While the team continued their trek through the Palace, the Shadow Ops began a meeting via webcam.
"Alright, encryption confirmed. I'm watching for any hacks and surveillance. Meeting is a go." Fuuka's modulated voice echoed through Yu's laptop before the webcams all snapped on and began their meeting.
"Yo, partner!"
"Hello Yu,"
"Senpai!"
"I'm hungry."
"Oh yeah, Chie. Velvet is a fabric, not a color."
"That was days ago!"
Mitsuru clapped her hands and drew everyone's attention to her.
"Alright, enough. It's good to see everyone in good spirits. Let's move on."
"Wait, where are Yukari and Akihiko?" Yu asked in confusion. This meeting was pretty much just the Inaba group!
"I sent them out along with Ken to look for Kotone and Elizabeth. Perhaps they can access the Velvet Room."
"I honestly doubt it. Yu and Margaret both couldn't get in. Why would the other two?" a calm, soothing female voice came from one of the webcam screens.
It was a beautiful girl with long black hair. She was wearing a kimono and sitting gracefully in a traditional Japanese room.
"It's still worth a shot, I believe," Yu said calmly. "The Velvet Room is a sanctuary for fools."
"If you say so, but I think Yukiko has a point," Chie, a tomboy-looking girl in a probation officer outfit, said.
"Mitsuru, can I please come back to the Shadow Ops lab? I'm really tired of dealing with things here! Ren isn't even here anymore!"
Ignoring her complaints, Mitsuru broke her train of thought and asked Yu,
"Any other news?"
---
"I took a look at his phone like you asked, but the only thing I see here is a chunk of data being used by nothing. I pried into it, and it's not even an app. It's more like an app-like thing." Fuuka revealed with a scrunched brow. "Should we tell him where this most likely came from?"
"Not yet." Mitsuru decided swiftly. "As much as I'd like to..."
"We can't interfere...."
"Damn it!" Kanji yelled, slamming his fist down. "We still don't know why Ren fell unconscious in juvie and woke up all confused! All we could do is give Ren glasses to prevent his eyes from screwing with people!"
"It's similar to people I saw when I was out investigating before I came to Tokyo... but not quite, I guess. Ren's eyes feel malevolent. Not exactly powerful. But he's still Ren..." Yu trailed off.
"I wish we could talk to Igor! Or Elizabeth! Or Margaret knew what was going on! I'm really annoyed!" Another feminine voice rang out. "I once again can't help Ren. I don't have enough information!"
The girl in question was a pretty girl in a detective outfit, complete with a badge proving her employment by the government as a member of law enforcement. She looked extremely discouraged.
---
While the meeting was ongoing, Kamoshida was once more pushing for Ren's expulsion, calling him things like "heinous criminal" and "a blight on the school." Claiming that the reputation of the volleyball team was going to fall all because Ren manipulated Shiho and Mishima was injured.
'Blight on the school, huh?' Kawakami thought in disgust as she heard the hypocrisy coming out of his mouth.
She remembered the time Ren gave her a coffee with a smile in the morning simply because she looked tired. And when he helped to carry her groceries. Despite saying she looked bad.
"He isn't a bad kid," she said.
But her voice was drowned out by Kamoshida trying to convince other teachers. Unfortunately, a few of them were beginning to be swayed.
'I'm so sorry, Ren,'
---