would be founded around someone who had the same sort of ideals as Akiyoshi. That would be the sort of conflict that she would have relished. That said, at some point, the scales within my heart had begun to tip in favor of my own will. I had begun to think that it might not be so bad to ’—–›ˆ”‹‡†ǯ•™‘”†•„‡Š‹†‡ƒ†–”›Ž‹˜‹‰›—‹˜‡”•‹–›Ž‹ˆ‡ƒ‰ƒ‹ƒ• chose. I wond‡”‡†‹ˆŠƒ†ǯ–•‹’Ž›‰”‘™–‹”‡†‘ˆŽ‹˜‹‰ƒ••‘‡‘‡‡Ž•‡Ǥ I was struck by a naive sort of feeling, just like a certain someone who called the nonsensical pattern that she wrote into the future with her own ˆ‡‡Ž‹‰•Dz‹†‡ƒŽ•Ǥdz Dzǥ‰—‡•••‘Ǥdz Dzǫdz Dzǥ–Š‹ǥ‹‰Š–†‘‹–Ǥ”›ˆ‹‰Š–‹‰‘ƒ‹ǡdz•ƒ‹†–‡–ƒ–‹˜‡Ž›Ǥ Dz‡ŽŽǡƒŽŽ”‹‰Š––Š‡Ǩdz Dzǥ†‘ǯ–™ƒ––‘†‘ƒ›–Š‹‰–Šƒ–ǯ•‰‘ƒ‡••™‹–Š‘—”Œ‘„‘ˆˆ‡”•‘” anything like that, though. And obviously this all has to stay within the „‘—†•‘ˆ–Š‡Žƒ™Ǥdz Dz‡ǯ”‡ going to be a secret society battling an evil organization! Šƒ–ǯ•‹†‘ˆ…‘‘ŽǤdz Seeing how thoroughly Tousuke was on board with this, I felt a renewed regret about having broached the topic of Moai in the first place. Dzˆ›‘—‰‡–—…‘ˆ‘”–ƒ„Ž‡ǡ›‘—…ƒ„ƒ‹Žƒ–ƒ›–‹‡Ǥdz Dz—”‡Ǥǯ˜‡‰‘–’Ž‡–›‘ˆ–‹‡–Š‘—‰Šǡƒ†Š‘‡•–Ž›ǡ–Š‹•‹•–‘–ƒŽŽ›› ŒƒǤǯ˜‡ƒŽ™ƒ›•™ƒ–‡†–‘„‡’ƒ”–‘ˆ•‘‡—†‡”†‘‰–‡ƒ–ƒ‹‰‘ƒŠ—‰‡ ‘”‰ƒ‹œƒ–‹‘Ǥ–ǯ•Œ—•–Ž‹‡–Š‡20th Century BoysǤdz I half-wondered if he was saying this just so that I would not worry, but seeing the genuine excitement in his smile, I realized he might actually be serious about this. Battles are decided by force, but we could not take on the Moai head- on, so first we needed to gather more intel on our enemy. Ever since I left, I had had no connection with them, and in fact, had only a hazy awareness of the group. I would need to do more concrete research into their current activities and their internal organization. To that end, Tousuke tagged along to my place after we left the karaoke bar. First, we decided to check their homepage. Upon seeing the overly simplistic lettering and images that appeared on the screen, Tousuke, who