Chapter 57

7 The Copen traveled from the Saitama-Omiya Route on the Shuto Expressway to the Central Circular Route, then took the South Hatsudai exit ramp back onto the local roads. In total, it took only about thirty minutes. Even with the time left to get to Harajuku Station, he would easily be early for the five o’clock meeting time. Along the way, Suu gave a simple explanation for why she had come to pick up Minoru: After she was discharged from the hospital at ten that morning, DD drove her back to SFD Headquarters. She dropped off her things in her room and went to the multipurpose break room on the fifth floor, but the Professor was nowhere to be found, and DD had gone back to base. Suu decided to sit at the kotatsu, still invisible, and wait for the Professor to return. At the Professor’s request, Minoru had just taken out the kotatsu and assembled it a few days ago, so it had been a long time since Suu had gotten to enjoy its warmth, and she soon found herself dozing off. When she woke up, Yumiko and Olivier were in the room; she was still trying to recover from her sleepy state and greet them when she overheard parts of their conversation. Liquidizer. Trancer. Stinger. It was only after she’d heard all these names that she’d become fully conscious again and deactivated her invisibility. She’d pressed the startled pair to tell her what they were talking about, learned about the deal, and requested—basically threatened them, she explained—that they let her be part of the mission, which was how she wound up giving Minoru a ride. “…So basically, Yumiko and Oli-V were being careless…” Minoru shook his head, and Suu chuckled quietly. “Well, I was invisible…although I did use my ‘I’m here’ cushion.” “Then it’s not your fault. But why did you want to be part of it? I’m sure we’ll get in trouble with the Professor later, if not worse…” Suu didn’t answer right away, just slowed the Copen. She turned left at Tomigaya Crossing toward Harajuku, then stopped at the next red light. “I am an SFD member…but Yumiko and Olivier are my friends. That’s even more important, I think.” She spoke so quietly that Minoru could barely hear, so he glanced in her direction. Suu was gripping the steering wheel with both hands and facing straight forward, but her face under the cap looked just the tiniest bit red.