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The flow is a bit strange. …Very strange.

And that flow is based on the twisted premise, the persistent speculation that ‘Anastasia Valentine has been chasing the Five Eyes.’ It’s so annoying. When Zero brings the drink, I should take out the antibiotics, take one, and get some sleep.

Hold on, isn’t it too presumptuous to dismiss it as speculation when there’s so much clear circumstantial evidence?

……I said it’s not me, and you’re still speculating? How infuriating.

“Ugh.”

This isn’t a sigh, it’s a lament. A lament that’s no different from an unadorned assessment of my pathetic state.

I uncrossed my legs and rubbed my eyes, which had suddenly become fatigued, with the back of my hand.

Of course, doing so didn’t magically make Asif, with his serious expression, or Rosalyn, who looked strangely eager, disappear from my sight.

The excitement of gradually approaching the original stage and the joy of seeing new sides of acquaintances and prospective colleagues, even if it was one-sided, were slowly being overtaken by fatigue and annoyance.

Besides, making them get off in this atmosphere would be tantamount to an expulsion order.

Conversely, me getting off… we’ve come this far, so rejected. I haven’t committed any crime, so why should I?

“I’ve said it many times. I’m just an ordinary citizen chasing after money, nothing grand.”

“Then was there a request to stop us from leaving the city? If you just wanted to deliver a simple message, you could have just written a few words on Rosalyn’s laptop.”

The request part was right, but I didn’t plan on meeting you guys this often, you know?

I reached out to stop him from letting his imagination run wild. But Rosalyn’s sudden intervention was even faster.

“Wait, Leader?! I’m not so easily pushed around!”

“……I didn’t say you were easily pushed around. I was just asking why you chose a second-best option over what I consider the best.”

“Ugh! That’s why non-experts…! In our world, the moment you unilaterally allow that, you’ve already lost miserably!!”

“Hmm… is that so…?”

There are rules to follow even when Network Hackers fight, hacking isn’t just finger exercises on a keyboard but a real-time shootout with the defender, and don’t underestimate your own long-established security system. I don’t know why she’s glaring at me only during that last part.

Listening to the argument that was spiraling off in a completely different direction before I could even try to stop it… drained me of energy.

I raised my outstretched hand high. I wouldn’t reach the ceiling or them by straining myself while sitting, but I packed this frustrating feeling to the brim.

You guys are completely wrong!

Bang—!!

“Eek?!”

!! –

The hand that had been swung towards the cabin table trembled.

The intense noise focused the attention of not only the agents who had derailed but also Zero, who was crossing the platform outside the window. As a bonus, my palm turned bright red.

Should I return immediately? –

It’s not an emergency! –

I told him to hurry up and bring the drink I asked for to pour down my parched throat, and quietly returned my hand to cover my forehead.

That… it’s not because of bravado or a headache, but because I failed to control my strength and it hurt too much, so my eyes are a little… I’m embarrassed, so I’ll stop there.

Anyway, it’s your freedom to jump to conclusions as you please, but I hope you’ll at least have the decency to listen to the facts that form the foundation from me before adding your own embellishments, so I opened my mouth.

“I’m heading to Neo Haven because of a designated request that has absolutely nothing to do with you guys. The fact that we’re sharing a cabin is… shouldn’t I be asking you if it’s an accident? Do you still have lingering feelings for me?”

I was planning to stay and squat there even after the job was done, but there’s no need to explain that far.

I’ve clearly stated my position, which I’ve wanted to do all along. I returned my body, which had been leaning forward, to its original position.

I examined their expressions.

The coexistence of slight suspicion and bewilderment, rather than distrust or hostility, was very positive. As long as they didn’t point a gun at me the moment I opened and closed my eyes, I was fine.

But my relief was a little premature. Because I was hit with an unexpected answer to a joke I added in passing.

“…Well, Rosalyn has been talking about you all day. She said your personality is capricious, your appearance is doll-like, and your abilities are like a devil that’s hard to define… ahem, a woman.”

“……Excuse me?”

Uh… what did you say?

Is it common to rate people like this to their face?

Whether what she said was a compliment or a curse depends on the words that Asif mumbled in place of, but this old man is telling on her.

“?! This hajji (derogatory term for an Arab man) is! What is the team leader suddenly doing!!”

“Since that young lady has shown her true feelings, shouldn’t we also show some of our hidden intentions to be fair?”

“Why do you have to make up for it by selling me out!?”

Rosalyn, her face as red as her hair and as flushed as my stinging palm, glared at me and grabbed Asif by the collar.

How tall is she? Is she about the same height as me now?

It’s an act of insubordination that would be impossible considering her physical condition, but he was just smiling gently and accepting Rosalyn’s grumbling.

…While shaking wildly from side to side in the breeze, she didn’t take her eyes off me.

Dull yet sharp, loose yet tight. He’s just like a mercenary who joined the Five Eyes for personal revenge. Come to think of it, wasn’t this old man’s nickname ‘Dark’ Evolved Schneider?

His piercing eyes are too sharp to make race-related jokes. I’ll just have to mutter to myself.

“So, Miss Anastasia is saying it’s all a misunderstanding? That it’s just a miraculous coincidence that you’ve tied up two top-priority wanted criminals whose wanted posters were updated not long ago at a train station swarming with police, without wanting anything in return?”

“That’s exactly right?”

Asif was the first to utter the word ‘coincidence,’ which I couldn’t bring myself to say because it would feel contrived if I mentioned it myself. I jumped on it as if I had been waiting for it.

A gap finally appeared in my blocked chest.

