Evolve (18)
"... Hoo."
I let out a long sigh, closer to the feeling of finally being able to breathe after holding it in. The tension that had filled my eyes relaxed. It was because I had just finished removing the last scale.
Since I no longer needed to control my strength so delicately, so very delicately, it was only natural that my stiff muscles would finally loosen.
I wiped the sweat from my hands on my clothes and looked to the side. Celestia, who had been working with me, looked just as exhausted.
Collapsed over the work table, Celestia spoke softly, her eyes closed, perhaps dry.
"You worked hard, Hyun-woo..."
"You too, Celestia."
Focus narrows the field of vision as one becomes immersed. At first, Celestia's presence, sitting so close, kept me from concentrating, but as I put all my attention into processing the material, I was able to forget my surroundings before I knew it.
A single slip up could ruin an entire scale, which kept me alert, and it helped most when Celestia noticed and gave me a bit more space.
Ian's memories weren't flooding in constantly. Actually, if that had been the case, it probably would have been easier. The problem was that at unexpected times, Celestia's present and past overlapped in my vision.
Every time two different images of hers occupied the same space, rather than feeling unpleasant, I instead sensed a deep joy rising from within—but I couldn't fully embrace it. That emotion was not completely my own.
I had yet to establish for myself who I was. Trying to remain as neutral as possible until the time came for me to choose—or rather, agonizing over things until I could make that choice—I decided not to respond to the flood of memories and emotions.
'... She said she'd respect either side.'
But that was something Celestia could say because she didn't know what I was struggling with. If she did, her words might have been different.
She appeared to have broken free from the shackles of her past, but still longed for her brother. The occasional hint of heaviness was proof of that, something Ian's memories could interpret.
I had no idea how Celestia would react once all the truths were revealed. Regardless of what she might do, I resolved not to waver. I would go in the direction I set my mind to, not just wherever Celestia wanted.
Whether I could actually do that, I didn't know yet. Still, wasn't that why I was suffering through all this internal turmoil?
Once I'd finished removing each individual scale and separated the biological tissue from the skeleton with minimal damage, I was left with considerable mental fatigue.
'I'm tired.'
Somehow, time had drawn close to evening. I'd spent nearly eight hours sitting in the same spot—no wonder my body felt stiff all over.
As I stretched, Nadia came down, her face smudged with soot just as yesterday. Unlike in the morning, she didn't jump down; she descended riding on Carry. Nadia let out a long yawn.
When Nadia got low enough for her feet to touch the floor, she shivered for a moment, perhaps as her legs tingled. The vibration traveled all the way to her tail tip, making it tremble.
Like me and Celestia, Nadia hadn't come down in a while. Her hunger had been taken care of thanks to the food Carry brought her.
"Looks like you're about done too, Hyun-woo. Do I just store this as is?"
Nadia kneaded her overworked hands, the price of handling heavy tools during her work. Her hair was a bit wild.
She must have gotten frustrated and mussed her hair when something went wrong in the middle of her task. That problem had since been solved, but her hair was still a mess. Each of us had fought a battle at our own post.
"Probably? Since it's thinner than I expected, I think just keeping it together so it doesn't scatter should suffice. Oh, Celestia—are you going to use this right away?"
I was about to collect the scales stripped from Whiteout's tail, but paused to ask. Celestia, who had been collapsed over the table, turned her head toward me.
"No... I want to, but first I need to reconstruct the design based on the tail skeleton. I'll have to refine the scales as well, look over the mechanism, and properly analyze whether it maintains full efficiency when energy is actually conducted..."
As Celestia listed her tasks, she realized anew just how much still needed to be done. By the time she finished, all her fingers, which she had unfolded one by one as she spoke, were finally curled in.
"There's no time to rest."
Celestia only briefly pouted, quickly steeling herself again. She added that since the material wasn't infinite, at most they'd get only one or two tries at fabrication.
"Then I'll just pack a sample of the tissue and send it to Carrot."
"Okay!"
Celestia doused her parched insides with the water Carry had thoughtfully brought, then projected a hologram of Whiteout's tail skeleton using a scanner, while I called the Beta series.
I gave the order via bracelet to move the sample container to Carrot's lab—so I didn't need to concern myself further; they'd take care of the rest.
A temporarily neglected Nadia slinked over and placed her chin on my shoulder. Since I was seated, our heights more or less matched up, so Nadia's hips stuck out a little behind her.
Resting her head on my shoulder, the softness of her cheeks pressed against me. She was sooty and grimy, but none of Nadia's charm had faded. I smiled.
