Andromeda

The Inner Man – Episode 6 – Charade

Kohana stared at Sakura, she had told her that everything would be all right, but she was having trouble telling herself that. The situation was desperate already and these men were serious about finding Chiko. How long were they going to try to search for Chiko before giving up? Eventually the police had to arrive to try to handle the situation and what would happen when they conflicted? This school could turn into a war zone if things did not go right.

She walked around pacing, trying to hear what the teacher's were talking about. They were definitely discussing things between themselves and if something was going to happen soon, she wanted to know what it was. If they made a move, she needed to be ready for what might happen.

"Principal, we have to think of the safety of the children."

"Yes, I know. I do not like this anymore than you, but we are being held hostage by an unknown group of men."

"All the more reason that we should be cautious, we don't know what they will do."

"But we need to learn what is going on here. We do not even know why we are being held hostage. They must want something, if we can find out what it we'll be in a better position."

"I don't trust them, how can we trust that they'll not harm the children?"

"We do not know what type of people they are yet, so I need to know if our children are in danger or not."

"But what'll we do if they take you, Principal?"

"That is a risk I must take."

Kohana stopped listening to their conversation, she knew that they needed to know what was going on. But the situation was far more complex than they realized and knew nothing about what was actually happening. If she learned about what was going on here for real, what would she do? Would she try to help them find Chiko? It seemed unlikely, but Kohana could be turned in since she was a new arrival to the school.

There were too many questions and thoughts spinning around in her head. She tried to focus herself as she saw Mrs. Toki start walking towards the doors of the auditorium. Kohana looked at her with a worried look as she passed by. Mrs. Toki simply smiled back trying to comfort her, even though the reason for her being worried was obviously not what Mrs. Toki thought.

It was just dangerous even talking to these men if Mrs. Toki did something that they did not like. What would happen to her if they did not want to talk to her, they might be beat her? Kohana started to walk towards Mrs. Toki when Sakura stopped her.

"Where are you going?"

"Please, Sakura…"

"Kohana?"

Mrs. Toki approached to the two men guarding the doorway of the auditorium. She looked at them both trying to hide as much of fear as she could. They looked back at her annoyed.

"What do you want?"

"I want to speak to the one in charge."

"Why?"

"I'm the Principal of this school, I need to speak with him if I'm to understand the situation."

"You don't need to understand anything you're the hostage, we don't need to tell you anything."

"I disagree, I do not even know why I'm a hostage."

Kohana was staring at them trying not to worry Sakura too much or act too strangely. She wanted to do something to help, but she did not really know what she could do. She was just a little girl with stronger than average attributes, but that was not going to help her in this situation. All she could do right now was wait as the teacher bravely spoke to men.

"Well I don't care if you disagree or not, get back inside and sit down," the man said raising his gun to beat her down with it. However before he was able to follow through with the attack, another man that Kohana had not seen before stopped him. The two guards immediately changed their demeanor, which must have meant that new man to enter had a position that commanded respect. She was just glad that he prevented Mrs. Toki from getting hit.

After the two men returned to watch the auditorium Mrs. Toki left Kohana's sight with the new man. She worried about what would happen now that she was unable to help, even though she was uncertain right now how she could help at this point.

Mrs. Toki walked with the man, he was not old, but probably a little older than she was from what she could tell. She wondered what it was that they were actually wanting from the school. There were no demands made to them, almost no contact other than the guards, it did not seem like a normal hostage even though that is what they were calling it. "My name is Azumi Toki, what is yours?"

"Becoming familiar with me isn't going to help you," he said.

"Then how do I address you?"

"Names of no importance, but if you must call me something then, Mr. Winter."

"Well Mr. Winter, what is it that you are trying to gain from taking an entire school hostage?"

"That isn't for me to say, but Mr. Autumn will be able to answer some of your questions."

"I see."

The two kept walking on until coming to the second floor of the school where the man named Mr. Autumn stood looking out through the windows in the hall. There were no lights, which darkened the hall so only the sunlight that entered in bathed the man. The man did not even look towards Mrs. Toki as she approached him.

