It has been six months since the Ginza Incident. Zorzal is dead, slain by Tyuule; who in turn was killed by him. His death brought an end to the rebellion and reunified the Empire. Pina Co Lada had been made Crown Princess. Everything seem to be going well.

Until astronomers back on Earth make a horrifying discovery: in less than two years, an asteroid nearly as big as the one that ended the dinosaurs will hit Earth. In short order, the United Nations gives Japan notice that in forty days the Gate will be under UN jurisdiction to evacuate as many Humans as possible before that asteroid's arrival.

But several days before the deadline arrives, reports of a flu-like illness circulate throughout Brazil. The illness is named, the Brazilian Flu, despite it not actually being influenza. The World Health Organization pays extra close attention to this new sickness because those who contracted it end up dead. Worse, it starts to spread abroad. Not wanting to take any unnecessary risks, and before the United Nations could officially take over, the Japanese government invokes a quarantine upon the Gate to prevent the disease from spreading over into the Special Area.

Youji, his team, along with Rory Mercury and Yao Ro Dushi, are sitting around in the pub. Shino takes a slug of her beer and sighs with frustration as she leans back. It is today that the quarantine was put into effect.

"I wish I could have gotten my parents and little sister through before then," Shino fretted. "I just hope they don't get this Brazilian Flu. I even pleaded with them to come as soon as possible. But nope, they wanted to spend as much time there as possible before the deadline came."

"It can't be helped because it was immediate," Youji said dourly.

"All we really can do is hope that this disease will burn itself out as soon as possible," Kurokawa Mari, the medic, said.

"And when do you think that will be?" Shino said dryly.

"Outbreaks of the disease were reported in a dozen other countries," Hitoshi Furuta, the private who went undercover as a chef in the palace, answered grimly. "It is estimated that there are now tens of millions of people infected with the Brazilian Flu. This means that tens of millions of people will die from it."

"That's not very reassuring," Shino growled with a glare.

"That is a strange disease though," Mari mused.

"Why should that disease be strange, Lady Mari?" Yao asked.

"Because it's spreading quickly as it quickly kills its host. In order for any disease to spread that quickly, it can't kill its host anytime soon. In fact, it should be burning itself out by now."

"Well, we did deal with a disease that infected and killed only Human females, then reanimated them," Rory noted.

"Sheesh, I hope it doesn't do that," Kurata Takeo, the cat-girl lover, said fretfully.

"So far there were no reports of any such thing," Youji assured him.

"And our world is not a mystical place," Mari said.

"But here's the thing that's really odd," Tomita Akira said, the tall soft-spoken member of the unit. "The Brazilian Flu just happened to appear after that asteroid was reported."

"And the timing couldn't have been any better," Kuwahara Souichirou, the Sergeant Major and Itami's second in command, said.

"What do you mean by that?" Rory asked.

"In seven days, the United Nations was to be taking command of the Gate, whether we liked it or not, to evacuate as many Humans as they could," Souichirou answered.

"What would this United Nations had done if you refused them?" Rory asked. "Declare war upon you?"

"Possibly" Souichirou answered grimly. "With that asteroid crashing into Earth in a couple of years, the people of Earth would have been desperate to get over here. And as more time passes, their desperation would have increased."

"That's certainly true," Rory said. "Desperate people make the most dangerous of people."

"So when this plague has run its course," Yao said, "will the rest of the Humans of your world be attempting to come here?"

"If the infrastructure remains up, there's no reason why they won't be coming," Youji said.

That is when a female member of the JSDF approaches them.

"General Hazama wants to see you all," the woman said. "Rory might even want to sit in on this one as well."

"Why?" Rory asked.

"Because a Demigoddess named Giselle is here with a message."

"What!" Rory exclaimed angrily as she rapidly stands and slams her hands on the table.

"She's in the briefing room," the woman said. "The rest of the personnel are being told to go listen."

"All right then, let's go hear what Giselle has to say," Youji said.

Everyone gets up and goes into headquarters and into the briefing room, of where a lot of JSDF personnel currently are. Up at the front is none other than Giselle, the shapely scantly clad dragonoid female who is an Apostle of Hardy, with her scythe in one hand and a black scroll with silver lining in the other. She has a look that is somewhere between a scowl and a bored expression. Rory glares at Giselle with pinpricked irises. Standing near Giselle is General Hazama.

