Diode woke with an awful headache that felt as if her entire cranium was being pressed through the bridge of her nose. She had completely forgotten the feeling; since settling into the residence back with the Endeavours, she had gotten used to always waking gently, as if surfacing into bright skies from shallow water. This wakeup was more nostalgic—and the nostalgia was certainly unpleasant.
She was recovering from an overdose.
“Wah... gh...” As Diode pressed her forehead and writhed in pain, strange footsteps approached. They sounded like cloth brushing against planks.
“Have you returned to us, Kanna-san?”
Diode rolled her head in the direction of the calm, clear voice. A girl holding a tea tray entered through the wide-open balcony door. She was Diode’s age and wore a kimono with a fletched pattern. An electric pink ribbon gathered her midnight blue hair. The shade matched the color of her hakama, beneath which the white tabi around her toes peeked in and out as she shuffled in. The girl stood against a floor to ceiling window into the black of space. A wall was lit by a full view of Mother Beach Ball.
An alcove beside Diode’s pillow contained staggered shelves. Proudly displayed on it were various historical artifacts: a mechanical miko figure from the 21st Century, a monocrystalline dogū from the 41st Century, and a katana forged in solar heat during the 87th Century.
None of the relics floated; gravity felt comfortable as such. It meant she was in an expensive room located in the outskirts of a large, rotating settlement. Diode was disgustingly familiar with the long-vanished Anno Domini era stylings incorporated into the structure of a modern orbital settlement. She was in the Gendō base ship, Fuyō.
The girl approached Diode's futon and seated herself as softly as a levitation mechanism. Her seated pose, with both heels neatly folded under her butt, was the one Diode was the worst at. A moist, sweet scent, like that of rain-soaked flowers, surrounded the girl. Diode also sensed a bitter, roasted smell coming from the low-fired ceramic cup on the tray presented to her.
“Please drink up, won’t you? It will help the medicine wear off.”
From the futon, Diode let her thoughts run wild as her eyes swiveled back to the ceiling in defiance of her headache. The last thing she remembered was entering an exam room in the Trades’ base ship, so she had been carried from there to here. Snatched, to put it another way. It meant she was already in enemy territory, requiring her to act cautiously.
True to form, though, the first words that leapt out of her mouth were undeniably obscene. “‘Won’t you?’ Are you seriously asking, you poison pot bitch? I’m sure this dumbshit headache is from some damn medicine you mixed yourself and blindsided me with.”
“I missed your insults. They have not changed a bit.”
“Of course they haven’t, what did you expect? I finally manage to leave, and I get dragged back not even four months later.”
“Even so, was that departure not just a small lark? I am happy that you have returned, you know.”
“I left a note saying we were separating for life. Or are you already far-sighted at your age?”
“Both of my eyes are in great health, so I believed it to be a misspelling.”
“Then I’ll say it again, so listen closely: that sentence meant I do not want to meet you again until I’m dead.”
“Then is it not already agreeable for us to meet up? Seeing as both yourself and that large lady may as well have died once.”
“Meika.” Although Diode kept her voice and emotions under restraint, she couldn’t conceal her fangs. “What happened to Terra-san?”
Diode half-rose from the futon. She had been changed into an unlined kimono at some point. She stared back at the girl with the deep blue hair.
“You have the most amazing look in your eyes.”
“I suggest you answer carefully, because the length of your lifespan depends on it. Where. Is. Terra-san?”
Meika looked up in a calculating manner and smiled. “She returned to her own clan. When I informed her you would be welcomed here, she replied ‘Ah, is that so?’ When she turned around, it seemed like she had given up on you as easily as that.”
“You’re lying,” Diode responded, quickly brushing her off. “That would never happen. At any rate, I must have either been brought back here by force or… no, I slipped out of her hands. There’s no way the Trades would conveniently have an ambush ready, since they only rescued us by chance. So, the Gendō on site must have carried out my abduction. They used everything they had there just to capture a young woman. That’s obviously more or less what happened.”
“Sigh, you see through me so easily. Well, it was a little white lie,” Meika admitted, unashamed. Then, boastfully, she continued. “At any rate, it was a trivial price paid for the sake of returning you to my side.”
“I’m not coming back to it.” Diode felt a little relief knowing Terra wasn’t caught up in the situation. “I left to get away from you in the first place.”
“Oh? Is that really the truth? When you departed, you told me ‘I want to fly, so I’m leaving.’” Meika narrowed her eyes as she smiled.
Diode suddenly found herself at a loss for words. She did, in fact, remember saying that. As Diode’s attitude lost its momentum, Meika pressed her advantage.
