"No," Mary said as soon as she saw the look on her friend's face.
"But I have nuts!" Kaita said. "I'll trade you some! Just a bite?"
"Nope," Mary said cheerfully.
"Pleeeeease?" Kaita asked, watching with great sadness as Mary took a bite of her vanilla bean cake. "Just an itty, bitty, tiny little bite..."
This time, her resolve seemed to be weakening. "Well... if it's just a little..."
"Don't give in, Mary-chan!" barked Ring, shattering all of Kaita's hopes. "You know what his 'little bites' are like! One 'little bite' and half your cake is gone, boom!"
"You guys seem pretty relaxed today," Chisao said. "Not going to get a Netbattle in over lunch, eh?"
Kaita and Mary smiled at each other. "I think we can handle whatever's coming next," Mary said. "Don't you, Kaita-kun?"
"Yep! It's like someone told me recently... we don't need to be one step ahead, we can just do our best and not worry about it."
"I like that. It's been way too tense around here as it is, there's no need to throw in more... tenseness! Then everyone winds up stiff as a board, like this," Ring said, holding her limbs out stiffly.
"So we all turn into Frankenstein," Turboman said skeptically, crossing his arms.
"Besides, between us and the Net Saviors, I think Nova's got it coming to them no matter what!" Kaita added cheerfully.
"Yeah. Burnerman didn't even know what hit him!" Mary said, giggling a little at the memory.
"Saying not to worry seems like good advice, considering how things are right now," Chisao said. "Who told you that?"
Kaita looked down at the remains of his lunch. "Well..." He was saved by the bell. "Well, I'm really not looking forward to the math test!" he said. "How about you guys?"
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"Meijin," greeted Enzan, striding to the podium at the center of the Main Room.
Meijin looked up, slightly startled. "You're here early, Enzan-kun!"
"I'd like your opinion on something," Enzan told him. "Is there a more private room?" Despite the time that had passed, the non-event at Okuden was still fresh in his mind—he didn't know whether that had been an Operator-Navi pair or just a simple script, but he wanted as few people eavesdropping as possible.
"My office'll work," Meijin said. He could obviously tell that Enzan was after something specific; he didn't ask anything more until he'd led the way and they were both seated in swivel chairs. Enzan suspected that as a less important personage than Hikari-hakase or the Commissioner, Meijin didn't have a lot of paperwork; he'd never seen the office have anything more than some mood lighting to the sides, and he couldn't imagine reading hours' worth of fine print in it. "Is this about Nova?"
"Yes," Enzan said. "I want to do a more detailed investigation into their operations—specifically, to find the location of their base." He knew it would sound odd to Meijin at first; they'd never found it necessary to hunt for any other group when so few incidents of note had occurred. He explained, "I've seen Atsuki and Black—" the name always felt odd to Enzan when he said it aloud, but this wasn't the time to start telling Meijin why, "—in action, and I told you about the assistance I got when I found Sigma. They've got to be planning something big, and the sooner we get a finger on their pulse, the safer we're going to be."
"That does sound reasonable," Meijin said. "Does Meiru know about this?"
"I don't want to involve her just yet—if both of us are working on this, it'll be much more noticeable that we're after Nova. That's the last thing I want," Enzan explained. That wasn't the only reason why, of course. He preferred the idea of Meiru finding out exactly what about Nova was so worrying after things were under control. After all, it would be better for Black to explain himself than it would be for Enzan to throw conjectures at her. More importantly, he honestly wasn't sure what he'd tell her, with things the way they were.
"True," Meijin said. "Whenever you find a potential location for the base, be sure to let me know. I'll arrange with the police so that you won't be alone going in there."
"Thank you, Meijin," Enzan said.
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As usual, Meiru spent her lunch period doing something useful—in this case, studying for the upcoming history test. Even so, the alertness that being a Net Savior had taught her caused her to look up right away when someone sat at her table.
"Good afternoon, Yamada-san," she greeted politely. He was in her science class, though he sat on the opposite end of the room. More importantly, he was one of Roll's prom candidates. Meiru glanced down at her PET to see Roll practically skipping in her spot.
"Sorry to interrupt you," he said. Meiru had to admit that he had a fairly pleasant voice, and Roll's main argument for him had been that he was handsome. It just made her wonder why he was bothering with her. It wasn't that she didn't think herself fairly good-looking, just that he was pretty popular—he had most of the school to choose from. "Ah, you bring lunch from home! Good plan."
