At first, she had followed her duty of standing watch in front of the sliding doors, listening in on the conversation between Jin and Kagura. By the end, she had been roped in by what was said.
While she and Jin had left the imperial castle as soon as Kagura dismissed them, evening arrived by the time their airship docked at a riverside port. From there, they set off by foot to their destination. The dirt path was firm beneath Tsubaki's boots, making the walk a rather pleasant one. But not even the serene nighttime atmosphere put her in a mood for lightheaded chit-chat.
Having traveled without speaking a single word so far, she finally broke the silence. No one should be within earshot so far from the main town exit. "Jin-niisama, what do you think? Is the situation as dire as I believe it is?"
He kept his eyes pointed at the road as he answered her. "Hm, it wouldn't surprise me if they did follow Kagura's predictions. If we're quick, we can stay ahead without worry."
"Right, I shouldn't fret so much then… He's rarely wrong when it comes to dealing with the generals."
Kagura expected action from the Librarium soon after the approaching deadline of his report to them. True to its founding principles, Tsubaki had a feeling they were keeping watch over the church's perimeters in secret for a reason. A Nox Nyctores of that caliber certainly would deserve to be vigilant about in this case, but what it meant for the people involved worried her. What information Kagura had given was plenty, but he left her and Jin on their own to figure out the first move. Right away, she had volunteered to get Noel's side of the story in person. And to her surprise, Jin wanted to follow her all the way there rather than wait in the small town.
Their surroundings gradually began to shift. The density of the forest lessened when the road approached a brook to begin running alongside the flowing waters. Further in front of them, the path curved away from the stream and towards a low, grassy hillside.
Glancing to her left, Tsubaki watched his gaze linger on certain spots. Since she had recently passed by this area with Makoto, she had offered to guide him but he declined. Jin appeared confident in the direction of his footsteps despite the passage of time.
The long walk neared its end at the sight of a dim glow coming into view. The light coming from the lone church acted like a beacon. As the one who proposed the idea, Tsubaki marched up to the wooden doors first.
"Wait." Out of nowhere, Jin stopped her.
She turned around a mere second short of reaching the church's front steps. "What is it?"
After joining her, he gently moved her aside. "Let me carry this out. You stay here."
Having seen Jin's distaste for Noel in the past, his request struck her as strange. "But—"
Before she could ask why, he picked up by saying, "You don't happen to have a plan made, do you?"
"No… Not what can be called solid." This made her sorely wish they could have more time to prepare. But all three of them had agreed they didn't possess that luxury if they wanted to avoid suspicion from the top echelons' information network. They had to work fast. "We'll decide on something together. Was that not what we agreed on?"
He shot a glance towards the doors. "...It should be a burden solely for me, not you."