"He wants to ask about the 'promise', does he? Minoru is taking this pretty far."
Murakami faced Hikigane Sekai in a red carpeted hallway.
Sekai roughly wore a Kurosaki uniform and the bandages around his arms and neck had special prints woven in. The way he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms told Murakami something.
...He's telling us he wants an unofficial conversation...
That was the point of this hallway situation. They were "passing by" in the hallway and Murakami "just so happened to overhear Sekai talking to himself". So Murakami looked away from Sekai.
"It's very strange... This 'promise' that Minoru asked Mogami about happens to have meaning here at Kurosaki as well."
He was pretending to speak to himself, but he had a feeling he was going too far. However, Kuruma had too little experience with this sort of thing, given that his parents took care of most things, and sending out Kon would be too dangerous. Sending out the nudist would also be dangerous. Same with the crossdresser. So...
White Fox: "Yeah. That shouldn't be a problem, Kō. Keep at it like that."
As the Yagura Branch representative provided Murakami with assistance, Sekai spoke in front of him.
"The 'promise'. ...That was a small vow made to maintain peace in Mikado City and between businesses." Sekai quietly spoke into the empty air. "Let's go over the basics. Since before the first invasion, people of the city and the rest of the world have settled most of the fighting through their own earthly means since everything we made effects everything we made. It still remains that way even now, nations fighting each other and whatnot. But..."
"But the first invasion happened and everything made on earth had no effect."
Murakami felt he was going too far with that, but Sekai looked out the window and did not question it. He narrowed his eyes in the window reflection.
"Of course...there was still some conflict: between different forces within nations or to secure technology that would otherwise be unavailable due to the strangeness of it to begin with. The difference is that Border members, the original ones, were the ones who knew how to use such technology against the Neighbors."
After all...
"After the invasion started, many things were lost and is seemed like a rapid decline would happen and everything seemed to be a step away from having everything taken."
In other words, thought Kimura as she stopped her search inside the cafeteria in the Border base.
She straightened her bent back and used a finger to mark the entry on the Falcon. She then reached for the screen displaying Murakami's words and she opened her mouth to speak.
"Does Kobayashi via Mogami want to side with us now so they can gain as much as possible before it looks like another decline is coming?"
Background Noise: "The 'promise' has grown somewhat unclear, so a thought occurred to Yoshiko."
Murakami's Trigger picked up Sekai's words as "Background Noise".
Background Noise: "If Kobayashi via Mogami sees things looking toward a decline while Border is around, then she needs to side with Border sooner rather than later, gain as much for her bosses as possible, and use that as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Border and other businesses. ...This also redirects the attention of everyone else away from where it could hurt to where it can only hinder. But this will still be supported by our discussion system."
"Oh, I get it."
Mi-Kon: "What is it, Kimura?"
Well.
"Hiura-san mentioned earlier that Mogami Yoshiko was eating dango, but that must have been a way of hinting at this discussion system."
Ōji: "Looks like we have another criminal... No, this one is a felon..."
White Fox: "Ohhh, sorry. Kimura has trouble controlling herself when she's working."
Haru: "Has anyone around here ever been able to control themselves?"
Manager: "And that one doesn't count! Krümel may have picked it up, but it wasn't my material! I firmly protest these false accusations!"
Life: "You're making this sound complicated, but are you actually weak against this sort of thing?"
.
Yoshiko watched Minoru swipe his hand in the air as if swapping something away while sighing at it.
Border must be a lively place, she thought. But so is Kobayashi, she added. Then she turned to the Sniper who was finishing off the dango.
"You can have these."
She pulled a paper bag from her sleeve and handed it to the Sniper who shook it next to her ear.
"I can tell from the sound: these are karinto, aren't they!? Such high-class sweets! Could it be...are these made from rice too?"
"That's right. They are one of my specialties."
They were quite sweet, so Yoshiko expected the girl's pace would drop.
However, her pace only picked up.
"Wow, the way they melt on your tongue is so different from wheat-based ones! The sesame in them is so good and I can't stop eating them! Ohh, and the occasional clump is like hitting the jackpot!"
