False Error (Arc 3 Science Side)

"In any case, I'd say she's our only lead. It's not much, but we should probably try looking around for her to see if she knows anything that can help. Even if she doesn't, we wouldn't be very good pubic officials if we just left a little kid wandering the city. I hope you're up for more interviews, because we're going to need to ask around to see who saw this kid and where she went."

Saito nods affirmatively, "Alright, I think we should fan out a bit, no one on the bus saw much besides the description of the girl." Thinking for a second, Saito pauses and looks around. turning back to Kerri, Saito starts speaking again, "We should be better off interviewing people in the surrounding area, there are a few out door food carts in the area, maybe one of the owners of a stand had seen something though it is doubtful, it is still worth a shot. After we finish up here, we should check the status of the wounded when they stabilize and see if we can get an interview with them too, just to be thorough"

"Doesn't it sound weird? I received this dead weight yet I've been told to take care of her, I haven't been told to bring her to the authorities. Surely there'd be a reason why?"

"But well, enough of that. Will you let us, or will you not? If you don't want to, I won't push the matter any further."

He looked at her through eyes narrowed by wariness.

"There's something suspicious going on here..." He kept his eyes on them as he stepped aside, unlocking the door to usher them inside.

"There's food in the refrigerator. Don't make too much of a mess." He closed the door behind him flippantly.

Pacing down the staircase Guy rubbed his palm against his forehead with a groan. He closed his eyes with irritation and ran his hand back through his hair. The habitual gesture did something to sooth his worries.

"There's definitely something suspicious about it." He shook his head dismissively.

"Yaho-gkk!!" She had started running in the apartment before Natsumi forcefully grabbed her by the collar and lifted her up. "Put me down!"

"I already hate you for making me ask him a favour. Destroy his apartment and I'm destroying your face." Natsumi looked into the fridge as she put Iresia down. It seemed like there was enough ingredients to make something. "I'm guessing you already know what you wa-"

***

"Let me help out!"

"Stab yourself with this knife. You'll do me such a great favour." She said that, but she was still cutting up the onions instead of handing over a knife. "Stop bothering me or you're not eating anything tonight."

"Muu! Why are you so mean?!"

In an attempt to shove her off, Natsumi stopped cutting the onions and showed her the knife with a grin, and as expected, she ran off into the bed. She didn't feel terrible for scaring a child at all.

***

"You're the one cleaning up if you make a mess." After threatening her, she gave Iresia her plate of curry and sat on the floor. "By the way, you still haven't told me how did you get lost? And don't talk with food in your mouth."

"I know that already! You're not eating?"

"I'll eat later, I don't really want to right now. So?"

"I don't know!"

"Why are you sounding so happy as you're telling me something I don't believe?!"

"It's true! I just remember that yesterday my friends and I were going somewhere! And the next thing I knew I was in a district I didn't even know!"

"Where were you going?"

"Umm... Since yesterday was Sunday, our teachers mentioned something about going out for a ride once in a while, but they didn't tell us where."

"Is that so...?"

She sighed and headed for the balcony to get some fresh air. It didn't seem like she was going to be of much help if she didn't know anything about her situation. And it didn't look like Miyako was willing to give her details. Just what had she gotten herself into...?

Kerri nodded as Saito finished, Well, he seems nice, so i guess i should be somewhat tolerable, at least until this whole mess is over.

"Well, I can't imagine those more critically injured will be in much of a mood to chat with us anytime soon, so we'll need to assume that they'll be out of commission for now." Kerri looked towards the Anti Skill agent he had been speaking to earlier, and led Saito to him, to show him the image they had of the missing girl,

"For now, we need to go on the biggest mystery here-this kid." Kerri tapped the screen. "A child doesn't just disappear from the scene of a crime and there's no evidence for us to assume that the worst has happened to her." Kerri looked around, trying to spot some of the food carts,

"We'll go with your theory and check around, but if that doesn't work out, let's check with local Elementary schools. I'm sure they'll know about whether or not one of their kids is missing."

Kerri turned to the Anti-Skill officer, and told him what their plans of action were. After giving him their contact, and quickly jotting down the addresses of some of the local elementary schools, Kerri and Saito asked him to let the two of them know if any of the passengers with graver injuries woke up.

---

"Alright then..." Kerri and Saito stood outside of an elementary school, notably when all of the kids were in recess.

