The Paranormal Special Forces had yet to have an official clubroom.
Originally, there was only one member in the Paranormal Special Forces, so she was essentially active under the Seminar’s organization. Rion wasn’t the type to recklessly waste budgets to the point of creating a clubroom for a sub-group that hadn’t even started its activities yet.
For that reason, the Paranormal Special Forces was currently using a temporary clubroom. That temporary clubroom, being under the Seminar’s sub-group, was certainly better than a typical clubroom.
Though Rion had half-forced Himari into the position of club leader, she was quite sincere in her activities.
She was well aware of the importance of the work she was doing.
Gathering and analyzing information related to the destruction of Kivotos, predicting the future through it, and ultimately preparing for the destruction in advance.
Of course, this was far from the approach that Himari preferred. She wanted to attract more people and come up with countermeasures by clashing their intellects.
However, she was already tied to Rion’s organization, a club that fundamentally operated on the control of information concerning destruction, which was contrary to her nature.
It wasn’t a place she liked. But setting that aside, it was a matter tied to Kivotos’s future, so she naturally had to do her best.
“Leader.”
“What is it, Amy?”
“That girl in the middle named Aris was found in the ruins, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct. But why do you ask?”
“There’s a high possibility she’s not an ordinary person, but a machine.”
“It’s not just a high possibility; I can assert with certainty. The physical capabilities measured by the Engineering Club… Even the grip strength of a ton level indicates she’s beyond human…”
Himari momentarily hesitated while trying to use Aris’s physical capabilities as evidence. There was one person who came to mind at that moment.
In the end, Himari decided to slightly correct what she said. After all, it would be difficult to bring up someone who could lift her wheelchair like it was a feather, without being a machine.
Claiming it was a special case wouldn’t hold if she couldn’t guarantee that there wasn’t a second exception to the world’s logic.
“Not only that, but she possesses physical capabilities greatly exceeding those of an ordinary person, and she emits a special wavelength, Amy. Such wavelengths don’t exist in humans.”
“Leader, Aris is something the current Millennium’s technology can’t replicate. And she was found somewhere in the ruins. This implies that the ruins are likely remnants of a time when they had technology one dimension above us.”
As the screen showed the scene of the teacher group advancing through the ruins’ robots, Amy brought up something.
“It just so happens that there are piles of proof regarding a group with technology one dimension ahead… a document about the Nameless Priests. It’s overflowing with information to assume that Aris is in some way connected to the Nameless Priests.”
“…Amy, drawing that conclusion all by yourself is quite impressive, I must say. I was amazed. Yes, this level of analysis is why we keep you as a member.”
“It’s just that I reached this conclusion while contemplating why Rion seems particularly interested in Aris. Rion identifies the Nameless Priests as one of the precursors to destruction, so it’s only natural to be wary of the vanguard that’s surfaced.”
“Hmm, that’s right. If there’s even a chance that the place where Aris was found is a manufacturing facility for the Nameless Priests… By the way, the teacher from Shalle is definitely an extraordinary person. When Momo and Midori checked the records, they weren’t particularly skilled in combat, and Yuzu likely was the same. Yet, with Aris controlling the ‘Sword of Light: Supernova’ and utilizing the SRT’s snipers aptly, a battle against that army wouldn’t even stand a chance. I’m a bit surprised.”
“Yes, that would be the battlefield command abilities listed in that report…”
While observing the group that broke through the ruins with members of the Game Development Club, Himari mulled over Amy’s conjectures.
She had already mostly reached her own suspicions, but confirming a similar opinion through someone else’s mouth was a different story.
“If Aris turns out to be the work of the Nameless Priests, a confirmed threat, then we’ll have to deal with it somehow…”
“Y-Yeah? Amy, what do you mean?”
“…Listen to the whole sentence, Leader. I just thought that Rion would probably think so.”
“…Phew. You surprised me, Amy. It’s true that there’s a possibility Rion might think that. Given how she is, it wouldn’t be out of character for her to entertain such an idea regarding a cute girl.”
As Himari confirmed the teacher group entering a building out of the drone’s sight, she turned her gaze away from the screen to convey her conjectures to Mika.
And at that moment.
“Leader, we received a communication from Rion.”
“…Let’s take it.”
Himari, who would usually show dislike at being associated with Rion, had now faced Rion’s image appearing on the screen quite calmly.
Perhaps influenced by Mika, the recent Rion hadn’t been that irritating of a person.
[Himari, Amy. You caught the footage from Shalle and the Game Development Club, right?]