"Ahhhh. Yoshiko, this starving girl intends to devour anything and everything while talking about it. Jeeeeeeeeez."
"Minoru...what kind of life does this girl live while in Border?"
"I'm not sure, but I know she eats ice cream with a fox a lot."
"Poor thing... Does she use pets to distract herself from her empty stomach?"
Yoshiko placed a hand on the Sniper's shoulder.
"Eat as much as you want while you are with Kobayashi."
"I don't really understand, but thank you very much."
"Good, good." Yoshiko nodded twice but then took a breath. "That boy didn't, but Sekai and that group ate quite a lot."
"Hm? ...You know Hikigane Sekai?"
"I said we held discussions, didn't I?"
She produced a "ko ko" laugh from her throat as she recalled that nostalgic time. It had only been a few years before, but...
"Shiraishi, Kobayashi, and Kurosaki held many discussions to face the coming age of Neighbors and Border."
And to do that...
"Do you know what kind of preparations we made?"
"Most likely," said Murakami as he pressed his left shoulder against the hallway wall. "The three businesses made sure there would be close relationships spreading out for them. From what I have heard, Kobayashi was kind and quick in how they responded. This is only my speculation...but Shiraishi probably sent Abe and likely someone else, Kobayashi via Mogami probably sent her child, and Kurosaki probably sent Hikigane Sekai."
The muti-business relationship had begun from a moment after the first invasion.
Murakami had been moved as well after being found. His family had moved to Mikado City some time after Border had formed and he had joined due to what he had learned was his Side Effect.
TetsuG: "Wait a minute... Yeah, hold on! That makes absolutely no sense!
Shōgi Boy: "Oh, nice noticin' that. It took me a minute to see it too."
Mad Hatter: "Huh? What's wrong?"
TetsuG: "Going over that list of people..."
"Oh." Murakami saw it too once he looked over the list.
Some of the names seemed fine considering who they were, but...
TetsuG: "Why would Kobayashi send someone else's child to something so important when they have two children?"
Zoe: "Couldn't it have been because of the circumstances? Like, if something did happen, it wouldn't be their own children? Besides, doesn't the daughter not want to be involved with the business?"
That still wouldn't make sense. Sending the son would have been fine enough. For those kinds of things, using someone more personal would be the best choice after all.
"So why send Mogami-san's son?"
He continued speaking to himself in hopes of a response.
So response came, but Sekai continued to talk to himself as well. His words were prefaced with a sigh.
"That's right. I forgot that, even if it was between businesses, it was only considered that after the fact. Our meeting up was before Yoshiko even joined Kobayashi. Once she did join, that promise became a part of Kobayashi."
Murakami also recalled something from the festival that afternoon.
...A name had been mentioned.
In that case, he decided while expanding his thoughts.
"Kurosaki Shin was likely part of that as well. Most likely as an upperclassman."
Artist: "Yes... I should have drawn more upperclassmen material before we became third years. I guess I never thought about it due to not knowing Suzume-chan too well."
Shōgi Boy: "Didn't you draw so much of that that our upperclassmen were afraid of you? Like the nirvana genre."
Artist: "One told me 'I didn't ascend to heaven like that!', so I drew a new one where she started from scratch and worked her way up to the Archaic Drive that took her to the Final Nirvana. Afterwards, I got an e-mail saying, 'Thanks to you, I'm having a great time in nirvana every day!'."
Demon Child: "Honestly...they really needed to learn the difference between reality and fiction."
Umi: "Um, and do you think reality or fiction are more valuable?"
That's quite a conceptual question, thought Murakami as Sekai suddenly turned toward him.
Sekai was smiling with the ends of his eyebrows somewhat raised.
"What a coincidence running into you here."
They had passed by each other by coincidence, so they had only heard each other by coincidence. That was how they had set up this exchange of information, so Murakami nodded and asked a question with a smile.
"Yeah. What a coincidence. ...Where are you headed?"
"I'm out on patrol. ...We've upped security after the incident this afternoon with a dog and his friend running on the festival stands."
