Homecoming
"What's your percentage now?"
Ifrit asked. Her tone was flat, but it carried the edge of someone whose mood had gone distinctly sour.
Ash, walking beside her, answered. "Did you not ask just a moment ago?"
"It might have changed by now."
"...Six percent."
"Damn it."
A considerable stretch of time had passed since they crossed the shield gate. The crimson warning lights and sirens that had once turned the place into a vision of hell were long gone behind them. The zone the Sentinels had guarded, it seemed, had a boundary of its own — clear and well-defined.
Even the intermittent wails of the Grotesques had all but faded from earshot. It was a signal that the direct threat was, for now, over.
And so the three of them moved through the ruins at a relatively leisurely pace — though never once letting their guard down.
"It is charging properly, correct?"
"It is."
Still, there was something a little off about the way they looked.
A thin cable ran between Ifrit's shoulder — specifically, the charging port of her drone launcher — and Ash's battery pack.
With Ash's residual battery all but drained, Ifrit had grudgingly parted with a share of her reserve power. The problem was that the cable was too short, forcing them to walk in an awkward half-leaning posture, as though propping each other up.
From behind, it looked for all the world like a pair of lovers strolling with their bodies pressed close together.
Which was exactly why Ifrit had been pursing her lips this whole time. Clearly, the situation did not sit well with her.
It feels weird! It feels WEIRD!
Ifrit grumbled inwardly, over and over. But she couldn't exactly rip the cable out either.
If an enemy appeared, the only one among them who could actually fight right now was Ash. She had burned through every last round of ammunition, and Akina had no combat capability to speak of.
Rationally and morally, charging Ash's battery was the right call. Not that it made the strange feeling go away.
"Pfft."
Akina, trailing behind them, let out a small laugh. Startled by her own sound, she clapped a hand over her mouth — but everyone had already heard it.
"Do not laugh, my lady."
"Don't laugh, Akina."
Seeing the two react at the exact same moment, Akina nodded quickly. But the smile lingering at the corners of her eyes refused to fade.
"...How much is it now?"
"It has not even been thirty seconds since you asked."
"Ah! Just tell me the number!"
"Six percent. Still insufficient, I'm afraid."
"Ugh!"
And so the loving couple walked on through the ruins, tethered together by a thin cable, doing their best to ignore the occasional snicker from Akina.
By the time Ash's battery reached thirteen percent, the three of them had emerged from the ruins.
The parched wasteland made for a poor landscape by any measure, yet they felt an unmistakable sense of release.
Open space in every direction. The relief of knowing there would be no more ambushes.
Thus they arrived at the rendezvous point.
"This is the place?"
"That's right."
Ash disconnected the cable.
"My thanks for your aid, lady knight."
Ifrit unplugged her end as well and let out a sigh. "Forget it. I needed it too."
As she coiled up the cable and stowed it away, she said something rather out of the blue.
"Hey, you know Vortex Energy, right?"
It came without any context, and though Ash found it odd, he nodded. "Of course I do. One of Sanctum's megacorps, no?"
"Word is they just succeeded in excavating some new technology. What was it called again? KERS, or something?"
"Huh? Wasn't that just a rumor?"
Akina cut in suddenly, and Ifrit shook her head. "It's true. Halloween took part in the Nexus reclamation campaign back then. The Vortex bastards ended up claiming it, but still. If you can, see about getting your hands on that thing. The KERS."
Ash tilted his head. "What manner of thing is a KERS, that you would say so?"
"I'm no Technomancer, so I don't know the details. But from what I hear, it's a technology that recovers kinetic energy and converts it back into battery power. Simply put, it means you charge a certain amount just by moving."
"Ohh... you mean to say I could generate electricity merely by moving?"
She shrugged. "Efficiency probably won't be anything great. It's a prototype. But at least you won't have to borrow power from other people like this, right?"
On the surface, her words might have sounded like a jab — but they weren't. If anything, they were closer to sincere advice.
