"How far are we going?"
After an hour of relentless walking, Neon asked Mihara, who had been guiding them at the front.
"Oh my. Why are you in such a hurry? Your boyfriend will hate it if you rush like that."
"No, we should at least know how far we’re going."
Anis unusually spoke sense. They’d been dropped onto the surface without any concrete explanation and told to capture some Rapture.
"…By the way, how’s that gunshot wound?"
"Exactly. Since I got shot, after all."
"Haha, don't worry. I like being hit."
When those words struck my ears, I briefly doubted what I’d heard. I didn’t really want to know, but it seemed she had that kind of... taste.
"Still, I can’t just leave it be, so excuse me for a moment."
I pulled a bandage from my pack and approached, and Mihara gave me a puzzled look.
"Oh my. What are you doing?"
"Oh, you see, our Commander’s hobby is bandaging wounds."
"Commander, sorry, but please don’t touch me."
"What?"
Taken aback by Mihara’s unexpected restraint, I asked again, feeling embarrassed.
"Don’t touch my wound."
"Got it. Mihara likes her wounds, so she hates others touching them."
"What on earth are you talking about?"
"Just... remember it that way. Commander, I’ll accept your intention alone."
Her firm refusal left me unable to bandage her. I was a bit worried about continuing the mission with her injury untreated, but since she didn’t want it, I let it go.
"Mihara! Over here!"
"Right. Good job, Uni."
"Hehe, are you giving Uni a prize?"
"Not yet. It’s not reward-worthy yet."
"Okay."
I was curious what they’d discovered, so I walked toward where Uni stood.
"…This is…"
What Uni had found was a deep depression in the ground. The strange thing was that it wasn’t just a hole—it looked like some kind of imprint was left behind.
It was almost like a giant’s footprint; the mark in the earth was enormous.
"What is this? Footprints?"
"Exactly. Uni found it."
"Tracking a Rapture by footprints in this day and age? Good grief, what are we, primitive cavemen?"
As Anis, incredulous at the absurd method, voiced her objection, Uni continued nonchalantly.
"The [Talkative] doesn’t register any signals."
"Talkative? Is that the Rapture’s name?"
"Right. Code name [Talkative]. A special specimen that doesn’t conform to any Rapture classification. We’re here to capture that thing."
"Talkative, huh."
I couldn’t tell what value [Talkative] held yet, but since Shuen was targeting that Rapture, it was undoubtedly significant.
"Why?"
"I don’t know that part. They’ve only told us to catch it for months. They didn’t give us the reason."
"Any specific traits? Engagement history?"
"We don’t know anything. None of us have actually seen it."
"Is this for real?"
It felt like things were already tangled before the mission even properly started. I assumed there’d at least be minimal intel, but all we got was a name.
"This is like trying to set a needle on ice."
"That’s like peeing on sand."
…Both of you are wrong.
Rapi sighed softly and snapped at Anis and Neon’s remarks.
"So, you plan to track it just by those footprints?"
"Yeah. The footprints themselves are so unusual that tracking is possible. We just haven’t encountered it yet."
"Why were we assigned to the tracking?"
Unconvinced, Mihara asked, and Rapi showed her skepticism. Come to think of it, we still didn’t know why Shuen had thrown us into this situation.
Given the circumstances back then, we never had the chance to ask.
"Because you looked capable. Do you know how high the odds are of a Commander dying on their first mission?"
"Seventy percent."
"If you get to a second mission, the death rate must go even higher."
"Ah. So our Commander is the one who beat those miraculous odds? No wonder Shuen is making us run errands."
"That’s correct."
Honestly, it wasn’t intentional, but somehow I’d indeed shattered those miraculous odds, just like Anis said.
In other words, I seemed quite useful for a rookie, so here I was, doing this hellish work.
"How many have there been?"
"Huh?"
"How many Commanders have been used as one-time tools like this so far?"
"Well over forty, I’d say."
"That’s a lot."
It was heartbreaking to think that not just one or two, but over forty people had been sacrificed. They had their own lives, after all. A real shame.
