An Unlikely Fellowship 2
Their strange companionship had been creaking at the seams from the very start.
"Ah, little miss. You're looking pale. Might I suggest we rest a while before pressing on?"
"Huh? Me?"
"Indeed."
Akina was, remarkably, bursting with energy.
Ifrit glared at her through narrowed eyes. It was a flimsy little ploy — transparently an attempt to send someone else ahead first.
But she wasn't about to sit still and take it.
Ifrit's eyes lit up.
"Aw, Akina. If you're tired, big sis could carry you on her back, you know~?"
Ash drew his tattered cloak over Akina as if shielding her from something utterly indecent.
"We decline. Stand down."
Watching Ash bristle his optical sensors, Ifrit smiled with satisfaction.
A short while later.
Ifrit swept her gaze around the surroundings with exaggerated flourish.
"Oooh, the scenery here is actually gorgeous. I simply must shoot a quick Shorts before we go."
"Gaze in every direction and you'll find nothing but dust and walls. Pray tell, where exactly is this scenery?"
"Whatever, I'm shooting it anyway. No need to wait on me — go on ahead."
"We shall wait."
"I'm telling you, you don't have to?"
"And I have said we shall wait."
Ifrit glared at Ash.
Not to be outdone, Ash flashed his optical sensors right back.
It had been barely ten-odd minutes since the journey began.
Even in that sliver of time, the vicious discord had never stopped. Like two magnets of opposing poles, they shoved each other away without pause.
And yet, they had no choice but to travel together.
The ruins beyond the door offered only a single path.
Ash, who had been glowering at Ifrit, spoke up.
"I have a proposal to make."
"Funny. So do I."
"When we reach a fork in the road, might we part ways there? Whatever lies at the end, we shall take the right."
"Fine by me. I'll take the left."
"May a fork appear soon, and swiftly."
"Seconded."
The two nodded at the same time.
Sandwiched between them, Akina quietly snickered to herself, careful not to be noticed. The two of them, mismatched to a spectacular degree, were honestly pretty funny to watch.
The three of them walked on, side by side once more.
Praying for a fork in the road.
But this godforsaken corridor, as if it had taken the whole thing as a personal challenge, stretched on endlessly in a dead straight line.
And so the trio's uneasy fellowship trudged on.
'And yet — what a genuinely strange one, isn't it?'
Ifrit was an idol under Halloween Entertainment, and at the same time a veteran pathfinder who had weathered countless battles.
Which meant she'd come across her fair share of humanoids out in the Outer.
But that bastard Ash — a humanoid like him was something even she had never seen before.
She sized him up from the corner of her eye.
The exterior alone was jaw-dropping.
Forget a state-of-the-art combat body frame — the thing looked like a patchwork of random junk sewn together, crude as could be.
Forget the parts being mismatched in spec — the fact that they came from different generations, different manufacturers entirely, crossed every line there was.
It was a miracle the thing could move at all.
And yet that dark exploration suit he wore so casually, and the bare steel blade slung across his back, suited him remarkably well. Unfamiliar, yet somehow harmonious — the kind of quiet, understated cool you couldn't fake.
The archaic speech, so formal it bordered on antique, and a calm like a still lake were unusual too.
And on top of all that, the sheer thoroughness with which he never once let his guard down around her.
'That jump earlier, too.'
And what about that inexplicable leap — the way he'd vaulted clean over her head? No matter how she looked at it, that kind of movement couldn't have come from those scrap-metal legs.
'There's definitely something there. Is the creator a genius or something?'
At the thought of the creator, her eyes naturally drifted to the little brat walking beside her.
Akina Greenwood.
Come to think of it, this kid was odd in more ways than one.
Succeeding at full-brain cyberization at such a young age was astonishing enough, but it was the other things that truly stood out.
Ordinary technomancers don't get involved in menial work like mapping. They're such precious human resources that they're reserved exclusively for extracting high-value data — for lost technology.
And yet, look at that girl.
Shouldering a backpack nearly her own size, meticulously weighing every canned ration, all while lugging around salvaged scrap that, from Ifrit's perspective, was barely worth calling garbage?
