The Hated Fox

...Perhaps it hadn't been a stone thrown in, but a bomb.

The girl steadied her top hat and lazily turned her gaze toward the pink-haired girl eagerly examining the mechanical creations in the room from the doorway... and the helmet-headed man beside her.

"Elysia, it's been a long time. And Mr. Lin, it's our first meeting. Welcome to the Spiral Workshop." She closed her book and set it aside, then politely gestured toward the two seats in front of her.

Lin did not move. He stood at the doorway, studying the girl Elysia had described as the head of the Engineering Department, as well as the dizzying array of tools and completed machines around the room.

She had been the head of the Engineering Department for some time, but Lin had never met her in person. Their only indirect connection had been when Elysia asked her to modify the Second Gym.

Honestly, calling this place a workshop was somewhat inaccurate. What Lin saw were countless creations whose functions he had no idea about, each labeled with a simple sticker bearing its name. A lipstick, for example, was marked Texas Chainsaw No. 3, an utterly baffling designation. Compared to the orderly assembly lines and professional designs of the Research and Development Department, this place felt more like a private little corner for self-indulgent tinkering.

Finally, Lin looked at the thing most out of place in the room.

The girl smiled softly and raised the poetry collection in her hand. "Interested? It's a collection of poems by some obscure medieval poets. There are many fascinating poems in it, at least to me."

"...That poem just now was by Goethe. He isn't obscure."

"The line 'I love you, and it has nothing to do with you' first appeared in Goethe's work, so the poem 'I Love You, and It Has Nothing to Do with You' is widely believed to have been written by him. But in truth, its author was a female poet." Her fingers brushed the edge of the book as she watched Lin with interest. "More than the poem, I'm interested in that poet's life. Her legendary experiences in love and revolution may be even more widely known. According to records, the reason her second husband lived separately from her was that he could not tolerate having only one wife..."

She tapped the cover of the book. "What an incredibly fascinating life, don't you think?"

"..."

"I seem to have gotten a little too absorbed. Please, have a seat, you two."

"Hmm, are you a 'great' writer today, Vill-V?" Elysia sat down with a radiant smile.

"It should be... a 'great' artist." Vill-V returned her smile.

Lin walked over and stood beside Elysia, straight as a pine tree. He had no intention of sitting down, but Elysia casually tugged him into the seat.

"It really is as written—your personality." Vill-V noticed their little interaction. It was hard to tell whether she was teasing them or meant something else. "White in every color? Black in every shade? I can't quite describe it. If there were someone who understood colors better than I did, they might know how to describe you."

"Why does it have to be colors?"

"Who knows? I don't know what I was thinking either."

Vill-V spoke unlike anyone Lin had ever known. She seemed kind and courteous toward others, but her words often jumped from one topic to another, full of erratic leaps and strange wavelengths. She had the air of someone balanced on the line between genius and madness.

Just as Lin was about to begin the real conversation, Vill-V's eyes lit up as she stared at his Powered Armor. "Oh~ Your equipment is more cutting-edge than the last design, but it still doesn't have my favorite heat-exhaust fan design. It could reduce the armor's heat load and cool the wearer at the same time. Delta is so old-fashioned."

Wouldn't the expelled heat roast the wearer alive?

"...Come to think of it, it seems you gave him some design suggestions."

For example, she had clearly had a hand in designing the Phase Teleportation Device, which had nearly killed Lin right in the heart of humanity's headquarters. Genius mechanical engineer—perhaps that was what she ought to be called.

Vill-V counted on her fingers. "The Phase Teleportation Device, Titan Energy Miniaturization, the Information Integration System, the Equipment Backpack... which one do you mean?"

"..."

Lin had not expected her to have been involved in so much of his equipment. He was already starting to worry about the reliability of future gear. Hopefully, Titan would not gain features like raising the cabin temperature according to the pilot's emotional state until it caught fire.

"I came here this time because there's something I want to ask of you." Lin finally brought the conversation back on track. If it continued, it might drift into topics that would give both Delta and him brain hemorrhages.

"Sure. Is it equipment modification or poetry? Poetry is today's special. Tomorrow's subject is cooking, the day after that is mysticism, and the day after that is magic... Though, for the record, magic is always available. Compared to discussing technology, I prefer performing magic."

Lin waited for her to finish before speaking. "The Deepest Place."

