Baka-Tsuki - User contributions [en]

Talk:Kimi to Boku no Uta World's End

2015-09-21T03:00:16Z

Axyraandas: Created page with "I liked this. Not least due to my fixation with cats. Thank you for sharing this, at the same price as that can of peaches."

I liked this. Not least due to my fixation with cats. Thank you for sharing this, at the same price as that can of peaches.

Kamisu Reina:Volume 2 Prologue

2014-06-18T04:17:51Z

Axyraandas: Two small typo-ish thingies. Thanks for TLing.

The first time she fulfilled me was by the means of sound.

My arms full with teaching material, I walk through an empty corridor, grumbling and complaining. "I can't believe it. She must be thinking that a class president is a maid-of-all-work or something..."

This stuff is heavy. Why would a teacher make a delicate girl like me carry so much? ...Ah, right, there are no guys here in the Junseiwa School. Tch, those men sure are a species that's irritating whether they're around or not.

"And of course who would think of giving me a hand, right?"

Sure, it has only been a week since I've come to this school, but I was convinced that we're getting along well enough that one or the other would help me with this. Perhaps I have yet to integrate myself fully into the complicated social network that has formed due to this singular environment that is the Junseiwa School?

...Or maybe they're simply a lazy bunch.

I put down the material for a moment and lean against the wall. You better be of good use for our education, I grumble as I scowl at the material before me and give them a weak kick.

[Plink]

I tense up; a piano note played just when I vented my frustration and sounded to me like a sharp reproof.

Excuse me for taking my anger out on innocent teaching material!

I lift up the material once again—but just as I'm about to walk away, the sound of the piano keeps me from moving.

It's—It's beautiful.

This piece must be the "Heroic Polonaise" by Chopin. I'm all but versed in classical music, but I used to take piano lessons in elementary school, so I know a few compositions, and I can also judge the pianist's skill.

There is a certain level that cannot be reached simply through effort but requires talent and individuality. I didn't have that sense, but she does. The music she produces is incredibly unique. Something bothers me, however: normally, a great performance like this will reveal the emotions of the artist. Here, it's the exact opposite. I can't see a trace of the artist's emotions, and yet the music reaches my heart. It feels translucent... no, that's way too harmless an expression. The sound feels... void. Even though it feels fake and somehow mechanic, I can't deny that there is something transcendent about it. If I were to compare it to something—

—it's like water.

The music fulfills me like water.

Led by the sound of the piano, I walk to the second music room. Because the Junseiwa School aims for a rather high social class, there are a lot of students who are trained in playing the piano, and as a consequence, there are 3 practice rooms with a piano inside. The music in question is coming from the second one, but I can't see any other students around. Perhaps a teacher who failed at becoming a pianist is playing it?

I prepare myself for the case that a teacher is inside and knock at the door. I figured that if I would express my sheer excitement, the player wouldn't be too angry about being interrupted; but the performance doesn't stop. Probably... my knocking was drowned by the music, I conclude, and therefore directly open the door while shouting "Excuse me!"

And so—I was taken in.

"How may I help you?" the beautiful girl asks with a smile after stopping her play.

Huh? What? What is this smile?

"Hello...?" she asks again while I am frozen on the spot.

Oh, I have to reply something! I think to myself, but I can't talk. I'm still taken in by the beautiful girl in front of me, incapable of escaping her spell.

Taken in.

What was taken in?

I was taken in. My existence, my values, my meaning, my beliefs, my goals, my future.

—the entirety that was my world.

A gigantic tornado wreaks havoc on the town that was me, turning it into dust and taking everything in. I have been completely and utterly destroyed, but somehow I am even enraptured as my corrupted town is being taken in by that mighty and beautiful tornado.

"Ah—"

My voice produces a sound, but no words.

This is odd. I think to myself. She is beautiful indeed, but what of it? I may hate men, but I'm not a lesbian. Besides, even if I were, it's absurd to be "taken in" on first sight.

But as a matter of fact—I was "taken in."

I look at the smiling girl. Ah... what is this feeling? I feel like I was wandering between reality and illusion. Huh? Is this the first time I met her? ...Of course it is. Had I met her in the past—even just for a split second—I wouldn't have forgotten her for the rest of my life.

But then where does this nostalgia come from...?

Ah. I see.

I haven't met her before nor have I ever come across her, but I have always pictured her to myself. She is my ideal conception. I haven't met her before nor have I ever come across her, but I'm sure that I have still encountered her countless times because she's an illusory being.

Celebrating our encounter as though the memory of my previous life had just been revived—I start to cry tears that contain something else other than salt and liquid. Delighted by that, I continue to shed tears until their meaning changes.

I'M PLEASED TO MEET YOU! You who exist for my sake!

"Are you all right...?"

"—I'm fine!" I finally say. "Your play was beautiful."

I can talk normally now. I've already taken her in. No? I was taken in? Ha, it's the exact same thing at the end of the day. She entered and fulfilled my body as easily as water.

And thus, Reina Kamisu had taken in me, Sakura Kawai, just by existing.

HEAVY OBJECT:Volume8 Chapter 1

2014-06-16T05:40:51Z

Axyraandas: /* Part 17 */

==Chapter 1: A Resource Which Cannot Be Made Plentiful >> Landing on the Island Nation’s Ame-no-Darin==

===Part 1===

''From the moment I woke up, I had a bad feeling about the day to come.

The ship’s log of the luxury cruise ship Scarlet Princess contained that statement in the Legitimacy Kingdom’s official language.

It was 380 meters long, its top speed was 40 knots, and it could hold up to 2500 people. It was on such a grand scale that it was much like tilting a safe country resort on its side and taking it out to sea. Incidentally, the cost of the ship could purchase a resort and an 18-hole golf course with money to spare. All three layers of its deck contained a pool and the rear of the ship even contained a heliport.

Around twenty crew members were packed into the control room.

Electronics and automation had taken great strides forward, so the number of people needed to run the large ship had been drastically cut down. They had three shifts making three times that many crew in total, but that was still less than one hundred. Surprisingly, the number of “waitresses” outnumbered the crew who held the lives of everyone else aboard in their hands.

An elderly man let out a small sigh.

His name was Alfonso Zoom and he was the captain of the luxury cruise ship.

“Captain, we will be entering the Strait of Malacca soon.”

“I know.”

Alfonso gave a brief reply to the young (even if he was in his thirties) navigation officer.

Just like the Panama Canal, the Strait of Gibraltar, and the Suez Canal, the Strait of Malacca was a gate of the sea. In its case, it connected the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. It was a narrow passageway and many world powers insisted it was their territory, but it was still the shortest course. Unless it was packed full of military resources or part of a transport fleet protected by an Object, a luxury cruise ship circumnavigating the world had no choice but to use the Strait of Malacca. Simply calculating the ship’s fuel expenses made that painfully clear.

Alfonso poured coffee from a thermos and into a mug as he spoke to the young navigation officer.

“Do you know what I’m worried about?”

“It wouldn’t be reefs. Is it wreckage of fishing ships that were caught in a storm? I’ve heard the sea around here isn’t very clean.”

“My daughters. Joining the military is fine. After all, this is the age of clean wars. But why did both my twin daughters have to choose to be Black Uniforms in charge of barrier duty? They are both young unmarried women and they chose to throw themselves into the part of the military with the most bullets flying around.”

“I see.”

“I bet it was a reaction to the extreme education their mother gave them. That came from a complex brought on by newfound riches. She surrounded those two in piano, violin, and ballroom dancing from a young age, so they eventually rejected high society. If you want your daughters to be brought up as proper ladies, why would you show them how oppressive it all is? Don’t you agree?”

“Um… Where are you going with this?”

“As captain, I have a lot of spare time to think about a distant safe country. Our course is simple and this isn’t all that dangerous an area. You can relax a little.”

Alfonso Zoom turned toward the large radio equipment. A few lights were flashing which showed that quite a few radio signals were being sent back and forth in this area of sea. He could tell at a glance that the situation here was complex.

“This is Ship ID PL_055 registered with the Legitimacy Kingdom’s Amazon region. Do you have our location? I want to check before heading into the crowded intersection. Over.”

“We have you perfectly. GPS, beacon, and radar are all functioning normally. Luxury cruise ship Scarlet Princess, please enter on the path given on the screen. Welcome to the Southeast Asia’s main entrance. Over.”

“Understood, harbor control. Today is another good day. Out.”

As he finished the transmission with the standard greeting, wrinkles of suspicion gradually appeared on the captain’s face.

The young navigation officer also looked doubtful.

“Captain, about that transmission…”

“Yes.” Alfonso Zoom let out a heavy sigh. “Just as famous people do not refer to themselves as famous, a professional does not normally refer to a luxury cruise ship as ‘luxury’.”

Then what had that transmission been?

The captain spoke the answer anyone could reach with a little bit of thought.

“They’re coming.”

===Part 2===

A ten-man fishing boat raced toward the luxury cruise ship while jumping from stormy wave to stormy wave. Yes, it was racing. The entire engine had been swapped out, so it was moving “above” the ocean while practically popping a wheelie. It was moving at about 80 kph. As hydrofoils made quite evident, boats could move at three digit speeds if the water resistance was lessened. And the fastest way to do that was to lift the boat itself above the water.

Thick metal panels were bolted to the sides of the fishing boat and heavily suntanned men were crammed inside. They held old rifles and submachine guns with an extra coat of paint to hide the scrapes and to stop them from rusting. Those tools were clearly not needed for fishing.

They were pirates who had butted into the transmission to put the ship where they wanted. A suntanned man returned a small microphone to the radio hook and whistled at the feast before him.

“Okay! Our prey is extra special today!! It’s got a giant antenna on top. That’s a satellite connection. They use it to check the black cards used in the casino. There must be tons of rich people on there!”

As the first man gave them some motivation, the other pirates started to grow rowdy.

“Eh? I thought it was for Wall Street which is so popular lately. They need to mess with their stocks and exchanges while on their cruise.”

“This is the Legitimacy Kingdom, so it would be the London Stock Exchange.”

“Who cares as long as they’re a bunch of rich ladies and gentlemen? More importantly, how are we on anti-ship missiles? We need at least two. The first acts as a demonstration. We need to make sure they know we’ll sink them if they don’t do what we say.”

“Leave it to me. There are four of them hanging on the sides of the ship.”

“You idiot!! Now I know why our fuel consumption’s been so bad!!”

An amateur pirate group could never mass produce missiles that were a collection of cutting-edge military secrets.

But nothing said they had to be “cutting-edge”.

What if they added modern technology to weapons produced fifty years prior?

Just as a hard disk sold in a home electronics store’s clearance sale would have been highly classified government technology fifty years ago, amateur groups could manufacture weapons.

In the festivals of Southeast Asia, rockets measuring three to five meters long were created to launch exciting fireworks 5000 to 10,000 meters into the air. If they were laid on their side, they made a decent starting point for a rocket motor.

Meanwhile, the other pirate ships gathered.

The suntanned man grabbed the radio again.

“Okay. A through F, go in front of the luxury cruise ship! Scatter some mines to stop them. G through I, take the starboard side. J through L, use anti-ship missiles to surround them from behind.”

“Shut up! You aren’t the leader!!”

“Don’t try to board the ship and earn some extra money just because it’s full of rich people. The plan is to make them lower their rescue boats. You don’t want to be killed by the peashooters they have for self-defense, do you?”

He heard a light noise.

One of his allies on the same boat was tapping the large radio.

And he whispered a question.

“Where do we fire the missile?”

“Don’t use it like you’re supposed to. If we sink the ship right off the bat, we can’t take any hostages. Don’t hit it on the waterline. Aim higher.”

He pointed into the distance while still holding the radio’s microphone.

As his finger jabbed toward the Scarlet Princess, it scooped upwards.

“For example, the control room.”

A seven meter tube shot from the side of the fishing boat. The anti-ship missile used solid fuel (aka gunpowder) to fly diagonally up from the ocean surface. In this “improper” usage, it was directly targeting the ship’s crew.

They all thought it was a success.

Blowing up the control room at the top of the luxury cruise ship would not immediately sink the ship. As previously stated, a ship’s weak point was the waterline where the seawater could surge in. However, the refined ladies and gentlemen would not realize that. If all of the professional crew was taken out at once and there was a fire on the ship, they would try to escape on the rescue boats no matter what. Afterwards, the pirates could surround the boats drifting powerlessly and carefully take hostages.

But…

The next thing the pirates knew, composite material shutters lowered over all of the luxury cruise ship’s 1000 or more windows.

The shutters covered both the outside and inside of the bulletproof glass which was already over thirty centimeters thick. This was obviously out of place on a civilian ship.

(Huh?)

For an instant, a complete blank filled the suntanned man’s mind.

The homemade anti-ship missile struck the control room, but its explosive flames and black smoke looked terribly unreliable. Once it all cleared away, only a slight dent remained in the shutters.

And then the ship began to fight back.

Strange metallic noises rang out again and again. From the bow to the stern, 20 mm Gatling guns of a close-in weapon system rose up along either side of the deck. They looked a bit like trees lining a road. The pools on the three layers of the deck split apart and 21 cm rapid-fire cannons rose high above them. The pirates could not see it, but a portion of the roof split into small sections like a chocolate bar or a honeycomb and countless vertical missile hatches opened in order.

They had stepped on a figurative landmine.

A horrible, horrible landmine.

Once they finally realized that, the captain of the luxury cruise ship spoke over the radio.

“Disguised Cruiser Scarlet Princess has confirmed an attack from the target.”

He essentially gave a death sentence.

That order opened the gates of hell.

“Begin Operation Codename ‘Blood-Soaked Princess’. Engaging target now. Pirates, this is your last chance to write your wills.”

With those words, the wolf in sheep’s clothing exposed its hidden claws and fangs.

After conceitedly thinking they could surround it with only about 15 boats, the pirates’ luck had run out.

The foxhunt had begun.

===Part 3===

The two idiots named Quenser Barbotage and Heivia Winchell were groaning in the landing unit hold at the bottom level of the disguised cruiser named Scarlet Princess.

The exterior was made to look like a luxury cruise ship, but the inside was completely different. Of its 380 meter length, over half of the bottom was a single large space. And that space was crammed full of military hovercrafts. Quenser and the others were packed like sardines into those hovercrafts.

The hovercrafts were pitched as “small but able to hold a tank☆”, but they were far from comfortable for people to use. They reeked of machine oil.

“This is tyranny!! We were only riding along! Can you really throw us out in front of the pirate’s guns? This isn’t even the 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion’s job! Who’s going to pay us!?”

“This is probably how we’re buying our ticket to ride the ship. I don’t feel like doing any real work either, though.”

“And how is this a ‘disguised cruiser’? It’s almost 400 meters long! They didn’t make battleships this big even back when they were relevant. That’s 100 meters more than the Island Nation’s Yamato! Are they insane!?”

“The category of battleship has vanished, so what can you do? And it’s a disguised ship, remember? Bringing escort ships along for protection would blow its cover, so it has to handle everything as a lone wolf. And it had to be heavily armored to safely draw in the pirates. It has to be tough enough to take a few rockets or torpedoes without issue.”

History had proven that aircraft would overtake the battleship in usefulness, but battleships could be useful once more now that aircraft could not be sent out. They were perfect for luring out and slaughtering pirates.

“…Why are you breathing so heavily?”

“Eh? Doesn’t seeing giant machines get you all excited? It’s human nature.”

Heivia shoved the perverted creep away with both hands as an ear-splitting buzzer rang and the lights switched to red.

Someone they could not see gave a high-spirited shout.

“Our brave ‘waitresses’, it’s time you risked your life fishing for sharks! Let’s make this an exciting enough battle to get a movie made! Rock & roll!!”

“Shut up! We’ve been ready!! And if you want to be the lead that badly, go do it on your own! Be a one-man army! Don’t drag us into it!!”

Heivia demonstrated his grace as a noble by elegantly raising his middle finger as he shouted at the man, but that changed nothing.

With a heavy rumble, the wall in front of them opened to either side. The bow of the disguised cruiser opened like a castle gate. One after another, amphibious hovercraft slid out and into the gunfire-filled battlefield of the Strait of Malacca.

And…

Whether by coincidence or design, a rocket suddenly flew into the hold.

As Heivia frantically held down Quenser’s head and got on the ground himself, a tremendous shock wave spread through the enclosed space.

A dull pain exploded more in his chest than his eardrums.

“Gbh!? Cough!! H-how the hell is this a safe and simple mop up mission!!”

“Anytime they call the mission ‘simple’, you should be suspicious.”

“Wait… Wait a second!! Did this hovercraft just start sliding? Wait!! We’ve got a bunch of injured soldiers already! You can’t just throw us out on the front liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!!”

But his protests came too late.

The hovercraft slid down the slope and shot out the bow of the “Blood-Soaked Princess”. They were suddenly forced to clash with the small fishing boats (which had been modified into high-speed boats) sitting in front.

They were about sixty centimeters away from the closest boat.

They were close enough to jump from one boat to the other.

Heivia’s gaze met that of a suntanned man.

“You bastards!!”

The man tried to raise the rifle carried over his shoulder with a sling belt, but he was too slow. Heivia pulled his handgun from its holster and fired repeatedly.

Quenser finally came to his senses as he watched three dark red holes appear in the man’s chest.

“Stop, Heivia! You can’t kill them!!”

“Ah? What!? I can’t hear you over all the noise!!”

“Don’t kill them!!”

All the 20 mm Gatling guns on the side of the disguised cruiser’s deck began to fire and shot down a homemade anti-ship missile flying over Quenser’s head. In return, several vertical launch missiles were fired at the pirates’ fishing boats. The noisy sound of rotors came from the heliport and a military attack helicopter began to take off.

The pirates had formed a half circle to envelop the Scarlet Princess’s path, but that proved a suicidal formation due to their misjudgment of the ship’s firepower. There had supposedly been around fifteen pirate boats, but half of them had already been sunk.

Everything was in motion and just watching it all made one’s eyes and head hurt.

And on top of that, the environment was so poor that one would be deafened while just sitting there.

After Quenser’s group’s hovercraft moved away, an attack from the air blew away the previous high-speed pirate boat like an empty can.

With his ears still ringing, Quenser shouted toward Heivia who was right next to him.

“If we just had to kill them, the ship’s weaponry could handle it! We were sent out for a reason!! Weren’t you listening during the pre-mission briefing!?”

“Oh? Oh, oh! Did they say something about that!?”

“They’re using fishing boats rather than used patrol boats so they can ditch their weapons in the sea and act like innocent fishermen if they have to! If we just kill them all, we’ll be suspected of slaughtering civilians. That’s why we need to capture a few of them alive and have them admit to being pirates. That’s what we were told!!”

“In other words, they’ve knocked down a hornet’s nest with a stone and now we have to retrieve it barehanded!? Goddamn this is a terrible job!! We’re at least getting paid extra for this, right!?”

Nothing the pirates did could turn the situation around.

Sounds of gunfire and explosions continued without end.

The ship’s rapid-fire cannons and the attack helicopter’s rockets were unilaterally blowing away the pirates’ boats.

“Two more! Our side just took out another two boats. Shit. If we don’t capture a pirate soon, they’ll all be dead!!”

“Shut up!! If you care that badly, jump over to that fishing boat and grab one yourself!!”

Only a few of the 10 meter high-speed pirate boats remained. The Scarlet Princess was fully equipped with the Legitimacy Kingdom navy’s best, so it was a 400 meter mass of giant guns. There was no chance of it being sunk now.

But there was a chance of the pirates fighting back in some way.

The fishing boats were equipped with homemade anti-ship missiles. They would be able to blow away at least one of the hovercrafts that used the power of air to float.

“This is way too scary!! A missile just shot by right above us!! What happened to the close-in weapon system support!?”

“Are these the type that react to magnetism to detonate? This thing’s hull is made of layered plastic and the balloon is made of synthetic fiber, so they might just slip past us.”

“Dammit. Of course the Gatling guns on the side deck wait until ''now'' to turn this way. …Hm? This way!?”

“G-get down!! And turn the hovercraft to the side! Our own side’s barrage is gonna fill us with holes!!”

The gunfire sounded like a broken buzzer as the line of CIWS weapons targeted an anti-ship missile flying a few meters above the ocean surface and scattered giant bullets at a rate of 5000 a minute. They were 20mm bullets which were masses of metal the size of a thumb. They were much larger than the standard used with anti-materiel rifles and even a single one grazing you could blow off a limb.

“They have to do all that just to shoot down a single missile. An Object’s laser beams are an entirely different story, but this says a lot about the balance between offense and defense.”

“Why are you starting that creepy breathing again!? Don’t get your design-obsessed blood pumping like it’s some instinct to preserve your genes in a life-threatening situation!!”

“Eh? I don’t mix my love of machines with lust. Making anthropomorphized girls out of weapons is kind of disturbing if you think about it.”

“Just think of it as adding on elements!! Don’t think of it as surgically cutting and pasting things!!”

The hovercraft ridden by the two idiots and 28 others had three engines resembling two meter ventilators on the back. One of them was sending out disconcerting black smoke (due to the barrage from their side’s close-in weapon system).

“How about we say the pirates did that and put in for injury pay? I think we deserve a bonus.”

“If we do that, it’ll mean we were injured by a group of amateurs. That would be a dishonor.”

Meanwhile, the battle was almost over.

The attack helicopter that had been sent out partway through was doing too good a job. It was sending down a storm of rockets which were enveloping the small fishing boats and the surrounding ocean in flames.

“Isn’t this pretty bad?” muttered Quenser as he carelessly looked up into the blue sky. “All of the pirate boats will be sunk soon.”

“What happened to capturing some alive!? If we don’t have one to say he’s a pirate, we’ll be accused of slaughtering civilians!!”

The two idiots looked around, but they saw nothing but eerie black smoke and wreckage starting to sink. It no longer felt like they were fighting. It was more like a treasure hunt.

“There!! There’s another fishing boat behind that smoke. If we miss that one, we’ll have to give up on catching anyone alive!! We’ll be mercilessly accused by a grinning international committee!!”

The attack helicopter flew by over their heads. It was clearly moving toward the same target.

Heivia brought a hand to his forehead.

“Is that pilot a coward!? I don’t think he can relax until he eliminates every threat he sees. And it’s not like those pirates can shoot down a helicopter flying around at high speed!!”

“What do we do? If we don’t take one alive, we’ll have to try our hand at necromancy during the court martial.”

“I’ve had enough of this!!” shouted Heivia in desperation as he shouted at the young soldier in charge of steering the hovercraft. “Head full speed toward the fishing boat! …I can’t believe I have to put my life on the line to protect the enemy!!”

“But what exactly are we going to do!?”

“We only have one choice.”

For some reason, Heivia removed the safety pin from the shoulder-fired missile launcher hanging from his shoulder along with his rifle. He rested one end on his shoulder and aimed the other end. Tanks on land, small patrol boats at sea, and ground attack craft in the air. Save for its ridiculous price tag, that missile was known as a masterpiece.

“We fire on our own helicopter.”

He did not hesitate.

He captured the target with both infrared and ultraviolet at the same time and he pulled the trigger.

The long, narrow missile shot out like a spear and shot by right next to the helicopter.

No damage was done.

Except for Quenser who was knocked backwards by the backfire.

He flew two or three meters like an unnamed character in a kung fu movie.

“Hot!! Hot!? Wh-what just happened? Are we under attack!?”

“If you’re that lively, I’m not gonna worry too much.”

The other soldiers on the hovercraft focused on Heivia. Their gazes were asking why he had fired on an ally.

“If I had actually aimed, it wouldn’t be in the air right now! I purposefully missed. But that coward of a pilot won’t notice that!! If you don’t want to die, get ready!!”

The attack helicopter belatedly took evasive actions and then took a tight turn around. It was clearly being wary. If the pilot panicked, there was a chance he would simply attack. It was similar to an extremely sleepy soldier caught in a whirl of gunfire confusing which side was his allies.

Heivia shouted in desperation.

“I bought us some time, but it’s only a dozen or so seconds! Charge straight into the fishing boat!! We just have to take at least one of them alive!!”

The hovercraft moved straight toward the lone remaining fishing boat. Meanwhile, Heivia aimed his assault rifle into the air and fired a long spray of bullets toward their attack helicopter. Orange sparks covered a side of the helicopter.

“With proper equipment, it can deflect rifle bullets.” While firing tons of wasted bullets, Heivia gave a thin smile. “But that coward won’t know that. His desire to survive made him panic and forget the plan. He’ll actually try to avoid this peashooter.”

The hovercraft approached the modified fishing boat from the side.

More accurately, it crashed into it.

Hovercrafts floated above the ocean surface with the power of air. The skirt portion that contained the air was a giant balloon made of bulletproof and knife resistant synthetic fiber.

Rather than a straight collision, the hovercraft climbed on top of the boat.

And the pirate man standing on the boat’s deck was knocked into the ocean.

The fact that the skirt portion was a soft balloon turned out to be a stroke of luck for both sides. As the man flailed his limbs around, he was knocked several meters horizontally like a small stone.

At the same time, a rocket fell from the heavens and struck the point of intersection between the fishing boat and the hovercraft.

The blast knocked the Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers into the air.

But it did not knock the will to fight from them. Or rather, they could not leave this sea of flames and smoke until they completed this. Several soldiers used strange wrestling moves to jump on the pirate who had fallen into the ocean.

Several dull sounds could be heard.

The pirate struggled as his head was forced under the salty ocean water.

Quenser and Heivia grabbed the pirate by the collar and dragged his head back above the surface.

And they shouted angrily into his ear.

“If you don’t want us to start an interrogation using the water here, then start talking!! Tell everyone that you’re a piece of shit pirate who was causing everyone all sorts of trouble!!”

===Part 4===

They were forced to participate in a “detour” to eliminate pirates, but Quenser, Heivia, and the 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion’s original destination lay elsewhere.

Those idiots had been sent to the Strait of Malacca ahead of the rest of the battalion. Sea mines, fuel oil attacks, nets in the propeller, and pirates were all threats that even civilians could accomplish. To ensure that none of the warships were damaged, all those threats had to be eliminated before the maintenance battalion’s fleet passed through.

In other words, their target this time was dangerous enough to warrant that.

Even in an age where Object vs. Object battles decided everything, they did not want to lose the backing of a single support ship.

“We’re really here.”

Their destination was the birthplace of Objects in the seas of the Far East.

It was currently a portion of the Capitalist Corporations and it was an important point for the Asian naval forces.

“This is the Island Nation. Should we really be here? This supposedly the artisan paradise that sent out the world’s first Object and it’s also known for its healthy food. A ridiculously proportioned macho man isn’t going to attack us with all sorts of strange new weapons, is he?”

Quenser sounded bored as he stood on the deck of a small aircraft carrier. Rather than the takeoff and landing of aircraft, it was primarily used as maintenance space for the Object contained between it and another aircraft carrier.

The princess must have had nothing to do because she was sitting on the edge of the deck and looking blankly in Quenser’s direction.

“Frolaytia said our job isn’t very dangerous this time.”

“She may be skilled, but you can’t trust any verbal promises she makes. Especially when we’re talking about the Island Nation. It may be part of the Capitalist Corporations, but the level of their newly developed technology is ridiculous. In fact, it’s gone so far that it’s created a kind of Galapagos Syndrome. Naturally, the same goes for their Objects.”

“This will not be a direct fight in the first place.”

“Yeah, they are going through some infighting, aren’t they?” Quenser let out a light breath. “The Capitalist Corporations were crazy enough to go fully down the PMC route and make listed companies out of their army, but the intensification of conflicts in recent years means the armies sent around the world by the different major companies aren’t enough. That’s why they created the new framework of half-public self-defense PMCs to quickly strengthen their naval defenses.”

“But one of those self-defense PMCs went out of control and started a civil war in the ocean around the Island Nation.”

“What did they think would happen when they gathered tens of thousands of rotten soldiers given dishonorable discharges in different parts of the world and then handed them cutting-edge weaponry? Yet they let their guard down so much that they surrendered an Object to them. What’s wrong with them? Were they ''trying'' to get themselves killed?”

“They had an aging society, so they had no choice. They had no young people.”

“I know they were shorthanded, but how could they possibly think people coming in to earn some money would defend their nation to the bitter end?”

The strategic simulations of the Legitimacy Kingdom military predicted that the civil war would not last long. The self-defense PMC could not be taken lightly, but they were only borrowing the Objects and other weapons and they could not maintain them or produce more on their own. And it was unlikely anyone would provide them with further supplies. The instant they ran out of reserves was the instant they met their end.

The simulations said they would last at most two months and possibly only a few weeks. But during that time, the Island Nation’s defenses would certainly be lacking. It was possible the confusion could be used to attack in otherwise impossible places or ways.

The princess pouted her lips.

“Why do we have to interfere with the Capitalist Corporations’ fight? We should just let them go at it.”

“We don’t want them having a nice fistfight by the river and getting along again. That’s why we need to stab them in the side and make sure they can never join back up. If we kill what enemies we can while we have the chance, we don’t have to worry about carelessly running into them on some other battlefield.”

At that point, a radio transmission reached the entire battalion.

It was from Frolaytia, their local commander.

“It’s time for the pre-mission briefing on how we will split the Island Nation. Gather in your ship’s conference room. I will provide the explanation via the monitor. …Also, a special message for the idiots who were playing basketball on the flight deck. The one who dropped the ball in the ocean must take responsibility by jumping from the cliff and retrieving it. That is government property. You aren’t allowed to lose it. That is all.”

===Part 5===

“As you can see, the ocean around the Island Nation is in a state of civil war. We will use the confusion to move in deeper than their normal defenses would allow. Our mission is to scout out their forces and destroy what we can.”

Frolaytia spoke from the podium up front while a few arrows were added to the sea chart displayed on the screen.

“The biggest problem for the self-defense PMC is the supply line. According to the strategic simulation performed on our supercomputer, this civil war will run out of gas and reach a quick end. The major corporation controlling the Island Nation will likely carry out a sabotage operation to hurry that along.”

The screen showed a group of islands in the ocean south of the Island Nation. One of those islands had not originally been there. It was a manmade floating island. The industrially manufactured island could move on its own and it was created by combining giant floats.

Its center was a dodecagon and each vertex had a harbor dock extending out from it like a tree branch.

Its overall silhouette looked like the ship’s wheel used to turn the rudder.

“This is the artificial floating island Ame-no-Darin. It is made to extract resources from the ocean floor. It is the cornerstone of the self-defense PMC’s supplies and reserves. It was the discovery of oil and veins of iron ore in the deep Pacific that transformed the Island Nation into a top class resource superpower. Thanks to that, they’ve left behind an environment that’s covered in oil. Anyway, as long as they have this, the self-defense PMC will have plenty of ammunition and fuel. And by exchanging that for foreign currency, they can smuggle in food. This is the central pillar of this war.”

Frolaytia used her penlight laser pointer to indicate different points on the displayed document.

“It originally functioned as the Island Nation’s military reserves base. It was a treasure trove of fuel and ammunition and its security was left to the self-defense PMC in question as far back as the construction phase. Once the civil war began, they took full control of the Ame-no-Darin. With the standard reserves, they can fight for ninety days. With full use of its ocean floor resource extraction and refinement ability, they can create an endless supply of fuel and ammunition. It may be an expensive facility, but that expense paid for some nice features.”

“I have a question.” Quenser raised his hand. “Are we going to destroy that Ame-no-Darin? How does that benefit us?”

“An excellent question, student. But wait until I’m finished.” Frolaytia placed her long, narrow kiseru in her mouth. “Our mission is to sweep for mines in the ocean around the Ame-no-Darin and to physically remove the saboteurs thought to have infiltrated it. We intercepted the schedule for a large-scale sabotage operation and we plan to end it before it starts. Simply put, we will be protecting the Ame-no-Darin despite no one asking us to. After all, that will cause this war to drag on and cause great financial losses for the Island Nation. Any objections?”

It was a cruel plan, but they were at war and had no interest in benevolence or world peace. The Island Nation was categorized as a safe country, so they could not directly attack it or slaughter the non-combatants there, but they had no real reason to bring the civil war to a quick end or to protect the Island Nation’s mobile fleet which included an Object. If they did, the forces remaining at the end of the civil war would turn toward them.

A small hand then rose into the air.

It was the princess’s.

“Then who will I fight?”

“Did you think it would be the Object belonging to the isolated self-defense PMC? Well, it isn’t. You will be fighting the Object belonging to the Island Nation’s major corporation which has the overwhelming advantage. When we have a chance to freely defeat an enemy, it’s always best to choose the strongest one. We will extend this civil war and take the initiative in removing future rivals. Do you all understand now?”

They were fighting to protect their enemy.

They were fighting to help out the isolated underdog.

Phrasing it like that made them sound like a gunman from a Western, but the principles at the core has been twisted by the world which had shattered like stained glass.

“Then let’s begin. We are only here to benefit the Legitimacy Kingdom. Justice for the Capitalist Corporations is not our concern. How about you head out there and see what your precious Island Nation is really like.”

===Part 6===

The two idiots named Quenser and Heivia were crammed into submarine torpedo tubes along with the other soldiers. It was one to a tube and they felt as small as coffins. The diving suits and oxygen tanks only made it feel more cramped.

“What is wrong with them? This is discrimination!! I’m a radar analyst. I shouldn’t be launched from a torpedo tube while holding an oxygen tank and an underwater gun! I don’t remember the contract I signed saying anything about doing this!”

“Shut up, Heivia. Sound is everything for subs. Make too much noise and the enemy will notice us.”

“Fine by me! I’ll make them wrinkle their nose at the most tremendous fart they’ve ever heard!!”

“You’re in an enclosed space, so you’ll just end up cursing your own asshole.”

As they chatted over the radio, Quenser’s coffin filled with red light. The torpedo tube was about to open.

The greeting from the weapons officer reached his ears.

“Carefree little birds, you have the precious free will of a human, so you can shit yourself if you want, but wait until you’ve left the sub first. Rock & roll!”

“Goddammit. Should I have brought an alarm clock along to set off after I left!? Well!?”

Heivia’s complaints were immediately followed by the external door opening and seawater rushing into the torpedo tube. Quenser did not fight the current and waited until the tube was filled with water before he slowly left the submarine.

“There’s nothing but sludge and oil around here. I’d heard ocean oil drilling always let some oil leak out, but this is crazy. You could set the ocean ablaze with a burner.”

“When you weigh ecology against resources, people tend to choose the more profitable one. Not that it matters to us.”

“What’s that giant mass over there? A new type of mutant?”

“It’s a clump of oil. It’s just like running into sewage. You can’t move once it gets all around you.”

Quenser, Heivia, and eight other soldiers travelled through the dark ocean using devices resembling kickboards with motors attached. They were on their way to the Ame-no-Darin, but doing so was not easy when the area was in a state of civil war.

Several vague silhouettes measuring a few meters across came into view.

As they came into focus, Quenser felt a chill run down his back. Long narrow cylinders which appeared to be torpedoes were stabbed into the clump of oil.

“Those are the Capitalist Corporations’ smart torpedoes,” said Heivia calmly. “I don’t know which side of the civil war fired them, though.”

“W-wait. Are we going to pass by them? If they detonate, we’ll be torn to pieces.”

“I said they were ‘smart’, remember? They only react to the acoustic signature of enemy ships that are updated over their network. They aren’t made to kill humans.”

“Really?”

“They cost 20 thousand dollars apiece. They’d lose a ton of money if a fish swimming by could detonate them. They’re made to only react to top priority targets.”

“But these didn’t go off! We can’t trust them.”

Heivia went ahead as a guide and Quenser nervously followed while weaving between the smart torpedoes.

But that was when something approached while producing a rumbling vibration that sounded like a coin laundry amplified several times.

A giant mass slowly passed by the two idiots.

It was a submarine.

Quenser’s eyes opened wide.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!! We’re swimming between unexploded torpedoes right this very instant! If they react to that acoustic signature, we’ll be blown away!”

“We have a bigger problem!! I don’t know whose sub that is, but the current created by its propeller is going to carry us off!! If we don’t grab onto something, it’ll suck us in and slice us to pieces!!”

“What am I supposed to grab onto!?”

[[Image:HO_v08_043.jpg|thumb]]

The sensation of something tugging at his body created an instinctual fear in Quenser, so he immediately reached for the closest object.

It was one of the torpedoes sticking out of the oil.

“Kyaaaaah!!!!!”

Any kind of tactical thoughts were sent to the farthest reaches of the universe as he entrusted himself to what looked like a propane tank and prayed it would not explode.

“This is it! I’m gonna piss myself! I really am this time!!”

“Shut up!! That’s no different form peeing in the pool! Stop making such a racket!!”

“How about you try it! It’ll just fill your diving suit and there’ll be no escape from that hell of your own creation. I don’t want the kind of embarrassment that leads to suicide!!”

Those boys were from the nation of kings and knights, but they were desperate to protect their pride on an elementary school level.

An unpleasant noise rang out.

“What now!?”

“The sub ran into the clump of oil! It’s coming this way!”

The back of the giant sub swung around like a bat and the propeller passed right by them like a lawnmower.

“Shit that was close. I don’t know whose sub that is, but any closer and it would’ve wiped all of us out.”

“Shouldn’t we help it?”

“How? And whichever side it’s on, it’s an enemy.”

Quenser’s entire body was covered with an uncomfortable sweat, but annoyingly enough, he could not wipe it away. He, Heivia, and the other soldiers moved carefully to the side of the oil clump and met up with the units that left a different submarine.

Ultimately, a group of around one hundred Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers were swimming toward the Ame-no-Darin.

“Is that it? It’s incredible that something so gigantic can float.”

“That just shows how reckless they’ve been. That’s gotta be the king of pollution around here. In an American comic, it’d be the villain’s secret base.”

As they looked up at the Ame-no-Darin from below, it looked like a never-ending ceiling. They had needed to travel directly below the floating island to sneak in, but having the surface sealed off made the ocean seem all the more oppressive. If their oxygen tank malfunctioned, there was no escape. It would mean certain death.

“Let’s go. Our way in is the emergency drain pumps used in case of flooding. They aren’t normally active, so we can make our way up into the float.”

“If they notice us, it’s all over. One flip of a switch and seven tons of seawater will be ejected every second. We’d learn what a bug in a drain feels like.”

After using their tools to destroy a few sensors and remove the wire mesh cover, they entered the drain pump pipe one at a time. The pipe was over two meters across, so they had plenty of room to move.

After working their way into the Ame-no-Darin’s spare engine area, they could finally remove their diving suits and heavy oxygen tanks.

“Hey, where’d our commander go?” asked Heivia in annoyance. “We can’t start without him.”

“It looks like we got separated somewhere,” answered a nearby female soldier. “He isn’t responding over the radio, so should we wait until he catches up?”

“No, thanks! He’s the one who got all worked up on the Scarlet Princess, wasn’t he? I’m not going to get myself killed for him. A group of one hundred can’t hide forever. If they throw a bomb in while we’re waiting for that jokester, we’ll all be taken out.”

“Um, Heivia? This is enemy territory, so wouldn’t it be bad if our commander was captured?”

“If his allies can’t find him, how is the enemy supposed to? And aren’t the rest of you pissed at him, too? Teacher won’t get mad, so be honest and raise your hands.”

None of the honor students raised their hands, so Heivia changed the question.

“Do you want to die for the kind of commander who returns to the sub without telling us, or do you want to continue the mission and get back alive? Raise your hands if you want to survive.”

All of the idiots raised their hands.

Their plan was decided.

The Ame-no-Darin was a float the size of a fair-sized island, but it was still an indoor facility. A group of one hundred travelling together would be too large for the passageways, so it would be more effective to split into groups of ten and travel down different routes to target the enemy from multiple angles.

And so it was time to split into groups.

Quenser raised his hand.

“I’m willing to follow a guide, but who takes the lead?”

“That’s decided by rank.”

Heivia’s offhand comment turned everyone’s focus on a new second lieutenant, but he trembled, shook his head, and grew pale.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” said a female soldier in irritation.

“Then let’s go with experience and achievements.”

Heivia’s new suggestion turned the focus to the two idiots.

Needless to say, no one could outdo their achievements of destroying several Objects on their own. It was just that their negative achievements were also quite amazing, so it all cancelled out in the end.

“Seriously?”

“If we keep complaining, the enemy will spot us and get in the first attack. Let’s get moving.”

And that settled that.

The other ten-man groups determined their leaders based on the number of battles they had fought in and they all began to move.

“We have no guarantee we’ll come back here and who knows when we’ll need to jump in the ocean. It’ll be a bit of a burden, but we need to carry the diving suits and oxygen tanks with us.”

“Where will the enemy come from? Specifically, the saboteurs who are destroying the Ame-no-Darin to cut off the self-defense PMC’s supply line.”

“They’re boldly making their way in using transport helicopters with spoofed identifiers. They should be arriving any time now, so let’s head toward the heliport. We’ll probably run across them on our way there.”

“Quick question. How do we tell the saboteurs from the self-defense PMC protecting the Ame-no-Darin? They should both be using Capitalist Corporations Island Nation equipment.”

“Do we even need to? They’re both enemies.”

===Part 7===

The Baby Magnum was released into the ocean near the southern islands after its naval floats were attached.

The old maintenance woman was waiting atop the flight deck of a small aircraft carrier in a large-scale fleet. Her job was to quickly and accurately maintain and repair the Baby Magnum upon its return, but the situation was different this time.

Her name was Ayami Cherryblossom.

As her family name suggested, she was originally from the Capitalist Corporations Island Nation. She had worked as a technician before leaving, so she had been recruited for an investigation of the abilities of the Island Nation’s Objects.

Her B5-sized tablet computer displayed satellite images and video taken by front line observers and she conversed with the Baby Magnums’ princess over her headset.

“There they are. We’ve picked up two Objects near the Ame-no-Darin. One is a first generation named Yuuhi which was officially deployed by the Island Nation to quickly end the civil war. I believe the Legitimacy Kingdom’s codename for it is Be Ablaze. It can literally set the sea on fire.”

“It’s a first generation?”

[[Image:HO_v08_050.jpg|thumb]]

“That’s thanks to a sad mentality of the Island Nation. They’re better at creating improved versions of old weapons than they are developing brand new ones. For example, they add cameras to outdated fighters and insist on using them as spy planes. This one may be classified as first generation, but its insides have been completely swapped out so it can keep up with modern models. Underestimate it, and you’ll end up on the ocean floor.”

“But its main weapon is a flamethrower, right? I don’t see how that’s a threat to Objects that can withstand nuclear weapons.”

“It’s a close range defensive weapon known as the Hiding Clothes of Flame. It scatters fuel oil and napalm over the entire area and sets the sea ablaze. This is an effective anti-personnel weapon, but it’s mostly meant to disrupt targeting information with smoke and mirages. You should assume your laser targeting won’t work. You will be separated by several layers of mirages created from temperature change, so the light will bend all over the place.”

However, the ocean around the Island Nation was in state of civil war and the two forces were fighting each other.

The princess was targeting only one side and destroying the Be Ablaze was her top priority, but the situation was too complex for her to focus solely on that. Another giant enemy existed in that ocean.

Namely, the self-defense PMC’s Object that used the Ame-no-Darin as its supply base.

It was a symbol of rebellion.

[[Image:HO_v08_052.jpg|thumb]]

“The other one is named Ningyo. The Legitimacy Kingdom’s codename for it is Mad Cooker. It’s a first generation equipped with a salt railgun. Naturally, it’s been independently altered to have the power needed to defeat a second generation.”

“A salt railgun?”

“They were mainstream before low-temperature superconductors were successfully used in weapons. It uses a liquid known as molten salt. When salt is heated to 1200 degrees and liquefied, it has ten times the conductivity of normal saltwater. That molten salt can be used to construct a cheap and primitive railgun.”

An endless supply of the raw material was located in the ocean below it.

With its huge reactor, it could easily heat it.

The reason the Island Nation had continued research into the outdated salt railgun was likely because they wanted to use the ocean surrounding them to increase how long they could fight.

“The current version gives the shells conductivity by creating them from a base of over 90% salt. The core of the shell is a long, narrow spike of tungsten that they call the Ushi-no-Koku. It’s made so the mass of salt shatters when it’s fired. That sends all the kinetic energy into the tungsten so it can pierce the enemy’s onion armor. Continuing to use the same method used by old tank guns is another example of the Island Nation’s sad mentality.”

As long as they had the technology to filter out and condense the iron and rare metals dissolved in the ocean, it was conceivable that the Object could fight indefinitely with no need to resupply. It was almost more dangerous from the experimental side than as an enemy.

“As I’m sure already know, your primary target is the Be Ablaze from the Island Nation’s major corporation. To drag out this civil war and deplete them financially, we need to protect the weaker side, attack the stronger side, and bring both sides as close to equal as we can. But if we go too far, the two Capitalist Corporations Objects might work together to eliminate us. In other words, there is no need to defeat your target at all costs. Just fire at it from the distance and cause as much damage as you can while ensuring all three Objects need to keep an eye on the other two.”

Modern wars were decided by the number of Objects.

With one-against-one, an Object would head in for a direct fight. With one-against-three, an Object would swiftly retreat before fighting.

With that in mind, it would cause incredible pressure to the Island Nation when a third Object of dubious affiliation entered the fray.

Normally, two Capitalist Corporations Objects would work together if the Legitimacy Kingdom attacked.

But they could not trust each other during a civil war.

If they joined together and the other betrayed, a one-against-two battle would be unavoidable.

That fear would bind the battlefield.

“Understood,” said the princess. “I will stick with long-range shots from ten kilometers away.”

“We don’t need to settle this or even see it through to the end. As long as we put an end to the large-scale Ame-no-Darin sabotage plan, we can retreat and watch the mayhem from a safe distance. If the civil war continues, it will do critical damage on an economical front. This has been an internal problem for the Capitalist Corporations from the beginning, so it isn’t worth it for us to risk our lives here.”

===Part 8===

The major Island Nation corporation plan to sink the Ame-no-Darin was to send a large number of saboteurs into the facility while a large-scale battle between Objects acted as a diversion.

The plan was only being carried out after a thorough preparatory period and a similar plan could not simply be repeated again and again.

In other words, stopping them just once would eliminate this opportunity to destroy the Ame-no-Darin.

The civil war would drag on and the Legitimacy Kingdom’s objective would be achieved.

While occasionally speaking with the other groups over the radio, Quenser, Heivia, and eight others cautiously advanced.

“Hey, there’s an elevator over here.”

“I dare you to get on that thing. The instant the door opens, you’ll be riddled with holes. You can’t escape from a square box. Let’s just use the stairs.”

The Capitalist Corporations saboteurs had apparently arrived through the heliport by tricking the Ame-no-Darin with spoofed identifiers. Quenser’s group had started at the bottom and was ascending to the heliport. They assumed they would run into the saboteurs somewhere along the way.

There were apparently three floors’ worth of height from the bottom of the Ame-no-Darin to the ocean surface.

“Y’know, I’d heard they were a technological superpower, but this place is almost falling apart. Wall and ceiling panels are removed and the plumbing is exposed at points. Did they run out of funding halfway through building the thing?”

“Quenser, I want to make sure I’m not seeing things. What is that you’ve been pointing all over the place?”

“A digital camera. Why?”

“We’re in the middle of a mission to kill people!”

“And I can’t stand just going along empty-handed!! I have to take back at least one piece of Island Nation tech!!”

As they chatted, they made their way toward the stairs.

The stairway appeared to be for emergency use. Once they passed through the door, they found concrete stairs that reversed direction countless times.

They had to send someone ahead to make sure they were not completely wiped out in a surprise attack.

Heivia gave a sign with his fingers, his allies gave a different sign back, they began a war of gestures, and they ultimately played rock-paper-scissors.

After playing scissors, a trembling Heivia was thrust toward the staircase by his fellow soldiers.

“If this was chess, you’d be sending your king right to the enemy.”

“I don’t want to take responsibility for anything, so I’m fine being a pawn.”

The fluorescent lights flickered.

Quenser and four others acted as the scouts. Heivia held out his assault rifle to see up through the gap in the center of the staircase that formed a rectangle as it repeatedly doubled back.

“A cramped staircase is the worst.”

“Why?”

“Try to think before you speak. It’s not as bad as an elevator, but they can set all sorts of ambushes.”

An instant later, gunfire assaulted them in the ideal way from the ideal spot.

“Gyaaah!!”

“Waaah!!”

The enemy fired down while leaning over the railing up above.

The five of them could only retreat while firing back. Quenser headed for the entrance they had come from while helping a nearby soldier who was holding a bloody shoulder and was about to collapse.

“Heivia, fall back! Fall back!! We’ll be wiped out like this!!”

“Shut up! Why the hell do you think I’m trying to buy us some time!? You drag that injured soldier away!!”

“If they drop a grenade, it’s all over!! We’ll be slaughtered without a chance to buy any time!!”

That was when they heard a hard clanking noise.

The overhead attackers had tossed an explosive over the railing. The grenade struck the wall a few times and landed at their feet.

“…!!!???”

The enemy was playing it all by the book.

All five of them rushed toward the narrow entrance to the stairwell, but not many actually made it into the corridor beyond.

A muffled explosion burst out.

With his face dyed red with someone else’s blood, Heivia pressed against the wall and shouted out.

“We have casualties!! Check the damage!!”

“Almost zero! The injured private covered the grenade with his own body!!”

“That idiot tried to take all the glory for himself!!”

“He placed his balled up diving suit over it, so I don’t think he thought he would die.”

“You don’t have to point that out! We can just call it a valiant death!!”

At any rate, the blood-soaked Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers used the slight bit of time this gave them to return to the corridor where the other five awaited them.

The enemy must have dropped more grenades because multiple explosions reached their ears.

“This is bad, Quenser. The enemy is better than us. I only caught a glimpse of their uniforms, but assuming it isn’t a bluff, they’ve sent in someone amazing.”

“Eh? Does the Island Nation have any famous units?”

“They aren’t from the Island Nation.” Heivia wiped the blood from his face with an arm. “This is Moss Green co. ltd. They’re a land war PMC from the Northern Restricted Zone where long, drawn out wars continue 365 days a year because Objects are forbidden. I heard they’d been expanding their business to naval operations, especially landing operations, so this might be a promotion for their new services.”

“Meaning?”

“A soldier’s quality is determined by the quality and quantity of daily training, but these ones are out in actual battles year round. People who rely on Objects like us don’t stand a chance! The difference in experience is so overwhelming that we simply can’t win!!”

===Part 9===

The longer one fought an unbeatable enemy, the greater one’s losses would be.

Even a child could figure that out.

But they were not allowed to simply raise the white flag and go home.

“Let’s escape to a more advantageous position. We can fire a bit, fall back a bit, and then repeat the process to wear down their numbers.”

“How long do you think they’d keep falling for that obvious method? Moss Green is filled with nothing but cruel, cigar-smoking sergeants with eyepatches.”

“Just start laying as many traps as you can along the way. If we can’t win in a firefight, we need to wear down their numbers in other ways.”

They had no time, but any immediately obvious traps would be meaningless.

Fortunately, some of the wall and ceiling panels of that floor were removed, exposing thick steel pipes travelling around like blood vessels. There were plenty of places to hide traps.

“Hey, are you just setting up the plastic explosives as is? Wouldn’t you normally bury them in piles of screws or nails?”

“We don’t have time and the shockwave will fill the corridor anyway. You can shoot them once they’re knocked out, right? More importantly, gather all our cheap rockets. I don’t have enough firepower with what I have on me. You’ll be too afraid to use them in here anyway, so let me use the warheads for traps.”

“What?”

“A warhead with a contact fuse can be used as a landmine. Let’s hide them under the paper and mats lying around.”

They added other embellishments to the bombs: a dangerous cleanser that expanded as a mist when heated combined with a bleaching agent that caused intense pain and inflammation when it contacted skin. They found both of them in the lockers along the corridor.

Ultimately, they laid around thirty traps.

“Will this really work? A fat old man working on his home on the weekends makes better-looking stuff than this.”

“It’s a tragedy you can’t see the golden ratio to this. No matter where they try to evade, they’ll trip a different trap. It’s like a tangle of strings; they can’t just untangle one string at a time. I should get a medal for making something so artistic on such short notice.”

“You might find some fans in a prison. They’d probably all be skinny little guys, though.”

Just as Quenser and the others turned around to head to their ambush point, they heard an explosion up ahead and a great impact hit them.

The corridor wall had been destroyed from the other side.

Gray dust filled the corridor and cut off their path.

“Goddammit!!” shouted Heivia from the ground. “What is with today!?”

“What? My ears are ringing and I can’t hear you!?”

“Those Moss Green fuckers took a shortcut! Our escape route’s been cut off, so we can only fall back. And that means going through the corridor we just filled with traps!!”

It seemed unlikely they were being monitored via cameras or sensors.

The enemy had simply used their intuition and experience to accurately predict their actions. And that enemy had cut them off on the worst route possible. That level of accuracy made them seem like espers.

Multiple sounds of gunfire reached Quenser’s ears as they recovered.

He could no longer leisurely talk about thinking this through logically.

To escape the threat before his eyes, he charged into the spider web of traps he himself had laid.

The Moss Green soldiers peeking out from the hole in the wall were not courteous enough to aim for each soldier one at a time.

They accurately fired a bullet into a rocket warhead set up as a trap.

And an explosion swallowed up Quenser and the others.

===Part 10===

A woman named Angela Hibiscus commanded Moss Green and she frowned after hearing the explosion.

“What? They’re still moving.”

“They must have kept their traps non-lethal. Their own kindness saved them.”

“Then go finish off the passed-out fools. Just as they planned to do to us.”

A blond combat engineer twitching on the floor moved his hand. He grabbed some fishing line to set off his own trap.

As the corridor filled with a white mist, Angela’s men spoke delightedly.

“Wow, a chemical weapon. They violated the war treaty, captain.”

“Undiluted bleach, hm? You can have fun if you want, but do you have protective masks and suits prepared for us?”

“Eh? Well…”

“I don’t recall supplying any. The air conditioning is blowing their suicidal smokescreen this way, so we need to fall back. If we let something like this gave us any casualties, it would affect the unit’s reputation. I don’t want to owe the advertising firm a favor.”

Meanwhile, Heivia was very nearly screaming after being thrown into the toxic smokescreen.

“Quenser, you idiot!! We already had a full course of hell lined up for us, so why did you have to order dessert!? What the hell is this? Cough, cough. Bleach!?”

“If you don’t want to destroy your throat, stay quiet. And you have your diving suit’s mask, remember? Your throat will hurt, but the mask will keep it below a lethal level!”

“You’re kidding. So we have to crawl through this!?”

“They can easily get rid of this impromptu smokescreen with the air conditioning and then we’ll need enough body bags for all of us. Would you rather stay here and end up filled with lead!?”

Either way, they could no longer return unscathed.

Quenser and the others put on their oxygen masks and continued through the corridor while experiencing some chemical inflammation. On the way, they set off even more of their non-lethal traps, but they finally arrived at the stairwell.

“N-now what do we do, you moron? They hold the area above the stairs. If we charge in, they’ll just shoot us all. And if they sense any danger, they’ll drop more grenades to finish us off.”

“Heivia, do you have any rope? Can you rock climb?”

“Yes, but how does that help?”

“Then we don’t even need these stairs,” spat out Quenser as he pulled out his Hand Axe plastic explosive. “I’ll blow them to smithereens. After blowing up the structure and their soldiers, there will be nothing but a vertical hole left. We climb that with rope.”

“Are you serious? Even if they hold the area up there, that won’t be all of them. They came from the heliport. The more we climb, the closer we are to the center of their forces. Climbing just means more of those monsters! Can’t we just give up on the mission and escape from the sea down below?”

“If we did that, Frolaytia’s fists would send us to heaven before long anyway. Plus, they’ve been able to predict our actions so far, so we need to think about this in reverse. We’re below the waterline right now and no water came out when we blew up the pipes in the walls. They must be used with the emergency pumps in case of flooding. If we held the upper floors, how would you wipe out an enemy down below?”

“…You can’t be serious.”

“If they close all the waterproof bulkheads in one area, they can fill it with water. Instead of risking their own men in a firefight, they can wipe out their enemy with the turn of a valve. In a boring fight against weaklings, they’ll definitely choose the easier method. I’d be surprised if they ''didn’t'' flood the area.”

“B-but! We have diving suits and oxygen tanks. Even if they filled a block with water, it wouldn’t kill us.”

“It would. I don’t know how many tons of water would come rushing in per second, but it would definitely be a horrific deluge. We’d be swept on and on while being slammed along corridors and stairways. It would be like tying yourself to a car and being dragged through gravel. Our limbs would be torn off and the oxygen tanks would rupture.”

“Ugh,” groaned Heivia through his mask.

“It looked like they didn’t expect the suicidal wall of bleach and their pride probably demands a flawless victory. But this is the moment when we can escape the cage of Moss Green’s expectations. If we don’t head up now, it will all be downhill. As soon as they decide which valve to open, we’ll be swallowed up by the deluge and torn to pieces!”

===Part 11===

The 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion’s fleet remained on standby away from the battle. Frolaytia received various reports in the small aircraft carrier’s mission command center. A controller’s panicked voice reached her ears.

“Something is approaching the radar. It’s very fast!! It’s flying just off the ocean surface at around Mach 2. It might be a cruise missile or…no, it’s an aircraft!!”

“On the same battlefield as three Objects!?”

Objects contained a reactor that produced near-limitless energy and they were covered with anti-air lasers, so the complex evasive actions of an ace pilot were meaningless. Lock, fire, destroy. That was the standard of the modern battlefield, but this enemy was easily ignoring it.

Frolaytia’s eyes opened in surprise and the controller continued the report with a bewildered look.

“From its movements, it does not appear to be unmanned. The CIWS…had no effect! Here it comes!!”

“Dammit! All hands, brace yourself!!”

In that instant, the old maintenance woman was waiting on the flight deck in order to maintain or repair the Baby Magnum. From there, she saw a Capitalist Corporations’ air superiority fighter pass less than a meter over the steel surface.

It was a fli-21T.

That was a modified version of the normal fli-20. Its development had been stopped just before mass production and deployment, and it was currently undergoing its final tests in the Northern Restricted Zone.

It was tilted ever-so-slightly, so the top of the craft was visible from the old woman’s side.

The short girl in the cockpit wore an anti-G suit resembling an Elite’s special suit. Blue paint on the right wing drew a girl’s silhouette bearing a giant snow crystal on the back.

As the old woman saw the words “Ice Girl One”, a rugby ball-like mass below the wing was released.

It was an anti-ship aerial bomb.

Normally, its weight and the potential energy of the fighter’s altitude would break through the ship’s armor before it detonated, but when released just above the flight deck, the rugby ball bounced off the armor rather than penetrating it.

The old woman made an immediate decision upon seeing the bomb bounce into the air.

She watched the 200 kilogram explosive that had been perfectly left in the air so that the blast and fragments would efficiently spread over a wide area.

(The enemy has no interest in the fighters stored in the metal belly of the ship. They’re after the Object maintenance unit and its equipment. In other words, us!!)

“Jump into the water if you want to live!!”

She threw aside all her tools, turned around, and did not hesitate to jump from the nine meter height of the flight deck. She heard the tremendous explosion before hitting the water. The small island of steel behind her creaked ominously.

Her body produced a pillar of water as it vanished below the surface, but her head appeared soon thereafter.

She did not know how many of the maintenance soldiers had followed her.

“How...? How did it…get through the network of anti-air lasers?” groaned a young maintenance soldier floating nearby.

The old woman clicked her tongue.

“The air isn’t uniform. There are temperature differences, humidity differences, dust, dirt, and even salt content when over the ocean. The changes in those things will bend light just a bit. Mirages are the simplest example.”

“But…But… You couldn’t measure all that even with sensors.”

“No, but an ace pilot from the Northern Restricted Zone can sniff it out on intuition alone! Who is that pilot? Her senses are equal to or even greater than a pilot Elite's!!”

===Part 12===

Placing even a single bomb was a risky process.

As Quenser attached the plastic explosive to the base of the stairs, Heivia and a few others fired their assault rifles up the stairs. They were trying to hold the enemy back. By creating a barrage without even a gap to poke one’s head out, the enemy could not throw down a grenade.

But it only lasted thirty seconds.

“Shit! Here comes a grenade!!”

“I’m done here!! Fall back!! Fall back!!”

Quenser, Heivia, and the others practically rolled back to the corridor.

A moment later, the first grenade exploded.

Quenser then placed his hand on his radio and detonated his Hand Axe plastic explosive.

Just like when a building was demolished, the spiraling staircase smoothly crumbled and almost seemed to sink down underground. A great cloud of dust surged out toward them, but the corridor was already much worse due to the bleach and cleanser.

However, a problem presented itself.

“What the hell!? The door’s filled with rubble! We can’t escape through here!!”

“Then we just have to destroy the wall and ceiling to widen the hole. Outta the way, everyone!!”

After destroying the wall and ceiling enough to widen the “gap”, they entered the vertical hole which had been a stairwell.

Several moaning and bloody figures were mixed in with the piles of rubble.

“Don’t,” said Heivia quickly.

Even so, one of the enemy soldiers pulled out a handgun despite being unable to stand.

After a few assault rifle shots, the groaning stopped.

Heivia clicked his tongue and spoke to Quenser.

“I’ve had enough of this. Let’s climb on up.”

They had no specialized device to fire a rope to the top, so they gathered a random weight from the bloody rubble at their feet. It was a fist-sized piece of concrete with twisted rebar sticking out of it in places. They tied one end of a rope to it, swung it around like a morning star, and tossed it straight up.

“Oh? Ah? What? I didn’t get in on the first try.”

“And now it’s falling. Move!”

After the second and third try, they were shedding tears over how wonderful the helmets supplied by their fellow soldiers were. Finally, Heivia tossed the rope and felt it firmly stick. It seemed the rebar sticking out from the concrete weight had caught on the remains of the staircase on the wall. And it had caught right next to the door on the upper floor.

Heivia put all his weight on it to thoroughly check it.

“If the enemy starts firing down while I’m climbing, there’s nothing I can do, so make sure to cover for me.”

“Then why don’t you give me a gun? I’m confident I can at least fire right up your asshole.”

With a parting raise of the middle finger, Heivia started climbing up the rope. Meanwhile, the other soldiers threw more ropes and secured a second and third route up.

Unsurprisingly, scrawny Quenser could not rock climb on his own, so the others had to pull him up last.

After exiting into the corridor, Quenser glanced at the sign on the wall.

It said 0m.

This floor had none of the pipes travelling around like blood vessels and the floor and walls were a shiny white. Nevertheless, some of the panels were still missing.

“It looks like we’ve made it above the waterline. They can’t flood us now.”

They were all battered and they had lost the soldier who had protected them from the grenade.

Their uniforms were covered in blood from god knows who, were ripped in places, and stank of chemicals.

“I get that they can’t flood us, but what do we do now?”

“We can’t just run. We have to wear down the numbers of those monsters from the Northern Restricted Zone. To ensure the civil war drags on and causes a great depression for the Island Nation’s economy, we need to wear down the stronger side.”

“I’ve had enough. We can’t beat them. What do they eat anyway? Pure protein? Steroids?”

An Object had not even shown up and yet Heivia was already in full complaining mode, so the Moss Green PMC was clearly quite skilled.

Heivia contacted the other units by radio, but it seemed they had already received their baptism from Moss Green as well. None of them wanted a direct fight with them.

However, they could not leave enemy territory until someone produced some results.

That left deciding the loser by drawing lots.

“Moss Green will be heading down, right? That means we have to head down to fight them, but we’ll be wiped out if they flood the area. What are we supposed to do?”

“I have an idea.” Quenser sat with his back against the wall. “All the pumps here are electronic. The manual valves will only let a trickle out, so we don’t have to worry about them.”

“Are you saying we attack the power source? The Ame-no-Darin is shaped like a ship’s wheel. In addition to the central power source, it has secondary power sources in each of the twelve spokes. Do you really think we can wander around such a huge facility and destroy all of them? If we could, we wouldn’t be in so much trouble right now.”

“We only need to take out one.”

“They’ll just switch to another power source.”

“Normally, yes.” Quenser grinned. “Think about the handheld game systems popular in the safe countries. They have two power sources: the AC plug and the DC battery. If you repeatedly insert and remove the plug a whole bunch, it can cause an error in the power source switching process and the entire system will die. But it might wipe out your save data, so I don’t recommend trying it yourself.”

“And you want to try that in a legit war?”

“There’s no better answer for us right now. We want to stop them from sinking this thing and we want the war to continue, so we can’t completely destroy their power source. If we did that, the war would be over.”

Hearing that, Heivia glanced over at the other surviving soldiers.

None of them shouted support, but no one spoke up in protest either. They likely wanted the correct answer whatever it might be.

Heivia clicked his tongue.

“If no one has any other ideas, we’ll have to go with that. If we hang around here, we’ll just end up cornered. It’s kill or be killed.”

“Where’s the closest power source?”

“The sixth secondary power supply is three hundred meters ahead.”

After eating some tasteless soap-like rations and drinking from their water bottles, the group started walking toward the sixth secondary power supply with guns in hand once more.

Because they had risen above the waterline, one wall was covered in windows. The cold gray ocean spread out beyond the glass and what looked like an embankment was visible two or three kilometers away. That was likely one of the harbor blocks sticking out from the center just like the one they were on.

As soon as Quenser turned toward it, someone strongly grabbed his shoulders from behind.

Heivia tackled him to the shiny white floor and a high-pitched sound rang out a moment later.

At first, he did not know what had happened.

It was only when he heard the gunshot that he finally realized it was a sniper.

“Get down, you idiots! Get down!!”

As Heivia shouted, his follow soldiers frantically dove to the floor.

Quenser moved just his eyes to look at the window. It only contained a small hole and crack as if the tip of an umbrella had pierced it. The rifle bullet had been travelling so quickly that it had passed through the glass before the force of the impact could propagate.

“How did you notice that!?”

“My rifle’s passive sensors just happened to pick something up. He’s using microwaves that react to motion! It’s a necessary item when doing long-distance sniping without a spotter!!”

A few of their allies held up their assault rifles while crouching down. They connected a line between the hole in the glass and the hole on the opposite wall and they followed that to determine where the sniper had fired from.

But Heivia spoke up from the floor.

“Don’t try it. He’ll have already moved and you couldn’t reach him without anti-materiel rifles anyway. If he’s using microwaves, he’s the type that shoots and runs. If he’s set the equipment somewhere else and is linked to it through his radio, that won’t tell us anything either. If you pop up to fire back, he’ll just shoot you from his next point!”

“How about we continue on along the floor?” asked Quenser. “If we stay below the windows, the walls will protect us.”

“I’d love to, but do you have any guarantee he isn’t using an anti-materiel rifle? And if he pulls out a missile or Gatling gun, he can rip us and the walls to pieces.”

===Part 13===

It was like shooting fish in a barrel.

That was the honest opinion of the ace pilot girl of Sky Blue Inc., a Capitalist Corporations aerial PMC. She surrendered herself to the hard rock loudly playing from the smartphone she had brought into the cockpit.

The blue sky beyond the clear canopy was interrupted by several streams of black smoke, but the losses were not from her side. The Legitimacy Kingdom warships were being set ablaze one after another.

It would not have been this easy in the Northern Restricted Zone where she normally fought. The powerful long-time fighters of those never-ending death-filled battlefields did not rely on Objects. They would have seen right through this disturbance tactic and used manual targeting to swat down the bothersome flies. Destroying a heavy cruiser with just a handful of aircraft was worth a hero’s medal, so the girl found it almost disturbing that they were about to reach double digits so easily.

(The company ordered me to score some points here, but I guess this is what it’s like in the outside world. The only way to die on this battlefield is falling asleep because it’s so boring.)

She gave instructions to her colleagues over the radio.

She could see their next target.

It was a small aircraft carrier used as a flagship. To distribute the risk, there were a few identical ships in the fleet, but the thickness of the defensive barrages made it immediately obvious which was the flagship.

“Ice Girl 1 to Ice Unit. On my signal, perform a unified attack on the aircraft carrier’s bridge. Attack from the top to throw the bottom into chaos. And if I’m correct, that ship is connected to the Object. Hopefully the panic will spread to the star of the battlefield.”

The ship’s Gatling gun close-in weapon system began firing once they arrived within 100 meters, but a few thousand shots a minute was not enough to eat into their fighters. The bullets simply travelled across the ocean and tore into the neighboring ship.

Ice Girl 1 flew on through.

She even looked through the thick bulletproof glass and saw a silver-haired woman who appeared to be the commander. The woman was staring quietly at her.

But Ice Girl 1 did not care.

Her thumb gently stroked the button on top of the stick that fired a missile.

The pack of wolves would crush the head of the fattened herbivore.

But something happened just before that.

“CT to Ice Unit! Defense Charlie detected at nine o’clock. I repeat, an AAM Defense Charlie detected at nine o’clock!! Cancel it ASAP!!”

(…!?)

There had been no missile alert.

Or rather, there were so many meaningless targeting signals coming from the surrounding ships that she had not noticed this sudden intruder.

After Ice Girl 1 gave instructions to the others, they stopped attacking and took scattered evasive actions. The four fighters split into groups of two and flew past either side of the bridge at tremendous speed. The supposedly bulletproof windows shattered, but the aces did not have time to check on that.

“Ice Girl 1 to CT! Cancel confirmed! #4 was hit by some fragments, but it’s still active!!”

“There was no targeting signal just before it fired. The enemy is likely using visual identification. It’s using semi-active targeting and the pilot seems to be directly targeting you by sight!!”

In that instant, Ice Girl 1 felt a chill run along her spine.

It did not come from fear.

It did not come from unease.

It did not come from terror.

The vector of this emotion was in the exact opposite direction.

“Here it comes.”

The girl named Mariydi Whitewitch smiled fiercely.

“Something’s coming and it lives in the same world as us! Ice Unit, remember the real battlefield. The practice run ends here!!”

A moment later, someone sent out a transmission on an open and unencrypted band.

“Don’t grin like that with a job this boring. I’m sure you’re getting tired of tripping up those who have grown rusty thanks to the Objects. How about you let another ace pilot join you in this outdated sky, Ice Girl of the Capitalist Corporations.”

The man’s pretentious manner of speech reminded Ice Girl 1 of a certain fact.

The Legitimacy Kingdom had their own ace. While she and her colleagues stuffed everything necessary to fly into a human shell, this pilot flew a delta-wing fighter that looked like a beautiful sword and was created by removing all but the absolute necessities from the flying machine. He was a steel grim reaper who supposedly preferred using inconvenient semi-active targeting and would occasionally toy with the enemy fighters by “redoing the targeting” of missiles that flew off in the wrong direction.

[[Image:HO_v08_082.jpg|thumb]]

When she recalled his name, she licked her lips.

“Burning Alpha. I never thought I would run across the Legitimacy Kingdom’s scarlet evil eye!!”

“Stop it. That’s embarrassing. Unlike you, I’m much too old for those childish nicknames. Now I’m just itching to shoot you down.”

Even as they spoke, the fight to the death had already begun.

They weaved between the warships, chased and were pursued, and performed countless combat maneuvers as they attempted to take up position behind the other.

The line of ships momentarily got between them.

“By the way, hard rock during a dogfight? You have terrible taste. It’s just too cliché. Did you get it from a Hollywood movie? Or maybe a video game? Just so you know, classic is best no matter what you’re doing. You need to grow out of that childish stuff and maybe grow some breasts too.”

“You might think you’re being intellectual, but you’re just polishing a fossil. I can’t stand how the Legitimacy Kingdom thinks anything’s good as long as it’s old and musty. It’s disgusting. You might as well be praising cheese that smells like wet socks.”

“…”

“…”

Silence fell.

A slight gap in the line of ships appeared and the wall dividing the two fighter units disappeared.

The masses of metal crossed paths as they weaved through the slight gap.

The ace pilots began their battle as they worked to rule the sky.

===Part 14===

Angela Hibiscus, who commanded Moss Green, clicked her tongue when she received a report from the sniper.

“The lost children are after the sixth secondary power supply. Anything else would be sad even for them.”

There were several secondary power supplies, so stopping just one or two would not affect the entire Ame-no-Darin. They were also located at the end of the structure, so causing an explosion with their fuel would not sink the Ame-no-Darin.

Which meant…

“They must be trying to interfere with the power supply’s emergency switching system to cause an error in the whole power system and create a blackout. A foolish idea for a group of fools.”

The civil war surrounding the Ame-no-Darin was being fought between two Capitalist Corporations forces. One was trying to protect the Ame-no-Darin and the other was trying to sink it.

Angela’s Moss Green unit had been hired by the group trying to sink it.

“Sergeant major, how is the marking going?”

“It is already complete. Team C has secured the central power supply. We know the locations of all 2500+ valve release points, so we can begin the flooding at any time.”

Moss Green was trying to sink the Ame-no-Darin and a float that large could not be sunk with anti-ship missiles or torpedoes.

They had infiltrated it, calculated out how to sink the giant float under the weight of the water, and were prepared to fill specific blocks with water.

Water was a simple weight that simply increased with volume.

Merely filling an apartment’s cramped bathtub would secure two hundred kilograms. Due to the large size of the float, they could use leverage to split it down the middle like a cookie or biscuit.

In other words…

“If power is lost and a blackout covers all of the Ame-no-Darin, can we continue our mission?”

“Yes, if we set up explosives at each and every valve release location. But that would be in the quadruple digits and we would have to force our way into every part of the Ame-no-Darin.”

“In that case, it would be faster to make our move before those lost children arrive at the sixth secondary power supply.”

With that said, Angela Hibiscus brought her radio to her mouth.

“Teams B and D, gather our wounded and attack #6. If you can’t secure it, go ahead and blow it up. We hold the central power supply, so losing one of the many secondary ones won’t affect the mission.”

The man she had referred to as a sergeant major tilted his head a bit like a hunting dog awaiting orders at its owner’s feet.

“You aren’t sending in the whole unit?”

“Don’t forget our objective. Those lost children are outsiders. We were hired to sink the Ame-no-Darin, so that is what we must focus on.”

===Part 15===

The two Objects were named the Mad Cooker and the Be Ablaze.

They took different sides in the civil war, but they both belonged to the Capitalist Corporations. The princess’s Baby Magnum fought them both while quickly moving about the ocean surface.

At first, she had planned to interfere little by little from a distance to disturb their fight, but battles did not always go as planned.

She had been forced to approach them and it had developed into a three-way battle.

The princess was trying to extend the civil war surrounding the Island Nation by destroying the Be Ablaze which was trying to exterminate the self-defense PMC and the Ame-no-Darin, but she could no longer attack just the one Object.

In order to survive, she was forced to engage the Mad Cooker.

If the Baby Magnum was lost now, the thousand members of the battalion would be in danger.

“…!!”

As the princess withstood the high Gs caused by her lightning-fast evasive actions, she accurately kept track of the enemies and fired back with her seven main cannons.

The Be Ablaze used various fuels, oxidizers, and other chemicals to create flamethrowers. It used those to create a multilayer wall of heat called the Hiding Clothes of Flame and it prevented various types of targeting by distorting light.

The Mad Cooker fired a railgun that used molten salt and was theorized to automatically replenish its shells using the salt and metal in the ocean water.

(Fortunately, the two of them aren’t working together. With them scattered, I can interfere from here. My only choice is to destroy them one at a time and return safely.)

She was of course targeting the Be Ablaze.

She fired her seven main cannons in different directions to cut off her opponent’s escape and then fired them all together once her target had stopped.

Everything was progressing perfectly and yet she could not hit the Be Ablaze through the flames.

“Heh heh heh. Hah hah hah,” laughed the enemy Elite over the radio. “I feel like a matador. But I guess I shouldn’t expect too much from an unintelligent Legitimacy Kingdom Elite.”

“I don’t want to hear that from a rookie who has to rely on a system because he can’t evade on his own. Did you feel like showing off because your parents bought you a new bike?”

“You seem to be focusing on me, so I take it you’re trying to extend this war by helping the side protecting the Ame-no-Darin. …Are you serious? We sent Moss Green in there. They’ll sink the Ame-no-Darin no matter what happens. You’re wasting your time here.”

“My fellow soldiers won’t lose.”

“Bullshit. This isn’t about winning or losing. Moss Green is disposable. If they fail, I just have to sink the Ame-no-Darin myself. The other side never stood a chance.”

“……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………I see you have a death wish.”

“Ha ha! What do you think war is!?”

“Then I’ll roast your escape hatch before blowing up your reactor.”

Meanwhile, the Mad Cooker had taken up a position from which it could attack both the Baby Magnum and the Be Ablaze. As it aimed its main salt railgun, its Elite hesitantly cut into the conversation.

“Um… Have you both forgotten about the true star of the battlefield?”

“Shut up!!”

“Get the hell out of here!!!!”

After a great flash of light, the Mad Cooker was attacked from two fronts and bloomed into a giant flower on the battlefield.

“Oops.”

The princess finally realized what had happened once the operator gave the damage report.

She had destroyed the self-defense PMC’s Object.

If she did not do anything, there would be no one left to prevent the Be Ablaze from destroying the Ame-no-Darin. That would be a problem, so the Baby Magnum had to interfere. The two Objects put an appropriate distance between them and the battle line started gradually approaching the Ame-no-Darin.

“Heh heh heh! Hah hah hah!! Leave it to the Legitimacy Kingdom to act as a shield to protect the enemy! Even your stupid Elites try to act heroically!!”

“Honestly, why am I risking my life for this?”

The princess did a wonderful job of synchronizing her thoughts with the other Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers fighting to protect the Ame-no-Darin.

Baby Magnum vs. Be Ablaze.

The second round of the open-weight fight began.

===Part 16===

Quenser heard a quick burst of gunfire.

His fellow soldiers collapsed nearby.

“Shit, they’re here!” shouted Heivia. “It’s Moss Green!!”

They could not raise their heads for fear of the sniper, but the mercenaries had shown themselves by blocking the pure white corridor that led to the sixth secondary power supply. They were about 250 meters away and they numbered between 10 and 20. The straight corridor had no cover, but they had loaded several push carts with thick metal pipes and used them as shields.

On the other hand, Quenser’s group had nothing to use as shields.

And they would have to travel several dozen meters to fall back. They would be shot in the back well before they reached safety.

“Oh, c’mon!!”

Still on the floor, Quenser reached for his back and pulled out a Hand Axe plastic explosive. He attached a pen-like electric fuse, tossed it toward the ceiling, and hit the switch on his radio.

The explosion was followed by the ceiling collapsing.

As he coughed, Heivia pressed up against the pile of rubble and used it as cover.

“Dammit, Quenser! Leave the firefight to us and treat the wounded. There’s nothing more for a bomber to do here!!”

“I’m not a medic!”

“No one else has their hands free!! If we don’t push them back, they’ll throw a grenade and wipe us out!!”

Heivia and the others started firing and left Quenser alone, so he nervously turned toward the fellow soldiers who were collapsed on the floor. The pools of blood were growing and he had no idea where to start.

Along with the ones whose injuries were light enough to still move, he searched through his pouch for anything usable and lined them up on the shiny white floor.

“What’s this? Did the bullet leave the body!?”

“How should I know? But stopping the bleeding comes first. He’ll die if you keep hesitating! Hold that leg. We can wrap a bandage around the thigh to stop the bleeding!!”

“Saline? What is this and how do I use it!?”

“The same as a blood transfusion!! You pour that in instead of blood to regulate the blood pressure!”

“How do you do a blood transfusion!?”

“Just like a normal IV! You find a vein on the elbow and stab in a needle!!”

Quenser’s group was surprisingly lively. They sounded like students preparing for a school festival. As they desperately fired bullets from behind the rubble, Heivia’s group would occasionally turn a jealous eye behind them.

“Ow… Stop, you idiot. That hurts. Don’t dump disinfectant on there. It stings!”

“Ha ha ha. I’m not gonna treat you gently if you refuse to pay back the money I lent you.”

“What!? Wait. Is that glue!? You’re gonna seal the wound with that!? I’ll pay you back with interest!!”

“Of course you will. By the way, the only other options we have here is a stapler or safety pins.”

“Are there no medics over there?”

“There’s one! Hey, you! The one firing the submachine gun! Being an angel in white suits you more than blood and smoke. Stop filling your body with adrenaline and get over there!”

“Eh? Eh? But my boyfriend here asked me to help out.”

“It’s time to ditch him! C’mon over here!!”

Heivia was finally unable to stand the flirting mood of afterschool festival preparations developing behind him, so he shouted angrily at his allies.

“Don’t go stealing our nurse!! She’s our one refreshment up here!!”

“What are you talking about?” said Quenser. “If you need a blonde twin-tail in a nurse cap, you have me. You should count yourself lucky because I’m too good for you.”

“I get it now, Quenser. You want me to kill you, don’t you!?”

Suddenly, an explosion drowned out all nearby voices.

“Bwapph!!!???”

“Dammit…. They’ve started firing 25mm grenades! We just don’t have enough firepower!!”

Those grenades had been developed to kill humans, so they did not destroy the rubble.

But if they were fired in an arc over the rubble, there was nothing Quenser’s group could do. The explosive blast and shrapnel would wash over them.

The previous explosion had not been a simple missed shot.

They were firing a few test shots to calculate the ideal course.

Once they fired for real, Quenser’s group would be slaughtered as they hid behind cover.

Heivia clicked his tongue.

“Gather all our rockets, missiles, and whatever other explosives we have! Let’s blow away the push carts they’re hiding behind!!”

“I’ll leave it to you if you can manage it, but they’re better shots than us! They’ll put a bullet between your eyes while you’re holding up the launcher and taking aim. And the best barrage we can manage isn’t fazing them at all!!”

“Who the hell even are you!?”

“That’s just mean!! I’ve been protecting your back this entire time!!”

Boy A started sobbing despite not looking at all feminine, so Heivia ignored him and turned toward Quenser.

For some reason, Quenser was operating his radio with bloody hands.

“What are you doing!? The cavalry isn’t gonna show up if you send out an SOS!!”

“Don’t be so sure.”

“What?”

Heivia looked confused and his mocking expression turned to a serious one.

Quenser lightly shook his radio.

“We made our way above the waterline to escape their flooding, but I thought of another way to make use of it.”

“You mean the sixth secondary power supply!? Sure, we might be able to bring down all the power supplies by messing with the emergency switchover system, but we can’t get near the thing! Charging in will just get you driven back by bullets and grenades!!”

“There’s something else,” said Quenser without a moment’s pause. He began explaining as if he had been planning this all along. “Heivia, the cavalry has changed quite a bit these days. They have armor that can resist nukes, they have gigantic cannons that can split open the earth, and they’re piloted by beautiful girls.”

“You don’t mean…”

“What else could I mean but an Object?”

Their sight and hearing were completely blown away.

This went well beyond an explosion.

This was meant to aid Quenser’s group, but they were thrown to the pure white floor. The soldiers already on the floor were sent rolling.

“B-babh!? Bbah!? Bbgweh!!”

“D-don’t worry. I understand, Heivia. This is time for explanations, right? I received a report that the princess destroyed the Mad Cooker. That increased her range of motion, so I had her assist us during the openings in her battle against the Be Ablaze. Wink☆”

“Bh… I was trying to ask if you had any last words!!!”

Object shells generally could not attack deep below the sea. In order for Quenser to request assistance from the princess, they had to make their way above the waterline.

The Ame-no-Darin’s corridor had twisted like a sugar sculpture and some of it had been torn off. The first shot had been near Quenser’s group in order to mark off their safe area. The subsequent shells gradually moved farther away and brought death closer and closer to Moss Green.

Metal pipes on push carts were not enough to protect them from this ferocity.

The Moss Green mercenaries frantically tried to retreat, but the entire structure shook with tremendous force and they could not run properly.

The corridor was destroyed as if being bitten into.

The pure white corridor, the structure, and the soldiers were all crushed and thrown through the air.

Quenser covered one ear with a hand, pressed his radio against the other ear, and shouted into it.

“Stop!! Stop firing!!”

“There’s too much noise on your end, so I can’t hear you,” replied the princess.

“You just fired on the sixth secondary power supply!! Our destination is gone!!”

The metal door three hundred meters ahead was blown up from the other side and it spewed flames and smoke.

Heivia tapped Quenser’s shoulder in resignation.

“Our luck ran out once our great demon god had to take part in a conflict between humans. If it was blown up, there’s nothing we can do. We’ll have to go to the next closest power supply.”

The embankment-like place a few kilometers over the ocean was struck by the Baby Magnum’s shells. The structure was torn to shreds where the sniper was presumably lurking.

“The other secondary power supplies are still okay, right?”

“I want to leave the rest to the princess and go home.”

“I’d love to, but our mission will end in failure if the Ame-no-Darin splits in half and sinks. We need to put in a little more effort to lengthen this civil war.”

But then they spotted motion beyond the rubble that no longer functioned as a corridor. It was 250 meters ahead at the corner from which the Moss Green group had appeared.

They saw a woman with long silver hair and brown skin.

She was part of Moss Green, but the simplified medals on her ample chest suggested she held a fairly high rank.

“Now you’ve done it, Legitimacy Kingdom dogs! This is a Capitalist Corporations problem.”

“No, it’s an Island Nation problem! We’re both outsiders here!”

Heivia targeted the brown woman with his assault rifle, but the Ame-no-Darin lurched disconcertingly as an aftereffect of the Baby Magnum’s bombardment. He could not aim steadily and his bullets hit the wall next to her.

The thorough Object bombardment had destroyed the walls, the ceiling, and even the floor.

It felt like Quenser and Heivia were separated from Moss Green by a 250 meter ravine.

Quenser raised his middle finger.

“Let’s call this a tie, so withdraw your unit! Whether you’re from the Northern Restricted Zone or wherever else, flesh-and-blood soldiers can’t withstand the ferocity of an Object!”

“Is that so? Don’t forget your goal, sheltered little boy.”

The Ame-no-Darin shook once more and the ground below their feet felt like a small boat on a stormy night.

“What was that!?” Heivia paled. “That didn’t match the timing of the princess’s bombardment!”

“Our goal is to sink the Ame-no-Darin. We can operate the necessary bulkheads and seawater valves from the central power supply, so now we only have to wait for leverage to bend the giant float until it breaks down the center like a biscuit.”

The ground shook even more.

It sometimes reached a tilt of thirty degrees. Quenser wanted to grab onto something so he did not fall, so he reached for a crack in the floor. However, he heard a gunshot and orange sparks flew from nearby.

The silver-haired brown woman 250 meters away held a handgun.

Normally, 150 meters was the limit for a handgun even with careful aim. The fact that it had taken her only one shot to accurately fire right next to his hand while everything shook showed just how well-trained she was.

Quenser reflexively drew back his hand like a turtle sensing danger and drawing its head into its shell.

And that was exactly what the woman wanted.

“Wait! Watch out, Quenser!!” shouted Heivia.

But as if he were slipping down a slide, Quenser was thrown into the giant “ravine” opened in the pure white floor.

After seeing that, the brown woman licked her lips and jumped in after him.

They would be below the cold ocean there.

The Object could not provide proper support for anyone down there.

===Part 17===

“Gah!?” gasped Quenser as something struck his back.

The thick metal pipes running everywhere like blood vessels reminded him that he had fallen to a lower level.

Something must have happened to the wiring because the lights were out. The area was dark and his back was soaking wet because a giant puddle of seawater covered the entire floor. This was below the waterline, so he hoped it was from a burst pipe. A broken exterior wall would be truly terrible.

He stood up, leaned against a nearby column, and thought.

(What do I do? I can’t get back up the way I came, so I have to find a different set of stairs. Can I get the lights on? Or would that tell the enemy where I am?)

He then heard some static from his radio.

He hoped it was from Heivia or the others, but it was not.

“A rat in the birdcage.”

He grimaced.

That was the silver-haired brown woman he had spoken with before. She was most likely Moss Green’s commander here.

(When did they break our encryption!?)

[[Image:HO_v08_103.jpg|thumb]]

“Listen. I said a rat, not a little bird. Raptors prefer lively prey.”

“You’ve already won. Ame-no-Darin really does seem to be sinking. We can’t turn this around and the Legitimacy Kingdom can’t keep this civil war going if it sinks. So what more do you want? Don’t you have to retreat as well!?”

“It’s simple.”

Quenser looked around as he listened to her.

The area was dark and his enemy had to be skilled at remaining hidden. A near-amateur student would not be able to find her by effort alone.

“Sinking the Ame-no-Darin was our top priority and we got that over with quickly. That means we can veer off course and deal with a more personal and meaningless objective. As long as we accomplish our mission, the higher ups will turn a blind eye to a short detour.”

“Don’t tell me you’re taking revenge for your killed men.”

“They weren’t the type to die in a place like this.”

For the first time, human emotion poured into her voice.

Trusting the chill running down his spine, Quenser checked over his equipment again. He had a balled-up diving suit, an oxygen tank, and the Hand Axe plastic explosive. In his survival kit, he had a small knife and a metal skewer, but he could not use them very well. Not even Heivia would think of handling a Northern Restricted Zone warrior with only a knife.

“I couldn’t bear to throw them into the ruthless Northern Restricted Zone right after they finished boot camp. Before showing them true hell, I wanted them to prove themselves in these lukewarm battlefields and earn a few medals. But look at this. Now I have to bury them without anything decorating their chests. How can this happen? With a funeral as pathetic as this, they’ll never live down the shame even in heaven.”

“I thought the people who lived where Objects are banned would know just how unreasonable this line of work is. If you didn’t like it, you should have claimed they weren’t suited for this and swept them aside. You were in a position to do that!!”

“This is where that was supposed to be tested!! They were supposed to shoot you sheltered snot-nosed brats like it was a walk in the park!!”

Quenser finally felt he had seen where her anger was coming from.

She was not simply angry that her men had been killed.

If they had died in their actual battlefield in the Northern Restricted Zone, she may have written it off as unavoidable.

But this was below them.

She had looked down on it.

As a warrior, she was unable to forgive the fact that they had been killed by scrawny Quenser and the others who could only fight while protected by an Object. If someone died in single combat with a great warrior or a hero, their name might remain in history, but that death would be meaningless if they were instead killed in their sleep by wild dogs or bandits that were digging through the dead on the battlefield. This was no different. They had never been treating Quenser or his fellow soldiers as human.

She had said her men were not the type to die in a place like this.

That proved it more than anything else.

“You’re twisted. I feel like an idiot for thinking I did something wrong even for a moment.”

“I will take off your head, you damn poodle. It’s high time you learned to fear the wolf who was born in the forest and rules the mountain. I’ll leave you in such a tragic state that they won’t know what to carve on your grave, but I’ll at least stuff your head and offer it in place of fruit.”

In that dark place, the thoroughly trained wolf began preparing for her silent hunt.

If Quenser did nothing, his throat would be torn out.

Even if he gave this a normal level of effort or tried to protect himself with the standard methods, his weak poodle legs would not accomplish much.

He checked over his equipment again: balled up diving suit, oxygen tank, Hand Axe plastic explosive, small knife, and metal skewer. However, he doubted any of that would be of much use.

What could he do with only those supplies?

If he did not find an answer, his fate was sealed.

===Part 18===

Naturally, Angela Hibiscus did not let her guard down even when facing a foolish poodle.

She had judged the enemy’s equipment at a glance before even luring him down here.

He was a combat engineer.

The plastic explosives on his back would be his primary weapon. He did not carry a rifle or even a sidearm handgun, so he may have been a battlefield student. Other than the explosives, he would likely have an insignificant knife in his survival kit and he also had the balled up diving suit on his waist and an oxygen tank.

She focused more on the diving suit than the explosives.

Anyone with half a brain would never think of actually defeating her in a straight fight. She was only armed with a large military knife and a handgun, but she was confident in her ability to execute him without a scratch on her even if he were armed with a light machinegun.

If he was hoping to win, he would not try to attack at any one point.

In other words, he would use an attack that thoroughly filled the entire space. With that, he could defeat her while ignoring her combat skill.

They were below the waterline and he had a diving suit and an oxygen tank, so the most obvious method would be to fill the area with water.

(But he won’t do that. The valves won’t function in this blackout, but he could open them by destroying them with explosives. But if he causes too fast and powerful a surge, he won’t escape unscathed either.)

It was similar to a drowned corpse being swept down a mountain stream filled with rocks. With the powerful current striking the body against the hard outcroppings again and again, entire limbs could be torn off. The boy’s synthetic diving suit could not withstand that sort of impact.

(If he slowly opens the valves manually to avoid that danger, the flooding will take too long. I can slit his throat a hundred times over before it takes effect.)

The diving suit was made to withstand a certain level of water pressure, but it was not solid enough to stop the explosive blast of a bomb.

That meant he could not place bombs around the area and cause a giant explosion.

That left only one option.

(There’s a puddle of seawater at our feet.)

She used her night vision to observe her surroundings.

She could see her foolish target’s back from where she was.

(That synthetic diving suit is an insulator. He can use electricity as an attack that will only affect me.)

She grinned and adjusted her grip on the knife and handgun.

(Sorry, but the Object attack destroyed the circuitry. There’s no electricity to send through the seawater in this blackout! The very bombardment that tore my men to pieces has spelled your doom!!)

She took in a short breath and began to move.

Despite the seawater puddle covering the floor, she moved swiftly yet almost silently toward Quenser’s back.

But at that very moment, he took a strange action.

There was no way he had noticed her approaching from behind, but he suddenly put on his diving suit’s helmet and held something in his hand.

She had one more step to go.

In just one second, the knife in her hand would cross his shoulder and reach his windpipe.

And he reached a hand toward the button on his radio.

(A bomb!!!???)

She did not have time to judge the meaning of the action.

An instant later, an explosion compressed the air in the entire area.

===Part 19===

The aerial PMC named Sky Blue Inc. was working alongside Moss Green. Mariydi Whitewitch, their ace pilot, frowned as she received instructions over the radio.

That lovely blonde-haired girl was filled with fierce anger.

“You’re calling off the attack? You’re telling us to retreat!? What is going on, CT!? Don’t get in my way! I’m one attack away from shooting down Burning Alpha!!”

“CT to Ice Girl 1. Getting this worked up is a sign of danger. We came here to unilaterally earn some points, not for a 50/50 battle. Don’t forget the entire reason we are here.”

“Just one more and my kill count will be a nice round number and I want a good story to tell. Give me this one!!”

“CT to Ice Girl 1. The Legitimacy Kingdom’s first generation has sunk the Capitalist Corporations’ Ningyo and Yuuhi. Surprisingly, it won despite being outnumbered two-to-one. Its Elite is very skilled. With that burden gone, it can now move over a wider area. If you don’t finish up soon, you’ll be its next target. Sky Blue’s only job was to destroy some ships and spread confusion through their chain of command. We have no clear goal like Moss Green. Do you want to be known as someone who never returned from this lukewarm battlefield?”

“But!!”

“Stop complaining, Ice Girl 1. You have already done more than enough for a bonus and an aircraft can’t hope to oppose an Object if it is actively targeting you. This has nothing to do with your skill. Turn back immediately. Or do you enjoy putting your men in danger because you were blinded by the prize of shooting down an ace?”

The girl clicked her tongue and angrily raised the volume of her smartphone.

The Legitimacy Kingdom ace named Burning Alpha spoke cheerfully over the open band.

“What? Are you leaving in the middle of our date? Well, maybe you need to grow up a bit before you can handle anything more. Go on. Get home before it gets dark. Don’t get lost.”

“Come visit the Northern Restricted Zone. I’ll kill you in an instant!! And don’t act so tough when your left wingtip is spewing smoke! You have your hand on the eject lever, don’t you!?”

“You say that, but you had one of your men cut in and take one of my AAM locks for you. I will praise you for using smoke to escape my visual identification afterwards, though. Without that, you’d be swimming in the middle of enemy territory right now. Were you too scared to go on a date without your big brother to protect that cute little ass of yours?”

“I-I’ll kill you!! I’ll kill you right now!!”

Mariydi tried to tilt the stick, but three fellow members of the Ice Unit had her marked on the top and either side. They were only a few meters apart, so she would collide with them if she tried to turn.

She held her head in her hands and let out a large sigh.

She kicked the flight recorder at her feet and spoke.

“Those pieces of shit got lucky this time.”

In her irritation, she cursed Burning Alpha and all the other major targets she missed out on.

That included base commander-class officer Frolaytia Capistrano on the flagship aircraft carrier.

“I hope I see you on the battlefield again soon.”

===Part 20===

What Quenser had done was quite simple.

He did not use the blast to kill.

He instead modified the amount of explosive to keep it nonlethal. It was just enough force to apply tremendous pressure to the inner ear that controlled balance.

If he had simply set it off, he would have collapsed along with Angela.

And that well-trained woman would have recovered faster than a scrawny boy like him, so she would have killed him afterwards.

But that was why he had put on the diving suit’s helmet. The helmet was made to withstand a fair bit of water pressure. It could not withstand the pressure of an explosion that could smash a human skeleton, but it could hold off a blast weakened so it only affected the inner ear.

He removed the helmet, looked around, and finally realized that Angela had approached within a step of his back. The discovery did not please him.

“I’m glad I didn’t try to say anything clever before setting it off.”

As he spoke, a rope fell down from the top of the “ravine”.

“Hey, Quenser!” shouted down Heivia. “Get on up here!!”

“Sure,” he answered as he grabbed the bottom of the rope.

He could not climb up on his own, so he would have to let those with some strength left pull him up.

But then he glanced over toward the many pillars.

The base of one of them appeared to have been opened up, but it was not due to the explosion. A part had been removed.

He had seen something similar before.

With a very bad feeling in his gut, he frantically pulled out his handheld device. He found similar opened spots in the photos he had previously taken in the Ame-no-Darin.

He had assumed construction of the facility had stopped before it was complete.

But if that was not the case…

“Wait.”

After tying Angela’s hands with the end of the rope, he slapped her cheek.

He had to check on something.

“What is this? Why are there pieces missing here and there from the walls and ceilings as if this is an unfinished jigsaw puzzle!? It’s almost like the parts needed to build something else were secretly shipped in during the construction of the Ame-no-Darin!!”

“You didn’t know?”

Angela opened her eyes a bit and grimaced after noticing how tightly her arms were bound.

“This was a giant workshop that the Island Nation…no, that the rogue self-defense PMC prepared in order to construct a new model of Object without anyone interfering. And if it isn’t here anymore, that means it was completed and let out into the world.”

The trigger of the next war had long since been pulled.

<noinclude>{{HEAVYOBJECT Nav|prev=HEAVY OBJECT:Volume8 Prologue|next=HEAVY OBJECT:Volume8 Chapter 2}}</noinclude>

HEAVY OBJECT:Volume8 Chapter 1

2014-06-16T05:16:08Z

Axyraandas: /* Part 13 */

==Chapter 1: A Resource Which Cannot Be Made Plentiful >> Landing on the Island Nation’s Ame-no-Darin==

===Part 1===

''From the moment I woke up, I had a bad feeling about the day to come.

The ship’s log of the luxury cruise ship Scarlet Princess contained that statement in the Legitimacy Kingdom’s official language.

It was 380 meters long, its top speed was 40 knots, and it could hold up to 2500 people. It was on such a grand scale that it was much like tilting a safe country resort on its side and taking it out to sea. Incidentally, the cost of the ship could purchase a resort and an 18-hole golf course with money to spare. All three layers of its deck contained a pool and the rear of the ship even contained a heliport.

Around twenty crew members were packed into the control room.

Electronics and automation had taken great strides forward, so the number of people needed to run the large ship had been drastically cut down. They had three shifts making three times that many crew in total, but that was still less than one hundred. Surprisingly, the number of “waitresses” outnumbered the crew who held the lives of everyone else aboard in their hands.

An elderly man let out a small sigh.

His name was Alfonso Zoom and he was the captain of the luxury cruise ship.

“Captain, we will be entering the Strait of Malacca soon.”

“I know.”

Alfonso gave a brief reply to the young (even if he was in his thirties) navigation officer.

Just like the Panama Canal, the Strait of Gibraltar, and the Suez Canal, the Strait of Malacca was a gate of the sea. In its case, it connected the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. It was a narrow passageway and many world powers insisted it was their territory, but it was still the shortest course. Unless it was packed full of military resources or part of a transport fleet protected by an Object, a luxury cruise ship circumnavigating the world had no choice but to use the Strait of Malacca. Simply calculating the ship’s fuel expenses made that painfully clear.

Alfonso poured coffee from a thermos and into a mug as he spoke to the young navigation officer.

“Do you know what I’m worried about?”

“It wouldn’t be reefs. Is it wreckage of fishing ships that were caught in a storm? I’ve heard the sea around here isn’t very clean.”

“My daughters. Joining the military is fine. After all, this is the age of clean wars. But why did both my twin daughters have to choose to be Black Uniforms in charge of barrier duty? They are both young unmarried women and they chose to throw themselves into the part of the military with the most bullets flying around.”

“I see.”

“I bet it was a reaction to the extreme education their mother gave them. That came from a complex brought on by newfound riches. She surrounded those two in piano, violin, and ballroom dancing from a young age, so they eventually rejected high society. If you want your daughters to be brought up as proper ladies, why would you show them how oppressive it all is? Don’t you agree?”

“Um… Where are you going with this?”

“As captain, I have a lot of spare time to think about a distant safe country. Our course is simple and this isn’t all that dangerous an area. You can relax a little.”

Alfonso Zoom turned toward the large radio equipment. A few lights were flashing which showed that quite a few radio signals were being sent back and forth in this area of sea. He could tell at a glance that the situation here was complex.

“This is Ship ID PL_055 registered with the Legitimacy Kingdom’s Amazon region. Do you have our location? I want to check before heading into the crowded intersection. Over.”

“We have you perfectly. GPS, beacon, and radar are all functioning normally. Luxury cruise ship Scarlet Princess, please enter on the path given on the screen. Welcome to the Southeast Asia’s main entrance. Over.”

“Understood, harbor control. Today is another good day. Out.”

As he finished the transmission with the standard greeting, wrinkles of suspicion gradually appeared on the captain’s face.

The young navigation officer also looked doubtful.

“Captain, about that transmission…”

“Yes.” Alfonso Zoom let out a heavy sigh. “Just as famous people do not refer to themselves as famous, a professional does not normally refer to a luxury cruise ship as ‘luxury’.”

Then what had that transmission been?

The captain spoke the answer anyone could reach with a little bit of thought.

“They’re coming.”

===Part 2===

A ten-man fishing boat raced toward the luxury cruise ship while jumping from stormy wave to stormy wave. Yes, it was racing. The entire engine had been swapped out, so it was moving “above” the ocean while practically popping a wheelie. It was moving at about 80 kph. As hydrofoils made quite evident, boats could move at three digit speeds if the water resistance was lessened. And the fastest way to do that was to lift the boat itself above the water.

Thick metal panels were bolted to the sides of the fishing boat and heavily suntanned men were crammed inside. They held old rifles and submachine guns with an extra coat of paint to hide the scrapes and to stop them from rusting. Those tools were clearly not needed for fishing.

They were pirates who had butted into the transmission to put the ship where they wanted. A suntanned man returned a small microphone to the radio hook and whistled at the feast before him.

“Okay! Our prey is extra special today!! It’s got a giant antenna on top. That’s a satellite connection. They use it to check the black cards used in the casino. There must be tons of rich people on there!”

As the first man gave them some motivation, the other pirates started to grow rowdy.

“Eh? I thought it was for Wall Street which is so popular lately. They need to mess with their stocks and exchanges while on their cruise.”

“This is the Legitimacy Kingdom, so it would be the London Stock Exchange.”

“Who cares as long as they’re a bunch of rich ladies and gentlemen? More importantly, how are we on anti-ship missiles? We need at least two. The first acts as a demonstration. We need to make sure they know we’ll sink them if they don’t do what we say.”

“Leave it to me. There are four of them hanging on the sides of the ship.”

“You idiot!! Now I know why our fuel consumption’s been so bad!!”

An amateur pirate group could never mass produce missiles that were a collection of cutting-edge military secrets.

But nothing said they had to be “cutting-edge”.

What if they added modern technology to weapons produced fifty years prior?

Just as a hard disk sold in a home electronics store’s clearance sale would have been highly classified government technology fifty years ago, amateur groups could manufacture weapons.

In the festivals of Southeast Asia, rockets measuring three to five meters long were created to launch exciting fireworks 5000 to 10,000 meters into the air. If they were laid on their side, they made a decent starting point for a rocket motor.

Meanwhile, the other pirate ships gathered.

The suntanned man grabbed the radio again.

“Okay. A through F, go in front of the luxury cruise ship! Scatter some mines to stop them. G through I, take the starboard side. J through L, use anti-ship missiles to surround them from behind.”

“Shut up! You aren’t the leader!!”

“Don’t try to board the ship and earn some extra money just because it’s full of rich people. The plan is to make them lower their rescue boats. You don’t want to be killed by the peashooters they have for self-defense, do you?”

He heard a light noise.

One of his allies on the same boat was tapping the large radio.

And he whispered a question.

“Where do we fire the missile?”

“Don’t use it like you’re supposed to. If we sink the ship right off the bat, we can’t take any hostages. Don’t hit it on the waterline. Aim higher.”

He pointed into the distance while still holding the radio’s microphone.

As his finger jabbed toward the Scarlet Princess, it scooped upwards.

“For example, the control room.”

A seven meter tube shot from the side of the fishing boat. The anti-ship missile used solid fuel (aka gunpowder) to fly diagonally up from the ocean surface. In this “improper” usage, it was directly targeting the ship’s crew.

They all thought it was a success.

Blowing up the control room at the top of the luxury cruise ship would not immediately sink the ship. As previously stated, a ship’s weak point was the waterline where the seawater could surge in. However, the refined ladies and gentlemen would not realize that. If all of the professional crew was taken out at once and there was a fire on the ship, they would try to escape on the rescue boats no matter what. Afterwards, the pirates could surround the boats drifting powerlessly and carefully take hostages.

But…

The next thing the pirates knew, composite material shutters lowered over all of the luxury cruise ship’s 1000 or more windows.

The shutters covered both the outside and inside of the bulletproof glass which was already over thirty centimeters thick. This was obviously out of place on a civilian ship.

(Huh?)

For an instant, a complete blank filled the suntanned man’s mind.

The homemade anti-ship missile struck the control room, but its explosive flames and black smoke looked terribly unreliable. Once it all cleared away, only a slight dent remained in the shutters.

And then the ship began to fight back.

Strange metallic noises rang out again and again. From the bow to the stern, 20 mm Gatling guns of a close-in weapon system rose up along either side of the deck. They looked a bit like trees lining a road. The pools on the three layers of the deck split apart and 21 cm rapid-fire cannons rose high above them. The pirates could not see it, but a portion of the roof split into small sections like a chocolate bar or a honeycomb and countless vertical missile hatches opened in order.

They had stepped on a figurative landmine.

A horrible, horrible landmine.

Once they finally realized that, the captain of the luxury cruise ship spoke over the radio.

“Disguised Cruiser Scarlet Princess has confirmed an attack from the target.”

He essentially gave a death sentence.

That order opened the gates of hell.

“Begin Operation Codename ‘Blood-Soaked Princess’. Engaging target now. Pirates, this is your last chance to write your wills.”

With those words, the wolf in sheep’s clothing exposed its hidden claws and fangs.

After conceitedly thinking they could surround it with only about 15 boats, the pirates’ luck had run out.

The foxhunt had begun.

===Part 3===

The two idiots named Quenser Barbotage and Heivia Winchell were groaning in the landing unit hold at the bottom level of the disguised cruiser named Scarlet Princess.

The exterior was made to look like a luxury cruise ship, but the inside was completely different. Of its 380 meter length, over half of the bottom was a single large space. And that space was crammed full of military hovercrafts. Quenser and the others were packed like sardines into those hovercrafts.

The hovercrafts were pitched as “small but able to hold a tank☆”, but they were far from comfortable for people to use. They reeked of machine oil.

“This is tyranny!! We were only riding along! Can you really throw us out in front of the pirate’s guns? This isn’t even the 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion’s job! Who’s going to pay us!?”

“This is probably how we’re buying our ticket to ride the ship. I don’t feel like doing any real work either, though.”

“And how is this a ‘disguised cruiser’? It’s almost 400 meters long! They didn’t make battleships this big even back when they were relevant. That’s 100 meters more than the Island Nation’s Yamato! Are they insane!?”

“The category of battleship has vanished, so what can you do? And it’s a disguised ship, remember? Bringing escort ships along for protection would blow its cover, so it has to handle everything as a lone wolf. And it had to be heavily armored to safely draw in the pirates. It has to be tough enough to take a few rockets or torpedoes without issue.”

History had proven that aircraft would overtake the battleship in usefulness, but battleships could be useful once more now that aircraft could not be sent out. They were perfect for luring out and slaughtering pirates.

“…Why are you breathing so heavily?”

“Eh? Doesn’t seeing giant machines get you all excited? It’s human nature.”

Heivia shoved the perverted creep away with both hands as an ear-splitting buzzer rang and the lights switched to red.

Someone they could not see gave a high-spirited shout.

“Our brave ‘waitresses’, it’s time you risked your life fishing for sharks! Let’s make this an exciting enough battle to get a movie made! Rock & roll!!”

“Shut up! We’ve been ready!! And if you want to be the lead that badly, go do it on your own! Be a one-man army! Don’t drag us into it!!”

Heivia demonstrated his grace as a noble by elegantly raising his middle finger as he shouted at the man, but that changed nothing.

With a heavy rumble, the wall in front of them opened to either side. The bow of the disguised cruiser opened like a castle gate. One after another, amphibious hovercraft slid out and into the gunfire-filled battlefield of the Strait of Malacca.

And…

Whether by coincidence or design, a rocket suddenly flew into the hold.

As Heivia frantically held down Quenser’s head and got on the ground himself, a tremendous shock wave spread through the enclosed space.

A dull pain exploded more in his chest than his eardrums.

“Gbh!? Cough!! H-how the hell is this a safe and simple mop up mission!!”

“Anytime they call the mission ‘simple’, you should be suspicious.”

“Wait… Wait a second!! Did this hovercraft just start sliding? Wait!! We’ve got a bunch of injured soldiers already! You can’t just throw us out on the front liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!!”

But his protests came too late.

The hovercraft slid down the slope and shot out the bow of the “Blood-Soaked Princess”. They were suddenly forced to clash with the small fishing boats (which had been modified into high-speed boats) sitting in front.

They were about sixty centimeters away from the closest boat.

They were close enough to jump from one boat to the other.

Heivia’s gaze met that of a suntanned man.

“You bastards!!”

The man tried to raise the rifle carried over his shoulder with a sling belt, but he was too slow. Heivia pulled his handgun from its holster and fired repeatedly.

Quenser finally came to his senses as he watched three dark red holes appear in the man’s chest.

“Stop, Heivia! You can’t kill them!!”

“Ah? What!? I can’t hear you over all the noise!!”

“Don’t kill them!!”

All the 20 mm Gatling guns on the side of the disguised cruiser’s deck began to fire and shot down a homemade anti-ship missile flying over Quenser’s head. In return, several vertical launch missiles were fired at the pirates’ fishing boats. The noisy sound of rotors came from the heliport and a military attack helicopter began to take off.

The pirates had formed a half circle to envelop the Scarlet Princess’s path, but that proved a suicidal formation due to their misjudgment of the ship’s firepower. There had supposedly been around fifteen pirate boats, but half of them had already been sunk.

Everything was in motion and just watching it all made one’s eyes and head hurt.

And on top of that, the environment was so poor that one would be deafened while just sitting there.

After Quenser’s group’s hovercraft moved away, an attack from the air blew away the previous high-speed pirate boat like an empty can.

With his ears still ringing, Quenser shouted toward Heivia who was right next to him.

“If we just had to kill them, the ship’s weaponry could handle it! We were sent out for a reason!! Weren’t you listening during the pre-mission briefing!?”

“Oh? Oh, oh! Did they say something about that!?”

“They’re using fishing boats rather than used patrol boats so they can ditch their weapons in the sea and act like innocent fishermen if they have to! If we just kill them all, we’ll be suspected of slaughtering civilians. That’s why we need to capture a few of them alive and have them admit to being pirates. That’s what we were told!!”

“In other words, they’ve knocked down a hornet’s nest with a stone and now we have to retrieve it barehanded!? Goddamn this is a terrible job!! We’re at least getting paid extra for this, right!?”

Nothing the pirates did could turn the situation around.

Sounds of gunfire and explosions continued without end.

The ship’s rapid-fire cannons and the attack helicopter’s rockets were unilaterally blowing away the pirates’ boats.

“Two more! Our side just took out another two boats. Shit. If we don’t capture a pirate soon, they’ll all be dead!!”

“Shut up!! If you care that badly, jump over to that fishing boat and grab one yourself!!”

Only a few of the 10 meter high-speed pirate boats remained. The Scarlet Princess was fully equipped with the Legitimacy Kingdom navy’s best, so it was a 400 meter mass of giant guns. There was no chance of it being sunk now.

But there was a chance of the pirates fighting back in some way.

The fishing boats were equipped with homemade anti-ship missiles. They would be able to blow away at least one of the hovercrafts that used the power of air to float.

“This is way too scary!! A missile just shot by right above us!! What happened to the close-in weapon system support!?”

“Are these the type that react to magnetism to detonate? This thing’s hull is made of layered plastic and the balloon is made of synthetic fiber, so they might just slip past us.”

“Dammit. Of course the Gatling guns on the side deck wait until ''now'' to turn this way. …Hm? This way!?”

“G-get down!! And turn the hovercraft to the side! Our own side’s barrage is gonna fill us with holes!!”

The gunfire sounded like a broken buzzer as the line of CIWS weapons targeted an anti-ship missile flying a few meters above the ocean surface and scattered giant bullets at a rate of 5000 a minute. They were 20mm bullets which were masses of metal the size of a thumb. They were much larger than the standard used with anti-materiel rifles and even a single one grazing you could blow off a limb.

“They have to do all that just to shoot down a single missile. An Object’s laser beams are an entirely different story, but this says a lot about the balance between offense and defense.”

“Why are you starting that creepy breathing again!? Don’t get your design-obsessed blood pumping like it’s some instinct to preserve your genes in a life-threatening situation!!”

“Eh? I don’t mix my love of machines with lust. Making anthropomorphized girls out of weapons is kind of disturbing if you think about it.”

“Just think of it as adding on elements!! Don’t think of it as surgically cutting and pasting things!!”

The hovercraft ridden by the two idiots and 28 others had three engines resembling two meter ventilators on the back. One of them was sending out disconcerting black smoke (due to the barrage from their side’s close-in weapon system).

“How about we say the pirates did that and put in for injury pay? I think we deserve a bonus.”

“If we do that, it’ll mean we were injured by a group of amateurs. That would be a dishonor.”

Meanwhile, the battle was almost over.

The attack helicopter that had been sent out partway through was doing too good a job. It was sending down a storm of rockets which were enveloping the small fishing boats and the surrounding ocean in flames.

“Isn’t this pretty bad?” muttered Quenser as he carelessly looked up into the blue sky. “All of the pirate boats will be sunk soon.”

“What happened to capturing some alive!? If we don’t have one to say he’s a pirate, we’ll be accused of slaughtering civilians!!”

The two idiots looked around, but they saw nothing but eerie black smoke and wreckage starting to sink. It no longer felt like they were fighting. It was more like a treasure hunt.

“There!! There’s another fishing boat behind that smoke. If we miss that one, we’ll have to give up on catching anyone alive!! We’ll be mercilessly accused by a grinning international committee!!”

The attack helicopter flew by over their heads. It was clearly moving toward the same target.

Heivia brought a hand to his forehead.

“Is that pilot a coward!? I don’t think he can relax until he eliminates every threat he sees. And it’s not like those pirates can shoot down a helicopter flying around at high speed!!”

“What do we do? If we don’t take one alive, we’ll have to try our hand at necromancy during the court martial.”

“I’ve had enough of this!!” shouted Heivia in desperation as he shouted at the young soldier in charge of steering the hovercraft. “Head full speed toward the fishing boat! …I can’t believe I have to put my life on the line to protect the enemy!!”

“But what exactly are we going to do!?”

“We only have one choice.”

For some reason, Heivia removed the safety pin from the shoulder-fired missile launcher hanging from his shoulder along with his rifle. He rested one end on his shoulder and aimed the other end. Tanks on land, small patrol boats at sea, and ground attack craft in the air. Save for its ridiculous price tag, that missile was known as a masterpiece.

“We fire on our own helicopter.”

He did not hesitate.

He captured the target with both infrared and ultraviolet at the same time and he pulled the trigger.

The long, narrow missile shot out like a spear and shot by right next to the helicopter.

No damage was done.

Except for Quenser who was knocked backwards by the backfire.

He flew two or three meters like an unnamed character in a kung fu movie.

“Hot!! Hot!? Wh-what just happened? Are we under attack!?”

“If you’re that lively, I’m not gonna worry too much.”

The other soldiers on the hovercraft focused on Heivia. Their gazes were asking why he had fired on an ally.

“If I had actually aimed, it wouldn’t be in the air right now! I purposefully missed. But that coward of a pilot won’t notice that!! If you don’t want to die, get ready!!”

The attack helicopter belatedly took evasive actions and then took a tight turn around. It was clearly being wary. If the pilot panicked, there was a chance he would simply attack. It was similar to an extremely sleepy soldier caught in a whirl of gunfire confusing which side was his allies.

Heivia shouted in desperation.

“I bought us some time, but it’s only a dozen or so seconds! Charge straight into the fishing boat!! We just have to take at least one of them alive!!”

The hovercraft moved straight toward the lone remaining fishing boat. Meanwhile, Heivia aimed his assault rifle into the air and fired a long spray of bullets toward their attack helicopter. Orange sparks covered a side of the helicopter.

“With proper equipment, it can deflect rifle bullets.” While firing tons of wasted bullets, Heivia gave a thin smile. “But that coward won’t know that. His desire to survive made him panic and forget the plan. He’ll actually try to avoid this peashooter.”

The hovercraft approached the modified fishing boat from the side.

More accurately, it crashed into it.

Hovercrafts floated above the ocean surface with the power of air. The skirt portion that contained the air was a giant balloon made of bulletproof and knife resistant synthetic fiber.

Rather than a straight collision, the hovercraft climbed on top of the boat.

And the pirate man standing on the boat’s deck was knocked into the ocean.

The fact that the skirt portion was a soft balloon turned out to be a stroke of luck for both sides. As the man flailed his limbs around, he was knocked several meters horizontally like a small stone.

At the same time, a rocket fell from the heavens and struck the point of intersection between the fishing boat and the hovercraft.

The blast knocked the Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers into the air.

But it did not knock the will to fight from them. Or rather, they could not leave this sea of flames and smoke until they completed this. Several soldiers used strange wrestling moves to jump on the pirate who had fallen into the ocean.

Several dull sounds could be heard.

The pirate struggled as his head was forced under the salty ocean water.

Quenser and Heivia grabbed the pirate by the collar and dragged his head back above the surface.

And they shouted angrily into his ear.

“If you don’t want us to start an interrogation using the water here, then start talking!! Tell everyone that you’re a piece of shit pirate who was causing everyone all sorts of trouble!!”

===Part 4===

They were forced to participate in a “detour” to eliminate pirates, but Quenser, Heivia, and the 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion’s original destination lay elsewhere.

Those idiots had been sent to the Strait of Malacca ahead of the rest of the battalion. Sea mines, fuel oil attacks, nets in the propeller, and pirates were all threats that even civilians could accomplish. To ensure that none of the warships were damaged, all those threats had to be eliminated before the maintenance battalion’s fleet passed through.

In other words, their target this time was dangerous enough to warrant that.

Even in an age where Object vs. Object battles decided everything, they did not want to lose the backing of a single support ship.

“We’re really here.”

Their destination was the birthplace of Objects in the seas of the Far East.

It was currently a portion of the Capitalist Corporations and it was an important point for the Asian naval forces.

“This is the Island Nation. Should we really be here? This supposedly the artisan paradise that sent out the world’s first Object and it’s also known for its healthy food. A ridiculously proportioned macho man isn’t going to attack us with all sorts of strange new weapons, is he?”

Quenser sounded bored as he stood on the deck of a small aircraft carrier. Rather than the takeoff and landing of aircraft, it was primarily used as maintenance space for the Object contained between it and another aircraft carrier.

The princess must have had nothing to do because she was sitting on the edge of the deck and looking blankly in Quenser’s direction.

“Frolaytia said our job isn’t very dangerous this time.”

“She may be skilled, but you can’t trust any verbal promises she makes. Especially when we’re talking about the Island Nation. It may be part of the Capitalist Corporations, but the level of their newly developed technology is ridiculous. In fact, it’s gone so far that it’s created a kind of Galapagos Syndrome. Naturally, the same goes for their Objects.”

“This will not be a direct fight in the first place.”

“Yeah, they are going through some infighting, aren’t they?” Quenser let out a light breath. “The Capitalist Corporations were crazy enough to go fully down the PMC route and make listed companies out of their army, but the intensification of conflicts in recent years means the armies sent around the world by the different major companies aren’t enough. That’s why they created the new framework of half-public self-defense PMCs to quickly strengthen their naval defenses.”

“But one of those self-defense PMCs went out of control and started a civil war in the ocean around the Island Nation.”

“What did they think would happen when they gathered tens of thousands of rotten soldiers given dishonorable discharges in different parts of the world and then handed them cutting-edge weaponry? Yet they let their guard down so much that they surrendered an Object to them. What’s wrong with them? Were they ''trying'' to get themselves killed?”

“They had an aging society, so they had no choice. They had no young people.”

“I know they were shorthanded, but how could they possibly think people coming in to earn some money would defend their nation to the bitter end?”

The strategic simulations of the Legitimacy Kingdom military predicted that the civil war would not last long. The self-defense PMC could not be taken lightly, but they were only borrowing the Objects and other weapons and they could not maintain them or produce more on their own. And it was unlikely anyone would provide them with further supplies. The instant they ran out of reserves was the instant they met their end.

The simulations said they would last at most two months and possibly only a few weeks. But during that time, the Island Nation’s defenses would certainly be lacking. It was possible the confusion could be used to attack in otherwise impossible places or ways.

The princess pouted her lips.

“Why do we have to interfere with the Capitalist Corporations’ fight? We should just let them go at it.”

“We don’t want them having a nice fistfight by the river and getting along again. That’s why we need to stab them in the side and make sure they can never join back up. If we kill what enemies we can while we have the chance, we don’t have to worry about carelessly running into them on some other battlefield.”

At that point, a radio transmission reached the entire battalion.

It was from Frolaytia, their local commander.

“It’s time for the pre-mission briefing on how we will split the Island Nation. Gather in your ship’s conference room. I will provide the explanation via the monitor. …Also, a special message for the idiots who were playing basketball on the flight deck. The one who dropped the ball in the ocean must take responsibility by jumping from the cliff and retrieving it. That is government property. You aren’t allowed to lose it. That is all.”

===Part 5===

“As you can see, the ocean around the Island Nation is in a state of civil war. We will use the confusion to move in deeper than their normal defenses would allow. Our mission is to scout out their forces and destroy what we can.”

Frolaytia spoke from the podium up front while a few arrows were added to the sea chart displayed on the screen.

“The biggest problem for the self-defense PMC is the supply line. According to the strategic simulation performed on our supercomputer, this civil war will run out of gas and reach a quick end. The major corporation controlling the Island Nation will likely carry out a sabotage operation to hurry that along.”

The screen showed a group of islands in the ocean south of the Island Nation. One of those islands had not originally been there. It was a manmade floating island. The industrially manufactured island could move on its own and it was created by combining giant floats.

Its center was a dodecagon and each vertex had a harbor dock extending out from it like a tree branch.

Its overall silhouette looked like the ship’s wheel used to turn the rudder.

“This is the artificial floating island Ame-no-Darin. It is made to extract resources from the ocean floor. It is the cornerstone of the self-defense PMC’s supplies and reserves. It was the discovery of oil and veins of iron ore in the deep Pacific that transformed the Island Nation into a top class resource superpower. Thanks to that, they’ve left behind an environment that’s covered in oil. Anyway, as long as they have this, the self-defense PMC will have plenty of ammunition and fuel. And by exchanging that for foreign currency, they can smuggle in food. This is the central pillar of this war.”

Frolaytia used her penlight laser pointer to indicate different points on the displayed document.

“It originally functioned as the Island Nation’s military reserves base. It was a treasure trove of fuel and ammunition and its security was left to the self-defense PMC in question as far back as the construction phase. Once the civil war began, they took full control of the Ame-no-Darin. With the standard reserves, they can fight for ninety days. With full use of its ocean floor resource extraction and refinement ability, they can create an endless supply of fuel and ammunition. It may be an expensive facility, but that expense paid for some nice features.”

“I have a question.” Quenser raised his hand. “Are we going to destroy that Ame-no-Darin? How does that benefit us?”

“An excellent question, student. But wait until I’m finished.” Frolaytia placed her long, narrow kiseru in her mouth. “Our mission is to sweep for mines in the ocean around the Ame-no-Darin and to physically remove the saboteurs thought to have infiltrated it. We intercepted the schedule for a large-scale sabotage operation and we plan to end it before it starts. Simply put, we will be protecting the Ame-no-Darin despite no one asking us to. After all, that will cause this war to drag on and cause great financial losses for the Island Nation. Any objections?”

It was a cruel plan, but they were at war and had no interest in benevolence or world peace. The Island Nation was categorized as a safe country, so they could not directly attack it or slaughter the non-combatants there, but they had no real reason to bring the civil war to a quick end or to protect the Island Nation’s mobile fleet which included an Object. If they did, the forces remaining at the end of the civil war would turn toward them.

A small hand then rose into the air.

It was the princess’s.

“Then who will I fight?”

“Did you think it would be the Object belonging to the isolated self-defense PMC? Well, it isn’t. You will be fighting the Object belonging to the Island Nation’s major corporation which has the overwhelming advantage. When we have a chance to freely defeat an enemy, it’s always best to choose the strongest one. We will extend this civil war and take the initiative in removing future rivals. Do you all understand now?”

They were fighting to protect their enemy.

They were fighting to help out the isolated underdog.

Phrasing it like that made them sound like a gunman from a Western, but the principles at the core has been twisted by the world which had shattered like stained glass.

“Then let’s begin. We are only here to benefit the Legitimacy Kingdom. Justice for the Capitalist Corporations is not our concern. How about you head out there and see what your precious Island Nation is really like.”

===Part 6===

The two idiots named Quenser and Heivia were crammed into submarine torpedo tubes along with the other soldiers. It was one to a tube and they felt as small as coffins. The diving suits and oxygen tanks only made it feel more cramped.

“What is wrong with them? This is discrimination!! I’m a radar analyst. I shouldn’t be launched from a torpedo tube while holding an oxygen tank and an underwater gun! I don’t remember the contract I signed saying anything about doing this!”

“Shut up, Heivia. Sound is everything for subs. Make too much noise and the enemy will notice us.”

“Fine by me! I’ll make them wrinkle their nose at the most tremendous fart they’ve ever heard!!”

“You’re in an enclosed space, so you’ll just end up cursing your own asshole.”

As they chatted over the radio, Quenser’s coffin filled with red light. The torpedo tube was about to open.

The greeting from the weapons officer reached his ears.

“Carefree little birds, you have the precious free will of a human, so you can shit yourself if you want, but wait until you’ve left the sub first. Rock & roll!”

“Goddammit. Should I have brought an alarm clock along to set off after I left!? Well!?”

Heivia’s complaints were immediately followed by the external door opening and seawater rushing into the torpedo tube. Quenser did not fight the current and waited until the tube was filled with water before he slowly left the submarine.

“There’s nothing but sludge and oil around here. I’d heard ocean oil drilling always let some oil leak out, but this is crazy. You could set the ocean ablaze with a burner.”

“When you weigh ecology against resources, people tend to choose the more profitable one. Not that it matters to us.”

“What’s that giant mass over there? A new type of mutant?”

“It’s a clump of oil. It’s just like running into sewage. You can’t move once it gets all around you.”

Quenser, Heivia, and eight other soldiers travelled through the dark ocean using devices resembling kickboards with motors attached. They were on their way to the Ame-no-Darin, but doing so was not easy when the area was in a state of civil war.

Several vague silhouettes measuring a few meters across came into view.

As they came into focus, Quenser felt a chill run down his back. Long narrow cylinders which appeared to be torpedoes were stabbed into the clump of oil.

“Those are the Capitalist Corporations’ smart torpedoes,” said Heivia calmly. “I don’t know which side of the civil war fired them, though.”

“W-wait. Are we going to pass by them? If they detonate, we’ll be torn to pieces.”

“I said they were ‘smart’, remember? They only react to the acoustic signature of enemy ships that are updated over their network. They aren’t made to kill humans.”

“Really?”

“They cost 20 thousand dollars apiece. They’d lose a ton of money if a fish swimming by could detonate them. They’re made to only react to top priority targets.”

“But these didn’t go off! We can’t trust them.”

Heivia went ahead as a guide and Quenser nervously followed while weaving between the smart torpedoes.

But that was when something approached while producing a rumbling vibration that sounded like a coin laundry amplified several times.

A giant mass slowly passed by the two idiots.

It was a submarine.

Quenser’s eyes opened wide.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!! We’re swimming between unexploded torpedoes right this very instant! If they react to that acoustic signature, we’ll be blown away!”

“We have a bigger problem!! I don’t know whose sub that is, but the current created by its propeller is going to carry us off!! If we don’t grab onto something, it’ll suck us in and slice us to pieces!!”

“What am I supposed to grab onto!?”

[[Image:HO_v08_043.jpg|thumb]]

The sensation of something tugging at his body created an instinctual fear in Quenser, so he immediately reached for the closest object.

It was one of the torpedoes sticking out of the oil.

“Kyaaaaah!!!!!”

Any kind of tactical thoughts were sent to the farthest reaches of the universe as he entrusted himself to what looked like a propane tank and prayed it would not explode.

“This is it! I’m gonna piss myself! I really am this time!!”

“Shut up!! That’s no different form peeing in the pool! Stop making such a racket!!”

“How about you try it! It’ll just fill your diving suit and there’ll be no escape from that hell of your own creation. I don’t want the kind of embarrassment that leads to suicide!!”

Those boys were from the nation of kings and knights, but they were desperate to protect their pride on an elementary school level.

An unpleasant noise rang out.

“What now!?”

“The sub ran into the clump of oil! It’s coming this way!”

The back of the giant sub swung around like a bat and the propeller passed right by them like a lawnmower.

“Shit that was close. I don’t know whose sub that is, but any closer and it would’ve wiped all of us out.”

“Shouldn’t we help it?”

“How? And whichever side it’s on, it’s an enemy.”

Quenser’s entire body was covered with an uncomfortable sweat, but annoyingly enough, he could not wipe it away. He, Heivia, and the other soldiers moved carefully to the side of the oil clump and met up with the units that left a different submarine.

Ultimately, a group of around one hundred Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers were swimming toward the Ame-no-Darin.

“Is that it? It’s incredible that something so gigantic can float.”

“That just shows how reckless they’ve been. That’s gotta be the king of pollution around here. In an American comic, it’d be the villain’s secret base.”

As they looked up at the Ame-no-Darin from below, it looked like a never-ending ceiling. They had needed to travel directly below the floating island to sneak in, but having the surface sealed off made the ocean seem all the more oppressive. If their oxygen tank malfunctioned, there was no escape. It would mean certain death.

“Let’s go. Our way in is the emergency drain pumps used in case of flooding. They aren’t normally active, so we can make our way up into the float.”

“If they notice us, it’s all over. One flip of a switch and seven tons of seawater will be ejected every second. We’d learn what a bug in a drain feels like.”

After using their tools to destroy a few sensors and remove the wire mesh cover, they entered the drain pump pipe one at a time. The pipe was over two meters across, so they had plenty of room to move.

After working their way into the Ame-no-Darin’s spare engine area, they could finally remove their diving suits and heavy oxygen tanks.

“Hey, where’d our commander go?” asked Heivia in annoyance. “We can’t start without him.”

“It looks like we got separated somewhere,” answered a nearby female soldier. “He isn’t responding over the radio, so should we wait until he catches up?”

“No, thanks! He’s the one who got all worked up on the Scarlet Princess, wasn’t he? I’m not going to get myself killed for him. A group of one hundred can’t hide forever. If they throw a bomb in while we’re waiting for that jokester, we’ll all be taken out.”

“Um, Heivia? This is enemy territory, so wouldn’t it be bad if our commander was captured?”

“If his allies can’t find him, how is the enemy supposed to? And aren’t the rest of you pissed at him, too? Teacher won’t get mad, so be honest and raise your hands.”

None of the honor students raised their hands, so Heivia changed the question.

“Do you want to die for the kind of commander who returns to the sub without telling us, or do you want to continue the mission and get back alive? Raise your hands if you want to survive.”

All of the idiots raised their hands.

Their plan was decided.

The Ame-no-Darin was a float the size of a fair-sized island, but it was still an indoor facility. A group of one hundred travelling together would be too large for the passageways, so it would be more effective to split into groups of ten and travel down different routes to target the enemy from multiple angles.

And so it was time to split into groups.

Quenser raised his hand.

“I’m willing to follow a guide, but who takes the lead?”

“That’s decided by rank.”

Heivia’s offhand comment turned everyone’s focus on a new second lieutenant, but he trembled, shook his head, and grew pale.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” said a female soldier in irritation.

“Then let’s go with experience and achievements.”

Heivia’s new suggestion turned the focus to the two idiots.

Needless to say, no one could outdo their achievements of destroying several Objects on their own. It was just that their negative achievements were also quite amazing, so it all cancelled out in the end.

“Seriously?”

“If we keep complaining, the enemy will spot us and get in the first attack. Let’s get moving.”

And that settled that.

The other ten-man groups determined their leaders based on the number of battles they had fought in and they all began to move.

“We have no guarantee we’ll come back here and who knows when we’ll need to jump in the ocean. It’ll be a bit of a burden, but we need to carry the diving suits and oxygen tanks with us.”

“Where will the enemy come from? Specifically, the saboteurs who are destroying the Ame-no-Darin to cut off the self-defense PMC’s supply line.”

“They’re boldly making their way in using transport helicopters with spoofed identifiers. They should be arriving any time now, so let’s head toward the heliport. We’ll probably run across them on our way there.”

“Quick question. How do we tell the saboteurs from the self-defense PMC protecting the Ame-no-Darin? They should both be using Capitalist Corporations Island Nation equipment.”

“Do we even need to? They’re both enemies.”

===Part 7===

The Baby Magnum was released into the ocean near the southern islands after its naval floats were attached.

The old maintenance woman was waiting atop the flight deck of a small aircraft carrier in a large-scale fleet. Her job was to quickly and accurately maintain and repair the Baby Magnum upon its return, but the situation was different this time.

Her name was Ayami Cherryblossom.

As her family name suggested, she was originally from the Capitalist Corporations Island Nation. She had worked as a technician before leaving, so she had been recruited for an investigation of the abilities of the Island Nation’s Objects.

Her B5-sized tablet computer displayed satellite images and video taken by front line observers and she conversed with the Baby Magnums’ princess over her headset.

“There they are. We’ve picked up two Objects near the Ame-no-Darin. One is a first generation named Yuuhi which was officially deployed by the Island Nation to quickly end the civil war. I believe the Legitimacy Kingdom’s codename for it is Be Ablaze. It can literally set the sea on fire.”

“It’s a first generation?”

[[Image:HO_v08_050.jpg|thumb]]

“That’s thanks to a sad mentality of the Island Nation. They’re better at creating improved versions of old weapons than they are developing brand new ones. For example, they add cameras to outdated fighters and insist on using them as spy planes. This one may be classified as first generation, but its insides have been completely swapped out so it can keep up with modern models. Underestimate it, and you’ll end up on the ocean floor.”

“But its main weapon is a flamethrower, right? I don’t see how that’s a threat to Objects that can withstand nuclear weapons.”

“It’s a close range defensive weapon known as the Hiding Clothes of Flame. It scatters fuel oil and napalm over the entire area and sets the sea ablaze. This is an effective anti-personnel weapon, but it’s mostly meant to disrupt targeting information with smoke and mirages. You should assume your laser targeting won’t work. You will be separated by several layers of mirages created from temperature change, so the light will bend all over the place.”

However, the ocean around the Island Nation was in state of civil war and the two forces were fighting each other.

The princess was targeting only one side and destroying the Be Ablaze was her top priority, but the situation was too complex for her to focus solely on that. Another giant enemy existed in that ocean.

Namely, the self-defense PMC’s Object that used the Ame-no-Darin as its supply base.

It was a symbol of rebellion.

[[Image:HO_v08_052.jpg|thumb]]

“The other one is named Ningyo. The Legitimacy Kingdom’s codename for it is Mad Cooker. It’s a first generation equipped with a salt railgun. Naturally, it’s been independently altered to have the power needed to defeat a second generation.”

“A salt railgun?”

“They were mainstream before low-temperature superconductors were successfully used in weapons. It uses a liquid known as molten salt. When salt is heated to 1200 degrees and liquefied, it has ten times the conductivity of normal saltwater. That molten salt can be used to construct a cheap and primitive railgun.”

An endless supply of the raw material was located in the ocean below it.

With its huge reactor, it could easily heat it.

The reason the Island Nation had continued research into the outdated salt railgun was likely because they wanted to use the ocean surrounding them to increase how long they could fight.

“The current version gives the shells conductivity by creating them from a base of over 90% salt. The core of the shell is a long, narrow spike of tungsten that they call the Ushi-no-Koku. It’s made so the mass of salt shatters when it’s fired. That sends all the kinetic energy into the tungsten so it can pierce the enemy’s onion armor. Continuing to use the same method used by old tank guns is another example of the Island Nation’s sad mentality.”

As long as they had the technology to filter out and condense the iron and rare metals dissolved in the ocean, it was conceivable that the Object could fight indefinitely with no need to resupply. It was almost more dangerous from the experimental side than as an enemy.

“As I’m sure already know, your primary target is the Be Ablaze from the Island Nation’s major corporation. To drag out this civil war and deplete them financially, we need to protect the weaker side, attack the stronger side, and bring both sides as close to equal as we can. But if we go too far, the two Capitalist Corporations Objects might work together to eliminate us. In other words, there is no need to defeat your target at all costs. Just fire at it from the distance and cause as much damage as you can while ensuring all three Objects need to keep an eye on the other two.”

Modern wars were decided by the number of Objects.

With one-against-one, an Object would head in for a direct fight. With one-against-three, an Object would swiftly retreat before fighting.

With that in mind, it would cause incredible pressure to the Island Nation when a third Object of dubious affiliation entered the fray.

Normally, two Capitalist Corporations Objects would work together if the Legitimacy Kingdom attacked.

But they could not trust each other during a civil war.

If they joined together and the other betrayed, a one-against-two battle would be unavoidable.

That fear would bind the battlefield.

“Understood,” said the princess. “I will stick with long-range shots from ten kilometers away.”

“We don’t need to settle this or even see it through to the end. As long as we put an end to the large-scale Ame-no-Darin sabotage plan, we can retreat and watch the mayhem from a safe distance. If the civil war continues, it will do critical damage on an economical front. This has been an internal problem for the Capitalist Corporations from the beginning, so it isn’t worth it for us to risk our lives here.”

===Part 8===

The major Island Nation corporation plan to sink the Ame-no-Darin was to send a large number of saboteurs into the facility while a large-scale battle between Objects acted as a diversion.

The plan was only being carried out after a thorough preparatory period and a similar plan could not simply be repeated again and again.

In other words, stopping them just once would eliminate this opportunity to destroy the Ame-no-Darin.

The civil war would drag on and the Legitimacy Kingdom’s objective would be achieved.

While occasionally speaking with the other groups over the radio, Quenser, Heivia, and eight others cautiously advanced.

“Hey, there’s an elevator over here.”

“I dare you to get on that thing. The instant the door opens, you’ll be riddled with holes. You can’t escape from a square box. Let’s just use the stairs.”

The Capitalist Corporations saboteurs had apparently arrived through the heliport by tricking the Ame-no-Darin with spoofed identifiers. Quenser’s group had started at the bottom and was ascending to the heliport. They assumed they would run into the saboteurs somewhere along the way.

There were apparently three floors’ worth of height from the bottom of the Ame-no-Darin to the ocean surface.

“Y’know, I’d heard they were a technological superpower, but this place is almost falling apart. Wall and ceiling panels are removed and the plumbing is exposed at points. Did they run out of funding halfway through building the thing?”

“Quenser, I want to make sure I’m not seeing things. What is that you’ve been pointing all over the place?”

“A digital camera. Why?”

“We’re in the middle of a mission to kill people!”

“And I can’t stand just going along empty-handed!! I have to take back at least one piece of Island Nation tech!!”

As they chatted, they made their way toward the stairs.

The stairway appeared to be for emergency use. Once they passed through the door, they found concrete stairs that reversed direction countless times.

They had to send someone ahead to make sure they were not completely wiped out in a surprise attack.

Heivia gave a sign with his fingers, his allies gave a different sign back, they began a war of gestures, and they ultimately played rock-paper-scissors.

After playing scissors, a trembling Heivia was thrust toward the staircase by his fellow soldiers.

“If this was chess, you’d be sending your king right to the enemy.”

“I don’t want to take responsibility for anything, so I’m fine being a pawn.”

The fluorescent lights flickered.

Quenser and four others acted as the scouts. Heivia held out his assault rifle to see up through the gap in the center of the staircase that formed a rectangle as it repeatedly doubled back.

“A cramped staircase is the worst.”

“Why?”

“Try to think before you speak. It’s not as bad as an elevator, but they can set all sorts of ambushes.”

An instant later, gunfire assaulted them in the ideal way from the ideal spot.

“Gyaaah!!”

“Waaah!!”

The enemy fired down while leaning over the railing up above.

The five of them could only retreat while firing back. Quenser headed for the entrance they had come from while helping a nearby soldier who was holding a bloody shoulder and was about to collapse.

“Heivia, fall back! Fall back!! We’ll be wiped out like this!!”

“Shut up! Why the hell do you think I’m trying to buy us some time!? You drag that injured soldier away!!”

“If they drop a grenade, it’s all over!! We’ll be slaughtered without a chance to buy any time!!”

That was when they heard a hard clanking noise.

The overhead attackers had tossed an explosive over the railing. The grenade struck the wall a few times and landed at their feet.

“…!!!???”

The enemy was playing it all by the book.

All five of them rushed toward the narrow entrance to the stairwell, but not many actually made it into the corridor beyond.

A muffled explosion burst out.

With his face dyed red with someone else’s blood, Heivia pressed against the wall and shouted out.

“We have casualties!! Check the damage!!”

“Almost zero! The injured private covered the grenade with his own body!!”

“That idiot tried to take all the glory for himself!!”

“He placed his balled up diving suit over it, so I don’t think he thought he would die.”

“You don’t have to point that out! We can just call it a valiant death!!”

At any rate, the blood-soaked Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers used the slight bit of time this gave them to return to the corridor where the other five awaited them.

The enemy must have dropped more grenades because multiple explosions reached their ears.

“This is bad, Quenser. The enemy is better than us. I only caught a glimpse of their uniforms, but assuming it isn’t a bluff, they’ve sent in someone amazing.”

“Eh? Does the Island Nation have any famous units?”

“They aren’t from the Island Nation.” Heivia wiped the blood from his face with an arm. “This is Moss Green co. ltd. They’re a land war PMC from the Northern Restricted Zone where long, drawn out wars continue 365 days a year because Objects are forbidden. I heard they’d been expanding their business to naval operations, especially landing operations, so this might be a promotion for their new services.”

“Meaning?”

“A soldier’s quality is determined by the quality and quantity of daily training, but these ones are out in actual battles year round. People who rely on Objects like us don’t stand a chance! The difference in experience is so overwhelming that we simply can’t win!!”

===Part 9===

The longer one fought an unbeatable enemy, the greater one’s losses would be.

Even a child could figure that out.

But they were not allowed to simply raise the white flag and go home.

“Let’s escape to a more advantageous position. We can fire a bit, fall back a bit, and then repeat the process to wear down their numbers.”

“How long do you think they’d keep falling for that obvious method? Moss Green is filled with nothing but cruel, cigar-smoking sergeants with eyepatches.”

“Just start laying as many traps as you can along the way. If we can’t win in a firefight, we need to wear down their numbers in other ways.”

They had no time, but any immediately obvious traps would be meaningless.

Fortunately, some of the wall and ceiling panels of that floor were removed, exposing thick steel pipes travelling around like blood vessels. There were plenty of places to hide traps.

“Hey, are you just setting up the plastic explosives as is? Wouldn’t you normally bury them in piles of screws or nails?”

“We don’t have time and the shockwave will fill the corridor anyway. You can shoot them once they’re knocked out, right? More importantly, gather all our cheap rockets. I don’t have enough firepower with what I have on me. You’ll be too afraid to use them in here anyway, so let me use the warheads for traps.”

“What?”

“A warhead with a contact fuse can be used as a landmine. Let’s hide them under the paper and mats lying around.”

They added other embellishments to the bombs: a dangerous cleanser that expanded as a mist when heated combined with a bleaching agent that caused intense pain and inflammation when it contacted skin. They found both of them in the lockers along the corridor.

Ultimately, they laid around thirty traps.

“Will this really work? A fat old man working on his home on the weekends makes better-looking stuff than this.”

“It’s a tragedy you can’t see the golden ratio to this. No matter where they try to evade, they’ll trip a different trap. It’s like a tangle of strings; they can’t just untangle one string at a time. I should get a medal for making something so artistic on such short notice.”

“You might find some fans in a prison. They’d probably all be skinny little guys, though.”

Just as Quenser and the others turned around to head to their ambush point, they heard an explosion up ahead and a great impact hit them.

The corridor wall had been destroyed from the other side.

Gray dust filled the corridor and cut off their path.

“Goddammit!!” shouted Heivia from the ground. “What is with today!?”

“What? My ears are ringing and I can’t hear you!?”

“Those Moss Green fuckers took a shortcut! Our escape route’s been cut off, so we can only fall back. And that means going through the corridor we just filled with traps!!”

It seemed unlikely they were being monitored via cameras or sensors.

The enemy had simply used their intuition and experience to accurately predict their actions. And that enemy had cut them off on the worst route possible. That level of accuracy made them seem like espers.

Multiple sounds of gunfire reached Quenser’s ears as they recovered.

He could no longer leisurely talk about thinking this through logically.

To escape the threat before his eyes, he charged into the spider web of traps he himself had laid.

The Moss Green soldiers peeking out from the hole in the wall were not courteous enough to aim for each soldier one at a time.

They accurately fired a bullet into a rocket warhead set up as a trap.

And an explosion swallowed up Quenser and the others.

===Part 10===

A woman named Angela Hibiscus commanded Moss Green and she frowned after hearing the explosion.

“What? They’re still moving.”

“They must have kept their traps non-lethal. Their own kindness saved them.”

“Then go finish off the passed-out fools. Just as they planned to do to us.”

A blond combat engineer twitching on the floor moved his hand. He grabbed some fishing line to set off his own trap.

As the corridor filled with a white mist, Angela’s men spoke delightedly.

“Wow, a chemical weapon. They violated the war treaty, captain.”

“Undiluted bleach, hm? You can have fun if you want, but do you have protective masks and suits prepared for us?”

“Eh? Well…”

“I don’t recall supplying any. The air conditioning is blowing their suicidal smokescreen this way, so we need to fall back. If we let something like this gave us any casualties, it would affect the unit’s reputation. I don’t want to owe the advertising firm a favor.”

Meanwhile, Heivia was very nearly screaming after being thrown into the toxic smokescreen.

“Quenser, you idiot!! We already had a full course of hell lined up for us, so why did you have to order dessert!? What the hell is this? Cough, cough. Bleach!?”

“If you don’t want to destroy your throat, stay quiet. And you have your diving suit’s mask, remember? Your throat will hurt, but the mask will keep it below a lethal level!”

“You’re kidding. So we have to crawl through this!?”

“They can easily get rid of this impromptu smokescreen with the air conditioning and then we’ll need enough body bags for all of us. Would you rather stay here and end up filled with lead!?”

Either way, they could no longer return unscathed.

Quenser and the others put on their oxygen masks and continued through the corridor while experiencing some chemical inflammation. On the way, they set off even more of their non-lethal traps, but they finally arrived at the stairwell.

“N-now what do we do, you moron? They hold the area above the stairs. If we charge in, they’ll just shoot us all. And if they sense any danger, they’ll drop more grenades to finish us off.”

“Heivia, do you have any rope? Can you rock climb?”

“Yes, but how does that help?”

“Then we don’t even need these stairs,” spat out Quenser as he pulled out his Hand Axe plastic explosive. “I’ll blow them to smithereens. After blowing up the structure and their soldiers, there will be nothing but a vertical hole left. We climb that with rope.”

“Are you serious? Even if they hold the area up there, that won’t be all of them. They came from the heliport. The more we climb, the closer we are to the center of their forces. Climbing just means more of those monsters! Can’t we just give up on the mission and escape from the sea down below?”

“If we did that, Frolaytia’s fists would send us to heaven before long anyway. Plus, they’ve been able to predict our actions so far, so we need to think about this in reverse. We’re below the waterline right now and no water came out when we blew up the pipes in the walls. They must be used with the emergency pumps in case of flooding. If we held the upper floors, how would you wipe out an enemy down below?”

“…You can’t be serious.”

“If they close all the waterproof bulkheads in one area, they can fill it with water. Instead of risking their own men in a firefight, they can wipe out their enemy with the turn of a valve. In a boring fight against weaklings, they’ll definitely choose the easier method. I’d be surprised if they ''didn’t'' flood the area.”

“B-but! We have diving suits and oxygen tanks. Even if they filled a block with water, it wouldn’t kill us.”

“It would. I don’t know how many tons of water would come rushing in per second, but it would definitely be a horrific deluge. We’d be swept on and on while being slammed along corridors and stairways. It would be like tying yourself to a car and being dragged through gravel. Our limbs would be torn off and the oxygen tanks would rupture.”

“Ugh,” groaned Heivia through his mask.

“It looked like they didn’t expect the suicidal wall of bleach and their pride probably demands a flawless victory. But this is the moment when we can escape the cage of Moss Green’s expectations. If we don’t head up now, it will all be downhill. As soon as they decide which valve to open, we’ll be swallowed up by the deluge and torn to pieces!”

===Part 11===

The 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion’s fleet remained on standby away from the battle. Frolaytia received various reports in the small aircraft carrier’s mission command center. A controller’s panicked voice reached her ears.

“Something is approaching the radar. It’s very fast!! It’s flying just off the ocean surface at around Mach 2. It might be a cruise missile or…no, it’s an aircraft!!”

“On the same battlefield as three Objects!?”

Objects contained a reactor that produced near-limitless energy and they were covered with anti-air lasers, so the complex evasive actions of an ace pilot were meaningless. Lock, fire, destroy. That was the standard of the modern battlefield, but this enemy was easily ignoring it.

Frolaytia’s eyes opened in surprise and the controller continued the report with a bewildered look.

“From its movements, it does not appear to be unmanned. The CIWS…had no effect! Here it comes!!”

“Dammit! All hands, brace yourself!!”

In that instant, the old maintenance woman was waiting on the flight deck in order to maintain or repair the Baby Magnum. From there, she saw a Capitalist Corporations’ air superiority fighter pass less than a meter over the steel surface.

It was a fli-21T.

That was a modified version of the normal fli-20. Its development had been stopped just before mass production and deployment, and it was currently undergoing its final tests in the Northern Restricted Zone.

It was tilted ever-so-slightly, so the top of the craft was visible from the old woman’s side.

The short girl in the cockpit wore an anti-G suit resembling an Elite’s special suit. Blue paint on the right wing drew a girl’s silhouette bearing a giant snow crystal on the back.

As the old woman saw the words “Ice Girl One”, a rugby ball-like mass below the wing was released.

It was an anti-ship aerial bomb.

Normally, its weight and the potential energy of the fighter’s altitude would break through the ship’s armor before it detonated, but when released just above the flight deck, the rugby ball bounced off the armor rather than penetrating it.

The old woman made an immediate decision upon seeing the bomb bounce into the air.

She watched the 200 kilogram explosive that had been perfectly left in the air so that the blast and fragments would efficiently spread over a wide area.

(The enemy has no interest in the fighters stored in the metal belly of the ship. They’re after the Object maintenance unit and its equipment. In other words, us!!)

“Jump into the water if you want to live!!”

She threw aside all her tools, turned around, and did not hesitate to jump from the nine meter height of the flight deck. She heard the tremendous explosion before hitting the water. The small island of steel behind her creaked ominously.

Her body produced a pillar of water as it vanished below the surface, but her head appeared soon thereafter.

She did not know how many of the maintenance soldiers had followed her.

“How...? How did it…get through the network of anti-air lasers?” groaned a young maintenance soldier floating nearby.

The old woman clicked her tongue.

“The air isn’t uniform. There are temperature differences, humidity differences, dust, dirt, and even salt content when over the ocean. The changes in those things will bend light just a bit. Mirages are the simplest example.”

“But…But… You couldn’t measure all that even with sensors.”

“No, but an ace pilot from the Northern Restricted Zone can sniff it out on intuition alone! Who is that pilot? Her senses are equal to or even greater than a pilot Elite's!!”

===Part 12===

Placing even a single bomb was a risky process.

As Quenser attached the plastic explosive to the base of the stairs, Heivia and a few others fired their assault rifles up the stairs. They were trying to hold the enemy back. By creating a barrage without even a gap to poke one’s head out, the enemy could not throw down a grenade.

But it only lasted thirty seconds.

“Shit! Here comes a grenade!!”

“I’m done here!! Fall back!! Fall back!!”

Quenser, Heivia, and the others practically rolled back to the corridor.

A moment later, the first grenade exploded.

Quenser then placed his hand on his radio and detonated his Hand Axe plastic explosive.

Just like when a building was demolished, the spiraling staircase smoothly crumbled and almost seemed to sink down underground. A great cloud of dust surged out toward them, but the corridor was already much worse due to the bleach and cleanser.

However, a problem presented itself.

“What the hell!? The door’s filled with rubble! We can’t escape through here!!”

“Then we just have to destroy the wall and ceiling to widen the hole. Outta the way, everyone!!”

After destroying the wall and ceiling enough to widen the “gap”, they entered the vertical hole which had been a stairwell.

Several moaning and bloody figures were mixed in with the piles of rubble.

“Don’t,” said Heivia quickly.

Even so, one of the enemy soldiers pulled out a handgun despite being unable to stand.

After a few assault rifle shots, the groaning stopped.

Heivia clicked his tongue and spoke to Quenser.

“I’ve had enough of this. Let’s climb on up.”

They had no specialized device to fire a rope to the top, so they gathered a random weight from the bloody rubble at their feet. It was a fist-sized piece of concrete with twisted rebar sticking out of it in places. They tied one end of a rope to it, swung it around like a morning star, and tossed it straight up.

“Oh? Ah? What? I didn’t get in on the first try.”

“And now it’s falling. Move!”

After the second and third try, they were shedding tears over how wonderful the helmets supplied by their fellow soldiers were. Finally, Heivia tossed the rope and felt it firmly stick. It seemed the rebar sticking out from the concrete weight had caught on the remains of the staircase on the wall. And it had caught right next to the door on the upper floor.

Heivia put all his weight on it to thoroughly check it.

“If the enemy starts firing down while I’m climbing, there’s nothing I can do, so make sure to cover for me.”

“Then why don’t you give me a gun? I’m confident I can at least fire right up your asshole.”

With a parting raise of the middle finger, Heivia started climbing up the rope. Meanwhile, the other soldiers threw more ropes and secured a second and third route up.

Unsurprisingly, scrawny Quenser could not rock climb on his own, so the others had to pull him up last.

After exiting into the corridor, Quenser glanced at the sign on the wall.

It said 0m.

This floor had none of the pipes travelling around like blood vessels and the floor and walls were a shiny white. Nevertheless, some of the panels were still missing.

“It looks like we’ve made it above the waterline. They can’t flood us now.”

They were all battered and they had lost the soldier who had protected them from the grenade.

Their uniforms were covered in blood from god knows who, were ripped in places, and stank of chemicals.

“I get that they can’t flood us, but what do we do now?”

“We can’t just run. We have to wear down the numbers of those monsters from the Northern Restricted Zone. To ensure the civil war drags on and causes a great depression for the Island Nation’s economy, we need to wear down the stronger side.”

“I’ve had enough. We can’t beat them. What do they eat anyway? Pure protein? Steroids?”

An Object had not even shown up and yet Heivia was already in full complaining mode, so the Moss Green PMC was clearly quite skilled.

Heivia contacted the other units by radio, but it seemed they had already received their baptism from Moss Green as well. None of them wanted a direct fight with them.

However, they could not leave enemy territory until someone produced some results.

That left deciding the loser by drawing lots.

“Moss Green will be heading down, right? That means we have to head down to fight them, but we’ll be wiped out if they flood the area. What are we supposed to do?”

“I have an idea.” Quenser sat with his back against the wall. “All the pumps here are electronic. The manual valves will only let a trickle out, so we don’t have to worry about them.”

“Are you saying we attack the power source? The Ame-no-Darin is shaped like a ship’s wheel. In addition to the central power source, it has secondary power sources in each of the twelve spokes. Do you really think we can wander around such a huge facility and destroy all of them? If we could, we wouldn’t be in so much trouble right now.”

“We only need to take out one.”

“They’ll just switch to another power source.”

“Normally, yes.” Quenser grinned. “Think about the handheld game systems popular in the safe countries. They have two power sources: the AC plug and the DC battery. If you repeatedly insert and remove the plug a whole bunch, it can cause an error in the power source switching process and the entire system will die. But it might wipe out your save data, so I don’t recommend trying it yourself.”

“And you want to try that in a legit war?”

“There’s no better answer for us right now. We want to stop them from sinking this thing and we want the war to continue, so we can’t completely destroy their power source. If we did that, the war would be over.”

Hearing that, Heivia glanced over at the other surviving soldiers.

None of them shouted support, but no one spoke up in protest either. They likely wanted the correct answer whatever it might be.

Heivia clicked his tongue.

“If no one has any other ideas, we’ll have to go with that. If we hang around here, we’ll just end up cornered. It’s kill or be killed.”

“Where’s the closest power source?”

“The sixth secondary power supply is three hundred meters ahead.”

After eating some tasteless soap-like rations and drinking from their water bottles, the group started walking toward the sixth secondary power supply with guns in hand once more.

Because they had risen above the waterline, one wall was covered in windows. The cold gray ocean spread out beyond the glass and what looked like an embankment was visible two or three kilometers away. That was likely one of the harbor blocks sticking out from the center just like the one they were on.

As soon as Quenser turned toward it, someone strongly grabbed his shoulders from behind.

Heivia tackled him to the shiny white floor and a high-pitched sound rang out a moment later.

At first, he did not know what had happened.

It was only when he heard the gunshot that he finally realized it was a sniper.

“Get down, you idiots! Get down!!”

As Heivia shouted, his follow soldiers frantically dove to the floor.

Quenser moved just his eyes to look at the window. It only contained a small hole and crack as if the tip of an umbrella had pierced it. The rifle bullet had been travelling so quickly that it had passed through the glass before the force of the impact could propagate.

“How did you notice that!?”

“My rifle’s passive sensors just happened to pick something up. He’s using microwaves that react to motion! It’s a necessary item when doing long-distance sniping without a spotter!!”

A few of their allies held up their assault rifles while crouching down. They connected a line between the hole in the glass and the hole on the opposite wall and they followed that to determine where the sniper had fired from.

But Heivia spoke up from the floor.

“Don’t try it. He’ll have already moved and you couldn’t reach him without anti-materiel rifles anyway. If he’s using microwaves, he’s the type that shoots and runs. If he’s set the equipment somewhere else and is linked to it through his radio, that won’t tell us anything either. If you pop up to fire back, he’ll just shoot you from his next point!”

“How about we continue on along the floor?” asked Quenser. “If we stay below the windows, the walls will protect us.”

“I’d love to, but do you have any guarantee he isn’t using an anti-materiel rifle? And if he pulls out a missile or Gatling gun, he can rip us and the walls to pieces.”

===Part 13===

It was like shooting fish in a barrel.

That was the honest opinion of the ace pilot girl of Sky Blue Inc., a Capitalist Corporations aerial PMC. She surrendered herself to the hard rock loudly playing from the smartphone she had brought into the cockpit.

The blue sky beyond the clear canopy was interrupted by several streams of black smoke, but the losses were not from her side. The Legitimacy Kingdom warships were being set ablaze one after another.

It would not have been this easy in the Northern Restricted Zone where she normally fought. The powerful long-time fighters of those never-ending death-filled battlefields did not rely on Objects. They would have seen right through this disturbance tactic and used manual targeting to swat down the bothersome flies. Destroying a heavy cruiser with just a handful of aircraft was worth a hero’s medal, so the girl found it almost disturbing that they were about to reach double digits so easily.

(The company ordered me to score some points here, but I guess this is what it’s like in the outside world. The only way to die on this battlefield is falling asleep because it’s so boring.)

She gave instructions to her colleagues over the radio.

She could see their next target.

It was a small aircraft carrier used as a flagship. To distribute the risk, there were a few identical ships in the fleet, but the thickness of the defensive barrages made it immediately obvious which was the flagship.

“Ice Girl 1 to Ice Unit. On my signal, perform a unified attack on the aircraft carrier’s bridge. Attack from the top to throw the bottom into chaos. And if I’m correct, that ship is connected to the Object. Hopefully the panic will spread to the star of the battlefield.”

The ship’s Gatling gun close-in weapon system began firing once they arrived within 100 meters, but a few thousand shots a minute was not enough to eat into their fighters. The bullets simply travelled across the ocean and tore into the neighboring ship.

Ice Girl 1 flew on through.

She even looked through the thick bulletproof glass and saw a silver-haired woman who appeared to be the commander. The woman was staring quietly at her.

But Ice Girl 1 did not care.

Her thumb gently stroked the button on top of the stick that fired a missile.

The pack of wolves would crush the head of the fattened herbivore.

But something happened just before that.

“CT to Ice Unit! Defense Charlie detected at nine o’clock. I repeat, an AAM Defense Charlie detected at nine o’clock!! Cancel it ASAP!!”

(…!?)

There had been no missile alert.

Or rather, there were so many meaningless targeting signals coming from the surrounding ships that she had not noticed this sudden intruder.

After Ice Girl 1 gave instructions to the others, they stopped attacking and took scattered evasive actions. The four fighters split into groups of two and flew past either side of the bridge at tremendous speed. The supposedly bulletproof windows shattered, but the aces did not have time to check on that.

“Ice Girl 1 to CT! Cancel confirmed! #4 was hit by some fragments, but it’s still active!!”

“There was no targeting signal just before it fired. The enemy is likely using visual identification. It’s using semi-active targeting and the pilot seems to be directly targeting you by sight!!”

In that instant, Ice Girl 1 felt a chill run along her spine.

It did not come from fear.

It did not come from unease.

It did not come from terror.

The vector of this emotion was in the exact opposite direction.

“Here it comes.”

The girl named Mariydi Whitewitch smiled fiercely.

“Something’s coming and it lives in the same world as us! Ice Unit, remember the real battlefield. The practice run ends here!!”

A moment later, someone sent out a transmission on an open and unencrypted band.

“Don’t grin like that with a job this boring. I’m sure you’re getting tired of tripping up those who have grown rusty thanks to the Objects. How about you let another ace pilot join you in this outdated sky, Ice Girl of the Capitalist Corporations.”

The man’s pretentious manner of speech reminded Ice Girl 1 of a certain fact.

The Legitimacy Kingdom had their own ace. While she and her colleagues stuffed everything necessary to fly into a human shell, this pilot flew a delta-wing fighter that looked like a beautiful sword and was created by removing all but the absolute necessities from the flying machine. He was a steel grim reaper who supposedly preferred using inconvenient semi-active targeting and would occasionally toy with the enemy fighters by “redoing the targeting” of missiles that flew off in the wrong direction.

[[Image:HO_v08_082.jpg|thumb]]

When she recalled his name, she licked her lips.

“Burning Alpha. I never thought I would run across the Legitimacy Kingdom’s scarlet evil eye!!”

“Stop it. That’s embarrassing. Unlike you, I’m much too old for those childish nicknames. Now I’m just itching to shoot you down.”

Even as they spoke, the fight to the death had already begun.

They weaved between the warships, chased and were pursued, and performed countless combat maneuvers as they attempted to take up position behind the other.

The line of ships momentarily got between them.

“By the way, hard rock during a dogfight? You have terrible taste. It’s just too cliché. Did you get it from a Hollywood movie? Or maybe a video game? Just so you know, classic is best no matter what you’re doing. You need to grow out of that childish stuff and maybe grow some breasts too.”

“You might think you’re being intellectual, but you’re just polishing a fossil. I can’t stand how the Legitimacy Kingdom thinks anything’s good as long as it’s old and musty. It’s disgusting. You might as well be praising cheese that smells like wet socks.”

“…”

“…”

Silence fell.

A slight gap in the line of ships appeared and the wall dividing the two fighter units disappeared.

The masses of metal crossed paths as they weaved through the slight gap.

The ace pilots began their battle as they worked to rule the sky.

===Part 14===

Angela Hibiscus, who commanded Moss Green, clicked her tongue when she received a report from the sniper.

“The lost children are after the sixth secondary power supply. Anything else would be sad even for them.”

There were several secondary power supplies, so stopping just one or two would not affect the entire Ame-no-Darin. They were also located at the end of the structure, so causing an explosion with their fuel would not sink the Ame-no-Darin.

Which meant…

“They must be trying to interfere with the power supply’s emergency switching system to cause an error in the whole power system and create a blackout. A foolish idea for a group of fools.”

The civil war surrounding the Ame-no-Darin was being fought between two Capitalist Corporations forces. One was trying to protect the Ame-no-Darin and the other was trying to sink it.

Angela’s Moss Green unit had been hired by the group trying to sink it.

“Sergeant major, how is the marking going?”

“It is already complete. Team C has secured the central power supply. We know the locations of all 2500+ valve release points, so we can begin the flooding at any time.”

Moss Green was trying to sink the Ame-no-Darin and a float that large could not be sunk with anti-ship missiles or torpedoes.

They had infiltrated it, calculated out how to sink the giant float under the weight of the water, and were prepared to fill specific blocks with water.

Water was a simple weight that simply increased with volume.

Merely filling an apartment’s cramped bathtub would secure two hundred kilograms. Due to the large size of the float, they could use leverage to split it down the middle like a cookie or biscuit.

In other words…

“If power is lost and a blackout covers all of the Ame-no-Darin, can we continue our mission?”

“Yes, if we set up explosives at each and every valve release location. But that would be in the quadruple digits and we would have to force our way into every part of the Ame-no-Darin.”

“In that case, it would be faster to make our move before those lost children arrive at the sixth secondary power supply.”

With that said, Angela Hibiscus brought her radio to her mouth.

“Teams B and D, gather our wounded and attack #6. If you can’t secure it, go ahead and blow it up. We hold the central power supply, so losing one of the many secondary ones won’t affect the mission.”

The man she had referred to as a sergeant major tilted his head a bit like a hunting dog awaiting orders at its owner’s feet.

“You aren’t sending in the whole unit?”

“Don’t forget our objective. Those lost children are outsiders. We were hired to sink the Ame-no-Darin, so that is what we must focus on.”

===Part 15===

The two Objects were named the Mad Cooker and the Be Ablaze.

They took different sides in the civil war, but they both belonged to the Capitalist Corporations. The princess’s Baby Magnum fought them both while quickly moving about the ocean surface.

At first, she had planned to interfere little by little from a distance to disturb their fight, but battles did not always go as planned.

She had been forced to approach them and it had developed into a three-way battle.

The princess was trying to extend the civil war surrounding the Island Nation by destroying the Be Ablaze which was trying to exterminate the self-defense PMC and the Ame-no-Darin, but she could no longer attack just the one Object.

In order to survive, she was forced to engage the Mad Cooker.

If the Baby Magnum was lost now, the thousand members of the battalion would be in danger.

“…!!”

As the princess withstood the high Gs caused by her lightning-fast evasive actions, she accurately kept track of the enemies and fired back with her seven main cannons.

The Be Ablaze used various fuels, oxidizers, and other chemicals to create flamethrowers. It used those to create a multilayer wall of heat called the Hiding Clothes of Flame and it prevented various types of targeting by distorting light.

The Mad Cooker fired a railgun that used molten salt and was theorized to automatically replenish its shells using the salt and metal in the ocean water.

(Fortunately, the two of them aren’t working together. With them scattered, I can interfere from here. My only choice is to destroy them one at a time and return safely.)

She was of course targeting the Be Ablaze.

She fired her seven main cannons in different directions to cut off her opponent’s escape and then fired them all together once her target had stopped.

Everything was progressing perfectly and yet she could not hit the Be Ablaze through the flames.

“Heh heh heh. Hah hah hah,” laughed the enemy Elite over the radio. “I feel like a matador. But I guess I shouldn’t expect too much from an unintelligent Legitimacy Kingdom Elite.”

“I don’t want to hear that from a rookie who has to rely on a system because he can’t evade on his own. Did you feel like showing off because your parents bought you a new bike?”

“You seem to be focusing on me, so I take it you’re trying to extend this war by helping the side protecting the Ame-no-Darin. …Are you serious? We sent Moss Green in there. They’ll sink the Ame-no-Darin no matter what happens. You’re wasting your time here.”

“My fellow soldiers won’t lose.”

“Bullshit. This isn’t about winning or losing. Moss Green is disposable. If they fail, I just have to sink the Ame-no-Darin myself. The other side never stood a chance.”

“……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………I see you have a death wish.”

“Ha ha! What do you think war is!?”

“Then I’ll roast your escape hatch before blowing up your reactor.”

Meanwhile, the Mad Cooker had taken up a position from which it could attack both the Baby Magnum and the Be Ablaze. As it aimed its main salt railgun, its Elite hesitantly cut into the conversation.

“Um… Have you both forgotten about the true star of the battlefield?”

“Shut up!!”

“Get the hell out of here!!!!”

After a great flash of light, the Mad Cooker was attacked from two fronts and bloomed into a giant flower on the battlefield.

“Oops.”

The princess finally realized what had happened once the operator gave the damage report.

She had destroyed the self-defense PMC’s Object.

If she did not do anything, there would be no one left to prevent the Be Ablaze from destroying the Ame-no-Darin. That would be a problem, so the Baby Magnum had to interfere. The two Objects put an appropriate distance between them and the battle line started gradually approaching the Ame-no-Darin.

“Heh heh heh! Hah hah hah!! Leave it to the Legitimacy Kingdom to act as a shield to protect the enemy! Even your stupid Elites try to act heroically!!”

“Honestly, why am I risking my life for this?”

The princess did a wonderful job of synchronizing her thoughts with the other Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers fighting to protect the Ame-no-Darin.

Baby Magnum vs. Be Ablaze.

The second round of the open-weight fight began.

===Part 16===

Quenser heard a quick burst of gunfire.

His fellow soldiers collapsed nearby.

“Shit, they’re here!” shouted Heivia. “It’s Moss Green!!”

They could not raise their heads for fear of the sniper, but the mercenaries had shown themselves by blocking the pure white corridor that led to the sixth secondary power supply. They were about 250 meters away and they numbered between 10 and 20. The straight corridor had no cover, but they had loaded several push carts with thick metal pipes and used them as shields.

On the other hand, Quenser’s group had nothing to use as shields.

And they would have to travel several dozen meters to fall back. They would be shot in the back well before they reached safety.

“Oh, c’mon!!”

Still on the floor, Quenser reached for his back and pulled out a Hand Axe plastic explosive. He attached a pen-like electric fuse, tossed it toward the ceiling, and hit the switch on his radio.

The explosion was followed by the ceiling collapsing.

As he coughed, Heivia pressed up against the pile of rubble and used it as cover.

“Dammit, Quenser! Leave the firefight to us and treat the wounded. There’s nothing more for a bomber to do here!!”

“I’m not a medic!”

“No one else has their hands free!! If we don’t push them back, they’ll throw a grenade and wipe us out!!”

Heivia and the others started firing and left Quenser alone, so he nervously turned toward the fellow soldiers who were collapsed on the floor. The pools of blood were growing and he had no idea where to start.

Along with the ones whose injuries were light enough to still move, he searched through his pouch for anything usable and lined them up on the shiny white floor.

“What’s this? Did the bullet leave the body!?”

“How should I know? But stopping the bleeding comes first. He’ll die if you keep hesitating! Hold that leg. We can wrap a bandage around the thigh to stop the bleeding!!”

“Saline? What is this and how do I use it!?”

“The same as a blood transfusion!! You pour that in instead of blood to regulate the blood pressure!”

“How do you do a blood transfusion!?”

“Just like a normal IV! You find a vein on the elbow and stab in a needle!!”

Quenser’s group was surprisingly lively. They sounded like students preparing for a school festival. As they desperately fired bullets from behind the rubble, Heivia’s group would occasionally turn a jealous eye behind them.

“Ow… Stop, you idiot. That hurts. Don’t dump disinfectant on there. It stings!”

“Ha ha ha. I’m not gonna treat you gently if you refuse to pay back the money I lent you.”

“What!? Wait. Is that glue!? You’re gonna seal the wound with that!? I’ll pay you back with interest!!”

“Of course you will. By the way, the only other options we have here is a stapler or safety pins.”

“Are there no medics over there?”

“There’s one! Hey, you! The one firing the submachine gun! Being an angel in white suits you more than blood and smoke. Stop filling your body with adrenaline and get over there!”

“Eh? Eh? But my boyfriend here asked me to help out.”

“It’s time to ditch him! C’mon over here!!”

Heivia was finally unable to stand the flirting mood of afterschool festival preparations developing behind him, so he shouted angrily at his allies.

“Don’t go stealing our nurse!! She’s our one refreshment up here!!”

“What are you talking about?” said Quenser. “If you need a blonde twin-tail in a nurse cap, you have me. You should count yourself lucky because I’m too good for you.”

“I get it now, Quenser. You want me to kill you, don’t you!?”

Suddenly, an explosion drowned out all nearby voices.

“Bwapph!!!???”

“Dammit…. They’ve started firing 25mm grenades! We just don’t have enough firepower!!”

Those grenades had been developed to kill humans, so they did not destroy the rubble.

But if they were fired in an arc over the rubble, there was nothing Quenser’s group could do. The explosive blast and shrapnel would wash over them.

The previous explosion had not been a simple missed shot.

They were firing a few test shots to calculate the ideal course.

Once they fired for real, Quenser’s group would be slaughtered as they hid behind cover.

Heivia clicked his tongue.

“Gather all our rockets, missiles, and whatever other explosives we have! Let’s blow away the push carts they’re hiding behind!!”

“I’ll leave it to you if you can manage it, but they’re better shots than us! They’ll put a bullet between your eyes while you’re holding up the launcher and taking aim. And the best barrage we can manage isn’t fazing them at all!!”

“Who the hell even are you!?”

“That’s just mean!! I’ve been protecting your back this entire time!!”

Boy A started sobbing despite not looking at all feminine, so Heivia ignored him and turned toward Quenser.

For some reason, Quenser was operating his radio with bloody hands.

“What are you doing!? The cavalry isn’t gonna show up if you send out an SOS!!”

“Don’t be so sure.”

“What?”

Heivia looked confused and his mocking expression turned to a serious one.

Quenser lightly shook his radio.

“We made our way above the waterline to escape their flooding, but I thought of another way to make use of it.”

“You mean the sixth secondary power supply!? Sure, we might be able to bring down all the power supplies by messing with the emergency switchover system, but we can’t get near the thing! Charging in will just get you driven back by bullets and grenades!!”

“There’s something else,” said Quenser without a moment’s pause. He began explaining as if he had been planning this all along. “Heivia, the cavalry has changed quite a bit these days. They have armor that can resist nukes, they have gigantic cannons that can split open the earth, and they’re piloted by beautiful girls.”

“You don’t mean…”

“What else could I mean but an Object?”

Their sight and hearing were completely blown away.

This went well beyond an explosion.

This was meant to aid Quenser’s group, but they were thrown to the pure white floor. The soldiers already on the floor were sent rolling.

“B-babh!? Bbah!? Bbgweh!!”

“D-don’t worry. I understand, Heivia. This is time for explanations, right? I received a report that the princess destroyed the Mad Cooker. That increased her range of motion, so I had her assist us during the openings in her battle against the Be Ablaze. Wink☆”

“Bh… I was trying to ask if you had any last words!!!”

Object shells generally could not attack deep below the sea. In order for Quenser to request assistance from the princess, they had to make their way above the waterline.

The Ame-no-Darin’s corridor had twisted like a sugar sculpture and some of it had been torn off. The first shot had been near Quenser’s group in order to mark off their safe area. The subsequent shells gradually moved farther away and brought death closer and closer to Moss Green.

Metal pipes on push carts were not enough to protect them from this ferocity.

The Moss Green mercenaries frantically tried to retreat, but the entire structure shook with tremendous force and they could not run properly.

The corridor was destroyed as if being bitten into.

The pure white corridor, the structure, and the soldiers were all crushed and thrown through the air.

Quenser covered one ear with a hand, pressed his radio against the other ear, and shouted into it.

“Stop!! Stop firing!!”

“There’s too much noise on your end, so I can’t hear you,” replied the princess.

“You just fired on the sixth secondary power supply!! Our destination is gone!!”

The metal door three hundred meters ahead was blown up from the other side and it spewed flames and smoke.

Heivia tapped Quenser’s shoulder in resignation.

“Our luck ran out once our great demon god had to take part in a conflict between humans. If it was blown up, there’s nothing we can do. We’ll have to go to the next closest power supply.”

The embankment-like place a few kilometers over the ocean was struck by the Baby Magnum’s shells. The structure was torn to shreds where the sniper was presumably lurking.

“The other secondary power supplies are still okay, right?”

“I want to leave the rest to the princess and go home.”

“I’d love to, but our mission will end in failure if the Ame-no-Darin splits in half and sinks. We need to put in a little more effort to lengthen this civil war.”

But then they spotted motion beyond the rubble that no longer functioned as a corridor. It was 250 meters ahead at the corner from which the Moss Green group had appeared.

They saw a woman with long silver hair and brown skin.

She was part of Moss Green, but the simplified medals on her ample chest suggested she held a fairly high rank.

“Now you’ve done it, Legitimacy Kingdom dogs! This is a Capitalist Corporations problem.”

“No, it’s an Island Nation problem! We’re both outsiders here!”

Heivia targeted the brown woman with his assault rifle, but the Ame-no-Darin lurched disconcertingly as an aftereffect of the Baby Magnum’s bombardment. He could not aim steadily and his bullets hit the wall next to her.

The thorough Object bombardment had destroyed the walls, the ceiling, and even the floor.

It felt like Quenser and Heivia were separated from Moss Green by a 250 meter ravine.

Quenser raised his middle finger.

“Let’s call this a tie, so withdraw your unit! Whether you’re from the Northern Restricted Zone or wherever else, flesh-and-blood soldiers can’t withstand the ferocity of an Object!”

“Is that so? Don’t forget your goal, sheltered little boy.”

The Ame-no-Darin shook once more and the ground below their feet felt like a small boat on a stormy night.

“What was that!?” Heivia paled. “That didn’t match the timing of the princess’s bombardment!”

