In the near-future city of Niihama, where cyberization and prosthetics are commonplace, Batou of Public Security Section 9 shares tiny romantic sparks with the super-wizard class hacker Ishikawa. Both are terrible at being honest with their feelings, and they spend their days exchanging awkward words during missions.
One day, they begin investigating a series of cyber hacking incidents. The common thread among the victims is the use of the latest chips from the major prosthetic manufacturer 'Po
Lovers in the Cyber Labyrinth - That young lady drops bombs with a taiyaki in one hand.
A heavy silence hung over Public Security Section 9's underground operations room.
In this room, where the wall of monitors constantly displayed some kind of data, it was rare for sound to vanish entirely.
Batou sat on the edge of his own desk, performing maintenance on his prosthetic eyes. He traced the optical sensors with a fine brush. A mechanical task. But right now, that suited him just fine.
In the corner of his vision, he caught sight of Ishikawa.
She was facing her own terminal, not looking his way. Her emerald-green hair, falling to her shoulders, was illuminated by the pale blue light of the monitor. Her fingertips rested on the keyboard's home position, motionless.
What had happened yesterday at the abandoned factory still lay between them.
(*Kurasawa asked Ishikawa, "Won't you come with me?"*)
Just remembering it made something in his chest creak painfully. He knew it was jealousy. Crushing that steel beam in his grip — looking back on it calmly, it was such a stupid move it was almost laughable.
But what was he supposed to do?
He was useless in cyber warfare. In the domain where Ishikawa and Kurasawa could connect, he couldn't even lift a finger. There were places that muscle alone couldn't reach.
"……Tch."
He'd clicked his tongue without realizing it.
At that moment, enormous red text surfaced on the main monitor.
*'Encrypted Message Received: Sender Unknown'*
"—Huh?"
Ishikawa looked up. Her pale golden eyes turned toward Batou for the first time. But she averted them immediately. The awkwardness made her fingertips tremble.
"……Looks like something came in."
"Yeah."
Batou stood and walked over to the monitor. Ishikawa began operating her terminal as well. Two meters apart. As if an invisible wall stood between them.
"Incredible encryption. Even our system will take time to crack it. But…… this is—"
Ishikawa's fingers began to dance across the keyboard. When she entered cyber warfare mode, she became sharp, like a different person. Absently twirling a lock of hair on her right side around her finger, she broke through barrier after barrier.
Several minutes later, the message was decrypted.
*'To the members of Public Security Section 9,
I will provide critical internal information regarding the Nereid Mark VI.
Today at 18:00, Minato Ward Waterfront Tower, top floor, members-only restaurant "Neptune Top."
Please come alone.
—From someone who knows the inside story'*
"It's a trap."
Ishikawa said it instantly.
"Probably."
"But you're going, aren't you."
"……If you already know, don't ask."
Batou shrugged on his leather jacket.
"I'll handle cyber support. I'll back you up remotely from HQ."
Ishikawa said it while still facing her terminal. Which meant — she wasn't coming with him, couldn't come with him.
"……Yeah."
That was all Batou replied. The truth was, he felt like he needed to say something. About yesterday. About Kurasawa. About crushing that steel beam out of jealousy. But the words wouldn't come.
"Batou."
Ishikawa suddenly called out, stopping him.
"What."
He turned around. She was still looking at the screen. But her shoulders were trembling slightly.
"……Be careful."
That was all.
"Yeah."
Batou passed through the automatic door and stepped into the corridor. His footsteps echoed, clack, clack.
Watching his retreating figure, Ishikawa stopped her fingers on the keyboard.
A stinging, burning pain in her chest.
(*He left without saying anything about yesterday.*)
(*But I couldn't say anything either.*)
Gently, she twirled the hair on her right side around her finger. A habit when she was in cyber warfare mode. But now, it wasn't for concentration.
(*Idiots. Both me and Batou.*)
She murmured it quietly and turned back to her terminal.
—
Minato Ward's Waterfront Tower rose against the Niihama night sky like a single sword.
Sixty-two stories above ground. Its fully glass-clad exterior reflected the bay area's neon, flickering and glittering. The headquarters of Poseidon Industries. He'd been here a few times before. But going to the top floor was a first.
He passed through the entrance and boarded the private elevator. Somewhere past the sixtieth floor, a sharp ringing sounded deep in his ears.
(*Change in air pressure?*)
No, that wasn't it. This was — an electromagnetic pressure.
When the doors opened on the top floor, it was another world.
The floor was marble polished to a mirror sheen like obsidian. Expensive-looking paintings lined the walls, and the faint scent of white wine drifted in the air. A chandelier suspended from the ceiling scattered light through countless crystal fragments.
"Welcome, Master Batou."
A waiter in a tuxedo bowed at a perfect angle. A high-end model, cyberized from the neck down. There was a faint tinny resonance in his synthesized voice.
"Lead the way. This way."
The waiter nodded silently and guided him to a private room in the back.
The moment the door opened, Batou stopped in his tracks involuntarily.
Inside the private room, a girl in a school uniform sat alone.
Her platinum-blonde hair, reaching to her waist, was tied in twintails, with only the tips glowing blue. Her large violet eyes were half-closed, somehow sleepy. A small frame. Maybe 148 centimeters. In her hand, she clutched a stuffed-animal-shaped portable terminal — a strange device in the shape of a rabbit.
And in her other hand, a taiyaki.
"—Ah, you came."
Seeing Batou, the girl took the taiyaki out of its bag and bit into it with a crunch.
"……What are you?"
"[surprised]Oh my, I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? I am called Siren."
Siren stood up with the taiyaki still in her mouth, and gave a bow, daintily pinching the hem of her skirt. A polite gesture, like a noble young lady. But there was a grain of red bean paste stuck to the corner of her mouth.
