There really wasn’t anyone in sight. After taking a two-hour train ride, I had been walking for almost 30 more minutes now. It couldn’t be helped that I was beginning to feel my legs turning sore as this place didn’t exactly have a very straight road. I had never been here before, and neither did I think that anyone would even think of coming here. It was as if I had suddenly entered an unknown countryside region in the prefecture. If I happened to cry for help here, nobody would hear me.

Being far away from the city area which I was familiar with had made me increasingly suspicious and concerned about my own safety. A small feeling of anxiety crept up to me, but I didn’t have the freedom to turn away from this anymore. In any case, Yamo will be in danger if I ignore that woman’s warnings.

Treading an unused road occasionally blocked by extended branches caused me to lose track of time. It was until the sun set when I saw a long enclosure of steel fences obstructing my path ahead. As expected, this was some sort of restricted zone. I could see a few silos and some cranes further ahead. Was this some sort of industrial site?

Feeling a little curious, I stopped near the fence and opened the browser. It was probably wiretapped, but I couldn’t bother to care anymore. Right at this moment, there might even be surveillance on me too.

The reception was pretty bad here, but it was good enough to load a few articles on Google.

From a quick search with the name listed on the GPS, the area beyond this fence turned out to be an industrial site like I thought. Amagiri Processing Pte. Ltd, was a large-scale factory site that used to create mechanical parts for various electronic gadgets.

As the times gave way to more technological advances, it seems that the company suffered from untimely deficits and were unable to procure said technology to improve the parts available in their catalog. As a result, the business was shut down from the cruel competition and it became abandoned for a while now after the government bought over this place. Incidents like these were not rare in this day and age, as the power of money presided over many business practices. If something was not profitable anymore, the higher-ups would obviously stop investing in a failed venture and leave the workers under them to dry.

Without the black card, I am going to return to such a life again. Ah, not good. I’m thinking about such things again… Besides, I wasn’t clear of troubled waters yet. My life still hung delicately on the whims of that woman.

If Fatso and the guys were here, would they make fun of me for that? ...Heh…

This place was suspicious, but after hesitating for a few seconds, I began to climb over the fence (with much effort) and finally fell down on the other side clumsily.

「Fuck… it hurts...」

I had grazed my elbow in the process, so I quickly wiped it off with my sleeve. After taking in a mouthful of water from a pet bottle, I continued forward.

I stopped before an abandoned factory after confirming that I had arrived at the blue dot on my GPS. The wide doors were already open, and so I silently stepped inside.

My first impression of the place was of an excessively large warehouse in an irrecoverable, debilitated state. The rusty brown chains hung on the ceiling creaked eerily as I gazed upwards. There was a complicated set of gears, like a spider’s web. It was probably used for a lever system to carry the metal parts as there was a second floor above that appeared tidier than the first. Various machinery that had long stopped working laid in rows, and from the looks of it they truly seemed like antiques. But upon closer inspection, I thought that a set of gears appeared to be more polished than the rest, almost as if they were still being used recently.

It couldn’t be, right? After all, this place had been abandoned for years. No one would be using this place for anything, especially when it was off limits. But considering that I was told to come here specifically, could it be----

『You finally made it here.』

Before I could connect that line of logic, I finally saw the same apathetic-looking woman that had been waiting for me here. Leaning her back against a rusty pipe near the wall, her militaristic appearance exudes discipline like when I saw her for the first time. Her amber orange hair tied with a ponytail at the back was just as distinctive as ever. But it was from that indifferent tone which I had confirmed that she was the same person from before.

『You didn’t run away. That’s surprising.』

I raised an eyebrow to that statement.

What was that even supposed to mean?! Was she provoking me? She was the one who threatened me to come in the first place. I almost had an outburst, but considering the fact that I was unable to beat her and that I was being threatened, I had no choice but to nod compliantly.

The woman took notice of my elbow which had left a bloodstain, and smiled meaningfully.

『Well, I’ll acknowledge your resolution at least.』

She threw a few objects towards me, which I barely caught in my hands.

『I hope that attitude doesn’t change at the end of today.』

What does she mean by that? ...And also---

「This is...」

After taking a look at them, I returned my cautious stance towards the woman.

『I told you, didn’t I? That I would return them as long as you came here.』

「...」

The items in my hand… Besides my wallet that had everything intact, the other was the black card that I had thought I wouldn’t see again!

What should I make of this? Did she expect a “thank you” from me or something? This person had ample strength and resolution to kill me, but she didn’t. She had brought me to this place, and even returned my belongings to me. My impression of this mysterious woman had yet to solidify, and her motivation and intentions remained unclear even now. And from this very action, the current situation became even stranger.

