A knock sounded outside the study. Arevalo looked up as his secretary poked her head in. "You should prepare for the eleven o'clock emergency meeting, sir."
Arevalo gripped the phone receiver, his expression returning to its usual cold severity. "Understood. I'll be there."
After Constraint Time ended, Hesta arrived at Emangria Central Hospital. Nowhere was more crowded or noisier tonight; weeping and screams overlapped, filling every corner of the hospital.
The wards had long since filled up. Folding beds were crammed haphazardly through the corridors as nurses threaded between them, repeatedly stressing that each bed could have no more than one caregiver and urging those with minor injuries to return home as soon as possible.
Hesta had heard that Eucali had been brought here for treatment, but the hospital was in complete chaos. No one could tell where any particular injured person was; they had only been roughly sorted by the type of injury.
Hesta searched floor by floor, her gaze sweeping over every bed as she kept calling, "Excuse me."
Suddenly, she heard someone behind her call, "Eureka." The voice was unfamiliar, and she did not turn around. The only people here who would call her Eureka were Victoria's team, and they were all standing by at the Kexi Workstation right now, so that voice could not have been calling her...
But the voice drew closer and closer. At last, Hesta felt someone tap her shoulder. She turned around and saw a face that was both familiar and unfamiliar.
"Eureka! It really is you! I was wondering if I had mistaken you for someone else, but the more I looked, the more I thought it was you. Long time no see!"
Hesta stood frozen. For a moment, the entire outside world lost its sound.
"...Sophie."
Hesta murmured the