Saito's suggestion had proven useful: Most vendors who were in the area had rushed towards the crash after hearing the explosion, but one of them just happened to be a little more vigilant than most. He pointed them in the direction he happened to see a young girl with violet hair wandering. While it didn't seem very useful, it at least gave Kerri and Saito an idea of where to start.

They walked in the direction they were pointed at, and decided to start at the first Elementary school they found.

Kerri noticed a few kids who happened to be giving him nervous glances. As he waved, putting on his normal toothy grin, the kids ran away scared, one of them screaming 'It's a monster!' to which Kerri simply deadpanned to,

"As you may have guessed, I'm not exactly the best with kids. I think I can talk to the Principal in charge here, and ask to look at an attendance sheet... and maybe you could try looking around the playground to see if the kid we're looking for didn't sneak in. Or vice versa, either way, we need to make sure someone tells the person in charge. What sounds good?" Kerri asked Saito,

Hopefully this whole ordeal doesn't take too long.

"As you may have guessed, I'm not exactly the best with kids. I think I can talk to the Principal in charge here, and ask to look at an attendance sheet... and maybe you could try looking around the playground to see if the kid we're looking for didn't sneak in. Or vice versa, either way, we need to make sure someone tells the person in charge. What sounds good?

"I'll go search the Playground and talk to a few kids, maybe one of them were friends with our lead." With that Saito broke for the playground. Taking a look around the playground, there were kids dotting the play equipment, the most popular of which appeared to be the play structure that housed a set of monkey bars and a slide.

'Alright, gotta put my best foot forward for the kids!' Saito approached the kids, and started to smile in a goofy fashion that was totally forced. Some of the kids noticed Saito and ran off laughing to go play something else. The two remaining kids, a boy and a girl came over to Saito. The boy had a messy mop of brown hair. The girl had straight black hair that came down to her shoulders.

Crouching down to get at the kids eye level Saito greeted the kids, "H-hi there! I'm Saito! Nice to meet you!" At the end of his greeting, Saito waved at the kids a little. "What are your names?"

It almost looked like Saito was trying to communicate with monkeys, he was gesticulating all over the place, pointing at himself and the children making big gestures. The kids looked at Saito, looked back at each other for a second, then back to Saito and burst out into laughter.

"BWHAHHAHAHAH-HAHA-HAA, Tomoki, this onii-chan is weird! Hahahaha!" said the girl as her laughter died down into giggling.

"Haruna, wanna play some hide and go seek?" the boy suggested to the Haruna. Haruna looked at Tomoki and as if they understood what the other was thinking, they both tagged Saito, then yelled "TRY AND FIND US!" as they ran off to go hide.

'Well isn’t this wonderful... well I might as well play along, maybe I will learn something.'

Residing to the idea of playing with the two kids, Saito started counting. "One... two.... three…. four..."

After a little over minute, Saito was just about done counting. "Ninety-eight... ninety-nine... one hundred! READY OR NOT HERE I COME!"

'Well this can’t be too hard, they are elementary kids...' Saito took off into the yard searching the play equipment, the trees, behind the drinking fountains. He couldn’t find the two kids anywhere. Saito was about to give up when he heard some giggling coming from behind him, how he heard it, Saito had no idea but he did, and that was the break he needed to find them.

Turning around to face the back of school, there was a straight alley that led to an ivy covered brick wall, there was about a half meter of space between the wall and the back of the school, the air conditioner to the building was back here humming, drowning out the sound of the kids in the yard playing.

Something caught Saito's eye, it was, a kid stuck in the wall? No it was a kid stuck under the wall trying to crawl under the wall unsuccessfully, and that’s when he heard the giggling again.

"Haruna, if you don’t get through he will find us! Pfffft... Hahahahahaha! You look ridiculous like that!" The boy was laughing at the expense of his partner’s situation.

"Tomoki, just pull me through already!" The girl sounded miffed at the kid as she pleaded with him for rescue.

Saito walked up behind the girl and yelled "I caught you!" The girl let out a small shriek in surprise and the boy laughed "You got us!"

Saito helped the girl out from under the wall and they all returned to the yard laughing. "Hey, thanks for playing with us onii-chan!" The boy shot Saito a smile and a peace sign. "A-and thanks for helping me..." The girl thanked Saito as she trailed off.

"It was pretty fun! That was an unexpected hiding spot back there!" Saito said while stretching, obviously a little too happy over winning a game of hide and go seek with grade-schoolers.

