Seriously… I was so confident of sleeping really early last night and the futon was so cozy while the coldness still enters the room when the heater was already on. It was exclusively because of the epitome of comfort that I find myself sleeping in and looking at the clock that says 8:21am while I am still lying down alone in the room. Indeed, literally everyone has left apart from me.

Conveniently, I felt something rustle under my hand after getting up from the bed feeling incredibly fine. It was a small note that says, "You were like Ringo apart from drooling on your pillow so we left you behind - Nagi".

"…

Ah… I get it…"

Nagi could most likely be talking about how I might be like Rin in my sleep—being extremely hard to wake up. But well, I know a solution to Rin's habit but I will leave that for later as I don't have anyone to wake up now, and I absolutely don't want to get punched first thing in the morning.

After being changed from my yukata to easy to move clothes, I stored back the futon in the cabinet and stepped out. I recalled, wearing our uniform was an only requisite for the first half of the trip yesterday and it will not be worn again in our departure as students walking around a little tomorrow night in Cotona will be very questionable.

I then opened the notes app of my phone and looked at the schedule for the day in which consists of visiting the laboratories and the museum. By the time I'm going down to the ground floor, the other students may be on free roam until 10:30. With the remaining duration of my time, I can still do a full session on a gym on the first floor. Yes, a gym.

But as I was about to do my warm-ups, I pondered some questions.

"…

Are school trips really this lenient?"

The usage of the gym was under the coverage of our stay, so I was free to do all the calorie-burners that I need to do. The gym itself also fell under my observation as this might actually be my first time inside as I always do my workout at home or when I am in the Void for very rare occasions. There are actually quite a few people that are using this facility. Some are actually somewhat ripped under their clothes, and I swear that they are looking at my physique that hadn't built up to be like those machos even after all the muscle ripping that I did for years now.

But having finished my warm-up, I stood on the treadmill while figuring out how to use it. And goodness me, there is actually a notice of how much weight the treadmill can support. With that putting a smile on my face, I got off without even starting it and took a pair of dumbbells that weighs 20 pounds each (but we actually use the metric system in this country). Still, I can feel that the muscle aficionados are looking at me while I step anew on the treadmill with the dumbbells at hand.

Immediately, I set the treadmill to a speed that is nearly a sprint and ran with the 40 pounds on my hand. Having put my phone beside the dials, it sounded and the screen turned on showing a message that Rin is already back at the hotel and is about to see how I'm doing here as I've told her that I will be in the gym. In just a few seconds, Rin, Shiro, and Yuzuri-san appeared near the window where I am clearly seen by anyone. And so, I saw them without even stopping.

Yuzuri-san's jaw was nearly falling off.

~ ~ ~

"Sorry for surprising you, Yuzuri-san. Ahahahaha."

"No, if anything, no, no, yeah, I really was surprised. I didn't really notice it from your physique, but running like it was literally as easy as breathing was amazing. I guess I'll make Ryou-kun run like that too."

"Please don't. That might disjoin Yugare-san's arms in the 'long run'. I only do that kind of workout since I just happened to be capable of it."

"Really… Just how much is your stamina, Gin-kun? You don't even feel tired even in crowded hours at work."

"Being very active in the kitchen was also a physical training for me. I need to regularly retain my shape."

Rin chimed in, "He said that, Yuzuri-san, but you should already know that he has an inter-dimensional stomach."

"Yes. I can imagine how much his regular shopping costs."

"You bet."

Since there was still time after my moments from the gym, the three of us, Yuzuri-san included, passed the time while sitting on the massage chairs present in the public area. Though I am really not sure if I should be doing this after putting my full body for a "simple stretch". Anyways, I felt that my limbs were easing up from tension.

"My shoulders are heeeaaaaled…"

"Oh, yeah. I haven't asked, how's the trip so far for you, Rin?"

"It's fun for me. I like this trip better than when I'm in Wisteria. But the girls around me are always looking for food, though."

"Are you talking about me, Ringo-chan?" Yuzuri-san leaned forward while landing a scary smile on Rin.

"Yes, you're one of them, Yuzuri-san! Every time you see something delicious, you and Shiro just nab them. But still…! Rena is my inspiration to be fit!"

"Hahahaha. Let's run some 15km again when we're back home."

"Heck, no. I'm not some person whose lungs won't burn in this cold."

"I'll teach you a breathing technique," I almost said.

"Ehhhh. Try it at least once."

