Chapter 4: Hide and seek
18:04 PM (Japan Time), Friday January the 31st…
"… And regarding the Akihara City Hotel disappearance police suspect the usage of some device which created an optical illusion which was then used by the incriminated Hosoyoda – dono to flee the hall while everyone stared at the illusion…"
"… Nah… That's not it: I'm sure of it. But not even I know the explanation to that bizarre happening…"
"Next: sports…"
"Off you go."
Obihiro turned off the radio of his PET and sighed as he leant back on his chair inside of the small workspace he used inside of one of the Net Police's HQ floors; he rubbed his eyes and glanced at some graphs and displays of information occupying the whole of his laptop's screen with obvious boredom.
"Jeez. It wasn't funny to have to expose a lady on her late 20s who works in the computing department as a cyber stalker because I got mails trying to incite me to do illegal stuff like going to a club and such. Then I got threats from the boyfriend who was processed too… Why don't they pick on someone of their size and stop being so bully?" He grumbled with obvious annoyance on his voice.
"Because Bully Man guides them in their nightmares?" Oda joked as he popped his head into the workspace.
"Superintendent Oda, sir. Uncle Moran has presented a complain of insults to his pride and wants to have a showdown with you on the High Court apart from giving explanations to the current Chief of the Net Police…" Obihiro improvised to shake him off.
"Is that so? Then I'm gonna storm his garage with my Harley – Davidson after sending a berserk subway to chase him!"
"Jeez. Lovely!"
"Attention everyone! Uncle Moran wants to bring us to court!"
"What?"
"Uncle Moran…?"
"Who's that?"
"Dunno…"
"Sounds so improbable…"
"I'd heard about that on Twitter by now!"
"Sure thing!"
"He's making it up again!"
"You never know, ladies and gentlemen!"
"Shoo, shoo!"
"Alright, alright. Take my Harley – Davidson and if you don't believe I have one then take the subway: you won't have to pay for the gasoline spent after all!" He laughed.
Obihiro's PET vibrated and he checked a small pop-up:
"Omenda – san meeting, 19:30 PM"
"Oh crap! Omenda – san! I was forgetting about our meeting to discuss the new hacking methods, as well as how to strengthen security… To topple that, he's on his villa 20km from here which doesn't have any real bus linking… Guess I'll have to ask of Hikari – hakase to give me a ride there. It may take as much as 30 minutes to get there depending on the traffic so I better get on the move now." He muttered aloud.
He dialed a number on the PET and Hikari Yuuichirou appeared on-screen.
"Oh! Obihiro – kun. It's been a while."
"Yes, sir. Could I ask a small favor out of you, sir?"
"Sure. What do you need?"
"If it's not much asking… I'd wish for you to give me a lift to a friend's house outside the metropolis… I've got a scheduled meeting with him at 19:30 and I want to be there on time so…" He blushed and scratched the back of his head.
"No problem. I'll come pick you in about 20 minutes."
"Thank you, sir."
"It's nothing, really."
Obihiro shut down his laptop to store it inside of his case; he picked his coat next and headed into the lobby where he found Meijin grumbling and mumbling while sipping some of his usual coffee.
"What happened, Meijin – san?"
"Superintendent Oda AGAIN! He told me his Uncle Merton would come and invite me to the Mines of Moria! I asked why and he pulled a pun on me because "Mellon" is the password to the doors! Mellon and Merton sound alike so…!" He grumbled.
"That was lame, sir."
"Totally! Grah! Punk! What should I do? Do I toss the coffee over his head or I do not?" He impatiently asked.
"I don't think that'd be a good idea, really."
"Grjtx! I need to calm down, really!" Meijin grumbled.
Obihiro rolled his eyes and stepped into the elevator to head down into the lobby; he waited near the doors and brought a tankobon out of his backpack to read; after a few minutes' time, a simplistic white Honda pulled up in front of the building; Obihiro rushed towards it and climbed onboard, where Yuuichirou greeted him; Obihiro plucked the seatbelt and looked up at him.
"Thank you very much, sir. I'm sorry to bother you, but I just remembered about this meeting a little while ago, sir…"
"Oh. Don't mind it. Can you give me instructions?"
"Roger, sir… The villa is named Omenda, after the owner."
