KFMB: The Lies and Truths of a Hacker

         “Kazahana…a rich Japanese family with considerable power behind it. If you happen to be readings this you are either a friend or an enemy. I have found evidence that has been hidden from the masses and has caused many people’s death in the name of power and money. A battle between a family torn by power, with hundreds competing, is occurring right now. The ones who discover anything about the battle are taken out by the judges and disposed of. I am one of those who have discovered the battle and now I run, to live another day and to reveal the truth about the Kazahana battle and destroy the lies that blind the truth.”

–A young hacker named “AI-42-31”

March 21st, 20XX- Schiedam, Holland

“Mom…it’s me…” the young man says over the phone. The young man waits for a reply over the phone. On the other end an older man scoffs and lets out a mumble and hands the phone over to an older lady. “Honey!! Oh my baby boy!! I miss you so much!!” She yells in over the phone causing the young man to move the phone away from his ear slightly so he didn’t go deaf. He lets out a light laugh and smiles wide, “Hey mom… I miss you too. How’s everyone at home.” The young man’s mother starts to sniffle over the phone as she talks to her son, “I’m fine… but your father isn’t the most supportive man in the world.” The small tavern was alive with festivities as he closes the door to the phone so he can hear his mother clearer, “Yeah…I know all too well mom. I just wanted to call you and tell you that I miss you very much.” The young man’s tear gently rolls down the side of his face as he smiles a wide smile. His mother on the other side of the phone begin to cry to as she hears those kind and gentle words from her only son, “Just please tell me why you left. You went off without any sort of goodbye and left me here worrying night and day about you…”she begins to trail off as the tears begin to roll much faster down her face. The young man wipes the remainder of the tears from his face and smiles, “I just need to find myself mom…I might take some time, but I will be home to see you soon.” Another lie... another lie to make him feel better and to keep going. Even after telling himself that over and over again in his head, it still was a lie. 

The young man’s mother wipes some of the tears off her face and smiles, “Well…o.k. honey, but you should promise me that you will make it home for Thanksgiving.” He laughs over the phone at his mother’s attempt to bring him home. He misses her more than anyone else. She was the one who raised him to become a kind and honorable man. She was the only parent he had respect for. His father was a cold-hearted man who had problems accepting his own failings. No matter what he would never admit fault and blame it on them. He smiles again at the fond memories that he shared with his mother, “I’ll try mom…I’ll try.” He then loosens the grip on the phone as a stream of tears move down on his face once more, “Bye mom…see you soon.” He blurts out tearfully. His mother on the other side of the phone quietly says over the phone, “Take care and come home soon.” Just before the young man hangs up another familiar voice comes on the line, “Son…” It was his father, “I know I don’t say it to you much let alone at all, but…” He paused for several seconds, which seemed like a lifetime for the two, “I love you son…and please come home soon.” What felt like time had stopped just for them. The young man is reminded of all the birthdays, Christmases, Thanksgivings, and other important events that his father wasn’t around for. The pain he has caused and the anger he had instilled in the young man, but that was washed away now. All because, for the first time in the young man’s life, his father said, “I love you”. The young man smiles and sheds a tear, “I love you too Dad. I’ll come home soon.” He then hangs up the phone and leaves the phone room happier than how he entered.
 
The storm outside was blowing a little harder than before and the rain started to almost move horizontal. The young man now sits in the light of a candle on the desk and a paper in his hand. A small envelope that contained the future of a battle…a legacy that corrupts the minds of everyone involved…Kazahana Family Mass Battle. This little secret holds the Family in fear as if they are exposed they will lose all of which they tried to gain. In his long run from the Kazahana judges he has met many people of good and ill will. The young man bows his head into his hand as he remembers some of the people he met…”Shinjo, Kaito, Saionji, Yori, Yari…please be safe.” he says as he lets the candle burn out into darkness. “Please be safe.” He then heads to bed and covers his head with the blanket and sighs, “Please don’t die…” Soon he slowly drifts off into a state of blissful dreams to escape reality and try to relax. Unknown to the young man several men dressed in black suit walk slowly to his room…


