Tightrope Dancer, Stage 3

Ao no Kiseki Volume Nine
Ginkaku and Kinkaku take Kai and Sanshirou to the Heipan's rec room...which is little more than a crowded space with alcohol available. Sanshirou blends right in, but Kai's cool, appraising attitude makes the Heipan believe he's looking down on them. They get all riled up, forcing Ginkaku and Kinkaku to step in on his behalf. Kai wins some grudging respect for his ability to puff on one of Ginkaku's special drugged cigars and then beat Ginkaku in a drinking contest. To Kai, as a Lunan, such a paltry amount of drugs and alcohol is barely enough for him even to notice.
However, one of the mercenaries, a man named Yaito, doesn't trust Kai. He had been betrayed by the Federation before, so he takes out his frustration and anger on Kai simply for being a Federation officer. Kai attempts to convince Yaito he's no ordinary officer by removing his visor and revealing his Kaleidoscope Eyes. The whole room is mesmerized. Sanshirou insists that Kai's identity as a Lunan is no big deal once one gets used to it...an assertion that prompts Ginkaku to suspect Sanshirou must be impotent. Sanshirou heatedly defends his manliness, claiming, "If Kai were a woman, I'd have knocked him up a dozen times over by now!" Kai has no sympathy for his predicament.
They are called for a meeting with Basara and Captain Lee, where Sasha explains the situation. Tsualnolte has invited Lee and his officers so they can provide information about the Federation that Tsualnolte can use to its advantage in its rebellion. Meanwhile, Basara and the Heipan will cause a distraction by barging in and demanding payment for Tsualnolte's breach of contract. The plan is that Sanshirou will use this opportunity to locate the captive Sheran and release him, whereas Kai will remain behind to coordinate strategy.

Kai vetoes this plan. He says that he must go with Sanshirou because his empathic ability allows him to serve as a tracking device to locate the captive. Sanshirou is violently opposed to Kai going along on the raid, but he can't articulate his objection well enough to convince the others to abandon Kai's idea. Kai, Sanshirou, and Ginkaku will wind up being smuggled onto the Tsualnolte base in coldsleep pods under the pretense that they are experts stolen from the Jules Verne during Lee's escape.

That night, Kai can't sleep due to the proximity of so many people. He seeks out a place where he can be alone. He ends up in a storage room. He thinks he's the only one there until he runs into Ganeisha. He learns that her special ability is absolute recall combined with a lifespan of centuries&emdash;she's actually much older than she let on earlier. She, along with others like her, serve as living records of everything the Heipan do. They are charged with remembering every detail of the Heipan, all their lives and deeds and deaths, for century upon century. Kai is overwhelmed by the magnitude of that duty.
At the same time, Sanshirou excuses himself from the Heipan rec room and also searches for a spot to sleep. He accidentally meets up with Sasha in the middle of having sex with one of Lee's officers. After he finishes and sends the man on his way, Sasha tries to seduce Sanshirou. Sanshirou will have none of it. He figures if Sasha were enjoying himself, that would be all well and good, but he can tell that Sasha isn't even turned on. Sanshirou has absolutely no interest in sleeping with someone who wouldn't enjoy it. He tells Sasha to go sleep with Lee if he's that desperate for a partner, but Sasha pouts that Lee won't touch him.

In the morning, they set their operation in motion. Yet the plan falls apart when Federation officials show up to investigate the Tsualnolte base for signs of rebellion. The Tsualnolte side decides it's most prudent to turn Lee's group over to the authorities rather than have their collusion discovered. They capture Lee, but Sasha escapes in the struggle and awakens Sanshirou's team. They locate the prisoner's room relatively easily, but they run into a major problem&emdash;he's being kept in an isolated observation deck with the door and walls wired to explode. They have no choice but to retreat and come back later with an explosives expert. Coincidentally, the Heipan's explosives expert is Yaito.

They make their way back to meet up with the Heipan in the docking bay. By this time, the battle with the Tsualnolte forces has spread throughout the base, and they encounter heavy resistance. Sanshirou takes out the enemy in the docking bay by wiring the atmospheric controls to increase the air pressure and using Kai's chemical to condense the nitrogen out of the air. This causes the enemy to suffer from oxygen poisoning.
They all retreat toward the safety of the Heipan ship, but on the way Kai's empathic ability is overloaded by the emotions of the dying men all around him, and he collapses. Then one of the Tsualnolte troops activates a powerful anti-tank grenade. Sanshirou is forced to order Kinkaku, the one farthest from the rest, to grab the grenade and race for the elevator. Everyone else is saved from the resulting explosion, but Sanshirou is devastated at having sent a trusting comrade to his death. He stays behind, along with Sasha, who refuses to abandon Lee, while the Heipan carry the unconscious Kai aboard their ship.

End Volume Nine

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