"Hey, that reminds me..." Saito fished around his pocket for a second and produced a picture of a girl with violet hair. "Have you two ever seen this girl?"

Tomoki and Haruna looked at each other and giggled a little. They looked back at Saito and then Tomoki spoke up, "Yea! She is the one who showed us that hiding spot, she says she uses it a lot because school can get boring, so she likes to go to other places."

Saito asked another question, "Do you know her name?"

This time Haruna spoke up, "She went by the nickname Irechin, that's what we called her. We would play together a lot on the playground too."

Saito jotted down some notes in a notebook, looked back at the children and gave a sincere smile, "Thanks Tomoki, Haruna. You guys sure helped me out a lot! Well I gotta get going now but maybe if I’m ever here again, we can play tag!"

The kids smiled and we all giggled, Saito walked to the school building to go find Kerri and tell him about what he managed to find out.

11:30 P.M.

"You've been in there for a while, how about you get out already?"

"Aww..."

No matter how much she thought about everything that had happened, she still couldn't tell what was it that felt so weird about Iresia, currently heading for Guy's bed after a very long bath, result of her desperate requests to take one.

It seemed like some Child Errors institutes only allowed up to two showers per week, but they didn't have baths.

Natsumi rolled her eyes and sighed as she browsed with her phone. This was getting painfully annoying, why out of all people she had to take care of a brat who didn't even know why she got lost and what happened yesterday?

(...Yesterday?)

"Wait a minute, why do you think today is Monday?" Natsumi showed her the date on her phone. "It's Saturday 24th, don't you remember what happened this week?"

"Fweh? But I'm pretty sure we don't go out on week days... I don't know..."

"Ahh, whatever. Just sleep already."

"Huh?"

"It's late so pushing the issue any further isn't going to help in any way, so sleep." After turning the lights off, she called out to Iresia to make sure she would sleep quickly. "Oh and, don't pee in his bed, you should be old enough to not do that anymore."

"I won't! Muu!"

With that Iresia completely hid under the blanket until she and the blanket looked like a small ball, and fell asleep. Natsumi sat down on the floor, leaning on the sliding doors leading to the balcony as she continued browsing on her phone.

(Great, what am I supposed to do, now...?)

Several hours had passed.

The door latch rattled with the sound of a key sliding into the lock. The handle turned abruptly and the door swung open violently as Guy marched into the room with a disgruntled and weary look on his face.

Ignoring Natsumi completely he headed straight for his bed, stopping only when he noticed that it was already occupied. Funny, he didn't recall giving anyone a key. Not to mention the fact that he rarely took any of his 'acquaintances' back to his room.

Wait... that's right... The memory slowly dawned on him. "Damn brats..." He grumbled under his breath as he lowered himself to the floor. The cold, hard surface felt familiar against his bruised and aching body, though far from comfortable as he slipped into a dreamless sleep.

"I'll go search the Playground and talk to a few kids, maybe one of them were friends with our lead."

"Alright, and I'll be on my way as well," Kerri does an about face as he walks into the school, turning back a moment to see Saito talking with some kids,

I wonder if he'll actually get anything out of them, Kerri thought, entering the elementary school.

Kerri had to wander around the school a bit before managing to find the principal of the school, after managing to calm down a worker in his office who thought  he was some sort of criminal. After putting extra emphasis on his Judgement armband, Kerri was allowed into the room to consult with the principal,

In front of him, an old man sat in his desk, casually signing some papers that Kerri assumed had something to do with the school,

"Oh, a member of Judgement? Please come in," He stated in a courteous manner. Kerri was a little surprised at the man's composure, given people's usually unpleasent rection to his appearance.

Kerri started walking in and thought to himself, Huh, this guy actually seems relatively... normal. Kerri turned to his left, noticing an old grandfather clock. He then started turn to his right, I guess this won't be-

before he could finish his thoughts, he heard a shrill screech as a shadow leaped at him,

"WOAH!" Kerri shouted, stumbling backwards as a dark shadow latched itself onto Kerri's face, digging it's claws into the skin, and holding onto it for dear life,

As Kerri started to try and get the beat to release his face, he wondered what could be so strong,

What is this-a rabid animal? Some sort of experimental monster? A beast summoned by magic from the depth of Hell itself?! Kerri thought about some of the worst possible explanations, and when he had heard the  principal giving him a friendly chuckle, Kerri took a moment to feel exactly what was on his face.

