>10:11am“Ms Yuuki. . . Ms Yuuki!”>The teacher raps a ruler against the girl’s desk, bringing her attention back to the classroom with a loud snap.“Are you willing to share with the class what’s so important that you don’t need to pay attention?

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[Solo] - Revo 03/03/25 (Mon) 21:14:21 No.3960

>10:11am

“Ms Yuuki. . . Ms Yuuki!”

>The teacher raps a ruler against the girl’s desk, bringing her attention back to the classroom with a loud snap.

“Are you willing to share with the class what’s so important that you don’t need to pay attention?”

“Uh. . . oh. . .”

>The girl blinks, quickly shaking her head.

“The. . . uh. . . the dampeners. . . the hum. . .”

>The teacher sighs.

“This again, Kei? How many times do we need to go over-”

>The teacher is interrupted by the crackle of an intercom.

“Kei Yuuki to the principal’s office. . . Kei Yuuki to the principal’s office. . .”

>The teacher seems surprised at the announcement, then indicates to the door with a level of tiredness only available to a poorly paid educator.

“Just. . . get going, I’ll have the class notes sent to your school email, I expect the homework to be completed to a high standard.”

>The girl, Kei, scrambles up from her seat awkwardly, clearly not used to being in such a spotlight.

“O-oh, yeah of course.”

>Awkwardly shoving her class materials in a shoulder bag, Kei begins making her way out of the room, stopping at the door to look back.

“T-thanks Mrs Stone.”

“Just get going, Ms Yuuki.”

Revo 03/03/25 (Mon) 21:20:28 No.3961

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>>3960
>10:23am

>Transformations Academy, Chicago - Principal’s Office

>Kei stumbles her way around the final corner to the principal’s office, pulling her bag up as she does, trying to readjust the weight of it fruitlessly. With another yank, the girl sighs, then taps her head with her fist.

“Shut up. . . you’re too loud.”

“Ahem.”

>Kei stops in her tracks as she notices that she’s not alone.

“Oh, sorry, not you, the. . .”

“The dampeners, yes, your apparent problem with them has been noted many times before, Ms Yuuki.”

>The owner of the voice, a secretary, leans down and presses a button.

“Kei Yuuki has arrived sir, I’ll let her in.”

>The secretary presses a different button and a door to the side of her desk makes a buzzing sound, which the secretary then indicates towards.

“Oh, thank you. . .”

>Kei walks past the desk and pushes on the door to enter the office itself, finding a simply laid out room on the other side, inside which is an austere looking man and a woman familiar to her, a slight shadow and dark looking on her face indicating that she’s been crying.

“Mom? I . . uh. . . I’m not in trouble am I?”

>The austere looking man gives Kei a warm, practiced smile.

“Of course not, Ms Yuuki, but I’m afraid your mother has some bad news, I’ve preemptively marked you as absent from your other classes.”

“. . .thank you?”

“You’re welcome, now, I believe you wanted to take your daughter, Mrs Yuuki?”

>Kei’s mother nods and stands up, heading over to Kei.

“The car’s just outside, Kei.”

“Oh right. . . ok. . . but why?”

“I’ll explain once we’re outside, Kei, just come along.”

>Kei goes to speak up again, but holds her tongue and opens the door, letting her mother go through first.

>Just before Kei manages to get through, the principal speaks up again.

“I just want to remind you, Ms Yuuki, that if you have any problems, we’re here to help.”

>With this final word, the door closes behind Kei, and she rushes a little bit to catch up with her mother.

“<Mom, what’s wrong? Where’s dad?>”

“<Your father is. . .>”

>Kei’s mother’s voice catches in her throat.

“<. . .where’s dad?>”

Revo 03/03/25 (Mon) 21:26:25 No.3962

File: 1741037185168-0.png (1.19 MB, 1200x789, Hospital_ward.png)

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>>3961
>11:21am

>Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago

>The familiar “heartbeat” of the hospital “pulses” as various machines make noises to indicate that they’re doing their respective jobs, underneath which the sounds of various hospital staff going about their jobs make up another, lower, level of ambience.

>Within all of this, Kei stands at the side of a bed with her mother, in which a middle-aged man sits, a drip plugged into his arm to help with his blood pressure.

