Uninvited Guests

A few days later.

Santa's Rest Stop.

Santa Claude was tinkering with a fresh batch of cyberware, bobbing his head along to the latest tunes drifting out of the speakers.

Then, at some point—

-krzzt.

With a burst of static, the music died.

And it didn't stop there. The lights illuminating the rest stop, the TV, the sign out front—even every last machine in the clinic behind the counter—went dark, all at once.

A brief silence, as if the world itself had stopped. And through that silence, Santa bellowed:

"Argh! That little gremlin's at it again!"

Santa shot to his feet and practically sprinted up to the second floor, then flung open the door of the storeroom Akina had been using as a temporary den.

"How many times have I told you not to touch the distribution board!? You tripped the breaker, you brat! What'd you wire up this time!?"

Before long, a girl emerged from the pitch-black room. It was Akina, holding a power cable scorched black at the tip.

She scratched her head with an embarrassed grin. "Sorry. I was testing something and I guess it overloaded. Ah, what a waste. I was almost done, too."

Santa smacked his own forehead hard enough to make a sound.

"Ahhh. What sin could I possibly have committed in my past life, to suffer such trials in my old age?"

"Grandpa, what did you do wrong?"

Standing nearby, Ash laid a hand on the girl's shoulder. "You mustn't say such things, Soje. Especially not to him."

"Why not?"

"Because the 'trial' the venerable elder speaks of is you."

"Ohh!"

"Don't just go 'ohh' about it! Restore it to how it was, right now—"

Just then, loud, lively music began to play.

It was the very same chart-topping track Santa had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been listening to moments ago.

"...Who already fixed it?"

Akina shook her head. "Huh? That's not me."

"Then where is that sound coming from?"

The sound grew steadily closer.

Accompanied by a thunderous exhaust roar.

Even by the standards of the Gateway District—a neighborhood that was never quiet—it was loud enough to stand out glaringly.

"It seems we have visitors."

At Ash's words, Santa and Akina stuck their heads out the window. Sure enough, a group was just pulling into the parking lot in front of the rest stop.

One blood-red motorcycle, and two exploration-grade armored vehicles.

The lithe woman dismounting from the bike pulled off her helmet. The moment Akina saw her face, she shouted:

"Unnie!"

At that, the woman—Ifrit—broke into a beaming wave.

-Hey, shrimp! You been keeping out of trouble?

Jack O'Lantern and Dullahan, still in the drivers' seats of the armored vehicles, poked their heads out and waved too.

-Boss! Akina! We're here!

The rest stop, which had gone still when the breaker tripped, erupted ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into commotion all over again.

"...Those are your guests, are they?"

"That's right."

"Halloween's idol, eh. Noisy bunch of characters—so they really did come as a whole convoy."

Santa declared that since they were their guests, they could entertain them themselves, and swept off. Akina was no different.

"Mister, watch the counter for me real quick!"

With that brief parting word, Akina bolted for the distribution board. Which meant greeting the guests fell entirely to Ash.

A short while later.

"Further in! Keep coming!"

Ash shouted, waving one arm.

In response, the massive armored vehicle rolled slowly into the backyard of the rest stop.

The reason he had so suddenly become a parking attendant was the vehicle Dullahan had driven in: the Revenant.

It was the prize Ifrit had promised for this expedition—the armored transport that would now carry Ash and Akina wherever they needed to go.

They couldn't exactly leave it in the guest lot, so it had to be parked in the backyard.

And that was where the problem began.

The rest stop's backyard was a chaotic sprawl of scrap metal and junk, scattered any which way.

Thanks to that, the yard was hopelessly cramped for a vehicle the Revenant's size—which meant Ash had no choice but to step in.

"Straight ahead!"

Guided by Ash's calls, the Revenant finally found a spot at one edge of the backyard. Dullahan cut the engine and shook his head, which made the text projected above his visor look slightly blurred.

Ash nodded along in agreement.

"We'll have to clear out the scrap at least."

"Good idea. Just clearing that alone would double the size of the entrance."

Ifrit had sidled up at some point, winking one glowing heart-shaped eye.

"Ash, you been doing okay?"

"Perfectly at peace."

"...That's it?"

"It, what?"

