"So you're saying you handed over control of the island!?"
"Y-Yes, that's what happened..."
"That's..."
Claudia made a sour face at Asagi's confession.
For now, they were resting inside the house until the other members of the Bureau arrived. The house was a mess, but its size allowed them to secure a resting space.
It was there that Asagi was giving a quick explanation of what had happened.
But her story revealed that they were a step too late. The important PC had been taken away in the chaos.
"Here you go."
"Oh, thanks."
Asagi's mother brought them some tea. As her mother sat down, Asagi's expression turned subtle, but she didn't complain. Instead, Asagi's mother—Sumire—bowed her head.
"I'm sorry. This is my fault for getting captured."
"Don't apologize. I didn't do it for you anyway."
"Well, that's a bit of a stretch given the situation..." I muttered under my breath at Asagi's attitude.
From what I heard, Asagi initially refused to comply, but when her tied-up mother was shown to her, she gave in to their demands. I figured I shouldn't say anything careless.
"Did you say something?"
"No, nothing. Aah, I'm so tired."
The fatigue from the Combo was starting to fade, but I feigned illness to get out of the conversation.
But still,
"Combo, huh..."
If the fatigue from the transformation remained, did that mean the other drawbacks of transforming remained as well?
I was fine with getting tired from the Combo, but I didn't want to go berserk like the ancient OOO. I'd have to save it for a crucial moment.
Some other Riders also have serious drawbacks when they transform. Considering that, it might be dangerous to use items so easily.
Of course, I wouldn't say that in a pinch.
Just as I was secretly making up my mind,
"But if that's the case, we can't afford to relax," Claudia said, tightening the loose atmosphere.
"Right. Either way, we've handed over the piece to them. It wouldn't be surprising if they made their move at any moment."
"Do we know what their goal is yet?" Asagi asked, stuffing snacks into her mouth one after another.
Claudia answered with a question.
"Can you guess?"
"A little. The fact that they wanted control of the island means they're probably planning a terrorist attack at the Keystone Gate, right?"
"That's 80 points. To be precise, they're interested in the lowest level of the Keystone Gate. It seems they have business with the Keystone."
"With the Keystone? What kind of business?"
"Apparently, those people want the Keystone."
"W-Want it? That's not something you can just hand over, is it?" Asagi's face twitched as she made a joke.
Asagi understood what would happen if the Keystone disappeared without being told. That's why she couldn't believe there were people who would do such a thing.
"Unfortunately, it's true. At this rate, this island will sink in another day and a half."
"No way..."
Asagi's face turned pale. She regretted giving them the piece to carry out that heinous act.
"It's okay. That's what we're here for."
"Exactly."
No matter how many pieces they have, there's no problem if they can't complete the puzzle.
"You have a day and a half, right? You collapsed, but are you gonna be okay?"
"I'll recover by then!"
"Sho will definitely be important in this next battle. He needs to recover his strength properly."
The reason I'd be important was probably because Kagetane uses an AMF.
In fact, Kagetane is really troublesome with the AMF as a weapon. I realized that clearly in the last fight. Even my magical abilities were useless. It would be the same for other mages.
But,
"Sho, what was it like when you actually fought him?"
"I don't think he's unbeatable. Not if I was at full power."
Not only with the Combo, but I thought I could've managed with the RabbitTank Sparkling in the end.
"Speaking of AMFs," Asagi said, as if she just remembered something.
"The Keystone Gate also has an AMF defense function."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Theoretically, it's strong enough to make it difficult for even an S-rank mage to use magic. Plus, the chemical weapons from Academy City are deployed there in large quantities. Your unit commanders shouldn't be able to take it down even if they attack."
That's amazing.
"...So Kagetane can use that freely."
"...I guess so."
"That means it will be tough for me to go in too."
In other words, if we can't capture Kagetane and his crew before they get into the Keystone Gate, the mages will be useless.
"Can't we get control back?"
"It's not impossible. But the equipment... my room got blown up in that fight earlier. He even took the laptop I was carrying with me."
Can one laptop compete with five supercomputers? Well, I guess it can. She is the Electronic Empress, after all.
"Once you're free to move, let's go to Section Six. They should have some decent equipment there."
"Right. Of course, only if Asagi is willing to cooperate."
"Of course! The island is in trouble because of me. I can't just do nothing. Luckily, it's my area of expertise."
Asagi's fighting spirit was exposed.
Just then,
"Oh."
I had a call. The caller was Jakura-san.
"Yes, this is Yozuki."
"Yo. Sho, you were supposed to head to the lab. Looks like you took a big detour, didn't you?"
"...Well, that's..."
The time Asagi's call came in, I should have already been at the lab investigating, even with a generous estimate.
Going to the hospital to ask about Astarte had an impact.
"H-How are the others who went to the lab?"
"Unfortunately, they all came up empty."
"I see..."
"It looks like you were the one who got lucky."
"No, no, we don't know if that's actually the case!"
"That's right. By the time a search team went in to replace you, the lab was already empty. It seems some traces of activity were left behind on the equipment."
Even so, it was still a Schrödinger's cat situation. It could have been some other criminals.
...Well, I'm guessing Eustache probably panicked and ran after getting a call from Kagetane.
In other words, it was a one-in-two situation, or a 'chase two rabbits' scenario. We could only deal with one.
In that case, it was better to come here, where Asagi's life was at stake.
"Well, yeah. Let's just say that's the case. We've already got the situation report from your side. For now, you guys need to come back to Section Six. Bring the one we need. Something's happened on our end, too."
The one we need was probably Kohina, whom we captured.
"About that..." I then explained Asagi's situation.
"I see. I'll talk to the Unit Commander. You come back right away, no more detours."
