[—Docking complete.]
[All systems are normal. No anomalies in orbit adjustnt.]
[Estimated to arrive in the airspace above the target location in 5 hours.]
[DSS-009, airship has arrived at the designated position.]
One report after another rang out through the speakers in DEM's UK eting room.
"This will do." Watching everything proceed according to his plan, Mudroch couldn't help but smile slightly.
Exploiting the board mbers' fear and unease towards Westcott, Mudroch instigated them to join in this crazy and cruel assassination plan.
The reason he did this was partly because, other than Westcott, no one had the authority to execute such a massive plan alone. The other reason was to make them his accomplices.
Even if Mudroch succeeded in assassinating Westcott alone, assassinating the Executive Director and usurping his power—if such a heinous scandal were discovered, it would beco Mudroch's most fatal weakness.
But, if everyone present was a participant in the assassination, he wouldn't have to worry about the above problem at all. Conversely, as long as Mudroch continued to play the role of a ruthless, cruel, and crazy man capable of executing such an insane plan, once Westcott was dead, their fear of Westcott would naturally transfer to Maddox. When it ca ti to decide who would hold the highest power in DEM, even if Mudroch proposed himself as the next MD, those cowards wouldn't dare raise any objections.
As for the consequences if the assassination plan failed, Mudroch didn't think too much about it. Or rather, the answer was obvious.
Failure ant death, so he just had to succeed.
Perhaps the word "play" was a bit inappropriate.
The mont Ellen Mathers severed his arm, Mudroch had already gradually lost the sanity of a normal person.
"...Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall~..." (An English rhy, implying that once sothing is broken, it cannot be fixed.)
Staring at the decommissioned satellite floating in space on the screen, Mudroch began to hum the nursery rhy softly.
On the other side, Natsumi, disguised as Itsuka Kotori, was gathering intel inside Ratatoskr's underground facility.
First, she bumped into one of Ratatoskr's crew mbers—Shiizaki.
Through talking to Spirits, raising their affection for Itsuka Shido, and then sealing their Spirit power with a kiss. And then protecting them so they could live peaceful lives.
"Basically the sa as what Yutsuki said." After extracting the information she wanted from her, Natsumi muttered softly.
Ratatoskr was an organization that existed to save Spirits—although she still felt this goal was a bit inexplicable, since the other person was answering her thinking she was her boss, there was no reason to lie.
Knowing that Kotori wasn't in the underground facility, Natsumi didn't have to worry about her disguise being exposed for now. After asking Shiizaki where Tohka and the others were, she headed towards the rest area.
Soon, near the vending machines, she saw Yatogami Tohka, Yoshino, and the rabbit puppet Yoshinon.
"So, what do you guys think of Natsumi?" Natsumi asked, imitating Kotori's tone.
"What do we think... aning?" Tohka and Yoshino tilted their heads in confusion. Natsumi sighed and put on a disgusted expression.
"Don't you guys think that Natsumi is disgusting? We praised her a little and she totally got carried away. She's just an ugly freak, making a fool of herself."
That's right, even though Yutsuki said everyone wanted to get along with Natsumi, that was definitely just Yutsuki's wishful thinking. There had to be people who supported her on the surface but secretly found Natsumi annoying or even repulsive.
While rcilessly putting herself down, Natsumi secretly observed their reactions. If they harbored dissatisfaction towards Natsumi, getting a "get out of jail free card" that "I'm not the one badmouthing her" would definitely make them agree with her.
Hearing Natsumi's words, Tohka and the others looked at each other, then stared at Natsumi with weird expressions.
"Kotori, what's wrong? Saying sothing like that, it's not like you at all."
"U-Um... I don't think...Natsumi-san is disgusting at all..."
"She's right—What's wrong, Kotori-chan? Too much Commander work got you in a tired mood?"
"No... I might really be a bit tired." Hearing an answer that was both unexpected yet sohow expected, Natsumi felt her eyes sting and covered them with her arm.
A few minutes later...
"Hah..." Leaning against the hallway wall, Natsumi let out a long sigh, feeling sowhat confused.
Later, Kaguya, Yuzuru, and Miku also joined the conversation. Natsumi tried the sa thod to test them again, but surprisingly, the three of them showed indignation on Natsumi's behalf.
