IV

Chapter 21: What Changes When Seen From Another Angle

Misleading_Path

Part 1

August 8, 09:45 AM

"Take a sit." Said Kumokawa Seria once Hishiro entered the room, who was unusually wearing an long sleeved red shirt and black sweatpants, since he had yet to do something to clean his regular outfit.

She had called him today for an emergency meeting in a spacious office in District 3 (though only the two of them were there, unless you count Asuka that was hearing everything through the boy's communication device). None of the two members of New Pointer had any idea of what had made her want to meet them in person, but just by looking at her face, Hishiro knew that this wasn't going to be a pleasant chat. He quickly sat on the chair opposite to hers and waited for her to start while ignoring the cup of coffee that was already on the table.

"Do you remember what was the goal of your last mission and what you reported afterwards?" The girl asked him with a stern look. She was obviously angry about something.

"Destroy the contents of the stolen cargo. Even though there was a confront with another unofficial group, the mission was completed with the collapse of the facility where the cargo was stored. Is that enough?"

Seria nodded quietly and handled a tablet like device, making a large screen drop down on the left edge of the room. "Now, can you explain the meaning of this?"

After touching the tablet one more time, the monitor lit up and displayed a recording from the surveillance cameras. Hishiro narrowed his eyes in disbelief when he saw it. "That's… weird, to say the least..."

Indeed. The scene in question was no other than Naru from the Scavengers in her bunny armor, carrying a massive container from the debris of the laboratory from that night. Was that the one he was supposed to destroy? "No, something's wrong… It's already and oddity that they survived that, but the size and color of the container doesn't match the one they were after in the lab. This gotta be-"

"It IS the right one." Interrupted Seria, zooming in the image to the serial code marked at the corner of the steel box. "5o#3-McR(P001)... that's the one that was stolen. What do you have to say about that, Yamazaki-san?"

This time, his eyes went wide. It can't be… That thing wasn't so large, and was right besides me when the building went down, so it had to be destroyed… unless…

"Tsk!" Clicking his tongue was all his pride allowed him to do. He was fooled by those girls from the moment he stepped into the basement. They had pointed him the wrong container and he fell for it like an idiot without checking.

Seria could tell what he was thinking just by looking at his face and sighed. "Do you have any idea of the trouble your failure is causing right now? All because you weren't paying enough attention at the most important part of the mission!"

"Kinda difficult to do that when you're up against two enemy espers."

The girl paused for a moment and frowned. "And this is your excuse? You were up against stronger and more numerous foes before..."

Hishiro rolled his eyes and sighed. This is going to take forever... he thought. Usually, he would just ignore everything and nod blankly when he felt it was necessary, but right now, he was really pissed by the fact he was tricked. "Oh, and that's your response? Let me remind you that I DID fight dozens of people using a strange equipment that I had never seen in my life AND a full armored powered suit in the same day! Not to mention the earthquake! I failed, sorry, but what the heck do you expect me to do?! I'm getting myself nearly killed every time, and almost always I succeed!"

"This time it was different! That thing is putting several lives in danger-"

"And how was I supposed to know that?! Because you did a great job on not telling me the important details yet again! I don't even know what is inside that damn thing!" Seria looked like she wanted to talk back, but for some reason, she hesitated. Hishiro noticed it and pressured her on even further with a smug smirk. "Besides, if I remember correctly, they were going to take that container back to the original owner, so how that put people lives in danger? Didn't you told Asuka that the issue lied in it falling into the wrong hands? What do YOU have to say about that, huh?!"

"I-I..."

"That's enough, Shiro. Calm down. You're going overboard." Asuka finally spoke, keeping a firm tone. The boy noticed he had even stood up and leaned on the table towards Seria unknowingly. Taking a deep breath, he sat down again and decided to leave it to Asuka for now, who seems to have got into her serious mode. "Seria-chan, you shouldn't be harsh on him either. Shiro has been doing the impossible to fulfill his role, even though he is alone now. But even he has limits, and without enough information, this is just as far as he can go. Putting more pressure on him is not a good idea."

