Chapter Seven: Investigation

  Later that day, after Siran, Zia and Silas finish carrying out all of the files from Vivi's house; Vivi and Alex went to rest in their own house. Rose, Finn and Dana were still at Vivi's house. They came over to talk to Vivi about what she thinks about the people in Seeira constantly nominating the former Six Guns crew as a military; or even a police force; for Seeira against their will. "Frankly, I don't want to acknowledge it" Vivi says. "Let them say what they want. At this point, our crew name alone acts as a deterrent for most violent action. It's good that people talk about us like that, but bad at the same time. If people call on me for help, I just might have to turn them down... and I'm not sure if I want to do that".

  "It's kinda like..." Rose says as she thinks, "that we all became a little bit like Siran during that war... isn't it?".

  "Well... he's an idiot" Vivi says. "My stupid little brother-".

  "But he's older than you" Finn interrupts.

  Vivi points a wrench at Finn and says "Interrupt me again, I dare you...".

  "Sorry..." Finn replies.

  "Well, as I was saying" Vivi continues, "he is definitely an idiot. He's reckless and poses a danger to himself... but, at the same time, he's a really good guy. He's just...".

  "Always getting himself in trouble?" Alex asks.

  "Too nosy?" Rose asks.

  "A workaholic?" Finn asks.

  "All of those things and more" Vivi says. "He's got the kind of personality that's easy to walk all over, and it acts like a freaking magnet for trouble. I'm just glad he's got someone like Zia by his side. She's got a good head on her shoulders".

  "Does she?" Alex asks. "I mean... she married Siran".

  "The process of creating bonds between people doesn't equate to their level of intelligence" Vivi says. "And just because someone likes someone else who seems bad in the eyes of one person, does not make the first person as bad".

  "I guess that's true" Alex agrees.

  "Hey, what's this?" Rose asks as she leans over and picks up a piece of mail from off of the couch. "It seems like it was left under those files that were here earlier... what's it doing here?".

  "Who's it addressed to?" Alex asks.

  Rose flips the envelope over and reads the front of it. The mail had a return address from Japan, and the addressee raised alarms. "You're either gonna like this a lot, or you're going to hate it. No in between" Rose says.

  "Why, what's up?" Finn asks.

  "It's sent from Japan" Rose says. "And it's addressed to The Six Guns".

  "Wait... from Japan?" Alex asks. "Those guys were our only major allies during the war. What could they want?".

  "They also keep China off of our backs" Vivi says. "So it might be good".

  "Yeah, but... we're disbanded" Finn says. "I'll admit, I kinda miss The Six Guns... but we're out of business".

  "I don't think out of business is the right term for it" Vivi says. "There's plenty to do, but we can't just do it all for everyone. People were supposed to learn how to fight for themselves".

  "Can... can I open it?" Rose asks.

  "Wait, Japan?" Dana asks.

  "You guys have been to Japan!?" Carl asks.

  "That's right!" Rose says. "Not only have we been to Japan, but Mikoto and Satomi are there! They went back home after the war! Do you think it's from them?".

  "Open it and find out" Finn says.

  "This sounds rather important though" Alex says. "Should we call everyone over?".

"Depending on the severity of the contents in this letter" Vivi says, "we might have to anyways. So, go ahead and start calling everybody over".

"On it" Finn says, already taking out his phone.

After a few phone calls, everyone in the crew shows up, as well as the three children. Siran, Zia, Vivi, Alex, Finn, Rose, Holly, Tanya, Demetri, Robin, Ying, Blake, Silas, Dana and Carl all gathered in Vivi's large living room. The room was crowded and full of anxiety. "We really should've opened this up before the tension rose so much, y'know?" Rose says.

"So, what does this mean?" Robin asks. "Do we have a job to do again?".

"More ass kicking?" Blake asks. "I guess I'm the only one in this group who didn't really get to do much... since I was only there for the fight against Naris".

"But... doesn't that mean we'll have to reactivate the crew?" Tanya asks.

"I think that would be splendid!" Ying says.

"Nobody's reactivating shit until we find out what's going on" Vivi interjects.

"Don't get hopes up yet" Demetri says. "It could be terrible news".

The three kids looked around the room in confusion. "Well?" Siran asks. "Let's see what's in that letter".

