The Golden Star Enigma
By Zoram Selrof
Chapter 1: The Scheherazade Symphony
18:44 PM (Japan Time), Thursday January the 9th, 2010…
"… Hmpf… This is the SS Scheherazade Symphony, huh? Not that big of a ship, either. Guess it's a cruiser instead. Whatever."
"Nevertheless it has capacity for almost 100 passengers, sir."
"Don't judge by the size, huh? Departing time is at 19:45 PM so we're one hour early. I don't see that guy around even though we agreed to meet at this hour and in front of the ship…"
"Maybe they are about to arrive, sir."
"Hmpf. True. We didn't settle on a specific time, after all."
"Hey~! Enzan! Been a while~!"
"Hikari Netto. So you made it on time."
"Man! We meet again after half a year and the only thing you can come up with is "you made it on time"…? You don't change, Enzan!"
"I don't feel the need to."
"Hello, Blues."
"Rock Man. It's been a while."
Ijuuin Enzan, aged 14, stopped walking when he reached the dock where a passenger ship with the name SS Scheherazade Symphony was docked at: he looked rather unimpressed and began chatting with his Net Navi Blues when Hikari Netto (aged 14 too) rushed towards him: Enzan merely lifted his eyebrows while Netto looked amused: both Operators carried sports bags hanging from their right shoulders while Rock Man EXE greeted Blues who replied with his usual dryness.
"Superintendent Oda isn't here yet?"
"No, not yet. I guess he must be about to arrive as well!"
"Truly, my chads! Uncle Merton says you're - FIRED!"
"Yikes! What was that!? S-superintendent Oda…!"
"Hello! Hikari – kun. Been a while… Uncle Merton would rather say you've sharpened your face with a katana…"
"HUH? EXCUSE ME, SIR?"
"Oh. Come on. That's ridiculous, sir!"
Superintendent Oda of the Net Police's Cyber CID showed up from behind Netto, startling Netto with his joke; Netto jumped backwards out of instinct, taken aback, but Enzan merely sighed, annoyed.
"The problem with Ijuuin – kun there is that he doesn't have a sense of humor and is so dry that all coffee in the office goes dry!"
"Excuse me, sir, but isn't coffee dry to begin with?" Netto didn't catch the irony.
"Oh, don't worry about the details! It's a joke!"
"Ahem, ahem. Can we get to the main topic?" Enzan cleared his throat.
"Of course. I called both of you here because I received an invitation for this mini-cruise, and it includes you two too. There's gentleman wants to know more about our exploits… By the way… How long ago was it? That battle you had…"
"Hmmm… Pretty long ago… July 2007… I started 6th grade on that year's September and I'm already at the 2nd grade of middle school… I've stayed outta battles ever since that one…" Netto recalled.
"My, my… That long ago… Feels like yesterday…" Oda rubbed his chin.
"Are we gonna ride on that or not? SIR?" Enzan called out.
"Sure."
"Is that your luggage, sir?"
Netto looked at the wheeled suitcase that Oda carried with him.
"You're not gonna tell me you brought a manual of puns."
"Who knows?" He teased.
"Sheesh. Fine. May get in? SIR?"
Enzan climbed the ramp, followed by Netto and Oda, and they stepped into the hall of the ship, where the reception counter was at; the decoration was reminiscent of a hotel and didn't give the impression of being a ship; they headed over the reception desk and an employee greeted them with a bow.
"Welcome aboard, gentlemen. How many rooms will you be using? We have single and shared cabins."
"… Hikari."
"I don't have a preference. You decide."
"Do you snore at night?"
"Huh!? What a rude question! Of course not! Right, Rock Man!?"
"Yeah. Netto – kun doesn't snore." Rock Man confirmed.
"Good. Then let's share the cabin."
"Are you up to something or what?" Netto sighed.
"You never know."
"I'll have a single then."
"Roger, sir. What might your names be?"
"Sam Merton Who Comes To Haunt Your Dreams!" Oda came up with some ridiculous title.
"Do excuse me?" The employee was taken aback.
"Sorry, young man. Here." He cleared his throat and drew his police ID.
"Superintendent Oda… Should I write it down like this, sir?"
"You may. Unless May Man has an objection to it."
"E-excuse me, sir?"
"Don't mind him. He's fond of puns. I am Ijuuin Enzan."
"And I'm Hikari Netto!"
"Excellent. Wait a minute."
He turned to look at the board with the room keys, and picked three keys, which he placed atop the counter.
"Rooms 21 and 26, gentlemen…"
"By the way… Did Mr. Jisep come already?" Oda asked.
"No, sir. In fact… We haven't even met him yet. All transcations were handled by email and the bank…"
"Maybe this is a lil show in which he's disguised as one of the invited passengers and we gotta unmask them…"
"Allow me to guess. SIR. Is that "Jisep" guy the one who invited us? The "gentleman" who's interested in talking to us?"
"Of course. Unless you wanted it to be Count Negretto Sylvius of 136 Moorside Gardens, NW…"
"No. Somehow I can guess that's not good company."