"Impressive. Maybe I should be a CEO too."
"Should we start our own company too?"
"Shall we?"
"…Commander. I’m sorry, but we can’t refuse the mission. The CEOs of the big three companies receive special treatment even on The Ark. A mere Commander and their squad can’t do anything about it."
In that instant, I felt the weight of our rank differences again. In my past life, only someone like the Grand Federation’s Supreme Commander or Deputy could issue orders easily—yet here I was following the orders of some kid.
"So, the only option is to be cautious."
"Exactly."
"Tch. Let’s proceed with the mission."
"Roger."
"Alright then. Let’s continue tracking along these footprints."
In the end, we reluctantly decided to continue the mission. It felt annoying to do this favor for that cheeky kid, but there was no choice.
After all, the person in question belonged to one of the big three companies on The Ark, with authority equivalent to the Deputy Commander.
Tch. I’ve died a lot myself. Instructor, this world is a piece of shit.
No sooner had that thought ended than the Instructor’s teasing voice echoed in my head, and I brushed it aside.
"Huh? Mihara, look at this."
"…The footprints stopped."
By the time we arrived at that spot, there were no more footprints. The only way to track [Talkative] had just vanished.
"Then what do we do?"
"Hmm, I don’t know. Shall we head back?"
"That’s a letdown."
"Weird. For the footprints to disappear all of a sudden."
The sudden break in the trail made us question things. If it hadn’t moved through the ground, how did it move next?
Huh? What’s that…
Glancing around, I suddenly noticed the outer wall of a building. The wall was riddled with irregular holes.
"Oh? Mihara. Look at that wall."
Uni must have seen the same thing, because she called out to Mihara.
"It seems it climbed along the wall."
"That’s impossible. Aren’t they supposed to be quadrupeds?"
Rapi and Anis looked at each other in shock, unable to believe it.
"Update your intel: [Talkative] can move along walls. And… it knows we’re tracking it."
"That sounds like it has intelligence."
"Heh, not possible. Raptures aren’t intelligent. Probably just has an algorithm: shake off any trackers when they attach."
"I’ve got a bad feeling about this."
It wasn’t only equipped with self-thinking intelligence, but it even noticed we were tailing it. I had no idea how advanced [Talkative]’s intelligence was, but if it was on par with human levels, that’d be a whole other headache.
"Mihara! Give me a prize! A prize!"
"Oh, right. This time you did something worthy of a reward."
"Yeah!"
Whether they didn’t grasp the seriousness of the situation, Mihara and Uni looked remarkably relaxed.
What are you two doing?
As I started wondering about the two of them sitting side by side, the answer came quickly.
"Alright. Here, take this. I’ll turn off your pain sensors."
With permission granted, Uni immediately pinched a section of Mihara’s calf hard.
"Ugh!"
"Heehee…"
"…What are you doing?"
Anis, her eyes wide in disbelief at the indescribable spectacle, asked the question. Honestly, I wanted to ask the same thing. What on earth were they doing in the middle of a mission?
"She’s pinching her."
"Mihara. Does it hurt a lot? Huh?"
"Yeah…! It really…! Hurts…!"
"Ah, wait a second. I’m getting a bit disoriented."
"I feel lightheaded, so lightheaded…"
Anis stuck her tongue out at the shocking scene before her. Yet I had to agree that it was disorienting.
"Instructor. What is going on here?"
"Don’t ask me. I guess it’s just a personal preference."
"So you’re well aware, then. Of that sort of thing."
"Don’t jump to conclusions."
I lightly shot down Rapi for her pointless guess in the middle of an important operation.
"Huh? What do you mean by ‘that sort of thing’?"
"…That is…"
As Rapi hesitated to answer Neon’s question, I glanced at Mihara and Uni, who seemed to be in another world.
"Hey, you two. Sorry to interrupt, but you haven’t forgotten that we’re in a mission, right?"
"Heh heh. Got it, Commander. Uni, that’s enough reward. Don’t get too carried away. Got it?"
"Okay. I’ll do better next time."