“Our goal is to sink the Ame-no-Darin. We can operate the necessary bulkheads and seawater valves from the central power supply, so now we only have to wait for leverage to bend the giant float until it breaks down the center like a biscuit.”

The ground shook even more.

It sometimes reached a tilt of thirty degrees. Quenser wanted to grab onto something so he did not fall, so he reached for a crack in the floor. However, he heard a gunshot and orange sparks flew from nearby.

The silver-haired brown woman 250 meters away held a handgun.

Normally, 150 meters was the limit for a handgun even with careful aim. The fact that it had taken her only one shot to accurately fire right next to his hand while everything shook showed just how well-trained she was.

Quenser reflexively drew back his hand like a turtle sensing danger and drawing its head into its shell.

And that was exactly what the woman wanted.

“Wait! Watch out, Quenser!!” shouted Heivia.

But as if he were slipping down a slide, Quenser was thrown into the giant “ravine” opened in the pure white floor.

After seeing that, the brown woman licked her lips and jumped in after him.

They would be below the cold ocean there.

The Object could not provide proper support for anyone down there.

===Part 17===

“Gah!?” gasped Quenser as something struck his back.

The thick metal pipes running everywhere like blood vessels reminded him that he had fallen to a lower level.

Something must have happened to the wiring because the lights were out. The area was dark and his back was soaking wet because a giant puddle of seawater covered the entire floor. This was below the waterline, so he hoped it was from a burst pipe. A broken exterior wall would be truly terrible.

He stood up, leaned against a nearby column, and thought.

(What do I do? I can’t get back up the way I came, so I have to find a different set of stairs. Can I get the lights on? Or would that tell the enemy where I am?)

He then heard some static from his radio.

He hoped it was from Heivia or the others, but it was not.

“A rat in the birdcage.”

He grimaced.

That was the silver-haired brown woman he had spoken with before. She was most likely Moss Green’s commander here.

(When did they break our encryption!?)

[[Image:HO_v08_103.jpg|thumb]]

“Listen. I said a rat, not a little bird. Raptors prefer lively prey.”

“You’ve already won. Ame-no-Darin really does seem to be sinking. We can’t turn this around and the Legitimacy Kingdom can’t keep this civil war going if it sinks. So what more do you want? Don’t you have to retreat as well!?”

“It’s simple.”

Quenser looked around as he listened to her.

The area was dark and his enemy had to be skilled at remaining hidden. A near-amateur student would not be able to find her by effort alone.

“Sinking the Ame-no-Darin was our top priority and we got that over with quickly. That means we can veer off course and deal with a more personal and meaningless objective. As long as we accomplish our mission, the higher ups will turn a blind eye to a short detour.”

“Don’t tell me you’re taking revenge for your killed men.”

“They weren’t the type to die in a place like this.”

For the first time, human emotion poured into her voice.

Trusting the chill running down his spine, Quenser checked over his equipment again. He had a balled-up diving suit, an oxygen tank, and the Hand Axe plastic explosive. In his survival kit, he had a small knife and a metal skewer, but he could not use them very well. Not even Heivia would think of handling a Northern Restricted Zone warrior with only a knife.

“I couldn’t bear to thrown them into the ruthless Northern Restricted Zone right after they finished boot camp. Before showing them true hell, I wanted them to prove themselves in these lukewarm battlefields and earn a few medals. But look at this. Now I have to bury them without anything decorating their chests. How can this happen? With a funeral as pathetic as this, they’ll never live down the shame even in heaven.”

“I thought the people who lived where Objects are banned would know just how unreasonable this line of work is. If you didn’t like it, you should have claimed they weren’t suited for this and swept them aside. You were in a position to do that!!”

“This is where that was supposed to be tested!! They were supposed to shoot you sheltered snot-nosed brats like it was a walk in the park!!”

Quenser finally felt he had seen where her anger was coming from.

She was not simply angry that her men had been killed.

If they had died in their actual battlefield in the Northern Restricted Zone, she may have written it off as unavoidable.

But this was below them.

She had looked down on it.

As a warrior, she was unable to forgive the fact that they had been killed by scrawny Quenser and the others who could only fight while protected by an Object. If someone died in single combat with a great warrior or a hero, their name might remain in history, but that death would be meaningless if they were instead killed in their sleep by wild dogs or bandits that were digging through the dead on the battlefield. This was no different. They had never been treating Quenser or his fellow soldiers as human.

She had said her men were not the type to die in a place like this.

That proved it more than anything else.

“You’re twisted. I feel like an idiot for thinking I did something wrong even for a moment.”

“I will take off your head, you damn poodle. It’s high time you learned to fear the wolf who was born in the forest and rules the mountain. I’ll leave you in such a tragic state that they won’t know what to carve on your grave, but I’ll at least stuff your head and offer it in place of fruit.”

In that dark place, the thoroughly trained wolf began preparing for her silent hunt.

If Quenser did nothing, his throat would be torn out.

Even if he gave this a normal level of effort or tried to protect himself with the standard methods, his weak poodle legs would not accomplish much.

He checked over his equipment again: balled up diving suit, oxygen tank, Hand Axe plastic explosive, small knife, and metal skewer. However, he doubted any of that would be of much use.

What could he do with only those supplies?

If he did not find an answer, his fate was sealed.

===Part 18===

Naturally, Angela Hibiscus did not let her guard down even when facing a foolish poodle.

She had judged the enemy’s equipment at a glance before even luring him down here.

He was a combat engineer.

The plastic explosives on his back would be his primary weapon. He did not carry a rifle or even a sidearm handgun, so he may have been a battlefield student. Other than the explosives, he would likely have an insignificant knife in his survival kit and he also had the balled up diving suit on his waist and an oxygen tank.

She focused more on the diving suit than the explosives.

Anyone with half a brain would never think of actually defeating her in a straight fight. She was only armed with a large military knife and a handgun, but she was confident in her ability to execute him without a scratch on her even if he were armed with a light machinegun.

If he was hoping to win, he would not try to attack at any one point.

In other words, he would use an attack that thoroughly filled the entire space. With that, he could defeat her while ignoring her combat skill.

They were below the waterline and he had a diving suit and an oxygen tank, so the most obvious method would be to fill the area with water.

(But he won’t do that. The valves won’t function in this blackout, but he could open them by destroying them with explosives. But if he causes too fast and powerful a surge, he won’t escape unscathed either.)

It was similar to a drowned corpse being swept down a mountain stream filled with rocks. With the powerful current striking the body against the hard outcroppings again and again, entire limbs could be torn off. The boy’s synthetic diving suit could not withstand that sort of impact.

(If he slowly opens the valves manually to avoid that danger, the flooding will take too long. I can slit his throat a hundred times over before it takes effect.)

The diving suit was made to withstand a certain level of water pressure, but it was not solid enough to stop the explosive blast of a bomb.

That meant he could not place bombs around the area and cause a giant explosion.

That left only one option.

(There’s a puddle of seawater at our feet.)

She used her night vision to observe her surroundings.

She could see her foolish target’s back from where she was.

(That synthetic diving suit is an insulator. He can use electricity as an attack that will only affect me.)

She grinned and adjusted her grip on the knife and handgun.

(Sorry, but the Object attack destroyed the circuitry. There’s no electricity to send through the seawater in this blackout! The very bombardment that tore my men to pieces has spelled your doom!!)

She took in a short breath and began to move.

Despite the seawater puddle covering the floor, she moved swiftly yet almost silently toward Quenser’s back.

But at that very moment, he took a strange action.

There was no way he had noticed her approaching from behind, but he suddenly put on his diving suit’s helmet and held something in his hand.

She had one more step to go.

In just one second, the knife in her hand would cross his shoulder and reach his windpipe.

And he reached a hand toward the button on his radio.

(A bomb!!!???)

She did not have time to judge the meaning of the action.

An instant later, an explosion compressed the air in the entire area.

===Part 19===

The aerial PMC named Sky Blue Inc. was working alongside Moss Green. Mariydi Whitewitch, their ace pilot, frowned as she received instructions over the radio.

That lovely blonde-haired girl was filled with fierce anger.

“You’re calling off the attack? You’re telling us to retreat!? What is going on, CT!? Don’t get in my way! I’m one attack away from shooting down Burning Alpha!!”

“CT to Ice Girl 1. Getting this worked up is a sign of danger. We came here to unilaterally earn some points, not for a 50/50 battle. Don’t forget the entire reason we are here.”

“Just one more and my kill count will be a nice round number and I want a good story to tell. Give me this one!!”

“CT to Ice Girl 1. The Legitimacy Kingdom’s first generation has sunk the Capitalist Corporations’ Ningyo and Yuuhi. Surprisingly, it won despite being outnumbered two-to-one. Its Elite is very skilled. With that burden gone, it can now move over a wider area. If you don’t finish up soon, you’ll be its next target. Sky Blue’s only job was to destroy some ships and spread confusion through their chain of command. We have no clear goal like Moss Green. Do you want to be known as someone who never returned from this lukewarm battlefield?”

“But!!”

“Stop complaining, Ice Girl 1. You have already done more than enough for a bonus and an aircraft can’t hope to oppose an Object if it is actively targeting you. This has nothing to do with your skill. Turn back immediately. Or do you enjoy putting your men in danger because you were blinded by the prize of shooting down an ace?”

The girl clicked her tongue and angrily raised the volume of her smartphone.

The Legitimacy Kingdom ace named Burning Alpha spoke cheerfully over the open band.

“What? Are you leaving in the middle of our date? Well, maybe you need to grow up a bit before you can handle anything more. Go on. Get home before it gets dark. Don’t get lost.”

“Come visit the Northern Restricted Zone. I’ll kill you in an instant!! And don’t act so tough when your left wingtip is spewing smoke! You have your hand on the eject lever, don’t you!?”

“You say that, but you had one of your men cut in and take one of my AAM locks for you. I will praise you for using smoke to escape my visual identification afterwards, though. Without that, you’d be swimming in the middle of enemy territory right now. Were you too scared to go on a date without your big brother to protect that cute little ass of yours?”

“I-I’ll kill you!! I’ll kill you right now!!”

Mariydi tried to tilt the stick, but three fellow members of the Ice Unit had her marked on the top and either side. They were only a few meters apart, so she would collide with them if she tried to turn.

She held her head in her hands and let out a large sigh.

She kicked the flight recorder at her feet and spoke.

“Those pieces of shit got lucky this time.”

In her irritation, she cursed Burning Alpha and all the other major targets she missed out on.

That included base commander-class officer Frolaytia Capistrano on the flagship aircraft carrier.

“I hope I see you on the battlefield again soon.”

===Part 20===

What Quenser had done was quite simple.

He did not use the blast to kill.

He instead modified the amount of explosive to keep it nonlethal. It was just enough force to apply tremendous pressure to the inner ear that controlled balance.

If he had simply set it off, he would have collapsed along with Angela.

And that well-trained woman would have recovered faster than a scrawny boy like him, so she would have killed him afterwards.

But that was why he had put on the diving suit’s helmet. The helmet was made to withstand a fair bit of water pressure. It could not withstand the pressure of an explosion that could smash a human skeleton, but it could hold off a blast weakened so it only affected the inner ear.

He removed the helmet, looked around, and finally realized that Angela had approached within a step of his back. The discovery did not please him.

“I’m glad I didn’t try to say anything clever before setting it off.”

As he spoke, a rope fell down from the top of the “ravine”.

“Hey, Quenser!” shouted down Heivia. “Get on up here!!”

“Sure,” he answered as he grabbed the bottom of the rope.

He could not climb up on his own, so he would have to let those with some strength left pull him up.

But then he glanced over toward the many pillars.

The base of one of them appeared to have been opened up, but it was not due to the explosion. A part had been removed.

He had seen something similar before.

With a very bad feeling in his gut, he frantically pulled out his handheld device. He found similar opened spots in the photos he had previously taken in the Ame-no-Darin.

He had assumed construction of the facility had stopped before it was complete.

But if that was not the case…

“Wait.”

After tying Angela’s hands with the end of the rope, he slapped her cheek.

He had to check on something.

“What is this? Why are there pieces missing here and there from the walls and ceilings as if this is an unfinished jigsaw puzzle!? It’s almost like the parts needed to build something else were secretly shipped in during the construction of the Ame-no-Darin!!”

“You didn’t know?”

Angela opened her eyes a bit and grimaced after noticing how tightly her arms were bound.

“This was a giant workshop that the Island Nation…no, that the rogue self-defense PMC prepared in order to construct a new model of Object without anyone interfering. And if it isn’t here anymore, that means it was completed and let out into the world.”

The trigger of the next war had long since been pulled.

<noinclude>{{HEAVYOBJECT Nav|prev=HEAVY OBJECT:Volume8 Prologue|next=HEAVY OBJECT:Volume8 Chapter 2}}</noinclude>

HEAVY OBJECT:Volume8 Chapter 1

2014-06-16T04:56:39Z

Axyraandas: /* Part 11 */

==Chapter 1: A Resource Which Cannot Be Made Plentiful >> Landing on the Island Nation’s Ame-no-Darin==

===Part 1===

''From the moment I woke up, I had a bad feeling about the day to come.

The ship’s log of the luxury cruise ship Scarlet Princess contained that statement in the Legitimacy Kingdom’s official language.

It was 380 meters long, its top speed was 40 knots, and it could hold up to 2500 people. It was on such a grand scale that it was much like tilting a safe country resort on its side and taking it out to sea. Incidentally, the cost of the ship could purchase a resort and an 18-hole golf course with money to spare. All three layers of its deck contained a pool and the rear of the ship even contained a heliport.

Around twenty crew members were packed into the control room.

Electronics and automation had taken great strides forward, so the number of people needed to run the large ship had been drastically cut down. They had three shifts making three times that many crew in total, but that was still less than one hundred. Surprisingly, the number of “waitresses” outnumbered the crew who held the lives of everyone else aboard in their hands.

An elderly man let out a small sigh.

His name was Alfonso Zoom and he was the captain of the luxury cruise ship.

“Captain, we will be entering the Strait of Malacca soon.”

“I know.”

Alfonso gave a brief reply to the young (even if he was in his thirties) navigation officer.

Just like the Panama Canal, the Strait of Gibraltar, and the Suez Canal, the Strait of Malacca was a gate of the sea. In its case, it connected the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. It was a narrow passageway and many world powers insisted it was their territory, but it was still the shortest course. Unless it was packed full of military resources or part of a transport fleet protected by an Object, a luxury cruise ship circumnavigating the world had no choice but to use the Strait of Malacca. Simply calculating the ship’s fuel expenses made that painfully clear.

Alfonso poured coffee from a thermos and into a mug as he spoke to the young navigation officer.

“Do you know what I’m worried about?”

“It wouldn’t be reefs. Is it wreckage of fishing ships that were caught in a storm? I’ve heard the sea around here isn’t very clean.”

“My daughters. Joining the military is fine. After all, this is the age of clean wars. But why did both my twin daughters have to choose to be Black Uniforms in charge of barrier duty? They are both young unmarried women and they chose to throw themselves into the part of the military with the most bullets flying around.”

“I see.”

“I bet it was a reaction to the extreme education their mother gave them. That came from a complex brought on by newfound riches. She surrounded those two in piano, violin, and ballroom dancing from a young age, so they eventually rejected high society. If you want your daughters to be brought up as proper ladies, why would you show them how oppressive it all is? Don’t you agree?”

“Um… Where are you going with this?”

“As captain, I have a lot of spare time to think about a distant safe country. Our course is simple and this isn’t all that dangerous an area. You can relax a little.”

Alfonso Zoom turned toward the large radio equipment. A few lights were flashing which showed that quite a few radio signals were being sent back and forth in this area of sea. He could tell at a glance that the situation here was complex.

“This is Ship ID PL_055 registered with the Legitimacy Kingdom’s Amazon region. Do you have our location? I want to check before heading into the crowded intersection. Over.”

“We have you perfectly. GPS, beacon, and radar are all functioning normally. Luxury cruise ship Scarlet Princess, please enter on the path given on the screen. Welcome to the Southeast Asia’s main entrance. Over.”

“Understood, harbor control. Today is another good day. Out.”

As he finished the transmission with the standard greeting, wrinkles of suspicion gradually appeared on the captain’s face.

The young navigation officer also looked doubtful.

“Captain, about that transmission…”

“Yes.” Alfonso Zoom let out a heavy sigh. “Just as famous people do not refer to themselves as famous, a professional does not normally refer to a luxury cruise ship as ‘luxury’.”

Then what had that transmission been?

The captain spoke the answer anyone could reach with a little bit of thought.

“They’re coming.”

===Part 2===

A ten-man fishing boat raced toward the luxury cruise ship while jumping from stormy wave to stormy wave. Yes, it was racing. The entire engine had been swapped out, so it was moving “above” the ocean while practically popping a wheelie. It was moving at about 80 kph. As hydrofoils made quite evident, boats could move at three digit speeds if the water resistance was lessened. And the fastest way to do that was to lift the boat itself above the water.

Thick metal panels were bolted to the sides of the fishing boat and heavily suntanned men were crammed inside. They held old rifles and submachine guns with an extra coat of paint to hide the scrapes and to stop them from rusting. Those tools were clearly not needed for fishing.

They were pirates who had butted into the transmission to put the ship where they wanted. A suntanned man returned a small microphone to the radio hook and whistled at the feast before him.

“Okay! Our prey is extra special today!! It’s got a giant antenna on top. That’s a satellite connection. They use it to check the black cards used in the casino. There must be tons of rich people on there!”

As the first man gave them some motivation, the other pirates started to grow rowdy.

“Eh? I thought it was for Wall Street which is so popular lately. They need to mess with their stocks and exchanges while on their cruise.”

“This is the Legitimacy Kingdom, so it would be the London Stock Exchange.”

“Who cares as long as they’re a bunch of rich ladies and gentlemen? More importantly, how are we on anti-ship missiles? We need at least two. The first acts as a demonstration. We need to make sure they know we’ll sink them if they don’t do what we say.”

“Leave it to me. There are four of them hanging on the sides of the ship.”

“You idiot!! Now I know why our fuel consumption’s been so bad!!”

An amateur pirate group could never mass produce missiles that were a collection of cutting-edge military secrets.

But nothing said they had to be “cutting-edge”.

What if they added modern technology to weapons produced fifty years prior?

Just as a hard disk sold in a home electronics store’s clearance sale would have been highly classified government technology fifty years ago, amateur groups could manufacture weapons.

In the festivals of Southeast Asia, rockets measuring three to five meters long were created to launch exciting fireworks 5000 to 10,000 meters into the air. If they were laid on their side, they made a decent starting point for a rocket motor.

Meanwhile, the other pirate ships gathered.

The suntanned man grabbed the radio again.

“Okay. A through F, go in front of the luxury cruise ship! Scatter some mines to stop them. G through I, take the starboard side. J through L, use anti-ship missiles to surround them from behind.”

“Shut up! You aren’t the leader!!”

“Don’t try to board the ship and earn some extra money just because it’s full of rich people. The plan is to make them lower their rescue boats. You don’t want to be killed by the peashooters they have for self-defense, do you?”

He heard a light noise.

One of his allies on the same boat was tapping the large radio.

And he whispered a question.

“Where do we fire the missile?”

“Don’t use it like you’re supposed to. If we sink the ship right off the bat, we can’t take any hostages. Don’t hit it on the waterline. Aim higher.”

He pointed into the distance while still holding the radio’s microphone.

As his finger jabbed toward the Scarlet Princess, it scooped upwards.

“For example, the control room.”

A seven meter tube shot from the side of the fishing boat. The anti-ship missile used solid fuel (aka gunpowder) to fly diagonally up from the ocean surface. In this “improper” usage, it was directly targeting the ship’s crew.

They all thought it was a success.

Blowing up the control room at the top of the luxury cruise ship would not immediately sink the ship. As previously stated, a ship’s weak point was the waterline where the seawater could surge in. However, the refined ladies and gentlemen would not realize that. If all of the professional crew was taken out at once and there was a fire on the ship, they would try to escape on the rescue boats no matter what. Afterwards, the pirates could surround the boats drifting powerlessly and carefully take hostages.

But…

The next thing the pirates knew, composite material shutters lowered over all of the luxury cruise ship’s 1000 or more windows.

The shutters covered both the outside and inside of the bulletproof glass which was already over thirty centimeters thick. This was obviously out of place on a civilian ship.

(Huh?)

For an instant, a complete blank filled the suntanned man’s mind.

The homemade anti-ship missile struck the control room, but its explosive flames and black smoke looked terribly unreliable. Once it all cleared away, only a slight dent remained in the shutters.

And then the ship began to fight back.

Strange metallic noises rang out again and again. From the bow to the stern, 20 mm Gatling guns of a close-in weapon system rose up along either side of the deck. They looked a bit like trees lining a road. The pools on the three layers of the deck split apart and 21 cm rapid-fire cannons rose high above them. The pirates could not see it, but a portion of the roof split into small sections like a chocolate bar or a honeycomb and countless vertical missile hatches opened in order.

They had stepped on a figurative landmine.

A horrible, horrible landmine.

Once they finally realized that, the captain of the luxury cruise ship spoke over the radio.

“Disguised Cruiser Scarlet Princess has confirmed an attack from the target.”

He essentially gave a death sentence.

That order opened the gates of hell.

“Begin Operation Codename ‘Blood-Soaked Princess’. Engaging target now. Pirates, this is your last chance to write your wills.”

With those words, the wolf in sheep’s clothing exposed its hidden claws and fangs.

After conceitedly thinking they could surround it with only about 15 boats, the pirates’ luck had run out.

The foxhunt had begun.

===Part 3===

The two idiots named Quenser Barbotage and Heivia Winchell were groaning in the landing unit hold at the bottom level of the disguised cruiser named Scarlet Princess.

The exterior was made to look like a luxury cruise ship, but the inside was completely different. Of its 380 meter length, over half of the bottom was a single large space. And that space was crammed full of military hovercrafts. Quenser and the others were packed like sardines into those hovercrafts.

The hovercrafts were pitched as “small but able to hold a tank☆”, but they were far from comfortable for people to use. They reeked of machine oil.

“This is tyranny!! We were only riding along! Can you really throw us out in front of the pirate’s guns? This isn’t even the 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion’s job! Who’s going to pay us!?”

“This is probably how we’re buying our ticket to ride the ship. I don’t feel like doing any real work either, though.”

“And how is this a ‘disguised cruiser’? It’s almost 400 meters long! They didn’t make battleships this big even back when they were relevant. That’s 100 meters more than the Island Nation’s Yamato! Are they insane!?”

“The category of battleship has vanished, so what can you do? And it’s a disguised ship, remember? Bringing escort ships along for protection would blow its cover, so it has to handle everything as a lone wolf. And it had to be heavily armored to safely draw in the pirates. It has to be tough enough to take a few rockets or torpedoes without issue.”

History had proven that aircraft would overtake the battleship in usefulness, but battleships could be useful once more now that aircraft could not be sent out. They were perfect for luring out and slaughtering pirates.

“…Why are you breathing so heavily?”

“Eh? Doesn’t seeing giant machines get you all excited? It’s human nature.”

Heivia shoved the perverted creep away with both hands as an ear-splitting buzzer rang and the lights switched to red.

Someone they could not see gave a high-spirited shout.

“Our brave ‘waitresses’, it’s time you risked your life fishing for sharks! Let’s make this an exciting enough battle to get a movie made! Rock & roll!!”

“Shut up! We’ve been ready!! And if you want to be the lead that badly, go do it on your own! Be a one-man army! Don’t drag us into it!!”

Heivia demonstrated his grace as a noble by elegantly raising his middle finger as he shouted at the man, but that changed nothing.

With a heavy rumble, the wall in front of them opened to either side. The bow of the disguised cruiser opened like a castle gate. One after another, amphibious hovercraft slid out and into the gunfire-filled battlefield of the Strait of Malacca.

And…

Whether by coincidence or design, a rocket suddenly flew into the hold.

As Heivia frantically held down Quenser’s head and got on the ground himself, a tremendous shock wave spread through the enclosed space.

A dull pain exploded more in his chest than his eardrums.

“Gbh!? Cough!! H-how the hell is this a safe and simple mop up mission!!”

“Anytime they call the mission ‘simple’, you should be suspicious.”

“Wait… Wait a second!! Did this hovercraft just start sliding? Wait!! We’ve got a bunch of injured soldiers already! You can’t just throw us out on the front liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!!”

But his protests came too late.

The hovercraft slid down the slope and shot out the bow of the “Blood-Soaked Princess”. They were suddenly forced to clash with the small fishing boats (which had been modified into high-speed boats) sitting in front.

They were about sixty centimeters away from the closest boat.

They were close enough to jump from one boat to the other.

Heivia’s gaze met that of a suntanned man.

“You bastards!!”

The man tried to raise the rifle carried over his shoulder with a sling belt, but he was too slow. Heivia pulled his handgun from its holster and fired repeatedly.

Quenser finally came to his senses as he watched three dark red holes appear in the man’s chest.

“Stop, Heivia! You can’t kill them!!”

“Ah? What!? I can’t hear you over all the noise!!”

“Don’t kill them!!”

All the 20 mm Gatling guns on the side of the disguised cruiser’s deck began to fire and shot down a homemade anti-ship missile flying over Quenser’s head. In return, several vertical launch missiles were fired at the pirates’ fishing boats. The noisy sound of rotors came from the heliport and a military attack helicopter began to take off.

The pirates had formed a half circle to envelop the Scarlet Princess’s path, but that proved a suicidal formation due to their misjudgment of the ship’s firepower. There had supposedly been around fifteen pirate boats, but half of them had already been sunk.

Everything was in motion and just watching it all made one’s eyes and head hurt.

And on top of that, the environment was so poor that one would be deafened while just sitting there.

After Quenser’s group’s hovercraft moved away, an attack from the air blew away the previous high-speed pirate boat like an empty can.

With his ears still ringing, Quenser shouted toward Heivia who was right next to him.

“If we just had to kill them, the ship’s weaponry could handle it! We were sent out for a reason!! Weren’t you listening during the pre-mission briefing!?”

“Oh? Oh, oh! Did they say something about that!?”

“They’re using fishing boats rather than used patrol boats so they can ditch their weapons in the sea and act like innocent fishermen if they have to! If we just kill them all, we’ll be suspected of slaughtering civilians. That’s why we need to capture a few of them alive and have them admit to being pirates. That’s what we were told!!”

“In other words, they’ve knocked down a hornet’s nest with a stone and now we have to retrieve it barehanded!? Goddamn this is a terrible job!! We’re at least getting paid extra for this, right!?”

Nothing the pirates did could turn the situation around.

Sounds of gunfire and explosions continued without end.

The ship’s rapid-fire cannons and the attack helicopter’s rockets were unilaterally blowing away the pirates’ boats.

“Two more! Our side just took out another two boats. Shit. If we don’t capture a pirate soon, they’ll all be dead!!”

“Shut up!! If you care that badly, jump over to that fishing boat and grab one yourself!!”

Only a few of the 10 meter high-speed pirate boats remained. The Scarlet Princess was fully equipped with the Legitimacy Kingdom navy’s best, so it was a 400 meter mass of giant guns. There was no chance of it being sunk now.

But there was a chance of the pirates fighting back in some way.

The fishing boats were equipped with homemade anti-ship missiles. They would be able to blow away at least one of the hovercrafts that used the power of air to float.

“This is way too scary!! A missile just shot by right above us!! What happened to the close-in weapon system support!?”

“Are these the type that react to magnetism to detonate? This thing’s hull is made of layered plastic and the balloon is made of synthetic fiber, so they might just slip past us.”

“Dammit. Of course the Gatling guns on the side deck wait until ''now'' to turn this way. …Hm? This way!?”

“G-get down!! And turn the hovercraft to the side! Our own side’s barrage is gonna fill us with holes!!”

The gunfire sounded like a broken buzzer as the line of CIWS weapons targeted an anti-ship missile flying a few meters above the ocean surface and scattered giant bullets at a rate of 5000 a minute. They were 20mm bullets which were masses of metal the size of a thumb. They were much larger than the standard used with anti-materiel rifles and even a single one grazing you could blow off a limb.

“They have to do all that just to shoot down a single missile. An Object’s laser beams are an entirely different story, but this says a lot about the balance between offense and defense.”

“Why are you starting that creepy breathing again!? Don’t get your design-obsessed blood pumping like it’s some instinct to preserve your genes in a life-threatening situation!!”

“Eh? I don’t mix my love of machines with lust. Making anthropomorphized girls out of weapons is kind of disturbing if you think about it.”

“Just think of it as adding on elements!! Don’t think of it as surgically cutting and pasting things!!”

The hovercraft ridden by the two idiots and 28 others had three engines resembling two meter ventilators on the back. One of them was sending out disconcerting black smoke (due to the barrage from their side’s close-in weapon system).

“How about we say the pirates did that and put in for injury pay? I think we deserve a bonus.”

“If we do that, it’ll mean we were injured by a group of amateurs. That would be a dishonor.”

Meanwhile, the battle was almost over.

The attack helicopter that had been sent out partway through was doing too good a job. It was sending down a storm of rockets which were enveloping the small fishing boats and the surrounding ocean in flames.

“Isn’t this pretty bad?” muttered Quenser as he carelessly looked up into the blue sky. “All of the pirate boats will be sunk soon.”

“What happened to capturing some alive!? If we don’t have one to say he’s a pirate, we’ll be accused of slaughtering civilians!!”

The two idiots looked around, but they saw nothing but eerie black smoke and wreckage starting to sink. It no longer felt like they were fighting. It was more like a treasure hunt.

“There!! There’s another fishing boat behind that smoke. If we miss that one, we’ll have to give up on catching anyone alive!! We’ll be mercilessly accused by a grinning international committee!!”

The attack helicopter flew by over their heads. It was clearly moving toward the same target.

Heivia brought a hand to his forehead.

“Is that pilot a coward!? I don’t think he can relax until he eliminates every threat he sees. And it’s not like those pirates can shoot down a helicopter flying around at high speed!!”

“What do we do? If we don’t take one alive, we’ll have to try our hand at necromancy during the court martial.”

“I’ve had enough of this!!” shouted Heivia in desperation as he shouted at the young soldier in charge of steering the hovercraft. “Head full speed toward the fishing boat! …I can’t believe I have to put my life on the line to protect the enemy!!”

“But what exactly are we going to do!?”

“We only have one choice.”

For some reason, Heivia removed the safety pin from the shoulder-fired missile launcher hanging from his shoulder along with his rifle. He rested one end on his shoulder and aimed the other end. Tanks on land, small patrol boats at sea, and ground attack craft in the air. Save for its ridiculous price tag, that missile was known as a masterpiece.

“We fire on our own helicopter.”

He did not hesitate.

He captured the target with both infrared and ultraviolet at the same time and he pulled the trigger.

The long, narrow missile shot out like a spear and shot by right next to the helicopter.

No damage was done.

Except for Quenser who was knocked backwards by the backfire.

He flew two or three meters like an unnamed character in a kung fu movie.

“Hot!! Hot!? Wh-what just happened? Are we under attack!?”

“If you’re that lively, I’m not gonna worry too much.”

The other soldiers on the hovercraft focused on Heivia. Their gazes were asking why he had fired on an ally.

“If I had actually aimed, it wouldn’t be in the air right now! I purposefully missed. But that coward of a pilot won’t notice that!! If you don’t want to die, get ready!!”

The attack helicopter belatedly took evasive actions and then took a tight turn around. It was clearly being wary. If the pilot panicked, there was a chance he would simply attack. It was similar to an extremely sleepy soldier caught in a whirl of gunfire confusing which side was his allies.

Heivia shouted in desperation.

“I bought us some time, but it’s only a dozen or so seconds! Charge straight into the fishing boat!! We just have to take at least one of them alive!!”

The hovercraft moved straight toward the lone remaining fishing boat. Meanwhile, Heivia aimed his assault rifle into the air and fired a long spray of bullets toward their attack helicopter. Orange sparks covered a side of the helicopter.

“With proper equipment, it can deflect rifle bullets.” While firing tons of wasted bullets, Heivia gave a thin smile. “But that coward won’t know that. His desire to survive made him panic and forget the plan. He’ll actually try to avoid this peashooter.”

The hovercraft approached the modified fishing boat from the side.

More accurately, it crashed into it.

Hovercrafts floated above the ocean surface with the power of air. The skirt portion that contained the air was a giant balloon made of bulletproof and knife resistant synthetic fiber.

Rather than a straight collision, the hovercraft climbed on top of the boat.

And the pirate man standing on the boat’s deck was knocked into the ocean.

The fact that the skirt portion was a soft balloon turned out to be a stroke of luck for both sides. As the man flailed his limbs around, he was knocked several meters horizontally like a small stone.

At the same time, a rocket fell from the heavens and struck the point of intersection between the fishing boat and the hovercraft.

The blast knocked the Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers into the air.

But it did not knock the will to fight from them. Or rather, they could not leave this sea of flames and smoke until they completed this. Several soldiers used strange wrestling moves to jump on the pirate who had fallen into the ocean.

Several dull sounds could be heard.

The pirate struggled as his head was forced under the salty ocean water.

Quenser and Heivia grabbed the pirate by the collar and dragged his head back above the surface.

And they shouted angrily into his ear.

“If you don’t want us to start an interrogation using the water here, then start talking!! Tell everyone that you’re a piece of shit pirate who was causing everyone all sorts of trouble!!”

===Part 4===

They were forced to participate in a “detour” to eliminate pirates, but Quenser, Heivia, and the 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion’s original destination lay elsewhere.

Those idiots had been sent to the Strait of Malacca ahead of the rest of the battalion. Sea mines, fuel oil attacks, nets in the propeller, and pirates were all threats that even civilians could accomplish. To ensure that none of the warships were damaged, all those threats had to be eliminated before the maintenance battalion’s fleet passed through.

In other words, their target this time was dangerous enough to warrant that.

Even in an age where Object vs. Object battles decided everything, they did not want to lose the backing of a single support ship.

“We’re really here.”

Their destination was the birthplace of Objects in the seas of the Far East.

It was currently a portion of the Capitalist Corporations and it was an important point for the Asian naval forces.

“This is the Island Nation. Should we really be here? This supposedly the artisan paradise that sent out the world’s first Object and it’s also known for its healthy food. A ridiculously proportioned macho man isn’t going to attack us with all sorts of strange new weapons, is he?”

Quenser sounded bored as he stood on the deck of a small aircraft carrier. Rather than the takeoff and landing of aircraft, it was primarily used as maintenance space for the Object contained between it and another aircraft carrier.

The princess must have had nothing to do because she was sitting on the edge of the deck and looking blankly in Quenser’s direction.

“Frolaytia said our job isn’t very dangerous this time.”

“She may be skilled, but you can’t trust any verbal promises she makes. Especially when we’re talking about the Island Nation. It may be part of the Capitalist Corporations, but the level of their newly developed technology is ridiculous. In fact, it’s gone so far that it’s created a kind of Galapagos Syndrome. Naturally, the same goes for their Objects.”

“This will not be a direct fight in the first place.”

“Yeah, they are going through some infighting, aren’t they?” Quenser let out a light breath. “The Capitalist Corporations were crazy enough to go fully down the PMC route and make listed companies out of their army, but the intensification of conflicts in recent years means the armies sent around the world by the different major companies aren’t enough. That’s why they created the new framework of half-public self-defense PMCs to quickly strengthen their naval defenses.”

“But one of those self-defense PMCs went out of control and started a civil war in the ocean around the Island Nation.”

“What did they think would happen when they gathered tens of thousands of rotten soldiers given dishonorable discharges in different parts of the world and then handed them cutting-edge weaponry? Yet they let their guard down so much that they surrendered an Object to them. What’s wrong with them? Were they ''trying'' to get themselves killed?”

“They had an aging society, so they had no choice. They had no young people.”

“I know they were shorthanded, but how could they possibly think people coming in to earn some money would defend their nation to the bitter end?”

The strategic simulations of the Legitimacy Kingdom military predicted that the civil war would not last long. The self-defense PMC could not be taken lightly, but they were only borrowing the Objects and other weapons and they could not maintain them or produce more on their own. And it was unlikely anyone would provide them with further supplies. The instant they ran out of reserves was the instant they met their end.

The simulations said they would last at most two months and possibly only a few weeks. But during that time, the Island Nation’s defenses would certainly be lacking. It was possible the confusion could be used to attack in otherwise impossible places or ways.

The princess pouted her lips.

“Why do we have to interfere with the Capitalist Corporations’ fight? We should just let them go at it.”

“We don’t want them having a nice fistfight by the river and getting along again. That’s why we need to stab them in the side and make sure they can never join back up. If we kill what enemies we can while we have the chance, we don’t have to worry about carelessly running into them on some other battlefield.”

At that point, a radio transmission reached the entire battalion.

It was from Frolaytia, their local commander.

“It’s time for the pre-mission briefing on how we will split the Island Nation. Gather in your ship’s conference room. I will provide the explanation via the monitor. …Also, a special message for the idiots who were playing basketball on the flight deck. The one who dropped the ball in the ocean must take responsibility by jumping from the cliff and retrieving it. That is government property. You aren’t allowed to lose it. That is all.”

===Part 5===

“As you can see, the ocean around the Island Nation is in a state of civil war. We will use the confusion to move in deeper than their normal defenses would allow. Our mission is to scout out their forces and destroy what we can.”

Frolaytia spoke from the podium up front while a few arrows were added to the sea chart displayed on the screen.

“The biggest problem for the self-defense PMC is the supply line. According to the strategic simulation performed on our supercomputer, this civil war will run out of gas and reach a quick end. The major corporation controlling the Island Nation will likely carry out a sabotage operation to hurry that along.”

The screen showed a group of islands in the ocean south of the Island Nation. One of those islands had not originally been there. It was a manmade floating island. The industrially manufactured island could move on its own and it was created by combining giant floats.

Its center was a dodecagon and each vertex had a harbor dock extending out from it like a tree branch.

Its overall silhouette looked like the ship’s wheel used to turn the rudder.

“This is the artificial floating island Ame-no-Darin. It is made to extract resources from the ocean floor. It is the cornerstone of the self-defense PMC’s supplies and reserves. It was the discovery of oil and veins of iron ore in the deep Pacific that transformed the Island Nation into a top class resource superpower. Thanks to that, they’ve left behind an environment that’s covered in oil. Anyway, as long as they have this, the self-defense PMC will have plenty of ammunition and fuel. And by exchanging that for foreign currency, they can smuggle in food. This is the central pillar of this war.”

Frolaytia used her penlight laser pointer to indicate different points on the displayed document.

“It originally functioned as the Island Nation’s military reserves base. It was a treasure trove of fuel and ammunition and its security was left to the self-defense PMC in question as far back as the construction phase. Once the civil war began, they took full control of the Ame-no-Darin. With the standard reserves, they can fight for ninety days. With full use of its ocean floor resource extraction and refinement ability, they can create an endless supply of fuel and ammunition. It may be an expensive facility, but that expense paid for some nice features.”

“I have a question.” Quenser raised his hand. “Are we going to destroy that Ame-no-Darin? How does that benefit us?”

“An excellent question, student. But wait until I’m finished.” Frolaytia placed her long, narrow kiseru in her mouth. “Our mission is to sweep for mines in the ocean around the Ame-no-Darin and to physically remove the saboteurs thought to have infiltrated it. We intercepted the schedule for a large-scale sabotage operation and we plan to end it before it starts. Simply put, we will be protecting the Ame-no-Darin despite no one asking us to. After all, that will cause this war to drag on and cause great financial losses for the Island Nation. Any objections?”

It was a cruel plan, but they were at war and had no interest in benevolence or world peace. The Island Nation was categorized as a safe country, so they could not directly attack it or slaughter the non-combatants there, but they had no real reason to bring the civil war to a quick end or to protect the Island Nation’s mobile fleet which included an Object. If they did, the forces remaining at the end of the civil war would turn toward them.

A small hand then rose into the air.

It was the princess’s.

“Then who will I fight?”

“Did you think it would be the Object belonging to the isolated self-defense PMC? Well, it isn’t. You will be fighting the Object belonging to the Island Nation’s major corporation which has the overwhelming advantage. When we have a chance to freely defeat an enemy, it’s always best to choose the strongest one. We will extend this civil war and take the initiative in removing future rivals. Do you all understand now?”

They were fighting to protect their enemy.

They were fighting to help out the isolated underdog.

Phrasing it like that made them sound like a gunman from a Western, but the principles at the core has been twisted by the world which had shattered like stained glass.

“Then let’s begin. We are only here to benefit the Legitimacy Kingdom. Justice for the Capitalist Corporations is not our concern. How about you head out there and see what your precious Island Nation is really like.”

===Part 6===

The two idiots named Quenser and Heivia were crammed into submarine torpedo tubes along with the other soldiers. It was one to a tube and they felt as small as coffins. The diving suits and oxygen tanks only made it feel more cramped.

“What is wrong with them? This is discrimination!! I’m a radar analyst. I shouldn’t be launched from a torpedo tube while holding an oxygen tank and an underwater gun! I don’t remember the contract I signed saying anything about doing this!”

“Shut up, Heivia. Sound is everything for subs. Make too much noise and the enemy will notice us.”

“Fine by me! I’ll make them wrinkle their nose at the most tremendous fart they’ve ever heard!!”

“You’re in an enclosed space, so you’ll just end up cursing your own asshole.”

As they chatted over the radio, Quenser’s coffin filled with red light. The torpedo tube was about to open.

The greeting from the weapons officer reached his ears.

“Carefree little birds, you have the precious free will of a human, so you can shit yourself if you want, but wait until you’ve left the sub first. Rock & roll!”

“Goddammit. Should I have brought an alarm clock along to set off after I left!? Well!?”

Heivia’s complaints were immediately followed by the external door opening and seawater rushing into the torpedo tube. Quenser did not fight the current and waited until the tube was filled with water before he slowly left the submarine.

“There’s nothing but sludge and oil around here. I’d heard ocean oil drilling always let some oil leak out, but this is crazy. You could set the ocean ablaze with a burner.”

“When you weigh ecology against resources, people tend to choose the more profitable one. Not that it matters to us.”

“What’s that giant mass over there? A new type of mutant?”

“It’s a clump of oil. It’s just like running into sewage. You can’t move once it gets all around you.”

Quenser, Heivia, and eight other soldiers travelled through the dark ocean using devices resembling kickboards with motors attached. They were on their way to the Ame-no-Darin, but doing so was not easy when the area was in a state of civil war.

Several vague silhouettes measuring a few meters across came into view.

As they came into focus, Quenser felt a chill run down his back. Long narrow cylinders which appeared to be torpedoes were stabbed into the clump of oil.

“Those are the Capitalist Corporations’ smart torpedoes,” said Heivia calmly. “I don’t know which side of the civil war fired them, though.”

“W-wait. Are we going to pass by them? If they detonate, we’ll be torn to pieces.”

“I said they were ‘smart’, remember? They only react to the acoustic signature of enemy ships that are updated over their network. They aren’t made to kill humans.”

“Really?”

“They cost 20 thousand dollars apiece. They’d lose a ton of money if a fish swimming by could detonate them. They’re made to only react to top priority targets.”

“But these didn’t go off! We can’t trust them.”

Heivia went ahead as a guide and Quenser nervously followed while weaving between the smart torpedoes.

But that was when something approached while producing a rumbling vibration that sounded like a coin laundry amplified several times.

A giant mass slowly passed by the two idiots.

It was a submarine.

Quenser’s eyes opened wide.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!! We’re swimming between unexploded torpedoes right this very instant! If they react to that acoustic signature, we’ll be blown away!”

“We have a bigger problem!! I don’t know whose sub that is, but the current created by its propeller is going to carry us off!! If we don’t grab onto something, it’ll suck us in and slice us to pieces!!”

“What am I supposed to grab onto!?”

[[Image:HO_v08_043.jpg|thumb]]

The sensation of something tugging at his body created an instinctual fear in Quenser, so he immediately reached for the closest object.

It was one of the torpedoes sticking out of the oil.

“Kyaaaaah!!!!!”

Any kind of tactical thoughts were sent to the farthest reaches of the universe as he entrusted himself to what looked like a propane tank and prayed it would not explode.

“This is it! I’m gonna piss myself! I really am this time!!”

“Shut up!! That’s no different form peeing in the pool! Stop making such a racket!!”

“How about you try it! It’ll just fill your diving suit and there’ll be no escape from that hell of your own creation. I don’t want the kind of embarrassment that leads to suicide!!”

Those boys were from the nation of kings and knights, but they were desperate to protect their pride on an elementary school level.

An unpleasant noise rang out.

“What now!?”

“The sub ran into the clump of oil! It’s coming this way!”

The back of the giant sub swung around like a bat and the propeller passed right by them like a lawnmower.

“Shit that was close. I don’t know whose sub that is, but any closer and it would’ve wiped all of us out.”

“Shouldn’t we help it?”

“How? And whichever side it’s on, it’s an enemy.”

Quenser’s entire body was covered with an uncomfortable sweat, but annoyingly enough, he could not wipe it away. He, Heivia, and the other soldiers moved carefully to the side of the oil clump and met up with the units that left a different submarine.

Ultimately, a group of around one hundred Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers were swimming toward the Ame-no-Darin.

“Is that it? It’s incredible that something so gigantic can float.”

“That just shows how reckless they’ve been. That’s gotta be the king of pollution around here. In an American comic, it’d be the villain’s secret base.”

As they looked up at the Ame-no-Darin from below, it looked like a never-ending ceiling. They had needed to travel directly below the floating island to sneak in, but having the surface sealed off made the ocean seem all the more oppressive. If their oxygen tank malfunctioned, there was no escape. It would mean certain death.

“Let’s go. Our way in is the emergency drain pumps used in case of flooding. They aren’t normally active, so we can make our way up into the float.”

“If they notice us, it’s all over. One flip of a switch and seven tons of seawater will be ejected every second. We’d learn what a bug in a drain feels like.”

After using their tools to destroy a few sensors and remove the wire mesh cover, they entered the drain pump pipe one at a time. The pipe was over two meters across, so they had plenty of room to move.

After working their way into the Ame-no-Darin’s spare engine area, they could finally remove their diving suits and heavy oxygen tanks.

“Hey, where’d our commander go?” asked Heivia in annoyance. “We can’t start without him.”

“It looks like we got separated somewhere,” answered a nearby female soldier. “He isn’t responding over the radio, so should we wait until he catches up?”

“No, thanks! He’s the one who got all worked up on the Scarlet Princess, wasn’t he? I’m not going to get myself killed for him. A group of one hundred can’t hide forever. If they throw a bomb in while we’re waiting for that jokester, we’ll all be taken out.”

“Um, Heivia? This is enemy territory, so wouldn’t it be bad if our commander was captured?”

“If his allies can’t find him, how is the enemy supposed to? And aren’t the rest of you pissed at him, too? Teacher won’t get mad, so be honest and raise your hands.”

None of the honor students raised their hands, so Heivia changed the question.

“Do you want to die for the kind of commander who returns to the sub without telling us, or do you want to continue the mission and get back alive? Raise your hands if you want to survive.”

All of the idiots raised their hands.

Their plan was decided.

The Ame-no-Darin was a float the size of a fair-sized island, but it was still an indoor facility. A group of one hundred travelling together would be too large for the passageways, so it would be more effective to split into groups of ten and travel down different routes to target the enemy from multiple angles.

And so it was time to split into groups.

Quenser raised his hand.

“I’m willing to follow a guide, but who takes the lead?”

“That’s decided by rank.”

Heivia’s offhand comment turned everyone’s focus on a new second lieutenant, but he trembled, shook his head, and grew pale.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” said a female soldier in irritation.

“Then let’s go with experience and achievements.”

Heivia’s new suggestion turned the focus to the two idiots.

Needless to say, no one could outdo their achievements of destroying several Objects on their own. It was just that their negative achievements were also quite amazing, so it all cancelled out in the end.

“Seriously?”

“If we keep complaining, the enemy will spot us and get in the first attack. Let’s get moving.”

And that settled that.

The other ten-man groups determined their leaders based on the number of battles they had fought in and they all began to move.

“We have no guarantee we’ll come back here and who knows when we’ll need to jump in the ocean. It’ll be a bit of a burden, but we need to carry the diving suits and oxygen tanks with us.”

“Where will the enemy come from? Specifically, the saboteurs who are destroying the Ame-no-Darin to cut off the self-defense PMC’s supply line.”

“They’re boldly making their way in using transport helicopters with spoofed identifiers. They should be arriving any time now, so let’s head toward the heliport. We’ll probably run across them on our way there.”

“Quick question. How do we tell the saboteurs from the self-defense PMC protecting the Ame-no-Darin? They should both be using Capitalist Corporations Island Nation equipment.”

“Do we even need to? They’re both enemies.”

===Part 7===

The Baby Magnum was released into the ocean near the southern islands after its naval floats were attached.

The old maintenance woman was waiting atop the flight deck of a small aircraft carrier in a large-scale fleet. Her job was to quickly and accurately maintain and repair the Baby Magnum upon its return, but the situation was different this time.

Her name was Ayami Cherryblossom.

As her family name suggested, she was originally from the Capitalist Corporations Island Nation. She had worked as a technician before leaving, so she had been recruited for an investigation of the abilities of the Island Nation’s Objects.

Her B5-sized tablet computer displayed satellite images and video taken by front line observers and she conversed with the Baby Magnums’ princess over her headset.

“There they are. We’ve picked up two Objects near the Ame-no-Darin. One is a first generation named Yuuhi which was officially deployed by the Island Nation to quickly end the civil war. I believe the Legitimacy Kingdom’s codename for it is Be Ablaze. It can literally set the sea on fire.”

“It’s a first generation?”

[[Image:HO_v08_050.jpg|thumb]]

“That’s thanks to a sad mentality of the Island Nation. They’re better at creating improved versions of old weapons than they are developing brand new ones. For example, they add cameras to outdated fighters and insist on using them as spy planes. This one may be classified as first generation, but its insides have been completely swapped out so it can keep up with modern models. Underestimate it, and you’ll end up on the ocean floor.”

“But its main weapon is a flamethrower, right? I don’t see how that’s a threat to Objects that can withstand nuclear weapons.”

“It’s a close range defensive weapon known as the Hiding Clothes of Flame. It scatters fuel oil and napalm over the entire area and sets the sea ablaze. This is an effective anti-personnel weapon, but it’s mostly meant to disrupt targeting information with smoke and mirages. You should assume your laser targeting won’t work. You will be separated by several layers of mirages created from temperature change, so the light will bend all over the place.”

However, the ocean around the Island Nation was in state of civil war and the two forces were fighting each other.

The princess was targeting only one side and destroying the Be Ablaze was her top priority, but the situation was too complex for her to focus solely on that. Another giant enemy existed in that ocean.

Namely, the self-defense PMC’s Object that used the Ame-no-Darin as its supply base.

It was a symbol of rebellion.

[[Image:HO_v08_052.jpg|thumb]]

“The other one is named Ningyo. The Legitimacy Kingdom’s codename for it is Mad Cooker. It’s a first generation equipped with a salt railgun. Naturally, it’s been independently altered to have the power needed to defeat a second generation.”

“A salt railgun?”

“They were mainstream before low-temperature superconductors were successfully used in weapons. It uses a liquid known as molten salt. When salt is heated to 1200 degrees and liquefied, it has ten times the conductivity of normal saltwater. That molten salt can be used to construct a cheap and primitive railgun.”

An endless supply of the raw material was located in the ocean below it.

With its huge reactor, it could easily heat it.

The reason the Island Nation had continued research into the outdated salt railgun was likely because they wanted to use the ocean surrounding them to increase how long they could fight.

“The current version gives the shells conductivity by creating them from a base of over 90% salt. The core of the shell is a long, narrow spike of tungsten that they call the Ushi-no-Koku. It’s made so the mass of salt shatters when it’s fired. That sends all the kinetic energy into the tungsten so it can pierce the enemy’s onion armor. Continuing to use the same method used by old tank guns is another example of the Island Nation’s sad mentality.”

As long as they had the technology to filter out and condense the iron and rare metals dissolved in the ocean, it was conceivable that the Object could fight indefinitely with no need to resupply. It was almost more dangerous from the experimental side than as an enemy.

“As I’m sure already know, your primary target is the Be Ablaze from the Island Nation’s major corporation. To drag out this civil war and deplete them financially, we need to protect the weaker side, attack the stronger side, and bring both sides as close to equal as we can. But if we go too far, the two Capitalist Corporations Objects might work together to eliminate us. In other words, there is no need to defeat your target at all costs. Just fire at it from the distance and cause as much damage as you can while ensuring all three Objects need to keep an eye on the other two.”

Modern wars were decided by the number of Objects.

With one-against-one, an Object would head in for a direct fight. With one-against-three, an Object would swiftly retreat before fighting.

With that in mind, it would cause incredible pressure to the Island Nation when a third Object of dubious affiliation entered the fray.

Normally, two Capitalist Corporations Objects would work together if the Legitimacy Kingdom attacked.

But they could not trust each other during a civil war.

If they joined together and the other betrayed, a one-against-two battle would be unavoidable.

That fear would bind the battlefield.

“Understood,” said the princess. “I will stick with long-range shots from ten kilometers away.”

“We don’t need to settle this or even see it through to the end. As long as we put an end to the large-scale Ame-no-Darin sabotage plan, we can retreat and watch the mayhem from a safe distance. If the civil war continues, it will do critical damage on an economical front. This has been an internal problem for the Capitalist Corporations from the beginning, so it isn’t worth it for us to risk our lives here.”

===Part 8===

The major Island Nation corporation plan to sink the Ame-no-Darin was to send a large number of saboteurs into the facility while a large-scale battle between Objects acted as a diversion.

The plan was only being carried out after a thorough preparatory period and a similar plan could not simply be repeated again and again.

In other words, stopping them just once would eliminate this opportunity to destroy the Ame-no-Darin.

The civil war would drag on and the Legitimacy Kingdom’s objective would be achieved.

While occasionally speaking with the other groups over the radio, Quenser, Heivia, and eight others cautiously advanced.

“Hey, there’s an elevator over here.”

“I dare you to get on that thing. The instant the door opens, you’ll be riddled with holes. You can’t escape from a square box. Let’s just use the stairs.”

The Capitalist Corporations saboteurs had apparently arrived through the heliport by tricking the Ame-no-Darin with spoofed identifiers. Quenser’s group had started at the bottom and was ascending to the heliport. They assumed they would run into the saboteurs somewhere along the way.

There were apparently three floors’ worth of height from the bottom of the Ame-no-Darin to the ocean surface.

“Y’know, I’d heard they were a technological superpower, but this place is almost falling apart. Wall and ceiling panels are removed and the plumbing is exposed at points. Did they run out of funding halfway through building the thing?”

“Quenser, I want to make sure I’m not seeing things. What is that you’ve been pointing all over the place?”

“A digital camera. Why?”

“We’re in the middle of a mission to kill people!”

“And I can’t stand just going along empty-handed!! I have to take back at least one piece of Island Nation tech!!”

As they chatted, they made their way toward the stairs.

The stairway appeared to be for emergency use. Once they passed through the door, they found concrete stairs that reversed direction countless times.

They had to send someone ahead to make sure they were not completely wiped out in a surprise attack.

Heivia gave a sign with his fingers, his allies gave a different sign back, they began a war of gestures, and they ultimately played rock-paper-scissors.

After playing scissors, a trembling Heivia was thrust toward the staircase by his fellow soldiers.

“If this was chess, you’d be sending your king right to the enemy.”

“I don’t want to take responsibility for anything, so I’m fine being a pawn.”

The fluorescent lights flickered.

Quenser and four others acted as the scouts. Heivia held out his assault rifle to see up through the gap in the center of the staircase that formed a rectangle as it repeatedly doubled back.

“A cramped staircase is the worst.”

“Why?”

“Try to think before you speak. It’s not as bad as an elevator, but they can set all sorts of ambushes.”

An instant later, gunfire assaulted them in the ideal way from the ideal spot.

“Gyaaah!!”

“Waaah!!”

The enemy fired down while leaning over the railing up above.

The five of them could only retreat while firing back. Quenser headed for the entrance they had come from while helping a nearby soldier who was holding a bloody shoulder and was about to collapse.

“Heivia, fall back! Fall back!! We’ll be wiped out like this!!”

“Shut up! Why the hell do you think I’m trying to buy us some time!? You drag that injured soldier away!!”

“If they drop a grenade, it’s all over!! We’ll be slaughtered without a chance to buy any time!!”

That was when they heard a hard clanking noise.

The overhead attackers had tossed an explosive over the railing. The grenade struck the wall a few times and landed at their feet.

“…!!!???”

The enemy was playing it all by the book.

All five of them rushed toward the narrow entrance to the stairwell, but not many actually made it into the corridor beyond.

A muffled explosion burst out.

With his face dyed red with someone else’s blood, Heivia pressed against the wall and shouted out.

“We have casualties!! Check the damage!!”

“Almost zero! The injured private covered the grenade with his own body!!”

“That idiot tried to take all the glory for himself!!”

“He placed his balled up diving suit over it, so I don’t think he thought he would die.”

“You don’t have to point that out! We can just call it a valiant death!!”

At any rate, the blood-soaked Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers used the slight bit of time this gave them to return to the corridor where the other five awaited them.

The enemy must have dropped more grenades because multiple explosions reached their ears.

“This is bad, Quenser. The enemy is better than us. I only caught a glimpse of their uniforms, but assuming it isn’t a bluff, they’ve sent in someone amazing.”

“Eh? Does the Island Nation have any famous units?”

“They aren’t from the Island Nation.” Heivia wiped the blood from his face with an arm. “This is Moss Green co. ltd. They’re a land war PMC from the Northern Restricted Zone where long, drawn out wars continue 365 days a year because Objects are forbidden. I heard they’d been expanding their business to naval operations, especially landing operations, so this might be a promotion for their new services.”

“Meaning?”

“A soldier’s quality is determined by the quality and quantity of daily training, but these ones are out in actual battles year round. People who rely on Objects like us don’t stand a chance! The difference in experience is so overwhelming that we simply can’t win!!”

===Part 9===

The longer one fought an unbeatable enemy, the greater one’s losses would be.

Even a child could figure that out.

But they were not allowed to simply raise the white flag and go home.

“Let’s escape to a more advantageous position. We can fire a bit, fall back a bit, and then repeat the process to wear down their numbers.”

“How long do you think they’d keep falling for that obvious method? Moss Green is filled with nothing but cruel, cigar-smoking sergeants with eyepatches.”

“Just start laying as many traps as you can along the way. If we can’t win in a firefight, we need to wear down their numbers in other ways.”

They had no time, but any immediately obvious traps would be meaningless.

Fortunately, some of the wall and ceiling panels of that floor were removed, exposing thick steel pipes travelling around like blood vessels. There were plenty of places to hide traps.

“Hey, are you just setting up the plastic explosives as is? Wouldn’t you normally bury them in piles of screws or nails?”

“We don’t have time and the shockwave will fill the corridor anyway. You can shoot them once they’re knocked out, right? More importantly, gather all our cheap rockets. I don’t have enough firepower with what I have on me. You’ll be too afraid to use them in here anyway, so let me use the warheads for traps.”

“What?”

“A warhead with a contact fuse can be used as a landmine. Let’s hide them under the paper and mats lying around.”

They added other embellishments to the bombs: a dangerous cleanser that expanded as a mist when heated combined with a bleaching agent that caused intense pain and inflammation when it contacted skin. They found both of them in the lockers along the corridor.

Ultimately, they laid around thirty traps.

“Will this really work? A fat old man working on his home on the weekends makes better-looking stuff than this.”

“It’s a tragedy you can’t see the golden ratio to this. No matter where they try to evade, they’ll trip a different trap. It’s like a tangle of strings; they can’t just untangle one string at a time. I should get a medal for making something so artistic on such short notice.”

“You might find some fans in a prison. They’d probably all be skinny little guys, though.”

Just as Quenser and the others turned around to head to their ambush point, they heard an explosion up ahead and a great impact hit them.

The corridor wall had been destroyed from the other side.

Gray dust filled the corridor and cut off their path.

“Goddammit!!” shouted Heivia from the ground. “What is with today!?”

“What? My ears are ringing and I can’t hear you!?”

“Those Moss Green fuckers took a shortcut! Our escape route’s been cut off, so we can only fall back. And that means going through the corridor we just filled with traps!!”

It seemed unlikely they were being monitored via cameras or sensors.

The enemy had simply used their intuition and experience to accurately predict their actions. And that enemy had cut them off on the worst route possible. That level of accuracy made them seem like espers.

Multiple sounds of gunfire reached Quenser’s ears as they recovered.

He could no longer leisurely talk about thinking this through logically.

To escape the threat before his eyes, he charged into the spider web of traps he himself had laid.

The Moss Green soldiers peeking out from the hole in the wall were not courteous enough to aim for each soldier one at a time.

They accurately fired a bullet into a rocket warhead set up as a trap.

And an explosion swallowed up Quenser and the others.

===Part 10===

A woman named Angela Hibiscus commanded Moss Green and she frowned after hearing the explosion.

“What? They’re still moving.”

“They must have kept their traps non-lethal. Their own kindness saved them.”

“Then go finish off the passed-out fools. Just as they planned to do to us.”

A blond combat engineer twitching on the floor moved his hand. He grabbed some fishing line to set off his own trap.

As the corridor filled with a white mist, Angela’s men spoke delightedly.

“Wow, a chemical weapon. They violated the war treaty, captain.”

“Undiluted bleach, hm? You can have fun if you want, but do you have protective masks and suits prepared for us?”

“Eh? Well…”

“I don’t recall supplying any. The air conditioning is blowing their suicidal smokescreen this way, so we need to fall back. If we let something like this gave us any casualties, it would affect the unit’s reputation. I don’t want to owe the advertising firm a favor.”

Meanwhile, Heivia was very nearly screaming after being thrown into the toxic smokescreen.

“Quenser, you idiot!! We already had a full course of hell lined up for us, so why did you have to order dessert!? What the hell is this? Cough, cough. Bleach!?”

“If you don’t want to destroy your throat, stay quiet. And you have your diving suit’s mask, remember? Your throat will hurt, but the mask will keep it below a lethal level!”

“You’re kidding. So we have to crawl through this!?”

“They can easily get rid of this impromptu smokescreen with the air conditioning and then we’ll need enough body bags for all of us. Would you rather stay here and end up filled with lead!?”

Either way, they could no longer return unscathed.

Quenser and the others put on their oxygen masks and continued through the corridor while experiencing some chemical inflammation. On the way, they set off even more of their non-lethal traps, but they finally arrived at the stairwell.

“N-now what do we do, you moron? They hold the area above the stairs. If we charge in, they’ll just shoot us all. And if they sense any danger, they’ll drop more grenades to finish us off.”

“Heivia, do you have any rope? Can you rock climb?”

“Yes, but how does that help?”

“Then we don’t even need these stairs,” spat out Quenser as he pulled out his Hand Axe plastic explosive. “I’ll blow them to smithereens. After blowing up the structure and their soldiers, there will be nothing but a vertical hole left. We climb that with rope.”

“Are you serious? Even if they hold the area up there, that won’t be all of them. They came from the heliport. The more we climb, the closer we are to the center of their forces. Climbing just means more of those monsters! Can’t we just give up on the mission and escape from the sea down below?”

“If we did that, Frolaytia’s fists would send us to heaven before long anyway. Plus, they’ve been able to predict our actions so far, so we need to think about this in reverse. We’re below the waterline right now and no water came out when we blew up the pipes in the walls. They must be used with the emergency pumps in case of flooding. If we held the upper floors, how would you wipe out an enemy down below?”

“…You can’t be serious.”

“If they close all the waterproof bulkheads in one area, they can fill it with water. Instead of risking their own men in a firefight, they can wipe out their enemy with the turn of a valve. In a boring fight against weaklings, they’ll definitely choose the easier method. I’d be surprised if they ''didn’t'' flood the area.”

“B-but! We have diving suits and oxygen tanks. Even if they filled a block with water, it wouldn’t kill us.”

“It would. I don’t know how many tons of water would come rushing in per second, but it would definitely be a horrific deluge. We’d be swept on and on while being slammed along corridors and stairways. It would be like tying yourself to a car and being dragged through gravel. Our limbs would be torn off and the oxygen tanks would rupture.”

“Ugh,” groaned Heivia through his mask.

“It looked like they didn’t expect the suicidal wall of bleach and their pride probably demands a flawless victory. But this is the moment when we can escape the cage of Moss Green’s expectations. If we don’t head up now, it will all be downhill. As soon as they decide which valve to open, we’ll be swallowed up by the deluge and torn to pieces!”

===Part 11===

The 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion’s fleet remained on standby away from the battle. Frolaytia received various reports in the small aircraft carrier’s mission command center. A controller’s panicked voice reached her ears.

“Something is approaching the radar. It’s very fast!! It’s flying just off the ocean surface at around Mach 2. It might be a cruise missile or…no, it’s an aircraft!!”

“On the same battlefield as three Objects!?”

Objects contained a reactor that produced near-limitless energy and they were covered with anti-air lasers, so the complex evasive actions of an ace pilot were meaningless. Lock, fire, destroy. That was the standard of the modern battlefield, but this enemy was easily ignoring it.

Frolaytia’s eyes opened in surprise and the controller continued the report with a bewildered look.

“From its movements, it does not appear to be unmanned. The CIWS…had no effect! Here it comes!!”

“Dammit! All hands, brace yourself!!”

In that instant, the old maintenance woman was waiting on the flight deck in order to maintain or repair the Baby Magnum. From there, she saw a Capitalist Corporations’ air superiority fighter pass less than a meter over the steel surface.

It was a fli-21T.

That was a modified version of the normal fli-20. Its development had been stopped just before mass production and deployment, and it was currently undergoing its final tests in the Northern Restricted Zone.

It was tilted ever-so-slightly, so the top of the craft was visible from the old woman’s side.

The short girl in the cockpit wore an anti-G suit resembling an Elite’s special suit. Blue paint on the right wing drew a girl’s silhouette bearing a giant snow crystal on the back.

As the old woman saw the words “Ice Girl One”, a rugby ball-like mass below the wing was released.

It was an anti-ship aerial bomb.

Normally, its weight and the potential energy of the fighter’s altitude would break through the ship’s armor before it detonated, but when released just above the flight deck, the rugby ball bounced off the armor rather than penetrating it.

The old woman made an immediate decision upon seeing the bomb bounce into the air.

She watched the 200 kilogram explosive that had been perfectly left in the air so that the blast and fragments would efficiently spread over a wide area.

(The enemy has no interest in the fighters stored in the metal belly of the ship. They’re after the Object maintenance unit and its equipment. In other words, us!!)

“Jump into the water if you want to live!!”

She threw aside all her tools, turned around, and did not hesitate to jump from the nine meter height of the flight deck. She heard the tremendous explosion before hitting the water. The small island of steel behind her creaked ominously.

Her body produced a pillar of water as it vanished below the surface, but her head appeared soon thereafter.

She did not know how many of the maintenance soldiers had followed her.

“How...? How did it…get through the network of anti-air lasers?” groaned a young maintenance soldier floating nearby.

The old woman clicked her tongue.

“The air isn’t uniform. There are temperature differences, humidity differences, dust, dirt, and even salt content when over the ocean. The changes in those things will bend light just a bit. Mirages are the simplest example.”

“But…But… You couldn’t measure all that even with sensors.”

“No, but an ace pilot from the Northern Restricted Zone can sniff it out on intuition alone! Who is that pilot? Her senses are equal to or even greater than a pilot Elite's!!”

===Part 12===

Placing even a single bomb was a risky process.

As Quenser attached the plastic explosive to the base of the stairs, Heivia and a few others fired their assault rifles up the stairs. They were trying to hold the enemy back. By creating a barrage without even a gap to poke one’s head out, the enemy could not throw down a grenade.

But it only lasted thirty seconds.

“Shit! Here comes a grenade!!”

“I’m done here!! Fall back!! Fall back!!”

Quenser, Heivia, and the others practically rolled back to the corridor.

A moment later, the first grenade exploded.

Quenser then placed his hand on his radio and detonated his Hand Axe plastic explosive.

Just like when a building was demolished, the spiraling staircase smoothly crumbled and almost seemed to sink down underground. A great cloud of dust surged out toward them, but the corridor was already much worse due to the bleach and cleanser.

However, a problem presented itself.

“What the hell!? The door’s filled with rubble! We can’t escape through here!!”

“Then we just have to destroy the wall and ceiling to widen the hole. Outta the way, everyone!!”

After destroying the wall and ceiling enough to widen the “gap”, they entered the vertical hole which had been a stairwell.

Several moaning and bloody figures were mixed in with the piles of rubble.

“Don’t,” said Heivia quickly.

Even so, one of the enemy soldiers pulled out a handgun despite being unable to stand.

After a few assault rifle shots, the groaning stopped.

Heivia clicked his tongue and spoke to Quenser.

“I’ve had enough of this. Let’s climb on up.”

They had no specialized device to fire a rope to the top, so they gathered a random weight from the bloody rubble at their feet. It was a fist-sized piece of concrete with twisted rebar sticking out of it in places. They tied one end of a rope to it, swung it around like a morning star, and tossed it straight up.

“Oh? Ah? What? I didn’t get in on the first try.”

“And now it’s falling. Move!”

After the second and third try, they were shedding tears over how wonderful the helmets supplied by their fellow soldiers were. Finally, Heivia tossed the rope and felt it firmly stick. It seemed the rebar sticking out from the concrete weight had caught on the remains of the staircase on the wall. And it had caught right next to the door on the upper floor.

Heivia put all his weight on it to thoroughly check it.

“If the enemy starts firing down while I’m climbing, there’s nothing I can do, so make sure to cover for me.”

“Then why don’t you give me a gun? I’m confident I can at least fire right up your asshole.”

With a parting raise of the middle finger, Heivia started climbing up the rope. Meanwhile, the other soldiers threw more ropes and secured a second and third route up.

Unsurprisingly, scrawny Quenser could not rock climb on his own, so the others had to pull him up last.

After exiting into the corridor, Quenser glanced at the sign on the wall.

It said 0m.

This floor had none of the pipes travelling around like blood vessels and the floor and walls were a shiny white. Nevertheless, some of the panels were still missing.

“It looks like we’ve made it above the waterline. They can’t flood us now.”

They were all battered and they had lost the soldier who had protected them from the grenade.

Their uniforms were covered in blood from god knows who, were ripped in places, and stank of chemicals.

“I get that they can’t flood us, but what do we do now?”

“We can’t just run. We have to wear down the numbers of those monsters from the Northern Restricted Zone. To ensure the civil war drags on and causes a great depression for the Island Nation’s economy, we need to wear down the stronger side.”

“I’ve had enough. We can’t beat them. What do they eat anyway? Pure protein? Steroids?”

An Object had not even shown up and yet Heivia was already in full complaining mode, so the Moss Green PMC was clearly quite skilled.

Heivia contacted the other units by radio, but it seemed they had already received their baptism from Moss Green as well. None of them wanted a direct fight with them.

However, they could not leave enemy territory until someone produced some results.

That left deciding the loser by drawing lots.

“Moss Green will be heading down, right? That means we have to head down to fight them, but we’ll be wiped out if they flood the area. What are we supposed to do?”

“I have an idea.” Quenser sat with his back against the wall. “All the pumps here are electronic. The manual valves will only let a trickle out, so we don’t have to worry about them.”

“Are you saying we attack the power source? The Ame-no-Darin is shaped like a ship’s wheel. In addition to the central power source, it has secondary power sources in each of the twelve spokes. Do you really think we can wander around such a huge facility and destroy all of them? If we could, we wouldn’t be in so much trouble right now.”

“We only need to take out one.”

“They’ll just switch to another power source.”

“Normally, yes.” Quenser grinned. “Think about the handheld game systems popular in the safe countries. They have two power sources: the AC plug and the DC battery. If you repeatedly insert and remove the plug a whole bunch, it can cause an error in the power source switching process and the entire system will die. But it might wipe out your save data, so I don’t recommend trying it yourself.”

“And you want to try that in a legit war?”

“There’s no better answer for us right now. We want to stop them from sinking this thing and we want the war to continue, so we can’t completely destroy their power source. If we did that, the war would be over.”

Hearing that, Heivia glanced over at the other surviving soldiers.

None of them shouted support, but no one spoke up in protest either. They likely wanted the correct answer whatever it might be.

Heivia clicked his tongue.

“If no one has any other ideas, we’ll have to go with that. If we hang around here, we’ll just end up cornered. It’s kill or be killed.”

“Where’s the closest power source?”

“The sixth secondary power supply is three hundred meters ahead.”

After eating some tasteless soap-like rations and drinking from their water bottles, the group started walking toward the sixth secondary power supply with guns in hand once more.

Because they had risen above the waterline, one wall was covered in windows. The cold gray ocean spread out beyond the glass and what looked like an embankment was visible two or three kilometers away. That was likely one of the harbor blocks sticking out from the center just like the one they were on.

As soon as Quenser turned toward it, someone strongly grabbed his shoulders from behind.

Heivia tackled him to the shiny white floor and a high-pitched sound rang out a moment later.

At first, he did not know what had happened.

It was only when he heard the gunshot that he finally realized it was a sniper.

“Get down, you idiots! Get down!!”

As Heivia shouted, his follow soldiers frantically dove to the floor.

Quenser moved just his eyes to look at the window. It only contained a small hole and crack as if the tip of an umbrella had pierced it. The rifle bullet had been travelling so quickly that it had passed through the glass before the force of the impact could propagate.

“How did you notice that!?”

“My rifle’s passive sensors just happened to pick something up. He’s using microwaves that react to motion! It’s a necessary item when doing long-distance sniping without a spotter!!”

A few of their allies held up their assault rifles while crouching down. They connected a line between the hole in the glass and the hole on the opposite wall and they followed that to determine where the sniper had fired from.

But Heivia spoke up from the floor.

“Don’t try it. He’ll have already moved and you couldn’t reach him without anti-materiel rifles anyway. If he’s using microwaves, he’s the type that shoots and runs. If he’s set the equipment somewhere else and is linked to it through his radio, that won’t tell us anything either. If you pop up to fire back, he’ll just shoot you from his next point!”

“How about we continue on along the floor?” asked Quenser. “If we stay below the windows, the walls will protect us.”

“I’d love to, but do you have any guarantee he isn’t using an anti-materiel rifle? And if he pulls out a missile or Gatling gun, he can rip us and the walls to pieces.”

===Part 13===

It was like shooting fish in a barrel.

That was the honest opinion of the ace pilot girl of Sky Blue Inc., a Capitalist Corporations aerial PMC. She surrendered herself to the hard rock loudly playing from the smartphone she had brought into the cockpit.

The blue sky beyond the clear canopy was interrupted by several streams of black smoke, but the losses were not from her side. The Legitimacy Kingdom warships were being set ablaze one after another.

It would not have been this easy in the Northern Restricted Zone where she normally fought. The powerful long-time fighters of those never-ending death-filled battlefields did not rely on Objects. They would have seen right through this disturbance tactic and used manual targeting to swat down the bothersome flies. Destroying a heavy cruiser with just a handful of aircraft was worth a hero’s medal, so the girl found it almost disturbing that they were about to reach double digits so easily.

(The company ordered me to score some points here, but I guess this is what it’s like in the outside world. The only way to die on this battlefield is falling asleep because it’s so boring.)

She gave instructions to her colleagues over the radio.

She could see their next target.

It was a small aircraft carrier used as a flagship. To distribute the risk, there were a few identical ships in the fleet, but the thickness of the defensive barrages made it immediately obvious which was the flagship.

“Ice Girl 1 to Ice Unit. On my signal, perform a unified attack on the aircraft carrier’s bridge. Attack from the top to throw the bottom into chaos. And if I’m correct, that ship is connected to the Object. Hopefully the panic will spread to the star of the battlefield.”

The ship’s Gatling gun close-in weapon system began firing once they arrived within 100 meters, but a few thousands shots a minute was not enough to eat into their fighters. The bullets simply travelled across the ocean and tore into the neighboring ship.

Ice Girl 1 flew on through.

She even looked through the thick bulletproof glass and saw a silver-haired woman who appeared to be the commander. The woman was staring quietly at her.

But Ice Girl 1 did not care.

Her thumb gently stroked the button on top of the stick that fired a missile.

The pack of wolves would crush the head of the fattened herbivore.

But something happened just before that.

“CT to Ice Unit! Defense Charlie detected at nine o’clock. I repeat, an AAM Defense Charlie detected at nine o’clock!! Cancel it ASAP!!”

(…!?)

There had been no missile alert.

Or rather, there were so many meaningless targeting signals coming from the surrounding ships that she had not noticed this sudden intruder.

After Ice Girl 1 gave instructions to the others, they stopped attacking and took scattered evasive actions. The four fighters split into groups of two and flew past either side of the bridge at tremendous speed. The supposedly bulletproof windows shattered, but the aces did not have time to check on that.

“Ice Girl 1 to CT! Cancel confirmed! #4 was hit by some fragments, but it’s still active!!”

“There was no targeting signal just before it fired. The enemy is likely using visual identification. It’s using semi-active targeting and the pilot seems to be directly targeting you by sight!!”

In that instant, Ice Girl 1 felt a chill run along her spine.

It did not come from fear.

It did not come from unease.

It did not come from terror.

The vector of this emotion was in the exact opposite direction.

“Here it comes.”

The girl named Mariydi Whitewitch smiled fiercely.

“Something’s coming and it lives in the same world as us! Ice Unit, remember the real battlefield. The practice run ends here!!”

A moment later, someone sent out a transmission on an open and unencrypted band.

“Don’t grin like that with a job this boring. I’m sure you’re getting tired of tripping up those who have grown rusty thanks to the Objects. How about you let another ace pilot join you in this outdated sky, Ice Girl of the Capitalist Corporations.”

The man’s pretentious manner of speech reminded Ice Girl 1 of a certain fact.

The Legitimacy Kingdom had their own ace. While she and her colleagues stuffed everything necessary to fly into a human shell, this pilot flew a delta-wing fighter that looked like a beautiful sword and was created by removing all but the absolute necessities from the flying machine. He was a steel grim reaper who supposedly preferred using inconvenient semi-active targeting and would occasionally toy with the enemy fighters by “redoing the targeting” of missiles that flew off in the wrong direction.

[[Image:HO_v08_082.jpg|thumb]]

When she recalled his name, she licked her lips.

“Burning Alpha. I never thought I would run across the Legitimacy Kingdom’s scarlet evil eye!!”

“Stop it. That’s embarrassing. Unlike you, I’m much too old for those childish nicknames. Now I’m just itching to shoot you down.”

Even as they spoke, the fight to the death had already begun.

They weaved between the warships, chased and were pursued, and performed countless combat maneuvers as they attempted to take up position behind the other.

The line of ships momentarily got between them.

“By the way, hard rock during a dogfight? You have terrible taste. It’s just too cliché. Did you get it from a Hollywood movie? Or maybe a video game? Just so you know, classic is best no matter what you’re doing. You need to grow out of that childish stuff and maybe grow some breasts too.”

“You might think you’re being intellectual, but you’re just polishing a fossil. I can’t stand how the Legitimacy Kingdom thinks anything’s good as long as it’s old and musty. It’s disgusting. You might as well be praising cheese that smells like wet socks.”

“…”

“…”

Silence fell.

A slight gap in the line of ships appeared and the wall dividing the two fighter units disappeared.

The masses of metal crossed paths as they weaved through the slight gap.

The ace pilots began their battle as they worked to rule the sky.

===Part 14===

Angela Hibiscus, who commanded Moss Green, clicked her tongue when she received a report from the sniper.

“The lost children are after the sixth secondary power supply. Anything else would be sad even for them.”

There were several secondary power supplies, so stopping just one or two would not affect the entire Ame-no-Darin. They were also located at the end of the structure, so causing an explosion with their fuel would not sink the Ame-no-Darin.

Which meant…

“They must be trying to interfere with the power supply’s emergency switching system to cause an error in the whole power system and create a blackout. A foolish idea for a group of fools.”

The civil war surrounding the Ame-no-Darin was being fought between two Capitalist Corporations forces. One was trying to protect the Ame-no-Darin and the other was trying to sink it.

Angela’s Moss Green unit had been hired by the group trying to sink it.

“Sergeant major, how is the marking going?”

“It is already complete. Team C has secured the central power supply. We know the locations of all 2500+ valve release points, so we can begin the flooding at any time.”

Moss Green was trying to sink the Ame-no-Darin and a float that large could not be sunk with anti-ship missiles or torpedoes.

They had infiltrated it, calculated out how to sink the giant float under the weight of the water, and were prepared to fill specific blocks with water.

Water was a simple weight that simply increased with volume.

Merely filling an apartment’s cramped bathtub would secure two hundred kilograms. Due to the large size of the float, they could use leverage to split it down the middle like a cookie or biscuit.

In other words…

“If power is lost and a blackout covers all of the Ame-no-Darin, can we continue our mission?”

“Yes, if we set up explosives at each and every valve release location. But that would be in the quadruple digits and we would have to force our way into every part of the Ame-no-Darin.”

“In that case, it would be faster to make our move before those lost children arrive at the sixth secondary power supply.”

With that said, Angela Hibiscus brought her radio to her mouth.

“Teams B and D, gather our wounded and attack #6. If you can’t secure it, go ahead and blow it up. We hold the central power supply, so losing one of the many secondary ones won’t affect the mission.”

The man she had referred to as a sergeant major tilted his head a bit like a hunting dog awaiting orders at its owner’s feet.

“You aren’t sending in the whole unit?”

“Don’t forget our objective. Those lost children are outsiders. We were hired to sink the Ame-no-Darin, so that is what we must focus on.”

===Part 15===

The two Objects were named the Mad Cooker and the Be Ablaze.

They took different sides in the civil war, but they both belonged to the Capitalist Corporations. The princess’s Baby Magnum fought them both while quickly moving about the ocean surface.

At first, she had planned to interfere little by little from a distance to disturb their fight, but battles did not always go as planned.

She had been forced to approach them and it had developed into a three-way battle.

The princess was trying to extend the civil war surrounding the Island Nation by destroying the Be Ablaze which was trying to exterminate the self-defense PMC and the Ame-no-Darin, but she could no longer attack just the one Object.

In order to survive, she was forced to engage the Mad Cooker.

If the Baby Magnum was lost now, the thousand members of the battalion would be in danger.

“…!!”

As the princess withstood the high Gs caused by her lightning-fast evasive actions, she accurately kept track of the enemies and fired back with her seven main cannons.

The Be Ablaze used various fuels, oxidizers, and other chemicals to create flamethrowers. It used those to create a multilayer wall of heat called the Hiding Clothes of Flame and it prevented various types of targeting by distorting light.

The Mad Cooker fired a railgun that used molten salt and was theorized to automatically replenish its shells using the salt and metal in the ocean water.

(Fortunately, the two of them aren’t working together. With them scattered, I can interfere from here. My only choice is to destroy them one at a time and return safely.)

She was of course targeting the Be Ablaze.

She fired her seven main cannons in different directions to cut off her opponent’s escape and then fired them all together once her target had stopped.

Everything was progressing perfectly and yet she could not hit the Be Ablaze through the flames.

“Heh heh heh. Hah hah hah,” laughed the enemy Elite over the radio. “I feel like a matador. But I guess I shouldn’t expect too much from an unintelligent Legitimacy Kingdom Elite.”

“I don’t want to hear that from a rookie who has to rely on a system because he can’t evade on his own. Did you feel like showing off because your parents bought you a new bike?”

“You seem to be focusing on me, so I take it you’re trying to extend this war by helping the side protecting the Ame-no-Darin. …Are you serious? We sent Moss Green in there. They’ll sink the Ame-no-Darin no matter what happens. You’re wasting your time here.”

“My fellow soldiers won’t lose.”

“Bullshit. This isn’t about winning or losing. Moss Green is disposable. If they fail, I just have to sink the Ame-no-Darin myself. The other side never stood a chance.”

“……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………I see you have a death wish.”

“Ha ha! What do you think war is!?”

“Then I’ll roast your escape hatch before blowing up your reactor.”

Meanwhile, the Mad Cooker had taken up a position from which it could attack both the Baby Magnum and the Be Ablaze. As it aimed its main salt railgun, its Elite hesitantly cut into the conversation.

“Um… Have you both forgotten about the true star of the battlefield?”

“Shut up!!”

“Get the hell out of here!!!!”

After a great flash of light, the Mad Cooker was attacked from two fronts and bloomed into a giant flower on the battlefield.

“Oops.”

The princess finally realized what had happened once the operator gave the damage report.

She had destroyed the self-defense PMC’s Object.

If she did not do anything, there would be no one left to prevent the Be Ablaze from destroying the Ame-no-Darin. That would be a problem, so the Baby Magnum had to interfere. The two Objects put an appropriate distance between them and the battle line started gradually approaching the Ame-no-Darin.

“Heh heh heh! Hah hah hah!! Leave it to the Legitimacy Kingdom to act as a shield to protect the enemy! Even your stupid Elites try to act heroically!!”

“Honestly, why am I risking my life for this?”

The princess did a wonderful job of synchronizing her thoughts with the other Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers fighting to protect the Ame-no-Darin.

Baby Magnum vs. Be Ablaze.

The second round of the open-weight fight began.

===Part 16===

Quenser heard a quick burst of gunfire.

His fellow soldiers collapsed nearby.

“Shit, they’re here!” shouted Heivia. “It’s Moss Green!!”

They could not raise their heads for fear of the sniper, but the mercenaries had shown themselves by blocking the pure white corridor that led to the sixth secondary power supply. They were about 250 meters away and they numbered between 10 and 20. The straight corridor had no cover, but they had loaded several push carts with thick metal pipes and used them as shields.

On the other hand, Quenser’s group had nothing to use as shields.

And they would have to travel several dozen meters to fall back. They would be shot in the back well before they reached safety.

“Oh, c’mon!!”

Still on the floor, Quenser reached for his back and pulled out a Hand Axe plastic explosive. He attached a pen-like electric fuse, tossed it toward the ceiling, and hit the switch on his radio.

The explosion was followed by the ceiling collapsing.

As he coughed, Heivia pressed up against the pile of rubble and used it as cover.

“Dammit, Quenser! Leave the firefight to us and treat the wounded. There’s nothing more for a bomber to do here!!”

“I’m not a medic!”

“No one else has their hands free!! If we don’t push them back, they’ll throw a grenade and wipe us out!!”

Heivia and the others started firing and left Quenser alone, so he nervously turned toward the fellow soldiers who were collapsed on the floor. The pools of blood were growing and he had no idea where to start.

Along with the ones whose injuries were light enough to still move, he searched through his pouch for anything usable and lined them up on the shiny white floor.

“What’s this? Did the bullet leave the body!?”

“How should I know? But stopping the bleeding comes first. He’ll die if you keep hesitating! Hold that leg. We can wrap a bandage around the thigh to stop the bleeding!!”

“Saline? What is this and how do I use it!?”

“The same as a blood transfusion!! You pour that in instead of blood to regulate the blood pressure!”

“How do you do a blood transfusion!?”

“Just like a normal IV! You find a vein on the elbow and stab in a needle!!”

Quenser’s group was surprisingly lively. They sounded like students preparing for a school festival. As they desperately fired bullets from behind the rubble, Heivia’s group would occasionally turn a jealous eye behind them.

“Ow… Stop, you idiot. That hurts. Don’t dump disinfectant on there. It stings!”

“Ha ha ha. I’m not gonna treat you gently if you refuse to pay back the money I lent you.”

“What!? Wait. Is that glue!? You’re gonna seal the wound with that!? I’ll pay you back with interest!!”

“Of course you will. By the way, the only other options we have here is a stapler or safety pins.”

“Are there no medics over there?”

“There’s one! Hey, you! The one firing the submachine gun! Being an angel in white suits you more than blood and smoke. Stop filling your body with adrenaline and get over there!”

“Eh? Eh? But my boyfriend here asked me to help out.”

“It’s time to ditch him! C’mon over here!!”

Heivia was finally unable to stand the flirting mood of afterschool festival preparations developing behind him, so he shouted angrily at his allies.

“Don’t go stealing our nurse!! She’s our one refreshment up here!!”

“What are you talking about?” said Quenser. “If you need a blonde twin-tail in a nurse cap, you have me. You should count yourself lucky because I’m too good for you.”

“I get it now, Quenser. You want me to kill you, don’t you!?”

Suddenly, an explosion drowned out all nearby voices.

“Bwapph!!!???”

“Dammit…. They’ve started firing 25mm grenades! We just don’t have enough firepower!!”

Those grenades had been developed to kill humans, so they did not destroy the rubble.

But if they were fired in an arc over the rubble, there was nothing Quenser’s group could do. The explosive blast and shrapnel would wash over them.

The previous explosion had not been a simple missed shot.

They were firing a few test shots to calculate the ideal course.

Once they fired for real, Quenser’s group would be slaughtered as they hid behind cover.

Heivia clicked his tongue.

“Gather all our rockets, missiles, and whatever other explosives we have! Let’s blow away the push carts they’re hiding behind!!”

“I’ll leave it to you if you can manage it, but they’re better shots than us! They’ll put a bullet between your eyes while you’re holding up the launcher and taking aim. And the best barrage we can manage isn’t fazing them at all!!”

“Who the hell even are you!?”

“That’s just mean!! I’ve been protecting your back this entire time!!”

Boy A started sobbing despite not looking at all feminine, so Heivia ignored him and turned toward Quenser.

For some reason, Quenser was operating his radio with bloody hands.

“What are you doing!? The cavalry isn’t gonna show up if you send out an SOS!!”

“Don’t be so sure.”

“What?”

Heivia looked confused and his mocking expression turned to a serious one.

Quenser lightly shook his radio.

“We made our way above the waterline to escape their flooding, but I thought of another way to make use of it.”

“You mean the sixth secondary power supply!? Sure, we might be able to bring down all the power supplies by messing with the emergency switchover system, but we can’t get near the thing! Charging in will just get you driven back by bullets and grenades!!”

“There’s something else,” said Quenser without a moment’s pause. He began explaining as if he had been planning this all along. “Heivia, the cavalry has changed quite a bit these days. They have armor that can resist nukes, they have gigantic cannons that can split open the earth, and they’re piloted by beautiful girls.”

“You don’t mean…”

“What else could I mean but an Object?”

Their sight and hearing were completely blown away.

This went well beyond an explosion.

This was meant to aid Quenser’s group, but they were thrown to the pure white floor. The soldiers already on the floor were sent rolling.

“B-babh!? Bbah!? Bbgweh!!”

“D-don’t worry. I understand, Heivia. This is time for explanations, right? I received a report that the princess destroyed the Mad Cooker. That increased her range of motion, so I had her assist us during the openings in her battle against the Be Ablaze. Wink☆”

“Bh… I was trying to ask if you had any last words!!!”

Object shells generally could not attack deep below the sea. In order for Quenser to request assistance from the princess, they had to make their way above the waterline.

The Ame-no-Darin’s corridor had twisted like a sugar sculpture and some of it had been torn off. The first shot had been near Quenser’s group in order to mark off their safe area. The subsequent shells gradually moved farther away and brought death closer and closer to Moss Green.

Metal pipes on push carts were not enough to protect them from this ferocity.

The Moss Green mercenaries frantically tried to retreat, but the entire structure shook with tremendous force and they could not run properly.

The corridor was destroyed as if being bitten into.

The pure white corridor, the structure, and the soldiers were all crushed and thrown through the air.

Quenser covered one ear with a hand, pressed his radio against the other ear, and shouted into it.

“Stop!! Stop firing!!”

“There’s too much noise on your end, so I can’t hear you,” replied the princess.

“You just fired on the sixth secondary power supply!! Our destination is gone!!”

The metal door three hundred meters ahead was blown up from the other side and it spewed flames and smoke.

Heivia tapped Quenser’s shoulder in resignation.

“Our luck ran out once our great demon god had to take part in a conflict between humans. If it was blown up, there’s nothing we can do. We’ll have to go to the next closest power supply.”

The embankment-like place a few kilometers over the ocean was struck by the Baby Magnum’s shells. The structure was torn to shreds where the sniper was presumably lurking.

“The other secondary power supplies are still okay, right?”

“I want to leave the rest to the princess and go home.”

“I’d love to, but our mission will end in failure if the Ame-no-Darin splits in half and sinks. We need to put in a little more effort to lengthen this civil war.”

But then they spotted motion beyond the rubble that no longer functioned as a corridor. It was 250 meters ahead at the corner from which the Moss Green group had appeared.

They saw a woman with long silver hair and brown skin.

She was part of Moss Green, but the simplified medals on her ample chest suggested she held a fairly high rank.

“Now you’ve done it, Legitimacy Kingdom dogs! This is a Capitalist Corporations problem.”

“No, it’s an Island Nation problem! We’re both outsiders here!”

Heivia targeted the brown woman with his assault rifle, but the Ame-no-Darin lurched disconcertingly as an aftereffect of the Baby Magnum’s bombardment. He could not aim steadily and his bullets hit the wall next to her.

The thorough Object bombardment had destroyed the walls, the ceiling, and even the floor.

It felt like Quenser and Heivia were separated from Moss Green by a 250 meter ravine.

Quenser raised his middle finger.

“Let’s call this a tie, so withdraw your unit! Whether you’re from the Northern Restricted Zone or wherever else, flesh-and-blood soldiers can’t withstand the ferocity of an Object!”

“Is that so? Don’t forget your goal, sheltered little boy.”

The Ame-no-Darin shook once more and the ground below their feet felt like a small boat on a stormy night.

“What was that!?” Heivia paled. “That didn’t match the timing of the princess’s bombardment!”

“Our goal is to sink the Ame-no-Darin. We can operate the necessary bulkheads and seawater valves from the central power supply, so now we only have to wait for leverage to bend the giant float until it breaks down the center like a biscuit.”

The ground shook even more.

It sometimes reached a tilt of thirty degrees. Quenser wanted to grab onto something so he did not fall, so he reached for a crack in the floor. However, he heard a gunshot and orange sparks flew from nearby.

The silver-haired brown woman 250 meters away held a handgun.

Normally, 150 meters was the limit for a handgun even with careful aim. The fact that it had taken her only one shot to accurately fire right next to his hand while everything shook showed just how well-trained she was.

Quenser reflexively drew back his hand like a turtle sensing danger and drawing its head into its shell.

And that was exactly what the woman wanted.

“Wait! Watch out, Quenser!!” shouted Heivia.

But as if he were slipping down a slide, Quenser was thrown into the giant “ravine” opened in the pure white floor.

After seeing that, the brown woman licked her lips and jumped in after him.

They would be below the cold ocean there.

The Object could not provide proper support for anyone down there.

===Part 17===

“Gah!?” gasped Quenser as something struck his back.

The thick metal pipes running everywhere like blood vessels reminded him that he had fallen to a lower level.

Something must have happened to the wiring because the lights were out. The area was dark and his back was soaking wet because a giant puddle of seawater covered the entire floor. This was below the waterline, so he hoped it was from a burst pipe. A broken exterior wall would be truly terrible.

He stood up, leaned against a nearby column, and thought.

(What do I do? I can’t get back up the way I came, so I have to find a different set of stairs. Can I get the lights on? Or would that tell the enemy where I am?)

He then heard some static from his radio.

He hoped it was from Heivia or the others, but it was not.

“A rat in the birdcage.”

He grimaced.

That was the silver-haired brown woman he had spoken with before. She was most likely Moss Green’s commander here.

(When did they break our encryption!?)

[[Image:HO_v08_103.jpg|thumb]]

“Listen. I said a rat, not a little bird. Raptors prefer lively prey.”

“You’ve already won. Ame-no-Darin really does seem to be sinking. We can’t turn this around and the Legitimacy Kingdom can’t keep this civil war going if it sinks. So what more do you want? Don’t you have to retreat as well!?”

“It’s simple.”

Quenser looked around as he listened to her.

The area was dark and his enemy had to be skilled at remaining hidden. A near-amateur student would not be able to find her by effort alone.

“Sinking the Ame-no-Darin was our top priority and we got that over with quickly. That means we can veer off course and deal with a more personal and meaningless objective. As long as we accomplish our mission, the higher ups will turn a blind eye to a short detour.”

“Don’t tell me you’re taking revenge for your killed men.”

“They weren’t the type to die in a place like this.”

For the first time, human emotion poured into her voice.

Trusting the chill running down his spine, Quenser checked over his equipment again. He had a balled-up diving suit, an oxygen tank, and the Hand Axe plastic explosive. In his survival kit, he had a small knife and a metal skewer, but he could not use them very well. Not even Heivia would think of handling a Northern Restricted Zone warrior with only a knife.

“I couldn’t bear to thrown them into the ruthless Northern Restricted Zone right after they finished boot camp. Before showing them true hell, I wanted them to prove themselves in these lukewarm battlefields and earn a few medals. But look at this. Now I have to bury them without anything decorating their chests. How can this happen? With a funeral as pathetic as this, they’ll never live down the shame even in heaven.”

“I thought the people who lived where Objects are banned would know just how unreasonable this line of work is. If you didn’t like it, you should have claimed they weren’t suited for this and swept them aside. You were in a position to do that!!”

“This is where that was supposed to be tested!! They were supposed to shoot you sheltered snot-nosed brats like it was a walk in the park!!”

Quenser finally felt he had seen where her anger was coming from.

She was not simply angry that her men had been killed.

If they had died in their actual battlefield in the Northern Restricted Zone, she may have written it off as unavoidable.

But this was below them.

She had looked down on it.

As a warrior, she was unable to forgive the fact that they had been killed by scrawny Quenser and the others who could only fight while protected by an Object. If someone died in single combat with a great warrior or a hero, their name might remain in history, but that death would be meaningless if they were instead killed in their sleep by wild dogs or bandits that were digging through the dead on the battlefield. This was no different. They had never been treating Quenser or his fellow soldiers as human.

She had said her men were not the type to die in a place like this.

That proved it more than anything else.

“You’re twisted. I feel like an idiot for thinking I did something wrong even for a moment.”

“I will take off your head, you damn poodle. It’s high time you learned to fear the wolf who was born in the forest and rules the mountain. I’ll leave you in such a tragic state that they won’t know what to carve on your grave, but I’ll at least stuff your head and offer it in place of fruit.”

In that dark place, the thoroughly trained wolf began preparing for her silent hunt.

If Quenser did nothing, his throat would be torn out.

Even if he gave this a normal level of effort or tried to protect himself with the standard methods, his weak poodle legs would not accomplish much.

He checked over his equipment again: balled up diving suit, oxygen tank, Hand Axe plastic explosive, small knife, and metal skewer. However, he doubted any of that would be of much use.

What could he do with only those supplies?

If he did not find an answer, his fate was sealed.

===Part 18===

Naturally, Angela Hibiscus did not let her guard down even when facing a foolish poodle.

She had judged the enemy’s equipment at a glance before even luring him down here.

He was a combat engineer.

The plastic explosives on his back would be his primary weapon. He did not carry a rifle or even a sidearm handgun, so he may have been a battlefield student. Other than the explosives, he would likely have an insignificant knife in his survival kit and he also had the balled up diving suit on his waist and an oxygen tank.

She focused more on the diving suit than the explosives.

Anyone with half a brain would never think of actually defeating her in a straight fight. She was only armed with a large military knife and a handgun, but she was confident in her ability to execute him without a scratch on her even if he were armed with a light machinegun.

If he was hoping to win, he would not try to attack at any one point.

In other words, he would use an attack that thoroughly filled the entire space. With that, he could defeat her while ignoring her combat skill.

They were below the waterline and he had a diving suit and an oxygen tank, so the most obvious method would be to fill the area with water.

(But he won’t do that. The valves won’t function in this blackout, but he could open them by destroying them with explosives. But if he causes too fast and powerful a surge, he won’t escape unscathed either.)

It was similar to a drowned corpse being swept down a mountain stream filled with rocks. With the powerful current striking the body against the hard outcroppings again and again, entire limbs could be torn off. The boy’s synthetic diving suit could not withstand that sort of impact.

(If he slowly opens the valves manually to avoid that danger, the flooding will take too long. I can slit his throat a hundred times over before it takes effect.)

The diving suit was made to withstand a certain level of water pressure, but it was not solid enough to stop the explosive blast of a bomb.

That meant he could not place bombs around the area and cause a giant explosion.

That left only one option.

(There’s a puddle of seawater at our feet.)

She used her night vision to observe her surroundings.

She could see her foolish target’s back from where she was.

(That synthetic diving suit is an insulator. He can use electricity as an attack that will only affect me.)

She grinned and adjusted her grip on the knife and handgun.

(Sorry, but the Object attack destroyed the circuitry. There’s no electricity to send through the seawater in this blackout! The very bombardment that tore my men to pieces has spelled your doom!!)

She took in a short breath and began to move.

Despite the seawater puddle covering the floor, she moved swiftly yet almost silently toward Quenser’s back.

But at that very moment, he took a strange action.

There was no way he had noticed her approaching from behind, but he suddenly put on his diving suit’s helmet and held something in his hand.

She had one more step to go.

In just one second, the knife in her hand would cross his shoulder and reach his windpipe.

And he reached a hand toward the button on his radio.

(A bomb!!!???)

She did not have time to judge the meaning of the action.

An instant later, an explosion compressed the air in the entire area.

===Part 19===

The aerial PMC named Sky Blue Inc. was working alongside Moss Green. Mariydi Whitewitch, their ace pilot, frowned as she received instructions over the radio.

That lovely blonde-haired girl was filled with fierce anger.

“You’re calling off the attack? You’re telling us to retreat!? What is going on, CT!? Don’t get in my way! I’m one attack away from shooting down Burning Alpha!!”

“CT to Ice Girl 1. Getting this worked up is a sign of danger. We came here to unilaterally earn some points, not for a 50/50 battle. Don’t forget the entire reason we are here.”

“Just one more and my kill count will be a nice round number and I want a good story to tell. Give me this one!!”

“CT to Ice Girl 1. The Legitimacy Kingdom’s first generation has sunk the Capitalist Corporations’ Ningyo and Yuuhi. Surprisingly, it won despite being outnumbered two-to-one. Its Elite is very skilled. With that burden gone, it can now move over a wider area. If you don’t finish up soon, you’ll be its next target. Sky Blue’s only job was to destroy some ships and spread confusion through their chain of command. We have no clear goal like Moss Green. Do you want to be known as someone who never returned from this lukewarm battlefield?”

“But!!”

“Stop complaining, Ice Girl 1. You have already done more than enough for a bonus and an aircraft can’t hope to oppose an Object if it is actively targeting you. This has nothing to do with your skill. Turn back immediately. Or do you enjoy putting your men in danger because you were blinded by the prize of shooting down an ace?”

The girl clicked her tongue and angrily raised the volume of her smartphone.

The Legitimacy Kingdom ace named Burning Alpha spoke cheerfully over the open band.

“What? Are you leaving in the middle of our date? Well, maybe you need to grow up a bit before you can handle anything more. Go on. Get home before it gets dark. Don’t get lost.”

“Come visit the Northern Restricted Zone. I’ll kill you in an instant!! And don’t act so tough when your left wingtip is spewing smoke! You have your hand on the eject lever, don’t you!?”

“You say that, but you had one of your men cut in and take one of my AAM locks for you. I will praise you for using smoke to escape my visual identification afterwards, though. Without that, you’d be swimming in the middle of enemy territory right now. Were you too scared to go on a date without your big brother to protect that cute little ass of yours?”

“I-I’ll kill you!! I’ll kill you right now!!”

Mariydi tried to tilt the stick, but three fellow members of the Ice Unit had her marked on the top and either side. They were only a few meters apart, so she would collide with them if she tried to turn.

She held her head in her hands and let out a large sigh.

She kicked the flight recorder at her feet and spoke.

“Those pieces of shit got lucky this time.”

In her irritation, she cursed Burning Alpha and all the other major targets she missed out on.

That included base commander-class officer Frolaytia Capistrano on the flagship aircraft carrier.

“I hope I see you on the battlefield again soon.”

===Part 20===

What Quenser had done was quite simple.

He did not use the blast to kill.

He instead modified the amount of explosive to keep it nonlethal. It was just enough force to apply tremendous pressure to the inner ear that controlled balance.

If he had simply set it off, he would have collapsed along with Angela.

And that well-trained woman would have recovered faster than a scrawny boy like him, so she would have killed him afterwards.

But that was why he had put on the diving suit’s helmet. The helmet was made to withstand a fair bit of water pressure. It could not withstand the pressure of an explosion that could smash a human skeleton, but it could hold off a blast weakened so it only affected the inner ear.

He removed the helmet, looked around, and finally realized that Angela had approached within a step of his back. The discovery did not please him.

“I’m glad I didn’t try to say anything clever before setting it off.”

As he spoke, a rope fell down from the top of the “ravine”.

“Hey, Quenser!” shouted down Heivia. “Get on up here!!”

“Sure,” he answered as he grabbed the bottom of the rope.

He could not climb up on his own, so he would have to let those with some strength left pull him up.

But then he glanced over toward the many pillars.

The base of one of them appeared to have been opened up, but it was not due to the explosion. A part had been removed.

He had seen something similar before.

With a very bad feeling in his gut, he frantically pulled out his handheld device. He found similar opened spots in the photos he had previously taken in the Ame-no-Darin.

He had assumed construction of the facility had stopped before it was complete.

But if that was not the case…

“Wait.”

After tying Angela’s hands with the end of the rope, he slapped her cheek.

He had to check on something.

“What is this? Why are there pieces missing here and there from the walls and ceilings as if this is an unfinished jigsaw puzzle!? It’s almost like the parts needed to build something else were secretly shipped in during the construction of the Ame-no-Darin!!”

“You didn’t know?”

Angela opened her eyes a bit and grimaced after noticing how tightly her arms were bound.

“This was a giant workshop that the Island Nation…no, that the rogue self-defense PMC prepared in order to construct a new model of Object without anyone interfering. And if it isn’t here anymore, that means it was completed and let out into the world.”

The trigger of the next war had long since been pulled.

<noinclude>{{HEAVYOBJECT Nav|prev=HEAVY OBJECT:Volume8 Prologue|next=HEAVY OBJECT:Volume8 Chapter 2}}</noinclude>

HEAVY OBJECT:Volume8 Chapter 1

2014-06-16T04:52:45Z

Axyraandas: /* Part 10 */

==Chapter 1: A Resource Which Cannot Be Made Plentiful >> Landing on the Island Nation’s Ame-no-Darin==

===Part 1===

''From the moment I woke up, I had a bad feeling about the day to come.

The ship’s log of the luxury cruise ship Scarlet Princess contained that statement in the Legitimacy Kingdom’s official language.

It was 380 meters long, its top speed was 40 knots, and it could hold up to 2500 people. It was on such a grand scale that it was much like tilting a safe country resort on its side and taking it out to sea. Incidentally, the cost of the ship could purchase a resort and an 18-hole golf course with money to spare. All three layers of its deck contained a pool and the rear of the ship even contained a heliport.

Around twenty crew members were packed into the control room.

Electronics and automation had taken great strides forward, so the number of people needed to run the large ship had been drastically cut down. They had three shifts making three times that many crew in total, but that was still less than one hundred. Surprisingly, the number of “waitresses” outnumbered the crew who held the lives of everyone else aboard in their hands.

An elderly man let out a small sigh.

His name was Alfonso Zoom and he was the captain of the luxury cruise ship.

“Captain, we will be entering the Strait of Malacca soon.”

“I know.”

Alfonso gave a brief reply to the young (even if he was in his thirties) navigation officer.

Just like the Panama Canal, the Strait of Gibraltar, and the Suez Canal, the Strait of Malacca was a gate of the sea. In its case, it connected the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. It was a narrow passageway and many world powers insisted it was their territory, but it was still the shortest course. Unless it was packed full of military resources or part of a transport fleet protected by an Object, a luxury cruise ship circumnavigating the world had no choice but to use the Strait of Malacca. Simply calculating the ship’s fuel expenses made that painfully clear.

Alfonso poured coffee from a thermos and into a mug as he spoke to the young navigation officer.

“Do you know what I’m worried about?”

“It wouldn’t be reefs. Is it wreckage of fishing ships that were caught in a storm? I’ve heard the sea around here isn’t very clean.”

“My daughters. Joining the military is fine. After all, this is the age of clean wars. But why did both my twin daughters have to choose to be Black Uniforms in charge of barrier duty? They are both young unmarried women and they chose to throw themselves into the part of the military with the most bullets flying around.”

“I see.”

“I bet it was a reaction to the extreme education their mother gave them. That came from a complex brought on by newfound riches. She surrounded those two in piano, violin, and ballroom dancing from a young age, so they eventually rejected high society. If you want your daughters to be brought up as proper ladies, why would you show them how oppressive it all is? Don’t you agree?”

“Um… Where are you going with this?”

“As captain, I have a lot of spare time to think about a distant safe country. Our course is simple and this isn’t all that dangerous an area. You can relax a little.”

Alfonso Zoom turned toward the large radio equipment. A few lights were flashing which showed that quite a few radio signals were being sent back and forth in this area of sea. He could tell at a glance that the situation here was complex.

“This is Ship ID PL_055 registered with the Legitimacy Kingdom’s Amazon region. Do you have our location? I want to check before heading into the crowded intersection. Over.”

“We have you perfectly. GPS, beacon, and radar are all functioning normally. Luxury cruise ship Scarlet Princess, please enter on the path given on the screen. Welcome to the Southeast Asia’s main entrance. Over.”

“Understood, harbor control. Today is another good day. Out.”

As he finished the transmission with the standard greeting, wrinkles of suspicion gradually appeared on the captain’s face.

The young navigation officer also looked doubtful.

“Captain, about that transmission…”

“Yes.” Alfonso Zoom let out a heavy sigh. “Just as famous people do not refer to themselves as famous, a professional does not normally refer to a luxury cruise ship as ‘luxury’.”

Then what had that transmission been?

The captain spoke the answer anyone could reach with a little bit of thought.

“They’re coming.”

===Part 2===

A ten-man fishing boat raced toward the luxury cruise ship while jumping from stormy wave to stormy wave. Yes, it was racing. The entire engine had been swapped out, so it was moving “above” the ocean while practically popping a wheelie. It was moving at about 80 kph. As hydrofoils made quite evident, boats could move at three digit speeds if the water resistance was lessened. And the fastest way to do that was to lift the boat itself above the water.

Thick metal panels were bolted to the sides of the fishing boat and heavily suntanned men were crammed inside. They held old rifles and submachine guns with an extra coat of paint to hide the scrapes and to stop them from rusting. Those tools were clearly not needed for fishing.

They were pirates who had butted into the transmission to put the ship where they wanted. A suntanned man returned a small microphone to the radio hook and whistled at the feast before him.

“Okay! Our prey is extra special today!! It’s got a giant antenna on top. That’s a satellite connection. They use it to check the black cards used in the casino. There must be tons of rich people on there!”

As the first man gave them some motivation, the other pirates started to grow rowdy.

“Eh? I thought it was for Wall Street which is so popular lately. They need to mess with their stocks and exchanges while on their cruise.”

“This is the Legitimacy Kingdom, so it would be the London Stock Exchange.”

“Who cares as long as they’re a bunch of rich ladies and gentlemen? More importantly, how are we on anti-ship missiles? We need at least two. The first acts as a demonstration. We need to make sure they know we’ll sink them if they don’t do what we say.”

“Leave it to me. There are four of them hanging on the sides of the ship.”

“You idiot!! Now I know why our fuel consumption’s been so bad!!”

An amateur pirate group could never mass produce missiles that were a collection of cutting-edge military secrets.

But nothing said they had to be “cutting-edge”.

What if they added modern technology to weapons produced fifty years prior?

Just as a hard disk sold in a home electronics store’s clearance sale would have been highly classified government technology fifty years ago, amateur groups could manufacture weapons.

In the festivals of Southeast Asia, rockets measuring three to five meters long were created to launch exciting fireworks 5000 to 10,000 meters into the air. If they were laid on their side, they made a decent starting point for a rocket motor.

Meanwhile, the other pirate ships gathered.

The suntanned man grabbed the radio again.

“Okay. A through F, go in front of the luxury cruise ship! Scatter some mines to stop them. G through I, take the starboard side. J through L, use anti-ship missiles to surround them from behind.”

“Shut up! You aren’t the leader!!”

“Don’t try to board the ship and earn some extra money just because it’s full of rich people. The plan is to make them lower their rescue boats. You don’t want to be killed by the peashooters they have for self-defense, do you?”

He heard a light noise.

One of his allies on the same boat was tapping the large radio.

And he whispered a question.

“Where do we fire the missile?”

“Don’t use it like you’re supposed to. If we sink the ship right off the bat, we can’t take any hostages. Don’t hit it on the waterline. Aim higher.”

He pointed into the distance while still holding the radio’s microphone.

As his finger jabbed toward the Scarlet Princess, it scooped upwards.

“For example, the control room.”

A seven meter tube shot from the side of the fishing boat. The anti-ship missile used solid fuel (aka gunpowder) to fly diagonally up from the ocean surface. In this “improper” usage, it was directly targeting the ship’s crew.

They all thought it was a success.

Blowing up the control room at the top of the luxury cruise ship would not immediately sink the ship. As previously stated, a ship’s weak point was the waterline where the seawater could surge in. However, the refined ladies and gentlemen would not realize that. If all of the professional crew was taken out at once and there was a fire on the ship, they would try to escape on the rescue boats no matter what. Afterwards, the pirates could surround the boats drifting powerlessly and carefully take hostages.

But…

The next thing the pirates knew, composite material shutters lowered over all of the luxury cruise ship’s 1000 or more windows.

The shutters covered both the outside and inside of the bulletproof glass which was already over thirty centimeters thick. This was obviously out of place on a civilian ship.

(Huh?)

For an instant, a complete blank filled the suntanned man’s mind.

The homemade anti-ship missile struck the control room, but its explosive flames and black smoke looked terribly unreliable. Once it all cleared away, only a slight dent remained in the shutters.

And then the ship began to fight back.

Strange metallic noises rang out again and again. From the bow to the stern, 20 mm Gatling guns of a close-in weapon system rose up along either side of the deck. They looked a bit like trees lining a road. The pools on the three layers of the deck split apart and 21 cm rapid-fire cannons rose high above them. The pirates could not see it, but a portion of the roof split into small sections like a chocolate bar or a honeycomb and countless vertical missile hatches opened in order.

They had stepped on a figurative landmine.

A horrible, horrible landmine.

Once they finally realized that, the captain of the luxury cruise ship spoke over the radio.

“Disguised Cruiser Scarlet Princess has confirmed an attack from the target.”

He essentially gave a death sentence.

That order opened the gates of hell.

“Begin Operation Codename ‘Blood-Soaked Princess’. Engaging target now. Pirates, this is your last chance to write your wills.”

With those words, the wolf in sheep’s clothing exposed its hidden claws and fangs.

After conceitedly thinking they could surround it with only about 15 boats, the pirates’ luck had run out.

The foxhunt had begun.

===Part 3===

The two idiots named Quenser Barbotage and Heivia Winchell were groaning in the landing unit hold at the bottom level of the disguised cruiser named Scarlet Princess.

The exterior was made to look like a luxury cruise ship, but the inside was completely different. Of its 380 meter length, over half of the bottom was a single large space. And that space was crammed full of military hovercrafts. Quenser and the others were packed like sardines into those hovercrafts.

The hovercrafts were pitched as “small but able to hold a tank☆”, but they were far from comfortable for people to use. They reeked of machine oil.

“This is tyranny!! We were only riding along! Can you really throw us out in front of the pirate’s guns? This isn’t even the 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion’s job! Who’s going to pay us!?”

“This is probably how we’re buying our ticket to ride the ship. I don’t feel like doing any real work either, though.”

“And how is this a ‘disguised cruiser’? It’s almost 400 meters long! They didn’t make battleships this big even back when they were relevant. That’s 100 meters more than the Island Nation’s Yamato! Are they insane!?”

“The category of battleship has vanished, so what can you do? And it’s a disguised ship, remember? Bringing escort ships along for protection would blow its cover, so it has to handle everything as a lone wolf. And it had to be heavily armored to safely draw in the pirates. It has to be tough enough to take a few rockets or torpedoes without issue.”

History had proven that aircraft would overtake the battleship in usefulness, but battleships could be useful once more now that aircraft could not be sent out. They were perfect for luring out and slaughtering pirates.

“…Why are you breathing so heavily?”

“Eh? Doesn’t seeing giant machines get you all excited? It’s human nature.”

Heivia shoved the perverted creep away with both hands as an ear-splitting buzzer rang and the lights switched to red.

Someone they could not see gave a high-spirited shout.

“Our brave ‘waitresses’, it’s time you risked your life fishing for sharks! Let’s make this an exciting enough battle to get a movie made! Rock & roll!!”

“Shut up! We’ve been ready!! And if you want to be the lead that badly, go do it on your own! Be a one-man army! Don’t drag us into it!!”

Heivia demonstrated his grace as a noble by elegantly raising his middle finger as he shouted at the man, but that changed nothing.

With a heavy rumble, the wall in front of them opened to either side. The bow of the disguised cruiser opened like a castle gate. One after another, amphibious hovercraft slid out and into the gunfire-filled battlefield of the Strait of Malacca.

And…

Whether by coincidence or design, a rocket suddenly flew into the hold.

As Heivia frantically held down Quenser’s head and got on the ground himself, a tremendous shock wave spread through the enclosed space.

A dull pain exploded more in his chest than his eardrums.

“Gbh!? Cough!! H-how the hell is this a safe and simple mop up mission!!”

“Anytime they call the mission ‘simple’, you should be suspicious.”

“Wait… Wait a second!! Did this hovercraft just start sliding? Wait!! We’ve got a bunch of injured soldiers already! You can’t just throw us out on the front liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!!”

But his protests came too late.

The hovercraft slid down the slope and shot out the bow of the “Blood-Soaked Princess”. They were suddenly forced to clash with the small fishing boats (which had been modified into high-speed boats) sitting in front.

They were about sixty centimeters away from the closest boat.

They were close enough to jump from one boat to the other.

Heivia’s gaze met that of a suntanned man.

“You bastards!!”

The man tried to raise the rifle carried over his shoulder with a sling belt, but he was too slow. Heivia pulled his handgun from its holster and fired repeatedly.

Quenser finally came to his senses as he watched three dark red holes appear in the man’s chest.

“Stop, Heivia! You can’t kill them!!”

“Ah? What!? I can’t hear you over all the noise!!”

“Don’t kill them!!”

All the 20 mm Gatling guns on the side of the disguised cruiser’s deck began to fire and shot down a homemade anti-ship missile flying over Quenser’s head. In return, several vertical launch missiles were fired at the pirates’ fishing boats. The noisy sound of rotors came from the heliport and a military attack helicopter began to take off.

The pirates had formed a half circle to envelop the Scarlet Princess’s path, but that proved a suicidal formation due to their misjudgment of the ship’s firepower. There had supposedly been around fifteen pirate boats, but half of them had already been sunk.

Everything was in motion and just watching it all made one’s eyes and head hurt.

And on top of that, the environment was so poor that one would be deafened while just sitting there.

After Quenser’s group’s hovercraft moved away, an attack from the air blew away the previous high-speed pirate boat like an empty can.

With his ears still ringing, Quenser shouted toward Heivia who was right next to him.

“If we just had to kill them, the ship’s weaponry could handle it! We were sent out for a reason!! Weren’t you listening during the pre-mission briefing!?”

“Oh? Oh, oh! Did they say something about that!?”

“They’re using fishing boats rather than used patrol boats so they can ditch their weapons in the sea and act like innocent fishermen if they have to! If we just kill them all, we’ll be suspected of slaughtering civilians. That’s why we need to capture a few of them alive and have them admit to being pirates. That’s what we were told!!”

“In other words, they’ve knocked down a hornet’s nest with a stone and now we have to retrieve it barehanded!? Goddamn this is a terrible job!! We’re at least getting paid extra for this, right!?”

Nothing the pirates did could turn the situation around.

Sounds of gunfire and explosions continued without end.

The ship’s rapid-fire cannons and the attack helicopter’s rockets were unilaterally blowing away the pirates’ boats.

“Two more! Our side just took out another two boats. Shit. If we don’t capture a pirate soon, they’ll all be dead!!”

“Shut up!! If you care that badly, jump over to that fishing boat and grab one yourself!!”

Only a few of the 10 meter high-speed pirate boats remained. The Scarlet Princess was fully equipped with the Legitimacy Kingdom navy’s best, so it was a 400 meter mass of giant guns. There was no chance of it being sunk now.

But there was a chance of the pirates fighting back in some way.

The fishing boats were equipped with homemade anti-ship missiles. They would be able to blow away at least one of the hovercrafts that used the power of air to float.

“This is way too scary!! A missile just shot by right above us!! What happened to the close-in weapon system support!?”

“Are these the type that react to magnetism to detonate? This thing’s hull is made of layered plastic and the balloon is made of synthetic fiber, so they might just slip past us.”

“Dammit. Of course the Gatling guns on the side deck wait until ''now'' to turn this way. …Hm? This way!?”

“G-get down!! And turn the hovercraft to the side! Our own side’s barrage is gonna fill us with holes!!”

The gunfire sounded like a broken buzzer as the line of CIWS weapons targeted an anti-ship missile flying a few meters above the ocean surface and scattered giant bullets at a rate of 5000 a minute. They were 20mm bullets which were masses of metal the size of a thumb. They were much larger than the standard used with anti-materiel rifles and even a single one grazing you could blow off a limb.

“They have to do all that just to shoot down a single missile. An Object’s laser beams are an entirely different story, but this says a lot about the balance between offense and defense.”

“Why are you starting that creepy breathing again!? Don’t get your design-obsessed blood pumping like it’s some instinct to preserve your genes in a life-threatening situation!!”

“Eh? I don’t mix my love of machines with lust. Making anthropomorphized girls out of weapons is kind of disturbing if you think about it.”

“Just think of it as adding on elements!! Don’t think of it as surgically cutting and pasting things!!”

The hovercraft ridden by the two idiots and 28 others had three engines resembling two meter ventilators on the back. One of them was sending out disconcerting black smoke (due to the barrage from their side’s close-in weapon system).

“How about we say the pirates did that and put in for injury pay? I think we deserve a bonus.”

“If we do that, it’ll mean we were injured by a group of amateurs. That would be a dishonor.”

Meanwhile, the battle was almost over.

The attack helicopter that had been sent out partway through was doing too good a job. It was sending down a storm of rockets which were enveloping the small fishing boats and the surrounding ocean in flames.

“Isn’t this pretty bad?” muttered Quenser as he carelessly looked up into the blue sky. “All of the pirate boats will be sunk soon.”

“What happened to capturing some alive!? If we don’t have one to say he’s a pirate, we’ll be accused of slaughtering civilians!!”

The two idiots looked around, but they saw nothing but eerie black smoke and wreckage starting to sink. It no longer felt like they were fighting. It was more like a treasure hunt.

“There!! There’s another fishing boat behind that smoke. If we miss that one, we’ll have to give up on catching anyone alive!! We’ll be mercilessly accused by a grinning international committee!!”

The attack helicopter flew by over their heads. It was clearly moving toward the same target.

Heivia brought a hand to his forehead.

“Is that pilot a coward!? I don’t think he can relax until he eliminates every threat he sees. And it’s not like those pirates can shoot down a helicopter flying around at high speed!!”

“What do we do? If we don’t take one alive, we’ll have to try our hand at necromancy during the court martial.”

“I’ve had enough of this!!” shouted Heivia in desperation as he shouted at the young soldier in charge of steering the hovercraft. “Head full speed toward the fishing boat! …I can’t believe I have to put my life on the line to protect the enemy!!”

“But what exactly are we going to do!?”

“We only have one choice.”

For some reason, Heivia removed the safety pin from the shoulder-fired missile launcher hanging from his shoulder along with his rifle. He rested one end on his shoulder and aimed the other end. Tanks on land, small patrol boats at sea, and ground attack craft in the air. Save for its ridiculous price tag, that missile was known as a masterpiece.

“We fire on our own helicopter.”

He did not hesitate.

He captured the target with both infrared and ultraviolet at the same time and he pulled the trigger.

The long, narrow missile shot out like a spear and shot by right next to the helicopter.

No damage was done.

Except for Quenser who was knocked backwards by the backfire.

He flew two or three meters like an unnamed character in a kung fu movie.

“Hot!! Hot!? Wh-what just happened? Are we under attack!?”

“If you’re that lively, I’m not gonna worry too much.”

The other soldiers on the hovercraft focused on Heivia. Their gazes were asking why he had fired on an ally.

“If I had actually aimed, it wouldn’t be in the air right now! I purposefully missed. But that coward of a pilot won’t notice that!! If you don’t want to die, get ready!!”

The attack helicopter belatedly took evasive actions and then took a tight turn around. It was clearly being wary. If the pilot panicked, there was a chance he would simply attack. It was similar to an extremely sleepy soldier caught in a whirl of gunfire confusing which side was his allies.

Heivia shouted in desperation.

“I bought us some time, but it’s only a dozen or so seconds! Charge straight into the fishing boat!! We just have to take at least one of them alive!!”

The hovercraft moved straight toward the lone remaining fishing boat. Meanwhile, Heivia aimed his assault rifle into the air and fired a long spray of bullets toward their attack helicopter. Orange sparks covered a side of the helicopter.

“With proper equipment, it can deflect rifle bullets.” While firing tons of wasted bullets, Heivia gave a thin smile. “But that coward won’t know that. His desire to survive made him panic and forget the plan. He’ll actually try to avoid this peashooter.”

The hovercraft approached the modified fishing boat from the side.

More accurately, it crashed into it.

Hovercrafts floated above the ocean surface with the power of air. The skirt portion that contained the air was a giant balloon made of bulletproof and knife resistant synthetic fiber.

Rather than a straight collision, the hovercraft climbed on top of the boat.

And the pirate man standing on the boat’s deck was knocked into the ocean.

The fact that the skirt portion was a soft balloon turned out to be a stroke of luck for both sides. As the man flailed his limbs around, he was knocked several meters horizontally like a small stone.

At the same time, a rocket fell from the heavens and struck the point of intersection between the fishing boat and the hovercraft.

The blast knocked the Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers into the air.

But it did not knock the will to fight from them. Or rather, they could not leave this sea of flames and smoke until they completed this. Several soldiers used strange wrestling moves to jump on the pirate who had fallen into the ocean.

Several dull sounds could be heard.

The pirate struggled as his head was forced under the salty ocean water.

Quenser and Heivia grabbed the pirate by the collar and dragged his head back above the surface.

And they shouted angrily into his ear.

“If you don’t want us to start an interrogation using the water here, then start talking!! Tell everyone that you’re a piece of shit pirate who was causing everyone all sorts of trouble!!”

===Part 4===

They were forced to participate in a “detour” to eliminate pirates, but Quenser, Heivia, and the 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion’s original destination lay elsewhere.

Those idiots had been sent to the Strait of Malacca ahead of the rest of the battalion. Sea mines, fuel oil attacks, nets in the propeller, and pirates were all threats that even civilians could accomplish. To ensure that none of the warships were damaged, all those threats had to be eliminated before the maintenance battalion’s fleet passed through.

In other words, their target this time was dangerous enough to warrant that.

Even in an age where Object vs. Object battles decided everything, they did not want to lose the backing of a single support ship.

“We’re really here.”

Their destination was the birthplace of Objects in the seas of the Far East.

It was currently a portion of the Capitalist Corporations and it was an important point for the Asian naval forces.

“This is the Island Nation. Should we really be here? This supposedly the artisan paradise that sent out the world’s first Object and it’s also known for its healthy food. A ridiculously proportioned macho man isn’t going to attack us with all sorts of strange new weapons, is he?”

Quenser sounded bored as he stood on the deck of a small aircraft carrier. Rather than the takeoff and landing of aircraft, it was primarily used as maintenance space for the Object contained between it and another aircraft carrier.

The princess must have had nothing to do because she was sitting on the edge of the deck and looking blankly in Quenser’s direction.

“Frolaytia said our job isn’t very dangerous this time.”

“She may be skilled, but you can’t trust any verbal promises she makes. Especially when we’re talking about the Island Nation. It may be part of the Capitalist Corporations, but the level of their newly developed technology is ridiculous. In fact, it’s gone so far that it’s created a kind of Galapagos Syndrome. Naturally, the same goes for their Objects.”

“This will not be a direct fight in the first place.”

“Yeah, they are going through some infighting, aren’t they?” Quenser let out a light breath. “The Capitalist Corporations were crazy enough to go fully down the PMC route and make listed companies out of their army, but the intensification of conflicts in recent years means the armies sent around the world by the different major companies aren’t enough. That’s why they created the new framework of half-public self-defense PMCs to quickly strengthen their naval defenses.”

“But one of those self-defense PMCs went out of control and started a civil war in the ocean around the Island Nation.”

“What did they think would happen when they gathered tens of thousands of rotten soldiers given dishonorable discharges in different parts of the world and then handed them cutting-edge weaponry? Yet they let their guard down so much that they surrendered an Object to them. What’s wrong with them? Were they ''trying'' to get themselves killed?”

“They had an aging society, so they had no choice. They had no young people.”

“I know they were shorthanded, but how could they possibly think people coming in to earn some money would defend their nation to the bitter end?”

The strategic simulations of the Legitimacy Kingdom military predicted that the civil war would not last long. The self-defense PMC could not be taken lightly, but they were only borrowing the Objects and other weapons and they could not maintain them or produce more on their own. And it was unlikely anyone would provide them with further supplies. The instant they ran out of reserves was the instant they met their end.

The simulations said they would last at most two months and possibly only a few weeks. But during that time, the Island Nation’s defenses would certainly be lacking. It was possible the confusion could be used to attack in otherwise impossible places or ways.

The princess pouted her lips.

“Why do we have to interfere with the Capitalist Corporations’ fight? We should just let them go at it.”

“We don’t want them having a nice fistfight by the river and getting along again. That’s why we need to stab them in the side and make sure they can never join back up. If we kill what enemies we can while we have the chance, we don’t have to worry about carelessly running into them on some other battlefield.”

At that point, a radio transmission reached the entire battalion.

It was from Frolaytia, their local commander.

“It’s time for the pre-mission briefing on how we will split the Island Nation. Gather in your ship’s conference room. I will provide the explanation via the monitor. …Also, a special message for the idiots who were playing basketball on the flight deck. The one who dropped the ball in the ocean must take responsibility by jumping from the cliff and retrieving it. That is government property. You aren’t allowed to lose it. That is all.”

===Part 5===

“As you can see, the ocean around the Island Nation is in a state of civil war. We will use the confusion to move in deeper than their normal defenses would allow. Our mission is to scout out their forces and destroy what we can.”

Frolaytia spoke from the podium up front while a few arrows were added to the sea chart displayed on the screen.

“The biggest problem for the self-defense PMC is the supply line. According to the strategic simulation performed on our supercomputer, this civil war will run out of gas and reach a quick end. The major corporation controlling the Island Nation will likely carry out a sabotage operation to hurry that along.”

The screen showed a group of islands in the ocean south of the Island Nation. One of those islands had not originally been there. It was a manmade floating island. The industrially manufactured island could move on its own and it was created by combining giant floats.

Its center was a dodecagon and each vertex had a harbor dock extending out from it like a tree branch.

Its overall silhouette looked like the ship’s wheel used to turn the rudder.

“This is the artificial floating island Ame-no-Darin. It is made to extract resources from the ocean floor. It is the cornerstone of the self-defense PMC’s supplies and reserves. It was the discovery of oil and veins of iron ore in the deep Pacific that transformed the Island Nation into a top class resource superpower. Thanks to that, they’ve left behind an environment that’s covered in oil. Anyway, as long as they have this, the self-defense PMC will have plenty of ammunition and fuel. And by exchanging that for foreign currency, they can smuggle in food. This is the central pillar of this war.”

Frolaytia used her penlight laser pointer to indicate different points on the displayed document.

“It originally functioned as the Island Nation’s military reserves base. It was a treasure trove of fuel and ammunition and its security was left to the self-defense PMC in question as far back as the construction phase. Once the civil war began, they took full control of the Ame-no-Darin. With the standard reserves, they can fight for ninety days. With full use of its ocean floor resource extraction and refinement ability, they can create an endless supply of fuel and ammunition. It may be an expensive facility, but that expense paid for some nice features.”

“I have a question.” Quenser raised his hand. “Are we going to destroy that Ame-no-Darin? How does that benefit us?”

“An excellent question, student. But wait until I’m finished.” Frolaytia placed her long, narrow kiseru in her mouth. “Our mission is to sweep for mines in the ocean around the Ame-no-Darin and to physically remove the saboteurs thought to have infiltrated it. We intercepted the schedule for a large-scale sabotage operation and we plan to end it before it starts. Simply put, we will be protecting the Ame-no-Darin despite no one asking us to. After all, that will cause this war to drag on and cause great financial losses for the Island Nation. Any objections?”

It was a cruel plan, but they were at war and had no interest in benevolence or world peace. The Island Nation was categorized as a safe country, so they could not directly attack it or slaughter the non-combatants there, but they had no real reason to bring the civil war to a quick end or to protect the Island Nation’s mobile fleet which included an Object. If they did, the forces remaining at the end of the civil war would turn toward them.

A small hand then rose into the air.

It was the princess’s.

“Then who will I fight?”

“Did you think it would be the Object belonging to the isolated self-defense PMC? Well, it isn’t. You will be fighting the Object belonging to the Island Nation’s major corporation which has the overwhelming advantage. When we have a chance to freely defeat an enemy, it’s always best to choose the strongest one. We will extend this civil war and take the initiative in removing future rivals. Do you all understand now?”

They were fighting to protect their enemy.

They were fighting to help out the isolated underdog.

Phrasing it like that made them sound like a gunman from a Western, but the principles at the core has been twisted by the world which had shattered like stained glass.

“Then let’s begin. We are only here to benefit the Legitimacy Kingdom. Justice for the Capitalist Corporations is not our concern. How about you head out there and see what your precious Island Nation is really like.”

===Part 6===

The two idiots named Quenser and Heivia were crammed into submarine torpedo tubes along with the other soldiers. It was one to a tube and they felt as small as coffins. The diving suits and oxygen tanks only made it feel more cramped.

“What is wrong with them? This is discrimination!! I’m a radar analyst. I shouldn’t be launched from a torpedo tube while holding an oxygen tank and an underwater gun! I don’t remember the contract I signed saying anything about doing this!”

“Shut up, Heivia. Sound is everything for subs. Make too much noise and the enemy will notice us.”

“Fine by me! I’ll make them wrinkle their nose at the most tremendous fart they’ve ever heard!!”

“You’re in an enclosed space, so you’ll just end up cursing your own asshole.”

As they chatted over the radio, Quenser’s coffin filled with red light. The torpedo tube was about to open.

The greeting from the weapons officer reached his ears.

“Carefree little birds, you have the precious free will of a human, so you can shit yourself if you want, but wait until you’ve left the sub first. Rock & roll!”

“Goddammit. Should I have brought an alarm clock along to set off after I left!? Well!?”

Heivia’s complaints were immediately followed by the external door opening and seawater rushing into the torpedo tube. Quenser did not fight the current and waited until the tube was filled with water before he slowly left the submarine.

“There’s nothing but sludge and oil around here. I’d heard ocean oil drilling always let some oil leak out, but this is crazy. You could set the ocean ablaze with a burner.”

“When you weigh ecology against resources, people tend to choose the more profitable one. Not that it matters to us.”

“What’s that giant mass over there? A new type of mutant?”

“It’s a clump of oil. It’s just like running into sewage. You can’t move once it gets all around you.”

Quenser, Heivia, and eight other soldiers travelled through the dark ocean using devices resembling kickboards with motors attached. They were on their way to the Ame-no-Darin, but doing so was not easy when the area was in a state of civil war.

Several vague silhouettes measuring a few meters across came into view.

As they came into focus, Quenser felt a chill run down his back. Long narrow cylinders which appeared to be torpedoes were stabbed into the clump of oil.

“Those are the Capitalist Corporations’ smart torpedoes,” said Heivia calmly. “I don’t know which side of the civil war fired them, though.”

“W-wait. Are we going to pass by them? If they detonate, we’ll be torn to pieces.”

“I said they were ‘smart’, remember? They only react to the acoustic signature of enemy ships that are updated over their network. They aren’t made to kill humans.”

“Really?”

“They cost 20 thousand dollars apiece. They’d lose a ton of money if a fish swimming by could detonate them. They’re made to only react to top priority targets.”

“But these didn’t go off! We can’t trust them.”

Heivia went ahead as a guide and Quenser nervously followed while weaving between the smart torpedoes.

But that was when something approached while producing a rumbling vibration that sounded like a coin laundry amplified several times.

A giant mass slowly passed by the two idiots.

It was a submarine.

Quenser’s eyes opened wide.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!! We’re swimming between unexploded torpedoes right this very instant! If they react to that acoustic signature, we’ll be blown away!”

“We have a bigger problem!! I don’t know whose sub that is, but the current created by its propeller is going to carry us off!! If we don’t grab onto something, it’ll suck us in and slice us to pieces!!”

“What am I supposed to grab onto!?”

[[Image:HO_v08_043.jpg|thumb]]

The sensation of something tugging at his body created an instinctual fear in Quenser, so he immediately reached for the closest object.

It was one of the torpedoes sticking out of the oil.

“Kyaaaaah!!!!!”

Any kind of tactical thoughts were sent to the farthest reaches of the universe as he entrusted himself to what looked like a propane tank and prayed it would not explode.

“This is it! I’m gonna piss myself! I really am this time!!”

“Shut up!! That’s no different form peeing in the pool! Stop making such a racket!!”

“How about you try it! It’ll just fill your diving suit and there’ll be no escape from that hell of your own creation. I don’t want the kind of embarrassment that leads to suicide!!”

Those boys were from the nation of kings and knights, but they were desperate to protect their pride on an elementary school level.

An unpleasant noise rang out.

“What now!?”

“The sub ran into the clump of oil! It’s coming this way!”

The back of the giant sub swung around like a bat and the propeller passed right by them like a lawnmower.

“Shit that was close. I don’t know whose sub that is, but any closer and it would’ve wiped all of us out.”

“Shouldn’t we help it?”

“How? And whichever side it’s on, it’s an enemy.”

Quenser’s entire body was covered with an uncomfortable sweat, but annoyingly enough, he could not wipe it away. He, Heivia, and the other soldiers moved carefully to the side of the oil clump and met up with the units that left a different submarine.

Ultimately, a group of around one hundred Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers were swimming toward the Ame-no-Darin.

“Is that it? It’s incredible that something so gigantic can float.”

“That just shows how reckless they’ve been. That’s gotta be the king of pollution around here. In an American comic, it’d be the villain’s secret base.”

As they looked up at the Ame-no-Darin from below, it looked like a never-ending ceiling. They had needed to travel directly below the floating island to sneak in, but having the surface sealed off made the ocean seem all the more oppressive. If their oxygen tank malfunctioned, there was no escape. It would mean certain death.

“Let’s go. Our way in is the emergency drain pumps used in case of flooding. They aren’t normally active, so we can make our way up into the float.”

“If they notice us, it’s all over. One flip of a switch and seven tons of seawater will be ejected every second. We’d learn what a bug in a drain feels like.”

After using their tools to destroy a few sensors and remove the wire mesh cover, they entered the drain pump pipe one at a time. The pipe was over two meters across, so they had plenty of room to move.

After working their way into the Ame-no-Darin’s spare engine area, they could finally remove their diving suits and heavy oxygen tanks.

“Hey, where’d our commander go?” asked Heivia in annoyance. “We can’t start without him.”

“It looks like we got separated somewhere,” answered a nearby female soldier. “He isn’t responding over the radio, so should we wait until he catches up?”

“No, thanks! He’s the one who got all worked up on the Scarlet Princess, wasn’t he? I’m not going to get myself killed for him. A group of one hundred can’t hide forever. If they throw a bomb in while we’re waiting for that jokester, we’ll all be taken out.”

“Um, Heivia? This is enemy territory, so wouldn’t it be bad if our commander was captured?”

“If his allies can’t find him, how is the enemy supposed to? And aren’t the rest of you pissed at him, too? Teacher won’t get mad, so be honest and raise your hands.”

None of the honor students raised their hands, so Heivia changed the question.

“Do you want to die for the kind of commander who returns to the sub without telling us, or do you want to continue the mission and get back alive? Raise your hands if you want to survive.”

All of the idiots raised their hands.

Their plan was decided.

The Ame-no-Darin was a float the size of a fair-sized island, but it was still an indoor facility. A group of one hundred travelling together would be too large for the passageways, so it would be more effective to split into groups of ten and travel down different routes to target the enemy from multiple angles.

And so it was time to split into groups.

Quenser raised his hand.

“I’m willing to follow a guide, but who takes the lead?”

“That’s decided by rank.”

Heivia’s offhand comment turned everyone’s focus on a new second lieutenant, but he trembled, shook his head, and grew pale.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” said a female soldier in irritation.

“Then let’s go with experience and achievements.”

Heivia’s new suggestion turned the focus to the two idiots.

Needless to say, no one could outdo their achievements of destroying several Objects on their own. It was just that their negative achievements were also quite amazing, so it all cancelled out in the end.

“Seriously?”

“If we keep complaining, the enemy will spot us and get in the first attack. Let’s get moving.”

And that settled that.

The other ten-man groups determined their leaders based on the number of battles they had fought in and they all began to move.

“We have no guarantee we’ll come back here and who knows when we’ll need to jump in the ocean. It’ll be a bit of a burden, but we need to carry the diving suits and oxygen tanks with us.”

“Where will the enemy come from? Specifically, the saboteurs who are destroying the Ame-no-Darin to cut off the self-defense PMC’s supply line.”

“They’re boldly making their way in using transport helicopters with spoofed identifiers. They should be arriving any time now, so let’s head toward the heliport. We’ll probably run across them on our way there.”

“Quick question. How do we tell the saboteurs from the self-defense PMC protecting the Ame-no-Darin? They should both be using Capitalist Corporations Island Nation equipment.”

“Do we even need to? They’re both enemies.”

===Part 7===

The Baby Magnum was released into the ocean near the southern islands after its naval floats were attached.

The old maintenance woman was waiting atop the flight deck of a small aircraft carrier in a large-scale fleet. Her job was to quickly and accurately maintain and repair the Baby Magnum upon its return, but the situation was different this time.

Her name was Ayami Cherryblossom.

As her family name suggested, she was originally from the Capitalist Corporations Island Nation. She had worked as a technician before leaving, so she had been recruited for an investigation of the abilities of the Island Nation’s Objects.

Her B5-sized tablet computer displayed satellite images and video taken by front line observers and she conversed with the Baby Magnums’ princess over her headset.

“There they are. We’ve picked up two Objects near the Ame-no-Darin. One is a first generation named Yuuhi which was officially deployed by the Island Nation to quickly end the civil war. I believe the Legitimacy Kingdom’s codename for it is Be Ablaze. It can literally set the sea on fire.”

“It’s a first generation?”

[[Image:HO_v08_050.jpg|thumb]]

“That’s thanks to a sad mentality of the Island Nation. They’re better at creating improved versions of old weapons than they are developing brand new ones. For example, they add cameras to outdated fighters and insist on using them as spy planes. This one may be classified as first generation, but its insides have been completely swapped out so it can keep up with modern models. Underestimate it, and you’ll end up on the ocean floor.”

“But its main weapon is a flamethrower, right? I don’t see how that’s a threat to Objects that can withstand nuclear weapons.”

“It’s a close range defensive weapon known as the Hiding Clothes of Flame. It scatters fuel oil and napalm over the entire area and sets the sea ablaze. This is an effective anti-personnel weapon, but it’s mostly meant to disrupt targeting information with smoke and mirages. You should assume your laser targeting won’t work. You will be separated by several layers of mirages created from temperature change, so the light will bend all over the place.”

However, the ocean around the Island Nation was in state of civil war and the two forces were fighting each other.

The princess was targeting only one side and destroying the Be Ablaze was her top priority, but the situation was too complex for her to focus solely on that. Another giant enemy existed in that ocean.

Namely, the self-defense PMC’s Object that used the Ame-no-Darin as its supply base.

It was a symbol of rebellion.

[[Image:HO_v08_052.jpg|thumb]]

“The other one is named Ningyo. The Legitimacy Kingdom’s codename for it is Mad Cooker. It’s a first generation equipped with a salt railgun. Naturally, it’s been independently altered to have the power needed to defeat a second generation.”

“A salt railgun?”

“They were mainstream before low-temperature superconductors were successfully used in weapons. It uses a liquid known as molten salt. When salt is heated to 1200 degrees and liquefied, it has ten times the conductivity of normal saltwater. That molten salt can be used to construct a cheap and primitive railgun.”

An endless supply of the raw material was located in the ocean below it.

With its huge reactor, it could easily heat it.

The reason the Island Nation had continued research into the outdated salt railgun was likely because they wanted to use the ocean surrounding them to increase how long they could fight.

“The current version gives the shells conductivity by creating them from a base of over 90% salt. The core of the shell is a long, narrow spike of tungsten that they call the Ushi-no-Koku. It’s made so the mass of salt shatters when it’s fired. That sends all the kinetic energy into the tungsten so it can pierce the enemy’s onion armor. Continuing to use the same method used by old tank guns is another example of the Island Nation’s sad mentality.”

As long as they had the technology to filter out and condense the iron and rare metals dissolved in the ocean, it was conceivable that the Object could fight indefinitely with no need to resupply. It was almost more dangerous from the experimental side than as an enemy.

“As I’m sure already know, your primary target is the Be Ablaze from the Island Nation’s major corporation. To drag out this civil war and deplete them financially, we need to protect the weaker side, attack the stronger side, and bring both sides as close to equal as we can. But if we go too far, the two Capitalist Corporations Objects might work together to eliminate us. In other words, there is no need to defeat your target at all costs. Just fire at it from the distance and cause as much damage as you can while ensuring all three Objects need to keep an eye on the other two.”

Modern wars were decided by the number of Objects.

With one-against-one, an Object would head in for a direct fight. With one-against-three, an Object would swiftly retreat before fighting.

With that in mind, it would cause incredible pressure to the Island Nation when a third Object of dubious affiliation entered the fray.

Normally, two Capitalist Corporations Objects would work together if the Legitimacy Kingdom attacked.

But they could not trust each other during a civil war.

If they joined together and the other betrayed, a one-against-two battle would be unavoidable.

That fear would bind the battlefield.

“Understood,” said the princess. “I will stick with long-range shots from ten kilometers away.”

“We don’t need to settle this or even see it through to the end. As long as we put an end to the large-scale Ame-no-Darin sabotage plan, we can retreat and watch the mayhem from a safe distance. If the civil war continues, it will do critical damage on an economical front. This has been an internal problem for the Capitalist Corporations from the beginning, so it isn’t worth it for us to risk our lives here.”

===Part 8===

The major Island Nation corporation plan to sink the Ame-no-Darin was to send a large number of saboteurs into the facility while a large-scale battle between Objects acted as a diversion.

The plan was only being carried out after a thorough preparatory period and a similar plan could not simply be repeated again and again.

In other words, stopping them just once would eliminate this opportunity to destroy the Ame-no-Darin.

The civil war would drag on and the Legitimacy Kingdom’s objective would be achieved.

While occasionally speaking with the other groups over the radio, Quenser, Heivia, and eight others cautiously advanced.

“Hey, there’s an elevator over here.”

“I dare you to get on that thing. The instant the door opens, you’ll be riddled with holes. You can’t escape from a square box. Let’s just use the stairs.”

The Capitalist Corporations saboteurs had apparently arrived through the heliport by tricking the Ame-no-Darin with spoofed identifiers. Quenser’s group had started at the bottom and was ascending to the heliport. They assumed they would run into the saboteurs somewhere along the way.

There were apparently three floors’ worth of height from the bottom of the Ame-no-Darin to the ocean surface.

“Y’know, I’d heard they were a technological superpower, but this place is almost falling apart. Wall and ceiling panels are removed and the plumbing is exposed at points. Did they run out of funding halfway through building the thing?”

“Quenser, I want to make sure I’m not seeing things. What is that you’ve been pointing all over the place?”

“A digital camera. Why?”

“We’re in the middle of a mission to kill people!”

“And I can’t stand just going along empty-handed!! I have to take back at least one piece of Island Nation tech!!”

As they chatted, they made their way toward the stairs.

The stairway appeared to be for emergency use. Once they passed through the door, they found concrete stairs that reversed direction countless times.

They had to send someone ahead to make sure they were not completely wiped out in a surprise attack.

Heivia gave a sign with his fingers, his allies gave a different sign back, they began a war of gestures, and they ultimately played rock-paper-scissors.

After playing scissors, a trembling Heivia was thrust toward the staircase by his fellow soldiers.

“If this was chess, you’d be sending your king right to the enemy.”

“I don’t want to take responsibility for anything, so I’m fine being a pawn.”

The fluorescent lights flickered.

Quenser and four others acted as the scouts. Heivia held out his assault rifle to see up through the gap in the center of the staircase that formed a rectangle as it repeatedly doubled back.

“A cramped staircase is the worst.”

“Why?”

“Try to think before you speak. It’s not as bad as an elevator, but they can set all sorts of ambushes.”

An instant later, gunfire assaulted them in the ideal way from the ideal spot.

“Gyaaah!!”

“Waaah!!”

The enemy fired down while leaning over the railing up above.

The five of them could only retreat while firing back. Quenser headed for the entrance they had come from while helping a nearby soldier who was holding a bloody shoulder and was about to collapse.

“Heivia, fall back! Fall back!! We’ll be wiped out like this!!”

“Shut up! Why the hell do you think I’m trying to buy us some time!? You drag that injured soldier away!!”

“If they drop a grenade, it’s all over!! We’ll be slaughtered without a chance to buy any time!!”

That was when they heard a hard clanking noise.

The overhead attackers had tossed an explosive over the railing. The grenade struck the wall a few times and landed at their feet.

“…!!!???”

The enemy was playing it all by the book.

All five of them rushed toward the narrow entrance to the stairwell, but not many actually made it into the corridor beyond.

A muffled explosion burst out.

With his face dyed red with someone else’s blood, Heivia pressed against the wall and shouted out.

“We have casualties!! Check the damage!!”

“Almost zero! The injured private covered the grenade with his own body!!”

“That idiot tried to take all the glory for himself!!”

“He placed his balled up diving suit over it, so I don’t think he thought he would die.”

“You don’t have to point that out! We can just call it a valiant death!!”

At any rate, the blood-soaked Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers used the slight bit of time this gave them to return to the corridor where the other five awaited them.

The enemy must have dropped more grenades because multiple explosions reached their ears.

“This is bad, Quenser. The enemy is better than us. I only caught a glimpse of their uniforms, but assuming it isn’t a bluff, they’ve sent in someone amazing.”

“Eh? Does the Island Nation have any famous units?”

“They aren’t from the Island Nation.” Heivia wiped the blood from his face with an arm. “This is Moss Green co. ltd. They’re a land war PMC from the Northern Restricted Zone where long, drawn out wars continue 365 days a year because Objects are forbidden. I heard they’d been expanding their business to naval operations, especially landing operations, so this might be a promotion for their new services.”

“Meaning?”

“A soldier’s quality is determined by the quality and quantity of daily training, but these ones are out in actual battles year round. People who rely on Objects like us don’t stand a chance! The difference in experience is so overwhelming that we simply can’t win!!”

===Part 9===

The longer one fought an unbeatable enemy, the greater one’s losses would be.

Even a child could figure that out.

But they were not allowed to simply raise the white flag and go home.

“Let’s escape to a more advantageous position. We can fire a bit, fall back a bit, and then repeat the process to wear down their numbers.”

“How long do you think they’d keep falling for that obvious method? Moss Green is filled with nothing but cruel, cigar-smoking sergeants with eyepatches.”

“Just start laying as many traps as you can along the way. If we can’t win in a firefight, we need to wear down their numbers in other ways.”

They had no time, but any immediately obvious traps would be meaningless.

Fortunately, some of the wall and ceiling panels of that floor were removed, exposing thick steel pipes travelling around like blood vessels. There were plenty of places to hide traps.

“Hey, are you just setting up the plastic explosives as is? Wouldn’t you normally bury them in piles of screws or nails?”

“We don’t have time and the shockwave will fill the corridor anyway. You can shoot them once they’re knocked out, right? More importantly, gather all our cheap rockets. I don’t have enough firepower with what I have on me. You’ll be too afraid to use them in here anyway, so let me use the warheads for traps.”

“What?”

“A warhead with a contact fuse can be used as a landmine. Let’s hide them under the paper and mats lying around.”

They added other embellishments to the bombs: a dangerous cleanser that expanded as a mist when heated combined with a bleaching agent that caused intense pain and inflammation when it contacted skin. They found both of them in the lockers along the corridor.

Ultimately, they laid around thirty traps.

“Will this really work? A fat old man working on his home on the weekends makes better-looking stuff than this.”

“It’s a tragedy you can’t see the golden ratio to this. No matter where they try to evade, they’ll trip a different trap. It’s like a tangle of strings; they can’t just untangle one string at a time. I should get a medal for making something so artistic on such short notice.”

“You might find some fans in a prison. They’d probably all be skinny little guys, though.”

Just as Quenser and the others turned around to head to their ambush point, they heard an explosion up ahead and a great impact hit them.

The corridor wall had been destroyed from the other side.

Gray dust filled the corridor and cut off their path.

“Goddammit!!” shouted Heivia from the ground. “What is with today!?”

“What? My ears are ringing and I can’t hear you!?”

“Those Moss Green fuckers took a shortcut! Our escape route’s been cut off, so we can only fall back. And that means going through the corridor we just filled with traps!!”

It seemed unlikely they were being monitored via cameras or sensors.

The enemy had simply used their intuition and experience to accurately predict their actions. And that enemy had cut them off on the worst route possible. That level of accuracy made them seem like espers.

Multiple sounds of gunfire reached Quenser’s ears as they recovered.

He could no longer leisurely talk about thinking this through logically.

To escape the threat before his eyes, he charged into the spider web of traps he himself had laid.

The Moss Green soldiers peeking out from the hole in the wall were not courteous enough to aim for each soldier one at a time.

They accurately fired a bullet into a rocket warhead set up as a trap.

And an explosion swallowed up Quenser and the others.

===Part 10===

A woman named Angela Hibiscus commanded Moss Green and she frowned after hearing the explosion.

“What? They’re still moving.”

“They must have kept their traps non-lethal. Their own kindness saved them.”

“Then go finish off the passed-out fools. Just as they planned to do to us.”

A blond combat engineer twitching on the floor moved his hand. He grabbed some fishing line to set off his own trap.

As the corridor filled with a white mist, Angela’s men spoke delightedly.

“Wow, a chemical weapon. They violated the war treaty, captain.”

“Undiluted bleach, hm? You can have fun if you want, but do you have protective masks and suits prepared for us?”

“Eh? Well…”

“I don’t recall supplying any. The air conditioning is blowing their suicidal smokescreen this way, so we need to fall back. If we let something like this gave us any casualties, it would affect the unit’s reputation. I don’t want to owe the advertising firm a favor.”

Meanwhile, Heivia was very nearly screaming after being thrown into the toxic smokescreen.

“Quenser, you idiot!! We already had a full course of hell lined up for us, so why did you have to order dessert!? What the hell is this? Cough, cough. Bleach!?”

“If you don’t want to destroy your throat, stay quiet. And you have your diving suit’s mask, remember? Your throat will hurt, but the mask will keep it below a lethal level!”

“You’re kidding. So we have to crawl through this!?”

“They can easily get rid of this impromptu smokescreen with the air conditioning and then we’ll need enough body bags for all of us. Would you rather stay here and end up filled with lead!?”

Either way, they could no longer return unscathed.

Quenser and the others put on their oxygen masks and continued through the corridor while experiencing some chemical inflammation. On the way, they set off even more of their non-lethal traps, but they finally arrived at the stairwell.

“N-now what do we do, you moron? They hold the area above the stairs. If we charge in, they’ll just shoot us all. And if they sense any danger, they’ll drop more grenades to finish us off.”

“Heivia, do you have any rope? Can you rock climb?”

“Yes, but how does that help?”

“Then we don’t even need these stairs,” spat out Quenser as he pulled out his Hand Axe plastic explosive. “I’ll blow them to smithereens. After blowing up the structure and their soldiers, there will be nothing but a vertical hole left. We climb that with rope.”

“Are you serious? Even if they hold the area up there, that won’t be all of them. They came from the heliport. The more we climb, the closer we are to the center of their forces. Climbing just means more of those monsters! Can’t we just give up on the mission and escape from the sea down below?”

“If we did that, Frolaytia’s fists would send us to heaven before long anyway. Plus, they’ve been able to predict our actions so far, so we need to think about this in reverse. We’re below the waterline right now and no water came out when we blew up the pipes in the walls. They must be used with the emergency pumps in case of flooding. If we held the upper floors, how would you wipe out an enemy down below?”

“…You can’t be serious.”

“If they close all the waterproof bulkheads in one area, they can fill it with water. Instead of risking their own men in a firefight, they can wipe out their enemy with the turn of a valve. In a boring fight against weaklings, they’ll definitely choose the easier method. I’d be surprised if they ''didn’t'' flood the area.”

“B-but! We have diving suits and oxygen tanks. Even if they filled a block with water, it wouldn’t kill us.”

“It would. I don’t know how many tons of water would come rushing in per second, but it would definitely be a horrific deluge. We’d be swept on and on while being slammed along corridors and stairways. It would be like tying yourself to a car and being dragged through gravel. Our limbs would be torn off and the oxygen tanks would rupture.”

“Ugh,” groaned Heivia through his mask.

“It looked like they didn’t expect the suicidal wall of bleach and their pride probably demands a flawless victory. But this is the moment when we can escape the cage of Moss Green’s expectations. If we don’t head up now, it will all be downhill. As soon as they decide which valve to open, we’ll be swallowed up by the deluge and torn to pieces!”

===Part 11===

The 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion’s fleet remained on standby away from the battle. Frolaytia received various reports in the small aircraft carrier’s mission command center. A controller’s panicked voice reached her ears.

“Something is approaching the radar. It’s very fast!! It’s flying just off the ocean surface at around Mach 2. It might be a cruise missile or…no, it’s an aircraft!!”

“On the same battlefield as three Objects!?”

Objects contained a reactor that produced near-limitless energy and they were covered with anti-air lasers, so the complex evasive actions of an ace pilot were meaningless. Lock, fire, destroy. That was the standard of the modern battlefield, but this enemy was easily ignoring it.

Frolaytia’s eyes opened in surprise and the controller continued the report with a bewildered look.

“From its movements, it does not appear to be unmanned. The CIWS…had no effect! Here it comes!!”

“Dammit! All hands, brace yourself!!”

In that instant, the old maintenance woman was waiting on the flight deck in order to maintain or repair the Baby Magnum. From there, she saw a Capitalist Corporations’ air superiority fighter pass less than a meter over the steel surface.

It was a fli-21T.

That was a modified version of the normal fli-20. Its development had been stopped just before mass production and deployment, and it was currently undergoing its final tests in the Northern Restricted Zone.

It was tilted ever-so-slightly, so the top of the craft was visible from the old woman’s side.

The short girl in the cockpit wore an anti-G suit resembling an Elite’s special suit. Blue paint on the right wing drew a girl’s silhouette bearing a giant snow crystal on the back.

As the old woman saw the words “Ice Girl One”, a rugby ball-like mass below the wing was released.

It was an anti-ship aerial bomb.

Normally, its weight and the potential energy of the fighter’s altitude would break through the ship’s armor before it detonated, but when released just above the flight deck, the rugby ball bounced off the armor rather than penetrating it.

The old woman made an immediate decision upon seeing the bomb bounce into the air.

She watched the 200 kilogram explosive that had been perfectly left in the air so that the blast and fragments would efficiently spread over a wide area.

(The enemy has no interest in the fighters stored in the metal belly of the ship. They’re after the Object maintenance unit and its equipment. In other words, us!!)

“Jump into the water if you want to live!!”

She threw aside all her tools, turned around, and did not hesitate to jump from the nine meter height of the flight deck. She heard the tremendous explosion before hitting the water. The small island of steel behind her creaked ominously.

Her body produced a pillar of water as it vanished below the surface, but her head appeared soon thereafter.

She did not know how many of the maintenance soldiers had followed her.

“How...? How did it…get through the network of anti-air lasers?” groaned a young maintenance soldier floating nearby.

The old woman clicked her tongue.

“The air isn’t uniform. There are temperature differences, humidity differences, dust, dirt, and even salt content when over the ocean. The changes in those things will bend light just a bit. Mirages are the simplest example.”

“But…But… You couldn’t measure all that even with sensors.”

“No, but an ace pilot from the Northern Restricted Zone can sniff it out on intuition alone! Who is that pilot? Her senses are equal to or even greater than a pilot Elites!!”

===Part 12===

Placing even a single bomb was a risky process.

As Quenser attached the plastic explosive to the base of the stairs, Heivia and a few others fired their assault rifles up the stairs. They were trying to hold the enemy back. By creating a barrage without even a gap to poke one’s head out, the enemy could not throw down a grenade.

But it only lasted thirty seconds.

“Shit! Here comes a grenade!!”

“I’m done here!! Fall back!! Fall back!!”

Quenser, Heivia, and the others practically rolled back to the corridor.

A moment later, the first grenade exploded.

Quenser then placed his hand on his radio and detonated his Hand Axe plastic explosive.

Just like when a building was demolished, the spiraling staircase smoothly crumbled and almost seemed to sink down underground. A great cloud of dust surged out toward them, but the corridor was already much worse due to the bleach and cleanser.

However, a problem presented itself.

“What the hell!? The door’s filled with rubble! We can’t escape through here!!”

“Then we just have to destroy the wall and ceiling to widen the hole. Outta the way, everyone!!”

After destroying the wall and ceiling enough to widen the “gap”, they entered the vertical hole which had been a stairwell.

Several moaning and bloody figures were mixed in with the piles of rubble.

“Don’t,” said Heivia quickly.

Even so, one of the enemy soldiers pulled out a handgun despite being unable to stand.

After a few assault rifle shots, the groaning stopped.

Heivia clicked his tongue and spoke to Quenser.

“I’ve had enough of this. Let’s climb on up.”

They had no specialized device to fire a rope to the top, so they gathered a random weight from the bloody rubble at their feet. It was a fist-sized piece of concrete with twisted rebar sticking out of it in places. They tied one end of a rope to it, swung it around like a morning star, and tossed it straight up.

“Oh? Ah? What? I didn’t get in on the first try.”

“And now it’s falling. Move!”

After the second and third try, they were shedding tears over how wonderful the helmets supplied by their fellow soldiers were. Finally, Heivia tossed the rope and felt it firmly stick. It seemed the rebar sticking out from the concrete weight had caught on the remains of the staircase on the wall. And it had caught right next to the door on the upper floor.

Heivia put all his weight on it to thoroughly check it.

“If the enemy starts firing down while I’m climbing, there’s nothing I can do, so make sure to cover for me.”

“Then why don’t you give me a gun? I’m confident I can at least fire right up your asshole.”

With a parting raise of the middle finger, Heivia started climbing up the rope. Meanwhile, the other soldiers threw more ropes and secured a second and third route up.

Unsurprisingly, scrawny Quenser could not rock climb on his own, so the others had to pull him up last.

After exiting into the corridor, Quenser glanced at the sign on the wall.

It said 0m.

This floor had none of the pipes travelling around like blood vessels and the floor and walls were a shiny white. Nevertheless, some of the panels were still missing.

“It looks like we’ve made it above the waterline. They can’t flood us now.”

They were all battered and they had lost the soldier who had protected them from the grenade.

Their uniforms were covered in blood from god knows who, were ripped in places, and stank of chemicals.

“I get that they can’t flood us, but what do we do now?”

“We can’t just run. We have to wear down the numbers of those monsters from the Northern Restricted Zone. To ensure the civil war drags on and causes a great depression for the Island Nation’s economy, we need to wear down the stronger side.”

“I’ve had enough. We can’t beat them. What do they eat anyway? Pure protein? Steroids?”

An Object had not even shown up and yet Heivia was already in full complaining mode, so the Moss Green PMC was clearly quite skilled.

Heivia contacted the other units by radio, but it seemed they had already received their baptism from Moss Green as well. None of them wanted a direct fight with them.

However, they could not leave enemy territory until someone produced some results.

That left deciding the loser by drawing lots.

“Moss Green will be heading down, right? That means we have to head down to fight them, but we’ll be wiped out if they flood the area. What are we supposed to do?”

“I have an idea.” Quenser sat with his back against the wall. “All the pumps here are electronic. The manual valves will only let a trickle out, so we don’t have to worry about them.”

“Are you saying we attack the power source? The Ame-no-Darin is shaped like a ship’s wheel. In addition to the central power source, it has secondary power sources in each of the twelve spokes. Do you really think we can wander around such a huge facility and destroy all of them? If we could, we wouldn’t be in so much trouble right now.”

“We only need to take out one.”

“They’ll just switch to another power source.”

“Normally, yes.” Quenser grinned. “Think about the handheld game systems popular in the safe countries. They have two power sources: the AC plug and the DC battery. If you repeatedly insert and remove the plug a whole bunch, it can cause an error in the power source switching process and the entire system will die. But it might wipe out your save data, so I don’t recommend trying it yourself.”

“And you want to try that in a legit war?”

“There’s no better answer for us right now. We want to stop them from sinking this thing and we want the war to continue, so we can’t completely destroy their power source. If we did that, the war would be over.”

Hearing that, Heivia glanced over at the other surviving soldiers.

None of them shouted support, but no one spoke up in protest either. They likely wanted the correct answer whatever it might be.

Heivia clicked his tongue.

“If no one has any other ideas, we’ll have to go with that. If we hang around here, we’ll just end up cornered. It’s kill or be killed.”

“Where’s the closest power source?”

“The sixth secondary power supply is three hundred meters ahead.”

After eating some tasteless soap-like rations and drinking from their water bottles, the group started walking toward the sixth secondary power supply with guns in hand once more.

Because they had risen above the waterline, one wall was covered in windows. The cold gray ocean spread out beyond the glass and what looked like an embankment was visible two or three kilometers away. That was likely one of the harbor blocks sticking out from the center just like the one they were on.

As soon as Quenser turned toward it, someone strongly grabbed his shoulders from behind.

Heivia tackled him to the shiny white floor and a high-pitched sound rang out a moment later.

At first, he did not know what had happened.

It was only when he heard the gunshot that he finally realized it was a sniper.

“Get down, you idiots! Get down!!”

As Heivia shouted, his follow soldiers frantically dove to the floor.

Quenser moved just his eyes to look at the window. It only contained a small hole and crack as if the tip of an umbrella had pierced it. The rifle bullet had been travelling so quickly that it had passed through the glass before the force of the impact could propagate.

“How did you notice that!?”

“My rifle’s passive sensors just happened to pick something up. He’s using microwaves that react to motion! It’s a necessary item when doing long-distance sniping without a spotter!!”

A few of their allies held up their assault rifles while crouching down. They connected a line between the hole in the glass and the hole on the opposite wall and they followed that to determine where the sniper had fired from.

But Heivia spoke up from the floor.

“Don’t try it. He’ll have already moved and you couldn’t reach him without anti-materiel rifles anyway. If he’s using microwaves, he’s the type that shoots and runs. If he’s set the equipment somewhere else and is linked to it through his radio, that won’t tell us anything either. If you pop up to fire back, he’ll just shoot you from his next point!”

“How about we continue on along the floor?” asked Quenser. “If we stay below the windows, the walls will protect us.”

“I’d love to, but do you have any guarantee he isn’t using an anti-materiel rifle? And if he pulls out a missile or Gatling gun, he can rip us and the walls to pieces.”

===Part 13===

It was like shooting fish in a barrel.

That was the honest opinion of the ace pilot girl of Sky Blue Inc., a Capitalist Corporations aerial PMC. She surrendered herself to the hard rock loudly playing from the smartphone she had brought into the cockpit.

The blue sky beyond the clear canopy was interrupted by several streams of black smoke, but the losses were not from her side. The Legitimacy Kingdom warships were being set ablaze one after another.

It would not have been this easy in the Northern Restricted Zone where she normally fought. The powerful long-time fighters of those never-ending death-filled battlefields did not rely on Objects. They would have seen right through this disturbance tactic and used manual targeting to swat down the bothersome flies. Destroying a heavy cruiser with just a handful of aircraft was worth a hero’s medal, so the girl found it almost disturbing that they were about to reach double digits so easily.

(The company ordered me to score some points here, but I guess this is what it’s like in the outside world. The only way to die on this battlefield is falling asleep because it’s so boring.)

She gave instructions to her colleagues over the radio.

She could see their next target.

It was a small aircraft carrier used as a flagship. To distribute the risk, there were a few identical ships in the fleet, but the thickness of the defensive barrages made it immediately obvious which was the flagship.

“Ice Girl 1 to Ice Unit. On my signal, perform a unified attack on the aircraft carrier’s bridge. Attack from the top to throw the bottom into chaos. And if I’m correct, that ship is connected to the Object. Hopefully the panic will spread to the star of the battlefield.”

The ship’s Gatling gun close-in weapon system began firing once they arrived within 100 meters, but a few thousands shots a minute was not enough to eat into their fighters. The bullets simply travelled across the ocean and tore into the neighboring ship.

Ice Girl 1 flew on through.

She even looked through the thick bulletproof glass and saw a silver-haired woman who appeared to be the commander. The woman was staring quietly at her.

But Ice Girl 1 did not care.

Her thumb gently stroked the button on top of the stick that fired a missile.

The pack of wolves would crush the head of the fattened herbivore.

But something happened just before that.

“CT to Ice Unit! Defense Charlie detected at nine o’clock. I repeat, an AAM Defense Charlie detected at nine o’clock!! Cancel it ASAP!!”

(…!?)

There had been no missile alert.

Or rather, there were so many meaningless targeting signals coming from the surrounding ships that she had not noticed this sudden intruder.

After Ice Girl 1 gave instructions to the others, they stopped attacking and took scattered evasive actions. The four fighters split into groups of two and flew past either side of the bridge at tremendous speed. The supposedly bulletproof windows shattered, but the aces did not have time to check on that.

“Ice Girl 1 to CT! Cancel confirmed! #4 was hit by some fragments, but it’s still active!!”

“There was no targeting signal just before it fired. The enemy is likely using visual identification. It’s using semi-active targeting and the pilot seems to be directly targeting you by sight!!”

In that instant, Ice Girl 1 felt a chill run along her spine.

It did not come from fear.

It did not come from unease.

It did not come from terror.

The vector of this emotion was in the exact opposite direction.

“Here it comes.”

The girl named Mariydi Whitewitch smiled fiercely.

“Something’s coming and it lives in the same world as us! Ice Unit, remember the real battlefield. The practice run ends here!!”

A moment later, someone sent out a transmission on an open and unencrypted band.

“Don’t grin like that with a job this boring. I’m sure you’re getting tired of tripping up those who have grown rusty thanks to the Objects. How about you let another ace pilot join you in this outdated sky, Ice Girl of the Capitalist Corporations.”

The man’s pretentious manner of speech reminded Ice Girl 1 of a certain fact.

The Legitimacy Kingdom had their own ace. While she and her colleagues stuffed everything necessary to fly into a human shell, this pilot flew a delta-wing fighter that looked like a beautiful sword and was created by removing all but the absolute necessities from the flying machine. He was a steel grim reaper who supposedly preferred using inconvenient semi-active targeting and would occasionally toy with the enemy fighters by “redoing the targeting” of missiles that flew off in the wrong direction.

[[Image:HO_v08_082.jpg|thumb]]

When she recalled his name, she licked her lips.

“Burning Alpha. I never thought I would run across the Legitimacy Kingdom’s scarlet evil eye!!”

“Stop it. That’s embarrassing. Unlike you, I’m much too old for those childish nicknames. Now I’m just itching to shoot you down.”

Even as they spoke, the fight to the death had already begun.

They weaved between the warships, chased and were pursued, and performed countless combat maneuvers as they attempted to take up position behind the other.

The line of ships momentarily got between them.

“By the way, hard rock during a dogfight? You have terrible taste. It’s just too cliché. Did you get it from a Hollywood movie? Or maybe a video game? Just so you know, classic is best no matter what you’re doing. You need to grow out of that childish stuff and maybe grow some breasts too.”

“You might think you’re being intellectual, but you’re just polishing a fossil. I can’t stand how the Legitimacy Kingdom thinks anything’s good as long as it’s old and musty. It’s disgusting. You might as well be praising cheese that smells like wet socks.”

“…”

“…”

Silence fell.

A slight gap in the line of ships appeared and the wall dividing the two fighter units disappeared.

The masses of metal crossed paths as they weaved through the slight gap.

The ace pilots began their battle as they worked to rule the sky.

===Part 14===

Angela Hibiscus, who commanded Moss Green, clicked her tongue when she received a report from the sniper.

“The lost children are after the sixth secondary power supply. Anything else would be sad even for them.”

There were several secondary power supplies, so stopping just one or two would not affect the entire Ame-no-Darin. They were also located at the end of the structure, so causing an explosion with their fuel would not sink the Ame-no-Darin.

Which meant…

“They must be trying to interfere with the power supply’s emergency switching system to cause an error in the whole power system and create a blackout. A foolish idea for a group of fools.”

The civil war surrounding the Ame-no-Darin was being fought between two Capitalist Corporations forces. One was trying to protect the Ame-no-Darin and the other was trying to sink it.

Angela’s Moss Green unit had been hired by the group trying to sink it.

“Sergeant major, how is the marking going?”

“It is already complete. Team C has secured the central power supply. We know the locations of all 2500+ valve release points, so we can begin the flooding at any time.”

Moss Green was trying to sink the Ame-no-Darin and a float that large could not be sunk with anti-ship missiles or torpedoes.

They had infiltrated it, calculated out how to sink the giant float under the weight of the water, and were prepared to fill specific blocks with water.

Water was a simple weight that simply increased with volume.

Merely filling an apartment’s cramped bathtub would secure two hundred kilograms. Due to the large size of the float, they could use leverage to split it down the middle like a cookie or biscuit.

In other words…

“If power is lost and a blackout covers all of the Ame-no-Darin, can we continue our mission?”

“Yes, if we set up explosives at each and every valve release location. But that would be in the quadruple digits and we would have to force our way into every part of the Ame-no-Darin.”

“In that case, it would be faster to make our move before those lost children arrive at the sixth secondary power supply.”

With that said, Angela Hibiscus brought her radio to her mouth.

“Teams B and D, gather our wounded and attack #6. If you can’t secure it, go ahead and blow it up. We hold the central power supply, so losing one of the many secondary ones won’t affect the mission.”

The man she had referred to as a sergeant major tilted his head a bit like a hunting dog awaiting orders at its owner’s feet.

“You aren’t sending in the whole unit?”

“Don’t forget our objective. Those lost children are outsiders. We were hired to sink the Ame-no-Darin, so that is what we must focus on.”

===Part 15===

The two Objects were named the Mad Cooker and the Be Ablaze.

They took different sides in the civil war, but they both belonged to the Capitalist Corporations. The princess’s Baby Magnum fought them both while quickly moving about the ocean surface.

At first, she had planned to interfere little by little from a distance to disturb their fight, but battles did not always go as planned.

She had been forced to approach them and it had developed into a three-way battle.

The princess was trying to extend the civil war surrounding the Island Nation by destroying the Be Ablaze which was trying to exterminate the self-defense PMC and the Ame-no-Darin, but she could no longer attack just the one Object.

In order to survive, she was forced to engage the Mad Cooker.

If the Baby Magnum was lost now, the thousand members of the battalion would be in danger.

“…!!”

As the princess withstood the high Gs caused by her lightning-fast evasive actions, she accurately kept track of the enemies and fired back with her seven main cannons.

The Be Ablaze used various fuels, oxidizers, and other chemicals to create flamethrowers. It used those to create a multilayer wall of heat called the Hiding Clothes of Flame and it prevented various types of targeting by distorting light.

The Mad Cooker fired a railgun that used molten salt and was theorized to automatically replenish its shells using the salt and metal in the ocean water.

(Fortunately, the two of them aren’t working together. With them scattered, I can interfere from here. My only choice is to destroy them one at a time and return safely.)

She was of course targeting the Be Ablaze.

She fired her seven main cannons in different directions to cut off her opponent’s escape and then fired them all together once her target had stopped.

Everything was progressing perfectly and yet she could not hit the Be Ablaze through the flames.

“Heh heh heh. Hah hah hah,” laughed the enemy Elite over the radio. “I feel like a matador. But I guess I shouldn’t expect too much from an unintelligent Legitimacy Kingdom Elite.”

“I don’t want to hear that from a rookie who has to rely on a system because he can’t evade on his own. Did you feel like showing off because your parents bought you a new bike?”

“You seem to be focusing on me, so I take it you’re trying to extend this war by helping the side protecting the Ame-no-Darin. …Are you serious? We sent Moss Green in there. They’ll sink the Ame-no-Darin no matter what happens. You’re wasting your time here.”

“My fellow soldiers won’t lose.”

“Bullshit. This isn’t about winning or losing. Moss Green is disposable. If they fail, I just have to sink the Ame-no-Darin myself. The other side never stood a chance.”

“……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………I see you have a death wish.”

“Ha ha! What do you think war is!?”

“Then I’ll roast your escape hatch before blowing up your reactor.”

Meanwhile, the Mad Cooker had taken up a position from which it could attack both the Baby Magnum and the Be Ablaze. As it aimed its main salt railgun, its Elite hesitantly cut into the conversation.

“Um… Have you both forgotten about the true star of the battlefield?”

“Shut up!!”

“Get the hell out of here!!!!”

After a great flash of light, the Mad Cooker was attacked from two fronts and bloomed into a giant flower on the battlefield.

“Oops.”

The princess finally realized what had happened once the operator gave the damage report.

She had destroyed the self-defense PMC’s Object.

If she did not do anything, there would be no one left to prevent the Be Ablaze from destroying the Ame-no-Darin. That would be a problem, so the Baby Magnum had to interfere. The two Objects put an appropriate distance between them and the battle line started gradually approaching the Ame-no-Darin.

“Heh heh heh! Hah hah hah!! Leave it to the Legitimacy Kingdom to act as a shield to protect the enemy! Even your stupid Elites try to act heroically!!”

“Honestly, why am I risking my life for this?”

The princess did a wonderful job of synchronizing her thoughts with the other Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers fighting to protect the Ame-no-Darin.

Baby Magnum vs. Be Ablaze.

The second round of the open-weight fight began.

===Part 16===

Quenser heard a quick burst of gunfire.

His fellow soldiers collapsed nearby.

“Shit, they’re here!” shouted Heivia. “It’s Moss Green!!”

They could not raise their heads for fear of the sniper, but the mercenaries had shown themselves by blocking the pure white corridor that led to the sixth secondary power supply. They were about 250 meters away and they numbered between 10 and 20. The straight corridor had no cover, but they had loaded several push carts with thick metal pipes and used them as shields.

On the other hand, Quenser’s group had nothing to use as shields.

And they would have to travel several dozen meters to fall back. They would be shot in the back well before they reached safety.

“Oh, c’mon!!”