'...Is she not corporate-affiliated? No, even so, isn't this extreme? What kind of technomancer goes around picking up trash?'
The more she thought about it, the stranger it got.
A scrap-metal humanoid and a scrappy, dirt-poor technomancer?
What kind of combo was that supposed to be?
The more she looked, the more remarkable it was. A fascinating pairing, no doubt about it.
'Wait a second.'
Fascination.
For an idol like Ifrit, that word had always run in perfect lockstep with everything she pursued.
'Star quality... they might actually have it?'
Her heart-shaped eyes sparkled.
Wasn't there some way to sweet-talk those two into appearing on her stream? They'd make for a pretty great visual, honestly.
While she was off in that little daydream—
"Um, Ifrit unni?"
Perhaps unable to bear the awkward silence any longer?
Akina had spoken up, cautiously.
Ifrit answered in a noticeably warmer tone.
"Hm? What is it, sweetie?"
"Can I ask you something?"
She'd been wondering just how to win these two over anyway, so this was perfect timing. Ifrit nodded, her whole face one bright smile.
"Of course. What is it?"
But at the words that followed, Ifrit had no choice but to put the smile away.
"Why did Elementary Girls disband? You guys were crazy popular."
The heart-shaped glow that had been sparkling mere moments ago went cold and dead. Startled by the sudden shift in atmosphere, Akina seemed to decide she'd made a mistake, and waved her hands frantically.
"Oh no, it's fine! You don't have to answer if you don't want to—"
"They're all dead."
"...What?"
Ifrit stared down the far end of the darkness-heavy corridor as she went on.
"Gaia was crushed to death under a heap of industrial waste. Sylph went missing. And the last one, Undine... Undine was..."
Undine.
She could have survived.
Right up until the Restmen who'd approached under the banner of a rescue mission began dismembering her alive — she truly could have lived.
The horrifying image of that moment flashed through her mind, and Ifrit shook her head roughly.
"Anyway. That's that. Everyone's dead but me."
A heavy silence settled over them.
The first to break it was Ash, who hadn't said a word until now. He stopped walking and called out to Ifrit.
"Fair heroine."
"You don't need to say anything nice. That's just how it ends for pathfinders. It's all in the past now—"
"That is not the matter at hand."
Ash drew his blade.
"Something lies ahead."
At those quiet but resolute words, the expressions of both Ifrit and Akina hardened at once.
The heavy sentiment and the awkwardness that had hung over them just moments before vanished, and sharp, cutting tension rushed in to fill the space they left behind.
Ifrit heightened the sensitivity of her auditory sensors, then quickly furrowed her elegant brows.
"Ah, f***. They're real."
Just as Ash had, she drew her weapon — the large-caliber hand cannon that doubled as an advertisement, the Bloody Heart Mk.7.
"You picking up anything else? All I've got is a vague 'something's there' at best."
In response to Ifrit's words, Ash mapped the faint energy currents and electromagnetic fields around them — a secondary ability he'd developed since mastering the neuro-arts.
"...All human, a minimum of five or six. Perhaps more. They're masking their presence, so I cannot be certain."
"Masking their presence. That's an ambush."
"My thoughts exactly."
Ifrit racked back the slide and checked her chamber, then spoke to Ash.
"Probably seven. There were exactly seven Restmen left chasing us. Okay. Time for me to enjoy my little hobby, so you two head back."
Ash replied.
"You mean to walk into a known ambush? Alone?"
"Yeah, that's what I said. So unless you want to eat a stray bullet, both of you, turn around. This little fellowship ends here."
To the woman's words, delivered with a shooing wave of her hand, Ash answered with a slow shake of his head.
"That we cannot do."
"Ha. Let me guess, more mapping sob story? Seriously, is your head broken? Just give up on the chump change already!"
"It is not for the mapping."
"Then what?"
"Because I fear for your safety, fair heroine."
What in the world was this lunatic babbling about? His worry was for her?
Ifrit couldn't help it — her face twisted into something bizarre.
"What the hell is that nonsense? Why would you worry about me?"
