According to rumors told by kids,
Miss Michiko's true identity
is whispered to be that of an Illegal.
But why?!
Why should the hacker club come with us?!
Daichi and his friends are still a part of the Biology Club.
Huh?
Daichi has only stopped acting as the club president.
No way! But they're in the Daikoku Hackers Club now!
They just took on another name, you know.
No big deal.
No way...
So that's what they were talking about yesterday.
They want to do "it" during the sleepover!
Do "it"? What's that?
Oh well, you know...
Nothing, really!
Hey, Fumie,
you went to a summer festival with Daichi before, right?
So why aren't you friends any more?
Because he's an idiot.
More importantly, Yasako,
special training!
Special training?
We need to get ready for battle,
so we're going to practice the megabeam hand gesture one hundred times!
J-Just the gesture?
A sound...
It's a sound!
What's up, Haraken?
Why did you call me?
I need to ask you a favor.
I-I'm not going to leave the hackers.
It's not that, Denpa.
I need you to listen to the sound coming from this.
I can't hear it clearly.
Oh. Good then.
I can hear it...
Music and...
a human voice.
A girl's voice.
Hey, would you mind if I took this for a while?
Just so you know, there's a place where you can hear metabug sounds more clearly.
Okay. Go for it.
Okay then, I'll take it with me.
I'll give it back to you, of course.
Hey, Denpa.
Hmm?
Why did you join Daichi's group?
Well, a long time ago, I was being bullied,
and Daichi came to my rescue.
Everyone else was just ignoring what was happening,
and only Daichi helped me out.
I see.
So Daichi is a good kid.
Director,
please allow it. At least at the school.
It's an emergency!
You've heard about the trouble at the station, haven't you?
Yes, and also about the trouble at the auto graveyard.
It has come to my attention.
I've received a complaint letter from the Daikoku Bus Company.
It's the same culprit!
Anyway,
don't do anything outside your administrative jurisdiction.
We're already done setting the locations Satchii can't enter.
After all, it's just a job in a municipal office.
Although I'm sure that kirabug hides in that school,
I can't make a move outside the administrative boundaries.
I guess,
all I can do is let Amasawa find it.
Yes, I turned the key,
but it ran away before I could begin.
Is it possible that the reaction signal is delayed?
I see.
I'll give it a try.
I already shot the flashing-eyes thing.
Maiko-sensei,
why did you schedule the sleepover right after the beginning of summer break?
By the way, Mister Uchikune, why are you here today?
It's the Biology Club's sleepover, not yours.
I just thought you might have trouble here all by yourself. If something were to happen...
If it's about reliable men,
I already have two of them coming along.
One is...
Judo, third dan.
"Dan" is the way of counting rank levels after black belt (first dan) in martial arts.
So... the vice principal is participating as well?
What about the other guy?
He's a very reliable man.
I'm definitely coming along, too!
Ninety-seven,
ninety-eight,
ninety-nine,
one hundred!
Hey, are you sure that we're really going to get better by doing this?
Probably.
Now we just have to defuse their traps preemptively.
Preemptively?
I can spy on all of Daichi's data.
If someone challenges me,
I'm not going to hold back.
Okay then, now we have to install as many metatags as possible.
That Space hasn't healed since.
Should we go there too?
I don't know...
Have you heard that rumor?
That Miss Michiko comes out of the cyberfog...
Cut it out!
I really hate those kinds of stories!
Me too.
Well, maybe not to the point of hating, but...
It's my weak point.
When I hear a ghost story,
I lose all my strength...
We have to take advantage of this weak point.
Your pet sure is useful.
Yup, it's a spy.
Listen, Akira.
Yeah?
You're not a double agent, are you?
N-Not at all!
Now that you mention it, he usually stays behind while we're in action.
That's because I'm a slow walker...
And why did you join our club and not your sister's?
Well, that's obviously...
because I respect you guys!
Hey, don't try to fool us, you fourth-year!
You're a long way from getting to laugh behind our backs, brat!
Spill your guts out!
I'll talk! I'll tell you the whole truth!
As soon as possible...
"As soon as possible," what? Say it!
If I don't distance myself from you guys as soon as possible,
my sister is capable of
draining my life away!