"I understand. Toby and his playmate were both a lot of trouble. ...So what do you want?"
"Right. Where are you headed?"
...What? Where am I headed?
Sekai was out on patrol. Murakami had known he would be by here, so he had stepped out into the hall to "happen across him". That meant he had no real destination.
Manager: "This is probably going to develop into a deeper discussion, so if you don't give him an excuse, you can't explain this if someone asks about it."
Black Wolf: "Um, uh? Excuse me? Why am I out here in the hall?"
Kuni: "Heh heh. To mark your territory, right!? Say that's it! You'll turn any part of any business into your turf! Anywhere and everywhere is your turf! In this time, we can say there are emergencies and still don't have bathrooms, so you could mark your territory all you wanted, right!? Tell him you were having fun using the history of your native land! Tell him it's because you're Kō-operative!"
Black Wolf: "I was not doing that and I will not tell him that!"
2.7 Maime: "Well now. Now, now, Kō. Have you forgotten all about your upperclassmen's efforts!? It's fun watching some people's faces covered in shame, so - long story short - I'm going to record them while we watch it!"
Black Wolf: "Jin, I prefer results over the effort that goes into achieving them, so I haven't just forgotten; I have no idea what you are talking about. And I probably should have asked this long ago, but do my other upperclassmen not have any say in the matter?"
2.7 Maime: "You seem mistaken about something, so let me be clear: your upperclassmen has plenty of say in the matter. Under my supervision. And of course, I am under their supervision."
Demon Child: "This may be someone else's problem, but things are getting pretty passionate!"
Artist: "Y-yes, I didn't expect this kind of long-distance heat to reach us from an icy building! Just like with Kuruma-san, I think kind people must have extra warm hearts!"
Murakami was afraid he would be infected if he said anything more and he realized that it was night at the moment, so he ignored part of that and thought about the task at hand.
...Where am I supposed to be headed?
A door opened a few meters to the side and Kon poked her head out with a bowl and chopsticks in her hands.
"Now, Kō-kun, take these and – to use my best English vocabulary – place it 'in' the 'toilet' show some 'guts', 'put' the 'treasure' inside, and strike a 'pose'."
"Do you usually strike a pose afterwards?"
"I only ever heard someone clench their fist and shout...'Get!' Guess who that is. They sometimes receive applause from the next stall over."
Iko: "Oh, sometimes I do that. Celebrating other people's success's the best way to achieve success yourself."
Murakami noticed a look of horror on Sekai's face.
"Y-you guys carries around bowls and chopsticks for that...?"
"N-no! Why are you looking at us like we scare you!?"
Shōgi Boy: "Does this mean your destination's the bathroom?"
"W-wait a second! I could always say I was going to the bath or to get something to drink!"
"Our bath is Far Eastern style, so it's already closed. And all we have to drink is vodka. Is that okay with you?"
Demon Child: "Sounds like you've only got one choice. ...That's too bad. Tell me all about it later."
Black Wolf: "You're going to use this for a doujin, aren't you!? You're going to send it right off to Suzume! That's what this is for, isn't it!?"
Kuru-ma-sama has reconnected.
Kuru-ma: "Oh, sorry. I was speaking with my parents and it put my mind at ease about a number of things, so I fell asleep. Um, what is going on now?"
Artist: "Right. Murakami-kun is stubbornly refusing to go to the bathroom. You can blame the natto."
Kuru-ma: "Eh? ...I don't really understand, but if you're afraid, I can go with you, Kō."
Black Wolf: "Why are all of you treating me like a child now!? And is it just me or did you slip something weird into that explanation!?"
As he shouted via the Border network, the door next to him opened and the crossdresser poked his head out.
"Oh, Kō, Kō. I have a request."
"Eh? Wh-what is it?"
Finally, some help! thought Murakami as Sekai looked over at the crossdresser. Murakami realized Sekai was wrinkling his brow a little.
"Um...do you find something about our colleague to be strange?"
...Wait...isn't he...
"Eh? ...No... I work with a man just as stupid as this one for my other job."
Come to think of it, they are teammates. Oops. I've gotten too used to this.
