Shining Hopper still takes a toll on Aruto, and he's fairly certain Assault Wolf still does the same for Fuwa, but those upgrades really are the only chance they have against Amatasu Gai and his Thouser equipment.

They've been at the end of another brutal beatdown for some time now. At least the person who was turned into a raider is okay, and Izu is getting him to safety, so he's not at further risk. Aruto's been uneasy about Izu's presence at these latest fights, too – there's no way he can be certain that Amatsu won't try and use her against him, somehow. He's certainly shown no qualms about using anyone's technology against them. Yaiba is off to the side, armed with her shotriser, but apparently having been ordered to not interfere.

He'd really like to offer her a job with Hiden Intelligence. She's clearly miserable over at Zaia, and Aruto's pretty sure she's not there entirely willingly.

"Hmm." Gai pretends to look at his watch. Wow, rude. "I have a meeting in a half hour, so it's about time to wrap this up for now." He readies his gaudy spear, waving it between the two riders. "Which power shall I utilize this time…" With a condescending sound from its owner, the spear stops, pointed at Aruto. "I've been curious as to whether I'd be able to replicate your upgraded grasshopper for some time, anyway."

Before either Aruto or Fuwa can blink, Thouser is right there, spear at Aruto's driver, already starting to copy the data for Shining Hopper.

As always, sparks fly from his driver and suit – but it's wrong. There's more this time, it hurts more than usual, this isn't just the feedback from the suit malfunctioning.

"Gg- gyaaah!" He can't help but scream. It feels like – like the spear is trying to pull something from Aruto, himself…

The unbearable burning-pulling-numbing feeling stops, and Aruto is left staggering in pain, hunched in on himself. Sparks are still flying from his suit – that's new, and probably bad – and warning lights are covering his heads up display, each and every one flashing and vying for his attention.

He can't tell what they're trying to warn him of – there's too many alerts and he is in too much pain to attempt to read any of them. It's so damn bright, too, there's so many lights, and he might be losing it, because he swears he can see the arcs of electricity themselves. Bent over and stumbling back a few steps, he grabs at his head to try and get himself to focus.

When the Zero One armor breaks, he realizes he's probably in more trouble than he'd thought – lights are still dancing through his vision, and there's the sudden realization that he's falling to the ground. He closes his eyes in preparation for the inevitably painful landing, because that's all he can do to protect himself. He can't get himself to move enough to put his hands out or anything.

When he does not, in fact, feel himself hit the ground, he opens his eyes-

-only to see the bright white void that he's come to recognize as the Zea satellite's interface. "What the-" he looks around. "Hey, what gives?"

The satellite does not respond. The constantly scrolling binary code doesn't even so much as move aside. "Hey? Zea? Could you put me back, please?"

It's a few moments – hopefully subjective time – before there's any sort of response, in the form of a pop-up window in front of him.

'It has been calculated that the return of your awareness to your physical form would produce negative results at this time.'

He frowns. "Ooookay… that doesn't sound good. What happened that's so bad you lifted me out? I thought I only ever came here for training with the armor, and I'm pretty sure I wasn't transformed when I blacked out or whatever."

'It has been calculated that knowledge of ongoings in the physical world would produce negative results at this time.'

That sounds even worse. "…Zea. Am I dying?"

'It has been calculated that knowledge of ongoings in the physical world-'

Aruto interrupts the text before it can finish scrolling "-would produce negative results at this time, I get it, I get it!" He sighs. "Can you at least tell me if this conversation is happening at AI speed, like my training usually is?"

There's an obvious pause before he gets an answer.

'It has been calculated that confirmation or negation of this information would-'

"Is there anything about right now that you can tell me?!" It's taking everything Aruto has to not start pulling at his hair. He's never really interacted with the satellite - not like Izu or her fellow HumaGear do. He doubts it's this obstinate with them, though. He resorts to pacing around the void. "Anything at all?!"

The message box floats along in front of him as he paces.

'Please refrain from undue emotional outbursts at this time. It will neither aid the current situation or yourself.'

"I think that an 'emotional outburst' is actually very due! You won't tell me anything, I don't know what's going on, I don't even know if this is real time or not-"

'The concept of 'real time' is dependent on the viewers personal perception of time in and of itself. The time elapsed during communications between artificial intelligences is considered 'accelerated' by humans. However, the duration is functionally no different for the artificial intelligences than the equivalent duration for an identical dialogue between humans.'

That makes… sense, he guesses. But also it's kind of ominous? "The first time I transformed, that was 'accelerated' from my perspective. I get how it would be normal for an AI like you or Izu, though. It felt normal while I was doing it, too. Is this like that, then? My mind being sped up to 'AI speeds' while only a few seconds pass for my body?"

There's another of those eerie pauses. He's dead certain that Zea has never hesitated before, but he's also pretty sure that's what it's doing right now.

'It has been calculated that confirmation or negation of this information would produce negative results at this time.'

"Yeah, somehow I thought you'd say that…" Aruto groans. "First I get my butt handed to me by Amatsu, now I'm in a data cloud and my only source of information is clamming up. Great. Just great."