"How much do you have left?"
"Almost done. The frame itself is complete; all that's left is to check for any gaps, see if there are changes depending on the environment, make sure everything's within spec—just small things like that."
"You worked hard."
"Sure did. I worked hard, so don't forget you promised to brush my tail later."
Nadia pressed her chin more firmly into my shoulder, like she was making sure I wouldn't forget. She wasn't strong, and I knew she wasn't attacking me, so it wasn't forceful. Just cute, the way my cheek was squished back and forth. When I answered yes, her fluffy tail swished.
"... You two seem close."
"Of course we are. We're partners!"
Nadia lifted her chin and stood, hands on her hips. Was it just me, or did Celestia give us a quick, envious glance?
"By the way, Nadia, I guess everything worked out, huh?"
"Hm? Oh, yes! If you mean what I told you about yesterday, all good!"
Nadia's ears perked. For a moment, I lost track of what she meant, but her next words clued me in.
"We're sleeping together—all three of us!"
"... What?"
"Hyun-woo is my partner, so just letting him and Licorice sleep together seems a bit... risky. It's dangerous for Hyun-woo."
Nadia said I, not Licorice, was the one in danger. She seemed to see me as an innocent, naïve kid. Even though I'd almost gotten into trouble just this morning.
Even though some things I'd done were meant as a warning, the nature of the act didn't change. I'd overpowered Licorice and pinned her down.
It was obvious she hadn't known it was just a warning, so Licorice probably got really scared. She'd frozen like time itself had stopped—it wasn't a method suitable for shock therapy, on reflection. I'd gone too far.
'I'll have to apologize for this morning when I go back.'
Nadia had interrupted before I could, otherwise I would have said it. I wished I could give something as an apology, but with the store gone, I couldn't. I could only offer my heart.
Celestia's eyelids fluttered as she looked at Nadia.
"So you're all sleeping together? That's Nadia's solution? Then what about me? No, I mean, are all three of you sleeping in that room? But Hyun-woo's cabin isn't big enough to add more beds, so you're not combining two beds and all three sleeping together, right? Right?"
Celestia's words tumbled out in a fluster. Nadia quickly corrected her.
"That's not it! Like you said, Hyun-woo's cabin is too small for three people. So we decided to convert one of the lounges into a bedroom instead! We probably finished moving by now!"
Clinging to my arm, Nadia giggled about looking forward to tonight. I'd promised to brush her tail in the evening, too, so she seemed twice as happy.
"... Ah. I see. Th-that's good, then."
Celestia nodded, though her smile was clearly forced. She hesitated and then, with a determined expression, spoke up.
"You mean the central lounge on the second floor?"
"We never specified which lounge! Licorice probably picked it out!"
"But wouldn't an actual room be better than a lounge? Why not just all come to my room? My room's big—you saw it, right? Even has a private kitchen. That way you wouldn't need to use a shared sector at all."
"We're fine!"
"Even if you're moved in, you don't have much stuff, right? Beta series will move it all anyway..."
"I appreciate it, but we're fine!"
"...."
Celestia, about to say more, clamped her mouth shut in front of Nadia's sunny smile. Nadia's tail was still.
"Nadia, we are friends...aren't we?"
"... Yes!"
There'd just been a moment's hesitation, I thought. Celestia's mouth opened slightly as if she felt it, too. Nadia just tilted her head as if wondering what was wrong.
Feeling the atmosphere grow awkward, I suddenly recalled something and decided to use it as an excuse to break the ice.
"Celestia, did you hear from Roxy? How they're modifying the shuttle?"
"... If you mean using the rail cannon to snipe Cystus, then yes. We talked briefly at dawn."
Celestia, unable to hide her gloom at not being able to sleep with Nadia, let out a tiny sigh and composed herself.
She didn't push the idea of all staying in her room—at least, not for now. From the look on her face, it didn't seem like she'd given up.
"So the new gear I want to add is a linear rifle. No matter how much we hide our information, once the engagement begins, they'll scan the interior extensively, and if we get caught even once, the plan's odds of success drop drastically."
Celestia explained that she planned to hide the linear rifle and reveal it at just the right moment. The point was to force Cystus to pay attention to the rifle's threat.
"That black smoke is almost omnipotent. It's a scary power that handles both attack and defense. But it's not infinite. So inevitably their attention will be scattered. Since they'll try to handle everything with that smoke, if a barrage continues, they'll need to divide it as efficiently as possible."