To Ash, electricity was something like his innate qi. If it ran dry, his functions could cease entirely. If he shut down at the worst possible moment, Akina would be left all alone in the middle of the ruins.
The result would be annihilation. Plainly obvious to anyone.
...KERS.
Having stored the mysterious acronym deep within his main core, Ash bowed his fist in salute with genuine feeling.
"I am grateful for the information. And I shall engrave your counsel deep in my heart, lady knight."
At Ash's bow, Akina beside him lowered her head as well. "Thank you."
Ifrit, apparently embarrassed, waved it all away. "Ah, stop it! You're giving me goosebumps. And listen, I say it like it's easy, but it's gonna be a total bitch to get, you know? It's cutting-edge tech, after all."
"Even so, gratitude is gratitude."
"Ughhh."
Thoroughly sick of it, Ifrit gave a full-body shudder and turned away. "Alright, I'm off. My ride's over there."
Akina watched her go, her blue eyes darting this way and that in brief deliberation, before shouting after her. "...Unni! Wait a second!"
Akina sprinted over and rummaged through her clothes. What soon emerged in her hands was the handgun Ifrit had flung to the ground mid-battle — the Bloody Heart Mk.7.
"Hm? Why do you have that?"
Ifrit's eyes went round.
"Hehe. When I opened my eyes after the Deep Dive ended, it was lying right at my feet? So I figured, grab it first, ask questions later!"
"Mm-hm? And?"
"...Honestly, for just a teeny tiny second, I thought, maybe I could keep it... but it belongs to someone! I have to give it back!"
Akina flashed a bashful grin. "Hehe. Sorry it's a little late, though?"
"...."
Ifrit stared at Akina for a long moment, then turned her head toward Ash. He had a hand over his face and was shaking his head.
Suddenly, she burst into laughter.
"PWAHAHA! What even ARE you?"
"Akina Greenland, at your service."
"Wow. This kid is the real deal."
Laughing so hard she doubled over clutching her stomach, Ifrit abruptly made her heart-shaped eyes glow and yanked Akina's cheek.
"Owowowowow."
Ash, somehow having drawn near without a sound, spoke up. "Pull harder."
"What? So you're not stopping me anymore?"
"I fail to see the necessity."
"HAHAHA!"
Only after having her fill of merriment did Ifrit finally release Akina's cheek. Rubbing her swollen face, Akina still extended the hand holding the pistol.
"Here, take it!"
But Ifrit simply shook her head. "Keep it."
"What?"
"That thing's recoil is a filthy nightmare, and it's such a heavy caliber you can't carry many rounds. My real main weapon is something else anyway. That handgun? I only hauled it around because of the PPL."
"But..."
"So it's yours. Ash."
Ash looked at Ifrit. "Are you sincere?"
"Remember what I said back in the ruins?"
"That I would require a means of long-range attack?"
"That's the one. Sure, your swordsmanship is insane to the point of being unhinged, but there'll definitely be times when that alone isn't enough."
Ifrit stroked Akina's head.
"...To protect a Technomancer during a Deep Dive."
For an instant, a flicker of sorrow passed through her eyes.
"One..."
"Ah! Before you get any ideas, don't think of it as an appearance fee or whatever. Truth is, I got some sneaky footage earlier. It's doing pretty well, by the way?"
Ifrit flashed a grin.
"So let's call it even with that."
Ash no longer refused, and accepted the handgun. It carried a heavy, weighty heft.
Perhaps, someday — just as she'd hinted — this gun might be the very thing that saves his and Akina's lives.
"I know not what 'footage' means, but if that is your wish, lady knight, so be it."
At that very moment, a vehicle came into view in the far distance, its massive engine rumbling as it approached. It was the No. 302 public limousine that Ash and Akina had ridden out in.
"Your ride's here."
Seeing it, Ifrit turned away with cool nonchalance, her lilac hair fluttering lightly in the wind.