Feeling like she wouldn't be able to keep up her act if she stayed any longer, Natsumi made a random excuse and fled from Tohka and the others.
(What's going on, even though I did so many terrible things to them. Why are they defending so much? Is there sothing wrong with their heads?) Natsumi sighed in frustration.
Everything was exactly as Yutsuki had told her. No one here thought Natsumi was an ugly freak, nor did anyone treat her like the culprit behind a disaster.
No, wait...
"Could it be that Yutsuki predicted my actions long ago?" Honestly, not being able to find a single flaw actually made Natsumi suspicious. Did Yutsuki predict she would sneak out, so she colluded with the others beforehand to trick her?
If it was Ryougi Yutsuki, it wasn't impossible.
Thinking of this, Natsumi felt a pang in her heart, feeling very uneasy.
(No! Didn't I co here to confirm these things? Pull yourself together, Natsumi.) Realizing she was thinking negatively again, Natsumi shook her head vigorously.
"Yutsuki's room... is definitely at..." Following the intel she got from Kotori's subordinate, Natsumi quickly found Yutsuki's resting room in the Sector B residential area. There, a brown-haired girl was slumped over the desk, breathing steadily.
"What, and here I thought you were a monster who didn't need sleep." Unconsciously sighing, Natsumi didn't even realize a faint smile had appeared on her face. She gently shook Yutsuki's shoulder and said,
"You'll catch a cold sleeping here, Yutsuki-nee."
"Hah... Kotori-chan." Letting out a long yawn, Yutsuki groggily rubbed her eyes.
"Sorry, staying up for three days straight is a bit too much to handle." Three days of staying up late. The corner of Natsumi's mouth twitched slightly. Although she knew Yutsuki had been pulling all-nighters to monitor her, she completely didn't expect her to push herself to the point of not sleeping at all.
"Geez, make sure you rest properly later. Do you want so water?"
"Mhm, please, Kotori-chan. There's tea on the table."
After pouring a cup of tea and handing it to Yutsuki, Natsumi poured one for herself and sat on the sofa.
"Ah~ Good tea." Taking a sip of tea, Yutsuki let out a satisfied sigh.
"Yutsuki-nee, are you not staying with Natsumi today? Did sothing happen?" Because Yutsuki had once seen through her disguise, unlike when testing Tohka and the others, Natsumi didn't blindly put herself down. She took a sip of tea and asked carefully.
"Well... you could say sothing did happen. But the main reason I ca out this ti was to investigate so things I was curious about. Perfect timing, Kotori-chan, you can take a look too."
Saying that, Yutsuki placed the laptop from the desk in front of Natsumi.
"Eh..." Looking at the various files and docunts with incomprehensible anings on the screen, Natsumi broke a sweat. She coughed dryly, put on a serious face, and said, "Ahem—I won't read the details, Yutsuki-nee. Please just give a brief summary."
"Okay, okay—" Seemingly guessing that the other party wouldn't have the patience to read through it, Yutsuki shrugged helplessly, put on a serious face, and said, "This is the data I just hacked and downloaded from DEM and AST's databases this morning."
Natsumi was naturally no stranger to the nas AST and DEM. One was a group of rookie Wizards who always ca out to fight her whenever she manifest, and the other was an evil organization that almost took her life. In Natsumi's eyes, both organizations were large-scale groups in human society, similar to the Ratatoskr she was currently in.
Hearing Yutsuki's casual tone, as if she just picked a book from her bookshelf to read, the corner of Natsumi's mouth twitched, but she kept a straight face.
"Things you were curious about is?" To Natsumi's question, Yutsuki explained.
"First, DEM. During the commotion caused by Miku last ti, thanks to Kurumi's and our harassnt, the DEM corporation suffered massive financial losses. Honestly, if it were any other company, they would've gone bankrupt right there. As for the person in charge at the ti—Isaac Westcott, who is Ellen's boss—it seems he was unanimously impeached by the board of directors, demanding his resignation from his position as Executive Director."
"Mhm—and then?" Natsumi asked, pretending to understand.