Several months ago…December 3rd 20XX-In the middle of Ohio

“What the fuck?” The young man says as he looks at the computer screen. The screen was filled with many different names and some of them had big red X’s through them. The young man was a hacker, but not like the hackers of this day and age. He was one of the few old-school hackers, as you would call him. He followed the Hacker’s Code of Ethics:
•          Access to Computers - and anything which might teach you something about the way the world works - should be unlimited and total. Always yield to the Hands-On Imperative!
•          All information should be free.
•          Mistrust Authority - Promote Decentralization.
•          Hackers should be judged by their hacking, not bogus criteria such as degrees, age, race, or position
•          You can create art and beauty on a computer.
•          Computers can change your life for the better.

Most of the hackers today do not believe in the code anymore because they have turned the art of hacking into a complete opposite of what it once was, a noble art. There are still some that believe in the code and travel the Internet in search of many different things to find. The young man stares in shock as he looks through the data on the files. Information on a device called a KID, different information on different people and their families, and a family legacy. One thing that caught the eye of the young man was about government officials in control.

         All of this info completely overwhelmed the young man as he stares at the monitor. This was what a hacker dreamed of. Government conspiracies and the sort what drove the young man to become a hacker. He on several occasions attempted to hack the government’s computer systems on many different occasions, but had been back hacked each time. This was it; He grabbed one of his modified drivers from the counter next to him and shoved it into the USB port on his computer. “This is going to be my ticket into the hacker hall of fame!” he says as it begins to download.
Several months later…May 6th, 20XX-Somewhere in Japan

         “Tell me what you did with the data and I will let you go!!” an older Japanese man yells as he punches the young man square on the face. The young man already bloody and bruised stares at him with a large smile on his face and laugh his light laugh, “You can go to hell for all I care.” The Japanese man lets out an angered grunt and slams the young man down on the ground and begins to beat him with his fists. The Japanese man then pulls the young man up and sets him in a chair and smile a wide an eerie smile, “Now will you please tell us where the data you copied off our computer is or should I be forced to beat it out of you.” The young man laughs harder than before, “You retarded fools call yourself Judges!! You have followed me all around the world, but you can’t find a simple piece of plastic and wires. You should try looking at the bigger picture than at a small one-sided view. What have I been doing? Running from country to country? What have I done?! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!” The young man’s laugh echoes louder in the room to the point that it was almost deafening. What has he done? The older man just sighs and punches the young man in the face hard enough to knocking him out. He then sighs as he wipes the blood off his hand, “Take him and get him cleaned up before dinner. The boss would like to have a word with this young man.”

