We pick up from last time with Shuuichi beginning his exposition dump about the big three guildmasters, and he decides to start with their history. So, Shuuichi and Duo are two children who were born in a certain lab in the East. There was a project to artificially create child prodigies, which you could also phrase as test tube babies. Shuuichi laughs and says that the projects were various shades of unethical, but now's not the time to get into that. The project had produced a lot of failed results, and Shuuichi unfortunately happened to be one of them. Sure, Shuuichi acts like the genius valedictorian, but honestly he isn't able to keep up with the genius kids. By his estimation he only got like 10% of whatever they were technobabbling about. Of course, the lab didn't have time or space to waste on a failure like him, so Shuuichi ran away with Duo before he was disposed of. Shuuichi then tells Moritaka that this was before he joined the same dojo he was in. He wanted to be strong enough to protect his brother.
Tangent aside, Shuuichi talks about how there were three successes at the lab, the top three. You guys have already met one of them, the boy who goes by Bertro and has almost his entire body replaced with machinery. Shuuichi does remember that Bertro had a different name back when he knew him though. But then again the same goes for Duo, who was set to be their fourth and spare. Shuuichi then pauses for a moment, then says that you might have figured as much by now, but the big three geniuses are game masters who control the game and the ones appointed to be guildmasters for the factions that have the World Representatives split among them. They differ from the World Representative players in that their goal isn't to win the game or end it. It's to keep the game going so that they can prove their assigned theses from Plans A, B, and C. As such, they shouldn't have any friendly relationships with the players and are standing a step away to keep watch of the game.
You ask Shuuichi about the 3 plans thing, and Shuuichi laughs about your interest in the subject. But anyways the plans are meant for reforming mankind. Plan A's proposed solution is assimilation. Plan B is competition and battling. Plan C is education. Bertro was the one in charge of Plan B, but from what Shuuichi's heard he's reached his mental and physical limits. Shuuichi then stops to make a point of asking you not to ask for any more details about him since all he's doing is going through information on what's currently happening.
But back to the conversation at hand, Shuuichi moves on to talk about the genius who became the Invaders guildmaster. He's the topmost genius of the three, and his name is Isaac. Even back at the lab he was called a revolutionary genius. Isaac was the lab's most promising success case, and Shuuichi believes that Isaac is capable of predicting what will happen within the game.
You ask Shuuichi about Isaac being able to predict the future, so Shuuichi says he actually thought Isaac knew absolutely everything, but he insists that Duo is talented enough to be like that one day too. But as far as he knows ever since he left the lab, Isaac has never publicly shown himself in the game. Even when Duo was still around with the Wisemen, they've never seen any change to that behavior pattern. When they tried their best to dig up any news all they could find was useless noise, and there were plenty of times when chasing after wild gooses only lead to trouble for them.
You think on how Isaac is a mystery hidden behind noise and ask Shuuichi if that's still going on now. Shuuichi talks about how the Warmongers liked to do big grand plans, so it was easy to find out what they were up to. The same cannot be said for the Invaders, as they've only revealed some of their top leaders against the Warmongers. Even their foot soldiers remained unseen. Shuuichi then has something to say as an allied guild, and that is to prepare for modern warfare against an enemy you don't know the location of if you're going against the Invaders.
You either ask Shuuichi what he means by a modern war, say you see, or quietly wait for him to keep talking. Shuuichi explains that modern warfare, particular urban warfare, is based upon confounding enemy intel networks and dividing their internal forces. By hiding any clearly identifiable opponents, the enemy starts becoming filled with doubts and paranoia, which leads to them seeing enemies everywhere. Their previous allies would come under suspicion too, and then they come attacking. Sending in your own agents to one of the organizations to draw attention to these doubts or even manufacture these attacks makes the deception even more effective. So by the time you've realized it there are already enemies standing besides you. But you've already gotten experience with that, haven't you? You either ask Shuuichi what he means or quietly look back at him. The former gets an extra line where Shuuichi is surprised as he says he figured Shirou would have said something similar to you by now.
Anyways, Shuuichi says he's talking about Mononobe being on the side of the game organizers and how he's been observing you. R-19 is noted to be silent at this, and Shuuichi goes on to say that the person closest to you and the one you thought was protecting you was your enemy. He tells you to not look away from that fact, or else he'll call the alliance off. Moritaka and Kengo are taken aback at this declaration, and Shirou attempts to get Shuuichi to stop by saying he's already talked to you about this. You also say that Shirou brought this topic up already, though he was actually considerate of you while doing so.
