At GenaTech's basement car park, Doctor Beverly Rossiter was heading to her sedan. It was a grey sedan parked in the corner. She pulled on her handbag strapped over her shoulder and she kept a constant eye out as she headed down the corridor. Taking Dr Benedict Song off the board was the first step, now she needed to get the rest of her plan underway. Her car beeped to life as she unlocked it and entered the driver's seat. She tossed her handbag on the front passenger seat and was about to turn on the ignition.

"Rossiter." A deep voice from behind almost spooked her.

She stiffened and adjusted the rear-view mirror to see Alpha in the backseat, dressed in a suit and hidden in the dark.

"I'm here for my medical appointment," Alpha said.

Beverly rolled her eyes and turned to him, "You weren't supposed to meet me here. You can't just sneak in and hide in my car."

"Drive," Alpha instructed.

"Did you not hear me? And where's the rest?"

"On standby. Now drive. Unless you want to look suspicious after you just got into your car." Alpha stared at her intensely.

Beverly tsked, she turned back to the steering wheel and turned on the ignition. The night was illuminated by the city's neon lights all over Kakushin City. Beverly drove into a tunnel and the car's interior lit up each time it passed under a tunnel lamp.

"The job," Alpha said, keeping his eyes on Beverly. While keeping one hand on the wheel, she opened her handbag and pulled out a folder.

"Here." She handed the file to him. Alpha opened it and inspected the photographs. The first was the picture of a school, situated on a hilltop. The second was a still image from a security camera footage. It was GenaTech's tower lobby, with a crowd of students and teachers gathering there. Five students were circled in red. Finally, there were five pictures of the aforementioned students, taken and enhanced from the same camera footage. Alpha singled out one in particular, a picture of a girl with long black hair with her fringe and cross bangs covering her forehead.

"These five? From this school? Soru Academy?" Alpha asked Beverly.

"Yes," Beverly said as she drove out of the tunnel.

"You don't have their names? Or where do they live? Just the school?" Alpha asked.

"Just the school." Beverly nodded.

"You want us to kill them quietly? Or do you want it messy?" Alpha closed the folder.

Beverly glanced at him through the mirror. "I want them alive."

Alpha narrowed his eyes, he put the folder away. "We're assassins, not abductors."

Beverly said, "They're no good to me dead."

"Who are they?"

"They stole company property. I need to get it back from them."

"Company property? Is that what you're calling us now?" Alpha raised a brow.

"What?" Beverly glanced at him again.

"There's only one reason you want these students alive. Only one reason you contacted us." Alpha crossed his arms, "They got into the same treatment as we did."

Beverly was silent for a moment. She never liked it when someone saw through her schemes. But she kept her cool. "Not the same treatment."

"What're their augmentations?" Alpha asked.

"Don't wait to find out," Beverly said and her impatience was starting to show. "Just get them and bring them to me."

"I cannot guarantee they will be unharmed."

"I don't care how you do it. So long as they are breathing and no one else knows about it."

"What do you want us to do about Doctor Song?" Alpha went through the photographs again.

"How do you know about him?" Beverly blurted in displeasure.

Alpha repeated his question, "What do you want us to do about Doctor Song?"

"Nothing. Kengo will handle him. You just stick with what I am hiring you to do. Get those kids and bring them to me." Beverly scowled at him through the mirror again.

Alpha stared back at her, if he was irritated by Beverly's tone he did not show it. "Done. Stop here."

Beverly frowned at him before pulling over to the side of the road. Without bidding farewell, Alpha exited the car and disappeared into the busy nightlife.

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Elsewhere, in a quieter part of the city, Matabei had brought Narumi, Etsudo, Daichi, and Kohaku to a modest-looking ramen restaurant situated at the corner of a street. Two red lanterns hung from each side of the entrance and a menu stand on the right. They could pick up the smell even from outside the restaurant. The scent of ramen broth and noodles ignited their appetites.

Narumi squinted her eyes as she read the sign, hanging over the entrance. "Itou Menya?"

"Yeah. Come on, guys. Let's eat." Matabei was already salivating and he entered the restaurant. "Pardon the intrusion."

"Oh! It's Matabei!" a booming voice came from the kitchen. There was a bearded man, appearing in his early thirties. He wore a black t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and an apron tied around his waist.

"Good evening, Uncle!" Matabei greeted him.

"And you've brought some friends I see." Hotaru shined his teeth with his hands on his hips.

"Pardon the intrusion." The group let themselves in.

"Welcome." Hotaru gestured to the counter seats.

