Once the battle ended, Azuma noticed he had a message on his terminal.
However, it was just one sentence long: I’m waiting in Kaguya’s hospital room.
Haru must have learned something. There would be no need to message him if she was only visiting Kaguya. He hurried toward Kaguya’s hospital room.
“Warrant Officer Ezakura…?”
Upon arriving, he saw that Mari was there as well.
She had probably just come to pay Kaguya a visit. But the expression on her face was a complete turnaround from the gloomy look she usually wore. It seemed as if she had made up her mind about something important.
Her presence, however, was slightly inconvenient right now. Azuma had come to speak with Haru.
“I’m sorry, but would you mind leaving the room for a little while? Takanashi and I—”
“No, Captain Azuma. Mari should stay.”
The expression that appeared on Haru’s face was difficult to describe. Like someone staring ruefully at a cup of spilled coffee.
“Oh? I suppose that’s fine.”
Azuma gave Haru a questioning look. The only people in the room were Haru, Mari, Koyuki, Rindou, and Kaguya, who was unconscious.
Haru began without further ado.
“I’ve learned more about how Chronoses are created.”
“You’ve what…?”
“I was able to access Inspection’s database and get my hands on some data connected to the Chronoses. There were a lot of things about the Director’s death that didn’t seem to add up…”
Haru began explaining in a soft voice. She spoke about how the final stage of creating Chronoses involved bathing the weapons in human blood and how this was also part of the reason the Director was killed—that it wasn’t just to keep her quiet.
“How sinister…,” Koyuki said in disgust. “In other words, that means that the Chronoses we use every day were created out of blood and death.”
They had left their weapons in the transport truck, so there were no Chronoses in the room with them at the moment. Azuma’s thoughts ran briefly to his katana, which had been found at the scene of the Director’s death. It must have absorbed the Director’s blood.
Azuma, however, was not too affected by the news. He was used to such revelations by this point and was not about to lose his head over every new surprise.
“This may just be my own opinion, but I would rather prioritize those who are still alive over those who are no longer with us,” he said. “I’m sorry, but choosing not to use these weapons out of some compunction just doesn’t seem like an option to me.”
“Good… I’m glad to hear it.” Haru looked toward the corner of the room. “That’s all I had to say. But Warrant Officer Ezakura apparently has something to share as well.”
Azuma’s gaze settled on Mari, and he tried not to show surprise. A mixed expression appeared on the warrant officer’s face. Determination rippled with fear.
Mari began speaking somewhat timidly.
“What I wanted to speak about is related in a way—well, possibly, I think. But I need to ask you all something. Are you willing to keep fighting, no matter what you learn?”
“…? What do you mean, no matter what?”
“Well, if something even more awful were to occur, for instance. If something were to come to light that was completely untenable. Are you sure you could keep going on, just like before?”
“I don’t know what it is you’re suggesting…,” Azuma answered calmly. “But it wouldn’t change anything about what we need to do. We all know how important it is to defeat the heroes—”
Azuma paused mid-sentence. If defeating the heroes was all they cared about, there would have been no need for all this handwringing in the first place.
“No, not just defeat heroes. To save people as well. To prevent any more people from dying whenever possible, including even the heroes.”
“Okay… Then my mind is made up. The Director confided something in me before she died… Something about the Chronoses.”
Mari’s voice commanded the room. Azuma and the others simply listened in silence.
“According to what she told me, they can think. These Chronoses… They have minds of their own.”
“Minds…?”
Azuma misheard her at first. He thought she had said mines. As if there was some sort of secret metal that was used. But obviously, that would not merit such a fuss.
“Sentience, I suppose you could say.”
“Sentience…?”
Azuma was still confused. What was she trying to say? Sentience was something found in humans, not in inanimate weapons. How would anyone even confirm something like that?
“They retain their awareness and are still conscious, even now, of what happens in the world around them.”
“…? What do you mean?”
“It’s, um, sort of like locked-in syndrome,” Mari explained, scrambling to remember what the Director had told her.
Mari explained how Chronoses contained the consciousnesses of the original humans they were created from, still sealed inside. She also told them about the rebounds—how they were the consciousnesses’ manic attempts to resist.
Azuma was speechless. As were Rindou and Koyuki.
“Is that—?” Azuma’s mouth felt unpleasantly dry. “Is all of that true?”
“It is. I learned it firsthand when I visited the Director’s lab…,” Mari explained, almost as if she was trying to defend herself. But they weren’t worried about that right now.
“Is there any proof?”
“Nothing that could rise to the level of conclusive evidence. But I witnessed some of the Director’s experiments in person.”
Mari elaborated on what she had seen in detail: Yuuji Sakigaya and the stress response tests. And the tubes of liquid, red like blood.
“Sorry, but I’m not buying it,” Rindou said, looking uneasy. “This is probably all just speculation on your part.”
“You’re right; it is. I can’t deny that. But I’m telling you, you have to believe me. What reason would I have to lie about something like this deliberately?”
“Tsk. So what are you telling us for?” There was something dangerous in Rindou’s voice, wild like an animal’s. “It doesn’t change anything, does it? Whether we know the truth or not? So then why even tell us?! What possible reason—?”
“Rindou, stop.”
Azuma held up a hand to restrain Rindou, just in case. He almost looked like he was about to strike Mari. After managing to get his own breathing under control, Azuma turned to face Mari.
“When you say they are conscious of the outside world…does that mean they can feel pain as well?”
“Th-that’s what the Director said.”
“Weapons that can feel pain…?” Koyuki was starting to grow belligerent. Perhaps it was her fatigue speaking. “What kind of nonsense is that? Do you even hear yourself? What makes you think we would ever believe something like that?”
“Well… I don’t…I guess…”
Mari cowered in response. However.
“Permission,” Haru said, softly, as if coming to Mari’s aid. Everyone turned their eyes toward her. “She said that the weapon had given her permission.”
“She? You mean Kaguya?”
Haru nodded. She seemed to be working out her thoughts as she spoke.
“If Chronoses really do have minds of their own, that word choice would make a lot more sense.”
“B-but that was just Kaguya speaking off the cuff, wasn’t it?! The idea that Chronoses could be conscious and feel pain is ridiculous. They’re just weapons—”
“Living weapons. And the rebounds, which only those of you in Charon are immune to, may in fact be an expression of that will.”
But to what end?
“In other words, the rebounds may be their method of communicating that they do not want to be used as weapons.”