Diode woke with an awful headache that felt like her entire cranium was being squeezed through the bridge of her nose. She had completely forgotten the feeling; she had gotten used to always waking gently—as if surfacing from shallow water into bright skies—after she’d settled into the residence back at the Endeavours. This wakeup was more nostalgic, and that nostalgia was certainly unpleasant.
She was recovering from an overdose.
“Wah... gh...” Strange footsteps approached as Diode pressed her forehead and writhed in pain. 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. Her hair’s shade matched 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. One 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 on the outer rim 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 with the gentleness of a levitation device. Her seated pose, with both heels neatly folded under her behind, was the one Diode was worst at. A moist, sweet scent, like 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, and in defiance of her headache, Diode let her thoughts run wild as her eyes swiveled back to the ceiling. The last thing she remembered was entering an exam room in the Trades’ base ship, so she had been brought 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 unmistakably obscene. “‘Won’t you?’ Are you seriously asking me that, 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 one bit.”
“Of course they haven’t, what did you expect? I finally manage to leave, and not even four months later I get dragged back.”
“Even so, your departure was just a small lark, was it not? 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 it is already agreeable for us to meet again, no? Seeing as both yourself and that large lady may as well have died once.”
“Meika.” Although Diode restrained her voice and emotions, she couldn’t conceal her fangs. “What happened to Terra-san?”
Diode sat up from the futon. At some point, she had been changed into an unlined kimono. She locked eyes 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 back here, she replied, ‘Ah, is that so?’ When she turned around, it seemed like she had given up on you, just like 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, my abduction must have been carried out by Gendō on site. 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 to pay for the sake of returning you to my side.”
“I’m not returning 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 you were leaving because you wanted to fly.” 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 fury lost its momentum, Meika pressed her advantage. “Was your talk of flying simply covering for your real reason to leave, then? If it having nothing to do with me was a lie, then may I expect I was actually your main concern?”
“No, I–”
“You really were too concerned with 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 out of 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, he pledged absolute loyalty to Meika. Before, Diode had been reassured by those two things, but no more.
However, Jigō was at least fully aware of her time with Meika. The topic of their conversation would have offended any other third party. Deciding it was useless to raise hell at this point, Diode calmed herself down.
“Well, fine, I’ll admit it. I ran away 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 make you that way?”
“Think whatever you’d like.”
Meika’s mouth snapped shut. Noticing that response, Diode pressed her with questions. “So, what is this all about? What do you get from dragging someone who clearly refuses to be here back?”
“It has 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 expression. I, of course, have been helping Father out as I train for marriage.”
“Weren’t you just as opposed to marriage as I am?”
“Yes, and I still am just as opposed. So, I believe that makes us equals now.”
“How exactly does that make us equals?”
“You jumped ship without permission in the first place, so you don’t have the right to refuse marriage either.”
“Ha, telling me I don’t have the right after everything else that’s happened is hilarious. If official procedure was being followed, once I was captured by the trackers I should have been handed over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Ministry of Justice and put under investigation. Since they left me sleeping here, you’ve got to be breaking some regulations of your own.” 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 granted his permission.”
“...So I’m here through Clan Chief Nurude’s good offices?” She completely lost the will to pry deeper, as that was second worst situation she could think of. “Then I’m assuming besides you wanting to bring me back, there’s an even more worthless objective here.”
“There’s nothing ‘worthless’ about my wanting you back, but there’s an even more wonderful reason. My father has heard tell of your skill and believes you may possess 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 to do that, and you of all people should know best–” Diode had a sudden realization as she was about to toss the argument back at Meika. “That’s how you tricked the Clan Chief?”
“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 told him that you became an exceptional decomper and have shown him several videos to prove it. Just like that, he took a great interest in you.”
“Gh... you... you manwhore’s daughter!” The strangest of the insults Diode had come up with at the girls’ school left her mouth. “Isn’t it crazy to trick your father into believing that, even for you?! Are you prepared for me to come clean about everything with him?”
“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’ll simply believe you’re on a flight of fancy if you tell him something weird.”
“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 you to be a decomper alongside me.”
“Along...”
“I have to get together with some good-for-nothing, so you also have to get together with some good-for-nothing. But if we become decompers together, we’ll be on good terms for all eternity.” Diode felt like her soul was being sucked into the inky 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 in spite of that, you still boarded a pillar boat. Our fishing methods require that anyone who boards a pillar boat must be capable of forming tunnel nets in strict compliance with the standard—”
Diode sensed a hint of bitterness in Meika’s last few words. When she looked up to make sure, though, Meika had already quietly shuffled out of the room as if she had been carried away. Left alone 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, but she preferred that to seeing him around.
What a mess this turned into—Diode shut her eyes. For a time, Meika Shikiriyōni Keiwaku was someone with whom Diode shared a room, among other things. At first, it was only friends. Next, they shared supplies and rebellious attitudes. Then came drugs, pleasure, and pain before they finally arrived at anxiety and despair. The two were like magnets with the same pole, and 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, in disbelief that something she had done as a student would lead to 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 avoid that fate and escape again at all costs. The problem was how. Last time, her opportunity had been the entire Circ fleet at dock together for the Bow Awow, but it wasn’t available to her now. She would have to sneak her way onto another spaceship. And, having already fled once, this time she was certain to be under strict surveillance. 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 Terra obediently returned to her own clan, but that was impossible. Terra had definitely been tricked or threatened into going back against her will. Meika probably thought that was enough to settle the matter, but 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.
She’s not going to lament and waste away after being sent back like that. She is 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 follow through. All for the sake of being with me again.
Her 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 her suddenly anxious. If Terra was already making a move, then it was definitely a move no one else could expect. She thought of how they might miss or interfere with one another. I need to get in touch as soon as possible—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 for that 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 him 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.