Night.

Yu・Tatsumi came back unexpectedly late today.。

According to his habit, he will not miss dinner time. And today, until everyone had eaten dinner for a while, he still did not return.

There is no doubt that he must have gone to investigate on his own again. Lloyd knew this, and could only wait in silence for the day when his partner was willing to speak. He's not the type to force someone to open their mouth.

"I said man, I'll just keep an eye on this."

At the first-floor dinner table, Randy moves his azure eyes from the magazine to his brown-haired companion with almost "I'm upset" written on it. The brown-haired companion gave him a feeble smile in return, not so much a smile as a courtesy response.

It's like when we communicate, we always say "Hey" before we talk about the content. The word doesn't mean much, it just lets the other person know that they're listening to him, and Lloyd's smile is the same type of thing right now.

After dinner, everyone went back to their rooms. Ellie and Noelle are because of the dark policy, and Dio and Horxu are because they have jobs. Rui has always been afraid of the living. Yu and Lixia have not returned.

Ever since Lloyd had refused to exchange information with Dudley—no, to be precise, from earlier—something was wrong with the support staff.

Going to the Rainbow Theatre to explain the situation, although both Elija and Lixia expressed forgiveness, Lixia's tolerant attitude made Lloyd blame himself even more.

I personally felt that the environment I was in was bad, my status was embarrassing, and my future was bleak, and everyone was a little disheartened. Especially Dudley's passage. The impact on everyone is especially huge.

The Search Section 1 is a department composed entirely of elite investigators, and if you look at individual qualities alone, the Search Section 1 can be said to be Crossbell's strongest. Even such a powerful department can only compromise with the dark forces, but what about the support section of the ragtag army.

"Well, hey, Captain San?"

Sensing that he and the captain were not in the same dimension, Randy waved his broad palm in front of Lloyd, trying to get his attention.

"Ah, Randy, when did you go downstairs?"

Lloyd suddenly noticed Randy's presence.

"Oh, I want a beer before I go to bed - hey, I say, I've been there since dinner! I never went upstairs! ”

In the face of Randy's fierce complaint, Lloyd showed that unconscious, meaningless polite smile again, Randy sighed, supported his head with one hand, and said lazily: "Go, go, I'll help you wait here." Just tell You that we received an invitation from Silver. ”

"Ah...... Well. It's okay, I'm ...... too."

"Hey, Captain, you don't look like you're fine. Moreover, this is a rare time to earn opinion! Everyone is in a panic about the future, and it's time for you to show your might. 'Don't worry, even if I put my life on the line, I'm going to exonerate you from the future!' Lloyd ...... and kissed, and now it's such a famous scene! Don't stay with me. ”

Randy was smiling and waving like a fly, as if Lloyd was in the way of his reading.

"What is this......"

"It's kind of advice from my predecessors. Anyway, I'll help you wait over there. ”

Unable to resist the persuasion of his companions, and Lloyd himself had a lot of undecided thoughts that were not messy, Lloyd finally followed Randy's advice and went upstairs.

When people are hesitant and undecided, the advice of relatives and friends around them often directly affects people's behavior.

So, now Lloyd hesitated at Ellie's door to knock on the door.

Today, Lloyd knew too much that surprised him. Ellie is actually the mayor's granddaughter, an aspiring young lady in politics. And he is really not a person of the same dimension.

Recalling the first time they met, Lloyd and the others had agreed to wait until they became closer to each other before talking about their respective backgrounds.

Would you like to talk to Ellie? As a politician, many things encountered today must have hit her hard.

But...... Lloyd's raised hand was lowered again.

"Ellie......"

"Lord Lloyd?"

Someone suddenly spoke behind him, and Lloyd was so frightened that he hid his arms behind him in a panic. When someone saw him like this, he smiled heartily.

"There's no need to be so surprised, Royd-kun."

It was Noelle who spoke, different from when she went out on a mission, now she was wearing a vest and shorts, a large area of snow-white skin was exposed, her face and skin were still dripping with water, her brown and red neat short hair was covered with a towel at random, she looked like she had just taken a shower, and her face was still flushed by hot water.

Noelle ......

"Looks like we've got it together."

Noelle spread his hands and made an innocent face at him. Lloyd smiled, feeling a little lighter. It's not just me, everyone else is caring about Ellie...... No, I should say, do you care about this support section, which is our common identity?

