The train ride

Garet sat peacefully on train car on his way towards the European Branch of the black order. Though he was officially a member of the Chinese branch he had found the place to be gloomy and uncomfortable so he often stopped by the European branch when it was closer for a free meal and the chance to scout out their records, as well as the occasional look in their science lab which he maintained was much better then the one in the Chinese branch. He sat in his standard attire consisting of a green and white pinstripe fisher hat, a black suit with a red tie, and green flip-flops.

Garet frowned as he remember that he’d have to change back into his drab finders uniform before entering the order’s headquarters as he had been scolded severely last time for breaking protocol. Though in his defense those brown garments were made for the blind and fashion challenged. However their was a silver lining in this trip for he had his own private booth in one of the cars despite the fact that the train was pretty crowded for some reason no one had decided to join him in his six person compartment. And the train would soon be stopping Finland meaning the scenery would turn green and beautiful.

Lenalee looked as the attendant went over her uniform before deciding that she was really from the Black Order. He nodded once, then turned to show her the way to her own compartment, also offering to take care of her luggage. She had politely refused with a smile, as she could take care of her own things by herself. When he began walking in the specific direction of the booth, the Exorcist followed with a leisurely pace. No need to rush. She was heading back to the European Branch after her mission was completed, the job was finished with ease. She reported back to her brother Komui, who begged her to come back quickly so she could make him coffee. Unfortunately, the place where she had gone to her mission was quite a way from Headquarters, so she had to take two trains in order to get back home. She was on her way to Finland on the current train she was in.

The attendant suddenly had a call from his communication device. He spoke in a quiet tone, but Lenalee had heard him. He turned and apologized, saying he had to go. Before he did, he pointed at the door to where she would be staying, and left with another apology. Lenalee watched as he disappeared before heading on her way. All of the doors looked relatively the same, so she had to use her memory and remember where the attendant had pointed to. She stopped in front of one, half sure it was hers. With slight hesitation, she turned the knob went in.

Garet’s momentary peace was suddenly disrupted at the handle to the compartment door turned, not one to be caught off guard he watched the door carefully from beneath he brim of his hat, his left hand tightening it’s grip around the handle of his wooden cane. However as the door slid open he quickly spotted the standard uniform of an exorcist. Relaxing his grip and resting more comfortably against the plush seating of the compartment Garet smiled, at the least he would get some interesting conversation for the remainder of the ride.

“Good afternoon Exorcist-sama, on your way home to the European branch, or off to another mission?”

As Garet finished speaking he eyed the woman carefully, she was good looking by most standards. Tall with blue hair and a cute face and body that someone from the America’s might describe as jailbait. However something nagged him about the young female exorcist, like he had seen her before… However, as he searched his mind for that occurrence nothing appeared. It also began to dawn on him that he was not wearing anything that identified himself as a member of the order and exorcists tended to be a bit jumpy due to the hazards of their work. Just in case he tightened his grip on the cane once more.

Upon opening the door, Lenalee noticed a person comfortably sitting on one of the seats. He was a young man wearing a fishers hat, something that appealed to her as odd in the current place they were in. His eyes were partially covered by his hat so she couldn't see his face clearly due to the position she was standing in. Other than that, he wore a black suit and red tie. Her first instincts told her to apologize for interrupting him in his time, maybe she had made a mistake and it wasn't the place she was assigned to by the attendant, but she stopped to wonder why he was here alone in the large compartment by himself. He smiled at her, so she returned it with one of her own.

When he finished his words, Lenalee visibly stiffened, her hand gripping harder on the knob. He knew she was an Exorcist, a fact kept hidden to most people, even if her uniform indicated her identity. The war against the Noah and Akuma was a secret one, that meant the man was either a friend or an enemy to know of this. Lenalee hoped it was the former, she didn't want to start fighting again after finishing her last mission. Nothing about him showed if he was on either side. Maybe he was just a passerby who knew of everything, but she couldn't start jumping to blind conclusions. The Exorcist was on alert as he took in her appearance. She decided to play it safe and find out who exactly he was. After a moment of tense silence, Lenalee replied,"Good afternoon to you too. I'm on my way...back."

Noticing her reaction which confirmed his suspicion of treading on the secretive nature of an exorcists work eh spoke again his voice still friendly and his position unchanged.

