What a day it had been.
But I'd seen it all through and made it back to Black Cell in one piece.
Back to the underground parking garage where we'd started.
"Everyone worked incredibly hard today. Thank you."
"Not at all. You're the one who had it hardest, sir."
"If there's ever anything we can do to help, please don't hesitate to say the word."
The bodyguards were sharp and attentive, every one of them.
Even the driver had that same crisp, disciplined air.
Probably because they'd watched me personally execute Air Bomb.
I decided to simply accept their goodwill and turned my attention to Victory.
"Mmhh… Maxweeell…"
It was her first time out in the world beyond these walls, and she'd spent the whole day glued to my side — no wonder she was exhausted.
She'd passed out cold in the vehicle.
Even so, the moment I lifted her, she stirred just enough to slump against me in a half-conscious daze, arms going limp around my neck.
"We'll see you next time, sir."
"Don't worry about the cleanup. Go on inside."
"Ha ha ha — it was an honor, as always, Maxwell."
There were no gifts for the children this time around, and we'd returned far too late.
The Director had already sent a message saying the debrief could wait until tomorrow evening.
That meant I could head straight to Victory's cell.
"Alright, Victory. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Max… Maxwell… sleep well…"
She'd been run through the automatic washer in her cell and was now soft and clean.
I'd half-expected her to ask me to stay again, but she seemed so thoroughly satisfied with today's outing that she let me go without a fuss.
I stepped out of Victory's cell.
I was exhausted enough to head straight to the on-call room, but then I remembered how the children had stayed up waiting for me last time.
I decided to check in — grabbed a light snack and went to find Gloria.
My instincts were dead-on.
Gloria was lying in bed, but her eyes were wide open, staring blankly at nothing.
The one problem was that I hadn't had a chance to wash up yet, so I still smelled like Victory.
Then again, I'd already told her I was going out with Victory today.
I decided to see how she'd react.
With that in mind, I stepped inside — and sure enough, I was met with Gloria's ice-cold stare.
What is that smell.
And why are you so late.
Her eyes carried a whole litany of silent reproaches.
But before I could even think of an excuse, Gloria's eyes went wide and she spoke first.
"Did something happen?"
The moment she said it, I instinctively raised a hand to my own face.
Was my expression that stiff?
I'd seen plenty of corpses before. But pulling the trigger myself — that was apparently something different.
A faint bitterness settled in my chest, but I gave her a rough outline of what had happened.
"I simply disposed of a piece of garbage this world was better off without."
"…Is that so?"
In the brief silence that followed, the sensation of the trigger came creeping back —
But the veteran in front of me pulled me back to reality.
"Then don't waste another thought on that worthless piece of shit. You're the only one who loses anything by doing that."
"Ha ha ha ha — I never imagined I'd be receiving comfort from you, Gloria."
"Think whatever you want."
Of all people, Gloria offering something like comfort…
But it worked. The knot in my chest loosened, just a little.
After that, I fed her a sandwich as usual, and waited until she fell asleep.
That left Liberty.
As I approached her cell, she must have sensed me coming, because the sounds started before I even got close.
SCRAAAAATCH!!
SCRATCH!
WOOF!! WOOF!!
The reinforced steel door shrieked as claws raked across it, and a howl rang out — clearly meaning get in here, now.
Hopeless, I thought, and went inside. Liberty was already wagging her tail furiously, bounding toward me in greeting.
But the moment she started climbing up my body, she stopped.
Between Gloria and Liberty both picking up on something — I must have been more shaken than I'd realized.
"It's nothing serious. Don't worry too much."
"Whimper…"
Lick.
As if to say cheer up, Liberty licked my cheek.
I wrapped my arms around her and sat down on the bed inside her cell.
It still amazed me that the bedding I'd bought her as a gift was in perfect condition — not a single tear or scratch, even now. She clearly treasured it.
But I'd hit my limit. My eyes were too heavy.
I was about to get up, worried I'd black out here the same way I had in Victory's cell, when —
SHOVE.
"L-Liberty?"
"…………"
Without a word, Liberty pushed me flat with brute force.
My back hit the mattress.
And she pressed herself against me and refused to budge.
It was obvious she wanted to stay like this a little longer.
'Well. I've already slept in Victory's cell twice. What's the difference.'
I let myself relax, closed my eyes, and patted Liberty's back as the tide of sleep swept me under.
*****************
I was sleeping soundly when I became aware of something very damp.
My eyes snapped open. Right — I'd slept in Liberty's cell.
I checked the time. Still early morning, fortunately.
Habit is everything, I thought, and looked over at Liberty.
She was sprawled across me, drooling, dead to the world in dreamland.
She'd probably stayed up waiting for me until late, which meant she'd sleep in.
