Chapter 3

"Good day, 442." Eikichi looks at the new robot up and down. To get on with the plan, Tetsuya's briefing about his purpose was shortened.

"No need to get formal on me," He says. "Tetsuya's fine."

"If you say so." Eikichi shakes his head. "Now do you know why you've been activated, Tetsuya?"

"No, I've only been on a week, remember?"

"Yes, I know." Then aside to his workers, "You should have put told him before I came."

"Just tell it to him up front yourself, boss, it's way cooler." One of them suggests.

"Fine." Eikichi faces Tetsuya. "I have activated you on short notice for this reason." He pulls out a drawing and shows it to him.

"Who's this girl?"

"That's not just a girl, that's 191, and she's been missing for a while now."

"Whaddya want me to do, find her?"

"Not only that, I want you to bring her to me in one piece, you understand?"

"Yessir!" He answers with a grin.

"Now get moving!"

Tetsuya wastes no time and with a spring in his step heads out to the outside world; with his sword, throwing stars and all the information he has been given however scarce.

-----

"So these are the two robots who talked to you." Asuka looks at the two cards.

"Yeah, I think they want to help us. Even said they left Asakasa."

"Where are they now, though?"

"No clue. But Fukami seems to know at least one of them."

"Maybe it's this Yoshiya Omona? I've seen him at the bakery when I pass by."

"If that's the case, then he's definitely seen her at the very least."

"I still don't get why they decided to do this."

"Oh, right, that reminds me, they said Asakasa is going to launch a new robot just to find Fukami." Katsuhiko starts work on something on his desk. "Eikichi really must want her bad if he's doing this much; anything else he never seemed to have cared for."

"What's that you're working on?"

"Something I'm going to test later."

"What do you think they know?"

"Know about what?"

"They're from the same line as Fukami, it would make sense that they know things more than the usual employee."

"Yeah, now that they're no longer under Asakasa they're also no longer required to hide confidential info, assuming they salvaged some."

"What sort of confidential stuff would they know, though?"

"It depends on what they're made for, of course. Those made for espionage definitely have more know-how."

-----

Fukami leaves the school grounds now that class has ended. Ayaka walks beside her.

"Hi, Fukami!"

"Hi, Ayaka."

"Have you joined a club yet?"

"I can't decide on any."

"You always keep getting good grades with the craft projects, have you considered joining the arts and crafts one?

"No, I haven't."

"You should try to join it, you'll fit right in!"

"Do you think so?"

"Yeah, if you want I could join with you."

"Huh?" Fukami looks at Ayaka in surprise. "Y-You don't have to!"

"But I don't want you to feel lonely there; it seems that I'm the only other person you talk to a lot."

"Then you'll have to leave your club. Just for me."

"It's fine by me, don't worry too much about it!"

"If you want to, then okay."

"Great! Good thing I'm not part of any club yet. If we get in, we'll ourselves a treat to celebrate."

-----

"What's that, he did it?" Katsuhiko answers someone on the phone. "I'll keep an eye on that. Talk to you later." Click. He becomes more focused on the work on his desk, and later on suddenly remembers something. The service cards have the numbers for each robot, but worried that a direct call might be found out, he is relieved to find a phone number of a "New house" written on the back. "Hello?"

"Yes, who is this?" Yoshiya answers at the other end.

"Mitsui. I have some new information. Asakasa has launched a new robot to search for Fukami."

Some silence, then Yoshiya returns. "We are on it."

"One more thing," Katsuhiko holds up his project. "I'm about to test something with a camera, would it be okay for you to lend me a hand?"

"Certainly."

While Yoshiya does some more conversation with Katsuhiko, Tsunami goes out for a bit. Wearing her casual tank top and pants, she walks to the park, climbing on top of an installation to start some reconnaissance. 

"Miss?" A stranger approacher her from below. "Aren't you a little too old for that?"

"Excuse me?" She looks down to see the young man looking at him. "And watch where you're looking."

"What are you doing up there, anyway?"

"That's none of your business, can't I play with the park equipment?"

The male shrugs and leaves.

Tsunami notes the front of Katsuhiko's repair shop from her current vantage point, where she sees Yoshiya standing. She then receives a text from him telling her to meet up there.

"I've been thinking about Fukami's tracking capabilities, it's unusual to say the least." Katsuhiko comments while he sets up the camera. "I assume you can track devices?"