Several months ago…December 10th, 20XX-a school in Ohio
         
         “…please report to the office.” The secretary says over the intercom. The young man sighs and grabs his things, “What did you do this time man?” one of his friends says to him. The young man just shrugged and smiles “can’t be bad because I didn’t do anything to get in trouble.” He laughs and walks off to the office with several of his things. The school halls were quiet for this time of day. Most of the student body was in class watching the clock for the end of day bell. Some had tried to escape school early but got caught on the way out of the building. As he walked down to the office he smiles at all the kids pulled in for trying to leave early. The young man lets out a snicker and walks over to the secretary’s desk, “Um…I was called down here about something.” The secretary stared at the computer for several more seconds before answering, “He is in his office so please go on in.” The young man smiles and walks over to the Dean’s Office. He opens the door to reveal several other men including the Dean, “Ah…Here he is gentlemen.” He motions to the young man to come over to his desk. “This young fellow is one of the best and the brightest Computer Administrator here at our fine institute. He may be in our Criminal Justice program, but he still has more computer skills then the people taking our Computer Skills course here.” The Dean beams with pride at the gentlemen. “Thank you very much Dean, but would you mind if we have a talk with this young man here.” The Dean still in his self-absorbed state shrugs and walks out of his office, closing his door on the way out. Both of the men looked at each other, then to the young man and smile, “So we can finally talk in peace without distractions.” One of them says to the other. One of them gets up and walks over to the young man, “Several days ago one of our families’ computers has been hacked into by an outside source. We felt that if we had the equipment that nothing could get into our system. We were wrong and paid the price. We hoped to find a better programmer then what we had so we found several options. We have others working on different pieces of the computer system, but we would like you to design a security program. You are a very skilled computer programmer according to many different people. You also gained many scholarships from several computer companies for your work in the field of computers.” The other man puts a hand on the chair and motions the young man to sit down, “We will pay you if you would please assist in the creation of a better security system and trace the one who got into the computer.” The young man thinks for several seconds and scratches his chine, “Did the hacker take anything from the computer at all or was it left untouched?” The two men look at each other and stutter till the older of the two answers, “Some classified data for a project that our master.” The young man tilts his head slightly and asks bewildered, “Master?” They then speak to each other in Japanese. Then the younger looking one turns back, “The master of the house, we are his servants in his employment. Call us his security guards.” The young man smiles in relief and laughs slightly, “Just tell me what you want and I can give you a price for the program.” The two men looked overjoyed at each other still taking in Japanese to one another. The older man the clears his throat with a light cough, “Wonderful news young sir. Our Master has informed us that the price for the program is not the concern, but how well it works.” The young man smiles at the thought of making a killing off some complete fools. The young man smiles as the two men bow to him, “Our master, Syuuhei Kazahana, will be most pleased with your help.”

Several months later…February 4th 20XX

         “Come on let’s get out of here!” Kaito yells as both the young man and he ran from the burning building. Both men begin to cough as they try to catch their breath. Then Kaito looks around in a panic, “Oh god! Where is Shinjo!!?” The young man then turns and runs toward the burning building, “Shinjo!! Shinjo!!” He runs into the building covering his face with his shirt to keep from inhaling too much smoke and begins to search franticly for the young priest. Slowly he makes his way around the building and comes across the young priest and the one who tried to kill them, “Why would you save me!!” He wails out with tears in his eyes, Shinjo lying on the ground under a sheet of metal only because he had pushed him out of the way when it fell. Shinjo smiles and laughs again, “You may have had the chance to kill me and my friends, but you didn’t my friend.” He then sighs and let’s out a small chuckle, “I saved you because I can see that you have a more important role in this life then you think. The same goes for the others I travel with.” The man then cries harder as he pounds the ground, “Why me!! What is important about me!!?” Shinjo laughs yet again with his eyes closed, “Saionji, you must follow your own path to understanding, but please try and understand this. Many people don’t think of what they become out of the blue. Certain events that have transpired caused us to be what we are today.  Now let’s get out of here before we both die before our time is truly up.” The young man begins to cry at what he has just heard. Saionji lifts the metal off him and picks him up and puts him over his shoulder, “We will make it out of this Shinjo, don’t worry, we still can make it.” The young man then waves and yells toward them, “Come on!! This way!!” Soon they made it through the burning building and out on to the empty street. The fire had taken its toll on the building and it begins to collapse just as they lay down outside. Saionji laid Shinjo down on the ground and laughed, “We did it!! We made it out!!” Saionji yells in excitement he jumps in the air cursing the Kazahana name. Shinjo lying on the ground laughs, “We did it.” Kaito laughs just as much as they do, “Let’s get going. We need to take Shinjo to a doctor and get ourselves taken care of.’ Saionji nods his head and picks up Shinjo. As they walk off Kaito realizes that the young man isn’t with them, “Hey man aren’t you coming?” The young man smiles and throws a small flash drive to Kaito, “I have been a thorn in your side for far too long. Take care of my drive and open it and read the instructions I placed on it.” He waves goodbye and walks off in the other direction, “Hey!! Don’t worry about us!! They think we’re dead!!” Saionji yells as he swings Shinjo around with him, “Careful now!! I think I broke a rib!” He then smiles and waves goodbye one last time and walks off. After several miles the young man turns around and smiles as he head off for the coast, to Holland he goes.