It was a bit of an awkward start, but anyone coming over was more than Meiru had expected. "Yeah, I took one look at the stuff from here and said, 'I can do better.'" Yamada laughed, and then it was back to awkward silence. Meiru broke it the only way she could think of. "Get any good Battlechips lately?"
"Huh? Uh, no. I... sheesh, I haven't Netbattled in ages. It started getting to where it was way more expensive than it was worth. And I wasn't that good, I guess..."
"Really? That's too bad." After a moment, she decided to go ahead with her next question—not one she'd like being asked by a near-total stranger, but he didn't seem like he'd be as protective of his Navi. "Can I—?"
"Sure," Yamada said, taking off his PET and handing it over. She tapped a few buttons on its underside to bring up the Navi's stat screen. "How'd you do that?"
"Manual control buttons are on the underside," she explained. "I don't blame you for not noticing—they're really just there for emergencies, since the Navi's supposed to handle everything. Enzan had to point them out to me when I first got this model. It sounds like the next release is going to have two models at the same time—a watch-type like this one and a larger one, both with touchscreens." She looked down at the chrome-plated Navi hovering on the screen. "Galaxyman, huh?"
"Greetings!" the Navi warbled, waving at her. Though his top half was a squat torso, his bottom half was a flying saucer; since he had no legs, he hovered rather than stood. His arms were just the right length for his elbows to rest on the saucer when he clasped his hands together.
"He's got some interesting stats," Meiru noticed. "Defense and speed is a rare combination."
"Really?" Yamada asked. "Like I said, I never really got that into it. I had no idea." Yamada thought back a little and asked, "So wait, did you mean the Enzan? Like, Ijuuin Enzan? The Netbattler from when we were kids? Really good, but seemed kind of stuck-up?"
"That's the one," Meiru confirmed. "Though he hasn't been a jerk for... five, six years now, I'd say?"
"And you know him," Yamada said, still impressed.
"Well, yes. We kind of work together," Meiru said a little sheepishly. "Where do you think all those limos that pick me up after school come from?"
"Oh!" realized Yamada. "People just... assume you're rich."
"And weird," Meiru added, almost to herself.
"Meiru-chan!" Roll exclaimed. "I told you, just forget about that! You're a perfectly wonderful person."
"So I've found," Yamada said. "Why don't you get your nose out of the books and Battlechips and come sit with us sometime? You're a pretty girl, and pretty nice, too—no need to hide out here all the time." He stood. As Meiru handed back his PET, he closed his hands over hers. "If nothing else, would you like to go to the prom with me?"
"Of course!" Roll said.
"Good!" Galaxyman said brightly. To Meiru, he said, "Junichi-kun should have a nice person like you to go out with! You're nothing like that creepy stalker girl."
"She's not a stalker, Galaxyman, she's just... never mind," Junichi said. "Besides, Sakurai-san hasn't even said whether she wants to go or not."
"It's just kind of sudden, that's all," Meiru said honestly.
"But you're just in it to socialize, right?" Junichi asked.
"More or less…"
"Same here. I can't stand half the girls who are after me. This'll be the perfect way to settle things—you'll have a date, and I'll be taken."
"And no stupid drama will come of it," added Galaxyman.
"You make it sound like a win-win situation," Meiru laughed.
"'Cause it is!" Junichi said, grinning. "I won't try anything weird, if that's what you're worried about - like you're saying, we barely know each other."
"Well, if you're so trustworthy—"
"Completely!"
"—then I guess I'll say yes."
"Awesome!" Junichi said, accompanied by the cheers of their Navis. The warning bell rang. "Man, looks like I have to get to class. See you around, Sakurai-san!"
Meiru's smile slipped once Junichi was out of sight. "I still don't know," she sighed.
"Meiru-chan, he actually came to you," Roll said. "It could've gone a lot worse."
"I know, but... I still don't feel like I have anything in common with him, or the people he usually hangs out with," Meiru said glumly.
"You've been saying that since... since Netto died," Roll said, hesitant to bring up the name at a time like this.
"It's okay," Meiru said. "But it's true! I mean, nobody Netbattles anymore. Everyone else has some kind of club or sport or something to do after school—I just disappear off to the Ministry. The biggest deal to them is whatever TV show, and I..."
"Maybe you just need to give them a chance," Roll said. "And give yourself a chance. You watch TV sometimes too, right?"
"Yeah..." Meiru flashed her Navi a nervous smile.
"Now, you'd better hurry and get to class!"
Meiru looked down to see what time it was. "Ack!"
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After school, Kaita and Mary decided to walk back in the direction of home together. "That's really harsh, Mary-chan," Kaita sighed. "I can take small bites..."
