It took a while for Kurumi to process everything.
"Fu… Hahaha..!"
Aleph could tell that her laughs contained a hint of unbridled joy. Her gaze never left Aleph as she stood her upper body from the bed. Her gothic lolita dress became even more messy, threatening to reveal more than just her cleavage.
"Hee… I thought we wouldn't meet again, Ain." She said with a smile. "I still haven't returned the favor."
"You mean, that mirror? There's no need to." He replied. "I feel more relieved knowing it saved your life."
"No, no. Without it… I would have fallen for her schemes right from the start."
"Mio Takamiya…"
From Kurumi, Aleph finally knew the identity of the silver-haired woman he saw back in the past projection. She was none other than the first spirit—considered to be that world's strongest.
The powers of all Spirits came from her; thus the chances of killing her with the said powers are even lower. If Kurumi hadn't received an external power—Aleph's artifact—she wouldn't have deviated from the first spirit's careful calculations.
Kurumi's gaze met his. A sudden thought came to her mind.
"I have heard about the time gap."
"From Yoshino-san?"
"Um."
Aleph doesn't know what to say about it. After all…
"So, will you now call me onee-san?"
"Nope. Nope. Absolutely not."
Seeing this familiar move, Aleph knew she was about to pull off something akin to Mei's actions. This prediction stemmed from his three years of friendship with her.
He was right.
"Isn't it so, Aleph-kun?"
"..."
'Three years… No, it's nearly thirty years.'
The two were of similar ages. They also attended the same grade level in school. Only, due to the disrepair of Aleph's mirror, the time gap between them widened. Four years had passed in his world, yet it was twenty eight years for Kurumi's world.
However…
'She's still the Kurumi I know…'
{Result: The subject "Tokisaki Kurumi" is exhibiting signs of nostalgia and the desire to know of you…}
Be it elemental sight or Great Sage, they pointed out the same answer. It startled Aleph.
She hasn't forgotten about him. Not even one bit.
That line of thought was enough for Aleph to feel complex emotions towards this friend of his.
"Oh? It feels like you are thinking of something bad~?"
…even her sharp intuition remained the same.
"I'm sorry. I… didn't think you'd remain the same after all these years."
"Hee? Is that so?"
Strangely enough, Kurumi's smile became even brighter. Her gaze never left Aleph's eyes all this time. She saw through some of his thoughts.
'You are still the same as before… Fufu, how cute.'
Similarly, Kurumi also had her thoughts. Aleph's choice of venting out his frustrations made her realize that he was a frank person. He wouldn't hide his thoughts. That was how he was with Mei, Mobius, Vill-V, and even Elysia.
"What do you plan to do now?" He asked.
"Mn."
Kurumi placed her right hand on her chin.
"Will you take me in?"
She dropped a huge yet somewhat expected bombshell.
*****
Aleph might've chosen to rest for a brief moment, but that wasn't the case for now. Right after resolving Kurumi's dilemma, he headed to the director's office with a black cat lying atop his head.
"I sent over five ELFs with the dark reactor. The remaining hundred were equipped with the nuclear reactor. Finally, twenty ELFs with a honkai reactor not lower than 400 HW were sent to the frontlines."
Einstein finished briefing him of the events from his sleep.
The so-called frames were created months ago. The main problem was the software—the soul—that runs them. It is also the reason why every ELF has their unique personality.
With them, it became possible to increase combat efficiency by serving as the soldiers' support. That, or directly fighting against the honkai using the mechs brought with them.
"I'll ask Vill-V to prioritize creating more materials for it." Aleph stated. "We should be able to bring in five dark reactors every day and around a hundred nuclear reactors. As for honkai reactors, maybe three or four of them if the other materials are considered."
As one of its creators, Aleph knew the current limits of the Truth Arsenal. The numbers he quoted was when the Truth Arsenal's production was stretched to different materials. The future seems promising, but only Aleph knew they were about to face an even bigger threat.
'The second and third should be dealt with soon.'
Aleph already had an idea in mind when it comes to the two Herrscher cores. The third Herrscher's core would be changed depending on the situation, but the second Herrscher Core's purpose was already fixed.
Just then, Einstein asked a question:
"You didn't look like a cat person."
"Mn? Oh."
Even before he stepped out of his room, he already knew that Kurumi's state was no longer the same as before. For some reasons, her existence was clouded by an 'information barrier' of sorts.
When she became conscious, that function was automatically disabled.
"I adopted it. As for the regulations regarding pets, I already took care of it."
Fire MOTH wasn't as strict as to disallow even small pets in the research institutes. In a way, these pets are stress relievers that could keep the staff going. It wasn't rare to see a few birds, cats, or hamsters living along the dorm. Their only off-limit places were the experimental zones. The owners would take responsibility for their pets whenever they break one of the rules, hence everyone was well-disciplined in this regard.
"Can I—"
Before Einstein could even finish her words, the cat 'woke up' from her sleep and slipped right to Aleph's shoulders.
"...I see…"
"Well…" Aleph didn't know what to say.
Who made their director's reputation bad when it comes to pets? Not only do cats and hamsters avoid her, even birds build a coop on her head whenever they have a chance.
"It doesn't matter. Let's talk more about your deployment…"