For the first time in a long while, he didn't dream at all.
It was a rare, peaceful sleep.
When he opened his eyes, the first things that came into view were the pure white ceiling of the infirmary and the weight resting against one of his arms.
“……”
Looking down, he saw a head of golden hair.
Wondering what exactly he was looking at, he soon had no choice but to realize the girl's identity.
‘Nectar?’
His mind had been steeped in pain, yet thanks to the Pentacle, he had definitely been awake.
Her being beside him wasn't strange.
Both Nectar and he had quite a lot to talk about.
The problem was...
‘Why is she using my arm as a pillow?’
Whether the bed was wide or Nectar's body was simply small, she was sleeping with her head resting perfectly on his arm.
Before he could resolve that question, however, the military doctor who had just entered the room spotted that he was awake and walked over.
“Ah, you're awake, Instructor.”
The military doctor with the short bob approached him with eyes filled with unmistakable goodwill and replaced his IV bag.
Then, checking off the notes on her chart with a ballpoint pen, she spoke quietly.
“Fortunately, your recovery is progressing well. However, I'd recommend refraining from using combat awakening drugs for the time being. I completely understand that they're necessary, but if this continues, even a Superhuman could end up having trouble with everyday life.”
In truth, that was all she could say.
The health condition of an instructor from the Central Special Service Academy was classified information in itself.
Meanwhile, Jin Crow simply nodded.
He had no excuse to offer in response to her warning.
If the doctor said so, what else could he do?
He had intended to hold back as much as possible in the first place.
His life had been on the line, so he hadn't had much choice, but the amount of awakening drugs he had pumped into his body during this operation would have killed an ordinary person from acute poisoning long ago.
“You're fit enough to be discharged immediately, but as your doctor, I'd really prefer it if you rested for a few more days. And, um...”
The military doctor tucked the chart under her arm.
Then, wearing a mysterious smile, she leaned in as though whispering and gave him a playful wink.
“The cadets are adorable.”
“...Hm?”
“Well then, get some rest. It's nice hearing so much commotion.”
Leaving behind a remark that Jin Crow, who had only just woken up, couldn't make sense of, she departed from the hospital room.
Not long afterward, however, he instinctively pinched the bridge of his nose when he heard footsteps approaching from outside.
The moment a whole group of cadets came barging in noisily, his uneasy feeling became reality.
“...Haa.”
“Instructor!”
“You're awake!”
“You actually survived that?”
Miel Amber rushed over with tears welling in her eyes.
Hino Kanae and Famille Demezear entered together, each dragging an IV stand.
Beatus had casts wrapped around his shoulder and collarbone.
And Dokgo Ran, sipping from a drink decorated with an apple logo while wearing a half-cast on one arm, let out a heartfelt exclamation.
“...Dokgo Ran. Five demerit points.”
“H-Huh? Why?”
“I would've given you that too, Ran.”
“I-I'm sorry! Please? Instructor!”
Completely ignoring Dokgo Ran's desperate protest with the same determination as everyone else, Jin Crow looked toward Miel, who had somehow brought a fruit basket, before his gaze met Baek Hwi-young's, who had entered last.
“...You're being a nuisance. Close the door.”
Through the window, he could see the streets of the Free Planet Alliance still undergoing reconstruction.
Judging by that, this was probably a hospital temporarily requisitioned by the Human Composite State.
Which meant all this noisy commotion was disturbing the other patients.
“Yes, Instructor.”
Baek Hwi-young nodded and quietly closed the door.
Jin Crow casually pushed Nectar's head off his arm as she slept and sat upright, leaning against the wall.
Naturally, after seeing everything, the cadets looked at him with the same curiosity and fascination one might reserve for a monkey in a zoo, making the back of his head ache even more.
Still, perhaps because of her upbringing—
Only Miel Amber remained focused on what truly mattered.
With tears glistening in her eyes, she peeled an apple as she spoke.
“I'm sorry... Sniff. You must be hungry. Please have this.”
Then Famille, still attached to her IV, spoke.
“I'll never cause trouble by following Ran again, Instructor. I'm sorry.”
“Huh?”
“I-I mean, it wasn't entirely Ran's fault, but... we were too careless, Instructor.”
Beatus lowered his head as well.
Hino Kanae nodded in agreement.
