"Seems like you're quite taken with this 'friend' of yours."
Sirin nearly snapped, resisting the urge to mock Yae Sakura for what she thought was sheer lunacy. A promise like that? Either Yae Sakura had lost her mind, or the other person had.
Who made friendship conditional on survival?
What kind of people were these?
She often felt completely out of place among them. If this weren't a war threatening the entire world—one she couldn't avoid even if she wanted to—she would've quit long ago.
How long would these endless days of fighting, or preparing to fight, go on?
"Taken with her?" Yae Sakura replied calmly. "I simply admire her conviction. My intuition tells me that becoming her friend would be a good thing."
"Oh? That interesting, huh? Then tell me about it—I could use something entertaining before I head back to reinforce the spatial barrier again."
She'd have to return soon anyway, so a little story to lift her mood didn't sound bad.
Yae Sakura thought for a moment. She didn't have anything urgent to do right now, and despite Sirin's sharp tongue, she wasn't actually a bad person.
Maybe she could even help persuade Raiden Ryoma. After all, this was a promise Yae Sakura had made to Kiana.
"Do you have any good friends, Sirin?"
Yae Sakura decided to explain it through a story—to convey the same sense of surprise Kiana had once given her.
"Friends?"
Sirin's expression twisted briefly before she replied flatly, "None!"
The people around her were all dull and dreary—fighters bound by duty, not emotion.
Ever since they discovered her extraordinary compatibility with Sky, she hadn't returned to the normal world once.
Those she worked with could only be called comrades-in-arms. People who might die tomorrow—why bother calling them friends?
Yae Sakura was speechless for a moment.
But that was just like Sirin. Among the Kami-slaying warriors, she was something of an oddball.
She always said she didn't want to be the Sentinel of Sky, yet she had never once faltered in battle and was one of their most reliable fighters.
She had saved countless comrades with her Edict Edge.
Her words were harsh, and she often acted like she wanted to dump all her responsibilities and retire on the spot—but many at the base respected her deeply.
"Then suppose you did have a friend," Yae Sakura began gently. "Someone close to you. And one day, that person's blade was taken away…"
Sirin interrupted immediately, eyes glinting. "That sounds like a good deal."
"…Your friend found the one who took your blade," Yae Sakura continued patiently, "and knowing she couldn't win, she still chased after them to reclaim it for you, even at the cost of her life…"
"Reclaim my blade?" Sirin raised her brows, waving her hands dismissively. "Then she's not my friend anymore. We're through!"
Yae Sakura went completely still, her expression blank. She shouldn't have expected Sirin to give her a serious answer.
Unreliable as always, Sirin was hardly the person to offer meaningful advice.
She'd better ask someone else instead.
"Hey—wait, don't just walk off."
Sirin caught up to her. "What happened next? You can't just stop the story there!"
"It's not a story."
"Oh, you're talking about that girl you met on the road," Sirin nodded knowingly. "But what's that got to do with you? Sounds like you're the villain in this story."
"Villain? I was merely following orders," Yae Sakura replied calmly. "And I've already explained everything to Kiana. She should understand."
"No wonder she gave you such a flimsy excuse," Sirin muttered.
She regretted thinking that strange girl was the crazy one—clearly, Yae Sakura was the one whose brain wasn't wired right.
These people had fought the Kami so long, they'd gone soft in the head.
"Kiana didn't give me an excuse," Yae Sakura said firmly. "It was my own idea."
She stopped walking and gave Sirin a long look. "Do you really have nothing better to do right now?"
"Of course I do!"
"Then why are you still following me?"
"This is what I'm doing," Sirin declared, hands on her hips. "Adjusting my mindset. That's my current task."
Yae Sakura fell silent at once.
So Sirin's way of 'adjusting her mindset' was apparently to wreck other people's moods instead.
With a quiet sigh, Yae Sakura returned to her temporary quarters, only for Sirin to tag along and slip inside as if she owned the place.
"If you ask me," Sirin said casually, plopping down into a seat and speaking with a tone dripping with mockery, "no one would want to be friends with someone who steals their friend's sword. She probably just said that because she couldn't beat you."
Yae Sakura had no interest in arguing with her. She simply ignored the words and the speaker altogether.
If she wanted to convince Raiden Ryoma, she needed to understand what he was really thinking—why he refused to see his daughter, Raiden Mei.
He hadn't even called her once.
Then she remembered the letter she had delivered for him. A grim thought crossed her mind—had he already considered that letter a final message? That seeing her again no longer mattered?
"Hey," Sirin interrupted, "what if next time you see that girl, she brushes you off and pretends your promise doesn't count? What will you do then?"
"She won't," Yae Sakura replied firmly.
Someone like Kiana—who had risked her life to chase after her, learned the truth despite the danger, and still chose to fight her just to help Mei and her father meet again—that kind of person didn't go back on her word.
"Hmm? I'm just saying if."
"She won't."
Sirin gave her a suspicious stare. "Hold on. That was your first time meeting her, right? You don't exactly have some magical ability to read people's hearts, do you?"
"You wouldn't understand." Yae Sakura paused for a moment, then said softly, "If you could meet her and talk to her yourself, maybe you'd understand what I mean."
"Is she really that amazing?"
Sirin, who had been indifferent a moment ago, perked up slightly. Yae Sakura's tone was almost contagious.
"Fine then," Sirin said with a smirk. "When this is over—after we take down Almighty Thunder—you're taking me to meet her."
Kiana wasn't some exhibit to be shown off.
Yae Sakura frowned faintly, but then thought about how neither of them could guarantee they'd survive the coming battle. "If we make it out alive."
Sirin's expression darkened instantly.
"What do you mean if we make it out alive?" she snapped. "Can't you say something positive for once? We're definitely going to win—and I'm definitely not dying here!"
"Every battle comes with its cost," Yae Sakura said quietly. "It could be anyone. Maybe him. Maybe me…"
"But definitely not me!" Sirin interrupted sharply.
Yae Sakura nodded in agreement. "True. You staying alive is worth more than the rest of us combined."
"You—!"
Sirin glared at her furiously.
At that moment, her earpiece crackled to life with a transmission calling her name. Suppressing her irritation, she shot Yae Sakura one last venomous look and stormed out of the room.
Looked like Sirin's shift had just begun.