Miluno

(Miluno)

After hanging up the phone, I looked at Ceruno, who was lying sprawled on the sofa.

She didn't want to lie down.

Instead, Xiaojie was also lying down, hugged her like a teddy bear while watching TV. Everyone except me could naturally hug Ceruno, which made me a little envious.

"Miluno, you're just too burdened by the image of a cool, aloof goddess! You can't let loose!"

That's what Mono said.

When I got to the sofa, Ceruno turned her head to look at me.

She was already used to being held, and nestled in Xiaojie's arms without moving, as obedient as a little thing.

I said, "Halley is very happy that we got the stage sorted out. She said she'll fly over tomorrow with the program and we should be prepared."

"Huh? Awakening... If we have to use that word, how many songs are there?"

Thirty poems.

My answer shocked Ceruno.

"Huh?! We only have... only five songs so far, right?"

Although they are an idol group, Galaxy always appears on screen fighting witches... They can gain fans by live-streaming battles, but because they haven't been involved in idol activities much, they can't even put together a program for a fundraising concert.

They have completely failed as idols.

Of course, I don't consider myself an idol.

I continued, "Time is tight, but Sirius and Halley will help us with ten songs. Barbara will also perform, plus there will be a solo segment. So each of us only needs to sing twelve or thirteen songs. They don't all have to be original; we can cover Sirius's songs too, since we are nominally her artists."

Ceruno, however, seemed rather unsure.

"That must be quite an achievement! How many days do we have to practice?"

"It'll only take two or three days at most, right? Anyway, there's not much time. The park management knows our situation, so they've helped delay the logging, but as a forest farm, cutting down the trees they planted is legal and justified, and we can't keep delaying it indefinitely."

Ultimately, it all comes down to insufficient funding.

If you have the money, the forest contractor would be happy to sell the entire forest to Barbara.

"But it's not that difficult. Let's get some rest today!"

I'm not just saying this casually; mastering a dozen or so songs in one or two days is indeed not difficult.

Back then, the main focus of the Supernova Idol Festival was dance practice, which took some time because I had no prior experience.

Magical girls have a natural advantage as idols. Their superhuman physical abilities not only make them stronger and more resilient than ordinary people, but also allow them to better control their muscles and vocal cords. Therefore, they can learn a song much faster than ordinary people...

Traditional idols were indeed swept away by the tsunami of magical girls.

Of course, tone-deafness is a disease that even if Gian were to become a magical girl, it wouldn't save him.

When I said that, Ceruno looked like she had eaten a bitter melon, frowning and sighing.

"But I still need to investigate the informant Dad left behind. Time is of the essence, isn't it?"

I put my arm around her shoulder and advised her:

"Stop complaining. I'll go with you on the infiltration investigation. It's okay, with my magic and your magic combined, we can create several times more extra time if we want... like stretching an hour into a whole day to practice singing?"

"Your throat can't take it, can it?!"

Ceruno whimpered and snuggled closer to Xiaojie, then said:

"But this is good too, at least we can work together for the next few days!"

Looking back on this period, we really haven't spent much time together; we've both been busy with all sorts of things...

Knock knock--

"I'm back!"

A noisy shout came from the doorway, and then Xiaoling came running in, spinning around like a whirlwind.

"Sister Ceruno! I got the information you wanted from my brother... cough, from my sister!"

Upon seeing me, I added quietly, "Ah, good evening, Sister Miluno!"

Ceruno sat up from the sofa and pressed for an answer.

"What intelligence? Tell me quickly!"

Seeing how excited Ceruno, Xiaoling started to keep everyone in suspense.

"Let me think... Hmm... I guess it's their organizational structure?"

"Oh! This information is very useful!"

Xiaojie also sat up, so there was an empty seat between her and Ceruno. The cushion was still warm when I sat down.

Do they have an organization name?

Ceruno asked this question, and Xiaoling began pacing around the living room.

"No, their organization has no name, and its members don't have code names. They are guided by a common ideology: to sacrifice a few, to sacrifice themselves, to end the war... including my sister."

This is known information. I followed up with:

"What is the organizational structure like?"

Xiaoling replied:

"Well, everyone in this intelligence system is an independent, parallel entity, and the only contact person for all of them is... Ceruno's father."

"As mentioned before the Extinction, these insiders didn't know each other and only followed Sun Ji's orders and arrangements. But thinking about it carefully, this structure is utter nonsense. If they don't interact with each other, how can this organization operate? Can it still be called an 'organization'?"

Any large-scale operation cannot be accomplished by one person alone; therefore, there must be connections between the members. For example, this operation to spread Contaminated Crystal could not possibly have been carried out by a single person.

The two worlds have an exaggerated difference in the flow of time. No matter how skilled Sun Ji is at strategizing, he cannot coordinate the movements of every member in the world on his own. This is not an RTS game where you can just move the mouse to make units move.

"Sister Miluno, don't be in such a hurry~"

Xiaoling, however, remained smiling, as if she had expected me to ask that question.

"What I just described was the organizational structure before Chairman Sun Ji left. This intelligence system was also adjusted after Chairman Sun Ji went to 'the Other Side,' and a messenger appeared who was directly in contact with him."

Ceruno pinched the tip of her chin as she pondered.

"The messenger... so there really is Proxy?"

"Yes, that's what my sister said too."

"Even so, it's difficult to avoid overlap between members. For example, how do people who produce Contaminated Crystal deliver Crystal to... salespeople?"

Let's call the person responsible for spreading the Crystal a salesperson.

"I don't know, but my brother said the Proxy knows the identities of all the insiders and always has a way to get instructions across."

Ceruno asked again:

"They don't have a fixed way of contacting each other?"

"Having a fixed means of communication makes them easy to be discovered; they completely conceal their identities before taking action—that's what they all do."

"This is really..."

No wonder the Prosecutorate has such difficulty in investigating and collecting evidence; who would have thought that the old man on the street corner who mends shoes and trousers would be Sun Ji's informant?

Ultimately, I was surprised that so many people followed Sun Ji's ideas.

The little thing was whispering in my head:

"If even one in ten thousand people agrees, he can recruit quite a few informants, right? After all, the world's population is so huge!"

With fewer sacrifices, the war can be ended more quickly.

His ideal does sound rather appealing...

But what will we lose in the process?