Chapter 28: Questions

21:05 PM (Japan Time), Monday May the 25th…

"… I'm home!"

"Tooru! Thank goodness! Are you hurt? What happened?"

"Can I take the shoes off first and then can we talk about it on the living room, dad?"

"There's a young man here who's been looking into your sudden disappearance… He'll ask you some questions so reply to them because he's come from the Net Police's Cyber CID…"

"Oh. It's gotta be Ijuuin – kun then."

"You know him?"

"He's a friend of Hikari – kun."

"Let's not make him wait. I want to know what's happened to you right away."

Hikawa entered his home; his father met him in the foyer as the son took off his shoes and put on the slippers; he followed his father into the living room where Enzan was sitting in a chair.

"So you're Hikawa Tooru. I know Hikari."

"He talked a lot about you, Ijuuin – kun. If you've got some questions to ask of me go on ahead."

"Alright. What exactly happened? I got involved because a bot we'd set up reacted to a name… "Wholy Jisep"… Ever heard of it?"

"Hikari – kun told me about it! A man by that name had invited you and him to that cruise ship. There he was shot in the arm because a bad guy missed trying to hit the passenger next to him."

"So the culprit of the bizarre accident is behind it!?"

"No, sir. It's someone else who's using that alias, sir."

"Things went like this… After classes, I firstly go to the swimming club and do a 35 – minute session. Then I head to the Waterworks! I always use the same bus and take about 15 minutes… I got here close to 7 PM… I went to look at the water filtering machines room as usual…"

"And there was that "Government inspector" who signed in with the name of "Wholy Jisep"… Can you describe them?"

"Easy. It was Kage – kun."

"Kage! Should've expected it." He uttered.

"Who's that?" Hikawa Sr. asked.

"A classmate of mine of last year… He'd left the school in the summer and he didn't return… Hikari – kun told me he'd been involved in some group or another but that he wasn't doing really dangerous stuff…"

"So Kage was there. What was he doing?"

"I firstly didn't see him because he was hiding behind a machine! I saw his toolbox, and then he came out while trying to hide his face with the cap, putting up a foreign accent. I thought I was on the way so I was about to leave. I stopped because I noticed his PET sticking out of his right pocket; the lower portion was sticking out."

"And you recognized the emblem. What happened next?"

"I tried to talk with him but he tried to play dumb; I didn't notice I was getting him nervous. I turned stubborn at all his "go home" orders and I grabbed his PET to force him to reveal himself. He began to say he wasn't Yakuza, and what he was doing there was for the benefit of the Waterworks…" He narrated.

"You got into a fight?"

"No. I spotted his gun in the tool-box."

"A gun! He was armed?" Hikawa Sr. gasped.

"Yeah. It was a special model that shot darts having a sleeping drug. He shot me on the right knee so I lost consciousness for a while."

"And that's why you vanished? Do you know what kind of car they used or anything?" Hikawa Sr. asked.

"It wasn't a car! It was some advanced machine, named "Dimensional Converter", capable of transporting persons between two spots! I woke up in a storage room of a building they named Purgatory…"

"The so-famous Purgatory… Kage and Andy were there?"

"There was another person named Noir and a Net Navi named Legato as well who were chatting in the corridor while I was just starting to wake up and get a hold of what was going on."

"Noir and Legato too… Did they mention anything important?"

"Not really. Kage – kun was apologizing to him because he'd seemingly screwed it up when it came to the point of his mission. His boss was trying to calm him down by telling him there had been no other way… I called out for them and they came in to negotiate…" He continued.

"What did they want in exchange for freeing you?"

"Nothing."

"NOTHING?" He uttered.

"Yeah, really. Nothing. Kage – kun is still my classmate, you know. He said that he'd installed a filtering system in the Cyber World of the Waterworks too to help defend it. You can look for it, and check it out yourselves to see that they're saying the truth."

