Agiri Rinka has never known her parents’ faces.

This is because she was raised in an institution since the moment she was born.

One of the many organizations in the academy city, “Silver Twilight,” was her home and the only place she belonged.

Her parents were researchers, and her lullabies were electronic sounds.

Everything was artificially created, and yet for her, it was everything.

—Rinka betrayed all of it.

“Hah, hah.”

Shaking off her pursuers, Rinka hides herself.

The place she stumbled into appears to be a facility for official personnel, as there are several doors in the dimly lit hallway.

She silently moves through the corridor.

At that moment, Rinka notices a cardboard box placed in front of a cleaning supply closet.

Inside is a discarded costume meant for disposal.

“…Just right.”

Without hesitation, Rinka dons it.

Her face is already known.

If it can reduce the risk of being discovered even slightly, that would be better.

“All right, with this…”

Thinking it was all right, a question crossed Rinka’s mind.

(Where am I supposed to go?)

Rinka betrayed the organization.

This was because she abandoned the mission given to her.

Rinka’s mission was to assassinate the Demonsgear contractor, Gatou Touraku, and to seize Lurtura.

(I was doing well at first.)

It was easy to approach him as a friend.

She had already researched his personality beforehand.

A genuinely good person, a young man with a straightforward heart.

That’s why she became captivated.

By him and the people around him.

“I can’t kill someone so happy…”

Rinka has never killed anyone.

This mission was supposed to be a test to make her a complete individual.

If that was the case, then abandoning it halfway makes her nothing but a failure.

(Touraku found out, and the organization discarded me… Ah, I have nowhere to go now.)

The moment she thought that, her legs went limp.

Having escaped the punishment in the underground experimental facility, her legs, which had been running non-stop, seemed to have reached their limit.

She had been holding on with sheer willpower, but that too had finally run out.

She had lost her reason to stand.

(Should I just start over at some unknown academy? …No, the organization will come soon.)

Silver Twilight is a powerful organization in the academy city.

It is tacitly approved by the Apis Board, and with that power, it would be easy for them to take care of a single girl who has run away.

“Hah. What was my life?”

Rinka objectively evaluated her life as one always presented with a purpose.

Everything was for the organization, and she was just a tool.

Even when she was with Touraku, she had followed the manual of being a cheerful girl.

She didn’t know what freedom was.

“—It’s time for the shift change.”

Suddenly, a voice came from behind her.

Thinking it was a pursuer, she braced herself, but the person was also wearing a costume.

“…Ah, who are you?”

For a moment, she doubted if this was just a part-time worker at the amusement park, but she quickly dismissed that thought.

Rinka was someone who had been trained since childhood.

That’s why she understood from the way she stood.

(Strong. Even if I give my all here, I can never win.)

Despite being natural, there was a clear sense of intimidation.

If that’s the case, it’s certain she is one of them.

“Are you not surprised? I just called out to you.”

The girl in front of her said this with an exasperated expression.

It seemed she wasn’t pursuing Rinka after all.

“…Hah, don’t scare me like that.”

This experimental facility is well-known in the underworld.

Because of that, it’s not uncommon for agents from other organizations to be sent here.

At first, Rinka thought the girl in the costume was an agent.

However, this would be denied by her next words.

“I’m scared.”

“Ugh.”

“I understand how you feel.”

Those words clearly indicated that she grasped Rinka’s circumstances.

She wasn’t just any agent.

“You… could it be…”

“Yes. I was just like that at first.”

That was the answer to everything.

(Silver Twilight does not forgive traitors. Still, there have indeed been a few who managed to escape the organization in the past.)

Some were fed up with inhumane experiments, or perhaps sought a more brilliant future.

There were various reasons, but it was a fact that there were defectors from Silver Twilight.

And she knew that those people had gathered to form a new organization.

(If this person belongs to the newly formed anti-Silver Twilight organization, then it makes sense that she is here. This is an important experimental facility for Silver Twilight.)

The demeanor of a strong person and the words that knew Silver Twilight.

There was no doubt.

She was an explorer who had escaped from Silver Twilight in the past.

Because of that, it was evidence that without such strength, one could not escape the organization.

Rinka did not possess that level of strength.

“…If that’s the case, then you should understand. It’s too late now. Even now, I want to drop everything and run away.”

Where would she escape to?

Thinking that, Rinka laughed self-deprecatingly.

However, the girl before her did not smile.

“Will you be saved that way?”

It was a question that seemed to see through Rinka’s heart.

Feeling as though her innermost thoughts had been peeked at, she was inexplicably angry.

“Saved? After deceiving everyone so much!? There’s no way someone like me can find a way to be saved!”

She had taken advantage of Touraku’s goodwill.

She had trampled on Mihaya’s kindness.

She had treated Lurtura as just a tool.

She had betrayed those who had given her a warm place.

She had turned what should have been a real home into a counterfeit one.

“If you’re just like me, why are you here? In the end, you were scared and had no choice but to come here!”

It was a misfire; she understood that in her head.

She had come to destroy Silver Twilight’s experimental facility or to steal information.

Even so, the darker parts of Rinka’s heart tried to convince her that the girl had come to submit and surrender to Silver Twilight.

She wanted someone who had also lost to the organization.

She wanted to feel like she wasn’t the only one in misery.

The girl before her, as if understanding Rinka’s feelings, spoke as if to admonish her.

“…I came here because that was my role.”

The girl, calmly restraining the advancing Rinka with her hand.

Even this exchange felt like a display of the significant difference between them, and it made her uncomfortable.

“Have you calmed down a bit?”

“…I’m sorry. It doesn’t solve anything by lashing out at you.”

“Indeed. I can’t solve anything.”

The girl affirmed Rinka’s words.

And then she continued.

“It’s up to you to decide.”

That was the autonomy of Rinka as a person.

For Rinka, who had followed orders like a machine, it was sudden freedom that had appeared before her.

“It’s up to me to decide…”

“Yes.”

The girl nodded, weaving her words.

As if to guide Rinka.

“Not what you should do, but what you want to do. I think it’s fine to follow what you believe in.”

“…Is it really that simple?”

There had always been reasoning behind Rinka’s actions.

There was an absolute reason for every action that served the interests of the organization.

However, now it was different.

“It’s fine. See, you just have to follow your heart from here on.”

The girl said that as she took Rinka’s hand.

The costume obscured her expression.

But from the tone of her voice, it sounded as if she was smiling.

“It’s okay. The world is much kinder and more beautiful than you imagine.”

How many sacrifices and hardships did those words stand upon?

Rinka, still bound by the organization, did not understand.

Yet, she felt as though she could see the answer just a little.

“…Thank you. I might have just realized a bit of what I want to do.”

“Is that so? I’m glad.”

Standing before the door, Rinka turned back.

“Can I ask your name?”

She had been pushed forward by the back of her own hesitance, unable to take one more step.

She had risked herself just to accompany someone she had met by chance.

But the girl in the costume did not respond.

She simply stood there, as if to say her role was already over.

“…I’m sorry. You’re right. Yes, I’ll do my best!”

“Yes. Please do your best.”

Rinka bowed.

That was about all she could do at this moment.

With that, Rinka stepped outside.

(The people from the organization who followed are searching among the guests. They will soon realize they can’t find me and will return to their posts.)

She knows the organization well.

She knows their actions and the degree of their priorities.

They wouldn’t waste time chasing down someone they had deemed a failure.

With a resolute heart, Rinka slipped through the door.

(So long, Silver Twilight. Goodbye, my past.)

Rinka started walking toward the door leading to freedom.

She had decided to follow her heart and pursue her true freedom.