01x09 - Nine Schools Competition Part II

[bunniefuu]

That's...

How interesting.

Grandfather?

That last psychokinetic blast
came from the 3H, didn't it?

I've never heard of anyone developing
robots that could use psychic powers.

Neither have I. I don't believe
it's possible for current technology.

I shouldn't think so.
Which would mean...

a nonmachine element resides in that 3H.

So, the demon has inhabited
the robot, has it?

I've received reports about the parasites,
but I didn't hear anything about this.

We haven't received reports of it, either. I've only
heard about it through personal conversations.

No, no.

I wasn't criticizing you, Kyoko.
I was just thinking about...

how fascinating it was.

To think that you could use
a humanoid robot this way...

This isn't good, though.

That psychic display
must've been seen.

The police will be upon us soon.

Brother, should we leave here
for the time being?

Yeah.

Tatsuya!

Sorry! We're late!

Good timing.

Leo, you came, too?

Yeah.

I got them to let me tag along.
Partly for rehab.

Well, don't overdo it.

Right.

Erika...

What?

We need to leave this place
as quickly as possible.

Did you prepare a way
to carry the three of them?

Um... We can take them to the storehouse
at Miki's place. Is that okay?

Is that okay, Mikihiko?

Of course it is.

I mean, that was our job
as Ancient Magic users to begin with.

All right, then me, Miki,
and I guess Leo, will take over here.

You guess?
All right, then me, Miki,
and I guess Leo, will take over here.

You guess?
You three should go home.

You three should go home.

Wait, why?
We'll wait for you to load up.

Tatsuya, well, that is...

We'll take a cabinet.

I think that would be best.

Brother, whatever might you
be worried about?

It's not that I'm worried, really, it's just...

Honoka, when Pixie released
that powerful psychokinetic blast earlier...

did you get a sense of what happened?

No, why? What do you mean?

I'd like you to listen calmly.

Just before Pixie fired the psychic blast,

she'd been supplied with Psions from you, Honoka.

Do you mean to say
that Honoka provided Pixie with strength?

No, it didn't exactly seem like that.

It was like the process of injecting Psions into a CAD
when you want to expand an activation sequence.

Something like priming.

Or maybe resonance.

Mizuki said something
like the parasite copied Honoka's thoughts.

There really seems to be
some sort of path between Honoka and Pixie.

And it seems like...

It seems like the medium for it
is your hair ornaments, Honoka.

Specifically, those crystals.

I don't have any idea
what sort of logic is at work here, but...

Tatsuya gave me
these precious hair ornaments!

I don't want to lose them!

Setting aside the operative principles for now,
we'll have to find a way to control it.

Well, how are we going to carry these guys?

I'll call a car. That'll work, right?

You there! What are you doing?

You're all in high school, aren't you?
What are you doing here at this hour?

What is this?

What the hell were you doing?

No, well, you see-

I should be asking you. Who are you?

What was that?

Hey, Erika...

Didn't you hear me?
I asked your names and rank.

What, you don't know?

There aren't any policemen
in this area right now.

They were ordered to leave.

Even that stupid brother of mine
wouldn't cut corners at a time like this.

What are you jabbering about?

You should've pretended to be detectives
in civilian clothing to better disguise yourselves.

Then, I would've at least heard you out.

You know you can't get out of this
with that nonsense!

We've caught you committing
a violent crime! You're coming with us!

Really? You're still
going to play the fool, huh?

That's too bad for you.

We stopped these three
during an attempted sexual as*ault.

And we were just waiting
for actual police officers to get here.

This is no place for imitations.
Am I making myself clear here?

I'm impressed how she can spin a story
off the top of her head.

Mikihiko!

Leo, get back!

They make those?

Thunder Child!

Where are Leo and Erika?

We're being pulled away
from the parasites.

We have to finish this quickly
even if it means being somewhat forceful.

Get down!

I'll get 'em!

Don't, Erika!

If you shot them out of the sky here,
it would cause a massive tragedy.

Well, that throws a wrench into things.