She stared at him for a moment trying to gauge him; the man was rather hard to read. He was not even looking at her, which meant that he either did not care or preferred to appear more omnipresent as the man in charge.

"Welcome, Mrs. Toki."

"Shouldn't that be what I say?"

"Ah yes, I am the guest here are I not?"

"What do you want from us?"

"Direct. You are hostages, I want nothing more than your cooperation."

"But why did you take us hostage? What are your demands?"

"Ah, yes, we have not told you that, have we? Well it is pretty simple, nothing too mysterious or grandiose. We just want the release of a prisoner that the government has in their custody."

"Why would you take a school hostage?"

"Now that is a question, I am going to leave up to your imagination. Seems that is all the time I have for you right now. Keep her with you, she might be useful later."

Mrs. Toki did not know why he said that. The man turned walking away from her after he was finished to speaking. She moved towards the window to see what it might have been that he saw. Then she knew what it was, the police were arriving around the school. The situation was soon going to grow tense, as the men that took them hostage would make their demands on the police.

She was worried how long it would take for the demands to be met. There was also the possibility of the teachers or students that could be dragged into this. She did not want anyone else to be pulled into this if she could help it, but if the police were not convinced or took too long they might try to force a decision.

Mashiro had finally finished with the rice and the rest of the food to be ready later. He returned to the living room to grab the laundry that he had finished thirty minutes ago. He placed the clothes on his bed as he sorted through them when his eye caught the homing device blinking next to him. Quickly he picked it up from the bed looking at it and immediately knew where Chiko was. "How long has this been going? I hope Chiko is alright."

After cursing himself for not noticing it sooner he quickly pulled out the middle drawer of his dresser and slid his hand underneath it. He pushed the button under the drawer as several new drawers appeared from the glass mirror. Then panels opened outward spanning the full length of the dresser.

He scanned everything that was coming out to be presented to him. There were various weapons, tools, devices all held in front of him formerly concealed behind the mirror. Without any more hesitation he grabbed two handguns, a few knives that he slipped into his belt and attached two more to his leg under his pants. He grabbed the homing device and rushed downstairs to his car. "What is happening at his school? How did The Awaking Dragons already find him?"

A rather sharp contradiction to his normal attitude, Mashiro was driving normally through the street. His eyes were narrow and focused, the easygoing attitude that was always on his face had melted away. He was serious for what seemed like the first time. The school was almost in sight when he halted the car squealing the brakes.

The police were at the school; he did not know what was going on at the school anymore but the situation just escalated. He knew that if the Awaking Dragons were involved in this that they would not hold back on the police if worse came to worse. It was doubtful that they wanted an incident in Osaka that they could not cover up, but if they were here for Chiko like he figured it could be a small price that they were willing to pay.

Mashiro put the car in reverse and turned down the nearest street. He could not approach this the direct way with all of the police. It worried him how long that they were actually there. The situation could have been getting worse for hours and he might be running out of time. He would have to make his move soon; the police were unpredictable especially if they got restless waiting.

Kohana watched the entrance waiting to see when Mrs. Toki would return. It had been nearly an hour since she was taken away now. She was beginning to worry what might have happened to her. The only reassurance that she had at the moment was that she had not heard any weapon's fire, but even that was not much to reassure her.

Now the students were starting to get scared from having to be held for so long. The situation was not going to get any easier; none of the children knew what to do in this sort of situation. Not that she really knew anymore than them, but she could at least remain a little calmer than the rest. But it was obvious to her that was going to be difficult, she was probably more scared any of them because she actually knew the reason for this.

"Kohana, do you think Mrs. Toki is going to be alright?"

"We just have to be strong, Sakura. Everything is going to be alright."

Suddenly after Kohana had spoken those words, a few men arrived at the entrance speaking briefly with the guards before entering into the auditorium. They looked around through the mass of students and teachers. After they scanned the room they approached the teachers that were massed together still.

At gunpoint they forced three of the teachers, two female and one male up away from the group. Then they started to grab students, a few of the older ones. They looked over in Kohana's direction and grabbed Kohana and Hakuro, from the group of four girls that always hung out together.

