Chapter 21: A Tale of Trust and Distrust

A few days had passed since Meta went out to become more sociable and Kurabe had still not returned. According to Mercury, the job she took became more serious, something to do with a large horde of S rank monsters that came seemingly out of nowhere. While he trusted his sensei to come back safely, he knew it would be a little while longer until she came back. However, that didn't stop him from being worried about her.

"Calm down, Meta. She's the Unkillable, isn't she? She'll come back alive. She has to." He uttered under his breath as he was eating breakfast that morning.

He opted to eat in his room instead of the cafeteria, not out of a desire to stay away from people, but to prevent people from worrying. Even though he didn't think he deserved it, he knew his fellow soldiers looked up to him and if they saw that he was a slightly nervous wreck, the morale of the crew would eventually go down and he couldn't allow that.

"...what should I do?" He uttered.

He considered going to assist Kurabe, but Mercury put the brakes on that plan.

"Trust me, I'd like to send her help too and while you're strong, you aren't capable of handling that many S ranks at once. You barely handled just one, remember? I'm sorry Meta, but I can't let you go." Was what she told him and truthfully, he couldn't argue against her.

"Then I guess I'll have to train so I get stronger!" He exclaimed.

Though there was only so much his normal training could get him in terms of results and with Kurabe gone, he couldn't do her specialized training. And he couldn't leave to do his own missions due to essentially needing to stay for the crew's morale.

"...No point in complaining. I'll just do as much training as I can here."

He could probably also use that time to help train his allies.

"Well, let's get moving. Hopefully no one tries stopping me for something."

He picked up his tray and walked out of his room with the intention of returning it to the cafeteria. Admittedly, he had to resist the urge to look in his mentor's room.

"Looking there won't make her come back faster..." he thought, shaking his head.

As he walked through the ship, he noticed something odd in the corner of the cafeteria. It was small and barely noticeable, but his keen eyesight noticed it. He walked up to it, noticing that his friend Crate was looking at it.

"Oh, Meta, do you know what that is?" She asked.

"...Yeah." He replied, feeling his blood go cold.

He knew exactly what it was, it was one of Tam's custom-made bombs.

"What's this doing here?" He uttered, clearly sounding shocked about this discovery.

"What is it?" Crate asked, tilting her head in questioning.

He gulped. "...A micro bomb."

His dog friend stepped back in shock. "Why would Tam leave this here?" She asked.

"Maybe she accidently dropped it when she rushed out for a mission?"

"...Or maybe she left it here on purpose to destroy the cafeteria." Crate offered, but Meta quickly shook his head.

"No. The bomb isn't armed. Tam set her bombs up in a way that only she knows how to operate them. She showed me what they look like when armed and disarmed. This one is disarmed; it can't go off without someone deliberately hitting it really hard."

"But maybe that's part of her plan. What if someone kicks it without knowing what it is?" Crate uttered nervously.

"By really hard, I mean hard enough to break a boulder. She made her bombs resilient so that they don't go off accidentally. A simple kick wouldn't be enough to set it off." To prove his point, he kicked it, only for nothing to happen. "See?"

"But isn't there people who can kick hard enough to break a boulder?"

"Were you not paying attention? A simple accidental kick can't set it off. My kick was me trying, and nothing happened."

There was a moment of silence before Crate spoke up again. "But... but it's still possible, right?"

"Possible, yes. Likely? Not at all."

"But that's not important. What is important was the fact that it was left here."

"Yes, but it's unlikely she left it here on purpose. She's far too observant for that."

"Then what's your explanation?"

Meta stared at her. "It's too soon to make assumptions. I'll hold onto this and fine Tam. I'll get her side of the story first."

"Oh, ok."

"Besides, jumping to conclusions will just make things complicated."

"So, then what will you do?"

"As I said, I'll talk with her."

"Ok then. But be careful."

"I'll be fine."

"Still be careful. She might react violently if she's doing something suspicious."

"Crate, stop that. I already said freaking out like that will only make things worse. You do know that you'll only make yourself look suspicious if you end up being wrong, right?"

"Oh... ok."

Meta glared at her, trying to control his anger. He was angry for two reasons. One was that he was right that freaking over potentially nothing would just cause problems. Claiming that another soldier was a spy was a serious offense. He chalked it up to Crate's overly paranoid personality so he would cut her some slack, for now. The other reason he was angry was at the mere idea of Tam being a traitor was unbelievable to him. Tam has been a loyal soldier for at least a few decades and sure she was mysterious at times, but she was also incredibly trustworthy.

"Don't say anything else about a spy to anyone. We don't need to cause a panic around here." He warned the dog, a noticeable edge to his voice.