"Alrighty then" Rose says. Rose takes a deep breath, then opens up the envelope. She reaches in and pulls out a thin paper card. On one side, it showed a logo. A band logo, with the name "Sweet Justice" written in the logo. "Huh?" Rose asks. "But this isn't...". Rose sets the card down on the couch lazily, and it falls to the floor as she continues reaching inside of the envelope. Finally, Rose pulls out a few more pieces of paper. One, was a photo of a badge. The badge had mostly Japanese writing on it, but had "S.A.T." written on the top, and had "Haru Nakamura" written on the bottom. Rose passes that photo around for everyone else to see, and looks at the next photos. One photo was that of a remote area off-shore in Japan. The area had what looks like an empty field with dead grass and black, withered plants around. Other than the dead plants, this seemed like a perfectly normal island. Rose then passes that photo around, and panics when she sees the next photo. The next photo was a photo of the same exact area, taken from the same angle, except it said "Enhanced image-Digital magic rendering" on the top. Throughout the entire island, was an enormous amount of Endoindustria spewing out of the ground rapidly. "Guys... you're not going to like this" Rose says as she passes that photo around too.

"What the hell is this!?" Finn asks as he looks at it.

"Let me see!" Robin demands.

"Wait a second, you little brat" Holly says. "Let the rest of us see it too". Holly takes the photo and immediately passes it to Siran. "I'm going to have to go see this, whether you're coming or not" she says sternly.

Siran looks at it and says "So this is what he meant...".

"What is it, Syr?" Zia asks.

Siran hands the photo over to Zia and says "Remember when Laurence briefly mentioned something about endo-streams? I think this is what he meant".

"You've had an outside source?" Vivi asks. "You really are restless".

"It's not like that!" Siran declares. "The first time we saw this guy, he stabs me in the stomach, then walks away happily. Last time, he just came up, talked about something crazy, then left while looking all paranoid".

"Was it something I did?" Silas asks. "He looked at me funny...".

"You didn't do anything, Silas" Siran assures.

"Hun, don't worry about that creep" Zia says. "He's a loony".

"Man that stabbed you in the gut?" Holly asks. "That sounds familiar".

"You mean Laurence?" Ying asks. "We met him in the Philippines".

"Precisely" Siran says. "He mentioned something about this just earlier today".

"Today!?" Vivi asks.

"We just saw him not too long ago" Zia says. "He showed up out of nowhere, talked like a mad man, then vanished... and I mean, literally vanished. Like, he used a teleport spell or something".

"Teleportation?" Holly asks. "But that can't be possible. Relocating your cells to another location, even with magic... it just isn't possible without immediately killing yourself. Also, even if you could piece yourself back together, without having a portal to walk through, your electrical currents in your brain would no longer be there. It's impossible to use magic like that".

"That's not all" Zia says. "He also casts magic without a charm, like Siran and I".

"He knows about Valhalla too" Siran says. "That realm I mentioned before. I don't trust him".

"Is there anything else in the mail?" Alex asks.

"There's a note" Rose says.

"Let me read it" Holly says as she walks over to Rose and snatches the paper. Holly picks up the letter, and reads it out loud. "Dear Six Guns, you may have heard of me at least once. My name is Haru Nakamura. Captain Haru Nakamura, of the Specialized Assault Team, 505th division. I'm the contact you've had for the forces of Japan during the war. We've all heard about your crew's disbandment, so you don't have to worry about explaining that. However, I'm afraid I'll need to call on your help once more. It's more of an investigation though, and there's no war we need you to fight. It's urgent. Your crew are the only people in the world who have handled this much Endoindustria, and we fear our specialists have no clue what's going on. If this endo phenomenon doesn't end soon, it will have several catastrophic effects on our land. Sincerely, Haru Nakamura. Captain of the 505th, SAT special forces".

Carl walks up to Holly and holds up the band logo card that was taken out first from the envelope. "Holly, there's something written on this too".

Holly takes the card and flips it over. Holly reads the words on the back out loud. "P.S. your friends are waiting" she says.

"Then, are we going?" Siran asks.

"Siran!" Vivi yells. "What about the kids!?".

"The kids can come with" Siran says.

"We can!?" Dana asks.

"No way!" Carl exclaims. "That'd be so cool!".

"We can go all the way to Japan!?" Silas asks. "Really!?".

"Actually" Demetri says, "might not actually be such bad idea. Think about idea... we go, see what's wrong, come back... if kids come with, parents no worry".

"I guess that's true..." Vivi says.

"It's been a while since I've done anything other than work" Robin says. "I'm in".