Kohana was forced up with the teachers and the handful of other students. She began to get worried if this meant that they knew who Chiko was. Or even worse, they had ended their search for Chiko and were going to start to end things. She did not know how they were going to end things, but everything inside Kohana was tightening. She was afraid that she would black out again like she had on the stairs that would cause more trouble for them.

Walking was the only thing that she could do. She had to walk, but it was hard enough to keep the concentration there and not let the fears inside tighten its grip on her. Each step she focused on putting the attention to simply move rather than trying to be caught up in everything that was happening around her.

Before she realized it, everyone stopped and she was standing behind the teachers along with the other students. Around her were the three men that had come picking out everyone in the auditorium. Then between the teachers she could see Mrs. Toki standing next to another man that Kohana did not recognize. She could tell from the expression on her face that she did not like what was happening, but that there was something else that had her even more worried. Kohana could see that Mrs. Toki's hands were shaking, even though she was trying to stop it by holding them together.

'What is going to happen to us? Are we the first round of hostages that are going to be released or first ones to die because the police are not meeting the demands?' Kohana looked at the other students, all of them shaking and crying hoping that this was not what they all feared it might be.

She then saw the man next to Mrs. Toki step forward to address them. "Good afternoon class, I am Mr. Autumn and I have a new lesson to teach. Well more precisely I have a lesson for the police. Stalling has dire consequences." The man did not change expression or even emotion; he was completely cold in speech to them. He then turned away to look out of the window. "The police are hoping to get the government support in this matter and are attempting to draw out the negotiations. So it is time to show them that delaying has consequences."

Hakuro suddenly clasped around Kohana's arm. She looked at the girl, who until now was an enemy or at least Hakuro saw Kohana as the enemy. It did not matter anymore to her, she was too scare Kohana could tell. Kohana held her hand hoping to reassure her even a little. She really needed some of that reassurance too.

Mr. Autumn then turned on the monitor that was attached via the window's electronic glass. On the screen could be seen a police officer, either the chief or the one in charge of the police outside. "Good to see you again, Mr. Police Officer."

Kohana could see the distaste the man on the screen had when he was addressed by Mr. Autumn by that title.

"What do you want, Mr. Autumn?"

"Well since you seem to think that I have all the time in the world to wait on my demands to be met I thought I might introduce you to my class." Mr. Autumn motioned to his men who pushed the students and teachers forward into view for the man on the screen to see. The man's composure cracked when he saw the children. "Now I have lesson to teach you. Not meeting my demands will result in a failure to pass."

Mr. Autumn then turned to face the teachers that were standing in front of the students still. He looked at the teachers careful, all equally terrified by their impending death. "Now, Mr. Police Officer. I have been nothing but a gentleman with you. I do expect the same respect. Now, I expect you would be sympathetic to the plight of these adults. However, you have not shown me respect, so I am afraid I cannot show you respect either."

He then nodded to his men who forced the teachers out of the way even though they were fighting and flailing their arms to try to help get the children out. One of the men beat one of female teacher with the end of his gun knocking her to the ground. The other two teachers immediately stopped their attempts.

Mr. Autumn then approached Kohana who happened to be in front of the students. He pulled her out of the crowd while Hakuro tried to hold on to her hand still. "This little girl seems like a nice girl. She probably receives good grades and soft spoken in class. She will be your lesson."

"No!" the man on the screen shouted. "Don't do it…Stop it right now! They are just children!"

Mr. Autumn then pulled a gun out from behind him and pointed it directly at Kohana, who stared at the barrel crying. "Too late!" His finger started to squeeze the trigger slowly as Kohana prayed that this was not the end.

The police officer watched on his screen as it suddenly blacked out with the sound of a gunshot being heard. His eyes widened, as everyone outside froze stunned by what just happened. No one move, the reporters even stopped speaking. Mashiro now out of his car heard the shot as well, his eyes widened slightly as he started running behind the houses getting closer to the school.

