A pink-haired girl in casual clothes sat at the edge of the dance floor. In the dim light, no one noticed her sitting on the steps, watching that unique pair in the dance floor with a smile on her lips.
"Not going over, Elysia?" Eden appeared beside her unnoticed, holding a glass of red wine—not the one provided by Headquarters, but her own.
"If I go over now, Dr. Mobius will get angry~" Elysia stood up and came up behind Eden, suddenly hugging her and resting her head on her shoulder. "Let's leave this time to them."
"What about you, Elysia?"
"Me? Let's see... have you heard of 'Relentless Elysia'? If I want to find him, I can do it anytime~" Elysia smile was enigmatic. "And why must we disturb others?"
"But isn't he currently..."
"Oh dear~ my little Eden, you still don't understand Lin well enough. He's the type who responds to others' expectations. If someone is good to him, he will certainly remember it, but not always in the same way or with the same emotion."
Elysia tapped her thin, cherry-colored lips. "For example... Lin once had a foster father who gave him two completely different concepts, such that until he passed away, it was impossible to judge if he was a good or bad man. Lin is grateful for everything that man gave him, but he does not agree with that man's methods."
At this, Elysia thought of the girl she called ' Little Seven' (MSA-970), and her expression darkened. A Herrscher...
But she soon perked up. "Lin is someone who responds to kindness clumsily like that. He doesn't know how to express it normally, so he can only do it in the way he thinks is a response. That's why he doesn't refuse most requests, because that's what he considers the best response."
...
"It seems Dr. Mobius claim about Lin physical discomfort was a lie," Mei said, pushing a glass aside toward a figure radiating a freezing chill. Even through a cold-resistant suit, the moment of contact felt like a stinging frostbite. "And the rumors about their poor relationship seem to be false as well."
Kevin, wrapped up like a zongzi in his cold-resistant suit, glanced at the dance floor. With the dynamic vision of a Fusion Warrior, it was easy to see Lin and Mobius. He didn't offer an opinion, but looked at the wine glass by his hand, which was already beginning to frost over.
"Mei, I can't drink wine."
Kevin's body temperature was cold enough to freeze anything he ate into a block of ice, so he currently only ate finely crushed cold food. For hydration, he used a special liquid with an extremely low freezing point developed by Mei.
"This is also a special liquid I made; it just has the taste of wine."
Kevin looked at Mei smiling face, nodded, and downed the glass in one go. It indeed only had the taste of red wine; other things, like the mouthfeel, were not like a liquid.
To make things one would never normally make specifically for one person—if it were the old Kevin, he would definitely say "this is love." Of course, he still thought so now, but... he would no longer say those words out loud.
"Elysia submitted an application; she wants to undergo the Project Soldier surgery." Mei nonchalant sentence made Kevin's hand pause as he set down the glass.
He looked up expressionlessly, past Mei shoulder, toward Elysia at the edge of the dance floor. She was watching Lin and Mobius with a gentle smile. Kevin let out a long breath and shook his head. "So, you've agreed."
He didn't even use a question mark. Rather, no matter who wanted to undergo the Project Soldier surgery now, Mei would not refuse. Humanity needed a large number of Fusion Warriors; Kevin alone was not enough. Even if most people undergoing the surgery would encounter Lin situation, or even... worse.
...
"Why did the lights suddenly go out?" Pardo, her face oily from eating, muttered as she looked up in confusion at the darkened lights.
"Don't worry about it. They're probably going to use the stage spotlights. I remember some big star is supposed to sing..." Chiaki, who was also eating non-stop, waved her off with a deadpan expression. "So flashy."
"Oh... right, why did you join Fire Moth? I acciden—uh, I'm here to find someone!" Pardo was about to say she'd snuck in by mistake, but remembering that saying so might lead to an immediate arrest, she quickly changed her tune.
"Tch, I didn't want to join Fire Moth. I was grabbed to be used as slave labor," Chiaki said, licking seasoning off her hand with a cold laugh. "Those two guys just grabbed me without a word, although I had my own reasons for being here..."
"Those two guys?"
"A helmeted weirdo and a cold-faced assassin. Two abnormal people."
"Oh... then those probably aren't the people I'm looking for."
In Pardo's memory, Lin was wrapped in bandages to hide his face, but he had never worn a helmet. And to be able to grab someone like Chiaki, they'd need to have functional limbs and be conscious, right?
"Well... you're pretty weird too," Chiaki said, staring at Pardo, who was starting to break into a cold sweat.
"Wh-what's weird? I'm perfectly normal!"
"Your expression and movements are different from everyone else. How should I put it... there's a vibe that doesn't belong to Fire Moth."
"I'm just a newcomer who just joined." Pardo's heart was racing, and she forced a smile. "So of course it's different."
"No, even that helmet guy and that assassin girl count as outliers in Fire Moth, but they still feel like members of Fire Moth to me. But you... there's an indescribable feeling about you."
This girl, why is she so sharp? Can she stop observing so closely!
Just as Pardo was thinking of how to brush it off, someone walked up to them, hesitated, and asked, "Excuse me, do you know where Kevin is?"
"Hmm?" Chiaki turned around in confusion, while Pardo let out a long sigh, a huge weight falling off her chest.
"Sorry, I'm a newcomer who just arrived at Headquarters. I'm looking for my friend. His girlfriend messaged me saying he's at the ball, but I can't find them."
"Another newcomer?" Chiaki muttered. It seemed people were joining non-stop lately. "Kevin, huh... let me think. Oh, that successful Fusion Warrior. I don't think he attended the ball."
"He didn't? Uh... okay, thanks."
The person thanked them and walked away. Chiaki shrugged and was about to turn back to keep chatting with Pardo, only to find that Pardo had vanished, along with two chicken legs...