Chapter 251 – 80% Serious Girl
Hecate turned into a vampire. She wasted no time sinking her teeth into me, only to pass out from joy.
Sigh…
We can’t even do anything with her like that. I left her in her bed and let her rest.
I had more questions for her, but I guess they’ll have to wait. Is she not going to age anymore? Can she go out into the sun? Did she just turn me into a vampire too? Hmm… Guess we have interesting topics for future conversations.
Back in the living room, Katja looked over Reia’s shoulder as the purple-haired girl worked on a laptop.
“How was it? Were you able to access anything?” Katja asked.
“Mhm.” Reia responded with a simple nod.
Looks important… “Hey, what are you up to?”
“Oh… You came back.” Katja looked up from the laptop. “What happened to Hecate?”
“Asleep. More importantly, what are you two up to?”
“I asked Reia to see if she could access anything PSF related from here.”
“Hacking.”
“Yes… I more or less asked if she could hack into the PSF to get us more information. And apparently…”
“I’m in.” Said the shadowy voice from under the hoodie.
Hahaha… “She’s doing a good job, huh…?” At playing the character. “As long as we’re getting more info, I’m fine with it. But we’re not gonna get busted because of this, are we?”
“It’s fine. I know what I’m doing.” Reia said.
Does she really?
“*Sigh…* So? What did you find so far?” Katja will do a better job explaining, I’m sure.
“Actually, she hasn’t told me yet.” Katja said. “Let’s take a look together.” She pulled up a chair, and I sat on Reia’s other side. “Show us, Reia. Anything important?”
“Hmm…” She pondered as she navigated dozens of folders. “How about this?”
“Let’s see…” Katja leaned in. “’Transcript of internal communications for…’ that was last week.” We waited in silence as Katja read through the lines on the screen. “Oh… Not good.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“It seems like the PSF has concluded that our escape was a diversion was just a trick and that we’re still in the Three Records.”
“Already?”
Katja shrugged. “They apparently don’t have any proof, but they decided to proceed under that assumption. It’s either a lucky call or great intuition…”
“Can we ever catch a break?” I said. “It’s like everything has been going wrong for us since Daisuke first showed up.”
“That would be if they were at our door trying to break in. We should be thankful we’ve been able to buy some time with our tricks.” Katja smiled. “What else do you got, Reia?”
“What about this video?” Security footage of an office with 6 people working at most. Four-armed soldiers walk into the room and escort one of the office workers out by the arm. “Some kind of internal dispute. Nothing extraordinary, but the video got deleted for some reason.”
“Wait… Rewind that.” Katja said.
*hsoooohW* That was the video rewinding.
“Look!” She said. “The man they’re taking away… It’s Shinji!”
“Oh… You’re right! It is Shinji!” Why are they being so rough? “What happened? Is your family actually going after him? Didn’t you say he’d be safe?”
“He was supposed to be. He promised us.” Katja paused and pulled the laptop closer to rewind again and again. “This wasn’t supposed to happen… Shinji is used to navigating these political games. He had his bases covered. They legally cannot touch him without concrete proof, and proof like that is nothing short of getting a confession out of one of us.”
Why did they drag him away like that then? If what Katja said is true, then there’s no way they have any dirt on him…
“What if they’re not playing by the rules anymore?” I asked.
“No way…” Katja frowned and clenched her teeth. “The Kurokawas wouldn’t do that… If they get caught, they’d lose everything they spent generations building. There’s no way my grandfather would go so far because of me…” Except there is…
“Calm down, Katja… No matter what, it’s not your fault.” My hands stopped her shoulders from trembling.
“It’s obvious.” Reia said. “The video is recent surveillance footage that got deleted.”
What is it exactly that’s obvious…? “Oh! That they’re not playing by the rules? Yeah… I guess deleting surveillance footage means it’s something to hide.”
“Tch… So what? They got fed up with looking for us and illegally arrested Shinji? For what? To find out where we are?” My hands were probably the only thing keeping her rage bottled.
“Looks like it.” I said. “We always knew we’d have to face the PSF again, but it might happen earlier than expected. At least we know that Shinji will be fine if they’re trying to get info out of him.”
“Yeah… You’re right.” Katja forced out a smile then back to a serious expression. “We have to tell the others about this! Reia, try to find out more about that video. We need all the info you can get.”
After a quick nod, Katja and I stood up and started calling out names, gathering the girls from House except Hecate on the couches with Miyuki as a guest.
“Miyuki, go! It’s your time to shine!”
“Hmm?” She cutely tilted her head. “I have no clue what you mean by that. Just look at me? Aren’t I the kind of girl that shines all the time?” She tossed back her hair, showing off.
“I know one hundred is too much for you, but can I ask you to be at least five percent serious right now?”
“Ehhh? You’re so mean, Iroha!” She pouted. “You’re making it sound like I’m the kind of person who doesn’t know any other way to act other than messing around! I’m always at least eighty percent serious, you know?”
“In your dreams!” Does she think she’s fooling anyone? “Seriously, though. We need your help. Katja will explain what’s going on.”
And explain she did. Carol and Narumi listened attentively, while Miyuki looked bored. Reia showed up, showed them the video, then back to research.
“Dammit!” Carol punched the couch. “Why the hell are they going after him? He wasn’t even with us when we raided the place!”
“*Siiigh…*” The frustration drove Narumi limp. “Their higher ups always held grudges against us… Must be revenge! Why can’t they all just leave us alone?”
I was sitting next to Katja. Her hand was clutching my sleeve so I wouldn’t run away. “They may be family, but I won’t allow them to hurt the man who’s more family to me than them. We have to do something!”
“Oh… We will.” Carol smirked.
“Miyuki, go on. Tell us what you know. That’s the only reason why you’re here.” She said.
“Ahem…” Instead of a retort, Miyuki stood up like she was about to give a presentation. Her expression looked serious, but the air she was putting off gave her away. Eighty percent? Yeah right… “I hope you still remember when I told you there was a way to reclaim the House and return to the life you girls previously led. I didn’t elaborate at the time, but this is it. This is our chance. A chance so good that it will allow you to triumph over the PSF without shedding a single drop of blood. In case you’re into that…”
“Yes!” Narumi said. “That’s what we like best.”
Carol scoffed. “’We’ is a very strong word, but go on. Shedding blood will make Three Records as a whole our enemy, so we do want to avoid it.”
“The plan this time is fairly simple. It will involve something you’ve recently been getting used to. Splitting up.” Oh… Here we go again. “We’ll use everything that happened to our advantage. First, Iroha will go to the House alone and pick a fight with the agents stationed there. Your goal is to rough them up and force the PSF to send all their forces as reinforcements. When the main building is defenseless, the others will raid the top dog’s office and find proof of Shinji’s illegal arrest. Bring it back, then Reia will send it to the address of one of the Kurokawas’ enemies, start a scandal, and get the leadership of Three Records to intervene. Sound good?”
“Wait.” Katja said. “Why do you know the address of an enemy of the Kurokawas? And it sounds like it’s someone important.”
“It came to me in a dream.”
“Right… Of course it did…”
“Any more questions?”
“A lot, actually, but I’ll keep it simple.” Carol smiled. “When are we starting?”
“Three days from now on. It’s our best shot and will give us time to get everything in order. It’s also as long as we’ll last before the PSF learns of our location.”
“So, you mean it’s the last chance we’ll get?” First time she tells us… “Alright, though… Three days from now on it is.”