Chapter 40: Confession

08:48 AM (Japan Time), Sunday August the 4th…

"… My, my, my… Where the hell is my life hiding at?"

Oda walked into the Net Police's Cyber CID offices only to meet Enzan's skeptical face.

"I mean… What's up?" He improvised.

"What's up, you ask, sir? We're fed up with your lame jokes, sir. With all due respect." Enzan replied.

"That's what's up." Obihiro added as he popped his head out through his cubicle's door.

"You can't be serious…" Oda laughed.

"We are." Blues dully added.

"Mr. Superintendent. You're not funny at all." Torolov added, looking up from some documents.

"What… They turned you into a bureaucrat, Torolov – kun?"

"Wrong. I'm trying to write a draft for my report about Golden Star's activities." He dully replied.

"I see! Then you can send it to Sharo along with a snowflake."

"You're – not – funny - sir." Enzan told him in a deliberately slow manner.

"Then I'll say just one thing… I've got this!"

He took out a Harley - Davidson miniature.

"So?" Enzan asked.

"It's my lucky charm! It means that the summer lottery will befall upon our Cyber CID! My Merton instinct tells me that!"

"What about Magnets? Is the questioning over?"

"Sure. She confessed it all! Uncle Merton's charisma, indeed!"

09:02 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Netto? Saito? Can I come in?"

"Sure, Dad."

"Come in!"

Yuuichirou stepped into Netto's bedroom; he was sitting on the chair next to the desk and working on the summer homework while Saito (using a "Copy Roid" and still having his Navi bodysuit on) was reading data over Netto's Link PET.

"So! How do you feel? We haven't had a proper talk yet. You've been meeting with Kage as of late, yet… I've got the feeling that you've been meeting all year long and not just this summer." Yuuichirou told them, sitting atop the bed.

Netto glanced at Saito, who nodded in approval; Netto stood up and closed the door before sitting on the chair, which he turned around to face Yuuichirou.

"Yeah. It's true that I've been meeting with Miquel a lot. But those meetings were just to reinforce the image."

"Reinforce the image…? You mean… To continue on leaving a said impression of something…?" Yuuichirou frowned.

"Maybe I shouldn't beat around the bush… I know everything he's done and thought over this year…"

"He even shared his thoughts with you?"

"Not exactly… Maybe this will make it clear."

Netto opened the closet and took out a sports bag; he opened it, rummaged inside, and took out a mask, which he handed over to Yuuichirou; he frowned and looked at it to realize that the mask was a reproduction of Kage's face.

"But… How's this possible? All proof showed that he was a separate person during 1st grade and… Noir! I get it..."

"Yeah. Noir AKA Kuroshiro Oriol… He approached me back then and we had meetings… He told me about them and what they intended to do and the idea of being able to help without being targeted again by those who feared me attracted me… In short: I could punish evil-doers and such and everyone would think it's a separate guy."

"So you saw an exit out of your depression into this… You must've begun to get involved in the summer… That tale about Chicago and all was a believable fabrication to justify why Kage, or, rather, Kuroshiro, had to disappear… When "Kage" reemerged, that would be you… No – one would tell you apart! Nor would they dare to remove the VP's hood and risk being expulsed." Yuuichirou calmly deduced.

"Correct. We're sorry to have lied and kept it secret, but it was necessary… We wanted to wait until everything was on the last stages… Zero's capacity clocking at 81%... It should be at 100% in another 19 days, more or less, and then we could begin the auctions…" Netto sighed.

"I understand. You needed a way out and a way to erase what you conceived as the sources of your depression… At the same time, you wanted to contribute to society without anyone complaining… I am to assume that the "Andy" back then was Legato?"

"Correct. He used a holographic disguise. That wouldn't work for me because I needed to look like a different Navi in case I was scanned by someone or something! They designed a program to alter my code while keeping a core fraction intact… You didn't pick it up because when I don't need to use it immediately I can split it off in portions which I store in different parts as backup data…" Saito admitted.