After being told of by both of them, there was no way she could continue reprimand him. Also, even though she felt Asuka's favoritism towards the boy, she did have a point. He was the sole remaining member and he was working with the minimal intel possible, and all of that was her own fault to some point. Sighing one more time, she changed her approach. "Okay, I guess I do need to apologize. It is true that I have been selective about what I pass to the booth of you regarding the recent operations."

That line made Hisiro rise a brow. He wasn't expecting her to outright admit it, even less apologize for it. "But why? There is no need to hide anything from New Pointer. Turning a blind eye to some shady stuff is part of our job after all."

"That's not the problem. Before I can say anything else… Mayu-san, can guarantee that your line is 100% safe?"

"Yup, yup, it uses an oscillatory medium range frequency, so it can't be tracked or eavesdropped unless they know the pattern that is changed randomly at random intervals." She answered pridefully. "It's a technology I developed myself for my personal use, so no one else should know enough about how it works to hack into it."

Seria nodded satisfied. If there was one thing she knew about Asuka was that her ability to stay unreachable was second to none. "Then I guess it should be fine to tell you this. Do you remember the operation executed on the night of July 19?"

There's no way they wouldn't remember. That was the night Hishiro teamed up with ITEM to track down the intruders, namely Index, the sword woman and another person they still didn't know. "What about it?" Asked Hishiro, having a bad feeling about it. By now he knew that anything related to that incident crossed the line of common sense.

"Who sent out the order that day?"

"Hmmm... It was Kaizumi-san, if I remember correctly." Asuka answered it this time.

But Seria simply waved her head in response. "It wasn't him. He had his hands full with other things back then. And it wasn't Oyafune either."

Huh?

The boy started realizing something was off. "Wait a moment… there was a clear order for us to cooperate with ITEM to capture the intruders. There's no mistake about that. They'll say the same if you question them about it."

"I know, and that's the issue. Someone else sent the command trough our lines. We had cases in the past of other parties monitoring our actions, but those weren't a problem because people from the darkness can't understand the workings of New Pointer from just that. They end up thinking we are just another group like any other that can be a menace to them. But this time… whoever was behind this not only knew our purpose, but also knew how to make use of it for their own goals, whichever those are."

Now it all fell into place. Asuka had suspected a struggle was happening among the directors, but that wasn't the case. This was a direct attack towards New Pointer, and perhaps to Kaizumi and Oyafune as well. Hishiro couldn't tell if the situation was better or worse than they suspected. "Dammit… I could have died on the hands of the Grim Reaper that night, and all because we were being played?"

"But the worst of all..." Seria continued, paying no heed to the male's complaints. "Is that they have means to access and use our communication systems. Meaning that each and any information we share may be used as a weapon against us at any time."

"Ah, I see now… so that's why you were holding back on giving us the details." Said Asuka with a tone that didn't match at all the urgency of the situation.

"Indeed. And I'm afraid things will have to continue like this unless you disclose the technology for these to us all, Mayu-san."

"Oh well, it can't be helped then. Hang in there, Shiro! You managed it so far, so I know you can keep it up."

"W-what the hell, Asuka?! Weren't you on my side just a moment ago?! All you have to do is let us all use this thing!"

"But if I did that, I would be the one in danger. After all, if whoever is behind it hijacked the system from Seria-san's hands, what will stop them from doing the same with my cute precious thing?"

Both Hishiro and Seria had several problems with how she worded it, but she had a point. Asuka's com was right now their last safeguard, and misusing that card could be fatal for all of them. All he could do was sigh in defeat. Things would be tough from now on.

"You don't need to despair just yet." Assured Seria. "It's not like we can keep going like this forever. This is just a temporary solution, because the moment they notice we figured them out, they might use a bolder method, and we can't afford to let that happen. We need to know who we're fighting against as soon as possible."

"And how do we do that?"

"You can leave this to us." The girl said, pointing at herself with an elegant smile. "I'm also making arrangements to hire a new member, so the team's manpower will be increased by the beginning of the next month."

