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Owari no Chronicle:Volume1 Chapter 5

2026-04-30T05:10:41Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 5: Notification of Ignorance==
[[Image:OnC_v01_0155.png|thumb]]
''What exactly is the enemy?

''History? People? Common sense?

''Or is it all of them?

Every sense in his body was telling him the window to the office floor below his feet was the ground. His left arm that hurt when he moved it was naturally hanging down toward the window. He used his right hand to touch the hem of his clothes and it was hanging down toward his feet as well.

“What is going on?” asked Sayama. “I do not know if you have the technology to control gravity or not, but this is strange. Why are only the things I am touching viewing the direction of my feet as down?”

He looked up toward the hangar above his head. Diagonal slopes had been built in places to connect the walls and ceiling. The area was arranged so that large equipment and that trailer could freely move about.

Sayama looked back down. Shinjou’s gaze met his from where she stood perpendicular to him.

“Shinjou-kun, excuse me, but I would like to try something.”

“Eh?” said Shinjou as she took a step toward him.

Sayama nodded and took her hand.

However, Shinjou remained standing on what was the wall to Sayama.

“So you do not fall this way.”

“D-don’t try such dangerous things.”

“I was prepared to catch you. Do not worry.”

“I’m not sure if I can…”

Ooshiro gave a bitter smile and said, “Unless you jump into the air, what is set as the ground will be constantly updated for you. In other words, the world always exists below your feet in this space. The concept related to gravitational pull has been altered.”

“I see,” said Sayama as he let go of Shinjou’s hand. He looked toward Ooshiro and continued, “What exactly is this power?”

“Let me ask you something instead, Mikoto-kun. How do you think you could explain this power? What if you met with academics and intellectuals from around the world and asked them what power can alter the world so conveniently?”

“They would say it is a trick.”

“Exactly. However, this is the truth. Now, another question. …What basis would they use for determining this is a trick?”

“That is obvious. This breaks the laws of physics.”

“Yes, yes. Indeed it does. Light is bent by gravity, but with this power, light only bends according to the direction set as the ground for it. Even if the real ground is in a different direction. But Mikoto-kun, when you talk about the laws of physics, what world’s physical laws do you speak of?”

“This world’s physical laws.”

“Then let me ask you something else. If alternate worlds did exist, on what basis would we determine they are different from our own? The terrain? The atmosphere? The life forms? Or perhaps the culture?”

With that question, Sayama realized the answer to it all.

He finally said, “Is this what you want to say? There was a world with physical laws fundamentally different from our own. And this power we are seeing follows that world’s laws!”

“Precisely. This world’s physical laws cannot be applied to other worlds. A world with different physical laws will naturally overturn the very basics of the physical laws we know.”

“But there have to be certain absolutes, right? Like the motion of light.”

“No, no. Even that is based on this world’s physical laws. When light is emitted, it spreads and continues on. But why does it do that? Why can’t there be light that does not do that?”

“That is…”

“That is simply what light is in this world, right? But,” Ooshiro took a step forward so their gazes would match perpendicularly, “what if light being that way was actually quite rare?”

“…”

“We only know how things work in this world. We assume the workings of this world are absolute. But what if there were a great number of other worlds and it turned out the rules of this world are great exceptions compared to the other worlds?”

“But we do not know of any other worlds, so we can only assume they would be the same as us.”

A bitter smile appeared on Ooshiro’s lips when he heard that response.

“True,” the old man said. “But another world is another world. They are fundamentally different. What we think is simply ‘how things are’ and what the other worlds think is simply ‘how things are’ are fundamentally different.”

“Are you saying,” Sayama looked down at his feet, “there is a world where this is how gravity works?”

Ooshiro nodded, walked over to the opposite window, and stood on it. He looked straight up toward Sayama.

“The ten other worlds and this world are perceived as individual gears and so we refer to them as such. 1st-Gear through 10th-Gear all had their own unique characteristics. And do you know what we called this power of ‘how things are’?” Without waiting for an answer, Ooshiro said, “Concepts. We called them concepts! They are a power that can control even the laws of physics. They are the ultimate reason behind everything. That is what concepts are!”

Sayama gulped at Ooshiro’s words and looked down toward his feet and then around his entire surroundings.

“In other words, the concept of ‘your feet are on the ground’ is being used to make efficient use of this small underground space? …Was that voice I heard upon entering the concept?”

“That was a concept text. It is made by gathering inferior reproductions of an extracted concept. Each individual concept is very weak, but it can be heard as a voice once it reaches the level of a concept text. This space also has several weaker concepts added on as well, but they cannot be heard as a voice.” He continued. “When an out of phase space has concepts added to it, it is known as a concept space. We think of a concept’s identity as a variable fixed-period vibration wave that we call a string vibration.”

“This just got a lot more complicated. A string vibration, you say?”

Sayama thought.

Ooshiro had said an alternate world was a world with different concepts. In that case…

“So alternate worlds are worlds with different string vibration frequencies?”

“Yes. And everything in any of the worlds has a string vibration for their world and a string vibration for the object itself. The one for the world we call the parent string vibration and the one for the individual we call the child string vibration.”

Sayama nodded and said, “So is it like a numerator and denominator? The denominator tells you what Gear they belong to and the numerator tells you what the individual is.”

“Yes. If the numerator differs, it is a different individual. If the denominator differs, it may be the same existence but from a different world. These alternate worlds are not parallel. They exist in multiple phases atop each other. According to the records, a ‘gate’ that alters one’s parent string vibration is needed to move to and from different Gears.”

Sayama then recalled the invisible wall surrounding the forest.

“This evening…was that a space that’s parent string vibration had been completely altered?”

“Not quite. If its parent string vibration had been completely altered, that space would have completely disappeared from this world. But,” Ooshiro raised his index finger, “what if only a portion of its parent string vibration was altered?”

“In that case, would the altered objects world split into two existences? The real one and the alternate world one would exist on top of each other at the same time. …And that means the objects would not disappear from reality.”

He remembered the stone he had picked up in the forest. He remembered how it had left a pale shadow behind.

“So two versions of that forest existed on top of each other? I am guessing a smaller portion had the alternate world string vibration than the reality string vibration. Could I not leave because of the difference in vibration density?”

“Correct. How very wise of you. That is what we call a concept space. It is only a pseudo-alternate world created by borrowing a portion of an area’s string vibration. Since it is still connected to the real world, it is easier to create and return to normal.” As he spoke, Ooshiro showed off the watch on his left arm. “I gave you one of these before we entered this concept space. These watches are known as string watches. They detect the wall of a concept space and alter the wearer’s parent string vibration accordingly. They are a small version of the ‘gates’ I mentioned earlier.”

“But how did I enter the concept space in the forest without one?”

“Someone secretly read your child string vibration. When the forest was turned into a concept space, your string vibration was registered so you would be allowed in. That is one thing that can be done when creating a concept space. And I apologize,” said Ooshiro as he looked toward Sayama’s left arm. “It seems we rushed things. We only wanted to let you experience it for yourself, but you ended up getting injured due to the inexperience of our units.”

“But it was thanks to that experience that I met Shinjou-kun and am having this conversation now.”

When he said that, Shinjou looked over from her perpendicular position with a troubled expression.

Sayama responded with a bitter smile.

“Come on down now,” instructed Ooshiro.

Sayama nodded and walked down to the passageway where Shinjou stood.

Ooshiro did so as well and looked up at the ceiling.

“Could we return just the inside of the passageway?”

The watch on Sayama’s left arm vibrated.

In the next moment, the surrounding scenery changed. The floors on either side became empty spaces.

Not only were the office desks and maintenance equipment gone, but the materials making up the walls and ceiling were gone too.

They were simply vast, dark areas without even any lights.

“This is what this underground space normally looks like. Everyone does their work in the concept space.”

Sayama placed a foot on the window.

However, he no longer felt any power attracting the bottom of his foot to the window.

He also realized the wrench that had fallen to the floor was gone.

They had returned to reality.

Sayama let out a breath and looked around the empty space.

If he paid very close attention, he could make out the faint shadows of people, desks, and machinery.

Sayama then recalled the battle in the forest.

“What happens if something is destroyed in a concept space?”

“An object’s string vibration is the concept of its very existence. If a portion of that existence concept is destroyed, no portion of the object itself is destroyed. However, its existence percentage drops. If only a dozen or so percent is used, being destroyed once will not lead to the actual object’s destruction. However…”

“If an object is taken in and destroyed again and again, will the damage eventually reach the original? But I suppose that is quite a bit better than simply destroying a portion of the world. Can humans split apart so only a portion is sent into the concept space? That would avoid dying in one.”

“It can be done, but we don’t. As it is only a portion, something inside a concept space is an inferior version of the original. The object must rely on the information from the instant of being taken into the space, so its life force is weak and it has no ability to alter the future. …You could say the objects have no ability to grow and simply ‘act’ before being destroyed. That is why it is difficult to maintain a concept space for long. If it is not released quickly, everything inside will destroy themselves.”

“Is that why there were no animals in the concept space?”

“When choosing the structural elements of a concept space, we do our best to only use terrain that does not move on its own. That also reduces the amount of data needed. …Although if you insist that plants are living things too, I have no argument for you.” Ooshiro gave a bitter smile. “And anything that will actually take an active role within has one hundred percent of itself sent inside so that it will not destroy itself. That is what we did with the UCAT concept space I just showed you. An empty area is turned into a concept space and all of the equipment is brought in from outside. The air conditioning, water pipes, and other things that circulate were tricky.”

Hearing that, Sayama looked through the windows on either side and into the empty spaces beyond. A dark atmosphere seemed to fall over him.

“I see. So shedding blood cannot be avoided. Just out of curiosity, how much of something’s existence percentage must be destroyed before the object itself can no longer exist?”

“At least fifty percent. If more than fifty percent of an object’s existence is destroyed, it will be annihilated. The forest concept space was created by accessing about twenty percent of its string vibration. If the same concept space was created three times and the forest was destroyed each time, its existence destruction would reach sixty percent. That would lead to the real forest being destroyed in some natural way. I cannot say if it would be landslide, a forest fire, or a simple disappearance, but that would be its fate.”

Sayama thought on Ooshiro’s words.

And then he frowned.

“Are you trying to say this kind of thing has actually happened before?”

“I will leave it to your imagination what might have caused the natural disasters that occasionally happen around the world. But can you guess where these rules lead us to?”

Sayama recalled one of the first terms he had been told here.

“You mentioned the Concept War before. Is that it?”

Ooshiro nodded.

“If a Gear loses over fifty percent of its concepts, it will be destroyed. The Concept War took the form of stealing each other’s concepts.”

“So the concepts were extracted and stolen from each Gear… Is that what you are saying?”

“Yes. And the concepts of each Gear were taken to this world in the form of a Concept Core that has even greater density than a concept text. In other words, all the other Gears had their concepts stolen which destroyed them.”

“I see,” responded Sayama. “Is it possible to create a new concept?”

“Let me just say that it was researched at one time. There were…no successes. All we can do is make inferior reproductions. That is why a Concept Core is needed as a master for creating concept texts.” Ooshiro smiled, spread his arms, and looked out across the floors to the right and left. “Do you understand now? Your grandfather was a part of UCAT once it was formed after the war. UCAT fought the ten Gears with different concepts and destroyed them all by taking their concepts. And currently, our primary mission is to protect, negotiate with, stop the terrorist attacks of, and conceal the existence of the refugees of the other Gears. However…”

“However?”

Ooshiro smiled slightly at that question. He paused for a few seconds before replying. The conversation finally arrived at what Sayama’s grandfather had left him.