"Who's that? A visitor from King Land?"
"He collects bandanas."
"So what?"
"He likes to take them from people. Along with some strands of hair…"
"Come on." Enzan didn't buy it.
"That sounded so… improbable. Really." Rock Man muttered with some annoyance.
"Welcome to the club." Blues sarcastically told him.
"I get the irony, thanks."
"Eh… Do excuse me but…" A voice called out.
A fellow passenger walked over to them.
He was a man on his forties, slightly obese, whose head was largely bald (he still had some patches of black hair); he had no beard or moustache, and his eyes were closed.
He wore gray jeans, brown shoes, a simplistic navy blue wool sweater and an open brown sleeveless jacket over it.
He was holding a small wooden cylinder a few tens of centimeters tall on his right hand's thumb and index finger to show it to the other three.
"What can I help you with?" Oda politely asked.
"Excuse me… I mistook you for someone else, sir… If you'll excuse me…"
He turned around but dropped the cylinder when he was going to insert it into his pocket; Enzan and Netto crouched to pick it up and both spotted something on it; Enzan walked over to the man.
"Mr. Passenger! You dropped this, sir." Enzan called out as he extended it to him.
"Oh! T-thank you." He timidly thanked.
"No, no. It is us who should be thankful."
"Huh? T-thanks anyway."
He pocketed it and headed for the dining room, where another passenger could be seen; leaning against the left wall.
This new passenger was on his forties as well, slender and tall, and had abundant jet-black hair plus some beard hanging from his lower chin.
He wore navy blue jeans, brown shoes and a gray wool sweater.
"Hey, Danna. Do you have a minute?"
"Huh? D-do you have some business with me, sir…?"
"Been waitin'…"
He opened his eyes to reveal green irises and at the same time held out a small key; the bald passenger seemed to recognize him given how the slender passenger walked over to him and patted his back, as if they were old-time friends.
"How 'bout a drink over there? I treat. And we'll have a chat like in the good ol' times…" He invited.
"Delighted."
Both men headed into the dining room while a member of the staff walked over to the counter; Enzan was rubbing his chin, as if he was interested in the exchange they'd witnessed.
"The organizer said that nine persons were invited… They all have come aboard by now. We should get ready to sail soon." He told his partner while looking up from a list in a clipboard.
"Aren't we forgetting that elderly gentleman who came out because he'd forgotten something ashore?"
"No. He came back onboard, and is resting on his cabin by now so there's no need to be worried about that."
"Roger that. Let's close the door already."
The group of three headed downstairs into the rooms, and Enzan unlocked his and Netto's room; it had two bunk beds, a small desk plus a chair and a small adjacent bathroom; there were individual low-power lights built at the northern end of each bed to allow for individual reading without bothering the other passenger.
"Good. I'll be on the topmost bed yet…" Enzan trailed off in purpose and directed a glance at Netto.
"I told you I don't snore. Do you snore?" Netto grumbled.
"No. Else I wouldn't have asked for a shared cabin."
"So what's with the look? I don't walk on my sleep, either!"
"Soft, medium or hard?" Enzan suddenly asked.
"What? You mean the spicy sauce?" Netto frowned.
"… Never mind then." He shrugged his shoulders.
"I thought you were serious." Netto reminded him.
"Sometimes."
"That sounded like a lawyer, ya know." Netto grumbled as he placed his suitcase atop his bed and unlocked it.
"Going to pick the katana?"
"What in the… I'm just gonna put on jeans and a coat because it'll be cold out there in the sea. I don't wanna catch the flu." Netto protested as he took a pair of jeans out plus a brownish coat.
"Alright. By the way. 4, 4.5 or 5?"
"What's that? The level of spiciness?"
"You never know. I'm going on ahead to the deck. Meet you there."
Enzan exited the room, ignoring Netto's yells of protest; he climbed upstairs into the reception, walked past the dining room where the two passengers were at, and came out into the front deck to look at the sea; Oda was sitting in one of the hammocks and chatting with someone over the cell phone.
"… and then Aunt Matilda appeared as if summoned by a magician and claimed an omelet had abducted her cat. Wait a min! The pun is that the criminal was named Rodrigo Tortilla and "tortilla" means "omelet" so that's why she said that!"
Enzan headed to the bow and met with a woman silently standing there.
She was on her thirties, and was rather slender; she was facing the sea so only her rear could be seen; she had brown hair.
She sported black knee-high leather boots, a green sailor's coat, sky blue jeans, a black fabric cap, and white wool gloves, gripping the railing.
Enzan walked over to her, and tried to look at her face, but the cap hid most of it; her face's overall shape was smooth.
Your everyday type…
"… Oh? We finally get to see some diversity. And here I thought this ship would be filled with dull men."
"So it seemed, ma'am." Enzan calmly replied.
