Some things in life really do have a talent for going wrong at the worst possible moment.
On a normal day, Olga Marie would actually like it if, aside from deliberately arranging a meeting, she could run into Shiomi around Chaldea as he went about his duties.
It wasn't as if they met every time anyway. Everyone had their own work to do.
Only today, because she'd done something like that while bathing in her room, she really didn't want to run into Shiomi.
And yet, on her way to the control room, she happened to run into Shiomi walking together with Touko.
"Up early, huh? I just received the Director's order to have everyone assemble in the control room, and then I ran into you," Shiomi greeted her with a smile. "We're not late, are we?"
"N-no, not yet," Olga Marie replied, sounding a little startled, her voice dropping unconsciously. "There's still some time before the assembly… no need to rush…"
Shiomi paused for a moment. "Is that so?"
Then he stepped closer, which only made Olga Marie even more flustered.
"T-Teacher, what is it…?"
"Your face is really red. Do you have a fever?" Shiomi placed one hand on her forehead and the other on his own. "Hmm… your temperature is quite high."
That completely unintentional gesture made Olga Marie's face burn even hotter. She hurriedly took two steps back. "I-I'm fine! I just soaked in the bath a little too long. Please excuse me!"
With that, driven by a very personal sense of guilt, she slipped past Shiomi and ran off.
All that remained was a slightly confused Shiomi.
"Marie didn't seem to be in great shape today. Is it because she's about to face her father's prized disciple? Too much pressure?" he guessed.
"Even if she were under pressure, it wouldn't show like that," Touko said with a helpless smile. "You really can be pretty clueless about women sometimes."
Shiomi wasn't convinced. "How am I clueless? I'm trying my best to understand. And seriously, can't you just quit already?"
"Then let me add a qualifier," Touko said. "You don't really understand the hearts of girls younger than you."
"After all, the Director trusts you quite a lot. In all of Chaldea, aside from her, you probably have the greatest say."
And even after the incident that nearly allowed the Britannia Lostbelt to take root on this planet, Olga Marie had continued to trust Shiomi completely, personally rejecting his own proposal to place himself under confinement and have his activities restricted.
"…I'm not a child. I can tell who I can trust and who I can't," Shiomi said, shaking his head. "Besides, back then she was the only one in really bad shape, and everyone else was at a loss. I just took care of her for a while, on Lev Lainur's suggestion."
He had said the same thing to Morgan before.
He wasn't a machine. He couldn't replace the role of Olga Marie's father.
"Lev?" Touko raised an eyebrow in surprise.
This was the first time she'd heard Shiomi mention that detail.
"Anyway, after how things turned out, I honestly don't know what Lev Lainur, or rather Flauros, was really planning," Shiomi said after some thought. "As one of the few friends that man had, what do you think his motive was?"
"Who knows," Touko shrugged. "Probably just saying something that sounded right, to keep up appearances."
From what Romani, Mash, Ritsuka, and the others who had dealt with Lev had told her, Touko was certain of one thing.
That Lev was not the old friend she remembered.
He was like a completely different person.
Both before his identity was exposed, and after.
Judging from the outcome, whether it was the result of Flauros awakening as a Demon God, or whether Lev himself had always possessed some kind of alternate personality, Touko couldn't say for certain.
"It's not an impossible explanation," Shiomi said, shaking his head. "Come on, if we're absent from the briefing in the control room, everyone will end up waiting."
"They're mainly waiting for you," Touko said lightly, giving Shiomi a casual pat on the shoulder. "After all, wherever you are is basically the front line of the battlefield."
"That's a bit much…"
Joking back and forth like that, the two of them started walking together.
"By the way," Touko asked suddenly, "did you tell the Director about that?"
"That?" Shiomi paused, then realized what she meant. "Oh, you mean the true nature of the 'Alien God'?"
"How long are you planning to keep it under wraps?" Touko pressed.
"Hard to say. We don't have definitive proof, but Morgan has more or less figured out what the 'Alien God' behind the Bleaching of the world actually is," Shiomi said, shaking his head. "If Marie found out, the pressure would probably be enormous. It might even cause her real pain."
This was an extremely critical moment. New Chaldea was fully prepared, on the verge of launching a decisive battle against the Greek Lostbelt in the Atlantic.
Revealing that information now wouldn't just shake Olga Marie. If the flow of information wasn't carefully controlled, it could even affect the rest of Chaldea's personnel.
"'Grand Order Designation,' a mission carried by Magus families since before the Common Era," Touko sighed. "It's the most sacred blood-bound contract in the magical world. Even if it means the extinction of a lineage, they're still expected to devote themselves to it. Like a curse, they're bound to uphold that honor no matter what…"
"There's no helping it," Shiomi said with a shrug. "Those responsibilities and obligations were imposed on Magus lineages by so-called gods at the moment of their origin. Magi burdened with them inherit Magic Crests that can forcibly extend life. Even if someone meets their end through hardship, the mission itself can't be brought to an end."
"Though I do remember Marie mentioning before what the 'Grand Order Designation' passed down by Animusphere actually entails…"
But if that so-called duty and mission had led to everything that was happening now, Shiomi couldn't imagine how much psychological pressure Olga Marie would be under. He couldn't help wondering whether she might once again become hysterical and shut herself away, or even start seeking death like she had in the past.
"Wait," Touko said, narrowing her eyes. "If I remember correctly, the Director's current body… wasn't that the result of re-housing her soul and mind in the doll I gave you?"
Shiomi nodded. "That wasn't something I did. It was Mooncell's authority."
"That's not the point," Touko said. She'd already heard Shiomi talk about Mooncell before. It was surprising, sure, but not what mattered right now. "Don't you remember? After the Director changed bodies, the quality and quantity of her Magic Circuits changed as well."
At the time, they'd chalked it up to variance from using a general-purpose doll. But lately, every time Touko thought about it, it felt increasingly off.
The doll she'd given Shiomi hadn't been specially tuned. And normally, once a doll took in a soul and mind, it should naturally reproduce the original specifications.
"That did happen," Shiomi admitted.
"And on top of that," Touko went on, frowning, "the body that still carries the Animusphere Magic Crest was left behind at the old Chaldea site in Antarctica. I've got a really bad feeling about this."
"I feel the same way…"