“This last remaining Gear is known as Low-Gear because it has nothing. And it is currently facing a crisis. As the victors of the Concept War, we must overcome this crisis by negotiating with the survivors of the ten other Gears and having them cooperate with us.” He took a breath. “That is the Leviathan Road. …And your grandfather said to give you the right to be the representative of Low-Gear.”

A certain staircase could be seen at night.

The green painted wall and the white steps were illuminated by the light positioned above the emergency exit at the top of the stairs.

The staircase was located in the second year general school building of Taka-Akita Academy. It led up to the rooftop.

Two sets of footsteps could be heard walking up the stairs.

The two figures unhesitatingly ascending were a human and an animal.

The human was a girl with swaying gray hair and wearing a blazer. The animal was a black cat.

It was Brunhild, the head of the art club, and her black cat.

The footsteps quickly reached the top of the staircase. The door was unlocked and then opened.

With the sound of wind whipping into the building, the two figures dashed outside.

They were not met by the darkness of night.

They saw light.

“…!”

Brunhild stopped moving. She looked up expressionlessly into the sky.

It was bright. After exiting the dark staircase, she was faced with the bluish-white moon floating in the sky.

As she stood on the rooftop, the vast night sky and the moon could be seen overhead.

And the wind of the night blew about.

The feel of the breeze led Brunhild to spread her arms and take in a deep breath.

''Such cold air,'' she thought while bringing that air into her lungs.

“This Gear is filled with so many unnecessary things,” she commented.

She placed her right hand in her uniform pocket and pulled out a single object.

She held a small blue stone the size of her fingertip between the index finger and middle finger of her right hand.

While holding the stone, she rotated her arms. She held her left arm forward and her right arm back.

The black cat at her feet jumped up onto her left arm.

Brunhild moved her right hand. She made a fist and wrote something in the air using the thumb. And then…

“We were delayed by that intrusion, but you have work to do,” she said expressionlessly before snapping the fingers of her right hand.

With a clear note, the cat’s form changed. It bent and came apart as if made of thread.

“Now, go. Notify us of our hated enemy’s condition and inform our comrades of the situation. You are the tidings carried by the black wind.”

After coming apart, the black cat became wind.

A black wind.

Leaving her left sleeve rippling, the black streak of wind danced through the nighttime wind and shot to the west. It waved, stretched, occasionally accelerated, arced, and then arced back as it soared through the night sky.

Brunhild watched the wind leave before lowering her arms. She opened her expressionless mouth and spoke.

“They are beginning to take action, so the time has come for us to respond… We were the first of the Gears to be destroyed. It is time we stopped hiding.” She nodded. “The survivors of 1st-Gear must stop hiding!”

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume1 Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume1 Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
|-
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 19

2026-04-29T03:26:02Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 19: Simulated Tomorrow==
[[Image:OnC_v14_0693.png|thumb]]
''Everyone

''How about we think of tomorrow?

''Of a tomorrow bright with destruction

Evening filled the sky.

Below, the forest sank into darkness.

However, that forest did not maintain its proper form.

The tree-covered earth was split, cracked, and broken.

Ropes and warning lights were set up to block off what little remained of the road.

Night was fast approaching, so most of the trucks and heavy machinery had been pulled back to the base of the mountain.

But even as everyone else was headed down, one figure remained at the top of the slope.

An old man in a lab coat and a yellow hard hat stood on the broken asphalt.

His nametag said Ooshiro and his eyes were pointed downward.

He was looking at the valley filled with dirt.

The dirt piled up at the bottom of the valley was two hundred meters wide and several kilometers long. It also contained fragments of manmade objects.

They were asphalt and metal pieces melted by the heat as well as pieces of white building materials.

Those were the remains of Japanese UCAT.

Ooshiro stared at them in the shadows of the setting sun.

“#8-kun, you’re there, aren’t you?”

He suddenly spoke to someone behind him without turning around.

The air moved slightly and #8 stepped out from between the fallen trees behind him. She too was wearing a yellow hard hat.

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> was wearing jeans and a down jacket instead of her usual maid outfit.

“What are you doing here, Ooshiro-sama? According to our estimations, the positive concepts will react to the activated negative concepts inside the Leviathan and change the world by midnight tomorrow night. To prevent that, the others have gathered at Yokota and Yokosuka and are holding a strategy meeting in Yokosuka’s underground meeting room.”

“And with all that going on, what does it look like I’m doing?”

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> saw Ooshiro looking back toward her with the setting sun behind him and she slowly observed their surroundings.

All she saw were the setting sun and Ooshiro.

…''Is this…?

After confirming the still scenery, she nodded and gave her conclusion.

“I believe you are mentally planning your next 18+ game.”

“A-are you really ignoring the sunset behind me, #8-kun!? Do I really look the same as always!?”

Hearing that, she wondered if she had made a mistake and looked into the sunset again.

“The sun is merely setting for the night. What about it?”

“Wah! This is the problem with you! And when I was really setting the mood, too!?”

“Really?” asked #8 as Ooshiro wiggled in protest. “Testament. Then I will ignore that part. As an emotionless automaton, I cannot hope to guess what is going on.”

She then changed the subject.

“Anyway, everyone is worried about you, so please return to your post as soon as possible.”

“Eh? R-really? I’m the mega hero everyone’s pinning their hopes on?”

“Testament. Everyone in Yokota and Yokosuka was complaining about having no one to shove the unpleasant jobs onto, the construction workers were complaining about an old man getting in the way of everything, and I am complaining because I was called out here when I was supposed to be tuning my spare body. To statistically sum it all up, you need to get back there right away.”

“Th-that’s nothing like what you said before!”

Despite Ooshiro’s complaint, #8 pulled something from her pocket.

“This is the straw doll containing one of Itaru-sama’s hairs. Would this doll be an acceptable substitute for spending your time staring into the sunset?”

Ooshiro looked at the proffered doll.

“This was Sf-kun’s…”

“Testament. Sf-sama followed after Itaru-sama. …Because this doll is not Itaru-sama.”

<nowiki>#8’s</nowiki> tone of voice was firm.

“But you are not the same as Sf-sama. …You are technically human.”

“What do you mean ‘technically’?”

“I went out of the way to leave that unsaid, so why do you insist on nitpicking my wording?”

“I-I’m the one being scolded over this!?”

She ignored him because she had something to say. She had to say this before gaining even more bizarre conversational experience.

“Humans have an imagination. They have the power to imagine someone where nothing remains. So wouldn’t a doll containing something he left behind allow you to imagine him all the more?”

“#8-kun…”

“Yes.” She nodded. “All your pathetic brain can do is imagine things about dolls or an image on a monitor, but that will finally be a useful skill. Now, have a good time imagining.”

“I-I just imagined something really sad about myself!”

Still, he took the straw doll from her hand.

“But #8-kun? It sure would be nice to have something else to cheer me up.”

“Such as?”

“Like having you hug me and console me.”

“How exactly?”

“Calling me Kazuo-chan and hugging me as sweetly and softly as possible! Like the tenderest of simmered meats! Something that would need the sound effect ‘honyo’ or ‘huryo’! L-like this! This! Just like this!”

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> stared at the old man backlit by the sunset as he made his sound effects and bent backwards again and again.

She wondered what to do for about three seconds, but finally said “testament” and nodded at the man. She then pulled her cellphone from her pocket.

“Hello, police? Yes, the pervert that I mentioned earlier is once again blathering on about bizarre nonsensical things while acting extremely suspiciously.”

“Wah, #8-kun! Stop, stop! And what do you mean ‘that I mentioned earlier’!?”

She hung up the phone and glared at Ooshiro.

“Have you made up your mind?”

“About what?”

“Will you be coming or not?”

She further clarified.

“Will you be giving up on or continuing the fight? Which will it be?”

He did not answer her.

He fell silent with the straw doll in hand.

So #8 determined what it was he wanted to say.

She opened her mouth to tell him.

“Testament. Then let’s go, Ooshiro-sama.”

“I-I’m going!? Don’t I get a say?”

“Since you did not answer immediately, I determined you were willing to go either way. And…”

She looked up into the clear sky as she spoke.

“We are in the mountains of Okutama at the end of December. The temperature will fall below zero at night. If you remain here, I have determined the frozen corpse of a pervert will be discovered here by tomorrow.”

“Well, I suppose that’s true.”

“You admit you’re a pervert!?”

“Damn, you’re strict!”

He wrapped his hands around his head and struck a pose, so she turned her back on him.

“You have to leave the mountain no matter what you choose, so your only option is to go. So I have determined there is only one thing to say: let’s go, Ooshiro-sama.”

“Ah, wait, wait!”

Ooshiro took a hesitant step after she began to walk.

“You’re pretty forceful.”

His shoulders drooped, but he followed her.

She looked back toward him.

“Are you coming with me?”

“Everyone wants me to, right?”

He pulled the helmet deep over his eyes.

“They’re hopeless without me, aren’t they?”

“Testament,” replied #8. “I have determined we are about to grow very busy. Prepare yourself.”

“I’ve been ready for ten years now.” His voice fell to the ground. “I thought I had prepared myself for this day back then.”

“You grow tired of things quickly, so I have determined you grew tired of being prepared.”

She suddenly sped up and he had to run to catch up.

“#-#8-kun! Why are you running away from me!?”

“I am not running away. Please stay at least five meters away from me.”

“I doubt I want to know, but why?”

“Testament.” She nodded. “A filthy old man carrying a straw doll approaching you from behind deep in the mountains? Are you trying to become a new urban legend?”

People filled a large space.

The bowl-shaped circular space was the meeting room below Yokosuka.

The room was completely filled with a great mixture of colors.

In addition to the representatives of the international UCATs, the national representatives accompanying them, and the Gear representatives, even volunteers from the normal members of those groups were present.

They all looked to the central space where a 3D image floated above a round table.

The transparent green light drew a 3D map of Tokyo with Shinjuku in the center.

“Tomorrow will be a day for the hidden annals of history.”

A boy in a suit, Sayama, spoke as he walked through the center of the large transparent map.

“This is the Final Concept War that will never be mentioned in the official history books. It will come down to a great urban battle in which a coalition force of UCAT, our various nations, and the Gears split into eight armies to attack the Leviathan.”

The Leviathan sat in midair like a giant island and red lights indicated the positions of the UCAT forces.

“According to our predictions, the positive concepts inside the Leviathan will be complete tomorrow, the 25th, at 10:30 PM. These positive concepts will react to the already activated negative concepts, but they will both fully activate and create the immortality concept at precisely midnight.”

In other words…

“At precisely midnight tomorrow, the world will be changed and the living will all be erased.”

Everyone gulped at Sayama’s words.

He then walked toward the image of the floating Leviathan and the eight red armies deployed in Tokyo moved toward the center.

The ribbon lines of movement had an arrow at the end. They split apart and covered Tokyo while approaching the Leviathan.

Sayama also reached a hand toward the Leviathan.

“If the Leviathan creates and activates the positive concepts, even the existing Concept Core weapons will be useless. After all, we have no idea how to defeat that colossal rampaging dragon,” he explained. “But the Leviathan has left us a decisive opening.”

Everyone looked up and Roger raised his hand in the American UCAT representative seat.

“What is this opening?”

“Until the positive concepts have been created, it must avoid moving as much as possible.”

As he walked, Sayama pointed back toward the curled up Leviathan.

“If it could move, it could have easily destroyed the outside world already. It has not and it has overlooked us as we gather together, so I can only assume it is confident in its own strength and currently cannot move.”

He took a breath.

“I know why. The Leviathan…no, Noah failed in its concept creation before, so it wants to be as careful as possible.”

“In that case, is destroying the Leviathan not our primary goal?”

“Correct. Our goal is to prevent the Leviathan’s positive concepts from reaching completion at 10:30. …I will now show you how.”

