Chapter 15
Back to the Very beginning of the story

Back to Chapter 14 - part two

"The major difficulty," said Mr. Ian Woon, "was that I was so closely tied to the school that any investigation I did would be suspect. I could either be accused of using ISCE to try to interfere in one of the world governments, or the school itself could be suspected of being an accomplice in whatever plot was uncovered."

"So you had to bring in someone who wasn't connected to you," supplied Toshi.

The six of them sat with Mr. Woon in a little lounge attached to the main school assembly area. They could hear the buzz of the rest of the student body and ISCE faculty and staff outside, as they prepared for the ceremony. There was still a lot of chatter out there, as everyone's holiday had ended up being two weeks longer than expected. But when everything was considered, two and a half weeks for the governments of the world to find all the facilities involved in the plot, and clear everything away – it wasn't too bad.

Mr. Woon nodded at Toshi's remark. "I had no idea," he said, "that there could be such danger involved, or I would never have chosen this method. I thought that Miaki would discover the information and somehow make it public. But I didn't realize that there would be other connections that would draw in more students." He glanced at Kenji, who flushed a little and looked at his hands. "I thought perhaps he would involve you, Toshi, but no others."

Julie asked, "But how did you even know Miaki would come to school? He'd already stayed home the first year. What if he didn't change his mind?"

"Well," Mr. Woon said sheepishly, "I did what I could to influence him."

"What he's trying to say," Miaki said, "is that he came in person a couple of months before this term, to ask me to come here."

"In person?" Chika said. "That's amazing. Nobody else has ever been personally invited by Mr. Woon."

"Well," Woon remarked with a reminiscent smile, "not since the first couple of years of the school. We had a very small staff then."

Miaki elaborated, "He didn't say anything openly. But some of the things he talked about – the facilities, the access the school had to things – gave me the idea that maybe I could find out more about what happened to my father."

"This was deliberate, of course," Woon said. "I hoped he would begin to think along those lines. I apologize now, Miaki, for being so manipulative."

"It's alright," Miaki said. "I was already looking for ways to investigate. If it hadn't been here, I'd have been trying elsewhere. Probably illegally."

Julie snorted. "As though your activities here were pure and unblemished."

He laughed. Julie thought, happily, that he was starting to laugh again, rather a lot. He still tended to keep to himself, or only hang out with the other five, but she thought that would probably change now, with time. It was kind of a sad thought, really, that the six of them would probably start to branch out more now. She hoped they'd always stay friends on some level.

"My only regret," said Ian Woon, "is that the plot I suspected turned out to be so widespread and advanced. And that it involved the people it did."

Kenji managed a little smile. "It's alright, Mr. Woon. I know who you're talking about. I'm getting used to it. And I'm...I'm honestly glad we stopped him now, rather than later."

"I don't know if it's any consolation, young man," said Mr. Woon, "but he never did purchase you a place at the school. I always wanted you here, as much as Katsu. I know you have proven to all your schoolmates – in fact, to the entire world – that you belong here."

"Oh, look at him," Julie said, "he's blushing again!"

"Stop that. I can't help it," Kenji mumbled, his head lowered.

Toshi and Miaki grinned at each other, and once again Jin thought how much alike they looked, despite their different hair and eye colours. She remembered the way, after they had been engulfed by the students and staff and answered as many questions as possible after their adventures leaping among the simulations, the two of them had managed at last to slip away. Jin had left just before them, and had found herself yet again in the position of eavesdropper as they paused in a hallway near the women's dorm wing, on the way to their own dorm.

Miaki had put a hand on his cousin's shoulder and smiled. "You saved my life again today. How many times is that? I've lost count."

"Now, don't be melodramatic," Toshi had said lightly.

"I'm serious. Right from that very first day, when I found my father dead. If you hadn't come when you did, I think I would have followed him."

"I know," Toshi said quietly, his head turned away. "And I thought that's what you were doing today, when you made Kenji let you go. We had finished the job and exposed the plot, and now you were finally letting yourself die."

"You thought I was committing suicide?" Miaki was surprised. He bowed his head. "Of course you did. I talked like it often enough. I'm so sorry. But I really wasn't doing that. There wasn't any other way of getting everybody out, unless Kenji let go of me."

"Okay, so now you're back and the job is done. What now?"

"What do you mean, 'what now'?"

"Do I still have to watch you every minute, to make sure you'll still be here tomorrow morning?"

Miaki thought it over. "No," he said finally. "I think I'll be okay now. I'll really be okay, Toshi. Thanks to you and our friends."

Jin still hugged the word to herself, even now: friends. Miaki was not just her partner in class work, he was her friend. And she wasn't merely his friend – she was his "very tall friend." As he constantly told people, to their bewilderment.

He seemed to have guessed at least part of what she was thinking, for he now glanced over at her and smiled knowingly.

Whereupon Julie, too, glanced at her, with a knowing smile of an entirely different sort. Jin grimaced at her, but she was totally unrepentant.

The best thing that had come out of all of this, Jin reflected, determinedly ignoring Julie, was the reconciliation between Miaki and Kenji. Indeed, if anyone knew what it was like to lose your father, it was Miaki, and he treated Kenji with astonishing gentleness. In the last three weeks of extended vacation at the school, they had often been seen sitting off in a corner somewhere, in the cafeteria or a lounge, talking quietly.

That smile of Miaki's – that sweet smile that totally disarmed you and revealed the lovely soul that had always been inside somewhere – was often on display these days. There were wounds that needed healing, for most of them, and often the healing factor was turning out to be Miaki himself.

Now someone popped a head through the doorway and said, "Mr. Woon, we're just settling everyone down now, so you can come out onto the stage at any time."

"Thank you." Ian Woon turned and surveyed the six of them as they all stood, preparing to go out and be awarded and speechified and thoroughly embarrassed by adulation. The little man winked at them and said reassuringly, "I promise not to drag it out too long. But you knew you were going to be famous, didn't you, once you decided to broadcast to the whole world?"

"I believe," said Miaki drily, "that that was Toshi's entire goal."

"Mr. Woon," Kenji said. "This awards ceremony isn't being broadcast outside the school, is it?"

Mr. Woon stopped at the door and looked back at him, not replying, but giving him a wry smile.

"Oh no!" Kenji moaned. "The whole world is going to see us!"

"Don't worry, Kenj," Toshi said, slapping him on a shoulder. "I'll stand in front of you so they'll only see me."

"There is one way," Chika said, "that you could make it up to us for embarrassing us in front of the whole world, Mr. Woon."

"And what is that, young lady?" he asked.

"You could tell us where ISCE is really located."

He regarded her silently for a moment, and then finally said, his eyes twinkling. "Very well. ISCE is located on the outskirts of Tokyo. It is contained in a very large building disguised as a fish packing plant." And he turned and went out the door.

The six of them looked at each other.

"Is that true?" said Julie. "It can't be true. Is it? That's a really stupid place to put a cyber space school. Don't you think? What do you think? Is it true?"

The others burst out laughing. "I have no idea," Chika said, "whether it's true or not. And he's never going to tell us."

"Then that," Toshi said, "is our investigative project for next term. Agreed?"

"Agreed," they said. And followed Mr. Woon out the door.

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- posted by Phyl @ 4:09 PM