Still on the floor, Quenser reached for his back and pulled out a Hand Axe plastic explosive. He attached a pen-like electric fuse, tossed it toward the ceiling, and hit the switch on his radio.

The explosion was followed by the ceiling collapsing.

As he coughed, Heivia pressed up against the pile of rubble and used it as cover.

“Dammit, Quenser! Leave the firefight to us and treat the wounded. There’s nothing more for a bomber to do here!!”

“I’m not a medic!”

“No one else has their hands free!! If we don’t push them back, they’ll throw a grenade and wipe us out!!”

Heivia and the others started firing and left Quenser alone, so he nervously turned toward the fellow soldiers who were collapsed on the floor. The pools of blood were growing and he had no idea where to start.

Along with the ones whose injuries were light enough to still move, he searched through his pouch for anything usable and lined them up on the shiny white floor.

“What’s this? Did the bullet leave the body!?”

“How should I know? But stopping the bleeding comes first. He’ll die if you keep hesitating! Hold that leg. We can wrap a bandage around the thigh to stop the bleeding!!”

“Saline? What is this and how do I use it!?”

“The same as a blood transfusion!! You pour that in instead of blood to regulate the blood pressure!”

“How do you do a blood transfusion!?”

“Just like a normal IV! You find a vein on the elbow and stab in a needle!!”

Quenser’s group was surprisingly lively. They sounded like students preparing for a school festival. As they desperately fired bullets from behind the rubble, Heivia’s group would occasionally turn a jealous eye behind them.

“Ow… Stop, you idiot. That hurts. Don’t dump disinfectant on there. It stings!”

“Ha ha ha. I’m not gonna treat you gently if you refuse to pay back the money I lent you.”

“What!? Wait. Is that glue!? You’re gonna seal the wound with that!? I’ll pay you back with interest!!”

“Of course you will. By the way, the only other options we have here is a stapler or safety pins.”

“Are there no medics over there?”

“There’s one! Hey, you! The one firing the submachine gun! Being an angel in white suits you more than blood and smoke. Stop filling your body with adrenaline and get over there!”

“Eh? Eh? But my boyfriend here asked me to help out.”

“It’s time to ditch him! C’mon over here!!”

Heivia was finally unable to stand the flirting mood of afterschool festival preparations developing behind him, so he shouted angrily at his allies.

“Don’t go stealing our nurse!! She’s our one refreshment up here!!”

“What are you talking about?” said Quenser. “If you need a blonde twin-tail in a nurse cap, you have me. You should count yourself lucky because I’m too good for you.”

“I get it now, Quenser. You want me to kill you, don’t you!?”

Suddenly, an explosion drowned out all nearby voices.

“Bwapph!!!???”

“Dammit…. They’ve started firing 25mm grenades! We just don’t have enough firepower!!”

Those grenades had been developed to kill humans, so they did not destroy the rubble.

But if they were fired in an arc over the rubble, there was nothing Quenser’s group could do. The explosive blast and shrapnel would wash over them.

The previous explosion had not been a simple missed shot.

They were firing a few test shots to calculate the ideal course.

Once they fired for real, Quenser’s group would be slaughtered as they hid behind cover.

Heivia clicked his tongue.

“Gather all our rockets, missiles, and whatever other explosives we have! Let’s blow away the push carts they’re hiding behind!!”

“I’ll leave it to you if you can manage it, but they’re better shots than us! They’ll put a bullet between your eyes while you’re holding up the launcher and taking aim. And the best barrage we can manage isn’t fazing them at all!!”

“Who the hell even are you!?”

“That’s just mean!! I’ve been protecting your back this entire time!!”

Boy A started sobbing despite not looking at all feminine, so Heivia ignored him and turned toward Quenser.

For some reason, Quenser was operating his radio with bloody hands.

“What are you doing!? The cavalry isn’t gonna show up if you send out an SOS!!”

“Don’t be so sure.”

“What?”

Heivia looked confused and his mocking expression turned to a serious one.

Quenser lightly shook his radio.

“We made our way above the waterline to escape their flooding, but I thought of another way to make use of it.”

“You mean the sixth secondary power supply!? Sure, we might be able to bring down all the power supplies by messing with the emergency switchover system, but we can’t get near the thing! Charging in will just get you driven back by bullets and grenades!!”

“There’s something else,” said Quenser without a moment’s pause. He began explaining as if he had been planning this all along. “Heivia, the cavalry has changed quite a bit these days. They have armor that can resist nukes, they have gigantic cannons that can split open the earth, and they’re piloted by beautiful girls.”

“You don’t mean…”

“What else could I mean but an Object?”

Their sight and hearing were completely blown away.

This went well beyond an explosion.

This was meant to aid Quenser’s group, but they were thrown to the pure white floor. The soldiers already on the floor were sent rolling.

“B-babh!? Bbah!? Bbgweh!!”

“D-don’t worry. I understand, Heivia. This is time for explanations, right? I received a report that the princess destroyed the Mad Cooker. That increased her range of motion, so I had her assist us during the openings in her battle against the Be Ablaze. Wink☆”

“Bh… I was trying to ask if you had any last words!!!”

Object shells generally could not attack deep below the sea. In order for Quenser to request assistance from the princess, they had to make their way above the waterline.

The Ame-no-Darin’s corridor had twisted like a sugar sculpture and some of it had been torn off. The first shot had been near Quenser’s group in order to mark off their safe area. The subsequent shells gradually moved farther away and brought death closer and closer to Moss Green.

Metal pipes on push carts were not enough to protect them from this ferocity.

The Moss Green mercenaries frantically tried to retreat, but the entire structure shook with tremendous force and they could not run properly.

The corridor was destroyed as if being bitten into.

The pure white corridor, the structure, and the soldiers were all crushed and thrown through the air.

Quenser covered one ear with a hand, pressed his radio against the other ear, and shouted into it.

“Stop!! Stop firing!!”

“There’s too much noise on your end, so I can’t hear you,” replied the princess.

“You just fired on the sixth secondary power supply!! Our destination is gone!!”

The metal door three hundred meters ahead was blown up from the other side and it spewed flames and smoke.

Heivia tapped Quenser’s shoulder in resignation.

“Our luck ran out once our great demon god had to take part in a conflict between humans. If it was blown up, there’s nothing we can do. We’ll have to go to the next closest power supply.”

The embankment-like place a few kilometers over the ocean was struck by the Baby Magnum’s shells. The structure was torn to shreds where the sniper was presumably lurking.

“The other secondary power supplies are still okay, right?”

“I want to leave the rest to the princess and go home.”

“I’d love to, but our mission will end in failure if the Ame-no-Darin splits in half and sinks. We need to put in a little more effort to lengthen this civil war.”

But then they spotted motion beyond the rubble that no longer functioned as a corridor. It was 250 meters ahead at the corner from which the Moss Green group had appeared.

They saw a woman with long silver hair and brown skin.

She was part of Moss Green, but the simplified medals on her ample chest suggested she held a fairly high rank.

“Now you’ve done it, Legitimacy Kingdom dogs! This is a Capitalist Corporations problem.”

“No, it’s an Island Nation problem! We’re both outsiders here!”

Heivia targeted the brown woman with his assault rifle, but the Ame-no-Darin lurched disconcertingly as an aftereffect of the Baby Magnum’s bombardment. He could not aim steadily and his bullets hit the wall next to her.

The thorough Object bombardment had destroyed the walls, the ceiling, and even the floor.

It felt like Quenser and Heivia were separated from Moss Green by a 250 meter ravine.

Quenser raised his middle finger.

“Let’s call this a tie, so withdraw your unit! Whether you’re from the Northern Restricted Zone or wherever else, flesh-and-blood soldiers can’t withstand the ferocity of an Object!”

“Is that so? Don’t forget your goal, sheltered little boy.”

The Ame-no-Darin shook once more and the ground below their feet felt like a small boat on a stormy night.

“What was that!?” Heivia paled. “That didn’t match the timing of the princess’s bombardment!”

“Our goal is to sink the Ame-no-Darin. We can operate the necessary bulkheads and seawater valves from the central power supply, so now we only have to wait for leverage to bend the giant float until it breaks down the center like a biscuit.”

The ground shook even more.

It sometimes reached a tilt of thirty degrees. Quenser wanted to grab onto something so he did not fall, so he reached for a crack in the floor. However, he heard a gunshot and orange sparks flew from nearby.

The silver-haired brown woman 250 meters away held a handgun.

Normally, 150 meters was the limit for a handgun even with careful aim. The fact that it had taken her only one shot to accurately fire right next to his hand while everything shook showed just how well-trained she was.

Quenser reflexively drew back his hand like a turtle sensing danger and drawing its head into its shell.

And that was exactly what the woman wanted.

“Wait! Watch out, Quenser!!” shouted Heivia.

But as if he were slipping down a slide, Quenser was thrown into the giant “ravine” opened in the pure white floor.

After seeing that, the brown woman licked her lips and jumped in after him.

They would be below the cold ocean there.

The Object could not provide proper support for anyone down there.

===Part 17===

“Gah!?” gasped Quenser as something struck his back.

The thick metal pipes running everywhere like blood vessels reminded him that he had fallen to a lower level.

Something must have happened to the wiring because the lights were out. The area was dark and his back was soaking wet because a giant puddle of seawater covered the entire floor. This was below the waterline, so he hoped it was from a burst pipe. A broken exterior wall would be truly terrible.

He stood up, leaned against a nearby column, and thought.

(What do I do? I can’t get back up the way I came, so I have to find a different set of stairs. Can I get the lights on? Or would that tell the enemy where I am?)

He then heard some static from his radio.

He hoped it was from Heivia or the others, but it was not.

“A rat in the birdcage.”

He grimaced.

That was the silver-haired brown woman he had spoken with before. She was most likely Moss Green’s commander here.

(When did they break our encryption!?)

[[Image:HO_v08_103.jpg|thumb]]

“Listen. I said a rat, not a little bird. Raptors prefer lively prey.”

“You’ve already won. Ame-no-Darin really does seem to be sinking. We can’t turn this around and the Legitimacy Kingdom can’t keep this civil war going if it sinks. So what more do you want? Don’t you have to retreat as well!?”

“It’s simple.”

Quenser looked around as he listened to her.

The area was dark and his enemy had to be skilled at remaining hidden. A near-amateur student would not be able to find her by effort alone.

“Sinking the Ame-no-Darin was our top priority and we got that over with quickly. That means we can veer off course and deal with a more personal and meaningless objective. As long as we accomplish our mission, the higher ups will turn a blind eye to a short detour.”

“Don’t tell me you’re taking revenge for your killed men.”

“They weren’t the type to die in a place like this.”

For the first time, human emotion poured into her voice.

Trusting the chill running down his spine, Quenser checked over his equipment again. He had a balled-up diving suit, an oxygen tank, and the Hand Axe plastic explosive. In his survival kit, he had a small knife and a metal skewer, but he could not use them very well. Not even Heivia would think of handling a Northern Restricted Zone warrior with only a knife.

“I couldn’t bear to thrown them into the ruthless Northern Restricted Zone right after they finished boot camp. Before showing them true hell, I wanted them to prove themselves in these lukewarm battlefields and earn a few medals. But look at this. Now I have to bury them without anything decorating their chests. How can this happen? With a funeral as pathetic as this, they’ll never live down the shame even in heaven.”

“I thought the people who lived where Objects are banned would know just how unreasonable this line of work is. If you didn’t like it, you should have claimed they weren’t suited for this and swept them aside. You were in a position to do that!!”

“This is where that was supposed to be tested!! They were supposed to shoot you sheltered snot-nosed brats like it was a walk in the park!!”

Quenser finally felt he had seen where her anger was coming from.

She was not simply angry that her men had been killed.

If they had died in their actual battlefield in the Northern Restricted Zone, she may have written it off as unavoidable.

But this was below them.

She had looked down on it.

As a warrior, she was unable to forgive the fact that they had been killed by scrawny Quenser and the others who could only fight while protected by an Object. If someone died in single combat with a great warrior or a hero, their name might remain in history, but that death would be meaningless if they were instead killed in their sleep by wild dogs or bandits that were digging through the dead on the battlefield. This was no different. They had never been treating Quenser or his fellow soldiers as human.

She had said her men were not the type to die in a place like this.

That proved it more than anything else.

“You’re twisted. I feel like an idiot for thinking I did something wrong even for a moment.”

“I will take off your head, you damn poodle. It’s high time you learned to fear the wolf who was born in the forest and rules the mountain. I’ll leave you in such a tragic state that they won’t know what to carve on your grave, but I’ll at least stuff your head and offer it in place of fruit.”

In that dark place, the thoroughly trained wolf began preparing for her silent hunt.

If Quenser did nothing, his throat would be torn out.

Even if he gave this a normal level of effort or tried to protect himself with the standard methods, his weak poodle legs would not accomplish much.

He checked over his equipment again: balled up diving suit, oxygen tank, Hand Axe plastic explosive, small knife, and metal skewer. However, he doubted any of that would be of much use.

What could he do with only those supplies?

If he did not find an answer, his fate was sealed.

===Part 18===

Naturally, Angela Hibiscus did not let her guard down even when facing a foolish poodle.

She had judged the enemy’s equipment at a glance before even luring him down here.

He was a combat engineer.

The plastic explosives on his back would be his primary weapon. He did not carry a rifle or even a sidearm handgun, so he may have been a battlefield student. Other than the explosives, he would likely have an insignificant knife in his survival kit and he also had the balled up diving suit on his waist and an oxygen tank.

She focused more on the diving suit than the explosives.

Anyone with half a brain would never think of actually defeating her in a straight fight. She was only armed with a large military knife and a handgun, but she was confident in her ability to execute him without a scratch on her even if he were armed with a light machinegun.

If he was hoping to win, he would not try to attack at any one point.

In other words, he would use an attack that thoroughly filled the entire space. With that, he could defeat her while ignoring her combat skill.

They were below the waterline and he had a diving suit and an oxygen tank, so the most obvious method would be to fill the area with water.

(But he won’t do that. The valves won’t function in this blackout, but he could open them by destroying them with explosives. But if he causes too fast and powerful a surge, he won’t escape unscathed either.)

It was similar to a drowned corpse being swept down a mountain stream filled with rocks. With the powerful current striking the body against the hard outcroppings again and again, entire limbs could be torn off. The boy’s synthetic diving suit could not withstand that sort of impact.

(If he slowly opens the valves manually to avoid that danger, the flooding will take too long. I can slit his throat a hundred times over before it takes effect.)

The diving suit was made to withstand a certain level of water pressure, but it was not solid enough to stop the explosive blast of a bomb.

That meant he could not place bombs around the area and cause a giant explosion.

That left only one option.

(There’s a puddle of seawater at our feet.)

She used her night vision to observe her surroundings.

She could see her foolish target’s back from where she was.

(That synthetic diving suit is an insulator. He can use electricity as an attack that will only affect me.)

She grinned and adjusted her grip on the knife and handgun.

(Sorry, but the Object attack destroyed the circuitry. There’s no electricity to send through the seawater in this blackout! The very bombardment that tore my men to pieces has spelled your doom!!)

She took in a short breath and began to move.

Despite the seawater puddle covering the floor, she moved swiftly yet almost silently toward Quenser’s back.

But at that very moment, he took a strange action.

There was no way he had noticed her approaching from behind, but he suddenly put on his diving suit’s helmet and held something in his hand.

She had one more step to go.

In just one second, the knife in her hand would cross his shoulder and reach his windpipe.

And he reached a hand toward the button on his radio.

(A bomb!!!???)

She did not have time to judge the meaning of the action.

An instant later, an explosion compressed the air in the entire area.

===Part 19===

The aerial PMC named Sky Blue Inc. was working alongside Moss Green. Mariydi Whitewitch, their ace pilot, frowned as she received instructions over the radio.

That lovely blonde-haired girl was filled with fierce anger.

“You’re calling off the attack? You’re telling us to retreat!? What is going on, CT!? Don’t get in my way! I’m one attack away from shooting down Burning Alpha!!”

“CT to Ice Girl 1. Getting this worked up is a sign of danger. We came here to unilaterally earn some points, not for a 50/50 battle. Don’t forget the entire reason we are here.”

“Just one more and my kill count will be a nice round number and I want a good story to tell. Give me this one!!”

“CT to Ice Girl 1. The Legitimacy Kingdom’s first generation has sunk the Capitalist Corporations’ Ningyo and Yuuhi. Surprisingly, it won despite being outnumbered two-to-one. Its Elite is very skilled. With that burden gone, it can now move over a wider area. If you don’t finish up soon, you’ll be its next target. Sky Blue’s only job was to destroy some ships and spread confusion through their chain of command. We have no clear goal like Moss Green. Do you want to be known as someone who never returned from this lukewarm battlefield?”

“But!!”

“Stop complaining, Ice Girl 1. You have already done more than enough for a bonus and an aircraft can’t hope to oppose an Object if it is actively targeting you. This has nothing to do with your skill. Turn back immediately. Or do you enjoy putting your men in danger because you were blinded by the prize of shooting down an ace?”

The girl clicked her tongue and angrily raised the volume of her smartphone.

The Legitimacy Kingdom ace named Burning Alpha spoke cheerfully over the open band.

“What? Are you leaving in the middle of our date? Well, maybe you need to grow up a bit before you can handle anything more. Go on. Get home before it gets dark. Don’t get lost.”

“Come visit the Northern Restricted Zone. I’ll kill you in an instant!! And don’t act so tough when your left wingtip is spewing smoke! You have your hand on the eject lever, don’t you!?”

“You say that, but you had one of your men cut in and take one of my AAM locks for you. I will praise you for using smoke to escape my visual identification afterwards, though. Without that, you’d be swimming in the middle of enemy territory right now. Were you too scared to go on a date without your big brother to protect that cute little ass of yours?”

“I-I’ll kill you!! I’ll kill you right now!!”

Mariydi tried to tilt the stick, but three fellow members of the Ice Unit had her marked on the top and either side. They were only a few meters apart, so she would collide with them if she tried to turn.

She held her head in her hands and let out a large sigh.

She kicked the flight recorder at her feet and spoke.

“Those pieces of shit got lucky this time.”

In her irritation, she cursed Burning Alpha and all the other major targets she missed out on.

That included base commander-class officer Frolaytia Capistrano on the flagship aircraft carrier.

“I hope I see you on the battlefield again soon.”

===Part 20===

What Quenser had done was quite simple.

He did not use the blast to kill.

He instead modified the amount of explosive to keep it nonlethal. It was just enough force to apply tremendous pressure to the inner ear that controlled balance.

If he had simply set it off, he would have collapsed along with Angela.

And that well-trained woman would have recovered faster than a scrawny boy like him, so she would have killed him afterwards.

But that was why he had put on the diving suit’s helmet. The helmet was made to withstand a fair bit of water pressure. It could not withstand the pressure of an explosion that could smash a human skeleton, but it could hold off a blast weakened so it only affected the inner ear.

He removed the helmet, looked around, and finally realized that Angela had approached within a step of his back. The discovery did not please him.

“I’m glad I didn’t try to say anything clever before setting it off.”

As he spoke, a rope fell down from the top of the “ravine”.

“Hey, Quenser!” shouted down Heivia. “Get on up here!!”

“Sure,” he answered as he grabbed the bottom of the rope.

He could not climb up on his own, so he would have to let those with some strength left pull him up.

But then he glanced over toward the many pillars.

The base of one of them appeared to have been opened up, but it was not due to the explosion. A part had been removed.

He had seen something similar before.

With a very bad feeling in his gut, he frantically pulled out his handheld device. He found similar opened spots in the photos he had previously taken in the Ame-no-Darin.

He had assumed construction of the facility had stopped before it was complete.

But if that was not the case…

“Wait.”

After tying Angela’s hands with the end of the rope, he slapped her cheek.

He had to check on something.

“What is this? Why are there pieces missing here and there from the walls and ceilings as if this is an unfinished jigsaw puzzle!? It’s almost like the parts needed to build something else were secretly shipped in during the construction of the Ame-no-Darin!!”

“You didn’t know?”

Angela opened her eyes a bit and grimaced after noticing how tightly her arms were bound.

“This was a giant workshop that the Island Nation…no, that the rogue self-defense PMC prepared in order to construct a new model of Object without anyone interfering. And if it isn’t here anymore, that means it was completed and let out into the world.”

The trigger of the next war had long since been pulled.

<noinclude>{{HEAVYOBJECT Nav|prev=HEAVY OBJECT:Volume8 Prologue|next=HEAVY OBJECT:Volume8 Chapter 2}}</noinclude>

HEAVY OBJECT:Volume8 Chapter 1

2014-06-16T04:18:48Z

Axyraandas: /* Part 3 */

==Chapter 1: A Resource Which Cannot Be Made Plentiful >> Landing on the Island Nation’s Ame-no-Darin==

===Part 1===

''From the moment I woke up, I had a bad feeling about the day to come.

The ship’s log of the luxury cruise ship Scarlet Princess contained that statement in the Legitimacy Kingdom’s official language.

It was 380 meters long, its top speed was 40 knots, and it could hold up to 2500 people. It was on such a grand scale that it was much like tilting a safe country resort on its side and taking it out to sea. Incidentally, the cost of the ship could purchase a resort and an 18-hole golf course with money to spare. All three layers of its deck contained a pool and the rear of the ship even contained a heliport.

Around twenty crew members were packed into the control room.

Electronics and automation had taken great strides forward, so the number of people needed to run the large ship had been drastically cut down. They had three shifts making three times that many crew in total, but that was still less than one hundred. Surprisingly, the number of “waitresses” outnumbered the crew who held the lives of everyone else aboard in their hands.

An elderly man let out a small sigh.

His name was Alfonso Zoom and he was the captain of the luxury cruise ship.

“Captain, we will be entering the Strait of Malacca soon.”

“I know.”

Alfonso gave a brief reply to the young (even if he was in his thirties) navigation officer.

Just like the Panama Canal, the Strait of Gibraltar, and the Suez Canal, the Strait of Malacca was a gate of the sea. In its case, it connected the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. It was a narrow passageway and many world powers insisted it was their territory, but it was still the shortest course. Unless it was packed full of military resources or part of a transport fleet protected by an Object, a luxury cruise ship circumnavigating the world had no choice but to use the Strait of Malacca. Simply calculating the ship’s fuel expenses made that painfully clear.

Alfonso poured coffee from a thermos and into a mug as he spoke to the young navigation officer.

“Do you know what I’m worried about?”

“It wouldn’t be reefs. Is it wreckage of fishing ships that were caught in a storm? I’ve heard the sea around here isn’t very clean.”

“My daughters. Joining the military is fine. After all, this is the age of clean wars. But why did both my twin daughters have to choose to be Black Uniforms in charge of barrier duty? They are both young unmarried women and they chose to throw themselves into the part of the military with the most bullets flying around.”

“I see.”

“I bet it was a reaction to the extreme education their mother gave them. That came from a complex brought on by newfound riches. She surrounded those two in piano, violin, and ballroom dancing from a young age, so they eventually rejected high society. If you want your daughters to be brought up as proper ladies, why would you show them how oppressive it all is? Don’t you agree?”

“Um… Where are you going with this?”

“As captain, I have a lot of spare time to think about a distant safe country. Our course is simple and this isn’t all that dangerous an area. You can relax a little.”

Alfonso Zoom turned toward the large radio equipment. A few lights were flashing which showed that quite a few radio signals were being sent back and forth in this area of sea. He could tell at a glance that the situation here was complex.

“This is Ship ID PL_055 registered with the Legitimacy Kingdom’s Amazon region. Do you have our location? I want to check before heading into the crowded intersection. Over.”

“We have you perfectly. GPS, beacon, and radar are all functioning normally. Luxury cruise ship Scarlet Princess, please enter on the path given on the screen. Welcome to the Southeast Asia’s main entrance. Over.”

“Understood, harbor control. Today is another good day. Out.”

As he finished the transmission with the standard greeting, wrinkles of suspicion gradually appeared on the captain’s face.

The young navigation officer also looked doubtful.

“Captain, about that transmission…”

“Yes.” Alfonso Zoom let out a heavy sigh. “Just as famous people do not refer to themselves as famous, a professional does not normally refer to a luxury cruise ship as ‘luxury’.”

Then what had that transmission been?

The captain spoke the answer anyone could reach with a little bit of thought.

“They’re coming.”

===Part 2===

A ten-man fishing boat raced toward the luxury cruise ship while jumping from stormy wave to stormy wave. Yes, it was racing. The entire engine had been swapped out, so it was moving “above” the ocean while practically popping a wheelie. It was moving at about 80 kph. As hydrofoils made quite evident, boats could move at three digit speeds if the water resistance was lessened. And the fastest way to do that was to lift the boat itself above the water.

Thick metal panels were bolted to the sides of the fishing boat and heavily suntanned men were crammed inside. They held old rifles and submachine guns with an extra coat of paint to hide the scrapes and to stop them from rusting. Those tools were clearly not needed for fishing.

They were pirates who had butted into the transmission to put the ship where they wanted. A suntanned man returned a small microphone to the radio hook and whistled at the feast before him.

“Okay! Our prey is extra special today!! It’s got a giant antenna on top. That’s a satellite connection. They use it to check the black cards used in the casino. There must be tons of rich people on there!”

As the first man gave them some motivation, the other pirates started to grow rowdy.

“Eh? I thought it was for Wall Street which is so popular lately. They need to mess with their stocks and exchanges while on their cruise.”

“This is the Legitimacy Kingdom, so it would be the London Stock Exchange.”

“Who cares as long as they’re a bunch of rich ladies and gentlemen? More importantly, how are we on anti-ship missiles? We need at least two. The first acts as a demonstration. We need to make sure they know we’ll sink them if they don’t do what we say.”

“Leave it to me. There are four of them hanging on the sides of the ship.”

“You idiot!! Now I know why our fuel consumption’s been so bad!!”

An amateur pirate group could never mass produce missiles that were a collection of cutting-edge military secrets.

But nothing said they had to be “cutting-edge”.

What if they added modern technology to weapons produced fifty years prior?

Just as a hard disk sold in a home electronics store’s clearance sale would have been highly classified government technology fifty years ago, amateur groups could manufacture weapons.

In the festivals of Southeast Asia, rockets measuring three to five meters long were created to launch exciting fireworks 5000 to 10,000 meters into the air. If they were laid on their side, they made a decent starting point for a rocket motor.

Meanwhile, the other pirate ships gathered.

The suntanned man grabbed the radio again.

“Okay. A through F, go in front of the luxury cruise ship! Scatter some mines to stop them. G through I, take the starboard side. J through L, use anti-ship missiles to surround them from behind.”

“Shut up! You aren’t the leader!!”

“Don’t try to board the ship and earn some extra money just because it’s full of rich people. The plan is to make them lower their rescue boats. You don’t want to be killed by the peashooters they have for self-defense, do you?”

He heard a light noise.

One of his allies on the same boat was tapping the large radio.

And he whispered a question.

“Where do we fire the missile?”

“Don’t use it like you’re supposed to. If we sink the ship right off the bat, we can’t take any hostages. Don’t hit it on the waterline. Aim higher.”

He pointed into the distance while still holding the radio’s microphone.

As his finger jabbed toward the Scarlet Princess, it scooped upwards.

“For example, the control room.”

A seven meter tube shot from the side of the fishing boat. The anti-ship missile used solid fuel (aka gunpowder) to fly diagonally up from the ocean surface. In this “improper” usage, it was directly targeting the ship’s crew.

They all thought it was a success.

Blowing up the control room at the top of the luxury cruise ship would not immediately sink the ship. As previously stated, a ship’s weak point was the waterline where the seawater could surge in. However, the refined ladies and gentlemen would not realize that. If all of the professional crew was taken out at once and there was a fire on the ship, they would try to escape on the rescue boats no matter what. Afterwards, the pirates could surround the boats drifting powerlessly and carefully take hostages.

But…

The next thing the pirates knew, composite material shutters lowered over all of the luxury cruise ship’s 1000 or more windows.

The shutters covered both the outside and inside of the bulletproof glass which was already over thirty centimeters thick. This was obviously out of place on a civilian ship.

(Huh?)

For an instant, a complete blank filled the suntanned man’s mind.

The homemade anti-ship missile struck the control room, but its explosive flames and black smoke looked terribly unreliable. Once it all cleared away, only a slight dent remained in the shutters.

And then the ship began to fight back.

Strange metallic noises rang out again and again. From the bow to the stern, 20 mm Gatling guns of a close-in weapon system rose up along either side of the deck. They looked a bit like trees lining a road. The pools on the three layers of the deck split apart and 21 cm rapid-fire cannons rose high above them. The pirates could not see it, but a portion of the roof split into small sections like a chocolate bar or a honeycomb and countless vertical missile hatches opened in order.

They had stepped on a figurative landmine.

A horrible, horrible landmine.

Once they finally realized that, the captain of the luxury cruise ship spoke over the radio.

“Disguised Cruiser Scarlet Princess has confirmed an attack from the target.”

He essentially gave a death sentence.

That order opened the gates of hell.

“Begin Operation Codename ‘Blood-Soaked Princess’. Engaging target now. Pirates, this is your last chance to write your wills.”

With those words, the wolf in sheep’s clothing exposed its hidden claws and fangs.

After conceitedly thinking they could surround it with only about 15 boats, the pirates’ luck had run out.

The foxhunt had begun.

===Part 3===

The two idiots named Quenser Barbotage and Heivia Winchell were groaning in the landing unit hold at the bottom level of the disguised cruiser named Scarlet Princess.

The exterior was made to look like a luxury cruise ship, but the inside was completely different. Of its 380 meter length, over half of the bottom was a single large space. And that space was crammed full of military hovercrafts. Quenser and the others were packed like sardines into those hovercrafts.

The hovercrafts were pitched as “small but able to hold a tank☆”, but they were far from comfortable for people to use. They reeked of machine oil.

“This is tyranny!! We were only riding along! Can you really throw us out in front of the pirate’s guns? This isn’t even the 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion’s job! Who’s going to pay us!?”

“This is probably how we’re buying our ticket to ride the ship. I don’t feel like doing any real work either, though.”

“And how is this a ‘disguised cruiser’? It’s almost 400 meters long! They didn’t make battleships this big even back when they were relevant. That’s 100 meters more than the Island Nation’s Yamato! Are they insane!?”

“The category of battleship has vanished, so what can you do? And it’s a disguised ship, remember? Bringing escort ships along for protection would blow its cover, so it has to handle everything as a lone wolf. And it had to be heavily armored to safely draw in the pirates. It has to be tough enough to take a few rockets or torpedoes without issue.”

History had proven that aircraft would overtake the battleship in usefulness, but battleships could be useful once more now that aircraft could not be sent out. They were perfect for luring out and slaughtering pirates.

“…Why are you breathing so heavily?”

“Eh? Doesn’t seeing giant machines get you all excited? It’s human nature.”

Heivia shoved the perverted creep away with both hands as an ear-splitting buzzer rang and the lights switched to red.

Someone they could not see gave a high-spirited shout.

“Our brave ‘waitresses’, it’s time you risked your life fishing for sharks! Let’s make this an exciting enough battle to get a movie made! Rock & roll!!”

“Shut up! We’ve been ready!! And if you want to be the lead that badly, go do it on your own! Be a one-man army! Don’t drag us into it!!”

Heivia demonstrated his grace as a noble by elegantly raising his middle finger as he shouted at the man, but that changed nothing.

With a heavy rumble, the wall in front of them opened to either side. The bow of the disguised cruiser opened like a castle gate. One after another, amphibious hovercraft slid out and into the gunfire-filled battlefield of the Strait of Malacca.

And…

Whether by coincidence or design, a rocket suddenly flew into the hold.

As Heivia frantically held down Quenser’s head and got on the ground himself, a tremendous shock wave spread through the enclosed space.

A dull pain exploded more in his chest than his eardrums.

“Gbh!? Cough!! H-how the hell is this a safe and simple mop up mission!!”

“Anytime they call the mission ‘simple’, you should be suspicious.”

“Wait… Wait a second!! Did this hovercraft just start sliding? Wait!! We’ve got a bunch of injured soldiers already! You can’t just throw us out on the front liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!!”

But his protests came too late.

The hovercraft slid down the slope and shot out the bow of the “Blood-Soaked Princess”. They were suddenly forced to clash with the small fishing boats (which had been modified into high-speed boats) sitting in front.

They were about sixty centimeters away from the closest boat.

They were close enough to jump from one boat to the other.

Heivia’s gaze met that of a suntanned man.

“You bastards!!”

The man tried to raise the rifle carried over his shoulder with a sling belt, but he was too slow. Heivia pulled his handgun from its holster and fired repeatedly.

Quenser finally came to his senses as he watched three dark red holes appear in the man’s chest.

“Stop, Heivia! You can’t kill them!!”

“Ah? What!? I can’t hear you over all the noise!!”

“Don’t kill them!!”

All the 20 mm Gatling guns on the side of the disguised cruiser’s deck began to fire and shot down a homemade anti-ship missile flying over Quenser’s head. In return, several vertical launch missiles were fired at the pirates’ fishing boats. The noisy sound of rotors came from the heliport and a military attack helicopter began to take off.

The pirates had formed a half circle to envelop the Scarlet Princess’s path, but that proved a suicidal formation due to their misjudgment of the ship’s firepower. There had supposedly been around fifteen pirate boats, but half of them had already been sunk.

Everything was in motion and just watching it all made one’s eyes and head hurt.

And on top of that, the environment was so poor that one would be deafened while just sitting there.

After Quenser’s group’s hovercraft moved away, an attack from the air blew away the previous high-speed pirate boat like an empty can.

With his ears still ringing, Quenser shouted toward Heivia who was right next to him.

“If we just had to kill them, the ship’s weaponry could handle it! We were sent out for a reason!! Weren’t you listening during the pre-mission briefing!?”

“Oh? Oh, oh! Did they say something about that!?”

“They’re using fishing boats rather than used patrol boats so they can ditch their weapons in the sea and act like innocent fishermen if they have to! If we just kill them all, we’ll be suspected of slaughtering civilians. That’s why we need to capture a few of them alive and have them admit to being pirates. That’s what we were told!!”

“In other words, they’ve knocked down a hornet’s nest with a stone and now we have to retrieve it barehanded!? Goddamn this is a terrible job!! We’re at least getting paid extra for this, right!?”

Nothing the pirates did could turn the situation around.

Sounds of gunfire and explosions continued without end.

The ship’s rapid-fire cannons and the attack helicopter’s rockets were unilaterally blowing away the pirates’ boats.

“Two more! Our side just took out another two boats. Shit. If we don’t capture a pirate soon, they’ll all be dead!!”

“Shut up!! If you care that badly, jump over to that fishing boat and grab one yourself!!”

Only a few of the 10 meter high-speed pirate boats remained. The Scarlet Princess was fully equipped with the Legitimacy Kingdom navy’s best, so it was a 400 meter mass of giant guns. There was no chance of it being sunk now.

But there was a chance of the pirates fighting back in some way.

The fishing boats were equipped with homemade anti-ship missiles. They would be able to blow away at least one of the hovercrafts that used the power of air to float.

“This is way too scary!! A missile just shot by right above us!! What happened to the close-in weapon system support!?”

“Are these the type that react to magnetism to detonate? This thing’s hull is made of layered plastic and the balloon is made of synthetic fiber, so they might just slip past us.”

“Dammit. Of course the Gatling guns on the side deck wait until ''now'' to turn this way. …Hm? This way!?”

“G-get down!! And turn the hovercraft to the side! Our own side’s barrage is gonna fill us with holes!!”

The gunfire sounded like a broken buzzer as the line of CIWS weapons targeted an anti-ship missile flying a few meters above the ocean surface and scattered giant bullets at a rate of 5000 a minute. They were 20mm bullets which were masses of metal the size of a thumb. They were much larger than the standard used with anti-materiel rifles and even a single one grazing you could blow off a limb.

“They have to do all that just to shoot down a single missile. An Object’s laser beams are an entirely different story, but this says a lot about the balance between offense and defense.”

“Why are you starting that creepy breathing again!? Don’t get your design-obsessed blood pumping like it’s some instinct to preserve your genes in a life-threatening situation!!”

“Eh? I don’t mix my love of machines with lust. Making anthropomorphized girls out of weapons is kind of disturbing if you think about it.”

“Just think of it as adding on elements!! Don’t think of it as surgically cutting and pasting things!!”

The hovercraft ridden by the two idiots and 28 others had three engines resembling two meter ventilators on the back. One of them was sending out disconcerting black smoke (due to the barrage from their side’s close-in weapon system).

“How about we say the pirates did that and put in for injury pay? I think we deserve a bonus.”

“If we do that, it’ll mean we were injured by a group of amateurs. That would be a dishonor.”

Meanwhile, the battle was almost over.

The attack helicopter that had been sent out partway through was doing too good a job. It was sending down a storm of rockets which were enveloping the small fishing boats and the surrounding ocean in flames.

“Isn’t this pretty bad?” muttered Quenser as he carelessly looked up into the blue sky. “All of the pirate boats will be sunk soon.”

“What happened to capturing some alive!? If we don’t have one to say he’s a pirate, we’ll be accused of slaughtering civilians!!”

The two idiots looked around, but they saw nothing but eerie black smoke and wreckage starting to sink. It no longer felt like they were fighting. It was more like a treasure hunt.

“There!! There’s another fishing boat behind that smoke. If we miss that one, we’ll have to give up on catching anyone alive!! We’ll be mercilessly accused by a grinning international committee!!”

The attack helicopter flew by over their heads. It was clearly moving toward the same target.

Heivia brought a hand to his forehead.

“Is that pilot a coward!? I don’t think he can relax until he eliminates every threat he sees. And it’s not like those pirates can shoot down a helicopter flying around at high speed!!”

“What do we do? If we don’t take one alive, we’ll have to try our hand at necromancy during the court martial.”

“I’ve had enough of this!!” shouted Heivia in desperation as he shouted at the young soldier in charge of steering the hovercraft. “Head full speed toward the fishing boat! …I can’t believe I have to put my life on the line to protect the enemy!!”

“But what exactly are we going to do!?”

“We only have one choice.”

For some reason, Heivia removed the safety pin from the shoulder-fired missile launcher hanging from his shoulder along with his rifle. He rested one end on his shoulder and aimed the other end. Tanks on land, small patrol boats at sea, and ground attack craft in the air. Save for its ridiculous price tag, that missile was known as a masterpiece.

“We fire on our own helicopter.”

He did not hesitate.

He captured the target with both infrared and ultraviolet at the same time and he pulled the trigger.

The long, narrow missile shot out like a spear and shot by right next to the helicopter.

No damage was done.

Except for Quenser who was knocked backwards by the backfire.

He flew two or three meters like an unnamed character in a kung fu movie.

“Hot!! Hot!? Wh-what just happened? Are we under attack!?”

“If you’re that lively, I’m not gonna worry too much.”

The other soldiers on the hovercraft focused on Heivia. Their gazes were asking why he had fired on an ally.

“If I had actually aimed, it wouldn’t be in the air right now! I purposefully missed. But that coward of a pilot won’t notice that!! If you don’t want to die, get ready!!”

The attack helicopter belatedly took evasive actions and then took a tight turn around. It was clearly being wary. If the pilot panicked, there was a chance he would simply attack. It was similar to an extremely sleepy soldier caught in a whirl of gunfire confusing which side was his allies.

Heivia shouted in desperation.

“I bought us some time, but it’s only a dozen or so seconds! Charge straight into the fishing boat!! We just have to take at least one of them alive!!”

The hovercraft moved straight toward the lone remaining fishing boat. Meanwhile, Heivia aimed his assault rifle into the air and fired a long spray of bullets toward their attack helicopter. Orange sparks covered a side of the helicopter.

“With proper equipment, it can deflect rifle bullets.” While firing tons of wasted bullets, Heivia gave a thin smile. “But that coward won’t know that. His desire to survive made him panic and forget the plan. He’ll actually try to avoid this peashooter.”

The hovercraft approached the modified fishing boat from the side.

More accurately, it crashed into it.

Hovercrafts floated above the ocean surface with the power of air. The skirt portion that contained the air was a giant balloon made of bulletproof and knife resistant synthetic fiber.

Rather than a straight collision, the hovercraft climbed on top of the boat.

And the pirate man standing on the boat’s deck was knocked into the ocean.

The fact that the skirt portion was a soft balloon turned out to be a stroke of luck for both sides. As the man flailed his limbs around, he was knocked several meters horizontally like a small stone.

At the same time, a rocket fell from the heavens and struck the point of intersection between the fishing boat and the hovercraft.

The blast knocked the Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers into the air.

But it did not knock the will to fight from them. Or rather, they could not leave this sea of flames and smoke until they completed this. Several soldiers used strange wrestling moves to jump on the pirate who had fallen into the ocean.

Several dull sounds could be heard.

The pirate struggled as his head was forced under the salty ocean water.

Quenser and Heivia grabbed the pirate by the collar and dragged his head back above the surface.

And they shouted angrily into his ear.

“If you don’t want us to start an interrogation using the water here, then start talking!! Tell everyone that you’re a piece of shit pirate who was causing everyone all sorts of trouble!!”

===Part 4===

They were forced to participate in a “detour” to eliminate pirates, but Quenser, Heivia, and the 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion’s original destination lay elsewhere.

Those idiots had been sent to the Strait of Malacca ahead of the rest of the battalion. Sea mines, fuel oil attacks, nets in the propeller, and pirates were all threats that even civilians could accomplish. To ensure that none of the warships were damaged, all those threats had to be eliminated before the maintenance battalion’s fleet passed through.

In other words, their target this time was dangerous enough to warrant that.

Even in an age where Object vs. Object battles decided everything, they did not want to lose the backing of a single support ship.

“We’re really here.”

Their destination was the birthplace of Objects in the seas of the Far East.

It was currently a portion of the Capitalist Corporations and it was an important point for the Asian naval forces.

“This is the Island Nation. Should we really be here? This supposedly the artisan paradise that sent out the world’s first Object and it’s also known for its healthy food. A ridiculously proportioned macho man isn’t going to attack us with all sorts of strange new weapons, is he?”

Quenser sounded bored as he stood on the deck of a small aircraft carrier. Rather than the takeoff and landing of aircraft, it was primarily used as maintenance space for the Object contained between it and another aircraft carrier.

The princess must have had nothing to do because she was sitting on the edge of the deck and looking blankly in Quenser’s direction.

“Frolaytia said our job isn’t very dangerous this time.”

“She may be skilled, but you can’t trust any verbal promises she makes. Especially when we’re talking about the Island Nation. It may be part of the Capitalist Corporations, but the level of their newly developed technology is ridiculous. In fact, it’s gone so far that it’s created a kind of Galapagos Syndrome. Naturally, the same goes for their Objects.”

“This will not be a direct fight in the first place.”

“Yeah, they are going through some infighting, aren’t they?” Quenser let out a light breath. “The Capitalist Corporations were crazy enough to go fully down the PMC route and make listed companies out of their army, but the intensification of conflicts in recent years means the armies sent around the world by the different major companies aren’t enough. That’s why they created the new framework of half-public self-defense PMCs to quickly strengthen their naval defenses.”

“But one of those self-defense PMCs went out of control and started a civil war in the ocean around the Island Nation.”

“What did they think would happen when they gathered tens of thousands of rotten soldiers given dishonorable discharges in different parts of the world and then handed them cutting-edge weaponry? Yet they let their guard down so much that they surrendered an Object to them. What’s wrong with them? Were they ''trying'' to get themselves killed?”

“They had an aging society, so they had no choice. They had no young people.”

“I know they were shorthanded, but how could they possibly think people coming in to earn some money would defend their nation to the bitter end?”

The strategic simulations of the Legitimacy Kingdom military predicted that the civil war would not last long. The self-defense PMC could not be taken lightly, but they were only borrowing the Objects and other weapons and they could not maintain them or produce more on their own. And it was unlikely anyone would provide them with further supplies. The instant they ran out of reserves was the instant they met their end.

The simulations said they would last at most two months and possibly only a few weeks. But during that time, the Island Nation’s defenses would certainly be lacking. It was possible the confusion could be used to attack in otherwise impossible places or ways.

The princess pouted her lips.

“Why do we have to interfere with the Capitalist Corporations’ fight? We should just let them go at it.”

“We don’t want them having a nice fistfight by the river and getting along again. That’s why we need to stab them in the side and make sure they can never join back up. If we kill what enemies we can while we have the chance, we don’t have to worry about carelessly running into them on some other battlefield.”

At that point, a radio transmission reached the entire battalion.

It was from Frolaytia, their local commander.

“It’s time for the pre-mission briefing on how we will split the Island Nation. Gather in your ship’s conference room. I will provide the explanation via the monitor. …Also, a special message for the idiots who were playing basketball on the flight deck. The one who dropped the ball in the ocean must take responsibility by jumping from the cliff and retrieving it. That is government property. You aren’t allowed to lose it. That is all.”

===Part 5===

“As you can see, the ocean around the Island Nation is in a state of civil war. We will use the confusion to move in deeper than their normal defenses would allow. Our mission is to scout out their forces and destroy what we can.”

Frolaytia spoke from the podium up front while a few arrows were added to the sea chart displayed on the screen.

“The biggest problem for the self-defense PMC is the supply line. According to the strategic simulation performed on our supercomputer, this civil war will run out of gas and reach a quick end. The major corporation controlling the Island Nation will likely carry out a sabotage operation to hurry that along.”

The screen showed a group of islands in the ocean south of the Island Nation. One of those islands had not originally been there. It was a manmade floating island. The industrially manufactured island could move on its own and it was created by combining giant floats.

Its center was a dodecagon and each vertex had a harbor dock extending out from it like a tree branch.

Its overall silhouette looked like the ship’s wheel used to turn the rudder.

“This is the artificial floating island Ame-no-Darin. It is made to extract resources from the ocean floor. It is the cornerstone of the self-defense PMC’s supplies and reserves. It was the discovery of oil and veins of iron ore in the deep Pacific that transformed the Island Nation into a top class resource superpower. Thanks to that, they’ve left behind an environment that’s covered in oil. Anyway, as long as they have this, the self-defense PMC will have plenty of ammunition and fuel. And by exchanging that for foreign currency, they can smuggle in food. This is the central pillar of this war.”

Frolaytia used her penlight laser pointer to indicate different points on the displayed document.

“It originally functioned as the Island Nation’s military reserves base. It was a treasure trove of fuel and ammunition and its security was left to the self-defense PMC in question as far back as the construction phase. Once the civil war began, they took full control of the Ame-no-Darin. With the standard reserves, they can fight for ninety days. With full use of its ocean floor resource extraction and refinement ability, they can create an endless supply of fuel and ammunition. It may be an expensive facility, but that expense paid for some nice features.”

“I have a question.” Quenser raised his hand. “Are we going to destroy that Ame-no-Darin? How does that benefit us?”

“An excellent question, student. But wait until I’m finished.” Frolaytia placed her long, narrow kiseru in her mouth. “Our mission is to sweep for mines in the ocean around the Ame-no-Darin and to physically remove the saboteurs thought to have infiltrated it. We intercepted the schedule for a large-scale sabotage operation and we plan to end it before it starts. Simply put, we will be protecting the Ame-no-Darin despite no one asking us to. After all, that will cause this war to drag on and cause great financial losses for the Island Nation. Any objections?”

It was a cruel plan, but they were at war and had no interest in benevolence or world peace. The Island Nation was categorized as a safe country, so they could not directly attack it or slaughter the non-combatants there, but they had no real reason to bring the civil war to a quick end or to protect the Island Nation’s mobile fleet which included an Object. If they did, the forces remaining at the end of the civil war would turn toward them.

A small hand then rose into the air.

It was the princess’s.

“Then who will I fight?”

“Did you think it would be the Object belonging to the isolated self-defense PMC? Well, it isn’t. You will be fighting the Object belonging to the Island Nation’s major corporation which has the overwhelming advantage. When we have a chance to freely defeat an enemy, it’s always best to choose the strongest one. We will extend this civil war and take the initiative in removing future rivals. Do you all understand now?”

They were fighting to protect their enemy.

They were fighting to help out the isolated underdog.

Phrasing it like that made them sound like a gunman from a Western, but the principles at the core has been twisted by the world which had shattered like stained glass.

“Then let’s begin. We are only here to benefit the Legitimacy Kingdom. Justice for the Capitalist Corporations is not our concern. How about you head out there and see what your precious Island Nation is really like.”

===Part 6===

The two idiots named Quenser and Heivia were crammed into submarine torpedo tubes along with the other soldiers. It was one to a tube and they felt as small as coffins. The diving suits and oxygen tanks only made it feel more cramped.

“What is wrong with them? This is discrimination!! I’m a radar analyst. I shouldn’t be launched from a torpedo tube while holding an oxygen tank and an underwater gun! I don’t remember the contract I signed saying anything about doing this!”

“Shut up, Heivia. Sound is everything for subs. Make too much noise and the enemy will notice us.”

“Fine by me! I’ll make them wrinkle their nose at the most tremendous fart they’ve ever heard!!”

“You’re in an enclosed space, so you’ll just end up cursing your own asshole.”

As they chatted over the radio, Quenser’s coffin filled with red light. The torpedo tube was about to open.

The greeting from the weapons officer reached his ears.

“Carefree little birds, you have the precious free will of a human, so you can shit yourself if you want, but wait until you’ve left the sub first. Rock & roll!”

“Goddammit. Should I have brought an alarm clock along to set off after I left!? Well!?”

Heivia’s complaints were immediately followed by the external door opening and seawater rushing into the torpedo tube. Quenser did not fight the current and waited until the tube was filled with water before he slowly left the submarine.

“There’s nothing but sludge and oil around here. I’d heard ocean oil drilling always let some oil leak out, but this is crazy. You could set the ocean ablaze with a burner.”

“When you weigh ecology against resources, people tend to choose the more profitable one. Not that it matters to us.”

“What’s that giant mass over there? A new type of mutant?”

“It’s a clump of oil. It’s just like running into sewage. You can’t move once it gets all around you.”

Quenser, Heivia, and eight other soldiers travelled through the dark ocean using devices resembling kickboards with motors attached. They were on their way to the Ame-no-Darin, but doing so was not easy when the area was in a state of civil war.

Several vague silhouettes measuring a few meters across came into view.

As they came into focus, Quenser felt a chill run down his back. Long narrow cylinders which appeared to be torpedoes were stabbed into the clump of oil.

“Those are the Capitalist Corporations’ smart torpedoes,” said Heivia calmly. “I don’t know which side of the civil war fired them, though.”

“W-wait. Are we going to pass by them? If they detonate, we’ll be torn to pieces.”

“I said they were ‘smart’, remember? They only react to the acoustic signature of enemy ships that are updated over their network. They aren’t made to kill humans.”

“Really?”

“They cost 20 thousand dollars apiece. They’d lose a ton of money if a fish swimming by could detonate them. They’re made to only react to top priority targets.”

“But these didn’t go off! We can’t trust them.”

Heivia went ahead as a guide and Quenser nervously followed while weaving between the smart torpedoes.

But that was when something approached while producing a rumbling vibration that sounded like a coin laundry amplified several times.

A giant mass slowly passed by the two idiots.

It was a submarine.

Quenser’s eyes opened wide.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!! We’re swimming between unexploded torpedoes right this very instant! If they react to that acoustic signature, we’ll be blown away!”

“We have a bigger problem!! I don’t know whose sub that is, but the current created by its propeller is going to carry us off!! If we don’t grab onto something, it’ll suck us in and slice us to pieces!!”

“What am I supposed to grab onto!?”

[[Image:HO_v08_043.jpg|thumb]]

The sensation of something tugging at his body created an instinctual fear in Quenser, so he immediately reached for the closest object.

It was one of the torpedoes sticking out of the oil.

“Kyaaaaah!!!!!”

Any kind of tactical thoughts were sent to the farthest reaches of the universe as he entrusted himself to what looked like a propane tank and prayed it would not explode.

“This is it! I’m gonna piss myself! I really am this time!!”

“Shut up!! That’s no different form peeing in the pool! Stop making such a racket!!”

“How about you try it! It’ll just fill your diving suit and there’ll be no escape from that hell of your own creation. I don’t want the kind of embarrassment that leads to suicide!!”

Those boys were from the nation of kings and knights, but they were desperate to protect their pride on an elementary school level.

An unpleasant noise rang out.

“What now!?”

“The sub ran into the clump of oil! It’s coming this way!”

The back of the giant sub swung around like a bat and the propeller passed right by them like a lawnmower.

“Shit that was close. I don’t know whose sub that is, but any closer and it would’ve wiped all of us out.”

“Shouldn’t we help it?”

“How? And whichever side it’s on, it’s an enemy.”

Quenser’s entire body was covered with an uncomfortable sweat, but annoyingly enough, he could not wipe it away. He, Heivia, and the other soldiers moved carefully to the side of the oil clump and met up with the units that left a different submarine.

Ultimately, a group of around one hundred Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers were swimming toward the Ame-no-Darin.

“Is that it? It’s incredible that something so gigantic can float.”

“That just shows how reckless they’ve been. That’s gotta be the king of pollution around here. In an American comic, it’d be the villain’s secret base.”

As they looked up at the Ame-no-Darin from below, it looked like a never-ending ceiling. They had needed to travel directly below the floating island to sneak in, but having the surface sealed off made the ocean seem all the more oppressive. If their oxygen tank malfunctioned, there was no escape. It would mean certain death.

“Let’s go. Our way in is the emergency drain pumps used in case of flooding. They aren’t normally active, so we can make our way up into the float.”

“If they notice us, it’s all over. One flip of a switch and seven tons of seawater will be ejected every second. We’d learn what a bug in a drain feels like.”

After using their tools to destroy a few sensors and remove the wire mesh cover, they entered the drain pump pipe one at a time. The pipe was over two meters across, so they had plenty of room to move.

After working their way into the Ame-no-Darin’s spare engine area, they could finally remove their diving suits and heavy oxygen tanks.

“Hey, where’d our commander go?” asked Heivia in annoyance. “We can’t start without him.”

“It looks like we got separated somewhere,” answered a nearby female soldier. “He isn’t responding over the radio, so should we wait until he catches up?”

“No, thanks! He’s the one who got all worked up on the Scarlet Princess, wasn’t he? I’m not going to get myself killed for him. A group of one hundred can’t hide forever. If they throw a bomb in while we’re waiting for that jokester, we’ll all be taken out.”

“Um, Heivia? This is enemy territory, so wouldn’t it be bad if our commander was captured?”

“If his allies can’t find him, how is the enemy supposed to? And aren’t the rest of you pissed at him, too? Teacher won’t get mad, so be honest and raise your hands.”

None of the honor students raised their hands, so Heivia changed the question.

“Do you want to die for the kind of commander who returns to the sub without telling us, or do you want to continue the mission and get back alive? Raise your hands if you want to survive.”

All of the idiots raised their hands.

Their plan was decided.

The Ame-no-Darin was a float the size of a fair-sized island, but it was still an indoor facility. A group of one hundred travelling together would be too large for the passageways, so it would be more effective to split into groups of ten and travel down different routes to target the enemy from multiple angles.

And so it was time to split into groups.

Quenser raised his hand.

“I’m willing to follow a guide, but who takes the lead?”

“That’s decided by rank.”

Heivia’s offhand comment turned everyone’s focus on a new second lieutenant, but he trembled, shook his head, and grew pale.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” said a female soldier in irritation.

“Then let’s go with experience and achievements.”

Heivia’s new suggestion turned the focus to the two idiots.

Needless to say, no one could outdo their achievements of destroying several Objects on their own. It was just that their negative achievements were also quite amazing, so it all cancelled out in the end.

“Seriously?”

“If we keep complaining, the enemy will spot us and get in the first attack. Let’s get moving.”

And that settled that.

The other ten-man groups determined their leaders based on the number of battles they had fought in and they all began to move.

“We have no guarantee we’ll come back here and who knows when we’ll need to jump in the ocean. It’ll be a bit of a burden, but we need to carry the diving suits and oxygen tanks with us.”

“Where will the enemy come from? Specifically, the saboteurs who are destroying the Ame-no-Darin to cut off the self-defense PMC’s supply line.”

“They’re boldly making their way in using transport helicopters with spoofed identifiers. They should be arriving any time now, so let’s head toward the heliport. We’ll probably run across them on our way there.”

“Quick question. How do we tell the saboteurs from the self-defense PMC protecting the Ame-no-Darin? They should both be using Capitalist Corporations Island Nation equipment.”

“Do we even need to? They’re both enemies.”

===Part 7===

The Baby Magnum was released into the ocean near the southern islands after its naval floats were attached.

The old maintenance woman was waiting atop the flight deck of a small aircraft carrier in a large-scale fleet. Her job was to quickly and accurately maintain and repair the Baby Magnum upon its return, but the situation was different this time.

Her name was Ayami Cherryblossom.

As her family name suggested, she was originally from the Capitalist Corporations Island Nation. She had worked as a technician before leaving, so she had been recruited for an investigation of the abilities of the Island Nation’s Objects.

Her B5-sized tablet computer displayed satellite images and video taken by front line observers and she conversed with the Baby Magnums’ princess over her headset.

“There they are. We’ve picked up two Objects near the Ame-no-Darin. One is a first generation named Yuuhi which was officially deployed by the Island Nation to quickly end the civil war. I believe the Legitimacy Kingdom’s codename for it is Be Ablaze. It can literally set the sea on fire.”

“It’s a first generation?”

[[Image:HO_v08_050.jpg|thumb]]

“That’s thanks to a sad mentality of the Island Nation. They’re better at creating improved versions of old weapons than they are developing brand new ones. For example, they add cameras to outdated fighters and insist on using them as spy planes. This one may be classified as first generation, but its insides have been completely swapped out so it can keep up with modern models. Underestimate it, and you’ll end up on the ocean floor.”

“But its main weapon is a flamethrower, right? I don’t see how that’s a threat to Objects that can withstand nuclear weapons.”

“It’s a close range defensive weapon known as the Hiding Clothes of Flame. It scatters fuel oil and napalm over the entire area and sets the sea ablaze. This is an effective anti-personnel weapon, but it’s mostly meant to disrupt targeting information with smoke and mirages. You should assume your laser targeting won’t work. You will be separated by several layers of mirages created from temperature change, so the light will bend all over the place.”

However, the ocean around the Island Nation was in state of civil war and the two forces were fighting each other.

The princess was targeting only one side and destroying the Be Ablaze was her top priority, but the situation was too complex for her to focus solely on that. Another giant enemy existed in that ocean.

Namely, the self-defense PMC’s Object that used the Ame-no-Darin as its supply base.

It was a symbol of rebellion.

[[Image:HO_v08_052.jpg|thumb]]

“The other one is named Ningyo. The Legitimacy Kingdom’s codename for it is Mad Cooker. It’s a first generation equipped with a salt railgun. Naturally, it’s been independently altered to have the power needed to defeat a second generation.”

“A salt railgun?”

“They were mainstream before low-temperature superconductors were successfully used in weapons. It uses a liquid known as molten salt. When salt is heated to 1200 degrees and liquefied, it has ten times the conductivity of normal saltwater. That molten salt can be used to construct a cheap and primitive railgun.”

An endless supply of the raw material was located in the ocean below it.

With its huge reactor, it could easily heat it.

The reason the Island Nation had continued research into the outdated salt railgun was likely because they wanted to use the ocean surrounding them to increase how long they could fight.

“The current version gives the shells conductivity by creating them from a base of over 90% salt. The core of the shell is a long, narrow spike of tungsten that they call the Ushi-no-Koku. It’s made so the mass of salt shatters when it’s fired. That sends all the kinetic energy into the tungsten so it can pierce the enemy’s onion armor. Continuing to use the same method used by old tank guns is another example of the Island Nation’s sad mentality.”

As long as they had the technology to filter out and condense the iron and rare metals dissolved in the ocean, it was conceivable that the Object could fight indefinitely with no need to resupply. It was almost more dangerous from the experimental side than as an enemy.

“As I’m sure already know, your primary target is the Be Ablaze from the Island Nation’s major corporation. To drag out this civil war and deplete them financially, we need to protect the weaker side, attack the stronger side, and bring both sides as close to equal as we can. But if we go too far, the two Capitalist Corporations Objects might work together to eliminate us. In other words, there is no need to defeat your target at all costs. Just fire at it from the distance and cause as much damage as you can while ensuring all three Objects need to keep an eye on the other two.”

Modern wars were decided by the number of Objects.

With one-against-one, an Object would head in for a direct fight. With one-against-three, an Object would swiftly retreat before fighting.

With that in mind, it would cause incredible pressure to the Island Nation when a third Object of dubious affiliation entered the fray.

Normally, two Capitalist Corporations Objects would work together if the Legitimacy Kingdom attacked.

But they could not trust each other during a civil war.

If they joined together and the other betrayed, a one-against-two battle would be unavoidable.

That fear would bind the battlefield.

“Understood,” said the princess. “I will stick with long-range shots from ten kilometers away.”

“We don’t need to settle this or even see it through to the end. As long as we put an end to the large-scale Ame-no-Darin sabotage plan, we can retreat and watch the mayhem from a safe distance. If the civil war continues, it will do critical damage on an economical front. This has been an internal problem for the Capitalist Corporations from the beginning, so it isn’t worth it for us to risk our lives here.”

===Part 8===

The major Island Nation corporation plan to sink the Ame-no-Darin was to send a large number of saboteurs into the facility while a large-scale battle between Objects acted as a diversion.

The plan was only being carried out after a thorough preparatory period and a similar plan could not simply be repeated again and again.

In other words, stopping them just once would eliminate this opportunity to destroy the Ame-no-Darin.

The civil war would drag on and the Legitimacy Kingdom’s objective would be achieved.

While occasionally speaking with the other groups over the radio, Quenser, Heivia, and eight others cautiously advanced.

“Hey, there’s an elevator over here.”

“I dare you to get on that thing. The instant the door opens, you’ll be riddled with holes. You can’t escape from a square box. Let’s just use the stairs.”

The Capitalist Corporations saboteurs had apparently arrived through the heliport by tricking the Ame-no-Darin with spoofed identifiers. Quenser’s group had started at the bottom and was ascending to the heliport. They assumed they would run into the saboteurs somewhere along the way.

There were apparently three floors’ worth of height from the bottom of the Ame-no-Darin to the ocean surface.

“Y’know, I’d heard they were a technological superpower, but this place is almost falling apart. Wall and ceiling panels are removed and the plumbing is exposed at points. Did they run out of funding halfway through building the thing?”

“Quenser, I want to make sure I’m not seeing things. What is that you’ve been pointing all over the place?”

“A digital camera. Why?”

“We’re in the middle of a mission to kill people!”

“And I can’t stand just going along empty-handed!! I have to take back at least one piece of Island Nation tech!!”

As they chatted, they made their way toward the stairs.

The stairway appeared to be for emergency use. Once they passed through the door, they found concrete stairs that reversed direction countless times.

They had to send someone ahead to make sure they were not completely wiped out in a surprise attack.

Heivia gave a sign with his fingers, his allies gave a different sign back, they began a war of gestures, and they ultimately played rock-paper-scissors.

After playing scissors, a trembling Heivia was thrust toward the staircase by his fellow soldiers.

“If this was chess, you’d be sending your king right to the enemy.”

“I don’t want to take responsibility for anything, so I’m fine being a pawn.”

The fluorescent lights flickered.

Quenser and four others acted as the scouts. Heivia held out his assault rifle to see up through the gap in the center of the staircase that formed a rectangle as it repeatedly doubled back.

“A cramped staircase is the worst.”

“Why?”

“Try to think before you speak. It’s not as bad as an elevator, but they can set all sorts of ambushes.”

An instant later, gunfire assaulted them in the ideal way from the ideal spot.

“Gyaaah!!”

“Waaah!!”

The enemy fired down while leaning over the railing up above.

The five of them could only retreat while firing back. Quenser headed for the entrance they had come from while helping a nearby soldier who was holding a bloody shoulder and was about to collapse.

“Heivia, fall back! Fall back!! We’ll be wiped out like this!!”

“Shut up! Why the hell do you think I’m trying to buy us some time!? You drag that injured soldier away!!”

“If they drop a grenade, it’s all over!! We’ll be slaughtered without a chance to buy any time!!”

That was when they heard a hard clanking noise.

The overhead attackers had tossed an explosive over the railing. The grenade struck the wall a few times and landed at their feet.

“…!!!???”

The enemy was playing it all by the book.

All five of them rushed toward the narrow entrance to the stairwell, but not many actually made it into the corridor beyond.

A muffled explosion burst out.

With his face dyed red with someone else’s blood, Heivia pressed against the wall and shouted out.

“We have casualties!! Check the damage!!”

“Almost zero! The injured private covered the grenade with his own body!!”

“That idiot tried to take all the glory for himself!!”

“He placed his balled up diving suit over it, so I don’t think he thought he would die.”

“You don’t have to point that out! We can just call it a valiant death!!”

At any rate, the blood-soaked Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers used the slight bit of time this gave them to return to the corridor where the other five awaited them.

The enemy must have dropped more grenades because multiple explosions reached their ears.

“This is bad, Quenser. The enemy is better than us. I only caught a glimpse of their uniforms, but assuming it isn’t a bluff, they’ve sent in someone amazing.”

“Eh? Does the Island Nation have any famous units?”

“They aren’t from the Island Nation.” Heivia wiped the blood from his face with an arm. “This is Moss Green co. ltd. They’re a land war PMC from the Northern Restricted Zone where long, drawn out wars continue 365 days a year because Objects are forbidden. I heard they’d been expanding their business to naval operations, especially landing operations, so this might be a promotion for their new services.”

“Meaning?”

“A soldier’s quality is determined by the quality and quantity of daily training, but these ones are out in actual battles year round. People who rely on Objects like us don’t stand a chance! The difference in experience is so overwhelming that we simply can’t win!!”

===Part 9===

The longer one fought an unbeatable enemy, the greater one’s losses would be.

Even a child could figure that out.

But they were not allowed to simply raise the white flag and go home.

“Let’s escape to a more advantageous position. We can fire a bit, fall back a bit, and then repeat the process to wear down their numbers.”

“How long do you think they’d keep falling for that obvious method? Moss Green is filled with nothing but cruel, cigar-smoking sergeants with eyepatches.”

“Just start laying as many traps as you can along the way. If we can’t win in a firefight, we need to wear down their numbers in other ways.”

They had no time, but any immediately obvious traps would be meaningless.

Fortunately, some of the wall and ceiling panels of that floor were removed, exposing thick steel pipes travelling around like blood vessels. There were plenty of places to hide traps.

“Hey, are you just setting up the plastic explosives as is? Wouldn’t you normally bury them in piles of screws or nails?”

“We don’t have time and the shockwave will fill the corridor anyway. You can shoot them once they’re knocked out, right? More importantly, gather all our cheap rockets. I don’t have enough firepower with what I have on me. You’ll be too afraid to use them in here anyway, so let me use the warheads for traps.”

“What?”

“A warhead with a contact fuse can be used as a landmine. Let’s hide them under the paper and mats lying around.”

They added other embellishments to the bombs: a dangerous cleanser that expanded as a mist when heated combined with a bleaching agent that caused intense pain and inflammation when it contacted skin. They found both of them in the lockers along the corridor.

Ultimately, they laid around thirty traps.

“Will this really work? A fat old man working on his home on the weekends makes better-looking stuff than this.”

“It’s a tragedy you can’t see the golden ratio to this. No matter where they try to evade, they’ll trip a different trap. It’s like a tangle of strings; they can’t just untangle one string at a time. I should get a medal for making something so artistic on such short notice.”

“You might find some fans in a prison. They’d probably all be skinny little guys, though.”

Just as Quenser and the others turned around to head to their ambush point, they heard an explosion up ahead and a great impact hit them.

The corridor wall had been destroyed from the other side.

Gray dust filled the corridor and cut off their path.

“Goddammit!!” shouted Heivia from the ground. “What is with today!?”

“What? My ears are ringing and I can’t hear you!?”

“Those Moss Green fuckers took a shortcut! Our escape route’s been cut off, so we can only fall back. And that means going through the corridor we just filled with traps!!”

It seemed unlikely they were being monitored via cameras or sensors.

The enemy had simply used their intuition and experience to accurately predict their actions. And that enemy had cut them off on the worst route possible. That level of accuracy made them seem like espers.

Multiple sounds of gunfire reached Quenser’s ears as they recovered.

He could no longer leisurely talk about thinking this through logically.

To escape the threat before his eyes, he charged into the spider web of traps he himself had laid.

The Moss Green soldiers peeking out from the hole in the wall were not courteous enough to aim for each soldier one at a time.

They accurately fired a bullet into a rocket warhead set up as a trap.

And an explosion swallowed up Quenser and the others.

===Part 10===

A woman named Angela Hibiscus commanded Moss Green and she frowned after hearing the explosion.

“What? They’re still moving.”

“They must have kept their traps non-lethal. Their own kindness saved them.”

“Then go finish off the passed-out fools. Just as they planned to do to us.”

A blond combat engineer twitching on the floor moved his hand. He grabbed some fishing line to set off his own trap.

As the corridor filled with a white mist, Angela’s men spoke delightedly.

“Wow, a chemical weapon. They violated the war treaty, captain.”

“Undiluted bleach, hm? You can have fun if you want, but do you have protective masks and suits prepared for us?”

“Eh? Well…”

“I don’t recall supplying any. The air conditioning is blowing their suicidal smokescreen this way, so we need to fall back. If we something like this gave us any casualties, it would affect the unit’s reputation. I don’t want to owe the advertising firm a favor.”

Meanwhile, Heivia was very nearly screaming after being thrown into the toxic smokescreen.

“Quenser, you idiot!! We already had a full course of hell lined up for us, so why did you have to order dessert!? What the hell is this? Cough, cough. Bleach!?”

“If you don’t want to destroy your throat, stay quiet. And you have your diving suit’s mask, remember? Your throat will hurt, but the mask will keep it below a lethal level!”

“You’re kidding. So we have to crawl through this!?”

“They can easily get rid of this impromptu smokescreen with the air conditioning and then we’ll need enough body bags for all of us. Would you rather stay here and end up filled with lead!?”

Either way, they could no longer return unscathed.

Quenser and the others put on their oxygen masks and continued through the corridor while experiencing some chemical inflammation. On the way, they set off even more of their non-lethal traps, but they finally arrived at the stairwell.

“N-now what do we do, you moron? They hold the area above the stairs. If we charge in, they’ll just shoot us all. And if they sense any danger, they’ll drop more grenades to finish us off.”

“Heivia, do you have any rope? Can you rock climb?”

“Yes, but how does that help?”

“Then we don’t even need these stairs,” spat out Quenser as he pulled out his Hand Axe plastic explosive. “I’ll blow them to smithereens. After blowing up the structure and their soldiers, there will be nothing but a vertical hole left. We climb that with rope.”

“Are you serious? Even if they hold the area up there, that won’t be all of them. They came from the heliport. The more we climb, the closer we are to the center of their forces. Climbing just means more of those monsters! Can’t we just give up on the mission and escape from the sea down below?”

“If we did that, Frolaytia’s fists would send us to heaven before long anyway. Plus, they’ve been able to predict our actions so far, so we need to think about this in reverse. We’re below the waterline right now and no water came out when we blew up the pipes in the walls. They must be used with the emergency pumps in case of flooding. If we held the upper floors, how would you wipe out an enemy down below?”

“…You can’t be serious.”

“If they close all the waterproof bulkheads in one area, they can fill it with water. Instead of risking their own men in a firefight, they can wipe out their enemy with the turn of a valve. In a boring fight against weaklings, they’ll definitely choose the easier method. I’d be surprised if they ''didn’t'' flood the area.”

“B-but! We have diving suits and oxygen tanks. Even if they filled a block with water, it wouldn’t kill us.”

“It would. I don’t know how many tons of water would come rushing in per second, but it would definitely be a horrific deluge. We’d be swept on and on while being slammed along corridors and stairways. It would be like tying yourself to a car and being dragged through gravel. Our limbs would be torn off and the oxygen tanks would rupture.”

“Ugh,” groaned Heivia through his mask.

“It looked like they didn’t expect the suicidal wall of bleach and their pride probably demands a flawless victory. But this is the moment when we can escape the cage of Moss Green’s expectations. If we don’t head up now, it will all be downhill. As soon as they decide which valve to open, we’ll be swallowed up by the deluge and torn to pieces!”

===Part 11===

The 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion’s fleet remained on standby away from the battle. Frolaytia received various reports in the small aircraft carrier’s mission command center. A controller’s panicked voice reached her ears.

“Something is approaching the radar. It’s very fast!! It’s flying just off the ocean surface at around Mach 2. It might be a cruise missile or…no, it’s an aircraft!!”

“On the same battlefield as three Objects!?”

Objects contained a reactor that produced near-limitless energy and they were covered with anti-air lasers, so the complex evasive actions of an ace pilot were meaningless. Lock, fire, destroy. That was the standard of the modern battlefield, but this enemy was easily ignoring it.

Frolaytia’s eyes opened in surprise and the controller continued the report with a bewildered look.

“From its movements, it does not appear to be unmanned. The CIWS…had no effect! Here it comes!!”

“Dammit! All hands, brace yourself!!”

In that instant, the old maintenance woman was waiting on the flight deck in order to maintain or repair the Baby Magnum. From there, she saw a Capitalist Corporations’ air superiority fighter pass less than a meter over the steel surface.

It was a fli-21T.

That was a modified version of the normal fli-20. Its development had been stopped just before mass production and deployment, and it was currently undergoing its final tests in the Northern Restricted Zone.

It was tilted ever-so-slightly, so the top of the craft was visible from the old woman’s side.

The short girl in the cockpit wore an anti-G suit resembling an Elite’s special suit. Blue paint on the right wing drew a girl’s silhouette bearing a giant snow crystal on the back.

As the old woman saw the words “Ice Girl One”, a rugby ball-like mass below the wing was released.

It was an anti-ship aerial bomb.

Normally, its weight and the potential energy of the fighter’s altitude would break through the ship’s armor before it detonated, but when released just above the flight deck, the rugby ball bounced off the armor rather than penetrating it.

The old woman made an immediate decision upon seeing the bomb bounce into the air.

She watched the 200 kilogram explosive that had been perfectly left in the air so that the blast and fragments would efficiently spread over a wide area.

(The enemy has no interest in the fighters stored in the metal belly of the ship. They’re after the Object maintenance unit and its equipment. In other words, us!!)

“Jump into the water if you want to live!!”

She threw aside all her tools, turned around, and did not hesitate to jump from the nine meter height of the flight deck. She heard the tremendous explosion before hitting the water. The small island of steel behind her creaked ominously.

Her body produced a pillar of water as it vanished below the surface, but her head appeared soon thereafter.

She did not know how many of the maintenance soldiers had followed her.

“How...? How did it…get through the network of anti-air lasers?” groaned a young maintenance soldier floating nearby.

The old woman clicked her tongue.

“The air isn’t uniform. There are temperature differences, humidity differences, dust, dirt, and even salt content when over the ocean. The changes in those things will bend light just a bit. Mirages are the simplest example.”

“But…But… You couldn’t measure all that even with sensors.”

“No, but an ace pilot from the Northern Restricted Zone can sniff it out on intuition alone! Who is that pilot? Her senses are equal to or even greater than a pilot Elites!!”

===Part 12===

Placing even a single bomb was a risky process.

As Quenser attached the plastic explosive to the base of the stairs, Heivia and a few others fired their assault rifles up the stairs. They were trying to hold the enemy back. By creating a barrage without even a gap to poke one’s head out, the enemy could not throw down a grenade.

But it only lasted thirty seconds.

“Shit! Here comes a grenade!!”

“I’m done here!! Fall back!! Fall back!!”

Quenser, Heivia, and the others practically rolled back to the corridor.

A moment later, the first grenade exploded.

Quenser then placed his hand on his radio and detonated his Hand Axe plastic explosive.

Just like when a building was demolished, the spiraling staircase smoothly crumbled and almost seemed to sink down underground. A great cloud of dust surged out toward them, but the corridor was already much worse due to the bleach and cleanser.

However, a problem presented itself.

“What the hell!? The door’s filled with rubble! We can’t escape through here!!”

“Then we just have to destroy the wall and ceiling to widen the hole. Outta the way, everyone!!”

After destroying the wall and ceiling enough to widen the “gap”, they entered the vertical hole which had been a stairwell.

Several moaning and bloody figures were mixed in with the piles of rubble.

“Don’t,” said Heivia quickly.

Even so, one of the enemy soldiers pulled out a handgun despite being unable to stand.

After a few assault rifle shots, the groaning stopped.

Heivia clicked his tongue and spoke to Quenser.

“I’ve had enough of this. Let’s climb on up.”

They had no specialized device to fire a rope to the top, so they gathered a random weight from the bloody rubble at their feet. It was a fist-sized piece of concrete with twisted rebar sticking out of it in places. They tied one end of a rope to it, swung it around like a morning star, and tossed it straight up.

“Oh? Ah? What? I didn’t get in on the first try.”

“And now it’s falling. Move!”

After the second and third try, they were shedding tears over how wonderful the helmets supplied by their fellow soldiers were. Finally, Heivia tossed the rope and felt it firmly stick. It seemed the rebar sticking out from the concrete weight had caught on the remains of the staircase on the wall. And it had caught right next to the door on the upper floor.

Heivia put all his weight on it to thoroughly check it.

“If the enemy starts firing down while I’m climbing, there’s nothing I can do, so make sure to cover for me.”

“Then why don’t you give me a gun? I’m confident I can at least fire right up your asshole.”

With a parting raise of the middle finger, Heivia started climbing up the rope. Meanwhile, the other soldiers threw more ropes and secured a second and third route up.

Unsurprisingly, scrawny Quenser could not rock climb on his own, so the others had to pull him up last.

After exiting into the corridor, Quenser glanced at the sign on the wall.

It said 0m.

This floor had none of the pipes travelling around like blood vessels and the floor and walls were a shiny white. Nevertheless, some of the panels were still missing.

“It looks like we’ve made it above the waterline. They can’t flood us now.”

They were all battered and they had lost the soldier who had protected them from the grenade.

Their uniforms were covered in blood from god knows who, were ripped in places, and stank of chemicals.

“I get that they can’t flood us, but what do we do now?”

“We can’t just run. We have to wear down the numbers of those monsters from the Northern Restricted Zone. To ensure the civil war drags on and causes a great depression for the Island Nation’s economy, we need to wear down the stronger side.”

“I’ve had enough. We can’t beat them. What do they eat anyway? Pure protein? Steroids?”

An Object had not even shown up and yet Heivia was already in full complaining mode, so the Moss Green PMC was clearly quite skilled.

Heivia contacted the other units by radio, but it seemed they had already received their baptism from Moss Green as well. None of them wanted a direct fight with them.

However, they could not leave enemy territory until someone produced some results.

That left deciding the loser by drawing lots.

“Moss Green will be heading down, right? That means we have to head down to fight them, but we’ll be wiped out if they flood the area. What are we supposed to do?”

“I have an idea.” Quenser sat with his back against the wall. “All the pumps here are electronic. The manual valves will only let a trickle out, so we don’t have to worry about them.”

“Are you saying we attack the power source? The Ame-no-Darin is shaped like a ship’s wheel. In addition to the central power source, it has secondary power sources in each of the twelve spokes. Do you really think we can wander around such a huge facility and destroy all of them? If we could, we wouldn’t be in so much trouble right now.”

“We only need to take out one.”

“They’ll just switch to another power source.”

“Normally, yes.” Quenser grinned. “Think about the handheld game systems popular in the safe countries. They have two power sources: the AC plug and the DC battery. If you repeatedly insert and remove the plug a whole bunch, it can cause an error in the power source switching process and the entire system will die. But it might wipe out your save data, so I don’t recommend trying it yourself.”

“And you want to try that in a legit war?”

“There’s no better answer for us right now. We want to stop them from sinking this thing and we want the war to continue, so we can’t completely destroy their power source. If we did that, the war would be over.”

Hearing that, Heivia glanced over at the other surviving soldiers.

None of them shouted support, but no one spoke up in protest either. They likely wanted the correct answer whatever it might be.

Heivia clicked his tongue.

“If no one has any other ideas, we’ll have to go with that. If we hang around here, we’ll just end up cornered. It’s kill or be killed.”

“Where’s the closest power source?”

“The sixth secondary power supply is three hundred meters ahead.”

After eating some tasteless soap-like rations and drinking from their water bottles, the group started walking toward the sixth secondary power supply with guns in hand once more.

Because they had risen above the waterline, one wall was covered in windows. The cold gray ocean spread out beyond the glass and what looked like an embankment was visible two or three kilometers away. That was likely one of the harbor blocks sticking out from the center just like the one they were on.

As soon as Quenser turned toward it, someone strongly grabbed his shoulders from behind.

Heivia tackled him to the shiny white floor and a high-pitched sound rang out a moment later.

At first, he did not know what had happened.

It was only when he heard the gunshot that he finally realized it was a sniper.

“Get down, you idiots! Get down!!”

As Heivia shouted, his follow soldiers frantically dove to the floor.

Quenser moved just his eyes to look at the window. It only contained a small hole and crack as if the tip of an umbrella had pierced it. The rifle bullet had been travelling so quickly that it had passed through the glass before the force of the impact could propagate.

“How did you notice that!?”

“My rifle’s passive sensors just happened to pick something up. He’s using microwaves that react to motion! It’s a necessary item when doing long-distance sniping without a spotter!!”

A few of their allies held up their assault rifles while crouching down. They connected a line between the hole in the glass and the hole on the opposite wall and they followed that to determine where the sniper had fired from.

But Heivia spoke up from the floor.

“Don’t try it. He’ll have already moved and you couldn’t reach him without anti-materiel rifles anyway. If he’s using microwaves, he’s the type that shoots and runs. If he’s set the equipment somewhere else and is linked to it through his radio, that won’t tell us anything either. If you pop up to fire back, he’ll just shoot you from his next point!”

“How about we continue on along the floor?” asked Quenser. “If we stay below the windows, the walls will protect us.”

“I’d love to, but do you have any guarantee he isn’t using an anti-materiel rifle? And if he pulls out a missile or Gatling gun, he can rip us and the walls to pieces.”

===Part 13===

It was like shooting fish in a barrel.

That was the honest opinion of the ace pilot girl of Sky Blue Inc., a Capitalist Corporations aerial PMC. She surrendered herself to the hard rock loudly playing from the smartphone she had brought into the cockpit.

The blue sky beyond the clear canopy was interrupted by several streams of black smoke, but the losses were not from her side. The Legitimacy Kingdom warships were being set ablaze one after another.

It would not have been this easy in the Northern Restricted Zone where she normally fought. The powerful long-time fighters of those never-ending death-filled battlefields did not rely on Objects. They would have seen right through this disturbance tactic and used manual targeting to swat down the bothersome flies. Destroying a heavy cruiser with just a handful of aircraft was worth a hero’s medal, so the girl found it almost disturbing that they were about to reach double digits so easily.

(The company ordered me to score some points here, but I guess this is what it’s like in the outside world. The only way to die on this battlefield is falling asleep because it’s so boring.)

She gave instructions to her colleagues over the radio.

She could see their next target.

It was a small aircraft carrier used as a flagship. To distribute the risk, there were a few identical ships in the fleet, but the thickness of the defensive barrages made it immediately obvious which was the flagship.

“Ice Girl 1 to Ice Unit. On my signal, perform a unified attack on the aircraft carrier’s bridge. Attack from the top to throw the bottom into chaos. And if I’m correct, that ship is connected to the Object. Hopefully the panic will spread to the star of the battlefield.”

The ship’s Gatling gun close-in weapon system began firing once they arrived within 100 meters, but a few thousands shots a minute was not enough to eat into their fighters. The bullets simply travelled across the ocean and tore into the neighboring ship.

Ice Girl 1 flew on through.

She even looked through the thick bulletproof glass and saw a silver-haired woman who appeared to be the commander. The woman was staring quietly at her.

But Ice Girl 1 did not care.

Her thumb gently stroked the button on top of the stick that fired a missile.

The pack of wolves would crush the head of the fattened herbivore.

But something happened just before that.

“CT to Ice Unit! Defense Charlie detected at nine o’clock. I repeat, an AAM Defense Charlie detected at nine o’clock!! Cancel it ASAP!!”

(…!?)

There had been no missile alert.

Or rather, there were so many meaningless targeting signals coming from the surrounding ships that she had not noticed this sudden intruder.

After Ice Girl 1 gave instructions to the others, they stopped attacking and took scattered evasive actions. The four fighters split into groups of two and flew past either side of the bridge at tremendous speed. The supposedly bulletproof windows shattered, but the aces did not have time to check on that.

“Ice Girl 1 to CT! Cancel confirmed! #4 was hit by some fragments, but it’s still active!!”

“There was no targeting signal just before it fired. The enemy is likely using visual identification. It’s using semi-active targeting and the pilot seems to be directly targeting you by sight!!”

In that instant, Ice Girl 1 felt a chill run along her spine.

It did not come from fear.

It did not come from unease.

It did not come from terror.

The vector of this emotion was in the exact opposite direction.

“Here it comes.”

The girl named Mariydi Whitewitch smiled fiercely.

“Something’s coming and it lives in the same world as us! Ice Unit, remember the real battlefield. The practice run ends here!!”

A moment later, someone sent out a transmission on an open and unencrypted band.

“Don’t grin like that with a job this boring. I’m sure you’re getting tired of tripping up those who have grown rusty thanks to the Objects. How about you let another ace pilot join you in this outdated sky, Ice Girl of the Capitalist Corporations.”

The man’s pretentious manner of speech reminded Ice Girl 1 of a certain fact.

The Legitimacy Kingdom had their own ace. While she and her colleagues stuffed everything necessary to fly into a human shell, this pilot flew a delta-wing fighter that looked like a beautiful sword and was created by removing all but the absolute necessities from the flying machine. He was a steel grim reaper who supposedly preferred using inconvenient semi-active targeting and would occasionally toy with the enemy fighters by “redoing the targeting” of missiles that flew off in the wrong direction.

[[Image:HO_v08_082.jpg|thumb]]

When she recalled his name, she licked her lips.

“Burning Alpha. I never thought I would run across the Legitimacy Kingdom’s scarlet evil eye!!”

“Stop it. That’s embarrassing. Unlike you, I’m much too old for those childish nicknames. Now I’m just itching to shoot you down.”

Even as they spoke, the fight to the death had already begun.

They weaved between the warships, chased and were pursued, and performed countless combat maneuvers as they attempted to take up position behind the other.

The line of ships momentarily got between them.

“By the way, hard rock during a dogfight? You have terrible taste. It’s just too cliché. Did you get it from a Hollywood movie? Or maybe a video game? Just so you know, classic is best no matter what you’re doing. You need to grow out of that childish stuff and maybe grow some breasts too.”

“You might think you’re being intellectual, but you’re just polishing a fossil. I can’t stand how the Legitimacy Kingdom thinks anything’s good as long as it’s old and musty. It’s disgusting. You might as well be praising cheese that smells like wet socks.”

“…”

“…”

Silence fell.

A slight gap in the line of ships appeared and the wall dividing the two fighter units disappeared.

The masses of metal crossed paths as they weaved through the slight gap.

The ace pilots began their battle as they worked to rule the sky.

===Part 14===

Angela Hibiscus, who commanded Moss Green, clicked her tongue when she received a report from the sniper.

“The lost children are after the sixth secondary power supply. Anything else would be sad even for them.”

There were several secondary power supplies, so stopping just one or two would not affect the entire Ame-no-Darin. They were also located at the end of the structure, so causing an explosion with their fuel would not sink the Ame-no-Darin.

Which meant…

“They must be trying to interfere with the power supply’s emergency switching system to cause an error in the whole power system and create a blackout. A foolish idea for a group of fools.”

The civil war surrounding the Ame-no-Darin was being fought between two Capitalist Corporations forces. One was trying to protect the Ame-no-Darin and the other was trying to sink it.

Angela’s Moss Green unit had been hired by the group trying to sink it.

“Sergeant major, how is the marking going?”

“It is already complete. Team C has secured the central power supply. We know the locations of all 2500+ valve release points, so we can begin the flooding at any time.”

Moss Green was trying to sink the Ame-no-Darin and a float that large could not be sunk with anti-ship missiles or torpedoes.

They had infiltrated it, calculated out how to sink the giant float under the weight of the water, and were prepared to fill specific blocks with water.

Water was a simple weight that simply increased with volume.

Merely filling an apartment’s cramped bathtub would secure two hundred kilograms. Due to the large size of the float, they could use leverage to split it down the middle like a cookie or biscuit.

In other words…

“If power is lost and a blackout covers all of the Ame-no-Darin, can we continue our mission?”

“Yes, if we set up explosives at each and every valve release location. But that would be in the quadruple digits and we would have to force our way into every part of the Ame-no-Darin.”

“In that case, it would be faster to make our move before those lost children arrive at the sixth secondary power supply.”

With that said, Angela Hibiscus brought her radio to her mouth.

“Teams B and D, gather our wounded and attack #6. If you can’t secure it, go ahead and blow it up. We hold the central power supply, so losing one of the many secondary ones won’t affect the mission.”

The man she had referred to as a sergeant major tilted his head a bit like a hunting dog awaiting orders at its owner’s feet.

“You aren’t sending in the whole unit?”

“Don’t forget our objective. Those lost children are outsiders. We were hired to sink the Ame-no-Darin, so that is what we must focus on.”

===Part 15===

The two Objects were named the Mad Cooker and the Be Ablaze.

They took different sides in the civil war, but they both belonged to the Capitalist Corporations. The princess’s Baby Magnum fought them both while quickly moving about the ocean surface.

At first, she had planned to interfere little by little from a distance to disturb their fight, but battles did not always go as planned.

She had been forced to approach them and it had developed into a three-way battle.

The princess was trying to extend the civil war surrounding the Island Nation by destroying the Be Ablaze which was trying to exterminate the self-defense PMC and the Ame-no-Darin, but she could no longer attack just the one Object.

In order to survive, she was forced to engage the Mad Cooker.

If the Baby Magnum was lost now, the thousand members of the battalion would be in danger.

“…!!”

As the princess withstood the high Gs caused by her lightning-fast evasive actions, she accurately kept track of the enemies and fired back with her seven main cannons.

The Be Ablaze used various fuels, oxidizers, and other chemicals to create flamethrowers. It used those to create a multilayer wall of heat called the Hiding Clothes of Flame and it prevented various types of targeting by distorting light.

The Mad Cooker fired a railgun that used molten salt and was theorized to automatically replenish its shells using the salt and metal in the ocean water.

(Fortunately, the two of them aren’t working together. With them scattered, I can interfere from here. My only choice is to destroy them one at a time and return safely.)

She was of course targeting the Be Ablaze.

She fired her seven main cannons in different directions to cut off her opponent’s escape and then fired them all together once her target had stopped.

Everything was progressing perfectly and yet she could not hit the Be Ablaze through the flames.

“Heh heh heh. Hah hah hah,” laughed the enemy Elite over the radio. “I feel like a matador. But I guess I shouldn’t expect too much from an unintelligent Legitimacy Kingdom Elite.”

“I don’t want to hear that from a rookie who has to rely on a system because he can’t evade on his own. Did you feel like showing off because your parents bought you a new bike?”

“You seem to be focusing on me, so I take it you’re trying to extend this war by helping the side protecting the Ame-no-Darin. …Are you serious? We sent Moss Green in there. They’ll sink the Ame-no-Darin no matter what happens. You’re wasting your time here.”

“My fellow soldiers won’t lose.”

“Bullshit. This isn’t about winning or losing. Moss Green is disposable. If they fail, I just have to sink the Ame-no-Darin myself. The other side never stood a chance.”

“……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………I see you have a death wish.”

“Ha ha! What do you think war is!?”

“Then I’ll roast your escape hatch before blowing up your reactor.”

Meanwhile, the Mad Cooker had taken up a position from which it could attack both the Baby Magnum and the Be Ablaze. As it aimed its main salt railgun, its Elite hesitantly cut into the conversation.

“Um… Have you both forgotten about the true star of the battlefield?”

“Shut up!!”

“Get the hell out of here!!!!”

After a great flash of light, the Mad Cooker was attacked from two fronts and bloomed into a giant flower on the battlefield.

“Oops.”

The princess finally realized what had happened once the operator gave the damage report.

She had destroyed the self-defense PMC’s Object.

If she did not do anything, there would be no one left to prevent the Be Ablaze from destroying the Ame-no-Darin. That would be a problem, so the Baby Magnum had to interfere. The two Objects put an appropriate distance between them and the battle line started gradually approaching the Ame-no-Darin.

“Heh heh heh! Hah hah hah!! Leave it to the Legitimacy Kingdom to act as a shield to protect the enemy! Even your stupid Elites try to act heroically!!”

“Honestly, why am I risking my life for this?”

The princess did a wonderful job of synchronizing her thoughts with the other Legitimacy Kingdom soldiers fighting to protect the Ame-no-Darin.

Baby Magnum vs. Be Ablaze.

The second round of the open-weight fight began.

===Part 16===

Quenser heard a quick burst of gunfire.

His fellow soldiers collapsed nearby.

“Shit, they’re here!” shouted Heivia. “It’s Moss Green!!”

They could not raise their heads for fear of the sniper, but the mercenaries had shown themselves by blocking the pure white corridor that led to the sixth secondary power supply. They were about 250 meters away and they numbered between 10 and 20. The straight corridor had no cover, but they had loaded several push carts with thick metal pipes and used them as shields.

On the other hand, Quenser’s group had nothing to use as shields.

And they would have to travel several dozen meters to fall back. They would be shot in the back well before they reached safety.

“Oh, c’mon!!”

Still on the floor, Quenser reached for his back and pulled out a Hand Axe plastic explosive. He attached a pen-like electric fuse, tossed it toward the ceiling, and hit the switch on his radio.

The explosion was followed by the ceiling collapsing.

As he coughed, Heivia pressed up against the pile of rubble and used it as cover.

“Dammit, Quenser! Leave the firefight to us and treat the wounded. There’s nothing more for a bomber to do here!!”

“I’m not a medic!”

“No one else has their hands free!! If we don’t push them back, they’ll throw a grenade and wipe us out!!”

Heivia and the others started firing and left Quenser alone, so he nervously turned toward the fellow soldiers who were collapsed on the floor. The pools of blood were growing and he had no idea where to start.

Along with the ones whose injuries were light enough to still move, he searched through his pouch for anything usable and lined them up on the shiny white floor.

“What’s this? Did the bullet leave the body!?”

“How should I know? But stopping the bleeding comes first. He’ll die if you keep hesitating! Hold that leg. We can wrap a bandage around the thigh to stop the bleeding!!”

“Saline? What is this and how do I use it!?”

“The same as a blood transfusion!! You pour that in instead of blood to regulate the blood pressure!”

“How do you do a blood transfusion!?”

“Just like a normal IV! You find a vein on the elbow and stab in a needle!!”

Quenser’s group was surprisingly lively. They sounded like students preparing for a school festival. As they desperately fired bullets from behind the rubble, Heivia’s group would occasionally turn a jealous eye behind them.

“Ow… Stop, you idiot. That hurts. Don’t dump disinfectant on there. It stings!”

“Ha ha ha. I’m not gonna treat you gently if you refuse to pay back the money I lent you.”

“What!? Wait. Is that glue!? You’re gonna seal the wound with that!? I’ll pay you back with interest!!”

“Of course you will. By the way, the only other options we have here is a stapler or safety pins.”

“Are there no medics over there?”

“There’s one! Hey, you! The one firing the submachine gun! Being an angel in white suits you more than blood and smoke. Stop filling your body with adrenaline and get over there!”

“Eh? Eh? But my boyfriend here asked me to help out.”

“It’s time to ditch him! C’mon over here!!”

Heivia was finally unable to stand the flirting mood of afterschool festival preparations developing behind him, so he shouted angrily at his allies.

“Don’t go stealing our nurse!! She’s our one refreshment up here!!”

“What are you talking about?” said Quenser. “If you need a blonde twin-tail in a nurse cap, you have me. You should count yourself lucky because I’m too good for you.”

“I get it now, Quenser. You want me to kill you, don’t you!?”

Suddenly, an explosion drowned out all nearby voices.

“Bwapph!!!???”

“Dammit…. They’ve started firing 25mm grenades! We just don’t have enough firepower!!”

Those grenades had been developed to kill humans, so they did not destroy the rubble.

But if they were fired in an arc over the rubble, there was nothing Quenser’s group could do. The explosive blast and shrapnel would wash over them.

The previous explosion had not been a simple missed shot.

They were firing a few test shots to calculate the ideal course.

Once they fired for real, Quenser’s group would be slaughtered as they hid behind cover.

Heivia clicked his tongue.

“Gather all our rockets, missiles, and whatever other explosives we have! Let’s blow away the push carts they’re hiding behind!!”

“I’ll leave it to you if you can manage it, but they’re better shots than us! They’ll put a bullet between your eyes while you’re holding up the launcher and taking aim. And the best barrage we can manage isn’t fazing them at all!!”

“Who the hell even are you!?”

“That’s just mean!! I’ve been protecting your back this entire time!!”

Boy A started sobbing despite not looking at all feminine, so Heivia ignored him and turned toward Quenser.

For some reason, Quenser was operating his radio with bloody hands.

“What are you doing!? The cavalry isn’t gonna show up if you send out an SOS!!”

“Don’t be so sure.”

“What?”

Heivia looked confused and his mocking expression turned to a serious one.

Quenser lightly shook his radio.

“We made our way above the waterline to escape their flooding, but I thought of another way to make use of it.”

“You mean the sixth secondary power supply!? Sure, we might be able to bring down all the power supplies by messing with the emergency switchover system, but we can’t get near the thing! Charging in will just get you driven back by bullets and grenades!!”

“There’s something else,” said Quenser without a moment’s pause. He began explaining as if he had been planning this all along. “Heivia, the cavalry has changed quite a bit these days. They have armor that can resist nukes, they have gigantic cannons that can split open the earth, and they’re piloted by beautiful girls.”

“You don’t mean…”

“What else could I mean but an Object?”

Their sight and hearing were completely blown away.

This went well beyond an explosion.

This was meant to aid Quenser’s group, but they were thrown to the pure white floor. The soldiers already on the floor were sent rolling.

“B-babh!? Bbah!? Bbgweh!!”

“D-don’t worry. I understand, Heivia. This is time for explanations, right? I received a report that the princess destroyed the Mad Cooker. That increased her range of motion, so I had her assist us during the openings in her battle against the Be Ablaze. Wink☆”

“Bh… I was trying to ask if you had any last words!!!”

Object shells generally could not attack deep below the sea. In order for Quenser to request assistance from the princess, they had to make their way above the waterline.

The Ame-no-Darin’s corridor had twisted like a sugar sculpture and some of it had been torn off. The first shot had been near Quenser’s group in order to mark off their safe area. The subsequent shells gradually moved farther away and brought death closer and closer to Moss Green.

Metal pipes on push carts were not enough to protect them from this ferocity.

The Moss Green mercenaries frantically tried to retreat, but the entire structure shook with tremendous force and they could not run properly.

The corridor was destroyed as if being bitten into.

The pure white corridor, the structure, and the soldiers were all crushed and thrown through the air.

Quenser covered one ear with a hand, pressed his radio against the other ear, and shouted into it.

“Stop!! Stop firing!!”

“There’s too much noise on your end, so I can’t hear you,” replied the princess.

“You just fired on the sixth secondary power supply!! Our destination is gone!!”

The metal door three hundred meters ahead was blown up from the other side and it spewed flames and smoke.

Heivia tapped Quenser’s shoulder in resignation.

“Our luck ran out once our great demon god had to take part in a conflict between humans. If it was blown up, there’s nothing we can do. We’ll have to go to the next closest power supply.”

The embankment-like place a few kilometers over the ocean was struck by the Baby Magnum’s shells. The structure was torn to shreds where the sniper was presumably lurking.

“The other secondary power supplies are still okay, right?”

“I want to leave the rest to the princess and go home.”

“I’d love to, but our mission will end in failure if the Ame-no-Darin splits in half and sinks. We need to put in a little more effort to lengthen this civil war.”

But then they spotted motion beyond the rubble that no longer functioned as a corridor. It was 250 meters ahead at the corner from which the Moss Green group had appeared.

They saw a woman with long silver hair and brown skin.

She was part of Moss Green, but the simplified medals on her ample chest suggested she held a fairly high rank.

“Now you’ve done it, Legitimacy Kingdom dogs! This is a Capitalist Corporations problem.”

“No, it’s an Island Nation problem! We’re both outsiders here!”

Heivia targeted the brown woman with his assault rifle, but the Ame-no-Darin lurched disconcertingly as an aftereffect of the Baby Magnum’s bombardment. He could not aim steadily and his bullets hit the wall next to her.

The thorough Object bombardment had destroyed the walls, the ceiling, and even the floor.

It felt like Quenser and Heivia were separated from Moss Green by a 250 meter ravine.

Quenser raised his middle finger.

“Let’s call this a tie, so withdraw your unit! Whether you’re from the Northern Restricted Zone or wherever else, flesh-and-blood soldiers can’t withstand the ferocity of an Object!”

“Is that so? Don’t forget your goal, sheltered little boy.”

The Ame-no-Darin shook once more and the ground below their feet felt like a small boat on a stormy night.

“What was that!?” Heivia paled. “That didn’t match the timing of the princess’s bombardment!”

“Our goal is to sink the Ame-no-Darin. We can operate the necessary bulkheads and seawater valves from the central power supply, so now we only have to wait for leverage to bend the giant float until it breaks down the center like a biscuit.”

The ground shook even more.

It sometimes reached a tilt of thirty degrees. Quenser wanted to grab onto something so he did not fall, so he reached for a crack in the floor. However, he heard a gunshot and orange sparks flew from nearby.

The silver-haired brown woman 250 meters away held a handgun.

Normally, 150 meters was the limit for a handgun even with careful aim. The fact that it had taken her only one shot to accurately fire right next to his hand while everything shook showed just how well-trained she was.

Quenser reflexively drew back his hand like a turtle sensing danger and drawing its head into its shell.

And that was exactly what the woman wanted.

“Wait! Watch out, Quenser!!” shouted Heivia.

But as if he were slipping down a slide, Quenser was thrown into the giant “ravine” opened in the pure white floor.

After seeing that, the brown woman licked her lips and jumped in after him.

They would be below the cold ocean there.

The Object could not provide proper support for anyone down there.

===Part 17===

“Gah!?” gasped Quenser as something struck his back.

The thick metal pipes running everywhere like blood vessels reminded him that he had fallen to a lower level.

Something must have happened to the wiring because the lights were out. The area was dark and his back was soaking wet because a giant puddle of seawater covered the entire floor. This was below the waterline, so he hoped it was from a burst pipe. A broken exterior wall would be truly terrible.

He stood up, leaned against a nearby column, and thought.

(What do I do? I can’t get back up the way I came, so I have to find a different set of stairs. Can I get the lights on? Or would that tell the enemy where I am?)

He then heard some static from his radio.

He hoped it was from Heivia or the others, but it was not.

“A rat in the birdcage.”

He grimaced.

That was the silver-haired brown woman he had spoken with before. She was most likely Moss Green’s commander here.

(When did they break our encryption!?)

[[Image:HO_v08_103.jpg|thumb]]

“Listen. I said a rat, not a little bird. Raptors prefer lively prey.”

“You’ve already won. Ame-no-Darin really does seem to be sinking. We can’t turn this around and the Legitimacy Kingdom can’t keep this civil war going if it sinks. So what more do you want? Don’t you have to retreat as well!?”

“It’s simple.”

Quenser looked around as he listened to her.

The area was dark and his enemy had to be skilled at remaining hidden. A near-amateur student would not be able to find her by effort alone.

“Sinking the Ame-no-Darin was our top priority and we got that over with quickly. That means we can veer off course and deal with a more personal and meaningless objective. As long as we accomplish our mission, the higher ups will turn a blind eye to a short detour.”

“Don’t tell me you’re taking revenge for your killed men.”

“They weren’t the type to die in a place like this.”

For the first time, human emotion poured into her voice.

Trusting the chill running down his spine, Quenser checked over his equipment again. He had a balled-up diving suit, an oxygen tank, and the Hand Axe plastic explosive. In his survival kit, he had a small knife and a metal skewer, but he could not use them very well. Not even Heivia would think of handling a Northern Restricted Zone warrior with only a knife.

“I couldn’t bear to thrown them into the ruthless Northern Restricted Zone right after they finished boot camp. Before showing them true hell, I wanted them to prove themselves in these lukewarm battlefields and earn a few medals. But look at this. Now I have to bury them without anything decorating their chests. How can this happen? With a funeral as pathetic as this, they’ll never live down the shame even in heaven.”

“I thought the people who lived where Objects are banned would know just how unreasonable this line of work is. If you didn’t like it, you should have claimed they weren’t suited for this and swept them aside. You were in a position to do that!!”

“This is where that was supposed to be tested!! They were supposed to shoot you sheltered snot-nosed brats like it was a walk in the park!!”

Quenser finally felt he had seen where her anger was coming from.

She was not simply angry that her men had been killed.

If they had died in their actual battlefield in the Northern Restricted Zone, she may have written it off as unavoidable.

But this was below them.

She had looked down on it.

As a warrior, she was unable to forgive the fact that they had been killed by scrawny Quenser and the others who could only fight while protected by an Object. If someone died in single combat with a great warrior or a hero, their name might remain in history, but that death would be meaningless if they were instead killed in their sleep by wild dogs or bandits that were digging through the dead on the battlefield. This was no different. They had never been treating Quenser or his fellow soldiers as human.

She had said her men were not the type to die in a place like this.

That proved it more than anything else.

“You’re twisted. I feel like an idiot for thinking I did something wrong even for a moment.”

“I will take off your head, you damn poodle. It’s high time you learned to fear the wolf who was born in the forest and rules the mountain. I’ll leave you in such a tragic state that they won’t know what to carve on your grave, but I’ll at least stuff your head and offer it in place of fruit.”

In that dark place, the thoroughly trained wolf began preparing for her silent hunt.

If Quenser did nothing, his throat would be torn out.

Even if he gave this a normal level of effort or tried to protect himself with the standard methods, his weak poodle legs would not accomplish much.

He checked over his equipment again: balled up diving suit, oxygen tank, Hand Axe plastic explosive, small knife, and metal skewer. However, he doubted any of that would be of much use.

What could he do with only those supplies?

If he did not find an answer, his fate was sealed.

===Part 18===

Naturally, Angela Hibiscus did not let her guard down even when facing a foolish poodle.

She had judged the enemy’s equipment at a glance before even luring him down here.

He was a combat engineer.

The plastic explosives on his back would be his primary weapon. He did not carry a rifle or even a sidearm handgun, so he may have been a battlefield student. Other than the explosives, he would likely have an insignificant knife in his survival kit and he also had the balled up diving suit on his waist and an oxygen tank.

She focused more on the diving suit than the explosives.

Anyone with half a brain would never think of actually defeating her in a straight fight. She was only armed with a large military knife and a handgun, but she was confident in her ability to execute him without a scratch on her even if he were armed with a light machinegun.

If he was hoping to win, he would not try to attack at any one point.

In other words, he would use an attack that thoroughly filled the entire space. With that, he could defeat her while ignoring her combat skill.

They were below the waterline and he had a diving suit and an oxygen tank, so the most obvious method would be to fill the area with water.

(But he won’t do that. The valves won’t function in this blackout, but he could open them by destroying them with explosives. But if he causes too fast and powerful a surge, he won’t escape unscathed either.)

It was similar to a drowned corpse being swept down a mountain stream filled with rocks. With the powerful current striking the body against the hard outcroppings again and again, entire limbs could be torn off. The boy’s synthetic diving suit could not withstand that sort of impact.

(If he slowly opens the valves manually to avoid that danger, the flooding will take too long. I can slit his throat a hundred times over before it takes effect.)

The diving suit was made to withstand a certain level of water pressure, but it was not solid enough to stop the explosive blast of a bomb.

That meant he could not place bombs around the area and cause a giant explosion.

That left only one option.

(There’s a puddle of seawater at our feet.)

She used her night vision to observe her surroundings.

She could see her foolish target’s back from where she was.

(That synthetic diving suit is an insulator. He can use electricity as an attack that will only affect me.)

She grinned and adjusted her grip on the knife and handgun.

(Sorry, but the Object attack destroyed the circuitry. There’s no electricity to send through the seawater in this blackout! The very bombardment that tore my men to pieces has spelled your doom!!)

She took in a short breath and began to move.

Despite the seawater puddle covering the floor, she moved swiftly yet almost silently toward Quenser’s back.

But at that very moment, he took a strange action.

There was no way he had noticed her approaching from behind, but he suddenly put on his diving suit’s helmet and held something in his hand.

She had one more step to go.

In just one second, the knife in her hand would cross his shoulder and reach his windpipe.

And he reached a hand toward the button on his radio.

(A bomb!!!???)

She did not have time to judge the meaning of the action.

An instant later, an explosion compressed the air in the entire area.

===Part 19===

The aerial PMC named Sky Blue Inc. was working alongside Moss Green. Mariydi Whitewitch, their ace pilot, frowned as she received instructions over the radio.

That lovely blonde-haired girl was filled with fierce anger.

“You’re calling off the attack? You’re telling us to retreat!? What is going on, CT!? Don’t get in my way! I’m one attack away from shooting down Burning Alpha!!”

“CT to Ice Girl 1. Getting this worked up is a sign of danger. We came here to unilaterally earn some points, not for a 50/50 battle. Don’t forget the entire reason we are here.”

“Just one more and my kill count will be a nice round number and I want a good story to tell. Give me this one!!”

“CT to Ice Girl 1. The Legitimacy Kingdom’s first generation has sunk the Capitalist Corporations’ Ningyo and Yuuhi. Surprisingly, it won despite being outnumbered two-to-one. Its Elite is very skilled. With that burden gone, it can now move over a wider area. If you don’t finish up soon, you’ll be its next target. Sky Blue’s only job was to destroy some ships and spread confusion through their chain of command. We have no clear goal like Moss Green. Do you want to be known as someone who never returned from this lukewarm battlefield?”

“But!!”

“Stop complaining, Ice Girl 1. You have already done more than enough for a bonus and an aircraft can’t hope to oppose an Object if it is actively targeting you. This has nothing to do with your skill. Turn back immediately. Or do you enjoy putting your men in danger because you were blinded by the prize of shooting down an ace?”

The girl clicked her tongue and angrily raised the volume of her smartphone.

The Legitimacy Kingdom ace named Burning Alpha spoke cheerfully over the open band.

“What? Are you leaving in the middle of our date? Well, maybe you need to grow up a bit before you can handle anything more. Go on. Get home before it gets dark. Don’t get lost.”

“Come visit the Northern Restricted Zone. I’ll kill you in an instant!! And don’t act so tough when your left wingtip is spewing smoke! You have your hand on the eject lever, don’t you!?”

“You say that, but you had one of your men cut in and take one of my AAM locks for you. I will praise you for using smoke to escape my visual identification afterwards, though. Without that, you’d be swimming in the middle of enemy territory right now. Were you too scared to go on a date without your big brother to protect that cute little ass of yours?”

“I-I’ll kill you!! I’ll kill you right now!!”

Mariydi tried to tilt the stick, but three fellow members of the Ice Unit had her marked on the top and either side. They were only a few meters apart, so she would collide with them if she tried to turn.

She held her head in her hands and let out a large sigh.

She kicked the flight recorder at her feet and spoke.

“Those pieces of shit got lucky this time.”

In her irritation, she cursed Burning Alpha and all the other major targets she missed out on.

That included base commander-class officer Frolaytia Capistrano on the flagship aircraft carrier.

“I hope I see you on the battlefield again soon.”

===Part 20===

What Quenser had done was quite simple.

He did not use the blast to kill.

He instead modified the amount of explosive to keep it nonlethal. It was just enough force to apply tremendous pressure to the inner ear that controlled balance.

If he had simply set it off, he would have collapsed along with Angela.

And that well-trained woman would have recovered faster than a scrawny boy like him, so she would have killed him afterwards.

But that was why he had put on the diving suit’s helmet. The helmet was made to withstand a fair bit of water pressure. It could not withstand the pressure of an explosion that could smash a human skeleton, but it could hold off a blast weakened so it only affected the inner ear.

He removed the helmet, looked around, and finally realized that Angela had approached within a step of his back. The discovery did not please him.

“I’m glad I didn’t try to say anything clever before setting it off.”

As he spoke, a rope fell down from the top of the “ravine”.

“Hey, Quenser!” shouted down Heivia. “Get on up here!!”

“Sure,” he answered as he grabbed the bottom of the rope.

He could not climb up on his own, so he would have to let those with some strength left pull him up.

But then he glanced over toward the many pillars.

The base of one of them appeared to have been opened up, but it was not due to the explosion. A part had been removed.

He had seen something similar before.

With a very bad feeling in his gut, he frantically pulled out his handheld device. He found similar opened spots in the photos he had previously taken in the Ame-no-Darin.

He had assumed construction of the facility had stopped before it was complete.

But if that was not the case…

“Wait.”

After tying Angela’s hands with the end of the rope, he slapped her cheek.

He had to check on something.

“What is this? Why are there pieces missing here and there from the walls and ceilings as if this is an unfinished jigsaw puzzle!? It’s almost like the parts needed to build something else were secretly shipped in during the construction of the Ame-no-Darin!!”

“You didn’t know?”

Angela opened her eyes a bit and grimaced after noticing how tightly her arms were bound.

“This was a giant workshop that the Island Nation…no, that the rogue self-defense PMC prepared in order to construct a new model of Object without anyone interfering. And if it isn’t here anymore, that means it was completed and let out into the world.”

The trigger of the next war had long since been pulled.

<noinclude>{{HEAVYOBJECT Nav|prev=HEAVY OBJECT:Volume8 Prologue|next=HEAVY OBJECT:Volume8 Chapter 2}}</noinclude>

HEAVY OBJECT:Volume8 Prologue

2014-06-14T16:21:08Z

Axyraandas: /* Prologue */

==Prologue==

From ■■■ to the age of Objects.

It’s rumored that it was due to the fall of the UN, but the real reason was ■■■■■■.

At the time, I was sent out as a student soldier. Yes, that was when we were in the middle of the first extreme aging society, so the working population had dropped drastically. Both agriculture and commerce were practically empty. The only thing left to rely on was intellectual property. And so everyone started skipping grades like crazy. I was already in graduate school by the time I got my first period.

But I digress. Let’s get back on track.

In the end, ■■■, ■■■, ■■■, and everyone else wanted some kind of event.

Humans ■■■ too much ■■■. ■■■■■■ at least five or six times. The next thing we knew, ■■■■■■■■■ was gone. It wasn’t just that ■■■ was focusing on ■■■ of ■■■■■■. Even creating ■■■ wasn’t enough to ■■■. Weapons began to stagnate and stopped advancing. To put it simply, there was no excitement in ■■■■. Once the upper limit was reached, responsibility had to be taken for the arms reduction. As a final ■■■, what else was there other than ■■■■? And the negligence of those high-cost ■■■ had to have been ■■■■■■ to the anti-government side.

Everyone was hoping for the appearance of ■■■■■■.

A love of bigger and bigger ships and guns was perfect. We had ■■■■ as an obvious ■■■■■ and, unlike with ■■■■■■, the entire earth could not be supplied to ■■■■. In other words, ■■■ and ■■■ were split and ■■■■ could be watched a lot like a sports match.

Everyone dreamed of the arrival of ■■■■■■.

The Island Nation decided to play the villain. As if it had been arranged in advance, ■■■■■■■■■ formed a ■■■■, brought out all sorts of exaggerated ■■■■, and challenged ■■■■■.

Even the later ■■■■ was ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■. Fairly and justly, ■■■■■■■■■ and ■■■■■■. And it was all to create that.

I wonder what’s happened to the Island Nation now.

As someone who fled from there, I have no obligation to say anything self-important, but I do have one thought as I watch it from the outside.

What a pitiable country.

(A written version of Legitimacy Kingdom 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion Maintenance Soldier Ayami Cherryblossom’s oral testimony concerning the Island Nation. The original text is only viewable by those ranked major general or higher, so it is speculated to include some highly classified information.)

<noinclude>{{HEAVYOBJECT Nav|prev=HEAVY OBJECT:Volume8 Illustrations|next=HEAVY OBJECT:Volume8 Chapter 1}}</noinclude>

Talk:Psycho Love Comedy

2014-06-03T15:07:49Z

Axyraandas:

I was simply raising theories. Can't wait for the next chapter.--[[User:Kemm|Kemm]] ([[User talk:Kemm|talk]]) 16:34, 12 February 2014 (CST)
:Plus, I was wrong.--[[User:Kemm|Kemm]] ([[User talk:Kemm|talk]]) 17:40, 14 February 2014 (CST)

Hey, thanks for the TL. Really enjoying this so far. [[User:Rizo536|Rizo536 - Possibly Editing]] ([[User talk:Rizo536|talk]]) 03:07, 15 March 2014 (CDT)

Why are the ending illust for vol 2 and 3 same? Is it really like that? [[User:Castor212|Castor212]] ([[User talk:Castor212|talk]]) 03:32, 24 May 2014 (CDT)

:Because some people are very sloppy when uploading illustrations and don't clean up their messes.

:Thanks for pointing out the error. --[[User:ServingCatsAndDogs|ServingCatsAndDogs]] ([[User talk:ServingCatsAndDogs|talk]]) 05:59, 24 May 2014 (CDT)
:: You're welcome.

In the last chapter (volume 01) there is a "mete" which I think should be meet, didn't want to edit it cause I didn't know if it was on purpose. [[User:Oddmoonlight|Oddmoonlight]] ([[User talk:Oddmoonlight|talk]]) 19:48, 29 May 2014 (CDT)
:The word 'mete' is correct. It basically means to measure out, usually in bibilical terms. So, to mete out justice or punishment. Yay for learning new words~ [[User:Axyraandas|Axyraandas]] ([[User talk:Axyraandas|talk]]) 21:00, 2 June 2014 (CDT)
::Thanks you very much for explaining. XD [[User:Oddmoonlight|Oddmoonlight]] ([[User talk:Oddmoonlight|talk]]) 00:59, 3 June 2014 (CDT)
:::No problem, that's what this page is for. Talking, and such. [[User:Axyraandas|Axyraandas]] ([[User talk:Axyraandas|talk]])

Talk:Psycho Love Comedy

2014-06-03T02:00:21Z

Axyraandas:

SGBEG:Volume 1 Act 0

2014-05-17T20:46:20Z

Axyraandas: /* The 0th Act: Turning Point: Reverse */ There are a lot of things that I could fix, but changing it may sacrifice meaning for clarity, so I didn't.

==The 0th Act: Turning Point: Reverse==

[[Image:SGBED v1 009.jpg|thumb]]

Numbers were dancing around in front of me. Codes fell copiously like rain. Behind the pitch black background, numerous flashy numbers were dancing around.

Man, I was having this dream again. Though I had seen this dream many times, my feelings toward it refresh every time. It was a dream I would forget upon opening my eyes. Vivid scenes I had never seen before would jump into my mind, following, quickly, things about one man...

“...!”

As I had thought, it was a vague picture of a man in front of a desolate background. It was a man calling intently for something. Wearing a white laboratory coat and with tousled hair, this man was stretching his hands, almost to a crazed state, shouting so intently as if he wanted to tear his throat. Yet, nothing was heard. I...I heard nothing. Never was there once when his words could reach me. Still, I know he was shouting. This was all there was. This was all I know of. But why—why would my chest grieve every time I witness this scene? It was as if I had forgotten something. I should be able to understand after so many repetitions. Still, though aware of having forgotten something, I had no idea of what I had forgotten. I couldn’t, however hard I strained my mind, recall what I had forgotten. As such, I observed my dream, seeking the details of the dream desperately when it appears. I was the kind of person who couldn’t put things aloft once lured by suspicion. I would resolve doubts. I would discover on and on until I found a compelling answer. This was my personality. I had to, at the least, unify my view with others. This was why I had to understand, why I stared at it so intently...

And recently, at last, I understood a spate of things. It wasn't until recently that I found out the man was wearing a white lab coat and had tousled hair. It took me many times to find this out due to the vagueness of that specific dream. So this time I was observing what the man was saying and crying out. Of course, I wasn’t able to hear what he had said, but when one makes a sound, one’s mouth moves accordingly. In most cases, our mouths and jaws take different shapes and forms when the vowels we make or the volume of the voice differs. Although the technique of reading lips exists in this world, most people, even without having learned this technique, would observe the movements of the speaker’s mouth when they listen. This would, subconsciously, rectify the words they hear. The way I was observing was similar to this. Without blinking, I concentrated on the mute shouting sounds.

Ku...

“Ku?”

Kurisu...

“Eh?”

While I read the lips of the man, I furrowed my brows out of slight surprise.

“Why does he know my name?” I said, unintentionally.

Kurisu...Kurisu Makise.

Right. The name the man was calling was mine and not someone else's.

“What the heck is this?”

A man was crying his lungs out, calling my name. Generally speaking, this would be a reappearance of an event happening somewhere, but I had no memory of such an event.

‘’Why...is this...what the...’’

“Why is my chest aching with such pain...” Closing my eyes, I said to myself, pressing on my aching chest.

The man in front of me called again: Kurisute.

“Hey. Isn’t this my name?”

I opened my eyes. The man should be calling my name. Still, why wasn’t the shape of his mouth changing?

Kurisudeina!

At the instant I read the words his lips were making, a non-suppressible feeling thrashed into me, and under its effects, I cried, unwillingly, “Like I said, stop adding Deina to the end of my name!”

<center>☆</center>

“Like I said, stop adding Deina to the end of my name!” At the same moment I cried this, I sat up, coming back to my senses.

“Oh dear, why am I crying like this? That bastard. Give me back what I deserve for my making my chest ache!”

My shoulders shivered; my breathing patterns became coarse. After unleashing my fury, my emotions were pacified gradually.

“Fu...eh?”

I looked around in a panic: I was on the bed of the hotel I had been living in for some time. I, Kurisu Makise, was holding the sheets on the bed, waking up abruptly from my sleep, my mind still in a mess.

“Ah, eh? Why did the dream have such strange aspects?”

Agony rushed through me. As I tried to remember what happened in the dream I just had, I found it to be detached from me completely as if my conscious mind was rejecting the memories I had at that time.

“Yeah. I can’t remember anything. There was something I was especially wary of...” Murmuring, I looked at my phone to check the time: 2010/07/28 09:27

It seemed to be the appointed time for waking up.

“I can’t remember anyway. I might as well let it go.”

Heaving another sigh, I took the sheets off my body and got up from bed. Although I hadn’t been to Japan in a long time, I didn’t have the spare time to be dozing off in my bed. If I don’t make haste and prepare for my day, I wouldn’t have time left for some residual activities. As I walked to the bathroom, I took off my pajamas. While I used hot water to bath myself, my mind was checking my schedule today.

Right.

I returned to Japan for work and not for a holiday. I came here as a researcher for the Victor Qondria University (in America) since ATF asked me to give a talk on time machines, which, in some sense, found the wrong person. Who the heck had the idea that a neuroscience researcher would also understand the physics stretching to time machines? It was as absurd a proposition as finding a chef for welding steel bars at a construction site. Nevertheless, ATF might only be wanting a layman to give the talk. Put in another way, this was a job of using my own stretch of knowledge to explain time machines. They believe in the importance of flexibility and exchange of constructing knowledge and proposing theories. If I put it this way, it was easier to understand why they would choose a neuroscience researcher to take the job. But this didn’t mean it would convince me, who was already terribly busy in the laboratory, to cross the Pacific Ocean and give some meaningless talk, let alone be interested.

At first, the research laboratory wanted to reject the offer, but when they remembered I had never returned to Japan after going to America for studying, they changed their stance.

This was what my tutor said: “Kurisu, it’s gratifying that you are diligent in researching, but you have immersed yourself too much in your work. It’s time you take a break back home.”

That time was also, incidentally, the time when the experiments and researches were over. Although Japan was my homeland, there was no home I could go to there. My mother moved to America with me ever since I went overseas for studying. If I were to say which place was my home, America would be closer to the answer. Albeit, I wouldn’t have gone to Japan if it were not for a letter. Indeed. It was this letter that changed my mind...

Upon accepting ATF’s work, I found that their treatment was better than I had expected: they would pay for the traveling fees as well as the fees I had spent during my stay. Also, they seemed to cherish the opportunities to exchange with our university.

“Under circumstances where things are out of your expectations, you would really become suspicious of whether there is something else hidden behind all this.”

I unknowingly laughed. It seemed to stem from being aroused by some happiness.

Switching off the tap that was pouring hot water, I started to tidy myself up. I couldn’t let myself forget what I had learned from my senior researchers. I had to put on a bit of perfume, as this was a good way to kick off the preconceived notion that researchers are unhygienic. Then, I put on the uniform of the Ayamein Highschool for Girls. This was to let my mother, who was perturbed by my travel, to permit me to return to Japan. During this trip where I had not brought any clothes to change, this handmade, durable uniform was a treasure—although however I change this uniform, it would only deviate a bit from its original appearance...

“Okay. I’m good now,” I said, looking at myself in the mirror.

Although I was to give a talk in front of many people, I didn’t plan to stand like a decor, but this didn’t mean I want to make a bad impression. Should this happen, my fame would be destroyed, be it the research laboratory or ATF.

Finally, I opened my phone again, checking the venue of the talk and its route.

“12:00 at the Radio Kaikan building in front of the Akihabara Station.”

I opened the door, my hand holding the envelope stuffed with scientific papers, my heart hoping for a change today...

<center>☆</center>

It was blisteringly hot. As soon as I had got out of the hotel and stepped onto Japanese soil, the piercing sunlight and heat waves crashed on me.

“Japan is the birthplace of the heat island effect indeed.”

Although there was a river nearby, it was totally incompetent to the sun’s heat. My brain simulated the effects of rivers, wind, and plants on easing the present heat.

“What unbelievable heat...”

Normally, I wouldn’t have made such a surprising, unexpected remark. This remark was made because I knew I had to come here and back every day in the following two weeks. Although having heard of Japan’s hot weather in the summer, I have lived in Japan in the past, and also have been here in times other than the summer, I had never experienced, in a long time, Japan’s hot weather in the capital between late July and August.

It was blisteringly hot. There were no remarks other than this. With this in mind, I headed to Yushima, which was on the right hand side of Tokyo Medical and Dental University. Going a bit right, you could see the Yushima Seidou; going a bit left, you could see the entrance to the Kandamyoujin shrine. On seeing the green entrance sign, I suddenly remembered a senior who wanted a charm here.

“You’re a neuroscience researcher at Victor Qondria University, yet you believe in gods. How strange, my senior.”

That senior said there were a lot of gods similar to Shiva being worshiped in Japan. Shiva was the god of destruction and creation in India. Kandamyoujin was another one. There was also a god of wealth and Acalanatha. All of them were given to him by one of his acquaintances living in Japan. Of course, in America, there were a lot of people with their beliefs not in conflict with science or even in integration. That senior was one of these people. Science was an act of more in-depth searching of the world created by our Lord than a simple desire of wanting to know. This thought in America’s culture was not rare.

Although having been in America for a long time, I became even more skeptical of such beliefs. Perhaps, different from them, I had no foundation of a religion to support such beliefs. The so-called beliefs they had were different from what I had imagined. I thought it would be something more rooted to our life. From the conventions of Japan, beliefs should be closer to us. This was why in the centre of the world lay the Christian’s Christ and Islam’s Allah. But in Japan, in the centre lay, mostly, family relations, Takan shrines, and schools where everyone gathers. What they told me was that they sense no concrete beliefs from me. To me, the curiosity to distinguish and find out things was, probably, a kind of belief. The stronger men are in their beliefs, the harder it will be for them to hesitate in their decisions. Only with internal, spiritual support could one not sway and get lost.

“My, I had a similar feeling when I was debating...”

I had lost count of the times I pursued for the authentic truth. If I had to believe in something without concrete evidence, my beliefs would never move forward. Doubts deep down my heart would push me to pursue, using my determination as the base, my talent and hard work as the force, to reach possible success. It is important to listen to others; however, what they say are only partial truths. Be that as it may, I was a little jealous of them. I understood this: since I was small, I was blessed greatly. Right, it was my talent. To be more specific, I was capable of doing addition and subtraction easily when I was two. And because of various reasons, I was interested in physics and other disciplines when I was small.

Names such as prodigies, intelligent children were so often crowned on me as eating and drinking. I quickly understood that the wall built between the people around me and myself was formed from envy, inferiority and other similar feelings. I detested this wall, and I thus left these people through skipping grades.

I made friends after that, calling them seniors or colleagues, but I was ignorant of whether they count as my friends or not. If I were to say this out, they would probably protest in tears. I shouldn’t be too certain, of course. Still, in exchange for my talent, I had to lose something. I was still knowledgeable of this. Nevertheless, I didn’t plan to succumb to my weaknesses out right; I had to overcome them through hard work. With this in mind, I came to Japan. I received a letter recently. From this letter I retrieved the staunch matter I lacked, though using the word ‘retrieve’ might be slightly incorrect, as the staunch matter was the relation between my father and myself.

<center>☆</center>

Shouichi Makise.
This was my father’s name. This was also the name of Dr. Nakabachi, the one to conduct “The Conference of the Development and Success of the Time Machine” on the eighth floor of the Radio Kaikan building. I didn’t know much about my father using the name Dr. Nakabachi, but from what I had learned from the internet, he didn’t receive much positive feedback.

It had been seven years since I had seen my father. At that time, I did my best to learn physics to understand my father’s papers in a bid to earn his praise. Fortunately, I had the potential to learn, and I endeavored to learn at anytime possible, just to earn his praise.

The unpalatable truth was that I failed. While I was doing my best to understand his papers, I had, since sometime, rejected the theories my father proposed. On my birthday seven years ago, my report on the papers angered my father.

“Are you satisfied now? To refute my theories at such a young age—are you satisfied? Stop joking!”

It was the first time I saw my father with such fury.

No, it wasn’t the only reason that caused this. Although the report sparked off his anger, his grudge against me, in fact, was built before this. But I was too slow-witted in these things. All I thought about was the praise I would earn when I simply work hard. Perhaps, there were other reasons. I could only feel sorrow, fear, and anxiety of what to do at that time. Then, I left my father...

In these seven years, consequently, I had been, perhaps, searching for my father, but with the feeling that we would not meet again; however, it turned out another way. The letter I received from my father was the invitation letter to “The Conference of the Development and Success of the Time Machine”.

“I will definitely make a time machine you won’t reject!”

This was what my father had said seven years ago. Now that I thought about it, most of the papers my father had written were related to time machines, and, from what he had said, he had continued with the research on time machines to this date. To be frank, I believed my father had not yet made a successfully working time machine because, should he have made it, he would have written papers to systematically talk about the theories.

“Still, he might be putting forth his theories in this conference.”

Along the road to the Radio Kaikan building, I had been thinking. If this was the case, then the papers I had brought with me today might aid my father. As if lovingly embracing it, I held the envelope containing the papers onto my chest. They were my father’s invitation as well as the papers I wrote happily. Should I be praised by my father upon his seeing these papers... If I could right the wrongs seven years ago... If I could hear the words my father should have said at that time... Finally, I could be rewarded with the staunch matter—the relation between my father and I.

“I really want to see you sooner, father.”

<center>☆</center>

I came to the Radio Kaikan building earlier than scheduled. The building was smaller when looked at from afar. Through searching on the internet, I got to know it was built in 1962 and had been the tallest building in Akihabara then.

“How archaic...”

If I were to put its 40 years of age into account, this building shouldn’t be described as small. In the past, it was the tallest building in Akihabara then, once a landmark. As I closed my phone that I used to search information, I stared upwards at the tall building. It seemed to have used imposing lighting, which must make it quite flashy at night. This marked the style of the buildings in Akihabara.

With eight floors, a huge electronic door sign on the second floor, and door signs aligned along the stores in each floor—this was the first impression the building made to me when I looked at it compared to its surrounding buildings. Walking inside, I could see, as I had felt, a large diversity of things, though, in fact, I was too naive.

There was almost anything you could possibly think of, ranging from electronic products and camcorders to local products. Passing through these stores, I walked to the lift. Though old buildings normally look like this, I could feel an exceptional archaic sense in this building, should I put the age of this building into account.

Standing in front of the lift emanating the sense of the medieval ages, I pressed on the button of the lift, which then, unaware, I stopped walking, and looked around, eager to see to my father. This eagerness was also mixed with fear and anxiety when I remembered the things that had happened seven years ago. These two feelings were, in my heart, in conflict.

“It is natural to be afraid.”

Inhaling deeply, I regulated my breathing patterns. It was impossible not to be afraid to meet with my father who had once lashed out in anger. Like Christians who call their beliefs as their God, I call my father a scary god. He was the kind of existence that controlled me, in both good and bad aspects, and in both aspects of what I was willing to do and unwilling to do. His control followed me wherever I went. I, of course, knew the reason why I was now a neuroscience researcher.

“So seeing him is inevitable.”

Softly closing my eyes and opening them again, I inhaled and exhaled deeply in between. These actions, from my past experience and learning, were to ease my mood.

The feelings I had to my father were definitely less staunch than the beliefs my seniors had. Albeit, they were the embodiment of my hard work, the wisdom a neuroscience researcher in Victor Qondria University was proud of.

The deep breathing and closing of my eyes did their job, pacifying my mood. Although still a bit perturbed, I felt a lot better than a while ago.

“Being early was certainly a correct decision.”

Showing a smile dyed with self-pity, I looked at the time. There was enough time for me to sooth my mood until I was completely tranquil. As I brought my eyes back to the number showing the floor the lift was at, I noticed the lift was heading upwards.

“To ease myself to a state at ease, I'll walk there slowly.”

I said it intentionally to clarify my intentions to myself.

Having decided the time, I turned back, walked to the staircase, and climbed the stairs step by step, heading to the place my father was at.

<center>☆</center>

Having strolled around in the building, I climbed the stairs slowly. Even when there were eight floors, only a few minutes elapsed before I reached the top. I needed more time, though, to complete the process of easing my mood. Fortunately, lunch time was approaching. There were only a few in the building, especially in the fourth floor where even the clerks were gone, making the floor very quiet.

“Is it because there isn’t even one restaurant in this entire building?”

In fact, when I had been going up, I had seen people going down, but basically I had been unable to see people heading the same way I was heading. Was this strange or normal? I wasn’t certain, as this was the first time I had been to this building.

This was a great opportunity to pacify my mood anyway.

With a steady pace and breathing rate, I slowly walked around the fourth floor,. Under the stimulation of my neurons, my mood was eased eventually. When I came back to the staircase, I looked up the stairs with hope and my eagerness to see my father surpassed fear. As I was immersed in my thoughts, I was thrown off track with a huge impact.

“What? An earthquake?”

For a moment there I prepared myself by doing earthquake protection measures, but after a while of speculation, it didn’t seem to be an earthquake. What was it then?

Opening my phone, I couldn’t find the emergency call for earthquakes. The clerks nearby hadn’t done any protection measures either, so it shouldn’t be anything special.

When I looked back onto my phone, the time was 11:51—perfect.

“ Right. It’s good. Good!”

I said it once again, but my heartbeat didn’t accelerate because of this. It was said along with the flow of my emotions.

I was filled with the happiness of receiving my father’s invitation again. The happiness that my father hadn’t forgotten me, that my father hadn’t hated me came into me again.

With this happiness, I could give the papers in the envelope I was holding to him as a reunion present after seven years of separation. Would he praise me again when he had read these papers that I had written for him?

Again I tightly, lovingly embraced the envelope, confirming its presence. Recently, when ATF gave me this opportunity and when father sent me a letter, I felt proud because I thought my father had forgiven me. And elated, I wrote these papers for my father: “The Inspection on Time Machines”

Originally, from the contemporary knowledge of physics, time machines were believed to be impossible to make, but strictly speaking, we could say time traveling—or moving between time intervals—was possible. Notwithstanding, the convenient time traveling machines or devices most people would think of in sci-fi novels were impossible at the present stage. In most situations, there would be a great many problems arousing from time transportation, jeopardizing our lives. But what if we look at these issues with a different mindset? A spate of ideas popped up in my mind once I thought of this. When my main projects had finally ended, I spent most of my time, even exploiting my mealtime and sleeping times, to study these thoughts.

This proposition might help my father. Although these thoughts by themselves were insufficient to make a time machine, it would render a large step in this discipline. Perhaps my father could really make a time machine by then.

Should this happen, this paper could be published with both my father’s name and my name signed together. My father would definitely praise this paper—and me as well.

With these hopes, I opened the envelope to have a last check at the papers.

It is a common problem among researchers to forget about the plans for the following weeks when they are preoccupied by these things. I had this problem too; and looking back at it now, it really was a child-like, dangerous behavior.

“Huh?”

Different from before, I seemed to have knocked into something—someone, in fact, because I hadn’t been paying attention to my front.

“Oh! Sorry.”

Frantically, I apologised to the person I knocked into.

The first thing I noticed was the white lab coat this person was wearing. Was he a researcher? Was he here to participatein my father’s conference?

As I mistook him for someone understanding my father’s researches, I looked at this person’s face. Then, my brain stopped working.

He was someone in his early twenties, an east-asian with tousled hair. His face was stunned, as if he saw something, his complexion dejected, seemingly out of breath.

With this tense face, he mumbled, “Kurisu.”

That was my name.

<center>☆</center>

“Kurisu...” he said, stunning me.

“Why do you know my name? Have we ever met?” I asked.

At least, I didn’t have or retain any memories of meeting this man. Still, judging from his look and the way he looked at me, I could tell it wasn’t the first time he had seen me.

There was this distinct behavior when people first meet: the constant moving of their eyes—that reflects the distance that should be kept between the two parties.

Then why didn’t the person do this?

His behavior reflected he knew me. It wasn’t only a few times of meeting each other, but of even closer intimacy.

Why?

However I searched my memories, I couldn’t find anything related to this person.

“Are you listening?” I asked to the stunned man again. My voice had traces of surprise. Upon listening to my voice, his eyes wandered, as if my words had touched his feelings.

I hadn't thought that this man’s fingers would start moving, as if he wanted to touch my cheeks.

“Hey, wait. What you trying to do?”

When these doubts came to my mind, I had already averted his hand. At the same time, the papers I prepared for my father came out from the envelope and scattered on the floor. Along with bouncing and scratching sounds, the papers spread across the white linen floor.

In a flurry, I kneeled down to pick up the scattered papers. Abruptly, rage filled my heart. The papers I had prepared for my father ended up like this!

“What do you want? Please tell me now!”

My rare opportunity, the opportunity I had waited for seven years...

Of course, I knew clearly in my mind that it wasn’t much of a big deal. The papers on the floor weren’t dirtied and could be fully read.

But why would there be a thought that whatever I were to do I wouldn’t be able to break the wall between my dad and myself? I hated myself for my inability in doing anything. Added by this silent man’s stimulation, my fury was activated.

Shouldn’t the man be saying something? As I cried in my heart, a weak voice came to my ears.

“I...”

His voice was trembling, as if he was touched...as if he would cry out anytime.

“Eh?”

The sound I heard in my ears was so unexpected that I had forgotten my fury and looked at the man in response. His eyes were welled with tears, tears seemingly about to burst forth.

“I...will...” 

He wanted to say something, but stopped.

Only at that time did I discover that he wasn’t trying to evade my answer but only being silent. This was because he couldn’t form words. Or to put it in another way, he was too touched to say anything. For a while, we looked at each other, silently.

What relation did I have with him, for what reason was he here, why he was touched—I couldn’t make out anything, though I was certain there were inexplicable answers.

Frozen, I continued to look at him without making a move.

And at that instant, I felt something deep in me was revived, as if the functioning of gears, the gear tooth that had been functioning normally was suddenly stuffed with something, making creaking sounds.

Something flashed in my mind.

I was stretching my hand with my utmost efforts, calling upon a man...these vague images came into my mind and vanished subsequently.

I had a feeling that there was something I had forgotten.

“The conference for Dr. Nakabachi will be starting in the lobby on the eighth floor. Entrance is free and welcomed.”

When I was still deep in my thoughts, an announcement was heard in the building.

As if our eyes bounced off each other, we looked upwards. After having a time of frozen state, we finally continued what we had been doing after the announcement.

If I didn’t see my father...

This was the first time I thought on hearing the announcement.

So I didn’t pay attention to the man in front of me who ran away on hearing the announcement.

“Wuagh...”

“Hey, wait. Please wait!”

Though I tried to call him back, he didn’t stop.

What did he want to say, anyways? Though I could catch him if I wanted to, the time for the conference was approaching, so it would be better if I didn’t, as he should be around anyway.

Heaving a sigh while holding the papers, I climbed upstairs.

It was impossible to say I wasn’t wary of him, but there were more important things for me to do at the moment.

I dashed from the fourth floor to the eighth floor through the stairs.

“Hm?”

On my way, on the seventh floor, I saw a flashing object. What was it?

I didn’t put much thought into it and picked up the silver, round object: it looked like someone’s gem.

“Mayushii” was written with a red pen on the object. Was this the name of the gem?

“How adorable.”

Though miraculous, this gem happened to be some kind of protective talisman to me. The round shape gave warmth to my heart, giving me a feeling that I could talk with my dad in a tranquil manner.

Although I didn’t know who dropped this, I picked it up to borrow some power.

While I thought about it, I opened the envelope and put the gem inside. With that done, I climbed to the eighth floor.

The conference should have started, as the people walking in the lobby seemed to have decreased. Letting out a breath, I walked to the lobby.

At last, I was about to see my father I hadn’t seen for eight years.

This was to bring back the seven years lost.

<center>☆</center>

“Doctor!”

There came a loud cry, unaccompanied.

Having reached the eighth floor, I couldn’t help feeling tense on hearing the loud cry from the lobby.

I would feel afraid whether it was an angry scowl or a cry. My rational side would tell me it wasn’t a big deal, but my body would do the opposite: since the night my father cried angrily at me, things had been staying like this.

The cry was followed by my father’s angry scowl; a quarrel had most likely been stirred up. Again my body shivered; I knew he wasn’t scowling at me, but I couldn’t suppress the scary feeling.

When this scary feeling had faded, my anger rose again, partly because of the hate in my inability to suppress my fear.

The other part was headed to the man who went against my father since he might ruin my opportunity to meet my father after seven years. Certainly these two roots of anger were unreasonable, yet I was still angered.

Without veiling my unhappiness, I pushed the door of the meeting centre and looked inside.

No one could stop me from spilling my anger at him.

...

At the end of the day, my anger was still yet to be vented.

There stood a man arguing with my father, I assume to be the one shouting just now. His appearance was too surprising to me—he was the man I met ten minutes earlier on the fourth floor. He was the man staring at me with teared-up eyes.

He had to be that man.

Tousled hair, a white lab coat, a tall and obtrusively thin figure.

I couldn’t be wrong. My short-term memories told me it was the man who ran off just now. Although I didn’t know whom he was and that he had come to the meeting centre even earlier than me who had climbed the stairs immediately, I couldn’t be wrong: he was that man.

When these thoughts had gathered, in replacement of the anger I held, questions starting with the word ‘why’ popped up in my mind.

Why did he look at me with those eyes?

Why did he call me with that tone?

Why did he have a teared-up face?

Why was he hesitant in his words?

Why, why, why...

Having your mind stuffed with ‘why’s is normal for researchers. It was the root of curiosity and research.

Without hesitating, I passed through the people in the meeting centre and approached him, tapping his shoulder.

“Come here.”

Perhaps he noticed my sharp eyes, but I hadn’t the time to care about these tidbits. At this moment, I forgot my original intention: my father’s affairs.

No, this wasn’t the right way to say it; I hadn’t forgotten it; it was just I had some questions to ask this man first.

When the man averted his attention from my father, I forcibly pulled his hand out of the meeting centre, paying no heed to his shouting sounds.

When I had pulled him out of the meeting centre, the man with tousled hair asked me, strangely, “Who are you?” it was the question I wanted to ask him.

“That should be my question.”

“What?”

With this type of response, I felt his attitude was different from then. I posed, looked at him from an angle, and asked him as imposingly as possible, “You have something to ask me just now, haven’t you?”

It was just fifteen minutes earlier. He went away without having said anything to me. His words were just at the corner of his lips already back then, but now his answer was completely unsatisfactory.

“Just now?” he asked with a skeptical expression.

I felt my eyes had become even sharper. Why was he pretending he didn’t know anything? Albeit, I didn’t get all worked up but said calmly, “about fifteen minutes earlier.”

“What the heck are you talking about?”

Suddenly his voice stopped and his tone changed.

“Kurisu...Makise?”

It was the second time he had called my name. His way of calling my name touched some awkward part of my body, making me blink incessantly. His tone, sound, and eyes gave complete hint this was the first time he had met me.

Was this an act? Would he be that capable? Or did he have a split personality?

Weird...new doubts streamed.

<center>☆</center>

Did the man in front of me really not know me? Or was he just pretending? His first-time-meeting-me tone still continued.

“Oh that person who published her research in Sciency...”

It should be the research paper I had written some time ago about the decoding of neural signals in the memory arena of the cerebrum. I could tell flatly from his face he was lying, yet I still replied him, “You even know that? Which university is the research facility you’re working in in?”

“What the...You!”

He sounded serious and surprised by my words. Not only was his voice but also his whole body backed as if being hit by some non-physical impact.

“Could it be a spy from the organisation?”

“The organisation?”

What was he talking about?

My mind was blank. The question, having hit me off track, messed up my thinking ability.

“What? I only have something to ask you...”

“I have no obligation to answer you!”

I was interrupted before I finished. My fury was ignited again, intensifying, now directed at him, who had took out his phone out to contact someone.

“Whom are you talking to?”

After I had raised my doubts, he still kept talking to the phone, paying no attention to me. Infuriated, I, without giving a second thought, snatched his phone away.

If I didn’t check the phone, I wouldn’t know whom he had been talking to, but when I looked at the phone, there was nothing on the LCD screen.

“Hey, the power is...”

He hadn’t been talking to anyone since the start.

Besides, his phone was turned off originally. When I stated this in front of him, the man’s expression wavered largely, and then he suddenly cracked up.

“Wahahaha. Let me tell you exclusively. The power source of the phone will be cut off whenever anyone except me touches it. It’s a special phone for my special mission! Hmph, Hmphh. Wahahaha.”

At the instant I heard his mixed laughing sounds, the rising fire rose in my heart fell below the melting point; it was now that I knew my anger would drastically drop after rising to such a high level.

“Oh, so you were talking to yourself.”

My words were pointy—suitable, indeed. The man ceased his laughing, perhaps because he sensed my anger or some other reason.

Then, I said, “Let’s cut to the chase: what did you want to say to me just then?”

I looked straightly into his eyes, having the intention to look through every act. Even if this man could veil his surface, he couldn’t veil his brain or those evoked by his neurons. Then, as a neuroscience researcher, I was able to read these neural behavior—the eyes, in particular. The eyes would tell more truth than any spoken word would.

“About fifteen minutes earlier. You had something to say to me and looked desperate.”

He averted his eyes from me. Then, as if hiding the wavering in his heart, he said, “Hmphh. I’ve seen through everything, genius girl. When we meet the next time, we’ll be enemies!”

I couldn’t understand that dramatic tone. My thinking was interrupted.

What had he been trying to say?

“Eh?”

“Bye.”

I was taken aback this time. When I was still consciously dizzy, he ran to the seventh floor with a big smile.

“Hold on!”

Although I tried to stop him the same way I did fifteen minutes earlier, he didn’t stop again. At a loss, I could only see him running off.

I stared blankly at the staircase the man left off.

I didn’t really ask him after all.

But there was something I was certain: the man that just left was different from the man I met fifteen minutes earlier. At least, their memories were different.

Neuroscience is a discipline, in the science field, that studies the memory of humans. As someone specializing in this field, it was impossible to fool me. My researches told me that it wasn’t possible to be done through skills of act. Right, he hadn’t the memories of the person I had seen fifteen minutes earlier.

“Could they be twins?” 

This was the most reasonable answer. Identical twins that come from the same ovum have the same appearance however you look at them. If I put it like this, it would make more sense of that man’s strange behavior fifteen minutes earlier. Also, the reason why the man would be faster than me who had run to the eighth floor directly. The man I had just seen had already been walking to the meeting centre. The one I had met fifteen minutes earlier hadn’t even gone to the meeting centre.

Then could I say he has a split personality? Although this couldn’t explain why he had been faster than me, but it could explain the expression on him when he had first met me...though two of these hypotheses had problems, that is, I had never met the man I had met fifteen minutes earlier, but he acted as if he had known me, Makise Kurisu. This was the only trouble that neither the twin hypothesis nor the split personality hypothesis could explain. Neither could his extreme acting skills that had possibly deceived me.

My mind repeatedly asked questions and answered itself like the way it did in past trainings. For a moment, a grotesque idea popped up.

“How would that happen?”

I scoffed and denied my idea.

Of course, it was impossible.

Could he come here through time travel?

The first person I met was when he came out of the meeting centre, while the one I had met fifteen minutes earlier came here from a distant future through time traveling. Could this be it?

This hypothesis could surely answer a lot of questions.

Even if a time machine was made combined with the research papers I had on my hand and with my father’s, it wouldn’t be successfully produced in such a short time; by that time, he would have surely aged and would not appear in this state.

Certainly there might be other technologies by then: shaping of the face, surgery to make people appear younger…but if we look at it with such imaginable and futuristic ways, we would stride away from scientific hypotheses.

Waving my head, I tried to put this thought aside and took out my phone to check the time: 12:26.

I had wasted a lot of time dealing with different matters. I could hear some scattered sounds of applause from the door leading to the meeting centre: it seemed the conference had ended.

If it was only a conference but not an explanation or a report, the exclusive content wouldn’t have been disclosed. Besides, it was impossible to include these in merely thirty minutes.

For the time being, I was agonised.

I wanted to tell my father to have a look at my research.

But my father was not only my father but also Dr. Nakabachi. If I were to intrude without any concern, I would only be a hassle to his work. If I myself were to encounter such situations in my research, I would put aside my papers too.

Was it better to do this in a place with fewer people? This had something to do with self-esteem.

I gazed around.

There was a staff pathway, leading to a path resting room. It looked to be a sound place with less people around who may interrupt, hence sound for our conversation.

This was what I believed…

<center>☆</center>

I went to the staff pathway before anyone had come out.

Avoiding the stacked, disarrayed boxes, I stopped near the staff resting room, leaning on the wall and regulating my breathing patterns.

My father would come here soon.

What should I say? How’s these seven years? I wanted to see you for a long time? Or…

I felt my heart danced to some high spirits naturally.

No matter what, I first had to tell him about the research papers: he would definitely be happy…

For this research paper was the beginning of restarting the relation between my father and I, I opened the envelope to check the papers again. At this time, I felt someone was walking through the staff pathway.

It was a man with his mouth mumbling, his footsteps crude while walking. He was wearing a deep brown jacket, a black suit, and hair belonging to a forty-year-old man. Right, he was my father.

Although I decided to greet him first, I felt some dangerous ambiance around him. I backed up a bit.

So the one making the first move was my father.

“What are you coming here for?”

My father glared at me, seemingly unpleased. It was the same face he had seven years ago. When this scene matched my memories, I endeavored to hide the fear in my heart, yet I couldn’t pose a smile.

I wasn't certain whether I could succeed. I forced my all to squeeze out a sound.

“T-This paper. I hope…you can have a look, father.”

I handed the paper, the paper I wrote to receive praise from my father, to him.

It was fine if he read it.

I thought. I prayed.

Perhaps my fingers were trembling. But I had to tell my father through this how much hard work I had done to express my love.

My father crudely snatched my paper and read it while standing there. It was quite a long paper. A normal scan would take a long time, but my father was a quick-reader and he could grasp the gist of the contents in about five minutes.

My father remained silent, his eyes darting across the paper.

Silence was spreading around our surroundings. I couldn’t withstand the silence, so I tried to share some words with my father.

“I came to to this conference because you contacted me after seven years, forming this opportunity,” I said to my father, still reading the paper like a robot, having no response to what I said. I stood there, unaccustomed to this treatment. I couldn’t think of anything to say.

“If we were to conclude the theories coming from our minds, we might be able to make a time machine…I want to hear your opinion, father.”

I was getting more worked up as I said.

I did my best in a bid that my father, still silent and reading the paper, to turn his head around. I wanted to hear him say I did a great job, to be praised.

I wanted to rewrite the events that happened seven years ago.

I wanted my father to convert to my original father.

“If this will be acknowledged, then my father, having been driven out of the club, can get back on track…”

The moment I said this, I felt my father’s sharp eyes shooting right through me.

“I wasn’t expelled! It was just an excuse for leaving because I got tired of them.”

His voice was suddenly raised, making a sharp, angry scowl. I could feel a non-physical force pressing on me, sending fear into my whole body. I apologised on reflex: “I’m sorry…”

At the same time I apologised, my father had completed reading the paper. He shot a glance at the cover of the paper and said, “Hmm, not bad.”

The moment I heard that word, all the fear inside me was swept away. It was replaced by the acknowledgement by my father: the joy of being praised. So I quickly said what I wanted in reflex, “Really? I want to publish this paper with both your name and mine signed because this is the opportunity you…”

At that instant, my father scowled angrily again and looked at me with eyes even sharper eyes. It was an angry scowl with even stronger anger and hate.

“Stop speaking crap!”

His scowl made my body shiver. Perhaps my tears had betrayed me.

Scary…scary…scary…

I felt, for an instant, the eighteen-year-old me had returned to my eleven year old self.

“Please don’t scowl again,” I squeezed out a small sound.

“…scram.”

My father only said a word in response. It was an answer I couldn’t believe. I looked at dad, making a dubious sound.

I looked at my father, as I couldn’t understand what he meant.

My father had called me over after seven years. Was not this meeting an opportunity to remedy the family time we had lost in all these seven years?

Had I not done my best to talk with my father?

Was I not acknowledged by my father at last?

I just stared at him. From my point of view, my father had already completed reading my paper and was turning his back to me. Then, some words came from his back, words filled with despair.

“Do you want to know why? Let me tell you then. This paper will only be published in my name. That’s it.”

Bam. 

There was nothing I could feel except for this impulse.

It was neither sorrow or anger; it was sheer shock, way beyond the aforementioned.

I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it.

It was a taboo never to be violated as a researcher.

“Why…do you want to embezzle my paper father?”

To a researcher, his or her research was equivalent to his or her life.

No, it was the root of a researcher’s existence. It was hard work, the embodiment of one’s life since birth. Per se, it was the wish, the thoughts, the goal, or even the soul.

If the fruits of the research were to be published using someone else’s name, it was equal to depriving every part of the existence of the original researcher.

It was the same as wiping away my present, my past and my future.

What did that mean?

My father was…me, and not someone else?

I heaved a sigh, and spoke it out rather than mumbling, “Do you want to embezzle my paper? I didn’t know you were this kind of a person…”

<center>☆</center>

“Do you want to embezzle my paper? I didn’t you know you were this kind of a person…”
“Shut up!”

Instantly my cheeks were hot.

As if anticipating something, I pranced off.

It occurred to me that several seconds had elapsed before I understood the reason my father had raised his hands high.

I couldn’t believe it, not any bit.

I was at a loss.

When I came back to my senses, my neck had already been clutched by my father.

“How dare…how dare you say embezzling…”

The pain in my skull gathered to a point, but something even more painful was the gigantic force pushing me, making my breathing difficult.

“Why are you so outstanding? There couldn’t be a daughter more outstanding than her father!”

My brain was numb, my eyes flashing lights of red.

I couldn’t even make a sound of pain any more.

“Had you not been here, I could have been more outstanding…had you not been here…”

I denied this insane situation I would have never thought of; a situation I might as well take it into my grave.

I was reluctant to accede to this.

False. False. Everything was false.

Please tell me; anyone would be good. Please tell me that this was false, that this was only a dream.

My father wouldn’t do such a brutal thing. My father couldn’t possibly hate me.

No, no, no…

My father is…my father is…the father I…loved the most…

The numb feeling spread throughout my mind; the red darkness had completely veiled my thinking; the pain was devoured by the numbness, the numbness gradually expanded.

When pain had completely left me, I was floating in numbness in my thoughts. Suddenly, I was released from such a feeling.

All the depression had returned to me.

I coughed loudly and held my head in pain.

Most likely my father was pushed away by somebody; hence, I was saved by that person. Someone was blocking my father in the dim corridor.

I could see vaguely that he was wearing a white lab coat with tousled hair.

“You are..”

I had seen a person with characteristics similar to his a while ago, but I had no idea why he would save me.

Still, I believed in him, inconceivably.

He came here to rescue me. I remembered a scene when I was drenched in pain. It was the scene of a dream I had this morning. No, not only this morning. It was a scene I had seen a great many times by now.

The man wearing a white lab coat with tousled hair was doing his best to wave his hands at me.

He was right in front of me. The person now saving me from the hands of my father had the same posture.

I didn’t know things would end like this.

It was inconceivable in theory.

Yet I believed.

“You’re that guy who…oh, so is this what happening? You guys team up just to mess up with my conference? Gugugu…that’s it. I get it now…”

Pushed away, my father smiled with his face tilted.

He hadn’t the gentle smile I remembered. It was a wretched, scary smile I had never witnessed. Perhaps ghosts or devils smile like that. When this insane smile came to my father’s face, I pondered over whether or not this was reality.

Smiling, my father took out a knife from his body. The little light that came through the windows bounced off the knife, accenting his ferociousness.

“Father…”

I couldn’t believe it…I couldn’t believe it…

But as if betraying my thoughts, my father started fighting with the lab-coat-wearing man.

“Don’t take me as an idiot and tease me arghhh!”

Fortunately, the knife my father took out quickly fell down beside the lab-coat-wearing man. Nevertheless, the fury in my father hadn’t eased, and he picked up a screwdriver from a nearby toolbox and posed.

“Stop, father!”

I only wanted to stop them as I jumped in front of the man protecting me.

“Stop it! Please! Stop it…”

“You’re too noisy! Stop directing me!”

But my father hadn’t ceased. With all my effort I stopped the screwdriver heading towards my face with my wrist; although under the actions of adrenaline, I didn’t feel any pain, the feeling of the screwdriver penetrating through my hand didn’t vanish.

“What do you know?” My feelings…my humiliation…the hell I’m in!”

I was sobbing.

All I could do was to sob.

At a loss, I could only sob.

I could see,through the corners of my eye, vague with tears, the lab-coat-wearing man picking up the knife my father had dropped.

What?

My eyes widened. As if everything in slow-motion, he darted off to my father with his knife.

Nothing did I think: in astonishment, I only walked to him and my father to block the knife.

“No!”

<center>☆</center>

The first feeling I had could be depicted by the colour‘white’.

It was a subtle feeling to express a feeling using a colour.

But in modern physics, the fundamental particles quark-gluons are categorised by colour charges. According to the definition of their properties, it could be said roughly that their colours represented the intensity of their energy and their mass.

Literally, it was the whiteness of the tip of the blade.

It didn’t sound strange to me to express the penetrating feeling of the knife with the colour white, but why would I make such a remark?

The next thing I felt was the feeling of bumping into a foreign object, the distinct feeling of my tissue being ripped apart.

It was only a moment that I could calmly observe the part of my body being crushed by the instrument.

Yes. An unimaginable pain shot through my body. <ref>Hey, you’re a neuroscientist. You should be well aware that there is a limit to the stimulation of instant pain. And researches have suggested that because humans who feel less pain in extreme conditions can escape easier, by natural selection, we humans nowadays actually have a pain-suppressing engine installed in our body to prevent excessive pain from deterring our movements and ability to think.</ref>

“Ah…gu, ha…”

I couldn’t make a sound.

The pain had numbed everything; it was a different numbness from back then: it was larger, messier, and more absolute.

“…Kurisu”

The lab-coat-wearing man who had stabbed him was stumped. He could only call out my name, stunned and frozen.

For some reason, his call gave an inexplicable feeling to my heart despite the pain and depression. It was unbelievable feeling as if his chest was shot through by the situation we were in.

I stood against the pain spreading through my waist and slowly slid off his body.

The lab-coat-wearing man shouted loudly and some words my father left came to my ears. Then, I heard the sounds of my father escaping.

He should have escaped by now, but it didn’t matter.

Or even, I hoped he could escape.

Perhaps I would die if things went on like this.

Life was…something impossible to express. It was easy to understand by looking the things that flowed out of my wound. Gradually, the more and more they flowed out of my wound, the colder and colder I felt my body was becoming.

In physics, it was just because of blood; my body had become cold because of a loss of blood.

Even so, I took the blood that flowed out of me as my own life.

So I wanted my father to take away my life again.

My papers.

With them, my father would definitely be able to make a time machine; he was my father after all.

Escape…escape for your life. I hope you could make a time machine. Even if no one knew the truth, it could be the proof of my existence; it could be the proof of the hard work I had left for this world.

So that was about it for my father’s affair.

Although I was curious to know what the time machine would become, it didn’t really matter if this curiosity wasn’t fulfilled.

There was, however, something regrettable.

It was the man now embracing me gently, calling out, with all his might, my name.

I had to apologize to him, to say I was very sorry…

“I’m sorry to have brought you into this…”

I couldn’t breath properly. Was it pain? Or was some part of my respiratory tract damaged? Although uninformed, I tried my best to make a small voice despite my breathing difficulties.

“Wh-Why?”

His words were, certainly, filled with some choking of sobs.

“…because…he’s my father…”

I answered, not actually giving a convincing answer.

It was the most basic politeness for having brought him into this, the last apology I could make, as my feelings were inexplicably eased by his hands around me.

“I…only wanted…to be acknowledged by my father…”

But I could understand now.

My father hadn’t acknowledged me; he had been treating me coldly.

He hated me.

Be that as it may, I only lived by the thought of being acknowledged by my father, hoping he could be as gentle as before…being like an idiot…

I could understand now.

Why was I working hard for my father?

Why would thoughts of letting him escape come to me now?

The answer to these doubts was before my eyes long ago.

How dumb I was.

“…Kurisu.”

The pain intensified exponentially, my mind already completely blank.

“Ah…I don’t want…want…to die…”

Again I understood death completely. The real darkness or some appalling thing was expanding.

I held it tightly.

I held someone’s hand tightly.

It was because of fear.

It was because of insecurity.

It was because of loneliness.

It was because of coldness.

The dim colour blocked my ability to think. Please. It’s scary.

“Kurisu…Kurisu!”

He kept on calling my name.

It was like that dream I had.

Call me stronger. Please. Call me more.

“It’s scary…I…don’t want to…die…”

I didn’t want to meet such an ending.

Save…save me…

…Oka…be…

Darkness was stretching its fangs…

Stein…s…ga…te…

“Kurisu…!”

It was, I perceived, the last sound I heard.

My consciousness left me after that.

<noinclude>
===Translation Notes===

<references/>

{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[SGBEG:Volume 1 Prelude|Prelude: Sophia of the Big Bang]]
| Return to [[Steins;Gate: Butterfly Effect's Divergence|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[SGBEG:Volume 1 Act 1|The 1st Act: Time Travel Paranoia: Reverse]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

SGBEG:Volume 1 Prelude

2014-05-17T18:49:47Z

Axyraandas: /* Prelude: Sophia of the Big Bang */

==Prelude: Sophia of the Big Bang==

[[Image:SGBED v1 005.jpg|thumb]]

There was once a myth. A goddess gave birth to a god even greater than herself. It was the wish of the desire to know. This desire of knowing, however, became unsuitable for herself when she gave birth to a god greater than gods, and found truth greater than truth itself. As a result, under the effects of her desire to know, a huge event was evoked. Perhaps, it was just a coincidence—no, it couldn’t be; it was inevitable. The cause was only an insignificant matter, but it was this extremely insignificant, trivial matter that, under the effects of the goddess’s desire to know, gave birth to a world non-existent until the present.

Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect? A flapping butterfly can vibrate the air particles around it with its wings and stir up things like tornadoes in a faraway place. No one is able to know what could be made by even the most insignificant matters. The goddess is one of these ignorant ones. Although her desire to know created the world we are familiar with, this doesn’t mean she will be able to make accurate predictions of this world. Despite this, we still connect to each other like thin threads, using the thinnest knowledge and power we have to fight for the future we are pursuing.

For normal people, 99% of our senses are veiled. Humans are slow-witted creatures who transcend their own imaginations, but it is because of this that we move forward. We don’t give up—ever. And I will say the same thing to you every single time: “Don’t escape. Face it head-on.” This is to save her; this is to prevent you from collapsing; this is also to remind myself of the past events. Even when you couldn’t remember every time, even when it happens once in a hundred times, I still hope—you would remember me.

I’m still there, and will still be there in the future, behind the 1% wall...

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[SGBEG:Volume 1 Illustrations|Novel Illustrations]]
| Return to [[Steins;Gate: Butterfly Effect's Divergence|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[SGBEG:Volume 1 Act 0|The 0th Act: Turning Point: Reverse]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Talk:Kamisu Reina Series

2014-05-14T17:25:08Z

Axyraandas:

Ok. Now this is fascinating. Consider me well teased, Herr EusthEnoptEron.

Thanks for finishing chapter 2. [[User:Ushwood|Ushwood]] ([[User talk:Ushwood|talk]]) 06:55, 29 August 2013 (CDT)

__________________________________

I just finished whats been translated of Kamisu Reina and I really enjoyed it. It reminded me a lot of Usamaru Furuya's Suicide Club: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=3439

I loved Hakomari and reading this work of Mikage really reinforced why I enjoy his work. He's incredibly good at understanding and conveying a character's internal conflict, and he does it by personifying abstract concepts into these mysterious omnipotent beings: Kamisu Reina and O respectively. I get a great tingling sensation when he finally reveals his hand, like at the end of volume 5 of Hakomari. Kamisu Reina's idea of having a phenomenon exist that gives suicidical teenagers that last push they need to finally do it is really interesting. In each of the three stories, Kamisu Reina pushes each of them over the threshold, not by making them despair, but by showing them hope in suicide. I guess she also embodies the suicider's hope for an orderly world, as in chapter 2 and 3 where both characters see her as an answer to why they had to suffer. You could go so many different ways with Mikage's concepts and I really enjoyed Kamisu Reina because of it.

I definitely look forward to the last chapter of this volume and omake comedy bit of Hakomari that you mentioned on /a/. Thanks for your excellent translations and keep up the good work. [[User:Thresholden|Thresholden]] ([[User talk:Thresholden|talk]]) 02:57, 13 February 2014 (CST)

I ended up editing things as I read through it. I apologize if I made any mistakes or incorrect "corrections." Well, I guess there's always a rollback thing for that. So, yeah. Thank you for translating; I learned two new words due to that, ressentiment and mien. [[User:Axyraandas|Axyraandas]] ([[User talk:Axyraandas|talk]]) 23:31, 7 May 2014 (CDT)
: Thanks a bunch for your edits; you caught a few pretty embarrassing ones. :D [[User:EusthEnoptEron|EusthEnoptEron]] ([[User talk:EusthEnoptEron|talk]]) 05:47, 8 May 2014 (CDT)

Question a bit: Is this thisng has completely no illust? No cover, nothing? [[User:Castor212|Castor212]] ([[User talk:Castor212|talk]]) 13:53, 13 May 2014 (CDT)
There's a cover on the main page, but that's it, it seems. [[User:Axyraandas|Axyraandas]] ([[User talk:Axyraandas|talk]]) 12:25, 14 May 2014 (CDT)

Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Shizuka Wakui

2014-05-12T02:58:13Z

Axyraandas:

===1===

While letting the broken Engrish of our over 50-year-old English teacher in at one ear and out at the other after about 3 seconds, I look up terms on my electronic Kojien dictionary.

principle of mass conservation [n] 
A principle in classical physics stating that the total mass of an isolated system is unchanged by interaction of its parts. Discovered in 1774 by Antoine Lavoisier.

principle [n]
# A basic truth, law, or assumption.
# A basic or essential quality or element determining intrinsic nature or characteristic behavior.

The mechanics of the world are surprisingly simple.

There must be lots of those basic and essential qualities, scattered all around the world, but if you divide them even further into their most essential parts, the absolute number of distinct qualities shrinks to a number that's everything but high.

Did you know that many laws and principles are just augmented rehashes of a set of already known core principles?

More often than not, you end up at the same place no matter from which side you approach the nature of things. That's also why the teachings of people who have mastered a way often coincide even though their ways have nothing in common.

In other words, if you understand some of those core principles, you start to see how the mechanics of the world work.

Core principles are the essence of things. Understand them and you can apply them wherever you want and form new, unshakable laws. Cores attract everything around them just like magnets.

But no one else really knows; they all grow up to be shallow people, only ever looking at the surfaces instead of the underlying cores. They let others influence themselves because their understanding only scratches the surface. They can't consider the true nature of things on their own. Poor people. All it would take to acquire those cores is picking up a good book. Oh, or is there a set of requirements that need to be fulfilled, which I happened to do? I pity them even more, then. It's as though they were characters of a manga fighting each other, unaware of what they are. Even though they fight for no purpose other than their writer's household. Even though their conflict is just a figment, and their very existence is for the sake of fighting.

Anyway, one of those few truths goes by the name of "mass conversion."

Contrary to its name, it's not limited to mass; the amount of everything is bound to a certain number that neither grows nor shrinks. Everything's unchanging, be it mass, energy, sex drive, the number of souls—you name it.

The lesson ended while I was absorbed in thought, gazing at my electronic dictionary. Classes are finally over. I have better things to do than this. But I can't just deviate from my usual behavior and skip school. I mustn't let anyone get wind of what I'm doing; if I appear suspicious, it becomes more likely that someone will notice it. Before anyone else, especially—

"Phew, done for the day! Shizuka, wanna tag along somewhere today?"

Before anyone else, that easy-going boy, Kazuaki, might notice. Which is because we have spent too much time together from an early age on.

"I'll pass," I reply toward the adjacent seat.

"Oh come on... you're so cold," my childhood friend says as he purses his lips. Geez... he just won't change.

"I've got something to take care of, you see."

"You've been saying that all the time lately... you're not trying to avoid me, are you?" Kazuaki asks as he wrinkles his brow. Oh dear, he really doesn't change.

"Of course not!"

"Uh-huh...," he mutters downheartedly.

"Why don't you go home with the C2 duo if you're feeling lonely?"

"T-There's nothing between me and—" he counters in denial with a slightly flushed face.

"Senpai~!"

"H-Hozumi-chan... don't be so loud, it's embarrassing..."

His objection is cut off from afar by two girl voices. With the appearance of those two innocent-looking girls, I wave my hand to Kazuaki.

"See you."

"Ah..."

Don't look at me like that; I'm not leaving you behind because I want to. As soon as I've sorted this out, I'll tag along whenever you want.

But that has to wait, okay?

The world is at stake, after all.

Unconcerned by the waves of students heading homeward, I look around in thought.

The world is in danger.

Maybe that's an exaggeration. But in the very least, danger is looming ahead in this vicinity. I hoped I was wrong (which was out of question, of course, but I wanted to be wrong) but with the news that 3 students at the Shikura middle school committed suicide, my fear proved true.

We're in imminent danger.

And here we return to the thing about core principles and conservation of mass.

I used to be a completely normal girl; I may have hit puberty earlier than others, and have received dozens of confessions already, and I primarily hanged around with Kazuaki instead of other girls, but apart from that, I was a completely normal girl.

I'm using the past tense here because I feel that this no longer holds true.

There is a number of truths (cores). By getting to know these, I learned how I'm supposed to look at things.

It didn't take long for me to hit upon a certain question. We all have feelings. Joy, anger, sadness, fun.

Now, let's apply the law of conservation of mass to this case. Emotions are energy, which, especially in the case of love and hatred, store extreme heat. We consume emotional energy by converting it into energy that keeps us moving. However, not all of our feelings are always converted and consumed. But then where does the energy go when we are unable to suppress our feelings? Most of all, where does the energy go when we die—which must be a tremendous amount when faced with a violent death—when it can't possibly be consumed? Where does that energy fade away to?

With that question in mind, I started to pay attention.

Before long, I found the answer: the energy doesn't disappear at all. The answer was right under my nose, on the other side. Strong feelings, to raise an example, which often happen to be grudges, surface slightly on our side from time to time. It's dead easy to observe when you clear yourself for a moment and float up. Look, there's one. There's an accumulation of converted emotional energy. In most cases, those accumulations are shaped like a human.

Anyway, back to the danger the world is facing.

After becoming aware of those humanoid energies, I observed a peculiar change as of late.

Originally, those humanoid energies were unable to move by themselves, and completely harmless for people who didn't notice them; they would just stay put at one place and spread their network in order to influence whatever got caught in there.

Lately, however, they changed their behavior and started to shimmer like mirages. As if afraid of something or in ecstasy? I can't tell. What I can tell, however, is that it's not normal and that it's a sign for something to happen.

I don't know what the humanoid energies will do, how that will affect us, and what will happen, but there is one fact:

Three students died at the Shikura middle school.

But that's of no import. Well, of course it's very deplorable that their lives were lost, but in the face of the great menace that might be ahead of us, even a loss like that turns insignificant.

Three people died. What if... what if that was just a sign?

If, hypothetically speaking, this phenomenon was due to a natural circumstance, I would probably have to give up and let things take their way. Besides, we would just have to take cover and wait for the menace to pass by.

However—what if someone is pulling the wires behind the scenes?

It's not that I take issue with that ethically, no. What if we are not dealing with a random phenomenon, but with one that is deliberately called forth by someone? What if there is someone who can use that power whenever he wants? What if there is someone who can control all the humanoid energies that are likely to be spread all over the world?

That's what I fear.

After all, if my concerns prove true and that really was a man-made incident, he could endanger the life of everyone in the world.

The world is in danger.

Someone is scheming to ruin us all; someone evil like that is among us. And I have to track that person down.

That's why I've been closely observing the humanoid energies around me for a while.

{Volcano goes up to the 2nd floor of a black minus to eat warmed-up food and falls.}

{I want to eat the lucky meat that died ten times but resurrected a hundred times.}

{I throw a telephone receiver into a 4-dimensional pocket because the trash bin is full.}

{The unrivaled adventures of Hutch the Honeybee are living tourmalines.}

As they shimmer, the energies give off signals on a different wavelength that, while barely converted into my language, make no sense whatsoever.

However, I can make out a difference in volume.

Slowly but surely, their voices (?) grow louder and their flickering stronger.

Maybe I'm getting closer to the bad guy.

Last time, their abnormal behavior stopped while I was investigating, but I don't feel any signs of that happening again. I might be able to find him this time around.

—The uncanny conjurer who could easily extinguish three lives.

———

That's right... I'm about to run into a horrible foe...

Only now noticing this fact, my feet sink into cement and my steps become slower.

Besides... How do I know that his victims add up to just three? The only reason why I associated their deaths with the anomaly that occurred to the humanoid energies is because they were all suicides and happened in succession in my school. I don't know if they're even related to the anomaly I observed.

On the other hand, you can also say that there might be numerous undiscovered victims that I could not tie to this menace.

Come to think of it... the suicide rate has been growing lately. Hey, what if that's partly due to the criminal I'm about to meet? That's by no means unlikely; not only would killing someone with humanoid energies leave behind no evidence, it wouldn't even be noticed.

What am I going to do, meeting a person like that?

Sure, I can perceive humanoid energies. But that's about it. Apart from that, I'm just a normal girl who may have hit puberty earlier than others, and has received dozens of confessions already, and primarily hangs around with Kazuaki instead of other girls. Probably.

What is a girl like me going to do against a heinous criminal like that? Persuade him? Would my words really get through? Would he leave someone who knows his secret alive?

My legs stop completely.

But—

But if he were to extend his deadly hands toward Kazuaki...

My buried legs come free from the cement and I start moving forward again.

I'm afraid... I really am, but...

I have no other choice.

{Corn rings with gleaming rainbows in the background.}

{After bathing in Nattou, Watanabe-san's car travels through through time as it flies through the air.}

{A club-wielding maid brings Nagatacho's meat shreds into motion.}

The voices (?) become louder.

The sentences are as devoid of meaning as before, but the weight of their words has changed. With crackling tension they reverberate through my body, prickling my brains like with a mechanical pencil.

A grudge? I think to myself as I notice a core of a humanoid energy. A type of energy that would normally only get transported to people who were caught up in their nets flows to me.

I feel nauseated. Like on the day of my worst menstruation.

I want to curl up immediately, but I mustn't. There's someone I have to meet. I must meet her.

...Huh? Her?

Why do I know her gender?

I pull myself up and stagger into the park before me. Except for a few children with their parents near the sandpit, there's nobody besides me.

Nobody.

I stand before an old, weathered wooden bench. I don't know what to say. I don't know if it possesses the ability of language, anyway. However, I can't just stand here, so I try speaking to it.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

She raises her head.

"Ah—" I groan in surprise.

Her features were absurdly beautiful.

But what surprised me more than anything was the fact that I—

"Reina... Kamisu."

—knew the name of that phenomenon.

===2===
"Doctor, I think I'll cancel our meetings."

Doctor Mihara looks at me, slightly astonished, and asks, "Why?"

"I only came here because I needed support back then, didn't I?"

He gives me a small nod.

"So you are not in need of support anymore?"

"Yes, I'm not. The fits of depression I used to have are gone, and so is my aversion against talking to others," I explain and decide to add something I experienced the other day when I was waiting here, "and I don't rush out of this room screaming."

A few wrinkles appear in the doctor's brow.

"Who," he says after a short pause, "are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the boy who was often here before me. If I recall correctly, he was wearing the uniform of our school. He bumped into me the other day, didn't he? What's his name again?"

"...I am afraid that I cannot talk to you about my other clients."

"Not even his name? Whatever. Come to think of it, I haven't seen him lately."

His mien darkens clearly.

"He is not going to... come again."

"Is that so...?"

"Yes," he nods.

I doubt they would just discontinue his mental treatment in that condition; did something happen? Seeing how he ran away screaming, there must be a reason why he didn't want to come anymore.

But I have a strange gut feeling about this.

After all, that boy is a student of the Shikura middle school. Given that he was under mental treatment, it's more than possible that he had a reason for suicide, so he might be among the three suicide victims.

Judging from Doctor Mihara's bitter mien, he must know the truth. I refrain from asking more, however, because his personality would not allow him to answer me.

"At any rate, you said you want to cancel our meetings?" he says, getting back on topic, "in my view, it is a bit early for that."

"I know, Doctor. You're right in that my wounds have not yet healed up; I'm not my former self yet, either."

"That's not the problem," he argues. "These wounds will accompany you through your entire life, and you will not be able to return to your uninjured former self anymore."

"Where lies the problem, then?" I ask.

"I am hesitant to believe that you have really recovered from the shock."

"But in that case, wouldn't I be coming here for the rest of my life?"

The doctor pauses for a moment. "Still... it is still too early."

I get worked up a little; is he claiming that I'm weird?

Therefore, I object:

"Doctor. Let me be frank. We're not a wealthy household. The bill for this psychological therapy cuts pretty deep into our budget!"

"......" He lapses into silence as I bring up my monetary circumstances.

"Maybe you're right and I haven't fully recovered from the shock yet, but I'm confident that with the support of my parents and the few friends I have—like Kazuaki—I will be able to get better."

"I do not disagree with that. However, I feel that you are still in need of a specialist like me."