"The sea… Is it not magnificent? Such vastness… Such enigma… It shall swallow everything… Be it sorrow, despair, grudges, hatred… Such vastness can only be compared to outer space… Many things are swallowed by the sea… Corpses as well…" She muttered as if reflecting.
"True, ma'am."
"I am surprised, though. I have never met any "Mr. Jisep" and I am but an office lady, so I am wondering why I got called here. I checked the passenger list and none here are people I have ever known. Maybe someone spoke of me and they thought I would bring some diversity to this otherwise dull cruise." She admitted aloud.
"Same thing here… I don't think our CO has ever met that "Mr. Jisep" person yet… I've figured out who they are."
"Is that so?"
"That bald man over there in the bar… He dropped a seal which had the name "Jisep" engraved into it…"
"I think he is named Konda – dono, though…"
"Maybe "Jisep" is an alias and he threw this together to recreate the cliché that you meet important people in a ship…" Enzan shrugged.
"It may be so…"
"Hello there! I'd say: a wonderful sunset! Don't you think so?"
"Good evening."
"Good evening, fellow passengers."
A new passenger walked over to them.
He was on his forties and had abundant brown hair, plus a moustache: his eyes' irises were brown and he wasn't fat but had some build.
He wore brown leather shoes, white pants, and a pale brown suit over a reddish shirt, as well as a green tie.
He had both hands stuffed on his pockets.
"Without mistake…" The woman formed a smile and seemed to snap out of her earlier slightly gloomy mood.
"So you're one of the young lads… It's good to see some variety around here and erase the dullness which comes with all of us being in the same age group…" The man told Enzan.
"True, sir. Maybe this is why we were invited as well."
"… Wait, wait. There's more! Rocky Rocking delivered a Super Fast Express Ultimate Crusher Punch at Ugly Masky's jaw and knocked him out so he won the match in just 49 seconds! How's that?"
"I doubt that." Blues drily muttered.
"It obviously never happened to begin with." Enzan deduced.
"Sorry for the hold-up, Enzan…" Netto called out as he walked over to him.
He'd changed the shorts for the jeans and put on the jacket over his vest.
"So, Hikari. Who did it to begin with?" Enzan sneered.
"Who did what?" Netto frowned.
"You know."
"I'm not following."
"Well. We can settle it later then."
"Settle what?"
"Read between lines."
Enzan merely walked off without replying to Netto's question and headed for the dining room, which had been lighted up and the setting completed, so he picked a seat.
"Attention, please. Supper is ready please come to the dining room."
"Yum! Supper." Netto came in, daydreaming about it already.
"Come on, Netto – kun. Focus." Rock Man sighed.
"When it comes to food he tends to lose focus, right?" Blues dully asked.
"Sure thing…" Rock Man rolled his eyes.
"So? How's it been like? Middle school…"
"Pretty well. It's challenging but I've survived." He summed up.
"Here are the menus, gentlemen…"
"Thank you."
"So! Hikari – kun. Ijuuin – kun. Who was the Emperor of Mongolia in the year 666 AD?" Oda asked as he sat down opposite them, and leaning forward.
"No – one. The Mongolian Empire didn't exist until 1206 AD. I do study world history as well, SIR."
"There you go! As expected of our best hound!"
"How silly." Rock Man complained.
"Totally." Blues agreed on it.
"So? Mr. Shoes is gonna beat Mr. Sandals?"
"Who knows?" Enzan shrugged his shoulders.
"Hmmm… I'll have the soup plus the beef having green salad as side and water..." Netto settled.
"Alright. Then I'll have the pork rice and some water…"
"Bring me the takoyaki and water too…" Oda requested.
Enzan scanned the dining room; the two friends were still chatting, while the other man and the woman shared a table; the woman had removed her cap to reveal eyes with brown irises and her neatly combed brownish hair, but she didn't seem to be too interested in the man's talk.
"By the way… I thought there were supposed to be nine passengers onboard today, but I only see seven." Netto commented to the waiter.
"Correct, sir. The remaining two are a gentleman on his mid-20s and another on his 60s. The first one requested just yoghurt and is working on some business while the other is resting and wasn't hungry."
"Guess we'll meet them tomorrow. The ship is a two-night and three-day cruise, after all." Enzan shrugged.
"And then Masked Catastrophe summoned Unmasked Catastrophe whose ugliness was more than enough to make Armored Storm faint and be knocked out! How's that one like?"
"Those boxing jokes are lame and vain." Enzan directly replied.
"Lame and vain goes vain and lame~!" He improvised a rhyme.
The other passengers glared at him with annoyance; Oda gulped and remained quiet while the others had their suppers.
"Desserts?" The waiter offered.
"Banana, please." Netto requested.
"Nothing, thank you." Enzan thanked.
"Merton ice-cream." Oda joked.
"Excuse me, sir?" The waiter frowned.
"Sorry. Ahem, ahem. An apple if you may." He cleared his throat.
"I feel bad, even… I'm going to my room…! To lie down for a while…!" The bald passenger stood up, covering his mouth.
