[Private] A certain someone...

Wade listens carefully to the briefing, munching loudly on the chips in his hands as he does so. Once Satoshi finishes, so does the bag, so he simply throws it away in the bin next to the bed, leans forward and scratches his chin. 'Hmm... Well, if what you say is true, then we'll really have three objectives - A) Find a way to either convert Vivian to our cause using either a speech about the power of friendship or brainwashing techniques originating from the USSR, B) Discover who Takeshi's spy is and murder him or her by impalement, and C) Track down Takeshi's wife, as she'll lead us right to him. Only problem I see with that is the lack of details. There's plenty of charity organizations based in Tokyo. It would be impossible to single out one woman, y'know? After we know his location and have dealt with the spy, then we can start worrying about how to break in and get Kuriko'

[Hey guys...don't you think it's a little suspicious that Wade knows Dr.T's true name? I don't know-maybe we know the spy already ]

"A sounds the most plausible, but we don't even know where she is."

"The only way she could possibly defect or yield is if we were to attack and come across her when she's by herself."

"If we attack her, I can't help but feel like it would trigger an event similar to the battle of Sekigahara."

"Tokugawa Ieyasu's strategy of shooting a deciding army to make them decide to defect to their side."

"We don't attack her but we show her we are ready to without saying we are."

"'Speak softly and carry a big stick.'"

"The other options...they will take to long..."

My head bows.

I know what I speak about the other options is illogical but I can't wait another moment.

I feel too guilty for Kuriko's situation to wait at all.

I'm about ready to check myself out of the hospital, regardless of the likely protest of it by the medical staff.

I'll be damned if anything can stop me now.

Personal emotions overflow and cloud my judgement.

'Wait, I don't think you quite got it' Wade objects. 'We're not just picking one option. We'll be picking ALL options, y'know? Christopher will be in charge of tracking down Vivian and convincing her to join our cause by any means necessary, Hawke will play detective and try to figure out who the spy is, and at the same time, the two of us here will try to deduce the killer's identity! That way, we have two back-up plans in case one fails! What do you say?'

"That...is actually good thinking."

About time someone beat me at leadership thinking.

And at something so simple too! I'm embarrassed.

"Sound good to you guys or does anyone want to switch jobs?"

"Just...don't put me going against Vivian."

"I doubt she would be glad to see me...like...at all."

My voice suddenly takes a dark turn. Much less playful than before.

"...She was the closest person to me when I heard-..."

"...When they started.."

I lower my head. My eyes invisible behind my hair.

"I hate her..."

Chris's stomach begins to growel. "I'll be back, fellas. "By the way, do me a favor and try not to unleash your fury on Vivian again, Satoshi. That girl has a sensitive heart that's being tread on." Chris leaves and immediately answers his phone when he sees Sumiko's name appear on the caller ID. Chris forces himself to sound calm. "Sumiko, where are you?"


My apologies, Mr. Cook but this is one of the nurses at Yamaku's clinic speaking. We have Ms. Nakagawa with us presently. She... collapsed earlier.
Without any further incentive, Chris dashes his way to Yamaku's clinic to comfort his most beloved.

'Huh... That was weird...' Wade comments and turns to Satoshi. 'So, I guess that leaves us! This place has shit reception, but at least its wi-fi seems to be good! Well, not really, their public network is beyond redemtpion, but the ones reserved for doctors? Boo-yah, 350 Mbits! Pro-tip: When you're a good, respected hospital, don't put "Pass123" as your wi-fi password! I mean, seriously?!? Who does that?!?' Wade rants as he whips out his phone and clicks a few icons on its holographic display. 'Now, let's see... Tokyo-based charity organizations... Oh, boy... We're gonna need to narrow it down just a little bit, and by a little bit I mean by about few thousand results!'

"I think we should work together here, work out which organisation she works for and I can sit and think about the spy. If either of us come up with a vital clue give us a shout."

Hawke sits and thinks about the possible spies in the school.

He listens in on Satoshi and Wade's conversation while reclining in a chair and blurts out, "Wade, how did you know he was called Takeshi?"

'Hey, that totally works! You're right, it wouldn't make sense to send you away in search of the spy without any clues!' Wade grins. His face turns slightly more serious once the question is asked, but he quickly smiles again before responding. 'It's because he wouldn't shut up about it while he was unconscious! The only things he kept on repeating were "Takeshi", "Kuriko" and "Why don't you go live in Russia or China if that is the way you all hate the United States of America". Yeah, I thought the last part was kinda weird too, but bottom line is, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that Takeshi and that Dr. T of yours are the same person'

Hawke nods, "Right. I was just making sure." He says, smiling.

Obviously it's not Satoshi. Wade I highly doubt... possibly Shinto and Setsuna, they could possibly have been leading us into a trap...

Hawke takes out a pad and pencil and begins drawing up a list of the possible suspects.


Unlikely
Satoshi - went to the facility
Christopher - encountered Vivian
Wade - great asset to the "cause"

Possibilities
Shinto - Suspicious activity
Setsuna - SAA
Ryuu - No redeeming or demeaning activities, keeps to himself but listens
Toriyama-Sensei - A cyborg himself and arrived just as the trouble began
Shisen-sensei - arrived shortly after trouble began

After that Hawke draws a blank and sits back to think at both of the problems that the team had.

"If Takeshi is a scientist and can perform surgical operations, such as attaching cybernetic limbs, would it make sense that he met his wife at some scientific or medical charity? Just a thought."

'Wait, wait, wait - Toriyama-sensei is MARRIED?!?' Wade gasps. 'That player! I thought he was single, seeing as he's hitting on Shisen-sensei like there's no tomorrow! I should seriously ask for tips!'

