The black and white haired man narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

The blonde man on screen groaned. "Ugh... Do I really have to spell it out for you? You're the love of her life! Of course you're the last person she wants to hurt, dearest emperor!"

He decided to ignore that last part. "Even if that's the case-"

"I know, I know. You won't stop, right? You're going to work to your very last breath to get her back." The blonde slumped on his chair. "Well, whatever. Moving on now, Mavis-san, you're next."

"Eh?" The light blue haired woman blinked before realizing what he meant. "Oh, right. By the time she got me out, she already had the plan figured out. All the dates up to the day Jin, Niara, and Kirito came to Blue Cats'. As for why she chose me to break out and not anyone else..." Her expression fell. "I... I'm sorry, I can't say..."

"Why not?" Miyabi blinked. "Even I did." The blue haired woman turned away and said no more.

"Mami, is there anything you want to add?" Takuya asked.

She hummed before meeting their eyes one at a time. "Bishop is the new Detector, serving as part of the World Sabers. On the other hand, Gardyne was assassinated not too long after the Paradise incident for agreeing to cooperate with the authorities. And I'm here, after nearly 5 years of being in prison, helping the kids who put me there in the first place." She chuckled. "The world is going mad."

Ban blinked. "Come to think of it, isn't Mami-san sentenced to prison for life? Did Eva pay for your release?"

"I don't know what she did." She leaned back on her chair with a sigh. "All I know is, one day my cell door opened and she had a private airplane waiting to take me to Japan. In the span of a few days, she had me stay at Blue Cats'. Not too long after, she put Mavis in the basement."

"So she didn't explain anything at all to you?"

"Not one bit." Her eyes narrowed. "But there are times when I'm out for a run, I'd see her walking by certain areas."

Jin raised an eyebrow at this. "What certain areas?"

She stared at him for a while before realization hit her. "Kaidou... You're that old man's kid?"

"My grandfather?"

She blinked. "Hold on. You're telling me that that old geezer had a kid that had a kid? No way, you have to be adopted. There's no way that wrinkly old murderer-"

"Get to the point." His words were sharp enough to slice the air. It was the first time for many of them to hear that tone.

Snapping out of it, she shook her head. "Sorry, kid. When that bastard's name pop up in my head, I can't..." She took a deep breath. "Anyway, there were a few times I saw her going in and out of that fortress. Sometimes alone, sometimes with her brother."

"That's one of the few places that hasn't been bombed yet." Kirito stated, pulling up a list on his phone.

"Where else did she go to?" Jin asked.

"Kitajima's store and Angel Star."

They exchanged glances. "She drop by Kitajima's to check on the kids, right? But why would she be in Kamiya Craft's old factory?" Niara blinked.

"That's where all their equipment's stored." Kousuke replied. "She probably went to either get or put stuff."

"Both the fortress and Angel Star hadn't been attacked yet." Kirito stated. "Which is weird because the World Sabers always target places that were in some way significant to the Seekers."

"Well, it couldn't hurt to check those places out." Ban turned to the rest of the group. "Thanks a lot, everyone. We'll send in groups to check those places out, and please make sure that nothing that has been said here gets out of this room."

"If any part of this reaches the enemy's ears, it could put us all in danger. So I trust that you'd be able to keep quiet about this regardless of who you're talking to." Takuya stated.

They all nodded, and the meeting was dismissed.

~~~~~

"Hey, Mizel didn't appear." The Russian spoke up after a while. "Jin, did he go somewhere?"

"He said he had to check on some equipment. He didn't tell me when he'd be back though."

"Do you think Mizel knows more than he led on?" Ban asked. "He's not usually this conservative, right?"

Hiro's ears perked up at that. "Could he be making contact with Eva?"

Jin grimaced. "I doubt it. Since she's their primary target, I'm sure they know about the two's link. They probably have EMP shields to block foreign communications."

"That's also probably why we can't track them." Kirito clicked his tongue. "Bishop's been off radar since he left the NDHQ. We can't find him anywhere on the planet."

Niara blinked. "Could he be off planet then?"

"There weren't any reports of rockets or aircrafts taking off in the recent months." He replied. "Even if he took one illegaly, there should still be some record of it by the space administration people."

"Let's just focus on the fortress and Angel Star." Ban turned to the black and white haired man. "Should we bring the kids with us?"

"If they want to." He glanced at a map they had opened. "I think most of them should go to Angel Star. None of us are that familiar with that place, so the sweep would take longer."

"Then I'll head to Kamiya Craft's factory, and take the Jenock kids that are available and most of the others."

"Kirito, Niara, Yuuya, and Nikolai's platoon can come with me to the fortress. We'll let them know tomorrow morning and leave in the afternoon."

Yagami and Takuya gave them nods of approval, before they turned in for the night.

~~~~~~~~~~

関係 (Kankei): Japanese for 'relations'