Volume 1, Chapter 19: Some Things Are Better Left Unknown
The seventh day after the Mother Hive incident.
12:51 p.m.
Shuichi stood in the supermarket's staff changing room, staring for two seconds at the crooked name badge on his chest.
He didn't move.
Yusei, changing his jacket beside him, noticed.
"Your badge is crooked."
"Mm."
"Then fix it."
"Lazy."
Yusei reached over and straightened the lanyard on his chest, then pulled out the collar that had half folded inside while he was at it.
Shuichi stood motionless the entire time.
He only looked down once Yusei was finished.
"Done?"
"Done."
"Thanks."
"You have hands."
"Why use them when someone else will do it?"
Yusei was about to chew him out.
The changing room door was pushed open from outside.
A young male employee who had just changed into his uniform poked his head in, right as Yusei's hand was still resting near Shuichi's collar.
He paused mid-step.
"..."
Yusei looked back.
"What?"
"Nothing."
The guy quickly pulled the door shut again.
Shuichi didn't think anything of it either.
He just picked up his phone from the locker and glanced at it.
12:52.
Eight minutes until his shift.
Plenty of time.
So he sat down on the bench nearby.
Yusei saw.
"Why are you sitting?"
"Resting."
"Work hasn't even started."
"Resting in advance."
"..."
Yusei held it in.
In the end he couldn't, and grabbed Shuichi by the wrist and hauled him to his feet.
"Move."
Shuichi was dragged forward two steps.
"You really like grabbing me lately."
"Because you've been getting lazier and lazier lately."
"I was lazy before too."
"Which means I used to have a really good temper."
Shuichi thought about it.
"It's still all right now."
Yusei had already reached the door.
At that, he looked back at him.
"Was that a compliment?"
"Mm."
"Say it again."
"No."
"Why not?"
"Say it too much and it loses value."
Yusei put him straight into a headlock.
"Get over here."
"Shift's starting."
"There are still six minutes."
"I want to clock in early."
"You were resting in advance a second ago!"
The two of them roughhoused all the way from the changing room to the staff corridor.
Asakawa Mio was standing by the water dispenser.
She turned at the commotion.
Seeing Shuichi with half his body practically tucked under Yusei's arm no longer surprised her in the slightest.
"What now?"
"He only finished half a compliment."
Yusei said.
Shuichi corrected him.
"I finished it."
"You said my temper's all right."
"That's not a compliment?"
Mio gave it serious thought.
"By Shuichi's standards, it probably counts."
Yusei loosened his grip a little.
"Really?"
"Mm."
Shuichi slipped out from under his arm and fixed his hair, which had just gotten messed up.
"See."
Yusei actually was persuaded.
"Fine."
Mio looked at the two of them.
The corners of her mouth slowly curved a little.
Then she noticed that Shuichi's freshly straightened collar had folded inward again in one small spot.
She reached out without thinking.
"Hold still."
Shuichi stopped.
Mio pinched the edge of his collar between her fingertips and smoothed it flat again.
Up close, Shuichi could see the very low ponytail she'd tied today, and a small strand by her ear that hadn't been fully tucked in.
"There."
Mio said.
"Thanks."
Shuichi glanced down.
Yusei, standing beside them, suddenly felt the scene was a little familiar.
Yesterday it had been him.
Today it was Asakawa.
He stared for two seconds.
Mio noticed.
"What?"
"Nothing."
Yusei looked away.
"Just thinking he's gotten pretty good at ordering people around."
Shuichi: "People are willing."
Mio: "It was just on the way."
"Hear that?"
Shuichi looked at Yusei.
"She's willing."
Yusei: "..."
For some reason.
That rubbed him a little the wrong way.
But as for what exactly bothered him.
He couldn't put it into words.
***
Today all three of them were on the middle shift, one in the afternoon to nine at night.
Takahashi Misaki had come in two hours earlier than them, and by the time Shuichi and the others started work, she had already done a round at the registers.
After the last few days, she was basically familiar with the store.
She had even started haggling with Tanaka Makoto.
"Manager, isn't tomorrow my last day?"
"It says so on the schedule."
"Then will you treat me to dinner after work tomorrow?"
"Why should I?"
"A farewell for the temporary staff."
"You're just going back to your old store, you're not retiring."
"So cold."
