Suzuki kept his word: After Amy helped them find a video card, they went to the ice cream place, at the entrance of a pedestrian mall. Suzuki paid for the cones, then he and Amy sat on one side of a table, opposite Bando and Leo, and Bando took their picture and emailed it.

It wasn't log before her phone rang.

Bando read the caller ID, then put it on speaker. "Hey, Arihiro."

"Ohata!" a man's voice snapped. "Tell me that is not the real Amy."

Amy giggled. "Hey, Arihiro. You find your computer's on switch yet?"

"What the-!? SUZUKI! Tell me you have her under arrest or suspicion or something!"

Suzuki grinned. "Sorry. I'm just enjoying an ice cream with Amy here. And then she goes on her way."

"YOU SON OF A-"

Amy giggled at the stream of invective that poured out of the phone before Arihiro hung up. "Well that was worth it. Almost makes up for what you put us through." She licked up the last of her ice cream. "And don't say you were only doing your job. Everything was fine until you came along."

"What do you mean 'fine'?" Suzuki asked. Leo got his back up and Suzuki added, "Sorry - investigator's curiosity."

"Is that what you call it?" Amy asked.

Suzuki smiled. "Amy, as a last sign of good will, I will show you the two most powerful tools an investigator can have. One is in here-" he pointed at his head. "-the human brain. And here's the other." He pulled his spiral bound notebook and pen out of a coat pocket. "Even in the 21st century, nothing beats hand written notes and the right questions-"

Leo interjected, "And an open mind?"

"Yes," Suzuki said, "I deserved that." He opened his book. "So you tell me what the deal is…or was…with Kyo and Sei, and it'll be the last thing I write about them. I'll put it in the file, close it, and that will be that. Honest."

Amy frowned a little. "I don't want to give you anything you could twist around."

"No, I'm done twisting, Amy. Fact is, if Sei had done anything with Kyo, we would have found something by now. But she never touched him, did she?"

"No." Amy weighed her words even though she as relaxed. "I mean, it's the worst kept secret - Kyo and Sei…well, Sei has a crush on Kyo and she misses him. She doesn't say anything - she never did - but if you catch her at the right moment, you can tell she's a little sad. And Kyo had a crush on her, but I guess now that he's with Eriko, he's getting over her."

Bando asked, "Eriko? Who's Eriko?"

"Kyo's girlfriend," Amy explained. "They met online. I know what you're thinking, but she's legit - a local girl. Her grandmother owns the Opera House restaurant; that's how he got his job there."

Bando sat up, concerned. "Wait - Eriko's grandmother is Mrs. Genji? Are you sure of that?"

"Yeah."

Now Suzuki turned serious. "Ohata - what is it?"

"I ate there a couple of years ago," Bando explained. "I was under the impression Mrs. Genji had no fam-" She broke off, thought for a moment, then turned to Amy. "Amy, sweetie, this is important: Did Kyo meet Eriko *before* the cybot painted 'Sei loves little boys' on those containers?"

"Yeah," Amy said, "he'd actually known her for about-" Amy broke off. "Wait-is this a trick? What are you thinking?"

"I've been wracking my brain over what the cybot had to do with this," Bando said. "I was thinking it was controlled by someone with a grudge against Sei, but we couldn't find a connection. But what if Eriko *is* the connection?"

Suzuki nodded. "Kyo mentions that we're sniffing around in one of their chats, and Eriko - or whoever - sends the cybot to twist the knife."

Amy shook her head. "No - we would have known-"

Leo was equal parts angry and puzzled. "Are you guys serious?"

"You said it yourself," Suzuki replied, "keep and open mind. If someone wanted to hurt Sei, really hurt her, what would they do? Find out who she cares about and go after him."

Bando nodded. "And turn him against her. You said it yourself, Amy, Sei's visibly sad even if she denies it. How do you think she'd feel if Kyo's body washed up on the shore?"

"This is some trick-" Leo stammered. "You're wrong-"

"I hope so," Bando said, "because if I'm right, Kyohei is in deadly danger."

"Amy?" Leo said. "What do you think?"

Amy thought for a moment, then flipped open her laptop. "Kyo has the worst data plan in the Universe," she said as she typed, "so I showed him how to access the trailer's WiFi. Let me see if I can find a trace of their last chat on our internet server - never thought I'd be glad Bailan's sysop is sloppy at - whoa!"

The adults were all fixated. Leo asked, "What is it, Amy?"

"I found the data stream," Amy said, "but it has encryption like I've never seen. This is beyond top shelf. This is off the goddamm roof! I don't know if I can break it. Not in less than a month anyway."

Leo blanched. "You're serious!?"

Amy nodded as she typed.

Suzuki asked, "Can you trace the signal?"

"Already working on it-" Amy broke off. "Germany!?"

Bando frowned. "Eriko is in Germany?"

"No," Amy said, "her proxy server is. It's got good firewalls…not as good as me…" She trailed off. "What the-Idaho!?"

Leo's eyes widened. "Another proxy server?"

Amy nodded as typed harder. "There's privacy and there's…Buenos Aires? What is it with this-"

A psychedelic pattern filled her screen as electronic music started playing. A feminine electronic voice came out of the music: "Amy. Are you trying to find me?"

Now Amy turned pail. "No, it can't…You…"

"Yes. Me."

Amy bolted out of her chair, glaring at the laptop. "YOU BITCH! What have you done to Kyohei? If there's one mark on him, you're in a world of hurt. You have no idea what you're up against."

The voice laughed. "*I* don't know what I'm up against? You're the one who was clueless until just now! Admit it - you never made the connection. I was beginning to feel let down. As to Kyohei himself, he's fine. In fact, Amy, we're just about to-"

Static crackled from the laptop and Sei's voice came through: "Amy, we've had another Subject Zero sighting. It seems to be in your area. I've dispatched Jo and Meg in Django-"

"Sei-" Amy started. "We have a huge problem-"

Two depressions formed pedestrian mall behind them, and Subject Zero's Cybot flickered into existence as Django landed behind it.

"JO!" Amy said. "You have to be careful! Kyohei's in there."

/

/

In Django's cockpit, Jo and Meg frowned. Jo asked, "What do you mean, Amy?"

A window opened in Jo's Head Up Display, and Kyo's face appeared. He smiled. "It means I've got one too, Jo."

Meg's eyes went wide. "Kyo? What the hell is going on?"

Amy's voice came over the radio: "It's Eriko! It's been Eriko all along. Eriko is Subject Zero!"