"Which they surely are, anyway… Is there anything else?"

"Oh yeah. I asked Kage – kun about what had happened to him in Chicago and he told me how horrible things had been there and how his uncle was trying to turn him into a Bitter Party radical."

"It's true. We've gotten reports of similar incidents! Washington is starting to react now that there are protests all across the States but the damage has been done by now." Enzan confirmed.

"How frightful!" Hikawa Sr. gasped.

"He admitted he'd had to resort to steal info on his uncle's illegal activities and threatening for it to be leaked to the major media if any harm were to fall upon him! Given how the info is in the hands of those Golden Star people, they couldn't steal it. He was nerve-racking." He sighed.

"I see… Did he mention anything about Hikari?"

"He had a message for him…"

"Some kind of riddle?"

"Yeah... "The shield sphere is a good place to meet at"… I dunno what he means. I guess it's somewhere secret! He said he'd avoided any meeting with Hikari – kun over fear of him being associated with them, when he's always intended to keep him at the margin from this! He hinted at some paranoid people in the Net Police's Cyber CID trying to suspect him…"

"Should've imagined it… Guess Chief Sorodo will have to remind them to work on facts, and not speculate around…"

"But… Anyway, Tooru. You're alright? You're going to be alright?"

"Yeah. Dad. There's nothing to be worried about."

"How did you come back?"

"They warped to a spot one block away. I walked."

"OK. Thank you for your help. I've got no further questions. Work-time for me. Be careful, though, Hikawa. Try not to talk too much about it! You could get into trouble. There are hostile parties trying to find a weakness to strike at Golden Star, but by now it's useless."

"Why is that?"

"They can make Navis enter the real world. Of course, it's only meant to be a deterrent to stop anyone from physically attacking them."

"Impressive!"

"By the way. Did anyone in the facility notice the disappearance?"

"No. I didn't want to start a fuss so I reported it directly myself."

"Good move, sir. If you shall excuse me, I have intruded your privacy and time for far too long. Good evening, sir."

"Oh, no. Don't be concerned. It's your duty."

"Thank you, sir. Good-bye, Hikawa Jr."

"Be strong, Ijuuin – kun. Or you may collapse from overdoing it."

"True. Guess I should look after myself too. Bye."

Enzan walked out while Hikawa yawned and stretched; he rubbed his eyes and then stood up.

"I'm going to sleep. Busy days ahead, with exams and all!"

"Alright."

"I'm sorry for what happened, Dad, but it's not like I could foresee it."

"I know. There's no point in blaming you. What matters is that you're sound and safe. I should go sleep as well."

Hikawa nodded and walked over to his room; he sat on his chair and then placed the PET atop the desk; Ice Man projected from it.

"Wow. Strange things are going, desu." He commented.

"Strange indeed! At least I figured out what really happened to Kage – kun… I should write a message to Hikari – kun about it… Ice Man! Ready a new message draft, please."

Ice Man nodded and formed a new message draft; Hikawa wrote the message using the touch pen and then reviewed the text.

"OK. There's no major mistakes, and the Kanji are all correct. You can send it already, Ice Man. Send my greetings to Rock Man, too!"

"OK! Ice Man will go greet Rock Man, desu! Later!"

Ice Man exited the PET to deliver the message as Hikawa yawned again and stretched; he then scratched the back of his head.

"Let's get changed and sleep… Kage – kun… Please be safe!"

22:22 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Oh! Ijuuin – kun. Did you find Mr. Anderson?"

"No. There's serious talk to do regarding the staff."

"The staff…? Is there a problem?"

"Let's go to your office, sir."

Enzan returned to the Net Police HQ; Oda was standing in the hallway, finishing a bottle of orange juice, and tried to pull a joke; Enzan brought up the word "staff", and he turned worried.

"Alright. Follow me."

Enzan followed him into the office, filled with draft papers pending inputting into the computer, a MacBook; Oda made some space by piling some of the sheets and Enzan sat down in the visitors' chair.

