Interlude: The Castle of Justice and the Den of Evil
“I’m sorry, Hina.”
“?”
Rui Amaken, who had returned to the 10th Branch of [The White Scales of Justice : Prim Libra], dropped her shoulders in front of her best friend.
Her best friend, Hinata, who had received the apology, tilted her head in confusion.
A large amount of food was laid out before her as she sat in a chair in the cafeteria.
She moved her mouth like a squirrel, chewing “mokyumokyu,” and then swallowed cutely with a gulp.
While seriously thinking, “My Hina is such an angel,” Rui began to explain.
“I failed to catch him.”
“Huh…?”
“The man who embarrassed you yesterday, Hina.”
“—!?”
Hinata’s shoulders jerked up suddenly.
“R-Rui-chan!? T-That story…!”
Blushing, she tugged at the skirt of her uniform.
“D-Don’t remind me… Didn’t I tell you to forget about it!?”
“How could I possibly forget? Such a cute– ahem, such a pitiful Hina!”
“Did you just make a mistake there?”
“I thought you were worried about failing the mission when you came back with your shoulders drooping, but more than that, your skirt–“
“Waaah!?”
“carried like a princess–“
“Wha-!? Whaaaa!”
“Being hugged–“
“Enough! I’ll get angry!?”
“You’re already angry, aren’t you?”
While trembling at the adorableness of Hinata hitting herself, Rui simultaneously felt murderous intent towards the culprit — [Divergence] — who had caused her best friend to react this way.
If she had been the one to elicit this reaction, it would have been something to rejoice about, but the fact that it was done by some unknown person made her homicidal impulses unstoppable.
And to make matters worse! Of all people! A man!!
Thinking about it made her anger boil over.
It was understandable, as Rui Amaken disliked people for a certain reason.
Hinata, whom she called “Hina” with such affection, was special.
Even among women, Hinata was the only one she was close to.
As for men, she hated them with a passion.
The only exception might be the person who had given Hinata and herself the opportunity to form a bond in the past.
Although she hadn’t met him yet, she was at least grateful. And simultaneously jealous.
“Oh my, you two are getting along well, aren’t you?”
Suddenly, a voice called out from the cafeteria entrance.
As they both turned around, they saw their familiar superior standing there.
A beautiful woman with green hair reaching down to her back, tied in a single ponytail at the nape of her neck, and striking amber eyes.
She was about the same height as Hinata, but her age was unknown — and what stood out the most was her attire.
A maid outfit.
And a classical one at that.
She was one of the top three beauties in the branch, excluding Rui, but the impact of her outfit was far stronger than her appearance.
“Ah, hello, Isana-san.”
“Yes, hello, Hinata-chan.”
Her name was Isana Shindo.
And,
“Vice Branch Chief.”
She was indeed the Vice Branch Chief of the 10th Branch.
“Geez, I told you to call me Isana. You’re so stiff, Amaken-chan. Read the room, will you?”
Despite her appearance of shrugging her shoulders with a troublesome expression, Isana was the brain of the branch, coordinating information processing and command systems.
With the Branch Chief currently away on a summons to the 1st Branch, she was the highest-ranking woman in this branch at the moment.
She was apparently not good at combat, saying herself that she “couldn’t even kill a bug.”
Setting aside the truth of that statement, her presence here likely meant she had an important report to make.
“It’s not serious, but I have some bad news. About that subordinate of [Setsuna], the man called [Divergence]…”
“…!”
Caught off guard for the second time today, Hinata tensed up slightly.
“Unfortunately, his face wasn’t captured on the surveillance camera footage.”
“I see.”
“–Huh? Rui-chan, did you see that person’s face?”
Hinata asked with surprise as Rui frowned.
“Well, yes. When I think about it, he had an irritating face that makes my skin crawl.”
“What kind of face was that…?”
For now, Rui patted the head of the confused Hinata.
It was disappointing that the man’s face hadn’t been caught on camera, probably due to the angle. Extremely disappointing.
“If we had captured it, we could have immediately issued a wanted notice…”
“That’s right. After all, he’s the only confirmed subordinate of that [Setsuna].”
The Vice Branch Chief nodded deeply.
But her frustrated expression was likely more focused on [Setsuna] behind [Divergence], rather than [Divergence] himself.
The [Six Apostles], the executives of [The Covenant of Salvation: Nega Messiah], were individuals that required such caution.
Not much is known about that organization.
Among them, half of the six seated executives are shrouded in mystery.
Only three have been confirmed.
Mion Kayano of the Fourth Seat [Purple Smoke], [Setsuna] of the Third Seat.
And Zena-Ranunculus of the Second Seat [Despair].
The First, Fifth, and Sixth Seats have yet to appear on the stage.
Among the three known seats, the one most feared by people is [Despair].
As the cause of the calamity [Nightmare of Desolation] that destroyed the former metropolis of Shinjuku in a single night, she still casts a shadow of fear in people’s hearts.
Or perhaps the most troublesome is [Purple Smoke].
[Prim Libra] has been fooled countless times by her illusions.
However, if you were to ask the winged guardians of all branches who they “least want to face as an enemy,” they would unanimously answer:
–It’s none other than [Setsuna].
The reason is quite simple.
Because she is strong.
Overwhelmingly so.
