Chapter: 43. The Longing of the Soul
The tactical plane equipped with optical camouflage glided silently through the starry night sky.
Below lay the boundless Pacific Ocean, occasionally shimmering with faint light on the surface, as if echoing the night sky.
The cabin was dimly lit, with only various monitoring screens reflecting weak blue and white glows.
Facing Zao was Shiraku, who was explaining the events that had occurred that morning.
“The esper team that survived the ‘Blood Moon Incident’ in Tokyo just completed their check-up and treatment, and left the Special Circle SEMA—”
His voice was low and serious: “…on the way, they were attacked by the anti-esper organization.”
“Although the anti-esper organization’s actions have indeed become more radical over the years, I believe things are not simple since they struck at this timing.”
“Fortunately, Captain, you ordered surveillance be set up near the team in advance. Kyoka and the others managed to act in time, rescuing them and bringing them back to SEMA headquarters for temporary placement.”
Zao frowned slightly upon hearing this, seemingly thinking about why such an important matter hadn’t been communicated to him earlier.
“That’s because I didn’t want to disturb you while you were hitting on girls—ah, just kidding, just kidding…” Shiraku’s flippant response earned him a fierce glare from Zao.
And fortunately, the lighting was dim.
Otherwise, everyone would have noticed that Nagi, sitting beside them, had a slight blush on her face upon hearing those words.
— So, so Zao-kun has been intending to pursue me ever since we met?
— No, no, how did I start to indulge in such thoughts again? We are discussing serious matters now.
Nagi took a few deep breaths to calm herself.
Meanwhile, Shiraku shrugged his shoulders, appearing helpless.
“Actually, it’s because of the time zone difference, Captain.”
“Time zone difference?” Zao’s gaze flickered.
“It’s morning where we are, while it’s evening here in Hawaii.” Shiraku spoke as if guiding a riddle, “Do you want to guess—what happened at the exact same time the attack occurred?”
“You mean…” Zao’s expression turned grave.
“The Star Academy was also attacked at the same time.” Shiraku provided the answer, along with his thoughts: “Coincidence? I don’t think so.”
As he spoke, his eyes slowly swept over to Nagi beside him.
Feeling the gaze, Nagi immediately tensed up—
— Did my earlier hesitation get noticed?
— No, I must control my facial expressions here…
Nagi immediately drew on her experience as a child star and blinked her pretty eyes, putting on an expression of “I didn’t understand anything, but it feels impressive and shocking.”
Is this child’s expression forced? Shiraku thought to himself.
But this was understandable; according to the data, she was just a child who had recently entered the world of the extraordinary. She hadn’t even awakened her powers and had lost her parents at a young age. Now even her professor, who had a relationship akin to that of a grandfather, had been taken away, and she must have felt a sense of helplessness and worry deep inside her.
Even so, she was still striving to suppress that pain—truly a commendable child.
Shiraku’s thoughts were a whirlwind, and he secretly wiped away a tear in his heart.
— I absolutely cannot let him find out I’m a pervert with a mind full of peach-colored aspirations…
— I absolutely cannot let him find out I can start daydreaming just from one sentence…
— I absolutely cannot…
Nagi continuously chanted to herself in her mind.
But sitting beside her, Erica clearly had no intention of keeping silent; she tilted her head and asked curiously:
“So what is the relationship between that esper team and Professor Amagi?”
“This brings up another coincidence.” Shiraku withdrew his gaze and continued, “According to my investigation, the logistics department of SEMA lost several packages during that Blood Moon Incident.”
He paused, his tone meaningful.
“One of the packages was addressed to Professor Amagi himself, and the destination was Star Academy.”
— Package?
Nagi’s heart stirred, her thoughts returning to the interior of the research institute.
The glowing empty slot seemed to have just had something taken from it.
However, she had entered the institute right after the intruders, without discovering any signs of someone having entered or exited in advance.
