cut connection collapse

  The phone line was clear. There was no crackle, no noise, no jittering and wavering, no pained quivering of a quiet girl. It was ink-black, of course, but Nina had always been good at seeing in the dark. She'd always been quite good at that.

  "Nina Inoue, do you have faith in yourself?"

  "I—"

  "I have lots of faith in myself. That's probably because I'm very smart, though. Before I invented the black web, people used to say that you were only ever guaranteed yourself! Now you're guaranteed so much more. Yourself and everything on the black web. If you just pay for your subscription..."

  "Quit your rambling."

  The enemy was on the other side of the phone line. Behind Nina’s screen was placid darkness. He rapped. RNGOD rapped on her screen. The glass did not shake; there was no rototom-rumble.

  "You’re a very mean girl. You always told Reiko to shut up, too, in that soft mean girl voice of yours, so ceaselessly cruel…"

  "I have no time for this."

  "Hm. You’re no fun, Nina! You’re no fun."

  With a stylus made of shadow Nina drew an octagram across her phone screen. Was it off or on? Should she mind the end call button? Was it there or was her phone screen dead? It was two boxes, so she needed only six strokes. She stalled.

  "You really are cruel," Reiphontes said.

  Nina hadn’t even done anything. Not yet.

  "You think that, Nina, 'nothing has actually happened yet', every time you see an arrow of the past or an arrow of the future. Precedents, antecedents… you're gifted... you know what will happen next. Lacking faith in yourself you deny it. Enmity is your aspect and so you deny and negate and reject."

  Enmity was Nina’s aspect; RNGOD was an enemy.

  Void. Vortex. Fall forth, immediately! Stop speaking to Nina! Do not even begin this line of reasoning. What droll and deceitful plot did he wish to lure Nina into? Patent nonsense and hurly-burly absurdity. Nina would give no chance to this buffoon, and no quarter.

  Unreal-dereal around her the so-called strategy discussion-slash-debate, actually an argument, went on. Depersonalised or marionette she listened to none of it. Unfocused or defocusing-dissipating, she thought only about one answer to everyone's questions.

  It was him, surely! He did it—Reiphontes Nyalius, General Order Destructor! He brought the mass of curses so close to major cities! An arcanister with a novel illicit technology, he had sidestepped every shield, every effort by the human armies to repel the most bold and brazen anomalies. Not caring for those caught as collateral, he trapped Route 13 here in this ten-mile pre-Luton loop-de-loop, to defeat their pursuit of the mission, to distract the holy Haze House.

  He hated Nina so much… he hated Nina so much…

  It was okay. Nina hated Nina too.

  Leuce and Sophia had their massive magic circles. Nina had nothing of the sort. Originally she had, since it was what everyone did. It made magic easier to visualise and easier to cast, but the other girls said quit it with the hideous heraldry and so she gave it up. It was for everyone else's sake, right? Nina was all evil magic and in any case Shin Kumamoto had sacrificed so much to conceive of, conceive and raise her so she couldn't stop using her evil magic even though its weird form hurt and sickened others and made them ill, heart infarctions, chronic-wasting and kuru-corpses all Nina's fault!

  She had learnt to keep it simple, then. She had learnt to do so much with simple geometric forms. Arrowhead, octagram. 3D solids: Platonic, Archimedean, Catalan. She'd gotten so good with the basics.

  RNGOD was a non-trivial problem. She didn't need more faces to encode curses into. She needed enough degrees of freedom for herself to bind his freedom of action, whatever he and his organisation was. Seal it off, stop their meddling. This space was theirs, right? Disperse it.

  Nina tapped into her ESP and her visualisation went up. Pentachoron purgatory. Another step up—the adversity score ticked up—and it was hexateron hell. Lines, triangles, tetrahedra: arrowheads in any dimension.

  She fired it all at RNGOD. Bind his influence to this single five dimensional object.

  Phone in hand she threw up ichor. Did anyone react? Did anyone react to anything ever? When Aria thrashed and pummelled Haio everyone focused on the enemy, nobody did anything! Nobody did anything good ever.

  She threw up. Maybe Nina shouldn't have given up on magic circles. Maybe Nina shouldn't have given up on guitar (April had said that Nina's playing was gross) or sewing (April had reminded Nina that April was way better at it) or writing a diary (not only did Alison-nee-chan and Senri-nee-chan get into it they told April Kauzaki!).

