Several hours after the meal…

29th of september, Year 201X

01:26 AM

Vali was resting on his bed, looking at the ceiling. He couldn't stop thinking about what happened yesterday. Just after waking up, he found himself being bombarded with questions by four people…for about 2 hours straight. Even after he basically told them the basics about himself, they kept on asking him questions related to his world. He and Sanae spent some time chatting after the rest left, since she was immensely interested in how things were in his world. After that, he met the rest of the tengu leaders, and the cycle of questions repeated again, and again. The black haired woman introduced herself as Megumu, one of the few people that controlled everything in that place. She gave him an apartment, and scheduled an interview for the day after with someone called Momiji, who was the main drill sergeant in the tengu forces.

And even with how mentally exhausting all of it was…his whole body refused to rest. It didn't help that, due to his nocturnal nature, he had an inverted sleep schedule, and it was going to take time to adapt himself to a more "normal" sleep schedule. He repositioned himself, and closed his eyes, focusing on getting some rest for the day of tomorrow. But it was pointless.

"Ugh…Why is it not working?! I can't be sleepy for today's interview in the morning!" he thought.

Knowing that no matter how hard he tried, nothing would change, he gave up. He reached for his clothes, putting on his jacket and his beret, and went to take a stroll outside.

It was cold, and windy. As he walked through the balcony, and descended the stairs, he noticed how clean the sky was. He contemplated the crescent moon. While his town had somewhat clean skies, this was unlike anything he'd seen before. He enjoyed the scenery for a moment, before retaking his stroll.

"Everything is so…calm. I'm surprised that there's no one awake right now, with the exception of the night guards." Vali thought, while walking.

Several minutes later, he made his way into the kappa district. And in the distance, in a big facility, he saw a light on the second floor.

"What's that?" He thought, curious to know more. He sprinted towards the building, making as little sound as possible, and when he got close, he jumped into one of the balconies, using his claws to get a grip on the wooden pillars. Then he entered the main hall, and continued running, going up several sets of stairs, until he found an open door, with light coming out of it. He carefully sneaked through the door, and moved into the nearest darkened area. Then, he saw Nitori, who was working on something.

Nitori wiped sweat off her forehead as she looked at the salvaged tools from the wreckage. "Got them all fixed up," she sighed in relief. "Now to figure out how they work." Sorting them out, she muttered to herself, "I know these are handheld transceivers, so we can modify them to be compatible with kappa tech. It's always nice to have another microwave and fridge, so I'll take them home later. The engineering kit is nice, so we'll probably be mass producing it. Not sure what this one is, so I'll set it aside for now. And those anti-youkai radio wave emitters are definitely going to be destroyed, so I have no idea why I fixed them…and let's skip that white box for now since I can't open it."

Suddenly, she felt a chill go down her spine. Confused, she looked around, not noticing anything, but after a second try, she saw something. Two shining yellow eyes, looking at her from the shadows.

"Wh-who are you?"

The eyes quickly blinked, and moved into the light. It was just Vali, who had entered her laboratory by curiosity, and due to the lackluster lighting of the place (considering it was late in the night) , he managed to go unnoticed by her.

[Hi]

Sighing in relief, Nitori pinched the bridge of her nose. "Vali, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be asleep? It's two hours past midnight."

He reached for his pen and notebook, and quickly scribbled an answer.

[I can't. It doesn't help that I'm a night owl most of the time.]

Nitori held up the item she couldn't identify and said, "Well, while you're here, how about you help me figure out what this is?"

Suddenly, Vali's eyes lit up, and he approached the radio wave device, fascinated by it. He inspected it, and looked at Nitori. [A military-grade radio wave signal receiver? Was this in the boxes you found with me? This is the first time I've ever seen one in person! I've only seen this kind of stuff in war movies! They're used to intercept and hear messages from all kinds of frequencies!}

"Meaning?" Nitori asked.

[You can hear radio programs from very far away, with the right equipment. The device should have a reach limit…where's the manual?]

"I think I left it…here! Take it, I can't read it." Nitori said, tossing a thick book at Vali.

Vali caught the manual, looking it over quickly. Unfortunately, it wasn't in Romanian as he had assumed. However, it was in English, a language he did know.

[I'm gonna be reading this real fast, so please wait until I finish.] Then, Vali opened the manual, and started reading it, holding it with his left hand, while he used his right hand to transcribe the most important parts into Japanese.

Nitori looked at him, impressed at the speed at which he wrote. Several minutes later, his notebook was almost full, but he managed to read and transcript the whole manual. He handed it over to Nitori, who read it out loud.

"ComTech MS-100R Radio Signal Receiver Module User's manual:

Knowing your device:

Maximum range (without additional antenna): 50 km round

Maximum range (with additional antenna): 100 km round

Supported frequencies: AM/FM

Maximum frequency: 60 Hz

Power consumption: 2.100 watts

Power output: 220-240 Hz ( 60 Hz)"

"To prepare the device, please insert the current cables (Red/White) into their matching plugs first."

"Then, plug the conjoined end of both cables into the power adapter, and plug the AC adaptor cable into the other side of it. Finally, insert the remaining plug into your electric take."

"Warning: The power brick, despite being prepared for accidental energy overloads, can receive heavy damage or blow up in the worst of cases. It is strongly advised to check your country's voltage output and use adaptors, depending on the case. A light signal will be emitted in case of a possible energy overload."

"Important advice: Even if the radio device is designed to endure harsh conditions, it is recommended to always keep it in a dry, temperate environment. Do not spill water or any liquid over it on purpose. Keep away from children's reach, and do not attempt to open the device without the proper tools and experience."

"How to turn it on:

First, check the device is properly connected.

Toggle the power brick on by pulsing the I/0 switch into "ON" position.

Press the "BRIDGE" button once, located aside the power ports.

Lift the three small levers, located in the left face of the device.

Toggle the digital display by pulsing the "SCREEN" Button once, on the right side of it.

After it turns on, select your desired frequency range by moving the center slider into AM or FM.

Finally, after selecting your frequency range, use the left crank to select your radio station. (Left: Decrease / Right: Increase.)

Adjust the volume of the speakers by using the "VOLUME" wheel in the lower right side of the device.

You can plug a couple of ComTech headsets by using the AUX port on the top of the device."

"Vali, grab that gray crate over there! I think I have something to power this…" Nitori said, going to one of her storage cases. After a while, she came back with a glass tube, which had a blue bright crystal inside. "This should do the job. It's a special crystal I obtained from a barter job."

Returning with the container, Vali looked at the crystal, curious. He left the crate on the table and took out all of the cables that were inside, then looked at the crystal.

[What does that do?]

"It contains pure electricity. If we find a way to use this power without damaging the radio, we might make it work. Bring me the positive and negative clip cables that are up there." She said, pointing at a nearby shelf.

Vali quickly reached for the shelf, and after a quick search, he found what Nitori asked him. He carefully took them out of the shelf trying to not carry anything off by accident.

"These should work just fine. Connect one side of the cables to the crystal, please."

Vali did just as asked, placing one side of the clips in the crystal. Then, Nitori plugged both of them into the power plug of the current adaptor.

"Okay. All that's left is turning the power supply on." She said, telling Vali to get closer.

Both looked at the switch, a bit hesitant on whether to flip it or not. [Are you sure this crystal won't burn the power supply?] Vali asked.

"Nah, I don't think so. Besides, if that's the case, we can always try another way." Nitori said, reaching for the switch, and activating it.

-

Editor's note: If you're wondering why this chapter got renamed, I messed up the order so I had to delete the current chapter and reupload the correct one. Apologies for that.