Kon commented from the side.
"This is no longer meant as a joke. It is entirely normal. ...Heh. This is the problem with entertainers."
"D-damn you! Are you trying to provoke my entertainer's spirit!?"
"More importantly, Jinsei, what is your request?"
"Well." The crossdresser nodded. "I'm playing a horror porn game right now, y'see. I was at the side of the canal when a voice said 'drop it and leave'. Then a crotch gravity attack hit me and black mana erupted from my crotch at Mach speed inside the marsh. Anyway, I'm too afraid to move, so can you go the bathroom for-... Why are you raising your fist? That's not what I meant. Huh? And why do you have a bowl and chopsticks, Yuka? That's not what I meant either."
Um...
"I'm scared, so could you stay out there to protect me until the horror wears off?"
"Okay!"
"I'm counting on you," said the crossdresser as Kon handed him the bowl and chopsticks before he ducked back into his room. Murakami stood next to his door, crossed his arms, and looked to Sekai.
"We won this time!"
"S-sure..."
Murakami was worried about the way Sekai hung his head and let out the most depressing sigh he has ever heard, but he took a breath all the same.
"Now, then. ...I think it's time I gathered my thoughts. Yes, I have a habit of speaking to myself, so I can't help it if I say some of it out loud."
He knew what he had to think about now: the questions they had come across thus far.
"Why do I not remember ever even hearing about Mogami's child and why are both they and the Neighbor important to her? And what is their 'promise!?"
Manager: "Wait!"
...Eh?
Black Wolf: "What is it, Kimura? Do you have another lame joke to tell? Did what I said trigger this?"
Manager: "You people are too harsh lately! ...Anyway, listen up, Murakami-san and Minoru-san. I want you to ask Hikigane-san and Mogami-san something."
Deer Prince: "Ask them what?"
After a short pause, Kimura's words arrived.
Murakami moved his lips to confirm the question written out in text.
"How long was Mogami's child...still around?"
He ended up copying Kimura's tone of voice, but he also saw a change in Sekai's face as he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.
His eyes widened but finally relaxed and then his eyebrows rose in a smile.
...Eh?
Murakami heard Sekai's laughter. Sekai hid half his face behind a hand, so only his shaking shoulders were visible.
"It seems someone there has figured out most of what is happening in Mikado City and what the current situation is. So you've finally seen the truth, you fighters of empty promises. Sigh. So damn irritating..."
Sekai raised his head, re-crossed his arms, and spoke with his eyebrows still raised.
"I'll start with Mogami's child. He was taken four years ago. And..."
And...
"He wanted to make a system. Ruri was a base for it."
"A base...?"
Hiura had a decent grasp of what was going on. She had learned in class and learned some more on the radio and television. Her knowledge of Kobayashi and the Shiraishi family's business came from a preliminary information show on the television.
...According to that, anyone with a high position in Shiraishi starts teaching their children how to take their place, but allows them to choose if that is what they want to do later on in life...
There had been a lot more information shows on Shiraishi, Kobayashi, and Kurosaki ever since they had arrived at a conclusion. According to an afternoon gossip show called Disastrous You...
"This information is unconfirmed, but I've heard that that Shiraishi's worker's former delinquent of a daughter punished their second daughter who wasn't doing any work and this had a profound effect on their parents who were very fond of the second daughter. Is that true?"
The question was directed toward Yoshiko who thought for a moment and then nodded.
"Well, I don't know if this leaked out or if it's just a coincidence, but...it is true that happened. But, there is one discrepancy in that it was not the second daughter but my son. And it was Ruri's mother that was worried about him."
"Oh. ...I saw it on the TV."
According to every discpriction, Abe Ruri, who would become the boss of a division in the Shiraishi's company, was viewed as important to him.
He grew attached to Ruri and they were good friends to each other, but the Abe mother dotted on the boy.
...Abe's relationship with her mother could be due to her decisive personality and due to losing something to illness, but I think she decided to get to Mogami-san's son because that mother was thinking more about a child other than her own.