  Nina couldn't give up. Nina mustn't give up. She pushed further, harder, threw up more, fell—

  Her phone dropped. Its screen did not crack. A 3-projection of the hexateron fell beside it.

  Like a terrier carrying a whimpering rat or robin to its owner, Emi bounded over to her. She noticed the hexateron on the floor and picked it up. It looked like a pyramid, so Emi turned it about. She applied some five dimensional torque to it; it rotated in a weird way. She freaked out, dropped it, rushed right down to sopping sullied Nina.

  "Nina..." Emi said.

  "I'm okay," Nina said. "Are we out?"

  "I don't—"

  "Of the warped space? No?" Aine said, walking up to them. "What were you doing..."

  "RNGOD surfaced. A phone call," Nina said.

  "You weren't on the phone? You were just sitting there?" Aine said.

  "I was definitely on the phone," Nina said.

  "It's not like you're off the phone," RNGOD said. From the hexateron? No. He certainly wasn't sealed within it, though it wasn't empty. It was some non-directional telepathy. "That was really rude, by the way. It was also really stupid. I mean it's crazy because you're seventeen and you're doing a better job than a lot of our engineers at Society's Therapists but I don't really know what you were thinking. I'm really tough! I'm a really tough guy. Every time I invent something as splendiferous as the black web I do ten push-ups. That's a lot of push-ups. It adds up. I'm really strong."

  Nina considered driving a stylus through her ears.

  "That's not going to do anything," RNGOD said. Nina knew that.

  "Nina... you're getting spacey." Aine said.

  "I'm always spacey," Nina said. Spacey certainly was a phrase, wasn't it? Nina preferred 'not-all-there', because... nevermind!

  "Are you just ignoring me?" RNGOD said. "Dude this is a once in a life time opportunity (I mean I'll offer it again next week) and you're fucking blowing it."

  "Not this spacey," Aine said.

  "It was worth a shot," Nina said. "I thought... everything seemed a little contrived. I had hoped that Society's Therapists had summoned this space around us, and that their ill influence could be repelled."

  "Um. Okay. Well..."

  "They didn't," Nina said.

  She rose as if it all were easy, as if there were no adversity working against her. She picked the hexateron up.

  "Nina, what is that?"

  "An object," Nina said. "The enchantment I attached to the axe is also an object, albeit a three dimensional one instead of a five dimensional one."

  Aine closed her eyes.

  "It's a safe projection," Nina said. "Don't be silly."

  "You don't look particularly safe right now...?" Aine said.

  Nina sighed. Aine opened her eyes. Nina handed the hexateron to Aine. She too couldn't resist the urge to fidget and spin it about. It moved strangely. Aine, idiotically, managed to rotate it out of the Euclidean plane.

  "Sorry..." Aine said.

  Nina had nothing to say in response.

  "What type of magic is it?" Emi asked.

  "Sealing magic," Nina said.

  "What is it sealing?"

  "The connection between Society Therapists and the warped space," Nina said.

  "That sounds scary," Aine said. "It should feel scarier. Like your artillery fire..."

  "It's empty," Nina said. "There's no connection."

  "You could have just asked," RNGOD said. "You COULD have just asked. But you went straight at me with the accusations! What if you pushed further? What if you tried harder? What if it hurt? What if you hurt me, Nina?"

  "I can still hear his voice," Nina said.

  Aine looked as if she wanted to say something. She remained silent, though.

  "That's not good..." Emi said.

  "What's he saying?" Aine said, peppy.

  "Inane nonsense," Nina said.

  "You won't let me speak!"

  "Really?" Aine said.

  "I'm trying to offer you the best deals, and the best advice. It took me a lot of work to do this, you know? I contract, I subcontract... it costs a lot of money. Our marketing and pricing departments are getting kinda desperate. It's why we need the Red Eyes and Incarnadine Hands to avail us. We hate giving discounts out!"

  "Yes," Nina said.

  "If RNGOD was in my head, I bet I'd be able to interpret his statements, and get lots of useful information out of him," Aine said.

  "He'd use that to manipulate you. You have to be bullheaded about it. Absolutely idiotic," Nina said.

  "I think that's really smart of you, Nina," Emi said.

  "I certainly want to give you useful information! We're called Society's Therapists. We're here to help! I'm helping."

  "Shouldn't you just cut him off, then?" Aine said.

