"Welcome to the Abydos Desert Central Laboratory. My name is 'Black Suit,' a member of 'Gematria.' I have been waiting for you."
A sharp black suit, a body indistinguishable from a normal adult, and a humanoid figure completely different from the previous Director Kaiser.
If eighty percent of what Dan Kuroto had seen and learned during his time living in Kivotos had been intelligent robots, animal citizens, and students, then the man before him who called himself 'Black Suit' was the second truly 'adult' Dan Kuroto had seen since Sensei.
"Sensei... we all know your identity. An incomprehensible being who appeared at the summons of the Federation Council President."
Black Suit's gaze lingered on Sensei, then fell upon the tablet Sensei was holding. "The owner of that mysterious artifact, the owner of [Schale]."
"Black Suit…" Sensei's expression was unusually grave, only his eyes flashing with sharpness. "Where is Hoshino?"
"She's right here, Sensei. But…" Black Suit finally turned his gaze to Sensei, surprised. "I heard… you were seriously injured in your battle with Kaiser PMC. That shouldn't have healed so quickly. How did you manage to appear here unharmed?"
It seems Black Suit had his own information channels, able to obtain a lot of information from within Kivotos. But now was not the time to delve into it. Sensei had no goodwill toward this man who had kidnapped his student. He simply spoke coldly.
"Black Suit, release Hoshino now."
The students beside him, though somewhat afraid of the man in the black suit, gripped their weapons tightly. They wanted to bring back their companion, their senior, no matter who stood in their way.
"Please don't be so cautious, Sensei." Black Suit's voice remained calm. "First, let's be clear, we don't want to be on the opposite side from you, or rather…"
"Huh?"
Black Suit's gaze turned somewhat strange. "Does your body have a minor problem?"
"That's not something you need to worry about, Black Suit." Sensei narrowed his eyes: "I can still punch you in the face with this body."
"This is truly... unfortunate."
Black Suit had seen through Sensei's current state of slow dissipation and shook his head regretfully. "Personally, I have a very high opinion of you. We never wanted to be your enemy; rather, we hoped to cooperate with you."
"For us, clearing out this tiny territory of Abydos won't take much effort. But what we really want is a partner like you—it seems we've come a little too late."
Shiroko, standing nearby, was furious: "How dare you say that!—Wasn't your people who ordered Sensei to be beaten like this!"
"We never concern ourselves with such trivial matters," Black Suit spoke. "Execution is the responsibility of Kaiser Corporation itself. Besides, you should have already received Hoshino's resignation."
Black Suit habitually tightened his tie.
"As for your suggestion of returning Hoshino to you, I'm afraid you no longer have that authority."
Sensei didn't see Hoshino's resignation letter, as it was still in Abydos's classroom, but even without seeing it, Sensei could still make his decision.
"That kind of thing… I haven't agreed to it yet."
"Oh?"
"As the club's advisor, I haven't signed off on it—" Sensei met Black Suit's gaze: "As long as I'm here, as long as I haven't agreed, Hoshino is still an Abydos student, still the vice president of the Abydos student council."
"Yes, yes, yes."
Black Suit nodded repeatedly. "The academy and the students, and their Teacher… um… this concept is a bit tricky."
Sensei stepped forward, rebuking Black Suit. "You deceived the children, trampled on their hearts, and exploited their pain!"
"Yes, as you say. We did indeed build our own interests on the suffering of others."
Black Suit didn't shy away, meeting the gazes of the Abydos members and Sensei's angry eyes directly.
"If there's a good and a bad way of doing things, what we did should undoubtedly be judged as 'bad'."
"But what we did was still legal."
Dan Kuroto stood aside, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. Based on what Black Suit said and everything he had learned before, these people had walked a tightrope of the law in every single thing they did.
While their methods were utterly disgusting, in a sense, only Serika, whom they finally found, could be definitively accused of a 'crime.'
But before that, all the methods used by Kaiser Corporation were, as Black Suit said, 'not illegal.'
Haven't we already experienced this kind of thing countless times?
"The disaster that befell Abydos was not our responsibility."
Black Suit spoke confidently to the crowd before him. "While such a catastrophe attacking an entire school district is extremely rare, it's not entirely unheard of—if Gematria had such means, its actions would have been many times more aggressive. Abydos simply happened to experience a once-in-a-century catastrophe."
"And Gematria merely exploited this disaster."
"Those who wield power exploit the powerless, and the learned exploit the ignorant. Shouldn't adults understand this principle in this harsh world?"
Black Suit's actions was strangely familiar to Dan Kuroto. He pondered for a moment, then recalled his past self. He couldn't help but laugh.
Laughing at himself for lowering himself to the same level as the other man because of his words.
"Why are you laughing, sir?"
Black Suit's expression cleared upon seeing Dan Kuroto, or rather, Kamen Rider Genm.
"Ah… it's you. I can sense it."
"Like Sensei beside him, like us, you are also a being from 'outside the world.' The energy we observed back then came from you."
He took a step forward, seemingly eager to approach immediately. Dan Kuroto could feel his gaze fixed on his waist, or more precisely, on the Gashat from *Alchemy Player*.
"Unexpected, utterly unexpected."
Black Suit's eyes widened, as if he had witnessed a priceless treasure. "You… I must admit, you are truly a genius beyond compare."
"The way of accessing this 'Mystery'... to think it can be transformed in such a way; compared to what we attempted, what we Gematria do is indeed—lacking a certain elegance?"
"You certainly have an eye."
Dan Kuroto laughed, his hands naturally outstretched.
"However, you know quite a bit about me, but I know absolutely nothing about you."
"What kind of organization is Gematria?"
"Ah… so it's unfair that only we understand you."
Black Suit raised his right hand and pressed it to his chest.
"Gematria is… observers, explorers, and researchers. For some reason, we want to artificially create the 'Sublime.' This is the fundamental principle behind Gematria's founding."