"Well, although the result of the eting wasn't recorded, since Westcott could still co here so leisurely to cause trouble, it's pretty easy to guess what happened. Knowing Ellen's personality, anyone who tried to plot against Westcott is probably missing an arm or a leg, even if they aren't dead." Yutsuki shrugged and answered.
"Uh." She didn't know who Westcott was, but she rembered exactly who Ellen was. That cold-blooded, ruthless woman who, even after being turned into a child, didn't hesitate to run her through with a sword. Even after subduing her, she nonchalantly gave the order to chop off her limbs.
Thinking of her, Natsumi couldn't help but feel a chill down her spine.
"Next—the AST side, mostly about Tobiichi Origami." Saying that, Yutsuki sighed lightly, a complex expression appearing on her face.
Tobiichi Origami—hearing this na, Natsumi also couldn't help but be interested.
When she first investigated Itsuka Shido's interpersonal relationships, Natsumi's impression of Origami was roughly, "a pervert with excellent grades and a beautiful appearance who inexplicably throws herself at Itsuka Shido like crazy." However, when Natsumi designed the guessing ga to get revenge on Shido, Origami, as one of the suspects, suddenly disappeared without warning. At first, Natsumi didn't care much, but she never expected that later, Origami would beco a DEM Wizard and almost capture her together with Ellen.
"What happened... to that Origami?"
"Yeah, during the Tengu Festival, because she used a prohibited annihilation weapon without authorization to attack DEM, who were considered allies, she was given the punishnt of dismissal."
When Yutsuki saw this piece of information, she was also very surprised.
After the Miku incident ended, since Origami had put in a lot of effort to protect Shido, Yutsuki was worried about Origami's situation in the military, so she secretly "viewed" the AST's eting reports.
Because that operation was essentially DEM acting recklessly, and Origami's colleagues all supported and defended her actions, the content of the AST's upper managent eting revealed they didn't intend to pursue Origami's actions too strictly. Although the punishnt hadn't been handed down yet at the ti, it felt like she would at most be suspended for a few months. So Yutsuki didn't pay too much attention to it.
However, under DEM's secret manipulation, the punishnt Origami ultimately received was dismissal.
(So this was the source of the unease I felt back then...)
To take revenge on the Spirits who killed her parents, Origami needed the Wizards' Realizers as weapons. If she couldn't be an AST Wizard, naturally, she couldn't achieve her goal of revenge. Then, Tobiichi Origami would naturally think of DEM, which possessed more and better performing Realizers.
Therefore, even knowing it was a trap deliberately set by the other party, Origami still chose to join DEM.
[Ryougi Yutsuki. Maybe it's just as you said. Maybe there are Spirits in the world without malice. However, the existence of Spirits is a mistake itself. So that no one else has to experience what I went through. I will defeat all Spirits—every single one of them!]
Recalling what Origami said to her back then, Yutsuki clenched her fists slightly.
"Phew..." Letting out a slow breath, Yutsuki returned to a calm expression and said to Kotori.
"Well, that's the entirety of the report, Kotori-chan."
"Uh... good work, Yutsuki-nee." Natsumi, who was basically like a cow listening to soone play the lute, answered dumbly.
Seeing Kotori looking confused, Yutsuki thought it was because she couldn't digest so much information at once. Yutsuki chuckled, patted her head, and said,
"Well, it can't be helped if you can't sort it all out at once with so much going on. I'm just telling you what I found; you can decide what to do with it yourself. For now, let's focus on solving the problem with Natsumi."
"D-Don't treat like a child." Natsumi blushed slightly and swatted Yutsuki's hand away. Then, a sowhat complex, frustrated look appeared on her face.
The girl's sharp and capable image, like a professional intelligence agent, was completely different from the casual otaku image she had when interacting with her. This contrast made Natsumi, who thought she understood Yutsuki, feel like she was a stranger.
As expected... it was all an act to trick her back then.
"What's wrong, Kotori-chan? You don't look well. Too tired?" Seemingly noticing Kotori's change, Yutsuki asked with concern.
"I'm fine. Don't worry about it." Shaking her head lightly, Natsumi said with a sowhat inexplicable tone, "Rather than , it's you, Yutsuki-nee. You feel very different from when you're with Natsumi. Keeping up that act must be tiring."
"Ahaha... was I exposed?" Hearing Natsumi's words, Yutsuki smiled bitterly and scratched her long hair.
