On the rooftops…
The mysterious individual jumped from roof to roof, the shadows masking his frame from view. He was holding a briefcase full of money, using his chains to swing from building to building.
"…"
He landed on an office building before stopping. "Cease your following."
Justice jumped onto the building, fully suited up. "Hey! Who are you, and why'd you save those people?"
"It does not concern you," he replied. "Begone."
He launched another white chain at the nearest building, swinging through the air. Justice stretched his shoulders. "Well. Time for my first chase."
He held out his hand, and sure enough, his sword came flying into it, and he flew into the air after the stranger.
"Hey, I wasn't done talking!"
The stranger easily navigated through the air before swinging into an alleyway, and Justice scaled the walls to follow. He caught the man running into an empty shop, bursting through the door.
"Yo? Hello? You in here?"
The place was a closed computer shop, and Justice scanned the room for any traces of movement. "Guess he left—-"
A white chain wrapped around his body, pulling him outside and into the air. Before he knew it, Justice was hanging off the side of a roof.
"Not again!" he moaned. "I don't really like hanging around!"
The stranger stood on the ledge above him, staring down. "This is your final warning. Do not stand in my way again."
"Uh-huh, sure, good talk," Justice replied. "Now what's with the money? And answer my question!"
Without a word, the stranger dropped Justice to the ground hard. The moment Justice got up, he noticed the man was gone, and sighed. "Damn it! Lost him. But man, was he cool…"
Soon, he was back at the warehouse, where Kumiko, Kaori, and Yasuda were waiting for him, wearing their normal clothes.
"Where did you go?" Kumiko asked. "You just up and ran off!"
"I thought I saw something," Justice said. "Turns out, it got away."
"No clue as to where those chains came from?" Kaori questioned.
He shook his head. "But I've got some theories. Did you guys keep the criminals restrained?"
"They got away!" Yasuda admitted. "During the chaos with those chains, they took the opportunity to escape and slip out!"
Justice slapped his forehead. "At least we've got this."
He showed Yasuda the folder he snagged. "I'm thinking maybe you can translate this."
Yasuda grabbed it. "Will do!"
Mykhail took off his mask. "Should we regroup tomorrow? I think we've done all we can for today."
"Sure!" Kumiko agreed. "Hero duties complete!"
The next day…
Mykhail got out of bed at 8 am, yawning. His mother approached his door. "Time for school, dear! Your bus will be here soon!"
"Coming, Mom."
He fed Rocky quickly before leaving, meeting Kumiko at the bus stop. "Morning, Kumiko."
She hugged him. "Hi!"
"No Yasuda or Kaori, I see."
"Yasuda doesn't actually go to our school," Kumiko pointed out. "And he's busy with the folder you gave him! Kaori…I don't like her."
He laughed, patting her on the head. "Trust me, I know. Well, at school you don't have to be around her."
Takehiro and Kurumi arrived at the bus stop, with Takehiro appearing mentally drained.
"Hi, guys!" Kurumi greeted. "Sorry we're late!"
"What happened to Takehiro?" Mykhail asked.
"Spent all night doing his homework," Kurumi explained. "Took a toll on this massive beast!"
She patted him on the back, and he nearly fell over. Takehiro straightened up. "Homework is still important. Even if there's a new status quo."
The bus came, and Takehiro stumbled toward it. "Now, to class we go—-!"
He fell onto Mykhail, forcing him to hold him. "Maybe you need to go back to sleep."
"No can do…my grades…are too important…"
"…You've gotta let it go, man."
Meanwhile, in the Yamagichi house…
Yasuda was in his room at his desk, opening the folder and beginning to read it. "Now then! Let's see what secrets you hold!"
As he scanned the coded text, his brain began to whirl, and he began to grasp some of the details. "What's this? Power of science…evolution…transference? Someone's trying to do some big stuff! But what?"
He continued to read more. "Mass Empowerment…suitable conditions…handle the Boss's situation first…then get the sword!"
A thought popped into Yasuda's mind. "Hmm, that corpse…it's definitely related to this! I should revisit the scene! It will give me more clues!"
He stood up, putting the folded paper in his bag. As he headed out, Yuuma was sitting on the couch, frantically checking his phone.
"C'mon, please don't tell me Justice failed, please!"
He noticed Yasuda staring at him. "Oh! Yasuda! Do you need something?"
"Nope! Bye!"
He hurried down street after street, and after an hour and a half, he arrived at the location of Hiroshi's now destroyed house, where yellow tape was covering it and cops were managing the scene.
"Cops!" he laughed. "They must be investigating what happened!"
Yasuda got close to the tape, and an officer held out a hand. "Step back, kid. This is a crime scene."
"Okay! Why do you say that?"
"Because buildings don't just up and disappear. The man who lived here, Doctor Hiroshi Hirano, hasn't been seen ever since this house collapsed. That screams ulterior motives."
Yasuda nodded his head. "Yep, yep!"
While the cop turned around, Yasuda narrowed his eyes, scanning the scene.
"That dust is the same as the corpse we found!" he thought. "It's still there! And it appears to be artificial dust! Could that body have been fake?"
He looked at his folder. "That could line up with the notes I read! If I can get just a little more information, I can probably crack open their plan!"
"Hey, kid!" the cop shouted. "Didn't you hear me? Clear the area!"
"Okay!"
Yasuda examined the scene briefly one more time before leaving, and the dust seemed to sweep into the air.
At Sōgetsu High…
After eating breakfast, Mykhail and his crew went through their classes as normal, but when they finally got to science class, their teacher had an announcement.
"Kids," Mr. Hoshino announced. "We're reaching the point of our Annual Science Fair in less than a week! And this time, Director Sato will personally be coming to examine your projects!"
