Chapter 1: Openings

Captain!!!

Sachiko?!

What... What am I supposed to do?

Trust her...

She will protect you.

(Should I really trust her...?)

(As a "fugitive", why would I trust a...)

(A prison guard?)

Miss Brynn!

Captain! Are you okay?!

(The girl's name is Sachiko...)

(I've been confined to a hospital room for several days...)

(She's supposed to be taking care of me...)

(But I suspect that she's really just spying on me...)

What a coincidence. I run into a monster and you just happen to show up!

Are you following me?

You seemed upset this morning, so I was worried...

So I brought Miss Brynn to come and talk to you this afternoon.

I got to your room early and saw you escape.

Why didn't you try to catch me then?

I wanted to catch you and bring you back, but Sachiko stopped me!

Miss Raven didn't want you to escape, so I couldn't let you get away...

But I also felt sorry for you being locked in there.

So I decided just to follow you.

I thought I could... bring you back after you've had a walk outside and you start to feel better.

Let's hurry back before anyone notices!

(Seems like a good kid. Sorry, but...)

(I didn't escape just to go for a walk...)

Is that... Captain?

(Sachiko said nobody noticed I was gone, but that's not true. What's going on here?)

What are you doing out of your hospital room?

Aha! Mr. Drew...

Captain was feeling a bit stuffy in the hospital, so I took him out for a little stroll!

(Sachiko is clearly afraid of Drew, but she still put herself between him and me.)

(The girl really is a kind spirit.)

Write a report immediately upon your return.

Thanks, Mr. Drew!

Do not let compassion get the better of you, Sachiko.

And... If you were privy to certain facts...

You wouldn't say such...

We'll discuss that later, then.

First, let's handle the battle at hand.

Sachiko... I want to ask a question...

Do monsters appear often in this world?

Ah, right! It's because of the Miracle! It makes monsters appear!

(Okay... Maybe I was overthinking it.)

Although it's a bit less common for Gyrate.

This is the Esper Union's stomping ground, after all, so not many monsters make it to the city!

!!!

(As it turns out, I should have banished my naive fantasies long ago.)

(The hospital room, my confinement, my escape, the map, these monsters, and... my "personal problem"...)

(I think I've discovered the hidden link that ties them all together.)

(Right, the most important thing to think about right now is...)

Miramon attack in Sector 51. Requesting support from nearby Ops Chiefs.

Copy that. Miramon situation in Sector 42 has been handled. Moving to support now.

Mr. Drew, have there been attacks in other places?

Yes, sightings have been reported in fourteen different sectors.

I must hurry off to put an end to these Miramon.

Then I suggest leaving just a few personnel in other sectors so they can handle the Miramon that have appeared.

And gather more Espers here.

For what reason, might I ask?

We've just finished off a batch of Miramon.

With the city's defense system in place, Miramon should only appear sporadically here.

That's normally true.

But what if something, or someone, is driving them to attack this time?

You see, Sachiko didn't really take me out for a walk. I escaped on my own.

I'm looking for someone, the person who brought me to the Union...

... Mr. Yamato.

I found this map in my hospital room this morning.

It shows an escape route that leads to...

Here.

The map says there should be clues about Mr. Yamato here.

And just when I arrived...

A Miramon appeared.

That's to say, you suspect that whoever prepared that map and helped you escape is also the driving force behind the recent Miramon attacks.

And their target would be...

... You?

Exactly. I don't think these could all be just coincidences.

If there's someone driving these attacks, then...

... Then their attacks are focused here.

Captain, your deduction is more serious than you could ever imagine.

Those Shadow rascals... Nothing is beneath them...

(Shadow?)

I'll request more Esper reinforcements here...

The more, the better!

Many people...

Believe they're on the path to greatness.

And everything they do to carve that path is seen as a "necessary sacrifice".

How preposterous...

As I see it, the moment they embark upon this path...

The first thing to be sacrificed is...

... their own humanity.

And what is a human without humanity, but a monster?

No matter the beauty of their blueprints, what they built is nothing more than...

... a playground for monsters.

And we call those people...

... the Shadow Decree.

All of them?

Correct. All of them.

Use all of our "assets"...

It's not easy to place assets in Gyrate, Councilor.

The demon lords will regret not attacking the village at the earliest opportunity.

At this point, it's not a question of worth...

... but a question of our determination.

As you wish, Councilor.

Victory! We took out so many Miramon!

Why do you still look worried, Captain?

Our reinforcements are here, and we've got the upper hand!

I told you before, Sachiko. Gyrate is where the Esper Union is headquartered.

So it's unlikely that the Shadow Decree would attack Gyrate with their main force.

I guess so. It would be hard for them to succeed now that our guard is up.

But despite that fact, they still chose to attack us full-on.

So in their eyes, attacking me must be pretty important, unfortunately...

Not every enemy is worthy of fear, but a determined enemy certainly is.

An enemy like that...

Would pay any price for a chance at victory.

What...

Is that... a meteor?

Careful! Get back!!!

(Were these the "Miss Raven" and "Mr. Gaius" they were talking about?)

(The Union's Hub Director was as formidable and fearsome as a Miramon.)

(I was overwhelmed with the sense that this was a totally different world...)

(A world where the line between man and monster is blurred.)

(Would this kind of world... grant me any more mercy?)

Captain! Your headset...

!?

I'm sorry...

Don't look.

(Actually, regarding the question of why I'd been confined in the hospital...)

(I had a growing suspicion in the back of my mind.)

(It was also the reason for my escape and my search for Yamato.)

(Which was...)