Sayama turned toward everyone else. On the 360 degree transparent map, UCAT’s red ribbons split apart and formed eight foundations.

“A representative bearing a Concept Core weapon will be placed in each of these eight directions. While holding those eight directions, a barrier wall will be created in each spot.”

Eight walls appeared to surround the center of Tokyo.

“Oh?” said the Chinese UCAT representative.

The man in black crossed his arms with an impressed look.

“A Bagua-style omnidirectional barrier? It looks just like the Eight Great Dragon King barrier used when sealing 10th-Gear’s Concept Core, though.”

“Not quite. The sealing walls will be used to keep the Leviathan from escaping and the circle itself acts as a declaration of the Concept Cores’ presence. In other words, we reject the creation of the Leviathan’s positive concepts by ''showing off the real ones''.”

Sayama kept his legs moving.

“But that rejection must not have a way out,” warned the man. “A simple eight-direction seal is not enough.”

“Then…” Sayama came to a stop right below the Leviathan made of transparent light. “We do this.”

He waved a hand and red light appeared.

It appeared directly below and above the Leviathan.

Two red walls were displayed above and below the enemy dragon.

“We add two extra Great Dragon Kings to the Eight to install a seal above and below. The Leviathan will have nowhere left to run and we can lecture it from all directions using the presence of the real positive concepts.”

To put it another way…

“Yes, for simplicity, you could call it the ‘Leviathan, your positive concepts are fakes and are thus banned! Ha ha ha. How do you like that?’ barrier.”

“That’s a little too simple!!” shouted everyone else.

“Simple is best, don’t you think?” replied Sayama. “But if you insist, we can call it the Ten Great World Dragons barrier.”

A short pause followed.

After a few seconds, Roger raised his hand in the American representative seat again.

“Who will be in charge of the two great dragons in the heavens and on the earth?”

“Anyone will do. As long as they are worthy of bearing a Concept Core weapon, that is.”

“Anyone?”

“Yes.” Sayama looked across the approaching red ribbons of their armies. “It may be a rough way of looking at it, but the Concept Cores are worlds themselves. They contain elements of the heavens and earth within them. So if two of the Concept Core weapon bearers traveling in these eight armies – or two others on the same level – bring in the Concept Cores, they only need to set up the seals of heaven and earth once the eight-direction barrier is established. To put it another way…”

He took a breath.

“Those two will be trying to score a touchdown on the Leviathan.”

He raised a hand, said “but”, and looked across his audience.

His expressionless face silently observed them.

“But you are thinking this sounds simple, aren’t you? We can transport the Concept Core weapon bearers in with an aerial force, after all.”

Once he said that, a few numbers appeared in the air. They were formatted like a time and they displayed an estimated length of time.

“Based on the time needed for the barrier in Top-Gear’s Osaka and the barriers used to seal 10th-Gear’s and 2nd-Gear’s Concept Cores, we can estimate it will take this long to establish a barrier large enough to seal the Leviathan.”

The proper numbers appeared and everyone gasped.

“The eight-direction barrier will take sixty-four minutes. Counting from there, the heaven and earth one will take sixteen minutes. That makes a total of eighty minutes that we must face the Leviathan. By counting back from there, we know when our attack must begin.”

Diana gave the answer from the German UCAT representative seat.

She gave the numbers with a serious look in her eyes.

“At the very least, it has to be eighty minutes before 10:30 tomorrow night. To give ourselves some breathing room, we need to attack by nine at night.”

“Exactly. And this is going to be quite troublesome.”

Sayama’s words brought the color blue to the map.

Blue ribbons appeared from the Leviathan.

It almost looked like the color blue had exploded from the dragon.

“The Leviathan contains a massive fighting force. Based on what I saw, its concept space hangars hold approximately two thousand five hundred gods of war of various types, one thousand mechanical dragons of various types, and as for automatons…”

He smiled bitterly.

“Approximately three hundred thousand of various types.”

A few people voiced their disbelief.

That simply seemed impossible.

That was when a sudden voice of rejection reached them. It was a sharp girl’s voice.

“You would not regret it if you showed a little more tolerance.”

The voice came from directly next to Sayama.

No one had seen them arrive, but two figures had joined the transparent map of Tokyo.

One wore a black armored uniform and the other was a twelve-winged maid automaton.

They were Mikoku and Noah.

Everyone in the meeting room began to raise their voices at their appearance.

Some reached into their pockets to pull out weapons, but they never completed that action.

“Please quiet down. Over.”

Noah’s voice seemed to be emitted from her entire body and a weight fell down from above.

It was a great burden.

“…!?”

Those who had started to stand up fell to their knees. Those who had reached into their pockets collapsed forward.

The weight bore down on their entire body.

But the cups and pens on the desks before them did not even budge and their clothes were not pulled down.

Only the people were pressed against the desks or the floor while Mikoku and Noah stood tall.

Noah had lightly raised her right hand.

“I have tripled your body weight. Please calm down, everyone. Over.”

But someone opposed those words and began to move.

Sayama stood in front of them and…

“Go!”

On his shout, two figures moved inside the meeting room.

The girl and boy moving quickly forward in their white armored uniforms were Kazami and Hiba.

Their movement time was shortened and they moved too quickly to see properly.

Kazami spread her wings and forced her way through the extra burden.

“!”

She circled behind Noah and thrust G-Sp2’s tip up from below without warning.

At the same time, Hiba rushed directly in front of Mikoku.

Kazami’s attack hit and the sound of the impact exploded out.

However, it hit Hiba.

“Eh!?”

The sound of everyone else gasping was louder than Kazami’s cry of surprise.

At some point, Noah had appeared behind Kazami with Mikoku in her arms.

“…!”

Kazami turned toward the presence behind her and Noah spoke expressionlessly.

“Please quiet down. Over.”

Hiba flew over their heads after being knocked into the air by G-Sp2.

He normally would have hit the tall ceiling from a blow like that, but the distance and height of his flight were shortened by his tripled body weight.

At this rate, he was going to crash into the third level of the stepped meeting room.

His arms flailed wildly, but there was nothing he could do.

His legs also flailed wildly, but there was still nothing he could do.

Kazami knew what to do at a time like this, so she gave him some advice.

“Hiba! It’s no use!”

“Y-you’re the one that did this to me!! You really are the worst!!”

However, he spotted someone to help him up ahead: Izumo.

Izumo was sitting in the stepped aisle between desks eating a hamburger, so Hiba shouted to him while flailing his limbs.

“I-Izumo-san!”

“Yeah…” Izumo nodded and averted his gaze. “It’s just that you’ve been making a lot of gay jokes lately.”

“Don’t give up like that! Try to have a proper conversation with me!”

Hiba braced for impact.

“Izumo-san! C-catch me! Please catch me! It might mean cracking a few bones, but l-let me plow into you!”

“It might mean cracking a few bones?”

Izumo gave a reluctant nod and went with Hiba’s suggestion.

He pointed at Hiba, held his sides like they were splitting, and spoke to the Kenyan UCAT representative sitting next to him.

“Hey, hey. Did you see that!? That idiot’s flying! Wa ha ha ha ha!”

Hiba crashed into the seat next to Izumo.

The sound of destruction was three times greater than normal.

Izumo spoke to Hiba’s legs and hands which were growing from the remains of the wooden desk and chair.

“Was that good enough? But if you want to ‘crack’ people up with your jokes, you can’t force them.”

Hiba shot to his feet, scattering pieces of the seat, and clenched his fist with blood flowing from his face.

“I-Izumo-san! There are some things you just don’t do!”

“And was this one of them?”

“U-um…”

Hiba hesitated, so Sayama shouted over at him.

“Was it!? Or was it not!? Give us a clear answer!”

Rushed by Sayama, Hiba held his head in his hands.

“I-it was…was not…was…”

He looked up in surprise, turned around, spread his arms, and gave his answer.

“It was not was!”

Noah was standing in front of him and she gave her response to his suggestion.

“Please quiet down. Over.”

“W-wah! Even the enemy’s treating me like this!?”

They all ignored him and Noah placed Mikoku back on the floor.

Mikoku took a breath, fixed her collar, and looked across the group in the room.

“Everyone, I am here to suggest you surrender.”

She expressionlessly looked through the transparent map of Tokyo surrounding her.

She looked at the red ribbons of UCAT and the blue ribbons moving toward them.

“To speed up your decision, I will provide you with some details concerning my weapons.”

Sayama fought the weight as he listened to Mikoku provide her numbers.

These were simply the numbers of her army, but…

“Mechanical dragons: 121 Seraph-type, 406 Cherubim-type, and 640 Galgalim-type. Gods of war: 301 Lords-type, 814 Virtues-type, and 1201 Power-type. Automatons: 98000 Prince-type, 10001 Arc-type, and 189000 Angelus-type. Altogether, it is an army of more than three hundred thousand.”

Those simple numbers moved on the map of Tokyo as the color blue.

As everyone pinned to the desks or floor looked to the map, blue ribbons rose from the ground and began intercepting the red ribbons.

Sayama saw Mikoku instruct Noah to end the extra weight.

“Testament.”

With that word, the weight left them all and they breathed a sigh of relief.

No one around Sayama considered attacking Mikoku.

She must have understood that because Mikoku looked first to him and then the others.

“I have no intention of fighting yet. The Leviathan is always under my control. I can send out it and its troops as easily as you can clench your hand into a fist. Blindly attacking with no preparation will only lead to regret.”

“In other words, it is time for a chat straight out of the long-running TV show ‘Disastrous You’?”

Noah tilted her head, but Mikoku nodded and lowered her gaze a little.

“I doubt it will be a very nice chat.”

Someone chose to question that.

“I wouldn’t be so sure.”

It was Ooshiro who had entered the meeting room with #8.

People raised their voices to welcome him.

When he fixed his collar and raised his arms in an entrance pose, everyone smiled and applauded.

“Tch. Why’s he alive?”

“#8-san wasted four hours of her life bringing him back.”

“He bought up three or four of the limited-edition figurine I wanted.”

“I-is it just me or are all of you giving into personal grudges a lot lately!?”

“If you have something to say, get on with it, old man.”

“Very well.” He sat on the steps, pointed at Mikoku, and then pointed at the giant dragon on the map. “How should I put it? You may be able to use the Leviathan, but can you really utilize all of those weapons? It must take a lot to fire even a single cannon. Do you have any proof what you’re saying is-…”

Before he could finish, Mikoku snapped her fingers.

Noah nodded in response.

A moment later, everyone saw a building on the southeast side of the transparent map disappear.

Tokyo Tower had completely vanished.

As soon as the green, transparent tower disappeared, the automaton operating the round table controlling the map spoke quietly.

“The tower within the Leviathan’s concept space has been vaporized.”

“Testament.” Noah nodded. “The Leviathan is linked to me. I exist here as an automaton, but I am aware I am nothing but a weapon for Mikoku-sama. Over.”

“I see.” Sayama nodded and looked to Ooshiro. “Why are you even here, old man? It is your fault Tokyo Tower was destroyed inside the concept space.”

“Eh? I-it’s my fault!?”

“Ha ha ha. Who else could we possibly blame?”

Everyone in the meeting room glared at Ooshiro.

He shrieked, rolled along the floor, collided with the next step up, and rolled back to #8.

“#-#8-kun, are you going to give me the same look all of them do?”

She ignored him entirely, pulled a mop from below her apron, and began cleaning the floor with her back to him.

“#-#8-kun! Won’t you help me after going out of your way to bring me here!?”

“I apologize, but I am incredibly busy with nothing to do and am therefore cleaning.”

“How long will you be cleaning?”

Ooshiro asked while sitting on the floor and #8 answered with her back to him.

“Until the filth is gone.”