"What!?"

"Whoa, really?!"

Both Hishiro and Asuka screamed in unison, for different reasons. She sounded excited, meanwhile he wanted to protest. However, Asuka did use the fact that there was just so much he could do alone as an argument to back him up a while ago, so he couldn't do so directly. "T-that's surprising. I never thought you cared at all about having a single agent on the field." He said with a wry smile, trying to hide his dissatisfaction.

Upon hearing that, Seria placed her hands on her hips and asked annoyed. "Just what kind of monster you think I am?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that before hiring a lawyer first."

"Just so you know, having you alone in the team was never part of the plan. It's not my fault that everyone dropped out one after the other after that incident. And we've been too busy since then to actually do anything about it, so sorry."

For some reason, it seemed she felt somewhat guilty about the situation. Hishiro had never seen her troubled like this before, and had to make an effort to not to laugh, washing away his anger to some point. "Well, just make sure it's someone competent. All I don't need right now is a weakling holding me back."

"No need to worry about that." She said, finishing the topic. "Anyway, leaving all of that aside for now, we do need to do something about the container."

"Oh, right. I had almost forgotten about it." Admitted the boy, earning him a sharp glance from the other party. "Since we are in talking face to face, can you tell us more about it?"

Instead of answering, Seria simply touched her tablet a couple of times, changing the contents of the large screen. "Did you ever heard about the Radio Noise project?"

"I did."

"Tell me something you never heard about in this city Asuka, and then I'll be impressed." He retorted while she simply giggled. "Fill me in."

And then, an image that would burn into Hishiro's brain and shake his fate for months appeared on the screen. "Isn't that… the Railgun?"

"Yes and no. This is a Sister, a clone of Misaka Mikoto, originally created for military purposes. However, even though they were exact copies of the original, none of them reached level 5, so the project was discontinued."

"And recently, they are being used for the Level 6 Shift project, right?" Asuka continued nonchalantly, but these words made the boy narrow his eyes.

"Level 6?"

"Yup! Before being shot down, some crazy geezers used the Tree Diagram to calculate what would be necessary to turn a level 5 into a level 6. Turns out that if the #1 kill the #3 about 128 times, or these weaker clones 20,000 times, he will become a level 6. So they went ahead and actually created 20,000 of these clones! Can you believe these people?"

Insane. That's utterly insane. To think someone would go that far to- his line of thought died there, because he remembered what the fake Kihara, Hideaki told him that day. "Good grief… is it okay to leave them be like this?"

"Yes, you don't need to worry about it for the time being." Said Seria with a serious face. "No matter the results, this won't put in risk the people out of the dark side. Besides, that project has been on the verge of being canceled since the loss of the Orihime I, as they can no longer do any calculations to deal with any unforeseen circumstances. What we really need to take care of is a side project that is going on alongside it."

"Oya? That's the first time I hear of something like that?"

"The scales are growing beyond Asuka's radar already? I'm not sure I want to get involved in this anymore..."

Ignoring her surprise and his lame joke, Seria continued. "Ever since the cancellation of the Radio Noise, a small research group under the wings of Nagatenjouki Academy got a hold of the Sisters in order to investigate the reasons behind the underdevelopment of their powers. However, their true goal was totally different… they wanted to get a good understanding of the #3 ability in order to reproduce it without the need of an Esper."

"Eh? Is that even possible?" Asked Asuka.

"According to their research, it is. They are aiming to make a machine capable of using the same abilities as Misaka Mikoto. In other words, a weapon that can be mass produced, giving anyone that wields it free access to the power of a level 5."

Silence. Hishiro thought for a mere second on what would happen if a private group managed to develop that thing, and the image wasn't a pretty one. Depending on their intentions, they could overtake Academy City by force… no, maybe the whole country. Was there anything in the world that could stop an army loaded with those things? Seeing that they both understood the gravity of the situation, Seria continued talking. "That container held the prototype of this weapon, that was stolen by another group that found out about its existence. If the word spread out any further, we might end up with another Breakdown in our hands, with all factions trying to get a hold of it. That's why we cannot afford to fail again. This project must be stopped at all costs."