"No."

"I'll treat you ramen if you join me for at least 10km.

'What's even the purpose,' I know you'll ask."

"Why did you even bribe me, then…"

"But will you join me?"

"No."

"But you're still going to run if it's not winter, right? Can I give you a ring?"

"Yea- Hey…!"

"Ahahahahaha…! Finally had a chance to throw that. Did I surprise you?"

"Yea- Now I don't know where to respond…!"

But while Yuzuri-san doesn't mind our exchanges, she mumbled to herself, "So they also have a side like this, I see.

Hahh… If only that stupid Ryou-kun will already give me a ring…"

…

"By the way, I missed the chance to ask, but is that AMM jacket you're wearing really warm?" Rin asked after going off from the chairs.

I guess that she had long noticed that I brought the new type of AMM jacket subsequent to the long suits that I wore against Teardrop. It is really nice how much the cloth can be customized based on the season, for example. With this, I can always stay secure.

"Want to try it?"

"Let me, then."

And so I placed it on her shoulders.

"Ohhh… It really is warm. Can we switch coats?"

"Hey, I don't want to and that will just look baggy on you."

"Dun' care. It makes me warmer."

"Pfft… I'll make one for you when we get home, then."

"You're serious?"

"And cautious, Rin."

~ ~ ~

We then made our way on our first proper destination for the day—the laboratories. What I find surprising the most in this city is how free your any way of travel is; not monetarily, however. I roamed around with the guys for some hours yesterday, and it will be stupid of me to not notice and observe how every path we went to is like walking in a "half White Street". I still think that my home's street is the nigh epitome of silence among all avenues, but it is like White Street itself diffused its silent energy across the whole city.

And if ever White Street will be anthropomorphic, it would have an extreme case of chuunibyou.

Going back to the point, we are only traveling by foot, and it seems extremely apparent to the actual residents here whom I have observed to be walking most of the time. Maybe that's the reason why they look healthy. There are still of course a lot of vehicles passing by the streets and highway, but there is hardly any traffic, surprisingly. This therefore might be addressed as a rural city, if I may.

I say that, but we literally just stopped in front of a really modern and advanced facility. We were welcomed by a man coming out of the huge gate that is wearing a lab coat for all its glory. Unsurprisingly, we had to write our names in a log which in some ways are painstakingly long as our batch of visit includes VA, BM, and CA classes.

"I see that you have a few more visitors at the same time," said Kiiro-sen to the man.

"Although it's actually quite rare for visitors to come in this season. It is in a way good for the workers as they might be getting lonely by only seeing very familiar faces everyday."

"Hmm. It seems that a close proximity is maintained over the staff in contrast to how big your facilities are."

"AI may be developing, but not here in Gola. We prioritize human relationships and we do it by having a get-together once every one or two weeks. So far it has given the staff the opportunity to socialize within other departments."

Impressive ethics, I thought. It's hard to find many companies that does what Gola Labs are doing—as if those get-togethers were already part of their protocol. What's more astonishing is that they can find the time to do that periodically assuming that all of the personnel are present. This is an exponentially bigger institution than my work, but we just can't find the time to do things like this. Maybe this will inspire a proposition to Hiro to do something similar for at least every time my hair gets long to tie it, or simply said, every few months.

But then I had a recollection. I am sure I have heard something about WT students treating their supervisors to something once every single one of them finishes their WT. Frankly, that can be made as an excuse to let loose a little after all our work. It is however up to those that I take care of on how they will do it and I wouldn't dare pry.

That aside, we entered the first building. There are more or less 50 people working inside a warehouse-sized facility in which some of the machineries that they manufacture get developed here.

"Ohhhh, look at that, Rin. Doesn't that look like the portable heater I have back home?"

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Maybe that's a different model of it?"

"I guess. What we had was the 2016 series so this might be an upgrade from it. Still, its cost is not as bad as the upgrade of my AC."

"You know how to compute your power consumption, right?"

"It's essential to make estimates, of course."

"But the only difference is that you're using your own power source. How much was your electric bill again?"

"476.48 Laxes last month."

"That's like a third of our bill!"

"At least I have saved up more. But your house still has a low cost, you know."

"Living in his house is really convenient, huh," Rin optimistically thought.

"What're you grinning about, Rin?"

"A-Ah…! N-Nothing…!"

"Wah… She said that even though she knows so well that I know that something's on her mind."