“My… My…. Where have my manners gone today, my apologies Exorcist-sama any greeting should be accompanied with an introduction, Garet Akimoto. Off-duty finder slash researcher from the Chinese branch, a pleasure to make your acquaintance Mrs.…?”

Garet smiled leaning his hat back to reveal his hazel eyes and porcelain smile, exorcists always fascinated him in general, living conduits for an ethereal power, which to this day was barely understood. In fact half his research for the black order stood on the basic premise that wasting time and manpower trying to understand innocence was just that a waste. Instead that time and funds should be redirected to a more useful purpose. Most particularly his research, in fact he was on his way now to see the head of the European branch to discuss just that, extra funds and manpower for his studies.

With a quick glance outside as the train began to move he smiled at his good fortune perhaps this girl could give him some pointers for persuading the notoriously difficult head of the European branch, Kumoi… or was Kant…. Maybe Kanz… damn he was never good with names.

Lenalee slightly relaxed when the man made his introduction. He was polite and knew common courtesy, that was for sure. Words alone could not prove everything there was to a person, but he seemed and looked friendly. Her guard was lowered, but was still kept on just in case. He was a Finder, she wondered why he wasn't in uniform, but decided against asking, it may have been rude. She smiled again at him and bowed slightly, knowing that he was probably someone she could trust. "My name is Lenalee Lee. Nice to meet you, Garet-san."

She stood there awkwardly with one hand still holding her belongings and the other by her side, deciding whether to take a seat or remain standing where she was. This wasn't her compartment, after all. She had to get to hers soon. Looking at him again while he revealed his face, he might have been in the Asia Branch when the the European Branch was being reconstructed. Maybe she had seen him before. Interactions with the clergymen there were limited, she had spent her time with the other Exorcists. Her stay was short, she returned to Europe when the building was done.

She then blinked, noticing something. "You're from the Asia Branch. Is there a reason for you to be in Europe?"

“A pleasure to meet you Lenalee-chan, please have a seat”

Garet spoke while gesturing to the seat across from him, his hand resting gently by his side above one of the three suitcases he had with him in the compartment.

“Actually I’m glad you asked, you see there is a very important reason I’m heading to the European branch. You see I’m a research finder, a branch of the finder group who focuses on gathering data from the field in order to both help with current research as well as to work on their own projects. My recent studies have brought me to a rather astounding conclusion. You see as current trends hold statistical data plotted over the next fifty to one hundred years and with a roughly fourteen-point standard deviation, indicates that we have a 96% chance of losing to the Earl and being annihilated as an organization as things stand now.”

Garet paused for a moment both for dramatic effect and to flash one of his famous reassuring smiles that screamed BUT I HAVE PLAN.

“However, if my current research proves successful that number will theoretically improve to a mere 75% chance of total annihilation. Yet, the black order Chinese branch lacks one of the most key ingredients that I will need for my studies, which of course is both the research notes and input of one of the most brilliant scientific minds of our generation. Yours truly excluded of course, yes of course I mean your very own director of research KUMU… or Kant… Kanz? Anyhow his notes on artificial superconducting wavelength variation could just be the boost my research needs in order to perfect the very first part of Project Akimoto awesomeness!”

Garet then reached into his bag and pulled out a six-inch replica of himself holding a black sign with the unlit neon words Akuma on it.

“I give you Garet’s akuma detection-chan, also known as a GAD-chan patent pending”

Accepting his invitation, Lenalee walked it, shutting the door behind her. She then placed her belongings on one of the seats and sat in between it and the window. Her hands rested in her lap. It looks like she would be staying here for the rest of the train ride.

Listening to the researcher while he elaborated more on his current tasks at hand, she cringed at the number he gave her. Were their chances of losing the war that high? She knew they were short on Exorcists now and they had recovered from an invasion of their Headquarters a while ago, but still. The man sitting across from her didn't seem to be worried about it or anything, so she let him continue with his explanation. His words were rather scientific, if not for her spending all that time in the Research Lab with the other clergymen at the Order, she would have only caught on to tiny bits and pieces of his words and would not have understood him.

