[Friday] [Time Lapse: 5 hours]
[Location: Frein Empire]
[Loverock Airport]
The knowledge I acquired through my work in military intelligence included old reports on high-risk criminals and organizations whose movements were always monitored. In the first official meeting between [False Peace] and the [Strategic Table], as one of the representatives of our intelligence agency, I had to go through multiple classified reports concerning members of [False Peace] and the things they’d done across the world, long before I was even born.
Through this, I learned about the current incident, condensed into a 200-page report that outlined step by step how multiple isolated cases came together to form an intricate, nearly incomprehensible plan. One thing that stood out about the leader of [False Peace] was his monstrous strategic genius when it came to long-term planning. Although a large part of this was due to his Authority, I suspected he could still display this level of strategy even without it.
Working backward from the information I had on [False Peace], I was able to calculate how long after the “chase” the actual incident would occur. By my estimation, it would most likely happen on Sunday night—assuming everything continued as they had planned the last time. However, because of the tip I had given Anthem, there was a chance the entire situation might unfold differently this time. In such a scenario, the leader of [False Peace] would likely step back from pulling the strings and leave the operation to one of his henchmen.
Many of the members were monsters in their own right, but in terms of people who could match me in strategy, my concerns were Dr. Telu and Hiro—though they likely wouldn’t be involved in this. The only other people who worried me from [False Peace] was their shady lawyer and their stupidly broken assassin. Aside from them, I could manage with limited resources.
Then, of course, there was Anthem, who was also a major problem.
“So, where exactly are we going?” a voice asked from beside me. I turned to look at the person seated next to me. She wore a black tracksuit and carried a small bag on her back.
“You’re the one who bought the tickets. You should know that better than anyone else,” I said with a sigh.
It was 23:45, and we had already left the academy, now seated in the nearest airport. The terminal was buzzing with activity despite the late hour. People were walking around, occasionally glancing at the large monitors listing the night’s flights. The announcer’s voice echoed across the terminal, adding to the mix of hushed and loud conversations. The interior lighting was so bright it felt like daytime, but an occasional glance through the large windows revealed just how late it really was.
“Why are we going there?” Lily asked again after glancing at the tickets in her hand, eyeing me suspiciously. She had done what I asked and even come all the way to the airport before asking such questions.
“I’ll tell you when we get there,” I replied, not bothering to look at her as I watched the casual passersby. There were a variety of different people scattered around; families seemingly going on vacation, businesspeople in suits likely traveling across the Empire for work, and, notably, several individuals in police uniforms, swords hanging from their hips.
“Okay, but why are they also coming?” she finally asked, voicing what had clearly been bugging her the most. Her question drew my attention to our other teammates.
Across the lobby, I spotted a blue-haired boy in blue jeans and a red hoodie, standing with two women—one in her 20s and the other a bit younger. The three of them occasionally shared laughs, and the women seemed especially talkative, despite only having met him minutes ago. Turning away from them, I saw another boy in the distance with dark hair, standing by the window, staring out at whatever was happening outside, hands in his pockets. He hadn’t moved from that spot since we arrived, which was a bit concerning.
When we first got to the airport, sensing the tension among the group, Tim had called Lithe to go somewhere together, but looking back now, it seemed like an excuse for a two-man mission. I hadn’t paid much attention to them, but it seemed Lithe had jumped ship at some point, or maybe they had some kind of argument—I couldn’t really tell.
I hope their behavior doesn’t interfere with the team’s synergy.
“We just happen to be on the same flight. It’s probably a coincidence,” I said casually. Beside me, Lily stared at my face with a displeased expression, as if silently asking whether I was serious.
“I’m not getting on the same flight as that boy. Since he has nothing to do with you, can I knock him out when I get the chance so we can leave him behind? That’s fine, right?” she said, turning to look at Lithe.
As if sensing her gaze, even from a distance, Lithe turned to look at us. He furrowed his brows when he saw us, then began searching his pockets exaggeratedly, tapping them before digging into one of them and pulling out his hand, now forming a gesture. He raised it into the air, directing it at Lily—it was a middle finger.
That's so childish…
“See?” Lily said, turning to me and raising her hand to point at Lithe, like a child reporting a sibling's wrongdoings to their parents.
“...”
I stayed quiet and ignored her, continuing to analyze my surroundings. There was a chance we were being tailed, and depending on how things panned out, I might have to deal with a few passengers before we reached our destination.
I could have had Lily send me the money and bought the tickets myself, but I chose to purchase them under her name instead. Anthem had access to every transaction made on the Dragnoks accounts, meaning the moment she made the transaction earlier in the day, he might have already received a notification. It’s likely that there were spies loitering around who had pre-purchased the same tickets to follow us.
“What’re you kids up to?” a voice suddenly came from behind, prompting both of us to quickly turn around.