Tanaka lowered his head and kept looking at his forms.
"Take an extra case of drinks back with you tomorrow."
Misaki's eyes lit up.
"For free?"
"Near-expiry."
"..."
"If you don't want it, forget it."
"I want it."
She agreed very quickly.
Shuichi walked past.
He suddenly understood a little why he'd gotten along with her fairly well these past few days.
People with no principles about free food.
Usually weren't bad.
"Shuichi."
Misaki called out to him.
"Hm?"
"Tomorrow's my last day."
"I heard."
"What's with that reaction?"
"Congrats."
"..."
"Isn't it nice to go back to your own store?"
"It is nice."
Misaki folded her arms and looked at him.
"But aren't you even a little sad to see me go?"
Shuichi thought about it.
"We'll still see each other."
"And if we don't?"
"Then we don't."
"You're really..."
Misaki reached out as if to pinch his cheek.
Shuichi leaned back a little to dodge.
He didn't quite get away.
But another hand reached in from the side first.
And caught Misaki's wrist.
Yusei happened to be pushing an empty cart past.
"What are you doing?"
Misaki looked at her wrist in his grip.
"I wanted to see if his face is fake."
"Why?"
"Does a normal person talk like that?"
Yusei looked at Shuichi.
"He does deserve an inspection."
"..."
Shuichi turned to leave.
Yusei grabbed the back of his collar with his other hand.
"Where are you going?"
"To work."
"Oh, you know about work now?"
"I know now."
Misaki looked at her wrist, still in Yusei's grip.
Then at Shuichi, being held by the back of his collar.
And suddenly laughed.
"Aren't you a bit quick to jump in and protect him?"
Yusei blinked.
"What?"
"I was just going to touch him."
"I thought you were going to hit him."
"Why would I hit him?"
Shuichi said from the side:
"She might actually want to."
Misaki: "..."
Yusei finally let go.
"Then go ahead and pinch."
"Now I don't want to anymore."
"Why?"
Misaki smiled meaningfully.
"I suddenly feel like someone would have a problem with it."
With that.
She first looked at Yusei.
Then, past the two of them, at Asakawa Mio, who had just stepped out from behind a shelf not far away.
Mio was holding an inventory sheet.
She had clearly heard the last part.
"What problem?"
Misaki immediately shook her head.
"Nothing."
Mio looked at her.
Then at Shuichi.
Finally her gaze stopped on the spot on Shuichi's face Misaki had almost touched a moment ago.
She didn't say anything.
She just handed the inventory sheet to Shuichi.
"Recheck the third row."
Shuichi looked down.
"Didn't I already check it?"
"Two boxes short."
"Oh."
He took it.
Misaki stood beside them.
She suddenly felt Asakawa's tone today was no different from usual.
Yet somehow it sounded more like she was shooing someone off to work than usual.
Was that just her imagination?
***
2:20 p.m.
Yusei's phone buzzed in his pocket.
He had been straightening the drinks shelf, and took it out to glance at it.
The screen showed Kamiya Risa.
【Kamiya Risa: Hello, the preliminary results of yesterday's examination have been compiled.】
Another message followed right after.
【No health risks requiring urgent attention have been found so far. No further in-depth examinations are scheduled for now; we will contact you again if anything new comes up.】
Yusei finished reading.
His brows moved slightly.
Yesterday they'd said further confirmation might be needed.
And today it had turned into "not scheduled for now."
Very quickly.
A third message came in.
【We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused by yesterday's equipment malfunction.】
Then an electronic copy of the examination report.
Yusei opened it.
Muscle, nerves, bones, blood markers, all there.
Only the abnormal energy scan page read:
【Equipment failure. Data invalid.】
He stared at those words for a while.
"What's wrong?"
At some point, Mio had walked over.
Yusei handed her the phone.
"Nexus."
Mio took it.
She read from the first message to the last.
"They're not investigating further?"
"Looks like it."
Shuichi was crouched nearby restocking the bottom row of mineral water.
He heard, but didn't stop working.
"Good."
Mio looked at him.
"You think that's good?"
"Less hassle."
"Their equipment only just reacted yesterday, and today they've stopped investigating."
"That's exactly why it's less hassle."
Shuichi put the last bottle of water in place.
He stood up.
And took Yusei's phone out of Mio's hand.
He read through it once.