"Hey Uncle," Matabei called, "Any chance we-"

"No free bowls," Hotaru said as he went back to tend to the boiling broth. "Every customer pays."

"Eh?" Matabei sulked and his shoulders slackened.

"I like this place already." Daichi rolled his eyes with his arms crossed.

"C'mon. Let's order." Narumi said.

Moments later, the five were seated by the counter seats. Starting with Etsudo from the left, followed by Daichi, Matabei, Kohaku, and Narumi.

Etsudo was distracted by the cooking process in the kitchen. She watched Hotaru stir the noodles in the strainer submerged in the boiling water.

"Huh..." She started licking her lips, the smell of noodles was blasting her senses.

"Morita." Daichi's voice snapped her out of it.

"Eh?!" Etsudo's face reddened and she turned to him. "Kurosawa-senpai?"

"What? You've never seen a guy cook ramen before?" Daichi raised a brow.

"W-Well. I uh, I've never been to a ramen restaurant like this before."

"Are you serious?" Daichi recoiled. Etsudo averted her eyes away in her embarrassment.

Soon enough, five bowls were served. Etsudo had shio ramen, Daichi had shoyu ramen, Matabei had spicy tonkotsu ramen, Kohaku had miso tonkotsu ramen, and Narumi had regular tonkotsu ramen. Everyone gave their thanks for the food and dug in.

While everyone was dining in, Matabei bounced his legs in giddy excitement. After slurping in a mouthful of broth and noodles, he stretched his arms upwards. "I tell you what guys, I think I can beat the traffic anytime anywhere now. Hell, I won't even need a plane ticket if I want to travel."

"Figure out how to land right. Then you can talk." Narumi smirked at him.

"Yeah, yeah." Matabei waved her off.

Something else came into Narumi's mind which made her brows furrow, she lowered her volume. "Speaking of which, um...did anyone find out more about GenaTech?"

Etsudo, Matabei, and Daichi exchanged glances, but none of them could answer.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Did you find anything, Uchida?" Daichi threw the question back at her.

"Uh...no." Narumi rubbed the back of her head.

"I did," Kohaku spoke up, and they all turned to him.

"Oh?" Narumi clasped her hands together. "What did you get, Taiyo-san?"

Kohaku looked around, no one was waiting outside the restaurant and Hotaru was busy in the kitchen. He softly said. "I tried looking up the staff members of GenaTech. Trying to narrow down someone that could be connected to our situation."

"And?" Daichi leaned forward on the counter.

Kohaku set his chopsticks down and pulled out his phone. "One person stands out."

His phone showed a social network website, and there was a profile picture. "Dr Benedict Song."

"Benedict Song?" Narumi repeated after him, reading the page on his phone.

Kohaku continued, "He's Korean-Canadian. Been working in GenaTech for about five years now. And he has a Bachelor's Degree in Biotechnology and a doctorate in..." Kohaku turned to the rest, "Paleontology."

The light bulbs lit up in their heads.

"He used to be a paleontology lecturer before working as a head scientist in GenaTech." Kohaku said, "He could be the one of the people I saw at the top of that stairwell."

"And who's the other person that you saw?" Daichi asked.

"I don't know," Kohaku answered. "But this Doctor Song does."

"So this guy," Daichi pointed at the profile picture, "This is the moron that is behind our problems."

"Or at least, if GenaTech is going to do something, he will be the one behind it," Kohaku said.

"Then we will find this guy. Get him to help us." Daichi said.

"What do you mean help?" Matabei turned to him.

"Get this dinosaur problem fixed."

Narumi scowled, clearly displeased with his change of heart. "After all I said about what we all could do."

Daichi grew annoyed. "Uchida, you said we are supposed to stick together. I'm only doing it because I thought that GenaTech would come after us. But now we know who is the one who did this to us, so we find this guy and get him to fix us."

Narumi glared at him, a heaviness swelled in her now that she learned that not everyone was wholeheartedly in support of her idea for a dinosaur hero team. She sighed and went back to her bowl of ramen, eating in silence.

Kohaku could feel the black haze forming over the dispirited Narumi. He turned to Daichi. "Kurosawa-senpai. What makes you so sure that Doctor Song can help you? Or us?"

Daichi was not expecting that question from Kohaku, "What do you mean?"

Kohaku then said in a flat voice. "All we know is that Doctor Song may have a hand in this situation. We don't know if we can trust him to act in our best interests. Like you said, this is the 'moron' behind our problems. How do we know if he won't make things worse?"

"Well, thank you, dampener. So much for celebrating the first flight." Matabei said with his appetite ruined.

