"What do we do now, Agito?" Sho asked.

"I would suggest that you take Mizuki off your back so that we can remove our Guyver units. We want to be as unobtrusive as we can from now on. If anyone were to follow us, especially a Zoanoid, no one in the basement would be safe."

"All right," Sho nodded.

Letting Mizuki slide off his back, Sho concentrated on sending the Guyver back to its resting-place in the other dimension. The Guyver peeled off of his body with a rush, leaving Sho shivering slightly in the mildly cool breeze. Agito, as usual, didn’t give any indication that dismissing his Guyver had any effect on him at all. Once they were both back in their normal human forms, Mizuki went up to Sho and squeezed his hand.

Smiling at her, Sho turned and followed Agito to wherever he was leading them. They slunk into the shadows, to better avoid the notice of any of the Zoanoids that populated Takeshiro and yet hadn’t been involved in the attack. Sho almost started to wonder just how many innocent people that he and Agito had managed to kill, but then he forced himself to focus on getting into the basement of Mt. Minakami and meeting up with Tetsuro, Mr. Murakami and the others.

Thinking about something that couldn’t be changed would only make him depressed Sho knew, and it was important not to think about things that would have that kind of effect. Sho had had a very harsh lesson in what could happen if he allowed the things that he had done to weigh him down. Aptom’s attack had made sure that Sho knew just what would happen to all of his friends, and to the other innocent people who were being threatened by Chronos, if he allowed that to happen again.

He had made a promise, to himself and to his father’s memory, that he would never run away from the fight again. He was determined that he would never break that one vow, despite anything that he might have to do to himself to carry it through. It was the one promise that Chronos would never force him to break, and the only thing Sho could do to honor the memory of his father.

As Agito led them through the dark and narrow back-alleys, Sho couldn’t help but wonder just how the three of them would be able to make it into this "Relics Point" without being noticed. Agito probably had some sort of plan, but for the life of him Sho couldn’t think just what it might be. Looking around again, Sho found that they had come to a much smaller, more run-down section of Takeshiro.

What are we doing in a place like this? Sho wondered. Granted it’s kind of obvious that no one lives out here, so we should be safe from getting noticed by any Zoanoids, but I still don’t understand what could be in a place like this. Looking over at Agito, meaning to ask him a question, Sho noticed that Agito was staring forward with the utmost intensity.

"All right, there aren’t any Zoanoids around for the moment. Let’s move quickly before that changes," Agito ordered.

With a cursory amount of urging, Sho and Mizuki starting moving forward while Agito made absolutely sure that there were no Zoanoids trying to get the drop on them from behind. Their destination was an old well with a crumbling wooden roof, and Sho again wondered just how Agito intended to get them all into Mt. Minakami without getting caught. They all met up again in the shadow of a large tree overlooking the well.

"We can get into one of the lower levels above Relics Point through here," Agito said, pointing to the old well.

The three of them hurried over the rest of the ground that separated them from the well itself, and Sho peered down into the darkness when they had all finally arrived. It didn’t look very promising, but Agito seemed to be satisfied with it, and Sho knew he could trust Agito.

"All right, we can climb down now," Agito said. "Sho, do you want me to go first?"

"No," Sho shook his head. "I can handle it. Thanks though, Agito."

Agito nodded wordlessly as Sho’s foot found the first rung of the ladder set into the wall of the well. Taking a deep breath and smiling at Mizuki, Sho started to climb down. Agito took another look around as he ushered Mizuki into the well after Sho had gotten far down enough that she wouldn’t step on his hands. Agito was taking one last look at the surrounding area, to make absolutely sure that the area was completely free of any kind of bystanders.

Then, when he was satisfied with his observations, Agito himself started to climb down into the well. Being careful not to step on Segawa’s hands, Agito made his way as quickly as he could down the ladder. It was only at the moment that his head had passed below the rim of the well that Agito allowed himself to relax slightly. They were out of danger for a little while, but they would soon be walking right back into it again. Agito sighed softly. Murakami was right about one thing: they never could seem to keep themselves out of trouble.

Once the three of them were back on solid ground, Agito gestured for Fukamachi and Segawa to follow him, since he knew that any words he said would be amplified by the echo-chamber made by the walls of the well. Once they were all heading in the right direction, Agito noticed that Fukamachi was about to say something.

+It would be better if we didn’t speak in this kind of an enclosed environment,+ Agito explained. +The surrounding stone would act as an amplifier for whatever noises we make. I would simply like to keep that to a minimum.+

+Oh, that makes sense.+

+Good, I’m glad you see the necessity,+ Agito said calmly. +Now, what was it that you wanted to ask me?+

+I just wanted to know when we were going to get to this "Relics Point", is all.+

+This tunnel will lead us to one of the old monorail lines that used to service Mt. Minakami in the past. Fortunately for us, however, this particular line has been out of use for quite some time,+ Agito explained. +From there, we will be able to use the elevators to access the deeper levels of Mt. Minakami, and from there we will eventually make it to Relics Point.+

+Oh,+ Fukamachi seemed to understand that line of reasoning, and Agito was grateful for small favors.

They moved in relative silence from then on, Agito always keeping an eye out for anything that might impede their progress.