Small...

Furry...

Purring...

"I see my cat Tamaki is rather fond of you." Kerri composed himself, responding politely,

"Well, he does seem to be... rather... friendly!" Kerri said, struggling to get the overly affectionate feline off of him,

Alright, I was a little offf, but stranger things have happened in this City, After failing to get the cat off of him, Kerri resigned to simply speak with the Principal about the violet haired girl with said cat latched onto him. Kerri mentioned sme sparse details about the investigation going on, and his concern for the girl's safety to help win the old man over,

"Yes of course, I believe I've noticed a young girl wandering around the school. She seemed to have an intereest in cats, that's how I first noticed her," The man pointed to the cat still latched onto Kerri, "Tamaki is a stray that happened to get attached to me, and likes to sneak into the office every now and again when I'm not looking. I happened to see a young girl playing with Tamaki oce or twice, but she isn't a student at the school..."

"You checked the attendance?" Kerri asked, his voice muffled,

"Yes, I just happened to be a bit curious. I did hear teachers mentioning a child that they had never seen before playing with the other children, but you may want to ask the teachers about it. I wish I could be of more help..."

Or bettter yet, the kids who allegedly played with the girl,

"Okay... well, thanks, that actually confirmed that the little girl had at least wandered around here a few times."

"Woderful," The old principal gave Kerri a bright smile, though it was still dissatisfied. Kerri had an idea of how the old man could help a bit more,

"Do you think that you could help me out with Tamaki?" Kerri pointed towards the cat, The old man nodded, and walked over to Tamaki, petting the cat, and simply relaxing it so that Kerri's head would be freed,

"Oh... thank you. You know, that wasn't so-"

*Scratch*

Kerri had been interrupted midsentence when the cat had suddenly clawed at his face. It wasn't a harsh cut, nor was it deep, but it was pretty painful,

"Oh, sorry about that Tamaki tends to do that around people he like. It's how he likes to play, ahaha." The old Principal laughed gently, as he let the cat out the window, and back out into the city. As Kerri left, he felt the wound on his face, and decided he could wait to get it treated before meeting with Saito, As he finally managed to talk to him, Kerri was the first to start the conversation,

"Well, our mystery child was definitely here. Apparently, she may or may not have a thing for cats, the Principal apparently saw her playing with this stray he takes care of, whom I had the displeasure to meet." Kerri shrugged, "Anyway, apparently she's not an actual student here, though I don't know for sure if she actually interacted with the kids or not... any news on that front, Saito?"

Slightly woken up by the sound of the door, she noticed Guy had returned with a half-opened eye. Though she wouldn't be able to tell how much time had past since she fell asleep.

But she was too sleepy to care, so she quickly fell back asleep after he noticed blanket ball free-loading in his bed.

Sunday, 25th July, 10 A.M.

It had only been a few minutes since she woke up at an hour that she didn't appreciate on Sundays. Her eyes were filled with drowsiness as she washed her face in the bathroom multiple times in a vain attempt to wake herself up. Though for once, she actually had a peaceful night without nightmares

The blanket-ball was still asleep, so she figured she could escape for a little while to try and find Miyako. She had tried to contact her but couldn't get through, so it only left the option of trying to find her, as vague as it sounded, considering she had no idea of where Miyako would be in this city. That, and she felt like she needed some fresh air.

"I'm heading out for a bit." She quickly and quietly called out, uncaring of whether anyone would actually hear or not.

***

A while after Natsumi left, the blanket ball started to move around while grumbling more and more as she started to wake up.

"Muuuuuu......"

Guy lay spread-eagle on the floor breathing deep, rhythmic slow breaths. The only movement that came from him was the occasional twitch that confirmed he had not infact died in his sleep.

It was the weight on his chest that awoke him finally. A thick, furry and soft mass with two painful points to it that dug into his clavicle. Pinpricks at his throat caused him to reach up sleepily to remove the offending thing and he opened his eyes slowly.

That damned black cat loomed over him, staring into his eyes with its own green orbs.

"Grrrrrrr." Was all Guy managed in way of a response, lazily brushing the feline aside. It rolled onto the floor with a meaty thud before clambering back onto his chest insistently. This time the claws dug deep enough to draw blood. The boy hissed in pain, grabbing the cat by the scruff of its neck and hoisting it up. "You know where I come from you'd be on a dinner plate right now..." He uttered threateningly at the animal.

