20 Betrayal 2

Recalling her sister’s smile.

She had loved history.

To Chi, it was impossible to understand what was so amusing, and she once asked.

Then her sister would always say:

‘It’s a microcosm of humanity, Chi. Studying history is learning about people. Knowing the past allows people to move toward a better future. That’s what I believe.’

Even after hearing this, Chi still couldn’t find interest in history.

Yet she liked watching her sister speak with such delight, and would sometimes beg her to talk about history.

They were sisters separated by years, and soon after, Rei began working.

Historical research. Chi thought it was her sister’s true calling.

Only slightly regrettable was that she spent more time outside the fleet, gathering scattered documents from various ship groups.

Yet when she returned, her face bore exhaustion, yet she seemed fulfilled—something envy stirred within me.

"Aah. That’s right."

Now I understood one reason why I had not believed the claim that Mio had inherited Rei’s soul.

Mio, as she appeared now, showed no satisfaction.

If one pursued, to some degree, what one truly wished, fulfillment would follow.

Mio lacked that.

"Because Mio-chan truly wants to return."

Her eyes held a yearning for the past.

Harold had misjudged.

Mio did not betray.

But whether the wish she voiced to others was truly her own remained uncertain.

Perhaps, Chi thought, what she truly desired was to erase this entire incident and vanish into the ordinary.

Ordinary.

For Chi, that meant days with Rei.

Even if that accident had never happened, she would have married eventually and left home.

Yet she was still somewhere in this universe. The frequency of their meetings might decrease, but it would never reach zero.

Mio is trying to make it zero.

"Are you really sure, Mio-chan?"

Reaffirming intent.

Accepting one’s own extinction. Or rejecting it.

"Chi-san... I said it before. There’s no good or bad. This is simply what is right."

"No, but—"

"If you said you hated it, what would you do, Chi-san?"

"Wha—?"

"I don’t want to vanish. I support the Laitera Project, but if I say I can’t fulfill your wish—would that be enough for you?"

"That—"

There’s no good reason.

He had done all this dirty work to fulfill his own wish.

To be told the ladder was removed and remain calm—impossible.

"If that were to happen, it would be a problem. So please, don’t ask again."

That’s true.

Mio is right.

Chi understood that it was himself who was behaving sentimentally, clinging to such thoughts.

Cutting off the conversation, Chi returned to his room with lowered head.

On the way, he thought. Continued thinking.

"Is there… any way? Any way at all?"

Rin and Mio. A way for the two to coexist.

But Chi could not conceive it.

An indifferent gaze observed Chi, thinking thoughts with no answer.

All the while, from the moment Chi returned to his room.

Several minutes later.

A heightened sense detected a presence. Chi raised his face.

A pause. Then, a knock on the door.

No one usually visited Chi’s quarters.

He sensed the presence beyond the door. Likely, the visitor had realized Chi had noticed.

The air tightened in an instant.

"...What is it, Captain? Such a tense atmosphere..."

Grace, leader of the Cybernetic Squadron, had come to visit Chi.

If that were all, one might assume it was merely a superior calling a subordinate for some duty.

But if armed infantry stand in the background, the matter takes on a different weight.

"Second Lieutenant Kusunoki. You're being summoned."

"By Byron?"

At this moment? The doubt surfaces in Grace's voice as she leans close to Chi.

"They're concerned you've grown too attached to that girl."

"Ah..."

Chi understands.

The conversation with Mio was not hidden in any way.

The content must have reached them.

"I see. I'll go immediately."

Adjusting his appearance with due decorum.

Chi heads toward the room assigned to Harold.

He enters. Grace and the infantry follow without pause.

"Ah, Kusunoki. Forgive the trouble. The place is a mess. Please, sit there."

Humility is irrelevant. Harold’s room truly is disordered.

Several electronic papers display various documents, while unfamiliar equipment occupies the sofa.

"Excuse me..."

He slips into the only available space with effort.

"Do you know why you were called?"

"Something about Aoyama Mio."

"Correct. She's essential to the plan now. I rely on her mental care."

Mental care.

Chi nods, accepting the term, though he had not consciously considered it so.

"But that won't work. Denying her wish—what if she withdraws her cooperation? What then?"

"No, but—her wish, if fulfilled, means the end of Aoyama Mio. That could cause issues after the plan's implementation—"

A desperate excuse.

Yet, as he reflects, Chi realizes, now more than ever, how critical this is.

The Laitera Project’s primary objective is to alter the past and fulfill wishes.

Simultaneously, to protect the present by knowing the future.

Those are the two points.

But if Mio vanishes, the Laitera Project will not activate at that moment.

The original Queen’s Reactor only functions because she exists.

How do you intend to resolve that?

“Ah, yes. Indeed. That aspect requires caution.”

Harold accepted the concern with ease.

“Precisely because of that, in the sequence of past alteration, I’m afraid your wish and Mio’s wish will be fulfilled last.”

“No, that’s fine… I don’t mind…”

In any case, I won’t even perceive what order the fulfillment takes.

That degree of timing is irrelevant.

“What do you intend to do?”

“Well, nothing particularly special, I suppose. The existence of Higashi Mio will cease—but the existence of the Queen’s child will not.”

Mio is the Queen’s child, but the Queen’s child is not Mio.

"Bring the Queen’s child born after the modification to the convoy as well."

"Is that so."

Chi cannot argue when it is stated so definitively.

Still, Harold sighs, watching Chi’s unwilling acceptance.

"Kusunoki. I regret this, but I must detain you."

"What—"

The sudden declaration makes Chi rise from the seat.

A gun is raised behind him, and he halts.

"The plan is at its final stage. The plot has already been exposed to other convoys. From here, it is a race against time."

Chi knows this.

"That is why I cannot afford hesitation at this stage."

"I am not hesitating—!"

"Is that so? Aren't you weighing Kusunoki Rei against Higashi Mio?"

Chi falls silent, unable to respond directly.

"Relax. Patience until the Laitera Project is complete. Whether your wish comes true will be reconsidered then, won't it?"

In essence, a directive to remain still until the plan is fully realized.

Chi bites his lip—there is nothing he can do about it.

Indeed, he is uncertain.

He has already confronted that uncertainty with Mio.

If Mio has turned against the plan as a result, it is a fatal blow at this stage.

Chi himself does not wish to destroy the Laitera Project.

"Understood—"

He cannot bring himself to say it outright.

In the cluttered room.

Among the documents, one name stands out—impossible here.

Kusunoki Rei.

A sister's name, unrelated to the Laitera Project. Chi stiffens.

Midway through his reply, Chi halts, half-bent. From behind, a suspicious presence settles over him.

Chi ignores the matter entirely, his gaze fixed on the document’s contents.

It details the initial operations of the Laitera Project.

A plan to gather missing information from other fleet units following the failure of the first time-jump experiment.

Simultaneously, securing allies within those units.

Among the assigned personnel listed, one name stood out: Kusunoki Rei.

“…What.”

Grace follows Chi’s line of sight, sees the same name.

She shrugs, exhales.

“Lord Harold. You’ve been told repeatedly to sort these documents thoroughly.”

“Huh? …Ah. Right. I see. You’ve found it.”

Harold, too, notices, prompted by Grace’s words and gaze.

He says without shame.

“Ah well. I didn’t mention it. Your sister was involved with the Laitera Project, you know.”

With those words, Chi lost consciousness from the shock of the tasers striking his back.