Fallout

The train incident ended without tragedy thanks to Naoki. However, the battle wasn’t over yet. Every thwarted terrorist attack turned into a media circus, and Naoki was the star of today’s show.

“Who was the perpetrator!?” a reporter badgered.

Another one piled on, “What were his motives!?”

Naoki responded bluntly. “We are still investigating at this time.”

While Naoki didn’t mind the attention, interacting with the media was a total chore. The higher ups thought it was of utmost importance to maintain a positive image, but in practice, achieving that just seemed to be smiling and repeating canned answers.

However, breaking the expected flow, a small but spirited female reporter muscled her way right up to Naoki. “The frequency of these Ghost attacks keep increasing, what is the SSU doing, if anything, to prevent them?”

Naoki was caught off guard. He practically never got hit with anything other than easy questions. “Prevention is still a major focus, but ensuring the safety of civilians is our top priority.”

“Hundreds have died from Ghost attacks already, how can we trust the SSU to protect the people if there is no plan to stop the problem at its source?”

Naoki flinched at this question. It was then he realized that this woman wasn’t a mainstream reporter. However, before he’d be forced to provide an answer, two police officers twice her size appeared and dragged her away.

“Wait! Hold on! Get off me!” The reporter cried out hopelessly as she was pulled away and disappeared into the crowd.

***

It had only been a couple days since the train incident, but people had already forgotten about it. However, Naoki hadn’t. He had taken care of a fair number of these incidents at this point, but this time he just couldn’t shake it.

As he sat in class, his mind drifted. What that reporter and that man said… He hadn’t thought about it before, but why exactly did the Ghosts do what they did? Of course, they were inspired by that poem, but throwing away your life just to cause destruction? It was beyond Naoki’s understanding.

“Hey, Naoki!”

He slightly jumped. Looking up, he saw his classmate, Chiaki Kanada, standing over him. “What is it?”

“Class is over. We need to go and see Commander Hamazaki.”

“Yeah, of course…” Naoki grabbed his bookbag and followed Chiaki out of the classroom.

“We’re preparing for another operation. We got a tip that some terrorists are operating out of an apartment complex in Taito.”

“I see…” Naoki had been neglecting his duties a bit since the train incident. This meeting would get him up to speed.

At the very least Chiaki was in good spirits. As captain of the 9th Squadron, it was up to Naoki to lead the charge, but it was reassuring to know that if he wasn’t able, Chiaki as lieutenant would fill the void, just as she was now.

“Do we know anything else about these guys?” Naoki asked.

“Yoji wiretapped the building. He’ll be able to tell us everything soon”

Wiretapping was illegal in Japan without a warrant, but certain exceptions had to be made in this time of crisis.

Chiaki and Naoki soon left the grounds of Asahi Academy. The unofficial headquarters of the 9th Squadron wasn’t too far, so they could make it on foot.

Minato City, as a high end area, was less affected by the current socioeconomic struggles, but even here it could be felt. However, Naoki paid little mind to that.

It wasn’t long until the 9th Squadron arrived at the Shinsei Building, a massive, modern skyscraper with sixty-six stories.

The lobby was big and empty. Windows went around from ceiling to floor, and the tiling had been polished to a mirror shine. However, there was only one person present, the receptionist at the front desk.

But Naoki and Chiaki ignored her, instead heading right to the elevator where Chiaki scanned her keycard, calling it.

The elevator arrived promptly. Chiaki entered first, hitting the button for the sixty-sixth floor.

As they began to rise, they were treated to a fantastic view of the city thanks to the windows.

With a ding, they reached the top floor and stepped out, coming face to face with an all too familiar plaque.

The Office of Satoru Hamazaki, Commander of the 9th Squadron of the Special Security Unit

This was the unofficial headquarters of the 9th Squadron. Naoki always thought it was too conspicuous, but Hamazaki insisted that "appearances were everything.”

Naoki knocked on the door.

“Come in.” A voice from behind beckoned.

The two entered, seeing their commander sitting in his chair upright, his hands in a steeple position. Hamazaki was quite a bit older than the rest of the 9th Squadron at about thirty. The years hadn't been kind to him, and while he could use Helel, the SSU’s official demon summoning software, he had never seen combat.

“You two are late,” Hamazaki said.

“Sorry.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter.” Hamazaki picked up his phone, sharing some files with his two subordinates. “The first pictures are the floor plans of Nishikiyama Apartments. Yoji is still out, but he just sent a report. Three Ghosts are active there. They’re planning on knocking out a few cell towers.”

“Cell towers?” Naoki asked.

“Yeah. These guys aren’t just crazed killers, they want to do more substantial damage. Even just wiping out cell service in parts of Tokyo for a few days could cost billions of yen in lost productivity.”

That was a lot of money, but not being able to make phone calls didn’t exactly seem like the end of the world. There had to be more to it than that, right?

Naoki scrolled through the documents. “Are these guys acting independently?”

“As far as we can tell, yes.”

Chiaki looked through the file on one of the suspects. “When will we begin the mission?”

“We’re planning on doing the raid tonight.” Hamazaki smirked. “Hopefully you two don’t have any tests tomorrow.”

“Whether we do or not, dealing with these ‘Ghosts’ comes first.” Chiaki said confidently, narrowing her eyes.

As Chiaki and Hamazaki hashed out some smaller details, Naoki looked through the files more closely. Honestly, their plan seemed a little quaint compared to what he was used to dealing with. Hell, he wouldn’t mind having everyone lose their phones for a couple days himself.

***

Yoji was hunched over in front of his laptop in a small apartment he’d secured specifically for this mission. As the 9th Squadron’s technician, he ended up doing a lot of the thankless dirty work. Of course, he didn’t mind it too much. It was certainly better than school. However, he always found the Ghosts he investigated more interesting than he should’ve, and this time was no different…

“Takeshi Oyama…” he said to himself as he looked over the ringleader’s information. Ghosts generally followed a similar pattern, but this guy was different. He was employed, popular with his peers, had a good amount of savings, and even had a girlfriend. Yet, for whatever reason, he was willing to throw it all away… At least, that’s what the intel said…