【Enri Agency Mission Report】
Document Number: EN-8251-AK-TYO-0815
Record Rank: A-Rank Related Person Record / Confidentiality Grade III
Reporter: Chinen Division Deputy Assistant Officer Rakuraku Miraku
Subject Related Person: Mikama Senano (Rank: A)
Mission Type: Promotion Examination Mission (Solo Processing Test Against Aberrant Related Existence)
Mission Site: Former Chuo Ward, Tokyo / Old Hakuon Cinema Ruins
Target Aberration: Tank of Glass Voices (Estimated Class: B / Recognition-Hazard Type)
■ Mission Background Summary:
At 6:13 AM on August 15, Reiwa ██, A-Rank Related Person Mikama Senano was dispatched to Tokyo on a promotion examination mission for the solo processing of the aberrant related existence 『Tank of Glass Voices』 confirmed there. The target mission area had already been sealed off, and permission had been granted either to seal the target or carry out a relation-severing process.
■ Mission Progression:
05:55 Arrived on site (Old Hakuon Cinema ruins).
For disguise among civilians, wore the uniform of a nearby high school. No abnormal signs.
06:00 Secured communications line, began coordination with operator.
There was casual conversation regarding the disappearance of the aberrant related existence 『Sorayodo no Oohito』 (detailed later).
06:13 Requested and received approval to release NARROW Hibari. Deployed the feather-blade type NARROW from the coffin-type storage mechanism.
06:15 Entered the theater. Took a formation assuming engagement with the aberrant related existence, but there was no response.
06:16 Discovered an unidentified person in the underground theater.
A young girl appearing to be in her early teens, wearing white garments (similar to shrine maiden attire) and possessing black hair.
She appeared to be reading a manga magazine, and no hostile behavior or abnormal signs were confirmed.
■ Special Notes:
Disappearance of the aberrant related existence
Tank of Glass Voices, the target of this mission, could not be visually confirmed on site, and it is possible it had already “disappeared before the mission.” Given that a relation-based blockade had been placed around the surrounding area in advance, rather than escape to the outside, either “a qualitative change in the aberration itself” or “a reconstitution of its form of existence” is suspected.
Regarding the unidentified girl
The girl who was discovered possessed the following characteristics according to Senano’s observations:
Whether this girl has a direct connection to Tank of Glass Voices remains unconfirmed.
For now, she is provisionally classified as a contact-observation subject, and requires protection and monitoring.
Reference to the disappearance of Sorayodo no Oohito
On the same day, a conversation concerning Sorayodo no Oohito took place between Senano and the operator.
Its connection to the incident from five years ago (the Shinjuku 【Mist Smile】 case) has resurfaced, and because the coordinates of multiple S-Class aberrant related existences have simultaneously become unknown, there are concerns over a linked induction of relation-based disaster.
■ General Assessment:
This mission did not become a practical promotion examination due to the “prior disappearance of the aberrant related existence” and the “discovery of an unexpected contact.” However, the judgment, responsiveness, and accuracy of NARROW operation of the related person in question were confirmed. The promotion decision will be postponed to the next mission, but it is assessed that they possess sufficient practical ability in handling aberrations.
Furthermore, as this case suggests the possibility of a new aberrant related existence, it is recommended that investigation of the girl and investigation into the qualitative change of Tank of Glass Voices be treated as priority matters.
■
『I’ve already finished the report over here, but…… Senano-san, how are things on your end?』
Senano’s first mission came to an unexpected ending.
The one she was dealing with, despite normally having been expected to be processing an aberrant related existence, was a beautiful girl far removed from anything like one.
“Even if you ask me how…… she’s just been reading manga the whole time.”
The beautiful girl Senano had encountered in the underground theater, after confirming whether Senano was a human who had come for a test of courage, seemed to lose interest and started reading manga again.
After that, no matter how much Senano spoke to her, she gave no proper reply.
She seemed content to stay quietly where she was, but looked at another way, that also felt like a statement that she had no intention of moving from this spot.
『Can you at least take her into protective custody for now? Rather, please do!』
“I know already. ……Hey, you there, young lady? Can you hear me?”
The girl did not answer.
For a while, the only thing echoing through the theater was the sound of pages turning.
Before long, perhaps having finished reading the manga, the girl nodded in satisfaction and snapped it shut.
“That was good.”
“I didn’t ask for your thoughts.”
Ignoring Senano, the girl reached for an unopened manga. It was probably the continuation of the one she had just been reading.
However, Senano moved ahead of her and took the manga first.
“Ah.”
“If you want it back, then listen to what I have to say.”
Senano smiled smugly as she flaunted it, waving the manga around.
Judging only by how she looked, she seemed like a bully.
“Tell me your name and age, and where you live too.”
『Senano-san, be a little gentler……』
“Anyone who ignores me and keeps reading manga is obviously looking down on me. With this kind of thing, the pecking order gets decided right from the opening move.”
Saying that, Senano stared at the girl.
But Senano was the one who looked away first.
“……Damn it, that face is too good.”
Watching Senano lose purely to the girl’s good looks, the girl stood up.
Then she held out her hand.
“Please give the manga back.”