In fact, there haven’t been many incidents where [Setsuna] has appeared.
At worst, they could be counted on the fingers of both hands.
However, she has left awe-inspiring results in all of them.
At one time, she single-handedly took control of a research facility guarded by dozens of elites and stole important research subjects.
At another time, she faced off against a branch chief and vice branch chief alone and repelled them unscathed.
Though few in number, each of these incidents has tarnished the prestige of the scales of justice.
It was the first appearance of [Setsuna]’s subordinate, and he had already made the blunder of showing his face so soon.
“That was close. But, well, it’s just ‘close’ and nothing more.”
Isana shrugged nonchalantly. However, her expression was still troubled.
“The problem is that Mion-chan from the Kayano household ran away… Sigh, what a hassle.”
“Why are you calling her so familiarly…?”
Hinata glares at her maid-uniformed superior, who sighs and grumbles “It’s such a drag.”
While fixated on her cuteness, Rui’s mind was still occupied with thoughts of ‘Divergence’.
(Next time we meet, I’ll definitely finish the job.)
Mostly in a violent direction.
While Rui was honing his murderous intent towards ‘Divergence’,
Hinata was also thinking about him.
Unlike her violent partner, her mind was filled with embarrassment.
Hinata, who had no immunity to the opposite sex except for her father and about one other person, was still carrying over her sense of shame even today, a day after the incident.
Above all, because she had been teased by her best friend until just before, the vivid memories wouldn’t fade.
(Ugh… I was seen… no, princess carry… no, embraced… that’s not it!)
She desperately tried to shake off the memories that kept surfacing, but the ones she wanted to erase the most kept coming back.
And then,
“…Huh?”
She felt something off about one of the memories that came rushing back.
It was fortunate for her — and unfortunate for him.
Hinata had been too confused to notice at the time.
But in the final scene.
— Y-You dare…!
— W-Well, you’ve bought me plenty of time. See you later, Hinata-chan.
The sense of incongruity evolves into a question, and the question sublimes into suspicion.
(Did I ever tell him my name?)
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
The cafe run by Yuika Bakuro is a gathering place for Ibuki Ibusuki and his companions.
It’s a place frequently visited by members of [Nega Messiah].
Among them are those who don’t hide their true faces and those whose identities have already been exposed, leaving too many clues.
The reason why the cafe hasn’t been taken over by the forces of justice yet is solely because their targets are dispersed.
In simple terms, there are other gathering places besides this one.
The number easily exceeds a thousand in the big city of Sakura-mura.
Some are cafes, some are clothing stores, and others are movie theaters.
People unrelated to the organization frequently come and go, and members of the organization don’t stay in one place.
Even within the organization, probably only a handful of people know everything.
This is the main reason why they’ve been able to evade pursuit from [Prim Libra].
So how does [Nega Messiah], with its countless gathering places, function as a single organization?
It’s because the numerous gathering places on the surface are merely entrances.
The headquarters of the evil organization sprawls deep underground beneath the glittering cityscape.
All of the thousand-plus entrances connect to the underground base, attempting to spread invisibly throughout the city of Sakura-mura.
Like an ant colony.
When one executive made this comparison, the place came to be known as the ‘Nest’—.
The ‘Nest’ has a multi-layered structure.
On each level, comrades belonging to the same faction gather, eagerly waiting for a chance to wreak havoc.
On this day too, a faction of considerable size was holding a meeting in the dark depths.
“—So. The guy who’s the head of the largest faction, ‘Purple Smoke’, has returned. And finally, that lone wolf ‘Setsuna’ has started taking on subordinates. Male ones at that.”
In a cluttered great hall.
The one speaking about the current situation from a slightly elevated position is a large man.
His name is ‘Goki’.
He’s the man who had a minor altercation with the executive ‘Setsuna’ at one of the gathering places, “Café-Manhattan”.
In front of him are about a dozen male members who make up his faction.
Born into a society unfavorable to men, they were fortunate enough to be gifted with talent, leading them to adopt an ideology of gender equality.
“That ‘Setsuna’ has subordinates…?”
“And male ones at that!?”
Among the information provided by their faction leader, what surprised them the most was about ‘Setsuna’.
It’s well known that there’s no end to volunteers wanting to become subordinates of the executive ‘Setsuna’.
However, for several years until now, she had never once accepted any.
And now they’re saying that ‘Setsuna’ has taken on a subordinate.
A male subordinate at that.
“I’m sure none of you bastards here are wishy-washy enough to think about defecting to become ‘Setsuna’s’ subordinate. ‘Setsuna’ herself didn’t seem to have any intention of increasing her subordinates to form a faction. But…”
Most of ‘Goki’s’ subordinates are men.
If the executive ‘Setsuna’ were to start actively taking on subordinates, it would mean competing for the already scarce male members.
That’s not something ‘Goki’ and the other members found appealing.
“Hey, Leader. Even if ‘Setsuna’ doesn’t seem interested, there might be more guys who want to defect, right?”
At one member’s comment, the big man nods as if in agreement.
“That’s right. We haven’t been able to make any big moves lately because of that silver woman.”
‘Goki’s’ expression turned deeply resentful when he mentioned the [silver woman], but it quickly changed to one of enjoyment.
“It’s about time we stirred things up a bit.”
A dark laugh echoed through the underground depths.
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