  "He has my phone. There's no point," Nina said.

  "Ah, yeah! He does. He does have your phone..."

  "I won't be able to get another for some time, I want clairvoyance against our enemies, and he seems to be able to negate the principle of reciprocation."

  "Ah, really? No, wait. I have heard that. That Society's Therapists can do that," Aine said.

  "It's because I'm really smart and good at magic."

  "Keep your enemies closer," Nina said, emptily.

  "The main enemy is in your own country, comrade! I may be 'RNGOD', but the true imperialist gambler is—you know, don't you? Why she acts like that! Spoilt brats who want to be treated like princesses... Kornelia has told me a lot about her! So much. So much. Kyeheheh... gaming and gambling. Gaming and gambling... you should really pay attention, Nina. Learn everything. Don't forget anything..."

  Stylus, ears.

  "In any case, if you did cut the connection, I'd just re-establish it. You're very special, I hear. I'm hearing this from Kornelia. Kaninchen is saying this. The girl stuck in well or at the ice cold bottom of hell, she's saying this. The girls who flank you say this. That girl, Reiko... void, vortex. Nina Inoue has an event horizon..."

  What an ill metaphor.

  "There's no point in changing clothes, right? We're about to be pounded into the dirt again," Nina said.

  "Why would you ask..." Aine said.

  She gave her the same sort of look April would give her for not wanting to bother to change. Did she? The curses were all there was. ("Yes, March, you're beneath humanity, but you have to keep pretending, okay? Don't make me look bad.")

  Tabitha with the pixel sword procured them from the back.

  "Why are you..." Tabitha said to Nina.

  "I'm fine," Nina said.

  "Okay, well, you're our most powerful attacker, so in that sense you're not a liability like Elspeth," Tabitha said. "You look ghastly as fuck, though. Like a scarecrow."

  "Haio isn't a liability," Emi said, automatic.

  "Sit there," Tabitha said to them.

  It was a symposium instead of earlier's trial. Team leader (?) Tabitha had put Nina, Aine, Emi, Sophia, Haio and Aria on one side. Sarai, Maxine, Leuce, and Marzena sat on the other side. Kaninchen and Young-hoon languished in the staff set of seats, at the very front.

  Tabitha sat beside Sarai.

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  "Nina, Haio said that you dispelled the connection?"

  "I did."

  "Okay! Fucking great. I want you to count the number of people in each section."

  "Six, five, two, one."

  "Add it up."

  "Fourteen."

  "You may notice something about the number fourteen."

  One more than thirteen; eternal misfortune.

  "The pamphlet says that there's supposed to be fourteen—wait, Kaninchen—we're missing—"

  "Judecca, yes!"

  Nina shrunk.

  "It was for Aine's sake," Nina said. "Breaking the connection."

  "I don't know what you were doing, but Kaninchen admitted that she was trying to rile up Aine to get results, yes."

  "Results," Nina repeated.

  "Victory, something like that! Well, we don't have results, and we don't have Judy, either! And she can't call for help. Because you cut off Haio’s telepathy for whatever fucking reason."

  "I apologise," Nina said.

  "Say it again," Tabitha said.

  "That's gratuitous," Aine said.

  "It was all for Anny's sake; of course Anny would think that," Sarai said.

  "What was Kaninchen trying to do?" Aria asked.

  "Don't fucking know. Can't be worse than losing Judy. Probably way better, right? Aine, you can afford to get a little mad to destroy the enemy, surely? The outside hates humanity so much. That hatred needs to be returned, and so it needs to be riled up," Tabitha said.

  "You'd sacrifice Aine for Judecca," Aria said.

  "You'd sacrifice Haio for your own integrity, and I dare say that would be a good sacrifice," Tabitha said.

  "The girls' road trip community is being driven crazy..." RNGOD said.

  "I wouldn't let Aria do that, and surely Kaninchen is able to answer for her own actions?" Sophia said. "At the end of her day, she is a twenty-seven year old woman."

  Kaninchen peered over, but did not speak.

  "The Nobility has responsibilities to its charges," Leuce on the other side of the aisle said.

  "It's your psychic intuition, right, Nina? Miss witch..." Sarai said.

  "What do you mean—"

  "You knew something bad was going to happen ahead of time, right?" Sarai said.

  Sarai flew next to Nina with a little hop and light step.

