07 Chi

As the time remaining until the towing operation drew to three hours, a message reached Jin.

"Is that so. Thank you."

Jin offered his thanks to the one who had taken the trouble to relay the news verbally, then began walking toward the infirmary.

Chi had regained consciousness.

"Her physical strength has not yet recovered. Prolonged conversation is not advisable—"

"I understand. I'll keep it brief."

Jin entered Chi's room, slightly annoyed by the doctor's repeated insistence.

The arm that had been lost had not yet been treated.

The crushed sleeve looked painful.

Aware of the visitor, Chi, connected to a respirator, slowly opened her eyes.

"...Hello, Shōgō Jin."

Her voice lacked clarity, dulled by painkillers.

Somewhat slack, unsteady.

Not just that.

The sharp edge she had carried for the past few years had vanished.

And so, an odd, lethargic atmosphere lingered.

Seems like you took quite a beating.

Jin asks, placing a chair beside the bed.

"Pretty much."

"Who did it?"

With time limited, Jin cuts straight to the point.

Chi lets out a brief sigh in response.

"You can probably guess... the defense force of the Second Fleet."

The assessment—single or small unit surrounded by multiple enemies, based on the damage—was indeed correct.

Then the next question is clear.

"Why did it happen?"

As he asks, Jin studies Chi’s condition closely.

Her focus is slightly off.

Her breathing is ragged.

Even as a cyborg, this level of damage would leave no difference.

Jin has no doubt—though the judgment is amateurish—that she won’t be able to speak for long.

"I betrayed the Laitera Project."

Jin felt—something he had never imagined—a surge of anger at those words.

"What, that?"

"...?"

"You had the resolve to do this all along. To betray us—Mio—!"

Their positions, their intentions, were irreconcilable.

Yet Jin had secretly admired that resolve.

To achieve one’s goal at any cost. To accept defilement, if necessary.

Even if the goal itself could not be praised outright.

To have obstructed her so thoroughly, then to rage when she finally showed that resolve—Jin admitted to himself, that was arbitrary.

Still, only with Chi—.

"You weren’t on Rei’s side, were you?"

Jin could no longer be unconditionally on Rei’s side.

Mio’s existence was always in the way.

But Chi alone could think solely of Rei.

He realized, belatedly, that he had felt an unwarranted sense of relief at that fact.

Don't mistake my intentions...

Words escape with a strained breath.

The vacant gaze settled on Jin's eyes.

A strength that defies the severity of his condition.

I don’t intend to stop siding with my sister.

Then why? Alter the past in which Rei died within the Laitera Project. That was supposed to be your wish.

...That's right.

Saying that.

Chi's expression twisted.

I thought it might be the wound aching, but it was not.

The pain is in the heart.

But that wasn’t your sister’s wish.

……What?

The content, and how it was obtained.

Two questions arise.

Doubt lasts an instant. While Chi remains conscious, ask what must be asked—no delay.

What is the wish of the decree?

...Do you remember the tablet terminal found among your sister's belongings...?

"Terminal... there was one. Definitely."

There was my sister's diary inside it.

"Diary?"

"That’s right. It was locked... I never managed to figure out the password."

Chi exhaled, as if exhausted.

In that moment, Jin inserted his own assessment.

"Did you figure out the password?"

"...Yes. It’s going to be a shock for you."

Chi lowered her gaze slightly, as if apologetic. Then she looked back at Jin.

"Your sister was involved in the Laitera Project."

"W-what?"

"She went to the Third Fleet to recruit you."

As Chi had anticipated, this was a shock to Jin.

"But I never heard anything like that from her..."

"Of course not."

She seemed almost embarrassed.

"I never thought I’d learn about my sister’s romantic delusions so late..."

"Hey, that’s—"

"Everything’s written down—her feelings for you, how she gradually fell for you... it was all laid bare. Just reading it made me feel embarrassed."

"Did she write all of it down—this guy!"

