Outpost 34
The corridor outside Captain Yanagi's office was silent save for the dull hum of the outpost's failing lights.
Nishihara walked beside Lieutenant Wachisaka, both still carrying the exhaustion of the past few days in the stiffness of their steps. As they approached the shut door of the office, a voice drifted out from inside.
'…yes. CL7-287. Last confirmed sighting was during the cave engagement.'
Nishihara slowed, eyes glancing through the window atop the door.
Inside, Yanagi stood with his back to them, one hand braced against the desk, the other holding the field-phone receiver tightly to his ear. His tone was clipped, formal in a way Nishihara rarely heard from him.
'No, sir. We have no visual confirmation of termination.' A pause. 'Understood. We will begin immediately.'
Wachisaka's expression darkened slightly.
CL7-287
Kanesaki.
Yanagi lowered the receiver back into place with a sharp click. For a moment, he remained still, shoulders tense beneath his coat. Then he turned, calling the two in as the door slid open.
'You heard.'
It wasn't a question.
Nishihara stepped into the office. 'Who was that?'
Yanagi exhaled once through his nose, then moved around to sit behind his desk.
'TheInquisitor.'
The room seemed to grow colder.
Wachisaka stiffened beside Nishihara, his hand tightening behind his back. Nishihara's eyes narrowed slightly.
The Inquisitor.
There was only one person within the military hierarchy who carried that title. They were personally given the task of hunting, arresting and executing rogue Chimera, and they were given an entire branch of the military to work with to ensure no rogue was safe forever.
Yanagi folded his hands on the desk.
'I informed him of Kanesaki's disappearance. His apparent desertion. The events in the cave.'
'And?' Nishihara asked quietly.
'And he wants a full search initiated immediately.' Yanagi's gaze shifted between the two of them. 'Dead or alive.'
Silence.
The fluorescent light above buzzed softly. Nishihara's jaw tightened. 'Why would the Inquisitor call personally?'
Yanagi leaned back in his chair, expression unreadable.
'There have been more rogue cases recently. Missing Chimera. Units going dark. Rumours of attacks, sightings…' He glanced toward the dark window beside his desk. 'If he's taking personal interest, then he thinks it's connected.'
Wachisaka frowned. 'Connected? Like some kind of uprising?'
Yanagi was quiet for a second too long.
'I don't know,' he admitted. 'But whatever's happening, it's getting bigger.'
Nishihara looked down at the floor for a moment.
CL7-287.
Not Kanesaki. Not the man who had fought beside them, laughed with them, bled with them.
Just a code, a designation, something to be retrieved, or killed.
***
Nishihara left the office without another word.
The halls of the outpost felt emptier than usual at this hour. Most of the soldiers had already gone to their quarters, leaving only the occasional medic or engineer crossing between dimly lit corridors.
He walked in silence, one hand resting loosely at his side. When he passed the medical bay, he slowed.
Through the narrow glass in the door, he could just make out the soft blue glow of the recovery pods inside. One of them held Hirabayashi.
Still unconscious, still burnt, still breathing.
Nishihara stood there for a moment longer than he meant to.
He remembered the ship, the smoke, that screaming metal in the sky, and Hirabayashi forcing Kanesaki out before the wreck came down around her.
Her last conscious thought had probably been him.
Saving him.
And now the entire outpost was calling him rogue.
Nishihara looked away and continued down the corridor toward his quarters, the sound of his footsteps hollow against the floor.
***
Back in Yanagi's office, the door clicked shut behind him.
For a long moment, neither Yanagi nor Wachisaka spoke.
Then Yanagi stood, crossed to the cabinet against the wall, and pulled out a dark glass bottle and two small glasses.
'You staying?' he asked.
Wachisaka gave a tired shrug. 'Might as well.'
Yanagi poured.
The liquid caught the light briefly before settling dark in the glass. He handed one over and leaned back against the desk, staring down into his own.
Wachisaka took a sip, then finally spoke.
'Do you believe it?'
Yanagi glanced at him.
'That Kanesaki went rogue.'
The captain was quiet.
'No,' he said at last. 'Not fully.'
Wachisaka raised an eyebrow.
'I think something happened in that cave,' Yanagi continued. 'Something we're not seeing. Maeda's story doesn't sit right with me. Nishihara's report doesn't sit right with me either. And Kanesaki…' He shook his head faintly. 'He never struck me as the type.'
