"That stingy President actually gave you the files? How the hell did you convince her?" Misaki asked as she flipped through the pages of the files, seeing much information she had never known before being presented in sentences and pictures.
"...I didn't do anything, she gave it to me on a whim, it seems," Saori said. "But that's alright. There are many things we still don't know in this world. In this case, it doesn't matter if she used me until my last breath; this file is priceless."
"Say that one more time and I'll shoot you." Turning her head sharply, Misaki frowned, which caused Saori to be taken aback.
Seeing Saori not picking up the hint, Misaki explained, "Priceless or not, you are still our Leader. Information is information, but it's never worth more than your life. Especially not information regarding someone who's already..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Misaki shook her head.
"In any case, what are we going to do with this thing?"
'Let me see it for a second, please.' Atsuko signed and held out her hands, which Misaki immediately placed the files on.
A couple of page flips later, Atsuko's eyes widened under her mask, a smile tugging her lips.
She kept her hands on the page to prevent the wind from flipping them and presented them on the table.
'This is her gun's model.' Pointing at the image, she signed again, 'Let's find it.'
If Kasuka were here to look at the image with them, she'd be scratching her head, muttering to herself something along the lines of, 'This is not my gun...?'
"Huh? She got her gun... the moment she was born?" Reading the sentences besides the image, Azusa couldn't help but exclaim.
Unlike them, who got their gun when they got to the age of 8, Kasuka got it immediately after she was born.
(A/N: I know guns are available everywhere in Kivotos, but this is Arius. Before the new President took over, nobody had access to guns the moment they are born... or so is how my headcannon goes. Take this info with a grain of salt.)
Whether she could even grip her hands at that time, no one could tell.
But after reading the descriptions, now there's another problem at hand...
Where to find it?
Right as that question floated into everyone's mind, Azusa fisted her palm. "Ah, Hime was searching for her gun earlier? Why didn't you tell me? I could've helped."
After being reminded of Atsuko's dirty appearance earlier, Azusa finally connected the dots of context, finally knowing what the girl was doing inside a pit.
"Hime was doing that? Alone?" Misaki said, her gaze hovering over the lavender-haired girl, whose face was covered in a mask.
But looking at that body language, Atsuko was undoubtedly embarrassed after being caught in the act.
'I figured that I don't want to bother anyone... everyone seems very busy...'
"It's nothing to be embarrassed about, we're all family here. Before our personal interest, we'll drop everything to help each other, remember?" Saori patted Atsuko's head, which caused the lavender-haired girl to heave a sigh of relief.
"Alright, that's a good start. For the next few weeks, let's work together to search for her firearm... That morning we discovered her... Her firearm was nowhere in sight."
"It could be concluded that after we all lost consciousness fighting against her, she immediately went after the Madame, fought her for a while, and in the end, came out a victor at the cost of mutual destruction."
"But we can't put aside the possibility that Madame was the one on the losing end the entire time, only coming up with a final push, which consumed her entire life force and brought Kasuka down with her..."
Of course, that second scenario was purely fantastical; none of them were naive enough to believe such an exaggerated story.
But it's not like there's anyone who'd argue with them about what the facts are like. In this case, who can say that it didn't go like that?
Things in life never just go the way you want.
Perhaps it was the small tug of their emotion, wanting to color Kasuka's battle with glory and pride instead of a useless battle that could only end in mutual destruction.
They wanted to believe that Kasuka did not willingly throw her life away for them.
The guilt was overwhelming.
Much better for them to know that Madame was the one feeling hopeless rather than Kasuka.
But then there's the downside to that scenario too...
"Let's prepare, we'll be camping out for a couple of days in search of her gun." Saying this, Saori stored the file in a safe space, a small metal vault big enough to store valuables.
"Um... I actually noticed something today... while on the tree..."
"Hm?" Hearing this, Saori turned her head slightly, gesturing the teal-haired girl to elaborate.
Although she was confused about what 'on the tree' meant, she did not question it and waited for the girl to explain herself.
"I was practicing my aim this morning and... I think I saw something in the distance that looks like an entrance to an underground train station of some sort."
"Hime, did you find anything during your search?"
'No, I came out empty-handed.'
"In that case, is it possible for us to help Hime first and then check this place out? I feel like... it might have something important hidden inside."
Hiyori no longer stumbled over her own words like she did when she was younger. Her skills were also polished enough to hide herself even with very few spots to cover.
Of course, she's still hesitant to present her thoughts, but if it compelled her enough, she'd still push through.
"That's a good plan. Now that we have an idea of what we'll be doing for the next couple of days, we'll set out the next morning. Make sure you all get a good rest tonight." After their meeting concluded, everyone cleaned themselves and turned off the light to sleep.
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Advanced Chapters are out in the Discord Server!
https://discord.gg/2SBVe7SN2b