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We began the monumental task of using the Magic of Omniscience and warping... over and over again. The reason for that was because the heroine we were trying to track down wasn’t sitting still in one place, but rather constantly moving around aboard her spaceship. It made it troublesome to chase after her, even with Satsuki’s magic. One warp took several hours, so while we were warping, she was still on the move. Sometimes she was even warping too, which made things even more fun. But at the end of our little game of tag, we finally caught up to her. Perhaps I should say we were captured.
Surrounded by several ships from her fleet, we had no choice but to surrender. Apparently she’d realized someone was trying to track her down, and like the doctor had warned me before, warps were actually pretty easy to detect. They were waiting for us as soon as we exited. After that, we were escorted off our ship and taken onto one of theirs.
“Hey, is this really all right?” L whispered from where she was tied up beside me.
For the record, we’d all been apprehended and restrained with ropes and handcuffs. After that, we were moved to the lower half of what appeared to be the ship’s bridge. Above us in the upper half were pirates clamoring to get a look down at us. Behind them on the highest platform in the room was a grand chair that would surely be the captain’s seat, but it was currently empty.
“It’ll be fine, L. They’re pirates, and pirates always leave the inspection of prisoners to the captain, right?”
“I think you’ve been watching too many movies.”
“Urk...”
Unable to argue that, I fell silent. But despite L’s concerns, I wasn’t all that worried. In the worst-case scenario, our backup plan was to use Harissa’s invisibility and teleportation magic to get out of here. We’d actually allowed ourselves to be captured on purpose, hoping to avoid a fight. Our primary goal was to negotiate, and our business was with the girl who led this curious bunch of space pirates.
Just then, someone appeared on the clanking platform overhead.
“Are you lot the ones who’ve been chasing us all day?”
Said “someone” was a familiar green-haired girl with an ornate coat and boots on. She’d matured as much as Harissa had, but the headband covering the horn on her forehead was the same as it ever was.
“Fam!”
“Hah? How do you know my na...”
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“It’s me, Rekka Namidare.”
“What?”
Fam narrowed her eyes and scrutinized my face for a moment. Then, her eyes gradually widened.
“No way...”
She mumbled to herself in disbelief, then jumped down from the platform with a thud. It was at least three meters in the air, but that didn’t seem to faze her.
“Brother Rekka!”
“Whoa!”
Fam suddenly leaped at me in a half-hug, half-tackle that knocked me right over.
“Guh, my stomach...”
“Brother Rekka, Brother Rekka, Brother Rekka!”
She didn’t seem to hear my groaning, however, as she bawled on top of me. She’d looked so mature just moments ago when she was looking down on us, but...
It seems she’s still got a childish side.
I was honestly relieved to see it.
“Sorry, Fam. But, uh... Your horn is stabbing me a little bit. Ouch!”
“Ah! I’m sorry, Brother Rekka!”
With that, Fam let go of me and stepped back. Still sniffling, she wiped her eyes.
“I had no idea you’d turned up again, Brother Rekka. Was it you who found him, Satsuki?”
“Well, not exactly... You see...”
Satsuki was unsure how to answer, so I shook my head and took over for her. After all, I should be the one to have to explain.
“Fam, the truth is that I’m not actually the Rekka Namidare you knew.”
“Huh? What are you saying?”
“Well...”
I gave Fam a rundown of what had happened leading up to this moment.
“I see... So you’re the old Brother Rekka...” Fam said forlornly after listening to my story.
“I’m sorry for tricking you like that.”
“No, it’s okay. It doesn’t bother me,” she said, managing a smile. “I’m happy to see you again too, Brother Rekka, so there’s nothing to apologize for.”
“Yeah...”
All I’d done since coming to the future was apologize and ask for forgiveness. I was using my identity as a bargaining chip to persuade the future heroines to help me, and deep down, I knew it was cruel.
Damn it...
The leader of the extremists, this mysterious mastermind... They just might be the one behind the War of All in the first place. Whenever I found them, whoever they were, I was going to make them pay no matter what. Not only had they stolen my future away from me, they’d left these poor heroines to suffer in a world of unending war. I had no idea what the mastermind’s motivations were, but that was unforgivable. Before I got to them, however, I’d have to get over the hurdles immediately in front of me.
“Fam, I know this is sudden and selfish, but I want you to do me a favor.”
“A favor?”
“Yeah. You’re the only one I can ask.”
I filled her in on the details of Iris’s attack and how it was all part of an enemy scheme against the agency. I told her it would be difficult to avoid further conflict unless I could meet with Iris directly. And I told her that in order to do that, I’d need her help.
“So that’s what Big Sis Iris is up to, huh?”
“That’s why I need you, Fam. Please. I need your help to stop her.”
“You haven’t changed at all, Brother Rekka...” Fam said with something of a forced smile. “But if I lend you a ship, I won’t just be putting myself in danger. I have my crew to think about too, so I can’t agree without conditions.”
“What conditions?”
“Basically, I want you to tell me your odds of success. To be honest, as fast as our ship is, charging into the middle of a giant fleet ain’t gonna be pretty.”
In space with no gravity, up, down, left, and right were all subjective. So to give fleets a relative sense of direction, they always flew in a spherical formation with a flagship in the center. Because of that, the closer we got to the flagship, the more gunfire we’d be taking from all sides. It would depend on the size of Iris’s full fleet, but even an experienced crew like Fam’s could probably only sneak halfway through it before things got too intense.
Which leaves us with the question of how to get through the second half...
If I couldn’t come up with an answer, Fam was out. And she was right to take me to task over this. No matter how childish she still might be on the inside, she was a proper captain now. The lives of her subordinates were in her hands. She couldn’t just agree to a suicide mission.
First things first, I had to organize my thoughts. I needed two things: a way to get the rest of the way to the flagship, and a way for at least one of us to make it to Iris personally. In order to achieve that, I had a few cards to play. I had Fam and her crew, although they were already doing enough just by getting us the first half of the way to Iris’s ship. I also had Harissa and her invisibility magic, although that wasn’t exactly effective when it came to avoiding detection via radar. Then there was Lea. By herself, she could fly through space at ship speeds, but if Iris’s spaceship wasn’t within view, it would be all too easy for her to lose her sense of direction and get lost within the fleet.
Those were the cards I had in my hand, so how was I going to use them to reach Iris? If I couldn’t figure out a way, this whole negotiation thing would be fail city. Think. Think, Rekka! That’s the only thing you’re good at...
I don’t have any special powers like my future self. I couldn’t do anything on my own, which was why I had to rely on everyone else to save this story. Thankfully, Fam had already agreed to help so long as I could come up with a half-decent plan. But to her and all the other heroines here in the future, I was basically a stranger. They were only willing to help me because of my name and face. I felt terrible knowing that I was essentially just using the heroines, but I was deeply grateful for what they were willing to do for me.
Then there was Iris... She was a heroine just like the other girls, except she was currently being used by the extremists to cause pointless bloodshed. Normally, it would be the job of my future self to step in and save her. But without him around, that job fell on me. I was Rekka Namidare, after all. And playing my part was the only way I had to pay back the girls who were so generously lending me their power. That’s why I had to think... I couldn’t look at things in isolation. I had to piece them together and maximize any connections I could. It should all lead to one solution. I thought and thought and thought until...
“Hey, Fam! Everyone!” It finally dawned on me. “Listen to this...”