  "You had some sort of sick girl's sicko logic that doesn't follow normal reasoning principles. I hear witches have things like that, right?"

  The standardised and regulated sword magic flashed. Sarai didn't bring it closer but the image of the katzbalger weighed down on Nina. Respond, RNGOD said respond. Or was that just her? Nina's hatred?

  "An ability to cut through the obscured and multifarious truths that's stronger than the divination spells allotted to those of us who aren't fucked up, alongside so many other cheating abilities. That's why you're so good at combat, right? That's why you're working with curses at the back..."

  "I—"

  "You'll say the same thing as Haio Elspeth, right?" Sarai said.

  "'I can't help it. It's my nature,'" Tabitha said.

  "Don't look at her!" Sarai said.

  "You're applying a lot of pressure against her," Maxine said. "And for what?"

  "They're unable to—scry!" Marzena said.

  "Oh my god, Marzi! You said a concept from 2067 and not a concept from 2073," Sarai said.

  "I'm—pragmatic. Like our German or Russian leader I seek complete victory," Marzena said.

  "I can scry. I'm just not, like, very good at it," Sarai said. "I'm very good at witch trials, Nina."

  "Judy didn't think you were good enough," Tabitha said.

  "Judy didn't think I should choose that name. Alas, gentle Judecca is gone. I remain, Nina."

  "Trials and tribulations are coming your way!" RNGOD said.

  "Why are you going after her?" Sophia asked. "Why don't you go after the adults? Why don't you ask the responsible adults in the room why this—"

  "We are all above eighteen," Leuce said.

  "Not Nina," Aine said.

  "...I see," Leuce said.

  "That's really kind of you, Sarai. You're putting everything on our group's only baby," Sophia said.

  "You, like, don't know anything about demons and witches. Even in the nymphal stage, we're talking about a consumptive, soul-shattering presence. The ability to drag Houses into delirium, lead their knights into sedition. The world aches. We become destitute; we fall into perdition."

  It was always the same thing. Nobody could help themselves around her. There was no happiness. Nobody was content to bear her as she was. With Nina there existed only infinite melancholy.

  "If our Nina were so dangerous, perhaps Kaninchen wouldn't have brought her on the mission? Sarai, I really don't understand what you're saying," Emi said.

  "You have no self-preservation skill," Tabitha said. "It's why you're so nice to Haio, right? I bet you have something for girls who can destroy you."

  "That's certainly an accusation," Emi said. "I only wish to become myself! I don't seek destruction. I don't find enemies around every corner."

  "What if the enemies were already here?" Tabitha said.

  The main enemy is at home! RNGOD did not say.

  "What if they were?" Sophia said. "Tabitha, what exactly did Kaninchen tell you? If she won't answer, if she'll keep pretending she can't hear."

  Kaninchen turned around, properly. Her gaze bore upon Tabitha.

  "That there was something amazing about to happen, that it was Nina's magic that interrupted it, and that she cut the telepathic connection to stop her from speaking to Aine. Did she need to say anything else for us to come to our own conclusions?" Tabitha said.

  "She had a conversation with Young-hoon, who sits still there, pensive," Sophia said.

  "So she did," Tabitha said.

  "What was that about, Tabitha?"

  "Young-hoon has our best interests at heart," Maxine said. "There are many difficult things that he has to bear that he can't just tell us! It's not easy, the troubles that roil a man's heart. And sharing them won't do anything, not on its own. It's not necessarily true that you can understand them. We just need to be there for him."

  "It was Nina who put herself on the line to defend Kaninchen," Emi said. "Young-hoon did nothing. This is how you thank her?"

  "Well, to be fair..." Aine said.

  "Aine, you don't understand! There's a certain concept within Haze House. An integral ideal, part of the ethos and charter that everyone under their aegis knows. Young-hoon, you know this too, right? Please," Emi said.

  "I do," Young-hoon said.

  Sarai snickered.

  "Without knowing that she did this Nina fulfilled it. She put herself on the line and fulfilled it, this old integral ideal that rises above even the ideals of the Old Faith which brought humanity this far—"

  "Emiliya, you can't be fucking serious," Sarai said.

  "I am serious! And I'm thankful. That she's amazing," Emi said.

  "What did I do," Nina said.

  "Everything," Emi said.

  "There are other things in the Haze House annals, miss CEO's daughter," Sarai said.

