“Thanks, Alice. I really needed that.” Sam said, his eyes on the ceiling.

“… I… I might’ve needed this as well.”

Snuggling close to him, Alice closed her eyes, the sound of his heartbeat reached her as she placed her head on his chest.

“Sam… I love you…”

“Me too…” Sam replied, kissing her head. “I love you too.”

Currently the two of them were naked under the thin blanket he had brought to the lab. After the confrontation they had earlier and all the headache that resulted from it, the two spent most of the day going at it.

Even though she was angry at him for what he did to the Valkyries as well as disobeying her orders, once she was in his hands Alice let go of it all and recieved his love without resistance. Sam was surprised aa well. The difference between Alice and the Valkyries was notable, but not as much as he had previously thought.

However the most important part was that by the end of it Sam felt extremely satisfied. Having the woman he loves in his arms after they had done the deed felt completely different from the lust driven sex he had with Nine, and though he had feelings for Five something about their relationship didn’t feel right to him.

‘Is it because I still dont believe she chose to be with me out of her own free will?’ Sam thought.

“Say… what are we going to do from now?” Alice asked. “This war… are we really going to survive?…”

The odds were against them, their strongest weapons couldn’t hope to match what their enemies are capable of. It doesn’t take a genius to know that they had no hope at coming out on top.

“I… I will do something about it.” Sam said. He hesitated at first, but he knew he had no choice. He couldn’t rely on someone else saving them or on a miracle happening. He needs to do it himself.

As his mind began working on finding a solution, Alice allowed herself to relax. However at that moment she remembered a question she wanted to ask earlier but forgot.

“Come to think of it, Sam. How did you find those files?”

“Hm? Ah… yeah, about that…” pausing for a moment, Sam heaved a sigh and rubbed his eyes. “Remember that book you found in my room?”

“You mean… that erotica?”

“Yeah. Well, you see, there is a code hidden inside the book. When solved you find a number of commands unique to Eir. Entering those commands gives you access to the files.”

“Ooh… it’s amazing that you’ve noticed it…”

“It was just a coincidence. The code itself isn’t that hard to solve…”

Just then Sam remembered something important.

“Oh, right! I found another one the other day.” He said, quickly getting up from the bed. “I kept putting off solving it so it’s been sitting around… huh?”

“Is something wrong?” Asked Alice, lifting herself up while holding the blanket to cover her chest.

“It’s gone…”

Sam had opened the drawer he had kept the book in, however it was no longer there.

For some reason panic hit him violently. He quickly put his clothes on and began searching through the lab. The place was a but messy so he might’ve put it somewhere else and forgot.

A few minutes later and after tidying everything up the was still nowhere to be found. Sadly there are no security cameras inside so it was impossible to know who took it.

“I… let’s ask the Valkyries…” Sam said, walking out of the lab in quick steps.

“Doctor?”

Nine was standing right outside which startled him for a moment. He gazed at the blond Valkyrie for a moment, wondering if she was the one who did it. He couldn’t see it happening, but nothing was off the table.

“Three and Five are in the residence, right?” Sam asked

“Yes. Since we have free time Three is most likely in the pool while Five spends most of the time in the training room.” Nine replied.

“Alright. Do you mind calling them? There is something I want to discuss.”

“… Understood.”

Nine went ahead to summon the other two while Sam and Alice followed a few steps behind.

“Sam, do you really think that one of them took it?” Alice asked.

“I don’t want to believe it, but…”

By the time they arrived, Three, Five and Nine were already lining up and waiting. Zero three was still in her swimsuit with water dripping from her hair. Despite the situation Sam couldn’t help but think she looked rather cute. Five was wearing a sports bra and tight pants which reminded him of that time he taught her how to perform oral sex on him.

Alice wasn’t oblivious to the fact that he was staring at the two Valkyries so she gave him a light elbow jab.

Sam cleared his throat with a cough then looked ahead once more before he spoke.

“Today I realized something had gone missing from my lab. It’s a book with a green cover. Just to be sure, I wanted to ask if any of you had taken it without my permission.”

The three Valkyries stared at him for a few seconds, blinking repeatedly.

“A book?” Nine tilted her head a little, looking somewhat confused.

“Is that what you called us for?” Three asked with a small frown. “I barely read the ones given to me. Why would I want another one?”

The young Valkyrie was referring to the study material she had in her room. Being designed to be around that age she was forced to do some studying from time to time.

‘Wait…’ Once again Sam found himself having doubts. ‘Wolf said that the base program was fake, but does that mean the part about their programmed personalities is true?’

It made sense for things to be like that considering everything lined up with what he had observed ever since he started his job.

“I have no interest in books.” Five said.

“Me neither.” Nine added with a smile.

“I see…”

Sam couldn’t see any of the three lying to him so he heaved a sigh and scratched his head.

‘What is going on here?’ He thought to himself.

“Sam, maybe you left it in your room?” Alice suggested.

“No, I’m sure I brought it to the lab with me intending to solve it.” He replied, shaking his head. “I got busy with what happened to Three then completely forgot about it…”

A lot of things occurred in such a short amount of time leaving him too occupied to focus on solving the code.

“Sam… you said you found the first code in a similar book, right?” Alice asked.

“Yeah.”

“And the second one contains another code, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Then… doesn’t this mean we are in some really big trouble?”

Sam was already aware of it, however when she worded it like that the bad feeling he had grew stronger and stronger.

“Let’s check the security footage…” he suggested, knowing full well that it’s a pointless effort.

The maintenance area was off limits to most people with only Sam and Alice having a high enough security clearance to enter it. No one should be able to get past the front door and there was no sign of anyone breaking in.

“As expected, there is nothing…” Sam muttered as he stared at the tablet in his hand.

The logs showed that the only times the door was opened was when Sam himself had entered the building as well as the three Valkyries. Alice came in only once in the past few days.

“Why does this keep happening?” Alice said, her teeth gritted.

“Are you talking about the crime?” Sam asked.

“The first time you were attacked, when sergeant Clementine was killed, and then sergeant Kerry. What’s the point of security equipment if it never seem to catch anything?”

“This is getting ridiculous…” Sam said. “Why would anyone steal that book?”

If it had something to do with Eir like the first one, normal people wouldnt have any use for it. That makes it seem like the suspect is someone knowledgeable about the Valkyries and their equipment, unless the code in that version of the book is for something completely different.

“Should we conduct a thorough inspection?” Though she made the proposition, Alice didn’t feel like it’s the right course of action.

“Noz that would be pointless.” Sam replied. “I doubt the one who took it would be so stupid as to hide it among their stuff.”

Someone good enough to sneak into the maintenance area without anyone noticing wouldn’t make such a stupid mistake.

‘The murders… is it the same guy?’

The only thing they had in common is that the perpetrators wasn’t caught by the security cameras. Still, Sam couldn’t help but think they’re somehow related.

The truth is that there is Nine more suspect, however he didn’t want to even think about that possibility. Alice is the only other person capable of entering the lab which makes her a suspect as well. Just like the Valkyries, he didn’t want to believe that she did it, however he couldn’t stop himself from considering it.