His gaze stopped for two seconds on "No further in-depth examinations are scheduled for now."
"What?"
Yusei asked.
Shuichi handed the phone back.
"They saw something they shouldn't have."
Mio was taken aback.
"What do you mean?"
"Just a guess."
"You've been 'just guessing' a lot lately."
Shuichi looked up.
"Learned it online."
Mio: "..."
Even more suspicious.
But she didn't connect it to abilities or identities.
She just figured this guy had been reading some weird forum online again lately.
Yusei, on the other hand, got a bit more serious.
"You think they got scared?"
"Or maybe they realized their equipment's too expensive and they're afraid you'll break it again."
Shuichi said.
Yusei's face darkened.
"I didn't break anything yesterday."
"The grip tester?"
"It set off its own alarm."
Mio pushed the phone back into Yusei's hand.
"Either way, don't reach out to them on your own for now."
"Mm."
Yusei nodded.
"If they don't come looking for me, I've got no interest in going over there either."
With that, he glanced at Mio.
"That puts your mind at ease, right?"
Mio said without thinking:
"I was never—"
She stopped.
She'd said that line way too many times lately.
Yusei was already grinning.
"You were never worried?"
Mio's face was blank.
"Right."
"Then who was it that tried to charge in the second the alarm went off yesterday?"
"The connection suddenly went tight."
"So?"
"Combat judgment."
"Uh-huh."
Yusei deliberately drew it out a little.
Mio looked at him.
"You have a problem with that?"
"Nope."
Yusei laughed and put his phone away.
As he passed her, he reached out and very lightly touched the back of her head.
Like soothing her.
Or maybe just habit.
"No problem."
Mio stood where she was.
The skin behind her ears felt as if it had inexplicably been warmed by that touch.
She turned her head to say something.
But Yusei had already pushed the cart off.
To the side.
Shuichi was still standing there.
Mio immediately looked at him.
"What are you looking at?"
"Not looking."
"You were obviously looking."
"Your face is red."
"No, it's not."
"Your ears are."
Mio immediately raised a hand to cover her ear.
Only after reacting did she realize the gesture was even more incriminating.
The corner of Shuichi's mouth already held a trace of a smile.
Mio shoved the empty cardboard box in her hands at him.
"Take out the trash."
"Why me?"
"You're free."
"I just finished restocking."
"Restock another row."
"..."
Asakawa seemed to be in a bad mood today.
***
3:00 p.m.
Employee break time.
Shuichi had been planning to buy coffee at the vending machine.
But the moment he stood up, a hand pressed down on his shoulder.
"Sit."
Yusei said.
"Why?"
"I'll go."
"I can buy it myself."
"Aren't you lazy?"
"Suddenly hardworking today."
"Too late."
Yusei pushed him back down into the chair.
He turned to Mio.
"What do you want to drink?"
"Water's fine."
"Something sweet?"
"No need."
"Really?"
Mio looked up.
"Why do you assume I drink sweet stuff?"
"Because every time I give you something sweet, you drink it."
"..."
Hard to argue with.
"Whatever."
"Sweet, then."
Yusei left.
Shuichi sat in his chair.
Mio sat across from him.
Misaki was right beside them, unwrapping a rice ball.
She watched Yusei go out the door.
Then looked at Mio.
"He's pretty good at taking care of people."
Mio looked at her phone.
"He's all right."
"Does 'all right' usually mean 'really good' when you say it?"
Mio finally looked up.
"Why?"
"Something I noticed these past few days."
Misaki smiled. "You and Shuichi are both like that."
Shuichi, beside them.
"Leave me out of it."
"You say 'all right' when you eat something you like too."
"Objective."
"What about that pudding yesterday?"
"All right."
"You nearly got into a fight with Asakawa over it."
"Can't let food go to waste."
Misaki couldn't stop laughing.
Mio couldn't hold it in either.
Shuichi looked at the two of them.
He felt a bit ganged up on.
Before long.
Yusei came back.
He set a bottle of coffee in front of Shuichi.
And put a warm can of honey lemon by Mio's hand.
Mio was taken aback.
"A hot one?"
"Mm."
"It's so hot outside."
"Your hands are cold."
He said it very naturally.
Mio didn't answer right away.
Yusei had already sat down.
He reached for the cookies on Shuichi's side of the table.
This time Shuichi's defense was very fast.
