After a couple hours, the train conductor announced that they would be arriving at Nagoya station shortly. It had been a rather uneventful ride, both girls taking turns staying awake. It was times like these that they were thankful that Sakura had lent the mastercard she created months ago before they left for Japan. It allowed them to get food and travel around without any problem. In this case, it allowed them to secure VIP tickets for the train ride. The extra leg room and comfy seats really helped the duo rest up for the battle that was to come.

“Hey, Hii-chan, we’re almost there. Wake up.” Nako whispers to the sleeping girl, softly patting her head. This was surely a difficult time for the peach-cheeked girl. The older girl knew that she’d probably be doing the same thing if someone had done that to her parents. All Nako knew right now was that she wanted to be there and support her partner.

“Thanks for letting me rest a bit longer, Nako-chan. We’re supposed to be meeting Jurina near the SKE building, right? You know where that is?” Hitomi asks. At this, Nako brings out a map, pointing at a location in the Sakae district.

“Remember, we’re going to work with Jurina, but we can’t let her kill Koyama. We need information from her, and it wouldn’t be right for us to decide her punishment.” The short girl reminds her girlfriend. From the way she said it though, Hitomi could definitely tell that the “don’t kill Koyama” part applied to herself as well. She may have calmed down since her breakdown earlier, but you never know what emotions will arise when facing someone who’s wronged you the way Koyama had wronged her and her family. Nako had good reason to watch both her and Jurina for this mission.

“You have any ideas on how to deal with Zozi? I don’t want you getting hurt again.” Hitomi ends up saying to change topics.

“Hmm, I’m assuming we’ll find something in Koyama’s database. The problem will be getting there. Ugh, this sounds like an IZ*ONE level threat.” Nako responds, racking her brain in frustration. This was usually the time Eunbi would make some inspirational speech or Sakura would come up with an intricate plan. Hitomi senses this and places a hand on her partner’s shoulder.

“Hey, just because the others aren’t here doesn’t mean it’s impossible. This is an IZ*ONE level threat which is why we’re both here. Besides, we both know Jurina’s no slouch. We’ll figure something out like we always do.” The younger girl says reassuringly. This was the beauty of the duo’s lowkey relationship; they could both easily pick up on each other’s emotions and take turns picking the other up.

“You’re right. Let's take Koyama down and have a nice meal after.” Nako says with a cheerful smile. A couple moments later, the train begins to slow down before fully stopping at their destination. The duo gives each other a confident nod before heading over to Sakae.

~~~~

“Took you two long enough. I was beginning to think you two had flaked on me. Are you sure you didn’t make any detours?” Jurina says snidely after walking out of the shadows. The three had met up in an alleyway in front of the five-story high building.

“Yah, of course not! It just took us a bit to get to the train station from the forest you shadow-traveled us to.” Nako says with reddened cheeks because of what the older girl was insinuating.

“It's still a lot more effective than what you used to get here. I finished scouting half an hour ago.”

“It’s certainly not that effective at keeping my nausea away.” Hitomi quips before moving on to the matter at hand. “Let’s just get this over with. Did you find us an entrance?”

“Well, since you two seem to hate shadow-travel so much, we’re going to have to enter from the top using the other building. There’s only ever one sentry up there.” Jurina says, pointing at the shopping center next to their target.

~~~~

After a couple minutes of climbing, the trio managed to reach the rooftop only to realize the gap between the buildings looked a lot larger from up here than down below. Like Jurina had said, there was only one guard, but he was stationed right next to where they were planning to jump.

“How are we supposed to get across without being seen?” Nako asks through a whisper. The older girl could only shrug before stepping into a shadow and exiting behind the sentry’s silhouette, quickly knocking him out before he had a clue what happened.

“I’ll work on the door, just find a way to cross.” Jurina says as she rummages through the guard’s pockets for a key card. At this, Hitomi takes out a packet of seeds from her pocket and lays a couple on the ground. Roots quickly spring out from the concrete floor and snake their way across the gap.

“I stocked up on different types while you two were busy arguing on whether to use the elevator or stairs.” The peach-cheeked girl says with a smile. Hitomi had actually shocked the vendor with her strange request. It wasn’t every day that a college-aged student would take an interest in botany.

“Are you sure it’s going to hold though?” Yes, Nako had jumped off a crashing plane before, but at least she had parachutes that time. Seeing the older girl’s apprehension, Hitomi decides to take the first step, even bouncing on the vines to prove it was stable. When the short girl doesn’t move, she sighs, taking her hand and slowly walking her across the plant-bridge.

“Not a word…” Nako grumbles to Jurina who had gotten a kick out of the younger girl’s sudden acrophobia.

