"Here's the guest room!"
"No thanks."
Terra's offer of the warm twin bedroom in her Year 120 Ring residence was met with flat rejection. Diode wandered around, warily scanning the plentiful spacious rooms of the aging colony residence. Venturing deep into the attic, she found a panel in the ceiling that accessed the plumbing space and set her rucksack down.
"I'll sleep here."
"Why here?! It's dark, cramped, and dusty! Huh, to think there's actually a place like this in my home."
"A space not even the homeowner knows about. It's the perfect hideout."
"Hideout? But you're a guest..."
"Stop with the guest treatment, please, or it's going to cause a problem where there isn't one," Diode replied with an annoyed tone, her cold gaze fixed on Terra.
"I'm just a homeless twister freeloading here because there's no other option. You don't need to provide me with anything except this space and some water."
"I wouldn't do something that cruel! Are you a stray cat?!"
"What's a staycat?"
"It's an animal from a long time ago. I'll show you a photo book later."
"Oh, yeah. Absolutely do."
"Anyway, I can provide you with three square meals, clothes and a shared shower! Ah, right, the Gendo–" Terra grew nervous, remembering something. "I heard that instead of having individual rooms, your clan has a custom of... getting into heated pools? As a big naked crowd...? Or something like that. So I was wondering, perhaps it's the same with you? Like you can't, unless you get in with me...?"
Getting into a pool with nude strangers was beyond Terra's experience and for that matter, everyone else's in the Endeavour clan. Whether it was with the same sex, the other sex, or even as parent and child, it just didn't happen.
Do they really do that kind of thing?
"Thank you for the concern, but that's a misunderstanding," Diode replied evasively, looking visibly uncomfortable. "Yes, it's true we have a custom of communal bathing back there, but we don't need anyone to go in with us. We put up with it because the bathhouse is a convenient structure, really. Don't worry about it, I don't do that anywhere else."
"Ah, so that's how it is?"
So they really do that! They really do that!—Although Terra felt relief, she still had to restrain herself from imagining that unsettling situation.
Taking a blunt tone, Diode spoke again. "Basically, I'd like to avoid physical contact as much as possible. I can also use the coin printers in town to get food and a change of fresh clothes outside, and somewhere deeper up here there's probably an exhaust port with access to the passageway outside, so you can act like I'm not even here."
"Whyyy?! OWWW–" Just as she was getting worked up, Terra banged her head against the attic's low ceiling and doubled over.
"Owww... my head..."
"What are you doing?"
"Why are you avoiding me?" Terra muttered, still crouching and holding her head. "Is it because I'm too big?"
"Huh?"
"Am I scary because I'm big?" She looked at the ceiling, and then at Diode, who was considerably lower than it. "That's why, isn't it? It's scary for someone this big to be in close quarters like this without hesitation. Of course it is. It's like you're prey about to be caught."
"No, that isn't..."
"And now that I think about it, the way things went wasn't very good, either. I forcibly dragged you here, pressured you into accepting room and board, and there was that bit about being naked... Ah, this is bad. I kidnapped you. This is abduction and confinement."
"Kidnapped? No..."
Terra pressed her forehead, backed away and started to head downstairs. Through the corner of her eyes, Diode watched her, confused.
"I'm going to cool my head for a bit. Help yourself to anything..."
"Terra-san, wait! Don't overthink it and go jumping to conclusions, please. Stay!"
"Stay?" Terra suddenly stopped, with only her face visible from the opening. "What is it?"
"Um, well, you see..." Troubled, Diode kneaded her fingertips before finally sighing and speaking honestly. "It's not like that."
"Wha?"
"I'm not scared of you. Your size doesn't scare me, Terra-san. Actually, you being big and soft is really ni..."
"What?"
"Nothing. I'm only asking that you not think of your size as a bad thing. I don't see this as you kidnapping me or anything, either..."
"Really?! Then come stay downstairs, won't you?" Terra's face instantly brightened. As she readied herself to scramble back up, Diode pushed her head down with both hands, fangs bared.
"Distance! DIS! TANCE! Don't just suddenly corner me like that!"
"Ow! Owww! That hurts, Die-san! It hurts there!"
The Year 120 Ring, as the name implies, was added in CC 120. It meant that it was a very old layer, with 180 years passing since its construction. The donut-shaped Idaho was constantly spinning, and it was constantly expanding, too. Its expansion proportionately moved full gravity towards the outer floors. The business district had migrated to the 1G floors on the outskirts, far from the Year 120 Ring and its 0.5G environment. The ring had grown quiet as its population declined. Without family around anymore, Terra's home had grown quiet, too.
"Terra-san, you live alone? In a house this big?"
Diode sat on the living-dining sofa in the living room with a cup in hand, looking around at the furniture. While Terra was aware this was one of the neighborhood's nicer houses, it wasn't anything particularly special. Still, Diode was restless, seemingly not used to a space like it.
Terra sat facing the table. She nodded.
"Yeah, I am. Nobody's come to chase me out."
"Well, I'm not too worried about that sort of thing, but your parents... they passed away, didn't they?" She hesitated a little. "What I mean is, I don't want my presence to be a bother."
"Ah, that worries you? It's fine, it's already been five—no, six years."
"No, I'm saying I don't want to worry you, Terra-san."
Terra watched Diode's face closely as she said that, then quietly nodded.
"Then... I'll be candid. My parents were a twister and decompa pair like us. While I do remember times I made them mad, it never escalated to verbal abuse. They were good parents. They took a trip to a resort on FBB's water moon Tova for a week while I was sealed up and focused on my cruise school graduation and distributor specialization exams. But on their way back, they were struck by ice bombs from a random cryovolcanic eruption."
"When their kid is going through a critical time like that, they're out goofing off–"
"Ah, you don't have to get angry about it." Terra desperately waved her hands around as Diode was already getting up. "I suggested it so I could study quietly by myself."
"Ahh."
"Since they were fishers, they should have gone in their pillar boat, don't you think? If they did, ten or even twenty ice bombs could have collided with them and they'd still be unscathed. But they took a sightseeing ship there since it had good service. They were on the kind of ship with weak plating that only looks nice."
"Well, it's not exactly appropriate to go to a resort in a fishing boat, you know..."
"And then—bam! That was how they ended up."
"My condolences."
