Unyielding Pursuit: Conscious

Weeks have passed since Weiss was moved to Airburst’s Secret Prison...

After Ravyn went through physiotherapy and came out of the hospital, she continued to work on investigations with her colleagues in the department. A part of her felt hopeful that she was getting closer to Undre. But another part, Ravyn, was worried that she would be incapable of catching a Lost Wisdom master like him. Moreover, information about Undre Azciel was unbelievably empty in AB's main database before Leila’s contribution. The purple-haired girl's mind began to think of a time when she couldn't deal with Olivia and Kanji almost dying in front of her. Then the escape from Fowler, which Ravyn and Putter barely made it out of despite her sole focus on running away.

..."Even if you have 10 more years, the result's not gonna change."...

Weiss's insulting words and what Leila told Ravyn when they first met pop up in her consciousness.

..."The reason you are in front of me alive and kicking is undoubted because you’re not even in Undre’s eyes."...

And in that moment, the young man's voice drew Ravyn back from the mist of her thoughts.

"What's with that serious face? Is the case you're following up not progressing well lately? Or is it the pressure from working with these big brains around you? Whatever it is, I will tell you this. You've only been able to move a few days after what your killing herbs have done to you. You're doing great right now just by getting here."

Kanji came by to talk and gave Ravyn a keychain with a palace-like landmark shape, a giveaway souvenir from where he attended the meeting abroad.

"Ms. Tisha and Head Charles already got the last two yellows. So only the black is left. Your favorite."

"Sometimes I wonder if you went to a meeting or robbing their goodies. "

The purple-haired girl takes the gift and puts it in her bag.

"Haha, you’re making me blush. By the way, is Yu quitting too early today?"

The boy somehow took that as a compliment.

"Yeah."

Ravyn replied shortly. Following the conclusion of Weiss' arrest testimony, the former CEO of the renewable energy giant has once again rocked Komveena's business. At the time the company's stock price plummeted from his news, Weiss had his team prepared to buy them in advance, gathering 52% of Yiclu's shares in total. And Yu is that jammy one who suddenly received the transfer of Weiss's personal portfolio along with those of Yiclu's shares. She became the new major shareholder and had to clear the flood of headache matters from the media, insiders, and partners while managing not to affect her job in AB in the long run.

"You know, I told her I could help, but Yu said she wanted to do it on her own."

Kanji attempted to prolong their conversation. This raised Ravyn’s curiosity about his career choice.

"Talk about it. You should be doing fine if you go out and do those business things. What’s holding you back from meeting your needs, big bro?"

"I got what I needed from here, Ravyn. It's the best choice for my younger siblings."

The boy made a proud face and put his hands on his hips, hiding his concern completely.

"Okay. I respect that."

Ravyn nodded. As for Kanji today, he hadn't returned to his department yet, unlike every day that he should have gone after his small talk. The boy kept walking around in front of Ravyn, not going anywhere. He rubbed his hands together in concern before asking his friend in a pleading tone.

"Hey Ravyn.. Do you need more allowance or like pocket money these days?"

The purple-haired girl quickly refused.

"The salary here is more than enough for me."

"Please, I even asked Zen to take your afternoon work."

Kanji entreated. Ravyn glanced at her Intel Board's list of tasks and found that she had no more work to do today, like the boy said. Ravyn accordingly sighed and made a fist to shut down her Intel board.

"Go on, I'm listening."

######

Meanwhile, Jae is running between buildings, alternating with jumping on special floating balloons as a platform to send himself across each tree in the forest somewhere.

"Goodness, are you really going to come to our branch tomorrow? Did something happen?"

Branch Leader Eugene's voice rang into the communicator in his ears.

"Ms. Eugene, is the All Stars project really going to start its first trial in the upcoming Airburst selection?"

Jae asked in a worried tone.

"Exactly. We are honored and proud that the selection of our Themeise's new Airburst this time will be the kick-start to this project. I can’t wait to see those only 100-selected AB Trainees from all branches around the world as candidates to take up Idorund’s baton.. Oh, if you need another special application form, I’m really sorry. One form per person per selection is in the rules."

Eugene’s anticipation and enthusiasm about this could be felt on the other end of the line.

...I thought Putter was the only reason Idorund wouldn't recommend Ravyn to apply for Airburst. But that doesn't matter now…

"Understood ma'am. But it’s not about that. Please tell Mr. C to help me prepare retrospective mission reports in Themeise from the beginning of this year for me. And I have something to discuss with Ravyn from Intelligence."

Jae replied, jumping forward and tossing balloons making his way.

" Well well well. If I could get some attention from you like this, I would be extremely happy."

The head of the branch teases Jae.

"I'm serious. After she confronts the Lost Wisdom user and goes to the hospital for a week, I really need to talk to her about First Kiss."

But having said that, the real reason Jae made haste to Themeise was the second application form that he had entrusted Eugene to give to Ravyn.

######

In a small park-like operation center with many layers of thick walls and no doors…

A group of guests were warmly invited to the lofty AB Tower located at the center of this place today.

"Good afternoon and welcome to AB Weekly. This is Marika. Today we have a special interview with Idorund, Airburst at Themeise branch. Hello."

The host woman in front of the camera pointed the mic at Idorund in the Airburst’s light-armored bodysuit.

"Hello Marika, and hi everyone. I'm Idorund. We are about to have the new Airburst selection featuring our best AB trainees. Please support them and stay tuned. In the rest of my time, I will do my best to protect Themeise until the last moment."

Themeise people and Airburst fans all over the world are swooning in front of the TV after hearing a few sentences from this charming fellow. Idorund mentioned his retirement due to health issues and spent some time answering the questions and cheering his fans up. After the interview, he took the set into AB Tower and then asked the AB Trainer to take custody of it before leaving to continue with his mission. Inside the first floor of the building, it is like a big gym, and everyone is working out as their personal coach guides them via the screens in their AB ring.

"And this is the training atmosphere of the top 100 chosen by thousands of AB trainees around the world. They've been sent to stay here for 3 months now. Just one more month until the intense selection to find Themeise's next hero..."

Reporter Marika spread her right arm to emphasize various corners and interesting spots on that floor.

At the same time as the host of AB Weekly was portraying and taking the cameraman around...

Ravyn and Kanji are handing out the All-Star project acknowledgement letters to the AB Trainees. One at a time. Since electronic signatures are not yet accepted by many legal institutions during this era, paper is needed.

"So, you need help for a simple job like this. Above all, you agree to share the allowance with me. Is there something you want to tell me?"

Ravyn held the letters and handed one of them to one of the trainees in the room before she talked to the brown-skinned boy next to him.