“<Stop worrying you two, I’m sure it’s just some kind of seasonal illness or something. They just did some scans to be sure. Look, they’re here now. . .>”

>The man raises his arm somewhat weakly as a consultant makes their way over, holding a clipboard which they flick through.

“How are we feeling now, Mr Yuuki?”

“Still not quite there but I don’t think I’ll be fainting any time soon, doc.”

>The man gives the consultant a weak chuckle.

“Glad to see you’re in good spirits. . .”

>The consultant glances at Kei and her mother.

“Mr Yuuki, you may want to receive this news in private first. . .”

“I’d rather they hear it from you than me, you’re the doctor, you’ll be much better at explaining it.”

“Very well, Mr Yuuki, as I’m sure you’re aware, you were admitted today after fainting at work, unfortunately, the scans we conducted today show that you have a malignant brain tumor. . .”

>As the doctor reads out the prognosis, Kei’s focus starts to drift away, her attention being taken by a familiar hum.

“. . .with how much this tumor has progressed, there’s little we can do here besides offer treatment for your symptoms. . . there’s a new experimental treatment provided by Long Corporation but it isn’t covered by. . .”

Revo 03/03/25 (Mon) 21:28:23 No.3963

File: 1741037303063-0.jpg (834.17 KB, 850x1203, Mrs_Yuuki.jpg)

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>>3962
>7:31pm

>Yuuki Household, Chicago

>Kei and her mother sit at the dinner table, a set of opened containers spread across the table indicating that the meal of choice is takeout for this particular day. Rather than eat, however, Kei silently nudges the food on her plate around, clearly not entirely present.

“<Kei, don’t play with your food, you need to eat.>”

“<Ok mom. . .>”

>Kei takes the smallest possible amount of food from her plate and slowly chews on it.

“<Properly, Kei.>”

“<I’m not hungry.>”

“<You need to eat, or else you’ll fall behind in your studies at school.>”

“<What if I didn’t go?>”

>Kei’s mother stops suddenly, putting her utensils down with a scarily calm precision.

“<Kei, you must go to school, how else can you->”

“”

“<Kei, your father and I pay a lot of money for you to go to that academy.>”

“”

>Kei’s mother sighs.

“<. . .Kei, you need to understand, even with how smart you are, you do not have the advantage of connections that other children who will be applying to the same colleges as you have, your father and I put you in that school because a recommendation from there will->”

“”

“<Kei. . .>”

>Without replying, Kei stands up and storms out of the room.

Revo 03/03/25 (Mon) 21:30:15 No.3964

File: 1741037415235-0.jpg (35.12 KB, 400x400, 3.jpg)

File: 1741037415235-1.jpg (124.38 KB, 850x1202, Counsellor.jpg)

>>3963
>2 Days later

>12:02pm

>Transformations Academy, Chicago - Counsellor’s Office

>Kei sits in the counsellor’s office, taking up a comfortable visitor’s chair opposite the owner of the office, who looks through various papers and documents on her office computer. With a sigh, she moves a screen out of the way and gives Kei a warm, practiced smile - the smile of someone trying to comfort a hard blow.

“. . .Kei, I want you to understand that we want the best for. . .”

“You can’t help me.”

“Kei, please, it’s not that I can’t help at all, it’s just that, while Long does own the academy, we’re not actually lin-”

>Kei scoffs.

“You can’t help.”

“I can still help though, we have a comprehensive scheme for helping students through-”

“I don’t want ‘helping through things’, I want something that actually helps my dad.”

“Kei, you need to understand that sometimes you have to accept. . .”

>Without letting the counsellor finish her statement, Kei stands up, hoists her bag over her shoulder, and leaves the room.

Revo 03/03/25 (Mon) 21:36:56 No.3965

File: 1741037816041-0.jpg (26.46 KB, 495x536, 4.jpg)

File: 1741037816041-1.png (366.33 KB, 437x958, Drucker.png)

>>3964
>2 Days later

>8:36pm

>Kei leans against a wall at the corner of two streets, a simple hood over her head barely concealing her identity from any incurious passersby as well as acting as a thin layer of protection from the evening rain hitting the area.

>As she leans against the corner, Kei glances over her phone, reading the notifications on it, including an SMS that has an id indicating it was sent by a financial institution.