"[surprised]Siren…… the president's daughter of Poseidon Industries?"
"Yes, well. Technically."
Siren swallowed her taiyaki, then took another one out of the bag.
"Ah, would you like one? It's a new product from 'Azuki Paradise' in Minato Ward's Triton Mall. A mix of white and black bean paste. It's delicious."
"……Nah, I'll pass."
"[sad]I see. A shame."
Siren carried the taiyaki to her own mouth.
Batou was bewildered.
(*What the hell is this situation?*)
The daughter of Poseidon Industries, eating a taiyaki while blowing the whistle? Unbelievable. But this girl's eyes — they remained violet. No anger, no sadness. Just a quiet composure.
"So, you're the one who knows the inside story?"
"[serious]Yes. That is me."
"……What's your objective?"
"[serious]The Nereid Mark VI has a backdoor installed."
With startling nonchalance, Siren spoke the heart of the matter.
She placed the bag of taiyaki on the table and readjusted her grip on the rabbit terminal.
"At the manufacturing line stage, a program for remote control was intentionally embedded. If activated, it can simultaneously hijack the consciousness of cyberized citizens worldwide — current estimated units in circulation: 2.3 million."
"……What did you say?"
Batou's massive frame leaned forward slightly.
"My father is planning it. He intends to trigger a mass activation at the timing of next month's system update. Seizing control of the world's cyberbrains, making Poseidon Industries the de facto world government — that is my father's goal."
Siren's voice was as matter-of-fact as if she were discussing the day's weather.
"Hold on. Do you have proof?"
"Right here."
Siren operated the rabbit terminal. The stuffed animal's eyes glowed blue, and a holographic window unfolded above the table. Copies of internal documents. Blueprints, the backdoor code, the timeline of the activation sequence —.
"[serious]I took these from my father's office. You don't have to believe me. But before I can prove these are genuine, time will run out."
Her violet eyes looked straight up at Batou.
At that gaze, Batou caught his breath for just a moment.
(*This kid is serious.*)
The eyes of a girl treated as "the young lady" by adults, never taken seriously. Sharp, sad, and astonishingly strong.
"……Ishikawa, can you hear me?"
Batou opened a cyber comm link and called out to Ishikawa at HQ.
—No connection.
"Ishikawa?"
Silence.
That was the moment.
*Bwooooom…….*
The entire building was enveloped in a low, groaning vibration. The view outside the window warped for an instant, neon lights flickering on and off.
"—Electromagnetic shield!?"
Batou rushed to the window.
Outside — a fully armed SWAT team was surrounding the building's perimeter. Black combat suits, headgear to nullify optical camouflage, the heavy footsteps of military-grade full cyborgs. At least fifty of them. Along the building's outer wall, electromagnetic shield generators were deployed, emitting a pale blue light.
"Tch, dammit."
Cyber comms, completely cut off. No equipment. No backup.
The door to the private room opened, without even a discreet knock.
"Pardon the intrusion while you're speaking."
The man who entered was thin, wearing silver-rimmed glasses. Mid-thirties. A plain gray suit. Unremarkable features. But only his mouth was twisted into a faint smirk.
"You can't escape now, Master Batou."
"—You bastard."
Batou moved to grab the man by the lapels. But the man swiftly stepped back and slipped through the doorway.
"My secretary, Nakase. ……It seems he was Kurasawa's spy, after all."
Siren said it, her voice tinged with a hint of loneliness.
"[cold]Yes. I have been acting under Master Kurasawa's orders for several months. Today's information offer was a trap from the start. Master Batou, you will be placed on the wanted list as a terrorist who has kidnapped a material witness."
Nakase's voice held no emotion whatsoever. Flat, as if reading from a manual.
"[angry]You son of a……!"
Batou ground his back teeth.
(*So it was Kurasawa's trap. Siren's whistleblowing, all of it was set up.*)
An external speaker blared the voice of a military commander.
*'Everyone, including the terrorist, drop your weapons and surrender. I repeat — drop your weapons and surrender. If you do not comply, we will commence a forced entry.'*
Outside the window, fully armed SWAT.
The electromagnetic shield had severed cyber comms, contact with Ishikawa — everything.
The worst possible situation: himself, incapable of cyber warfare, thrown into an enemy battlefield defined by a cyber blockade.
"[angry]Tch, dammit."
The enemy had precisely targeted the core of his complex.
"—I have the entire building's layout memorized."
Suddenly, Siren spoke quietly.
"[calm]Sixty-two stories. Three emergency stairwell systems. Four elevators. But I believe SWAT has them all blocked now. There is a heliport on the roof, but three attack helicopters are already on standby."
Clutching her rabbit terminal, the girl calmly laid out the situation.
"[genuine]……Aren't you scared?"
Batou found himself asking.
Siren tilted her head slightly, then gave a small laugh.
"[sad]I am scared. But — I anticipated this much."
"Anticipated?"
"[serious]Because when a child tries to act seriously, adults always use these kinds of tactics. If you show power, they try to silence you with even greater power. I hate that — so I prepared myself to fight alone."
Those words pierced Batou's chest.
(*When a child tries to act seriously, adults silence them with even greater power.*)
Had Siren been fighting against that all along? Treated like a princess, never taken seriously by adults, yet never giving up on what she believed in.
"[grateful]……Want a taiyaki?"
Batou picked up the bag from the table and offered it to Siren.
"[surprised]Huh?"
"Can't fight on an empty stomach."
Siren's violet eyes wavered faintly. And then — they shifted, just a little, toward a bluish hue.
"[gentle]……Thank you, Mr. Batou."
She accepted the taiyaki and took a bite. A bit of bean paste dotted the corner of her mouth.
"[determ
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