"If we can detect them, yeah." Tsunami answers.

"But can you guys detect an RT191 right now?"

"Negative. Not even  our proprietary signals are catching her." 

"Now check this camera." He points at the computer wired to it. "A while ago I got this to connect with her." On the screen one of the listed links is RT191.

"I have never seen something like this, this implies that she can choose who she'll link and unlink with."

"That is unheard of." Tsunami adds. "What's the camera for?"

"That's experiment number two, the pictures I'll take I can send privately. She's already in my send list. I don't know how much this will help but if you want..."

"We are used to collecting information in this manner." Yoshiya says. "If you would be so kind as to allow us access."

"Sure thing, both of you?"

The couple leave the shop, and after nice smile at the camera and receiving a test copy, they head back to the square, now looking for things to do while they currently have the free time to do so.

"We really haven't done this until now. Without hiding it, I mean."

"What do you mean, Tsunami?"

"Can, well, can we call this a date?"

"If you want, we can offically make this our first date."

Tsunami beams up and hugs Yoshiya with a smile. "Of course!"

"Where should we have this first date of ours?"

"Let's see..." She looks around for a place to hang out in, and decides on a small cake shop.

"This cake's way better than the canteen stuff." 

"I don't know if I could agree with that, but either are surely better than the rations."

"Don't ever remind me of those. We didn't even need them and I still hate those."

"How do you think our friends feel about use leaving?"

"As much as I would like to know, we can only wonder, unless we cross paths with them once more."

"Yeah, I'm really missing you-know-who."

"Has she not contacted you since our departure?"

"I don't think she even knows about it."

"Not yet, at the very least."

"She hasn't texted me, and her new workplace isn't involved with Asakasa in any way so there's no reason why she should fall silent for so long."

"I almost forgot about that fact." Yoshiya nods. "She might be a bit more fortunate in that regard."

"Should we give her the news?"

"I don't see any harm in that. She might even be delighted to hear about it." 

Suddenly someone's phone starts ringing, it's Yoshiya's.

"Hello, Mitsui?" Yoshiya answers his phone.

"Yes, I have some info about the new robot. He's definitely been launched recently and he's searching through the area around Asakasa for Fukami."

"Have you any more information about it, how he looks?"

"I'm still waiting for that, you know how hard it is to sneak robot information out of Asakasa."

"I understand, we'll keep an eye for it as well. Goodbye."

"What did he say?" Tsunami asks.

"The new robot is combing through Tokyo now."

"Already?"

"Yes, that means we have to watch out. But we are in the dark as to his appearance."

"Got it. Our date's not over, though." She says with a smile.

"I know, how can I ever forget?"

The date continues, and afterwards as they look for a place to shop, Tsunami checks her phone.

"Great, she texted!" She says. "Aw, she misses me."

"Are you going to break the news to her?"

"Might be risky."

"It will be alright, she no longer answers under Eikichi."

"Okay then. Maybe I should call her. Hello? It's been a while! How's it been for you? As you know, Yoshiya and I left Asakasa. We're living off part-time jobs for now." The conversation continues off for a few minutes. "So when are you free? Oh, I'll tell you whenever we could meet again. See you!"

"What did she say about us?"

"She didn't even know about Fukami being launched."

"As expected."

"But she's about to be on TV!"

"I assume as a reporter?"

"She didn't tell me more than that, but I hope she is!"

-----

"This fuckin' sucks." Tetsuya says to himself as the second day of his search begins. "Tokyo is huge! This shit boss put on my map ain't helpin' either. How the fuck am I gonna find one robot out of all-" He catches sight of something similar to his target. Hiding behind a sandwich board he takes a peek and sure enough he confirms it's her. With a wide grin he stands up ready to pounce but he gets a call from Eikichi. "Yes, boss?"

"Any updates?"

"Still nothin'. Ya sure this is the right place, boss?"

"That's the best guess, just keep on 

"Sure thing." He goes on a bit of a tour of the area, not caring about the sword strapped to his back. He looks at his shirt and decides to get something else while he waits, he takes his shirt off, but looking down at his chest he quickly covers it by draping his shirt around his neck and covering what might set him off as not human. Walking around like this, he stumbles upon a clothing store, and with no one else inside, he looks around for another top. He picks up a black tank top and hides into the changing room to put it on. Then with the new tank top on him he walks to the cashier, cash in hand.