[Dear Ms Yuuki, we appreciate your application and financial situation, but unfortunately it has been brought to our attention that you are invalid for a loan at this time due-]

>With no light behind her eyes despite the reflections from her phone, Kei moves onto the next notification, and the next, blankly and wordlessly moving through them. As she moves from rejection to rejection, Kei is interrupted by the coughing of a man leaning against the wall next to her.

“Hey, kiddo, having a bad time?”

>Kei looks up at the man, the angle required being perfect to let the rain soak her fringe and drip down her face.

“I didn’t ask for a chat, Drucker, I need money.”

“Hey now, I like to build up a little friendly rapport before getting to business. Besides. . .”

>The man steps forward and moves in front of Kei, leaning down to her level for a moment.

“. . .me and your old man go way back, I’m practically your uncle, right? Sorry to hear about his sitch, by the way.”

>Kei follows the man’s movements, pulling her hood back over her fringe as she does.

“I just need money, not a reunion.”

“Fine, fine, bad business’s still better than no business. . .”

>The man, Drucker, looks Kei up and down.

“. . .plus you’re in luck, I got something you’ll be perfect for. . .”

>With a grin, Drucker presses a blinker, unlocking a car across the room.

“Get in.”

Revo 03/03/25 (Mon) 21:39:48 No.3966

File: 1741037987723-0.png (366.33 KB, 437x958, Drucker.png)

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>>3965
>Kei looks over at the car, then at Drucker.

“I didn’t say I was gonna do anything like that, I’m leaving. . .”

>Putting her phone away, Kei begins to step away, only to be stopped by the man blocking her path.

“Hey now kiddo, calm down, I’m not that kind of guy, I like women with a bit more meat on their bones than you. . .”

>With a severe look on his face, Drucker leans in, his tone lowering.

“But a body like yours is easy to hide, you understand.”

>With fear in her eyes, Kei slowly nods.

“Good, you were always a bright kid. . .”

>Still keeping control of the situation, the man starts moving Kei towards the car, shoving her in and taking the driver’s seat.

“Now, look, kiddo, you’re all skin and bones, and I’m not someone who separates families, but I do have some work, work that’ll pay well. . .”

>As he talks, the man drives.

“And skin and bones is perfect for it. Y’see, I need someone like you to get into somewhere small. . .”
—————————————————-
>9:01pm

>The car comes to a stop by a wall facing the lake, and Drucker leans across to unlock the passenger door.

“Ok, it’s simple enough, y’ just gotta crawl up through that pipe, get into the house up there, and either take something that’s worth a lot, or come back with a key so me and the boys can come back later. Y’got that?”

>Kei looks at the drain, noticing a light flow of water coming from it.

“Are you trying to kill me? That’s a storm drain.”

“And there’s no storm due for another few hours, so I think y’better get going, right?”

>Kei turns to argue the point, only to stop herself, opening the door, practically kicking it in the process, and steps outside, pulling her head back over her head as she does.

“Fine.”

Revo 03/05/25 (Wed) 22:44:18 No.3967

File: 1741214657822-0.jpg (26.46 KB, 495x536, 4.jpg)

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>>3966
>Kei crawls up the pipe, easily managing to fit through the bars blocking it, her clothes getting dirtier and wetter with each step, the water flow remaining constant throughout.

>After several minutes of crawling up through the pipe, Kei ends up at a dead end, her path blocked by a metal wall, the water flowing down the pipe coming from a pair of inlets located on the sides of the pipe, granting no light for Kei to see.

>Feeling the wall for a few seconds, Kei curls in herself, her clothes gaining several new wet patches as her arms rub against the inlets, and silently screams to herself, a sad whimper escaping her lips.

>After a few agonising, painful minutes, Kei slowly takes her head off her knees, blinking as she hears a high-pitched humming from the wall.

“Huh. . .”

>Still not all there, Kei feels around the wall for the source of the sound, her hand eventually pushing down on a section that sinks away, triggering a mechanism behind her.

>Kei stumbles back as the wall behind her moves up, hitting the back of her head on it as her body sails down to the ground, leaving her back soaked.

