Chapter 5: Beyond a Billion Stars
Chapter 5: Beyond a Billion Stars
“Declared... war...?”
I felt the back of my throat dry up as I repeated those words.
“Yes... And based on this timeframe, the Greater Galactic Federation’s main fleet will attack agency headquarters in 24 hours,” the doctor said in disbelief.
The Galactic Federation was the space government Iris was a part of. Why were they declaring war on the agency?
“I read the declaration, but...”
“What did it say?” I asked.
“To sum it up, they’re claiming that the agency has secretly been harboring Rekka Namidare,” she replied with a strained expression.
The agency was harboring Rekka Namidare? In this case, they surely didn’t mean future Rekka...
“Are they talking about me?”
“Probably.”
I was at a loss for words.
“This is all my fault...”
“That’s not true. Like I said before, I was the one who brought you to the future.”
The doctor was quick to shoot down my attempts to blame myself, but even if she had a point, it didn’t change the fact that the Galactic Federation was about to attack the agency.
“There must be... I know! You can just hand me over to the federation. That way I can meet with Iris.”
That would basically mean surrendering to the Galactic Federation, but it was better than war. And if Iris’s goal was to find me, it would give us a chance to meet and talk. I could hopefully explain things to her and negotiate her cooperation in the process. The doctor, however, looked conflicted.
“That would be an absolute last resort because it would mean acknowledging your existence publicly.”
“I mean, I know we’ve been hiding my identity to prevent any unnecessary chaos, but... do we really have a choice now that it’s come to this?”
“There’s some merit to that line of thinking, but to be quite frank, you’re basically a walking trigger for war.”
“I’m a trigger...?”
Uncertain of what she meant, I cocked my head to the side.
“The Greater Galactic Federation is an extreme example right now, but the thought process is essentially ‘Rekka Namidare is with someone else’ giving way to ‘he should be with us, so let’s attack and take him.’ So if you’re with the federation, someone else is just going to do the same thing—turn around and declare war on them. It’s a vicious cycle.”
“Ugh...”
When she put it plainly like that, it made perfect sense. I was the cause of the War of All, after all. It had dragged on because my future self went missing, but if my whereabouts were discovered (even if I wasn’t the Rekka they were looking for), things would blow up all over again... just as the doctor was describing.
“I have to wonder where they got their intelligence, though...” Satsuki pondered aloud.
“That is indeed a problem,” the doctor said with a nod.
“Even if the agency analyzed their security camera footage and decoded the disguise hologram and figured out we had Rekka with us, I don’t believe they would spread sensitive information like that so recklessly.”
“Certainly not if it would result in a declaration of war from the Galactic Federation. I can’t imagine them doing such a thing on purpose.”
The doctor and Satsuki seemed to be on the same page there.
“What about Aburaamu, then?” asked Satsuki. “We turned off the hologem at the guest house, right?”
“I set up some magical precautions to counteract that.”
“When I went to talk to the king about taking my leave, it didn’t seem he or the others suspected anything,” Harissa added.
“The planet I was on was unpopulated, so the leak couldn’t have originated there,” Lea added too.
We all began stroking our chins. Just who had told the Greater Galactic Federation that I was with the agency? Nothing I’d done since coming to the future should have aroused any suspicion of my identity, and the doctor had just confirmed no one had been able to see through my disguise. That being the case, I needed to change my line of thinking. This wasn’t about me being exposed... It was about who knew I was with the agency.
“Hmm...”
Who knew that I’d made contact with the doctor? Who knew that I was in the future, or at the very least could figure it out? Who would know that I wasn’t in the past right now? There was only one answer to all of those questions...
“The extremists.”
“Huh?”
“The extremists know that I made contact with you, and they can probably guess I’m in the future since I left the past with you.”
There was a high chance at least one of the giant robots had seen me with the doctor. The extremists also had their own time-space translocator, so they could continue to observe what was going on in the past. They’d know I was missing and could easily put two and two together.
“You’re right. All signs seem to point to them. I can’t think of anyone else that checks all the boxes at the moment.”
That gave us our answer, but it wasn’t a pleasant one. Troubled, the doctor pensively looked up at the ceiling.
“If they’re our real enemy, there’s no point in asking them to relent or withdraw. And since they’re not a government, we can’t take political action against them.”
“Damn...”
What were we supposed to do? What could we do? The doctor may have said otherwise, but this war was my fault one way or another. And we’re talking serious business here. Real serious. There has to be something...
“If it’s come to this, is our only remaining option to meet with Iris?” Lea suddenly chimed in.
Everyone looked up at her in surprise. Unlike the rest of us, she didn’t seem particularly perturbed.
“No matter how militant Iris has become, she wouldn’t blatantly ignore what Rekka has to say. And even if she did, the hawks should readily acknowledge that this Rekka isn’t the Rekka Namidare of this era. Once they learn that, they might back down without a fight.”
“Huh.” That made plenty of sense, actually. “All right, then—”
“It won’t be easy.”
Just as I was about to agree with Lea, the doctor interjected.
“According to the message, Iris is leading a whole fleet to storm the agency. That means we’ll have to dodge battleship after battleship just to get to her,” she explained. “Moreover, this small ship can’t keep up with battleship speeds. We’ll almost certainly be shot down before we reach Iris.”
“Almost certainly, huh...?”
The doctor wasn’t just saying that to shoot my hopes down, either. She’d already run simulations in her head, and that was the conclusion she’d reached. It was a warning: this mission would be suicide.
“But this ship has warp capabilities, right? What if we just warped to Iris’s flagship?” I asked.
“Warps are actually rather easy to spot. Warping relies on spacial distortion, so the exit location is readily observable with a warp-detection radar. They’d be ready and waiting for us the second we came out of it.”
“I had no idea...”
So warping wasn’t as OP as it seemed...
“If we had a speedy battleship of our own, it would be one thing...”
“Doesn’t the agency have any?”
“The agency has a nonaggression policy, so we don’t have any vessels outfitted for combat.”
“Is there somewhere we can borrow one?”
“It’d be hard to find someone willing to stand against the Galactic Federation, not to mention lend us a warship on such short notice. Nobody wants the agency as an enemy, but no one really has a reason to go out of their way to help us.”
“Then could we hire one?”
“Same deal.”
The six of us continued to discuss potential options, but we couldn’t agree on a good solution.
“Hey, I know! What if Harissa uses her invisibility magic on the spaceship so we can approach unnoticed?”
I offered up yet another idea, but the doctor again shook her head.
“Being invisible won’t hide our heat signature. We’ll still be easily detectable on radar. You’d have to wear a space suit and swim closer for something like that to work.”
