“Snow… It never snowed in Chordia, ever. Never in my 20+ years here…”

It was the strangest experience Kirk had ever felt ever looking at his own home town. Every building, road, was covered in a sheet of snow charred in soot by the fumes of the town’s operations. In addition to that, it was chaotic. He wasn’t sure whether or not the moisture from a layer of snow would damage the infrastructure here. That’s why he figured people were scrambling around, removing as much of the precipitation as possible. Needless to say, Kirk knew everyone wasn't acclimated to such weather.

“And we thought we could get by with hardly any natural fossil fuels...” He was glad he at least brought his boots today, though snow was the last thing he had in mind when first putting them on. But right now, Kirk only has one thing in mind: to see his wife, where he would have to traverse quite a bit from where he was dropped off.

He picked up his feet and ran, as he had been given only so much time to locate areas. The gray stone bricks of the streets he always walked on now felt foreign to him. Through the passageways of the residential district, Kirk eventually cut through corners where he should have been running through grass. Instead, his boots collected snow as it left footprints behind.

I shouldn’t be so worried, but knowing her, her blood pressure would rise like all hell trying to figure out the origins behind this storm.

Kirk skidded to a halt after arriving at a certain door in a row of brick buildings. He fished inside his pockets, but only to feel emptiness. It hadn’t occurred to him that he would have lost important valuables when Riki had shoved him out of the carriage earlier. 

“Oi Preshea, you there?!” Kirk yelled out, banging on the door. After a few seconds, he was met with silence which made his jaw clenched. He knew his wife should be home at this time, so there’s no reason why she wouldn’t respond. Once more, he called out, “Preshea?!”

“Just hold on a minute! Give a lady some time, sheesh!” Hearing increasingly louder footsteps coming to the door, Kirk felt a rush of relief. The door opened for him to see his wife wrapped in layers and layers of blankets from her chin down. Her brown hair was nestled cozily inside the first layer and her glasses already formed fog from the brief exposure to the elements.

“There you are, my lovable husband! Now get inside, because it is cold.” 

“So it seems we got a sudden problem on our hands, eh?” Kirk said, tapping his boots on the mat to rid them of the accumulated snow.

“Emphasis on ‘sudden’.” Preshea muttered, “Our heating bill is going to skyrocket. I can’t let that happen to us.”

“Ah… don’t tell me you already started the analysis…”

“Bingo.♪” The both of them sat on the living room couch to watch the blizzard unfold in the city. By then, it seemed that everyone gave up on trying to salvage whatever it is in need of protection from the weather as the streets were devoid of life.

“If I must make a conclusion,” Preshea said, pushing up her glasses through the blankets, “the storm is likely to be caused by moist air rising up into the atmosphere by coming into contact with cold air, creating a front. Of course, currently, it’s severe enough to be classified as a blizzard, but it’s strange to have cold air just appear like that at all. Just how exactly did this air come about…”

Kirk only watched as Preshea spun a pen between her fingers, lost in thought.

“Even a genius such as myself cannot figure out the mystery behind the snow…” she said, “It’s undoubtedly the first time that I got to press my hand in a pile of snow and experienced true coldness…”

“Well I found out.”

“Yes, of course. Not even my husband couldn’t… wait what?!”

Kirk explained everything that happened to him to Preshea. Despite how out of left-field every event he described was, Preshea already experienced the strange blizzard.

“That is indeed an adventure. And Azure… you met them today?”

“What luck, huh? I was afraid to say it, but I guess eventually the time would come where I would encounter some people there again. Never thought, I would be asked to help out on a job though…”

“Ah, well. So anyways, Azure wants to find some vantage points around here, I see. I do know a few places from meeting different clients around the area. Though,

I’m a little ticked off that my medical expertise is pretty much obsolete thanks to that Katou person…”

“Haha, when I first saw that swordsman’s Aoi, I instantly thought of you and how aggravated you were going to be.”

“No, I can’t admit defeat like this… My talents are too universal to be outmatched by people with superpowers. C’mon Kirk, let’s go now. You’re the one who said we don’t have much time.” Preshea shouted, flinging a jacket over herself. There was only one place Kirk had in mind and he wouldn’t be surprised if she did as well.

“You’re office, huh?”

“You know it.♪”

After an arduously long run through the snow and wind, Kirk and Preshea arrived at a small building covered in white at the end of an open trail. Her office sat on the outskirts of town.

“So cold… So cold…” Entering the door was the equivalent of a sigh of relief. But instead of relaxing, Kirk made his way through the pathway of desks to reach an old metal cabinet. Kirk opened it, where two short-barreled rifles laid on the back of the wall. There wasn’t a speck of dust seen on the surfaces as he held them up to the light.

Meanwhile, Preshea looked into the emptiness of the horizon, where she caught a glimpse of the remnants of Sozuraka’s architecture.

“This is what Azure was asking for, a good rendezvous point… It’s funny, considering how coincidental it is. You don’t think the capital has anything to do with them being here?”

“Definitely not. The capital calls us a third-world region, when it’s not like they help us at all.”

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“Ah, I see now. So those guns are your statement, in a way, to Azure and the capital? That’s such a ridiculous notion. In every single way that I can think of.”

Instead of thinking of a comeback, Kirk took the loss and stood by Preshea to peer through the window as well. From how white the land appeared, the only thing he thought was ridiculous was this whole situation. To him, it really felt like this was just a dream, an absurd one at that.

“Hey, um Kirk?”

“Yes?”

“It looks like you finally have life in your eyes again.”

“Yours too, admit it. The snow reminds you of that time too, right?”

“Ah, ya got me there.” Preshea said with a subtle wink.

“You don’t think we should say something…? About Yui?” Kirk asked.

