“Look at her sleep. I could almost eat her right now.”

“Don’t, Oluka. We literally just went through all that trouble to get her.”

“But I don’t wanna wait for the barbecue to roast. Katou, give me the spoon.”

“...The hell are you planning to do with a spoon?”

Nagi sat on a couch in an adjacent room with most of the remaining furniture, snuggled up in a blanket asleep. Upon Oluka’s arrival, she passed out the moment she stepped into the ‘tank’ Riki had mentioned, and hasn’t woken since. This made her curious. After Oluka gently carried her with a bubble to the couch, she lingered there with Katou checking up on her periodically to make sure Nagi doesn’t get eaten. Sitting on her air bubble, she leaned closer and closer, her nose almost touching Nagi’s—until the appetizing smell wafted into their room. Preshea waltzed through the hallway with skewers on the two huge plates in her palms.

Whether she wanted it or not, Preshea’s workshop office has never seen this many guests in its years of use. The space was not built to accommodate nine people let alone contain a celebration party she and Kirk decided to hold, but the two made it work with some furniture rearranging. Thus, at the center of the office, was a dining table set for their barbecue feast. And it was a lavish dinner. Seeing guests devouring their cooking made Preshea relieved her and Kirk’s skills hadn’t become that rusty. Because the office lacked alcohol, it was their cooking skills that carried the occasion. She patted herself for a job well done.

“Erm... So those guns are pretty much gone forever?”

Sitting across from Kirk, Kaori began her gorge on the skewers as soon as the plates arrived.

“I had to throw it off the mountain in order to assist Keijin.” she answered Kirk between bites. Although it wasn’t a lie, throwing the gun was an act of desperation. She knew her five second time limit like the palm of her hand and knew the gun would only delay the inevitable, but she threw it regardless.

“He did manage to catch it, didn’t he?”

“Oh, I saw it all happen.” Oluka jutted in. “Kaori froze it in midair just in time for my bubble to reach him, and then it made for the perfect place for his epic showdown with the final boss.” She picked up a spoon but immediately placed it back after Katou shot her a look. “And all for it to end as a draw.”

“...And the gun?”

“Unfortunately after that ‘epic showdown’ I was all but too tired to even hold onto the gun and let it slip out.” Keijin said, who sat to the right of Kirk. “I apologize for any inconvenience that might have caused. Don’t worry. We will also cover the costs for those weapons.”

Kirk rubbed his hair in defeat. “Urgh… That’s not the point here…” Never in his life had he heard of such bizarre sequences of events. First, it was those flame spirits chasing his carriage, and now hearing about their grandiose fight at the summit of a mountain. He’d lose his hair at this rate hearing more of their stories. Unfortunately he couldn’t say the same for his wife who was instead using it to her advantage.

“Say Katou… I heard that your ability allows you to revert anything back to its previous state.” Preashea asked, dropping her elbow on Katou’s shoulder and pointing at Keijin. “And I also heard that Keijin right there got pretty beat up out there.”

“...Your point?”

“If you don’t mind, how long did it take you to heal him up?”

“Hell if I know.”

“C’mon just a ballpark.”

Katou clicked his tongue and shook off her constant tapping on his arm. “Keijin was walking by the time Oluka drove back. Do the math yourself. Personally, maybe he shouldn’t be walking so you could handle him yourself.”

“—Yeah… maybe he shouldn’t be…”

As her words trailed off, a shudder came about Katou. He wasn’t sure if that was a threat towards Keijin or himself.

“Ah… I could’ve fixed him myself if I really wanted to.” Preshea sighed. “Looks like I need to fear more than just automation taking our jobs.”

“Preshea, don’t you think about beating him back up.” Kirk called out from the table.

“I wasn’t buuuut the idea sounds pretty nice.”

Upon hearing that, Kirk cleared his throat. “Don’t worry about her, Keijin. Her expertise is in healing, not injuring.”

“That is relieving to hear.” Although it wasn’t as if Keijin was worried about his life ending that night in the first place.

Preshea shook her head in displeasure. “Eh… you give me more credit than I deserve. Anyways, I’ll be locked up in my room. Don't forget to wash the dishes when everything’s all over, dear Kirk.”

“Wha… you’re just gonna leave me to fend for myself?!”