He hugged the package straight to his chest.
"Buy your own."
"I bought you coffee."
"That's coffee."
"So?"
"Cookies aren't coffee."
Yusei: "..."
No communication possible whatsoever.
Mio lowered her head and wrapped her hands around the can of honey lemon.
The warmth slowly spread through the aluminum into her palms.
Only then did she realize.
Her hands really were a little cold from working near the refrigerated case the whole time.
She hadn't even paid much attention to it herself.
Yusei had actually noticed.
"Thanks."
"Mm."
Yusei was still fighting Shuichi over the cookies.
"Don't just say thanks, help me get one."
Mio glanced over.
"Why would I help you?"
"He's eating too much by himself."
Shuichi immediately said:
"These are mine."
Mio thought for two seconds.
Then reached out.
Shuichi warily pulled back.
"Asakawa."
"You ate my cake."
"That was yesterday."
"Yesterday's debts get settled today."
Yusei instantly burst out laughing.
"Quick learner."
"..."
Shuichi looked left.
Then right.
He suddenly found himself surrounded.
"You two are on the same team now?"
Yusei: "Sometimes."
Mio: "Depends."
In the end, the last pack of cookies got forcibly split among the three of them.
Misaki watched the whole thing from beside them.
She suddenly understood a little why these three had seemed so odd to her the past few days.
It wasn't because Asakawa seemed especially like a couple with either of them.
Nor because Yusei and Shuichi were too close.
It was that among these three, none of them was ever completely on the outside.
She even suspected.
That if she actually asked any one of them out alone.
The other two would both show up.
The thought.
Struck Misaki as rather interesting.
***
4:10 p.m.
Basement level three of the Linjiang Security Technology Center.
Kamiya Risa had already been sitting in that old records room for two hours.
On the desk were a dozen-plus pages of old files she had printed out.
Most of the contents were incomplete.
Far more of it was simply covered in black authority bars.
The only thing she could be sure of was—
The term "King-type" didn't exist at all in Nexus Group's current body of knowledge.
It belonged to something older.
That deputy director in his fifties stood beside her.
His name was Miyasaka Seiji.
Until yesterday, Kamiya had only known him as an old-timer who had joined the technical department in the early days of the group's founding.
Only now did she learn.
He had even been around back when the name "Nexus" didn't yet have the word "Group" after it.
Two knocks suddenly came from outside the door.
Miyasaka looked up.
"Come in."
A staff member pushed the door open.
"Director Saeki has arrived."
Miyasaka visibly stiffened.
Kamiya saw it.
"Who?"
"One of the group's original seven founding directors."
Miyasaka said.
He paused.
Then added:
"And one of the few people still alive who had the earliest contact with Headquarters."
Ten minutes later.
An old man whose hair had mostly gone white walked into the records room.
About seventy.
Not tall.
Wearing an ordinary dark coat.
No secretary in tow, no ostentatious entourage.
Yet when he came in, Miyasaka had already risen to his feet.
"Mr. Saeki."
The old man nodded.
"Where are the materials?"
No pleasantries.
Miyasaka handed over the printed documents.
Saeki Soichi sat down.
Put on his glasses.
First page.
Yusei's basic profile.
He gave it only a glance.
Second page.
The scan anomaly.
Third page.
【King-type signal confirmed】
The old man's fingers stopped.
Then went on.
When he reached M-03, a hard-to-describe change finally showed on his face.
As if he'd recalled an old matter he very much did not want to think about again.
Kamiya sat across from him.
"You know about M-03?"
"I saw him once."
Saeki said.
"In person?"
"Through glass."
"What was he?"
The old man didn't answer directly.
Instead he asked:
"Why did that old protocol start up again yesterday?"
Kamiya explained the examination process again.
When he heard that the black core had resonated with Yusei's scan signal, Saeki finally raised his head.
"Is the core still on basement level two?"
"Yes."
"Move it immediately."
Kamiya frowned.
"Why?"
"It's too close to that young man."
"There's no contact anymore."
"It's not a question of contact."
Saeki set the documents down.
"Miyasaka ought to have told you."
"We weren't an independent organization before."
"I know a little."
"Then know a little more."
The old man's tone was very calm.
"Nexus Group now has six major research centers, thirty-two long-term projects, and more than a thousand anomaly-response personnel it can mobilize directly."