After a walk inside that building, we moved on to another manufacturing site where I at least might be familiar with what is happening inside. That is, smartphone parts.

I have watched hundreds of smartphone "teardown" videos in YouCube for me to know how it is put together and identify the degree of repairability of a device. I am on the side of people who uses a relatively cheap phone that gets all the job done without any pops and bangs. But most of the things I see here are parts for phones that cost twenty to fifty thousand Laxes. One thing that is making me deviate from that price range is its physical build being mostly glass. You know what they say, "glass is glass, and glass breaks". That's a quote from a YouCuber.

Also, I absolutely dislike reflective back panels that like to eat your fingerprints. "Matte black everything!" is another quote.

And aren't they generous to let us scratch test a glass panel they are making for phones to test its durability. Seeing that they are using standard glass and I see no sapphire, I already know what to expect upon giving us hardness picks. Hello, Mohs scale of hardness, my old friend.

"Here's a level 5, 6, and 7 picks for you to use on the glass. To spoil things a little, glass is at level 6 so when put under pressure by an equivalent level of hardness, we will see some scratches-"

"'And deeper grooves at level 7,'" I chimed in.

"Heh," the facilitator gave me a smug smile.

We began by first watching the other students put the panels to test, and it yielded expected results. And then we got to the point where Rin had already tried the test.

"Are our phones' front panels like this too, Potato?"

"It still depends, and sometimes in manufacturers. Gola is different from Corn*ng."

"You really know your stuff. Well, your turn."

Of course, they won't up and just give us individual panes to test. These things cost money, after all. So with that, I used the panel that Rin had tested and did the same procedure in an untouched part of it.

Krrrrkrrrk

I only used a level 6 pick… but it dug in really deep on the glass. The damage should not be like that, but…

"Apples… I put too much pressure…"

"Woah. Sir, you might have tested a compromised glass. We'll let the other staff know about this. But well, I think it's fine for you to take this as a souvenir."

"Really…? Thank you very much, but I am extremely sorry about that."

"No, it's fine. That sometimes happens. Anyways, next on the line."

"Did you forget that you have a grip stronger than a gorilla?" Rin whispered. "Or is it actually compromised?"

"The glass is fine and all earlier. But I chipped the pick really bad…"

"How did you even do that?!"

Now that it has come to that point, the only theory that I can make is that since both of the objects are at level 6 hardness, they might have broken each other.

"Let's just get on to the next place. Hahh…"

And I just realized what could be an unintended pun. Well, phones these days have a Gor*lla glass, which made chuckle quite some.

"Now what are you laughing about?"

~ ~ ~

The tests that followed after me did not have any problems, and so no one will be bringing home a dented glass home apart from me. Still, we are on our feet throughout the compound and are now en route to the next place.

"Hey there," Ryota patted my shoulder.

"First time I'm seeing you in this trip. What were you doing yesterday?"

"I've retired, so I'm only doing things that any normal student does."

"Enjoying yourself, I see."

"You're wearing this jacket, huh? Man, it hasn't even been a year since then, but it felt so far already.

But that's not the point, Gin. Never remove that jacket while we're in here. If anything, zip it up to its very top."

"Is something going on, Ryota?"

"Figured that you wouldn't sense a bad feeling since you didn't have an experience I had. It's just a gut feeling at most, but I feel like something is off, at least not from where we are."

"I'll be cautious if you say so. I don't have the same intuition as you do."

"You know that things can go sideways literally in any second."

"Yeah… I think things just went sideways four seconds ago…"

We are roughly a hundred and fifty meters away from the next building, but there are already little clouds of smoke coming out from the doors.

Our guide then stepped forward, "Let me check what's happening first. That building is centered with different kinds of gases, but they are not something that is unsafe."

He then walked forward while wearing a facemask, but even before making contact with the gas particles, he fell down as if passing out to the ground.

I took out an ordinary handkerchief and tried my best to cover the entirety of my face. I ran towards the guide while giving the other students a warning, "Don't come any closer!"

I took off the guide's mask and examined it as I have given him credit that the gases inside are safe. I briefly placed the mask to my face while putting away my handkerchief. Immediately, I felt extremely lightheaded. But as I felt weak on my head, I felt something similar to electricity running through my body and the lightheadedness went away quickly.

"I see… this is the immunity to foreign objects I developed back in the lab when I was a Child."

Suddenly, my hearing kicked in. I heard a very faint conversation from inside the facility.

"Is that all of them?"