"Knowing that's how things turned out, it's impossible not to regret it. But like you said, it would have been silly to go there in a pillar boat. They couldn't have predicted the cryoeruption. There was nothing they could have done, I guess... that's " Terra cut her sentence short and smiled at Diode, who looked even gloomier than she did. "So, I'm just happy that someone else is here now. Really, there's no need to hold yourself back, okay?"
"Got it." Diode lifted her head. "Still, I thought you'd be relying on someone. A helper, a robot, or even a man."
"I'm not married. I don't know any guys like that." Terra laughed, waving her hand. Diode gave her a weird look.
"I don't think that's going to be completely true now."
"Why? I'm still currently unmarried?"
"Well, yes, but–" Diode took a sip of her hot cocoa-like, then whispered. "Aren't you going to try getting married again?"
"Well, I wonder about that..." Terra sharply tilted her neck to the right. "Ah, I only just realized, but we're famous thanks to the trial. So there would be more partner candidates now, wouldn't there?"
"And that being the case, don't you think they'll be a bunch of old men just like Clan Chief Xeon?"
"Ugh." Terra's face stiffened reflexively. "That's... probably the kind of person they'll be."
"They will be." Diode quickly asserted. "Before now, your partners thought you were inconvenient because you couldn't work as a decompa, right? Since that's probably been proven false, you'll catch attention from prominent twisters now. And just who do you think the most prominent twisters are? Veterans with plenty of experience—old men, in other words."
"Nngh..." Terra sharply tilted her neck again, this time to the left. "So someone like Clan Chief-san. Someone like that is... a bit... If possible, I think I'd prefer someone closer in age..."
"Uh, Terra-san." Diode brought her knees together and straightened her back. "I'd like you to clear something up for me if I'm going to stay here"
"What's that?"
"You don't like men much, do you?"
"Ahh." Terra laughed evasively and tilted her neck to the right again. "Ahaha, so that's what you want to know about? Is that what it looks like?"
"It doe—what if I said that was what it looked like? Would I be wrong?"
"Hmm..." Terra tilted her neck back to the left, then suddenly got up and walked around the table. "May I sit next to you?" she asked, looking down at Diode.
"S-sure," Diode nodded, confused. Holding her cup in both hands, she shrunk herself down into the sofa's corner. Terra sat her large bottom down and she began to speak.
"Back when I was still a student, I got touched a lot."
"...What?"
"By boys. Like, getting slapped on my chest or my butt." Terra tapped her own chest and hips over her loose shirt and tight pants. "I've been bumping my body into this and that since I was a kid. It feels like... it's a hindrance being too big for my surroundings. It wasn't a major problem as a kid, but well, that feeling never went away and so there were things in middle and high cruise school I did out of habit. Although I have a hard time dealing with men because of that, it's not a big deal."
Her words felt like a bitter smile. She realized that what she was saying could be misinterpreted as boasting, so she tried to make it clear she wasn't by speaking in as light a tone as possible.
Just then, she was startled by the loud, high-pitched sound of a cup being placed on the table.
"Woah!"
Diode quickly stood and looked around the room with sharp, watchful eyes before finally returning to her seat and grasping both of Terra's hands.
"Terra-san... Why did you sit here just now?"
"...Huh?"
"Was it because you would feel uncomfortable if others heard you say that?"
Terra blinked. She realized Diode was right.
"What you just said is a big deal. Were you aware of how much it was bothering you, Terra-san?"
Diode looked at Terra with a gentle but worried gaze, like she wanted to ask if Terra remembered what happened last month. Terra had put it out of mind, so she closed her eyes and tried to bring the past to mind. Was it back when the in-ship season was still in the warming period? Or had it already been the hot season?
She had a memory of walking with several people in a season for light shirts. There were only two girls, surrounded on their left and right by a lot of boys. She recalled the touch of the other gender's sticky, sweaty skin and the overpowering smell of it.
She gradually remembered the formless weight and pressure that enveloped her back then. More than anything, she didn't want to put the feeling of it into words.
"...Ah." Goosebumps creeped across Terra's shoulders and up the nape of her neck, and her smile crumpled. "Maybe that's true, now that you mention it. I don't think they're pleasant, exactly, but it's nothing I can't handle–"
"It's nothing you can't handle, but you never really thought about wanting to take things further with them, right?"
"Isn't that just how it goes?!"
"That's not how it goes."
Terra blinked. Diode's dark blue eyes stared directly at her through narrowed eyelids.
"There are plenty of women who actively want to be involved with men, and they don't exactly hate being touched by them. There's nothing wrong with that. It's just that there are also women who aren't like that, but they convince themselves that they just don't know how to deal with men. It would be helpful for them to realize that's not the reason why, it's that they're different." Terra's wide-open green eyes were reflected in those dark blue eyes. "Although there might be people who wouldn't want to hear you say that, it's okay if you tell me."
"..."
"Was I wrong?"
"No... So, is it something like that? I don't exactly want to..."
"Could you be more clear?"
"I don't want to get married."
Terra looked around in surprise at how clear her words had been. They felt like words that had been on the tip of her tongue for 24 years. Now that she'd said it, she understood the feeling with the same clarity as reading it in print.
"I don't want to get married Um no, I didn't mean tha–"
"Alright, Terra-san," Diode said, lightly patting her lap. "Could you put your head here?"
"Huh?" Terra, confused, timidly curled her large frame to lay down on the small lap. "L-like this?"
"Yes." Her face was firmly pressed against Diode's stomach. "Okay, now say that one more time."
"I don't wannaaaa get marriiiiieeed..." Terra said, as she tightly embraced the thin belly, somewhat calmly accepting that as her true feeling.
"I get you. There, there."
Diode's small body was draped across her shoulder. It was light, thin, warm, and only slightly soft. That smoky, exotic herbal scent Terra always noticed around Diode filled her sinuses.
The sensation was incredibly comforting. Her thoughts shaken by that new, sudden realization, Terra gently snuggled closer.
She took a deep breath.
One breath, and then another.
Then relaxed with a deep sigh.
"...Die-fuaan."
"Yes?"
"This might be a weird request but would it be okay to stay like this for just a little longer?"
Terra's cheeks were resting against Diode's abs in just the right way to feel them tense up. After a moment, Diode slowly contracted her diaphragm and a low, controlled voice oozed out.
"Yes, for as long as you want."
