BOYS AND GIRLS: 04/01/2031, 18:30 ♪ BGM: Helper / Theme of Mashiro ♫ --After the incident, Natsuhiko and the others-- Had been living in a certain place in Hokkaido, with lodging provided by the ESP Bureau under Ena's guidance. They spent their days hiding from the media and the Rokumei City government, away from their hometown. One day, around half a year after they had begun living that way, Natsuhiko and Mashiro talked in the lodging hallway...   --Man, I guess I've completely gotten used to this kinda lifestyle, y'know? Yeah, but we had no idea how things were going to turn out at first.Natsuhiko spoke as he drank his milk coffee. We don't have any living inconveniences, and the ESP Bureau people are all nice too. It is kinda scary how you can hear gunshots every now and then, though.--They were lodged at a training facility for ESP Bureau members. The lodging was adjacent to a shooting range and a martial arts dojo. This was apparently where Ena had trained her marksmanship when she joined the Bureau. But still, it's already been half a year since we came here, huh... We should've already been juniors in high school by now, huh. You think we'll have to repeat a grade? It'll be okay. Ms. Ena said she'd pull some kind of strings to make sure we moved up. And it's not like we've fallen behind in our studies either, so it's okay. I see...Since Ena was an official of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, she could probably manage to pull it off. But Natsuhiko was just a little anxious. Once this secluded life ended and they returned to Rokumei City, could they return to their previous lives? ...Hey, Mashiro? Have you given any thought as to what comes next? Huh? What's this all of a sudden? Well, even if we do get to go back to Rokumei City one day after all this is over-- Can we really live peacefully now that we know so much about what goes on in the dark side of society? I've been at a total loss as for what comes next for me... Hmm, let's see...Mashiro thought for a little bit before answering tentatively. ...Well, it's going to be along time from now, but... The thing is, I actually got an invitation from Ms. Ena. She asked if I wanted to join the ESP Bureau after I graduated. Huh...? The ESP Bureau currently has next to no commissioners who can use empathy, apparently. If I became a commissioner, it'd make the ESP Bureau's work much easier. I might be able to prevent repeats of the September 16 incident, or the kidnapping of Communicators like Yuuri, right? Right... but will you take up the offer? I still don't know yet... I've been thinking maybe I wanna try and do it. ...!Natsuhiko gasped. He hadn't received such an invitation. Perhaps the reason Ena didn't ask him was because he was a Senses Sympathy user. Communicators who could use Senses Sympathy were always in danger of N-ification. Using BC for work would only double that danger. That was Natsuhiko's guess as to why only Mashiro was given the offer. ...What kind of work does a commissioner do? I'm not sure about the particulars, but it'd probably involve investigating BC-related incidents with Ms. Ena, wouldn't it? And then maybe inspecting all the government designated top-secret Cities or maybe pretending to be a teacher. Then that means you'll be living far away from us, huh... ...Maybe. But that doesn't mean we'll never see each other again. Sounds like it's your kind of thing. It probably is. I do love that kind of stuff. A beautiful commissioner girl, flying all around the nation protecting people from the dark side of society... Sounds badass, huh? Well, 'I don't know if I'm out out for this whole ally of justice gig'-- 'But if there are people in trouble, I want to help them out', right?Tips posted:TIP: BeyoBEYO urban legend Yeah, yeah. That's exactly it.That was a line from Mashiro's most beloved work of fiction. After hearing it over and over again, Natsuhiko had it memorized himself. Well, it'll be just a teensy bit sad having to leave you after you finally came to understand my hobbies. Well, it's still all in the future, anyway. ...As Mashiro spoke, Natsuhiko thought he detected a hint of anxiety in her voice. (It might all be in the future... but there's no way she'd be completely calm about taking up such dangerous work.)After having that thought, Natsuhiko looked Mashiro in the eye and spoke. Okay, Mashiro. If you do become a commissioner, then we'll go with you.♪ BGM: Words of Healing ♫ Huh? I like that sort of thing too. Besides-- That means we'll be able to continue that 'journey of justice' we always talked about in the past, right? ...!Mashiro's eyes widened at those words. Natsuhiko recalled a conversation he once had with her.    ...Then why don't we go on a 'journey of justice' together? Ah, I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds good! Let's do it, let's do it! I know, right? We'll get a buncha bad guys. We'll punish the evil health care center, too. But in that case, it looks like we've got a lot of enemies ahead of us... So we need more allies to help us, don't we? Hahah, it really would be tough for just the two of us, huh.--Natsuhiko thought to himself as he watched that smile of hers. If only this journey could continue forever instead of ending when they got home. He felt like he could walk like this anywhere so long as Mashiro was with him--  But now, we're different. We have so many more people on our side now. Yuuri, and Salyu, and Prof. Tsubakiyama... So we can definitely have a true journey of justice for sure this time. I can go anywhere as long as I'm with you... as long as I'm with everyone... Don't you feel the same way, Mashiro?After she heard those words, a complicated look formed on Mashiro's face for a moment-- But then she nodded with a smile across her entire face. --Yeah!
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| ← # ? Jun 3, 2017 14:34 |
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