"A lot of people outside think we're very big."
"And we're certainly not small."
He got that far.
And paused.
"But back then."
"We didn't even have the right to decide for ourselves what to research."
Kamiya went quiet.
"Headquarters?"
"Mm."
"What is it actually called?"
Saeki looked at her.
"I don't know."
That answer threw Kamiya.
"But you were..."
"When I took part in Nexus's earliest collaboration projects, I was already a Level One project lead."
The old man said. "But I never knew their real name."
"Internally, we only called it Headquarters."
"Orders from above sometimes came as a number, sometimes from a person, and sometimes as nothing but a segment of encrypted content."
"We were responsible for storage, dismantling, transport, and assisting with experiments."
"When we finished, we sent the results back."
Kamiya was silent for a few seconds.
"Then why did we become independent later?"
Saeki took off his glasses.
And gently wiped the lenses.
"We didn't become independent."
"..."
"At least, not the kind of independence written in your textbooks."
The records room was very quiet.
The old man put his glasses back on.
"Thirteen years ago, Headquarters began losing contact on a large scale."
"Some orders went unanswered."
"Some warehouses waited for collections that never came."
"Some collaboration sites suddenly went completely dark."
"In the end, even the highest-level routine communications stopped."
"We waited a long time."
"Half a year."
"A year."
"Two years."
"No one ever came again."
Kamiya understood.
"So Nexus took over the original assets."
"Yes."
"So Headquarters has already been destroyed?"
Saeki looked at her.
"Who told you that?"
Kamiya didn't answer.
The old man gave a very faint smile.
"We just never received another order."
"That's not the same as them not existing."
He said it so calmly.
That the air in the records room slowly grew heavy instead.
Miyasaka stood beside them.
He didn't interject once from start to finish.
***
Saeki picked up M-03's file again.
"This man was called an Operator."
"That's what the materials we received back then said."
"He could establish some kind of link with a transformer, and after linking, both sides would change."
Kamiya immediately thought of the golden lines on the screen yesterday.
"Is Yusei the same as him?"
"I don't know."
Saeki said.
"If they were the same, the old system wouldn't have called up the 'King-type' field specifically."
He kept turning pages.
Until that note appeared again.
【Note: Participated in Zero connection-compatibility experiment】
Kamiya asked:
"And what is Zero?"
This time.
Saeki didn't speak for a long while.
Miyasaka clearly glanced at the old man too.
"A person."
Saeki finally answered.
"A transformer?"
"Mm."
"Very strong?"
The old man raised his eyes.
"Hard to say."
Kamiya paused slightly.
"Why?"
"Because even by today's standards, of all the transformers I've ever seen, she was the strongest."
The records room fell silent.
Saeki looked at the old files on the desk.
As if seeing some scene from many years ago through those sheets of paper.
"The first time I saw Zero was eleven years ago."
"Back then, Nexus was in charge of an anomaly lockdown at the eastern seaport."
"We spent forty-seven hours preparing there."
"Over two hundred operatives."
"Three transformer squads."
"Twenty-six pieces of heavy equipment."
"Everyone thought we were going to fight a very big battle."
Kamiya didn't make a sound.
The old man went on:
"Then Headquarters notified us."
"Zero was coming."
"There were only three orders."
"One, all personnel evacuate the core zone."
"Two, no initiating contact."
"Three, no recording the operation."
"We spent forty-seven hours preparing."
"After she went in."
Saeki paused.
"Twelve minutes."
For the first time, Kamiya didn't respond right away.
"It was over?"
"Mm."
"You saw her?"
"From a distance."
"What did she look like?"
The old man had been about to turn the page.
His hand stopped.
It was a long time before he spoke.
"White hair."
"Very long."
"Eyes leaning sakura-pink."
"And horns."
Kamiya's mind came up with no match at all.
Nexus's current hero database obviously held no such person.
"Where did she go afterward?"
"I don't know."
"Did she disappear thirteen years ago too?"
"A little later than that."
Saeki's voice dropped a bit.
"When Headquarters as a whole started to collapse, Zero disappeared too."
"Is she dead?"
"Never confirmed."
"If she was one of Headquarters' most important individuals, shouldn't there be a record?"
"That's exactly what makes it troublesome."
Saeki looked at her.
"No sign of her alive."