"Grrrrrrr."

A small head peaked out of the blanket ball, curious as to what was going on despite her drowsiness.

"You know where I come from you'd be on a dinner plate right now..."

Something snapped inside her when she saw black fur and understood who, or rather what, was receiving such a threatening statement. Without trying to understand the situation any further, she flew out of her blanket ball, threw a pillow at Guy and grabbing the cat while flying out of the bed. Surprisingly enough, just like a cat she landed on her feet.

"What's that supposed to mean?! You're going to eat it!?" She slowly backed away with the cat in her hands, the agitation having completely replaced her previous drowsiness. "Are you that much of a horrible person? It's a cat!"

The black cat hung contently in Iresia's arms without a struggle and peered at Guy with a look the young man could only describe as smug.

"I wasn't going to eat him." Guy sighed. "I prefer lean meat." He shot the cat a glare. The small animal responded with a hiss as though he had understood the comment. Guy poked the black cat in its round belly and it wriggled in Iresia's arms, swiping at the boy's hand with its claws.

"But that's beside the point. I can do what I want in my home!" He frowned indignantly. "Why don't you take him back to your home? Then you can dress him up in pretty outfits or whatever and I can sleep in peace!" Guy nursed the small scratch on the back of his hand.

"...any news on that front, Saito?" Kerri asked.

"I managed to get a nickname from some of the kids on the playground, they called her Irecchi. I think we should go search a few other schools to see if she is in the area" Saito said, while starting to walk out of the school.

Kerri nodded silently, taking a moment to think before responding to Saito,

"Irechin, huh... well, we at least have a name and know she came around here... the best thing to do would be to check around at some of the other schools. Let's hop to it!"

---

Kerri and Saito spent the next several hours searching through all of the nearby school. The information varied, but among a few of them in the general vicinity of the school, confirming that 'Irechin' at least frequented this area at some point in time.

After the last of the schools was checked, both Saito and Kerri noticed how late it was,

"Well, looks like it's quitting time. Listen, we need to get plenty of rest, so let's head home for now, and meet up tomorrow and pick up where we left from here. We'll probably start with talking to more witnesses... anyway, see you tomorow. May our search be fruitful and fulfilling!" Kerri shouted, hoping to weird Saito out a bit, in a nice way.

After heading home, Kerri spent a few minutes playing some video games, as he thought about what he had on his plate,

Both this and The Railgun I need to worry about... great. Well, from what I saw with that scrap heap of a bus, so I can at least say one thing for sure. This isn't an ordinary first case for me.

Hopefully Me and this Saito guy can get out of this unscathed. Kerri thought, spending a few more minutes playing before heading to bed, ready to tackle whatever challenge lied ahead.

"???" Iresia tilted her head in confusion. "The others might be allergic to cats or something, so we're not allowed to keep pets. And don't change the subject, that's animal cruelty! Would you like to end up cooked in an oven?!"

Thanks to the cat, she already had her plans set for the day. As usual for her, it would be playing with cats. But first, she wanted to eat breakfast, as playing with cats would usually make her forget to do anything else.

"I'm hungry."

Guy sat obstinately while the girl with the cat in her arms complained. But between her insistent demands and the equally implacable stares he received from the pair of them, he eventually rose to his feet.

"Well you're not the only one." He paced towards the kitchen. "Freeloaders come second." He stated, opening the refrigerator. He stood looking inside for a few seconds as sight of empty shelves sank in. He closed the door again with a blank expression and a thousand yard stare.

Kerri and Saito were wrapping up for the day. Finished with checking cat ridden schools for the day, Kerri spoke to Saito to end the day.

"Well, looks like it's quitting time. Listen, we need to get plenty of rest, so let's head home for now, and meet up tomorrow and pick up where we left from here. We'll probably start with talking to more witnesses... anyway, see you tomorrow. May our search be fruitful and fulfilling!"

"Alright! well goodnight to you!" With that and a brief nod, Saito took off towards his home. After about a 15 minute walk Saito was at home and up in his room mulling over the information that they had gathered. Nothing really struck a chord with him, so in protest, he went to bed thinking about the case.

Sunday, July 25th, 6:45AM

After a good 6 hour rest, Saito woke up, got ready and headed out to headquarters to meet with Kerri and start the day.