Present…May 6th 20XX- Japan

“So we hired the very hacker that got into our system to build a security system for the database that he had hacked into.” Syuuhei Kazahana says with a smile and turns to the young man, now cleaned up but still bruised with a black eye around his right. The young man smiles and laughs, “Yeah kind of ironic if I do say so myself.” Syuuhei smiles and laughs, “Quite right young sir.” He then sets his cup down on the table and sighs, “You see the problem you have caused with that small bit of information. I know that you are a very kind man and you are a very intelligent man. So you see because I respect you so much that if you return that information drive to us, we will let you go back to your old life. I know you miss your family and friends so please give it to me.” The young man sighs at the thought and looks up from his cup, “I gave it to one of my friends, but in one of the battles he was killed when the building caught fire. The drive was burned up in the fire.” He then tilts his head down and cries, “I didn’t know what was going on till I was being shot at. I didn’t know what was going on.” Syuuhei sighs and takes a sip from his cup, “I will let you go only if you don’t interfere with the Battle. I will have a non-family member employee watch your movements till we find that you are not a threat to the family. I believe that you can be trusted not to be involved anymore, right?” The young man smiles and nods his head, “Yes sir, I just want to go home.” Syuuhei smiles and motions to one of the guards “Take him to the airport and send him home.” The guard nods his head and motions to the young man to follow. Soon the young man and the guard leave the room. Syuuhei smiles and turns to his Teacher, “I trust that he will cause no further complications for our battle.” His teacher sighs at his student’s lack of sense, “I don’t fully know if this is the right thing to do. He knows too much.” Syuuhei smiles and takes another sip, “He seen much yes, but he doesn’t know what is really going on. Let him go home to his family. He won’t know what to do. Only because he lost all of his proof, with the proof gone he hasn’t got a single shred of evidence.” His teacher strikes his hands on the table in concern, “What if he hacks the system again?” Syuuhei taps the table once more and smiles, “The system has been taken off the regular server and placed on a computer system that isn’t linked up the outside world, but still can be linked up to the KIDs. I have been guaranteed that nothing can get into our system.” His teacher sighs again and leaves the room, “I think that this is a mistake that he will surly pay the price for.

Later that day…At the airport…

“Hey…mom it’s me.” The young man says on the small pay phone in the terminal. He was still bruised to no end, but he still had his smile on his face. His mother was overjoyed to hear her sons voice once again, “Oh my baby boy!!” She screamed as she jumped for joy over on the other line, “How have you been!! I have missed you so much.” The young man smiles wider and laughs lightly, “Well you’re going to be happy, I’m on my way home.” There was a pause on the other side of the phone for several seconds then a large scream of joy ripped through the line causing a number of people to turn around and look near the phone. The young man's mother over ecstatic to hear her son after so long, starts to blurt out many different things that to the untrained would be very difficult to understand. The young man laughs and sighs at his mother, “I’m getting on the plane in a few minutes and should be home today… or tomorrow… or whatever. I will see you soon mom.” He then hangs up the phone and heads back home. He then heads over to the ticket counters and buys his ticket home. He then smiles at the thought that he managed to get out of Japan alive and somewhat unharmed. The young man even if he couldn’t lie to his friends without them finding out, but he could lie perfectly to a totally stranger. He then moves toward the plane on the runway with a big smile on his face. “Well now Shinjo what will my part play now?” The young man says to himself.

The wheels have been set in motion for this is just the end of the first act, and the second is about to start. The Kazahana Family Mass Battle is about to reach a critical stage in his history one that will change the face of everything up until now, but that is where I leave and let others light the path of darkness. “Welcome Mr. Adkins, please enjoy your flight.” the young airhostess says as she hands back my ticket. I smile wide and nod my head, “I plan to.” I then go over to my seat and take a load off. I then stare out the window and begin to cry, I’m coming home, I’m coming home.

