Chatper 14: Video Game Mayhem

Chapter 14: Video Game Mayhem
I
“All right,” Junshin said. “So first, we need to figure out what the buttons on the controller do for this simulation. But preferably through proper spacing so that no one ends up hitting one another with a punch or their powers.”

“Good idea,” Hina said, as she properly spaced herself away from Junshiin and gave him an encouraging smile and a wink. “I’m sorry about the punch earlier, Junshin-kun. It was the controller device, but still, I feel I must apologize.”

“No sweat,” Junshin said. “I think it’s just the game master trolling us.”

“Indeed,” Kanna said with a sniff. “If I were to deal with this so called troll of a Game Master, I would roast his ass!”

Junshin and Hina smile as Kanna went on a tirade about how this entire affair was troublesome and that she didn’t want to partake in something as silly as a video game while fighting for her life, while Junshin and Hina were working cooperatively together trying to determine the controls. Junshin experimentally pushed certain buttons, one was to punch, one was to use Psionic powers, and then the direction arrows plus the punch and powers button were paired together with a limited set of moves for fancy acrobatic maneuvers and psionic displays to fight. Shoulder pad buttons were to roll and dodge. Among other things.

“He really put a lot of thought into this if it’s for a simulation,” Junshin murmured. “Though where is our Game Master? Shouldn’t he be here by now?”

The ‘Game Master’—the person that they were trying to rescue, apparently—materialized before them as a bishounen avatar that was almost cringeworthy otaku of the highest order. Hina, however, thought it was super cool, and she said, “Your avatar looks just like this anime character I see running late nights! I love him already!!!”

“I put a lot of thought and detail into it,” the Game Master said pleasantly, before he looked toward Junshin’s cringed face. “What? Don’t like it, redhead?”

“It’s…” Junshin said, not wanting to insult Hina’s taste, but also didn’t want to give a direct compliment to the opponent who would be proceeding to probably kick their asses. “Unique.”

“Unique? Is that all you have to say? Don’t you have anything to comment on besides the silky smooth long flowing hair, or the angel wings, or the golden armor?”

Junshin let out a sigh.

“I…don’t really watch that anime.”

“You what?’ The Game Master said, making a ridiculous pose and appearing astonished. “You DON’T watch this current running season’s anime?”

“Well no,” Junshin said. “I wait till a backlog fills up and then watch them as time allows…”

“Ridiculous!” The Game Master said. “What needs to be corrected is your anime viewing habits, son! Watch it right when it airs!”

“Both ways are legit,” Hina said. “Sometimes I don’t have time to watch something as soon as it airs, or there are some anime that I rewatch and get good vibes having the nostalgia of having watched them.”

“Watch the currently airing stuff and move on!” the Game Master said in frustration, before he pointed to Hina. “You…you’re pretty cute. You could be a mascot.”

“I kind of am,” Hina said pleasantly. “At least, in the off the books manner, I’m a mascot to a delinquent group.”

“You say that like it’s something to be proud of…” Kanna said.

The Game Master pointed toward Kanna, looking astonished. “And you! Do you even watch anime at all?”

Kanna snorted. “No. I’m not an otaku loser like you.”

The Game Master then put both his hands to his head…before he cried out in great frustration that rippled and distorted the simulation around them in holograms and wavering pixels.

“UNBELIEVABLE! YOU DENY THE GREATNESS OF ANIME!”

“I’m getting red flags energy from this guy,” Kanna said with a frown. “Something suspicious about him, all right.”

“Or maybe he’s just really, really passionate about anime, Kanna,” Hina said patiently. “That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s red flags energy.”

“No but him throwing a tantrum about someone not sharing his opinion is the worst,” Kanna said with a snort.

“THEN I CHALLENGE YOU TO A MATCH,” The Game Master said while still pointing a finger at Kanna. “COME ON…CHALLENGE ME. WE MADE DIRECT EYE CONTACT.”

“Just because I made direct eye contact with you doesn’t mean I’m interested!” Kanna said.

“Um, Kanna, I think that’s a Mokepon reference…” Hina said.

Kanna snorted again. “Whatever. Where’s the controller? I’m going to kick this guy’s ass…then roast him!”

"Don’t be so confident,” the Game Master said with a chuckle, wearing a visor over his head that hid his facial features from view. “Your pride will be your downfall.”

“Do you really think that I would let a criminal like you beat me?” Kanna said with a snort. “Don’t make me laugh, I’m gonna make you eat your words and cry uncle!”