He keeps pacing for a while, for lack of anything else to do. It feels like a long time has passed, which. Well, hopefully it's only a few seconds in reality. He has exactly no way of knowing.

The text box suddenly lights up, vying for his attention. "Yeah, yeah, not like I've got anything else to look at. What is it?"

'Relaunch is imminent. Please be advised that full sensation in extremities may take additional time to resume.'

"wAIT WHAT?!"

'Relaunch commencing in 3'

"Wait wait explain that 'relaunch' part first!"

'2'

"Zea wHAT IS GOING ON?!"

'1. Relaunch in progress.'

The white area blacks out, and then so does his vision - and the rest of his senses and oh he does not like this one little bit.

Slowly, painfully, he sort of. Feels himself… waking up, he guesses. Everything hurts, and it takes a moment before he manages to open his eyes.

"…m… wha…"

Once his eyes focus, which takes another moment, he's not sure what to make of the sight. He's on his back, which if he passed out makes sense. But the rest of the people present…

Fuwa is kneeling, leaning over him – directly over him, with a pretty solid grip on one of Arutos wrists, which is worrying. What's confusing is Yaiba, a grim expression rapidly fading from her face as she turns to him in what looks like shock, all while having her shotriser aimed directly at the no-longer armored Amatsu Gai. Said asshole is kneeling – Aruto takes a private thrill in how hard those grass stains are going to be to get rid of – with his hands above his head, looking indignant about this entire situation, and also watching Aruto.

"What… did I miss?"

Before either of them can blink, Thouser's spear is up against Hiden's driver, copying the programs for Shining Hopper. But something's different - there's way more sparks than there usually are for this attack.

And then Hiden starts screaming. Loudly. Amatsu pulls away, in seeming confusion, looking at the progress bar on his spear.

It doesn't look like he'd finished with the weird copying thing he does before he stopped.

Hiden hasn't stopped screaming, the electricity hasn't stopped arcing around him, and he's bent over in blatant agony, clutching at his head, as his armor shatters away.

The moment the armor dissolves, he stops screaming. In fact, he sort of… stiffens, almost, and topples sideways down to the ground. He lies there, unmoving and eyes closed, face crumpled in pain, with sparks still coming off of his driver.

All three of them – Fuwa, Yaiba, and Amatsu – are frozen for a brief moment, all in shock. It's Fuwa who moves first, dropping his transformation as he runs to Hidens side. All AIMS personnel are trained in emergency field care before they're even allowed to take rudimentary weapons courses. It makes sense, and right now it's coming in handy.

Small sparks are still coming from the driver as Fuwa turns Hiden onto his back, and he grimaces as some connect with his arm as he tries to pull the belt off. 'Tries to' being the key point, because the clasp that he knows it has isn't releasing. It doesn't look to be fused or broken in any way. It's just not opening.

This is decidedly less than ideal.

Fine, whatever, forget the belt. Check his pulse, and-

Fuwa bites back a curse, and checks Hiden's other wrist, to make sure he's not mistaken, and then goes to the point at his neck.

All three tell him the same story.

Hiden's heartbeat is slow – too slow, and his breaths are few and too far between. He's still alive, but…

"Yaiba… Yaiba!" Fuwa's voice starts low, and rises rapidly. "Call for an ambulance!" He shoots her a desperate look over his shoulder. "Something is wrong with Hiden!"

It's a comfort that the rapport they built while she was with AIMS is still strong, despite them being on different teams now. Fast as anything, she's pulled out that phone of hers and dialed, giving short, chopped messages to the dispatcher on the other end of the line, relaying the information that Fuwa gives her.

Through this all, Amatsu stays silent, stoically watching as the two riders work together - Fuwa attempting to get Hiden to respond, Yaiba on the line with emergency services.

"Miss Yaiba. Back away."

She looks aside at her employer. "Respectfully, sir, I can't obey that order."

'She shouldn't be calling what he says orders. It doesn't suit her.'

"If you don't back away now, you will be out of a job."

"You can't fire me. I quit." She glares at Amatsu, before returning her attention to the actual task at hand.

"You aren't allowed to-"

"You've hurt too many people, too many of whom I care about, for me to be able to justify working for you. Assuming Hiden survives, I'm certain he'd be willing to take me on as a consultant." Yaiba smirks for a brief moment, before turning serious again, whispering in what anyone else would call a prayer. "Please… please don't die…"

Fuwa doesn't believe in any sort of gods, and Yaiba doesn't seem the type to, either. But if any of them do exist, he's pretty sure the both of them are sending all the thoughts they can to let Hiden not fucking die. Fuwa definitely is, at least.

Fuwa grits his teeth. It's not like the guy's heart has stopped, it's just really slow, so he's still… alive-ish. But it's not picking up, and he's not responding to anything that he does, and…

Fuck, why is Hiden so cold? Not cold, cold, but… not warm, either. It's like his body just isn't trying to keep itself up to temperature.

This is all horrifying.

