It had only been two days since Charon had learned the truth.
Just two days. That was all it had taken for them to get back onto their feet.
From Kaguya’s perspective, that about-face seemed staggeringly fast. They had just learned that their whole lives had been lived as someone’s lab rats. Under the circumstances, it would not have been strange for one or more of them to announce they were leaving the Bureau.
“I mean, it’s not like dwelling on things is going to get me anywhere,” Rindou said. “And if I left now, where would I go? The Bureau’s recruits are all in the same boat, after all.”
“That’s true, I guess. Only people with no relatives wind up in here.”
Neither Koyuki nor Rindou nor, least of all, Azuma were about to sit around feeling sorry for themselves, wasting their energy thinking about a past they had already lost. In Kaguya’s opinion they could afford to be a little more ambivalent about things than they were being, but that probably just came down to their different personalities. And perhaps to their experiences.
“Actually, this might have something to do with why the Bureau only hires children orphaned by the hero attacks.”
“I think so. Children can see the heroes, after all. The Bureau could have run some sort of application process if they wanted one, but they don’t.”
That was always an option—the Extermination Bureau could have made their existence public and fielded willing applicants. The reason they hadn’t must have been because, at the end of the day, the Bureau was just the setting for an experiment. The organization’s personal playground, so to speak.
“It seems as if they needed to keep the Chronoses a secret to some degree.”
“That makes sense. These weapons were originally human. Not only that, they still have awareness and can feel pain. It’s diabolical.”
True. The Extermination Bureau had strayed far from the path of decency.
“What about those design specs, though? I’m impressed you were able to get your hands on something like that. It’s hard to believe stuff like that is just sitting around in the Intelligence and Analysis Branch’s database.”
“It obviously wasn’t in the database. This is something they wanted to keep secret so badly that they were willing to kill for it. They wouldn’t dare keep something like that in the database, not even in the hidden files.”
“So then how did you—?”
“That’s my little secret.”
Noticing the wicked glint in Haru’s eyes, Kaguya suspected there might have been some form of blackmail involved.
“Well, I’m impressed you were able to convince people like that,” Kaguya said. By convince, she meant strong-arm, of course. “But couldn’t something like that come back to bite you later on?”
“I doubt it would amount to much of a bite even if it did. The Extermination Bureau will probably see how things are before too long.”
“…?”
“They can’t just stop sending Charon into the fight, and they must know it’s too late to kill any more of us now. I doubt they’d just kill us without a good reason since it takes a lot of nerve to kill another person.”
Having once attempted to kill someone she was close to, Haru knew what she was talking about.
“So you’re saying that, for all intents and purposes, the Bureau’s hands are tied? You certainly know how to play hardball. I’ll give you that,” Kaguya said, praising her.
A bemused look appeared in Haru’s eyes.
“In any case, shouldn’t Azuma be here by now? What’s taking him so long?”
Koyuki glanced toward the door of the meeting hall.
It was almost lunchtime. Azuma was in charge of today’s meal. While his cooking wasn’t terrible, the general consensus (?) was that it lacked originality, simply a textbook interpretation of flavor.
They did all agree on one thing, though: It was better than Haru’s cooking.
“Does he usually wake up this late?”
It was already eleven thirty. Factoring in the time it would take to prepare the meal, it would be around one by the time they finished eating.
“I guess it can’t be helped. Maybe someone else should make lunch in his place today—”
“I can do it,” Haru said, speaking up out of the blue. “I haven’t really done a proper lunch duty since I got here. The least I can do is—”
“Absolutely not!” the others said in unison.
They had yet to recover from the shock of seeing Haru’s first meal—which had been some sort of purplish-red stew.
“Ah! Speaking of which, Kaguya,” Koyuki said, changing the topic in a panic. “What happened to what we were talking about from before?”
“Talking about from before? What do you mean?”
“You know. The checkups, with the pulse and everything.”
Kaguya’s brain stalled temporarily. That was the last subject she had expected Koyuki to bring up at the current moment.
“What are you talking about? What pulse?” Rindou said, being the only one among them in the dark.
Kaguya ignored his question. “Well, nothing happened, I guess. Besides, I told you those are just aftereffects…”
“Hmph… Come on, the cat’s out of the bag already.” Koyuki seemed thrilled with her new choice of topic. “When are you going to woman up and do something about it already? You’re obviously just as keen on Azuma as he is on you!”
“I’m what…?!” Kaguya’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. Kaguya? Keen? On Azuma? Absolutely not! “Y-you’ve got it all wrong. Azuma was just going through something unusual, but that doesn’t mean that I—”
“I don’t know. You seem pretty interested in him to me, too,” Haru said, butting in once more where she wasn’t needed. “What do you think?” she asked, passing the ball along to Rindou, of all people.
Rindou, who had been out of the loop, hesitated slightly before speaking.
“W-well…she certainly doesn’t seem to hate him. That’s for sure. At least, they seem to be getting on better than before.”
“Of course we are. We’ve been around each other for several months now. But that’s just friendship. Friendship! I obviously care about him…as a teammate. But that absolutely does not mean that there’s anything sexual or romantic between us!”
“Oh? Who said anything about romantic?” Koyuki asked. Kaguya froze, realizing she had just dug her own grave. “It sounds like you’re aware of some feelings after all.”
“That’s not fair. You tricked me…,” Kaguya grumbled. She did not deny it, however. For all intents and purposes, she had just given her answer. “But don’t go nuts or anything. I’m just a tiny bit interested. That’s all.”
Kaguya stood up to hide her embarrassment. Anything to play off how flustered she was feeling at the moment. She began purposely speaking in a loud voice, making a show of how funny she found this whole situation.
“That doesn’t mean I like like Captain Azuma or anything, so—”
Click.
With exquisite—or what Kaguya would call atrocious—timing, the door to the hall swung open to reveal Azuma, who looked drowsy.
“Sorry I’m late. I’ll start making—” Azuma blinked, noticing Kaguya, who had frozen in a bizarre stance. “Kaguya, what are you doing?”
“What? Me? I was just standing up.”
Azuma cocked his head in a strangely endearing manner. “Oh? I had no idea you were such a big fan of standing up.”
“Standing up? What? I mean, I could take it or leave it…,” she babbled. Little did she know what was coming next.
“Hmm? I could have sworn I heard you talking about how much you liked something from outside the door. What was that all about?”
“…?!”