But the door to the office had already shut. “...I’m gonna check up on Riki to see how he's doing. Pardon me.” Not to make the situation any more awkward, Kirk stood up and excused himself.

“Great job today.” That message from Keijin was to be said to everyone but only Tamaki, Kaori, and Oluka remained at the table, with Katou sighing and heading off. “Despite not apprehending either Takeshi or Mary, or recovering the Sword of Tsurugi, we did accomplish our main objective.”

At the mention of that, Kaori raised her hand for a high-five and Tamaki returned the offer.

“All in a day’s work!”

Although expecting her valet to be smiling back, Tamaki saw that Kaori’s head was slumped onto the table suddenly—although her arm was still raised to hers.

“All in a day’s work indeed…” she grunted. “Why did I thought doing that was a good idea… How did I agree to this...?”

“Aw c’mon Kaori. Cheer up.”

“My job is to make sure you don’t die, you know.”

That was when Oluka slapped her own hand on their high-five. “Be glad you two. We don’t usually celebrate like this. Enjoy it while it lasts.” She shot Keijin a look. “...As much as I’d like Keijin to.”

Tamaki brought her palms down at the sight of Oluka’s bitter look. “H-Hey, I mean there’s always too much of a good thing, you know?”

Keijin sighed. The relaxation of the party did make for some stress-relief. He didn’t expect Kirk and Preshea to have set up their own office for their return when he only requested a lookout for Oluka. Perhaps he can learn a thing or two from them.

“I guess you can call this celebration killing two birds with one stone.”

All three looked at him.

“Celebrating that no one died?” Oluka said but Keijin ignored her.

“This may be the last thing on your minds by now, but do you two remember what I said in Fallway pertaining to your test for Azure admission?”

At the mention of the test, Tamaki and Kaori both paused. True to his word, the exam they had sacrificed long nights for, the exam that they used a ship to sail to and a private inn to stay at, was far in the back of their minds. All that trouble of preparing these items just to lead them to an encounter with a mad scientist.

“You cancelled it due to the operation.” Kaori painfully noted.

“—But what if I told you two that there won’t be a need for a test?”

To them, it was a strange thing for Keijin to say. As an officer, he was obligated to conduct exams in a way similar to the operation with their purpose being, of course, a means to test reading situations and make decisions in a high-stress environment. At least, that was the story that Tamaki and Kaori received before they had set out to Fallway’s main hub.

In a way similar…

“Don’t tell me…” Tamaki’s eyes widened as she put two and two together. “So you are saying… all of that was the test?”

The location Keijin had planned for was far from what he had in mind, yet he stood up and pushed in his chair regardless. Keijin took a deep breath, and his tone switched to that of a commanding officer.

“You two are now honorary members of Azure. Bearing that now of the stargazers, you must see humanity’s future be the night sky itself.” He paused for a minute. “Of course, giving the full speech at a dinner table is far from appropriate, so I’ll save the rest at another time.”

But there was no need. She was satisfied as is. The dream she had to explore the history of the world as a scholar at the most renowned organization could become a reality.

“D-Did you hear that, Kaori?!”

“Heard it loud and clear, Chief.” she smiled. “Heard it loud and clear.”

・

Riki stood by the doorway where Nagi slept, taking a couple of glances at her every now and then. For a long while he stood with his hands in the trousers Kirk had given him. With his suit utterly torn and ripped apart from the battle, Kirk loaned him some hand-me-downs after they arrived. The cardigan he brought out was a bit itchy for the first minute or so, but the feeling subsided afterwards. His worrying did not however. No less he almost got a heart attack seeing her drop the way she did in the armored vehicle. Learning she only passed out from exhaustion did little to ease it.

Is she… ever going to wake up?

He took one more glance at her. Still covered in the blanket, eyes closed.

“Nagi…”

When he said her name he thought it would mitigate his feeling of emptiness, but rather, it widened the distance between them.

“—Yo.” A hand on his shoulder. Kirk walked up towards his side. “I knew you’d be here. That was a pretty long bathroom break.”

“Kirk.”

“You can’t be peeping at women while they sleep like this. You should know that by now. C'mon you're missing out on all the ribs.”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Riki’s expression remained unchanged. The comment did little to embarrass or mock him, but that confirmed Kirk’s suspicion that the young man wasn't in the best of spirits.