“M-Master!?” Lily exclaimed, jumping out of her seat and embracing the man who had just appeared. Her expression instantly brightened, as though Lithe had been completely erased from her mind.
“Hehe, I see you’ve grown a lot,” the man said, looking down at Lily with a proud smile. However, his face looked tired, as though his eyes were struggling to stay open. Maybe whatever drug he was on was finally wearing off, as even his movements seemed sluggish.
“Pupil number two. We meet again,” he said with a smile, turning his attention to me. Lily was still hugging him, but when she heard that, she turned to me with a frown.
“You said he didn’t come to the meeting,” she said, and I simply shrugged without responding. She then turned back to Inksin.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were in Loverock?” she asked, puffing out her cheeks and eyeing him suspiciously. Inksin gave a wry smile, patting her head as he muttered,
“That’s why I’m here…” He said, making something up on the spot, but Lily seemed easily convinced, nodding in understanding. I let out a chuckle, standing from my seat and stepping closer to them.
“Do you have the things I asked for?” I asked him. Immediately, a frown formed on Lily’s face as she turned back to Inksin, who had claimed to be here to see her. He gave me a pleading look, and I continued,
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“I was joking. He really did come here to see you. I just asked him to do something since he was already coming here.” I tried to explain, but Lily didn’t seem convinced. She pried herself away from Inksin, sat back down, and stared off into the distance as if we weren’t there.
“...”
She’s sulking.
Inksin stared at her for a moment before reaching into his pocket, pulling out a cigarette, placing it between his lips, and lighting it. After letting out two puffs, he reached into his pocket again, this time taking out what looked like a stack of flight tickets.
“I booked the flight. It's leaving right now, so you should probably get moving. Don’t go getting my student killed, alright?” he said, casting a quick glance at Lily, who continued to look away. I accepted the tickets, confirmed the destination, and nodded.
“Aren’t you worrying about the wrong person?” I said, slipping the tickets into my pocket, but Inksin just shrugged.
“You’ve got two tails, by the way,” he said casually, and I nodded.
The moment my hearing ended back at the academy, I contacted Inksin to confirm my safety and asked him for a favor—to buy tickets for our flight and arrive at the airport a few hours ahead to watch us enter. The destination on these tickets was in the opposite direction of the ones I’d told Lily to get. I had instructed Inksin to only show himself to us when the flight was about to depart, ensuring that by then, the tickets would have already sold out and no additional passengers could join.
“And?” I asked, looking at Inksin. He had spotted two people tailing us when we entered, most likely very skilled since I hadn’t sensed them since we left the Academy gates.
“I’m not killing anyone in an international airport,” Inksin said casually, catching Lily’s attention as she turned to look at us suspiciously. I guess asking him to deal with our tails was a bit too much, considering the legal trouble it could cause. We could try luring them outside, but that would be too obvious. They’d probably just stay inside and wait for us to return.
“I guess I’ll deal with them somehow. Do you have their descriptions?” I asked, but Inksin remained silent, puffing on his cigarette a few more times. His expression turned serious as he looked at me and asked,
“What do you plan on doing if I told you?”
I met his gaze and replied nonchalantly, “I’ll kill them, isn’t it obvious?”
He nodded, puffing his cigarette a few more times before suddenly letting it go, the cigarette floating between us as he spoke.
“Then I’m afraid I can’t tell you. One of them looks like a special agent, so you won’t be able to leave that plane if you take him out,” he explained, sounding more concerned about us getting caught than the actual act of killing them.
“That’s not a problem. I’ll find a way,” I said to him. He seemed to be contemplating something as he closed his eyes. After a moment, he opened them as if reaching a conclusion and finally asked,
“Who would win between you and Lily right now?”
Before I could answer, Lily shot in, despite not being part of the conversation.
“Me, of course,” she said, giving us a side-eye. I simply smiled at her and looked back at Inksin, who seemed serious about his question.
[Blink + 1.25]
[Blink + 1.25]
[Blink + 2]
“!?”
A moment later, I held a burning cigarette in my hand, pointed dangerously close to Lily's eye, a simple blink threatening to burn her eyelashes. Lily’s eyes widened in surprise, her slit, catlike pupils rolling up to meet mine as I now stood in front of her.
“You can decide for yourself,” I said, letting go of the cigarette. But instead of falling, it remained floating in the air.
[Blink Lv. 2] —Allows the user to teleport up to 2 seconds into the future or past. [Restriction] – Maximum of 5 uses per day.(24 hour cooldown)
As the description suggests, this skill allows me to teleport two seconds into a future I can envision, but instead of moving myself forward in time, I switch places with my future self who has already achieved the desired outcome. This means that any actions taken in those intervening moments—everything that would typically happen between 0.01(on activation) and 1.99 seconds—are entirely skipped.
