"Where's Cocolia?"
Durandal turned and looked at Rita.
"Did you find her?"
Rita shook her head with regret.
"I'm afraid not, my lady. Within this radius… we couldn't even recover a complete strand of DNA."
With the tip of her shoe, she lightly tapped a black stain on the ground.
"Maybe that used to be part of her. Maybe this was. Who can say?"
Durandal frowned. She didn't like anything that felt like a puzzle.
"What did Intelligence say?"
Durandal pulled her glove back on.
"A blank slate."
Rita narrowed her eyes like a lazy cat.
Then she paused, the smile at the corner of her lips deepening slightly.
"However… we did uncover something rather interesting about why Cocolia came here in the first place."
Rita stepped closer, lowering her voice.
"She intended to trigger the Third Eruption. And her experimental subject," Rita watched Durandal's profile, "was a girl named Raiden Mei—living right here in this city, going about her daily life completely unguarded."
Wind sighed through the ruins, making a low, mournful sound.
Rita gave a quiet, inward sigh.
The Overseer really does have a twisted sense of humor…
He had specifically instructed her to deliver this information to Durandal—now, at this moment.
"Tell her about Raiden Mei," Otto had said, "and it will also be a good chance for her to come into contact with Kiana."
What was this supposed to be?
Letting the "sister" deal with the "sister's friend"? Or was it simply his curiosity about what would happen when K-423 and the real Kiana met—what sparks would fly?
Rita was Schicksal's sharpest scythe, and its most considerate maid. Her job was execution, not commentary. Whether this farce of sisters meeting without recognizing each other was absurd… wasn't within her scope.
Besides, Rita had known from the very beginning that Durandal was Kiana.
And she had no intention of telling Durandal that.
If Durandal learned it now, it would bring her nothing but harm.
Of course… if one day Durandal discovered it, and insisted on digging for the truth, then Rita would tell her everything.
"Raiden Mei…?"
Durandal repeated the name.
Strangely, she felt almost nothing when she said it.
"Speaking of leads," Rita continued, "we pulled footage from Mei's academy. We found evidence of her being isolated and bullied… and we also found this."
Rita took out her terminal and swiped twice.
"A declaration in the hallway by her friend—Miss Kiana. It may be the most… unique clue we have."
The video began playing automatically.
A girl with silver-white braided hair struck an unbelievably cringe, overdramatic pose in the corridor and shouted at the top of her lungs. Then she was spotted by Raiden Mei, chased after her, and during their conversation, yelled her "introduction" out like a battlefield announcement:
"I'm the Phantom Thieves' Boss—Prison King!"
…What kind of rare species of idiot was this?
Watching the clip, Durandal didn't know why she suddenly wanted to sigh.
She didn't want to admit it—but seeing that girl on screen triggered a strange, indefinable discomfort in her chest.
If she were the one doing that… she would probably die of embarrassment.
"That's not the point."
Durandal stiffly changed the subject, as if another second of that video would contaminate her intelligence.
She turned away from the massive crater and looked toward the brightly lit districts of Nagazora City.
That was the direction Raiden Mei should be.
"Now that Cocolia is gone, what's the status of the experimental subject?" Durandal asked. "Still attending school?"
"That's the most interesting part."
Rita put the terminal away and fell into step beside her.
"According to the latest surveillance, Raiden Mei has been taken by a group of inexplicable individuals. And one of them displayed an ability that looked very much like 'summoning'… before returning home."
Rita paused deliberately, eyes on Durandal's straight back.
"And that Miss Kiana—who calls herself 'Boss'—appears to be with her."
Durandal didn't stop walking, but the crunch of gravel under her boots grew heavier.
"Did the Overseer say we're not allowed to make contact with… Raiden Mei?"
Durandal hesitated, then corrected herself.
"Or… bring her back directly?"
She looked past Rita to the distant outline of the city.
"Our objective is to identify the one who summoned that demon and killed Cocolia," she said.
When she said the word "demon," Durandal visibly paused—like the term itself was too ridiculous to sit comfortably in her mouth.