What the hell is going on?!

Out of the corner of his eye, Fuwa sees Amatsu step forward, a carefully measured look of displeasure on his face. "The both of you are wasting your time."

The phone falls from Yaiba's hand as she whips out her shotriser. "Not one more step." She aims the gun at his torso. "Whatever happened here was kicked off by your attack. You're not getting one step closer to Hiden."

He raises an eyebrow, even as he sarcastically raises his hands above his head. "A citizen's arrest? Really?"

Fuwa barks out a laugh. "Citizen, nothing. I looked up her personnel file a week ago. Looks like someone never took Yaiba off of the AIMS roster." He smirks over his shoulder, before returning his attention to Hiden. "She's still as much a member of AIMS as I am."

There's a small sound of surprise that comes from Yaiba, which surprises Fuwa in turn. He'd think she'd have been the one to be on top of her own employment, not him. Apparently not.

As she tells Amatsu to get on his knees - and oh, he likes that the assholes suit is going to be ruined because of the grass stains - Fuwa keeps monitoring Hiden. Still no significant change… they're just lucky that that assistant of his, Izu, hasn't returned from getting the raider of the week to safety. It's unusual that it's taking her so long, but it's for the best.

All it takes these days is one act of aggression against a HumaGear for the Arc to break into their systems and turn them into a Magia.

For all any of them know, Izu probably hit singularity ages ago, just from her exposure to Hiden. Fuwa hasn't said anything because he acknowledges that Zero One is really helpful to have around, Hiden is the only person who can be Zero One, and said CEO is completely out of his depth without his secretary. So, Fuwa's not saying a damn thing until he doesn't have a choice.

It absolutely guts him to know that there is every chance that the lot of them are breaking all sorts of laws with this, but also it's the most logical option.

So, an act against her 'employer' would probably count for distress enough for Izu to get jacked by the Arc, and nobody wants that. All told, it's a good thing she's not around to see this.

Hiden still isn't waking up.

"Where the hell is that ambulance?!" Fuwa yells to the general area. "What's the point of having all those fancy HumaGear doctors if they can't even get here!?"

His voice is trembling, and he knows it, and the others know it, and none of them are saying why.

He's scared. Fuwa Isamu has never lost a man, even at his most reckless and vengeful. The closest he's ever come to someone dying on his watch was himself, and he still managed to get through that - thanks in large to Hiden and Yaiba.

He owes the both of them.

He can't just let Hiden die, but… there's nothing he can do to help.

It's then, with Fuwa scared, Yaiba on the offensive, and Amatsu on the defensive, that a small tremor runs through Hidens body, and the driver starts flashing. It had stopped sparking a little while ago, but Fuwa'd had other priorities.

"Hiden? Hey, can you hear me?" Feeling again at his wrist, Fuwa notes that his heart rate is picking back up to normal. That's presumably a good sign. "…Aruto?" Maybe using his personal name will snap him out of whatever's going on? "Aruto, prez, are you there?"

The fallen Riders mouth moves, just a little, like he's saying something, as his eyes slowly open, barely focused. "…m… wha…?"

He looks around, though still not really moving all that much, at the rather improbable tableau that they all make. "What… did I miss?"

"What did you miss. What did you miss?!" Still holding Hidens wrist with one hand, Fuwa drags his other hand through his hair incredulously. "You nearly died and you're asking what you missed?!"

Hiden's eyes widen, and then close as he grimaces. "Oh. That's bad."

"'Bad' is a bit of an understatement!"

Hiden grins apologetically. "Sorry. Didn't know you cared."

"You- why-"

"Fuwa!" Yaiba calls over to them. "Trade places with me. I'll look him over again."

Fuwa hesitates, and then nods. "Fair warning, I might shoot your former boss."

She doesn't reply as he goes over to watch Amatsu, who is going to be very under arrest for assault, and she goes to look over Hiden.

"Hold still for me." Yaiba keeps her eyes closed, focusing, as she, too, checks his pulse, and then frowns. "…Huh." She opens her eyes, looking at Aruto. "How are you feeling?"

He grins cheekily. "Honestly, kinda weird. Sore, mostly, and a little tingly."

"We called an ambulance some time ago, they ought to be arriving soon. You shouldn't try to sit up, but can you try to move your arms or legs for me a little?"

To his credit, Aruto doesn't ask why Yaiba even knows what to ask him to do. He does try to move the arm she's just let go of, and his breath hitches for a moment when he can't do more than twitch. "What…" Gritting his teeth, he closes his eyes to try and focus, takes a few deep breaths, and opens his eyes again, frowning at his arm. Yaiba makes a small surprised noise when he opens his eyes, but he ignores her in favor of trying to hecking move.

It takes a few increasingly tense moments, but he eventually gets his hand to curl into a fist, and then raise his arm a little off the ground, before dropping it back down. "Ow. Sorry, that's… about as much as I can do. I'm really sore…"

"That's alright. Are you up to trying your other arm or your legs?"