Mashiro heard that shot, but he did not want to think that was for Chiko. It could have been anyone. Though it was a school, it was mostly children inside which were just as bad. He hoped that it was a stray shot that was not meant for anyone, that it had accidentally went off. But he knew that was too much to hope for right now.

He leapt over the last fence with the school's brick wall and the building behind in sight now. All of the police were busy at the main entrance. There were few patrols around the entire perimeter so he could sneak in without any of them noticing him. He did not even have time to change into more suitable clothes, he was going around in a regular pair of blue jeans and green shirt with an apron on that said, "I'm not your mother."

Mashiro pulled out one of the guns he brought with him, ready to make the run for the wall as the police patrol turned the corner. He charged the wall across the lawn and street. The wall was a few feet away as he leap over the wall with plenty of room to spare and landed on the playground. Not even stopping he launched into a full sprint for the school wall. "I'm coming Chiko, be safe."

Kohana stared her eyes were small pupils as the bullet had shot past her taking a few strains of hair with it as it imbedded itself into the floor. Her eyes looked to the side that the bullet had past her, freezing her for a moment. Then she looked back at Mr. Autumn in shock that he missed her, but when she looked at his face he did not seem to have the look of anger. The man was not angry he missed; he must have done it on purpose. But Kohana did not understand what was gained from faking her death to the police.

Mr. Autumn grinned slightly at her, "I did not say what the lesson actually entailed, now did I? Since you are dead now, you will be staying with the charming principal. Winter take the rest back and begin the next phase."

"Sir."

Kohana looked at the students as they were pulled away from her to be returned. She could not stop crying, this man was unpredictable. He seemed stable mostly, but what would he do to get what he wanted? Would he actually kill a child? Was he just simply keeping them around as the ones that they would really kill when he needed to? She did not know what was going to happen anymore. This whole thing was a ruse anyway, she knew that but how far would an act go before they stopped?

Mr. Winter directed his men to begin the next phase. As the police would soon learn, they placed children at all of the entrances and ways into the building. If the police got the bright idea to try to storm the place or even sneak in, they would be killing the same children that they were trying to protect. Each entrance was set to explode if they tried to enter.

Mr. Autumn was speaking with the police again, informing them of these new changes that they had made. The police were not taking it very well and they were forced to withdraw most of their forces from trying to enter the building.

At the opposite side of the school unwatched by anyone, a car in tinted glass pulled up. Out of the vehicle stepped the scarred man just arriving at the school. He did not like the situation that was developing here, if it was allowed to continue it would be too hard to contain.

It was the school that bothered him about this entire situation; it was a high profile strike. Not something that could be covered up easily, it did not seem like something that Superiors would do. If that was the case, then who was picking a school? He needed more information; he did not like the feeling that he was getting from this.

"Sir," one of his men said handing the earpiece to him again.

"Yes?"

"This has been reported to the Superiors. They have confirmed that it is not one of us working in the school."

"Then who is it?"

"We don't know, sir. All we know is that they were not sent by the organization, but independent. The Superiors have granted you authorization to investigate this and handle this in whatever manner you wish."

"Understood." He threw the earpiece back to his man. 'Who are these men?' He started walking towards the school undaunted by the police or the escalating problem in the front. There were more important matters for him than some hostage. "You know what to do inside."

"Sir. If they are not ours then who are they?"

"That is what I will find out. Make sure to clean everything."

"Sir!"

The scarred man pulled out his gun and shot the handle off a door that was for the maintenance crew and staff. Inside he found a few children tied up, he ignored them and kept moving, his men split up.

Mashiro was about to enter the school through a window when he heard a shot from the back. He did not like the sound of how close it was. He broke the glass of the window with the hilt of his gun and threw himself through the window breaking the glass the rest of the way. Mashiro rolled to the ground knocking into the chairs of the classroom making a loud noise.

Again he cursed to himself and moved quickly to the wall by the door. He did not know if someone had heard him, but if they did he had his first target. The door was still closed as he hid against the wall waiting, listening for anything that might be the indication of someone coming.