I felt like I could finally breathe after spitting out all the frustration I had been holding back.

But thanks to this, I learned one thing well. That it’s so difficult to undo a relationship if you button the first button wrong.

I’ll have to be twice, three times as careful when I arrive in Neo Haven. I don’t know when or where a named character will pop out, so the one who’s desperate should be considerate.

“……Okay, I’ll believe you. I’ll gladly accept it since the elusive mercenary is going to pretend she didn’t see anything.”

“Oh?”

“Leader…? Did you get caught with some kind of weakness? Or do you have a turban in your head (Raghead; derogatory term)?”

Rosalyn, including me, questioned Asif’s cool acceptance.

It could be a clear ending typical of a former mercenary… or there might be some other basis.

No, more than that, I don’t know how she mixes such curses into the conversation so smoothly. Has she always been so foul-mouthed?

Rosalyn, receiving my suspicious gaze, awkwardly twisted her drooping hair with her fingers and looked away.

If her eloquence is this good, I might have to take what she said about me as a compliment.

“People have to learn from their mistakes. I recently learned a valuable lesson while fighting a freak who cut off my arm without hesitation because I didn’t disappear right away when he told me to get lost.”

“Ahem…!”

With those grumbling words as the last.

Mr. Asif closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. The arm that was moving to cross his arms twitched in the middle and returned quietly to the armrest, which was close to a silent protest.

What was my response to that protest?

Nothing! I didn’t take any action except for a single cough.

In fact, I had succeeded in making a truce to divide the cabin and not interfere with each other unless there was a real business, so there was no reason to make things worse here.

Okay, then, should I calmly catch up on my lack of sleep… I was about to toss and turn until I found a comfortable position when.

“…Um, can I ask you something?”

“……?”

But the girl, who had been waiting politely for the adults’ conversation to end, seemed to still have something to say. Specifically, to me.

With a squeak… Rosalyn leaned her arms on the table in a demure posture.

Her slightly dark and anxious young face naturally evoked a desire to protect her.

I wondered if there was a problem that would make someone who seemed like the embodiment of self-esteem look so dejected.

“Are the things you said about me being a hypocrite… and immature… are they sincere?”

“……Oh dear.”

It seemed that her youth wasn’t just in her face.

Even a slight bump into a failure that wasn’t even a wall, let alone an obstacle, was too much of a shock for this genius hacker.

To send such a desperate look to someone like me, as if she’s begging for an answer.

She’s still young… so young.

“It’s good to have a belief that you’re doing the right thing, but don’t get too caught up in the Five Eyes’ ideology. That’s what I was trying to say.”

There was a possibility that Rosalyn would go further astray due to unnecessary interference.

But I threw out honest advice that I could give because I knew that she was fundamentally a good and upright person.

“…Why?”

“Having a belief means setting your own standards. But being dyed in ideology means abandoning the self that should be prioritized above all else and blindly following it.”

I told her someone’s famous saying in the future to her who asked back with a pout.

I could see Mr. Asif’s closed eyelids twitching. I should definitely ask him later what it feels like to hear his own words in advance.

“The reality doesn’t change dramatically just because a huge system called the state is revived and a few more organizations are created to supervise companies. It’s just that the pursuit of individual profits is changing from a company level to a national level.”

Rosalyn looked bewildered at my confident tone.

I could feel that she was wondering about the source of this crazy confidence, but unfortunately, it was difficult to tell her the source. There wouldn’t be many people who would believe me if I said it was from my experience of living in both neighborhoods, and she was… too mentally immature to be included.

“The sense of belonging that you like is something you can have only when the organization matches your beliefs, and you can throw it away when it starts to deviate. Frankly, what’s the difference between a company and a secret society? They’re the same group and organization, and the tasks – work – that come down are the same. Actually, they’re similar.”

“That’s…! Too…….”

Rosalyn, whose mind was confused by the ridiculous bundling, tried to refute, but I had no intention of waiting quietly.

In the first place, this was closer to a monologue that said, ‘Listen if you want, don’t if you don’t,’ rather than persuading her.

“At least when you act, always solve it in a way that you understand. Even Asif, who’s pretending to sleep over there, didn’t jump into this mess with a half-baked mindset. …You’re a genius too, so you can do that much, right?”

“Ugh…?!”

Rustle….

I gently ruffled her bangs because her stubbornness had subsided and she looked cute as she was feeling frustrated.

The mouth that had been acting like a spokesperson, going on about the Five Eyes and Enlightenment even on Christmas, was now tightly shut. It’s kind of cute how he quickly got out of range, face red, and took his seat.

Astra Express A-185, departing. Due to track switching and platform readjustment, please move inside the station to prevent facility damage…. –

Giving a life philosophy lecture that was never in my plans, time flew by.

I might have inadvertently created an excuse to be bombarded with questions throughout the trip. However, as they say, you learn even while explaining what you already know, and I felt relieved that my wavering mind and footing had become a little more solid.

And… in the end, everything worked out, so that’s good.

Asif is observing, Rosalyn is meditating.

It’s a bit empty next to me, but isn’t it usually most comfortable when the seat next to you is vacant on a plane….

“……Huh.”

I jerked my slumped upper body upright.

Shit, the train’s about to leave, it can’t be empty here, what are you talking about, you idiot!

I urgently scanned the platform, and there was Zero, crushing the corner of a vending machine with one hand and lifting the station employee by the collar with the other… Hey!! What are you doing there without getting on?!

The vile vending machine has taken Asha’s Credits and has not provided the corresponding product, so I am demanding a fair refund. –