After adjusting his apartment to be prepared in case anyone tried to break in, Kerri dashed out the door and ran off to the Anti-Skill base where Saito normally checked in, according to the papers he received yesterday,

Sunday, July 25th, 6:30AM

Kerri looked around to see that his younger partner was nowhere to be seen. There were plenty of members of Anti-Skill on duty and being deployed, but thankfully it wasn't for anything major. Kerri made sure to be straightforward with some Anti-Skill members who had questioned him on arrival, showing his Judgement band to prove that he was a member.

Well, I might as well make good use of my time while I'm waiting...

Kerri took his cell phone and opened it up, and dialed the number to his current branch, only to receive a response from the answering machine. As soon as the recorded message was finished, Kerri began saying what he had to,

"Hello, Kerri McKinley checking to Judgement Branch 177. I just wanted to report that the investigation into the bus bombing..." Kerri spent the next few minutes quietly mentioning exactly what happened. Just when he had finished recording it, he noticed Saito running up to the station,

"Yo~!" Kerri waved his arm in the air as he called out to Saito, getting his attention. "Big day ahead of. I've got a good feeling that we're find little 'Ire-chin', I hope you're ready to to continue where we started," Kerri stated, as the two of them walked to the neighborhood 'Ire-chin' had been wandering around.

Iresia was certain that Natsumi had ran off to eat something outside while leaving her to starve. It definitely had to be it. And it was irritating Iresia to irrational degrees.

"Muuuuuuuuu... Then I'll do the same!" She ran out of the apartment with the cat in her hands, completely forgetting about the fact that she didn't have money to buy herself a meal, let alone a decent one. That, and she didn't even know where she could actually find somewhere to eat.

She only realised this when she was out of the dormitory and came to a full-stop when it hit her. But whatever, after going around for a while, she could find somewhere to eat and somehow manage to afford it, right?

As she was thinking that the cat also needed to be fed, she noticed a familiar, blonde-haired girl approaching her. Iresia felt like she had already seen that girl somewhere, but couldn't remember where. Perhaps it was related to her missing week, but she had a terrible feeling about this.

"As if almost making the building collapse from destroying the wall wasn't enough, you caused so many problems afterwards... You sure are a tough one."

The scary things the girl was saying, as well as the scary tone she spoke with and the expression she wore made Iresia stagger back.

"I suggest you come with me without putting up a fight if you don't want to end up like those friends of yours."

"W-what are you talking about...?" Her grip on the cat tightened until she realised it was probably uncomfortable and put it down next to her. "...Who are you?"

"Don't play dumb. You can't possibly have forgo-..." She froze mid-sentence to think about it. Why had Iresia been so calm up until now? In her situation, wouldn't it be natural to run away or at least be afraid? Yet she had been calmly standing there until the blonde girl had talked to her... "You... don't remember?"

Iresia slowly shook her head, and the blonde-girl looked confused, then perplexed and she clicked her tongue. This was bad, if what Iresia said was true she had taken a fatally wrong approach here. Trying to act like a kind girl would definitely not work at this point, unless this kid was one hell of an idiot.

(Damn it, I blew that up. Can't be helped, I'll have to deal with reactions later.)

She grabbed Iresia by the arm and started pulling her along. Such a forceful treatment would catch the attention of some of the students walking around, but for now she had to bring Iresia with her.

"Let me go!" As much as she tried to fight back her physical strength couldn't match up to the blonde girl's. She kept yelling at her to let her go, but the blonde girl put her hand on Iresia's mouth to prevent her from yelling.

"Suit yourself." Guy grumbled under his breath as he turned from the refrigerator. At least now he could have some peace and quiet. With a heavy heart he started to chop the final pepper from his pantry. A meager meal but for now it would have to do.

The sound of scratching at his door brought a smile to the boy's lips. The thought of the fat black cat pawing at his door for a handout was the source of some small, twisted gratification for him. He took a moment to savour it, and the quiet birdsong from outside his window.

In that peaceful moment a distant voice cried out.

"Let me go!"

As though by instinct he dropped the knife to the cutting board and made for the balcony. Leaning over its edge he could see the struggle that ensued between Iresia and her would be captor. Once again without thinking the young teacher shouted down at the blonde woman whose arms were wrapped around the small girl.

"Hey! What are you doing!?" Their eyes met for an instant before Guy turned on his heel to run for the hallway. The door burst open, causing the black feline outside to leap back with a hiss as Guy swung on the door frame and sprinted down the stairs, clearing three steps for every stride.