"Understood. I'll be right back."
I ended the call with Jakura-san.
I explained the situation to the people present and left the Aiba household.
---------
"Alright."
Jakura stood up after finishing the call with Sho. He was heading to the Unit Commander's office. He could have just sent a message, but she was busy right now. However, this was an urgent matter.
He quickly arrived in front of the room. Before opening the door, he said,
"Unit Commander! Are you busy?"
"Hmm, no. Come in."
Having received permission, Jakura entered the room. Hayate was sitting on the sofa for guests, not at the Unit Commander's desk in the back of the room.
"Sorry to interrupt."
"Oh, it's fine. I've heard everything I need to hear. This is urgent for you too, right? About the lab?"
"No, it's about Sho."
"Ah... did he do something?"
Just by saying "about Sho," Hayate seemed to have sensed something. She asked without specifying the topic.
"He apparently made contact with Hiruko Kagetane."
"...Phew."
Hayate let out a big sigh, and then,
"What happened?"
"To put it simply, he's captured Hiruko Kohina and is on his way here."
"His luck is top-notch..." Hayate said with a wry smile.
"I wish he would share some of that luck with me."
Hayate looked at the person sitting on the sofa in front of her.
"..."
Sitting across from Hayate with a very stern face were Stiyl and Kanzaki—mages of the Anglican Church.
The two were here for an important matter, which was, of course.
"So about Index-chan, there's nothing that comes to mind, right?"
"...Yes. It's embarrassing to admit."
Kanzaki nodded bitterly at Hayate's words.
"You noticed she was missing this morning. No one noticed until then?"
"Yes." Hayate listed the words to confirm.
When it was discovered that Index had been kidnapped, the church of the Anglican Church was in an uproar. However, the mages couldn't navigate the complex transportation network of the island, and as Kanzaki was searching on foot, she was arrested for what was mistaken as unauthorized use of abilities in the city.
At that time, when she mentioned the name of Section Six, she was brought here. After a brief explanation, Jakura said,
"It's difficult for us to treat this as a simple missing person case. Given the subject."
"You're right. I never thought we'd get involved in something this troublesome so soon after arriving on the island."
"It's because our security was lax..." Kanzaki's frustration was palpable.
"But your church's security magic didn't detect anything, right? It seems like they're very skilled. Do you have any ideas?"
"We can think of any number of people who would target her. But for it to happen so soon after arriving on this island, I can only assume that the transfer plan was leaked from somewhere." Stiyl answered.
"So, an insider?"
"It's highly likely. I will turn them to ash as soon as I find them."
"...I'm not going to comment on how your organization does things, but please don't say things like that in front of a Bureau member, okay?"
Stiyl's tone was not a joke. The person he was talking about would not see tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Jakura was deep in thought.
"(The church of the Anglican Church is almost a mage's workshop. To easily infiltrate it and kidnap one person... that's a feat only possible for someone from a special forces unit... Are they involved?)"
Jakura's eyes sharpened and then returned to normal. He put on his usual mask and opened his mouth.
"And there's more to Sho's case."
"Hmm, what is it?"
"He has a theory about Hiruko Kagetane's objective."
Jakura reported on the Keystone Gate matter.
"Control of the island... now that's a really bad thing."
"Yes. We need to arrest them as soon as possible, or something terrible will happen."
"No life is more important than another. I'm sorry, but we might have to leave the Index-chan case to another department..."
If it's handed over to another department, it will definitely be a slow start. But as Section Six, if the island is in danger, they have to put all their effort into solving it.
Considering the priority, this was the only option.
"That's... damn it."
"..."
Kanzaki was about to speak but didn't, considering the Bureau's circumstances. Stiyl didn't change his expression much, as if he hadn't been counting on them from the beginning.
"Maybe they're connected," Jakura interjected.
"Connected...?" Kanzaki mumbled, looking at Jakura.
"Over the past few days, there have been a series of incidents: the transfer of the Index and the invasion of terrorists from outside the island. No, they overlapped. What if all of these are connected?"
"I see..."
"The island's Keystone was supposed to have used not only science but also magic."
"That's right. I've heard they're using a ley line and feng shui from the underground."
Stiyl also seemed to have noticed the change in the conversation.
"Then, it wouldn't be strange if at some point, they needed Index-chan's power to achieve their goal?"
"I just thought it was a possibility. The story about them invading the church and kidnapping her also seems more realistic if the person is a former special forces member like Kagetane."
"I see. That makes sense."
Hayate began to groan.
"It's still just a speculation, and it doesn't change the fact that we have to capture Kagetane as soon as possible."
He concluded with that.
"If there's a high possibility, we'll join the investigation. Is that okay, Stiyl?"
"...If it means we can save that girl."
Kanzaki was eager, but Jakura shook his head.
"You shouldn't. They have an acquaintance. There's a possibility you'll be used. Especially with this opponent, who we don't know what kind of heinous methods they'll use."
Simply put, if they were told to obstruct the Bureau in exchange for Index's safety, what would these two do? Considering that, they couldn't be included in the investigation.
"That's..." Kanzaki couldn't deny it. Although she wouldn't do something like massacre Bureau members, there was a possibility she would decide which side to take based on the situation.
Stiyl would burn them without hesitation.
"Well, let's talk more when everyone gets back, shall we? Oh, Jakura-san, I want you to contact the Keystone Gate about this. I'll also contact the other departments about Index-chan. There's still a chance she was kidnapped by someone completely unrelated."
"Understood."
He bowed and headed for the door. Just before he could leave.
"E-Excuse me!!" A maid with blue hair burst into the room.
"Rem? What's wrong?"
"I just received a call! The Keystone Gate—is being attacked!"
It was an attack that was too soon.
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