"Cha keep on being the type susceptible to sea sickness, huh? Good night, anyway." His partner asked with some sarcasm.
"… Can you believe it that someone can gain so much money just from being a syndicate member that doesn't imply any real job? No wonder our economy is still struggling after the disaster of the 90s!" The white suit passenger told the woman.
"No wonder. Syndicates made sense on their historical context but sometimes they've degraded to excuses to slack work."
"But we should be glad! I've seen reports of other countries having those "informational picket" which in truth try to stop people from going to work during general strikes and later commit vandal acts…!"
"By the way… I now remember… That elderly gentleman… Is he a researcher? He struck to me as… He had that monocle on his face and that spiky hair too… As well as that curious coat… I saw him carrying a folder with some documents and one looked like circuitry blueprints… What is his name?" The woman asked the waiter.
"Oh. He did give me a visiting card. He is a researcher specialized in robotics and energy… I believe he is a foreigner who has been living here for long given his good Japanese… I believe he is on his 60s… Yet… He had one or two stitched wounds which picked me for some reason or another…" The waiter commented.
Enzan was paying attention to the exchange; Oda was writing something down on his police notebook, and Netto was checking his e-mail inbox.
"… Dr. Joseph Wily… That's his name."
"WHAT!?"
All passengers reacted to the name, startling the waiter; Oda quckly jumped off his seat and raced over to the waiter.
"Police! Where's that old fox at!?" He demanded as he held out his police ID.
"Police!? Y-yes, sir! R-room 23, sir…" He uttered.
"Joseph Wily…! Was that not the demoniac genius scientist who tried to destroy the world back in the year 2007?" The woman gasped.
"Indeed, ma'am! Same man, ma'am! Hikari – kun! Ijuuin – kun! Follow me! We're going to apprehend that old fox! Waiter! Come along! You have a master key, don't you? You'll open the room for us!"
The group ran down the stairs and into the corridor where some of the passenger rooms where at; they stopped at both sides of one door.
"Open it and we'll cover you. I brought my service revolver today and the old fox might be armed… You two be ready to disable any foul machine he might carry inside of that suitcase too…" Oda instructed.
"It's o-open, sir…!" The waiter whispered.
"Good. Ready… Go!"
Oda drew his revolver and pulled the door open with the left hand while aiming forward; the room was unlit, so he quickly switched the revolver to the left hand, and hit the switch with the right hand; the lights turned on but the room was empty, devoid of people or luggage.
"What in the Merton?" He cursed.
"The room looks clean…" Netto muttered.
"Too clean. Look! There's not a wrinkle on the bed, or any marks of luggage having been set down!" Enzan grumbled.
"Are you sure that the old man's room is this one?"
"Yes, sir. There can't be any mistake. I knocked earlier before supper but he replied "my bad, I don't feel hungry" and thus I headed back after checking with Room 19's gentleman…"
"Room 19's… The yoghurt fella, you mean? Is he there?"
"I think so." The waiter admitted.
"Let's check with him."
"Alright… Here it is."
"Oi! Yoghurt Fella! Uncle Merton says you gotta be a Dow Jones stock broker! Let devil bite my hat if I'm wrong!" Oda banged on the door.
"By all the… Mr. Passenger! I demand to know the reason for such a commotion!" An annoyed voice rang out.
"Net Police's Cyber CID Superintendent Oda!"
"N-Net Police's Cyber CID…!?"
The passenger stepped out of the room, startled.
He was on his mid-20s, and abundant brown-colored hair; his eyes were blues.
He was clean shaved, and his face was smooth and suave.
He wore brown shoes, black pants, and a black suit with a black tie over a white shirt.
"Excuse me. May I see some form of ID?"
"Y-yes, sir. Here's my business card, sir."
"Kanou Shade. 25 years old. Winterthur Inc. employee. I see."
"Correct, sir. I am a freshman in the Densan City office, although I work part-time there… I'm still finishing an online course on finances…"
"Good. Have you seen the fellow in Room 23?"
"The gentleman with the hostile look…? I have."
"When was that?"
"Shortly after coming onboard, around 6 o'clock… I'd come out of my room to head to the deck and have a look, then I saw him unlocking his room, and directing a hostile glare at me before slamming the door shut."
"Hmmm… Maybe he wanted to work on something and didn't want anyone to bother him or something had gone badly and thus was in a foul mood…" Oda muttered.
"Is there a problem with that elderly gentleman?" Kanou asked.
"There is! The man is the infamous Dr. Wily who led the WWW! I supposed you've heard of it, haven't you?"
"But hadn't he died in an explosion after the "Dream Virus" was destroyed and thus the WWW collapsed?"
"Weeds never die! The guy seems to be alive and unless he had a twin which I'm sure as Merton that he didn't then he survived somehow and has been hiding ever since then." Oda grumbled.
"W-what should I do, sir?"
"Have you heard him coming out afterwards?"
"I wouldn't be able to say, sir. I was working with my laptop and listening to music at the same time so I don't think so, sir."
