Brid/Story

Spoilers!*"Your greatest villain Drake shall warn you, SPOILERS AHEAD!"*The following article or section contain **spoilers!** Viewer discretion is advised.

Overview**Story**VoicelinesGallery

## Behind the Scenes

###

Kim Eun-ah

###

Unknown

###

Hitomi Ueda

## Profile

A member of Infinity Rail, the squad that manages and maintains the AZX, the Ark's railway system. Professional to a fault, Brid is most commonly found driving the train, and as a result is rarely seen outside of the train unless on a mandated break. Despite her detached demeanor, she's surprisingly fond of coffee, and looks after her fellow Infinity Rail Nikkes.

### Nikke Backstory

An AZX driver from Infinity Rail, a workaholic, and a perfectionist. She is widely considered to be the best driver in the Ark.

## Story

### Background

In her past life as a human, Brid used to work in the AFX, along with the other two that would later be known as Diesel and Soline respectively. She herself was the train's conductor. However, a bombing occurred instigated by a terrorist, sabotaging AFX and resulting in numerous casualties including Brid, Diesel, and Soline. All of the deceased female during the attack eventually became Nikkes who work in the railway.

### Main Story

#### Chapter 13

Brid and the other members of Infinity Rail deploy the surface maglev AZX in order to transport Counters to subjugate the Heretic Modernia. Unfortunately, AZX is heavily damaged in a battle with Alteisen MK. VI, and Infinity Rail has to drop them off a little further away than they'd planned.

### Character Story

#### Episode 1 - A Workaholic

Soline frantically beseeches the protagonist to do something about Brid before she dies. Apparently, the train driver has taken to working for the entire day without even a single break, let alone a day off. The protagonist doesn't see the problem with Brid working so much, but for Soline, it's a disaster. If people see Brid working herself to the bone like this, they'll think Soline is a complete slacker by comparison for how many breaks and vacations she takes!

After a brief tangent about how many vacations Soline takes, the smallest Infinity Rail explains that in theory, the squad is *supposed* to take a break after a long trip, but Brid just goes straight to planning the next trip without so much as a pause. Thus, at Soline's behest, the protagonist goes to see Brid and try to convince her to take a vacation.

The meeting goes...not well, to say the least. Still tapping away on her tablet, Brid categorically refuses to even consider taking any time off from work, insisting that she can handle her workload and not have to take any breaks or compromise on other tasks like combat missions. She easily deduces that someone put the protagonist up to this, and he admits Soline was behind this. Brid cuts the meeting short as one of her alarms goes off, and she tells the protagonist to just send a message to her next time for little things like this.

After Brid leaves, Diesel steps in and comments on how stubborn Brid can be. She only caught the tail-end of the conversation, but she can tell it was something about Brid's schedule. She confirms to the protagonist that she too wants Brid to take a break, seeing her subordinate's refusal to take a break as failing to look after her as a leader. While Diesel considers possibly ordering Brid to use her vacation hours as the leader of Infinity Rail, the protagonist insists on getting this done himself.

Diesel cheers at this and gives the protagonist some strawberry candy and advice. Brid always passes by the 2nd floor waiting room if she has to write a report after a trip, and she always stops by a vending machine on that floor for a coffee, no matter how tight her schedule is. Thanking the Infinity Rail leader, the protagonist heads to the 2nd floor waiting room to wait for Brid.

The 2nd floor waiting room is the perfect spot to wait for someone, the protagonist notes. Just as Diesel said, the room is comfortably warm and there's no cleaning robots to bother him. After an hour, he eats the candies Diesel gave him for an energy boost.

Three hours into the stakeout, his back is starting to hurt, but he doesn't want to lie down out of fear of falling asleep in this warm room.

Five hours into the stakeout, the protagonist decides to just lay down, his back pain becoming unbearable.

Seven hours into the stakeout, the protagonist is out of candy.

Nine hours into the stakeout, a cleaning robot is checking to see if the protagonist is trash.

12 hours into the stakeout. The protagonist is tired and hungry, but at least the room is warm. Just as he's about to pass out, a voice calls out to him which he recognizes as Brid. The train driver is surprised to see him here at this hour, since the trains aren't even running. As the two talk for some time, the protagonist's rumbling stomach cuts the chatter to an awkward close. Brid decides they should go get some food.

#### Episode 2 - Coffee Tour

At the Ark Express office, Brid hands some Splendamin to fill the protagonist's stomach. Seeing the protagonist's condition improve, Brid apologizes to him for the previous morning's incident. The workload that day had left her particularly stressed, and so she gave a cold shoulder that could be considered unacceptable for a Nikke addressing her commander. The protagonist ~~accepts the apology~~ asks her to be even colder to him, leading to an awkward silence.