I forced the absurd situation to the back of my mind and resumed our journey.
After what felt like quite a distance, [Talkative]’s trail disappeared again, just like before.
"The footprints have stopped again."
"There’s nothing here. It couldn’t have climbed walls this time."
"Which means…."
As countless theories flew around, the most obvious answer slipped out of my mouth.
"Through the air…?"
The moment I said that, I looked up at the sky and spotted multiple black shadows.
"—!! Rapture! Full-on assault! Encounter!"
The Raptures landed on the ground at high speed, striking with a cacophony and ferocious force.
We immediately assumed combat posture and engaged the Raptures.
*
"Situation clear."
"The trail was broken. A Rapture that used an assault tactic. It’s clear they’re conscious of our pursuit."
"Were they luring us into a trap on purpose? They even know how to employ strategy."
I hadn’t said it out loud, but I’d pretty much expected it. With some of these monsters possessing intelligence surpassing humans in certain areas, there was no reason Raptures couldn’t be the same.
Kiiing
"Rapi!! You’re trailing behind!!"
As Neon shouted in alarm, Rapi and I turned our gaze. There, a last-ditch Rapture was gathering energy, preparing to fire its cannon.
"Uni!"
"Got it!"
Crackle
The Rapture, which had been aiming its barrel, staggered violently. Thanks to Uni, its attack missed, leaving a huge opening.
"It missed!"
"Neon! Take it out!"
"On it! Fwaaargh–!!"
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!
With a fierce battle cry, Neon unleashed a hail of shotgun blasts at the Rapture. Overwhelmed by the self-proclaimed firepower master’s awesome might, the Rapture exploded and was utterly destroyed.
"Phew, that was close. Rapi, your head almost got blown off again, huh?"
"…Just now, the Rapture’s barrel was aimed straight at my head. What did you do? Is it related to Rapture-capture abilities?"
"Hmmm, you’re quick-witted. Uni’s ability shuts off specific senses in the target."
"Senses?"
"Yeah! You fire a crackle and you can cut them off!"
"My ability, as you’ve experienced, swaps senses."
Now everything made sense. Since Mihara had a sense-swapping ability, I figured Uni must have a sense-related power too.
If she could block the opponent’s senses, it was easy to understand why I ended up like I did.
"So it means it wasn’t a Nikke-specific ability?"
"That’s right. Using this, you disable Raptures, then capture them…"
"Do Raptures even have senses?"
Furrowing her brow, Rapi pressed Mihara for details on her statement.
"Why would an ability developed for Raptures even work on Nikke—let alone humans?"
"…What are you lot?"
Rapi, eyes blazing with suspicion, shot a fierce glare at Mihara. Despite Rapi’s attitude, Mihara’s expression remained calm.
"Oh my, how frightening. Seems Rapi’s the pushy type, huh?"
"Answer me."
"D-Don’t pick on Mihara!"
Uni tried to intervene, stepping between, but Mihara stopped her.
"Uni. It’s okay. Um, sorry, but we don’t know the details either. One thing’s for sure: our abilities affect Nikke, humans, and Raptures alike."
"You’re lying. A Nikke’s body is built on the ideal human template. There’s no way they’d attach an ability you didn’t want…"
"We were made by Shuen."
"The CEO of Misiris Industry. You think you’re going to kindly explain what the hell you did to us, how, and why?"
"Well, yes."
"All we know is that we have these abilities, and we use them to capture Raptures. Nothing else."
"…Alright. I get it. I’ll change our formation. From now on, [Wordless] will take point."
"Rapi."
Anis was surprised by the sudden decision, but Rapi’s resolve was firm.
"You can’t entrust your back to a Nikke who doesn’t even know what she is. Commander, is it okay to proceed like this?"
"…No objections. I can’t say your statement is completely wrong."
Entrusting your back to those who can’t easily define what they are or why they have such powers is problematic in its own right.
"Understood. The trail’s still going, so let’s keep tracking. And of course, we’ll lead from the front."
And so, with [Wordless] in the lead until the mission’s end, we resumed our pursuit of [Talkative].
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