"There is a debt of credits involved, is there not? Should anything happen to you, who else could possibly bear witness to little miss's exploits?"
"...Oh. Right."
Fifty thousand credits.
Ifrit, who'd been eyeing him like he was an absolute fool, squared her shoulders with a shrug.
"Fine, so what's the plan?"
"I shall assist you."
"Ha. You? Helping me?"
"Fifty thousand credits are on the line. This much is only natural."
"Wow. What a character."
Ignoring Ifrit's incredulous tongue-click, Ash spoke.
"I have a strategy in mind."
"Oh wow, a strategy too? And here I thought you were all out of surprises. Fine — let's hear it."
"You draw their attention. Meanwhile, I circle behind and strike their rear. An enemy at one's back is a threat by its mere existence — and I am more than capable of handling many at once."
"So basically, you want me to be the bullet sponge."
"Is that not your beloved hobby, fair heroine? Surely you can stomach this much."
"Ugh."
Ifrit, who'd been staring at Ash with a grotesque expression, turned her head toward Akina.
"Is he always this annoying?"
"Ha, hahaha..."
That was what she said, but honestly, from Ifrit's perspective the proposal wasn't half bad. It beat facing a squad of ambushed Restmen alone by a wide margin.
In the meantime, Ash addressed Akina.
"Little miss, you—"
"Yep! Don't you worry, mister!"
She tore off at a dead sprint and tucked herself into the darkest, most concealed corner she could find. Perhaps because of all the similar experiences she'd racked up at Ash's side, she looked completely at ease.
Blended entirely into the darkness, Akina thrust her thumb skyward.
"Ready when you are!"
"...Wow. What even are these people?"
Ifrit clicked her tongue in disbelief, stared at the floor for a moment, then lifted her head.
"Fine. Can't exactly turn down free help, can I?"
Her eyes lit up.
"You want attention drawn?"
At the same moment, the panels on her shoulders slid open and camera drones shot out. Two drones began circling Ifrit, spilling light across her.
"Alright then. Let me show you how it's really done!"
Having already taken her position, she lifted one leg and flashed a sparkling smile. A drone swooped in close, framing her face in a tight shot.
"Hello hello, all my Ifritties! Kept you waiting, didn't I? Your idol, Ifrit, has arrived! And that's not all, my dears — it's finally here, today's main event! It's time for 'Justice Served'! Everyone, lock your channel!"
Ifrit, winking at the drone, gave a nod toward Ash as he vanished into the darkness.
Through the darkness-drowned ruins, electronic music with a pounding beat erupted in full force. It was Ifrit's latest hit — Death Carnival.
The Restmen lying in wait, suppressing their every breath in the dark, began to stir.
"S***. She's here."
"No way she spotted us... right?"
Alarmed voices leaked out from all corners of the darkness. An unidentifiable pressure bore down on them, swelling with the blaring music.
Fear began to spread.
"Everybody shut up! Hold position! No one does anything stupid — wait for the signal!"
A cracked, rasping shout rang out from the one who seemed to be their leader. The brief commotion was crushed back under brute force.
But the incomprehensible dread still brushed past their skulls, over and over. Much like the singing that echoed through the corridor right now.
A short while later.
The music grew clearer, louder, closer — and out of the jet-black darkness bled a single searing beam of light. And within that light, a lone figure revealed herself.
Ifrit.
Like a superstar striding onto her stage, she sauntered down the corridor with every step brimming with confidence.
The Restmen lurking on all sides, watching for their moment, swallowed dry, involuntary gulps. Strange, creeping dread aside — the plan was holding. That insane woman really was walking straight toward the ambush point.
At last, Ifrit came to a stop at a spot that could fairly be called the doorstep of their trap.
The drones orbiting her swept across her entire body, shedding brilliant light on every inch.
Pistol in one hand, Ifrit raised the other in a V-sign and pressed it beside her eye.
Within those furiously glittering heart-shaped eyes, the corners of her mouth curled slowly upward.
"Ta-daaah! It's me — the b**** you all hate most, Ifrit, live and in person!"