After a moment, the protagonist wonders why Brid isn't saying a thing. The Infinity Rail Nikke claims she is pondering how to respond to him without hurting him, concerned that a typical commander would be angry over a Nikke getting uppity and ignoring his words. The man assures Brid he's not angry over this, and the driver promises that he can see her and talk anytime he wants, so long as he doesn't pull a stunt like this again and potentially compromise his wellbeing.

As the protagonist agrees to this arrangement, Brid gets down to business. She apologizes, as even if he's earnestly requesting her to take a vacation, she cannot. Even if her workload wasn't the issue, the fact is she has no real hobbies or pastimes, so her vacation would amount to literally sitting around doing nothing. At the very least, she does not have what is traditionally considered a "hobby," seeing her work as something within the criteria. The protagonist is worried that perhaps Brid is not taking any breaks in her day-to-day, but she assures that she *does* take some downtime to rest, and she makes sure to go home every day. Between filing reports and maintaining the trains, her "rest" amounts to 2 hours per day, a "perfect work-life balance" in her opinion. The protagonist sees it as not having any time blocked out for hobbies or herself, and Brid apologizes for not being a very "fun" person, using the explanation as justification for why she doesn't need a vacation.

In response, the protagonist gets an idea; if Brid has no hobbies, why not develop one? Remembering that Brid tends to drink a lot of coffee (every day as a productivity booster by her testament), the protagonist asks her to follow him for just a moment. Brid checks her schedule, notes she has an hour to spare, and follows him.

Brid is initially flummoxed as to why they're standing near the restroom when the protagonist points to a nearby coffee vending machine. He asks about her preference in coffee, to which she answers that she can basically drink anything so long as it's coffee. More than that, she's confused as to why they're drinking coffee *here* when her office is perfectly acceptable, but her curiosity peaks a little when the protagonist tells her this machine's coffee is said to be especially flavorful. The commander orders two cups of Americano and offers one to Brid.

She takes a sip and finds the coffee is...actually pretty good. It's surprising how a good coffee could be found here of all places, though admittedly she hasn't drunken any beyond what's in her office. The protagonist asks Brid how many coffee vendors are in the Ark Express, to which she answers approximately 20 or so. The man proposes they go on a bit of a tour every night, and try various coffee machines until they've tried them all. Brid has her reservations, but the protagonist manages to persuade her that just making an exception to take an hour out of her day to just sit around, drink coffee, and not worry about anything won't be problem.

#### Episode 3 - End of Exception

Ever since that day, Brid and the protagonist have met up every day to have coffee together. At first, it was rather awkward, with Brid simply following along with whatever the protagonist decided to do. As they went on, Brid opened up more and more, commenting on the coffee they drink, talking about other machines' locations, and even bringing up her daily life.

Some time later, the two are enjoying another cup together. Brid is impressed the protagonist has kept this arrangement for so long, feeling that she is rather boring to hang around. The protagonist is keen to say the contrary, having enjoyed getting to know her little by little. Not to mention Brid has been looking at her tablet less and less, a circumstance that has arisen because she's been meeting up with him as soon as her work finishes. The protagonist finds it odd and a bit of shame that Brid is working less, given how much he likes to see her hard at work. Brid calls him out on his proclivities, which the protagonist takes in stride.

Sipping her coffee, Brid notes that it's been 10 days now since they've begun their coffee tour. The protagonist points out to the driver that her favorite coffee is the machine near the 2nd floor restroom, which she agrees to with a laugh and a smile. The first smile she's ever shown to him...

Later, Soline is asking the protagonist about what he's been up to with Brid, confused but accepting at the idea that the workaholic is interested in trying out various vending machines. The reason she's asking is because Brid has looked more tired than usual these past few days, to the point where she's not even chiding Soline about egging the protagonist to make her take a break.

As Soline is gladdened by Brid finding an interest beyond her work, her phone suddenly buzzes with a message. Soline is shocked to learn someone else has taken over Brid's 5PM drive, and becomes worried that something may have happened to Brid. The protagonist asks for Brid's location and offers to check what happened. Soline decides to accompany him to the station where Brid should be.

At the station, Brid is profusely apologizing to Diesel. The driver had become too engrossed in her free time and what she did with it, causing a slip-up that required a rearrangement of shifts. Diesel insists that making a mistake like oversleeping from enjoying yourself is just something that happens from time to time. Brid continues to assert that she needs to rectify the cause of this mistake, which Diesel interprets as cutting the coffee tour to a close. As the Infinity Rail leader pleads to her subordinate not to do so, Soline and the protagonist rush in.