"Omenda? Isn't he that computer security expert that sometimes shows up on magazines about computing?" Yuuichirou recalled.
"Correct. I met him last year in one conference and he'd heard of my skills so we had a nice chat and got along pretty well."
"Well then, I guess he won't mind if I consult him regarding a little something we're working on the Science Labs… He's also a freelance programmer, isn't he?"
"He is… Alright, please pick the E45 expressway and head in the direction of Gunma Prefecture and then pick exit 32. I'll give you further instructions to reach his villa, sir… By the way… How is he like? Ever since he announced his exit from the Net Police's Cyber CID last year when his license expired, I've barely seen anything of him… I heard about what happened in the ship cruise from Ijuuin – kunn but…"
"You mean Netto? He's immersed in the studies and his grade, like last year's, are excellent. He's told us that he and Rock Man agreed to quit playing around and get serious. He thinks there are strong people out there who can handle perfectly without being dependent on him or Rock Man… He recovered pretty well from the wound and such too; tonight they're going to have a party at Ayanokouji – san's place…"
"Oh… Ayanokouji – san's place… I went there once: it's HUGE!"
"As expected of the Gabcom Inc. president!"
"Really… Oh! This is the crossroad: please pick the right-hand road and then it's about three minutes of driving…"
The car soon pulled to a stop in front of a small wooden cottage, which looked uninhabited given the lack of lights; both climbed out and Obihiro climbed up the steps to reach the front door and ring the bell.
"It's just 7:03 PM so we're early." He muttered.
There was no response so Obihiro kept on pressing the bell; both looked at each other, puzzled.
"Maybe he's on the restroom?" Yuuichirou wondered.
"Could be, yeah… Hmmm?"
He spotted something sticking out from beneath the "WELCOME" carpet, and picked it to see that it was the cottage's key.
"Weird. He hasn't come yet? Now that you mention it… His car isn't here either… Maybe he's late. Let's get inside and warm the cottage up before he comes." Obihiro suggested.
"Why not…" Yuuichirou calmly shrugged his shoulders.
Both stepped inside and closed the door; Obihiro turned on a heater and the lights before spotting a desk with a computer's screen, keyboard and mouse set atop it along with a sealed envelope.
"Why. It's addressed to me. Let's see… Huh? WHA~T?"
"What's wrong?"
"Listen, sir! ... "Obihiro – kun. I've left this letter behind at the cottage because I didn't trust the phone or the mail. I did something stupid and now it's too late to pull out of it. I should've told you earlier but I thought that I'd be able to figure out who this "Wholy Jisep" man was using my skills but they were not enough. If it's you then maybe you can figure out who they are and why they wanted an energy conversion program which I have to hand over by tomorrow." …" Obihiro began reading.
"Wholy Jisep…! That name again…!"
"… "Thus I'm going to leave the completed program here and you can make a copy of it for analysis: maybe you can ask your Net Police Cyber CID colleagues to give you a hand in the matter too. A mail regarding the place of our meeting will come tonight at 7:30 PM. That's why I requested of you to come at this time. Regarding me, I've gone to Kyushu for a while until things cool down. Sorry for dragging you into this. I was stupid because I got tempted by the level of skill needed and the reward, half of which they forwarded to me via cash, which I couldn't trace. I'll contact you once this silly tale is over. Omenda." … Whoa."
"7:12 PM… We should turn on the computer and be on standby to see if the mail comes in." Yuuichirou muttered as he checked his wristwatch.
"Yeah. Guess so… Here are the account name and password… I'll turn on the computer…" Obihiro muttered.
"Put some background music too if you may… I feel nervous and I want to hear something else."
"Roger, sir. Maybe I can look for videos in YouTube to kill the time while keeping the mailbox open and ready…"
The wait continued without any conversation between both of them as they felt the tension rise; the wind began to howl and snow fell around the area as well while Obihiro played some YouTube videos with music to kill the time; he sighed and then glanced at the task-bar's clock.
"Hmmm… 7:28 PM… Let's go into the mailbox and refresh it."
"What could be the meeting place? A bar…? A park…? A road…? A plaza…? Or maybe a hotel…"
PING!
"Mail! From "wholyjisep NRAcom"! Subject is "meeting place for tomorrow"…!"
