Natsuki stared at her copy of the transcript and sighed. If there was some key to Balthazar’s method, it was still eluding her. She glanced around the barracks common room. Sayori and Yukari sat at one of the tables, chatting and drinking their morning coffee. Leora Deutschland argued with her voice actress in a corner. A man who looked like something out of a Victorian adventure novel, who she had been told was named Hancock Weiss, sat alone at one of the tables, reading a book. A short, middle aged Japanese man she hadn’t been introduced to yet sat on one of the couches, sketching something.

    He must be one of the creators of this world, she thought, and wondered if she should ask him what he was drawing.

    Meliana walked into the common room, caught Natsuki’s eye, and walked over, an envelope in her hand. “Here it is, as promised,” she said, handing it over.

    Yukari and Sayori stopped and stared at them. “What’s that?” Sayori asked.

    Natsuki opened up the envelope and started reading the contract inside. “They’re hiring me as a...a scientific advisor.”

    Yukari grinned. “The secret must be out. They know you’re a genius.”

    Meliana nodded. “Aquila said that if anybody could help figure out how Balthazar is colliding the worlds, it was Natsuki. And, since that’s now all we’ve got...”

    “Well, if Natsuki is helping, we’re helping too,” Yukari declared, getting up and sitting down at Natsuki’s table, followed by Sayori.

    Meliana blinked. “We don’t really have the budget...”

    Yukari shrugged. “We’ll volunteer. You’re housing us and feeding us anyway.”

    Hancock Weiss put his book down, stood and glared at them. “Are you qualified? I mean, you’re all...”

    Yukari glared back. “Probably more than you.”

    Meliana sighed. “Perhaps we can discuss this another time.”

    “No, let’s discuss it right now,” Yukari declared, standing and addressing the room. “How many story worlds do any of you have experience with? I’m going to go out on a limb and say that unless you come from an isekai story, it’s one.” She stared around the room. “We’ve been travelling the story worlds for four years. We’ve visited over a hundred of them. You’re right – we started off as the harem in a harem comedy. But we didn’t stay there.”

    “And let me guess,” Hancock scoffed. “You know how to fix her mech?”

    Yukari grinned at him. “Depends on what’s wrong with it.”

    “The haptic interface in the arm won’t reconnect,” Meliana said.

    “Is it a single or dual reactor mech?” Yukari asked.

    Meliana blinked. “Dual reactor.”

    Yukari nodded. “And let me guess, it’s cobalt enhanced?”

    Meliana’s eyes widened. “How could you possibly...”

    “You need to remove the secondary reactor before resetting the haptic system,” Yukari said. “They never put enough shielding on those things. The residual radiation from that reactor isn’t enough to harm the operator, but it is just enough to interfere with the haptic system during a reset.”

    Meliana and Hancock stared at her, their jaws agape.

    Yukari shook her head and pulled a card out of her pocket, showing it to them. “This is a Class 3 mech racing license. I’m good enough to go pro, if I ever wanted to.”

    “In fairness Yukari,” Sayori said. “You’ve never actually won a race.”

    “But I’ve also never finished below the top five,” Yukari pointed out.

    “But how could you know–” Hancock sputtered.

    “I got up close and personal with a mech mechanic,” Yukari said. “He taught me all about how they work, as well as about that annoying problem with the secondary reactor shielding.”

    Sayori blinked. “By ‘up close and personal’, you mean...”

    Yukari shrugged. “He was cute, and frisky, and I liked him and was willing. Don’t worry – I used protection. I always do.”

    Natsuki looked at the stunned reactions around the rest of the room and suppressed a grin.

    “We’re not harem comedy girls,” Yukari declared. “We’re travellers of the multiverse. We’ve got more practical experience of the story worlds than anybody here. Right now, one of our best friends, as well as the person who saved us from our story, are both in hospital beds, and the world’s in danger of ending. So, we’re going to help.”

    Natsuki looked up at Meliana and smiled. “I’m not signing this offer without them.”

    Meliana sighed. “Then I guess I don’t have any choice. I’ll find a place in the budget for two more.”

    “And you’d better get your mech fixed,” Yukari added. “Now that you know how.”

    Natsuki signed the job offer and handed it back to Meliana. “Now, want to show us where we’re going to be working? We’d like to get started.”

“Well, it’s nice enough,” Yukari said as Natsuki looked around. It was a large room with several tables and a couple of desks. Three of the tables were strewn with electronics. A laptop sat on one of the desks, as well as an unruly pile of papers.

    “That’s where Hancock works,” Meliana said. “That desk and those three tables.”

    “I invent things,” Hancock declared, striding into the room and walking over to one of the tables. “I need the space. I get priority over any of the tables.”

    “I deduce things,” Natsuki stated. “A desk to work at is fine for me.”

    “We’ll need desks too,” Yukari said.

    “I’ll requisition two more,” Meliana said. “Along with some nice chairs.”

    Yukari grinned. “We’re scientists now!”

    “Natsuki is the scientist now,” Sayori stated. “We’re the help.”

    Yukari’s grin only widened. “We’re scientist-adjacent now!”

    Hancock sighed. “I’m in hell.”

