Dachii, Marachii, Luca, and Yuri followed closely behind Akira as he guided them throughout the expo. He stopped in front of a gun on display, which appeared to have two different barrels.
"This is our Multi-Shot rifle! I petitioned for it myself. You like it?"
Marachii rushed up to the display. "LIKE IT? It's AMAZING! How does it work?"
Akira picked it up, allowing Marachii to further examine it. "Woah..."
"Just pull this trigger, and..."
The gun shot out two varieties of projectiles. The top barrel fired off red-colored bullets, which flew around the room and floated in mid-air, scaring civilians, and the bottom shot out FLAMES.
"You get the best of both worlds! Hover bullets and A FLAMETHROWER! I'm a genius, I know."
He let Marachii hold the gun, to Dachii's dismay.
"Sir, that's a bad idea—-"
Marachii held up the gun, his mouth watering. "Oh yes, oh YES, OH YES! HAHAHAHA!"
Yuri nudged Luca. "He's going to kill us all, isn't he?"
"Yes, he probably is."
Marachii began shooting the gun, forcing everyone to back up. Akira watched with a smile.
"It's pretty cheap, too. Tomorrow is the official release date, along with everything else, but I can sell it to you right now for 12,000 coins—-"
Dachii stepped in front of him. "Anything else we should see, or...?"
Marachii groaned. "Man...that gun is so cool!"
Akira smirked and continued on the tour. He stopped next to a floating mechanical orb. "This is our Sensor Orb. It can detect and analyze anything about whoever you hold it in front of."
He held it up to Yuri's face, and to her surprise, it began to thoroughly scan her.
"Subject: Yuri Kawasaki. Age: 15. Gender: Female. Is prone to aggression, and enjoys to relax in dirty—-"
She grabbed it in an attempt to cover it, which stopped the report. "Get that thing away from me!"
Luca raised a hand. "Try me."
Akira pointed it towards Luca. "Subject: Luca Mori. Age: 15. Gender: Male. Is calm and collected. Raised in the wilderness. Was abandoned by parents at the age of 4."
Luca lifted an eyebrow. "It knows a lot."
Marachii grabbed it. "Me next! This orb is AMAZING! I wonder what it can decipher!"
"Subject: Marachii Jones. Age: 13. High IQ listed at 189. Has two brothers, a father, and a mother. Father and oldest brother are currently——"
Marachii covered it. "It...knows about that?" He and Dachii shared a look.
Yuri pointed at the orb. "See? It's an intrusive piece of garbage!"
Akira took the orb back. "Aww, you wound me. I thought I did a good job with the design too. Made from even more advanced technology than our robots."
He leaned close to Marachii. "What do you say? Will you take it for 25,000 coins?"
Marachii dug into his pockets. "I don't have any coins...Luca, you got any?"
"Only 1,000. Why?"
Akira mockingly laughed and turned to Yuri. "What about you, sweetheart? Do YOU have the funds?"
"I'm not paying for that crap!"
He turned on his heel. "I guess we move on."
He walked past various displays, brushing his fingertips against them before reaching the one in the very back, a "robot dog."
"This is Fido! Isn't he cute?"
"Woah..." Marachii wondered, checking out the dog. It had the same frame and build as a normal, large-sized dog, but its skin was gray and its eyes were light blue.
"Does it talk?" Dachii asked, with a smile on his face. Akira pressed a button.
"Hi! I'm Fido, and I would love to be your friend!"
Everyone jumped back, except for Marachii, whose eyes were fully locked onto the dog, admiring it.
"What the hell?" Dachii exclaimed, backing away. Yuri got far away as well.
"I second that! Why is that thing talking?"
It jumped off the display, making the two jump even further back. Luca got up close to the dog, along with Marachii.
"Fido wants to play! Play with me!"
Akira pet the dog. "He's a cyborg. Made with the corpse of a real dog. Take out the brain and the heart, and put them into a robotic body. Don't you just love it?"