Terra shifted her hips and settled her head on Diode's lap. She kept her face buried there for a moment. Before long, she sluggishly sat up again, straightened her hair, and looked away. She seemed to be stuck in a daze, her mind cluttered by confusing thoughts. Diode spoke up.
"I think one thing has been cleared up."
"...What's that?"
Terra turned around. Diode was also brushing her silver hair with her hands, like she was trying to hide her emotions. Diode's eyes met Terra's as she calmly asked, "It wasn't unpleasant for me to touch you, was it?"
"Ah. N-no. It didn't seem to be. I don't mind if it's you."
"That's good," she said, turning to look at Terra. Gone was the usual nervous, porcelain beauty of her face. She had a clear, cheerful smile. "That's good, Terra-san."
"Y-yes. Thank... you...?"
Relieved, Terra thanked her but remained confused.
What was up with me just now? It's like—like I—what was I doing?
"So, if that's the case, I won't hold myself back either."
Diode poked at her palm before bringing it close to the back of Terra's hand and tapping it against hers. A refreshing metallic chime played.
It was the minicell's deposit sound. Astonished, Terra looked at her palm.
"Wh What's this?! Huh? How many digits was that?"
"Well, since I started feeling like it's okay to accept your offer of living here, I decided to pay rent."
"Rent? But isn't this everything you earned today? Even though you don't have to pay like this—wait, was this where things were headed just now?!"
"Yes, it was, at least for me." Diode nodded, tucking cushions from the sofa under each arm. "I'll be taking these. Good night," she said before leaving.
"Good... night?"
Terra was left there in a daze, like she had just woken up from a dream.
She hadn't really discussed anything about cohabitation. They'd shared a strange moment that had ended just as quickly as it started. And yet, she understood the necessity of it. They hadn't needed to discuss cohabitation, but whatever had just passed between them.
Gradually, warmth came to her cheeks and ears.
"Huh? Uhh...?"
Terra hid her face in her hands.
The silver-haired girl, who had looted two cushions to the attic despite her initial reluctance to be taken in, had changed her behavior since then. She gradually began to stray further into the territory downstairs, making her way in and out of air vents somewhere.
Her incursions during the day were frequent. Terra received notifications on her minicell while she was at her day job. Residences had their own Dwelling System, which was similar to the Boating System's interface between the ship's sensors and crew. The Dwelling System let the owner know if any doors opened while the house was vacant, who had walked by in the corridors, and monitored the details of electricity and oxygen usage.
The change in notifications shown onTerra's minicell because of New Resident #01 fascinated her.
For starters, Diode had printed 100 meters of nylon, 100 meters of double-sided tape, and dozens of contraceptives with the dressing room printer. Unable to understand what Diode was doing, she watched as Diode printed some recycled cloth scraps, a 15-liter container, water, and ethanol. Even more confusingly, she stole fifteen cushions from here and there around the house. Besides the cushions, Diode also stole shoes, a frame, a pen, an emergency button and an antique tight suit.
It wasn't long before Terra figured out how the recycled cloth and container were being used. Diode soaked the cloth in the water-filled container, wrung it out to remove the excess moisture, and used it to scrub the attic. The ancient method of bucket and cloth cleaning, zoukingake, was something Terra had only seen in photo books. Diode had no choice but to manually clean the attic herself, since she couldn't get upstairs back up with the downstairs cleaning tools. However, zoukingake didn't strike Terra as the kind of thing Diode would learn voluntarily, so she had no doubt it had been learned unwillingly.
Terra didn't know much about contraceptives, so she looked them up in the archive. Diode hadn't printed the usual seminal duct blockers or meiosis inhibitors, and Terra was shocked to learn that primitive rubber products like that even existed. Diode was carrying the contraceptives with her sketchy places. Although when and where she used them was up to her, Terra felt a turbulent emotion she didn't understand when she imagined that.
No, she's definitely using them for some kind of craftwork! That's what the other print jobs seemed to be for, too, Terra firmly told herself.
Then, one morning on a workday while Terra was preparing breakfast, Diode appeared at her side.
"Are you heating that?"
"Ugwah!"
Terra looked down at her hip and saw Diode standing there. She was examining the object in Terra's hand. Diode looked up, greeted her with a ‘Good morning’, and quietly bowed.
Diode wore a gray sweater and had her hair up. Her whole appearance created the strong impression she was living there. So she can look like that too—while Terra was distracted by watching Diode, her companion was focused on something else.
"Kind of a peculiar tool you're using."
Terra's gaze returned to her hands. She had printed flour paste between two rectangular metal plates held together by a hinge. The tool had been specially wired to an electric line and was incredibly hot. Savory smoke rose from it as the paste sizzled.
"It's a nichrome hotplate. It uses electricity to heat up. My father refined it himself."
"Nichrome? You mean nickel and chrome alloy? Woah."
"Haha, it was a hobby of his."
Terra couldn't help but laugh at the shock on Diode's face. Nickel and chrome were both scarce in orbit around the gas giant, and only a miniscule amount was extracted from besshu. One wouldn't expect to see it outside of the natural history reference room or the walls of the Council of Elders.
More simply, she might as well have been cooking with gold.
"Why do you have that ?"
"So, you know how the fire laws limit ovens to restaurants and only allow residences to have dish printers? This was built with the aim of splitting the difference."
Terra finished cooking and served the crispy, spongy, steaming hot bun on two AMC porcelain plates. Diode's sudden appearance had been cause to cut it in half. She offered it to the girl, who had been salivating from the moment she smelled it. Diode took one clean bite, chewing and nodding at the same time.
"...Mm thiph... is ohwn par wif a rephtaunt..."
"It does have that soft, crispy feel to it."
It wasn't just bread-like—it also had cheese-like and bacon-like melted between the buns.
The food had the characteristic mouthfeel of goods from the molecular dish printer, but Terra's cooking at a constant 75°C had imparted it with a next-level flavor. It had helped Terra successfully conquer Diode's stomach. She was much more likely to appear at mealtime afterwards.
Terra was happy that Diode was gradually drawing closer. At the same time, though, it made her anxious and confused, like she was lost in a city she was familiar with.
—Just what are we doing here?
If she had to explain it to others, she'd say her boat's pilot had nowhere to go, so she was putting a roof over her head. There was no point in trying to hide it, because the Council of Elders itself made it clear that it would come out eventually.
That being the case, there wasn't any reason for Diode to stay once Terra's boat was completely out of her hands, other than that the room was available.