“...By the way, someone left this at the door while you went for the operation.” he said which finally made Riki turn. As he did, Kirk brought out something from his back. It was a flowering plant in a brown terracotta pot, the sight of which he had seen before.

Riki took the plant from Kirk and revealed its name before realizing he had done it. “A hibiscus…?”

“So that’s what it’s called? I couldn’t figure it out for the life of me. Anyways, she said her name was Charlotte, and that she was looking all over just to give the hibiscus to you.”

“—Charlotte?!” Riki exclaimed, pressing up against Kirk’s personal space. “Her memories survived?!”

The last time he and Charlotte spoke was when Takeshi had ambushed them. As much as he hated to believe it, Takeshi had definitely robbed her of her memories. But to have her personally search for Riki struck him as a sign her memories survived.

“Woah woah, I know nothing about her. I just know she said to me the plant has seen the light of day, and yet never seemed to light up itself. Withering like some old grandma apparently. That was until you apparently made it flourish. Is that all true?”

Riki let his eyes linger on the hibiscus shades of red. Before he had used his Aoi, its petals were a faded brown, closing itself as if to protect itself in its weakened state. But now it shined its brilliant red hue. Charlotte… He had no way of knowing what came about her after the encounter with Takeshi.

“...Listen. What are you going to do from here on out?” Kirk asked after seeing his expression growing more somber.

The question hit him like bricks. He hadn’t put much thought into his next plans after the mission. In fact, he hadn’t put much thought into his actions up to this point, only letting life sweep him wherever it wished to lead him. ‘I don’t have a home to go to anymore.’ Riki sighed, recalling Nagi’s words. To think they had also applied to him.

“I don’t know.” Riki admitted. “I... don’t know what to do now.”

Kirk looked into those eyes, eyes that wandered aimlessly without a clear direction. Ah… He’s just like her.

“Give it some time. Life’s hard when you haven’t figured it out, and no one in this world has ever fully figured their lives out.”

Riki felt his whole body relaxed upon hearing Kirk’s words. He definitely needed them.

“You seemed to have yours though.”

“Hah. Think some guy like me hasn’t had a quarter-life crisis yet? I was just going to invite you to stay at my place to make sure you don’t go through one of those yourself.” He patted Riki on the back. “Tour the town. That’s what I do whenever I go through a period of questioning my life. In fact, that’s what my daughter does too.”

“Thanks… I might need that. And your dau—”

“—Is the girl awake yet?”

The door opened and closed from the end of the hallway. Behind the two, Katou broke their conversation. His haori carried the scent of recently washed laundry, and now Kaout somewhat flaunted it as he made his way over to the doorway, peering inside.

“Didn’t think so. Not a lot of people could go on after days of running and limited sleep. Also, nice plant.”

“Thanks?”

“Are you not gonna enjoy the barbecue, Katou?” Kirk asked, refraining himself from repeating what he said to Riki with Katou.

“Not really having an appetite right now. After all, pretty sure the glutton that is Oluka ate everything by now.” Katou scowled, not due to the food, but after taking another look at the hibiscus in Riki’s hand. “Cavall is no longer with us.”

As much as he hated to admit it, a pain in Katou’s heart erupted when he watched as the akita faded away in the Träger after serving its purpose. Even though he knew using an Aoi drains you much like exercise would, the feeling kept on biting him to this moment.

“I’m thankful for Charlotte. That little guy couldn’t have been a better partner.” Katou said, which made Riki hold his breath.

“Cavall was the one that allowed us to escape unscathed. If it wasn’t for him, then there was no way we’d stop those fish flames.”

“Then all the more to be thankful.”

Riki clenched the hibiscus’s pot. Be thankful for Charlotte. Simple but effective.

“—We couldn’t have Charlotte assist us anymore than she already has.” Keijin's voice called out at the end of the hallway. “But if not for her, our mission couldn’t have been successful.” After arriving at the door frame alongside the three, he peered over to check Nagi’s condition. Still sleeping.

Kirk grimaced further. Oi… We really shouldn’t be crowding around at her doorway… Despite trying to nudge everyone to the main room, all three paid no mind to his head gesturing. He gave up sighing after Katou continued the conversation.

“Hey Keijin, think it’s about time you break it to him?” Katou asked.

“I suppose it’s time.”

A touch of confusion hit Riki after seeing their sudden cold expressions. “What are you two talking about?”