"So he came out along with his suitcase… What kind of suitcase was it, anyway?"
"A silver attaché case… He also carried a folder with some documents loosely stuffed there… But I only saw him for a moment anyway before he slammed the door shut."
"Alright. I'm off to checking with the staff."
Kanou sighed and went back in, but he came out again soon enough, having put on a gray trench coat plus a brown hat having a black band around it.
"I'm going to the deck. I don't feel like working with a crazy old man so close to my room." He muttered.
"I'd say we go up and try to think of where the guy could hide because he can't be in the cabins…" Ennzan suggested.
"Obviously… They're all locked."
The three of them headed into the topmost deck, where they sat on the benches, while looking around the unlit sea surrounding them.
"So… They never found his body back then?" Kanou asked to break the silence.
"No. We did search for it exhaustively."
"I never bothered to ask. I had other things going on my mind. I thought he'd been wiped out in the explosion." Netto glanced at his PET.
"Yet… What a bizarre coincidence. Of all places in the world, he ends up invited to ride in this ship and the ones who witnessed his defeat have been invited as well… This "Mr. Jisep" knows something. I don't think that bald man is him either… I'd rather think it's someone unseen but that the bald man was given that seal as a red herring…" Kanou rubbed his chin.
"Guess so." Enzan lazily replied.
"It's starting to get cold so why don't we go to the rec room? It'll be warmer, I'd say." Netto suggested.
"What time is it, anyway? Wow! Past 9 o'clock alreadfy!" Enzan agreed as he glanced at his PET's digital clock and confirmed the time.
"I don't feel like sleeping until we figure out where did Wily go off to and if it's really him although it has to… I mean, they've seen him open the door and so…" Netto muttered.
The group headed inside of the rec room where they found the other passengers expect for Oda and the bald man named Konda; the woman was having a drink on the bar's counter while the other two were chatting while sitting opposite each other in the sofas with a table placed in the middle.
"So? Did that man appear?" The woman asked.
"Sadly, no, ma'am… They seem to have vanished into thin air and they were not in their room…"
"Hmpf… As expected… By the way… I brought a deck. Why do we not play before retiring to sleep? Surely, the old man will have been found by then. We shall not bet any money either…" She invited as she finished her drink.
"Delighted. Gentlemen?"
"No problem, miss." The slender man agreed.
"Excellent." The man in the white suit agreed as well.
"Sure!"
"Why not…" Enzan shrugged.
They sat around the table and began to play while soft jazz music played in the background; the barman whistled a tune as he cleansed the glasses.
"… I'm going to the toilet for a moment… I'll be right back. Please carry on…" The white suit man excused himself.
"By Merton! That guy's a wizard!"
Oda came back in, looking defeated, and sat on one stool while yawning and stretching.
"What? A wizard?"
"You heard me! He wasn't in any room or any of the decks! He wasn't in the toilets either! All rooms were locked! The crew's quarters were untouched as well! This is madness!" He cursed.
"What's madness?" The white suit man asked as he returned while cleansing his hands with a handkerchief.
"The old man! He's nowhere at all and yet 5 persons saw him onboard the ship! It's crazy! Totally crazy! No master keys are missing either and I checked all rooms!" He grumbled.
"Truly strange, truly…"
"Full house." The woman announced.
"Man. I'm so bad at these… My bad. I'm gonna go nap. Now we know the rooms are safe… Good evening." The slender man stood up and stretched, barely suppressing a yawn.
"By Merton's swollen right eye and nose! I won't give up so easily! By the way! Now that I think of it… What are your names? Just for the record."
"Koyota Shayo." The slender man lazily replied as he walked away, waving a hand.
"Nazanazo Mary." The woman introduced herself.
"Kyundai Augen." The white suit man admitted.
"Alright. I already know the bald fellow is named Konda Tarou from the passenger list… I didn't want to wake him up." He muttered as he wrote then down on the police notebook.
"Do you desire something to drink, sir?" The barman asked.
"An orange juice…" He sighed.
"This rings a bell somewhere…" Enzan suddenly muttered.
"Is that so, sir? I don't seem to recall…" Blues began.
"No, no. I mean that I've read somewhere about a similar thing. I can't recall where or when right now… I'm sure I'll eventually remember."
"By the way… Are you really the boy who defeated those "Cybeasts" back in 2007?" Nazonazo asked of Netto.
"W-well, yeah… However, it wasn't just me… There were others who backed me up and we all poured our strength together…" Netto blushed and scratched the back of his head.
"I had a part on that too." Enzan drily added.
"Of course! Who said you didn't?"
"So? Did you find a girlfriend yet?" Nazonazo smugly asked.
"E~H? N-n-not yet… ma'am…!" He blushed.
"Guess it's the other way around." Kyundai grinned.
"Oh? You think so… On what grounds?" Nazonazo asked.
"Huh! I was joking, ma'am, just joking…" He admitted.
"Hmpf… Pointless…" She muttered with some annoyance.
"… And Uncle Steve said his perfume smelt like a revolver…" Oda was joking with the barman.