As always, this was too much information for Hishiro to handle at once, but he was getting used to it by now. Resting his head on his hand, he asks. "But how? Can we still destroy the prototype?"

"Unfortunately, this is no longer an option. It seems like the development is already on the next stage, and the prototype was sold off to MAR for practical testing. In summary, it's on the hands of Therestina Kihara Lifeline - someone we cannot interfere with, as she also steps on the gray zone between the public and the dark side of Academy City just like us."

She made a small pause and took a sip of her cup before continuing. "For now, all we can do is observe and wait for the next opportunity to strike. And you can bet it'll be way more difficult to stop them now than last time."

Part 2

"Goddammit!"

*Clank*

The source of the metallic noise that echoed on the streets was a cleaner robot that had just been kicked over by an extremely pissed off brown haired boy, who was still unsatisfied even after sending the damn thing rolling down the sidewalk.

"Shiro… I know how you feel, but all you will earn from venting your anger on innocent robots is another pair of handcuffs from Judgment. Or is that perhaps your goal? Did you take a liking on that Tokiwadai girl?"

"They can send the a whole division of Judgment after me if they want! Specially that girl! I'll kick her ass so hard this time that she'll wish she never came to this damn city in her life!"

His voice almost sounded like a roar from a wild beast. Not even Asuka had seen him so angry before. "Geez, calm down for a second. Screaming like that won't change the past."

"Calm down? How can I calm down in this situation? We have been toyed around like everyone's pawns for months, for all we can tell! And because of that, I got almost killed by a samurai girl and that snake freak! And there's a high chance that there are more of them coming in the future! And on top of all that, those blasted girls of Scavenger dared to pull my leg on the last minute! Just… just… AAAAAAAAAAAH!" And then he snapped and punched the closest wall repeatedly. "I'll kill those junkyard robbers! I swear I will kill them nice and slow!"

Asuka wanted to say "You was also trying to pull their legs", but in his current state, it was for the best to not do anything that would make him even angrier. And it was not like she wasn't mad at the whole situation either. She had her fair amount of headache to deal with because of all this mess as well. The difference is that for her, it was just extra explanations to give and paperwork to fill, while he had to clash head on with all those unreasonable things.

And it was just about to get worse.

"Yo, Shiro. Are you into shadow boxing now?"

At that moment, the air around the whole district got 10 degrees colder, and dark clouds started gathering above them… or that's how Asuka saw it.

Hishiro smashed his fist against the wall one last time and slowly, very slowly, turned his head towards the person that was suddenly standing there, making a face that would even make the mighty Meltdowner break into a cold sweat. Even Asuka swallowed dry through the communicator right before cutting the call when she sensed Hishiro's anger level raise yet another 9,000 points, not wanting to take part (nor responsibility) in what could end up happening there between the two. "... Kai."

Kai Ishida. He was a tall young man, with a light brown hair, black eyes, wearing a mostly yellow t-shirt save for some white sprites on the lower half, shorts and sandals, who was a former member of New Pointer until a few months ago, leaving the team just a couple of weeks before Hinata did. Going by the files, he was supposed to be 18 years old, but he gave off a feeling of being way older than that, despite the way he dresses.

But the important part right now was that Hishiro despised this person more than anything in the world. Needless to say, he was the last human being the boy wanted to see right now. However, Kai seemed to not notice the hostility coming from him and just continued talking casually. "Long time no see. Never thought I would run into you here in District 3."

"I wish I never did, battery-man."

Hearing that, Kai eyes opened wide and blinked a few times before he scratching the back of his head with a wry smile. "Ah - Ahahahaha... it's been a while since someone called me like this. You haven't changed at all, Shiro. Your ability to hit people's weak spots is just second to Asuka."