She didn't want Diode to leave, though.
Although Terra previously lived alone, she wasn't completely isolated. She was invited to hang-outs with neighbors and friends from her school days. Four days after the trial, her aunt and uncle came to see her in person on a day off. They lavished praise on the pair for the good fight they had put up by catching the huge prey and lamented the seizure of the Intercontinentals' pillar boat. As they were leaving, Uncle Rubal, speaking outside his role as Council of Elders clerk, even encouraged them to keep their hopes up.
During the chat, Diode maintained the composure of an honor student, only interjecting with ‘true’ to make her presence known. They saw Terra's aunt and her companion off at Main Street, and once home, Diode calmly asked, "Did I treat the guests well?"
Just who do you think you are around here? It's like you've settled in enough to start asking questions like that.
It seemed like not only had Diode decided Terra's house was somewhere she could belong to, but she also showed no hesitation in behaving like it.
Diode's incursions weren't just limited to Terra's living space.
She came to visit Terra's workplace while Terra was on shift. Her coworker Makia, who had been out front handling customers, came back and called for Terra.
"Tell-Tale, this one's for you."
"Again? Is it Dishcrash-san?"
"No, it's Diode-kun—uh, Diode-san?"
"Wuh?" Surprised, Terra made a weird sound. Makia responded with an equally weird and surprised face.
"It's your partner, I saw his introduction on the broadcast. He's kinda dressed like a girl."
"That's because she is a girl..."
"What? She's not a twister?"
"She is a twister."
"We are talking about a twister, aren't we? So... wait... no, you didn't get married?"
"Uhh, well... Die-san is a woman and a twister. We haven't gotten married."
"How did she even end up like this?" Makia asked, forcing a smile. "It would be nice to not make a huge deal of it..."
"It's not that big a deal—well, it is but–" She felt the same kind of tiredness she felt when talking with Xeon but decided to try saying what she couldn't back then. "She's someone who found a place she belongs on her own terms."
"But isn't everyone like that? Neither of us had our arms twisted into working here." Makia shrugged.
Terra replied with ‘Yeah, you're right.’ and turned towards the archive's entrance.
She saw Diode through the part-open door. Diode raised a hand and said, "I decided to visit you, Terra-san."
"Welcome. Why are you here?"
"I'm interested in your work. You're a video distribution officer, right? You watch lots of Content from long ago, and I even hear they pay you to watch it instead of the other way around. Is that true?"
"Well, it is, but I think you're misunderstanding something. Makia! Let her in."
"Alright, I've authorized her pass." Makia, who had already returned to her desk, replied with her back turned.
Diode held her minicell over the office's entry device before Terra led her to the storage space further inside. The media storehouse was located in the fan-shaped Antiquity District of Idaho's Year 10 Ring; it was a large old storehouse, just like the old transport ship itself. Inside were gates, pillars, and piles of cut stone that looked like a tall parapet.
Some parts had eroded, others were crumbling. Grass grew through cracks, dense trees sprung from the ground and the dark, damp areas had moss clinging to them. They happened to hear a deep, animal-like rumbling and turned around to see a large, four-legged animal with a mane. As it stood there, its golden tail swayed and then fell flat. "An animal?!" Diode exclaimed, surprised. Terra, enjoying the reaction, whispered into her ear.
"It's a robot horse. Try petting it."
"Petting it...?"
"Shh, quietly. It'll run away if you startle it. Something nice happens if you pet it."
At that, Diode warily approached the creature from behind. Terra watched with a wide grin on her face. Finally, Diode flinchingly reached out to tap the horse's strong, burly hindquarters, but just then—
The horse quickly turned around and licked her cheek with its long tongue.
"Ewww!" Diode shivered violently and backed away. Terra laughed and wiped her face with a handkerchief.
"Ahaha, it's taken a liking to you! That was a success."
"Why would that be a success?!"
"If you'd failed, it wouldn't have let you touch it. It would have blown air at you with its nose instead. That's usually what happens, and what it does to me and others. It's rare to succeed like you did."
"Even if it is, I'm not happy about it..."
Terra tried touching the horse too, but the skittish robot quickly evaded her and trotted away, disappearing into the deep thicket near the stone wall.
"Why is something like that here?" Diode muttered.
"Who knows. Maybe it was one of our ancestors' hobbies? Or maybe it was an educational model? Or maybe they were planning to use it as a mount if they arrived at a solid planet? I don't really know, but we let it be because it's a precious artifact from the past. It even has self-maintenance."
"Ahh... So it's part of the Content, I see." Although Diode nodded, she immediately looked around, still not making sense of it. "So, where's the Content that doesn't walk?"
"Here. It's all in the Stone State Storage format."
Terra touched the rampart. Diode gasped, her eyes opening in awe.
Terra decided to ask, "So, if you're asking about this, am I correct in assuming that Gendo clan doesn't have a place like this in Fuyo?"
"Well, it's a place without much substance."
Diode nodded subtly, trying to move things along. Terra then sat on the low stone railing nearby and began to explain.
The Circ's ancestors brought an enormous amount of Content with them for entertainment and education when they first left the Galactive Interactive. They were said to have brought between 30,000,000 and 50,000,000 files, but most of them ended up destroyed, stolen, resold, or hidden during the chaos of misrule and rebellion shortly after the Circs arrived at FBB. Restoration efforts began once the rebellion calmed down, and the 3,000,000 files in the media storehouse represented what they had managed to reassemble after 290 years. However, many of the files had degraded over time or were altered to conceal their contents. With the main index out of commission, it wasn't clear whether a file was a photo book, a movie, or a fairy tale. As a result, the responsibility for looking through the Content and relabeling it had fallen to the people.
"You see, the ones who are responsible for doing that–"
"You."
"–are us, public video distribution officers. In six years, I have restored 5000 files."
From her stone seat, Terra proudly puffed out her chest. Diode looked at her admiringly with an ‘Ooh’ and clapped.
"So, it's like I thought, a job where you're paid to look at pictures."
"Well, yes, but you still don't get it! You try too. Pick one of the unidentified files."
"How?"
"The usual way... Ah, right. Here."
Diode didn't seem to know about her minicell's laser head function, so Terra taught her how to use it.
"Like this?"
