Project IZ*ONE: Secret Files

ZOZI: Part 1

"Are you sure she's in here, Hii-chan? This is like the fifth outpost we've looked through." A short girl asks her friend who was peeking around a tree.

"Yes, I'm sure, Nako. Dr. Koyama's been on the run ever since Ahn was arrested. We have to find her before she does any more damage." When the duo had initially arrived in Japan a few months ago, they visited Hitomi's parents like they promised. As they observed the situation though, they quickly realized that the entire AKB system had gone into disarray. Apparently, not everyone had known about Dr. Koyama's involvement with Ahn Joon-young. This has caused a lot of in-fighting between the higher-ups on who was and wasn't trustworthy. Nako and Hitomi normally wouldn't care, but the conflict has started to affect their fellow mutants with many of them having to prove their loyalties or be branded as traitors. If they could get Koyama, they'd be able to find out everyone else who was in league with her.

"You also said you were sure when we were in Hyogo and Kyoto. I just think we've been drawing too much attention lately breaking into places where she wasn't at." Nako says. Usually, the short girl loved picking fights, but recently, she'd started worrying about Hitomi's rashness. She seemed very intent on finding the runaway doctor.

"Miru-san said she saw Koyama visit NMB's main base yesterday and we haven't had contact since. Even if she isn't here anymore, it wouldn't hurt to check if there are any leads." The peach-cheeked girl replies before moving in. Unlike the HKT and AKB bases that were large buildings located in the middle of their respective cities, NMB's was on the outskirts of Osaka which would be a good place for a fugitive to hide at.

"Huh, no guards..." Nako observes. This was strange given that the security for these places was usually airtight. The duo were even more surprised when they found the door's lock busted.

"What in the world happened here?" The inside of the base was a mess with windows broken and tables overturned. It looked like a tornado had run through the place.

"It looks like it was raided, but I don't know how Koyama could've done this alone." Hitomi replies, equally puzzled. In the last few outposts they visited, the only signs of the scientist's presence they could find were stolen private files. As the duo could ponder more, a sound of movement grabs their attention. Something or someone was under the rubble. Nako quickly runs over and lifts a block of concrete up like it was made of styrofoam to reveal their friend, Shiroma Miru. She was in bad shape, bleeding from the back of her head and bruises on her arms.

"Miru-san, are you okay? What happened?" The peach-cheeked girl asks while trying to shake the older girl to wake her up.

"Flying...energy blasts...too fast..." She mumbles. Before either of them could ask what that meant though, a voice yells out to them.

"Honda Hitomi. Yabuki Nako. Turn around with your hands up!"

"Do you have any idea who you're dealing wi-, Yasushi-senpai???" Nako was shocked to see the President of AKB himself, Akimoto Yasushi, in front of them, flanked by soldiers with guns aimed right at them.

"Yes, I do actually know who I'm dealing with. We received a distress signal from NMB a couple hours ago, and with your presence being reported from several outposts where secret data was being stolen, we suspected you were behind it. Lo' and behold, here you two are standing in the middle of rubble." He says.

"It wasn't us! We're being framed!" Hitomi says to no avail as she was quickly shot by what appeared to be a tranquilizer, causing her to collapse on the ground.

"Yah! What'd you do to her?" Nako yells before charging towards the army in front of her. Similar to her girlfriend though, she is also tagged by a tranquilizer. While she managed to get a few punches in, the short girl quickly tired, not being able to fight the drowsiness.