"Now that we're all here," General Hazama said, causing everyone to go silent. "You can proceed to tell us Hardy's message."

Giselle puts her scythe down and straightens as she unfurls the black scroll with silver trim and then intones in a formal manner.

"Mistress Hardy, Goddess of the Underworld, reveals that the disease that is currently spreading all over your world had come from this world as it was created by her and placed within one of your people."

An uproar of shock reverberates through the room as everyone jumps up to their feet and babbles their surprise.

"Silence!" General Hazama bellowed, immediately getting it. Everyone sits back down. The General turns to Giselle with a contemptuous expression. "What are you talking about? That disease started in a country back in our world!"

"So you believe," Giselle sneered, then raised the scroll once again. "Mistress Hardy learned that one of your soldiers was going to travel abroad back in your world. So she infected him with her disease, of which she had designed to lie dormant for two days before awakening to make him a carrier so that he could infect others to make them carriers, all over the next thirty days. Diseases may go out of our world, but they cannot enter into our world. The Gate makes certain of that. So when he returned here, it was destroyed within him when he passed through the Gate."

"M-Me?!" A JSDF man gasped with a look of horror as he shot up out of his seat. "Sh-She in-infected m-me?!"

"So when it finally awoke to make him a carrier, he was no doubt over in that country. Anyone in his presence got infected and they in turn infected others, making them carriers over the next thirty days," Giselle continued. "And now, all of the Humans in your homeworld are infected."

Everyone around gapes with profound horror as their eyes are wide and irises shrunken and shimmering.

"W-Why?!" General Hazama rasped as he faced Giselle, struggling to contain his rage.

"Because Mistress learned of the meteor that is going to ravage your world," Giselle answered. "And since all of your kind cannot come here due to your overwhelming numbers, those who manage to survive it may. Mistress Hardy has even deduced that there will not be enough survivors throughout your world to match the population of Belnargo. Which, excluding its pilgrims, has a population of roughly fifty thousand people."

Everyone gapes with shock.

"That is all of her message," Giselle said, then lays the scroll down on a podium and picks up her scythe. "So I will be taking my leave."

Giselle walks out of the room, leaving a stunned audience to mentally digest the revelation of that disease's origin.

"So," Yao ventured absently-mindedly, "So . . . Hardy took pity on the Human world . . . and . . . and none on my people?!" Her voice ending in outrage.

"That . . . explains a lot," Shino said in a sheepish tone of shock with that pie-eyed shrunken iris expression. "It . . . explains the appearance of that plague after that asteroid was revealed."

"I . . . I really don't know what more to say about it," Youji snickered grimly. "Hardy caused that disease?! And all to save our lives?!"

"Hardy's going to gain a lot of worshippers after this," Rory rasped with a sigh.

"General," Youji asked as he stands. "What do we do now?"

General Hazama looks at Youji for a moment.

"We carry on as we currently do," he finally answered in a solumn tone. "At least we now know that Hardy's plague will burn itself out in a month's time."

A collective groan arises throughout the room.

"A month!" Shino rasped.

"What about saving whoever we can from the other side?!" Mari exclaimed as she jumps up with an eager expression. "You heard what Giselle revealed! Diseases cannot pass into this world! So why don't we go back to Japan and rescue as many people as possible so that they will be cured when they pass through the Gate?!"

"Yes!" Shino stated eagerly as she shoots up out of her chair with the thought of her mother, father, and sister over here.

"Need I remind you of what we did in order to ensure that the quaratine is strictly observed," General Hazama said sarcastically.

"The time lock!" Shino gasped with a thousand yard stare.

In an effort to insure that there would be no temptation to violate the quarantine, the JSDF put a time lock on the dome. It was set for a month and cannot be opened until the set time is up. Any attempt to destroy it would only seal the dome shut. And it is a very strong dome.

The women sigh as they sit back down.

"Mom, dad, Nanami," Shino sighed despondently with lowered head and shimmering eyes.

"Risa," Youji said.

"It looks like we will have to wait until that time lock is up," Takeo said.

"It's going to be a long wait," Youji said.

Note:

This was inspired by Gate: Burn the Sky by Whitethorn23.