"Stuff about Christmas... that kind of thing."

"You're kidding me, right?!"

Jin was so shocked he nearly doubled over—so much so that he wondered if this was the very thing Chi had meant when she spoke of delivering a shock.

Chi watched him, a faintly malicious smile playing on her lips.

"Yeah. Just seeing your face... it eased the irritation."

A sense of satisfaction settled over her—she had struck back.

She had gained the upper hand over the Third Fleet’s ace.

That should have been enough.

There was no need to truly defeat him.

"Your sister abandoned the Laitera Project for you."

"Truthfully, she was... well, I had a hunch."

"History’s been dumb all along."

Sending one’s entire data set equated to sending oneself back in time.

Her guess—likely she’d wanted to experience history firsthand—had been correct.

"Was it betrayal, then?"

"...No. Whether my sister abandoned the Laitera Project or not—it makes no difference."

A strained, labored breath from Chi is audible.

Jin cannot read the instrument readings.

Perhaps her condition is deteriorating.

She must be aware of it herself.

She speaks a single coordinate.

"What is that?"

"The fleet's destination. Harold Byron has no intention of returning to the Second Fleet."

"...So it is."

"I don't fully understand... but there's an extreme spatial-temporal distortion there."

"...Distortion?"

"Yes. She said it could be used as a medium to increase the accuracy of Laitera's—information transmission to the past."

In other words, success rates would be slightly lower elsewhere.

Even if Jin understood that Chi had leaked this information, there would be nothing he could do.

It was invaluable.

Essential, perhaps, to stopping the Laitera Project.

What is located at these coordinates?

...You know this place. No, everyone knows the name, at least.

Impossible.

The thought flickers through Jin.

A place known to all.

There is only one such place known to the migratory fleets traveling through space.

...The home planet?

Yes. The third planet of the Sol system—Earth. Harold’s destination is there.

Traveled across distant galaxies, and now returning to the starting point—unexpectedly.

Understood. I appreciate this information.

But I still do not trust it.

Neither Chi’s wound nor these coordinates.

It could be a sophisticated performance, designed to interfere at the very end.

Tell me. Why did you betray the Laitera Project?

He cannot fully believe Chi without knowing this.

I saw two futures.

What?

The context does not connect.

What is the intent behind this statement?

My sister chose the present.

"Hey, Chi."

Gently touching Chi's shoulder to pull her back from her muttering.

The remaining arm clamped down with the force of a vise.

"I misunderstood my sister's wish! I—I thought it was—"

"Her wish? That wish?"

"To live happily with Higashi Jin. I never doubted it for a second!"

Her voice rose, yet her gaze did not meet Jin's.

"No... that wasn't it! I was endangering what my sister had tried to protect!"

"Stay calm, Chi!"

A shrill, erratic beeping—some numerical value had spiked beyond tolerance.

Frenzied movements outside the room.

"What did you see? What did you learn?!"

"I just wanted to fulfill my sister's wish... I didn't want to ignore her wish... that's all..."

Chi's hand pulled away, leaving a mark on Jin's arm.

Jin called out, as if to hold her back.

"Hey, Chi! What was the Order's wish! Tell me! Please!"

A small movement. Lips parted. Two syllables. But they did not tremble through the throat. No voice formed.

"Captain Tozawa! Get out of the way! Step back!"

Jin was forcibly pulled away by the military medic, still trying to press the question.

Stepped out of Chi's sickbay as if expelled, Jin replayed her words.

"The Order's wish... what is it...? No, was that even a sane statement...?"

It seemed more plausible as a delirium than a coherent thought.

Yet, the desperation in it could not be faked.

The reason for Chi's betrayal remained unknown.

But a certainty was beginning to take root within Jin—this was not part of some scheme.

"...Besides, there's no other lead to follow."

Having entrusted the information to Jin, Chi had left him no choice but to report it to command. He turned away from her room.