Peace came over my heart.
That’s right, Senano-chan had gone out, so I was staying home.
Since there were tons of convenience store sweets and snacks, even the god of my village ought to be in a good mood.
Well then, I’m gonna take a nap.
“Ei, this is delicious! This one too!”
“That’s good.”
“Yes! Aren’t you going to eat, Ei?”
“I ate breakfast earlier…”
I’m still growing, but I don’t eat much.
That’s because back when I was in the village, they basically only served mountain vegetables and game meat.
On top of that, it was always food that looked like offerings, so I ended up living a healthy but small-portion kind of diet.
The only time I sat around the table with my parents was on my birthday, and normally I ate alone. Any actual kid would’ve gone delinquent way before this.
“Then I’m eating this cream puff too!”
“Mm.”
“Munch… munch munch munch munch!”
“Why not slow down a little?”
Without even listening to what I said, Sora desperately kept stuffing one sweet thing after another into her mouth.
Was this the gluttonous content monster my village had been worshipping…?
She’s just a food-obsessed otaku.
“By the way, Ei, there is one thing I need to tell you.”
“What?”
“People will be coming here shortly. The man we met earlier, and several Enri Bearers besides him. They all have weapons. Fight!”
“Huh?”
A moment later, the intercom rang.
In a room with no one here besides us, the sound echoed strangely loudly.
I looked to Sora as if asking for help, but the glutton who had eaten everything simply threw herself onto the sofa while rubbing her stomach. She was no good anymore. Totally useless.
“Ei, it’s an act. Be like an innocent girl.”
“Roger.”
Glancing all around at the sound of the intercom, I pattered down the hallway.
Heh-heh. We had an intercom at home too, you know!
“Yes, I’m coming now.”
Ei was an innocent girl who knew nothing of doubting people.
That was why, if the intercom rang, Ei would open the door, and even if men in black were waiting on the other side, Ei would still welcome them with a smile.
“Oh my, you’re the one from earlier.”
“…Hello, Oretsu Ei-san.”
“The people behind you, are they your friends? …Ah, I’m sorry. I need to prepare some tea.”
The moment I turned my back after saying that, I heard a voice call out to stop me from behind.
“Oretsu Ei-san, this is urgent, so let us keep this brief here.”
“…Yes?”
I’ve got a bad feeling about this!
『Oh, they’re here＾＾』
『What’s here?』
『Content』
『Take that back』
For now, I tilted my head slightly and turned back, and one of the people who had been standing behind the men in black stepped forward and held out an attache case.
With a click, the lock came undone, and it opened slowly.
Inside was something like a white choker.
It looked as though something was carved into it; if you looked closely, there was a pattern-like design on the surface.
S-so cool!
“Wow, it’s beautiful. What is this?”
“NARROW… In Japan, its official name is the Neural Sealed Record Aberrant Will Suppression Device. This is a tool for protecting world peace. Senano Enri Bearer has one as well.”
“I see… wow…”
I want it.
Actually, this is obviously for me.
It’s gotta be some super overpowered cheat item.
“A short while ago, the reaction from Enri Bearer Senano was lost. A temporary missing-person determination has been made. It is our judgment that continuing the mission as it stands will be difficult.”
“Does that mean… is Senano-san alright!?”
“…The situation is changing rapidly, so we cannot state anything definitively. There is a high possibility that what Oretsu Ei-san is imagining has happened.”
“No…”
Senano-chan… she was elite, sure, but she was obviously the charge-straight-in type…
Which means this is the part where I go save her. Hmm, very nice. Very protagonist-like.
“Therefore, we of the Enri Agency request your cooperation. Would you please save Senano?”
“If there is anything I can do, I’ll do it!”
『Hm?』
『I don’t need to react to this part?』
Perhaps relieved by my answer, the man in black took the collar out of the attache case and held it out to me.
It really is a NARROW for me!
Yay!
“Then, please take this. It will support you inside the labyrinth. Please put it on yourself.”
“You prepared something this lovely just for me?”
“This is about all we can do.”
At those words, the feeling that I was one of the chosen welled up inside me stronger and stronger.
Alright, let’s do this!
“Then I will gratefully accept it.”
I took the choker in both hands and put it around my neck.
Strangely enough, it fit my neck perfectly, and there wasn’t the slightest discomfort.
『Well? Does it suit me?』
『It does. By the way, that probably has a system in it that kills you if you disobey.』
『Huh』
『It’s basically like having a bomb attached to your neck. Scary, isn’t it?』
『W-why didn’t you tell me!?』
『So cute＾＾』
『Do you like me or hate me!? Which is it!?』
『I love you dearly, so I want to bully you. Just not enough to kill you.』
Help me.
The risk of death just doubled.
Ten’i and the collar made two.
From here on, I have to keep both the god and the Enri Agency in a good mood.
“Do you feel any discomfort around your neck?”
“…No, I’m fine.”
『Yes, that’s good. You’re a poor girl who had a collar put on without knowing anything. Let’s show that to that human and make their face cloud over＾＾』
『How cruel…』
However cruel it was, my love for my own life won by a landslide, so I did not let the mask of an innocent beautiful girl slip.
“Then please guide me. I have to save Senano-san.”
Together with the men in black, I left the room.
■
【Enri Agency Internal Submission】
Document Number: EN-EXC-2025-0913-EIA
Type: Emergency Operational Request (Application for Authorization of Medium Deployment)
Submitted To: Anti-Enri Disaster Section, Second Bureau Chief (approval) / Internal Safety Audit Department (for review)
Prepared By: Enri Agency Special Operations Office (SOU)
Date Prepared: August ■, 20██
Subject
“Request for Authorization of Emergency Measures in the Snake-Shadow Window Distortion Incident — Operational Deployment of Medium 《A-E1》 (commonly known as: Ei)”
■Summary
At ██ City, ██ Apartment Building, one Enri Bearer issuing a distress signal (survivor from the advance team) has been confirmed. Advance Team Group 1 (6 personnel total) is already missing. The on-site situation is displaying Class A behavior exceeding the originally assumed Class C incident level (Shadow Serpent Shutter Screen), and rescue by ordinary deployment carries an extremely high fatality rate.
