The Amphisbaena by Gakuto Mikumo

SLAND OF E XILE
1
    The next day: Saturday…
    Kojou, having passed the night without a single wink of sleep, came out of the Island North monorail station together with Yukina.
    The Demon Sanctuary of Itogami City was a research and development city. The island was cramped with big corporations manufacturing pharmaceuticals, precision machinery, and high-tech materials, etc., and several well-known academic research agencies.
    This place, Island North Section Two’s Magia Valley, was known for having a particularly high concentration of large-scale research facilities. It was a futuristic-looking area with strong traces of being part of a man-made island.
    “…Magus Craft?” Kojou asked Yukina while looking up at the Y OU A RE H ERE map in front of the station.
    Yukina unfolded a handwritten memo and double-checked.
    “Yes. The address Nagisa gave me for Kanase is the address for Magus Craft Incorporated.”
    “…That’s a company that makes cleaning robots, isn’t it?” Kojou mumbled as he located a memory in the back of his mind. He’d definitely seen the name on trash compactors for buildings, rug-polishing machines, and household-cleaning robots.
    “That’s right. It’s a corporation known mainly for manufacturingAutomata for commercial purposes. It has a research facility here in Itogami City, and Kanase’s current father works there.”
    “…
Current
father…? Oh right, Kanase lived at an abbey?”
    “Yes. I heard that he took Kanase in after the abbey was shut down.” As Yukina spoke the words, she lowered her eyes with a somewhat conflicted look. No doubt Yukina, an orphan raised by the Lion King Agency, had empathy rather than pity for Kanon’s circumstances.
    Kojou scratched his head with a sober look.
    “Normally you’d think that was a good thing, but…after seeing that yesterday, I dunno…”
    “Agreed. There seems a bit more to the story.”
    Yukina nodded in her overly serious demeanor. Then, she suddenly lifted her face up with apparent concern.
    “Have you spoken to…Ms. Minamiya about Kanase?”
    “Not yet. More like, I can’t yet. She might not know that the Masked girl’s really Kanase. We need a bit more info one way or another…”
    Kojou’s face twisted in anguish as he exhaled.
    Of course, he didn’t think his own judgment was absolutely correct, either. It might have been best to leave preventing further damage in Natsuki’s hands. However, Kojou wasn’t a member of the Island Guard; he was just a student. He wasn’t inclined to hand an acquaintance over to the Gigafloat Management Corporation without any idea of the circumstances involved. He at least wanted to talk to Kanon once beforehand.
    Unusually, Yukina didn’t try to scold Kojou at all; she simply murmured, “It can’t be helped, then.”
    “This is…where she lives?”
    “This building is listed as her address…”
    Having finally arrived at their destination, Kojou and Yukina spent a while silently standing there in place.
    It was an aggressively standing structure entirely encased in reflective glass. It looked like a cold, lifeless office building, not somewhere anyone would actually live. If this was really where Kanon lived, it would mean she lived not in a house, but inside a corporate laboratory.
    While that was far from the worst of all things, that fact just didn’t fit with their image of Kanon. At the very least, hardly lent itself to raising a kitten.
    As Kojou and Yukina made their way into the lobby, a young girl at the reception desk spoke up to them. “…Welcome.”
    “Ah… Excuse me, we’d like to meet Kanon Kanase who lives at this address?”
    Kojou made an awkward, polite smile as he stated his business.
    The receptionist looked up at Kojou with a detached look in her eyes. Kojou realized that she wasn’t human. She was a robot… An Automata built to mimic a human being.
    “Kanon Kanase of room 204 is currently absent.”
    The receptionist spoke informatively, her