“Maybe if you were a cute girl like Miss 34E over there, I wouldn’t mind being arrested by you, though I have to get stuck with you.”

“This is…” Junshin said with a little bit of sweat filming on his head.

“Surprisingly childish…” Hina said, though she smiled a bit. “Perhaps this means the Game Master isn’t such a bad guy after all?”

“No way!” Kanna said with a frown. “You guys shouldn’t take him at his word! He could be trying to put up an innocent act and all that to lure us in and then make us drop our guard and then get us. Don’t EVER let your guard down like that! It’s an amateur mistake!”

“We’re not taking it easy on him,” Hina said reassuredly. “Though remember, he asked us to save him from this place. So we will.”

“Hmph,” Kanna said with a grumpy frown as she took the game controller and experimented with the buttons, and ended up with Hina punching Junshin again to vent her frustrations. Though Junshin anticipated this coming from last time, and blocked Hina’s destructive blows, though still, her pummeling blows were so strong that they could crush and break bones.

“I’m sorry, Junshin-kun!” Hina wailed as she hurled out punch after comical punch toward him, to which Junshin attempted to block and try to ignore the bruising pain. “Kanna is making me do this to you.”

“Shouldn’t you vent that frustration somewhere else rather than on your own teammates, Kanna-chan?” the Game Master said.

“Don’t worry, it was a warm up,” Kanna said, stopping making the controller manipulated Hina attack Junshin and made her stand on the circular platform where the Arena was to be held.

“So our avatars should have the same strengths and abilities that they do in the real world,” the Game Master said with a grin. “Though of course, simulations for me don’t hurt me at all, though I can’t say the same for you.”

“Cheater!” Kanna roared as she nearly threw the controller down in frustration and broke it in half. “Couldn’t you at least have the courage to take some punches yourself?”

“You say that as I was the one who took Hina’s punching…” Junshin said as he rubbed his arms, before he smiled a bit. “It’s okay though, I can handle it. Why don’t you use me instead of the Hina avatar?”

“What, use you?” Kanna said. “Someone untested and new?”

“Are you sure, Junshin-kun?” Hina said, looking with a softened gaze toward him.

“I don’t mind,” Junshin said. “Besides, if I let someone take the hits for me, it wouldn’t be right.”

“Well, all right,” Hina said, conceding.

“Let me see that on move on this controller for Hina’s healing move…” Kanna murmured as she used the controller to manipulate the Hina avatar. Several moves and experimental punches later, she found the right combination of buttons to make Hina perform the healing on Junshin, to which he wasn’t sure whether he should be relieved, pissed, or glad it’s done and over with.

“Thanks,” Junshin said.

While the avatar Hina stood on the platform, the platform ascended and transported herr in a blaze of translucent blue light toward another area that they could see projected on the video game console. The Game Master’s garish avatar also transported as well, revealing him raring to go in the fighting arena as he bounced on the soles of his feet and bore up his dukes to throw punches at Hina.

“You ready and warmed up?” The Game Master said teasingly. “Since you found that our loveable redhead was the ‘tutorial’ here.”

Junshin mumbled something, while Kanna flushed.

“You mean I don’t get a tutorial to know everything about the game first?” Kanna roared again. ”What kind of cheapass game is this?”

"Now now,” the Game Master said while mocking Kanna’s hot temper. “It’s more fun to go into a game and discover the secrets for itself, don’t you think?”

“But a tutorial would’ve been helpful,” Junshin noted. “And fair.”

“Since when have I been about fair, Fujimoto?” the Game master’s avatar said with a grin. “I’m not gonna give you the luxury of beating me—especially since I have an undefeated record and streak in all kinds of video games. Your defeat is inevitable! Though since I’m a nice guy, I’ll give you a hint, Kanna-chan~”

‘What is it?” Kanna said, looking pumped and ready to go.

“You’re gonna have to mash those buttons and experiment, because this game is like SMASH! So maybe you’ll get lucky and land some good hits against my avatar.”

“Like SMASH! Huh,” Kanna said, before she swallowed. “I haven’t played that game.”

“What?” Hina said, her eyes becoming burning flames. “You mean you’ve never played the popular video game SMASH???”

“Er, no,” Kanna said with a flustered blush, before she cleared her throat and said. “But I’ve got this! Don’t worry!”

“You should’ve left it to your more competent teammates~” The Game Master said, which only pressed Kanna’s button further. “I mean, do you think you would have a hope against me?”

