"Countdown starting!
"10... 9... 8... 7..."
"0! Ignition!"
Oriha Nashida slammed the launch button, and a rocket roared to life and shot into the sky.
This was the same rocket he had brought with him, the one that made her itch to take it apart and study every last piece. Then, just as she was watching it ascend, something else streaked across the sky, instantly souring her mood.
It was the aircraft codenamed Ho 229, the larger version of the transforming powered armor he had left behind. She wanted to try piloting that thing just as badly.
Unfortunately, she didn't meet the size requirement. She was too short, which made it hard for her to operate it properly.
It was basically like making her drive an off-road vehicle when her feet could barely reach the gas or brake pedals.
Except with this thing, it wasn't just the pedals. The whole cockpit layout simply didn't suit her frame.
She looked over at someone else, Saya Takagi. She had the same problem. Too short, so she couldn't pilot it either.
If you wanted to fly it, one meter sixty was the minimum height.
And that aircraft could go straight into space.
But it was only suited for androids flying into space, because humans needed protective suits.
The original design had been made specifically for android use, so no one had ever considered the possibility that an android would need to wear a human-style spacesuit. Once one was on, there simply wasn't enough room inside.
So why didn't he bring over a fighter made for humans instead?
"Saeko, tell me the secret."
"What secret?"
"The secret about those androids he brought with him."
Oriha had noticed it earlier. When Saeko Busujima saw them, her reaction had definitely been surprise, but not surprise that the androids looked so human.
It was more like she had seen them before.
Or rather, like she knew them.
"If it's a secret, then of course I can't tell you."
Saeko replied with a faint smile. She had assumed Oriha had figured out that the androids weren't actually from his world.
After all, what they were allowing people to know for now was that he came from this world's future.
And among the weapons and equipment here, some looked like weapons from the present era, while others were clearly more advanced. With things from different eras being taken out one after another, anyone normal would find that suspicious.
Saeko had already offered an explanation for that too. In his world, some human planets had lost contact with one another, and the technology on certain worlds had regressed. So seeing something like twenty-first-century weapons there was perfectly normal.
"How boring."
Oriha pouted.
The next second, however, her expression turned sly and shameless.
"So... does that kind of thing feel good?"
"What kind of thing?"
Saeko tilted her head.
"You know, that."
"Hm?"
"Are you pretending to be dumb on purpose?"
"What?"
"I mean... what you two did last night."
As for why she dared ask something like that, it was because Saeko really didn't seem like the sort to get flustered or angry over this kind of topic.
"Yes. It's wonderful. Want to join us next time, Oriha?"
Saeko answered in a teasing tone, clearly not bothered in the slightest.
Rather, if Oriha joined in and that created another layer of intimacy between them, then she would become an even more trustworthy companion.
Especially for a genius in networks and electronic technology like her, Saeko had no intention of letting her slip away if she could help it. The best outcome would be making her one of their own.
Meanwhile, the person currently learning how to pilot the Ho 229 was Yuriko Takagi.
It looked a lot like learning how to drive.
He was teaching Yuriko how to operate the machine.
The difference was that when people learned to drive, the instructor sat in the passenger seat while the learner sat in the driver's seat.
But the Ho 229 had no separate passenger seat. It only had a single pilot's position.
So giving instructions was basically the same as having both people squeezed into the pilot's seat, with one sitting in the other's lap while the one behind guided her hands and movements from the rear.
That was why Saya had dragged her mother over to be the very first to learn. In truth, she was deliberately creating an opportunity for something a little more intimate.
...
Tobioka City.
An aircraft suddenly descended onto the roof of a hospital, and two people stepped out.
The reason both of them had come was that while he had been in the middle of teaching her, they had happened to pass nearby and received a message from this place. There had been a major discovery.
A moment later, they arrived at a laboratory inside the base below.
"...This is what we found."
There was no need for a flood of technical jargon. They explained it in terms simple enough for Kain to understand immediately.
His blood could further stimulate the activation of esper genes.
Yes, on the very first day after he arrived, they had wasted no time in asking for a blood sample for experimental research. Kain had not hesitated to provide it.
If his blood could help improve the Earth Elixir even further, then that would only be a good thing.
And through his blood, they discovered that it could stimulate the blood of others as well, causing genetic changes...
This reaction was especially obvious in people who had been altered through D99.
The test subject, Fiona Ran Winchester, possessed the power of precognition.
Now, it seemed she could barely activate it on her own, instead of only triggering it passively and unpredictably.
Still, that ability to see the future appeared to have limitations. It seemed she could only predict events in the area around her, almost like an early warning system for dangers threatening her life.
And Kain also learned the secret surrounding Fiona Ran Winchester. The power Syringe sought was inside her: immortality.
Now they needed him to provide even more blood so Fiona could stimulate her ability again and complete the vision she had just experienced. Apparently, it involved something falling to the ground and causing a catastrophic explosion.
"Go ahead and draw it."
They took one hundred cc of blood from him.
Their method of testing was as simple and crude as ever. They injected it directly into her.
Not all at once, though. They pushed it in little by little. As they did, he saw changes in her eyes, as though light were flowing inside them.
And not just that. Kain could also feel her life force rapidly pouring out, being burned away at an alarming rate.
Her expression gradually twisted in pain, and sweat began pouring from her whole body.
Only after nearly half of his blood sample had been used did she stop the injection. By then, she looked like she had just been hauled out of the water.
"It's a nuclear bomb!"
"A nuclear bomb?"
Kain's brow twitched.
A nuke had been hidden inside a satellite?
"There's a nuclear weapon hidden inside a satellite. The time is roughly tomorrow at noon. The impact point is the city where Syringe's former base was located."
From the sound of it, a solar storm was going to interfere with the satellite and send it crashing down. And since the location was close by, this city might be caught in the blast too.
Kain walked over to the side and picked up a fresh syringe.
"You don't mind if I draw some of your blood too, do you?"
"Please, go ahead."
He immediately drew a tube from her. Then, under the stunned gazes of everyone present, he injected it into himself.
If his blood worked on her, then in theory the reverse should also be true.
He pushed it in little by little, wanting to see what kind of effect it would have on him.
At first, it seemed like nothing happened. He felt no visible change in his body.
No, that wasn't right.
The people in the room suddenly went pale and began to sway on their feet.
It looked like a sudden wave of intense pain had hit them. They were dizzy, lightheaded, and unsteady, as if they might pass out at any second.
The sensation was strangely familiar.
Kain immediately pulled out the needle.
His expression shifted slightly in surprise, because he thought he understood what had just happened.
It seemed his Untouchable ability could take effect on this side too.
(End of Chapter)
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