He double-clicked on the mail; a pop-up window with the phrase "Who is Moneda?" written atop it along with an answer box and the number 10 showed on-screen; the number began to quickly decrease.
"P-password locked…! Wait, is that number seconds…!?"
PING!
"No way~! The mail self-deleted!" Obihiro gasped.
"Why didn't he leave behind the password for that?"
"Maybe he didn't know it'd come with a password or maybe it's a personal question… Damn it! I'll have to study the address to try to find out where it'd come from and…!" Obihiro cursed.
RI~NG!
Both turned around to see the phone ring; they were too surprised to move towards it so it switched to the answering machine instead.
"I am not home at the moment. Please leave a message after the signal."
"Hey! Moneda! My fellow! What's up, man? Ya didn't pay the electrical bill or what?" A youthful voice asked with obvious amusement.
"… Fuck. Moneda is an anagram of Omenda if you write the name down in Alphabet letters…!" Obihiro growled.
"And I guess the answer was "me"…!" Yuuichirou grumbled.
"I know ya are in there, at the world's end, ya see…"
"What!"
"Heck. The mail had a tracer-bot?" Obihiro cursed.
"What's tonight's game? Play the mute? Come on! I'm surprised you didn't spot my joke. Just pick up, man, and let's settle on where we'll be meeting." The caller laughed.
Obihiro jumped down from the chair, walked over to the phone, and placed a handkerchief over the receiver.
"Wholy Jisep, I'm fed up with these silly acts. Get to the point or I'm going to talk about the deal to the Net Police's Cyber CID!"
"O~h… Scary, scary~… Net Police's Cyber CID… Good old Video Man proved that they're more rusted than a bell left to rust on the bottom of the ocean! So much for the mighty Ijuuin and Blues, indeed!"
"Enough! Just tell me the place and the time!"
"OK! Densan City's under-construction fifth district station, soon to be opened… The coin lockers… Meet ya there tomorrow at 8:30 PM… That fine for ya? Or ya prefer the Empire State's 70th floor?"
Omenda – san is leaving for Kyushu today and if we wait until tomorrow then they could realize he's left…
"Tomorrow isn't good…"
"Why? Your ex-wife's gonna bring ya to court to settle the divorce fees?"
"No, no. I've got to enter the hospital. I've got heart problems, you know, and I managed to get appointed with a famous surgeon and all. It'll be there for about five days."
That of the heart problems is true anyway…
"… My Boss won't accept THAT big of a delay, see…"
Boss? So he's not the mastermind? He doesn't sound that old either, maybe he's in middle school?
"My bad. It took me a lot of time and effort to get that famous heart surgeon to examine my case… The only time I can think to give it to you would be at the morning but then they wouldn't let us inside."
"Hmmm… Alright, then. Bring it tonight at 9:00 PM."
"T-tonight at 9:00 PM, you say?"
"Yeah. It can't take even 45 minutes to drive from there to here even though it's already 7:40 PM. You'd have ample time to wait in the car and get warm. I'll just hand you the money and one little piece of advice before I go off and you never see me again. Bring the completed program in a CD too." The teen instructed.
"Alright. But you better not try to…"
"No, no. Our rules forbid that very explicitly."
"But I'm going to tell the Net Police's Cyber CID once this thing is over! I'm pretty sure you've been invading my privacy."
"All's fair in war, Mr. Anderson. 9:00 PM… Don't be late!"
The line went dead and Obihiro replaced the phone; he rummaged inside of the desk's drawers and took out a DVDRW+ from inside of it, kept inside of a transparent case.
"Gotcha."
"So you really plan on meeting them?"
"Why not? He sounded honest when he said they don't allow for murders or killing. Besides, if they're the same guys that that Slur Navi commanded then… They've gotta be admirers of Serenade and don't do harm to people! Maybe that program is one step of something else." Obihiro suggested as he turned off the computer.
"You've got a point. Let's head back there and park nearby so that you can sneak into the station…"
"Just what I was aiming for, sir…"
They turned the lights and the heater off and Obihiro locked the house before placing the key under the mat again; both climbed into the car and speeded away from the cottage.
"Shouldn't we call for Ijuuin – kun?"