Keijin looked over to him. “Technically the mission we had gone through was not recognized by the higher brass. In fact, they, including just about everyone within Azure, know next to nothing of the situation.” He continued, seeing Riki’s confusion grew worse. “If they were aware I had brought Tamaki, Kaori, and you to a mission of life and death, my head would be rolling on the grass right now. Or… at least in the streets.”

“Oh…” The thought never came to Riki that sending non-certified civilians to battle would not be such a great idea, no matter how apparent the danger appeared. Keijin kept all this a secret knowing it’ll risk his position?

“Perhaps you can think of this as a foolish act of compensation on my part.”

“Then why... did you invite me?” It didn’t make much sense to Riki that out of all people to invite in a top secret mission, it was him. He could at least vouch for Tamaki and Kaori since they had wished to join Azure, but Riki was no more than an outsider. “Why did I out of everyone else get to go along? Was I just at the right place at the right time?”

“I would be lying if I said that wasn’t a contributing factor.” Keijin chuckled. “But there are two main reasons why I decided to keep this hidden from others. One, your rather strong desire to rescue Nagi.”

“...What does that have to do with anything?” He said, a bit taken back how obvious it must’ve appeared. But Keijin remained perfectly emotionless. As he spoke, his words, too, carried no emotion.

“—Azure lists Nagi as a first-degree murderer.”

In that moment, many questions came rushing in Riki’s mind, each one silenced by his realization. “What… But… That was why we saved her—” No, it wasn’t a matter of rescuing. Rather it was the opposite. “You were getting her back to imprison her.”

That was when a cold smile played over Keijin’s lips. The unfortunate truth has to come out, that someone under that very roof ran the risk of losing their position.

“Quite the opposite. I pulled a lot of strings to have her infractions revoked.” He crossed his arms before Riki or Katou had time to respond. “...Is what I want to say, but even I don’t have that kind of power. But what I do have is the power of lying. All this time the higher brass believed I was running an exam when in fact, I used the time to retrieve Nagi.”

It would only be natural that he would be tried and punished for his breach of regulation, and that he would be seen as a mad man knowing this was done on purpose.

Katou eyed him, already believing that to be the case. “Still maybe you shouldn’t have tried to escape your problems? I heard from Kaori that you tried to kill yourself again to bring down the enemy.”

“I could say it was for the sake of the mission, but you have heard that story well too many times by now.” Clearing his throat, his expression grew emotionless again. “...Nevertheless, it doesn’t change the fact that those families have been affected, either still grieving out there to this day, or they may have already moved forward. Either way, Azure is justified to place blame on her.”

It was that justification that led her to be scapegoated whether they had proof or not. Because it was that easy…

“Then hurry onto the next reason.” Katou urged Keijin.

“Right, as for the other, I already explained to Tamaki and Kaori.”

After hearing about a piece of Nagi’s history and Keijin’s elaborate gamble, Riki couldn’t imagine another reason for Keijin to keep the operation of rescuing her a secret. And yet as the moonlight sprawled through the window of the hallway, Riki saw the face of one bent on achieving his goals.

“It was also to keep the secret that you and Tamaki weren’t born with an Aoi. You two are the one of the few I'm aware of that received an Aoi later in life, rather than gifted one at birth. All of that was for the sake of keeping you two, you three, safe from the world.”

・・・・・

“It was certainly a nice story.”

While the winds along the mountain’s summit was far too cold for anyone without sufficient clothing to bear without shivering, Keijin’s storytelling managed to distract their own thoughts from any discomfort. Wincing, Takeshi shifted around on the bubble. As much as he would’ve liked however, even Keijin’s story didn’t distract himself from the wound in his right hand. Using his Aoi to forget the pain could only last as long as he can stay conscious.

Keijin unfortunately didn’t have such luxury at his disposal. He sighed, a hand on his ribcage. “That is what I have to say regarding Azure. Other than Giovanni’s story, I have nothing more to share.”

“Fine by me. I appreciated it nonetheless.” However seemingly far from his intention to learn about the current operations of Azure, the story was more than he bargained for. Even if it meant losing the use of his hand.

The cold winds howled again. Strands of hair fell over Takeshi’s eyes, having to push them back. But when he did, he took notice of the lack of snow that once engulfed their vision as Keijin dragged him down the mountain. The storm clouds parted before Takeshi had realized. Then that means, it’s all over.