Epilogue

Months Later…September 17, 20XX

         “Master Syuuhei, I have found no evidence that Mr. Adkins will or let alone can, be a thorn in your side.” the Kazahana informant, who had been following me since I returned home, said over his cell phone. Syuuhei smiled as he set his cup down upon the table, “Very good. I had the feeling that he wouldn’t try and interfere anymore then what he already has.” Then the informer smiles and lets out a laugh, “Trust me sir, he won’t be a problem anymore.” Syuuhei, as serious as he was, was slightly worried at the way that his informer sounded, “Master Syuuhei…I believe you owe me something…” his voice over the phone sounded much more sinister then before, “YOU OWE ME YOUR LIFE!” The informant yells over the phone, and then hangs up by sending a bullet thought the phone. Syuuhei listened as the phone began to beep several times before he hung the phone down. He lets out a sigh and scratches his head, “I think that this will not bold well for us. Put down our informant into the KIDs and mark Mr. Adkins as well, but make sure he is not killed. I at least owe him that much.” He then brings his tea to his lips as he ponders the thought of the Kazahana Database, “I hope this new girl and keep the system safe.”

The informant smiles and laughs louder than before. “That was very good my friend… but I must say you might have over done it slightly.”  A strange man said from the shadows. The informant smiles wider and laughs, “Well it is what I’m good at,” his smile turned into a sinful one his voiced hissed with sarcasm, “I just hope Justin can forgive use for this…” he then pulls the cover off of me. I sit there gagged and my hands bound, but at least I can curse slightly. He then pulls the gag from my mouth, but not fast enough. With a quick move I chomp down upon his finger just about severing it from his hand. “Damn prick!” he yelps and smashes the pistol against my face. The pain was immense as I landed flat against the ground with a thud. The robed man grabs hold of the rouge informant and holds him back, “Stop! Watch it Uric! We need him more than anything let alone anyone else.” He lets Uric go and turns toward me as I cough up blood. I let out a small laugh as some blood seeps from the corner of my mouth, “Fuck right, dip shits. Like I would help you!” then another sharp rap from the gun, across the back of my head, left me cursing once again and on the ground once more. The robed man smiles while he approaches me, leaning down to my level, and grabbing my hair. Pulling tightly he tugs my head up off the ground and toward his darkened image, “Trust me, you will help us or your family and friend’s death will be on your hands” I shut my mouth faster than I opened it and looked down toward the ground. Still holding my hair he lets go and lets my head drop slightly as I regain control. “I will take that as a yes.” The robed man says with a smile that would make a man cringe at the sight of it. Thoughts began to pour into my mind. What will I do? What do they want from me? The latter of the two must be it. I knew what they wanted, they want the information I got from hacking the Kazahana Database computer. I smile as I look straight at the two of them, “Well shit, it looks like that plan is a flop. The data is gone and the information I download from the database is destroyed.” I felt like I triumphed, that I had just won the war. Then reality kicked back in after a swift kick in the face. My face went numb as I started to curse louder than I did before. From what I could tell, that last kick must have broken something because several teeth were chipped and laying on the ground in front of me. Uric had a smile on his face yet again as he began to dig my face into the ground, “You know I really am starting to get sick of your constant biching and moaning about that damn data.” The robed man looks toward me and pushes my body over to side and looks down upon me. I looked up at him from my position and realized who stood over me.

