A life seed?
Kain still refused—against his better wishes.
Why "against his better wishes"? Because any man with normal desires would find it hard not to be moved when someone he liked offered to "help" in that way.
No one is without impulse.
It was just that, right now, his rationality outweighed his emotions.
Because of his refusal, Commander White—whose "honey trap" had failed—looked a little downcast.
"Then, with the little time we have left, could you go on a date with us?"
The mature commander seemed unwilling to give up, sending him an alluring invitation like that.
But if you looked closely, she didn't truly understand what a "date" meant. She simply wanted to learn through him.
She wanted to experience what a human date was like. To her—an android—that kind of yearning was reverence, and also a wish.
"That, I can do."
So what was a "date" supposed to be like?
To be honest, Kain had spent his life gaming, reading novels, reading manga, and so on. Where would he find extra time to "waste" on dating? Of course he'd never dated.
So, in the end, this "date" of four people became nothing more than walking around. With no idea what "dating topics" were supposed to be, the conversation naturally drifted into serious matters.
"Psychic power? Magic?"
White murmured those two terms.
According to Mr. Kain, his world had a supernatural power called psychic power—its nature somewhat similar to the magic that had once existed in this world.
If that was the case, then they needed to push the application and development of Maso even further.
Yes—further. In fact, some of their technologies already used Maso in certain areas.
And if they were going to research Maso, they'd inevitably need the help of two special androids.
Those two were the world's only remaining special twin-type androids, and they were also—by definition—great sinners responsible for humanity's extinction.
It was because of their mistake that the Human Soul Return Project failed, leading to the total annihilation of humanity.
Android twin sisters who had committed such an unforgivable error should have been destroyed.
But they were kept alive.
They had been implanted with a "guilt" program—forced to live in pain and atone.
As for the matter of Mr. Kain being human, Commander White had ordered it concealed.
She didn't want those two to find out and come close. In her eyes, those two were practically cursed, and she didn't want that misfortune to spill over onto him.
Still, no matter how she tried to hide Kain's existence, with the twin sisters' capabilities, they would inevitably learn something. But without White's permission, they would absolutely not be allowed to approach and meet him.
Hm?
A message suddenly came through, proving an ancient saying true—speak of the devil and he appears.
The message was from Operator 6O: the twin sisters wanted to speak with her—specifically about Mr. Kain.
Refused.
That was White's answer.
Besides, there was no time anymore. By the time the sisters arrived, it would already have exceeded the window of time he had left in this world.
In the blink of an eye, a transformable fighter was parked before Kain—this was a combat aircraft modified specifically for him.
Its performance wasn't dramatically better than the fighters currently used by YoRHa. With such limited time, there was no way to push the specs too far.
However, in terms of safety and defensive capability, it had improved significantly.
Some components had been swapped out in modular fashion, replaced with superior defensive armor that the current lab couldn't mass-produce.
"One more confirmation. No issues detected."
9S—YoRHa's Scanner-type—confirmed the aircraft's condition once again.
The onboard systems had also taken in Mr. Kain's piloting data from today.
And as for the power armor he'd been testing, 9S was also working at high speed to consolidate and optimize the data as much as possible.
In fact, there were two power-armor sets.
Because the power armor Mr. Kain had brought with him was fairly large, they had disassembled and reassembled the external plating to create a new suit.
And the new suit didn't need to use the original armor fragments for full coverage—otherwise it would just become a rigid, clunky suit with terrible agility.
Strictly speaking, Mr. Kain's original power armor wasn't truly "inflexible." It simply didn't suit his body type.
Most of its technology couldn't be deciphered and integrated into the new suit anyway. They were essentially just recombining its materials to manufacture a new outer shell.
The internal systems—hardware and software—were almost entirely from this world.
And to avoid the suit failing once he returned to his own world, the new power armor did not use any Maso-related technology. It was comparatively "pure" technology.
"Please be careful."
Hearing that voice—carrying just a hint of genuine concern—Kain paused slightly, then nodded to A2, who spoke little and preferred silence.
Then, as he finished putting on the power armor, 2B helped him lock in the final external module.
The suit had looked sleek and form-fitting before.
But now, with large amounts of equipment mounted onto it, it became heavy—like a light cavalry knight turning into a fully armored heavy knight.
More than half of what was mounted was ammunition, along with various auxiliary weapons and equipment.
Finally, as the helmet visor lowered, he stepped toward the fighter and entered the cockpit.
He had no idea whether the aircraft would be transported back with him when time was up.
Right—there was also his personal storage space in the chat group. Only one cubic meter, but it was now packed full.
All systems confirmed normal.
He looked down at the people below. Neither side said much.
It was about time.
The countdown was starting.
White—who also knew exactly how much time remained—suddenly raised a salute.
Not only her. The others did the same.
"May the glory of mankind endure!"
The moment those solemn words fell, the figure before them vanished like a mirage.
"Can't we bring it with him?"
White frowned, her voice edged with unease.
The fighter remained where it was, but the pilot in the cockpit was gone.
However, the equipment mounted on the power armor had clearly all been taken.
Her gaze turned to 9S.
"Sorry, Commander. It was that anomalous. He vanished into thin air. The spatial readings didn't change at all."
9S spoke with faint frustration. His instruments had detected no abnormal fluctuations whatsoever.
At the same time, he was excited—because it only proved how utterly unbelievable cross-world spatial transfer truly was.
Then, one after another, they turned to look at A2.
Although no one had been told exactly how she made contact, and they still didn't understand what special ability she possessed, they were certain A2 could reach Mr. Kain on the other side.
She even seemed capable of seeing what Mr. Kain was doing over there.
So they urgently wanted to know what things looked like after his return.
Because when he was first transported here, he had been in the middle of an extremely dangerous war in his original world.
Based on what little information had been shared, Mr. Kain would return to almost the exact original point in time.
Which meant that, the moment he returned, he would have to throw himself straight back into the war.
Under everyone's gaze, A2 logged into the Super-Dimensional Channel.
She watched for the user coming online.
There.
He was online—and he sent a livestream invite.
(End of Chapter)
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