"Get to your point already." Daichi scowled at Kohaku.

"My point is that we're on our own." Kohaku's words were sinking into all of them.

"Thank you, Taiyo-san." Narumi brought her head up again. "You see, Taiyo-san gets it."

"Ugh, shit." Daichi groaned and propped his head up with his hand.

"Um, guys?" Etsudo's meek voice caught their attention. "I still think we should report this to somebody."

"I told you already," Matabei snapped at her, "If we do that, everyone is going to know who we are."

Etsudo, however, pressed the matter, "Itou-san, we need to."

"Even after you made those outfits for us?"

"I did that to help us for the time being. But we cannot stay quiet about this forever. Maybe the police, or what about Tachibana-sensei?"

"You want to tell somebody? You can say goodbye to your future after that. Along with the rest of us." Matabei grimaced. Etsudo bit her lip at Matabei's reasoning and looked away.

"Matabei," Hotaru approached them while wiping his forehead with his towel. The five of them froze in place. Hotaru started nagging, "Hurry up and finish your ramen. The same goes for all of you. I got customers waiting outside already."

They turned to see a queue lined up by the door, looking a little impatient due to five high school students taking their time in the ramen restaurant. They resumed their dining in silence, each of them had a swirl of conflict within themselves.

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The next morning, Narumi was trudging on the main road to school. Her eyes did not have her usual high-spirited nature. One hand held her school bag over her shoulder, the other had her phone. She was reading another piece of news. There were pictures of her as the Tyrannosaurus Rex next to the car wreckage in the storm, and her footprint on the crushed van that belonged to the thieves that broke into the jewelry boutique. She did not pay much attention to the article, instead, she went right to the comment section. Netizens had been leaving plenty of remarks, and none of them were what Narumi had been hoping.

"No way it is real. Probably a machine."

"What if it's real? Maybe dinosaurs still exist?"

"That's just impossible. How can they be alive today? And how are they here in Japan?"

"I don't even want to go outside. What if there is more than one?"

"Isn't the Wildlife Management Office supposed to do something about this?"

"Kill it before it eats someone."

"You cannot just kill an animal like that. It should be kept preserved."

"Is no one else paying attention? It looks like that dinosaur was saving that mother and child in the car crash. And it seems like it was stopping those thieves from fleeing."

"What are you trying to say? That the dinosaur is some hero? That's absurd."

Narumi let out a sigh and put her phone away. So far, her idea to make a dinosaur hero team had little progression. Matabei was on board from the start, even more so now that he could fly. Kohaku seemed to agree with her; that her plan would be the best course of action. Etsudo and Daichi were either too scared or uninterested to see what being a dinosaur could do for them. Her dejected moment had to be put on pause when her nose picked up a whiff of something peculiar.

The smell stopped her in her tracks, and she sniffed the air. A couple of fellow students nearly bumped into her. They carried on past her while giving Narumi a look. She could not narrow down what exactly it was, the scent was putting her on edge with her hair on the back of her neck standing. She drew in another breath through her nose, the scent was not coming from the two students that went past her, it was not coming from anyone she could see, but something was definitely in the vicinity. While she could not narrow down what it was exactly, if she had to give a description, it'd be something acrid.

"Narumi-chan!"

Someone called to her from behind. She turned and gave a little wave. "Good morning, Ryouko."

Ryouko jogged up to Narumi's side and the two resumed their journey to school.

"How have you been?" Ryouko asked.

"Alright," Narumi said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I was just wondering, Narumi-chan. Was it worth it? To get cleaning duty every day after you skipped class with Morita and Itou?"

"Ugh..." Narumi's shoulders sank. Whatever concern she had over what her nose picked up earlier was gone now that her friend was getting on her case again.

"I never thought that Morita would fake an illness just to get out of Yukari-sensei's lesson. Itou? I can see him doing that. But definitely not Morita." Ryouko added, "She just doesn't seem the type. She's a bookworm, not a delinquent. Why would you pull a stunt like that with her?"

"Huh?" Narumi turned to Ryouko. "What do you mean?"

"It's not like you to just cut classes out of the blue that day. With Morita or Itou for that matter."

Narumi winced, "Well uh, why not just live a little, you know?"

"Hah?" Ryouko raised her brows. "Narumi-chan, did that guy have something to do with this?"

"What guy?"

"That freshman loner." Ryouko had no hesitation in making her jab.

Narumi needed no more specificity, and she did not appreciate what Ryouko had said. She snapped at her, "Hey. That's not nice, Ryouko."

"He was so rude the other day," Ryouko said.

"Sure, because you were so polite to him at first." Narumi eyeballed her.