"Yes, boss. Just like you said, we took down the males and tied down the women. This will surely give us a lot of Laxes."

"Hmmph…! Mm…! Mphh…!"

"Let's just make this quick and shoot some of this laboratory. Get ready your things and we'll head out to give them a scare.

I at least heard two voices of men and struggling squeals of women who perhaps had their mouths covered.

I then hurried and carried the guide with me towards the crowd of students. With that, I gave Rin and Ryota a serious gaze.

"Rin, hold my bag for a bit and tell all of the students to throw away the masks given to them. It's tampered with something that makes you fall asleep immediately.

Ryota, I don't think we have any time to waste," I whispered, "You're right about your feeling. This might be a case of human trafficking.

I suppose that you have a black mask with you."

"Got it."

"Gin… Are you really going in? And more so, with a mask…?"

"You know that I'm pretty much wearing an armor from head to toe. And this is not the time to put my pride over anything," a white handkerchief that I pulled from my other pocket snapped to a white faceless mask and wore it in front of everyone.

"Is there any other choice for Ryota and I when lives are at stake? You know that I don't like to play hero, Rin, but this is a laboratory, and I don't want any more lives taken away in this kind of place."

"Then please put an end to this quickly, Gin."

"We will. And also, please call the police.

Try to keep up with me, Ryota, but I will be going in way ahead of you. But you should know that I'll enter that place without any intent to hurt anyone, not even the outsiders."

"I'll count on painless apprehension, then. Like how you did to that geezer in the Square.

But at least use some wind to intimidate them."

"Way ahead of you."

What Ryota saw was my static body slowly blurring.

"An afterimage?!" immediately, he ran in after a gust of wind opened the doors.

…

But at the same time, Rin is doing her best to keep things regulated.

"Everyone…! Please throw away the masks you received from here! It's imbued with a sleeping drug! You saw how the guide passed out. Again, please throw them away…!"

Immediately after the declaration, some concerned students looked at her with a disconcerting look, especially the Anew employees that stepped forward after seeing the spectacle that looked at them just a few minutes ago.

"Akanami-san… Was that really Gin…?" Kaizo tried not to stutter.

"He was also the one that escorted you back in the mansion, Ryuuya-san. Gin is not playing around."

"Then that means… Gin-kun is an Exile, Ringo-chan…?"

Rin took a deep breath, and steeled herself to speak, "He is indeed. It was his decision just now to expose himself, but I don't have anything to complain about that as a human.

This is how he chose to decide."

While still wearing their confused expressions, the door had opened once again four minutes after the unidentified smoke leaked out. However, there was no more smoke coming out of the facility, but what or who came out were two men in black with one wearing a black mask that covered his nose and mouth while another was wearing an Exile's faceless mask.

Tenth then popped out of the crowd, walking towards the two masked men and spoke up.

"Do you have anything to report, nameless…

Or should I say… Gin?"

The white mask in Gin's touch returned to its cloth-like property and folded them to his pocket while announcing his findings in one breath.

"Ryota and I successfully apprehended six armed men inside the facility. If you are to check the logbook again, you would see that there are four people that logged before Blue Ink did. It seems that it was an attempt of human trafficking, seeing how several women employees were tied down and the men are knocked out.

I made sure that all of their weapons are inoperable. But as for how the guns got through the security, my two hypotheses is that the other two men from the six people somehow got in by other means, or this is potentially a case for an inside job.

But I'm not here as an Exile so I'll leave the investigations to the police. And besides, Blue Ink shouldn't really involve itself in this case.

Your decision, Tenth?"

"Hahh…

Since there is no apparent casualty, let us dismiss ourselves from the facilities once the police have come. We will continue the trip, but we will return to the hotel for the day.

Thank you once again, Gin, Ryota."

"Much appreciated."

~ ~ ~

"Don't get this question wrong, Gin, but how did we not hear even a single gunfire?" asked Rin as we trod.

"You know that I'm into bending nozzles and rifles and stomping on them one by one, right?"

"No, I get the stomping, but that's the first time you dealt with rifle.

But anyway… are you sure your identity wouldn't be put into a bad position after all of that?"

"Most of the credit goes to Ryota, you know. I was busy destroying weapons that I only apprehended one. Though he knocked them all out."

"Was it just me or did he get quicker?"

"Expect that from someone training under him (Makoto). They have a common denominator, see."

"Ah, you're right."

"Anyways… Why are you sticking with us, Ryota?"

