August 31st 7:02 PM
After Accelerator walked out of the restaurant, he decided to call Yoshikawa with his phone.
"What did you say? Last Order was taken away by Amai?"
"I heard that as well, but I'm not too certain myself. What do you think about this? The virus will activate even if she's left alone, right? Why did that guy take the brat away?"
Dwelling on it more, it was weird that Amai Ao was in Academy City. Since he had hid himself in fear of being suspected, logically speaking, he should have tried to escape out of Academy City. No matter how strong Anti-Skill and Judgment were, they couldn't control the world 'outside'. Their job scope was merely limited to this city.
"On technical skill alone, Amai's a really talented researcher. There should be many organizations 'outside' willing to take the risk and hide him, right?"
"Yeah, I don't know why too. Maybe those are just some simple reasons."
Both of them remained silent for a while.
The sound of the keyboard being typed on could be heard from the other side of the phone.
After a while, Accelerator asked,
"I heard that Amai took Last Order at around 4. Do you think he's still in Academy City?"
"It's 7 PM now, almost 3 hours have passed. If it were normal circumstances, it'd be hard to tell, but our luck this time seems to be good."
"Why?"
Accelerator concentrated on the phone. Yoshikawa seemed to be focused on something, as the sound of the keyboard being typed on could be heard.
"Some unknown individual from 'outside' broke through the city's security, and forced his way into the city. Also, there was a huge battle at a fast food restaurant, so the alert level was set to orange this afternoon. It's now at red alert. You should have heard of the 2nd level of alert, right?"
Orange alert meant that 'there may be terrorists who've invaded', while red indicated 'a terrorist has been confirmed to have invaded'. No matter what it was, once the alert was given, Academy City would seal its exits to the outside completely. Even the convenience store owners would be having a headache as they couldn't get their supplies.
If it was at orange alert in the afternoon, Amai, who had taken Last Order at 4 PM wouldn't be able to leave the city. Accelerator didn't know which idiot had invaded the city, but it seemed like he had to thank the guy.
"Since that guy's still in the city, where will he be?"
At this moment, Yoshikawa continued to type on the keyboard.
"It's not easy to find him. However, he should be avoiding the crowds. A grown man with a naked girl wrapped in a towel will be too eyecatching. Right now, Amai Ao definitely won't want to become the center of attention."
Accelerator thought that this was logical, but there was a problem. Today was August 31st, so most of the students were locked up in their houses finishing their summer vacation homework. The entire city was as empty as a ghost city.
"Can you hack into the security robots or satellite image system? Doesn't the other envelope have the data of the city's security search for Amai Ao's hiding?"
"The mechanical security system isn't as convenient as what they say. Think about it, our numerous 'experiments' were conducted under such strict regulations, right?"
"..."
"So the security system can only be used to track information. I managed to track him through the money flow. Do you know? The paper notes now all have IC chips?"
"Ah, I heard of it. It's said that there were too many colored counterfeit notes, so they installed chips to identify them, right?"
"There's actually another reason for the chips. By recording the personal information of the notes, one can identify his monetary flow."
Yoshikawa continued to type on the keyboard as she said,
"In this age, if you use a credit card or cash to buy something more than 1,000yen, your personal particulars will get stolen. But on the other hand, if it were that child, who lived an urchin's life and didn't use money at all, it's impossible to track her down."
"Alright, let me change the question. How did Amai escape in the past?"
"Basically, he drives his car around. It seems like he would park his car at the park or the dump and sleep in the car. But as for showering, food and oil, he needs to use money, so he can't completely hide himself."
Answered Yoshikawa casually, while continuing to type on the keyboard.
"Doesn't he have some housing facility like a hotel or something? Did he go to a friend's house, before?"
"I suppose he doesn't have anyone that can be considered a friend."
"...Seems like he's trash like me."
"When the research center of the Radio Noise project was forced to close down, as it was a private research organization, he got saddled with debt. Like a chairman of a company that closed down, once he's poor, friends aren't friends any longer."
'Tch', Accelerator pondered for a while, and then continued,
"He should be unable to leave this city now, right?"
"If he doesn't dare to be questioned, I suppose he won't even escape a school district."
"Alright, if that's the case--"
Yoshikawa answered in surprise,
"Hold on, that's weird. Amai Ao hasn't returned back there for a while. Normally speaking, he should be thinking about that place first--"
"The first place he thinks of will be the most dangerous place, so he definitely won't dare to go there. But once humans are forced into a tight corner, their way of thinking will become even simpler."
Accelerator revealed a cunning smile and headed down the road.
The place he was heading to was the place of a certain research center.
The research organization that had developed the Radio Noise project based on the Level 5 Railgun.