Naturally, Dokgo Ran wore an expression that plainly said, ‘You bastards?’
But since she had undeniably been the one who had strongly pushed for this trip, all she could do was stare at them with a look of utter betrayal.
“You're all the same. You lot look like you'd get thorns growing inside your mouths if you went without causing trouble.”
Without thinking, Jin Crow took the apple Miel had peeled and popped it into his mouth, replying gruffly.
Crunch.
Ran might have been the one who started it.
But they had still chosen to follow her.
No wonder they were the Knights of the Stars.
Even the scale of the trouble they caused was extraordinary.
Just then—
“Mmm...”
The sleepy murmur of a little girl drifted into everyone's ears.
Naturally, the atmosphere inside the hospital room became rather awkward.
Jin Crow instinctively realized exactly what kind of misunderstanding they were having.
He reached into his clothes for a cigarette, only to remember he was wearing a patient's gown, making that impossible.
At that very moment, Dokgo Ran, who had looked dejected only seconds earlier, suddenly brightened.
Raising her half-casted hand, her eyes sparkled as she shouted,
“Instructor! I have a question— Mmff!”
“Please, Ran.”
Hino Kanae immediately clamped a hand over her mouth.
But if that were enough to stop her, she wouldn't be Dokgo Ran.
“Sigh.”
Famille had already given up from the start.
Beatus had been ordered to remain on absolute bed rest, so he could only smile awkwardly without attempting to stop her.
Seizing the opportunity, Dokgo Ran finally shook off Hino Kanae's hand.
Her characteristic dark crimson eyes gleamed brightly as she shouted,
“What's your daughter's name?!”
Silence instantly fell.
Dokgo Ran's voice had been so loud that it echoed not only throughout the room but even into the nearby hallway.
At last, Jin Crow retrieved a cigarette from the coat hanging over a nearby chair and placed it between his lips.
“Cadet Baek Hwi-young.”
“Yes, Instructor.”
“Drag her out immediately.”
“W-Whyyyy?!”
Still grinning as though he found the whole thing amusing, Baek Hwi-young grabbed Dokgo Ran by the back of the head and dragged her away.
Jin Crow was just about to light his cigarette when he clicked his tongue upon seeing Nectar's childlike appearance.
He snapped the cigarette in half instead.
Then, biting into another apple to satisfy his hunger, he addressed the remaining cadets.
“Get losht.”
His pronunciation slurred slightly because of the apple in his mouth.
Still, the meaning got across perfectly.
Unlike Dokgo Ran, Hino Kanae, Famille, Miel, and Beatus were comparatively well-behaved cadets who actually listened to their instructor.
“U-Um... your daughter's really cute.”
“...I agree.”
Of course, the comments Miel and Hino Kanae added on their way out were rather irritating.
Once they had all left, Jin Crow was finally alone in the hospital room again.
Looking down at the peacefully sleeping Nectar, he frowned at the strange sense of incongruity he felt.
‘A human?’
She wasn't an android.
She lacked the distinctive joints and features unique to them.
After thinking for a moment, he reached out and gently pinched Nectar's cheek.
The silicone skin used by androids certainly felt similar to human skin.
But there was no way a Superhuman couldn't tell the difference.
“Mmm...”
It stretched nicely.
Nor did it feel unnatural in the slightest.
Just as he was seriously considering the possibility that Nectar was actually a human girl—
Click.
The hospital room door opened.
A white-haired woman dressed immaculately in a black military uniform stepped inside.
“Instructor Jin Crow, I heard you'd... awakened...”
Her voice, softer than its usual stern tone, trailed off as she looked at him.
She froze.
Only then did Jin Crow realize he was still stretching Nectar's cheek.
Slowly, he withdrew his hand.
He finished swallowing the apple in his mouth.
Then, wearing the most serious expression imaginable, he spoke to Ideale, who stood by the doorway awkwardly averting her eyes as though she had witnessed something utterly bizarre.
“...This is a misunderstanding.”
Ideale quietly closed the door behind her.
Removing the military cap from her head, she hung it on the coat rack before letting out a small chuckle.
“So even the great Jin Crow possesses paternal affection. That's something new.”
“...Damn it.”
It seemed it would take quite some time before this damned rumor finally disappeared.
In the end, Ideale naturally knew that the girl wasn't Jin Crow's daughter.
