Yuuto’s message took much longer to take seriously than expected, so Amari decided, after some wavering, to give Dustin the note. It felt like if she waited any longer, things would spiral past the point of no return, and this was preferable to having him feel like he’d abandoned Citri unknowingly.
“Dustin… Listen.”
She called out to him from behind in the Processors’ common office. Dustin turned around, his silver eyes meeting hers in confusion.
As a member of the 1st Battalion, Dustin hadn’t spoken to Amari before. He was the sole member of the Strike Package who was from the Republic, which made him a bit famous. So it made sense Amari would know him, but given there were over a hundred members from other battalions, Dustin wouldn’t know her.
“Hmm…?”
“Amari Mill. From the 4th Battalion’s Scramasax squadron. I have a message for you from Yuuto.”
She had to wonder if maybe he also didn’t know Yuuto, the captain of the 4th Battalion, but thankfully, it seemed he recognized the name. He gave an “ah” and nodded, still looking unsure as to what this was all about.
“You were hospitalized with him, then… So what is it? And wait, Yuuto isn’t with you?” he asked, realizing something was off.
The only ones who knew Yuuto had left with the girls were the commanders and staff officers of the Strike Package, as well as the head of the research team, and that information wouldn’t have spread to members of another battalion. The operations commander, Shin, who was acquainted with both Yuuto and Dustin, likely wasn’t in a mental state to be sharing this kind of information, either.
“Yuuto had to go somewhere else, so he left me with a message. It’s just…you’re a Republic citizen, so if it makes your position worse, you can pretend you didn’t hear me. If you can’t come, that’s understandable.”
“Huh? What are you—?”
“Do you know a girl called Citri?”
His argent eyes widened in surprise and froze over.
“She has flaxen hair and purple eyes, and she’s pretty like a doll… You know her, right?”
Seeing his reaction, Amari nodded. Good. Yuuto said Dustin wouldn’t be able to come along, but Citri said he knew her. So Amari thought that, as friends, they should meet one last time before the end.
“Yuuto’s with her. She’s an Actaeon, and…she won’t last long. She ran from home so no one would get caught up in it, but she wanted to meet her childhood friend…you…one last time before she dies. So Yuuto thought maybe you could come meet them— Whoa?!”
Amari jolted as Dustin grabbed her by the shoulders.
“Yuuto’s with her, right…? Do you know where Citri is right now?!”
She was taken aback by how desperately his silver eyes bored into her, and she nodded, trembling.
“I know, of course.”
Yuuto had told her that. How else would he have Dustin meet her otherwise? This was why she hadn’t told anyone about the message Yuuto entrusted with her, not to anyone and of course not to the military police. After all, if they caught up to them, Yuuto fleeing the Strike Package to protect those girls would have been for nothing. She did say they were headed for the Republic, but she spoke while assuming no one would believe her, given the Republic was firmly Legion territory by now.
And after a decade of war and isolation, the military police likely wasn’t aware of that. Because at present, the Republic’s territory was limited to the constraints of the Gran Mur walls and the eighty-five administrative Sectors. But before that, the Republic’s land bordered he Empire’s, the Federacy’s predecessor.
So it would be, on the edge of the Federacy’s domains—not quite close to the current western front’s defensive line, but past it.
“Their objective is Neunarkis, on the eastern tip of the Republic. To get there, they’re going through the Vesa territory to the Niva Nova, Noidafune, and Niantemis combat territories. If they’re on schedule, they should be around Vesa right now.”
✦ ✦ ✦
The western front was currently stationed on the defensive encampment set along the Saentis-Historics line, which cut through the western combat territories. A section of that line was on the border of the Niva Nova combat territory and the Vesa production territory, which now stretched before Yuuto and his group. Vesa had been evacuated during the second large-scale offensive, becoming deployment ground for the western front’s logistical-support line, but there were no signs of combat on its eastern edge, where it bordered the Nareva territory. All they saw were abandoned grain fields, hurriedly harvested before the evacuation, and the sloping hills typical to the Federacy’s western countryside spanning as far as the eye could see.
It was altogether quiet, save for the sound of the wind brushing through the fields and rattling the treetops of nearby woodlands. Citri swallowed as she looked at the wintery hills in silence.
The towns and cities of Nareva, which they’d crossed on the way here, were deserted, as their inhabitants, too, had voluntarily left. But the sight of Vesa, fully evacuated and bereft of its populace, was a different kind of silence. In the midst of quiet that felt like it followed the end of all human life in the vicinity, the only thing that remained were flocks of sheep freed from their enclosures by their owners, grazing on the distant hills like fluffy winter clouds shining in the pale sunlight.
Their radio had stopped receiving transmissions some time ago. With the voluntary evacuations, the transmission facilities were likely closed. The fact that they couldn’t check on how the war was going was a bit concerning, but Yuuto thought Citri and the others were better off this way. Hearing about the deaths of other Actaeon girls and the people who’d been hurt in the process would only hurt them in kind, and they didn’t need that kind of pain if they were to go on with this journey.
Either way, they would soon approach the front lines, where there would be operating transmission facilities, and by the time they got there, the other Actaeon would have likely fled to a place free of people. If things could just settle down like this…
“…Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
Citri nodded, holding her long flaxen hair down against the cold wind.
✦ ✦ ✦
Yuuto hadn’t taken any communication equipment, including his RAID Device. But if Dustin knew where they were going, Dustin could send some kind of signal. A smoke bomb or a flare would be sufficient for informing them of Dustin’s whereabouts. In fact, starting a fire to make smoke would do the trick.
This would be enough to tell Citri that he was there. That he came to save her.
Spurred on by this impulse, Dustin got to his feet. He dropped the clipboard in his hand without even realizing it, and Amari called out after him in surprise.
“Wait! Hey, Dustin!”
Dustin’s eyes were fixed solely on the gate to the Rüstkammer base, which wasn’t visible from the first barracks’ exit. He had his uniform and boots on, which was fine for the long march. He didn’t have time to gather materials for starting a fire, but he could just procure that on-site. As for a blade—he had his multi-tool knife on him now. He’d been taught to tell the directions by looking at the stars, so he didn’t need a compass and map. He needed to go out and find her, right now, right away.
Either way, he had to go. She told him to come find her, after all. So he had to make his way to Citri, whom he’d thought he’d never see again for some ten years now.
This time, he’d save her.
But then a cool, clear voice snapped him out of his boiling thoughts.