“Is that…a metaphor for something?”

“Testament. …Of course not.”

“Which is it!? Which of those answers am I supposed to believe!?”

“Ooshiro-sama.” She continued mopping with her back to him. “Do you really want me to answer that?”

He lay on the floor and pretended to cry, so everyone ignored him. Mikoku glanced over at Ooshiro.

“You are a strange bunch.”

“You’re one to talk!!”

Mikoku flinched back at everyone’s retort, so Noah supported her back and spoke expressionlessly.

“Mikoku-sama, do not let them bother you. What could they possibly be looking at to think we are strange? We are far too low-key for that. Over.”

“R-right. I am living such a low-key life that I had plain soba for lunch.”

“Since you would have been floating in the sky while eating it, that is a most impressive way of being low-key.”

Mikoku cleared her throat after hearing Sayama’s opinion.

She looked over at him and held out a hand to indicate the transparent map.

“Anyway, my army of automatons and gods of war has already been deployed within the concept space. Every last one of them wears pure-white armor. Meanwhile, what kind of fighting force do you have?

Sayama responded.

“You already know, don’t you?” he began. “We have millions upon millions of fighters.”

“Let me be blunt. Are you stupid?”

“Heh heh heh. I can see you are shocked by the overwhelming vagueness of our army.”

Mikoku gave Noah a look of protest, so Noah held out her right hand and bent her fingers twice.

“Based on my predictions, they currently have seventy thousand in all. By nine tomorrow night, they will have two hundred and ten thousand. Over.”

“You need to learn to dream.”

“I have never had a dream. Over.”

“That is unfortunate.” Sayama crossed his arms. “Dreams are wonderful. Shinjou-kun will perform all sorts of acrobatic positions while only putting up a token resistance. Come to think of it, I can do that in reality now.”

“Waaaah!!”

The meeting room’s door burst open and a shouting form rushed in.

“Ah! W-wait! Why are you dragging me out! I have an objection! An objection!! I demand an appeal!!”

The figure was taken back outside.

Sayama glanced over at it.

“Would you look at that. The dream has appeared for real.”

“You need to check yourself into a hospital,” said Mikoku.

She crossed her arms and addressed the comparative numbers of the blue and red ribbons.

“Going by the numbers alone, my force is 1.5 times larger than yours.”

Add in the superior fighting power of the gods of war and mechanical dragons and the Leviathan had an overwhelming advantage. Gathering every god of war and mechanical dragon from every Gear would have trouble reaching even a tenth of the Leviathan’s numbers.

Mikoku must have realized that because she continued.

“Therefore, I suggest you surrender. You can do so simply by doing nothing.”

“Why?”

She answered expressionlessly.

“If you do nothing, you can enjoy Christmas night with your families. You would be happier if you made some nice memories before being erased in the instant of the new world’s creation. And just like me, you will be reborn in the new world in some form. If you do not like the sound of that, then this will be your fate.”

She pointed to the map where UCAT’s red ribbons were being devoured by the blue ones.

They were devoured rapidly and in great numbers.

The erasure of the red left everyone in the room speechless.

Could they stand up to that?

But Sayama was unfazed.

“I see.” He looked Mikoku in the eye. “You certainly are brave to suggest we surrender. A very bold move if you ask me.”

“How is this bold? Are you implying you have some chance of winning?”

“Allow me to ask this: Do you seriously think ''you can defeat me?''”

Everyone gasped and Ooshiro shouted from the floor.

“M-Mikoto-kun! Don’t provoke her! That’s a big no-no!”

“There is nothing to worry about. We are merely chatting. For today, she will suggest we surrender and we will declare war. So let me make one thing very clear: We will stop the creation of the Leviathan’s positive concepts by 10:30 tomorrow night.”

“Can you? Even after seeing the result of the simulation surrounding you?”

The silence from everyone else grew heavier.

The reason for that silence was simple.

All red had vanished from the map of Tokyo in which Sayama stood and it was absolutely filled with blue ribbons instead.

If that simulation was accurate, every last member of UCAT would be devoured by the Leviathan’s army.

And Mikoku stood in the center of that blue battlefield.

“If all you have is pointless bragging, there is nothing left for you.”

But Sayama did not respond.

He said nothing. That was all.

They had already declared war against each other, so Mikoku looked down, closed her eyes, and hung her head.

“So all that remains is the battle. Understood.”

She sighed and raised her head without opening her eyes.

“Let us fight during tomorrow’s holy night. Let us fight with the entire world on the line.”

As soon as she said that, both she and Noah disappeared.

But they had not completely vanished.

“––––?”

They had lost their human forms.

With a sound much like sand, only a pile of something white remained where they had been.

When Kazami saw it, she frowned and spoke from the floor.

“Salt?”

“Yes,” agreed Sayama. “They were likely creating copies of themselves using gravitational control or something else. Such careful preparation and such overacting. I cannot believe they would force salt to cosplay as them. But…”

He moved his legs to enter the transparent map of Tokyo.

He moved below the Leviathan where Mikoku and Noah had been and stepped on the piles of salt.

“Was that supposed to be their declaration of war?”

No one answered him.

They all simply let tension fill their bodies.

So Sayama opened his mouth.

He let his words soak into them and remove their tension.

“That was an amusing little diversion. Now, let us get back on topic. I will give you my idea of how to escape this situation where Tokyo is filled by the blue ribbons.”

Everyone watched as he raised his hand.

In response, a flower bloomed in the blue Tokyo.

A few red forces suddenly welled up there.

There were not that many of them, but they were definitely there.

“I will now show you the battle as I see it. In other words, I will show you a battle of gods, where everyone is the same as me. And, everyone, I have only one thing to say here. There is only one objective to this plan I am calling Operation Leviathan.”

He spoke the words that were essentially a promise to the others.

“We must not allow the Leviathan to reach reality.”

The area around Shinjuku Station was filled with the lights of night.

According to the clock in front of the station, it was 4:22 AM.

There were people there, but not many. Some people in suits were arriving for the first train of the morning and some younger people and women who had spent the night in the area were moving between empty stores to keep out of the cold.

But there were a few people unlike them.

These men all wore work uniforms with matching blue jackets.

Large trucks were pulling up alongside them not just at the center of the taxi-filled roundabout in front of Shinjuku Station, but also in the alleyways by the south, west, and east entrances.

The trucks were loaded with metal pipes and panels.

“Who would have thought we’d be blocking off Shinjuku and building stages on the roads?”

That comment came from Kazami’s mother who stood in a small clearing in front of Nishiguchi Station.

She wore a coat and the man next to her, her husband, passed her a thermos of tea.

“It’s going to be blocked off from nine to midnight tonight. I’m impressed you got permission for this, papa.”

“Well, I’ve been planning this for a long time and I have some connections here since we used the area a lot for a police drama I worked on. You know the one: ‘Detective Fluke: The Activation’ where he always found the criminal on intuition.”

His wife smiled bitterly at that.

“I remember that. Chisato would always watch your shows back then. Like that popular anime.”

“Oh, you mean the sexual harassment food hero ‘Panpanman’? Chisato came up with a lot of the ideas for the pathogen monsters working for Gaikinman, the enemy boss who refused to work in the office. Choleraman and Aidsman were certainly straight to the point.”

“That one got canceled pretty quick, didn’t it?”

A short silence followed his wife’s comment.

Their daughter would normally keep the conversation going with a complaint, but she was not here and the father had to clear his throat.

“Well, ever since then, I’ve wanted to pretend to conquer Tokyo like this.”

“Oh, my. So are you conquering it with music instead of police authority?”

“Ha ha.” He laughed and smiled bitterly at his wife’s words. “I wonder what Chisato would think if she knew her papa was going to be a dictator tonight?”

“She’d probably come to overthrow you and tell you to stop dreaming.”

“Y-you sure are cement-like!!”

“Am I?” she replied.

Suddenly, a large figure approached them.

Kazami’s father stood up when she saw the man wearing a jacket over a white suit.

“Oh, Izumo-san. Why are you here? D-don’t tell me you searched us out with psychic powers!?”

“That’s exactly right! Esper Beam Beeeeeacon!!”

“Old Man Shield!! And Man Beam Birooooon!”

“What!? Shepaaaah!! …Oh, this is a paralyzing beam, okay?’

“Roger that. But… Ha ha ha. That won’t work on me! Meyo meyo meyo meyo meyo!”

The mother removed a shoe and struck the father’s head as he moved his arms in a wavelike motion and made a bizarre sound effect.

“Ow!”

He bent forward and she smiled his way.

“Why are you two posing at each other? I’ll grab your collar and hit you next time?”

“Hmm, are you saying you’re willing to hit just anyone, mama?”

“Anyway, enough of this nonsense only men can understand. Try talking like human beings.”

“Sure, sure, sure.” He straightened up and turned toward Izumo. “What brings you here so early in the morning?”

“I just have business in the area is all. But on the way, I heard something interesting was going on here. I’m really not sure what to say about this.”

Izumo Retsu looked around the nighttime station area and spotted the loaded trucks hidden in the alleyways.

“It looks like you’re up to no good!!”

“Ha ha ha. I see you understand. You sure are young at heart, Izumo-san!”

“I understand all too well. It’s like you’re conquering Tokyo!”

Wondering how he could tell, Kazami’s mother tilted her head and glared at them, but the two men paid her no heed and began discussing the location of the stage and the timing of the lights and sounds.

Suddenly, Izumo’s father crossed his arms and smiled.

“I wish I could have helped out with all this.”

“No, that would feel like we were abusing Chisato’s connections.”

“True enough.”

The two men smiled bitterly.

“So what do you have planned, Kazami-san?”

“Nothing much. Just calling in artists from around the world and having them perform on different stages simultaneously for a ridiculously exciting Christmas. Walking around the streets of Shinjuku will feel like walking all around the world.”

“Will your wife be singing?”

Kazami’s mother gave her husband a quick look, so the man gave a single nod.

“I’m not so sure.”

“Ah, what a shame! I have her LP, you know? The one where she adds that sound effect to the end. ‘I’m. Still. Seventeen. Piyo-piyo’.”

Kazami’s mother shrieked, held her head in her hands, and crouched down.

Seeing the father frantically try to help her, Retsu scratched his head awkwardly.

“You were traumatized by that? My bad. Then what about after you started writing your own songs? Y’know, like ‘No one will even look my way. I’m a sweet pea of a bygone era’?”

“Ow, ow, ow, ow!”

Kazami’s mother shook as violently as someone on the receiving end of an exorcism, but…

“I-Izumo-san, please stop hitting her past with these uppercuts!”

“Sorry about that.”

Retsu gave an honest smile.

“No matter how it might look now, we all had fun at the time, so I don’t see any reason to reject what happened back then.”

“That’s right. That’s right, mama! Did you hear what Izumo-san just said!? ‘No one has had as painful a life as me’ was a really, really good song!”

“Ow, ow, ow, ow! Papa! You wrote that song!!”

The father looked up in surprise.

“That’s right. That’s the musical curse I wrote when I was so mad at my idiot of a boss! I planned to send it to him, but I accidentally put it in your birthday card instead.”

“Yes, and the card saying ‘I want to be with you from morning to night (heart)’ ended up going to your boss. Didn’t he quit almost immediately after that?”

“Ha ha ha! And it was all thanks to you, mama!”

The mother hit his head with the thermos.

The empty thermos made a nice side, but by then, Retsu was already walking toward the station.

“Are you leaving already?”

“Yes.” Retsu waved without turning around. “I’m looking forward to it. We’re having a pretty serious festival too, so I hope we can enjoy the night together.”

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 18|Chapter 18]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 20|Chapter 20]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 1

2026-04-28T03:21:15Z

N-Ch:

[[Image:OnC_v14_0030-0031.jpg|thumb]]
''Do I wish

''For it to end?

