A Cautious Return Home
"It's been a while since you've come home, huh?"
The commute back with Nero nestled quietly in my arms felt strangely awkward. After all, she was the one who had always been so reluctant to leave the house.
"Nyaauu.."
'You look happy. I guess the trip was pretty fun?'
"Haha..."
I didn't want to worry Nero, so I kept it to myself, but I couldn't help wondering how she'd react if I told her our plane had exploded and crashed. Since we were specifically targeted, I was concerned whether it was really safe to head straight home like this. The President had mentioned that the Vatican treats exposing ability users or anomalies to the public as taboo, and that crowded places are generally safer unless the incident can be disguised as an accident. She also noted that the Vatican inquisitor nicknamed "Fire Chicken," who possesses flame-related abilities, is infamous precisely because his powers make it easy to stage incidents as gas explosions or fires. That made it hard to feel completely at ease even at home. That's probably why she offered to assign guards. She said I probably wouldn't notice them, but the thought of someone silently watching me from somewhere out of reach left me with an odd feeling, even if their intentions were protective.
..Why did she say "probably," though?
"Want to stop by the mart on the way back? I'll make you more churu."
'You can't take me inside.'
Right, pets aren't allowed in there. My instincts, sharpened by years of diligent work since joining the facility, were warning me that something troublesome was about to happen. I tried to score some points with Nero in advance, but it was a spectacular failure. Of course, I wasn't about to give up that easily.
"Nero, can't you disappear and reappear at will?"
'Using that makes me tired. You can just go to the mart alone tomorrow.'
She was being awfully cold. I'd hoped she'd be a little warmer after three days apart, but maybe she was sulking again. She had made a huge fuss about the bird feather smell clinging to me earlier.
"Fine, let's just go home. I'm tired too."
'...Good.'
Or maybe she just really wanted to get back. Even if not as much as Nero, I was also looking forward to returning after a long time. I wanted nothing more than to shower and collapse into bed. The President had given me tomorrow off to recover from the business trip, so... maybe I'd sleep in late.
*
"Is it really okay to just send him back like this?"
"Our Yerin is worried about Woong, aren't you?"
"..Ahem, ahem. Of course I'm worried. The signal suddenly cut out over the Gulf of Mexico, no one could be reached, and just when we finally got through via Mr. Luke, we heard the plane had crashed."
The three team leaders, who had been meeting more frequently than just for regular conferences lately, along with their sole President, had called an emergency meeting right after sending Nero and the Counselor away. The topic was naturally the preemptive attack they had just suffered. The Response Team Leader immediately launched into a heated discussion, but the President's reply remained relaxed.
"Well, no need to worry for now. Right now, Woong's side is probably the safest place to be."
"What do you mean by that.."
"As always, our capricious little ladies have started moving on their own after catching some kind of scent."
"..."
But there was a reason for that attitude. Within this facility, the only ones who fit the description of "capricious little ladies" were those two.
"More than that, I can't even begin to guess what kind of scheme that Fire Chicken woman will pull this time."
"That.. you're right."
If those two had gotten involved, any attempt on our part to do something would be meaningless. Everyone present understood that fact, so they could move straight to the main agenda.
"No, it's strange. They were flying at such a high altitude, and right in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, too."
"It wouldn't make sense unless it's a space interference-type ability. Or perhaps one specialized in coordinate setting and tracking.."
When the Management Team Leader chimed in with a plausible guess, the President nodded and folded her arms. She seemed to be recalling the scene of the incident at the time. Elise Canine, the proud warrior of the Silver Wolf clan, possessed no abilities herself, but anyone who had seen her fight even once refused to believe that. She herself brushed it off as a woman's intuition, but her ability to sense danger in advance and evade it, as if she had already seen the future, was convincing enough to make people think otherwise. Her extremely developed physical abilities and beastly instincts sometimes made it seem as though she possessed precognitive powers.
"Above all, that fiery strike was aimed precisely at me."
That was how she had been able to sense the danger and protect the two of them just before the plane exploded and crashed. If the attack had targeted the plane or the other two instead of her specifically, her response probably wouldn't have come in time. Ironically, because she herself was the target, she detected the crisis and everyone survived.
"In that case, it's almost certain to be an ability, and the likelihood of it being a target-designation type increases."
"Yeah. If that's the case, then Miho and I, who showed our faces to Fire Chicken during the nest cleanup, might be in danger."
Though called President, she was the chairwoman of the Eunrang Group. She had never carelessly exposed herself to the media, and the Field Team Leader usually stayed at the facility except when going for bike rides, always prepared for emergency calls, so the chance of being traced back through identity was extremely low. Above all, this facility had the most solid countermeasures against space interference... or rather, the facility itself was the countermeasure, so there was no immediate danger.
"Since that's how it is, Miho and I will refrain from leaving the facility for a while. Yerin, increase surveillance personnel at the hideouts of those individuals we discovered earlier, and from now on, always commute with Woong. Today, go back with that person over there."
"With the Management Team Leader?!"
The person the President pointed to with her chin, the one tilting her head with interest, was the one wearing the clown mask. The Response Team Leader was startled and asked for confirmation again, but there was no one else in that direction, and reality didn't change.
"Your reaction is extremely displeased.. I do have feelings that can be hurt, you know."
"Ah, no.. I'm sorry.. It's not that..."
After all, having the Management Team Leader come to the house meant cameras and wiretaps would be added in every corner without anyone knowing—again. Thinking about it, her every move at home was already being monitored under the pretext of protection, so adding a few more wouldn't make much difference... but what this meant right now was to sleep together today and return together tomorrow. Even if she was always being watched, actually being in the same space and directly visible felt completely different.
"If there's anything left unresolved from last time with Nero, it also means you should have a pajama party tonight and get close again, so it's okay to be late tomorrow."
In truth, that incident had been resolved one way or another when the President intervened, so there wasn't really any lingering resentment between the two. However, the Response Team Leader definitely found it harder to deal with the Management Team Leader than before. Originally, rather than being close, she had always been the one getting surprised or teased.. If it weren't for the fact that she had received help from the Management Team Leader multiple times, knowingly or not, she might have gone beyond disliking her to outright hating her. But this just looked like a stubborn teacher forcing two people to shake hands and make up.
"..Understood."
Of course, even she couldn't refuse an order from her superior. It was inevitable.
"The attack they launched as a greeting this time, and that rather troublesome-looking ability—they've returned to this land they fled from, so it means they've come back grinding their teeth. Everyone, stay sharp."
"Yes!"
"Miho, you're not answering?"
"Ah, yeah."
It was a half-hearted reply with no tension whatsoever, but if one thought of it as the leisure of the strong, it wasn't strange. Normally she would have let it slide, but this time was different.
"You all know well how hot-tempered that woman is. You guys will manage to survive on your own, but this time you need to pay more attention to preventing innocent victims from getting caught up in it."
"..."
Until now, her voice had still carried traces of her usual playfulness, but it suddenly sank low. Even the Field Team Leader couldn't help but straighten her slouched posture with a flinch of her shoulders.
"She'll definitely come charging in without looking back, using every dirty trick she can think of, all in the name of revenge. We have a lot to protect, so we can't afford to let even one of them get hit. Understood?"
"..It's not like I plan on going down easily either."
Her husky voice, slightly cracked from years of smoking cigars, had the characteristic of drawing people's attention and lingering in their ears more than ever when she spoke seriously. Even though she always seemed to act with irresponsible laissez-faire, in moments like this, her charisma as a leader was clearly visible.
"The data I received from Luke this time will be organized and sent to each of your terminals by today, so let's meet again at this time tomorrow. We're done for today."