After Eden's concert, inside Cocolia's office.
"Cocolia, is this what you meant by foolproof?"
"I staked my future and risked a court-martial to mobilize a mech unit. This is your explanation?"
Listening to the roar of her military partner through the communicator, Cocolia pressed her fingers to her temples in pain.
According to her original plan, as long as the staged rescue succeeded and Eden was saved from the assassins she had anonymously hired through Poison Cocoon, everyone involved would benefit.
But instead, a plan that should have had a huge chance of success failed completely.
"Don't worry, Colonel," Cocolia said calmly. "Your unit was only conducting routine training and just happened to be near the concert venue. No one will suspect you."
"It better be that way!" came the suppressed fury on the other end. "If I go down, you're coming with me!"
The call ended.
Cocolia let out a long sigh.
She looked at the photos spread across her desk, her expression deeply troubled.
The images showed Li Mu, disguised as the Faded Fairy, tearing through a mech unit with his bare hands. For ordinary people, seeing someone dismantle combat mechs would shatter their worldview.
But for someone who had climbed to the level of a United Government councilor, Cocolia knew exactly what lurked beneath the world's calm surface.
She pulled out another photo and placed it on the desk. It showed a pink-haired girl. This image had been sent to her by a contact within MOTH after she forwarded the videos.
That contact had repeatedly warned her not to investigate further.
Cocolia studied the photo. Aside from differences in hair and eye color, the girl looked almost identical to the light-purple-haired figure who had shredded the mechs.
Or rather, they were clearly the same person.
Did she really think dyeing her hair, wearing contacts, and putting on a mask would hide her identity?
This was reality, not an anime. Changing hair color did not magically erase who you were.
No, more likely, she never intended to hide at all.
Judging from her MOTH contact's reaction, the girl who had carried Eden out of the encirclement was probably a major figure within MOTH itself.
With that realization, Cocolia gathered the photos and fed them into the shredder.
Since she now knew how deep the waters were, she had no intention of digging further. After all, she herself would not survive scrutiny either.
Eden had returned unharmed and showed no intent to hold the Far East accountable. In that case, it was best to let the matter rest.
As the shredder hummed, Cocolia fell silent.
"Failure isn't anything new," she murmured. "Everything that fails to defeat me only makes me stronger."
She quickly steadied herself and began thinking about her next move.
Her plan to leverage Eden's influence to return to the United Government's center of power had clearly failed. But her ultimate goal had not changed.
To fulfill her ambition, she had to keep climbing, step by step, all the way to the top.
But climbing upward was never easy.
Every year, countless people fought for promotion. Everyone was eyeing the position above them. How was she supposed to stand out?
Without background or connections, the only way forward was overwhelming political achievement. Achievements so massive that no one else could swallow them whole.
"One step at a time."
Cocolia pressed her temple again. For her, the Far East was not a good place.
This region was controlled by conglomerates and powerful families, and it was fiercely insular. As a Slavic official dispatched by the United Government, she was buried under layers of disadvantages here.
If she had been sent back to her homeland of Rus, she would have had a strong chance to turn things around. But in the Far East, even if she tried to build achievements, she would be sabotaged at every turn.
In the end, she was still an outsider, unfamiliar with local networks.
"So I need a local ally," Cocolia muttered. "Someone who can help me integrate into Nagazora's circles."
But that thought only gave her another headache.
In the Far East, the upper echelons were tightly controlled by financial conglomerates. As vested interests, they were naturally wary of an outsider like her.
"Isn't there anyone local, unaffiliated with the major conglomerates, but with real future potential?"
The chaos caused by the Faded Fairy had not yet spread to the other side of the planet.
At that very moment, a certain pink fairy had just completed her mission and returned to the MOTH base.
Humming an unfamiliar tune, the pink-haired girl walked through the facility, lively as ever, optimistic as ever, smiling as always.
It was Elysia, freshly back from eliminating a Honkai disaster.
"Miss me?" Elysia greeted everyone she passed.
Normally, everyone she spoke to would be infected by her cheerfulness and respond politely.
But this time, their reactions were strange.
When they saw Elysia, disbelief flashed in their eyes. Then, without saying a word, they hurried away from her.
That left Elysia confused.
She pulled out her little mirror and looked at her flawless face and her neat, stylish outfit. A puzzled expression crossed her face.
"I don't look rude or messy… so why is everyone reacting so strangely?"
She could not figure it out. She tried stopping someone to ask, but they fled as if terrified of being associated with her.
"What is going on…"
Elysia's expression drooped. She puffed out her cheeks in a pout.
Clearly, something had happened that she did not know about, and she decided to get to the bottom of it.
Even if everyone else avoided her, there was one person who definitely would not.
"So sad… it feels like my beautiful maiden heart is drying up."
"I guess I'll go recharge my cute-girl energy with my dear Mobius."
Just as Elysia thought that, her communicator chimed.
She opened it and saw that the call was from Mobius herself.
The screen lit up with the image of a woman in a white lab coat, unnaturally pale, with long green hair.
Mobius.
But unlike the always-irritated Mobius Elysia remembered, her expression now was… odd.
The moment the call connected and Mobius saw Elysia, she froze.
"Elysia? You're not in prison?"
"Mobius, I'm a law-abiding, lovely young lady. How could I possibly be in prison?"
"Law-abiding?" Mobius' voice shot up in disbelief.
Elysia blinked, completely lost.
After taking a closer look at Elysia's surroundings, Mobius nodded.
"I'm glad you haven't been arrested yet."
"Doctor, that sounds really strange. I'm not a criminal. Why would I be arrested?"
That only made Mobius' expression stranger.
"I see. Don't worry, I'll keep your secret."
"But if you need treatment for dissociative identity disorder, feel free to come to me. I'm very interested in your body."
With that, Mobius hung up, leaving Elysia standing there in confusion.
"Mobius… what are you even talking about?"
Elysia felt even more lost. That feeling that everyone knew what was going on except her was deeply unsettling.
Then a news alert popped up on her communicator.
"Outrageous! Singer Eden Kidnapped in Front of Tens of Thousands. The Culprit Is Her!"
Elysia's heart clenched.
"Eden was kidnapped?!"
She hurriedly opened the article. It described in detail how Eden had been publicly abducted on stage after arriving in the Far East.
Just as Elysia was about to scroll down to see who the so-called culprit was—
"This content violates regulations."
"404"
Elysia closed her communicator, cheeks puffed with anger.
"Who kidnapped Eden? That's horrible!"
"No, I can't stop worrying about Eden."
Her heart raced. From the article, the kidnapper sounded extremely dangerous.
She could not imagine what Eden might be going through.
She decided she had to go to the Far East and rescue Eden herself.
Just as she made up her mind, a set of rapid, perfectly synchronized footsteps approached.
Elysia looked up and saw a group of fully armed MOTH soldiers.
They fanned out in front of her.
"Elysia, you are suspected of kidnapping Eden. Please come with us."
"…Huh?"
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say may be used as evidence in court."
…
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