Sometimes having too good a memory isn’t necessarily a good thing.
For example, Tsukishiro Yanagi’s mind was now being flooded with uncontrollable details.
Not only did she remember exactly where she had placed that handkerchief, she also recalled everything from the moment she left for the mission in the morning: a fierce skirmish, a mech pursuit, and a long trek through a harsh Ether environment.
Her uniform shirt had already been soaked through with sweat twice, and she herself had used that handkerchief several times to wipe her chest… after all, being… well-endowed did make sweating unavoidable…
As the memories surged up, her shoulders trembled even more violently.
Was he wiping sweat?
Or was he smelling it?
Probably just wiping sweat, right?
Or was he actually carefully smelling it?
But she had been gone for so long—was he still wiping sweat after all this time?
Wiping sweat that long wouldn’t be strange… but why was he so nervous?
Or had he already smelled it carefully?
So the real question was—did he or did he not smell it?!
Yanagi felt like steam was practically rising from her head.
The heat in her face was real and unbearable, and even her scalp felt numb, her earlobes burning as if they might melt.
But she knew she couldn’t ask.
Absolutely couldn’t.
Because the handkerchief had been given to him for wiping sweat in the first place.
The moment she asked, it would mean she cared about it.
And if she admitted she cared, that would mean she cared about whether he cared about her scent.
And worse—she had been the one who handed it over… Wouldn’t asking make her seem like some kind of self-conscious pervert?
It was a dead loop.
So Yanagi could only pretend she didn’t care.
Already on the verge of going cross-eyed from embarrassment, she forced her facial muscles into control with iron willpower, and said in a voice she herself didn’t even recognize as normal, “I came back to say that I’ve already briefed the investigation team.
They will follow your command.”
“Follow my command?” Russell, though also slightly flustered, felt far calmer since his expression was hidden behind a mask.
“Why?”
“Because… because…”
“I’m going to rescue my colleague!”
Just before she completely broke down, Yanagi turned and fled the tunnel.
By the time her high heels had disappeared from the entrance, Russell finally realized how strange she had been acting.
He had indeed been startled earlier, and instinctively stuffed the handkerchief into his pocket.
Wasn’t the handkerchief meant for wiping sweat anyway?
And even if he wanted to smell it—he hadn’t actually done it yet.
Thinking about it shouldn’t be a crime, right?
After a moment of silence, Russell still took the handkerchief out and wiped his forehead with it, then calmly put it back into his pocket.
…He’d return it to her later.
·
When Russell walked out afterward, he saw a group of unfamiliar faces—the investigators from the Hollow Investigative Association—but Tsukishiro Yanagi was nowhere in sight.
“Where is your Vice Section Chief?” he asked the group of investigators, who were exchanging glances.
Seeing that the “civilian” was still wearing his fox mask, none of them spoke.
After all, Yanagi had already given instructions: their only hope of getting out now depended on this man.
Even if they had professional prejudice, no one wanted to provoke him.
Finally, the team leader stepped forward.
“Vice Section Chief Tsukishiro just said she went to rescue Asaba Harumasa.
If she doesn’t return within twenty minutes, we are to leave first.”
“…Leave if she doesn’t come back in twenty minutes?”
“…So she’s trying to play hero again.”
Russell clicked his tongue internally.
He found Yanagi’s self-sacrificing attitude a little exasperating.
But since she wasn’t here, he glanced toward the factory exit, then back at the dozen or so investigators.
“So we just wait here?”
“Well… what else can we do?” the team leader said stiffly.
“The guards have run out of bullets, and we have no combat capability…”
Russell looked at the team leader’s expression, then at the similarly helpless faces behind him, and realized he had asked a stupid question.
Still, he didn’t like this situation.
His eyes rolled slightly as an idea came to him.
He directly pulled out his Crafting Table and slammed it onto the ground, then quickly crafted more than a dozen stone pickaxes… He had originally intended to make wooden ones, but he simply didn’t have enough wood in his System Inventory.
After finishing, he packed the Crafting Table away and carried the bundle of pickaxes over, dropping them in front of the investigators.
The stone tools clattered together with a dull sound.
“Eighteen stone pickaxes.
One per person.
The extras are backups,” he said casually, as if distributing office supplies.
“I dug a tunnel on my way here.
Just follow that direction and keep digging forward.”
The investigators looked down at the strange pile of pickaxes, then up at the fox-masked man.
The team leader pushed his glasses up and spoke first.
“Sir… we are technical staff of the Hollow Investigative Association, not construction workers, let alone miners.
You want us to dig a tunnel with these tools?”
“Yes.” Russell nodded.
“Our specialty is data collection and spatial positioning, not manual labor,” another young technician added, his tone carrying the polite superiority of an academic.
“Digging holes is something professionals should handle.”
Russell glanced at him.
The mask hid most of his face, revealing only his eyes.
Those eyes were calm—neither angry nor impatient—just quietly observing.
“Do you have guns?” Russell asked.
The young technician froze.
“No.”
“Can you fight?”
“…No.”
“Can you tear down a mech with your bare hands?”
Silence.
“Then what exactly can you do?”
The team leader finally couldn’t hold back.
“I already said—we handle data collection and spatial—”
“So you can calculate coordinates.”
Russell cut him off, then pulled out a map from his System Inventory and drew an arrow on it.
“This is the extension of the tunnel I dug earlier.
I’ve marked the coordinates.
Just follow them and dig.
Can you do that?”
The team leader stared at the arrow, lips moving slightly before forcing out, “…But we…”
“If you don’t want to wait here and die, then start digging,” Russell said, his gaze sweeping across their faces coldly.
“The ones who can fight and tear down mechs are taking the risks for you.
And now you can’t even use a bit of physical effort to dig your own way out?”
★ ★ ★
Shilling time!