Tale of Discovery

Walking through the Fraxinus' corridors, I take a glance at Hibiki who is walking to my right, and say, "So, what are you going to be doing, now that you are here?"

"Here?" the girl repeats as her eyes focus on my lower back for a brief moment.

Normally, I would be either suspicious or concerned about such an action, but from what I could tell, there was a glint of confusion in her eyes.

"Yes, here," I reply with a smile, deciding to not mention her odd actions just yet, "This isn't the Neighboring World, but Earth, you know?"

A look of realization appears on her face before she lowers her head and seemingly begins to ruminate over her situation.

"For the time being," Kotori, who is walking to my left, interjects, "She can continue to stay aboard the Fraxinus."

While saying that, she gave me a warning look, which I take as her being suspicious of Hibiki, so she wants to keep her under watch here.

"Sorry to trouble you," Hibiki says as she raises her head with a bittersweet smile on her lips.

Seeing her like this, I instinctively raise my right arm and place my palm atop her head as I say, "Don't worry, you'll be fine. If you're concerned about not being able to go back to the Neighboring World, I will find a way to get you back there."

My words are simply to comfort her and by no means what I actually plan to do. Even if I were to find a method to get to the Neighboring World, it would be in order to fulfill my objective.

And so, we continue to walk toward our destination as I ask Hibiki one question after another regarding the Neighboring World.

---

Shortly, the three of us reach the control room, immediately after which two pairs of eyes lock onto us.

"Commander!" a loud voice reverberates within the room as a certain blond-haired man walks over with excitement apparent on his face.

This guy, Kyouhei Kannazuki, is an odd one. Earlier, he seemed to control himself due to the importance of the situation, but now that Hibiki is confirmed to at least not be a direct threat, he is back to how he usually is.

Kyouhei continues to walk toward Kotori with seemingly no intentions to stop, but before he can get too close, I bring a halt to his movements by forming a force to weigh down on him through Vector Manipulation.

Speaking of which, I have noticed that the ability has become much easier to use recently. Previously, I would need to focus on more than a quite few things at once to use it, which in turn made it a little 'slow' to use, but now, the many things have seemingly merged into one 'point' that I can focus on.

To put it in simpler terms, it's almost as if Vector Manipulation has sub-effects, similar to Code Essences and Effects, and I just so happen to have 'found' one of them.

Bearing the sudden weight that appeared, Kyouhei lets out a groan as his expression contorts a little, causing Kotori to give him a curious look before shifting her gaze to me.

As a response to this, I simply shrug and say, "He can say whatever he wants to stay from there. No need to get so close."

Kotori simply nods her head before she looks back at Kyouhei and inquires, "Did something happen?"

"Yes," Kyouhei responds in a manner as if he is suffocating for air while his legs become a little shaky, "The results for the anti-matter research are out."

Seeing him struggle so much, I reckon that he has understood what shouldn't be done by now, so I revoke the force on him, after which the man visibly relaxes as he wipes a bead of sweat on his forehead.

"And?" Kotori says hurriedly, obviously very keen about the results the man spoke of.

"According to the data, it's highly likely that the enemy has made use of heavily frowned upon methods to obtain such a weapon."

Hold on… Anti-matter? Wasn't that what was mentioned during my interrogation sessions? So, the Ratatoskr crew knew about it and has even been researching it?

Although I have a few questions, I continue to listen to their conversation.

"What methods?" Kotori questions with a frown.

"Experiments," a woman's voice resounds within our ears as Reine appears behind Kyouhei and approaches us, "Not just any experiments, but ones done on live subjects. As for the ones experimented on…"

"Spirits…" Kotori finishes as the frown on her face grows.

"Correct," Reine says as she looks over at the giant screen, which is now displaying some jargon that I assume is the results they are speaking of.

As horrible as it sounds, it's quite intriguing for DEM industries to be able to obtain anti-matter in such a manner. One must know that the destructive capabilities of such a thing is nothing to scoff at. If anything, I am getting concerned about whether they have more of it, and exactly how much if they do.

Aside from that, what their method of 'production' is, and how much can they 'produce' within a certain period?

All in all, such thoughts are forcing me to dispose of my earlier plans of slowly taking over for a much more direct approach, such as infiltrating their base and doing what needs to be done.

In fact, doing so would be beneficial in another way, after all, Reine did speak of an assault on her which was most likely from Dominion. From the start, I have been here to meet this mysterious and capable Code, so it would be a case of killing two birds with one stone if I were to infiltrate.

The only thing that I need to be wary of is whatever other trump cards that the enemy might not have revealed.

From what I have gotten out of Ellen, who is at Kurumi's 'base', and Ashley, who I have left in the Arena, the anti-matter is the only trump card other than the director himself.

Unfortunately, Ellen couldn't answer me when I asked why the director could be considered as a trump card, so I can only assume that the man is extremely powerful himself or has some astounding abilities.

"Something else," Kyouhei suddenly continues, "We have detected traces of a spirit from a private island that belongs to none other than DEM."

"However," he continues before Kotori can say anything, "Something was off. It was almost as if the signal captured was a call for aid."

Call for help? A spirit? From whom? Another spirit?

Such questions plagued my mind to no end, after all, it indeed is unusual for a spirit to call for help – in such a manner too.

"What do we do?" Kyouhei asks in a solemn tone.

Hearing this, Kotori presses her finger against her chin as she begins to deliberate over the matter seriously.

After a whole minute, her eyes widen as she turns her head to face me and says straightforwardly, "What do you think we should do?"

"But, Commander-!" Kyouhei voices his dissatisfaction, but Kotori only gives him an icy look to shut him up before looking at me with a small smile on her lips.

Ignoring the man who is now writhing with a disgusting look on his face, I state bluntly, "It would be for the best for me to investigate this island, alone."

Also, while I am at it, I could investigate whatever interesting machinery or weaponry they have over there, and in case there is nothing, simply sink the whole damn thing once I settle the matter with the spirit.

"Then we will do that," Kotori surprisingly agrees right away.

Perhaps, she is planning to ask me for the details once we're alone, in other words, at home?

"Don't forget her," I say as I point at Hibiki who has been standing in place with a bright smile on her lips, showing no reaction to whatever we say.

Nevertheless, hearing my words and seeing me pointing at her, her attention gets drawn as she gazes at Kotori's face keenly.

As if sensing her gaze, Kotori coughs once before saying, "As I said, she will stay here. Of course, we will provide her a better place to stay than that… room."

Satisfied with her words, I nod my head once before grinning and saying, "Since we're done here, we should head back home now. Surely, the rest are wondering where we have disappeared to by now."

Hearing my words, Kotori's face gets a little flushed, but she quickly regains her composure and says, "You are right, we should go back."

Indeed. Kotori should be aware of what's going to happen once we're home, hence her reaction from a moment ago…