"No record of her dead."
"For a place like Headquarters, that in itself isn't normal."
***
Kamiya looked at Yusei's photo again.
"So if that automatic protocol really did transmit yesterday..."
Saeki didn't answer right away.
Miyasaka answered for him.
"If the receiving end is still alive."
"They'll know a new King-type has appeared in Linjiang."
"And then?"
Nobody answered right away.
Kamiya frowned.
"They'd send people?"
Saeki looked at her.
"They used to."
"How long did it take?"
"The fastest time."
The old man thought back.
"Two hours."
Kamiya's eyes changed.
"Across regions?"
"Mm."
"Why that fast?"
Saeki asked in return:
"Why do you think we weren't allowed to research King-types ourselves?"
Kamiya went quiet.
"Because it's dangerous?"
"Not only that."
"Then what?"
The old man slowly closed M-03's file.
"Because they want them."
Just four words.
It was simply because—
This kind of thing belonged to Headquarters.
Discover it.
Report it.
And then Headquarters comes to take it away.
As for whether the person discovered was willing.
The file didn't even have that option.
"Calling him here yesterday..."
Saeki looked up.
"Was a mistake."
Kamiya didn't argue.
"We didn't know."
"So now you know."
The old man said, "From now on, no more contact with Yusei."
"Stop the in-depth investigation."
"Seal the existing physical samples. No ability induction."
"Pull the scan data from the networked systems."
"Move every record involving 'King-type' out of the regular database."
Miyasaka nodded.
But Kamiya asked:
"And if he really does have a health risk?"
Saeki glanced at her.
"Tell him what an ordinary checkup can confirm."
"If he needs normal treatment, give him normal treatment."
"Don't treat him as a test subject."
He said it very calmly.
Even more decisively than Kamiya had been yesterday.
Kamiya was a little surprised.
The old man seemed to see it.
"Did you think I'd want to keep researching?"
"..."
"When I was young, I wanted to."
Saeki straightened his glasses.
"Later, I saw a lot."
"And didn't much want to anymore."
He didn't explain what he'd seen.
And Kamiya didn't ask.
"What about the black core?"
"Start preparing to transfer it tonight."
"To where?"
"The Northern Silent Vault."
Miyasaka looked up.
"Hasn't that place been out of use for years?"
"That's exactly why we're using it."
Saeki said.
"It doesn't take legacy protocols."
"And it has no automatic reporting modules left over from the Headquarters era."
"Move the thing out."
"The farther from Yusei, the better."
Kamiya looked at him.
"Do you think the core itself is connected to the King-type too?"
Saeki didn't answer.
He only had Miyasaka pull up the materials on the Mother Hive incident.
The images appeared one after another on the old monitor.
The first spawn.
The underground tissue.
The white cocoon.
The Cocoon Princess.
And finally.
The black core.
Saeki stared at the photo of the core for a long time.
"This shell."
He said.
"What about it?"
"Calamity beasts don't grow this naturally."
Kamiya's heart sank.
"You recognize it?"
"I don't recognize it."
"But I've seen similar craftsmanship."
"Where?"
The old man looked at the photo.
"Headquarters."
***
9:12 p.m.
Shuichi and the others got off work.
Misaki left earlier than them today.
Tanaka Makoto was still inside shutting down the systems.
After the three of them left the supermarket, they didn't split up right away.
Yusei went to the vending machine first.
He bought three cans.
Handed one to Mio.
Handed one to Shuichi.
Shuichi looked down.
Coffee.
"This again."
"Don't you drink it?"
"I drink it."
Mio's can was peach soda.
Cold.
She looked at it.
"This afternoon it was a hot one."
"Your hands aren't cold now."
Mio looked up.
"How do you know?"
Yusei thought about it.
"I touched them just now."
"When?"
"When you handed me that bag."
Mio had no memory of it at all.
But Yusei had already cracked open his unsweetened tea.
"Let's go."
"Where?"
Shuichi asked.
"Home."
"Oh."
The three of them walked slowly toward the apartment along a shopping street that had returned to normal.
The traces of the Mother Hive incident were still there.
But at night, the shops had lit their signs up again.
People rode past on bicycles.
A line had formed again at the snack shop on the corner.
Everything was doing its best to pretend nothing had happened a few days ago.
Shuichi drank some coffee.
Then suddenly spoke.