Accordingly, as an emergency measure, we request the temporary operational deployment of pseudo-medium A-E1 in order to conduct analysis of the site’s cognitive contamination and to confirm and guide the location of the rescue target. Deployment will be limited and conducted under supervision, with concurrent risk-minimization measures.
In addition, because Senano Enri Bearer proceeded alone without joining up with the local Enri Bearers, A-E1 is to be dispatched as an added countermeasure against recognition alteration by an Aberrant Entity.
■Reasons for Deployment
・Rescue Priority: As long as the survivor’s signal continues, immediate response is necessary. Redeploying human personnel is extremely dangerous in light of the two prior annihilation cases.
・Suitability of Medium Capabilities: Ei possesses low-interference contact with the cognitive domain, as well as medium-based observation capabilities. Ei is capable of identifying the boundary of the window’s cognitive contamination zone and estimating the location of the victim’s mental information (preliminary evaluation from past similar missions).
・Circumvention of Containment Failure: At present, means of obtaining information remotely without destroying the window are limited, and deployment of Ei is considered highly likely to make it possible to identify and guide the survivor’s location “without opening the window.”
・Lack of Time: Resident evacuation has been completed, but the progression of the target individual’s windowization is expected to accelerate over time. Rapid action is required.
・Confirmation of Enri Bearer Senano’s Safety: It has already been confirmed from NARROW location logs that Enri Bearer Senano did not join the three Enri Bearers waiting on site and instead entered the labyrinth alone. There is a high possibility that recognition alteration has occurred, and rescue by overwriting that recognition through a pseudo-medium is to be attempted.
■Operational Deployment Plan
Deployment Method: Ei is not to make direct contact on site, and medium-contact is to be limited to contact through the balcony and from the exterior surface of the window. Entry into the room is prohibited in principle.
Mission Objectives:
(A) Confirm the survivor’s location (the source of the voice).
(B) Observe the boundary of the window’s cognitive space and analyze the conditions under which the window opens or expands.
(C) Attempt survivor guidance (audio mediation / mutual interruption of hallucination interference), and upon success, carry out recovery via the shortest route. This shall also include Enri Bearer Senano.
■Operational Restrictions: Ei shall be placed under a prohibition on self-preservation-avoidance behavior, and shall be put into a state in which remote surveillance and forced termination via Enri Agency NARROW are possible on site (emergency processing circuit).
Support Structure: Rear control by Raku through constant communication, with an aerial standby protection maneuver unit (non-interference) in place. One Enri Bearer (for post-rescue recovery duties) shall remain on standby for immediate shortest-route entry.
■Risk Assessment
Projected Benefits: Reduction of human losses, early recovery of survivors, and establishment of containment tactics through analysis of the window’s behavior.
Primary Risks: If Ei becomes affected by cognitive contamination, there is a possibility of secondary harm as a medium (contamination / spread of observed information). Although the probability of a special incident involving Ei is the lowest on record, it cannot be ruled out.
Damage Estimate: While information would be lost in the event of Ei’s loss, overall damage is assessed to remain lower than the projected fatalities of continued human deployment.
■Comparison with Alternatives
Standard redeployment of Enri Bearers (multiple): High fatality rate (based on past cases) → Not recommended.
Deployment of remote observation devices only: Insufficient resistance to cognitive contamination, low accuracy → Limited effectiveness.
Destruction of the window (immediate elimination): Risk of opening an otherworld gate → Most dangerous.
Comprehensively, deployment of the medium is judged at present to be the method with the highest probability of rescue while also capable of suppressing secondary damage.
■Ethical and Legal Considerations
Operational deployment of Ei may conflict with medium protection clauses, and therefore exceptional approval is requested on the condition that deployment be limited and reversible.
Attempt Ei’s consent prior to deployment (to the extent possible through confirmation of intent). If impossible, execution is to be enforced as an “emergency measure” under the Bureau Chief’s authorization.
A post-operation report by an independent audit division shall be mandatory.
■Emergency Withdrawal and Final Measure
If Ei exhibits abnormal behavior under the influence of the window, the emergency processing circuit shall be activated immediately and ground recovery shall be discontinued. Thereafter, forced window containment (compound sealing tags) shall be executed.
In the worst-case scenario, prior approval is requested for the decision, under Bureau Chief authorization, to enact “abandonment of the target Aberrant Entity” = discontinuation of continued life-saving operations.
■Request
As stated above, in light of the damage situation and time constraints, we hereby apply for authorization of the limited operational deployment of pseudo-medium A-E1.
This measure is considered the best available option to increase the likelihood of rescue success while avoiding further annihilation from conventional human redeployment. Prompt approval is requested.
Submitted by: Director, Enri Agency Special Operations Office ████
Approval Field (Bureau Chief) ____________________ (Signature / Seal)
Audit Confirmation (Required): Director, Internal Safety Audit Department ____________________ (Signature)
Special Notes
※This document is an official internal approval document. For the actual operational purpose, refer to “Project EN-THEOS.” Be sure to delete these Special Notes before submitting the document.
(TL Note: this organization truly is filled with idiots. You got a being of unknown power to willingly come into your facility, you then put a bomb around their neck and expect to get away scot free when it blows up. Can’t wait to see what these guys are gonna do if literally nothing happens when they try to explode Ei)