“You won’t know till I try!” Kanna said. “Come on then…show me what you’ve got!”

“I was waiting for you to say that,” The Game Master said with a grin, before he launched forward and landed a solid punch against her avatar. The Kanna avatar winced, letting out a sharp cry, before a bonfire of Calokinetic aura blazed around her and she let outt a feral cry of rage as she launched a series of button mashing attacks against the Game Master. Though no matter what Kanna did, the Game Master eluded all the attacks and punches and kicks and aerials and outmaneuvered her.

Kanna attempted, failure after failure, to catch or land a hit against the Game Master, though it certainly felt hopeless. Hina shouted words of encouragement and Junshin clutched his hands into fists while he bit the insdie of his cheek, wondering what would happen if they lost. That worried him the most. Though he had to have faith in Kanna as well, because their lives were kinda riding along the line for this. Though it seemed that things were hopeless, Hina eventually slipped into Kanna’s mind surreptiously, linking the telepathic ‘channel’ to Junshin, before saying, “Okay, let’s give Kanna some pointers on what she should do to defeat this Game Master Guy!”

“Really, you can do that?” Kanna said.

“Of course!” Hina echoed in her mind. “To anticipate his moves, there is a certain psychological tactic in fighting games that involves a pattern of behaviors that players are prone to use when they’re using a known fighting style. This guy seems to have a nice balance of offense and defense in his fighting style, meaning that he’s mastered the fundamentals, so if we get you up to speed on the game, then you should be able to defeat him!”

“But how do we do that?” Junshin asked, before real life Hina winked at Junshin.

“Just watch,” Hina said, before Hina ‘downloaded her memories of playing the game into Kanna’s hands and manipulated her finger movements with invisible vectors.

“You’re cheating, you know,” The Game Master said with a grin as Hina forcibly drove the Game Master back and they’re on more even terms. “But you know, I’ve always liked a challenge.”

“Since when were you playing fair when you didn’t offer a tutorial for a new player?” Hina said, before her eyes blazed again. “Okay! I’m gonna kick your butt!”

"Bring it on!” The Game Master said, before Hina clicked and tapped the buttons with max precision with Kanna as the medium she was doing it through. They duked it on the battlefield, they avatars punching and kicking and hurling psionic blasts at one another in colorful explosions that blitzed and sparkled on the display screen and in the holographic setting that wavered and distorted around them in 3 dimensional splendor. If Junshin weren’t so distracted from the fact that their lives were probably at risk here, he would’ve found this settingquite fascinating—and probably would’ve liked to understand the interiority and underlying mechanisms behind it more.

As he eyed behind them with a furtive glance, glimpsing the shadows for any signs of the pursuing Hydrokinetic behind them, Hina continued to manipulate Kanna and who in turn manipulated the avatar in the game against the Game Master, pushing him back with equal force and fervor in a back and forth frenzy where it looked like side could win. When Hina threw several devastating blows with Kanna’s avatar, the Game Master’s avatar took two steps back, bu he in turn would play on the offense and cause Hina to play more defensively. As the damage percentages got higher on the characters and none of them seemed to be close to being knocked completely off the stage in the game to determine the victor, Hina watched Kojirou carefully and observed his patterns, keeping silent and surprisingly keeping a poker face on her normally expressive and mercurial expressive face. She was full concentration mode into the game, and Junshin had to admire that attitue of seriousness, but then he supposed that the situation merited such dedication and protection.

Hina scored the first kill. It seemed like they were winning. Kanna pumped her first in the air, cheering, though Hina started to sweat as Kojirou knocked her out immediately on the next round, as he came bacck with a fresh avatar with a 0 percentage damage bar and hers was already at 320%. She came back again, freshened up and ready to duke it out, using a mix of offense and defense like before, knocking it was a war of attrition and also concentrating on guiding Kanna through the game while also hoping that the Game Master would keep true to his promise and release them from the virtual reality that they found themselves stuck in. Kojirou was now at 200%, and Hina 250%.

He knocked her out.

KO.

Last life on the line. Hina bit her lip, sweating, trying to keep her cool and her face expressionless though Junshin could t ell that she kept her jaw clenched as she played, trying to guide Kanna and keep calm so that her own emotions didn’t affect Kanna’s already volatile and spitfire emotions that could spark off any moment into a grand display of temper.

“Cheap shot!” Kanna scoffed, though she continued to play along with Hina’s guiding hands.

