Clang—
The electronic shackles hit the floor with a heavy clatter.
And in that same instant, every question that had been circling through Su Yuzu's mind surfaced at once, clear as daylight.
Why the "Epiphany Manufacture" radical faction had been corrected and purged so smoothly.
Why the "Epiphany Manufacture" preservation faction had thrown its weight behind… a purge that directly gutted the organization's overall strength.
Why they had even gone so far as to send gifts worth an astronomical sum, all to buy her forgiveness and keep her from pressing the matter further.
And she understood, too, why Tsukimisato Somehana — who by any reckoning counted as one of the heads of the "Epiphany Manufacture" radical faction — had been given such a light sentence.
And more—
Why she kept such close ties with the Shingai family and yet still belonged to the "Epiphany Manufacture" radical faction.
It was not the way the radicals inside "Epiphany Manufacture" believed—
not a matter of Tsukimisato Somehana joining "Epiphany Manufacture" first and only afterward being forced into contact with the Shingai family for the sake of the faction's interests and the organization's.
Tsukimisato Somehana… had most likely been the Shingai family's from the very beginning.
Judging by the way she spoke of Shingai Hitomi, her standing within the Shingai family was probably anything but low.
And ever since the accusations began — no.
Perhaps far earlier than that. Ever since the "Tsukimisato" Events first broke out.
The Shingai family — Shingai Hitomi — had already realized that "Epiphany Manufacture" was drifting off course.
That some among them were reaching for the forbidden.
That they were dragging the whole of "Epiphany Manufacture" toward ruin.
And so—
The scheme began: kill with a borrowed blade, sever the wrist to save the body.
Perhaps… it wasn't even as simple as killing with a borrowed blade.
The old radical faction was purged.
And the preservation faction, held in the Shingai family's hand, moved swiftly into every vacancy the radicals left behind.
"Epiphany Manufacture" on this island nation had already become a force belonging to the Shingai family.
They — she — would become the uncrowned sovereign of the dark world across this land.
"So that's the Shingai family's goal?"
"What?" Tsukimisato Somehana's hands went still.
"Today's 'Epiphany Manufacture' has already become Shingai property, hasn't it—"
The Shingai family had once counted as an upper-middle power at best.
After taking over what remained of "Epiphany Manufacture," it had swelled overnight into a colossus that stood level with the Soga clan — with faint signs, even, of surpassing it.
"You truly are clever," Tsukimisato Somehana said, bowing respectfully to Su Yuzu.
"Aren't you afraid your Eldest Young Lady will punish you for spilling all of this to me?" Su Yuzu studied the woman standing before her.
The amusement park uniform strained over the woman's formidable chest, the fabric at the buttons pulled open into little diamond-shaped gaps that bared the fine lines beneath.
One movement a shade too large, and it looked as though a button would pop clean off and go flying.
"It doesn't matter—"
"None of this was ever going to stay hidden from you for long."
"And besides…"
"If it's you…"
The look on Tsukimisato Somehana's face made Su Yuzu's skin crawl.
"Would you drop that insufferable 'it's for your own good' look?" Su Yuzu watched her. "Twelve years ago—"
"—it was the Laboratory under your charge that took the physical examination data on me and my Sister."
"And afterward, you were the one who carried that data to Laboratory K-423 and cultivated 'Zero' there. Weren't you."
"We never submitted that evidence to the Investigation Bureau—"
"And every one of us knows perfectly well why."
Because Su Yuzu and Soga Yura were not yet fully prepared to stand against the world.
The fact that Su Yuzu was this era's rule-type ability user.
The fact that Su Yuzu was this era's "Throne."
They weren't ready for any of it to be dragged into the light.
"Don't imagine that tossing out a hundred million or so in compensation wipes something like that away."
"When it comes down to it…"
"you're still 'Epiphany Manufacture.'"
Corrected or not, "Epiphany Manufacture" was, at bottom, an organization that placed research above all else.
Tsukimisato Somehana looked at Su Yuzu and had nothing to say.
All she could do was bow respectfully once more — and this time the button of that ill-fitting uniform, or at least a uniform whose chest was sized entirely wrong, finally gave under the strain and shot off with a pop.
Tsukimisato Somehana paid it not the slightest attention.
She only looked at Su Yuzu. "Please believe me—"
"The Eldest Young Lady will never make an enemy of you."
"For her…"
"Doing so would go against her—"
"Somehana—" A clear, bright voice cut her off.
A girl turning her wheelchair's rims with visible effort came slowly into the hall.
Those grey-black eyes swept across the space inside.
Seeing Shingai Hitomi for the second time, Soga Yura looked at the girl — who seemed even frailer of body than she was — and felt a deep discomfort under that gaze.
In truth, Su Yuzu had found it odd from the very first time she saw Shingai Hitomi.
That wheelchair… was a crude, simple frame, without a trace of Technology Division enhancement.
Frail as the girl was, she still had to strain at the rims herself just to move.
And the Technology Division's tech tree these days was developed to an absurd degree.
Even regrowing a severed limb could be handled easily with a "Medical Unit."
Among the wealthy, almost no one still needed anything like a wheelchair.
The few wheelchairs Su Yuzu had happened to see were all heavily modified.
When one got up to speed… Su Yuzu honestly felt it was simply flying too low.
Back when Sakura Mai was teaching her the fine art of safe driving, they had once been overtaken by an old man in a wheelchair.
If Shingai Hitomi were an ordinary person, that would be one thing.
But she was the Eldest Young Lady of the Shingai family.
The one who currently called the shots for the Shingai family.
The uncrowned king who held the dark world of the Tokyo metropolitan area in her hands.
She even sat atop half of "Epiphany Manufacture"'s resources.
With all of that, the fact that Shingai Hitomi couldn't stand was genuinely strange.
Su Yuzu looked at Shingai Hitomi's knees.
"Something I came down with a very, very long time ago."
"An exoskeleton or something similar could have me on my feet without any trouble, but I detest that sort of… power of civilization."
"So I simply left it as it is." Having noticed where Su Yuzu's gaze had settled, Shingai Hitomi even took the trouble to explain.
"Eldest Young Lady—" Tsukimisato Somehana reached out to push the wheelchair, only for Shingai Hitomi to lift a hand and wave her off.
The hall was not large.
Shingai Hitomi seated in her wheelchair, Tsukimisato Somehana standing behind her.
And across from them… Su Yuzu and Soga Yura.
Silent eyes held silent eyes, and between light and shadow, the whole world seemed to divide here into two opposing halves.
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