It was at that moment that he heard the footsteps, two pairs of boots coming to investigate the room. Their shadow cast heavy against the glass of the door as it slid open. They looked around cautiously before entering the room. Before they had the chance to do anything, Mashiro was behind them knife in hand.

The blade was turned down along the length of his arm as his other hand swung the end of his gun at one of the men knocking him unconscious. Before the other man was able to do anything Mashiro kicked him in the back of the knee knocking him to the ground. Then with him on the ground, he held the knife to the man's throat. Mashiro wanted some answers before going any further into the school. "What is going on here?"

"Who are you? You with the police?"

"Do I look like I'm with the police?"

The man looked at Mashiro's clothes in disbelief knowing immediately that he was not part of the police. "Who are you?"

"Just a concerned parent. Now tell me right now, what is happening here. I won't ask again." Mashiro held the knife to the man's neck letting it pierce his skin just enough to draw blood.

"Alright, alright! We are holding the school hostage."

"Hostage? Why?"

"We want one of our men back that the government has."

"So you go and take an entire school of innocent children hostage to do that. That is low." Mashiro did not want to hear anymore, he punched the man with the gun still in hand. The metal scraped and pealed the skin as it ran across his face leaving it torn and bloody. The man would have screamed if Mashiro were not hold his mouth closed and covered. He then hit him again with his gun hand knocking him out.

Mashiro then stood up and dragged the two men to the edge of the classroom by the window. He left them there with a few chairs lying on top of them to slow them down when they woke up. The door closed behind him leaving the classroom alone. He knew he should probably kill them, but did not know how much of a mess he was going to be getting into.

The hallway was empty aside from the two that he had put away. Mashiro looked around the first floor trying to find anyone else. There was no one that he could find except for the ones that were guarding the auditorium. From there he could see all of the students and teachers being held. He had to rescue them; Chiko was probably with them unless The Awaking Dragons knew who Chiko really was.

He began his approach to the auditorium when he suddenly found blood creeping across the floor. It was coming from a classroom. Mashiro slid the classroom door open to see that the blood was coming from two more of these men in suits. He could tell that they were not teachers since they were still holding their weapons. 'Someone else is inside. Who is going around killing them? Is it the police getting bold?'

Mashiro closed the door again and continued closer to the auditorium. As he drew closer he had to hide behind the parts of the wall that came out. He was unfortunately running out of places to hide. The guards were now no more than short sprint away. But taking them both without alerting the students was going to trouble. He did not have any choice, they had to die quickly the teachers would have to handle the rest. "Chiko be safe…"

On the second floor Kohana was standing next to Mrs. Toki who held her close. They had heard a scream from down the hall that drew away a few of the men. It left just Mr. Autumn to watch the two of them. She did not know what was happening anymore. It was her hope that it was Mashiro coming to rescue her, but to her fear it was her worst nightmare. The man that haunted her waking dreams for so many weeks in the hospital was now crawling out of the shadows. She thought that she had gotten over the images, but they all came flooding back.

She remembered him, he remembered him, Chiko did. There was not anything he could do anymore, any concentration he had anymore was broken and gone. Chiko wanted to runaway and get out of the sight of the scarred man. He did not want to see his face anymore; he was so close to him.

The scarred man approached Mr. Autumn who was uncertain about what was going on. He looked at the man who continued to walk slowly towards him not caring that there was a gun now pointed directly at him. "Who are you?" Mr. Autumn asked.

"My name is not important," the scarred man said. "What is your purpose here?"

Chiko saw the opportunity to run away with Mr. Autumn distracted and took Mrs. Toki with him. He ran all of the way around the corner of the hall to the stairs. The stairs stopped him as Mrs. Toki paused halfway down the stairs. She did not know what was wrong with him.

"What's wrong, Kohana?"

"I'm afraid…"

"I know you are, so am I."

"No! I'm afraid of the stairs."

"Huh?"

"I'm afraid of stairs," he said turning away in embarrassment. She then returned back to him and patted him softly on the back. She knelt down to look at him directly in his eyes and smiled comfortingly. Then she picked up him and carried him down the stairs letting him down at the bottom. "I'm sorry." He tried to hold back the tears.