>With a cough and splutter to remove some water from her mouth, Kei twists herself around, looking up the tunnel, noticing that it opens out.

“Wuh. . .”

>Scrambling, Kei pulls herself up through the rest of the tunnel, unceremoniously spilling out of it into a larger room.

>After a few seconds, an automated system turns the lights on in the room, revealing the structure and contents of it. A single, circular metal wall forms a ring around a sterile, untouched room. Several pieces of equipment sit at various points around the ring, sitting on slightly raised platforms. Taking up sections of the wall are several glass enclosures containing mannequins wearing costumes, with one larger enclosure containing a robot of some kind.

>With the humming returning again, Kei stands up, clutching her head and rubbing her eyes, making her way over to the larger enclosure, reaching out to it and placing a hand on it carefully and closing her eyes, the humming focusing as she does, only to be interrupted by a voice cutting through it.

“Impressive, isn’t it?”

Revo 03/06/25 (Thu) 22:14:22 No.3968

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>>3967
>Kei pulls her hand away from the glass, opening her eyes and turning around to see a middle-aged man standing in a doorway, his entire posture shifted to one side as he leans on a walking cane.

>Seeing that he’s been noticed, the man takes step into the room, the door slamming shut automatically behind him.

“Impressive, but not for thieves, so I’d recommend you step away.”

>Frozen in place, Kei stumbles a little, her hand resting on the glass.

“I. . . I’m not. . .”

“I didn’t invite you here, so you’re trespassing, and I’ve noticed a lot of busy little bees buzzing around here lately, so I can only assume you’re with them.”

>The man takes another few steps forward, stopping to check on a display case for any signs of damage.

“I do have to ask, though, how did you get through the security door? That has a biometric lock on it.”

>Seeing that she’s apparently not in immediate danger, Kei eases up a little, her hand still remaining on the glass.

“It just opened. . .”

“You don’t look like you’re lying, but also you don’t seem to know how you did it, an unregistered Meta-Human, perhaps?”

>The man thinks for a moment and then shifts slightly, as if shrugging while trying not to move his upper body much.

“Oh well, that’s not my job to worry about, that’s up to the police. . .”

>Kei’s body tenses up again, and she pushes down on the glass instinctively.

“Police? I can’t. . . I can’t get arrested. . .”

“You should’ve thought about that before doing this, young lady.”

“I can’t. . .”

>Behind Kei, the machine activates, its eyes flashing to life, and punches through the display, shattering the glass. With a single step, it casually moves out of the remains of the case and grabs Kei, opening up a panel that it inserts her in, and charges forward, jumping over the man and activating a set of rockets in its legs, breaking through the far wall and sailing into the night sky. . .

Revo 03/06/25 (Thu) 22:18:06 No.3969

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File: 1741299485979-4.jpg (33.4 KB, 882x496, robot.jpg)

>>3968
>After a few minutes of flying through the air, the rockets on the machine begin to sputter and die, causing the robot to start unceremoniously falling to the ground.

>Within the space created for her, Kei feels the shift in momentum, and starts to look around, her breath getting more and more panicked as time passes, unable to see what is happening around her, only for everything to end suddenly as the robot hits the ground, the shock causing her to hit her head on the side of the space, knocking her out cold.
—————————————————-
>3 hours later

>Kei returns to consciousness, her headache from her earlier injury amplified by her most recent shock. A situation she attempts to handle by bringing her hand up to her hand carefully, letting out a groan.

“Where am I. . ?”

>Detecting the signs of life from Kei, the machine all around her springs to life, shifting to move her into a more comfortable position and activating a series of projected screens in front of her, the sudden light from which causes her to recoil back and close her eyes for a second, her headache increasing slightly in intensity for a moment.

>Once she’s slightly more adjusted to the new light, Kei starts looking over the display in detail.

“Ok. . . we’ve got. . .”

>Kei reaches out and points at one of the displays to focus, her finger grazing it slightly in the process, and it switches over to showing a detailed schematic of the robot.

“. . .oh. . . that’s diag. . . diag. . .”

>Kei winces as she tries to fight through confusion.

“. . .how it’s doing, it’s saying that the thrusters are out. . . and there’s damage that needs repairing. . . and this one. . .”

>Kei moves her finger over to another display, making sure not to touch it this time.