“My lips are sealed.” Jurina says with a matching hand gesture before swiping a card key on the rooftop entrance.

~~~~

After making their way down several flights of stairs, Jurina leads the trio towards a catwalk on the second floor that oversees the main lobby. SKE looked fairly similar to the other bases they’d been to before. First of all, they always looked way bigger on the inside than they did from outside. There were many scientists and guards milling around endless hallways that probably led to underground areas.

“Ugh, finding Koyama here will be like finding a needle in a haystack.” Nako sighs, but at that moment, a commotion is heard from the main entrance.

“Akimoto-senpai? What’s he doing here.” Hitomi asks, seeing that the AKB president was accompanied by several other high ranking officials.

“Looks like he’ll lead us straight to the needle then, Nako.” Jurina says as a smirk before darting off to the other end of the catwalk.

“Yah, Jurina! We don’t know this place as well as you.” The short girl whines as she and Hitomi try to catch up, eventually crashing into the older girl when they hadn’t realized she’d stopped.

“I swear if I could do this on my own, I would. Come on, we have to get in here.” Jurina says, motioning towards an air vent. Nako gave a look that said ‘Seriously?’, but it appeared the older girl was, in fact, serious. Reluctantly, she rips the vent off its hinges and crawls in with Hitomi while Jurina, being a bit too tall to fit, settles for hiding in the duo’s shadows.

~~~~

Eventually, with the guidance of Jurina and a lot of grunting from moving in the tight spaces, the three find themselves right over a board room where some animated arguing was ongoing. Sitting in the director’s chair was none other than Dr. Koyama, taking a sip of coffee.

“-that doesn’t excuse this attack on our main headquarters. We lost a lot of operatives because of your little display.” Akimoto says.

“Yes! In addition to that, we found out it was you who demolished the NMB branch, not the two mutants we arrested earlier. You went too far.” A man who they assumed was the director of NMB adds on.

“It’s that type of backwards thinking that has allowed the Koreans to surpass us. Have you not thought that your bases were destroyed because of your operatives’ inferiority? I am presenting a solution that will put us back on top of the world order.” Koyama says after placing down her cup.

“Is this why you betrayed us for that Korean, Ahn Joon-young?” Akimoto queries to which Koyama shakes her head.

“I was working with him to see how far behind we were. After witnessing him succumb to his own hubris, I realized the only way to keep up in this arms race is to create a power that we can control better than the mutants- androids. Why bother capturing and training them when we can develop machines that have more power and are more obedient? My one prototype has already shown that our current operatives are obsolete.” At this the room goes quiet. Even Hitomi and Nako were at a loss for words. If all that damage was caused by one android, a prototype at that, then there could be huge ramifications if they end up mass producing them.

“So, what do you propose we do with our current operatives? I don’t think they’ll take being phased out too lightly.” One executive asks.

“Isn’t that simple? We simply wipe them out like the monsters they are.” Koyama says with an evil smile.

“We need to get rid of their data.” Jurina whispers through the shadows. Nako and Hitomi nod, moving through the vents towards the labs. Their movement above doesn’t go unnoticed though as Koyama glances upwards with a curious expression.

“If you still don’t believe in Zozi’s potential, I feel like you will soon.” She says, getting up and leading everyone to another room.

~~~~

“Are you sure we’re going in the right direction? How are you sure you can even see while in the shadows?” Nako whines.

“Again, you hated shadow-traveling, so this is your next best option if you don’t want to get caught. We’re close.” Jurina replies in annoyance. How twelve of them managed to work together on a consistent basis was a mystery to her.

“Yah, can you both stop arguing? At this rate, we might as well be going on foot with how loud you’re being.” Hitomi whispers, but that lapse in concentration caused the peach-cheeked girl to miss a grate they were told to skirt around.

“Hii-chan!” Nako shouts as Hitomi falls through the metal frame, but the younger girl manages to throw some seeds that sprout into vines that latch onto the vent. The short girl lets out a sigh of relief before pulling her partner back up, Jurina shaking her head the whole time.

“Great, what’re the chances anyone saw that?” The older girl mumbles. There may not have been many people around, but the cameras were likely sending out some distress signals right now.

“Let’s not wait and find out. You said we were close right?” Hitomi says after placing the grate back where it was supposed to be. Luckily, her vines had managed to catch it before it clanged on the ground because that definitely would’ve alerted everyone.

“Yeah, it should be just ahead. They’re probably getting ready for us though.” Jurina says as she continues to lead them ahead.

Eventually, after a couple minutes, Jurina stops. It had taken all of her and Nako’s willpower not to argue again, neither of them wanting to make the peach-cheeked girl angry again.

“We’re here. You two ready?” The older girl asks as she looks through the grate and sees a bunch of soldiers already in the lab below. There was still no sign of Koyama and the android though.

“As ready as we’ll ever be.” Nako replies, and with that, Jurina slips through and starts knocking out soldiers. The short girl follows suit, breaking the grate and jumping into the action. Hitomi wanted to heave a sigh until she remembered she was first to jump into the fray at the AKB base.

“Maybe we do all share the same brain cells.” Hitomi thinks before following.

A/N: Hi, sorry for the delay, I was meaning to get this out a couple of hours ago but I was really sick today. So, if there are any mistakes in this chapter, I hope y'all understand. I did end up splitting the final part into two chapters though so barring any unforeseen circumstances, Zozi should be done by tomorrow. 

I think i've decided on anneyongz next, but again, since im sick right now, it might take a week or so. Anyways, thanks for all the support, likes and comments! I'll see y'all in the next one