“Was your talk of flying simply cover for your real reason to leave, then? If you were lying about it having nothing to do with me, then I expect I was a central concern of yours?”
“No, I–”
“You were really too concerned about those, weren’t you? Drugs… and that.”
Diode watched Meika join two fingers together, extend them, and then curl them slightly in a motion similar to tickling a chin. She reflexively lunged for the cup on the tea tray, but her hand only grabbed air. A long-haired young man dressed in black kneeled to secure it before she could, having appeared so smoothly it was like he had oozed from the wall.
“Please keep violence to a minimum within the Typhoon Palace, Kanna-sama.”
“...Jigō-san.”
“I ask your forgiveness for seating myself at a lady’s bedside without permission.” He passed behind Meika and sat. The man with the low, calm voice was older than the two girls by around five years.
The two things Diode knew about him made him rather peculiar among Gendō men. The first was that he showed humility towards women. The other was that when it came to his position as zuijin, a court bodyguard, his absolute loyalty was pledged to Meika. Diode had found reassurance in those two things before, but that was no longer the case.
However, Jigō was at least fully aware of her time with Meika. Any other third party would have been offended by the topic of their conversation. Diode calmed herself, having decided it was useless to raise hell at this point.
“Well, fine, I admit it. I ran because I got sick of being ‘concerned’ with you.”
“Oh my. Have you always been so well-behaved?” Meika cutely tapped her finger against her cheek and tilted her head. “Or did something happen to you to make you that way?”
“Think whatever you want.”
Meika’s mouth snapped shut. Noticing her response, Diode pressed her with questions. “So, what is this all about? What do you get out of dragging back someone who clearly refuses to be here?”
“It’s been so long since we last saw one another. Could we talk about what we’ve been doing lately?”
“What. Have. You. Been. Doing. Lately?”
“You said that with the most incredible look on your face. I, of course, have been helping out Father while training for marriage.”
“Weren’t you just as against getting married as I am?”
“Yes, and I still am just as against it as you. So, I believe that makes us even now.”
“How exactly does that make us even?”
“You jumped ship without permission in the first place, so you don’t have the right to refuse marriage either.”
“Ha, you telling me I don't have the right alongside everything else is hilarious. If official procedure was being followed, I should have been handed over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Ministry of Justice and put under investigation once I was captured by the trackers. Since they left me sleeping here, you have to be breaking some regulations yourself.”
Although Diode was challenging Meika, she frowned, remembering what she heard a few moments earlier. “Wait, we’re at the Typhoon Palace? Does this mean—”
“Yes, my father personally gave his permission.”
“...So I’m here through Clan Chief Nurude’s good offices?” She was in the second worst situation she could think of and completely lost the will to pry deeper. “Then I’m assuming there’s an even more worthless objective besides you wanting to bring me back.”
“There’s nothing ‘worthless’ about my wanting you back, but there’s an even more wonderful reason. My father has heard of your skill and believes you may have the traits to become a top-notch decomper.”
“What did you say?” Aside from being disgusting, it was a total misjudgement. Diode’s voice rose. “I’m not a decomper though?! I’m a twister!”
“What are you talking about? Kanna-san. You are a woman, right?”
“Of course. I boarded a pillar boat as a woman.”
“Then, doesn’t that mean you became the partner of a man who is a twister?”
“What are you talking about? I’m not the kind of person who would do that, and you of all people should know that the best–” Just as she was about to throw the argument back at Meika, Diode had a sudden realization. “You tricked the Clan Chief because you knew that?”
“I mean, I don’t know how Father would react if I told him the truth.” Meika put a sleeve to her lips and smiled elegantly. “I have shown him several videos and told him that you became an exceptional decomper. Just like that, he took a great interest in you.”
“Gh... you... you manwhore’s daughter!” Of all the insults she had come up with at the girls’ school, the strangest one was leaving her mouth. “Isn’t tricking your father into believing that crazy, even for you?! Are you prepared for me to come clean with him about everything?”
“It’s fiiiiine, my father’s stubbornness is the real deal. If there’s any chance he can get a man and a woman together, he’ll cling to it until he drops dead. He simply believes you only said those weird things because you were having a flight of fancy.”
“Why the hell would you go that far?!”
“Isn’t that obvious?” Without hesitating, Meika sidled up to Diode and caressed her cheek. “I want to be a decomper together with you.”
“Toge...”
“I would have to get together with some good-for-nothing, and you would also have to get together with some good-for-nothing. But we’ll be on good terms for all eternity if we become fellow decompers.” Diode felt like her soul was being sucked into the dark depths of Meika’s narrowed eyes. Goosebumps rose all over her body. “So, let’s choose the most excellent good-for-nothings together, Kanna-san.”
