When Imakarum was again able to turn his attention back to the other Overlords, he found that they had finished reading the reports. Lord Fried’rich also seemed concerned, since he had presumably read the reports that Lord Shin had been given as well.

"Well, it seems that the Los Angeles branch has become the first to mass-produce Lost Units," the trifle of amusement in Lord Edward’s voice was the only sign of his feelings on the matter. The Sixth Zoalord’s face was completely neutral.

"How could we overlook something this damaging?" Lord Hamilcal demanded furiously. "We were constantly being updated about the progress of the Los Angeles branch, so how could something like this have gone unnoticed?!"

"I am rather more interested in how Imakarum managed to procure these reports," Lord Kaburaal said, giving the Zoalord in question a sidelong glance. "Rather interesting that none of us managed to find anything like them."

"I…" Imakarum began, and then he paused.

"I have my sources," Imakarum said instead.

"And what would those sources of yours be, Mirabilis?" Lord Jearvill asked.

Lord Alkanphel held up a hand, silencing all of the Chronos Overlords. "This new development troubles me as well," Lord Alkanphel said calmly. "However, we must not allow these problems to distract us from our ultimate goals. We will deal with them, yes, but we will not permit them to interfere with Chronos’ operations."

"My Lord," Lord Luggnagg said. "I am well aware that this Anti Chronos Task Force is a valid threat to the Chronos syndicate, and believe me when I say that I mean no disrespect to you, but are you certain that these reports that Mirabilis has gathered are valid? We have all seen the official reports from the Los Angeles branch, in fact I am reasonably sure that you have seen them yourself my Lord. So, pardon me my Lord, but why do you put so much stock in these new reports?"

"I have my reasons," Lord Alkanphel said, and left it at that.

Imakarum knew what those reasons were by now of course, and he suspected that Lord Hamilcal knew them as well. It remained to be seen whether the other Lords of Chronos would accept this. Imakarum did not honestly understand why they would not, since after all it was at Lord Alkanphel’s discretion whether he told the other Overlords what was troubling him or not.

-Your son,- Lord Alkanphel said, sounding faintly amused. -Kenji is waking up. Don’t you think it’s time we all met him face to face, Masaki?-

"If you would like to go and fetch him, Imakarum, we will all stay here and wait for you," Lord Alkanphel said aloud.

"As you say, my Lord Alkanphel," Imakarum said, as he stood up and left the table.

Teleporting back to Cloud Tower, Imakarum wondered just how Kenji would react to the Chronos Overlords. And how they would react to him, as well. Walking back down the corridor to his room, Imakarum paused for a moment in front of his door. Then, gathering himself, he opened it and stepped into the room. Everything was just as he had left it, all except for the bed.

Kenji was just starting to sit up, holding Kaji to his chest with one arm and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with the opposite hand. Imakarum hurried over to Kenji’s side, just as his son removed the hand from his eyes and yawned. Imakarum settled his own hand on Kenji’s left shoulder, gently rubbing Kenji’s neck with his thumb.

"Morning, dad," Kenji muttered blearily.