"So you're saying Ana's been spending way less time at the base these past few days, right?"
In the dimly lit meeting room of the Snow Lotus Squad, Christina sat at the head of the long table in the classic Gendo Ikari pose, addressing the other squad members seated along both sides.
"That's right. From what I've observed, ever since she rented a villa in the city a few days ago, she hasn't slept in the dorms once."
As Ana's roommate, Angelina sold her out without the slightest hesitation.
"And before, Ana used to stay at the base for at least eight hours a day. Now she stays two hours at most before rushing off. Something's seriously off."
Clearly, this secret meeting wasn't just between Angelina and Christina practically the entire Snow Lotus Squad except Ana herself was present.
"So, Captain… do we really need to close the curtains in broad daylight? And not even turn on the lights?" A timid voice came from the corner.
"You don't get it. This is what makes it feel like a real meeting." Christina pushed up her reflective flat glasses and spoke in an extremely grave tone.
"Sigh… fine, understood and respected." The other person didn't seem surprised. Their captain occasionally went full chuunibyou it was something they'd all gotten used to. Besides romance novels, this was basically her only hobby.
"Captain, if there's nothing important, I'm going to head out first." An untimely voice came from beside the long table. After all, Christina had called them here under the pretense of a meeting, but it was clearly just gossip hour.
Bang! Christina slammed her hand hard on the sturdy conference table. "Sisters, I'm not joking around!"
"Lina, play the VCR!" Christina turned to Angelina and ordered.
"Okey-dokey." Angelina received the command and turned on the projector that had been prepared in advance. As the projector lit up, the dim meeting room regained some brightness.
A video was projected onto the screen on the wall.
The first thing that came into view was a massive waterfall. Everyone present had been stationed in the Philippines for a long time and immediately recognized it as Pagsanjan Falls, located 92 km south of Manila.
They had even gone there as a squad for team-building once. So why was Christina showing this?
Before they could ask, the answer appeared on screen: a man and a woman leisurely paddling a kayak on the river, chatting and laughing happily.
When the kayak reached the edge of the waterfall, Ana decisively stepped forward, hugged Shun tightly, and the two abandoned the boat, leaping from over 100 meters of height straight into the water below. After that, the two figures disappeared from view, but their joyful laughter still mixed with the roar of the falls and reached everyone's ears.
"They look happier than when we went there together," someone couldn't help but comment.
"Not yet, not yet it's not over!" Christina snapped her fingers. Angelina took the cue and switched to the next video.
The scene changed to the city center. In front of them appeared a building all too familiar to the Snow Lotus Squad.
Manila Cathedral, with over 440 years of history. In a way, this place could be considered Schicksal's original base in the Philippines and it fell under the Snow Lotus Squad's jurisdiction.
"Holy crap, they're hitting right at our doorstep. How arrogant!" Though, to be fair, the Snow Lotus Squad members usually didn't go there either.
The camera advanced. It was clearly hidden footage. As the person filming moved forward, Ana and Shun's backs appeared in frame once again.
Compared to the noisy environment at the waterfall, the church was much quieter, so everyone in the meeting room could clearly hear Ana and Shun's voices.
"So this is a cathedral? First time seeing one… though honestly, a lot of things are my first time." Inside the church, Shun didn't speak loudly, but the hidden cameraman was clearly using Schicksal black tech capturing their voices perfectly even from nearly a hundred meters away.
"It's fine, just relax. Treat it like making a wish to the gods." In front of the crucifix, Ana skillfully clasped her hands together and closed her eyes.
In the public eye, Schicksal's main business was still the church. Coming from the holy maiden Schariac family, Ana was thoroughly familiar with these rituals.
Shun followed Ana's example, clasped his hands, closed his eyes, and silently made a wish to the so-called god in his heart.
"I hope Ana can always be this happy and healthy." He couldn't help it right now, Shun had no personal desires or strong urge to recover his memories. Better to wish for Ana to stay well forever.
There was no helping it. He already owed her far too much. Without Ana, he wouldn't even know how to survive in this world.
In that moment, the two of them praying together blended perfectly with the serene, sacred atmosphere of the church. With the priest standing in front of them, they looked exactly like a newlywed couple who had just finished receiving countless blessings.
"What the hell is this? I can't take it anymore! I'm out!"
"Wuwuwu, who turned on my auto-follow…"
"This is impossible to live through!"
"Everyone's living so vibrantly… How am I supposed to live through this?"
[ASCII art of despair table-flipping and crying]
"Bro upstairs, how are you this abstract?"
"Love to see it. Peak." Everyone present except Angelina was a 25+ leftover woman. Just like Aunt Himeko next door, they couldn't stand watching this.
"Hey, don't rush there's more!" Christina, determined not to suffer alone and hell-bent on dragging everyone down with her, had Angelina play video after video.
One after another, famous attractions the Snow Lotus Squad knew all too well appeared on screen. But in addition to the sights, there was always that one infuriating couple. As the places they visited increased, the distance between them visibly shrank.
At first they were still quite reserved even when walking together, there was an arm's length of space between them. Later they walked side by side. Then they started holding hands fingers interlocked. Then linking arms.
Rizal Park, Manila Bay, Corregidor Island, Taal Volcano, Fort Santiago, Tagaytay, and even shopping centers like SM Mall of Asia.
These past few days, Shun and Ana really had visited a lot of places. But immersed in their own little world, neither noticed the persistent little tail following behind them the entire time.
"Haha, great stuff I'm out first!" Finally, one Valkyrie who couldn't take it anymore stood up, ran to the window, and prepared to jump. No one stopped her after all, this was the first floor, and with a Valkyrie's physique, even jumping off the tallest building in the Philippines would only require half a month of recovery at most.
"Right, Lina where are the two of them right now?" Since the meeting was happening today, naturally no one had been tailing Shun and Ana.
"Uh… looks like… the Coconut Palace." Angelina, who had secretly checked their itinerary, replied.
Inside the meeting room, upon hearing that today's destination was the Coconut Palace, everyone fell eerily silent at a visible speed.