—'''We will not immerse ourselves in the past.

==Chapter 1: The Joy of an Outing==
[[Image:OnC_v14_0033.png|thumb]]
''Hidden feelings

''Can remain hidden

''They are personal and their joy can also be hidden in your heart

During the night, most of the light had vanished from the residential district, but one area remained lit by more than just the streetlights.

It was a large house surrounded by a wall.

The gate was open and a blue tarp was spread out just inside. A folded-up festival stand and its framework were piled up on the tarp and several people were working to put it away.

But one person sat out in front of the gate.

She was a woman wearing a leather jacket over a kimono. She sat on the gate’s curb and stared intently to the east.

The eyes behind her glasses were fixated on the dark residential district and the pale light in the sky beyond.

That faint brightness came from the lights shining up on the winter sky.

“Taka-Akita’s festival is still ongoing…”

Her comment received a response from the roof of the gate.

“Ms. Ryouko, waiting for Ms. Shino?”

“Yeah. Setsu-chan didn’t come back either, so I thought they might be playing together. Poyanski, you thought so too, didn’t you?”

A deep sound descended from afar. It seemed to shake the air as it traveled through the heavens.

“There have been a lot of planes today.”

“That was fighter jet.”

“I guess a former soldier would know that. Is there a war going on or something?”

Her question was answered by the young man in a suit who walked out from the gate.

“You always make things sound so dangerous, sister. From what we managed to intercept, it seems they’re holding some kind of night exercise in Kansai. But…”

“But what, Kouji?”

“There are more planes flying around than reported. And according to Toki-san, military bases in the West, Asia, the Middle East, and Russia are working together with Japan.”

Ryouko tilted her head.

“If that was true, it would be big news. There would be fighters flying around on a global scale.”

“That’s what doesn’t make sense.”

Kouji sat next to Ryouko and pulled two paper cups of coffee out from behind him.

“Bases around the world are working with Japan, but it seems no one can see any of the fighters.”

“No one can see them?”

“Like I said, the bases are really busy, but they can’t see the fighters.”

“Oh.” Ryouko nodded in understanding. “So the world’s super technology has created fighters that idiots can’t see. That would explain why you can’t see them but I can.”

“If you can see them, then tell me what’s flying overhead right now.”

She looked up in the sky and narrowed her eyes.

“Hmm. Ah! See!? It’s flying! It’s a twin-engine bomber with pink frills! Did that design come from Shibuya? Is it a Shibu-Bomber? That’s so cool!”

“Sister… You don’t have to get all worked up and lie about it.”

“I-I am not lying! I can see it! It’s flying right there! You can hear it cawing to the west!”

“Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, it sure is flying and cawing there. Yeah, no question about it.”

“What are you talking about, Kouji? Is there something wrong with your brain? Are you actually a moron? Oh, sorry. Should I not have asked that?”

“You said it first!”

“Give me some coffee and I’ll go easy on you.”

“Fine, fine.”

He held out one of the paper cups.

“Why is my sister so…”

He trailed off and looked up at the roof with the other cup.

“What about you, Poya-san?”

“Leave there and I will drink.”

“Pes has been asking for it for a while, so are you sure you want to leave it here?”

“I might not drink.”

“Sure, sure.”

Kouji set the cup on the edge of the gate’s lintel and then sat back on the curb.

“But ignoring all that activity, where has Shino-san gotten off to?”

“…”

“I haven’t seen her since she said she would buy us some drinks. Nagase-san, who was playing the Festival Stand Detective, forgot to rehydrate, so the next thing we knew, he was so dehydrated he began giving a confused roadside speech. It was something about demanding the return of the Northern Territories so he could turn them into the Bear Kingdom.”

“That would be problem. Penguin Land better name.”

“But everyone thought the speech was part of the show.”

“Best to ignore, Mr. Kouji.”

“Calm down.” Kouji sighed while quieting down the roof. “But after Nagase-san collapsed, we removed the mask and found him passed out with a refreshing smile on his face. Then again, it might have just been his face stiffening up from the dehydration. …Not that any of that is Shino-san’s responsibility.”

He then faced Ryouko who had fallen silent and he smiled bitterly.

“Do you think she isn’t coming back because the atmosphere here just wasn’t a good fit for- Why did you just collapse on your back and fall asleep, sister! At least listen to what I’m saying!”

“Eh? O-oh, sorry, Kouji. You were letting your love of little girls burst from your soul as all that pedo talk about Shi-chan, so I had to restrain myself so much I actually fell asleep. I was so serious the coffee’s caffeine didn’t stand a chance! So? Have you finished that filthy discussion, you genuine pedophile?”

“I-I didn’t say anything ‘filthy’.”

“And you won’t even admit it!? How was any of that not filthy? How are you not a pedo!? Honestly, I’m promoting you from genuine to super genuine! I hope you become a white dwarf and shrink away!”

“Not that it matters, but can’t I explode and become a black hole instead?”

“Do you have any idea how much trouble that would cause the neighbors? And are you trying to become the center of a galaxy or something? What would your galaxy be called? The Genuine Galaxy? …Yay! I said it, I said it!”

Ryouko was so worked up that she stood and clapped her hands once. Responding claps came from the nearby wall, gate, and manhole.

She then turned around.

“So what were we talking about?”

“You’re the worst, sister!!”

“K-Kouji’s being a bully!!”

“Can you stop talking on reflex and actually use your left brain!? What is even in that half of your skull!?”

“P-probably…brains, I guess?”

“Please don’t sound so unsure.”

“Oh, c’mon. It’s not like you’ve ever seen inside your own head.” She took a sip of coffee. “Well, it doesn’t really matter, but Shi-chan has a big sister. You don’t have to worry about her too much, so get inside and make me a midnight snack.”

“I wasn’t actually out here to wait for her, you know?”

He stood up and let his shoulders droop a little.

“I have a feeling she isn’t coming back, so…”

“So you came here to tell me to stop waiting? Don’t be silly.” Ryouko smiled bitterly and sat back on the curb. “I’m waiting for Shi-chan to make sure I don’t have to wait for her anymore.”

“…”

“This is a ritual for me. And you know what?”

She looked up in the sky and heard an airplane fly from south to west.

“I like to think Shi-chan holds the fate of the world in her hands, so armies from around the world are chasing after her right now. Girls like to dream, you know?”

“That is quite the dangerous dream.”

“Wow, I could hear the young master saying that!!”

Kouji smiled a bit at that, but then sighed and took a step toward the gate.

“Well, you take care of things here, sister.”

“Yes, yes. Leave this to me. …Shi-chan will be okay.”

She took a breath.

“I’m sure she’s surrounded by good people.”

“Yes,” replied the roof. “But Ms. Ryouko, are you okay? Very cold outside. Da, very cold”

Ryouko answered the roof’s concern with a gunshot.

There was a great noise.

It was a high-pitched noise that reverberated through the sky.

The surging sound was created as the atmosphere was split apart and eight aircraft were visible at the front end.

They were twin-engine fighters equipped for a ground attack.

They traveled west below the moon and their sides were decorated with American UCAT’s emblem. They belonged to American UCAT’s Atsugi Base.

The massive payload of bombs attached below their wings and the accelerators attached above the wings rid them of a normal fighter’s silhouette.

The oddly-shaped eight were flying west through the Tokai region.

The northern of the two in the lead lit up his optical communication pod.

“R1, this is BA1. BA and BB have secured our course. Shifting into weight reduction flight.”

A response came from the control craft flying above Suruga Bay far behind them.

“Testament, BA1. BA and BB, maintain your course. Attack craft teams AA and AB have also detected no enemies on their approach from Okinawa.”

“Testament,” replied BA Team’s commander before sighing. “R1, how well are the different countries working together? I want to avoid a midair collision while we’re all using stealth.”

“Testament. It seems the UCAT bases near the Sea of Japan have become a showcase for the world’s fighters. And they’re all waiting for our results.”

“Testament. So we have to do our job right as the opening act, do we? I’m sure D Team’s mechanical dragons will clean everything up once they arrive.”

“Testament. But BA1…”

“I know,” replied BA1. “The enemy has two aircraft: one mechanical dragon and one god of war. …And I remember having all of our mechanical dragons shot down by that god of war a month and a half ago.”

Also…

“I hear the pilot of that white god of war defeated our blue and white mechanical dragon.”

“Testament,” replied R1 before saying what they thought BA1 needed to hear. “Don’t think about fighting. Fly straight in, scatter your bombs while accelerating, and get out of there.”

“I’m well aware. We don’t have the armor, hand-to-hand ability, or firepower of a mechanical dragon, but we still have our top speed since we’re smaller. This kind of mission is perfect for us.”

BA1 continued speaking while tearing through the wind in the lead.

“R1, has the girl of the blue and white dragon woken yet?”

“That is highly classified, so I can’t answer.”

Everyone listening smiled bitterly at the casual tone, but then someone spoke.

“Do you think that mechanical dragon will come back from the alternate space it was sent to?”

“Don’t rely on a girl,” succinctly replied BA1. “And I doubt she wants anyone to rely on her right now. …Not when she’s lost her power.”

But as soon as he finished speaking…

“———!?”

His fighter broke apart and scattered through the sky.

Everyone inside the control craft designated R1 froze when they realized what had happened.

But a moment later, the American UCAT members escaped their surprised despondency and managed to speak or begin moving.

They had already lost the transmission from BA1 and…

“BA2, BB1…and BA3 were lost!”

After the communications officer finished her report, a shout came in from B Team.

“This is BB4! R1… What happened!?”

When they heard BB4, everyone in R1 thought, “You were just shot down.”

They all gulped because they did not know why, but the situation would not wait for them to catch up.

“B Team, scatter and ascend!”

“R1, what is going on!? It looks like we lost some fighters! But there was no explosion or anythi-…”

The next voice was accompanied by the static of being shot down.

“I’m breaking apart!”

“BB4 has been lost!”

The communications officer seemed to have difficulty giving the report.

“A Team’s attackers will arrive in thirty-two seconds!”

Hearing that, everyone turned to one point in the aircraft.

One of Japanese UCAT’s automatons had been deployed to man the radar that checked for philosopher’s stone readings.

The businesslike maid illuminated by the pale red light was named #66. The data from the battle against 3rd-Gear and from the Army’s attack on UCAT had been downloaded into her personal memory.

“I am detecting Typhon and Alex’s readings. Typhon’s is within thirty kilometers to the west, but its output is too weak for flight.”

However…

“I am detecting a philosopher’s stone reading elsewhere, but it only ever lasts an instant.”

“Elsewhere?”

“Testament,” replied #66 while noting that the screen indicated that BB3 had been shot down as well. “The reading appears on the fighters in the instant that they are shot down!”

As she spoke, the information she was receiving confirmed her suspicions, so she turned toward the other frowning people.

“This is not an attack by Typhon or Alex! This instantaneous output is only seen from a close-range attack of a handheld concept weapon!” she said. “The enemy is using a concept weapon to bring down the fighters directly without causing an explosion!!”

BA4 was ascending toward the moon when he saw BB2 break apart in the moonlight up above him.

There was no explosion.

Nor was it broken apart.

It simply scattered its pieces with no flames or smoke.

BA4 saw fragments, the frame, pieces of explosives that scattered without a detonation, and…

“!!”

Someone stood on his own fighter’s nose.

Moonlight washed over the back of a girl holding a curved blade.

The wind blew at her hair, combat coat, and skirt and she wore red pumps on her feet.

There was nothing BA4 could do.

He could not aim his machineguns at someone standing on the nose and the missiles were meant for ground strikes.

