07 The Lost
"Mio hasn't come back!?"
Jin's voice cracks as he receives the call from the babysitter hired for the two-week expedition training.
On the other end, the babysitter reports, flustered, that Mio has not returned yet—this time, after six o'clock.
The location is the mess hall aboard the Rosario-class cruiser.
After launch, most of the assault frame trainees had spent their time here.
"Wait a moment."
Jin unfolds a virtual display and checks Mio's ID log.
Parents have access to their child's movement history.
She left the school at 3:00 PM.
Entered the training facility at 4:00 PM... and has remained there since.
...Is she with Jake?
He ends the call with the babysitter and contacts Jake.
"Miss Mio? No, I haven't seen her today."
"Is that so..."
"Anything wrong?"
She hasn’t returned home yet.
‘Late for a girl like her… unusual.’
‘The ID movement log shows she hasn’t left the training academy yet.’
‘Got it. I’ll look into it from my end.’
‘Sorry. I appreciate it.’
Jin felt another debt to Jake, but for now, relief settled in.
If she’s still inside the academy, nothing serious should have happened.
But Mio’s only reason for being at the academy would be the mess hall.
Her absence there—what could that mean?
‘Instructor, is something wrong?’
‘Hm. Just a bit. Mio seems to be lost at the academy.’
‘That’s… worrying.’
May mirrored Jin’s expression, concern etched on her face.
Then Jin noticed Kou, his face grim.
As if he’d just received a message.
‘Kou, what is it? You just left.’
‘Ah… apparently, Shu hasn’t returned yet.’
‘Shu too?’
"Also?"
"Mio hasn't returned either, it seems."
Muttering in unison, both pause.
Two classmates, absent.
"Could they be lost in play, forgetting time?"
"Only possible if Mio wasn’t at the training academy."
"Shu doesn’t have an academy ID—couldn’t get in anyway…"
Still, it felt unrelated.
Yet, confusion lingers.
Then, Shirley and the maintenance trainees pass down the corridor in front of the mess hall.
"Anything wrong?"
"Yes. The materials storage ID scanner malfunctioned."
"Malfunction?"
"Yes. Repeated authentication attempts, all returning errors. So I’m having the trainees replace the components."
"Right after departure—this is troublesome…"
"Anyway, I’m off."
Jin immediately dismissed the malfunction as irrelevant to them, brushing it from his mind.
Just then, a call came in from Jake.
‘I checked around—seems the girl was wandering inside the training facility after all. A first-year spotted her.’
‘Is that so.’
‘But there’s something… someone else mentioned seeing another child.’
‘Huh?’
‘Just to be safe—did you happen to issue an ID to anyone?’
‘No, I don’t recall doing anything like that…’
‘Yeah, right… Anyway, we know she was inside. No record of her exiting. She’s gotta be somewhere in there. I’ll start looking.’
‘Please.’
He hung up, letting out a single sigh.
Where could she be…?
◆ ◆ ◆
‘I’m hungry…’
‘Me too…’
Mio continued tapping the scanner without relent, though of course it showed no sign of opening.
Now, resigned, they floated together near the first cargo bay, drifting aimlessly.
“What if we just stayed like this forever…?”
“No, not really… someone’ll come to unload the cargo eventually.”
“But what if we just get dumped somewhere… left to the sun?”
“N-no, don’t say that… it’s scary.”
“And even if someone does come… by then you two might’ve starved to death.”
“W-well, Jin said humans can survive a week without food!”
“But Jin also said we’d die in three days without water…”
“Don’t say things like that…”
Shi was trying hard to comfort Mio, whose mind was consumed by dread—but he was reaching his limit.
Finally, he began to tremble, on the verge of tears.
Mio, though downcast, kept her eyes dry. She was impressive in that.
Ultimately, neither of them could think of a viable solution.
They floated there, knees drawn to chests.
Both had lost all energy, overcome by Mio’s ominous imagination.
This is it—over.
At that moment, salvation appeared.
The scanner Mio had stubbornly tapped at.
The door beside it opened.
“Oops. It’s zero-g in here.”
“Be careful. If you drop a screw by accident, who knows where it’ll drift off to.”
“Hnn… what’s that…?”
A person.
Without hesitation, the two shouted.
“Sorry! We won’t do it again—please help us!”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Yes… yes. That’s right. Reservation canceled for two weeks… yes, of course. I’ll pay the full cancellation fee… yes. Thank you. Then…”
For now, Jin relayed Mio’s discovery to Jake and the sitter. Cancelled the sitter’s appointment as well.
Jin exhaled.
The room prepared for Jin inside the cruiser. Two children utterly out of place in a warship.
So, why are you two here?
The trainees heading to the supply depot for repairs seemed genuinely startled, as if they’d seen a ghost.
A voice heard in a place that should be empty is unexpected.
Subsequently, a light health check was conducted and approved without issue.
A lecture session begins before the two who appear drowsy.
"Eh, um... Mio is..."
I was the one who pushed too hard on Higashi for an assault frame!
No, it was Mio who took her.
No, I—
A beautiful mutual protection—should be the case, yet Jin feels a flicker of irritation. Are they not getting a little too close?
—Regardless of who arrived first… they sneaked in together to inspect the assault frame at the training academy… what happened to the gate?
Something passed through.
"Uh, yeah. I managed to get through when Higashi started hammering away at it."
It's not broken, is it?
He contacts the training facility's equipment management in haste.
Then. It was put in. What now?
—Um, I hid behind the track.
"Then, here."
Ah… I see.
The mischief of this child and the trainee's lapse.
A confluence of misfortunes had apparently caused the two to slip aboard the cruiser just before their departure for the expeditionary training.
"Sasamori, come here for a moment."
Lead Kou into the room, waiting for him in the hallway.
Instructor. I apologize for the trouble my younger brother has caused this time.
Good. It seems Mio was dragged here by force. Apologies are mine.
It was obvious that Jun was shielding Mio.
Mio is the one who ended up drawing them in, rather than the other way around.
Then... regarding the future,
Yes
A cruiser cannot turn back just for two children.
I understand.
“They’ll be sleeping and waking in my quarters during their expedition training. I’ll have them follow the home-study program here, as well. Can you inform the Sasamori trainee’s parents about this?”
“Understood. I’ll be troubling you.”
Kou bows again.
Moving a cruiser costs money.
Considering the expense of lowering the two, making such a decision had not been reckless.
“Brother…”
“Honestly, you’re…”
Kou lightly taps Shu’s head.
“Your father and mother were worried.”
“Sorry…”
While the Sasamori brothers exchange these words, Jin peers into Mio’s eyes.
“You said no bad things, didn’t you?”
“But I wanted to show Tōyakun….”
“Still. If you’d told your father, he would’ve prepared an ID for Tōyaku as well. He even would’ve given proper guidance.”
The pre-expedition training had been strict, but once it ended, such choices became possible.
"I'm sorry..."
"Next time, please talk to me properly."
"Yes..."
Watching the two dejected figures,
Jin clapped his hands together.
"Alright, let's eat. You're both hungry, right?"
"Yeah..."
"I'm hungry..."
"Then let's go. Don't expect much flavor, though."
A warship on operational deployment. Life centered around cube rations.
No magician—Jake—was present, so the taste was utterly ordinary.
"Sasamori, you'll help bring the bed into this room later."
"Yes, understood."
Fitting an adult and two children onto a single-person bed was difficult.
The layout was tight, but the only option was to place the spare bed beside it.
"Then, let's go to the mess hall. I'll show you around while we're at it."
Jin left the room with the three of them, inwardly acknowledging his own naivety.