“Declared... war...?”
I felt the back of my throat dry up as I repeated those words.
“Yes... And based on this timeframe, the Greater Galactic Federation’s main fleet will attack agency headquarters in 24 hours,” the doctor said in disbelief.
The Galactic Federation was the space government Iris was a part of. Why were they declaring war on the agency?
“I read the declaration, but...”
“What did it say?” I asked.
“To sum it up, they’re claiming that the agency has secretly been harboring Rekka Namidare,” she replied with a strained expression.
The agency was harboring Rekka Namidare? In this case, they surely didn’t mean future Rekka...
“Are they talking about me?”
“Probably.”
I was at a loss for words.
“This is all my fault...”
“That’s not true. Like I said before, I was the one who brought you to the future.”
The doctor was quick to shoot down my attempts to blame myself, but even if she had a point, it didn’t change the fact that the Galactic Federation was about to attack the agency.
“There must be... I know! You can just hand me over to the federation. That way I can meet with Iris.”
That would basically mean surrendering to the Galactic Federation, but it was better than war. And if Iris’s goal was to find me, it would give us a chance to meet and talk. I could hopefully explain things to her and negotiate her cooperation in the process. The doctor, however, looked conflicted.
“That would be an absolute last resort because it would mean acknowledging your existence publicly.”
“I mean, I know we’ve been hiding my identity to prevent any unnecessary chaos, but... do we really have a choice now that it’s come to this?”
“There’s some merit to that line of thinking, but to be quite frank, you’re basically a walking trigger for war.”
“I’m a trigger...?”
Uncertain of what she meant, I cocked my head to the side.
“The Greater Galactic Federation is an extreme example right now, but the thought process is essentially ‘Rekka Namidare is with someone else’ giving way to ‘he should be with us, so let’s attack and take him.’ So if you’re with the federation, someone else is just going to do the same thing—turn around and declare war on them. It’s a vicious cycle.”
“Ugh...”
When she put it plainly like that, it made perfect sense. I was the cause of the War of All, after all. It had dragged on because my future self went missing, but if my whereabouts were discovered (even if I wasn’t the Rekka they were looking for), things would blow up all over again... just as the doctor was describing.
“I have to wonder where they got their intelligence, though...” Satsuki pondered aloud.
“That is indeed a problem,” the doctor said with a nod.
“Even if the agency analyzed their security camera footage and decoded the disguise hologram and figured out we had Rekka with us, I don’t believe they would spread sensitive information like that so recklessly.”
“Certainly not if it would result in a declaration of war from the Galactic Federation. I can’t imagine them doing such a thing on purpose.”
The doctor and Satsuki seemed to be on the same page there.
“What about Aburaamu, then?” asked Satsuki. “We turned off the hologem at the guest house, right?”
“I set up some magical precautions to counteract that.”
“When I went to talk to the king about taking my leave, it didn’t seem he or the others suspected anything,” Harissa added.
“The planet I was on was unpopulated, so the leak couldn’t have originated there,” Lea added too.
We all began stroking our chins. Just who had told the Greater Galactic Federation that I was with the agency? Nothing I’d done since coming to the future should have aroused any suspicion of my identity, and the doctor had just confirmed no one had been able to see through my disguise. That being the case, I needed to change my line of thinking. This wasn’t about me being exposed... It was about who knew I was with the agency.
“Hmm...”
Who knew that I’d made contact with the doctor? Who knew that I was in the future, or at the very least could figure it out? Who would know that I wasn’t in the past right now? There was only one answer to all of those questions...
“The extremists.”
“Huh?”
“The extremists know that I made contact with you, and they can probably guess I’m in the future since I left the past with you.”
There was a high chance at least one of the giant robots had seen me with the doctor. The extremists also had their own time-space translocator, so they could continue to observe what was going on in the past. They’d know I was missing and could easily put two and two together.
“You’re right. All signs seem to point to them. I can’t think of anyone else that checks all the boxes at the moment.”
That gave us our answer, but it wasn’t a pleasant one. Troubled, the doctor pensively looked up at the ceiling.
“If they’re our real enemy, there’s no point in asking them to relent or withdraw. And since they’re not a government, we can’t take political action against them.”
“Damn...”
What were we supposed to do? What could we do? The doctor may have said otherwise, but this war was my fault one way or another. And we’re talking serious business here. Real serious. There has to be something...
“If it’s come to this, is our only remaining option to meet with Iris?” Lea suddenly chimed in.
Everyone looked up at her in surprise. Unlike the rest of us, she didn’t seem particularly perturbed.