“Right...”
Swimming through outer space between battleships to reach the heart of an enemy fleet? Even I knew that was a ridiculous plan. However...
“What if I went?” Lea volunteered, raising her hand. “I can function fairly well even in space.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Oh, has my past self not revealed that to you yet?”
“Can’t say she has...”
What the hell had I gotten caught up in that would warrant sending Lea into space?! Calm down, Rekka... Stay focused.
“So, Doctor, would Lea be able to fly under their radar?”
“I do believe so... The main radar installed on battleships these days is designed to detect the heat of ship engines, so the heat from a living being shouldn’t be enough to register.”
Hearing that, Lea nodded.
“I can fly through space in my Leviathan form, so I should be able to approach Iris’s ship without issue.”
“That’s great! Then all we need to do is—”
I was about to celebrate our plan, but the doctor interjected again.
“No. Lea would still need to get within visible distance of Iris’s flagship. And the second they see her, they’ll do a more thorough scan of the area. They’d undoubtedly find us too that way, and we’d never get away in this ship.”
“R-Right...”
“Besides, there’s no point in sending Lea alone. Iris probably won’t listen to anyone other than you, Rekka.”
Iris’s flagship was the heart of her giant fleet. In order to reach her, we’d either have to actively avoid gunfire or actively avoid radar. Lea could avoid enemy radar, but she’d easily be in firing range by the time she was spotted. Worse yet, we’d be sending her in alone. Even if she managed to make it to Iris in one piece, there was no guarantee she would be able to convince her.
“Which means we need to figure out a way to get me to Iris. And without anyone other than Iris seeing me...”
“That’s right. In the end, we still need a ship capable of getting right up close to the enemy, not to mention a captain and a crew to pilot it.”
So this all came down to needing a ship. Too bad I didn’t have one in my—wait! I hurriedly pulled a piece of paper from my pocket. It was the list of heroines the doctor had given me. I’m pretty sure they were on it...
“Yes! The answer’s right here!”
Everyone turned to look at me when I suddenly raised my voice, and I excitedly showed them the list in response.
“Iris isn’t the only heroine from space! There are other heroines with ships that might help us out!”
We didn’t need massive amounts of firepower or political clout. All we needed was a quick way to get to Iris. So instead of looking for a way to save the agency, it was easier to find a way to save me.
“Based on the common heroines on this list, the ones I know right off who should have ships are... Fam, Shirley, and Rain.”
Fam was a former member of the space pirates known as the Seageists. Rain was the princess of her own planet. And Shirley was a genius probably on par with the doctor. Between the three of them, surely one of them would have what we needed. The doctor patiently listened to my plan and thought it over.
“Yes... Maybe one of them can help,” she said, eyeing a single name on the list of candidates.
▽
We began the monumental task of using the Magic of Omniscience and warping... over and over again. The reason for that was because the heroine we were trying to track down wasn’t sitting still in one place, but rather constantly moving around aboard her spaceship. It made it troublesome to chase after her, even with Satsuki’s magic. One warp took several hours, so while we were warping, she was still on the move. Sometimes she was even warping too, which made things even more fun. But at the end of our little game of tag, we finally caught up to her. Perhaps I should say we were captured.
Surrounded by several ships from her fleet, we had no choice but to surrender. Apparently she’d realized someone was trying to track her down, and like the doctor had warned me before, warps were actually pretty easy to detect. They were waiting for us as soon as we exited. After that, we were escorted off our ship and taken onto one of theirs.
“Hey, is this really all right?” L whispered from where she was tied up beside me.
For the record, we’d all been apprehended and restrained with ropes and handcuffs. After that, we were moved to the lower half of what appeared to be the ship’s bridge. Above us in the upper half were pirates clamoring to get a look down at us. Behind them on the highest platform in the room was a grand chair that would surely be the captain’s seat, but it was currently empty.
“It’ll be fine, L. They’re pirates, and pirates always leave the inspection of prisoners to the captain, right?”
“I think you’ve been watching too many movies.”
“Urk...”
Unable to argue that, I fell silent. But despite L’s concerns, I wasn’t all that worried. In the worst-case scenario, our backup plan was to use Harissa’s invisibility and teleportation magic to get out of here. We’d actually allowed ourselves to be captured on purpose, hoping to avoid a fight. Our primary goal was to negotiate, and our business was with the girl who led this curious bunch of space pirates.
Just then, someone appeared on the clanking platform overhead.
“Are you lot the ones who’ve been chasing us all day?”
Said “someone” was a familiar green-haired girl with an ornate coat and boots on. She’d matured as much as Harissa had, but the headband covering the horn on her forehead was the same as it ever was.
“Fam!”
“Hah? How do you know my na...”
“It’s me, Rekka Namidare.”
“What?”
Fam narrowed her eyes and scrutinized my face for a moment. Then, her eyes gradually widened.
“No way...”
She mumbled to herself in disbelief, then jumped down from the platform with a thud. It was at least three meters in the air, but that didn’t seem to faze her.
“Brother Rekka!”
“Whoa!”
Fam suddenly leaped at me in a half-hug, half-tackle that knocked me right over.
“Guh, my stomach...”
“Brother Rekka, Brother Rekka, Brother Rekka!”
She didn’t seem to hear my groaning, however, as she bawled on top of me. She’d looked so mature just moments ago when she was looking down on us, but...
It seems she’s still got a childish side.
I was honestly relieved to see it.
“Sorry, Fam. But, uh... Your horn is stabbing me a little bit. Ouch!”
“Ah! I’m sorry, Brother Rekka!”
With that, Fam let go of me and stepped back. Still sniffling, she wiped her eyes.
“I had no idea you’d turned up again, Brother Rekka. Was it you who found him, Satsuki?”
“Well, not exactly... You see...”
Satsuki was unsure how to answer, so I shook my head and took over for her. After all, I should be the one to have to explain.
“Fam, the truth is that I’m not actually the Rekka Namidare you knew.”
“Huh? What are you saying?”
“Well...”
I gave Fam a rundown of what had happened leading up to this moment.
“I see... So you’re the old Brother Rekka...” Fam said forlornly after listening to my story.
“I’m sorry for tricking you like that.”
“No, it’s okay. It doesn’t bother me,” she said, managing a smile. “I’m happy to see you again too, Brother Rekka, so there’s nothing to apologize for.”
“Yeah...”
All I’d done since coming to the future was apologize and ask for forgiveness. I was using my identity as a bargaining chip to persuade the future heroines to help me, and deep down, I knew it was cruel.
Damn it...