Celestia continued,
"If that happens, there will certainly be a split-second where the black smoke thins on one side. It's the moment when Cystus recognizes the intensity of attacks from outside and unconsciously lets their guard drop. I want to create that opening, when a single shot could succeed."
"... So you think the black smoke can even block the rail cannon."
"Yes, at least for now. Given our situation, even a small possibility can't be ignored. After all, it was able to stop a fully charged laser cannon for the robot factory. Cystus won't just sit still, either."
In short, Celestia wanted to draw their attention, at least until Roxy was set up and the rail cannon charged.
The true power of a linear rifle is its bullet speed. The firepower was impressive, but that could be matched with other weapons. The bullet velocity, though, was something else.
That kind of attack, coming from outside the zone of perception, would get on Cystus's nerves. The smoke would block it, surely. Still, they couldn't ever relax.
Being threatening, it was likely the enemy would become convinced our secret weapon was the linear rifle. Celestia would manipulate things to make them think so.
'And as soon as they start thinking that, she'll be targeted first.'
Drawing attention means being exposed, and exposure means more chances of being attacked. Naturally, that was very dangerous. The higher the importance, the higher the risk, no doubt about it.
'Someone has to do it.'
But having Celestia actually serve that role made me worry. She was certainly skilled, but regardless, I couldn't hide my concern.
"Don't worry. Even if I look like this, I was trained by Eric. When I was rebuilding Myosotis, I faced a lot of assassination threats, you know. I've undergone training for all sorts of situations. I'm a decent fighter, believe it or not."
Celestia flexed her arm as if to show off. For some reason, her mood suddenly brightened.
Celestia's cold expression could seem unapproachable, but I rarely saw that coldness. Almost never. Whenever she talked to me, her face always seemed so animated.
Ian's doting, fond emotions occasionally seeped through, making me want to smile by accident. I quickly steadied my mind.
"No matter how well you're trained, it's dangerous. The pureblood supremacist attacks will rain down nonstop."
"I know. There's no such thing as no danger. We all have to take risks. Especially Nadia and Hyun-woo, since you'll be up front fighting."
There was no denying it. We couldn't let Cystus get onto the Albatross or Griffin; someone had to stop him. And those someones had already been decided.
Me, Nadia, and Carry. The three of us would work as one to keep the Albatross from falling so easily.
I still remembered how, when the Maker attacked us, the power loader with its thick armor was demolished by black smoke in an instant. The thought of blocking it had been laughable—dodging was the only option.
No matter how special the power loader's alloyed armor was, it had its limits. But those limits could be surmounted with mutated materials. Infused with the unique properties of the blue crystal, new, extraordinary materials became available.
So I had hope now. I'd poured those materials into modifying the power loader. If the Blue Eye exoskeleton lived up to expectation, it should withstand Cystus's black smoke to a degree.
"Maybe I'll be in less danger than expected—the black smoke, at least."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
When Nadia and I looked confused, Celestia scratched her cheek.
"Didn't Cystus call Hyun-woo a heretic?"
"Oh."
He definitely did. It wasn't just anger; it was like seeing a mortal enemy. He had murderous intent as if he'd confronted something that should never have existed.
'And I even provoked him.'
If he couldn't kill me right then, he'd made it clear he would the next time. I'd told Cystus so myself.
Back then, all the blood had drained from my head; my mind was hazy, but my words were the most sincerely I'd ever meant. Because I'd provoked him, and refused the name he offered, Cystus was surely sharpening his knife of revenge.
If Cystus had realized the Sprout existed at that time, there's a good chance I wouldn't be here now. Even though the Sprout looks unimpressive, pureblood supremacists regarded such beings as objects of worship.
Now, because the Sprout is small and seems feeble-willed, it's easy to overlook, but if anything, it's strange for us to take its existence so lightly.
People instinctively fear the unfamiliar, and the Sprout is not just unfamiliar—it's the unknown itself.
'Maybe we really accepted it too quickly.'
It was nice to feel trusted, but that wasn't the point. What mattered now was the upcoming fight with Cystus.
"So... because of that, you think he'll come after me in a frenzy?"
"Fanatics always do that, don't they? If anything goes against their beliefs, their first instinct is to eliminate it."
I nodded in agreement. Nadia, now not frightened at all, punched the air with her little fist. Carry extended a manipulator arm, shooting out a mini-laser in a show of menace.
Just a moment before, I'd been worried. Looking at them now, I couldn't help laughing. I felt reassured.