Hishiro just kept staring coldly as the other male laughed in embarrassment until he cleaned his throat and continued. "Anyway, I'm going to see Hinata in the hospital now. Are you free? You could come with me, I'm sure it would make her happy. Also, there's so much I have to talk-"

"I can't." Replied the younger male, his eyes burning like a blue flame ready to explode into an inferno. "You know, due to a bunch of morons that had no backbone and decided to abandon their responsibilities, my life turned into a busy hell lately. Ah, so busy, so busy." He finished in a sarcastic tone and tried to walk away, just to be stopped by Kai who held a firm grip on his wrist. This made Hishiro almost snap at him on the spot, but before he could say or do anything, Kai sighed and dropped his optimistic attitude.

"Okay, I get it. You have all the reason to be mad at us. I'll go direct to the point. I just need you to answer one question and you're free to go."

The other boy didn't like his attitude one bit as it implied he was on control of the situation, but if all he had to do is give a single answer to get rid of him, it was better than keeping arguing. "Just spit it out already."

"Remember that kid named Isay Aleksev that used to work with us? By any chance, have you seen, or perhaps talked to him ever since then?"

Hishiro blinked blankly in face of the weird question. That sure came out of nowhere. He couldn't answered right away and had to think a bit to remember who Kai was talking about. "... No, I think the last time I saw him was when he left the team with the other one. Is that enough?"

The older male kept looking at him with serious eyes for a few moments before releasing the grip on his wrist and smiling again. "Yes, it is. That's good to know. Well then, see ya, Shiro. I hope you're a little calmer next time we meet." And then he walked away, waving his hand with his back turned at the dumbfold boy.

Hishiro forgot all about his rage and thought for a second on what had just happened. Something felt off about this whole conversation. First of all… how did Kai know that Hinata was in the hospital? She had been there ever since the day she got hurt fighting Yuna and got saved by Kamijou Touma, but no one unrelated to the incident - or unrelated to Hinata - should know about it. Which means that either Asuka or Hinata herself kept in touch with Kai this whole time, or… "He was directly involved in that whole mess!"

Now it made sense. Kai was the kind of guy that blindly believed in justice and always fought for righteousness - or rather, for what he thought to be right, even if it was blatantly wrong in the eyes of others around him. That was one of the many things about him that pissed Hishiro off beyond measure. Another one was how he made all girls around him kiss the ground he walked while he complained about how he never had a girlfriend, but that's beyond the point. The important bit is that Hinata used to follow him all over the place like a dog after its owner.

So what would she have done when she left the team? What would Kai be doing by that time? The pieces of the puzzle started falling in place one by one. So that's why Hinata is still involved in the dark side? Ha! That's just so stupid that is almost pitiable!

Leaving that aside, he focused on what was important in the story. So Kai's fake justice led him to fight LIZARD - or rather, led him to force Hinata to do so while he watched from who knows where. But if that's the case…

"Isay Aleksev, huh..."

This was the one piece that didn't fit anywhere. Hishiro don't remember much about his appearance, but he could recall very clearly that he was an annoying bossy boy about the same age as himself that was always playing games whenever they had free time. Also, his abilities were a complete unknown. He avoided getting involved in direct conflicts, and every time he had to do something complicated, he went alone and got it done somehow. "I wonder what Kai wants with him..."

Driven by curiosity, he decided to tail his former teammate. Given his current position in this giant tug-o-war, he couldn't afford to miss any lead.

Part 3

Unfortunately, Hishiro ended up losing sight of Kai along the way. But he was sure he had gone this direction, and… This is not even close to way of that hospital. He didn't mention any detours back then, so… was he lying? Where would he take me I had accepted his offer?

All the irritation he was feeling earlier was slowly coming back to him as he desperately looked for the other boy in the crowd, but it was no use. The answer for his doubts was lost. If he just had made his mind faster, this wouldn't have happened.

"..Guha!"

?

He was about to give up when he suddenly heard a grunt coming from an alley, followed by a thunderous noise. It was too much for a simple street brawl. "Don't tell me…!"

Hishiro dashed towards the source of the sound without a second thought. It was just like Kai to get involved in a thug fight that had nothing to do with him. Yes, it had to be him. Without a doubt!