"Why?" I ask, somewhat irritated.

"...Very well, let me explain my concerns: I feel that you have delusional tendencies."

"...Delusional tendencies?" I ask in response to his unexpected claim. I have trouble seeing what he is referring to.

"Yes. I do not know how developed that inclination was when you first came here because you would not open yourself up to anyone... but I think that those delusional tendencies have become stronger as you regained your vitality."

"Huh? Do you mean I threw away my common sense in order to come to terms?" I ask.

"I cannot say for sure. I do surmise, however, that in order to protect yourself from the deep wound you sustained, you were forced to alter various things that would otherwise have caused more damage, including a certain sense of values."

"...In other words, you want to say that I'm still closing myself off?"

"I do not fully agree with the nuance of that... but that might be close. As I said earlier, it is by no means a bad thing to change. The problem is the direction of your change. Of course, I think that it is better than staying wounded, but I do not consider it a solution."

After carefully digesting his words, I object:

"Stop kidding me."

"Wakui-san..."

"I'm still weird, eh? That's not true! I've become normal again!" I scream, evoking more anger that comes welling up. "Enough! I'm sick and tired! You've seen me for the last time!"

With these words, I stand up and turn away from him.

"Wakui-san!"

Ignoring the words he throws after me, I leave his office.

There was no going back anymore.

I went to school as usual the next day.

My chin rested on the desk, I'm eagerly waiting for the chime to ring. Because of the slow pace the clock is moving at, I think back at the therapy session yesterday.

I think I got a bit too hysteric. I'm sorry for Doctor Mihara. He only stated his honest opinion, nothing more.

That said, I say to myself as I recall his words from yesterday.

Delusional? Me?

I admit, my fixed opinion on the existence of humanoid energies might seem delusional from a certain common-sense-influenced perspective. However, I have carefully elaborated the underlying logic for this theory; I'm in the right. If anything, I'm one step ahead of the average Joe.

Anyway, that doesn't really matter in this case: I haven't told the doctor about the humanoid energies.

I'm a patient; a mentally ill person. Because I'm aware of the implications this bears, I have deliberately kept from informing him so that he wouldn't get the wrong idea.

That means that... he views me as delusional even without the story about humanoid energies?

...That's nonsense. I'm normal. No matter which of my limbs you take a look into, I look completely normal and off-the-rack.

And yet, and yet! You treat me like a mentally ill person!

Getting upset again, I kick Kazuaki who is sitting next to me.

"Ouch!"

Idiot! Why do you cry out...?

As a natural consequence, the eyes of the class—the teacher's included—gather on Kazuaki. Feigning ignorance, I look at my notebook and start writing random characters.

"What was that for...?!" he complains quietly, scowling at me reproachfully, after everyone's attention returned to the lesson.

"Just because."

"So you were that kind of person who doesn't need a reason to beat someone, huh? Shizu-chan... sob, sob."

"'Sob, sob', eh? Who's the girl between us?"

Suddenly, the chime rings and ends our whispered exchange. Going through the routine, we stand up, bow to the teacher, and sit down.

A few moments later, our class teacher enters the classroom and finishes homeroom with some idle talk. My business at school is over for today.

Immediately after I stand up and say, "Bye," Kazuaki approaches me:

"Shizuka, wanna go home together?"

"Sorry, but I have something to do again."

That park is located in the opposite direction from the train station we would use when going home.

In visibly low spirits, Kazuaki mutters, "...Uh-huh."

"...Again, Kazuaki, I'm really not avoiding you," I assure.

"I know!"

"Then don't pull such a visage."

"But that appointment takes priority over me, doesn't it?"

Taken by surprise, I search for words.

"Well... that's true, but..."

"Aah, urm, it's okay, it's okay. Sorry for being grumpy."

Indeed, he's being a little grumpy. Still, I say what I'm supposed to say:

"...Sorry that I can't tag along with you."

That was enough to bring a smile to his face. Geez, he's such a simple person.

"See you, Kazuaki," I say as I wave him goodbye. He returns a wave, smiling.

Walking down the corridor, I head toward my shoe locker.

My pace is gradually increasing.

I want to go there, quickly, and see her.

Am I looking forward to seeing her? Hmm? At the very least, it feels different from going to a long-awaited bargain sale. If I were to phrase my current feelings... maybe like going for the first time to your boyfriend's place? Even though you feel only negative things like nervousness, fear and embarrassment, you don't feel bad at all. Like that.

"Um—" a voice suddenly disturbs me, however.

I look up to confirm whose voice that was, and recognize one of the C2 duo, Hozumi Shiiki, coming down the stairs.

"If that's not Hozumi-chan from the C2s," I remark in response.

"...What's 'C2'?"

"The name of your girl group. Ah, um, forget it."

C2 stands for "the two chibis."

"Anyway," I continue, "what do you want from me? I'm in a hurry."

"I, um... would like to discuss something with you, concerning Toyoshina-senpai."

Kazuaki Toyoshina.

As is pretty obvious from her usual attitude, Hozumi-chan—that short but busty (D cup, I bet my shirt!) girl—has a crush on Kazuki. Like, she's all over him. You wouldn't believe that a calm-looking girl like her would be so offensive when it comes to Kazuaki. Although only when backed up by the other part of the C2 duo, Yoshino Mitsui.

Hm, this matter is interesting enough to spare a few minutes. I haven't set a time for my appointment with her after all. I'm not even sure if the concept of time exists for her.

"Fine, let's talk."

"Thank you," she replies. "Let's find us a better place to talk."

"Sure. How about the canteen?"

Hozumi-chan nods and follows me.

Waiting for her to start talking, I take a gulp from a paper cup and savor the taste of the orange juice. Hozumi-chan hasn't spoken a word since she sat down even though she was the one who asked me here.

Hm... should I expect a somewhat serious discussion here?

I think she knows that I've noticed her feelings for Kazuaki, and I think she also knows that I can't give her a hand in that matter.

I could've sworn that she planned to talk about that through, but maybe I was wrong?

As I start looking closely at her, Hozumi-chan lowers her gaze bashfully. She's by far not as offensive as she usually is... Because Yoshino-chan's not with her? Or does she only get offensive when it comes to getting Kazuaki's attention?

"...Urm..." she finally squeezes out.

"Hm?"

"Are you, Wakui-san, and Toyoshina-senpai only childhood friends?"

Having anticipated a question along those lines, I don't move a muscle.

"Oh my, you could've just asked Kazuaki."

"I did."

"Hm? Ah, yeah, he's easier to approach than me, isn't he? What did he say? Ah, no, it's OK. I can tell. But I see... so you realized that we are likely to give you a different answer to that question."

"..." She remains silent.

"Out of interest, do we look like mere childhood friends?"

Hozumi-chan ponders for a few moments. "No, you don't..."

I nod at her response.

"You're right. A mere childhood friend wouldn't choose the same high school just to stay together, nor would that person beg his teacher to put their seats next to each other, nor would that person toy happily with the other part's hair."

"...Who's who?"

"Do you really want to know?"

Hozumi-chan casts her eyes downward and lapses into silence again.

I take another gulp from my orange juice, deliberately drinking from it slowly because I don't know how long she is going to stay silent.

It isn't before I put the emptied paper cup onto the table that she continues.

"...How should I deal with that?" Hozumi-chan whispers low-spiritedly.

"What do you mean by that? Are you restraining yourself for him...? No, you were aware of that all along. You're restraining yourself for me, right?"

After a few moments of wavering, she finally nods.

"Don't mind me," I say.

Surprised, Hozumi-chan looks up at me.

"What's up with that face? Didn't expect me to say that?"

"B-But... you both love each other no matter how you look at it..."

"No matter how you look at it? Also when you look at us?" I ask.

"Probably..."

"You're unsure? Even though we're talking about the boy that's always on your mind?"

"...Yes," she replies honestly.

"I see. That means that you, Hozumi-chan, have a better idea of us than those unspecified people that view us as a couple."

"Huh...?"

"I don't know Kazuaki's thoughts on this, but I for one have no idea how you could describe our relationship."

"You don't...?"

"Mm."

Hozumi-chan takes a few moments to think about the reason why I phrased it that way. At last, she comes to an answer.

"Does that mean that I don't have to restrain myself for you?" she asks.

After a short pause, I reply, "Sure."

"Good...," she says with a blatant smile, which she is trying to hide, "I always felt bad about you."

"I know that you did," I confess as I hold the empty cup against my lips, "but don't resent me for that. I couldn't just tell you to ignore me and hit on him to your heart's content, could I?"

"...Yes," Hozumi-chan says, her face gloomy-looking again.

"Ah, I'm not being sarcastic here, okay? ...In fact, I'd rather Kazuaki found someone else other than me."

She is visibly surprised by that fact. Geez...will her face ever stay put for a while?

"I don't know if a day will come when I can answer his feelings for me. Maybe not, and I'd keep him waiting. Therefore, I think it's for his sake if I left him to a girl like you, Hozumi-chan," I explain and she listens. While putting down and picking up the cup for no particular reason, I continue, "He ought to learn that I'm not the only girl there is. Because he... only ever paid attention to me."

Hozumi-chan remains silent, her face cast down. After a while, she looks up and looks me deep in the eyes.

"I won't... hold back anymore!" she says with a calm but resolute voice.

Slightly unsettled by her straight gaze, I avert my eyes a little bit.

"And I just told you that's okay, didn't I?" I answer—with a voice slightly quieter than before.

Still fixed on my face, she nods, "...I see." She let's out a short sigh I almost overlooked. "Thank you for your time. See you..."

"Yeah, see you."

Hozumi-chan picks up her bag and, after giving me a brief bow, leaves without looking back.

As I gaze at my empty paper cup, I ask myself:

...Hey Shizuka. Are you serious?

I wonder? I think I am. I think so... but somehow I'm not fully comfortable with what I said. I feel a bit like I were trying to make myself believe a drawn apple was a real one.

I gaze at the chair in front of me that's still pulled away from the table.

Hozumi-chan.

She's a good girl. No doubt about that. Even I have to admit that she's pretty. Every normal boy would fall for her almost instantly if she wanted them to.

But what of it?

She's a good girl, so what? She's pretty, so what? Does that make her suitable for Kazuaki?

I try to imagine not me but her standing besides Kazuaki.

...No, I can't. I can't imagine that.

However... there is something I'm grateful of her.

Only thanks to her could I remain level-headed like this—because she didn't probe into my actual feelings for Kazuaki.

A tingling sensation runs through my head like a swarm of ants. I feel nauseated even though my stomach is perfectly fine.

I—

—crushed the paper cup in my hand.

The talk with Hozumi-chan has affected me, no doubt, but that's no reason to change my plans; I head to her.

I don't know when and where she is waiting, but I know that she's there.

The humanoid energies are flickering again, frantically trying to break into someone's body.

{Unforgivable. Unforgivable. Your new website is unforgivable.}

{I love you. Iloveyou. I love you, giant vs. Yakult.}

{I know your secret! You take off your trousers when you go to the toilet!}

It's getting dangerous—their words are starting to make sense to me. I'm slowly starting to see the underlying feelings of their cryptic messages.

A tingling pain runs through my body.

I instinctively realize that it's dangerous to understand their language. Understanding them is equivalent to being able to communicate with them, and communicating with them requires opening myself to them for the duration of the conversation. They are not going to let that chance slip.

I try to disregard them like I would ignore those people distributing free tissues.

I just have to avoid contact with them, that's all. I just have to ignore the fact that they're not just roughly shaped like humans anymore, but possess human silhouettes by now.

Ignoring them with all my might, I find myself at the same park as the other day again. She is sitting on the same bench as previously.

The first thing I ask her, who is absurdly beautiful, is:

"Hey, is it because of you that I can now see the outlines of humanoid energies?"

"'You'," she says instead of answering my question. Apparently, she is not addressing me, but repeating the word I used to refer to her. "Call me Reina. In return, I'll also call you Shizuka. Okay?"

"I don't mind..." I answer warily.

"Shizuka it is, then. Did you consider my offer?"

Heh, my question got ignored.

"Your offer, huh... don't you think that a little too one-sided? You said what you wanted to say and suddenly 'disappeared.' Besides, I have no idea what you mean by, 'Do you want to come with me?'"

"Seriously...?"

"Seriously," I reply with a sigh.

"Even though you possess such skills?" she asks with blunt astonishment.

"Yes. I suppose we acquired these skills in different ways. When you climb a mountain from different directions, you still arrive at the same place, no?"

Reina pauses for a while and nods at last.

"I see, that's why you call them 'humanoid energies.'"

"Understood?"

"Yes. Because there is a much easier and straightforward name for them, isn't there? 'Spirits.'"

"I have to admit that I also thought of that name when I first got to recognize their outlines. However, there is a certain discrepancy between my definition of the word 'spirit' and how I define 'humanoid energy,' although that's probably just my common sense restraining me. I couldn't give this phenomenon a hackneyed name such as 'spirit.' Even now, to be honest, they will stay humanoid energies to me. Do you understand?"

"I certainly do. But you ought to keep in mind that they're not humanoid energies for anyone else. Of course, spirit is only the answer for a limited number of people as well," she explains.

"...Sorry, I'm afraid you've lost me."

"In other words, the term 'humanoid energy' may be your own way of calling them, but by naming them that way, they have assumed the role of humanoid energies."

"...like an orange becomes an orange with our awareness of that name...?"

"Hmm, that's slightly off, I'm afraid. You should take a less explainable thing as an example. Like... God. Do you believe in God, Shizuka?"

"I, I guess not."

"Okay, that means that you might thank your own luck when you've been lucky, right? But as soon as we coin the term 'God', you'll be thanking not your luck, but God for watching over you—and that's an entirely different message, isn't it?"

"...Yeah, I think I see where you're coming from, but that's not a good example. To raise a better one, 'air' can only exist as 'air' if you know its name. That's your point, right?"

After all, we cannot perceive air unless we have heard of it, since it's neither visible nor palpable.

"Color me impressed, Shizuka. You're quick!"

"Hold back the flattery, please. Anyway, may I ask a few questions?"

"Sure, if I can answer them," she says, accepting my request.

"Great, then to start—" I pose the question I've been dying to ask, "—Who are you?"

Seemingly unable to grasp the significance of my question, Reina inclines her head.

"Why do you ask?"

"You're not human, but neither are you a humanoid energy."

"But you already know my name, don't you?"

"...Reina Kamisu." As I say her name, I understand what she's getting at.

"Right, I'm Reina Kamisu. That and nothing else."

Right, I have already named the essence of that phenomenon 'Reina Kamisu.'

"...Fine, I will no longer ask that question. But... why did you get in touch with me?"

"It seems like there is a misunderstanding on your part. You were the initiator of our contact, weren't you?"

"...True. Then why did you make that offer to me?"

"Because you have power, Shizuka."

"What power?"

"You have the ability to sense 'humanoid energies,' to borrow your naming."

"I know that. What I don't know is what kind of power this ability translates into."

Reina stays silent for a few moments, thinking, until she answers me with a smile:

"It's the power to save the world."

Surprised, my eyes widen. After all, my fundamental suspicion was that Reina's existence poses a threat to peace, and that's why I got in touch with her.

If I were to believe her words...

"—So what you're doing—setting the humanoid energies into motion—is part of saving the world?"

"Yes."

"Spare me your lies! I know that your deeds have yielded several victims!"

"'Several'," she smiles. "Is saving several people equivalent to saving the world?"

"...Do you mean that...?"

"You're probably spot on."

In other words, Reina has sacrificed a few people in order to save everyone else? Like the masses in a war that was started just to seize a single dictator? Like an elephant among a hungry group of animals that was killed for the others to survive?

As I fight with increasing confusion, Reina smiles at me and continues:

"I know it all, Shizuka."

Her following words unsettle me even more.

"You only acquired that ability after that incident, didn't you?"

==3==
I am wearing my favorite, white dress.

The frilled ends of my skirt float in the air as I whirl around.

Am I not pretty?

Who am I wearing it for?

For you, of course, and for me, for my feelings for you.

I want to be pretty for you, always the prettiest.

But someday I will have to take off the white dress.

And you will undress me.

—Or so I hoped.

But now—

I'm still wearing that dress, and I won't let you touch it.

Because my favorite, white dress is full of stains.

But yet I keep wearing the dress.

I keep wearing a non-white dress.

I keep wearing a non-white dress for you to undress.

Until it's too late to turn back.

==4==
Dang... it doesn't function.

The 'lettuce' I sowed yesterday doesn't function. It's as Reina said... If I don't change, my power will stay limited.

In order to acquire real power, I have to leap over this world and transcend all existence and pass through several deltas.

Break, class room. Chairs, chairs, desks, a fluttering humanoid energy, Kazuaki.

"Kazuaki, spare me a moment, please." I say to Kazuaki who's talking with Kiichi-kun, a friend of his.

"Hm? What's the matter, Shizuka?"

Kiichi-kun politely leaves us alone. Mm, sorry but thanks.

"Okay, listen closely. The world is about to burst."

"Shizuka...?"

"As I said, the world is overfull. There's a critical level in every system, no? You understand that, right?"

"...I think I do... hey, um, I already said this in the previous break, but you don't look good today, Shizuka."

"That doesn't matter. Forget about me for now. Just listen," I urge him.

"I think it does matter, but fine..."

"Humanoid energies... no, I hate to do this, but let's call them 'spirit' because it's simpler. As you may know, Kazuaki, there are countless things that can't be perceived by the eye. Hell, way too many for my taste. And in order to become aware of them, we have to give them appropriate names... hold on, that doesn't matter now either, does it? At any rate, those spirits do exist, okay?"

"...Okay."

"Those spirits keep increasing in number. The number keeps growing and they have started to overflow wherever you look, even around us. In fact, there's one right there in the corner. Of course, some spirits just pass away as they should do, but most don't. Therefore, we can define that spirits are in a constant growth. Right, this lifecycle is thus comparable to the production of oxygen. With each breath, plants also exhale carbon dioxide but the amount of oxygen that is produced thanks to photosynthesis is greater, so they are effectively producing oxygen by definition. Like that."

"Okay..."

"You know what happens if they keep on populating? The world turns upside down. The front and the back get inversed. Do you understand? You do, right? It's a revolt! By the spirits! It makes perfect sense that the world would lean toward the side that holds more energy. Can you imagine the consequences? The world would have tilted away, after all: We would fall from the surface of the world, losing our shape, turning into ambiguous beings, scattering in all directions. Perhaps. I don't know the details, of course, but neither do we know the exact consequences of blasting and burning our globe with explosives, right? In other words, the only thing that I can tell for sure is that the resulting world is in no way desirable. What do you think should I do? Do you, do you think that I'm supposed to prevent that whatever it takes?"

"...Shizuka," Kazuaki says as he gazes closely at me.

Thanks goodness; he has taken me seriously.

Kazuaki gives Kiichi-kun a glance, "I'm sorry, Kiichi, but Shizuka and I are leaving early today."

Surprised, Kiichi-kun replies, "Huh...? Ah, i-it's okay, Kazuaki, nothing urgent, really."

"Tell them that I'm taking Shizuka home because she's not feeling well."

Ignoring my question, he pulls me by my arm.

Kazuaki is touching my arm.

The cells of my arm start to decompose and rot away one by one. It hurts. Unsustainable, boundless ressentiment prickles me.

"Kazuaki... Have you forgotten?"

He reflexively lets go of my hand, watching me with wide-open eyes. After a while, he apologizes in a voice I can barely hear.

Kazuaki won't turn around, so I'm just wordlessly following him.

As we trace our way home, we enter the train line we use every day. There are almost no people because of the off-peak time it is. Huh? There's someone standing despite the many unoccupied seats. Ah, it's a humanoid energy. How confusing. Come to think of it, how do I distinguish between humans and humanoid energies, again? Huh? How did I use to do that? I can't seem to remember.

We get off the train, but when I try to go through the ticket gate, I bump into the barrier because the machine won't react to my season ticket. What's up with this? Is this also the wicked deed of humanoid energies? That's by no means impossible. I put my season ticket on the sensor again, and this time the barrier opens. Phew, that's really confusing.

I keep going after Kazuaki.

Right, left, right, right, left—we turn and turn and turn.

At last, we arrive at a park, but not the one I've been meeting Reina at. It's a very small, commonplace park with a bunch of rusty structures.

"...Do you remember this place?" Kazuaki suddenly asks, turning around to me.

Even though he has been dead-silent on the way here, he is smiling eerily gently. Because I don't give him any reaction, he continues himself:

"It's the park where we first met, back when we were 2 years old. Well, I don't expect you to remember all the way back, but you remember that we used to play here, don't you?"

"..."

Of course I do.

However, I hesitate to say anything because I can't quite grasp the meaning of bringing me here and telling me that.

"When we were little, you were taller than me and you would always tease me. To be honest, there were days when I was so frightened of you that I didn't want to see you, Shizuka!" he laughs.

I look around. Indeed, this is the park where we used to play together. I often played with Kazuaki in that sand box over there, or on those swings, or with that horizontal bar. The jungle gym has been removed by now, but apart from that, this park remains a place of young memories that we thought was our own little empire.

"Those were good times, weren't they?" Kazuaki continues, still smiling gently.

His smile causes in me—resentment.

I keep silent, however, because it's not his fault. He is not to blame. It's just that I feel like throwing up because of a prickling in my stomach.

Therefore, I decide to tell Kazuaki what he must know.

"Kazuaki, listen..."

"Okay!" he answers quick like a shot—with a subtle touch of resignation.

"You are very important to me, Kazuaki," I begin, apparently betraying his fears. His eyes widen. "I think that everyone has a certain role in life. For example, the president of a certain republic has to protect the world on his high throne, while the prime minister of a certain island nation has to obey that president. Mother Teresa had to serve in Calcutta, Columbus had to set foot on America, and Madame Curie had to discover polonium and radium. And I... I have to save the world."

"How are you going to do that...?"

"I'll make sure that the world doesn't turn over to their side by releasing the power inside those humanoid energies and reducing their number.  There may be victims while they are flickering for a while after their power is released, but that's a necessary evil. Don't get me wrong—my conscience is pricking me for this, but I can't help it. I have to take action; it's my role because I know what has to be done."

"...Assuming that were the right thing to do—"

"Kazuaki. I understand that the idea seems absurd at first, but it is the right thing to do."

He averts his gaze toward the ground. After a moment of thought, he corrects himself:

"While I suppose that it must be the right thing to do—why is there a need that you're in charge of that task, Shizuka? Just hand over the responsibility to someone else. You said that you know how to save the world, but Shizuka... We all know of the countries suffering from poverty, where children are born to die early on, girls have to resort to prostitution just to contract AIDS, and weak people die of illnesses caused by a bad environment and a lack of medication. We all know that, yet we do nothing to fix this issue, except maybe for some coin that we donate. This is the world we live in. There will always be people seeking a savior. If we were to answer each and every call for help, we would get trapped at some point, living only for the sake of saving others. Think that's praiseworthy? Well, it is. But what of it? Do you think a lifestyle where you sacrifice yourself for others is right? Perhaps it is, but I wouldn't want such a lifestyle. I'll rather ignore their calls for help—just like all the postal advertisement we get."

"...Didn't I tell you the reason right at the beginning, Kazuaki?"

"..."

"You are very important to me."

Right, Kazuaki lives in this world.

He looks down again.

"...It's cool that you think like that, it really is, but..."

"...It's okay, Kazuaki. Just get off your chest what you really want to say."

I heard enough to tell that Kazuaki does not see the danger the world is facing. He only sees the issues he thinks I am facing.

He slowly raises his head to look at me, almost scowling.

Nonetheless—

"Come down to earth, Shizuka! You lost touch with reality."

Nonetheless, I have faith in myself.

After all, there is someone who confirms my view.

"Reality."

"...Yeah, reality! You went through a lot of hardships, that's true, but look... take this park for example—this place is reality, too, okay? Not everything's so bad."

Ah, now I see... that's why he brought me here. But Kazuaki...

Your point backfired.

Besides, your reality doesn't matter to me. Reality to me is that the world is at stake, and the only one able to save it are she and I.

"Among the things you said to me, Kazuaki, there is one thing that I particularly like."

"Hm...?"

"'Do what you think is the right thing to do.'"

"Yeah..." he nods and keeps his mouth shut.

We've known each other since were little. He knows that I'm beyond persuasion. I'm sure, however—Kazuaki won't give up.

"Okay, then I'm going to do the right thing as well!"

With these words, he approaches me.

I know what he's going to do. I can easily imagine the implications of his strained face; we haven't been together for so long for nothing.

His neck is right before my eyes. I completely forgot that he's gotten larger than me.

I slightly raise my head to look at his face.

He slightly lowers his head to look at my face.

Finally, he—embraces me.

"I love you!" he whispers into my ear, as if to stress that I'm the only one who has to know. "I love you more than anyone else, Shizuka!"

I'm happy.

I'm really happy.

He isn't trying to stop me with false words of love. He isn't good enough with words for that.

He simply couldn't help saying it, having me in his embrace. It's the only thing he could think of.

Kazuaki's just so staggeringly honest, simple, faithful... giving me no other choice than to watch over him, making me want to be with him—

Even though my white dress has been stained.

Even though he can't have forgotten those stains.

He's daring a leap. The gamble of his life.

Of course, I'm on his side. I want him to win the wager.

And yet—

"...Don't touch me."

—I couldn't.

The arms around me come loose instantly. Instead, I embrace myself tightly, burying my fingernails in my arms.

I'm glad that I'm smaller than Kazuaki now; I only have to slightly drop my gaze to avoid seeing his face.

My body hurts like it was pierced by a thousand needles. I'm fighting with the urge to hole out the contents of my aching head. The pictures from back then keep appearing in my head, shredding me, crushing me, pulping me, scattering me.

"I'm sorry..." not I but Kazuaki says.

Why are you apologizing? Stop it! I'm the one to blame. I'm the one who's weak. I'm the one who can't recover. I. It's my fault. My fault. Fault. Fault. Fault.

"Sorry for making you cry..."

Confused, I touch my eyelids and finally realize that I'm really crying.

"Isn't it strange? I wanted to achieve the opposite effect. Embracing you was supposed to stop your tears. I failed at that, didn't I... I'm not able to do it..."

I desperately try to hold my tears back. I mustn't make him say such things. But... it doesn't go well.

"I'm such a moron. I thought things would work out somehow if I came here... I thought everything would change for the better... as if it was so simple."

"...Listen, Kazuaki..." I say, trying (and probably failing) not to sob.

"Hm?"

"There is something... that I didn't tell you."

I raise my head, feeling that I have to.

"I never gave you the details of that incident, did I...? I didn't want to hurt you... To be honest... this park... this place of memories—"

"—is where I was raped."

Stop.

Kazuaki stopped entirely.

He stopped so perfectly that I start to suspect that I was left alone in the world, removed from the flow of time.

—Left alone in the world? Hah, that's an accurate description. I'm sure that impression's not an illusion but a truth.

"...Horrible," Kazuaki mutters.

He didn't say that word to me, nor did he address it at the people who had abused me. It wasn't addressed at God either, since he doesn't believe in one.

I'm sure his horrible wasn't addressed at anything in specific.

"That's just... horrible!"

Kazuaki didn't know that reality strikes whenever you expect it the least, no matter if it's a place of memories.

It treats saints and sinners all alike, attacking them mechanically, randomly, without any consideration and selection.

Kazuaki didn't know that.

No, he may have known it, but he didn't believe that this rule would also apply to us.

The world can turn against anyone meaninglessly.

However, not in my case.

"I have to go," I say.

"...Go where?" he squeezes out.

"To another park that I am supposed to visit."

"Huh?"

"I have to go to Reina Kamisu."

There was a meaning to the world's turning against me.

Right, Reina?

==5==
I told Reina Kamisu that I would follow her.

She welcomed me with open arms, seeming very happy about my decision. Of course, one reason for her delight is the raise in effectiveness, but I think she's also happy about finally having a companion in her sheer endless fight.

I don't know how long she's been fighting so far, but purging one humanoid energy after another (which keep increasing in the meanwhile) is like collecting the sand of a desert grain by grain.

I see. Maybe she's been waiting for a person like me who could help her save the world. No, she's still waiting. If the number of people helping her keeps increasing, then saving the world will stop being a pipe dream.

I look around in my room.

This will be the last time I'm here; deep emotion fills my heart. While it's not a cool room—with furniture like a dresser from my mom and things like a weird doll—but here I laughed and cried and laughed and cried.

Should I leave a letter to my parents and Kazuaki? ...No, they would confuse it for my last words or something. Although that might be true in their eyes.

I open the lock of the topmost drawer of my desk and take out a cross choker.

Reina Kamisu told me that I would need to put on something very dear to me. When I asked for the reason, she explained that I needed a token of regret. I could see that I might accidentally get trapped on the other side of the world unless there was something chaining me to this side. In order to become like Reina, I'll probably need something like that.

I put on the choker.

I won't waver anymore.

I walk down the stairs and put on my shoes at the entrance.

"Shizuka, where are you going?" my mom asks from the kitchen without showing up.

"Just a bit far away."

With these words, I open the door.

By now, humanoid energies and humans look almost the same to me but I can still discern them somehow. Those energies have no aim or destination, so they practically stay put at one place; they mumble things even though they're alone, and while they're talking to themselves, their facial expressions do not change a bit.

Coming across several humanoid energy-like beings, I head to the place she's waiting.

{Why did you throw me away, Takeshi! You told me you loved me!}

{I don't have any friends. I don't need to live.}

{Had I not gazed after that hot school girl, neither I nor the family driving the other car would have had to die. What an idiotic accident!}

Among them was one of a middle-aged man:

{Why did you fire me! What did I do wrong!}

Apparently, he had killed himself after losing his job.

"Hello," I said, for the first time addressing a humanoid energy. Suicide after failing in one's job life is not that uncommon, but his face somewhat resembled that of my dad.

{You can... see me?}

"I can. I can also hear you."

{I see... You shouldn't talk with me. Or perhaps... there's no harm to a young lady like you?}

"I'm sure there's none. Our values are way too different."

{Values, you say... In other words, you think the reason why I committed suicide seems cheap and cliched to you?}

"Kind of. I mean, you'll just get less income if you're fired, and that's it, right?"

The middle-aged humanoid energy looked at me sorrowfully. No, he (?) had a sorrowful look glued to his face all the time.

{It's not that simple, young lady.}

"What's not so simple then?"

{I'm bad at explaining things, so I won't be able to convince you, but work was everything to me. Despite that, I was told to be of no use for the company. Do you see what I mean?}

"I do, but I'm not convinced after all."

{I guess so. But there's one thing that I want you to understand: there's no place for old men like me. Not even in the family I was supposed to feed. Nevertheless, I firmly believed that I was needed, that I was a gear in the family that was the company I worked at.}

"But you didn't stay one of its gears."

{Exactly. And I wasn't able to become part of anything else.}

"I think I understood more or less. Still... I think ending one's life because of that is stupid."

He lowered his gaze somewhat and answered,

{Yes... maybe you're right.}

I think I then spotted a faint smile in his face.

And he swirled left and right.

"As I thought. You died, didn't you?"

{What do you mean...?}

I found him.

"Don't you remember me?"

{I don't...}

I should have known; humanoid energies are the core of our energy, and as such only possess the most crucial of memories.

"When you were alive, you once bumped into me when you came rushing out of our psychiatrist's room."

{I see... sorry.}

"Oh, I don't mind. By the way, what's your name?"

{Atsushi Kogure...}

"I see, Atsushi-kun it is."

{What's your name...?}

"My name? I'm Shizuka Wakui."

{What business do you have with me, Shizuka-san?}

"None, actually... if anything, I felt a bit nostalgic."

{I see... Would you please leave me alone, then?}

"How cold. Hm... Okay, then may I ask you one thing?"

{You may... but I won't be able to answer you because I can't remember anything.}

"Really? I'll ask anyway. You bumped into me—I told you that, right?"

{Yes...}

"What again were you shouting when you rushed out of the room?"

His eyes widen at once. I'm taken by surprise—humanoid energies do not change their expressions.

{I don't know.}

That's a lie. After all, he's putting way more emphasis into his words than before.

{I don't know!} he shouts, apparently sensing my doubt.

Atushi-kun said no more after that.

After changing trains a few times, I finally get off the train at the nearest station from a certain lake I've looked up beforehand.

During the travel, I was once again reminded of the omnipresence of humanoid energies. I fear the world could turn over any moment.

Spotting a group of carefree school girls, I feel a bit jealous of them. They don't have to see any of this and don't have to know how thin the ice is that we're on. The balance is as fragile as doing a triple Axel in an ice rink with ultra-thin ice.

After confirming the position of the lake on a map hung up at the station, I head to my destination.

As I walk, I recall Reina's words.

"Water works perfectly because it's connected all over the world."

In order to find a lake that fit the bill, I had to bring myself to google for 'places to commit suicide'.

I mean, 'suicide'...? Heck, it's not like I'm going to die.

After a 40-minute walk, I arrive at the lake. I could have used a taxi (I won't have to care about money from now on, after all) but I didn't want to cause any bothersome misunderstandings.

"You're late."

Reina was there first, waiting for me with an absurdly beautiful smile.

"I'm sorry."

But I could come here whenever I wanted, no? You didn't tell me where I had to go, after all.

I gaze at the lake before me.

Ah, I see. No wonder it's become infamous as a place for suicide. What a huge number of humanoid energies. In fact, there's so many of them, that they have mingled into beings with an entirely different shape. It's like on of those old paintings of Youkais. Several heads are extending toward me, observing me closely. They look a bit like grapes to me, with the heads being the grapes.

I see. With there being so many of them, there is a wavelength for any person who comes here, drawing them into death. Of course, the people who come here do so with the intent of committing suicide; but actually ending one's life isn't so easy. The fear and attachment to life that surfaces when facing death helps prevent suicide.

However, in the case of this lake, it's already too late once they've come here.

The humanoid energies exploit the hollow hearts of the suicidal visitors, shorting their reasonable thinking and drawing them into death.

"Shizuka, there are several places like this in the world."

"And we have to get rid of those places one by one, right?"

"Mmm," she shakes her head, "that's impossible."

"Why...?"

"It's as simple as the problem of many against few. We have too little power. Once a place has turned into this, it's beyond purification."

I look at 'them' again.

I see. Having mixed together, complementing each other, they have turned into a monster. Should I try to step in and erase them, they will take me in as well and still try to regain their former shape. A mechanism that's much alike a black hole formed in this place.

This place can't be purged anymore.

"Ah—"

I see now. I understand everything.

This is it. This is what happens when our side of the world turns over.

Our proportional relation in power is negated on this side, and thus we get taken in by them. Our souls get devoured, our bodies become hollow and decay. That's the outcome we're steering towards.

"...We must stop these places from increasing, right?"

"Yes", Reina nods in response to my realization. "That's our mission."

I scowl at the monster in front of us. All of those grape-like beings are void of expression yet hostile.

They are—my enemy.

I press my cross choker tightly.

"Reina, one last thing."

"...One last thing?" she smiles.

"...You're right. It's only just starting."

"It is! So, what do you want to know?"

"You said that everyone has a certain role, right?"

"I did, yes."

"That it's my role to save the world," I add.

"Right. Only the chosen ones can do that."

"So, I was chosen because I obtained my power."

And—

"—I obtained this power because of that incident."

Reina nods with a smile.

Yeah, I see. I see now.

It never made sense to me: Why did I have to suffer so much? I was by no means a saint, of course, but I think I lived humbly enough to earn myself a ticket to heaven. So why did that incident happen to me of all people? It never made sense.

Of course, reality bares its teeth against anyone—without any consideration but with deadly poison in its teeth.

Yet, I helplessly failed to understand why it happened to me.

But now I can say with conviction:

Yes, there was a reason why I had to suffer so much.

It's simple—

—It was necessary in order to save the world.

"You're right, Shizuka," she says with a warm smile. "Those were obstacles imposed on you so that you could fulfill your mission!"

Right! I found the truth!

I mean, it wouldn't be fair otherwise. It would be unfair if I were the only one so unlucky.

After all, if there wasn't a proper meaning in that incident, my suffering would have been all for naught.

"Yeah, then let's go, Reina! Let the game begin!"

"Yeah!"

Right, there's no reason to waver anymore.

I only have to muster up some courage and jump into the lake—

It's time to go to my new stage—

As I hold my cross choker, I jum—

"——Ah—"

As—I—hold—my—choker—

Someone's, Voice.

—TSCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

Scars.

Flesh.

White dress.

"—None."

Cryingshizuka.

"—There is none!"

—TSCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

"Here... a Christmas present."

"Oh! Thanks, Kazuaki! May I open it?"

"Sure."

"Wow! That's beautiful! But wasn't it expensive?"

"N-Not that much."

"Isn't that a diamond in the center of this crucifix?"

"Yeah, it is..."

"Hey, then it was expensive after all, you bragger!"

"S-Shut up... let me show off a bit!"

—TSCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

"Why did it happen to me of all people? Why?"

"Is there a meaning in this?"

—TSCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

I wouldn't stop crying.

Kazuaki wouldn't stop looking sad.

"Why did it happen to me of all people? Why?"

"Is there a meaning in this?"

I lamented like this, bothering him, until he finally opened his mouth, and squeezed out:

"—None."

"—There is none!"

"There is no reason, Shizuka! If anything, it's because your attackers couldn't handle their sexual drive. You happened to come across them, and you happened to look good enough to them. But that's not the reason you want, is it?"

"Reality treats saints and sinners all alike, attacking them mechanically, randomly, without any consideration and selection. You have to accept that, Shizuka."

Reality treats saints and sinners all alike, attacking them mechanically, randomly, without any consideration and selection.

Right, now I remember—

That wasn't originally my own belief—

It was just Kazuaki's honest and true opinion.

—TSCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

"What's wrong, Shizuka?" the absurdly beautiful girl asks me.

My choker is all wet with my sweat.

"Reina Kamisu—"

"Yes...?"

"Who are you?"

Reina Kamisu holds her breath.

"...What's it all of a sudden?" she asks.

"Those were obstacles imposed on me so that I could fulfill my mission."

"...What about it?"

"What about it, you ask? Don't play dumb! As if that could be true!"

"As if a reason would just pop up so conveniently!"

Losing her tongue, Reina Kamisu just gazes at me in a baffled manner.

"I understood everything. I sought a reason. A reason for my suffering. That's why I came up with the logic of those humanoid energies and tried to find refuge there."

She listens silently to me.

"Everyone else knew that I was trying to escape from reality. Be it Mihara-sensei or Kazuaki, or all of them. They knew I was escaping. After all, my logic only makes sense to myself. Yet, yet why is it—"

"—Why is it that you can understand me!"

"That's strange! Why does someone like you, Reina Kamisu, just show up so overly conveniently to confirm my theory? I didn't fully believe in it until you showed up, right? Why... why did you appear so—"

"Well," she begins. "Because that's what you wanted, Shizuka," she says, slightly skewing her lips. "You sought an existence like me. A third person who would turn your delusions into reality. Given the name of Reina Kamisu."

Reina Kamisu smiles. With a smile so beautiful it can't really exist.

Finally, I recall—what Atsushi Kogure has shouted when he rushed out of our psychiatrist's room.

And Atsushi-kun—

—is no more.

"Ah...ah..."

I hold my cross choker tightly.

Help me. Help me, Kazuaki.

"D-Do you intend to kill me?"

She looks at me with surprise when I ask so.

"Why would I?" she counters.

"I-I mean, it's true that you drove the students of the Shikura middle school into suicide, isn't it?"

She lifts her hand to her chin and replies after a short pause, "Perhaps."

"...Perhaps?"

"I didn't actually do anything."

"That's just not—"

"Not true? How about you, then?" she suddenly asks.

"Huh?"

"Would you be able to live on if I disappeared now?"

Ah—

I see what she means.

Reina is a phenomenon.

Just a phenomenon.

Sooner or later, we notice that she's not true, and then we lose her.

Once we lose the support that Reina is to us, we collapse all by ourselves.

"...Then stay by my side!"

"I'm always by your side. As long as you don't close your eyes from me, I'll always be with you. But... can you accept me when I'm only a phenomenon?"

With these words, Reina Kamisu vanished.

No, she didn't vanish. I simply dismissed her as something that could not exist.

Kamisu Reina is always here.

I stand alone by the lake.

I stand alone, without a reason for my suffering.

I stand alone, still suffering.

Suddenly, I recall an earlier thought of mine.

—it's already too late once you've come here.

I raise my head to look at the lake.

Alright—

A monster with tens and hundreds of faces is waiting for me.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Atsushi Kogure|Chapter 2]]
| Return to [[Kamisu Reina Series|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Kazuaki Toyoshina|Chapter 4]]
|-
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</noinclude>

Talk:Kamisu Reina Series

2014-05-08T04:31:33Z

Axyraandas:

Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Afterword

2014-05-08T04:22:33Z

Axyraandas:

To those who already know me, hello again, and to all the others, pleased to meet you. This is Eiji Mikage.

We decided to go without pictures for this novel as with my debut novel. Sorry for getting a special treatment. I'm actually a shy man who inherently prefers to stay in the shadows (it's in my name, after all)! So much that I had to look away when I spotted someone reading my debut novel one day after its release on the train.

Let me introduce this novel in a few words.

This story is quite similar to my debut novel in terms of style. There are many differences, of course, but I believe you will notice that it is written by the same author. The most significant difference might be the fact that I put more thought into the overall structure.

The protagonists are rather clumsy, but that's how they turned out when I envisioned their behavior in a setting like this. Also, I would be happy if you didn't dismiss them as purely fictional characters while you are reading this book... but that's just the selfish of a writer.

I don't really know what genre this story is. I don't like to constrain myself to something like that while writing, which of course generates certain risks... that said, it's certainly necessary to decide on what's important and what's not in order to maintain a good balance.

This novel is titled "Kamisu Reina wa Koko ni Iru" (Reina Kamisu Is Here) and a sequel titled "Kamisu Reina wa Koko ni Chiru" (Reina Kamisu Disperses Here) will come out next month. However, the books are basically stand-alone, so I don't consider them part 1 and part 2. This novel can be enjoyed as-is, but there are important revelations in "Chiru". Give it a read if you're interested.

Finally, I would like to offer my thanks to my supporters.

Many thanks to my current and my previous editor in charge, to my third friend in the editorial staff, the designer, the proof-readers, and everyone else who helped making this novel happen.

I would also like to thank the entire editorial staff for giving me the chance to release another book.

And last but not least, thanks to my readers.

I would be honored to see you again next month in "Kamisu Reina wa Koko ni Chiru."

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| Back to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Epilogue|Epilogue]]
| Return to [[Kamisu Reina Series|Main Page]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Kazuaki Toyoshina

2014-05-08T04:14:44Z

Axyraandas: /* 5 */

===1===

It was me who provided the picture for Shizuka Wakui's funeral.

I own more pictures of her than anyone else—more than she did even. Her smiling, her crying, her getting upset... they are all treasures to me.

I raise my head to look at the photo of Shizuka's lovely smile at the altar.

Ah, it's already been a year since she stopped smiling like that.

Ever since that incident a year from now, she hasn't shown that happy and careless smile of hers. Instead, her eyes dulled and her smiles turned into faint motions of her lips.

But I didn't mind. I was willing to wait by her side for her to regain the joy of living and had no plans of searching for another love.

The smell of incense hits my nose.

I feel like I turn empty as the smell soaks into my body; as if it silently bereaves me of myself. What remains of me is a translucent mass of untouchable void.

All colors around me are either black or white, or the green of our school uniforms. Even colors were stolen from me.

Most likely, I'm going to stay in this strangely isolated world from now on.

"Kazuaki," someone says. I turn around to look at a meek Kiichi.

"...You're here?"

"Of course I am. All of our classmates are."

As Kiichi correctly mentioned, our entire class is here. In fact, there are also students from other classes who used to be friends with Shizuka, students I don't even know and even a few students from other schools.

After that incident, Shizuka started to lose her friends one by one and stopped making new ones, until I was the last remaining person at school who was close to her. The friendship between girls is defined by how they relate to each other; at first, her friends accompanied her because of sympathy, but eventually they couldn't keep up with how she changed.

Nevertheless, many old friends have come to Shizuka's funeral and lamented for her sake. Right now, she's the heroine of a tragedy for everyone, which doesn't please me. She was supposed to be my heroine, not someone else's.

Therefore, I ignore them and gaze at the picture of her.

Her smile.

Why, truly why, could I not protect that smile?

Where did we make the wrong choice? What should I have done? Was my choice to embrace her wrong? Or was it too late by then anyway?

Why could I not protect the one thing I wanted to protect whatever it would take?

What am I supposed to do now that I have completely and entirely lost Shizuka—my other half—my hope, my purpose?

I am the same as that picture.

The smile depicted and I are but evanescent remnants of the past.

Shizuka's body was transported away.

I didn't get to see her face one last time because of severe damage to her corpse. Had I insisted, I may have gotten permission to take a look, but neither Shizuka nor I would have wished for that.

I mean, they said damage. Not injury or scars, boy, but damage.

Hahaha, Shizuka isn't a human being anymore. She's void. Seeing that would only sadden me.

The black and white and green colors have disappeared as I keep standing there, focusing my gaze on the door through which her body was transported.

"Kazuaki-kun," someone says behind me.

"Mrs Wakui."

It's Shizuka's mother, a sorrowful expression on her face. She looks like that because of the loss of her daughter, of course, but part of her melancholy is probably due to sympathy for me.

"Let me give you this," she says as she holds out her fist. When I present the palm of my hand, she drops something on it.

"Ah—"

It's a cross choker; a Christmas present I bought for Shizuka two years ago, saving up three months' worth of pocket money.

"Shizuka was wearing it when she passed away. I... I thought I should give it to you."

I don't look up as I listen to her words, and keep gazing closely at the choker in my hand.

She was wearing it at the bitter end? Even though she hasn't worn it a single time after that incident?

What's the meaning of this? Why did she wear it at the end?

"I'm sorry," she suddenly says.

I'm sorry. Words of apology.

"Ah—"

Damn.

Her mother apologized ahead of me.

She took my right to apologize.

It would have been so much easier to blame myself for having failed to ease Shizuka's pain, for having let her accept such a fate, for being responsible for her death. It would have been so much easier to apologize and crack under the weight.

But her mother didn't grant me that right.

She took up that position before me.

The only thing I have left now is—

"Uh..."

"UAAAAAAAWHHHH!"

—to cry my lungs out.

===2===

Kiichi and I are on our way to the Shikura public middle school. Normally, there's no reason why a high school student who is neither in a committee nor in a club would go to a completely unfamiliar middle school that requires him to take an express train just because it's slightly too far away to go by bicycle. Normally.

"He said he's waiting," Kiichi explains as he claps his cell phone.

"Okay, thanks man. We're better off if there's someone with us who knows his way around. I hear of a lot of suspicious figures around here lately, I don't want them to suspect us."

"Well, not like we're any less suspicious."

"Heh, sounds about right. What's your brother's name, again?"

"Yuji."

"Yuji Kato it is, huh. Do you resemble each other?"

"I honestly can't tell, but for some reason, he's pretty popular with the girls."

"You don't look anything like each other, then."

"...Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

Responding with a wordless grin, I insert my ticket and go through the barrier. Kiichi looks me in the face in a serious manner.

Aah, I see.

He doesn't understand at all; it's been two weeks since the funeral. I've already had a hard time when she was still alive, so it's child's play for me to put on a cheerful face like this.

"Hey, Kazuaki," he starts when we entered the train, still with a heavy-hearted mien. "I shouldn't be giving you sermons already, but you really shouldn't drag on Wakui-san's death forever, 'kay?"

"Why?"

"Well, dude..." he falters for a moment when I counter his advice dryly. "I know that you loved Wakui-san. Maybe it was mutual love even. But Kazuaki: You weren't a couple, let alone married. Just childhood friends. I mean, look at that cute midget girl who's hitting on you; she's the proof that you're popular. Don't waste that potential."

"Aah... you had that kind of impression of us?"

"Hm? But I'm spot-on, no? You obviously were on the way from friends to lovers."

"Nope."

"Oh come on, maybe that's what you thought."

"We were a couple."

"...What? For real?"

Ah, of course he wouldn't know about us. We've only known each other since high school.

"We already started going out in the 6th year of elementary school. Don't go telling this around, but we kissed and even made out with each other in middle school."

"...Did you take the next step?"

"No. She always insisted on waiting until we could marry, and I listened to her like a moron."

"I see..." he squeezes out and falls silent.

However, I continue with a stimulated sense of self-mockery.

"She was raped."

"Yeah..." he comments insecurely, with an ambiguous expression that makes it clear that he already heard of this fairly well-known story.

"What do you think is the first thing she said to me when she told me about it?"

"I have no idea..."

"I'm so sorry."

Kiichi glances at me for a moment, and silently lowers his gaze.

"We had no doubts," I continue, "that I would take her virginity, and that she would give me her virginity. No one expected the train to derail from that predestined path. After we had gone through that station, we would enroll at the same university, find a job, and marry. Finally, after death had part us, we would rest in peace in the same grave. It was an unspoken promise between us that we would follow this path."

"Mm..."

"But that incident messed our plans up. That clear path laid out before us disappeared into thin air. That's why she... apologized, thinking it was her fault. Blaming herself for everything."

"———"

Kiichi is in complete silence, but I continue:

"She was so churned up inside that she couldn't even touch me anymore. No, maybe she just had androphobia, who knows. Anyway, she just wouldn't look at the new path I was trying to build for the two of us. Because of that, we returned to just being friends. Of course, I didn't plan to leave it that way."

"I see..." he simply says.

There's an oppressive silence between us for a while, underlining the tedious rattling of the train. The passengers around us seem to think of everyone else as mere scenery, fiddling with their cell phones or focusing on the music from their headphones.

I begin to speak again.

"I found one of her rapers the other day."

Kiichi's head jumps up. He looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

"...What did you do?"

"I killed him."

He completely loses his tongue.

"I tore off all his clothes, crushed his balls with a stone, beat him up until his face was no longer recognizable, stuffed his mouth with his own shit, peeled off his fingernails one by one, squashed his eyeballs... and while I was doing so, he kicked the bucket."

"...You're joking."

My gaze pinned on the pubs and video shops and fast food restaurants flying by outside the window, I answer him:

"'Course I am."

Fortunately, I don't know what they look like.

As the train starts to slow down, I look outside and think:

Come to think of it... I haven't had Gyudon in a while.

The Shikura Middle School is built amidst the living quarters; finally arriving there, we spot a bunch of students playing soccer and baseball in the cramped school grounds.

Five minutes after Kiichi gives him a call, Yuji shows up at the entrance gate, still in sports gear, subliminally remarking that he was in the middle of working out. With his large and athletic build it stands to reason that he would be popular.

"Let me cut straight to the chase: The three students who committed suicide were in your class, is that right, Yuji-kun?"

"Yes, we had quite the chaos going on here because of that."

"What do you mean?"

"Things like no one wanting to take the blame, getting a new class teacher, and so on."

Three students taking their lives is a big problem, indeed. Added to that, they're in the middle of puberty (not that I'm much older), too, which doesn't mix well and allows for even more problems.

"I heard the gist from Kiichi, so I'll delve right into the details: What do you consider the reason why they committed suicide?"

Yuji-kun ponders. "I think each had their own problems, really. The girl of the first incident didn't have any friends and wasn't exactly treated well in class, and the guy who killed himself next blamed himself for the death of the first victim."

"...Ah, so they didn't commit suicide independently, but rather the first suicide triggered a chain?"

"...That's my view, yes."

"All right..."

When I heard that three students had killed themselves at different times and in different places, I suspected the same irregularity as with Shizuka's case; after all, you wouldn't just commit suicide just because you are confronted with the topic.

If, however, their cases are interconnected and can be traced back, they may not be regular, but they're by no means irregular either.

It seems like this trace, which I tracked because I found that Shizuka was investigating these incidents, ends here.

"Can you show me your classroom, Yuji-kun?" I propose just in case.

"Sure. But please try not to catch anyone's eye. It's a hassle to explain ourselves."

Yuji-kun and I (Kiichi stayed outside) entered the school building. He then showed me around, guiding me to relevant places like their classroom, the landing of the stairway that leads to the roof, where the first victim was often seen, and so on. By the way, the place where I wanted to go most, the roof, was closed, perhaps because of those incidents.

"So? Did you learn anything?" Yuji-kun asks before the door to the roof.

"Hm..." As expected, the places didn't make an impression on me.

"Can I ask you something on the matter, too?" he responds to my silence.

"What is it?"

"Why are you investigating in the first place, Toyoshina-san?"

After giving it some thought, I reply, "I had a girlfriend."

"My brother told me something along those lines. He said she... committed suicide," he explains, faltering a little before squeezing out the word suicide. "Ah, do you suspect that it wasn't suicide but murder? And that it was the same culprit for the cases at this—"

"Haha, no, that's not it. To be honest, I think she had a proper reason to commit suicide."

"But then why?"

"A few days before she died, she started to behave strangely. Her condition abruptly worsened as if she had stepped on the gas and fallen from a cliff. In other words, I'm investigating the reason why she suddenly stepped on the gas, you know."

"But is there—" Yuji-kun starts, but cuts off mid-sentence, making a grimace.

"What?"

"Ah, no, please forget about it. I don't want to be rude."

"It's okay, I'm curious."

He looks me in the eyes repeatedly before he finally gives in with a nod. "Um... I just wondered if there is a point in doing all this?"

A point.

A point, hm?

"I'm... I'm sorry! My tongue slipped!"

"No, it's okay," I assure him and add, "...There is no point, I suppose."

"None at all?" he asks in surprise.

"She did go to strange places in her last days, sure, and she started to become delusional. Maybe that accelerated her death."

"...It sounds meaningful to me to look into that, no?"

"Nope, not at all. I know for a fact that the reason why she committed suicide has nothing to do with all that."

"...No meaning... but then why do you go out of your way to investigate?"

I gaze at Yuji-kun. Looking at his genuinely puzzled face, I'm sure he has never lost a beloved person.

"Because I have nothing else to do, maybe?"

"But that's not true, is it...? Maybe it's a bit early, but you could start preparing for the university exams, or you could be—"

"No, nothing," I interrupt him with a firm voice, "I have nothing else to do."

The path I tried to rebuild was irreversibly destroyed. I'm only drifting away in an empty space now.

All I can do is follow Shizuka's footsteps, even though there is nothing ahead of them. It's simply the only signpost left to me, having lost ground.

"..."

It seems that Yuji-kun remains unconvinced, but so be it; there's no need for him to understand. If he does, it will be once he's in a similar situation.

I look around once more and let out a deep sigh. It seems that there's nothing to be found here. It's not so easy to find the fragments left behind by Shizuka.

I take her choker out of my pocket and gaze at it.

Shizuka, why did you put that choker on before you died? Is there a meaning behind that? Or none at all? I can't even tell that much, even though we've been together for most of our lives.

"Well, if that's all, shall we leave?" he proposes.

I nod in agreement. There's nothing to be gained here.

As I climb down the stairs, I remember that there was one other thing I was meaning to ask.

"Aah, before I forget: Do you happen to know that name, Yuji-kun?" I ask without any expectations.

"What name?"

"Um, lemme see... 'Reina Kamisu.'"

As I finish saying that name, Yuji-kun abruptly stops.

"...Where did you learn about that name?" he asks, surprising me with his reaction. His face is mildly tensed.

"Um, I heard it from my deceased girlfriend."

He stays silent, his gaze still fixed on me.

Huh? What's up with him? Did he know the name after all? No, that wouldn't explain why he would react like this.

Which means that...?

"I don't know a person by that name, but to tell the truth, I did come across that name."

"Where...?"

Reluctantly, Yuji-kun answers me, "The victims mentioned it."

That means that...? Hold on, I need to think.

Yuji-kun heard the name "Reina Kamisu" from the suicide victims. Victims—that's plural. Furthermore, he doesn't know Reina Kamisu himself. However, that does still not explain why he would react in such a strange fashion.

That means—

"...You don't know Reina Kamisu," I start.

"I don't."

"And the other students who are alive don't know her, either."

"...Exactly."

"However... All the suicide victims, including my girlfriend Shizuka, knew Reina Kamisu."

Yuji-kun nods awkwardly.

"I'm not sure if all three of them knew her, but at least the first two victims did mention that name."

"I see."

"The first victim referred to that name as her best friend, while the second one mentioned it in his suicide note as the person who drove him into suicide, mistaking Reina Kamisu for the first victim."

"He mistook her? How could that happen? How can you mistake the name of the person who drove you into death?"

"I thought so, too... but his suicide note is clearly referring to the first victim! I suppose he knew both of them, since they were close friends, and somehow confused them with each other."

"But..."

"Yes, I know. That only explains why the first two victims mentioned that name, but not why your girlfriend knew her, too."

Exactly.

Shizuka and I have known each other for most of our lives because her family's house is just across the street. We have admitted the same schools from kindergarten to high school. In other words, she had just as little to do with the Shikura middle school as me.

There's no reason why a high school student who is neither in a committee nor in a club would go to a completely unfamiliar middle school that is slightly too far away to go by bicycle, but not that far away. Similarly, there's no reason why she would get to know the students from there.

"Shizuka was acquainted with 'Reina Kamisu' even though you guys don't know her and even though she had far less points of contact with the other suicide victims. And everyone who knew Reina Kamisu—"

"—is dead now."

The pieces are starting to come together, forming a ring that connects all of the victims.

An incredibly twisted ring that should not even exist.

Come to think of it, Shizuka and the other victims had no doubt proper reasons to commit suicide. But they only had reasons.

If for example they had actually been killed, they still would have had proper reasons to commit suicide.

In other words, the fact that they had reasons does in no way rule out the existence of a third person who may have influenced them.

No... don't jump to conclusions. I have to consider that Shizuka did some research about this school; maybe she learned about 'Reina Kamisu' in the process.

That being said... that would be an eerie chain of coincidences.

"Toyoshina-san," Yuji-kun starts, "I'll try asking around in school about Reina Kamisu tomorrow."

"Please do so."

Where will this ring lead me? I think as I gaze in the air.

Suddenly, my vision turns blurry as if a drop of water had fallen on my eyes. But that's how it's supposed to be. The world is full of mosaics that conceal the truth from our eyes. We don't really see anything. Perhaps, we arrive at what we think is the answer even though it's based on flawed logic. At the end of the day, three-dimensional beings like us cannot look across a three-dimensional world.

My vision is always blurry, I'm always blind.

Ah, just damn it. Someone tell me what I'm supposed to do! What did Shizuka want me to do? How can I escape fate? What is 1+1? Why is the earth rotating? Why is the earth round? What is gravity? What is magnetic force? What is the meaning of life? Who is Reina Kamisu?

I know that there's no clear answer, so just make up one for me. Just tell me the answer using a valid logic. There should be one, and if there is one, please tell me.

Give me the right answer.

Give me the right answer.

Save me!

Save me before I drown in the swamp that I'm struggling against, that is drawing life out of me!

Suddenly.

I see a silhouette on the landing where I was moments ago.

A person.

"—Huh?"

—It's 'Shizuka.'

"...? What's wrong, Toyoshina-san?" Yuji-kun asks in response to the sudden gasp I let out.

"L-Look, there!" I groan as I point at Shizuka. He traces the direction I'm indicating with his eyes and narrows them.

"...Um, I see nothing."

"T-That's impossible!"

I turn around to the landing once more.

"Ah..."

Shizuka's not there. Of course not. She's dead. She's not among us anymore.

"...Sorry, forget about it."

"You must be tired."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

I'm tired. Yeah. Absolutely.

Otherwise I can't believe it.

"Haha..."

I mean, really, how could I otherwise believe that I, who loved Shizuka more than anyone else, would mistake someone for her.

Shizuka isn't among us. She's not here.

Therefore, that girl over there isn't Shizuka.

That girl over there with an absurdly beautiful smile, who resembles Shizuka, is—

"I'm pleased to meet you."

—Reina Kamisu.

===3===

What was the most important thing for me within my school life?

The answer is obvious; and it's something that's already lost.

School right now is just like a hamburger restaurant that doesn't offer meat. They might introduce tofu instead, but that just doesn't cut it.

For me, at least, there is not a single thing of import at school. The only reason I'm still here is because of habit—a routine I'm programmed to follow— a daily ritual I conduct for my family. It's my duty to assume the role of a lazy student for the teachers, an upbeat friend for Kiichi and the others, and an admirable senior for Hozumi-chan. That being said, it's not just an act I'm playing; every moment I spend in these roles, I'm no one else but my true self. There is no falseness in that.

But whenever I'm not forced into one of these roles, I'm confronted with the gaping emptiness inside me.

Well, no surprise. My single most important role has become redundant, and the part inside me that was reserved for that role has vanished.

After my classes end, I start putting the chairs onto the desks to wipe the floor—which is just another routine I'm forced to repeat over and over.

As I'm doing my work, I suddenly recall my short encounter with Reina Kamisu that ended before I could even exchange a word with her.

She resembled Shizuka more than anyone I have ever met. And while she is definitely not a person, she's not an illusion either. Reina Kamisu has without a doubt interacted with Shizuka and the other students, and driven them into committing suicide. I am 100% convinced of that. However, that conviction unsettles me.

Be reasonable, Kazuaki. What makes me so sure that she is really who I think she is? There is nothing that supports my sentiment; I have no information whatsoever that would allow me to recognize Reina Kamisu. I don't know her appearance, her traits, her personality—nothing.

But the girl I met there is Reina Kamisu.

Why did that answer pop out and click with me? What is the meaning of this?

"Senpai!"

Senpai. For students in lower grades everyone's a senpai, but from the context of my daily routine I can deduct that this refers to me. I turn around to the the window adjacent to the corridor.

"Hey, Hozumi-chan," I say. She answers me with a smile. "And Yoshino-chan," I add, spotting her friend next to her, who in turn bows her head silently.

Yoshino-chan hardly ever talks to me. I suppose she's uncomfortable in the company of the other sex. In fact, when I met her alone on the corridor the other day, she ran away from me like lightning. Of course, that incident got me thinking a little, but against my concerns, it seems like she doesn't actually dislike me.

"You're looking dark. Is something wrong?" Hozumi-chan asks with a smile.

"Hm?" While I don't think that they know her, I decide to give it a try nonetheless. "You don't happen to know Reina Kamisu, do you?"

"Rehna… Kameesu?" she repeats like a parrot and turns her head to her companion. Yoshino-chan wordlessly shakes her head. "Is she famous or something?"

"No, no."

"From our school?"

"No."

"Hm? Then why did you think that we might know her?"

"I didn't expect you to be familiar with her. Just asking, really."

Right, they can't know Reina Kamisu. All who know her are dead by now.

All who know her are dead...?

Including me? Haha, aptly put indeed but not funny.

"Okay then, I have to get going."

"Ah... um, do you mind if I tag along...?" Hozumi-chan asks.

"No, I'm sorry, but..."

"Okay..." she says with blatant disappointment.

In order to soothe my conscience, I explain myself, immediately regretting that slip of the tongue.

"There's something I want to investigate."

"Investigate?"

There you have it: Now I got her curious. Should I answer her...? I know that she has a crush on me, so she would probably follow me along everywhere if I were honest to her. I don't want to torment her by giving her false hopes.

However, I then notice that telling her the truth would actually be helpful in that matter.

"I'm investigating those recent suicide cases."

"Ah..."

As I thought, her face darkens in response to the word "suicide" and the memory of Shizuka Wakui looming behind.

"I see..."

Hozumi-chan's approaches have declined after Shizuka's death. Originally, I thought that she would secretly welcome her death and try everything to take advantage of the gap in my heart.

I was wrong.

By that I don't only mean that Hozumi-chan was in fact sad about Shizuka's daeth; she was also sensible enough to notice that Shizuka's value to me hadn't changed a bit. And because of that she was let down. Probably.

"...But they don't talk a lot about those incidents on TV, do they?" she says, getting a grip on herself.

"Yeah. Suicide's not a special topic anymore, after all. Besides, I think there are some regulations because it could give people bad ideas."

"I have a feeling that it only gets into the news if it concerns a celebrity or if it's some real bad incident..."

"Real bad..." mutters Yoshino-chan, joining our conversation for the first time today. "Hozumi-chan? Do you remember that incident at the Junseiwa high where several students jumped off a roof?"

Yoshino-chan has the habit of talking to me via Hozuki-chan.

"Hm...? Well, of course. You're always reminding me that you picked our school because of that incident, aren't you? Your middle school was also there, right?"

"Y-Yes..."

Yoshino-chan went to the Junseiwa School? But that's a textbook example of a girls-only school for rich ladies. No wonder that she's so sensitive to boys.

Anyway, now that she mentions it, I remember hearing about that incident quite a while ago, although it had slipped my mind until now.

"Could you me more about it?" I ask her.

"E, erm... I heard that it started with the student council president jumping from the top of a building... Several other students then followed her and jumped off as well..." Yoshino-chan replies looking elsewhere and gradually growing quieter as she speaks.

"How long ago was that...?"

"A little more than three years... I... think..."

I'm surprised I could forget such a huge debacle; or did they really regulate the media so that that incident wasn't made famous?

Yoshino-chan, noticing my confusion, adds with a flushed face, "The media did not point out the number of suicides because that would harm the long history of the Junseiwa School."

I see.

"I want to learn more about that incident. Do you know of someone I could ask...?"

"Um..."

"Hm?"

"My sister was there at the time, so she might be able to provide information. But..." Yoshino-chan says.

"But...?"

"It is a topic that she hates to talk about. So much that she has not even told me about it. I doubt that she will be of any help."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes..."

Perhaps her sister was not entirely unrelated to the mass suicide. Although considering the scale of that incident, it might very well be possible that there was something that concerned the entire campus behind the scenes.

Something.

For example—Reina Kamisu.

"Can't we just ask one of her friends if your sis doesn't want to talk, Yoshinon?" suggests Hozumi-chan as she interrupts us.

"I'm afraid that my sister didn't really have any friends in high school," Yoshino-chan answers her with a bitter smile—behaving entirely different than when talks to me.

"Then how about this: I'm sure your sister has a graduation album, right?" I ask.

"Ah, um, yes..." she nods in a tense manner.

"Could you show that to me?"

"Err, hm..."

She doesn't seem bent on it.

"Just snatch it when she's not looking, Yoshinon!"

"H-Huh?! You're joking, right...?"

"Please, Yoshino-chan," I ask as well, holding my hands together like in a prayer. She seems to be rather troubled, but I can't be choosing my means.

"M-Mmm... I will try."

"Yay! Thanks a bunch."

"B-But there are no addresses and phone numbers in there...! To prevent data abuse because it is a famous school..."

"Okay. But even a photo might give me a clue."

"A clue...?" Hozumi-chan asks with a slightly trembling voice. My face when Shizuka told me about those "humanoid energies" must have looked the same as Hozumi-chan's now.

"Er, well—"

A clue concerning Reina Kamisu; that's what I'm looking for, but I can't tell her that. Unlike Shizuka, I'm perfectly aware of how I appear from an objective viewpoint.

I have discovered a non-human being that promotes suicide, which is neither a ghost nor an illusion, but an enigmatic phenomenon. Moreover, that being is not only incredibly beautiful, but also resembles Shizuka. And she's the one who killed Shizuka!

Yeah, there's no way they would buy that.

I turn my glance at Hozumi-chan, who's sending me a worried look. I have to come up with some excuse. I could tell them that my first love went to that school, and that... no, they can tell it's a lie from the flow of our conversation. Besides, they know that Shizuka was my everything.

"—Err..."

Hozumi-chan is growing even more worried. Quick!

However...

"Kazuaki?"

It just happened that Kiichi showed up from behind them. Thank god.

"What's the matter?" I ask in the most casual voice I could produce.

"I just got an e-mail from my brother. He wants you to contact him."

"Yuji-kun wants me to contact him?"

Did he get around to asking the other students about Reina Kamisu?

After getting Yuji-kun's phone number from Kiichi, I walked away from the group (Hozumi-chan seemed not amused) and hid inside a compartment in the restroom—we are not allowed to openly use our cell phones at school—and called the number.

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Toyoshina."

"Ah, hello Toyoshina-san."

"Kiichi told me that you wanted to talk to me. What's up?"

"Yes. As promised, I asked around my schoolmates about Reina Kamisu today."

"Oh, thanks a lot."

"Don't mention it. Anyway, I found someone who might know her."

"For real?! But what do you mean by 'might'?"

"You'll understand. I managed to persuade that person to stay at school until you arrive, so may I ask you to come around in the course of the day?"

"Of course."

"Okay then. We're waiting. Drop me a message when you arrive. See you."

"Okay, thanks again. See you."

I end the call with a sigh of relief.

There's someone else besides me who knows Reina Kamisu...? Someone who's also "going to die?" And to that person she also looks like my Shizuka?

"Huh...?" I gasp with a certain doubt in my mind that appeared when I imagined how Reina Kamisu must appear to other people.

Reina Kamisu.

Reina Kamisu resembles Shizuka.

...That's strange. It could be a plain coincidence, of course, but I can't help but feel that there's more to it. Why does she resemble Shizuka?

But then—

Did Shizuka's Reina Kamisu also resemble herself?

I don't think so. My gut feeling tells me otherwise.

Wouldn't it be more plausible to assume that Reina Kamisu is customized to look like Shizuka in my eyes?

Those jeans look great on you, but they're a bit too long, aren't they? Let me cut them down for your size. Let me adjust them to you.

However, what are the implications of that assumption if it's correct?

Reina Kamisu is not defined by her visual data. What does this imply? What is she ultimately, anyway?

My brain can't follow my train of thought. I lack the immunity against incomprehensible phenomena. I start to repeat her name meaninglessly in my head. Reina Kamisu,　Kamisu Reina, Reina Kamisu, Kamisu Reina. Again. Reina Kamisu, Kamisu Reina. Again. Kamisu Reina, Reina Kamisu, Kamisu Reina. Loop. Reina Kamisu, Kamisu Reina.

I leave the restroom, only to find Hozumi-chan waiting by herself for me, her look still discontent.

"What's the matter...?" I ask.

"...Senpai. Are you going somewhere today?"

"Did you listen?"

"I did, but I couldn't quite follow because I only heard your voice."

"I see..."

"Senpai?"

"What is it?"

"—Who is Reina Kamisu?"

She gets right to the heart of the matter, leaving me speechless for a moment.

It seems like she could filter out the crucial keyword from our phone conversation...

"I've always been concerned with you, Senpai, that's why I can tell that this 'Reina Kamisu' is at the core of your worries, and that all your worries are connected to Wakui-senpai in some way or another. Please be honest with me. Does that 'Reina Kamisu' have something to do with Wakui-senpai's death?"

"...Where's Yoshino-chan?" I ask as I avert my gaze from her and search for her companion.

"She went home. I told her that I couldn't tag along today," she answers my question, her strong and fixed look forbidding me to look away from her.

I could tell from her gaze that she would not let go of me today anymore, and inside her clear and beautiful eyes, I could see myself: an exhausted, cowardly, idiotic, remorseful, hopeless reflection of myself.

How can she like me with those ever so clear and pretty eyes of hers? You must be blind, Hozumi-chan...

"Hozumi-chan..."

Confronted with her pure eyes, I realize that I owe her some sincerity.

"What is it?"

At this rate, she is not going to ask. She will just follow me to the Shikura middle school and she won't give up on me. She's not even thinking of giving up.

Hozumi-chan is a lovely girl. She can experience as many wonderful romances as she wants. There's no reason for her to constrict herself because of me; she could easily find a love where she can behave more freely and naturally.

I can't leave her at this.

That's why I feel that I owe her a sincere yet cruel answer to her feelings.

"I can't see you as someone of the other sex," I say. Her eyes open in response to my contextless relevation. "I never will. You will never get a special place in my heart."

"S-Senpai...?"

"My heart belongs to Shizuka alone. I'm hers from head to toe, and for all eternity. The two of us were one. You can't replace her. You can't satisfy me by any stretch. Do you finally get it? This is the kind of person I am. I will never be what you want me to be, never."

Hozumi-chan is left completely speechless and just keeps opening and closing her mouth. Insecurely she gazes at me, her head crimson, her fist clenched, and her body trembling.

Hozumi-chan is in puberty—the period of life where you are overly self-conscious and afraid to be hurt by someone, or god forbid, by someone you like.

Despite all that, I didn't keep back from hurting her so horribly.

Was there no other way? Perhaps. But I felt that only by using harsh words could I answer her strong gaze.

Hozumi-chan. Too strong feelings always lead to ruin, whether they are beautiful or hideous. Remember that.

Just look what has become of me now that Shizuka's gone.

"Do you still want to come with me, Hozumi-chan?"

The answer is obvious. I don't expect to be hearing anything from her, looking at her insecure and hurt look.

Which is why—

"I do."

Hearing a determined and quick answer struck me as way more unbelievable than the existence of Reina Kamisu.

"I do want to come with you," she repeated.

Even though she must be horribly hurt.

Even though she can barely hold her tears back.

Even though her voice is trembling hard.

And yet she managed to regain a strong light in her eyes and answered my question with a determined voice.

That moment I realized—

"Ah..."

—This was the answer I was looking for.

This is what I was supposed to do back then.

I'm buried beneath an avalanche of remorse. Unable to move and speak, all I can do is remember that day over and over. Surrounded by cold remorse.

On that day, I embraced Shizuka.

"...Don't touch me."

Until now, I thought I had committed a mistake. I thought that everything was already too late by that time.

But I was wrong.

The real mistake I made was—to let go of her.

I was supposed to keep embracing her, no matter how much she struggled to break free. I was supposed to cling to her no matter what... like Hozumi-chan did to me.

"...Don't touch me."

I gave up because of those words, in the illusion that I could not do anything to stop her tears. I fooled myself into believing that everything was too late.

I simply was a coward: I feared to be hurt any more because she'd rejected me. I pretended to share her pain when I really couldn't do what I wanted to, what I was supposed to.

I was the only one in the position to achieve something, and yet I didn't take action.

I take her cross choker out of my pocket.

I've finally realized why she'd worn this at the very end, what I was meant to do. At last.

As I hold tight of her choker, I think:

—Forgive me for not being with you all the time.

I look at the blushed girl in front of me. I misunderstood her. I thought that I was just a replaceable part in a clumsy, pubescent love story she pictured to herself. But that's not true. She's just like me.

Sadly.

"Let's go, Hozumi-chan."

She nods.

It's a shame that you still can't save me.

Because you aren't Shizuka.

Thanks to the e-mail I had given him beforehand, Yuji-kun and another boy were already waiting for us before the entrance gate when we arrived at the Shikura middle school.

"Hey."

"Hello."

As maybe expected, that boy's look turned out to be... vacant. He just gazed into space while Yuji-kun and I were greeting each other.

"And who are you?" Yuji-kun asks Hozumi-chan.

"My name is Hozumi Shiiki. I'm one grade below Toyoshina-senpai... and older than you, mind you," she adds because of his somewhat cheeky attitude toward her.

...Well, it's not that obvious if you look at your height...

I turn my attention toward the boy who may know Reina Kamisu. Upon realizing that a self-introduction is in place, he mutters without a shadow of a smile:

"I'm Atsushi Kogure."

"Frankly, I don't know anything nor would I remember if I did," Atsushi-kun starts. "I suffer from amnesia."

Amnesia? Sounds like the protagonist of some drama show.

Having heard of it so many times in fiction, I don't feel a lot of surprise even though it's the first time I'm confronted with amnesia in reality.

I give Yuji-kun a questioning look. He nods. It seems like he's telling the truth.

No wonder that his look is vacant. He is vacant in the true sense of the word.

"When did you lose your memory?" Hozumi-chan asks.

Earlier in the train, I disclosed all my thoughts to Hozumi-chan—that was my way of paying her respect—and she believed me, at least by the look of it. Believability aside, she realized that I wasn't lying to her.

"Around last month," Atsushi-kun answers indifferently.

Last month... that's around the time Shizuka's delusions got out of control.

"Unless my memory fails me, it happened between the second and third suicide case," Yuji-kun adds.

"I hear that there are different kinds of amnesia. What about yours, Atsushi-kun?"

After a short thinking pause, he answers, "I can't tell why I've lost my memory, but apart from the basic everyday knowledge like language, I've forgotten everything. At first I thought the large scar on my chest was the reason, but I heard that I've already had this when I was little."

"Did you forget your name?"

"Yes, I did."

"I see... I'll keep my fingers crossed that you regain your memory." Hozumi-chan says in an attempt to cheer him up. However, Atsushi-kun shakes his head.

She inclines her head, puzzled.

"My mother... or my aunt, to be precise, advised me not to regain my memories. Besides, I feel absolutely certain that they won't return."

"Why are you so sure?" Hozumi-chan asks, still puzzled.

"There's no actual reason. I just feel that way... I think that Atsushi Kogure died."

"Died...? But you're here, right before our eyes."

"No, I'm not exactly Atsushi Kogure. His personality died back then, and I was put into his body instead as a makeshift subtitute because the vacancy had to be filled. I'm another person. I'm just using his name for convenience's sake."

I try imagining myself without any of my memories, even without those of Shizuka.

No memories of Shizuka? That's not me. That's not Kazuaki Toyoshina, but an entirely different person.

Okay, Atsushi-kun has a point.

"All right, let me get to the point—"

"About that," Yuji-kun cuts in. "Atsushi won't admit to knowing Reina Kamisu."

"Huh, really?"

Now that he mentions it, though, it's obvious that Atsushi-kun wouldn't remember knowing Reina Kamisu if he has lost his memory, unless he met her during the short time span after that.

However, seeing the expression clued on his face, I have absolutely no doubts that he must have come in contact with her at some point in time: The blank look on his face has disappeared. Instead, he is gritting his teeth and furrowing his brow.

He definitely knows her. And the misfortune she brings.

"...Atsushi-kun. You know Reina Ka—"

"I don't," he cuts me short with a visibly bad temper.

...It doesn't look like he'll answer me this way. Let's see if I can trick him into giving me the info I need.

"Oh, I see, so it was Reina Kamisu who erased your memory," I say, provokingly.

His eyes widen for an instant! and his face becomes even grimmer. I must be near the mark.

"Okay, Atsushi-kun. One more thing—"

"I...!" he interrupts me again, shouting this time. Embarrassed by our surprised glances, he continues, "I don't remember anything. Really."

"But..."

"It's just that that name sends a chill down my spine."

"Still, your reaction isn't normal."

"Even if I did come in contact with that Reina Kamisu... no, I probably did, 'Atsushi Kogure' did. But I don't know anything. Atsushi Kogure no longer exists, so leave me be! Why does everyone keep asking me those questions?!"

"Hm?" I mutter, puzzled by his concluding sentence. "Do you mean us by 'everyone'?"

"Of course. And that strange girl that suddenly talked to me the other day."

Strange girl...?

"Who are you talking about?"

"I don't know who she is! Well, not that I know anyone at all. She suddenly walked up to me and said, 'As I thought. You died, didn't you?' I guess we met somewhere before..."

As I thought. You died, didn't you?"...?

"Hozumi-chan?"

"Yes?"

"What impression would you get from Atsushi-kun if you passed by him on the street?"

"Huh? Uhm... not a special one... at most, I would feel that he's a somewhat unusual person."

"...Agreed," I nod.

Hozumi-chan's right. The girl he met was indeed strange; what she said is not something you hear a lot from strangers. Odd people like that are rare, but I remember hearing something to the same effect only recently..

It seems like that girl mistook him for a dead person; in other words, she thinks that she has the ability to perceive dead people. As ghosts? As humanoid energies?

A fit of disgust assaults me from inside my chest, sending a burning, black lump up my throat. I feel nauseated, my fingers are trembling, my eyes are burning, my throat is sore.

"Do you... know her name?" I ask as I press my hand against my chest.

"Why do you care?" Atsushi-kun snaps back.

He pisses me off.

"Just fucking tell me!" I yell, surprising not only him, but also the other two. That pisses me off just as much. "So?! Do you know her name or not?!"

"...She did tell me her name... I think she called herself Watarai, or Wakui... ah, her first name was Shizuka."

Ah—

So this is where it started?

With this, I can finally connect the dots of this warped ring.

There's no doubting it:

Shizuka became infected with "Reina Kamisu" from Atsushi-kun.

"Atsushi-kun. Spit what you know about Reina Kamisu," I urge him again.

"...I don't know anything for crying out loud."

I grab him by the collar.

"Nothing, you say? Are you shitting me?! You know her! If you don't, remember! Want me to jog your memory, eh? I hear a shock treatment works miracles?"

"C-Calm down, Toyoshina-san!" Yuji-kun urges as he grabs my arm.

"Hands off!" I yell, glaring at him.

However, he doesn't let go of my arm. He's strong. It hurts. FUCK. IT HURTS. Let go of me, jackass! I have to learn the truth about Reina Kamisu! Whatever it takes! Why would I let a little shit like you stop me?!

"S-Stop it, senpai!" Hozumi-chan grabs my arm as well.

What? You team up against me? Just when I thought you've understood me a little, Hozumi-chan. What a mistake. You're just a stranger, after all.

"Hands off, bitch!"

She lets go of me.

What?! If something like that already scares you off, then don't try to stop me from the start! Don't follow me around from the start! What?! Don't look at me with such teary eyes—

"..."

I let go of Atsushi-kun.

"—I'm sorry," I apologize. "I'm sorry!" I apologize to the three of them.

I'm despicable. Horrible.

Not only did I lose my composure just because Atsushi-kun happened to associate with Reina Kamisu and got rough with him, I also hurt Hozumi-chan again. She's never going to forget that I insulted her. She's never going to forget this temporary burst of hatred against her. With the single word "bitch" I have hurt her more than the sharpest blade could, even though I was aware of these consequences.

I'm scum. A lowlife. Trash. A maggot. I should just die.

There is a silence among us; everyone keeps their mouth shut.

What? Where are your reproaches? Cut out those looks of sympathy! They only remind me of my own foolishness...

"Toyoshina-san..." Atsushi-kun breaks the silence. "I do really not remember Reina Kamisu."

"Yeah... I believe you. I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay. I may not remember her, but I do spot a horrifying... specter every so often for a split second."

Could it be that this is...?

"Judging by my fright, it might indeed be Reina Kamisu. However, that is all I know. The only other thing I can tell is that—"

"—she is absurdly beautiful."

—It's her, Reina Kamisu.

The specter that is following him around, and that erased Atsushi Kogure's memory, is doubtlessly Reina Kamisu.

You only get that absurd impression from her; at least, I haven't met any other people of such beauty up to now.

In other words, "Reina Kamisu" is a phenomenon that gives off the impression of being "absurdly beautiful."

She's a phenomenon that creates the exact same impression in all of us.

"...Senpai?" Hozumi-chan taps me. I bend down to her height. "Looks like the two of you met the same Reina Kamisu, doesn't it?" she whispers into my ear.

I answer with a whisper as well, "What makes you think so?"

"Well, because he got the same impression as you."

"Hozumi-chan," I start and proceed to correcting her, "It's the other way around."

"Hey, why don't you let us in on what you're whispering?" Yuji-kun interrupts us.

"Never mind," I say and turn at Atsushi-kun. "Atsushi-kun. Could you tell us what impression you got from the strange girl that talked to you?"

"...Well, I suppose you could say she was fairly pretty."

"Was she your type?"

"No, not at all," he replies without hesitating.

"Okay, so did she look anything like the specter you're afraid of?"

"...I'm pretty sure she didn't, although I can't give you my word on it."

"I see...," I mutter and give Hozumi-chan a look. She seems to be puzzled by the discrepancy of facts. "Yuji-kun? Can you tell me more about the three students who committed suicide?"

"Sure, I'll try."

"Give me as much details as possible, please."

"Hm... I didn't know them too well, though..."

"I don't mind, just tell me what you know," I reassure him.

"Okay. The first victim was Fumi Saito, a student that didn't stand out at all in class. She was falsely accused of having stolen someone's wallet, and that's probably why she eventually killed herself."

I doubt that the true reason was that straightforward, but that doesn't matter right now.

"She didn't have any friends, except for Reina Kamisu, to whom she was very close," I add.

"Though there's no proof that she really was friends with Reina Kamisu, but it seems that way judging by her statements."

"Got it. What about the second one?"

"The second victim was Kyouhei Kimura. Committed suicide because he blamed himself for Saito-san's death."

"He must have been craving for forgiveness from Saito-san. But she was death. Therefore he apologized to Reina Kamisu instead."

"...? Toyoshina-san?" Yuji-kun asks, dumbfounded.

"Never mind."

"The third victim was Yuu Mizuhara. She was involved in the suicide of the previous two students, and that fact strained her mentally to the point that she claimed that a ghost had killed the other two. She was under the delusion that she would be killed as well, and then committed suicide."

"She was cornered. She didn't want to admit the blame. That's why she resorted to making up another cause—a ghost. A ghost that is Reina Kamisu," I add yet again.

"...What's up with those comments, seriously?" Yuji-kun asks.

"Oh, just ignore them. By the way, Atsushi-kun?"

"Yes?"

"You suffered quite a lot in the past, didn't you?"

"So I heard."

"And you died. Through Reina Kamisu."

"...Maybe you can say that."

As for Shizuka... it's obvious: She was yearning for a reason for her misfortune—and had Reina Kamisu provide her with one.

They all imposed different roles on Reina Kamisu.

More importantly, I highly doubt that the appearance required from her for those roles would be the exact same in terms of stature, age, face, and so forth. And yet, both Atsushi-kun and I thought that she was "absurdly beautiful."

All right, so Reina Kamisu, as I perceive her, resembles Shizuka. I know for a fact, however, that while Shizuka certainly didn't dislike her own looks, she didn't consider herself all that pretty.

Now, what if we assumed that Reina Kamisu was the exact same person for all of us? Would we all find the same appearance "absurdly beautiful" despite the difference of tastes?

Right, as I said: It's the other way around.

She gives us the same impression only because she looks different for everyone. "Reina Kamisu" is specifically adjusted to look "absurdly beautiful" in our eyes.

Hold on, but then why—

Why is it that we all call this phenomenon "Reina Kamisu" when she appears differently for everyone?

The answer is—

"—Yuji-kun. Atsushi-kun. Let's call it a day," I say with a wave of my hand, take Hozumi-chan's hand while she's still baffled, and turn around to take my leave.

"Ah, hey, wait a sec!"

"What's the matter, Yuji-kun...?" I ask in response.

"It sounds like you found something out about this Reina Kamisu; would you mind telling us?"

"...Just silly musings, really."

"I don't mind, so...?"

I waver. If I say nothing, chances are that he will keep nagging me about it. After all, he must be terribly eager to learn the truth behind the name that keeps coming up in the recent miseries of his classmates.

And that's exactly why it's dangerous to tell him.

"I noticed that there's a fitting other word for 'Reina Kamisu.'"

"Which would be...?"

"'Angel.'"

Yuji-kun remains unimpressed.

"What noun describes a beautiful woman that appears before people who are to die? 'Angel' fits the bill nicely, no?"

"I guess so..." he says without an additional remark. He still seems discontent, but I can recognize a sign of resignation in his face.

Good. It worked. That should put a stop to his interest in my findings regarding Reina Kamisu.

"Okay then, goodbye," I say.

"Yes, goodbye. Hope to see you again sometime."

I briefly wave my hand toward them. Yuji-kun waves back but Atsushi-kun has already turned away from me.

Atsushi Kogure.

Could you say that he got away with a black eye? Or did he die as he said himself?

Anyway. An 'angel' I called her...?

What a laughable yet strangely fitting simile. If she showed up with a halo above her head and a pair of wings on her back, I might actually believe that blatant lie myself. It would be so much easier if I just went with that and quit thinking.

"Senpai..." Hozumi-chan suddenly starts to speak after a while. I already knew what she was going to ask. "Can you tell me the truth?"

And then I regretted revealing everything to her earlier in the train.

=== 4 ===

Names.

"TV", "tissue", "contact lenses", "dog", "baseball", "banana", "cloud", "atom", "light", "Ukraine", "Hozumi Shiiki", "Reina Kamisu".

They're all just terms given to objects for convenience's sake. The convenience of using them is not their only purpose, however; names bind concepts, they shape concepts, they draw attention to concepts, and they bring them to life.

"Reina Kamisu"—a multifarious phenomenon that kills her observers.

That is how I define "Reina Kamisu", while ignoring the lack of evidence, reasoning and common sense.

Well, well, there is one question that presents itself: While it is still acceptable to say that this phenomenon assumes different roles and eventually kills whoever perceives her, there is absolutely no justification to link the phenomenon to the name "Reina Kamisu". However, even though the phenomenon varies for everyone, we all call it by the same name without any hesitation or doubt. She never called herself that, either.

I take the stairs to the second floor and notice Hozumi-chan standing by the door to my classroom. As I approach her, she notices me as well and we greet each other.

"Senpai. I brooded all night over your hypothesis," she immediately gets to the point. "As you said, the victims were already aware of the name 'Reina Kamisu'. The name comes first. Saito-san and Kogure-kun and Kimura-kun and Mizuhara-san and Wakui-senpai and your paths have all crossed somewhere. Which means that you all had the opportunity to learn the name 'Reina Kamisu'. I agree with the conclusion that you've drawn from that, Senpai."

"—You become infected with Reina Kamisu by learning her name."

I nod.

"I'm sorry," I apologize.

Hozumi-chan shakes her head, "Don't worry. I wished for it myself."

Right—I made the mistake of telling her the name of "Reina Kamisu". I was careless. I seem to be constantly giving her trouble.

That being said, I'm pretty sure that learning Reina Kamisu's name alone does not automatically make her visible to you. This is supported by the fact that she hasn't shown up in front of Yuji-kun and his classmates even though they've heard her name.

There must be some sort of condition. As a matter of fact, the reason why I wanted Yuji-kun to lose interest in the matter was to prevent him from accidentally fulfilling that unknown condition. Wake not a sleeping lion (Reina Kamisu). The best protection against Reina Kamisu is losing one's interest in her.

"Senpai," Hozumi-chan says with eyes that let me foresee what she's going to say. "Let me warn you: it's useless to try telling me to back out of this matter."

As I expected.

"...I won't," I mutter, and she responds with a happy smile.

Geez...

"Oh, Yoshinon!" she calls out, still smiling brightly. Her eyes are directed at Yoshino-chan who is trotting toward us. "Morning Yoshinon!"

"Morning, Hozumi-chan," she replies.

"Hey," I greet her as well.

"G-Good morning... Toyoshina-senpai."

Again that difference in attitude.

"What's the matter, Yoshinon?"

"Ah, er, I only saw your bag when I went to our classroom, so I thought you might be here." With these words, Yoshino-chan scours her own bag and takes out something resembling a massive book.

With a blushing face, she holds it out to me.

"Hm?"

On a closer look it seems to be a graduation album.

"Um... I sneaked into my sister's room and borrowed her graduation album..."

Now that she mentions it; I completely forgot that I asked her to bring her sister's album from her time at the Junseiwa School.

"You're a master thief, Yoshinon!" Hozumi-chan jokes.

"Ew... she wouldn't have allowed me to take it otherwise... Um, Toyoshina-senpai, may I ask you to return it to me in the course of the day?"

"Yeah, fine by me. Sorry for bothering you," I apologize to her.

"A, n-no! It was a pleasure!"

It was...? Oh, I should just be thankful.

"All right... I guess I'm off to the library. I want to take a look."

"Huh? What about school?" Hozumi-chan asks, surprised.

"To be honest, I don't have time for that now."

After hearing my response, she (somewhat unsurprisingly) counters, "I'm going with you!"

"...Are you sure?" Yoshino-chan asks.

"Of course. I'm sorry, but can you tell them that I've overslept or something?"

"...Okay, I got it."

Since I'm well aware that it's no use trying to persuade Hozumi-chan, I keep out of their exchange of words.

"Okay, let's go senpai."

"Got it."

After saying goodbye to Yoshino-chan, we head together to the library room. As we walk there, I sneak a peek at the thick album.

Well, I don't expect us to discover anything in this album. It's unlikely that the group suicide over there is connected to Reina Kamisu in any way. Even if she were, I would be surprised to find anything valuable in an album.

However—I was entirely wrong.

Within a mere 5 minutes after taking a seat next to each other, we spotted something.

The heart of the graduation album, the group picture of all members of the class, contained several parts that differed significantly from the rest in terms of size, exposure, background, and so on.

Because of our prior knowledge we can tell why that is. Most if not all of these parts belong to—

—the suicide victims.

"Senpai?"

"Hm?"

"I don't want to sound silly, but..."

"Yeah?"

"Aren't there too many pretty girls over there at the Junseiwa School? I'm kind of jealous."

Honestly speaking, I was too focused on the disagreeing parts to notice. Now that she mentions it, though, I can see that there are indeed a lot of pretty girls in the photo.

"Not only wealthy but also cute and clever... that sure makes me doubt if God really doesn't give with both hands, as the saying goes," she comments.

"I don't think that you need to hide, though, Hozumi-chan."

"Ah, don't mind me. You don't have to pay me lip-service."

That wasn't meant as lip-service.

"Anyway, it's only normal that there would be lot of pretty girls at a renowned all girls' school," I say.

"Why? Because only those sorts of girls aim for such a school?"

"I suppose that's not exactly wrong, either, but consider this: looks are heavily influenced by the genes of one's parents, right?"

"Yes, so?"

"And here's the point: Bigwigs almost exclusively get themselves beautiful wives," I conclude.

Hozumi-chan claps her hands together once.

"The scales fell from my eyes."

You actually wondered about it?

I decide to let her be and flip the page.

—I stop midway.

"What's the—" Hozumi-chan asks, only to cut off when she sees the picture I found.

I continue in a mutter in her place.

"—Reina Kamisu."

That name is written there indeed, but we would have held our breath—and be enchanted—either way.

Because the student depicted—

"—It's almost absurd how beautiful she is," Hozumi-chan remarks.

Precisely. She stands out even among the many other pretty faces. If one were to compare her with a diamond, the other students would be crude stones in comparison. As much as I hesitate to admit it, Hozumi-chan wouldn't leave the slightest impression on me if she stood next to the girl in that picture.

For a while, I am completely taken aback by the photograph and the sheer beauty of the Reina Kamisu in it.

But in reality, that isn't of any import; the picture poses a problem that is much more severe.

"I don't get it... why can we see Reina Kamisu in this picture?"

Hozumi-chan gives me a puzzled glance.

"Reina Kamisu is just a phenomenon. She does not possess a body."

"...Maybe she shows in pictures?"

"Even if that were true, she wouldn't get an entry in an album unless someone actually perceived her."

"Which means that..."

I look at the picture again.

She does not resemble Shizuka; but she does resemble the "Reina Kamisu" I know.

"I think we're on the same track, Hozumi-chan."

"Yes..."

"Most likely—"

Those two Reina Kamisus are not equivalent to each other; that's clear just from their looks.

They are, however, both absurdly beautiful.

"—the Reina Kamisu in this picture is a human."

In the end, we didn't attend our classes and instead went straight to Yoshino-chan's address without any notice to her; we wanted to question her sister about Reina Kamisu.

How come the girl in that picture was also called "Reina Kamisu"?

It might be just a coincidence; that would be the most plausible explanation.

The name given to the phenomenon might just have happened to match that of an existing person. But then again, Reina Kamisu is by no means a common name. Moreover, the real person is brought into connection with a group suicide, while the phenomenon entices into suicide, and on top of that, they're both absurdly beautiful and look alike. That's about as crazy as pulling off two royal straight flushes in a row at the beginning of a poker match, but still more down-to-earth than winning the lottery jackpot.

However, I don't know about Hozumi-chan, but at least I discarded that possibility rather quickly.

Because I've actually seen "Reina Kamisu".

I'm certain that anyone who has seen her will agree with me: There is a definite link between the girl in that picture and the phenomenon that shares her name. That's more certain than that bull dogs and chihuahuas are of the same species.

"By the way, the buildings around here are quite something, aren't they?" I say with astonishment.

"I was surprised, too, when I first visited Yoshinon. Would you believe me if I told you that her mom showed up with a Porsche to fetch us?"

"A Porsche? Not bad."

"But Yoshinon's still normal; I heard that a large part of the households in this vicinity have their own limousines and drivers."

Limousines, hm? Sounds like a distant world to me.

Now why would so many inhabitants of that comfy distant world end their lives? They were blessed with both wealth and beauty, and must have been devoid of worries. They had everything that is needed for a happy life.

However, "happiness" is entirely subjective.

A single issue can be perfectly enough for an individual to become unhappy. For example, if the boy or girl you fancy gives you the cold shoulder, you might feel hapless even in a blessed environment. Such an environment amounts to nothing when it comes to fending off the feeling of misfortune.

Therefore, if there was a cause of some kind, it's entirely possible that even an inhabitant of that distant world committed suicide.

—Reina Kamisu. Did you create that cause? Will you seduce me into suicide as well, as you did with the students of the Shikura middle school?

How?

I try to recall "Reina Kamisu" as I remember her; an absurdly beautiful girl that resembles Shizuka.

What is the role I give to Reina Kamisu? What do I need? Who do I need?

Hm?

—Who do I need?

"———"

Reina Kamisu: a phenomenon that takes on various roles. Who resembles Shizuka.

"Senpai? What's wrong?" Hozumi-chan asks because I suddenly stopped.

Who do I need?

The answer's obvious: Shizuka. I only need Shizuka.

Having finally found the puzzle piece I was looking for, my rusty faculty of thought is set in motion again and starts to restlessly hunt down answers. Answers, answers, answers... the answers I seek sum up like a snowball.

This leaves me with one more thing that I need: confirmation. Something to prove my answers.

I see.

I see now! I found out, Reina Kamisu!

I raise my head with conviction.

As I thought.

Behind Hozumi-chan, next to a house that looks like a pompous show house exhibition—

—I see Reina Kamisu.

"I see. So we only have to wish for her to show up. Because—"

I put on a grin.

"—Kamisu Reina is here."

I walk past Hozumi-chan and head toward Reina Kamisu.

"Senpai!" she shouts out, visibly anxious about my strange behavior.

"Stay away! You must stay away!" I command her as I turn around and scowl at her.

She steps back because of my hard tone.

Yes, that's the spirit.

I do not care about Hozumi-chan anymore. She's no longer needed.

"Don't get in my way!" Leave us alone.

This is what I wished.

This is what I wished Reina Kamisu to be.

"I missed you, Reina Kamisu," I say as I catch her in a dark back street.

She responds with a smile—an absurdly beautiful smile, much like Shizuka's.

"Let's begin with the reason why I didn't notice you up to now, shall we?"

Reina Kamisu listens silently to me.

"You are a phenomenon that only becomes perceivable by us becoming aware of your existence. There seem to be multiple requirements for that, like knowing your name, but it's safe to assume that I've fulfilled those, since I've seen you once before. Then why is that I haven't been able to see you ever since?"

I am almost glaring at her as I continue.

"It's because I started to consider you a phenomenon."

Her cheeks move slightly, but apart from that she stays absolutely silent.

"When assessing a mysterious phenomenon like you from a perspective that is grounded on common sense—and only then—it becomes impossible to admit your existence. Basically, common sense imposed a filter on me that operated in my subconsciousness and prevented your data from getting to me. In order to perceive you nonetheless, it's thus necessary to either remove that filter or to shift one's perception of you to something different from a phenomenon."

This time around, Reina Kamisu gives me a clear response. She nods.

"You appeared before me with a certain role. I am aware of that role by now. One part of it is to help me arrive at the answer I was looking for," I explain while thinking back at the burning question that plagued me at the time of our first encounter. "But let me ask you something first: Who is that Reina Kamisu in the picture I saw? How is she related to you?"

"She's a person called 'Reina Kamisu'."

I heard her voice for the first time; it's as beautiful as expected.

"Is she someone else than you?"

"Yes, I suppose she is. In the sense of being a different being."

"What to you mean by different being?"

She replies to my question with a smile, "She is what you might call my roots, you know."

"Your roots...?"

Seeing that I can't quite follow her, she expands on her explanation, "...Why do you think I was given the name of 'Reina Kamisu'?"

I consider her question. The phenomenon said that the person was her roots, her origin. In other words, the person named Reina Kamisu existed first? So the phenomenon came to be only recently? That doesn't sound plausible to me. I feel that the phenomenon she represents has always existed, just without anyone finding a way to perceive her—

"—Oh, I got it."

"Did you?"

"Your name made you perceivable, just like we become explicitly aware of the concept of air by giving it the name 'air'. Put another way, the phenomenon Reina Kamisu exists because we gave it that name."

"Exactly."

That explains why she spreads through her name.

"But why 'Reina Kamisu' of all names? Was there no alternative?"

If the Reina Kamisu in that album was a normal person, then there is no reason why "Shizuka Wakui" or "Hozumi Shiiki" or "Yoshino Mitsui" couldn't serve as a namesake.

"That's because her existence was singularly close to mine."

"Close...? Do you mean you blended into other people's perception of her? Similar to how a non-technical person won't be able to differentiate between a computer screen and a TV?"

"You've guessed right."

"But then... in what way did the human Reina Kamisu resemble you? In the way that she also caused others to commit suicide?" I ask.

"That's not correct. When people correctly perceive me, they tend to despair. I'm not responsible for that."

"Then what else makes her similar to you?"

"Just look at me. It's our outward appearance."

"Your appearance?" I frown. "I admit that the photo of your human counterpart resembled you, but your appearance is variable. It changes depending on the observer. It's not possible to resemble something that doesn't maintain its shape."

"But you just admitted that we resembled each other, didn't you?"

My eyes widen. I nod.

"Let me summarize," I say.

"Don't let me stop you."

"You're beautiful. Absurdly beautiful."

"Thank you."

"And that's also the impression you make on everyone as a phenomenon."

"That's not quite correct," she argues.

"What do you mean...?"

"I don't give off an impression of beauty. I am beauty itself."

"...I'm afraid you lost me."

"Have you ever heard of the Theory of Forms?"

"I'm familiar with the name, but I don't know what it means exactly."

"For example, take an elephant and picture it to yourself."

I do as she told me and imagine an elephant. The first thing that comes to mind is its long trunk, followed by a picture of its large ears and tusks. The elephant is big and gray and has thick skin. I use its trunk skilfully to pick food.

"Are you done?"

"Yes."

"So where did your image of an elephant come from?"

"Where from...?"

Of course from the information stored in my brain. However, it's impossible for me to tell from which elephant exactly that impression originates. It might be one of the elephants I've seen in the zoo in my childhood, or it might be one from the TV or a book, or perhaps even from someone's description of an elephant.

"All right," she continues, "now imagine you saw an elephant right before you. Would you recognize it as one?"

"Most certainly."

"All right," she says, "now imagine you saw a beautiful person right before you. Would you deem her beautiful?"

I sneak a peek at Reina Kamisu.

"Of course."

"But how do you decide whether or not a beautiful person is beautiful?"

"By—" I pause to consider the hint she's given me. "—comparing her to my image of a beautiful person and see how close she is, maybe?"

"Correct."

...So is it like this...?

"Reina Kamisu, you are my very image of a 'beautiful person.'"

"Right, I am your archetype of beauty. That's why I look more beautiful to you than anyone else."

I see, that's why Reina Kamisu resembles Shizuka; after all, Shizuka constitutes a great deal of my image of a beautiful girl.

Okay, it looks like I was slightly wrong with my original hypothesis. I thought that Reina Kamisu's resemblance to Shizuka originated from her second role to me.

"My existence is detached from space and time, and is to be found in the world of Forms. Not that the Theory of Forms expresses precisely what I am, but it's close enough. I'm only using this term because there is no other name for it, just like there is no other name for me. But I do indeed exist on the back side—or front side!—seen from you."

"In other words... you live in another world?"

"I don't know if it's really another world, but I suppose for the current mankind, who only believe what they see, it actually is another world. My being is entirely dependent on you, so if you define me as non-existent, then there is no world for me to live in. What will never change, however, is that I do exist."

"...I think I roughly understand what you are. But then I have a hard time comprehending how the girl in that picture could resemble you."

"Why don't you try to reverse the equation?"

"Reverse?"

"Don't think that Reina Kamisu resembles me—think that I resemble Reina Kamisu."

I don't get it. Isn't that exactly the same thing, except for the order?

Except for the order...?

The Reina Kamisu in the picture was a real person, and therefore had a constant appearance. The Reina Kamisu in front of my eyes, on the other hand, changes her visuals depending on the observer.

The human "Reina Kamisu" had an appearance that nearly everyone would find to be beautiful. That said, so many men, so many minds. In theory, it's perfectly possible that she's ugly in someone's eyes.

The phenomenon, however, must absolutely always be absurdly beautiful. That's her definition.

To rephrase this: there might be a person who considers the person "Reina Kamisu" as ugly, but the phenomenon as beautiful.

The reverse is impossible.

If I combine that fact with the fact that both the phenomenon and the person look absurdly beautiful, and similar, in my eyes...

"Don't tell me—"

I already knew that there was another condition apart from knowing her name. Those conditions are necessary to mix up the human Reina Kamisu and the phenomenon.

In other words, people whose image of beauty does not match the looks of the human Reina Kamisu are not able to mix those two up.

Put the other way—

"Only people whose image of beauty does almost precisely match the looks of your human counterpart are able mix you two up and create a link between the name and the phenomenon."

That is the second condition.

Reina Kamisu nods and adds to my explanation, "And as you mentioned beforehand, I will appear besides everyone who longs strongly enough for me, or more precisely for a replacement of somebody, to override the filter that is their common sense."

"But most people will eventually regain their common sense," I continue her intent, "and become unable to place you in the role they gave you. Which means that they will either lose what was vital to them, or despair because they notice that what they believed in was fake. And as a consequence—"

"—they are likely to commit suicide."

Reina Kamisu—so far I considered her evil in itself.

But I was wrong.

She is neither good nor evil; she just exists. She is just a purposeless phenomenon that is forced to appear whenever she is given a name.

That is the truth behind Reina Kamisu.

"Kazuaki Toyoshina," she says and I raise my head. "What role do you give me?" she asks with a smile resembling Shizuka's.

"...You planning to give me false hopes, just to make me despair in the face of the truth?"

"Perhaps. But you're not like the others, are you?"

"Not like the others? How so?"

"You are able to perceive me even though you realized that I'm a phenomenon. That's a remarkable difference, isn't it?"

That's true...

I'm already aware of what she really is. I'm not like the others who fell into despair as they approached the truth behind her being. The way to salvation is not going to abruptly break off.

If I give her the role of the person I crave for, I will be able to wallow in a soft dream.

Shizuka does not exist in this world anymore.

Then what should be my decision—?

My decision?

There's nothing to waver.

I, I—

I take the cross choker out of my pocket. I've already noticed what I'm supposed to use it for.

I take a step toward Reina Kamisu.

I won't return. I don't need to.

My final step—

"...Senpai."

—is stopped by that voice.

Didn't I tell you to stay away? To not get in my way?!

I turn around and glare at Hozumi Shiiki.

Though unsettled by the anger in my look, she continues to speak, "...Who were you talking to, Senpai?"

I don't answer her.

So at the end of the day, she won't recognize what's important for me; she won't take take the same path no matter how much she feels attached to me. She isn't worth much to me: neither is she able to substitute Shizuka, nor is she able to make up for her in the slightest.

"Reina Kamisu. Let's meet up tomorrow."

"...Where?"

"That place. I'm sure you understand, right?"

Reina Kamisu smiles at me.

"Senpai..."

I ignore Hozumi-chan again. Instead I take the graduation album out of my bag and hand it to her, "Return this to Yoshino-chan, okay?"

Wih these words I turn away from her.

"Senpai!" she calls out to me from behind. "I... I... what... what do I have to do?! What do I have to do... to walk the same path as—"

"Hozumi-chan," I interrupt her. "Stop bothering me or—"

With my back turned toward her,

"—I will kill you." I spit words of rejection.

I walk away.

I throw everything away.

I throw away even the foolish but gentle girl who has treated me ever so warmly.

I can no longer see anything.

I can no longer hear anything.

Therefore I can absolutely not hear the weeping behind me either.

===5===

"Let's get married when we've grown up."

That's the typical promise made between two childhood friends. You hear it so often in manga or anime or games and so forth that it's become a cliché. It's the most straightforward way to ensure an unbreakable bond between the protagonist and the heroine.

But in real life there is no meaning in such a promise.

When we grow up, we don't remember those childish promises anyway, and even if we do, they have long since expired because we didn't even know the real meaning of marriage. Only a hopeless fool would take that proposal seriously and ask a girl out on that pretext. Even if two childhood friends date each other, a promise like that does not count as a memory but as a funny story.

We are constantly growing up, leaving behind the past. Therefore, it's essential to always live in the same time as the other party in order to keep such a promise intact.

At the beginning, neither of the two might know what the difference between boys and girls is, and what it means to get married or to become a couple. From there, they have to keep walking and growing up together, and they will slowly but surely come to understand what it means to find a partner for life. When they do that and still continue to treasure the promise of getting married when they've grown up—and only then—that promise acquires significance.

I consider that a miracle. It's impossible not to withdraw such a promise after getting to know every good and bad trait of the other party, or the dirty differences between boys and girls, or the appeal of the other sex. Maybe they become aware of their feelings for each other after parting ways once to find themselves other partners, but it's impossible to constantly hold the belief of belonging together and getting married. I am positive that it's safe to say that such a thing is impossible. That's why I consider it a miracle.

And our relationship was founded on such a miracle.

Though made possible only because of a narrow view and foolishness, I felt quite comfortable with that kind of relationship.

It was extremely dear to me.

With those thoughts in mind, I look around our park.

Here we sat together in a swing. Here we unsuccessfully tried to build a tunnel with sand. Here we did our first forward upward circling on the horizontal bar. The jungle gym I fell from has been removed by now, but this place is still doubtlessly the park that we considered ours.

This is where I spent time with the little Shizuka.

This park shaped us, protected us, and—destroyed us.

Yeah, that's right.

Even the dearest of places may stab you in the back.

Yeah, that's right.

Reality treats saints and sinners all alike, attacking them mechanically, randomly, without any consideration and selection.

Yeah, that's right.

Anything and everything in this world with the exception of Shizuka betrays me.

I feel the content of my pocket with my hand. The cross choker is there. I'm fine.

I close my eyes. Because I don't want to see.

I cover my ears. Because I don't want to hear.

I close myself to the world. Because I don't want to believe.

There is only one thing I need to see now: the phenomenon that exists around me with an appearance similar to Shizuka's.

Reina Kamisu is waiting for me at the center of the park.

"Are you done saying goodbye to your friends?" she asks.

"There is no one I have to say goodbye to."

"I see..." she notes with a slightly sad smile.

"There is someone I need," I say with averted eyes.

"I know."

"I'm helpless without her. I can't move on at this rate."

"...I know."

"I do absolutely and unconditionally need Shizuka Wakui."

"...I know."

As I turn to her, I ask, "Do you also have a person who you need?"

After a short pause, Reina Kamisu replies, "I suppose that would be you, Kazuaki Toyoshina."

"...I see. You're right. You're dependent on me, after all."

"...That's also part of the reason."

"Also?"

"I assume it's due to the role that you gave me, but I seem to... be extremely fond of you. I can't help wanting to be by your side."

"...Do you possess feelings?" I ask her.

"I do!"

"But... those were conceived by me."

"Yes, but they are not false... or would you call feelings that someone created in you false?"

I answer with a weak smile, "I wouldn't."

"Right? I do feel the same as a common human when I manifest in front of you, even though I may purely be an idea."

"Even though you exist solely for the sake of someone else?"

"Yes."

To be honest, I think that we may resemble each other. I was dependent on Shizuka, too, and lost my place to be when she died.

"We're much alike," I say aloud.

"...I suppose you're right. We'll get along just fine," Reina Kamisu smiles at me. "I only exist to fulfill the role you gave to me. I will become who you need and stay by your side."

"...As my lover?"

"Yes. We will walk side by side for all eternity. You will abandon this world and only concern yourself with me. I know that this is your wish. That this is your happiness."

"You're absolutely right."

With those words, I take the choker out of my pocket.

"That's a lovely choker," she remarks.

I silently put the chocker that Shizuka wore at the very end around Reina Kamisu's neck.

"How is it?"

I gaze at her without letting go of the choker, and reply:

"It looks great on you."

Upon hearing my answer, Reina Kamisu,who resembles Shizuka, smiles.

Suddenly, I wonder where I will be going. Where Reina Kamisu will be guiding me.

I turn my attention at her again; the choker suits her greatly.

I remember ordering it on the Internet because I was too embarrassed to enter a jeweler's shop. I was astonished when I noticed that the actual thing looked quite different from the pictures, but Shizuka loved my present nonetheless.

When she put it on, she laughed and joked, "Maybe I'm a bit too young for this?" I then told her not to strain herself, but she assured me that she wanted to wear it.

It's a shame, but the choker did not suit her.

I still won't let go of the choker.

"...Kazuaki?"

Oh boy, God remains cruel to me.

"Don't call me that!" I shout.

"Eh?"

Reina Kamisu has feelings and is attracted to me on top of that. She's no different from a human.

"Otherwise it would sound like Shizuka were calling my name, no?"

But I'm the one who set up this scene. I wished all this.

"What do you mean...?" she asks.

It's what I wished for in order to win.

"—You are Reina Kamisu and no one else!"

At her last hour Shizuka wore this choker. It never really suited her. It was a token of our love.

And with this choker, I—

—strangle Reina Kamisu.

At once, her beautiful face that resembles Shizuka's distorts with pain.

"...Wh...y...?"

Despair shows in her face.

"Don't you get it?" I ask without loosening the choker. "You can't become Shizuka, nor can you replace her. You can't satisfy me by any stretch. Being similar to her is by far not enough. If you really were to replace her, you would've had to be as alike as two peas in a pod."

"...B-But... but then... what is my role...?"

"The answer is staring you in the face."

I strangle Reina Kamisu's neck so hard that she can no longer say a word. She moans painfully.

"If your role isn't to be my lover and substitute for Shizuka, then it's your role to be—"

"—my enemy!"

Reina Kamisu. I will never forgive you.

I detest the enemy that tormented Shizuka and me.

I detest the park that betrayed us.

I detest the fate that left us with this outcome.

I detest all those non-existent enemies.

That's why I give that role to you, Reina Kamisu.

That detestable role belongs to you.

"Reina Kamisu, you are—"

"—a monster that must die."

Reina Kamisu.

You may be a phenomenon—an intangible phenomenon—but I can still kill you.

Don't you agree?

After all, enemies exist—

—to be killed.

"Die."

I don't care if the entire world gets distorted by the erasure of Reina Kamisu.

I don't care if killing her solves nothing.

It will make nobody happy, not even me.

I'll do it only for me as I go to hell, because it's the only thing I can do.

I will—

"Please, die already!"

—kill Reina Kamisu.

I can clearly feel her neck as I strangle her. The sensation of killing; the realization that her life drains.

I can clearly feel it.

I feel something dwindle away. Maybe it's something that's insignificant to others, something invisible, but my gut feeling rings an alarm bell.

But as much as I try to catch it, it will just run through my fingers.

Whatever it is, it cannot be made undone. Never.

And before I know it, I have arrived where Reina Kamisu was supposed to guide me.

Reina Kamisu—is no more.

The choker has split apart.

...I don't care anymore.

There is no enemy anymore.

There is no Reina Kamisu anymore.

Reina Kamisu is nowhere.

I return from the boundary of worlds and I find myself in another unfamiliar world.

It's the normal, rational, empty world, which I'm supposed to know only too well. Yet, this world strikes me as unfamiliar.

But it's reality. The hard truth.

Therefore, the sight before my eyes is real.

"Why didn't you listen to me?"

I assigned Reina Kamisu the role of my enemy; but in order to confront and have her fulfill that role, there was a need for me to unlock the filter of my common sense.

That's why I closed my eyes, covered my ears and closed myself to the world. I needed to warp the original data into shape.

My enemy.

My memory was manipulated so that I would kill my enemy, Reina Kamisu, by manipulating the flow of information in a way that would present her death as my first priority. The system revolves entirely around her role.

Reina Kamisu is a phenomenon.

She can't physically kill anyone, and no one can physically kill her.

But Reina Kamisu was my enemy.

She had to be killed. I had to physically experience the sensation of murdering her. There was a need to feel her death with my own hands.

As a result...

Didn't I warn you?

—That's why I told you not to stay away from me.

"Hozumi-chan."

I look down at her. Her face is so distorted with pain that it's painful to look at it directly—and yet there is an undeniable glimmer of satisfaction in her face.

Why?!

It's enough if Reina Kamisu takes on others' roles, so why did you think of taking on the role of Reina Kamisu?

Was keeping up contact with me so important to you? Did you prefer opposing me over being left behind?

You're incomprehensible, Hozumi-chan!

I, yes I, am only concerned with Shizuka and no one else. You can't become Shizuka, nor can you replace her. You can't satisfy me by any stretch.

Why did would you want to stick to a guy like me to the bitter end...?

It's a shame. Really. You were so close.

You almost managed to change me—

I look up at the sky as I feel that my fight is over.

Hey Shizuka, I won!

I won against Reina Kamisu and Hozumi Shiiki!

I will continue to love you!

But I feel lonely. Incredibly lonely.

There's no one by my side. I don't allow anyone to be.

I'm sure that it will stay that way, with me continuing to remain here.

Someone, please.

Please, anyone, warm me up.

But I won't allow anyone to do that.

Shizuka. Shizuka.

I don't care if you're a ghost, or a fake, or a humanoid energy even.

Don't leave me alone.

But Reina Kamisu is no more.

The being that could replace you is no more.

She is not here anymore.

I'm all alone.

The only thing left to me is—the invaluable symbol of Shizuka and my connection.

The cross choker I gave to her. No—

—the remnants of it.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Shizuka Wakui|Chapter 3]]
| Return to [[Kamisu Reina Series|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Epilogue|Epilogue]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Kazuaki Toyoshina

2014-05-08T04:02:40Z

Axyraandas: /* 4 */

===1===

It was me who provided the picture for Shizuka Wakui's funeral.

I own more pictures of her than anyone else—more than she did even. Her smiling, her crying, her getting upset... they are all treasures to me.

I raise my head to look at the photo of Shizuka's lovely smile at the altar.

Ah, it's already been a year since she stopped smiling like that.

Ever since that incident a year from now, she hasn't shown that happy and careless smile of hers. Instead, her eyes dulled and her smiles turned into faint motions of her lips.

But I didn't mind. I was willing to wait by her side for her to regain the joy of living and had no plans of searching for another love.

The smell of incense hits my nose.

I feel like I turn empty as the smell soaks into my body; as if it silently bereaves me of myself. What remains of me is a translucent mass of untouchable void.

All colors around me are either black or white, or the green of our school uniforms. Even colors were stolen from me.

Most likely, I'm going to stay in this strangely isolated world from now on.

"Kazuaki," someone says. I turn around to look at a meek Kiichi.

"...You're here?"

"Of course I am. All of our classmates are."

As Kiichi correctly mentioned, our entire class is here. In fact, there are also students from other classes who used to be friends with Shizuka, students I don't even know and even a few students from other schools.

After that incident, Shizuka started to lose her friends one by one and stopped making new ones, until I was the last remaining person at school who was close to her. The friendship between girls is defined by how they relate to each other; at first, her friends accompanied her because of sympathy, but eventually they couldn't keep up with how she changed.

Nevertheless, many old friends have come to Shizuka's funeral and lamented for her sake. Right now, she's the heroine of a tragedy for everyone, which doesn't please me. She was supposed to be my heroine, not someone else's.

Therefore, I ignore them and gaze at the picture of her.

Her smile.

Why, truly why, could I not protect that smile?

Where did we make the wrong choice? What should I have done? Was my choice to embrace her wrong? Or was it too late by then anyway?

Why could I not protect the one thing I wanted to protect whatever it would take?

What am I supposed to do now that I have completely and entirely lost Shizuka—my other half—my hope, my purpose?

I am the same as that picture.

The smile depicted and I are but evanescent remnants of the past.

Shizuka's body was transported away.

I didn't get to see her face one last time because of severe damage to her corpse. Had I insisted, I may have gotten permission to take a look, but neither Shizuka nor I would have wished for that.

I mean, they said damage. Not injury or scars, boy, but damage.

Hahaha, Shizuka isn't a human being anymore. She's void. Seeing that would only sadden me.

The black and white and green colors have disappeared as I keep standing there, focusing my gaze on the door through which her body was transported.

"Kazuaki-kun," someone says behind me.

"Mrs Wakui."

It's Shizuka's mother, a sorrowful expression on her face. She looks like that because of the loss of her daughter, of course, but part of her melancholy is probably due to sympathy for me.

"Let me give you this," she says as she holds out her fist. When I present the palm of my hand, she drops something on it.

"Ah—"

It's a cross choker; a Christmas present I bought for Shizuka two years ago, saving up three months' worth of pocket money.

"Shizuka was wearing it when she passed away. I... I thought I should give it to you."

I don't look up as I listen to her words, and keep gazing closely at the choker in my hand.

She was wearing it at the bitter end? Even though she hasn't worn it a single time after that incident?

What's the meaning of this? Why did she wear it at the end?

"I'm sorry," she suddenly says.

I'm sorry. Words of apology.

"Ah—"

Damn.

Her mother apologized ahead of me.

She took my right to apologize.

It would have been so much easier to blame myself for having failed to ease Shizuka's pain, for having let her accept such a fate, for being responsible for her death. It would have been so much easier to apologize and crack under the weight.

But her mother didn't grant me that right.

She took up that position before me.

The only thing I have left now is—

"Uh..."

"UAAAAAAAWHHHH!"

—to cry my lungs out.

===2===

Kiichi and I are on our way to the Shikura public middle school. Normally, there's no reason why a high school student who is neither in a committee nor in a club would go to a completely unfamiliar middle school that requires him to take an express train just because it's slightly too far away to go by bicycle. Normally.

"He said he's waiting," Kiichi explains as he claps his cell phone.

"Okay, thanks man. We're better off if there's someone with us who knows his way around. I hear of a lot of suspicious figures around here lately, I don't want them to suspect us."

"Well, not like we're any less suspicious."

"Heh, sounds about right. What's your brother's name, again?"

"Yuji."

"Yuji Kato it is, huh. Do you resemble each other?"

"I honestly can't tell, but for some reason, he's pretty popular with the girls."

"You don't look anything like each other, then."

"...Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

Responding with a wordless grin, I insert my ticket and go through the barrier. Kiichi looks me in the face in a serious manner.

Aah, I see.

He doesn't understand at all; it's been two weeks since the funeral. I've already had a hard time when she was still alive, so it's child's play for me to put on a cheerful face like this.

"Hey, Kazuaki," he starts when we entered the train, still with a heavy-hearted mien. "I shouldn't be giving you sermons already, but you really shouldn't drag on Wakui-san's death forever, 'kay?"

"Why?"

"Well, dude..." he falters for a moment when I counter his advice dryly. "I know that you loved Wakui-san. Maybe it was mutual love even. But Kazuaki: You weren't a couple, let alone married. Just childhood friends. I mean, look at that cute midget girl who's hitting on you; she's the proof that you're popular. Don't waste that potential."

"Aah... you had that kind of impression of us?"

"Hm? But I'm spot-on, no? You obviously were on the way from friends to lovers."

"Nope."

"Oh come on, maybe that's what you thought."

"We were a couple."

"...What? For real?"

Ah, of course he wouldn't know about us. We've only known each other since high school.

"We already started going out in the 6th year of elementary school. Don't go telling this around, but we kissed and even made out with each other in middle school."

"...Did you take the next step?"

"No. She always insisted on waiting until we could marry, and I listened to her like a moron."

"I see..." he squeezes out and falls silent.

However, I continue with a stimulated sense of self-mockery.

"She was raped."

"Yeah..." he comments insecurely, with an ambiguous expression that makes it clear that he already heard of this fairly well-known story.

"What do you think is the first thing she said to me when she told me about it?"

"I have no idea..."

"I'm so sorry."

Kiichi glances at me for a moment, and silently lowers his gaze.

"We had no doubts," I continue, "that I would take her virginity, and that she would give me her virginity. No one expected the train to derail from that predestined path. After we had gone through that station, we would enroll at the same university, find a job, and marry. Finally, after death had part us, we would rest in peace in the same grave. It was an unspoken promise between us that we would follow this path."

"Mm..."

"But that incident messed our plans up. That clear path laid out before us disappeared into thin air. That's why she... apologized, thinking it was her fault. Blaming herself for everything."

"———"

Kiichi is in complete silence, but I continue:

"She was so churned up inside that she couldn't even touch me anymore. No, maybe she just had androphobia, who knows. Anyway, she just wouldn't look at the new path I was trying to build for the two of us. Because of that, we returned to just being friends. Of course, I didn't plan to leave it that way."

"I see..." he simply says.

There's an oppressive silence between us for a while, underlining the tedious rattling of the train. The passengers around us seem to think of everyone else as mere scenery, fiddling with their cell phones or focusing on the music from their headphones.

I begin to speak again.

"I found one of her rapers the other day."

Kiichi's head jumps up. He looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

"...What did you do?"

"I killed him."

He completely loses his tongue.

"I tore off all his clothes, crushed his balls with a stone, beat him up until his face was no longer recognizable, stuffed his mouth with his own shit, peeled off his fingernails one by one, squashed his eyeballs... and while I was doing so, he kicked the bucket."

"...You're joking."

My gaze pinned on the pubs and video shops and fast food restaurants flying by outside the window, I answer him:

"'Course I am."

Fortunately, I don't know what they look like.

As the train starts to slow down, I look outside and think:

Come to think of it... I haven't had Gyudon in a while.

The Shikura Middle School is built amidst the living quarters; finally arriving there, we spot a bunch of students playing soccer and baseball in the cramped school grounds.

Five minutes after Kiichi gives him a call, Yuji shows up at the entrance gate, still in sports gear, subliminally remarking that he was in the middle of working out. With his large and athletic build it stands to reason that he would be popular.

"Let me cut straight to the chase: The three students who committed suicide were in your class, is that right, Yuji-kun?"

"Yes, we had quite the chaos going on here because of that."

"What do you mean?"

"Things like no one wanting to take the blame, getting a new class teacher, and so on."

Three students taking their lives is a big problem, indeed. Added to that, they're in the middle of puberty (not that I'm much older), too, which doesn't mix well and allows for even more problems.

"I heard the gist from Kiichi, so I'll delve right into the details: What do you consider the reason why they committed suicide?"

Yuji-kun ponders. "I think each had their own problems, really. The girl of the first incident didn't have any friends and wasn't exactly treated well in class, and the guy who killed himself next blamed himself for the death of the first victim."

"...Ah, so they didn't commit suicide independently, but rather the first suicide triggered a chain?"

"...That's my view, yes."

"All right..."

When I heard that three students had killed themselves at different times and in different places, I suspected the same irregularity as with Shizuka's case; after all, you wouldn't just commit suicide just because you are confronted with the topic.

If, however, their cases are interconnected and can be traced back, they may not be regular, but they're by no means irregular either.

It seems like this trace, which I tracked because I found that Shizuka was investigating these incidents, ends here.

"Can you show me your classroom, Yuji-kun?" I propose just in case.

"Sure. But please try not to catch anyone's eye. It's a hassle to explain ourselves."

Yuji-kun and I (Kiichi stayed outside) entered the school building. He then showed me around, guiding me to relevant places like their classroom, the landing of the stairway that leads to the roof, where the first victim was often seen, and so on. By the way, the place where I wanted to go most, the roof, was closed, perhaps because of those incidents.

"So? Did you learn anything?" Yuji-kun asks before the door to the roof.

"Hm..." As expected, the places didn't make an impression on me.

"Can I ask you something on the matter, too?" he responds to my silence.

"What is it?"

"Why are you investigating in the first place, Toyoshina-san?"

After giving it some thought, I reply, "I had a girlfriend."

"My brother told me something along those lines. He said she... committed suicide," he explains, faltering a little before squeezing out the word suicide. "Ah, do you suspect that it wasn't suicide but murder? And that it was the same culprit for the cases at this—"

"Haha, no, that's not it. To be honest, I think she had a proper reason to commit suicide."

"But then why?"

"A few days before she died, she started to behave strangely. Her condition abruptly worsened as if she had stepped on the gas and fallen from a cliff. In other words, I'm investigating the reason why she suddenly stepped on the gas, you know."

"But is there—" Yuji-kun starts, but cuts off mid-sentence, making a grimace.

"What?"

"Ah, no, please forget about it. I don't want to be rude."

"It's okay, I'm curious."

He looks me in the eyes repeatedly before he finally gives in with a nod. "Um... I just wondered if there is a point in doing all this?"

A point.

A point, hm?

"I'm... I'm sorry! My tongue slipped!"

"No, it's okay," I assure him and add, "...There is no point, I suppose."

"None at all?" he asks in surprise.

"She did go to strange places in her last days, sure, and she started to become delusional. Maybe that accelerated her death."

"...It sounds meaningful to me to look into that, no?"

"Nope, not at all. I know for a fact that the reason why she committed suicide has nothing to do with all that."

"...No meaning... but then why do you go out of your way to investigate?"

I gaze at Yuji-kun. Looking at his genuinely puzzled face, I'm sure he has never lost a beloved person.

"Because I have nothing else to do, maybe?"

"But that's not true, is it...? Maybe it's a bit early, but you could start preparing for the university exams, or you could be—"

"No, nothing," I interrupt him with a firm voice, "I have nothing else to do."

The path I tried to rebuild was irreversibly destroyed. I'm only drifting away in an empty space now.

All I can do is follow Shizuka's footsteps, even though there is nothing ahead of them. It's simply the only signpost left to me, having lost ground.

"..."

It seems that Yuji-kun remains unconvinced, but so be it; there's no need for him to understand. If he does, it will be once he's in a similar situation.

I look around once more and let out a deep sigh. It seems that there's nothing to be found here. It's not so easy to find the fragments left behind by Shizuka.

I take her choker out of my pocket and gaze at it.

Shizuka, why did you put that choker on before you died? Is there a meaning behind that? Or none at all? I can't even tell that much, even though we've been together for most of our lives.

"Well, if that's all, shall we leave?" he proposes.

I nod in agreement. There's nothing to be gained here.

As I climb down the stairs, I remember that there was one other thing I was meaning to ask.

"Aah, before I forget: Do you happen to know that name, Yuji-kun?" I ask without any expectations.

"What name?"

"Um, lemme see... 'Reina Kamisu.'"

As I finish saying that name, Yuji-kun abruptly stops.

"...Where did you learn about that name?" he asks, surprising me with his reaction. His face is mildly tensed.

"Um, I heard it from my deceased girlfriend."

He stays silent, his gaze still fixed on me.

Huh? What's up with him? Did he know the name after all? No, that wouldn't explain why he would react like this.

Which means that...?

"I don't know a person by that name, but to tell the truth, I did come across that name."

"Where...?"

Reluctantly, Yuji-kun answers me, "The victims mentioned it."

That means that...? Hold on, I need to think.

Yuji-kun heard the name "Reina Kamisu" from the suicide victims. Victims—that's plural. Furthermore, he doesn't know Reina Kamisu himself. However, that does still not explain why he would react in such a strange fashion.

That means—

"...You don't know Reina Kamisu," I start.

"I don't."

"And the other students who are alive don't know her, either."

"...Exactly."

"However... All the suicide victims, including my girlfriend Shizuka, knew Reina Kamisu."

Yuji-kun nods awkwardly.

"I'm not sure if all three of them knew her, but at least the first two victims did mention that name."

"I see."

"The first victim referred to that name as her best friend, while the second one mentioned it in his suicide note as the person who drove him into suicide, mistaking Reina Kamisu for the first victim."

"He mistook her? How could that happen? How can you mistake the name of the person who drove you into death?"

"I thought so, too... but his suicide note is clearly referring to the first victim! I suppose he knew both of them, since they were close friends, and somehow confused them with each other."

"But..."

"Yes, I know. That only explains why the first two victims mentioned that name, but not why your girlfriend knew her, too."

Exactly.

Shizuka and I have known each other for most of our lives because her family's house is just across the street. We have admitted the same schools from kindergarten to high school. In other words, she had just as little to do with the Shikura middle school as me.

There's no reason why a high school student who is neither in a committee nor in a club would go to a completely unfamiliar middle school that is slightly too far away to go by bicycle, but not that far away. Similarly, there's no reason why she would get to know the students from there.

"Shizuka was acquainted with 'Reina Kamisu' even though you guys don't know her and even though she had far less points of contact with the other suicide victims. And everyone who knew Reina Kamisu—"

"—is dead now."

The pieces are starting to come together, forming a ring that connects all of the victims.

An incredibly twisted ring that should not even exist.

Come to think of it, Shizuka and the other victims had no doubt proper reasons to commit suicide. But they only had reasons.

If for example they had actually been killed, they still would have had proper reasons to commit suicide.

In other words, the fact that they had reasons does in no way rule out the existence of a third person who may have influenced them.

No... don't jump to conclusions. I have to consider that Shizuka did some research about this school; maybe she learned about 'Reina Kamisu' in the process.

That being said... that would be an eerie chain of coincidences.

"Toyoshina-san," Yuji-kun starts, "I'll try asking around in school about Reina Kamisu tomorrow."

"Please do so."

Where will this ring lead me? I think as I gaze in the air.

Suddenly, my vision turns blurry as if a drop of water had fallen on my eyes. But that's how it's supposed to be. The world is full of mosaics that conceal the truth from our eyes. We don't really see anything. Perhaps, we arrive at what we think is the answer even though it's based on flawed logic. At the end of the day, three-dimensional beings like us cannot look across a three-dimensional world.

My vision is always blurry, I'm always blind.

Ah, just damn it. Someone tell me what I'm supposed to do! What did Shizuka want me to do? How can I escape fate? What is 1+1? Why is the earth rotating? Why is the earth round? What is gravity? What is magnetic force? What is the meaning of life? Who is Reina Kamisu?

I know that there's no clear answer, so just make up one for me. Just tell me the answer using a valid logic. There should be one, and if there is one, please tell me.

Give me the right answer.

Give me the right answer.

Save me!

Save me before I drown in the swamp that I'm struggling against, that is drawing life out of me!

Suddenly.

I see a silhouette on the landing where I was moments ago.

A person.

"—Huh?"

—It's 'Shizuka.'

"...? What's wrong, Toyoshina-san?" Yuji-kun asks in response to the sudden gasp I let out.

"L-Look, there!" I groan as I point at Shizuka. He traces the direction I'm indicating with his eyes and narrows them.

"...Um, I see nothing."

"T-That's impossible!"

I turn around to the landing once more.

"Ah..."

Shizuka's not there. Of course not. She's dead. She's not among us anymore.

"...Sorry, forget about it."

"You must be tired."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

I'm tired. Yeah. Absolutely.

Otherwise I can't believe it.

"Haha..."

I mean, really, how could I otherwise believe that I, who loved Shizuka more than anyone else, would mistake someone for her.

Shizuka isn't among us. She's not here.

Therefore, that girl over there isn't Shizuka.

That girl over there with an absurdly beautiful smile, who resembles Shizuka, is—

"I'm pleased to meet you."

—Reina Kamisu.

===3===

What was the most important thing for me within my school life?

The answer is obvious; and it's something that's already lost.

School right now is just like a hamburger restaurant that doesn't offer meat. They might introduce tofu instead, but that just doesn't cut it.

For me, at least, there is not a single thing of import at school. The only reason I'm still here is because of habit—a routine I'm programmed to follow— a daily ritual I conduct for my family. It's my duty to assume the role of a lazy student for the teachers, an upbeat friend for Kiichi and the others, and an admirable senior for Hozumi-chan. That being said, it's not just an act I'm playing; every moment I spend in these roles, I'm no one else but my true self. There is no falseness in that.

But whenever I'm not forced into one of these roles, I'm confronted with the gaping emptiness inside me.

Well, no surprise. My single most important role has become redundant, and the part inside me that was reserved for that role has vanished.

After my classes end, I start putting the chairs onto the desks to wipe the floor—which is just another routine I'm forced to repeat over and over.

As I'm doing my work, I suddenly recall my short encounter with Reina Kamisu that ended before I could even exchange a word with her.

She resembled Shizuka more than anyone I have ever met. And while she is definitely not a person, she's not an illusion either. Reina Kamisu has without a doubt interacted with Shizuka and the other students, and driven them into committing suicide. I am 100% convinced of that. However, that conviction unsettles me.

Be reasonable, Kazuaki. What makes me so sure that she is really who I think she is? There is nothing that supports my sentiment; I have no information whatsoever that would allow me to recognize Reina Kamisu. I don't know her appearance, her traits, her personality—nothing.

But the girl I met there is Reina Kamisu.

Why did that answer pop out and click with me? What is the meaning of this?

"Senpai!"

Senpai. For students in lower grades everyone's a senpai, but from the context of my daily routine I can deduct that this refers to me. I turn around to the the window adjacent to the corridor.

"Hey, Hozumi-chan," I say. She answers me with a smile. "And Yoshino-chan," I add, spotting her friend next to her, who in turn bows her head silently.

Yoshino-chan hardly ever talks to me. I suppose she's uncomfortable in the company of the other sex. In fact, when I met her alone on the corridor the other day, she ran away from me like lightning. Of course, that incident got me thinking a little, but against my concerns, it seems like she doesn't actually dislike me.

"You're looking dark. Is something wrong?" Hozumi-chan asks with a smile.

"Hm?" While I don't think that they know her, I decide to give it a try nonetheless. "You don't happen to know Reina Kamisu, do you?"

"Rehna… Kameesu?" she repeats like a parrot and turns her head to her companion. Yoshino-chan wordlessly shakes her head. "Is she famous or something?"

"No, no."

"From our school?"

"No."

"Hm? Then why did you think that we might know her?"

"I didn't expect you to be familiar with her. Just asking, really."

Right, they can't know Reina Kamisu. All who know her are dead by now.

All who know her are dead...?

Including me? Haha, aptly put indeed but not funny.

"Okay then, I have to get going."

"Ah... um, do you mind if I tag along...?" Hozumi-chan asks.

"No, I'm sorry, but..."

"Okay..." she says with blatant disappointment.

In order to soothe my conscience, I explain myself, immediately regretting that slip of the tongue.

"There's something I want to investigate."

"Investigate?"

There you have it: Now I got her curious. Should I answer her...? I know that she has a crush on me, so she would probably follow me along everywhere if I were honest to her. I don't want to torment her by giving her false hopes.

However, I then notice that telling her the truth would actually be helpful in that matter.

"I'm investigating those recent suicide cases."

"Ah..."

As I thought, her face darkens in response to the word "suicide" and the memory of Shizuka Wakui looming behind.

"I see..."

Hozumi-chan's approaches have declined after Shizuka's death. Originally, I thought that she would secretly welcome her death and try everything to take advantage of the gap in my heart.

I was wrong.

By that I don't only mean that Hozumi-chan was in fact sad about Shizuka's daeth; she was also sensible enough to notice that Shizuka's value to me hadn't changed a bit. And because of that she was let down. Probably.

"...But they don't talk a lot about those incidents on TV, do they?" she says, getting a grip on herself.

"Yeah. Suicide's not a special topic anymore, after all. Besides, I think there are some regulations because it could give people bad ideas."

"I have a feeling that it only gets into the news if it concerns a celebrity or if it's some real bad incident..."

"Real bad..." mutters Yoshino-chan, joining our conversation for the first time today. "Hozumi-chan? Do you remember that incident at the Junseiwa high where several students jumped off a roof?"

Yoshino-chan has the habit of talking to me via Hozuki-chan.

"Hm...? Well, of course. You're always reminding me that you picked our school because of that incident, aren't you? Your middle school was also there, right?"

"Y-Yes..."

Yoshino-chan went to the Junseiwa School? But that's a textbook example of a girls-only school for rich ladies. No wonder that she's so sensitive to boys.

Anyway, now that she mentions it, I remember hearing about that incident quite a while ago, although it had slipped my mind until now.

"Could you me more about it?" I ask her.

"E, erm... I heard that it started with the student council president jumping from the top of a building... Several other students then followed her and jumped off as well..." Yoshino-chan replies looking elsewhere and gradually growing quieter as she speaks.

"How long ago was that...?"

"A little more than three years... I... think..."

I'm surprised I could forget such a huge debacle; or did they really regulate the media so that that incident wasn't made famous?

Yoshino-chan, noticing my confusion, adds with a flushed face, "The media did not point out the number of suicides because that would harm the long history of the Junseiwa School."

I see.

"I want to learn more about that incident. Do you know of someone I could ask...?"

"Um..."

"Hm?"

"My sister was there at the time, so she might be able to provide information. But..." Yoshino-chan says.

"But...?"

"It is a topic that she hates to talk about. So much that she has not even told me about it. I doubt that she will be of any help."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes..."

Perhaps her sister was not entirely unrelated to the mass suicide. Although considering the scale of that incident, it might very well be possible that there was something that concerned the entire campus behind the scenes.

Something.

For example—Reina Kamisu.

"Can't we just ask one of her friends if your sis doesn't want to talk, Yoshinon?" suggests Hozumi-chan as she interrupts us.

"I'm afraid that my sister didn't really have any friends in high school," Yoshino-chan answers her with a bitter smile—behaving entirely different than when talks to me.

"Then how about this: I'm sure your sister has a graduation album, right?" I ask.

"Ah, um, yes..." she nods in a tense manner.

"Could you show that to me?"

"Err, hm..."

She doesn't seem bent on it.

"Just snatch it when she's not looking, Yoshinon!"

"H-Huh?! You're joking, right...?"

"Please, Yoshino-chan," I ask as well, holding my hands together like in a prayer. She seems to be rather troubled, but I can't be choosing my means.

"M-Mmm... I will try."

"Yay! Thanks a bunch."

"B-But there are no addresses and phone numbers in there...! To prevent data abuse because it is a famous school..."

"Okay. But even a photo might give me a clue."

"A clue...?" Hozumi-chan asks with a slightly trembling voice. My face when Shizuka told me about those "humanoid energies" must have looked the same as Hozumi-chan's now.

"Er, well—"

A clue concerning Reina Kamisu; that's what I'm looking for, but I can't tell her that. Unlike Shizuka, I'm perfectly aware of how I appear from an objective viewpoint.

I have discovered a non-human being that promotes suicide, which is neither a ghost nor an illusion, but an enigmatic phenomenon. Moreover, that being is not only incredibly beautiful, but also resembles Shizuka. And she's the one who killed Shizuka!

Yeah, there's no way they would buy that.

I turn my glance at Hozumi-chan, who's sending me a worried look. I have to come up with some excuse. I could tell them that my first love went to that school, and that... no, they can tell it's a lie from the flow of our conversation. Besides, they know that Shizuka was my everything.

"—Err..."

Hozumi-chan is growing even more worried. Quick!

However...

"Kazuaki?"

It just happened that Kiichi showed up from behind them. Thank god.

"What's the matter?" I ask in the most casual voice I could produce.

"I just got an e-mail from my brother. He wants you to contact him."

"Yuji-kun wants me to contact him?"

Did he get around to asking the other students about Reina Kamisu?

After getting Yuji-kun's phone number from Kiichi, I walked away from the group (Hozumi-chan seemed not amused) and hid inside a compartment in the restroom—we are not allowed to openly use our cell phones at school—and called the number.

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Toyoshina."

"Ah, hello Toyoshina-san."

"Kiichi told me that you wanted to talk to me. What's up?"

"Yes. As promised, I asked around my schoolmates about Reina Kamisu today."

"Oh, thanks a lot."

"Don't mention it. Anyway, I found someone who might know her."

"For real?! But what do you mean by 'might'?"

"You'll understand. I managed to persuade that person to stay at school until you arrive, so may I ask you to come around in the course of the day?"

"Of course."

"Okay then. We're waiting. Drop me a message when you arrive. See you."

"Okay, thanks again. See you."

I end the call with a sigh of relief.

There's someone else besides me who knows Reina Kamisu...? Someone who's also "going to die?" And to that person she also looks like my Shizuka?

"Huh...?" I gasp with a certain doubt in my mind that appeared when I imagined how Reina Kamisu must appear to other people.

Reina Kamisu.

Reina Kamisu resembles Shizuka.

...That's strange. It could be a plain coincidence, of course, but I can't help but feel that there's more to it. Why does she resemble Shizuka?

But then—

Did Shizuka's Reina Kamisu also resemble herself?

I don't think so. My gut feeling tells me otherwise.

Wouldn't it be more plausible to assume that Reina Kamisu is customized to look like Shizuka in my eyes?

Those jeans look great on you, but they're a bit too long, aren't they? Let me cut them down for your size. Let me adjust them to you.

However, what are the implications of that assumption if it's correct?

Reina Kamisu is not defined by her visual data. What does this imply? What is she ultimately, anyway?

My brain can't follow my train of thought. I lack the immunity against incomprehensible phenomena. I start to repeat her name meaninglessly in my head. Reina Kamisu,　Kamisu Reina, Reina Kamisu, Kamisu Reina. Again. Reina Kamisu, Kamisu Reina. Again. Kamisu Reina, Reina Kamisu, Kamisu Reina. Loop. Reina Kamisu, Kamisu Reina.

I leave the restroom, only to find Hozumi-chan waiting by herself for me, her look still discontent.

"What's the matter...?" I ask.

"...Senpai. Are you going somewhere today?"

"Did you listen?"

"I did, but I couldn't quite follow because I only heard your voice."

"I see..."

"Senpai?"

"What is it?"

"—Who is Reina Kamisu?"

She gets right to the heart of the matter, leaving me speechless for a moment.

It seems like she could filter out the crucial keyword from our phone conversation...

"I've always been concerned with you, Senpai, that's why I can tell that this 'Reina Kamisu' is at the core of your worries, and that all your worries are connected to Wakui-senpai in some way or another. Please be honest with me. Does that 'Reina Kamisu' have something to do with Wakui-senpai's death?"

"...Where's Yoshino-chan?" I ask as I avert my gaze from her and search for her companion.

"She went home. I told her that I couldn't tag along today," she answers my question, her strong and fixed look forbidding me to look away from her.

I could tell from her gaze that she would not let go of me today anymore, and inside her clear and beautiful eyes, I could see myself: an exhausted, cowardly, idiotic, remorseful, hopeless reflection of myself.

How can she like me with those ever so clear and pretty eyes of hers? You must be blind, Hozumi-chan...

"Hozumi-chan..."

Confronted with her pure eyes, I realize that I owe her some sincerity.

"What is it?"

At this rate, she is not going to ask. She will just follow me to the Shikura middle school and she won't give up on me. She's not even thinking of giving up.

Hozumi-chan is a lovely girl. She can experience as many wonderful romances as she wants. There's no reason for her to constrict herself because of me; she could easily find a love where she can behave more freely and naturally.

I can't leave her at this.

That's why I feel that I owe her a sincere yet cruel answer to her feelings.

"I can't see you as someone of the other sex," I say. Her eyes open in response to my contextless relevation. "I never will. You will never get a special place in my heart."

"S-Senpai...?"

"My heart belongs to Shizuka alone. I'm hers from head to toe, and for all eternity. The two of us were one. You can't replace her. You can't satisfy me by any stretch. Do you finally get it? This is the kind of person I am. I will never be what you want me to be, never."

Hozumi-chan is left completely speechless and just keeps opening and closing her mouth. Insecurely she gazes at me, her head crimson, her fist clenched, and her body trembling.

Hozumi-chan is in puberty—the period of life where you are overly self-conscious and afraid to be hurt by someone, or god forbid, by someone you like.

Despite all that, I didn't keep back from hurting her so horribly.

Was there no other way? Perhaps. But I felt that only by using harsh words could I answer her strong gaze.

Hozumi-chan. Too strong feelings always lead to ruin, whether they are beautiful or hideous. Remember that.

Just look what has become of me now that Shizuka's gone.

"Do you still want to come with me, Hozumi-chan?"

The answer is obvious. I don't expect to be hearing anything from her, looking at her insecure and hurt look.

Which is why—

"I do."

Hearing a determined and quick answer struck me as way more unbelievable than the existence of Reina Kamisu.

"I do want to come with you," she repeated.

Even though she must be horribly hurt.

Even though she can barely hold her tears back.

Even though her voice is trembling hard.

And yet she managed to regain a strong light in her eyes and answered my question with a determined voice.

That moment I realized—

"Ah..."

—This was the answer I was looking for.

This is what I was supposed to do back then.

I'm buried beneath an avalanche of remorse. Unable to move and speak, all I can do is remember that day over and over. Surrounded by cold remorse.

On that day, I embraced Shizuka.

"...Don't touch me."

Until now, I thought I had committed a mistake. I thought that everything was already too late by that time.

But I was wrong.

The real mistake I made was—to let go of her.

I was supposed to keep embracing her, no matter how much she struggled to break free. I was supposed to cling to her no matter what... like Hozumi-chan did to me.

"...Don't touch me."

I gave up because of those words, in the illusion that I could not do anything to stop her tears. I fooled myself into believing that everything was too late.

I simply was a coward: I feared to be hurt any more because she'd rejected me. I pretended to share her pain when I really couldn't do what I wanted to, what I was supposed to.

I was the only one in the position to achieve something, and yet I didn't take action.

I take her cross choker out of my pocket.

I've finally realized why she'd worn this at the very end, what I was meant to do. At last.

As I hold tight of her choker, I think:

—Forgive me for not being with you all the time.

I look at the blushed girl in front of me. I misunderstood her. I thought that I was just a replaceable part in a clumsy, pubescent love story she pictured to herself. But that's not true. She's just like me.

Sadly.

"Let's go, Hozumi-chan."

She nods.

It's a shame that you still can't save me.

Because you aren't Shizuka.

Thanks to the e-mail I had given him beforehand, Yuji-kun and another boy were already waiting for us before the entrance gate when we arrived at the Shikura middle school.

"Hey."

"Hello."

As maybe expected, that boy's look turned out to be... vacant. He just gazed into space while Yuji-kun and I were greeting each other.

"And who are you?" Yuji-kun asks Hozumi-chan.

"My name is Hozumi Shiiki. I'm one grade below Toyoshina-senpai... and older than you, mind you," she adds because of his somewhat cheeky attitude toward her.

...Well, it's not that obvious if you look at your height...

I turn my attention toward the boy who may know Reina Kamisu. Upon realizing that a self-introduction is in place, he mutters without a shadow of a smile:

"I'm Atsushi Kogure."

"Frankly, I don't know anything nor would I remember if I did," Atsushi-kun starts. "I suffer from amnesia."

Amnesia? Sounds like the protagonist of some drama show.

Having heard of it so many times in fiction, I don't feel a lot of surprise even though it's the first time I'm confronted with amnesia in reality.

I give Yuji-kun a questioning look. He nods. It seems like he's telling the truth.

No wonder that his look is vacant. He is vacant in the true sense of the word.

"When did you lose your memory?" Hozumi-chan asks.

Earlier in the train, I disclosed all my thoughts to Hozumi-chan—that was my way of paying her respect—and she believed me, at least by the look of it. Believability aside, she realized that I wasn't lying to her.

"Around last month," Atsushi-kun answers indifferently.

Last month... that's around the time Shizuka's delusions got out of control.

"Unless my memory fails me, it happened between the second and third suicide case," Yuji-kun adds.

"I hear that there are different kinds of amnesia. What about yours, Atsushi-kun?"

After a short thinking pause, he answers, "I can't tell why I've lost my memory, but apart from the basic everyday knowledge like language, I've forgotten everything. At first I thought the large scar on my chest was the reason, but I heard that I've already had this when I was little."

"Did you forget your name?"

"Yes, I did."

"I see... I'll keep my fingers crossed that you regain your memory." Hozumi-chan says in an attempt to cheer him up. However, Atsushi-kun shakes his head.

She inclines her head, puzzled.

"My mother... or my aunt, to be precise, advised me not to regain my memories. Besides, I feel absolutely certain that they won't return."

"Why are you so sure?" Hozumi-chan asks, still puzzled.

"There's no actual reason. I just feel that way... I think that Atsushi Kogure died."

"Died...? But you're here, right before our eyes."

"No, I'm not exactly Atsushi Kogure. His personality died back then, and I was put into his body instead as a makeshift subtitute because the vacancy had to be filled. I'm another person. I'm just using his name for convenience's sake."

I try imagining myself without any of my memories, even without those of Shizuka.

No memories of Shizuka? That's not me. That's not Kazuaki Toyoshina, but an entirely different person.

Okay, Atsushi-kun has a point.

"All right, let me get to the point—"

"About that," Yuji-kun cuts in. "Atsushi won't admit to knowing Reina Kamisu."

"Huh, really?"

Now that he mentions it, though, it's obvious that Atsushi-kun wouldn't remember knowing Reina Kamisu if he has lost his memory, unless he met her during the short time span after that.

However, seeing the expression clued on his face, I have absolutely no doubts that he must have come in contact with her at some point in time: The blank look on his face has disappeared. Instead, he is gritting his teeth and furrowing his brow.

He definitely knows her. And the misfortune she brings.

"...Atsushi-kun. You know Reina Ka—"

"I don't," he cuts me short with a visibly bad temper.

...It doesn't look like he'll answer me this way. Let's see if I can trick him into giving me the info I need.

"Oh, I see, so it was Reina Kamisu who erased your memory," I say, provokingly.

His eyes widen for an instant! and his face becomes even grimmer. I must be near the mark.

"Okay, Atsushi-kun. One more thing—"

"I...!" he interrupts me again, shouting this time. Embarrassed by our surprised glances, he continues, "I don't remember anything. Really."

"But..."

"It's just that that name sends a chill down my spine."

"Still, your reaction isn't normal."

"Even if I did come in contact with that Reina Kamisu... no, I probably did, 'Atsushi Kogure' did. But I don't know anything. Atsushi Kogure no longer exists, so leave me be! Why does everyone keep asking me those questions?!"

"Hm?" I mutter, puzzled by his concluding sentence. "Do you mean us by 'everyone'?"

"Of course. And that strange girl that suddenly talked to me the other day."

Strange girl...?

"Who are you talking about?"

"I don't know who she is! Well, not that I know anyone at all. She suddenly walked up to me and said, 'As I thought. You died, didn't you?' I guess we met somewhere before..."

As I thought. You died, didn't you?"...?

"Hozumi-chan?"

"Yes?"

"What impression would you get from Atsushi-kun if you passed by him on the street?"

"Huh? Uhm... not a special one... at most, I would feel that he's a somewhat unusual person."

"...Agreed," I nod.

Hozumi-chan's right. The girl he met was indeed strange; what she said is not something you hear a lot from strangers. Odd people like that are rare, but I remember hearing something to the same effect only recently..

It seems like that girl mistook him for a dead person; in other words, she thinks that she has the ability to perceive dead people. As ghosts? As humanoid energies?

A fit of disgust assaults me from inside my chest, sending a burning, black lump up my throat. I feel nauseated, my fingers are trembling, my eyes are burning, my throat is sore.

"Do you... know her name?" I ask as I press my hand against my chest.

"Why do you care?" Atsushi-kun snaps back.

He pisses me off.

"Just fucking tell me!" I yell, surprising not only him, but also the other two. That pisses me off just as much. "So?! Do you know her name or not?!"

"...She did tell me her name... I think she called herself Watarai, or Wakui... ah, her first name was Shizuka."

Ah—

So this is where it started?

With this, I can finally connect the dots of this warped ring.

There's no doubting it:

Shizuka became infected with "Reina Kamisu" from Atsushi-kun.

"Atsushi-kun. Spit what you know about Reina Kamisu," I urge him again.

"...I don't know anything for crying out loud."

I grab him by the collar.

"Nothing, you say? Are you shitting me?! You know her! If you don't, remember! Want me to jog your memory, eh? I hear a shock treatment works miracles?"

"C-Calm down, Toyoshina-san!" Yuji-kun urges as he grabs my arm.

"Hands off!" I yell, glaring at him.

However, he doesn't let go of my arm. He's strong. It hurts. FUCK. IT HURTS. Let go of me, jackass! I have to learn the truth about Reina Kamisu! Whatever it takes! Why would I let a little shit like you stop me?!

"S-Stop it, senpai!" Hozumi-chan grabs my arm as well.

What? You team up against me? Just when I thought you've understood me a little, Hozumi-chan. What a mistake. You're just a stranger, after all.

"Hands off, bitch!"

She lets go of me.

What?! If something like that already scares you off, then don't try to stop me from the start! Don't follow me around from the start! What?! Don't look at me with such teary eyes—

"..."

I let go of Atsushi-kun.

"—I'm sorry," I apologize. "I'm sorry!" I apologize to the three of them.

I'm despicable. Horrible.

Not only did I lose my composure just because Atsushi-kun happened to associate with Reina Kamisu and got rough with him, I also hurt Hozumi-chan again. She's never going to forget that I insulted her. She's never going to forget this temporary burst of hatred against her. With the single word "bitch" I have hurt her more than the sharpest blade could, even though I was aware of these consequences.

I'm scum. A lowlife. Trash. A maggot. I should just die.

There is a silence among us; everyone keeps their mouth shut.

What? Where are your reproaches? Cut out those looks of sympathy! They only remind me of my own foolishness...

"Toyoshina-san..." Atsushi-kun breaks the silence. "I do really not remember Reina Kamisu."

"Yeah... I believe you. I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay. I may not remember her, but I do spot a horrifying... specter every so often for a split second."

Could it be that this is...?

"Judging by my fright, it might indeed be Reina Kamisu. However, that is all I know. The only other thing I can tell is that—"

"—she is absurdly beautiful."

—It's her, Reina Kamisu.

The specter that is following him around, and that erased Atsushi Kogure's memory, is doubtlessly Reina Kamisu.

You only get that absurd impression from her; at least, I haven't met any other people of such beauty up to now.

In other words, "Reina Kamisu" is a phenomenon that gives off the impression of being "absurdly beautiful."

She's a phenomenon that creates the exact same impression in all of us.

"...Senpai?" Hozumi-chan taps me. I bend down to her height. "Looks like the two of you met the same Reina Kamisu, doesn't it?" she whispers into my ear.

I answer with a whisper as well, "What makes you think so?"

"Well, because he got the same impression as you."

"Hozumi-chan," I start and proceed to correcting her, "It's the other way around."

"Hey, why don't you let us in on what you're whispering?" Yuji-kun interrupts us.

"Never mind," I say and turn at Atsushi-kun. "Atsushi-kun. Could you tell us what impression you got from the strange girl that talked to you?"

"...Well, I suppose you could say she was fairly pretty."

"Was she your type?"

"No, not at all," he replies without hesitating.

"Okay, so did she look anything like the specter you're afraid of?"

"...I'm pretty sure she didn't, although I can't give you my word on it."

"I see...," I mutter and give Hozumi-chan a look. She seems to be puzzled by the discrepancy of facts. "Yuji-kun? Can you tell me more about the three students who committed suicide?"

"Sure, I'll try."

"Give me as much details as possible, please."

"Hm... I didn't know them too well, though..."

"I don't mind, just tell me what you know," I reassure him.

"Okay. The first victim was Fumi Saito, a student that didn't stand out at all in class. She was falsely accused of having stolen someone's wallet, and that's probably why she eventually killed herself."

I doubt that the true reason was that straightforward, but that doesn't matter right now.

"She didn't have any friends, except for Reina Kamisu, to whom she was very close," I add.

"Though there's no proof that she really was friends with Reina Kamisu, but it seems that way judging by her statements."

"Got it. What about the second one?"

"The second victim was Kyouhei Kimura. Committed suicide because he blamed himself for Saito-san's death."

"He must have been craving for forgiveness from Saito-san. But she was death. Therefore he apologized to Reina Kamisu instead."

"...? Toyoshina-san?" Yuji-kun asks, dumbfounded.

"Never mind."

"The third victim was Yuu Mizuhara. She was involved in the suicide of the previous two students, and that fact strained her mentally to the point that she claimed that a ghost had killed the other two. She was under the delusion that she would be killed as well, and then committed suicide."

"She was cornered. She didn't want to admit the blame. That's why she resorted to making up another cause—a ghost. A ghost that is Reina Kamisu," I add yet again.

"...What's up with those comments, seriously?" Yuji-kun asks.

"Oh, just ignore them. By the way, Atsushi-kun?"

"Yes?"

"You suffered quite a lot in the past, didn't you?"

"So I heard."

"And you died. Through Reina Kamisu."

"...Maybe you can say that."

As for Shizuka... it's obvious: She was yearning for a reason for her misfortune—and had Reina Kamisu provide her with one.

They all imposed different roles on Reina Kamisu.

More importantly, I highly doubt that the appearance required from her for those roles would be the exact same in terms of stature, age, face, and so forth. And yet, both Atsushi-kun and I thought that she was "absurdly beautiful."

All right, so Reina Kamisu, as I perceive her, resembles Shizuka. I know for a fact, however, that while Shizuka certainly didn't dislike her own looks, she didn't consider herself all that pretty.

Now, what if we assumed that Reina Kamisu was the exact same person for all of us? Would we all find the same appearance "absurdly beautiful" despite the difference of tastes?

Right, as I said: It's the other way around.

She gives us the same impression only because she looks different for everyone. "Reina Kamisu" is specifically adjusted to look "absurdly beautiful" in our eyes.

Hold on, but then why—

Why is it that we all call this phenomenon "Reina Kamisu" when she appears differently for everyone?

The answer is—

"—Yuji-kun. Atsushi-kun. Let's call it a day," I say with a wave of my hand, take Hozumi-chan's hand while she's still baffled, and turn around to take my leave.

"Ah, hey, wait a sec!"

"What's the matter, Yuji-kun...?" I ask in response.

"It sounds like you found something out about this Reina Kamisu; would you mind telling us?"

"...Just silly musings, really."

"I don't mind, so...?"

I waver. If I say nothing, chances are that he will keep nagging me about it. After all, he must be terribly eager to learn the truth behind the name that keeps coming up in the recent miseries of his classmates.

And that's exactly why it's dangerous to tell him.

"I noticed that there's a fitting other word for 'Reina Kamisu.'"

"Which would be...?"

"'Angel.'"

Yuji-kun remains unimpressed.

"What noun describes a beautiful woman that appears before people who are to die? 'Angel' fits the bill nicely, no?"

"I guess so..." he says without an additional remark. He still seems discontent, but I can recognize a sign of resignation in his face.

Good. It worked. That should put a stop to his interest in my findings regarding Reina Kamisu.

"Okay then, goodbye," I say.

"Yes, goodbye. Hope to see you again sometime."

I briefly wave my hand toward them. Yuji-kun waves back but Atsushi-kun has already turned away from me.

Atsushi Kogure.

Could you say that he got away with a black eye? Or did he die as he said himself?

Anyway. An 'angel' I called her...?

What a laughable yet strangely fitting simile. If she showed up with a halo above her head and a pair of wings on her back, I might actually believe that blatant lie myself. It would be so much easier if I just went with that and quit thinking.

"Senpai..." Hozumi-chan suddenly starts to speak after a while. I already knew what she was going to ask. "Can you tell me the truth?"

And then I regretted revealing everything to her earlier in the train.

=== 4 ===

Names.

"TV", "tissue", "contact lenses", "dog", "baseball", "banana", "cloud", "atom", "light", "Ukraine", "Hozumi Shiiki", "Reina Kamisu".

They're all just terms given to objects for convenience's sake. The convenience of using them is not their only purpose, however; names bind concepts, they shape concepts, they draw attention to concepts, and they bring them to life.

"Reina Kamisu"—a multifarious phenomenon that kills her observers.

That is how I define "Reina Kamisu", while ignoring the lack of evidence, reasoning and common sense.

Well, well, there is one question that presents itself: While it is still acceptable to say that this phenomenon assumes different roles and eventually kills whoever perceives her, there is absolutely no justification to link the phenomenon to the name "Reina Kamisu". However, even though the phenomenon varies for everyone, we all call it by the same name without any hesitation or doubt. She never called herself that, either.

I take the stairs to the second floor and notice Hozumi-chan standing by the door to my classroom. As I approach her, she notices me as well and we greet each other.

"Senpai. I brooded all night over your hypothesis," she immediately gets to the point. "As you said, the victims were already aware of the name 'Reina Kamisu'. The name comes first. Saito-san and Kogure-kun and Kimura-kun and Mizuhara-san and Wakui-senpai and your paths have all crossed somewhere. Which means that you all had the opportunity to learn the name 'Reina Kamisu'. I agree with the conclusion that you've drawn from that, Senpai."

"—You become infected with Reina Kamisu by learning her name."

I nod.

"I'm sorry," I apologize.

Hozumi-chan shakes her head, "Don't worry. I wished for it myself."

Right—I made the mistake of telling her the name of "Reina Kamisu". I was careless. I seem to be constantly giving her trouble.

That being said, I'm pretty sure that learning Reina Kamisu's name alone does not automatically make her visible to you. This is supported by the fact that she hasn't shown up in front of Yuji-kun and his classmates even though they've heard her name.

There must be some sort of condition. As a matter of fact, the reason why I wanted Yuji-kun to lose interest in the matter was to prevent him from accidentally fulfilling that unknown condition. Wake not a sleeping lion (Reina Kamisu). The best protection against Reina Kamisu is losing one's interest in her.

"Senpai," Hozumi-chan says with eyes that let me foresee what she's going to say. "Let me warn you: it's useless to try telling me to back out of this matter."

As I expected.

"...I won't," I mutter, and she responds with a happy smile.

Geez...

"Oh, Yoshinon!" she calls out, still smiling brightly. Her eyes are directed at Yoshino-chan who is trotting toward us. "Morning Yoshinon!"

"Morning, Hozumi-chan," she replies.

"Hey," I greet her as well.

"G-Good morning... Toyoshina-senpai."

Again that difference in attitude.

"What's the matter, Yoshinon?"

"Ah, er, I only saw your bag when I went to our classroom, so I thought you might be here." With these words, Yoshino-chan scours her own bag and takes out something resembling a massive book.

With a blushing face, she holds it out to me.

"Hm?"

On a closer look it seems to be a graduation album.

"Um... I sneaked into my sister's room and borrowed her graduation album..."

Now that she mentions it; I completely forgot that I asked her to bring her sister's album from her time at the Junseiwa School.

"You're a master thief, Yoshinon!" Hozumi-chan jokes.

"Ew... she wouldn't have allowed me to take it otherwise... Um, Toyoshina-senpai, may I ask you to return it to me in the course of the day?"

"Yeah, fine by me. Sorry for bothering you," I apologize to her.

"A, n-no! It was a pleasure!"

It was...? Oh, I should just be thankful.

"All right... I guess I'm off to the library. I want to take a look."

"Huh? What about school?" Hozumi-chan asks, surprised.

"To be honest, I don't have time for that now."

After hearing my response, she (somewhat unsurprisingly) counters, "I'm going with you!"

"...Are you sure?" Yoshino-chan asks.

"Of course. I'm sorry, but can you tell them that I've overslept or something?"

"...Okay, I got it."

Since I'm well aware that it's no use trying to persuade Hozumi-chan, I keep out of their exchange of words.

"Okay, let's go senpai."

"Got it."

After saying goodbye to Yoshino-chan, we head together to the library room. As we walk there, I sneak a peek at the thick album.

Well, I don't expect us to discover anything in this album. It's unlikely that the group suicide over there is connected to Reina Kamisu in any way. Even if she were, I would be surprised to find anything valuable in an album.

However—I was entirely wrong.

Within a mere 5 minutes after taking a seat next to each other, we spotted something.

The heart of the graduation album, the group picture of all members of the class, contained several parts that differed significantly from the rest in terms of size, exposure, background, and so on.

Because of our prior knowledge we can tell why that is. Most if not all of these parts belong to—

—the suicide victims.

"Senpai?"

"Hm?"

"I don't want to sound silly, but..."

"Yeah?"

"Aren't there too many pretty girls over there at the Junseiwa School? I'm kind of jealous."

Honestly speaking, I was too focused on the disagreeing parts to notice. Now that she mentions it, though, I can see that there are indeed a lot of pretty girls in the photo.

"Not only wealthy but also cute and clever... that sure makes me doubt if God really doesn't give with both hands, as the saying goes," she comments.

"I don't think that you need to hide, though, Hozumi-chan."

"Ah, don't mind me. You don't have to pay me lip-service."

That wasn't meant as lip-service.

"Anyway, it's only normal that there would be lot of pretty girls at a renowned all girls' school," I say.

"Why? Because only those sorts of girls aim for such a school?"

"I suppose that's not exactly wrong, either, but consider this: looks are heavily influenced by the genes of one's parents, right?"

"Yes, so?"

"And here's the point: Bigwigs almost exclusively get themselves beautiful wives," I conclude.

Hozumi-chan claps her hands together once.

"The scales fell from my eyes."

You actually wondered about it?

I decide to let her be and flip the page.

—I stop midway.

"What's the—" Hozumi-chan asks, only to cut off when she sees the picture I found.

I continue in a mutter in her place.

"—Reina Kamisu."

That name is written there indeed, but we would have held our breath—and be enchanted—either way.

Because the student depicted—

"—It's almost absurd how beautiful she is," Hozumi-chan remarks.

Precisely. She stands out even among the many other pretty faces. If one were to compare her with a diamond, the other students would be crude stones in comparison. As much as I hesitate to admit it, Hozumi-chan wouldn't leave the slightest impression on me if she stood next to the girl in that picture.

For a while, I am completely taken aback by the photograph and the sheer beauty of the Reina Kamisu in it.

But in reality, that isn't of any import; the picture poses a problem that is much more severe.

"I don't get it... why can we see Reina Kamisu in this picture?"

Hozumi-chan gives me a puzzled glance.

"Reina Kamisu is just a phenomenon. She does not possess a body."

"...Maybe she shows in pictures?"

"Even if that were true, she wouldn't get an entry in an album unless someone actually perceived her."

"Which means that..."

I look at the picture again.

She does not resemble Shizuka; but she does resemble the "Reina Kamisu" I know.

"I think we're on the same track, Hozumi-chan."

"Yes..."

"Most likely—"

Those two Reina Kamisus are not equivalent to each other; that's clear just from their looks.

They are, however, both absurdly beautiful.

"—the Reina Kamisu in this picture is a human."

In the end, we didn't attend our classes and instead went straight to Yoshino-chan's address without any notice to her; we wanted to question her sister about Reina Kamisu.

How come the girl in that picture was also called "Reina Kamisu"?

It might be just a coincidence; that would be the most plausible explanation.

The name given to the phenomenon might just have happened to match that of an existing person. But then again, Reina Kamisu is by no means a common name. Moreover, the real person is brought into connection with a group suicide, while the phenomenon entices into suicide, and on top of that, they're both absurdly beautiful and look alike. That's about as crazy as pulling off two royal straight flushes in a row at the beginning of a poker match, but still more down-to-earth than winning the lottery jackpot.

However, I don't know about Hozumi-chan, but at least I discarded that possibility rather quickly.

Because I've actually seen "Reina Kamisu".

I'm certain that anyone who has seen her will agree with me: There is a definite link between the girl in that picture and the phenomenon that shares her name. That's more certain than that bull dogs and chihuahuas are of the same species.

"By the way, the buildings around here are quite something, aren't they?" I say with astonishment.

"I was surprised, too, when I first visited Yoshinon. Would you believe me if I told you that her mom showed up with a Porsche to fetch us?"

"A Porsche? Not bad."

"But Yoshinon's still normal; I heard that a large part of the households in this vicinity have their own limousines and drivers."

Limousines, hm? Sounds like a distant world to me.

Now why would so many inhabitants of that comfy distant world end their lives? They were blessed with both wealth and beauty, and must have been devoid of worries. They had everything that is needed for a happy life.

However, "happiness" is entirely subjective.

A single issue can be perfectly enough for an individual to become unhappy. For example, if the boy or girl you fancy gives you the cold shoulder, you might feel hapless even in a blessed environment. Such an environment amounts to nothing when it comes to fending off the feeling of misfortune.

Therefore, if there was a cause of some kind, it's entirely possible that even an inhabitant of that distant world committed suicide.

—Reina Kamisu. Did you create that cause? Will you seduce me into suicide as well, as you did with the students of the Shikura middle school?

How?

I try to recall "Reina Kamisu" as I remember her; an absurdly beautiful girl that resembles Shizuka.

What is the role I give to Reina Kamisu? What do I need? Who do I need?

Hm?

—Who do I need?

"———"

Reina Kamisu: a phenomenon that takes on various roles. Who resembles Shizuka.

"Senpai? What's wrong?" Hozumi-chan asks because I suddenly stopped.

Who do I need?

The answer's obvious: Shizuka. I only need Shizuka.

Having finally found the puzzle piece I was looking for, my rusty faculty of thought is set in motion again and starts to restlessly hunt down answers. Answers, answers, answers... the answers I seek sum up like a snowball.

This leaves me with one more thing that I need: confirmation. Something to prove my answers.

I see.

I see now! I found out, Reina Kamisu!

I raise my head with conviction.

As I thought.

Behind Hozumi-chan, next to a house that looks like a pompous show house exhibition—

—I see Reina Kamisu.

"I see. So we only have to wish for her to show up. Because—"

I put on a grin.

"—Kamisu Reina is here."

I walk past Hozumi-chan and head toward Reina Kamisu.

"Senpai!" she shouts out, visibly anxious about my strange behavior.

"Stay away! You must stay away!" I command her as I turn around and scowl at her.

She steps back because of my hard tone.

Yes, that's the spirit.

I do not care about Hozumi-chan anymore. She's no longer needed.

"Don't get in my way!" Leave us alone.

This is what I wished.

This is what I wished Reina Kamisu to be.

"I missed you, Reina Kamisu," I say as I catch her in a dark back street.

She responds with a smile—an absurdly beautiful smile, much like Shizuka's.

"Let's begin with the reason why I didn't notice you up to now, shall we?"

Reina Kamisu listens silently to me.

"You are a phenomenon that only becomes perceivable by us becoming aware of your existence. There seem to be multiple requirements for that, like knowing your name, but it's safe to assume that I've fulfilled those, since I've seen you once before. Then why is that I haven't been able to see you ever since?"

I am almost glaring at her as I continue.

"It's because I started to consider you a phenomenon."

Her cheeks move slightly, but apart from that she stays absolutely silent.

"When assessing a mysterious phenomenon like you from a perspective that is grounded on common sense—and only then—it becomes impossible to admit your existence. Basically, common sense imposed a filter on me that operated in my subconsciousness and prevented your data from getting to me. In order to perceive you nonetheless, it's thus necessary to either remove that filter or to shift one's perception of you to something different from a phenomenon."

This time around, Reina Kamisu gives me a clear response. She nods.

"You appeared before me with a certain role. I am aware of that role by now. One part of it is to help me arrive at the answer I was looking for," I explain while thinking back at the burning question that plagued me at the time of our first encounter. "But let me ask you something first: Who is that Reina Kamisu in the picture I saw? How is she related to you?"

"She's a person called 'Reina Kamisu'."

I heard her voice for the first time; it's as beautiful as expected.

"Is she someone else than you?"

"Yes, I suppose she is. In the sense of being a different being."

"What to you mean by different being?"

She replies to my question with a smile, "She is what you might call my roots, you know."

"Your roots...?"

Seeing that I can't quite follow her, she expands on her explanation, "...Why do you think I was given the name of 'Reina Kamisu'?"

I consider her question. The phenomenon said that the person was her roots, her origin. In other words, the person named Reina Kamisu existed first? So the phenomenon came to be only recently? That doesn't sound plausible to me. I feel that the phenomenon she represents has always existed, just without anyone finding a way to perceive her—

"—Oh, I got it."

"Did you?"

"Your name made you perceivable, just like we become explicitly aware of the concept of air by giving it the name 'air'. Put another way, the phenomenon Reina Kamisu exists because we gave it that name."

"Exactly."

That explains why she spreads through her name.

"But why 'Reina Kamisu' of all names? Was there no alternative?"

If the Reina Kamisu in that album was a normal person, then there is no reason why "Shizuka Wakui" or "Hozumi Shiiki" or "Yoshino Mitsui" couldn't serve as a namesake.

"That's because her existence was singularly close to mine."

"Close...? Do you mean you blended into other people's perception of her? Similar to how a non-technical person won't be able to differentiate between a computer screen and a TV?"

"You've guessed right."

"But then... in what way did the human Reina Kamisu resemble you? In the way that she also caused others to commit suicide?" I ask.

"That's not correct. When people correctly perceive me, they tend to despair. I'm not responsible for that."

"Then what else makes her similar to you?"

"Just look at me. It's our outward appearance."

"Your appearance?" I frown. "I admit that the photo of your human counterpart resembled you, but your appearance is variable. It changes depending on the observer. It's not possible to resemble something that doesn't maintain its shape."

"But you just admitted that we resembled each other, didn't you?"

My eyes widen. I nod.

"Let me summarize," I say.

"Don't let me stop you."

"You're beautiful. Absurdly beautiful."

"Thank you."

"And that's also the impression you make on everyone as a phenomenon."

"That's not quite correct," she argues.

"What do you mean...?"

"I don't give off an impression of beauty. I am beauty itself."

"...I'm afraid you lost me."

"Have you ever heard of the Theory of Forms?"

"I'm familiar with the name, but I don't know what it means exactly."

"For example, take an elephant and picture it to yourself."

I do as she told me and imagine an elephant. The first thing that comes to mind is its long trunk, followed by a picture of its large ears and tusks. The elephant is big and gray and has thick skin. I use its trunk skilfully to pick food.

"Are you done?"

"Yes."

"So where did your image of an elephant come from?"

"Where from...?"

Of course from the information stored in my brain. However, it's impossible for me to tell from which elephant exactly that impression originates. It might be one of the elephants I've seen in the zoo in my childhood, or it might be one from the TV or a book, or perhaps even from someone's description of an elephant.

"All right," she continues, "now imagine you saw an elephant right before you. Would you recognize it as one?"

"Most certainly."

"All right," she says, "now imagine you saw a beautiful person right before you. Would you deem her beautiful?"

I sneak a peek at Reina Kamisu.

"Of course."

"But how do you decide whether or not a beautiful person is beautiful?"

"By—" I pause to consider the hint she's given me. "—comparing her to my image of a beautiful person and see how close she is, maybe?"

"Correct."

...So is it like this...?

"Reina Kamisu, you are my very image of a 'beautiful person.'"

"Right, I am your archetype of beauty. That's why I look more beautiful to you than anyone else."

I see, that's why Reina Kamisu resembles Shizuka; after all, Shizuka constitutes a great deal of my image of a beautiful girl.

Okay, it looks like I was slightly wrong with my original hypothesis. I thought that Reina Kamisu's resemblance to Shizuka originated from her second role to me.

"My existence is detached from space and time, and is to be found in the world of Forms. Not that the Theory of Forms expresses precisely what I am, but it's close enough. I'm only using this term because there is no other name for it, just like there is no other name for me. But I do indeed exist on the back side—or front side!—seen from you."

"In other words... you live in another world?"

"I don't know if it's really another world, but I suppose for the current mankind, who only believe what they see, it actually is another world. My being is entirely dependent on you, so if you define me as non-existent, then there is no world for me to live in. What will never change, however, is that I do exist."

"...I think I roughly understand what you are. But then I have a hard time comprehending how the girl in that picture could resemble you."

"Why don't you try to reverse the equation?"

"Reverse?"

"Don't think that Reina Kamisu resembles me—think that I resemble Reina Kamisu."

I don't get it. Isn't that exactly the same thing, except for the order?

Except for the order...?

