[X] Try asking about setting up defensive measures before Sidonia starts her invasion, so that you have at least some advantage.
"Anything?"
Your question feels futile, and when both Saki and Mirai return replies of "Nothing we haven't already found," you resign yourself to accepting that it was futile. You lean back in your chair, sighing as you stretch your arms. "Well, that could have gone better."
"Honestly? I think we did a pretty good job, all things considered," Saki says. "I mean, there's just not a whole lot of information available about this stuff, and what is there is still that we already know about. The best I could manage to find after we got back to looking was that, apparently, there's a version of that marksman guy's story that involves the Wild Hunt. I'm not sure if that's an indicator of anything or not, but… It's there."
You'd like to think that it's just a coincidence. "That version of the story post-dates Sidonia's lifetime by several hundred years, so I don't think it's anything more than coincidental," Saki adds, "But still, maybe that's something else we should bring up with Akemi and the others." Turning to Mirai, Saki asks "What about you?"
"I tried looking for that one Serbian source Mikuni mentioned the other day, but I wasn't able to find it," Mirai says. "At least, not in Japanese, anyway. So either she was looking harder than we were, or she just got lucky and stumbled across something she shouldn't have." Mirai drums her fingers against the edge of her laptop, musing "Stupid, frigging… Why don't we get her to research all of this, if she's so good at it."
"She probably is, if we're being honest,' Niko says. "If she's the one Akemi tasked with researching this stuff, I'd imagine she's working just as hard as you two are. It just remains to be seen whether she finds anything else new that either of you might have missed."
Three heads nod in agreement with Niko's point, and a silence falls over the common area, punctuated only by the impatient drumming of Mirai's fingers against the table. "So… What now?" she asks. "I mean, we've found about as much as we're going to, I think, so… How what should we be doing now?" Mirai turns her head in Saki's direction, musing "It's not like we have classes to go to anymore, not since the university's shut down while the evacuation order is in place, so…?"
"We make ourselves useful," Saki replies. She turns to you and Niko, and asks, more or less both of you at the same time "Do you have any ideas?"
You turn your head to Niko; you don't, but maybe- "We can start by setting up defensive measures across the city," Niko says. "It's something I had wanted to do in Asunaro once I realised the severity of the situation, but I never ended up finding the time, not with everything else going on around me. But here, if we've still got a few days left and we're strapped for things to do…" Niko's voice trails off, as though the rest of her statement doesn't need to be said. "That's my vote, at least. It's ultimately up to Kazumi to decide."
"No, I think it's a good idea," you say. "We should probably get permission from Akemi before we start messing around in her city, but I don't think she'll mind us wanting to be proactive about setting up defences." You glance over to the clock display on Kaoru's laptop; school isn't over yet. You're hesitant to bother Akemi while she's busy taking care of other, equally as important things, but you know you don't have a choice. When you see three sets of eyes all staring at you, expectantly, you know you don't have a choice. "Just… Give me a moment," you say.
You excuse yourself from the common area and head to Niko's room. Is it also your room? The room you share with Niko? Or is it just Niko's room because you have your own room, even if you're not actually planning on using it? You were asking the same questions earlier in the day, weren't you? That's where you left your phone after your initial conversation with Akemi earlier in the morning, because you didn't think you'd need it.
But something stops you. Wait a minute, you think to yourself. Akemi's in school right now. What am I doing, trying to call her on her phone? Remembering that you are a puella magi, you take a seat on Niko's bed, and reach out to Akemi not with your phone, but with your mind.
"Hey, Akemi, it's Kazumi," you say. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything important, but I… I needed to talk to you about something. Do you have a minute?"
"Strictly speaking, yes," Akemi replies. "I'm in class at the moment, but I can spare a minute or two to speak if it's important."
"Good. So… Saki, Mirai, Niko, and myself were talking earlier," you say; "And, well… We've tried to keep ourselves occupied while we waited for you to be done with school, so we were doing some research. But, we've kind of hit a dead end, and you're not done with school yet, so…" You're rambling; you know it, and Akemi can probably tell by the way you've failed to get to the point. "So, I was wondering, would it be okay if we killed some time setting up some defensive measures somewhere in the city?"
"Yes, that would be fine," Akemi says. "In fact, that's not even something I'd feel you have to ask me permission to do. It's valuable work towards the war effort, so don't feel like you need to ask permission If you've got a good idea. Do you have any idea of where you might want to consider setting defensive measures up?"
"Not yet, but… That's something I can talk to the others about when I'm done talking to you," you say. The idea strikes you, so while you still have Akemi, you decide to ask "So, um, how's everything going with the evacuation? Is that going smoothly?"