Marachii grabbed the dog and held him up, drooling. "I always wanted a dog, but this is even BETTER!"
Luca touched Fido's forehead. "I love my animals, but I doubt Akari or Hikari would be okay with this."
"What about Fujii?"
"Who knows."
The crowd watched as they continued to play around with the dog, gossiping under their breaths.
"Humans! Why are HUMANS on Umego Island?"
"Why are military members with them? It makes no sense!"
"Who cares about them? Why is the TECH DIRECTOR with them?"
Akira looked up, a stern look in his eye. "Gossiping isn't nice, people. How about we keep things more...respectful?"
Everyone immediately quieted down and went back to doing what they were doing...except for a girl with purple hair, wearing fancy clothes. Akira noticed her, narrowing his eyes at her.
"Problem, girl?"
She raised her hands in surrender. "Sorry, sorry! Don't mean to be rude! It's just that dog is pretty cool, so I was looking at it."
He snorted and turned his attention back to the group. "Don't mind them. They can poke their noses into other people's business."
Marachii set Fido down, and the dog jumped back onto his display. "Is there more you want to show us, or is that everything?"
"For now. But you should come tomorrow to the Expo as my guests! It'll have all of our inventions and our lovely Directors in attendance."
He handed Dachii, Marachii, and Luca some holographic silver tickets with their names and faces on them, and a line at the bottom, reading:
"Approved by Akira Fujita."
Yuri looked at him impatiently. "And mine?"
"Looks like I ran out. My mistake. I deeply apologize."
Yuri rolled her eyes and turned to leave. "Whatever. Not like I care. Didn't even want to come."
Luca suspiciously eyed the tickets, but he shrugged. "Thanks."
Dachii also thanked him before leaving, and Luca turned to follow. Before Marachii could leave, Akira grabbed him by the shoulder.
"Marachii. Before you go, I'd love to allow you and your brother to meet my father. He's DYING for a chance to greet you in person."
"Okay...! But why us?"
Akira stepped back, smiling. "Why else? You're both VERY special people."
Before Marachii could figure out what he meant, Akira turned and walked to help some other guests.
Dachii walked over to him. "I guess we leave now, seeing as there's nothing more to really do."
They both headed outside, oblivious to the look the purple-haired girl was giving them.
Meanwhile, back at the hotel...
Nakada continued her humming until she heard the door open. When she looked up, she saw Morino, alongside the rest of Squad S-3.
"Sir! I'm glad you made it. You took longer than I expected, so I sat out here to wait for you."
"I appreciate it, Nakada. It was hard to find our way here in the dark and with no guidance, so..."
"My driver wasn't there to wait?"
"Driver? I didn't see them."
Nakada stood up, pondering the information. Morino read the room and looked back at his squad.
"Guys, head up! Atomu is in charge until I get there! Have fun settling in!"
Atomu nodded. "Come on. Let's get moving."
They walked up to the desk clerk, receiving their keys. Nishiyama snatched Tomoko's from him.
"You don't need a room, slimy human. Just sleep outside or something."
"Okay! Hahaha!"
Morino slapped his head as they went up. Once the room was clear, he whispered to Nakada.
"What's the situation?"
"I ordered that driver to wait for you. I had my suspicions about him ever since we'd left Batango. He's been acting strange, lately."
Morino took in the information. "So the place may have been compromised. Isn't that great?"
"I've assigned the Protection Force to watch over your grandson. If any attempts to attack or capture him are made, I'll let you know immediately, Sir."
"Speaking of, where are Kia and the boys?"
"They're outside and she's in her room."
Morino headed off towards the elevator. "I'll go check on her! How about you get some sleep yourself?"
"I feel as energized as ever! And...meditation helps me relax."
Morino shook his head. "Women."
She went back to humming and he got his key from the clerk and headed up.
Meanwhile, outside of the hotel...
Marachii was busy walking with a bit of pep in his step. Everyone else walked behind him.