“And, aside from a few gossip-loving busybodies, most people know that as well. It's far more believable to think she's an orphan you've taken in.”
“That's a relief.”
Just because she had called Jin Crow Papa didn't mean every soldier who witnessed it would collectively fall under hypnosis and conclude, ‘Ah, she's Instructor Jin Crow's daughter.’
On the contrary, there were quite a few who suspected she had some connection to the Queen Jin Crow had killed.
Since she stubbornly refused to leave Jin Crow's side, they had no choice but to transport her together with him and conduct examinations.
Fortunately, aside from her obvious attachment to Jin Crow, she displayed absolutely no aggression.
“As a result, they concluded she's human. However, there is one peculiar detail.”
The girl wasn't an android.
But neither was she completely human.
“Over ninety percent of her biological structure matches that of a human. However, there are certain discrepancies. As a result, the conclusion was that she's closer to an artificially cultivated human.”
“I see.”
It was more or less what he had expected.
He didn't know the full details, but based on what he already knew about this world, he could piece together a fairly convincing hypothesis.
‘Nectar's true identity is, at minimum, a Strong AI. Or Mother AI. The reason Stero Mer was called immortal was because he used artificially cultivated bodies, and the underground facility beneath headquarters served as both the laboratory and Nectar's hiding place.’
His deduction had come remarkably close to the truth.
However, after glancing down at Nectar, who showed no intention whatsoever of waking up, Jin Crow looked back at Ideale and asked,
“What happened regarding ownership?”
“...Ownership. That's quite a cruel word.”
Ideale smiled bitterly.
The Human Composite State hadn't earned that name for nothing.
Their nation was obsessed with the purity of humanity.
There were even countless records from history showing how they had persecuted Superhumans capable of using Psionic energy.
Of course, nowadays they revered them as proof of humanity's evolution.
But that was nothing more than a practical compromise born of necessity.
Within such a society, an “artificially cultivated human” was considered a sin.
This was entirely different from a test-tube baby.
A test-tube baby merely underwent fertilization outside the body before the embryo was implanted into the mother.
Artificially cultivated humans, on the other hand, literally had every stage of their creation carried out inside a laboratory.
Androids were actually better accepted.
By this point in history, androids had fully integrated into society as individuals possessing independent consciousness.
Artificially cultivated humans, however, inspired an entirely different level of instinctive revulsion.
‘A human created without a soul.’
No one knew what kind of absurd nonsense that was.
Logically speaking, the belief was riddled with flaws.
Yet countless people embraced that bizarre hatred.
Even among the ruling class.
As a result, under the laws of the Human Composite State, the girl presumed to be Nectar wasn't considered “human.”
Which naturally led to the issue of ownership.
Looking at the girl with pity, Ideale quietly spoke.
“The paperwork has already been prepared. The only question was whether you'd accept it. ...Well, judging by how fond of her you seem, I don't think I need to worry.”
“As I said before, that was merely part of the examination process.”
“So you say.”
Perhaps because she rarely had the opportunity to catch Jin Crow in an awkward position.
She chuckled.
Jin Crow frowned with clear dissatisfaction before rising from the bed.
Standing before the freshly issued military uniform hanging neatly against the wall, he addressed Ideale.
“Will you be staying?”
“No. I've got a mountain of work to deal with.”
After answering, Ideale put her military cap back on and headed for the door.
After all, this catastrophe had taken place in the capital of a foreign nation.
She had more work than she could possibly finish.
She had rushed over the moment she heard Jin Crow had regained consciousness.
That didn't mean she could afford to spend much time with him.
“I've assigned the Military Police to guard you, so don't go causing any more trouble.”
Adding that final remark, she stepped out of the room.
As she did, her gaze drifted toward the blonde girl sleeping peacefully on Jin Crow's hospital bed.
“...Do they resemble each other?”
A moment later, she suddenly recalled what Ginatio had quietly told her about the academy's anonymous message board.
A small smile spread across her lips.
‘It isn't good for discipline to become too lax, but there's no way to control every ridiculous rumor spreading among the cadets.’
Well, even if they found out the truth later, what of it?
At worst, they'd smoke a cigarette or have a drink.
“Hm.”
The feeling of satisfaction reflected in her smile—as though she had just taken a refreshing sip of soda—was probably no coincidence.
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