Blindy staggered to his feet,
walked toward her.
Even through the mask, his voice trembled:
“Y-you okay?..”
Shiori only nodded—
focused, controlled,
like someone counting seconds until catastrophe.
Blindy reached out
and touched the dome.
It shocked the hell out of him.
Good thing the suit held.
The swarm of white ninja-droids slammed against the dome with plasma blades.
Some were already climbing it, like metallic ants.
Then Zeros raised both hands.
“Initiating internal override. I’m done with this.
Time to erase the station… and the planet with it.
The override began.”
Shiori flinched.
“What did you just say?!”
She pressed her hand to her comm.
“Airi-chan, hurry—get us out of here!”
Zeros rotated his palms.
Distortions gathered between his fingers—
milky interference, like he was tearing space apart.
His eyes turned white.
Blindy clenched instinctively—pure animal reflex—
and shuffled closer to him,
like a penguin standing in front of a hurricane.
“Buddy—
buddy, listen— I’m— I’m an idiot, alright? I know that—One minute I’m sayin’ don’t do it—
next minute I’m sayin’ do it—
I don’t even know what I’m sayin’ anymore—But let’s not—
please— let’s just— not do it, alright?You’re pissed— I see it— you’re REAL pissed—
you’re gonna wipe all of us out—Me—
Shiori—
you—
everything— just— gone—So just—
just calm down, b-buddy—
please— just— breathe or— do whatever you do— just—”
Zeros didn’t respond.
He just kept rotating his hands.
Then a voice burst through their comms:
“ZEROSU-SENPAI.
DON’T YOU DARE.
I’M ALMOST THERE. ρ[｀.´]ρ
FIVE SECONDS.”
“Override complete.
SAER’THAL available,” Zeros said,
raising his hands, eyes white, preparing to clap.
“STOP,
SENPAI! I’M HERE! ・・・・・～～～～～～～[m￣ー￣]m”
Blindy looked up, completely losing it.
“W-w-WHAT—
SH—SHIORI—WE’RE DEAD—
WE’RE SO DEAD—I—I gotta confess—
I gotta say it now—Sh-Sh-Shiori, I—
I— I— I LO——NO—WAIT—
NOT LIKE THIS—
THIS IS—THIS IS A TERRIBLE MOMENT—”
And then—
a shadow formed above them.
Airi’s ship hovered directly over the platform.
A small glowing sphere—no bigger than a pea—
detached from the hull.
Blue.
Burning.
Almost… cute.
It touched the center of the station.
The control hall.
A moment of silence.
Then—
WHITE FLASH
The world vanished.
All SHIRŌ-KAGE froze—
like time had been paused.
Then their silhouettes trembled—
and collapsed into gray static,
falling like puppets with cut strings.
The shockwave swept dust aside,
bent metal,
compressed the air into the dome—
which flickered
and died.
The platform trembled.
The world hissed.
And only three remained standing.
A moment later, Airi descended through the fading glow—
like night itself taking form to retrieve them.
Zeros grabbed Blindy with one hand,
yanked Shiori by the armor with the other,
and in a single smooth motion leapt across the shattered platform
into the open cargo bay.
He tossed them inside, stepped in after them,
and the hatch slammed shut with a heavy metallic
CHUNK.
“Airi,” he said, settling in like he had just finished a boring workout,
“get us out of this useless shithole.”
The engines began to build—soft, steady.
“Hai~ Zerosu-senpai.
And… thank you for saving Shiori-sensei. [ ͡ᵔ ͜ʖ ͡ᵔ ]”
Shiori lowered her gaze,
hiding relief as carefully as she hid emotion on missions.
Blindy sat beside her—
hunched, unfocused, breathing unevenly,
like part of him was still back there
in the rain of light.
Zeros looked out.
He watched the clouds and smoke collapse beneath them,
dissolving into darkness—
as if the station had already become
a bad memory.
“Good work, Airi,” he said.
“Ufufu~ Thank you, Senpai,” she replied. 〈[ ^.^]ノ
Airi turned, carrying them away.
Behind them, deep in space—
something flared.
Not sound—
but pure matter igniting,
rising into a white-orange sphere of light.
The remains of the station, struck by Airi’s pulse,
entered cascading overload:
power systems chained into a runaway reaction,
and the entire structure tore itself apart—
not by command,
but because it simply could not survive the impact.
Millions of burning fragments scattered
like fiery seeds across the void—
and among them—
escape pods, ejected in desperation,
fleeing the collapse in silent arcs.
Most burned.
Some broke apart.
A few—
made it out—
raining down into Methuselah’s orbit.
The ancient gas giant waited patiently.
Its rings and storms opened like endless jaws.
The debris vanished into its clouds without a trace—
as if the old world simply muttered:
“I outlived my stars.
I will outlive your toys.”
Airi continued to accelerate.
The glow of the explosion faded behind them—
like stage lights being switched off.
Mission complete.
They survived.
But damn…
what a price.