Kimura walked in hoping he's not going to die this time, the Tarnished giving him a bit more fear into what could be crawling around in the halls now. Kimura continued walking and walked into the student council room once more.
Korvos, Erudis and Suharu were checking nearby filing cabinets and shelves. Suharu was looking through a file cabinet as Korvos and Erudis were checking a shelf for something. Kimura stood ready this time as he looked at them.
"Don't worry Kimura, we're not tarnished." Korvos tells him.
"Prove it." Kimura squints at Korvos.
"Well uh, for one I don't sound like I speak like a robot."
Korvos pitched his tone to prove it as Kimura noticed the tone pitching was a real thing he was doing, finally settling down as Kimura decided to get to the point.
"What did you need me this time Korvos?" Kimura asked.
"Well, we're a little understaffed for the School Festival, the event will be public for everyone, so we need a few more extra hands with the event. I called you in to see if you'd like to volunteer." Korvos responded by moving away from the bookshelf.
"I see…Am I getting anything out of this?" Kimura questioned again.
"You don't have to go to classes for the day before the festival." Korvos offers Kimura.
"Deal." Kimura says quickly.
"I- Really?" Korvos asked, surprised.
"Yep, if it means I get to skip class then I'd gladly take it."
"I…thought that would take more persuasion honestly." Korvos said, surprised.
"So, what do I need to do during the festival?" Kimura was fully on board.
"Uhh…okay let me see here…" Korvos wasn't expecting Kimura to be on board.
Korvos then begins to explain the school festival and what he's supposed to do. Kimura only listened in as the others there did the same. Kimura's job is security, Korvos knows that Kimura is always thrilling for a fight when it comes to it. Security would be a perfect fit because he would be able to punch the crap out of someone while also making it beneficial.
While Kimura was off at the School Administration again, Naoki was yawning, dragging his feet to grab more food downstairs. He then noticed what looked like Kimura from behind baking something using the stove, after hearing what happened to Kimura Naoki was just as skeptical about a person who just looked like him from behind.
"Uh…hello there…?" Naoki didn't want to deal with it but he was the closest.
"Hm?" Their tone was slightly higher than Kimura's natural voice.
They turned around as they looked near identical to Kimura, there were only a few things that separated them from kimura. The man was just slightly under Kimura's height by a few inches as his hair was just jet black, no purple highlights as he also wore a pair of glasses and his nose wasn't scarred like Kimura's nose.
"Oh! You must be Kimura's roommate!"
The man exclaimed with a bit of a smile; however, it made Naoki slightly cringe as it just reminded him of Kimura's colder stare rather than a smile. Naoki shook it off as he pointed at the man, "So, who are you…?" questioning him as the man puts the bowl of batter on the table.
"My name is Kuro Akira, I'm actually Kimura's cousin."
"..."
"Huh…?" Naoki was a little dumbfounded.
"His cousin? Well…yeah you two look the same" Naoki added.
"Yeah, anyways you were saying something…Naoki was it?"
"Huh…so you—"
"No, there's a list of who's paired with who."
Before Naoki could monologue about how he knew, Kuro pointed out at the list on the wall, a list of names that shows who's paired with who in which room and what floor. Naoki never noticed that before as he just thinks it's putting too much strain on his brain to think. Naoki just grabs a snack and heads back upstairs without saying another word to Kuro.
***
"Hello?" A Feminine voice picks up a call.
"Kiriko?" Kimura's voice comes through the other side.
"Oh, hey lil' bro, what's up?" She seemed a bit excited to talk to him.
"Do you still have dads phone number?" He questioned her.
"Yeah I do, why'd you ask all of a sudden?"
"I…just need to call dad. I deleted his phone number when I stormed out of the house."
"You and dad are a pain in the ass…" Kiriko sighed, "Seriously man, you two are like oil and water."
"I know, I know."
"I'll send you his phone number, don't go saying anything stupid alright." She sounded concerned on the other side.
"I won't, you have my promise."
"Fuckin' better, alright I'll talk to you later Makoto."
"Okay, bye Kiriko."
Kimura hung up as moments later Kiriko sent Kimura their father's phone number. As soon as he got the text he immediately began calling his father's phone number.
"Hello." Kenji responded on the other line.
"..."
"Hello?" he said again confused, "Makoto what'd you call me for?" he said on the other line.
"I…found that robot mom left in the middle ground dad."
"Oh, that old relic…" Kenji sighed, "…was it still operational?" he questioned.
"It was. However, when it scanned my blood, it took up your fighting stance."
"So, after all those years Haruka still had it hardwired to copy my style." Kenji chuckled.
"A near one-to-one copy, blue flames and everything."
"Well…at least your throat wasn't combusting was it now?"
"Huh? How did—"
"Makoto, I'm your dad. I know how your 3ft copy ability works, remember."
Makoto didn't realize that Kenji already knew that he could copy without physical contact, however it required him to consume more mana, stamina and even more concentration to even pull off only 3ft. Makoto just sighed as he continued talking on the phone.
"I guess you did, dad."
"I trained you like Kiriko and Aki. However, yours was a little more intensive."
"No shit, at this point it's muscle memory." Kimura sighs.
"Well, back on topic, what about the bot Makoto."
"About that, I saw a recording of mom on it before it started fighting, anything about it?"
"Those recordings huh…well do you still have it?" Kenji asked.
"Also, about that…the USB drive was burned with it." Makoto Admitted.
"Burned?" Kenji questioned.
"Its…head combusted and caught aflame…"
"I…" Kenji sighs, "never mind…"