"He can't, Mary-chan," Ring said before Mary could start waffling on the subject. "He really can't."
"Well, maybe I could cut off a piece for you, instead of you grabbing your fork and kind of... snatching the whole thing away," Mary said. "Would that work?"
As they passed by the park, Kaita said, "All right..." In the middle of the park, a purple-haired person was setting up an expensive-looking camera. When he looked up, Kaita and Mary got a good look at their face: the jewelry thief from the museum, Narcy. "Hey!" yelled Kaita, running over to him.
"Is this what you've done with that stolen jewelry?" Mary asked indignantly as she caught up. "How terrible!"
"On the contrary, I think this is the best thing I could've done. Using art to finance more art!" Narcy proclaimed, "Today, I make my masterpiece!"
"Not if you're going to mess around with the park, you're not!" Kaita shot back.
"You should ask permission first," Mary lectured. "All you need to do is write a letter to the proper people."
From the miffed look on their face, it was clear Narcy hadn't wanted to involve any city officials. "Oh, you'll ruin everything!" Narcy scooped up their equipment and jogged away. Kaita and Mary gave chase. Narcy turned a corner, looked back to see Kaita catching up and Mary a little ways behind him, and kept going until they reached a strange, purple-painted building. For a change, Narcy hardly stood out in its courtyard; the other patrons were just as unusual. Paying them no heed, the two children followed the dastardly director to the door.
"Narcy!" exclaimed Mary. "What are you up to this time?"
Narcy squeaked in surprise. "Why won't you just quit?!"
"Because whatever you're planning, we won't..." Kaita's sentence died in his throat as he realized that everyone else around the building was staring at him and Mary. "Um... hi?"
"Ugh," grumbled a woman in a fish-themed costume, "look at that outfit! It's so..." She strutted over to Kaita, bending over to inspect his jumpsuit and bandanna, before rendering her judgment. "...practical," she said, disgusted. "And whatever this is supposed to be is far too subdued," she continued, poking at the lock of hair that stood up on Kaita's head. "If it had more of a wave to it, or at least changed direction once, it might be okay."
"And this!" said the fish woman's friend, whose hat resembled a buoy. "It's cute... and it all goes well together... but what's the point?" she asked, examining Mary from different angles. "What's the message here? I'm not getting any message." Other people were nodding in agreement.
"Look, I'm sorry, but you just aren't deep enough for our happenings," a man wearing an erupting volcano on his head said. "Party crashers are fine, but tasteless party crashers? No." And with that, the crowd pushed Kaita and Mary to the edge of the street, separating them from a very smug-looking Narcy.
The two looked back at the building, with its outrageous patrons coming and going. "There's only one thing we can do, Kaita-kun," Mary said gravely, turning to him.
"Yeah," Kaita said, just as determined.
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One visit with Angeline later, Kaita and Mary were walking confidently back toward the odd building. "Oh, you two look so adorable!" squealed Ring from her PET. "They can't fail to let you in now!" She beamed at Turboman. "Don't you agree, Turboman?"
Turboman forced himself to look at the getups Mary's mother had produced for the Operators. Mary at least looked passably normal, if having a hat that looked like whipped cream with a cherry on top was normal. Between the spoon-shaped sunglasses and the Neapolitan colors of her boots, tights, and dress - the hem of which looked like a ring of whipped cream with sprinkles - Turboman had to concede that there was nothing normal about it. But if anything, Kaita's was worse. His hat looked like a computer had exploded on his head and two miniature laptops had gotten stuck to either side, while his suit had keyboard keys for buttons and tablets in place of pockets. What really did it in for Turboman was the boots; he firmly believed that platform heels were girly, even relatively small ones like Kaita's. "Well?" Ring asked. "Don't you think they'll blend right in?"
"Yep," Turboman said without much enthusiasm. "They'll blend in, all right."
Kaita and Mary walked up to the door, still surrounded by fashionistas, and breezed right on by. "That's right. Just walk in like you own the place!" Ring said. The inside was a veritable pink explosion, with some diamonds and blinking orange lights thrown in. Turboman felt fortunate he was separated from it all by his visor and his PET screen. True to Ring's word and Angeline's judgment, everyone inside was dressed just as ridiculously as Kaita and Mary.
"Where's Narcy?" Kaita wondered, looking around the room.
"Perhaps he's gone into a back room," Mary said, walking toward the back of the party area. Kaita looked around at all the appetizers and drinks that people in swimsuits were whisking around the room. Turboman was proud to see him wrinkle his nose at the sight of snails. "Here's a hallway back..." Once he'd caught up to Mary, Kaita snuck back behind the party alongside her. Sure enough, at the end of the hallway was a smaller room, and sitting in it was Narcy. Sitting on the table was what looked like a giant blob of pink.