“Are you fine with this?” he asked, his gaze towards the ground hundreds of meters below him. “You can signal your subordinate to release this platform and I will plunge to my death. With that, your mission will be over, will it not?”

“Heh. It’s not like I’m able to contact her now.” Keijin searched for the leaf used for his Aoi but he felt nothing within his pocket. It must’ve escaped the moment he was blown back into the mountain’s side. “I’d give anything to get off this rocky excuse for a seat.”

“At the very least you have the security of the mountain. For all we know I’m seconds away from hitting my head.”

There was an air of empathy on both sides once they said their woes. In the end, they were both men pursuing their goals, and it so happened their paths crossed in opposite directions.

“It’s hard to believe a single boy could garner the experience of a multitude of people in such a short time span.” The memory of those brothers were still strong in his mind. Giovanni, Campanella. The glorified and romanticized message those two brought made him chuckle. “But if that story is true, then maybe he’d be the first with the ability to communicate. That boy could grow up not once sullying the values of freedom and equality.”

“...You can be a good man at heart, Takeshi. I can even overlook this transgression of instigating geographical warfare and abduction.”

“Would you say the same if we were on opposite sides of bars?” He sighed, letting his eyes gaze up to the night sky. “In the end, the little experiment failed, but it was worth the try. To think that there could be such Artifacts in this world that can draw out humanity’s wishes, no matter how impossible. No matter the ill-intent.”

He had heard Keijin say communication is humanity’s greatest weapon, and perhaps he was right. Takeshi brought his left hand outwards, palm facing the stars. It was a motion Keijin found odd, but he passed it off as him having a moment to himself before he’d finally bite the dust.

“It was a nice effort either way.” Takeshi said in a tone fitting of one who has accepted their fate.

However, Keijin caught sight of a gleam in the sky that fell closer and closer until—the Kusa no Tsurugi landed directly in Takeshi’s hand.

“Wha—”

“I’ll be sure to remember the story.”

Takeshi disappeared in an instant leaving nothing, not the Sword, not even the bubble stained with his blood.

“...So much for a nice chat.” Carefully leaning back onto the mountainous rock after jolting his body forward, he groaned as the dull pain seeped in. But it was as if the pain completely disappeared as he gazed outwards into the horizon. Well, I can wait a few more minutes. This view is something you don’t see every day.

・

“Wow, she’s cute!”

After confirming the success of Nagi’s capture, Oluka bursted out of Preshea’s office building and immediately revved up the engine of the Träger, barreled to their position. With Kaori meeting up with Tamaki and Katou on the 3rd floor, they received word on Riki’s success. Cavall already had bolted up in order to play catch with more bullets, but Katou had grabbed its collar before it saw those koi as potential playmates. Oluka’s air bubbles reached them before Cavall could get any more desperate for action.

Now every member of the squadron that had undertaken the mission returned to the screen lit interior of the Träger. Oluka too, thought she suffered a mini heart attack after seeing Nagi collapse as soon as she stepped in, which almost came to fruition when Riki’s eyes drooped followed by himself as well. She groaned and carried the two with her bubbles to the backseats.

Tamaki gazed at her with an awe akin to seeing a perfectly crafted ice sculpture. “...Now I see why Riki was so dead set on rescuing her.” For that period of time when the engine revved up once more, Tamaki thought back a couple of years—to a time when she could sleep peacefully just like Nagi. Her earring of red gemstones swayed gently as she smiled, thanking Riki for giving Nagi a chance to rest. That was, until the vehicle jerked forward and caused herself to slump forward into the seat.

“Never seen you in that position before, Chief.”

“Kaori… Help me up...”

“Oi, Oluka! Give us a warning before you send us out of the windshield, will you?” Katou gripped the railing alongside Cavall’s rear leg. After letting its leg go, Cavall darted around the interior as if the jerk had signaled playtime.

Woof!

“All hostiles have disappeared from the area. There shouldn’t be a need for caution, but Katou does have a point, Oluka.” Keijin said, recently healed by Katou and not wanting to risk injury again.

“Oh yeah, guess I should.” Oluka gripped the steering wheel. “—Running final checks… done. The plow machine: all systems green. Hold onto your hats everyone, we’re blasting off.”

As the Träger sailed forward across the white plains of Sozuraka, so did the snow that melted under its tracks.