  "Chief Financial Officer, my uncle is—"

  "It doesn't matter, right? There are gendered roles in that story. There are many stories that fit Nina better. Nina, who caused Judecca to be lost—"

  "That's an accusation," Maxine said.

  "I don't care," Sarai said.

  "I'll bring her back," Nina said. "If you give me time to scry—"

  "There are heroes and villains in that story, Emiliya," Sarai said.

  "And Nina is..." Emi said.

  "Which one is she? Is she the nice girl who conscientiously assists the true hero? She fails, sometimes, but when she fails it does not rise past the level of innocent malice to the true enmity of the Outside?"

  "She's the true hero—"

  "Nope. Not happening. Maybe you don't realise it, if you get the high quality executive education. but we're taught better in Magogg!"

  "You're a troubled girl," Emi said.

  "A proud alumna of Maximilian Gerlach's Girl's Academy – Gresham, yes! If I were in your position I'd have learnt, like, so much more common sense. Your private Senklerov tutors didn't chide you for speaking with too much vocal fry, right? Be a proper lady, Sarai... annoying stuff like that!"

  "You never mentioned this," Tabitha said. "I thought you went to a normal school."

  "I forgot to say, okay! Why did you think I picked my own last name?"

  "Because you wanted to?"

  "It's Portland, girl. With Arcee on the borders..."

  "Fine," Tabitha said, though nothing ever was.

  "There are girls who can't be redeemed in those stories, Emiliya. We learn to hate and despise them. We do what's required of us, even if it makes us worse people. We try not to become them, and we try not to be caught totally in their grip. Their innocent mistakes build up to the truest of evil patterns, didntcha know?"

  "What's happening in Haze House..." Aine said.

  "I know," Emi said. "Nina isn't that. Nina's not an usurper. Dispel the sword, Sarai."

  "Don't wanna. This is the result of ten years of failed psychic development. Besides, you can't put away the axe, right? Because you're not magic! Scary. I need to defend myself..."

  "Don't do anything you may regret, Sarai."

  "I've never regretted a guilty verdict! Not for an instant!"

  "Kaninchen, what are they talking about?" Sophia asked.

  "Yeah, explain yourself," Aria said.

  "You were trying to..." Aine said.

  "What is Haze House?" Sophia asked.

  "With Haio too, you were talking about something weird..." Aine said.

  "The Houses are custodians of knowledge that cannot be withstood by the weak and fickle," Leuce said.

  "I don't fucking care!" Aria said.

  "Your reaction will be interesting," Leuce said. "Mine, too."

  She rose, then, Kaninchen. Young-hoon still slouched. The driver who had been on his phone or chewing and spitting out or whistling was now all-attention.

  "Nina, don't look vacant!" R-E-I said. "You've gotta pay attention. This one is important. I want to see it too, through your eyes."

  She cut the connection to RNGOD. He'd re-establish it. What if he had used some influence spell that Nina was unable to resist or even detect? That seemed unlikely. All he had done was send the knight after them. In any case, if that had already happened, and she was going to be punished for trying to use his connection against him, it was too late. He didn't deserve to see anything. Time to pretend to act and react of her own free will.

  "I must confess that I may not have told you everything," Kaninchen said.

  Kaninchen was not about to say anything that would dramatically change Nina's willingness to participate in the mission. She knew that, clairvoyant. She’d received spoilers for what was to come. So, Reiphontes, Reiko, did she need to listen? To anything at all? It was the same condemnation, over and over again. She already understood: her evil would not be ended without the Red Eyes and Incarnadine Hands. That was Nina's path.

  "Wow. Really?" Aine said.

  "It seems so," Kaninchen said. "But, like in a trivial way, right? I forget stuff! I forget important things."

  "Is that it?" Sophia said.

  "Yeah. I don't mean anything by it," Kaninchen said.

  Aine used a location spell. She snatched the hexateron from the air.

  "I believe this is a powerful piece of cursed binding magic?" Aine said.

  "Maybe? I'm not a magic expert," Kaninchen said.

  "But you are, right? Every Noble is."

  "You'd be surprised, Aine."

  "Kaninchen, we all know Nina is really powerful. You should tell the truth..."

  "Or else?"

  "She stood up to that knight which thrashed you like you were nothing. Her magic probably suffices against you, right?"

  "It's hers, not yours."

  "You'll do it for me, right, Nina?"