[Oh shit. I'm an idiot. I meant to put Takeshi ]

[But I was never told Takeshi's name. Same with back when Kuriko was with me in the hospital.
You guys should probably know that you can't do stuff like have dreams or say the names of people in your sleep if you haven't ever met them before.]

"He told me he met and fell in love with his wife while singing some song. Performing it on a stage."

"That should narrow it down a little."

'Uh, no, it won't' Wade shakes his head. 'I mean, I can't exactly type "Charity organizations with women who met their husbands while singing a song" into Google, y'know what I mean? I mean, I probably can, but chances are all I'll get will be some very strange Swedish porn flicks. Didn't he mention exactly what his wife worked, or what the charity organization did? Just... Anything that will help me find her through a standard search engine?'

[Well pipe up and tell Hawke that he didn't know the name then! Jeez.
You should probably know that I can't go breaking the fourth wall.]

"Did he mention how long he'd been married to this girl? If you know roughly when they met you can look up the musicals on at the time in Tokyo. Not MANY of those actresses would be divorced and go on to work for charity. It's a long shot but it's the only route I can see."

"It's unlikely we would find her on a search engine. We would have to ask around."

"Apparently she has an ex husband with the last name Takeshi, he is-and was-into cybernetics, and met him after he sang on stage."

"It is a very broad search but what else is there?"

"I can't think of anything more to go for other than just combing the area I was taken to..."

It's what I'd rather do anyway. We're wasting so much time-I need to find Kuriko.

'Last name Takeshi, huh... Maybe she didn't change it after marriage? Let me see here...' Wade says and quickly moves his fingers across the holographic display. 'Nope, I can't find anything relevant when I type the keywords "charity" and "Takeshi" together. Or maybe I'm just not spelling it right... Uh, this would've been so much easier if we just knew what the hell to look for!!! Are you sure he didn't tell you anything else about her?'

"Why don't you just search Takeshi? Even if there's nothing on his wife there might be something about him. And anyway, are we even sure his real name is Takeshi? It might be a fake name."

'Alright then. It's worth a shot!' Wade grins and inputs the name. '4.5 million results. We're gonna need to be a bit more specific about this...'

"Not anything relevant. Just that they parted ways because he was more interested in his studies."

"I...I think he gave me the name of the song but I can't remember it at all."

This is going nowhere...

"The most logical thing to do would probably be to check as many charity organizations as we can starting with the largest since they are likely to have more nurses. We'll split up and ask around-also ask if they know anybody who had an ex husband like that."

"It's likely that her colleagues knew her when her name was Takeshi."

"He has no reason to use a fake name."

[And don't look at me-he never even told me his name was Takeshi XD]

"And he was speaking to me during a time of slight trust."

"After all, he did tell me that bit about his past and even about the others' pasts."

'Dude, I think you missed the part where I told you there are hundreds of charity organizations based in Tokyo! It's gonna take us weeks to get through all of them! And besides, what are you going to ask? "Oh, hey, I was just wondering if you had a woman working here married to someone named Takeshi"? That's not going to get us anywhere! And besides, what if he deliberately lied to you in order to misinform you and send you on a wild goose chase in case you escaped? No, there's gotta be a simpler solution than this!' Wade yells and grabs Satoshi by the shoulders. 'Think!!! What is she like? What did he tell you about her?!?'

"I never said we would check all of them! Just the larger ones."

When Wade grabs me by the shoulders I push up on his arms with my right forearm to break his grip.

My voice becomes harsh. Tainted by my impatiance to find T.

"He spoke none more-and, if you are so sure he said it to lead us on a chase, then why aren't we searching for the hideout itself NOW?"

'Hey, you wanna go outside and look around blindly, be my fucking guest!' Wade yells out as he backs off. 'I mean, we don't even have a single clue about its location! Not one! The only thing we DO know about this whole damn case is that we've got a cybernetics expert named Takeshi who's-- Hang on a minute...' he returns into his chair and opens up Google again, then types "Takeshi cybernetics" into the search bar. 'Holy shit... I think I got something here... I mean, it's vague, but...'

"..."

Why? Because fuck complications!

"What is it?-Let me see!"

I am still bound to my hospital bed.

Hawke sits up from his contemplation in interest.

"You didn't search this before? I thought we'd already done it. What does it say?" Hawke limps over to Wade and looks at the holographic.

'Uh, nothing specific, really. Lemme pop out the latest result' Wade says and enhances the window, making the window big enough for everyone to see.


On March 6th, 2017, Takeshi Tachibana and his adolescent daughter disappeared from his private residence in Tokyo without a trace. The former co-head and founder of "Tachibana Industries", the first and still biggest company dedicated to cybernetic research and development, did not leave any suicide notes and was not even seen leaving his apartment on the night of the disappearance. After a thorough search involving dozens of police officers and lasting for three days didn't turn up a single clue, the authorities are currently considering them dead. Despite the lack of clues, the most probable theory is a murder-suicide. As was widely publicized, Kenshi Kato, the co-CEO of "Tachibana Industries", recently purchased all of Takeshi Tachibana's shares, leaving himself nearly bankrupt in a desperate attempt to steal the throne for himself. This move was received extremely negatively by the people, many of which considered (and still consider) Takeshi Tachibana to be a hero. Throughout the 12 years in which "Tachibana Industries" has been open for business, it has provided cheap, high-quality cybernetics for thousands of people with disabilities, ranging from artificial limbs to organs and even exoskeletons for people with skin conditions. Tachibana's wife, Tomoe - a surgeon working for "Tachibana Industries", refused to comment on recent events and preferred to mourn the loss of her husband and child in private.