The Reina Kamisu in the picture was a real person, and therefore had a constant appearance. The Reina Kamisu in front of my eyes, on the other hand, changes her visuals depending on the observer.

The human "Reina Kamisu" had an appearance that nearly everyone would find to be beautiful. That said, so many men, so many minds. In theory, it's perfectly possible that she's ugly in someone's eyes.

The phenomenon, however, must absolutely always be absurdly beautiful. That's her definition.

To rephrase this: there might be a person who considers the person "Reina Kamisu" as ugly, but the phenomenon as beautiful.

The reverse is impossible.

If I combine that fact with the fact that both the phenomenon and the person look absurdly beautiful, and similar, in my eyes...

"Don't tell me—"

I already knew that there was another condition apart from knowing her name. Those conditions are necessary to mix up the human Reina Kamisu and the phenomenon.

In other words, people whose image of beauty does not match the looks of the human Reina Kamisu are not able to mix those two up.

Put the other way—

"Only people whose image of beauty does almost precisely match the looks of your human counterpart are able mix you two up and create a link between the name and the phenomenon."

That is the second condition.

Reina Kamisu nods and adds to my explanation, "And as you mentioned beforehand, I will appear besides everyone who longs strongly enough for me, or more precisely for a replacement of somebody, to override the filter that is their common sense."

"But most people will eventually regain their common sense," I continue her intent, "and become unable to place you in the role they gave you. Which means that they will either lose what was vital to them, or despair because they notice that what they believed in was fake. And as a consequence—"

"—they are likely to commit suicide."

Reina Kamisu—so far I considered her evil in itself.

But I was wrong.

She is neither good nor evil; she just exists. She is just a purposeless phenomenon that is forced to appear whenever she is given a name.

That is the truth behind Reina Kamisu.

"Kazuaki Toyoshina," she says and I raise my head. "What role do you give me?" she asks with a smile resembling Shizuka's.

"...You planning to give me false hopes, just to make me despair in the face of the truth?"

"Perhaps. But you're not like the others, are you?"

"Not like the others? How so?"

"You are able to perceive me even though you realized that I'm a phenomenon. That's a remarkable difference, isn't it?"

That's true...

I'm already aware of what she really is. I'm not like the others who fell into despair as they approached the truth behind her being. The way to salvation is not going to abruptly break off.

If I give her the role of the person I crave for, I will be able to wallow in a soft dream.

Shizuka does not exist in this world anymore.

Then what should be my decision—?

My decision?

There's nothing to waver.

I, I—

I take the cross choker out of my pocket. I've already noticed what I'm supposed to use it for.

I take a step toward Reina Kamisu.

I won't return. I don't need to.

My final step—

"...Senpai."

—is stopped by that voice.

Didn't I tell you to stay away? To not get in my way?!

I turn around and glare at Hozumi Shiiki.

Though unsettled by the anger in my look, she continues to speak, "...Who were you talking to, Senpai?"

I don't answer her.

So at the end of the day, she won't recognize what's important for me; she won't take take the same path no matter how much she feels attached to me. She isn't worth much to me: neither is she able to substitute Shizuka, nor is she able to make up for her in the slightest.

"Reina Kamisu. Let's meet up tomorrow."

"...Where?"

"That place. I'm sure you understand, right?"

Reina Kamisu smiles at me.

"Senpai..."

I ignore Hozumi-chan again. Instead I take the graduation album out of my bag and hand it to her, "Return this to Yoshino-chan, okay?"

Wih these words I turn away from her.

"Senpai!" she calls out to me from behind. "I... I... what... what do I have to do?! What do I have to do... to walk the same path as—"

"Hozumi-chan," I interrupt her. "Stop bothering me or—"

With my back turned toward her,

"—I will kill you." I spit words of rejection.

I walk away.

I throw everything away.

I throw away even the foolish but gentle girl who has treated me ever so warmly.

I can no longer see anything.

I can no longer hear anything.

Therefore I can absolutely not hear the weeping behind me either.

===5===

"Let's get married when we've grown up."

That's the typical promise made between two childhood friends. You hear it so often in manga or anime or games and so forth that it's become a cliché. It's the most straightforward way to ensure an unbreakable bond between the protagonist and the heroine.

But in real life there is no meaning in such a promise.

When we grow up, we don't remember those childish promises anyway, and even if we do, they have long since expired because we didn't even know the real meaning of marriage. Only a hopeless fool would take that proposal serious and ask a girl out on that pretext. Even if two childhood friends date each other, a promise like that does not count as a memory but as a funny story.

We are constantly growing up, leaving behind the past. Therefore, it's essential to always live in the same time as the other party in order to keep such a promise intact.

At the beginning, neither of the two might know what the difference between boys and girls is, and what it means to get married or to become a couple. From there, they have to keep walking and growing up together, and they will slowly but surely come to understand what it means to find a partner for life. When they do that and still continue to treasure the promise of getting married when they've grown up—and only then—that promise acquires a significance.

I consider that a miracle. It's impossible not to withdraw such a promise after getting to know every good and bad trait of the other party, or the dirty differences between boys and girls, or the appeal of the other sex. Maybe they become aware of their feelings for each other after parting ways ways once to find themselves other partners, but it's impossible to constantly hold the belief of belonging together and getting married. I am positive that it's safe to say that such a thing is impossible. That's why I consider it a miracle.

And our relationship was founded on such a miracle.

Though made possible only because of a narrow view and foolishness, I felt quite comfortable with that kind of relationship.

It was extremely dear to me.

With those thoughts in mind, I look around our park.

Here we sat together in a swing. Here we unsuccessfully tried to build a tunnel with sand. Here we did our first forward upward circling on the horizontal bar. The jungle gym I fell from has been removed by now, but this place is still doubtlessly the park that we considered ours.

This is where I spent time with the little Shizuka.

This park shaped us, protected us, and—destroyed us.

Yeah, that's right.

Even the dearest of places may stab you in the back.

Yeah, that's right.

Reality treats saints and sinners all alike, attacking them mechanically, randomly, without any consideration and selection.

Yeah, that's right.

Anything and everything in this world with the exception of Shizuka betrays me.

I feel the content of my pocket with my hand. The cross choker is there. I'm fine.

I close my eyes. Because I don't want to see.

I cover my ears. Because I don't want to hear.

I close myself to the world. Because I don't want to believe.

There is only one thing I need to see now: the phenomenon that exists around me with an appearance similar to Shizuka's.

Reina Kamisu is waiting for me at the center of the park.

"Are you done saying goodbye to your friends?" she asks.

"There is no one I have to say goodbye to."

"I see..." she notes with a slightly sad smile.

"There is someone I need," I say with averted eyes.

"I know."

"I'm helpless without her. I can't move on at this rate."

"...I know."

"I do absolutely and unconditionally need Shizuka Wakui."

"...I know."

As I turn to her, I ask, "Do you also have a person who you need?"

After a short pause, Reina Kamisu replies, "I suppose that would be you, Kazuaki Toyoshina."

"...I see. You're right. You're dependent on me, after all."

"...That's also part of the reason."

"Also?"

"I assume it's due to the role that you gave me, but I seem to... be extremely fond of you. I can't help wanting to be by your side."

"...Do you possess feelings?" I ask her.

"I do!"

"But... those were conceived by me."

"Yes, but they are not false... or would you call feelings that someone created in you false?"

I answer with a weak smile, "I wouldn't."

"Right? I do feel the same as a common human when I manifest in front of you, even though I may purely be an idea."

"Even though you exist solely for the sake of someone else?"

"Yes."

To be honest, I think that we may resemble each other. I was dependent on Shizuka, too, and lost my place to be when she died.

"We're much alike," I say aloud.

"...I suppose you're right. We'll get along just fine," Reina Kamisu smiles at me. "I only exist to fulfill the role you gave to me. I will become who you need and stay by your side."

"...As my lover?"

"Yes. We will walk side by side for all eternity. You will abandon this world and only concern yourself with me. I know that this is your wish. That this is your happiness."

"You're absolutely right."

With those words, I take the choker out of my pocket.

"That's a lovely choker," she remarks.

I silently put the chocker that Shizuka wore at the very end around Reina Kamisu's neck.

"How is it?"

I gaze at her without letting go of the choker, and reply:

"It looks great on you."

Upon hearing my answer, Reina Kamisu,who resembles Shizuka, smiles.

Suddenly, I wonder where I will be going. Where Reina Kamisu will be guiding me.

I turn my attention at her again; the choker suits her greatly.

I remember ordering it on the Internet because I was too embarrassed to enter a jeweler's shop. I was astonished when I noticed that the actual thing looked quite different from the pictures, but Shizuka loved my present nonetheless.

When she put it on, she laughed and joked, "Maybe I'm a bit too young for this?" I then told her not to strain herself, but she assured me that she wanted to wear it.

It's a shame, but the choker did not suit her.

I still won't let go of the choker.

"...Kazuaki?"

Oh boy, God remains cruel to me.

"Don't call me that!" I shout.

"Eh?"

Reina Kamisu has feelings and is attracted to me on top of that. She's no different from a human.

"Otherwise it would sound like Shizuka were calling my name, no?"

But I'm the one who set up this scene. I wished all this.

"What do you mean...?" she asks.

It's what I wished for in order to win.

"—You are Reina Kamisu and no one else!"

At her last hour Shizuka wore this choker. It never really suited her. It was a token of our love.

And with this choker, I—

—strangle Reina Kamisu.

At once, her beautiful face that resembles Shizuka's distorts with pain.

"...Wh...y...?"

Despair shows in her face.

"Don't you get it?" I ask without loosening the choker. "You can't become Shizuka, nor can you replace her. You can't satisfy me by any stretch. Being similar to her is by far not enough. If you really were to replace her, you would've had to be as alike as two peas in a pod."

"...B-But... but then... what is my role...?"

"The answer is staring you in the face."

I strangle Reina Kamisu's neck so hard that she can no longer say a word. She moans painfully.

"If your role isn't to be my lover and substitute for Shizuka, then it's your role to be—"

"—my enemy!"

Reina Kamisu. I will never forgive you.

I detest the enemy that tormented Shizuka and me.

I detest the park that betrayed us.

I detest the fate that left us with this outcome.

I detest all those non-existent enemies.

That's why I give that role to you, Reina Kamisu.

That detestable role belongs to you.

"Reina Kamisu, you are—"

"—a monster that must die."

Reina Kamisu.

You may be a phenomenon—an intangible phenomenon—but I can still kill you.

Don't you agree?

After all, enemies exist—

—to be killed.

"Die."

I don't care if the entire world gets distorted by the erasure of Reina Kamisu.

I don't care if killing her solves nothing.

It will make nobody happy, not even me.

I'll do it only for me as I go to hell, because it's the only thing I can do.

I will—

"Please, die already!"

—kill Reina Kamisu.

I can clearly feel her neck as I strangle her. The sensation of killing; the realization that her life drains.

I can clearly feel it.

I feel something dwindle away. Maybe it's something that's insignificant to others, something invisible, but my gut feeling rings an alarm bell.

But as much as I try to catch it, it will just run through my fingers.

Whatever it is, it cannot be made undone. Never.

And before I know it, I have arrived where Reina Kamisu was supposed to guide me.

Reina Kamisu—is no more.

The choker has split apart.

...I don't care anymore.

There is no enemy anymore.

There is no Reina Kamisu anymore.

Reina Kamisu is nowhere.

I return from the boundary of worlds and I find myself in another unfamiliar world.

It's the normal, rational, empty world, which I'm supposed to know only too well. Yet, this world strikes me as unfamiliar.

But it's reality. The hard truth.

Therefore, the sight before my eyes is real.

"Why didn't you listen to me?"

I assigned Reina Kamisu the role of my enemy; but in order to confront and have her fulfill that role, there was a need for me to unlock the filter of my common sense.

That's why I closed my eyes, covered my ears and closed myself to the world. I needed to warp the original data into shape.

My enemy.

My memory was manipulated so that I would kill my enemy, Reina Kamisu, by manipulating the flow of information in a way that would present her death as my first priority. The system revolves entirely around her role.

Reina Kamisu is a phenomenon.

She can't physically kill anyone, and no one can physically kill her.

But Reina Kamisu was my enemy.

She had to be killed. I had to physically experience the sensation of murdering her. There was a need to feel her death with my own hands.

As a result...

Didn't I warn you?

—That's why I told you not to stay away from me.

"Hozumi-chan."

I look down at her. Her face is so distorted with pain that it's painful to look at it directly—and yet there is an undeniable glimmer of satisfaction in her face.

Why?!

It's enough if Reina Kamisu takes on others' roles, so why did you think of taking on the role of Reina Kamisu?

Was keeping up contact with me so important to you? Did you prefer opposing me over being left behind?

You're incomprehensible, Hozumi-chan!

I, yes I, am only concerned with Shizuka and no one else. You can't become Shizuka, nor can you replace her. You can't satisfy me by any stretch.

Why did would you want to stick to a guy like me to the bitter end...?

It's a shame. Really. You were so close.

You almost managed to change me—

I look up at the sky as I feel that my fight is over.

Hey Shizuka, I won!

I won against Reina Kamisu and Hozumi Shiiki!

I will continue to love you!

But I feel lonely. Incredibly lonely.

There's no one by my side. I don't allow anyone to be.

I'm sure that it will stay that way, with me continuing to remain here.

Someone, please.

Please, anyone, warm me up.

But I won't allow anyone to do that.

Shizuka. Shizuka.

I don't care if you're a ghost, or a fake, or a humanoid energy even.

Don't leave me alone.

But Reina Kamisu is no more.

The being that could replace you is no more.

She is not here anymore.

I'm all alone.

The only thing left to me is—the invaluable symbol of Shizuka and my connection.

The cross choker I gave to her. No—

—the remnants of it.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Shizuka Wakui|Chapter 3]]
| Return to [[Kamisu Reina Series|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Epilogue|Epilogue]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Kazuaki Toyoshina

2014-05-08T03:22:09Z

Axyraandas: /* 3 */

===1===

It was me who provided the picture for Shizuka Wakui's funeral.

I own more pictures of her than anyone else—more than she did even. Her smiling, her crying, her getting upset... they are all treasures to me.

I raise my head to look at the photo of Shizuka's lovely smile at the altar.

Ah, it's already been a year since she stopped smiling like that.

Ever since that incident a year from now, she hasn't shown that happy and careless smile of hers. Instead, her eyes dulled and her smiles turned into faint motions of her lips.

But I didn't mind. I was willing to wait by her side for her to regain the joy of living and had no plans of searching for another love.

The smell of incense hits my nose.

I feel like I turn empty as the smell soaks into my body; as if it silently bereaves me of myself. What remains of me is a translucent mass of untouchable void.

All colors around me are either black or white, or the green of our school uniforms. Even colors were stolen from me.

Most likely, I'm going to stay in this strangely isolated world from now on.

"Kazuaki," someone says. I turn around to look at a meek Kiichi.

"...You're here?"

"Of course I am. All of our classmates are."

As Kiichi correctly mentioned, our entire class is here. In fact, there are also students from other classes who used to be friends with Shizuka, students I don't even know and even a few students from other schools.

After that incident, Shizuka started to lose her friends one by one and stopped making new ones, until I was the last remaining person at school who was close to her. The friendship between girls is defined by how they relate to each other; at first, her friends accompanied her because of sympathy, but eventually they couldn't keep up with how she changed.

Nevertheless, many old friends have come to Shizuka's funeral and lamented for her sake. Right now, she's the heroine of a tragedy for everyone, which doesn't please me. She was supposed to be my heroine, not someone else's.

Therefore, I ignore them and gaze at the picture of her.

Her smile.

Why, truly why, could I not protect that smile?

Where did we make the wrong choice? What should I have done? Was my choice to embrace her wrong? Or was it too late by then anyway?

Why could I not protect the one thing I wanted to protect whatever it would take?

What am I supposed to do now that I have completely and entirely lost Shizuka—my other half—my hope, my purpose?

I am the same as that picture.

The smile depicted and I are but evanescent remnants of the past.

Shizuka's body was transported away.

I didn't get to see her face one last time because of severe damage to her corpse. Had I insisted, I may have gotten permission to take a look, but neither Shizuka nor I would have wished for that.

I mean, they said damage. Not injury or scars, boy, but damage.

Hahaha, Shizuka isn't a human being anymore. She's void. Seeing that would only sadden me.

The black and white and green colors have disappeared as I keep standing there, focusing my gaze on the door through which her body was transported.

"Kazuaki-kun," someone says behind me.

"Mrs Wakui."

It's Shizuka's mother, a sorrowful expression on her face. She looks like that because of the loss of her daughter, of course, but part of her melancholy is probably due to sympathy for me.

"Let me give you this," she says as she holds out her fist. When I present the palm of my hand, she drops something on it.

"Ah—"

It's a cross choker; a Christmas present I bought for Shizuka two years ago, saving up three months' worth of pocket money.

"Shizuka was wearing it when she passed away. I... I thought I should give it to you."

I don't look up as I listen to her words, and keep gazing closely at the choker in my hand.

She was wearing it at the bitter end? Even though she hasn't worn it a single time after that incident?

What's the meaning of this? Why did she wear it at the end?

"I'm sorry," she suddenly says.

I'm sorry. Words of apology.

"Ah—"

Damn.

Her mother apologized ahead of me.

She took my right to apologize.

It would have been so much easier to blame myself for having failed to ease Shizuka's pain, for having let her accept such a fate, for being responsible for her death. It would have been so much easier to apologize and crack under the weight.

But her mother didn't grant me that right.

She took up that position before me.

The only thing I have left now is—

"Uh..."

"UAAAAAAAWHHHH!"

—to cry my lungs out.

===2===

Kiichi and I are on our way to the Shikura public middle school. Normally, there's no reason why a high school student who is neither in a committee nor in a club would go to a completely unfamiliar middle school that requires him to take an express train just because it's slightly too far away to go by bicycle. Normally.

"He said he's waiting," Kiichi explains as he claps his cell phone.

"Okay, thanks man. We're better off if there's someone with us who knows his way around. I hear of a lot of suspicious figures around here lately, I don't want them to suspect us."

"Well, not like we're any less suspicious."

"Heh, sounds about right. What's your brother's name, again?"

"Yuji."

"Yuji Kato it is, huh. Do you resemble each other?"

"I honestly can't tell, but for some reason, he's pretty popular with the girls."

"You don't look anything like each other, then."

"...Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

Responding with a wordless grin, I insert my ticket and go through the barrier. Kiichi looks me in the face in a serious manner.

Aah, I see.

He doesn't understand at all; it's been two weeks since the funeral. I've already had a hard time when she was still alive, so it's child's play for me to put on a cheerful face like this.

"Hey, Kazuaki," he starts when we entered the train, still with a heavy-hearted mien. "I shouldn't be giving you sermons already, but you really shouldn't drag on Wakui-san's death forever, 'kay?"

"Why?"

"Well, dude..." he falters for a moment when I counter his advice dryly. "I know that you loved Wakui-san. Maybe it was mutual love even. But Kazuaki: You weren't a couple, let alone married. Just childhood friends. I mean, look at that cute midget girl who's hitting on you; she's the proof that you're popular. Don't waste that potential."

"Aah... you had that kind of impression of us?"

"Hm? But I'm spot-on, no? You obviously were on the way from friends to lovers."

"Nope."

"Oh come on, maybe that's what you thought."

"We were a couple."

"...What? For real?"

Ah, of course he wouldn't know about us. We've only known each other since high school.

"We already started going out in the 6th year of elementary school. Don't go telling this around, but we kissed and even made out with each other in middle school."

"...Did you take the next step?"

"No. She always insisted on waiting until we could marry, and I listened to her like a moron."

"I see..." he squeezes out and falls silent.

However, I continue with a stimulated sense of self-mockery.

"She was raped."

"Yeah..." he comments insecurely, with an ambiguous expression that makes it clear that he already heard of this fairly well-known story.

"What do you think is the first thing she said to me when she told me about it?"

"I have no idea..."

"I'm so sorry."

Kiichi glances at me for a moment, and silently lowers his gaze.

"We had no doubts," I continue, "that I would take her virginity, and that she would give me her virginity. No one expected the train to derail from that predestined path. After we had gone through that station, we would enroll at the same university, find a job, and marry. Finally, after death had part us, we would rest in peace in the same grave. It was an unspoken promise between us that we would follow this path."

"Mm..."

"But that incident messed our plans up. That clear path laid out before us disappeared into thin air. That's why she... apologized, thinking it was her fault. Blaming herself for everything."

"———"

Kiichi is in complete silence, but I continue:

"She was so churned up inside that she couldn't even touch me anymore. No, maybe she just had androphobia, who knows. Anyway, she just wouldn't look at the new path I was trying to build for the two of us. Because of that, we returned to just being friends. Of course, I didn't plan to leave it that way."

"I see..." he simply says.

There's an oppressive silence between us for a while, underlining the tedious rattling of the train. The passengers around us seem to think of everyone else as mere scenery, fiddling with their cell phones or focusing on the music from their headphones.

I begin to speak again.

"I found one of her rapers the other day."

Kiichi's head jumps up. He looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

"...What did you do?"

"I killed him."

He completely loses his tongue.

"I tore off all his clothes, crushed his balls with a stone, beat him up until his face was no longer recognizable, stuffed his mouth with his own shit, peeled off his fingernails one by one, squashed his eyeballs... and while I was doing so, he kicked the bucket."

"...You're joking."

My gaze pinned on the pubs and video shops and fast food restaurants flying by outside the window, I answer him:

"'Course I am."

Fortunately, I don't know what they look like.

As the train starts to slow down, I look outside and think:

Come to think of it... I haven't had Gyudon in a while.

The Shikura Middle School is built amidst the living quarters; finally arriving there, we spot a bunch of students playing soccer and baseball in the cramped school grounds.

Five minutes after Kiichi gives him a call, Yuji shows up at the entrance gate, still in sports gear, subliminally remarking that he was in the middle of working out. With his large and athletic build it stands to reason that he would be popular.

"Let me cut straight to the chase: The three students who committed suicide were in your class, is that right, Yuji-kun?"

"Yes, we had quite the chaos going on here because of that."

"What do you mean?"

"Things like no one wanting to take the blame, getting a new class teacher, and so on."

Three students taking their lives is a big problem, indeed. Added to that, they're in the middle of puberty (not that I'm much older), too, which doesn't mix well and allows for even more problems.

"I heard the gist from Kiichi, so I'll delve right into the details: What do you consider the reason why they committed suicide?"

Yuji-kun ponders. "I think each had their own problems, really. The girl of the first incident didn't have any friends and wasn't exactly treated well in class, and the guy who killed himself next blamed himself for the death of the first victim."

"...Ah, so they didn't commit suicide independently, but rather the first suicide triggered a chain?"

"...That's my view, yes."

"All right..."

When I heard that three students had killed themselves at different times and in different places, I suspected the same irregularity as with Shizuka's case; after all, you wouldn't just commit suicide just because you are confronted with the topic.

If, however, their cases are interconnected and can be traced back, they may not be regular, but they're by no means irregular either.

It seems like this trace, which I tracked because I found that Shizuka was investigating these incidents, ends here.

"Can you show me your classroom, Yuji-kun?" I propose just in case.

"Sure. But please try not to catch anyone's eye. It's a hassle to explain ourselves."

Yuji-kun and I (Kiichi stayed outside) entered the school building. He then showed me around, guiding me to relevant places like their classroom, the landing of the stairway that leads to the roof, where the first victim was often seen, and so on. By the way, the place where I wanted to go most, the roof, was closed, perhaps because of those incidents.

"So? Did you learn anything?" Yuji-kun asks before the door to the roof.

"Hm..." As expected, the places didn't make an impression on me.

"Can I ask you something on the matter, too?" he responds to my silence.

"What is it?"

"Why are you investigating in the first place, Toyoshina-san?"

After giving it some thought, I reply, "I had a girlfriend."

"My brother told me something along those lines. He said she... committed suicide," he explains, faltering a little before squeezing out the word suicide. "Ah, do you suspect that it wasn't suicide but murder? And that it was the same culprit for the cases at this—"

"Haha, no, that's not it. To be honest, I think she had a proper reason to commit suicide."

"But then why?"

"A few days before she died, she started to behave strangely. Her condition abruptly worsened as if she had stepped on the gas and fallen from a cliff. In other words, I'm investigating the reason why she suddenly stepped on the gas, you know."

"But is there—" Yuji-kun starts, but cuts off mid-sentence, making a grimace.

"What?"

"Ah, no, please forget about it. I don't want to be rude."

"It's okay, I'm curious."

He looks me in the eyes repeatedly before he finally gives in with a nod. "Um... I just wondered if there is a point in doing all this?"

A point.

A point, hm?

"I'm... I'm sorry! My tongue slipped!"

"No, it's okay," I assure him and add, "...There is no point, I suppose."

"None at all?" he asks in surprise.

"She did go to strange places in her last days, sure, and she started to become delusional. Maybe that accelerated her death."

"...It sounds meaningful to me to look into that, no?"

"Nope, not at all. I know for a fact that the reason why she committed suicide has nothing to do with all that."

"...No meaning... but then why do you go out of your way to investigate?"

I gaze at Yuji-kun. Looking at his genuinely puzzled face, I'm sure he has never lost a beloved person.

"Because I have nothing else to do, maybe?"

"But that's not true, is it...? Maybe it's a bit early, but you could start preparing for the university exams, or you could be—"

"No, nothing," I interrupt him with a firm voice, "I have nothing else to do."

The path I tried to rebuild was irreversibly destroyed. I'm only drifting away in an empty space now.

All I can do is follow Shizuka's footsteps, even though there is nothing ahead of them. It's simply the only signpost left to me, having lost ground.

"..."

It seems that Yuji-kun remains unconvinced, but so be it; there's no need for him to understand. If he does, it will be once he's in a similar situation.

I look around once more and let out a deep sigh. It seems that there's nothing to be found here. It's not so easy to find the fragments left behind by Shizuka.

I take her choker out of my pocket and gaze at it.

Shizuka, why did you put that choker on before you died? Is there a meaning behind that? Or none at all? I can't even tell that much, even though we've been together for most of our lives.

"Well, if that's all, shall we leave?" he proposes.

I nod in agreement. There's nothing to be gained here.

As I climb down the stairs, I remember that there was one other thing I was meaning to ask.

"Aah, before I forget: Do you happen to know that name, Yuji-kun?" I ask without any expectations.

"What name?"

"Um, lemme see... 'Reina Kamisu.'"

As I finish saying that name, Yuji-kun abruptly stops.

"...Where did you learn about that name?" he asks, surprising me with his reaction. His face is mildly tensed.

"Um, I heard it from my deceased girlfriend."

He stays silent, his gaze still fixed on me.

Huh? What's up with him? Did he know the name after all? No, that wouldn't explain why he would react like this.

Which means that...?

"I don't know a person by that name, but to tell the truth, I did come across that name."

"Where...?"

Reluctantly, Yuji-kun answers me, "The victims mentioned it."

That means that...? Hold on, I need to think.

Yuji-kun heard the name "Reina Kamisu" from the suicide victims. Victims—that's plural. Furthermore, he doesn't know Reina Kamisu himself. However, that does still not explain why he would react in such a strange fashion.

That means—

"...You don't know Reina Kamisu," I start.

"I don't."

"And the other students who are alive don't know her, either."

"...Exactly."

"However... All the suicide victims, including my girlfriend Shizuka, knew Reina Kamisu."

Yuji-kun nods awkwardly.

"I'm not sure if all three of them knew her, but at least the first two victims did mention that name."

"I see."

"The first victim referred to that name as her best friend, while the second one mentioned it in his suicide note as the person who drove him into suicide, mistaking Reina Kamisu for the first victim."

"He mistook her? How could that happen? How can you mistake the name of the person who drove you into death?"

"I thought so, too... but his suicide note is clearly referring to the first victim! I suppose he knew both of them, since they were close friends, and somehow confused them with each other."

"But..."

"Yes, I know. That only explains why the first two victims mentioned that name, but not why your girlfriend knew her, too."

Exactly.

Shizuka and I have known each other for most of our lives because her family's house is just across the street. We have admitted the same schools from kindergarten to high school. In other words, she had just as little to do with the Shikura middle school as me.

There's no reason why a high school student who is neither in a committee nor in a club would go to a completely unfamiliar middle school that is slightly too far away to go by bicycle, but not that far away. Similarly, there's no reason why she would get to know the students from there.

"Shizuka was acquainted with 'Reina Kamisu' even though you guys don't know her and even though she had far less points of contact with the other suicide victims. And everyone who knew Reina Kamisu—"

"—is dead now."

The pieces are starting to come together, forming a ring that connects all of the victims.

An incredibly twisted ring that should not even exist.

Come to think of it, Shizuka and the other victims had no doubt proper reasons to commit suicide. But they only had reasons.

If for example they had actually been killed, they still would have had proper reasons to commit suicide.

In other words, the fact that they had reasons does in no way rule out the existence of a third person who may have influenced them.

No... don't jump to conclusions. I have to consider that Shizuka did some research about this school; maybe she learned about 'Reina Kamisu' in the process.

That being said... that would be an eerie chain of coincidences.

"Toyoshina-san," Yuji-kun starts, "I'll try asking around in school about Reina Kamisu tomorrow."

"Please do so."

Where will this ring lead me? I think as I gaze in the air.

Suddenly, my vision turns blurry as if a drop of water had fallen on my eyes. But that's how it's supposed to be. The world is full of mosaics that conceal the truth from our eyes. We don't really see anything. Perhaps, we arrive at what we think is the answer even though it's based on flawed logic. At the end of the day, three-dimensional beings like us cannot look across a three-dimensional world.

My vision is always blurry, I'm always blind.

Ah, just damn it. Someone tell me what I'm supposed to do! What did Shizuka want me to do? How can I escape fate? What is 1+1? Why is the earth rotating? Why is the earth round? What is gravity? What is magnetic force? What is the meaning of life? Who is Reina Kamisu?

I know that there's no clear answer, so just make up one for me. Just tell me the answer using a valid logic. There should be one, and if there is one, please tell me.

Give me the right answer.

Give me the right answer.

Save me!

Save me before I drown in the swamp that I'm struggling against, that is drawing life out of me!

Suddenly.

I see a silhouette on the landing where I was moments ago.

A person.

"—Huh?"

—It's 'Shizuka.'

"...? What's wrong, Toyoshina-san?" Yuji-kun asks in response to the sudden gasp I let out.

"L-Look, there!" I groan as I point at Shizuka. He traces the direction I'm indicating with his eyes and narrows them.

"...Um, I see nothing."

"T-That's impossible!"

I turn around to the landing once more.

"Ah..."

Shizuka's not there. Of course not. She's dead. She's not among us anymore.

"...Sorry, forget about it."

"You must be tired."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

I'm tired. Yeah. Absolutely.

Otherwise I can't believe it.

"Haha..."

I mean, really, how could I otherwise believe that I, who loved Shizuka more than anyone else, would mistake someone for her.

Shizuka isn't among us. She's not here.

Therefore, that girl over there isn't Shizuka.

That girl over there with an absurdly beautiful smile, who resembles Shizuka, is—

"I'm pleased to meet you."

—Reina Kamisu.

===3===

What was the most important thing for me within my school life?

The answer is obvious; and it's something that's already lost.

School right now is just like a hamburger restaurant that doesn't offer meat. They might introduce tofu instead, but that just doesn't cut it.

For me, at least, there is not a single thing of import at school. The only reason I'm still here is because of habit—a routine I'm programmed to follow— a daily ritual I conduct for my family. It's my duty to assume the role of a lazy student for the teachers, an upbeat friend for Kiichi and the others, and an admirable senior for Hozumi-chan. That being said, it's not just an act I'm playing; every moment I spend in these roles, I'm no one else but my true self. There is no falseness in that.

But whenever I'm not forced into one of these roles, I'm confronted with the gaping emptiness inside me.

Well, no surprise. My single most important role has become redundant, and the part inside me that was reserved for that role has vanished.

After my classes end, I start putting the chairs onto the desks to wipe the floor—which is just another routine I'm forced to repeat over and over.

As I'm doing my work, I suddenly recall my short encounter with Reina Kamisu that ended before I could even exchange a word with her.

She resembled Shizuka more than anyone I have ever met. And while she is definitely not a person, she's not an illusion either. Reina Kamisu has without a doubt interacted with Shizuka and the other students, and driven them into committing suicide. I am 100% convinced of that. However, that conviction unsettles me.

Be reasonable, Kazuaki. What makes me so sure that she is really who I think she is? There is nothing that supports my sentiment; I have no information whatsoever that would allow me to recognize Reina Kamisu. I don't know her appearance, her traits, her personality—nothing.

But the girl I met there is Reina Kamisu.

Why did that answer pop out and click with me? What is the meaning of this?

"Senpai!"

Senpai. For students in lower grades everyone's a senpai, but from the context of my daily routine I can deduct that this refers to me. I turn around to the the window adjacent to the corridor.

"Hey, Hozumi-chan," I say. She answers me with a smile. "And Yoshino-chan," I add, spotting her friend next to her, who in turn bows her head silently.

Yoshino-chan hardly ever talks to me. I suppose she's uncomfortable in the company of the other sex. In fact, when I met her alone on the corridor the other day, she ran away from me like lightning. Of course, that incident got me thinking a little, but against my concerns, it seems like she doesn't actually dislike me.

"You're looking dark. Is something wrong?" Hozumi-chan asks with a smile.

"Hm?" While I don't think that they know her, I decide to give it a try nonetheless. "You don't happen to know Reina Kamisu, do you?"

"Rehna… Kameesu?" she repeats like a parrot and turns her head to her companion. Yoshino-chan wordlessly shakes her head. "Is she famous or something?"

"No, no."

"From our school?"

"No."

"Hm? Then why did you think that we might know her?"

"I didn't expect you to be familiar with her. Just asking, really."

Right, they can't know Reina Kamisu. All who know her are dead by now.

All who know her are dead...?

Including me? Haha, aptly put indeed but not funny.

"Okay then, I have to get going."

"Ah... um, do you mind if I tag along...?" Hozumi-chan asks.

"No, I'm sorry, but..."

"Okay..." she says with blatant disappointment.

In order to soothe my conscience, I explain myself, immediately regretting that slip of the tongue.

"There's something I want to investigate."

"Investigate?"

There you have it: Now I got her curious. Should I answer her...? I know that she has a crush on me, so she would probably follow me along everywhere if I were honest to her. I don't want to torment her by giving her false hopes.

However, I then notice that telling her the truth would actually be helpful in that matter.

"I'm investigating those recent suicide cases."

"Ah..."

As I thought, her face darkens in response to the word "suicide" and the memory of Shizuka Wakui looming behind.

"I see..."

Hozumi-chan's approaches have declined after Shizuka's death. Originally, I thought that she would secretly welcome her death and try everything to take advantage of the gap in my heart.

I was wrong.

By that I don't only mean that Hozumi-chan was in fact sad about Shizuka's daeth; she was also sensible enough to notice that Shizuka's value to me hadn't changed a bit. And because of that she was let down. Probably.

"...But they don't talk a lot about those incidents on TV, do they?" she says, getting a grip on herself.

"Yeah. Suicide's not a special topic anymore, after all. Besides, I think there are some regulations because it could give people bad ideas."

"I have a feeling that it only gets into the news if it concerns a celebrity or if it's some real bad incident..."

"Real bad..." mutters Yoshino-chan, joining our conversation for the first time today. "Hozumi-chan? Do you remember that incident at the Junseiwa high where several students jumped off a roof?"

Yoshino-chan has the habit of talking to me via Hozuki-chan.

"Hm...? Well, of course. You're always reminding me that you picked our school because of that incident, aren't you? Your middle school was also there, right?"

"Y-Yes..."

Yoshino-chan went to the Junseiwa School? But that's a textbook example of a girls-only school for rich ladies. No wonder that she's so sensitive to boys.

Anyway, now that she mentions it, I remember hearing about that incident quite a while ago, although it had slipped my mind until now.

"Could you me more about it?" I ask her.

"E, erm... I heard that it started with the student council president jumping from the top of a building... Several other students then followed her and jumped off as well..." Yoshino-chan replies looking elsewhere and gradually growing quieter as she speaks.

"How long ago was that...?"

"A little more than three years... I... think..."

I'm surprised I could forget such a huge debacle; or did they really regulate the media so that that incident wasn't made famous?

Yoshino-chan, noticing my confusion, adds with a flushed face, "The media did not point out the number of suicides because that would harm the long history of the Junseiwa School."

I see.

"I want to learn more about that incident. Do you know of someone I could ask...?"

"Um..."

"Hm?"

"My sister was there at the time, so she might be able to provide information. But..." Yoshino-chan says.

"But...?"

"It is a topic that she hates to talk about. So much that she has not even told me about it. I doubt that she will be of any help."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes..."

Perhaps her sister was not entirely unrelated to the mass suicide. Although considering the scale of that incident, it might very well be possible that there was something that concerned the entire campus behind the scenes.

Something.

For example—Reina Kamisu.

"Can't we just ask one of her friends if your sis doesn't want to talk, Yoshinon?" suggests Hozumi-chan as she interrupts us.

"I'm afraid that my sister didn't really have any friends in high school," Yoshino-chan answers her with a bitter smile—behaving entirely different than when talks to me.

"Then how about this: I'm sure your sister has a graduation album, right?" I ask.

"Ah, um, yes..." she nods in a tense manner.

"Could you show that to me?"

"Err, hm..."

She doesn't seem bent on it.

"Just snatch it when she's not looking, Yoshinon!"

"H-Huh?! You're joking, right...?"

"Please, Yoshino-chan," I ask as well, holding my hands together like in a prayer. She seems to be rather troubled, but I can't be choosing my means.

"M-Mmm... I will try."

"Yay! Thanks a bunch."

"B-But there are no addresses and phone numbers in there...! To prevent data abuse because it is a famous school..."

"Okay. But even a photo might give me a clue."

"A clue...?" Hozumi-chan asks with a slightly trembling voice. My face when Shizuka told me about those "humanoid energies" must have looked the same as Hozumi-chan's now.

"Er, well—"

A clue concerning Reina Kamisu; that's what I'm looking for, but I can't tell her that. Unlike Shizuka, I'm perfectly aware of how I appear from an objective viewpoint.

I have discovered a non-human being that promotes suicide, which is neither a ghost nor an illusion, but an enigmatic phenomenon. Moreover, that being is not only incredibly beautiful, but also resembles Shizuka. And she's the one who killed Shizuka!

Yeah, there's no way they would buy that.

I turn my glance at Hozumi-chan, who's sending me a worried look. I have to come up with some excuse. I could tell them that my first love went to that school, and that... no, they can tell it's a lie from the flow of our conversation. Besides, they know that Shizuka was my everything.

"—Err..."

Hozumi-chan is growing even more worried. Quick!

However...

"Kazuaki?"

It just happened that Kiichi showed up from behind them. Thank god.

"What's the matter?" I ask in the most casual voice I could produce.

"I just got an e-mail from my brother. He wants you to contact him."

"Yuji-kun wants me to contact him?"

Did he get around to asking the other students about Reina Kamisu?

After getting Yuji-kun's phone number from Kiichi, I walked away from the group (Hozumi-chan seemed not amused) and hid inside a compartment in the restroom—we are not allowed to openly use our cell phones at school—and called the number.

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Toyoshina."

"Ah, hello Toyoshina-san."

"Kiichi told me that you wanted to talk to me. What's up?"

"Yes. As promised, I asked around my schoolmates about Reina Kamisu today."

"Oh, thanks a lot."

"Don't mention it. Anyway, I found someone who might know her."

"For real?! But what do you mean by 'might'?"

"You'll understand. I managed to persuade that person to stay at school until you arrive, so may I ask you to come around in the course of the day?"

"Of course."

"Okay then. We're waiting. Drop me a message when you arrive. See you."

"Okay, thanks again. See you."

I end the call with a sigh of relief.

There's someone else besides me who knows Reina Kamisu...? Someone who's also "going to die?" And to that person she also looks like my Shizuka?

"Huh...?" I gasp with a certain doubt in my mind that appeared when I imagined how Reina Kamisu must appear to other people.

Reina Kamisu.

Reina Kamisu resembles Shizuka.

...That's strange. It could be a plain coincidence, of course, but I can't help but feel that there's more to it. Why does she resemble Shizuka?

But then—

Did Shizuka's Reina Kamisu also resemble herself?

I don't think so. My gut feeling tells me otherwise.

Wouldn't it be more plausible to assume that Reina Kamisu is customized to look like Shizuka in my eyes?

Those jeans look great on you, but they're a bit too long, aren't they? Let me cut them down for your size. Let me adjust them to you.

However, what are the implications of that assumption if it's correct?

Reina Kamisu is not defined by her visual data. What does this imply? What is she ultimately, anyway?

My brain can't follow my train of thought. I lack the immunity against incomprehensible phenomena. I start to repeat her name meaninglessly in my head. Reina Kamisu,　Kamisu Reina, Reina Kamisu, Kamisu Reina. Again. Reina Kamisu, Kamisu Reina. Again. Kamisu Reina, Reina Kamisu, Kamisu Reina. Loop. Reina Kamisu, Kamisu Reina.

I leave the restroom, only to find Hozumi-chan waiting by herself for me, her look still discontent.

"What's the matter...?" I ask.

"...Senpai. Are you going somewhere today?"

"Did you listen?"

"I did, but I couldn't quite follow because I only heard your voice."

"I see..."

"Senpai?"

"What is it?"

"—Who is Reina Kamisu?"

She gets right to the heart of the matter, leaving me speechless for a moment.

It seems like she could filter out the crucial keyword from our phone conversation...

"I've always been concerned with you, Senpai, that's why I can tell that this 'Reina Kamisu' is at the core of your worries, and that all your worries are connected to Wakui-senpai in some way or another. Please be honest with me. Does that 'Reina Kamisu' have something to do with Wakui-senpai's death?"

"...Where's Yoshino-chan?" I ask as I avert my gaze from her and search for her companion.

"She went home. I told her that I couldn't tag along today," she answers my question, her strong and fixed look forbidding me to look away from her.

I could tell from her gaze that she would not let go of me today anymore, and inside her clear and beautiful eyes, I could see myself: an exhausted, cowardly, idiotic, remorseful, hopeless reflection of myself.

How can she like me with those ever so clear and pretty eyes of hers? You must be blind, Hozumi-chan...

"Hozumi-chan..."

Confronted with her pure eyes, I realize that I owe her some sincerity.

"What is it?"

At this rate, she is not going to ask. She will just follow me to the Shikura middle school and she won't give up on me. She's not even thinking of giving up.

Hozumi-chan is a lovely girl. She can experience as many wonderful romances as she wants. There's no reason for her to constrict herself because of me; she could easily find a love where she can behave more freely and naturally.

I can't leave her at this.

That's why I feel that I owe her a sincere yet cruel answer to her feelings.

"I can't see you as someone of the other sex," I say. Her eyes open in response to my contextless relevation. "I never will. You will never get a special place in my heart."

"S-Senpai...?"

"My heart belongs to Shizuka alone. I'm hers from head to toe, and for all eternity. The two of us were one. You can't replace her. You can't satisfy me by any stretch. Do you finally get it? This is the kind of person I am. I will never be what you want me to be, never."

Hozumi-chan is left completely speechless and just keeps opening and closing her mouth. Insecurely she gazes at me, her head crimson, her fist clenched, and her body trembling.

Hozumi-chan is in puberty—the period of life where you are overly self-conscious and afraid to be hurt by someone, or god forbid, by someone you like.

Despite all that, I didn't keep back from hurting her so horribly.

Was there no other way? Perhaps. But I felt that only by using harsh words could I answer her strong gaze.

Hozumi-chan. Too strong feelings always lead to ruin, whether they are beautiful or hideous. Remember that.

Just look what has become of me now that Shizuka's gone.

"Do you still want to come with me, Hozumi-chan?"

The answer is obvious. I don't expect to be hearing anything from her, looking at her insecure and hurt look.

Which is why—

"I do."

Hearing a determined and quick answer struck me as way more unbelievable than the existence of Reina Kamisu.

"I do want to come with you," she repeated.

Even though she must be horribly hurt.

Even though she can barely hold her tears back.

Even though her voice is trembling hard.

And yet she managed to regain a strong light in her eyes and answered my question with a determined voice.

That moment I realized—

"Ah..."

—This was the answer I was looking for.

This is what I was supposed to do back then.

I'm buried beneath an avalanche of remorse. Unable to move and speak, all I can do is remember that day over and over. Surrounded by cold remorse.

On that day, I embraced Shizuka.

"...Don't touch me."

Until now, I thought I had committed a mistake. I thought that everything was already too late by that time.

But I was wrong.

The real mistake I made was—to let go of her.

I was supposed to keep embracing her, no matter how much she struggled to break free. I was supposed to cling to her no matter what... like Hozumi-chan did to me.

"...Don't touch me."

I gave up because of those words, in the illusion that I could not do anything to stop her tears. I fooled myself into believing that everything was too late.

I simply was a coward: I feared to be hurt any more because she'd rejected me. I pretended to share her pain when I really couldn't do what I wanted to, what I was supposed to.

I was the only one in the position to achieve something, and yet I didn't take action.

I take her cross choker out of my pocket.

I've finally realized why she'd worn this at the very end, what I was meant to do. At last.

As I hold tight of her choker, I think:

—Forgive me for not being with you all the time.

I look at the blushed girl in front of me. I misunderstood her. I thought that I was just a replaceable part in a clumsy, pubescent love story she pictured to herself. But that's not true. She's just like me.

Sadly.

"Let's go, Hozumi-chan."

She nods.

It's a shame that you still can't save me.

Because you aren't Shizuka.

Thanks to the e-mail I had given him beforehand, Yuji-kun and another boy were already waiting for us before the entrance gate when we arrived at the Shikura middle school.

"Hey."

"Hello."

As maybe expected, that boy's look turned out to be... vacant. He just gazed into space while Yuji-kun and I were greeting each other.

"And who are you?" Yuji-kun asks Hozumi-chan.

"My name is Hozumi Shiiki. I'm one grade below Toyoshina-senpai... and older than you, mind you," she adds because of his somewhat cheeky attitude toward her.

...Well, it's not that obvious if you look at your height...

I turn my attention toward the boy who may know Reina Kamisu. Upon realizing that a self-introduction is in place, he mutters without a shadow of a smile:

"I'm Atsushi Kogure."

"Frankly, I don't know anything nor would I remember if I did," Atsushi-kun starts. "I suffer from amnesia."

Amnesia? Sounds like the protagonist of some drama show.

Having heard of it so many times in fiction, I don't feel a lot of surprise even though it's the first time I'm confronted with amnesia in reality.

I give Yuji-kun a questioning look. He nods. It seems like he's telling the truth.

No wonder that his look is vacant. He is vacant in the true sense of the word.

"When did you lose your memory?" Hozumi-chan asks.

Earlier in the train, I disclosed all my thoughts to Hozumi-chan—that was my way of paying her respect—and she believed me, at least by the look of it. Believability aside, she realized that I wasn't lying to her.

"Around last month," Atsushi-kun answers indifferently.

Last month... that's around the time Shizuka's delusions got out of control.

"Unless my memory fails me, it happened between the second and third suicide case," Yuji-kun adds.

"I hear that there are different kinds of amnesia. What about yours, Atsushi-kun?"

After a short thinking pause, he answers, "I can't tell why I've lost my memory, but apart from the basic everyday knowledge like language, I've forgotten everything. At first I thought the large scar on my chest was the reason, but I heard that I've already had this when I was little."

"Did you forget your name?"

"Yes, I did."

"I see... I'll keep my fingers crossed that you regain your memory." Hozumi-chan says in an attempt to cheer him up. However, Atsushi-kun shakes his head.

She inclines her head, puzzled.

"My mother... or my aunt, to be precise, advised me not to regain my memories. Besides, I feel absolutely certain that they won't return."

"Why are you so sure?" Hozumi-chan asks, still puzzled.

"There's no actual reason. I just feel that way... I think that Atsushi Kogure died."

"Died...? But you're here, right before our eyes."

"No, I'm not exactly Atsushi Kogure. His personality died back then, and I was put into his body instead as a makeshift subtitute because the vacancy had to be filled. I'm another person. I'm just using his name for convenience's sake."

I try imagining myself without any of my memories, even without those of Shizuka.

No memories of Shizuka? That's not me. That's not Kazuaki Toyoshina, but an entirely different person.

Okay, Atsushi-kun has a point.

"All right, let me get to the point—"

"About that," Yuji-kun cuts in. "Atsushi won't admit to knowing Reina Kamisu."

"Huh, really?"

Now that he mentions it, though, it's obvious that Atsushi-kun wouldn't remember knowing Reina Kamisu if he has lost his memory, unless he met her during the short time span after that.

However, seeing the expression clued on his face, I have absolutely no doubts that he must have come in contact with her at some point in time: The blank look on his face has disappeared. Instead, he is gritting his teeth and furrowing his brow.

He definitely knows her. And the misfortune she brings.

"...Atsushi-kun. You know Reina Ka—"

"I don't," he cuts me short with a visibly bad temper.

...It doesn't look like he'll answer me this way. Let's see if I can trick him into giving me the info I need.

"Oh, I see, so it was Reina Kamisu who erased your memory," I say, provokingly.

His eyes widen for an instant! and his face becomes even grimmer. I must be near the mark.

"Okay, Atsushi-kun. One more thing—"

"I...!" he interrupts me again, shouting this time. Embarrassed by our surprised glances, he continues, "I don't remember anything. Really."

"But..."

"It's just that that name sends a chill down my spine."

"Still, your reaction isn't normal."

"Even if I did come in contact with that Reina Kamisu... no, I probably did, 'Atsushi Kogure' did. But I don't know anything. Atsushi Kogure no longer exists, so leave me be! Why does everyone keep asking me those questions?!"

"Hm?" I mutter, puzzled by his concluding sentence. "Do you mean us by 'everyone'?"

"Of course. And that strange girl that suddenly talked to me the other day."

Strange girl...?

"Who are you talking about?"

"I don't know who she is! Well, not that I know anyone at all. She suddenly walked up to me and said, 'As I thought. You died, didn't you?' I guess we met somewhere before..."

As I thought. You died, didn't you?"...?

"Hozumi-chan?"

"Yes?"

"What impression would you get from Atsushi-kun if you passed by him on the street?"

"Huh? Uhm... not a special one... at most, I would feel that he's a somewhat unusual person."

"...Agreed," I nod.

Hozumi-chan's right. The girl he met was indeed strange; what she said is not something you hear a lot from strangers. Odd people like that are rare, but I remember hearing something to the same effect only recently..

It seems like that girl mistook him for a dead person; in other words, she thinks that she has the ability to perceive dead people. As ghosts? As humanoid energies?

A fit of disgust assaults me from inside my chest, sending a burning, black lump up my throat. I feel nauseated, my fingers are trembling, my eyes are burning, my throat is sore.

"Do you... know her name?" I ask as I press my hand against my chest.

"Why do you care?" Atsushi-kun snaps back.

He pisses me off.

"Just fucking tell me!" I yell, surprising not only him, but also the other two. That pisses me off just as much. "So?! Do you know her name or not?!"

"...She did tell me her name... I think she called herself Watarai, or Wakui... ah, her first name was Shizuka."

Ah—

So this is where it started?

With this, I can finally connect the dots of this warped ring.

There's no doubting it:

Shizuka became infected with "Reina Kamisu" from Atsushi-kun.

"Atsushi-kun. Spit what you know about Reina Kamisu," I urge him again.

"...I don't know anything for crying out loud."

I grab him by the collar.

"Nothing, you say? Are you shitting me?! You know her! If you don't, remember! Want me to jog your memory, eh? I hear a shock treatment works miracles?"

"C-Calm down, Toyoshina-san!" Yuji-kun urges as he grabs my arm.

"Hands off!" I yell, glaring at him.

However, he doesn't let go of my arm. He's strong. It hurts. FUCK. IT HURTS. Let go of me, jackass! I have to learn the truth about Reina Kamisu! Whatever it takes! Why would I let a little shit like you stop me?!

"S-Stop it, senpai!" Hozumi-chan grabs my arm as well.

What? You team up against me? Just when I thought you've understood me a little, Hozumi-chan. What a mistake. You're just a stranger, after all.

"Hands off, bitch!"

She lets go of me.

What?! If something like that already scares you off, then don't try to stop me from the start! Don't follow me around from the start! What?! Don't look at me with such teary eyes—

"..."

I let go of Atsushi-kun.

"—I'm sorry," I apologize. "I'm sorry!" I apologize to the three of them.

I'm despicable. Horrible.

Not only did I lose my composure just because Atsushi-kun happened to associate with Reina Kamisu and got rough with him, I also hurt Hozumi-chan again. She's never going to forget that I insulted her. She's never going to forget this temporary burst of hatred against her. With the single word "bitch" I have hurt her more than the sharpest blade could, even though I was aware of these consequences.

I'm scum. A lowlife. Trash. A maggot. I should just die.

There is a silence among us; everyone keeps their mouth shut.

What? Where are your reproaches? Cut out those looks of sympathy! They only remind me of my own foolishness...

"Toyoshina-san..." Atsushi-kun breaks the silence. "I do really not remember Reina Kamisu."

"Yeah... I believe you. I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay. I may not remember her, but I do spot a horrifying... specter every so often for a split second."

Could it be that this is...?

"Judging by my fright, it might indeed be Reina Kamisu. However, that is all I know. The only other thing I can tell is that—"

"—she is absurdly beautiful."

—It's her, Reina Kamisu.

The specter that is following him around, and that erased Atsushi Kogure's memory, is doubtlessly Reina Kamisu.

You only get that absurd impression from her; at least, I haven't met any other people of such beauty up to now.

In other words, "Reina Kamisu" is a phenomenon that gives off the impression of being "absurdly beautiful."

She's a phenomenon that creates the exact same impression in all of us.

"...Senpai?" Hozumi-chan taps me. I bend down to her height. "Looks like the two of you met the same Reina Kamisu, doesn't it?" she whispers into my ear.

I answer with a whisper as well, "What makes you think so?"

"Well, because he got the same impression as you."

"Hozumi-chan," I start and proceed to correcting her, "It's the other way around."

"Hey, why don't you let us in on what you're whispering?" Yuji-kun interrupts us.

"Never mind," I say and turn at Atsushi-kun. "Atsushi-kun. Could you tell us what impression you got from the strange girl that talked to you?"

"...Well, I suppose you could say she was fairly pretty."

"Was she your type?"

"No, not at all," he replies without hesitating.

"Okay, so did she look anything like the specter you're afraid of?"

"...I'm pretty sure she didn't, although I can't give you my word on it."

"I see...," I mutter and give Hozumi-chan a look. She seems to be puzzled by the discrepancy of facts. "Yuji-kun? Can you tell me more about the three students who committed suicide?"

"Sure, I'll try."

"Give me as much details as possible, please."

"Hm... I didn't know them too well, though..."

"I don't mind, just tell me what you know," I reassure him.

"Okay. The first victim was Fumi Saito, a student that didn't stand out at all in class. She was falsely accused of having stolen someone's wallet, and that's probably why she eventually killed herself."

I doubt that the true reason was that straightforward, but that doesn't matter right now.

"She didn't have any friends, except for Reina Kamisu, to whom she was very close," I add.

"Though there's no proof that she really was friends with Reina Kamisu, but it seems that way judging by her statements."

"Got it. What about the second one?"

"The second victim was Kyouhei Kimura. Committed suicide because he blamed himself for Saito-san's death."

"He must have been craving for forgiveness from Saito-san. But she was death. Therefore he apologized to Reina Kamisu instead."

"...? Toyoshina-san?" Yuji-kun asks, dumbfounded.

"Never mind."

"The third victim was Yuu Mizuhara. She was involved in the suicide of the previous two students, and that fact strained her mentally to the point that she claimed that a ghost had killed the other two. She was under the delusion that she would be killed as well, and then committed suicide."

"She was cornered. She didn't want to admit the blame. That's why she resorted to making up another cause—a ghost. A ghost that is Reina Kamisu," I add yet again.

"...What's up with those comments, seriously?" Yuji-kun asks.

"Oh, just ignore them. By the way, Atsushi-kun?"

"Yes?"

"You suffered quite a lot in the past, didn't you?"

"So I heard."

"And you died. Through Reina Kamisu."

"...Maybe you can say that."

As for Shizuka... it's obvious: She was yearning for a reason for her misfortune—and had Reina Kamisu provide her with one.

They all imposed different roles on Reina Kamisu.

More importantly, I highly doubt that the appearance required from her for those roles would be the exact same in terms of stature, age, face, and so forth. And yet, both Atsushi-kun and I thought that she was "absurdly beautiful."

All right, so Reina Kamisu, as I perceive her, resembles Shizuka. I know for a fact, however, that while Shizuka certainly didn't dislike her own looks, she didn't consider herself all that pretty.

Now, what if we assumed that Reina Kamisu was the exact same person for all of us? Would we all find the same appearance "absurdly beautiful" despite the difference of tastes?

Right, as I said: It's the other way around.

She gives us the same impression only because she looks different for everyone. "Reina Kamisu" is specifically adjusted to look "absurdly beautiful" in our eyes.

Hold on, but then why—

Why is it that we all call this phenomenon "Reina Kamisu" when she appears differently for everyone?

The answer is—

"—Yuji-kun. Atsushi-kun. Let's call it a day," I say with a wave of my hand, take Hozumi-chan's hand while she's still baffled, and turn around to take my leave.

"Ah, hey, wait a sec!"

"What's the matter, Yuji-kun...?" I ask in response.

"It sounds like you found something out about this Reina Kamisu; would you mind telling us?"

"...Just silly musings, really."

"I don't mind, so...?"

I waver. If I say nothing, chances are that he will keep nagging me about it. After all, he must be terribly eager to learn the truth behind the name that keeps coming up in the recent miseries of his classmates.

And that's exactly why it's dangerous to tell him.

"I noticed that there's a fitting other word for 'Reina Kamisu.'"

"Which would be...?"

"'Angel.'"

Yuji-kun remains unimpressed.

"What noun describes a beautiful woman that appears before people who are to die? 'Angel' fits the bill nicely, no?"

"I guess so..." he says without an additional remark. He still seems discontent, but I can recognize a sign of resignation in his face.

Good. It worked. That should put a stop to his interest in my findings regarding Reina Kamisu.

"Okay then, goodbye," I say.

"Yes, goodbye. Hope to see you again sometime."

I briefly wave my hand toward them. Yuji-kun waves back but Atsushi-kun has already turned away from me.

Atsushi Kogure.

Could you say that he got away with a black eye? Or did he die as he said himself?

Anyway. An 'angel' I called her...?

What a laughable yet strangely fitting simile. If she showed up with a halo above her head and a pair of wings on her back, I might actually believe that blatant lie myself. It would be so much easier if I just went with that and quit thinking.

"Senpai..." Hozumi-chan suddenly starts to speak after a while. I already knew what she was going to ask. "Can you tell me the truth?"

And then I regretted revealing everything to her earlier in the train.

=== 4 ===

Names.

"TV", "tissue", "contact lenses", "dog", "baseball", "banana", "cloud", "atom", "light", "Ukraine", "Hozumi Shiiki", "Reina Kamisu".

They're all just terms given to objects for convenience's sake. The convenience of using them is not their only purpose, however; names bind concepts, they shape concepts, they draw attention to concepts, and they bring them to life.

"Reina Kamisu"—a multifarious phenomenon that kills her observers.

That is how I define "Reina Kamisu", while ignoring the lack of evidence, reasoning and common sense.

Well, well, there is one question that presents itself: While it is still acceptable to say that this phenomenon assumes different roles and eventually kills whoever perceives her, there is absolutely no justification to link the phenomenon to the name "Reina Kamisu". However, even though the phenomenon varies for everyone, we all call it by the same name without any hesitation or doubt. She never called herself that, either.

I take the stairs to the second floor and notice Hozumi-chan standing by the door to my classroom. As I approach her, she notices me as well and we greet each other.

"Senpai. I brooded all night over your hypothesis," she immediately gets to the point. "As you said, the victims were already aware of the name 'Reina Kamisu'. The name comes first. Saito-san and Kogure-kun and Kimura-kun and Mizuhara-san and Wakui-senpai and your paths have all crossed somewhere. Which means that you all had the opportunity to learn the name 'Reina Kamisu'. I agree with the conclusion that you've drawn from that, Senpai."

"—You become infected with Reina Kamisu by learning her name."

I nod.

"I'm sorry," I apologize.

Hozumi-chan shakes her head, "Don't worry. I wished for it myself."

Right—I made the mistake of telling her the name of "Reina Kamisu". I was careless. I seem to be constantly giving her trouble.

That being said, I'm pretty sure that learning Reina Kamisu's name alone does not automatically make her visible to you. This is supported by the fact that she hasn't shown up in front of Yuji-kun and his classmates even though they've heard her name.

There must be some sort of condition. As a matter of fact, the reason why I wanted Yuji-kun to lose interest in the matter was to prevent him from accidentally fulfilling that unknown condition. Wake not a sleeping lion (Reina Kamisu). The best protection against Reina Kamisu is losing one's interest in her.

"Senpai," Hozumi-chan says with eyes that let me foresee what she's going to say. "Let me warn you: it's useless to try telling me to back out of this matter."

As I expected.

"...I won't," I mutter, and she responds with a happy smile.

Geez...

"Oh, Yoshinon!" she calls out, still smiling brightly. Her eyes are directed at Yoshino-chan who is trotting toward us. "Morning Yoshinon!"

"Morning, Hozumi-chan," she replies.

"Hey," I greet her as well.

"G-Good morning... Toyoshina-senpai."

Again that difference in attitude.

"What's the matter, Yoshinon?"

"Ah, er, I only saw your bag when I went to our classroom, so I thought you might be here." With these words, Yoshino-chan scours her own bag and takes out something resembling a massive book.

With a blushed face, she holds it out to me.

"Hm?"

On a closer look it seems to be a graduation album.

"Um... I sneaked into my sister's room and borrowed her graduation album..."

Now that she mentions it; I completely forgot that I asked her to bring her sister's album from her time at the Junseiwa School.

"You're a master thief, Yoshinon!" Hozumi-chan jokes.

"Ew... she wouldn't have allowed me to take it otherwise... Um, Toyoshina-senpai, may I ask you to return it to me in the course of the day?"

"Yeah, fine by me. Sorry for bothering you," I apologize to her.

"A, n-no! It was a pleasure!"

It was...? Oh, I should just be thankful.

"All right... I guess I'm off to the library. I want to take a look."

"Huh? What about school?" Hozumi-chan asks, surprised.

"To be honest, I don't have time for that now."

After hearing my response, she (somewhat unsurprisingly) counters, "I'm going with you!"

"...Are you sure?" Yoshino-chan asks.

"Of course. I'm sorry, but can you tell them that I've overslept or something?"

"...Okay, I got it."

Since I'm well aware that it's no use trying to persuade Hozumi-chan, I keep out of their exchange of words.

"Okay, let's go senpai."

"Got it."

After saying goodbye to Yoshino-chan, we head together to the library room. As we walk there, I sneak a peek at the thick album.

Well, I don't expect us to discover anything in this album. It's unlikely that the group suicide over there is connected to Reina Kamisu in any way. Even if she were, I would be surprised to find anything valuable in an album.

However—I was entirely wrong.

Within a mere 5 minutes after taking a seat next to each other, we spotted something.

The heart of the graduation album, the group picture of all members of the class, contained several parts that differed significantly from the rest in terms of size, exposure, background, and so on.

Because of our prior knowledge we can tell why that is. Most if not all of these parts belong to—

—the suicide victims.

"Senpai?"

"Hm?"

"I don't want to sound silly, but..."

"Yeah?"

"Aren't there too many pretty girls over there at the Junseiwa School? I'm kind of jealous."

Honestly speaking, I was too focused on the disagreeing parts to notice. Now that she mentions it, though, I can see that there are indeed a lot of pretty girls in the photo.

"Not only wealthy but also cute and clever... that sure makes me doubt if God really doesn't give with both hands, as the saying goes," she comments.

"I don't think that you need to hide, though, Hozumi-chan."

"Ah, don't mind me. You don't have to pay me lip-service."

That wasn't meant as lip-service.

"Anyway, it's only normal that there would be lot of pretty girls at a renown all girls' school," I say.

"Why? Because only those sorts of girls aim for such a school?"

"I suppose that's not exactly wrong, either, but consider this: looks are heavily influenced by the genes of one's parents, right?"

"Yes, so?"

"And here's the point: Bigwigs almost exclusively get themselves beautiful wives," I conclude.

Hozumi-chan claps her hands together once.

"The scales fell from my eyes."

You actually wondered about it?

I decide to let her be and flip the page.

—I stop midway.

"What's the—" Hozumi-chan asks, only to cut off when she sees the picture I found.

I continue in a mutter in her place.

"—Reina Kamisu."

That name is written there indeed, but we would have held our breath—and be enchanted—either way.

Because the student depicted—

"—It's almost absurd how beautiful she is," Hozumi-chan remarks.

Precisely. She is stands out even among the many other pretty faces. If one were to compare her with a diamond, the other students would be crude stones in comparison. As much as hesitate to admit it, Hozumi-chan wouldn't leave the slightest impression on me if she stood next to the girl in that picture.

For a while, I am completely taken aback by the photograph and the sheer beauty of the Reina Kamisu in it.

But in reality, that isn't of any import; the picture poses a problem that is much more severe.

"I don't get it... why can we see Reina Kamisu in this picture?"

Hozumi-chan gives me a puzzled glance.

"Reina Kamisu is just a phenomenon. She does not possess a body."

"...Maybe she shows in pictures?"

"Even if that were true, she wouldn't get an entry in an album unless someone actually perceived her."

"Which means that..."

I look at the picture again.

She does not resemble Shizuka; but she does resemble the "Reina Kamisu" I know.

"I think we're on the same track, Hozumi-chan."

"Yes..."

"Most likely—"

Those two Reina Kamisus are not equivalent to each other; that's clear just from their looks.

They are, however, both absurdly beautiful.

"—the Reina Kamisu in this picture is a human."

In the end, we didn't attend our classes and instead went straight to Yoshino-chan's address without any notice to her; we wanted to question her sister about Reina Kamisu.

How come the girl in that picture was also called "Reina Kamisu"?

It might be just a coincidence; that would be the most plausible explanation.

The name given to the phenomenon might just have happened to match that of an existing person. But then again, Reina Kamisu is by no means a common name. Moreover, the real person is brought into connection with a group suicide, while the phenomenon entices into suicide, and on top of that, they're both absurdly beautiful and look alike. That's about as crazy as pulling off two royal straight flushes in a row at the beginning of a poker match, but still more down-to-earth than winning the lottery jackpot.

However, I don't know about Hozumi-chan, but at least I discarded that possibility rather quickly.

Because I've actually seen "Reina Kamisu".

I'm certain that anyone who has seen her will agree with me: There is a definite link between the girl in that picture and the phenomenon that shares her name. That's more certain than that bull dogs and chihuahuas are of the same species.

"By the way, the buildings around here are quite something, aren't they?" I say with astonishment.

"I was surprised, too, when I first visited Yoshinon. Would you believe me if I told you that her mom showed up with a Porsche to fetch us?"

"A Porsche? Not bad."

"But Yoshinon's still normal; I heard that a large part of the households in this vicinity have their own limousines and drivers."

Limousines, hm? Sounds like a distant world to me.

Now why would so many inhabitants of that comfy distant world end their lives? They were both blessed with wealth and beauty, and must have been devoid of worries. They had everything that is needed for a happy life.

However, "happiness" is entirely subjective.

A single issue can be perfectly enough for an individual to become unhappy. For example, if the boy or girl you fancy gives you the cold shoulder, you might feel hapless even in a blessed environment. Such an environment amounts to nothing when it comes to fending of the feeling of misfortune.

Therefore, if there was a cause of some kind, it's entirely possible that even a habitant of that distant world committed suicide.

—Reina Kamisu. Did you create that cause? Will you seduce me into suicide as well, as you did with the students of the Shikura middle school?

How?

I try to recall "Reina Kamisu" as I remember her; an absurdly beautiful girl that resembles Shizuka.

What is the role I give to Reina Kamisu? What do I need? Who do I need?

Hm?

—Who do I need?

"———"

Reina Kamisu: a phenomenon that takes on various roles. Who resembles Shizuka.

"Senpai? What's wrong?" Hozumi-chan asks because I suddenly stopped.

Who do I need?

The answer's obvious: Shizuka. I only need Shizuka.

Having finally found the puzzle piece I was looking for, my rusty faculty of thought is set in motion again and starts to restlessly hunt down answers. Answers, answers, answers... the answers I seek sum up like a snowball.

This leaves me with one more thing that I need: confirmation. Something to prove my answers.

I see.

I see now! I found out, Reina Kamisu!

I raise my head with conviction.

As I thought.

Behind Hozumi-chan, next to a house that looks like a pompous show house exhibition—

—I see Reina Kamisu.

"I see. So we only have to wish for her to show up. Because—"

I put on a grin.

"—Kamisu Reina is here."

I walk past Hozumi-chan and head toward Reina Kamisu.

"Senpai!" she shouts out, visibly anxious about my strange behavior.

"Stay away! You must stay away!" I command her as I turn around and scowl at her.

She steps back because of my hard tone.

Yes, that's the spirit.

I do not care about Hozumi-chan anymore. She's no longer needed.

"Don't get in my way!" Leave us alone.

This is what I wished.

This is what I wished Reina Kamisu to be.

"I missed you, Reina Kamisu," I say as I catch her in a dark back street.

She responds with a smile—an absurdly beautiful smile, much like Shizuka's.

"Let's begin with the reason why I didn't notice you up to now, shall we?"

Reina Kamisu listens silently to me.

"You are a phenomenon that only becomes perceivable by us becoming aware of your existence. There seem to be multiple requirements for that, like knowing your name, but it's safe to assume that I've fulfilled those, since I've seen you once before. Then why is that I haven't been able to see you ever since?"

I am almost glaring at her as I continue.

"It's because I started to consider you a phenomenon."

Her cheeks move slightly, but apart from that she stays absolutely silent.

"When assessing a mysterious phenomenon like you from a perspective that is grounded on common sense—and only then—it becomes impossible to admit your existence. Basically, common sense imposed a filter on me that operated in my subconsciousness and prevented your data from getting to me. In order to perceive you nonetheless, it's thus necessary to either remove that filter or to shift one's perception of you to something different from a phenomenon."

This time around, Reina Kamisu gives me a clear response. She nods.

"You appeared before me with a certain role. I am aware of that role by now. One part of it is to help me arrive at the answer I was looking for," I explain while thinking back at the burning question that plagued me at the time of our first encounter. "But let me ask you something first: Who is that Reina Kamisu in the picture I saw? How is she related to you?"

"She's a person called 'Reina Kamisu'."

I heard her voice for the first time; it's as beautiful as expected.

"Is she someone else than you?"

"Yes, I suppose she is. In the sense of being a different being."

"What to you mean by different being?"

She replies to my question with a smile, "She is what you might call my roots, you know."

"You roots...?"

Seeing that I can't quite follow her, she expands on her explanation, "...Why do you think I was given the name of 'Reina Kamisu'?"

I consider her question. The phenomenon said that the person was her roots, her origin. In other words, the person named Reina Kamisu existed first? So the phenomenon came to be only recently? That doesn't sound plausible to me. I feel that the phenomenon she represents has always existed, just without anyone finding a way to perceive her—

"—Oh, I got it."

"Did you?"

"Your name made you perceivable, just like we become explicitly aware of the concept of air by giving it the name 'air'. Put another way, the phenomenon Reina Kamisu exists because we gave it that name."

"Exactly."

That explains why she spreads through her name.

"But why 'Reina Kamisu' of all names? Was there no alternative?"

If the Reina Kamisu in that album was a normal person, then there is no reason why "Shizuka Wakui" or "Hozumi Shiiki" or "Yoshino Mitsui" couldn't serve as a namesake.

"That's because her existence was singularly close to mine."

"Close...? Do you mean you blended into other people's perception of her? Similar to how a non-technical person won't be able to differentiate between a computer screen and a TV?"

"You've guessed right."

"But then... in what way did the human Reina Kamisu resemble you? In the way that she also caused others to commit suicided?" I ask.

"That's not correct. When people correctly perceive me, they tend to despair. I'm not responsible for that."

"Then what else makes her similar to you?"

"Just look at me. It's our outward appearance."

"Your appearance?" I frown. "I admit that the photo of your human counterpart resembled you, but your appearance is variable. It changes depending on the observer. It's not possible to resemble something that doesn't maintain its shape."

"But you just admitted that we resembled each other, didn't you?"

My eyes widen. I nod.

"Let me summarize," I say.

"Don't let me stop you."

"You're beautiful. Absurdly beautiful."

"Thank you."

"And that's also the impression you make on everyone as a phenomenon."

"That's not quite correct," she argues.

"What do you mean...?"

"I don't give off an impression of beauty. I am beauty itself."

"...I'm afraid you lost me."

"Have you ever heard of the Theory of Forms?"

"I'm familiar with the name, but I don't know what it means exactly."

"For example, take an elephant and picture it to yourself."

I do as she told me and imagine an elephant. The first thing that comes to mind is its long trunk, followed by a picture of its large ears and tusks. The elephant is big and gray and has thick skin. I uses its trunk skilfully to pick food.

"Are you done?"

"Yes."

"So where did your image of an elephant come from?"

"Wherefrom...?"

Of course from the information stored in my brain. However, it's impossible for me to tell from which elephant exactly that impression originates. It might be one of the elephants I've seen in the zoo in my childhood, or it might be one from the TV or a book, or perhaps even from someone's description of an elephant.

"All right," she continues, "now imagine you saw an elephant right before you. Would you recognize it as one?"

"Most certainly."

"All right," she says, "now imagine you saw a beautiful person right before you. Would you deem her beautiful?"

I sneak a peek at Reina Kamisu.

"Of course."

"But how do you decide whether or not a beautiful person is beautiful?"

"By—" I pause to consider the hint she's given me. "—comparing her to my image of a beautiful person and see how close she is, maybe?"

"Correct."

...So is it like this...?

"Reina Kamisu, you are my very image of a 'beautiful person.'"

"Right, I am your archetype of beauty. That's why I look more beautiful to you than anyone else."

I see, that's why Reina Kamisu resembles Shizuka; after all, Shizuka constitutes a great deal of my image of a beautiful girl.

Okay, it looks like I was slightly wrong with my original hypothesis. I thought that Reina Kamisu's resemblance to Shizuka originated from her second role to me.

"My existence is detached from space and time, and is to be found in the world of Forms. Not that the Theory of Forms expresses precisely what I am, but it's close enough. I'm only using this term because there is no other name for it, just like there is no other name for me. But I do indeed exist on the back side—or front side!—seen from you."

"In other words... you live in another world?"

"I don't know if it's really another world, but I suppose for the current mankind, who only believe what they see, it actually is another world. My being is entirely dependent on you, so if you define me as non-existent, then there is no world for me to live in. What will never change, however, is that I do exist."

"...I think I roughly understand what you are. But then I have a hard time comprehending how the girl in that picture could resemble you."

"Why don't you try to reverse the equation?"

"Reverse?"

"Don't think that Reina Kamisu resembles me—think that I resemble Reina Kamisu."

I don't get it. Isn't that exactly the same thing, except for the order?

Except for the order...?

The Reina Kamisu in the picture was a real person, and therefore had a constant appearance. The Reina Kamisu in front of my eyes, on the other hand, changes her visuals depending on the observer.

The human "Reina Kamisu" had an appearance that nearly everyone would find to be beautiful. That said, so many men, so many minds. In theory, it's perfectly possible that she's ugly in someone's eyes.

The phenomenon, however, must absolutely always be absurdly beautiful. That's her definition.

To rephrase this: there might be a person who considers the person "Reina Kamisu" as ugly, but the phenomenon as beautiful.

The reverse is impossible.

If I combine that fact with the fact that both the phenomenon and the person look absurdly beautiful, and similar, in my eyes...

"Don't tell me—"

I already knew that there was another condition apart from knowing her name. Those conditions are necessary to mix up the human Reina Kamisu and the phenomenon.

In other words, people whose image of beauty does not match the looks of the human Reina Kamisu are not able to mix those two up.

Put the other way—

"Only people whose image of beauty does almost precisely match the looks of your human counterpart are able mix you two up and create a link between the name and the phenomenon."

That is the second condition.

Reina Kamisu nods and adds to my explanation, "And as you mentioned beforehand, I will appear besides everyone who longs strongly enough for me, or more precisely for a replacement of somebody, to override the filter that is their common sense."

"But most people will eventually regain their common sense," I continue her intent, "and become unable to place you in the role they gave you. Which means that they will either lose what was vital to them, or despair because they notice that what they believed in was fake. And as a consequence—"

"—they are likely to commit suicide."

Reina Kamisu—so far I considered her evil in itself.

But I was wrong.

She is neither good nor evil; she just exists. She is just a purposeless phenomenon that is forced to appear whenever she is given a name.

That is the truth behind Reina Kamisu.

"Kazuaki Toyoshina," she says and I raise my head. "What role do you give me?" she asks with a smile resembling Shizuka's.

"...You planning to give me false hopes, just to make me despair in the face of the truth?"

"Perhaps. But you're not like the others, are you?"

"Not like the others? How so?"

"You are able to perceive me even though you realized that I'm a phenomenon. That's a remarkable difference, isn't it?"

That's true...

I'm already aware of what she really is. I'm not like the others who fell into despair as they approached the truth behind her being. The way to salvation is not going to abruptly break off.

If I give her the role of the person I crave for, I will be able to wallow in a soft dream.

Shizuka does not exist in this world anymore.

Then what should be my decision—?

My decision?

There's nothing to waver.

I, I—

I take the cross choker out of my pocket. I've already noticed what I'm supposed to use it for.

I take a step toward Reina Kamisu.

I won't return. I don't need to.

My final step—

"...Senpai."

—is stopped by that voice.

Didn't I tell you to stay away? To not get in my way?!

I turn around and glare at Hozumi Shiiki.

Though unsettled by the anger in my look, she continues to speak, "...Who were you talking to, Senpai?"

I don't answer her.

So at the end of the day, she won't recognize what's important for me; she won't take take the same path no matter how much she feels attached to me. She isn't worth much to me: neither is she able to substitute Shizuka, nor is she able to make up for her in the slightest.

"Reina Kamisu. Let's meet up tomorrow."

"...Where?"

"That place. I'm sure you understand, right?"

Reina Kamisu smiles at me.

"Senpai..."

I ignore Hozumi-chan again. Instead I take the graduation album out of my bag and hand it to her, "Return this to Yoshino-chan, okay?"

Wih these words I turn away from her.

"Senpai!" she calls out to me from behind. "I... I... what... what do I have to do?! What do I have to do... to walk the same path as—"

"Hozumi-chan," I interrupt her. "Stop bothering me or—"

With my back turned toward her,

"—I will kill you." I spit words of rejection.

I walk away.

I throw everything away.

I throw away even the foolish but gentle girl who has treated me ever so warmly.

I can no longer see anything.

I can no longer hear anything.

Therefore I can absolutely not hear the weeping behind me either.

===5===

"Let's get married when we've grown up."

That's the typical promise made between two childhood friends. You hear it so often in manga or anime or games and so forth that it's become a cliché. It's the most straightforward way to ensure an unbreakable bond between the protagonist and the heroine.

But in real life there is no meaning in such a promise.

When we grow up, we don't remember those childish promises anyway, and even if we do, they have long since expired because we didn't even know the real meaning of marriage. Only a hopeless fool would take that proposal serious and ask a girl out on that pretext. Even if two childhood friends date each other, a promise like that does not count as a memory but as a funny story.

We are constantly growing up, leaving behind the past. Therefore, it's essential to always live in the same time as the other party in order to keep such a promise intact.

At the beginning, neither of the two might know what the difference between boys and girls is, and what it means to get married or to become a couple. From there, they have to keep walking and growing up together, and they will slowly but surely come to understand what it means to find a partner for life. When they do that and still continue to treasure the promise of getting married when they've grown up—and only then—that promise acquires a significance.

I consider that a miracle. It's impossible not to withdraw such a promise after getting to know every good and bad trait of the other party, or the dirty differences between boys and girls, or the appeal of the other sex. Maybe they become aware of their feelings for each other after parting ways ways once to find themselves other partners, but it's impossible to constantly hold the belief of belonging together and getting married. I am positive that it's safe to say that such a thing is impossible. That's why I consider it a miracle.

And our relationship was founded on such a miracle.

Though made possible only because of a narrow view and foolishness, I felt quite comfortable with that kind of relationship.

It was extremely dear to me.

With those thoughts in mind, I look around our park.

Here we sat together in a swing. Here we unsuccessfully tried to build a tunnel with sand. Here we did our first forward upward circling on the horizontal bar. The jungle gym I fell from has been removed by now, but this place is still doubtlessly the park that we considered ours.

This is where I spent time with the little Shizuka.

This park shaped us, protected us, and—destroyed us.

Yeah, that's right.

Even the dearest of places may stab you in the back.

Yeah, that's right.

Reality treats saints and sinners all alike, attacking them mechanically, randomly, without any consideration and selection.

Yeah, that's right.

Anything and everything in this world with the exception of Shizuka betrays me.

I feel the content of my pocket with my hand. The cross choker is there. I'm fine.

I close my eyes. Because I don't want to see.

I cover my ears. Because I don't want to hear.

I close myself to the world. Because I don't want to believe.

There is only one thing I need to see now: the phenomenon that exists around me with an appearance similar to Shizuka's.

Reina Kamisu is waiting for me at the center of the park.

"Are you done saying goodbye to your friends?" she asks.

"There is no one I have to say goodbye to."

"I see..." she notes with a slightly sad smile.

"There is someone I need," I say with averted eyes.

"I know."

"I'm helpless without her. I can't move on at this rate."

"...I know."

"I do absolutely and unconditionally need Shizuka Wakui."

"...I know."

As I turn to her, I ask, "Do you also have a person who you need?"

After a short pause, Reina Kamisu replies, "I suppose that would be you, Kazuaki Toyoshina."

"...I see. You're right. You're dependent on me, after all."

"...That's also part of the reason."

"Also?"

"I assume it's due to the role that you gave me, but I seem to... be extremely fond of you. I can't help wanting to be by your side."

"...Do you possess feelings?" I ask her.

"I do!"

"But... those were conceived by me."

"Yes, but they are not false... or would you call feelings that someone created in you false?"

I answer with a weak smile, "I wouldn't."

"Right? I do feel the same as a common human when I manifest in front of you, even though I may purely be an idea."

"Even though you exist solely for the sake of someone else?"

"Yes."

To be honest, I think that we may resemble each other. I was dependent on Shizuka, too, and lost my place to be when she died.

"We're much alike," I say aloud.

"...I suppose you're right. We'll get along just fine," Reina Kamisu smiles at me. "I only exist to fulfill the role you gave to me. I will become who you need and stay by your side."

"...As my lover?"

"Yes. We will walk side by side for all eternity. You will abandon this world and only concern yourself with me. I know that this is your wish. That this is your happiness."

"You're absolutely right."

With those words, I take the choker out of my pocket.

"That's a lovely choker," she remarks.

I silently put the chocker that Shizuka wore at the very end around Reina Kamisu's neck.

"How is it?"

I gaze at her without letting go of the choker, and reply:

"It looks great on you."

Upon hearing my answer, Reina Kamisu,who resembles Shizuka, smiles.

Suddenly, I wonder where I will be going. Where Reina Kamisu will be guiding me.

I turn my attention at her again; the choker suits her greatly.

I remember ordering it on the Internet because I was too embarrassed to enter a jeweler's shop. I was astonished when I noticed that the actual thing looked quite different from the pictures, but Shizuka loved my present nonetheless.

When she put it on, she laughed and joked, "Maybe I'm a bit too young for this?" I then told her not to strain herself, but she assured me that she wanted to wear it.

It's a shame, but the choker did not suit her.

I still won't let go of the choker.

"...Kazuaki?"

Oh boy, God remains cruel to me.

"Don't call me that!" I shout.

"Eh?"

Reina Kamisu has feelings and is attracted to me on top of that. She's no different from a human.

"Otherwise it would sound like Shizuka were calling my name, no?"

But I'm the one who set up this scene. I wished all this.

"What do you mean...?" she asks.

It's what I wished for in order to win.

"—You are Reina Kamisu and no one else!"

At her last hour Shizuka wore this choker. It never really suited her. It was a token of our love.

And with this choker, I—

—strangle Reina Kamisu.

At once, her beautiful face that resembles Shizuka's distorts with pain.

"...Wh...y...?"

Despair shows in her face.

"Don't you get it?" I ask without loosening the choker. "You can't become Shizuka, nor can you replace her. You can't satisfy me by any stretch. Being similar to her is by far not enough. If you really were to replace her, you would've had to be as alike as two peas in a pod."

"...B-But... but then... what is my role...?"

"The answer is staring you in the face."

I strangle Reina Kamisu's neck so hard that she can no longer say a word. She moans painfully.

"If your role isn't to be my lover and substitute for Shizuka, then it's your role to be—"

"—my enemy!"

Reina Kamisu. I will never forgive you.

I detest the enemy that tormented Shizuka and me.

I detest the park that betrayed us.

I detest the fate that left us with this outcome.

I detest all those non-existent enemies.

That's why I give that role to you, Reina Kamisu.

That detestable role belongs to you.

"Reina Kamisu, you are—"

"—a monster that must die."

Reina Kamisu.

You may be a phenomenon—an intangible phenomenon—but I can still kill you.

Don't you agree?

After all, enemies exist—

—to be killed.

"Die."

I don't care if the entire world gets distorted by the erasure of Reina Kamisu.

I don't care if killing her solves nothing.

It will make nobody happy, not even me.

I'll do it only for me as I go to hell, because it's the only thing I can do.

I will—

"Please, die already!"

—kill Reina Kamisu.

I can clearly feel her neck as I strangle her. The sensation of killing; the realization that her life drains.

I can clearly feel it.

I feel something dwindle away. Maybe it's something that's insignificant to others, something invisible, but my gut feeling rings an alarm bell.

But as much as I try to catch it, it will just run through my fingers.

Whatever it is, it cannot be made undone. Never.

And before I know it, I have arrived where Reina Kamisu was supposed to guide me.

Reina Kamisu—is no more.

The choker has split apart.

...I don't care anymore.

There is no enemy anymore.

There is no Reina Kamisu anymore.

Reina Kamisu is nowhere.

I return from the boundary of worlds and I find myself in another unfamiliar world.

It's the normal, rational, empty world, which I'm supposed to know only too well. Yet, this world strikes me as unfamiliar.

But it's reality. The hard truth.

Therefore, the sight before my eyes is real.

"Why didn't you listen to me?"

I assigned Reina Kamisu the role of my enemy; but in order to confront and have her fulfill that role, there was a need for me to unlock the filter of my common sense.

That's why I closed my eyes, covered my ears and closed myself to the world. I needed to warp the original data into shape.

My enemy.

My memory was manipulated so that I would kill my enemy, Reina Kamisu, by manipulating the flow of information in a way that would present her death as my first priority. The system revolves entirely around her role.

Reina Kamisu is a phenomenon.

She can't physically kill anyone, and no one can physically kill her.

But Reina Kamisu was my enemy.

She had to be killed. I had to physically experience the sensation of murdering her. There was a need to feel her death with my own hands.

As a result...

Didn't I warn you?

—That's why I told you not to stay away from me.

"Hozumi-chan."

I look down at her. Her face is so distorted with pain that it's painful to look at it directly—and yet there is an undeniable glimmer of satisfaction in her face.

Why?!

It's enough if Reina Kamisu takes on others' roles, so why did you think of taking on the role of Reina Kamisu?

Was keeping up contact with me so important to you? Did you prefer opposing me over being left behind?

You're incomprehensible, Hozumi-chan!

I, yes I, am only concerned with Shizuka and no one else. You can't become Shizuka, nor can you replace her. You can't satisfy me by any stretch.

Why did would you want to stick to a guy like me to the bitter end...?

It's a shame. Really. You were so close.

You almost managed to change me—

I look up at the sky as I feel that my fight is over.

Hey Shizuka, I won!

I won against Reina Kamisu and Hozumi Shiiki!

I will continue to love you!

But I feel lonely. Incredibly lonely.

There's no one by my side. I don't allow anyone to be.

I'm sure that it will stay that way, with me continuing to remain here.

Someone, please.

Please, anyone, warm me up.

But I won't allow anyone to do that.

Shizuka. Shizuka.

I don't care if you're a ghost, or a fake, or a humanoid energy even.

Don't leave me alone.

But Reina Kamisu is no more.

The being that could replace you is no more.

She is not here anymore.

I'm all alone.

The only thing left to me is—the invaluable symbol of Shizuka and my connection.

The cross choker I gave to her. No—

—the remnants of it.

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| Back to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Shizuka Wakui|Chapter 3]]
| Return to [[Kamisu Reina Series|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Epilogue|Epilogue]]
|-
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</noinclude>

Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Kazuaki Toyoshina

2014-05-08T02:43:51Z

Axyraandas: /* 2 */

===1===

It was me who provided the picture for Shizuka Wakui's funeral.

I own more pictures of her than anyone else—more than she did even. Her smiling, her crying, her getting upset... they are all treasures to me.

I raise my head to look at the photo of Shizuka's lovely smile at the altar.

Ah, it's already been a year since she stopped smiling like that.

Ever since that incident a year from now, she hasn't shown that happy and careless smile of hers. Instead, her eyes dulled and her smiles turned into faint motions of her lips.

But I didn't mind. I was willing to wait by her side for her to regain the joy of living and had no plans of searching for another love.

The smell of incense hits my nose.

I feel like I turn empty as the smell soaks into my body; as if it silently bereaves me of myself. What remains of me is a translucent mass of untouchable void.

All colors around me are either black or white, or the green of our school uniforms. Even colors were stolen from me.

Most likely, I'm going to stay in this strangely isolated world from now on.

"Kazuaki," someone says. I turn around to look at a meek Kiichi.

"...You're here?"

"Of course I am. All of our classmates are."

As Kiichi correctly mentioned, our entire class is here. In fact, there are also students from other classes who used to be friends with Shizuka, students I don't even know and even a few students from other schools.

After that incident, Shizuka started to lose her friends one by one and stopped making new ones, until I was the last remaining person at school who was close to her. The friendship between girls is defined by how they relate to each other; at first, her friends accompanied her because of sympathy, but eventually they couldn't keep up with how she changed.

Nevertheless, many old friends have come to Shizuka's funeral and lamented for her sake. Right now, she's the heroine of a tragedy for everyone, which doesn't please me. She was supposed to be my heroine, not someone else's.

Therefore, I ignore them and gaze at the picture of her.

Her smile.

Why, truly why, could I not protect that smile?

Where did we make the wrong choice? What should I have done? Was my choice to embrace her wrong? Or was it too late by then anyway?

Why could I not protect the one thing I wanted to protect whatever it would take?

What am I supposed to do now that I have completely and entirely lost Shizuka—my other half—my hope, my purpose?

I am the same as that picture.

The smile depicted and I are but evanescent remnants of the past.

Shizuka's body was transported away.

I didn't get to see her face one last time because of severe damage to her corpse. Had I insisted, I may have gotten permission to take a look, but neither Shizuka nor I would have wished for that.

I mean, they said damage. Not injury or scars, boy, but damage.

Hahaha, Shizuka isn't a human being anymore. She's void. Seeing that would only sadden me.

The black and white and green colors have disappeared as I keep standing there, focusing my gaze on the door through which her body was transported.

"Kazuaki-kun," someone says behind me.

"Mrs Wakui."

It's Shizuka's mother, a sorrowful expression on her face. She looks like that because of the loss of her daughter, of course, but part of her melancholy is probably due to sympathy for me.

"Let me give you this," she says as she holds out her fist. When I present the palm of my hand, she drops something on it.

"Ah—"

It's a cross choker; a Christmas present I bought for Shizuka two years ago, saving up three months' worth of pocket money.

"Shizuka was wearing it when she passed away. I... I thought I should give it to you."

I don't look up as I listen to her words, and keep gazing closely at the choker in my hand.

She was wearing it at the bitter end? Even though she hasn't worn it a single time after that incident?

What's the meaning of this? Why did she wear it at the end?

"I'm sorry," she suddenly says.

I'm sorry. Words of apology.

"Ah—"

Damn.

Her mother apologized ahead of me.

She took my right to apologize.

It would have been so much easier to blame myself for having failed to ease Shizuka's pain, for having let her accept such a fate, for being responsible for her death. It would have been so much easier to apologize and crack under the weight.

But her mother didn't grant me that right.

She took up that position before me.

The only thing I have left now is—

"Uh..."

"UAAAAAAAWHHHH!"

—to cry my lungs out.

===2===

Kiichi and I are on our way to the Shikura public middle school. Normally, there's no reason why a high school student who is neither in a committee nor in a club would go to a completely unfamiliar middle school that requires him to take an express train just because it's slightly too far away to go by bicycle. Normally.

"He said he's waiting," Kiichi explains as he claps his cell phone.

"Okay, thanks man. We're better off if there's someone with us who knows his way around. I hear of a lot of suspicious figures around here lately, I don't want them to suspect us."

"Well, not like we're any less suspicious."

"Heh, sounds about right. What's your brother's name, again?"

"Yuji."

"Yuji Kato it is, huh. Do you resemble each other?"

"I honestly can't tell, but for some reason, he's pretty popular with the girls."

"You don't look anything like each other, then."

"...Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

Responding with a wordless grin, I insert my ticket and go through the barrier. Kiichi looks me in the face in a serious manner.

Aah, I see.

He doesn't understand at all; it's been two weeks since the funeral. I've already had a hard time when she was still alive, so it's child's play for me to put on a cheerful face like this.

"Hey, Kazuaki," he starts when we entered the train, still with a heavy-hearted mien. "I shouldn't be giving you sermons already, but you really shouldn't drag on Wakui-san's death forever, 'kay?"

"Why?"

"Well, dude..." he falters for a moment when I counter his advice dryly. "I know that you loved Wakui-san. Maybe it was mutual love even. But Kazuaki: You weren't a couple, let alone married. Just childhood friends. I mean, look at that cute midget girl who's hitting on you; she's the proof that you're popular. Don't waste that potential."

"Aah... you had that kind of impression of us?"

"Hm? But I'm spot-on, no? You obviously were on the way from friends to lovers."

"Nope."

"Oh come on, maybe that's what you thought."

"We were a couple."

"...What? For real?"

Ah, of course he wouldn't know about us. We've only known each other since high school.

"We already started going out in the 6th year of elementary school. Don't go telling this around, but we kissed and even made out with each other in middle school."

"...Did you take the next step?"

"No. She always insisted on waiting until we could marry, and I listened to her like a moron."

"I see..." he squeezes out and falls silent.

However, I continue with a stimulated sense of self-mockery.

"She was raped."

"Yeah..." he comments insecurely, with an ambiguous expression that makes it clear that he already heard of this fairly well-known story.

"What do you think is the first thing she said to me when she told me about it?"

"I have no idea..."

"I'm so sorry."

Kiichi glances at me for a moment, and silently lowers his gaze.

"We had no doubts," I continue, "that I would take her virginity, and that she would give me her virginity. No one expected the train to derail from that predestined path. After we had gone through that station, we would enroll at the same university, find a job, and marry. Finally, after death had part us, we would rest in peace in the same grave. It was an unspoken promise between us that we would follow this path."

"Mm..."

"But that incident messed our plans up. That clear path laid out before us disappeared into thin air. That's why she... apologized, thinking it was her fault. Blaming herself for everything."

"———"

Kiichi is in complete silence, but I continue:

"She was so churned up inside that she couldn't even touch me anymore. No, maybe she just had androphobia, who knows. Anyway, she just wouldn't look at the new path I was trying to build for the two of us. Because of that, we returned to just being friends. Of course, I didn't plan to leave it that way."

"I see..." he simply says.

There's an oppressive silence between us for a while, underlining the tedious rattling of the train. The passengers around us seem to think of everyone else as mere scenery, fiddling with their cell phones or focusing on the music from their headphones.

I begin to speak again.

"I found one of her rapers the other day."

Kiichi's head jumps up. He looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

"...What did you do?"

"I killed him."

He completely loses his tongue.

"I tore off all his clothes, crushed his balls with a stone, beat him up until his face was no longer recognizable, stuffed his mouth with his own shit, peeled off his fingernails one by one, squashed his eyeballs... and while I was doing so, he kicked the bucket."

"...You're joking."

My gaze pinned on the pubs and video shops and fast food restaurants flying by outside the window, I answer him:

"'Course I am."

Fortunately, I don't know what they look like.

As the train starts to slow down, I look outside and think:

Come to think of it... I haven't had Gyudon in a while.

The Shikura Middle School is built amidst the living quarters; finally arriving there, we spot a bunch of students playing soccer and baseball in the cramped school grounds.

Five minutes after Kiichi gives him a call, Yuji shows up at the entrance gate, still in sports gear, subliminally remarking that he was in the middle of working out. With his large and athletic build it stands to reason that he would be popular.

"Let me cut straight to the chase: The three students who committed suicide were in your class, is that right, Yuji-kun?"

"Yes, we had quite the chaos going on here because of that."

"What do you mean?"

"Things like no one wanting to take the blame, getting a new class teacher, and so on."

Three students taking their lives is a big problem, indeed. Added to that, they're in the middle of puberty (not that I'm much older), too, which doesn't mix well and allows for even more problems.

"I heard the gist from Kiichi, so I'll delve right into the details: What do you consider the reason why they committed suicide?"

Yuji-kun ponders. "I think each had their own problems, really. The girl of the first incident didn't have any friends and wasn't exactly treated well in class, and the guy who killed himself next blamed himself for the death of the first victim."

"...Ah, so they didn't commit suicide independently, but rather the first suicide triggered a chain?"

"...That's my view, yes."

"All right..."

When I heard that three students had killed themselves at different times and in different places, I suspected the same irregularity as with Shizuka's case; after all, you wouldn't just commit suicide just because you are confronted with the topic.

If, however, their cases are interconnected and can be traced back, they may not be regular, but they're by no means irregular either.

It seems like this trace, which I tracked because I found that Shizuka was investigating these incidents, ends here.

"Can you show me your classroom, Yuji-kun?" I propose just in case.

"Sure. But please try not to catch anyone's eye. It's a hassle to explain ourselves."

Yuji-kun and I (Kiichi stayed outside) entered the school building. He then showed me around, guiding me to relevant places like their classroom, the landing of the stairway that leads to the roof, where the first victim was often seen, and so on. By the way, the place where I wanted to go most, the roof, was closed, perhaps because of those incidents.

"So? Did you learn anything?" Yuji-kun asks before the door to the roof.

"Hm..." As expected, the places didn't make an impression on me.

"Can I ask you something on the matter, too?" he responds to my silence.

"What is it?"

"Why are you investigating in the first place, Toyoshina-san?"

After giving it some thought, I reply, "I had a girlfriend."

"My brother told me something along those lines. He said she... committed suicide," he explains, faltering a little before squeezing out the word suicide. "Ah, do you suspect that it wasn't suicide but murder? And that it was the same culprit for the cases at this—"

"Haha, no, that's not it. To be honest, I think she had a proper reason to commit suicide."

"But then why?"

"A few days before she died, she started to behave strangely. Her condition abruptly worsened as if she had stepped on the gas and fallen from a cliff. In other words, I'm investigating the reason why she suddenly stepped on the gas, you know."

"But is there—" Yuji-kun starts, but cuts off mid-sentence, making a grimace.

"What?"

"Ah, no, please forget about it. I don't want to be rude."

"It's okay, I'm curious."

He looks me in the eyes repeatedly before he finally gives in with a nod. "Um... I just wondered if there is a point in doing all this?"

A point.

A point, hm?

"I'm... I'm sorry! My tongue slipped!"

"No, it's okay," I assure him and add, "...There is no point, I suppose."

"None at all?" he asks in surprise.

"She did go to strange places in her last days, sure, and she started to become delusional. Maybe that accelerated her death."

"...It sounds meaningful to me to look into that, no?"

"Nope, not at all. I know for a fact that the reason why she committed suicide has nothing to do with all that."

"...No meaning... but then why do you go out of your way to investigate?"

I gaze at Yuji-kun. Looking at his genuinely puzzled face, I'm sure he has never lost a beloved person.

"Because I have nothing else to do, maybe?"

"But that's not true, is it...? Maybe it's a bit early, but you could start preparing for the university exams, or you could be—"

"No, nothing," I interrupt him with a firm voice, "I have nothing else to do."

The path I tried to rebuild was irreversibly destroyed. I'm only drifting away in an empty space now.

All I can do is follow Shizuka's footsteps, even though there is nothing ahead of them. It's simply the only signpost left to me, having lost ground.

"..."

It seems that Yuji-kun remains unconvinced, but so be it; there's no need for him to understand. If he does, it will be once he's in a similar situation.

I look around once more and let out a deep sigh. It seems that there's nothing to be found here. It's not so easy to find the fragments left behind by Shizuka.

I take her choker out of my pocket and gaze at it.

Shizuka, why did you put that choker on before you died? Is there a meaning behind that? Or none at all? I can't even tell that much, even though we've been together for most of our lives.

"Well, if that's all, shall we leave?" he proposes.

I nod in agreement. There's nothing to be gained here.

As I climb down the stairs, I remember that there was one other thing I was meaning to ask.

"Aah, before I forget: Do you happen to know that name, Yuji-kun?" I ask without any expectations.

"What name?"

"Um, lemme see... 'Reina Kamisu.'"

As I finish saying that name, Yuji-kun abruptly stops.

"...Where did you learn about that name?" he asks, surprising me with his reaction. His face is mildly tensed.

"Um, I heard it from my deceased girlfriend."

He stays silent, his gaze still fixed on me.

Huh? What's up with him? Did he know the name after all? No, that wouldn't explain why he would react like this.

Which means that...?

"I don't know a person by that name, but to tell the truth, I did come across that name."

"Where...?"

Reluctantly, Yuji-kun answers me, "The victims mentioned it."

That means that...? Hold on, I need to think.

Yuji-kun heard the name "Reina Kamisu" from the suicide victims. Victims—that's plural. Furthermore, he doesn't know Reina Kamisu himself. However, that does still not explain why he would react in such a strange fashion.

That means—

"...You don't know Reina Kamisu," I start.

"I don't."

"And the other students who are alive don't know her, either."

"...Exactly."

"However... All the suicide victims, including my girlfriend Shizuka, knew Reina Kamisu."

Yuji-kun nods awkwardly.

"I'm not sure if all three of them knew her, but at least the first two victims did mention that name."

"I see."

"The first victim referred to that name as her best friend, while the second one mentioned it in his suicide note as the person who drove him into suicide, mistaking Reina Kamisu for the first victim."

"He mistook her? How could that happen? How can you mistake the name of the person who drove you into death?"

"I thought so, too... but his suicide note is clearly referring to the first victim! I suppose he knew both of them, since they were close friends, and somehow confused them with each other."

"But..."

"Yes, I know. That only explains why the first two victims mentioned that name, but not why your girlfriend knew her, too."

Exactly.

Shizuka and I have known each other for most of our lives because her family's house is just across the street. We have admitted the same schools from kindergarten to high school. In other words, she had just as little to do with the Shikura middle school as me.

There's no reason why a high school student who is neither in a committee nor in a club would go to a completely unfamiliar middle school that is slightly too far away to go by bicycle, but not that far away. Similarly, there's no reason why she would get to know the students from there.

"Shizuka was acquainted with 'Reina Kamisu' even though you guys don't know her and even though she had far less points of contact with the other suicide victims. And everyone who knew Reina Kamisu—"

"—is dead now."

The pieces are starting to come together, forming a ring that connects all of the victims.

An incredibly twisted ring that should not even exist.

Come to think of it, Shizuka and the other victims had no doubt proper reasons to commit suicide. But they only had reasons.

If for example they had actually been killed, they still would have had proper reasons to commit suicide.

In other words, the fact that they had reasons does in no way rule out the existence of a third person who may have influenced them.

No... don't jump to conclusions. I have to consider that Shizuka did some research about this school; maybe she learned about 'Reina Kamisu' in the process.

That being said... that would be an eerie chain of coincidences.

"Toyoshina-san," Yuji-kun starts, "I'll try asking around in school about Reina Kamisu tomorrow."

"Please do so."

Where will this ring lead me? I think as I gaze in the air.

Suddenly, my vision turns blurry as if a drop of water had fallen on my eyes. But that's how it's supposed to be. The world is full of mosaics that conceal the truth from our eyes. We don't really see anything. Perhaps, we arrive at what we think is the answer even though it's based on flawed logic. At the end of the day, three-dimensional beings like us cannot look across a three-dimensional world.

My vision is always blurry, I'm always blind.

Ah, just damn it. Someone tell me what I'm supposed to do! What did Shizuka want me to do? How can I escape fate? What is 1+1? Why is the earth rotating? Why is the earth round? What is gravity? What is magnetic force? What is the meaning of life? Who is Reina Kamisu?

I know that there's no clear answer, so just make up one for me. Just tell me the answer using a valid logic. There should be one, and if there is one, please tell me.

Give me the right answer.

Give me the right answer.

Save me!

Save me before I drown in the swamp that I'm struggling against, that is drawing life out of me!

Suddenly.

I see a silhouette on the landing where I was moments ago.

A person.

"—Huh?"

—It's 'Shizuka.'

"...? What's wrong, Toyoshina-san?" Yuji-kun asks in response to the sudden gasp I let out.

"L-Look, there!" I groan as I point at Shizuka. He traces the direction I'm indicating with his eyes and narrows them.

"...Um, I see nothing."

"T-That's impossible!"

I turn around to the landing once more.

"Ah..."

Shizuka's not there. Of course not. She's dead. She's not among us anymore.

"...Sorry, forget about it."

"You must be tired."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

I'm tired. Yeah. Absolutely.

Otherwise I can't believe it.

"Haha..."

I mean, really, how could I otherwise believe that I, who loved Shizuka more than anyone else, would mistake someone for her.

Shizuka isn't among us. She's not here.

Therefore, that girl over there isn't Shizuka.

That girl over there with an absurdly beautiful smile, who resembles Shizuka, is—

"I'm pleased to meet you."

—Reina Kamisu.

===3===

What was the most important thing for me within my school life?

The answer is obvious; and it's something that's already lost.

School right now is just like a hamburger restaurant that doesn't offer meat. They might introduce tofu instead, but that just doesn't cut it.

For me, at least, there is not a single thing of import at school. The only reason I'm still here is because of habit—a routine I'm programmed to follow— a daily ritual I conduct for my family. It's my duty to assume the role of a lazy student for the teachers, an upbeat friend for Kiichi and the others, and an admirable senior for Hozumi-chan. That being said, it's not just an act I'm playing; every moment I spend in these roles, I'm no one else but my true self. There is no falseness in that.

But whenever I'm not forced into one of these roles, I'm confronted with the gaping emptiness inside me.

Well, no surprise. My single most important role has become redundant, and the part inside me that was reserved for that role has vanished.

After my classes end, I start putting the chairs onto the desks to wipe the floor—which is just another routine I'm forced to repeat over and over.

As I'm doing my work, I suddenly recall my short encounter with Reina Kamisu that ended before I could even exchange a word with her.

She resembled Shizuka more than anyone I have ever met. And while she is definitely not a person, she's not an illusion either. Reina Kamisu has without a doubt interacted with Shizuka and the other students, and driven them into committing suicide. I am 100% convinced of that. However, that conviction unsettles me.

Be reasonable, Kazuaki. What makes me so sure that she is really who I think she is? There is nothing that supports my sentiment; I have no information whatsoever that would allow me to recognize Reina Kamisu. I don't know her appearance, her traits, her personality—nothing.

But the girl I met there is Reina Kamisu.

Why did that answer pop out and click with me? What is the meaning of this?

"Senpai!"

Senpai. For students in lower grades everyone's a senpai, but from the context of my daily routine I can deduct that this refers to me. I turn around to the the window adjacent to the corridor.

"Hey, Hozumi-chan," I say. She answers me with a smile. "And Yoshino-chan," I add, spotting her friend next to her, who in turn bows her head silently.

Yoshino-chan hardly ever talks to me. I suppose she's uncomfortable in the company of the other sex. In fact, when I met her alone on the corridor the other day, she ran away from me like lighting. Of course, that incident got me thinking a little, but against my concerns, it seems like she doesn't actually dislike me.

"You're looking dark. Is something wrong?" Hozumi-chan asks with a smile.

"Hm?" While I don't think that they know her, I decide to give it a try nonetheless. "You don't happen to know Reina Kamisu, do you?"

"Rehna… Kameesu?" she repeats like a parrot and turns her head to her companion. Yoshino-chan wordlessly shakes her head. "Is she famous or something?"

"No, no."

"From our school?"

"No."

"Hm? Then why did you think that we might know her?"

"I didn't expect you to be familiar with her. Just asking, really."

Right, they can't know Reina Kamisu. All who know her are dead by now.

All who know her are dead...?

Including me? Haha, aptly put indeed but not funny.

"Okay then, I have to get going."

"Ah... um, do you mind if I tag along...?" Hozumi-chan asks.

"No, I'm sorry, but..."

"Okay..." she says with blatant disappointment.

In order to soothe my conscience, I explain myself, immediately regretting that slip of the tongue.

"There's something I want to investigate."

"Investigate?"

There you have it: Now I got her curious. Should I answer her...? I know that she has a crush on me, so she would probably follow me along everywhere if I were honest to her. I don't want to torment her by giving her false hopes.

However, I then notice that telling her the truth would actually be helpful in that matter.

"I'm investigating those recent suicide cases."

"Ah..."

As I thought, her face darkens in response to the word "suicide" and the memory of Shizuka Wakui looming behind.

"I see..."

Hozumi-chan's approaches have declined after Shizuka's death. Originally, I thought that she would secretly welcome her death and try everything to take advantage of the gap in my heart.

I was wrong.

By that I don't only mean that Hozumi-chan was in fact sad about Shizuka's daeth; she was also sensible enough to notice that Shizuka's value to me hadn't changed a bit. And because of that she was let down. Probably.

"...But they don't talk a lot about those incidents on TV, do they?" she says, getting a grip on herself.

"Yeah. Suicide's not a special topic anymore, after all. Besides, I think there are some regulations because it could give people bad ideas."

"I have a feeling that it only gets into the news if it concerns a celebrity or if it's some real bad incident..."

"Real bad..." mutters Yoshino-chan, joining our conversation for the first time today. "Hozumi-chan? Do you remember that incident at the Junseiwa high where several students jumped off a roof?"

Yoshino-chan has the habit of talking to me via Hozuki-chan.

"Hm...? Well, of course. You're always reminding me that you picked our school because of that incident, aren't you? Your middle school was also there, right?"

"Y-Yes..."

Yoshino-chan went to the Junseiwa School? But that's a textbook example of a girls-only school for rich ladies. No wonder that she's so sensitive to boys.

Anyway, now that she mentions it, I remember hearing about that incident quite a while ago, although it had slipped my mind until now.

"Could you me more about it?" I ask her.

"E, erm... I heard that it started with the student council president jumping from the top of a building... Several other students then followed her and jumped off as well..." Yoshino-chan replies looking elsewhere and gradually growing quieter as she speaks.

"How long ago was that...?"

"A little more than three years... I... think..."

I'm surprised I could forget such a huge debacle; or did they really regulate the media so that that incident wasn't made famous?

Yoshino-chan, noticing my confusion, adds with a flushed face, "The media did not point out the number of suicides because that would harm the long history of the Junseiwa School."

I see.

"I want to learn more about that incident. Do you know of someone I could ask...?"

"Um..."

"Hm?"

"My sister was there at the time, so she might be able to provide information. But..." Yoshino-chan says.

"But...?"

"It is a topic that she hates to talk about. So much that she has not even told me about it. I doubt that she will be of any help."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes..."

Perhaps her sister was not entirely unrelated to the mass suicide. Although considering the scale of that incident, it might very well be possible that there was something that concerned the entire campus behind the scenes.

Something.

For example—Reina Kamisu.

"Can't we just ask one of her friends if your sis doesn't want to talk, Yoshinon?" suggests Hozumi-chan as she interrupts us.

"I'm afraid that my sister didn't really have any friends in high school," Yoshino-chan answers her with a bitter smile—behaving entirely different than when talks to me.

"Then how about this: I'm sure your sister has a graduation album, right?" I ask.

"Ah, um, yes..." she nods in a tense manner.

"Could you show that to me?"

"Err, hm..."

She doesn't seem bent on it.

"Just snatch it when she's not looking, Yoshinon!"

"H-Huh?! You're joking, right...?"

"Please, Yoshino-chan," I ask as well, holding my hands together like in a prayer. She seems to be rather troubled, but I can't be choosing my means.

"M-Mmm... I will try."

"Yay! Thanks a bunch."

"B-But there are no addresses and phone numbers in there...! To prevent data abuse because it is a famous school..."

"Okay. But even a photo might give me a clue."

"A clue...?" Hozumi-chan asks with a slightly trembling voice. My face when Shizuka told me about those "humanoid energies" must have looked the same as Hozumi-chan's now.

"Er, well—"

A clue concerning Reina Kamisu; that's what I'm looking for, but I can't tell her that. Unlike Shizuka, I'm perfectly aware of how I appear from an objective viewpoint.

I have discovered a non-human being that promotes suicide, which is neither a ghost nor an illusion, but an enigmatic phenomenon. Moreover, that being is not only incredibly beautiful, but also resembles Shizuka. And she's the one who killed Shizuka!

Yeah, there's no way they would buy that.

I turn my glance at Hozumi-chan, who's sending me a worried look. I have to come up with some excuse. I could tell them that my first love went to that school, and that... no, they can tell it's a lie from the flow of our conversation. Besides, they know that Shizuka was my everything.

"—Err..."

Hozumi-chan is growing even more worried. Quick!

However...

"Kazuaki?"

It just happened that Kiichi showed up from behind them. Thank god.

"What's the matter?" I ask in the most casual voice I could produce.

"I just got an e-mail from my brother. He wants you to contact him."

"Yuji-kun wants me to contact him?"

Did he get around to asking the other students about Reina Kamisu?

After getting Yuji-kun's phone number from Kiichi, I walked away from the group (Hozumi-chan seemed not amused) and hid inside a compartment in the restroom—we are not allowed to openly use our cell phones at school—and called the number.

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Toyoshina."

"Ah, hello Toyoshina-san."

"Kiichi told me that you wanted to talk to me. What's up?"

"Yes. As promised, I asked around my schoolmates about Reina Kamisu today."

"Oh, thanks a lot."

"Don't mention it. Anyway, I found someone who might know her."

"For real?! But what do you mean by 'might'?"

"You'll understand. I managed to persuade that person to stay at school until you arrive, so may I ask you to come around in the course of the day?"

"Of course."

"Okay then. We're waiting. Drop me a message when you arrive. See you."

"Okay, thanks again. See you."

I end the call with a sigh of relief.

There's someone else besides me who knows Reina Kamisu...? Someone who's also "going to die?" And to that person she also looks like my Shizuka?

"Huh...?" I gasp with a certain doubt in my mind that appeared when I imagined how Reina Kamisu must appear to others people.

Reina Kamisu.

Reina Kamisu resembles Shizuka.

...That's strange. It could be a plain coincidence, of course, but I can't help but feel that there's more to it. Why does she resemble Shizuka?

But then—

Did Shizuka's Reina Kamisu also resemble herself?

I don't think so. My gut feeling tells me otherwise.

Wouldn't it be more plausible to assume that Reina Kamisu is customized to look like Shizuka in my eyes?

Those jeans look great on you, but they're a bit too long, aren't they? Let me cut them down for your size. Let me adjust them to you.

However, what are the implications of that assumption if it's correct?

Reina Kamisu is not defined by her visual data. What does this imply? What is she ultimately, anyway?

My brain can't follow my train of thought. I lack the immunity against uncomprehensible phenomenons. I start to repeat her name meaninglessly in my head. Reina Kamisu,　Kamisu Reina, Reina Kamisu, Kamisu Reina. Again. Reina Kamisu, Kamisu Reina. Again. Kamisu Reina, Reina Kamisu, Kamisu Reina. Loop. Reina Kamisu, Kamisu Reina.

I leave the restroom, only to find Hozumi-chan waiting by herself for me, her look still discontent.

"What's the matter...?" I ask.

"...Senpai. Are you going somewhere today?"

"Did you listen?"

"I did, but I couldn't quite follow because I only heard your voice."

"I see..."

"Senpai?"

"What is it?"

"—Who is Reina Kamisu?"

She gets right to the heart of the matter, leaving me speechless for a moment.

It seems like she could filter out the crucial keyword from our phone conversation...

"I've always been concerned with you, Senpai, that's why I can tell that this 'Reina Kamisu' is at the core of your worries, and that all your worries are connected to Wakui-senpai in some way or another. Please be honest with me. Does that 'Reina Kamisu' have something to do with Wakui-senpai's death?"

"...Where's Yoshino-chan?" I ask as I avert my gaze from her and search for her companion.

"She went home. I told her that I couldn't tag along today," she answers my question, her strong and fixed look forbidding me to look away from her.

I could tell from her gaze that she would not let go of me today anymore, and inside her clear and beautiful eyes, I could see myself: an exhausted, cowardly, idiotic, remorseful, hopeless reflection of myself.

How can she like me with those ever so clear and pretty eyes of hers? You must be blind, Hozumi-chan...

"Hozumi-chan..."

Confronted with her pure eyes, I realize that I owe her some sincerity.

"What is it?"

At this rate, she is not going to ask. She will just follow me to the Shikura middle school and she won't give up on me. She's not even thinking of giving up.

Hozumi-chan is a lovely girl. She can experience as many wonderful romances as she wants. There's no reason for her to constrict herself because of me; she could easily find a love where she can behave more freely and naturally.

I can't leave her at this.

That's why I feel that I owe her a sincere yet cruel answer to her feelings.

"I can't see you as someone of the other sex," I say. Her eyes open in response to my contextless relevation. "I never will. You will never get a special place in my heart."

"S-Senpai...?"

"My heart belongs to Shizuka alone. I'm hers from head to toe, and for all eternity. The two of us were one. You can't replace her. You can't satisfy me by any stretch. Do you finally get it? This is the kind of person I am. I will never be what you want me to be, never."

Hozumi-chan is left completely speechless and just keeps opening and closing her mouth. Insecurely she gazes at me, her head crimson, her fist clenched, and her body trembling.

Hozumi-chan is in puberty—the period of life where you are overly self-conscious and fear to be hurt by someone, or god forbid, by someone you like.

Despite all that, I didn't keep back from hurting her so horribly.

Was there no other way? Perhaps. But I felt that only by using harsh words could I answer her strong gaze.

Hozumi-chan. Too strong feelings always lead to ruin, whether they are beautiful or hideous. Remember that.

Just look what has become of me now that Shizuka's gone.

"Do you still want to come with me, Hozumi-chan?"

The answer is obvious. I don't expect to be hearing anything from her, looking at her insecure and hurt look.

Which is why—

"I do."

Hearing a determined and quick answer struck me as way more unbelievable than the existence of Reina Kamisu.

"I do want to come with you," she repeated.

Even though she must be horribly hurt.

Even though she can barely hold her tears back.

Even though her voice is trembling hard.

And yet she managed to regain a strong light in her eyes and answered my question with a determined voice.

That moment I realized—

"Ah..."

—This was the anwer I was looking for.

This is what I was supposed to do back then.

I'm buried beneath an avalanche of remorse. Unable to move and speak, all I can do is remember that day over and over. Surrounded by cold remorse.

On that day, I embraced Shizuka.

"...Don't touch me."

Until now, I thought I had committed a mistake. I thought that everything was already too late by that time.

But I was wrong.

The real mistake I made was—to let go of her.

I was supposed to keep embracing her, no matter how much she struggled to break free. I was supposed to cling to her no matter what... like Hozumi-chan did so to me.

"...Don't touch me."

I gave up because of those words, in the illusion that I could not do anything to stop her tears. I fooled myself into believing that everything was too late.

I simply was a coward: I feared to be hurt any more because she'd rejected me. I pretended to share her pain when I really couldn't do what I wanted to, what I was supposed to.

I was the only one in the position to achieve something, and yet I didn't take action.

I take her cross choker out of my pocket.

I've finally realized why she'd worn this at the very end, what I was meant to do. At last.

As I hold tight of her choker, I think:

—Forgive me for not being with you all the time.

I look at the blushed girl in front of me. I misunderstood her. I thought that I was just a replacable part in a clumsy, pubescent love story she pictured to herself. But that's not true. She's just like me.

Sadly.

"Let's go, Hozumi-chan."

She nods.

It's a shame that you still can't save me.

Because you aren't Shizuka.

Thanks to the e-mail I had given him beforehand, Yuji-kun and another boy were already waiting for us before the entrance gate when we arrived at the Shikura middle school.

"Hey."

"Hello."

As maybe expected, that boy's look turned out to be... vacant. He just gazed into space while Yuji-kun and I were greeting each other.

"And who are you?" Yuji-kun asks Hozumi-chan.

"My name is Hozumi Shiiki. I'm one grade below Toyoshina-senpai... and older than you, mind you," she adds because of his somewhat cheeky attitude toward her.

...Well, it's not that obvious if you look at your height...

I turn my attention toward the boy who may know Reina Kamisu. Upon realizing that a self-introduction is in place, he mutters without a shadow of a smile:

"I'm Atsushi Kogure."

"Frankly, neither do I know anything nor would I remember if I did," Atsushi-kun starts. "I suffer from amnesia."

Amnesia? Sounds like the protagonist of some drama show.

Having heard of it so many times in fiction, I don't feel a lot of surprise even though it's the first time I'm confronted with amnesia in reality.

I give Yuji-kun a questioning look. He nods. It seems like he's telling the truth.

No wonder that his look is vacant. He is vacant in the true sense of the word.

"When did you lose your memory?" Hozumi-chan asks.

Earlier in the train, I disclosed all my thoughts to Hozumi-chan—that was my way of paying her respect—and she believed me, at least by the look of it. Believability aside, she realized that I wasn't lying to her.

"Around last month," Atsushi-kun answers indifferently.

Last month... that's around the time Shizuka's delusions got out of control.

"Unless my memory fails me, it happened between the second and third suicide case," Yuji-kun adds.

"I hear that there are different kinds of amnesia. What about yours, Atsushi-kun?"

After a short thinking pause, he answers, "I can't tell why I've lost my memory, but apart from the basic everyday knowledge like language, I've forgotten everything. At first I thought the large scar on my chest was the reason, but I heard that I've already had this when I was little."

"Did you forget your name?"

"Yes, I did."

"I see... I'll keep my fingers crossed that you regain your memory." Hozumi-chan says in an attempt to cheer him up. However, Atsushi-kun shakes his head.

She inclines her head, puzzled.

"My mother... or my aunt, to be precise, advised me not to regain my memories. Besides, I feel absolutely certain that they won't return."

"Why are you so sure?" Hozumi-chan asks, still puzzled.

"There's no actual reason. I just feel that way... I think that Atsushi Kogure died."

"Died...? But you're here, right before our eyes."

"No, I'm not exactly Atsushi Kogure. His personality died back then, and I was put into his body instead as a makeshift subtitute because the vacancy had to be filled. I'm another person. I'm just using his name for convenience's sake."

I try imagining myself without any of my memories, even without those of Shizuka.

No memories of Shizuka? That's not me. That's not Kazuaki Toyoshina, but an entirely different person.

Okay, Atsushi-kun has a point.

"All right, let me get to the point—"

"About that," Yuji-kun cuts in. "Atsushi won't admit to knowing Reina Kamisu."

"Huh, really?"

Now that he mentions it, though, it's obvious that Atsushi-kun wouldn't remember knowing Reina Kamisu if he has lost his memory, unless he met her during the short time span after that.

However, seeing the expression clued on his face, I have absolutely no doubts that he must have come in contact with her at some point in time: The blank look on his face has disappeared. Instead, he is gritting his teeth and furrowing his brow.

He definitely knows her. And the misfortune she brings.

"...Atsushi-kun. You know Reina Ka—"

"I don't," he cuts me short with a visibly bad temper.

...It doesn't look like he'll answer me this way. Let's see if I can trick him into giving me the info I need.

"Oh, I see, so it was Reina Kamisu who erased your memory," I say, provokingly.

His eyes widen for an instant! and his face becomes even grimmer. I must be near the mark.

"Okay, Atsushi-kun. One more thing—"

"I...!" he interrupts me again, shouting this time. Embarrassed by our surprised glances, he continues, "I don't remember anything. Really."

"But..."

"It's just that that name sends a chill down my spine."

"Still, you're reaction isn't normal."

"Even if I did come in contact with that Reina Kamisu... no, I probably did, 'Atsushi Kogure' did. But I don't know anything. Atsushi Kogure does no longer exist, so leave me be! Why does everyone keep asking me those questions?!"

"Hm?" I mutter, puzzled by his concluding sentence. "Do you mean us by 'everyone'?"

"Of course. And that strange girl that suddenly talked to me the other day."

Strange girl...?

"Who are you talking about?"

"I don't know who she is! Well, not that I know anyone at all. She suddenly walked up to me and said, 'As I thought. You died, didn't you?' I guess we met somewhere before..."

As I thought. You died, didn't you?"...?

"Hozumi-chan?"

"Yes?"

"What impression would you get from Atsushi-kun if you passed by him on the street?"

"Huh? Uhm... not a special one... at most, I would feel that he's a somewhat unusual person."

"...Agreed," I nod.

Hozumi-chan's right. The girl he met was indeed strange; what she said is not something you hear a lot from strangers. Odd people like that are rare, but I remember hearing something to the same effect only recently..

It seems like that girl mistook him for a dead person; in other words, she thinks that she has the ability to perceive dead people. As ghosts? As humanoid energies?

A fit of disgust assaults me from inside my chest, sending a burning, black lump up my throat. I feel nauseated, my fingers are trembling, my eyes are burning, my throat is sore.

"Do you... know her name?" I ask as I press my hand against my chest.

"Why do you care?" Atsushi-kun snaps back.

He pisses me off.

"Just fucking tell me!" I yell, surprising not only him, but also the other two. That pisses me off just as much. "So?! Do you know her name or not?!"

"...She did tell me her name... I think she called herself Watarai, or Wakui... ah, her first name was Shizuka."

Ah—

So this is where it started?

With this, I can finally connect the dots of this warped ring.

There's no doubting it:

Shizuka became infected with "Reina Kamisu" from Atsushi-kun.

"Atsushi-kun. Spit what you know about Reina Kamisu," I urge him again.

"...I don't know anything for crying out loud."

I grab him by the collar.

"Nothing, you say? Are you shitting me?! You know her! If you don't, remember! Want me to jog your memory, eh? I hear a shock treatment works miracles?"

"C-Calm down, Toyoshina-san!" Yuji-kun urges as he grabs my arm.

"Hands off!" I yell, glaring at him.

However, he doesn't let go of my arm. He's strong. It hurts. FUCK. IT HURTS. Let go of me, jackass! I have to learn the truth about Reina Kamisu! Whatever it takes! Why would I let a little shit like you stop me?!

"S-Stop it, senpai!" Hozumi-chan grabs my arm as well.

What? You team up against me? Just when I thought you've understood me a little, Hozumi-chan. What a mistake. You're just a stranger, after all.

"Hands off, bitch!"

She lets go of me.

What?! If something like that already scares you off, then don't try to stop me from the start! Don't follow me around from the start! What?! Don't look at me with such teary eyes—

"..."

I let go of Atsushi-kun.

"—I'm sorry," I apologize. "I'm sorry!" I apologize to the three of them.

I'm despicable. Horrible.

Not only did I lose my composure just because Atsushi-kun happened to associate with Reina Kamisu and got rough with him, I also hurt Hozumi-chan again. She's never going to forget that I insulted her. She's never going to forget this temporary burst of hatred against her. With the single word "bitch" I have hurt her more than the sharpest blade could, even though I was aware of these consequences.

I'm scum. A lowlife. Trash. A maggot. I should just die.

There is a silence among us; everyone keeps their mouth shut.

What? Where are your reproaches? Cut out those looks of sympathy! They only remind me of my own foolishness...

"Toyoshina-san..." Atsushi-kun breaks the silence. "I do really not remember Reina Kamisu."

"Yeah... I believe you. I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay. I may not remember her, but I do spot a horrifying... specter every so often for a split second."

Could it be that this is...?

"Judging by my fright, it might indeed be Reina Kamisu. However, that is all I know. The only other thing I can tell is that—"

"—she is absurdly beautiful."

—It's her, Reina Kamisu.

The specter that is following him around, and that erased Atsushi Kogure's memory, is doubtlessly Reina Kamisu.

You only get that absurd impression from her; at least, I haven't met any other people of such beauty up to now.

In other words, "Reina Kamisu" is a phenomenon that gives off the impression of being "absurdly beautiful."

She's a phenomenon that creates the exact same impression in all of us.

"...Senpai?" Hozumi-chan taps me. I bend down to her height. "Looks like the two of you met the same Reina Kamisu, doesn't it?" she whispers into my ear.

I answer with a whisper as well, "What makes you think so?"

"Well, because he got the same impression as you."

"Hozumi-chan," I start and proceed to correcting her, "It's the other way around."

"Hey, why don't you let us in on what you're whispering?" Yuji-kun interrupts us.

"Never mind," I say and turn at Atsushi-kun. "Atsushi-kun. Could you tell us what impression you got from the strange girl that talked to you?"

"...Well, I suppose you could say she was fairly pretty."

"Was she your type?"

"No, not at all," he replies without hesitating.

"Okay, so did she look anything like the specter you're afraid of?"

"...I'm pretty sure she didn't, although I can't give you my word on it."

"I see...," I mutter and give Hozumi-chan a look. She seems to be puzzled by the discrepancy of facts. "Yuji-kun? Can you tell me more about the three students who committed suicide?"

"Sure, I'll try."

"Give me as much details as possible, please."

"Hm... I didn't know them too well, though..."

"I don't mind, just tell me what you know," I reassure him.

"Okay. The first victim was Fumi Saito, a student that didn't stand out at all in class. She was falsely accused of having stolen someone's wallet, and that's probably why she eventually made her kill herself."

I doubt that the true reason was that straightforward, but that doesn't matter right now.

"She didn't have any friends, except for Reina Kamisu, to whom she was very close," I add.

"Though there's no proof that she really was friends with Reina Kamisu, but it seems that way judging by her statements."

"Got it. What about the second one?"

"The second victim was Kyouhei Kimura. Committed suicide because he blamed himself for Saito-san's death."

"He must have been craving for forgiveness from Saito-san. But she was death. Therefore he apologized to Reina Kamisu instead."

"...? Toyoshina-san?" Yuji-kun asks, dumbfounded.

"Never mind."

"The third victim was Yuu Mizuhara. She was involved in the suicide of the previous two students, and that fact strained her mentally to the point that she claimed that a ghost had killed the other two. She was under the delusion that she would be killed as well, and then committed suicide."

"She was cornered. She didn't want to admit the blame. That's why she resorted to making up another cause—a ghost. A ghost that is Reina Kamisu," I add yet again.

"...What's up with those comments, seriously?" Yuji-kun asks.

"Oh, just ignore them. By the way, Atsushi-kun?"

"Yes?"

"You suffered quite a lot in the past, didn't you?"

"So I heard."

"And you died. Through Reina Kamisu."

"...Maybe you can say that."

As for Shizuka... it's obvious: She was yearning for a reason for her misfortune—and had Reina Kamisu provide her with one.

They all imposed different roles on Reina Kamisu.

More importantly, I highly doubt that the appearance required from her for those roles would be the exact same in terms of stature, age, face, and so forth. And yet, both Atsushi-kun and I thought that she was "absurdly beautiful."

All right, so Reina Kamisu, as I perceive her, resembles Shizuka. I know for a fact, however, that while Shizuka certainly didn't dislike her own looks, she didn't consider herself all that pretty.

Now, what if we assumed that Reina Kamisu was the exact same person for all of us? Would we all find the same appearance "absurdly beautiful" despite the difference of tastes?

Right, as I said: It's the other way around.

She gives us the same impression only because she looks different for everyone. "Reina Kamisu" is specifically adjusted to look "absurdly beautiful" in our eyes.

Hold on, but then why—

Why is it that we all call this phenomenon "Reina Kamisu" when she appears differently for everyone?

The answer is—

"—Yuji-kun. Atsushi-kun. Let's call it a day," I say with a wave of my hand, take Hozumi-chan's hand while she's still baffled, and turn around to take my leave.

"Ah, hey, wait a sec!"

"What's the matter, Yuji-kun...?" I ask in response.

"It sounds like you found something out about this Reina Kamisu; would you mind telling us?"

"...Just silly musings, really."

"I don't mind, so...?"

I waver. If I say nothing, chances are that he will keep nagging me about it. After all, he must be terribly eager to learn the truth behind the name that keeps coming up in the recent miseries of his classmates.

And that's exactly why it's dangerous to tell him.

"I noticed that there's a fitting other word for 'Reina Kamisu.'"

"Which would be...?"

"'Angel.'"

Yuji-kun remains unimpressed.

"What noun describes a beautiful woman that appears before people who are to die? 'Angel' fits the bill nicely, no?"

"I guess so..." he says without an additional remark. He still seems discontent, but I can recognize a sign of resognition in his face.

Good. It worked. That should put a stop to his interest in my findings regarding Reina Kamisu.

"Okay then, goodbye," I say.

"Yes, goodbye. Hope to see you again sometime."

I briefly wave my hand toward them. Yuji-kun waves back but Atsushi-kun has already turned away from me.

Atsushi Kogure.

Could you say that he got away with a black eye? Or did he die as he said himself?

Anyway. An 'angel' I called her...?

What a laughable yet strangely fitting simile. If she showed up with a halo above her head and a pair of wings on her back, I might actually believe that blatant lie myself. It would be so much easier if I just went with that and quit thinking.

"Senpai..." Hozumi-chan suddenly starts to speak after a while. I already knew what she was going to ask. "Can you tell me the truth?"

And then I regretted revealing everything to her earlier in the train.

=== 4 ===

Names.

"TV", "tissue", "contact lenses", "dog", "baseball", "banana", "cloud", "atom", "light", "Ukraine", "Hozumi Shiiki", "Reina Kamisu".

They're all just terms given to objects for convenience's sake. The convenience of using them is not their only purpose, however; names bind concepts, they shape concepts, they draw attention to concepts, and they bring them to life.

"Reina Kamisu"—a multifarious phenomenon that kills her observers.

That is how I define "Reina Kamisu", while ignoring the lack of evidence, reasoning and common sense.

Well, well, there is one question that presents itself: While it is still acceptable to say that this phenomenon assumes different roles and eventually kills whoever perceives her, there is absolutely no justification to link the phenomenon to the name "Reina Kamisu". However, even though the phenomenon varies for everyone, we all call it by the same name without any hesitation or doubt. She never called herself that, either.

I take the stairs to the second floor and notice Hozumi-chan standing by the door to my classroom. As I approach her, she notices me as well and we greet each other.

"Senpai. I brooded all night over your hypothesis," she immediately gets to the point. "As you said, the victims were already aware of the name 'Reina Kamisu'. The name comes first. Saito-san and Kogure-kun and Kimura-kun and Mizuhara-san and Wakui-senpai and your paths have all crossed somewhere. Which means that you all had the opportunity to learn the name 'Reina Kamisu'. I agree with the conclusion that you've drawn from that, Senpai."

"—You become infected with Reina Kamisu by learning her name."

I nod.

"I'm sorry," I apologize.

Hozumi-chan shakes her head, "Don't worry. I wished for it myself."

Right—I made the mistake of telling her the name of "Reina Kamisu". I was careless. I seem to be constantly giving her trouble.

That being said, I'm pretty sure that learning Reina Kamisu's name alone does not automatically make her visible to you. This is supported by the fact that she hasn't shown up in front of Yuji-kun and his classmates even though they've heard her name.

There must be some sort of condition. As a matter of fact, the reason why I wanted Yuji-kun to lose interest in the matter was to prevent him from accidentally fulfilling that unknown condition. Wake not a sleeping lion (Reina Kamisu). The best protection against Reina Kamisu is losing one's interest in her.

"Senpai," Hozumi-chan says with eyes that let me foresee what she's going to say. "Let me warn you: it's useless to try telling me to back out of this matter."

As I expected.

"...I won't," I mutter, and she responds with a happy smile.

Geez...

"Oh, Yoshinon!" she calls out, still smiling brightly. Her eyes are directed at Yoshino-chan who is trotting toward us. "Morning Yoshinon!"

"Morning, Hozumi-chan," she replies.

"Hey," I greet her as well.

"G-Good morning... Toyoshina-senpai."

Again that difference in attitude.

"What's the matter, Yoshinon?"

"Ah, er, I only saw your bag when I went to our classroom, so I thought you might be here." With these words, Yoshino-chan scours her own bag and takes out something resembling a massive book.

With a blushed face, she holds it out to me.

"Hm?"

On a closer look it seems to be a graduation album.

"Um... I sneaked into my sister's room and borrowed her graduation album..."

Now that she mentions it; I completely forgot that I asked her to bring her sister's album from her time at the Junseiwa School.

"You're a master thief, Yoshinon!" Hozumi-chan jokes.

"Ew... she wouldn't have allowed me to take it otherwise... Um, Toyoshina-senpai, may I ask you to return it to me in the course of the day?"

"Yeah, fine by me. Sorry for bothering you," I apologize to her.

"A, n-no! It was a pleasure!"

It was...? Oh, I should just be thankful.

"All right... I guess I'm off to the library. I want to take a look."

"Huh? What about school?" Hozumi-chan asks, surprised.

"To be honest, I don't have time for that now."

After hearing my response, she (somewhat unsurprisingly) counters, "I'm going with you!"

"...Are you sure?" Yoshino-chan asks.

"Of course. I'm sorry, but can you tell them that I've overslept or something?"

"...Okay, I got it."

Since I'm well aware that it's no use trying to persuade Hozumi-chan, I keep out of their exchange of words.

"Okay, let's go senpai."

"Got it."

After saying goodbye to Yoshino-chan, we head together to the library room. As we walk there, I sneak a peek at the thick album.

Well, I don't expect us to discover anything in this album. It's unlikely that the group suicide over there is connected to Reina Kamisu in any way. Even if she were, I would be surprised to find anything valuable in an album.

However—I was entirely wrong.

Within a mere 5 minutes after taking a seat next to each other, we spotted something.

The heart of the graduation album, the group picture of all members of the class, contained several parts that differed significantly from the rest in terms of size, exposure, background, and so on.

Because of our prior knowledge we can tell why that is. Most if not all of these parts belong to—

—the suicide victims.

"Senpai?"

"Hm?"

"I don't want to sound silly, but..."

"Yeah?"

"Aren't there too many pretty girls over there at the Junseiwa School? I'm kind of jealous."

Honestly speaking, I was too focused on the disagreeing parts to notice. Now that she mentions it, though, I can see that there are indeed a lot of pretty girls in the photo.

"Not only wealthy but also cute and clever... that sure makes me doubt if God really doesn't give with both hands, as the saying goes," she comments.

"I don't think that you need to hide, though, Hozumi-chan."

"Ah, don't mind me. You don't have to pay me lip-service."

That wasn't meant as lip-service.

"Anyway, it's only normal that there would be lot of pretty girls at a renown all girls' school," I say.

"Why? Because only those sorts of girls aim for such a school?"

"I suppose that's not exactly wrong, either, but consider this: looks are heavily influenced by the genes of one's parents, right?"

"Yes, so?"

"And here's the point: Bigwigs almost exclusively get themselves beautiful wives," I conclude.

Hozumi-chan claps her hands together once.

"The scales fell from my eyes."

You actually wondered about it?

I decide to let her be and flip the page.

—I stop midway.

"What's the—" Hozumi-chan asks, only to cut off when she sees the picture I found.

I continue in a mutter in her place.

"—Reina Kamisu."

That name is written there indeed, but we would have held our breath—and be enchanted—either way.

Because the student depicted—

"—It's almost absurd how beautiful she is," Hozumi-chan remarks.

Precisely. She is stands out even among the many other pretty faces. If one were to compare her with a diamond, the other students would be crude stones in comparison. As much as hesitate to admit it, Hozumi-chan wouldn't leave the slightest impression on me if she stood next to the girl in that picture.

For a while, I am completely taken aback by the photograph and the sheer beauty of the Reina Kamisu in it.

But in reality, that isn't of any import; the picture poses a problem that is much more severe.

"I don't get it... why can we see Reina Kamisu in this picture?"

Hozumi-chan gives me a puzzled glance.

"Reina Kamisu is just a phenomenon. She does not possess a body."

"...Maybe she shows in pictures?"

"Even if that were true, she wouldn't get an entry in an album unless someone actually perceived her."

"Which means that..."

I look at the picture again.

She does not resemble Shizuka; but she does resemble the "Reina Kamisu" I know.

"I think we're on the same track, Hozumi-chan."

"Yes..."

"Most likely—"

Those two Reina Kamisus are not equivalent to each other; that's clear just from their looks.

They are, however, both absurdly beautiful.

"—the Reina Kamisu in this picture is a human."

In the end, we didn't attend our classes and instead went straight to Yoshino-chan's address without any notice to her; we wanted to question her sister about Reina Kamisu.

How come the girl in that picture was also called "Reina Kamisu"?

It might be just a coincidence; that would be the most plausible explanation.

The name given to the phenomenon might just have happened to match that of an existing person. But then again, Reina Kamisu is by no means a common name. Moreover, the real person is brought into connection with a group suicide, while the phenomenon entices into suicide, and on top of that, they're both absurdly beautiful and look alike. That's about as crazy as pulling off two royal straight flushes in a row at the beginning of a poker match, but still more down-to-earth than winning the lottery jackpot.

However, I don't know about Hozumi-chan, but at least I discarded that possibility rather quickly.

Because I've actually seen "Reina Kamisu".

I'm certain that anyone who has seen her will agree with me: There is a definite link between the girl in that picture and the phenomenon that shares her name. That's more certain than that bull dogs and chihuahuas are of the same species.

"By the way, the buildings around here are quite something, aren't they?" I say with astonishment.

"I was surprised, too, when I first visited Yoshinon. Would you believe me if I told you that her mom showed up with a Porsche to fetch us?"

"A Porsche? Not bad."

"But Yoshinon's still normal; I heard that a large part of the households in this vicinity have their own limousines and drivers."

Limousines, hm? Sounds like a distant world to me.

Now why would so many inhabitants of that comfy distant world end their lives? They were both blessed with wealth and beauty, and must have been devoid of worries. They had everything that is needed for a happy life.

However, "happiness" is entirely subjective.

A single issue can be perfectly enough for an individual to become unhappy. For example, if the boy or girl you fancy gives you the cold shoulder, you might feel hapless even in a blessed environment. Such an environment amounts to nothing when it comes to fending of the feeling of misfortune.

Therefore, if there was a cause of some kind, it's entirely possible that even a habitant of that distant world committed suicide.

—Reina Kamisu. Did you create that cause? Will you seduce me into suicide as well, as you did with the students of the Shikura middle school?

How?

I try to recall "Reina Kamisu" as I remember her; an absurdly beautiful girl that resembles Shizuka.

What is the role I give to Reina Kamisu? What do I need? Who do I need?

Hm?

—Who do I need?

"———"

Reina Kamisu: a phenomenon that takes on various roles. Who resembles Shizuka.

"Senpai? What's wrong?" Hozumi-chan asks because I suddenly stopped.

Who do I need?

The answer's obvious: Shizuka. I only need Shizuka.

Having finally found the puzzle piece I was looking for, my rusty faculty of thought is set in motion again and starts to restlessly hunt down answers. Answers, answers, answers... the answers I seek sum up like a snowball.

This leaves me with one more thing that I need: confirmation. Something to prove my answers.

I see.

I see now! I found out, Reina Kamisu!

I raise my head with conviction.

As I thought.

Behind Hozumi-chan, next to a house that looks like a pompous show house exhibition—

—I see Reina Kamisu.

"I see. So we only have to wish for her to show up. Because—"

I put on a grin.

"—Kamisu Reina is here."

I walk past Hozumi-chan and head toward Reina Kamisu.

"Senpai!" she shouts out, visibly anxious about my strange behavior.

"Stay away! You must stay away!" I command her as I turn around and scowl at her.

She steps back because of my hard tone.

Yes, that's the spirit.

I do not care about Hozumi-chan anymore. She's no longer needed.

"Don't get in my way!" Leave us alone.

This is what I wished.

This is what I wished Reina Kamisu to be.

"I missed you, Reina Kamisu," I say as I catch her in a dark back street.

She responds with a smile—an absurdly beautiful smile, much like Shizuka's.

"Let's begin with the reason why I didn't notice you up to now, shall we?"

Reina Kamisu listens silently to me.

"You are a phenomenon that only becomes perceivable by us becoming aware of your existence. There seem to be multiple requirements for that, like knowing your name, but it's safe to assume that I've fulfilled those, since I've seen you once before. Then why is that I haven't been able to see you ever since?"

I am almost glaring at her as I continue.

"It's because I started to consider you a phenomenon."

Her cheeks move slightly, but apart from that she stays absolutely silent.

"When assessing a mysterious phenomenon like you from a perspective that is grounded on common sense—and only then—it becomes impossible to admit your existence. Basically, common sense imposed a filter on me that operated in my subconsciousness and prevented your data from getting to me. In order to perceive you nonetheless, it's thus necessary to either remove that filter or to shift one's perception of you to something different from a phenomenon."

This time around, Reina Kamisu gives me a clear response. She nods.

"You appeared before me with a certain role. I am aware of that role by now. One part of it is to help me arrive at the answer I was looking for," I explain while thinking back at the burning question that plagued me at the time of our first encounter. "But let me ask you something first: Who is that Reina Kamisu in the picture I saw? How is she related to you?"

"She's a person called 'Reina Kamisu'."

I heard her voice for the first time; it's as beautiful as expected.

"Is she someone else than you?"

"Yes, I suppose she is. In the sense of being a different being."

"What to you mean by different being?"

She replies to my question with a smile, "She is what you might call my roots, you know."

"You roots...?"

Seeing that I can't quite follow her, she expands on her explanation, "...Why do you think I was given the name of 'Reina Kamisu'?"

I consider her question. The phenomenon said that the person was her roots, her origin. In other words, the person named Reina Kamisu existed first? So the phenomenon came to be only recently? That doesn't sound plausible to me. I feel that the phenomenon she represents has always existed, just without anyone finding a way to perceive her—

"—Oh, I got it."

"Did you?"

"Your name made you perceivable, just like we become explicitly aware of the concept of air by giving it the name 'air'. Put another way, the phenomenon Reina Kamisu exists because we gave it that name."

"Exactly."

That explains why she spreads through her name.

"But why 'Reina Kamisu' of all names? Was there no alternative?"

If the Reina Kamisu in that album was a normal person, then there is no reason why "Shizuka Wakui" or "Hozumi Shiiki" or "Yoshino Mitsui" couldn't serve as a namesake.

"That's because her existence was singularly close to mine."

"Close...? Do you mean you blended into other people's perception of her? Similar to how a non-technical person won't be able to differentiate between a computer screen and a TV?"

"You've guessed right."

"But then... in what way did the human Reina Kamisu resemble you? In the way that she also caused others to commit suicided?" I ask.

"That's not correct. When people correctly perceive me, they tend to despair. I'm not responsible for that."

"Then what else makes her similar to you?"

"Just look at me. It's our outward appearance."

"Your appearance?" I frown. "I admit that the photo of your human counterpart resembled you, but your appearance is variable. It changes depending on the observer. It's not possible to resemble something that doesn't maintain its shape."

"But you just admitted that we resembled each other, didn't you?"

My eyes widen. I nod.

"Let me summarize," I say.

"Don't let me stop you."

"You're beautiful. Absurdly beautiful."

"Thank you."

"And that's also the impression you make on everyone as a phenomenon."

"That's not quite correct," she argues.

"What do you mean...?"

"I don't give off an impression of beauty. I am beauty itself."

"...I'm afraid you lost me."

"Have you ever heard of the Theory of Forms?"

"I'm familiar with the name, but I don't know what it means exactly."

"For example, take an elephant and picture it to yourself."

I do as she told me and imagine an elephant. The first thing that comes to mind is its long trunk, followed by a picture of its large ears and tusks. The elephant is big and gray and has thick skin. I uses its trunk skilfully to pick food.

"Are you done?"

"Yes."

"So where did your image of an elephant come from?"

"Wherefrom...?"

Of course from the information stored in my brain. However, it's impossible for me to tell from which elephant exactly that impression originates. It might be one of the elephants I've seen in the zoo in my childhood, or it might be one from the TV or a book, or perhaps even from someone's description of an elephant.

"All right," she continues, "now imagine you saw an elephant right before you. Would you recognize it as one?"

"Most certainly."

"All right," she says, "now imagine you saw a beautiful person right before you. Would you deem her beautiful?"

I sneak a peek at Reina Kamisu.

"Of course."

"But how do you decide whether or not a beautiful person is beautiful?"

"By—" I pause to consider the hint she's given me. "—comparing her to my image of a beautiful person and see how close she is, maybe?"

"Correct."

...So is it like this...?

"Reina Kamisu, you are my very image of a 'beautiful person.'"

"Right, I am your archetype of beauty. That's why I look more beautiful to you than anyone else."

I see, that's why Reina Kamisu resembles Shizuka; after all, Shizuka constitutes a great deal of my image of a beautiful girl.

Okay, it looks like I was slightly wrong with my original hypothesis. I thought that Reina Kamisu's resemblance to Shizuka originated from her second role to me.

"My existence is detached from space and time, and is to be found in the world of Forms. Not that the Theory of Forms expresses precisely what I am, but it's close enough. I'm only using this term because there is no other name for it, just like there is no other name for me. But I do indeed exist on the back side—or front side!—seen from you."

"In other words... you live in another world?"

"I don't know if it's really another world, but I suppose for the current mankind, who only believe what they see, it actually is another world. My being is entirely dependent on you, so if you define me as non-existent, then there is no world for me to live in. What will never change, however, is that I do exist."

"...I think I roughly understand what you are. But then I have a hard time comprehending how the girl in that picture could resemble you."

"Why don't you try to reverse the equation?"

"Reverse?"

"Don't think that Reina Kamisu resembles me—think that I resemble Reina Kamisu."

I don't get it. Isn't that exactly the same thing, except for the order?

Except for the order...?

The Reina Kamisu in the picture was a real person, and therefore had a constant appearance. The Reina Kamisu in front of my eyes, on the other hand, changes her visuals depending on the observer.

The human "Reina Kamisu" had an appearance that nearly everyone would find to be beautiful. That said, so many men, so many minds. In theory, it's perfectly possible that she's ugly in someone's eyes.

The phenomenon, however, must absolutely always be absurdly beautiful. That's her definition.

To rephrase this: there might be a person who considers the person "Reina Kamisu" as ugly, but the phenomenon as beautiful.

The reverse is impossible.

If I combine that fact with the fact that both the phenomenon and the person look absurdly beautiful, and similar, in my eyes...

"Don't tell me—"

I already knew that there was another condition apart from knowing her name. Those conditions are necessary to mix up the human Reina Kamisu and the phenomenon.

In other words, people whose image of beauty does not match the looks of the human Reina Kamisu are not able to mix those two up.

Put the other way—

"Only people whose image of beauty does almost precisely match the looks of your human counterpart are able mix you two up and create a link between the name and the phenomenon."

That is the second condition.

Reina Kamisu nods and adds to my explanation, "And as you mentioned beforehand, I will appear besides everyone who longs strongly enough for me, or more precisely for a replacement of somebody, to override the filter that is their common sense."

"But most people will eventually regain their common sense," I continue her intent, "and become unable to place you in the role they gave you. Which means that they will either lose what was vital to them, or despair because they notice that what they believed in was fake. And as a consequence—"

"—they are likely to commit suicide."

Reina Kamisu—so far I considered her evil in itself.

But I was wrong.

She is neither good nor evil; she just exists. She is just a purposeless phenomenon that is forced to appear whenever she is given a name.

That is the truth behind Reina Kamisu.

"Kazuaki Toyoshina," she says and I raise my head. "What role do you give me?" she asks with a smile resembling Shizuka's.

"...You planning to give me false hopes, just to make me despair in the face of the truth?"

"Perhaps. But you're not like the others, are you?"

"Not like the others? How so?"

"You are able to perceive me even though you realized that I'm a phenomenon. That's a remarkable difference, isn't it?"

That's true...

I'm already aware of what she really is. I'm not like the others who fell into despair as they approached the truth behind her being. The way to salvation is not going to abruptly break off.

If I give her the role of the person I crave for, I will be able to wallow in a soft dream.

Shizuka does not exist in this world anymore.

Then what should be my decision—?

My decision?

There's nothing to waver.

I, I—

I take the cross choker out of my pocket. I've already noticed what I'm supposed to use it for.

I take a step toward Reina Kamisu.

I won't return. I don't need to.

My final step—

"...Senpai."

—is stopped by that voice.

Didn't I tell you to stay away? To not get in my way?!

I turn around and glare at Hozumi Shiiki.

Though unsettled by the anger in my look, she continues to speak, "...Who were you talking to, Senpai?"

I don't answer her.

So at the end of the day, she won't recognize what's important for me; she won't take take the same path no matter how much she feels attached to me. She isn't worth much to me: neither is she able to substitute Shizuka, nor is she able to make up for her in the slightest.

"Reina Kamisu. Let's meet up tomorrow."

"...Where?"

"That place. I'm sure you understand, right?"

Reina Kamisu smiles at me.

"Senpai..."

I ignore Hozumi-chan again. Instead I take the graduation album out of my bag and hand it to her, "Return this to Yoshino-chan, okay?"

Wih these words I turn away from her.

"Senpai!" she calls out to me from behind. "I... I... what... what do I have to do?! What do I have to do... to walk the same path as—"

"Hozumi-chan," I interrupt her. "Stop bothering me or—"

With my back turned toward her,

"—I will kill you." I spit words of rejection.

I walk away.

I throw everything away.

I throw away even the foolish but gentle girl who has treated me ever so warmly.

I can no longer see anything.

I can no longer hear anything.

Therefore I can absolutely not hear the weeping behind me either.

===5===

"Let's get married when we've grown up."

That's the typical promise made between two childhood friends. You hear it so often in manga or anime or games and so forth that it's become a cliché. It's the most straightforward way to ensure an unbreakable bond between the protagonist and the heroine.

But in real life there is no meaning in such a promise.

When we grow up, we don't remember those childish promises anyway, and even if we do, they have long since expired because we didn't even know the real meaning of marriage. Only a hopeless fool would take that proposal serious and ask a girl out on that pretext. Even if two childhood friends date each other, a promise like that does not count as a memory but as a funny story.

We are constantly growing up, leaving behind the past. Therefore, it's essential to always live in the same time as the other party in order to keep such a promise intact.

At the beginning, neither of the two might know what the difference between boys and girls is, and what it means to get married or to become a couple. From there, they have to keep walking and growing up together, and they will slowly but surely come to understand what it means to find a partner for life. When they do that and still continue to treasure the promise of getting married when they've grown up—and only then—that promise acquires a significance.

I consider that a miracle. It's impossible not to withdraw such a promise after getting to know every good and bad trait of the other party, or the dirty differences between boys and girls, or the appeal of the other sex. Maybe they become aware of their feelings for each other after parting ways ways once to find themselves other partners, but it's impossible to constantly hold the belief of belonging together and getting married. I am positive that it's safe to say that such a thing is impossible. That's why I consider it a miracle.

And our relationship was founded on such a miracle.

Though made possible only because of a narrow view and foolishness, I felt quite comfortable with that kind of relationship.

It was extremely dear to me.

With those thoughts in mind, I look around our park.

Here we sat together in a swing. Here we unsuccessfully tried to build a tunnel with sand. Here we did our first forward upward circling on the horizontal bar. The jungle gym I fell from has been removed by now, but this place is still doubtlessly the park that we considered ours.

This is where I spent time with the little Shizuka.

This park shaped us, protected us, and—destroyed us.

Yeah, that's right.

Even the dearest of places may stab you in the back.

Yeah, that's right.

Reality treats saints and sinners all alike, attacking them mechanically, randomly, without any consideration and selection.

Yeah, that's right.

Anything and everything in this world with the exception of Shizuka betrays me.

I feel the content of my pocket with my hand. The cross choker is there. I'm fine.

I close my eyes. Because I don't want to see.

I cover my ears. Because I don't want to hear.

I close myself to the world. Because I don't want to believe.

There is only one thing I need to see now: the phenomenon that exists around me with an appearance similar to Shizuka's.

Reina Kamisu is waiting for me at the center of the park.

"Are you done saying goodbye to your friends?" she asks.

"There is no one I have to say goodbye to."

"I see..." she notes with a slightly sad smile.

"There is someone I need," I say with averted eyes.

"I know."

"I'm helpless without her. I can't move on at this rate."

"...I know."

"I do absolutely and unconditionally need Shizuka Wakui."

"...I know."

As I turn to her, I ask, "Do you also have a person who you need?"

After a short pause, Reina Kamisu replies, "I suppose that would be you, Kazuaki Toyoshina."

"...I see. You're right. You're dependent on me, after all."

"...That's also part of the reason."

"Also?"

"I assume it's due to the role that you gave me, but I seem to... be extremely fond of you. I can't help wanting to be by your side."

"...Do you possess feelings?" I ask her.

"I do!"

"But... those were conceived by me."

"Yes, but they are not false... or would you call feelings that someone created in you false?"

I answer with a weak smile, "I wouldn't."

"Right? I do feel the same as a common human when I manifest in front of you, even though I may purely be an idea."

"Even though you exist solely for the sake of someone else?"

"Yes."

To be honest, I think that we may resemble each other. I was dependent on Shizuka, too, and lost my place to be when she died.

"We're much alike," I say aloud.

"...I suppose you're right. We'll get along just fine," Reina Kamisu smiles at me. "I only exist to fulfill the role you gave to me. I will become who you need and stay by your side."

"...As my lover?"

"Yes. We will walk side by side for all eternity. You will abandon this world and only concern yourself with me. I know that this is your wish. That this is your happiness."

"You're absolutely right."

With those words, I take the choker out of my pocket.

"That's a lovely choker," she remarks.

I silently put the chocker that Shizuka wore at the very end around Reina Kamisu's neck.

"How is it?"

I gaze at her without letting go of the choker, and reply:

"It looks great on you."

Upon hearing my answer, Reina Kamisu,who resembles Shizuka, smiles.

Suddenly, I wonder where I will be going. Where Reina Kamisu will be guiding me.

I turn my attention at her again; the choker suits her greatly.

I remember ordering it on the Internet because I was too embarrassed to enter a jeweler's shop. I was astonished when I noticed that the actual thing looked quite different from the pictures, but Shizuka loved my present nonetheless.

When she put it on, she laughed and joked, "Maybe I'm a bit too young for this?" I then told her not to strain herself, but she assured me that she wanted to wear it.

It's a shame, but the choker did not suit her.

I still won't let go of the choker.

"...Kazuaki?"

Oh boy, God remains cruel to me.

"Don't call me that!" I shout.

"Eh?"

Reina Kamisu has feelings and is attracted to me on top of that. She's no different from a human.

"Otherwise it would sound like Shizuka were calling my name, no?"

But I'm the one who set up this scene. I wished all this.

"What do you mean...?" she asks.

It's what I wished for in order to win.

"—You are Reina Kamisu and no one else!"

At her last hour Shizuka wore this choker. It never really suited her. It was a token of our love.

And with this choker, I—

—strangle Reina Kamisu.

At once, her beautiful face that resembles Shizuka's distorts with pain.

"...Wh...y...?"

Despair shows in her face.

"Don't you get it?" I ask without loosening the choker. "You can't become Shizuka, nor can you replace her. You can't satisfy me by any stretch. Being similar to her is by far not enough. If you really were to replace her, you would've had to be as alike as two peas in a pod."

"...B-But... but then... what is my role...?"

"The answer is staring you in the face."

I strangle Reina Kamisu's neck so hard that she can no longer say a word. She moans painfully.

"If your role isn't to be my lover and substitute for Shizuka, then it's your role to be—"

"—my enemy!"

Reina Kamisu. I will never forgive you.

I detest the enemy that tormented Shizuka and me.

I detest the park that betrayed us.

I detest the fate that left us with this outcome.

I detest all those non-existent enemies.

That's why I give that role to you, Reina Kamisu.

That detestable role belongs to you.

"Reina Kamisu, you are—"

"—a monster that must die."

Reina Kamisu.

You may be a phenomenon—an intangible phenomenon—but I can still kill you.

Don't you agree?

After all, enemies exist—

—to be killed.

"Die."

I don't care if the entire world gets distorted by the erasure of Reina Kamisu.

I don't care if killing her solves nothing.

It will make nobody happy, not even me.

I'll do it only for me as I go to hell, because it's the only thing I can do.

I will—

"Please, die already!"

—kill Reina Kamisu.

I can clearly feel her neck as I strangle her. The sensation of killing; the realization that her life drains.

I can clearly feel it.

I feel something dwindle away. Maybe it's something that's insignificant to others, something invisible, but my gut feeling rings an alarm bell.

But as much as I try to catch it, it will just run through my fingers.

Whatever it is, it cannot be made undone. Never.

And before I know it, I have arrived where Reina Kamisu was supposed to guide me.

Reina Kamisu—is no more.

The choker has split apart.

...I don't care anymore.

There is no enemy anymore.

There is no Reina Kamisu anymore.

Reina Kamisu is nowhere.

I return from the boundary of worlds and I find myself in another unfamiliar world.

It's the normal, rational, empty world, which I'm supposed to know only too well. Yet, this world strikes me as unfamiliar.

But it's reality. The hard truth.

Therefore, the sight before my eyes is real.

"Why didn't you listen to me?"

I assigned Reina Kamisu the role of my enemy; but in order to confront and have her fulfill that role, there was a need for me to unlock the filter of my common sense.

That's why I closed my eyes, covered my ears and closed myself to the world. I needed to warp the original data into shape.

My enemy.

My memory was manipulated so that I would kill my enemy, Reina Kamisu, by manipulating the flow of information in a way that would present her death as my first priority. The system revolves entirely around her role.

Reina Kamisu is a phenomenon.

She can't physically kill anyone, and no one can physically kill her.

But Reina Kamisu was my enemy.

She had to be killed. I had to physically experience the sensation of murdering her. There was a need to feel her death with my own hands.

As a result...

Didn't I warn you?

—That's why I told you not to stay away from me.

"Hozumi-chan."

I look down at her. Her face is so distorted with pain that it's painful to look at it directly—and yet there is an undeniable glimmer of satisfaction in her face.

Why?!

It's enough if Reina Kamisu takes on others' roles, so why did you think of taking on the role of Reina Kamisu?

Was keeping up contact with me so important to you? Did you prefer opposing me over being left behind?

You're incomprehensible, Hozumi-chan!

I, yes I, am only concerned with Shizuka and no one else. You can't become Shizuka, nor can you replace her. You can't satisfy me by any stretch.

Why did would you want to stick to a guy like me to the bitter end...?

It's a shame. Really. You were so close.

You almost managed to change me—

I look up at the sky as I feel that my fight is over.

Hey Shizuka, I won!

I won against Reina Kamisu and Hozumi Shiiki!

I will continue to love you!

But I feel lonely. Incredibly lonely.

There's no one by my side. I don't allow anyone to be.

I'm sure that it will stay that way, with me continuing to remain here.

Someone, please.

Please, anyone, warm me up.

But I won't allow anyone to do that.

Shizuka. Shizuka.

I don't care if you're a ghost, or a fake, or a humanoid energy even.

Don't leave me alone.

But Reina Kamisu is no more.

The being that could replace you is no more.

She is not here anymore.

I'm all alone.

The only thing left to me is—the invaluable symbol of Shizuka and my connection.

The cross choker I gave to her. No—

—the remnants of it.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Shizuka Wakui|Chapter 3]]
| Return to [[Kamisu Reina Series|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Epilogue|Epilogue]]
|-
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</noinclude>

Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Kazuaki Toyoshina

2014-05-08T02:21:51Z

Axyraandas: /* 1 */

===1===

It was me who provided the picture for Shizuka Wakui's funeral.

I own more pictures of her than anyone else—more than she did even. Her smiling, her crying, her getting upset... they are all treasures to me.

I raise my head to look at the photo of Shizuka's lovely smile at the altar.

Ah, it's already been a year since she stopped smiling like that.

Ever since that incident a year from now, she hasn't shown that happy and careless smile of hers. Instead, her eyes dulled and her smiles turned into faint motions of her lips.

But I didn't mind. I was willing to wait by her side for her to regain the joy of living and had no plans of searching for another love.

The smell of incense hits my nose.

I feel like I turn empty as the smell soaks into my body; as if it silently bereaves me of myself. What remains of me is a translucent mass of untouchable void.

All colors around me are either black or white, or the green of our school uniforms. Even colors were stolen from me.

Most likely, I'm going to stay in this strangely isolated world from now on.

"Kazuaki," someone says. I turn around to look at a meek Kiichi.

"...You're here?"

"Of course I am. All of our classmates are."

As Kiichi correctly mentioned, our entire class is here. In fact, there are also students from other classes who used to be friends with Shizuka, students I don't even know and even a few students from other schools.

After that incident, Shizuka started to lose her friends one by one and stopped making new ones, until I was the last remaining person at school who was close to her. The friendship between girls is defined by how they relate to each other; at first, her friends accompanied her because of sympathy, but eventually they couldn't keep up with how she changed.

Nevertheless, many old friends have come to Shizuka's funeral and lamented for her sake. Right now, she's the heroine of a tragedy for everyone, which doesn't please me. She was supposed to be my heroine, not someone else's.

Therefore, I ignore them and gaze at the picture of her.

Her smile.

Why, truly why, could I not protect that smile?

Where did we make the wrong choice? What should I have done? Was my choice to embrace her wrong? Or was it too late by then anyway?

Why could I not protect the one thing I wanted to protect whatever it would take?

What am I supposed to do now that I have completely and entirely lost Shizuka—my other half—my hope, my purpose?

I am the same as that picture.

The smile depicted and I are but evanescent remnants of the past.

Shizuka's body was transported away.

I didn't get to see her face one last time because of severe damage to her corpse. Had I insisted, I may have gotten permission to take a look, but neither Shizuka nor I would have wished for that.

I mean, they said damage. Not injury or scars, boy, but damage.

Hahaha, Shizuka isn't a human being anymore. She's void. Seeing that would only sadden me.

The black and white and green colors have disappeared as I keep standing there, focusing my gaze on the door through which her body was transported.

"Kazuaki-kun," someone says behind me.

"Mrs Wakui."

It's Shizuka's mother, a sorrowful expression on her face. She looks like that because of the loss of her daughter, of course, but part of her melancholy is probably due to sympathy for me.

"Let me give you this," she says as she holds out her fist. When I present the palm of my hand, she drops something on it.

"Ah—"

It's a cross choker; a Christmas present I bought for Shizuka two years ago, saving up three months' worth of pocket money.

"Shizuka was wearing it when she passed away. I... I thought I should give it to you."

I don't look up as I listen to her words, and keep gazing closely at the choker in my hand.

She was wearing it at the bitter end? Even though she hasn't worn it a single time after that incident?

What's the meaning of this? Why did she wear it at the end?

"I'm sorry," she suddenly says.

I'm sorry. Words of apology.

"Ah—"

Damn.

Her mother apologized ahead of me.

She took my right to apologize.

It would have been so much easier to blame myself for having failed to ease Shizuka's pain, for having let her accept such a fate, for being responsible for her death. It would have been so much easier to apologize and crack under the weight.

But her mother didn't grant me that right.

She took up that position before me.

The only thing I have left now is—

"Uh..."

"UAAAAAAAWHHHH!"

—to cry my lungs out.

===2===

Kiichi and I are on our way to the Shikura public middle school. Normally, there's no reason why a high school student who is neither in a committee nor in a club would go to a completely unfamiliar middle school that requires him to take an express train just because it's slightly too far away to go by bicycle. Normally.

"He said he's waiting," Kiichi explains as he claps his cell phone.

"Okay, thanks man. We're better off if there's someone with us who knows his way around. I hear of a lot of suspicious figures around here lately, I don't want them to suspect us."

"Well, not like we're any less suspicious."

"Heh, sounds about right. What's your brother's name, again?"

"Yuji."

"Yuuji Kato it is, huh. Do you resemble each other?"

"I honestly can't tell, but for some reason, he's pretty popular with the girls."

"You don't look anything like each other, then."

"...Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

Responding with a wordless grin, I insert my ticket and go through the barrier. Kiichi looks me in the face in a serious manner.

Aah, I see.

He doesn't understand at all; it's been two weeks since the funeral. I've already had a hard time when she was still alive, so it's child's play for me to put on a cheerful face like this.

"Hey, Kazuaki," he starts when we entered the train, still with a heavy-hearted mien. "I shouldn't be giving you sermons already, but you really shouldn't drag on Wakui-san's death forever, 'kay?"

"Why?"

"Well, dude..." he falters for a moment when I counter his advice dryly. "I know that you loved Wakui-san. Maybe it was mutual love even. But Kazuaki: You weren't a couple, let alone married. Just childhood friends. I mean, look at that cute midget girl who's hitting on you; she's the proof that you're popular. Don't waste that potential."

"Aah... you had that kind of impression of us?"

"Hm? But I'm spot-on, no? You obviously were on the way from friends to lovers."

"Nope."

"Oh come on, maybe that's what you thought."

"We were a couple."

"...What? For real?"

Ah, of course he wouldn't know about us. We've only known each other since high school.

"We already started going out in the 6th year of elementary school. Don't go telling this around, but we kissed and even made out with each other in middle school."

"...Did you take the next step?"

"No. She always insisted on waiting until we could marry, and I listened to her like a moron."

"I see..." he squeezes out and falls silent.

However, I continue with a stimulated sense of self-mockery.

"She was raped."

"Yeah..." he comments insecurely, with an ambiguous expression that makes it clear that he already heard of this fairly well-known story.

"What do you think is the first thing she said to me when she told me about it?"

"I have no idea..."

"I'm so sorry."

Kiichi glances at me for a moment, and silently lowers his gaze.

"We had no doubts," I continue, "that I would take her virginity, and that she would give me her virginity. No one expected the train to derail from that predestined path. After we had gone through that station, we would enroll at the same university, find a job, and marry. Finally, after death had part us, we would rest in peace in the same grave. It was an unspoken promise between us that we would follow this path."

"Mm..."

"But that incident messed our plans up. That clear path laid out before us disappeared into thin air. That's why she... apologized, thinking it was her fault. Blaming herself for everything."

"———"

Kiichi is in complete silence, but I continue:

"She was so churned up inside that she couldn't even touch me anymore. No, maybe she just had androphobia, who knows. Anyway, she just wouldn't look at the new path I was trying to build for the two of us. Because of that, we returned to just being friends. Of course, I didn't plan to leave it that way."

"I see..." he simply says.

There's an oppressive silence between us for a while, underlining the tedious rattling of the train. The passengers around us seem to think of everyone else as mere scenery, fiddling with their cell phones or focusing on the music from their headphones.

I begin to speak again.

"I found one of her rapers the other day."

Kiichi's head jumps up. He looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

"...What did you do?"

"I killed him."

He completely loses his tongue.

"I tore off all his clothes, crushed his balls with a stone, beat him up until his face was no longer recognizable, stuffed his mouth with his own shit, peeled off his fingernails one by one, squashed his eyeballs... and while I was doing so, he kicked the bucket."

"...You're joking."

My gaze pinned on the pubs and video shops and fast food restaurants flying by outside the window, I answer him:

"'Course I am."

Fortunately, I don't know what they look like.

As the train starts to slow down, I look outside and think:

Come to think of it... I haven't had Gyudon in a while.

The Shikura Middle School is built amidst the living quarters; finally arriving there, we spot a bunch of students playing soccer and baseball in the cramped school grounds.

Five minutes after Kiichi gives him a call, Yuji shows up at the entrance gate, still in sports gear, subliminally remarking that he was in the middle of working out. With his large and athletic built it stands to reason that he would be popular.

"Let me cut straight to the chase: The three students who committed suicide were in your class, is that right, Yuji-kun?"

"Yes, we had quite the chaos going on here because of that."

"What do you mean?"

"Things like no one wanting to take the blame, getting a new class teacher, and so on."

Three students taking their lives is a big problem, indeed. Added to that, they're in the middle of puberty (not that I'm much older), too, which doesn't mix well and allows for even more problems.

"I heard the gist from Kiichi, so I'll delve right into the details: What do consider the reason why they committed suicide?"

Yuji-kun ponders. "I think each had their own problems, really. The girl of the first incident didn't have any friends and wasn't exactly treated well in class, and the guy who killed himself next blamed himself for the death of the first victim."

"...Ah, so they didn't commit suicide independently, but rather the first suicide triggered a chain?"

"...That's my view, yes."

"All right..."

When I heard that three students had killed themselves at different times and in different places, I suspected the same irregularity as with Shizuka's case; after all, you wouldn't just commit suicide just because you are confronted with the topic.

If, however, their cases are interconnected and can be traced back, they may not be regular, but they're by no means irregular either.

It seems like this trace, which I tracked because I found that Shizuka was investigating these incidents, ends here.

"Can you show me your classroom, Yuji-kun?" I propose just in case.

"Sure. But please try not to catch anyone's eye. It's a hassle to explain ourselves."

Yuji-kun and I (Kiichi stayed outside) entered the school building. He then showed me around, guiding me to relevant places like their classroom, the landing of the stairway that leads to the roof, where the first victim was often seen, and so on. By the way, the place where I wanted to go most, the roof, was closed, perhaps because of those incidents.

"So? Did you learn anything?" Yuji-kun asks before the door to the roof.

"Hm..." As expected, the places didn't make an impression on me.

"Can I ask you something on the matter, too?" he responds to my silence.

"What is it?"

"Why are you investigating in the first place, Toyoshina-san?"

After giving it some thought, I reply, "I had a girlfriend."

"My brother told me something along those lines. He said she... committed suicide," he explains, faltering a little before squeezing out the word suicide. "Ah, do you suspect that it wasn't suicide but murder? And that it was the same culprit for the cases at this—"

"Haha, no, that's not it. To be honest, I think she had a proper reason to commit suicide."

"But then why?"

"A few days before she died, she started to behave strange. Her condition abruptly worsened as if she had stepped on the gas and fallen from a cliff. In other words, I'm investigating the reason why she suddenly stepped on the gas, you know."

"But is there—" Yuji-kun starts, but cuts off mid-sentence, making a grimace.

"What?"

"Ah, no, please forget about it. I don't want to be rude."

"It's okay, I'm curious."

He looks me in the eyes repeatedly before he finally gives in with a nod. "Um... I just wondered if there is a point in doing all this?"

A point.

A point, hm?

"I'm... I'm sorry! My tongue slipped!"

"No, it's okay," I assure him and add, "...There is no point, I suppose."

"None at all?" he asks in surprise.

"She did go to strange places in her last days, sure, and she started to become delusional. Maybe that accelerated her death."

"...It sounds meaningful to me to look into that, no?"

"Nope, not at all. I know for a fact that the reason why she committed suicide has nothing to do with all that."

"...No meaning... but then why do you go out of your way to investigate?"

I gaze at Yuji-kun. Looking at his genuinely puzzled face, I'm sure he has never lost a beloved person.

"Because I have nothing else to do, maybe?"

"But that's not true, is it...? Maybe it's a bit early, but you could start preparing for the university exams, or you could be—"

"No, nothing," I interrupt him with a firm voice, "I have nothing else to do."

The path I tried to rebuild was irreversibly destroyed. I'm only drifting away in an empty space now.

All I can do is follow Shizuka's footsteps, even though there is nothing ahead of them. It's simply the only signpost left to me, having lost ground.

"..."

It seems that Yuji-kun remains unconvinced, but so be it; there's no need for him to understand. If he does, it will be once he's in a similar situation.

I look around once more and let out a deep sigh. It seems that there's nothing to be found here. It's not so easy to find the fragments left behind by Shizuka.

I take her choker out of my pocket and gaze at it.

Shizuka, why did you put that choker on before you died? Is there a meaning behind that? Or none at all? I can't even tell that much, even though we've been together for most of our lives.

"Well, if that's all, shall we leave?" he proposes.

I nod in agreement. There's nothing to be gained here.

As I climb down the stairs, I remember that there was one other thing I was meaning to ask.

"Aah, before I forget: Do you happen to know that name, Yuji-kun?" I ask without any expectations.

"What name?"

"Um, lemme see... 'Reina Kamisu.'"

As I finish saying that name, Yuji-kun abruptly stops.

"...Where did you learn about that name?" he asks, surprising me with his reaction. His face is mildly tensed.

"Um, I heard it from my deceased girlfriend."

He stays silent, his gaze still fixed on me.

Huh? What's up with him? Did he know the name after all? No, that wouldn't explain why he would react like this.

Which means that...?

"I don't know a person by that name, but to tell the truth, I did come across that name."

"Where...?"

Reluctantly, Yuji-kun answers me, "The victims mentioned it."

That means that...? Hold on, I need to think.

Yuji-kun heard the name "Reina Kamisu" from the suicide victims. Victims—that's plural. Furthermore, he doesn't know Reina Kamisu himself. However, that does still not explain why he would react in such a strange fashion.

That means—

"...You don't know Reina Kamisu," I start.

"I don't."

"And the other students who are alive don't know her, either."

"...Exactly."

"However... All the suicide victims, including my girlfriend Shizuka, knew Reina Kamisu."

Yuji-kun nods awkwardly.

"I'm not sure if all three of them knew her, but at least the first two victims did mention that name."

"I see."

"The first victim referred to that name as her best friend, while the second one mentioned it in his suicide note as the person who drove him into suicide, mistaking Reina Kamisu for the first victim."

"He mistook her? How could that happen? How can you mistake the name of the person who drove you into death?"

"I thought so, too... but his suicide note is clearly referring to the first victim! I suppose he knew both of them, since they were close friends, and somehow confused them with each other."

"But..."

"Yes, I know. That only explains why the first two victims mentioned that name, but not why your girlfriend knew her, too."

Exactly.

Shizuka and I have known each other for most of our lives because her family's house is just across the street. We have admitted the same schools from kindergarten to high school. In other words, she had just as little to do with the Shikura middle school as me.

There's no reason why a high school student who is neither in a committee nor in a club would go to a completely unfamiliar middle school that is slightly too far away to go by bicycle, but not that far away. Similarly, there's no reason why she would get to know the students from there.

"Shizuka was acquainted with 'Reina Kamisu' even though you guys don't know her and even though she had far less points of contact with the other suicide victims. And everyone who knew Reina Kamisu—"

"—is dead now."

The pieces are starting to come together, forming a ring that connects all of the victims.

An incredibly twisted ring that should not even exist.

Come to think of it, Shizuka and the other victims had no doubt proper reasons to commit suicide. But they only had reasons.

If for example they had actually been killed, they still would have had proper reasons to commit suicide.

In other words, the fact that they had reasons does in no way rule out the existence of a third person who may have influenced them.