It was said a certain incident dealt a decisive blow to the quarrel between mother and daughter. In that incident, Ruri's father decided to leave, but Ruri focused on protecting the Shiraishi family and left her father to leave.
For everything thought of as history, there had been much discussion about how to handle that before it got too wild, but before any of that could get out, Ruri's mother had needed to explain the situation.
...So Ruri's mother, Narumi-san, went out in public to address this inside the and explained what happened.
She had gone out in a hurry at night, so instead of the meeting venue, she had accidentally visited a fundraising even where people were not paying attention. The next day, she had frantically begged, "Cancel! Guys, cancel my incident from last night!", but due to her excellent compatibility with people, she ended up having her story twisted.
"It just have been one big game of telephone to reach that kind of story, but I think that was also when Mikado City made some good distinctions for their buildings."
"That's right," said Yoshiko. "I can imagine how panicked she must have been... Narumi was always a friend of mine and like a little sister to me, but she could never get over her carelessness."
Yoshiko laughed quietly, but her expression suddenly sank. The ends of her eyebrows and the corners of her eyes lowered and only her mouth retained a bit of a smile.
"Things were so much fun back then. But now my son has also-..."
"Don't say it," said the Hatohara captain.
Hiura looked up and saw the boy standing with the moon in the background. Minoru spoke below the moon that could approach but never touch.
"What are you planning to blame by saying that now, Mogami-san?"
"Then will you say it for me, Minoru?"
The Hatohara captain's mouth twisted and Hiura thought she heard the boy clench his teeth.
...Oh.
Hiura suddenly realized the two were being considerate of each other.
She wondered what to do as she munched on a karinto. It was sweet, so she spoke the truth in her heart before the other two could.
"Your son...got taken by a Neighbor at the same time, didn't he?"
Yoshiko and the Hatohara captain looked over at her in surprise, but Hiura lowered her head a little while aware she had a bitter smile on her lips.
"Sorry. But...this is Border's problem too. After all..."
As she said that, a message arrived via Suzaku. It was a summary Kimura had made from network information and it was a patchwork of the scraps of data they had desperately gathered.
The sizes were mismatched, but the data was laid out with a focus on readability and it told Hiura that what she had realized was the truth.
She opened her mouth and looked to Yoshiko. She knew what she had to say.
"Your son's fate has to do with Border, doesn't it? If it happened four years ago, that means..."
That means...
"He had been taken during the first invasion and probably before anyone came, right? You could do nothing at the time but confirm whether you intended to fight them or not."
"—"
Kimura placed a hand on Krümel who hung on her shoulder and she collapsed backwards.
She was glad this was inside a building. There was nothing she could do about these difficult matters, but she sometimes wanted to let her frustrations show to reduce some of the stress. However, the messages through her low Trigger was fixed to the location of her gaze, so it moved with the tilting of her body.
And she saw some words there.
Kage: "What the hell? ...That's like a damn challenge to us! We can't go back to the first invasion, but it sounds like they wanna put some damn blame over here!"
"Kage."
She heard a voice from another area behind her. And finally...
"Yeah." Kageura agreed user his voice rather than the text. "I know that, but the way they decide these things really pisses me off!"
"Yeah," agreed Kimura while lying down. She placed Krümel more on her forehead than her head and placed a finger on her throat to pick up her voice.
There was something she understood as a someone looking to politics in the future. Any blame was kind in a way, but it was also cruel in a way.
...I wonder how others felt about doing that?
She first thought of a question that went beyond the conclusion. If she did not do that, she felt she would forget all about the conclusion.
She carved that into her mind to ensure she did not forget and then she spoke.
Manager: "I oh aey ehested...pey, pey, pey, Krümel, ut are oo ooing?"
Kuni: "You've turned into an idiot girl again, haven't you!? I don't know why you switch over every so often, but it's oh so lovely! Is there something wrong with you!?"
Umi: "Ohh, if a program isn't used to it, this tends to happen when you have it read your vocal cords in an unusual position. I'll change the settings a little from here."
Method Change: Program TSUBAKI Settings: Reading Flexibility→High: Confirmed
Manager: "Is this better?"
