Chapter 45: Doubt

“I’ve read it.”

Masaki Hinaki sighed, resting her chin on her hand as she leaned on the desk, her gaze darting around.

“That ‘Apostle’ girl is strong… If another enemy like her appears, you’re probably the only one here who can subdue her.”

“The Special Disaster Section could do it.”

“No! If we let that rough bunch handle it, they’ll definitely kill the target! What’s the point of a valuable intelligence source if we can’t capture her alive?”

“Let me remind you, this kind of person is our enemy, and there are plenty of others stronger than her. If our goal is to ‘capture’ instead of ‘kill,’ we’re the ones who might end up dead.”

“It’s just a hypothetical, a hypothetical…”

Faced with Ephnel’s cold stare, Masaki Hinaki could only pout.

“And you must have noticed by now that they have people inside our organization. We’ve been led around by the nose since six days ago… If we just sit here and wait, we might fall into their next trap. But the intelligence we have is extremely limited, practically nonexistent. We need to know what the enemy is planning, what mission the people behind that girl gave her.”

Ephnel said.

“Our only clue right now is her, so progress will probably be slow… But I remembered something interesting. That girl who calls herself an Apostle, from start to finish, she was sparing no effort to drive a wedge between me and the organization, as if it would benefit her greatly. That caught my attention. So, based on that, I have an idea we can try.”

“What kind of idea? If you don’t mind, tell me about it.”

“Well, it’s something like waiting for the prey to fall into a trap, or fishing, I guess—since she wants to drive a wedge between me and the organization, I can play along and lure the snake out of its hole. Although I had no intention of putting on a show for her, since she’s said so much, it wouldn’t hurt to play my part. My coming to your office in my ‘Exile Form’ this time can serve as a trigger. It’ll be easy for others to believe information like ‘I had a dispute with you.’ If we just leak a little of that out, a whole bunch of busybodies will surely flock to it, and among them, ‘that person’ might be present.”

“I see, so that’s why you came looking like this…”

Masaki Hinaki had a thoughtful expression, but then she shot a suspicious glance at Ephnel.

“Hey, wait a minute, why ‘play my part’啊!?”

“Because I did seriously consider it—erasing all of you and leaving this city with Yukina. But then I thought about it, and it seems there’s nowhere to go, and my sister probably wouldn’t want to see me like that, so I gave up on it.”

“What????”

Masaki Hinaki’s face immediately became a sight to behold.

She stood up indignantly, pointing at Ephnel, her voice full of righteous fury but lacking in volume.

“Huh?? You actually thought about it?! And the reason you gave up was just because ‘there’s nowhere to go’ and ‘my sister wouldn’t want it’?! Is our year-long friendship being betrayed just like that?! Even if it’s for your sister, you’re too heartless! Are you a sis-con???”

“Then… why don’t you explain to me what’s going on with that file?”

Not to be outdone, Ephnel also stood up and retorted sharply.

“Why is there still a file on something that was supposed to have been destroyed, kept within the organization? And it was specifically kept from me. If you can give me a satisfactory explanation for this one thing, I will not pursue it further.”

After Ephnel finished speaking, Masaki Hinaki was immediately at a loss for words.

She slowly sat back down in her seat and gave a sheepish smile.

“That is…”

“Forget it, I don’t want to hear it. I doubt you could come up with anything anyway.”

Ephnel shot Masaki Hinaki an annoyed glare.

“All this time, I’ve been hiding my own affairs and my sister’s from you. For that, I apologize… But, I’m sure there are plenty of things you’ve been hiding from me as well. On this matter, we’re even. We don’t owe each other anything, and neither of us can hold the other hostage.”

“Umm… I should be the one apologizing…”

With the conversation having reached this point, Masaki Hinaki also dropped her playful expression.

She lowered her eyelashes, pursed her lips, and sighed.

“Actually, your sister’s file was indeed scheduled to be destroyed. But you know, humanity is gradually running out of options, so we don’t want to miss any glimmer of hope. If you were to die, this city would lose its greatest trump card against the Erosion Organisms. We need a strong person who can support people’s confidence to lead us and forge a path, so…”

“Enough! That’s it for this matter. Don’t say any more.”

Ephnel impatiently cut off Masaki Hinaki.

If Ephnel were in Masaki Hinaki’s position, she would have done the same to ensure that after Yanase Naoto, who was Ephnel, died, there would be another powerful combatant to fill the gap in their forces—but as expected, understanding was one thing, and agreeing with it was another.

This was what it meant to have different standpoints.

Ephnel’s face was expressionless.

Masaki Hinaki looked at Ephnel silently and also lowered her head.

After a moment of silence between them, Ephnel spoke again.

“Then let’s go back to the previous question…”

“Yeah…”

Masaki Hinaki nodded.

“Then… let me tell you about the results of our investigation.”

“Is it about those pests hiding within our ranks?”

“That’s right. These guys are lurking right beside us. It’s very dangerous, and what’s more troublesome is that we have no idea when these people will suddenly jump out and screw us over… So I took the initiative to dispatch personnel to investigate and search for them. But, we were still a step too late…”

“What happened?”

“They’re dead.”

Masaki Hinaki pouted, sighed, and looked gloomily at the indoor plant beside her.

“We were following the trail of the identity authentication, but in the end, we only found a few corpses. These people were the actual perpetrators. We don’t know what methods they used to bypass my authority and manipulate the ‘Sakahi,’ but since they’re already dead, we can’t find any more information. And we don’t know if they were coerced or abandoned. In short, the trail has gone cold again.”

“Is that so…”

“But don’t worry about it. In any case, today was just a preliminary investigation. We might find some other valuable information later. I’ll notify you then.”

Ephnel nodded in agreement.

In fact, if Masaki Hinaki had managed to root out the enemy’s moles in just one afternoon, Ephnel would have been the first to suspect that Masaki Hinaki was the mole.

“Regarding this matter, I also have a piece of information to provide. My sister told me—after she was taken to the shelter by Nami, a mysterious girl approached her. According to my sister, that mysterious person opened a hidden passage there for her to pass through, which is how she was able to leave the shelter.”

“A hidden passage? I never authorized access. Why was she able to open it?”

“I’m puzzled too. But just as the ‘Sakahi’s’ program was tampered with, they might also be able to bypass you and get to the shelter… But in any case, there are three points in time when suspicious individuals appeared: in the morning at the venue, the person who stuffed ‘Fifina’ into my sister’s pocket; at noon near the venue’s preparation room, the person who used my phone to send a message to my sister; and at noon in the shelter, the person who opened the passage for my sister. These individuals should have appeared on the surveillance footage from that time. Unfortunately, the person who used my phone to send the message didn’t leave any fingerprints. But I think the surveillance footage from both the shelter and the venue can be reviewed and checked. If we’re lucky, we can get an image of their appearance, and maybe even find out the means they used to operate beyond your authority.”

“Alright. Thanks for telling me this. I’ll have someone look into it later.”

Masaki Hinaki nodded readily, but then she voiced a question.

“But then again, why do all these people seem to be targeting your sister… I don’t mean anything by it, but their intentions are still unclear. I think you should pay more attention to your sister for the time being.”

“Yeah… don’t worry. I’ll always be by her side.”

Yukina, alone, was the most important thing, no matter what.

…