Chapter 28: Cosmos, Kairos

****

The Returnee stared out the window. The sound of the wind, the insects, even the creaking of the door—all of it felt like it belonged to those hunting her.

And in truth, it very well might have been.

“That’s a plane.”

“Don’t worry. It’ll pass soon.”

“…”

“I know nothing.”

The people who had rescued the Returnee.

Cosmos and Kairos. The one who looked like a young girl was Cosmos, and the man who appeared to be her father was Kairos.

He didn’t speak to anyone other than Cosmos. He was always at her side—his daughter’s?—side.

Cosmos looked at the Returnee.

“The Foundation is strong, but we’ve been dealing with them for quite a long time.”

“The Foundation?”

“The group that kidnapped you, Sir Hero, and conducted experiments on you. The ones who stole magic from this world and cast the Veil of Ignorance over the truth.”

“Ah.”

The Returnee couldn’t find an appropriate response.

“Even for the Foundation, they won’t be able to locate this place and draw up an elimination plan within thirty minutes. We crossed the country with teleportation magic, after all.”

“Is that so?”

“We’ll move again in an hour. We can’t just use our abilities freely. Did you know the Foundation planted three kinds of tracking devices on you, Returnee? Are they insane or what?”

The Returnee narrowed her eyes.

Something felt off. She’d escaped the Foundation’s containment cell, but she still couldn’t tell whether these people were good or not. She wasn’t even sure escaping this way had been the right call.

“So, where are we going?”

“There aren’t many places free from the Foundation’s eyes. Few under the sun, at least.”

Cosmos rose from her seat.

“I think there might be a problem. Let me check if we can leave early. There’s no way the Foundation’s already here—”

Kairos let out a sigh.

****

“Alright. Moving in.”

Nanami entered the building, pistol in hand. The camera feed showed the inside of the abandoned school. It was dirty with dust and clutter, but there were signs that people had been here until recently.

[No people detected.]

Nanami kept talking, perhaps to ease her own anxiety.

“Just books in here. Not sure if they were left behind when the school closed, or brought in at some other point. Probably the latter.”

“Confirm hostile instance locations.”

Nanami blinked.

“I count fifteen people inside the building. Doesn’t look like they’ve evacuated yet.”

Is this also anomalous perception?

Then again, personal acquaintance aside, I don’t actually know what Nanami is. I can only guess she’s some kind of Foundation test subject or enhanced human.

“I’ve got a lock on Miss An Yuri, but I can’t confirm which floor she’s on. Nanami, can you verify on site?”

[Miss An Yuri is on the first floor.]

BANG!

Nanami kicked open the elevator doors and dropped down the shaft. Twenty-five seconds to reach the first floor.

Too short a time for the enemy to respond properly. Unless they were professionally trained to fight anomalous phenomena.

[Hostile instance detected.]

Nanami aimed her pistols forward. The body cam didn’t show the enemy, but both guns in Nanami’s hands spat fire.

[Something’s coming. Looks human.]

What the hell is that now.

Nanami nudged the fallen instance with her foot. A black, human-shaped figure. It had legs, but it moved as if floating. At least until it got shot down.

Click.

Nanami reloaded her pistols.

****

Frustrating.

I’m not on site, and I can’t commit additional resources to the field. Not within at least a few hours.

All I can do is pace around the command center and stare at Nanami’s camera feed.

Hoo.

I don’t know what kind of pistol it was, but concrete crumbled wherever the bullets landed. That’s an anomalous weapon, or at minimum an overtech one.

I turned to the people in the command center.

“Can anyone confirm what kind of hostile instance Nanami is currently shooting dead?”

“Most anomalous groups make something useful and carry it around. Like the Wooden Doll, uh… I can’t think of another example.”

“You’re saying it’s not human?”

“It might have been human once.”

The body-cam feed caught the hostile instance’s corpse. A black mass of tentacles in human form.

“Section Chief Kang. Do you know what that is?”

Section Chief Kang of the Humanoid Division squinted.

“A Librarian. Not dangerous. But if you shoot it, it just gets back up after a while.”