"I understand." She quickly replied with a frightened nod as she shuddered.

"You better. The last thing we need is a riot while sensei is away." Meta said, walking away to find to Tam. After he was gone, Crate looked nervously at the bomb. He then quickly came back and grabbed it, so that he could show it to Tam.

Meta walked around for several hours, but he didn't find a sign of Tam.

"It's times like this that I hate when she does this." He grumbled.

Honestly, the longer he searched the more he began to worry about if maybe she really was up to something. He didn't want to believe what Crate said. He really did not want to imagine his friend doing something so heinous. He needed to find her and fast. Due to this, he picked up his walking to the point where he was now running. He continued to run until he heard something.

"Meta? What's got looking so stressed out? And why are you running?" A familiar voice said from behind him.

After taking a moment to pant, he turned around to face them. "Tam! There you are, I've been looking for you."

"Oh, sorry, I had to go out on a short mission. So, what's up?" She asked.

Meta smiled, noting how calm she looked, which was a good sign. Her emotions seemed stable based on what he could read.

"Tam, I found one of your bombs in the cafeteria." He said, cutting straight to the point and showing her said micro bomb.

For a moment, the fox girl looked surprised. Then, she looked puzzled with a slightly worried expression on her face. "But...why? I usually have them secure whenever I walk around."

The young soldier sighed in relief, especially since he could tell she wasn't lying. But that presented another issue that bothered him. "I know you too well for this to be a simple accident. Someone must have gotten access to your bombs. I know you would never let one simply fall out of your bag. Thankfully, the bomb was disarmed, so there was no risk of it going off."

Tam put her hand on her chin and thought. "It's strange... only me and sensei should be able to access them in my room." She uttered.

"How so? Is there some kind of special lock?"

"Yeah. It's a fingerprint scanner."

"And that means the only prints in its database are yours and sensei's. Well, sensei has been gone for the whole week and we know you didn't do it."

"Then the question is... who did it?" The fox girl said in slight concern.

"Tam, when did you leave for your mission?"

"It was... yesterday and I was gone the whole day."

"And I know it wasn't in the cafeteria yesterday, I would have seen it."

"Of course. But I don't understand how anyone could have gotten past the lock. It's not like they could've cut off my hand and used it."

"...Let's go to your room. Maybe someone tampered with it somehow."

"I was going to do that anyway, but ok." Tam replied as she began to walk away quickly in the direction of her room.

When the duo arrived at Tam's room, they noticed that seemingly nothing was touched... except for the fact that the safe in question was out in the open.

"Yeah... someone snuck in here. I don't leave the safe out like this, I keep it... well... somewhere safe and hidden." Tam uttered with a sigh.

"...we should tell this to Mercury, but no one else. Last thing we need is panic among the entire crew of the ship."

Tam nodded in agreement. "Right. Let's go find her."

The two left, with Meta having a really bad feeling about this situation that appears like it will just become more complicated as time went on.

Mercury was on the bridge in the captain's chair when they found her drinking some tea peacefully while gazing outside.

"Hey, you two, is something wrong? You better not be here to ask about going to assist Kurabe again." She said, crossing her arms while looking at Meta.

"It's not about that, but something is wrong."

The vice captain looked concerned. "Well, what is it then?"

"We found one of Tam's bombs in the cafeteria and we don't know how it got there."

"How is that possible? Was it armed?"

"Thankfully, it wasn't armed. We're not sure how it got there. I have the safe I keep them in locked by a fingerprint lock that only has mine and Kurabe's in its database."

"Well, that's a relief. But Tam, you only just recently returned. How did someone sneak into your room without anyone noticing?"

"That's what I want to know."

"Well, let's check the security cameras. They might show us something useful." Mercury hit a button a nearby monitor, pulling up video footage. "Well, nothing strange happened yesterday, let's check today."

After a couple minutes of watching the footage, a strange incident occurred. Around four in the morning, a figure that looked exactly like Tam walked into her room and exited a couple minutes later holding a bomb, likely the one that was found in the cafeteria.

"Tam? But you came back today, I greeted you just a few minutes ago." Mercury said, confused by this. She wasn't the only one as both Meta and especially Tam herself were incredibly confused.

"I don't understand! Who could've done this?!" The fox girl shouted, now clearly freaking out about this sudden reveal.

"Calm yourself, soldier. We don't want to cause a scene. Right now, only the three of us know about this footage and we need to keep it that way." Mercury calmy ordered, causing Tam to take a deep breath to calm herself down.

