The Hidden Savior
The President's office looked exactly as I remembered it — neither too cramped nor too spacious, lined with antique furniture and lit by a dim, moody glow that felt more suited to a lounge than a workplace. It had been a long time since I'd last seen this room.
"Aha-ha-ha-ha..."
"..."
Through the thick haze of cigar smoke drifting over the desk, the silver-haired woman bared her fangs around the cigar and burst into hearty laughter. Standing before her was none other than the Field Team Leader. No one else was in sight, so it seemed she'd come here alone.
"Instead of just laughing, how about telling me what we're going to do?"
"Hoo... Indeed. Leaving a piece of herself inside a staff member's body so she could wander freely outside the facility... that's a rather serious violation."
The woman uncrossed and recrossed her legs, exhaling a long plume of smoke as she mulled over the tangled issues from the recent incident. Prisoner Scarlet, identification number 018. What we called her — Code Name Fire Chicken — was now under strict surveillance and isolation while we decided her fate.
Normally, a prisoner marked with a Stigma would be executed without pain, but she had once been in charge of cleaning the nest and had served for a long time as an executioner for the Inquisition. She was practically a mid-level executive. Personally, I wanted to extract as much information from her as possible. Depending on what she knew, we might save several more precious lives.
"I never expected Undine to enjoy such a deviation either."
Undine's punishment also had to be decided. It seemed the Counselor had grown on her quite a bit. Not only had she spent the past week performing excessive milking while he was unconscious, she'd even torn off a piece of herself and hidden it inside his body. Perhaps she'd planned to let it mature before consuming it later... Looking back, that must have been why she accepted the no-contact order so obediently.
Well, personally, I was already grateful she'd stayed quiet until now.
"But her goal wasn't escape, and there was no malicious intent. Isn't that enough? She clearly broke the rules, but in the end she was a great help."
"Haah... You always make it sound so simple."
"What can I do? Undine has been so cooperative with us all this time. It would be shameless to suddenly crack down on her now."
"Hmph. Shameless, my foot."
Though her response was negative, the Field Team Leader had suffered countless injuries across numerous field operations and had already owed Undine several times in the past. Her grumbling carried no real edge.
"You say that, but you're secretly relieved too, aren't you, Miho? This morning you were still stuck in the recovery room."
"Ugh, that was...! I just... got hurt while trying to save someone...!"
"Ehe~"
The woman watched with great amusement as the fox-eared girl jumped at the slightest prod. Her lips curled in a knowing smirk.
"Wh-what's with that look?"
"Has Woong woken up yet?"
The reason the Field Team Leader had been frequenting the recovery room lately was because the Counselor was recovering there. And she didn't bother denying it.
"...His body is completely healed. Not a single scar left. But that reckless stunt must have taken a heavy toll on his mind."
"Reckless? He went in ready to die from the start, didn't he?"
"..."
His ability to share emotions and sensations with others had never seemed particularly harmful... until he used it like that. No matter how many wounds he inflicted on himself, the pain transferred but the actual injuries didn't. It was a fighting style where the price far outweighed the benefit. And yet, precisely because of that—
"Honestly, when I watched the field recording, I felt a little tingle down below."
"What the hell are you saying, you pervert?"
"You didn't? I thought he showed a passing grade as a male this time."
"..."
Whether she couldn't deny it or simply didn't see the point in answering, she kept her mouth shut. Still, her golden eyes were clearly trembling.
"I thought being the one rescued would make it hit harder, but I guess Miho isn't so easily conquered. Well, that makes sense. That's how you've lasted nine hundred years..."
"If you're just going to keep spouting nonsense, I'm leaving."
"You're heading straight to Woong anyway."
"...Ugh."
She flinched for a moment, then turned on her heel without another word and stormed out. The woman watched her retreating back with a wide grin before the smile faded. She took another deep drag from her cigar.
"Hoo... As expected of a nine-tailed fox. She's awfully good at reading the room. If she's put in that much effort, she could at least start trusting him a little."
Staring at the door as it closed on its own and the smoke spreading before her eyes, the woman finally couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing again.
"Puh... Cough, cough. Looks like we'll get to see something interesting soon."
*
"..."
An unfamiliar ceiling. No... now that I thought about it, I'd seen it once before. After Rav drained my energy and I blacked out... when I woke up then, the Field Team Leader had been holding my hand.
"...?"
And right now... she was too?
"...Field Team... Leader?"
Thud.
"Wh-what? When did you wake up?"
The sudden withdrawal of her hand only made me more aware of it. But more than that—
"...The wound..."