"No. He'd ruin it by trying to catch them. I'll simply leave the program in one of the lockers and then listen from close by… The guy might comment something to himself or to his Navi if he has any."
"That could work too…"
"But, really… That "Moneda" joke was very poor in taste. That guy mustn't have been educated in a properly manner about how to address adults or else he's being Occidental." Obihiro grumbled.
"Truly."
"In any case… I'll know once I get there."
"Wholy Jisep, Slur, three Net Navis, a "Boss", a waiter… Just who are they and where did they come from? How didn't the Net Police's Cyber CID detect anything?" Yuuichirou wondered aloud.
"Maybe they're good at setting up red herrings, even…"
"I've got a bad feeling about this whole business, I really do…"
"I do, too, sir… This doesn't feel right, sir…"
20:15 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Hello~?"
"… Whaddya want."
"What's with the dry tone, man?"
"I was about to get into the bed."
"At this hour on a Friday?"
"It's my business when I get to bed and I don't care if it's Friday or Tuesday or whatever. Whaddya want?"
"Just to tell ya, we're moving the meeting with Moneda to tonight's 9:00 PM 'cause the guy needs to enter the hospital for some tests or another and will take three to four days…"
"Did the President authorize that?"
"I didn't call him."
"What the hell are you waiting for?"
"Don't worry~! I've borrowed three of the guys to stand watch around the area and "Ice Queen" agreed to lend me a hand…"
The fake waiter teen was driving a Hyundai motorbike across the largely deserted city streets and speaking through his PET using the hands-free system.
"So you're admitting rebellion?"
"Of course not, man! You go to bed and I'll handle the rest! Don't be surprised if the President promotes me tomorrow and I get to rise in rank…"
"Jeez. There aren't ranks to begin with: the "Ice Queen" is the President's favorite and that's all. Don't get cocky!"
"Don't worry! I've got everything under check!"
"You better do! Else the President will be disappointed on you!"
20:58 PM (Japan Time)…
"…Here we are~! Moneda! I've got grant you your very corporeal essence~!"
"Zarashe – kun. Be serious."
"Beta X! Your dryness amuses me, you know. It reminds me of Wesker!"
"Wesker? Who's that?"
"Check it out!"
"Hmpf…Whatever!"
The teen, Zarashe, stepped into the underground station's coin lockers room and flashed his Link PET's flashlight around; his Navi grumbled and wasn't amused.
"Why don't ya look around for our casino manager friend? He happens to remind me of Bert Saxby~!" Zarashe grinned.
"By all the… Fine!"
The Navi projected himself out of the PET and his hologram expanded until assuming real-world size.
"Beta X came to punish them all!"
Beta X was a Net Navi who appealed as being closer to a meter and seventy tall.
His helmet was black although its edges were navy blue; the golden letters "BX" were set on the center of it, surrounded by a silver edge.
His eyes' irises were blood red.
Additional white armor protected the chest and his chest emblem contained a golden "X" surrounded by a red edge.
His main body was blue, and the edges were black.
His shoulder armor was white and had golden, silver and bronze bands spread horizontally across their surface.
White armor protected his forearms and elbows and had golden lines extending vertically across their surface.
His wrists were golden while the hands were covered in black "skin".
His boots were white with wing motifs drawn across them; the soils were white.
Two "wings" with a golden frame and white body emerged from his back and extended for some tens of centimeters.
"You could start by checking that out." He signaled a coin locker with his left finger.
Zarashe whipped around; there was a 10,000 Z note sticking out of the coin locker so he opened it and found the CD case sealed with cello-tape inside of it.
"This is the program that Moneda had to develop! The chicken… Thought we'd slaughter his hide so he left his here and fled! I guess they can't be that far yet… Let's check with the "Ice Queen"… Patch me to her in the first place, Beta."
"Sure. Opening channel…"
He snapped his left hand's middle and index finger and Zarashe picked the PET to listen as the call tune rang out; none of them saw Obihiro looking on, hiding behind the furthest row of lockers.
Zarashe and Beta X then! Wholy Jisep is most likely a fake name to hide their true colors… An "Ice Queen"? What kind of woman is that? Someone cold and distant?
"Hey! Queen. Trying to blow Snake up?"