As expected—Natsumi sneered internally. The other party was just pretending to be soone she would definitely accept to cheat her trust. In reality, she was probably completely annoyed taking care of Natsumi, who kept interfering with her life.
Saying she didn't dislike having a family mber with the sa hobbies was just an excuse to trick her.
And to think she actually felt a tiny bit of hope for those words for a split second.
Thinking of this, dark emotions like sludge wrapped around Natsumi's heart.
"Sorry about that. I accidentally had too much fun playing with Natsumi, and almost forgot about the things happening outside. Ehehe~" Saying that, Yutsuki even knocked on her own head, acting a bit cute.
—Eh? A dumbfounded expression instantly appeared on Natsumi's face.
"Ah—I really want to play gas! I really want to watch the new ani season! I still haven't collected all the CGs in Fairy Forest 3! Why won't they just let live leisurely while admiring Shiori's photobook! Why are there so many things to do! Hah~..."
Seemingly giving up on pretending, the girl slumped on the desk, radiating a lazy aura while complaining.
In the blink of an eye, she turned back into the Yutsuki that Natsumi was familiar with.
"Um... Yutsuki-nee, the act you ntioned... you didn't an your serious attitude during the report just now, did you."
"Yeah. What else did you think?" Yutsuki said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
The corner of Natsumi's mouth twitched slightly.
"Uh... I thought you ant the way you act when you're with Natsumi was an act. That you actually found it really annoying or sothing..."
"Just what kind of prejudice do you have against ... Ah, so you were still bothered by what I said last ti." Seemingly suddenly realizing sothing, Yutsuki showed a bit of helplessness.
"Eh? Um, well..." Completely not knowing what Yutsuki was talking about, Natsumi could only give a vague answer.
"Don't worry. It's true I once said that sealing a Spirit isn't necessarily a good thing for them, and that I refused to help conquer Spirits."
Seeing Natsumi's attitude, Yutsuki sighed with a bitter smile.
Honestly, Yutsuki understood Shido on conquering Spirits, but she wasn't exactly supportive of it.
Sealing Spirit power ant another Spirit entered an unprecedented period of weakness, and it also ant the burden on Shido's shoulders got heavier.
Especially with a dangerous enemy like DEM around, the downsides of these two points beca extrely obvious.
So, Yutsuki decided that if a Spirit appeared who wasn't bothered by spacequakes and had no dissatisfaction with their current life, she wouldn't help.
"But if it's a Spirit who truly needs help, I'll naturally lend a hand."
After spending these few days together, Yutsuki understood that Natsumi was better off staying here.
"I want Natsumi to stay." Yutsuki smiled and said, "Besides, having a family mber I can talk about otaku topics with is the best thing ever for ."
"..."
Her eyes unconsciously widened slightly. After a mont of silence, Natsumi couldn't help but smile.
Although much of the conversation on Natsumi's end was basically talking cross-purposes, undoubtedly, during those short three days of living together, Yutsuki had interacted with Natsumi as her truest self, without any disguise.
Beep beep—
Just then, the phone in Yutsuki's pocket vibrated slightly. Seeing the caller ID, Yutsuki remained silent for a mont, then pressed the speakerphone button.
[Hey, hey! Yutsuki-nee, what's going on? Why are you and Natsumi not in the room? Did Natsumi escape?] Kotori's anxious voice ca through the phone.
"..."
"..."
At this mont, the air in the room suddenly beca incredibly awkward.
"So? Do you have anything you want to say now? Natsumi-chan~" Yutsuki looked at the "Kotori" in front of her, showing a friendly smile.
"Ahaha—" Natsumi let out a dry laugh. Watching Yutsuki slowly approach like she was about to catch a rabbit, she couldn't help but feel a wave of panic.
"Haniel!"
A flash of white light, and the clothes on Yutsuki's body instantly turned into shredded pieces of cloth, revealing the girl's smooth, delicate white skin.
"Natsumi... (▼皿▼#)"
"Uh... Goodbye!" Instinctively realizing she was in deep trouble, Natsumi didn't hesitate to turn around—and ran for her life!
"God damn it—Natsumi, if you have the guts, don't use that trick!"
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