I could still feel that searing pain. I hurriedly checked my stomach, but there was nothing. Just smooth, unbroken skin. While puzzling over it, Undine immediately came to mind. But the facility was far from where we'd been...
"How..."
"You're already acquainted with this one, right?"
"Huh? Mini Undine...?"
No wonder my chest had felt stuffy. Following the Field Team Leader's voice, I looked down to find Mini Undine perched on top of me.
"Kyuu..."
She had buried her face against my chest, her smooth blue body curled up, letting out the same adorable, incomprehensible sounds as before while wriggling about. But why was Mini Undine here with me? If I'd regained consciousness like this, the healing must have finished long ago.
"No issues with cognitive function either. Do you remember why you collapsed?"
"...I definitely... Ah, Nero!"
"..."
Following the direction of her blunt golden gaze, I saw Nero — now back in human form — asleep with her face buried against the side of the bed. So Nero was safe too...
"You even have the leisure to worry about others. You look fine. Do you realize you nearly died?"
"...I was certain I would die."
Perhaps that wasn't something to say so calmly. For a moment I thought I saw something ripple in the Field Team Leader's eyes, and I tensed. But she simply let out a long sigh, apparently willing to let it go.
"Haah. I don't know when it started, but it seems Undine hid a piece of herself inside your body. Did you know?"
"No... This is the first I've heard of it."
Inside my body...? Undine? Then, following that logic, the Mini Undine currently lying on my chest was... But if she had been inside me, wasn't she a bit too big now? She had some real weight to her. No, considering what she ate to grow, it wasn't strange that she'd grown so much during this incident. Besides, if it was Mini Undine, I wouldn't have heard any voices in my head, so I never noticed.
"Kyuuuung..."
Now that I thought about it... I'd slipped down the rooftop stairs, slammed hard into the wall, fallen through collapsing floors, and been impaled on stair edges with blood pooling behind me. It had hurt terribly, yet at some point I'd been moving around just fine. I'd heard that extreme adrenaline from tension could numb pain right after an accident, and the situation had been so urgent that I hadn't had time to think about it. But then... had I been able to stay calm and conscious the whole time because of—
"Ah... Haha. So I survived thanks to Undine."
"Well, that's how it turned out."
Observer's words flashed through my mind, but right now an overwhelming sense of relief filled my chest and loosened every bit of tension in my body.
"Thank goodness... Thank goodness..."
"Hey, you... Why are you suddenly crying...?"
No one had forced me. It had been my own choice. Even so... even so, I had really been... terrified. The thought that I might never see the people I loved again had been too frightening.
"I'm sorry... I don't know why the tears won't stop..."
"...So you do understand how stupid what you did was."
...She was right. At the time, all I could think about was saving them. There was still something I could do, and even if the chance was slim, hope had been right in front of me. I couldn't give up. But now that I'd survived, even I didn't understand how I'd been capable of such a reckless act.
"Still... because of that, I was able to save you too."
"Ah..."
The Field Team Leader's slightly subdued voice seemed to answer my confusion, directly conveying the result of my actions.
"So... what I mean is..."
"..."
That was... an expression I'd never seen on her before. Her lips were pressed tightly together, and those usually confident eyes avoided mine, deliberately looking away. Her face seemed a little flushed as well.
"...Thank you."
"..."
"I was glad... that you came to save me."
"...Ah."
Her honest words of gratitude, delivered after a moment of hesitation, swept away all the confusion I'd felt just seconds ago. But when I thought about it, I wasn't the only one who had saved someone.
"No. In the first place... it was you, Field Team Leader, who bought everyone time to escape."
"That was... well... it's my job..."
She spoke as if she could discard anyone without hesitation when necessary, yet she had done her best to save everyone. The same went for the other Field Team Leader, who, despite their poor relationship, had single-handedly held back the enemy ability user when she collapsed. The other field team members had stayed until the end to help people escape. Not a single one had fled in fear.
"It wasn't just me... Everyone worked hard, so I'm alive right now. Thank you too, Field Team Leader."
"..."
For some reason, she stared blankly at me for a moment before suddenly raising a hand to her cheek. Then she quickly turned her head and headed for the recovery room door.
"Y-you'll be getting your own team leader back soon... Ask him about the rest."
With those words, she hurried out of the room. I watched her go in confusion for a moment before turning my gaze back to Nero, who was still asleep beside me.
"..."
She must have stayed by my side all night and fallen asleep like this. As I gently stroked her soft hair, I felt a warm smile form on my lips. Come to think of it... when I made a similar expression earlier, the Field Team Leader's reaction had been strange. Was something wrong?
"Kyuu...!"
"I know... I'll pet you too."
"Kyuuung..."
Still... I'm glad it all ended well. Truly glad.