But Hishiro would soon regret his precipitated action.

What he saw there was not Kai. Yes, there was a bunch of thugs fighting, but they were all trying to take down a single person.

All of them looked quite strong, some with powerful abilities that should be at least at level 3.

And yet they were all on the ground, while their foe was the single one standing. Slender thin limbs, with his hands inside his pockets… one would think that he looked out of place there and that he stood no chance against all these people at the same time. However, for those in Academy City that knew who they shouldn't fight against, his white hair and deep crimson eyes were enough to tell that crossing his path meant certain death.

Three of the downed thugs stood up and charged at the monster at the same time. One had a steel pipe that was emitting dangerous looking sparks. The other held both hands forward and shoot a large purple colored sphere. The last shot the pebbles he was holding at a devastating speed, while he prepared a heavy punch with his other hand.

But none of that meant anything. The white boy simply grinned viciously and mad a small motion. It was so subtle that someone not paying attention wouldn't notice it at all. And with that, all three attacks circled him and were redirected to their own allies. The pebbles hit the one with a pipe in the face, piercing one of his yes and sending him rolling in pain. The electrified pipe struck the other esper on the stomach, drawing a scream of agony out of him before he fell unconscious. And the light sphere gained speed before hitting the arm of the third before his punch had hit, setting it on fire on the spot.

The massacre continued for no longer than seven seconds. All of them were utterly defeated, maybe even dead. That was the power of the strongest esper in Academy city, the #1 level 5: Accelerator.

Hishiro was frozen in place as he watched the scene unfold before his eyes. He was amazed by such display of power, that could only be understood by those who knew how his ability worked. And right after that, he knew he had to do something. I… I have to get out of here NOW!

But it was already too late. The moment he took a step back, the red eyes of death had met his, telling him that he could no longer run away.

Between the Lines

In midst the heated discussion, the man with dark blueish hair and a mechanical left eye let out a heavy sigh. He wished he could smoke a cigar to calm down a little, but doing that at the moment would not only be extremely impolite, but it would also anger even further the other people in the room, and it was for the best that he avoided doing that as much as possible.

After all, even though everyone was on the edge because the project was on the verge of being cancelled, he and his team were the ones to be the most affected if that ended up happening.

Still, even his patience was reaching its limit. The discussion was going in circles ever since before the date changed, and every second he wasted here was one second less he would have available to finish his work, which could be the end for him since the deadline was just around the corner.

"This is unacceptable!" Said one of the white coated man on the other side of the table. "Pushing back the experiments like this will ruin the whole schedule! Not to mention that the level shift could end up failing if we take too long! And what if we end up running out of resources on the long run because of this?"

"Watch your tone, Amai!"

*sigh*

Things were going like this for way too long and there was no sign that the situation would change anytime soon. No, he knew that the worst was yet to come. When driven to a corner, humans tended to recur to some nasty methods to relieve their minds and save themselves from the consequences. It was just a matter of time until that happened.

"Amai, I understand what you're trying to say, but we are going to waste even more time and resources if those earthquakes were to disrupt yet another experiment. This is the safest way to approach the problem."

The man named Amai still didn't looked satisfied and turned to the fellow participants one by one looking for support… until his eyes landed on the man listening to everything halfheartedly. "In that case, why don't the ones responsible for our slow progress don't fill up any expenses caused by those delays?"

Ah… there it is. Now they're blaming whoever they can. So predictable. The man, who was paying more attention to the charts his co-worker had just sent him, moved only his bionic eye to stare back at the man that had just accused him. "So now you intend to make the smaller teams, that can barely keep up with the rushed schedule that didn't took into consideration the number of members at all, pay for something that was inevitable? Please. We have the least money and manpower out of everyone here, we suffered from having our equipment stolen during the relocation we were against from the start, and yet we have been working overtime every day to make up for that. We wish for the success of this project more than anyone. Save your energy to find a solution for the problem instead of using it to blame the weakest."

Amai could only fall silent after such a that. But the damage had already been done, as someone else stood up and yelled. "It's hard to believe in your words when you are wasting your time with unnecessary things!"