"I find that highly unrealistic, sir." The barman replied.
"Come on! Don't be so stiff: imagine! Imagine~!"
"What vanity." Nazonazo muttered.
"It might be named as such." Kanou simply replied.
"My voice is the best!" Oda kept on singing.
"Oh by all the. Someone stop him." Enzan cursed.
"My lady~!"
BANG!
Everyone jumped off the seats, startled at the sound, and looked around, confused.
"G-gunfire… From the upper deck...? What time is it?"
"Huh… 9:34 PM…" Netto checked.
"Damn! I gotta check it out! It might be the old man!"
Oda ran out, so the two boys followed him upstairs, into the uppermost deck, where they found something unexpected; the flag was on fire.
"T-the flag's on fire…!" Netto gasped.
"What in the…" Enzan cursed.
"The old man…! Where are they…?" Oda grumbled.
"What was that sound?" Kyundai's voice rang out.
"Wasn't that fireworks?" Kanou asked.
"I doubt it." Nazonazo replied.
The other three passengers rushed into the deck as well, and stared at the still burning flag with disbelief.
"Who the hell did this? Wily?" Netto cursed.
"Enzan – sama! Look… On that bench's backside… A 10,000 Z note with some words scribbled on it is stabbed into it using a knife!"
They rushed over to it to check the note yet the poor lighting made it hard to read; they were about to draw their PETs when Nazonazo stepped forward, and flipped open her cell-phone to illuminate the note.
"… "Sea God Poseidon granted life to my shadow, and it shall revive" …"
"A~H! NO WAY~!"
"Kyu – Kyundai – san?"
Kyundai gasped, terrified, and erratically walked forward.
"W-was alive…! Thought as much…! That guy was…! That guy was…! WAS ALIVE~!" He muttered before turning to face everyone and yell, horrified.
An explosion happened behind Kyundai, in the lower deck, and it reached past the upper deck before turning into a continuous column of smoke; an alarm began to ring out across the ship.
"The f-fire alarm…!" One staff man gasped.
Enzan and Netto raced downstairs, past the rec room and into the stern, where a square box was burning with unusual fierceness; the heat was too intense to approach it, so they had to remain there, looking at the strange phenomenon.
"W-what's burning?"
"That's… the emergency rope stair's box…! I saw one earlier so I can't be mistaken!" Enzan realized.
"The rope stair's box…? What caused the explosion and why is it burning so fiercely?" Netto wondered.
"L-look!" Rock Man gasped in horror.
They looked at the flames; there was the unmistakable shape of a human's arms burning inside of the flame;: both were paralyzed at the sight of the already blackened form and of a strap-watch on one of the wrists.
"Step aside, you two!"
A staff man aimed a fire extinguisher there, along with another staff man, and they began to put the flames out until it stopped burning altogether, and the smoke receded; the other passengers had gathered there by now, horrified.
"Damn it. It's so burnt out that it's impossible to say who this fellow is until we get to shore and do a dental identification… It could be old man Wily for all we know." Oda cursed as he looked at the corpse.
"Excuse me. Does not that person carry a strap-watch? I am pretty sure Koyota – dono owned it." Nazonazo pointed.
"Oh. True. It's mostly melted and deformed but it is a true gold strap-watch…"
"Shouldn't we call for that other passenger, that Konda – san? Maybe he knows something?" Netto suggested.
"I'd rather ask that guy, Kyundai, first. His words of a few minutes ago were pretty suspicious." Enzan glanced at Kyundai over his right shoulder.
"Almost as if he was expecting Wily to be alive…" Blues added.
"Which reeks." Rock Man concluded.
"Anyway. The explosion's origin is this can of gasoline, which seems to have been ignited somehow yet, I don't see any remains of some ignition device. This guy's pose, reminiscent of a boxer, is because the heat stiffens the body, so it automatically compacts into this position while burning. Nothing spectacular here. The vinyl sheet has been blown away, but it's no wonder given the force of the explosion."
He walked over to Kyundai and scrutinized him with an annoyed glare; Kyundai broke into cold sweat, and began to step back, yet Oda took another step forward.
"Cha and I gotta talk a lot, fella… And let devil bite me if you don't know something about old man Wily." He warned.
He signaled for him to follow him and the other passengers followed suit while the staff put a cloth over the corpse to hide it from sight.
The group walked into the dining room, where Oda signaled for Kyundai to sit down in front of him; Oda picked the chair opposite him and leant forward while Kyundai avoided eye contact; the other passengers stood next to the western side doors.
"So! Speak."
"I k-know nothing!" He tried to waltz outta it.
"Oh, really? And what did you mean a while ago then?"
"Huh! It's nothing, I say!"
"You say but I'm not satisfied with that. Lemme remind you I'm Net Police Cyber CID and I'm a Superintendent. You better don't joke around with me, fella." Oda warned next.
