So noisy…
Why is it so noisy around here…
So many unfamiliar voices nearby…
Miyabi frowned, a little irritated, and drooped her ears as she tossed and turned on the stiff bed.
Suddenly, her eyelids twitched. She opened her eyes at once, bracing herself with her arms and pushing her heavy body upright.
"Hehe… hamburger, hamburger… hey, wait, don't run away, hamburger! Ah—Chief, you're awake?"
Soukaku, who had been drooling onto the blanket in her sleep while biting it, suddenly realized the delicious hamburger was slipping away no matter how hard she tried to grab it. She jolted awake.
When she looked up, she saw that Miyabi had already managed to sit up on her own.
"Wait, Chief! Sister Yanagi said you're not allowed to move around! Hold on—I'll go get her!"
Seeing Miyabi tentatively feeling her way as if to get out of bed, Soukaku hurried over, pushed her back down, tucked her in, and pulled the blanket snug around her.
Miyabi blinked, her voice hoarse. "Wait, Soukaku. I think I can get up by myself… and why is the bedding wet?"
Soukaku didn't answer her.
In fact, when she heard Miyabi ask why the bedding was damp, she very obviously ran even faster.
About a minute later, a poised, elegant woman rushed in, throwing the door open without the slightest regard for decorum. Pink hair fell into Miyabi's field of view.
"Miyabi, Soukaku said you were awake?"
Yanagi crouched beside the bed, pressing the back of her hand to Miyabi's forehead to check her temperature. She lifted the blanket, took her wrist, and felt her pulse.
"Temperature… normal. Pulse… mm, a healthy heartbeat. Now, how about your tongue coating?"
She gently tilted Miyabi's chin and used her phone's flashlight to examine it.
"Good. Soukaku didn't feed you anything strange."
Miyabi blinked, then quickly shook her head to brush Yanagi's hand away. Planting both hands on the mattress, she pushed herself up into a sitting position.
Yanagi couldn't help but look worried, her hands half-raised as if ready to help, but Miyabi shook her head to refuse.
Looking up at her, Miyabi spoke with a hint of puzzlement in her eyes. "Yanagi, no matter how you look at it, you're worrying a bit too much this time."
"And whose fault is that? You were hurt so badly. This is the first time I've ever seen you pass out on the battlefield."
Yanagi sighed, her gaze still carrying traces of concern, the hand resting on the bedside fidgeting restlessly.
A flicker of unease crossed Miyabi's heart. She immediately guessed that Yanagi was about to start fussing again and quickly changed the subject. "Where's Soukaku?"
Earlier, Soukaku had said she was going to find Yanagi, but now Yanagi was here alone.
"She said she was hungry and went to look for something to eat." Yanagi shrugged, spreading her hands.
With Soukaku's temperament, half of every day was probably spent eating—that little mouth of hers never seemed to stop.
But out here in the desolate Outer Ring, where on earth was she supposed to find food?
"From the surroundings… we're in the Outer Ring, right?" Miyabi glanced out the window. A lone cactus stood tall amid the wind-swept yellow sand, unbending.
Then a tumbleweed with nowhere to belong rolled in from the distance, wobbling about—only to crash straight into the cactus.
The once-proud cactus slowly toppled over, pinning the ball of tumbleweed beneath it.
Miyabi: …
Forget it. Better not look at that.
She withdrew her gaze and suddenly remembered something. "By the way, why was it so noisy outside just now?"
"You could hear it even through two corridors? Honestly…" Yanagi shook her head with a wry smile, not sure whether she was complaining about the noise or about Miyabi's sharp hearing.
After a moment's thought, she answered truthfully.
"It was Lucy, the new overlord of the Outer Ring, arguing with our mayor. Lucy accused the city of rarely providing resources to the Outer Ring, and now, all of a sudden, these huge numbers of refugees from the city are supposed to be supported by the Outer Ring. That's simply impossible."
"The mayor's side is under enormous pressure too. Without the Outer Ring's support, the citizens might riot before long. We worked so hard to rescue them… only to end up turning them into a mob."
Yanagi's voice grew quieter and quieter, finally dissolving into a sigh.
When lives are in danger, soldiers cannot stand by. Yet when the lives they save become overwhelming, unless they take sides, all they can do is watch those very people turn on each other. How is that not a kind of…
"It's fine. If the Outer Ring doesn't have enough resources, I'll just go take them from the city."
Those light, offhand words suddenly struck Yanagi straight in the heart.
She felt something stir inside her. Of course—only the Chief could say something like that. As confident as ever. As matter-of-fact as ever. As—wait, where was she?
"Where's the Chief?"
Yanagi's eyes went wide behind her glasses, panic flashing across her face as she hurriedly looked around.
At last, she spotted Miyabi standing by the coat rack.
Yanagi was just about to get up and tell her to lie back down and rest properly when, at that exact moment, Miyabi slipped out of her white hospital gown. Her well-defined figure was suddenly revealed, bathed in sunlight.