But without answering my inner confusion, the woman turned her back and for a moment there I thought I saw something shiny returning into her pockets. She actually had prepared her knife even in a situation like this! I broke out in cold sweat. No, it was precisely because the situation was like this, that she was being cautious towards me. From my understanding of our positions, I could instinctively understand that she was doing all this because she wanted something from me. Or rather, she wanted me to show her something.

That begged the question, if I failed to meet her expectations, what would happen to me then…?

Taking a few steps forward, she beckoned towards me.

『Follow me.』

「...But there’s...」

I was about to say that we were approaching a dead end, but she suddenly took out a card from her breast pocket and tapped it against a rusty circuit box. At first glance, nothing seemed to have changed, but in the next moment---

A green light lit up from a seemingly translucent screen on the wall before us.

【Authorized.】

The words in green blinked for a few more times, before I felt the ground shaking.

「T-This is!」

An earthquake?!

When I looked at the woman to my side, her composure made me feel like this was a normal occurrence. It was then that I began to calm down a little.

The creaking sounds seemed to have come from above us.

When I looked upwards, I saw it. The planetary gears that I had grown suspicious of, had started to rotate. And the lever hidden behind the myriad of complex machinery started to lower before us.

This was an elevator! A sleek white elevator with an egg-structure greeted my eyes, and when the doors slid open seamlessly, I saw a wide touch-screen at the center that contained information that I couldn’t understand. It really had a futuristic design, I mused. However the relatively limited interior meant that it could probably only accommodate three people comfortably.

An extension was revealed at the bottom of the elevator before I realized it too. It seemed like this thing went even deeper.

『---Are you waiting for an invitation?』

「...」

An annoyed voice snapped me out of my astonishment, and I quickly entered the strange capsule-like elevator. The fact that it was surprisingly cleaner than the structures around us made me feel as if it was some sort of secret contraption. But then again, it probably was, judging from how the capsule would fit in any kind of sci-fi movie I could think of.

Beep.

I noticed her tapping a card on the terminal inside again and after entering what seemed like a floor number, the wide screen revealed the words,【Authorized】again.

I took a look around the capsule's interior restlessly. The way this elevator looked like, and how the woman appeared to be emotionless. Restricted area… ...Aliens? ...Don’t tell me, they were trying to dissect my body or something?!

At this moment, the woman had taken notice of my anxiety. As if reading my thoughts, she suddenly scoffed and explained vaguely.

『Don’t worry, it’s not what you’re currently thinking of.』

She can read my mind too! She’s an alien after all, I silently confirmed in my head. Perhaps the tension had gotten to me, but my imagination had gone wild ever since we had started on the elevator’s descent underground.

Should I attack her now? It’s not too late. If I catch her unprepared, I might be able to…

No… I had a strange feeling that she had a pair of eyes behind her back. If I did, my neck would be severed in an instant.

『But it’s also better for you to be prepared. It is true that the logic of common people should no longer be applied to us.』

The woman stared down at the ground, listless for a moment. It was as if she was lamenting something in her mind. I understood that look on her face in an instant, because I was the same then.

Sentimental, perhaps… about her own life choices, or about someone she cared for.

No turning back… huh. What would happen to Yamo from now on. My sister had recently recovered from her illness. But I didn’t feel safe leaving her alone for a long time. It had already been a week since I'd last seen her again.

As I looked at the black card in my hand meaningfully, the elevator was beginning to slow down in speed. Were we about to arrive? The doors opened with a hissing sound of pressured steam at the sides, and it decelerated in parallel with the level of the ground it stopped at.

『We’re here. Get out.』

The doors slid open, and I followed cautiously behind her advancing back.

「...Where… are we exactly?」

After collecting my courage to raise a question, the woman turned to look at me while continuing to walk.

『The Examination Chamber.』

E-Examination Chamber? Why does that sound so dangerous, hey?!

Her feet stopped before a white door and I paused right behind her, frightened internally. However I made sure not to show it on my face. The door slid open automatically, revealing what was inside----

「This is...」

As soon as we entered the wide space that was filled with various medical equipment, various eyes looked at the two of us. To be more specific, at me. Those people who were dressed in white coats, like the doctors and scientists in a laboratory, all stopped what they were doing and stared at me curiously.

『That’s right.』

Without warning, I felt a kick from my back, and I stumbled forward into the arms of two white-coats.

「H-Hey!!」

『Tsukasa Yato. As one of Ninth’s wielders, you’re going to take a simple aptitude test.』

The one who had kicked me, simply turned her heels and left with that sentence.

I watched in despair, as the doors closed tightly with a click.