Sorry for bullying you.
I understand how you feel.
As men, we need to help each other out.
Oh, Denpa.
Yes.
4-4-2-3?
Is that what you hear?
Welcome
to the first Biology Club sleepover!
Yay!
The vice principal will join us this evening!
Also,
although nobody invited him,
Mister Uchikune came with us too!
I came, too...
And one more person
from the PTA was supposed to come, but...
Forget waiting for him!
Let's cut the cake!
Daichi,
you're a sixth-grader now, so act more mature!
Maiko-sensei says "Wakimae," which means to reason and act maturely. Daichi responds with a pun: "Waki" (armpit) and "Mae" (in front of).
Here's my reason!
Stop, Daichi!
Daichi's really the worst.
He's so noisy.
By the way, his family name, "Sawaguchi", sounds just like "noisy".
And here's how I act!
Another pun: Maiko-sensei said "wakimae wo shiri-nasai" or "you have to know"; he plays on "shiri", that also sounds like "ass".
Hey! Ow, ow, ow!
Hey, Daichi.
D-Dad, why are you here?!
I invited him.
And it seems it was a good idea.
That's right, Teach.
When I heard it was about a sleepover, I came immediately!
N-No, it's just a convivial sleepover...
I'll take good care of disciplining the boys.
Get ready, you brats!
The basis of a sleepover is hand gestures!
Do the gestures!
Idiot!
It's like this!
S-Sir, that's...
It's ping-pong!
Every single year of school, all I did was ping-pong!
D-Dad...
This isn't the ping-pong club, it's the Biology Club!
Biology Club?
Actually, we work with cybermateria...
For some reason, I thought it was ping-pong.
What a silly misunderstanding.
So what gestures does the Biology Club practice?
What do you think?
Was yours a good idea?
I don't know...
But if they play together like this,
I think they'll be able to be friends again.
But why did you choose this season?
Well, if they don't make up now,
their last summer in elementary school will end with them fighting.
So that's why!
Maiko-sensei, you're so gentle!
Don't forget to close your sleeping bags before going to sleep.
Yes, ma'am.
As expected, the kids
are already sleepy.
It's our turn now!
This is a present from me, the head of the town committee.
There's no alcohol, since Maiko-sensei can't take it well.
Come on!
I'm not that weak!
Damn...
Stop interfering!
I'm not gonna give you this point!
How's it going?
I did all I could.
But there's some strange disturbances in places...
Hey!
I have something to tell you before the duel.
What now?
Let's get this over with!
As you know, this is a trial of courage.
Let's warm up first.
For starters,
let's begin with a scary story.
Like the one about Miss Michiko.
R-Really?
Are you scared?
Wh-Why should I be?!
Well then, I'll start with mine.
Miss Michiko was
a very ordinary girl, like any girl you'd see anywhere.
But one day, her beloved cyberpet
suddenly ran off.
Then Miss Michiko saw it.
A jet-black creature
on the other side of the street calling, "Come, come..."
The pet didn't listen to Miss Michiko telling it to stop,
and ran across the street.
Its graphics were scrambled by the car's,
and then it disappeared.
A few days later,
Miss Michiko still couldn't forget about her pet,
so she returned to that intersection.
At that moment,
her pet, which was supposed to be in shattered and dead...
Guess what?
It was calling, "Come, come..." from the other side of the street.
Miss Michiko couldn't stop her legs from moving on their own.
Miss Michiko was shattered into pieces.
Surprisingly, it's said that only the glasses she was wearing
were completely undamaged.
Since then,
it's said that when you put your glasses on at that intersection
you can see her.
"Come, come," calls Miss Michiko.
That particular place
is said to be the site of many urban legends:
the loophole nexus.
One of those is enough.
Okay.
The version you told is the most common one.
For example, the story in Hiwata is quite different.
Apparently, in Hiwata, Miss Michiko
ended up going to the "other side" while at school.
On that day, Miss Michiko arrived late to school.
When she got to the third floor, it was dead quiet.
Then she realized that something very strange was going on.
Although it was still morning,
it was afternoon light pouring through the windows.
Miss Michiko peeked inside a classroom to check the time.
But...
there was no clock.
Not only that...
there wasn't even a single student.