"Oh my. You place in Fortune's hide again, Wan?" A girl's voice replied.
"You know how they are, Queen – sama." A Navi added.
"True, true, my friend. Regarding Omenda – dono…"
"Don Moneda!"
"…then he isn't around. I did see four or five drunkards passing by there about five minutes ago, and one boy who looked like he'd gotten lost… He must've come out from another exit…"
"OK! I'll pick the CD thing and come to meet ya! Then we leave together!"
"OK! Understood!"
I was seen but, luckily, that girl thinks I was just crossing through!
Zarashe placed the PET on the strap and spat the chewing gum he'd been chewing; he began to peel the tape set around the edges of the case, humming a tune, while Beta X looked at the entrance, his arms crossed, and he formed a smug grin.
KA-CLICK
"So?"
"Yikes! Who the…!?"
"So?"
"Oh man! You scared me!"
"So?"
"By all the… You sound like an automaton… Kage Miquel!"
A new character had come into the room and had pressed the silencer of a gun against the back of Zarashe's skull while starting to question him in a dry and dull tone of voice.
"Hmpf. I'm serious!"
Kage Miquel was about the same height if not slightly taller, than Zarashe and had neatly combed blonde hair.
He wore a brown overcoat, of jeans and black knee-tall boots.
He also had a black bandana with a five-pointed golden star set against a black background inside of a silver circle drawn on the center of it.
He also had sunglasses on.
His Link PET was golden and silver; it had the same drawing in the bandana set on it as emblem.
"Just because you're the Vice President's favorite you can't just show up from behind and threaten your pal with the gun! How did you get in without the "Ice Queen" seeing ya?"
"She did see me but wanted me to scold you."
"Sheesh! That gal! As sneaky as ever!"
"Andy. Come out and check how far this guy has screwed it up."
"Roger. Leave it to me."
The Navi's irises were a mix of blood red and golden, and displayed nothing but annoyance and bad mood; some silver-colored hair emerged from beneath his helmet as well.
His whole body with the exception of his forearms and boots was of a bright silver color.
The boots and forearms were of a slightly rusted bronze color; a bronze thin vertical stripe ran across his body from the neck to the end of the crotch, crossing over his silver-edged chest emblem.
"There. There too. And there."
He quickly signaled the chewing gum, the trails of cello-tape inside of the coin locker, and, lastly, the CD case itself with his right hand's index finger, and without bothering to take a step forward.
"So! Zarashe! Where's your imagination? In La-La-La Land?" Kage drily asked without bothering to conceal his annoyance.
"Look: if ya are still annoyed by that of an hour ago…"
"That's not it. Why do you think that the case was sealed with cello? Have you stopped to think of it?"
"Huh!? Why!? Huh… To make sure it wouldn't accidentally open!"
"To get your fingerprints. You moron."
"Wha!"
"See?" Beta X grumbled.
"The chewing gum. You spat it out of lack of manners but someone could pick it up and have your saliva analyzed, sequencing your DNA at the same time. They would also have an idea of your teeth shape."
He picked it up with a handkerchief, which he stuffed into Zarashe's right coat pocket.
"And that case too."
He yanked it off Zarashe's hand and removed the CD tray to reveal a small button-shaped battery attached with cello-tape inside of the casing's reverse side.
"T-tracking device…!" Zarashe's jaw hit the floor.
Kage picked it from the spot it was glued at, and dropped it into the ground to crush it with his right foot, which he rubbed across the floor as if to ensure it became unusable.
Damn it. My three traps were gonna work because that guy's cocky and over-confident but this cold as ice man suddenly comes in and ruins everything! That bandana... Hikari – kun wears one with his own emblem too… Maybe it's becoming fashionable or something.
"Alright, Zarashe. The President heard from me what was going on and he wasn't pleased at all. No wonder. You almost left a hundred trails behind and compromised the whole organization out of your caprices when we could've perfectly asked the programmer to come tomorrow morning at another station, deposit the program in a coin locker, leave the key in an indicated spot, we pick it, get the program, leave his money and give him the key. You seriously didn't even begin to think of that?"
"T-that's… I thought I'd wrap the business quickly and…"
"Are you sure that you spoke to him?"
"Of course! Who else would it be?"