Mr. Autumn fired a shot at the scarred man, it grazed his shoulder but he continued forward not even showing that it even hurt him. Mr. Autumn backed up slightly getting nervous by the sheer dominating presence that this man held. "What do you want?"

The scarred man then flashed the glimmer of a blade before it was sent flying at Mr. Autumn's hand that held the gun. Mr. Autumn was forced to drop the gun and held his hand trying to pull the knife out of the back of his hand. "I want to know why you are here."

"It's a hostage. I'm holding the school hostage. So if you came any closer I'll push this button that signals my men to start killing the students." Mr. Autumn grinned thinking that he had the upper hand again.

The scarred man still approached, "Children are not a concern to me. I'm not with the police."

"Then who are you?"

"I said before that is not important."

"You from another syndicate? The Fire Snakes? You must be. You heard about the rumors didn't you?"

"Refresh my memory."

"They say that The Awaking Dragons are looking for someone in Osaka. It is someone important to them, that they are willing to start another war over. We thought that if we could find this person, the Awaking Dragons would help us to take over Osaka. All this-"

The man was cut off as the scarred man put a bullet through is skull. As the man fell behind him his men appeared. "He talked too much."

"Sir, we have cleaned everything except for the guards holding the students."

"Time to go. This was only a charade. We have larger problems now."

Mashiro pulled out his knives and readied each in his hand. Then he leapt out in front of the two guards, who in surprise and a little shock did not know what happened before it was too late. The two knives left Mashiro's hands immediately and dug their way into the two guards' neck. They quietly fell over each other without a word. A line of light revealed something attached to the knives. Mashiro pulled on the wire that was attached to the knives to return them to him.

He then returned to cover pulling out his homing device. A quick glance from it he could see that Chiko was not in the direction of the auditorium anymore, but in the opposite direction behind him. Mashiro turned and left the teachers to handle matters with the students.

Outside the police were watching the building while trying to speak with the government to get the release handled. However, suddenly one of their scouts spotted the girl that they thought had died and the principal that had been the first to be killed too. The police chief threw his computer to the ground in anger, he had been tricked completely by these men.

"He has been playing us this entire time. Storm the school and take him now!"

The armored police squad came marching into the school learning immediately that the bombs were fakes. They began to rescue the students and teachers from the auditorium while a few were sent to free the other students around the entrances.

Mashiro followed the homing device down the hallway until coming to one of the men standing in his way. He put the device back and stared at him carefully. It was easy to tell that he was not like the other henchmen that were guarding the students. "Who are you?"

"They call me Mr. Winter around here. And you?"

"The concerned parent."

"Oh, really?"

Mashiro still had his knife in hand turned them down towards the ground ready to throw them. He watched Mr. Winter as he did not move to even get a weapon. Mashiro then raised his arms and threw the two knives at the man. But Mr. Winter pulled out his gun quickly knocking away the first knife sending it down to the ground behind him. The second knife he simply moved his shoulder a little to allow it to pass by.

Mr. Winter smirked back at him not looking impressed. Mashiro smirked back not finished with the attack and moved his hands in a motion that brought the wires that were attached to the knives up into the air. The wires came close to surrounding Mr. Winter when he leapt into the air and flipped backwards to avoid the attack. However, Mashiro not fazed by him dodging and changed the flow of one of the wires to lash out at Mr. Winter as he came to land. The wire grazed his leg, ripping it.

"My you are skilled for a concerned parent."

"You have not seen anything."

"I'm sure, but it would seem that this must come to an end."

Mashiro looked behind him hearing the heavy sound of boots in the distance. He looked around to find that Mr. Winter had disappeared. Mashiro pulled on the wires to return the knives back to him. He let out a sigh before disappearing into the shadows as the police passed by him. Chiko still had to be found, even if the police found him first.

Pulling the homing device back out, Mashiro continued the search for Chiko who was drawing near. He put it away when he could hear the sound of voices around the corner. Mashiro carefully peeked around the corner to find the principal and Chiko with a couple of the police that had passed by him a few minutes ago. It was a bad time for him to see Chiko and so he held back in the nearby classroom. He pulled out his homing device and turned it off, then pushed another button on it.