He considered accelerating so the wind would sweep her away, but he was already traveling at three times the speed of sound which was apparently not enough.

“…!”

He suddenly rolled to catch her off guard.

He added in a bit of yaw to swing the fighter around, but…

“Impossible!”

He had been trained to react to high-speed movement, so he saw it all.

The enemy kept up with the fighter’s movements simply by lowering her hips a little.

It looked a lot like she was riding a surfboard.

For just an instant, the moonlight revealed her expression.

Her mouth and eyes showed a silent smile.

She then opened that mouth and raised the sword.

“Surprised? I had Typhon throw me from below so I could pretend to be a human shell.”

BA4 recalled that Top-Gear had two female swordsmen. The younger was nearly immortal and the older had a strange concept weapon.

“That concept weapon absorbs its target’s attack and makes it its own.”

“Yes,” replied the smiling girl. “First, I stored one of Typhon’s blasts and used that to destroy one fighter after being thrown here.”

She took a breath.

“Then I absorb the blast created by the explosion to recycle it against the next fighter.”

This enemy also controlled the direction of the destruction so that the recoil of the blast allowed her to hop to the next fighter.

They had scattered and ascended to see what their enemy was, but that enemy had moved to the first ascending fighter and worked her way down as she destroyed them.

And as for the sword she held…

“This is charged with the recycled explosions of eight fighters, so it will cause quite a boom if I use it all at once.”

At the same time, a transmission reached BA4’s ears.

It was the relieved voice of R1’s communications officer.

“BA4! A Team has arrived!”

He saw them both on the radar and with the naked eye. Eight attack craft were arriving from the west.

However, BA4 silently begged them to stay away.

As soon as they arrived, their enemy was going to hit him with the explosive power she had accumulated thus far.

It contained the explosions of eight ground-attack fighters, their explosives, and a blast from Typhon’s cannon.

That would undoubtedly burn through the sky and blow away everything there in an instant.

So BA4 tried to tell them to escape.

But in that moment, the skirt before his eyes fluttered upwards and he shouted something else instead.

“White!”

The enemy stabbed her sword downwards with a smile and BA4 scattered below the moonlight.

In the final moment, he saw her moonlit form.

Heo slowly awoke.

“…”

She seemed to have been placed in a bed on top of some fairly hard fabric.

But she did not know what position her body was in; she could not even guess.

She could not rouse any thoughts.

She felt like her mind was empty and like she was blankly watching herself from the outside.

She did not try to move or even consider it as a possibility.

Her consciousness was entirely closed.

She knew why: she did not want to remember.

If she did remember, she would also remember that there was nothing she could do.

And if there was nothing she could do, she had no power.

So there was no point in doing anything.

She was filled with a great sense of powerlessness.

Thinking about power only reminded her of the moment when she lost it.

If there was no point in being, then she thought she might as well die, but she could not even think about that too seriously and she simply tried to erase her thoughts as a substitute.

If she thought nothing, she would not lose anything. If she hoped for nothing, she would not feel anything.

The only thing at the base of her powerless thoughts was the decision to stay still and let others ignore her.

She wanted to go to some dark place.

She wanted to go to some quiet place.

She wanted to go to some solitary place.

And she felt like that wish was being granted. She felt like a wall separated her from her skin, but that skin felt air which was chilly enough to be called cold and her ears sensed silence.

“———”

She opened her eyes, but not of her own will.

She had simply abandoned even the strength she needed to keep her eyelids shut.

Even keeping her eyes shut had felt like doing something, so her eyes opened and she stared blankly forward.

She should have seen the white wall of the infirmary, but she instead saw the night sky.

Not only that, but she had a full view of that sky and all the stars therein.

“Eh?”

She was lying in a bed, but there were no windows, walls, or ceiling. There was not even a floor.

“…!?”

Fear over this unknown situation won out over her self-imposed stupor.

Her pulse raced and she sat up as she wondered what had happened.

She then realized that this was at the top of a mountain cliff and her bed had been placed on the edge of that cliff.

The bed was the reclining type used in hospitals and its white frame and blanket had been placed on the grassy clifftop such that she was looking up into the sky.

“So you’re finally up, Heo Thunderson.”

She turned toward the sudden voice to her side and saw a boy sitting at the head of the bed on the side closer to the mountain. His right arm held a machinegun encased in a white cowling.

“Harakawa?”

He did not turn her way.

He simply stared ahead and said nothing more.

His silence confused her. Why was he not saying anything?

That was when the sky split open.

Sudden red split through the dark blue of the starry and moonlit sky.

The silence was broken by a bursting sound of impact and crimson flames blossomed in the sky.

For just a moment, Heo knew what that crimson light was, but something else escaped her mouth.

“Why…?”

She gasped a bit as she looked into the sky.

She gulped, tensed her shoulders, and slowly opened her mouth again.

“Why did you bring me here?”

“Don’t ask the obvious, Heo. Heo Thunderson.”

She snapped back at the word “obvious”.

“How is this obvious?”

She spoke quietly, but that was enough to sap her of strength.

She was closing up.

But she continued to speak because she wanted him to understand this at the very least.

“I have no power right now.”

However, Harakawa did not turn toward her.

She only heard him speak a quick question.

“So what, Heo Thunderson?”

This time, Harakawa did turn toward Heo.

There was more noise in the sky, so there was likely light as well.

However, he only looked at her pale face with tears welling up in the eyes.

“There is a battlefield for you whether you have any power or not.”

He could also hear noise from beyond the forest visible west of the cliff.

The American UCAT troops that had dropped them off here had engaged the enemy.

They were fighting with no air support and they would likely change their mission from an assault to a diversion.

Japanese UCAT had yet to arrive, but he knew they had to be nearby since they intended to charge in after American UCAT’s attack.

''But,'' he thought.

“I don’t know if those crazy people can win this time.”

There was a reason for that.

“First, Sayama doesn’t have Shinjou, so he can’t raise his bizarre excitement gauge to max. Also, the violent comedy couple have lost their Concept Core weapon pets. And of course, Hiba has been without Mikage so long he can act without thinking while also having Susamikado off limits.”

“That’s quite an accurate analysis.”

“Yes.” He nodded and looked Heo in the eye. “And we don’t have Thunder Fellow.”

Heo shrank back, but he did not care.

He spoke the truth without holding back.

“Our strength has fallen considerably and our enemy could keep up with us before. That means…”

That meant…

“Our enemy is far more powerful than us right now.”

And…

“There’s another problem.”

“Eh?”

Wind swept her question away.

It was the cold winter wind of a mountain.

The whiteness of her breath made the air seem all the more invisible.

And Harakawa spoke to add meaningful color to that transparency.

“I’m talking about Babel, Heo.”

He looked up at the sky above the mountain.

Beyond the forest, a great tower pierced the heavens in the dim light.

“Based on the documents he found he can read now, Sayama concluded that Babel has been partially active ever since ten years ago to restrain the activated negative concepts contained inside. And since Babel is Noah, the Top-Gear residents will be allowed in.”

He took a breath.

“Noah will treat the people of Top-Gear like gods and do whatever they say. It can create concepts as instructed by its ‘gods’, so Top-Gear can now influence this entire world.”

“B-but…!”

Heo threw her words his way, so he turned around.

As if to surpass the cold wind, she held a hand to her chest with the night sky in the background.

“What can I do in such an important fight!?”

“I have fingers, so I can pull a trigger.”

Harakawa immediately answered her and stood from the bed.

“I have eyes, so I can see the enemy approaching.”

He spoke.

“I have a mouth, so I can inform people of things.”

He continued speaking.

“I have ears, so I can grasp the situation on the battlefield.”

And…

“I have a body, so I can show people that something is there to support them.”

Also…

“Everyone has this much, Heo Thunderson. …Most people don’t have the kind of power we did.”

''Now that I think about it, Sayama’s the representative example of that,'' thought Harakawa.

Heo stared blankly up at him and he spoke toward her powerless eyes.

“But even if I lost my power, I can still drive a motorcycle and I have pretty good eyes. It’s no more of an advantage than anyone else, but that kind of advantage is important on the battlefield.”

What about you?

“Being the same as everyone else doesn’t make you powerless, Heo Thunderson. If you make good use of the slight advantages you have, they will bring even more power. And if you continue to train those advantages and accumulate even more…”

''You’ll probably become the kind of person people call stupid.

''But,'' he thought. ''What about you?

“In battles, everyone is shorthanded. Everyone wants someone by their side when things are feeling hopeless and they want something to protect. The battlefield is for the people who can fight, but more than that…it’s a helpless place that is always asking for help.”

He looked straight at Heo from where he stood.

“So. Are you willing to reach out to the battlefield that is asking for help?” he asked. “And I know it’s a little late for this…but put on some clothes, Heo Thunderson. They’re on the edge of the bed.”

“Eh?”

Heo looked down at herself.

The blanket had fallen from her upper body when she sat up, so it was completely bare.

“Eh? Ah, w-wait. What is this!?”

“It was your teacher that removed your clothes, so don’t ask me. She also put you on the transport helicopter.”

“W-wait a second! Removing some of them is one thing, but why am I completely naked!?”

“Isn’t that your cruel personal skill? Also, Germans are all perfectionists.”

“Y-you find a reason for everything, don’t you!?”

To protest, she gathered the blanket in front of her chest and pounded on the bed.

“Then why…why is everyone trying to get me to fight!?”

She hit the bed again as she shouted.

“Tell me that! Because I’ve lost track of why I’m even here!”

Harakawa heard a shaking sound as she hit the bed.

Heo’s eyebrows were raised in anger, but her face was gradually rising and leaning backwards.

“Huh? Harakawa?”

“What is it, Heo?”

“For some reason, I can see the sky even though I’m sitting up.”

“Yeah, and it looks to me like you and the bed are tipping backwards.”

“Oh, c’mon, Harakawa. You make it sound like the bed is shaking and falling off the cliff.”

“If that was enough for you to understand, I must be better with words than I thought. The bed’s about to reach a ninety degree tilt.”

And it did.

Heo was thrown out into the air.

She gasped as the bed toppled over.

It seemed to scrape her right shoulder as it rotated around to point straight down.

…''The sky…

She was tipped a bit on her back, wrapped in the blanket, and falling.

She felt weightless and the night sky quickly grew more distant.

There was a drop of around a dozen meters behind her.

If she fell, she would die.

She would be no more.

And at the bottom of her vision, she saw Harakawa standing on the edge of the cliff.

…''Harakawa.

But she noticed that he was not trying to help her.

He simply stared at her while still holding the gun.

He did not budge.

She felt like he was pushing her away.

Did she not matter to him?

…''Even I thought I didn’t matter…

And now the person she most wanted to understand her was pushing her away.

''Then this must be the end,'' she thought.

…''Eh?

She noticed a certain fact and a certain contradiction.

First, the fact.

Who did she most want to understand her even as she felt she did not matter?

Wasn’t it Harakawa, the one who had chosen to entrust this with her even though she did not matter?

But that created a contradiction.

Why did she need to choose the end if Harakawa understood her?

Why would that be the case if he had given her his understanding?

She had no power. She was physically weak, she was young, she was short, and her breasts were small. Her breasts and her butt had grown a little recently, although she did not plan to announce that fact until it was more visually noticeable and she had no idea what she was thinking about anymore, but in short, she was powerless.

But she was not alone.

So what should she choose now: the stars visible in the sky or the motionless boy?

“…”

She gulped as she fell.

She was already passing below the edge of the cliff.

The blanket wrapped around her began to flutter in the wind and gravity pulled her downwards.

It was too late.

She had noticed her contradiction and what she wanted, but it was too late now.

However, she saw a new crimson flower blossom in the sky.

In that brief moment, she moved. She reached her hand toward the sky as if to pluck those flower petals.

