Locating 'Mountain' turned out to be far less difficult than anyone had expected.
Though—
Anyone who had come into direct contact with Mountain, other than Su Yuzu herself, would eventually find themselves unable to recall her face. In the end, all they could manage was a vague impression: a strikingly beautiful, tall, and voluptuous woman.
But—
The car 'Mountain' had been driving carried no such ability.
After Su Yuzu had noted down the license plate number and the vehicle's distinguishing features, Miss Superintendent wasted no time launching a trace on the car.
"That vehicle belongs to 'Tsukimisato,'" Miss Superintendent said — and at the mere mention of 'Tsukimisato,' a strange, almost bashful expression crept onto her face.
[Tsukimisato was a rather well-known and sizable bathhouse hotel.
And the reason Miss Superintendent looked so flustered and oddly embarrassed was... that the hotel was... just a little bit on the improper side.
The general concept was something like: operating under the banner of hospitality services, and then having young, pretty girls attend to guests inside the bathhouse.
Bashful little things wrapped in towels that looked one moment away from falling off, patting backs with soft, delicate hands.
Though it wasn't quite that improper either.
At most, the 'attendants' would offer a massage or some hydrotherapy.
And should any dim-witted fool ever think to play the wolf — he'd quickly discover that those bashful girls had transformed in an instant into something closer to raptors, perfectly capable of flipping a standard First Sequence Esper over their shoulder until his vision went dark.]
Su Yuzu looked at Miss Superintendent, who was fidgeting with her fingers.
Was... that really how it worked?
She'd actually heard the name 'Tsukimisato' before.
A few side-story events had been triggered there.
But... why did the situations she'd encountered in the game seem rather different from what Miss Superintendent was describing?
In the game, a certain overly candid older-sister type had wrapped her arms around game-Su-Yuzu's neck, and a CG had triggered right then and there.
Of course—
What Su Yuzu, along with Soga Yura and Hayabusa, were all currently far more curious about as they looked at Miss Superintendent was one simple question: just how do you know all this?
Pinned under the collective gaze of three girls, Miss Superintendent flushed crimson with shame — even the tips of her ears were dyed red, as though stained with blood — and like a girl fleeing the scene, she yanked the conversation in a completely different direction.
"A-anyway!" she declared.
"That vehicle belongs to 'Tsukimisato.'"
"And the most important thing about 'Tsukimisato' is that it actually falls under 'Epiphany Manufacture.'"
The expressions of everyone in the room turned serious at once.
The name 'Epiphany Manufacture' had been appearing far, far too often lately.
"Are you sure?" Su Yuzu looked at the female superintendent. "Tsukimisato... a place like that... belongs to Epiphany Manufacture?"
Up until now, the impression Saionji Sagara had always held of Epiphany Manufacture was that they were only ever interested in cutting-edge technology.
Any product bearing the Epiphany Manufacture name — especially those with the label written right on them — was basically the latest armament from the Technology Division.
Like... the equipment the Eye of Insight had once used to defend against Soga Ishikawa Kiyomi's mental bombardment.
"Yes—"
"I'm certain." Miss Superintendent gave a firm nod, then took a deep breath. "The owner of Tsukimisato — Tsukimisato Somehana — previously worked at Epiphany Manufacture's K-60 Laboratory, the K-142 Laboratory, and also... the K-423 Laboratory."
The moment she heard that familiar laboratory designation, Su Yuzu was fully convinced.
"She's right." Soga Yura, who had been quiet up until now, suddenly picked up where Miss Superintendent had left off.
"Tsukimisato... does indeed belong to Epiphany Manufacture."
"It's more than just a hospitality bathhouse hotel."
"It's... Epiphany Manufacture's exchange."
Su Yuzu turned back to look at Soga Yura, listening to things coming from her mouth that she herself had known absolutely nothing about.
She suddenly had a feeling.
A subtle, peculiar feeling.
That she... perhaps didn't know Soga Yura quite as well as she'd imagined.
"If that Aberrant really is hiding inside Tsukimisato, things are actually a bit tricky." Soga Yura furrowed her brow. "Tsukimisato has a very high volume of foot traffic."
"And most of them are the kind of people with status and connections."
"Evacuating them quickly won't be simple."
"And once that Aberrant goes rogue — if fighting breaks out right there inside Tsukimisato — the situation could become very difficult to contain."
"So what do we do..." Even Kujou Katora could tell this was a thorny problem.
A high-traffic bathhouse hotel like Tsukimisato was nothing like the underground drainage system from before, or the remote mountainside wilderness where the K-423 Research Base had been situated.
If an Aberrant were to go on a rampage in a place like that, things would spiral out of control fast.
"I said—"
"It's only a little tricky."
Soga Yura looked at the profile of the girl sitting beside her.
"Don't forget, Yuzu..."
"Who is your big sister, hmm~"
"I am Soga Yura."
"The holder of history's most powerful mental-type ability — 'Mind Control.'"
"The one who ought to 'Dominate' all." 1
The girl's voice was soft, almost detached — yet it drifted through the conference room and settled there, unhurried and absolute.
No matter how oblivious a person might be, they could smell it: that incomparable, overwhelming confidence that laced her every word.
Confident. Clear. Unshakeable.
The image of the girl who had been on the verge of tears just moments ago — all because her little sister had been holding someone else's hand — seemed like nothing but a phantom.
The Soga Yura standing here now was far more like the true heir of the Soga main family: the young lady who had coolly and efficiently seized power from her incompetent father, and brought the entire Soga clan to heel through sheer composure and iron will.
Su Yuzu looked at Soga Yura. The confident girl seemed to glow.
She didn't think to ask something like, 'can you really pull that off?' There was no need.
Su Yuzu would believe in Soga Yura, unconditionally.
Inside the conference room, the girls began to lay out their plan.
First: gather a clear picture of the general situation inside Tsukimisato.
Once that was done—
The Investigation Bureau and the Fourth Action Division would take up positions in the vicinity of Tsukimisato.
Then, once the situation was deemed permissible, Soga Yura would take control of things inside Tsukimisato as swiftly as possible.
Simultaneously, the Investigation Bureau and the Fourth Action Division would lock down Tsukimisato completely.
After that... would come the hunt for the Aberrant.
"The target is a Fourth Sequence Aberrant."
"Wounded, yes."
"But Aberrants tend to have exceptionally strong recovery abilities."
"We have to be extremely careful."
"And on top of that... the target is still holding a hostage."
"So then... let's first decide how we're going to get a clear picture of the situation inside Tsukimisato."
"Why not leave that to me~?" A languid, sly voice suddenly drifted in from outside the conference room.
A beautiful woman with long, lovely flaxen hair pushed open the door and stepped inside.
She swept her gaze across everyone present, her eyes clear and serene as a still lake.
Though... what drew the eye most about her was undeniably her magnificent figure.
Not simply voluptuous.
Her curves were simply too upright and flawless — so perfect that a person's very soul might wish to sink into them.
The woman's lips curved into a sly smile, grinning like a cat.
Leave it to me~
"Ms. Saionji."
Saionji Sagara's eye twitched as she watched the woman barge into the conference room without a care in the world. "If we leave it to you... I imagine we won't need a plan at all."
Soga Yura stared at the woman in near-disbelief — and then at the figure standing behind her, meek and docile as a little kitten... her own roommate.
"Sakura Auntie..."
Soga Yura watched the woman's eyes curve up at the corners, beautiful and full of mischief — and felt her heart clench in an instant.
"Sister Sakura!"
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