The leader of the extremists, this mysterious mastermind... They just might be the one behind the War of All in the first place. Whenever I found them, whoever they were, I was going to make them pay no matter what. Not only had they stolen my future away from me, they’d left these poor heroines to suffer in a world of unending war. I had no idea what the mastermind’s motivations were, but that was unforgivable. Before I got to them, however, I’d have to get over the hurdles immediately in front of me.
“Fam, I know this is sudden and selfish, but I want you to do me a favor.”
“A favor?”
“Yeah. You’re the only one I can ask.”
I filled her in on the details of Iris’s attack and how it was all part of an enemy scheme against the agency. I told her it would be difficult to avoid further conflict unless I could meet with Iris directly. And I told her that in order to do that, I’d need her help.
“So that’s what Big Sis Iris is up to, huh?”
“That’s why I need you, Fam. Please. I need your help to stop her.”
“You haven’t changed at all, Brother Rekka...” Fam said with something of a forced smile. “But if I lend you a ship, I won’t just be putting myself in danger. I have my crew to think about too, so I can’t agree without conditions.”
“What conditions?”
“Basically, I want you to tell me your odds of success. To be honest, as fast as our ship is, charging into the middle of a giant fleet ain’t gonna be pretty.”
In space with no gravity, up, down, left, and right were all subjective. So to give fleets a relative sense of direction, they always flew in a spherical formation with a flagship in the center. Because of that, the closer we got to the flagship, the more gunfire we’d be taking from all sides. It would depend on the size of Iris’s full fleet, but even an experienced crew like Fam’s could probably only sneak halfway through it before things got too intense.
Which leaves us with the question of how to get through the second half...
If I couldn’t come up with an answer, Fam was out. And she was right to take me to task over this. No matter how childish she still might be on the inside, she was a proper captain now. The lives of her subordinates were in her hands. She couldn’t just agree to a suicide mission.
First things first, I had to organize my thoughts. I needed two things: a way to get the rest of the way to the flagship, and a way for at least one of us to make it to Iris personally. In order to achieve that, I had a few cards to play. I had Fam and her crew, although they were already doing enough just by getting us the first half of the way to Iris’s ship. I also had Harissa and her invisibility magic, although that wasn’t exactly effective when it came to avoiding detection via radar. Then there was Lea. By herself, she could fly through space at ship speeds, but if Iris’s spaceship wasn’t within view, it would be all too easy for her to lose her sense of direction and get lost within the fleet.
Those were the cards I had in my hand, so how was I going to use them to reach Iris? If I couldn’t figure out a way, this whole negotiation thing would be fail city. Think. Think, Rekka! That’s the only thing you’re good at...
I don’t have any special powers like my future self. I couldn’t do anything on my own, which was why I had to rely on everyone else to save this story. Thankfully, Fam had already agreed to help so long as I could come up with a half-decent plan. But to her and all the other heroines here in the future, I was basically a stranger. They were only willing to help me because of my name and face. I felt terrible knowing that I was essentially just using the heroines, but I was deeply grateful for what they were willing to do for me.
Then there was Iris... She was a heroine just like the other girls, except she was currently being used by the extremists to cause pointless bloodshed. Normally, it would be the job of my future self to step in and save her. But without him around, that job fell on me. I was Rekka Namidare, after all. And playing my part was the only way I had to pay back the girls who were so generously lending me their power. That’s why I had to think... I couldn’t look at things in isolation. I had to piece them together and maximize any connections I could. It should all lead to one solution. I thought and thought and thought until...
“Hey, Fam! Everyone!” It finally dawned on me. “Listen to this...”
▽
We didn’t have much time left. We had a deadline of 24 hours until the Galactic Federation attack from the time we had received the message, and since then we’d spent half a day chasing down Fam. After negotiating with her, we had to choose the fastest ship she had and arm and man it appropriately. That meant changing out its armaments and carefully screening crew members, which took another two or three hours. Once all the prep work was done, Satsuki divined the location of Iris’s fleet with her magic, and we spent another couple of hours in warp to get there.
“Phew, did we make it?”
The first thing I felt upon exiting the warp was relief that the fleet wasn’t in view yet. If they’d already opened fire by the time we got there, it would be too late. Our goal was to avoid any fighting altogether.
“By my estimate, we’ll be within each other’s radar ranges in roughly ten minutes.”
“So it’s just about time...”
I took a deep breath. We couldn’t afford to fail here. I had to convince Iris to call off her attack no matter what.
“Aye! That’s a mighty long face ya got there, boss! Relax! We’re here for ya, so ya got nothin’ to worry about!”
Just then, a member of Fam’s pirate crew tried to cheer me up. He was very clearly older than me, and had volunteered for the mission.
“Um, I’m not your boss.”
“What’re talkin’ about?! Yer the guy who saved Big Boss Squallow, ain’tcha? We all owe ya a big one!”
“Ahaha... Right...”
Squallow, huh? That name sure brought back memories. He was the founder of the Seageists and basically Fam’s foster father. My future self had apparently saved him for Fam’s sake just like I had, which was a welcome development since it meant Fam’s entire crew was happy to try and help me out in return.
“Just one thing though... You know I’m not actually the Rekka you guys know, right?”
“Don’t sweat the details, boss!”
I tried to correct him, but he just laughed the whole thing off with a hearty chuckle.
Am I just worrying about it too much...? Oh well. I need to focus on the task at hand for now.
So many people were lending me their aid that I had to make sure not to let them down. For their sakes, I was going to give this my all. And just as I steeled my resolve, a number of flashing alerts popped up on the bridge’s giant main screen.
“They’re here!”
The alerts were notifications that the enemy fleet was now within range. It looked like there was an alert for each individual ship... And there were easily over a hundred of them.
“Captain! They’re in the standard spherical formation!”
“All right! Calculate their density!” Fam shouted, rattling off orders from the captain’s chair.
“They’ve sent a transmission seeking to confirm our affiliation!”
“Spam them back with whatever.”
“Aye, captain!”
“We’ve received a warning. It reads, ‘Move it already!’”
“Ignore it.”
I did what I could while watching the crew scramble about. If things went awry here, I was prepared to hand myself over to the Galactic Federation to prevent a fight from breaking out. But like the doctor had warned me, that would only lead to more fighting in the future. It would be an absolute last resort. Before it came to that, we’d give this all-or-nothing surprise attack our best shot. We had to.
“We’ve located the enemy flagship!”
“Calculating the shortest route... Got it!”
“Enemy vanguard is changing formations! Looks like they’re about to open fire!”
“Okay, men! Chaaarge!”
