And so, two years passed.
After graduation, Tobiichi Origami achieved her wish and was admitted into a military academy. Afterward, she was assigned to a branch base of the Ground Self Defense Force and began serving there.
"Ah, wait a mont. Private Second Class Tobiichi."
Just after the morning training and exercises had ended, when Origami was about to take her lunch break, a woman in military uniform suddenly ca up to her and called out.
Origami straightened her posture and saluted while speaking.
"Good afternoon, Warrant Officer Okamine!"
"N-no need to be so formal! It's not training ti right now. Besides, I'm only one or two years older than you."
Seemingly unused to being addressed that way, the female officer in front of her—Okamine Mikie—waved her hands and gave a bitter smile.
"How is life here? Are you getting used to it?"
"Thanks to you, I am gradually adapting."
"I see. That's good."
Origami answered politely. Although it was only ordinary social courtesy, Mikie still sighed in relief.
"Then, Warrant Officer, is there anything else you need for?"
Origami asked.
Mikie opened her mouth with so difficulty.
"Um, well... Private Second Class Tobiichi, do you have ti during lunch? I want to take you to... et soone."
"Warrant Officer, if you act like that, outsiders won't know which of us is the superior officer."
Seeing Mikie's careful and hesitant attitude, Origami said sowhat speechlessly.
"Haha... You're right. I'll be careful."
Mikie awkwardly scratched her nose.
Honestly, although she did not think of herself as a strict and stiff soldier, she would not usually be this respectful toward a new recruit either.
But for so reason, whenever she faced Tobiichi Origami, she could never put on the aura.
"Lunch break, right? I understand."
Origami nodded in agreent.
After all, it was a request from a superior officer. And when she had first reported here, this officer had indeed taken care of her quite a lot. There was no reason to refuse.
"Then who is looking for ?"
Hearing that, Mikie quickly nodded and said,
"Ah, she was my superior in the unit I used to belong to. She is also the commander of this base now—Lieutenant Kusakabe."
————————
"So I'm asking you, what exactly is wrong with being thirty-one? My family keeps rushing about arranged marriages and matchmaking! They can't wait to find a man right now and throw over to him. They've made it so annoying that even if I originally wanted to get married, I've lost interest!"
"Well, even so, you can't just give up on yourself, Ryouko-neesan. If this continues, in the future, you might beco the kind of lonely old woman with no one to rely on, who can only raise a cat to ease her loneliness."
"Hmph. That doesn't sound so bad."
Following Mikie into the command room, Origami saw a black haired woman with a high ponytail sitting in front of an office desk, complaining to a blonde woman several years younger than her, who wore round glasses and goggles.
Origami knew these two.
Although the content of the conversation was rather questionable, that black haired woman was indeed the person in charge of this base, Kusakabe Ryouko.
And the blonde woman was the technical director of the maintenance departnt—Mildred F. Fujimura.
"Cough, cough."
Perhaps feeling embarrassed that Origami had seen Ryouko in such an undignified state, Mikie coughed lightly twice and reminded her quietly.
"Captain, I brought her here."
"Mm, ah. Okamine."
After noticing Mikie, the two stopped talking. Their gazes both moved to Origami behind her.
"This is Tobiichi Origami, who joined this year. Rank: Private Second Class."
"Mm. So you're the one."
Seeing Origami's calm attitude, neither servile nor arrogant, Ryouko seed a little surprised. Then she showed a bright smile.
"Hello. I'm the commander of this base, Kusakabe Ryouko."
"Hello~ I'm Mildred from the maintenance departnt. You can call Milly. Nice to et you, Origami-chan."
"Nice to et you."
Origami observed the two while answering.
After a simple round of greetings, Ryouko spoke.
"Private Second Class Tobiichi, do you know why I had Mikie bring you here today?"
"...Is it because of the conflict with the foreign garrison yesterday afternoon?"
After thinking for a mont, Origami answered.
"Not wrong, but you only guessed half of it."
Ryouko nodded and explained.
"But don't misunderstand. I did not call you here to question you. From the footage captured by the caras and the audio recording you provided, it can be confird that the three people on the other side were the ones who provoked and attacked first. Your counterattack did not seriously injure them either, so it falls within the scope of self-defense. Because of that, the matter was settled quickly."
