Sky Striker Princess, but the swan song of Valkyrie.

Tap tap, tap-----

While Lingyi was pondering, she had already been pulled away by Kohinata Mirai for a distance.

It was during a holiday, and the Tokyo Sky Tower was much busier than usual. These tourists walked back and forth inside the building, and occasionally some of them brushed past the two of them.

These tourists included men, women, and children of all ages. They were undoubtedly ordinary travelers with no connection to each other. Kohinata Mirai casually wandered around this environment with her clothes on.

"The sun is about to set, and it looks beautiful."

Soon, as time passed and it became late autumn, the sun set much earlier, and fiery red clouds could be seen on the glass facade of the Tokyo Sky Tower.

"In the end, there were still no results. Sure enough, this kind of thing is not particularly stable."

Without responding, Rei silently reminded Hinata Mirai that after wandering around for so long, they had not achieved their intended goal.

"Rei, can you please not bring up such a discouraging thing at a time like this? You should know that bringing it up now will only have the opposite effect, or rather, Rei, do you want me to fail?" In response, Kohinata Mirai turned her head slightly and asked in a soft but unquestionable tone.

"...I didn't think that way, I was just kindly reminding you."

Rei immediately denied Kohinata Mirai's conjecture, stating that she did not mean it that way.

"It's okay, it just confirmed something for me."

Faced with Zero's vehement denial, Kohinata Mirai did not delve into it. Seeing her reaction, she confirmed the suspicion that had just arisen in her mind.

Chapter 42 A Successful Calculation

The subway, the lifeblood of the city, often sees surging crowds during rush hour, and the composition of these crowds is often incredibly diverse; you can never predict what kind of people will emerge from it. After exiting Tokyo Sky Tower, Kohinata Mirai, with Rei, arrived at the entrance of a nearby subway station.

"So, what do you know?"

Upon arriving at this place, Lingyi spoke up, asking the question to Kohinata Mirai beside her.

"Before that, I want to ask you, Zero, are you really not going to tell me what happened to you?"

Turning her head, Kohinata Mirai took a breath and asked Rei.

"You should know my answer."

Her idea was rejected, and as usual, Lingyi refused to discuss the matter.

"Is that so... Zero, do you know that I've been keeping an eye on you today?"

After receiving this answer, Kohinata Mirai lowered her head, her eyes dimming slightly, before raising her head and saying that if possible, she really didn't want to achieve her goal through coercion.

"Then, through my observations throughout the day, I noticed that you seem to get nervous at times, Rei."

Kohinata Mirai spoke slowly.

I don't understand what you're saying.

Rei remained calm in the face of Kohinata Mirai's expression and did not react in any particular way.

“Every time we approach a stranger on the street, our attention will always show subtle, imperceptible fluctuations.”

Regarding Rei's feigned ignorance, Kohinata Mirai directly explained her discovery.

After learning about Kohinata's arguments for the future, Rei fell silent.

"At first, I thought it was just my imagination, but as I walked around with Rei and experienced how you were at different distances from others, I became convinced of this fact." Kohinata Mirai went on to explain the basis for her deduction.

Although she genuinely enjoyed this long-awaited trip together, she didn't forget her purpose and focused most of her attention on Lingyi's condition.

"I don't understand why you, Lingyi, have this trait, or why you react so strangely when you get close to strangers."

"But I know I can use this trait."

After saying that, Kohinata Mirai took Rei's hand and made up her mind.

"If you still don't want to tell me your story, Lingyi, then, can we continue to take a walk together?"

Kohinata said to Mirai.

Although the reason is unclear, Lingyi seems to care a lot about the passersby on the street who should have no connection with her.

“I don’t know where you got this nonsense from, but if you think this behavior is necessary, then I have no reason to refuse.”

Without revealing any emotion, Rei naturally agreed to Kohinata Mirai's request, seemingly unconcerned about her actions.

The clock struck six in the afternoon, the time when most companies and schools were letting out for the day, and the subway, located in the city center, was naturally packed with people.

"Let's go this way."

"It's better to get on the bus here."

"Get off the bus first, and go in another direction."

I boarded the crowded subway and repeatedly navigated through the diverse crowds.

"Transfer here."

"Destination? There's no such thing."

"Let's take another route here."

Aimlessly, getting on and off stations at random, sometimes following a predetermined route, sometimes changing trains arbitrarily.

"Lingyi, are you alright?"

After changing trains countless times, at a subway station entrance, under the starry night sky, Kohinata Mirai looked at the girl beside her and asked a question.

"What could possibly happen to me? I've already told you that what you're saying is nonsense. Doing this is just a waste of time."

Judging from her appearance, there was no change at all; Lingyi remained as quiet and composed as before.

It seems that Kohinata Mirai's idea has failed; her idea was merely her own delusion and lacked any validity.

"Is that so? Well then, it seems I was wrong."

Seeing this, Kohinata Mirai seemed a little disappointed and said.

After all, the evidence she possessed was not particularly sufficient; it was merely a little observation and not particularly compelling, so it was understandable that her inferences were wrong.

"Ah."

Without any emotional fluctuation, Rei tacitly accepted Kohinata's future view.

“In that case, Mr. Ogawa…”

Just then, as the situation had come to a temporary end, Kohinata Mirai suddenly spoke up and said this.

Then, almost the instant the mouth opened, the blade was drawn, the armor was donned, and a storm of flames and ripples on the ground simultaneously poured down around the area.

