"It's a big hit," Hinata remarked while staring at the feather in my palm.
"What are you talking about?" I asked him, to which he shrugged in reply.
"So, what's with the feather?" Yuri inquired. Right, this was the perfect time for reporting the results of my investigation to my leader. I was somewhat proud of myself, I'd produced results within a day of Yuri giving me the mission.
"While I was performing the task you set of me, Yuri, I managed to discover this," I hesitated to hand the feather over to her, but something in her demeanor made me give it up, much like a child who'd discovered something he wanted to show to her mother.
Yuri turned over the little white thing in her hands, feeling its smooth texture. "What is this then? Is it related to a school legend?"
"Not really," I explained the steps I had undertaken in the investigation, careful to leave out the vengeful NPC. When I came to my encounter with Noda, I looked over at him, but he seemed to be drawing something on the floor with the handle of his weapon. I hope he didn't have enhanced hearing, I don't know what he'd do when he realizes how I managed to beat him.
Yuri was composed throughout my report, neither excited nor indifferent to my revelations. By the time I'd concluded, she'd nodded in a satisfied manner. "The first step I should take as leader is to send this over to Guild for analysis, but. . . " Yuri commented in a low voice before handing the feather back to me, "There are still some unknowns here which we don't know. And for this we must proceed with caution Such an abnormality in this world cannot be unheard of, but it is an anomaly nonetheless. Please hold on to the feather for now. And now we also know why Shiina attacked you out of the blue."
I'd already figured out that part as soon as I remembered the mystery of the feather. It wasn't too farfetched to assume that Shiina had been in the scene when she'd heard Hinata shoot himself, watching from a distance while I tangled with Noda, where I showed myself to be mysteriously invincible. But hold on, why had she managed to behead me then?
"It's probably because of its properties. I have an assumption," she pointed at my chest. "You mentioned putting away the feather. I believe that it only bestows its mysterious powers on whoever holds it. In other words, skin contact seems to be key."
"So it only works when I hold it," I echoed. She nodded. If I'd held on to it when Shiina attacked me, "Stone Body" would still have been in effect, and I wouldn't have been decapitated. And that had definitely been the case in our not-so-fatal fall from the rooftop and my battle with Noda; I'd been carrying the feather in my hand. Beside me, Hinata crossed his arms in thought. "It's maybe also shareable. Don't you remember Otonashi? I survived that fall when we-" Here, Hinata flushed for some reason before continuing, "it seems it can be transmitted through skin contact." Ah, I remember. Hinata did survive when I held his hand, because I held his hand.
"It's a strange thing, sure," he observed, before addressing Yuri across the bed. "but why is it an anomaly, Yurippe? I figure it's as much a part of this afterlife as- well the other stuff."
"I'm not sure." She shook her head emphatically, waving purple strands out of her face. "But I have a feeling it is. Death is simulated here; death is mocked, cheated, but never prevented. There are elements that are extraordinary: Angel, Guild, the NPCs. . . and this feather. But If I were God and I had willed this feather to existence, its powers would have been entirely different." No, why would you be God in the first place? "At least, that's what I think at this point." True, I found the feather to go beyond what I've just experienced in this so-called Afterlife.
"At any rate, we should use the advantage this feather has brought us," she had adopted the crisp, business-like tone she reserved for mission briefings. "I'll have Guild analyze it, and with luck, they might find some way to replicate its properties. If we manage that, we'll have gained a weapon against God and his Angel." As expected of Yuri, always thinking one step ahead.
She suddenly looked like she'd aged in the last few sentences. Yuri always seemed so serious, more than anyone in the Front. "If this had been intended, then it means God. . . . " She closed her eyes, meditating on something. Hinata and I looked at each other. "But if this were an anomaly, then this world wouldn't stand for it. I wonder how soon it'll be before we find out which is which. . . "
"Um, you say 'this world'. . . are you saying the afterlife is a world?"
"That's what I think, and what most of the brainiacs at Guild think, too. I don't delve too much into theoretics, but we can assume this place is just another world, a closed simulation of a world, if you think of it that way, a space where reality is duplicated as a bare skeleton. It's different from the 'world of the living' or the 'world of reality' we all came from, in that those were different worlds, but worlds in any case, and so maybe this is just another world, created by a God who had too much time in his hands. I'm not even sure if this is the afterlife. . . because if it were, there'd be a lot more going on in here than a simulacrum of a school. Unless God is really that much of a-"
She paused, allowing me to wrap my mind helplessly around what I'd heard. I admit, much of the theoretical stuff was beyond me, but it was still something to consider. Especially when I thought about what bearing her thoughts had on the feather.
"Ah, s-s-sorry, those were just some idle thoughts. I don't know why I spoke them up loud," she coughed and cleared her throat in the next instant, holding her hand to her mouth. "Assumptions are fine, but we shouldn't let it cloud the situation in front of us."
We both nodded to our leader's words. She turned to me. "Otonashi-kun, you've done well, but we both know there's still something missing. As such, your investigating continues, and now I give you leave to assign people to assist you." At this, Hinata broke into a grin. "The discovery of this feather has certainly piqued our interests into the school legends. As soon as you recover, please investigate the rumors surrounding the other legends. Who knows what other anomalies we'll find. Keep it discreet, we wouldn't want Angel's -and by extension God's- attention this early on." Hinata gave a mock-salute, twitching Yuri's eyebrows for a tick, before she nodded to the both of us and strode off. The remaining members stood at attention, and we both watched as she slipped through the screens surrounding Shiina.
"Things are getting heated up, eh?" Hinata proclaimed, rubbing his hands together. "But even with just this feather, we've already achieved leverage over that Angel."
"Hold on, aren't you the least bit curious about the legends?" I wondered why he didn't take Yuri's comments as seriously as I had. Wasn't the Front created to learn the true nature of this afterlife? Suppose there were a lot more things going on in the legends, that was seriously something that would help us solve the true nature of this world!
"As long as it gives us something even more useful than that feather. 'Focus on what we have,' as Yurippe said. Let's just focus on getting more of them in your investigation. Speaking of which, Otonashi!" He clapped me on the shoulder. "I would gladly volunteer to be your companion! Between the both of us, nothing can take us down!"
Well, I had planned on taking him in any case, even going as far as to use the card to force him if he didn't want to. Hinata was by and far the only guy I could stand level to in this world, and although he was a bit of an idiot like everyone else, he fell on the "smart" spectrum.
"OK! 'Stone Body' Otonashi and Hinata! Launching!" I said.
"Heh. . . it's not like we're mechs on our maiden flight going into battle or anything. . ."
"Well, just trying to set the mood. . . " I remarked, putting the feather away. Yuri is depending on me to solve these mysteries, and I wouldn't let her down.
I'm gonna get you!
I took an instinctive gulp when I remembered a certain vengeful NPC.
"Otonashi, are you okay? Feeling dizzy?"
"No. . . just remembered an insurmountable enemy . . ." I hid my tired grin behind my palms.
"You're right. . . we have to do our mission in broad daylight while Angel's about-"