  They looked at her, then. Everyone did, at the disgraced and sullied and ichor-dripping bloodsoaked bloodthirsty form of the witch and heretic. And—

  April was closer than she’d usually get to March, today. If all six of them were assembled then she’d sit next to March because she’d always try to sit them in order. She’d keep away, though. She did not let the cursed doll even graze her. A single inch became a fissure.

  What was with today, then?

  No, she was so transparent. She wanted something. March had nothing to give her, though. Nothing April would accept, anyway.

  "March…"

  "Yes?"

  "You’re sleepy, right? You always are."

  "...yes. Should I not be?"

  "You can rest on me, today. I'll permit it. You're allowed. Yurusu ne..."

  She shouldn't, should she? April was quite plush. She was certainly more comfortable than the park bench. This city Xinshangdu lulled even its citizens to sleep. What about tourists and transmigrants? They didn't stand a chance. March had an excuse.

  March fell. She always lost against April. If today's prank was her suddenly getting up, or writing something on her, or dropping her, she'd already lost. So drowsy March couldn't bear anything. She was entrusted to April, who was always awake, truly.

  "Can I stroke your hair?" April asked.

  What?

  April didn't wait for an answer. She was delicate with her, today. March knew her to be capable of this. Not for her, though! Never for March. March didn't deserve it. Except today? It wasn't like she had done anything for April, though. Not yet.

  "Hey, March," April said.

  "Yes," March murmured.

  "You can be quiet. It's okay. It's okay..."

  April meant 'shut up.' March did.

  "Do you remember the last time we were here? It was three years ago, when you were eleven and I was twelve. One verethragna-type was a feat, wasn't it? Now we've really picked up the pace. It's pretty sad that a bunch of little girls have made the most progress in claiming this forsaken country from the abyss ever, but whatever."

  April paused, as if she heard someone coming. Who'd want to be caught playing with something so awful? She scried, nobody came. She patted March's head.

  "I suppose it should be expected that you do so well against verethragna-types, though? You're such a loser, March."

  The pun: verethragnan meant victorious in Avestan. How fun. It was good, that March understood that. April wouldn't let March fall behind on her vocabulary and ancient language translation tests; it reflected poorly on April.

  "Hey, don't shudder. I'm being nice to you. You should appreciate it," April said.

  "Sorry," March said.

  "It's okay." April said. "You remember Tsumugi, right?"

  "Lady Gifu?" March said.

  "Yes."

  "I do," March said.

  "I didn't say it at the time, but that was really funny. I had fun! I mean, I had fun watching all of the adults tell you off."

  March knew this.

  "And then I went through your phone after and that girl from the Second City who really likes talking to you for some reason, who knows, I certainly don't, you tried to tell her! But then you were so prudent and kept your mouth shut, but she knew something happened with her telepathy, and I could feel it as well and you could too, that she was mad you wouldn't tell her."

  Reiko had been angry, as April had said. March had to get her used to her secret-keeping, but Reiko was far too honest and open. How well could she match up against March's deceit?

  She had stuck by March for three years... three years longer than March had accepted. In the end, she barely even had the girls she shared a fate with. They all hated her—

  "Hate's your word, March."

  "Please..."

  "I can do it. You're in my custody, forever and ever, and you owe me so much. It's only fair."

  March nodded.

  "Beside, my telepathy is cute. Yours is grotesque."

  "I know."

  "You're also the better telepath, I think."

  "I'm worse than you."

  "Morally. Shinkei's serial killer and serial starver. You won't go around snitching and bragging, so admit it, today."

  "I won't."

  March expected April to pull at her hair. She didn't. She remained soft, and delicate. The impatient girl was patient on this strange day.

  "Aw. But I'm being nice to you... I'll let you not accept it, today. We need to do something. Tsumugi will be here, today."

  "She will?"

  "You sound excited."

  "I learnt my lesson. She was admirable. I liked how pure her magic was, compared to mine. I appreciate what Gifu House has done for humanity."

  "I appreshiate what Gifu Housh hash done... if only I were as good at hypnosis as that girl from the Second City. If only you were more permeable to it—aren't you far less vulnerable than you look? You deserve nothing, but I'll permit you rest."

  "We can't rest so easily."

  "We can't resht so eashily. Yeah, I'll sign us up for another three months' worth of clearing missions across the country when we're done, you're right. I do wish that you got it, though. Her magic may be pure; her heart is not. It was your evil and your ESP that revealed that."