“…Of course, Rion.”
“Yes, President.”
[Until everything is certain, we’ll thoroughly monitor every move she makes. And… I’m thinking of setting up a little test, would you join me?]
“A test…? That sounds quite intriguing for the super-genius girl that I am. What do you have in mind?”
[It’s nothing grand. Just a combat ability test. I lack conviction based on what I’ve seen so far. I think observing the situation against someone strong, at least someone like Neru or Mika, will lead to a proper conclusion.]
“Is that so? So basically, that means…”
[…?]
“Hmm. It’s nothing. Rather, let’s discuss how to set up the situation first.”
If it had been the original Rion, she would have pushed forward independently or told Himari to figure out the situation herself. This kind of collaboration was something that would have been unthinkable in the past, so Himari was quite amazed at the changes Mika had brought about.
In reality, Himari was also very interested in testing Aris. Even if Rion hadn’t taken the initiative, she would have devised some way of doing this, but wouldn’t it be better to collaborate for a slightly cleaner outcome?
Meanwhile, Himari bore another worry. If Aris truly turned out to be the creation of the Nameless Priests, a being made to lead Kivotos to destruction… What choice would she have to make?
Depending on what Mika provided as an answer to these speculations, the direction would definitely diverge.
*
“Wow—oh.”
The scenery of Abydos, which I checked after getting off the train, was, how should I say, worlds apart from what I had seen just a month ago.
At that time, it had been so covered in sand, and the sandstorm was so strong that you couldn’t see a hand in front of you at times. But now… There were still traces left, but a green energy lingered everywhere.
And… if there’s one point that concerned me the most, it was the heavy dark clouds filling the sky.
Tap. Tap.
Hmm… I didn’t bring an umbrella. This is troublesome.
As if waiting for my arrival, the raindrops began to fall one by one, soon turning into a torrential downpour. I hoped it was just a shower, but with clouds that thick, I doubted it.
I must have picked the wrong day to come.
But now that I had to consider my actual idol activity schedule… there wouldn’t be another day available for the next week, so I had no choice.
Well, there’s bound to be a convenience store in this station. I’ll just have to buy a disposable umbrella there.
The question was, would they even sell umbrellas at the convenience store in Abydos…
As I pondered while searching for the convenience store, I spotted a familiar figure approaching from a distance.
Though it was quite a ways off, I could tell it was someone I knew from the wolf ears poking from her head.
The girl wearing a large umbrella approached me in a straight line, Sunaokami Shiroko, folded her umbrella and gave me a big hug.
“Hi, Mika! It’s been a while.”
“Shiroko-chan? I didn’t hear you were coming to pick me up…”
“Yeah… I checked the weather. You probably wouldn’t have thought that it would rain in Abydos, so I came out to help. Luckily, I managed to time it right.”
Since she usually rode a bicycle, she spoke of how it might be a bit challenging to match timing and threw in unnecessary excuses, which caused me to gently pat her head.
“Ahaha, thanks for coming out to meet me. I was actually thinking about picking up a disposable umbrella or raincoat from the convenience store…”
“Um, that might be too late now. You see, disposable umbrellas and raincoats in Abydos… those items hardly come out every few months. The inventory is probably all gone.”
Looking in the direction Shiroko pointed, I couldn’t help but let out a sigh. Under the sign that read Angel 24, the customers pouring out all held umbrellas.
“…Thanks for coming to meet me ☆ I was really in trouble.”
“It’s nothing…”
Stepping back, Shiroko opened the umbrella again and stood beside me. When I offered to carry it, she, who had been hesitating, handed me the handle.
Then, she clung to my arm as though to embrace me.
“Uh, Shiroko-chan…?”
“…This way, I won’t get wet.”
The umbrella Shiroko had was indeed large. However, even with the wings maximally collapsed, it couldn’t prevent me from getting wet.
Considering it was a downpour, it was unavoidable that some rain would splash in.
Wooshhh—
Under the torrential rain that poured down like the heavens had opened, we slowly started to walk.
Reminded of the fact that my hand was touching her, an indescribable feeling overwhelmed me.
Perhaps, just perhaps. The day might come when I would see the revival of the sand festival in Abydos.
“Oh, by the way, the leader was probably sleeping on the rooftop.”
“…Pfft. Ahahah!”
Imagining the drenched Takamachi Hoshino, shivering with a towel wrapped around her body after entering the building, brought an involuntary laugh to my lips.
After all, considering the atmosphere of the academy, I thought Abydos suited me better than Trinity, or something along those lines.