No... don't jump to conclusions. I have to consider that Shizuka did some research about this school; maybe she learned about 'Reina Kamisu' in the process.

That being said... that would be an eerie chain of coincidences.

"Toyoshina-san," Yuji-kun starts, "I'll try asking around in school about Reina Kamisu tomorrow."

"Please do so."

Where will this ring lead me? I think as I gaze in the air.

Suddenly, my vision turns blurry as if a drop of water had fallen on my eyes. But that's how it's supposed to be. The world is full of mosaics that conceal the truth from our eyes. We don't really see anything. Perhaps, we arrive at what we think is the answer even though it's based on flawed logics. At the end of the day, three-dimensional beings like us cannot look across a three-dimensional world.

My vision is always blurry, I'm always blind.

Ah, just damn it. Someone tell me what I'm supposed to do! What did Shizuka want me to do? How can I escape fate? What is 1+1? Why is the earth rotating? Why is the earth round? What is gravity? What is magnetic force? What is the meaning of life? Who is Reina Kamisu?

I know that there's no clear answer, so just make up one for me. Just tell me the answer using a valid logic. There should be one, and if there is one, please tell me.

Give me the right answer.

Give me the right answer.

Save me!

Save me before I drown in the swamp that I'm struggling against, that is drawing life out of me!

Suddenly.

I see a silhouette on the landing where I was moments ago.

A person.

"—Huh?"

—It's 'Shizuka.'

"...? What's wrong, Toyoshina-san?" Yuji-kun asks in respone to the sudden gasp I let out.

"L-Look, there!" I groan as I point at Shizuka. He traces the direction I'm indicating with his eyes and narrows them.

"...Um, I see nothing."

"T-That's impossible!"

I turn around to the landing once more.

"Ah..."

Shizuka's not there. Of course not. She's dead. She's not among us anymore.

"...Sorry, forget about it."

"You must be tired."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

I'm tired. Yeah. Absolutely.

Otherwise I can't believe it.

"Haha..."

I mean, really, how could I otherwise believe that I, who loved Shizuka more than anyone else, would mistake someone for her.

Shizuka isn't among us. She's not here.

Therefore, that girl over there isn't Shizuka.

That girl over there with an absurdly beautiful smile, who resembles Shizuka, is—

"I'm pleased to meet you."

—Reina Kamisu.

===3===

What was the most important thing for me within my school life?

The answer is obvious; and it's something that's already lost.

School right now is just like a hamburger restaurant that doesn't offer meat. They might introduce tofu instead, but that just doesn't cut it.

For me, at least, there is not a single thing of import at school. The only reason I'm still here is because of habit—a routine I'm programmed to follow— a daily ritual I conduct for my family. It's my duty to assume the role of a lazy student for the teachers, an upbeat friend for Kiichi and the others, and an admirable senior for Hozumi-chan. That being said, it's not just an act I'm playing; every moment I spend in these roles, I'm no one else but my true self. There is no falseness in that.

But whenever I'm not forced into one of these roles, I'm confronted with the gaping emptiness inside me.

Well, no surprise. My single most important role has become redundant, and the part inside me that was reserved for that role has vanished.

After my classes end, I start putting the chairs onto the desks to wipe the floor—which is just another routine I'm forced to repeat over and over.

As I'm doing my work, I suddenly recall my short encounter with Reina Kamisu that ended before I could even exchange a word with her.

She resembled Shizuka more than anyone I have ever met. And while she is definitely not a person, she's not an illusion either. Reina Kamisu has without a doubt interacted with Shizuka and the other students, and driven them into committing suicide. I am 100% convinced of that. However, that conviction unsettles me.

Be reasonable, Kazuaki. What makes me so sure that she is really who I think she is? There is nothing that supports my sentiment; I have no information whatsoever that would allow me to recognize Reina Kamisu. I don't know her appearance, her traits, her personality—nothing.

But the girl I met there is Reina Kamisu.

Why did that answer pop out and click with me? What is the meaning of this?

"Senpai!"

Senpai. For students in lower grades everyone's a senpai, but from the context of my daily routine I can deduct that this refers to me. I turn around to the the window adjacent to the corridor.

"Hey, Hozumi-chan," I say. She answers me with a smile. "And Yoshino-chan," I add, spotting her friend next to her, who in turn bows her head silently.

Yoshino-chan hardly ever talks to me. I suppose she's uncomfortable in the company of the other sex. In fact, when I met her alone on the corridor the other day, she ran away from me like lighting. Of course, that incident got me thinking a little, but against my concerns, it seems like she doesn't actually dislike me.

"You're looking dark. Is something wrong?" Hozumi-chan asks with a smile.

"Hm?" While I don't think that they know her, I decide to give it a try nonetheless. "You don't happen to know Reina Kamisu, do you?"

"Rehna… Kameesu?" she repeats like a parrot and turns her head to her companion. Yoshino-chan wordlessly shakes her head. "Is she famous or something?"

"No, no."

"From our school?"

"No."

"Hm? Then why did you think that we might know her?"

"I didn't expect you to be familiar with her. Just asking, really."

Right, they can't know Reina Kamisu. All who know her are dead by now.

All who know her are dead...?

Including me? Haha, aptly put indeed but not funny.

"Okay then, I have to get going."

"Ah... um, do you mind if I tag along...?" Hozumi-chan asks.

"No, I'm sorry, but..."

"Okay..." she says with blatant disappointment.

In order to soothe my conscience, I explain myself, immediately regretting that slip of the tongue.

"There's something I want to investigate."

"Investigate?"

There you have it: Now I got her curious. Should I answer her...? I know that she has a crush on me, so she would probably follow me along everywhere if I were honest to her. I don't want to torment her by giving her false hopes.

However, I then notice that telling her the truth would actually be helpful in that matter.

"I'm investigating those recent suicide cases."

"Ah..."

As I thought, her face darkens in response to the word "suicide" and the memory of Shizuka Wakui looming behind.

"I see..."

Hozumi-chan's approaches have declined after Shizuka's death. Originally, I thought that she would secretly welcome her death and try everything to take advantage of the gap in my heart.

I was wrong.

By that I don't only mean that Hozumi-chan was in fact sad about Shizuka's daeth; she was also sensible enough to notice that Shizuka's value to me hadn't changed a bit. And because of that she was let down. Probably.

"...But they don't talk a lot about those incidents on TV, do they?" she says, getting a grip on herself.

"Yeah. Suicide's not a special topic anymore, after all. Besides, I think there are some regulations because it could give people bad ideas."

"I have a feeling that it only gets into the news if it concerns a celebrity or if it's some real bad incident..."

"Real bad..." mutters Yoshino-chan, joining our conversation for the first time today. "Hozumi-chan? Do you remember that incident at the Junseiwa high where several students jumped off a roof?"

Yoshino-chan has the habit of talking to me via Hozuki-chan.

"Hm...? Well, of course. You're always reminding me that you picked our school because of that incident, aren't you? Your middle school was also there, right?"

"Y-Yes..."

Yoshino-chan went to the Junseiwa School? But that's a textbook example of a girls-only school for rich ladies. No wonder that she's so sensitive to boys.

Anyway, now that she mentions it, I remember hearing about that incident quite a while ago, although it had slipped my mind until now.

"Could you me more about it?" I ask her.

"E, erm... I heard that it started with the student council president jumping from the top of a building... Several other students then followed her and jumped off as well..." Yoshino-chan replies looking elsewhere and gradually growing quieter as she speaks.

"How long ago was that...?"

"A little more than three years... I... think..."

I'm surprised I could forget such a huge debacle; or did they really regulate the media so that that incident wasn't made famous?

Yoshino-chan, noticing my confusion, adds with a flushed face, "The media did not point out the number of suicides because that would harm the long history of the Junseiwa School."

I see.

"I want to learn more about that incident. Do you know of someone I could ask...?"

"Um..."

"Hm?"

"My sister was there at the time, so she might be able to provide information. But..." Yoshino-chan says.

"But...?"

"It is a topic that she hates to talk about. So much that she has not even told me about it. I doubt that she will be of any help."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes..."

Perhaps her sister was not entirely unrelated to the mass suicide. Although considering the scale of that incident, it might very well be possible that there was something that concerned the entire campus behind the scenes.

Something.

For example—Reina Kamisu.

"Can't we just ask one of her friends if your sis doesn't want to talk, Yoshinon?" suggests Hozumi-chan as she interrupts us.

"I'm afraid that my sister didn't really have any friends in high school," Yoshino-chan answers her with a bitter smile—behaving entirely different than when talks to me.

"Then how about this: I'm sure your sister has a graduation album, right?" I ask.

"Ah, um, yes..." she nods in a tense manner.

"Could you show that to me?"

"Err, hm..."

She doesn't seem bent on it.

"Just snatch it when she's not looking, Yoshinon!"

"H-Huh?! You're joking, right...?"

"Please, Yoshino-chan," I ask as well, holding my hands together like in a prayer. She seems to be rather troubled, but I can't be choosing my means.

"M-Mmm... I will try."

"Yay! Thanks a bunch."

"B-But there are no addresses and phone numbers in there...! To prevent data abuse because it is a famous school..."

"Okay. But even a photo might give me a clue."

"A clue...?" Hozumi-chan asks with a slightly trembling voice. My face when Shizuka told me about those "humanoid energies" must have looked the same as Hozumi-chan's now.

"Er, well—"

A clue concerning Reina Kamisu; that's what I'm looking for, but I can't tell her that. Unlike Shizuka, I'm perfectly aware of how I appear from an objective viewpoint.

I have discovered a non-human being that promotes suicide, which is neither a ghost nor an illusion, but an enigmatic phenomenon. Moreover, that being is not only incredibly beautiful, but also resembles Shizuka. And she's the one who killed Shizuka!

Yeah, there's no way they would buy that.

I turn my glance at Hozumi-chan, who's sending me a worried look. I have to come up with some excuse. I could tell them that my first love went to that school, and that... no, they can tell it's a lie from the flow of our conversation. Besides, they know that Shizuka was my everything.

"—Err..."

Hozumi-chan is growing even more worried. Quick!

However...

"Kazuaki?"

It just happened that Kiichi showed up from behind them. Thank god.

"What's the matter?" I ask in the most casual voice I could produce.

"I just got an e-mail from my brother. He wants you to contact him."

"Yuji-kun wants me to contact him?"

Did he get around to asking the other students about Reina Kamisu?

After getting Yuji-kun's phone number from Kiichi, I walked away from the group (Hozumi-chan seemed not amused) and hid inside a compartment in the restroom—we are not allowed to openly use our cell phones at school—and called the number.

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Toyoshina."

"Ah, hello Toyoshina-san."

"Kiichi told me that you wanted to talk to me. What's up?"

"Yes. As promised, I asked around my schoolmates about Reina Kamisu today."

"Oh, thanks a lot."

"Don't mention it. Anyway, I found someone who might know her."

"For real?! But what do you mean by 'might'?"

"You'll understand. I managed to persuade that person to stay at school until you arrive, so may I ask you to come around in the course of the day?"

"Of course."

"Okay then. We're waiting. Drop me a message when you arrive. See you."

"Okay, thanks again. See you."

I end the call with a sigh of relief.

There's someone else besides me who knows Reina Kamisu...? Someone who's also "going to die?" And to that person she also looks like my Shizuka?

"Huh...?" I gasp with a certain doubt in my mind that appeared when I imagined how Reina Kamisu must appear to others people.

Reina Kamisu.

Reina Kamisu resembles Shizuka.

...That's strange. It could be a plain coincidence, of course, but I can't help but feel that there's more to it. Why does she resemble Shizuka?

But then—

Did Shizuka's Reina Kamisu also resemble herself?

I don't think so. My gut feeling tells me otherwise.

Wouldn't it be more plausible to assume that Reina Kamisu is customized to look like Shizuka in my eyes?

Those jeans look great on you, but they're a bit too long, aren't they? Let me cut them down for your size. Let me adjust them to you.

However, what are the implications of that assumption if it's correct?

Reina Kamisu is not defined by her visual data. What does this imply? What is she ultimately, anyway?

My brain can't follow my train of thought. I lack the immunity against uncomprehensible phenomenons. I start to repeat her name meaninglessly in my head. Reina Kamisu,　Kamisu Reina, Reina Kamisu, Kamisu Reina. Again. Reina Kamisu, Kamisu Reina. Again. Kamisu Reina, Reina Kamisu, Kamisu Reina. Loop. Reina Kamisu, Kamisu Reina.

I leave the restroom, only to find Hozumi-chan waiting by herself for me, her look still discontent.

"What's the matter...?" I ask.

"...Senpai. Are you going somewhere today?"

"Did you listen?"

"I did, but I couldn't quite follow because I only heard your voice."

"I see..."

"Senpai?"

"What is it?"

"—Who is Reina Kamisu?"

She gets right to the heart of the matter, leaving me speechless for a moment.

It seems like she could filter out the crucial keyword from our phone conversation...

"I've always been concerned with you, Senpai, that's why I can tell that this 'Reina Kamisu' is at the core of your worries, and that all your worries are connected to Wakui-senpai in some way or another. Please be honest with me. Does that 'Reina Kamisu' have something to do with Wakui-senpai's death?"

"...Where's Yoshino-chan?" I ask as I avert my gaze from her and search for her companion.

"She went home. I told her that I couldn't tag along today," she answers my question, her strong and fixed look forbidding me to look away from her.

I could tell from her gaze that she would not let go of me today anymore, and inside her clear and beautiful eyes, I could see myself: an exhausted, cowardly, idiotic, remorseful, hopeless reflection of myself.

How can she like me with those ever so clear and pretty eyes of hers? You must be blind, Hozumi-chan...

"Hozumi-chan..."

Confronted with her pure eyes, I realize that I owe her some sincerity.

"What is it?"

At this rate, she is not going to ask. She will just follow me to the Shikura middle school and she won't give up on me. She's not even thinking of giving up.

Hozumi-chan is a lovely girl. She can experience as many wonderful romances as she wants. There's no reason for her to constrict herself because of me; she could easily find a love where she can behave more freely and naturally.

I can't leave her at this.

That's why I feel that I owe her a sincere yet cruel answer to her feelings.

"I can't see you as someone of the other sex," I say. Her eyes open in response to my contextless relevation. "I never will. You will never get a special place in my heart."

"S-Senpai...?"

"My heart belongs to Shizuka alone. I'm hers from head to toe, and for all eternity. The two of us were one. You can't replace her. You can't satisfy me by any stretch. Do you finally get it? This is the kind of person I am. I will never be what you want me to be, never."

Hozumi-chan is left completely speechless and just keeps opening and closing her mouth. Insecurely she gazes at me, her head crimson, her fist clenched, and her body trembling.

Hozumi-chan is in puberty—the period of life where you are overly self-conscious and fear to be hurt by someone, or god forbid, by someone you like.

Despite all that, I didn't keep back from hurting her so horribly.

Was there no other way? Perhaps. But I felt that only by using harsh words could I answer her strong gaze.

Hozumi-chan. Too strong feelings always lead to ruin, whether they are beautiful or hideous. Remember that.

Just look what has become of me now that Shizuka's gone.

"Do you still want to come with me, Hozumi-chan?"

The answer is obvious. I don't expect to be hearing anything from her, looking at her insecure and hurt look.

Which is why—

"I do."

Hearing a determined and quick answer struck me as way more unbelievable than the existence of Reina Kamisu.

"I do want to come with you," she repeated.

Even though she must be horribly hurt.

Even though she can barely hold her tears back.

Even though her voice is trembling hard.

And yet she managed to regain a strong light in her eyes and answered my question with a determined voice.

That moment I realized—

"Ah..."

—This was the anwer I was looking for.

This is what I was supposed to do back then.

I'm buried beneath an avalanche of remorse. Unable to move and speak, all I can do is remember that day over and over. Surrounded by cold remorse.

On that day, I embraced Shizuka.

"...Don't touch me."

Until now, I thought I had committed a mistake. I thought that everything was already too late by that time.

But I was wrong.

The real mistake I made was—to let go of her.

I was supposed to keep embracing her, no matter how much she struggled to break free. I was supposed to cling to her no matter what... like Hozumi-chan did so to me.

"...Don't touch me."

I gave up because of those words, in the illusion that I could not do anything to stop her tears. I fooled myself into believing that everything was too late.

I simply was a coward: I feared to be hurt any more because she'd rejected me. I pretended to share her pain when I really couldn't do what I wanted to, what I was supposed to.

I was the only one in the position to achieve something, and yet I didn't take action.

I take her cross choker out of my pocket.

I've finally realized why she'd worn this at the very end, what I was meant to do. At last.

As I hold tight of her choker, I think:

—Forgive me for not being with you all the time.

I look at the blushed girl in front of me. I misunderstood her. I thought that I was just a replacable part in a clumsy, pubescent love story she pictured to herself. But that's not true. She's just like me.

Sadly.

"Let's go, Hozumi-chan."

She nods.

It's a shame that you still can't save me.

Because you aren't Shizuka.

Thanks to the e-mail I had given him beforehand, Yuji-kun and another boy were already waiting for us before the entrance gate when we arrived at the Shikura middle school.

"Hey."

"Hello."

As maybe expected, that boy's look turned out to be... vacant. He just gazed into space while Yuji-kun and I were greeting each other.

"And who are you?" Yuji-kun asks Hozumi-chan.

"My name is Hozumi Shiiki. I'm one grade below Toyoshina-senpai... and older than you, mind you," she adds because of his somewhat cheeky attitude toward her.

...Well, it's not that obvious if you look at your height...

I turn my attention toward the boy who may know Reina Kamisu. Upon realizing that a self-introduction is in place, he mutters without a shadow of a smile:

"I'm Atsushi Kogure."

"Frankly, neither do I know anything nor would I remember if I did," Atsushi-kun starts. "I suffer from amnesia."

Amnesia? Sounds like the protagonist of some drama show.

Having heard of it so many times in fiction, I don't feel a lot of surprise even though it's the first time I'm confronted with amnesia in reality.

I give Yuji-kun a questioning look. He nods. It seems like he's telling the truth.

No wonder that his look is vacant. He is vacant in the true sense of the word.

"When did you lose your memory?" Hozumi-chan asks.

Earlier in the train, I disclosed all my thoughts to Hozumi-chan—that was my way of paying her respect—and she believed me, at least by the look of it. Believability aside, she realized that I wasn't lying to her.

"Around last month," Atsushi-kun answers indifferently.

Last month... that's around the time Shizuka's delusions got out of control.

"Unless my memory fails me, it happened between the second and third suicide case," Yuji-kun adds.

"I hear that there are different kinds of amnesia. What about yours, Atsushi-kun?"

After a short thinking pause, he answers, "I can't tell why I've lost my memory, but apart from the basic everyday knowledge like language, I've forgotten everything. At first I thought the large scar on my chest was the reason, but I heard that I've already had this when I was little."

"Did you forget your name?"

"Yes, I did."

"I see... I'll keep my fingers crossed that you regain your memory." Hozumi-chan says in an attempt to cheer him up. However, Atsushi-kun shakes his head.

She inclines her head, puzzled.

"My mother... or my aunt, to be precise, advised me not to regain my memories. Besides, I feel absolutely certain that they won't return."

"Why are you so sure?" Hozumi-chan asks, still puzzled.

"There's no actual reason. I just feel that way... I think that Atsushi Kogure died."

"Died...? But you're here, right before our eyes."

"No, I'm not exactly Atsushi Kogure. His personality died back then, and I was put into his body instead as a makeshift subtitute because the vacancy had to be filled. I'm another person. I'm just using his name for convenience's sake."

I try imagining myself without any of my memories, even without those of Shizuka.

No memories of Shizuka? That's not me. That's not Kazuaki Toyoshina, but an entirely different person.

Okay, Atsushi-kun has a point.

"All right, let me get to the point—"

"About that," Yuji-kun cuts in. "Atsushi won't admit to knowing Reina Kamisu."

"Huh, really?"

Now that he mentions it, though, it's obvious that Atsushi-kun wouldn't remember knowing Reina Kamisu if he has lost his memory, unless he met her during the short time span after that.

However, seeing the expression clued on his face, I have absolutely no doubts that he must have come in contact with her at some point in time: The blank look on his face has disappeared. Instead, he is gritting his teeth and furrowing his brow.

He definitely knows her. And the misfortune she brings.

"...Atsushi-kun. You know Reina Ka—"

"I don't," he cuts me short with a visibly bad temper.

...It doesn't look like he'll answer me this way. Let's see if I can trick him into giving me the info I need.

"Oh, I see, so it was Reina Kamisu who erased your memory," I say, provokingly.

His eyes widen for an instant! and his face becomes even grimmer. I must be near the mark.

"Okay, Atsushi-kun. One more thing—"

"I...!" he interrupts me again, shouting this time. Embarrassed by our surprised glances, he continues, "I don't remember anything. Really."

"But..."

"It's just that that name sends a chill down my spine."

"Still, you're reaction isn't normal."

"Even if I did come in contact with that Reina Kamisu... no, I probably did, 'Atsushi Kogure' did. But I don't know anything. Atsushi Kogure does no longer exist, so leave me be! Why does everyone keep asking me those questions?!"

"Hm?" I mutter, puzzled by his concluding sentence. "Do you mean us by 'everyone'?"

"Of course. And that strange girl that suddenly talked to me the other day."

Strange girl...?

"Who are you talking about?"

"I don't know who she is! Well, not that I know anyone at all. She suddenly walked up to me and said, 'As I thought. You died, didn't you?' I guess we met somewhere before..."

As I thought. You died, didn't you?"...?

"Hozumi-chan?"

"Yes?"

"What impression would you get from Atsushi-kun if you passed by him on the street?"

"Huh? Uhm... not a special one... at most, I would feel that he's a somewhat unusual person."

"...Agreed," I nod.

Hozumi-chan's right. The girl he met was indeed strange; what she said is not something you hear a lot from strangers. Odd people like that are rare, but I remember hearing something to the same effect only recently..

It seems like that girl mistook him for a dead person; in other words, she thinks that she has the ability to perceive dead people. As ghosts? As humanoid energies?

A fit of disgust assaults me from inside my chest, sending a burning, black lump up my throat. I feel nauseated, my fingers are trembling, my eyes are burning, my throat is sore.

"Do you... know her name?" I ask as I press my hand against my chest.

"Why do you care?" Atsushi-kun snaps back.

He pisses me off.

"Just fucking tell me!" I yell, surprising not only him, but also the other two. That pisses me off just as much. "So?! Do you know her name or not?!"

"...She did tell me her name... I think she called herself Watarai, or Wakui... ah, her first name was Shizuka."

Ah—

So this is where it started?

With this, I can finally connect the dots of this warped ring.

There's no doubting it:

Shizuka became infected with "Reina Kamisu" from Atsushi-kun.

"Atsushi-kun. Spit what you know about Reina Kamisu," I urge him again.

"...I don't know anything for crying out loud."

I grab him by the collar.

"Nothing, you say? Are you shitting me?! You know her! If you don't, remember! Want me to jog your memory, eh? I hear a shock treatment works miracles?"

"C-Calm down, Toyoshina-san!" Yuji-kun urges as he grabs my arm.

"Hands off!" I yell, glaring at him.

However, he doesn't let go of my arm. He's strong. It hurts. FUCK. IT HURTS. Let go of me, jackass! I have to learn the truth about Reina Kamisu! Whatever it takes! Why would I let a little shit like you stop me?!

"S-Stop it, senpai!" Hozumi-chan grabs my arm as well.

What? You team up against me? Just when I thought you've understood me a little, Hozumi-chan. What a mistake. You're just a stranger, after all.

"Hands off, bitch!"

She lets go of me.

What?! If something like that already scares you off, then don't try to stop me from the start! Don't follow me around from the start! What?! Don't look at me with such teary eyes—

"..."

I let go of Atsushi-kun.

"—I'm sorry," I apologize. "I'm sorry!" I apologize to the three of them.

I'm despicable. Horrible.

Not only did I lose my composure just because Atsushi-kun happened to associate with Reina Kamisu and got rough with him, I also hurt Hozumi-chan again. She's never going to forget that I insulted her. She's never going to forget this temporary burst of hatred against her. With the single word "bitch" I have hurt her more than the sharpest blade could, even though I was aware of these consequences.

I'm scum. A lowlife. Trash. A maggot. I should just die.

There is a silence among us; everyone keeps their mouth shut.

What? Where are your reproaches? Cut out those looks of sympathy! They only remind me of my own foolishness...

"Toyoshina-san..." Atsushi-kun breaks the silence. "I do really not remember Reina Kamisu."

"Yeah... I believe you. I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay. I may not remember her, but I do spot a horrifying... specter every so often for a split second."

Could it be that this is...?

"Judging by my fright, it might indeed be Reina Kamisu. However, that is all I know. The only other thing I can tell is that—"

"—she is absurdly beautiful."

—It's her, Reina Kamisu.

The specter that is following him around, and that erased Atsushi Kogure's memory, is doubtlessly Reina Kamisu.

You only get that absurd impression from her; at least, I haven't met any other people of such beauty up to now.

In other words, "Reina Kamisu" is a phenomenon that gives off the impression of being "absurdly beautiful."

She's a phenomenon that creates the exact same impression in all of us.

"...Senpai?" Hozumi-chan taps me. I bend down to her height. "Looks like the two of you met the same Reina Kamisu, doesn't it?" she whispers into my ear.

I answer with a whisper as well, "What makes you think so?"

"Well, because he got the same impression as you."

"Hozumi-chan," I start and proceed to correcting her, "It's the other way around."

"Hey, why don't you let us in on what you're whispering?" Yuji-kun interrupts us.

"Never mind," I say and turn at Atsushi-kun. "Atsushi-kun. Could you tell us what impression you got from the strange girl that talked to you?"

"...Well, I suppose you could say she was fairly pretty."

"Was she your type?"

"No, not at all," he replies without hesitating.

"Okay, so did she look anything like the specter you're afraid of?"

"...I'm pretty sure she didn't, although I can't give you my word on it."

"I see...," I mutter and give Hozumi-chan a look. She seems to be puzzled by the discrepancy of facts. "Yuji-kun? Can you tell me more about the three students who committed suicide?"

"Sure, I'll try."

"Give me as much details as possible, please."

"Hm... I didn't know them too well, though..."

"I don't mind, just tell me what you know," I reassure him.

"Okay. The first victim was Fumi Saito, a student that didn't stand out at all in class. She was falsely accused of having stolen someone's wallet, and that's probably why she eventually made her kill herself."

I doubt that the true reason was that straightforward, but that doesn't matter right now.

"She didn't have any friends, except for Reina Kamisu, to whom she was very close," I add.

"Though there's no proof that she really was friends with Reina Kamisu, but it seems that way judging by her statements."

"Got it. What about the second one?"

"The second victim was Kyouhei Kimura. Committed suicide because he blamed himself for Saito-san's death."

"He must have been craving for forgiveness from Saito-san. But she was death. Therefore he apologized to Reina Kamisu instead."

"...? Toyoshina-san?" Yuji-kun asks, dumbfounded.

"Never mind."

"The third victim was Yuu Mizuhara. She was involved in the suicide of the previous two students, and that fact strained her mentally to the point that she claimed that a ghost had killed the other two. She was under the delusion that she would be killed as well, and then committed suicide."

"She was cornered. She didn't want to admit the blame. That's why she resorted to making up another cause—a ghost. A ghost that is Reina Kamisu," I add yet again.

"...What's up with those comments, seriously?" Yuji-kun asks.

"Oh, just ignore them. By the way, Atsushi-kun?"

"Yes?"

"You suffered quite a lot in the past, didn't you?"

"So I heard."

"And you died. Through Reina Kamisu."

"...Maybe you can say that."

As for Shizuka... it's obvious: She was yearning for a reason for her misfortune—and had Reina Kamisu provide her with one.

They all imposed different roles on Reina Kamisu.

More importantly, I highly doubt that the appearance required from her for those roles would be the exact same in terms of stature, age, face, and so forth. And yet, both Atsushi-kun and I thought that she was "absurdly beautiful."

All right, so Reina Kamisu, as I perceive her, resembles Shizuka. I know for a fact, however, that while Shizuka certainly didn't dislike her own looks, she didn't consider herself all that pretty.

Now, what if we assumed that Reina Kamisu was the exact same person for all of us? Would we all find the same appearance "absurdly beautiful" despite the difference of tastes?

Right, as I said: It's the other way around.

She gives us the same impression only because she looks different for everyone. "Reina Kamisu" is specifically adjusted to look "absurdly beautiful" in our eyes.

Hold on, but then why—

Why is it that we all call this phenomenon "Reina Kamisu" when she appears differently for everyone?

The answer is—

"—Yuji-kun. Atsushi-kun. Let's call it a day," I say with a wave of my hand, take Hozumi-chan's hand while she's still baffled, and turn around to take my leave.

"Ah, hey, wait a sec!"

"What's the matter, Yuji-kun...?" I ask in response.

"It sounds like you found something out about this Reina Kamisu; would you mind telling us?"

"...Just silly musings, really."

"I don't mind, so...?"

I waver. If I say nothing, chances are that he will keep nagging me about it. After all, he must be terribly eager to learn the truth behind the name that keeps coming up in the recent miseries of his classmates.

And that's exactly why it's dangerous to tell him.

"I noticed that there's a fitting other word for 'Reina Kamisu.'"

"Which would be...?"

"'Angel.'"

Yuji-kun remains unimpressed.

"What noun describes a beautiful woman that appears before people who are to die? 'Angel' fits the bill nicely, no?"

"I guess so..." he says without an additional remark. He still seems discontent, but I can recognize a sign of resognition in his face.

Good. It worked. That should put a stop to his interest in my findings regarding Reina Kamisu.

"Okay then, goodbye," I say.

"Yes, goodbye. Hope to see you again sometime."

I briefly wave my hand toward them. Yuji-kun waves back but Atsushi-kun has already turned away from me.

Atsushi Kogure.

Could you say that he got away with a black eye? Or did he die as he said himself?

Anyway. An 'angel' I called her...?

What a laughable yet strangely fitting simile. If she showed up with a halo above her head and a pair of wings on her back, I might actually believe that blatant lie myself. It would be so much easier if I just went with that and quit thinking.

"Senpai..." Hozumi-chan suddenly starts to speak after a while. I already knew what she was going to ask. "Can you tell me the truth?"

And then I regretted revealing everything to her earlier in the train.

=== 4 ===

Names.

"TV", "tissue", "contact lenses", "dog", "baseball", "banana", "cloud", "atom", "light", "Ukraine", "Hozumi Shiiki", "Reina Kamisu".

They're all just terms given to objects for convenience's sake. The convenience of using them is not their only purpose, however; names bind concepts, they shape concepts, they draw attention to concepts, and they bring them to life.

"Reina Kamisu"—a multifarious phenomenon that kills her observers.

That is how I define "Reina Kamisu", while ignoring the lack of evidence, reasoning and common sense.

Well, well, there is one question that presents itself: While it is still acceptable to say that this phenomenon assumes different roles and eventually kills whoever perceives her, there is absolutely no justification to link the phenomenon to the name "Reina Kamisu". However, even though the phenomenon varies for everyone, we all call it by the same name without any hesitation or doubt. She never called herself that, either.

I take the stairs to the second floor and notice Hozumi-chan standing by the door to my classroom. As I approach her, she notices me as well and we greet each other.

"Senpai. I brooded all night over your hypothesis," she immediately gets to the point. "As you said, the victims were already aware of the name 'Reina Kamisu'. The name comes first. Saito-san and Kogure-kun and Kimura-kun and Mizuhara-san and Wakui-senpai and your paths have all crossed somewhere. Which means that you all had the opportunity to learn the name 'Reina Kamisu'. I agree with the conclusion that you've drawn from that, Senpai."

"—You become infected with Reina Kamisu by learning her name."

I nod.

"I'm sorry," I apologize.

Hozumi-chan shakes her head, "Don't worry. I wished for it myself."

Right—I made the mistake of telling her the name of "Reina Kamisu". I was careless. I seem to be constantly giving her trouble.

That being said, I'm pretty sure that learning Reina Kamisu's name alone does not automatically make her visible to you. This is supported by the fact that she hasn't shown up in front of Yuji-kun and his classmates even though they've heard her name.

There must be some sort of condition. As a matter of fact, the reason why I wanted Yuji-kun to lose interest in the matter was to prevent him from accidentally fulfilling that unknown condition. Wake not a sleeping lion (Reina Kamisu). The best protection against Reina Kamisu is losing one's interest in her.

"Senpai," Hozumi-chan says with eyes that let me foresee what she's going to say. "Let me warn you: it's useless to try telling me to back out of this matter."

As I expected.

"...I won't," I mutter, and she responds with a happy smile.

Geez...

"Oh, Yoshinon!" she calls out, still smiling brightly. Her eyes are directed at Yoshino-chan who is trotting toward us. "Morning Yoshinon!"

"Morning, Hozumi-chan," she replies.

"Hey," I greet her as well.

"G-Good morning... Toyoshina-senpai."

Again that difference in attitude.

"What's the matter, Yoshinon?"

"Ah, er, I only saw your bag when I went to our classroom, so I thought you might be here." With these words, Yoshino-chan scours her own bag and takes out something resembling a massive book.

With a blushed face, she holds it out to me.

"Hm?"

On a closer look it seems to be a graduation album.

"Um... I sneaked into my sister's room and borrowed her graduation album..."

Now that she mentions it; I completely forgot that I asked her to bring her sister's album from her time at the Junseiwa School.

"You're a master thief, Yoshinon!" Hozumi-chan jokes.

"Ew... she wouldn't have allowed me to take it otherwise... Um, Toyoshina-senpai, may I ask you to return it to me in the course of the day?"

"Yeah, fine by me. Sorry for bothering you," I apologize to her.

"A, n-no! It was a pleasure!"

It was...? Oh, I should just be thankful.

"All right... I guess I'm off to the library. I want to take a look."

"Huh? What about school?" Hozumi-chan asks, surprised.

"To be honest, I don't have time for that now."

After hearing my response, she (somewhat unsurprisingly) counters, "I'm going with you!"

"...Are you sure?" Yoshino-chan asks.

"Of course. I'm sorry, but can you tell them that I've overslept or something?"

"...Okay, I got it."

Since I'm well aware that it's no use trying to persuade Hozumi-chan, I keep out of their exchange of words.

"Okay, let's go senpai."

"Got it."

After saying goodbye to Yoshino-chan, we head together to the library room. As we walk there, I sneak a peek at the thick album.

Well, I don't expect us to discover anything in this album. It's unlikely that the group suicide over there is connected to Reina Kamisu in any way. Even if she were, I would be surprised to find anything valuable in an album.

However—I was entirely wrong.

Within a mere 5 minutes after taking a seat next to each other, we spotted something.

The heart of the graduation album, the group picture of all members of the class, contained several parts that differed significantly from the rest in terms of size, exposure, background, and so on.

Because of our prior knowledge we can tell why that is. Most if not all of these parts belong to—

—the suicide victims.

"Senpai?"

"Hm?"

"I don't want to sound silly, but..."

"Yeah?"

"Aren't there too many pretty girls over there at the Junseiwa School? I'm kind of jealous."

Honestly speaking, I was too focused on the disagreeing parts to notice. Now that she mentions it, though, I can see that there are indeed a lot of pretty girls in the photo.

"Not only wealthy but also cute and clever... that sure makes me doubt if God really doesn't give with both hands, as the saying goes," she comments.

"I don't think that you need to hide, though, Hozumi-chan."

"Ah, don't mind me. You don't have to pay me lip-service."

That wasn't meant as lip-service.

"Anyway, it's only normal that there would be lot of pretty girls at a renown all girls' school," I say.

"Why? Because only those sorts of girls aim for such a school?"

"I suppose that's not exactly wrong, either, but consider this: looks are heavily influenced by the genes of one's parents, right?"

"Yes, so?"

"And here's the point: Bigwigs almost exclusively get themselves beautiful wives," I conclude.

Hozumi-chan claps her hands together once.

"The scales fell from my eyes."

You actually wondered about it?

I decide to let her be and flip the page.

—I stop midway.

"What's the—" Hozumi-chan asks, only to cut off when she sees the picture I found.

I continue in a mutter in her place.

"—Reina Kamisu."

That name is written there indeed, but we would have held our breath—and be enchanted—either way.

Because the student depicted—

"—It's almost absurd how beautiful she is," Hozumi-chan remarks.

Precisely. She is stands out even among the many other pretty faces. If one were to compare her with a diamond, the other students would be crude stones in comparison. As much as hesitate to admit it, Hozumi-chan wouldn't leave the slightest impression on me if she stood next to the girl in that picture.

For a while, I am completely taken aback by the photograph and the sheer beauty of the Reina Kamisu in it.

But in reality, that isn't of any import; the picture poses a problem that is much more severe.

"I don't get it... why can we see Reina Kamisu in this picture?"

Hozumi-chan gives me a puzzled glance.

"Reina Kamisu is just a phenomenon. She does not possess a body."

"...Maybe she shows in pictures?"

"Even if that were true, she wouldn't get an entry in an album unless someone actually perceived her."

"Which means that..."

I look at the picture again.

She does not resemble Shizuka; but she does resemble the "Reina Kamisu" I know.

"I think we're on the same track, Hozumi-chan."

"Yes..."

"Most likely—"

Those two Reina Kamisus are not equivalent to each other; that's clear just from their looks.

They are, however, both absurdly beautiful.

"—the Reina Kamisu in this picture is a human."

In the end, we didn't attend our classes and instead went straight to Yoshino-chan's address without any notice to her; we wanted to question her sister about Reina Kamisu.

How come the girl in that picture was also called "Reina Kamisu"?

It might be just a coincidence; that would be the most plausible explanation.

The name given to the phenomenon might just have happened to match that of an existing person. But then again, Reina Kamisu is by no means a common name. Moreover, the real person is brought into connection with a group suicide, while the phenomenon entices into suicide, and on top of that, they're both absurdly beautiful and look alike. That's about as crazy as pulling off two royal straight flushes in a row at the beginning of a poker match, but still more down-to-earth than winning the lottery jackpot.

However, I don't know about Hozumi-chan, but at least I discarded that possibility rather quickly.

Because I've actually seen "Reina Kamisu".

I'm certain that anyone who has seen her will agree with me: There is a definite link between the girl in that picture and the phenomenon that shares her name. That's more certain than that bull dogs and chihuahuas are of the same species.

"By the way, the buildings around here are quite something, aren't they?" I say with astonishment.

"I was surprised, too, when I first visited Yoshinon. Would you believe me if I told you that her mom showed up with a Porsche to fetch us?"

"A Porsche? Not bad."

"But Yoshinon's still normal; I heard that a large part of the households in this vicinity have their own limousines and drivers."

Limousines, hm? Sounds like a distant world to me.

Now why would so many inhabitants of that comfy distant world end their lives? They were both blessed with wealth and beauty, and must have been devoid of worries. They had everything that is needed for a happy life.

However, "happiness" is entirely subjective.

A single issue can be perfectly enough for an individual to become unhappy. For example, if the boy or girl you fancy gives you the cold shoulder, you might feel hapless even in a blessed environment. Such an environment amounts to nothing when it comes to fending of the feeling of misfortune.

Therefore, if there was a cause of some kind, it's entirely possible that even a habitant of that distant world committed suicide.

—Reina Kamisu. Did you create that cause? Will you seduce me into suicide as well, as you did with the students of the Shikura middle school?

How?

I try to recall "Reina Kamisu" as I remember her; an absurdly beautiful girl that resembles Shizuka.

What is the role I give to Reina Kamisu? What do I need? Who do I need?

Hm?

—Who do I need?

"———"

Reina Kamisu: a phenomenon that takes on various roles. Who resembles Shizuka.

"Senpai? What's wrong?" Hozumi-chan asks because I suddenly stopped.

Who do I need?

The answer's obvious: Shizuka. I only need Shizuka.

Having finally found the puzzle piece I was looking for, my rusty faculty of thought is set in motion again and starts to restlessly hunt down answers. Answers, answers, answers... the answers I seek sum up like a snowball.

This leaves me with one more thing that I need: confirmation. Something to prove my answers.

I see.

I see now! I found out, Reina Kamisu!

I raise my head with conviction.

As I thought.

Behind Hozumi-chan, next to a house that looks like a pompous show house exhibition—

—I see Reina Kamisu.

"I see. So we only have to wish for her to show up. Because—"

I put on a grin.

"—Kamisu Reina is here."

I walk past Hozumi-chan and head toward Reina Kamisu.

"Senpai!" she shouts out, visibly anxious about my strange behavior.

"Stay away! You must stay away!" I command her as I turn around and scowl at her.

She steps back because of my hard tone.

Yes, that's the spirit.

I do not care about Hozumi-chan anymore. She's no longer needed.

"Don't get in my way!" Leave us alone.

This is what I wished.

This is what I wished Reina Kamisu to be.

"I missed you, Reina Kamisu," I say as I catch her in a dark back street.

She responds with a smile—an absurdly beautiful smile, much like Shizuka's.

"Let's begin with the reason why I didn't notice you up to now, shall we?"

Reina Kamisu listens silently to me.

"You are a phenomenon that only becomes perceivable by us becoming aware of your existence. There seem to be multiple requirements for that, like knowing your name, but it's safe to assume that I've fulfilled those, since I've seen you once before. Then why is that I haven't been able to see you ever since?"

I am almost glaring at her as I continue.

"It's because I started to consider you a phenomenon."

Her cheeks move slightly, but apart from that she stays absolutely silent.

"When assessing a mysterious phenomenon like you from a perspective that is grounded on common sense—and only then—it becomes impossible to admit your existence. Basically, common sense imposed a filter on me that operated in my subconsciousness and prevented your data from getting to me. In order to perceive you nonetheless, it's thus necessary to either remove that filter or to shift one's perception of you to something different from a phenomenon."

This time around, Reina Kamisu gives me a clear response. She nods.

"You appeared before me with a certain role. I am aware of that role by now. One part of it is to help me arrive at the answer I was looking for," I explain while thinking back at the burning question that plagued me at the time of our first encounter. "But let me ask you something first: Who is that Reina Kamisu in the picture I saw? How is she related to you?"

"She's a person called 'Reina Kamisu'."

I heard her voice for the first time; it's as beautiful as expected.

"Is she someone else than you?"

"Yes, I suppose she is. In the sense of being a different being."

"What to you mean by different being?"

She replies to my question with a smile, "She is what you might call my roots, you know."

"You roots...?"

Seeing that I can't quite follow her, she expands on her explanation, "...Why do you think I was given the name of 'Reina Kamisu'?"

I consider her question. The phenomenon said that the person was her roots, her origin. In other words, the person named Reina Kamisu existed first? So the phenomenon came to be only recently? That doesn't sound plausible to me. I feel that the phenomenon she represents has always existed, just without anyone finding a way to perceive her—

"—Oh, I got it."

"Did you?"

"Your name made you perceivable, just like we become explicitly aware of the concept of air by giving it the name 'air'. Put another way, the phenomenon Reina Kamisu exists because we gave it that name."

"Exactly."

That explains why she spreads through her name.

"But why 'Reina Kamisu' of all names? Was there no alternative?"

If the Reina Kamisu in that album was a normal person, then there is no reason why "Shizuka Wakui" or "Hozumi Shiiki" or "Yoshino Mitsui" couldn't serve as a namesake.

"That's because her existence was singularly close to mine."

"Close...? Do you mean you blended into other people's perception of her? Similar to how a non-technical person won't be able to differentiate between a computer screen and a TV?"

"You've guessed right."

"But then... in what way did the human Reina Kamisu resemble you? In the way that she also caused others to commit suicided?" I ask.

"That's not correct. When people correctly perceive me, they tend to despair. I'm not responsible for that."

"Then what else makes her similar to you?"

"Just look at me. It's our outward appearance."

"Your appearance?" I frown. "I admit that the photo of your human counterpart resembled you, but your appearance is variable. It changes depending on the observer. It's not possible to resemble something that doesn't maintain its shape."

"But you just admitted that we resembled each other, didn't you?"

My eyes widen. I nod.

"Let me summarize," I say.

"Don't let me stop you."

"You're beautiful. Absurdly beautiful."

"Thank you."

"And that's also the impression you make on everyone as a phenomenon."

"That's not quite correct," she argues.

"What do you mean...?"

"I don't give off an impression of beauty. I am beauty itself."

"...I'm afraid you lost me."

"Have you ever heard of the Theory of Forms?"

"I'm familiar with the name, but I don't know what it means exactly."

"For example, take an elephant and picture it to yourself."

I do as she told me and imagine an elephant. The first thing that comes to mind is its long trunk, followed by a picture of its large ears and tusks. The elephant is big and gray and has thick skin. I uses its trunk skilfully to pick food.

"Are you done?"

"Yes."

"So where did your image of an elephant come from?"

"Wherefrom...?"

Of course from the information stored in my brain. However, it's impossible for me to tell from which elephant exactly that impression originates. It might be one of the elephants I've seen in the zoo in my childhood, or it might be one from the TV or a book, or perhaps even from someone's description of an elephant.

"All right," she continues, "now imagine you saw an elephant right before you. Would you recognize it as one?"

"Most certainly."

"All right," she says, "now imagine you saw a beautiful person right before you. Would you deem her beautiful?"

I sneak a peek at Reina Kamisu.

"Of course."

"But how do you decide whether or not a beautiful person is beautiful?"

"By—" I pause to consider the hint she's given me. "—comparing her to my image of a beautiful person and see how close she is, maybe?"

"Correct."

...So is it like this...?

"Reina Kamisu, you are my very image of a 'beautiful person.'"

"Right, I am your archetype of beauty. That's why I look more beautiful to you than anyone else."

I see, that's why Reina Kamisu resembles Shizuka; after all, Shizuka constitutes a great deal of my image of a beautiful girl.

Okay, it looks like I was slightly wrong with my original hypothesis. I thought that Reina Kamisu's resemblance to Shizuka originated from her second role to me.

"My existence is detached from space and time, and is to be found in the world of Forms. Not that the Theory of Forms expresses precisely what I am, but it's close enough. I'm only using this term because there is no other name for it, just like there is no other name for me. But I do indeed exist on the back side—or front side!—seen from you."

"In other words... you live in another world?"

"I don't know if it's really another world, but I suppose for the current mankind, who only believe what they see, it actually is another world. My being is entirely dependent on you, so if you define me as non-existent, then there is no world for me to live in. What will never change, however, is that I do exist."

"...I think I roughly understand what you are. But then I have a hard time comprehending how the girl in that picture could resemble you."

"Why don't you try to reverse the equation?"

"Reverse?"

"Don't think that Reina Kamisu resembles me—think that I resemble Reina Kamisu."

I don't get it. Isn't that exactly the same thing, except for the order?

Except for the order...?

The Reina Kamisu in the picture was a real person, and therefore had a constant appearance. The Reina Kamisu in front of my eyes, on the other hand, changes her visuals depending on the observer.

The human "Reina Kamisu" had an appearance that nearly everyone would find to be beautiful. That said, so many men, so many minds. In theory, it's perfectly possible that she's ugly in someone's eyes.

The phenomenon, however, must absolutely always be absurdly beautiful. That's her definition.

To rephrase this: there might be a person who considers the person "Reina Kamisu" as ugly, but the phenomenon as beautiful.

The reverse is impossible.

If I combine that fact with the fact that both the phenomenon and the person look absurdly beautiful, and similar, in my eyes...

"Don't tell me—"

I already knew that there was another condition apart from knowing her name. Those conditions are necessary to mix up the human Reina Kamisu and the phenomenon.

In other words, people whose image of beauty does not match the looks of the human Reina Kamisu are not able to mix those two up.

Put the other way—

"Only people whose image of beauty does almost precisely match the looks of your human counterpart are able mix you two up and create a link between the name and the phenomenon."

That is the second condition.

Reina Kamisu nods and adds to my explanation, "And as you mentioned beforehand, I will appear besides everyone who longs strongly enough for me, or more precisely for a replacement of somebody, to override the filter that is their common sense."

"But most people will eventually regain their common sense," I continue her intent, "and become unable to place you in the role they gave you. Which means that they will either lose what was vital to them, or despair because they notice that what they believed in was fake. And as a consequence—"

"—they are likely to commit suicide."

Reina Kamisu—so far I considered her evil in itself.

But I was wrong.

She is neither good nor evil; she just exists. She is just a purposeless phenomenon that is forced to appear whenever she is given a name.

That is the truth behind Reina Kamisu.

"Kazuaki Toyoshina," she says and I raise my head. "What role do you give me?" she asks with a smile resembling Shizuka's.

"...You planning to give me false hopes, just to make me despair in the face of the truth?"

"Perhaps. But you're not like the others, are you?"

"Not like the others? How so?"

"You are able to perceive me even though you realized that I'm a phenomenon. That's a remarkable difference, isn't it?"

That's true...

I'm already aware of what she really is. I'm not like the others who fell into despair as they approached the truth behind her being. The way to salvation is not going to abruptly break off.

If I give her the role of the person I crave for, I will be able to wallow in a soft dream.

Shizuka does not exist in this world anymore.

Then what should be my decision—?

My decision?

There's nothing to waver.

I, I—

I take the cross choker out of my pocket. I've already noticed what I'm supposed to use it for.

I take a step toward Reina Kamisu.

I won't return. I don't need to.

My final step—

"...Senpai."

—is stopped by that voice.

Didn't I tell you to stay away? To not get in my way?!

I turn around and glare at Hozumi Shiiki.

Though unsettled by the anger in my look, she continues to speak, "...Who were you talking to, Senpai?"

I don't answer her.

So at the end of the day, she won't recognize what's important for me; she won't take take the same path no matter how much she feels attached to me. She isn't worth much to me: neither is she able to substitute Shizuka, nor is she able to make up for her in the slightest.

"Reina Kamisu. Let's meet up tomorrow."

"...Where?"

"That place. I'm sure you understand, right?"

Reina Kamisu smiles at me.

"Senpai..."

I ignore Hozumi-chan again. Instead I take the graduation album out of my bag and hand it to her, "Return this to Yoshino-chan, okay?"

Wih these words I turn away from her.

"Senpai!" she calls out to me from behind. "I... I... what... what do I have to do?! What do I have to do... to walk the same path as—"

"Hozumi-chan," I interrupt her. "Stop bothering me or—"

With my back turned toward her,

"—I will kill you." I spit words of rejection.

I walk away.

I throw everything away.

I throw away even the foolish but gentle girl who has treated me ever so warmly.

I can no longer see anything.

I can no longer hear anything.

Therefore I can absolutely not hear the weeping behind me either.

===5===

"Let's get married when we've grown up."

That's the typical promise made between two childhood friends. You hear it so often in manga or anime or games and so forth that it's become a cliché. It's the most straightforward way to ensure an unbreakable bond between the protagonist and the heroine.

But in real life there is no meaning in such a promise.

When we grow up, we don't remember those childish promises anyway, and even if we do, they have long since expired because we didn't even know the real meaning of marriage. Only a hopeless fool would take that proposal serious and ask a girl out on that pretext. Even if two childhood friends date each other, a promise like that does not count as a memory but as a funny story.

We are constantly growing up, leaving behind the past. Therefore, it's essential to always live in the same time as the other party in order to keep such a promise intact.

At the beginning, neither of the two might know what the difference between boys and girls is, and what it means to get married or to become a couple. From there, they have to keep walking and growing up together, and they will slowly but surely come to understand what it means to find a partner for life. When they do that and still continue to treasure the promise of getting married when they've grown up—and only then—that promise acquires a significance.

I consider that a miracle. It's impossible not to withdraw such a promise after getting to know every good and bad trait of the other party, or the dirty differences between boys and girls, or the appeal of the other sex. Maybe they become aware of their feelings for each other after parting ways ways once to find themselves other partners, but it's impossible to constantly hold the belief of belonging together and getting married. I am positive that it's safe to say that such a thing is impossible. That's why I consider it a miracle.

And our relationship was founded on such a miracle.

Though made possible only because of a narrow view and foolishness, I felt quite comfortable with that kind of relationship.

It was extremely dear to me.

With those thoughts in mind, I look around our park.

Here we sat together in a swing. Here we unsuccessfully tried to build a tunnel with sand. Here we did our first forward upward circling on the horizontal bar. The jungle gym I fell from has been removed by now, but this place is still doubtlessly the park that we considered ours.

This is where I spent time with the little Shizuka.

This park shaped us, protected us, and—destroyed us.

Yeah, that's right.

Even the dearest of places may stab you in the back.

Yeah, that's right.

Reality treats saints and sinners all alike, attacking them mechanically, randomly, without any consideration and selection.

Yeah, that's right.

Anything and everything in this world with the exception of Shizuka betrays me.

I feel the content of my pocket with my hand. The cross choker is there. I'm fine.

I close my eyes. Because I don't want to see.

I cover my ears. Because I don't want to hear.

I close myself to the world. Because I don't want to believe.

There is only one thing I need to see now: the phenomenon that exists around me with an appearance similar to Shizuka's.

Reina Kamisu is waiting for me at the center of the park.

"Are you done saying goodbye to your friends?" she asks.

"There is no one I have to say goodbye to."

"I see..." she notes with a slightly sad smile.

"There is someone I need," I say with averted eyes.

"I know."

"I'm helpless without her. I can't move on at this rate."

"...I know."

"I do absolutely and unconditionally need Shizuka Wakui."

"...I know."

As I turn to her, I ask, "Do you also have a person who you need?"

After a short pause, Reina Kamisu replies, "I suppose that would be you, Kazuaki Toyoshina."

"...I see. You're right. You're dependent on me, after all."

"...That's also part of the reason."

"Also?"

"I assume it's due to the role that you gave me, but I seem to... be extremely fond of you. I can't help wanting to be by your side."

"...Do you possess feelings?" I ask her.

"I do!"

"But... those were conceived by me."

"Yes, but they are not false... or would you call feelings that someone created in you false?"

I answer with a weak smile, "I wouldn't."

"Right? I do feel the same as a common human when I manifest in front of you, even though I may purely be an idea."

"Even though you exist solely for the sake of someone else?"

"Yes."

To be honest, I think that we may resemble each other. I was dependent on Shizuka, too, and lost my place to be when she died.

"We're much alike," I say aloud.

"...I suppose you're right. We'll get along just fine," Reina Kamisu smiles at me. "I only exist to fulfill the role you gave to me. I will become who you need and stay by your side."

"...As my lover?"

"Yes. We will walk side by side for all eternity. You will abandon this world and only concern yourself with me. I know that this is your wish. That this is your happiness."

"You're absolutely right."

With those words, I take the choker out of my pocket.

"That's a lovely choker," she remarks.

I silently put the chocker that Shizuka wore at the very end around Reina Kamisu's neck.

"How is it?"

I gaze at her without letting go of the choker, and reply:

"It looks great on you."

Upon hearing my answer, Reina Kamisu,who resembles Shizuka, smiles.

Suddenly, I wonder where I will be going. Where Reina Kamisu will be guiding me.

I turn my attention at her again; the choker suits her greatly.

I remember ordering it on the Internet because I was too embarrassed to enter a jeweler's shop. I was astonished when I noticed that the actual thing looked quite different from the pictures, but Shizuka loved my present nonetheless.

When she put it on, she laughed and joked, "Maybe I'm a bit too young for this?" I then told her not to strain herself, but she assured me that she wanted to wear it.

It's a shame, but the choker did not suit her.

I still won't let go of the choker.

"...Kazuaki?"

Oh boy, God remains cruel to me.

"Don't call me that!" I shout.

"Eh?"

Reina Kamisu has feelings and is attracted to me on top of that. She's no different from a human.

"Otherwise it would sound like Shizuka were calling my name, no?"

But I'm the one who set up this scene. I wished all this.

"What do you mean...?" she asks.

It's what I wished for in order to win.

"—You are Reina Kamisu and no one else!"

At her last hour Shizuka wore this choker. It never really suited her. It was a token of our love.

And with this choker, I—

—strangle Reina Kamisu.

At once, her beautiful face that resembles Shizuka's distorts with pain.

"...Wh...y...?"

Despair shows in her face.

"Don't you get it?" I ask without loosening the choker. "You can't become Shizuka, nor can you replace her. You can't satisfy me by any stretch. Being similar to her is by far not enough. If you really were to replace her, you would've had to be as alike as two peas in a pod."

"...B-But... but then... what is my role...?"

"The answer is staring you in the face."

I strangle Reina Kamisu's neck so hard that she can no longer say a word. She moans painfully.

"If your role isn't to be my lover and substitute for Shizuka, then it's your role to be—"

"—my enemy!"

Reina Kamisu. I will never forgive you.

I detest the enemy that tormented Shizuka and me.

I detest the park that betrayed us.

I detest the fate that left us with this outcome.

I detest all those non-existent enemies.

That's why I give that role to you, Reina Kamisu.

That detestable role belongs to you.

"Reina Kamisu, you are—"

"—a monster that must die."

Reina Kamisu.

You may be a phenomenon—an intangible phenomenon—but I can still kill you.

Don't you agree?

After all, enemies exist—

—to be killed.

"Die."

I don't care if the entire world gets distorted by the erasure of Reina Kamisu.

I don't care if killing her solves nothing.

It will make nobody happy, not even me.

I'll do it only for me as I go to hell, because it's the only thing I can do.

I will—

"Please, die already!"

—kill Reina Kamisu.

I can clearly feel her neck as I strangle her. The sensation of killing; the realization that her life drains.

I can clearly feel it.

I feel something dwindle away. Maybe it's something that's insignificant to others, something invisible, but my gut feeling rings an alarm bell.

But as much as I try to catch it, it will just run through my fingers.

Whatever it is, it cannot be made undone. Never.

And before I know it, I have arrived where Reina Kamisu was supposed to guide me.

Reina Kamisu—is no more.

The choker has split apart.

...I don't care anymore.

There is no enemy anymore.

There is no Reina Kamisu anymore.

Reina Kamisu is nowhere.

I return from the boundary of worlds and I find myself in another unfamiliar world.

It's the normal, rational, empty world, which I'm supposed to know only too well. Yet, this world strikes me as unfamiliar.

But it's reality. The hard truth.

Therefore, the sight before my eyes is real.

"Why didn't you listen to me?"

I assigned Reina Kamisu the role of my enemy; but in order to confront and have her fulfill that role, there was a need for me to unlock the filter of my common sense.

That's why I closed my eyes, covered my ears and closed myself to the world. I needed to warp the original data into shape.

My enemy.

My memory was manipulated so that I would kill my enemy, Reina Kamisu, by manipulating the flow of information in a way that would present her death as my first priority. The system revolves entirely around her role.

Reina Kamisu is a phenomenon.

She can't physically kill anyone, and no one can physically kill her.

But Reina Kamisu was my enemy.

She had to be killed. I had to physically experience the sensation of murdering her. There was a need to feel her death with my own hands.

As a result...

Didn't I warn you?

—That's why I told you not to stay away from me.

"Hozumi-chan."

I look down at her. Her face is so distorted with pain that it's painful to look at it directly—and yet there is an undeniable glimmer of satisfaction in her face.

Why?!

It's enough if Reina Kamisu takes on others' roles, so why did you think of taking on the role of Reina Kamisu?

Was keeping up contact with me so important to you? Did you prefer opposing me over being left behind?

You're incomprehensible, Hozumi-chan!

I, yes I, am only concerned with Shizuka and no one else. You can't become Shizuka, nor can you replace her. You can't satisfy me by any stretch.

Why did would you want to stick to a guy like me to the bitter end...?

It's a shame. Really. You were so close.

You almost managed to change me—

I look up at the sky as I feel that my fight is over.

Hey Shizuka, I won!

I won against Reina Kamisu and Hozumi Shiiki!

I will continue to love you!

But I feel lonely. Incredibly lonely.

There's no one by my side. I don't allow anyone to be.

I'm sure that it will stay that way, with me continuing to remain here.

Someone, please.

Please, anyone, warm me up.

But I won't allow anyone to do that.

Shizuka. Shizuka.

I don't care if you're a ghost, or a fake, or a humanoid energy even.

Don't leave me alone.

But Reina Kamisu is no more.

The being that could replace you is no more.

She is not here anymore.

I'm all alone.

The only thing left to me is—the invaluable symbol of Shizuka and my connection.

The cross choker I gave to her. No—

—the remnants of it.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Shizuka Wakui|Chapter 3]]
| Return to [[Kamisu Reina Series|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Epilogue|Epilogue]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Talk:Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Shizuka Wakui

2014-05-08T02:04:42Z

Axyraandas: /* Ressentiment? */

Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Shizuka Wakui

2014-05-08T02:03:59Z

Axyraandas: /* 5 */

===1===

While letting the broken Engrish of our over 50-year-old English teacher in at one ear and out at the other after about 3 seconds, I look up terms on my electronic Kojien dictionary.

principle of mass conservation [n] 
A principle in classical physics stating that the total mass of an isolated system is unchanged by interaction of its parts. Discovered in 1774 by Antoine Lavoisier.

principle [n]
# A basic truth, law, or assumption.
# A basic or essential quality or element determining intrinsic nature or characteristic behavior.

The mechanics of the world are surprisingly simple.

There must be lots of those basic and essential qualities, scattered all around the world, but if you divide them even further into their most essential parts, the absolute number of distinct qualities shrinks to a number that's everything but high.

Did you know that many laws and principles are just augmented rehashes of a set of already known core principles?

More often than not, you end up at the same place no matter from which side you approach the nature of things. That's also why the teachings of people who have mastered a way often coincide even though their ways have nothing in common.

In other words, if you understand some of those core principles, you start to see how the mechanics of the world work.

Core principles are the essence of things. Understand them and you can apply them wherever you want and form new, unshakable laws. Cores attract everything around them just like magnets.

But no one else really knows; they all grow up to be shallow people, only ever looking at the surfaces instead of the underlying cores. They let others influence themselves because their understanding only scratches the surface. They can't consider the true nature of things on their own. Poor people. All it would take to acquire those cores is picking up a good book. Oh, or is there a set of requirements that need to be fulfilled, which I happened to do? I pity them even more, then. It's as though they were characters of a manga fighting each other, unaware of what they are. Even though they fight for no purpose other than their writer's household. Even though their conflict is just a figment, and their very existence is for the sake of fighting.

Anyway, one of those few truths goes by the name of "mass conversion."

Contrary to its name, it's not limited to mass; the amount of everything is bound to a certain number that neither grows nor shrinks. Everything's unchanging, be it mass, energy, sex drive, the number of souls—you name it.

The lesson ended while I was absorbed in thought, gazing at my electronic dictionary. Classes are finally over. I have better things to do than this. But I can't just deviate from my usual behavior and skip school. I mustn't let anyone get wind of what I'm doing; if I appear suspicious, it becomes more likely that someone will notice it. Before anyone else, especially—

"Phew, done for the day! Shizuka, wanna tag along somewhere today?"

Before anyone else, that easy-going boy, Kazuaki, might notice. Which is because we have spent too much time together from an early age on.

"I'll pass," I reply toward the adjacent seat.

"Oh come on... you're so cold," my childhood friend says as he purses his lips. Geez... he just won't change.

"I've got something to take care of, you see."

"You've been saying that all the time lately... you're not trying to avoid me, are you?" Kazuaki asks as he wrinkles his brow. Oh dear, he really doesn't change.

"Of course not!"

"Uh-huh...," he mutters downheartedly.

"Why don't you go home with the C2 duo if you're feeling lonely?"

"T-There's nothing between me and—" he counters in denial with a slightly flushed face.

"Senpai~!"

"H-Hozumi-chan... don't be so loud, it's embarrassing..."

His objection is cut off from afar by two girl voices. With the appearance of those two innocent-looking girls, I wave my hand to Kazuaki.

"See you."

"Ah..."

Don't look at me like that; I'm not leaving you behind because I want to. As soon as I've sorted this out, I'll tag along whenever you want.

But that has to wait, okay?

The world is at stake, after all.

Unconcerned by the waves of students heading homeward, I look around in thought.

The world is in danger.

Maybe that's an exaggeration. But in the very least, danger is looming ahead in this vicinity. I hoped I was wrong (which was out of question, of course, but I wanted to be wrong) but with the news that 3 students at the Shikura middle school committed suicide, my fear proved true.

We're in imminent danger.

And here we return to the thing about core principles and conservation of mass.

I used to be a completely normal girl; I may have hit puberty earlier than others, and have received dozens of confessions already, and I primarily hanged around with Kazuaki instead of other girls, but apart from that, I was a completely normal girl.

I'm using the past tense here because I feel that this no longer holds true.

There is a number of truths (cores). By getting to know these, I learned how I'm supposed to look at things.

It didn't take long for me to hit upon a certain question. We all have feelings. Joy, anger, sadness, fun.

Now, let's apply the law of conservation of mass to this case. Emotions are energy, which, especially in the case of love and hatred, store extreme heat. We consume emotional energy by converting it into energy that keeps us moving. However, not all of our feelings are always converted and consumed. But then where does the energy go when we are unable to suppress our feelings? Most of all, where does the energy go when we die—which must be a tremendous amount when faced with a violent death—when it can't possibly be consumed? Where does that energy fade away to?

With that question in mind, I started to pay attention.

Before long, I found the answer: the energy doesn't disappear at all. The answer was right under my nose, on the other side. Strong feelings, to raise an example, which often happen to be grudges, surface slightly on our side from time to time. It's dead easy to observe when you clear yourself for a moment and float up. Look, there's one. There's an accumulation of converted emotional energy. In most cases, those accumulations are shaped like a human.

Anyway, back to the danger the world is facing.

After becoming aware of those humanoid energies, I observed a peculiar change as of late.

Originally, those humanoid energies were unable to move by themselves, and completely harmless for people who didn't notice them; they would just stay put at one place and spread their network in order to influence whatever got caught in there.

Lately, however, they changed their behavior and started to shimmer like mirages. As if afraid of something or in ecstasy? I can't tell. What I can tell, however, is that it's not normal and that it's a sign for something to happen.

I don't know what the humanoid energies will do, how that will affect us, and what will happen, but there is one fact:

Three students died at the Shikura middle school.

But that's of no import. Well, of course it's very deplorable that their lives were lost, but in the face of the great menace that might be ahead of us, even a loss like that turns insignificant.

Three people died. What if... what if that was just a sign?

If, hypothetically speaking, this phenomenon was due to a natural circumstance, I would probably have to give up and let things take their way. Besides, we would just have to take cover and wait for the menace to pass by.

However—what if someone is pulling the wires behind the scenes?

It's not that I take issue with that ethically, no. What if we are not dealing with a random phenomenon, but with one that is deliberately called forth by someone? What if there is someone who can use that power whenever he wants? What if there is someone who can control all the humanoid energies that are likely to be spread all over the world?

That's what I fear.

After all, if my concerns prove true and that really was a man-made incident, he could endanger the life of everyone in the world.

The world is in danger.

Someone is scheming to ruin us all; someone evil like that is among us. And I have to track that person down.

That's why I've been closely observing the humanoid energies around me for a while.

{Volcano goes up to the 2nd floor of a black minus to eat warmed-up food and falls.}

{I want to eat the lucky meat that died ten times but resurrected a hundred times.}

{I throw a telephone receiver into a 4-dimensional pocket because the trash bin is full.}

{The unrivaled adventures of Hutch the Honeybee are living tourmalines.}

As they shimmer, the energies give off signals on a different wavelength that, while barely converted into my language, make no sense whatsoever.

However, I can make out a difference in volume.

Slowly but surely, their voices (?) grow louder and their flickering stronger.

Maybe I'm getting closer to the bad guy.

Last time, their abnormal behavior stopped while I was investigating, but I don't feel any signs of that happening again. I might be able to find him this time around.

—The uncanny conjurer who could easily extinguish three lives.

———

That's right... I'm about to run into a horrible foe...

Only now noticing this fact, my feet sink into cement and my steps become slower.

Besides... How do I know that his victims add up to just three? The only reason why I associated their deaths with the anomaly that occurred to the humanoid energies is because they were all suicides and happened in succession in my school. I don't know if they're even related to the anomaly I observed.

On the other hand, you can also say that there might be numerous undiscovered victims that I could not tie to this menace.

Come to think of it... the suicide rate has been growing lately. Hey, what if that's partly due to the criminal I'm about to meet? That's by no means unlikely; not only would killing someone with humanoid energies leave behind no evidence, it wouldn't even be noticed.

What am I going to do, meeting a person like that?

Sure, I can perceive humanoid energies. But that's about it. Apart from that, I'm just a normal girl who may have hit puberty earlier than others, and has received dozens of confessions already, and primarily hangs around with Kazuaki instead of other girls. Probably.

What is a girl like me going to do against a heinous criminal like that? Persuade him? Would my words really get through? Would he leave someone who knows his secret alive?

My legs stop completely.

But—

But if he were to extend his deadly hands toward Kazuaki...

My buried legs come free from the cement and I start moving forward again.

I'm afraid... I really am, but...

I have no other choice.

{Corn rings with gleaming rainbows in the background.}

{After bathing in Nattou, Watanabe-san's car travels through through time as it flies through the air.}

{A club-wielding maid brings Nagatacho's meat shreds into motion.}

The voices (?) become louder.

The sentences are as devoid of meaning as before, but the weight of their words has changed. With crackling tension they reverberate through my body, prickling my brains like with a mechanical pencil.

A grudge? I think to myself as I notice a core of a humanoid energy. A type of energy that would normally only get transported to people who were caught up in their nets flows to me.

I feel nauseated. Like on the day of my worst menstruation.

I want to curl up immediately, but I mustn't. There's someone I have to meet. I must meet her.

...Huh? Her?

Why do I know her gender?

I pull myself up and stagger into the park before me. Except for a few children with their parents near the sandpit, there's nobody besides me.

Nobody.

I stand before an old, weathered wooden bench. I don't know what to say. I don't know if it possesses the ability of language, anyway. However, I can't just stand here, so I try speaking to it.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

She raises her head.

"Ah—" I groan in surprise.

Her features were absurdly beautiful.

But what surprised me more than anything was the fact that I—

"Reina... Kamisu."

—knew the name of that phenomenon.

===2===
"Doctor, I think I'll cancel our meetings."

Doctor Mihara looks at me, slightly astonished, and asks, "Why?"

"I only came here because I needed support back then, didn't I?"

He gives me a small nod.

"So you are not in need of support anymore?"

"Yes, I'm not. The fits of depression I used to have are gone, and so is my aversion against talking to others," I explain and decide to add something I experienced the other day when I was waiting here, "and I don't rush out of this room screaming."

A few wrinkles appear in the doctor's brow.

"Who," he says after a short pause, "are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the boy who was often here before me. If I recall correctly, he was wearing the uniform of our school. He bumped into me the other day, didn't he? What's his name again?"

"...I am afraid that I cannot talk to you about my other clients."

"Not even his name? Whatever. Come to think of it, I haven't seen him lately."

His mien darkens clearly.

"He is not going to... come again."

"Is that so...?"

"Yes," he nods.

I doubt they would just discontinue his mental treatment in that condition; did something happen? Seeing how he ran away screaming, there must be a reason why he didn't want to come anymore.

But I have a strange gut feeling about this.

After all, that boy is a student of the Shikura middle school. Given that he was under mental treatment, it's more than possible that he had a reason for suicide, so he might be among the three suicide victims.

Judging from Doctor Mihara's bitter mien, he must know the truth. I refrain from asking more, however, because his personality would not allow him to answer me.

"At any rate, you said you want to cancel our meetings?" he says, getting back on topic, "in my view, it is a bit early for that."

"I know, Doctor. You're right in that my wounds have not yet healed up; I'm not my former self yet, either."

"That's not the problem," he argues. "These wounds will accompany you through your entire life, and you will not be able to return to your uninjured former self anymore."

"Where lies the problem, then?" I ask.

"I am hesitant to believe that you have really recovered from the shock."

"But in that case, wouldn't I be coming here for the rest of my life?"

The doctor pauses for a moment. "Still... it is still too early."

I get worked up a little; is he claiming that I'm weird?

Therefore, I object:

"Doctor. Let me be frank. We're not a wealthy household. The bill for this psychological therapy cuts pretty deep into our budget!"

"......" He lapses into silence as I bring up my monetary circumstances.

"Maybe you're right and I haven't fully recovered from the shock yet, but I'm confident that with the support of my parents and the few friends I have—like Kazuaki—I will be able to get better."

"I do not disagree with that. However, I feel that you are still in need of a specialist like me."

"Why?" I ask, somewhat irritated.

"...Very well, let me explain my concerns: I feel that you have delusional tendencies."

"...Delusional tendencies?" I ask in response to his unexpected claim. I have trouble seeing what he is referring to.

"Yes. I do not know how developed that inclination was when you first came here because you would not open yourself up to anyone... but I think that those delusional tendencies have become stronger as you regained your vitality."

"Huh? Do you mean I threw away my common sense in order to come to terms?" I ask.

"I cannot say for sure. I do surmise, however, that in order to protect yourself from the deep wound you sustained, you were forced to alter various things that would otherwise have caused more damage, including a certain sense of values."

"...In other words, you want to say that I'm still closing myself off?"

"I do not fully agree with the nuance of that... but that might be close. As I said earlier, it is by no means a bad thing to change. The problem is the direction of your change. Of course, I think that it is better than staying wounded, but I do not consider it a solution."

After carefully digesting his words, I object:

"Stop kidding me."

"Wakui-san..."

"I'm still weird, eh? That's not true! I've become normal again!" I scream, evoking more anger that comes welling up. "Enough! I'm sick and tired! You've seen me for the last time!"

With these words, I stand up and turn away from him.

"Wakui-san!"

Ignoring the words he throws after me, I leave his office.

There was no going back anymore.

I went to school as usual the next day.

My chin rested on the desk, I'm eagerly waiting for the chime to ring. Because of the slow pace the clock is moving at, I think back at the therapy session yesterday.

I think I got a bit too hysteric. I'm sorry for Doctor Mihara. He only stated his honest opinion, nothing more.

That said, I say to myself as I recall his words from yesterday.

Delusional? Me?

I admit, my fixed opinion on the existence of humanoid energies might seem delusional from a certain common-sense-influenced perspective. However, I have carefully elaborated the underlying logic for this theory; I'm in the right. If anything, I'm one step ahead of the average Joe.

Anyway, that doesn't really matter in this case: I haven't told the doctor about the humanoid energies.

I'm a patient; a mentally ill person. Because I'm aware of the implications this bears, I have deliberately kept from informing him so that he wouldn't get the wrong idea.

That means that... he views me as delusional even without the story about humanoid energies?

...That's nonsense. I'm normal. No matter which of my limbs you take a look into, I look completely normal and off-the-rack.

And yet, and yet! You treat me like a mentally ill person!

Getting upset again, I kick Kazuaki who is sitting next to me.

"Ouch!"

Idiot! Why do you cry out...?

As a natural consequence, the eyes of the class—the teacher's included—gather on Kazuaki. Feigning ignorance, I look at my notebook and start writing random characters.

"What was that for...?!" he complains quietly, scowling at me reproachfully, after everyone's attention returned to the lesson.

"Just because."

"So you were that kind of person who doesn't need a reason to beat someone, huh? Shizu-chan... sob, sob."

"'Sob, sob', eh? Who's the girl between us?"

Suddenly, the chime rings and ends our whispered exchange. Going through the routine, we stand up, bow to the teacher, and sit down.

A few moments later, our class teacher enters the classroom and finishes homeroom with some idle talk. My business at school is over for today.

Immediately after I stand up and say, "Bye," Kazuaki approaches me:

"Shizuka, wanna go home together?"

"Sorry, but I have something to do again."

That park is located in the opposite direction from the train station we would use when going home.

In visibly low spirits, Kazuaki mutters, "...Uh-huh."

"...Again, Kazuaki, I'm really not avoiding you," I assure.

"I know!"

"Then don't pull such a visage."

"But that appointment takes priority over me, doesn't it?"

Taken by surprise, I search for words.

"Well... that's true, but..."

"Aah, urm, it's okay, it's okay. Sorry for being grumpy."

Indeed, he's being a little grumpy. Still, I say what I'm supposed to say:

"...Sorry that I can't tag along with you."

That was enough to bring a smile to his face. Geez, he's such a simple person.

"See you, Kazuaki," I say as I wave him goodbye. He returns a wave, smiling.

Walking down the corridor, I head toward my shoe locker.

My pace is gradually increasing.

I want to go there, quickly, and see her.

Am I looking forward to seeing her? Hmm? At the very least, it feels different from going to a long-awaited bargain sale. If I were to phrase my current feelings... maybe like going for the first time to your boyfriend's place? Even though you feel only negative things like nervousness, fear and embarrassment, you don't feel bad at all. Like that.

"Um—" a voice suddenly disturbs me, however.

I look up to confirm whose voice that was, and recognize one of the C2 duo, Hozumi Shiiki, coming down the stairs.

"If that's not Hozumi-chan from the C2s," I remark in response.

"...What's 'C2'?"

"The name of your girl group. Ah, um, forget it."

C2 stands for "the two chibis."

"Anyway," I continue, "what do you want from me? I'm in a hurry."

"I, um... would like to discuss something with you, concerning Toyoshina-senpai."

Kazuaki Toyoshina.

As is pretty obvious from her usual attitude, Hozumi-chan—that short but busty (D cup, I bet my shirt!) girl—has a crush on Kazuki. Like, she's all over him. You wouldn't believe that a calm-looking girl like her would be so offensive when it comes to Kazuaki. Although only when backed up by the other part of the C2 duo, Yoshino Mitsui.

Hm, this matter is interesting enough to spare a few minutes. I haven't set a time for my appointment with her after all. I'm not even sure if the concept of time exists for her.

"Fine, let's talk."

"Thank you," she replies. "Let's find us a better place to talk."

"Sure. How about the canteen?"

Hozumi-chan nods and follows me.

Waiting for her to start talking, I take a gulp from a paper cup and savor the taste of the orange juice. Hozumi-chan hasn't spoken a word since she sat down even though she was the one who asked me here.

Hm... should I expect a somewhat serious discussion here?

I think she knows that I've noticed her feelings for Kazuaki, and I think she also knows that I can't give her a hand in that matter.

I could've sworn that she planned to talk about that through, but maybe I was wrong?

As I start looking closely at her, Hozumi-chan lowers her gaze bashfully. She's by far not as offensive as she usually is... Because Yoshino-chan's not with her? Or does she only get offensive when it comes to getting Kazuaki's attention?

"...Urm..." she finally squeezes out.

"Hm?"

"Are you, Wakui-san, and Toyoshina-senpai only childhood friends?"

Having anticipated a question along those lines, I don't move a muscle.

"Oh my, you could've just asked Kazuaki."

"I did."

"Hm? Ah, yeah, he's easier to approach than me, isn't he? What did he say? Ah, no, it's OK. I can tell. But I see... so you realized that we are likely to give you a different answer to that question."

"..." She remains silent.

"Out of interest, do we look like mere childhood friends?"

Hozumi-chan ponders for a few moments. "No, you don't..."

I nod at her response.

"You're right. A mere childhood friend wouldn't choose the same high school just to stay together, nor would that person beg his teacher to put their seats next to each other, nor would that person toy happily with the other part's hair."

"...Who's who?"

"Do you really want to know?"

Hozumi-chan casts her eyes downward and lapses into silence again.

I take another gulp from my orange juice, deliberately drinking from it slowly because I don't know how long she is going to stay silent.

It isn't before I put the emptied paper cup onto the table that she continues.

"...How should I deal with that?" Hozumi-chan whispers low-spiritedly.

"What do you mean by that? Are you restraining yourself for him...? No, you were aware of that all along. You're restraining yourself for me, right?"

After a few moments of wavering, she finally nods.

"Don't mind me," I say.

Surprised, Hozumi-chan looks up at me.

"What's up with that face? Didn't expect me to say that?"

"B-But... you both love each other no matter how you look at it..."

"No matter how you look at it? Also when you look at us?" I ask.

"Probably..."

"You're unsure? Even though we're talking about the boy that's always on your mind?"

"...Yes," she replies honestly.

"I see. That means that you, Hozumi-chan, have a better idea of us than those unspecified people that view us as a couple."

"Huh...?"

"I don't know Kazuaki's thoughts on this, but I for one have no idea how you could describe our relationship."

"You don't...?"

"Mm."

Hozumi-chan takes a few moments to think about the reason why I phrased it that way. At last, she comes to an answer.

"Does that mean that I don't have to restrain myself for you?" she asks.

After a short pause, I reply, "Sure."

"Good...," she says with a blatant smile, which she is trying to hide, "I always felt bad about you."

"I know that you did," I confess as I hold the empty cup against my lips, "but don't resent me for that. I couldn't just tell you to ignore me and hit on him to your heart's content, could I?"

"...Yes," Hozumi-chan says, her face gloomy-looking again.

"Ah, I'm not being sarcastic here, okay? ...In fact, I'd rather Kazuaki found someone else other than me."

She is visibly surprised by that fact. Geez...will her face ever stay put for a while?

"I don't know if a day will come when I can answer his feelings for me. Maybe not, and I'd keep him waiting. Therefore, I think it's for his sake if I left him to a girl like you, Hozumi-chan," I explain and she listens. While putting down and picking up the cup for no particular reason, I continue, "He ought to learn that I'm not the only girl there is. Because he... only ever paid attention to me."

Hozumi-chan remains silent, her face cast down. After a while, she looks up and looks me deep in the eyes.

"I won't... hold back anymore!" she says with a calm but resolute voice.

Slightly unsettled by her straight gaze, I avert my eyes a little bit.

"And I just told you that's okay, didn't I?" I answer—with a voice slightly quieter than before.

Still fixed on my face, she nods, "...I see." She let's out a short sigh I almost overlooked. "Thank you for your time. See you..."

"Yeah, see you."

Hozumi-chan picks up her bag and, after giving me a brief bow, leaves without looking back.

As I gaze at my empty paper cup, I ask myself:

...Hey Shizuka. Are you serious?

I wonder? I think I am. I think so... but somehow I'm not fully comfortable with what I said. I feel a bit like I were trying to make myself believe a drawn apple was a real one.

I gaze at the chair in front of me that's still pulled away from the table.

Hozumi-chan.

She's a good girl. No doubt about that. Even I have to admit that she's pretty. Every normal boy would fall for her almost instantly if she wanted them to.

But what of it?

She's a good girl, so what? She's pretty, so what? Does that make her suitable for Kazuaki?

I try to imagine not me but her standing besides Kazuaki.

...No, I can't. I can't imagine that.

However... there is something I'm grateful of her.

Only thanks to her could I remain level-headed like this—because she didn't probe into my actual feelings for Kazuaki.

A tingling sensation runs through my head like a swarm of ants. I feel nauseated even though my stomach is perfectly fine.

I—

—crushed the paper cup in my hand.

The talk with Hozumi-chan has affected me, no doubt, but that's no reason to change my plans; I head to her.

I don't know when and where she is waiting, but I know that she's there.

The humanoid energies are flickering again, frantically trying to break into someone's body.

{Unforgivable. Unforgivable. Your new website is unforgivable.}

{I love you. Iloveyou. I love you, giant vs. Yakult.}

{I know your secret! You take off your trousers when you go to the toilet!}

It's getting dangerous—their words are starting to make sense to me. I'm slowly starting to see the underlying feelings of their cryptic messages.

A tingling pain runs through my body.

I instinctively realize that it's dangerous to understand their language. Understanding them is equivalent to being able to communicate with them, and communicating with them requires opening myself to them for the duration of the conversation. They are not going to let that chance slip.

I try to disregard them like I would ignore those people distributing free tissues.

I just have to avoid contact with them, that's all. I just have to ignore the fact that they're not just roughly shaped like humans anymore, but possess human silhouettes by now.

Ignoring them with all my might, I find myself at the same park as the other day again. She is sitting on the same bench as previously.

The first thing I ask her, who is absurdly beautiful, is:

"Hey, is it because of you that I can now see the outlines of humanoid energies?"

"'You'," she says instead of answering my question. Apparently, she is not addressing me, but repeating the word I used to refer to her. "Call me Reina. In return, I'll also call you Shizuka. Okay?"

"I don't mind..." I answer warily.

"Shizuka it is, then. Did you consider my offer?"

Heh, my question got ignored.

"Your offer, huh... don't you think that a little too one-sided? You said what you wanted to say and suddenly 'disappeared.' Besides, I have no idea what you mean by, 'Do you want to come with me?'"

"Seriously...?"

"Seriously," I reply with a sigh.

"Even though you possess such skills?" she asks with blunt astonishment.

"Yes. I suppose we acquired these skills in different ways. When you climb a mountain from different directions, you still arrive at the same place, no?"

Reina pauses for a while and nods at last.

"I see, that's why you call them 'humanoid energies.'"

"Understood?"

"Yes. Because there is a much easier and straightforward name for them, isn't there? 'Spirits.'"

"I have to admit that I also thought of that name when I first got to recognize their outlines. However, there is a certain discrepancy between my definition of the word 'spirit' and how I define 'humanoid energy,' although that's probably just my common sense restraining me. I couldn't give this phenomenon a hackneyed name such as 'spirit.' Even now, to be honest, they will stay humanoid energies to me. Do you understand?"

"I certainly do. But you ought to keep in mind that they're not humanoid energies for anyone else. Of course, spirit is only the answer for a limited number of people as well," she explains.

"...Sorry, I'm afraid you've lost me."

"In other words, the term 'humanoid energy' may be your own way of calling them, but by naming them that way, they have assumed the role of humanoid energies."

"...like an orange becomes an orange with our awareness of that name...?"

"Hmm, that's slightly off, I'm afraid. You should take a less explainable thing as an example. Like... God. Do you believe in God, Shizuka?"

"I, I guess not."

"Okay, that means that you might thank your own luck when you've been lucky, right? But as soon as we coin the term 'God', you'll be thanking not your luck, but God for watching over you—and that's an entirely different message, isn't it?"

"...Yeah, I think I see where you're coming from, but that's not a good example. To raise a better one, 'air' can only exist as 'air' if you know its name. That's your point, right?"

After all, we cannot perceive air unless we have heard of it, since it's neither visible nor palpable.

"Color me impressed, Shizuka. You're quick!"

"Hold back the flattery, please. Anyway, may I ask a few questions?"

"Sure, if I can answer them," she says, accepting my request.

"Great, then to start—" I pose the question I've been dying to ask, "—Who are you?"

Seemingly unable to grasp the significance of my question, Reina inclines her head.

"Why do you ask?"

"You're not human, but neither are you a humanoid energy."

"But you already know my name, don't you?"

"...Reina Kamisu." As I say her name, I understand what she's getting at.

"Right, I'm Reina Kamisu. That and nothing else."

Right, I have already named the essence of that phenomenon 'Reina Kamisu.'

"...Fine, I will no longer ask that question. But... why did you get in touch with me?"

"It seems like there is a misunderstanding on your part. You were the initiator of our contact, weren't you?"

"...True. Then why did you make that offer to me?"

"Because you have power, Shizuka."

"What power?"

"You have the ability to sense 'humanoid energies,' to borrow your naming."

"I know that. What I don't know is what kind of power this ability translates into."

Reina stays silent for a few moments, thinking, until she answers me with a smile:

"It's the power to save the world."

Surprised, my eyes widen. After all, my fundamental suspicion was that Reina's existence poses a threat to peace, and that's why I got in touch with her.

If I were to believe her words...

"—So what you're doing—setting the humanoid energies into motion—is part of saving the world?"

"Yes."

"Spare me your lies! I know that your deeds have yielded several victims!"

"'Several'," she smiles. "Is saving several people equivalent to saving the world?"

"...Do you mean that...?"

"You're probably spot on."

In other words, Reina has sacrificed a few people in order to save everyone else? Like the masses in a war that was started just to seize a single dictator? Like an elephant among a hungry group of animals that was killed for the others to survive?

As I fight with increasing confusion, Reina smiles at me and continues:

"I know it all, Shizuka."

Her following words unsettle me even more.

"You only acquired that ability after that incident, didn't you?"

==3==
I am wearing my favorite, white dress.

The frilled ends of my skirt float in the air as I whirl around.

Am I not pretty?

Who am I wearing it for?

For you, of course, and for me, for my feelings for you.

I want to be pretty for you, always the prettiest.

But someday I will have to take off the white dress.

And you will undress me.

—Or so I hoped.

But now—

I'm still wearing that dress, and I won't let you touch it.

Because my favorite, white dress is full of stains.

But yet I keep wearing the dress.

I keep wearing a non-white dress.

I keep wearing a non-white dress for you to undress.

Until it's too late to turn back.

==4==
Dang... it doesn't function.

The 'lettuce' I sowed yesterday doesn't function. It's as Reina said... If I don't change, my power will stay limited.

In order to acquire real power, I have to leap over this world and transcend all existence and pass through several deltas.

Break, class room. Chairs, chairs, desks, a fluttering humanoid energy, Kazuaki.

"Kazuaki, spare me a moment, please." I say to Kazuaki who's talking with Kiichi-kun, a friend of his.

"Hm? What's the matter, Shizuka?"

Kiichi-kun politely leaves us alone. Mm, sorry but thanks.

"Okay, listen closely. The world is about to burst."

"Shizuka...?"

"As I said, the world is overfull. There's a critical level in every system, no? You understand that, right?"

"...I think I do... hey, um, I already said this in the previous break, but you don't look good today, Shizuka."

"That doesn't matter. Forget about me for now. Just listen," I urge him.

"I think it does matter, but fine..."

"Humanoid energies... no, I hate to do this, but let's call them 'spirit' because it's simpler. As you may know, Kazuaki, there are countless things that can't be perceived by the eye. Hell, way too many for my taste. And in order to become aware of them, we have to give them appropriate names... hold on, that doesn't matter now either, does it? At any rate, those spirits do exist, okay?"

"...Okay."

"Those spirits keep increasing in number. The number keeps growing and they have started to overflow wherever you look, even around us. In fact, there's one right there in the corner. Of course, some spirits just pass away as they should do, but most don't. Therefore, we can define that spirits are in a constant growth. Right, this lifecycle is thus comparable to the production of oxygen. With each breath, plants also exhale carbon dioxide but the amount of oxygen that is produced thanks to photosynthesis is greater, so they are effectively producing oxygen by definition. Like that."

"Okay..."

"You know what happens if they keep on populating? The world turns upside down. The front and the back get inversed. Do you understand? You do, right? It's a revolt! By the spirits! It makes perfect sense that the world would lean toward the side that holds more energy. Can you imagine the consequences? The world would have tilted away, after all: We would fall from the surface of the world, losing our shape, turning into ambiguous beings, scattering in all directions. Perhaps. I don't know the details, of course, but neither do we know the exact consequences of blasting and burning our globe with explosives, right? In other words, the only thing that I can tell for sure is that the resulting world is in no way desirable. What do you think should I do? Do you, do you think that I'm supposed to prevent that whatever it takes?"

"...Shizuka," Kazuaki says as he gazes closely at me.

Thanks goodness; he has taken me seriously.

Kazuaki gives Kiichi-kun a glance, "I'm sorry, Kiichi, but Shizuka and I are leaving early today."

Surprised, Kiichi-kun replies, "Huh...? Ah, i-it's okay, Kazuaki, nothing urgent, really."

"Tell them that I'm taking Shizuka home because she's not feeling well."

Ignoring my question, he pulls me by my arm.

Kazuaki is touching my arm.

The cells of my arm start to decompose and rot away one by one. It hurts. Unsustainable, boundless ressentiment prickles me.

"Kazuaki... Have you forgotten?"

He reflexively lets go of my hand, watching me with wide-open eyes. After a while, he apologizes in a voice I can barely hear.

Kazuaki won't turn around, so I'm just wordlessly following him.

As we trace our way home, we enter the train line we use every day. There are almost no people because of the off-peak time it is. Huh? There's someone standing despite the many unoccupied seats. Ah, it's a humanoid energy. How confusing. Come to think of it, how do I distinguish between humans and humanoid energies, again? Huh? How did I use to do that? I can't seem to remember.

We get off the train, but when I try to go through the ticket gate, I bump into the barrier because the machine won't react to my season ticket. What's up with this? Is this also the wicked deed of humanoid energies? That's by no means impossible. I put my season ticket on the sensor again, and this time the barrier opens. Phew, that's really confusing.

I keep going after Kazuaki.

Right, left, right, right, left—we turn and turn and turn.

At last, we arrive at a park, but not the one I've been meeting Reina at. It's a very small, commonplace park with a bunch of rusty structures.

"...Do you remember this place?" Kazuaki suddenly asks, turning around to me.

Even though he has been dead-silent on the way here, he is smiling eerily gently. Because I don't give him any reaction, he continues himself:

"It's the park where we first met, back when we were 2 years old. Well, I don't expect you to remember all the way back, but you remember that we used to play here, don't you?"

"..."

Of course I do.

However, I hesitate to say anything because I can't quite grasp the meaning of bringing me here and telling me that.

"When we were little, you were taller than me and you would always tease me. To be honest, there were days when I was so frightened of you that I didn't want to see you, Shizuka!" he laughs.

I look around. Indeed, this is the park where we used to play together. I often played with Kazuaki in that sand box over there, or on those swings, or with that horizontal bar. The jungle gym has been removed by now, but apart from that, this park remains a place of young memories that we thought was our own little empire.

"Those were good times, weren't they?" Kazuaki continues, still smiling gently.

His smile causes in me—resentment.

I keep silent, however, because it's not his fault. He is not to blame. It's just that I feel like throwing up because of a prickling in my stomach.

Therefore, I decide to tell Kazuaki what he must know.

"Kazuaki, listen..."

"Okay!" he answers quick like a shot—with a subtle touch of resignation.

"You are very important to me, Kazuaki," I begin, apparently betraying his fears. His eyes widen. "I think that everyone has a certain role in life. For example, the president of a certain republic has to protect the world on his high throne, while the prime minister of a certain island nation has to obey that president. Mother Teresa had to serve in Calcutta, Columbus had to set foot on America, and Madame Curie had to discover polonium and radium. And I... I have to save the world."

"How are you going to do that...?"

"I'll make sure that the world doesn't turn over to their side by releasing the power inside those humanoid energies and reducing their number.  There may be victims while they are flickering for a while after their power is released, but that's a necessary evil. Don't get me wrong—my conscience is pricking me for this, but I can't help it. I have to take action; it's my role because I know what has to be done."

"...Assuming that were the right thing to do—"

"Kazuaki. I understand that the idea seems absurd at first, but it is the right thing to do."

He averts his gaze toward the ground. After a moment of thought, he corrects himself:

"While I suppose that it must be the right thing to do—why is there a need that you're in charge of that task, Shizuka? Just hand over the responsibility to someone else. You said that you know how to save the world, but Shizuka... We all know of the countries suffering from poverty, where children are born to die early on, girls have to resort to prostitution just to contract AIDS, and weak people die of illnesses caused by a bad environment and a lack of medication. We all know that, yet we do nothing to fix this issue, except maybe for some coin that we donate. This is the world we live in. There will always be people seeking a savior. If we were to answer each and every call for help, we would get trapped at some point, living only for the sake of saving others. Think that's praiseworthy? Well, it is. But what of it? Do you think a lifestyle where you sacrifice yourself for others is right? Perhaps it is, but I wouldn't want such a lifestyle. I'll rather ignore their calls for help—just like all the postal advertisement we get."

"...Didn't I tell you the reason right at the beginning, Kazuaki?"

"..."

"You are very important to me."

Right, Kazuaki lives in this world.

He looks down again.

"...It's cool that you think like that, it really is, but..."

"...It's okay, Kazuaki. Just get off your chest what you really want to say."

I heard enough to tell that Kazuaki does not see the danger the world is facing. He only sees the issues he thinks I am facing.

He slowly raises his head to look at me, almost scowling.

Nonetheless—

"Come down to earth, Shizuka! You lost touch with reality."

Nonetheless, I have faith in myself.

After all, there is someone who confirms my view.

"Reality."

"...Yeah, reality! You went through a lot of hardships, that's true, but look... take this park for example—this place is reality, too, okay? Not everything's so bad."

Ah, now I see... that's why he brought me here. But Kazuaki...

Your point backfired.

Besides, your reality doesn't matter to me. Reality to me is that the world is at stake, and the only one able to save it are she and I.

"Among the things you said to me, Kazuaki, there is one thing that I particularly like."

"Hm...?"

"'Do what you think is the right thing to do.'"

"Yeah..." he nods and keeps his mouth shut.

We've known each other since were little. He knows that I'm beyond persuasion. I'm sure, however—Kazuaki won't give up.

"Okay, then I'm going to do the right thing as well!"

With these words, he approaches me.

I know what he's going to do. I can easily imagine the implications of his strained face; we haven't been together for so long for nothing.

His neck is right before my eyes. I completely forgot that he's gotten larger than me.

I slightly raise my head to look at his face.

He slightly lowers his head to look at my face.

Finally, he—embraces me.

"I love you!" he whispers into my ear, as if to stress that I'm the only one who has to know. "I love you more than anyone else, Shizuka!"

I'm happy.

I'm really happy.

He isn't trying to stop me with false words of love. He isn't good enough with words for that.

He simply couldn't help saying it, having me in his embrace. It's the only thing he could think of.

Kazuaki's just so staggeringly honest, simple, faithful... giving me no other choice than to watch over him, making me want to be with him—

Even though my white dress has been stained.

Even though he can't have forgotten those stains.

He's daring a leap. The gamble of his life.

Of course, I'm on his side. I want him to win the wager.

And yet—

"...Don't touch me."

—I couldn't.

The arms around me come loose instantly. Instead, I embrace myself tightly, burying my fingernails in my arms.

I'm glad that I'm smaller than Kazuaki now; I only have to slightly drop my gaze to avoid seeing his face.

My body hurts like it was pierced by a thousand needles. I'm fighting with the urge to hole out the contents of my aching head. The pictures from back then keep appearing in my head, shredding me, crushing me, pulping me, scattering me.

"I'm sorry..." not I but Kazuaki says.

Why are you apologizing? Stop it! I'm the one to blame. I'm the one who's weak. I'm the one who can't recover. I. It's my fault. My fault. Fault. Fault. Fault.

"Sorry for making you cry..."

Confused, I touch my eyelids and finally realize that I'm really crying.

"Isn't it strange? I wanted to achieve the opposite effect. Embracing you was supposed to stop your tears. I failed at that, didn't I... I'm not able to do it..."

I desperately try to hold my tears back. I mustn't make him say such things. But... it doesn't go well.

"I'm such a moron. I thought things would work out somehow if I came here... I thought everything would change for the better... as if it was so simple."

"...Listen, Kazuaki..." I say, trying (and probably failing) not to sob.

"Hm?"

"There is something... that I didn't tell you."

I raise my head, feeling that I have to.

"I never gave you the details of that incident, did I...? I didn't want to hurt you... To be honest... this park... this place of memories—"

"—is where I was raped."

Stop.

Kazuaki stopped entirely.

He stopped so perfectly that I start to suspect that I was left alone in the world, removed from the flow of time.

—Left alone in the world? Hah, that's an accurate description. I'm sure that impression's not an illusion but a truth.

"...Horrible," Kazuaki mutters.

He didn't say that word to me, nor did he address it at the people who had abused me. It wasn't addressed at God either, since he doesn't believe in one.

I'm sure his horrible wasn't addressed at anything in specific.

"That's just... horrible!"

Kazuaki didn't know that reality strikes whenever you expect it the least, no matter if it's a place of memories.

It treats saints and sinners all alike, attacking them mechanically, randomly, without any consideration and selection.

Kazuaki didn't know that.

No, he may have known it, but he didn't believe that this rule would also apply to us.

The world can turn against anyone meaninglessly.

However, not in my case.

"I have to go," I say.

"...Go where?" he squeezes out.

"To another park that I am supposed to visit."

"Huh?"

"I have to go to Reina Kamisu."

There was a meaning to the world's turning against me.

Right, Reina?

==5==
I told Reina Kamisu that I would follow her.

She welcomed me with open arms, seeming very happy about my decision. Of course, one reason for her delight is the raise in effectiveness, but I think she's also happy about finally having a companion in her sheer endless fight.

I don't know how long she's been fighting so far, but purging one humanoid energy after another (which keep increasing in the meanwhile) is like collecting the sand of a desert grain by grain.

I see. Maybe she's been waiting for a person like me who could help her save the world. No, she's still waiting. If the number of people helping her keeps increasing, then saving the world will stop being a pipe dream.

I look around in my room.

This will be the last time I'm here; deep emotion fills my heart. While it's not a cool room—with furniture like a dresser from my mom and things like a weird doll—but here I laughed and cried and laughed and cried.

Should I leave a letter to my parents and Kazuaki? ...No, they would confuse it for my last words or something. Although that might be true in their eyes.

I open the lock of the topmost drawer of my desk and take out a cross choker.

Reina Kamisu told me that I would need to put on something very dear to me. When I asked for the reason, she explained that I needed a token of regret. I could see that I might accidentally get trapped on the other side of the world unless there was something chaining me to this side. In order to become like Reina, I'll probably need something like that.

I put on the choker.

I won't waver anymore.

I walk down the stairs and put on my shoes at the entrance.

"Shizuka, where are you going?" my mom asks from the kitchen without showing up.

"Just a bit far away."

With these words, I open the door.

By now, humanoid energies and humans look almost the same to me but I can still discern them somehow. Those energies have no aim or destination, so they practically stay put at one place; they mumble things even though they're alone, and while they're talking to themselves, their facial expressions do not change a bit.

Coming across several humanoid energy-like beings, I head to the place she's waiting.

{Why did you throw me away, Takeshi! You told me you loved me!}

{I don't have any friends. I don't need to live.}

{Had I not gazed after that hot school girl, neither I nor the family driving the other car would have had to die. What an idiotic accident!}

Among them was one of a middle-aged man:

{Why did you fire me! What did I do wrong!}

Apparently, he had killed himself after losing his job.

"Hello," I said, for the first time addressing a humanoid energy. Suicide after failing in one's job life is not that uncommon, but his face somewhat resembled that of my dad.

{You can... see me?}

"I can. I can also hear you."

{I see... You shouldn't talk with me. Or perhaps... there's no harm to a young lady like you?}

"I'm sure there's none. Our values are way too different."

{Values, you say... In other words, you think the reason why I committed suicide seems cheap and cliched to you?}

"Kind of. I mean, you'll just get less income if you're fired, and that's it, right?"

The middle-aged humanoid energy looked at me sorrowfully. No, he (?) had a sorrowful look glued to his face all the time.

{It's not that simple, young lady.}

"What's not so simple then?"

{I'm bad at explaining things, so I won't be able to convince you, but work was everything to me. Despite that, I was told to be of no use for the company. Do you see what I mean?}

"I do, but I'm not convinced after all."

{I guess so. But there's one thing that I want you to understand: there's no place for old men like me. Not even in the family I was supposed to feed. Nevertheless, I firmly believed that I was needed, that I was a gear in the family that was the company I worked at.}

"But you didn't stay one of its gears."

{Exactly. And I wasn't able to become part of anything else.}

"I think I understood more or less. Still... I think ending one's life because of that is stupid."

He lowered his gaze somewhat and answered,

{Yes... maybe you're right.}

I think I then spotted a faint smile in his face.

And he swirled left and right.

"As I thought. You died, didn't you?"

{What do you mean...?}

I found him.

"Don't you remember me?"

{I don't...}

I should have known; humanoid energies are the core of our energy, and as such only possess the most crucial of memories.

"When you were alive, you once bumped into me when you came rushing out of our psychiatrist's room."

{I see... sorry.}

"Oh, I don't mind. By the way, what's your name?"

{Atsushi Kogure...}

"I see, Atsushi-kun it is."

{What's your name...?}

"My name? I'm Shizuka Wakui."

{What business do you have with me, Shizuka-san?}

"None, actually... if anything, I felt a bit nostalgic."

{I see... Would you please leave me alone, then?}

"How cold. Hm... Okay, then may I ask you one thing?"

{You may... but I won't be able to answer you because I can't remember anything.}

"Really? I'll ask anyway. You bumped into me—I told you that, right?"

{Yes...}

"What again were you shouting when you rushed out of the room?"

His eyes widen at once. I'm taken by surprise—humanoid energies do not change their expressions.

{I don't know.}

That's a lie. After all, he's putting way more emphasis into his words than before.

{I don't know!} he shouts, apparently sensing my doubt.

Atushi-kun said no more after that.

After changing trains a few times, I finally get off the train at the nearest station from a certain lake I've looked up beforehand.

During the travel, I was once again reminded of the omnipresence of humanoid energies. I fear the world could turn over any moment.

Spotting a group of carefree school girls, I feel a bit jealous of them. They don't have to see any of this and don't have to know how thin the ice is that we're on. The balance is as fragile as doing a triple Axel in an ice rink with ultra-thin ice.

After confirming the position of the lake on a map hung up at the station, I head to my destination.

As I walk, I recall Reina's words.

"Water works perfectly because it's connected all over the world."

In order to find a lake that fit the bill, I had to bring myself to google for 'places to commit suicide'.

I mean, 'suicide'...? Heck, it's not like I'm going to die.

After a 40-minute walk, I arrive at the lake. I could have used a taxi (I won't have to care about money from now on, after all) but I didn't want to cause any bothersome misunderstandings.

"You're late."

Reina was there first, waiting for me with an absurdly beautiful smile.

"I'm sorry."

But I could come here whenever I wanted, no? You didn't tell me where I had to go, after all.

I gaze at the lake before me.

Ah, I see. No wonder it's become infamous as a place for suicide. What a huge number of humanoid energies. In fact, there's so many of them, that they have mingled into beings with an entirely different shape. It's like on of those old paintings of Youkais. Several heads are extending toward me, observing me closely. They look a bit like grapes to me, with the heads being the grapes.

I see. With there being so many of them, there is a wavelength for any person who comes here, drawing them into death. Of course, the people who come here do so with the intent of committing suicide; but actually ending one's life isn't so easy. The fear and attachment to life that surfaces when facing death help prevent suicide.

However, in the case of this lake, it's already too late once they've come here.

The humanoid energies exploit the hollow hearts of the suicidal visitors, shorting their reasonable thinking and drawing them into death.

"Shizuka, there are several places like this in the world."

"And we have to get rid of those places one by one, right?"

"Mmm," she shakes her head, "that's impossible."

"Why...?"

"It's as simple as the problem of many against few. We have too little power. Once a place has turned into this, it's beyond purification."

I look at 'them' again.

I see. Having mixed together, complementing each other, they have turned into a monster. Should I try to step in and erase them, they will take me in as well and still try to regain their former shape. A mechanism that's much alike a black hole formed in this place.

This place can't be purged anymore.

"Ah—"

I see now. I understand everything.

This is it. This is what happens when our side of the world turns over.

Our proportional relation in power is negated on this side, and thus we get taken in by them. Our souls get devoured, our bodies become hollow and decay. That's the outcome we're steering towards.

"...We must stop these places from increasing, right?"

"Yes", Reina nods in response to my realization. "That's our mission."

I scowl at the monster in front of us. All of those grape-like beings are void of expression yet hostile.

They are—my enemy.

I press my cross choker tightly.

"Reina, one last thing."

"...One last thing?" she smiles.

"...You're right. It's only just starting."

"It is! So, what do you want to know?"

"You said that everyone has a certain role, right?"

"I did, yes."

"That it's my role to save the world," I add.

"Right. Only the chosen ones can do that."

"So, I was chosen because I obtained my power."

And—

"—I obtained this power because of that incident."

Reina nods with a smile.

Yeah, I see. I see now.

It never made sense to me: Why did I have to suffer so much? I was by no means a saint, of course, but I think I lived humbly enough to earn myself a ticket to heaven. So why did that incident happen to me of all people? It never made sense.

Of course, reality bares its teeth against anyone—without any consideration but with deadly poison in its teeth.

Yet, I helplessly failed to understand why it happened to me.

But now I can say with conviction:

Yes, there was a reason why I had to suffer so much.

It's simple—

—It was necessary in order to save the world.

"You're right, Shizuka," she says with a warm smile. "Those were obstacles imposed on you so that you could fulfill your mission!"

Right! I found the truth!

I mean, it wouldn't be fair otherwise. It would be unfair if I were the only one so unlucky.

After all, if there wasn't a proper meaning in that incident, my suffering would have been all for naught.

"Yeah, then let's go, Reina! Let the game begin!"

"Yeah!"

Right, there's no reason to waver anymore.

I only have to muster up some courage and jump into the lake—

It's time to go to my new stage—

As I hold my cross choker, I jum—

"——Ah—"

As—I—hold—my—choker—

Someone's, Voice.

—TSCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

Scars.

Flesh.

White dress.

"—None."

Cryingshizuka.

"—There is none!"

—TSCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

"Here... a Christmas present."

"Oh! Thanks, Kazuaki! May I open it?"

"Sure."

"Wow! That's beautiful! But wasn't it expensive?"

"N-Not that much."

"Isn't that a diamond in the center of this crucifix?"

"Yeah, it is..."

"Hey, then it was expensive after all, you bragger!"

"S-Shut up... let me show off a bit!"

—TSCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

"Why did it happen to me of all people? Why?"

"Is there a meaning in this?"

—TSCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

I wouldn't stop crying.

Kazuaki wouldn't stop looking sad.

"Why did it happen to me of all people? Why?"

"Is there a meaning in this?"

I lamented like this, bothering him, until he finally opened his mouth, and squeezed out:

"—None."

"—There is none!"

"There is no reason, Shizuka! If anything, it's because your attackers couldn't handle their sexual drive. You happened to come across them, and you happened to look good enough to them. But that's not the reason you want, is it?"

"Reality treats saints and sinners all alike, attacking them mechanically, randomly, without any consideration and selection. You have to accept that, Shizuka."

Reality treats saints and sinners all alike, attacking them mechanically, randomly, without any consideration and selection.

Right, now I remember—

That wasn't originally my own belief—

It was just Kazuaki's honest and true opinion.

—TSCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

"What's wrong, Shizuka?" the absurdly beautiful girl asks me.

My choker is all wet with my sweat.

"Reina Kamisu—"

"Yes...?"

"Who are you?"

Reina Kamisu holds her breath.

"...What's it all of a sudden?" she asks.

"Those were obstacles imposed on me so that I could fulfill my mission."

"...What about it?"

"What about it, you ask? Don't play dumb! As if that could be true!"

"As if a reason would just pop up so conveniently!"

Losing her tongue, Reina Kamisu just gazes at me in a baffled manner.

"I understood everything. I sought a reason. A reason for my suffering. That's why I came up with the logic of those humanoid energies and tried to find refuge there."

She listens silently to me.

"Everyone else knew that I was trying to escape from reality. Be it Mihara-sensei or Kazuaki, or all of them. They knew I was escaping. After all, my logic only makes sense to myself. Yet, yet why is it—"

"—Why is it that you can understand me!"

"That's strange! Why does someone like you, Reina Kamisu, just show up so overly conveniently to confirm my theory? I didn't fully believe in it until you showed up, right? Why... why did you appear so—"

"Well," she begins. "Because that's what you wanted, Shizuka," she says, slightly skewing her lips. "You sought an existence like me. A third person who would turn your delusions into reality. Given the name of Reina Kamisu."

Reina Kamisu smiles. With a smile so beautiful it can't really exist.

Finally, I recall—what Atsushi Kogure has shouted when he rushed out of our psychiatrist's room.

And Atsushi-kun—

—is no more.

"Ah...ah..."

I hold my cross choker tightly.

Help me. Help me, Kazuaki.

"D-Do you intend to kill me?"

She looks at me with surprise when I ask so.

"Why would I?" she counters.

"I-I mean, it's true that you drove the students of the Shikura middle school into suicide, isn't it?"

She lifts her hand to her chin and replies after a short pause, "Perhaps."

"...Perhaps?"

"I didn't actually do anything."

"That's just not—"

"Not true? How about you, then?" she suddenly asks.

"Huh?"

"Would you be able to live on if I disappeared now?"

Ah—

I see what she means.

Reina is a phenomenon.

Just a phenomenon.

Sooner or later, we notice that she's not true, and then we lose her.

Once we lose the support that Reina is to us, we collapse all by ourselves.

"...Then stay by my side!"

"I'm always by your side. As long as you don't close your eyes from me, I'll always be with you. But... can you accept me when I'm only a phenomenon?"

With these words, Reina Kamisu vanished.

No, she didn't vanish. I simply dismissed her as something that could not exist.

Kamisu Reina is always here.

I stand alone by the lake.

I stand alone, without a reason for my suffering.

I stand alone, still suffering.

Suddenly, I recall an earlier thought of mine.

—it's already too late once you've come here.

I raise my head to look at the lake.

Alright—

A monster with tens and hundreds of faces is waiting for me.

<noinclude>
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|-
| Back to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Atsushi Kogure|Chapter 2]]
| Return to [[Kamisu Reina Series|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Kazuaki Toyoshina|Chapter 4]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Talk:Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Shizuka Wakui

2014-05-08T01:36:01Z

Axyraandas: Created page with "=== Ressentiment? === In part 4, there's a word called ressentiment. Is that the correct word, or is it a fortunate typo? I thought it was resentment at first, but there was t..."

=== Ressentiment? ===
In part 4, there's a word called ressentiment. Is that the correct word, or is it a fortunate typo? I thought it was resentment at first, but there was the use of 'mien' earlier, which was amazing. So, I ask of the B-T community; Is 'ressentiment' a more apt word than 'resentment,' in this case?

Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Shizuka Wakui

2014-05-08T01:25:36Z

Axyraandas: /* 2 */

===1===

While letting the broken Engrish of our over 50-year-old English teacher in at one ear and out at the other after about 3 seconds, I look up terms on my electronic Kojien dictionary.

principle of mass conservation [n] 
A principle in classical physics stating that the total mass of an isolated system is unchanged by interaction of its parts. Discovered in 1774 by Antoine Lavoisier.

principle [n]
# A basic truth, law, or assumption.
# A basic or essential quality or element determining intrinsic nature or characteristic behavior.

The mechanics of the world are surprisingly simple.

There must be lots of those basic and essential qualities, scattered all around the world, but if you divide them even further into their most essential parts, the absolute number of distinct qualities shrinks to a number that's everything but high.

Did you know that many laws and principles are just augmented rehashes of a set of already known core principles?

More often than not, you end up at the same place no matter from which side you approach the nature of things. That's also why the teachings of people who have mastered a way often coincide even though their ways have nothing in common.

In other words, if you understand some of those core principles, you start to see how the mechanics of the world work.

Core principles are the essence of things. Understand them and you can apply them wherever you want and form new, unshakable laws. Cores attract everything around them just like magnets.

But no one else really knows; they all grow up to be shallow people, only ever looking at the surfaces instead of the underlying cores. They let others influence themselves because their understanding only scratches the surface. They can't consider the true nature of things on their own. Poor people. All it would take to acquire those cores is picking up a good book. Oh, or is there a set of requirements that need to be fulfilled, which I happened to do? I pity them even more, then. It's as though they were characters of a manga fighting each other, unaware of what they are. Even though they fight for no purpose other than their writer's household. Even though their conflict is just a figment, and their very existence is for the sake of fighting.

Anyway, one of those few truths goes by the name of "mass conversion."

Contrary to its name, it's not limited to mass; the amount of everything is bound to a certain number that neither grows nor shrinks. Everything's unchanging, be it mass, energy, sex drive, the number of souls—you name it.

The lesson ended while I was absorbed in thought, gazing at my electronic dictionary. Classes are finally over. I have better things to do than this. But I can't just deviate from my usual behavior and skip school. I mustn't let anyone get wind of what I'm doing; if I appear suspicious, it becomes more likely that someone will notice it. Before anyone else, especially—

"Phew, done for the day! Shizuka, wanna tag along somewhere today?"

Before anyone else, that easy-going boy, Kazuaki, might notice. Which is because we have spent too much time together from an early age on.

"I'll pass," I reply toward the adjacent seat.

"Oh come on... you're so cold," my childhood friend says as he purses his lips. Geez... he just won't change.

"I've got something to take care of, you see."

"You've been saying that all the time lately... you're not trying to avoid me, are you?" Kazuaki asks as he wrinkles his brow. Oh dear, he really doesn't change.

"Of course not!"

"Uh-huh...," he mutters downheartedly.

"Why don't you go home with the C2 duo if you're feeling lonely?"

"T-There's nothing between me and—" he counters in denial with a slightly flushed face.

"Senpai~!"

"H-Hozumi-chan... don't be so loud, it's embarrassing..."

His objection is cut off from afar by two girl voices. With the appearance of those two innocent-looking girls, I wave my hand to Kazuaki.

"See you."

"Ah..."

Don't look at me like that; I'm not leaving you behind because I want to. As soon as I've sorted this out, I'll tag along whenever you want.

But that has to wait, okay?

The world is at stake, after all.

Unconcerned by the waves of students heading homeward, I look around in thought.

The world is in danger.

Maybe that's an exaggeration. But in the very least, danger is looming ahead in this vicinity. I hoped I was wrong (which was out of question, of course, but I wanted to be wrong) but with the news that 3 students at the Shikura middle school committed suicide, my fear proved true.

We're in imminent danger.

And here we return to the thing about core principles and conservation of mass.

I used to be a completely normal girl; I may have hit puberty earlier than others, and have received dozens of confessions already, and I primarily hanged around with Kazuaki instead of other girls, but apart from that, I was a completely normal girl.

I'm using the past tense here because I feel that this no longer holds true.

There is a number of truths (cores). By getting to know these, I learned how I'm supposed to look at things.

It didn't take long for me to hit upon a certain question. We all have feelings. Joy, anger, sadness, fun.

Now, let's apply the law of conservation of mass to this case. Emotions are energy, which, especially in the case of love and hatred, store extreme heat. We consume emotional energy by converting it into energy that keeps us moving. However, not all of our feelings are always converted and consumed. But then where does the energy go when we are unable to suppress our feelings? Most of all, where does the energy go when we die—which must be a tremendous amount when faced with a violent death—when it can't possibly be consumed? Where does that energy fade away to?

With that question in mind, I started to pay attention.

Before long, I found the answer: the energy doesn't disappear at all. The answer was right under my nose, on the other side. Strong feelings, to raise an example, which often happen to be grudges, surface slightly on our side from time to time. It's dead easy to observe when you clear yourself for a moment and float up. Look, there's one. There's an accumulation of converted emotional energy. In most cases, those accumulations are shaped like a human.

Anyway, back to the danger the world is facing.

After becoming aware of those humanoid energies, I observed a peculiar change as of late.

Originally, those humanoid energies were unable to move by themselves, and completely harmless for people who didn't notice them; they would just stay put at one place and spread their network in order to influence whatever got caught in there.

Lately, however, they changed their behavior and started to shimmer like mirages. As if afraid of something or in ecstasy? I can't tell. What I can tell, however, is that it's not normal and that it's a sign for something to happen.

I don't know what the humanoid energies will do, how that will affect us, and what will happen, but there is one fact:

Three students died at the Shikura middle school.

But that's of no import. Well, of course it's very deplorable that their lives were lost, but in the face of the great menace that might be ahead of us, even a loss like that turns insignificant.

Three people died. What if... what if that was just a sign?

If, hypothetically speaking, this phenomenon was due to a natural circumstance, I would probably have to give up and let things take their way. Besides, we would just have to take cover and wait for the menace to pass by.

However—what if someone is pulling the wires behind the scenes?

It's not that I take issue with that ethically, no. What if we are not dealing with a random phenomenon, but with one that is deliberately called forth by someone? What if there is someone who can use that power whenever he wants? What if there is someone who can control all the humanoid energies that are likely to be spread all over the world?

That's what I fear.

After all, if my concerns prove true and that really was a man-made incident, he could endanger the life of everyone in the world.

The world is in danger.

Someone is scheming to ruin us all; someone evil like that is among us. And I have to track that person down.

That's why I've been closely observing the humanoid energies around me for a while.

{Volcano goes up to the 2nd floor of a black minus to eat warmed-up food and falls.}

{I want to eat the lucky meat that died ten times but resurrected a hundred times.}

{I throw a telephone receiver into a 4-dimensional pocket because the trash bin is full.}

{The unrivaled adventures of Hutch the Honeybee are living tourmalines.}

As they shimmer, the energies give off signals on a different wavelength that, while barely converted into my language, make no sense whatsoever.

However, I can make out a difference in volume.

Slowly but surely, their voices (?) grow louder and their flickering stronger.

Maybe I'm getting closer to the bad guy.

Last time, their abnormal behavior stopped while I was investigating, but I don't feel any signs of that happening again. I might be able to find him this time around.

—The uncanny conjurer who could easily extinguish three lives.

———

That's right... I'm about to run into a horrible foe...

Only now noticing this fact, my feet sink into cement and my steps become slower.

Besides... How do I know that his victims add up to just three? The only reason why I associated their deaths with the anomaly that occurred to the humanoid energies is because they were all suicides and happened in succession in my school. I don't know if they're even related to the anomaly I observed.

On the other hand, you can also say that there might be numerous undiscovered victims that I could not tie to this menace.

Come to think of it... the suicide rate has been growing lately. Hey, what if that's partly due to the criminal I'm about to meet? That's by no means unlikely; not only would killing someone with humanoid energies leave behind no evidence, it wouldn't even be noticed.

What am I going to do, meeting a person like that?

Sure, I can perceive humanoid energies. But that's about it. Apart from that, I'm just a normal girl who may have hit puberty earlier than others, and has received dozens of confessions already, and primarily hangs around with Kazuaki instead of other girls. Probably.

What is a girl like me going to do against a heinous criminal like that? Persuade him? Would my words really get through? Would he leave someone who knows his secret alive?

My legs stop completely.

But—

But if he were to extend his deadly hands toward Kazuaki...

My buried legs come free from the cement and I start moving forward again.

I'm afraid... I really am, but...

I have no other choice.

{Corn rings with gleaming rainbows in the background.}

{After bathing in Nattou, Watanabe-san's car travels through through time as it flies through the air.}

{A club-wielding maid brings Nagatacho's meat shreds into motion.}

The voices (?) become louder.

The sentences are as devoid of meaning as before, but the weight of their words has changed. With crackling tension they reverberate through my body, prickling my brains like with a mechanical pencil.

A grudge? I think to myself as I notice a core of a humanoid energy. A type of energy that would normally only get transported to people who were caught up in their nets flows to me.

I feel nauseated. Like on the day of my worst menstruation.

I want to curl up immediately, but I mustn't. There's someone I have to meet. I must meet her.

...Huh? Her?

Why do I know her gender?

I pull myself up and stagger into the park before me. Except for a few children with their parents near the sandpit, there's nobody besides me.

Nobody.

I stand before an old, weathered wooden bench. I don't know what to say. I don't know if it possesses the ability of language, anyway. However, I can't just stand here, so I try speaking to it.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

She raises her head.

"Ah—" I groan in surprise.

Her features were absurdly beautiful.

But what surprised me more than anything was the fact that I—

"Reina... Kamisu."

—knew the name of that phenomenon.

===2===
"Doctor, I think I'll cancel our meetings."

Doctor Mihara looks at me, slightly astonished, and asks, "Why?"

"I only came here because I needed support back then, didn't I?"

He gives me a small nod.

"So you are not in need of support anymore?"

"Yes, I'm not. The fits of depression I used to have are gone, and so is my aversion against talking to others," I explain and decide to add something I experienced the other day when I was waiting here, "and I don't rush out of this room screaming."

A few wrinkles appear in the doctor's brow.

"Who," he says after a short pause, "are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the boy who was often here before me. If I recall correctly, he was wearing the uniform of our school. He bumped into me the other day, didn't he? What's his name again?"

"...I am afraid that I cannot talk to you about my other clients."

"Not even his name? Whatever. Come to think of it, I haven't seen him lately."

His mien darkens clearly.

"He is not going to... come again."

"Is that so...?"

"Yes," he nods.

I doubt they would just discontinue his mental treatment in that condition; did something happen? Seeing how he ran away screaming, there must be a reason why he didn't want to come anymore.

But I have a strange gut feeling about this.

After all, that boy is a student of the Shikura middle school. Given that he was under mental treatment, it's more than possible that he had a reason for suicide, so he might be among the three suicide victims.

Judging from Doctor Mihara's bitter mien, he must know the truth. I refrain from asking more, however, because his personality would not allow him to answer me.

"At any rate, you said you want to cancel our meetings?" he says, getting back on topic, "in my view, it is a bit early for that."

"I know, Doctor. You're right in that my wounds have not yet healed up; I'm not my former self yet, either."

"That's not the problem," he argues. "These wounds will accompany you through your entire life, and you will not be able to return to your uninjured former self anymore."

"Where lies the problem, then?" I ask.

"I am hesitant to believe that you have really recovered from the shock."

"But in that case, wouldn't I be coming here for the rest of my life?"

The doctor pauses for a moment. "Still... it is still too early."

I get worked up a little; is he claiming that I'm weird?

Therefore, I object:

"Doctor. Let me be frank. We're not a wealthy household. The bill for this psychological therapy cuts pretty deep into our budget!"

"......" He lapses into silence as I bring up my monetary circumstances.

"Maybe you're right and I haven't fully recovered from the shock yet, but I'm confident that with the support of my parents and the few friends I have—like Kazuaki—I will be able to get better."

"I do not disagree with that. However, I feel that you are still in need of a specialist like me."

"Why?" I ask, somewhat irritated.

"...Very well, let me explain my concerns: I feel that you have delusional tendencies."

"...Delusional tendencies?" I ask in response to his unexpected claim. I have trouble seeing what he is referring to.

"Yes. I do not know how developed that inclination was when you first came here because you would not open yourself up to anyone... but I think that those delusional tendencies have become stronger as you regained your vitality."

"Huh? Do you mean I threw away my common sense in order to come to terms?" I ask.

"I cannot say for sure. I do surmise, however, that in order to protect yourself from the deep wound you sustained, you were forced to alter various things that would otherwise have caused more damage, including a certain sense of values."

"...In other words, you want to say that I'm still closing myself off?"

"I do not fully agree with the nuance of that... but that might be close. As I said earlier, it is by no means a bad thing to change. The problem is the direction of your change. Of course, I think that it is better than staying wounded, but I do not consider it a solution."

After carefully digesting his words, I object:

"Stop kidding me."

"Wakui-san..."

"I'm still weird, eh? That's not true! I've become normal again!" I scream, evoking more anger that comes welling up. "Enough! I'm sick and tired! You've seen me for the last time!"

With these words, I stand up and turn away from him.

"Wakui-san!"

Ignoring the words he throws after me, I leave his office.

There was no going back anymore.

I went to school as usual the next day.

My chin rested on the desk, I'm eagerly waiting for the chime to ring. Because of the slow pace the clock is moving at, I think back at the therapy session yesterday.

I think I got a bit too hysteric. I'm sorry for Doctor Mihara. He only stated his honest opinion, nothing more.

That said, I say to myself as I recall his words from yesterday.

Delusional? Me?

I admit, my fixed opinion on the existence of humanoid energies might seem delusional from a certain common-sense-influenced perspective. However, I have carefully elaborated the underlying logic for this theory; I'm in the right. If anything, I'm one step ahead of the average Joe.

Anyway, that doesn't really matter in this case: I haven't told the doctor about the humanoid energies.

I'm a patient; a mentally ill person. Because I'm aware of the implications this bears, I have deliberately kept from informing him so that he wouldn't get the wrong idea.

That means that... he views me as delusional even without the story about humanoid energies?

...That's nonsense. I'm normal. No matter which of my limbs you take a look into, I look completely normal and off-the-rack.

And yet, and yet! You treat me like a mentally ill person!

Getting upset again, I kick Kazuaki who is sitting next to me.

"Ouch!"

Idiot! Why do you cry out...?

As a natural consequence, the eyes of the class—the teacher's included—gather on Kazuaki. Feigning ignorance, I look at my notebook and start writing random characters.

"What was that for...?!" he complains quietly, scowling at me reproachfully, after everyone's attention returned to the lesson.

"Just because."

"So you were that kind of person who doesn't need a reason to beat someone, huh? Shizu-chan... sob, sob."

"'Sob, sob', eh? Who's the girl between us?"

Suddenly, the chime rings and ends our whispered exchange. Going through the routine, we stand up, bow to the teacher, and sit down.

A few moments later, our class teacher enters the classroom and finishes homeroom with some idle talk. My business at school is over for today.

Immediately after I stand up and say, "Bye," Kazuaki approaches me:

"Shizuka, wanna go home together?"

"Sorry, but I have something to do again."

That park is located in the opposite direction from the train station we would use when going home.

In visibly low spirits, Kazuaki mutters, "...Uh-huh."

"...Again, Kazuaki, I'm really not avoiding you," I assure.

"I know!"

"Then don't pull such a visage."

"But that appointment takes priority over me, doesn't it?"

Taken by surprise, I search for words.

"Well... that's true, but..."

"Aah, urm, it's okay, it's okay. Sorry for being grumpy."

Indeed, he's being a little grumpy. Still, I say what I'm supposed to say:

"...Sorry that I can't tag along with you."

That was enough to bring a smile to his face. Geez, he's such a simple person.

"See you, Kazuaki," I say as I wave him goodbye. He returns a wave, smiling.

Walking down the corridor, I head toward my shoe locker.

My pace is gradually increasing.

I want to go there, quickly, and see her.

Am I looking forward to seeing her? Hmm? At the very least, it feels different from going to a long-awaited bargain sale. If I were to phrase my current feelings... maybe like going for the first time to your boyfriend's place? Even though you feel only negative things like nervousness, fear and embarrassment, you don't feel bad at all. Like that.

"Um—" a voice suddenly disturbs me, however.

I look up to confirm whose voice that was, and recognize one of the C2 duo, Hozumi Shiiki, coming down the stairs.

"If that's not Hozumi-chan from the C2s," I remark in response.

"...What's 'C2'?"

"The name of your girl group. Ah, um, forget it."

C2 stands for "the two chibis."

"Anyway," I continue, "what do you want from me? I'm in a hurry."

"I, um... would like to discuss something with you, concerning Toyoshina-senpai."

Kazuaki Toyoshina.

As is pretty obvious from her usual attitude, Hozumi-chan—that short but busty (D cup, I bet my shirt!) girl—has a crush on Kazuki. Like, she's all over him. You wouldn't believe that a calm-looking girl like her would be so offensive when it comes to Kazuaki. Although only when backed up by the other part of the C2 duo, Yoshino Mitsui.

Hm, this matter is interesting enough to spare a few minutes. I haven't set a time for my appointment with her after all. I'm not even sure if the concept of time exists for her.

"Fine, let's talk."

"Thank you," she replies. "Let's find us a better place to talk."

"Sure. How about the canteen?"

Hozumi-chan nods and follows me.

Waiting for her to start talking, I take a gulp from a paper cup and savor the taste of the orange juice. Hozumi-chan hasn't spoken a word since she sat down even though she was the one who asked me here.

Hm... should I expect a somewhat serious discussion here?

I think she knows that I've noticed her feelings for Kazuaki, and I think she also knows that I can't give her a hand in that matter.

I could've sworn that she planned to talk about that through, but maybe I was wrong?

As I start looking closely at her, Hozumi-chan lowers her gaze bashfully. She's by far not as offensive as she usually is... Because Yoshino-chan's not with her? Or does she only get offensive when it comes to getting Kazuaki's attention?

"...Urm..." she finally squeezes out.

"Hm?"

"Are you, Wakui-san, and Toyoshina-senpai only childhood friends?"

Having anticipated a question along those lines, I don't move a muscle.

"Oh my, you could've just asked Kazuaki."

"I did."

"Hm? Ah, yeah, he's easier to approach than me, isn't he? What did he say? Ah, no, it's OK. I can tell. But I see... so you realized that we are likely to give you a different answer to that question."

"..." She remains silent.

"Out of interest, do we look like mere childhood friends?"

Hozumi-chan ponders for a few moments. "No, you don't..."

I nod at her response.

"You're right. A mere childhood friend wouldn't choose the same high school just to stay together, nor would that person beg his teacher to put their seats next to each other, nor would that person toy happily with the other part's hair."

"...Who's who?"

"Do you really want to know?"

Hozumi-chan casts her eyes downward and lapses into silence again.

I take another gulp from my orange juice, deliberately drinking from it slowly because I don't know how long she is going to stay silent.

It isn't before I put the emptied paper cup onto the table that she continues.

"...How should I deal with that?" Hozumi-chan whispers low-spiritedly.

"What do you mean by that? Are you restraining yourself for him...? No, you were aware of that all along. You're restraining yourself for me, right?"

After a few moments of wavering, she finally nods.

"Don't mind me," I say.

Surprised, Hozumi-chan looks up at me.

"What's up with that face? Didn't expect me to say that?"

"B-But... you both love each other no matter how you look at it..."

"No matter how you look at it? Also when you look at us?" I ask.

"Probably..."

"You're unsure? Even though we're talking about the boy that's always on your mind?"

"...Yes," she replies honestly.

"I see. That means that you, Hozumi-chan, have a better idea of us than those unspecified people that view us as a couple."

"Huh...?"

"I don't know Kazuaki's thoughts on this, but I for one have no idea how you could describe our relationship."

"You don't...?"

"Mm."

Hozumi-chan takes a few moments to think about the reason why I phrased it that way. At last, she comes to an answer.

"Does that mean that I don't have to restrain myself for you?" she asks.

After a short pause, I reply, "Sure."

"Good...," she says with a blatant smile, which she is trying to hide, "I always felt bad about you."

"I know that you did," I confess as I hold the empty cup against my lips, "but don't resent me for that. I couldn't just tell you to ignore me and hit on him to your heart's content, could I?"

"...Yes," Hozumi-chan says, her face gloomy-looking again.

"Ah, I'm not being sarcastic here, okay? ...In fact, I'd rather Kazuaki found someone else other than me."

She is visibly surprised by that fact. Geez...will her face ever stay put for a while?

"I don't know if a day will come when I can answer his feelings for me. Maybe not, and I'd keep him waiting. Therefore, I think it's for his sake if I left him to a girl like you, Hozumi-chan," I explain and she listens. While putting down and picking up the cup for no particular reason, I continue, "He ought to learn that I'm not the only girl there is. Because he... only ever paid attention to me."

Hozumi-chan remains silent, her face cast down. After a while, she looks up and looks me deep in the eyes.

"I won't... hold back anymore!" she says with a calm but resolute voice.

Slightly unsettled by her straight gaze, I avert my eyes a little bit.

"And I just told you that's okay, didn't I?" I answer—with a voice slightly quieter than before.

Still fixed on my face, she nods, "...I see." She let's out a short sigh I almost overlooked. "Thank you for your time. See you..."

"Yeah, see you."

Hozumi-chan picks up her bag and, after giving me a brief bow, leaves without looking back.

As I gaze at my empty paper cup, I ask myself:

...Hey Shizuka. Are you serious?

I wonder? I think I am. I think so... but somehow I'm not fully comfortable with what I said. I feel a bit like I were trying to make myself believe a drawn apple was a real one.

I gaze at the chair in front of me that's still pulled away from the table.

Hozumi-chan.

She's a good girl. No doubt about that. Even I have to admit that she's pretty. Every normal boy would fall for her almost instantly if she wanted them to.

But what of it?

She's a good girl, so what? She's pretty, so what? Does that make her suitable for Kazuaki?

I try to imagine not me but her standing besides Kazuaki.

...No, I can't. I can't imagine that.

However... there is something I'm grateful of her.

Only thanks to her could I remain level-headed like this—because she didn't probe into my actual feelings for Kazuaki.

A tingling sensation runs through my head like a swarm of ants. I feel nauseated even though my stomach is perfectly fine.

I—

—crushed the paper cup in my hand.

The talk with Hozumi-chan has affected me, no doubt, but that's no reason to change my plans; I head to her.

I don't know when and where she is waiting, but I know that she's there.

The humanoid energies are flickering again, frantically trying to break into someone's body.

{Unforgivable. Unforgivable. Your new website is unforgivable.}

{I love you. Iloveyou. I love you, giant vs. Yakult.}

{I know your secret! You take off your trousers when you go to the toilet!}

It's getting dangerous—their words are starting to make sense to me. I'm slowly starting to see the underlying feelings of their cryptic messages.

A tingling pain runs through my body.

I instinctively realize that it's dangerous to understand their language. Understanding them is equivalent to being able to communicate with them, and communicating with them requires opening myself to them for the duration of the conversation. They are not going to let that chance slip.

I try to disregard them like I would ignore those people distributing free tissues.

I just have to avoid contact with them, that's all. I just have to ignore the fact that they're not just roughly shaped like humans anymore, but possess human silhouettes by now.

Ignoring them with all my might, I find myself at the same park as the other day again. She is sitting on the same bench as previously.

The first thing I ask her, who is absurdly beautiful, is:

"Hey, is it because of you that I can now see the outlines of humanoid energies?"

"'You'," she says instead of answering my question. Apparently, she is not addressing me, but repeating the word I used to refer to her. "Call me Reina. In return, I'll also call you Shizuka. Okay?"

"I don't mind..." I answer warily.

"Shizuka it is, then. Did you consider my offer?"

Heh, my question got ignored.

"Your offer, huh... don't you think that a little too one-sided? You said what you wanted to say and suddenly 'disappeared.' Besides, I have no idea what you mean by, 'Do you want to come with me?'"

"Seriously...?"

"Seriously," I reply with a sigh.

"Even though you possess such skills?" she asks with blunt astonishment.

"Yes. I suppose we acquired these skills in different ways. When you climb a mountain from different directions, you still arrive at the same place, no?"

Reina pauses for a while and nods at last.

"I see, that's why you call them 'humanoid energies.'"

"Understood?"

"Yes. Because there is a much easier and straightforward name for them, isn't there? 'Spirits.'"

"I have to admit that I also thought of that name when I first got to recognize their outlines. However, there is a certain discrepancy between my definition of the word 'spirit' and how I define 'humanoid energy,' although that's probably just my common sense restraining me. I couldn't give this phenomenon a hackneyed name such as 'spirit.' Even now, to be honest, they will stay humanoid energies to me. Do you understand?"

"I certainly do. But you ought to keep in mind that they're not humanoid energies for anyone else. Of course, spirit is only the answer for a limited number of people as well," she explains.

"...Sorry, I'm afraid you've lost me."

"In other words, the term 'humanoid energy' may be your own way of calling them, but by naming them that way, they have assumed the role of humanoid energies."

"...like an orange becomes an orange with our awareness of that name...?"

"Hmm, that's slightly off, I'm afraid. You should take a less explainable thing as an example. Like... God. Do you believe in God, Shizuka?"

"I, I guess not."

"Okay, that means that you might thank your own luck when you've been lucky, right? But as soon as we coin the term 'God', you'll be thanking not your luck, but God for watching over you—and that's an entirely different message, isn't it?"

"...Yeah, I think I see where you're coming from, but that's not a good example. To raise a better one, 'air' can only exist as 'air' if you know its name. That's your point, right?"

After all, we cannot perceive air unless we have heard of it, since it's neither visible nor palpable.

"Color me impressed, Shizuka. You're quick!"

"Hold back the flattery, please. Anyway, may I ask a few questions?"

"Sure, if I can answer them," she says, accepting my request.

"Great, then to start—" I pose the question I've been dying to ask, "—Who are you?"

Seemingly unable to grasp the significance of my question, Reina inclines her head.

"Why do you ask?"

"You're not human, but neither are you a humanoid energy."

"But you already know my name, don't you?"

"...Reina Kamisu." As I say her name, I understand what she's getting at.

"Right, I'm Reina Kamisu. That and nothing else."

Right, I have already named the essence of that phenomenon 'Reina Kamisu.'

"...Fine, I will no longer ask that question. But... why did you get in touch with me?"

"It seems like there is a misunderstanding on your part. You were the initiator of our contact, weren't you?"

"...True. Then why did you make that offer to me?"

"Because you have power, Shizuka."

"What power?"

"You have the ability to sense 'humanoid energies,' to borrow your naming."

"I know that. What I don't know is what kind of power this ability translates into."

Reina stays silent for a few moments, thinking, until she answers me with a smile:

"It's the power to save the world."

Surprised, my eyes widen. After all, my fundamental suspicion was that Reina's existence poses a threat to peace, and that's why I got in touch with her.

If I were to believe her words...

"—So what you're doing—setting the humanoid energies into motion—is part of saving the world?"

"Yes."

"Spare me your lies! I know that your deeds have yielded several victims!"

"'Several'," she smiles. "Is saving several people equivalent to saving the world?"

"...Do you mean that...?"

"You're probably spot on."

In other words, Reina has sacrificed a few people in order to save everyone else? Like the masses in a war that was started just to seize a single dictator? Like an elephant among a hungry group of animals that was killed for the others to survive?

As I fight with increasing confusion, Reina smiles at me and continues:

"I know it all, Shizuka."

Her following words unsettle me even more.

"You only acquired that ability after that incident, didn't you?"

==3==
I am wearing my favorite, white dress.

The frilled ends of my skirt float in the air as I whirl around.

Am I not pretty?

Who am I wearing it for?

For you, of course, and for me, for my feelings for you.

I want to be pretty for you, always the prettiest.

But someday I will have to take off the white dress.

And you will undress me.

—Or so I hoped.

But now—

I'm still wearing that dress, and I won't let you touch it.

Because my favorite, white dress is full of stains.

But yet I keep wearing the dress.

I keep wearing a non-white dress.

I keep wearing a non-white dress for you to undress.

Until it's too late to turn back.

==4==
Dang... it doesn't function.

The 'lettuce' I sowed yesterday doesn't function. It's as Reina said... If I don't change, my power will stay limited.

In order to acquire real power, I have to leap over this world and transcend all existence and pass through several deltas.

Break, class room. Chairs, chairs, desks, a fluttering humanoid energy, Kazuaki.

"Kazuaki, spare me a moment, please." I say to Kazuaki who's talking with Kiichi-kun, a friend of his.

"Hm? What's the matter, Shizuka?"

Kiichi-kun politely leaves us alone. Mm, sorry but thanks.

"Okay, listen closely. The world is about to burst."

"Shizuka...?"

"As I said, the world is overfull. There's a critical level in every system, no? You understand that, right?"

"...I think I do... hey, um, I already said this in the previous break, but you don't look good today, Shizuka."

"That doesn't matter. Forget about me for now. Just listen," I urge him.

"I think it does matter, but fine..."

"Humanoid energies... no, I hate to do this, but let's call them 'spirit' because it's simpler. As you may know, Kazuaki, there are countless things that can't be perceived by the eye. Hell, way too many for my taste. And in order to become aware of them, we have to give them appropriate names... hold on, that doesn't matter now either, does it? At any rate, those spirits do exist, okay?"

"...Okay."

"Those spirits keep increasing in number. The number keeps growing and they have started to overflow wherever you look, even around us. In fact, there's one right there in the corner. Of course, some spirits just pass away as they should do, but most don't. Therefore, we can define that spirits are in a constant growth. Right, this lifecycle is thus comparable to the production of oxygen. With each breath, plants also exhale carbon dioxide but the amount of oxygen that is produced thanks to photosynthesis is greater, so they are effectively producing oxygen by definition. Like that."

"Okay..."

"You know what happens if they keep on populating? The world turns upside down. The front and the back get inversed. Do you understand? You do, right? It's a revolt! By the spirits! It makes perfect sense that the world would lean toward the side that holds more energy. Can you imagine the consequences? The world would have tilted away, after all: We would fall from the surface of the world, losing our shape, turning into ambiguous beings, scattering in all directions. Perhaps. I don't know the details, of course, but neither do we know the exact consequences of blasting and burning our globe with explosives, right? In other words, the only thing that I can tell for sure is that the resulting world is in no way desirable. What do you think should I do? Do you, do you think that I'm supposed to prevent that whatever it takes?"

"...Shizuka," Kazuaki says as he gazes closely at me.

Thanks goodness; he has taken me seriously.

Kazuaki gives Kiichi-kun a glance, "I'm sorry, Kiichi, but Shizuka and I are leaving early today."

Surprised, Kiichi-kun replies, "Huh...? Ah, i-it's okay, Kazuaki, nothing urgent, really."

"Tell them that I'm taking Shizuka home because she's not feeling well."

Ignoring my question, he pulls me by my arm.

Kazuaki is touching my arm.

The cells of my arm start to decompose and rot away one by one. It hurts. Unsustainable, boundless ressentiment prickles me.

"Kazuaki... Have you forgotten?"

He reflexively lets go of my hand, watching me with wide-open eyes. After a while, he apologizes in a voice I can barely hear.

Kazuaki won't turn around, so I'm just wordlessly following him.

As we trace our way home, we enter the train line we use every day. There are almost no people because of the off-peak time it is. Huh? There's someone standing despite the many unoccupied seats. Ah, it's a humanoid energy. How confusing. Come to think of it, how do I distinguish between humans and humanoid energies, again? Huh? How did I use to do that? I can't seem to remember.

We get off the train, but when I try to go through the ticket gate, I bump into the barrier because the machine won't react to my season ticket. What's up with this? Is this also the wicked deed of humanoid energies? That's by no means impossible. I put my season ticket on the sensor again, and this time the barrier opens. Phew, that's really confusing.

I keep going after Kazuaki.

Right, left, right, right, left—we turn and turn and turn.

At last, we arrive at a park, but not the one I've been meeting Reina at. It's a very small, commonplace park with a bunch of rusty structures.

"...Do you remember this place?" Kazuaki suddenly asks, turning around to me.

Even though he has been dead-silent on the way here, he is smiling eerily gently. Because I don't give him any reaction, he continues himself:

"It's the park where we first met, back when we were 2 years old. Well, I don't expect you to remember all the way back, but you remember that we used to play here, don't you?"

"..."

Of course I do.

However, I hesitate to say anything because I can't quite grasp the meaning of bringing me here and telling me that.

"When we were little, you were taller than me and you would always tease me. To be honest, there were days when I was so frightened of you that I didn't want to see you, Shizuka!" he laughs.

I look around. Indeed, this is the park where we used to play together. I often played with Kazuaki in that sand box over there, or on those swings, or with that horizontal bar. The jungle gym has been removed by now, but apart from that, this park remains a place of young memories that we thought was our own little empire.

"Those were good times, weren't they?" Kazuaki continues, still smiling gently.

His smile causes in me—resentment.

I keep silent, however, because it's not his fault. He is not to blame. It's just that I feel like throwing up because of a prickling in my stomach.

Therefore, I decide to tell Kazuaki what he must know.

"Kazuaki, listen..."

"Okay!" he answers quick like a shot—with a subtle touch of resignation.

"You are very important to me, Kazuaki," I begin, apparently betraying his fears. His eyes widen. "I think that everyone has a certain role in life. For example, the president of a certain republic has to protect the world on his high throne, while the prime minister of a certain island nation has to obey that president. Mother Teresa had to serve in Calcutta, Columbus had to set foot on America, and Madame Curie had to discover polonium and radium. And I... I have to save the world."

"How are you going to do that...?"

"I'll make sure that the world doesn't turn over to their side by releasing the power inside those humanoid energies and reducing their number.  There may be victims while they are flickering for a while after their power is released, but that's a necessary evil. Don't get me wrong—my conscience is pricking me for this, but I can't help it. I have to take action; it's my role because I know what has to be done."

"...Assuming that were the right thing to do—"

"Kazuaki. I understand that the idea seems absurd at first, but it is the right thing to do."

He averts his gaze toward the ground. After a moment of thought, he corrects himself:

"While I suppose that it must be the right thing to do—why is there a need that you're in charge of that task, Shizuka? Just hand over the responsibility to someone else. You said that you know how to save the world, but Shizuka... We all know of the countries suffering from poverty, where children are born to die early on, girls have to resort to prostitution just to contract AIDS, and weak people die of illnesses caused by a bad environment and a lack of medication. We all know that, yet we do nothing to fix this issue, except maybe for some coin that we donate. This is the world we live in. There will always be people seeking a savior. If we were to answer each and every call for help, we would get trapped at some point, living only for the sake of saving others. Think that's praiseworthy? Well, it is. But what of it? Do you think a lifestyle where you sacrifice yourself for others is right? Perhaps it is, but I wouldn't want such a lifestyle. I'll rather ignore their calls for help—just like all the postal advertisement we get."

"...Didn't I tell you the reason right at the beginning, Kazuaki?"

"..."

"You are very important to me."

Right, Kazuaki lives in this world.

He looks down again.

"...It's cool that you think like that, it really is, but..."

"...It's okay, Kazuaki. Just get off your chest what you really want to say."

I heard enough to tell that Kazuaki does not see the danger the world is facing. He only sees the issues he thinks I am facing.

He slowly raises his head to look at me, almost scowling.

Nonetheless—

"Come down to earth, Shizuka! You lost touch with reality."

Nonetheless, I have faith in myself.

After all, there is someone who confirms my view.

"Reality."

"...Yeah, reality! You went through a lot of hardships, that's true, but look... take this park for example—this place is reality, too, okay? Not everything's so bad."

Ah, now I see... that's why he brought me here. But Kazuaki...

Your point backfired.

Besides, your reality doesn't matter to me. Reality to me is that the world is at stake, and the only one able to save it are she and I.

"Among the things you said to me, Kazuaki, there is one thing that I particularly like."

"Hm...?"

"'Do what you think is the right thing to do.'"

"Yeah..." he nods and keeps his mouth shut.

We've known each other since were little. He knows that I'm beyond persuasion. I'm sure, however—Kazuaki won't give up.

"Okay, then I'm going to do the right thing as well!"

With these words, he approaches me.

I know what he's going to do. I can easily imagine the implications of his strained face; we haven't been together for so long for nothing.

His neck is right before my eyes. I completely forgot that he's gotten larger than me.

I slightly raise my head to look at his face.

He slightly lowers his head to look at my face.

Finally, he—embraces me.

"I love you!" he whispers into my ear, as if to stress that I'm the only one who has to know. "I love you more than anyone else, Shizuka!"

I'm happy.

I'm really happy.

He isn't trying to stop me with false words of love. He isn't good enough with words for that.

He simply couldn't help saying it, having me in his embrace. It's the only thing he could think of.

Kazuaki's just so staggeringly honest, simple, faithful... giving me no other choice than to watch over him, making me want to be with him—

Even though my white dress has been stained.

Even though he can't have forgotten those stains.

He's daring a leap. The gamble of his life.

Of course, I'm on his side. I want him to win the wager.

And yet—

"...Don't touch me."

—I couldn't.

The arms around me come loose instantly. Instead, I embrace myself tightly, burying my fingernails in my arms.

I'm glad that I'm smaller than Kazuaki now; I only have to slightly drop my gaze to avoid seeing his face.

My body hurts like it was pierced by a thousand needles. I'm fighting with the urge to hole out the contents of my aching head. The pictures from back then keep appearing in my head, shredding me, crushing me, pulping me, scattering me.

"I'm sorry..." not I but Kazuaki says.

Why are you apologizing? Stop it! I'm the one to blame. I'm the one who's weak. I'm the one who can't recover. I. It's my fault. My fault. Fault. Fault. Fault.

"Sorry for making you cry..."

Confused, I touch my eyelids and finally realize that I'm really crying.

"Isn't it strange? I wanted to achieve the opposite effect. Embracing you was supposed to stop your tears. I failed at that, didn't I... I'm not able to do it..."

I desperately try to hold my tears back. I mustn't make him say such things. But... it doesn't go well.

"I'm such a moron. I thought things would work out somehow if I came here... I thought everything would change for the better... as if it was so simple."

"...Listen, Kazuaki..." I say, trying (and probably failing) not to sob.

"Hm?"

"There is something... that I didn't tell you."

I raise my head, feeling that I have to.

"I never gave you the details of that incident, did I...? I didn't want to hurt you... To be honest... this park... this place of memories—"

"—is where I was raped."

Stop.

Kazuaki stopped entirely.

He stopped so perfectly that I start to suspect that I was left alone in the world, removed from the flow of time.

—Left alone in the world? Hah, that's an accurate description. I'm sure that impression's not an illusion but a truth.

"...Horrible," Kazuaki mutters.

He didn't say that word to me, nor did he address it at the people who had abused me. It wasn't addressed at God either, since he doesn't believe in one.

I'm sure his horrible wasn't addressed at anything in specific.

"That's just... horrible!"

Kazuaki didn't know that reality strikes whenever you expect it the least, no matter if it's a place of memories.

It treats saints and sinners all alike, attacking them mechanically, randomly, without any consideration and selection.

Kazuaki didn't know that.

No, he may have known it, but he didn't believe that this rule would also apply to us.

The world can turn against anyone meaninglessly.

However, not in my case.

"I have to go," I say.

"...Go where?" he squeezes out.

"To another park that I am supposed to visit."

"Huh?"

"I have to go to Reina Kamisu."

There was a meaning to the world's turning against me.

Right, Reina?

==5==
I told Reina Kamisu that I would follow her.

She welcomed me with open arms, seeming very happy about my decision. Of course, one reason for her delight is the raise in effectiveness, but I think she's also happy about finally having a companion in her sheer endless fight.

I don't know how long she's been fighting so far, but purging one humanoid energy after another (which keep increasing in the meanwhile) is like collecting the sand of a desert grain by grain.

I see. Maybe she's been waiting for a person like me who could help her save the world. No, she's still waiting. If the number of people helping her keeps increasing, then saving the world will stop being a pipe dream.

I look around in my room.

This will be the last time I'm here; deep emotion fills my heart. While it's not a cool room—with furniture like a dresser from my mom and things like a weird doll—but here I laughed and cried and laughed and cried.

Should I leave a letter to my parents and Kazuaki? ...No, they would confuse it for my last words or something. Although that might be true in their eyes.

I open the lock of the topmost drawer of my desk and take out a cross choker.

Reina Kamisu told me that I would need to put on something very dear to me. When I asked for the reason, she explained that I needed a token of regret. I could see that I might accidentally get trapped on the other side of the world unless there was something chaining me to this side. In order to become like Reina, I'll probably need something like that.

I put on the choker.

I won't waver anymore.

I walk down the stairs and put on my shoes at the entrance.

"Shizuka, where are you going?" my mom asks from the kitchen without showing up.

"Just a bit far away."

With these words, I open the door.

By now, humanoid energies and humans look almost the same to me but I can still discern them somehow. Those energies have no aim or destination, so they practically stay put at one place; they mumble things even though they're alone, and while they're talking to themselves, their facial expressions do not change a bit.

Coming across several humanoid energy-like beings, I head to the place she's waiting.

{Why did you throw me away, Takeshi! You told me you loved me!}

{I don't have any friends. I don't need to live.}

{Had I not gazed after that hot school girl, neither I nor the family driving the other car would have had to die. What an idiotic accident!}

Among them was one of a middle-aged man:

{Why did you fire me! What did I do wrong!}

Apparently, he had killed himself after losing his job.

"Hello," I said, for the first time addressing a humanoid energy. Suicide after failing in one's job life is not that uncommon, but his face somewhat resembled that of my dad.

{You can... see me?}

"I can. I can also hear you."

{I see... You shouldn't talk with me. Or perhaps... there's no harm to a young lady like you?}

"I'm sure there's none. Our values are way too different."

{Values, you say... In other words, you think the reason why I committed suicide seems cheap and cliched to you?}

"Kind of. I mean, you'll just get less income if you're fired, and that's it, right?"

The middle-aged humanoid energy looked at me sorrowfully. No, he (?) had a sorrowful look glued to his face all the time.

{It's not that simple, young lady.}

"What's not so simple then?"

{I'm bad at explaining things, so I won't be able to convince you, but work was everything to me. Despite that, I was told to be of no use for the company. Do you see what I mean?}

"I do, but I'm not convinced after all."

{I guess so. But there's one thing that I want you to understand: there's no place for old men like me. Not even in the family I was supposed to feed. Nevertheless, I firmly believed that I was needed, that I was a gear in the family that was the company I worked at.}

"But you didn't stay one of its gears."

{Exactly. And I wasn't able to become part of anything else.}

"I think I understood more or less. Still... I think ending one's life because of that is stupid."

He lowered his gaze somewhat and answered,

{Yes... maybe you're right.}

I think I then spotted a faint smile in his face.

And he swirled left and right.

"As I thought. You died, didn't you?"

{What do you mean...?}

I found him.

"Don't you remember me?"

{I don't...}

I should have known; humanoid energies are the core of our energy, and as such only possess the most crucial of memories.

"When you were alive, you once bumped into me when you came rushing out of our psychiatrist's room."

{I see... sorry.}

"Oh, I don't mind. By the way, what's your name?"

{Atsushi Kogure...}

"I see, Atsushi-kun it is."

{What's your name...?}

"My name? I'm Shizuka Wakui."

{What business do you have with me, Shizuka-san?}

"None, actually... if anything, I felt a bit nostalgic."

{I see... Would you please leave me alone, then?}

"How cold. Hm... Okay, then may I ask you one thing?"

{You may... but I won't be able to answer you because I can't remember anything.}

"Really? I'll ask anyway. You bumped into me—I told you that, right?"

{Yes...}

"What again were you shouting when you rushed out of the room?"

His eyes widen at once. I'm taken by surprise—humanoid energies do not change their expressions.

{I don't know.}

That's a lie. After all, he's putting way more emphasis into his words than before.

{I don't know!} he shouts, apparently sensing my doubt.

Atushi-kun said no more after that.

After changing trains a few times, I finally get off the train at the nearest station from a certain lake I've looked up beforehand.

During the travel, I was once again reminded of the omnipresence of humanoid energies. I fear the world could turn over any moment.

Spotting a group of carefree school girls, I feel a bit jealous of them. They don't have to see any of this and don't have to know how thin the ice is that we're on. The balance is as fragile as doing a triple Axel in an ice rink with ultra-thin ice.

After confirming the position of the lake on a map hung up at the station, I head to my destination.

As I walk, I recall Reina's words.

"Water works perfectly because it's connected all over the world."

In order to find a lake that fit the bill, I had to bring myself to google for 'places to commit suicide'.

I mean, 'suicide'...? Heck, it's not like I'm going to die.

After a 40-minute walk, I arrive at the lake. I could have used a taxi (I won't have to care about money from now on, after all) but I didn't want to cause any bothersome misunderstandings.

"You're late."

Reina was there first, waiting for me with an absurdly beautiful smile.

"I'm sorry."

But I could come here whenever I wanted, no? You didn't tell me where I had to go, after all.

I gaze at the lake before me.

Ah, I see. No wonder it's become infamous as a place for suicide. What a huge number of humanoid energies. In fact, there's so many of them, that they have mingled into beings with an entirely different shape. It's like on of those old paintings of Youkais. Several heads are extending toward me, observing me closely. They look a bit like grapes to me, with the heads being the grapes.

I see. With there being so many of them, there is a wavelength for any person who comes here, drawing them into death. Of course, the people who come here do so with the intent of committing suicide; but actually ending one's life isn't so easy. The fear and attachment to life that surfaces when facing death help preventing suicide.

However, in the case of this lake, it's already too late once they've come here.

The humanoid energies exploit the hollow hearts of the suicidal visitors, shorting their reasonable thinking and drawing them into death.

"Shizuka, there are several places like this in the world."

"And we have to get rid of those places one by one, right?"

"Mmm," she shakes her head, "that's impossible."

"Why...?"

"It's as simple as the problem of many against few. We have too less power. Once a place has turned into this, it's beyond purification."

I look at 'them' again.

I see. Having mixed together, complementing each other, they have turned into a monster. Should I try to step in and erase them, they will take me in as well and still try to regain their former shape. A mechanism that's much alike a black hole formed in this place.

This place can't be purged anymore.

"Ah—"

I see now. I understand everything.

This is it. This is what happens when our side of the world turns over.

Our proportional relation in power is negated on this side, and thus we get taken in by them. Our souls get devoured, our bodies become hollow and decay. That's the outcome we're steering at.

"...We must stop these places from increasing, right?"

"Yes", Reina nods in response to my realization. "That's our mission."

I scowl at the monster in front of us. All of those grape-like beings are void of expression yet hostile.

They are—my enemy.

I press my cross choker tightly.

"Reina, one last thing."

"...One last thing?" she smiles.

"...You're right. It's only just starting."

"It is! So, what do you want to know?"

"You said that everyone has a certain role, right?"

"I did, yes."

"That it's my role to save the world," I add.

"Right. Only the chosen ones can do that."

"So, I was chosen because I obtained my power."

And—

"—I obtained this power because of that incident."

Reina nods with a smile.

Yeah, I see. I see now.

It never made sense to me: Why did I have to suffer so much? I was by no means a saint, of course, but I think I lived humbly enough to earn myself a ticket to heaven. So why did that incident happen to me of all people? It never made sense.

Of course, reality bares its teeth against anyone—without any consideration but with deadly poison in its teeth.

Yet, I helplessly failed to understand why it happened to me.

But now I can say with conviction:

Yes, there was a reason why I had to suffer so much.

It's simple—

—It was necessary in order to save the world.

"You're right, Shizuka," she says with a warm smile. "Those were obstacles imposed on you so that you could fulfill your mission!"

Right! I found the truth!

I mean, it wouldn't be fair otherwise. It would be unfair if I were the only one so unlucky.

After all, if there wasn't a proper meaning in that incident, my suffering would have been all for naught.

"Yeah, then let's go, Reina! Let the game begin!"

"Yeah!"

Right, there's no reason to waver anymore.

I only have to muster up some courage and jump into the lake—

It's time to go to my new stage—

As I hold my cross choker, I jum—

"——Ah—"

As—I—hold—my—choker—

Someones, Voice.

—TSCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

Scars.

Flesh.

White dress.

"—None."

Cryingshizuka.

"—There is none!"

—TSCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

"Here... a Christmas present."

"Oh! Thanks, Kazuaki! May I open it?"

"Sure."

"Wow! That's beautiful! But wasn't it expensive?"

"N-Not that much."

"Isn't that a diamond in the center of this crucifix?"

"Yeah, it is..."

"Hey, then it was expensive after all, you bragger!"

"S-Shut up... let me show off a bit!"

—TSCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

"Why did it happen to me of all people? Why?"

"Is there a meaning in this?"

—TSCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

I wouldn't stop crying.

Kazuaki wouldn't stop looking sad.

"Why did it happen to me of all people? Why?"

"Is there a meaning in this?"

I lamented like this, bothering him, until he finally opened his mouth, and squeezed out:

"—None."

"—There is none!"

"There is no reason, Shizuka! If anything, it's because your attackers couldn't handle their sexual drive. You happened to come across them, and you happened to look good enough to them. But that's not the reason you want, is it?"

"Reality treats saints and sinners all alike, attacking them mechanically, randomly, without any consideration and selection. You have to accept that, Shizuka."

Reality treats saints and sinners all alike, attacking them mechanically, randomly, without any consideration and selection.

Right, now I remember—

That wasn't originally my own belief—

It was just Kazuaki's honest and true opinion.

—TSCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

"What's wrong, Shizuka?" the absurdly beautiful girl asks me.

My choker is all wet with my sweat.

"Reina Kamisu—"

"Yes...?"

"Who are you?"

Reina Kamisu holds her breath.

"...What's it all of a sudden?" she asks.

"Those were obstacles imposed on me so that I could fulfill my mission."

"...What about it?"

"What about it, you ask? Don't play dumb! As if that could be true!"

"As if a reason would just pop up so conveniently!"

Losing her tongue, Reina Kamisu just gazes at me in a baffled manner.

"I understood everything. I sought a reason. A reason for my suffering. That's why I came up with the logic of those humanoid energies and tried to find refuge there."

She listens silently to me.

"Everyone else knew that I was trying to escape from reality. Be it Mihara-sensei or Kazuaki, or all of them. They knew I was escaping. After all, my logic only makes sense to myself. Yet, yet why is it—"

"—Why is it that you can understand me!"

"That's strange! Why does someone like you, Reina Kamisu, just show up so overly conveniently to confirm my theory? I didn't fully believe in it until you showed up, right? Why... why did you appear so—"

"Well," she begins. "Because that's what you wanted, Shizuka," she says, slightly skewing her lips. "You sought an existence like me. A third person who would turn your delusions into reality. Given the name of Reina Kamisu."

Reina Kamisu smiles. With a smile so beautiful it can't really exist.

Finally, I recall—what Atsushi Kogure has shouted when he rushed out of our psychiatrist's room.

And Atsushi-kun—

—is no more.

"Ah...ah..."

I hold my cross choker tightly.

Help me. Help me, Kazuaki.

"D-Do you intend to kill me?"

She looks at me with surprise when I ask so.

"Why would I?" she counters.

"I-I mean, it's true that you drove the students of the Shikura middle school into suicide, isn't it?"

She lifts her hand to her chin and replies after a short pause, "Perhaps."

"...Perhaps?"

"I didn't actually do anything."

"That's just not—"

"Not true? How about you, then?" she suddenly asks.

"Huh?"

"Would you be able to live on if I disappeared now?"

Ah—

I see what she means.

Reina is a phenomenon.

Just a phenomenon.

Sooner or later, we notice that she's not true, and then we lose her.

Once we lose the support that Reina is to us, we collapse all by ourselves.

"...Then stay by my side!"

"I'm always by your side. As long as you don't close your eyes from me, I'll always be with you. But... can you accept me when I'm only a phenomenon?"

With these words, Reina Kamisu vanished.

No, she didn't vanish. I simply dismissed her as something that could not exist.

Kamisu Reina is always here.

I stand alone by the lake.

I stand alone, without a reason for my suffering.

I stand alone, still suffering.

Suddenly, I recall an earlier thought of mine.

—it's already too late once you've come here.

I raise my head to look at the lake.

Alright—

A monster with tens and hundreds of faces is waiting for me.

<noinclude>
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|-
| Back to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Atsushi Kogure|Chapter 2]]
| Return to [[Kamisu Reina Series|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Kazuaki Toyoshina|Chapter 4]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Shizuka Wakui

2014-05-08T00:52:20Z

Axyraandas: /* 1 */

===1===

While letting the broken Engrish of our over 50-year-old English teacher in at one ear and out at the other after about 3 seconds, I look up terms on my electronic Kojien dictionary.

principle of mass conservation [n] 
A principle in classical physics stating that the total mass of an isolated system is unchanged by interaction of its parts. Discovered in 1774 by Antoine Lavoisier.

principle [n]
# A basic truth, law, or assumption.
# A basic or essential quality or element determining intrinsic nature or characteristic behavior.

The mechanics of the world are surprisingly simple.

There must be lots of those basic and essential qualities, scattered all around the world, but if you divide them even further into their most essential parts, the absolute number of distinct qualities shrinks to a number that's everything but high.

Did you know that many laws and principles are just augmented rehashes of a set of already known core principles?

More often than not, you end up at the same place no matter from which side you approach the nature of things. That's also why the teachings of people who have mastered a way often coincide even though their ways have nothing in common.

In other words, if you understand some of those core principles, you start to see how the mechanics of the world work.

Core principles are the essence of things. Understand them and you can apply them wherever you want and form new, unshakable laws. Cores attract everything around them just like magnets.

But no one else really knows; they all grow up to be shallow people, only ever looking at the surfaces instead of the underlying cores. They let others influence themselves because their understanding only scratches the surface. They can't consider the true nature of things on their own. Poor people. All it would take to acquire those cores is picking up a good book. Oh, or is there a set of requirements that need to be fulfilled, which I happened to do? I pity them even more, then. It's as though they were characters of a manga fighting each other, unaware of what they are. Even though they fight for no purpose other than their writer's household. Even though their conflict is just a figment, and their very existence is for the sake of fighting.

Anyway, one of those few truths goes by the name of "mass conversion."

Contrary to its name, it's not limited to mass; the amount of everything is bound to a certain number that neither grows nor shrinks. Everything's unchanging, be it mass, energy, sex drive, the number of souls—you name it.

The lesson ended while I was absorbed in thought, gazing at my electronic dictionary. Classes are finally over. I have better things to do than this. But I can't just deviate from my usual behavior and skip school. I mustn't let anyone get wind of what I'm doing; if I appear suspicious, it becomes more likely that someone will notice it. Before anyone else, especially—

"Phew, done for the day! Shizuka, wanna tag along somewhere today?"

Before anyone else, that easy-going boy, Kazuaki, might notice. Which is because we have spent too much time together from an early age on.

"I'll pass," I reply toward the adjacent seat.

"Oh come on... you're so cold," my childhood friend says as he purses his lips. Geez... he just won't change.

"I've got something to take care of, you see."

"You've been saying that all the time lately... you're not trying to avoid me, are you?" Kazuaki asks as he wrinkles his brow. Oh dear, he really doesn't change.

"Of course not!"

"Uh-huh...," he mutters downheartedly.

"Why don't you go home with the C2 duo if you're feeling lonely?"

"T-There's nothing between me and—" he counters in denial with a slightly flushed face.

"Senpai~!"

"H-Hozumi-chan... don't be so loud, it's embarrassing..."

His objection is cut off from afar by two girl voices. With the appearance of those two innocent-looking girls, I wave my hand to Kazuaki.

"See you."

"Ah..."

Don't look at me like that; I'm not leaving you behind because I want to. As soon as I've sorted this out, I'll tag along whenever you want.

But that has to wait, okay?

The world is at stake, after all.

Unconcerned by the waves of students heading homeward, I look around in thought.

The world is in danger.

Maybe that's an exaggeration. But in the very least, danger is looming ahead in this vicinity. I hoped I was wrong (which was out of question, of course, but I wanted to be wrong) but with the news that 3 students at the Shikura middle school committed suicide, my fear proved true.

We're in imminent danger.

And here we return to the thing about core principles and conservation of mass.

I used to be a completely normal girl; I may have hit puberty earlier than others, and have received dozens of confessions already, and I primarily hanged around with Kazuaki instead of other girls, but apart from that, I was a completely normal girl.

I'm using the past tense here because I feel that this no longer holds true.

There is a number of truths (cores). By getting to know these, I learned how I'm supposed to look at things.

It didn't take long for me to hit upon a certain question. We all have feelings. Joy, anger, sadness, fun.

Now, let's apply the law of conservation of mass to this case. Emotions are energy, which, especially in the case of love and hatred, store extreme heat. We consume emotional energy by converting it into energy that keeps us moving. However, not all of our feelings are always converted and consumed. But then where does the energy go when we are unable to suppress our feelings? Most of all, where does the energy go when we die—which must be a tremendous amount when faced with a violent death—when it can't possibly be consumed? Where does that energy fade away to?

With that question in mind, I started to pay attention.

Before long, I found the answer: the energy doesn't disappear at all. The answer was right under my nose, on the other side. Strong feelings, to raise an example, which often happen to be grudges, surface slightly on our side from time to time. It's dead easy to observe when you clear yourself for a moment and float up. Look, there's one. There's an accumulation of converted emotional energy. In most cases, those accumulations are shaped like a human.

Anyway, back to the danger the world is facing.

After becoming aware of those humanoid energies, I observed a peculiar change as of late.

Originally, those humanoid energies were unable to move by themselves, and completely harmless for people who didn't notice them; they would just stay put at one place and spread their network in order to influence whatever got caught in there.

Lately, however, they changed their behavior and started to shimmer like mirages. As if afraid of something or in ecstasy? I can't tell. What I can tell, however, is that it's not normal and that it's a sign for something to happen.

I don't know what the humanoid energies will do, how that will affect us, and what will happen, but there is one fact:

Three students died at the Shikura middle school.

But that's of no import. Well, of course it's very deplorable that their lives were lost, but in the face of the great menace that might be ahead of us, even a loss like that turns insignificant.

Three people died. What if... what if that was just a sign?

If, hypothetically speaking, this phenomenon was due to a natural circumstance, I would probably have to give up and let things take their way. Besides, we would just have to take cover and wait for the menace to pass by.

However—what if someone is pulling the wires behind the scenes?

It's not that I take issue with that ethically, no. What if we are not dealing with a random phenomenon, but with one that is deliberately called forth by someone? What if there is someone who can use that power whenever he wants? What if there is someone who can control all the humanoid energies that are likely to be spread all over the world?

That's what I fear.

After all, if my concerns prove true and that really was a man-made incident, he could endanger the life of everyone in the world.

The world is in danger.

Someone is scheming to ruin us all; someone evil like that is among us. And I have to track that person down.

That's why I've been closely observing the humanoid energies around me for a while.

{Volcano goes up to the 2nd floor of a black minus to eat warmed-up food and falls.}

{I want to eat the lucky meat that died ten times but resurrected a hundred times.}

{I throw a telephone receiver into a 4-dimensional pocket because the trash bin is full.}

{The unrivaled adventures of Hutch the Honeybee are living tourmalines.}

As they shimmer, the energies give off signals on a different wavelength that, while barely converted into my language, make no sense whatsoever.

However, I can make out a difference in volume.

Slowly but surely, their voices (?) grow louder and their flickering stronger.

Maybe I'm getting closer to the bad guy.

Last time, their abnormal behavior stopped while I was investigating, but I don't feel any signs of that happening again. I might be able to find him this time around.

—The uncanny conjurer who could easily extinguish three lives.

———

That's right... I'm about to run into a horrible foe...

Only now noticing this fact, my feet sink into cement and my steps become slower.

Besides... How do I know that his victims add up to just three? The only reason why I associated their deaths with the anomaly that occurred to the humanoid energies is because they were all suicides and happened in succession in my school. I don't know if they're even related to the anomaly I observed.

On the other hand, you can also say that there might be numerous undiscovered victims that I could not tie to this menace.

Come to think of it... the suicide rate has been growing lately. Hey, what if that's partly due to the criminal I'm about to meet? That's by no means unlikely; not only would killing someone with humanoid energies leave behind no evidence, it wouldn't even be noticed.

What am I going to do, meeting a person like that?

Sure, I can perceive humanoid energies. But that's about it. Apart from that, I'm just a normal girl who may have hit puberty earlier than others, and has received dozens of confessions already, and primarily hangs around with Kazuaki instead of other girls. Probably.

What is a girl like me going to do against a heinous criminal like that? Persuade him? Would my words really get through? Would he leave someone who knows his secret alive?

My legs stop completely.

But—

But if he were to extend his deadly hands toward Kazuaki...

My buried legs come free from the cement and I start moving forward again.

I'm afraid... I really am, but...

I have no other choice.

{Corn rings with gleaming rainbows in the background.}

{After bathing in Nattou, Watanabe-san's car travels through through time as it flies through the air.}

{A club-wielding maid brings Nagatacho's meat shreds into motion.}

The voices (?) become louder.

The sentences are as devoid of meaning as before, but the weight of their words has changed. With crackling tension they reverberate through my body, prickling my brains like with a mechanical pencil.

A grudge? I think to myself as I notice a core of a humanoid energy. A type of energy that would normally only get transported to people who were caught up in their nets flows to me.

I feel nauseated. Like on the day of my worst menstruation.

I want to curl up immediately, but I mustn't. There's someone I have to meet. I must meet her.

...Huh? Her?

Why do I know her gender?

I pull myself up and stagger into the park before me. Except for a few children with their parents near the sandpit, there's nobody besides me.

Nobody.

I stand before an old, weathered wooden bench. I don't know what to say. I don't know if it possesses the ability of language, anyway. However, I can't just stand here, so I try speaking to it.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

She raises her head.

"Ah—" I groan in surprise.

Her features were absurdly beautiful.

But what surprised me more than anything was the fact that I—

"Reina... Kamisu."

—knew the name of that phenomenon.

===2===
"Doctor, I think I'll cancel our meetings."

Doctor Mihara looks at me, slightly astonished, and asks, "Why?"

"I only came here because I needed support back then, didn't I?"

He gives me a small nod.

"So you are not in need of support anymore?"

"Yes, I'm not. The fits of depression I used to have are gone, and so is my aversion against talking to others," I explain and decide to add something I experienced the other day when I was waiting here, "and I don't rush out of this room screaming."

A few wrinkles appear in the doctor's brow.

"Who," he says after a short pause, "are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the boy who was often here before me. If I recall correctly, he was wearing the uniform of our school. He bumped into me the other day, didn't he? What's his name again?"

"...I am afraid that I cannot talk to you about my other clients."

"Not even his name? Whatever. Come to think of it, I haven't seen him lately."

His mien darkens clearly.

"He is not going to... come again."

"Is that so...?"

"Yes," he nods.

I doubt they would just discontinue his mental treatment in that condition; did something happen? Seeing how he ran away screaming, there must be a reason why he didn't want to come anymore.

But I have a strange gut feeling about this.

After all, that boy is a student of the Shikura middle school. Given that he was under mental treatment, it's more than possible that he had a reason for suicide, so he might be among the three suicide victims.

Judging from Doctor Mihara's bitter mien, he must know the truth. I refrain from asking more, however, because his personality would not allow him to answer me.

"At any rate, you said you want to cancel our meetings?" he says, getting back on topic, "in my view, it is a bit early for that."

"I know, Doctor. You're right in that my wounds have not yet healed up; I'm not my former self yet, either."

"That's not the problem," he argues. "These wounds will accompany you through your entire life, and you will not be able to return to your uninjured former self anymore."

"Where lies the problem, then?" I ask.

"I am hesitant to believe that you have really recovered from the shock."

"But in that case, wouldn't I be coming here for the rest of my life?"

The doctor pauses for a moment. "Still... it is still to early."

I get worked up a little; is he claiming that I'm weird?

Therefore, I object:

"Doctor. Let me be frank. We're not a wealthy household. The bill for this psychological therapy cuts pretty deep into our budget!"

"......" He lapses into silence as I bring up my monetary circumstances.

"Maybe you're right and I haven't fully recovered from the shock yet, but I'm confident that with the support of my parents and the few friends I have—like Kazuaki—I will be able to get better."

"I do not disagree with that. However, I feel that you are still in need of a specialist like me."

"Why?" I ask, somewhat irritated.

"...Very well, let me explain my concerns: I feel that you have delusional tendencies."

"...Delusional tendencies?" I ask in response to his unexpected claim. I have trouble seeing what he is referring to.

"Yes. I do not know how developed that inclination was when you first came here because you would not open yourself up to anyone... but I think that those delusional tendencies have become stronger as you regained your vitality."

"Huh? Do you mean I threw away my common sense in order to come to terms?" I ask.

"I cannot say for sure. I do surmise, however, that in order to protect yourself from the deep wound you sustained, you were forced to alter various things that would otherwise have caused more damage, including a certain sense of values."

"...In other words, you want to say that I'm still closing myself off?"

"I do not fully agree with the nuance of that... but that might be close. As I said earlier, it is by no means a bad thing to change. The problem is the direction of your change. Of course, I think that it is better than staying wounded, but I do not consider it a solution."

After carefully digesting his words, I object:

"Stop kidding me."

"Wakui-san..."

"I'm still weird, eh? That's not true! I've become normal again!" I scream, evoking more anger that comes welling up. "Enough! I'm sick and tired! You've seen me the last time!"

With these words, I stand up and turn away from him.

"Wakui-san!"

Ignoring the words he throws after me, I leave his office.

There was no going back anymore.

I went to school as usual the next day.

My chin rested on the desk, I'm eagerly waiting for the chime to ring. Because of the slow pace the clock is moving at, I think back at the therapy session yesterday.

I think I got a bit too hysteric. I'm sorry for Doctor Mihara. He only stated his honest opinion, nothing more.

That said, I say to myself as I recall his words from yesterday.

Delusional? I?

I admit, my fixed opinion on the existence of humanoid energies might seem delusional from a certain common-sense-influenced perspective. However, I have carefully elaborated the underlying logic for this theory; I'm in the right. If anything, I'm one step ahead of the average Joe.

Anyway, that doesn't really matter in this case: I haven't told the doctor about the humanoid energies.

