Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 10 - Chapter SS3

The Relationship Between AAA and BBB 
Prism Rider, Ray Starling 
“I must say, the way you change is quite something,” Azurite commented. “The impression you give off is like night and day.” 
“‘Change’?” B3 repeated. “Whatever do you mean?” 
We were on the way back to Altea. Sitting in the coachman’s seat, Azurite and B3 were talking about something. Knowing the peculiar relationship between them, I was kinda worried. 
“I am impressed that that armor could contract this much. Does it use an anthropomorphization spell?” asked Azurite. 
“Let me to inform you that this is my default apparel. Not the armor,” B3 replied. 
“That was a joke. I understand that much.” 
So Azurite was just messing with her. 
“Also, I can’t say I expected you to know how I appear in my armor,” B3 added. 
“Oh, I do. I was investigating you to decide whether I should put you on the wanted list, after all,” Azurite explained. “Honestly, though, my impression of you has changed. You are far more refined than I thought.” 
“Well, thank you very much, but... did you think I was brutish or something?” B3 spoke as if to argue against that point. 
Azurite looked at her in confusion. “Aren’t you the one who harassed a low-level Master? Does the sentence ‘Kyah ha ha! Come on! Damage me for at least 1 HP and I’ll let ya go!’ ring a bell?” 
Oh, I’m pretty sure I saw that, too, I thought. Marie showed it to me. There was no sound in what she showed me, though. Man, that’s a villain-y phrase. 
“Cough...!” B3 made a sound like she choked on her own blood. “H-How do you know that...?” 
“I just said I investigated you. That includes getting testimonies from your victims.” 
This was probably like having someone else bring up something cringy you did in high school. 
“I guess you could say that hiding my face makes my mind excited,” B3 admitted, looking embarrassed. 

B3 had mentioned something about having to be “turned on” in some way to switch. So it was all about hiding her face, huh? Going by how she’d sounded back in Torne, the helmet even had some sort of voice-modifying device to fit the change. 
“I see. I wear a mask myself, so I do understand you a bit,” said Azurite. 
“Well, but... isn’t it the other way around for you?” 
“What do you mean?” Azurite asked. 
B3 paused for a second before saying, “Without a mask on, sword in hand, you struck a pose and said, ‘Are you prepared?’” 
“Cough...!” Now I heard Azurite choke. 
Oh, that’s from the battle against the crab. I saw a recording of it online, and I guess B3 did, too. 
“How do you know that...? An impressive counterattack, though, I will give you that much,” Azurite admitted. 
“I didn’t intend it that way.” 
“My Truth Discernment just flared up a bit. But... very well. Let us not have conversations in this vein again.” 
“Understood.” 
Due to her prior offense, Azurite was treating B3 with a bit of harshness and a lot of sarcasm, while B3, though generally on the receiving end, occasionally went in for counterattacks. 
Why do they insist on repeating these self-destructive exchanges? I wondered. 
“I have a feeling that you are an indirect cause,” said Nemesis telepathically. 
W h y ? 
“Well, it is nothing I should say. More importantly, you should stop letting them distract you and return to your coachman duties.” 
Nemesis had a point, so I focused on Silver’s reins. 
The two ladies inside continued their exchanges until we arrived at Altea.

The End