It takes slightly less time to get his other arm to the same amount of movement. He definitely doesn't have full range of motion, if only because he hurts so danged much.

After getting both arms semi-functional, he slumps, exhausted. He still hasn't even sat upright, and doesn't even want to imagine what how badly that might go.

At that point, the paramedics finally arrive, and go through some more thorough checks with him. They're a mix of humans and HumaGear – which makes sense, after… after what happened with the e-hospital. He hates that. He hates that he'd had to make the call to shut them down that day. He hates that he hadn't been able to make that call. Hates that it nearly cost Fuwa his life.

After more brief exams and questioning, he's deemed currently stable, and apparently 'fine', but given whatever it was that Fuwa and Yaiba had told them, he's being carted to the hospital anyway, 'for observation.'

Drat. Fukuzoe's absolutely going to use this as an excuse to try and get him unseated, isn't he?

Y'know what? He's too tired to care. Somewhere on the ambulance ride between the park and the hospital, he dozes off.

So it turns out being in the hospital is boring as all get out. They told Aruto he should only have to be there for a day or two, assuming nothing goes wrong. It's still frustrating.

The first person to come in after he wakes back up is Fuwa, surprisingly.

"So. Prez. Good news and bad news." He pulls up a chair alongside the bed. "The good news is, Amatsu Gai has been arrested, on multiple counts of assault and corporate sabotage."

Arutos eye twitches a little at that. "The assault I get, since I'm here and all, and it's not the first time he's gone after either of us. But, uh, corporate sabotage?"

Fuwa smirks. "Yeah, turns out Yaiba records everything. And since he had her acting as his personal assistant, she managed to get a not insignificant number of videos of him plotting against your company. Also a few other companies, but mostly yours."

Sighing, Aruto leans back into his pillow. "I wish I were more surprised by that than I am."

"How surprised are you?"

"Less than one-thousandth of a percent."

"Heh. So. the bad news, then." Fuwas face grows dark. "We're also trying to get charges of either aiding terrorism, or of actively commiting terrorism, to stick." He hesitates before continuing. "According to one of Yaiba's recordings… Amatsu at least claims to have created the Arc, and to have programmed it to hate humanity."

Aruto looks away. "The same Arc that Metsubojinrai always went on about?"

"Yes."

"So he played a part in creating them, too."

"Allegedly. AIMS is looking into it. Yaiba and myself are going to be witnesses. I admit, I'm partly here to see how willing you'd be to do the same."

Aruto grins bitterly. "Are you kidding? You really have to ask? Heck yes, I want in." The grin shrinks, and slips away. "I mean, I'm probably going to be called 'unfit for office' or whatever soon, so I might as well do what I can." He fidgets with the bedsheets. "Being Zero One is the only reason I haven't been voted out, I think, and it's the only reason I have a job in the first place. If I'm not going to be able to do that-"

"Why the hell would you think that?"

Aruto bites his lip. "Something went really wrong back there, Fuwa. But… I don't know what."

His second visitor is Fukuzoe, accompanied by Shesta and-

"Izu!" Aruto grins, despite the seriousness of everything. "You're okay!"

She tilts her head. "Why would I not be?"

His grin dims. "I… was worried that Amatsu might have gone after you, somehow, or the Arc might have…" He forces himself to stop talking. "Anyway. You're alright. That's good. So…" he turns to Fukuzoe. "How fired am I, and how long do I have to get my stuff out of the office?"

Fukuzoe gives him a dry look. "You're still CEO, don't worry about that."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Grievous injury is not, in fact, grounds for dismissal, nor are strange near-death incidents." He huffs. "You are, however, going to be on mandatory medical leave. It's standard procedure for things like this." He pauses. "Not that this situation itself is at all standard."

Aruto groans. "I'm fine now, though!"

"Still. Until they can figure out what happened, or if it will happen again, you're not supposed to step foot in that office. Not that I actually think that will stop you, because you don't know when to give up."

Aruto just leans back into his pillow and groans quietly. "What about my role as Zero One?"

"That is not part of the standard business practices, believe it or not."

Aruto sits upright. "Did you just- you were being sarcastic there! You do have a sense of humor!"

"President Hiden." Shesta interrupts before they can go any further. "While your work as Zero One is non-standard per business practices, and as such does not have precedent in Hiden Intelligence bylaws, it would be wise of you to keep in mind that you have been given doctors instructions to not exert yourself for the coming week, at minimum."

He flops back down onto the pillow.

"Yeah… I get it." Aruto doesn't meet any of their eyes, instead looking off into the middle distance. "I'm really sorry about this."

He's left alone for a long while after that. He'd really like to have literally anyone there for company, but apparently that's not an option. Izu's technically the company's property, after all, and if he's on leave… well. He's lucky the phone was his to begin with.

On the plus side, he was only there for a 24-hour-period. And thank goodness, because he desperately needs to be around people, and would have started climbing the walls if he'd had to be there for so much as two days.

The last visitor he gets, a few hours before being discharged, is Yaiba.

"President Hiden." She nods at him. "There are a few things I'd like to discuss."