“. . .is a map. . . that’s good, I can get home. . . if I can see what’s happening outside of this tin can. . .”

>In response to Kei’s verbal thought, the two displays move out of the way, and a third one lights up across the front of the cockpit, showing Kei’s surroundings, an empty warehouse filled with boxes and rubble from the machine’s “graceful” entrance. . .

>. . .and a robotic looking figure standing over Kei’s position, looking down at the machine with one foot keeping it pinned down.

Revo 03/08/25 (Sat) 00:09:27 No.3970

File: 1741392566628-0.jpg (33.4 KB, 882x496, robot.jpg)

File: 1741392566628-1.jpeg (21.31 KB, 511x600, 9rujpoig5mbe1.jpeg)

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>>3969
>Kei stares up at the robot for a few moments, her tired and beaten brain struggling to process what she’s seeing, and then something seems to click in her head.

“Sound. . . I need sound. . .”

>A system whirs to life and Kei winces as sound suddenly cuts through - too much sound.

“Less. . .”

>The sound starts to quiet down as some of the noise is filtered out, leaving Kei alone with the relative silence of the warehouse and robot.

>After a few more seconds of silence, the robot seems to have reached some kind of conclusion and speaks in a synthetic voice:

“Unknown technology confirmed, beginning extraction, activating biodata HT-MC-1-1939.”

>The robot raises its right hand, energy pulsing within it, its hand begins to glow with white-hot heat. Once it’s up to temperature, the robot lowers the hand to just above Kei, the metal buckling and twisting from the heat.

>Panicking, Kei’s heart rate increases, and she instinctively tries to swat the source of the heat away.

>Outside of the cockpit, the robot is swatted away from its position.

>With the feed showing the robot is no longer standing above her, Kei calms down slightly, some clarity returning to her thoughts.

“You’re. . . it’s not the commands, you’re not listening to my voice. . . it’s like you’re in my head. . .”

>As she finishes her thought, Kei motions to stand up, and the machine picks itself up from the ground, a scorch mark across its chest.

>Across the room, the other robot picks itself up from the debris created by its landing.

“. . .I think. . . I think we can do this. . . together. . .”

>The machine slowly moves into an awkward combat stance, ready to face the robot head on, and beckons for it to make its move.

Revo 03/08/25 (Sat) 22:13:05 No.3971

File: 1741471984970-0.jpg (172.73 KB, 1920x1080, robot-2.jpg)

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>>3970
>Accessing the situation, the robot dismisses the energy in its arm, and clenches its fist.

“Activating stored biodata: E-ASM-9-2964.”

>The robot’s arms glow with energy and it opens its closed fist, closing it again as the energy finishes building, the action causing several sparks of electricity to arc out from it, scorching various points around it.

>Kei, and by extension, the machine protecting her, shifts back slightly in response to the move, taken by surprise by it, but soon recovers and maintains the pose, trying to draw the robot in closer.

>Now crackling with electricity all over, the machine charges forward, jumping in the air just before its opponent, and brings its hands together generating a literal thunderclap that sends electricity out in all directions, but particularly in the direction of Kei.

>Instinctively, Kei brings her arms to protect herself as the electricity rushes over the machine, looking up in surprise when she receives no report of any damage to the machine, only to be caught off-guard as the robot finishes its arc, landing a direct punch on the head of the machine.

>Stumbling backwards, Kei tries to kick out and trip the robot, finding purchase on its leg, but not enough to cause it to fall over, ultimately only buying herself a small amount of space.

“Doesn’t work like dad’s old kung fu films. . . got it. . .”

>Trying to push the little advantage she gained from the leg sweep, Kei makes the machine jump forward, tackling the robot, the pair both tumbling across the room in an undignified fashion.

>With another lightning-filled punch, the robot manages to separate itself from the tangle, the move leaving the pair on the floor at different parts of the room.

Revo 03/10/25 (Mon) 21:48:12 No.3972

File: 1741643291914-0.jpg (33.4 KB, 882x496, robot.jpg)

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>>3971
>The robot, the less damaged of the two from the fall, picks itself up from the ground, closing its fist to summon the electricity, only for the gesture to fail. Looking down at its arm, it notices that no energy is running through it.

