The outskirts of Roswell, New Mexico, in the United States of North America were home to the official Stars base. The Stars were divided into twelve teams, each of which followed their own orders. As the Stars commander, Lina needed to know about all the missions that each unit was conducting. Unfortunately, there were many missions she was not informed about.
The previous Sirius had complete control over the Stars, but Lina wasn’t yet at that level. In fact, she was far from it. Sometimes, people would complain she was just a commander in name, and that criticism wasn’t entirely unfounded.
Alone in her room, Lina took another shower, changed into her pajamas, and began murmuring to herself in bed.
“All teams were present today except for 3 and 6. Those two suddenly went MIA last weekend. At least I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know where they were, but this is getting out of hand.”
On Saturday morning, Team 3’s Arcturus and Team 6’s Rigel went missing. As soon as Lina found out, she quickly contacted Canopus, who was usually so informed about each team’s actions, you would think he was the Stars commander. Unfortunately, in this case he also had no idea where Arcturus and Rigel could be.
On the one hand, Canopus’s lack of knowledge helped console Lina that she wasn’t the only one being kept out of the information loop. On the other hand, the fact that the Stars commander was left so uninformed remained a serious issue that bothered Lina to no end. She usually swept this source of stress to the back of her mind. But tonight it seemed to stubbornly cling to the front of her skull. No matter how hard she tried not to dwell on it, it kept repeating itself in her head.
Where in the world did Team 3 and Team 6 go? she thought. And what are they doing? They should have at least told me the purpose of their mission.
She knew it shouldn’t bother her, but it was annoying her to no end.
Am I really just a commander in name, she mourned, prized only for my strength as a strategic magician?
The strength she was referring to was not the power to achieve goals but merely the brute force to knock down obstacles. Lina grimaced cynically at the thought that she was only recognized for this force.
“Maybe they’re right,” she grumbled. “I’m only seventeen, and I’m not a genius in any way. My grades weren’t even that good in school, I was never properly trained for this job, and to top it all off, I’m short and have a baby face.”
Her own pessimism sent her into a negative spiral. Rationally, she knew this self-pity was unhealthy, but she couldn’t stop herself.
“Still. The least they could do would be to tell me why they were leaving. They can’t just leave without telling anyone. If plans change, the repercussions will fall on my shoulders,” she continued to herself. “If they’re not satisfied with me as their commander, I’m happy to step down at any time. Excuse me for being unreliable. It’s not like I wanted this position in the first place.”
Lina pulled her blanket over her head and used a voice command to turn off the lights. Even if there was no one to listen, sometimes venting her frustrations out loud like this could bring a sense of relief. Besides, she was tired of struggling in the swamps of self-deprecation.
✦ ✦ ✦
That night, Lina had a familiar dream. On the surface, it wasn’t a particularly pleasant memory. It involved the time she infiltrated First High and had to kill parasites one after the other on the mountainside. She spotted a parasite and pierced its throat from behind with a knife infused with teleportation magic. Another parasite lunged at her, and she blasted it away with bullets of ionized air.
She found a parasite and used magic to shoot it down. Another parasite lunged at her, and she used magic to shoot it down, too. Before she knew it, the dream had started to loop. Defeating all these parasites felt like playing a zombie shooting game. Lina shook her head.
When are Tatsuya and Miyuki going to show up? she wondered, finding herself in the complex position of both an active participant and a spectator within her dream.
On the day she infiltrated First High, Lina remembered fighting alongside Tatsuya and his friends. In fact, she couldn’t forget it. Though she resented being rescued in the end against her will, fighting alongside comrades on equal terms wasn’t a bad experience at all.
Actually, given that they were supposed to be enemies, Lina couldn’t shake the feeling that Tatsuya looked down on her. Yet neither Tatsuya nor Miyuki ever treated her like a little kid. They also never treated her differently just because she was one of the Thirteen Apostles.
Their behavior might have come naturally to them since they were all similar ages, but it really meant a lot to Lina. Then again, unbeknownst to her at the time, Tatsuya was a strategic magician with abilities that far surpassed Heavy Metal Burst. This was all the more reason for him not to treat her differently. Yet even knowing that now, Lina could still appreciate being treated as an equal back then.
While in Japan, she couldn’t admit to harboring these feelings. But now that she was in an environment surrounded by older subordinates, she gradually became more open to acknowledging them. That said, she might still put up a stubborn front if she were to face Tatsuya again.
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
Without Miyuki and Tatsuya by her side, Lina felt a tinge of loneliness as she continued to fend off parasites. The only thing that kept her going was the need to distract herself from that empty feeling.
✦ ✦ ✦
In the darkness of the night, a beelike buzzing sound echoed through the air. The sound wasn’t audible to the physical ear. It was a conversation only privy to spiritual forms—the voices of parasites discussing, questioning, and answering themselves.
We cannot permeate the commander’s psyche.
We didn’t know she was skilled in mental-type magic.
As far as we know, that should not be the case.
Then why can’t we permeate her psyche?
She keeps pushing us back.
She’s repelling us.
We are being forced to retreat.
Merging with her is proving a challenge.
It’s impossible.
The commander is more dangerous than we thought.
She is.
We feel she will become our enemy.
We must dispose of her.
Yes, we will.
After a while, the two animated voices became one.
✦ ✦ ✦
It was not even 5 AM on Tuesday, June 18. As long as they weren’t on a mission, even military personnel were asleep at this hour. Yet Lina suddenly found herself awake, and she pushed herself up in bed.
“Did that dream wake me up…?” she murmured to herself.
She vaguely remembered what it was about. It had not been a good dream, but she felt it had helped her release some stress. She felt much lighter than when she had fallen asleep.
Lina had never been much of a morning person. Recently, she had gotten in the habit of pouring herself a cup of bitter coffee brewed by her home automation system to force herself awake, but she didn’t feel the need for it this day.
It was June now. During the day, the temperatures often rose far above eighty degrees Fahrenheit, but before dawn, it remained around sixty degrees at the highest.
Perfect weather for a walk, Lina thought, then she quickly jumped out of bed.