He grins. "If it's about Amatsu and you working for him, it's fine. I hear you're back with AIMS now?"

A small smile crosses her face. "Yes. I won't say it's not a relief. For the time being, I'm barred from going on field assignments the way I used to, because of my… involvement… with Zaia, but it's good to be somewhere I can be of use again, even if I'm stuck behind a desk."

"Heh, I can get behind that. So, what did you come to talk about?"

"We – that is, you, Fuwa, and myself – need to discuss what happened the other day, in as secure of a location as possible. There were some…" She hesitates. "Irregularities with what was… going on with you."

Pulling his lip between his teeth, Aruto grimaces. "Yeah. yeah, I… noticed. Not just from some of the stuff I've been told about happening, too." He looks away. "It's weird, but I really, really get the sense it would be a bad idea to talk to the doctors about it."

Yaiba simply raises an eyebrow at him, nodding to indicate he should continue.

"Not here. What did you have in mid for a secure location?"

She makes a considering sound. "Frankly, your lab is looking like the best option. AIMS has secure facilities, but some of this… I'd prefer we go where as few prying eyes and ears can find us."

Aruto nods in agreement. "Makes sense. I'm technically banned from my office right now, though. I mean, I hypothetically may or may not have a way into said lab without going through said office, but nobody will expect me to be there anyway."

Yaiba just stares at him for a moment, before shaking her head. "Don't say anything else, I'm probably better off with plausible deniability. There's another part to this discussion, however, that definitely requires your action."

"What's that?"

She hesitates again. "I'd like you to get a copy of your medical history. The complete record, not just this or since becoming Zero One. As far back as you can go, and preferably in a hardcopy."

"…Okay. I'll do what I can."

A hardcopy, in this day and age? That might be tricky.

He winds up getting his records through some careful wording on his part, about wanting to look over it himself and see what might have happened, even though he knows he doesn't have a history of this type of thing. He manages the hardcopy by way of citing privacy concerns, and the fact he can dispose of papers much easier than he can a digital record.

He does not want to risk this being leaked.

Just in case.

Said history also turns out to be quite sizable, which came as a surprise. But then again, maybe it shouldn't have.

He was at Daybreak, after all, and he's… pretty sure that there was a period where he'd shut down afterwards.

He doesn't remember being brought out of the city.

Whatever. It's probably not relevant. It's fine, that's fine, he just needs to find out what happened that caused that much of a reaction to Thouser's attack.

Fuwa and Yaiba come down the stairs into the lab, where Aruto is waiting for them. Fuwa shakes his head. "I can't believe that vice president of yours believed us when we said we were getting some of your things to bring you while you were at home."

Aruto smiles nervously. "I think I scared him a little with the whole 'nearly dying' thing. When I first got this job, he'd expected to be made president, and since being Zero One is part of the job description…" He shrugs. "I think he's finally caught on that I also do not want me to have to be doing the things I am doing, but that none of us get much choice in the matter."

Fuwa simply makes a grunt of acknowledgement, as Yaiba sets down a set of papers on the table that Aruto's set up in the middle of the room. "So then. Let's get to business." She looks between the two men. "Izu's not here?"

Aruto looks a tad nervous. "I'm technically not supposed to be working in my president job right now. Unless I have to go out as Zero One, she's currently helping Fukuzoe with covering my duties. So, no, no Izu today."

Yaiba nods. "I suppose that's logical. Now, I figure that the first order of business should be to catch Hiden-"

"Aruto."

"Hm?"

"If we're going to be doing this, at least here in private, I'd… like if you guys could use my name. It feels weird, otherwise."

She nods again. "Alright. As I was saying, our first order of business is to catch Aruto up to speed with what happened while he was unconscious, and ensure we're all on the same page. I don't know what you were told by the doctors, so we'll just go over everything."

"Makes sense."

"Right." She taps her papers, and begins. "First, Amatsu went after you with the preliminary portion of his 'jacking break' finisher, attempting to copy the data for your Shining Hopper Progrise key. He was only partway through the copying process when your belt and suit starting giving off far more electricity than is normal for his maneuver, and you started screaming."

Aruto folds in on himself. "I couldn't help it. That 'trick' of his always hurts, it kinda feels like he's ripping it from the suit, and since there's all those connections between us and the suit to make them work, it hurts." He looks at Fuwa. "You have that, too, right?" When Fuwa nods, Aruto continues. "But this time it was… more. It was like he was trying to copy me, somehow. I don't know what makes me think that, but it's what it felt like."

He visually hesitates for a moment before continuing. "I think it's because it was Shining Hopper. That key was made specifically for my use. Izu said something about it being tuned to make the best of my own abilities and thought patterns. But it's also too physically strong for me to handle for a long time at once, so I've been trying to not use it for every fight unless I have to. I can handle it for longer than I used to be able to, but there's still a lot of recoil if I push myself too hard."