"If Nexus comes looking for you again."
"Hm?"
Yusei looked at him.
"Don't go alone."
Yusei's steps slowed a little.
"That's the second time you've said that."
"So remember it."
"Why?"
"They backed off too fast today."
Mio looked over too.
Shuichi kept walking.
"Yesterday they still wanted to investigate."
"Today they suddenly don't."
"Either they found nothing."
"Or what they found is something even they don't want to touch."
When he finished, Yusei.
Didn't make a joke right away.
"Which one do you think it is?"
Shuichi took a sip of coffee.
"The second."
Mio frowned.
"Isn't that even more trouble?"
"Mm."
"How are you still this calm?"
Shuichi looked at her.
"Running around won't make it any simpler."
Mio: "..."
Still the same guy.
Yusei, though, smiled.
Then raised a hand and draped it over Shuichi's shoulder.
"Got it."
"Leaning on me again."
"Didn't you say yesterday it was fine?"
"I said I can lean on you."
"There's a difference?"
"There is."
"What?"
Shuichi thought about it.
"You're heavy."
Yusei let the full weight of his arm come down.
Shuichi nearly got pressed a head shorter.
"How about now?"
"Heavier."
"Serves you right."
Mio walked beside them.
Watching the two men start up again.
The unease that Nexus had stirred up in her was actually scattered a bit by their bickering.
As they crossed an intersection.
Shuichi suddenly reached out.
And caught her wrist.
Mio's body stopped.
"What?"
The next second.
A bicycle shot through the exact spot she had been about to step into.
The rider even called back an apology.
Shuichi pulled her a small step toward himself.
"Watch the road."
Mio steadied herself.
She looked down at her wrist, still in his grip.
"...Oh."
Only then did Shuichi let go.
His movements as natural as ever.
Yusei stood on the other side.
Looking at Mio.
"Why do you keep spacing out today?"
"What do you mean, keep?"
"Just now was once."
"That's called once."
"You bumped into a cart this afternoon while looking at your phone too."
"The cart was parked in the middle of the aisle."
"Shuichi parked it."
Mio immediately turned her head.
"You parked it?"
Shuichi thought about it.
"Seems like it."
"..."
Mio suddenly really wanted to throw the peach soda in her hand at him.
But after thinking about it a while.
She felt that would be a waste.
In the end, she just nudged the edge of Shuichi's shoe lightly with her foot.
Shuichi looked down.
"What?"
"Bumped you."
Yusei, beside them.
Burst out laughing.
"Nice, you learned that one."
Mio couldn't keep a straight face either.
The three of them crossed the intersection, bickering all the way.
***
10:05 p.m.
Yusei's place.
Shuichi was lying on the sofa he'd complained about countless times and yet came to lie on every single day.
Mio sat at the dining table.
The pale-blue mug was still in its usual spot.
Yusei was in the kitchen making noodles.
The three of them had originally said they'd just eat something simple.
But somehow it had turned into a proper late-night meal again.
Shuichi looked at his phone for a while.
Then suddenly moved his legs to the side.
"Asakawa."
"Hm?"
"Sit here."
He patted the other end of the sofa.
Mio glanced at the chair she was sitting in now.
"Why?"
"It's far from the TV over there."
"I'm not watching TV."
"You will in a bit."
"Watching what?"
"A movie."
Mio thought about it.
In the end, she brought her mug over.
The moment she sat down.
Shuichi had already shifted a little to the other side, leaving her room.
Mio leaned back into the sofa.
It really was much more comfortable than the dining chair.
"What are we watching?"
"Whatever."
"Then why did you call me over?"
"Watching alone is boring."
With that.
Shuichi had already started scrolling through the movie list.
Mio looked at his profile.
Two seconds passed.
"You find being alone boring too?"
Shuichi's finger paused.
"Sometimes."
The answer was very quiet.
With no particular tone to it.
Yet Mio fell silent for a moment.
"Oh."
Shuichi kept scrolling.
"Horror?"
"Not watching that."
"Why?"
"Work tomorrow."
"What does that have to do with horror movies?"
"I won't sleep well."
Shuichi looked at her.
"You're scared?"
Mio: "I'm not scared."
"Then this one."
"..."
A few minutes later.
Yusei came out of the kitchen carrying three bowls of noodles.