I'm a patient; a mentally ill person. Because I'm aware of the implications this bears, I have deliberately kept from informing him so that he wouldn't get the wrong idea.

That means that... he views me as delusional even without the story about humanoid energies?

...That's nonsense. I'm normal. No matter which of my limbs you take a look into, I look completely normal and off-the-rack.

And yet, and yet! You treat me like a mentally ill person!

Getting upset again, I kick Kazuaki who is sitting next to me.

"Ouch!"

Idiot! Why do you cry out...?

As a natural consequence, the eyes of the class—the teacher's included—gather on Kazuaki. Feigning ignorance, I look at my notebook and start writing random characters.

"What was that for...?!" he complains quietly, scowling at me reproachfully, after everyone's attention returned to the lesson.

"Just because."

"So you were that kind of person who doesn't need a reason to beat someone, huh? Shizu-chan... sob, sob."

"'Sob, sob', eh? Who's the girl between us?"

Suddenly, the chime rings and ends our whispered exchange. Going through the routine, we stand up, bow to the teacher, and sit down.

A few moments later, our class teacher enters the classroom and finishes homeroom with some idle tall. My business at school is over for today.

Immediately after I stand up and say, "Bye," Kazuaki approaches me:

"Shizuka, wanna go home together?"

"Sorry, but I have something to do again."

That park is located in the opposite direction from the train station we would use when going home.

In visibly low spirits, Kazuaki mutters, "...Uh-huh."

"...Again, Kazuaki, I'm really not avoiding you," I assure.

"I know!"

"Then don't pull such a visage."

"But that appointment takes priority over me, doesn't it?"

Taken by surprise, I search for words.

"Well... that's true, but..."

"Aah, urm, it's okay, it's okay. Sorry for being grumpy."

Indeed, he's being a little grumpy. Still, I say what I'm supposed to say:

"...Sorry that I can't tag along with you."

That was enough to bring a smile to his face. Geez, he's such a simple person.

"See you, Kazuaki," I say as I wave him goodbye. He returns a wave, smiling.

Walking down the corridor, I head toward my shoe locker.

Ny pace is gradually increasing.

I want to go there, quickly, and see her.

Am I looking forward to seeing her? Hmm? At the very least, it feels different from going to a long-awaited bargain sale. If I were to phrase my current feelings... maybe like going for the first time to your boyfriend's place? Even though you feel only negative things like nervousness, fear and embarrassment, you don't feel bad at all. Like that.

"Um—" a voice suddenly disturbs me, however.

I look up to confirm whose voice that was, and recognize one of the C2 duo, Hozumi Shiiki, coming down the stairs.

"If that's not Hozumi-chan from the C2s," I remark in response.

"...What's 'C2'?"

"The name of your girl group. Ah, um, forget it."

C2 stands for "the two chibis."

"Anyway," I continue, "what do you want from me? I'm in a hurry."

"I, um... would like to discuss something with you, concerning Toyoshina-senpai."

Kazuaki Toyoshina.

As is pretty obvious from her usual attitude, Hozumi-chan—that short but busty (D cup, I bet my shirt!) girl—has a crush on Kazuki. Like, she's all over him. You wouldn't believe that a calm-looking girl like her would be so offensive when it comes to Kazuaki. Although only when backed up by the other part of the C2 duo, Yoshino Mitsui.

Hm, this matter is interesting enough to spare a few minutes. I haven't set a time for my appointment with her after all. I'm not even sure if the concept of time exists for her.

"Fine, let's talk."

"Thank you," she replies. "Let's find us a better place to talk."

"Sure. How about the canteen?"

Hozumi-chan nods and follows me.

Waiting for her to start talking, I take a gulp from a paper cup and savor the taste of the orange juice. Hozumi-chan hasn't spoken a word since she sat down even though she was the one who asked me here.

Hm... should I expect a somewhat serious discussion here?

I think she knows that I've noticed her feelings for Kazuaki, and I think she also knows that I can't give her a hand in that matter.

I could've sworn that she planned to talk that through, but maybe I was wrong?

As I start looking closely at her, Hozumi-chan lowers her gaze bashfully. She's by far not as offensive as she usually is Because Yoshino-chan's not with her? Or does she only get offensive when it comes to getting Kazuaki's attention?

"...Urm..." she finally squeezes out.

"Hm?"

"Are you, Wakui-san, and Toyoshina-senpai only childhood friends?"

Having anticipated a question along those lines, I don't move a muscle.

"Oh my, you could've just asked Kazuaki."

"I did."

"Hm? Ah, yeah, he's easier to approach than me, isn't he? What did he say? Ah, no, it's OK. I can tell. But I see... so you realized that we are likely to give you a different answer to that question."

"..." She remains silent.

"Out of interest, do we look like mere childhood friends?"

Hozumi-chan ponders for a few moments. "No, you don't..."

I nod at her response.

"You're right. A mere childhood friend wouldn't choose a too high school just to stay together, nor would that person beg his teacher to put their seats next to each other, nor would that person toy happily with the other part's hair."

"...Who's who?"

"Do you really want to know?"

Hozumi-chan casts her eyes downward and lapses into silence again.

I take another gulp from my orange juice, deliberately drinking from it slowly because I don't know how long she is going to stay silent.

It isn't before I put the emptied paper cup onto the table that she continues.

"...How should I deal with that?" Hozumi-chan whispers low-spiritedly.

"What do you mean by that? Are you restraining yourself for him...? No, you were aware of that all along. You're restraining yourself for me, right?"

After a few moments of wavering, she finally nods.

"Don't mind me," I say.

Surprised, Hozumi-chan looks up at me.

"What's up with that face? Didn't expect me to say that?"

"B-But... you both love each other no matter how you look at it..."

"No matter how you look at it? Also when you look at us?" I ask.

"Probably..."

"You're unsure? Even though we're talking about the boy that's always on your mind?"

"...Yes," she replies honestly.

"I see. That means that you, Hozumi-chan, have a better idea of us than those unspecified people that view us as a couple."

"Huh...?"

"I don't know Kazuaki's thoughts on this, but I for one have no idea how you could describe our relationship."

"You don't...?"

"Mm."

Hozumi-chan takes a few moments to think about the reason why I phrased it that way. At last, she comes to an answer.

"Does that mean that I don't have to restrain myself for you?" she asks.

After a short pause, I reply, "Sure."

"Good...," she says with a blatant smile, which she is trying to hide, "I always felt bad about you."

"I know that you did," I confess as I hold the empty cup against my lips, "but don't resent me for that. I couldn't just tell you to ignore me and hit on him to your heart's content, could I?"

"...Yes," Hozumi-chan says, her face gloomy-looking again.

"Ah, I'm not being sarcastic here, okay? ...In fact, I'd rather Kazuaki found someone else other than me."

She is visibly surprised by that fact. Geez...will her face ever stay put for a while?

"I don't know if a day will come when I can answer his feelings for me. Maybe not, and I'd keep him waiting. Therefore, I think it's for his sake if I left him to a girl like you, Hozumi-chan," I explain and she listens. While putting down and picking up the cup for no particular reason, I continue, "He ought to learn that I'm not the only girl there is. Because he... only ever paid attention to me."

Hozumi-chan remains silent, her face cast down. After a while, she looks up and looks me deep in the eyes.

"I won't... hold back anymore!" she says with a calm but resolute voice.

Slightly unsettled by her straight gaze, I avert my eyes a little bit.

"And I just told you that's okay, didn't I?" I answer—with a voice slightly quieter than before.

Still fixed on my face, she nods, "...I see." She let's out a short sight I almost overlooked. "Thank you for your time. See you..."

"Yeah, see you."

Hozumi-chan picks up her bag and, after giving me a brief bow, leaves without looking back.

As I gaze at my empty paper cup, I ask myself:

...Hey Shizuka. Are you serious?

I wonder? I think I am. I think so... but somehow I'm not fully comfortable with what I said. I feel a bit like I were trying to make myself believe a drawn apple was a real one.

I gaze at the chair in front of me that's still pulled away from the table.

Hozumi-chan.

She's a good girl. No doubt about that. Even I have to admit that she's pretty. Every normal boy would fall for her almost instantly if she wanted them to.

But what of it?

She's a good girl, so what? She's pretty, so what? Does that make her suitable for Kazuaki?

I try to imagine not me but her standing besides Kazuaki.

...No, I can't. I can't imagine that.

However... there is something I'm grateful of her.

Only thanks to her could I remain level-headed like this—because she didn't probe into my actual feelings for Kazuaki.

A tingling sensation runs through my head like a swarm of ants. I feel nauseated even though my stomach is perfectly fine.

I—

—crushed the paper cup in my hand.

The talk with Hozumi-chan has afflicted me, no doubt, but that's no reason to change my plans; I head to her.

I don't know when and where she is waiting, but I know that she's there.

The humanoid energies are flickering again, frantically trying to break into someone's body.

{Unforgivable. Unforgivable. Your new website is unforgivable.}

{I love you. Iloveyou. I love you, giant vs. Yakult.}

{I know your secret! You take of your trousers when you go to the toilet!}

It's getting dangerous—their words are starting to make sense to me. I'm slowly starting to see the underlying feelings of their cryptic messages.

A tingling pain runs through my body.

I instinctively realize that it's dangerous to understand their language. Understanding them is equivalent to being able to communicate with them, and communicating with them requires opening myself to them for the duration of the conversation. They are not going to let that chance slip.

I try to disregard them like I would ignore those people distributing free tissues.

I just have to avoid contact with them, that's all. I just have to ignore the fact that they're not just roughly shaped like humans anymore, but possess human silhouettes by now.

Ignoring them with all my might, I find myself at the same park as the other day again. She is sitting on the same bench as previously.

The first thing I ask her, who is absurdly beautiful, is:

"Hey, is it because of you that I can now see the outlines of humanoid energies?"

"'You'," she says instead of answering my question. Apparently, she is not addressing me, but repeating the word I used to refer to her. "Call me Reina. In return, I'll also call you Shizuka. Okay?"

"I don't mind..." I answer warily.

"Shizuka it is, then. Did you consider my offer?"

Heh, my question got ignored.

"Your offer, huh... don't you think that a little too one-sided? You said what you wanted to say and suddenly 'disappeared.' Besides, I have no idea what you mean by, 'Do you want to come with me?'"

"Seriously...?"

"Seriously," I reply with a sigh.

"Even though you possess such skills?" she asks with blunt astonishment.

"Yes. I suppose we acquired these skills in different ways. When you climb a mountain from different directions, you still arrive at the same place, no?"

Reina pauses for a while and nods at last.

"I see, that's why you call them 'humanoid energies.'"

"Understood?"

"Yes. Because there is a much easier and straightforward name for them, isn't there? 'Spirits.'"

"I have to admit that I also thought of that name when I first got to recognize their outlines. However, there is a certain discrepancy between my definition of the word 'spirit' and how I define 'humanoid energy,' although that's probably just my common sense restraining me. I couldn't give this phenomenon a hackneyed name such as 'spirit.' Even now, to be honest, they will stay humanoid energies to me. Do you understand?"

"I certainly do. But you ought to keep in mind that they're not humanoid energies for anyone else. Of course, spirit is only the answer for a limited number of people as well," she explains.

"...Sorry, I'm afraid you've lost me."

"In other words, the term 'humanoid energy' may be your own way of calling them, but by naming them that way, they have assumed the role of humanoid energies."

"...like an orange becomes an orange with our awareness of that name...?"

"Hmm, that's slightly off, I'm afraid. You should take a less explainable thing as an example. Like... God. Do you believe in God, Shizuka?"

"I, I guess not."

"Okay, that means that you might thank your own luck when you've been lucky, right? But as soon as we coin the term 'God', you'll be thanking not your luck, but God for watching over you—and that's an entirely different message, isn't it?"

"...Yeah, I think I see where you're coming from, but that's not a good example. To raise a better one, 'air' can only exist as 'air' if you know its name. That's your point, right?"

After all, we cannot perceive air unless we have heard of it, since it's neither visible nor palpable.

"Color me impressed, Shizuka. You're quick!"

"Hold back the flattery, please. Anyway, may I ask a few questions?"

"Sure, if I can answer them," she says, accepting my request.

"Great, then to start—" I pose the question I've been dying to ask, "—Who are you?"

Seemingly unable to grasp the significance of my question, Reina inclines her head.

"Why do you ask?"

"You're not human, but neither are you a humanoid energy."

"But you already know my name, don't you?"

"...Reina Kamisu." As I say her name, I understand what she's getting at.

"Right, I'm Reina Kamisu. That and nothing else."

Right, I have already named the essence of that phenomenon 'Reina Kamisu.'

"...Fine, I will no longer ask that question. But... why did you get in touch with me?"

"It seems like there is a misunderstanding on your part. You were the initiator of our contact, weren't you?"

"...True. Then why did you make that offer to me?"

"Because you have power, Shizuka."

"What power?"

"You have he ability to sense 'humanoid energies,' to borrow your naming."

"I know that. What I don't know is what kind of power this ability translates into."

Reina stays silent for a few moments, thinking, until she answers me with a smile:

"It's the power to save the world."

Surprised, my eyes widen. After all, my fundamental suspicion was that Reina's existence poses a threat to peace, and that's why I got in touch with her.

If I were to believe her words...

"—So what you're doing—setting the humanoid energies into motion—is part of saving the world?"

"Yes."

"Spare me your lies! I know that your deeds have yielded several victims!"

"'Several'," she smiles. "Is saving several people equivalent to saving the world?"

"...Do you mean that...?"

"You're probably spot on."

In other words, Reina has sacrificed a few people in order to save everyone else? Like the masses in a war that was started just to seize a single dictator? Like an elephant among a hungry group of animals that was killed for the others to survive?

As I fight with increasing confusion, Reina smiles at me and continues:

"I know it all, Shizuka."

Her following words unsettle me even more.

"You only acquired that ability after that incident, didn't you?"

==3==
I am wearing my favorite, white dress.

The frilled ends of my skirt float in the air as I whirl around.

Am I not pretty?

Who am I wearing it for?

For you, of course, and for me, for my feelings for you.

I want to be pretty for you, always the prettiest.

But someday I will have to take off the white dress.

And you will undress me.

—Or so I hoped.

But now—

I'm still wearing that dress, and I won't let you touch it.

Because my favorite, white dress is full of stains.

But yet I keep wearing the dress.

I keep wearing a non-white dress.

I keep wearing a non-white dress for you to undress.

Until it's too late to turn back.

==4==
Dang... it doesn't function.

The 'lettuce' I sowed yesterday doesn't function. It's as Reina said... If I don't change, my power will stay limited.

In order to acquire real power, I have to leap over this world and transcend all existence and pass through several deltas.

Break, class room. Chairs, chairs, desks, a fluttering humanoid energy, Kazuaki.

"Kazuaki, spare me a moment, please." I say to Kazuaki who's talking with Kiichi-kun, a friend of his.

"Hm? What's the matter, Shizuka?"

Kiichi-kun politely leaves us alone. Mm, sorry but thanks.

"Okay, listen closely. The world is about to burst."

"Shizuka...?"

"As I said, the world is overfull. There's a critical level in every system, no? You understand that, right?"

"...I think I do... hey, um, I already said this in the previous break, but you don't look good today, Shizuka."

"That doesn't matter. Forget about me for now. Just listen," I urge him.

"I think it does matter, but fine..."

"Humanoid energies... no, I hate to do this, but let's call them 'spirit' because it's simpler. As you may know, Kazuaki, there are countless things that can't be perceived by the eye. Hell, way too many for my taste. And in order to become aware of them, we have to give them appropriate names... hold on, that doesn't matter now either, does it? At any rate, those spirits do exist, okay?"

"...Okay."

"Those spirits keep increasing in number. The number keeps growing and they have started to overflow wherever you look, even around us. In fact, there's one right there in the corner. Of course, some spirits just pass away as they should do, but most don't. Therefore, we can define that spirits are in a constant growth. Right, this lifecycle is thus comparable to the production of oxygen. With each breath, plants also exhale carbon dioxide but the amount of oxygen that is produced thanks to photosynthesis is greater, so they are effectively producing oxygen by definition. Like that."

"Okay..."

"You know what happens if they keep on populating? The world turns upside down. The front and the back get inversed. Do you understand? You do, right? It's a revolt! By the spirits! It makes perfect sense that the world would lean toward the side that holds more energy. Can you imagine the consequences? The world would have tilted away, after all: We would fall from the surface of the world, losing our shape, turning into ambiguous beings, scattering in all directions. Perhaps. I don't know the details, of course, but neither do we know the exact consequences of blasting and burning our globe with explosives, right? In other words, the only thing that I can tell for sure is that the resulting world is in no way desirable. What do you think should I do? Do you, do you think that I'm supposed to prevent that whatever it takes?"

"...Shizuka," Kazuaki says as he gazes closely at me.

Thanks goodness; he has taken me seriously.

Kazuaki gives Kiichi-kun a glance, "I'm sorry, Kiichi, but Shizuka and I are leaving early today."

Surprised, Kiichi-kun replies, "Huh...? Ah, i-it's okay, Kazuaki, nothing urgent, really."

"Tell them that I'm taking Shizuka home because she's not feeling well."

Ignoring my question, he pulls me by my arm.

Kazuaki is touching my arm.

The cells of my arm start to decompose and rot away one by one. It hurts. Unsustainable, boundless ressentiment prickles me.

"Kazuaki... Have you forgotten?"

He reflexively lets go of my hand, watching me with wide-open eyes. After a while, he apologizes in a voice I can barely hear.

Kazuaki won't turn around, so I'm just wordlessly following him.

As we trace our way home, we enter the train line we use every day. There are almost no people because of the off-peak time it is. Huh? There's someone standing despite the many unoccupied seats. Ah, it's a humanoid energy. How confusing. Come to think of it, how do I distinguish between humans and humanoid energies, again? Huh? How did I use to do that? I can't seem to remember.

We get off the train, but when I try to go through the ticket gate, I bump into the barrier because the machine won't react to my season ticket. What's up with this? Is this also the wicked deed of humanoid energies? That's by no means impossible. I put my season ticket on the sensor again, and this time the barrier opens. Phew, that's really confusing.

I keep going after Kazuaki.

Right, left, right, right, left—we turn and turn and turn.

At last, we arrive at a park, but not the one I've been meeting Reina at. It's a very small, commonplace park with a bunch of rusty structures.

"...Do you remember this place?" Kazuaki suddenly asks, turning around to me.

Even though he has been dead-silent on the way here, he is smiling eerily gently. Because I don't give him any reaction, he continues himself:

"It's the park where we first met, back when we were 2 years old. Well, I don't expect you to remember all the way back, but you remember that we used to play here, don't you?"

"..."

Of course I do.

However, I hesitate to say anything because I can't quite grasp the meaning of bringing me here and telling me that.

"When we were little, you were taller than me and you would always tease me. To be honest, there were days when I was so frightened of you that I didn't want to see you, Shizuka!" he laughs.

I look around. Indeed, this is the park where we used to play together. I often played with Kazuaki in that sand box over there, or on those swings, or with that horizontal bar. The jungle gym has been removed by now, but apart from that, this park remains a place of young memories that we thought was our own little empire.

"Those were good times, weren't they?" Kazuaki continues, still smiling gently.

His smile causes in me—resentment.

I keep silent, however, because it's not his fault. He is not to blame. It's just that I feel like throwing up because of a prickling in my stomach.

Therefore, I decide to tell Kazuaki what he must know.

"Kazuaki, listen..."

"Okay!" he answers quick like a shot—with a subtle touch of resignation.

"You are very important to me, Kazuaki," I begin, apparently betraying his fears. His eyes widen. "I think that everyone has a certain role in life. For example, the president of a certain republic has to protect the world on his high throne, while the prime minister of a certain island nation has to obey that president. Mother Teresa had to serve in Calcutta, Columbus had to set foot on America, and Madame Curie had to discover polonium and radium. And I... I have to save the world."

"How are you going to do that...?"

"I'll make sure that the world doesn't turn over to their side by releasing the power inside those humanoid energies and reducing their number.  There may be victims while they are flickering for a while after their power is released, but that's a necessary evil. Don't get me wrong—my conscience is pricking me for this, but I can't help it. I have to take action; it's my role because I know what has to be done."

"...Assuming that were the right thing to do—"

"Kazuaki. I understand that the idea seems absurd at first, but it is the right thing to do."

He averts his gaze toward the ground. After a moment of thought, he corrects himself:

"While I suppose that it must be the right thing to do—why is there a need that you're in charge of that task, Shizuka? Just hand over the responsibility to someone else. You said that you know how to save the world, but Shizuka... We all know of the countries suffering from poverty, where children are born to die early on, girls have to resort to prostitution just to contract AIDS, and weak people die of illnesses caused by a bad environment and a lack of medication. We all know that, yet we do nothing to fix this issue, except maybe for some coin that we donate. This is the world we live in. There will always be people seeking a savior. If we were to answer each and every call for help, we would get trapped at some point, living only for the sake of saving others. Think that's praiseworthy? Well, it is. But what of it? Do you think a lifestyle where you sacrifice yourself for others is right? Perhaps it is, but I wouldn't want such a lifestyle. I'll rather ignore their calls for help—just like all the postal advertisement we get."

"...Didn't I tell you the reason right at the beginning, Kazuaki?"

"..."

"You are very important to me."

Right, Kazuaki lives in this world.

He looks down again.

"...It's cool that you think like that, it really is, but..."

"...It's okay, Kazuaki. Just get off your chest what you really want to say."

I heard enough to tell that Kazuaki does not see the danger the world is facing. He only sees the issues he thinks I am facing.

He slowly raises his head to look at me, almost scowling.

Nonetheless—

"Come down to earth, Shizuka! You lost touch with reality."

Nonetheless, I have faith in myself.

After all, there is someone who confirms my view.

"Reality."

"...Yeah, reality! You went through a lot of hardships, that's true, but look... take this park for example—this place is reality, too, okay? Not everything's so bad."

Ah, now I see... that's why he brought me here. But Kazuaki...

Your point backfired.

Besides, your reality doesn't matter to me. Reality to me is that the world is at stake, and the only one able to save it are she and I.

"Among the things you said to me, Kazuaki, there is one thing that I particularly like."

"Hm...?"

"'Do what you think is the right thing to do.'"

"Yeah..." he nods and keeps his mouth shut.

We've known each other since were little. He knows that I'm beyond persuasion. I'm sure, however—Kazuaki won't give up.

"Okay, then I'm going to do the right thing as well!"

With these words, he approaches me.

I know what he's going to do. I can easily imagine the implications of his strained face; we haven't been together for so long for nothing.

His neck is right before my eyes. I completely forgot that he's gotten larger than me.

I slightly raise my head to look at his face.

He slightly lowers his head to look at my face.

Finally, he—embraces me.

"I love you!" he whispers into my ear, as if to stress that I'm the only one who has to know. "I love you more than anyone else, Shizuka!"

I'm happy.

I'm really happy.

He isn't trying to stop me with false words of love. He isn't good enough with words for that.

He simply couldn't help saying it, having me in his embrace. It's the only thing he could think of.

Kazuaki's just so staggeringly honest, simple, faithful... giving me no other choice than to watch over him, making me want to be with him—

Even though my white dress has been stained.

Even though he can't have forgotten those stains.

He's daring a leap. The gamble of his life.

Of course, I'm on his side. I want him to win the wager.

And yet—

"...Don't touch me."

—I couldn't.

The arms around me come loose instantly. Instead, I embrace myself tightly, burying my fingernails in my arms.

I'm glad that I'm smaller than Kazuaki now; I only have to slightly drop my gaze to avoid seeing his face.

My body hurts like it was pierced by a thousand needles. I'm fighting with the urge to hole out the contents of my aching head. The pictures from back then keep appearing in my head, shredding me, crushing me, pulping me, scattering me.

"I'm sorry..." not I but Kazuaki says.

Why are you apologizing? Stop it! I'm the one to blame. I'm the one who's weak. I'm the one who can't recover. I. It's my fault. My fault. Fault. Fault. Fault.

"Sorry for making you cry..."

Confused, I touch my eyelids and finally realize that I'm really crying.

"Isn't it strange? I wanted to achieve the opposite effect. Embracing you was supposed to stop your tears. I failed at that, didn't I... I'm not able to do it..."

I desperately try to hold my tears back. I mustn't make him say such things. But... it doesn't go well.

"I'm such a moron. I thought things would work out somehow if I came here... I thought everything would change for the better... as if it was so simple."

"...Listen, Kazuaki..." I say, trying (and probably failing) not to sob.

"Hm?"

"There is something... that I didn't tell you."

I raise my head, feeling that I have to.

"I never gave you the details of that incident, did I...? I didn't want to hurt you... To be honest... this park... this place of memories—"

"—is where I was raped."

Stop.

Kazuaki stopped entirely.

He stopped so perfectly that I start to suspect that I was left alone in the world, removed from the flow of time.

—Left alone in the world? Hah, that's an accurate description. I'm sure that impression's not an illusion but a truth.

"...Horrible," Kazuaki mutters.

He didn't say that word to me, nor did he address it at the people who had abused me. It wasn't addressed at God either, since he doesn't believe in one.

I'm sure his horrible wasn't addressed at anything in specific.

"That's just... horrible!"

Kazuaki didn't know that reality strikes whenever you expect it the least, no matter if it's a place of memories.

It treats saints and sinners all alike, attacking them mechanically, randomly, without any consideration and selection.

Kazuaki didn't know that.

No, he may have known it, but he didn't believe that this rule would also apply to us.

The world can turn against anyone meaninglessly.

However, not in my case.

"I have to go," I say.

"...Go where?" he squeezes out.

"To another park that I am supposed to visit."

"Huh?"

"I have to go to Reina Kamisu."

There was a meaning to the world's turning against me.

Right, Reina?

==5==
I told Reina Kamisu that I would follow her.

She welcomed me with open arms, seeming very happy about my decision. Of course, one reason for her delight is the raise in effectiveness, but I think she's also happy about finally having a companion in her sheer endless fight.

I don't know how long she's been fighting so far, but purging one humanoid energy after another (which keep increasing in the meanwhile) is like collecting the sand of a desert grain by grain.

I see. Maybe she's been waiting for a person like me who could help her save the world. No, she's still waiting. If the number of people helping her keeps increasing, then saving the world will stop being a pipe dream.

I look around in my room.

This will be the last time I'm here; deep emotion fills my heart. While it's not a cool room—with furniture like a dresser from my mom and things like a weird doll—but here I laughed and cried and laughed and cried.

Should I leave a letter to my parents and Kazuaki? ...No, they would confuse it for my last words or something. Although that might be true in their eyes.

I open the lock of the topmost drawer of my desk and take out a cross choker.

Reina Kamisu told me that I would need to put on something very dear to me. When I asked for the reason, she explained that I needed a token of regret. I could see that I might accidentally get trapped on the other side of the world unless there was something chaining me to this side. In order to become like Reina, I'll probably need something like that.

I put on the choker.

I won't waver anymore.

I walk down the stairs and put on my shoes at the entrance.

"Shizuka, where are you going?" my mom asks from the kitchen without showing up.

"Just a bit far away."

With these words, I open the door.

By now, humanoid energies and humans look almost the same to me but I can still discern them somehow. Those energies have no aim or destination, so they practically stay put at one place; they mumble things even though they're alone, and while they're talking to themselves, their facial expressions do not change a bit.

Coming across several humanoid energy-like beings, I head to the place she's waiting.

{Why did you throw me away, Takeshi! You told me you loved me!}

{I don't have any friends. I don't need to live.}

{Had I not gazed after that hot school girl, neither I nor the family driving the other car would have had to die. What an idiotic accident!}

Among them was one of a middle-aged man:

{Why did you fire me! What did I do wrong!}

Apparently, he had killed himself after losing his job.

"Hello," I said, for the first time addressing a humanoid energy. Suicide after failing in one's job life is not that uncommon, but his face somewhat resembled that of my dad.

{You can... see me?}

"I can. I can also hear you."

{I see... You shouldn't talk with me. Or perhaps... there's no harm to a young lady like you?}

"I'm sure there's none. Our values are way too different."

{Values, you say... In other words, you think the reason why I committed suicide seems cheap and cliched to you?}

"Kind of. I mean, you'll just get less income if you're fired, and that's it, right?"

The middle-aged humanoid energy looked at me sorrowfully. No, he (?) had a sorrowful look glued to his face all the time.

{It's not that simple, young lady.}

"What's not so simple then?"

{I'm bad at explaining things, so I won't be able to convince you, but work was everything to me. Despite that, I was told to be of no use for the company. Do you see what I mean?}

"I do, but I'm not convinced after all."

{I guess so. But there's one thing that I want you to understand: there's no place for old men like me. Not even in the family I was supposed to feed. Nevertheless, I firmly believed that I was needed, that I was a gear in the family that was the company I worked at.}

"But you didn't stay one of its gears."

{Exactly. And I wasn't able to become part of anything else.}

"I think I understood more or less. Still... I think ending one's life because of that is stupid."

He lowered his gaze somewhat and answered,

{Yes... maybe you're right.}

I think I then spotted a faint smile in his face.

And he swirled left and right.

"As I thought. You died, didn't you?"

{What do you mean...?}

I found him.

"Don't you remember me?"

{I don't...}

I should have known; humanoid energies are the core of our energy, and as such only possess the most crucial of memories.

"When you were alive, you once bumped into me when you came rushing out of our psychiatrist's room."

{I see... sorry.}

"Oh, I don't mind. By the way, what's your name?"

{Atsushi Kogure...}

"I see, Atsushi-kun it is."

{What's your name...?}

"My name? I'm Shizuka Wakui."

{What business do you have with me, Shizuka-san?}

"None, actually... if anything, I felt a bit nostalgic."

{I see... Would you please leave me alone, then?}

"How cold. Hm... Okay, then may I ask you one thing?"

{You may... but I won't be able to answer you because I can't remember anything.}

"Really? I'll ask anyway. You bumped into me—I told you that, right?"

{Yes...}

"What again were you shouting when you rushed out of the room?"

His eyes widen at once. I'm taken by surprise—humanoid energies do not change their expressions.

{I don't know.}

That's a lie. After all, he's putting way more emphasis into his words than before.

{I don't know!} he shouts, apparently sensing my doubt.

Atushi-kun said no more after that.

After changing trains a few times, I finally get off the train at the nearest station from a certain lake I've looked up beforehand.

During the travel, I was once again reminded of the omnipresence of humanoid energies. I fear the world could turn over any moment.

Spotting a group of carefree school girls, I feel a bit jealous of them. They don't have to see any of this and don't have to know how thin the ice is that we're on. The balance is as fragile as doing a triple Axel in an ice rink with ultra-thin ice.

After confirming the position of the lake on a map hung up at the station, I head to my destination.

As I walk, I recall Reina's words.

"Water works perfectly because it's connected all over the world."

In order to find a lake that fit the bill, I had to bring myself to google for 'places to commit suicide'.

I mean, 'suicide'...? Heck, it's not like I'm going to die.

After a 40-minute walk, I arrive at the lake. I could have used a taxi (I won't have to care about money from now on, after all) but I didn't want to cause any bothersome misunderstandings.

"You're late."

Reina was there first, waiting for me with an absurdly beautiful smile.

"I'm sorry."

But I could come here whenever I wanted, no? You didn't tell me where I had to go, after all.

I gaze at the lake before me.

Ah, I see. No wonder it's become infamous as a place for suicide. What a huge number of humanoid energies. In fact, there's so many of them, that they have mingled into beings with an entirely different shape. It's like on of those old paintings of Youkais. Several heads are extending toward me, observing me closely. They look a bit like grapes to me, with the heads being the grapes.

I see. With there being so many of them, there is a wavelength for any person who comes here, drawing them into death. Of course, the people who come here do so with the intent of committing suicide; but actually ending one's life isn't so easy. The fear and attachment to life that surfaces when facing death help preventing suicide.

However, in the case of this lake, it's already too late once they've come here.

The humanoid energies exploit the hollow hearts of the suicidal visitors, shorting their reasonable thinking and drawing them into death.

"Shizuka, there are several places like this in the world."

"And we have to get rid of those places one by one, right?"

"Mmm," she shakes her head, "that's impossible."

"Why...?"

"It's as simple as the problem of many against few. We have too less power. Once a place has turned into this, it's beyond purification."

I look at 'them' again.

I see. Having mixed together, complementing each other, they have turned into a monster. Should I try to step in and erase them, they will take me in as well and still try to regain their former shape. A mechanism that's much alike a black hole formed in this place.

This place can't be purged anymore.

"Ah—"

I see now. I understand everything.

This is it. This is what happens when our side of the world turns over.

Our proportional relation in power is negated on this side, and thus we get taken in by them. Our souls get devoured, our bodies become hollow and decay. That's the outcome we're steering at.

"...We must stop these places from increasing, right?"

"Yes", Reina nods in response to my realization. "That's our mission."

I scowl at the monster in front of us. All of those grape-like beings are void of expression yet hostile.

They are—my enemy.

I press my cross choker tightly.

"Reina, one last thing."

"...One last thing?" she smiles.

"...You're right. It's only just starting."

"It is! So, what do you want to know?"

"You said that everyone has a certain role, right?"

"I did, yes."

"That it's my role to save the world," I add.

"Right. Only the chosen ones can do that."

"So, I was chosen because I obtained my power."

And—

"—I obtained this power because of that incident."

Reina nods with a smile.

Yeah, I see. I see now.

It never made sense to me: Why did I have to suffer so much? I was by no means a saint, of course, but I think I lived humbly enough to earn myself a ticket to heaven. So why did that incident happen to me of all people? It never made sense.

Of course, reality bares its teeth against anyone—without any consideration but with deadly poison in its teeth.

Yet, I helplessly failed to understand why it happened to me.

But now I can say with conviction:

Yes, there was a reason why I had to suffer so much.

It's simple—

—It was necessary in order to save the world.

"You're right, Shizuka," she says with a warm smile. "Those were obstacles imposed on you so that you could fulfill your mission!"

Right! I found the truth!

I mean, it wouldn't be fair otherwise. It would be unfair if I were the only one so unlucky.

After all, if there wasn't a proper meaning in that incident, my suffering would have been all for naught.

"Yeah, then let's go, Reina! Let the game begin!"

"Yeah!"

Right, there's no reason to waver anymore.

I only have to muster up some courage and jump into the lake—

It's time to go to my new stage—

As I hold my cross choker, I jum—

"——Ah—"

As—I—hold—my—choker—

Someones, Voice.

—TSCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

Scars.

Flesh.

White dress.

"—None."

Cryingshizuka.

"—There is none!"

—TSCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

"Here... a Christmas present."

"Oh! Thanks, Kazuaki! May I open it?"

"Sure."

"Wow! That's beautiful! But wasn't it expensive?"

"N-Not that much."

"Isn't that a diamond in the center of this crucifix?"

"Yeah, it is..."

"Hey, then it was expensive after all, you bragger!"

"S-Shut up... let me show off a bit!"

—TSCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

"Why did it happen to me of all people? Why?"

"Is there a meaning in this?"

—TSCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

I wouldn't stop crying.

Kazuaki wouldn't stop looking sad.

"Why did it happen to me of all people? Why?"

"Is there a meaning in this?"

I lamented like this, bothering him, until he finally opened his mouth, and squeezed out:

"—None."

"—There is none!"

"There is no reason, Shizuka! If anything, it's because your attackers couldn't handle their sexual drive. You happened to come across them, and you happened to look good enough to them. But that's not the reason you want, is it?"

"Reality treats saints and sinners all alike, attacking them mechanically, randomly, without any consideration and selection. You have to accept that, Shizuka."

Reality treats saints and sinners all alike, attacking them mechanically, randomly, without any consideration and selection.

Right, now I remember—

That wasn't originally my own belief—

It was just Kazuaki's honest and true opinion.

—TSCHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—

"What's wrong, Shizuka?" the absurdly beautiful girl asks me.

My choker is all wet with my sweat.

"Reina Kamisu—"

"Yes...?"

"Who are you?"

Reina Kamisu holds her breath.

"...What's it all of a sudden?" she asks.

"Those were obstacles imposed on me so that I could fulfill my mission."

"...What about it?"

"What about it, you ask? Don't play dumb! As if that could be true!"

"As if a reason would just pop up so conveniently!"

Losing her tongue, Reina Kamisu just gazes at me in a baffled manner.

"I understood everything. I sought a reason. A reason for my suffering. That's why I came up with the logic of those humanoid energies and tried to find refuge there."

She listens silently to me.

"Everyone else knew that I was trying to escape from reality. Be it Mihara-sensei or Kazuaki, or all of them. They knew I was escaping. After all, my logic only makes sense to myself. Yet, yet why is it—"

"—Why is it that you can understand me!"

"That's strange! Why does someone like you, Reina Kamisu, just show up so overly conveniently to confirm my theory? I didn't fully believe in it until you showed up, right? Why... why did you appear so—"

"Well," she begins. "Because that's what you wanted, Shizuka," she says, slightly skewing her lips. "You sought an existence like me. A third person who would turn your delusions into reality. Given the name of Reina Kamisu."

Reina Kamisu smiles. With a smile so beautiful it can't really exist.

Finally, I recall—what Atsushi Kogure has shouted when he rushed out of our psychiatrist's room.

And Atsushi-kun—

—is no more.

"Ah...ah..."

I hold my cross choker tightly.

Help me. Help me, Kazuaki.

"D-Do you intend to kill me?"

She looks at me with surprise when I ask so.

"Why would I?" she counters.

"I-I mean, it's true that you drove the students of the Shikura middle school into suicide, isn't it?"

She lifts her hand to her chin and replies after a short pause, "Perhaps."

"...Perhaps?"

"I didn't actually do anything."

"That's just not—"

"Not true? How about you, then?" she suddenly asks.

"Huh?"

"Would you be able to live on if I disappeared now?"

Ah—

I see what she means.

Reina is a phenomenon.

Just a phenomenon.

Sooner or later, we notice that she's not true, and then we lose her.

Once we lose the support that Reina is to us, we collapse all by ourselves.

"...Then stay by my side!"

"I'm always by your side. As long as you don't close your eyes from me, I'll always be with you. But... can you accept me when I'm only a phenomenon?"

With these words, Reina Kamisu vanished.

No, she didn't vanish. I simply dismissed her as something that could not exist.

Kamisu Reina is always here.

I stand alone by the lake.

I stand alone, without a reason for my suffering.

I stand alone, still suffering.

Suddenly, I recall an earlier thought of mine.

—it's already too late once you've come here.

I raise my head to look at the lake.

Alright—

A monster with tens and hundreds of faces is waiting for me.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Atsushi Kogure|Chapter 2]]
| Return to [[Kamisu Reina Series|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Kazuaki Toyoshina|Chapter 4]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Atsushi Kogure

2014-05-07T23:55:59Z

Axyraandas: /* 3 */

===1===

My heart explodes and comes bursting out of my mouth.

In the eyes of everyone else in this shopping district by the station, nothing special happened. However, ''I'' have made a horrifying discovery.

Within the crowd of strangers that walk the streets, I have found ''her'' whom I will never forget.

Burst by an unbearable shock, my pieces stick to all my surroundings. The hundreds of shreds that I have spit out scowl at her from all sides. Noticing my gazes, ''she'' finds my main body and looks at it.

And—smiles.

Her smile leaves me so thunderstruck that I can't even break down—I just freeze. It's like her smile made away with the very concept of time, let alone my feelings that completely vanished at the sight of her.

The girl before my eyes stands aloof from the world. At the very least, I know that she has no proper moral values.

I am being devoured by her existence.

Only after she goes away am I able to breathe again. I confirm that my emotional perception is still intact, and finally feel alive again.

Right. I—

I ''detest'' that girl.

She has stolen ''everything'' from me.

No matter how special and transcendental she is, that doesn't make her sins any lighter.

I won't forgive her. I will absolutely not forgive her. I won't ever forgive her, the cold-blooded killer of my family.

I won't forgive Reina Kamisu!

===2===

"You met Reina Kamisu?" my doctor asks in wonderment when I tell him about my encounter with that monster.

"Yes. I ran across her. That killer."

"Reina Kamisu..."

I may have called him doctor, but Doctor Mihara doesn't fit the common image of one. He is a sociable, young psychiatrist and actually still in his twenties.

"Are you sure it was not a dream?"

"It was real! She walked past me before my very eyes! She even noticed me and laughed at me!"

"Hm..." Doctor Mihara folds his arms as he notices that I'm dead serious.

My family was murdered by Reina Kamisu.

To this day it is unknown why she broke into our house and stabbed everyone except me; she didn't steal anything, nor was there a grudge I know of. She hadn't made any threats in advance, either, nor did she seem to enjoy it. In contrary, she seemed to be very intelligent and to have no relation with drugs and the like. In fact, I failed to find a stain in her personality.

But it is for a fact that she killed my family.

Their lives vanished so easily.

I used to think that human lives are special—nothing like the fishes we once dissected at school. The idea of human life and its supposed value used to be huge and boundless in my young mind. In fact, on the assumption that only humans have minds, I still think that our lives are of great value.

However—it's possible to take someone's life with the same knife that you slice open a fish with.

Confronted with that absurd fact as a mere 10-year old boy, I was shattered.

I do have a wound in my chest—due to Reina Kamisu, of course—that is quite grotesque. One of the kind that makes people grimace.

However, the problem with that wound isn't that it scares everyone. The problem is that it is still a wound and not a scar. It's still a gaping wound, and it's going to stay that way. But instead of blood, it's my very own self that is being bled out. "Something" that is needed to live. I'm dwindling. Ever-dwindling.

I'm still breaking bit by bit.

"Atsushi-kun," my doctor addresses me with a serious look.

"Yes?"

"We're out of time for today, but can I ask you to tell me more about this in our next meeting?"

"Yes, of course."

I was planning to do so anyway.

Besides, the only way to fix me is to go against Reina Kamisu; to learn the truth about her; to—understand her.

Can I win against that monster? The odds are against me, I'm afraid. I'm going to lose. I'm going to keep dwindling.

Just like a black hole, there are times when uncalled-for feelings absorb the obvious and make you blind. Therefore, if I want to oppose her, I must seal my emotions—which consist mostly of hatred—away. Thinking back at the outburst of emotions that I experienced when I ran across her the other day, I can imagine how hard that is.

However, no matter how hard the fight against that monster turns out to be, there is no risk for me. I've sunken to the lowest point already. While it is hard to fight my way up, I can't fall any lower.

Therefore, I won't waver to fight.

"I won't lose!"

"Against whom...?" Doctor Mihara asks, still serious.

"Against me, of course, and against Reina Kamisu."

He maintains a pensive look and seems to be groping for words. In the end, he just mutters, "I see..."

The following day, I headed to school like always despite my decision to fight against Reina Kamisu. Truth be told, I would rather look around for her than attend my classes, but added to the fact that I have no clues except for spotting her in town, I don't want to bother my aunt.

Unlike my uncle, she is treating me really well. I suppose the fact that they don't have any own children adds to this, but she is looking after me like I were her real son... maybe even more so ''because'' I'm not her real son. There's no discontent. There's no discontent... but there is pressure. I feel that I absolutely mustn't and can't sadden my aunt, since she is obliged to look after me as well.

I arrive at school and notice that our classroom is remarkably noisy.

Puzzled, I catch Yuuji Kato, who happened to stand nearby and is on comparatively good terms with me. I ask, "What's the matter?"

"Suicide's the matter, dude! Suicide!"

"What? But that was, like, last week, no? Did we learn something new about Saito's suicide?" I ask as I toss my bag onto my desk.

Since she was a person who we would see every day at school, Saito's death came quite as a shock for us. While she didn't have any friends—she was even suspected to have stolen from a classmate—there were still students who mourned for her. Surprisingly though, it wasn't until she died that a few guys came our of their shells and confessed with teary eyes that they had actually been fond of her because she had an "modest" personality unlike most girls nowadays. Saito must have quite mixed feelings up there in heaven, since that personality of hers is what drove her to suicide.

"Are you still making a fuss about that story? Why don't you leave her alone already? I'm sure that she... wouldn't like being the center of attention," I mention to him.

"You're completely off the mark, man."

"What do you mean?"

"This is not about Saito, you know?"

"Then who committed suicide?"

Yuuji looks at a certain desk and says, "Kimura."

Before classes started, all students of our school were summoned to the gym for an emergency speech, where the school director bored us with a lengthy speech on "the value of life."

While listening with half an ear to what he has to say, I start making my own thoughts about the incident.

It seems like Saito, Mizuhara, and the other people concerned didn't know, but anyone who was either somewhat familiar with Kimura or has enough brains, like me, was aware that Kimura was really the culprit of the stolen wallet incident.

It was a well-known fact among us guys that Kimura had a crush on Mizuhara, and that he was turned down when he confessed to her. She told him that she had no plans of dating anyone in the near future. A few days later, however, she and Ashizawa became a couple.

Needless to say, she only used that phrase to turn Kimura down because she wanted to avoid being too direct, and he must have been aware of that. Nonetheless, Kimura's feelings were hurt. Thoroughly. He must have thought that he was inferior to Ashizawa—a complete drop-out—in Mizuhara's eyes. Starting from then, everything he said and everything he did was underlined with a subtle tone of self-deprecation.

I can see why he would want to damage the present Ashizawa gave to Mizuhara. In fact, I think a little payback like that is very much tolerable. However, he knew that he would be the obvious culprit if he executed that resentful plan of his.

Therefore, he was in need of a suspect other than himself. And he found one in Saito, who just happened to be made a fool of by Mizuhara.

At a glance, Kimura did his job well; at the very least, he managed to trick his main targets—Mizuhara and her group—into believing his lie.

However, in effect he failed horribly.

He didn't take into consideration how much his actions would hurt Saito's feelings because he was too focused on how to force the blame onto her. But his greatest mistake was not to take into consideration how much his own feelings would be hurt by hurting Saito's.

His revenge inflicted a lethal wound on Saito. Maybe that's not entirely accurate. Maybe he only touched a sore point of Saito's that was already lethal anyway. Nevertheless, Kimura considered himself responsible for her death.

Kimura hurt Saito, and that fact hurt himself. Both of those wounds were lethal, and both of those wounds ended in death. Like... like my own wound.

At last, the school director ends his speech after more than a full hour. I do understand his concern, but that doesn't make it any more worthwhile.

Seriously... he doesn't get that a sermon is not going to achieve anything. We all know perfectly well that one must not commit suicide. And yet there are times when the world we live in becomes so tough on us that we play with the thought. Therefore, it's useless to appeal to ethics; he ought to go with a more practical and concrete approach. If I were to stop suicide, I would do it like this: "Dying means falling into an eternal state of nothingness, a perfect void that can't be conceived by anything that is alive. Just think about it: your brain goes away. You do not have any thought anymore. Surely, you've heard of the phrase 'I think, thus I am,' no? Give it some careful thought. Nothing exists. Do you get this? Nothing exists. How many seconds could you endure being in a world without sound, without light, and without any kind of sensation? A world where you don't even get hungry. Where you have no desires at all. Can you follow me? But death is a perfect void, so it exceeds even such a sensation-less world. There is no future. Heaven is just a construct people who fear death made up. You should know why there will always be people who believe in a world after death despite the advent of science; it's because they are scared. Scared of what waits beyond death. So, don't think ending your own life will save you! It simply ends. It E-N-D-S. Suicide is the act of killing yourself, and dying without comprehending the meaning of death is but escaping from reality. Although the result is the same in both cases. All right, come on. Try to kill yourself if you can; try to kill yourself now that you've learned the truth."

At the very least, I couldn't kill myself.

After all, the only reason why I'm here now is because I'm more afraid of death than most.

Ah, right, there was a nice little twist to this story:

"Actually, I heard Kimura left behind a suicide note," Yuuji tells me.

"A suicide note? Did he apologize to Saito or something?"

"Exactly."

"Well, that should cheer her up a little, I guess?"

"No, I think it'll have quite the opposite effect."

"Hm...? Well, sure, I wouldn't want anyone to commit suicide because of me either."

"That's not the problem," he objects.

"What do you mean?"

"Kimura got her name wrong."

Oh.

After school ended (classes did take place, but everyone was somewhat absent in mind) I headed to the shopping district where I had come across Reina Kamisu.

There's no guarantee that I will find her again just because I saw her once, but that's the only clue I have. I originally thought I would be able to get my hands on some data since I'm the victim of the incident, but it's not that simple. Especially for juvenile crimes.

Should Reina Kamisu walk past me, I won't miss her. That's not only because I've carved her appearance into my memory over and over: She is special in anyone's eyes. She is absurdly beautiful.

"..."

However, an event-less hour passed. Having stood all the while because there was no place to sit, my legs got a bit tired. I decided to tolerate moving away from this place a bit and went to the next McDonalds, grabbed myself two burgers (everything else is too expensive for the purse of a middle school student) and sat down by the window.

While munching at my burger, I start thinking about Reina Kamisu.

Reina Kamisu. Back when the incident happened, she was 16 years old (meaning that she was only one year older than I am now), so her present age should be 21. Did she get a job? Maybe she's enrolled in an university. She probably couldn't graduate from high school because of everything she did, but she should be smart enough to make it through the entrance exams of an university. Even though she killed my entire family, she was hardly punished at all because her completely incomprehensible motive got her diagnosed "mentally unstable". I bet now she's worshiped like an idol at her workplace or at university. The murderous idol. Haha, what a catchphrase!

"Tch...!"

The wound in my chest starts to pain. According to Dr. Mihara, this pain is just a product of my mind since the wound has already healed.

Dammit! You think this is only mental? An illusion? Don't mess with me, Doc! This pain isn't fake; no way it is!

The wound ''is'' bleeding. I may be the only one who can see the blood, but it's definitely blood—and I'm the liquid (or something similar to a liquid).

Ah, damn, I know! I'm not making sense. I'm just digging a hole for myself.

But as a matter of fact—the wound hasn't healed.

And it still hurts.

===3===

The perceptive faculties of a human have a certain capacity; our brains are like computers and can only process up to a certain amount of data. When there is an overflow of information, they stop working correctly and start churning out error messages.

The sight before my eyes deprives me of any emotional impulse.

There is a corpse; my mom's corpse. There is a corpse; my dad's corpse. There is a corpse; my sister's corpse. The floor is covered by a pool of blood. Whoa, how am I supposed to walk on a floor that's so drenched? No, that's not the problem here, is it? Whoa-whoa, they're dead, no? You gotta be kidding me. This isn't some TV drama. Such brutal deaths do not happen around me. That being said, this looks pretty real. Haha, hey, this is getting out of hand. I can't believe it. And what's with that girl there? Who the fuck is that incredibly pretty girl? What's with that knife—that blood-drenched knife—she's carrying? Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa! It was YOU? Despite that pretty face of yours? Hold on a sec! Don't mess with me! Who allowed you to kill my family? Who are you, anyway? Who are you?! Who the fuck are you?!

"As I thought..."

What's ''as you thought''?! You're strange! You're nuts!

"People die when you stab them."

Of course they do. Every child knows that. Everyone knows that, although no one actually verifies it.

Right. My family died.

Died?

Yeah, they died...right?

They died. Yeah, they died. D-I-E-D.

"A...ah..." I finally start to moan.

They're lying on the floor. My mom, my dad, my sister, they're all lying on the floor, inanimate. I was watching TV until a few moments ago. I went upstairs because they got angry with me because I'd kicked my sister. Has that become a scene of the past? Has that girl stolen it from me? Is that even possible? Can she even do that?

"Do you want to die, too?"

She can. That girl can do it.

"Uh...UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"

Help me help me help me! HELP ME, mom! Ah, she's dead! Anyone! Anyone help me!

I fall on my rear and crawl backward, literally wetting my pants. Of course I can't escape like this, but I can't stand up either.

She draws closer.

"S-Stop it..."

However, my words fall on deaf ears. Aiming the knife at me, she draws closer.

And then she wields it.

"Stop it! STOOOOOOOP!"

And then I wake up like always.

I let out a sigh as I sip my miso soup.

"My, Atsuhi, why are you sighing when the day has only started?" my aunt reproaches me lightly with a smile and puts a plate with a fried egg before me.

"I had that dream again..." I answer as I put some soy sauce on the egg.

"I see. They've become frequent lately."

"Yeah."

"Oh dear...why does that girl have a grudge against you?"

A grudge. Had her motive been so simple and reasonable, I wouldn't be as broken as I am now.

"Maybe you're a little antsy because your admission exams are just around the corner?" she says in an unusual worried tone. She's worried; in other words, I'm worrying her.

This is bad. I mustn't worry her even more when she's already worried about my being under mental treatment.

"Ahaha, but I haven't even started studying?" I laugh as I hold my chest.

"You haven't? I think that's pretty problematic, too!"

When my aunt said so, I could read the words "thank god my fears were groundless" from her face.

Groundless fears. Right, her fears should have been groundless.

However, it is a fact that the dream has unsettled me more than it would usually do.

I started having that nightmare after that incident happened. During the first month, I was tormented by it every night, and every time I was, I was so unsettled that I could not eat anything.

But you get used to any nightmare with time: lately, I would only think of it as a "bad dream."

However, today it's different. Not only did she wound me in my dream, she also wounded me in reality again.

I hold my chest.

My nightmare has leaked into reality and is attacking me from there. That's all because I've run across Reina Kamisu the other day. That nightmare isn't just a nightmare; it's my past that keeps tormenting me.

By coming across Reina Kamisu, my nightmare has acquired reality. She is using it as a portal to attack me.

Again and again, she will attack me.

Now, how long will my heart be able to endure it?

I enter the classroom, just to get surprised almost as much as yesterday.

Ashizawa had his head shaved, abandoning his long, brown hair.

I doubt that one of the teachers in charge of common decency forced him to do that; they wouldn't go that far. It must have been his own will.

Ashizawa has been in low spirits lately, which is, needless to say, because he is blaming himself for Saito's death. Back when the wallet he gave to Mizuhara was damaged, he got so angry with Saito that he pushed her into a corner and intimidated her.

I was there when it happened and observed them, planning to step in if he were to get rough...no, I don't know if I really intended to intervene. Perhaps, I only pretended to be worried about her. Anyway, I observed them without doing anything.

Only after looking at Ashizawa's shaved head, my conscience starts to prickle me.

I don't know how much that incident took part in Saito's death, but I'm sure that it did have an effect. It's another aspect that drove her into suicide.

But what if there'd been someone who tried to help Saito when she was surrounded by Ashizawa and his pals? What if she'd had a comrade who didn't care about the pressure Ashizawa applied? Wouldn't the outcome have been different? Aren't we, who hesitated to stand up for Saito, the real sinners?

That "comrade" could have been me.

Ashizawa has inflicted an evident punishment upon himself like a real delinquent. As thoughtless and pointless as that punishment may be, he did produce proof of his remorse.

And what about us? We're denying any responsibility and try to discount the matter with some pity. It's not Ashizawa or Kimura or Mizuhara who cornered Saito, but us who tried to stay away from her to the bitter end.

Suddenly, a question crosses my mind.

Come to think of it—

Didn't Saito call someone's name for help?

Even the lunch break was occupied with the subject of Saito and Kimura because Ashizawa's shaved head was so eye-catching. Because of the great sympathy for Saito that fills the air (they all seem to feel guilty), Takatsuki and her colleagues are in an awkward position, being the ones who blamed Saito.

I have eaten up my boxed lunch and am observing my class, my elbow rested on my desk.

Ashizawa looks like a monk, and Takatsuki's group are looking like cats in an unfamiliar house. Wondering how Mizuhara herself is doing, I look at her.

Her fairly pretty face looks even more exhausted than before. She must be aware of the central part she has played in both Saito's and Kimura's suicide.

As I make this observation, she turns to me and our eyes meet.

I quickly avert my gaze to feign ignorance, but her gaze remains fixed on me. "Never mind me!" I shout in my mind as I confirm that I'm still being watched.

However, my silent shout remained unheard; she stands up and walks toward my seat.

"Kogure-kun."

Now she called my name. Looks like it wasn't a coincidence or because she noticed my gaze that she looked at me.

"So...What's the matter, Mizuhara?" I ask as I raise my head, visibly annoyed.

"You're smart, aren't you? I mean, you're always the number one in this class and you are among the best in our school year, right?"

"You're talking about my grades, but there's a difference between being smart and having good grades."

Mizuhara is dumbstruck for a moment, but eventually picks up again, "...But you're the only one I can think of to talk about this. Can you spare me a moment, please?"

"I think there are enough other people who could give you better advice."

"Mmm...I'm not exactly looking for advice. Let's not talk about it here—come this way."

Mizuhara pulls me by my sleeve. Looks like she insists on talking with me.

"Whoa, hold your horses, now. Ashizawa's going to get angry when he sees us together."

"He won't."

"Oh, really? He must be quite forgiving then."

"No, we've...split up."

Surprised, I freeze for an instant.

"Ah...I see," I say in a deliberately disinterested voice, but my expression just now has given me away.

But now that I think about it, there's nothing to be so surprised about. While the love experienced in middle school might be blind and grand, it's also transitory. Their bonds weren't strong enough to withstand the obstacles brought upon them—that's all.

And those bonds ruined Kimura.

Oh well.

Mizuhara led me to the stairway landing before the door to the roof. These stairs are hardly used, so there probably won't be any uninvited visitors. She must have used this place to secretly meet up with Ashizawa.

"We came here from time to time. Toshiki and I."

There you have it.

"You...you know about the fake love letter I teased Saito-san with, right?" she asks.

"Yeah."

"Did you ever wonder why I did that?"

"Nope, not at all? I assumed that you simply couldn't stand Saito, and I don't think there's a deeper reason to find there."

"Perhaps...that's true...but I, I also wanted to help—"

"I don't care. Spare me that story."

That's just an excuse she made up.

"No, hear me out! To tell the truth...we once saw her when we met up here."

"Really...? What kind of business did Saito have here?"

"That's the problem...she was mumbling things to herself."

"To herself?"

"Yes, to herself, but as if talking with someone. I tried following her glance a few times, but there was no one there."

That's not ''that'' noteworthy; Saito had no one to talk with, so it makes sense that she would vent her desire to talk when she was alone.

"And you found that to be creepy, so you teased her?" I conclude.

"I did think it was creepy, that's true..."

I see. I can understand that Mizuhara would want to intervene after coming across such a scene.

"So? That's not why you brought me here, is it?"

"No..." She hesitates for a moment. "Kogure-kun...do you believe in ghosts?"

The conversation takes a sudden turn.

"Ghosts? No idea. Well, I do think they might exist, since so many people claim that they do..."

"How about evil spirits?"

"Bullshit."

Wait, wait, why does Mizuhara ask things like that? What's the meaning behind those absurd questions?

—Whoa-whoa, is she implying that Saito was talking with a ghost? Time to come down to earth, no?

I barely manage to hold my thoughts in.

...No, don't jump to conclusions. Mizuhara said she was put off by the sight of Saito talking to herself. She wouldn't have felt disgust if that ghost-story was her first impression, but something like fear or maybe even envy, right?

Does that mean that there is something that made her come to the conclusion that Saito was talking with a ghost?

"You're implying that Saito was talking to a ghost?"

Mizuhara nods.

"How did you arrive at that thought?"

Mizuhara lapses into silence. It seems like she fears that by putting her thoughts into words, she will make them definite.

However, she opens her mouth at last.

"Because...," she mutters something, "...died..."

"Because Saito died? How does that explain anything?"

"No!" Mizuhara objects.

"What? She talked with a ghost and that's why she died? That makes no—"

"That's not it! Not because Saito-san died!"

"But who—"

I think. No, there's no need to think. There's only one other person that comes into question.

"Not Saito-san, but because Kimura-kun died."

I have to admit that I'm a little confused.

This doesn't make sense. Not only does she suggest the existence of something unscientific like ghosts, she is also talking back and forth incoherently.

I carefully sort everything in my head, thinking every point through logically, and arrive at the conclusion surprisingly fast.

"So...you saw him, right?"

She nods slowly.

"You saw Saito talking with that something, which by itself would have simply made her an oddball. But you also saw Kimura do the same thing."

Mizuhara nods.

I pause and take a look around. Should ghosts really exist, then I wouldn’t be surprised to find one here. That thought sends a cold shiver down my spine, but of course that’s just my imagination playing tricks on me.

However, as a matter of fact, someone died on the other side of this door.

"Do you...do you think such a coincidence is possible?" Mizuhara asks reluctantly.

"What do you refer to when you say 'coincidence'...?"

"Like I said... Saito-san and Kimura-kun, they both talked to a ghost, they both saw a ghost, and they both committed suicide. Do you think that such a coincidence is possible?"

Coincidence.

She's right; this would be a strange coincidence. However, not only did they have a proper reason for suicide, there's also no doubt that they ended their lives of their own free will.

To begin with, there is causal relation between their deaths: Kimura wouldn't have died if not for Saito's death. Their deaths aren't caused by a coincidence.

Hold on...

There is no place for a coincidence there. In other words, it's the absence of a coincidence that makes that whatever suspicious.

"You have doubts, too, don’t you, Kogure-kun?" Mizuhara points out. I quickly hide my expression. "Know what I think?" she asks, "I think that neither of them actually committed suicide."

Her face is as pale as clay. At last, I realize that it's not feelings of guilt that have exhausted her so much.

Mizuhara is scared.

The fear of whatever drove the other two into death is wearing her down.

"They were killed," she says with fearful conviction, "A ghost cursed them to death."

Like yesterday, I began looking out for Reina Kamisu while drinking a discounted milkshake at a McDonalds.

However, while my eyes were directed at the window, nearly all of my internal wires were used up for thought.

I had since been recalling that discussion with Mizuhara several times, trying to draw my own conclusions.

I have no means of knowing what that ''whatever'' she was calling a "ghost" is, but granted that that "phenomenon" is capable of communication, it can get into contact with others and thus affect their lives to a certain degree.

That effect killed those two?

''Cursed to death.''

Well, perhaps you can call that a "curse" of sorts.

But is it so easy to lead someone to death? No way. No matter how light you make of life and death, everyone knows that death is final and unrecoverable. People's words do not kill you; it's your own voice within that leads you there. Or an abrupt impulse. At any rate, people don't die that easily.

Or does it, ''whatever it is'', have the power to manipulate these mechanisms with ease?

On the other hand...they both had a valid reason for suicide. While words are useless against your average Joe, it might well be possible to give someone with suicidal tendencies the final push.

However, I shake my head.

I'm losing touch with reality; I should think it through more rationally.

Rational thinking. R-a-t-i-o-n-a-l. Got that down? ...Yeah.

Right... first of all, I should consider the possibility that everything Mizuhara told me was just a product of her imagination. In my personal view, she is an opinionated girl.

She knows that she shares the guilt for Saito and Kimura's death. Perhaps, she was unable to take the blame and therefore tried to escape by reading a reason into Kimura's talking with air, which in turn she made up either from scratch or by misinterpreting a normal conversation to her own convenience.

In other words, that ''being'' does not exist to begin with.

How's that? Doesn't that make much more sense?

...Tch. What a pathetic attempt to push reason into this affair.

Unconvinced by my own reasoning, I try to focus on the other side of the window and end up scaring a few pedestrians with a piercing glare.

"What are you looking at so hard?" someone asks from behind me.

I am about to kindly explain that I am looking for someone—

—But my words get stuck in my throat and are pushed back down until they evaporate entirely.

My skin crawls.

Something drips down from my finger tips as my mouth turns into a desert and my eyeballs are exposed to the air.

"—Ah."

I know...

I know that voice.

Even though I have only heard it a few times, it has burnt itself deep into my brain and won't leave me ever since.

"What's wrong? Won't you tell me what you're looking at?"

It pains.

The wound in my chest pains.

Fully opened again, it overflows with a liquid resembling blood —as if to react to its creator.

I mustn't, lose.

I hold my chest and turn around to the visitor with an iron will.

Something pierces through my eyes as I recognize her face, making me fight against the urge to close my eyes, to avert my eyes.

However, I have been waiting for this very moment.

I must stand my ground now.

"I was looking for ''you'', Reina Kamisu, for you!"

I scowl at Reina Kamisu. The more I sharpen my gaze, the weaker the pain in my chest gets.

"Oh really?" she smiles at me with a smile so beautiful that it looks fake. "And what are you going to do now? Take revenge?"

''Revenge'', says Reina Kamisu with indifference.

"I do want to do that, yeah," I reply as calmly as I can, while suppressing the boiling rage.

"So there's another goal if you phrase it like that?"

"Yes."

"I'm listening?"

"Maybe you think that incident is just water under the bridge. But not for me. I'm still suffering the consequences everyday. You're still messing with my life!"

"Well, I suppose nobody who fell victim to such an incident could come to terms with it so easily," Reina Kamisu says in an indifferent voice, giving me the urge to charge at her and strangle her to death. However, I must keep from doing so; without her I will never get the answer I seek.

"And? What do you want from me?"

Reina Kamisu shows no signs of guilt. Is she really that blunt or is she acting like that on purpose? I can't quite decide between the two possibilities.

Before it's too late, I erase my anger, which is on the verge of bursting; yes, I don't suppress it, I erase it. I wouldn't last for much longer otherwise. I try to shut out every impression I have of Reina Kamisu.

"—I want to learn the truth," I squeeze out.

"The truth?"

"Yes. The reason why you killed my family."

Finding that reason is the number one priority for me.

I want to move on from my current state of mind. But in order to fight off those ever-lasting feelings of sorrow, fear, despair, and anger, I have to break through a wall.

The wall of questions.

Once ignited, hatred doesn't just go away; there is a need to go out of one's way and erase it. In the process of doing so, however, questions left unanswered constitute a great obstacle. I might be able to stomach this matter somehow given a reason or something to satisfy myself, but as a matter of fact, I don't even have enough data to make up one myself. My questions have so far been left unanswered.

Because of that, I have no means of digesting these various dark feelings within.

However, unable to understand my circumstances, Reina Kamisu inclines her head:

"Is there a point in learning about that?"

"There is. That's why I'm asking."

"You think so...? I can't seem to see one."

"I don't give a fuck about your opinion! I'm asking you a question here! Do you even have the faintest idea how much of 'myself' you already extracted from me?! You owe me some goddamn cooperation!" I yell unwittingly. Crap, I failed to stifle my anger. Even the smallest opening in my guard won't go unnoticed by my anger.

Hold it back, hold it back, hold it back.

"You changed your attitude," she notes with unchanged indifference. "Listen, I'm not trying to tease you. I would love to give you an answer, I really do. But as much as I would like to do so, I can't."

"—Why?!"

"Because there is no answer that could satisfy you."

"Well...that might be true. My family won't come back, and I won't be happy no matter what you say. But...that's not why I'm asking. I'm perfectly aware of that!"

"No, that's not what I meant."

"Then what is it that you mean...?!"

"You want me to tell you the reason why I did what I did, correct?"

"Correct."

"Hm..."

"Believe it or not, I do understand that you have an entirely different way of thinking than me. It can't be helped if your reason doesn't make sense to me. I don't care. Anything's better than knowing nothing."

For the first time, Reina Kamisu listened closely to my words.

She gazes at me, trying to understand my circumstances, trying to understand the meaning behind my words.

I breathe out in relief. Reina Kamisu isn't stupid, nor does she hold a grudge against me. Therefore, it doesn't come as a surprise that I expect her to give me the answer I was waiting for.

However—

"And still..." she sighs for some reason.

"...What?"

"I still don't have the answer you're looking for."

My eyes widen.

"C-Cut it out already! Don't give me that you had no reason to kill! There must have been some kind of motive, no matter how mad!"

"A reason? Yes, maybe there was one upon closer examination."

"...Upon closer examination?"

"But I never really got it."

She... didn't get it?

"You're not going to find a nice explanation for everything in the world, and the same goes for the murder I committed; or was that already enough to satisfy you?"

"O-Of course not!"

"I should have known."

"You don't know the reason yourself? Don't give me that! Or do you mean that you killed people just like... like drinking water?!"

"Of course not. And just so you know: It's not like I don't remember how I felt back then. I felt... an impulse. I had to kill someone. I had to confirm if people could really die through my hands. I had no other choice but to do so.

I don't know, however, where that impulse came from. I do think there would be a reason upon further examination, but I didn't find one in the end. Why do we drink water? Because we become thirsty; because we would die otherwise. But...why were we designed to die unless we drink water in the first place? I don't know. Why did I get the urge to kill? I don't know."

In other words... my attempt to understand Reina Kamisu and her reasons for killing my family can't possibly succeed—because she doesn't understand herself, either.

I'm not going to find the answer I'm looking for anywhere in the world.

"It breaks my heart to say this, but as I said earlier..."

"There is no point in learning the truth."

My wound opens.

No, a wound that hasn't healed in the first place doesn't "open."

"One more thing," she says.

It hurts.

"You mentioned that you don't consider that incident a matter of the past, right?"

Damn, it hurts.

"I think I know why that is."

It hurts, damn, it hurts!

"You seem to think that I only killed your family, but that's wrong."

Ah, I see.

That's why my wound isn't healing; because she has destroyed my ability to regenerate.

"I must have also killed you!"

Right—I am already dead.

==4==
I mustn't worry my aunt. And yet...I have been skipping school for the past few days, unable to move a muscle.

I'm dead.

Needless to say, that's a figure of speech; from a biological perspective, I'm perfectly alive and capable of thought.

However—there is a wound in my chest that is linked to the past. As long as I have this wound, I will keep being taken back to that day and being harmed by Reina Kamisu.

Reina Kamisu will keep carving up everything I have—my happiness, sadness, qualms, dreams—tread on it, nullify it.

The only thing that remains to me are the feelings of that incident. Feelings that will give me no rest wherever I go and however long I wait.

Therefore, I'm chained to one place, forbidden to move toward the future.

Therefore, my life has come to a halt.

Therefore, you can say that I am "dead."

...Fuck.

I completely lost to Reina Kamisu.

How am I supposed to live on now? What am I supposed to do? Do I have to continue to live for year after year together with that pain in my chest?

How could I answer that?

No...not quite.

How could I decide over that?

I'm in the midst of a vortex of worthless thought that, even though it's worthless, tries to suck me in. Suddenly, however:

"Atsushi? I'm coming in!" a voice says and drags me back into reality.

"Okay..."

After hearing my reply, my aunt enters the room carrying a tray with a bowl of rice porridge on it.

My guilt pangs get stronger. I'm pretending to be ill and hiding the real reason for my absence; I don't want to worry my aunt by telling her that it's really a mental problem.

"Does your head still hurt?" she asks after she puts the tray on my desk.

"Yeah..."

My conscience pricks me; I'm lying to her.

...I have no other choice. I'm sorry, but I have no other choice.

"Do you really think you're okay? It's already been 3 days and counting. Do you want me to take you to the hospital?"

"I'm fine."

She gazes silently at my face for a few moments, and finally nods with a gentle smile.

Her smile sparks a faint assumption within me: Maybe she has long since seen through my lie, and is just turning a blind eye on me because she's powerless?

"Atsushi? It's Wednesday today, do you remember?"

"Mm...ah."

"Do you want to cancel this week's appointment with your doctor? I can contact him if you want."

Normally, it's these times when one should look for mental counseling, but since I'm pretending to be ill, I mustn't get caught.

"Yes, please. Can I ask you to contact him, mom?"

Just before I finish speaking, her eyes widen. Surprised by her reaction, I recall my own words.

Ah... I just called my aunt "mom."

Unsure how to deal with this awkward situation, I wordlessly gaze at her. Her surprised face slowly turns back into the familiar gentle smile.

"You finally said it," she smiles with a hint of joy.

"That was...that was just a mistake."

"I don't mind, Atsushi. In that case, I will just take it that you like me so much that you mistook me for your mother for an instant."

Is that so...?

Sure, I'm grateful of her—I really am—but isn't that itself proof that we're not a real family? If I were her real son, I wouldn't probably be that grateful. I would consider the love she'd give me a perfectly natural thing. I would just take her love and do nothing in return.

However, if I told my aunt that now, I would only sadden her.

Keeping my opinion to myself, I ask her something else instead.

"Can I call you ''mom'' from now on, then?"

"Of course you can! You're our son, Atsushi! My husband may seem cold to you, but he feels really attached to you, too."

"Yeah, I know."

I'm a child. As such, I cost a lot of money. On top of that, I will cost even more once I've completed my compulsory education and enter a high school. Despite all that, my uncle has not made a single complaint.

"There's nothing to worry about. We're even acknowledged as your parents by the law."

"Yeah..."

"Can you...can you call me again?"

"Huh?"

"Quick!"

Fighting off the awkwardness, I say, "Mom."

My aunt nods happily.

Mom.

Yes, I feel averse to calling her that way.

Because I'm used to calling her aunt? Sure, but there is more to the reluctance I'm feeling.

Why is that? Why?

Besides, I've long known that she wanted me to call her mom, that she didn't like the word aunt because it put some distance between us.

I've always been grateful of her, and wanted to make her happy if possible. If I can make her happy with something as simple as changing the way I address her, I would do that anytime without a second thought.

Then why is it that I have kept calling her aunt to this day?

"I have a question, mom."

"Yes?"

"Have you—" I break off in mid-sentence. There's no return once I have said the continuation of these words.

No...I have noticed already, so I can't return anyway.

"—Have you ever heard of Reina Kamisu?"

I'm sitting on the sofa inside Dr. Mihara's office.

As high as hiding my true reason for staying home was in my list of priorities, I don't care much anymore. I need the counseling. More precisely, I need to talk with Dr. Mihara.

"Hello Atsushi-kun," he says to me as he enters the room.

"Hello," I reply.

He sits down in the seat opposite of me.

"So," he cites the usual phrase, "how have you been?"

I have already prepared an answer to that question.

"A lot happened."

"Oh? Would you mind telling me?"

"Sure, that's why I'm here."

"True," he nods. Because he is a psychotherapist, it is very hard to read his true thoughts from his expression, but I can tell that he has noticed that something in me changed.

"Firstly, I had a dream."

"Oh? What kind of dream?"

He often asks me to tell him about my dreams. I guess he's trying to analyze them and search the depths of my consciousness.

"A dream where I get killed by Reina Kamisu."

Dr. Mihara closely observes my face as I speak, while I observe his, trying to take note of every change.

"Which means that it's that dream in which a girl kills you, right? With a kitchen knife?"

"Yes. Also, doctor, her name is Reina Kamisu."

Gazing closely at me, he replies, "I see."

"Doctor."

"Yes?"

"I have had that dream for a while now, right?"

After giving it some thought, he nods, "That's right."

"It's not hard to see why I would have such a dream: because I haven't come to terms with that incident yet. Correct?"

It seems that I have knocked him somewhat out of his stride.

During all the years of coming here, I have noticed that he never gives me answers. He only listens to me. He tries to help me find an answer myself by listening. That's all he really does. There have been times when I was annoyed by that, but I guess that's just how psychotherapy works.

It must be troublesome from his perspective to be urged to state his own thoughts.

"...I think so," he says, however, after coming to the conclusion that there will be no harm in doing so.

"Is that all?" I ask.

"...All?"

"Is that all of your view on that dream?"

He grumbles deeply and averts his eyes from me. After remaining silent like that for a few seconds, he looks at me again and opens his mouth.

"Atsushi-kun. It is true that I have reflected on your dream and formed my own opinion. That is, however, my personal view and in no way perfect. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"The problem is, Atsushi-kun, that by disclosing my opinion, I might affect your own opinion. You might accidentally confuse my answer as yours. Do you understand the problem that I'm pointing out?"

"Yes. That means that there is no problem if I state my own opinion, right?"

"...I suppose so."

"Fine. I think that my dream is the result of my wish to 'escape."

"..." He remains silent.

"Let me change the topic a little. I would like to tell you something entirely else that happened this week."

"Go ahead."

"I came across Reina Kamisu again."

"...I see. Just to be sure: we are not talking about that dream here anymore, is that correct?"

"Yes, of course not. This time we didn't only pass by each other, we also talked."

"..."

"Don't you want to know what we talked about?"

"...Yes, please."

"I felt the need to know the reason she killed my family. And that's what I asked her."

"What...what did she reply?"

"She told me that she had no idea."

"Hm..."

"I'm quite sure that she didn't lie to me. Reina Kamisu had a murderous impulse and killed my family. However, there was no deeper reason beside that impulse. At the very least, that's what she seems to think."

Dr. Mihara maintains his silence, unsure how to react.

"I wanted to put an end to that incident by learning about her reasons. I wanted to get a hold of something that could help me come to terms. Yet, my hopes were betrayed. Instead, I will now be forever held captive by my past.

—However, there is something I noticed earlier. Even if, just hypothetically, she had had a proper reason for the murder she committed, I wouldn't have accepted that reason no matter what. I didn't stand a chance against Reina Kamisu from the very start. Because it's plain impossible to pacify the feelings of someone whose family was murdered."

He is still gazing at me. At last, he reluctantly begins to speak. "Say, Atsushi-kun, where did you meet her?"

"At the McDonalds near the station. In real life, of course."

With folded arms, he lapses into silence again. Having said everything I wanted to say, I also keep quiet.

Silence. For a while, only meaningless noises reach my ears, like the noise of traffic and the clicking of a clock.

I shall wait for his next words—whatever they may be.

At last, he unfolds his arms and looks deep into my eyes.

"Atsushi-kun... may I ask you a question?" Dr. Mihara asks.

"Sure."

"Earlier, you mentioned that you see your wish to escape in that dream, right?"

"Right."

"Furthermore, you continually emphasized that you met her in real life, right?"

"Right."

"You already know the real answer, don't you, Atsushi-kun? Despite that, you asked me that, is that right?"

"..."

"Okay, Atsushi-kun. Let me confirm this once again."

"...Confirm what?"

"It was a coldblooded murderer who killed your family. What's her name again? Rehna Kamizu?"

"Right. Reina Kamisu. Reina Kamisu slaughtered my family!" I utter agitatedly, confusing the doctor a little.

He remains calm, however, and responds to me, "However—"

"That person does not exist."

While I did expect that answer, it still comes as a shock. My hypothesis proved correct. And as I already knew beforehand, as such it will aggravate my pain.

"That's not true!" I deny. I must.

"Why do you still say that?! You are escaping! That's wrong and you know it!"

"No... that's not true! I know that, I know for a fact that she does exist!"

That's no lie. At least, I don't think it's one.

"Atsushi-kun..."

"Reina Kamisu exists! She's here with us!" I shout.

I have to make sure of it.

Leaving a perplexed Dr. Mihara behind, I turn around and dash out of his office. As I leave the room, I bump into a girl who was waiting for her turn, and tumble over. I jump to my feet, however, and without a word of apology, I head to the place where I can make sure of Reina Kamisu's existence.

While I've never actually been there, I know the address. As I keep running toward that address, I try to regain a cool head. I will need it to confirm the fact I'm seeking, and I should be able to, since I already proved myself by suppressing my anger while talking to Reina Kamisu.

Calm down. First of all, slow down a little. Running your heart out isn't going to change anything; your fate stays all the same.

At last, I manage to regain my composure—just when I arrived at my destination, as chance would have it.

I ring the chime.

"Yes?" someone says after a few moments.

"Urm... my name is Atsushi Kogure. Ah, yes... I'm a classmate of Kyouhei-kun's." As I explain who I am, I look at the nameplate besides the chime.

The plate reads Kimura.

With the meekest expression I can play, I pray at Kimura's altar, since that's what I told his mother I am here for. I must make her believe that we were good buddies. She won't be able to tell unless he previously told her in detail about me.

"It was a... real shock...," I explain to her with a sad face.

I then ramble on about how much I'm supposedly grieved about Kimura's death. It's not that hard: I just have to exaggerate my own feelings, since it's for a fact that I was, as a classmate, shocked by his sudden passing away. His mother nods at my words, a few tears in her eyes. The queasy conscience I get is immediately wiped out in the face of my goal.

"In fact, Mrs. Kimura, I'm here today with a request," I say, finally coming down to business.

"...Yes?"

"I want to know what Kimura-kun thought about in his last hours, what were his worries, and I would like to hear his own, true words. Therefore, may I—"

The odds are for me. For one thing, there have been others who have seen it, otherwise there wouldn't be any rumors, and she doesn't seem to have noticed that I'm deceiving her. I don't see why she would refuse.

"—may I read his suicide note?"

==5==
I started to wander around aimlessly after I had left Kimura's home.

Everything was a lie, the truth, and cruel reality.

The past, the here and now, and the future exist all here simultaneously, and all of them turned out to be tormenting me.

My wound aggravates even more.

It hurts.

But there's no blood to spill anymore—there's not a single drop left.

I've dwindled. Entirely.

I'm dried up like dust, and what little is left of me could easily be wiped away.

As I look up at the colorful, dazzling sky, I recall Kimura's suicide note.

"Mother, father, and all who have known me: please forgive me for leaving so soon.

Now that I hold my pen, I don't know what to write anymore. Even though I pondered quite a while about it before.

For starters, let me write why I killed myself.

It was not until I troubled a certain girl and drove her into suicide that I decided in the real sense to commit suicide myself.

I will not write the details of what I did to her. Every time I call back the memories, my heart feels like a rag being squeezed out.

While that event was the last straw, however, I had been thinking of suicide before.

There is no meaning in my life.

No one needs me and no one ever will, although I'm sure you will all deny it.

But in the end, I still think that it all boils down to the fact that I'm worthless. It may be a bad simile, but I think I'm somewhat like your favorite pencil: it hurts a bit if it goes lost, but you can easily buy a new one in the supermarket around the corner.

That's why I think that the only way I can atone for driving someone into suicide is to end my own worthless life as well.

You were kind-hearted. We talked, even though you were already dead. Maybe I was just having an illusion, but you forgave me.

And that's exactly why I have to punish myself.

I have to atone for the sin of tormenting someone as kind and forgiving as you.

Let me apologize once more for what I did.

I am awfully sorry,—                "

I reread these words over and over, but they didn't change no matter how many times and from what angle I read them.

"I am awfully sorry, Reina Kamisu-san.                "

I recall what Mizuhara said to me.

"A ghost cursed them to death."

And then I finally recall whose name Saito called for help.

At last, I found myself at the place where I'd first seen her—the shopping district by the station. As I lean against the wall, I decide to wait for her.

There's no guarantee that she will appear, but I have a hunch that she will if I keep waiting.

I search my pockets and take out the envelope I have stuffed in there before I dashed out of my home.

Why didn't I call my aunt mom?

In fact, there is no problem with that in itself. The problem is that I would consequently have to call my uncle dad as well, since I can't just change one side and leave the other as is. Needless to say, the reason why I don't want to call him that way is not because I don't like him as much as I like my aunt.

I look at the envelope.

It's addressed at "Atsushi Kogure," while the sender is written to be "Takashi Kogure" on the backside. Right, that's the name of my dad.

And the postmark's date is the tenth of last month.

"Were you looking for me again?"

I raise my head and couldn't contain a smile. I am looking at a smile that is as absurdly beautiful as ever.

"Exactly!" I reply.

"What do you want?"

"I want to confirm something. And I have a request."

"Okay, ask away and make sure of whatever that is."

I stuff the envelope in my pocket again and ask, "It was you who killed my family, right?"

"That's right."

"It was also you who killed my father, right?"

"Obviously."

"Which means that it can't have been my father who killed my family, right?"

Reina Kamisu's eyes widen in surprise. And with absolute certainty, she replies:

"Of course it wasn't him."

I look closely at her. Naturally, there's no sign of deception to be found in her face.

"Would you mind... listening to my silly musings for a moment?" I ask her.

"Go ahead."

"Let's pretend for a moment that not you but my father killed my family," I start.

"Now that's a bizarre thought."

"His motive for attacking us wouldn't be something as incomprehensible as yours, I'm sure, but something clear. Something clichéd like, for example, financial difficulties that made him attempt to commit family suicide."

"It's a shame that it wasn't him."

"Huh?"

"I mean, you wanted a reason, didn't you? You'd have one in that case, no?"

Indeed, I wanted one. However—

"I don't care."

I don't care. I don't think I would want to know the reason if it were such a cheap one. I wouldn't want to learn that our family was destroyed by a foolish thing like that.

If that hypothesis were true, I'd certainly wish—

—that that reason didn't exist in the first place.

I would certainly try to ignore the truth right before my eyes, and seek refuge in my dreams. I would make one up where someone else murders my family. Someone who's a monster and doesn't have a proper reason to kill.

Someone like—the beautiful girl here.

However, no matter how fake the culprit is—

"—I don't care. The fact that my family was killed won't change, no matter who was the culprit. After all, it's impossible to pacify the feelings of someone whose family was murdered, and my wound will never heal up. Right?"

Reina Kamisu gazes closely at me.

"Perhaps," she finally answers.

"You said it. Then what is it that I would seek? Let me tell you: a resting place, where I wouldn't be wounded, where I wouldn't have to suffer anymore. I would definitely seek a place to rest like that," I say and look into her eyes.

"—So?"

"Hm?"

"You're done confirming, aren't you? So what's the other thing you wanted; what's your request?" she asks and I reply with a natural smile.

Ah, she acts just like I wanted.

What I needed was a culprit with no reason to kill. But that's not all. That's not enough to give me peace of mind.

What I really need is—a coldblooded murderer.

A murderer like Reina Kamisu.

Therefore, I ask from her:

"—Please, kill me."

That moment, my wound turned into a scar.

The pain went away and the blood stopped. What remains is a plain scar that looks a bit repulsive until you've gotten used to it.

But that's just an illusion; I can't exist without that pain. I have to drag along my past and live with it and the pain. As soon as I stop fantasizing about being killed by Reina Kamisu, the scar will turn back into a fresh wound.

"Why do you ask me? Just die by yourself."

"That's out of question. I can't commit suicide. My fear of death is barely strong enough to keep me from doing that."

"Hmm...? Barely strong enough, hm?" she emphasizes part of what I said.

Right, I can't end my own life because I'm able to see how horrifying it is to die.

But what if—what if someone killed me?

If I were to be killed forcibly, I would not have the time to mull over about death. At most, I would realize the fact that I would disappear from this world. Or perhaps, the pain wouldn't grant me any thought at all. The prominent kind of feeling I would have at that moment would be—relief.

I've always been wishing from the bottom of my heart for someone to erase me.

"Just in case," I say to her.

"Hm?"

"You have no qualms about taking my life, do you?"

With an absurdly beautiful smile, Reina Kamisu replies:

"—Of course not. Why should I have any qualms?"

"Tell me," she continues, surprising me, "why are you smiling so happily?"

Only now do I realize that a smile has been glued to my face. Without a thought, I cover my mouth, but as I do so, I peek into her eyes and return the favor.

"So are you," I point out, causing her to cover her mouth as well. Amused by the fact that we showed the exact same reaction, we both start to laugh.

The fact that nothing about this peaceful moment is real only adds to it.

"Okay—" she mutters as she extends her soft hands to me. Her long, slender fingers fold around my neck. I can't help but feel that this situation is perverted and even slightly sexual.

Her fingers strangulate me.

Her hands are as cold as those of a dead person. It feels like that coldness is absorbing everything from me.

Ah—I am vanishing for good.

Bit by bit, the sensation of being split is getting stronger. Slowly but surely, I am leaving my body. The mangled remains of myself are assembling into one piece again and leaving my body. Never before have I felt such an overwhelming feeling of anguish and pleasure.

And as I have predicted, I feel relieved.

In my last moments, I look at her while she is choking me.

Suddenly, I wonder: who is she, anyway?

I quickly dismiss that thought. Partially because my ability to think has dwindled, but mostly because it seemed like a meaningless thought once I saw her absurdly beautiful smile.

Instead, I say to her in my mind:

"Thank you."

And then—

Atsushi Kogure died.

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| Back to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Fumi Saito|Chapter 1]]
| Return to [[Kamisu Reina Series|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Shizuka Wakui|Chapter 3]]
|-
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</noinclude>

Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Fumi Saito

2014-05-07T22:36:02Z

Axyraandas: /* 4 */

==1==

I don't have any friends.

Not because I hate talking to others, or because I'm mistrustful, or because I'm too lazy to cultivate contacts. It's not like I deliberately want to avoid making friends; put plain and simple, I'm just unable to make any.

My mom always tells me that it's no big deal, since I'm smart and my grades are good, but from my perspective ''that's'' no big deal. She doesn't know how cumbersome school is for people who can't make friends.

Just like right now: Even though it's break time and everyone's engaged in chats, I'm sitting here alone as if I were in another dimension. It gets even worse during the lunch break, when I wordlessly munch away on my lunch while all my classmates put their desks together and eat together—I always feel like a castaway on a desert island surrounded by the vast ocean.

From time to time I wonder if all the other people are just aliens wearing human disguises who are deceiving me, the last living earthling.

Ridiculous. Ridiculous, indeed, but that proves how alone I feel when I'm at school.

Because I have nothing to do between classes, I started reading books in my free time even though I don't really like doing so. Thanks to that, I've become even harder to approach and widened the gap between me and my classmates even further. It's a vicious cycle: I'm mistaken for someone who likes being alone, even though that's downright wrong. I'd love to chitchat, too! I want to chat about who's the coolest guy in our class or who my favorite member in whatever boyband is too! But I'm ignored. I'm only reluctantly approached by others when absolutely necessary.

Why am I unable to make friends? What makes me different from everyone else? Since I have nothing to do anyway, I often mull over this question.

It must be because I'm ugly. I have a lot of pimples, my eyes are small, and my nose is flat, just like my breasts. But do I really look that terrible? I don't think so. It's wrong to blame my looks, at any rate.

It's my communication skills. Right, I'm not good at talking to others. But why is that? Because I'm always cautious? Because I get nervous when I'm talked to? No, that's not all there is to it. That's just another vicious cycle that started because I don't often talk to others.

The root cause must be that... I'm scared of getting hurt. I'm scared of being thought of as an oddball. I'm scared of spoiling the mood by making an inappropriate remark. I'm scared of others' opinions of me.

Before I know it, I'm gazing at Mizuhara-san's group in the second row by the window. Mizuhara-san is sort of the leader of this class, and as such has lots of friends. They seem to be having a lot of fun. They're really enviable.

But even among the members of such a close group, I'm sure that people could name others in the same group who they don't like. Nobody is perfect. Everybody has characteristics that might cause resentment. I, for one, have lots of them.

Therefore, it must be impossible to make friends for me.

But that's okay.

I may have no normal friends, but I do have a best friend.

I have one irreplaceable best friend—

—Reina Kamisu.

"You're too kind, Fumi, that's your problem."

That's what Reina said to me on our way home when I told her about my take on why I can't make any friends.

The smile she flashed while saying that was so stunning that I couldn't help admiring her for a few moments. Her long hair is the purest raven-black and so smooth that it's unthinkable to find any split ends, while her body is curvy like a model's, unlike my immature development.

Reina is truly beautiful. Absurdly beautiful.

"I'm kind...? I don't think so. I just don't want to be hurt."

"But isn't that what makes you kind?"

"Why so?"

"I mean, it's not like everyone else ''wants'' to be hurt, right? They don't want to be hurt, either."

"But they get along with each other."

"Yeah. Then what distinguishes you from them? Let me tell you: You're sensitive to the wounds of others. You are scared of being hurt, Fumi, but you're also scared of hurting someone."

Well, of course I don't want to hurt others randomly.

"That's why you are very kind to everyone."

"Reina..."

I'm really grateful for her words.

But I know that in truth I'm just a coward. Reina has merely put a sugar-sweet coating around the word ''coward'' before handing it to me.

But that thoughtfulness of hers makes me happy.

Aah, Reina sure is peerless. Even though she's only in the third year of middle school like me, she's so different.

"You're so lucky, Reina..."

"Mm? Why?"

"I mean... you're pretty and you're smart... I can't help thinking that God treats us unjustly."

Yeah, God is unjust. If he wasn't, Reina and I wouldn't be living in the same world. I suppose God doesn't get around to balancing out everything that he's created, and passes us around even more carelessly than workers do with products on a conveyor belt.

Everyone knows that. But I'm not mature enough yet to accept that I'm "inferior".

"That's not true! You're cute, Fumi," she responds with a kind smile, reading my mind.

"...I'm not. That sounds a bit like sarcasm if it's you, you know...?"

"Ah, that's totally mean! But Fumi... while some people like you prefer me, there are also some people who would prefer you!"

"No."

"But there are! At least there's one, right here," Reina says as she points at herself and smiles.

"But—"

"If," she interrupts me, "If for argument's sake, there were more people who prefer me over you, why should you care? Numbers don't mean anything. Or do you want to be in the spotlight like an idol?"

"That's not it."

"Then there's nothing to worry about, is there? There's at least one person right here who thinks you are irreplaceable. Or are you not satisfied with that?"

"Mmm! I couldn't wish for more!"

"...I see."

Reina puts on her kind smile again, which makes me kind of ashamed of my behavior.

Aah... I'm still such a child. Silly me. Really. I bet Reina thinks that I'm jealous of her beauty, which is actually true. I'm so filthy. Now she's lost faith in me. I'm sure.

"...Fumi, you're blaming yourself, aren't you?"

"Eh?"

"My... you really ''are'' too kind. Do you think I'd taken offense?"

"But——"

"No buts. You're being a little rude, you know?"

"Eh?"

"Fumi, you are a dear friend of mine. Someone important to me. By acting this way, it almost seems as if you didn't believe me?"

"Ah..."

"Fumi. I'm your best friend, right?"

"Of course!"

I can say this for certain.

"You're an irreplaceable friend, Reina!"

A dear friend who could never be replaced.

If Reina wasn't here, I—

I would long since have—

==2==
Another bad day starts.

The fact that I'm usually alone in the morning only makes it worse; Reina often has to go early to school because of her morning practice in the track and field club. I did once consider leaving the house at the same time as she does, but waiting in the classroom until classes begin is pretty painful as well, and most of all, I don't want to bother her, so I decided against it.

I walk alone to school and head to the shoe lockers to change into my indoor shoes.

"..."

What is this...?

''Morning!'' I hear someone say behind me (of course not to me) and hurriedly close my locker. After waiting for that student to leave, I open it again.

"Oh, eh..."

There is a letter on my indoor shoes.

I reach out, but at a loss what to do, my hand stays there until another student approaches. On the spur of the moment, I cram the letter into my bag.

Oh my, oh my... i-is this a...?

I get uncomfortable. I don't know why that is, but there are too many people here. I feel like all the people around me are watching me. Whenever a glance crosses my eyes (and I know it just crosses them and doesn't actually perceive me) I feel it piercing through me.

Nobody would care about me, I know that, but I can't help feeling that everybody keeps watching my every step.

Unable to bear the gazes any longer, I escape to the restroom, and hurry into a toilet stall, and take the letter out.

Stuffing it into my bag has left the letter slightly crumpled — sorry to the person who put it into my locker.

I unfold the letter.

"Dear Fumi Saito

I am writing this letter to you because there is something that I have been wanting to tell you.

Please wait in your classroom after school."

That's all there is.

"Ah...hah..." I gasp for air, finally noticing that I haven't breathed while reading.

What is this about? What... what is this about?

As short as it is, I can still see that, objectively, it's probably a love letter. However, it's addressed at me. A love letter addressed at me? Really? Is that possible?

"Of course it's possible!" Reina says right off the bat.

We're on break and have come to the landing of the stairs that lead to the roof. Because the roof is inaccessible, the stairs here are virtually never used by anyone, which is why we often use them when we want to discuss something in secret (although it's mostly me who has something to discuss).

"How can you be so sure?! I mean, we're talking about me here...!"

"As I told you the other day, Fumi: you are a charming girl."

I open my mouth to deny what she said, but then I reconsider, thinking back at how we went round in circles last time.

"So, how about it, Fumi?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"What's your response to that love letter?"

"Ah—"

I had completely forgotten about that because I was fixated on the fact that I'd received one. Right, I still have to respond to it.

"R-Reina, I, I don't know what to do!"

"To start with, how do you feel about that boy?"

"That boy...?"

I unfold the love letter and check again.

"Well, Fumi? How do you feel about him? Do you know each other pretty well? Or not at all, maybe?"

"—None."

"Hm?"

"There's no name."

"Let me... let me take a look."

I give Reina the letter. She inspects the piece of paper from all sides, and eventually heaves a sigh.

"You're right. There's no name."

"...You've received love letters before, right, Reina?"

"Yes, I have."

"Were there any without a name?"

"...Hm... maybe there was one, but I think it was a case where the sender was obvious. I always knew who the letter was from."

"I see..."

I reread the letter. ''"Please wait in your classroom after school"'' — a sincere request to me.

"...What are you going to do?" Reina inquires.

"Don't you know pretty well what I'm going to do, Reina?"

"...Right. Well, it's you after all!" she smiles gloomily.

"Don't... don't wait for me today after you're done with your club activities."

"Why not...?"

"..." I remain silent, unable to give her a proper answer. I don't really know why I asked her that, either. Normally, I would want her with me at such times.

Reina gives me a bright smile, "...Hey, Fumi. You've been wanting to go to the aquarium, haven't you?"

"...Yeah. I love dolphins."

"Let's go there one of these days, then!"

Why would she propose that now?

"...Mm! It's a promise!"

I knew why, and that made me happy.

Classes have ended.

I always stay at school even without receiving such a letter, because I wait for Reina's club activities to end.

Today, however, I had Reina go home herself. I'm alone—alone at waiting for the sender of that letter.

As I gaze at an open book, I ponder over who I want the letter to be from. Kado-kun, the boy who is popular in class because he's good at basketball? Mm, I would be happy. The delinquent of our class, Ashizawa-kun? He's a bit scary, but I think I would appreciate it. How about Kogure-kun, although he's a bit strange? I would probably be a bit wary of him, but still happy. And Dojima-kun, who everyone avoids because he's dirty? I wouldn't want to go out with him, but I would be happy.

It's always a nice thing to be thought of favorably.

But how would I respond when it comes to dating someone?

Right now... I have no such plans, because I don't exactly know what would be expected of me. I'm a bit scared, and I don't know how I should treat the other party.

I guess a proper couple has to kiss? But how does that feel? When do you feel like kissing? How should I react when he wants me to kiss? Would he be hurt when I refused to? I can't refuse then... I don't want to be disliked, after all.

Right. Refusal is no option.

Mm, so it doesn't matter who gave me that letter—I have to obey and ''wait in my classroom after school''.

It has become dark outside. The school is going to be closed soon.

Maybe, no one will come. Maybe, it was a joke. If it was—I would feel a bit calmer.

I stow away the book I have hardly read and just gazed at, and prepare myself for taking my leave, when suddenly, the Mizuhara group enters the classroom. They all belong to the tennis club, so I first thought they came to leave their rackets here.

However, their eyes reveal to me that there's more to it.

Mizuhara-san looks at me. "Heh, so you waited."

"Er..."

The girls around her start to giggle as they watch me getting nervous.

"Did we get your hopes up?" Mizuhara-san asks with a grin.

"Eh, um..."

What should I answer...? What answer do they expect from me?

"Probably... I did get hopes..." I answer honestly.

Suddenly, one of them laughs out loud, unable to hold it in any longer, spurring on the giggling.

"Oh come on, that's stupid! No guy would be interested in a sourpuss like you!"

"Kaho! Don't be so mean to her~!"

"But look...!"

"Well, she ''is'' pretty gullible, but that makes it clear how serious her case is, right?"

"Yeah, she's obviously not used to this kind of stuff."

Without giving me a chance to interrupt, Takatsuki-san and Omi-san keep discussing how dumb and strange I am.

I don't know what to do.

Hopes. Right, I had faint hopes that someone might like me. How stupid of me. That's absurd. Completely impossible.

Right now, there is a clear barrier between the rest of the world and me. Transparent, yet tough like tempered glass. Even though they can see me, no one attempts to read what feelings I hold behind my face. Even though they can hear me, no one attempts to understand the meaning of my words.

It's almost like my eyes perceive something entirely different from everyone else. Whenever I reach out my hands, I can only grasp air.

Alone. I'm alone.

Someone likes me? As if. No one is interested in me in the least, except maybe as someone to tease. As a topic to laugh at.

"...uh..."

Ah... I didn't want to cry... but there goes a tear. This will spoil the party. I'm sorry, but I cried, I'm really sorry.

As I expected, they start making uneasy faces.

Desperately trying not to show them my tears, I cover my eyes.

"Aah... we made her cry. Sorry, Saito-san," Mizuhara-san says gently. "But you know? We didn't mean to hurt you. How should I put it... you always avoid talking to people, no?"

No, I simply ''can't'' talk to people!

"I think that's not a good thing, so I thought that doing this, kind of like a shock treatment, might help you. I didn't mean any harm."

I wonder how much truth there is to that? Maybe that was part of the reason, but how is a fake love letter supposed to get me to speak normally? Was there no other way? Isn't that just a pretext to tease me?

"No offense! Really! ...Will you forgive me?"

However, there is something desperate in her voice that makes me nod as I still keep my eyes covered.

"Aah, thanks a lot... I'm really sorry. Okay, see you."

Once I had forgiven them, they quickly left.

...But Mizuhara-san isn't mean. She may have completely missed the mark, but she did care about me. She does take heed of me.

Yeah, she's not mean. She's not.. mean.

"What a mean bunch!"

My inner dialog is being denied. Surprised by that sudden voice, I look up.

"Ah... Kimura-kun..."

Oh no, he saw my tear-stained face. I must look horrible right now...

"Sorry! I allowed myself to overhear your little conversation," he says with an uneasy expression.

"Mmm! I-It's fine..." These words escape my lips because I want to reassure him.

"...They teased you with a fake love letter, right? That's cruel. She... Mizuhara's always like that. You could say that her hobby is to toy with the feelings of others!" Kimura-kun rants, seeming genuinely angry at her.

Is he angry for my sake? For real? If so, why?

Okay, what am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to calm him down?

"It's okay, Kimura-kun... I knew it was just a trick."

"You knew it was a trick?" he asks while raising an eyebrow.

"I knew that... it would end like this."

"...But why didn't you ignore the letter, then?"

"———"

I couldn't give him an answer. I have no idea how to put it into words.

"Well, whatever... anyway, if something like this happens again, be sure to let me know!"

"Eh?!"

"W-What? You don't trust me, or what?"

I shake my head furiously. It's only natural that I would get startled — after all, he doesn't profit in any way from helping me.

"You're quite the strange girl... okay, gotta go!" he says as he puts a hand on my head with a smile, after which he left. Unable to make sense of that, I just watched him baffledly.

While walking home alone, I start reflecting on the reason why I couldn't ignore the letter.

I expected the letter to be fake — because there was no name, because the paper used was not typical for boys, and most of all, because I noticed that the writer had deliberately tried to fake her handwriting.

However, what if, as unlikely as it is, the love letter had been real? In that case, ignoring it would have hurt that person. I would have betrayed that person and his sincere request ''to have me wait''. I couldn't do that. Absolutely not.

Besides, I couldn't have ignored it either way: the person who wanted to make a joke at my expense wished for me to take on the role of a fool. Had I ignored that request, I would have betrayed their expectations. I would have spoiled their fun. I would have fallen into their disfavor.

That's why I was unable to ignore the letter.

Did I make the right choice? No, I'm sure I didn't. If I were right—

—It wouldn't hurt so much.

Reina.

It hurts, Reina!

I don't want to be '''here''', it hurts!

For the first time in a long time, I have to face that thought again. That thought I always held before meeting Reina.

Right, if Reina wasn't here, I—

I would long have—died.

I have thought about dying countless times.

I'm sure there is no such thing like happy times.

Adult people lie when they speak of their supposedly happy youth. If they don't, then nostalgia must have warped their memories, because they couldn't endure the absence of hope in reality otherwise. Thinking that back in the day, everything used to be better, in order to put up with the present.

This leads to my hypothesis:

Life is and will always be hopeless. We live our pitch-dark lives as we cling to shiny shards that appear every now and then, and then we think back at those shards with a nostalgic smile on our faces. Like fools.

However, I don't have a past to take refuge. I don't have a past to romanticize in my mind when I lose hope in reality. I have no other choice but to accept that life is filled with despair from bottom to top.

Therefore, the only place I can escape to is death.

''Don't think of suicide'', people say. But is that statement backed by actual thought? You shall not kill. Of course. You shall not steal. Of course. You shall not commit suicide. Of course. The answer is so obvious that there is no place for doubt. Those statements must be perfectly true. Dazzlingly true.

You have to walk an endless muddy path that has no significance whatsoever, and you are naturally not allowed to break out. What a hopeless system.

What do you want me to do? What the hell am I supposed to do?

Someone save me! Give me hope! No, I won't be so greedy. Please someone, just notice that I'm walking this path and say a few gentle words to me...

"Fumi."

Surprised by the voice that calls out to me at the perfect moment, I raise my head.

"Reina..."

Only after speaking these words do I notice that I have been crying.

"You told me to go home, but you didn't tell me not to come meet you, right?" she smiles gently at me.

"...I can't."

Even though she understands what I mean, she gently embraces me.

"...It was painful, wasn't it?"

I can't... I just can't anymore!

I'll depend on you, Reina! I'll lean against you! I'll entrust my life to you!

"It's okay," she whispers to me. "I won't betray you."

"—!"

I clearly understand now why I had Reina go home earlier.

It's because I knew that she would comfort me. Because I knew that I would depend on her.

What is the consequence of that?

I have long lost my balance to be '''here''', and needed something to take refuge in.

Needless to say, Reina Kamisu has taken on the role of my refuge, of my shelter.

But now, because of her embrace, I have completely become dependent on her. Maybe that has already been the case for a long time, but either way, I can no longer exist without Reina.

In order to prevent that, I have sent her home.

"...Reina...I..."

"It's okay. Don't worry. I'll... take on your burden."

Her words pierce through me.

I feel how my entire body starts to melt into Reina's body. Slowly but surely, I fade into her.

Such bliss.

I realize that this is what it means to be accepted by someone.

"Uh...gh...," I moan as my tears push up. They fall onto Reina, producing small ripples. I always thought my tears would only fall to the ground, but I was wrong — they have reached Reina's heart.

I am part of Reina, and—

—Reina is everything of me.

==3==

I am changing. The liquid "Reina" is continuously being poured into the container "I", while the liquid "I" is overflowing from that container.

The container is still me, but its contents are Reina; Reina has become my essence.

I still hardly speak anything in the classroom (although Kimura-kun, whose desk is behind mine, talks to me from time to time), but I don't feel depressed anymore.

I am not alone.

That belief gives me strength. That thought I have been holding has gone somewhere far away.

I don't care about anything, as long as Reina is with me.

That's what I thought. That's what I believed.

But not in my wildest dreams did I expect that things could still get worse.

"I can't find my wallet!" Mizuhara-san screams agitatedly.

Everyone present at the homeroom after classes, our class teacher Kosugi-sensei included, focuses on her as she desperately searches for her wallet. The member of her group are watching her worriedly. For a few moments, the classroom lapses into silence, until someone checks if their own wallet is still there, and the others follow suit. I don't bring my wallet to school, but I reach into my pocket nonetheless in order not to be the odd one out.

By the time everyone has confirmed that their money is safe, Mizuhara-san is sitting still in her seat, visibly troubled. Kosugi-sensei walks toward her.

"Have you found it?"

"No..."

"Are you sure that it was there?"

"Absolutely."

"Understood," the teacher says with a frown and goes back to the teacher's desk. "All right, as you surely heard, Mizuhara has lost her wallet. Of course, this may be some sort of misunderstanding on her end, but—" he starts and explains in a ridiculously roundabout way that there is a chance that a member of this class might have stolen her wallet.

The likelihood of pickpocketing is high, considering what the missing item is. Not far in the past, there has been a fuss over a stolen mp3-player.

Mizuhara-san, convinced that it was a theft, is visibly angered, and so are the members of her group, influenced by her.

"Does anyone have a clue where her wallet might be?" the teacher asks.

The students just exchange glances. The teacher isn't expecting any answers, either — the culprit or those who know who did it wouldn't speak up right now.

Or so I thought. But I was wrong.

Kimura-kun reluctantly raises his hand.

"Kimura, do you know something?"

"No, not exactly... but there's something that bothers me."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't think that it's common to take the wallet when stealing money. Normally, you would just pull out the contents, right? In fact, that's how the theft in class 5 happened."

"...Perhaps."

"Besides, it would make more sense to steal the money of all members of this class instead of only Mizuhara-san's. Yet, she's the only victim."

"What are you getting at?"

"What I want to say is that it's either a misunderstanding or a vicious joke toward Mizuhara-san."

"It's absolutely not a misunderstanding!" Mizuhara-san disagrees loudly. "Someone has played a trick on me!"

"A trick, hm? How much was in your wallet, if I may ask?"

"...1000 yen and change, but so what?" she answers grumpily.

"So it can't be because of the money, then. It looks like the goal of the culprit was teasing Mizuhara-san; and wouldn't that narrow down the list of suspects to a manageable number?" Kimura-kun says, causing everyone to exchange glances again.

That means that the culprit has a grudge against her, or at least doesn't think favorably of her?

Arriving at this thought—

—I notice that eyes are starting to focus on me.

"Huh...?"

A few students who aren't looking at me notice that a few of their classmates are focusing on me, and thus follow suit. On seeing that, yet another person gazes at me. All eyes are pinned on me.

Why? Why would they look at me?

This makes it seem like... like—

Our teacher, too, notices that I'm the center of attention, and looks at me, only to move his gaze on to Mizuhara-san. I follow his glance.

For some reason, she makes a face of realization.

"Saito," the teacher says to me in a stern voice, causing me to wince.

Just because he called my name? ...Yes, but I but I'm not so dumb as to not understand the situation. To me, this is just like a — death sentence.

"Do you know something?"

"Eh? Ah...er..."

I don't know anything! I'm innocent! But... I fail to say so properly.

"What's wrong? I have asked you a question, Saito."

But he's suspecting me.

"Uh..."

Everyone is looking at me, suspecting me — that's more than enough to make me lose my tongue, but they do not see that.

They understand it like so: I'm panicking because I've been busted, because I'm the culprit.

I'm perfectly aware of that, and I know that I must absolutely answer his question with confidence, but yet I find myself unable to do so.

"I... I..."

If someone was here who understand my personality — if Reina was here — she could explain it to them, but she's not here.

She's not here.

I don't have any supporters here.

"I don't... I don't know any—"

"Kosugi-sensei," Mizuhara-san says, cutting my desperate words short. I look at her in wonder.

There is no anger in her face anymore.

"What is it, Mizuhara?"

"I did something to Saito-san that may have made her hold a grudge against me. I... I played a trick on her. Thinking about it now... that was mean of me," she says with tears in her eyes. "But I... I did it because I thought I could help her to open herself!"

Surprised at what she said, I gaze at her. The sorrowful expression on her face isn't faked. Mizuhara-san is honest.

However, it's unclear to me whether she really tried to open my heart with that fake love letter, or just persuaded herself of that noble goal because of the situation she has found herself in.

Whatever the answer is, there is one thing that has become a fact.

Her words have settled my position.

"..."

All eyes fixed on me.

Eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes.

Like light projected through a loop, their reproachful glances pierce through me.

There is no suspicion in them anymore.

It's been decided.

It's been decided that I am the culprit.

"N-No, I haven—"

"It was YOU!" Takatsuki-san cuts me short. "You were pissed off, but you couldn't defend yourself because you were too scared! That's why you resorted to such a dirty trick — to vent your frustration!"

"Don't say that, Kaho. I'm... I'm also at fault..."

''Also.''

The words Mizuhara-san sobbed subliminally yet clearly implied that I'm the culprit and that she's the victim.

As a result, her words added fuel to the fire. With a fire-red head, Takatsuki-san walks toward me. Fearing to be hit, I cover my head and cower.

However, she did not come to hit me. Her goal was my bag. She picks it up, opens it, turns it upside town and pours its contents onto my desk.

And for some reason, there is an unfamiliar wallet among the things that fall on my desk. However, someone has mangled it with a cutter.

"...Saito, you are to come to the staff room afterwards."

The moment the teacher says so, uncontrollable sobbing resounds through the classroom.

Needless to say, it was Mizuhara-san.

I look around.

Eyes. Eyes. Eyes. Eyes. Eyes.

Like an ice pick, their reproachful glances pierce through me.

Reina isn't '''here'''.

In other words—no one is '''here'''.

I don't have any supporters '''here'''.

The next day, my desk has disappeared.

Up until now, I have merely been air for everyone, but from now on, they won't even grant me to be air anymore.

I'm not even allowed to exist.

A missing desk in a classroom is like a missing piece in a puzzle; but in this case it's my desk that is missing. I must be the only one who feels that a piece is missing — for everyone else, the puzzle is completed.

I go to the veranda and move the desk and the chair back to their original place. Original place? Really? No, perhaps the original place where my seat is supposed to be is not in the classroom, but at the veranda.

But while that may be true... I don't want to notice.

White, everything turns white.

Everything besides Reina and me turns white.

Like a novel lacking spaces, I'm unable to make sense of the white world '''here'''. They disappear. Everything besides me flees out of reach.

Or perhaps—

I'm the one who is lacking color.

The lunch break ends without my talking to anyone.

I really haven't spoken a word, since I couldn't meet Reina, either. Not one word has been spoken for me or toward me.

People have stopped speaking to me. No, that's no news, but at least previously, there was no ill will in that.

I wasn't even allowed of the absolute minimum of conversation. Even Kimura-kun wasn't able to overcome the magnetic field around me that has emerged in class.

"..."

I was aware of it.

I was aware of it, but this makes it clear.

No one cares if I just disappeared.

The world wouldn't disappear when I disappeared. The blue sky would completely ignore me and not even let it rain. No one cares whatever happens to me. I'm absolutely separated from the rest of the world.

Again, a familiar thought assaults me.

—I... I can't endure it anymore, Reina!

Why? What have I done? I didn't want to be disliked. That's all... I just shut myself into my little box because I was afraid of getting hurt, yet why do they pierce it with spears?

It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!

Save me Reina, save me Reina, save me rena, savemerena.

"They're all so mean."

"—Huh?"

Reina stands before my eyes.

"'Huh'? What is it, Fumi?"

"Ah, mmm... nothing."

Classes have ended; I have caught Reina when she was about to go to her club and consulted her at our usual spot on the stairs to the roof.

Yes, that sounds perfectly natural.

Why is it then that something felt fatally off? There's no reason.

"Why would they think that you're the culprit without conclusive proof? There's no way you would do that."

"...Well, they don't know my personality. Besides, Mizuhara-san's wallet was in my bag, so it's natural that they would think that I did it."

"Yes, but Fumi... why was that wallet in your bag, anyway?"

"Because—"

I don't really want to think about it...

"...The first reason that comes to mind would be because someone is trying to set you up."

"...Yeah, most likely." Unless I have a split personality. "...Someone who hates me?"

"I... I don't think so. You're not one to make a lot of enemies... I think that someone simply thought that it would be easy to lay the blame on you."

Perhaps.

But anyway, someone hated me enough to be fine with putting the blame on me.

"That's just heartless! We have to find and teach that culprit a lesson!"

"No... no need to!"

"Why? Aren't you suffering under the current situation?"

"I am. I am, but..."

"But?"

"The problem isn't new. It's merely surfaced now..."

"That's not... I mean, you weren't particularly unpopular..."

"You think so? I'm pretty sure it was a matter of time. For example, if Mizuhara-san's position and mine had been reversed, I most likely would have ended up with the short end of the stick."

"No, you're—"

Reina is at a loss for words. When it comes to deciding who is at fault, it doesn't matter what was done, but who did it. Between a teacher and a student, the student will be the bad one; between a honor student and a delinquent, the delinquent will be the bad one; between a beautiful person and an ugly person, the ugly person will be the bad one.

And of course, between Mizuhara-san and me, I will be the bad one.

In other words, the result has been decided all along.

Smart as Reina is, she realizes that.

"...That's not true!"

Reina doesn't believe her own words, and looking at her face, she is admonishing herself for faltering.

...But there's nothing to admonish herself for, since it's a fact.

"Reina."

"Hm?"

"You're still on my side, right?"

"Of course I am!"

Good.

I have a supporter. I have a irreplaceable friend. I have Reina.

So I may still be here.

"Ah—" Reina suddenly says, so I follow her gaze.

"Um..."

Kimura-kun is standing there, seemingly feeling a bit out-of-place.

"...Kimura-kun? What's the matter?"

"Ah, yes... can you spare a minute?" he asks reluctantly.

"Y-Yeah... what is it?"

"To come straight to the point, Ashi-chan told me to call you out, because I happened to know that you're here sometimes."

"Ashi-chan?"

"I'm talking about Ashizawa-kun! Toshiki Ashizawa."

The bad-mannered Ashizawa-kun...? What would he want from me?

Whatever it is, it can't be good for me. Kimura-kun's expression makes this obvious.

"Err... is he... angry?"

"..."

He just gazes closely at me, and eventually averts his eyes.

"...He is?"

"Saito-san. It might be better if you didn't go," he mutters with eyes cast away.

...It looks like it's more serious than I thought. But if I don't go, Ashizawa-kun's aversion toward me will only grow.

I—don't want that. I don't want to be avoided even more because of a misunderstanding.

"...I'm going."

"Okay..." he says as if he was going to get a beating from Ashizawa-kun.

"Fumi," Reina addresses me in a worried tone.

"I'll be fine," I smile and wave her goodbye.

Brought to our classroom (Kimura-kun immediately left for his club), Ashizawa-kun drives me into a corner, and without any time for confusion, I am surrounded by his buddies, Takatsuki-san and the other members of the group, while a few of my other classmates are watching from a safe distance. Mizuhara-san is here as well, but watching from afar with an uneasy expression.

"Okay. Do you know what this is?" Ashizawa-kun says in an oppressive voice as he holds something against my face. It's hard to see from such a short distance, but I can recognize that it's Mizuhara-san's wallet.

"—"

I try to answer, but the words stick in my throat. Everyone is watching me closely and with blatant enmity; I feel that I'm not allowed to speak. I'm scared.

His right arm, which is right beside my head, might lose it any moment. He definitely wants to. He is angry. And the perfect target to vent his anger on is right before his eyes.

I'm scared! Why are they looking at me like that? I can't say anything! I'm not allowed to speak!

"Hey! I asked you what the fuck this is!" he yells. His right arm is twitching.

"It's a... wallet..."

"Whose wallet?"

"Mizuhara-san's..."

"Right. It's Yuu's wallet."

Yuu? Come to think of it, that's Mizuhara-san's first name.

"It's the wallet I gave her for her birthday. It's the wallet you cut up with a goddamn cutter!" he says, some of his saliva flying on my face.

Anger has made him lose more than half of his reasoning. Had I been a guy, he would have beaten me up already long ago.

"You knew that Yuu's dating Toshiki, didn't you?" Takatsuki-san says with a scary face. "And you also knew that this wallet was a present from him, right?"

I don't. I had no idea that they were a couple. Such rumors don't reach me at all.

"That's why you stole the wallet when you were pissed off, no? You can't hide it!"

No, I didn't do anything!

But I can't say that. Even if I did and explained myself, they wouldn't believe me.

"Do you get that? This isn't something you can make up for with fucking money!"

His right hand moves. I reflexively close my eyes. However, he could somehow control himself and hit the wall behind me.

I mind goes blank like white paint. I'm trembling all over.

What am I supposed to do? I'm scared! Please, don't hurt me. I haven't done anything!

"Save me..."

I mutter at last, cornered and intimidated.

"Save me..."

At first, the others seem to think that I am begging toward them, but they quickly realize that's not the case and are taken aback.

"Save me..."

I seek help. Of course, there is only one person I would seek help from.

"Save me... Reina."

I didn't want to get Reina involved, so I tried to solve the matter without her coming with me.

But I failed.

I imagine how her long hair sways as Reina appears and swiftly frees me from their claws. I have a feeling that this picture will become reality. And then she will smile at me with her absurdly beautiful face, "Everything is all right, Fumi."

—However, Reina didn't come.

That sweet illusion took me from the ground to the clouds, to the pinnacle. But at the end of the day, I keep crawling on the ground in reality. I am thrown off the pinnacle again.

"Uh...uh..."

Unable to hold it in, I start to cry.

Thrown off course by my tears, the signs for violence disappear, even though Ashizawa-kun is still visibly angered.

"What?! Do you think we'll forgive you if you cry?!" Takatsuki-san shouts as she draws near to me. "Besides, there's no one who would want to 'save' someone like ''you''!"

"But there is..."

"Who? Your mom? A teacher? They would only help you because it's their duty!"

"There is!"

"And who would that be?! Good lord, you are—"

"Reina! Reina Kamisu is there for me!" I scream. In a voice that might well have been the strongest in my entire life.

Takatsuki-san—no, everyone present—widen their eyes in response to my powerful shout. I'm surprised by myself, too, but I don't regret it.

Because that's the one thing that I will not allow anyone to disagree with me.

I do have an irreplaceable friend.

I do have Reina Kamisu.

I won't let anyone say otherwise.

Taking advantage of their confusion, I escape. I escape from ''them''. I no longer need anything. Nothing.

All I need is Reina.

As long as Reina is with me, I'm perfectly fine.

==4==
As promised, Reina and I went to the aquarium.

There are more visitors than expected for a workday, most of which are families with children and young couples around twenty years old. Probably because they are not as restricted in time.

And of course, we are the only middle schoolers around.

"Reina, are you sure you don't need to go to school?"

"It's fine, but what about you, Fumi?"

"I don't mind at all."

I'm not welcome at school, anyway. My parents won't notice that I'm skipping, either, unless they get a call from school. In fact, ditching school today has made me wonder why I haven't done this sooner.

I look through the glass into the water tank.

Pretty fishes. That's all that comes to mind. They belong to the species ''Chaetodon auripes'', but I'm going to forget that in a few seconds. Therefore, I only feel that they're pretty.

But that's fun.

"Oh, look, Fumi! Lots of jellyfish!"

"Cool."

"I love jellyfish."

"You do? Why?"

"Hm? Well... I wonder why? Maybe because... they don't look a lot like living beings?"

They don't look like living beings — now that she mentions it, she has a point. Inside an aquarium, they still feel a bit like living beings, but when they are held in a water tank at home, they're more like decoration. Decoration that shines and pulsates. When jellyfish are put into a tank in a house, their role changes from a ''living being'' to ''decoration''.

"Besides, jellyfish kind of stand out. All other fishes here are just ''fishes'', but jellyfish feel like entirely different beings. Ah, I'm not making sense, am I?"

"No, I know what you mean. You want to say that jellyfish are simply jellyfish, right?"

"Ah, yes, sort of. Jellyfish are simply jellyfish."

Jellyfish are simply jellyfish.

Looking at Reina, who is gazing into the water tank, I think:

''Reina's also like that.''

Reina Kamisu is simply Reina Kamisu.

Absurdly beautiful, completely different from everyone else, and my only supporter.

Reina notices my glance.

"...What's wrong, Fumi?" she asks.

"Mm, nothing."

She tilts her head.

"Reina... the dolphin show is starting!"

"Hm? Oh, you're right. Okay, let's hurry up."

Slightly swift-footed, walk to the stadium where the dolphin show takes place.

On the way there, we come past a tank in which a large number of fishes are herding together and keep rotating restlessly.

Don't they get tired? I don't only mean physically, but also mentally. Rotating all the time won't get them any farther, after all; they could just as well stay still from the start. If they don't want to get anywhere, is it their goal to continue doing this until they can't move anymore? Don't they feel that such a life is futile?

But the fishes keep rotating, not caring about my thoughts.

The seats at the stadium are being occupied from the back to the front.

"Let's go to the front row, Reina."

"Eh? We'll get wet!"

"I know, but I want to watch the dolphins from as close as possible."

With a wry but gentle smile, she follows me to the first row and takes a seat.

"By the way, Fumi, I told you why I like jellyfish, but what's your reason for liking dolphins?"

"Hm... because they're adorable."

"That's all?"

"No, apart from that..."

Before I can continue, the woman in charge of the show begins the narration, starting with a brief explanation on the ecology of dolphins (where their nose is, that they hear sounds through their bones, etc.).

And then the show begins.

As several dolphins leap into the air to greet us, I am already enchanted.

They are pretty big when you actually see them — their jumps are spectacular and cause the children in the audience to shout in joy. They look so majestic yet adorable.

As they land again, water spills toward us. I instinctively shrink back. While it doesn't reach my clothes, my shoes get slightly wet.

Awesome! That's just awesome! Dolphins are great!

During the show, they jumped through rings, returned balls the woman had thrown to them, and swam around in circles... in a nutshell, it was awesome and I was absorbed.

"Dolphins sure are intelligent..." Reina suddenly says.

"Totally!" I respond immediately.

"Hahaha, you really love them, don't you? Is their smartness also a reason why—"

"Yeah!"

The show reaches the climax, which features a trick where three dolphins have to simultaneously jump over a stick that is set up at an extremely high position.

"And you know, dolphins send out ultrasonic waves and determine the position of objects through the reflected waves!"

"Just like bats."

"Hmm... I don't want to think of them in the same category, but yeah."

The dolphins ready themselves to the woman's signal.

Are they able to jump so high? Well, they wouldn't be doing this if they couldn't, but I'm afraid that one of them might not make it.

I hold my breath.

The dolphins stand side by side (can you say that in this case?) and — jump.

"Whoa!"

It was a feast for the eyes.

With a grand splash, the three dolphins land in the water, raising a few large waves.

"Incredible..." I say in blank astonishment.

Looking at the wavy pool, I arrive at the thought that dolphins might be the cause for the never-ceasing waves of the sea.

"Hey, Fumi? Dolphins can communicate through sounds, right?"

"Yeah. Although it's unknown how sophisticated their conversations are. I for one believe that their communication skills are just as high as ours."

"I see... that would be nice."

"Mm! Actually, another reason why I love dolphins is because they can communicate with one another!"

"Oh, nice."

The show ends and the visitors start to leave while the dolphins are bidding them farewell by swimming around and doing individual performances.

"You know, when I learned that dolphins can communicate through sounds, I was jealous of them," I murmur while watching their performance.

"...jealous?" Reina asks puzzledly, tilting her head to the side.

"..."

I waver if I should explain it to her. If I continue, I will spoil the joyful mood.

"I think that communication through words is too complicated for me."

But I don't want to have secrets from Reina.

"Fumi..."

"I'm sure that even I would have been able to get friends if we had other ways of communicating..."

"You have me, Fumi!"

"...Mm."

These words of hers are enough for me.

"But you know, lately I've come to think that..."

"Hm?"

"I think that I might have become 'like that'."

"...'like that'?"

Unable to answer her, I look at the dolphins again, which are busy showing their performances. One of them is waving us goodbye with its fin.

I wave back.

And that's what I mean.

I am waving my hand because I freely interpret the dolphin's waving his fin as "goodbye." Our actions aren't in line at all.

Right, as deplorable as it is, I can't talk with dolphins.

But that isn't limited to dolphins.

My language has become different from everyone else's, and that's why I can't get through to anyone. My words don't reach anyone.

Except for Reina.

My way of communication has become different. And that's why I'm getting disconnected and disappearing.

We leave the aquarium, which is in the center of an aquatic park. I walk up to a bench and sit down. Reina sits down next to me.

"Reina? Would you..."

Reina looks at me when I suddenly start to talk.

"Would you be okay if we were the only humans on earth?"

I look around. There's no one nearby apart from Reina, which isn't that surprising for a workday afternoon. We're alone. I wouldn't be in the least concerned if the world closed up right now and we were left behind just by the two of us.

"Hm... it would be pretty troublesome because we'd have no electricity..."

"And if you think about it without such concerns?"

Reina gazes closely at my face, and answers with a smile:

"In that case, that wouldn't sound too bad."

"Really?"

"Really!"

I look at her. Aah, she isn't saying it just because. I'm happy, I really am.

After all, she's different from me! Unlike me, she is loved by a lot of people. Despite that, she would be with me.

"But you know, Reina, your mom would...be—"

—Reina's mom?

At once I get suspicious and stop.

A lot of people?

Well, there must be a lot. She's beautiful and nice, unlike me. But—

—But who are they, specifically?

"Fumi...?"

"Hey, Reina..."

"What's wrong?"

"...I've never been to your home, have I?"

"Are you sure?"

"Where do you live again? Nearby? You must be. After all, you go home together with me."

"What's wrong, Fumi? That's obvious, no?"

"Why is it then that — even though we are close friends — I haven't been to your place?"

"..." Reina remains silent.

Eh? Hold on! What's that supposed to mean?

We're best friends, no matter how you look at it, so why do I have no idea who her friends and family are, and where she lives?

"By the way, Reina—"

"Don't say it!" she cuts my question short.

"Reina...?"

"Don't go farther than that..." she says sorrowfully and averts her eyes.

There are circumstances...? I don't know what it is, but Reina has a reason not to tell me about her.

Everyone has things he doesn't want to or can't say.

But,

But—

"—That's mean!"

"...Huh?"

"Aren't we best friends? We shouldn't keep any secrets from one another! Or was I the only one who felt that way? Hm?"

"No!"

"But then!"

"It's no good, Fumi!"

"Why? I don't understand, Reina!" I shout and as I do, I notice that a tear is flowing down my cheek, which leaves Reina speechless.

Cold air pulsates between us. That... hasn't happened before. This is the first time that we've been surrounded by such a cold atmosphere.

My feelings had reached Reina. She knows that I wouldn't ever hate or make fun of her.

There is no reason to have secrets.

There should be none.

Yet—

"I can't say it," she says distinctly.

"Why would you..."

Rejection.

No, that's not it. That can't be it. Reina would never want to hurt me. It's something... it must be something that she can't say despite that.

Of course I can understand that.

But—

"Don't doubt me."

I can't help but feel that she is rejecting me.

"Uh..."

Therefore, a drop falls from my eyes.

And once I realize that it's a ''tear'', they start to overflow like a waterfall. Aah, I'm crying way too often lately! Man, I don't want to show anyone my tears. I don't want to bother anyone. But they won't stop.

I press my head against my knees as I burst out crying.

"—Fumi."

Reina's voice.

Reina's gentle voice.

"I'm sorry."

All I could perceive was my own crying voice, which is why I didn't notice what was happening.

I kept crying like an idiot, and when I raised my head—

—Reina wasn't there.

"Reina...?"

I looked and ran around searching for her.

But she was nowhere to be found.

Reina isn't anywhere anymore.

I was standing there in the wide, empty aquatic park, left behind, alone in the world.

==5==

People have erasers in their hearts.

While their efficiency differs from person to person — some of them might be really bad — anyone can use their eraser.

Rub, rub. Okay, away with you. You're an eyesore. Please go away. Rub, rub.

Two weeks have passed since the incident of Mizuhara-san's wallet. One week since I went to the aquarium with Reina.

Even after such a time span, no one is talking to me. Like the previous days, I'm just sitting in my seat, which isn't supposed to be here, and gazing out the window.

I have faded a lot.

Yet, they keep erasing me. Rub, rub.

Day by day, I am being erased. Bit by bit, I am fading. Rub, rub. Most of my existence has turned into eraser crumbs and gets wiped off my desk.

It's not going to get better. They have already become so used to rubbing me out that no one is having any doubts about it, let alone feelings of guilt. I'll keep being erased mechanically. If there is any human emotion involved, then it's slight irritation because their erasers get worn with use.

And Reina is still missing in this white and fading world.

Why? I'm not going to hold out like this! Reina... why did you leave me, Reina?

Why won't you appear before me? Even if you have secrets, that should be no obstacle for us!

Or do you hate me now?

Whatever it is, I want to see you!

I want to see you, I want to see you, I want to see you!

But no matter how much I beg, Reina doesn't appear.

And somewhere I know that she never will.

There is no meaning anymore.

In this classroom there is only irrelevant noise, irrelevant pictures, irrelevant classmates, and my irrelevant self.

There is no meaning anymore.

There is no meaning... in being '''here'''.

"—Goodbye," I whisper as I stand up.

The teacher is saying something. Ah, I was in the middle of having a 'lesson'?

Oh, he's angry. But I don't get what it's all about — after all, he isn't saying it for me, is he?

Oh, he's not angry anymore. But I wonder why he is looking at me like that? It's the first time someone does that, so I don't know what it means. But it looks a bit like he is scared.

I leave the classroom.

Far away behind me, the class is making a fuss, but it's irrelevant to me. Irrelevant. Completely irrelevant.

I'm sitting alone on the landing in the middle of the stairway to the roof. It's the second time since I've come here that the school building is getting noisy. What time is it? The first noise was probably the lunch break, so it must be the end of school today?

Reina. Will I ever see her again?

For some reason, I feel that I won't. I've been feeling that ever since she disappeared from me in that aquatic park. But so what? What about it? That doesn't change anything — I still need her, so much, so desperately.

Reina is all of me. Nothing remains if you take her from me. I'm empty. A wobbly lump that has no bones.

"Aah..."

What should I do? How can I meet Reina? I don't know! What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do?

Suddenly, I hear someone walking up the stairs.

I ready myself. It might be him — he might have come like I wanted.

"...Saito-san."

Kimura-kun appears before me.

"Kimura-kun... so you came to talk with me..."

"Yeah... I have no reasons to refuse if you call me out..."

Right. I have placed a letter into his shoe locker to call him here. Like Mizuhara-san did.

"I also brought this here with me. It was a pain to get past the eyes of the teachers," he explains as he holds out the keys to the roof.

"Mm. Thank you," I say and accept the keys from his visibly trembling hands. Perhaps, he has realized why I called him out here.

"..." he remains silent.

"Are you not going to ask...?"

"Ask what...?" he says clumsily.

"Why I had you bring me the keys to the roof."

After a few moments, he reluctantly asks, "Why?"

To tell the truth, I'm not sure how to answer him, either. Because maybe — no, for sure — my answer is going to hurt him.

But that's okay, isn't it? Kimura-kun is just as irrelevant as my other classmates, after all.

I reply: "To take revenge."

His face freezes instantly.

Oh, so I was right. Finally, I could confirm my suspicions.

"R-Revenge...?" he stutters miserably in bewilderment, and gets even more nervous because of it.

"You cut up Mizuhara-san's wallet and put it into my bag, didn't you?"

"W-Why would you say that...?" he counters, still not admitting to it, even though he knows that he can't talk himself out.

"It's okay! I don't plan to question you about it."

As a matter of fact, I really don't feel like questioning and blaming him. As I once told Reina, I was about to get into this situation anyway — Kimura-kun merely happened to be the one who pressed the switch.

My words seem to have calmed him down a bit.

"B-But... how did you find out?"

Do you really want to know? Isn't that going to be tough on you?

"...Should I answer that?"

Finally noticing the meaning of my answer, he looks down and says, "...No need to."

"Okay."

With these words, I slide the key into the lock.

There are several reasons why I suspected Kimura-kun.

My first doubts were raised when he started to converse with me after I had received the fake love letter. I was aware that Kimura-kun had no feelings for me, so I wondered why he would suddenly become so gentle.

Another clue was the general reaction when Mizuhara-san's wallet got lost. Everyone considered me the culprit right away. In other words, something led them to believe that I had a grudge against her. As far as I know, the only discord between Mizuhara-san and me is that love letter, which means that someone must have broadcast the story. But only her group and I, as well as Kimura-kun knew about it. Of course, I haven't told anyone, and Mizuhara-san and her friends didn't look like they would want to tell everyone about it, either.

But most of all, it was no one else but Kimura-kun who proposed that the culprit must have had a grudge against her. He called their attention to me in a blatant manner.

I don't know why he did that. Maybe he had a grudge against me that I don't know of, or he might have had strong feelings about Mizuhara-san and Ashizawa-kun.

But I don't really care.

His story is irrelevant to me.

I turn the key, and the door opens with a click. I tentatively turn the doorknob — yeah, seems fine.

"...What do you plan on doing on the roof, Saito-san?"

"..." I silently turn around to him.

"Saito-san...?"

I answer his question with a question.

"Hey, Kimura-kun—"

"—Do you happen to know ''Reina Kamisu''?"

Maybe I really thought that Reina would be waiting for me on the other side of the door.

This is a place that no one is allowed to enter, despite being so near. It's a place that we all know exists, yet only few have actually been there. And that's why I felt that I would find her here.

But of course, there is no sign of Reina.

I walk to the center of the roof and spin around.

Students going home, power poles established in regular intervals, the shopping district, our dirty river, another school, a house, another house — irrelevant scenery. But one thing within this irrelevant scenery — the glaring red sun hiding partly behind a building at the horizon — feels relevant to me.

The sun is about to hide on the other side, having completed its work for today, but floating there at the boundary, it feels like it's calling me.

I return to the door to lock it.

Now I'm completely alone.

I lean against the fence, and while watching the sun slowly hide its countenance, I think once more about Reina Kamisu.

Reina vanished. Yes, she vanished.

A beautiful and popular student suddenly stopped coming to school and went missing. This should have obviously been a serious incident for this Shikura middle school. It should have.

However, no one talks about it.

Of course, there is no one who would tell ''me'', but even I can perk up my ears for rumors. It's strange. Reina Kamisu does not come up anywhere at all. No one talks about such a extraordinary girl. Is that even possible?

I screwed up my courage and sneaked a peek into her class. First, I couldn't believe my eyes, then I couldn't believe my ears, and finally, I couldn't believe myself.

Her seat didn't exist. Her shoe locker didn't exist. Her name didn't exist. Nothing related to her existed.

Reina is nowhere.

And when I saw Kimura-kun's face when I asked him about Reina, I was convinced.

—Reina Kamisu vanished.

It's not simple death. She erased everything of her existence, everything related to it, and vanished. Without leaving anyone anything of herself, and completely revoking the fact that a person named Reina Kamisu has ever existed, she disappeared.

With the exception of me, her best friend.

But even I only have a few empty memories left — much like a drop of soda on the edge of an empty can. I don't remember where we met, how we became friends, or where we went apart from the aquarium. Nothing.

Those memories will soon wither as well, erasing her existence once and for all.

Reina is disappearing.

Reina, who was everything of me, is disappearing.

So—there is no reason for me to be '''here''' anymore.

I climb on the fence. It's 15cm wide, so I can stand without a problem.

I consider taking off my shoes, but I decide against it; I'm not trying to commit suicide or anything.

I'm merely going to see Reina.

Of course, I can't be sure if can meet her like that. It's just the absurd thought that if she isn't here, she must be "there." It's about as absurd as thinking that a bird can fly past the sky into the space.

But I can't think of anything else.

There is no other way, and if that's the only way, why should I not try it? There's nothing that stops me. Let me repeat that: I have no reason to be '''here''', so there is nothing that stops me.

I suddenly recall what I said to Kimura-kun.

—To take revenge.

Yeah, a petty revenge. By bringing me the keys, you got yourself involved in what is going to happen now, didn't you?

I wonder if he'll be having some pangs of remorse, even though he might not care about me?

I look down, and shrink back a little, scared of the imminent pain that I almost forgot about. That's going to hurt. Ten times... hundred times more than a syringe. But I mustn't flinch.

What is important to me? Meeting Reina. Being together with Reina.

That's all that counts. That's all...

Yes, with vigor!

Because I feel like I can get farther that way.

I take a vigorous leap.

Suddenly, the world spins and changes completely. Unable to properly grasp this unexpected world, I almost pass out.

I can only tell that it's not the place where I wanted to go. I have found myself in a tragic play.

Aah... did I fail? Did I make the wrong decision after all...?

But—

Just as I am about to give up, I realize that I've won the wager.

"Reina..."

Reina is right before my eyes.

"Reina, I missed you..."

She gives me her gentle and absurdly beautiful smile.

"Reina... tell me: where are you?"

"I am—" she answers.

"I am '''here'''. Kamisu Reina is — '''here'''."

Ah, right.

Why didn't I notice such a simple thing?

<noinclude>
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| Return to [[Kamisu Reina Series|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Kamisu Reina:Volume 1 Atsushi Kogure|Chapter 2]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

HEAVY OBJECT:Volume6 Chapter 3

2014-03-26T23:40:01Z

Axyraandas: /* Part 16 */

==Chapter 3: The Conspiracy Bank that Motivates Human Greed >> Bombardment Battle in the Amazon District==

===Part 1===

Details of the incident involving the explosion of unexploded shells loaded into a civilian truck:

Three dead, two injured. No civilian deaths.

The unexploded shells were an old-style weapon used by independent local guerrillas, but remains of the fuses discovered were that of a Legitimacy Kingdom model. It is possible they were intentionally detonated.

The reason the suspects Quenser Barbotage and Heivia Winchell were in the Athabasca district civilian residential city of Maple Queen is unknown. However, local camera footage confirms that they led the civilian truck into Maple Queen.

The two insist the explosion was due to the interference of the 202nd Mobile Support Company aka “Unicorn”, but no evidence of this has been found. Also, no proof has been found to indicate the existence of the supposed 20 tons of lithium ingots.

It is estimated the suspects are almost certainly guilty, but the Background Unit does not officially exist. Also, Operation Christmas Boot is being treated as “negative noise”. That is, it will not remain in the official records, so we cannot view the documents at our level of authority.

As such, investigation of the battlefield cannot be continued according to the formal methods.

Since a court martial under standard regulations cannot be carried out either, the rest will be handed over to the Black Uniforms in charge of barrier duty.

…On a personal note, I seriously hope the Black Uniforms end up shooting the suspects.

===Part 2===

The Amazon district in South America was technically classified as a battlefield country, but in reality it was almost entirely under the control of the Legitimacy Kingdom. It freely used cutting edge technology to be an overly hygienic-seeming powerful player in the primary sector thanks to the living resources of all the flora and fauna in its vast jungles, the research and patents on the caffeine and other substances extracted from coffee beans, and the foreign currency acquired from its large scale plantations centered on bioethanol.

One primary political issue existed. The Legitimacy Kingdom preferred to control a territory via a local monarch, but they had to choose between setting up a king from the indigenous people whose culture continued back for thousands of years or from the European population that had arrived during the Age of Exploration and now made up 90% of the population. Either choice could have explosive consequences.

Even though it was relatively stable, it was still a battlefield country. A certain city that could simply be described with the word “motley” displayed that distinct characteristic of the Amazon district. A small barracks had been forcibly added to the side of a building overflowing with a sense of cleanliness that had been built for a community campaign. Both trash and actually usable items had been piled up on the sidewalk. According to economic commentators, it would take another 10 years before they would realize the value of those items.

An open-air café existed in one corner of that cityscape that looked like it had been forcibly put together using pieces from a few different jigsaw puzzles.

Stores that served such nasty coffee were rare in a great coffee nation like that. The draw was neither the product nor the waitress’s smile; it was the money to be made gambling at dominoes. A suspicious-looking group sat at one of the tables.

However, they could easily hide their out-of-place aura in a place like that.

The group all had a crest on their shoulder showing a horse with a spear stabbing into its forehead.

That was the symbol of the 202nd Mobile Support Company aka Unicorn.

“Sogia, should you really be smoking a cigar?” A relatively fair-skinned young man spoke to a large man whose neck seemed to be as thick as his skull. “If you keep smoking them this much, you’ll get dogs chasing after you. They still use them as cheap sensors.”

“Just because we’re in the Amazon district doesn’t mean we’re going to be having shootouts in the jungle. It will be easier to blend in if you smell like civilization. …Mars, you smell like a wild animal. That isn’t good for a city. You need to take a shower and put on some cologne. Like a gentleman.”

“Tch,” came a click of the tongue from a silver-haired, brown-skinned woman named Sanya at the same table. “That’s the problem with newcomers.”

“What does this have to do with me being a newcomer!? Can you answer me that!? Not to mention that I’ve been with you for three years now!!” cried Mars in a shrill voice, but this was nothing new so no one at the table paid him any heed.

The final person at the table, a boy with a small build, poked at some domino tiles and spoke up hesitantly.

“…I feel kind of bad about what we did to those two.”

The boy had very recently played the role of a supply soldier with a chef’s license.

In response, Sogia smiled because he was more used to that kind of thing.

“You mean the Dragon Killers? Flat, people tend to meet a horrible fate when they get philosophical on the battlefield. By the way, what happened to the lithium? Whose job was it to deal with that?”

“Mine,” said Sanya as she raised her hand. “I melted it down once more just to be sure and then put it into a reserve fund. The rate was 0.75.”

“That’s a rip off.”

[[Image:HO_v06_11.jpg|thumb]]

“Well, yes. They were completely taking advantage of us, so I had the rare earth transport ship sunk on the way back. Hopefully that makes them rethink the rates they give people. But the money was sent to the Information Alliance via check. It seems they are willing to send out a terrorist group they finance.”

“That’s fine then,” replied Sogia in an offhand tone as he lightly scratched at his neck with his index finger.

Just like the others, he had scars from stiches circling around his neck.

It was the symbol of the ceremony undertaken when entering Unicorn.

“The other units scattered around have mostly succeeded in making their connections as well. And now we have somehow managed to acquire the final piece. I suppose it’s about time we begin. Contact Colonel Marechiare.”

In an attempt to look cool, Sogia punctuated his statement by taking a sip of his coffee, but he ended up spitting the black liquid onto the ground because it tasted so bad.

He then said, “We’ve prepared all these delicious ingredients. Let’s treat those spoiled Legitimacy Kingdom VIPs to a wonderful meal.”

===Part 3===

A certain military base existed in the Amazon district.

It was a large-scale facility that was equipped as both a large-scale naval base and airport and functioned as a relay base to resupply Objects. None of those giant weapons were present at the moment, but plenty of cruisers, interceptors, and other types of normal military power were gathered there.

This story begins along the fence encircling the facility grounds.

“This is horrible,” muttered Quenser in the intense humidity of the hot sun that seemed perfectly suited to a demotion.

He must not have been able to accept his circumstances because his voice quickly grew to a shout.

“This is horrible!! I can practically feel everyone staring at us!! They’re monitoring us as closely as the authorities monitor a sex cult! Can’t someone do something about this!?”

“Well, yelling about it isn’t going to help. Unicorn was simply better than us. We were watching them from below and the bird shit they dropped down landed right in our faces.” Heivia sounded annoyed. “And on top of that, we ended up in the last place I wanted to be: the Amazon district. Everyone is super agitated with the Royal Duel to determine the ruler of the Volga district coming up. I get the feeling this is something else that will take years off our lives. Things have gotten pretty rough in Volga since the White Bears of the 115th kicked the bucket.”

The people who had been loitering around with large pieces of equipment were likely from television stations. They had no idea if they were local media or foreign media though.

Naturally, the camera crew and announcers would never approach the area for the Royal Duel where two Objects would be clashing, but it was possible they could pull in decent ratings just by getting distant footage and providing narration.

“I don’t care about kings. No one like the witch in Cinderella actually exists. Commoners have no chance of going to any of those fancy balls.”

To Quenser, getting dragged into problems related to who inherits the throne or not was a trivial difference. He was more concerned about how deeply he had sunk into the Unicorn’s conspiracy.

The issue was the bombing disguised as unexploded shells in order to steal the lithium.

“Do you think we can reveal the truth?”

“It doesn’t matter. If we end up firing our guns to reveal that truth, we’ll just be thrown into prison for that new crime. This isn’t a Hollywood movie, so the truth doesn’t get you off the hook for the fights on the way there,” said Heivia in annoyance. “Luckily, the fact that it was a covert mission worked to our advantage. If we keep our mouths shut, we can at least avoid getting handcuffed. But it does mean the money we had saved up is all gone!!”

Even when left on a tropical island to do nothing but rot, they ended up causing their own trouble.

Even when forced to carry out suicide missions in the Arctic, they ended up surviving and spreading problems everywhere.

And so it seemed Quenser and Heivia were too much for the higher ups to handle. They had the feeling that they were well on their way to getting a gift of a bullet to the head along with a fake report that they resisted during the inquiry.

They could no longer fight it.

They could only obediently perform the simple work they were given while under the direct surveillance of the government.

That was more or less what was behind the decision to send them to the “relatively safe” battlefield of the Amazon district. Even if the local delinquents spat on them, they could only smile and pull out a handkerchief. If they didn’t, they would be shot. That was made abundantly clear even if it was never stated.

Heivia leaned against the fence and looked around in annoyance.

“Those Black Uniforms are as diligent as ever. I can’t believe anyone would actually wear a pure black uniform in this heat. Are they trying to show off their usefulness at the end of the fiscal year?”

“What are the Black Uniforms?”

“Didn’t I explain this to you already? They’re an independent division that specializes in investigating crimes committed by soldiers on the battlefield. Simply put, they’re a unit that shoots people from their own country. Any obstruction to their investigation will be met with gunfire. And they will often aim in the complete wrong direction.”

“…So are they like our natural enemy?”

“Don’t be stupid. Right now, everyone is our enemy. At any rate, just do as you’re told. Don’t crack any jokes. They have no sense of humor, so they could very well shoot you over it.”

“I wonder if I could get off the hook since I’m a student rather than a soldier.”

“If that’s supposed to be a joke, I’ll shoot you for them.”

The issue of jurisdiction actually was quite tricky, but Heivia kept silent about that. It did him no good to let Quenser get excited all on his own.

But trouble had a way of appearing on its own when one most wanted things to go smoothly.

This time, it began with a large envelope meant to hold documents.

More accurately, it was the Latin man holding it.

“Hey, hey. So you two are the rumored Dragon Killers. I came to give you a warm welcome as a fan. This is filled with documents on Unicorn, that unit you have been having so much trouble with.”

“…No thanks. We don’t have any money.”

“That’s fine. Just take it. I am not asking for money. I said I was a fan, remember?”

The Latin soldier forced the envelope into Quenser’s hands and quickly left.

“What are we supposed to do with this?” asked Quenser.

“Don’t ask me. Don’t look at me either. The Black Uniforms are already glaring this way thanks to your irregular actions. You can get yourself shot if you want, but don’t drag me into it,” whispered the complete chicken that was Heivia.

Quenser sighed and flipped over the large envelope. He spotted a handwritten note on the edge.

“Hurry up and get shot, you traitorous motherfucker.”

Quenser looked back towards the Latin soldier in time to see the man blatantly raise his middle finger.

“Isn’t this wonderful? It’s like a prison welcome party,” said Quenser so cheerfully it sounded as if he was about to begin humming.

In exasperation, Heivia said, “You’re like the prime example of a dumbass.”

“This entire naval base is filled with honor students of the worst kind. They won’t allow you to step out of line in the slightest. And from what I hear from the rumors spreading over the internet, they attack without restraint once someone or something has been deemed evil. When they shoot an innocent person, they have no problem insisting they were a victim as well since they were led astray by the provided intelligence.”

It seemed the people of the naval base were hoping Quenser and Heivia would risk their lives by acting as comedians to the Black Uniforms. Basically, they had no problem with an “accident” occurring.

Quenser clicked his tongue and opened the envelope.

Looking puzzled, Heivia said, “You’re really opening it? That can only invite trouble. And I highly doubt it has any useful information inside.”

“The trouble began from the moment it was handed to us. See how that scary lady is glaring at us?”

“What if there’s a bomb inside?”

“If it’s a bomb, I’ll have to examine the contents carefully.”

Luckily, it contained nothing but documents.

Several areas were covered up in black, but it was properly formatted.

“Let’s see, let’s see, um… Wait a second. What’s that smell? I’m trying to concentrate, but it’s growing stronger.”

“Trash. It’s coming from the piles of trash. It’s overflowing into the roads and walking paths. The wind is sending the smell right to us. I hear they throw out everything from bundles of old magazines to politicians’ mistresses. Some idiots go around collecting the working appliances, so some people mistakenly assume they’ll pick up any kind of trash. That’s why it’s absolutely everywhere.”

“Do they recycle the politicians’ mistresses, too?”

“Get back to concentrating.”

“…This is a bit too much to read through out of curiosity. If only they had a girl write her email address on the edge of each page.”

Quenser began reading through the documents while grumbling.

''The 202nd Mobile Support Company aka Unicorn. Their primary role is to hide within a battlefield and destroy the enemy Object’s maintenance base’s transport vehicles and the routes for those vehicles. Simply put, they stealthily sabotage the support for the enemy Object.

''However, it seems the true purpose behind hiding within the battlefields is to create points of contact with the Information Alliance, the Capitalist Corporations, the Faith Organization, and even local guerrillas and terrorist groups that are not affiliated with any world power.

''In other words, they carry out prior consultations to avoid a long, drawn out war.

''They use tricks behind the scenes to rig the outcomes of the clean wars.

“What do you think?”

“Nothing much. This is exactly like the sort of conspiracies you see on the two hour end-of-the-year TV specials.”

''When they attack the base of some local guerrillas, they then sell the old-style weapons found there to a different local terrorist group. They launder money given to them by the Faith Organization and pass it on to the Capitalist Corporations. They assassinate a local influential figure and use the chaos to get hired as bodyguards for another influential figure.

''However, these sorts of activities are also often carried out on official missions by the intelligence department.

''The problem is that their actions leave the control of the higher ups in the military once they are hidden in the battlefield.

Quenser frowned as he flipped through the report.

“What is it, Quenser?”

“What is Rank 3?”

“The risk level for dangerous elements that have an exceedingly high possibility of using biological or chemical weapons. Why?”

''Unicorn’s main force is officially made up of around 200 members, but it is unknown how far their force spreads when their connections with other world powers are included. And all of those they have a cooperative relationship with help support the rigged battles by carrying out dirty jobs.

''Unicorn’s ultimate objective is unclear, but if they truly are creating a network outside the influence of the higher ups of the military, there is a large risk of our Objects being destroyed or damaged by enemy Objects due to information being leaked.

''The tactical risk reaches Rank 3.

''We must immediately look into whether they are even truly a part of the Legitimacy Kingdom.

Quenser clicked his tongue and pulled a lighter out of his survival kit.

Heivia saw him set fire to the documents and asked, “So what did you find out?”

“Nothing much. Although it seemed more credible than the idea of making burgers out of earthworms. But it was given to us primarily to cause trouble, so I have no idea how much of it was true.”

“You sure have grown up.”

“If some earth-shattering conspiracy could be found on a document someone hands you for nothing in return, we could solve it all by handing the document over to the Black Uniforms. What a pain in the ass. Why would we jump at this obvious bait?”

As he spoke, Quenser let go of the burning envelope. He did not even look down as the bundle of documents fell to the ground. Their goal was clear. All they needed to do was work through their disciplinary period and return to the 37th Mobile Maintenance Battalion. And so they would patrol the area around the naval base according to their time table, keep their appearance impeccable, and put on a huge smile and approach any elderly locals needing directions. They could only put up with it while reminding themselves it was better than being a fast food worker who had to bow down to a horribly gourmet customer who was expecting the flavor of a noble-only salon out of the fast food restaurant’s 1 euro coffee.

But reality was not so kind.

Half of the trouble in the world came uninvited.

This time, the air-raid siren sounded.

By the time the deep electronic tone began blaring around the naval base, the situation was already underway.

The interceptors waiting by the runway could not be scrambled in time. Several small shadows passed overhead and into the air above the naval base.

When he saw something long and narrow leave one of the wings, Quenser shouted out while still looking up into the air.

“What!? Why didn’t the radar catch them!?”

“You idiot!! If you have time to complain, get down!!”

Immediately after Heivia tackled Quenser to the ground, the long and narrow items accurately struck the naval base’s buildings.

Great roars, shockwaves, and explosive blasts.

Those were what stabbed into their eardrums, squeezed their insides, and sent a fear of death stabbing into the two boys even from several hundred meters away. Quenser’s heart rate shot up and an unpleasant sweat flowed from his body.

“An aerial bombing? What happened to the clean wars filled with Objects and anti-air lasers!? The airport has lost almost all functionality, hasn’t it!?”

“Those are known as Apoptosis UAVs. They’re ground attack UAVs developed by the Faith Organization.” Heivia rolled off of and away from Quenser. “They were an option for a submarine aircraft carrier project they really seemed to love.
They’re unmanned attack craft made as small and light as possible. However, the actual aircraft carrier was too big. It disturbed the ocean too much as it moved, so it could be detected right away. I thought the project had been frozen. …Then again, it’s also said some high military official who wanted to keep Objects as the primary weapons found unneeded fault with it.”

“Then what are those? They weren’t fired from the bottom of the ocean, right!?”

“Development of the Apoptosis itself was a success. As I said, they’re small and light. That makes them perfect to carry around while keeping them hidden. To make up for the debt of that failed project, the Faith Organization was selling them to anyone who would pay. These days, they’re seen as the symbol of terrorism.”

They heard gunfire coming from within the airport’s grounds. Heivia continued his explanation as the sounds of the counterattack continued.

“With additional booster and launcher equipment, they can be fired vertically. They probably took off from a line a few hundred meters away but within the naval base’s defensive line. That’s why the early warning radar didn’t catch them in time.”

“Hey, wait a second. Why are they firing their assault rifles?”

“There’s no way they’ll hit. They’re probably just panicking.”

“Then why are some of them aiming this way!?”

“God dammit!! Are they blaming us again!? Do they think we’re remotely controlling these toys!? Ahh, it’s that damn Latin guy. He’s staring down the sights with a look that says ‘I’m an honor student’!!”

Quenser and Heivia frantically ran away from the fence and dove behind a pile of trash by the side of a civilian road.

The stench made Quenser grimace.

“I feel like I sold my pride to buy my life…”

“And why is this pile repelling rifle bullets? I thought those rifles could shoot through one side of a car and out the other.”

“I guess bundles of old magazines and old appliances are just that great.”

Suddenly, Quenser felt a small vibration in his pocket.

He pulled out his handheld device and said, “Oh, I’ve received something.”

“Is it a satellite image!? If we could see the distribution of the enemy controlling the UAVs…!!”

“No, it’s just emails from both the marriage scam artist Genelia and the Perfect Idol.”

“Both of those are lovely jobs filled with dreams!! But they are completely useless right now! And when the hell did you exchange email addresses with them!?”

“Oh, wait a second…When the Perfect Idol gets out of her powered suit…Ohh! Those tits!”

“Wait, what!? What are you talking about!? Did it come with an attachment!?”

Heivia suddenly turned his attention towards the device, but then some new explosions occurred in midair. The two boys ducked down and checked on the situation from next to the pile of trash.

The soldiers of the naval base had recovered from the first wave of attacks. The remaining anti-air weapons began firing back at the Apoptosis UAVs with missiles and autocannon fire.

They were helped by the fact that the UAVs were equipped with propeller engines that focused on flight time rather than jet engines that focused on speed.

The UAVs were too slow in taking evasive actions. The blasts and fragments from a surface-to-air missile ate into one UAV’s main wings and body. The Apoptosis lost its balance and crashed into the middle of the naval base while trailing black smoke.

“Oh!”

“Idiot!! This is where things get bad!!’

Quenser had started to poke his head out from behind the pile of trash, but Heivia grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him back.

In the next moment, a brilliant flash of light and deafening explosive roar swept over the area.

The pile of trash turned into a black silhouette and everything else was dyed white.

A stinging pain spread across all of their skin as if they had sat right next to a heater for a long period of time.

Quenser tried to take in a breath, but Heivia covered his mouth.

If he had breathed in, the inside of his body could have been horribly burned.

After a few dozen seconds had passed, Quenser was finally allowed to breathe once more.

“What…? What the hell was that!?”

“It’s the same principle as a thermobaric bomb. They’re unmanned attack crafts, remember? When they are unable to continue flying, they chemically scatter their fuel around the nearby area and then ignite it. That way, they can take out the enemy craft that shot them down or do damage to a target facility on the ground. That’s the reason the UAVs are named after a form of suicide.”

“A thermobaric bomb? Then shouldn’t we have ended up as a part of the pile of trash?”

“They aren’t using a combustion agent meant for bombs. All they do is scatter their leftover fuel. At best, its range is about 200 meters around them, but the power goes down depending on how much they have left in their tank.”

“Not good… The remaining UAVs are falling towards the naval base!”

“I guess that first one was enough to take out the rest of the Apoptosis UAVs. Don’t go out from behind cover! Get down and hold your breath!!”

Seven more impromptu thermobaric bombs were set off.

The pure white explosions robbed the naval base of all of its primary functions.

Quenser was thrown into a vortex of explosive roars. He felt a pain like he had been stuffed inside a metal drum that was then beat from the outside with metal bats. For a while, he was not even sure if he was lying face down or face up.

“I’m gonna die…I’m really gonna die, dammit! Why haven’t I died yet after all this!? I’m fucking amazing!!”

“Don’t get too excited, lucky boy. There’s more coming!!”

Quenser heard the sound of rifles being fired. Quenser wondered why they would be firing since all of the Apoptosis UAVs had detonated, but that was not the target.

On the southern side of the naval base, a few dozen men in military uniforms were walking over the fence that had been knocked down in the repeated explosions. They were charging into the naval base.

The machine guns on armored vehicles with all their wheels destroyed and other weapons were being used in an attempt to drive back those enemy soldiers, but it was unclear how long that would last.

And the request for backup came over the radio just as Quenser had expected.

It was from the Latin soldier from before.

“We must stop the enemy soldiers from infiltrating from the south. All soldiers able are to find a firearm and gather there! The third armory is half destroyed, but its contents are still usable!!”

“Is the only thing he’s good at forcing others to clean up shit? What should we do, Heivia!?”

“Leave him be. I’m not gonna listen to the selfish demands of some honor student.”

Quenser stopped moving when he heard that response.

He blinked a few times and asked again.

“…Seriously? You’re going to let him die because he treated us unfairly?”

“That’s not what I’m doing. What proof do we have that there are no more Apoptosis UAVs? Look to the north and west. Something like contrails are heading straight up from the ground about 500 meters away. Those are from the boosters that launch the Apoptosis UAVs vertically. If we don’t take care of those launchers, a second wave will be set up. If they’re launched, the naval base won’t last.” Heivia pointed alternatively at the contrails in two different directions. “This port is a military facility. It has a lot of underground areas protected by thick concrete. There won’t be as many casualties as the visual damage suggests. But those areas aren’t absolutely safe. If those thermobaric bombs attack again and again, the survivors will be buried under rubble.”

“…Should we head to the north or the west?”

“It’s the same either way. Come with me.”

Heivia tossed Quenser the military handgun he used as a sidearm and they began their attack with the west.

Five hundred meters was in range of an assault rifle, but the path there was too cluttered. It had apparently originally been a road with a tidy row of office buildings, but so many barracks had been added that they covered up both the sidewalk and road. Plus, the various piles of trash filled the narrow path further. Only a small path remained. There was too much blocking the line of fire.

“Let’s head forward alongside all these piles of trash. If we run into enemy soldiers, they’ll be able to fire through the barracks.”

It seemed ridiculous to think of trash as tougher than building walls, but it was the truth.

“So who do you think this enemy is? The Faith Organization?”

“I said the Apoptosis UAVs were sold to acquire foreign currency, remember? There’s no way to know at this stage. This is the Amazon district after all. If you head north up the ocean, you find yourself at the home countries of the Information Alliance and the Capitalist Corporations. This is an important place because it acts as a relay base for Objects. There are plenty of places that want to attack it.”

But there was no way to hide the launchers.

After all, the UAVs had to be launched into the sky like rockets. They might have been able to hide them before firing, but there was nothing they could do afterwards. Most of the attention had turned in the direction of the explosions in the naval base, but a few of the waves of confusion had turned in the direction of the launchers. Several gazes mixed in with the panicked and fleeing people had turned towards the launchers as if surrounding them from afar.

“That’s it,” said Heivia once they had approached to 200 meters away. “They’ve forcibly attached a launcher onto the back of that large truck. That thing held by the crane is a set of four Apoptosis UAVs. It can be hard to tell with their wings folded up like that.”

“Let’s finish this before they can set them up. How many enemies are there?”

“Ten from what I can see. And there might be some more mixed in with the crowd over-…”

Before Heivia could finish speaking, the two boys heard a small metallic noise.

It was the sound of a man in a military uniform hiding behind a barracks 5 meters away switching off the safety on his submachine gun.

“!?”

Quenser immediately tried to bring up the military handgun he was not used to using, but Heivia moved more quickly. He pulled out the large knife on his waist and threw it.

The large blade stabbed deeply into the man’s throat and he collapsed to the ground without being able to cry out properly.

Heivia approached the corpse to retrieve the knife.

“Don’t make any noise, idiot. We can be flashier once we get another 50 meters closer.”

“…Did they teach you that at military school?”

“No, you can’t always follow the textbooks. When it’s this heavy, you have to use it like a throwing axe. Otherwise the rotation of the blade stabilizes it and it won’t stab in very well.”

Another enemy soldier spotted them while Heivia got carried away with his commentary.

The two idiots frantically dove behind a pile of trash just as the first gunshot rang out. The tremendous noise of other guns firing joined in afterwards.

“I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die!!”

“Actually, it is strange we’re still alive with how much they’re shooting! Are they even aiming!? Don’t tell me they’re just panicking!”

But no matter the intention behind it, a fired bullet was still deadly. And they were at an overwhelming disadvantage when it came to numbers. Just poking their heads out from behind cover could easily get them killed by a storm of bullets.

“They stink of amateurs. What should we do, Quenser!?”

“I’m an amateur too, so don’t ask me! By the way, do you think all the people of the city have escaped yet?”

“This is a battlefield country. They’ll definitely have enough crisis management ability to run away when they hear this much gunfire!!”

“Then take out your shoulder-fired anti-tank missile.” Quenser tapped Heivia’s shoulder to gather his attention and then pointed at the distant launcher vehicle. “Shoot the Apoptosis UAVs still hanging from that crane. They’re filled with jet fuel, right? That’ll blow all these soldiers away.”

“That’s just wrong.”

“They’re the ones that attacked our base using that. They can’t complain.”

Heivia removed the safety pin from the missile hanging from his shoulder while Quenser tried to provide covering fire with the military handgun he held in both hands.

But he clearly failed.

“Ow!? That almost ripped my wrists off! Why do you use such a pointlessly huge handgun!? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of a sidearm!?”

“It’s 50 caliber. A man’s gotta have a big gun!”

“Not even a human skull is this hard…”

“Outta the way. The missile’s ready! It’s time for a fun campfire!!”

“Kyahh! You’re so cool, Heivia!!”

“Time to dance, you assholes!!”

With the missile launcher resting on his shoulder, Heivia used the sensors to aim and unhesitatingly pulled the trigger.

It launched with a sound more like compressed gas being released than an explosion.

It shot down the narrow path between barracks, passed straight over the launcher vehicle, and struck the set of four Apoptosis UAVs hanging down from the crane.

The explosive roar disappeared.

It was blotted out by the flash of light.

Quenser and Heivia were knocked over backwards by the side effects of the explosion they themselves had created and the pile of trash they had been using as a shield began to crumble. They frantically rolled out of the way, but then the wall of one of the worn-down barracks began falling towards them.

“Why is it that I’m not expecting to get any praise for this victory!?”

“Just be grateful we won!!”

The diagonal barracks wall got caught on the barracks on the opposite side of the narrow road. The two idiots crawled through the gap this left and somehow managed to survive unscathed.

“Quenser, Quenser. Get your handgun ready!”

“?”

“Most of them were turned into pillars of fire, but the survivors have begun to retreat. If we don’t take at least a few of them alive, we won’t know who’s behind this!!”

“Then you focus on that, Heivia!”

“What are you gonna do!?”

“Look. There are still a few sets of four Apoptosis UAVs left. There’s another launcher up north, right? Let’s fire them and bomb the other launcher. If we don’t, the naval base is done for!!”

===Part 4===

Sogia of Unicorn checked on the situation with binoculars while intercepting the cheap radio encryption the local terrorist group was using.

He scratched at the scar encircling his neck.

“What’s going on?”

“The western launcher is almost entirely taken out. The northern one is currently being bombed by a stolen Apoptosis,” replied Sanya. “The ones who charged into the naval base are being pushed back due to air support being so late. A lot of the terrorist group’s remaining force has given up and started to retreat.”

“What are they using for a vehicle?”

“When the one they came here on was destroyed, I told them to use the one we had hidden. The vehicle has a bomb underneath and the fuel tank has also been rigged in case the bomb does not go off.”

“Ugh,” said Mars in displeasure.

Sogia ignored him and said, “We have no more need of the terrorist group, so take care of them. And do it once they’ve gotten onto a main road and are unlikely to get out of the vehicle.”

“Sir, yes, sir,” said Sanya in a mocking manner as she checked the location of the GPS tracking device on her tablet device.

As Sanya took human lives with a single finger, Flat let out a timid voice.

“Will the lieutenant general be happy about this?”

“He’ll make sure he looks troubled by it. But he’ll definitely be smiling inwardly. He is the kind of villain that joins hands with Unicorn after all,” replied Sogia offhandedly before pointing his thick finger at Mars. “Now, it’s time to get to work. If things are going as planned, the pumpkin carriage’s route will change. We’re about to get very busy. We all need to work hard to make up for Sanya who is busy cleaning up trash.”

===Part 5===

“Hey, baby. How long are you going to keep crying? It’s about time you smiled.”

The one who had told her that was gone.

The owner of the unrefined hand that had rubbed her head was gone.

Yulenzak had been lost in a South American desert along with many other soldiers.

And she had stopped hoping for anything from anyone else.

That was why she had prepared herself somewhere inside for this to happen.

“Our route has changed,” said the female servant in a maid uniform driving the high class vehicle.

With no change of expression, the girl of about 14 asked, “Why?”

“Additional risks to your safety necessitated the change.”

From what she had heard, it was only another 10 minutes to the nearest military facility. She had only been able to somehow withstand the hellish flight because the goal was so close. But once it came down to it, this happened. The safe zone had been stolen from right before her eyes. She had no idea if her life would last long enough to reach the next goal point. In fact, she had no idea if that goal would be safe even if she could reach it.

She had originally been protected by a large scale convoy, but now this one vehicle was all that remained.

This was not because their numbers had been worn down by external enemy attacks.

As if it had been arranged ahead of time, the soldiers who were supposed to protect her had begun attacking her. If the high class vehicle had not been bulletproof, it would have been turned to Swiss cheese and burst into flames.

When she thought about it, she had been wrapped up in all sorts of political strife in the past as well.

But this was different. It had long since crossed a certain line. There was likely no hope for her. Her heart had been completely hardened by the malice sprayed at it 24/7, so she was horribly calm as she predicted that truth.

After breathing a quiet sigh, she said, “You do not need to stay with me any longer. You may leave if you wish.”

“I am doing this because I wish to. I am not being coerced into it.”

“Then I command you: leave me.”

“Then I will be forced to ensure your survival to atone for the crime of disobeying you.”

A shadow shot by above the high class vehicle.

In the next instant, something long and narrow stabbed into a building in front of them and the wall exploded. It was an air-to-surface missile fired by a UAV. When she saw large quantities of rubble pouring down, the maid frantically hit the brakes. The black vehicle slid to a stop just in front of the pile of rubble. A second wave of falling rubble spread out as if chasing the vehicle which backed up quickly enough for the tires to screech.

The hurried backing up caused the back of the high class vehicle to slam into a streetlight.

The maid unlocked the back door and jumped out of the driver’s seat. She opened the back door and dragged out the girl.

“An automobile cannot outrun air-to-surface missiles. We must head through the narrow alleyways on foot!”

The girl moved her feet while being pulled by the hand, but she had a guess where they were headed.

They were being guided.

The naval port they had been headed to before the change of route had been their final safe area. Now that they could no longer use it, their possible goal points were limited.

This was the moment.

She could not keep the maid involved any longer. There was no point in it.

So she said, “I can manage on my own from here on out. You flee on your own.”

“Do not be silly.”

“Then let me ask: where are we headed?”

The maid did not reply.

A slight bit more strength entered the hand holding the girl’s hand.

“By any chance is it the Lexpop rental float…or rather, its ruins?”

“…”

“We are simply being led along the route they want. In that case, there is no need for you to go to so much effort. Even if I am alone, I will be led along the same route.”

“…Even so, it is my pride to protect the royal bloodline.”

There had been a time when the girl had been given hope by such comments.

She had depended on them, snuggled up to them, and trusted in them.

But then the White Bears of the Legitimacy Kingdom’s 115th Private Royal Guard Company had been wiped out.

Those vulgar jokes…

And that large hand that had rubbed her head…

They had all disappeared. It had been such a disaster that the bodies were completely unrecoverable.

It was only after it was all over that the girl had learned that they had thrown themselves into such danger again and again to protect her from all sorts of political strife.

And…

The girl had given up on having hope in anyone or anything.

She felt she had no other choice.

===Part 6===

The mopping up of the terrorists was mostly complete, so Quenser tossed aside the tablet device he had used to control the Apoptosis UAV.

Heivia was returning from a distance.

For some reason, he was covered in mud.

“Did you have a sports festival or something?”

“I had no luck. I was chasing after the fleeing terrorists’ vehicle, but it suddenly blew up. The others in the group might have been cutting their losses like a lizard’s tail.”

“Well, that was blatant.”

“Yeah, it was like the whole thing was plastered with stickers announcing their group was backed by someone else.”

However, it was not Quenser and Heivia’s job to sit in the strategy room and push pieces across a large map. They were curious about the identity and scale of their opponent, but it was nothing more than curiosity. Whoever their enemy might be, what they had to do was the same.

In other words…

“Well, we finished blowing up the terrorists. Now we have nothing to do.”

“You’re saying we should head back to all the honor students in that naval base? And end up running around in pace with all of them? I don’t think so. This confusion will keep them from confirming things are safe at least for a while. Since we’re out here in the market, how about we get something to eat at a stand?”

“Things aren’t exactly calm here either. There was that firefight and explosion, remember? All of the townspeople are gone.”

“We can just leave the money on the counter.”

“What’s the traditional food in the Amazon district?’

“It’ll at least be something we can eat. It won’t violate the Washington Convention.”

After saying that, the two cowards decide not to be adventurous and bought (without permission) some fried chicken they could have gotten anywhere. As he tore into the chicken while leaning against the stand made from a small modified truck, Quenser finally felt his stiffened cheek returning to normal.

“Ahh, ahh. Cheap food like this is so damn good. We really are gourmets.”

“Hey, Quenser, can we drink 0% beer while on duty? It doesn’t have any alcohol.”

“We’re already breaking regulations with this fried chicken.”

As they chatted, an annoying voice came in over their radios.

“All available soldiers are to head to runway 3. We will reorganize the units. All who are not injured or aiding the injured are to hurry to runway 3!”

“It’s that Latin guy again.”

“So that grades-obsessed bastard survived. Maybe we should have used the confusion to fire a bullet towards the naval base too.”

What they were saying was horrible, but it was nothing but talk. The ones who had actually silently fired at their own side during the attack had been the men from the naval base. That would normally warrant a court martial, but there would be no proper witnesses due to the confusion and the others from the base would likely cover for their comrades.

“Lieutenant Colonel Camellia is injured, but I have instructions from her. A yellow label is underway here. I repeat, a yellow label. Normally, only officers have clearance to know this, but the only way to continue the mission is to reveal it,” continued the transmission.

“What’s a yellow label?” asked Quenser.

“A real bitch of a job,” replied Heivia. “It’s a mission for an embassy, consulate, or military facility to shelter a VIP who is being pursued for some reason or another.”

“The transmission went on to say, “Due to the damage we have taken, we are unable to defend the VIP here. But the yellow label is still in place. We must rendezvous with the VIP and protect her as she heads to a secondary candidate for a base. Anyone who can move must work. Once the units have been reorganized, we will head out to recover the yellow label! If we allow the defenseless Staivia Nikolaschka to be abducted by local terrorists or the local mafia, our names will go down in history as the ones who let it happen!!”

“…Nikolaschka?”

A bit of seriousness mixed in with Heivia’s joking tone.

Looking confused, Quenser asked, “What is it? Is it a name you recognize from your noble evening parties?”

“You idiot! This goes higher than that. She’s way higher than me! Nikolaschka is the royal family of the Volga district! Staivia is the youngest princess, but she’s said to be one of the most influential candidates in the conflict over who inherits the throne. Normally, she would be surrounded by bodyguards every moment of her life! In the Volga district, the next heir is decided 30 years after the queen’s enthronement, so this is when her value is at its highest!!”

“Is she a beautiful woman?”

“Given her age, you’d have to call her a beautiful girl.”

And that was enough to give them motivation.

Quenser casually tossed aside the bone to his fried chicken and restarted the conversation.

“So the naval base was attacked to alter the route of this sheltered Staivia girl?”

“Looks that way. Whoever it was using those terrorists as disposable pawns is probably planning to try something along this new route of hers, don’t you think?”

They had no idea why one of the royals who stood at the top of the Legitimacy Kingdom would be wandering around this area, but it would be a once-in-a-lifetime chance for those who wanted to use her. There would be plenty of people wanting to abduct her for the sake of money even if they had no direct grudge against her.

…Or so it seemed.

“Hey, what do you even do if you abduct a royal?” asked Quenser, a commoner, with a frown. “It’s just too rare a situation. It would be like when people steal a Van Gogh or Picasso and have trouble selling it afterwards, right? And if they tried to make threats while using the princess as a shield, it would be dealt as a threat to the dignity of the royal family and the Legitimacy Kingdom as a whole, right? A power on an entirely different dimension from family bonds would make her family try to slaughter all of the abductors even if it meant sacrificing the princess. …Her family would be looked down on otherwise. It could act as a spark that incites conflict among the influential royals.”

In the Legitimacy Kingdom, the purpose of abductions was usually to get at the wealth of commoners. If someone noble was abducted, the abductor would meet overwhelming resistance thanks to the noble’s money, influence, and connections. And if someone went after a royal that was even higher than a noble, they would lose any chance to turn back.

Even if they fled to another world power like the Information Alliance or Capitalist Corporations, various diplomatic methods would be used to have them sent back to the Legitimacy Kingdom. And if those failed, an assassination team would be sent in.

As a noble, Heivia was more familiar with all that than Quenser who was only a commoner, but Heivia shook his head.

“The situation is different for Staivia Nikolaschka.”

“?”

“The Volga district is in the top 10 of Eastern Europe when it comes to issues regarding the heir to the throne. It wouldn’t be surprising if the faction supporting her opposing candidate or a force wanting to sell her to that faction is trying to crush Staivia.”

“…Is it really bad enough to warrant military involvement?”

“The other candidate has a reason to rush things. According to rumor at least.” Heivia leaned up against the wall of the fried chicken stand. “Dimiksy Nikolaschka. He’s over 30. If you just go to any salon, you can hear more rumors than you want about how he’s killed at least two other candidates. Then again, Dimiksy is at the top of the list due to his age. And not just compared to Staivia. He’s the oldest of any of the candidates.”

“Then wouldn’t Dimiksy be first in line for the throne? I guess I have heard of the order getting changed if the primary candidate has a congenital disease or is likely to die before too long.”

It was not rare for the rights of the one who stood at the top of a nation to be taken away by a third party if their ability to rule was threatened by physical or mental issues.

And since the Legitimacy Kingdom gave bloodline more weight than anything, they had a custom of avoiding adding any genetic risks into the royal bloodline.

But…

“Dimiksy Nikolaschka’s issue is nothing on that level.”

“Then why change the order of succession? If he has to get rid of several other candidates, he must have ended up fairly low on the list.”

“The Volga district’s queen is said to be wise, talented, and skilled at both military and political matters, but she does have her faults. That queen is known as the Goddess of Moscow, but her ability to choose men is bad enough to go down in history.”

“…So her husband cheated on her?”

“Officially, Dimiksy was said to be birthed by a surrogate mother, but the theory that he is a bastard child from a mistress is pretty likely. One writer who tried to investigate it ended up drowned in a river. In the Legitimacy Kingdom, bloodline is everything. The royal bloodline of the Volga district comes from the queen. If Dimiksy really is a bastard, it means he does not contain a single drop of royal blood.”