Several Months Earlier…July 12, 20XX

         “So Justin… how is the job hunt going?” a young man says to me as I sit there playing a game. The man talking to me is a good friend of mine named Charles, “Don’t even go there. Just let me work on the problem at hand.” I say to him as I move a tank looking object several inches. The man across me is a gamer like myself, just a lot better than me. He smiles and laughs, “Is that the end of your movement phase?” I look at him and let out a small shrug and laugh, “Trust me, if I was done you would know first. I have a lot of units to move about so it going to take me a while to move them.” I say as I point at the well over 40 small troops, several different heavy weapon items, walker type mechs, and several tank things. The games called Warhammer 40k, and it has increased in popularity since most people nowadays have played the game Dawn of War and the other Warhammer games. Before the PC games came out, it was a tabletop game. I was currently winning for the first time in months playing the Imperial Guard. My main problem was what my opponent was playing. He had fielded his whole Necron army and was just about to send in his Elites until I bombed them out of existence, for once. “I still can’t believe I took out your Baneblade on the first turn. That was $100 well spent!” Chris says with a smile as he points to a turret-less behemoth of a tank. I grumble slightly in anger, but then change my tone to a carefree one, “At least I killed the Monolith before you could use it!” We both let out a large laugh, but Charles sits there sulking like he always does. “Justin, Charles, and Chris are in the back playing Warhammer.” I over hear the store manager say as I finish moving one of my units into a building. I turn to see what most would never see in a Comic/hobby store, a hot female. Now to put it simply, I was in denial. Taking stereotypes into consideration, a hot girl of that magnitude in a place where if you say something bad about Captain Kirk you end up running for your life from a mob of disgruntled Trekies. I know that it was only a stereotype but you must understand that I felt like that stereotype because of one simple thing. I still didn’t have a girlfriend. She appeared to be of Oriental decent, but it was only slight. I could admit the first thing that popped into my head was Korean, then the word puppy, and then an image of her eating a puppy. Yes, I know, but what can you expect from a guy like me. She came up to the 3 of us and smiled, “Aloha.” Yep Hawaiian! Then a picture of a pineapple clicked into my brain. Then Hitler, and then I tuned out my thoughts before Little Nicky popped in…damnit!

         I realized that I had to stop with the thinking for several moments before I had gotten lost in my own imagination yet again. I smile and laugh a slight nervous laugh, “Well hello to you as well.” She blushes slightly and bows slightly. Wait…a Japanese descended born in Hawaii! Before my mind could turn on me I began to talk in Japanese, “Please we aren’t worth your honor.” I bow back with a crooked grin planted on my face. Charles looked toward me and then toward Chris, “What the hell did you say?” the attractive female laughs at my antics, “Nice to meet you, and you are?” I let out a smile and salute at her with my crooked grin still planted on my face, “Governer-Millitant Justin Adkins of the Deland 1st Militia at your service.” I point to Chris who is still laughing at my stupidity, “That there is The Nercon Lord Chris! Lastly sitting pissed is Charles Holbrook, welder.” I smile as Charles flicks me off and Chris just laughs at me and smile, “Justin, you really know how to make an ass of yourself.” I let out a smile and laugh again. The girl, smile still planted on her face, bows again, “Farseer Hitomi Katsuhide of the Craftworld Eldar, and I must say that it is nice to see some Imperial Guardsman around, because mine are all female warriors.” I thank God that I am the only one who has the ability to know what that last part was. I turn red and laugh nervously, “How about we get together sometime and ‘talk’ strategies. We could go and get something to eat as well.” I would have to say that learning Japanese was the best thing to come out of my near-death hell. I still had that idiot following me out of sight everywhere I went, but I knew that soon I would be free and can finally have a normal life again…

Present Day September 17, 20XX…

         “Charles?!” I let out in shock as I spit more blood out of my mouth. The robed figure removed his robed face and I was right. “That took longer than I thought. You really must be that stupid.” Charles says with a slight sinister laugh to it. My mind was racing at this point. How could my best friend be involved in this? Why is he? What the hell is going on? I just wanted to scream, but the pain was starting to catch up with me more and more. I decided to stay down for a short time and hope that help would come, “Why you Charles?” I say as I spit more blood from my mouth. Charles smiles and looks down toward me once more, “You see Justin, I like you as a friend, but family does come first.” That’s when it hit me. He was a Kazahana like the rest. I looked up at him. Blood drying on my face, and smile, “So that explains why you would follow me almost every day. You wanted the Kazahana data I got so you had to be around me more than usual to get it.” I laugh slightly now and finally worm my hands free from the rope that tied them, “I’m gonna regret this in the morning!” and with a swift kick I knock Charles into Uric making them both fall over each other and I make a run for it. Just as I began to round the corner a click and bang sounds from behind and my arm begins to burn as I grab hold of it. The bullet had entered through my left arm and exited out the other side. Being able to hid from them was out, but I was damned if I couldn’t outrun them.

