Definition

Instigation

The children came in the room to check on their teacher and thought they would discuss about Tokio Bridge. What they got instead was a far graver news.

They didn't know who Hugo Mechael Avalstone was, but they knew Evangeline Mech. A member of the Seekers who dedicates herself more to maintenance and costumization than battling. A person rumored to be half-android with amazing control over any form of technology, but never abusing this power.

A kind-hearted girl. Shy upon first impression, but very cheerful and energetic once you get to know her.

Hannah had looked up to her greatly. Of course, she didn't know the Seekers like Nikolai does. He's the cousin of one after all. She has only heard rumors and stories from all kinds of sources. But out of all the ones she's met, none of them had her respect like Eva did.

She wasn't very well known because she doesn't battle as much as the other Seekers do, but her skills in maintenance and costumization were beyond anyone else's. The best part? She has met her before.

It was before she first came to the island. Wataru had left a week or two before. Tiny Orbit hosted an event and she wandered into the maintenance section. Her booth wasn't as crowded as all the others, but she was still smiling as she showed the kids what to do with their LBXs.

She remembered going over to her out of interest and asking simple questions. Somehow, she answered them all in a very thoughtful manner and ended up teaching her lots and lots of things. Hannah didn't have her own LBX at that moment, and the woman who had only met her mere minutes before was already willing to give away hers.

She called it 'Dreamer'. Her very first LBX. It was named as such because her first adventure with it, she said, was filled with lots of different emotions that it felt like a dream. She was asked to modify it as she wished in front of her so she did.

The D. Knight was her first partner. Evangeline Mech... Evangeline Hope Avalstone was one of, if not the most prominent reasons for her love of LBXs. Hannah will never forget that. Nor will she forgive whoever was responsible for her death.

~~~~~

Muraku hadn't stopped staring at the brunette since they left the hospital.

"Evangeline Hope Avalstone... died in that explosion, two months ago."

The moment Jin uttered those words, Hannah's attitude changed. She became more silent and less expressive. She'd dive into her own thoughts and wouldn't resurface until someone called out to her.

However, he kept silent. Looking at his friends, he seemed to be the only one who noticed. Perhaps Nikolai did too, but he was preoccupied by his own emotions. That was understandable. He knew them after all. He knew the two victims in person and befriended them years before the rest of them did.

His eyes tore away from her and moved to her brother, who seemed to be thinking as well, but not as deeply as she was. Well, to be fair, they were all in shock to hear a member of the Seekers had died in the recent terrorist attacks. Jin's reaction too.

It didn't take him long to realize why he had fainted on the bridge. Traumatic shock from a long-since-past incident may be a factor, but the death of a friend might've been the real trigger. Especially if that friend is as close as a lover.

Back at Kamui Daimon, there were rumors. Quite a lot of them revolved around whether or not the teachers are single. There were many that thought Jin and Miss Mito were dating, but the idea was immediately shot down by those two when some of the girls in their class confronted them about it. Miss Mito herself said that she doesn't plan on getting a boyfriend anytime soon, but Jin had always refused to answer anything about his relationship status.

Seeing this, Muraku recalled watching his teacher's battles in the past and how there were many instances where a certain blonde girl would stand behind him, following him around whenever and wherever. And seeing a woman closely resembling that girl back on the day Ezeldarm were defeated, seeing her getting along with him and making him smile unlike anyone else he had seen done before... It was only obvious that there was something between them.

He shook his head out of those thoughts. They would only bring a cloud over his stable judgement. Loss wasn't anything new to him. Not after being on that island for so long and fighting the real war. Not after believing that his friends were dying in that incident. Loss is a part of life. He had accepted this long ago.

~~~~~

The next morning, everyone was gathered quite early. No one called them there, but they a had a feeling that something was going to happen. And to their dismay, they were right.

The screen was showing the news where another explosion had taken place on the bridge again a mere hour before. It took away about a hundred lives, the lives of those who were digging up the remains of the bridge for any survivors below. With this, it was confirmed that anyone who fell down the gap had no chance of staying alive.

Then, static appeared. Kirito did his best to get it back up, but to no avail. The other workers analyzed the situation and realized that it wasn't just that tv, but all the screens in the city had been cut off from their satelite.

Little by little, it faded away to reveal a very familiar masked man. He was laughing. As he continued to express his twisted joy, a single word formed infront of him.

'Detector'

~~~~~~~~~~

Instigation: Deliberate and intentional triggering