Fuwa hums. "That can't have helped. We'd been fighting for a while by the time he'd had his fun. When you started screaming, he pulled away, so at least he stopped. But you didn't stop, not until your armor dissolved. At that point, you just…" he pauses. "You froze up, and collapsed." Aruto nods for him to continue. "When I went over, to see if you had straight up died, because it sure looked like you had, your pulse… it was slow. Far too slow for anything good. Same with your breathing. It was like… you had just slowed to a crawl, or gone into hibernation or something." Fuwa pauses again, looking uncertain. "I admit, I didn't say exactly how slow it was to the paramedics, which I should have. But I don't think they'd have believed me, as it was. To add to the unsettling factor, you were… cold."

"I was what?"

"Not, say, cold as in 'deceased' cold, or room temperature, but not 'poor circulation' cold, either. Just… not the right temperature for a normal-ass human."

"Fuwa!" Yaiba snaps.

"Am I wrong, though?!"

She glares momentarily, but then looks back at Aruto. "He's… not wrong. You were the wrong temperature, even when you'd just woken up. I could feel you rapidly going back to normal when I came over, after you woke up."

Aruto bites at his lip. "That would explain why you looked so confused when you came over…"

"Speaking of you waking up…" Fuwa starts, and then trails off, fussing with his cuffs. "I don't think you'll like this, and I don't like saying it. I'm really hoping I'm wrong."

Aruto makes a 'keep going' gesture, and Yaiba gives Fuwa a nervous look, like she has a suspicion about what he's going to say.

"I didn't tell anyone this, but as you were coming to, before you said anything, it looked like you were trying to say something, but nothing was coming out." He hesitates again. "Now, keep in mind that I can't read lips, so take everything I'm about to say with a grain of salt, but." His gaze darts around the room, anxious, before he finally huffs to himself and looks directly at Aruto. "Aruto. It looked like you were saying 'take off toward a dream.'"

For a full minute, the room is silent, both AIMS agents watching for Aruto's reaction. For his part, he doesn't have much of one. He looks at Fuwa for a moment, reading his face, before looking down at the table. Eventually, he quietly speaks up. "…You're right. I don't like that."

"I don't think any of us do." Yaiaba looks aside, before turning back to them. "There's… another thing, which I didn't share with anyone. I admit, I had been hoping I made it up. But when I asked you to try and move, even a bit, I was attempting to see if there were any… well, neurological issues-"

"You mean like seeing if I'd had a stroke or something, right?"

"Essentially, yes. I hoped I was mis-seeing it, but when you were frustrated and tried harder…" She takes a deep breath, as if steadying herself. "Your eyes glowed for a split second."

Aruto looks at Fuwa, and then at Yaiba, and then does that again, and swallows. "So. You two haven't gone and decided you want to become comedians, right? This. This is you being serious?"

Yaiba keeps a calm, quiet tone to her voice as she asks "Did you read through your medical history? We don't have access to that, so… if there's anything that's known about, it should be in there."

"Tried. Realized that I'd have to look at when I was eight and couldn't bring myself to." Aruto laughs nervously. "Wasn't sure I wanted to see how bad off I was to have blocked out the 'rescue' part of getting out of… y'know."

"I can relate." Fuwa leans forward, chin on one propped arm. "You're not the only one who blurred the end of Daybreak out. But we gotta do this, prez."

Aruto looks at the file, and then focuses on the table. "Before that, we… well, you don't have the full story. About the other day, I mean. Not about Daybreak – none of us have the full story on that yet. The thing is, while you guys were trying to figure out what was going on… so was I."

The others don't respond, so he continues. "Y'see, when I first put on the driver, and then again when I used Shining Hopper for the first time, and then when I used the assault grip with Shining Hopper – well, I kind of got my consciousness uploaded into Zea? Somehow? I figured it was just, y'know, a part of being a rider and the progrise keys or whatever."

Yaiba's mouth works for a bit, before she can finally respond, albeit with her voice slightly broken. "That… is absolutely not something that is supposed to happen. It's not something that should be possible."

Fuwa scoffs. "So that's still happening, huh?"

"You knew about this?!"

Fuwa and Aruto look at each other, and then back to Yaiba. ""There was an incident."" Aruto continues on. "It came up once, is all. I mean, I get how it shouldn't be possible, not for a human, so I've explained it away to myself as having the driver do something. But…" He stuffs his arms into his sleeves. "It happened again, right after my armor broke, as I was falling. I remember starting to fall, but not hitting the ground. By then, I was up in the satellite."

They both watch as Aruto grows increasingly unsettled. "The difference this time was that I think it was happening in real-time per down here in the physical area, as opposed to being at AI speeds, which yes is how it usually happens, I think it's something to do with the driver, but also I was being actively blocked from finding out literally anything that was going on.

"And then out of nowhere the message window that'd been giving me all the 'no you can't know that' messages says something about a relaunch and about how my arms and legs might not feel right, and then it did a countdown and I blacked back out before waking up with all of you guys there."

He finally stops, breathing heavily with the speed he'd been going.

Slowly, Fuwa speaks up. "It… might still be tied to your driver? I couldn't get it off of you, so maybe it was trying to protect you somehow? And… er, just had you whispering the phrase by default, because that's what all your regular products do."

