Chapter 99: Doubt

“Then… what can we do?”

Oguri Aya asked with a grave expression.

“I don’t want to see Uzuki Saori sink into depravity like this. If possible, I want to help!”

“That’s right. If Uzuki Saori appears, can you dispatch us?”

Kiri Mahiru also volunteered.

However, Fushihara Ayaka did not agree to their requests.

“Please calm down, you two. I can understand your feelings, but this mission is not just an internal problem of your Order Organization. So, before I give the order to dispatch, please remain on standby here.”

“Don’t you need us to go out and search for clues about those people separately? It might be faster with the help of Agents, right?”

Ephnel asked.

“No need,” Fushihara Ayaka rejected Ephnel’s proposal.

“Please wait here with me. Our biggest problem right now is that if our forces are too dispersed, we won’t be able to effectively capture the target even if we find them. Our opponents are not just a fully armed special forces team, but also Agent Lily. If you encounter them alone, you will undoubtedly be in danger. So, leave the task of searching for intelligence to my subordinates.”

…

After the simple pre-battle meeting, Ephnel called out to Fushihara Ayaka, who was preparing to go to the temporary intelligence processing center.

“Ayaka, I have something to say to you.”

“What is it?”

Fushihara Ayaka looked puzzled.

By now, the others had also left.

Yukina and Hanasou Kotone were in the temporary care room, and Ephnel had come to speak with her alone.

“Ayaka… I’ve been meaning to ask, why is there a student here?”

Ephnel was referring to Hanasou Kotone.

Although she didn’t mean to question her, based on Hanasou Kotone’s words, Ephnel could easily tell that she was not a member of the Special Disaster Division or the Order Organization.

Moreover, Hanasou Kotone didn’t look like a trained person at all.

Her muscles were loose, her steps were uneven, and her face was unfamiliar.

Ephnel often frequented both places.

She couldn’t say she knew everyone, but she could tell at a glance whether she had seen someone before or not.

In that case, Hanasou Kotone had been accidentally involved in this incident and was not a member of either the Special Disaster Division or the Order. She was a completely ignorant civilian.

For whatever reason, civilians should be dismissed immediately, but now she was in the temporary command post.

“I was wondering what you were going to say so mysteriously. So it was about this…”

Fushihara Ayaka shrugged nonchalantly, “It’s too late to let her leave now. What if she runs into the enemy?”

“She should have been dismissed as soon as possible. It’s the principle of our organization’s operations not to involve irrelevant people.”

“You’re so old-fashioned.”

Faced with Ephnel’s lecture, Fushihara Ayaka frowned, “I say, have you memorized all those messy regulations and rules? Tenacity and meticulousness are your strengths, but being flexible is not a bad thing, you know.”

“Alright, stop teasing me.”

“I’m just stating the facts.” Seeing that Ephnel was silent, Fushihara Ayaka cleared her throat.

“I say, Ephnel, that Hanasou Kotone is your sister’s classmate, right? It’s really surprising that you know each other. Such coincidences rarely happen.”

After a pause, Fushihara Ayaka continued, “She wanted to stay on her own. She even said she had learned a little bit of nursing knowledge…”

“Does that kind of excuse even matter?”

Ephnel retorted.

“You have as many nursing staff here as you need. You wouldn’t need to ask a high school student, would you?”

“Alright… you won’t listen to what I say. Then what do you think it is?”

“You…”

Ephnel paused, then looked at Fushihara Ayaka and asked directly, “You suspect Nishizaki Yuuki and Hanasou Kotone, don’t you?”

“Oh? Since you’ve said so…”

Fushihara Ayaka pouted but didn’t deny it, “Anyway, that’s what it is.”

“I knew it… I had a feeling that everything you said in the meeting just now was just for show. You’re not putting on an act for Nishizaki Yuuki, are you? Just because you suspect her? Then what’s this mission all about?”

“No, not entirely, Ephnel. I wouldn’t go that far. But in our position, every decision affects the lives of thousands of people. I have to be responsible for them, don’t I?”

Fushihara Ayaka’s tone completely changed, and Ephnel saw the same shadow of Masaki Hinaki in her.

It had to be said that although Fushihara Ayaka had had many unpleasantries with Masaki Hinaki at times, and their differences were not small, as commanders, the two of them looked so similar in many ways.

Ephnel sighed.

“Then I’ll be direct. This so-called temporary command post of yours seems a bit understaffed, and the setup is not very reasonable… If I’m not mistaken, Masaki Hinaki is not at headquarters at the moment, right?”

“How could you tell?”

Fushihara Ayaka looked at Ephnel with some surprise.

“It was just a guess I had by chance.”

Ephnel said.

Actually, when Ephnel received Masaki Hinaki’s call on the helicopter, she had already found it strange.

The sound on Masaki Hinaki’s end was very noisy, not at all like she was indoors.

At that time, Ephnel was only suspicious and didn’t think much of it, nor did she pay it much mind.

But after coming here and seeing the personnel arrangements, the layout, and Fushihara Ayaka’s subtle probing and observant gazes towards Nishizaki Yuuki and Hanasou Kotone, Ephnel started to find it strange.

Ephnel knew Fushihara Ayaka, and it was precisely because she knew her that she felt today’s Fushihara Ayaka was a bit “unusual.”

Today, Fushihara Ayaka was particularly talkative, and she, who was usually very capable, had made some useless moves, such as specifically bringing the Agents to Nishizaki Yuuki’s room, and deliberately not interrupting the conversation between Yukina and Hanasou Kotone, and so on.

Besides, Fushihara Ayaka’s presence here as a commander was the biggest strangeness in itself.

It was as if she was putting on a show for someone to see.

Connecting this with what Fushihara Ayaka had told her, “I have other tasks,” Ephnel had a guess.

“How could there be such a coincidence?”

Fushihara Ayaka smiled exasperatedly.

Seeing that the conversation had reached this point, she didn’t intend to hide it any longer.

“Speaking of which, don’t you really find it strange, Ephnel?”

Fushihara Ayaka leaned in closer and whispered in a low voice, “Nishizaki Yuuki was saved by that little girl. When we arrived, these two were already here. Anyway, we can only passively listen to whatever they say. Do you think that an ‘Apostle’ or someone like that would suddenly let go of a Nishizaki Yuuki who was carrying important intelligence?”

“I have the same doubts, but personally, I don’t think Nishizaki Yuuki is that kind of person.”

“And what if you don’t look at it from a ‘personal’ perspective?”

“Then I would be just as suspicious of her as you are.”

…