Throughout the entire meeting, Mei spoke most of the time. There were times Sakura and Mobius raised some questions, but the rest remained as listeners.

  A pn was created in the end.

  Kevin, Elysia, and Sakura will be prioritized on the MANTIS surgery. The rest who would follow are still up for deliberation.

  Things would remain like this. After luring Mei’s enemies from the dark, only then would the Soldier Projebsp;be revealed. Though there are s when it es to it, such as the potential loss of lives during the fight against honkai, Mei created a timetable.

  Three months.

  That was how long they would dey things. It was still “quite” calm in the Fire MOTH. Aside from the occasional small-scale honkai eruptions, there weren’t as reted to emperor-css honkai beasts.

  If one shows up during those three months, however, it’ll be up to them to bear the burden.

  Several hours had passed sihen. The three new arrivals had to stay ihe fifth institute for several days, hehey were given rooms of their own.

  Late at midnight, Aleph asked Sakura to meet up in front of her dorm room.

  “Do you have anything to say?”

  “No, but I have something to give to you.”

  He passed on a tablet. He then proceeded to expin:

  “These should be helpful. It has some videos of my training. There are also some additional things inside.”

  “...It’s this.”

  During their occasional bouts, Sakura felt that Aleph ractig some form of martial arts. It had numerous overps on her discipline in swordsmanship.

  What she didn’t expect was for him to pile his knowledge just like this.

  “Don’t feel burdened. I also knew someone who practiced swordsmanship back then. Some of the tents inside came from him.”

  “Is this alright?”

  “Yeah. He told me to pass them as I wish.”

  Aleph wasn’t teically lying. Sasaki Koujiro, whom he met five days ago, told him to pass them on to Sakura. The moment he knew about his “swordsman” acquaintance, he became quite enthusiastic to pass them on. It also helped that he came from the “self-taught school”, which made it pletely up to him to pass his own style.

  “That’s it. Goodnight.”

  “Wait.”

  “Hm?”

  Aleph turned around just as he was about to leave.

  “You e for this. Why is it so?”

  “Ah, it’s that.”

  Over the past few months, he came to know about Sakura’s true nature. As professional as she may be, that side of hers crumbles down when fag her sister. That was the main reason why she was being held “hostage” by the cilors.

  “Objectively speaking, this is aension of what we agreed on. You take your sister away from their hands. We’ll guarantee her safety. You also came from that anization. I’m sure you noticed why Mei used the same name for that special forces.”

  Currently, the unaffiliated anization where Sakura works is responsible for doing MOTH's dirty work. It was created to deal and hide some things that are uable to ah normal ethics. Mei wao create the same anization, but more of covert operatives instead.

  For ohey are officially part of MOTH. It was pletely opposed to the ohe cilors operated. Moreover, they will be assigasks reted to humans—that is, internal flicts and people responsible for stirring chaos during the honkai eruptions.

  The only differeweewo was that one was held tightly by the cilors while the other was willing to help everyone who fought against the honkai.

  At the very least, Mei wao create a special force that prevents any kind of assassination and abdu on people who wao fight the honkai. It was pletely different from the cilors who wao prioritize their well-being and is.

  “That’s it. We want you to focus on the honkai instead of people aiming at your back. You have the potential to do it.”

  No further words were said, but the implications are already there. They trust her enough to choose her to be among the firsts.

  “I will live up to it.”

  Once again, Aleph saw the sheathed sharpness within Sakura.

  *****

  “Tsk, tsk. You’re being a pyboy. I’ll tell this to Mei.”

  “Please. We’re just talking about normal stuff…”

  Aleph looked at Kevin who was mung on some chips. He didn’t expee across Kevin who should’ve already been sleeping inside his room.

  Seeing Aleph’s incredulous look, he expined:

  “My sleep schedule was messed up a while ago. It’s also normal for us to pull off several all-nighters in the field.”

  “Everyone here is g sleep, yet there are some bastards who are ying on the fort of their beds. This parison is truly cruel.”

  Naturally, Kevin wao spread this teology to his fellow soldiers. Uhe higher-up’s mind games, they are the ones who are exposed to danger. heless, he uood Mei’s pns which have prospects in the long-term. He was the one who asked for it to have a shorter ‘deadline’, which was set to be three months ter.

  “Everyone’s doing their work. We’re just leaving all the thinking part to you.”

  “...You’ve really grown up. Where's Kevin who dumped all of his love letters in my foot locker?”

  “I figured it would cause you to react or something but you didn’t. You were that cold back then.”

  ‘Back then, I…’

  Thinking of the one girl who listeo his s at his lowest period, he subsciously looked at the hidden mark on his left hand.

  However, it soon turned into a mixed feeling.

  ‘The more I i with them, the more it turns into…’

  In his previous life, monogamy was the norm. Though, it wasn’t unusual to see iial men having several women by their side. It was his own decision that made him a bachelor at that time.

  In this world, it became plicated. Aleph already had a certain liking for certain characters back then. Though he knew best not to project them here, it was still affeg his deaking skills. That became even more evident as more time passed.

  In short, he might really turn Kevin’s joking words into the truth.

  Kevin saw this period of silend asked in a shocked tone:

  “...Don’t tell me you have someone you like?”

  “...No. Not now.”

  “Look who’s lying. I guess I have to tell Mei to step up her game.”

  ‘She already did!’ Aleph retorted inwardly. ‘Ugh, that’s why I threw these matters at the bay mind…’

  Throughout their entire versation, Aleph was the o the defensive.