"Long Legs, Long Legs, please respond if you can hear me." Su Enxi's languid voice sounded.
"Potato Chip, Potato Chip, I hear you loud and clear, but keep your voice down. Caesar's hearing is sharp even without using a Spirit Word," Mai Sakatoku replied.
"All right, I'll speak more quietly." Su Enxi did indeed lower her voice, concern in her tone. "Long Legs, are you okay right now? How do you feel?"
In the deep sea, conventional radio communications had failed. They were secretly using the communication cable between the Trieste and the Sumeru Platform to keep in touch.
"No, I'm not okay at all." Mai Sakatoku's answer seemed squeezed out through clenched teeth, and there was even a faint tremor in her voice.
"Mai, don't tell me you've put on weight? The space between the Trieste's watertight compartments is narrow, but by my calculations, there should have been no problem with you hiding in there. It's not like you're a chubby girl like me," Su Enxi said doubtfully.
"If it were just me, of course there wouldn't be a problem!" Mai Sakatoku's voice carried the despair of someone on the verge of tears. "But the problem is—another person squeezed in here! I'm trapped inside! I'm shivering right now!"
She really was trembling, her body shaking instinctively.
"Huh? Don't tell me you ran into some lecherous old man with weird tastes? That plot doesn't sound promising—" Images from countless Japanese adult films flashed through Su Enxi's mind.
"No—" Mai Sakatoku's voice was full of complicated emotions. "Not some lecherous old man. It's a delicate, soft-bodied beautiful girl."
"Then you're not losing out either!" Su Enxi said with a laugh.
"Potato Chip, this isn't the time for jokes!" Mai Sakatoku said resentfully.
Then another voice came clearly through the communication channel.