"Y-yeah. But who could've done this? I don't want to say it, but... the only one that could possibly get by the safe access is a Limet." She then looked up at Mercury. "I'm not accusing you at all. I'm just stating facts."

Mercury adjusted her hat before talking. "No offense taken. It's the easiest conclusion to make. However, there's only two Limets aboard the ship, myself and Erhard. I know it's not me and I really doubt it's him. Considering he was in prison for most of his life, it's incredibly unlikely he's a spy or is someone that would sabotage the people that saved him." Her lips curled into a frown. "Plus, with how weak he is from being in a fridge for so long, he doesn't have the ability to fully copy the colors of something he transforms into. If it was him, we'd be looking at a silver fox right now instead of the normal fox we know and love."

"But... is there any other kind of species that can shapeshift?" Meta asked.

"Hold on. It's too soon to call it shape-shifting. It could be an appearance changing magic. While not common, it's not impossible."

"...still, do we know anyone who knows it?" The youth then asked.

"Kurabe is the only person I know with that kind of magic. Tam has illusion magic, but we know it's not her. So, the only logical conclusion is that someone on board is hiding their abilities."

The puff then looked concerned. "Then what should we do?"

"Well, for starters, none of what we discussed leaves this room. I'll tell Kurabe when she gets back."

"Understood." Both soldiers said.

"Secondly, it's safe to say whoever is trying to frame Tam clearly doesn't know how to operate those bombs of yours."

"I know, but why me?"

"Well, think about it. You have incredible illusion magic that barely anyone can see through. You also are fairly mysterious and are known for using explosives. You're an easy scapegoat in that sense. But don't worry, we'll find the true culprit, I promise nothing, and no one will sully your good name."

"Thank you very much, Mercury." The fox replied with a smile.

"Not a problem, just make sure to be careful." The acting captain turned back to the security footage. "I'll study the footage from beginning to end, hopefully I'll find something useful. You two, I can't officially order to search for clues, due to wanting to keep this under wraps. But if you were to say, oh I don't know, have a secret investigation that doesn't attract much attention, well I couldn't stop you from doing so." She told them with a knowing smirk.

"Ok then. Thank you for your help, Mercury." The puff said.

"You can thank me once we figure stuff out. Since we have no leads, you two will be on your own until I learn something. So good luck."

"Good luck with your own work." With that they walked off.

Outside of the bridge, Meta was stopped by his friend.

"Hey, Meta, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?" He replied, turning around.

"Besides the logical fallacies, why are you so confident it's not actually me?"

The youth blinked in confusion. "Because I've known you for so long that I just know you would never do something like that."

Tam blinked in surprise at that blunt response, but then gave a smile. "Thanks, Meta. You know, you've grown a lot since I first met you."

"Really?" He asked.

"Of course, you're easily way more mature than you used to be."

The puff blushed slightly. "I see... thank you." Meta then stopped walking and paused with speaking. "Tam, do you think I could have done it?"

"Of course not! You would be worried that sensei would kill you if you did!"

"Well...that isn't...incorrect, I guess."

The fox girl gave a giggle.

"Tam, you know more about illusions then I do. Do you think what we saw on video was an illusion?"

"It looks too solid to be an illusion. Illusions also can't exactly mimic fingerprints either."

"And we know it's not a Limet. Mercury would never and Erhard, well he actually can't transform. He told me that due to his confinement in the fridge, his body had temporarily lost the ability to morph."

"Exactly. So that means the only other option is that someone is hiding their abilities from us."

"I would ask why, but I think the why is obvious."

"Yeah. Because they would be found out."

"Well, how do we go about this? It's not as if we can just walk up to everyone and ask if they can secretly shapeshift. We can, but it would be incredibly irresponsible."

"That's a good question. We'll have to go about this subtly..." Tam hummed.

"Another thing that's confusing me is that sensei always makes new recruits show off what abilities they have. So, it has to be someone that not even sensei could crack."

"Well... that's even harder, since I've yet to see someone she couldn't crack." The fox girl sighed.

Meta himself couldn't deny that, because he was the same way. But there was still one other possibility. "...Well, it's possible it might not be someone from this division, right?"

Tam shrugged. "Depends. We'll have to see if anyone from any other division was on this ship."

"Well, yes, but I don't just mean people from other divisions. I mean what if someone completely unaffiliated with us snuck in and took your form? I know that's incredibly unlikely, but unlikely doesn't translate into impossible."

"That... would be..." Tam trailed off with a worried tone, not even bothering to finish the sentence.

Meta then remembered something. "That Chaogean, Shinkiro. He could have brainwashed you and... no, that wouldn't work, you weren't here when he was."

