Copyright Notice: This story is an original work by VANTA_kun. All rights reserved. Do not copy or redistribute without permission.
The warm wind of noon swept gently across the school rooftop, carrying with it the distant cheers of students from the athletic field below. The sun was casting its rays at ninety-degree angle. Casting short shadows over the concrete floor. Beyond the safety fence, Tokyo stretched endlessly toward the horizon.
Shuhi stood near the fence with her arms resting on the cold metal railing. Beside her were Haruto, Akari and Rina. For once, nobody was arguing. They were here because of pre-arranged meeting.
"I had talk with Shinichi. He is doing much better." Shuhi was the first one to open her mouth.
The other three turned toward her.
"He is continuing his treatment. The doctors said the withdrawal symptoms are stabilizing, and his therapist believes he's responding well. It'll still take time... but he's moving forward."
A small smile appeared on Haruto's face before disappearing just as quickly.
"...That's good."
For a brief moment, relief settled over the rooftop.
Haruto lowered his eyes toward the sports ground where students were chasing a football across the field.
"Then our next objective is obvious."
Shuhi glanced sideways.
"We catch the people responsible."
Haruto's usually gentle voice carried an unusual firmness.
"I promised him I'd help him get rid of those drugs. Clearing his debts wasn't enough."
His fingers slowly tightened around the rooftop fence.
"I couldn't save him."
"You did," Shuhi replied quietly.
Haruto looked at her.
"You did what you could. You bought him time. Without that... he might not even be alive today."
The words lingered in the air before Akari let out a dramatic sigh.
"Enough with the depressing atmosphere."
He stretched lazily.
"If we're hunting an "underground criminal organization", Akari bent his fingers on both sides to make it look quotation, "Standing on a rooftop isn't exactly the optimal strategy."
Rina nodded.
"Let's continue somewhere quieter."
...
"...could you guys please stop using my room as your operation base?"
Only then did Haruto lift his head. All of them had gathered inside Shuhi's room.
A folding table had mysteriously appeared beside her bed. Four chairs surrounded it. Maps, notebooks and several unopened snack packets occupied every inch of the tabletop. A whiteboard leaned against the wall, already filled with handwritten notes and arrows connecting different names. Someone had even plugged a power strip beneath her desk.
Rina was arranging papers into neat piles.
Akari sat before a laptop, fingers flying across the keyboard at terrifying speed.
"I thought we were comrades now." Haruto responded.
"That isn't the issue!"
"So we figured..."
Haruto looked around the room as if everything made perfect sense.
"...what's the point of paying rent for that apartment when we can use this one for free?"
Shuhi stared at him in complete disbelief.
"...My gosh..."
She pinched the bridge of her nose.
"You guys are unbelievable."
"Shh."
Rina raised a finger without even looking away from the papers.
"Don't distract Akari kun."
Akari's eyes never left the monitor.
His fingers danced across the keyboard so quickly that individual keystrokes became impossible to distinguish. The rapid clicking merged into a continuous mechanical rhythm that echoed through the room.
Lines of code streamed down the screen faster than Rina could read them. She had long since stopped trying.
"Even back then... Akari kun was unmatched when it came to computers."
His typing speed exceeded what most people could even follow with their eyes. Surpassing any program."
"The instructors eventually commissioned a custom keyboard just for him. Not because ordinary ones couldn't keep up... but because the constant noise disturbed the entire dormitory whenever he worked."
Shuhi remembered that keyboard.
Multiple layers of sound-dampening material had been installed beneath every key. Without them, the room sounded like a machine gun every time Akari started programming.
"...Found it."
The room immediately fell silent.
Akari leaned back slightly and turned the laptop toward the others.
A digital map filled the screen.
Near the eastern side of Tokyo...
A single red marker blinked steadily.
"There."
Akari pointed at the location.
"The signal we've been tracing originates from this warehouse."
Haruto narrowed his eyes.
"So..."
"They're still operating."
"No."
Akari shook his head.
"They're hiding."
A faint grin slowly spread across his face.
"But not very well."
"But how did you find it out?" Shuhi asked.
"I hacked into every online server in a fixed region. Got there movement and this location. The description matches. Drug dealing and ill…"
"Wait what did you say?" Shuhi cried, stopping Akari from finishing his sentence, "You hacked it? Isn't it illegal? Are police gonna come after us?" Shuhi looked worried.
"Don't worry. This device is impossible to track down." Akari said.
"okay so now what?" Haruto asked.
"We just have to go catch them." Rina said.
"How? We don't have any manpower." Shuhi pointed out the obvious.
"We surely don't. But the police and law enforcer army has. I got the perfect idea. Just leave it to me." Haruto gave them a thumbs up with a smile.
…
The next day, inside a police station, two officers were talking. An file attached with email was showing on their computer monitor.
"Are you seeing this too?" one of them said.
"Yeah, our team can't trace it's origin." The other officer said.
"What do you mean? Have you contacted the email company?"
"I did. They said there was no email with the username of this. Yet we can clearly see it on the screen. Odd, right?"
"Hey there inspector, how are you guys doin?" Paul Loren entered in the station.
"Ya, we were busy dealing with…an anonymous email." One of the two replied.
"I am free from the previous case. I can take an interest in it," Paul said.
The police officers then explained what they knew of the email.
"So you are saying…no ip address match nor server detection?"
"Correct."
"And this attachment contains…"
"All the coordinates of the drug dealers we were trying to find for the past week."
"Interesting…", Paul thought, "Someone narrowed down the drug syndicates' location before police did. With an untraceable email. A pro hacker probably. Is this sector getting ambushed if they go there? Or…wait. Is this her? Only she could wield…"
Paul stood there, silent. Lost in thoughts.
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