The children gasped, Mykhail lifted an eyebrow.
"Him?" he thought. "The guy that created superhumans? Or wait, was that me?"
Takehiro raised his hand. "If the Director is coming, does that mean we can go bigger on our projects?"
Mr. Hoshino nodded. "Indeed. There's no limit to how big they can be. So go wild! It's unlikely you kids will get a chance like this again!"
The kids began to cheer. Mykhail sighed. "Well, if it can't be helped…"
Mr. Hoshino pointed to a PowerPoint, which had the instructions on the board. "So, you will have the remainder of this week to begin your projects. On the day of the Science Fair, you will bring them to the gym, and they will be lined up accordingly. You are to be present with your project at all times, and you can work in groups of no more than two. Any questions?"
The kids shook their heads. "Okay. Then I will let you start planning."
"Director Sato's gonna be there!" Takehiro stated. "Guys, we've all gotta impress! Like, hella!"
"No question!" Kurumi agreed.
Mykhail and Kumiko nervously laughed. "Yeah…no question…"
"What teams should we work in?" Takehiro asked. "We've gotta pick based off synergy."
He looked at the three. "How about me and Mykhail and Kurumi and Kumiko?"
"Sure!" the girls agreed.
"Fine by me," Mykhail shrugged. "But just so you know, I'm making it big."
"Perfect," Takehiro replied. "That's how it needs to be."
They spent the rest of the class discussing their projects, and soon the bell rang, dismissing them. After a tennis match with Kaori, Kumiko, and Mykhail waited outside by the buses.
"I wonder if Yasuda is done translating that book," Mykhail remarked.
"It shouldn't be too hard for him," Kumiko assured. "He does have a super brain!"
"Yeah, that's what worries me sometimes."
Kaori caught up to them outside. "So, who are we fighting today?"
They both turned to stare at her.
"Uh, no one, at the moment," Mykhail admitted. "Why?"
"Come on! Don't you heroes do…patrolling or something?" she groaned.
"We could," Mykhail said. "But I doubt we're going to find much besides petty crooks."
"Then let's go find the petty crooks!"
Kumiko folded her arms. "Don't you know how to relax?"
"That IS relaxing," she said back. "Feeling my fist pummeling someone's face, there's no better feeling."
Kumiko stepped away from her.
"Maybe we just need a day of team bonding!" Mykhail suggested. "Yeah, that'll work! It'll keep morale high!"
Both girls swiveled to look at him. "Come with me, ladies."
He led them onto the bus, which pulled off. After several stops and saying goodbye to Takehiro and Kurumi, Mykhail got off near an arcade, with them following.
"Why are we here?" Kaori asked.
"Like I said, it's to take a day off. The villains haven't made any major moves just yet, so we should wait. Let me call Yasuda."
"Right here!"
Mykhail nearly jumped back. "Yasuda! The heck, when did you get here?"
"I got the sense you were getting off at this stop!" Yasuda answered. "And you did!"
"Yeah, that brain is FREAKY."
He turned to the door. "Shall we go in?"
"Sure," Kumiko said.
"Whatever," Kaori replied.
"Yep!" Yasuda blurted out.
They walked into the arcade, with gamers all over glued to the machines. Mykhail took off his bag and stretched his arms. "Good. Finally, time to relax."
Kaori folded her arms. "So stupid."
She noticed a racing game was open and elbowed Kumiko. "Hey, race me, you expendable."
"Hey! That's rude, jerk!"
While they bickered, Mykhail laughed. "Ahh, good to see them getting along. Anyway, Yasuda, come play me in this air hockey."
Yasuda followed him to the air hockey, and as they began their game, Mykhail lowered his voice. "Did you manage to translate that file?"
Yasuda nodded. "Just enough! It sounds like they're planning some scientific experiment! It might have to do with that corpse we found!"
"At Hiroshi's house? So it wasn't just some warning message?"
"I don't think so! I think it was both a warning, and a discarded project! It had a hole in its chest, and neither a bullet nor a knife would do that!"
"A fake body?" Mykhail questioned. "Makes sense why it turned to dust, but the bullet that killed Hiroshi did the same for him and his house. None of this is adding up…"
"Well, we can always investigate!" Yasuda assured. "Like real detectives!"
"Where do we start?" Mykhail wondered. "It's not like we have many leads, and they already have a head start on their plans."
"Maybe we can draw them out!" Yasuda proposed. "They want your sword, so how about we give it to them?"
"Huh, I like the way you think," Mykhail smirked. "Speaking of my sword, it's starting to get heavier to use. Maybe I should take it back to Mister Kenta and see what's wrong with it."
Yasuda knocked the puck into Mykhail's goal. "I win!"
"Damn it!"
Mykhail yawned. "Well, that's enough of that. Time to hit the snack back and load up on some energy."
Yasuda followed him to the snack bar, where a gruff old man was sorting through change. Mykhail tapped on the counter. "Hey, are you open?"
"What does it say, brat?" the man replied. "Now don't waste my time. What do you want?"
"Can we get a pizza, please?"
"That'll be thirty bucks."
"Thirty? When the hell did your prices go up?"
The man growled. "When I said they did. You got the thirty or not?"
"Uh, I have twenty?"
"Get the hell away from my counter."
"Come on, can't we talk this out?"
"I said, get the hell away from—-!"
A 40-dollar bill was placed down on the counter, to Mykhail and the vendor's surprise. "Keep the change."
"Phew, thanks for that, Yasuda."
"That wasn't me!" Yasuda corrected.
"Wait, huh?"
Mykhail whirled around, and a familiar boy was standing there in a coat, waving. "Hey there, old pal. Been a while, hasn't it?"
"…Kiran?"
—-