"I see… By the way, you two… I've been thinking about it but… I've always had the feeling that Slur had not just been the "secretary" all along but another person as well: Nazonazo Mary, a passenger in the ill-fated SS Scheherazade Symphony in which you got attacked in an accidental manner… I haven't told anyone because I thought it was silly. Ever since I heard the name "Hades", I began to wonder if it wasn't as simple as an anagram… Anagrams as aliases were popular in my youth! I did find one curious combination: Shade. Kanou Shade."

"Yeah. Nazonazo Mary was Slur and Kanou – san was President Hades… They were there to fill in for the necessary pool of witnesses and to ensure everything proceeded according to Kyundai's own script…"

"Kyundai's own script? He plotted everything? But he had unbreakable alibis in both times the other passengers, the former WWW members, were found dead…" Yuuichirou frowned.

As a response, Netto opened a drawer with a key and took out a report inside of a folder with Golden Star's logo on the cover with the words SS Scheherazade Symphony - For Your Eyes Only stamped on it; Yuuichirou made no comment as he read it; the more he read, the more surprised he became; when he finally ended he looked up at Netto with a serious look.

"You knew he was going to murder them and instead of stopping him you allowed him to continue?"

"I didn't make that decision. President Hades and Slur argued that, given how these men had a back-story of violent crimes, and even murder, any jury would've sentenced them to capital sentence to begin with. Kyundai was the most cool-headed and less dangerous of them, and so…"

"Yeah. Adults deal with adult stuff. That's nothing compared to what "Twilight" was intending for Oriol to do when he was in Nebula. That of the ship was just a show." Saito added.

"Twilight? Nebula? Kuroshiro was part of Nebula and you trusted him?"

"Of course. He'd been forcibly dragged into the picture and he managed to escape just in time before that man could turn him into a puppet with no emotions or memories. He still has nightmares from time to time from those forced VR sessions too. When compared to Regal, "Twilight" was a million times more dangerous. Forte did all of us a favor by blowing up the sub with both of them onboard it. Two birds killed off with one stone."

"There's something strange here. According to the plan, Kyundai should've been the one to shoot his own arm and then feign having been shot with the earlier setup! If Koyota was dead… Then how did you get hurt…? It couldn't be… Netto…"

"I did myself, yeah. It was my way of killing off that memory, and all those phantoms haunting me, as well as confirming to Slur that I wouldn't falter. I'd do what it had to be done without question. I passed the trial." Netto calmly replied.

"Oriol was against the idea but when Slur began to insist he withdrew; even though she will listen to any suggestiom from President Hades, she wanted to remember them that what held the group together was her presence and that she was the one who motivated them to start the business." Saito detailed.

"A trial, huh. A physical way of breaking away with your own disgraces, huh? If you were so decided to go along with the whole business and all… But have you thought of how you justify the whole fuss you set up just to rescue that agent from the hospital?"

"Obviously. It can be viewed as a large-scale drill in case there was a major tragedy and see how could hospitals react like… Besides, no – one got seriously hurt… Once again, I didn't decide any of that. I simply obeyed."

"Passable. What exactly are Purgatory and Paradise? How do they fit in the overall picture?"

"Purgatory is a mobile sea fortress, a mix of submarine and warship, designed to be camouflaged… It's parked at the harbor close to our HQ but no – one can see it… The whole thing is a shell to protect Zero, and it'll serve as our definitive HQ… We've had to deter several attempts by Yakuza gangs to attempt on our present HQ! We'll have moved there by September…" Netto described.

"Paradise is an unmanned space station in which rockets loaded with "DC" are stored and ready to launch! That's how we can deploy them… We warp them back there and the Navi crew is activated to refurbish them."

"If you will be in a safer place, then… Regarding Hikawa – kun… Did you tell him anything when you brought him to Purgatory as to negotiate?"

