After leaving Kaede Sakon with nothing more than an ambiguous remark, Shirakawa Shuu departed with Eshe. Before she left, however, Eshe also gave Kaede Sakon a data storage disc containing information about this world, something she had specifically prepared while they had been waiting for him.
Originally, the data storage disc had merely been bait—bait that Kaede Sakon would find impossible to resist. But after Kaede Sakon voluntarily submitted, that bait became a genuine contingency plan, allowing him to truly understand that all of this was technology that could be realized, making him follow Shirakawa Shuu with even greater devotion.
It was not until they had left Kaede Sakon's residence that Eshe asked in confusion, "Is this enough? Aren't you worried he'll spread those things around?"
Shirakawa Shuu casually raised his head and looked at the moon hanging in the sky. "He won't. This country, this world—their situation is far more complicated than merely a struggle between Alternative4 and Alternative5. He'll understand that what we left him absolutely cannot be allowed to spread. Otherwise, before this time tomorrow, he'll be a corpse. Whether for his ideals or his own safety, he won't do anything so impulsive."
"And tonight, he won't sleep at all. He'll begin analyzing what has gone rotten and must be discarded, and what is good and can be brought in. As long as he can confirm even a little of the authenticity of those materials, as a staunch Alternative4 supporter, he'll become even more obsessed for the sake of that truth."
Just as Shirakawa Shuu had predicted, Kaede Sakon spent the entire night without sleep, reviewing what Eshe had left behind again and again. From beginning to end, he memorized every frame and every word. By dawn, his eye sockets had turned completely dark, his eyes were