Distrust

"An unusable item... the Key of the Twilight?!"

- Sakisaka

Distrust is the fifth episode of .hack//Roots.

Story
At the Battlefield of Coite-Bodher, Ovan meditates. Suddenly the field begins to flicker and Ovan clutches the seal of his left arm as if he were in pain. As the static begins to subside Ovan releases his grip and notices that a Virus Core C has appeared in his right hand.

Meanwhile the rest of the Twilight Brigade question Tabby about how she was PKed. Tabby says that she was PKed by a woman who was asking her questions about the Brigade. Sakisaka mentions that Gord was PKed as well and that this trouble started after Haseo joined the Guild, but Shino springs to Haseo's defense, saying that nobody could have known that Tabby would be targeted. Haseo decides to go investigate, with Tabby behind him he meets with Phyllo who tells him that Gord was last seen with B set. He also mentions that B set was recently chased by a strange PC.

At TaNs @home Tawaraya is given a Virus Core as well, he is told that it was received during a trade and that the source of the item is impossible to locate. Intrigued he brings it to Naobi who recognizes it as a Virus Core. He tells Tawaraya that it could be very useful against the Twilight Brigade, since Ovan has been searching for items like it. Knowing orders when he sees them Tawaraya tracks down Sakisaka and offers him a deal. In exchange for information about the Brigade, he'll give him the Virus Core. Though Sakisaka never agrees to the deal, he accepts the Virus Core and walks away. Meeting with B set Haseo realizes that the person responsible for the attacks was none other than Ender. Receiving a sudden e-mail from Tawaraya he goes off to meet with him, leaving a confused Tabby behind. Sakisaka appears afterwards and evades Tabby's questions by going off to the @home. Waiting for Haseo Tabby overhears some TaN members talking about Haseo. They say he was last seen meeting a high-ranking member of TaN, and wonder if he's planning on joining with TaN.

In a field Haseo meets with Tawaraya. Tawaraya asks him if he knows what the Key of the Twilight is. And wonders if an unknown item like the Key needs an unusable item to unlock it. Haseo immediately thinks of the virus cores and leaves, not realizing that the entire conversation was engineered by Naobi to feed information to the Brigade. He returns to Mac Anu only to encounter Ender. When he demands to know why she's targeting the Brigade, she casually tells him that she's also after the Key of the Twilight. Angry, Haseo returns to the @home where he tells Ovan that the Virus Cores could be a clue to the Key's location. Ovan decides to act on Haseo's information and orders to other members of the Brigade to search for Virus Cores in the Lost Grounds. They travel to Coite-Bodher, Haseo and Shino search together. They notice an odd A shaped sign on the ground. Haseo wonders what it is, and Shino playfully answers that she doesn't know, but it'd be fun to find out. She continues to say that she enjoys learning new things, and is particularly interested in learning more about Haseo, unfortunately their romantic moment is interrupted when Ender warps into the zone. Using her magic Shino is able to secure an escape route, and the Brigade makes it back to their @home unharmed.

Sakisaka wonders how Ender found their location, and Tabby begins to wonder if Haseo has been acting as TaN's spy. She talks about all the fishy things he's been doing, like asking B set weird questions, or meeting with members of TaN. Angry, Haseo storms off. He is soon contacted by Tawaraya who asks to meet him in a field. Haseo arrives at the meeting place but is surprised to see that Tabby and Shino followed him. Knowing an opportunity when he sees one Tawaraya acts like Haseo had been giving him information and leaves, causing both Shino and Tabby to assume that the rumors about him being a spy were true.

Trivia

 * This episode marks the first appearance of Gord's unnamed contact.