“Yeeeeeaaah!”
When Fam rallied them, her entire crew roared in unison as the ship sped forward to meet the Galactic Federation fleet.
“Urk!”
I couldn’t actually feel how fast we were going from the bridge, but the stars whizzing past us were dizzying.
“Enemy has fired a long-range beam cannon! Impact expected in 15 seconds!”
“Evade it! Left blaster jet to maximum thrust! Seventy degrees!”
The ship trembled as it tilted to the right. A giant beam of swirling light then went flying past just to our left where the ship had been sitting moments ago. So this was what space combat was like... It was basically a long-range showdown.
We knew where the enemy ships were thanks to the radar, but they were still 10,000 kilometers away. We didn’t even have a visual on them at that distance. But that shot they’d fired just now... That definitely would’ve sunk us if it had been a direct hit.
Still, we had to get close enough to be able to see Iris’s flagship at the center of the fleet. Beams like that would be flying the whole time we were trying to make it there... It was a little late, but it finally set in on me how ridiculous of a favor I’d asked Fam.
“It’ll be fine, Brother Rekka!” Fam called out, turning to me with a smile. “If they were serious, we wouldn’t stand a chance. But that’s not gonna happen.”
“Wh-Why not?”
“Because we’re just a single ship. A midsize one with no long-range artillery, even. While they won’t just let an unidentified ship sneak into their ranks, they know we’re not a serious threat to them. They’ll respond accordingly.”
Fam knew the fleet’s real target was agency HQ, which was notoriously defended by mechanisms of the doctor’s own personal design. They weren’t about to charge in recklessly. Of course, a pirate ship appearing out of nowhere was suspicious to them, but a ship that could only go fast was nothing more than an annoying fly to a fully-equipped battleship fleet. They would swat at us if we got too close, but they weren’t going to waste but so much time and energy on us. Their battle lay ahead, so they would conserve any and all resources they could for the main event. Or, at least, that was Fam’s theory.
And she seemed to be right. Slowly but surely, we made our way closer and closer to the fleet. They continued to fire at us, but at a rate that suggested they were trying to drive us away rather than shoot us down. That gave me a spark of hope, but...
“Now the real fun begins,” Fam said suddenly.
“Huh?” I asked, stupefied.
Fam then turned to me and explained, “We’ll be inside their formation pretty soon. That’s where the party starts.”
“P-Party?”
“That’s right! It’s showtime!” Fam roared with a confident grin. “So you should get ready, Brother Rekka. Once we have a visual on Big Sis Iris’s ship, it’s your turn. Better get pumped!”
“Yeah, you’re right. Leave it to me!” I said with a nod as I pounded my chest.
While I was worried about Fam, now wasn’t the time for second guesses. If I wanted to honor the hard work she and her crew were putting in for my sake, I had to see this plan through. I had to make sure it succeeded.
“Let’s go, everyone!”
“Right!”
I gathered Satsuki and the others, and we moved through the ship following the instructions Fam had given us beforehand. The route led us to a small hangar where more pirates were waiting for us.
“They’re here! C’mon! Put these on quick!”
They gave each one of us a space suit similar to what we’d worn on the sandy planet where we found Lea. We quickly got changed, and the pirates checked us out to make sure everything was in order.
“And where’s your suit, lass?” one of the pirates asked Lea.
“I don’t need one,” she replied.
Lea closed her eyes and began concentrating while Satsuki, Harissa, the doctor, L, and I all finished getting ready. Once preparations were complete, the pirates who’d helped us get changed retreated from the hangar. Things were potentially about to get dangerous. We patiently awaited Fam’s signal, but all of a sudden...
Boom!
An impact rattled the ship, making the whole hangar shake.
“Kyah!”
“Eek!”
I had to grab Harissa and Satsuki to keep them from toppling over.
“What was that?! Is everyone okay?!”
Don’t tell me the fleet had actually landed a hit...
“Everything’s fine! It was just a scratch! They only managed to graze us,” someone suddenly declared from behind us.
When I whipped around to see who it was...
“Wait, Fam?! What are you doing here?!”
“I’m coming too. I’ve left orders with my first mate, and they’ll get the ship outta here once we depart.”
Fam, who should’ve been on the bridge, descended the ladder to the hangar floor. She was already wearing a space suit and everything.
“I’m pretty useful when it comes to navigating ships, you know? I also want to see Big Sis Iris again, so let me tag along.”
“F-Fine! Let’s just get a move on!”
The longer we stood around here arguing, the more likely the ship was to get shot down. It was a risk I wasn’t willing to take, and with that decided, I turned to Lea.
“Lea! We’re going!”
“Understood.”
On my signal, Lea began to transform. She went from adult woman to legendary beast.
“Get on, everyone.”
In Leviathan form, Lea’s serpentine body stretched roughly 12 meters long, taking up most of the hangar. When she telepathically let us know she was ready, we all climbed up on her back and fixed ourselves in place. Falling off would mean being set adrift in the cold darkness of space, which was something we all wanted to avoid. Once we were all prepared, Fam gave her crew a signal and the pirates from earlier opened the hatch in the rear of the hangar. There was immediately a blast of what felt like strong wind, but it only lasted for a few moments. It didn’t take long for all the air to be sucked out of the room. Lea waited for things to calm down, then took off.
“Ealim Nekram!”
Harissa then cast her invisibility spell on the seven of us, Lea included. Once Fam’s crew was sure we were out of the hangar, they closed up and fled the scene. That was partly for their safety, and partly for ours. If they stayed in range and continued to volley with Iris’s fleet, we might get caught in the crossfire. We were small enough that, out in open space, we were practically undetectable by radar. And thanks to Harissa’s magic, we couldn’t be seen either. That was a dangerous situation to be in on the battlefield when we were completely undefended.
Once Fam’s ship had taken off and we were safely on our way to the fleet, Lea telepathically asked for further direction.
“Which one is Iris’s ship?”
It was Fam that answered her.
“It’s the giant battleship with the extra-large cannons installed on the front.”
A giant battleship with big cannons, huh? With that hint, I began scanning for it too. Using the equipped enhancement functions in the helmet of the space suit that someone had shown me how to use earlier, I zoomed in on the fleet. And hey, there it was! It was easy enough to spot the battleship with the huge guns on the front... Like Fam had said, it really was massive. If something like that fired a beam at Earth, it would turn the planet into a donut. That’s just how big this thing was.
And Iris is in there somewhere...
I tightened my grip on Lea’s back as we flew towards the flagship. The rest of the fleet was still firing here and there, but only at the fleeing pirate ship. They hadn’t noticed us. High-powered battleship radars just weren’t made to detect small living beings, it seemed.
