(Start)

Elven calendar, 1015, July 26.

It's the height of summer.

(1. Time)

"Wouldn't it be better for me to move out?"

The speaker's eyes widened slightly. It was a look of seriousness seeking answers.

Looking at his friend who asked him the same question for the second time, the silver-haired investigator sighed deeply.

Sixteen years have passed since they first met in the dark cave.

The silver-haired boy who had broken into the ruins with his father's Charizard gradually turned into a teenager and then a young man, and he faded from his schoolboy to become the backbone of the Guandu Search Department. And his vice-captain has grown up with him, and it has long been the same as before......

Well, maybe not.

I don't know if it's because of his personality and temperament or because of the genetic arrangement, his colleague and cohabitant, the first-level investigator in the Guandu area named Starry Night, seems to be permanently fixed at the age of eighteen. On weekdays, it may be okay, but when she puts on her crisp search officer uniform and charges ahead faster than a Pokémon, anyone will think that this is a heroic teenager.

Like his physical appearance, his friend's awareness of gender identity has shown no signs of germination.

When the two were transferred back to the Guandu Search Department, accommodation became a thorny issue. Mihara City is world-famous for its expensive land, and the search department has never provided staff dormitories, so renting a suitable house can cost a young recruit half his life.

Therefore, when the Kamiwa Investigator invited a friend to share a house on the pretext of saving money, his vice-captain readily agreed without hesitation, without the slightest concern about whether it was inappropriate for the two adults to do this, and that Mr. Takema's financial foundation clearly did not need to take such effort.

"Of course not. Why do you think that?"

The Divine Feather Investigator, who had always been silent, couldn't wait to have two more mouths at this time. He patiently asked, "Did I bother you?"

"No, no, how could it be. The speaker quickly shook his head, shaking his purple hair into a mess, "I'm worried about the opposite...... Won't I really bother you here?"

Her voice was clean and bright, with the smell of the morning sun, like a young man who had just embarked on a journey.

Hearing his friend calling out his childhood nickname in a soft and affectionate tone, the silver-haired young man couldn't help but soften his voice.

"No—we said it when we decided to share a room, didn't we? If the other person has some habits that make you uncomfortable, you have to talk about it, and you can't hide it. ”

After a pause, he asked calmly, "Do you believe my honesty with you?"

"Of course. Without hesitation, his vice-captain replied, "I'm just a little worried...... No, it's nothing, it's that I'm thinking too much. ”

The purple-haired "boy" smiled at him. He noticed that the other seemed to breathe a sigh of relief—a knee-jerk reaction that was so subtle that perhaps even he wasn't aware of it.

As the young man fell into a thoughtful mood, the Starrain Searcher's attention had shifted as quickly as his running speed to other places.

"Xiaotian, have you seen the new issue of Trainer's Voice?"

"I just read it yesterday. You can go to my bedroom and get it - it's late, don't look too long. ”

"Yes—"

(2. Omen)

At night, the stars are shining.

This single-family home was chosen by two occupants. Although it is a little further from the city center, the advantage is that the rooms are spacious and affordable. The windows on the south side face a small, quiet park – not a large green space, but enough to freshen and smell the nearby air.

For trainers who can ride Pokémon on the road, as long as they don't care about the strong wind blowing their hair into a mess, commuting distance is never an issue - unlike the usual workplace, the Search Department never requires employees to be well-groomed. Compared with the happiness and comfort of walking home slowly after buying ingredients, cooking an appetizing dinner together, and strolling side by side in the park or having a bloody battle after the meal, the inconvenience caused by the remote location is nothing at all.

July in the middle of summer is the time when bug Pokémon in the Northern Hemisphere are at their most active. Insects chirp outside the window, as if nature has given the best white noise, and the temperature controlled by the air conditioner is just right for sleeping. However, perhaps because of the words of the cohabitant, or perhaps because of the pressure of the difficult task that he was about to face tomorrow, the young man did not sleep peacefully.

He had a nightmare.

Consciousness rises and falls in a chaotic light and shadow, and it is difficult to capture the truth in it. Countless sounds overlap in the ears, converging into a symphony full of flesh.

Gunshots, explosions, heart-rending screams. And—

The man turned his head and smiled peacefully at him as usual. But the blood continued to seep out, gradually staining the familiar white clothes.

The young man wanted to struggle, he wanted to scream, but his body seemed to sink into the deep sea, frozen and unable to move.

The bloodied man laughed. The transparent eyes are like glass balls, and they do not reflect any emotions - no happiness, no sadness, and no reluctance.

Her voice blended into the chaos of noise, hazy and deafening.

"Farewell. ”

(3. Undercurrent)

The dull sound of a cell phone falling to the ground brought back the youth's senses.

He found himself rolling over and sitting up at some point. A sour feeling stung his eyes—perhaps because of the cold sweat that ran down his forehead, or maybe it was something else.

After settling down, he bent down and picked up his phone. The touch of a finger wakes up the screen, and the white light lights up lightly.

[05:37 A.M.]

Night enveloped the bedroom, enveloping the oppressive and silent air. The occupant's form solidifies into a sculpture, almost as if he has fallen asleep while still seated.

