The man woke up with a jolt. He sat up quickly before realizing where he was. His blonde roomate was staring down at him from his desk. "You alright?"

"... Yeah." He took a deep breath before nodding to himself. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You fainted as soon as you got here. You sure you're alright?"

"Fine. Just a little tired."

"Stress, work, worry, and fatigue is not a good mix and you know it."

He rolled his eyes. "Clearly." He stood up and went behind the blonde. "Any updates?"

"Yes and no." He pulled up a map on his screen. "Electromagnetic waves spiked up a few minutes ago. I'd like to say it's a hint, but since there's been no other activity, I think it was a glitch."

"Analyze it anyway. There's a chance that it's Eva trying to tell us something."

"Jin, you know that's not how it works. A single spike like that would mean whatever caused it is nearby and only happened for a second. Whatever it was, it happened right here, on school grounds." The blonde sighed. "But again, it's dead in the middle of the night, no lights or other sounds are appearing, so I doubt it was anything."

~~~~~

She sighed as she lowered her hands. "Nothing new."

"Nee-san, isn't it dangerous to do this here?" A voice came from the LBX sitting on the rails.

"It's fine, San." She looked up to the night sky. "How is Asta doing?"

"He let his curiousity take over and decided to mingle with another kid's problems."

Fran let out a small chuckle at that. "Of course he did."

"Yeah, but there's an interesting thing about that, actually."

"Hm?"

"The kid he's mingling with? It's Hannah's little brother."

"Oh, really?" Curiosity is now blooming inside her too. "I've always suspected something was off about her."

"How so?"

"Oh, well..." She hummed again. "I don't mean it in a bad way, but she reminds me of Saki-san."

"Saki-san? Nee-san, where on earth did you get that conclusion from?"

Fran smiled and patted his LBX, as if she was patting its owner. "I wonder..."

~~~~~

"So your sister isn't actually your sister, and your parents wouldn't tell you anything?" The light blonde tried to sum up. "But you look so similar!"

"I know! I didn't believe it either, but that's what mom said..." The brunette sighed.

Currently, they were in his mother's office, rummaging through whatever books and files they could find that might connect to where his sister came from. Wataru, just like Hannah, figured that she may be a close relative from his mother's side. With that as their only lead, they tried to find out whether or not she really does have siblings.

"This probably sucks for you two, huh?"

The brunette couldn't help another sigh as he nodded. "Yeah..." He looked up from where he sat. Seeing his senior's willingness to help and listen to his problems made him wonder. "Asta-senpai, what about your family? I heard that- well, it's only rumors, but-"

"They died years ago." He shrugged. "Killed by the World Sabers. They took me in and tried to raise me as a soldier, but I got out with my friends."

"Wh-wha?!"

"Why are you surprised? Didn't the rumors have at least some hint to that?" He sounded genuinely confused.

"Not at all!" The younger shook his head violently. "The rumors said you're from an elite military academy, so I thought your parents were in the government or something and are too busy to come see you!"

Asta blinked. "Oh."

"Y-Yeah..."

They stared at each other for a good while before proceeding in silence. The sound of shuffling and leather stacked on leather filled the air. The books that were once neatly lined on the shelves were now on top of one another on the floor.

After a while, Wataru finally regained his tongue. "Asta-senpai...?"

"Yeah?"

"You said you escaped the World Sabers with your friends?"

"Oh, that. Yeah, I did."

"Where are they right now?"

The elder boy hummed as he dug his head for a proper answer. "Well, they're somewhere on Earth, for sure."

"Eh?"

"Jokes aside, they're going to a different school. Actually, they just recently transferred. We have our own parts of the mission to fulfill."

"The one given to you by Eva-san? Like the keys and messages and everything?"

"So you know all that?" Asta took another file and began to flip through it. "Yeah, pretty much. She helped us escape, so we owe her this much."

"If it's allowed, can I know what your job is?" The brunette closed his final book. "I haven't been much help to them in this crisis, but I don't want to sit around while my friends are in danger!"

"Well, I can't tell you much, aside that our job is as an informer." His amber eyes glinted mischievously. "As for who and what I inform, that's on a need-to-know basis only."

"And I guess that means I don't."

"Smart kid. Now," He showed the younger boy a certain page from the folder he's holding. "Is this what you're looking for?"

~~~~~

"So she was the one who told you everything?"

"Yes." Muraku gave a nod, glad that she was able to catch on quickly. "But after she convinced my parents to send me here, she disappeared. After months of searching and no results, they gave up and assumed she died."

Hannah gave a small nod in understanding. "That makes sense. It also explains why Eva-san would know about her. She disappeared after exploiting the truth behind the school's systems. The timing is too perfect."

"Precisely. Now, she's on the run from the World Sabers." His hands bawled into fists. "If I want to have any hope of ever seeing her again, we have to stop them. We must."

"And that's exactly what we'll do." She gave him a smile. "You know what? I don't actually hate this. Talking things out with you made my heart feel much lighter."

He returned it with his own. "Same to you. Even if the topic could be less depressing, I enjoyed the company."

"Sadly, it's way past curfew so we should be heading back." She gave a light sigh. "Although, maybe we can do this again someday?"

"I don't mind." He shrugged. "I am curious though. What did Nikolai say when he told you about this set up?"

For a second, he thought her cheeks turned pink, but she looked away before he could confirm. "He... called it a date."

~~~~~~~~~~

Probe: To search into and explore very thoroughly