"Yo~!" Kerri waved his arm in the air as he called out to Saito, getting his attention. "Big day ahead of us. I've got a good feeling that we're find little 'Ire-chin', I hope you're ready to continue where we started."

The two started off towards the neighborhood that ‘Ire-chin’ had been wandering around. After a few minutes of walking, they ended up in a park that contained a play set and also was located near a school and some residential homes.

Immediately evident when one got close to the park was the large presence of cats. They were climbing on the equipment, most were lazing around sun bathing on the slide.

“Well, I think this is as good a place as any to start looking.” The black haired young man said as he took a look around the park, trying to remember its basic layout. “Do you want to Split up or move together? It’s not that big a park, but in case we do end up finding her, it might be better if we were together.” A cat was brushing up against Saito’s leg as he spoke.

“There really are a lot of cats here…”

Konori Mii stretched as she climbed the staircase leading to Branch 177's office. Yesterday had been a long day, as it seemed only Kerri out of all the members of Branch 177 was available to help out with Anti-Skill's investigation after hours of trying to contact the others to no avail.

It was quite unfortunate that the request for help arrived the day where all members except Kerri had plans for the day and were unavailable to contact, but it couldn't be helped. It was a good thing she was able to send at least one person.

Though today seemed more hopeful as when she opened the door someone was already inside the office, Furuhashi Gou, though his partner Fuyuki Chisa was nowhere to be seen.

"Good morning. You're here early, Fuyuki-san isn't with you?" She took a seat at her desk and starting typing on the computer, looking through reports of yesterday's investigation. "Did McKinley-san pass by today?"

Kerri and Saito walked around the area, trying to find a good place to begin today's investigation. Since they were looking for a kid, they'd want to focus on some kid oriented places, such as a playground.

Unfortunately, this one was filled with cats, and while Kerri didn't despise them, after the minor incident yesterday, he wasn't exactly their biggest fan.

“Well, I think this is as good a place as any to start looking.” Kerri watched Saito looking around the are,  “Do you want to Split up or move together? It’s not that big a park, but in case we do end up finding her, it might be better if we were together.”

Kerri rubbed the scratch marks on his face, still annoyed by how the cat clung to his face. After a quick evaluation, he decided that he had to check every nook and cranny to be sure that 'Ire-Chin' wasn't here,

"I'd rather we just go, but I guess we don't have a choice" Kerri sighed. He'd have to deal with cats clinging onto him constantly while he was there, but it was a sacrifice he'd have to make.

One of the many sacrifices Judgement members need to make for Academy City.

"Let's stick together on this one, just so we have more eyes in the same spot. We can always split up later." Kerri said reluctantly, as he cautiously walked past Saito, moving towards the cats, preparing himself to be attacked again.


He looked around, and noticed how none of the cats seemed to care about him. All of them seemed to see the presence of a person to be less appealing that bathing in the sunlight.

Most of all, not of them were interested in clinging to Kerri's face.

*REEEOOOW*

"AHAAAAAUGH!"

Except for one.

Kerri just stood there, contemplating whether or not he should she how well the feline could fly, but then decided against it, knowing he couldn't do somehing like that on duty, especially with someone else he was working with.

He just turned to Saito, and quickly held up his hand, stopping him from commenting on the cat clinging to his face,

"Just don't." Kerri said, and the two silently got to work. The quiet wasn't something Kerri like, and since he couldn't mess with Saito, he decided some conversation would be a good boredom killer,

"So, sifting through a bunch of cats to find a little girl. Did you ever think you'd be doing something like this when you were signing out those papers to join judgement, Saito?" Kerri said in a friendly tone.

It was a usual Sunday morning. Gou woke up early, had breakfast and prepared to go out only a few minutes later, taking a coloured can filled with a weird named energy drink with him. While walking through the city, taking his usual bus, he emptied it and erased any thought coming to his mind. Today seemed to become a lonely day as Chisa was pretty busy doing some “girl stuff”, yet Gou didn’t bother. Judgement would offer enough work for him to overcome such things. Hard working as usual, wasn’t he?
In the end that even made him the first one to enter the office that Sunday. Something unusual for many, yet not for hard working Furuhashi Gou. He always was one of the first ones to enter and usually the guy to take care of everything that needed to be done in order to prepare for a new day. He emptied the trash cans, collected any trash laying on the floor and opened a new can, he had left in the fridge while checking the office’s answering machine for new messages. As he surprisingly discovered one, only a few minutes old, he listened carefully, realising that what he heard as an actual report of an investigation. So the logical conclusion he had some up with was to transcript everything he heard onto a text document, just as prescriptions demanded.
And that’s what he did, until the door opened once again…