"But we can't avoid contact with Mei. Intelligence says she was Cocolia's subject. And if the summoner targeted Cocolia… they're likely watching Mei too."
Rita stood quietly beside her. The night wind lifted the hem of her maid skirt. She didn't answer immediately—only reached up and tucked a strand of wind-tossed hair behind her ear.
"Thinking this much doesn't sound like you, Lady Durandal."
Rita smiled—an unreadable, teasing curve.
"Sometimes it's better to let things unfold naturally. If you cling too tightly to 'the correct way,' you miss the best openings."
Durandal heard the playful edge in her tone.
She didn't get angry. She only looked… tired.
"Because it isn't a Honkai beast."
Durandal let out a long breath, clearly exasperated by anything involving people and social nuance.
"You can't solve it with combat."
She turned, boots thudding dully on scorched earth.
"If it were a beast—an Emperor-class, even—it'd still be one shot. But people… especially schoolgirls…"
Durandal shook her head.
"They're the biggest headache."
"That Kiana Kaslana…"
Rita spoke the name with a soft chuckle, as if remembering something amusing.
"She looks troublesome. But as an entry point… she may be unexpectedly suitable."
Durandal glanced over, brows still pinched in that awkward, conflicted angle.
"Entry point?"
"Yes." Rita raised her terminal again, screenlight reflecting in her eyes. "The Overseer wants us to approach Raiden Mei. But walking up to her directly—whether as Schicksal Valkyries or as 'transfer students'—will spike her guard immediately."
Rita swiped and brought up a photo.
In it, Kiana was sprawled on a desk at Chiba Academy, drooling into a puddle, death-gripping a manga volume in one hand.
"But what if we go through her friend?"
Rita turned the screen toward Durandal.
"Especially a friend like this—simple-minded, emotions written plainly on her face, and extremely easy to lure with a certain kind of bait."
Durandal stared at the sleeping girl.
Her mouth twitched.
"Simple-minded?"
She remembered the "I'm Prison King" video.
"…Fine," Durandal admitted reluctantly. "She really is."
"So that's your plan?" Durandal pointed at Rita's terminal. "You're going to grab her?"
"Oh my." Rita drew the terminal back, tapping the casing lightly with her fingers. "Lady Durandal, you're always so direct."
"'Grab' is far too crude. We'll simply send her an invitation she cannot refuse."
Rita opened a newly delivered intelligence packet.
A quick background check revealed that Miss Kiana—beyond her abnormal fixation on Raiden Mei—had another fatal weak point.
She loved manga.
Especially Homu manga.
That yellow, big-eared creature—bizarre in Rita's eyes—yet somehow a global hit.
"Intelligence shows that just a few days ago, Miss Kiana posted on a forum asking how to get an out-of-print Homu Adventure collector's edition."
As she spoke, Rita opened a disguised backend program with frightening ease.
Her fingers danced over the virtual keyboard so fast they almost left afterimages.
Dear Loyal Reader of Homu Adventure,
Congratulations! As this year's luckiest reader, you have been selected as the First Prize winner of the "Homu Festival"!
Prize: The complete out-of-print Collector's Edition set of Homu Adventure (includes author's signature + limited figure).
Claim Condition: Today only. Claim within 3 hours at Homu Specialty Store, No. XX, XX Street, Nagazora City. Expired claims will be void.
Rita bolded and highlighted the words Expired claims will be void.
"No matter how clumsy the trap," Rita murmured—half to herself, half like a lesson, "if the bait is sweet enough, the prey stops thinking about the snare."
She hit send.
Durandal watched the smooth, practiced sequence of operations in silence for a moment.
"…That's it?" the strongest Valkyrie asked, doubtful. "This looks like an obvious scam text. People actually fall for this?"
If Durandal received something like that, her first response would be: block, report, delete.
Even if the prize was her favorite limited edition, she would verify the sender and confirm the event's authenticity first.
"For normal people, yes—full of holes."
Rita closed the terminal and turned away from the ruins. The wind messed up her bangs; she lifted a hand to press them down.
"But for an idiot…"
Rita tilted her head and winked.
