the Chairman and transfer you to the Dormitory for the weekend," Mitsuru takes my silence as acceptance. That's fine, today's a Thursday so I'll have a few days to plan how to do this.
"Guess I won't be needed then?" Akihiko asks, though he doesn't look disappointed.
"No, you need stay ready nearby. While it would be suspicious for you to enter the Female Dormitory during the day, we might need you during the operation itself," Mitsuru instructs him. Akihiko frowns uncharacteristically in response, but clearly accepts the order.
"In the worst case scenario, Takeba might be awake during the Dark Hour and try to exit the building before we can scan her. Roaming Shadows might also be a threat," Mitsuru elaborates, it seems she too noticed Akihiko's odd reluctance. Surprisingly, the possibility of action doesn't seem to placate him. Did I misjudge him?
"Is something wrong Akihiko?" I question him in turn. Akihiko seems to catch himself then and blushes in embarrassment.
"Not really no…" he scratches the back of his neck, "Its just that me and the female students don't really get along." That's kind of surprising. He's no Leo Harway, then again, who is, but after knowing him a few days, I thought he would be more popular than Shinji at least. He is a little aloof so maybe people think he is arrogant or something? But it can't be so bad that he would refuse to go near the Female Dormitory…
"Ah, you mean the Club? I understand," Mitsuru seems to get it, "yes, they might cause a ruckus if they see you near the female dormitory in the evening. We'll think of something." Club? Might cause a ruckus?
"What exactly are we talking about here?" I have to ask, I don't understand at all.
"Oh!" both Akihiko and Mitsuru exclaim before staring at each other intently. Both seem to be confused and… uncertain…?
"T-this… Uh, how to say this?" Akihiko stammers and gives Mitsuru a pleading look. What is this about? Has Akihiko done something bad to them?
"Its-" Mitsuru coughs and looks away, "It is a human thing. Hard to explain to a- I mean what I'm trying to say is that its hard to explain as we don't really understand it either." I feel like she almost said something really rude there.
"The point is, that I'd like to avoid running into those girls as much as possible. The reasons don't really matter," Akihiko, red faced, declares with finality. I frown at them both, but they seem to be adamant about dropping the subject.
"If you say so," I tell them, but I'm already planning on asking the girls at the Dormitory about it.
"Good," Mitsuru composes herself, "in that case, our meeting is done. Kishinami, I will meet you at the Command Room for the test tonight. I'll also try and get some Kirijo employees as test subjects for the scans, but it is likely we'll have to make a do with the Chairman and Akihiko." That's not exactly what I would call a good group for testing, a veteran Persona user and man with artificial Potential, but it would be hard to gather people on short notice like this. Especially since the city is dangerous for people with Potential but no Persona.
With our meeting done, we all headed our own ways. Mitsuru was intercepted by a chauffer at the Sports Center Entrance and Akihiko told me he was headed to a specialist store for some supplements. Normally I would have either gone with him out of the sheer novelty of it or gone window shopping, but in light of today's events I headed straight back to my room to scheme how to catch Yukari outside of her room this weekend. Also, I have to update Akihiko's Information Matrix as I'm clearly missing something about him.