Chiko on the opposite wall felt a vibration at his thigh. He looked down to see the device that Mashiro had given him blinking at him. Chiko looked around and walked slowly away from Mrs. Toki and the police who were questioning her. He looked around the corner to see if it was safe to look at the device when suddenly he was pulled in backwards nearly falling over. Chiko tried to scream but a hand was over his mouth.

"Hey, quiet. It's just me."

"Mashiro?" Chiko said looking around cautiously as he was allowed to talk. "Mashiro!" Chiko was so happy to finally feel that he was safe from all of those men. He jumped into Mashiro hugging him, relieved that everything was finally over. Then he remembered, "Mashiro that man that tried to killed me and put me in the hospital from The Awakening Dragons, he is on the second floor!"

"You're sure?"

"Definitely, I wouldn't forget his face."

"You go back to Mrs. Toki, I'll go check it out."

"You going to be alright?"

"I'll be fine."

Chiko walked out of the room leaving Mashiro to try to figure out away to get upstairs without the police noticing him. He only had one option and started out of the window. Mashiro began to climb up to the second floor using the windows and ledge for gripping. It was a short enough distance that he was able to quickly get up to the second floor window without problem. He was glad to find that the window was already open.

Mashiro entered the classroom making his way carefully to the hallway. If the man that Chiko knew was still on the second floor, he was going to have to be cautious. He looked around the hall before entering, still hearing the police marching around downstairs. He did not have much time before they would be coming upstairs to clear out the second floor. If that man were to be found, he would have to do it quickly.

However, Mashiro was not having any luck, he had already searched the entire second floor. This was the final classroom for him to check. He quickly flung it open with his gun up and ready to shot. But there was no one in the room aside from the open window. Mashiro rushed to the window only to see a black car drive away, he had no doubt that it was the scarred man. 'He got away.' Mashiro kicked a chair and left the same way knowing that the police would soon find him.

Outside there were parents standing behind a police line waiting for their children to be allowed through. Mashiro sneaked in with the crowd waiting for Chiko to appear in the mob of students. 'What happened here really? Who is this man Mr. Winter? Was he with The Awaking Dragons or someone else? Whoever he is I let him get away and that is going to come back to haunt me. At least it is a happy ending right now; this really did not feel like The Awaking Dragons. Those men I found dead, that scarred man must have done it. If they were not The Awaking Dragons who were the hostage takers, who were they?'

Mashiro was still deep in thought when Chiko kicked him in the shins to wake him up. "Snap out of it!"

"Gah! Stop doing that already!"

"Did you kill him?"

"No, he got away."

"Well I know those men that took us hostage were looking for me. I over heard them talking about it. Do you know who they were?"

"Not yet, I'll figure it out though. The car is parked down the street."

"Yeah, I'm exhausted. I wonder what is going to happen in class tomorrow."

"Well everyone seems to think it was a hostage, so other than being shaken for a while, they will probably get over it."

"Thankfully, we came close today didn't we?"

"Yes. Unfortunately there is still a loose end.' Mashiro walked Chiko to the car as the sun began to set in on the school. The first trial was over, but there was still more to come. Mashiro was worried how long they would be able to hold the secret. He knew now that The Awaking Dragons were in Osaka and no doubt searching for Chiko. That meant his job was going to become harder soon. Would he be able to keep protecting him?

Preview for the next episode:

"Things are definitely getting interesting now aren't they, Chiko?"

"I don't know if interesting is the right word."

"Well don't worry you get to take the day off and go on a field trip."

"How exciting, where to?"

"Some positively terrifying shrine."

"That's nice..."

"You can show a little more enthusiasm you know."

Chiko yawns. "Oh my, almost slept through the ending. Don't miss the next episode of The Inner Man, Ghost."

"How will Chiko kick something that doesn't exist?"

"Hey!"

"Awake now, huh?"

"Don't miss it, watch me kick a ghost in the shins."

"Is that even possible? Doesn't matter, means I'm safe..."