"This'll bring the Net Saviors out for sure!" Narcy schemed, "All I have to do is set this off in a high-traffic spot, and it'll all be deliciously pink!"
"They'll have to notice!" came Jewelman's voice from inside the pink paintbomb. "And when they come, you'll take your revenge, Narcy-sama!"
"And if that doesn't work, I'll turn Net Police Tower pink! And the Ministry of Science, and, and—!"
"That doesn't sound so bad," Mary said skeptically.
"I know," Kaita said. "It wouldn't stop people from using the buildings or anything."
"Where's your sense of decency?" muttered Turboman.
Ring conceded, "Well, people like Turboman might want to scrape all the paint off, and that would cost them a lot of time and money!"
"Good point," Mary said. Both Operators pointed their PETs at the massive paintbomb, beaming their Navis in to meet Jewelman. Then, they retreated back into the party area so Narcy wouldn't catch them, sitting at a table to watch the match play out.
"This floor's sticky!" exclaimed Ring once she'd landed inside. Splotches of pink dotted the ground, all the way to the far end where a pink-and-white Navi was waiting.
"Narcy-sama!" gasped Jewelman.
"How'd you get in here?!" Narcy exclaimed furiously.
"With fashion, love, and justice!" Ring proclaimed.
"That isn't fashion," Turboman said sourly.
"What do you know about fashion?" Ring asked. "Just look at you!"
"I know what looks stupid and what doesn't!"
Narcy interrupted before they could get into a full-out fight. "Get them, Jewelman!"
"With pleasure, Narcy-sama!" Jewelman's gleaming, pink swords dropped into his hands. "Jewel Sabres!" He charged toward the two opposing Navis, swords crossed.
"Silly Jewelman, you don't bring a sword to a boomerang fight!" taunted Ring, sending her green rings out after him.
"Or a tire fight!" added Turboman, zipping to the side to send his Turbo Wheel at an angle. Jewelman shrieked in fright as the projectiles all came barreling into him.
"Why, you... Gold Rush!" Now, it was Ring and Turboman's turn to dodge. "One more time!" While Turboman was busy dodging, Jewelman had regained his swords and was waiting to pounce.
"Better yet! Count Bomb, slot-in!" called Narcy.
"Yikes! Energy Bomb, slot-in!" countered Kaita.
"Bug Bomb, slot-in!" Mary said. The three Navis threw their bombs milliseconds away from each other. The result was chaos. While Ring's Bug Bomb had been meant for Jewelman, it got caught in the explosion caused by the Count Bomb and Energy Bomb, shooting black sparks all over the area. Jewelman screamed in horror and covered the sides of his helmet.
In the real world, Kaita and Mary heard what sounded like a cross between a squelch and an explosion. "What was that?" Kaita wondered.
"Oh, nothing," said Ring with a grin. "Just a little plan going splat!"
Narcy, now much pinker along with the rest of the room they were in, squealed with rage. "Plug out, Jewelman!" As Jewelman was removed from the battlefield, Narcy seethed, "I will get those little brats if it's the last thing I do!"
"We did it!" cheered Kaita. He and Mary both got up to go retrieve their Navis after watching Narcy storm out.
"Now we can go home and change out of these clothes," Mary said. "Though it's going to be an interesting subway ride back..."
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That day wasn't a limo-after-school day for Meiru. There hadn't been any major emergencies that entailed being at the Ministry in the morning and returning there in the afternoon, so she walked home, preferring the slower mode of travel over driving to clear her thoughts. No major emergencies was one thing, but no emergencies was another. There had certainly been those over the past couple of weeks, and few of them had wound up being dealt with by the Net Saviors. On the one hand, taking care of things when it was her and Enzan alone hadn't been easy; she doubted this prom idea would have gotten far without another pair of heroes to cut her some slack. On the other hand, Meiru could only hope Kaita had improved to the point where she wouldn't have to worry if anyone major decided to tangle with him...
Such as the man eating in the outdoor section of a restaurant, attention half on his meal and half on the laptop in front of him. His eye darted over to her. Once he knew his audience was watching, he speared a few pieces of pasta with his fork and lifted it skywards with a flourish. He put the bite in his mouth, letting the fork rest there for a second. Then, he drew it out and held it up before setting it back down. He looked over at her, chewing slowly and purposefully (at least his mouth was closed) as he quirked his only eyebrow.