"No, I didn't tell him back then, but… I've already told him when I invited him aboard Purgatory… Obihiro knows too…"

"We've requested of them to keep it a secret… There's no way we'll tell Laika or Dingo, though. Enzan was the first to know, but we've suppressed his memories of that evening for now."

"So that's how it is. I agree that Ijuuin – kun should be kept ignorant for a while until you've reached the 100% mark…"

"Incidentally… Something curious happened with the super-computer a while ago… Part of its data split off and gathered in one spot… When Slur checked it out, it turned out that the data had become a Net Navi formed on its own… We named him Zero EXE."

"A Net Navi formed on its own!? Fascinating…!"

"We've got a picture of him too."

He used the PET and displayed a picture of Zero; Yuuichirou adjusted his glasses and looked at it with obvious interest.

"I see. What kind of behavior he has?"

"He's pretty calm. He takes care of the super-computer and such, but his existence is a highly kept secret… We want to have him as a surprise to any hacking attempts from hostile parties…"

"I see. His presence there would prove to them that it's impossible to catch you guys with the pants down…"

"Exactly."

"As long as you don't get involved in big danger, then I don't see a problem to the question of your double identity… Since you needed it to recover from that incident… You even managed to find the time for studies as well…"

"Yeah! My grades were excellent, weren't they?"

"Of course. Tell me more about Kuroshiro."

"About Oriol? His face is the one I assume when I get into the role of "Kage Miquel"… He was a normal guy who lost his parents in a car accident and had to be raised in an orphanage…"

"He was very intelligent and skilled at computers… Then that "Twilight" man abducted him and tried to use him as a child assassin…" Saito sighed.

"What! That's why you said that that man was so terrific!?"

"And I think you can guess who he was aiming for."

"You two…?"

"Yeah. We two. However, Oriol was horrified by the prospect. He had too strong of a will to be brainwashed just like that! He ended up stealing his projects and completing them… By "projects", we mean the trio of Video Man, Burner Man and Needle Man plus Legato… He prepared to flee at a moment's notice! When Regal unleashed "Nebula Grey" and escaped using his submarine, "Twilight" snuck there, intending to finish off Regal, and become the Boss of Nebula. Oriol ran away and stumbled upon Kanou – san, who'd been trying to unmask the man. He told us an uncle of his, a Republican Party member of the state of Arizona, had sent him as cannon fodder to see if "Twilight" would respect their deal regarding some access codes for a military base of the Marines somewhere! He barely escaped alive from that encounter and began his researches… In the midst of them, he was approached by Slur, who saw potential on him… They joined forces and began to discuss on how they would materialize their alliance, temporally titled "Serenade's Heirs"…"

"Serenade's Heirs… Can't say it isn't a bad name…"

"Yeah. They were going by that name until Oriol came up with that "Golden Star" design one day he was drawing things at random while trying to brainstorm. He thought that it sounded coo, so he suggested it to the other two, and they agreed."

"Legato quickly interested me because he was so unlike Blues. I mean, he's got a more "dynamic" personality because he's prone to joking, he can be kind with people and such." Saito admitted.

"I'd noticed that, yes. Is there something else you feel like telling me?"

"One piece of technology which is extremely secret: only two samples exist in the whole world…"

"That's quite a teaser."

"We name it the "cyborg body", and it was invented by "Twilight"… An early attempt to "humanize" Net Navis… Looking back… I haven't been truly truthful regarding Oriol, but that's how he firstly told me his tale…"

"So you mean that he's a Net Navi to begin with?"

"Correct. He's named Umbra. He's been installed in the "cyborg body" for so long that he's begun to think of himself as just a human. That's why he elaborated that back-story… It served as something passable for our first meeting almost two years ago… It wasn't until last June that he did tell me about this true nature…"

"What's this "cyborg body" about?"