After a long time, a soft sigh came.

The investigators who were brave enough to be active on the battlefield were not fearless. The silver-haired young man knew that he had a deep, insurmountable weakness – he feared the loss of his best friend.

A long time ago, he had heard from a friend who was still a young girl that she had a practical "little trick". The young boys of the time did not fully understand what the so-called little tricks meant, until the battles, the crises, the wounds and the bloodshed laid out the facts in front of them.

The moment the mental suggestion is activated, all emotional reactions are erased, and all mental energy is used to calculate the ultimate goal. In the work of the search department, this is undoubtedly an excellent ability, eliminating interference, erasing confusion, and being able to exert 100% strength at any time, and this stability has repeatedly turned the tide, or directly or indirectly saved the lives of many comrades-in-arms.

However, for relatives and friends, the psychological suggestion technique called "absolute calculus" -

"It was a disaster. ”

The Divine Feather Investigator muttered to himself.

Calculated life, firm execution, and unhesitating sacrifice. Shen Yutian believes that his colleagues have a sense of justice to sacrifice their lives for others, but the survival instinct engraved in the blood and bones of human beings dictates that even the greatest heroes will hesitate and hesitate more or less at the moment of death.

Thus, the one who "did not hesitate" became the most precarious martyr.

The night still hung gloomily over the room.

When the time on the phone screen jumps to six o'clock, the person who has been awakened by the nightmare gives up on falling asleep again.

He stood up and walked out of the bedroom lightly.

(4. Mimeow)

"Isn't it my turn to cook today......

The speaker, with his unkempt purple hair, looked at the date that was indeed singular, looked at the wall clock on the wall, and looked at the cohabitant in the kitchen, who had obviously been busy for a long time, with a rare look of sluggishness.

The young man with a neat low ponytail raised his hand and unexpectedly interrupted the other party's unspoken apology trifecta, "I happened to wake up relatively early, so I have nothing to do." ”

The robbed man opened his mouth and was about to say something more, when suddenly his ankles were hugged by two warm and soft plushs.

"Mi. ”

"Meow. ”

Two wonderful meows hung at their feet, one left and one right, and looked at their owners with round eyes.

"Hmm, good morning...... Are you hungry?"

The hair ball poked out its little paws, swished all the way up the human body, and hung on its chest in unison, like two children's schoolbags with their backs upside down.

"Mia. ”

"Meow. ”

A pair of hands fell from the sky and rubbed the heads of the two cats. Then, the owner of the hand worked tirelessly to fetch the food plates of the wonderful meows, and prepared the Pokémon's breakfast in the midst of the ups and downs of the meows.

When she finished her work and returned to the kitchen, the cook turned off the gas stove just right.

"Today's mission is the most difficult, so it's considered a 'mission subsidy' from your teammates. The young man learned what the other party had said, and sure enough, he saw his friend's expression of being choked and speechless.

When the two first moved here, the small courtyard at the back of the house was almost a mess. The two flower trees had completely dried up, and the stones that might have been landscape sketches were scattered everywhere, large and small, as if they had been hit by a tornado. Even with the help of Pokémon, it must be a lot of effort to clean up.

They agreed to clean up together when they had time - and as a result, after the Kamiwa Investigator was urgently assigned to return home from the task of completing the task in two days, he looked at the courtyard that was smooth enough to cure obsessive-compulsive disorder, and he couldn't speak for a while.

"Your task is so tiring, I'm embarrassed to do nothing here. Think of it as a 'mission subsidy' from your teammates. ”

She said softly and deftly, not expecting that one day the phrase would be returned as it was—and at least ten times!

Sitting down at the light-wood-colored dining table facing each other, the sweet smell of osmanthus syrup slowly enters the nose. The person who smelled the familiar smell looked at the food on the table and immediately showed a surprised look.

"Sugar taro seedlings. The young man on the opposite side said in a straight voice - in a language that "does not exist".

"Huh...... When did you remember how to make it?" the former Otherworldly Traveler poked the bowl of Otherworldly dessert with a spoon with a subtle expression.

"The last time you did it — it wasn't hard. ”

"And its name......"

"My pronunciation is wrong?"

"Not at all, pretty standard – that's what surprised me the most, rather. ”

In her memory, she had only made this dessert two or three times for her cohabitants, and she couldn't even remember whether she had mentioned its "otherworldly name".

The silver-haired young man raised his eyebrows calmly.

"It's the language of your hometown, I remember it, of course. ”

(5. Gaining momentum)

"Once again, I recall that you have never scored below an A in a Spanish assessment since you joined the Ministry, and that you feel the cruel individual differences between human beings - or do you have a good friend from the United Kingdom of Sildon?"

The purple-haired investigator said expressionlessly, throwing the thick stack of freshly baked Spanish materials back to his desk.

The young man understood the hidden meaning of his friend's words. He thought about it for a while, and felt that "there really is" was not a good answer, so he had to blink, quietly swallow the words in his stomach, and continue to sort out the information he had just received.