"Oh? My new creation. Interesting." Vill-V was not particularly surprised. "Honestly, I'm not very satisfied with it. After all, most of its design wasn't according to my wishes..."

"I'm not here to discuss technical issues." Lin felt it was necessary to stop Vill-V's frequent tendency to go off on tangents. In that respect, she was very much like Delta. "I want to know how to get there."

"How to get there?"

Vill-V narrowed her eyes, her unusual irises fixed on Lin. "Why do you want to go there?"

"I need to verify some things without the Fire Moth discovering it, and I need your help."

"'Neither the wise nor the foolish are dangerous. The most dangerous are those half-wise and half-foolish.'" Vill-V nodded. "Rather than blindly following the rules without understanding, it's better to seek the truth yourself. In that regard, you're already different from what was written in the book."

"What book?" She had mentioned "the book" twice already. Lin raised an eyebrow and asked.

"There."

A hardcover copy of One Hundred Questions About the Silent Helmet was placed on the table.

Lin glanced at Elysia. She innocently whistled as though she had seen nothing.

"Although The Deepest Place was built by me, I don't hold its management rights. So even I can't openly send you there."

Lin countered, "But you built it, so you likely left a hidden door inside."

"You guessed that correctly. I generally leave backdoors in my creations."

Vill-V crossed her hands and looked through Lin's viewport, meeting his eyes.

The overhead lights suddenly went out, and her colorful irises gleamed in the darkness.

"But what conditions do you have that could convince me to help you?"

Lin left with the so-called "backdoor." Elysia walked over to the switch again and turned the lights back on, restoring brightness to the room.

"Was turning off the lights one of your little magic tricks too?" Elysia looked up at the lightbulb.

"I simply had the switch in my hand." Vill-V revealed the tiny switch hidden in her sleeve and smiled smugly. "Don't you think glowing contacts are very intimidating after the lights go out? Like the villain in certain works."

"I didn't expect you to agree to Lin so easily. That was rather surprising."

"Agree? No, no, no. I never agreed. He merely discovered it himself. It had nothing to do with me."

Vill-V cleared her throat, returning to the elegant bearing of a poet. Looking in the direction Lin had departed, she sighed softly:

"You will not end; that is your greatness;"

"You have no beginning; that is your providence."

"Your song circles like the stars, and beginning and end radiate the same brilliance."

The Hated Fox

Lin slipped the small slip of paper in his hand into an active unit, injected the medicine Mobius had given him into his neck, then headed toward his room after administering the entire dose in one go. He needed to organize his equipment for what lay ahead.

From a distance, someone could be seen leaning against his door. Hearing Lin's footsteps, she turned around.

Her vivid red hair was a unique burst of vitality within the Fire Moth, fluttering like a bright flame in the blurred reflection of the matte metal walls.

Himiko had been waiting outside Lin's room for a long time.

Lin slowed his steps, then quickened them again as he walked over to Himiko.

"Soul's condition is poor. Her mind suffered a shock, and she may need a long time to recover." Himiko handed Lin the medical report.

Lin opened the report bearing Soul's identification number. Several glaring words inside made him press his lips together.

"Lin, what did you see back then? Why was there an announcement like that?"

"...Just as the announcement said, I was carrying out another mission at the time and happened to miss the attack." Lin handed the report back. "I have another mission to carry out soon. Take care of Soul."

Himiko stared at Lin with darkened eyes. "At a time like this? A mission? Are you sure?"

"...Yes."

"Lin, Soul needs you." Himiko pulled her coat tighter around herself. Her body felt cold, though perhaps something else was even colder. "She's already lost her parents. You're her last support."

"She still has you, Captain... Himiko."

"You mean something different to her. Right now, only you being at her side can help her pull herself together."

Seeing the sincerity in Himiko's expression, Lin realized that he had somehow become someone else's support.

The Honkai Energy-corroded area on his back throbbed faintly.

Lin unconsciously looked away. Even though Himiko could not see his expression behind the helmet, he still did it on instinct.

"I will." Before Himiko could breathe a sigh of relief, he added, "After this mission is over."

Himiko clenched her fists. "What mission is it?"

"A Confidential Mission."

"..."

Lin walked around Himiko and entered his room. He felt as if he were running away.

Inside, he removed his helmet and looked at the photograph on the table.