"I can't wait for tomorrow! Imagine what cool prototypes they'll roll out!"
Yuri rolled her eyes. "How the hell do two humans and a commoner get invited over me? It's a biased system, I tell you!"
Before they could leave, the purple-haired girl stumbled after them.
"Excuse me, guys! Have you seen my brother? I don't know where he went!"
They sized her up before Luca spoke. "Brother? What does he look like?"
"Pink hair, slightly tall, on the slimmer side, and wearing a Protection Force Uniform! Can you help me find him?"
Luca shrugged. "Haven't seen him."
He prepared to keep walking, but Dachii cleared his throat
"Well, beautiful young lady, we'd love to help you! Can you show us where you saw him last?"
"Around...the expo. He said he was going patrol that area for bandits, but I checked and I didn't see him!"
"Okay, we'll help you look, but can I get your number—-"
Luca pulled him aside. "Listen, she's that girl that was watching you inside the expo. I don't trust her. Don't fall for this like you did with Omari."
"I know, I know! But she looks so cute! She can't attack right now anyways, she's by herself!"
Luca slapped his head, as the girl stepped closer. "Well, can you help me?"
Dachii turned toward her. "Yes, we'll help."
She smiled and jumped up. "Yay!" She turned on her heels and walked back toward the expo.
Luca, Marachii, and Dachii walked behind her. They noticed Yuri wasn't following.
"You're not coming?" Dachii asked.
She scoffed. "What do I look like, charity? I'm going to get your EXTREMELY rude mother out of my room. Bye."
Dachii sighed. "Why can't any of these military girls be nice?"
"Hikari's nice," Marachii pointed out.
"Only when she feels like it. And she's not here."
As they continued their way back to the expo, the girl walked around the expo, searching frantically.
"Teppei? Teppei! This isn't a game!"
Akira stepped out of the expo, glaring at her.
"Why do I hear a bunch of yelling outside my preview, GIRL?"
"It's my brother! He's missing!"
Akira noticed the boys behind him. "And you've decided to use my guests of honor to find him for you?"
"Yes! Dad wants him home, now!"
Akira mockingly went back inside. "Keep it down. I'm sure he's off gambling somewhere or something."
He closed the door. Dachii stood next to her. "Any other leads?"
"N...no. I...don't know."
A pink-haired boy in a jacket and pants walked up to them and the girl immediately ran into his arms.
"Teppei! Thank goodness! I was so worried!"
He held her tightly. "It's okay, Rumi. I just went to get some food for dinner, see?"
He held some bags up in his right hand. She looked inside of them. "Steak, rice, fish, AND cake? You've really outdone yourself, Teppei!"
Dachii, Luca, and Marachii watched them before Luca began to head back to the hotel.
"You've found your brother, so we should go."
Teppei held up a hand. "Seriously? I'm thankful you listened to my sister's concern, so I'd appreciate it if you'd come to dinner with us!"
Luca looked back, suspicious. "Dinner? But we're strangers."
He laughed. "C'mon! No one's a stranger in Umego! This food's getting cold, so if you want a hot meal..."
Dachii shrugged. "Sure, I'm hungry anyway."
Marachii rubbed his stomach, which was growling. "Me too, but it's close to midnight, so we can't stay long."
"Great! Come this way, fellas!"
He started off towards an elegant silver-white house in the distance. Luca pulled Dachii and Marachii into a huddle.
"Guys, listen. They're clearly suspicious, so when we're in the clear, one of you call General Morino and let him know. Don't eat anything that looks like it's been tampered with."
"Got it," Marachii replied.
"Okay, okay," Dachii remarked.
Teppei and Rumi were waiting down the street. "Come on, boys! Let's eat!"
They entered the house, and the others followed behind them.
Shu was watching from afar, using a pair of special binoculars to watch. He pulled out a watch and called Nakada.
"Seems your hunch might be right. We've got a pair to watch out for."
—-