“This sure would look stupid to any third-party observer!”
“Damn right!”
L agreed with me with a sigh. Nobody else ever would have come up with such a foolish plan. The six of us were clinging to the back of a legendary beast, charging into what was basically a suicide attack... But as foolish as it was, we were slowly getting closer to Iris.
“Almost there.”
No sooner had Lea said something than Iris’s flagship came into plain view. It was close enough to see without the zoom function in the helmet anymore.
“Search for any boarding hatch you can find.”
“Got it.”
Lea flew around the flagship and found a passenger boarding door.
“All right, just give me a quick moment.”
The doctor untethered herself from Lea and floated over to the door. She secured herself in place and took a small tablet out of the backpack she was carrying. She then ran a small cable from the tablet to the console beside the door.
“Could you give me a hand, L?”
“What? For hacking? You can do that much yourself.”
Despite her griping, L floated over to the doctor and pulled a cable from her sleeve that she plugged into the same console to assist the doctor. Between the two of them, it took about a minute for the red light on the console to turn green.
“It’s open now, but the door itself is quite heavy. Would you mind opening it, Lea?”
“Certainly. The rest of you should hop off first, though.”
Lea pulled up next to the door, and we all switched out tethers over from her to the uneven exterior of the ship the same way the doctor had. Once we were all in place, Lea returned to her human form and approached the door. She put one hand on the handle and wrenched the whole thing open with her superhuman strength, unleashing an incredible torrent of air that came flooding out from the ship’s interior.
“Get inside! Quick!”
“Easier said than done!”
The force of the wind was so strong, it was hard to move through it.
“I’ll help.”
Lea gave each of us a hand, basically pushing us into the ship one by one. There were a few close calls with a couple of us almost getting sucked back out into space, but we managed to hold on to each other. Once we were all in, Lea brought up the rear and closed the door behind her. We finally had a second to catch our breath.
“Hang here for a minute. I need to raise the partitions L and I just adjusted.”
To more or less jury-rig an airlock, the doctor had closed partitions in the ship to isolate the passageway we’d be entering before Lea opened the door. Now that we were safely inside, she’d have to put things back the way she found them.
“I cut the emergency alarm beforehand, but there’s no hiding the pressure drop we just caused within the spaceship. That’s undoubtedly gotten some attention, so we should be careful going forward.”
“Got it. All right, everyone, let’s quietly stick to the plan.”
We changed out of our space suits to make it easier to move around stealthily. The hallways of the spaceship didn’t have their own gravity. That basically meant we were floating along, kicking off the walls for momentum. Thankfully, however, the hallways were rather wide, and we could move past other people without bumping into them. While we were invisible, we still had physical forms to be conscious of. Running into someone or otherwise accidentally touching them would give us away, so we had to be especially careful on that front. The extra-wide hallways made that much easier.
But just like the doctor had predicted, it seemed the ship’s crew had detected the pressure abnormality. There were people running around in a fluster trying to figure out what was going on, so we had plenty of targets to dodge. Progress was slow. We still had some time yet before the fleet was set to attack the agency’s headquarters, but being stuck in a traffic jam like this really made me feel the pressure.
“Calm down, Rekka.”
“Yeah...”
Fortunately, I had good friends with me who were helping me keep my cool. Being able to communicate telepathically on a stealth mission like this was exceedingly useful. Not to mention Harissa’s invisibility magic. We made a great team for this. And so, bolstered by my allies’ strength, I continued to move forward until we reached our destination: the command center of the flagship. The only catch was that there seemed to be no end to the stream of people coming and going.
“There’s no real break in the foot traffic.”
“We’ll likely bump into someone if we proceed carelessly. Let’s retreat to the corner for now.”
“Good idea.”
We followed the doctor’s suggestion and moved to a corner of the hallway and observed things for the time being. As the nerve center of the entire flagship, the command room was constantly abuzz with activity. Reports were coming in, information was going out... There was no end to it. It seemed a bit over the top to me, but I guess that’s just how things run on giant ships like this. To be fair, they’d just been taunted by a rogue pirate ship, and a boarding door had seemingly opened and closed for no reason. The latter was especially suspicious since it might mean intruders... Wait, who am I kidding? It did mean intruders. We were right here!
We’d actually passed several security teams combing the ship for intruders on our way to the command room. Moreover, this flagship was about to lead an all-out attack against the agency. There was an incredible amount of data coordinating going on without the trouble we’d caused. We’d only added to it, leaving the entire ship in a rather hectic state. It didn’t seem like things were ever going to calm down, which meant we’d never be able to sneak our way into the command room.
“Hmm... Should we whittle down our numbers to the bare minimum for the plan to work and force our way in?”
“If we force our way in there, it’ll be chaos. It would be terrible to get split up like that. Besides, if we get too far apart, Harissa’s spell might not hold up.”
“Ugh, good point.”
Unable to come up with a good plan, our only option was to wait and see if an opportunity would arise. But after a little while...
“Hey, guys?”
“What is it, Fam?”
Fam held up a finger and tapped it against her forehead twice... No, she wasn’t pointing to her forehead. She was pointing to her horn.
“If chaos won’t do, why don’t we kick it up to pandemonium?”
▽
The plan Fam had suggested would indeed be pandemonium. It was a risky bet, but I couldn’t deny that it had its advantages. If we caused enough chaos at the flagship command center, it could slow down the entire fleet. And the longer we did that, the longer we could keep them away from the agency. Moreover, it would buy us time to negotiate with Iris. Granted, that would only be if things went our way... But even that flash of optimism was enough to break us out of our current deadlock.
“All right, let’s do this! Is everyone ready?”
Everyone nodded in response to Fam’s rally, and when they did, an electromagnetic wave surged forth from Fam’s forehead. Not a moment later...
Bzzt!
All the lights in the hallway went out.
“What?!”
“What’s going on?!”
“The lights!”
The crew members milling about were all taken by surprise. But while they were panicking, we kicked off the wall and slipped past them.
“Come in! Come in! Damn it... The comms terminal is out too!”
We could hear various curses in the darkness coming from the crew. Be it transmitters or terminals, nothing was working for them right now. And there was a reason for that—Fam. As a gremlin, her most notable feature was the horn on her forehead capable of releasing electromagnetic waves primed for messing up all kinds of electronics. The young Fam I knew had yet to learn to control it properly, but it seemed future Fam could use it on command without any issues. When I asked her why she still wore her wave-blocking headband if that were the case, she told me it was a fashion statement. But I also knew it was important to her. Squallow had given it to her, after all.