So it could be confirmed—that empty slot was empty from the beginning, just carefully disguised as if “just taken.”
What was originally in that empty slot was the “key” mentioned by those intruders?
She had already learned from Erica that Star Academy was indeed developing the β system, and the main architect of this project was Shigekuni Amagi.
Then, regarding the items in that lost package—Nagi could already guess what they were.
“…In that extraordinary event, the ace esper who should have arrived at the scene first has not shown up for a long time.” Zao, as one of the parties involved in the “Blood Moon Incident,” spoke in a low voice: “This caused great chaos due to the rampant mythical creatures…”
“—And provided ample opportunity for action.” Shiraku, being Zao’s vice-captain, seamlessly added:
“Although SEMA’s report stated that it was merely an ordinary package of daily necessities, I’m more inclined to believe it was a cover.”
“So, those connected to the ‘Blood Moon Incident’ have been targeted by the masterminds.”
“That package must contain something extremely important, important enough for them to be willing to attack potential informants in the city center.”
Upon hearing this, Zao agreed with Shiraku’s reasoning, his gaze naturally turning to Nagi beside him.
The latter quietly straightened her back, but fortunately, Zao’s intuition momentarily faded, and the dim lighting prevented anyone from noticing these subtle responses from Nagi.
“Combining the fact that Professor Amagi was captured during the attack… so you’re worried that something similar could happen to Miss Kamiyo, who is closely related to Professor Amagi?”
Shiraku nodded: “Exactly, because of these two incidents, it’s clear that there are moles within both SEMA and Star Academy. Otherwise, Star Academy wouldn’t have been so easily breached, and the timing of the invasion coincided perfectly with when that team was attacked.”
“I see…” Erica nodded in sudden understanding.
Meanwhile, Nagi, sitting beside her, was conflicted with her feelings—
—Something doesn’t feel right.
—Her body, indeed, didn’t feel quite right.
—Although she knew she might, perhaps, possibly, and maybe have a tiny bit of common sensuality…
—But now, it seemed that as long as it involved Zao, a strong desire would surge up from deep within her… even for voices, words, gazes, scents… and so on.
Nagi couldn’t help but clench her hands against her chest, right where her heart was located.
The blade of life that Zao had pierced through her body shattered the place of her soul.
— What is my shattered soul longing for from Zao?
—
“Who is the mole you planted in Star Academy?”
The Star Association’s stronghold lay hidden deep within the night, where the sea wind howled.
At the moment Alice and Professor Amagi realized they had been framed.
Professor Amagi stood up abruptly, an uncontainable urgency in his tone.
Alice immediately sent DD-chan to search for the undercover personnel who had evacuated from Star Academy.
However, they quickly discovered that the main person responsible for their undercover mission at Star Academy was not present at the stronghold, and the individual hadn’t even met up with the team since the operation began.
The next moment.
Alice and everyone present suddenly felt a sense of “incongruity.”
At that moment, the members of the Star Association could not recall what the mole looked like.
They couldn’t even remember if the individual was male or female.
“…What is going on?”
Noticing the odd expressions on everyone’s faces, Professor Amagi asked.
Responding to him was DD-chan, who was the first to snap out of the shock of the incongruity: “The origin of this operation was the lead provided by that mole. Tomorrow, Star Academy will hold a meeting about that system to decide whether to launch it, right?”
Professor Amagi nodded; at this point, there was no need to hide the situation.
However, he was curious that the content of this meeting was only known to a very small number of high-level officials; even the S-grade personnel attending this meeting might not be aware of the system’s existence.
“…The existence of the system was also provided by that mole.” Alice had also recovered her composure, slowly speaking.
“I had always thought he learned about it after infiltrating Star Academy—”
“But if we have been manipulated by that individual from start to finish—”
Alice lifted her head, locking eyes with Professor Amagi:
“Besides you, who else in the academy knows about the β system? Who desires all of this to happen now?”