"Is anyone against it?" Siran asks. The room fell silent, then Siran says "Then let's take a last minute flight to Japan!". As everyone gets ready to leave for Japan, Siran walks up to Vivi. "I know we're not doing business as The Six Guns now" he whispers, "but make sure everyone brings their guns or some sort of weapon. If we run into another weirdo like that Laurence guy, we'll need to make sure the kids will be safe".

"Hmm..." Vivi thinks. "I still run my shop as a weapon smith here, even with the kid around, and I've taught him all I know about guns... but I'm not sure if it's such a good idea".

"Hope for the best" Siran says as he takes out his pistol Vivi had made for him, and holsters the gun on his side, "but prepare for the worst".

"Right..." Vivi agrees.

The crew takes a long flight out to Japan. When they first arrive, it was late at night and the crew was tired from the jet lag. They all found a hotel and bought separate rooms for each other. There, they stayed the night and got some sleep. The next morning, the crew gathered and went around to search for any familiar faces. Eventually, they came across this poster in Shibuya about a concert in Akihabara. On the poster, was the same band that had their logo on the card that was sent to them in the mail. "Think this counts as a lead?" Blake asks.

"If it's all we've got" Ying says, "may as well try. I'm pretty sure there's some connection here".

"Are we going to some Japanese band's concert?" Silas asks.

"I've never been to a concert before" Dana says with glowing eyes.

"Then we should go while we're here" Rose says. "It's a once in a lifetime opportunity!".

"Yes!" Dana cheers.

"Alright, alright" Vivi agrees. "It does sound pretty fun, and we don't really have to worry about a war anymore. We really should find more ways to kick back and relax".

"Hell yeah!" Carl cheers.

"I wonder what type of band they are" Siran says.

"Sweet Justice?" a voice behind the crew says.

"They're a punk rock band" another voice behind the crew says. As the crew turns around, they're met with two familiar faces. Satomi and Mikoto. "Hey guy!" Mikoto says excitedly. "Long time no see!".

"Satomi! Mikoto!" Rose cheers as she hugs them both.

"Hehe" Satomi giggles, "nice goggles, Rose. You're really rockin' it!".

"And uh..." Mikoto says as she looks at Finn's robotic arm, "nice arm... Finn. Sorry you lost that in the war. How's it feel? Does it work well?".

"Uh-Huh" Finn says. "It can turn into a gun!".

"... Neat" Mikoto says.

"These are the last two members of The Six Guns?" Silas asks.

"It really has been a long time!" Satomi says as she hugs Rose back. Satomi looks down at Silas, then squeezes out of Rose's clutches. She walks up to Silas and kneels before him and pinches his cheeks. "Who's this little cutie!?".

"That's our son" Siran says, however, it didn't seem like Satomi was listening to him.

"Ohf... gweat" (Oh... great) Silas says trough his pinched cheeks. "Ahnothur hweirdo" (Another weirdo).

"Are you guys coming to the show?" Mikoto asks.

"That Sweet Justice thing?" Blake asks.

"Who is that band, anyways?" Zia asks.

Satomi and Mikoto look at each other. "We thought you knew..." Mikoto says.

"It's our band" Satomi says. "We got a couple members to play instruments after the war, and we formed a band. This is our band... Sweet Justice".

"That's so cool!" Rose cheers.

"We also got this letter from this Haru Nakamura person" Vivi says.

"From Haru?" Mikoto asks. "From the SAT?".

"Yeah" Vivi says. "That's the one".

"She's the one we worked with back in the war" Satomi says. "Do you remember her? You never met her, but she's the one who gave us all of our support from Japan during the war".

"Then I guess we owe her our thanks as well" Siran says. "We're looking forward to meeting her. Do you still have contact with her?".

"Oh yeah" Mikoto says. "We've spoken on a regular basis. She's barely older than we are. We've become friends after the war... and, even though The Six Guns have disbanded, we occasionally help with their business".

There was a short silence before Satomi speaks up. "To be honest, we miss The Six Guns. So, to feel like we're still... y'know... Six Guns... we still do work alongside the SAT".

"We are all still Six Guns" Siran says gently. "We just... don't do business anymore. Of course, I'm not stopping you from doing what you love".

"We know, Siran" Mikoto says. "You've always kinda been like that".

"And, don't worry" Satomi says. "We'll get you in contact with Haru as soon as we can! I'm not sure what she called on you for, but she was likely waiting for you guys to show up before telling us. If that's the case, it must be important. So we're tagging along too!".