"I'll pay for it." 

In his new top he leaves the store and eyes an arcade store to spend time in, but by the entrance someone comments out, "Whoa, is that a sword?"

"This one?" He holds the hilt of his sword. "Yeah."

"Really? Can it cut?"

"Sure it does."

"I don't believe you, lemme see that."

"I don't wanna get in trouble, here's a peep." He pulls his sword out a bit, then gets in the arcade.

The arcade's specialty seems to be fighthing games, with some people dedicating a lot of time to master their moves. Tetsuya kibitzes along with some credits he bought in hand until a vacant spot gives him something better to waste some time. With a track record of six wins out of the ten 1v1's he wants to do more but the time on his phone says that classes are about to end. He wordlessly exits the arcade and starts hanging out close to the school's entrance. 

Fukami can't help but notice someone who seems to be following him just out of her sight. Even with her eyes being the sharp cameras that they are she can't seem to find anyone. She starts walking more warily, scared about the possible danger that might befall her.

Still filled with worry she walks back home while Tetsuya sneaks out of an alley to get a view of where she goed but gets distracted by a snag on his sword and loses track of her, unwittingly walking in front of the repair shop and within Katsuhiko's camera's range. Fitted with a homemade jammer, the camera displays him in full view to Katsuhiko via his computer screen. The sheer unfamiliarity of the figure along with his sword Katsuhiko quickly snaps a few photos and sends them to the three robots in his list. He also asks some of his insider colleagues for updates on info on the new robot, which hasn't arrived since yesterday.

"I just received something from Mitsui." Yoshiya calls Tsunami on his cellphone.

"I got it too. What do you think, could this be it?"

"I cannot be too certain as we are still in the dark, but keep it for now as I'm about to return to work."

"Alright, talk to you later."

Fukami also looks at the photo on her phone. Asuka sees her.

"Is that from Katsuhiko's camera?"

Fukami nods.

"Who is that?"

"I don't know, but I keep seeing someone when I was on my way home."

"Who in their right mind would wear nothing but black in this weather?"

"Um... what's that on his back?" She zooms it in.

"It looks like a sword? If it is, that's quite a move for Eikichi."

"I think I know where she's stayin', boss." Tetsuya tells Eikichi on his phone.

"Good. Where is she residing?"

"I dunno, I kinda lost track of her."

"That is not what I want to hear."

"Well, what should I do, have a go at her anyway?"

"Don't show yourself like that!"

"Lame."

"Do you want these plans to be foiled? Now's not the time to strike."

"Whaddya want me to do, then?"

"Get more intel, find out who's with her, what she's doing, everything you can get, understand?"

"Yessir."

"Good. Wait a minute... where did you get that tank top?"

"I bought it myself."

"Tetsuya!" He stops himself from hitting something. "Return here ASAP."

"Yessir."

The conversation ends, and Eikichi picks up his cup of tea. "This one's going to be a pain to work with, I can just tell, no use complaining now though."

Katsuhiko is about to close the front of his shop when someone approaches in the nick of time. 

"Katsu!" The man slings his Asakasa uniform over his shoulder. "Here's the stuff you've been asking for."

"Finally." He takes the manila envelope.

"I had to find a way to evade file transfers, luckily they only give a damn about how much paper is used, not what gets printed on them."

"Tetsuya Saibara... and this..."

"They rushed his launch for the search, apparently."

"You know how high the quality control is there, they don't rush things without reason."

"Still unpredictable what that thing would do. Anyway, gotta go."

"See ya." Katsuhiko finally closes shop and examines the contents of the envelope further. The data on the papers is mostly dry data but what catches his eye is the drawn portait of the robot. He quickly compares his camera shots with the illustrations, and the similarities are hard to miss. "Bingo."

"What's that?" Asuka approaches.

"Just checking some figures, new robot has probably been to the store front. What we have to do now is find out what he can do based on these documents."

"Why hasn't he gone for us if he's sure this is where Fukami lives?"

"You should ask Eikichi for that."

-----

Tetsuya calls it a day and walks back to the office throug an alleyway, but he's suddenly interrupted by the appearance of a handful of young delinquents, armed with baseball bats and plainly dressed. 

"Hey, you!" One of them asks. "What's your name?" 