In the light, her fair skin traced a smooth line from her slender waist up toward her chest. As she adjusted herself, the clean white bandage slid down little by little. In Yanagi's trembling gaze, beneath those gentle curves, a pale hint of skin gradually came into view.
Ah—Miss Ya's bandages, the bandages, the bandages!!!
Bzzz—bzzz—
For no apparent reason, the sound of a kettle boiling suddenly rang in Yanagi's head. She hurriedly turned away, covering her flushed face with both hands, her voice trembling.
"Y-Ya… Ya… Ya? W-why are you changing right in front of me… and even taking off the chest bandage…?"
"Is changing clothes in front of you really that embarrassing?"
Miyabi looked completely blank. Even her ears curled into question marks—she genuinely couldn't understand why Yanagi was reacting this way.
But as a Void Hunter, she never wasted energy on things she deemed unnecessary. She simply set it aside and asked,
"Yanagi, my bandages are worn out. Do you have any spares?"
"N-no… I didn't bring any. We left in such a hurry. N-no, no, no… b-but don't worry, I'll go into the city and grab some for you right now!"
Yanagi stammered, her body jerking stiffly, like an old machine that hadn't been oiled in years.
She knew perfectly well how low her resistance was, yet her heart kept itching like it was being tickled by a kitten, making her unable to stop herself from glancing toward Miyabi.
The moment she caught even the faintest hint of color, a warm sensation surged at the bridge of her nose. She lifted a hand without thinking—and what she saw was a vivid streak of red.
"Ah!"
Yanagi cried out, quickly pulling out a tissue and wiping at it.
Miyabi tilted her head in confusion. "Yanagi, you're acting really strange today."
"Am I? Maybe I've just been too tired from work lately. I'll be fine after some rest." Yanagi made up an excuse on the spot while continuing to dab at the blood.
"Yanagi actually talking about resting… that's even stranger."
Miyabi thought it over seriously. In the end, she dismissed the possibility that this [Yanagi] wasn't the real one—after all, Doppelgänger-type Ethereals belonged to the Hollow and couldn't leave it.
[If she's the real one, then it should be fine. Maybe she really is just exhausted from work—overworked to the point it's affecting her head.]
That settled, Miyabi lowered her gaze to the bandage in her palm. She leaned in and gently sniffed the faint scent lingering between the layers.
Probably because she'd sweated so much, even this bandage—made from the highest-quality materials in New Eridu, with excellent breathability—had inevitably picked up traces of her own scent.
Still, it wasn't unbearable. She could make do.
With that thought, she wrapped the bandage back on. Her figure returned to its familiar, taut lines, and when the bandage was finally secured, it even gave a few mischievous little bounces.
[Next… let me see… underwear, stockings, jacket, then armor…]
Standing by the coat rack, Miyabi put on each piece one by one.
When the last layer settled into place, her black-stockinged feet slid into her high heels. Her nimble ears twitched.
She rose onto her toes, gave herself a quick once-over, nodded with quiet approval, and headed for the door.
Before changing, she had closed it.
Now she went over to open it again.
"Let's go, Yanagi. It's getting late."
"Oh…"
Yanagi had only just managed to clean herself up, and her mood had sunk completely. She looked utterly drained.
Clang!
Miyabi pulled the door open and froze for a moment at the sight of the crowd packed outside.
Harumasa was the first to react, immediately stepping forward to make introductions.
"Chief, let me introduce everyone."
"These here are from Cunning Hares—"
Miyabi cut him off at once. "No need to introduce these. The con artist named [Nicole] and her crew—I know them."
Nicole, who had been smugly waiting for her introduction, instantly bristled. "Hey! Why'd you stop there?! So what if I tricked you once? Why are you being so petty?!"
Wait—what did you just say you tricked her out of?
The rest of the group immediately looked at Nicole in a different light.
Especially Belle, Phaga, and Ellen—who had all dealt with Nicole before—were completely stunned. It felt like the Nicole standing in front of them was suddenly a stranger.
She actually had the nerve to swindle a blade from a Void Hunter.
No—wait—she swindled a blade from a Void Hunter and still didn't get thrown in a cell?!
Miyabi gave a cold snort and said nothing.
"Heh, looks like you already know each other. Then I won't bother introducing them."
Harumasa went with the flow. It was obvious from their exchange that there was a story there, so he didn't dig any further and moved on.
"Over here, we have the new stars from the Public Security—Zhu Yuan and her—"
"Mm. Old classmates. I know them too."
"You know them as well, Chief? Then how about Belobog Heavy Industries—"
"I've seen them on TV. Familiar faces."
"Uh… my ridiculously sharp, devastatingly charming Chief…" Harumasa rubbed the back of his neck and gave up.
"Alright, then. The last group here—you know them too, actually. That would be—Victoria Housekeeping!"
Phaga stepped forward, extending a hand with a gentleman's poise. "Hello. Mr. Lycaon isn't here at the moment, so I'll be handling things with you."
"Ready to head back to New Eridu and make a big move?"