"Excuse me," Haruto says, looking for one of the actual technicians--specifically the one who'd handled his mission report, who would know why he had to go back without an extended explanation.

When he spots him, he walks straight for him. Distantly, he notices the guy is starting to look like a caged mouse the closer he gets, and he schools his expression more pleasant with effort. "Hi," he says, "I need to talk to you about--going back. Fixing a mission."

'I'm sorry' begins the answer, and Haruto's heart begins to sink. The political balance of the period plays into the UE power structure. The sequence of events cannot be logistically altered without heavy public influence of the period, which they could not support and would not facilitate. The temporal physics were extremely fragile, and returning to the period too many times would alert the UE to their plans. The last breaks his rapidly diminishing composure, and he half shouts, "stop."

He breathes in, then out. His voice shakes. "You guys'll just take any victory, no matter how bloody it is, won't you?" he asks, and then turns on his heel to leave the lab--and Nitoh--behind.