The Game Master smirked.

“I’m at least playing on my own. You have someone guiding you.”

“Oh yeah? Then I’ll kick your ass by myself!” Kanna said, before she went on a hyper aggressive series of attacks to push Kojirou off the edge and land him on the side of the screen, therefore knocking him into a KO.

“Can you do it, Kanna?” Junshin said softly.

Kanna looked toward him and grinned.

“In the ANGeLS you have to have super accelerated learning or else you’re dead meat. So this will be a cinch, I’ve already picked up the basics thanks to Hina.”

“Oh?” The Game Master said. “You’ve gotten a little better. But it’s time for me to get series.”

When the Game Master got serious, he really did go all out. He didn’t give any time for Kanna to counterattack or shield or dodge—Kanna hopelessly dangled and flew and crashed on the ground as the Game Master’s avatar hopelessly pummeled her into submission. No matter what Kanna did, she couldn’t keep up with the Game Master, and as she grit and gnashed her teeth in frustration, the damage percentage on her avatar would only grow higher and higher until she was literally hanging off the ledge of the elaborate techno stage.

The Game Master dealt the finishing blow, and it was over.

The simulation ended, and standing in front of them was a clapping figure that remained hooded in shadow.

“Well, well, Kanna-chan, is it? You fought your best but it wasn’t enough to defeat me. Perhaps if you kept letting Hina to help you you would’ve won.”

“I take the loss gracefully,” Kanna said with a stubborn chin. “It sucks, but I would rather win or lose on my own terms rather than have someone ellse do it for me.”

“Heh,” the Game Master said, before he stepped into the light and revealed himself to be a young teen with reddish brown hair, blue goggles strapped on the top of his head, and mismatched heterchromatic eyes that were blue and green. He looked at all three of them, appraising them, before he scratched his head and yawned.

“Yanno, I hadn’t had this much fun in a while. I think I’ll join your side this time.”

“You what?” Junshin said in confusion. “Just like that?”

The Game Master winked one eye open, before he smirked. “Oh, by the way, name’s Kojirou Morimoto. Don’t wear it out. Yeah, I got roped into some criminal activity as a hacker for fun. I found out all kinds of interesting things about the ANGeLS. I could give you insider tips on the people that you’re going up against, too.”

“How can we trust you?” Kanna said. “And why are you doing this? I thought we lost???”

“Because I had fun,” Kojirou said with a genuine smile. “And you didn’t cheat in the end. You might’ve gotten some help in the beginning, but I didn’t mind that so much. But next time, Kanna-chan, you need more training~”

“Grr,” Kanna said as she growled and grumbled. “I hate to be told to do more training but he’s right. I was inadequate.”

“It’s not that you’re inadequate,” Kojirou said with that same cocky grin. “It’s just that you need more practice, yanno?”

Kanna let out a sigh, before she looked dejected. “Sorry, everyone. I lost.”

Hina hugged Kanna, her eyes watery with pride, before she said. “No, you did well. You accepted loss gracefully and you fought with your own power. Besides, you didn’t do a bad job for your first time. I mean, everyone starts somewhere!”

Junshin smiled a bit, before he looked toward Kojirou and said seriously. “So you’re wiling to help us?”

“For a price, of course,” Kojirou said with a grin.

Junshin, Hina, and Kanna groaned, before Kojirou held out his hands. “I’m not asking you to do anything criminal. I’m gonna ask you to do me a favor.”

“What is that?” Kanna asked. “Why go through this whoel elaborate setup if you just wanted to meet with us?”

“Because I wanted you to see what the bowels of the underworld are really like in the Psionic world,” Kojirou said seriously. “Innocents and Psions and Naturals are getting caught up into it, and the worst part is that the incidents are only going to escalate from here. I monitor the surveillance cameras around Tokyo and watch for suspicious activity. I’ve also been watching the ANGeLS activity very closely as well.”

“You saw our fight against Nagisa?’ Junshin said.

Kojirou nodded. “Very impressive fight and teamwork with HIna-chan, Junshin-kun,” Kojirou said with a thumbs up. “Anyway, what I want you to do is this. Please give me asylum at SeRAPH Academy!”

“I’m not sure if we can do that,” Junshin said. “Especially since you may have committed crimes when you were in alliance with these known criminals in the Bingo Book.”

“True,” Kojirou said. “You have no reason to trust me. But honestly, if I have to spend some time locked up in a jailhouse near SeRAPH, at least it won’t be around here.”