"I ran some searches and found he's on a plane heading for Kyushu as we speak. He couldn't have been in the cottage because the plane took off 45 minutes ago and you don't make it to the airport and go through all procedures in only 45 minutes either." He told him.
"E~H? T-then who the hell was it and how did they know about the whole business? I did survey his mail and everything!"
"You moron. He could've left a letter behind and then someone came in, read it, and played the part. They came here and set everything up to gather this evidence once you'd left." Kage grumbled.
"H-how can you know all of that in so little time?"
"I do my research. I have contacts. There's no big mystery to it and now get your tranquilizer gun ready! The fox must be around here, cowering in fear ever since my entrance. "Ice Queen" can handle the outside."
He slammed the coin locker shut and cocked his gun, before both he and Andy's hologram started to move forward from the right side, while Zarashe nervously drew his weapon too and advanced from the left.
Shit! Both sides covered… No chance of slipping by and even less with those two Navis looking on… What should I do…?
"… No – one here so they gotta be deeper in… Moneda's Omen Fields are hitting this guy from every angle!"
"Stop acting like an idiot." Kage grumbled.
"Stop acting like you're Big Boss."
"I'd rather be Raiden." He drily replied.
"Sure, sure…"
Both converged on the last row, and found it empty; even Kage was surprised, since he lowered his head and was thinking about something.
"See!? There's no – one! They're gonna come back later. Wait for them all night long if ya want but I'm gonna head back to the HQ! I don't want to freeze!" Zarashe protested.
"Don't be so quick to call quits on it, Zarashe – kun. The heat imprints here are hot and recent. Someone was here very recently ago and part of the coin lockers has a heat imprint on them too." Beta X called out.
"What?"
CLAC!
"Whoa! Miquel!?"
CLAC! CLAC!
"Stop opening doors at random!"
CLAC! CLAC! CLAC! CLAC!
"Hey! Are you listening!?"
"Hmpf! I turned paranoid. There's no way an adult is going to hide here! The heat trails must've been planted to fool us! A red herring…"
Kage was opening the coin lockers' doors at random before stopping and shutting one half-open door shut.
That was CLOSE!
Obihiro was nervously hiding inside of one locker, and holding his breath.
"… "Ice Queen"… How's the status out there? Over."
"My, my. No trouble, Miquel. So what's yours?"
"I fell for a red herring but at least I've impeded greater damage. I'll get rid of the evidence. You two head to the HQ! I'll go home."
Kage opened the locker with the cello-tape remains, and used a scout knife to peel them off and store inside of a plastic bag, which he sealed.
"Off we go. You go with "Ice Queen" to the HQ and I'll present my report personally to the VP tomorrow morning. I'm pretty sure that good excellent hound Ijuuin will hear of us by tomorrow morning as well! This and the letter of the day will be more than enough to keep the man hooked into the business."
"You and that Ijuuin guy… Do you have a grudge or what? You're always talking about the guy."
"Someone talked highly about that guy. Someone I trusted. I want to see if their description was far-fetched or not. The man has to prove he has what it takes to wield the blade granted by the late Serenade. To remind them to not to believe themselves to be invincible!"
So this guy wants to brawl with Ijuuin – kun, huh?
"Huff! I know I'm gonna get scolded by Mr. President and Ms. Sniper will laugh at me with Mr. Sniper won't even bother…"
"Of course. That man is a pro. Has no time for idle gossips!"
"Indeed. His Navi partner is a pro, too. As expected!"
Snipers!? What in the…
"Sheesh. Why do I always feel like I'm to blame for all?"
"Maybe because you got cocky?"
"Sheesh. And you think you're Mr. Perfect!?"
"Of course not. Just more analytical." He shrugged.
"There's no point in arguing." Beta X grumbled.
"Indeed." Andy nodded in agreement.
"Let's scam already. Busy days ahead of us."
"Sheesh. A billion blistering barnacles! I won't forget this!"
Obihiro timidly pushed the coin locker's door open and silently ran off through one of the access corridors.
What ARE these guys? How many of them are there? What do they want, anyway? What kind of org is it, anyway!? I thought it was just a bunch of powerful Net Navis and Net Battlers, but this doesn't sound like it! Why did they want this program!? So many questions, so few answers! This is going to be a huge deal!