"What's going on?" "What happened?" "What's going on over there?"

However, after doing all this, the expected attack did not come. Instead, there was only a series of commotions caused by Zero's actions.

Kohinata Mirai looked at Zero, who was dressed in armor and wary of his surroundings, and realized that Zero, who had been tricked, turned to look at Kohinata Mirai.

"It was a mistake."

In the end, Zero gave up explaining and admitted it to Kohinata Mirai.

She already understood that the truth was self-evident when she took such action.

"It seems I've succeeded, Lingyi. There is indeed some problem with you."

Kohinata Mirai breathed a sigh of relief and said with certainty.

"Ah, indeed, you are very clever, Hinata. Indeed, I focused most of my energy on this in order not to reveal any flaws just now."

"Therefore, the control over the surrounding environment has decreased significantly, and the ability to verify the truthfulness of your words in a timely manner has led to this hasty action."

After removing her armor, Zero re-examined Kohinata Mirai and also directly countered the technique her opponent had just used.

Yes, what Kohinata Mirai perceived was true. When in an unfamiliar environment, Rei would subconsciously gather information to maintain her control over her surroundings.

Kohinata Mirai's actions greatly expanded her security control scope. Originally, she only needed to collect information from a limited environment, but now she had to expand the scope to almost half a city.

In addition, the need to control her emotions led her to lose control of herself after Kohinata Mirai made similar remarks.

"So, can you tell me now, Zero, about your past, and your present?"

Despite successfully outmaneuvering Zero, Kohinata Mirai showed no joy on her face.

She hadn't truly achieved her goal yet; she didn't know if Lingyi would agree to his request after she did this.

Chapter 43 Preparations Before the Heart-to-Heart Talk

"call"

She closed her eyes, sighed softly, and opened them again, taking a closer look at the determined girl in front of her.

“I can’t do anything with you. Fine, if revealing a little bit will make you give up, then I’ll let you know. But before that, it’s better to find another place to talk. People around us are starting to notice us,” Lingyi said, glancing at the passersby who were beginning to talk.

After that incident, passersby noticed the two women, and some had already started calling the police.

"In that case, can I choose the location?"

Upon hearing Rei's statement, Kohinata Mirai couldn't help but show her delight and immediately offered further details.

It's no wonder she was happy; after working so hard for so long, she finally had the opportunity to investigate what had happened to Lingyi.

"It doesn't matter, as long as it's a deserted place."

Lingyi didn't care about this. No matter where she was, she was confident that she could use technology to ensure that the conversation was sufficiently discreet.

After saying that, not long after they got away from the sight of the people around them, the two arrived at the place where Kohinata Mirai had decided to talk, a house with the lights already on.

"Wait, this is the place you chose. Isn't this your home? I mean, you haven't forgotten that you're still a prisoner, have you? Is this really okay?"

Looking at this somewhat familiar house, Lingyi couldn't help but make this comment.

"It's alright. If you're worried about Xiang and the others, there's no need to worry."

Kohinata Mirai shook her head and said this.

"Before I left, I left a letter for Hibiki, hoping they would not come to rescue me. I believed that Hibiki would suppress her anxiety and stop Section 2 from rescuing me."

Kohinata Mirai then explained.

To prevent her mission from going awry due to unforeseen circumstances, she wrote a letter to her close friend beforehand.

"Judging from the current results, they seem to really believe your letter. Ah, I really don't understand. Do they really believe you won't be in danger?"

Rei made the following comment regarding Kohinata Mirai's explanation.

To be honest, she was genuinely surprised that Section Two hadn't taken any action during this trip.

According to her original plan, if Section 2 rescued Kohinata Mirai in the process, she could then easily get rid of this clingy girl.

Because of this, she needed to spend more energy guarding her surroundings to avoid making a mistake, which increased her fatigue level to some extent.

Ding-dong-

"I believe you won't kill me, Lingyi. I've always believed that you won't become the kind of evil person who would take lives so lightly."

She pressed her own doorbell and smiled at the person beside her, showing her trust.

Everything she did was based on trust—trust that her best friend would cooperate with her actions, and trust that Lingyi would never easily harm her life.

"...I am not worthy of your trust at all."

Faced with Kohinata Mirai's trust, Rei remained silent for a long time before lowering her head.

"Who is it... Future, why are you back from school at this time? And behind you is Xiaolingyi, have you moved back in?"

Just then, the door opened, and Kohinata Mirai's mother peeked out from behind the security door. Upon seeing the two figures, she showed a look of surprise and confusion.

"Well, Lingyi... has moved back temporarily, so since we rarely see each other, I brought her back to play."

After hesitating for a moment, Kohinata Mirai still followed her mother's words and explained it this way.

After that incident, some forces concealed the truth for various reasons.

Therefore, in the minds of Kohinata's future parents, Rei moved to a faraway place after a period of time due to certain events.

Although in a sense this statement is not wrong.

"Is that so? Well then..."

“Mom, we’ve already eaten out. We’re only here because Lingyi doesn’t have a fixed place to stay yet, so she needs to stay here for the night.”

Mrs. Kohinata accepted the explanation, but before she could ask anything else, she was interrupted by Kohinata Mirai.

Subsequently, through Kohinata Mirai's insistence and persuasion, Mrs. Kohinata agreed to the proposal to let the two of them stay overnight.

Soon, in an empty bedroom in the house, Kohinata Mirai opened the door. The room was somewhat deserted, with cold white light shining in because no one had lived there for a while.