"You!" Meiru stormed over to him, dodging a few fellow pedestrians and hopping the fence around the restaurant's patio. She plunked herself down in the seat across from his, crossing her arms and glaring daggers once she was settled. "That was you, wasn't it?"
"Mm?" asked Black, putting a hand on his chest.
"Yes. You."
He swallowed. "What have I done now?" he wondered.
"We were out searching Okuden for twelve hours because we thought someone had actually lost a PET full of sensitive documents! Don't joke around about that stuff!"
"How did I do that?" Black asked. "Wouldn't I have had to plant it from the inside? Even I couldn't pull something like that off unnoticed."
"I don't know how you did it, I just know you did it!" Black just raised his eyebrow and began threading one piece of penne onto each tine of his fork. "And why are you being so weird!"
He shrugged and stuck the fork in his mouth. "Mm mmm."
She grabbed one of the breadsticks he'd left and took a bite. "Did you even eat any of these?" she asked. "There's three in here..."
"Of course I did," he said as she took another bite.
She smiled, unable to fight the superior feeling that came with an impending victory. "I'm sorry. I just can't believe it."
Black's eye narrowed. "Can't believe what?"
She polished off her first breadstick and grabbed another one, leveling it at his nose. "Look at yourself in a mirror. It's so obvious. What's the new one everyone's going on about? Avocado smoothies, or something? Your teeth don't look too bad, so it can't be anything that stains 'em." She flipped the breadstick back around to bite off its end.
Meiru grinned triumphantly in mid-chew as indignation came over Black's face. "What?"
"No wonder you always try to upset me," she said around her bite of breadstick. "It's so satisfying."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Black huffed.
Meiru swallowed. "Men can get caught up in fad diets, too," she said, trying not to ruin it by laughing.
"You—I'm—you think I'm—" Meiru just beamed at him as he spluttered. "I'm compact, okay?! Com! Pact!"
"Eat your food before you change your mind," she said, sing-song. She leaned back in her seat, taking another bite of breadstick. "Sakurai: one."
"Black, twenty million," he said sourly. "Stop bothering me."
"Maybe I'll try telling you that next time you've shown up to cause trouble," Meiru said. "I mean, if you expect it to work on me, then surely it'll work on you..." As Black took another bite of pasta and glared at her, she took more notice of the laptop. "What'cha workin' on?" she asked lightly, leaning forward.
Black pulled it shut with a clap. "None of your business," he said gruffly as he put it in the backpack sitting at his feet. "What are you doing here?"
"Nothing, really," she said.
"You really have nothing better to do?" Black asked. "No friends to hang out with, no... whatever you school people do..."
"No," Meiru said, uncomfortably reminded of lunch. "Not today."
Black's eyebrow lifted a tiny bit. "Oh, I recognize that look," he said as it dropped downward with the rest of his face into a cruel smirk. "You're all alone at school, aren't you? You, of all people. You must be miserable."
"That's not true," Meiru snapped, even though she knew it mostly was. "For your information, I have a date for my junior prom!"
Hearing that gave Black a shocked, pained look, like she'd just punched him. "A date."
Meiru was all too happy to press her advantage. "Yeah. A date. I know it's just too horrible for you to imagine me in a dress or whatever, but guess what? He thinks I'm pretty, so you can just-"
"Congratulations."
Black actually sounded sincere. Puzzled, Meiru said, "Thanks?"
"For finding someone who'll tell you you're pretty."
Meiru crossed her arms. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Whatever you want it to mean!" Black held his PET to the side of the table, causing the bill to appear. He typed out the amount he wanted to leave and said, "Enjoy your date, Meiru-chan."
"I will," Meiru said. Without another word, Black headed toward the inside of the restaurant. "Hey, you didn't finish this!"
Black turned back to tell her, "That's because I'm full!"
"Suuure." Looking at how much was left, Meiru thought that was pretty hard to believe, whether she was looking for things to needle Black over or not. "Enjoy your carrot smoothie!"
Exasperated, Black wrenched the door open and retreated inside.
Meiru left the way she'd come. "That was weird," she told Roll once she was back on the sidewalk.
"But you finally got him!" Roll cheered.
"Hey, you're right!" Meiru smiled at her Navi. "And you know, I think this whole prom thing is going to work out just fine." The fact that her successfully going to the prom would be a huge blow to Black's entire worldview only cemented her resolve to go through with it.
"I knew it would!" To her Operator's surprise, Roll brought up tons of windows—all dresses and accessories. "Now, we just need to do the fun part!"