When I shifted slightly, her wolf tail and ears twitched.
"Mrrgh…? Gkk… c-cough!"
Liberty lifted her head in a bleary daze, eyes spinning.
Her face was an absolute disaster.
I wiped the drool off her with my hand and patted her back again.
"Shh… Liberty. Sleep a little more."
"Fafa… fa, fa…"
She couldn't fight off the pull of sleep any longer and went under again. I gently pulled the blanket over her, and she settled into a contented rumble.
After that, I used the staff gym inside Black Cell to shower and change.
I ended up running slightly late for Gloria's breakfast.
I hurried to the restricted zone, and found the interior of Black Cell unusually unsettled.
Had something happened again while I was away?
I'd look into it later. For now, I made it to Gloria's cell.
Fortunately, she'd gone to bed late last night too, and was still asleep.
I exhaled in relief, collected Gloria's breakfast from a Lower-level Manager, and stepped inside.
Gloria's nose was sharp as ever, and she'd eaten poorly yesterday — hunger must have done the rest.
She stirred and sat up, unsteady.
"You still look exhausted."
"…Quiet."
Her head was clearly pounding. She pressed a hand to her temple and scowled.
I fed her breakfast while she sat there with deepening dark circles under her eyes.
And once again, she spoke first.
"You look better than yesterday."
"A good night's sleep tends to fix most things."
Gloria herself had a habit of sleeping off bad moods, so my answer seemed to land reasonably well.
After breakfast, I ran her through the automatic washer and got her cleaned up. She promptly collapsed back into bed.
That was when I noticed something odd.
There was plenty of room to lie flat, but Gloria had been sleeping curled on her side — both yesterday and today.
'Has she… gotten taller?'
She'd been twelve when we first met.
Thirteen now, so it made sense that she'd be growing.
Though honestly, even now, her secondary development was running quite late.
Still — given her personality as it was, what would Gloria be like once puberty hit?
And on certain days of the month…
The future that awaited was clearly not going to be pleasant. But even so, I found myself genuinely curious about how far she'd grow.
I checked on Liberty and Victory next.
"Max… Maxweeell… mrrgh…"
"Whiiine… mmmph…"
Both of them were still too out of it to function.
No need to force them awake. I pushed breakfast back and let them sleep.
So. Morning rounds, finally done.
I reminded myself that once we were all living together, this would all happen in one go.
Dragging my tired body up to the office, I immediately noticed an unusual number of eyes turning toward me.
Don't tell me the reason Black Cell is in an uproar is because of me.
There were too many possibilities to narrow it down.
In the end, I played the junior card.
Amano looked thoroughly flustered the moment I asked, but a firm stare got the answer out of her.
"I'm being considered for the Deputy Director position?"
"Y-Yes, sir!! The Chief Researcher was very… vocal about it yesterday."
Specifically, apparently, Cain had gone around listing a hundred reasons why I should be promoted to Deputy Director.
Absurd as it was, I could more or less follow his logic.
The first reason was obviously that paper.
The second was, well —
"It seems Dr. Kreuz really, truly does not want to meet with the Director."
"Ahaha…"
As the Director herself had pointed out before, Cain made every excuse imaginable to avoid crossing paths with her.
He was essentially trying to use me as a shield.
But corporations are more conservative than most people imagine.
And what would the veteran researchers who'd survived here for years think about all this?
The way they were already drifting toward me — they were clearly about to start keeping tabs on me, trying to get ahead of any —
"M-Maxwell? You'll take the Deputy Director position… right?"
"You will, won't you? You have to."
"Ahem… we've always believed in you, my boy."
"What?"
The atmosphere had taken on a distinctly peculiar quality — like cardinals cornering the youngest among them to dump the thankless job on him during a papal conclave.
An awkward silence settled over the office.
And then, in that moment, a flash of clarity cut through my mind.
'Why did I assume Cain was the only one afraid of the Director?'
The veteran researchers had spent just as long alongside the Director as Cain had.
And hadn't the Director's reign of terror already begun, triggered by the whistleblower?
Meanwhile, I got along with the Director well enough to trade jokes with her.
So what would happen if I — someone who managed to coexist peacefully with everyone — became Deputy Director?
For Cain and the veterans alike, it would mean a powerful buffer between them and the Director.
And whenever something came up, they could report to me instead of going to her directly.
The transparency of it all was almost insulting. I gave them a look that said as much.
Every single one of them averted their eyes.
"So what you're saying is that the Flying Dutchman needs a captain."
"Ha — ha ha ha ha! It's just a figure of speech!"
"I'll say it again — we have always, always believed in you, Maxwell!"
"Maxwell, senpai!! You've got this!!!"
I was becoming a sacrificial offering on the altar of office politics — and not in any way I'd planned for.