    Yukari chuckled. “You’re just jealous because we knew how to fix her mech.”

    “It doesn’t matter what he’s jealous about,” Natsuki said, pulling out her copy of the transcript. “The first thing we need to do is go over this transcript. And for that we need more copies.”

    “I can take care of that,” Atria said, stepping into the room carrying her messenger bag over her shoulder. “I was wondering where you had gotten to, Natsuki. We just got back from raiding that house you said you were held in. As we expected, it was abandoned – they probably relocated right after the skirmish. But, there was something that had been left on the kitchen table.” She opened her bag and took out two books, handing them to Natsuki.

    Natsuki looked at the books and sighed. It was both volumes of The Complete Sherlock Holmes, the ones she had left behind when she had raced to escape.

    “There was a note on top of them addressed to you,” Atria added. “It just said ‘We’re sorry for everything’. I take it these mean something to you?”

    Natsuki nodded, looking over the first volume. Her bookmark was still right where she had left it. “They wanted to make me comfortable, so they asked me what kind of books I liked to read. I told them I liked mysteries. So, they got me these.” She closed her eyes. “I want to hate them for what they did. Why can’t I hate them?”

    “Because, no matter what they did in the end, they were kind and sincere to you,” Atria replied. “I’m not surprised by that. We have files on all four of them. They’re all the heroes of their stories.”

    “Darius would disagree with that,” Natsuki said.

    “According to an interview by his author, Darius would be wrong,” Atria stated. “A tragic hero is still a hero. Your initial read of them was correct. They’re good people – they’re just not on our side.”

    Natsuki nodded and stared at the books, then put them down on the free desk.

    “It’s up to you what you want to do with them,” Atria said. “But, let me ask you this: are they good books?”

    Natsuki nodded. “They’re great.”

    “Then, whatever the people who gave them to you did, it’s not the books’ fault,” Atria declared. “I’d enjoy them, if I were you.”

    “I need to requisition desks and chairs,” Meliana said. “I’ll leave you all to it.” With that, she headed to the door.

    Natsuki sat down at her desk and shook her head. “That room...why does that room feel like the key to everything?”

    “What do you mean?” Sayori asked, sitting on the corner of the desk.

    “There was this room in the house,” Natsuki explained. “They kept it locked. They said that the reason was that it was where they tested things like new magic spells, and the after-effects made it dangerous to be in. They were telling the truth, too.”

    Atria blinked and whipped out her copy of the transcript. “I know that room. It was in the basement, right? Leora Deutschland came with us on the raid because you warned us about it. She said it had been scrubbed, and there was no magical residue.” She found the page she was looking for. “Here it is – they had a room like that in their previous base, and a mouse had disappeared in it.”

    Natsuki nodded. “That’s the one. Every instinct I’ve got is telling me that it’s the key to solving this.”

    Hancock stared at them. “You’re saying that Balthazar experimented on how to collide the worlds in that testing room.”

    Sayori and Yukari exchanged glances. “That mouse must have fallen into an information stream,” Sayori said. “When we had to mark a safe route through that wreckage, any coals that fell through just disappeared.”

    “I’ll pull everything we have on Balthazar’s last base when I arrange for your copies,” Atria said, heading for the door. Then she stopped. “My office is next door, if you need to find me. If any of you need to talk...well, it’s the least I can do.”

    Natsuki settled down and started to apply her brain to the riddle of Balthazar’s magic testing room.

Natsuki frowned as she sat in the commissary with Sayori and Yukari, her lunch going cold in front of her. Two hours of thinking and pouring over the transcript copies that Atria had provided had yielded nothing. It hadn’t been helped by the bureaucrat who had invaded their workspace to take down all of their information, and pestered them with questions.

    “So much wasted time,” Natsuki muttered.

    Sayori blinked. “Wasted time? He was there for less than ten minutes. And as of tomorrow we’ll be citizens of this world.”

    “For as long as this world lasts,” Natsuki said.

    “We’re planning to go visit Yuri and Aquila in the hospital this afternoon,” Yukari said. “Atria found her an old Japanese navy coat to replace the one she lost, and we have to deliver it. You should come with us.”

    Natsuki shook her head. “I need to work on this. There’s a solution here, I know it.”

    “Not every problem can be solved in just a couple of hours,” Sayori pointed out. “Perhaps taking a break will help.”

    Natsuki shook her head again. “What I need is more data.” She switched to English. “Data, data, data! I cannot make bricks without clay!”

    Sayori and Yukari stared at each other. “I think that book might be rubbing off on her,” Yukari said. “Look, our friends are in the hospital, and your brain will keep working on the problem no matter where you are. Come with us. Spend time with Yuri and Aquila. Cap and Kasumi will be there too.”

    “No, I need to stay here,” Natsuki declared. “There might be something in that report about Balthazar’s old base that I missed.”

    Yukari opened her mouth to speak, but Sayori put a hand on hers and shook her head. “We hope you’ll change your mind and join us,” Sayori said. “But, if you don’t and you need us, just give us a call and we’ll come back.”

    Natsuki nodded, barely aware of what they were saying. The answer was there, somewhere...all she had to do was find it.