The Simulacrum ~Chapter 64~ Part 1

"Chief, you're burning up," my girlfriend told with one hand on my forehead.

"I've already noticed, thank you," I answered with a tired grumble, though she didn't seem to mind and simply retracted her hand.

"I'll go get a cold towel then," she proposed and waited to hear my response.

"It didn't help much the last ti, but I would still appreciate it."

My reply apparently pleased her, as she gave a determined nod before she swiftly turned on her heel and walked out of my room, leaving alone in front of my PC. Well, okay, not entirely alone, as the tiny miko, still in her fluffy fox form, was currently curled up in my lap and watching the monitor in front of us with sparkling eyes.

"Ue-sama! Ue-sama! Click on that!"

"On what?" I griped under my breath, and she raised one stubby paw to gesture towards the corner of the screen.

"They have hakamas! And kosodes too!"

It took a couple of seconds to figure out just what she was talking about, but then I finally noticed an animated advertisent banner near the bottom. It was… certainly a miko outfit, except less of an 'authentic traditional' style one, but more of a… Oh, fine, let's not beat around the bush: it was an ad for a webshop selling fetish costus for frisky couples who wanted to spice up their sex lives. If the see-through nature of the upper-wear didn't make that perfectly obvious, the various latex 'tools' showing up as the banner kept scrolling made things blindingly obvious. Thankfully the fox-girl on my lap didn't know how they were supposed to be used (even I was a little baffled by a few of them), so before she could ask, I quickly right-clicked on the banner and added it to my ad-blocker's blacklist.

"Sorry, but I doubt they would have it in your size," I told her flatly, but then after a mont of consideration I added, "If you behave yourself, I'll get you one from a cosplay-maker or sothing."

"Really? Thank you, ue-sama!"

I ignored her wagging tail and, after placing my orders on the currently open site's shop for the various materials required for making a holding cell or two, I closed the window. Under that, there was the utilitarian interface of the Celestial Hub. I originally internally debated whether or not I should even show this to Ichiko, but considering I still had my off-switch for her, I didn't think letting her catch a glimpse of the Hub would make a difference.

More importantly though, a quick glance at the 'recent uploads' section told that there were already a couple of reports coming in regarding today's events. I quickly skimd them, but there was nothing in them I already didn't know about. In fact, there was actually quite a bit of misinformation, which was nice. That ant even they weren't sure what was going on, so I could probably completely lead them astray by a few well-placed reports with 'validated' information telling them that, say, it was all Lord Grandpa's fault and the teens involved in the incidents were totally unimportant. Speaking of which, a quick glance at the forums also showed that the regulars were all busy speculating about what happened, and the prevailing theory was that everything surrounding the break-in at the school was just an elaborate ruse by the Assembly to try and get a reaction out of Celestial Information Network, and advised the local agents to stay low. That also sounded like a nice lead I should 'encourage'.

But now that the resident assets ca up, it reminded of a certain Celestial, so I went back to the repository, yet couldn't find any reports or posts made by Mike. That was a little odd, considering how deeply involved he was this ti around. On a whim, I decided to Far Glance at the guy, and I found him in his apartnt, seemingly safe and sound. He was sitting in a well-lit room, he was hunched over his computer and, coincidentally, he was staring at the very sa interface that I was. That was odd, considering that the last ti I checked his status it showed that he was offline, but then I ca out Far Sight and used my administrator privileges to check his profile directly, and it showed that he was actually just hidden.

This all felt slightly suspicious, so after thinking things through, I decided to send a PM to him and see how he would react.

"Admin: Ninja, are you online?"

I waited for over a minute for him to react, and I was even considering another Far Glance when he finally wrote back.

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: HELLO ADMIN! THANK DEUS YOU CALLED, I'M IN SO DEEP POO RIGHT NOW!!!

〜(＞＜)〜"

"Admin: I see there was an incident on Critias. Were you involved?"

I just finished typing that when Judy ca back with a familiar ice bag wrapped in a white towel. She wanted to apply it to my forehead right away, but when she noticed I was busy, she put it on the back of my neck instead.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm probing Mike," I told her while readjusting the towel.

"I see," she whispered, and then a short beat later she pointed at my left hand. "Why are you only typing with one hand?"

"My right hand is still a little numb," I lied to her without batting an eye. In fact, I literally couldn't move my fingers at all, and even raising my arm hurt like hell, but she didn't need to know that.

In the anti, the Celestial on the other side of the screen finally finished typing.

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: I WAS KINDA INVOLVED BUT KINDA NOT. IT'S COMPLICATED……… (〃＞＿＜;〃) "

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: MORE IMPORTANTLY, PLEASE HELP OUT!!! (シ_ _)シ"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: I'M ASKING THIS FOR A FRIEND: LET'S SAY MY FRIEND HAS A FRIEND WHO IS NOT REALLY A FRIEND AND IS ACTUALLY A LITTLE SCARY! THIS FRIEND OF A FRIEND HELPED OUT MY FRIEND, AND NOW MY FRIEND KNOWS ABOUT HIS SECRET! (￣ω￣;)"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: I AN I THINK IT'S A SECRET, BUT I'M NOT SURE, BUT IT'S A BIG DEAL, AND OTHER PEOPLE WOULD PROBABLY LIKE TO KNOW THIS SECRET, BUT MY FRIEND OWES HIM ONE AND DOESN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!! (O_O;)"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: ADMIIIIIN! PLEASE HEEEEEELP EEEE!!! (シ_ _)シ"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: I AN, PLEASE HEEEEEELP MY FRIEEEEEND!1!!!! (シ_ _)シ (シ_ _)シ"

I pondered how I should respond for a few seconds, and in the end I decided on a slightly forceful approach.

"Admin: When you said 'helping out', do you an a small favor, or sothing more significant."

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: VEEEEERY SIGNIFICANT! LIFE-SAVING AND STUFF!!! (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)"

"Admin: I see. And is this friend of a friend a threat to our cause?"

This ti there was a longer pause before the answer.

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: I DON'T THINK SO. HE IS REALLY COOPERATIVE AND HELPFUL. (≧ω≦)"

"W1NG3D N1NJ4: AND SCARY… {{ (>_