As we all know, the joint mission of the four major ministries has always been the most hellish and difficult work, and this time is no exception. Due to the sluggish progress of the mission, there was a sense of anxiety and solemnity in the office of the countermeasures team, and only the two experienced investigators who were in charge had the heart to joke and liven up the atmosphere.

Shortly after the two men arrived at the office, they were stuffed with up-to-date information on the monitoring sites by the intelligence commissioner — the part of which had not even had time to be translated into Union language by the United Kingdom investigators in Silton.

As the most commonly used language in countries outside the Alliance, Spanish has always been an indispensable subject in the year-end assessment of the members of the four major departments. It's a pity that the Star Rain Investigator is really not talented in language learning, and he has not been able to gain the upper hand after falling in love with Spanish for more than ten years, and it takes most of his brain cells just to read the summary of the information.

When they were still at Silver Academy, she earnestly asked her friends how they memorized so many Spanish words. And the other party's answer made her unforgettable.

"When you see an unfamiliar word, you look it up in the dictionary. ”

The silver-haired boy replied sincerely, completely unable to understand why the questioner had a very complicated expression after hearing the answer.

- If I look it up, I can remember it, isn't there no reason to fail......

To this day, she still firmly believes that people like her bamboo horse, who can remember both Spanish words and foreign words once they hear them, must have more than 100 folds in the cerebral cortex than her.

"Master, Master, is it really that difficult for the four major ministries to carry out the joint mission? Wait a minute, are you going to climb the ventilation duct like you did in the assassination of Lige in 0770? Is the chief of the Red Reed Police really as rumored?—— take care of me, didn't the operation start at night? It's too late to sort out the information later......

A teenager with curly orange hair dangled back and forth around the youth's desk. The rest of the room was no longer surprised by this, and it was easy to pass it off as the white noise of the environment.

The young man chattered a ton of words, and the Shen Yu investigator who had finished digging through a stack of materials raised his head.

"Accidents can happen at any time, and you can't let your guard down. He replied succinctly.

"I get it. ”

"Also, this is the countermeasures team office, you shouldn't come in. ”

"But I'm worried about you......"

The boy had a bitter face—he had almost lost his master on a joint mission a year ago, and he didn't want to see his beloved predecessor carried back covered in blood.

Seeing that Master's eyes began to become like frozen beams, the curly-haired young man was excited, and said in a hurry: "And—and, besides, you see that Haoyue is also there! She is only an eyewitness to the first case, and she is not a participant in the mission!"

The young man turned his head away.

"Senior, I've already sorted out your law enforcement records for this week. ”

The girl looked to be about sixteen or seventeen years old. Unlike the curly-haired teenager in the executive uniform, although she is also young, the uniform is already the unique white of the search department. She straightened her waist and looked up at the person she had admired for many years.

"Your combat equipment has also been fully inspected. What else can I do for you?"

The purple-haired investigator shook his head with a smile, "Thank you, you've done enough." After being together for so long, she has long given up on stopping the girl's perpetual motion machine like a series of spontaneous helps—it's okay if it doesn't work, if it doesn't work, it means that she needs to spend ten times as much energy to convince the other party that "I'm really not bored with you".

"I didn't mention it beforehand - did you practice the style I taught you last time?"

"Yes, of course!" said Haoyue's expression tightened, "I trained every day as you asked. ”

"How's it going?"

“......”

Seeing that the girl was a little hesitant on her face, maybe she was about to shout out lines like "ask for punishment before you go down" in the next second, the Xingyu investigator interrupted the other party's deliberation with a familiar smile, "It's my fault, I should have made it clearer." Shall we do this - when the task at hand is over, how about we make an appointment to practice alone?"

"I can't thank you enough!"

The girl's raised end of her words revealed a hint of joy at being restrained by her efforts. She stepped forward and looked into the eyes of the person she admired, her tone solemnly as if she was making an oath, but the content of her words was already messed up, "I can't repay your kindness. I...... Will treat you well!"

The seniors who declared that they were going to be "treated well" suddenly laughed.

She raised her hand and touched the girl's head affectionately.

"The premise is that you treat yourself well. ”

Haoyue, who has always been indifferent and unapologetic, lowered her head slightly, and her cheeks flushed with an inconspicuous flush. The sharp-eyed curly-haired boy saw the two intern girls poking out the door covering their faces and staggering away, as if they were still muttering strange words like "boyfriend power".

"Master, what's boyfriend power?" the young man asked with his eyes wide open and without distractions.

“......”

The silver-haired young man who watched the whole process didn't want to answer, so he sighed in his heart, deeply feeling that he had one more thing to worry about.

(6. Desire)

Daylight shifts westward. The afternoon sun was obscured by clouds, turning the sky white.

There were six hours and thirty-five minutes left before the original scheduled time for action.

The hidden door was suddenly pushed open. The intelligence officer rushed into the office out of breath, not even bothering to tie his loose shoelaces, and almost fell headlong in the doorway with garlic under his feet.

"Report from the Frontline Reconnaissance Team - there are signs of a group shift at Base 'Bastion' No. 031!"

The huge office was silent for a moment.

The Divine Feather Investigator stood up abruptly, as if a storm was surging in his ice-blue pupils.