At any rate, things quickly deteriorated into absolute chaos. A spaceship was basically a giant hunk of sensitive electronics, after all. Communication systems, alarms, security devices... The entire ship was practically paralyzed, leaving it defenseless against intruders like us. The crew was mostly armed with optical weapons like laser guns, which were also rendered useless right now. That was another benefit to Fam’s plan as it significantly reduced the risk of us, y’know, getting shot. And thanks to that, we finally arrived at the command center door safely.
“Hmph!”
The door was an auto-open model. Its sensors were down thanks to Fam, but Lea didn’t have any trouble forcing it open. And once we had the chance, we all charged inside.
“What’s going on?!”
“I don’t know! Thirty percent of the ship’s control systems are down! The cause is unknown!”
“Did the pirates just now do something?!”
“It’s more likely to be the intruders! We found the space suits they discarded, so why haven’t we found them yet?!”
It seemed the inside of the command center was just as chaotic as the hallway outside. All sorts of angry shouting was flying back and forth. It wasn’t completely dark in here thanks to some emergency lighting, but it was still quite dim. The brightest source of light was several monitors that still appeared to be working.
“Where’s Iris?”
“I can see in the dark just fine, but there are so many people...”
Apparently Lea couldn’t spot her immediately either. But just as we were all starting to wonder...
“Silence!”
A woman’s voice roared overtop all the ongoing yelling. It silenced the room and got even our attention. And when we turned to look... There she was. She’d given up her twin tails and had her hair down, but there was no mistaking it.
“Iris!”
“Use whatever transmitters are still functioning to notify the rest of the fleet: we are temporarily suspending the march! Confirm the other ships aren’t suffering the same issues! Leave the weapons check until later; prioritize regaining control!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“Next, confirm the safety of all crew members! Send personnel to areas communication has been cut to!”
“Right away! We’ll send someone immediately!”
“As for the intruders, give all crew members the green light to use force! Let them know they are authorized for combat, but prioritizing the checks comes first! We’ll comb the ship afterward!”
“Understood!”
Iris fired off order after order in rapid succession, and the men beneath her responded immediately. They were intent to carry her wishes out to the letter, which kept them quite busy. That gave us a golden opportunity. While they were distracted, we could snatch Iris without anyone noticing. And in order to do that...
“Harissa! Lea! Let’s do it!”
“I’m with you!”
“Likewise.”
At that, the three of us split up from the doctor and the others. We left them behind for now, carefully approaching Iris while avoiding the crew members in the command center. And once we were close enough...
“All right, Harissa! Work your magic!”
“Okay!” she replied, raising her staff. “Ealim Nekram!”
“!”
The moment Harissa cast her invisibility spell on Iris, Iris’s expression changed immediately. While the magic made her invisible to everyone outside of the spell, it also allowed her to see those of us who were already invisible under the spell’s power. That meant she could now see us.
“Harissa?! And you—”
Before Iris could say anything else, Lea moved around behind her and put a hand over her mouth. Iris struggled a bit, but not even her strength was any match for Lea’s.
“Lady Iris?!”
“Where is Lady Iris?!”
“Did anyone see where she went?!”
Without their commander, the command center fell into further chaos. But that was only fair. From their point of view, Iris had just vanished into thin air. However, even invisible, we’d eventually be discovered if we stayed in the command center. We’d have to get out of here before they stumbled upon us. First things first, I approached the still-thrashing Iris.
“Lea. Connect Iris to the telepathy too, please.”
Lea nodded and complied, all while continuing to restrain Iris.
“Iris?”
“!”
When I called out to her telepathically, Iris responded with a flinch. Whether she was surprised by me speaking directly into her mind or whether she was surprised because she finally realized who I was, I couldn’t say. But either way, she looked at me with wide eyes.
“What? No way...”
“Iris, there’s something I must talk to you about, but I can’t reveal myself to anyone other than you. Would you come with us so we can talk? Please?”
“...”
Iris hesitated for a moment, but then nodded silently.
“Okay, then let’s go somewhere quieter. Follow me.”
The rest of us all nodded at each other before sneaking out of the command center with Iris in tow.
▽
We then made our way to a reserve storage room in the depths of the ship. It was a low-priority and low-population area, so the crew wouldn’t come to search here until much later. Iris informed us it would be the perfect place to have a discussion, and we agreed.
“We’ll leave the invisibility up just in case anyone walks in on us, but I think it’s safe to talk normally for now.”
“That’s fine.”
We were hiding in the back of the storage room, so I doubted anyone would see us even if they did walk in. Keeping Harissa’s spell going was just a precaution.
“So... what did you want to talk about?” Iris asked, a little unhappily.
I guess she was in a pretty sour mood after hearing all that... And by “all that,” I mean about how I wasn’t really her Rekka, but my past self from a different time line. We’d already been through the established ritual where a heroine hugs me, thinking she’s been reunited with future Rekka. Iris for one had embraced me so tightly that I had difficulty breathing, but that made it all the more important for me to explain that I wasn’t really who she thought I was. This was the result... which was perfectly fair, really. I’d been lucky the other heroines had accepted me so readily thus far.
“Well, you see, Iris...”
“Don’t talk to me like you know me.”
“Okay then, um... Miss Cyphercall?”
I’d only ever called her Iris, so I had to think for a moment to remember her last name. But when I said it out loud...
“Never mind. Just call me Iris after all... Hearing your voice address me like that is just too sad,” Iris said with a sulky face, averting her eyes.
Seeing her melancholy like this made her seem so mature. Her calm demeanor and her untied hair only enhanced that impression... Wait, no. Now’s not the time to be thinking about that. I scolded myself and refocused.
Honestly, I knew that I hadn’t made a good first impression on Iris, but I still needed to explain to her what was going on. At the very least, I needed to persuade her to call off the attack on the agency. That seemed within reach now. All I had to do was tell her the truth.
“Iris, the Rekka Namidare that the Galactic Federation heard was hiding at the agency is actually me. In other words... not the real Rekka Namidare that you’re looking for.”
It felt weird to be talking about myself like I was a fake, but phrasing it that way made things crystal clear. Iris was a member of the militant hawk faction, meaning she probably didn’t care what the agency was up to. Her goal in coming here was only to find the Rekka Namidare that was the linchpin of the War of All. Once she found out he wasn’t really around, I was hoping she’d simply retreat. I was really hoping, but...
“Well, I figured that was the case the moment I saw Satsuki with you.”
“Then—”
“But I can’t pull my fleet back so disgracefully at this point.”