Yaiba shakes her head. "That still doesn't explain the eye thing."

Aruto nods in wary agreement. "Or the temperature, or the… hibernation… oh god did I go into sleep mode somehow?!"

Fuwa puts his hands up to try and calm Aruto down. "Hey, woah, this isn't the time for wild speculation. We only have a handful of facts to go on-"

"Since when has that stopped you?!" Aruto forcefully shoves his seat away from the table, and starts pacing. "If – yeah, I'm super pro-HumaGear, but if I'm – I mean, I can't be! I remember growing up, my hair grows, and I definitely bleed actual blood, not coolant, but if I'm doing things I'm not supposed to be able to… I mean, my physical turned out just fine, they always have, nobody's ever said anything about anything, and why would anyone keep something like…" He trails off, stopping in front of the printer. "…Fuwa. You've been with AIMS for longer than Yaiba, right?"

"…Yeah."

"Have… there ever been any cases you've handled where… where a HumaGear was, I don't know, reprogrammed so that they wouldn't know they were a HumaGear?"

Fuwa hesitates before quietly answering. "A few. None that I personally was part of. That voice actress was close."

"The standard procedure for that… It's the same as the ones for pretty much every other violation of the AI codes, isn't it."

Fuwa simply looks away, one hand clenched into a fist beneath the table.

"I kinda thought so."

Yaiba speaks up. "We don't have any proof that you're not human, Aruto. Much less that you're a HumaGear. All we have is a very small amount of circumstantial evidence." Her voice is tight, even as she tries to reassure him. (And Fuwa. And herself.) "It looks like this isn't a good time to talk about things. We should probably try and talk this through when you're… calmer."

"I am calm." Aruto's voice is level and cold. "I'm as calm as possible. After all, if I am a HumaGear, getting upset puts me at risk, doesn't it? All it takes is one slight and… bam!" He slams his hands on the railings. "That's it." He doesn't remove his hands from the railing, bracing himself, his shoulders shaking.

Yaiba starts to try and protest, but… she can't, because he's not wrong. Fuwa, on the other hand, slowly gets up from his seat, and walks over to Aruto… and promptly punches him in the shoulder, hard, knocking Aruto off balance and to the floor.

"Hey!"

"If that damned Arc could get you, it would've done it long ago, idiot." Fuwa glares. "Have you met you?! The moment Amatsu smirked his way into your life you'd have been a ticking time bomb for becoming a Magia, and that's assuming you were a HumaGear, which I highly doubt. For all we know, some of this really is just your driver screwing around with your head." He offers a hand down to Aruto to help him up. "So. How about we figure this shit out before you have a mental breakdown, mkay?"

Aruto just lays there for a moment, stunned physically from the punch, and mentally from the fact that Fuwa is trusting him. He'd never expected that to happen back when they met.

The both of them have come a very long way.

He reaches up and accepts the offered hand.

Aruto's expression is still pretty blank as he's pulled to his feet, and nudged back towards the table. He takes a few shaky breaths to try and calm down. "So, assuming I'm not a HumaGear in disguise, then… what did happen to me?" Aruto keeps his voice quiet. "Because, well, I get now that the satellite thing isn't normal, that it's supposed to be a HumaGear-only thing, but…"

Yaiba nods in agreement. "If we put aside most of the incident the other day, then we should focus on that aspect. It could lead us to answers on multiple fronts. What is it that you actually experience when you get…" She sighs. "'Uploaded'?"

Going over to the desk, Aruto grabs a pen and a pad of paper, and starts doodling as he talks. "Well, it's kinda just. All white? Like, no real floor or walls or anything. I'm basically just… there – and Izu, too, sometimes, if we're both communicating with the satellite." He draws a pair of stick figures, with little ripples around their feet. "There's all these columns of blue zeros and ones, and the 'floor' sort of… spreads them around when we walk? That's assuming I move at all, sometimes I can just pull info up – or have it pulled up in front of me." He draws a bunch of floating rectangles around the figures. "It sorta pulls up windows like on a regular computer, but as a touch interface?" He puts the pen to his cheek, thinking. "I'm pretty sure that's it. Oh, and sometimes Zea actually talks, with the same voice it uses for announcements for the printer, but usually it's just info boxes. Not even, like, direct info boxes like this time, it's usually just the relevant designs or whatever for what I'm learning how to use." He hesitates for a little, before nodding sharply. "And that's about it."

"Hmph." Fuwa leans back in his chair. "That's weird."

Yaiba frowns at him before picking up the conversation. "We should probably find out if that's what actual HumaGear experience, too, to get some sort of comparison. I'd assume that when you and Izu are there together, she's at least somewhat processing it the same way, but normally…" She puts a hand to her chin, thinking. "I can't see how that would be practical for an AI."

"Well, it moves faster than anything down here, usually."