Kanna’s hands trembled, her face lowered and her sideb bangs sweeping near the sides of her lowered face. Hina gave Kanna a comforting hug, supporting her and keeping her pressed warm against her body to help her feel better. Junshin noted that the two girls supported one another, with Kanna leaning a bit toward Hina while Hina let Kanna rest against her.

“Now, now, Kanna-chan,” Hina said. “There’s no need to feel bad about losing. Everything worked out in the end, didn’t it?”

Kojirou put a hand behind his head, before sticking his tongue out self-deprecatingly. “Awh, shucks, I didn’t mean to beat you up too bad now, Kanna-chan, especially since you were new! Really, it was honorable that you fought against me with your own power in the end. In fact, I thought it was really cool!”

“That’s easy to say when you’re the one who’s winning!” Kanna complained, before she became as flushed as her hair before she lowered her head again. “Still, this makesm e self-reflect on a lot of things. That there’s so muc hI need to do if I need to be an asset to the team.”

“What does this mean?” Junshin asked.

Kanna’s eyes blazed.

“I’m going to the arcade! I’m going to train everyday until I can beat Kojirou in this game!”

Kojirou smiled. “I’ll be looking forward to that, Kanna-chan.”

Junshin eyed Kojirou, then saw the veneer behind Kanna’s forced smile. He noted that, though her pride was wounded, Kanna would only come back stronger—and she would workr hard at whatever goal she endeavored to win. She supposed that was why she became an ANGeLS member, to test her limits and surpass them, like every ANGeLS member did. Kojirou, on the other hand, was someone who came from dubious origins but through his actions, in the short moment and assessment that he’s catalogued about the gamer, is that he viewed things more like a gamae and wanted things to be fun rather than doing things out of pure malice. Maybe not everything could be trusted about Kojirou nor could they take everything about him at his word—there were still too many unknown factors. However, if Kojirou were willing to test this…

“Hey Hina,” Junshin said. “Isn’t there a test that Psions use to test whether another Psion is trustworthy or not?”

“Yes, we can touch minds,” Hina said, as she looked toward Kojirou curiously. “Would you be willing to do that?”

“Anything that would help you trust me,” Kojirou said with a grin. “Besides, I don’t think they’ll let me play games in a jailhouse.”

All three of them touched minds, and when it was Junshin’s turn, he reluctantly clasped hands with Kojirou’s hand and concetrated as he sought out the tenddrils of Kojirou’s thoughts that intertwined with his. A swirling montage of memories and images and experiences and mental paradigms and matehematical equations and binary numbers whirled all around him in a simulation of numbers and equations, and Junshin found himself in awe at the amount of knowledge and structural integrity that Kojirou’s mind held. He had solid fundamentals and foundations, and in fact, it could even be considered on the level of a genius or at least transcendent level thinking

Once they touched minds, they understood one another intimately.

“Will you help us catch Nagisa?” Junshin asked.

Kojirou saluted.

“Yessir! I will do whatever it takes to get him in jail!”

“When we touched minds,” Junshin said, reflecting on Kojirou’s memories of the blue-haired Hydrokinetic. “You had memories of him hunting down children. Naturals.”

“Yeah,” Kojirou said as he furrowed his brows and crossed his arms. “This was an unnatural and disturbing element in my calculations, because even I thought that Nagisa wasn’t capable of tha. When I joined the criminal society and offered my services, I just needed quick and easy money for a comfortable life, though Nagisa crossed a line I wasn’t wiling to cross.”

“How awful,” Hina said as she too, furrowed her brows and said. “Is there anything else that you know that could benefit us?”

“SeRAPH Academy isn’t safe,” Kojirou said. “I can’t tell you the details, but…watch who you talk to there.”

“Why can’t you tell us about it?” Kanna said, stalking forward and grabbing a fistful of Kojirou’s stripped shirt’s collar. “You holding out on us? Huh?”

“Compellations,” Kojirou said with a wheeze, before Kanna let go and dropped him on the ground as she folded her arms and didn’t look entirely convinced. “I don’t completely trust this guy.”

“Not even after you’ve touched minds?” Junshin said in surprise. “He looks clean to me.”

Kanna gave Junshin a look. “Only ‘looks’. Everything checks out, sure, but there could be something else that is fishy about the situation and I don’t like it.”

“You mean like modified memories?” Hina said as she put a finger to her lip. “That is very possible too.”

