Chapter 54: Chiba’s Intuition

"Will you take a look?" Chiba pushed the remaining file folders toward Valenti, but Valenti quickly slid them back.

"I'm not Liz's counselor," Valenti replied. "If she found out I was looking into things I shouldn't know, she'd feel like I was prying into her secrets, and I'd easily lose her trust."

Chiba looked up at Valenti with a touch of emotion, her gaze growing a little warmer.

Valenti frowned. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I was just thinking," Chiba said, leaning back in her chair, "with people like you around, I suppose this world might actually be worth saving?"

The compliment came so abruptly that Valenti burst out laughing. She wrapped her arms around her knees and said softly, "Someone like me, who's always cooped up in the habitable zones, wouldn't be able to do a thing if we actually encountered a chelate... We really need more people like you."

Chiba let out a self-deprecating laugh, clearly harboring a much gloomier prediction of what the consequences of that hypothesis might be.

For a moment, Valenti looked puzzled, failing to understand Chiba's laugh. But since the other woman had already returned to the work of reading the documents, Valenti closed her mouth for the time being and refrained from disturbing her.

The entire underground archive fell silent, with only the rustling sound of Chiba turning pages.

Valenti zoned out for a while. Not sure how much time had passed, she began tapping the cardboard spine of a file box. "Masaki, are there any files in here specifically about Askiya?"

"No. If you want to read about Askiya, why don't you just search online? It's just a wasteland, no different from any other wasteland."

"Is that so?" Valenti asked, sounding somewhat surprised. She tucked a lock of long hair behind her ear and let out a thoughtful murmur, "I always felt like Askiya must be a place with a strong sense of justice and the lingering warmth of the Golden Age."

Chiba raised an eyebrow slightly. "If it were really that great, why would Askiya's residents be racking their brains to apply for relocation to the habitable zones? Where on earth did you hear something like that?"

"From Liz," Valenti said, resting her chin on her hand. "Whenever I spend time with Liz, I get that feeling, too."

"People always view their hometowns through a filter, let alone a hometown that has vanished forever." Chiba briefly set down the document in her hand. "Do you know what Askiya's crime rate and per capita grain possession were?"

"...How much?"

"As of 4619—which was the end of the year before the tragedy—Askiya had a total population of 1,448,277, with a total of 252,630 offenses and crimes committed that year. The per capita crime victimization rate was 26.24%.

"As for grain, the current consensus line for food security is an annual per capita grain possession of 390kg. In District 3's habitable zones, that figure has hovered around 900kg for the past few years. As for Askiya, 4619 happened to be a bumper year for them—do you know what their annual per capita grain supply was that year? 177kg."

Valenti's gaze grew vacant. "That... little?"

Chiba rested her cheek on one hand, her gaze lowering slightly. "Do you still think it has 'lingering warmth'?"

Valenti was left speechless.

"The mortality rate in the wasteland has always been high; nobody in the habitable zones cares," Chiba said, flipping rapidly through the pages. "But Liz wasn't lying either. Because Askiya had five urban districts—East, South, West, North, and Central—the crime rates and grain yields I just mentioned exclude the East District. The prosperity of Askiya was, after all, the prosperity of the East District, and Liz was born right there."

"...What was the situation like in the East District?"

"Who knows? They never made their data public over there. If they did, District 3 would probably cut off its economic aid to Askiya," Chiba replied. "The administrative organs of the entire Askiya wasteland were concentrated in the East District, so the police force was concentrated there as well. The nickname 'Little Habitable Zone' isn't unearned... To have been born there, Liz basically won the genetic lottery."

Valenti was just about to continue the conversation when she noticed that Chiba, still holding the materials, had suddenly frowned into silence, her expression turning serious—presumably, she had encountered some detail in the documents that caught her attention.

"...Did Liz transfer roles in the second half of the year?" Chiba asked.

"Mhm. I heard her combat performance is excellent, so after transferring, she'll intern in the core city for a while before deciding where to be stationed specifically," Valenti said. "Is something wrong?"

"I think... she isn't suited for combat," Chiba said abruptly.

Valenti looked surprised. "...It's rare to hear you give that kind of advice. Could you tell me why?"

"No, this is just my personal advice. She could play a much greater role in a non-combat position. You can try persuading her—whether she listens is up to her, and if she doesn't, forget it—"

"Hey, don't do that. What kind of half-explanation is that? Even if I try to persuade her, I can't just drop a line out of nowhere saying, 'Hey, don't go into a combat role' ...At least give me a brief reason why?"

Chiba tried to pull her hand away from Valenti, but Valenti's grip was like an octopus, stubbornly refusing to let go.

Chiba sighed.

"Let's put it this way..." Chiba began thoughtfully. "She's naturally suited for work in the rear. She has empathy, ideas, kindness, passion, a touch of idealism, and charisma... Isn't that precisely the image of a Mercury Needle we want the most?

"And more importantly, Askiya's East District was basically similar to a habitable zone. She knows how to deal with the civilized world, which is a very scarce ability," Chiba said seriously. "That's the kind of thing you could have many Mercury Needles study for a lifetime and they still wouldn't get it, but Liz was born with it. That's the first point."

"Mm," Valenti nodded in agreement.

Chiba spoke softly, "The second point is just a wild guess of mine. If she really has to face chelate combat, Liz might face higher risks than anyone else—moral risks. That's fatal. We're short on people, but there's no need to plant orchids in a windbreak forest."

Valenti still wanted to press further, but Chiba had already started taking notes on the new materials.

The two remained in the underground archive for nearly two hours.

Before leaving, Valenti looked at Chiba. "What exactly did you mean earlier by 'moral risks'? Is it that she's more prone to developing PTSD or similar trauma? Or that she won't be able to adapt to the cruel combat environment and won't be able to bring herself to strike the enemy?"

"None of the above," Chiba denied flatly. Yet after a moment of silence, she still shook her head. "I can't quite explain it either... Just a gut feeling."

"Then would you be willing to make time to chat with Liz? To tell her directly what you just said—"

"Stop right there." Chiba crossed her arms over her chest to form an 'X'. "As for troublesome people like that... having you in my life is quite enough."

Valenti could only sigh—she could never pressure Chiba into things like this, nor could anyone else. When Chiba didn't want to talk about something, nobody in the world could pry her lips apart.

Valenti clasped her hands behind her back and glanced sideways at Chiba. "So do you have your answer now?"

"What answer?"

"The answer to 'how Liz dragged Jane into the gutter'? Isn't that why you came here?"

"Ha. I suppose... I do." Chiba clapped her hands together, stretched them high above her head, and yawned. "It's fine, not too much of a pitfall."

Valenti smiled again. "Liz really is charismatic among them. Not just to Jane, but to Turan and Rico as well. I think it's just sincere hearts meeting sincere hearts... Isn't friendship between girls always like that?"