"This is the call of destiny."
—
"AAAAAAAAAH!!! I WON! I WON! YESSS— I WON!!!"
A shriek loud enough to shatter glass exploded inside the villa.
Kiana sprang out of bed like a toy packed with springs, eyes glued to her phone screen. Her pupils constricted and dilated wildly, like she'd seen the end of the world—or something even more shocking.
"What happened?!"
In the next room, Bai Qian jolted upright, hand instinctively reaching under his pillow for something hard—a habit he'd recently developed. But when he realized Kiana wasn't screaming in pain, she was screaming in ecstasy, his nerves eased.
With the team-building mission complete, as long as they didn't return to their original worlds, time there remained paused. After discussing it, everyone decided to stay a little longer.
Sakiko and Rin wanted real rest. Talulah wanted time to read. Melina wanted to experience another world. Bai Qian had nothing urgent to do—and he definitely didn't feel like going back to school.
People who liked school were a special breed.
"Bai Qian! Bai Qian, look!!"
Kiana, wearing strawberry-and-bear pajamas, slammed on his door without shame. The moment it opened, she launched herself onto him and shoved her phone screen right up to his nose.
"I WON! I WON—AAAAH!!"
Bai Qian got dizzy from the shaking. He grabbed her shoulders to steady her.
"Won what?"
"Homu! Collector's edition! Signature! And a figure!!"
Kiana spat the words like a broken voice recorder.
She shoved the text message—radiating I am a scammer energy—into Bai Qian's view.
"Look! It's from the official—uh, probably official—anyway it says I'm first prize! I just have to go pick it up!!"
Bai Qian narrowed his eyes at the red-highlighted "expired claims void."
"Kiana," he hesitated, trying to be gentle with this overexcited paramecium, "it's 2 a.m. And the sender is a string of gibberish. Don't you think that's… weird?"
"Bai Qian, you're overthinking it!"
At this point, Kiana's IQ had been conquered and occupied by four words: out-of-print limited figure.
"This is Homu! Homu wouldn't lie to me! And it says only three hours! If I waste time, the figure will fly away!"
She didn't even put on socks. She ran back, jammed her feet into sneakers, grabbed a jacket, and started pulling it on.
"I'm coming with you."
Bai Qian threw off the blanket and started to get up.
This was absolutely a trap—possibly dangerous. There was no way he was letting Kiana go out alone at this hour.
If he went with her, he could also see who was behind the message.
"No, no!"
Kiana was already at the door. She turned back toward Mei's room and waved with an idiot-bright grin.
"You go back to sleep! You've been so tired lately, and you help me all the time—this kind of errand is on me! I'll bring the figure back and show you!!"
"Wait—take this. If something happens, let Sirin come out and carry you."
Bai Qian tossed her the SEED summoner.
When he first got it, he'd learned that any gun could be used to summon a Persona. Now that he had Whisper, he didn't need the device anymore.
"Got it!!"
Kiana caught it, stuffed it into her pocket, and slammed the door.
A thundering series of footsteps stormed down the hallway—only Kiana could run like that. Like a dog set loose, blissfully unaware of what waited ahead.
Bai Qian stared at the closed door and sighed.
He didn't lie back down. He went to the window and watched the white figure sprinting out below.
Curtains fluttered in the night wind. Bai Qian tapped the windowsill lightly with his fingers.
He probably knew exactly who had sent that message.
—
"See?"
Several kilometers away, Rita watched the surveillance feed—the white figure sprinting down the street—and let out a soft laugh.
"Sometimes… it really is that simple."
She turned to Durandal.
"Now then, Lady Durandal. We should depart as well. If the guest has already set off, and the host does not go to welcome them… that would be terribly impolite."
Durandal stared at the screen. Kiana ran fast—so fast she nearly tripped flat on her face at an intersection.
"She looks really stupid."
Durandal muttered under her breath.
She adjusted her gloves, blue eyes flashing with complicated emotion.
"Let's go."
Durandal said.
"We'll pretend to be the shop owner and clerk… and see just how stupid she can be."
....
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