In any case, today had ended in a dramatic reconciliation led by Ariel.
After that brief incident, the two of them came all the way to my room dressed in their combat suits, and I told them to get plenty of rest today.
"What? There's no operation today?"
"Yeah. You haven't had a day off lately, have you?"
Ariel's eyes widened in apparent surprise as she asked whether there really would be no operation today.
I casually confirmed it and firmly told her that neither of them had rested recently.
Even Replicas needed rest, after all.
"But..."
"Don't be in such a hurry."
Ariel trailed off with a somewhat uneasy "but" and fidgeted restlessly.
When I advised her not to rush so much, a small response came after a moment.
"...Okay."
It came out weakly, her energy seeming to drain away with the word.
Was it just my imagination, or did she look even more dejected after I told her to rest?
Even so, Ariel had been far too eager lately.
She was probably so happy that she could finally step up and do something useful that she could barely contain herself.
She must have spent a long time powerless, no matter what she tried to do.
As Ariel left the room without any energy...
Sati watched Ariel's dragging footsteps until she was gone.
Only after the sound of them had faded did she speak.
"I'm going out. Give me some coordinates."
"Huh?"
Despite my telling them to rest because there was no operation, Sati insisted that she would go out by herself if she had to.
I'd gone out of my way to let her rest, and now she was saying she'd go alone anyway.
"No, no. You should just rest today too..."
"Forget it. I've only just gotten up again after so long. I'm too restless to sit still."
I tried to tell the stubborn Sati once again to simply rest, but she cut me off halfway through.
She said that, having only recently gotten back on her feet after so long, she couldn't stand not moving around.
"It's your fault, so quit stalling and tell me already."
Then, as if driving in the final nail, she struck right where it hurt by saying it was my fault, so I should stop refusing and hurry up.
If she put it that way, how was I supposed to refuse?
With no other choice, I decided to send only Sati out on an operation.
"You remember this place, right?"
When I unfolded the old map and pointed to a spot, Sati leaned in to see where I meant.
The point beneath my finger had to be coordinates familiar to Sati as well.
"This is... the place we went last time, isn't it?"
"That's right."
I nodded in confirmation at Sati's question. She had immediately recognized the location.
Apparently unable to understand why I was sending her back to a place we had already cleaned out not long ago, Sati tilted her head and folded her arms.
"Why? Wouldn't it be fine to go somewhere with more resources?"
She clearly couldn't make sense of it, but I had my reasons for giving this order.
"You'll be alone, for one thing. And there's something I need to check."
"...Fine. Anything else?"
She didn't ask what I needed to check, merely saying she understood before asking if there was anything else.
"Compare it to last time and see how many monsters there are at the same coordinates. If possible, count them and remember the number."
"Hmm. I'll try."
At the additional instruction, Sati gave the vague reply that she would try and scratched the back of her head as though it were a bother.
She might say it carelessly like that, but she would probably remember everything clearly and tell me properly afterward.
"Come back without getting hurt."
"...I know without you telling me."
When I gave her that customary warning not to get hurt before an operation, Sati sharply turned her head away and left, saying she knew already.
Her attitude seemed much the same as usual, but I smiled when I saw the Affection indicator gleaming on the panel.
[Sati] [♡1]
Sati's Affection, which had been fixed at zero and showed no sign of rising, had gone up by a whole point.
It might not be as it had once been, but this meant there was now more than enough room for our relationship to improve.
[Ariel] [♡9]
More strange, though, was Ariel's Affection.
It had definitely been zero too when I checked on the first day, but at some point the number had shot up, and now it had reached nine.
It's not normally this easy to raise Affection.
Though I was puzzled by the suspiciously steep increase, I figured it was an effect of reality's patch notes.
I shrugged and began looking over the records of the world that I had diligently collected in the game.
Clank, grrrr—
Looks like she's heading up now.
Not long afterward, the sound of Sati ascending to the surface seemed to drill directly into my ears.
It was the deafening sound of the Surface Elevator operating, loud enough for everyone in Under City to hear.
That sound really was obnoxiously loud in every way.
Wasn't there some way to reduce the noise?
"Leader! That sound just now...!"
About a minute after the elevator started up, Ariel burst into my room.
Ah. If I could hear it, then of course she could too.
"Ah, y-yeah... She was just so stubborn."
When I told Ariel, who had stormed in with startled squirrel-like eyes, that Sati had gone out on an operation, she began glaring at me.
"I'll let you both go on an operation together starting tomorrow, okay?"
"...All right."
I started explaining myself even though she had not said a word, like a guilty thief, and Ariel barely accepted it before leaving.