Wachisaka looked down into his drink.
'There's something else,' he said.
Yanagi looked up.
'Before I first met Kanesaki – back when he was still under Lieutenant Hanaka – I did some file digging.'
Yanagi frowned slightly at the name. 'Hanaka?'
Wachisaka nodded. 'His handler. Officially, he was just another lieutenant assigned to oversee a Chimera integration candidate.'
'Officially,' Yanagi repeated.
Wachisaka stepped closer, lowering his voice slightly despite the empty office.
'I found references tying him to the Grand-General's family.'
Yanagi stared at him, his finger tapping the glass, a slight twitch in his eye.
'What?'
'Not directly,' Wachisaka said quickly. 'No names. No confirmation. But enough to suggest he's either related to them or closely tied to them politically.'
Yanagi set his glass down slowly, exhaling slowly, breath shaky.
'And why exactly does that matter?'
'Because they don't give someone like that command over some random Chimera,' Wachisaka said. 'Not unless that Chimera matters.'
The room fell silent again.
Yanagi's eyes narrowed.
'You think Kanesaki is important.'
'I think,' Wachisaka said carefully, 'that there's something about him we were never told.'
The theory hung in the room like a bad omen. Wachisaka took another slow sip from his drink.
'And if that's true,' he said, 'Then maybe that's why the Inquisitor called personally.'
Silence returned, the room feeling colder, darker, even nervous.
***
The sanctuary was quieter at night, not silent – never silent – but softer.
The low hum of the generators rolled through the stone halls like a heartbeat, while the old lamps hanging from the ceiling cast everything in a warm amber glow. The rough cave walls no longer felt cold. Not here, not tonight.
The living room had been rearranged slightly to fit everyone around the battered table in the middle. A few mismatched chairs had been dragged in from other rooms, and someone – probably Asami – had thrown an old patterned blanket over the table to make it look more presentable.
'It's ready!' Mitsuko announced proudly from the kitchen.
She emerged carrying a large pot with both hands, Katsumi following behind with a stack of bowls balanced precariously in his arms.
'Our famous dinner,' Katsumi declared dramatically.
'You say that every time,' Asami muttered.
'Because every time, it's true.'
Mitsuko rolled her eyes and set the pot down in the centre of the table. Steam curled into the air, carrying the smell of spices and cooked vegetables and something rich Kanesaki couldn't quite place.
It smelled… good, shockingly good.
Sho blinked at the food. 'Does it just get better every time?'
Mitsuko put a hand on her hip. 'Please. It's always this good.'
Katsumi nearly dropped the bowls while trying to sit down too quickly.
'Careful,' Ryuu said flatly, without even looking up.
Katsumi snarled playfully. 'I'm fine!'
The bowls slipped, one bouncing off the table and landing in Sho's lap.
There was a beat of silence, then Yasuko burst out laughing – real laughter, the kind Kanesaki had not heard from her in what felt like forever.
Sho stared down at the bowl in his lap, deadpan. 'I'm going to kill him.'
'You'll ain't doing jack!' Katsumi yelped, already scrambling away as Mitsuko smacked the back of his head.
Even Ryuu let out the faintest breath through his nose that might have been a laugh.
Kanesaki sat quietly at first, watching it all – Asami leaning back in her chair with tired amusement, Sho muttering threats under his breath, Mitsuko trying to keep everything under control while Katsumi ruined it instantly. Ryuu sat at the far end of the table, still distant, still half-hidden behind that detached expression – but he was there.
Beside Kanesaki, Yasuko was smiling so brightly it almost hurt to look at. She caught him staring and nudged his arm lightly beneath the table.
'What?'
'…Nothing.'
But despite himself, Kanesaki smiled, just a little. And for the first time in a long time, it felt natural. Outside, beyond the hidden sanctuary and the ruined world above it, night settled across the desert.
The sky was dark and endless as a butterfly drifted through it, its wings crimson and black, delicate against the dark. It fluttered lower, carried by the cool night wind, until at last it landed gently amongst a small bed of flowers growing between the rocks.
Tiny things, fragile things. Still alive, still growing.
Chapter 67 – end
PART 1, LAWBREAKER – END