“Then listen to what I have to say.”
Senano answered without yielding.
Maybe because they were staring at each other, her body felt hot. It was as though she were standing under the blazing sun.
“For now, let’s leave this place. You don’t need to read manga by lantern light in a place like this when you can read it outside. It’s already bright out there.”
With that said, Senano pointed toward the exit.
The girl, unchanged as ever, kept holding out her hand to receive the manga.
“Please give the manga back.”
“Hmph, if it’s a battle of endurance, I won’t lose! I’m the most persistent girl in all of Enri Academy!”
『Is that really something to be proud of……?』
Without answering Raku’s voice, Senano placed a hand on her hip and puffed out her chest.
Being slightly taller than the girl, Senano had succeeded splendidly in looking down on her.
“You get it now, right? Get outside already. Look, the cicadas are already crying out there…… hm?”
『Did something happen, Senano-san?』
Without replying, Senano listened carefully.
And indeed, she could hear the sound of cicadas.
(This theater is underground, isn’t it? Then why can I hear cicadas chirping……? And for sound in such a closed environment, there’s too little reverberation. It’s almost as if――)
As if they were crying out in an open place, for example, somewhere in the mountains.
“……!”
Suddenly, wind brushed her cheek.
The lukewarm summer wind blew past as though tracing Senano’s outline.
“……Raku-chan, is there no relation-based abnormality? Any sort of reading in the values?”
『? We haven’t observed anything here in particular. Is this another joke? Really, please stop doing that!』
“……I see.”
Senano gripped Hibari as though making up her mind.
(There’s something here. Either Tank of Glass Voices changed, or a higher-order aberrant related existence that devoured it……)
Understanding that this was an emergency, Senano immediately began to act.
And the very first thing she needed to do was already decided.
(It’s a fact that this girl is involved! First, I need to make some distance――)
The moment she raised Hibari, aimed it at the girl, and was about to activate it…
“……Huh?”
Suddenly, a blue sky floated up in her thoughts.
The optimal tactical answer she had assembled on the spot disappeared along with a momentary blank.
But to the current Senano, that did not matter.
More than that, she had to think about the sky behind those thoughts.
“……Ah, ah.”
『I’ve confirmed Hibari’s activation! Did something happen, Senano-san! ……Senano-san!? 』
A voice could be heard in the distance.
Whose voice it was, she could no longer remember now.
More importantly, right now she had to look up at this sky.
“……”
The sky that should have existed only in her thoughts had already covered her vision.
The chirping of cicadas ringing out, and the vividly green peaks caught at the edge of her sight.
A countryside landscape filled and dyed all of her vision, thoughts, and heart.
However, there was nothing to fear.
That was only natural, and eventually all humanity would――
“Please give the manga back.”
“――!?”
At the line she heard for the third time, Senano came to her senses with a start.
When she looked around, the ■■ she had been gazing up at until now was nowhere to be found.
No, more than that.
“……Huh, what was I even trying to do just now?”
Senano could not remember what it was she had been trying to do.
『Senano-san! Can you hear me!?』
At the panicked voice, Senano tilted her head.
“What’s wrong, Raku-chan?”
『Thank goodness, we’re still connected……! I suddenly confirmed Hibari’s syntax activation, so……』
“Eh……? Ah, you’re right!?”
In Senano’s hands, the red-glowing Hibari had already begun preparing to do something.
While hurriedly shutting it down, Senano gave a strained smile.
“Come to think of it, I’ve been gripping it this whole time since I came in here…… maybe I accidentally shifted into Dance mode……”
『That’s unlike you, Senano-san……? Since it’s a new model, could it have had some sort of malfunction? For now, once you’re back, please hand Hibari over to the maintenance team.』
“Okay. Which is why, let’s get out of here already…… huh.”
Unexpectedly, the girl had already started walking toward the exit.
With both plastic shopping bags stuffed full of manga, she staggered out of the underground theater.
“Hey, don’t go on ahead! It’s dangerous, you know! More importantly, why did you suddenly decide to leave?”
Senano hurried after her.
And after quickly catching up, Senano slung the guitar case onto her back, stepped up beside the girl, and snatched one of the shopping bags.
“Ah.”
“I’ll carry one for you. It’s heavy, right? Don’t worry, I’m not going to steal it or anything.”
“……Thank you.”
The girl looked like she wanted to say something, but after thanking her, started walking again.
Satisfied that the girl had finally become honest, Senano snorted and began walking alongside her as well.
“I don’t need thanks or anything. There’s no way I can let a girl who isn’t trained carry something like this.”
“A girl……?”
The girl tilted her head.
“What?”
“I’m a man.”
“Eh?”
“I’m a man.”
“……What.”
With the biggest shock of the day, Senano slowly spoke into the smartphone that was still on the call.
“Raku-chan, what I picked up wasn’t a beautiful girl, it was a pervert disguised as a beautiful girl.”
『What are you talking about, Senano-san?』
【Enri Agency Mission Report】
(Addendum) Supplemental Note:
※Furthermore, in later conversation, the person identified as the girl stated that “I am a man,” and Mikama Senano also visually “confirmed that the person was male.”