The clear sky stretched out above them, a complete departure from the cloudiness of the previous day.
The two of them hadn’t eaten a real meal since the day before, so they decided to fill their stomachs with food they stocked up on at a gas station on the way.
Tsushima had been thinking of eating on the run, but Holy was so insistent in her demand to at least get to relax during mealtimes that he eventually gave in. That was how they wound up stopping the car.
They exited the vehicle, and Holy stretched under the open sky. Next to her, Tsushima put an unlit cigarette in his mouth and took out his lighter.
“You sure love smoking, don’t you?” Holy said, sounding fed up. Tsushima glanced at her for just a moment before answering, his cigarette still in his mouth.
“I’m not smoking because I particularly like it. It’s a kind of curse.”
“Don’t lump in your nicotine dependence with some occult nonsense.”
“No, that’s not what I mean—” Tsushima started to explain himself but gave up partway through. It’s not really worth talking about, he thought.
Holy gave Tsushima a piercing stare after he gave his vague, half-hearted response, but she didn’t pry. She seemed to have concluded this was simply the kind of person he was.
Holding out the groceries she had brought with her, Holy jumped up onto the hood of the car. The bag in her hand seemed disproportionately large, and it wasn’t just his imagination. Tsushima, unaware of what the girl had bought, glanced at her food out of curiosity.
Everything she took out of the paper bag was indistinguishable from snacks or junk food.
Tsushima unconsciously scowled, his eyes accidentally meeting Holy’s. She licked cheese grease off her fingertips with a questioning expression.
“What? Something wrong?”
“Surely they had something a bit more decent to eat?”
“Huh? But I can’t help it; I’ve always wanted to try this stuff.”
Holy seemed to realize from Tsushima’s reaction that her food choices were strange, and she blushed slightly. She put some of her snacks back into her bag, as if trying to make her feast more presentable.
But Tsushima was still staring at her. Pursing her lips, she made excuses.
“I’ve never had the chance to eat junk food due to my status. Wouldn’t it make sense for a girl like me to crave it a little? And since everything was in reach, I wanted to try it all even more!”
“Well, it’s not like I don’t get the feeling.”
After hearing Holy’s excuse, even Tsushima wasn’t up for pressing her any further.
That said, her meal was indeed terrible. Tsushima reluctantly pulled a vegetable-filled sandwich out of his own bag and offered it to her.
“Eat these veggies at least. If you keep eating only crap, you’re gonna get an upset stomach.”
“Huh? Really? That’s no good.”
Holy briefly thanked Tsushima for his concern as she crammed greasy, salty junk food into her mouth.
With ketchup smeared on her cheeks, she happily smacked her lips. Beside her, Tsushima put something other than a cigarette in his mouth for the first time in a while.
Just eating next to each other seemed to mysteriously shrink the sense of distance between the two of them. Perhaps this was why Tsushima, in an unusual move, brought up a topic of conversation.
“You said you were the youngest child of a noble family, right?”
“More or less, yeah. I guess,” Holy answered hesitantly while repeatedly wiping food off her cheeks. Tsushima had known from the start she was hiding something.
But that wasn’t what he wanted to ask about. He smoothly transitioned into the main thrust of the conversation.
“What kind of connection do you have with Storm Hill? It’s a dangerous group for a noble family to be acquainted with.”
For a moment, Holy stopped bringing food to her mouth, lost in thought.
“How much do you know about Storm Hill?” Holy asked with a solemn look. Tsushima gave a concise answer.
“They’re a relatively large anti-government organization in the Balga Empire. That’s about all I’m aware of.”
“That’s not an incorrect interpretation.” In a departure from her previously goofy expression, Holy furrowed her brow in determination and sat up with her knees raised. “My only connection with Storm Hill is my request to defect. They also assist people and organizations within the Balga Empire who have nowhere to go by helping them escape or providing support. Apparently, this is one of the ways they undermine the government’s authority.”
