New Faces and New Features

The next day, Ui messaged her friend Hinata over MomoTalk. She had discovered something truly fascinating, and Hinata—who knew Ui better than almost anyone—figured that if Ui herself was calling it “very interesting,” it had to be something special. So she made her way to the Library.

“Ui? I’m here! Ui…?”

When she opened the door, she found Ui seated at her desk, so absorbed in a book that she never even noticed Hinata’s entrance. Looking closer, Hinata saw that Ui’s phone was also open; she kept glancing back and forth between the screen and the pages. Hinata stepped closer and gave her shoulder a light tap.

“Hya↗aa↘aa↗k!”

Ui let out her trademark bizarre squeak and spun around. Only then did the girl realize that the friend she herself had invited was already standing right there.

“H-Hinata! You’re here! I’m so sorry—I invited you and then completely forgot…”

“It’s fine, really. More importantly, Ui—what’s this interesting thing you mentioned?”

“Ah, well… this book is—oh.”

She cut herself ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠off mid-sentence, hastily turning her head as a memory from the past surfaced. It had been summer, on some island, when they had gone out in swimsuits to investigate.

Damn it. Back then I made Hinata look the other way so she wouldn’t get traumatized if she saw a corpse or something… and now I’m about to show her something even worse! What do I do? I already called her here—I can’t just send her away again…

“Um, Ui? Are you really okay?”

Hinata asked with a worried look. Ui clutched her head, wrestling with the dilemma, then finally let out a long sigh and answered with a grim expression.

“…Yes. I’m fine. Hinata, this is exactly as interesting as I said—really, truly fascinating. Only… it’s also filled with a story so horrible it matches that fascination.”

“Horrible… in what way?”

“In a way we’ve never heard of, never seen—something that completely transcends imagination. Even knowing that, do you still want to hear it?”

Transcends imagination. Hearing those words, Hinata honestly felt a flicker of fear. As an officer of the Sisterhood she was a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠veteran who had weathered the Eden Treaty crisis, the later assault on the False Sanctuary, and countless other trials. If something surpassed even those… what on earth could be waiting?

Yet just as curiosity had bloomed in Ui when she first spoke with Yi Sang, the same mixture of dread and intrigue rose in Hinata’s heart. Her answer was almost the same as Ui’s had been.

“Yes. I’m fine. Even if something so terrible unfolds that I can’t bear to keep my eyes open, I’ll endure it.”

“Then I suppose I can’t stop either.”

Ui smiled and turned toward the notebook.

“First I should show you what this book actually is. I found it yesterday while organizing the deeper shelves of the Library. The moment I started wondering what it was, something strange happened.”

She began writing in the book.

“Dante…? Ui, what in the world is—”

For a second Hinata wondered if Ui had simply started writing a novel. Then, in the blank space of the book, writing began to appear all by itself.

“?!”

Hinata stumbled a step backward in shock. A book that wrote itself? And the handwriting wasn’t human at all—it was sharp and clean, as if typed on a computer or phone. She looked at Ui and found the girl wearing a small smile.

“Go on, Hinata. Say hello yourself.”

“H-hello? Um… like this?”

With trembling fingers Hinata wrote.

For two or three minutes nothing happened. Then the reply began to appear.

“Ooh, so you really did bring a friend? That means even more people to chat with!”

Rodion poked Dante cheerfully in the side. For someone who loved a good gossip session during dull moments, this was excellent news.

“Dante, perhaps you should check the new character file.”

Faust spoke quietly. After saying goodbye to Ui the day before and checking the PDA again, something entirely new had appeared.

Character File — Kivotos

Tapping it revealed not only Ui’s appearance but her full name, academy, height, hobbies, and a host of other personal details, all recorded with surprising thoroughness. The odd part was the “True Name” field—it looked as though someone had scribbled over it with a pen, rendering it completely illegible.

And today Ui had brought someone new. Dante checked her file. A pretty girl with striking red eyes.

<Let’s see… Name: Wakaba Hinata. Age: 17. Also a student of Trinity General Academy, club: Sisterhood. Hmm, the True Name field is still unreadable.>

“Just as we heard—she really is a nun. I suppose that’s why her halo has those angel-like wings.”

Sinclair pointed at Hinata’s halo. Apparently every student’s ring was different. Thinking as much, Dante hit the full-body view—and the Sinners all flinched at the sight.

“Uh… that’s what a nun wears?”

Heathcliff offered the opinion in a dubious tone. The other Sinners were thinking roughly the same thing, because (in their eyes) this utterly bold girl was dressed in something far too revealing for any nun.

“Her figure is… impressive, sure, but… is she wearing that on purpose to show it off?”

“Walking around like that while serving a god? Hilarious.”

Those were Ishmael and Ryōshū. Rodion took the PDA from Dante and sent a message.

A few minutes later the reply appeared in red ink.

“….”

Even Rodion, who was relatively open-minded about fashion, was left speechless. The other Sinners couldn’t decide whether the girl was pure-hearted or the complete opposite.

“This… isn’t exactly ideal.”

“So the nuns over there just walk around dressed like that?”

“Hahaha… trends really are mysterious, aren’t they?”

“Kids these days…”

<Don’t give her too hard a time. I’m sure… she has her reasons.>

Dante worked hard to calm the Sinners down.

Before Rodion’s question, Ui had already relayed to Hinata everything she had heard the day before. In another world there existed a place called “the City,” structured much like Kivotos—only with academies replaced by corporations and the General Student Council replaced by an organization called the Head. It was a region where science and technology had advanced to an astonishing degree.

“It sounds like a dream when you just listen… but there’s a term called anomie. It means a state where values collapse under chaos and society as a whole becomes unstable.”

The City fit that word perfectly. Districts stripped of color. People turning into monsters. Convenience that hid cruelty. A place that treated human beings literally as raw materials or spare parts, and everywhere the golden rule of money above all. As Ui explained the examples, Hinata’s face went pale.

“H-how is that even possible? What about the residents? If they know society is wrong, don’t they try to change it?”

“Oh—that’s almost exactly what I said yesterday. Unfortunately, according to Yi Sang, just surviving each day is so exhausting that the chance itself never comes.”

Ui crushed the last scrap of hope Hinata had been clinging to.

“Something like that…”

“It’s truly sad. But I felt something else when I looked at this.”

Ui touched the book and flipped to an earlier page. There, photographs and information on the LCB team had appeared.

“After we talked yesterday, this showed up on the front pages. Dante, Vergilius, Charon, and all the Sinners. Everyone seems to have their own story. Looking at it made me want to explore further.”

“But… the more we hear, won’t it just get more horrible?”

“That’s true. But—”

Ui closed her eyes and folded her arms. After a deep breath, she continued.

“Dante told me. Even in a place like that, there is hope—and he’s seen it with his own eyes. I want to feel that emotion called hope for myself.

And if you’re willing, Hinata… I’d like you to feel it with me.”

“Hope…”

Hinata sank into thought. The City was bleak, yes. But perhaps that was exactly why hope there would be all the more precious.

“All right. I’ll join you.”

“I’m glad. Oh—Rodion just sent Hinata a message…”

Hinata read the infamous message, blinked in confusion, and answered exactly as she thought. Watching her, Ui smacked her own forehead.

“Hinata… do you perhaps have no idea how you look right now?”

“W-what? Ui, what do you mean—”

At Dante’s well-meaning but completely mistaken reply, Ui heaved a deep sigh.

“This is a disaster…”

“U-Ui?!”

Only the truly pure-hearted Hinata looked ready to cry.

“Hinata…”

“Ahahaha…”

The first entry in the exchange diary had been the story of how Ui and Hinata first met.