In the end, Tessa did not stay obediently aboard the plane.
Once night fell, she chose to move together with Sergeant Sousuke Sagara.
Under the cover of the dark night, made even darker by the bad weather, the two of them secretly slipped down through the landing gear hatch by the plane's wheels.
Under normal circumstances, Sergeant Sousuke would never have allowed her to leave the plane and take part in something this dangerous.
However, the copilot on the aircraft seemed unable to bear the pressure of being trapped any longer. He could not sit still and repeatedly contacted the base again through the communicator. In the end, the fool let it slip that there was Interpol aboard the passenger plane.
The moment the captain came over and informed them, Tessa and Sousuke had no choice but to move immediately.
They had nearly been trapped aboard with no way out.
If they had been even a few seconds later, the dimly lit tarmac would have been flooded by powerful lights sweeping across every corner, and the two of them really would have had nowhere to hide.
After that, they split up.
She went to extract Kaname, while Sousuke went to create chaos and draw the enemy's fire as far away from the passenger plane as possible.
Because Mithril's reinforcements were about to arrive.
Once the fighting began, they needed to keep the battlefield from spreading over the plane as much as possible, so that it would not get hit by mistake.
As for the airliner itself, of course it could not take off, nor would anyone refuel it and send it back into the air. That would take far too long.
Mithril had directly dispatched transport aircraft. They would load all the hostages aboard in one go.
There were two transport aircraft in total, one of them a backup.
After landing, they would have only five minutes to move more than four hundred people.
It sounded absurdly rushed, but according to the calculations, it should be enough time.
So the critical part was holding off the enemy's fire for those five minutes.
The reason she came to get Kaname was to bring her to the transport as quickly as possible, so that Kaname would not affect Mr. Kain and become a burden on him.
And the reason she found Kaname's location was not because Mr. Kain told her.
She had not notified Mr. Kain before coming at all, because he definitely would not have approved of her doing this.
Now, with the disturbance Sousuke had triggered, the enemy's attention had been drawn away, which made it easier for her to get Kaname out.
So when she saw Mr. Kain suddenly drop his camouflage as well, she felt even more relieved.
Sure enough, he had been right beside Kaname all along.
And the powered armor Mr. Kain was wearing was not the one Miss A2 had provided. It was his own suit, and this set actually had optical camouflage too.
As for why he had not used that function back when fighting the Tyranids and daemons, the answer was easy enough to understand. Optical camouflage worked fine against ordinary people, but against monsters like those, it was basically useless.
"You're not wearing that protective suit?"
"Ah? There wasn't time."
"Put it on right now."
"O-Okay."
Tessa nodded and answered, then saw Mr. Kain take out another set and hand it over to Kaname.
This protective suit had been provided by Miss A2. It had not been sent directly into Tessa's personal storage, but routed through Mr. Kain first.
And it was not just the protective suit. There were other things too, like a piece of high-tech equipment that looked like an eyepatch, which was what had allowed her to find this place without alerting the enemy.
"Ah? I have to wear this?"
"Yes. Unless you want to get killed by stray rounds."
Of course, if the firepower was too heavy, the suit would still be torn apart.
But against ordinary light weapons, it would keep the wearer from suffering much damage.
As for heavy weapons, it would at least help keep the body mostly intact. Combined with the effects of the Earth Elixir, that made it much less likely the wearer would die.
As for why Kaname looked so conflicted right now, that was because the protective suit looked like a full-body latex outfit.
If it were any thinner, it would practically be a full-body stocking.
It even looked a bit like the battle suit from that MVU work Kain had once seen.
Right, like in that one detective series with the elementary school boy, where every time the culprit appeared before being fully revealed, they looked like they were wrapped head to toe in black rubber with only the face showing.
This protective suit covered the body to about that same extent.
"Put it on quickly, Chidori-san."
"I-I know."
This really was not the time to stand around being embarrassed.
And with him nearby, that only made it even harder to stay calm.
If she wore this, it looked like she would have to take everything off underneath first. That was just too humiliating.
Looking at Tessa, she was blushing like crazy too and clearly just as embarrassed, but she was not dragging things out, so Kaname could not either.
"Th-Then what are these?"
Kaname noticed there were three small items as well. One was C-shaped, while the other two were a matching pair.
And she did not even need Tessa to answer, because Tessa's actions already told her what they were for.
It was like when something was sealed inside a bag and then vacuum-packed, with the remaining air sucked out.
Those three items were attached to the body to make the protective suit tighten further and cling closely to every part of the skin.
The areas where they had to be attached made Kaname's mouth twitch slightly.
Grinding her teeth, Kaname did as instructed, and then let out the same kind of sound Tessa had.
After that, she quickly put on not her school uniform, but the clothes he handed her next: a black long-sleeved dress and a pair of black thigh-high boots.
According to his explanation, this outfit, which he called the YoRHa No.2 Type B set, was also high-tech equipment. To a certain extent, it deflected light rather than reflecting it.
That way, it would be harder for people to spot her, especially in dim surroundings where she could blend into the darkness more easily.
Finally, she put on an eyepatch.
Ah, but then wouldn't that block her vision? Th-
Huh?
Kaname stared in surprise at what she could still see. The eyepatch was actually another piece of advanced technology.
When she turned back toward Tessa, Tessa was operating the equipment here, apparently altering or deleting something.
And it was right then that more gunfire, cannon fire, and explosions erupted outside.
It was as if an actual war had broken out.
"It's done, Mr. Kain."
Tessa had successfully dealt with some of the data on the machines here. That way, the enemy would most likely conclude that Kaname was not a Whispered.
And with that much commotion outside, it was obvious Mithril's support force had arrived.
"Then the two of you be careful."
"Okay. Please be careful too!"
He was going out to join the fight himself, to draw even more of the enemy's fire and make Mithril's hostage rescue operation go more smoothly.
And all Tessa could do here was offer him her blessing.
Please do not get hurt again. Please come back safely.
(End of Chapter)
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