(Private) Regretted Decision

Masato slowly makes his way towards the large table covered in food and drinks, then pours himself a glass of juice and turns around, continuing his observation of of the dance floor. 'Why did I agree to this...' he says to himself before taking a sip of his drink. As per school regulations, at least two teachers need to be present at any event formally organized by the school. Since Masato was relatively new here, the principal automatically recommended him, claiming he could use the opportunity to get to know the students a little better. Not wanting to leave a bad impression, the man agreed, and almost immediately regretted it. Those types of loud events were never to his taste. "Hmm, I wonder if she is just as lonely and bored as I am right now..." he wonders in his mind while drinking some more juice.

Are you the other teacher here?

* a very calm voice ask while sitting down*

Or are you just the guy that is hired to scare little kids?

I would give you props for that.

Shinto is my name.

Masato squints his eye when he hears Shinto's comments. 'A teacher in a school for disabled students making fun of somebody's disability, huh? I suppose the principal wasn't joking when he said they were desperate for teachers...' he responds, then puts the glass away and gives his left hand forward. 'I'm Toriyama. If my cybernetics make you feel uncomfortable, we can skip the handshake'

*He takes the handshake*

Don't worry about it.I am just in for black and cruel humor. Wasn't ment offensive.
On a serious sidenote, if you transfer your authority you gain by looking, you should be a master at teaching people how shit is going down.


*ey barkeeper, give me some coke*


So,what are you teaching ? You're quiet a new face around here,are you not?

He remains silent for a few seconds, trying to decide what he should think about this other teacher, with little success. 'That's right. I just transferred here to teach science about a week ago. What about you? What do you teach, Shinto-sensei?'

History. And i give some people lessons in profiling. I am not gonna say names here,but they aske dme to do it, not on this school thought.



Why did you transfer here?

A week ago? Hmm.

Alot of things happen here since 2 weeks.

'Profiling? I see...' Masato picks up his glass again, wondering why an ordinary history teacher would be qualified enough to also teach profiling. Still, he decides not to dwell on it too much at that point. 'Interesting things?' he repeats. 'Like what?'

Some Loners started disappearing and not returning. As a matter of fact, almost every student who is alone is in danger.the people who disappearead where never in classes,so it is easy to catch em off guard. However, ive set an eye on it.

baisicly i am kind of worried baout every single Loner on this school .

The persons never appeared and theres no trace, thats why.

Do you know anything about it?

'Students are... disappearing? Just like that?' Masato says and looks away in thought. After Shinto asks his question, he shakes his head. 'No, of course not. After all, I just got here. Don't the police have any clues about what might be going on?'

No. not at all.

Surprisingly *he gets very calm without showing it, as he prepares a perfect lie*
The 3 students iwth Cybernetics, Setsuna Tachinaba, Nayumi Asari and Ichiko Sequenze ,who are the lonliest people on this school,going to no class at all, are completly save without anything strange.

And that on the other side is fairly noteworthy (he keeps his close watch on Masato)

*Thinks: Lets see if he knows more than he wants to say.*

His heart skips a beat once he hears the name "Tachibana". 'Wait, don't you mean--' he prepares to object, but stops in order to compose himself and think of how exactly to phrase his response. 'Never mind... There is a student called Setsuna Sequenze in one of the classes I teach, but the name must be a coincidence. After all, I don't think he has skipped any classes at all, at least not since I arrived here'

*Perfect...*

What did I mean? Did i mix the names up again?


Setsuna Sequenze. no i dont think that can be, the Setsuna i am talking about is a Girl. Setsuna as a male name for someone called Tachinaba Would be completly stupid and no Parent would ever do that.

However, i do know that Setsuna Sequenze is related to Ichiko. Who happens to b e also a girl.

Besides, now where you mention it,all those 3 persons are also girls, while there where 2 boys and 1 girl abducted. Hmm....

'Hmm...' Masato places the glass back on the table and rubs his chin, deep in thought. 'The way I see it, gender has little relevance in the kidnappings. If there were two boys and one girl that were kidnapped, then this probably isn't a gender-related crime. I may not be a qualified profiler, but even I can guess that the kidnapper needs the students for something else. So why are you bringing gender up at all? What are you getting at, Shinto-sensei?'

I am bringing genders up because theres a huge difference between the persons who got kidnapped and which still are there.


Also,i think its no coincidence that Tachinaba actually never attends to school, While Sequenze is fairly intelligent and nearly always there and Asari is completly off the world anyway.

Its also funny that all our cybernetic Students are still there besides fitting into the profile of crime much better and more perfectly than "any abducted student"

What is your opponion on these 3?

I think its no coincidence that cybernetic students are still there,and non cybernetic students are away.

I can for example imagine that this Boy, Sechs was his name, was not even abducted but more liked the idea in the first palce and was just Going in the first place. He had some brain damage thinking that he is infact someone who is cybernetic from some old Anime or manga called battle angle alita.


Put that all together for a moment, Theory is that the guy or girl or organisation who is abducting people are searching people to either research on, or just simply picked at random. Which means that the next abduction will be the girl with the most cybernetics at her body, Either Sequenze, Tachinaba or Asari. And to be quiet honest, i think the culprit is ahead of me in that case, because i do not know who has the most Cybernetic body parts.

Masato squints his eyes. 'Well, then the answer would be simple - conduct a school-wide physical exam and run everyone though an ultrasound. Cybernetic organs are surprisingly easy to detect that way. Trust me, I know because I am quite sure I am the one with the most cybernetics in his body'

really you think so?

Hmm...I disagree.


I do not know it by certain , because i did not look for it, But Tachinaba is usually pretty harshly dressed , and her voice sounds robotic.

