Careless

After everyone left, a small patch of the ceiling was removed, revealing Tabane.

She jumped off the ceiling saying:

-Buhh! That was Akatsubaki's perfect chance to shine!

-Tabane… Chifuyu said with a frown

-I don't think this is the best way for you to…

-Seiichi. Not now. Said Chifuyu

Outside of the small house, Tabane, Chifuyu, and I were talking.

-Explain yourself.

-I don't know what you are talking about Chi-chan?

-There isn't anyone capable of making an IS move on its own, much less stop Miyoshi's intervention.

-... There is no need to be like this. I said

-If you want to give your sister a happy birthday then why don't you just say it? Is it necessary to invade another nation's IS just to show off your sister's IS unit?

-What if someone got hurt? Are you going to change her memory just like you did previously?

-You almost caused an international problem, just like with the white knight event.

-It's exactly because of these types of actions that your sister hates you in the first place!

I always wanted to say these.

-How do you know all of this? Said Chifuyu with a visibly shocked face, I even took a photo secretly.

-Truly, what can I say. For two teen girls to cause that level of international confusion. What was I doing when I was that age? I, at most, scammed some gangsters...(they were both 14 years old since that happened 10 years ago and they are now 24)

-...

-The white knight event is pretty easy to figure out. No one apart from Tabane could have made it, and as long as you make a small investigation on Tabane, you will soon find out her friends in high school, and guess what, who else had long black hair, and was among Tabane friends. (She only has two confirmed classmates)

-As for Houki memories. I found out about it a long time ago after putting a series of information together… This was a half-truth, as I didn't find anything that proved that Houki's memories were tampered with. All of these came from the anime. The rest was obvious. Chifuyu had a fight against someone before the start of school, and that resulted in Chifuyu's unit getting destroyed and she retired, her unit was later remade into Byakushiki. The only one who could do that was Houki's older unit that was also a 3.5 Generation. It was later rebuilt into what you saw today

Chifuyu's face was really funny while Tabane had her eyes fully opened.

-HAHAHA! Tabane started to laugh

-All of that preparation in order to keep it a secret as Chi-chan wanted, only for it to be found this easily.

-But… You might be right. You are… Truly funny. This world has become slightly more fun with you here. She said that while getting close to the mountain's edge.

-Is that a confession? But anyway, if you want to make your sister happy, why not give her what she truly wants: A date with Ichika…

Chifuyu tried to bonk me but I evaded.

When we looked back, Tabane had disappeared, I looked at my sensors but they didn't register anything.

-She's more slippery than an eel. I said

-And you are as annoying as her.

-Oh come on. You like me, don't you? I do everything perfectly…

-Just shut up. Let's go back

I walked back towards the temporary base.

-And one more thing. Good job.

-No need to thank me, let's go back and welcome the gang.

…

Around an hour later they returned.(they went fast, but returned slowly)

Everyone started to descend from the sky. Ichika had a slap mark on his face, while Houki was carrying a blond western girl.

It's obvious what happened anyway.

Now that this event is over I have around three months till the end of summer vacation, and until then I have to find a way to get access to the underground mines in Luxemburg. I also have to start my research in the time crystal and analyze the data I got from today. I also need to upgrade the units from the gang as I had promised previously, and most importantly, finish my own unit.

In essence, I have a lot of things to do.

But before anything else, I think it's time for me to finish a very old business now that I have the means to do so. But that will have to wait until I am back home.

After leaving Chifuyu and Maya to handle all of the bureaucratic crap, I went back to the hotel to take a shower in the men's bath and go to sleep. Not too long later, Ichika appeared and sat next to me. (You have to take a quick shower, and after that, you may enter the thermal pool. I think, I am not Japanese.)

Ichika was ominously silent and gloomy, very different from his usual self.

…

-Dude. If you have something to say, just say it. You seem dead inside with that look on your face.

-... Are some people's lives worth more than others?

-...Sigh, okay. This is going to take a while.

-Look, Ichika. No matter what I say, I would like you to hear me out first.

-First, I would like to say that everyone is supposed to be born equal, but we know that's not true. Currently, the law dictates that everyone is equal before the law. Which I would like to agree with, but once again, that's not true. What I believe we should strive for is to give everyone the same chances to seek out their dreams.

-But in the first place, such a thing is already impossible. Since only women can use the IS unit. We are special in a sense. And even if another man eventually appears, does it matter? 1-10 men against 450 women... Not exactly fair, don't you think?

-I like to believe that, no matter your background, everyone is born equal in the sense they are innocent of any crimes. Their actions as they grow up are what shapes them. But this isn't exactly true, since one's education is never dependent on oneself. Your personality, ideals, and hopes were all shaped based on the people around you. Your friends, school, family, and whatever. One's experiences along his/her life is what makes you… well, you.

-Then let's get an example Ichika. Two people, they were both orphans and had similar living environments, but one in order to survive had to become a gangster, scamming, robbing, and killing people. But he always had his bottom line, never going below it. Honorable in a sense. The other did the same, but instead of a bottom line, he started to take pleasure in what he did. First, killing, then, something more. Torturing, raping, whatever heinous crimes you can imagine, he did it with pleasure.

-For the first type of man, would you bet your life and that of your friends in order to give him a second chance? Let's say you don't know the man. Before you answer me, what about the second man? You know everything about him, would you still put your family's life at risk for him?

-Now let's go back to the fact that you don't know anything about those two men.

-You give them a chance. The first man does everything you want. He tries to escape the hell society put him in, but the other… In the end, not only didn't he improve, he ended up hurting someone close to you. How much? Let's not delve into it.

-Was it worth it? For the first man, yes Ichika, it was worth saving him. But for the other one?... You can't turn back time, your family is hurt and he is reeling in your despair. What do you do? You put him in jail?

-I would never put my family in danger for someone like that, be it 10 of them, a million of them. because their life is meaningless for me in front of my friends and family.

-If they can prove to me they are different and can repent, then I might get out of my way to help them. But then comes the problem, many such people will never have the chance to even show that they can repent. That's why the easiest and safest choice comes to play.

-So my friend, this is my answer. Perhaps for you, it's not about worth, it's more about "duty" right? Just because you have "power" doesn't mean you should act like a hero. Not even the police work like this.

-You should try to save those on your way, not go out of your way to do so. I am not telling you to become a murderer or anything of the like. The strong can press forward easily. Only the truly strong can take the harder way and deal with its consequences.

-... Ichika was pensive, but the gloomy aura around him didn't go away.

-In the end, you should do what you think is right, but remember, some of your actions can affect those around you. Now, let's relax, shall we?

…

After a few minutes, Ichika decided to leave saying he wasn't feeling well.

I tried my best. He is one of those "everyone needs to be saved, don't say such sad things, that he is only a criminal".

After some minutes I left too. Ichika wasn't in the room, so I decided to just go to bed. Although it was still morning in a sense, around 3h. I was just feeling tired, that's all.

A few hours later someone entered the room, of course, I woke up, but this person was being overly cautious.

By the way this person moved, she must be relatively tall. But that is strange, as there is no one even close to being this tall. Even the tallest women are only 1,80 m tall. Something is wrong, I immediately decided to act but…

-You better not move. Said the unknown woman

I felt a cold metal on my forehead.