Both Fuwa and Yaiba look at Aruto, and he goes on. "I mean, any sort of AI can think or process or whatever faster than a human, right? The whole thing is super sped up. My first transformation – or, right before it, technically – it felt like it took almost an hour, but it was really only a second or two, at most." He grins nervously. "Which is good, because if it hadn't, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Fuwa narrows his eyes. "What did you do."

"I mean! Technically! Not my fault! The first Magia – that version gets, like, scythe hands, and it can launch curvy energy blades, and I, er, put the belt on right in front of him. As he launched an attack. And seeing as my me-ness wasn't exactly... y'know, home…" He shifts in his seat. "So, yeah accelerated time is a great thing, A+, def would probably recommend in less life-threatening situations."

With a thoughtful sound, Yaiba crosses her arms. "So, somehow, you're able to have your thoughts accelerated to the same speed as a computer – huh." Her resting frown turns slightly dark. "That's the same sort of thing the Zaia Spec does, albeit at a smaller scale."

Fuwa shrugs. "I mean, both companies are doing computer things. What's the big deal if they can both speed a person up?"

Aruto's eyes had widened at Yaiba's statement. "Because my grandfather made the Zero One driver, and the Zea satellite… and Amatsu used to work with my grandfather."

Yaiba nods, reaching for her phone before grimacing and setting it back in her pocket. "And we elected to have this be a secure conversation… damn. We could potentially get him on intellectual property theft if we could come out with any of this. But all of this still doesn't bring us any closer to figuring out what's going on with H- Aruto." She glances down at the relatively untouched file in front of him. "At this point…"

He sighs in resignation. "At this point, all we can do is look at this thing, and see what's there. I mean, I kinda don't think there would be? If I'm doing things I'm not supposed to be able to do, I don't really think it'd be in my records."

When neither Aruto or Yaiba make a move to look at the file, Fuwa rolls his eyes and grabs it. "Here. I'll look." He starts by flipping to the end of the folder. "We wound up going in for our company physicals the same day, right? So, might as well get that out here for the most recent example of you." He grabs the small stapled stack out, and then places another next to it. "That one's this whole deal."

Quietly, Fuwa continues thumbing through the folder, pulling out another stack. "Going through all of these'll be a pain, so… here's a few years ago, for comparison, and…" He hesitates, and pulls out two other sets. "Looks like these are the exam you had closest to before daybreak, and… this is labeled as when you were rescued out of there."

He gives Aruto a solemn, quiet look. "I'm asking this just in case. Are you positive you're alright with us reading these with you? This is pretty confidential stuff."

Aruto pauses, and then nods sharply. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay with this. Just nervous, mostly, but I'm gonna need the help."

Quietly, they go through the most recent records first, comparing anything that comes up. For all intents and purposes, they read effectively the same: Hiden Aruto is a normal, healthy, human, with no abnormalities. There are mentions in the most recent two of the cuts and bruises he's been gathering as Zero One, albeit not in those precise terms. The one dating about a year before all of this started is completely normal, as well.

When they've whittled their way down to Aruto's youth, he interrupts before Yaiba can pick up the file. "Hey, are – if there hasn't been anything unusual yet, why would there be anything back this far? What- what good will digging back into Daybreak do?"

Keeping his expression as gentle as he can, Fuwa quietly sighs. "I thought you wanted the truth behind what happened back then, and why it was covered up."

"I do, I do, but this is… this is different… trying to think about anything after… after seeing Dad…" He trails off.

Fuwa gives Aruto a rare smile. "My offer still stands to pick this up another day."

Aruto shakes his head. "I don't want to do this. I can't shake the feeling that this is better off forgotten. But I also think that if we don't get this done now, then we're not going to do it at all…"

"President Aruto."

The three riders look up. "I-Izu!" Aruto waves his hands defensively. "I know I'm not supposed to be in today, but this was the best place we could think of to talk-"

She briskly walks down the stairs, a briefcase in one hand. "In the future, if you intend to keep your research a secret, I would recommend you keep in mind that Zea constantly monitors this lab."

Yaiba's eyes narrow. "I suppose the satellite told you to come down here and send him home?"

"It did. However." With a smooth motion, she hefts the suitcase onto the desk, and takes several stacks of papers, setting them neatly to the side. "I was also granted access to this file, which I printed in accordance with the methods the three of you are using for those you have already obtained. Clearance to read this document was previously only granted to those involved in its creation and the late president Hiden. As of twenty four minutes ago, that clearance has been extended to myself and the three of you. I believe you will find the contents…" She trails off, the lights at her earpieces flashing, indicating that she's processing something. "…enlightening."

She bows to the slightly stunned trio. "I must return to aiding Vice President Fukuzoe. President Aruto, please remember that you are still under medical orders to not exert yourself. Whatever 'roughhousing' you and agent Fuwa were doing earlier likely counts as such."

And with that, she leaves.

There are three copies of the same report, one for each of them. They each begin to read.

This story was originally posted to Archive Of Our Own under the name SailorCresselia in February 2020, but I forgot to mirror it over here. Whoops. That's on me. Set and written before Episode 21, and boy howdy did I wind up calling some things.