"Good morning. You're here early, Fuyuki-san isn't with you?" Too busy with typing the written version of the report, checking it for mistakes and even trying to arrange it neatly, he did only notice the words spoken to him, yet not who had spoken them. ”Good morning. Fuyuki-san is taking herself a ‘girls only’ day or something like that”, he responded, not lifting his focus. It seemed as if Gou wasn’t amused about the words he had spoken, but that could also be something caused by him trying his best at his current task.
And then suddenly he realised. The one that had spoken to him was…

His heart started pounding, he started sweating, his whole face started turning red little by little. Konori Mii, the one and only person that was able to take his breath away instantly. He couldn’t speak a word. Only glancing at her for a moment forced him to react instantly by burying his red face behind the monitor in front of him. They were alone. Worst case scenario. He cursed Chisa for not being present. Speak you damn idiot! Speak!, shouted his mind, after a short period of silence. Right, he had to speak, he had to answer! And this was also an opportunity to talk to Konori-san, an opportunity he wouldn’t get so often!
”He…he left a me-message on the…answering machine. I-I already ma-made a transcript!” Facing the difficulty of pressing words out of his mouth that was everything Gou was capable of, using his whole strength. For some this may have looked like a poor attempt, for him however it was a miracle never seen before. Usually when Konori Mii was present, he couldn’t even get out a full sentence, not even a constellation of few words. But without Chisa, who would usually talk for him, he had to try his best.
It wasn’t as if he didn’t like her, it was rather the absolute opposite. His heart was pounding, he was unable to breath properly, close to collapsing. ”I co-could print i-it for you to…to check.” He felt like it was getting easier. His calm seemed to be returning soon enough. As he felt it returning he started doing a breathing exercise making him resemble a sick person, with his feverish red head and the weird rhythm to it. Many had already called this behaviours reason an allergic reaction or something of that kind.

Well, Gou never seemed to be someone to act like that out of the actual reason that was forcing this hell on him.

Konori Mii looked perplexed. A minute ago, Gou had responded normally yet now he seemed to be having issues speaking out loud, was he feeling unwell? It wouldn't be impossible for the rule-loving Gou to overwork himself, after all...

”He…he left a me-message on the…answering machine. I-I already ma-made a transcript! I co-could print i-it for you to…to check.”

"Please do so." As she served herself some tea, a thought came to mind and she grabbed a second cup, pouring the hot liquid in the cup and being careful not to burn herself while bringing it over to Gou. "I'll take over for a while, so you should take a break." She said, tapping Gou on his right shoulder as she set the cup down.

***

Laetitia clicked her tongue in displeasure again, she wasn't aware a man was supposed to be with Iresia. What was he even doing in a student's dormitory on a Sunday, was he a teacher? He most certainly didn't look like a student...

While still keeping a hand on Iresia's mouth Laetitia looped her opposite arm around Iresia's armpits and lifted her up, planning on running for it until suddenly she felt so nauseous that she stumbled forward. Despite feeling nauseous as well Iresia took the chance to kick her in the stomach and roll to the ground near the dorm's entry door away from her, though the older girl only fell on one knee.

"Running cockroach, located." Stated a young boy whose appearance gave off an aura of boredom, reloading what was in his hand, something akin to a gun. The girl let out a humourless laugh, glaring at her aggressor. "Quite ironic, coming from you." She said.

Laetitia quickly grabbed a water bottle from her bag and opened the cap, though was stopped by a gun pointed at her. "Given the distance that separates us, I can easily render you deaf and send you in worlds of pain before you can even move. How about you leave her alone and tell me what are you planning on doing with her, instead?" Though the boy appeared calm, his voice was filled with fury.

Whilst still on the ground, Iresia rose her head to search for the source of a familiar voice when her sight fell on Keima, a few metres away.

A laboratory; machines; people in white coats; syringes... Images flashed across her mind as she tried to force herself to remember. The voice felt so familiar. "Kh...!" But the more she tried to remember, the worse a rapidly developing migraine hurt, making her tremble as she held her head while also wanting to dry-heave.