He saw the two of them already sitting side by side on the sofa.
The TV screen was still on the paused page of a horror movie.
His steps stopped for a moment.
"When did you two pick that?"
Shuichi: "Just now."
Mio: "He picked it."
"I'm cooking and you two are picking movies?"
"Division of labor."
Yusei set the noodles down.
"Then where do I sit?"
Shuichi pointed to the gap between himself and Mio, which was less than twenty centimeters wide.
"Here."
Yusei looked at that tiny space.
"Are you serious?"
"You can squeeze in."
Mio looked down at it.
She didn't think it was possible either.
But Yusei actually set the bowls down.
Braced one hand on the back of the sofa.
And forcibly squeezed himself in between the two of them.
Shuichi got shoved sideways to the left.
Mio got pushed to the right.
"Are you sick in the head?"
Shuichi snapped.
"Didn't you tell me to sit here?"
"I didn't tell you to actually squeeze in."
"Too late."
Once Yusei was settled, he looked left and right.
"Pretty good."
Mio: "..."
Shuichi: "..."
The three of them sat shoulder to shoulder.
Even though there were dining chairs right there.
None of them got up.
After the movie started.
Shuichi ate noodles.
Mio held her mug.
Yusei leaned back in the middle.
About twenty minutes in.
A deathly pale face suddenly jumped out in the horror movie.
Mio's fingers tightened.
Her body shifted very slightly to the side.
Right into Yusei's shoulder.
Yusei looked down.
"Weren't you not scared?"
"It just popped out suddenly."
"Uh-huh."
There was an obvious laugh in his voice.
Mio glared at him.
The next second.
Shuichi, on the other side, suddenly shoved a throw pillow into her arms.
"Hold this."
"Why?"
"You're squeezing your mug."
Mio looked down.
She really had nearly been gripping the mug too tightly just now.
She took the pillow.
"I'm not scared."
"Mm."
Shuichi didn't argue at all.
It sounded more like he was brushing her off.
That annoyed Mio even more.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I believe you."
"You obviously don't."
Yusei, in the middle.
Finally burst out laughing.
Mio raised the pillow and swung it at him.
Yusei caught it.
Shuichi found them noisy.
He reached over to grab the remote.
In an instant, the three of them were a tangled mess.
The noodles on the table nearly spilled.
In the end, Yusei had one hand pinning Shuichi and the other holding the pillow.
Mio reached over to grab it.
Just then, someone happened to be walking down the hallway outside.
Through the window that hadn't been fully shut.
They could hear the commotion inside.
Nobody knew what was going on.
Only that this apartment seemed to be getting livelier and livelier at night lately.
***
At the same time.
Basement level two of the Linjiang Security Technology Center.
The black core had already been placed in a new passive isolation case.
All the old interfaces had been disconnected.
The transfer time was set.
Two days from now.
3:40 a.m.
The route would not enter the city center.
It would not connect to networked navigation.
It would be handled only by Nexus's highest-clearance internal vehicle.
Saeki Soichi stood in front of the isolation case.
He looked at it for a long time.
Kamiya Risa stood behind him.
"You said earlier that this thing doesn't seem to have formed naturally."
"Mm."
"Then why was the Mother Hive carrying it?"
"I don't know."
"And why would it resonate with Yusei?"
The old man didn't answer right away.
The isolation case had already been fully sealed.
The core inside couldn't be seen.
But in his mind, there was still that photo.
Black.
Irregular.
Edges with a metallic sheen.
And a technology whose structure resembled what he'd seen eleven years ago.
After a long time.
Saeki finally said:
"Kamiya."
"Yes?"
"We may have gotten something wrong from the very start."
"What?"
The old man looked at the sealed case.
"That Mother Hive."
"Maybe it wasn't here to build a nest in Linjiang."
Kamiya's brows slowly drew together.
"Then what was it doing?"
Saeki didn't answer right away.
He only thought of that field in the old files that no one had mentioned in many years.
King-type.
And of the 0.7-second golden reaction in the black core after Yusei's data appeared.
Finally.
He said softly:
"It seems like it was looking for something."
"Or..."
"Looking for someone."
No one in the isolation room spoke again.
And inside that completely powered-down black case.
Where no instrument could see.
Deep in the heart of the black core.
A golden thread so fine it almost didn't exist.
Lit up faintly once more.