Lenalee watched Garet carefully while he took out his invention out of his bag. It was revealed to be a miniature version of himself holding a Akuma sign. She had to stifle a smile in case he took it to offense, but the supposed invention was sort of cute. Considering the name, she assumed that it was meant for detecting Akuma.

She heard something like her brother's name from him earlier. Considering the fact that he was the Head of the European Branch's research and somewhat brilliant, Lenalee took it that the researcher meant him, though the names were a bit off. "You must be talking about my brother, Komui. He's busy with his work now, but I'm sure he could help you with your project." Her brother was a mad scientist, she couldn't deny it. Komui was a rather big fan of inventions and robots, so would probably lend a hand to Garet.

"May I ask a question? How is GAD-chan going to exactly help lower our chances of, erm, total annihilation? Exorcists are supposed to hunt Akuma when they appear, so would detecting them earlier help? Correct me if I'm wrong."

Garet smiled as he looked fondly at his invention, listening carefully to Lena lee he noted her comment… So she was the sister of director Kumoi, interesting the exorcist with crystallized innocence a rarity beyond all other finds and a topic he would like to broach during their ride, but for the moment he didn’t want to come on to strong so he continued by answering her question.

“An astute question indeed, yes detecting them earlier will improve our chance by roughly 0.046% however that isn’t nearly enough to make this worthwhile no it’s what I intend to do after GAD is finished that’s the true brilliance. However, that requires a bit of background information.

When I first calculated our percent chance of winning this war I had the obvious disheartened response, so I looked into the game changers. Research that would help us fight back and improve the odds. This revealed two very important things the first was that the order would go to almost any end in order to win this war. In fact, we in our past have done some pretty terrible things in the name of researching and developing artificial innocence or exorcists. However, there is one problem we simply do not have the time or data necessary to complete our goals of creating these weapons and exorcists.

So I began to look in a new direction the idea came to me after reading the Kyoto report, a diagnostic evaluation of the debriefing of a group of exorcists who went to the Earls base in Japan. It was noted among several things that A reprogramming of Akuma is possible and B that akuma at higher levels have cannibalistic tendencies. So I intend to use GAD-Chan to create the Akimoto-9000 a specialized barrier device which not only seals an akuma within the barrier but then releases blades made of compressed titanium allow coated with the skin of an Akuma in order to kill the captured Akuma. With this finders will be able to take on level 1-2 akuma while the exorcists take on any level 3’s and 4’s. At the same with GAD-Chan used, as a targeting device bases could be equipped with automated defense turrets, which would lock on to the signal of any akuma, capture and recycle it into ammo for an Akimoto-9000. However for the moment …. GAD-chan is incomplete he detects akuma, but also anyone who is hungry, or swiss. I’m not quite sure why the swiss because it was originally anyone of European decent but I edited the variation by including the arcsin curve of the hunger wave length and that’s what popped out.However, with your brother’s research on wavelength variation I should be able to narrow that down to an acceptable range of only akuma and possibly those who are dying of starvation… but hopefully just the first”

Lenalee listened carefully at Garet's explanation, nodding slowly in understanding as the information was given to her. She was mildly surprised at his thoughtful and creative thinking. The detector, the barrier, the Akuma skin...she wondered why no one else had ever came up with an idea such as his. Would it really all work? If things would go as well as Garet had wanted, then his plan would surely succeed. That meant that they would have a good chance at this war. Lenalee had slowly begun to trust him.

At the mention of the Order's past and an Akuma's 'cannibalistic' tendencies, the girl recalled several memories, none which were pleasant, so she decided to forget the whole thing all together. The Order was different now with her brother in charge. Remembering awhile back, Lenalee did remember Komui researching something about Akuma, but he put it away along with his paperwork.

She shuffled in her seat. Lenalee was not really sure about the side effects of the invention. She must've been over thinking it, but it would be bad if some innocent bystander was mistaken for an Akuma. Was there another way to detect Akuma other than their hunger? Finders would also be participating. She knew some of them well and didn't really want them to put themselves in danger. They only trapped Akuma until the Exorcists got there, so hopefully it wouldn't be any different than just using a regular barrier. Even though she was a little uneasy with the facts, she knew it was the best way to go.

Her smile never left her face as she spoke. "Your idea is very interesting, Garet-san. I support it fully and hope your invention will turn out to be successful. You must've worked hard on your project."