"Tetsuya."

"Who sent you?"

"Sent?"

"Yeah, did someone send you here?"

"Fuck no."

"Why are you here, then?"

"Cause it's easier than walking around the block. Can't a guy take shortcuts now?"

"Maybe you should think twice before crossing our turf!"

"This is ya place? Wouldn't have guessed, do ya guys really hang around here waiting for someone ya can make fun of?"

Thoroughly pissed off, they take a swing at Tetsuya, but he quickly unsheathes his sword, causing some of them to halt their steps.

"Come on, show me what ya have." He mocks with a grin. Some of the boys step back, but he notices. "Don't ya just run away like a buncha cowards, ya started this."

That is enough to rile them and one of them lunges at him with his bat, but Tetsuya blocks it with his sword with a clank, and not even a couple of connections from the others could make him flinch, to their amazement. Tetsuya kicks a couple of them, sending them to the ground. Soon enough he points his sword to the last man standing, the leader of the pack.

"Okay!" He cries out. "We give up."

"That was easy." Tetsuya 

"How did you even get a sword like that anyway?"

"My boss gave it to me."

"Who exactly is your boss?"

"Don't tell anyone else, but ya know a guy name Eikichi Asakasa?"

No one budges, until someone speaks up, "Asakasa? That's the one with the computers, right?"

"Yep."

"But why would computer guys need-"

"Shhh. Less ya know the better."

The leader speaks up again. "Would you be okay with being part of... us, Tetsuya?"

"How about this, in these places I'm no one's lackey, but I be ya want someone like me in ya ranks."

They nod.

"And I can't just do all the work my boss is gonna give me on my own. Ya help me, I help ya. Whaddya think?"

"Will your boss know?"

"I'll decide about that, I'm doin' this without him knowin'."

"That doesn't sound like a good idea."

"Feh, as long as shit get's done it's fine by him."

The boys look at each other, and without any more words their leader comes forward. "If you really mean that, then welcome to the gang, uh..."

"Tetsuya Saibara." He returns his sword to its case. "Just call me Tetsuya."

The two lock hands in an agreement.

"What should I call ya?"

"Junichiro." The other boys give their short introduction. Tetsuya's phone then starts ringing.

"Yeah, boss?"

"According to my map you're in an alley, what are you doing in there?"

"Uh, takin' a shortcut?"

"You've been in the same spot for fifteen minutes now, what's the hold up, then?"

"Got into a bit of a tussle, no biggie."

"You better return here ASAP." Eikichi puts down the phone.

"Guess I gotta go now, where do ya guys hang out?"

"Over at the noodle shop next to that stable." One of them points.

"Got it, see ya soon!" He makes a dash out of the alley.

As he leaves, one of them asks "Should we really have taken him that seriously?"

"If that fight was any indication I wouldn't want to cross him, besides, we should really take as much help as we can, we're not that big."

-----

The next day Fukami goes to the club registration for the art club with Ayaka tagging along. The club room is unusually empty.

"Hello!" The lone leader greets them. "You're here to join?"

"Um, well, we-" 

"Of course!" Ayaka exclaims. "We're you going to say something, Fukami? Sorry."

"Are, are we the first people here?"

"You are." He answers, handing them a sheet of paper. "It's been slow today, but thanks for joining the club!"

"Thank you." Fukami is the first to fill out her name on the list.

"By the way, if you have anything you made you can show it."

Ayaka shows a piece of fanart she drew, while Fukami shows a handful of handcarved shogi pieces.

"I like this character a lot." Ayaka says about her work.

"You did this so well!" The leader looks at the piece. "And what are these, shogi pieces?"

Fukami nods. "They're not yet finished, those are all pawns. I couldn't bring the flower arrangements I made, I hope they're okay."

"We'll do flower arrangements here, don't worry about it." Interesting... style you chose."

"I'm still trying to do the fancy ones, so I copied the ones on the computer."

"They're very uniform, but I can wait for you to complete the set."

"Thanks. Um, we can go now, right?"

"Sure thing, welcome to the club, by the way."

With a smile, Fukami gives a nod and she and Ayaka exit the room. A few students watch the two leave, and the seeming intrigue about the new girl joining the club has some students entering the room.

"What do you plan to do now?"

"I don't know, but yesterday you said we'll celebrate. Maybe we can go to the arcade."