Iris predicted what I was about to ask her and cut me off with her answer—a decisive “no.” Hearing it, I sat there agape for a long moment.
“...B-But why not?!”
“After mobilizing a fleet of this size, I can’t simply call off the operation and say it was just a misunderstanding,” Iris responded sulkily.
Dang it... I should be the one who’s pouting!
“But it is just a misunderstanding! Why won’t you stop your fleet?!”
“The simple answer is politics. With a group as large as the Greater Galactic Federation, there’s... a lot going on that a high school boy wouldn’t understand.”
“Erk...”
Those words stabbed at me like a knife, leaving me at an absolute loss for how to respond. Ugh... But I couldn’t just back down here. At this rate, the fleet was really going to attack the agency’s headquarters. I had to stop that no matter what!
“Yeah, sure, maybe I don’t get politics! But what’s more important than people’s lives?! That’s what’s at stake here, so please...! Please just stop!”
“If people’s lives are what’s important, then I can’t show any weakness to the people trying to drag me down either.”
“What...?”
“Satsuki and the doctor know what I’m talking about... Don’t you?”
Iris suddenly turned to the two of them, and I instinctively followed suit. When my gaze fell on the doctor, she was nodding with a rather bitter expression.
“I suppose... Retreating now would be seen as a failure, which would affect Iris’s position with the Greater Galactic Federation. That would indeed be troubling.”
“Why?”
“Let me explain it as simply as I can...”
According to the doctor, the Galactic Federation was part of the militant hawk faction. But when you broke it down, there were two camps inside the federation. The first was Iris’s, which was intent on seeing the war through to victory—in other words, taking back Rekka Namidare. But there was another camp with a much more troubling goal.
“They’re intent on seeing the war through to make a profit.”
“What? But that has nothing to do with the War of All...”
The War of All was an out-of-control fight between the heroines over me. I’d already heard about the various factions involved, but trying to make a quick buck off of people’s suffering? This was new.
“We fought for too long, you know...”
When Iris said that, I turned back to her.
“When the scale of the war grew, so too did the scale of people involved. Several third parties were brought on board, and somewhere along the line the goals changed.”
“But...”
Come to think of it, during the first explanation I got about the War of All, there was talk of how some people with no knowledge of the origins of the war had gotten involved. I had assumed we were just talking about soldiers fighting for a cause they didn’t understand and other people who’d been dragged into things, but apparently it wasn’t limited to that.
“If you saved me in your world too, then maybe you know him. The head of the guys who want to make a business out of the war is called King Satamonia. He’s a real nasty piece of work.”
“Old toadface, huh?”
She meant the king of planet Satamonia, who she’d once been engaged to before I put a stop to it. Apparently he was causing even more trouble here in the future.
“But what about the blackmail material you had on him? Something about how he had been committing evil all throughout outer space... Can’t you use that to put him in his place?”
“Ah, that?” Iris sighed, pointing at herself. “You’re talking to the woman who’s technically the cause of the War of the All, you know? What leg do I have left to stand on in terms of accusing others of atrocity?”
“...!”
Seeing Iris’s expression made a chill run down my spine. I’d heard how she was deeply involved in the series of events that triggered the War of All, but I didn’t believe any of the responsibility should fall on her. I didn’t believe it... I didn’t believe it, but what did that matter? Iris had such a cold, tortured look on her face right now. It was a symbol of all the anguish she’d been through for this. What comfort would the opinion of a stranger like me even be to her?
“...”
Unable to say anything, I chewed on my lip.
“Well, that’s how it is,” Iris eventually said with a wave of her hand. “With me out of the picture, there would be no one left to oppose King Satamonia. The federation would then start selling weapons and soldiers all over the universe at cutthroat prices. And once that arms racing starts, we’ll have a whole new war on our hands.”
“...Then how can we stop the attack on the agency?”
“Well,” Iris said, stopping to think for a moment. “The main condition would be the complete and total surrender of the agency. Failing that, there are two options. The first is to bring you back to the Greater Galactic Federation as Rekka Namidare.”
The doctor and I had already agreed that would be our last resort. By giving the federation what they wanted—me—we could at least avoid a fight.
“But to be honest, that would require a lot of acting to make it work after the fact. I’m not really interested in all that. And besides, even if things go well, it would only be a matter of time before word got out that we had you, which would inevitably mean other nations and powers would try and come for you.”
“Yeah, the doctor warned me of that...”
In the end, just me being here was a problem. Even if we got through today... The instant my presence became public, there was going to be a fight.
“That leaves us with the second option, which is essentially the agency handing over all its proprietary technological assets... In other words, the doctor would have to be taken into custody.”
“So it’s come to that, has it?” the doctor asked, an eyebrow raised in disgust.
“Well, yeah. With your brains, you’re a weapon in and of yourself. I suspect the only reason King Satamonia and his goons agreed to this mission was because of you. Otherwise we would’ve spent longer debating it and ultimately ended up sending a smaller fleet.”
“But you know I only make defensive tools, don’t you?”
“I do, but even those can be used as weapons.”
“...”
The doctor fell silent. If she were taken in by the Galactic Federation, she would most likely be forced to use her exceptional intelligence to develop weapons for them. That wasn’t easy to swallow... But what were we supposed to do?
“In short, after engaging an operation of this size, you need to return home with something to offset the cost, right?” I asked.
“Essentially, yes,” Iris replied.
The two acceptable payments Iris had suggested were me and the doctor. But if we couldn’t hand over either one of us, then...
“Does the agency have anything else of high value?” I asked the doctor.
“Well...” she replied, glancing over at Satsuki.
“No, other than that.”
I stopped her in her tracks. There was no way I was going to hand over Satsuki either.
“I know, I know. But in all seriousness, I don’t think we have anything worth as much as the three of us. All of our funds have been put into research, so we’re poor to boot.” The doctor briefly looked up and sighed before looking at Iris again. “But it’s not like you’re seeking out war for no reason, right?”
“Of course not. I just want to find the real Rekka... Though I admit I was fooled this time.”
“Let’s leave that in the past. There’s no point in stewing about it forever,” the doctor said, forcefully advancing the conversation. “So, how much do you think we can get away with?”
“Get away with...?”
“Let’s start with the battle against the agency. Assuming we have to fight at least once as you said, what happens if it comes to a draw? Would your fleet then retreat?”
“Like I said, King Satamonia and his ilk agreed to this, so my fleet is a rather large one. No matter how well defended the agency may be, I can’t simply return and say, ‘We just couldn’t beat them.’ They’d never accept it.”
I see...