Following her instructions, Diode traced the stone with her nail and a human figure appeared in her palm. It was a stereoscopic video of a half-naked man. His head was covered by a cloth, with both ends tied under his nose. He held some sort of circular device resembling an ancient plate made of plant matter and rhythmically moved it over the ground from left to right as if repeatedly scooping something up.
"What is this?"
"Our job is to find an explanation and enter it in the telop."
"...That's certainly admirable."
"Isn't it? Isn't it?"
From her stone seat, Terra proudly puffed out her chest again. Diode applauded.
"Well, let's put the loach scooping aside. I had a goal in mind when I came here."
"Huh? What did you just say? You know what that primitive dance was?"
"It's probably something that's only been passed down through my clan. Forget it. To be precise, I'm here to see the records dating from around the rebellion. Terra-san, are there any records from the very beginning, before CC 10?"
"There probably are. But first, please tell me about that dance from where you came from!"
"Okay, okay."
They negotiated a trade—Terra learned about a shanty from an island country in a time back when boats sailed instead of flying. Diode received permission to examine the logbook.
"The logbook is one of the archived official documents regarding us Circs. Those documents are duplicated in other sources, so even though the logbook is reliable, it's not interesting. Is that a problem?"
"Not at all. That's actually a good thing. It means the logs were personally written by Magiri."
"I mean, couldn't you just access the logs from home with your public database connection?"
"It won't connect through my account. I'm from Gendo, so " Diode raised a hand as she spoke calmly. Terra found it weird.
"It shouldn't matter if you're from Gendo or any other clan, there aren't any limits on your access to the Endeavour DB."
"No, that's not it. Gendo places restrictions on womens' minicells."
"Huh? What does that mean?"
"Women will become stupid and indecent if they're allowed to access information streams that aren't carefully vetted."
"...What? Not the other way around? Like, not having access instead?"
"They allow us access to information through an institution instead. You have to show gratitude for a curriculum that was carefully selected by our clan's governing body for the sake of raising modest, obedient women. They call it a girls' school, though. I was in that kuso, crappy, merdique, shitty, dàbiàn institution for two years—from the moment I turned 16 to just before the Bow-Awow."
Looking relieved, Diode stood in front of Terra, who had been left slackjawed. She picked up a baton-like pumice rock which had fallen near the building stones and flung it at the thicket with a big swing.
It made a nice, dry sound.
"Thankfully, since I'm not there anymore, I can come here with you instead. It seems like I have access to a lot of files here, but is it really okay?"
"Yes, of course! Go ahead and look at as many as you want!" Terra nodded without hesitation.
Diode settled into a pattern where she spent a third of the day resting at Terra's house and another third hanging around her workplace. The remaining third, however, was still a mystery. Her whereabouts were unknown, but at the very least, Terra knew she wasn't at home thanks to the Dwelling System. Diode hadn't told Terra anything. Terra could imagine it to some extent, but didn't ask.
It was only the one time, but while Terra was looking around for handmade items in the shopping district in the Year 240 Ring, she saw a small, masked figure dressed in black jumping from roof to roof. The figure jumped down to a bay window and scaled its decorative eaves. As they passed through, they spun around the railing before tumbling into the outer passageways. They completely ignored the road as they jumped from building to building.
Terra noticed the figure because the people around her were looking up in surprise. Whoever it was moved deliberately, relying on their grip, leg power, and the weaker 0.8G gravity of the Year 240 Ring, not on any special ability or tools. It didn't look like their goal was to shock people. They ignored everyone's attention, continuing with what looked like a risky acrobatic challenge.
Terra made an unplanned purchase after that. After dinner that evening, she pulled Diode aside.
"Die-san, would you take this?"
"What is it?" She opened the bag to reveal a sparkling blue clasp decorated with a shippō pattern.
"...A barrette?"
Terra moved behind the standing girl and gathered her silver hair, fixing it in a diagonal twist at her crown.
"If you're only wearing a turban and mask, your hair will stick out in back. Using this to hide it should work."
"...Thank you." With that, Diode returned to her room.
Later, a number of columns about a black-clad figure started to appear in the clan's journal, but Terra sadly never personally witnessed the sight a second time.
Not that it mattered much. When Diode visited the archive, she responded to Terra's efforts to talk with her. Their conversations were entirely concerned with old Content. Diode helped identify uncertain pieces, since coming from another clan gave her knowledge that an Endeavour didn't necessarily have. (Example: ‘The snowman in this one has a thick neck and wide base, so the work is probably from around the era of the daruma archetype.’). She had been such a great help to Terra and her coworkers that it wasn't long before her stay was officially authorized.
"Going by everything you've told me, you seem to have learned a lot at the school you attended. Was it really that much of a shi... cruel place?" Terra asked, seated in a corner of the archive's grass garden.
Diode replied, "The things I've been constantly talking about are something I more or less learned from underground Content while cutting class or things I saw with my mother during my life on the Tsunami Search."
"Ooh, underground... Uh, do you mean Content like callouts, fights, and even pervy stuff?"
"Stuff like S, D and V, or A and G, there's almost ten thousand years' worth of underground material. Do you not like that sort of thing, Terra-san?"
"Uh, it's not that I don't like it, it's... I don't know enough about it."
"Hmm. Well, let's stop talking about it if you don't know about it."
"Ah, I don't think I'd hate it! It's just that I've never really had many chances to see it..." Terra blushed, noticing that despite having six years on Diode, she somehow knew less about the world.
"It's stuff that the Council of Elders strictly prohibit–" Diode cut herself short and quickly glanced towards the office. Terra laughed.
"You don't need to worry. There aren't going to be any restrictions on what you say here."
"Even if it's about Magiri and Eda?"
"Magiri? You briefly mentioned them before. Who's that?" Terra asked innocently.
Diode let out a weak sigh. "Those are names they're not going to tell you about, at the very least."
"...Are they the kind of people they don't want to teach us about?"
"Hm " Diode folded her arms, looking genuinely and exceptionally troubled. "Ah well, the Council of Elders here isn't going to arrest me, or else they already would have a long time ago..." she muttered. "Gendo Magiri was the first Great Chief of the Circ fleet, from CC 3 to CC 18."
"The first... really? Wasn't it C.B. Endeavour?"
"There aren't any documents written by Sivi Endeavour dating to that time. They were the Great Chief after CC 18, but there's nothing from what's called the early period. Look, it's the same here, too."