"Are you sure? Almost no one plays there but fighthing game nerds."

"It can't be that bad, there are still other games."

As expected, the people in the arcade are concentrated around the fighting game cabinets, but the two girls quietly buy some credits and walk to the cabinets with prizes inside. Colorful, loud, rigged, each cabinet offering tempting rewards for those who are brave enough to spend for them. Ayaka catches sight of a figurine in one of the games, up for grabs to those who can push it off its shelf. Fukami settles for a small stuffed rabbit from a different game.

Katsuhiko enters the arcade carrying a toolbox. "Fukami!" He heads straight for her.

"I didn't expect you here."

"I got a call to fix some of the machines here. By the way, I have some news." He turns to Ayaka. "This is a bit of a private matter, this won't take long."

Ayaka nods, and the other two hide into a quite corner.

"Remember that guy you saw yesterday?"

"Is he..."

"Yeah, sword and all. I got some of the documents."

"What will we do now?"

"Stay alert. Asuka is reading through some of the information right now. Let's go back."

They return, Katsuhiko then gives the two girls his goodbyes and leaves for the repair job.

Ayaka is rather busy playing on her own. "Not again!"

"What are you trying to get?" Fukami asks.

"This figurine, but I keep missing. Why don't you try it? Maybe you'll fare better."

She takes a look at the machine, her eyes taking in the scale of things. She takes the helm of the controls, and once Ayaka puts in the credit, Fukami stares intently as she takes aim, and as the display only she can see shows her, she presses the button. The piece slips through the gap like ever so precisely and pushes the figurine box to the chute.

Ayaka watches this in awe, disturbed only by the sound of the box hitting the bottom. "How did you do that?" She takes the prize.

"I guess I'm just good at it?" She smiles with a nod.

"If you're that good at it, maybe you should try it again." Ayaka teases.

"I won't have any use for any of them, though."

"What have you won?"

"This." She pulls the bunny from her bag. "But I think I won enough for a snack for both of us."

The two continue on playing for an hour more, then finally leave with a few more trinkets and some dessert treats. They arrive by the repair shop, where Asuka sees them.

"How was your time at the arcade?"

"We had fun, and Fukami got this for me!" Ayaka holds up the figurine box.

"That's great. Katsuhiko went there to fix some machines, did he see you?"

"He did."

Asuka is about to follow up the question, but stops herself.

"I almost forgot, we're part of the art club now!"

"Good to hear, Fukami has been passing the time by making stuff."

"I'll be off now, see you tomorrow, Fukami!"

"Bye!" She waves.

"Has he told you?" Asuka asks while they go home and Fukami lays down her items.

"Yes. What else is there about him?"

"His name's Tetsuya, number 442, and he does carry a sword with him. He's also been launched earlier than scheduled."

"Like me?"

"Yours kept being pushed back, but testing on him had just finished before launch."

"He really wants to get me, huh? That sounds risky, though..."

"I doubt it, he's a perfectionist more than anything."

-----

After their little date, Yoshiya and Tsunami retire back to their house. Tsunami is carrying a large stuffed bear around her arms.

"Who knew you'll find some other use for your sharpshooting?"

"You do know these senors are here for a different purpose, but if my capabilities can get the job done..." 

"If we do this too often they might ban us."

"It is not as if I was the only one gaming the machines."

"Right, Fukami was also there."

Yoshiya's phone suddenly rings, which he answers. "Yes, Mitsui?"

"Hey, I'm so sorry for bothering but I wasn't able to tell you this in the arcade."

"No worries, although I presume this is about the new robot?"

"Yes, I have acquired some documents, so what say we discuss this tomorrow?"

He ponders for a while; he has a shift tomorrow. "I can come there after work."

"Sure, see you then. Bye."

"Goodbye." Yoshiya puts the phone down. "Seems like we will no longer be in the dark as to what this new robot can do."

-----

"So you're the new guy." A robot calls Tetsuya out, who's about to head into his bedroom. "I expected you to look more like someone assigned to get 191."

"Shut up." He scowls. "Like ya ain't also required to look for her."

"Right, but don't you know, Eikichi just can't wait to launch you when the news of her theft broke out."

"Ya tell me, first thing he tells me is get 191."

"Well, you better show your worth, sword boy."

"Ya bet I will."