"By the way… Shouldn't we bring Konda – san in and ask of him if he has any idea about Wily? That of the seasickness seemed like an improvised excuse to get out of the dining room. Almost as if he knew what was going to happen next." Enzan suggested.
"Go fetch Mr. Clean and I'll fetch Uncle Merton. Let devil bite Uncle Merton's beard if you're not trying to waltz outta it, Kyundai. I know cha are hiding something. And I'll find it out like it or not." He icily warned.
Both headed downstairs into the passengers' rooms, and Enzan knocked on Room 27's door.
"Konda – san? Excuse me? Konda – san? They're calling for you, sir, so please come to the dining room… Huh?"
Enzan realized that the door wasn't properly closed; he pulled it open for a little portion to look inside the unlit room.
"Hello? Konda – san? Hello? Can you come with us, sir?"
"Konda – san! Please wake up!" Netto called out.
Enzan turned on the lights; the only thing in the room was a suitcase set in the ground, but there wasn't anyone else there; the bed was untouched as well, and the restroom was empty as well.
"By all the… He's given us the slip and vanished into thin air too? What's going in this ship?" Enzan cursed.
"We should tell Superintendent Oda, right?" Netto guessed.
Both ran back into the dining room where Oda was merely crossing his arms, and staring at Kyundai, who avoided eye contact.
"Superintendent Oda! Konda's vanished into thin air."
"By all the… What the hell's wrong with this ship? Steve Dixie and Barney Stockdale are running this show or WHAT?"
"So! The old man who is nowhere to be found, Konda – dono vanishes, and Koyota – dono shows up as a corpse. How lovely, really…! What is this, a hidden camera TV… event… or what? Someone should rather explain what is going on. I do not tolerate farces!" Nazonazo fumed.
"For all we know…" Kanou shrugged his shoulders.
"You can't detain me here! I'm off to the toilet!" Kyundai suddenly stood up, challenging.
"Whatever! The local police will be less kind."
"I'll complain to your superiors!"
Everyone else sat around the chairs, defeated and tired; Oda grumbled and took out some chewing gum from his breast pocket, which he began to chew.
"So… What next?" Enzan asked with a sigh.
"We obviously aren't going to continue the whole route! I've called the competent administration, and they've ordered the captain to head back to the departure port, which we'll reach tomorrow morning."
"Have you tried asking about if they can trace the transactions made to reserve the ship?" Enzan suggested.
"They're on it."
"Leave no stone unturned, huh?" Netto guessed.
"Obviously."
"… Hmmm!"
Kyundai came back in, grumbling, and sat in a chair in one corner; he tapped the edge with the right hand's index and middle finger as if trying to vent his bad mood.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Four gunshots rang out unexpectedly, startling everyone.
"F-four shots!" Enzan gasped.
"Don't tell me Wily is intending to manslaughter us all!" Netto cursed.
"You stay here, Hikari! We'll check it out!" Enzan replied.
"Gotcha!"
"Good! Come with me, Ijuuin – kun! You pick the west, I pick the east! We'll corner them!" Oda ordered.
Both ran out separartely and converged on the stern, yet they found it empty; Oda pulled the cloth off the burnt corpse to check that there wasn't anyone hiding there.
"Impossible, by Merton!"
"Superintendent! There's a maintenance hatch here, which I believe leads to the engine room… He could've snuck back inside the ship like this and hidden there…!" Enzan realized as he opened it.
"Going inside just like that is suicide. However, I've got my service revolver and I'll use it to disarm that old fox if they show their hide around! Wait and see, Wily!" Oda grumbled.
"E-Enzan! Superintendent! Kyundai says he wants to talk! He's broken into cries and yells that Wily wants to kill him!" Netto reported as he rushed in from the eastern side.
"What! Then what are we waiting for? Let's seal this hatch with something, though!"
They dragged another emergency ladder box to rest atop the hatch; they returned to the living room, where Kyundai was sitting on a chair facing the bow of the ship; Oda sat in front of him and Netto sat to Kyundai's right while looking curious at his terrified face; Enzan leant his back against a nearby column.
"… I… worked for the WWW… as a fifth column…"
"What! Fifth column… So you aided that Count Elec guy in their infiltration of the Silver Tower where the Science Labs are housed at…?"
"Yeah… We set everything up but it was for them to take the glory; we also evacuated when Wily commanded us to… I and another two pals had begun to investigate rumors of a gigantic fortune Wily had… We'd been eavesdropping on him and checking his bank movements for over a year by then… We suspected something could go wrong so we all changed our names and erased our data from the databases in advance… We got a hold of his passwords and aliases as well so we were ready to take the money…"
"Yeah. We also found out about some of his hidden money going missing, but we hadn't been able to seize a good lead of who did it… So you guys were the authors of it, huh?"