If that was true, Dimiksy Nikolaschka would not just be low on the order of succession, but he would have no right to the throne at all.

If he still planned to inherit the throne of the Volga district, the options left to him were limited.

He had to murder all of the other candidates.

The suspicion was a problem, but it was better than having the royal bloodline come to an end. No matter how suspect Dimiksy might be, those around him would be forced to give him the throne.

[[Image:HO_v06_12.jpg|thumb]]

“But the Legitimacy Kingdom has the Lineage Department, right? When he inherits the throne, they’ll definitely do a DNA test. No matter what Dimiksy does, he’s done for as soon as his DNA doesn’t match up, right?”

“If the Lineage Department does its job properly,” replied Heivia so quickly and readily that he had to have been expecting that question. “The Lineage Department is officially cut off from politics. Otherwise, nobles and royals would be unable to use them to mediate family turmoil. …But the top executives in the Lineage Department are filled with people from the tutoring organization that works for the royal families. In other words, they were given their jobs there.”

“You don’t mean…”

“A royal will give a group of several dozen tutors to a single child. And for a few years now, the top executive positions have been filled one after another with people with a connection to Dimiksy. He has a majority. It wouldn’t be hard for him to have a record or two swapped out.”

Dimiksy Nikolaschka was suspected to be attempting to take the throne of the Volga district on false pretenses.

It was possible he was trying to drive the proper heir, Staivia, off of the stage so that he could fulfill that ambition.

Which meant the purpose behind Dimiksy’s faction using terrorists to attack the naval base to alter Princess Staivia’s escape route was not to abduct her. It was to assassinate her.

“That’s horrible. The family has so much power and yet they start killing each other.”

“What are you saying? It’s just your standard fight over inheritance.”

“…Oh, I see. So nobles are insane, too. We commoners will never understand any of this,” spat out Quenser offhandedly. “But this is a conflict between royals, right? Wouldn’t a clash between their direct royal guard units be enough to cause a war? And if they use their political power, they can probably get Objects brought in…”

“Staivia is a solitary princess. Unlike the other royals, she does not have a direct royal guard unit. Although it seems she used to.”

“…?”

“The Legitimacy Kingdom’s 115th Private Royal Guard Company. Also known as the White Bears. They were the unit that acted as the princess’s shield. Three years ago, they were wiped out in a surprise attack by the Information Alliance during a military exercise. …And it seems they were forced to take part in that military exercise. I’ve heard talk that Dimiksy’s faction was behind it.”

“In other words, there’s no proof the soldiers wearing Information Alliance uniforms were actually from the Information Alliance, hm?”

If someone was killed in a safe country, it was a major incident. But things were different in a battlefield country. Even if 100 or 200 people were killed, it would be compressed to nothing more than a small article crammed into the corner of the newspaper. …After all, this was an age when small-scale wars were constantly occurring all over the world.

That had been a careful slaughter carried out simply to wear down the power of a political enemy.

“And rumor has it a newly formed unit began hanging around Dimiksy at the same time. Supposedly they passed some entrance exam and succeeded in gaining Dimiksy’s favor. But…” Heivia used his thumb to make a slicing gesture across his throat. “That unit was the 202nd Mobile Support Company…aka Unicorn. And that’s the deed that towers above all the other horrible things they’re rumored to have done.”

===Part 7===

“I hate this feeling,” muttered Sogia, the large man from Unicorn, as he lit the cigar in his mouth while standing at an elevated area a slight distance from the village. “I hate this damp feeling. It reminds me of a desert oasis.”

Hearing that, a cynical smile appeared on the face of Sanya, the female member, as she leaned up against the back of the truck.

“No matter what it reminded you of, it would leave a bad taste in your mouth, right?”

“I suppose that’s true.”

The young man named Mars who had been monitoring the intercepted radio transmissions suddenly called out to Sogia.

“Not good, not good. The naval base is getting back on its feet quicker than expected. If they reorganize their units this quickly, the base could regain functionality. And if the base is able to take care of the yellow label here, the ‘little bird’ we took so much effort to send the other way will turn back and enter its cage here.”

“Wh-what should we do?” asked Flat hesitantly.

Mars pointed at the back of the truck Sanya was leaning up against.

“How about we use her collection? If we put on Information Alliance or Faith Organization uniforms and fire a rocket, we can take them all out at once. They’re all lined up on an open runway to confirm who’s survived.”

Sanya was jokingly called a cosplay enthusiast. She collected uniforms and equipment of the main world powers of the Legitimacy Kingdom, Information Alliance, Capitalist Corporations, and Faith Organization and even of local guerrillas and terrorists.

Unicorn would wear multiple uniforms on the same battlefield and carry out subversive activities to spread great confusion through the battlefield. They would wear Information Alliance uniforms and attack a Capitalist Corporations unit. Before the blood had even dried, they would change into Capitalist Corporations uniforms and attack a Faith Organization unit. They would send out a Faith Organization SOS signal, slaughter the recovery unit that arrived, and use the unit’s transport helicopter to safely escape the battlefield.

For a small number of elite soldiers to interfere with the great flow of a war and yet safely survive, dirty methods were needed to fill the gap in military strength that could never be overcome with standard methods. And of course, those sorts of methods were Unicorn’s specialty.

But…

“That kind of defeats the purpose of using the local terrorists in the first place. The first shot might be a success, but if the battle continued, we would be outnumbered. With that many in this situation, just the four of us isn’t enough,” said Sogia casually while he puffed out some smoke. “Really, we don’t need to think about this too much. Their attempt to reorganize will definitely fail. Even if they gather up personnel and weapons, they’ll get into an argument over who takes command with all of their higher ranking officers dead. …There are different factions even in a single unit. Even if they all know they need to hurry, human greed cannot be completely eliminated.”

While still leaning against the back of the truck, Sanya glared at Mars.

She quickly said, “Damn newcomer.”

“Can you please stop treating me like a newcomer!? It’s been 3 years since I joined the unit!”

“You’ll continue being a rookie for as many years as it takes for you to finally start learning from your mistakes, Mars. Oh, and Sanya, bring out the uniforms in your collection for Flightburg Air Force Base.”

“Flightburg?”

Mars frowned, but Sogia grabbed his lit cigar between his fingers and pointed up into the air with the glowing orange tip.

“We have a black high class vehicle of our own coming to pick us up. We need to make sure we don’t violate the dress code.”

A jet black transport helicopter designed with stealth in mind was approaching. The specific model was used to airdrop paid killers more often than it was to transport cargo. The large craft with two rotors began flying in a light circle around Sogia and the others. Once it detected the ultraviolet marker Flat had set up, it slowly descended.

An older man wearing sunglasses and a deep gray beret stepped off of the helicopter while protected by several bodyguards. His rank was colonel, but he had fewer medals on his chest than the average for that rank.

Sogia saluted, but it seemed like he was mocking the man since the cigar was still in his mouth.

“Hey there, Colonel Marechiare. I didn’t expect someone of your standing to come out to greet us.”

“Do you mind if I take one?”

“As long as you’re fine with the cheap cigars of unknown make you can find all over the marketplace.”

“I’m in the mood for some cheap drinks.”

Sogia handed Marechiare a cigar and the older man held it between his teeth and between his index finger and middle finger. One of Marechiare’s bodyguards held a light out for the colonel before Sogia could hold out his own lighter.

Marechiare lightly puffed on the cigar and the wrinkles on his face increased.

Sogia calmly said, “I told you.”

“I have received word that the damage at the naval base has exceeded a certain level. The destination for Princess Staivia’s yellow label has been changed.”

“Of course, even if the attack had failed and the princess made it to the naval base, the upper levels of the base had already been bought off, right?”

“Yes, but that bribery was only carried out 2 months ago. It was too uncertain. There was always a risk they would betray us at the last second. Changing the yellow label as planned is much easier.”

Naturally, the upper levels of the base they had treated as “allies” had been kept in the dark that they would be attacked.

That point alone suggested Colonel Marechiare’s character was just as rotten as Unicorn’s. And the members of Unicorn were rotten enough that they were unfazed by something of that level.

“Now that we have moved to the next phase, I wish to move you to our hideout. Are you prepared?”

“We’re about to change. We can leave as soon as that’s done. We’d stand out if we were walking around Flightburg Air Force Base still dressed as Unicorn, right? …Oh, and this truck is our own. Can you carry it down below the helicopter?”

“It’s small enough to fit inside the helicopter.”

The four members of Unicorn changed into new military uniforms and boarded the large transport helicopter.

After the helicopter had taken off…and so there was zero chance of being overheard, Colonel Marechiare opened his mouth to speak.

“…The plan for the Royal Duel is finally complete.”

“Who are we sending out?”

“Prince Dimiksy himself. We can’t have the pilot Elite being unreasonable and refusing to shoot Princess Staivia at the last second.”

Sogia looked slightly surprised to hear that.

“Even if this place is relatively stable, it’s still a battlefield country. If that got out, it could inspire an attack.”

“The prince is in the safest place in the Amazon district, so do not worry. This is set up so some smelly bomb made of manure cannot do anything.”

“I see,” muttered Sogia.

The prince was likely holed up in a cutting edge Object.

“Then all we have to do now is watch the rest unfold.”

“Yes, even if we have no particular grudge against the princess.”

Sogia grinned at Marechiare’s words.

Dimiksy Nikolaschka had many allies. But that was not because of his own personal virtues. The reasons people supported influential people were the same as they had always been.

It was always about how easy they were to use.

Prince Dimiksy was as horrible a person as the rumors said, but his interests were clear and that made him easy to control. If Dimiksy’s surroundings were set up to make him think he himself chose a course of action based on his observations of his surroundings, he could be easily manipulated and controlled.

On the other hand, Princess Staivia was an unknown factor. Some thought she would be easier to control due to her young age, but there was a risk of that same young age could mean a sense of justice or simplified view of the world would make her ignore what was best for herself and therefore cause all control of her to be lost.

And so people had taken action to kill the pure and innocent Snow White and to decorate the dark prince on his white horse.

“You certainly have taken a lot of risks. Does the rank of general really look that bright in your eyes, colonel?”

“The same goes for you. I have difficulty understanding how all this money and killing could be for the sake of spreading your connections.”

The large transport helicopter quietly headed towards Flightburg Air Force Base.

Those conspirators kept it all contained.

They used the people’s tax money to hide the evidence of their conspiracy.

===Part 8===

Quenser and Heivia quickly gave up on the idea of regrouping with the survivors from the naval base.

Just from what they could overhear from the complicated radio transmissions told them those at the base were arguing over who got control. Since they were glaring at each other while sorting through manuals in search of some kind of loophole, it seemed they had no idea just how urgent the situation was.

“It sounds like those honor students could start shooting each other at any time. If we get too close, we’d just get lined up with the rest of them and stuck there.”

“But without the official information they have, we don’t know what route Princess Staivia is using to escape. It’s top secret. I doubt it’s been made viewable on standard military terminals.”

“We need to think. Let’s reason through this, Quenser.” Heivia called up a map of the area on his handheld device. “Even if it’s relatively stable, this is still a battlefield country. If they learn a legit princess is wandering around here, the Information Alliance or the Faith Organization will abandon whatever mission they’re on and rush here. Once it was clear the princess couldn’t use the naval base, she would start heading on the quickest route to their second option. She’s probably headed to the next closest Legitimacy Kingdom military facility, don’t you think?”

“But the next closest one is 200 kilometers away. Do you really think they would head straight there in a normal vehicle that isn’t even bulletproof?”

“This map only shows the facilities that are in active use. But the princess needs to reach safety as quickly as possible. In that case, it’s entirely possible she would try to flee to a facility that had been abandoned but is durable.”

Heivia changed a setting and a new marker was added to the map.

It was a facility along the ocean just like the naval base.

“The ruins of Lexpop International Airport. It’s all that remains of the rental float policy that was so popular a few years back.”

“…That was a means for safe countries to support battlefield countries, right? If they simply sent money, it would go straight into the pockets of government officials, so they put international airports and all the infrastructure required such as water and sewage pipes and power generation onto giant floats which were rented out.”

“Lexpop International Airport was a rental float from the Legitimacy Kingdom. Officially, it was a civilian airport, but it actually doubled as an Object maintenance facility. The local guerrillas took issue with that and used torpedoes to blow up the ships that towed it. The rental float was then unable to lower its speed, so it slammed into the coast and flooded.”

“How sturdy is it?”

“It was designed to be used to aid Objects, so the float itself is quite tough. If the emergency power source within is activated, it’s possible its salt-resistant and highly durable anti-air defense system could be reactivated.”

The ruins of Lexpop International Airport were 80 kilometers south of the airport that had been attacked. Heivia pulled a small motorcycle out of a pile of trash and used a screwdriver to force open the ignition and start the engine.

As he climbed on the back, Quenser asked a question of his partner.

“Do you think we’ll find them on the way there?”

“Who knows. And Princess Staivia’s side has to be aware they have enemies in the Legitimacy Kingdom. If delinquent soldiers like us carelessly approach them, we might get filled with bullet holes.”

“…I’d prefer to receive a counterattack from that princess that involves hitting people with stuffed animals.”

Heivia headed full speed down the shortest route to the ruins of Lexpop International Airport. That was the route Princess Staivia’s group would likely be taking, but they did not run across any such convoy on the way there.

In fact…

“What the hell? Not only is there no sign of the princess, but there aren’t any traps or troops from Dimiksy’s faction waiting to assassinate her. If they had blocked off all routes to the float, we should have run across some kind of barricade…”

“That means… This is bad. They must want Princess Staivia to head to the ruins of Lexpop International Airport. If there’s a trap, it’s the float itself! Has this rumored princess already gone inside!?”

Heivia stopped the small motorcycle near the ruins of Lexpop International Airport. A portion of the gently curving concrete embankment had been broken by the impact from the square float. The float had been dented a bit and it was tilted in the direction of one of its four corners, but it did not appear to be badly damaged. …The tilt would prevent it from functioning as an airport, though.

It was called a manmade float, but it carried all the functionality of an airport. Naturally, it was quite large. The sight of a piece of land 3 kilometers square floating in the ocean was quite bizarre.

“? Heivia, why did you stop the bike? We need to hurry up and meet up with Princess Staivia.”

“Were you even listening to what I said? Lexpop International Airport is officially a civilian airport, but it can also perform maintenance on Objects. And that means…”

The situation changed before Heivia could finish his explanation.

Several large tiltrotor transport aircrafts passed by overhead. The model could of course carry troops, but it could also carry light tanks.

It was a Legitimacy Kingdom model, but that hardly put Quenser’s mind at ease. Dimiksy’s faction that was targeting Princess Staivia’s life was part of the Legitimacy Kingdom.

Quenser used a pair of binoculars to monitor the body of the tiltrotor crafts.

“Those are ID numbers from the naval base. Are the arguments between factions already over? I guess those honor students wanted to protect Princess Staivia after all.”

“Dammit! This is no time to be stupid, Quenser. We need to get going!! We need to save the Sleeping Beauty trapped in that castle!!”

“Why? If a large unit of those honor students are on their way to save her…”

Quenser’s voice was cut off by an explosive noise.

An orange flash of light ripped through the sky and an impact like a giant drum being struck weighed on the two idiots’ stomachs. Quenser immediately lowered himself to the ground as he watched one of the tiltrotor crafts explode in midair and spread black smoke and wreckage everywhere.

“They were shot!? That came from the ruins of the airport! They’re firing missiles and Gatling guns like crazy!!”

“I said the anti-air weapons could be reactivated if the emergency power supply was activated, remember!? They’ll just be shot down like this. Every one of those flying treasure chests will be gambled away!!”

Some of those from the naval base took action to avoid being foolishly blown to pieces aboard those slow cargo planes. Even from where he was, Quenser could see the cargo hatches opening and soldiers, airmobile tanks, and armored vehicles being forced out.

But if one ignored war treaties, a parachute was just a nice target.

The Gatling gun’s tracer bullets mercilessly attacked a portion of the humans and armored weapons that’s speed had quickly dropped.

“What? They’re shooting the allies that are here to help! Is this rumored Sleeping Beauty such a bad sleeper that it reaches the level of a reign of terror!? I mean, I understand the desire to shoot those honor students when you see those smug grins, but still!”

“No, Quenser. Something isn’t right. I’ve been trying to contact them by radio for a while now, but every frequency I try has too much noise on it. Someone is jamming us. It’s like they’re trying to hide the true intentions of the princess.”

“You mean Dimiksy’s faction set up the emergency power and anti-air weapons ahead of time to isolate Princess Staivia?”

“If those weapons are on auto-intercept mode, they’ll act regardless of the princess’s wishes. All of this friendly fire is going to be blamed on her! We need to hurry up and sneak onto the airport float and shut down the emergency power. Otherwise, all of those disagreeable honor students will be turned into bloody rain!”

If they headed through a normal route, they would be swallowed up in a storm of bullets and missiles.

Quenser and Heivia entered the ocean from the coast a short distance from the float. The area must have been developed to allow large ships to pass through because it was surprisingly deep. From what they could see, it was several dozen meters deep.

“Upph! This is absolutely disgusting! It reeks!! Do the people here think nothing of ocean resources!?”

“If they understood that, they would be able to join the other advanced nations. Dammit. I want to throw away my rifle and missile and everything. I should have prepared a float before jumping in!”

Without the aid of fins or oxygen tanks and while somehow managing to hold onto their heavy military equipment, the two idiots approached the float while half-drowning.

“Is there a secret entrance or something?”

“Don’t be stupid. We’re just going to climb up onto it. It’s the basic method.”

Luckily, it was light on sea-related defense systems such as torpedoes and anti-ship missiles. A few sea mines were floating around, but they were meant for ships, so they were big enough for Quenser and Heivia to easily avoid.

But the two of them spotted something much worse before they made it to the float.

It was directly below the float.

They saw a giant silhouette hanging down into the ocean by hundreds of metal wires.

Once he realized what it was, Quenser spoke without meaning to.

“…An Object…?”

===Part 9===

Its composition was simple enough.

But what was that Object doing there in the first place?

“That’s a first generation Object from the Legitimacy Kingdom. …And it’s a pretty old one. I think it’s called the Assault Signal. I’ve seen it on some military sites. It’s a different system type from the Baby Magnum, but parts of this one’s design were incorporated in its design,” said Quenser as he climbed up the wall of the giant float.

“But why is it here?”

“How should I know? It’s not like they can use it. The pilot Elite that goes with it died in a terrorist bombing five years ago. And in a safe country no less. …It’s nothing but a useless hunk of metal now, but someone must have secretly ordered it in.”

But what did anyone gain by preparing the unusable Assault Signal?

As he climbed up to the flat surface, Heivia gave his guess.

“It’s the same as when the White Bears of the 115th Private Royal Guard Company were annihilated to take away Princess Staivia’s wings.”

“…Killing even one person in a safe country is a huge incident. But killing 100 in a battlefield country only gets a small article.”

“They want to get Princess Staivia aboard that Object somehow. Succession issues can be resolved with a duel between Objects. If they do that, they can blatantly assassinate her while following the rules of a clean war. They won’t break any war treaties. The Royal Duel between Objects was just a gigantic plan to assassinate Princess Staivia.”

A sniper attack or bombing would have been easier, but if a young girl was killed as the result of a conflict over political power, discontent would swell up within the people. In an absolute monarchy like the Legitimacy Kingdom, that was of no consequence whatsoever. However, not even a royal could take actions that the surrounding influential royals considered to be unbefitting of a head of state.

In the modern clean wars, it was rare (in the official records at least) for infantry to shed any blood, but the people were used to the pilot Elites inside Objects being sent on fights to the death.

As soon as one boarded an Object, it was assumed one was prepared for death.

And the preparations for that were complete.

“But if they eliminated an entire unit and assassinated an Elite just as preparations to legally eliminate Princess Staivia, aren’t they getting their priorities a bit backwards?”

“There are some problems you can erase and some you can’t. And you know just how big Dimiksy’s eraser is.” Heivia used his thumb to point at his chest. “In fact, my Winchell family is in the middle of some turmoil right now. Normally, they would plot some way of assassinating me while I’m wandering around in these battlefield countries. If they got their hands on a gun or bomb from an enemy nation, they could easily pull off the perfect crime. The only reason they haven’t is because I’m such a big existence that they can’t fully erase the problem with an eraser of their size.”

From the view of the commoners down at the bottom, the nobles and royals could do whatever they wanted, but Quenser guessed they must have their own issues to deal with.

And in that case…

It was only natural that…

“The Object they secretly brought in for Princess Staivia is basically a pile of scraps. They chose it so they knew they had a target they could destroy on the first shot.”

“What if the princess catches on to Dimiksy’s conspiracy and refuses to board the Objecct?”

“If they used an Object to torture the flesh-and-blood princess to death, they would receive nothing but the animosity of the people. …But it’s different if she has an Object but refuses to board it. People would assume she lost her nerve. And another thing. In our world, you are free to accept or decline a letter challenging you to a duel. But once you accept the duel, your social standing will drop like a rock if you don’t show up. That might even get your right to life revoked.”

In other words, Dimiksy’s plan was almost complete by the time Princess Staivia was brought to the ruins of Lexpop International Airport.

At that point, the assassination could safely be carried out by having Dimiksy’s side’s Object sent out to use its great firepower to annihilate her according to the proper protocol.

What mattered was the official truth that Staivia’s side had an Object and could therefore fight evenly with Dimiksy’s side. Whether Princess Staivia was in a complete panic and could not move the Object in the ocean or not was not a problem.

“…This is insane.”

“If we’re going to do anything about this situation, we need to start by dealing with those anti-air weapons. If we knock out the emergency power, the defense system should stop!”

Another tiltrotor craft was shot down by a Gatling gun and crashed near Quenser and Heivia. They passed by the flaming wreckage and ran along the top of the float.

Perhaps because they had made their way onto the float, the radio jamming had weakened.

Someone must have been trying every frequency Dimiksy’s group was not using because a female voice came in over Quenser’s radio despite the fact that he had not tuned it to anything in particular.

“…This is…ksshh… I cannot control the float’s defense system! It….attacking….on its own… It is…ksshh…indiscriminately… You will be shot down at this rate!!”

“Yes, yes! Your signal isn’t reaching the air! Are you the rumored princess!? We’ve made our way onto Lexpop. We are aware that it’s all over if you board that Object due to the Royal Duel. We’re going to knock out the emergency power, so give us anyone information you have!!”

“I am a servant of the royal family. My name is Mikfa. Who are you!?”

“Someone from the Legitimacy Kingdom who is not tainted by Dimiksy’s faction. I am Heivia Winchell. If you know how to pick up information from the rumors you hear in salons, surely you know I have nothing to gain by supporting Dimiksy Nikolaschka!”

“I see. I heard you are the eccentric boy trying his hardest to act out a Shakespearean tragedy by taking the daughter of the opposing Vanderbilt family.”

“Well, right now I want to turn this into a comedy.”

This was likely something Heivia would be better suited for with his knowledge of the nobles and royals at the upper levels of the Legitimacy Kingdom. There was a power balance in play that a commoner like Quenser simply did not understand.

“I brought Lady Staivia here to Lexpop for shelter, but it seems it was a trap set up by Dimiksy’s faction. The power supply for the defense system is controlled by the members of Dimiksy’s faction that were hiding in the float! You need to destroy it!!”

“How many men does Dimiksy have here?”

“Lady Staivia and I are the only two not from his faction.”

“Well, that simplifies matters,” muttered Quenser.

As Heivia ran along the top of the float, he spoke into the radio and asked, “Where are you now?”

“I am being imprisoned near the power generation facility Dimiksy’s faction holds. I attempted to remain by Lady Staivia’s side, but it seems Dimiksy’s faction is using that as a part of their plan.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It seems they intend to use me as a hostage in order to force Lady Staivia into the Object. And unfortunately, Lady Staivia’s heart is too strongly benevolent. I am prepared to withstand torture, but Lady Staivia will not last if she is forced to watch it.”

Heivia clicked his tongue.

And then he made a completely groundless promise.

“We’ll be there in 10 minutes. Don’t you die before then.”

“I appreciate your cooperation, but please prioritize rescuing Lady Staivia and destroying the emergency power.”

Heivia switched off the radio and tossed his spare handgun to Quenser.

“It’s time to clean up the shit, Quenser! Let’s go rescue a maid as an appetizer for the princess!!”

“A maid is a wonderful thing. We need to teach these people that our country should protect maids with everything it has!”

Dimiksy’s faction seemed to be fully relying on the defense system because Quenser and Heivia ran into no interference after climbing up onto the float. Their Object would likely be attacking the float in the near future, so they must have wanted to hold it with as few men as possible to allow a speedy retreat.

They entered a terminal with all its glass shattered and ran down the stairs to reach the underground portion of the float.

“Do you think we can manage this?”

“Rescue operations aren’t my specialty, but we’ll just have to make do with what we have on hand!”

They must have entered an area not intended for customers to see because the overall atmosphere changed as they headed down the stairs. The walls were made of exposed metal, the passageways were narrow, and numerous pipes ran along near the ceiling. Unlike the open airport, this area felt like it was inside a tanker. Oddly enough, the inability to see anything outside made the rocking of the float feel stronger.

“Even if I know how it works, it feels wrong for something this huge to be floating.”

“As long as it has air trapped inside, the size doesn’t matter.”

“Even so, it’s like styrofoam, so is it just human nature to want to build walls?”

“If the sea was stormy, it seems a large wave would break it.”

Whether it was always the case or if a mode changed when the emergency power was in use, the lighting was sparse. The only illumination came from occasional LED light bulbs, so the darkness was overwhelmingly greater than the light. As Heivia took the lead, he relied on the sensors of his assault rifle.

And after heading around a few corners, he whispered to Quenser.

“(…Shh. There’s someone in front of the door around the corner. It’s probably a guard.)”

“(Do you think you can take him out without making a noise?)”

“(I’ll try.)”

As he spoke, Heivia pulled a large knife from his waist. He was not planning to approach silently and slit the man’s throat from behind. Instead, he leaned out from the corner and forcefully threw the knife.

The knife rotated as it flew through the passageway and it smashed its way into the side of the guard’s head like an axe. He collapsed to the side without even letting out a cry.

“You’ve used that method twice now. How about you start carrying a dedicated throwing knife?”

“The normal ones would just bounce off of a bulletproof jacket or helmet.”

Heivia headed down the passageway and pulled his own knife from the collapsed soldier’s head. Quenser pressed his ear up against the steel double doors, but he could not hear anything from inside.

As Heivia checked on the guard’s equipment, he said, “He has a handheld device. It’s showing footage from within the room.”

A small window displayed video footage of the room from an upper diagonal angle. The room was cluttered like a storage room and a single chair sat in the middle. A single girl had her arms and legs bound to the chair and two men stood on either side of her.

It looked like security camera footage, but it must have been the type that recorded sound as well.

“Now then, break time is over. It’s time to get back to business.”

“…”

“Do you know why we removed your restraints, disinfected your wounds, and are giving you bits of free time? That ensures you will not die too easily by seeing that your mind does not grow dull. And that way your suffering can last much, much longer. So prepare yourself.”

Heivia spat on the floor and said, “It looks like they’re in the middle of some fun.”

“But there’s only one girl there. I thought they were going to torture the maid while Princess Staivia watched. Where is she? Is she in the camera’s blind spot?”

“No, I’d say the reason it’s being sent live across their devices is so they can show it to the princess. In that case, Staivia might have been brought elsewhere.”

“The facility has been cut off from its surroundings via jamming. That means Princess Staivia must still be somewhere inside the float.”

Then again, it was a stroke of good luck that Quenser and Heivia were able to view the situation inside before breaking in. They could check the arrangement of the room and the locations of the enemies.

“The inner walls are military stainless steel. It won’t be hard to open a hole with some Hand Axe.”

“The main problem is these. The powered suits.” Heivia pointed at the screen. “These two have gotten out of theirs to enjoy the torture, but this one is still in his. The powered suit won’t be slowed down by the shockwave when we blow through the wall. We’ll be surrounded by a storm of Morning Star grenades before we take a single step inside.”

“Then we just have to pay careful attention to how we knock. More importantly, can we even take out that powered suit with our firepower?”

“I could take it out with a missile, but the maid could easily get caught in the blast.”

“Don’t you have something a little…gentler? Do you have anything like a grenade launcher?”

“The missile’s the best thing I have. I usually use these signal markers against armored weapons. They use GPS, lasers, and ultraviolet signals to send targeting information to an Object. It’s easier and more of a sure thing to just have the Object send a pinpoint strike.” Heivia fished through the corpse’s equipment and pulled out something they might be able to use. “He’s got a smoke grenade. This model has aluminum powder mixed in to take out sensors as well.”

“Aluminum, hm? …Do you have a disposable heater or anything? With some iron oxide powder, I could make thermite.”

“This is a broken airport float that was left to rot. It has powdered rust everywhere.”

Quenser took apart the nonlethal smoke grenade and repackaged the ingredients to create an anti-armor weapon that produced heat up to 3000 degrees.

With their cards gathered, he left the double doors and attached some Hand Axe plastic explosive to the wall.

“How are things inside?”

“They’re completely focused on the maid, so they haven’t noticed us. They have no idea how to properly treat a beautiful woman.”

“Then let’s get this over with.”

Quenser and Heivia moved away from the bomb they had set. Quenser placed his thumb on the radio that would send the detonation signal.

“It’s time to beg for your lives, you sadists.”

===Part 10===

Immediately after the plastic explosive on the wall detonated, fragments, dust, and a shockwave flew into the room.

The maid and the chair she was tied to fell backwards and the two soldiers on either side of her were knocked to the floor by the shockwave. The blow to their heads threw their minds into temporary disarray.

Of those in the room, only the soldier in the powered suit remained calm.

He repeatedly fired his Morning Star grenade machine gun towards the opening created in the wall. Those explosives that spread fragments of death in a radius of around 10 meters flew out into the passageway and exploded.

But Quenser and Heivia were not there.

At the same time that the wall had been blown open, they had kicked open the double doors. The roar and shockwave of the blast had masked that simple truth. Quenser threw his makeshift thermite grenade straight for the powered suit that had immediately turned its attention toward the hole in the wall. He had used adhesive tape to make it stick.

Instead of the normal orange flames, it produced a bright white flash of light as if from welding. The distinctive smell of molten metal filled the air and the surface of the powered suit’s armor melted like wax.

“Gh…gyah…!?”

A cry came from the suit’s speaker, but it disappeared as the speaker stopped functioning. The powered suit collapsed to the ground and its limbs attempted to move, but the melted armor was interfering with the joints. This turned its movements into something resembling a dying caterpillar. For the same reason, the man inside could not escape.

Meanwhile, Heivia mercilessly shot the two soldiers who had been knocked to the floor. One had his head crushed and the other received the rifle bullet to the center of his gut.

“How’s the powered suit!? Is it down for good!?”

“It’s dead all right. Even if the armor itself isn’t completely gone, the high temperature will have roasted the internal circuitry and the human flesh inside.”

A powered suit was a formidable enemy that could repel rifle bullets, but it was not invincible. That was why tanks and armored vehicles were still in use.

“Uuh…” groaned the enemy soldier who had been shot in the stomach.

Heivia silently held his assault rifle back up, but the man let out a frightened voice.

“Please help me. You’re from the Legitimacy Kingdom too, right? I was just following orders. A soldier can’t disobey his orders. I wasn’t doing this because I wanted to.”

In response, Heivia glanced at the fingers of the maid bound to the collapsed chair.

When he confirmed that they were colored red, he spoke with a cold expression on his face.

“If you were doing this reluctantly, she wouldn’t have wounds like that.”

“Wai-…”

Before the man could finish speaking, Heivia let out a short burst of gunfire. Those few shots shredded the man’s stomach and spine. There was nothing that could be done to help him now, but it would still take a few minutes before he died. That was the kind of wound it was.

Heivia mercilessly spat out the words, “Eat up, sadist.”

Meanwhile, Quenser righted the maid and her chair. He used a tool to cut the wires binding her arms and legs, but she shouted out before he could treat the wounds to her hands.

“Lady Staivia has been taken away by another unit! If you do not hurry, she will board the Object! If that happens, the preparations will be complete for the Royal Duel that Dimiksy’s faction wants!!”

“The princess was being forced to do it for your safety, right? Now that you’re free, can’t she start resisting once more?”

“No, this is bad, Quenser.”

Heivia tossed the handheld from the guard outside to Quenser.

The live footage of the room was now filled with static.

“The explosion we used to get in destroyed the camera. The rumored princess doesn’t know her maid has been rescued. They can keep coercing her!”

That was when they felt a dull rumbling.

It was not caused by a large wave. The center of gravity of the entire giant float was clearly changing.

“…The wires connected to the Object down below are being released.”

“Oh, shit. Does that mean Princess Staivia has already boarded the Object!? The Royal Duel is going to begin!!”

===Part 11===

Staivia sat within the cockpit of the useless first generation Object known as the Assault Signal.

It had over ten levers and hundreds of buttons. It was equipped with goggles that read the movements of one’s eyes using lasers, but she had been overcome by an intense dizziness when she had tried to put them on. Someone who had not undergone any training would never be able to pilot the Object.

No…

Even if she was able to pilot it, the tremendous Gs that would produce would crush the insides of her delicate body. At any rate, the situation had been set up from the beginning so as not to give Staivia any opportunity to counterattack. The situation was the same as being stuffed inside a metal drum and used for target practice.

“The battle regulations for the Royal Duel will now be explained.”

A precise female voice that almost sounded synthetic came in over the radio.

All bands were supposedly being jammed, but there seemed to be a few holes for ultrasonic waves.

“The standard regulations are the same as in the yellow manual. Area 21 of the Amazon district shall be the battle zone. To determine succession, Prince Dimiksy and Princess Staivia shall each have an Object represent them. The two Objects shall engage in battle and fight until one is unable to continue. Participation is done at one’s own risk, so any injuries or deaths caused in the process are not the responsibility of the winner.”

She could try to inform her maid Mikfa of this frequency. Or she could use the Object’s radio to directly call for external help.

“Both forces may receive support from their own infantry and standard armored weapons. No penalties shall be made and the duel will not end until a conclusion has been reached.”

“No,” muttered Staivia.

What would change if she got through to someone? What could anyone change?

Staivia had been forced to board the Assault Signal because Mikfa, the maid who had stayed with her to the end, had been used as a hostage.

But…

Would the end result have changed if that maid had not been taken hostage?

The soldiers of Dimiksy’s faction would surely have forcibly dragged her along and thrown her into the Assault Signal’s cockpit. No matter what she did or what happened, she would still be stuck in this dead end.

In that case…

“The duel only comes to an end once one of the Objects has been destroyed. As such, the signal known as the white flag shall have no effect.”

Staivia thought as the meaningless explanations continued.

If nothing would change her fate, was it not her duty to ensure as few other people as possible got wrapped up in it? Was it not foolishness to send those who cared for her to their deaths for the sake of a meaningless and worthless battle?

Yulenzak who had once rubbed her young head was gone. The White Bears of the 115th Private Royal Guard Company had been entombed in darkness.

Mikfa, the maid who had loved her to the end, had had a blade pressed against her throat.

And it all because of Staivia.

It had been that reasoning that had led to her distance herself from everything. And as a result, no one had stayed with her. Everyone around her was an enemy and even her own bodyguards had betrayed her and turned their guns on her. Even if Staivia called for help using the Object’s radio, she would likely receive no response. She had cut all such connections with her own hands.

And so she did not speak.

She did not know what she could say.

The radio’s microphone was right there and she knew a channel was open to reach outside, but Staivia’s mouth merely flapped open and closed. She was unable to utter even a shout.

It was an unsightly result.

[[Image:HO_v06_13.jpg|thumb]]

But this was the conclusion that awaited her due to her attempts to lessen the amount of damage as much as possible.

Staivia Nikolaschka had no choice but to view this as the best possible ending.

The best possible ending was to sit in this useless Object and be blown away by great firepower without being able to counterattack even once.

“Ahh, ahh.”

Staivia leaned against the back of the cockpit chair and looked straight up. The kind of voice she could never utter in the public eye escaped her lips.

All the pretty decorations were stripped away because she knew no one could hear her.

“…I didn’t want to die…”

The curtain opened on this murderous stage.

The main cannon of an Object that symbolized war would be violently aimed at a girl of only 14.

All sorts of preparations had been made to perfectly justify it.

It had been made into something no one could raise any objection against.

===Part 12===

The four members of Unicorn landed in Flightburg Air Force Base in the large transport helicopter. It seemed the other members who had been scattered across the Amazon district had already gathered there. Sogia could see a few figures casually salute him when they caught sight of him.

Colonel Marechiare, the man in a deep gray beret and sunglasses, spoke briefly.

“I must insist that you stay here in the base until Prince Dimiksy’s Royal Duel is over. The duel itself is legal, but some very dirty methods have been used to set it up. To prevent possible interference, I prefer to keep as many elements as possible contained until everything is over.”

“I’m relieved you do not intend to silence us more permanently.”

“If I was planning that, you would have disappeared to the ends of the earth. Hiding in chaotic areas of conflict is your specialty after all. After heading through a few battlefields, I would have completely lost your trail.”

“It’s those of you on the upper levels of the military that are maintaining these assassination zones known as battlefield countries. Even if you could not get rid of them entirely, surely you could make them more compact. We are only using the system you set up.”

That made Marechiare grin.

He must have felt more confident now that he was back on his home turf because he did not try to hide his true intentions.

“We maintain the things we need. But everyone wants the same thing, so there is a constant overabundance of it. It is the same as the convenience stores in cities.”

“Now there’s a surprise. So even a colonel uses convenience stores.”

“Hmph. Going to an antique shop or a tailor does not fill your stomach.”

They boarded a 4WD off-road vehicle just to cross a wide runway. Every one of the over 1000 people working at the base were on Prince Dimiksy’s side and were actively committing treason, so it was quite a spectacle.

“How long are we confined here? There are around 200 of us total. It’ll cost a lot to feed, clothe, and shelter us.”

“We are not a commercial organization. It is not our job to worry about the money.”

“Tax money doesn’t come from a magical treasure chest, you know?”

“We can continue wringing it out as long as war continues. And if they refuse, they will be branded as traitors. …And not by us. By their virtuous and ignorant neighbors.”

The 4WD vehicle stopped near the command facility. Marechiare led Sogia, Sanya, Mars, and Flat into the building.

Since Unicorn was wearing the same model military uniforms as Flightburg Air Force Base, it was impossible to tell at a glance which force anyone belonged to.

And then Mars asked, “…Excuse me. May I use the restroom?”

“Colonel, surely it’s better than having him piss himself. But if needed, I can order him to hold it.”

“You may move about freely. One of my men can show you the way if necessary.”

Once Marechiare had given permission to move about, Sogia snapped his fingers.

“Sanya, check the deposits in our bank account. Flat, check whether all the Unicorn members are here or not. Once you’re done, borrow a kitchen to make some food. That market junk food has numbed my tongue. Who knows what kind of meat we were eating. I might have been fed some little grey.”

When he heard that, Marechiare casually pointed out, “My unit eats rations except for Fridays when we have curry.”

“You can make surprisingly humane foods with a simple heater. Not when I make it, though.”

After the other members left, Sogia followed Marechiare further into the facility.

After entering a private room for officers, Marechiare removed the jacket of his high-quality uniform and sank into the sofa. He pulled a nicely cooled champagne bottle and two glasses from a small refrigerator.

Sogia gave a small smile.

“Isn’t it a bit early to celebrate?”

“There is no deep meaning to this. I just want a drink because I am thirsty. Plus, this is paid for by the military budget.”

Sogia accepted a glass filled with a gold liquid and downed it in a single gulp. Seeing that, Marechiare gave a thin smile and slowly tipped his own glass.

“I see you still have no concept of restraint.”

“I’m still not old enough to worry about my blood pressure.”

Sogia placed his empty glass on the table while Marechiare spoke as if reminiscing.

“So it’s been 3 years since we first joined forces. It all started when you attacked Princess Staivia’s bodyguard unit in that South American desert. I had heard about your miniature thermobaric bombs, but even I was taken aback when you created a cluster bomb out of them and scattered them over the White Bears’ heads.”

“Well, it was a dangerous gamble on our part, too. We needed a flashy present to properly establish a connection with you. And we wanted to make doubly sure since we were up against the elite White Bears. I was a bit worried when their bodies were completely unrecoverable since that might make you doubt us.”

“We were having trouble with Yulenzak and his 115th as well. I suppose you did need to go that far to truly eliminate them.”

Sogia and the rest of Unicorn had been the ones to eliminate Princess Staivia’s royal guard unit during a military exercise, but it had not been on the orders of Marechiare and the others supporting Prince Dimiksy.

Marechiare’s group had been planning their own attack, but Unicorn had beaten them to it.

“The 202nd Mobile Support Company,” muttered Marechiare. “Unicorn. The mysterious and secret unit that uses the framework of the foreign legion. Every member has undergone plastic surgery and had their fingerprints and palm prints forcibly altered by burning them and letting them heal. Rumor even has it their blood type has been changed by receiving a bone marrow transplant from someone else.”

“The foreign legion system is only there to fool the Legitimacy Kingdom Lineage Department that won’t shut up about bloodline and DNA. If you use that framework, you don’t need to have your lineage recorded. You announce from the beginning that you have outsider blood, so you fall outside the standards,” said Sogia as he traced a finger across the scars from stiches that circled his neck.

A closer inspection showed that the color of the skin changed slightly along that line.

“Did you go that far to hide your identity in order to create these connections of yours?” asked Marechiare, sounding truly curious. “The Legitimacy Kingdom, the Information Alliance, the Capitalist Corporations, and the Faith Organization. Creating connections between all of those world powers sounds nice, but the walls of religion, race, and ideology will always get in the way. By making it more ambiguous where you are from, I suppose you could make all of that more convenient.”

“And?”

“I do not know exactly how far your connections spread below the surface, but they are sure to be a great asset to Prince Dimiksy,” said Marechiare while finally finishing off his glass of champagne. “But we must make sure that only acts in our favor. We cannot have Prince Dimiksy growing too arrogant. We only want an influential person who is easy to manipulate.”

“So you want data on our connections to set up your means of control?”

“Full comprehension of the power balance around an influential person is the foundation needed to control him through the power game. If Prince Dimiksy wishes to bring you into his system, cooperate with him. Registering a bug-filled program on the network will only bring you down with it.”

“I see. That makes sense,” said Sogia with a light smile. And then he added, “But, colonel, you are mistaken about something.”

“What is that?”

“It was not to construct our connections that we underwent plastic surgery, rewrote our fingerprints, palm prints, and other biometrics, changed our blood type with a bone marrow transplant, and evaded being recorded by the Lineage Department.” Marechiare looked confused, but Sogia ignored him and continued. “In fact, you misinterpreted the circumstances of our actions 3 years ago when we destroyed the White Bears of the 115th Private Royal Guard Company that were Staivia’s most trusted men. Then again, we set it up so you would misinterpret it, so I have no right to blame you there.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You don’t get it?”

Sogia reached out a hand and used a finger to lightly push the champagne glass on the table.

The delicate glass easily toppled and shattered with a solid sound.

Sogia continued as the disturbing noise rang out.

“The brand new 202nd Mobile Support Company first saw the light of day when the White Bears of the 115th Private Royal Guard Company were destroyed. When we contacted you, you had to have hurriedly gathered information on Unicorn. And you accepted what you found. Our classification level was too high for information to be found on the military database, but Unicorn’s ‘evil deeds’ had left their mark on plenty of civilian-run military news sites. …Not that anyone could tell when exactly those articles had been added in.”

“You can’t mean…”

“And the White Bears were so thoroughly annihilated that there was nothing left for a funeral. Who the corpses belonged to could not be confirmed. And due to a vaccine shortage and an outbreak of an infection disease of an older era, people were dropping like flies in that blank area in South America. There were so many corpses that they had to be burned right away or they would pile up. With all that information at hand, surely you have arrived at the answer.” Sogia…no, someone using that name gave a thin smile. “A unit completely disappeared and another unit that had undergone plastic surgery appeared at the exact same time. If you still haven’t figured it out, you really are an idiot.”

“You mean Princess Staivia’s most trusted men were not killed…? You mean Yulenzak and his royal guard unit simply changed their name to Unicorn!?”

Marechiare immediately tried to grab the telephone on the table, but Sogia stood up from the sofa and crushed the phone and Marechiare’s hand under his foot.

“We learned five years ago that Prince Dimiksy was making preparations to take Princess Staivia’s life using a Royal Duel. We also knew there was nothing we could do about it even though we knew. So we had to take some drastic measures. We needed to cast aside our position as the White Bears of the 115th Private Royal Guard Company and take up a new position where we could deal with the situation from a different angle.”

“Gah!?”

“Let me tell you one legend about the unicorn, colonel.”

As Marechiare let out a short cry, Sogia pulled out his PDW with a smooth motion. It was a machinegun small enough to fit inside a business bag. He held it in one hand and aimed it at the older man’s face.

“It is a beast that shows no interest in power or treasure and instead does everything it can to protect a pure maiden, you monster.”

===Part 13===

A short burst of gunshots resounded throughout the air force base.

The base had over 1000 professional soldiers, so the difference in military might was too great for Unicorn to have any chance in a straight fight.

However…

Trained soldiers had a thoroughly ingrained habit of almost reflexively hiding behind nearby cover if they suddenly heard explosions or gunfire. This spot was also known as the primary screen. If one knew the patrol routes of the soldiers, it was a simple task to know where all of those spots inside the air force base would be.

And what if…?

What if all of those spots known as the primary screen had been filled with bombs or other traps?

The answer was simple.

After that initial burst of gunfire, almost all of the soldiers hid themselves in foxholes that had been filled with bombs.

Sanya, Mars, Flat, and the others wandering around the air force base pressed the buttons on their radios in unison.

The second wave rang out.

It was almost humorous how those countless explosions wore down that great military force that would have been undefeatable via normal methods.

“What happened?” Sanya had once asked.

The actions leading to Princess Staivia’s assassination had already begun 5 years before. The White Bears of the 115th Private Royal Guard Company had tried to resist via the political power game, but Dimiksy’s faction had taken the offensive more powerfully and – more importantly – more quickly than expected.

Sogia had replied, “They’ve really done it now. They blew away the pilot Elite of the Assault Signal in a café. It was probably done to prepare a pawn for their Royal Duel. After going this far, nothing is going to slow them down. If we could gather physical proof of this conspiracy, they wouldn’t just be given a cup of sweet poison. They’d have their heads taken off in the public square.”

“How much time do we have?”

“At most, 5 years. At worst, 3 years.”

Sanya had sighed.

She had thought about her duties, career goals, and private goals, but then cast them all aside.

“…So what do we need to do?”

“We need to keep our focus on what will happen 5 years from now.”

“It’s begun,” muttered Sanya.

Mars replied, “Yeah, it has. I still can’t believe my very first mission upon joining the 115th was to kill my old self! What the hell!? And everything since then has been dirty work!!”

He may have been speaking lightly, but he showed no mercy with his gun. He was firing bullet after bullet to end the lives of the soldiers who had somehow survived the second wave attack using the primary screen locations.

Unicorn was not using assault rifles; they were using extremely small PDWs that were less than 30 cm long and had a grenade launcher forcibly attached to the bottom of the barrel.

They had originally equipped themselves with those full-auto weapons that could be fired with only one hand so they could lead Princess Staivia to safety while pumping out plenty of firepower.

But now they were simply bathing in the splattered blood of their enemies.

It may have been due to the sensors, but despite being deemed a “newcomer”, Mars had excellent firing accuracy. He was using a targeting correction device known as a multi-dot. The standard red point of light would appear in the center of the lens, but a blue and green dot would be added as well.

A PDW that used handgun bullets had a range of about 150 meters, but Mars could easily hit targets over 250 meters away.

At times like that, the blue dot was displayed below the center red one. If he aimed at the enemy using that light, the barrel would naturally be pointed upwards. Pulling the trigger then would send the bullet in a high-angle trajectory similar to a long throw in baseball. It could then reach farther than if fired straight.

Among the other modes it contained was one that displayed the estimated position of a moving enemy soldier. As long as one possessed the foundational physical strength needed, the device could improve one’s accuracy.

It gave the same feeling often seen in FPSs where one could aim arbitrarily toward an enemy and naturally target their vitals. That might be the simplest way to imagine it.

Three years before, Mars had shouted out in a South American desert just after joining the unit.

“Ahh, ahh! What is with this unit and all its pain-in-the-ass circumstances!? I just wanted to be able to brazenly walk in and out of the royal household despite being a commoner, so why is this my very first mission!? Why do we have to fake our deaths and hide all traces of our existence!?”

“…We aren’t forcing you to go along with it,” Sogia had replied as he scratched at his sandy face. “To be honest, this job really isn’t worth it. We have little odds of success. We have to cast aside all of our career goals to prepare for this. And even if by some miracle we defeat Dimiksy’s faction, all that awaits us is a court martial and some barracks. And since we have no sponsor, we will receive next to no reward. I’d have difficulty finding anything to entice you along with. But,” Sogia had paused for a beat before calmly continuing. “Even so, all the complete idiots who still want to save that girl from those pieces of trash and their lust for power are to come with me.”

“Chehh… I may be going along with this, but just know that you don’t play fair.”

“And if you’re willing to reluctantly agree to it despite saying that, then you must be quite softhearted.”

Mars had clicked his tongue, averted his gaze, and scratched at his head.

He had then asked a desperate question.

“So what do we get? You said we received ‘next to no’ reward, right?”

“We do get something,” Sogia had immediately replied with a small smile. “The pride as knights and the proof of justice. …That’s all we get.”

“Heh. You’re just greedy. That’s plenty for me.”

But…

“That was fast!! Sanya, Flat, that was super fast!!”

“Having to peer through the sight like that slows you down too much, newcomer!”

Sanya and Flat were not receiving help from their sensors. Instead of peering through the sight to aim, they were aiming and firing almost completely on instinct. One did not look down to check one’s hands for every chord while playing the guitar or piano. It was the same as that. Their firearms had become a part of their bodies, so they could fire accurately without having to painstakingly confirm everything visually. That was why they were so fast. As long as one allowed the recoil to escape properly, one did not need to hold the gun perfectly by the book either. Even if Mars was increasing his accuracy by following the standard methods, he could not catch up on a fundamental level.

That was the difference between someone who relied on the products of the modern clean wars and someone who had plenty of experience walking through battlefield countries around the world using dirty methods to make up for not having an Object.

“You people are monsters! It’s like you have no intention of letting me catch up!”

“It’s because you can’t catch up that you are still a rookie! Now stay away from that wall!!”

As Mars was just about to carelessly charge forward, Sanya grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him away. In the next instant, a powered suit crashed through the wall next to where he had been. If he had continued on, he would have received a blow as bad as getting hit by a car.

Still holding Mars’s collar with one hand, Sanya adjusted her hold on her PDW’s grip to prepare to fire the grenade launcher. She fired accurately at the powered suit. What she fired was actually a failed design for a handheld flare meant for infantry, but it emitted enough heat that sensors would mistake it for the output of a fighter jet engine. It used sodium nitrate and a few other chemicals to create a heat source of greater than 2000 degrees for around 60 seconds. Even if it did not melt the armor of the powered suit, it was more than enough to overheat the internal circuitry. All the delicate equipment would become no more useful than a tin can.

Flat then threw an anti-personnel fragmentation grenade. The blast knocked over the unmoving powered suit. The boarding hatch was underneath, so it would need to be flipped over with a crane or something for the soldier to get out.

“How did you see that coming? There was no warning.”

“If you try to detect everything with just your five senses, you’ll fall victim to surprise attacks. You need to think about what you would do if you were the enemy. Do you get it now, newcomer?”

With an explosive noise, black smoke began spewing from a side passage.

Some enemy soldiers came running frantically out, but they were soon accurately shot with bullets that came flying from the same side passage.

Finally, Sogia stepped out.

“C’mon, we need to get this done quickly. If we don’t do enough damage while they’re still panicking from this surprise attack, this is going to get really annoying!”

After the White Bears of the 115th Private Royal Guard Company had become the 202nd Mobile Support Company known as Unicorn, they had carried out all sorts of horrible deeds below the surface all over the world.

They had needlessly sullied their hands and created various connections in return.

After one such job was complete, Flat had said the following to Sogia.

“We’re going to hell, aren’t we?”

“It may not look like it, but this is the quickest path available to us. We don’t have time for anything else.”

“But will Staivia’s faction last long enough?”

“Her maid Mikfa is very capable. If she gives it her all, they should be able to last just long enough. But even if she does her very best, 2 years is our limit. We need to expand our network even further.”

“…But while we do this, Lady Staivia is probably crying all alone.”

She was not just a symbol or a name on a document to them. They knew Staivia Nikolaschka as a person.

They knew she got motion sickness and therefore did not like riding on ships or planes. They knew that no matter how bad a mood she was in, she could almost always be cheered up with some beef stroganoff.

It was because they knew those trivial bits of humanity that they could put up with it all.

And it was a disgrace for her royal guard unit if Princess Staivia shed even a single tear.

They wanted to go right that instant and beat the shit out of the bastards behind the plan to assassinate her. They wanted to crush the source of what was causing her to cry.

But they sealed up those feelings and focused on sharpening their fangs as soldiers.

“Then there is only one thing we can do,” Sogia had muttered quietly. “We must risk our lives to make it up to her.”

Sogia, Sanya, Mars, Flat.

Those four met up on the battlefield and headed towards their goal point while spraying bullets everywhere.

“Hey, did you three remember to destroy the armored vehicles? Oh, and the aircrafts. The powered suits aren’t the height of their firepower.”

“Team bravo and delta went around destroying those. They poured tons of sugar in their tanks. And as for the aircrafts…well, they spread flames through the ammunition space of the gunships waiting on the runway, and now it’s like hell on earth over there. I guess you could call it a giant and deadly pinwheel firework. When one thing catches fire it catches the next thing on fire, so the whole thing is still expanding.”

“Clear, clear!” shouted Mars.

“Mars, you missed one. Please do this right. Clear.”

They were headed for the central control room.

Their first and final trump card for the cutting edge Object the Dimiksy faction had prepared lay there.

“What was that about Mars!? Did that newcomer do something wrong again!?”

“Can you please not start that at a time like this!?” begged Mars. “Clear, clear!!”

And then Sogia casually said, “Oh, right. I forgot to ask. How did it go gathering evidence of Dimiksy’s faction’s treason?”

“We’re turning all that evidence into a sea of flames right now.”

“That’s not good! If we can’t prove anything, we’ll just be mass murderers!!” shouted Mars.

“Give up on the court martial, newcomer. We were plenty guilty from the moment we caused an entire military unit to disappear.”

As the chaos of that hellish firefight continued to create more and more chaos, Sogia reached for the large communications equipment an enemy communications soldier had been carrying.

He tapped on the microphone with a finger.

“Ahh, ahh. What? Is this thing working???”

“It’ll reach to the other side of the planet. Including to that girl stuffed inside that old Object.”

“Is that so?”

Sogia arbitrarily called up the frequency memory while wearing down the enemy’s numbers with short bursts of gunfire. He then casually brought the microphone up to his mouth

And he spoke.

His voice reached the Assault Signal’s cockpit where it floated in the ocean.

Staivia Nikolaschka’s eyes opened wide.

She definitely heard it.

She heard the voice she had once innocently relied on.

She heard the words of the owner of that large hand.

“Hey, baby. How long are you going to keep crying? It’s about time you smiled.”

It had taken 5 years of fighting, but the miracle was complete.

In that world of rotten wars, the groundwork of great bloodshed had led to a small miracle that showed the pride of knights and the proof of justice.

===Part 14===

Meanwhile, the two idiots Quenser and Heivia were lying collapsed on the floor.

They had just learned the general situation thanks to the open radio exchange between Unicorn and Staivia and some additional information provided by the maid Mikfa (who it seemed had only just learned what was going on).

And after finishing her explanations, Mikfa let out a frantic voice.

“Wh-why are you suddenly lying stricken on the ground!? It is too early to be experiencing burnout!!”

“I can’t believe this!!”

“We were beaten!! We were completely outdone!! Vah! There’s nothing we can do!! I want to jump on them and beat the shit out of them, but I can’t find fault in them after they settled everything so nicely! Okay, that was a wonderful story! Thank you very much! The more we try to cut in, the worse we look!!”

“What are we supposed to do? The more we dig, the more damage is done to us… I’m sure they would have no problem acting all cool and saying they’re prepared to be court martialed!! No!! I don’t want to be a jobber!!”

It seemed they had guessed fairly accurately what Unicorn’s catch phrase was.

But Mikfa did not care about the pride of some pathetic idiots.

Even if the situation had changed, Princess Staivia had still been forced aboard the Assault Signal as a target.

“I-I assume Unicorn is in the central control room trying to acquire the emergency shutdown code for the Object. It is a lifeline used to prevent the pilot Elite from going on a rampage.”

“And what does that leave for us!? What is Quenser the meaningless side character supposed to do!?”

“I doubt there is any assurance they will be able to acquire the emergency shutdown code and if Dimiksy’s Object fires its main cannon before it can be shut down, it is all over! We need to buy time to save Lady Staivia!!”

“…”

“…”

Quenser and Heivia fell silent.

While Mikfa was panicking a good bit internally, those two idiots stood up once more.

“…We can save Princess Staivia?”

“Yes, that is what I have been saying!”

“…It couldn’t happen without us?”

“We are the only ones here!!”

The two boys exchanged a glance.

And then they let out some dark laughter.

“…Heh heh heh. Hey, Heivia. How about we take it all for ourselves at the very, very end? Let’s put our own wonderful story on top of theirs to make theirs completely useless.”

“While we’re at it, how about we carry the princess out in our arms right in front of those knights who have been working at this for 5 long years.”

“We still have one important job left: Kicking those self-important Unicorn bastards right in the nuts.”

“Kicking a corpse in the balls is boring. We need to make sure those heroes have tears in their eyes.”

Mikfa began to seriously wonder if shooting those two in the back right there would be the best way to protect Staivia’s chastity, but she had to worry about protecting the princess’s life first.

Quenser and Heivia were not stupid enough to plan on simply standing in front of a cutting edge Object. They would not agree to such a proposal and they would simply end up crushed even if they did. Their enemy would have no reason to stop.

“Hey, let’s start by doing something about that pain-in-the-ass jamming. Just like we already planned to. Let’s cut the airport’s emergency power.”

“Then what?”

“We ask for help from the Legitimacy Kingdom military of course. What can we do on our own? Only an Object can stand up to an Object. So it would be fastest just to ask for help.”

“If an Object would come if we called for help, Lady Staivia would not be having so much trouble in the first place!!”

“We can do it now,” immediately corrected Quenser. “After all, the Royal Duel can no longer be considered fair thanks to Unicorn’s rampage. We won’t take sides. We will call for help for both Prince Dimiksy and Princess Staivia. Then they don’t need to worry about whose side they’re on. We can get help to protect both of them from Unicorn’s interference.”

“Only Dimiksy’s faction wants this conflict over succession to result in killing. Even if someone wants Dimiksy to inherit the throne, it’s only natural to want a spare in the bloodline in case of a sudden illness, accident, or assassination. In that case, a soldier would want to save both of them if the outcome of the situation is unclear.”

“…”

Mikfa stared at the two of them dumbfounded.

To save one of them, the other had to be killed.

Dimiksy’s faction had spent many long years manipulating information to set up that condition. Mikfa had tried to resist it all, but that line of thinking had become entrenched in her mind without her even realizing it.

Had Unicorn…no, the White Bears of the 115th Private Royal Guard Company thought of that way out?

Quenser and Heivia would prepare several means of interference to buy enough time for the emergency shutdown code to be entered.

“Hey, Quenser! Where’s the emergency power supply? We need to hurry up and blow it up!”

“It’s a diesel engine larger than a school swimming pool! If the gas catches fire, the entire float will be split in two!!”

As they walked through the underground (or internal?) portion of the float, the two idiots moved towards the central portion of the emergency power supply. The area beyond the door was like a sauna. Countless metal boxes and pipes were crammed inside and each one had a panel and handle attached.

“…I don’t like this arrangement. I doubt there are, but there had better not be any soldiers hiding in here.”

“I’m more worried about traps. This steam limits our vision and all the noise masks any small sounds.”

“Come to think of it, we’ve basically opened up the hood of a giant car engine and jumped in. This is not an environment for a human being.”

They slowly and cautiously continued inside.

Quenser and Heivia read through the thick manual on the wall and operated a few handles and levers. After a hard struggle, the readings finally began to drop before their eyes.

“Oh, that’s right. The guys from the naval base are up above. This will stop the defense system shooting up that Latin guy and the other honor students, right?”

“Oh, I’d completely forgotten. It makes me feel like Urashima Tarou. How much time has passed since then?”

They felt no tension over the issue because they were not entirely sure those people were even worth protecting. The situation might have been quite different had they met even a single beautiful woman on that base.

With the emergency power down, Quenser and Heivia headed for the top of the float. Since it was too dangerous for the maid Mikfa to stand on the front lines otherwise, they had made her put on one of the powered suits left by Dimiksy’s faction. Quenser himself had destroyed an identical model, so they knew it was not a perfect defense. However, it did lower the odds of her being killed by a stray bullet.

“We’re headed up top, but don’t stand on the edge of the float. If you do fall into the ocean, don’t panic and perform an emergency eject. If you pull the huge levers in the right and left wrists at the same time, you’ll be ejected. If you escape before sinking 10 meters down, the water pressure won’t be an issue. If you fall further than that, decompression sickness will make it dangerous.”

“With this, I can fight too!” announced Mikfa.

“Fight what? Surely you don’t mean the Object.”

“Dragon breath has a horrible stench to it. If it so much as scratches you, the armor will melt.”

They climbed up the stairs and onto the top of the float. On a ship, it would have been called the deck.

The Assault Signal that Princess Staivia was aboard had already made its way out from beneath the float. It was now heading up to the surface thanks to its giant floats. Princess Staivia had not been trained as a pilot Elite, so it was doubtful she could perform even that basic a maneuver. A program may have been sending it to a set starting point based on the rules of the Royal Duel.

The surface of the float was several kilometers across and the Object was over 50 meters across. It was a sight that threw one’s sense of distance out of order. The tiltrotor crafts deployed around the area and the surface-to-air missile units that had been shooting them down a moment before all looked like toys.

“I see three large transport planes. Each one can probably hold around 100 people. Looks like more survived than didn’t, don’t you think? I guess those old models aren’t all that useful since they’re too easily tricked by chaff and flares. If this place had been equipped with the anti-air lasers Objects use, it would’ve all been over instantly.”

“The problem is that none of them will think too much about why they survived. In fact, they’ll probably hold a grudge against us.”

“How can you two be so cruel?” asked Mikfa. “A-and more importantly, how is Lady Staivia!?”

“More importantly? You’re just as cruel as us.”

“More importantly? You’re just as cruel as us.”

The two idiots gave that simultaneous comment, but it seemed maidens came with a function that let them shut out any inconvenient voices.

Staivia’s Assault Signal had no obvious signs of damage. Unless those who had procured it for the royal family had hidden a cup of poison for suicide, Staivia would be safe within the cockpit.

But that was no relief.

Something gigantic was moving on the distant sea.

“Here it comes, Quenser. It’s here!! That’s an Object!!”

“Which one!? Dimiksy’s? Or reinforcements from the Amazon district!?”

Those two extreme options were like a coin toss deciding life or death, but fate always had a way of sneering at those two idiots.

It might have been due to the powered suit’s digital magnifying ability or it may have been due to her experience from her long years serving the Nikolaschka family. Whatever the reason, it was the maid Mikfa who answered.

“The Object has the Nikolaschka family coat of arms on it. As well as decorative ribbons to indicate the individual. The ribbons are blue and gold. That is Dimiksy’s!!”

“Not good. So not good!! Is help not going to arrive in time!?”

“Dimiksy probably intercepted the request for help. He’s going to be on guard for a shot from extreme long distance or a surprise attack from the bottom of the ocean. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be approaching so slowly. After all, this is the main dish he’s spent 5 years preparing for. He has to want to charge in and devour it.”

Quenser used binoculars to get as many details about the Object as he could.

Below the spherical main body it had two long floats extending from front to back. It also had three leg-like parts extending from both the right and left.

“It primarily uses an air cushion. It can operate on both sea and land without swapping out parts. But those insect-like legs are different. Does it also use the laser method…? No, those are…”

“What is it, Quenser?”

“The legs on either side are forced brakes. They might work like pile bunkers. It’s the type to make tight turns by slightly altering the resistance between the two sides. In a close quarters fight, it can fly around like lightning.”

“That seems like a needless fear since Lady Staivia cannot move at all.”

“I want to give any hint I can to the Object that comes to help. It would leave a bad taste in my mouth if I watched on doing nothing.”

Its main cannons were likely the six large cannons sticking out of the front of the spherical main body. They were bound together like a Gatling gun, but Quenser could not spot any mechanism for rotating them.

“…They’re laser beams.”

“Wait, wait. It has six ridiculously huge cannons strapped together? Isn’t that really, really bad? How much firepower does that have?”

“No, Heivia. Do you know why the battleships from an older era lined up two or three main cannons together?”

“What? Wasn’t it to double or triple their power?”

“No. They did not have the accuracy for long distance shots back then. They did it to raise their accuracy. They fired multiple shots at once, but it was a great success if even one of them hit. Which means…”

“This bastard has six cannons strapped together because he couldn’t hit if he didn’t?”

“The actual tech used may not be that high level. If we have a usable Object on our side, this might be over surprisingly quickly.”

Dimiksy’s faction had spent years preparing for this day. They had made sure Staivia could not fight back no matter what. The actual ability of the Object was of no consequence. They knew no counterattack was coming, so they might have just needed to prepare any old Object as long as its main cannon could fire.

The average construction cost of an Object was 5 billion dollars.

When maintenance and operation costs were added in, the price shot even further up.

Even if Dimiksy was a member of the royal Nikolaschka family, it had to have been difficult to prepare two of them.

“…Is that really so?” muttered the maid Mikfa.

While still peering through his binoculars, Quenser asked, “Is what really so?”

“Dimiksy is both a member of the royal Nikolaschka family and an officially registered Object pilot Elite. Although it was almost entirely to increase his authority, so he has never been sent to the front lines before. …But this is an Object created for a royal to use. Would the technology used really be so crude?”

“…Do you know what system genealogy Dimiksy uses?”

“It was a second generation Object focused on laser beams. However, this one is different. Also, I have heard some disturbing rumors concerning Dimiksy. It may have been nothing more than propaganda to increase his influence further, but…”

“?”

Quenser looked puzzled and Mikfa continued.

“It is said the cutting edge Broad Sky Saber developed for Dimiksy Nikolaschka has exceeded the boundaries of the second generation and approached the third generation.”

An unpleasant pause continued for a short while.

“Heh,” laughed Heivia scornfully.

He seemed to be trying desperately to force down the fear that had welled up somewhere in his chest.

“That’s probably just the special hope of the influential. It was the same in that Oceanian military nation. They went on and on about how they had developed an Object, but it was just a piece of junk that only reached generation 0.5.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that we almost died.”

At that point, a small electronic tone sounded from Quenser’s radio.

“This is the standing defense unit of the Amazon district military. We have accepted your request for assistance. The second generation Forest Roller will be dispatched to the combat area. We wish to use the source of your transmission as a marker to distinguish friend from foe. Is that okay?”

“No! We are being targeted by an Object! An Object from the Legitimacy Kingdom. If we used such an obvious marker, Dimiksy would just blow us away!!”

“Then what should we do!?”

“We’ll take care of the flesh-and-blood enemies. The Forest Roller should focus on Dimiksy! Your objective is to keep the Objects from fighting. Silence any Object that tries to resist but try not to kill the Elite! Everyone here needs to be protected. Simple, right!?”

“Understood. Give my regards to the rumored princess. We’ll be putting on quite the show for her, but tell her to try not to fall in love with me. If this does get her wet, it’s only the suspension bridge effect.”

“I cannot ignore that vulgar comment! Does that operator want to be arrested for lese-majesty!?” shouted the maid in a shrill voice, but Quenser and Heivia were relieved that she was back to her normal self.

Yes.

They were relieved.

Even though the enemy had yet to fire. No, even though they knew there was no such thing as “going easy on you” or a “safe zone” when it came to the weapons known as Objects.

(Come to think of it, what is that thing?)

A sudden question entered Quenser’s mind as he waited for the Forest Roller to arrive.

It was on the back of Dimiksy’s Broad Sky Saber. A unit similar to a steel tower was attached there as if it was carrying a giant sword on its back.

(Is it a large-scale antenna for information warfare? No, it’s too big for that. It has to be something important enough to risk putting its center of gravity off balance.)

It felt like a rough sweater scratching at his neck.

He converted that strange feeling that something was out of place into words.

(That isn’t a steel tower attached to an Object. With that relative weight, it’s more like they attached an Object to a steel tower…)

He soon found the answer to his question.

The enemy gave it to him.

A brilliant white flash of light as if from welding burst from the base of the steel tower.

Quenser quickly recalled his fear of Objects and immediately got down on the float’s surface. Heivia tried to knock the maid Mikfa to the ground because she was standing there blankly, but the thick powered suit would not budge. The hard impact knocked the boy back onto the ground.

“Ow, dammit! What the hell was that!? Did Dimiksy fire something!?”

“Wait…this is odd. What is that!?” shouted Quenser as he lay dumbfounded on his back.

Something had shot at high speed through the steel tower on the back of the Broad Sky Saber. The pure white light shot up along the vertical tower and fired some mass with it. The mass was about the size of a small truck.

Quenser assumed it was a shell flying in an arc like a long throw in baseball.

But he was wrong.

“Wait, wait, wait!! What is that…? That isn’t a long throw. It shot that thing up into the sky!!”

“It resembled a container,” said Mikfa. “The kind of container used in laser space elevators.”

“It didn’t just resemble one. …That is a space elevator!!”

Two different standards were in conflict when it came to modern space development. The mass driver that used railgun technology and laser space elevators that created a “cable of light” by firing a powerful laser beneath a container and stimulating diffuse reflections to explosively expand the air which launched the container upwards.

Quenser and the others had just witnessed a mass of cutting edge military technology of the sort innocently broadcast into people’s living rooms to show the peaceful usage of space technology. In other words, it was exactly the type of thing seen on bright and cheerful news broadcasts.

“…Heivia. Do you remember when we were on the Cook Addition Islands and I was invited into that top secret facility by the designer named Claire?”

“What about it!? I don’t want to remember anything about the Night Edge Platoon!!”

“When I was there, Claire said something about the third generation of Objects possibly carrying on the genes of the Tri-Core.”

“The Tri-Core?” said Mikfa. “I remember hearing a commentator on a talk show making fun of it because its ability to drill for and transport oil left it overbalanced.”

“That’s the problem with the people who didn’t actually fight the thing! Do you have any idea how many times we almost died back then!?”

“And I didn’t know maids watched talk shows,” said Quenser with an odd sense of fascination. “The military does more than send weapons at each other. The Tri-Core built the lifeline of oil into the Object itself. It was an ambitious design that built a valuable facility into itself. To break free of the current need to protect the drilling and refinement facilities, they gave the facilities themselves the power to fight and freely move around.”

Even with three Objects protecting an oil refinement facility, an enemy Object could still destroy it on a suicide mission and a stray shell could always blow it away. But if the important facility that was as delicate as an egg was given the toughness of an Object, the risk lessened.

Or at the very least, someone had forced through a large-scale public project using that thinking.

That was why the Tri-Core had been allowed three reactors. The makers had believed it would provide far more benefit than three separate Objects.

“So is Dimiksy’s Broad Sky Saber similar to that?”

“Space development bases are another type of important facility that is difficult to move. A facility that provides great benefits will be a prime target. Usually, a large-scale defensive line is needed to prevent an enemy Object from attacking a space development base. Even if no one ever attacks, just sustaining that defensive line costs massive amounts of money…”

“So you’re saying they can break free of that problem by turning the Object itself into a space development base? And the JPlevelMHD reactor provides the large power output needed.”

It went beyond the simple battles.

This was an Object that had a source of massive amounts of money built into it.

This was the third generation.

This was a great flow that would affect everyone from the highest officer to the lowest soldier and – if viewed in a broader sense – would affect every one of the billions of people that were affected by war. When viewed that way, Dimiksy’s Broad Sky Saber did indeed dig deeper into the idea of war than the second generation that focused solely on combat.

“But what did Dimiksy fire into space?” asked Mikfa.

“I dunno. Maybe the bastard chickened out and fled.”

The three of them naturally looked up into the sky.

The eerily blue sky blocked their view so they could not see what was happening in space.

But…

In the next moment…

An orange light fell from the heavens and Quenser finally realized what the true value of the enemy Object was.

It happened beyond the horizon.

Due to the earth being round, Quenser and the others could not see where the beam of light landed. Or so it should have been. Nevertheless, they saw it. Something exploded beyond the horizon. The ground had been blown to pieces and rubble from the manmade structures atop the ground was blown into the air. It was all blown dozens…no, hundreds of meters into the air.

“…What?” muttered Heivia as if trying to deny the nightmare he imagined was happening dozens of kilometers away.

His voice quickly turned to a shout.

“What the hell happened!? Did the container fall back down!?”

“This isn’t right. The orange beam of light isn’t going away. That must be an afterimage left by the dust and moisture in the air being roasted.”

As Quenser watched on dumbfounded, he heard a voice come from his radio.

It was from that same operator, but he gave a completely different impression from before.

“…Kssshhhhh. Kkkssshhhhhhhhh!! This is the standing defense unit of the Amazon district military! Calling all units!! The Forest Roller was heavily damaged on the way to the combat area. I repeat! The Forest Roller was heavily damaged!! It can no longer move!!”

“What the hell…” Heivia had his own radio, but he snatched Quenser’s away. “What the hell!? That was our final trump card!! What the hell happened!?”

“We do not know! From the damage report we received, it was likely hit by a laser weapon from directly above. Do you have any idea what could have done it!?”

They had of course heard nothing about a bomber flying around. Then again, the laser weapons equipped on a bomber could not damage an Object.

Which meant it had to have come from above the sky.

From space.

“…There’s something there. It isn’t just the Broad Sky Saber. No, some weapon that works in conjunction with it is in orbit!!”

“You mean the Broad Sky Saber’s true main cannon separates off into space!?”

The idea of an Object’s cannon separating from it and still being used had been around for a long time.

The cannons could be equipped onto tanks or bombers. Or they could be staked deeply into the ground around the battlefield. Then lasers or microwaves could be used to send power to the cannons so they could fire on a target from multiple directions at once.

But…

“None of the past methods worked. The radiant heat and recoil from a main cannon is enough to destroy a tank or a bomber. And if their armor is forcibly thickened, they crush themselves under their own weight. And if they are attached directly to the ground, the target can just leave the area once they notice it. But…”

“They can ignore the weight of armor in the weightlessness of space. That way they can increase the armor as much as needed. And even if the target catches on, the main cannon’s range is an entire third of the planet. There’s no way to escape a sword that rains down from the heavens!! This is completely insane!! What happened to the space treaties!? This violates international law! Can they really do this? This destroys the distinction between safe countries and battlefield countries!! With that one Object, they can freely choose 6 or 7 billion people to slaughter!!”

[[Image:HO_v06_14.jpg|thumb]]

If he wanted to, Dimiksy could destroy Staivia’s Assault Signal from the other side of the planet. In all likelihood, the only reason he had showed himself was because the rules of the Royal Duel required for him to be in the same combat area.

“The materials were probably launched into orbit in the name of moon development and then it was constructed up there. His main cannon is growing like a rolling snowball. Who knows how many hundreds of meters it’s reached.”

“But if it is set up in space,” said Mikfa inside her powered suit, “can’t it be shot down with anti-ballistic missile armaments? I had heard 98% of ballistic missiles can be neutralized in this day and age using a combination of Object anti-air lasers and interception satellites.”

“Did you hear that on a talk show too?” asked Heivia in annoyance. “Modern ballistic missile countermeasures do not blow the weapons to pieces. They cause small but definite scratches that cause them to fall apart due to the friction of the air or atmosphere. I doubt this sky saber of unknown size can be destroyed with a simple scratch.”

“But what if we prepare some large-scale firepower?” suggested the maid. “We could use ballistic missiles of our own to destroy the enemy main cannon in orbit. If I recall, the original method to defend against missiles was to have the enemy ballistic missile swallowed up in the explosion of your own ballistic missile.”

Her reckless idea was that they need not hesitate to use enough firepower to wipe out a large portion of the map because it was in space.

But…

“That main cannon uses Object tech. If the energy running the large-scale main cannon can also be used to run smaller anti-air lasers, it can shoot down every ballistic missile we send its way.”

“Meaning?”

“The situation is hopeless!! He can wipe a location off the map as easily as a normal person can look up a delicious restaurant on their GPS!! It just takes a tap of his finger!!”

Of course, a GPS alone was unreliable against an Object that was constantly moving unpredictably at high speeds. Normally, the six cannons on the front would be used to hold the enemy Object in place. During that time, it could take aim from the orbiting cannon.

[[Image:HO_v06_15.jpg|thumb]]

As Quenser and the others watched on with no hope, the Broad Sky Saber used the laser space elevator on its back once more.

With a bright light as if from welding, another container was taken to orbit.

“What was that!?”

“I don’t know for sure, but my guess would be a giant battery filled with power from the Object’s reactor. I doubt that’s enough to use that main canon, so that sky saber probably also generates power via megasolar or chemical oxygen iodine!”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me… So what do we do? At this rate, he’s gonna repeatedly slap that delicate princess’s teary face with that giant, rock-hard cannon he’s so proud of!!”

“Please do not say such vulgar things about Lady Staivia even as a joke!!”

“Okay, Heivia. Let’s fight back before he can shoot his white stuff all over that innocent girl’s hair!!”

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

The two idiots ignored the screaming maid and continued their conversation.

“But how? He isn’t even coming this way! Staivia will be killed before we can even travel the several kilometers to him. And more importantly, I don’t want to stand up to that monster!!”

“Heivia, how do you think that sky saber aims?”

“What? It’s a collection of space development tech, right? Dimiksy’s giant thing probably has GPS functionality. He can look down at the women’s bath from above the barrier and take careful aim!”

“In that case, we can take it out with jamming.”

Quenser pointed into the distance with his thumb.

He pointed at the numerous large-scale ECM devices that had been installed here and there on the float to interfere with Staivia and Mikfa’s communications.

“Let’s cut the power cables for the defense system and then reactivate the airport’s emergency power. If we alter the direction of the ECM antennae, we should be able to interfere with his GPS!!”

===Part 15===

Unicorn’s attack on Flightburg Air Force Base had gone well, yet Sogia grimaced.

Mars spoke within the central control room they had taken over.

“…What is it?”

They had acquired the emergency shutdown code for the Broad Sky Saber. It was a numerical string represented by 13 hexadecimal digits stored on a flash memory card about the size of an eraser. The data was stored as an image rather than simply as numbers, so it had to be displayed, read by a human, and then manually inputted into the hotline that was disconnected from the military network and connected the control room to the Object.

This was of course to ensure an analog human had to take part in the process somewhere. Otherwise, the danger arose of external interference from hacking.

The flash memory card had a lock that required the thumbprint of the authorized user and it also checked for abnormalities in the perspiration and pulse rate in the thumb. In other words, the security could not be bypassed by “borrowing” the authorized user’s thumb by threatening them or knocking them out. Naturally, severing the thumb and carrying it with you was also out of the question.

But reality was very different from a rehearsed exercise carried out in a safe laboratory. It was only natural to be under extreme stress if that emergency shutdown code truly needed to be used in a situation that could alter the outcome of a war. And so the high military officials had prepared an emergency unlock method in case it falsely locked them out. However, this completely defeated the purpose of the primary security method, especially in a situation like this where Unicorn was aware of the alternate method.

That was thanks to approaching the designer known as Claire while disguised as the Night Edge Platoon.

“Dammit.”

But…

They all noticed something was wrong as soon as they stuck the flash memory card into the control console and tried to read the data inside.

The data was clearly corrupted.

At the very least, it was in no condition for a human being to read it.

The flash memory card had not been physically damaged during the fighting. The box meant to protect that final trump card was not that delicate.

Which meant…

“Did Dimiksy send a dummy emergency shutdown code to Flightburg Air Force Base? Is that what happened?”

“No, they would have used it once beforehand as a test to ensure mutual trust. But the foundation of your idea is sound. Dimiksy’s faction probably didn’t trust those at Flightburg.”

“Then what happened!?”

“They probably used a time-activated virus or something similar to make sure the data was corrupted once the day of the duel arrived.”

“It doesn’t matter what happened.” Sogia kicked the flash memory card while it was stuck in the console, breaking it. “If we can’t stop the Broad Sky Saber, we can’t save Staivia! Not only that, but Dimiksy will know something is wrong with Flightburg. That means we can expect a harsh counterattack!!”

That was when the earth began to tremble violently.

The Forest Roller that was displayed on the giant screen in the central control room had the red symbol for moderate damage added.

The attack had begun.

They all gulped because they knew what it meant for the trembling of that destruction to reach them several dozen kilometers away.

“Here it comes. We need to get out of here. This base is going to be blown away!!”

While sending instructions over radio to the other members of Unicorn who were still fighting in various parts of Flightburg Air Force Base, Sogia and the others fled the central control room. They needed to get as far away as possible from that base. They needed to escape an attack that was powerful enough to destroy a second generation Object.

But they did not make it in time.

They did not even manage to escape the grounds of the air force base.

The second strike fell.

The central point of Flightburg Air Force Base was dyed in orange. In the next instant, a storm of destruction raged.

The laser had not even lasted a full second.

But the intense heat it created was poured into the surface and that accumulated heat caused the air to explosively expand. This created a tremendously hot wind that reached over 100 degrees. A wall of air like that of a hurricane spread in every direction and the military facilities that had been created to withstand shell bombardments and aerial bombings were blown away.

Would it have been better to be inside a building or outside?

There was no escaping it either way.

Inside, one would be crushed by rubble. Outside, one would be struck as hard as if by large truck at full speed and all of one’s clothes and skin would have been scorched. If one did not stop breathing, the insides of one’s lungs would be in danger.

“God…dammit…!!”

Sogia and the others had just run out of the back entrance of the military facility and gotten down on the ground when the strike hit.

The massive scorching wind had swept over them after a few seconds.

The one piece of luck was that the laser had struck on the other side of the facility. Smashing the building killed some of the momentum of the raging wind and they were saved from the majority of the shock.

But they could not avoid the heat.

It was not enough to ignite their uniforms, but a pain still ran across them as if boiling water had been dumped on their heads.

“Gyaaaaaahhhhh!? I’m gonna die. Dammit. I’m gonna die!!”

“Bear with it!! It isn’t like your entire body has been covered in white phosphorus!! Quit crying over some light burns, newcomer!!”

“S-Sanya, the fire resistance of your collection saved us. I’m almost unscathed except for the parts that were exposed.”

“I have saline and coolant here. Sogia, contact the soldiers with anti-materiel rifles, machineguns, missiles, and any other heavy weapons! They should be able to use their equipment for cooling their gun barrels!!”

“Do we have time for that…?” Sogia dragged his aching body into a standing position, sucked in some of the stingingly hot air, and shouted into his radio. “All survivors, report in! Flightburg Air Force Base has lost its strategic value. All survivors are to split into small groups and leave the base. Do not all head in a single direction. Scatter in every direction. We’re being targeted from above. Flee to subway tunnels and anything else you can find!!”

But he received no response.

Was he hearing that steady static because the device had been destroyed by the heat or because there was no one left to respond?

Sogia gritted his teeth, but then he finally heard someone’s voice.

He thought it belonged to a survivor, but the voice betrayed his expectations.

It was a woman’s voice.

“That’s not the right course of action, Unicorn. This is no time to be falling back.”

“…? Claire Whist…the designer…?”

Primarily in order to learn about the development of the highly classified Broad Sky Saber, they had approached her to create a connection with someone in the Object design business. The Cook Addition Islands near the equator had been hot, but Sogia felt the memories from that time had been enough of a scorching hell to make that heat seem like nothing.

But why was Claire contacting them now? He frowned.

“Let’s go back over the situation,” she said. “ ‘He’ already has the answer. Dimiksy Nikolaschka has used every method available to him in order to legally assassinate Staivia Nikolaschka and inherit the throne. And yet his first shot went to the Forest Roller and his second shot went to Flightburg Air Force Base. Why? His target is right in front of him.”

“Isn’t that just because he wants to kill any interference so he can take his time and enjoy it!? That’s why he tried to crush us and the Object coming to help!! And he succeeded!!”

“Exactly. Even you are telling yourself the answer.”

“What…?”

As Sogia trailed off, he finally realized something.

The second generation Forest Roller was one thing. But why had he destroyed Flightburg Air Force Base?

The emergency shutdown code in the central control room had been a dummy from the beginning. There had been nothing they could do to the Broad Sky Saber even if Dimiksy had left them alone. And the flesh-and-blood humans of Unicorn had no chance of fighting back against that giant weapon. Even if they fired their rifles that were like peashooters to him, he could simply ignore them and fire on Princess Staivia.

And yet he had gone out of his way to use the Broad Sky Saber to destroy Flightburg Air Force Base.

Even though he had to be itching to get to the main dish of Princess Staivia.

“…There’s something here.”

“Yes, there is something there. There is something there the Broad Sky Saber wished to destroy even if it meant interrupting his otherwise perfectly progressing plan. And has that something really been destroyed? That strike from the heavens was powerful, but it was also a broad strike against the entire base. It is possible whatever it was has not been completely destroyed.”

“…”

Sogia thought as he stared at the red hot ruins of the building.

The odds of success were low, but they were not nonexistent.

However, their plan had been a tightrope walk with less than a fraction of a percentage point chance of success from the beginning. They were not about to despair at low odds of success now.

“I have a message from ‘him’,” said Claire Whist to Unicorn. “ ‘Leave the babysitting to us, papa. You need to get to work and dig up whatever it is that guy wanted to get rid of.’ ”

===Part 16===

It was summer year-round at the Cook Addition Islands and the ocean there was blue enough to be a tourist location, but the designer Claire was leaning against a wall in an air conditioned passageway. The damage to the research facility had been completely repaired. The corner of the building in which Claire stood had drink vending machines. But it was also the corner in which the material meant to prevent signals from getting out had been removed.

She was of course holding a laptop and she was wirelessly communicating with a communications device left outside the building by the Night Edge Platoon.

The information she transmitted was sent to the Night Edge Platoon, then to a satellite, and finally to South America.

While communicating with Quenser’s group and Unicorn, the woman wearing a lab coat over a swimsuit (who claimed to be a member of the genius girls of the facility) whispered to herself.

“I can’t have you getting yourselves killed. If you have time to give in to this tragedy, then I need you to bring it to an end.”

While sipping on a chilled carbonated beverage, she thought of what had started all this.

When the Object designer named Claire had first heard what was happening from the Night Edge Platoon (that was actually Unicorn in disguise), she had of course thought of the possibility it was a trap. After all, putting on that kind of act was Unicorn’s specialty.

Prince Dimiksy was meticulously preparing a plan to assassinate Princess Staivia.

When she had been asked to help stop that, it would have been odd if she had not doubted them.

The following conversation had played out:

“If you doubt us, then use your own network to do some research. I’m sure you have a broader and more detailed network than we do. If you didn’t, we wouldn’t want your network.”

“Hmm…”

Claire Whist gave a small sigh as she controlled an old-style game pad with both hands. The cable connected to her laptop and the screen showed a filthy middle-aged bearded man crawling out of a transport helicopter that had made an emergency landing. The mission was to travel from the spot in the middle of enemy territory where the helicopter had landed to the national border. It was a hellish marathon of about 500 kilometers.

“Do you know what kind of training is needed to develop weapons?” she asked.

“No. I’d guess you need math and physics…and maybe something in the arts for the design side of things.”

“Empty sadism.”

Claire swung the game pad lightly to the side.

The bearded man shot an enemy soldier, stole his off-road vehicle, and drove off.

“In the end, you can’t do this job unless you view killing someone in a distant land as a great deed. Even if all you see are symbols on a military network.”

“You’re saying the ability to carefreely look at those symbols indicates talent as a weapons developer?”

“I don’t like the word ‘talent’. You only ever hear it from the losers who put no real effort into anything. They use it to express their jealousy of the winners. The only difference between the winner and the loser is their growth rate and the time they put into it.”

“What you call the growth rate is what people normally call talent.”

The man from the Night Edge Platoon muttered that last comment under his breath, but he likely intentionally let her read his lips.

He likely had the ability she spoke of as well, so she could not have him be jealous of her. For one thing, his ability for direct killing and trickery were likely greater than her own.

And so the woman wearing a lab coat over a swimsuit continued speaking.

“I am not creating Objects out of patriotism or benevolence. I create them because they are powerful. I create them because they are cool. That is all it takes for me to change history. I’m the kind of woman who would be boring to drink with at a bar. So don’t expect to find any proper, standard, or average humanity in me. I don’t care about Princess Staivia’s situation. If she’s afraid of dying, all I can do is tell her to get more powerful. And that can be physical power or political power.”

That was the opinion of someone who had succeeded in creating something from scratch.

She was overwhelmingly correct and overwhelmingly cold.

If you put enough effort into it, you will succeed. She did not mean that as a shallow platitude. She had truly achieved that, so she could not understand the anguish of those currently struggling through it. Why can’t you succeed even though you’re putting so much effort into this? How long will you be stuck back at that stage? Are you even trying? She was the kind of person who could innocently ask those much too cruel questions.

“But…”

Claire Whist’s tone of voice changed slightly and it broke through the iciness from before.

While an intense firefight played out on the screen, a bit of the humanity she had denied not long before entered her voice.

“You said it was the Assault Signal, right? Prince Dimiksy acquired the first generation Assault Signal as a pawn for his plan.”

“Yes. The pilot Elite was assassinated while on leave in a safe country so that the Object would be removed from the battlefield.”

That was an old Object.

The model fell in the middle to later end of the first generation. In addition to the standard cannons, it had been equipped with the result of an experimental project that used powerful electromagnetic waves and various wavelengths of light to destroy the devices used in the enemy’s sensors. The experiment had been a failure. The idea only worked in theory and was completely worthless outside of the laboratory.

The design philosophy behind the Baby Magnum had been different, but it had inherited a few of the Assault Signal’s genes in its fundamental theory. It was not as deep a connection as siblings or parent and child. At most, it was like being relatives or cousins.

The Object held many memories for Claire.

It had been the first Object she had designed.

A few technologies had been rejected by the ignorant higher ups of the military for misguided reasons, but she had added them in without recording them on the official plans. When she thought back, that had been rather reckless of her.

But…

That was not the core of what she took issue with.

It was something else. Something much more important.

“…The pilot Elite. Excelsyla was a pitiable girl.” She spoke a single name. “She came from a poor family. When she was scouted as an ideal candidate for an Elite, she was overjoyed that she would finally be able to help out her parents. But she made a mistake in how much of her first paycheck she sent them. She was trying to save her parents, but she ended up destroying both their sense of the value of money and their lives.”

“…”

“People who are only able to wear first-class products are truly pathetic. Especially those whose outfits do not match the amount of money they make. Excelsyla fought hard to save her parents from their brand name addiction. The counseling lasted three years, but it never bore any fruits. She almost never took leave, but she had decided to do so that one time in order to finally give her parents the sweaters she had knitted herself.”

It had all ended meaninglessly.

An Elite was a powerful asset for the nation, so even on leave, one would never be wandering around a city without bodyguards. For her to die in some ridiculous bombing, it was very likely there had been at least one enemy from Dimiksy’s faction inside her bodyguard team.

Excelsyla’s courage, dedication, benevolence, great effort, and small successes and fortunes had all been crushed underfoot for nothing more than the power lust of some sleazy man.

She had been roasted black.

All to acquire a pawn for some plan.

“Fine,” said Claire Whist quietly as she held the game pad tighter in her hands.

A creaking noise could be heard, cracks entered the plastic device, and then it broke.

With the commands suddenly having stopped, the bearded man could only sit there and be shot to death. Claire ignored him and glared at the man from the Night Edge Platoon.

“I’m surprised to find I can still make this expression, but since these feelings have welled up within me, I’ll help you. Then again, you contacted me because you knew you could use the incident with Excelsyla most effectively on me, right?” But then she added, “There is a chance my anger could destroy your carefully laid plans from the inside. Do not forget that and make sure to hold my reins properly, okay?”

Dimiksy Nikolaschka might have been a truly excellent tactician.

He had expanded his wealth, power, equipment, and personnel by way of all sorts of wicked deeds.

But those wicked deeds could hurt him just as much as they helped him.

They could hurt him from a place he had no interest in.

===Part 17===

And the two idiots began a race against time.

After ending his conversation with the designer Claire, Quenser shouted to his partner.

“Heivia, get to the emergency power! Mikfa and I will cut the cables for the defense system!!”

“No fair!! I want to be the one working up a sweat with a maid!! I want to hear what a maid sounds like breathing heavily right next to me!!”

“So your vulgar talk has finally reached me as well…!!”

They complained, but they all knew they had no time. The enemy had already fired two shots. It was difficult to calculate out how much time they had left.

The two idiots headed off in different directions.

Heivia headed down a flight of stairs while Quenser and Mikfa ran across the top of the float.

“He can probably only shoot once every 7 minutes! But it’s still astounding that he can fire a battery unit into orbit, have it decelerate, and then connect it in that time!!”

“Dimiksy cannot fire containers repeatedly like a machinegun, can he?” asked Mikfa.

“The system uses extremely high temperatures to explosively expand the air. It takes time for the rapid cooling. And once it does cool, it has to take measurements to ensure the elevator’s guiderails have not been distorted. …But when you compare this to the old rockets that took days of preparation to fire, he’s still shooting his load extremely prematurely!!”

“Are you enjoying this verbal sexual harassment by any chance!?”

Quenser attached bombs to the cables coiled around all over the place that were thicker than his arm. They were much too thick to cut with any kind of blade like wire cutters.

Meanwhile, Mikfa used the strength of her powered suit to rip the cables apart while watching the Broad Sky Saber with the digital magnification of the suit.

“The base of the elevator is moving. A cylindrical part is being loaded… That is probably the container!!”

“You mean that fat old man is groping at his swollen crotch!?”

“Do you want me to punch you!? And don’t think I will hold back just because I am in a powered suit!!”

A separate building-like rectangular unit was equipped alongside the steel tower elevator. If one viewed the elevator like a gun, that was likely the magazine.

“Not good. Shit, is Heivia okay!?”

“He didn’t just flee down below on his own, did he!?”

That was when they heard gunfire.

They were already short on time, but now some soldiers presumably from Dimiksy’s faction were firing at them from behind a large passenger plane that was tilted to one side due to broken wheels.

Quenser did not hesitate to hide behind the maid (who was wearing a powered suit).

“What a pain in the ass! Why are they still alive!?”

“If they survived, they must be the unit that left with Lady Staivia. I will never forgive them!!”

The next thing Quenser knew, the maid was making a dash for the men. With his shield gone, Quenser immediately ran for cover, but he was not the only one surprised by the situation. It looked like one of the soldiers frantically tried to prepare a shoulder-fired missile, but Mikfa’s amateurish and fearless dash proved successful. She got there first.

She crossed the approximately 150 meter gap at greater than a safe driving speed and used the giant hands of the powered suit to grab a panicked flesh-and-blood soldier.

“German☆suplex!!”

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!? That giant weight and tremendous strength turned a sport into murder!!” screamed Quenser as he watched from the side.

Whenever Quenser had heard the term “inhumane weapon of murder”, he had always laughed to himself and wondered what a humane weapon of murder would be. However, this scene taught him all too well why such a term was needed. There were many ways to die, but not many would want to die by being half-crushed like an empty can.

Having charged into the center of the team of enemy soldiers, Mikfa continued her attack. Enemy Soldier 1 (who had just started to overcome his shock) was sent flying into the side of the passenger plane with a dropkick, Enemy Soldier 2 (who had panicked and was firing meaningless bullets from his submachine gun) had his upper body turned to spray with a lariat, and Enemy Soldier 3 (who had started cursing the goddess of destiny) was turned into a stain on the ground with a body press. By the end, it was impossible to tell which soldier had been which.

The scene was so horrifying it was almost humorous.

But Quenser would have preferred to see the maid’s zettai ryouiki as the skirt of her maid uniform fluttered around her. The scene was humorous, but it was not cute in the slightest. And there was no hope for it at all.

Only now that she had been thoroughly dyed in red did Mikfa realize the situation she was in.

“Honestly, that was not enough to quell my anger. All of you need to hurry up and die!!”

“Um… Could you wash off all of that blood and guts before coming back over here…?” asked Quenser.

“Why are you looking at me like I am filthy!? I will hug you!!”

“Noooooooooooooooooooooo!! You’re all stickyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!”

Despite receiving the truly rare experience of being hugged by a real maid and having his face buried in her bountiful chest, Quenser let out a cry and had real tears streaming down his face. There was nothing there but tough armor and the stench of iron. And that was probably not the armor he was smelling.

“Cough!! Cough cough!! That is too horrible to pass off as a joke!! And more importantly, we need to sever all of the power cables connecting to the defense system! Ugh…peh peh!!”

After the bloody maid finally released him, Quenser scurried off to blow away the remaining cables with bombs.

“Six minutes have passed since the last container was fired!” warned Mikfa.

“We’ve silenced the defense system. Now it’s all up to Heivia!!”

That was when Quenser heard horrible static coming from his radio.

“Did we make it in time…?”

“No, we need to change the direction of the antennae! Hurry up and turn them towards the Broad Sky Saber!!”

The powered suit ran. It forcibly grabbed the van-sized object that had been staked directly into the float. The suit’s great strength forced the antennae to turn without their hydraulics.

In the next instant, something fell.

An orange beam of light struck a location further out in the ocean from both the floating international airport and the Assault Signal floating on the ocean next to it.

“We did it! It miss-…!!”

Mikfa did not have time to finish her exclamation of joy.

Quenser did not have time to warn her of the danger. He jumped behind a large passenger plane that was lying on the surface of the float with its main wing broken.

For a few seconds nothing happened.

And then…

There was a pure white explosion.

The giant laser beam had not lasted even a second. The tremendous amount of heat it had supplied to the ocean water had evaporated all of the nearby water. That large-scale phreatic explosion was reminiscent of the old-style rocket and space shuttle launches that Quenser had seen in recordings. A white cloud-like mass quickly spread out in every direction.

It spread for hundreds of meters and maybe even further than that.

Quenser was hiding behind a broken passenger plane, but nowhere was safe. The plane that was supposed to be acting as his shield rolled over when the white wall struck it. Quenser realized he was about to be crushed, so he frantically got up and ran back from the plane as quickly as he could.

“Damn, and after we went to the trouble of saving those tiltrotors!”

The troop transport tiltrotors flying through the sky were struck down by that mass of air. But there was nothing Quenser could do. He could only hope they made a successful emergency landing on the ocean. Even if those aboard were the disagreeable honor students, he would be left with a bad taste in his mouth if they were wiped out by something like that.

And then Quenser spotted something out of the corner of his eye. It was a powered suit rolling across the float after being ripped away from the antenna equipment.

He had no idea if his voice would make it through the storm, but he shouted anyway.

“Get out of the powered suit!! If you fall into the ocean, there’s no hope for-…!!”

He trailed off. As soon as he breathed in, a burning pain filled his throat. Quenser immediately stopped breathing, but the burns were already spreading. He grasped at his throat with his hands and writhed around, but the pain would not go away.

“Cough!! Cough cough!!”

He had only breathed in a small bit of the hot wind, so his throat had only been slightly burned. If it had made it to his lungs, he would have been having trouble breathing.

That was when he heard a dull reverberating noise.

The Broad Sky Saber which had been sitting still in the distance now began to move.

Dimiksy may have been mad about having his strike turned aside.

No, that was not it.

(The cannons on the front of the Object are only meant to hold an enemy in place. They may be enough to wear down the enemy’s armor, but they aren’t powerful enough to pierce the cockpit! That means he has no choice but to use the sky saber if he wants to kill Princess Staivia to ensure his spot on the throne!!)

In that case, he would focus on destroying the ECM equipment that was jamming him.

But even if Quenser knew that, he had no means of stopping that giant machine that could move at around 500 kph. As Quenser helplessly watched the Broad Sky Saber approach the float, the Object first used its six cannons to fire on the Assault Signal.

The maid Mikfa was about to fall from the float, but she let out a shrill voice with no concern for herself.

“Lady Staivia!!”

“You idiot! He’s targeting you! If he could kill her with that, he wouldn’t have bothered with that over-the-top sky saber!!”

Fragments of armor melted off from the Assault Signal and with an explosive roar that was similar to a shockwave rained down from above. Normally thinking, Quenser could not risk moving from behind the broken passenger plane.

But if he did nothing, Mikfa would be caught in the blast next to the ECM equipment.

Even if she was not blown away, armor and all, she would definitely be knocked off the float and into the ocean.

Quenser was conflicted, but then he realized he did not have time to be conflicted.

He made his decision.

(Dammit. If I’m likely to die either way, I’ll choose the path I can brag about in a bar if I survive!!)

While crouching down, Quenser ran as quickly as he could through the downpour of armor fragments. When he saw a red, hot fragment fall right next to him and scatter orange sparks everywhere, he seriously thought he was going to cry. However, stopping now would not make him any safer. He continued to run towards Mikfa in her powered suit.

But he did not make it in time.

After that test shot told Dimiksy he truly could not kill Staivia with those cannons, he turned his countless cannons in a different direction. He turned them towards the ECM equipment set up on various parts of the float.

He fired on them one at a time.

The Object’s cannons thoroughly melted and blew away each piece of ECM equipment. Mikfa who was nearby and even Quenser who was trying to approach her were swept away too.

They had not been hit by the shockwave.

The float had begun to rock horribly.

A tremendous vibration created an unsteadiness beneath their feet as if they were on a suspension bridge that was having its ropes cut one at a time.

Quenser shouted through the sauna-like heat loud enough that the explosive noise would not drown him out.

“Mikfa!! Use the emergency eject!! Pull the levers in the wrists simultaneously! Activate it before you fall into the ocean!!”

He received no response. He saw no sign she was trying to exit the powered suit. She was merely tossed around by the impact as she rolled toward the edge of the float. Had Quenser’s voice not reached her? Had she panicked too much to carry out that simple operation? Or was she too afraid of the tremendous impacts to leave the suit?

Whatever the reason, only one path remained for her if she fell into the ocean while still inside.

Quenser used his scratched hands to struggle to his feet and began running once more.

The Broad Sky Saber may have been focusing on destroying the ECM equipment because it made no follow up attacks on the powered suit. The attacks continued on the equipment.

“Shit!!”

Quenser finally made it to the powered suit. If he carelessly approached Mikfa’s giant rolling form, he could be crushed. Quenser lifted up one of the thick cables coiled around the float surface and used it to catch on and decelerate the rolling powered suit.

The bombardment from the Broad Sky Saber continued.

It was supposedly focusing its attack on the ECM equipment, but the side effects of that made great changes to the buoyancy of the float. The powered suit had supposedly been stopped, but the float tilted and it started sliding towards the ocean once more.

Quenser had no time.

As the float was rocked like a ship in a storm, he grabbed onto the armor of the powered suit.

(Shit, can you force an eject from outside!?)

The powered suit was a collection of delicate equipment and programs, so it was made to not open from the outside if it was locked from the inside. This was simply to prevent an enemy from opening it.

But there were a few exceptions.

(If the pilot has been injured too badly to operate it or has lost consciousness, the maintenance workers need a way to open it.)

While looking at his handheld device, Quenser pulled out a Hand Axe plastic explosive and attached it to the back of the powered suit. He attached a fuse shaped like a ballpoint pen and moved away from Mikfa as she continued to slide. Since he had no idea what state the jamming was in, Quenser chose a timed fuse rather than a wireless one.

After precisely 10 seconds, it detonated.

Just as Quenser had planned, a portion of the armor on the powered suit’s back came off.

Quenser climbed back up on the suit, used both hands to grab at a lever through the armor, and used his full weight to force it back.

The lever finally pulled with the feeling of some kind of stopper coming out. The rear hatch opened and the maid Mikfa rolled out.

The tilt of the float increased even further.

The empty powered suit, Quenser, and Mikfa fell off and into the ocean. Mikfa still had no idea what was happening, so Quenser grabbed her arms and somehow managed to pull them both up to the surface with only his legs.

If he had been just a dozen or so seconds later in getting that hatch opened, Mikfa would have sunk down to the bottom of the ocean along with the powered suit. Even if she had ejected then, her breath would not have lasted until she made it to the surface and she would have fallen victim to decompression sickness if she tried to rush her ascent.

“Cough! Cough cough!!”

With their faces above the surface, Quenser and Mikfa greedily gulped in oxygen. Quenser’s military uniform was bad enough, but Mikfa’s maid uniform grew very heavy as it soaked up the water. Pieces of wreckage from the exterior to the ECM equipment were floating nearby, so they grabbed onto a suitcase-sized fragment as a float.

As the bandages wrapped around Mikfa’s fingers grew wet with seawater, a dark red liquid seeped out.

“…Are you okay? It must be bad to be thrown into the ocean after being tortured.”

“L-Lady Staivia is more important.” Her voice was frail, but Mikfa was more worried about the princess still up on the cutting board than herself. “The ECM equipment was destroyed! The shield protecting Lady Staivia is gone! At this rate, the sky saber will hit her with its next strike!!”

As Mikfa lamented, they saw a brilliant white flash of light and a container was fired vertically from the elevator on the back of the Broad Sky Saber.

The countdown had begun until the sky saber fired.

They had only 7 minutes.

===Part 18===

Sogia and the others from Unicorn ran through the remains of the 5 square kilometers of Flightburg Air Force Base that had been almost entirely destroyed. Almost all of the buildings had crumbled and it was no longer immediately obvious what each facility had been. They travelled across the rubble while keeping the layout in their heads.

The Achilles’ heel to Dimiksy Nikolaschka and his Broad Sky Saber was somewhere there.

They had no idea what it was or what role it played, but there was definitely something there.

It may have seemed they had no hint whatsoever, but they had a rough guess.

“The royal Nikolaschka family was heavily involved in the construction of the Object, but what unit handled its maintenance and operation? Is there some other maintenance battalion with around 1000 members? No, that would have shown up in our information network somewhere. They can’t completely hide a unit that large.”

“So you’re saying they took personnel and equipment directly from Flightburg?”

“If so, there should still be spare parts and maintenance information for the Broad Sky Saber here!!”

“So Dimiksy bombarded the air force base because he determined we could find a weakness from that, hm?”

Dimiksy had to have been able to make a decent guess as to where the weakness of his lay hidden.

And yet he had fired his sky saber at the runway in the very center of the base.

He may have been trying to show off his ability to blow away the entire base with just that one shot, but Sogia guessed there was some other reason behind it.

If he had fired directly at his target, there was a slight risk they could have searched that area and found a hint in some melted equipment.

Dimiksy had caused more general destruction of the base because he was afraid of that possibility.

He did not want to tell anyone what he was specifically targeting.

People who plotted out detailed conspiracies were bold yet cowardly at the same time. And so he had imagined many different possibilities and acted to crush them all ahead of time.

“Let’s approach this third generation Object from both the information and material angles. We need to split up. One group will search for information from the server in the control and communications facility and the other will dig up any materials they can find in the row of giant hangers.”

Sogia and Sanya went for the information while Mars and Flat went for the materials.

Both groups ran through the rubble along with the Unicorn subordinates who had survived the large-scale bombardment.

The resistance from Flightburg Air Force Base had completely stopped. It had either been wiped out by the bombardment or the destruction of the base by their supposed ally led the men to realize there was no escape for them even if they won.

Unicorn naturally intended to neutralize any soldiers that could move, but it appeared they need not continue the meaningless battle for the meantime.

The burning power had disappeared from the surrounding air, but it was still absurdly hot. It was worse than crossing a desert. An open outdoor area should never have been that hot.

Sogia drank some saline that was originally meant as a substitute for a blood transfusion. Normal water lacked electrolytes, so he would have definitely come down with heatstroke otherwise.

“Damn, this place is a sauna. I’ve made my way through plenty of battlefields, but it isn’t normal for the act of walking to feel like it’s wearing down your lifespan.”

“This heat makes me want some coffee milk. And did you notice the clouds that have started to cover the sky around here? They’re moving in really fast.”

“Did the sudden change in temperature mess up the atmospheric pressure or something? Well, I could go for a gift from god right about now. I want something to cool everything down.”

“This might be a meteorological weapon that ignores the normal weather patterns. This could be an attempt to wash away our precious hint in a concentrated downpour.”

The control and communications facility was supposed to be a giant tower, but Sogia and the others only saw a flat pile of rubble spread out before their eyes. It was impossible to tell where anything had been.

“This is too much to dig up by hand. It would be faster to check for any usable heavy machinery or powered suits.”

One section of the defense industry created sturdier versions of existing construction equipment such as tractors and cranes. There was more to war than just the spectacular firefights seen in movies. And even 4WD off-road vehicles often had small winches or cranes on them despite not being specialized for those uses.

“There’s a tank with a blade like a bulldozer. It’s probably meant for clearing anti-personnel mines.”

That had been constructed based on the extremely rough idea of clearing a path through a dangerous minefield by blowing up the mines. Sanya got into the front driver’s seat and Sogia sat in the commander’s seat on the turret.

They managed to clear the surrounding rubble away despite some trouble due to the blade’s low range of motion.

Finally, an area spewing orange sparks was uncovered.

“There we go. The main power cable is making quite the commotion.”

“…Let’s get this over with before it starts raining. If this area gets wet, I doubt we will be able to do anything.”

After getting out of the tank and clearing some smaller rubble, they found a mass of plastic that looked like it had melted and then re-solidified. They saw a circuit board sticking out through a gap. It was unclear if the board had any power running to it, but the capacitors would have power stored for a set amount of time. Touching it still held the risk of blowing off a finger.

“I don’t see how this could still run. Not to mention that every single monitor has been destroyed.”

“I don’t care if it’s partial or corrupted data; we need to get everything out of this we can. It’s the same Legitimacy Kingdom format, so it should be easier than if this was an enemy nation’s system.”

Sanya connected a cable from her handheld device and began extracting data, but then Sogia and the others heard the rumbling of thunder overhead.

They looked up to find the sky already covered by dark storm clouds.

It could start pouring at any moment.

“Are you done yet!?”

“This is a huge amount of information! This isn’t some hard disk recorder bought at an extreme discount!!”

“If it starts to rain, an electric current on the level of a train’s overhead line will be scattered all over this area. Hurry!”

“Unfortunately, my handheld device didn’t come with the option that makes it work faster when you yell at it!”

That was when a Sogia felt something lukewarm land on his head.

It was the “gift from god” that he had been hoping for within that scorching hell.

And yet he grimaced and grabbed Sanya’s shoulder.

“Time’s up!”

“Just a bit longer!!”

“Do you want to be burned to a crisp like you’re being cooked on an iron plate by someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing!? We’re getting out of here!!”

Sogia forcibly dragged Sanya away from the remains of the server. The cable from her handheld device stretched to its limit and then popped out of the connector. They moved away as quickly as they could manage.

And in the next instant, the rain came down like someone had overturned a bucket.

A bluish-white explosion erupted with the melted remains of the server in the center.

“That was close!!”

“Oh, come on. I’m not sure I even got 1% of it!”

The area had grown dark due to the storm clouds that had appeared and Sogia could see a pale bluish-white light at the peaks of the piles of rubble.

(St. Elmo’s fire…a coronal discharge. Shit. The weather worsened so quickly the entire area has begun to electrify.)

Lightning could strike at any moment, but he did not have time to be constantly worrying about the weather.

“It would have been impossible to take in all of the data from such a large server in the first place. More importantly, Sanya, can you read any of the data you did get?”

“It’s mostly destroyed. I can’t even open the files. It’s at a level where the software doesn’t even recognize it.”

“Convert it to binary data and then run some recovery software to try to fill in the holes. We might at least get a broad outline of the data pattern.”

Sanya did as instructed and the data was finally converted into something readable.

About half the text was corrupted, the images were in complete disarray, and the color scheme was a psychedelic mess of primary colors, but they could at least guess what kind of file it was from the portions that were just barely readable.

“This is a maintenance file for the Broad Sky Saber.”

“What a shame. There had to be some schematics in that server…”

“If this is a file for maintenance rather than a schematic, it would only have data on the main Object on the land. It wouldn’t need data on the main cannon unit up in orbit.”

“Is this what Dimiksy wanted to eliminate?”

“I don’t know. But we have no choice but to read through it.”

But then Sogia’s radio let out an electronic tone.

He received a transmission from Mars who had gone to look for the physical equipment.

“We found a few spares for the cannons and armor. They are parts for an Object, so even burying them under rubble wasn’t enough to completely destroy them!”

“Have you found anything that could be Dimiksy’s weakness?”

“Nothing yet. But we did find a sturdy container in the hangar rubble. It looks more like a gigantic mobile safe than it does a container. Flat is trying to overheat the electronic lock to get inside, but it’s possible some emergency lock will activate if the security notices his attempts. Have you found any data on what might be inside!?”

Sanya shook her head.

It was not that she had not found anything special.

It was quite the opposite.

“This is a cutting edge Object that is said to be part of the third generation. Everything about it is filled with classified information and is therefore highly valuable. It could be almost anything.”

“Mars, how big is the container? Let’s make a list of all the parts that could fit inside.”

“Um…It’s a cube with about 5 meter sides. It’s probably the kind of container meant to be carried on a cargo plane instead of a ship.”

“5 meters. What could be in there?”

“Just a quick glance shows over 200 possibilities,” replied Sanya.

“Oh, he did it! It’s open! It’s open! Nice job, Flat! The contents are…the hell is this?”

“Mars, report! If you really don’t know, use your handheld device’s camera to send an image!”

“It’s an ultraviolet signal.” Mars must have grabbed some kind of equipment because a hard clanking sound could be heard over the radio. “It’s a powerful ultraviolet signal that uses a program to send out a blinking pattern like Morse code! My guess is it’s a safety device to prevent allies from being hit by the orbital bombardment!”

===Part 19===

Meanwhile, Heivia Winchell was very seriously about to die in the underground portion of the float as it began to sink, but no one seemed to care.

“Cough cough!! Th-this is not what is supposed to happen to the star!! Cough, cough! Where is today’s beautiful woman!?”

Heivia finally gave up on running and started swimming through the passageway that was half-filled with water as he headed for the exit. However, the float was sinking at a tremendous rate and the space filled with air was rapidly decreasing. On top of that, the water was flowing into the float through the exit, so Heivia had to fight the current the entire way. He simply was not going to reach the exit.

But the goddess of destiny did smile on him on occasion. (Even if it was a horribly cynical smile.)

With a deep rumble, cracks suddenly began running along the wall next to him. Heivia prepared himself for the flooding to grow even worse, but the situation went well beyond that.

The several kilometers long float was unable to withstand the bombardment of the Broad Sky Saber targeting the ECM equipment, so about a third of it broke off.

Heivia happened to be right along that crack, so he was tossed and spun around by large quantities of seawater. The next thing he knew, he had been dumped into the ocean outside of the float.

The third that had broken off lost its balance and headed for the ocean floor.

Heivia headed for the surface while feeling truly grateful that he was not still stuck inside the float. Due to being suddenly thrown out, he had little oxygen left in his mouth.

His head started to pound painfully due to lack of oxygen, but he somehow managed to breach the surface.

“Bhahh! What the hell!? I finally get some air and it’s as hot as a sauna!!”

He flipped past all the wreckage floating in the water and approached Quenser.

“Hey, Heivia. In a bad mood? There’s a maid here waiting for you.”

“Thanks, knight! This is perfect timing. It’s like that first salt butter ramen after returning from being stranded in a snowy mountain! Its value shoots up! And it really soothes you!!”

“…I get the feeling I am being tormented in your inappropriate imaginations.”

Mikfa glared at the two idiots like she was looking at wild beasts, but the two did not attempt to argue as she was not exactly wrong. For boys of the Legitimacy Kingdom, about half of what came to mind upon hearing the word “maid” was highly inappropriate.

“Anyway, Heivia. You have a grenade launcher, right?”

“And what are you hoping to shoot it at!? It isn’t going to do a thing to that third generation cutting edge weapon!”

“I don’t want an explosive. When we were rescuing Mikfa, you said most of your grenades are signal markers used to pass targeting data to an Object. That’s what I need. Do you have any ultraviolet markers?”

“I do, but who are you hoping to contact?”

Quenser snatched the assault rifle away from Heivia and stuck an ultraviolet marker round into the grenade launcher attached to the bottom of the barrel.

But…

“Eh, what!? A rifle is this heavy!? I can’t tread water while…gbghbg!!”

“Ha ha ha!! What are you doing, Quenser? Are you trying to kill yourself!?”

“Oh, honestly!!”

The maid Mikfa had completely bristled with irritation and she frantically dived down into the ocean. She dragged up Quenser who had begun to sink and made him grab onto the piece of wreckage she had been using as a float.

“Lady Staivia’s life is on the line! Leave your gags for later!!”

“Cough…H-hey, Heivia. Receiving verbal abuse from a maid is a pretty rare experience, don’t you think?”

“I experienced that every day of my life back in the home country.”

Heivia looked puzzled, but then he noticed something.

As Quenser leaned his upper body up on the piece of wreckage, he aimed the grenade launcher at Staivia’s Assault Signal rather than the Broad Sky Saber.

“Wait, what!? Don’t tell me you’ve gone over to Dimiksy’s side after all this!”

“I haven’t.”

Quenser pulled the trigger and fired the ultraviolet marker. A mass about the size of a can of coffee flew through the air like a long throw in baseball before a small parachute opened.

“Hey, Heivia. Don’t you think the Broad Sky Saber has a really annoying design?”

“What?”

Heivia looked confused.

Quenser removed the empty cartridge and loaded another ultraviolet marker.

“It has the main body on the surface and the main cannon up in orbit. At first glance, it really does look like a weapon with a new design. But it must suck having to send energy up into space for each shot. They could have just put a JPlevelMHD reactor directly on the orbital main cannon. …And yet Dimiksy didn’t do that. Why not?”

“Well…”

Heivia thought while he watched Quenser fire another grenade into the air. This time, Quenser fired the ultraviolet marker out towards empty air rather than the Assault Signal.

“Dimiksy had this Object prepared for the Royal Duel, right? Well, the rules require him to be here. An Object in orbit would be deemed against the rules,” said Heivia.

“There is that, yes. But they also could have had the main body on the surface but given the orbital main cannon its own reactor. No rule says an Object can have only one reactor. We even fought the Tri-Core which had three. But Dimiksy didn’t do that. If he only needed a few seconds between shots with that laser, he would already have defeated Princess Staivia. Hell, he could probably take over the world with something like that. So why didn’t he?”

“…Are you trying to say he had a reason other than the development costs?”

“It’s a simple issue.” Quenser fired ultraviolet marker after ultraviolet marker as he spoke. “Dimiksy has obtained the ultimate weapon. But he is afraid of the power he has created. If he put someone in the orbital sky saber to fire it for him, they could betray him. And even if he left it completely automated, it’s possible someone could hack in and have it shoot Dimiksy himself. And so he did not want to create a perfect system that allowed the orbital main cannon to be fired on its own.”

“So the roundabout energy transfer system is a sort of safety feature? Even if someone takes it over, he does not have to worry about it going out of control or betraying him because it does not have the energy needed to fire? Dimiksy made sure he holds the final key by providing the energy for each shot individually?”

“Dimiksy is bold yet cowardly, so he will have prepared several safety features.” After placing several ultraviolet markers throughout the sky with parachutes, Quenser gave a satisfied smile. “For example, an emergency targeting evasion system. I just received word from Unicorn at Flightburg Air Force Base. Dimiksy’s sky saber has an isolated emergency targeting evasion system that prevents an attack on the coordinates emitting a special signal from an ultraviolet marker. Even if the sky saber has been taken over by a hacker, it supposedly cannot fire on those coordinates. That way he cannot be stabbed by his own sword even if it is stolen from him. And in case the firing cancellation process can’t kick in fast enough, it automatically moves its aim to a location away from the marker.”

Some static then came from Quenser’s radio.

An unfamiliar deep male voice came through.

“This is Unicorn calling our beloved friend. I will transmit the ultraviolet marker signal pattern verbally. Don’t input it wrong.”

“I’m thankful for your help, but I’m still going to kick you in the balls later.”

Quenser inputted the number he was given into his radio and the powerful ultraviolet lights floating on parachutes began blinking in a set pattern. That blinking light that human eyes could not see made its way all the way up to the weapon in orbit.

The Broad Sky Saber’s camera lenses all audibly moved. It seemed to be only once those ultraviolet signals were sent out that it realized what those things floating around the area were.

“It’s too late!! The emergency targeting evasion system will automatically re-input the targeting information to ‘safely avoid its allies’. You scattered the seeds, so it’s time your own sword stabbed you right in the ass!!”

“Wait, it isn’t just avoiding us? Have you guided it so it targets the Broad Sky Saber!?”

Once Heivia finally caught on to Quenser’s plan, he was dumbfounded.

But then he realized something.

“But that won’t work! The Broad Sky Saber has its own ultraviolet light! No matter how many of those markers you scatter around, it will never misfire on that third generation!!”

“Not necessarily.”

Quenser gave Heivia his assault rifle back and pointed toward the Broad Sky Saber with his right hand in the shape of a gun.

More specifically, he pointed toward the top of the laser space elevator tower on the back of the spherical main body.

“I said I received information from Unicorn, remember? According to the maintenance diagrams, its ultraviolet light is set at the top of that tower. Dimiksy had it hurriedly added later on to keep as few people as possible in the know about his weakness. It seems he did manage to keep it a secret, but it isn’t very durable.”

That was when Heivia saw it.

Vague bluish-white lights were flickering off the tips of the cannons extending from the spherical main body of the Broad Sky Saber. No, it was not just the cannons. The end of every single protrusion was glowing. And this naturally included the steel tower of the elevator.

“St. Elmo’s fire. It’s a type of coronal discharge created when the area is electrified. Unicorn saw this phenomenon at Flightburg Air Force Base after the bombardment from the sky saber. And just after they saw the St. Elmo’s fire, lightning began striking all over the place!”

The seven minutes of preparation time before the sky saber fired were almost completely gone.

In the next moment…

With a brilliant flash of light, a bluish-white lightning strike stabbed straight into the laser space elevator tower. A great roar ripped through the air and orange sparks scattered around like a high voltage power line had been ripped apart.

Mikfa cowered down, but Quenser had a fearless grin on his face.

“The coronal discharge of St. Elmo’s fire acts like a lightning rod. And what is the tallest thing on this battlefield? That should tell you where the lightning will fall!!”

[[Image:HO_v06_16.jpg|thumb]]

And if the Broad Sky Saber’s ultraviolet light stopped working even temporarily, how would the sky saber view it?

The combat area was crammed full of ultraviolet markers giving off signals telling it not to attack there.

And there was a single wide open point in the middle of it all.

The sky saber obeyed its programming and unhesitatingly fired on the Broad Sky Saber.

A great explosive noise rang out.

It seemed the Broad Sky Saber tried to take immediate evasive action, but it did not escape unscathed.

The high power laser fired by the sky saber grazed the elevator tower, twisted it, and ripped it from the Object’s spherical main body. Orange light gathered in the wreckage of the tower floating in the air.

“Heivia! Dive down!!”

Quenser grabbed Mikfa’s collar and forced her head underwater.

Immediately afterwards, the superheated air began to explosively expand. It happened at such high speed that walls of air that were like shockwaves scattered in every direction.

The destruction swallowed up everything within a few kilometers of the Object.

The water must have cushioned them because Quenser and the others were just barely saved from both the shockwave and scorching wind.

But the seawater had been shaken up by the explosion, so they still felt dull pain across their entire bodies like they had been stuffed into a metal drum which was beaten with a metal bat.

“Bhahh!!”

Quenser frantically brought his head above water, but the air was horribly dry. He felt like he had been thrown into a sauna and his throat stung as he breathed in.

Heivia who had also somehow survived shouted out, “What happened to the Broad Sky Saber!?”

“It should have been heavily damaged, but-…!!”

It had lost its laser space elevator, but it had not sunk.

Due to having that elevator tower attached, the Broad Sky Saber’s normal center of gravity was located quite high up. Naturally, having the tower torn away would greatly change that location.

Normally, it would have easily capsized in this situation.

But the Broad Sky Saber had withstood it.

It could no longer move at high speed, but it was still just barely keeping its balance like someone on a tightrope.

And as it balanced, the Broad Sky Saber turned its six large cannons toward the Assault Signal. It fired again and again, but it could not destroy the Assault Signal since they were not main cannons.

And without the elevator, it could no longer send energy to the sky saber.

“Did…did we win?”

“Staivia did. But he can still fire on us in revenge!!”

The strike from the sky saber had caused some large waves. But it was unlikely to be enough to make the Broad Sky Saber miss. An Object was not such a simple weapon.

Its cannons aimed accurately.

The aiming lenses repeatedly zoomed in and out like the Object was glaring at Quenser and the others.

They had no hope of winning.

They did not have enough firepower to blow away an Object, so they could only wait for the attack to come.

And no matter what attack it was, the Object would blow them to pieces.

“…Did you really think I hadn’t thought this through?”

But…

Quenser alone continued to smile.

It was possible even Dimiksy had lost his smile and his features were now twisted in anger.

“I didn’t just interfere with the sky saber to cause some friendly fire. If I created such a tremendous result, you would mistakenly believe that was what I was after. You relaxed because you thought the attack was over. That is why you overlooked it. …You overlooked the other thing I set up. You overlooked my other reason to scatter all those ultraviolet markers.”

He brought his thumb to the button on his radio.

Heivia had seen that motion many times before. It was what Quenser always did when blowing something up with Hand Axe plastic explosives.

But he had a different reason this time.

He had not set up any explosives. And his thumb was continually pressing the button in a set pattern.

And something was emitting that pattern at the same time.

The ultraviolet markers floating above the ocean. He had originally used them to send a signal to the sky saber in orbit, but Quenser continued to send out a blinking pattern even after that was over.

From the beginning, the sky saber had not been his only target.

He was using those ultraviolet markers to send a signal to some other place as well.

But where?

“We got some help from a top ranking Legitimacy Kingdom Object designer. And we have an Object she designed.”

“The Assault Signal?”

“And the Assault Signal had a few pieces of technology added in that were never recorded on the official diagrams. Dimiksy’s faction only checked the database, so they wouldn’t have known. And one of those features can be activated at any time if it receives a specific signal.”

The supposedly stationary Object.

The Assault Signal.

It was a remote control system originally meant to be used to slowly regain balance if the pilot Elite lost consciousness.

Quenser opened that point of contact and used his radio to contact a tropical island.

“Calling our beloved comrade in arms. If you want a medal, I’ll give you one.”

Claire Whist sat in the vending machine corner of the research facility on the Cook Additions Islands. A cable running from the laptop on the floor was connected to some giant device.

It normally sat in the corner of her room as a complexly folded piece of plastic.

The remote control system she had once created to protect the pilot Elite named Excelsyla was unfolded around her like a huge control console for a giant robot game.

Normally, the remote control method required a few dozen to over a hundred personnel to simply right the Object.

There was simply no way it could keep up with the high speed battles between Objects.

But…

In the Amazon district, the Broad Sky Saber’s center of gravity had been thrown off due to the loss of its elevator tower. It could no longer move and its remaining cannons did not have the firepower to destroy the Assault Signal.

In other words…

Claire may have been an amateur at controlling an Object and she may have had to painstakingly check each command before inputing it, but she could still fire the main cannon and blow away Dimiksy Nikolaschka.

“…Excelsyla,” muttered Claire as she operated a control-column-like lever with one hand and brought her index finger to a trigger-like button.

Her expression looked somehow lonely but it also displayed a clear smile.

“Do not worry. I may not have been able to protect you, but I can at least protect your dignity.”

And…

On a battlefield thousands of kilometers away, a shot that would change history was fired.

Dimiksy Nikolaschka may not have been able to comprehend what happened in that instant. Or perhaps he had but was unable to escape the danger due to the elevator tower having been destroyed.

The result was the same either way.

The Assault Signal’s main cannon emitted a tremendous beam of light and explosive roar. Dimiksy had clearly made a mistake when he made sure the enemy Object was properly maintained in order to avoid any complaints about the fairness of the Royal Duel.

The right side of the unmoving third generation Object was mercilessly pierced by the beam of a low-stability plasma cannon.

The beam dug deeply into the thick armor. The internal systems must have been destroyed because the Broad Sky Saber completely lost its ability to just barely remain floating. The giant weapon tilted to the side and began sinking into the ocean.

And Quenser and the others let out a cry.

But this was not a cry of victory.

They thought they were going blind.

“Gyaaahhh!! This is the problem with having your enemy and ally be Objects!!”

“Quenseeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!! If you knew our ally was going to fire, you need to stop trying to act cool and actually tell us!! Then I could have searched around for some protective glass meant for viewing melted steel!!”

Dimiksy struggled, but the ocean coolly swallowed up that giant weapon as if that power-hungry man was being dragged down into the depths of hell.

With his eyes still hurting, Quenser snapped his fingers and said, “Heh. That third generation may have been a truly powerful Object, but people seem to forget that every Object is a true monster. You can’t underestimate any of them.”

Just as he had finished everything off while looking cool, Mikfa chimed in.

“So how do you suggest we avoid this giant wave approaching from where he sank?”

“Waahhh!!!???”

===Part 20===

After Sogia heard over the radio about the destruction of the Broad Sky Saber and the result of the Royal Duel, he sat on some of the rubble that had once been Flightburg Air Force Base and put a thick cigar in his mouth.

“…It won’t light. And there was fire everywhere not too long ago.”

The artificial downpour was still continuing, so he was having trouble getting his lighter to light.

When Sanya saw that, she grinned and said, “Is this any time to be smoking? That hard-ass will likely be here soon. He’ll definitely be able to notice if you do it right before he gets here.”

“I just want one smoke before having to face him.”

But Sogia’s modest wish was not granted.

They heard the sound of blades beating the air. They looked up to see a large transport helicopter approaching. Sogia gave an arbitrary sign with the unlit cigar and Mars and Flat lit a smoke bomb at an area relatively free of rubble.

The large helicopter landed there.

A figure stepped off while surrounded by several bodyguards. Sogia recognized the man.

He had been their superior back when they had still been known as the 115th Private Royal Guard Company.

“What’s this? The marshal of the royal guards went out of his way to see us?”

“Your face may have changed, but I see your impudence has not.”

The old man known as a marshal snapped his fingers and one of his bodyguards pulled out a vacuum packed cigar, quickly lit it, and handed it to Sogia.

“Heh. You idiot. So you even remembered that.”

Sogia complained, but he smoked the cigar with a satisfied expression.

The marshal said, “Dimiksy Nikolaschka is confirmed to have sunk. This will cause a great shock to his faction that is squirming under the surface. We are following that movement to arrest all of them.”

“I see.”

“The Broad Sky Saber’s main cannon up in orbit has stopped functioning. A unit has been sent from the moon to retrieve it. They have attached an additional booster and are going to use the large mass of an asteroid that happens to be approaching to alter its orbit. …Space has no territorial rights, so other world powers could try to steal the technology otherwise.”

“So you don’t want a rapid change to the era due to the appearance of the third generation? …Heh. That’s exactly what Claire Whist had a ‘bad feeling’ would happen.”

“For now at least.”

When Sogia heard the marshal’s words, he disinterestedly asked, “So what about Dimiksy himself?”

“When the outsiders mixed into the Lineage Department were eliminated, it became clear his DNA information was fraudulent. But it is not up to a single soldier to decide whether that information should be made public. It is unclear if Dimiksy survived, but it is possible the military will decide to not rescue him and let him die.”

“If that happens, he’ll be known as a courageous royal who died in a Royal Duel, won’t he?” Sogia breathed out a bit of smoke. “Both the royal Nikolaschka family and the Legitimacy Kingdom as a whole would prefer that outcome. He was a dangerous man with questionable lineage who spread belligerent conspiracies everywhere. It wouldn’t surprise me if you all wanted him purged. You were hoping we would succeed, weren’t you?”

“Are you dissatisfied?”

“It doesn’t matter to me. …As long as that crybaby is safe.”

From the beginning, Sogia, Sanya, Mars, Flat, and the rest of Unicorn had not been trying to defeat a powerful enemy and ensure Staivia Nikolaschka became queen.

They had been trying to protect her from the problems surrounding the succession.

To keep her safe, they would have readily kept her out of the competition altogether.

If Staivia herself had truly wanted the throne, Unicorn may have even fought against Staivia.

But then…

It was because she had so little of such selfishness that Unicorn had decided to risk their lives for her in the first place.

The old man known as a marshal looked down at Sogia who sat on the rubble.

“What you all did was most likely right. At the very least, I can proudly tell you it was. But...” The old man made a clear pause. “You still broke countless military regulations from the moment you faked the destruction of the 115th Private Royal Guard Company. According to Legitimacy Kingdom law, it is not a crime to kill those who have betrayed the royals. In fact, it might earn you a medal. However, your preparations were much too dirty. For that, I must go against my personal feelings and give you an impartial court martial. Your crimes will likely outweigh what you have earned by stopping the traitors.”

Sogia gave a small smile while shaking his fingers slightly to knock ashes off the tip of the cigar.

“Did you really think we weren’t prepared for this from the beginning?”

“I cannot avoid sending you to the detention barracks.”

“What else is new? We were thrown in there all the time back when we were with the royal guards,” said Sogia casually before shouting to the others from Unicorn. “Did you hear that, men? The marshal’s going to show us to a hotel being paid for by the people’s tax money!”

“As long as it has proper food, I don’t care where I end up!”

“If you’re fed luxurious food in a cell, shouldn’t you start to worry? That sounds like a last meal before execution to me.”

“Even if it’s covered by bars, as long as it has a window, I can use pieces of our rations to lure in pigeons. I’ll catch food enough for everyone.”

As the members of Unicorn started making a commotion, the marshal grimaced slightly. Punishments were meaningless for those who knew no fear.

The marshal ordered his bodyguard unit to restrain Unicorn. But they did not handcuff the prisoners or even point their guns at them. A clear sense of respect floated in the air. Talk of this would likely fill bars for many weeks to come.

While sincerely hoping no idiots would try to emulate Unicorn’s actions, the marshal asked, “I will hold you on my authority until the court martial. Are you sure you do not want to meet Princess Staivia before then?”

“Don’t be stupid. This is the kind of situation where you have to leave without saying a word.”

“I thought you would say that.” A malicious smile appeared on the marshal’s grim face. “That is why I ordered to have Princess Staivia brought here.”

“What!? Damn you, old man!!”

Sogia frantically shouted out, but it was too late.

An off-road vehicle protected by several bodyguard vehicles entered the air force base. The maid Mikfa got out first. She opened the back door and Staivia Nikolaschka stepped out. When they had last seen her, she had been smaller than her stuffed bear, but she had grown quite ladylike in the past 3 years.

Without waiting for Mikfa to hold out an umbrella, Staivia ran straight toward them.

The first thing she said was, “Hm? Hmm? Which one is Yulenzak!?”

“…Oh, right. We all got plastic surgery.”

He could not disobey an order from a royal, so the man using the fake name of Sogia raised his hand.

With her target set, Staivia ran straight toward him.

They all assumed she was going to embrace him.

But Staivia used all her strength to kick Sogia (aka Yulenzak) in the crotch.

With a great noise, that large man who had fought on countless battlefields doubled over. Mars and Flat let out screams, Sanya grimaced despite being a woman, and the old man with the rank of marshal averted his gaze slightly.

As Yulenzak used all his strength to withstand the pain, he saw something unpleasant out of the corner of his eye.

The two idiots Unicorn had made excessive use of were waiting within the off-road vehicle Staivia had arrived in. They were sticking out their tongues and one of them had even warned he would kick Sogia in the balls.

(Those bastards…!!)

After completely ruining the moment, Staivia finally embraced him. He could do nothing about the intense pain swirling around within him, but he noticed that Staivia was trembling. When he realized she was crying, Yulenzak finally scratched at his head.

Those tears were not simply from all the fear of having her life targeted for so long.

Her tear glands were reacting to being reunited with the unit…no, with the comrades she had thought she had lost 3 years ago.

There was a lot Yulenzak wanted to say, but he did not have time.

Whatever their goal had been, Unicorn had constantly broken military regulations. They had to be punished.

And so Yulenzak grabbed Staivia’s shoulders, pushed her away from him, kneeled down to put himself at eye level with her, and spoke the following words:

“Hey, baby. How long are you going to keep crying? It’s about time you smiled.”

<noinclude>{{HEAVYOBJECT Nav|prev=HEAVY OBJECT:Volume6 Chapter 2|next=HEAVY OBJECT:Volume6 Epilogue}}</noinclude>

Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume3 The Second Question

2014-02-23T16:54:07Z

Axyraandas: /* The Second Question */ Inserted a word for the sentence to make sense.

==The Second Question==

'''Please write the diary entry for the first day of the training course.'''

'''Himeji Mizuki's Diary:'''

After getting off at the tram stop, I was overwhelmed by a sudden dizziness. The smell of the trees and the change of scenery, the difference in air quality compared to the streets of the city, seemed to prophesize that something good would happen.

'''Teacher's advice:'''

It seems the change of environment is a great stimulus. I wish for Himeji to have a great time and create some memories that belong only to the second year of your high schooling.

'''Tsuchiya Kouta's Diary:'''

[[Image:BTS vol 03 029.jpg|thumb]]
After getting off at the tram stop, I felt overwhelmed by dizziness. I wonder what caused it?

'''Teacher's advice:'''

It's car sickness.

'''Yoshii Akihisa's Diary:'''

At the tram stop, I took in a whiff of the air, it seemed a little sweet, yet sour. A very mysterious smell, and my deep thoughts echoed whether or not it was the specialty of this town.

'''Teacher's advice:'''

I am definitely sure if Tsuchiya besides you was not vomiting, you would have a different impression of the air quality of this town.

Noticing the greenery pass the bus window, I finally left the city that I'm so used to staying in, and am heading towards the highlands that give off such a realistic feeling.

"Seems like we're going to be on this tram for another 2 hours."

Himeji-san is sitting opposite me as she slips her handphone back into her pocket. She should be checking out the bus directory.

"There's two hours left, but I don't want to sleep. What should I do~"

As the space in the bus is small, there are only so many things we can do. Our hand-held games were confiscated, so we couldn't bring them. There's unexpectedly so few things that we can do.

I turn around and look at Yuuji, who's looking outside. Also looking rather bored, he yawned.

"Yuuji, got something interesting?"

"Isn't there a mirror in the toilet? You can look into it until it breaks."

"Eh, you're saying that my face looks interesting?"

"Nope, you're mistaken. I'm saying that your face—really can't make anyone laugh."

"What do you mean by you can't laugh at it!? Is my face so bad that no one can laugh at it!?"

"I'm saying what's interesting in your guardian spirit."

"A guardian spirit? You can see those kinds of things, Yuuji?"

"Mm, I can see it. Dyed in blood, messed-up long black hair, that's a rare guardian spirit you have there."

"No matter what, anyone who looks like that wouldn't be protecting me, right?"

That should be well-known as a ghost from behind, right?

"Relax, I'm just half-joking."

"Ah, what the hell, you scared me."

"Actually, the hair is coffee in colour."

"Forget about the colour, that's not the important thing!"

Though I feel that Yuuji should be joking right from the start, I still find it a bit horrifying. If I'm to listen to him even more, it'll become a monster talk. But then again, my luck recently has been really bad, maybe it's some impure thing coming over to haunt me... Never mind, let's just prepare some salt to chase them away.

"Oh, Minami, what are you reading?"

Opposite Yuuji, diagonally in front of me, Minami is reading a book that's about as large as a notepad. It's really rare for Minami to read this when she's not really good in Kanji. Is it something that introduces red rubies?

"Hm? You're talking about this? It's a book of psychological tests. I bought it since it costs 100 yen, but I didn't expect it to be so interesting."

Psychological tests? Seems like we have something to kill the time off.

"Ohh~ seems interesting. Why don't you give me a question, Minami?"

"Mm, alright."

After saying this, Minami flips through a few pages.

"Then let's start. 'Please choose someone from the opposite gender that fits the following colours'."

So, a colour impression? I suppose this is to choose who I find suits the colour the most, right?

"'① Green ② Orange. ③ Blue'

Please say the names of the persons who you find are suitable for the above colours."

Ooo~ Green, orange and blue, huh?

"Erm—Minami, why are you staring at me so intently? At least let me answer the question first."

"I, I'm not! Stop yapping and start answering!"

"Hm~...if that's the case, then 'Green=>Minami, Orange=>Hideyoshi and Blue=>Himeji-san', or something like that."

PLACK—Minami lets out a terrifying sound between her fingers.

"Mi, Minami-san...why must you rip the book right through in half?"

"AND YOU DARE ASK WHY!?"

"Eh?"

"WHY IS MY COLOUR GREEN AND MIZUKI'S BLUE? CARE TO EXPLAIN?"

Wa! Though I don't know what's going on, she's really infuriated! For her to get so angry from just a psychological test, do I have something against tests?

"Eve, even if you ask me why, I..."

Because you're wearing grassy-green underwear—she'll throw me out of the bus window if I say this, right?

"I won't get angry, so just say it."

"Because you were wearing grassy-green underwear."<ref>A little brick joke that was mentioned in [[Baka_to_Tesuto_to_Syokanju:Volume3.5_Me and Thugs and a Love Letter|Me and Thugs and a Love Letter]], where Minami protested to Akihisa that she was wearing grassy green underwear. The story was dated between volumes 1 and 2 (according to author's notes of volume 3.5)</ref>

"SAKAMOTO, OPEN THE WINDOW!"

"YOU'RE THINKING OF THROWING ME OUT RIGHT!? YOU'RE THINKING OF THROWING ME OUT OF THE WINDOW RIGHT!!?"

"Shimada, you can't just throw trash out of the window."

"Thanks for stopping Minami, Yuuji, but you just treated me like trash without thinking, right?"

"Doesn't matter anyway, since you're not trash, but a scumbag."

"What now~ I haven't been treated like this so cruelly in a long time."

"You should put a scumbag into a waste carriage."

"And even Yuuji's treating me like one..."

Why must I be always treated like this!?

Just as I grit my teeth to endure this agony of humanity, Yuuji easily snatches that booklet of psychology (or rather, it was one anyway) from Minami's hands.

"AH! What are you doing!?"

"Let me see! Green represents 'friend', orange represents 'source of motivation', and blue represents—ohh. I see."

Yuuji glances at Minami and me a few times before giving a sly look. I'll go mad everytime he gives such a look.

"Sa, Sakamoto! Return that to me!"

"Sorry sorry. It looked interesting, so I really felt like borrowing it to take a look."

Minami puffs her cheeks in anger as Yuuji doesn't look sincere at all when he apologized.

"Speaking of which, does Yuuji want to participate?"

"You're right. Shimada, can I join in too?"

"Alright alright...but, but I have to make this clear, there wasn't any significance in that question just now!"

"Okay okay, I got it."

What was written on that book?

"Can I join in too?"

At this moment, Hideyoshi moves over. He's sitting together with Muttsulini behind us, seems like he's bored as well.

"I'm okay with it."

Minami looks a bit unhappy, seems like she's a bit jealous of Hideyoshi.

"Well, thanks. Ah, Akihisa, regarding the answer just now..."

"What answer?"

"The question just now was 'Please choose someone from the opposite gender that fits the following colour', right? Who did you choose for orange?"

"You, Hideyoshi."

"...I'm happy to hear that when you mentioned this, but I do feel really troubled by this..."

Hideyoshi lowered his head as he muttered this. What's going on?

"Speaking of which, is Muttsulini not participating?"

"Looks like he's asleep. I heard that he did quite a lot of investigations."

I poke my head out past the back of the chair, Muttsulini is definitely sleeping.

"I guess it's better not to bother him."

"You're right."

Seeing him sleep like this, it'll be pitiful if he's to be called up suddenly.

"Erm, excuse me. Can I join in as well?"

Sitting opposite us, Himeji-san shyly raises her hand.

"Then let's have everyone play.

I answered for Minami while she still looked unhappy. Besides, she won't mind Himeji-san joining in as well.

"Oh yeah, Minami, about that 'opposite gender person that represents blue', what's the answer?"

"...I won't say it, even till I die."

"How, how did it become like this..."

Himeji-san's wide eyes look a bit teary. It's because of those teary eyes that I immediately thought of her the moment I heard blue.

[[Image:BTS vol 03 037.jpg|thumb]]
"Ah...never mind, on to the next question."

Minami sighs and again flips through the torn psychology test booklet. To be able to rip a booklet right down the middle, how strong is Minami anyway?

"'From the numbers '1' to '10', please choose the first two numbers that you thought of.'"

"I'm 5 and 6"

Yuuji said.

"Well, I'm 2 and 7."

Hideyoshi replied.

"I'm 1 and 4."

I gave my answer as well.

"Then I'm 3 and 9."

Himeji-san finally has an answer.

After hearing our comments, Minami slowly flips through a page off the booklet in her hands.

"Let me see. 'The first number the person thinks of represents how others view the person'. If so—"

"A snarky, cool guy."-- Yuuji.

"A calm and sensible person."-- Hideyoshi.

"Go to hell."-- Me.

"Caring and cautious"-- Himeji-san.

Minami called out the results.

"Oh, I see."

"To be called sensible, I'm rather happy."

"Erm~ why am I the only getting scolded?"

"So I'm gentle and cautious, huh~"

We all said our thoughts.

"Next, 'the second number represents the real personality hidden within you'. So, let me see—"

Similar to what she did just now, Minami pointed at everyone.

"A just and gentle person."-- Yuuji.

"A very attractive person."-- Hideyoshi.

"Go and die painfully."-- Me.

"A strong-willed person."-- Himeji-san.

She again gives us the answer.

"Hideyoshi is really attractive."

"Himeji is a strong-willed girl, huh?"

"Erm~ Why am I being the only one scolded even more?"

"Sakamoto-kun really gives a feeling that he's gentle."

Our conversation starts to revolve around the psychology test, and everyone continued to have fun.

After that, Minami started to play a few of these psychology test with us.

After a while,

"...(Pats pats)."

"Ah, morning, Muttsulini."

"You're awake."

"...Woke up because I'm hungry."

"Oh? It's that time already?"

I pull out the handphone to confirm the time, and the time shown on the screen right now is 1:15pm. Normally, this would be past lunchtime already.

"Perfect timing. Why don't we have our lunch now?"

"You're right. We won't be able to finish dinner if we had lunch too late."

Food is a really important source of nutrition. I won't deliberately give any excuse that I ate already this time; that would truly be a waste.

"Ah, it's time for lunch, right? If so—"

At this moment, Himeji-san reaches her hand into a bag beside her, searching for something, and I have a bad feeling about this.

"Actually, I made quite a lot of bentos, so it possible..."

The prediction came true! Himeji-san took out a large bento box!

I'm really grateful for her kind intention, but unfortunately, the food that she makes aren't just a masterpiece of creativity, it's a strong poison that can threaten anyone's life.

"Sorry Himeji, but I did bring my own bento."

"Sorry, I brought mine as well."

"...Same here."

Yuuji, Hideyoshi and Muttsulini all pull out their lunches to prove it, seems like they were completely prepared.

"This is how it is, so Akihisa, please accompany Himeji as you eat your lunch."

Yuuji reveals an expression of glee over my misfortune. They must have thought that since I'm in poverty, I won't be able to prepare my own bento.

Hoho, you're too naive if you thought that.

"I'm sorry. Actually, I prepared my own bread."

"Oh my! My hand slipped! (smacks me)"

"...my foot slipped. (steps on it)"

"AHHH! MY BREAD! MY BREAD!"

After Yuuji caused me to drop my bread onto the floor, Muttsulini followed up by stepping on it a few times.

Damn it! Your combination is too perfect! How am I supposed to react?

Even so, I'm not so weak so as to give up even after my bread got stepped on a few times.

"Hahaha, you guys aren't careful at all. Really, why don't you treasure food more—"

"—You're right. Why shouldn't we treasure food? I'll finish up this squished bread, so Akihisa, just eat Himeji's bento."

""......(staring at each other)""

"Ah sorry Yuuji. My hand slipped so—"

"I'll grab you to prevent your hand from slipping."

""......(glaring at each other)""

"Then Akihisa-kun, if you don't mind—"

Himeji-san shyly brings the bento in front of me. I'm really~really happy, but after seeing the contents of the bento, I can't even bring myself to start tucking in.

"Ah~ Well, this..."

"Aki, do you want to eat my bento as well?"

Just as I was ready to use my specialty 'stomachache attack', Minami unexpectedly gave me an escape route. This is truly a once in a million chance!

"Thanks Minami for sharing! How about everyone open up their bentos? Then we can all share!"

I see Yuuji shoot me a 'what kind of bastardly idea is this?' blaming look. Really, this made me feel so good about it.

"Well, well Muttsulini and I will go back to our seats and eat."

"...(Nods head vigourously)."

Oh, so Hideyoshi and Muttsulini are both intending to escape, huh? Nevermind, my target has only been Sakamoto Yuuji right from the start!

"I don't need it, besides, I have Akihisa's bread in my hand."

Though Yuuji's face is looking as gentle as ever, his gaze is ever serious.

"Don't say this, Yuuji..."

"I see, so you want to eat my bento as well! Go ahead, take as much as you want!"

"GUUH!!"

My mouth got stuffed with a lot of things. Yuuji seemed to have stuff my mouth with sandwiches to prevent me from saying anything. Can I even say anything anymore?

I frantically chew on the food to swallow it. Humph! This American-style sandwich is too delicious! Roasted chicken with some special marinade on it.

"(swallows)—that was good!"

A layer of butter was applied on the surface of the toast to prevent moisture, only the leaves of the lettuce was used, the lettuce was used to wrap the tomatoes and chicken to prevent the moisture from oozing out, and there's a layer of wasabi sauce and mayonnaise on the chicken as well...

"Oi Yuuji, did you make this yourself?"

"...Can't I?"

How should I say it? The sandwich he made was surprisingly good, really shocked me. This guy really isn't some amateur at this, he always has his way of doing things.

"Then have some of mine."

This time, Minami places her bento in front of me. Ooohh, hers is traditional. Deep-fried meat balls, siewmais and asparagus rolls are all lined up nicely in the bento box. She still gave me these even though she was in a bad mood during the psychology test games, really, Minami is gentle! I have to see her from a different viewpoint.

"Then if you don't mind me."

Now, what shall I eat? I'm getting puzzled since I haven't eaten a proper meal for a long time. Oh~ well, then I'll take the siewmai! Though it's rude, I still used my hand to pick one up and pop it into my mouth.

"Aki, that, well...I'm trying to summon my courage to say this! Actually, I intended to let you eat that siewmai—"

"Hm? What? (chewing)"

"—because between the 2 siewmais , one of them has wasabi in it."

"ARE YOU STUPID!?"

SPICY!! I'M GOING TO DIE OF SPICINESS!! MY TONGUE HAS GONE NUMB!!

"Akihisa, you might be lucky in a certain sense."

Yuuji patted his hand on my shoulder just as I'm going about looking for water.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M LUCKY...ah yes! Since my taste buds are all damaged, maybe I might be able to take Himeji-san's toxic food! If so, I got to remain in this invincible mode and—

"I'm taking your bento, Himeji-san!"

"Ah, yes. Please have more of it."

"I'm tucking in—"

<center>☆</center>

Waking up, I find myself in an unknown room.

"Ah, Akihisa, you're awake? Good...seems like the electric shock was effective!"

Yuuji raises what looks like an electric iron in his hand, revealing an expression that looks like he can finally heave a sigh of relief.

—ARE YOU JOKING? WAS I REALLY TREADING IN BETWEEN THE LINE OF LIFE AND DEATH?

"Speaking of which, is this where our camp is?"

"Ah, yes. Our school is rich, that's for sure. I heard that this hotel was bought by Fumitzuki Gakuen to be used as the dormitory for our training course."

This place was modified to be the dormitory for our training course? In other words, we can summon summoned beasts here, right?

—This is Fumitzuki Gakuen alright. However, since they're willing to splash the cash whenever they want to, I hope that the school will help provide free lunches.

"Oh, Akihisa! You alright!? What a relief...when I heard you start to regret everything you did in your past life, I thought you were gone..."

Hideyoshi, who came into the room, placed his hand on his chest.

Good thing I survived.

"Thanks for worrying about me. Is Hideyoshi staying here as well?"

"Yes, and with Muttsulini, the four of us will be staying here."

Seems like this place is large enough to allow 8 people to sleep here, but maybe it was because of the class sorting that the four of us can stay in such a large room...did they decide to put us problematic students here together?

At this moment, I noticed that the last person who's supposed to stay with us in this room isn't here.

"Where did Muttsulini go? Did he go out to peek?"

"I don't think it's nice to say that about your friend..."

Kachang. "...I'm back." Speak of the devil, Muttsulini's back.

"Oh, you're back, Muttsulini."

"...It's great that you're okay, Akihisa."

"Ah, so you were worried about me? Sorry about that."

"...Thanks to that, the information I worked hard to find won't go to waste."

"Information? You're talking about what Akihisa and I asked you to check? You're really fast!"

Yuuji had quite the reaction the moment he heard the word 'information'. Ah, we asked him to search out the culprit who took a photo of me (wearing an embarrassing maid costume) and recorded Yuuji's voice (his marriage declaration).

"...I got trail of the tools that the culprit used."

"Ohh, as expected of Muttsulini."

"...From the culprit's modus operandi, I can assume that it's the same person involved in both cases."

"I see. But not many people would do this thing. Since you feel this way, I suppose that's right."

Even so, doesn't this mean that we have two of this kind of people (the culprit and Muttsulini) in our year? That's really strange.

"So, who's the culprit?"

"...(Shakes head)"

After being questioned, Muttsulini shakes his head with an apologetic look.

"Ah, so you don't know who the culprit is?"

"...Sorry."

"Why are you saying sorry to us? You're willing to help us, and we're grateful for that."

That's right. I asked him yesterday, so how can we expect him to find the culprit today? Things aren't that simple.

"...I only know that 'the culprit's a girl, and her butt got burned a bit'."

"What are you investigating anyway?"

Wouldn't people normally check the name of the person, how the person looks or something? Who would know whether there's a burn on the butt!? I really want to know how that guy investigated this.

"...I set up a network over the entire school."

At the same time he said this, Muttsulini pulled out a small machine. What's this thing?

"...A mini-recorder. I bugged the entire school with a lot of these."

Beep--<welcome.>

After the button was pressed, a loud mix of voices echoes throughout the room.

"The voice quality's rather bad."

"Can't be helped. Since we're searching through the entire school, it's hard to maintain the sound quality and accuracy."

"Though we can barely hear that it's a girl, we can't tell who it is."

<nowiki><I'll like to request for another Yuuji's wedding declaration...></nowiki>

After that, it's another girl's voice. Like the previous one, we can't really tell who it is just from the sound, but this unique way of talking, and the content, anyone can just use their kneecap to guess who this is.

"IT'S, IT'S SHOUKO!! THAT GIRL, SHE HAS ALREADY STARTED?"

"She's really anxious about this."

Exactly what does Kirishima-san like about this guy anyway?

<Thanks for the patronage. Since it's the second time, I'll sell it to you at a cheaper price.>

<...The price doesn't matter, just hurry up and give it to me.>

<As expected of a rich ojou-sama, straight to the point. How about tomorrow—I wanted to say this, but the training course starts tomorrow, so I'll only hand it to you next Monday.>

<...I got it. I will endure.>

"Hoo, that was too dangerous...good thing the training course saved my life..."

"So it got delayed till next Monday."

Even so, we can't work on the weekends, so actually, we have only 4 days left.

"...And the other conversation includes the culprit's identity."

Muttsulini operates the machine again.

<Still a scary photograph. Wouldn't you get punished really badly if people are to find out that you've been secretly taking these photographs?>

<Well, actually, I got caught by my own mother before.>

<Then, were you okay?>

<She burned me on the backside. Really, how prehistoric was this kind of punishment already?>

What followed was some really boring business talk.

"...That's all we know of for now."

"I see, so that's the reason why you said that the culprit has a burn on the butt."

"From how the conversation went just now, it seems like the culprit's a girl."

"The other person seems a bit pretentious, but it seems like she's a girl as well."

We were worried about the sound quality, that it may be so bad that we wouldn't be able hear the conversation clearly, but since it's girls talk, if they aren't girls, it's Hideyoshi's doing.

"This is really a beneficial piece of information to us, but a burn on the butt...even if we're to flip a girl's skirt, we might not be able to find out who the culprit is. Ah~hum..."

"We can't even capture a burn mark even if we're to use an infrared camera..."

Beside me, Yuuji gives a serious look that shows that he's thinking of a way to peek at a girl's butt.

"So what were you guys talking about since a while back?"

Seeing us serious with that thinking look, Hideyoshi tilted his head slightly as he said this. That's right, we haven't told Hideyoshi what's going on.

"Hideyoshi, actually—(omitting the rest out)."

I gave him a brief explanation of what happened to us. If we explain it clearly, Hideyoshi should be willing to help us out.

"I see. But if the burned part's on the bu..."

Hideyoshi gives us a cute look as he thinks of a way to help us.

"Ah, but it'll be bathing time soon. Can't we just get Hideyoshi to check who has the burn mark on her butt?"

"Akihisa, why do you want me to enter the girls bathing area?"

Oh my, my proposal's too great! There should be no problems now.

"Not possible, Akihisa."

However, Yuuji dampened my enthusiasm. Is there something on the training course itinerary?

"Why not?"

"Well, that's to be expected, since I'm a guy."

"Just read the 3rd page of the itinerary booklet."

I obediently follow Yuuji's instructions and read the 3rd page. Looking at it—

~Dormitory bathing locations and timeslots~

Boys classes A, B, C –20:00~21:00 Large bathroom (Male)

Boys classes D, E, F –21:00~22:00 Large bathroom (Male)

Girls classes A, B, C –20:00~21:00 Large bathroom (Female)

Girls classes D, E, F –21:00~22:00 Large bathroom (Female)

Class F's Kinoshita Hideyoshi –20:00~21:00 Personal Bathroom (4)

"Damn it! Now we can't get Hideyoshi to help us out now."

"Seems that way."

"Why am I the only one with a personal bathroom?"

And I thought that this was a perfect plan. What a pity!

Just as the four of us were muttering and thinking of a plan.

—DABOOM!!

"EVERYONE PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR BACK AND GET DOWN!!!"

Our room door was busted open, and several girls came running in.

"Wha, what's going on?"

"Get over here, Kinoshita! You three over there, don't think of putting up any resistance!"

Standing in the frontmost position, Minami immediately darted to the window to prevent us from escaping. Nice, as expected of Minami!

"Why did you guys run to the window so suddenly?"

This isn't the problem now, right?

"Now I want to know why in the world did you girls come rushing into our room?"

After closing the window, Yuuji questioned the entire group of girls. Muttsulini and I also put down our extremely heavy bags and turn around to face them.

"And you dare to act like you're innocent. We already knew that you guys are the culprits!"

Showing a high and mighty attitude as she walks past Minami is class C's representative, Koyama-san. All the girls behind her fold their arms, looking like they agree as they nod their heads.

"Culprits? What are you talking about?"

"This."

Koyama-san tosses something in front of us. What's that?

"...CCD camera and a mini-microphone."

Having absolute knowledge regarding these kinds of things, Muttsulini answered.

Oh, I see. So this was installed inside the girl's changing room—

"Eh? Isn't that peeping? Who would do such a thing?"

"Stop playing dumb! Who would do this sort of things besides you guys?"

Hearing this, Hideyoshi steps in and confronts Koyama-san.

"It's not like that. We didn't do such a thing! This dastardly thing of peeping—"

In order to prove our innocence, Hideyoshi got so anxious that his voice got hoarse naturally without anyone noticing. I should respond to that trust.

"That's right, we didn't do such a thing!"

"...(Nods head violently)."

While Hideyoshi refuted this, Muttsulini and I moved forward, only to be glared at by Koyama-san.

"So what's with this dastardly way of peeping?"

"...I...really can't deny it..."

"WHAT? IS THE TRUST BETWEEN US ONLY TO THIS EXTENT!?"

To think that Hideyoshi thinks that Muttsulini and I are of an equal level? I'm going to cry...

"I really didn't think that Yoshii-kun, you guys...will actually go to this extent..."

Among the crowd of extremely murderous girls, Himeji-san said this with an incredulous voice of disbelief. Hearing her say this, it's like we betrayed her trust, it really hurts and aches. BUT I DON'T REMEMBER DOING SUCH A THING!! 

"Aki...I trusted you, why must you do such a despicable thing...?"

"Minami, if you really believed me, you wouldn't be preparing those interrogation tools, right?"

On a side note, I don't sense any trust from her at all.

"Himeji-san, you're mistaken! We're really...!"

"I'm angry! You actually went to peep on us while our stomachs were all full with dinner—my waist isn't normally that big, it's a lot skinnier!"

So that's your reason for being angry?

"My, my bust isn't as big as usual, you know!?"

"That's a lie."

"EVERYONE, GIVE HIM A GOOD LESSON!!"

"I'm, I'm sorry!! I accidentally said my true thoughts out loud!"

The girls quickly surround us, forcing Muttsulini and me to kneel down with stone blocks on us. Not good! The only person we can ask for help right now is—

"HELP, YUUJI!! HURRY UP AND SAVE US!!"

"...I won't forgive you for being fickle-minded in love."

"Hang on, Shouko! Calm down for a while GYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

"Before you admit your deeds, we'll love you to our hearts' contents!"

Now Minami has finally revealed her sadistic personality. We'll die if we don't improve her mood! I don't like to lie, but we got to praise her a bit.

"Well, I have been looking at Minami's huge breasts you know GYYYYAAAHHH!!"

"Now for the first block."

I definitely praised her! She still dropped such a heavy object on my knees even after I did my best to praise her!!

"Yoshii-kun, so you've seen Minami-chan's breasts...?"

"Ah ha ha ha. Nar nar. Gentle Himeji-san won't want to drop something heavy on me right AHHOOOOWWWW!!"

"You should answer the question properly, you know?'

Nowadays, I feel that there's something more to Himeji-san's smile than a smile.

<center>☆</center>

Seems like I got too close to death a lot more times than usual today.

After 30 minutes of interrogation, we were released due to insufficient evidence.

"This is just added punishment...speaking of which, why am I the only one treated as a victim?"

"Yeah, that'll cause a misunderstanding."

"...There wasn't any visible evidence left behind in the first place."

Muttsulini, your words may end up bringing us back into the torturous Hell!

Oh yeah, Yuuji should be alright, right? Why hasn't he made a single sound yet?

"Yuuji, you alright? Why haven't you said anything yet?"

As I asked, Yuuji suddenly stood up as if he made some huge decision.

"...Isn't this perfect?"

The deep, angry voice bellows throughout the room.

"Eh? What's with you, Yuuji?"

"Since they won't be convinced even with all these, why don't we grant them their wish?"

His eyes are blazing with determination as if they're on fire.

"Are you really thinking..."

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm thinking. Since they have decided that we were peeping on them, WHY DON'T WE JUST PEEP ON THEM BRAZENLY!!"

"Yuuji, if you really want to see Kirishima-san's naked body so much, why don't you just ask her?"

And we're already thinking about peeping on them while they're on their guard. There has to be a limit to stupidity.

"Wha, are you stupid? I'm not interested in Shouko's naked body!"

Man up and tell the truth, Yuuji, I'm really interested.

"Uh huh, are you thinking of searching for the culprit with the burn mark on the butt?"

"That's right. I already felt that it was too despicable, but since they accused us without any proof, there's no need to consider this too much. WE'RE GOING TO PEEP ON THEM AND CATCH THE CULPRIT WHILE WE'RE AT IT!!"

Yuuji's right. Since we're treated like peeping toms, we should have the right to do this. Besides, if I don't do this, those embarrassing photos of me will be scattered all over the world!

"...The camera and microphone just now were of the same model as the ones the culprit threatened you two with."

"What? Is that true, Muttsulini?"

"...Undoubtably."

"Really? Now that's a fact worth being happy about."

"Yeah."

"...(Nods head)."

All three of them fold their arms and respond in unison. Eh, about that—

"Excuse me...but what's the situation now?"

"Akihisa's still Akihisa. You can't even grasp this level of situation. Basically, here's how it goes." Yuuji takes out a piece of paper and starts to draw on it.

[[Image:BTS vol 03 059.jpg|thumb]]

"The person who blackmailed you and me used the same type of camera and microphone inside the girls' changing room as the one used to blackmail us. Then, if the female culprit has a burn on her butt—"

"Ah, I see! As long as we can find the culprit with the burn mark on the butt, all the problems will be solved!"

Though peeping isn't something praiseworthy, we have no choice but to do this. This is for Yuuji, for me, our bright futures! Thus, we have to PEEP!

"But speaking of which, as long as things involve Kirishima-san, Yuuji would be extremely motivated. I'm really suspicious, is there really a need to go to this extent?"

That was a whole world of difference in contrast to his normally lazy attitude.

"...Actually, a while back, I was drugged by Shouko and got unconscious."

"I'm sorry, I forgot about that. It must have been really hard on you."

"The moment I woke up, I found myself kidnapped to her house."

So Yuuji got kidnapped to Kirishima-san's house. Since Yuuji didn't really care, she used such a hardcore method, huh? Kirishima-san really won't give up.

"Heh~so did you say hello to Kirishima-san's parents?"

"No, it's not that, her house--"

Don't tell me not just her parents, even her grandparents are living with her as well?

"--got my room prepared."

So Yuuji's about to take the last step, huh?

"If her family members hears the marriage proposal, my, my future will be..."

Seems like I'm getting used to Yuuji breaking down nowadays, however, a slightly broken Yuuji has a bit more variety. Oh well, that isn't bad.

"Er, guys, if we don't hurry, the bathing time for the girls will end."

"...(Nods head)."

"Eh? Hideyoshi and Muttsulini are going to help us?"

"Of course. My friend's in trouble, how can I just sit back and watch?"

"...(Nods head violently)."

As expected of my good friends; even if I got some unknown criminal record, even if it's really tough and not worth doing, they're still willing to lend us a helping hand.

"And I do have some responsibility regarding Yuuji's marriage proposal..."

Oh yeah, there's another reason to this. But the one who forced Yuuji to say this was me, so Hideyoshi has no need to be bothered by it.

"...I've already confirmed the location of the girls bathing area."

Muttsulini walks out of the room, his feet moving without any hesitation at all.

"Yosh! Yuuji, hurry and get up! We're going to peep! (Gives him a good hit)"

"Ugh—what's going on?"

"Now Akihisa's getting skilled in treating Yuuji."

This most likely is because Yuuji's been moving to that other world for no good reason.

"...There's now 40 minutes left for the later group."

Muttsulini checks his watch to confirm.

"No time left, we got to hurry."

"You're right, let's run."

"Got it!"

We didn't wear any shoes or indoor slips, only socks as we moved about on the corridor. Of course, this is to prevent footstep sounds from being made.

Maybe because the boys and girls bathing times are the same, we didn't meet anyone on the way.

"...After walking past the staircase and down a bit, it'll be the girls' bathing area."

Muttsulini stopped in front of the stairs.

In other words, once we get down the stairs and go all the way, we'll reach the girls' bathing area. Since the place is underground, we can't peek from outside, and had to go all the way down.

[[Image:BTS vol 03 063.jpg|thumb]]

"Alright, we don't have much time left. So let's break through the last line of defense!"

"The goal's right in front of you." Yuuji said.

"""...(Nods head)"""

The 3 of us silently nodded our heads and dashed down the stairs at a terrifying speed.

Taking 2 steps down at a time, and then moving down the corridor towards the girls' bathing area...

"I heard that someone placed a video cam in the changing room, so I came over to stay guard. Didn't expect the culprits to really come over."

Looking around to find the source of the voice, the one that appeared in front of us was a familiar male teacher. It's Fuse-sensei, the chemistry teacher.

"What now, Yuuji? It's Fuse-sensei."

"Don't worry, we'll just knock him out with a punch."

"You should be worried, Sakamoto! I'm still a teacher, you know!"

"Got it, then we'll settle it with a punch!"

"What are you doing, Yoshii?"

This was to defend our innocence. Once we find out who the culprit is, everyone will forgive us! That's right, we're pursuing the truth! Justice will always be on our side!

"—However, I'll let you feel all this anger that I built up over remedial classes!"

"THAT'S JUST A SELFISH ACT OF REVENGE!"

My iron fist of justice locked onto Fuse-sensei, ready to fire out any second.

"GGGYYYAAA! Su, summon!"

Suddenly, a little body appeared in front of me and blocked my fist.

"A Summoned beast?"

I quickly jumped back and maintained a safe distance.

A familiar magic array appeared besides sensei's feet. At this moment, what appeared in front of me is a summoned beast of a rather high level, several times stronger than those of the poor performers. If it's a teacher's summon, this summoned beast should have an immeasurable power.

However, a normal summoned beast should be unable to touch humans or physical objects.

"Damn it! So the teachers' summoned beasts can touch physical objects?" Yuuji muttered bitterly.

Like what we're seeing, my fist got blocked by Fuse-sensei's summoned beast. In other words, sensei's summoned beast can interfere with physics.

"Ho, so I finally managed to catch up? Before Yoshii was designated as a 'punishment inspector', we had to experience it ourselves, so our summoned beasts can touch physical objects. Besides, who asked us to be teachers? We have to step in and stop the young from going rampant sometimes."

If so, Fuse-sensei should be rather used to controlling a summoned beast. Damn it, this situation's getting harder and harder to handle.

"But isn't this too despicable! Since you're setting your own questions, wouldn't your summoned beasts be too powerful!?"

Sensei's answers should be similar to those model answers! If we're to fight against someone at such a level, we can only remain in a disadvantageous position and can only try to get back up.

"No, this isn't a real battle anyway, so it isn't really despicable. Besides, you boys wanted to beat me up first, right?"

Adults are really despicable, always thinking of ways to trick us.

"And besides, teachers need to take tests. Our tests are set by teacher from other levels."

"Eh, really?"

"Well, since the principal's philosophy is that 'teachers themselves should be at a level competent enough to educate students'."

Really? Seeing the principal normally acting so nonchalantly, she sure is serious as an educator.

"Alright, time for you boys to be obedient, okay?"

Fuse-sensei's summoned beast got into a battle position, and when we're fighting against a summoned beast that's a lot strong than an ordinary human, we don't have a chance of winning if we don't bring out a similar battle ability.

"Is so, we should resist with all we have and beat down Fuse-sensei's summoned beast."

"That's the spirit! I'll leave it to you, Yuuji!"

Using Yuuji as a shield, I hastily moved forward.

"Hold it right there."

My shirt suddenly got tugged back. What? I'm rushing off to the girls' bathing area.

"Let's hear your chemistry score."

Oh my, really. You don't think you have a chance without me helping, do you? Can't be helped...

That chemistry test. Almost made it, what a pity...just one mark, yes, if I could get one more mark—

"—With one extra mark, I could have gotten a double digit score."

"Hurry up and scram, you useless piece of trash."

It, it's not what you think! I just accidentally miswrote my answers on the next question! It's not because my minds' bad!

"If the opponent's a teacher, it'll be tough for one person to handle. I'll stay as well, Akihisa, Muttsulini, hurry up and move on!"

Even if it's Yuuji, it's unlikely that he'll beat a teacher, so Hideyoshi decided to stay behind and help him. If they're working together, there should be no problems, right?"

"Then I'll leave it to you then, Hideyoshi. Come on, summon!"

"For the sake of clearing the name of my friends, this is nothing. Summon!"

Yuuji and Hideyoshi have summoned their summoned beasts, and the summoning mechanism set within the hotel reacted to their call, causing familiar patterns to appear on the floor.

In the blink of an eye, both Hideyoshi and Yuuji's summoned beasts appear.

"Muttsulini, as according to plan, leave this to Yuuji and Hideyoshi. We'll go—WHAT THE HELL, HE DISAPPEARED!?"

Muttsulini had already hastened his feet as he moved towards the girls' bathing area. What amazing movement; I've got to catch up!

"Oi, you two! Tsuchiya, Yoshii! Hold on a minute!"

"Sorry, Fuse-sensei, but I won't allow you to stop them."

"That's the case, so please stay behind and play with us."

I could roughly hear Yuuji and the others talking, but Muttsulini and I dashed forward without looking back. Just at this moment though—

"Hold it right there."

Another teacher blocked us.

"Ooshima-sensei." Muttsulini lets out a moan of agony.

It's expected that he would be like this, since to Muttsulini, this opponent is like a grand master! This person who came over, Ooshima-sensei, is in charge of Health and Physical Education.

But since the opponent is the Health Ed teacher, it might be good for us in a certain sense. Though Mutsulini is truly a rare national-class idiot when it comes to other subjects, his ability can really match a teacher. Seems like we'll have an exciting match between these two."

"Muttsulini."

"...(nods head)."

Muttsulini looks serious as he nods his head, walking towards Ooshima-sensei.

"...Ooshima-sensei."

"What."

"...This isn't peeping."

Getting ready to summon, Ooshima-sensei stopped what he was doing.

Seems like Muttsulini's not intending to fight right from the start, but will try to convince Ooshima-sensei. This is rare, especially for him.

"Then if it's not peeping, what is it?"

Seems like Muttsulini's tactic worked as Ooshima-sensei retorted. Maybe it'll be easier to convince him than Ironman? I got to see this.

"...This is—"

Though it's soft, Muttsulini's voice echoes inexplicably in my ears.

"—Practical health education."

"Summon."

Unfortunately, his attempt to convince sensei failed.

"I'll leave it to you here, Muttsulini!"

"...Summon."

Muttsulini looks unhappy as he summoned his summoned beast. Did he really think that he could convince Ooshima-sensei with that? If he really thought so, I can only say that he is one enigmatic guy.

"I'll go off first, Muttsulini! We'll meet up once you beat sensei!"

After leaving Muttsulini with these words, I ran on ahead.

"So you think you can take me? You brats better listen, don't ever—UNDERESTIMATE YOUR OWN TEACHERS!"

P.E. Teacher, Ooshima Takeshi, Health Education 663 points

F class, Tsuchiya Kouta, Health Education 424 points

"...eh?"

I continued to run, but stopped due to being shocked.

Did I see Ooshima-sensei's points correctly before I left? 663 POINTS...IS THAT EVEN HUMANLY POSSIBLE? DID SOMETHING GO WRONG?

"Did they change the marks or something...?"

"You idiot, we teachers will definitely not do such a stupid thing!"

My little mutter got a familiar response. This, this voice is—

"YOU APPEARED, IRONMAN!"

"CALL ME NISHIMURA-SENSEI!"

His back facing the girls bathing area, my eternal enemy Ironman, also known as Nishimura-sensei, stood there, his muscular and brawny body blocking me.

"Really, I guess you people don't know, but we teachers have to study as well! This is for us teachers to be professional!"

"Ah, I see. It's been tough on you~"

"That's right, an educator's life is tough." Ironman muttered painfully to himself.

Though I really can't see it, it seemed like it's really tough.

"On a side note, how much did Nishimura-sensei get?"

"I was busy relieving the ex-homeroom teacher, so I didn't have time to take my tests, and so I don't have any marks."

"I see, so in other words, you don't have any marks now, right? As expected of idiot Nishimura-sensei who has only brawns and doesn't have a brain at all."

"Yoshii, for safety's sake, I'll ask you this—what's your blood type?"

Am I thinking too much? Why do I feel like he's about to beat me down to death before transfusing blood back into me again?

"An, anyway, I got to get through! Move aside! Summon!"

I'll reach my goal as long as I get past Ironman! Got to get through no matter what!

Remedial teacher, Nishimura Sochi, combined subjects NONE

Class F, Akihisa Yoshii, combined subjects 929 points.

"BRING IT ON!"

Facing my summoned beast, Ironman only clenches his fists and gets into a fighting position.

Eh? Fists? Isn't he going to summon?

As far as I know, a summoned beast's power is several times stronger than an ordinary human, so only a summoned beast can only fight against another summoned beast. But it seems like Ironman isn't going to summon one.

"So sensei, did you forget that my summoned beast can touch physical objects?"

It's true that normally, an ordinary student's summoned beast can't touch humans, so Ironman can just ignore the existence of the summoned beast and go after the human. However, my summoned beast has the ability of the 'punishment inspector', which allows it to touch humans and use it's tremendous strength to easily beat Ironman. So in order not to allow me to do whatever I want, Ironman should summon a summoned beast to counter.

"You big idiot. How can I forget what kind of ability does the summoned beast of the one problematic student in our school's history has?"

"But if so..."

"Didn't I say it before, I don't have any marks."

Ironman answered me in an uninterested manner.

So without any marks, he can't summon? If so, this is a once in a million rare chance.

"If so, including all the hatred that I accumulated up till now—TAKE THIS, IRONMAN!"

The summoned beast aims itself at Ironman and charges over. I'll let him think that I'm attacking from the front before jumping to the side and throw my wooden sword at him from a blind angle—

"TIIIUU."

Before I could send out a heavy hit, Ironman swung his fist down.

"...Eh?"

The wooden sword lets out a clatter as it lands on the floor.

"How can something like this be possible! For an ordinary human to beat a summoned beast...!"

Something must have gone wrong. I shouldn't have used a weapon that I'm not used to, if I used only my summoned beast's strength to fight, I would have beaten him now!

"Yoshii, do you know why I didn't cancel your summoning rights up till now?"

Ironman quickly kicks my summoned beast lightly.

"GWWAH!!"

He merely kicked my summoned beast lightly, but it got kicked high into the air. Has he completely grasped the rhythm of my breathing?

"Oh my, good thing you're a punishment inspector. If it's just hitting a summoned beast—then it shouldn't be considered corporal punishment, right?"

Flying high into the air, my summoned beast is defenceless as it shows itself before Ironman.

"Eh? I never felt that corporal punishment—"

"GRIT YOUR TEETH AND DIE!!"

In an instant, I got hit by his fist 5 times.

"GUAH!"

The sharp pain that caused my sight to go dark reverberates throughout my body.

How, how can there be such a ridiculous punch? Just the recoil from the punch alone is enough to flip all the contents in my gut...

"However, since you did attack in a manly way, I won't let you get suspended. For gentle and kind Nishimura-sensei to be your opponent, don't you feel lucky?"

Ironman cracks his knuckles as he moves towards my summoned beast.

Not good, not good at all. A kind teacher would have let me off here!

"Oh my, I'm not a devil. I'll let you go once you take my counselling lesson—and that goes for those three as well."

"Eh?"

Looking over at where Ironman is looking at, Yuuji, Hideyoshi and Muttsulini were already subdued.

"Alright. First, you'll write a letter of remorse in English. If any word or alphabet is written wrongly, you have to rewrite it no matter how many times! Those who finished can go back to sleep."

Thus, the four of us ended up with the fate of having to kneel on the corridor and write a letter of remorse in English.

<noinclude>
===Notes===
<references/>

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