Then, suddenly, she glanced back over her shoulder.
"See you around. Both of you."
Ash nodded. "Of course. I do still have fifty million credits in unpaid wages, no?"
"No, that's not what I—"
Her face scrunched up all at once, but she said nothing more, merely waving her hand a couple of times.
The slender woman's silhouette vanished swiftly into the wasteland. At the same moment, the No. 302 limousine pulled up.
"...Let's go too."
"Yes, let's."
Ash and Akina boarded the limousine.
Unlike the trip out, the interior was completely empty. Of all those pathfinders, a mere five remained — themselves included.
In all likelihood, the rest were dead.
That was simply what exploring the Outer meant. Every moment was a fork between life and death.
This time, they had been able to board the limousine home. Next time, there was no telling.
Having grasped that truth, Ash and Akina sank into silence for a while. Soon the limousine rumbled to life and set off toward Sanctum.
The jolt of the chassis, the desolate scenery sweeping past the window.
Watching it, Akina spoke up. "Mister."
"Speak."
"About Ifrit unni."
Ash turned his head silently to look at her.
"At first I just figured, she's with Halloween Entertainment, so obviously she'd be a total lunatic. But... I don't think that's true. She seemed like a genuinely decent person, better than I expected... hehe. Even saying it makes me laugh. A decent person — an idol."
She was looking out the window, so her expression was hidden, but her words were steeped in an unhideable confusion.
After a moment, Ash answered. "She is a decent person."
"Right?"
"At the same time, she is the woman who massacred the Restmen without any reason at all."
At his words, Akina turned to him. "Doesn't she have her own reasons?"
"Perhaps. But it doesn't matter."
"...What?"
"What matters is that no person ever possesses only a single face."
Akina tilted her head, puzzled.
Ash regarded her quietly for a moment, then turned his gaze back to the window and continued in a low voice.
"Even the innermost heart of a mere beast cannot be fully fathomed — how much more so the heart of a human being?"
"...."
"What is visible is not the whole, and thus what we see is ever only a sliver. We must not commit the folly of judging rashly and passing verdicts on a single glance."
Akina furrowed her brow as if lost in thought for a moment, then shook her head vigorously.
"Sometimes the things you say are way too complicated, mister. So what's the conclusion?"
Ash's optical sensors turned toward Akina.
"It means that you are my benefactor, and a Technomancer, and an innocent young girl, and a thief with a fondness for stealing things."
"...Why did the conversation suddenly go there?!"
Akina's face flushed bright red. "A-anyway, look! Our earnings this time were pretty sweet, so..."
Akina chattered on for quite a while after that, but worn down by the successive battles and the constant tension, her voice began to grow smaller at some point.
By the time the sun was setting, only the soft sound of her breathing could be heard, low and steady.
Ash looked at the girl asleep, leaning against his body, then tilted himself slightly and adjusted his posture so she could rest more comfortably.
Through the steel of his arm, he could feel a faint warmth.
How much more time had passed?
Through the blazing crimson sunset, a colossal wall of light revealed itself. Sanctum.
Ash gazed out the window at Sanctum's dazzling skyline — brilliant, yet somehow cold and hollow all at once.
He felt a strange sense of unfamiliarity.
When he had first arrived here, the city had looked like nothing so much as a den of ghosts and demons; now, it didn't strike him as particularly alien at all.
Don't tell me... looking at Sanctum, I've actually started to feel like I've come home.
Then, suddenly, his conversation with Akina came back to him.
Could it be that he, too, had judged Sanctum rashly on a single glance? Lost in such musings was Ash.
The No. 302 limousine drove on.
And soon, the way a river merges into the sea, it was gently drawn into the vast gate of Sanctum.
It was not only the 302.
Countless vehicles, cutting across the wasteland, converged upon Sanctum from every direction. In all likelihood, every one of them was filled with empty seats.
The ruins and the sunset, once ablaze in red, now faded faintly into the distance behind them.