“They have to run a tight ship since they conduct anti-government activities in a nation as strictly controlled as Barga. It’d probably be hard to get in touch with them without significant connections. How did you manage to reach out to them?”
“They approached me,” Holy explained. “An operative had been observing nearby and couldn’t stand by without doing anything. So they came to me with a proposal.”
Holy didn’t seem to be lying, but she was clearly holding back important details. Her voice had tapered off as she spoke, and she eventually buried her mouth against her knees.
“But you know, even though they’re called a rebel organization, they’re not bad people,” she continued. “Of course, sometimes they resort to violence, but it’s always for a justifiable reason. And besides, there are people in the Balga Empire who don’t agree with the way their country does things. That’s a consequence of its repeated invasions and annexations. Storm Hill exists to help those kinds of people.”
“You’re not a member of Storm Hill yourself, are you?”
“Of course not. I’m just someone who made a request of them.”
While Holy’s account contained some falsehoods, there didn’t seem to be any outright lies in the bones of her story. Tsushima considered this as he decided on his next approach.
“I’m not sure if I should say this,” Tsushima prefaced before continuing. “But something really bothers me about the movements of the people chasing you. You, me, and Storm Hill are the only parties who should know about this escape route. And yet there was a large military force waiting for you at the port, almost as though they knew in advance. And it was the country’s regular army at that! But the next people to come after us were just two highly mobile Informationists, even though an organization as big as the military was involved.”
Tsushima might not have been getting his point across. Holy was tilting her head in confusion with eyes open wide. Tsushima had no choice but to elaborate a little further.
“Listen, the fact that the military was able to ambush you at the port means they were certain you would be there. That means they lost our trail after I fought them off. I bet that’s why they deployed Informationists to hunt us down instead.”
“So what’s the significance of that? The enemy knew our movements in advance?”
“Yeah. I hate to consider this possibility, but there could be a mole in Storm Hill. Does anyone come to mind?”
“A mole? That can’t be.” Holy looked anxiously at Tsushima. The color drained from her face, and she looked down at her feet as she fell into thought. Next to her, Tsushima crushed his cigarette butt under his shoe.
“I guess a lot more people want you to disappear than you thought, huh?”
Getting up as if to say mealtime was over, Tsushima came right over to Holy as he cracked his neck.
“To begin with, we cut off information from anywhere suspicious. From now on, we keep going without requesting cooperation from Storm Hill.”
“But would I still be able to flee the country that way?”
“The enemy is definitely organized in their movements. We can’t afford to take our time, but there are options available to us.”
Tsushima understood they’d be left in a precarious position if they lost the backing of Storm Hill and the group’s knowledge about Balga’s internal affairs. It seemed like Tsushima and Holy would have to force their way through the shortest route.
“Fortunately, I have some acquaintances in this country. Let’s see if we can get their help.” Tsushima exchanged another glance with Holy, softening his expression slightly. He had intended it to mean don’t worry, but she still seemed uneasy.
“The people around me always betray me. They all use me, then disappear. Can I really trust you?” Holy asked, her voice seeming like it’d fade away as she clutched something by her chest. Her question was pointless. After all, if he wanted to lie, he could deceive her as much as he liked.
Tsushima gave a long sigh to make this clear to Holy. She glared at him sharply in response.
Faced with her pure and innocent heart, Tsushima made an immature remark.
“You trust people too easily. That’s why you get betrayed. But if there’s one thing I can say for sure, it’s that my job is only to escort you to Elbar. So don’t get any funny ideas about putting your faith in me. That kind of thing gives me the creeps.”
What on earth was he talking about? Appearing unable to understand, Holy stared at Tsushima with her mouth open. His rough words had been his attempt to cheer her up, but evidently, the distance between the two of them hadn’t shrunk enough for him to get that across.
As she watched him awkwardly return to the driver’s seat, Holy seemed to pick up on his thoughtfulness. In the end, she perked up just a little, and a smile played at the corners of her lips.