Diode rubbed a single stone state and brought up the log from Month 8, Day 1 of CC 10 in her palm, then pointed out the empty space in the lower left.
"It's been erased. Beginning in CC 18, Sivi Endeavour's signature is there, but everything before that was erased like this. I wonder if the Endeavours are the only ones still openly displaying the altered logs."
"Do the Gendo keep those documents private?"
"That or they're missing, more likely."
"Huuuh..." Terra was surprised, but hadn't fully grasped the meaning of it. "Why's it like that? Did they do underground things, too?"
"In the underground, there's a legend that's believed to be the truth."
"What kind of legend?"
"It's that back in CC 3, Magiri had a partner in starting the rebellion and assuming power after purging the old leadership. The partner's full name isn't known, but she had the nickname of The Exceptional Eda. She was some sort of genius scientist, apparently. She studied the composition and properties of the bake floating around FBB, and it was her who put the fleet on the road to self-sufficiency after she succeeded in converting the bake into a usable resource."
"We learn about someone like that in our clan, too. This is the first time I've heard the name Eda, though."
"Yeah, that kind of breakthrough that is too big to be erased completely. Anyway, Eda was the one responsible for it. She passed away in CC 8."
"Did she get sick?"
"She was in a boating accident and fell into FBB. She saved others but couldn't save herself in turn. That's where the legend started: Eda was the one who gave birth to the besshu. As to how she did that, there are a range of opinions."
"...Gave birth to the besshu?"
"Yes."
"How? That's... you don't mean that literally, right?"
"Of course they didn't come out of her belly. I meant it in the sense that it was a scientific innovation."
"Did she raise them in a test tube and then spread them from orbit?"
"Who knows. I don't really know how she did it. She died in CC 8, but the besshu first appeared in CC 16. Whatever it was Eda set up when she died took eight years to spread. But by making what we now call besshu take the form of fish, she made it possible for us to harvest it. At least, that's what the legend says."
"Woah, now that you mention it, I'm pretty sure that besshu aren't found anywhere else in the Galactive Interactive. They're lifeforms endemic to FBB. That's why we can make a profit exporting the AMC clay through the Dàxúnniǎo. Doesn't that make a huge amount of sense?" Terra suddenly got enthusiastic. "Isn't that great? Our ancestor created the besshu! And thanks to her, the Circs make their living fishing for them, even now!"
"Well, that might be true, but from a scholar's point of view, learning that a completely new life form was entirely engineered by a human is a really unsatisfying explanation." Diode looked through the stone state storage Content as it displayed in fragments. "At least as far as my investigation goes, there's not a single scholar in any clan who takes that explanation seriously."
"Is that so...? I do like how the besshu resemble Earth animals, but have their own quirks... Ah? But wait, isn't that weird?"
"What's weird?"
"Doesn't being able to achieve that make Exceptional Eda a notable person? Why wasn't her name preserved?" Terra asked, before adding, "Besides, what does Magiri have to do with this?"
"Eda and Magiri were a couple."
"A couple?" Terra narrowed her eyes. "But you said Eda was a woman, right? So Magiri was a man?"
"She was a woman."
"What?" She asked, comprehension dawning at the same time.
Diode indifferently explained. "They were a same-sex couple. It was a pair of married women who provided fierce guidance and leadership to the Circs back then, and who laid the cornerstone of our lifestyle by giving birth to the besshu. The Circs couldn't bring themselves to accept that, so once there were only couples between men and women, they erased the records of those two. That's what the legends say, anyway."
Diode turned off the Content she was showing to the breathless Terra and looked around the corner.
"I wanted to find proof, so that's why I asked to see the logs."
Ten days passed, then twenty, then thirty. Idaho and the other base ships continued to spin, the water miners worked the icy moons, the outboard workers quietly repaired the exterior of the ship here and there, and twisters flew their boats while decompas spread their nets. Diode continued her usual routine of disappearing only to reappear in Terra's dining room at mealtimes for a chat before she returned to the attic.
The days passed with a mood like watering a seed after planting it or counting the moments with a bomb's timer. Terra felt a sense of patience within her impatience. Although she looked forward to her pillar boat's return, she also wished the strange but calming sense of stability she felt with Diode could continue.
Diode also felt that sense of patience with impatience, but her concerns were entirely different from Terra's.
Beep, beep, beep—The moment she heard the sound of an alarm go off, as piercing as a shattering glass window, Terra's bed shook. The nightlight suddenly flickered and went out.
"Wh-what?"
Terra was still dozing as she got out of bed. Without thinking, she shoved her hand under the bed and fetched the fast mask, following a custom every Circ has drilled into them in childhood.
—You hear me, Terra? Mask first, even if the air leak alarm is sounding, even if you hear a bang or feel air rushing in. Before you try to save anyone or hug any cushions, put the mask on first. If there really is an airtightness breach, that's when you run to the rescue ball or go to a printer pod.
As she remembered her father teaching her as a kid, she put on an oxygen mask that covered her whole head and turned on her minicell to light her surroundings with her palm. Around the room: a soft, dark green curtain, a cheerful portrait of her parents, a quiet row of figurines on the knick-knack shelf. Apatosaurus, morpho butterfly, cat, and gulguiuli (the red ones from planet Coubingar, not the three-legged kind from Mock). Nothing looked out of place for the moment.
However, except for a meteorite coming in from space at extremely high speed, there wasn't an emergency situation that would trigger the air leak alarm in the residential district, near Idaho's innermost section. Besides, the alarm that had just gone off sounded different. Terra kicked herself for not noticing it was something else.
Her parents hadn't taught her what she did after she put on the mask.
"Die-san! I just heard something. Are you okay?!" Terra shouted through her minicell. She felt vaguely apprehensive, thinking of what to do if she didn't get a response. One came unexpectedly quick.
It was a response, an absurd one at that.
"Terra-san, please run! Get to Clan Security!"
"What?! Why–"
"It's definitely the trackers! The intruder detector I set up on the hatch above us went off! The Gendo trackers are—Bam!" There was the sound of an explosion, followed by a groan.
Terra felt a chill rush down her spine. A flood of adrenaline followed a moment later. She shoved her hand back under the bed and grabbed a tool made of hardened AMC clay that had been given to her by her mother as a kid. She threw the door open and rushed to the corridor. Once her hands were on the stairs leading to the attic, she took a second to calmly adjust her mask before climbing to open the trapdoor.