  Three years ago, in 2060, it had been determined: Lady Tsumugi Gifu was not at all happy, though she insisted she was at that fireworks show she did using her Noble magic. She insisted. She lied so brazenly. The cursed truth slipped out. March could state it confidently, though she lacked any faith in herself. Everyone believed her though it came out of her lying mouth. Her words barely had any volume and yet the heresy was picked up and everyone believed her. A disgrace. A crack kept in! This entire world was a curated image that the Nobility kept intact. So gross March vomited over it and bled over it, vile, depraved, deranged...

  Ah. March already knew what April wanted.

  "It sickens me to think such people have control over our darling country. Who's more sickening than any sickening thing? You. You're a loser, but you can win out..."

  Against this aristocracy of those without April's arete: girls' revolt or girls' rebellion or girls' revolution.

  "No, no. Um. Not yet. But it's interesting, right? You can bypass all of the spells within the Gifu archive and armoury that cancel out mortal telepathy and mortal reading of emotions and allow them to conceal the truth from the unworthy. And there was that unbelievable thing you said. The spokes..."

  "I was addled."

  "Yeah, I called you a liar. I was super mad! It annoys me that you can do it, but I cannot. Well, all the adults say that you're in my care, and it's not like you can live without me, so whatever. I won't abandon Shinkei's useless least capable youngest jewel with so many capabilities."

  (So why did Nina abandon April?)

  "What exactly..."

  "I want to do something worse, this time. You, of course, will take the blame, if we fail. So don't fail. I know you're quite good at that! Please, don't."

  "I'll do my worst."

  "You'll do your best. We'll spare her, but... I mean, should we learn about Tsumugi, or should we learn about Gifu House? What do you think?"

  "You decide."

  "So evil! So good..."

  The other four girls kept having fun without them. Sunset came. Night would come, too.

  Could she be forgiven? She couldn't. Nina would do it again if ordered.

  Tsumugi remained so admirable in her agony. Why had April hated her so? Nina had said that there was nobility in the Noble truth that they had made her cough up and splutter out. April who swore she could not see the realm of nomoi although it had been scattered all about them in that Xinshangdu garden park hit Tsumugi twice for that. So much restraint, from April! Especially since Tsumugi could bear it. Because she was a Noble.

  Kaninchen fell under every standard Tsumugi embodied.

  Extend. A direct product of the dimensions Nina raised the hexateron from five to ten dimensions. She had both underestimated and overestimated how tricksome and slippery RNGOD was. She would estimate Lady Haze correctly. Not creative, Nina used the same trick she had used against Tsumugi. The hexateron became a hendecaxennon: a weird and foreign object with too many facets for this world. Only its third dimensional faces fit in with standard reality. It still looked like just another arrowhead. She fired it against Kaninchen.

  Bind her. Nina no longer wished to be the condemned one. Was it all Nina's fault? Was it Kaninchen's? She had roused Tabitha and Sarai against Nina, but then eventually, everyone would be against Nina.

  No. It couldn't be a distraction. Their suffering was... Kaninchen found it gratifying. Nina knew that. The truth entered her head.

  Nina expected resistance! She who could not even resist Aine or April expected the most Noble and brilliant resistance to destroy her strange power and bring her to her knees. She did not see the spokes. Reality was not overwritten by the realm of nomoi.

  "Tell the truth and nothing but the truth," Nina said.

  "Yeah," Aine said. "Do listen to Nina."

  Kaninchen looked intact and unruffled but in the otherworld was speared through and sundered.

  Sarai said "Do we have time? The witch is trying to shift the blame."

  Tabitha said "Assuredly. We can use this. Kaninchen—why don't you use your Nobility to disperse the space and free Judecca? The Nobility has its reasons, whatever, but I'm far more pragmatic."

  "Ah, the answer to that is easy," Kaninchen said.

  "Why didn't I resist the knight? Why didn't I use all of the cool magic within the Haze House archives and armoury to destroy the drones? Why didn't I use my Nobility to immediately disperse the space? I mean, Society's Therapists brought me to your level. I have to participate with the rest of you, right? So all the complicated stuff I was going to tell you about the nature and administration of the mission isn't actually relevant. There's actually a super simple answer—"

  "Super simply spit it out," Tabitha said.

  "Because I can't!" Kaninchen said; she pulled a smile.