“No one has seen the higher up of this facility,” Kojirou said as he straightened out his collar and frowned a bit at Kanna. “Or if they have…they probably…”

“Erased their memory or committed suicide,” Hina said as she thought about it. “I think our Criminal X is very cautious. He probably uses a double to interact with the marks that he meets and then uses various channels to manipulate means to make things go his way—making him very tricky to catch indeed.”

“I still want that rematch,” Kanna said solemnly. “If I can’t beat you, then how am I going to beat that Criminal X.”

“You’ll get there,” Kojirou said.

“I’ll help you train,” Hina said kindly. “That game Smash! Is a lot of fun and I think you’ll enjoy it as you play more and practice!”

“It did look interesting,” Junshin said. “Video games are said to keep the mind sharp, after all.”

“Do you think there’ll be a video game for me?” Kanna said. “Fighting games are kind of exciting and all, but I want the perfect game for me…”

“There’s a game for everyone!” Kojirou said as his eyes lit up, before saying, “For you, Kanna-chan, I think puzzle/detective/mystery games would be your genre.”

Kanna’s eyes lit up and a warm smile lit her face as she looked toward Kojirou gratefully. “Really? I’ll be sure to check them out. My ANGeLS pay is a little tight despite having so much because most of it is going to my Mother for resources on an investigation, though I think if I ever get the spare cash, I will try to get a game on my computer.”

“Do you think that Nagisa will attack us now?” Hina said, looking back as she noticed that Nagisa hadn’t come out of the shadows and corridors to attack them yet when it was long past due that time.

Kojirou shook his head. “Nawh. But he’ll be watching.”

“We’ll head back to SeRAPH and explain the situation to them,” Junshin said, before he gave a nod of acknowledgement to Kojirou. “And once again, Kojirou. Thanks.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Kojirou said with a grin, putting his arms behind his head and leading them away out of the base. “I’ll lead you to your friend, Rika.”

“She was able to beat you?” Kanna said in surprise.

Kojirou smiled. “First person to beat me, actually. What a girl, though my favorite kind of girl is girls like you, Kann-chan.”

Kanna became flustered. “What. Me? What? Why?”

“Because you get flustered so easily and you’re fun to tease~” Kojirou said with a smirk, to which Kanna reddened again, this time not in flushing embarrassment, but in flustered anger.

“That’s it, I’m going to kick your ass and roast you!” Kanna roared as the room started to heat up and Junshin and Hina tried to calm Kanna down.

“Hold up,” Hina said. “He’s a friend, not an enemy! Why are friends attacking one another?”

“Because he’s getting on my nerves, that’s why!” Kanna said, grabbing Kojirou by the blue tinted googles and snapping them against his head in retaliation for teasing her. “How do you like that, you goggle-headed freak?”

“Oh, Kanna-chan,” Kojirou said as he put a hand to his heart and pretended to look wounded. “Do I detect some flustered tsundere vibes here?”

“Don’t stereotype me into one of your ‘dere’ otaku fantasies!” Kanna shouted.

Hina looked toward Junshin, and Junshin looked toward Hina. They both laughed to one another quietly, while Kojirou and Kanna looked toward them both.

“They’re like a bickering couple already, aren’t they?” Hina said as she put a hand to her mouth and smiled.

“We’re not a couple!” they both shouted at once.

“Though,” Kojirou said with a grin. “I wouldn’t object to Kanna-chan being my girl—ouch!”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, you fool!” Kanna said with another flustered expression. “You are a pervert, for one, then you’re a video game nerd and otaku, along with being an anime fetishist who probably looks up hentai on the internet—“

“Trying to profile me, eh, Kanna-chan?” Kojirou said with a grin. “I wouldn’t say you’re wrong, but…”

“You don’t even deny it!” Kanna roared. “That’s somehow even worse!”

“Well, it’s wonderful when people have something that they’re enthusiastic about, aren’t they?” Hina said as she put a finger to her lip.

“Yeah, but why can’t Kojirou be more like Junshin or Shizuya?” Kanna said with a snort. “At least they’re respectable human beings.”

“This way please,” Kojirou said as he was talking them toward the control room where they found Rika waiting.

“Check this out,” Rika said, as she showed them a video cam feed of a letter X on the screen that was transmitted to them.

“The wild goose chase begins,” the distorted voice said through the screen. “Know this. If you seek me. If you try to find me. I will make your lives miserable.”