“Damage to biodata unit detected, requesting authorization for tactical retreat.”

>The robot stands still and silent for a few moments, then turns to leave through the door, a set of thrusters revealing themselves in its lower legs and activating, propelling it into the air.

>The robot flies several feet upwards then stops as it’s pulled backwards with a sudden amount of force. Turning back, it sees its right leg being held in place by the machine it was attempting to salvage, its eyes glowing red.

“I just lost some thrusters, so I think I’ll take these.”

>With a violent pull, the robot is pulled out from the sky, the machine’s other fist colliding with the back of its head and going straight through.

>Despite having a fist through its head, the robot still remains moving, its arms attempting to claw it to freedom.

“Whoever made you is smart, didn’t put everything in your head. . .”

>The machine’s second fist collides with the robot’s chest, also managing to penetrate it, and the machine pulls each one in opposite directions, the act of which causes the machine to tear in two, each half falling uselessly to the ground.

“. . .didn’t engineer for being ripped in two though. . .”

>The machine stands over the two lifeless robots halves as Kei catches her breath inside it, the adrenaline starting to wear off.

>Kneeling down, the machine carefully lifts up one of the halves to inspect it, then wraps an arm around it, slinging it under its shoulder.

“I can probably get some money for this. . .”

>The machine carefully lifts up the other half, and then walks over to the entrance of the warehouse, turning to give it one last look to see if anything was missed before heading out into the night.

Revo 03/10/25 (Mon) 22:03:22 No.3973

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>>3972
>2 Days later

>Kei lies on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. Various items litter her room, providing a certain level of personality, but a variety of cleaner spots across the room indicate that several items have been removed from it recently. Notably, no signs of any technology besides those integrated into the building itself can be found.

>As Kei lies on her bed, a knock comes from her door, and it opens slightly to reveal her mother, who seems to be happy.

>In response to her visitor, Kei sits up.

“<Kei. . . why didn’t you tell me that you were applying for scholarships?>”

“<I. . .>”

>Kei stops herself, thinking for a moment.

“”

“”

>Kei’s mother gently smiles and licks her finger, using it to style a bit of Kei’s hair.

“<Now, come on, Mr Carpenter is here to see you.>”

“<Ah. . . oh. . . right. . .>”

>Still confused, Kei follows her mother downstairs, her heart dropping when she sees the man from the other night sitting at the dinner table, carefully nursing a cup. Noticing Kei, he gives her a smile.

“Ah, Miss Yuuki, just the young lady I was after.”

Revo 03/10/25 (Mon) 22:12:54 No.3974

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>>3973
>Her eyes darting about as she tries to take everything in, Kei manages to compose herself enough to reply.

“O-oh. . . hello Mr Carpenter. . . you. . . uh. . . didn’t need to come here yourself. . .”

“Kei, don’t forget your manners.”

“O-oh. . . right. . . thank you for coming here Mr Carpenter.”

>The man gives Kei a cordial smile, then tilts his cup slightly, as if checking on it.

“Ah, I appear to have run out of this lovely tea, Mrs Yuuki, could I trouble you to make some more while I discuss some of the finer details with your daughter?”

“Of course, Mr Carpenter.”

>Kei’s mother leaves the room.

>As soon as her mother is far enough away, Kei closes the door, her demeanour changing in an instant.

“L-look. I was desperate, ok? I’ll return that suit thing as soon as I fix it, I just haven’t been able to because I’ve been groun-”

>The man chuckles, shaking his head.

“Don’t worry, Miss Yuuki, as far as the police are concerned, one of my alarms triggered due to a rat, it made a rather awkward conversation, all told.”

>Seeing Kei’s posture change, the man adjusts his glasses a little and then continues.

“I’m here today because, quite frankly, Miss Yuuki, you did something I thought impossible, no one has ever been able to activate S.E.A.R.C.H., let alone pilot it.”

“S.E.A.R.C.H.?”

“Ah, getting ahead of myself, the suit. It was made by an acquaintance years ago and had spent that entire time gathering dust until you came along. . .”

“So you want it back?”

“You can keep it, if you want, I doubt I’d be able to pilot it. No, I’m here because I wanted to ask you if you were interested in joining a little project of mine. . .”

[To be continued]