Volume 2 (Light Novel)/Chapter 2

Black Box

## Synopsis

Echika and Harold go to Professor Carter's residence to question her about the Elphinstone College knife used by the attacker. Professor Carter confirms that it is a gift given to all graduates. However, that doesn't narrow down the suspects or motive. Professor Carter believes that Marvin was modified by someone to commit these crimes. During a tea break, Professor Carter has a private chat with Echika about Harold and his personality. Harold's personality is more defined compared to other Amicus because of his AI, and he does actually have thinking processes. Professor Carter asks Echika if she is scared of Harold, and Echika replies that he inspires her to move forward. Meanwhile, Harold learns from Professor Carter's Amicus, Rib, that the professor spends every weekend in her secret villa. Echika gets a call from Totoki, who tells her that Marvin's body was just found.

Echika, Harold, and Professor Carter go to the outskirts of London where Marvin's mangled body was found. While Echika is at a loss with the last possible suspect dead, she receives a call from Totoki, who tells her that the IAEC is now demanding that the bureau turn over Harold by tomorrow morning. Harold calmly agrees to it. He and Echika leave the crime scene and eat at a nearby pub. Harold tells Echika about Marvin's oddness and how he didn't feel a strong bond with him, but still didn't think he deserved to die in such a horrible way. Some time later, Harold gets a call from who Echika presumes to be Totoki and and tells Echika to wait for him outside. She steps out of the pub and gets a call from Totoki, who is about to tell her something about the Elphinstone graduates when someone plugs a device into Echika's Your Forma and causes her to go unconscious. Meanwhile, Harold sees someone familiar in the restaurant opposite from the pub and realizes that they are being followed. Just then, he spots someone kidnapping Echika, but is too late to stop them.

Echika wakes up in a dark room. Her kidnapper forces her to read a statement that orders the bureau to analyze Harold's system code and that Professor Carter is lying to the IAEC. If they refuse to perform the analysis by dawn, Echika will be killed. She sees her kidnapper's face and realizes that he looks exactly like the RF Models except for the fact that he does not have a mole. As she observes him further, she realizes that he is actually a human, not an Amicus. She manages to overpower him briefly and sends her GPS position to Totoki. Just as her kidnapper is about to kill her, the police break in and arrest him. With her Your Forma now working, Echika identifies him as Aidan Farman, an Elphinstone College graduate who worked on the RF Models at Novae Robotics Inc. and provided their appearance data. The charges against Harold are now cleared.

After Farman's arrest, he is interrogated by the bureau's London branch, but he refuses to answer any of their questions. Professor Carter had also been questioned earlier about her relationship with Farman and whether or not the possibility of him being the culprit ever crossed her mind. She denies that she had ever thought of him. It is revealed that Farman quit the development team before the RF Models' completion because he had a disagreement with Professor Carter and tried to have her convicted after he quit.

The bureau gets the warrant to Brain Dive into Farman. Before the dive, Farman asks Echika to go back all the way to the past. Echika Dives into him and feels the guilt and conflict he felt when he kidnapped her. She learns that Farman had set his sights on her since the beginning, which makes Echika wonder if Harold was involved in some way since he left her alone at the pub. Farman had been irritated when he realized that the incidents didn't gain any media coverage, so he decided to aim higher. Echika feels his sense of regret but no grudges against Professor Carter. Farman started committing the assaults when he sees the newspaper headline about Steve firing at a human and felt a sense of responsibility, though Echika can't determine what for. After the Brain Dive, she runs into Professor Carter, who asks after Farman. When Echika asks about her relationship with him, she explains that they were best friends in university.

After the Dive, Echika and Harold go to visit Darya. Echika confronts Harold over using her as bait in order to lure Farman out and accelerating the investigation. She claims that he knew Farman was following them and lied about getting the call so that Echika would be left alone. Harolds admits to her accusations, but says he never intended for her to be kidnapped. It never occurred to him to tell her his plan so that she could help him. Echika walks away from Harold, understanding now that they were two fundamentally different beings.

Harold, now visiting Darya alone, thinks about how the scenario Echika imagined never crossed his mind. Harold never expected Farman to abduct her and was too preoccupied with their second follower to realize what happened. He didn't understand what path he should have taken.

The next morning, news comes in that several vehicles going to the London branch had gotten into multiple incidents, including the car transporting Farman, who managed to escape.

## Characters

* Echika Hieda
* Harold W. Lucraft
* Lexie W. Carter
* Talbot (mentioned)
* Rib
* Ui Totoki
* Peter Angus
* Sozon A. Chernov (mentioned)
* Steve H. Wheatstone (mentioned)
* Talbot (mentioned)
* Aidan Farman
* Ross
* Matoi (memory)
* Darya R. Tchernova