Ryota is indeed just beside Gin and Rin after departing from the labs.

"What, is it because you want some time with Ringo? I ran out of things to do, you know."

The stoplight for the pedestrian lane lit up green while the lights turned red for the vehicles, which no one was passing by the road. Knowing the safety, Rin hurriedly stepped down from the elevated sidewalk to cross the road with a subtle run.

But it was in merely two seconds… that a greatly speeding truck appeared less than a hundred meters away from Rin.

(!)

(!)

(!!!!!!!!!)

…

For a single beat, my heart felt like a bass drum that was stroke with a powerful force.

I have lost my senses and lost the ability to know what is what. It felt like my mind had stopped, like I was blind, deaf, disabled. What am I even doing right now, I asked myself without a single clue.

Has my body and mind really stopped?

…

No. I felt the very same electric-like current once again flowing inside me, but rapidly and coming from my head down to my toes. I then came back to my consciousness suddenly.

It seems that I didn't have memories of split seconds earlier. I am currently seeing an extremely familiar scene right in front of me.

The world is once again in slow motion.

The expressions of the students didn't even change apart from Ryota, who had begun running in this slow world. But one thing is for certain—I am once again seeing Ryota's glare. I then gazed upon the person behind the wheel, and he did not seem hostile, but rather, frightened.

And finally, I felt Rin's weight on both of my arms.

"…

Never come back again…"

I clutched my left foot directly on the truck's front as I watched the world turn back to real time. There was an incredible amount of Newton being processed on my left leg as my other foot resisted the velocity without a care if I am now actually destroying the road.

At the point where the truck collided on my foot which made a significant slowdown, Ryota leaped from his sprint, opened the door of the truck and threw out the passenger inside while still moving towards the driver and kicking away the other door. Without even landing on the ground, he let out an abundant strand of threads that stuck on the back of the truck and let it leverage a pull by making a tree trunk a mechanism for a pulley. In his great endeavor, the truck's back went sideways by a meter.

…

In a span of fifteen seconds, the truck had finally stopped.

"Is Ringo alright, Gin…?! Hah… Hah… Hah…" panting, Ryota ran towards Gin.

"…

Y-Yeah…"

"Thank goodness we were on time…

Hey, you can put down your leg… already…

…!!!"

Ryota fell down to his back as if losing the strength of his feet. He was merely looking at Gin's eyes, but he felt extreme terror upon seeing not a bloodshot or hostile gaze, but a wild beast, with black and blue eyes, that had lost control of its self.

"Come back, Gin," in an immediate action, Tenth grasped Gin's head with great force until he felt a flinch.

"…!

Haah… Hah… Hah. What happened, Tenth… No… I knew… clearly…"

"Hold on tight to that dear woman, as she is also tightly grasping her hands to you."

On Gin's arms, he looked over Rin who had passed out in tears. He felt the extreme urgency as Rin's face had gotten very pale.

"Tenth… we'll be going ahead…"

With that, once a man that was standing still, became a flicker that reappeared in the lobby of the hotel.

"AN OXYGEN TANK, PLEASE…!!!!!!"

▪ ▪ ▪

Six hours have passed, and the night has grown mature.

In the end, there was not a need for Rin to be transported to a hospital after immediately stabilizing upon administration of oxygen to her body. As such, her paled face had quickly turned back even before the students have returned.

She had briefly woken up in the sight of Gin looking after her while she was already in the futon. She smiled bittersweet, and uttered very few words.

"I'll wake you up this time, okay…?" and she fell asleep anew.

~ ~ ~

"I'll be counting on you, Shiro."

"Alright. But… do you think it would be better if you stay beside her?"

"I genuinely don't know, but even if that's the case, that won't fly by. Still… I really want her safety to be ensured."

"I see, then. I'll call Nana-sen so she can look out on you and I while we check on Rin. That would be fine, right?"

"…

Then please…"

"On the other note, it has been a few hours since then. Can you now hide your right eye?"

"…I can't seem to turn it back even if I tried to."

"Then let me change my question—are you angry, Gin?"

"…

I… I can't deny that. The scene earlier was like my time over again. I think I unconsciously reacted out of anger of it happening again.

I'm really sorry if I scared you all…"

"Honestly… I'm really frightened because we don't know what you can do when you're angered. We'll do our best to prevent you from being in this state."

"…Thank you…"

So this is it, I see now…

I now understand how Rin felt time… and time again…