Shuuichi notes that Shirou has talked to you about the thing with Mononobe then, so he decides to say the things that can only be said from his position. Like, you're aware that there can still be other enemies around, right? There might be other traitors around you. They might not be one now, but it's possible that they'll become one later. Shuuichi then prompts you to tell him what you think as the guildmaster he's aligned with. A quick cut to the safe house shows that everyone else present in the gang is feeling angry, confused, and tense, and Shuuichi repeats his question as he asks if you're prepared to keep going, even if someone important to you ends up going a different path.
You bring up Duo as an example and ask Shuuichi if that's what he means, and Shuuichi sadly says yes after a moment. R-19 also looks sad at that but says nothing, and you decide to ask Shuuichi if he plans on betraying you. He's surprised by the question, and he admits he's thought about it sometimes. Right now though, he's not sure. Like he said before, Duo's a genius beyond him, so why he ever decided to go back to the East is a total mystery to him. It's possible he was abandoning him, or it could be for his sake.
You ask Shuuichi what he plans on doing after this, so he tells you he doesn't know. 'Pretending to know what you don't' is the height of foolishness. He did what he could while knowing nothing, and there's nothing to be done about worrying over a future that hasn't happened yet or dwelling on memories that already happened. Shuuichi then realizes what point you were trying to make with him, and you spell out that the same goes for you.
Shuuichi is quiet for a moment, then concedes that you've won the argument. You declare that you want to talk to Mononobe again and not repeat the same mistakes because you don't want things to end like this. Shuuichi agrees with the point, then apologizes for what he's said to you all earlier. He still reminds you that you guys are up against a group that will attack your anxieties, then tells Shirou he'll call again to share information once he's done analyzing the thing from the other day. This would be some information Ikutoshi and Bathym had picked up from the Warmongers.
After the call ends, Shuuichi thinks to himself over at the dungeon. R-19 tells him he's done good but has to call to Shuuichi a few times due to him being preoccupied. Shuuichi comments to himself about how he gets sentimental when things turn to the subject of his brother, and he thinks about how sad and doubtful he felt when Duo left. He thought he was betrayed even though he had been protecting Duo, and he thinks again about Duo's face.
Shuuichi thinks aloud and wonders whether it was he who was the one protected all along. If he was, then Shuuichi had doubted him, leading Duo to leave without saying anything and taking everything on his shoulders. And if all that was true, then Duo was probably suffering. Shuuichi still wants to believe Duo left out of kindness, but he can't for now since he's been left with the Wisemen. Shuuichi comments that people call wise men the ones who study history so as to not the same mistakes, but he's not quite there yet. He then tells R-19 they're continuing with the data analysis with a focus on what Bathym and Ikutoshi had found.
Shuuichi thinks about how they can't find any information on the Invaders, but if it's someone besides themselves it may be possible, so it's time to investigate the Warmongers' info. Of particular importance is Mephistopheles from the world of hell Gehenna, who is said to be split into two identical beings in Tokyo. What goal could he have to reveal that fact about himself to Bathym? Then there's also the World Representative from the land of fairies Balor. Intel states that he's recently engaged the Invaders in battle. He left the Warmongers after that, so what happened there? What does he know? On yet another note, there's the Transient Ikutoshi met who belongs to the Akihabara Creators. Shuuichi suggests that the Creators might be able to shine some light on things, but he sighs about couching that as a maybe. If Duo were here he'd be calling him a stupidhead. He's not here now, but Shuuichi is working to see him again so he can say the things he couldn't say and to not repeat his old mistakes.
Scene shifts to your end as you sigh about how much of an ass Shuuichi can be at times, and Shirou says it's the one thing going against him, but he admits it's still worth it to listen to him. Shirou is then surprised when you get up to leave. When he asks where you're going, you tell him you're going to see Sandayu.
Scene shifts again to Kabukicho where the yasha are continuing to look for Ellie after she gave them the slip. Ellie herself has escaped to a back alleyway to catch her breath and consider her options. The thought of sucking some blood and forcing whoever she bites to attack the others does come to mind, but Suzuka had asked that she not hurt any of her friends in Kabukicho. There's also the Kabukicho code to think about too. Ellie then considers just escaping without fighting, but she feels it's not feasible given how persistently the yaksha are looking for her and ready to attack. But that goes against Suzuka's wishes as well as her pride as queen. Her position as such is both a strength and a weakness, and she won't look for help even if she were begged to. At that point the mobs spot her and surround her. But when they try to rush in, what seems to be a smoke bomb in thrown into the area to stop them. Kresnik arrives and sighs about Ellie playing around too much at night and prompts her to come with him. When she doesn't do anything he asks if she forgot who he is, and the episode ends with her calling him by name.
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