It seemed so, so Kimura patted Krümel and spoke.
Manager: "I know the blame from four years ago was a sign of want from Shiraishi and Mogami-san, but I believe I know what exactly was going through their heads."
First...
Manager: "Mogami-san would have been thinking about why Border, or at that time a simple group, was not there sooner to help them."
And second...
Manager: "Shiraishi would have been thinking about their three children and the children of their workers in accordance with what happened. But they probably thought someone else. ...Since Mogami-san's son was taken away in that first invasion, they wanted a way to defend themselves."
Mi-Kon: "They took some Triggers from that group?"
White Fox: "No, it wouldn't have been that simple. After all..."
Yuki spoke up to assist Kimura.
White Fox: "Before that wretched family was hated by these companies, they were on good terms due to the invasion and how they helped out."
Kuru-ma: "Yuki. Then..."
"Yeah," posted Yuki, but he said no more than that.
The silence brought by his lack of further comment meant it was Kimura's turn to speak as a future politician, so she got up and breathed in.
Manager: "Children from people were taken by Neighbors during that invasion, so I'm betting the Taiyōko family recommended that Triggers be more mass produced than they are currently and handed out as protection, even if wars would start by using them. In their own way, it may have been a method of minimizing the number of deaths."
White Fox: "Yeah, I remember it now. Those assholes were to busy wanting to fight that they said they themselves would put in the money for it and test anything themselves. That way if something did happen, they would be the ones who were effected by it instead of someone else."
As for the son's kidnapping, he may have left something behind in advance when he noticed Gates start opening up around the city. We need to look into the details there and give it more thought, decided Kimura.
"...?"
Then she heard a sound.
It reminded her of city sirens. And as that low rumbling reached her...
Shōgi Boy: "A single Gate is openin'!?"
.
Kimura could hear exactly what Mizukami had suggested. The noise was coming from the hall as a way to inform them that a Gate was opening.
"Ah!?"
The alarm going off was the normal one for when a Gate opened, but that seemed like no reason for such a reactions. And as soon as he moved toward the area's windows...
"Come here, future politician. You'll see something interesting."
It was the Kotowari Squad Sniper. The alarm was still going off, but as the girl moved to the window and reached out a hand, she easily kept a rhythm with her waist and grabbed Kimura's hand.
It seemed strange because all the girl had done was pull Kimura forward.
...But what is that step she's doing?
The Kotowari Squad Sniper seemed to be dancing as she guided Kimura to the window. As Kimura looked outside, lights illuminated the nighttime Forbidden Zone and people (all agents) ran here and there.
Then Kimura heard a rumbling passing through the sky from south to north.
She could not see the source of the noise, but something else showed what it was: lightning.
Twin bolts of lightning struck on the left and right at set intervals, showing its path.
"Is that what I think it is?"
"Yeah, it's the falcon Neighbor we saw today," said Mizukami as he walked over from a table in his normal clothes. "It's most likely the Blaze made by the Wanderers."
The Border alarm came to a sudden stop, so Suzaku tripped just as he moved through tables and ended up trapped between some tables like a sandwich.
...It's been a while since I saw the sandwich joke.
"W-wait, I'm completely trapped in here! Please help me."
"Heh heh heh. Later, later! The crime of destroying Moon Goddess Diane Misaki's home for the busty is as heavy as two giant breasts! Um, that means you take two πs and multiply them by the diameter..."
"I don't know what you're trying to do there, but I think you have the equation a little wrong, Kotowari Sniper."
At any rate, the Kotowari Sniper only had to pull gently on Kimura's hand to prevent the rumbling of the building from affecting her.
It may have been a dancer's technique. Regardless, Kimura's steady eyes could see the scene in the night sky. An especially large flash of lightning lit up the sky at the edge of the Forbidden Zone.
...What is that...?
Mizukami clicked his tongue and answered Kimura's unspoken question.
"I've heard that the sky was shiny for a while after the Wanderers had left. There were some streaks in the air and lights would sometimes strike at night."
But...
"What is that? That isn't just a light show at all! It's the Neighbor made by those freaks that appeared earlier! ...Why does that appear near the base and Abe Ruri!? And now..."