Ryouko made a face and squirmed after she had been called out.

"What is your problem anyway?" Narumi asked.

"Listen, Narumi-chan," Ryouko brought her hands to her chest, "It's not that I want to complain. But you've been alone with that guy for like two days. First on the way to school, then in the cafeteria."

"So?"

"What is going on between you two?" Ryouko stepped closer to her.

"I told you already, I just had to talk to him about the trip to GenaTech." Narumi played the lie again. She could feel the weight of guilt in her chest every time she had to lie.

"What about the GenaTech trip?"

"W-Well...I uh..." Narumi started fumbling with her words. Her head was running through what had happened over the past several days, and it all started from that stairwell.

"What is it?" Ryouko pressured her further.

"T-That's between me and Taiyo-san." Narumi blurted out and got ahead of Ryouko, completely unaware of the implication.

"Hey, wait! What's that supposed to mean?!" Ryouko called her.

"Let's go already. Otherwise, we'll be late." Narumi picked up the pace.

"Tch!" Ryouko smacked her lips. "I'm going to make you spit it out, Narumi-chan!"

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At Soru Academy, the day went on as usual. In classroom Two-A, Narumi, Etsudo, and Matabei were planted in their seats. None of them could get the chance to speak about the previous day. Narumi had not seen Daichi or Kohaku the whole day either.

At the end of the final period, students from class 2-A were packing up to head home. Narumi wasted no time, she headed to the closet and got the brooms out. As the students were flocking out of the classroom, her nose caught a whiff again. It was the same scent she picked up on the road. Narumi turned on her heel, sniffing the air while scanning the room.

"Morita. Itou." She said to them in a hushed voice.

"Yes, Uchida?" Etsudo responded.

"Do you all smell something?" Narumi approached them. Breathing through her nose, she could tell the scent was close by.

"Eh?" Etsudo tilted her head.

"What are you talking about?" Matabei asked.

Narumi rubbed her nose, "I smell something...odd. I don't know what, but it just doesn't smell right."

Matabei could not resist a quip, "You'll tend to smell something odd when you stop taking a bath for a week."

Narumi threw a broom at him with red-tinted cheeks. "I take a bath every day, you jerk! I'm being serious here!"

Etsudo decided to take a deep breath. Her face scrunched up, "Um..."

"You can smell something right, Morita?" Narumi asked her.

"I-I think Uchida-san is correct." Etsudo nodded. Matabei took a sniff himself and at that point, even he was able to smell it, something bitter or pungent.

"Okay...what the hell is that?" Matabei narrowed his eyes.

"That's what I've been asking this whole time, Itou." Narumi rolled her eyes. The scent felt like it was nearing them, and Narumi approached the classroom door. Now she could hear footsteps approaching.

She drew the door open and was taken aback. "Tachibana-sensei?"

Yukari Tachibana stomped towards Narumi with a most displeased look. Two more students were by her side, both of them having frowns on their faces.

"Kurosawa-senpai? Taiyo-san?"

"Uchida, Morita, Itou." She came into the classroom. "You three, come with me now," Yukari ordered them. "Same goes for you two." She pointed at Daichi and Kohaku.

The five had been exchanging glances with one another as their teacher led them down the hallway. Kohaku, at the back, flared his nose. Narumi noticed and nudged his shoulder.

"Psst," Narumi whispered, "You smell that, don't you?"

Kohaku nodded.

"What is it?"

"I don't know," Kohaku whispered behind his teeth.

"Now what are you on about?" Daichi asked him.

"Can't you smell that?" Kohaku glanced in his direction.

"Smell what?" Daichi squinted his eyes.

Yukari, at the front, snapped her fingers, "Hey, I don't want to hear you guys whispering amongst yourselves. You guys better come up with a good explanation soon."

Matabei tried to argue, "Sensei. What is this about?"

"Just come with me." Yukari's voice gave no grounds for objection. The teacher led them to the staff room and slid the door open. "Get in."

The tables were filled with stacked papers, files, and textbooks. Jackets and coats were hung on the rolling chairs. A view of the city was shown through the wide windows.

"Go there. To the lounge." Yukari pointed to the room dividers by the corner of the room.

The five could sense someone was waiting for them. Narumi peered her head past the screen, and her heart jumped in shock. Narumi nearly tripped on her foot. The rest joined her and they almost toppled over each other. All five of them straightened up and froze in place. Narumi felt hollow in her abdomen with a lump in her throat. This was the last person she expected

Oh shit.

There, seated on the sofa by the corner window, was Doctor Benedict Song.