She thrust her hand skyward and she received an answer.

A power forcibly stretched her body.

It was Harakawa’s hand grasping her own hand.

“It’s all right.”

Her body shook and her entire weight bore down on her right hand and shoulder.

But her entire body was lifted upwards. It was a slow movement that could not quite be called an ascent.

“Yes, there is only one reason, Heo. As I said, it’s ‘all right’. In other words, everything is ‘right’. So it’s all right, Heo.”

She saw him raise his eyebrows in a smile as he pulled up her hand.

“Let’s get to the battlefield, Heo. The idiots will be there soon, too.”

Light raced through darkness.

The light rushing through the forest at the bottom of a mountain was a high speed train.

However, it was already late at night, so no such train should have been running.

Nevertheless, the streamlined front car towed the rest of the cars as they broke through the wind on their westward journey.

Not all of the cars were for passengers.

A few specialized transportation cars were positioned right after the front car and behind the passenger cars.

Also, the passenger cars were covered in armor and figures were visible on their roofs.

Those figures were automatons wearing combat maid uniforms.

Two automatons stood atop the transport container loaded on the second car. They stared sharply forward and sent out their shared thoughts.

“Our current speed is two hundred and seventy kilometers per hour. I have determined we have made up for the time lost transferring over from the transport helicopter.”

“This is an excellent train. But I never knew IAI was developing anything like this.”

They looked down at the racing vehicle below their feet.

“This next generation high-speed train has a top speed of four hundred and twenty kilometers per hour, and yet it is a high-speed stealth train that counteracts the sounds of collisions by creating buffer bands between the cars.”

“They wanted to name it after the fact that riding it is so nice it actually feels good, so they had someone sum up that idea in a single word.”

The automatons looked to the side of the car.

Someone had used a brush to paint “Creepy” in large letters.

“I have determined this is incomprehensible.”

“Testament. We are about to leave the Tokaido Line, so get ready down below.”

Those shared memories were sent to #8, the automaton inside one of the armored passenger cars.

Inside the long passenger car, #8 listened to the report from the automatons on the roofs.

It was almost time to enter the battle.

However, she tried to be considerate. So as not to rush those around her, she served tea and coffee to the people in armored uniforms sitting in the rows of three seats and then slowly spoke.

“Okay, break’s over.”

“Ehhh! Already!?”

Hearing them shout, she wondered if she had worked a little too hard making the break seem nice.

But she refocused and looked across everyone there.

“The Creepy is about to enter autonomous mode. We will accelerate to gain some inertial force, so I have determined the drinks I just served will be your last time to rest.”

“Testament,” replied everyone inside the white light of the car.

They were all from Japanese UCAT’s special division and most of them were from Team Leviathan.

Izumo and Kazami were amusing themselves by playing cards with Sibyl and Boldman while the others were looking down at their card version of mahjong or their handheld game systems.

“Report. American UCAT failed to achieve air superiority over the Mount Ikoma region. They now plan to send their mechanical dragons in by land.”

Everyone clearly focused on the incoming transmission.

After a moment, light boards were handed over the backs of the seats and passed out to everyone. They displayed the documents that each platoon and company used to confirm with their commander what they should do.

Each time a new announcement came in, the text would gain details or additional opinions. By the time they set foot on the battlefield, each commander would know what they needed to do.

…''But…

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> looked to her side.

Sayama sat alone in the very first row of seats.

His seat was fully reclined, a towel covered his eyes, and Baku sat on his head as he slept.

…''Will he be okay?

She had heard that Shinjou was badly injured and also in conceptual danger.

He received regular updates on her state by cellphone, but the situation did not look good. He had finally gone to sleep after Ooki had promised to email him if anything changed.

There was nothing #8 could do, but the very fact that she could not think of any kind of plan made her painfully aware of the wasted cycles of her activity clock.

But he asked nothing of her.

She felt this time waiting for instructions was wasted, but…

…''This means that he is okay.

She upped the thought priority level of that fact she could take from her records. She told herself not to think about anything else or to make unnecessary decisions.

A maid only had to trust in her master because an automaton would not serve someone she could not trust.

Suddenly, she thought of the Moirai.

The Gear reservations had decided to maintain their silence on the current situation.

That was obviously because they had decided the conflict between Top-Gear and Low-Gear was still ongoing.

They had entrusted everything to the Leviathan Road meeting and had said they were waiting for the results.

The Concept Cores must have had a similar understanding because they did not display any kind of desire to be saved.

The only people from other Gears taking part in this attack were the automatons and the people from 2nd or 6th who had joined UCAT and Low-Gear.

But #8 sent Moira 1st access to her shared thoughts and asked what to do when her master looked about to lose heart.

They had given each other access permissions when they had met the other day. She had assumed she could make use of her downtime by receiving some new information or tips.

“Moira 1st-sama.”

After connecting, auditory information streamed in from Moira 1st.

“Yes, Lady Miyako, tonight’s dinner is your favorite instant ramen: Drenched #1 – Soy Sauce Flavor. Say ‘ah’, Lady Miyako.”

“Hold on. That’s really not something you do with ramen.”

“Ehhh? You don’t want to? Does it have to have mayonnaise for that?”

“That isn’t the issu-… What do you think the rest of you are looking at!?”

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> did not listen any longer because it would be an invasion of their privacy. She determined it was an event mission to raise their master-maid intimacy level.

…''If only Sayama-sama would give me that kind of opportunity.

''No,'' she determined. ''Those opportunities are probably being given to Shinjou-sama.

''In that case, I want to set things up for the two of them,'' she thought while closing her eyes.

She cooled her thoughts with a sigh and looked to Sayama.

She simply pulled a blanket from the container above the window and placed it over him, but she felt that was enough. The train would enter autonomous mode in just a few minutes.

With the blanket on him, Sayama stirred a bit and spoke in his sleep as if groaning.

“Ahhh, Shinjou-kun, you are so bold… Y-you cannot mean it. You’re taking it all in your mouth…and…and swallowing it? Yes, if you are going to drink all of the soup, it has to be this high-calorie, high-sodium Drenched #1!”

After noticing he seemed to be having a good dream, she debated whether she should inform Moira 1st of this synchronicity or plainly tell him that instant ramen made you fat. But before she made a decision, she heard someone speak from the opposite seat.

“Are we almost to the battlefield, #8-kun?”

She turned around to find Ooshiro and simply glared at him.

“Why are you here?”

“Wah! You’ve already decided I’m an outcast!? Are you shunning me!? You are, aren’t you!?”

“Please quiet down. More importantly, Ooshiro-sama, are you familiar with the word ‘useless’?”

He raised his hands as a sign of protest.

“I-I am too useful!”

She nodded and accurately reproduced an expression she had recently learned.

“Ooshiro-sama, is this the appropriate way of expressing disrespect? I am still not used to this expression.”

“That’s not just disrespect! That’s a look of pure contempt!”

“Testament. Thank you very much. As it was received much better than expected, I will make ample use of it from now on. Anyway, Ooshiro-sama, you are too thin to act as a shield and get in our way too much to act as a wall, so can’t you do something about that?”

“W-well, you see… I’m quite useful. I have intelligence, strength, and beauty!!”

He stood up and struck a flirtatious pose, so #8 looked around.

She saw the others waving their hands in front of their faces, so she nodded.

“Ooshiro-sama. Please choose one of the following: 1. Pretend you never said that. 2. Take back what you said. 3. Die and apologize. …Which would you like?”

The others all wrote “3! 3!” on their light boards and raised them high, but #8 shook her head.

“You mustn’t do that, everyone. I have determined this is a problem Ooshiro-sama must solve on his own.”

“#-#8-kun, you are surprisingly fair. I’m a little moved.”

“Testament.” She nodded and slapped his head thrice. “Now, please think carefully. 3 is the only real option, after all.”

“How is that thinking carefully!?”

''The majority already decided for you, so stop being so selfish,'' she thought just as an electronic tone played from the car’s speakers.

“Um, uh, um, in thirty minutes, the, uh, Creepy will…enter autonomous mode. Uh, we will begin, uh, accelerating soon, so, uh, all passengers had better stay in your damn seats!! …Uh, I mean please remain seated.”

They all sat back down and #8 started to sit in a nearby seat but hesitated.

However, she ultimately took the seat behind Sayama instead of her usual one.

At the same time, she saw the boy slowly sit up in the seat in front of her.

He raised the seat, so she could not see him, but she heard him.

“#8-kun, thank you for the blanket. …It was short, but I had a wonderful dream. I appreciate it.”

She compared his voiceprint with one from the past but found it was lacking something.

''But,'' she thought. ''If he is willing to thank the one who serves him, he must have regained his awareness that he is my master.

''So he should be fine,'' she decided while speaking with the others via shared memory.

“Get ready. We are about to accelerate.”

A moment later, that was exactly what they did.

The automatons standing atop the high-speed train created a wall of gravitational control to combat the pressure of the wind as they accelerated.

Their clothes, hair, and everything else fluttered and bent in the wind.

“And our hearts only bend to the will of our master!”

The maids saw the track turn a bit to the north. The Tokaido Line turned north to the Kyoto region and then south toward Osaka.

The track had no sharp curves, so the trains could maintain their speed. It was a gradual but definite northward turn.

However…

“That will not take us to the Mount Ikoma region in south Osaka!”

Then what were they to do?

The answer was given by the shouts of the two automatons standing on the front car.

“Prepare autonomous mode!!”

They were answered by the maids standing on the transport container on the second car.

“Prepare!!”

An automaton rushed from both emergency exits on each car.

They pushed at the wind with their gravitational control. There was one on either side of the twelve cars for a total of twenty-four.

They all spread their hands outward.

“Contact!”

As soon as they yelled that word, the white pallet covering the second car suddenly leaped into the air.

The wind carried the giant lid into the night sky and something was revealed below.

“Track Facility Mechanism ‘Moirai’! Begin deployment!”

A giant spindle machine rose from the car.

The mechanism was seven meters tall, twenty meters long, and shaped like an upside-down iron. It had twelve giant spindles on either side, but those spindles were not wrapped with thread.

They were wrapped with rails and the front spindles launched those iron threads.

The two metal rails broke the sound barrier as they flew forward.

The twin lines of steel tore through the night and passed the front car, but the automatons on the front car did not overlook them.

“Begin spinning!!”

Those front two used their full gravitational control to draw the flying tracks toward their hands.

They bent the metal thread down as if rotating it around to the nose of the front car.

“Contact!!”

At the same time, the four automatons standing to the front of the second car stepped down on the back of the front car’s roof.

The high-gravity attack bent the roof, but it also noticeably lifted the nose of the car.

And the car landed atop the track being released from that very same train.

Now that it was on its self-laid path, it only had to continue on.

The spinning machine spun out the track, the automatons on the front car pulled it in, and the maids on the back car supported the bottom of the autonomous track with their gravitational control.

All of this created one thing.

“A high-speed train which can choose its own path!”

The two on the front car accurately bent the track toward the sky.

The sonic train moved at greater than four hundred kph as its own track carried it into empty air.

One of the spindles was exhausted in no time at all.

“Only twenty-six kilometers until we arrive!”

“I have determined we have enough to spare!”

The automatons smiled amid the roar of the wind and the creaking of metal.

Gravitational control was their own technique and they were measuring levels of output they had never seen before.

Where did their limits lie?

As the moonlit automatons learned just that, they expressed the feeling with a single word: pleasant.

After all, they were fulfilling their job. That job was to transport the fighters to the battlefield.

And this was a job only they could do. What word would better describe that than pleasant?

The overheating, creaking, excessive calculations, and all the other burdens felt truly pleasant to them.

The train raced through the night sky.

