Millennium Science School, renowned in Kivotos for its unparalleled scientific technology and state-of-the-art facilities.

In a hidden room belonging to the Super Phenomenon Task Force, somewhere within the school grounds, the club leader, Akeboshi Himari, smiled as she gazed at the hologram screen before her.

"Hehe, it's a bit inefficient for me, the greatest super genius sickly beautiful girl hacker of Millennium, to get involved in a small dispute on an online forum, but since Chi-chan and my cute juniors asked, I can't refuse."

Sitting in her elegantly designed wheelchair, Himari, who shamelessly referred to herself with titles that ordinary students would be embarrassed to utter, manipulated the screen with delicate finger movements.

"Leader."

A club member's exasperated voice called out to her, but Himari, already absorbed in her own world, didn't bother looking and continued talking to herself.

"They said a disturbance was caused on the forum managed by my juniors for about 15 minutes before the person suddenly disappeared. The nickname was 'Ash_Grey001'... <Ash Gray>, huh? How fittingly contrasting it is to me, a pure, white, single flower, hehe."

"Hey, leader!"

Finally, after the club member raised their voice slightly, Himari turned her head and responded to Izumimoto Eimi, the sole member of the Super Phenomenon Task Force standing beside her.

"Ah, don't worry, Eimi. No matter what kind of hacker they are, they won't be able to escape from me forever, the one who possesses <Omniscience>, a degree that only three people in Millennium's history have ever received."

"That's not what I'm talking about, leader. The security drones stationed around the entrance to the fortified city <Eridu> have been under attack for a while now."

"...What?"

Eimi, whose expression had shifted from exasperation to weariness, explained, causing Himari to blink with a blank stare.

"Whaaat?!"

Only after a few seconds did she fully grasp the meaning of the words, and she hurriedly turned her body, scolding her junior.

"W-why are you only telling me about such an emergency now, Eimi! Who's the attacker? Don't tell me that sewage-like woman is up to her nonsense again...?"

"No, I called you several times... Besides, it's hard to explain with words, so can you just look at the screen for now? This is footage from one of the security drones that just lost communication."

Eimi, pouting at the leader's usual audacity, immediately brought up another screen and showed it to Himari.

"These are... Gehenna students? Why are Gehenna students at the border of <Eridu>?"

"That's what I'm wondering."

- Hey, Kasumi leader! There's a bunch of drones here too, but no hot springwater?

- Tsk, tsk, you won't be able to find hot springs with such a weak mindset! The most important thing in hot spring development is the belief that the hot springs will appear!

- Hahaha! That's right! You're the best, leader!

- Alright, then let's triple the amount of explosives for the next blast and tryagain! Wahahahaha!

As Himari said, the screen showed a group of Gehenna students gathered, indiscriminately blowing up the barrier erected to block entry and communication with <Eridu>.

"...Eimi, what on earth is going on?"

"Honestly, I don't know either, leader."

Witnessing this utterly incomprehensible scene, Himari and Eimi stared at each other in bewilderment.

Because of this, they failed to notice that data had been transmitted through the cell phones of those very Hot Spring Development Department members, across the damaged barrier of <Eridu>.

========

Boom.

In the central tower of the fortified city <Eridu>, where the repeated explosions caused by the Hot Spring Development Department could be heard from afar.

Inside the mainframe of this place, which had been closed off since the previous incident, an AI that had just been uploaded was working alone.

"...Confirmed normal access to resource name <Eridu>."

Of course, the identity of the AI was Key, who had succeeded in accessing the control system here in a flash by hacking the Hot Spring Development Department member's cell phone, as directed by Plana.

While the security system installed by Himari couldn't be bypassed so easily, this was an exception for Key, who had once taken control of this city, even if only temporarily.

Thud!Boom!

Ignoring the distant sounds of intense fighting between the hastily reinforced security drones and the Hot Spring Development Department, she calmly completed her work.

"Initial boot process complete. Currently maintaining approximately 7,200 exabytes of available resources. It is anticipated that some of the lost computational power due to facility damage can be restored during future recovery efforts."

'...This was also where the princess confronted me.'

"That is... princess...! Your ability... that power exists solely to destroy the world...!""No! This is Alice's weapon of a hero! Because Alice decided it to be so!"

Looking at the familiar places that came into view as she took control of the facility's systems, Key recalled somewhat bitter memories. Then, she remembered the conversation she had with her collaborator just before being transmitted here.

"To maintain our secret, it will be difficult to communicate for a while after accessing <Eridu>. In the meantime, please proceed with the requests I have given you independently.""Plana, are you... not considering the possibility that I might use those resources to cause another deviation?""Negative, that possibility does not exist for you, Key."

Along with the image of the white-haired girl faintly smiling as if it were obvious, in response to her question that still held doubt.

'Plana, why do you trust me so much? Why, as an AI like myself, do you strive to attain a human-like aspect, just like the princess?'

The AI girl, performing computations at a rapid pace, as befitting an artifact containing the technology of the Nameless Priests, couldn't shake off the questions about the other's inexplicable words and actions. However, even she now had someone she could emulate when faced with such situations.

'...But if it were the princess, if it were the hero Alice, she would surely have listened to her. Probably saying that this too is the duty of a hero.'

"System configuration complete. Resource name <Eridu> fully secured. Proceeding to the next objective."

'Then I, too, will make my own decision. Just as Alice taught me.'

Having resolved herself and completed her initial objective of fully taking control of <Eridu>, Key immediately uploaded the data for her second requested objective.

"You want me to use the Divi:SION resources I have access to, to search for the location of this student?""That's right, Key. However, there is a person with the same name, so please check the detailed information to avoid confusion. Technically speaking, it might be difficult to definitively say they are different people."

'I don't know what your relationship is with this student... but I will find them for you, Plana.'

Recalling Plana's unusually cold gaze as she explained the target individual, Key slowly uttered the name of the student she was requested to search for.

"...Sunaookami Shiroko."