         My body was already hurting and the pain was getting worse by the minute. My mind races right along with me as I ran. The dark corners and alleyways made it difficult to travel but like hell was I going to stop. From behind I would here a click and then bang, a bullet would then wiz by me and strike pots or a fire escape, but like hell was I going to let it hit me again. Then just as I was turning out of a corner, there stood Hitomi, gun in hand. I stop and stare as the gun begins to raise up and was then pointed at the center of mass, my mass, my chest, my body, me! My bloody face was completed with another addition, my own tears. My mind told my body to move, to run like hell and escape. Yet it would not budge. Fear had finally taken hold and for once in a long time, I was scared for my own life. Then I hear a faint trace of words, “Get down.” My body knew what it meant and before my brain processed the order I dropped to the ground. Just as I did, Uric and Charles were caught in a three-round burst from heaven. They dropped to the ground just as fast as Hitomi pulled the trigger and in that instant my ex-friend was dead. Then as I stared off into the direction of Hitomi, my sight began to fade as my body finally caught up. My adrenaline reserves had finally run dry and my body begain to shut down. My body became numb, the feeling of the world deaden as I lay on the ground. The last thing I could see was Hitomi rushing toward me. The last thing I could hear was her scream. What felt like an eternity, I fell silent, dead to the world around me.

Sometime later…

         “Justin... He was under watch from a Kazahana informant after being caught and tortured about 5 months ago. After several months of surveillance the operative went rouge. He and a Charles Holbrook kidnapped Justin and were then later killed when Hitomi finally found him. Justin was then taken to a hospital with Hitomi helping him all the way. Justin was later released, but had to have several teeth replaced and minor plastic surgery to fix his nose.” Kaito says with a smile as he reads a small letter. He smiles wider and lets out his trademark laughs, “Poor guy got himself into more trouble than it’s worth.” Saionji says with a smile planted firmly upon his face. The sewer wasn’t the best place to live, but it kept the others from finding out of them living after the burning of that building. Shinjo sat at a small table with a cup of coffee in his hand. Slowly he stirred it without much though. Only the image of an old friend set firmly in his mind. He took a sip and laughed slightly, “I hope Justin won’t be followed any more. Even if he does know about the battle I just don’t want to see another suffer because of it.” Shinjo says to the others. Yori and Yari lay fast asleep on Kaito’s lap. Kaito smiles at his brothers’ ability to sleep no matter what. “Soon I hope to send these guys to live with Justin and Hitomi.” Shinjo sets his coffee down and turns toward Kaito, “At least your sister was adopted and not able to be in this massacre, but I do hope something good comes of this thing,” Shinjo then tosses up a small flash drive. He lets out a small chuckle and puts it back in his pocket, “Then maybe we can end this slaughter and redeem the souls of everyone related to this accursed family.” He says as he lifts his coffee to his lips again.

         “And so ends my tale…but many others follow. I find myself wondering to this day whether it was by luck or by chance that I had hacked that system. From what I can tell I caught a signal off of Charles’ KID and it took me directly to the database. How or why that happened still bothers me. Whatever it may have been I find myself finally on the way to redeeming myself for some of the pain and death that I have caused with that data. I just hope that I have finally escaped this battle and I pray never to enter it again until I find that the guys need me once more. I stare at this little cross in my hand. I laugh at the little note that came with it, “Dear Justin, I know you aren’t Catholic, but Kaito, Saionji, and I would like to give you this as a way to thank you for what you have done for us. Kaito wants to send the twins to live with Hitomi so they can be safe. We have things to take care of so we will visit soon.” Thank you Shinjo, Kaito, Saionji, Yori, & Yari trust me when I say this. Use the data to free yourself from the KIDs and the Kazahana and save the souls of the lost and dammed. I may not be a part of the battle in a sence, but I am sure that I have made my impression on its course. Well, I have to go, Hitomi is calling me to supper and my mother is worried I will disappear again. Later…”

- The end paragraph of Justin Adkins book, “Where the Hacker Lies” which is to be published upon his death. In the very back of the book, on the last page, is one last thought that he wanted placed…

In death, the truth is revealed to the world.