Designation

Over the next few days, Hesta filled out dozens of forms and underwent an extremely thorough medical examination. Afterward, Miss Chiba drove her personally to the AHgA Reserve Training Base.

After parking the car, Chiba led Hesta toward the office building.

The registration center was on the fourth floor of Building A, the main building. Everyone entering or leaving wore formal attire. Hesta caught the mingled scent of ink and perfume, and she did not dislike it. What surprised her was that nearly everyone who recognized Chiba stopped to salute or greet her. After exchanging a few pleasantries with Miss Chiba, most of them would cast curious looks at Hesta.

Here, Chiba seemed to be held in very high regard.

"...Masaki?" A voice came from behind them. Hesta turned first and saw a brown-haired woman about Chiba's age standing there with several books in her arms, her face full of surprise.

Unlike the others, she did not address Chiba by her surname alone. She called her by name directly, and they seemed very familiar with each other.

Sure enough, when Chiba turned around, she happily called out, "Valenti!" The two embraced warmly.

"This is my old classmate, Viking," Chiba said to Hesta. "We chat every day, but we haven't met in person for years."

Hesta gave a small bow as she had at the abbey. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Viking."

"I'm pleased to meet you too," Valenti Viking said, urgently glancing at the document case in Chiba's hand. "Uh... Miss Hesta."

Chiba laughed, then introduced her. "Valenti is in charge of the Quicksilver Needles reserve personnel psychological assistance program. If you run into any problems at school later, just go to her."

"That's right." Valenti extended her hand to Hesta. When dealing with children, especially children like Hesta who were eleven or twelve, Valenti paid close attention to etiquette. In her professional experience, treating them like adults was sometimes the first step toward opening their hearts.

Hesta was somewhat unaccustomed to it, but she still lightly shook Valenti's hand.

"All right." Smiling, Chiba handed the document case to Hesta. "Take these documents to the registration center. Once they've processed everything, bring the receipt back to me."

Hesta accepted her documents. After bowing once more to Chiba and Miss Valenti, she headed alone toward the registration center office.

Valenti watched Hesta's retreating figure with some curiosity. "Who is that little girl?"

"My ward." Chiba smiled with narrowed eyes. "Until she turns twenty, I'll have to properly fulfill my responsibilities as her guardian."

Valenti froze for a moment. "...You would voluntarily become someone's guardian?"

"What choice did I have? Bringing her over directly through an AHgA Reserve Guardianship Order was the fastest way. Otherwise, I was worried the Military Police would use legal means to snatch her away these past few days... Before she truly joins the AHgAs, I can't let my guard down."

Valenti suddenly understood. "Ah, this child... is she the one from Saint Anne Abbey a while back—"

"Yes." Chiba smiled. "Though it seems I still underestimated how sluggish the Military Police can be."

"That's incredible..." Valenti turned to look in the direction Hesta had gone, her voice filled with heartfelt admiration. "I heard that when you found that Chelated Being, it was already seriously injured?"

"Yes."

"Did that child do it?"

"I don't know," Chiba said softly. "But Jane's Secondary Awakening hasn't happened yet."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

Valenti fell silent for a while. "...How bizarre."

The two chatted by the window until a disturbing set of footsteps made every Quicksilver Needle on the floor look warily toward the stairwell. Soon, two young men in Military Police uniforms appeared there. Led by the guard, they passed through layer after layer of security and came straight over the moment they saw Chiba.

"Ma'am." The soldier in front showed Chiba his identification and briefly introduced himself. Then they got straight to the point. "Where is Jane Hesta right now?"

"I am her guardian. If you have something to say, say it directly to me."

"Ahem." The man took out another order. "It's like this. Regarding the Saint Anne Abbey case from a few days ago, there is still some evidence from the scene that Miss Hesta needs to identify. We need to take her back with us."

"Jane is only eleven this year. She is still a minor, and the tragedy of the past few days has already caused her immense psychological trauma. I do not think it is appropriate to force her to view related evidence at a time like this," Chiba replied calmly. "Once we have assessed her mental condition, we will choose a suitable time to bring her to the police station and cooperate with your official duties. Leave a phone number."

The two young soldiers exchanged a glance.

"This is a Level 5A special summons, ma'am—"

"This is AHgA headquarters, sir." Chiba slowly raised a hand. "I take it you're new..."

The two young soldiers felt their hearts stir. Indeed, they were both fresh recruits from the same class. Today was their first day on the job, and they had immediately encountered a Level 5A special summons issued from above.

With that credential, they could even enter certain classified military areas to conduct searches and inquiries. Yet for some reason, after learning the details, several senior officers in their department had shown little interest in answering the summons. After everyone passed the responsibility around, it had fallen to the two of them.

Before they could grasp the deeper meaning of Chiba's words, they felt something sweep past their eyes like a dust-laden gust of wind. The next moment, Chiba had changed posture, both hands on her hips and her brow deeply furrowed. "Wait, where is your special summons?"

Both men froze. Only then did they realize that the summons that had just been clutched in one of their hands was gone.

"Without the summons, I have even less reason to hand her over to you." Chiba's voice turned cold.

"Miss Chiba."

Chiba turned around. Hesta was already standing a short distance behind her. The document bag that had been stuffed full in the girl's hands was now empty. In its place, she held a stiff white card, every line of freshly printed information marked with an embossed seal.

Chiba looked again at the two Military Police officers before her. "Although I admire your courage in coming here alone, procedures still need to be followed. Go back and complete the paperwork."

"I'll see the two of you out." Valenti Viking politely raised a hand, gesturing for them to head toward the elevators. The soldiers' faces were full of astonishment, which soon turned into anger at being toyed with. But Chiba had already taken Hesta's hand and walked toward the other end of the corridor. Any further dispute had nothing to do with them.

Chiba took Hesta's information card and quickly scanned the girl's profile.

Beneath the photograph, she saw Hesta's designation: Res-4623030042403

Looking at the final digits, 403, Chiba smiled faintly. "...We really are fated."

Currently known information:

Res is an abbreviation of Reserve. After becoming a full member, it changes to the capital letter A.

The designation Res-4623030042403 means that this member joined the AHgAs reserve force in the Third District in the year 4623, and is the 42,403rd anti-homogenization medium discovered to date.

And Chiba's designation is:

A-4614140040392.