A call is coming in from the stealth team.

Open the line.

Reporting in. The mission was a success.
Samples secured.

Despite the accident,
you seem to have accomplished your objective.

Bring them into the ice box as planned.

And go heavy on the drugs just in case.

Yes, sir!

VISITOR ARC IX

FEBRUARY 17, 2096

You had something to talk about?

Tatsuya, well, actually...

What, did you let the parasites
get away or something?

I'm not going to get mad
at something like that, so stop worrying.

We can't do anything about them
now that they got away.

No, that's not it, Tatsuya!

That's right! They didn't escape!

Well, I mean, I guess they did, but...

Someone swooped in and grabbed 'em.

They were that strong?

It may sound like we're being sore losers,

but I don't think they were really that strong
in terms of their abilities.

- Right.
- But they came fully armed.

I've never seen a suit that shocked you
whenever you punched it.

Every time I hit it,
this powder sprayed everywhere!

I should've brought a weapon
with more reach!

I see.

And then the parasites got taken away
on a black airship.

It makes me so mad!

Well, I'm glad nothing worse happened.

Tatsuya, you know who they were?

Yeah.

If they used such interesting gear
and a stealth-equipped airship...

it has to be the Japan Ground Defense Force's
counterintelligence Section Three.

If we know who we're up against,
don't we know where they brought the parasites to?

We can't narrow it down
if we don't know what they're after.

Right.

They're a government agency, so they can
probably have as many bases as they need.

Well, they've got a budget.
They can't just have a hundred.

But they're probably hidden all over the place,
so even a thorough search wouldn't work.

Well, we don't have to worry about it much.

We'll just have to make sure nobody
can barge in this time. We'll set a trap.

Good morning, Ms. Balance.

I apologize for calling so early, Colonel.

Oh, it's you. Did you have
something to tell me?

Yes.

Yesterday, the JGDF counterintelligence
department's Section Three captured the parasites.

We discovered one of them is a magician
formerly belonging to the USNA military.

The parasites have begun moving again?

It's possible that after the parasites' vessels
were destroyed, they found new hosts.

Here are the ones
that have been captured.

Three parasites have now
been taken prisoner.

This is the only one we've identified
thus far, but if you wish...

we can tell you where they are being held.

Please do, Ms. Kuroba.

Very well.

That's about it.

I believe that airship belonged to the information
bureau's counterintelligence Section Three,

rumored to have ties to the Saegusa Family.

If you're considering using the parasites
for military purposes, that would be dangerous.

We don't know for sure
how to destroy them...

so I think we should be sealing them.

Counterintelligence Section Three?

Even I didn't know that
despite being a member of the Saegusa Family,

so I'm surprised you know about it.

I'd appreciate it if you didn't ask
what my information source is.

Well, you probably have a lot
of your own things going on, so I won't.

More importantly...

why didn't you tell me
you were going out to capture the parasites?

Because I figured bringing more people along
would make them cautious.

It does make sense, I guess.

Anyway, you want me to explain
this to my father, right?

And get the information bureau to give back
the parasites they snatched to Erika and the others?

I won't tell you to get them
to give the parasites back...

but once you've verified the reason
they took the parasites away,

if they're trying to deal with them in any other way
than sealing them, I'd like you to warn them off.

Tell them that if the public finds out that the
information bureau is taking advantage of the parasites

and magicians face disadvantages because of it,
they'll be the ones paying for the damages.

That's a scary thought.

Considering what's happening in the USNA,
I believe the threat is necessary.

Will do.

I'll talk to my father.

But I can't promise any results,
so don't expect too much.

Unlike Jumonji, I don't have
free reign over the Saegusa.

Thank you.

FEBRUARY 18, 2096

Saegusa".

MAYU MI SAEGUSA
CONFIRMATION
A spy holding facility
belonging to counterintelligence
Section Three has been attacked,
and the captured parasites were k*lled.

This?

Lina...

They make her do cruel things.

Brother, was that...

Lina?

Probably.

