At the Ministry of Defense
The Minister of Defense, Mamoru Anzen, accompanied Ritsuko home and then returned to his office. It felt empty and hollow when she wasn't around, which was almost every day. He sat there, in his leather chair, alone with his thoughts.
Ritsuko, my daughter… Just because of our family relations, you are endangered… As your father, I must find a way to stop them…
But they also obtained the keycard. It was foolish of me to even consider accepting their conditions. Now my country is endangered, not to mention my job. But what can I do?
As he mused over this, a golden shadow noiselessly appeared behind him. A thumb drive dropped onto his desk with a thud. Then the shadow disappeared as quickly and silently as it had come.
Minister Anzen noticed the thumb drive. It was plain, nondescript, and came from a well-known brand.
He gulped and booted up his computer. Having prepared a paid antivirus, he tentatively inserted the thumb drive into his computer.
As the sound of the USB being recognized by his system played, the file manager window opened. A compressed archive, labeled "Project X-3M", was the sole content of the drive.
He clicked on it with uncertainty.
As his computer opened the archive, he was greeted by several scanned photos of blueprints. These blueprints were detailed and of high quality. They seemed to be plans for a special suit of armor.
As he went over them, he went from worried to interested to somewhat concerned. These schematics were beyond the scope of even the most advanced technology legally available to the Japanese government. Some of the parts needed for assembly were only available on the black market. And though he was no physics expert, some of the details present in the blueprints seemingly defied common sense and logic.
These plans should never be revealed to the public, he thought. But who gave this to me, and why?
Minister Anzen extracted the files from the thumb drive to his personal computer, hiding them in a specially encrypted file in an inconspicuous folder.
It was only to the highest echelons of the Ministry that Minister Anzen revealed these plans. They showed varying degrees of surprise, and some suggested he try to get an audience with the Prime Minister. Minister Anzen agreed outwardly, but his heart filled with apprehension.
Dacheng's Adventure
For the rest of the week, Dacheng and his family were constantly on the move, exploring Tokyo.
At a pedestrian crossing traffic signal, Dacheng couldn't take any more walking and had to stop for a breather. He placed his hands on his knees, huffing and puffing. His parents, walking slightly behind, eventually caught up to him. He and his parents waited for the red stoplight to turn green.
A window appeared in front of Dacheng's eyes again.
[Congratulations! You have raised your Stamina by 1 point!]
This notification encouraged the weary Dacheng, and he continued his walk with renewed vigor as the light turned green.
The Yun family next went into the forest.
While his parents weren't looking, Dacheng tried recreating the Dagger Bullet Ring jutsu with a twig, which very quickly caught fire. He would have thrown it had his parents not caught him holding it. They made him put it down and promptly called the local fire brigade. They quickly extinguished the fire, but he got a triple lecture from his parents and the fire chief.
"What were you thinking?!!" Three voices shouted as one.
The combined length of their sermon was about one and a half hours. Dacheng wiped his tears, blew his nose, and then resolved not to use anything that burned easily for his practice.
Better yet, he thought, I should only practice in secret.
They went through the forest to Mount Fuji. Dacheng smiled until his cheeks hurt, but the photos came out fine.
They later went to a toy store at Dacheng's behest. However, he found himself sorely disappointed, as the store had closed down some time ago. Dacheng decided to stop using old tourist guidebooks out of the fear that they might be outdated again.
Dacheng also watched a karate demonstration at a nearby martial arts center with his parents. He noted the forms and stances he had seen to incorporate them into his Martial Arts passive skill. Anything to become a stronger hero, since the Devil Storm Clan probably wasn't done yet.
Finally, they returned to the ryokan in the evening. The Yun family got ready for bed and went to sleep.