"There are some who are trying to associate Hikari with conspiracies and Golden Star, when he's unrelated to all of that. You should keep an eye out because if this gets to him, it'll be bad for his morale…"

"Again… Damn it!"

SLAM!

"S-superintendent?"

"Damn it… It's happening again…!"

Oda formed a grimace and brought his fists down in the desk, startling Enzan; he sighed and tried to vent off his outburst.

"Ijuuin – kun. Is the door locked?" He asked.

"Huh!? Y-yes, sir. I did lock it when I came in, sir."

"This is between you guys and me. I've been trying to keep this sad truth away from you. However… It's about time I told you the real reason Hikari – kun quit the Cyber CID…"

"Excuse me, sir?" Blues asked, surprised.

"Huh? I thought he'd quit because he wanted to focus on his middle school start besides feeling he'd outlived his usefulness…"

"That was partly true. The truth is… He was being bullied."

"Bullied? By Cyber CID staff?" Enzan gasped.

"Do you remember? That day when Gospel made their debut, you'd challenged Hikari – kun to a duel on a warehouse… A Navi named Air Man got in the way… Hikari – kun and Rock Man triggered "Saito Style" mode, and Rock Man went berserk… It was hard enough to stop him, and that left some grudge aimed at him… I tried to cut it saying it'd been an accident and that the berserk was a side-effect. Rock Man's body wasn't ready for that power yet and such the "conscience" of the program took over him. I did heavily scold them and ordered a lockdown on their PET so they couldn't come into the Cyber World…"

"I remember. So some idiots resented him for that? Even though he'd had no intention to make harm, and it was an accident?"

"Yeah. I had to insist a lot! That seemed to cut it as we focused on tackling "Gospel" and Forte was defeated. When the "Dark Power" crisis knocked at our doors, and they saw that the "Saito Style" was no longer powerful enough they began to dismiss the tale. They didn't care about Blues' "Muramasa Blade", they said it was just a cool sword, and that was all. However… Rock Man gaining the "Soul Unison" ability led them to start saying crap again! Such as that it would turn Blues berserk! I had to make them shut up again! If Serenade had been the one to grant them that power, he did so knowing what would happen. The closing of that crisis and the tackling of the next one, that of the "Darkloids", kept us busy enough… The intrusion of Search Man formed some bad mood too! So I had to tell them he'd been fooled by a lookalike."

"By all the… So they tried to blame him for those incidents? Sir?"

"Correct. The Ameroupe Army trying to take Rock Man away by force was even backed up by some of those idiots! Thinking that they'd get rid of Rock Man like that! They fell into dismay once they saw the Cybeasts' power… Again, I had to insist to stick to their job."

"What a bunch of…!" Enzan grumbled.

"Even after Rock Man and Hikari – kun beat Greizer that remorse didn't fade… The out-of-bounds battle between you two in the Cyber World was also another source of fuel for those who argued Rock Man was dangerous… In the end, it happened. What I feared most of all… A physical attack on Hikari – kun."

"What?! When was that!?"

"The cowards!" Blues hissed.

"August, 2008… Hikari – kun had come to visit me because he'd already formed the idea of quitting and was going to formalize the procedure. It was on that day's noon… Five outsiders on their 20s, hired by about four morons inside of the force ambushed him on the corridor next to my office and began to beat him up, while insulting him! I ran out and shot my gun into the air to scare them! I told them I'd cripple their knees if they kept at it! I fired two more warning shots and they ran away! Security came in and reduced them while an ambulance had to take Hikari – kun to the hospital! I feared they could've caused internal bleeding too…"

"What a…! What scum!"

"Cowards! Dregs! Degenerates!" Blues cursed.

