The Hikoboshi Series

No one notices me when I slip into the Kazenoho headquarters two hours later. The room is a mess of people, with groups in every corner.

I keep my head down and my eyes on the sidewalk as I approach the apartment building in Kadoma Ward. This will not be an easy task for me, but I’ll do it anyway.

I’ve been sitting for ten hours at Rin’s hospital bedside. The room is plain white, with a round bed, two square pillows, and a small lamp.

According to Yoshi, the way is clear to the floor above the servers. From here up, there are three R&D floors, and who knows what they’ll have there.

“All surveillance footage along your route is looped. I have redirected androids to the fire station in the lobby.”

“Hello, Kara. It’s good to see you, finally..” Isao smiles at me through the connection on the wallscreen.

It’s early morning when I leave the temporary apartment we’re staying in across from Rikki’s new club. I don’t know this area very well, but it looks like a former warehouse district trying to find footing as a hip and inexpensive area for young people.

“Well, with three precious eggs, we’ll need to safeguard them. Maybe even get them out of Shin-Osaka. War is imminent, and I don’t trust leaving them here. Plus, if Gen ever gets wind of what we did, he’ll try to destroy them to hurt Yumi even more.”