"Want to take a look?" Chiba pushed the remaining file folders toward Valenti, but Valenti quickly pushed them back.
"I wasn't Liz's counselor," Valenti replied. "If she found out I knew things I wasn't supposed to know, she'd think I had pried into her secrets. I could easily lose her trust."
Chiba looked up at Valenti with some emotion, her gaze carrying a little more warmth.
Valenti frowned. "Why are you... looking at me like that?"
"I was just marveling at something." Chiba simply sat down. "With people like you around, maybe this world still has some hope?"
The praise caught Valenti off guard and made her laugh. Hugging her knees, she said softly, "A person like me who's always been cooped up in the Habitable Zone wouldn't be able to help at all if I ran into a Chelated Being... There should be more people like you."
Chiba gave a self-deprecating laugh, apparently predicting a far worse outcome from that hypothetical.
Valenti looked puzzled for a moment. She didn't understand Chiba's smile, but Chiba had already entered work mode and begun reading the materials, so Valenti kept quiet for now and did not disturb her.
The entire underground archive was silent. For a while, only the sound of Chiba turning pages could be heard.
Valenti sat lost in thought for some time. Who knew how long had passed before she began picking at the paper cover of a file. "Masaki, is there a separate introduction to Askia in here?"
"No. If you want an introduction to Askia, why not just search online? It's just a wasteland. No different from any other wasteland."
"Is that so?" Valenti was somewhat surprised. She tucked her long hair behind her ear and hummed thoughtfully. "I always felt that Askia should be a place