As I listened to the conversation between Iris and the doctor, something finally clicked. My approach to this was all wrong. I’d been assuming this entire time that the results of the war were more or less preset. But I was now realizing that even if one side won, there wasn’t necessarily anything to be gained from it. So as Iris and the others were discussing ways for this to go down without us having to hand over anyone, my thoughts took a similar turn. What kind of story could we fabricate where a fleet of this size could fail to obtain their objective and no one would question it?
I at last had something specific to put my mind to now, but this was no easy problem to hash out. There were very few plausible reasons a federation fleet of this size would lose to anything. Especially the agency, as small as it was. It also wouldn’t make any sense if Iris tried to claim the fleet won against the agency but didn’t get anything about it. She’d have to bring back some kind of spoils for King Satamonia and the other warmongers to be happy.
Something... There had to be something. But what? What would allow Iris to return home empty-handed without anyone questioning it? What story would I have to tell?
Tokiwa...
The face of the light literature club president suddenly popped into my mind. She was always holed up her room writing, dreaming of becoming an author. Out of all the heroines I knew, she was the best storyteller. So if I told her I was stuck here, what would she say? Yeah, that’s right... She gave me advice about writer’s block once.
“When you get stuck... Sometimes you just have to switch things up a bit.”
I just had to switch things up... But how? What was I supposed to change? There were certain elements in this story that I couldn’t do anything about, like the cast. I couldn’t change the fact that I was here, and I couldn’t change the fact that Iris and her fleet were here. There was also no changing the premise to the story at this point: if the federation fleet attacked the agency, there was no way they wouldn’t win unless there was some major upheaval. It would have to be something like a secret superweapon hiding at agency HQ capable of wiping out an entire fleet... But we couldn’t play that out without causing serious losses to Iris’s fleet, which would put her in just as terrible a position upon returning home. We were right back to square one.
“Let’s say the agency surrenders before the fight. Then you can come in to inspect and realize for yourself that the tip you guys got was bad. If there’s no Rekka, there’s no problem, right?”
“In that case, Doctor, we’d demand you come with us instead.”
“Crap...”
The doctor and Iris continued their discussion, but they weren’t making much progress.
I have to switch up something... But what? How?
There had to be a way for the federation to “win” without us having to hand over either me or the doctor. What could make a plotline like that reasonable? No, if reasonable was all we were going for, then we could just say the doctor and I ran away and leave it at that. But that would still land Iris in hot water...
Ah, damn it! Why can’t I think of anything?! If only this were all some kind of mistake... Wait a minute. Was it?
“Hey, Iris?”
“Yes?”
Iris paused her conversation with the doctor and turned to me.
“There’s something I’d like to ask if you can remember. The tip the Greater Galactic Federation received... What exactly did it say?”
“Hmm...”
Iris looked at me dubiously for a moment, but without any particular objection, she began thinking on it. After a while...
“The report we received was anonymous and rather vague. All it said was something about how Rekka Namidare’s presence had been confirmed in this universe through various magics and technologies, and that you were being held by the agency—”
“Hang on,” I said, stopping Iris so I could ask a vital question. “The part of the message about the agency holding me... Did it say exactly where I was being held?”
“Huh? There’s only one agency, no?”
“I knew it!” I shouted, slapping my knees with my hands.
Iris looked at me curiously.
“What’s this about, Rekka?” the doctor asked, apparently also finding my behavior strange.
“It’s just like you said, Doctor. The extremists are an offshoot of the agency, but that’s not widely known.”
“That’s right.”
“Which means that to the outside, the agency is one unified organization. But in truth, it’s not.”
“Aha!” the doctor exclaimed, seemingly coming to the same realization I had.
“So... What? I don’t really follow. You’re saying the agency actually consists of two factions? What does that have to do with—”
“The extremists are the ones holding Rekka Namidare.”
“Huh?”
“That’s all you need to tell them.”
The agency was one organization as far as the outside world was concerned, but part of it had splintered off into a radical group that now functioned completely separately. They’d set up their own headquarters and everything. That gave us a chance to send Iris after the extremists—and she could still say she’d attacked the agency!
“Iris, you return to the command center after this and tell your people this: you found out that the people hiding Rekka Namidare are actually agency radicals. We don’t care if you win against them. But the doctor belongs to a completely different faction of the agency—the pacifists—so the federation can’t politically demand anything from her or the other pacifists, right?”
“I might just be able to get away with that... But by that logic, the pacifists and these so-called radicals are actually two different entities.”
Hearing this, Iris turned to the doctor for confirmation. She nodded and said...
“Indeed. We’re on very bad terms with one another and have diverging views on just about everything. It’s very fair to say we’re two different entities.”
“Hmm... And where might this radical base be?”
“Wouldn’t L know that?” I asked, turning to her.
“Well, yeah,” she said with a small nod.
At one point, she had been on the extremists’ side. Of course she would know where their base was. If the federation fleet was so certain to win, then we just had to change their target... This is what you meant by switching things up, right, Tokiwa? Maybe I was wrong and she’d just get mad at me for misinterpreting what she’d said, but right now I was thanking her from the bottom of my heart.
“All right. I will attack the radicals under the auspices that they are part of the agency. That information cannot be refuted with the information anyone has now, so not even King Satamonia will be able to challenge it. Moreover, the doctor does not have any ties to the radical faction, so we cannot rightfully demand anything from her regarding the radical faction’s actions.”
Iris summed up the plan for everyone, then looked up at me.
“Wh-What?”
“Nothing. It’s just...”
“Just what?”
“This brings back memories... The real Rekka that saved me, Satsuki, and Harissa was pretty much a regular human back then. He would squeeze out every last drop of wit to save us, just like this.”
“...”
I had heard how future Rekka had undergone a transformation that made him something superhuman. Surely that gave him more options when it came to solving stories. He had a lot more to rely on than just his wit, after all. While it wasn’t a question of which was better, seeing my old-school methods was clearly nostalgic for Iris.
“For now, we have our plan. All that’s left is for me to return. I’ll make up something about where I went and what happened with the intruders. Good luck to you all on your end.”
“Ah, wait a minute...”
When Iris stood up, I hurriedly called out to her.
“What is it?”
“Um, there’s one more thing I’d like to ask.”
“What is it?” she asked, her arms folded.
“If possible, I’d like you to refrain from attacking the extremists’ base too.”
“Why?”
“My heroines might be being held there, so I’d like the time to rescue them,” I answered honestly. “But I really don’t want to see anyone die here.”
In the end, that was it. And in response to my naive request, Iris said...
“You really haven’t changed at all there.”
She then poked my forehead gently with her finger and smiled.