"Oh, you met him? Yeah, that would be possible if I was here at the time. Besides, he seems a bit too airheaded to think up an idea like that."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"Then who would it be?"

"Well, it has to be someone that knows of you and knows what weapons you use. That's easy to find knowledge. But what isn't easy to find knowledge is what room is yours. That isn't something any average outsider can find out."

"Then that can be pretty much everyone in the combat division."

"As much as I hate to admit it, yes. That's the most likely conclusion."

Tam then sighed. "Even worse, we're the largest division."

"Hmm, can you think of anyone that could have done it?"

"Nope. What about you?"

Meta closed his eyes, focusing all of his thoughts into that one question. That's when something hit him. "...Hey, Tam, have you shown Crate what your bombs look like?"

"Crate...? Hm... maybe? She only seemed to watch me at a distance I think."

"So, she hasn't gotten a good look at them." He said gravely.

"Yeah."

"...When I found the bomb, Crate was with me. She asked why would Tam leave a bomb there. I never said it belonged to you out loud. At the time I didn't think much of it, because I was more focused on finding you. But now..."

"Suspicious, don't you think?"

"I don't want to think it's her. She's a bit odd...alright, more than a bit, but I don't want to believe she's the culprit. But if she does have something to do with it, we have to find her."

"Ok, then let's find her."

"That's going to be a problem. The last place I saw her was the cafeteria, which was hours ago."

"Oh, we can ask people if she's still on the ship."

"Then let's get going. We have a dog to find."

"Ok."

The duo walked off to search the ship.

Several hours passed and there seemed to be no sign.

"Maybe she's on a mission?" Meta offered.

"Probably. If that's the case, we'll have to wait until she gets back."

"Great, now what?"

Tam took a moment to think. "...maybe you should read the emotions of everyone you come across."

"I suppose I can try that."

"It might be tiring for you, but it's an idea."

"It's the only idea we have. So, let's do it."

His friend nodded and picked him up to carry him. "Focus on reading emotions. I'll do the walking."

"That really isn't necessary Tam, but fine. Let's get this over with." She giggled as she began to walk around.

Unfortunately for them, Meta was unable to find any suspicious emotions. There was one Bukiset that seemed particularly nervous, but he chalked that up to the Bukiset being the cafeteria's janitor and he knew how messy it got in there.

Tam gave an annoyed sigh. "Ok, now what?"

"...I need to lay down for one." He replied, tired from the whole ordeal.

"I'll take you to your room then!" She said happily.

"Again, not necessary. But fine."

"Ok, then where do you want to sleep?" She pouted.

"...my room. I said I was fine with you taking me there."

"Then why did you say it wasn't necessary?"

"I said you carrying me was not necessary."

"Even though you look tired? Fine, you can walk there on your own." She huffed while dropping him without warning.

"I literally said fine that you can carry me. What is your problem?"

"I'm going to be completely honest, Meta. One thing you need to work on is your phrasing. If you say, "it's not necessary" or "you don't need to", it will sometimes upset people who offer to do something for you."

"Ok, I'm sorry. But did you really have to drop me like that? The floor is too hard to bounce off of. That really hurt."

"Take your bruising as a painful reminder of what I said."

"Tam, that's incredibly rude. I was fine with you carrying me even if it was embarrassing. I'm trying my best to help you clear your name, do you even care about that? Or are my actions meaningless just because I'm bad at talking?" He said sadly.

"I do care! Don't you understand I'm stressed about this whole thing?"

Meta stared at her and after a while, hugged her much to her own surprise. "I'm sorry, Tam."

She didn't respond, but gave a slight look of confusion. "I'm sorry for snapping at you."

After a moment, Meta seemed to fall asleep.

"Meta?" Tam called out.

She then looked down at him and saw his sleeping face.

"...you were a lot more tired than you seemed..." She giggled. "I'm sorry too. Let's get you to bed then."

The youth smiled, as if hearing what she had said.

Hours later, Meta woke up, still a bit drowsy. "...What happened?"

He saw Tam sitting next to him.

"We were trying to find the person who tried to frame me, and you overdid it by trying to sense everyone's emotions on the ship."

"...Right, that did happen, didn't it? Sorry, my head is a bit fuzzy."

"It's fine. Did you have a good rest?"

"I don't feel nearly as tired at least."

"Good. Back to our investigation."

"Did anything else happen while I was out?"

"Not that I know of."

"Well, that's I good, I hope. Well, what should do now? Have you checked if Crate returned?"

"I did, but it doesn't look like it."

"Well, so much for that. Are you feeling alright Tam?"

"Yeah, I am, thanks. What about you?"

"My head hurts, I don't know why though."