The girl's brilliant smile beside him had been frozen in that distant past.

"Cemetery, laboratory, ritual ground..." Mei had rarely had time to spare, and she used it to organize the information she had gathered. She manipulated tiny currents of electricity to sketch several remembered images in the air.

Lin's cemetery, Mobius's laboratory, Chrono's ritual ground... So far, Mei had seen several special spaces within the Elysian Realm, formed from the memories of the MOTH Heroes—or, more strictly speaking, from the memories of Lin and the MOTH Heroes. Their excessively powerful memories had materialized scenes that had originally been abstract.

This seemed to confirm what Elysia had said about their influence on the Elysian Realm. Similar effects included the types of monsters and changes to the space itself.

Then aside from that, were there other ways of influencing the Elysian Realm?

The deeper she investigated this miracle left behind by the Previous Civilization, the more mysteries surrounded Mei.

"Maybe I could ask Elysia... No, Kevin?... That won't work either... Lin? Forget it."

Several candidates flashed through her mind. Some MOTH Heroes did not understand the Elysian Realm itself very well. Based on her impressions, those three seemed to understand it best, but all three had communication styles she found difficult to comprehend. Recently, even Lin had begun responding to her with silence and light signals.

Mei simply could not understand it. Was speaking properly really such an exhausting thing? Why did every one of them want her to solve riddles?

"Mei, did something happen?"

A voice that was neither gentle nor sharp interrupted Mei's thoughts. A hint of cherry pink and a pair of long ears appeared before her.

"Sakura, you're here?" Mei still had a favorable impression of this girl from the Previous Civilization, whose childhood experiences resembled her own. But Sakura's way of speaking often left her equally confused. "No, it's nothing. I was thinking about how to ask those three."

"Those three?" Sakura looked puzzled.

"Elysia, Kevin, and Lin. They seem to understand the Elysian Realm more deeply, and I have some questions for them."

"Doctor Mobius is the owner of the Elysian Realm. Aren't you going to ask her?"

"Her?" Mei had actually known that for a while, but she had instinctively excluded Mobius. "There's no point in asking her."

"Then... Elysia?"

"I don't think she's reliable."

"Kevin?"

"He won't say anything."

Sakura shook her head. "Then perhaps you'll need to seek the answers yourself. There's only so much help I can offer outside of combat."

Mei gave an "Hm?" and raised her head in confusion. "Why did you leave out Lin?"

"Lin..." Faced with Mei's question, Sakura's gaze shifted away. "You're right. You can ask Lin. If he feels he can say it, he will."

Seeing Sakura act so unusually, Mei suddenly had a strange premonition. "Come to think of it, Sakura, you seem never to have appeared together with Lin. Only you and Mobius never appear when Lin is present. And whenever Lin comes, you always happen to leave just before that. Are you... avoiding him?"

"...It's nothing. Just something from the past." Having been exposed, Sakura no longer let her gaze wander. "Lin probably hates me very much, so to prevent arguments between us, I try not to meet him."

"Lin gets into arguments with people too? Would you mind telling me about it?" Mei caught the scent of a clue and immediately asked Sakura.

"..." Mei's direct question caught Sakura off guard. She hesitantly squeezed her scabbard, then sighed. "Mei, you already know Poisoned Cocoon's nature of work and its composition, right?"

"An unofficial team within the Fire Moth that mainly handled work that could not see the light of day. As far as I know, both you and Chrono were once members of Poisoned Cocoon."

"That's right, but that was after Poisoned Cocoon was reorganized. Before its reorganization, every mission it carried out targeted humans."

"Assassins?"

"You could put it that way. I was also a member of the first generation of Poisoned Cocoon. Back then, most of what I did involved... taking lives."

"I think I understand why you say Lin hates you."

Although Mei still did not trust Lin, many people described him as a fighter who struggled for humanity. In public, he seemed to cherish humanity even more than most MOTH Heroes did.

To make an analogy, he was like a father who spoiled his children. No matter what mistakes they made, he could tolerate them and continue protecting them without wavering in the slightest.

What Sakura had done was entirely different from Mobius. She had truly acted with the goal of killing humans, so she and Lin had stood almost completely opposed to one another.

"But it wasn't entirely like that. Before I carried out that mission, an incident related to Lin occurred within Poisoned Cocoon."

"The Fifth Branch Incident."