"Usually when something comes, something goes. You know how it is."

Her words drew a low chuckle out of Ash. "And have you been well, lady knight?"

"Hahaha! That's what I've been waiting to hear!"

Ifrit's eyes lit up with her signature heart-shaped gleam as she pulled out her PDA. She tapped it a couple of times, then held it out to Ash.

"Ta-da! Elementry Girls' Ifrit, entering TODAY'S BEST!"

The PDA screen displayed the idol rankings.

And there, among them, was Ifrit's name.

Rank forty-three.

"And I'm not even the only one? Look at this!"

She scrolled down, and there were Jack O'Lantern's and Dullahan's names too—eighty-ninth and ninety-third, respectively.

"Hahaha! How did we blow up overnight like this? I'm telling you, it's insane!"

Truthfully, rankings meant nothing more to Ash than a trivial exercise in lining up in order—but what everyone else prizes most is their own affair.

And so Ash answered with genuine sincerity, if briefly. "Congratulations."

"Aww, come on! It's all thanks to you, boss!"

Jack O'Lantern said.

He was wearing his usual pumpkin-head helmet, so his face was hidden—but judging by the way his body kept bouncing, he was clearly over the moon.

"This is the first time we've cracked Today's Best since becoming ROA. Whoa, so it actually works?"

What kind of impact do transport and evacuation runs ever make?

That was why ROA had never once seen their name on the rankings. But that was all in the past now.

Even if only at the very bottom—a name on the list was a name on the list!

"So then."

Amid the festive mood, Ash spoke up.

"What brings you here today? Somehow I doubt you simply came to brag."

"Hehe. Now what could it be?"

"Hmm. Judging by the fact that you drove the Revenant over... to complete our transaction?"

Ifrit grinned. "The transaction? Oh, we're doing that, sure. But the main event is something else."

"The main event? There's more?"

"Of course there is! What comes after an expedition ends?"

"...Settlement?"

At Ash's answer, Ifrit cackled and rapped her knuckles on the Revenant's hull. The rear hatch split open to both sides.

Inside was a haul of every kind of groceries imaginable.

Premium synthetic meat and organic vegetables, to say nothing of liquors that looked expensive at a glance—all of it top-shelf goods stamped with the Foundation Systems logo.

Ifrit spread her arms wide.

"Settlement? No no no! It's a party, obviously! To celebrate the retaking of the Nexus Port, and Team Elementry Girls' official Rank-in!"

"Yeeeeaaah!"

Just then, the entire rest stop blazed back to life.

Akina, it seemed, had restored the power supply.

-Hey! What's this! Don't you dare leave me out!

The back door of the rest stop burst open, and out came Akina, scampering across the backyard.

"Alright! Let's party! Today's the day we drink till we drop! Everyone, what are you doing? Get this vibe going!"

At her word, Dullahan cranked up the music.

A thumping beat rolled across the backyard.

The party began.

Everyone cranked their energy to the max along with the blasting music.

But it didn't last long.

Soon, the whole gathering had turned distinctly glum.

It wasn't because Santa had been nosing his way in at the sight of the expensive liquor, nor because a neighbor had told them to keep the noise down, nor even because of Ash nagging that Soje was still too young to drink.

It was because not a single soul at that gathering knew how to cook—a problem at once utterly trivial and utterly fatal.

"Uh, why is it doing this? Don't you just... put it on the grill?"

Ifrit murmured, staring at what was now a lump of premium ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠synthetic charcoal.

Dullahan pulled out another cut of synthetic meat and charged boldly into the fray.

And with that, he fired up the welding torch mounted on his own hand and began searing the synthetic meat.

The count of charcoal lumps rose from one to two.

"Do we really have to cook it? It tastes fine raw."

Amid all this, Akina was gnawing happily on a piece of raw meat. Ash plucked it out of her hand and let out a low sigh.

"...What on earth is everyone doing?"

At Ash's words, Ifrit tilted her head. "We're cooking?"

"What manner of cooking is this, exactly?"

"...It's not? I was pretty sure this was how it went..."

Another sigh spilled from Ash's voice module.

In that instant—

A small realization flashed like lightning through his main core.

'...Now that I think of it.'