Beside her, Mikie sighed in relief.
"Honestly, I was shocked when I first heard about it. But thanks to the solid evidence, it didn't beco a big issue and was resolved smoothly."
"Rather, thanks to Origami-chan, those guys finally got a taste of pain. Serves them right for always being so arrogant."
Milly said with a hint of schadenfreude.
"It was only a disagreent caused by differences in culture and customs. After all, when people co to an unfamiliar environnt, it is normal for them to beco emotional because they are not used to the place."
Origami answered calmly.
"My, how modest. Is this what they call the soul of Showa Japan?"
After saying sothing rather unclear, Milly looked at Origami curiously.
"But Origami-chan, should I call you thorough, or black hearted? If you had not predicted in advance that they would deliberately block your way, you would not have prepared a voice recorder on purpose. If it had been soone else, they would either have been bullied directly, or been provoked into fighting, only to be frad by the other side afterward."
"It is nothing. My Obaa-chan often says things like: 'You may hold optimistic expectations, but you must not ignore the worst case.' 'The aning of power lies in warning others and protecting yourself.' 'Violence is the final resort when there is no other choice. Depending on violence only numbs oneself with a false sense of security, and it cannot truly solve problems.'"
"Oh~ She says so pretty good things. Is this what they call the wisdom of elders?"
Hearing that, Ryouko said with so admiration.
"Origami-san really likes her Obaa-chan."
Mikie spoke with a comforted expression.
"..."
"Eh? S-sorry! I suddenly called you by your na so casually."
Noticing Origami silently looking at her, Mikie thought she had said sothing wrong and hurriedly apologized.
"...No, it is fine."
Origami lightly shook her head, then turned her gaze back to Ryouko.
"Then what is the 'other half' of the reason you called here?"
"The other half... is my personal interest in you."
Ryouko rested her chin on her hand and spoke with a sowhat mysterious tone.
"Rather, yesterday's incident was only a trigger. Actually, I have been paying attention to you ever since you enlisted. It was just inconvenient to look for you directly because of my position."
"Paying attention to ? Why?"
Origami frowned in confusion. In response, Ryouko exchanged glances with the other two, then shrugged unconsciously.
"Private Second Class Tobiichi, although you may not be aware of it yourself, you are quite famous in the unit. Even though you had the grades to enter a famous university, join a top company, and reach the peak of life, you deliberately ca to this remote place to suffer as a soldier."
"And your shooting, hand to hand combat, and all kinds of courses and training are always ranked first. A true genius."
"What enviable talent, Origami-chan."
"Is that so?"
Seeing Origami's completely unaware expression, Ryouko shook her head helplessly and brought the slightly derailed topic back.
"Well, if it were only that, at most, I would privately write you a recomndation letter to help you develop in a better environnt. The reason I ca to find you is simply because I am a little curious about your reason for joining."
"Joining-"
"-Reason?"
Under Mikie and Milly's curious gazes, Ryouko looked at Origami with a slightly serious expression and asked,
"You wanted to learn the truth behind spacequakes. I rember that is what you wrote, right?"
"Mm."
Origami nodded and did not deny it.
"Why?"
"...Because of spacequakes, I lost my mories and my past..."
Facing Ryouko's question, Origami hesitated for a mont, but still told her the reason.
"I see. Still, it's impressive that your Obaa-chan allowed you to decide your future for a reason like that."
Ryouko first nodded in understanding, then spoke with so surprise.
"Well..."
In response, Origami turned her gaze away and vaguely brushed it off.
In truth, Origami had still not convinced Yumi to agree with her decision.
Their persistence was like a pair of parallel lines, with no point of contact at all.
In the end, left with no other choice, Origami had to use a thod she hated very much—throwing a tantrum.
Crying, making a scene, threatening to hang herself—until she finally declared that she would drop out of school and run away from ho, Yumi Obaa-chan finally loosened her stance and agreed to her career choice.
As the price, for a while afterward, she beca a laughingstock at ho among the others.
Naturally, there was no way she could tell other people about that dark history.