"... What are you implying?"

"I'm just saying that if your division focused all of their efforts on the tasks you were given instead of doing side jobs for who knows who, we wouldn't be in this situation!"

This accusation sent the whole room into a ruckus, and the scar faced man shook his head. Unfortunately, he was right. They were fulfilling the tasks just to be considered part of the whole project, but their goal was to just be able to analyze the powers of an electromaster based on the Railgun so they could implement it on their real work. Needless to say, admitting it out loud would lead to severe consequences. No one was supposed to know about it, and yet, it seemed that someone felt suspicious about the eventually. And they weren't the only ones, as several accusations were being made one after another at other people now that someone brought the topic up.

The chaos seemed like it would never end until the youngest of the group raised her hand. "Excuse me. May I say something?"

The totally out of place calm and notorious voice caught everyone's attention as they stopped arguing and looked at the girl's expressionless face. The director was astonished by her ability to take control of the situation by doing absolutely nothing. "S-sure, Nunotaba-san."

Nodding, the girl stood up slowly and elegantly before talking in the same monotone voice. "Mr. Hashimoto. You're absolutely right. It is a fact that the smaller teams are the ones suffering the most in this crisis. Still, I'm yet to hear any complaint coming from them." That comment alone made a lot of the present people - Amai included - to look away in embarrassment. "I just took a quick look at the budget distribution, and the fact that those groups have barely enough to keep going. So, how is it wrong if they have to look for other ways to increase the income to keep working on the project?"

Murmurs resounded on the room as she kept talking. "By the way, since we are discussing the matter, I must admit that my division even received official approval to awake numbers 19997 and 19998 in order to research a way to stop the accelerated metabolism, in case other clones were to be used military purposes in the future."

And then, everyone turned to face the director, who had a troublesome look on his face. This was probably meant to be kept secret from the others. Trying to pay innocent, he asked. "And are there any risks that doing that would interfere in their respective experiments?"

"No problem. There shouldn't be any issues. And in the case any complication happens, those two could simply be replaced."

"Good. Then I guess this settles things up. And it also solves any resources problems that could be caused by any delays." He said while looking at Amai, who was still unquiet, but didn't expressed any objections.

Lies. The superintendent is backing the project from behind the curtains. You are just pocketing most of this money, you lecher. Hashimoto - the blue haired man turned his attention back to the charts while this thought crossed his mind. He would have to thank that Nunotaba girl later for saving him from the trouble they had put him into.

Damn this took a while to write. This time of the year is just the worst for me, I get so busy that I barely have time to eat (no kidding). And even though I made you all wait, this chapter is just another build up… sorry. I hope Seria's explanation wasn't too boring to read. The important thing now is that Hishiro and Asuka are now aware of the situation: they have a phantom enemy in Academy City that can attack them from within the group.

It is really late in the night right now, so I'll skip my usual comment on the story right into the replies this time.

Guest (1): I'm trying to find a good balance between situations Hishiro can breeze trough and battles that he have to struggle to even survive. Since he got his ass kicked a lot and left to Index to outsmart the villain in the last arc, I thought it would be okay for his plans to work a little better last chapter (kinda), since he would fail in his mission anyway. Have I overdone it though? Please feel free to tell me if I did, my goal is to make the story as enjoyable as possible, and I know that an OP character can ruin that. And… yeah, you can bet he is going to get his ass kicked again next chapter. Hard. XP

Guest (2): Glad to know you like it! Thanks for the review!

Sargent Crash: Yes, that's exactly it! Several small gears spinning at their own pace with no regard if the ones around them can keep up or will end up damaged, and all unknowingly helping the the greater scheme. Happy to know you're linking, and don't worry, what's coming up is really crazy, but I'm leaving new hints every chapter (especially in this chapter), so you'll end up grasping the whole scenario soon enough.

At last, my special thanks for the guest sniping my typos and for Banditz for helping me with plot details. You guys are awesome! See you all… next… zzzzzzzzz...