"I'm Hibiki."

They stood in silence, processing what happened before their eyes. Hugo had changed his appearance almost completely. All but his eyes were different.

Yuuya blinked. Once. Twice. "How did you..."

"It's almost the same as Mizel's body." The now white haired man stated. "Almost. I can only change how I look. Not my size, nor the shape of my body. Still, this is better than going out in my normal state to a world that thought you died twice."

They exchanged glances. "Hugo-san, do you intend on keeping your status hidden?" Hana asked.

"It was never supposed to be revealed in the first place." He shrugged. "And neither is Moeka's."

Mizel held out a hand and the black haired woman handed him her mask. It glowed in his hands and the cracks disappeared.

Now that it was restored, they were able to take a proper look at it. It was a simple white mask with a strange symbol on the forehead. The symbol represented some sort of flower, or star, and it seemed to have been pressed into the mask rather than drawn.

"Thanks." She took it back before putting it on. The symbol shimmered and it looked as if the mask merged with her face, the color turning to a pale peach and her hair changing back to light blue.

She didn't notice the frown her brother had.

"It'll be dangerous if anyone knows about our status, so I'd appreciate it if you'd keep this secret for us." The man now calling himself Hibiki stated.

It's not as if they had a choice. They exchanged nods before heading out to meet with Yagami.

~~~~~

Takuya stared at the man they brought back. "So you're another soldier Eva saved?"

"One of the data accountants actually." The white haired man smiled. "I worked in one of their libraries. If there's any data you need cracking, I'm your man."

"When, where, and how did Eva save you?"

"Pretty recently, around the time you people infiltrated the NDHQ. While you all are busy handling Bishop, I made my escape with one of the vehicles. Of course, I had to abandon it, and fly here with my own money. I've been hiding out in the fortress since."

A solid alibi... Jin hadn't expected any less from that man.

"And what sort of relationship did you have with Eva that made you worth her while to save?"

"..."

"Hibiki?"

"Ah, sorry. That was a rather harsh way of putting it though." Despite the large smile, Jin didn't miss that split second when it faltered. "I met her while I was gathering data on her AI. After she told me of what's been happening, I snooped around a bit and found out. I'm not in it for anything but to save the children. I don't know what kind of experiments they've been through, but I know it's not right to weaponize the innocent."

Takuya hummed to himself. "We'll need to question you further. Unlike Mavis, or anyone else outside of Seekers in this mess, we don't have a recorded message from Eva to confirm your loyalty."

"Of course. Anything you need to know, I'm an open book."

The blonde turned to a certain trio in black and they saluted before taking him away. He then cast a glance at the younger man beside him. "So then? What do you think about him?"

Jin crossed his arms over his chest. He couldn't let his true emotions show, after all, he wasn't one to trust strangers so easily.

However,

"Mizel seemed to trust him."

"I see..." He nodded. "You had a long night. Get some rest, Jin. I'll let you know when Ban's group is done."

"Right. Thank you, Takuya-san."

~~~~~

"So this is the vault?"

"Ran, don't touch it! There could be traps!"

"Eh?! Do you really think so, Hiro?"

"Well, in Senshiman season 3-"

"Well, Ban's currently contacting Kousuke for the password, so all we can do right now is wait."

"It sure is taking him a while though, don't you think so, Kazu?... I wonder if something's wrong."

"It's late, Ami. He might be asleep for all we know."

"Who's asleep?" A tired, raspy voice came from the brunette's CCM. "I'm sorry hunter-boy, but have you ever doused a dozen mugs of coffee everyday for an entire week? I haven't slept a wink."

"And I thought Kirito-san's coke addiction was bad..." A certain red head muttered from the group of kids.

"Just sit tight. I'm in the lobby already. I'll come to you."

"Eh? How did you know we'd need your help like this?"

The blonde man rolled his eyes. "Of course you would. No one can hack through the vault's lock after all. It was especially set by those siblings. All three of them."

"A special lock program set by Eva, Hugo, and Mizel..." Ran sweatdropped. "I can only imagine the kind of security they'd come up with."

"There's 76 firewalls, each with different algorithms and hidden incriptions. And that's just the first layer." His voice didn't sound like it was coming from just the CCM anymore. Footsteps approached them, and soon enough, he emerged from the corner. He closed his phone and walked towards the group.

"Kousuke! It's been a while since we last saw you in person." Ban offered a smile, but it wasn't returned.

"Listen, don't take this personally, but I wish we could meet under better circumstances." He rubbed his eyes. "Preferably, ones where I'm not sleep deprived like this."

Ami frowned at this. "Just what have you been working on?"

"This and that, here and there." He sighed. "It's not important, is it? Come on, I'll open the lock."

Handprint scan.

Retinal scan.

Full-body scan.

All kinds of scanners appeared from the walls surrounding them, searching the man from head to toe. When they were done, they retracted and the vault's gate opened, only to reveal another door.

"What?!"

"There's still more?!"

"That was set by Mizel. You could probably tell from the green lights." Kousuke stepped in and as the gate behind them closed, he faced the next lock.

A hologram of the older brother appeared before them. He pushed his glasses up before holding up a hand.

He spoke in another language, one they were unfamiliar with, but Kousuke responded easily.

One finger went down and he switched to another language. Just like before, he had no problems in replying.

Eventually, all five fingers closed over the man's palm and he gave a smile before the hologram disappeared. There was a click and the door opened.

"That, as you saw, was by Hugo."

"So there's going to be one more made by Eva." Hiro muttered.

"The previous two were insane enough just to go through, would Eva really make it that much harder?" Ran asked.

The blonde snorted. "You have no idea what those siblings are capable of when they get serious." He led them through the door, automatically shutting behind them, revealing a wall.

"What the...?" Arata blinked. "There's nothing here!"

"No, look." Haruki pointed at the center of the room. "A microphone."

Sure enough, there was one standing tall in the middle of the empty room.

The man stood in front of it and spoke. "Kamiya Kousuke."

"Voice sample recognized." They jumped. "Activating panel."

"Whoa! That surprised me!" Vanessa sighed. "Where did that voice even come from? It sounded like Eva-san!"

"There're probably hidden speakers around the room." Mikhail stated, unsure because the walls surrounding them all seemed blank.

"Well, you never know what they could hide behind them." Kageto pointed at the wall in front of them, where a rather large computer screen suddenly appeared.

'Hello, Kousuke :)' it said.

"Classic Eva." Ban chuckled.

'Great job getting through the death lock system so far, but unfortunately, your voice sample isn't enough. I need you to answer some questions for me, okay?'

"She's even asking nicely..." Kazu sweatdropped.

'I'll ask you three questions. All you have to do is answer them through the microphone. It's really easy, I promise! That is, if you really are Kousuke. If you're an imposter, then I suggest you turn back before anyone gets hurt.'

"She also gave instructions..." Ran blinked.

"And a warning." Hiro nodded.

'Remember that you have to answer all questions correctly. Now, if you're ready, say "Proceed". If you want to turn back, say "Cancel".'

"Proceed."

The screen went blank before coming back to life. It glowed blue before text started appearing.

'First, what is our primary goal?'

"To save the children. Taking out the World Sabers is a close second."

'I'm happy that you remember! Next, who did I ask you to take care of?'

"... Itan Kyouji."

'Haha! Okay, last question! What are you to me?'

He smirked at that. "The devil you signed a contract with."

~~~~~~~~~~

Occultatum: Latin for 'hidden'