"Yeah. During the confusion brought upon by the "Dream Virus" and its activation, we split the money into several portions and vowed to wait at least two years before withdrawing our portions… We parted ways and took a slice each… The one who came up with the idea of the ship meeting was Koyota… However… Koyota's dead and Konda has vanished… I fear I'm the next one… Wily made it through that explosion, somehow, and has chased us! He probably found traces of our hacking… He must've intercepted Koyota's invitation letter, and faked a copy of it to get onboard! I began to suspect someone being on my trail about a month ago, when I came out of the bank after depositing some money… I couldn't figure who they were… Now I think it was Wily…" Kyundai continued, looking at the ground.
"Very likely." Enzan muttered to himself.
"So! Wily is aiming to have you pay for your betrayal and such must be hiding in the engine room plotting something… I'm sure that we'll find Konda's corpse there… Maybe he went in when Konda was returning to his room! Konda followed him, and was killed… Wily then intercepted Koyota after he'd called it quits for the night and put him inside of the box, which he then set fire to with a fuse, but not before calling us into the upper deck by detonating the gun there, and then rushing down while we decided what to do."
BANG!
"GRUA~H! THE PAIN!"
"Hikari!"
"Netto – kun!"
"By all the…!"
A shot rang out, and Netto collapsed into the ground, rolling across it by inertia while clutching his right arm below the elbow and closing his eyes from the pain; he was clenching his teeth too.
"Get down!" Oda ordered.
Everyone crouched while Oda crawled over to Netto, who was groaning in pain; Rock Man was horrified at the sight of some thin trails of blood sliding down his right forearm and hand.
"Netto – kun! Hang in there! Netto – kun!"
"Hikari – kun! Where did they hit you? Answer me!"
"Guh… Kruh… Ugh! R… Right…!" He managed to hiss.
"Right forearm…?"
Oda pulled back the coat's right sleeve and the shirt's sleeve as well to see a fresh bullet wound on his right forearm below the elbow and before the wrist, which was slightly bleeding.
"By Merton! A bullet wound…! Hell! Who the…?"
BANG!
Another shot rang out, so Enzan crawled towards the front viewing windows to then sit on the ground and use a column as covering to glance outside into the largely unlit bow.
"A person… There's a person shape there in the bow!"
"Alright! Time to make my revolver sing! Ijuuin – kun! Tend to Hikari – kun! Try to stop him from moving around too much or the wound could worsen!" Oda commanded.
He ran out through the eastern door and used the glassed wall as momentary cover as he looked towards the figure sitting on the bow, leaning against the railings; he drew his revolver and took out the safety.
"Alright, Wily! No more cat-and-mouse! Drop your weapon and lift your hands where I can see them! Answer me, old man!"
Oda spotted a lightbulb set above him, so he aimed towards the figure.
"…R… Ridiculous! T-that's… Ko… Koyota…!"
"By all the…!" Enzan cursed from inside the dining room.
Koyota, missing his sweater and having a white shirt on, was sitting on the ground; he had a gun on his right hand, plus a bullet wound on the right side of his head, which was slightly bleeding; his eyes were lacking life and his jaw was wide open.
"W-what… going…?" Netto asked in a hoarse voice.
"Calm down. You were shot. Someone bring a first aid kit!"
"I'll go." Kanou offered.
"This is madness. So who the hell is the burnt body? Wily?"
"Could that not be Konda – dono?" Nazonazo called out.
"Bloody Merton. Then Koyota's the culprit? Wait a min… "Wily" was witnessed a while before we came… He left to retrieve something and came back… Hmmm…"
He looked over the handrail; there was a rope ladder attached at the lowest spot of the railing, and hanging in front of the ship's bow.
"I see. He has rope marks on the cuffs and ankles from securing his hands and feet there while he hid… He's gotta be the one who put Konda in the box after putting his sweater on him and giving him the clock. Then he drew us away by shooting in the rear, and rushing back inside using the hatch to come out in the front, and hide below the windows during out chat with Kyundai… I see a motive by now! Het all the money! That's why he called them here to begin with."
"The bullet shot through you but it probably scratched an artery. This is but a momentary first aid. Once we back to the mainland, we're going straight to the hospital." Enzan finished wrapping the wound with bandaging.
"Kuh… Huh…! G-gotcha…!" Netto hissed.
"Regarding the "Wily" that several persons saw… That was probably Koyota! He boarded the ship as Wily, came out, and returned to produce the witness accounts. He waited for someone to bring out the name "Wily", and all would start to move according to his plan. We were invited as camouflage and to hide the obvious. Who'd imagine that a former WWW member would invite the Net Police's Cyber CID to begin with?"
"I-I see! Actually… T-the seal and key were signs to recognize each other while I brought a signature… In the past you had to have a signature, a key and a seal to use a safe deposit box so…"
"Hence why Konda and Koyota were showing them around. Since you all changed your faces and names, you needed a way to ID each other…"
"Sheesh. To think we were dragged into a plot by a greedy fool…"
"Indeed, ma'am… It's a pity we couldn't catch them, but, alas…"
"Anyway. We'll get to the mainland soon. This case is over so we can finally rest… And Uncle Merton's endless wisdom will bless us!"
"Oh come on! SIR! We're not in the mood for that! SHEESH!"