"Die-san!"
The scene was almost like she had imagined.
The wall light Diode had taken from downstairs illuminated the tight passageway of the attic. Two figures, wearing skintight gray suits, suddenly stood up. They were in spacesuits, meaning that they had entered through the exterior walls. They held the girl between them by the arms as tears fell from her fluttering eyes.
—They got Die-san!
One of the intruders turned in response to Terra's voice and threw something shaped like a cup onto the floor with a subtle movement.
Bam!—An intense flash of light flooded the room as it exploded. The intruders likely planned to use it as cover for their escape, but Terra had activated the mask's anti-starglare dimming mode.
The figures were clearly visible to Terra inside the surge of light. Terra pointed the deadly tool she performed weekly maintenance on at them, took aim, and fired.
There was a quick one, two, three burst of eardrum-ripping explosions. The first shot had been aimed at the intruder to Diode's right and had blasted them off her and knocked them to the ground. The intruder on her left was still standing after taking the second shot, but the third shot hit their suit's visor and cracked it. "I'm sorry!" Terra apologized, using the opportunity to take another shot. They collapsed where they stood, their face covered in blood.
"Die-san!"
Terra rushed into the attic. She held Diode in her arms, more worried than anything. "Are you okay? Did any of the bullets hit you just now?"
Diode squirmed, momentarily resisting. "Woah, i-is that you, Terra-san?" she asked. Diode still couldn't see, and her ears were blown out by the explosion, so Terra pulled Diode into her chest and hugged her as tightly as she could.
"Yes, it's me!"
"Ah...these are..." Diode nervously caressed Terra's large breasts with both hands and quickly relaxed. "So it really is you. These are Terra-san's..."
"That's right. Can you hear me? Does it hurt anywhere?"
"Ah...Yes, my hearing is coming back slowly, but I can hear you." Terra placed her hand on the girl's forehead and gently wiped her eyes. Diode's dark blue eyes opened. "I should be asking you if you're okay, Terra-san. What the hell happened?"
"I dealt with them using this."
Diode's eyes opened wide when she caught sight of the long, smooth, deadly-looking thing in Terra's hand.
"A-a gun?! That's a gun, isn't it?"
"Yes, it's a shotgun my mother gave me."
"Why do you have a gun?"
"Why? There's usually one in every home, right?" As she said that, Terra realized it might be another difference between them. "Or does Gendo prohibit guns, too?!"
"That's obvious, isn't it..." Diode started to laugh and cry, her voice tightening into a cackle.
Terra took Diode in her arms and went down the stairs holding her tight, then reported the situation to Clan Security. Due to her ongoing dispute with the Council of Elders, she'd been doubtful as to whether they'd come to help. It turned out to be a baseless worry, as armed guards came rushing in less than two and a half minutes later.
"They're up there! The strange people in the attic who tried to kidnap Die-san!"
The squad cautiously ventured upstairs but eventually returned empty-handed.
"We couldn't ID any intruders. There was no one up there."
"Huh?! But there were two people wearing tight suits! They threw a light grenade, so I did what we're trained to do in high cruise school!"
"Chill, I didn't say you were lying. We found blood and evidence of the fight," the squad member replied, pointing at the other guards looking over the house's entrance and surroundings. "That said, looks like those guys got away. They took all their gear with them, so they're probably professional infiltrators."
"They escaped?" Terra was dumbfounded. "Even after being shot like that? I'm pretty sure I even shot one of them right in the face, too "
"Those were resin bullets, right? That won't stop 'em, we're talking real pros here. Oh, you're Terra Intercontinental-san, aren't ya? The fisher who hauled in that enormous fish." The male squad member raised his goggles and grinned. "You did pretty good for a woman. Took some guts. But you should know when to call it quits, this was a close shave."
"Uh... Thanks." Terra replied bluntly, disliking the sentiment.
Diode was in danger, so she acted in desperation. That was all there was to it. She was sure that any person, man or woman, would react to the situation the same way.
And... and, there's something else, but I don't know how to describe it.
Soon after, the rescue squad appeared and quickly began to examine Diode. An unexpected person showed up along with them.
"Are you two all right? I received word of an attack."
"Dishcrash-san?!"
"Good, it appears you are both unharmed." The Council liaison with the soft, puffy sideburns adorning his cheeks looked down on the two with eyes that seemed to smile, as always.
Terra's mind was still foggy, so she replied without thinking. "We aren't unharmed at all. Die-san went through something awful. They tried to kidnap her! And it's terrifying to think of my own home being invaded like this. Really, it's too much..."
"I am sorry to hear that." Dishcrash said, bowing. "Just now, a construction boat departed from the work pier without authorization. It was headed for territory outside of Idaho's jurisdiction. However, the two exterior workers who boarded it were identified as citizens who migrated here from Fuyo during the Bow-Awow. There are official actions we can take regarding that matter, but they will likely not return. I believe the Gendo reserve a trump card for mischief like this, and it has been played tonight," Dishcrash said. He then fixed a direct look on Terra. "—Do you understand? This situation is the result of your own decision to shelter Diode-san."
"You make it sound like this is my fault! Don't say that please." Terra started to raise her voice but trailed off. The truth was that Terra had been living with Diode with that fear in the back of her mind and had done nothing about it. If she had taken that fear seriously, then maybe she could have entrusted the matter to the security squad before the home invasion happened.
"It would have been useful to secure the burglars for the coming negotiations, but we failed to do so. It truly is a shame."
He had touched on something Terra felt like she was trying unusually hard to put up with. The fogginess surrounding that feeling suddenly cleared simply being saved wasn't satisfying. The truth was she wanted everyone to see the clear act of righteousness in exposing the people who had attacked them.
"If we did happen to catch them... would I get my pillar boat back, by any chance?" Terra asked.
Dishcrash responded with a silence that meant ‘I don't know’ and shook his head.
Terra thought, Maybe he's not really as good-natured as he seems? Unsurprisingly, the thought made her feel sad.
"Dishcrash-san, may I say something?" Diode spoke up as her examination ended. Diode thanked the doctors with a silent look, then turned back to Dishcrash. "You also expected this to happen and kept quiet, didn't you? How are you planning to take responsibility for this?"
"What leads you to believe I could have expected this?"
"Why would a fully armed platoon rush in because of a mere panicked citizen report? Is that how the Endeavours always react?" Diode quietly glared at Dishcrash, who warded it off with a nonchalant look.