[Ariel] [♡8]
When I looked again at the panel displaying her Affection, one heart had dropped in that brief span of time.
Ah, it went down?!
Her Affection had fallen just because I had not let her go on an operation. What kind of nonsense was that?
I stared at the Affection panel uneasily, then scratched my cheek and returned to the main screen so I would not keep thinking about it.
Things really didn't work out as smoothly as they had in the game.
I really didn't understand how girls' hearts worked.
Anyway, after Ariel went back, perhaps two hours passed by my reckoning.
Then the violent grinding of gears rang through the quiet Under City.
She's back!
At the sound, I instinctively snapped up my bowed head and sat straight to welcome Sati.
Only minutes after the sound began, Sati returned, knocking lightly on the door to the Leader's room.
"Operation report."
"Yeah, welcome back."
Sati had brought back a sack stuffed full of Power Stones and batteries, but I only paused briefly to hear her return line.
After the customary greeting, I listened to her report on the other matter I had specifically instructed her to handle.
"I fought at the place you told me about. The monsters were definitely gathered there, but there were fewer than last time. There were around twenty last time, and this time... thirteen?"
"Really? I see..."
As Sati listed the information I had requested in detail, I rubbed beneath my chin with my fingers and murmured to myself.
Based on Sati's report alone, the concept of respawning definitely existed in this world too.
The difference was that coordinates corresponding to stages, where a set number of monsters had appeared with a simple click of a button, now actually took time for the mobs to gather.
Then sending someone to the same coordinates a day later would be inefficient. Should I rotate the locations, sending them back at least once every three days?
Just as I was pondering the most efficient farming method in my head—
"By the way, what's with Ariel?"
"Hm? Ah, uh..."
In the end, Sati must have gotten curious first. She pointed at Ariel, who was hanging by the doorway and only poking her head into the room.
Ever since Sati had returned from going out on the operation alone, Ariel had remained like that without even entering the room.
That must have been Ariel's way of showing her displeasure.
"She's been like that ever since you went out on the operation."
"Aha."
After hearing the explanation, Sati gave a short sound of understanding, then spun around and stared steadily at Ariel.
Apparently lacking the courage to say anything, Ariel even pulled back the head she had been poking out until she was no longer visible.
"She's acting like that because you didn't let her go?"
"You got to go..."
The culprit behind the whole situation asked so casually that I let out a hollow breath and reluctantly continued.
"Hmmm...?"
Sati lifted her chin as though looking down at me from where she stood and began making a suspicious humming noise.
"Get up."
"Uh, huh?"
Then she abruptly seized my arm and hauled me to my feet.
She marched me straight toward the door, then swung me as though throwing me in Ariel's direction.
"Aah?!"
As my balance gave way, I cried out without thinking, but something soft caught me before I could hit the floor.
"Whoa, Sati! What are you doing?"
"You two go look at the stars or something."
Ariel, who had caught me with incredible reflexes, cried out in surprise. Sati, however, answered with an utterly confident air.
Sati was suddenly telling us to go look at the stars.
There was only one place she could mean by stars: Star Plaza.
"What? But..."
It was nearly time to rest and get ready for bed, so I was about to protest at Sati suddenly telling us to go out.
"No backtalk."
But Sati cut me off again, her firm attitude forcing the issue and smothering my words once more.
So, feeling exactly like a child kicked out of the house, I scratched my head and went out into the streets with Ariel.
I also apologized to Ariel, who had been sulking so badly.
"Honestly... sorry. It's almost time to sleep."
"I-I'm fine!"
Ariel, who had looked unhappy until just moments ago, seemed to have cheered up from this little outing alone.
It was absolutely not a place one would normally come at this hour, but once we arrived at Star Plaza, we found a spot and lay down.
When I had been here with Sati, we had lain about two spaces apart. But Ariel and I were close enough to touch if either of us reached out a hand.
Then again, they said friends had similar tastes, didn't they?
Coincidentally, Star Plaza was also the facility that raised Ariel's Affection the most.
As we lay there for a long while, blankly gazing up at the ceiling—
"Um, Leader."
Ariel called to me softly.
I turned my head toward her without answering, and there were her clear blue eyes, fixed on me.
Unlike the lifeless eyes I had seen on my first day after falling into this place, they were now brimming with life.
"Will you hold my hand?"
At Ariel's cautious request, I silently held out my hand. She quietly took it.
There was no human warmth in our touching hands, only the soft, cold chill of metal. Yet somehow, I could scarcely bring myself to think it was cold.
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