The two are worried sick that Brid has been hurt, but the driver assures she's just tired. Diesel decides this is a good time to let Brid and the protagonist talk it out alone, dragging out Soline as she departs. The protagonist asks Brid what exactly went wrong.

Brid explains that as the Ark Express regularly suffers from issues like terrorist attacks from Heavenly Ascension, all drivers are required to undergo checks before their drive to ensure they are able to quickly and adequately respond to an emergency. But Brid has been unable to get much sleep for some time, causing her to fail to respond properly even when another Nikke like Diesel tried attacking her. The protagonist asks her how long this insomnia has been going, and he doesn't like the answer. Brid has been unable to get adequate sleep for 10 days, right around the time she started doing the coffee tour with him...

Brid apologizes for being overconfident in her ability to manage herself, and the protagonist can already tell she wants to call off the coffee tour. By her own attestation, she cannot cut any of her workload off, so she must instead cut off the time she spends with the protagonist. The man simply accepts the end of this arrangement they've had.

#### Episode 4 - For Time Spent Together

Another day, another successful Ark Express drive. As Brid greets one of the stewardesses, she looks over her schedule of what's to be done next. She stops over the entry for the coffee tour with the protagonist, but before she can delete it, Diesel chimes in, having looked over at the tablet.

Brid locks her device as Diesel apologizes for peeking. She offers an exchange of labors, handling the report writing herself in exchange for Brid cleaning the train. Ignoring any protests, Diesel flies off to the office, leaving a confused Brid to head to the warehouse where the train is being kept.

Brid becomes even more confused when she sees the protagonist of all people in the warehouse. The protagonist tells her he's here to see her, and help clean the train to get two birds with one stone. Brid apologizes for having to cut off the coffee tour, but the protagonist reiterates that he likes seeing both the hard-at-work Brid and the leisurely-sipping-coffee Brid. Therefore, if he helps her out and she finishes her work early, they can resume the tour. As he hands the driver the cleaning kit, Brid finally relents and admits she we would like keep having coffee with him. Brid then warns the protagonist she's a stickler for the work being done perfectly, and if the train isn't completely spick-and-span, she's making him do it again. The protagonist knows all too well, given how hard his teachers hammered it into his skull...

A flashback reveals said teachers were Diesel and Soline. As helpful as they were in showing him the ropes, their egging him on to power through the pains in his arms was a special kind of hell...

Sighing and noting this was all part of a plan, Brid wastes no time putting the protagonist to work. Despite some occasional mishaps, the work gets done surprisingly efficiently, with time to spare for the protagonist to tease Brid a little, kiss her, maybe a few *other* things...

Following the cleanup, Brid gets a coffee with the protagonist from the 2nd floor vending machine. A gesture of thanks for getting the work done earlier, though it could've gone faster if they hadn't gotten...*distracted'.' The two spend some time sipping coffee and basking in each other's company, though the protagonist is so fatigued from his work that even the coffee can't keep him awake. The last things before his eyes close and his mind fades are the feeling of lips upon his forehead, and a voice sweetly coaxing him to dream...*

#### Episode 5 - Dazzling Morning

The protagonist's consciousness is roused by the sound of Brid's voice announcing the train's departure to the passengers. It would seem it's now 5AM, and she's driving a train to Royal Road. The sound of Brid telling him to sleep more and the feeling of a warm, soft hand patting his head lulls him back to dreamland...right until he realizes he's onboard a moving train and wakes with a start.

Brid greets the newly-awoken commander, having taken him onboard while he was asleep. There was something she wanted to show him, and he follows her gesture to the window in front.

The sight of the Ark's sunrise and Brid's smile take his breath away. The driver explains that this view is her favorite, and is the biggest reason why she loves her job. As the protagonist voices his approval of this scene, she explains that this view can *only* be briefly witnessed when one goes along the 5AM train. While she admits this artificial sunrise probably has nothing on seeing the real thing on the surface, it's a dazzling view nonetheless.

The protagonist understands the reason why Brid likes this job so much, while Brid comes to realization herself; there is joy to be found in sharing one's cherished things with cherished people.

While the protagonist parses *that* confession, Brid continues on. She values the protagonist's time just as he values hers, and doesn't want him to spend it all toiling with her. To that end, while they can't do it *every* night, Brid sees nothing wrong with the two of them meeting from time to time, be it for coffee or this view. The protagonist has his concerns about being able to just ride on the train whenever he feels it, but Brid echoes his words about how even the tightest schedules can have exceptions, and for her, he's something worth making an exception for. The protagonist kisses Brid, the two illuminated by the dazzling morning.

## References

Notes

References
1. ↑ Diesel's character story."