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. Waking up like this was a dear memory. A dearly unpleasant memory. She was recovering from an overdose.
“Wah... gh...” Diode pressed her forehead and writhed in pain to the strange sound of footsteps approaching. It sounded like cloth brushing against wood planks.
“Have you returned to us, Kanna-san?”
Diode rolled her head in the direction of the calm, clear voice. A girl Diode’s age entered through the wide-open balcony door, holding a tea tray. She wore a fletched-pattern kimono. Her midnight blue hair was gathered by an electric pink ribbon. Its matched her hakama, from 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 to the black of space. One wall was lit by a full view of Mother Beach Ball.
Staggered shelves filled an alcove beside Diode’s pillow. It proudly displayed 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 in the 87th Century.None of the relics floated; gravity felt comfortable as such. It placed her in an expensive room 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. She sat with her heels neatly folded under her behind; it was the pose Diode was worst at performing. The moist, sweet scent of rain-soaked flowers, surrounded the girl. Diode also sensed a bitter, roasted smell 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.”
On the futon, Diode allowed her thoughts to run wild as her eyes swiveled back to the ceiling in defiance of her headache. Entering an exam room in the Trades’ base ship was the last thing she remembered, so she must’ve been brought from there to here. Snatched, so to speak. It put her in enemy territory, requiring her to act cautiously.
True to form, though, unmistakable obscenities were the first words that leapt from her mouth. “‘Won’t you?’ Are you seriously asking me to drink something you brewed, you poison pot bitch? I’m sure this dumbshit headache I got blindsided is some damn medicine you mixed yourself.”
“I missed your insults. They have not changed one bit.”
“Of course they haven’t, what did you expect? I finally managed to leave, and I got dragged back not even four months later.”
“Even so, you took your short departure on a lark, did you not? I am happy that you have returned, you know.”
“I left a note saying we were separating for good. Or are you already becoming far-sighted at your age?”
“Both of my eyes are in great health, I simply thought you meant a separation for our good.”
“Then let me phrase it in a way you’ll understand, so listen closely: I meant I do not want to meet you again before I’m dead.”
“Then meeting again now should be agreeable to you, no? Seeing as both you and that large lady might as well have already died.”
“Meika.” Although Diode kept her voice and emotions restrained, 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 remaining 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 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. Being ambushed by the Trades’ is too much of a coincidence, since they only rescued us by chance. So, the Gendō on site must have been the ones to abduct me. They blew their cover just to capture a young woman. That’s obviously has to be 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 down 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 humbled himself towards women. The other was his absolute loyalty in his position as zuijin, a court bodyguard, was pledged to Meika. Diode had been reassured by those two things before, but no longer.
However, Jigō was at least fully aware of her time with Meika. Any other party would have been offended by the topic of their conversation. 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 back when they clearly refuse to be here?”
“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 puts us on an equal footing.”
“How exactly does that put us on an equal footing?”
“You jumped ship without permission in the first place, so you have no right to refuse marriage either.”
“Ha, telling me I don’t have the right after everything else that’s happened is hilarious. The trackers would have handed me over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Ministry of Justice so they could put me under investigation if they’d been following official procedure. You’ve got to be breaking some regulations yourself if they left me sleeping here.” Although Diode meant it as a challenge to Meika, she was struck by the realization of what she’d just heard a moment ago. “Wait, we’re at the Typhoon Palace? Does that mean–”
“Yes, my father granted personal dispensation.”
“...So I’m here through Clan Chief Nurude’s good offices?” She completely lost the will to pry deeper, as that was the second-worst situation she could think of being in. “Then I assume there’s an even more worthless goal you have in mind besides just wanting to bring me back.”
“There’s nothing ‘worthless’ about my wanting you back, but the reason is even more wonderful than that. My father has heard tell of your abilities and believes you ultimately displayed the traits of a top-notch caster.”
“What did you say?” Aside from the disgusting sentiment, his judgement was totally off-base. Diode’s voice rose. “I’m not a decomper though?! I’m a twister!”
“What ever are you talking about, Kanna-san? You are a woman, no?”
“Of course. I’m a woman who boarded a pillar boat.”
“Then, that means you became partner to a man who is a helmsman, does it not?”
“What are you talking about?! I’m not the kind of person to do that, and you of all people should know that best–” Diode had a sudden realization as she was about to toss the argument back at Meika. “Wait, that’s how you tricked the Clan Chief?”
“I mean, I did not know how Father might react to my telling him the truth.” Meika put a sleeve to her lips and smiled elegantly. “I simply informed him that you became an exceptional caster and showed him the 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 tricking your father into believing that crazy, even for you?! Are you ready for what’s coming when I come clean to him about it?”
“It’s fiiiiine, my father is the definition of stubborn. If there’s any chance he can play matchmaker to a man and woman, he’ll cling to it until he drops dead. He will simply believe anything strange you tell him is you taking a flight of fancy.”
“Why the hell would you go this far?!”
“Isn’t that obvious?” Without hesitating, Meika sidled up to Diode and caressed her cheek. “I want you to be by my side as a caster.”
“At your side...”
“I am being made to get together with some good-for-nothing, so you are also being made to get together with some good-for-nothing. But if we both become casters together, we will 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 by each other's sides, 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, “This is a rather heavy conversation to begin the day with, is it not? 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 are bad with it, yet you still boarded a pillar boat in spite of that. Our fishing methods require that any woman boarding a pillar boat is 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 shuffled out of the room as quietly as being carried off. Alone and totally exhausted, Diode collapsed back into the futon. She laid face-down for a 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 flick of the wrist, but Diode had never seen him make a single mistake.
“Are you monitoring me, Jigō-san?”
“My instructions are to be at your service.
“Then, could you brew some more tea, please?” She immediately corrected herself. “No, a meal. Something I can swallow despite a stomach full of bile.
“As you wish.”
Once he left, Diode finally turned face-up on the futon and sighed. Naturally, she suspected a hidden camera, but she preferred that to his nearby presence.
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 as friends. Next, they shared supplies and rebellious attitudes. Then came drugs, pleasure, and pain before finally arriving at anxiety and despair. The two were like magnets with the same pole, and naturally the smallest crack made them repel one another.
Diode wanted to forget the memory of Meika. She had taken their time together too lightly, disbelieving what she’d done as a student would lead to her being hunted down and captured. And yet, father and daughter had conspired to kidnap her, with extremist motives at that. She was so sick of it she could cry.
She absolutely had 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 given her the opportunity, but it wasn’t an option now. She would have to sneak her way onto another spaceship. And, having 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 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 figured that was enough to settle the matter, but unfortunately for her, she was wrong. Although Diode saw herself as someone almost totally lacking in 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 here. 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?
She was suddenly anxious at the thought. If Terra made a move already, it would definitely be one no one else expected. Diode worried how they might miss or interfere with one another’s plans. 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, I remain in your debt, for it was I who chased after your pillar boat in that armed ship.”
“—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. Terra might cross paths with him again if she barged in without warning. Diode absolutely couldn’t let that happen; she had to find a way to establish contact.
She scarfed down the starchy paste with the familiar, irksome flavor.