“I’d rather not interfere. She always writes to us saying she’s doing well. That alone is enough for me.”

Even a simple suggestion such as that made Kirk feel a little inconsiderate. The rocking of his heels communicated this to Preshea which made her take a glance at him. That’s when she noticed something: a more pronounced reflection of light coming from her husband’s eyes.

“Ah, you have to excuse me. I just... miss her.”

“Aww c’mon.” Preshea lightly punched his arm, “What happened to that liveliness you put on when she graduated?”

“I’m just replacing that with the fact that I’m indirectly helping her out. Is that a good enough explanation?”

“Oof, making up excuses on the fly I see.”

“Heh. When you reach my level of excellence, you are able to write your own ticket, so to speak.”

“Right. Right. I keep forgetting that your hobby involves energy transfer. Let’s just head back.”

It was brief, but the appearance of Riki on that path allowed Kirk to reminisce of a time simpler than it was now.

・・・・・

“I see… this is certainly a good location given the geography of the landscape here.” Keijin said, analyzing the chart of the area between Chordia and Sozuraka laid out on the central table. “Perfect, thank you Kirk. With that, we are ready to get this show on the road.”

[https://i.imgur.com/9UhETsN.png]

“The observatory resides on top of a mountain. We will have Oluka’s air bubbles send us up there the moment we arrive.  From there, we will split into two groups:

Team 1 - Katou, Riki, Tamaki

Team 2 - Me and Kaori

We are assuming the girl is housed alongside the Sword in this particular chamber. Both teams should make a beeline to this area. Given its size, stealth should be a lot more feasible, though the most likely scenario is all of us converging on the top of the observatory where we will have a battle royal. If any of us retrieve the two objectives, Oluka will create air bubbles for the descents. And of course, communication is solely via her, as she will be managing the system.”

With a final solid clap of his hands, he said, “...and that should do it. In twenty minutes, we’ll arrive at the base of the mountain and have the showdown of our lives.”

Riki gulped. How Keijin explained it was like they were about to march to their own deaths. But he guessed if there was any time to be in such a mental state, it would be now.

“Ah before that…” Kirk interrupted, “Kaori, you’ve been eyeing these weapons almost all this time.”

Kaori raised an eyebrow at his sudden remark. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She said this, but she knew she couldn’t help herself looking in his direction.

“Don’t lie. I know an engineer when I see them. Take em.”

The design and aesthetic were the first things that jumped out to her. “Steam pressured guns...” Kaori said as she felt the weight of the weapons. Inspecting them, a slight smile was brought upon her lips.

“After what I saw when you launched that bullet, I figured you would rather use actual weapons.”

“...I’m not sure about having a tank of boiling water behind my back and two wires connecting to where the guns are.”

“Would you rather fire multiple bullets at a time, or a single bullet every few seconds?”

“...Can this thing really do that?”

“The piston. If you freeze the piston, you can create pressure beyond the forces that steam could generate. Don’t worry, it won’t explode underneath all of that pressure.”

“...Well as long as it doesn’t kill me, don’t mind if I do…”

The moment she equipped it, the feel of the weight instantly felt natural to her. It’s as if she had gained two new limbs.

“Happy now?”

“...Yes. Thank you… Kirk...”

With that, Kirk raised his right hand sharply, giving a salute to the whole team. He had accomplished what he set out to do.

“And that’s all for my part. I wish you guys good luck on your mission. Oh, and when can I expect the payment…?” His gaze to Keijin as he said that gave off a malice that he probably didn’t attend to.

“...Within a week, of course.”

“Haha, thanks for the heads up. Anyways, I’ll be waiting inside the office to see that white-haired beauty again.”

Watching Kirk closing the door was like watching the choice to turn back close off. But there was no way that Riki would turn back now. After all, there were far too many reasons he had to fight this battle: recover his memories, rescue the white-haired girl, save Chordia’s way of life, the list goes on and on.

“...Wait, I don’t get a cool weapon?” Riki jokingly asked.

“Your Aoi is your own weapon. Don’t get greedy.” Katou snapped.

“Oh? Hold on Riki. Maybe we will equip you with something. C’mon.” Tamaki said, taking his hand.

“Huh? But what else is there—”

“Trust me.”

[https://i.imgur.com/n8VcPZ0.png]

Shown in the mirror was a person Riki didn’t recognize at first. For what was to come, the clothes were as inappropriate for the situation as humanly possible. It felt weird to him, yet he didn’t care. This is the first kind of spark he’d felt for something besides an expected duty to save a person. But win, lost, or absolute despair… the time is now.

“...Thanks Tamaki. I look snazzy now.”

“Ugh. That’s your reaction? That was really weak in my opinion, but I guess it can’t be helped.”

“Did I need to be more enthusiastic?”

“Something like ‘wow, I look like I’m about to kick ass!’, or an equivalent.”

“Well excuse me for expecting a neat gun.” Riki stood straighter and smoothed out a couple of wrinkles. “But really, it’s classy. And light-weight too, surprisingly.”

“Clothing made for movement. I was surprised too when I first put it on.” Tamaki pivoted on her heel and elbowed him, catching him off guard. “C’mon, everyone’s waiting.”

Who’s the one who dragged me here in the first place?

As they returned back, Kaori noticed his new attire and gave a thumbs up, a gesture that he didn’t know how to interpret.

*Ahem* When Keijin cleared his throat, the whole atmosphere of the room changed, creating a permeating pressure in the air. At that moment, everyone knew what he was about to recite.

“Remember the motto for Azure. We are the stargazers, because we look into humanity’s future which is a sea brimming with light. Each shimmer represents a single individual’s future of opportunities. This is just a single battle in a collection for humanity. But I digress— Let’s commence the operation.”