When this is true, than that means, her lower part,or atleast the mouth is cybernetic. Or the voice box for that matter.
However, that also means,that her lower head is cybernetic, which makes everything below that useless. As far as i know, your spine must be connected with your brain,if theres metal in between,the rest of the body does not work.
Thats what happens if you break your neck, your nerves stop flowing,the body is disconnected from the brain and instantly shuts down.

On a scientific level that means, if she really has a metal lower head half, her hearth wouldnt work,which means, she does not have any, that means,it does not pump blood, which makes the rest of the body not work,yet it does.

Surprisingly enough,Tachinaba is in a pre tty good shape.

Judging by that fact,which is a biological fact,everything below the point of her mouth is cybernetic. Now that would mean, that she is "barely human" anymore.

Now, i am not a master on this zone, i assume i am correct because she dresses like its complete and utter winter.
Oh , did i already say, that i do not believe you can replace a lower part of your complete head without removing the connection between spine and brain?

I was just now making that assumption, a moment ago,i did not have the idea.

*he looks sharply at masato*

YOu look like half a human to me, atleast half you have a complete face.

'Hmm, this makes sense... You can not just replace the neck with a cybernetic implant without severing the spine, and technology still isn't advanced enough to fully repair a fully severed spine. If your assumptions are correct, then this... Setsuna Tachibana might have more implants than you are used to seeing. But still, there is one thing I fail to understand... Let's say, for the sake of argument, that 95% of her cybernetic. Assuming the previous three kidnapped victims had absolutely no cybernetic implants in their bodies whatsoever, then what makes you think someone who is, for all intents and purposes, a robot, would be useful to our kidnapper?'

If i stated that the ones who are captured are used for experimental porpuses, i think its fair to say that they have a larger objective.

A big part of engineering is reversing.

Taking something that doesnt work and make it work is engineering

taking something that work and remove parts of it to see where it fails is reversing.

Or simply to finish what has been started.

Either you test her out what you can do to a human to make him cyborg,and what you can do to a cyborg to make him as cripple as possible, a cruel intent.

Or you finish what has been started and manipulate that.

Lets say those are high skilled technicians, than they test around right now on all 3 subjects, and than abduct the nearly done one and make her into a full one. Just to have something, which god knows what. A work robot, an assasin,perhaps just a slave. You get the idea?

'You don't need to explain that to me. Don't forget, I have an engineering degree' Masato reminds him. 'Though I do not see how exactly you reached the conclusion that the children are used for experiments, I do agree that this is the most likely scenario, given all the information we have. But in that case, don't you think somebody should protect Tachibana?'

Hmm, To be fair. Since i do believe protection is archieved by stating un true facts, i must admit i lied.

First,S etsuna is no girl, i talk about Setsuna Sequenze,a guy without any cybernetics.

Second, its Nayumi Tachinaba and Ichiko Asari.

However,i believe my thoughts about Tachinaba are correct.


Setsuna is the boss of a big family of yakuzas,the Sequenze Family.

Anyway, Nayumi Tachinaba is still a loner, i do not know if Setsuna still holds close contact to her, because he was pretty shallow in the last few weeks.

Protecting someone isnt easy as it sounds, but i do have my hands on this, and so does setsuna. My name is Sequenze aswell , if you want to know more.

I think i dont know if i can or can not trust you,but this is not amatter of trust, this is a matter which goes far beyond that.

Besides,the name lists are open for public.

and well, i dont have that conclusion just like that, its a theory which will be strenghened by any kind of cybernetic abduction in the future. Because if they would want non cybernetic students,they still have loners to gather here.

He squints his eye again upon the revelation that he had been lied to. 'Were you testing me, Shinto-sensei? I would very much like to know why'

Masato sighs when he hers the name Sequenze. 'Yes, unfortunately, I am quite familiar with your family. Let's just say... I built one or two things for them during my time as a freelance engineer - a period from my life that I am not particularly proud of. To be honest, you don't act like a typical Sequenze goon, so I am willing to trust you... if you trust me in turn'

I was not particulary testing you. You said it yourself, those people need protection. It may seem a little unconventiel,but i protected their identity long enough to make sure that you infact are an teacher.

In moments like this,i cannot let my guard down, or thsose of the kids, and i am sorry for that.


Theres no reason iwould fail to trust you right now, you fit into the raster of maybe "getting" captured,well, ouy look good enough to proect yourself.


And no,i am not a Sequenze goon, i am their leader, i am one of the big 9, and Setsuna Sequenzes personal Guardian. I am the main enforcer, noone else.


I am sure that we did not do anything bad to you because we usually step away from corruption,however, i was comming here because i was trying to find the traitors that poisoned Setsuna. And you know them apperantly,because i think that i never ordered any help for someone with your name on the package.

Masato preferred to simply close his eye and squeeze the handle of his cane tightly, instead of objecting vocally to Shinto's assessment about being able to protect himself. 'You are their leader, huh? I wonder... Wouldn't it be in the Sequenzes' interest to research cybernetics? I mean, surely they have attempted similar experiments in the past...'

While i do agree that cybernetics are maybe one of the best thing humanity has archieved thus far, i do disagree on their method of researching them. Its highly illegal, researching cybernetics means you force someone to give away humanity. That would be the opposite of what we do, Again, we have a corrupted branch i have to find in our pretty large family. The sequenze family would never destroy someones life on porpuse,and by the way you make it sound,that is exactly what those "people" did to you. If you want to,you can tell me more,if you dont want to, its not neccesary,ill make those bastards bleed if i find them,and they will bleed long and hard.

Masato keeps quiet for a few seconds, analyzing the situation. 'Well... You are the profiler here, are you not? Why don't you tell me what happened?'