"There have been previous instances."
"No there haven't. Since you expected this, you could have prevented it by assigning the relevant authorities to it. You people kept quiet about it instead and let them do what they wanted because it was also what you wanted. If we had been captured by Gendo's trackers in this incident, it would have been a bargaining chip in negotiations with them. That was the goal you were aiming for, wasn't it?"
"Was it? You have proof of this accusation?"
"I placed these around the windows and doorways of the house." Diode took out a small bundle of fine thread.
Ah, Terra recognized it. That's probably on the print log.
"There was one place where it was cut, then stretched and put back into place. The trackers didn't do this tonight, and they couldn't have noticed it because they triggered the alarm. So someone must have entered earlier, but–" Diode momentarily glanced at the squad preparing to leave. "–even though this is supposedly the first time they've been here, they didn't break any of them."
Terra's breath hitched. "So those people have been wandering around my house?"
"Terra-san, lean down here for a second."
"Yeah?" Terra did as asked without much thought. Diode tightly pinched her nose, making Terra jump back. "Agh?!"
"I'm sorry, I don't want you getting noisy now. Dishcrash-san, there's no point in keeping score here. How about we get to the heart of the matter at hand?"
"And that, meaning?"
"By that, I mean Terra is an asset to the Endeavours. Isn't that right? She's one of the clan's elite decompas."
"Yes, that is true. It has been true from the start."
"And so, I would vow to wager a lifetime's worth of maydays that I am an asset for Terra-san. Right now, Terra standing here with us is more important than the Gendo who showed up. We have a common goal."
"Hmm, I see, I see..." Dishcrash closed his eyes and pinched his chin, then finally spoke in a serious tone. "Although keeping track of our score may be useless, one may expect to know I cannot ignore the matter of a suspicious person's skill training in both the new and old town districts for the past half a month. Additionally, that same person is known to frequent back alleys in the Year 25 Ring, actively seeking drug and crack specialists. Those are points I cannot turn a bli–"
"Die-sa–" Terra started to shout, but quickly covered her mouth with both hands. The liaison's narrow eyes and Diode's cold look stabbed her from both sides.
"...turn a blind eye to." Dishcrash said, returning his gaze to Diode. "In short, these events are connected. If there is an issue that requires more suitable management on my part, then there is an issue that also requires correction on your part. Wouldn't you agree, Diode-san?"
"I hope that we are on the same page, but probably."
"And the matter of our inheritance?"
"At any rate, it can wait two years, can't it?"
"So you are not opposed to a temporary arrangement?"
"I'm not that greedy."
"Hmm, I see. Hm." As he thought, Dishcrash twirled the fuzz on his right cheek. Then he suddenly spoke up, full of cheer. "As an aside, I have not yet spoken of the business I have concerning you two."
"Huh?" "Ah, right."
"I am here with regards to your appeal with the Council of Elders. Your method of hauling extra-large bachi orca has been deemed a matter of exceptional importance, and thus they have ordered its continuation. You are to report back with a total of ten specimens. You two, please raise your left and right hands."
They extended their hands a little as they were told. He knocked on the back of their hands, sending a message that likely contained the same content to their minicells. Diode clicked her tongue, but it was too late.
"I was sent to deliver this message in person. Just now, you have received a code to erase the access lock on your pillar boat. Do not forget the conditions and do your best from now on. His Excellency, the Clan Chief, looks forward to the next Bow Awow." Dishcrash bowed sharply and left.
"Ahh... Wha?"
Terra was in a daze, not quite understanding why the conversation had gone in that direction or ended how it did. So she was startled when Diode suddenly kicked the chair beside her and yelled, "Shit, that hurt!"
"W-what's wrong? Die-san..." Terra asked nervously.
"We got played. He meant to tell us that from the very start, but he made us think there was no point to this and waited for us to yield. He was smiling at his true intentions the whole time."
"Meaning?"
"They returned your boat!"
"Really?!" Although Diode had angrily raised her voice, Terra's own shout of happiness drowned it out. She stood up, eyes sparkling.
"Then—then that means I can go fishing with you again, right?"
"Yes, but did you not hear the part about catching ten heads of that monster bachi?!"
"Isn't that basically saying we can do whatever?! Huh, is this really okay?!" Terra started to glow in amazement. She grasped Diode's hands.
Diode was dumbfounded, but she eventually sighed and responded bluntly. "Yeah."
"Huh? What's with that reaction? Shouldn't we both be happy about this?"
"We're dividing the burden. I'll trust you with the happiness. I'll be busy feeling resentful."
"What's there to feel resentful—Ahh, right, you did tell me to overlook something earlier." Terra started to feel curious as she recalled the conversation. "It's about that, right? Running around... looking for some sort of specialist... Do you mind if I ask what you were up to?"
"Well, the running around was just training. If I stayed at home doing nothing, my reflexes would get duller and duller."
"Then, what was that about drugs and crack?"
"One frees the mind, the other frees the machine."
"And you were trying to get your hands on those? Why?"
"To take the pillar boat back."
"Ugh, taking it back?!" Terra was genuinely surprised. "You wanted to take the boat out without permission from the Council of Elders? That's impossible!"
"It's not impossible, it only would have taken a while. It's just that there wasn't enough time. Since they gave it back before I could follow through with my plan, my search was in vain."
"You don't think they returned the boat so you're not dirtying your hands with crime?"
Diode made a face like she just watched someone eat toast through their nose. "No way. From now on, they're going to use it as leverage for all the shady things they're planning. It's not like this turned out to my advantage. Besides, right up to the end, he never said ‘you can be fishers’, did he?"
"That's fine, isn't it? As long as we can board together."
Diode rested her chin on her hand and sighed, "Ahh, I'm over it. Sure. It's fine."
The security and rescue squads withdrew following the liaison. Diode, troubled, hung her head. Terra had been waiting for calm to return after the turbulent atmosphere dissipated, but it never did.
Their wait was over. Their everyday life as fishers had resumed now that they were certain they could board again.
Before the last voice coming from out front fell quiet, Terra leaned slightly towards the girl beside her and whispered. "Can I ask you something?"
"Hm?"
"That was the first time I've heard the expression ‘I would vow to wager a lifetime's worth of maydays.’ How serious is that?"
"Good night."
Diode abruptly stood and left.