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Authors: Gakuto Mikumo
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much that Kojou was dense as he was treating her like any old friend. When Asagi thought about it more, it was a lot like her relationship with Motoki Yaze.
Something tugged at her nonetheless. It was vague, based on intuition.
It was the same as the ill feeling she had when seeing bugs’ guts on a serious program. Nothing constituted concrete evidence, but Asagi absolutely did not ignore her malaise, for experience had taught her that it was linked to grievous danger.
I see
, Asagi realized.
I just don’t like this Yuuma Tokoyogi girl.
Asagi was still indulging in such insecure thoughts when Yaze came back from taking the cell call outside the shop.
“You’re serious… Understood. I’ll be back shortly.”
Saying those last words with an unusually grave look on his face, Yaze brusquely hung up the call.
“Yaze? What’s wrong?” Asagi inquired.
“Ahh, sorry. Something’s come up. I’ve gotta be on my way.”
Yaze immediately returned to his usual carefree tone, but the crease between his eyebrows did not vanish. Whatever was happening was apparently no minor emergency.
“What? Your girlfriend yanking your chain?”
“Something like that. See ya!”
Yaze rushed out of the store, his favorite headphones in tow. Kojou had French fries in his mouth when he did a double take while watching him go.
“Hey, you! Pay for what you ate, will ya?!” Kojou bellowed.
“Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
“Don’t
mwa-ha-ha
me!!”
The other guests in the restaurant were flabbergasted as they saw Yaze leave, loud laughter trailing behind him.
Asagi murmured, “Oh, for goodness’ sake,” as her eyes met Yuuma’s, who was sitting opposite her. Seeing the girl send an invigorating, charming smile back at her, Asagi repeated the same line once more in her own heart.
Oh for goodness’ sake.
The next moment, Asagi tilted her head as she felt the smartphone in her pouch vibrate.
“Ah…?”
This was the smartphone Asagi used as her personal work tool. She’d obtained it through the black market with all kinds of illegal modifications included; no one should have had that cell phone’s number.
“Sorry, I have to take this.”
Asagi made a frivolous wave to Kojou and Yuuma as she stood up. No “human” should have known the phone’s number. In other words, the caller wasn’t human at all.
Pressing the ACCEPT button, Asagi heard a composite, artificial voice flow out of the smartphone.
“—Miss? Sorry to interrupt you on your day off.”
“What is it, Mogwai? If it’s business, can it wait till later?”
Asagi grilled the AI, her partner, with obvious displeasure. Mogwai was the Ghost of Itogami Island—the avatar of the five supercomputers that held all of Itogami Island’s urban functionality in its paws.
It boasted operational abilities on par with the world’s finest, but it was equally quirky and hard to handle, leading to a poor reputation—but for some reason, Asagi had grown fond of it.
The AI purposefully using a low-fidelity audio transmission meant that the call had a nontrivial level of scrambling in the background.
Mogwai laid things out as if to back up Asagi’s assumptions.
“Sorry, we don’t have the time to spare. It’s an emergency. A Class III Defense Condition has been instituted.”
“Huh? What the heck is this sort of large-scale terrorism?!” Asagi asked back in astonishment. She’d expected there was some kind of trouble happening, but she never expected Class III. The Demon Sanctuary had seven defense conditions, and this was third from the top. It indicated that there was grievous damage to Itogami City’s urban functionality, with a risk of serious loss of human life.
There’d only been one Class III invoked since Asagi had begun working part-time for the Management Corporation—when the Lotharingian Armed Apostle had assaulted Keystone Gate.
At the time, the Island Guard had over a hundred wounded guardsmen. In other words, Itogami Island now faced a peril of
Something tugged at her nonetheless. It was vague, based on intuition.
It was the same as the ill feeling she had when seeing bugs’ guts on a serious program. Nothing constituted concrete evidence, but Asagi absolutely did not ignore her malaise, for experience had taught her that it was linked to grievous danger.
I see
, Asagi realized.
I just don’t like this Yuuma Tokoyogi girl.
Asagi was still indulging in such insecure thoughts when Yaze came back from taking the cell call outside the shop.
“You’re serious… Understood. I’ll be back shortly.”
Saying those last words with an unusually grave look on his face, Yaze brusquely hung up the call.
“Yaze? What’s wrong?” Asagi inquired.
“Ahh, sorry. Something’s come up. I’ve gotta be on my way.”
Yaze immediately returned to his usual carefree tone, but the crease between his eyebrows did not vanish. Whatever was happening was apparently no minor emergency.
“What? Your girlfriend yanking your chain?”
“Something like that. See ya!”
Yaze rushed out of the store, his favorite headphones in tow. Kojou had French fries in his mouth when he did a double take while watching him go.
“Hey, you! Pay for what you ate, will ya?!” Kojou bellowed.
“Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
“Don’t
mwa-ha-ha
me!!”
The other guests in the restaurant were flabbergasted as they saw Yaze leave, loud laughter trailing behind him.
Asagi murmured, “Oh, for goodness’ sake,” as her eyes met Yuuma’s, who was sitting opposite her. Seeing the girl send an invigorating, charming smile back at her, Asagi repeated the same line once more in her own heart.
Oh for goodness’ sake.
The next moment, Asagi tilted her head as she felt the smartphone in her pouch vibrate.
“Ah…?”
This was the smartphone Asagi used as her personal work tool. She’d obtained it through the black market with all kinds of illegal modifications included; no one should have had that cell phone’s number.
“Sorry, I have to take this.”
Asagi made a frivolous wave to Kojou and Yuuma as she stood up. No “human” should have known the phone’s number. In other words, the caller wasn’t human at all.
Pressing the ACCEPT button, Asagi heard a composite, artificial voice flow out of the smartphone.
“—Miss? Sorry to interrupt you on your day off.”
“What is it, Mogwai? If it’s business, can it wait till later?”
Asagi grilled the AI, her partner, with obvious displeasure. Mogwai was the Ghost of Itogami Island—the avatar of the five supercomputers that held all of Itogami Island’s urban functionality in its paws.
It boasted operational abilities on par with the world’s finest, but it was equally quirky and hard to handle, leading to a poor reputation—but for some reason, Asagi had grown fond of it.
The AI purposefully using a low-fidelity audio transmission meant that the call had a nontrivial level of scrambling in the background.
Mogwai laid things out as if to back up Asagi’s assumptions.
“Sorry, we don’t have the time to spare. It’s an emergency. A Class III Defense Condition has been instituted.”
“Huh? What the heck is this sort of large-scale terrorism?!” Asagi asked back in astonishment. She’d expected there was some kind of trouble happening, but she never expected Class III. The Demon Sanctuary had seven defense conditions, and this was third from the top. It indicated that there was grievous damage to Itogami City’s urban functionality, with a risk of serious loss of human life.
There’d only been one Class III invoked since Asagi had begun working part-time for the Management Corporation—when the Lotharingian Armed Apostle had assaulted Keystone Gate.
At the time, the Island Guard had over a hundred wounded guardsmen. In other words, Itogami Island now faced a peril of
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