"Mm... I can understand. But Origami-chan, if you wanted to learn the cause of spacequakes, wouldn't it have been better to enter university and specialize as a researcher in that field, or join a company?"
Milly asked curiously.
"In that area, soone I know is responsible for the investigation."
"How well thought out. Spacequakes, huh... It's been so long since I heard soone bring that up. It almost feels nostalgic."
After making that complicated remark, Ryouko opened the can of beer on the table, took a drink, and said,
"Forget it. In any case, this matter can no longer really be called classified. As long as you promise not to spread it, there is no harm in telling you."
After thinking for a mont, Ryouko seed to make up her mind and spoke.
"Tobiichi Origami, do you know why Mikie is already a warrant officer even though she is only one or two years older than you?"
"Because all of you were mbers of the AST, the unit established back then to respond to spacequakes."
Origami answered naturally.
That was exactly what she had found out, which was why she had chosen this base.
"That's right. The Ground Self-Defense Force Anti-Spirit Team. Origami, if you had co three or four years earlier, you probably would have been assigned to that unit too. No——maybe it's better that you didn't join. After all, 'Anti-Spirit' sounds good, but in reality, we were nothing more than ants with no power to fight back in front of Spirits."
Ryouko said self-mockingly.
"Spirits?"
Hearing that word, Origami's eyes grew slightly heated, and she quickly asked,
"Are those the culprits behind spacequakes? What are they?"
"I don't know."
Ryouko shook her head.
"You don't know? What do you an?"
"I an exactly what I said."
Ryouko explained.
"Indeed, as you guessed, spacequakes are caused by 'Spirits.' But that does not an they are conscious living beings. They are rely so kind of energy crystal body that remains at the epicenter for a period of ti after a spacequake occurs."
Hearing Ryouko's description, Origami could not help thinking, "That's it?"
As if seeing through Origami's thoughts, Milly waved her finger and said seriously,
"Tsk, tsk, Origami-chan. Spirits are not ordinary things. As a high-density mass of so kind of energy, they cannot be destroyed, cannot be transported, and you cannot even get close to them. As an analogy, it is as absurd as humans trying to move the sun."
"So relatively stable Spirits are still fine. As long as they are not attacked, they will automatically disappear after so ti. But so Spirits with unstable energy continue releasing various aftershocks even after the spacequake, damaging the environnt. Our mission was to stop Spirits from going berserk and destroy them."
Mikie added from the side.
"Though that said, we never actually achieved the result of destroying a Spirit."
Ryouko shrugged and continued after another drink of beer.
"Still, even without credit, there was hardship. After all, our missions were far more dangerous than those of other units, and our ranks rose comparatively quickly too. So subordinates even directly received the honor of being 'promoted two ranks.'"
(Note: killed in the line of duty.)
"That really is not sothing to laugh about, Lieutenant..."
Mikie said helplessly.
"Well, Ryouko-neesan suffered quite a bit because of that too. During the global great disaster period, she was constantly busy with refugee relief and maintaining order after the disasters. As a result, while working and working, before she knew it, she had missed the ideal age for marriage."
"Shut up! Who asked you to say that!"
Ryouko punched Milly on the forehead irritably, then turned to look at Origami, who seed to be thinking deeply.
"Is there anything you want to ask?"
"Spacequakes... Spirits... have all disappeared?"
"Apparently."
Ryouko said,
"Although I do not know the exact details of how it was done, that seems to have beco the consensus among organizations all over the world. At the very least, ever since that global great disaster, Spirits have never appeared again."
"Isn't it too early to reach that conclusion?"
Origami frowned in doubt.
"Who knows? In any case, the magician units have already been dissolved, and the combat-use Realizers and tactical units have all been collected by Ratatoskr. If Spirits really appeared now, we would have no way to fight back. The only thing I can do is sincerely pray that the higher-ups' words were not just ant to fool people."
"..."
After listening to Ryouko, Origami fell into a long silence.
Spacequakes, Spirits, and the magician units that fought against them.
Although it felt as though she had found clues leading closer to the truth, for so reason, Origami felt an indescribable, lingering sense of wrongness in her heart.
"...Origami-san."
For so reason, Okamine Mikie looked at Origami with an uneasy expression.
"If you find the answer you want... will you leave?"
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