"I'm not very good at that, though. Since Royd-kun is here, I'll go back first. ”

Noelle smiled and took two steps back, wanting to go to the fourth floor where he was, but Lloyd subconsciously reached out and grabbed her......

"Forehead ......"

"Hmmm......"

The two men looked at each other speechlessly.

"That...... In short...... "Lloyd didn't know what to say, and even he didn't know why he took Noelle's hand."

"Ah, that...... Want to talk? ”

"Ah...... Sorry for the trouble. ”

"It's okay, let's go to my room first."

――――――――――

Noelle's room felt very similar to the room before the tour. Very little decoration. Maybe it's because I was staying in the support section for the time being, so I didn't bring too much luggage.

The most conspicuous are the guard uniform hanging from Noelle's bedside and the black bear doll sitting on the bed.

I guess I want to warn myself not to forget who I am a member of the guard. Anyway, that little bear is really cute, I didn't expect Miss Noelle to have such a cute interest. Thinking so, Lloyd pulled up a chair and sat down casually.

"Sorry, the room is messy. It's not quite a girl's room, is it? ”

Noelle teased herself as she rummaged through the cupboard, chattering in a whisper to herself, "I remember putting it here...... Tea bags tea bags ......"

"Ah, I don't need tea."

Lloyd quickly interrupted her, his purpose was just to chat with others and get to know each other better. It doesn't matter if there is tea or not. Noelle smiled at him a little awkwardly, his eyebrows drooped in embarrassment, but he sat down generously across from Lloyd.

"That...... Miss Noelle, what do you think? Today's things ......"

At this time, Lloyd was not in the mood to design a dialogue, and cut to the point at the beginning.

"Me...... Sure enough, I still feel a little sad. ”

Noelle had an embarrassed look on his face. After all, she is a member of the garrison, that is, a soldier. As a blade and shield to protect the country, she did not play the corresponding function, and Crossbell was still so dark, and this cruel reality made Noelle's heart like a knife.

"Sure enough...... Is it ...... Miss Noelle is always very serious and strict, and has a strong sense of justice. It's normal to feel pain. ”

Lloyd sighed meaninglessly.

"Justice will change its form because of different angles."

"Huh?"

"Ah, I told it to Deputy Commander Sonia before I came here."

At the mention of Sonya, Noelle's face softened a lot, as if she was boasting about her mother to outsiders.

"I used to chase absolute justice too much. Until one time, I found out that the person I thought was righteous suddenly revealed his darkness to me, and then I felt very angry, and although it was very unlawful to say it, I really wanted to kill him......"

Noelle seemed to be reminiscing, his expression sometimes gentle and sometimes serious.

Lloyd didn't interject, and listened intently. But I was wondering in my heart, who is this talking about?

Then, he didn't care, and still reached out to me. After that, Deputy Commander Sonia told me this. I didn't quite understand my own justice at first, but now I finally understand it a little. Everyone has their own sense of justice. Investigator Dudley had to sacrifice the justice of civilians for the sake of Crossbell as a whole, while Officer Lloyd was for the safety of those around him and constantly challenged the justice of powerful enemies. I felt in my heart that it was great to be able to support the department. ”

As he spoke, Noelle jumped out of his chair and gave Lloyd a military salute.

"Inspector Dudley's words made me up. Officer Lloyd, I'll return to the garrison when Crossbell's founding celebrations, when the Support Section is at its busiest, has passed. For me, sure enough, that side is my justice. I was really taken care of during this time. ”

Noelle said, smiling brightly. Lloyd was a little stunned, and after a while, the young man who had been frowning finally bent his two eyebrows: "Haha, obviously I was going to comfort Miss Noelle, but I was enlightened by Miss Noelle in turn." ”

"It's not enlightening. What do you do? ”

"If it's Miss Noelle, I can probably understand why You's fascinated by you."

"Why, why did you suddenly mention that guy?"

At the mention of the guy he didn't want to mention, the smile on Noelle's face suddenly subsided most of it, his smiling eyebrows suddenly straightened up, and he stared slightly, and then there were a lot of complaints about him, what was too casual, what kind of misbehavior, what individualism, I couldn't figure out who was the leader of the support section or something, and a series of complaints made Lloyd smile bitterly and eat the consequences.

But...... Lloyd strengthened his convictions.

Thank you, Miss Noelle, and I will be like you, and I will be firm in my conviction and seek my own justice. When the sermon is over, I'll talk to Ellie. Questions cannot be avoided.

But......

Looks like it's going to be over for a while...... Miss Noelle......