Colors scattered through the distant sky. They were explosions of light and there were three in all.
...Is that a part of the Neighbor!?
Something had come from the Blaze at the same time something had been thrown up.
Ōji commented on that fact as he moved over to a table.
"Those explosions are from Meteora shots. That being said, we have no one over there who could do that and Shiraishi seemed to only have that strange armor panels and no long-range attacks. Otherwise, they would have used that against someone like Iko-san."
But...
"What is this? That Blaze was appearing near the base and behind Abe, so why is it on a rampage and fighting something else while heading toward Shiraishi?"
Shiraishi Chisato realized the situation was even worse than expected.
...The Neighbor is growing even stronger?
When the report had reached her in her bedroom that doubled as a living room, she had been at a loss as to what to wear at the ball being held before the next day's meeting. She had lined up clothing all across her room, she had fallen to her knees, and she had been holding a mental survey as to what she should curse for this, but the blaring alarm had blasted all that from her mind.
"A flying object is rapidly approaching the White Rock from the western Forbidden Zone, hm?"
There was no one who could leave the area due to the risk of getting struck by something, but they had received a report that something had been fired at the Neighbor to try and stop it. She was unsure if it was Border or another force. Changing clothes would have been a pain, so she ran down the alarm-filled corridor in just her inner suit shirt.
She knew exactly where she had to go.
...The main garden.
As she ran, the alarm sounded and an announcement played over it.
"Another attack has struck the Neighbor, but does not seem to have that great of an effect on it! The attack looks like those of Border's Meteora, but we have gotten word that no Border agent is around to fire them! The target's output has increased by 37% and its thrust has increased by 21% compared to last time! It seems to have undergone some new transformation and increased its parameters!"
"It continued to grow when we aren't looking, so this seemingly exaggerated response must be appropriate..."
But the estimated increases in output and thrust were awful. Ōi had tried to fight at an even level during their previous clash, so if this was based on the data from then, it would have far surpassed her.
...Have we really not reached the level of Border yet?
She did not know the answer, but...
"Rusu-san, are you there?"
"Yes. What is it?"
"What is the status of the Neighbor's appearance?"
An image in a nearby screen appeared to answer her question, but it had not been set to correct the screen transition to her running. She instantly left it five meters behind her, so it vanished and a new one appeared nearby. This time it switched screens with her and it displayed an elderly figure with gray hair.
"The Neighbor appeared in the sky above the western part of the Forbidden Zone. That position was...well, to put it simply, it was between the two of them. But..."
"It focused in quickly and without hesitation, you mean?"
"Correct. The connection is growing. So..."
"You don't have to say it. I'm on my way there."
Chisato faced forward as she ran and spread her arms to the sides
"Ortlinde, only reinforce my limbs."
Protection: Limbs Reinforcement: Confirmed
The air split and the wind blew out as a lid had been removed from the space behind her. Only the crimson armor panels for the arms and legs of Ortlinde appeared.
"Link."
Once they fit into place, her body nearly crashed into the air and each step naturally took her further, but...
"General Affairs Committee, I need to reach the main garden ASAP, so give me the shortest route."
"Head straight down in three...four and a half steps! You won't have to pass through the conduction system there!"
"Right. Thanks."
With that, Chisato took a step and reached a hand into the empty space behind her.
With her second step, she created a trion-made lance in the air.
With her third step, she twisted her body, took a stronger than normal fourth step that sounded loudly on the floor, and added an extra half step. She lowered her knee and stabbed the trion lance deep into the floor.
"Now, then."
She instantly recreated the lance thirty or so times. The stabbing polearm vibrated like a saw and her surroundings spun around. Solid noises and sparks burst out and the rapidly vibrating blade drew a circle on the floor.
A moment later, Chisato dropped down a story along with the hole she had cut in the stone floor.
But she saw a certain color in the instant she fell.
...This is...
It was a green light. It was trion light. It could also be called the light of rapid trion strikes.
"The main garden!"
Again and again, that trion swept across a space that should have been filled with darkness.