"This isn't exactly the right place for a chat, don't you think?"
Misono Mika pointed in a certain direction. Under the night sky, dense clusters of red dots were rapidly approaching the city.
Kurusu Kunochi gripped his steam gun tightly. Even with a weapon in hand, he didn't feel a shred of security. If what those people said was true, the gun in his hand was nothing more than a fire poker—it wouldn't even scratch her.
Seeing that Misono Mika bore no immediate hostility toward them, Ayame Yomogawa felt a wave of relief and nodded. "Please, follow me."
Though this action was no different from inviting a hungry wolf into a sheepfold, Mika was clearly safer and easier to accept than the hideous Kabane. Her harmless appearance alone was enough to be aesthetically pleasing. If she happened to be in a good mood, she might even take the initiative to help them.
As long as they didn't cross her bottom line, Mika's willingness to stay with them was a massive blessing. The pros outweighed the cons. Besides, they didn't really have a choice. If Mika wanted to board the Koutetsujo, could they even stop her?
"Mumei, come with me. You don't want to be squeezed in with a huge crowd, do you?"
Mika didn't want to be cramped in a general carriage. She had specifically waited for Ayame to approach her so she could stay in the same compartment as her. The resting area for the nobility would surely be incomparable to that of the commoners.
'You can wrong others, but you can't wrong yourself.'
"Wait for me!"
Mumei was tempted. She also wanted a better environment to rest in, so she quickly chased after them.
Once the group boarded, the Koutetsujo officially started moving before everyone else could get on, because the Kabane had already caught up. However, the Koutetsujo was extremely heavy and started slowly. Those left behind managed to scramble aboard without further incident.
By the time these people entered the carriages, the Kabane had already reached both sides of the platform.
Roar!
A Kabane let out a screech and leaped forward. The others followed suit, throwing themselves fearlessly at the Koutetsujo and slamming hard against the metal.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Successive collisions shook the carriages violently.
"Ah...!"
Ayame let out a startled cry, losing her footing and falling forward. Mika was quick, grabbing her by the back of the collar and hoisting her up with a single tug.
"Are you alright?"
Mika watched as Ayame steadied herself, clutching her neck and coughing repeatedly, and offered her some concern.
"I'm fine... thank you for just now... cough cough..." Ayame rubbed her aching neck, feeling quite grateful.
The collar had choked her a bit, but the intention was good.
'It seems Miss Mika is actually a very gentle person,' Ayame thought, forming a new impression of her.
However, Kurusu, standing to the side, didn't see it that way.
'How incredibly crude! Lady Ayame was right next to you! You could have just reached out and caught her, so why couldn't you just hold her properly?!'
Kurusu was fuming but didn't dare speak up. Afraid of being found out, he could only lower his head and avoid looking at Mika.
"Do you need me to support you?"
"...If it's not too much trouble."
Ayame saw this as an opportunity to get closer to Mika, so she leaned in somewhat shyly. In her view, appropriate physical contact could bridge the distance between people—provided they were both women. Between a man and a woman, it would just feel awkward.
However, Mika's attention wasn't on her. Instead, she caught a subtle glimpse of the downward-looking Kurusu.
She had done that on purpose, of course. She gave up a chance to gain favor just to see Kurusu's reaction. Aside from his loyalty to Ayame, Kurusu had a secret crush on her and lived in constant fear of her getting hurt. Mika's actions just now were, in his eyes, a bit excessive.
It was like a bicycle that one person was too precious to even petal hard, only for someone else to stand up and stomp on the pedals so hard the chain nearly snapped. Anyone would find that hard to stomach.
Unfortunately, Kurusu kept his head down, and Mika was a bit disappointed she couldn't see his face.
'Whatever. There will be plenty of chances to bully him later.'
Mika looked at Ayame, who was holding onto her arm. 'Is this woman a bit too familiar?' Mika didn't dislike the intimacy; after all, Ayame was a rare beauty and wasn't doing anything radical yet, so she couldn't bring herself to hate it.
'Whoa... his face looks terrible...'
Due to her height, Mumei accidentally caught a glimpse of Kurusu's expression, which looked like he had just swallowed a fly, and she muttered to herself.
Just then, someone ran over, claiming they had discovered a Kabane in the last carriage.
"What?! Take me there!"
Kurusu snapped his head up, his brow furrowing as he quickly ordered two nearby samurai to follow. "You, and you! With me!"
With that, he led the two of them toward the back with murderous intent.
'Oh? Could the Kabane in that carriage be Ikoma?'
Mika didn't have a very strong impression of the protagonist. She remembered that aside from being blunt and prone to saying things that offended people, he was genuinely brave, ruthless toward himself, and had a talent for mechanics.
In the original story, Ikoma was accidentally bitten while testing his self-made weapon, the "Piercing Gun." To save himself, he went as far as welding a red-hot iron plate onto his wound and nearly strangled himself to death to stop the virus from reaching his brain. Through a stroke of luck, he became a Kabaneri.
The scene just now seemed to confirm the plot point where Ikoma accidentally exposed himself. Perhaps due to protagonist armor, Kurusu—a trained warrior—somehow missed Ikoma's heart with his shot. Otherwise, the story would have ended before even leaving Hinomoto.
But reality isn't a game; you don't just respawn. Normally, Kurusu wouldn't hold back, especially since he was currently nursing a bit of a temper. If no one intervened, Ikoma was basically dead.
Mika looked down at Mumei, who was staring fixedly at her wings. Clearly, Mumei was more interested in her feathers right now. She couldn't count on her for the moment.
'It'd be a pity if someone as straightforward as Ikoma died. Might as well find a way to take him as a dog; it'd be fun to use him to annoy Kurusu.'
Mika remembered that in the original series, Kurusu and Ikoma were always at odds. She already had no fondness for someone like Kurusu—rigid, old-fashioned, and brainwashed by the garbage spirit of Bushido. So, naturally, he became her source of entertainment.
"Let's go take a look too. I get the feeling something very interesting is happening over there," Mika suggested to Ayame and Mumei.