“I... I’ve already–” I’ve already decided on a partner—Diode cut herself short and stopped that thought. She had a hunch that it wasn’t a good time to mention that. In desperation, she clamped her mouth shut and let her head stay downcast. Her face went pale, which made it look like she was giving up and accepting her fate.
“Ufu.” Meika cheerfully caressed Diode’s cheek before standing up, “It is a rather harsh conversation to have right after waking up, isn’t it? You will be taking the General Imagination Concretization Exam again in a few days, so please rest easy until then.”
“So, I even have to take that exam again...”
“I understand that you’re bad at it, yet you still boarded a pillar boat in spite of that. Our fishing methods require that anyone who boards one must be able to make tunnel nets that strictly comply with the standard—”
Diode sensed a slight bitterness in Meika’s last few words. However, when she looked up to make sure, Meika had already quietly shuffled out of the room, as if she had been carried away. Left on her own and completely exhausted, Diode collapsed back into the futon. She laid face-down for the moment, then quickly glanced up.
The man in the black casual kimono remained seated upright in complete silence. Jigō, Chūya Gennissē Jigō, was always put to work by his master with an arrogant gesture, but Diode had never seen him make a single mistake.
“Are you monitoring me, Jigō-san?”
“I have been instructed to take care of you.”
“Then, could you brew some more tea, please?” Immediately, she corrected herself. “No, a meal instead. Something that can make it down my throat in spite of my belly being full of anger.”
“As you wish.”
Once he left, Diode finally turned face up on the futon and sighed. She naturally suspected a hidden camera was present, but that was preferable to him being in her sight.
What a mess this turned into—Diode shut her eyes. For a time, Meika Shikiriyōni Keiwaku was someone with whom Diode shared a room with, among other things. At first, it was only friends. Next they shared their supplies and rebellious attitude. Then came drugs, pleasure, and pain before they finally arrived at anxiety and despair. The two were like magnets with the same pole, so naturally the smallest crack made them repel one another.
Meika was a memory Diode wanted to forget. She had treated their time together too lightly, not believing something done as students would lead to her being hunted down and captured. However, father and daughter had conspired to kidnap her, and with extreme motives at that. Diode was so tired of it she wanted to cry.
She absolutely needed to escape again and avoid that fate at all costs. The problem was how. Last time, the entire Circ fleet docking together for the Bow Awow had been her opportunity, but that was no longer the case. She would have to sneak her way onto another spaceship. And since she had already fled once, she was certain to be under strict surveillance this time. If she was patient, though, another chance for escape would eventually present itself.
Where would I escape to, then…? Diode kept her eyes shut tight while she thought. And more importantly, what happened to Terra?
Meika told her that Terra had obediently returned to her own clan, but that was impossible. Terra was definitely tricked or threatened into going back against her will. Meika probably thought that was enough to settle the matter. Unfortunately for her, she was wrong. Although Diode saw herself as someone who almost completely lacked imagination, she could visualize what Terra was doing with a strange clarity.
Being sent back like that isn’t going to make her lament and waste away. She’s instantly going to find the resolve to come back. Diode thought about it calmly and carefully. Terra would bravely commit to the decisions she needed to make and go to impossible lengths to do so. All for the sake of being with me again.
Diode’s chest tightened with happiness at the thought. The comfortable expectation that enveloped her was the first time she had ever felt like this. That’s why my next escape will be totally different. It’s not just about escape anymore; it’s life or death. For the sake of putting Terra at ease—No, wait, what day is it today? Has she already been on the move for a while?
The thought made Diode suddenly anxious. If Terra was already making a move, then it was definitely a move no one else would think of. She thought of how they might miss or interfere with one another. I need to get in touch as soon as possible—With that, Diode looked down at her left hand and clicked her tongue at her clan’s annoying customs. Women don’t have full use of their minicells in this town!
“My apologies for the wait. I have prepared congee and simmered fish. Are those to your liking?” Once again, Jigō arrived noiselessly, carrying a dining tray. Diode casually hid her left hand and replied.
“Thank you for your kindness, Jigō-san.”
“I appreciate your words. However, it was I who chased after your pillar boat in that armed ship, so you have my deepest apologies.”
“—Excuse me?!” Diode almost flipped her dining tray. Meika’s quiet zuijin maintained his composure. As might be expected, the young man wasn’t just anybody.
If Terra barged in without warning, she might bump into this man again. Diode absolutely couldn’t let that happen; she had to find a way to establish contact.
She devoured the troublesome, familiar taste of the starchy paste.