Unlike the Japanese side—which had already grasped the movements of Celia, Gu Jie, and the USNA—the USNA military did not realize the loss of the obsolete portable missiles until January 21st, two days after Celia had already uncovered the truth. The issue was immediately flagged within the USNA military; however, it was not treated merely as a logistical error at the storage base. The Internal Affairs Bureau of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had launched a full investigation.
It was the Internal Affairs Bureau, rather than the Military Police (MP), that stepped in because the involvement of a terrorist organization was suspected.
A total of seventy obsolete portable missiles were missing. Calculated by the warhead payload, this amounted to approximately 500 kilograms of explosives. If missiles carrying that much firepower were used in a terrorist attack, and the source of the weapons came to light, the USNA would face condemnation from the entire world. It was a scenario the Department of Defense wanted to avoid at all costs.
However, as of January 27th—six days after the discovery—there had been no significant progress. Colonel Virginia Balance, the number two of the Internal Affairs Bureau, was stuck in her office despite it being a Sunday, driven by suspicion as she scanned the reports.
There were simply too few clues regarding this incident.
Even if they were obsolete portable missiles, removing military weaponry requires, at a minimum, an internal collaborator. Even assuming the base commander had been bribed, the fact that there were no traces of the removal in almost any information log—such as biometric or mechanical authentication records—spoke to the baffling complexity of the crime.
(Good grief... why does this problem have to land on my desk now, of all times? What is going on?)
To be honest, Balance wanted to hold her head in her hands; this issue had surfaced while she was already grappling with separate problems. It was then that an email alert chimed, sounding almost like a helping hand reaching out to her. It came via the encrypted communication line used only by the top levels of the Intelligence Department.
With mechanical precision, Balance copied the encrypted email onto dedicated media incompatible with commercial devices and loaded it into an offline decoder. This was a protocol to prevent the leakage of decrypted content.
The sender displayed was "The Seven Sages."
As Balance read through the content repeatedly, she realized her breathing had become ragged.
"Is such a thing... even permissible? No, this is bad. Extremely bad..."
The tip-off from the "Seven Sages" stated that the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President was involved in this leakage of weaponry. Furthermore, the objective was included. If what was written here was true, this incident of leaked disposal-designated weapons was part of a massive conspiracy far exceeding Balance's predictions.
What Balance feared most was the existence of two heroes in that country: Kozo Kamiizumi and Chihime Kagurazaka. And then there was the man she knew to be that country's Strategic-Class Magician, who had succeeded as the head of the Kagurazaka family at the start of the year: Yugen Kagurazaka. The question floated to the surface of her mind: Could the current USNA afford the price of making enemies of these three?
Balance was torn. Given their exceptional intelligence network, they likely already sensed the existence of those attempting to leave the country to commit terror. It was even possible they held all the information the "Seven Sages" had just conveyed.
In that sense, if she were to clumsily provoke those known as "The Untouchables," there was a possibility they would retaliate by leaking USNA government scandals to the major media. Even if she tried to proceed secretly with the Japanese government, doing so in front of them would be tantamount to acting while stark naked.
Furthermore, during her previous visit to Japan, Balance had made a pact with Yugen. In exchange for him accepting the clause that "any USNA personnel illegally entering Japan henceforth will be dealt with according to Japanese law," she had promised not to aim the Strategic-Class Magic used during "Scorched Halloween" at the Japanese mainland. In this case, terrorists who had already fled the USNA could certainly fall under the category of "USNA personnel."
Regardless, Balance reached for the videophone. Her hand hovered over the number pad, then stopped. In this situation, who on earth could she rely on? Balance could not find the answer.
Angelina Kudou Shields—or rather, Lina—was enjoying a long-overdue day off shopping. Naturally, she was doing so not as Angie Sirius, the USNA's state-recognized Strategic-Class Magician and one of the "Thirteen Apostles," nor as Major Angelina Sirius, Commander-in-Chief of the Stars, the magician unit directly under the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She was shopping simply as Lina, a seventeen-year-old girl.
It was Captain Sylvia Mercury First—commonly known as Sylvie—who had suggested stretching their legs all the way to Albuquerque instead of the base-adjacent Roswell.
—Sylvie, if we leave things as they are, let alone her fashion sense, my big sister's basic life skills are going to turn into a total disaster! Please, look after her! If anything happens, email or call me. I'll help you as much as I can!
—Yes! Leave it to me, Celia!
—What are you two talking about?!
Originally, due to Celia's highly specialized position within Stars, she had refined her fashion sense through Sylvia, whom she met during training. They had built a relationship that was more like sisters than friends—even more so than with Lina.
—After seeing that outfit you wore for New Year's, do you really think I can trust you, Big Sis?
—Ah, I'm sorry. So please stop.
When her mission in Japan ended, Celia had been discharged, naturalized, and remained in Japan. Fearing a decline in Lina's general ability to function as an adult, Celia had begged Sylvia to take on a support role. Lina had instinctively voiced an objection to this, but faced with Celia's logical assault, she had surrendered with tears in her eyes.
Witnessing this scene, Sylvia had found herself smiling, wondering which one was actually the older sister.
Even from Sylvie's perspective, although they were twins sharing the same blood (hair color differences notwithstanding), Celia had firmly acquired the life skills and fashion sense that Lina lacked. In response to Celia's assertion that "there is no reason Lina can't do what I can do," and perhaps because she had been unexpectedly promoted, Sylvia burned with a sense of duty to mold Lina into a splendid young woman.
As a result, Lina was being treated like Sylvia's dress-up doll, but she didn't find it unpleasant. After all, Lina herself had learned the hard way that she needed to polish her fashion sense.
—A skirt with a Kimono?! Even a progressive Japanese person wouldn't be caught dead doing that! What era are you from, you idiot?!
—Give, give, give! Stop, Celia, the human body doesn't bend that w... ah!
—Lina?!
Last New Year's, when Lina was already in Japan, she had returned from her first shrine visit wearing blatantly anachronistic clothing. Waiting for her was Celia, wearing a Hannya mask (where she bought it remains a mystery), who proceeded to put her through a hell of joint locks.
Lina had fainted from the pain. She only regained consciousness after her maternal grandmother, standing on the far bank of a beautiful river, shooed her away saying, "You can't come here yet!" Since that incident, Celia and Sylvie had been strictly drilling common sense—starting with fashion—into her.
Although there had been no sorties as Sirius recently, Lina felt this was a nice change of pace. Holding a massive haul of spoils, she parted ways with Sylvia in front of her quarters in high spirits and entered her room. However, Lina's good mood was instantly dispelled by a single email arriving on her terminal.
"Special Encryption Email!?"
It wasn't that unusual for mission-related encrypted communications to arrive at her dorm room. However, communications using the special encryption meant solely for use between Stars captains, or between the Joint Chiefs and the Commander-in-Chief, had never been sent to her private quarters before.
Normally, one should be suspicious of such a "breach of custom," but Lina judged it might be an extreme emergency and waited for the decoding to finish. When she saw the decrypted content, she was astonished.
"The Seven Sages...?"
Lina initially suspected a prank, but she quickly dismissed the thought. recalling that a USNA military profiler had once described them as having a mindset similar to thrill-seeking criminals. Given that they had gone to the trouble of using the special encryption format, she decided it was important to confirm the content first.
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