For instance, if I drop a ball into a pool of water and activate [Blink] to retrieve it, I swap positions with my future self, who is already out of the water, holding the ball. As a result, I wouldn’t get wet, and the surface of the water would remain undisturbed. To an observer, it would seem as if the ball teleported directly into my hand, since all the actions in between are erased from reality.
When I use [Blink] to go back in time, the process is similar. I switch positions with my past self, and in the case of getting stabbed, my envisioned goal this time is to be "uninjured", which my past self would've already "achieved." If someone were to stab me in the stomach, activating [Blink] would take me to the moment just before the stab occurred, effectively replacing the version of me who was injured with the one who had not yet been harmed. The knife would revert to its prior position, and my body would be restored to its uninjured state, making the wound disappear from the perspective of any onlookers.
In essence, using [Blink] results in a change in position and state, but not in the flow of time itself. I’m not moving forward or backward through time in a traditional sense; I’m simply switching places with the version of me who has already accomplished what I envisioned.
Inksin looked at me with a surprised expression before letting out a chuckle.
“I see. Sorry, but I’ve decided I won’t give you that information,” he said casually and I simply sighed.
I guess I’ll have to figure it out on my own. As I considered this, I turned around, preparing to leave.
“Lily, let’s go,” I called to her, looking around to signal the others, but in the next moment, a sharp pain suddenly shot through my stomach—a fist plunged into it.
“Kuh!?”
I coughed loudly, losing my balance and collapsing to the floor as my vision blurred. I looked up to see Lily standing there, looking a bit surprised. She gave a wry smile and spoke.
“Ah, s-sorry. I was just checking something.” She said, and I glared at her. Fighting through the pain, I quickly activated [Blink], my vision immediately shifting to just before she had punched me. I then met Lily’s gaze again, and she seemed startled by my sudden rise.
“Huh?”
I let out a murmur as a sharp pain coursed through my stomach again. When I looked down, there was no one attacking me. Lily and Inksin both stared at me in confusion as my vision blurred again. I found myself looking at the ceiling once more as my body tumbled backward.
What the hell? This damn... monster.
I thought to myself as I gave in to the drowsiness overtaking me. The last thing I saw before losing consciousness was the image of Lily’s cat-like eyes.
-
“That was a good choice, but… how did you…?” Inksin muttered, staring down at the boy who had suddenly collapsed. After the stunt Ian pulled on Lily, Inksin had already been contemplating knocking him out before they boarded the flight. As Lily looked at the fallen Ian, she too was confused. She glanced back at Inksin and muttered,
“I punched him, but…” She trailed off, and Inksin seemed to think for a moment, reaching a possible conclusion, though he kept it to himself.
“Well, it doesn’t matter. Just make sure he doesn’t wake up until you reach your destination,” he said, pulling the still-floating cigarette from the air and putting it between his fingers. Lily nodded, reaching down to pick up Ian from the floor.
“Is he always like this?” Inksin asked, and Lily gave a worried smile as she looked at the unconscious Ian.
“I think it’s getting worse… Just now…” she said, thinking out loud. She hesitated, not wanting to admit it, but Inksin continued.
“You were going to lose an eye if I hadn’t stopped him,” he said, and Lily nodded meekly, still looking at Ian.
Although they thought this, using the skill they had just seen him demonstrate, they surmised that he might have been able to heal her somehow with that ability. But...
Inksin thought to himself as he reached into his pockets and took out another plane ticket.
Ian had told him to buy himself the same ticket while purchasing the ones he had requested under the guise of "not looking suspicious." However, he was starting to see some kind of connection.
Was he trying to use Lily's injuries to guilt-trip me into coming along? Maybe threatening to kill the special agents tailing them was also just a bluff? Such thoughts raced through his mind, and as if finally giving in, he let out a sigh. It had been a long time since he had seen the two of them, and from what he had observed so far, it was almost as if the two had switched personalities—though Ian's case was a bit extreme...
Alright, I'll bite, he thought to himself, reaching out and grabbing Ian, whose body immediately felt weightless to Lily who was carrying him, causing her to look back at Inksin.
"I'll carry him. Let's go," he said, causing Lily's face to brighten as her eyes started to shine.
"Don't tell him I came along," he added, but Lily simply nodded with the same ecstatic expression, which caused him to worry a bit. He decided to board the plane with them, ending what was supposed to be his weekend off in order to protect his precious student.
Ian had told him to only show himself when the plane was about to leave to prevent unexpected people from buying tickets for the same flight at the last minute. But now, it was time to leave. Ian was currently unconscious, and Lily didn’t have any details about where exactly they were going or what they were going to do. Coincidence?
I’m not being given any time to think clearly, and letting them go like this would be too irresponsible. Inksin thought to himself, looking at the unconscious Ian with a curious gaze.
And just like that, another big name joined the incident.
Inksin, the sync sinker.
~