"Did you overwork yourself trying to sense everyone's emotions?"

"Well, I probably did see sense I needed to sleep, but I don't think that's why."

"Or you fainted."

"...Well, I guess it doesn't really matter then."

The fox girl nodded. "We should get back to looking."

"Sure. We should also see if Mercury has found anything."

"Let's do that first then."

They left, Meta noticing that Tam seemed nervous about something, but he just shrugged and figured it had to deal with the situation.

Soon, the duo reached the bridge to talk to Mercury. The acting captain had a grim expression, already showing that she didn't have good news to tell.

"Mercury, what's wrong?" Meta quickly asked.

"I think the security footage can speak for itself. " She said, summoning a TV screen and turning it on.

Both Tam and Meta looked confused and looked closely at it. On it was footage of Tam placing the bomb in the cafeteria, as well as the fox woman sneaking around the ship in a way that made her look suspicious.

"Th-that's not me!" Tam shouted.

"I know. These were all during the time you were gone. I know it's not you but if we don't find any evidence in your favor soon, it won't be good for you."

"I assume you can't find any evidence of who could've actually done this?"

"We wouldn't be having this conversation if I could."

"Then what should we do?"

"Unfortunately, all you can do is keep searching for clues."

Both of them nodded.

"Oh, there is one good piece of news."

"What's that?" Meta asked.

"Kurabe contacted me. She'll be returning tomorrow if nothing else pops up."

The youth's eyes shined in excitement. "Really? She's coming back tomorrow?!"

"If nothing goes wrong, yes, she will be."

"That's great! Then she can help us!"

"And it's also because you're just happy to see her again, aren't you?" Mercury asked with a grin.

"Of course, aren't you? It'll be good knowing that she's no longer in danger."

"Yup. That's why I'm happy."

Meta was excited, with Kurabe's help figuring out the truth of this mystery should become much easier, especially with her mind reading.

"It's the best news we could've heard!" He thought.

"But that's for tomorrow. Anyway, I'm guessing you two haven't found anything?" Mercury asked.

"Sadly, no."

After a moment of silence, Tam suddenly spoke up.

"Hey Mercury, did Crate leave on a mission?"

"She did. I received a report from her that she'll be back late at night."

"I see..." The fox uttered, sounding slightly disappointed.

"Don't worry. I'll make it so no one leaves the ship tomorrow. So, you two will get your chance to speak with her."

"Thank you, Mercury." Meta smiled.

"It's fine. For now, I'm ordering you two to take a break from your investigation."

"Ok." The duo nodded in understanding.

"Good, now get going. And try not to strain yourselves while thinking about this mystery."

"We'll try." Tam replied.

Mercury nodded. "Then you are dismissed. Tam, if you want some advice, stay in your room to make sure no one else gets access to your bombs."

"Yeah, I planned on doing that anyway, but thanks."

"You too, Meta, it's slight, but there's a chance someone might try framing you as well so you should keep your possessions safe."

"Ok." He nodded in reply.

"Let us know if you find anything, ok?" Tam asked.

"Will do. Now get going and take it easy. We'll need you two at full power." They both nodded and returned to their rooms.

Upon reaching a fork in the hallway, they turned to each other.

"Well, Tam I guess I'll see you later."

"Yeah. Hope you get some rest in."

"You as well. You need it more than me, I'm sure."

"Oh, definitely. This whole thing is really wearing me down."

"Then yes, you need your sleep. We'll figure out what's going on, I promise."

Tam smiled. "Thank you, Meta. That cheers me up a lot."

"I'm glad about that. Hopefully tomorrow we'll finally get some real answers and not more mysteries."

"Yeah. Until then, let's get some rest."

Meta nodded and teleported to his room, wanting to make sure his room was untouched. Thankfully, it looked like it was. He was relieved by this, but he was still nervous with this whole situation, but he knew he could relax once his sensei returned.

"I should lock the door just in case..."

Upon doing so, he sat down on his bed, unable to shake the uneasy feeling he had.

"I guess I should get some more sleep. I need to be at the top of my game." He laid down in his bed and sighed. "Please come home soon, sensei."

In another part of the galaxy was a lone star jet, slowly making its way home. This was the star jet of Kurabe and inside was the woman herself, visible slash marks and bruises all over her body and a pool of blood forming under her by the minute. The Lady of Shadows was in horrible shape, the only thing keeping her awake was her unbreakable spirit and determination.

"I have to...get home...no matter... what."

Sorry it took a bit to release this next chapter. I was on break for a while so I wouldn't get burnt out on this series and because I went on vacation.

I'm back now, so hopefully you'll all see a lot more updates from me.