A homicidal act, clearly without any thought
given to the contents within.

The goal was only to burn
the containers to cinders.

It had been an execution.

Assassinations are lonely
and cheerless work.

Without a high degree of affinity
personality-wise,

it's too heavy for a teenage girl.

So heavy she won't be able to endure.

It will crush her heart, little by little.
And Lina doesn't have...

the affinity to be an assassin.

Hello! Can you hear me?

It's okay, Miyuki. This room is free
of any sort of microphones or cameras.

He's just talking to us.
We can't communicate.

I'm going to assume you can,
if that's all right.
He's just talking to us.
We can't communicate.

I'll start with an introduction.

My name is Raymond Sage Clark.

One of the Seven Sages.

The Seven Sages...

I heard about you from Tia, or rather, Shizuku.
Pleased to meet you, Tatsuya!

I see. He's Shizuku's information source.

I'll cut to the chase.

I'm the one who told Angie Sirius
about counterintelligence Section Three.

Although it seems like she somehow
learned of this before I informed her.

And I also wanted to give you the scoop.

I think you'll find it highly beneficial.

The magician boycott movements
raging fiercely in the States right now,

the ones starting to gain traction in Japan,
were set up by one of the Seven Sages.

Gide Sage Hague.

What?

Gide Hague. Also known as Gu Jie.
A stateless overseas Chinese person...

and supreme leader of the international
t*rror1st organization, Blanche.

He's the boss of Hajime Tsukasa, whom you caught,
the leader of Blanche's Japanese branch.

And also a senior member
of Richard Sun's group,

the previous leader of the international
crime syndicate, No-Head Dragon.

In No-Head Dragon, they called Gu Jie
"the Black Elder" or "the Great Hague."

Oh, and just so you know,

just because he's one of the Seven Sages
doesn't mean I'm in conspiracy with him.

"Seven Sages" isn't the name
of a single group.

It refers to the seven operators
with access privileges to Hlidskjalf.

Hlidskjalf...

I've heard a rumor about it once.

Does it actually exist?

Hlidskjalf is one of the additional expansion systems
for Echelon III, the global monitoring system.

Since it uses a backdoor in Echelon III,

maybe calling it a hacking system
lurking within the system would be better.

Anyway, Hlidskjalf collects information
from throughout the world

and gives information
along with search matches to the operators.

The system itself decides
who the operators will be,

and we haven't found any logic
to how it chooses people.

Ostensibly, it's completely random.

This is insane.

And using Hlidskjalf
is a risk to the operators, too.

The operator's search history is saved.

Search history records
are how I learned about Gide Hague.

Then, wouldn't Gide Hague now know
Raymond Clark's identity, too?

When Blanche's Japanese branch went under...

and No-Head Dragon lost
its Japanese headquarters...

Hague lost all his ways
to influence Japan.

Hague was the one who set up
the parasites to come to Japan, too.

His goal is to rebuild his spy base in Japan
by taking advantage of the chaos.

I've deciphered that his goal
is to destroy magic through social means.

If he can get rid of it, the Great Asian Alliance,
which is behind the curve when it comes to magic,

will immediately see its military might
improve compared to Japan.

To reign over a world without magic.

I think that's what Hague
and the people behind him are after.

His logic has leaps in it,
but as a whole, it makes sense.

And that isn't what I want.

You can laugh at me,
because this is going to seem romantic,

but I think magic is a way
toward a reformation of humankind.

Anyway, I'd like to keep providing you
with necessary information in the future.

Tatsuya Shiba, the Strategic-Class magician,
Shiva the Destroyer.

That's a terrible nickname.

Sorry, this all got a little long-winded.

Basically, I'm proposing
to help you get rid of the parasites.

Tomorrow night, on February 19th,

I will lure all active parasites to the outdoor
training area behind First High.

There, I want you to annihilate them.

And I've already given Angie Sirius
this information, too.

You can cooperate with her
or compete with her, whatever you prefer.

We'll be late unless we leave soon.

VISITOR ARC X