"It's… A bit of a mixed bag," Akemi replies. "I'd like to think that Hitomi, Nurse Ortensia, and myself are making good progress, but aside from Nurse Ortensia, we're limited in what we can do. Hitomi and I can't just go wandering off into other classrooms while class is in session, so we have to either catch our teachers as they're leaving for the next class, or find them in the staff office in-between classes. So while yes, I'd like to think that we're making good progress, we're being constrained by our position as students."
"I see…" You're not so stupid that what Akemi said went completely over your head. You understand the point she's making about not being able to do certain things or go certain places because she's a student. But, not being in school yourself, you feel there's still a vital, lived-experience component to what Akemi is saying that you're missing out on. "Well, I'm glad things are going smoothly enough for you, at any rate," you say. "Keep up the good work."
"Thank you for the encouragement," Akemi replies. "I'll be looking forward to seeing the work you and the others can get done before school gets out. If you think you'll need assistance in setting anything up, don't hesitate to contact Oriko and ask if she'll let you borrow Lancer. I'm sure once you explain the situation to her, she'd be delighted to lend her servant out to help you."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Just… Remember to be careful when you're out and about. Especially in the case of being seen by someone, and especially if you find yourself venturing into areas that might be dangerous, like the sewers. We still don't know the whole of what's lurking down there. It might be more spiders, or it might be something else. So be careful."
"Right, I'll be careful," you say. "But thanks for the warning, Akemi; and again, good luck."
"Good luck to you as well, Kazumi."
Akemi is the one who hangs up on you, leaving you alone with your thoughts in Niko's bedroom. She sleeps on the side of the bed that's closer to the door, so right now you're sitting in a Niko-shaped depression. The Kazumi-shaped depression on the other side of the bed is positioned right beside it, as your invisible form holds tightly onto Niko's waist. She's taller than you, but she sleeps curled up on her side, while you sleep spread a~l~l the way out, giving your indents the impression that you're the taller of the two. You lean over, grabbing Niko's pillow and hugging it tightly.
You're still embarrassed that Assassin saw you sleeping with Niko. Was she watching you the entire time you were sleeping, or did she only get up and start reading after Niko had gotten up? You set Niko's pillow back where you found it, and resolve to give the real thing an equally warm hug the next time you see her.
Which isn't that far away, since she's sitting at the table in the next room over. "Hey," you say, cuddling up to your taller girlfriend and giving her a hug from behind. "How's work coming along?"
"It's… Fine, I guess," Niko says. Squirming in your embrace, she asks "What's the occasion?"
"Because I wanted to, silly," you reply. "Do I need a reason to want to hug my girlfriend, especially when she's so warm and huggable?"
Niko sighs, and resigns herself to being hugged for as long as you want. "No, I suppose you don't," she says. "But could you at least hug me in a different position? I can't work when you've got my arms pinned like this."
That's obviously the point, something you won't share with Niko. Saki coughs into her hand; she and Mirai are staring at you. "Well?" Mirai asks. "Stop messing around with Niko and tell us what Akemi said already." She crosses her arms over her chest, and grumbles something to herself that sounds suspiciously like "Why do we need to ask for permission if we're going to be helping her?"
"Because what we think might be helpful, Akemi might see it differently," Saki says to Mirai, confirming what your ears heard coming form her. "But, Kazumi, what did Akemi say?"
"She said she didn't have a problem with us setting up defences around the city," you say. "Actually, she also said that's not something we would have needed to ask permission for, so…" You scratch the back of your head, and add "Mirai was… Kind of right, actually."
Mirai smiles, and she sticks her tongue out at Saki in a playful, almost "I told you so" manner, prompting Saki to say "You put that tongue back in your mouth, or your mouth'll be the only place that tongue goes for a while." Mirai's tongue slides back into her mouth, and you're left traumatised as your brain attempts to compute all of the places Mirai's tongue could go.
Suitably, Niko is the only one of you whose mind right now is solely focused on business. She clears her throat, and says "So, Kazumi, now that… That, is out of the way, did you have any idea of where we should start setting up defences?"
You hadn't gotten that far yet.
Where should you set up defences?
[ ] Around town, wherever you think could use one
[ ] Focus on key areas along Mitakihara's leylines (ask for help from someone more knowledgeable before choosing this)
[ ] Focus on setting them in places that'll box Sidonia in
[ ] Venture down into the sewers and set them up along a path to intercept possible familiar activity
[ ] Ask someone who knows more about the layout of Mitakihara than you do for advice
[ ] Other (write-in)
