— Two days ago. —
"I've brought him."
"Alright, put him there... Wait, who's the person next to you? And why are you in such a mess?"
Rio couldn't make sense of Toki's disheveled appearance and the student with wolf ears she was carrying like luggage, unlike the male student slung over her back.
Her order had been to bring back that male student. So she was naturally surprised to see one more added.
"She tried to interfere when I was bringing him, so I dealt with her."
"...Is that why you look like that?"
"Yes. I even used Mode-2 to finish it quietly, and this is the result."
"...She must have been quite strong if you had to use that."
Mode-2, which Toki used, was one of her trump cards, drastically increasing her speed to the point where opponents couldn't follow her movements with their eyes.
Ordinarily, she could only use it with Rio's permission. Rio had granted that permission.
But if she had to use even that against this student, she must have been considerably strong.
"No. She wasn't strong."
"Hm?"
"To be precise, She was just persistent, so I used it."
"Persistent?"
An involuntary question arose: just how persistent was she?
"Even after embedding bullets in her arms and legs, she'd get up. Even after striking her neck with full force, she'd just reset his bones. If I approached thinking she was unconscious, she'd throw over ten grenades."
"....."
These were actions that could only be described as persistent.
"There's more, would you like me to continue?"
"I'll decline."
There was no benefit to hearing more. It would simply be a waste of time.
"But what kind of relationship does the two have that she would go that far?"
This piqued her curiosity. Honestly, based on what Toki had told her, people didn't act like this unless they were saving someone incredibly precious.
"She said she was this person's wife."
"...Huh? What did you say?"
"She said she's his wife."
"...They're students, aren't they?"
"Yes."
"Is marriage possible?"
"How would I know that?"
"...Right. That's not something I need to worry about right now."
She was surprised by the sudden mention of 'wife,' but it wasn't something to focus on at the moment.
"For now... I need to ask about that..."
Rio looked towards a certain spot being captured by the CCTV feed.
Squeak...
Cawwww....
There, a mouse-shaped doll larger than a person and a black crow doll even larger than the mouse were crouching.
"They suddenly appeared, didn't they? And what's more, the doll Toki was carrying transformed."
They had abruptly shown up in Millennium Science School and were trying to get out. Rio had discovered them and immediately requested C&C's assistance to suppress them.
She called it suppression, but... honestly, thinking back to the situation, it felt more like they had simply allowed themselves to be captured, but she probably just imagined that.
"Then may I ask what you intend to do now?"
"Ah... yes... there was that. For now, I plan to use that machine to look inside his head."
She pointed towards a scientifically modified chair in the center of the room.
"I originally planned to use it for something else, but it shouldn't matter if I use it now."
Later, he might experience memory confusion as a side effect, but... it didn't matter.
"...Are you sure about this? Doing it without the person's consent."
"It's none of your concern. He's not a Millennium student. Nor is he from Gehenna or Trinity. Finally, worrying about such things for someone carrying something that dangerous is a waste of time."
So, lay that student down there.
"...Understood."
Toki was thoroughly lacking in common sense. Naturally. Rio had made her that way.
It sounded cruel, but Rio had deliberately cut off most of Toki's means of contact to prevent her direct subordinate from being exposed.
That's why Toki didn't know how to handle situations like this. She had never experienced them.
"He's laid down."
"Then I'll begin."
Just as she fitted the device and reached for the button to turn on the memory machine...
"Hehe... that would be problematic."
Someone grabbed Rio's wrist, preventing her from pressing the button.
"Toki!!"
"Hands up."
Surprised by the sudden intruder, Rio quickly called out Toki's name after a brief moment of shock.
Toki assessed the situation and immediately approached the intruder, aiming her gun.
"Oh dear, oh dear.... students these days are quite rude. Aiming a gun at a complete stranger right away."
Rio couldn't help but be startled by the intruder's appearance.
The intruder wore robes like those a Pope in Trinity might wear, and a piece of red cloth covered their face from above, hiding it completely, making them look like a red saint.
"Who are you?! How did you get in here? This place is unknown even to the students in the Seminar!"
"Hehe.... I don't know what you mean, young lady. How did I get in? The premise itself is wrong. I didn't get in."
They let me in, young one.
"What?"
"Let you in? What does that mean? We never called someone like you here."
Trailing them was also ambiguous from the start. Toki had been under constant surveillance while coming here. If someone had been trailing her, she wouldn't have missed it.
"You look confused. I can hear your mind working from here."
"Toki! Shoot!"
Rat-ta-tat!!
As per Rio's command, Toki's bullets struck the intruder.
"Honestly. You ask me to listen, and yet..."
But there was no damage whatsoever.
"It can't be helped. Don't resent me too much."
"You brought this upon yourselves."
"Ugh...!!"
Another arm emerged from the intruder's shoulder, swinging a golden spear in its hand, instantly sending Toki flying.
"It's been a while since I've been out, so it's hard to control my strength... Shrinking down is truly inconvenient."
"What on earth are you...!! Could you be from Trinity?!"
"Trinity, you say..... Well, that's not entirely wrong. At least my origin is from there. Though... strictly speaking, you'd have to trace it back not just to Trinity but all the way to the Sanctum. But I have no obligation to explain all that."
"What are you talking about?!"
"Don't worry, it's a story you don't need to know. So, you were curious about my identity? Then perhaps I shall tell you."
With those words, the surroundings began to change. The room modified with scientific equipment vanished, gradually transforming into a place resembling a church.
— I am a being created by a certain doctrine.
The intruder's voice changed from that of an old man to one filled with noise.
Just hearing it sent instinctive danger signals.
— One of the Artificial Angels and a Holy Monster. I am one of the Communio Sanctorum...
—I am called Hieronymus.
An angel born from the doctrine of Trinity in the past had appeared in Millennium.