A plane begins to plummet. Passengers screamed, grabbing onto the armrests of their seats.
[No! Don’t make a sound! This is your last shred of dignity! Bang!]
With another loud explosion, the plane started to fall even faster.
And all of this was being broadcast live for everyone to see.
“Son of a…”
Of course, there were those watching the spectacle in real-time…
“…Mr. President, what do we do now?”
[What to do? We give up. I’m busy drafting the condemnation statement right now. Sigh, I’ve got to bow my head here and there again. You should prepare for writing up your dismissal for throwing popcorn at me. Ah, damn. The reporters are here already. I’m going to hang up.]
And so, the call with the president of the association ended.
Stardust was left alone, looking up at the sky with a heavy heart.
“Sigh…”
The image of the slowly falling plane was deceiving; it might have seemed like a normal landing to the casual observer. However, the billowing smoke from both wings made it clear that a serious situation was unfolding.
Stardust thought to herself.
Is this not the largest-scale terrorist attack in history?
Egotistic… that bastard has really done it this time.
What was most frustrating was that she could do nothing but watch.
The plane’s speed must be at least 1000km/h.
Considering that she had barely managed to stop a train going at about 100km/h, this was an entirely different league of speed, almost like trying to stop a car with an ant.
In short, she was powerless.
She could only look on helplessly.
As these dark thoughts filled her mind, suddenly a ringing sound came from the earphone she had in one ear.
“…?”
She frowned at the unexpected call and attempted to disconnect by tapping her earphone.
‘Wait… Isn’t this earphone connected only to the association?’
With that realization, she tapped her earphone once more and accepted the call.
The voice of a man came through, a voice she had grown all too familiar with.
Stardust clenched her lips tight.
[Hello, Miss Stardust. This is Egotistic.]
“This jerk…”
Barely containing the rage boiling within her, she was about to tear the earphones out and hurl them to the ground.
However, the words that followed stopped her mid-action.
[Now, I’m curious. Why aren’t you going to save them?]
“What did you say?”
[Well, you should fly there and save the plane. What are you doing?]
Stardust’s temperature rose instantaneously at his casual and natural way of speaking, despite the gravity of the situation he had created. Yet, knowing that outbursts would only play into his hands, she calmed herself and spoke.
“So, you’re telling me to stop it? The plane you dropped?”
[Yes, of course.]
His shameless reply nearly drove her to lash out at him.
With great effort, she kept her anger in check and spoke.
“How am I supposed to stop that? Huh? A plane falling at a speed of 1000km/h? Are you telling me to die? Oh, right, that’s what you want, you lunatic.”
Her anger was leaking, and her facade was crumbling.
But before she could explode, Egotistic interrupted with a response that halted her outburst.
[No, you can do it.]
For a moment, she was at a loss for words, the sincerity and gravity in his voice coming through even over the phone.
[You can do it.]
✧˚·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥·̩̩̥͙✧·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥˚·̩̩̥͙✧ 𝑔𝓇𝒶𝓋𝒾𝓉𝓎𝓃𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁𝓈 ✧˚·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥·̩̩̥͙✧·̩̩̥͙˚̩̥̩̥˚·̩̩̥͙✧
