"I'm sorry, run that by me again", Inuzuka said. "You know so much about runes and Valvraves and magius because of trial and error and...?"
"And...I'm also from the future", Haruto repeated.
"You really expect us to believe that?!", Takahi shouted, poking her finger into Haruto's armored chest.
"It's true", L-elf confirmed.
"You knew about this?", Inuzuka asked.
L-elf nodded and Haruto moved a little closer to him. "I can't explain how it happened", Haruto said. "But after the final battle, after we won, I woke up and I was back here."
"So you know how this all ends?", Yamada crossed his arms.
"I knew how it ended back then", Haruto said. "But things are different now."
Kibukawa raised a brow. "Different how?"
Haruto struggled to answer that. He had already been the catalyst of so much change. But so far, everything had gone okay. Shouko and Saki were safely off the module. He was feeding off of L-elf regularly so the hadn't attacked anyone. He'd already dropped a bomb on them. He didn't want to risk anything else. Especially not with what he and L-elf were planning.
"It doesn't matter. What matters is the future we're going to make. I can't rest until we're no longer threatened by Dorssia."
"Or any other country", L-elf said. "Including JIOR."
"Did you forget that we're JIORans too?", Yamada reminded him. "I thought we were doin' all of this so we could join back up with the rest of JIOR and our family?"
"Our end goal is the liberation of all from a secret council of magius that control the world behind the scenes", L-elf said.
And as he said it with a completely straight face, the others had no choice but to believe him. Considering all that they'd heard today, it wasn't the craziest thing in the world.
Haruto began to explain everything about Inuzuka and Yamada's new set of abilities. He'd already given this talk to Takahi, so she removed her suit and hit the showers. Meanwhile, L-elf corresponded with people outside the module. They couldn't keep everyone out forever. And they couldn't retain all of the students forever. There were still some who wanted nothing to do with the war effort that effectively made them dead weight to L-elf.
A few days later, representatives from JIOR were allowed in to evacuate the rest of the students who wanted off the module. While they were being boarded, a news crew shined a light of the current situation within Module 77. Recognizing Haruto had the pilot of Unit I and thus the leader of the pilots and L-elf as the tactical genius behind their victories, they were the ones with the most screen time.
"We're grateful that things have been handled the best way they could", one of the JIORan ambassadors said. "But it has never been our government's intention to encourage child soldiers. We'll be happy to put this back in the hands of adults while these kids get back to their youth."
L-elf had been keeping track of the students being taken away, having created a manifest that listed them in order of their loyalty and dedication. Just as the last of the dead weight was removed, he made his move.
"That's enough. You may make your exit", he said.
"There's still dozens of students to be returned", the ambassador protested.
"The rest will remain on the module", L-elf said as Haruto came to stand next to him. Both ignored the camera trained right on them. For now.
"Are you trying to hold students hostage? I thought you were on our side?"
"I'm on my own side", L-elf replied.
The ambassador frowned and pinched his nose. "I knew this would happen. You played the part of an ally but this was all a ploy on Dorssia's behalf. You're trying to annex the module! This is still JIORan soil you know."
"Actually", Haruto spoke up. "As of tonight. It won't be."
"Excuse me?!"
Haruto then turned to the camera head on. "Effective tonight, Module 77 will be seceding from JIOR."