It was the same in the next classroom,
and in the classroom after that.
Miss Michiko was scared and tried to get out,
but...
The stairs went down and down, but she could never reach the first floor.
No matter how far down she went, the bottom never got any closer.
Miss Michiko thought the glasses must've been causing it,
so she tried to take them off.
But she didn't have her glasses on.
At that moment,
her body had become a cyberbody.
Miss Michiko cried out loud in fear.
At that moment,
from a classroom that should have been empty...
Guess what? She heard children's voices.
Miss Michiko felt like she had just woken up from a dream,
So she peeked inside the classroom,
and there,
inside the classroom,
she saw jet-black wraiths swarming around.
Miss Michiko finally figured it all out.
In no time at all,
she herself
had also become a jet-black wraith.
Huh?
What's wrong, everyone?
Oh, there's also another version from another region...
E-Enough.
I've had enough.
I-I agree.
But it's fun!
L-Let's start right now...
...so we can get to sleep quickly.
But even from an anthropological point of view, it's really interesting!
Please...
Cut it out already!
So it is true!
It started to send out a signal.
This isn't a good spot for detection.
Pochi.
Tama.
Come.
So there's no way they can enter.
I have no choice then.
S-So it's decided, right?
We'll climb three times in groups of two.
But since there's only five of us, someone will have to make an extra round.
I'll go to twice.
But in exchange, I want 10% more on my metabug share.
It's okay.
10% is cheap enough.
I'm sorry that you have to climb twice.
I'm not as scared as you.
Hey, wait.
We don't have the same number.
There are five of you hackers, right?
But there's only four of us.
Oh, you're right.
Hey, Daichi!
We're at a disadvantage!
I hadn't noticed that.
So should we put one of our people out?
But we can't change the traps' shift.
What about me?
I know everything.
I wanna go, too!
And I...
planned this sleepover for you to be friends again!
Crap!
Teacher, are you drunk?
Aren't these...?
The dagashi sure are good, too!
Who could've imagined that Maiko-sensei would get drunk on whiskey bonbons?
She's dead drunk on whiskey bonbons.
And yet...
Yet...
How could you do this trial of courage without me?!
If you wanna do it, then let your teacher in too!
By what principle should you be involved?
There's no principle that works with drunk people!
Please, someone take this single woman away!
Let's do the trial of courage!
So has it separated already?
So she came.
I must hurry.
Perfect.
It's around here somewhere.
What's this?
I can't detect anything any more...
I see.
So their objective was to create a disturbance.
Okay,
then I won't hold back either.
Somehow,
this battle has gotten really cheap...
There's still more to come!
That's the best I can do
with all my skills.
If I get caught, I'll be held responsible.
A girl's laughing voice...
D-Don't tell me it's Miss Michiko—?
Idiot! Don't jump to conclusions!
It must be a trick from those brats!
You have to be kidding...
This must be a trick of Daichi's!
Did you just see a small, human-like shining figure?!
Huh?
Hey, you.
Are you trying to fool your teacher?
Teacher!
We've finally arrived!
Let's head back quickly!
Bye-bye!
Let's hurry!
So how did it go?
It was a piece of cake!
I was just a little scared by that girl's laughing voice.
A girl's?
It was easy.
But I was scared by that girl's laughing voice.
P-Perfect.
Let's go, Denpa!
A girl's?
As I thought,
it's an alpha-type Illegal.
But the signal stopped.
Where's the kirabug?
This is that girl's encode...
Is she here?
Since I can't detect anything from my monitor,
all I can do is follow this!
You did great, Fumie!
Let's go, Haraken.
Oh, okay.
I leave the rest...
to you.
All right!
Let's take back the lead!
N-No doubt it's one of Daichi's tricks...
Haraken?
My headache...
That light...
Me Satchii!
Damn, he did it...
Let's go!
Why was Satchii inside the school?
Four...
Two...
Three...
Kanna!
Is this Kanna?
At the north end of the Crossroads...
take the first big street to the west.
The entrance is at the third small street.
Then proceed north.
All right,
come to me.
You know why, don't you?
I'm here.
I'm on your side.
Now join me:
Michiko!
Next time
on Dennou Coil:
Kanna's Diary
See you next time!