"It was the finishing straw. The whole gang was sentenced for "pre-meditated assault" and "attempted murder" to life sentence. The fools tried to blame each other, but none of us was fooled by such petty excuses, obviously! I assumed all responsibility and even wrote a resignation note. When I visited him during his hospitalization, he told me I was the best Superintendent the Cyber CID could have and it'd be a big loss for me to leave… He wanted me to remain… His father agreed with it, and so did the Chief, so I remained."

"Why did I never get to hear of any of that!?"

"It was a Sunday. You'd gone off to hunting. There were only four or five agents in duty while I was finishing paperwork… His parents also asked me to keep it quiet until things settled down…"

"I see… So his gradual return to his behavior before the WWW's debut and such are his attempts to totally distance himself from the Cyber CID and remain to how he was before?" Enzan guessed.

"Correct. In fact… The monthly meetings… Hikari – hakase and I speak with him after the meeting to follow on his evolution. Insofar, he seems to have locked the whole incident away and acts like nothing happened. However, sometimes… He becomes… strange."

"Strange? How?"

"He avoids eye contact and, although his face doesn't really change, I can notice that he has anger running inside of him… Almost like he was about to try to hunt those down and return the damage they did to him… I call out to him and he snaps out of it. However, but both I and Hikari – hakase are worried about it…" Oda sighed.

"And Rock Man? What does he say?"

"He more or less is going through the same… I accidentally saw something one day I went to the Science Labs to speak with Hikari – hakase regarding his analysis of the "Copy Roids" and the "Dimensional Converters"… Hikari – kun and Rock Man had been talking in a room. Rock Man began to kick everything around and act like he was fighting an invisible enemy before Hikari – kun calmed him down. They've been building up anger inside of them and they have to release it. I'm worried about them, really. I did tell Hikari – hakase and he said he'd talk with them yet… It's something sad. Truly sad."

"Yeah… So you're worried that he could try to attack those who insult him and label him as strange or dangerous if he knew there were whisperings about him again?"

"That's why I'll have to find those and have a talk with Chief Sorodo about the deal… We can't allow the whole incident to repeat. You mustn't mention anything either. This is a secret talk. It never happened."

"I know, sir… Thank you for trusting in me, sir."

"Thank you, sir. What damned dregs! How dare they…!"

"You had to know. Both of you worked together and made a good combination… I didn't want you to feed on a lie forever."

"I understand, sir."

"In fact… The ridiculous puns is my mechanism to keep my anger under check… I always have thought everything to be so unfair… Hikari – kun saved the day several times in a row… He asked for nothing in return! Just for everything to go back to normal, as any citizen would… He just wanted to continue with his life! He did it for the sake of his friends! He didn't want fame or money or rewards! He did it because he was one of the few who could do it!" Oda cursed aloud, opening up the floodgates.

"Understandable, sir. To think you had to bear with such pressure all this time, sir… I apologize for my rude remarks, sir!" Enzan bowed.

"Same over here, sir. Thank you for your trust, sir!"

"Don't worry about that. I'm not the nitpicking type! Sometimes, I feel like I need to open the floodgates and let it go down the stream to merge with the unending oceans… You can go back already, Ijuuin – kun. We need some rest! We need to worry about what's going on inside than outside…"

"Alright, sir… Good evening, sir…"

"Thank you, sir… Good evening, sir…"

Oda sat back after Enzan had left; his PC pinged and a "new email" notification appeared on the desktop; he accessed the email.

"… "You have told the harsh truth. A noble act. Here is the list of those who threaten you gentlemen. Farewell" … It couldn't be…? Isn't that writing style Slur's? Golden Star wanted me to tell them about it? That'd mean that… As I thought… Kage didn't over-imagine things when he attacked with the Ryuusei Program… He actually punished us in Hikari – kun's place…! For not getting rid of those morons, and not being able to defend him, either… No wonder…"

He sighed, closed his eyes, and leant his hands on the armrests.

Hikari – kun… Why him? Why did he have to suffer? Damn cowards!