"90% of it is just like a normal human's body. A cybernetic device, where the Navi can Plug-In and installed within the core section of it, has replaced the brain. His personality file is carefully executed upon the body's brain… Some implants in the CNS allow for the decoding of the brain's signals… A network of intravenous nanomachines to help monitor the life-signs… This network helps the body remain active and in a "sleep" status when the Navis leaves it. The body has to be genetically engineered."

"That's why you've kept it a tight secret, huh? There are many probable moral problems with it… So, Umbra or Kuroshiro uses one and the other one is used by Slur?"

"No. She uses a "Copy Roid", and a program to imitate clothing to play the role of the "secretary"… The other is a spare which is being stored in cold storage just in case…" Netto corrected.

"So you've really found three methods to bridge the gaps between both worlds… Will you give to the Science Labs the research data on the "Copy Roids" and the "Dimensional Areas" like Slur said?"

"We will. Expect it to be there around the end of the month! We want to make sure Zero doesn't pick any leak or something like that… Are you being careful with the second "Copy Roid" brought from Onibi Island?"

"We are. Less than 10 people know about it and they're all trustable persons… It's kept in an armored vault secured by a special coding system which is very hard to decode… We've rigged it with a self-destruct device was it to be used by a non-registered Navi… The core would implode ten seconds after Plug – In and there's no overriding system because that's set on the firmware."

"Excellent. That's just what we needed. Ours incorporate a biometric system synched with each member's nanomachines… If their heartbeats, EEG readouts and other variables don't fall within specified ranges then the "Copy Roid" will lock up and not start up."

"You seem to take every possible caution against your technology being used by others who would do harm with them… It's good to analyze all possibilities and not take anything for granted."

"That's our style, yeah."

"Incidentally… Why do Video Man and the others feel so motivated to do that comic book adaptation?"

"Dunno. Maybe because they feel more buddy-like between them given how they're veterans and they thought they could do something which would contribute to the overall morale."

"True. Could you tell me one joke?"

"Yeah! "What kind of desert jackal is trying to do me in?"…"

"Desert jackal…? My! I always thought you were a coastline jackal, Boss. Crap! What have I said? What have I said?"

"So it revealed that he thought his Boss was a jackal? That's some ungrateful employee!" Yuuichirou laughed.

"Yeah! The guy fled by disguising as a snail and riding a fireworks rocket while his Boss threw a razor at him. Truth is that Mortadelo tends to screw up with any intelligent systems Filemón comes up. For example, F installed a mobile cannon facing the office's door, and tying a string to link doorknob and the lever… If anyone came in, the cannon would fire!"

"However, the door opened inwards! M walked in, hit the cannon, turned it around and detonated it, blackening Mr. Super! He pursued F with a safe before driving him through it!"

"Really…" Yuuichirou laughed.

"So, Dad… You'll tolerate our activities?"

"Of course. Also… I won't tell Mom yet. We don't need to frighten her. Also… Guess it's stupid to say this at this point… I'm sorry for not thinking of a better way to help you after the incident…"

"Don't worry about that, Dad. Oriol and the others solved that already. We owe them our motivation in life, so that's why we take our roles very seriously." Netto reassured.

"A strong force was needed to deal with growing threats. While there are several strong Navis out there, their skills had rusted. They might not be up to the challenge if a powerful foe appears." Saito argued.

"I see. Golden Star plays the role of that "powerful foe" and forces them to train constantly and be aware of their limitations. They make it as real as possible to prove them that a real foe would be ruthless."

"Exactly. That's another thing that led me to wish to join them. It would not only benefit us, but the Net Police Cyber CID too."

"As for Search Man, Colonel and Tomahawk Man… A reminder not to think they are all powerful or invincible."

"True. Alright. We'll leave it at here for today. If something else pops up, then make sure to tell me."

"Roger that, Dad."

"Count on us."

Yuuichirou came out of the room and both sighed in relief; Netto grabbed a plastic water bottle and drank some water.

"OK, niisan… I'll resume working on the homework. Then we'll plan how we'll handle Enzan's "debriefing"… It's gonna be fun!"