I didn’t know exactly what a Librarian was, but by now I was used to not understanding the situation. Anyway, at least it wasn’t dangerous.

Wait a moment.

“Nanami. Why did you draw your sword?”

“No, I was just going to use my guns—”

The body-cam caught an incomprehensible sight. Nanami’s greatsword dragged across the building floor with a metallic screech, scraping concrete wherever it touched.

[Miss An Yuri.]

[Miss An Yuri. You have no idea how much the Foundation has accommodated you until now.]

The situation was strange, but I couldn’t shout at Nanami mid-combat. We stared at the screen, and the command center staff held their breath.

Clunk.

Nanami’s body-cam fell to the floor, and a moment later it was crushed under her combat boot.

“Communications lost!”

No kidding.

“What did she just do?”

“Nanami threw the camera down.”

“What the—”

“She seems intent on killing them all.”

I raised my hand, and the command center went quiet.

“Arguing about it won’t solve anything. Prepare a helicopter. I’m going to the site.”

I didn’t know what Nanami was planning by smashing the camera, but it wasn’t good. I needed to get to her location fast.

“I’m moving now.”

I rose from my seat.

“Director. Before you go, an order.”

“No matter how well the situation resolves, we’ll need to recover the bodies of multiple humanoid anomaly. Even setting aside the Nanami issue, we need to dispatch a recovery team to the site immediately.”

“Understood.”

“Anyone disagree?”

No one did. I hurried out of the command center.

****

Nanami’s greatsword dragged across the filthy concrete floor, making an unpleasant metallic screech. All the targets were hiding inside this auditorium.

But what mattered now was that today’s most important target had come to Nanami on her own two feet. That was the escaped Returnee.

Crushed concrete dust scattered along the path of Nanami’s greatsword. The Returnee just glared at Nanami.

“Miss An Yuri.”

“These people rescued me. If you want to hurt them, you’ll have to go through me.”

“Miss An Yuri. You have no idea how much the Foundation has accommodated you until now.”

Not neutralizing her with the drone at the apartment. Containing her without invasive safety measures. Letting her live and sending her back when she broke out of her containment cell. Not neutralizing her when An Yuri was found at the abandoned school. All of it was the Foundation’s accommodation.

It was Dr. Geum’s accommodation.

Nanami sighed and threw her body-cam to the floor. She didn’t know the Foundation’s or the Director’s Office’s position, but Nanami’s patience was at an end.

Nanami swung her sword, and the baseball bat the Returnee was holding shattered in a single exchange.

The Returnee was knocked to the floor.

Nanami’s greatsword pointed at the throat of the Returnee, who had collapsed to the ground. It wasn’t a fair fight. The Returnee didn’t even have a proper weapon.

“This is as far as it goes, Miss An Yuri.”

Clank. Rrrrrroll.

A can dropped onto the floor. A moment later, the dented can rolled to a stop at the Returnee’s feet.

“What is this?”

“Weaponized anthrax. The can is broken, so everyone in this building will die within twelve hours unless the Foundation treats them.”

“…”

“Now then. If you want to live, lead the way.”

Nanami walked past the Returnee with one hand in her pocket. The Returnee stared at her with a look of utter disbelief.

“A villain to the very end.”

“My superiors are kinder people than I am.”

Nanami turned her head.

Beyond this wall, she could hear the breathing of people.

“It’s here.”

Swoosh.

Nanami moved her greatsword. The concrete wall inside the building crumbled like tofu.

****

Nanami dragged her greatsword and slowly walked into the temporary shelter inside the abandoned school. A dozen or so people were staring at her.

*Please, just try something*, Nanami thought.

It would be so simple to just kill them all.

“Move, and I’ll shoot.”

The moment the words left her mouth, Nanami hesitated. *Not shoot — I’m holding a sword right now.*

“I’m here to help you. Weaponized anthrax has been released inside this building, and you need to receive treatment at a Foundation facility immediately.”

Fear is a weapon. Nanami’s sword, her armor, the gas mask and night-vision goggles covering her face — all of it.

Nanami let out a sigh.

“I’m done playing games. If you want to fight, come at me now. I’ll kill you all and clock out. Otherwise, sit over there and wait.”