He had never once seen a proper, honest meal since arriving in this world.

He had lived here not for a day or two but for months—and yet he had not seen a single dish of actual food?

Akina and Santa were proof enough.

The two of them always got by on convenient nutrition capsules, energy sticks, or some unidentifiable paste.

So that was it.

In this world, the very concept of cooking was a rarity.

In truth, the organic ingredients Ifrit had brought were so expensive, piece by piece, that they were beyond the reach of ordinary people.

One might call them a kind of luxury for the upper crust. The act of taking raw ingredients and investing your own time to prepare a single meal—here in Sanctum, that alone was practically a symbol of wealth.

Ifrit, who knew none of this, had evidently splurged on premium ingredients on a whim, wanting to treat everyone—and the results spoke for themselves.

'I never even considered something like this.'

A society where cooking had never become commonplace.

To Ash, that was more than unfamiliarity—it was a disconnect that struck him, somewhere deep, as quietly terrifying.

That was the kind of place Sanctum was.

An endlessly warped world, advanced for the sole purpose of survival.

A world where you could replace your entire body with steel and become a cyborg—yet not one of them knew how to grill a miserable piece of meat.

Had Ash still possessed a human body, goosebumps would have crawled over every inch of his skin.

For a moment, he looked around without a word to say.

'...Then these people simply don't know.'

The savory depth of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠well-cooked meat.

The warmth of rice fresh from the pot.

A beautiful table laden generously with it all. The warm, easy hour of trading stories with good people over a raised cup, picking at fine side dishes.

Something nameless welled up inside his chest of steel. It was faint—but it was enough to set Ash's body in motion.

Before long, he gently pushed Ifrit aside from the grill.

"Step aside."

"Uh, sure?"

"I'll do it."

With the tongs wrested from her hands, Ash turned and spoke to Santa.

"Venerable elder. Might the rest stop happen to have a dented iron plate of some kind? One that can take a strong flame would be even better."

"...Uh, I might have something if I look...?"

"It's to be used for cooking, so it must be clean."

"Sure... I'll go dig around."

While Santa went off to the rest stop, Ash took stock of the ingredients.

'Different in appearance, but the scent and color are close enough to what I knew. At this level, light vegetables should pose no trouble.'

Next, his gaze fell upon the synthetic meat—the true culprit behind all this chaos.

Its muscle fibers and fat had been printed at precise intervals, lending the lump an oddly artificial feel, but Ash paid it no mind.

'Hmm. Too fatty to call it beef, and the texture is soft. Closer to pork, then? In that case...'

His teal optical sensors gleamed.

'Twice-cooked pork would be best. The leftovers can go on skewers.'

Having finished his rough estimate, Ash extended a hand toward Akina.

"Soje. You carry that self-defense knife with you, don't you? Lend it to me for a moment, would you?"

At his words, Akina—as though under some spell—drew her tactical knife at once and handed it over.

And so, knife in hand, Ash began to work.

His hands fell into a steady rhythm, and the ingredients came apart under the blade.

-Tak. Tak. Tak. Tak.

Under that immaculate knife-work, the vegetables stamped with the Foundation Systems logo were sliced into perfectly even pieces.

As everyone watched, utterly mesmerized—

"Will this do? It's a heavyweight chest armor plate, but..."

Santa returned.

"Huh? You're cooking with that?"

While Akina wrinkled her nose, Ash silently accepted the chest armor. He inspected its interior thoroughly for rust or caked-on grease.

"Not bad. It'll do nicely."

Looking satisfied, Ash set it down over the grill. Then he lowered his stance and began regulating the flames with minute precision.

In an instant, the heat surged, and scarlet fire swallowed the chest armor whole.

-Ssssssshhhhk!

Into the dented hollow of the searing-hot plate went, in turn, the oil, the spices, then the prepared vegetables and meat.

And then—

An intoxicating aroma no one in that backyard had ever smelled before spread across the whole yard. Pungent yet fragrant, a scent that woke something primal in the belly.

From that moment on, not a single word was spoken in the backyard.

Santa.

Ifrit.

Jack and Dullahan.

Even Akina.

Five cyborgs drifted, step by step by step, unable to help themselves—

drawn ever closer around the cooking android.