Kokonoe unceremoniously fell limp against the back of her chair, disturbing the plastic wrappers surrounding her. Taking a deep breath, she then exhaled hard enough to shift the hair hanging in front of her eyes. Things were progressing much too slowly for her standards; going through the information of this 'other' world proved to be an unexpectedly tough endeavor.
The copy of her supposed alternate self answered most of what she asked, yet the strange corruption remained rampant. Even after checking the data for tampering with a fine-tooth comb, she couldn't find the reason behind it. Over and over, she scanned for ways to clear away the blank static and found nothing. Her best theory so far pointed at her machines having compatibility issues. And to fix that, she had to pin down the exact source of the problem.
Equipment troubles aside, her mind had also struggled to keep itself on track. Some parts of the data were more difficult to process than the rest, but not because of the concepts behind them. "…" She sighed, rubbing the back of her hand against her forehead as she did so. Of all things, the problem lay solely in her personal feelings getting in her way.
The wake of the Embryo dissolving caused widespread distortions in people's memories, especially of events involving those that had died within that small, jumbled world. Her mother's resurrection, Terumi's reappearance, summoning a copy of Celica's soul, Minerva's creation, recovering Hakumen from the Boundary, the Takamagahara System being shut down, the Master Unit descending upon reality, the Doomsday ritual succeeding, chosen souls gathering inside a temporary space—anything connected to those happenings had been erased or altered in current history. Even more damning, the fact that she forgot about the existence of the backup made from the inside the Embryo lent credence to the idea of the Boundary being the only place immune from manipulation.
To return the world into a stable and cohesive form after the disappearance of the Embryo would require an extensive Phenomenon Intervention only achievable with the Azure and the Master Unit's combined powers. If so, who had managed to get their wish granted among the candidates? What happened to the Master Unit?
Unfortunately, she could only speculate. Her other self didn't witness anything of the sort, having been broken apart into seithr before the supposed finale. In short, it made some questions impossible to answer. However, she felt certain that what was being blocked from her could be a hint to figuring out what Relius Clover wanted.
Stuck at a dead end, she switched gears to another major project.
Kokonoe got up from her seat after fishing out a new lollipop from the inside of her sleeve. As she let the sugar melt on her tongue, she went to another corner of her laboratory. Pushing aside a curtain of dangling wires from unused machinery, she arrived in front of a slightly raised platform.
At the center stood the inactive Susanoo Unit, which had been moved from its original spot at the bay level. Amid a sea of electronic lights, the unit appeared to almost fit in with the surroundings. The amount of time it spent inside her workshop had nearly turned it into a staple feature of the place, silently staring despite holding no consciousness. Its oppressive aura spoke otherwise but perhaps it was a hallmark of its authenticity.
She smirked to herself at the thought of her other plans. "Not bad if I do say so myself…" At least she had reached a good milestone here by using the information pulled from the Embryo.
The specific key to her progress lay in the lesson given to her by the Platinum Alchemist, Trinity Glassfille. Although brief, Kokonoe had apparently received a basic rundown of alchemical concepts, only taught at the former college in Ishana, during the attempt to break into her mother's workshop.
Alchemy involved the manipulation of matter, not an unfamiliar topic to Kokonoe, but Trinity's expertise surpassed her own by leagues in certain areas. Of the material types she had worked with the least were souls. On her own, she could make use of the Boundary or an Embryo Storage to get the result she wanted, but little else beyond that.
Armed with the new knowledge, however, the possibilities within her grasp had expanded. Though her techniques lacked refinement, extracting what remained of Hakumen from the unit became a possible task.
"That's done, but…" Candy in hand, Kokonoe checked on the computer systems monitoring the Susanoo Unit. As far as she knew, the inside should be vacant at the present moment. But evidently, another problem had to rear its head after she got what she wanted.
With no way to input commands, the unit couldn't move. The armor formed a perfect metaphysical shell as well as it formed a physical one, and none of her machines could see beyond its physical composition. Having no knowledge or access to the inner core, she could not create any kind of controller for its functions. Like diamonds, she would need tools made up of the same materials as the Susanoo Unit itself to interact with its external and internal structure. If she pursued that avenue, it meant cracking open a whole new can of worms.
Refusing to be stopped by one option being eliminated, she had chosen to tread in blind territory once more.
By combining Trinity's teachings and her own specializations, she had poured her energy for the past days into another new invention—a dual-purpose system merged into one. She dubbed it the 'GAUSS-0Z Unit Transport Navigator 00', which had reached completion and was ready to launch. The name could need some rework though.
On the assumption that Hakumen had no problem interfacing with the unit, using him to make it move was her best alternative. He would serve as a medium, allowing her to study what her newly-made system recorded until she created something capable of replacing him. Now, it hinged on whether a particular someone would cooperate.
Done with her routine check, Kokonoe considered tuning the prototype one last time before she used it for field testing soon. "Luck's all I can bank on for this to work perfectly…" Knowing that did not please the side of her that wanted good results. But the chance for the unexpected added a sense of thrill she hadn't felt in a while.
A familiar noise began whirring in the background.
"That sound…!" It originated from the landing zone for her long-distance transportation device.
Alerted by the unannounced use of her equipment, Kokonoe raced toward the central hub of her workshop. The blinking lights indicated an emergency. "What's going on?! You—"
Leaving a short trail of rainwater behind him, Jin Kisaragi stepped off of the platform. He carried an impatient look in his glowering eyes once he removed his hood, demanding answers from her.
Likewise, Kokonoe shot the same glare his way as she bit down on the candy's stick. The Nox Nyctores in his hand drew her attention right off the bat. She had explicitly warned this idiot against fighting when she allowed him to wander outside. Perhaps his movements should have been watched more closely.
Just then, the other person who had arrived spoke up after a pained grunt, "Sorry about this, Kokonoe. But we ran into some trouble." The surface of his equipment had fresh marks from combat.
"Tager?" The state of him baffled her even more. Before this, her monitoring software hadn't detected him receiving any kind of damage. "Tell me what happened, stat!"