26 Why did you disturb us, Kurz?

His head a jumbled mess, Sousuke stared at Kaname, who appeared to have fumed herself out.

He was offended, astonished, embarrassed, amazed, and worried, all at once. He didn't totally understand what she meant, but he did grasp that she thought there was something wrong with him and also that she was probably right.

As Sousuke struggled to find words, Kaname waved him off and said, "Forget it. I'll save us."

"Excuse me?"

"You said there was no other way, but I think that means that you've given up. That's why I have to do it. Do you have a lighter?"

"I do," he confirmed suspiciously. "What are you planning?"

"To set this mountain on fire," she announced.

"A forest fire will cause an uproar. In the confusion, we'll steal a fire truck or a Jeep or something and high-tail it to the airport, where we'll steal a plane amid the confusion. Don't worry, I'll fly it."

"Do you have any experience flying an air jet"

"Of course not! I've played the simulator at the arcade, though, so maybe I could figure it out. Anyway, once we have a plane, we'll go to South Korea or Japan. All we have to do is go south, right? Simple. You two just keep quiet and stay with me."

The holes in Kaname's logic were enormous, but she sounded deadly serious. An expression of courage in the face of tragedy rippled across her face.

''I'm never going to give up," she proclaimed, thumping her chest.

''I'll never admit we can't save everyone. We'll do something. I'll get out of here with you and Kurz-and Kyouko and everyone else will be waiting when we get there. Then, we'll all live happily ever after. That's my plan. Got a problem with it?"

"Sometimes, willpower and enthusiasm won't cut it," Sousuke said. "Do as I say."

"How many times do I have to tell you 'no'?"

"Forget that. Go. Make a run for it." For good measure, he gestured at her with his submachine gun.

"Are you going to shoot me if! don't?" Kaname sounded almost sympathetic.

"Yes. You'd be better off dying here than getting caught by the enemy and turned into a vegetable."

"Well, that's a strange reason." Smiling,

Kaname took a step toward Sousuke.

Why isn't she afraid? Sousuke was worried. He understood there was no way left to make her obey, and he was hopeless.

"Want to know why I'm not afraid?"

He grunted.

"It's simple," she cooed, pushing the gun aside to embrace Sousuke gently.

Sliding both hands around his back, she rested her cheek on his bloody shoulder.

"I trust you now."

For a moment, the warmth of the girl on Sousuke's chest overpowered the pain of his injury.

Inside his body, all his blood seemingly switched directions and his muscles twitched. He didn't even notice when the gun slipped from his fingers.

"That's the reason I won't abandon you." Kaname's damp bangs tickled the tip of Sousuke's nose.

"Chidori ... "

"I definitely was scared of you. It's terrifying to see a classmate turn into someone else. So strong ... " she faltered, but she battled her hesitation.

"But you asked me to trust you, right? I know you're just trying to save me, so I've told myself to trust you instead of fearing you. Isn't that great?"

"Yes, it is."

"If a simple high school student like me can overcome so much in order to trust you, you at least can try a little harder to value your own life. Let's go home together."

Go home together . . . with her.

The thought was enormously appealing. If it were humanly possible, he wanted to try. How nice it would be to see her in the morning light, he imagined.

Why would he save her? For whose sake was he attempting it?

He clearly understood it.

It's for me. I want to go home with her. I want to be with her. And live.

Realizing he never wanted anything as badly as this in his life, Sousuke felt an overwhelming power surge up through his exhausted and battered body.

"Chidori."

"Sagara."

They gazed awkwardly at each other.

"Urn. Ahem," Kurz loudly and unapologetically cleared his throat, snapping Sousuke and Kaname back to Earth. They practically leaped away from each other.

"You ... you're awake?" Kaname asked, disbelieving.

"A guy can't possibly get any sleep around here with you two shouting like that!"

"Why didn't you say something?"

Scratching his head, Kurz shrugged. "Don't know. Didn't Seem Like the thing to do. Seriously, though, you should keep it down. You guys, huh? How about that."

Blushing all the way to her ears, Kaname said, "Don't get the wrong idea. I just got carried away with the mood. Nothing was going to happen. Really!"

Was that what that was? Watching Kaname's over the top denial, Sousuke felt surprised.

Kurz could not keep himself from laughing any longer, which caused him to curse his injury. "You lose, Sousuke," he said. "'No' means 'no.' Your plan is vetoed, so you might want to consider hers."

"Meaning?"

"Start a forest fire or something. It isn't a bad idea-a lot better than dying here like this. Although, starting a fire could be difficult with all this rain unless you have some gasoline with you. But even then, it'd still be a small fire."

"True-just big enough to give away our position."

"You don't know that. One of your planes could spot it just as easily," Kaname suggested.

"This is enemy airspace. Our people won't be flying here."

"Not even higher up? I saw it in a Harrison Ford movie once.

There was this spy satellite watching from space. Don't you guys have

any of those?"

Sousuke felt ill at ease about the prospect of disclosing classified information about Mithril's reconnaissance satellite, Sting, to an outsider. Given the circumstances, however, he broke protocol.

"We do. But we can't just tell it to fly over here. The satellite orbits are confidential, and noncommissioned officers like us aren't privy to them."

"Not exactly," mumbled Kurz. "Before moving out, I saw some satellite photos in the briefing. There were images of this base from yesterday at fifteen-hundred thirty hours. What time is it now?"

....

Meanwhile...

Kuroko was finishing his daily quest

"Finally, I finished my daily quest. Let's open the reward."