The wind was cooling, the night was heavy, and the sounds were those of work.

“———!!”

They flew through the dark night toward some moonlit mountains.

They had already passed over the fields and reached the forest at the base of the mountains.

An expressway was visible below and they used that asphalt as a stepping stone.

“Here we go!”

The train leaped once more.

This time, they flew beyond the southern forest and into the mountains.

Based on the information gathered before leaving, there was a river there and they could follow it to the eastern Mount Ikoma region.

It was a fifteen kilometer journey which would take less than three minutes at their current speed.

They flew.

As if throwing their entire bodies forward, the automatons became one with their speed and desired to advance.

Shadowy trees raced by on either side and a river reflected the moon below.

They continued on.

The roaring sound and the wind bent the trees and the shockwave of their passing sent a reverse cascade of water and leaves into the sky after they passed.

The automatons had linked their sight and hearing devices as they focused only on their destination.

They kept on a straight line toward the mountains that had produced the river below.

…''Here we go.

They all thought the same thing.

…''We pull the humans onward to mountains filled with nature.

This was something they had been unable to do in 3rd-Gear.

It was always near the top on the lists of things they wanted to do, but it was always pushed further and further down the list.

They had made all of the food and drink being handed out inside the train.

It would have been perfect had it been daytime and sunny.

It did not matter whether they were heading into battle or not.

The goal was for the master to decide. The means was for the maid to decide.

A trip to the mountains required a box lunch.

And now, they were pulling the humans onward. Just like a maid leading her master to some flowers she had found in the mountains, they predicted what would make their masters happy and guided them to the battlefield.

Such a happy battle.

But…

“———!?”

The automatons on the front car saw an explosion.

The trees on either side of the river up ahead were suddenly blasted into the sky.

There was no sound. When breaking the sound barrier, that was to be expected.

Something charged toward them at faster than the speed of sound.

“That is…a mechanical dragon!” shouted an automaton’s mind.

A mechanical dragon with red, white, and blue armor flew their way with its main cannon mouth already opened.

It had been lying in wait to attack them.

There was only an instant until the attack, but the automatons continued their work. They continued spinning the track without fear.

“Good luck!!”

Alex did not hesitate.

Eighty percent of his armor had been replaced, but his frame had only had charms for the automatic healing of metal attached and his injuries were not yet healed.

Even so, he did not hesitate.

While Typhon was being worked on, Tatsumi had let it throw her so she could hold onto their air superiority. Similarly, it was his job to prevent Team Leviathan from rushing in.

Mikoku had already entered Babel on Noah’s guidance.

After ensuring their air superiority, Tatsumi had shifted to defense.

The others were deployed in formation and plenty of dolls had been sent out.

So Alex did not hesitate.

“This is a showdown!!”

He flew straight toward the train that acted like a long, subsonic shell.

He had no intention of firing on it from hiding or from the side.

…''Justice is justice because it brings its righteousness head-on!<ref>A play on words using the kanji for “justice”.</ref>

So he accelerated.

“Destroy the enemy on sight! Alex Forcer!!”

He prepared to fire his main cannon, but he saw something just before he did.

As the train continued to spin its track and rush forward, the roof of one of the back cars blasted into the sky.

The white lid was cast aside like a cloak to reveal what lay below.

“A black god of war!?”

That was precisely what stood up.

However, this was not Tatsumi’s enemy, Susamikado.

It was a similar yet different model.

“Is that Susahito Custom!?”

As if to answer, Susahito Custom calmly moved.

It forcefully stood in the wind and water vapor trailed from the corners of its armor.

“…!”

It held an anti-god of war rifle.

Alex recognized it as one of those used in the fight against Typhon.

Normally, it would not have been enough to break through a mechanical dragon’s armor.

However, their relative speeds and his imperfect state could change that.

“Bring it on!!”

He shouted and they both fired.

A moment later, the earth and the sky exploded along a straight line and that signaled the beginning of the battle.

<noinclude>

===Notes===
<references/>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Prologue|Prologue]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume1 Chapter 1

2026-04-27T04:16:18Z

N-Ch:

[[Image:OnC_v01_0032-0033.png|thumb]]
''It was probably at that moment

''When that which had been stopped

''Began moving once more

—''To me, trying to find or soothe oneself is nothing more than an illusion.

==Chapter 1: Sayama’s Beginning==
[[Image:OnC_v01_0035.png|thumb]]
''The privilege of those who know themselves

''Is being able to restrict oneself

''There is no more relying on others

Below the blue sky were two rows of blossoming cherry trees.

The road between those two rows led to a cement wall surrounding a large area of land. The stone gatepost at the opening to the west was inscribed with the words “Taka-Akita Academy”.

The schedule posted on the gate read “spring break” and the gate itself sat open with no one to pass through.

Once one passed through the gate, the central road continued with the cherry trees on either side.

These trees were in full bloom as well. Continuing further led to a half hectare general sports ground to the right and a martial arts facility as large as a great hall to the left.

Continuing straight on led not to a school building but to a faculty building.

The school buildings were lined up in all four compass points with the faculty building at the center. This was all one school, but other than the six general school buildings, it was broken down by specialization. To provide a proper environment, some of the school buildings were surrounded by rows of trees, but others had a research plant equipped with a silo or an asphalt course for test driving.

The buildings built very nearby those school buildings were the student dormitories.

This school took up the area that would cover three-fourths of a city. It had a few shopping districts, farms, and factories on the grounds and a lot of the city’s people lived inside it.

And every facility within possessed a certain mark.

It was the mark of IAI, the Izumo Aviation Institute. IAI supported this academy city.

However, the academy was nearly deserted during spring break.

This was even true for the western general school buildings nearest the main gate.

A single figure could be seen at the second year general education building just north of the faculty building.

A boy stood on the second story landing of the emergency staircase.

Despite it being spring break, the boy wore his school uniform, blazer and all, and the buttons of his shirt were buttoned all the way up to the collar.

His hair was slicked back and a single stripe of white could be seen on either side. Below that hair were sharp eyes and a sharp face.

He was looking up into the sky.

Floating in the blue sky were thin white clouds and the shadow of an airplane making a wide curve through the air.

“So the American soldiers at Yokota are not taking a break either. They also prefer high places like me. And they too do not return home even when they have the chance,” he said.

He swung up his left arm and the sleeve slid down. A white scar could be seen on his left fist and he wore a woman’s ring on the middle finger. A silver wristwatch was also revealed on his left wrist. The hands pointed to 2:30 PM.

He pulled a single piece of paper from his pocket.

“Sayama Mikoto-sama. To complete the transfer of rights left with us by your grandfather, the late Sayama Kaoru-shi, we ask that you visit the Okutama IAI General Tokyo Facility on March 30 at 6 PM.”

It was an invitation. That simple text was followed by an IAI map and the name of the one inviting Sayama.

“IAI section chief, Ooshiro Kazuo, hm?”

…''The old man, hm?

When Sayama’s grandfather had died, that elderly man had been the first to come rushing over for the funeral. The tall, gray-haired man always wore a white coat at IAI. The two of them would speak every once in a while and the man seemed to enjoy it when Sayama called him “old man”.

But as Sayama looked at the invitation, he muttered, “My grandfather was a corporate blackmailer, so what rights could he have had at IAI?”

He turned around to find the emergency exit and the wall. The aluminum door was polished, but the wall was dirty with sand and dust. Out of sudden curiosity, he approached the wall and touched it. The sand came off and stuck to his finger.

“Hm…”

Just as he wiped off his finger, the emergency exit moved a bit.

A young woman in personal clothes poked her head out through the slight opening. As the bangs of her short brown hair waved, her blue eyes turned in the direction Sayama had been not long before. “Huh?” she said and tilted her head.

Sayama said, “Over here, Ooki-sensei. You must have a lot of free time to be at school during spring break.”

Hearing that, the woman named Ooki frowned and turned around.

“I was sleeping and-…wait, the same goes for you. Are you trying to fully enjoy your youth by staring into the sky in a place like this? Also, Sayama-kun.”

“What is it? If you have a question, then out with it.”

“Okay, my first question: Why do you speak like that to your teacher?”

“That is my acting style. You lose as soon as you question it, Ooki-sensei. Now, any other questions?”

“Okay, my second question: If I punch a student during spring break does it count as school violence?”

“It does not matter as long as no one finds out. So who are you planning to punch? This must be quite a troublemaker if they can anger you.”

“And my final question: …Have you ever looked in a mirror?”

“I use one for a good long time every day. You really do like asking such obvious questions.”

“I was an idiot to try asking questions to someone filled with such originality. In fact, are you sure that acting style is okay?”

In response to that annoyed comment, Sayama removed his hand from the wall and swiped it forcefully through the air. The cloth of the sleeve let out a noise.

“Do not worry. I act this way to everyone. I intend to head down that path in the future, after all. It may be selfish of me, but I do not want people to say I suddenly started acting full of myself when I grow up. …This may give you some trouble though.”

Ooki’s neck relaxed and she gave a bitter smile at that last line.

“You should probably say that last part to the other teachers as well. Oh, but it seems I will be your homeroom teacher next year as well.”

“So you managed to get one of the best students in your class. Excellent work for a newcomer teacher with little authority.”

“Would you sympathize with me if I told you the other teachers were forcing the excellent but overly individual students on me?”

Sayama placed a hand on Ooki’s shoulder and nodded with a completely serious expression.

“If you seek sympathy, it is all over for you, Ooki-sensei. Although you may be almost there already.”

“Sorry, this is irritating me, so it would be nice if you would stop.” Ooki walked out onto the emergency staircase with her eyes half closed. She scratched at her head and said, “Talking with you really exhausts me. You take everything so seriously.”

Sayama gave a slight smile at that.

“Seriously? I-…”

“You don’t? But you were elected vice president in the student council election and your grades are excellent.”

“True,” said Sayama with a nod. He folded his arms and thought for a bit. Three seconds later, “I have never once gotten serious. …I just can’t make myself want to.”

“…Eh?”

Sayama ignored Ooki’s questioning voice and shrugged.

“Then again, everything I run across in school ends before I even have a chance to get serious. I was once scolded by my grandfather. He told me not to settle for being the ruler of a small place.”

“I see,” said Ooki with a nod. She leaned up against the emergency staircase landing’s railing. “Your grandfather was an amazing person. Compared to him, I can see where you are coming from.”

“Yes. Compared to my grandfather who would give Japan’s economy a nice smack from the shadows, the vice president of this academy city is nothing.”

“It’s more than nothing.”

“But it is true I have never actually tested myself. During the race for vice president, my opponent grew so desperate by the end that he even danced around naked in an attempt to gain more popularity. He was simply no match for me.”

“Were you the one that fired a bottle rocket at his butt while he was performing that nude dance?”

“No, that was Izumo while he was crushing everyone else in the presidential race. He even used a metal pipe as a gun barrel to increase his accuracy. Not something you would expect of a third year.”

“In that case, I won’t ask who blew up the stage afterwards…”

“That would be for the best. Are you gradually learning how to get along in life, Ooki-sensei?”

“Yes, yes. But I’m starting to get worried about being the next advisor for the student council…” Ooki frowned and sighed before continuing. “Is school really that boring to you?”

Sayama stopped moving when he heard that.

He turned his gaze to meet that of Ooki’s blue eyes.

After a short pause, he gave a small shake of the head.

“I have no complaints with the school. It is true the student council election and the tests are all such small things that I do not need to grow serious about. However, that does not mean school is boring. It is only natural to feel that school is a small place. And I think that school has its own unique things to enjoy.”

“What a complicated child…”

After falling silent for a short while, Ooki bent her back over the railing she was leaning against and looked up into the sky.

Meanwhile, Sayama glanced at his watch. It was 2:50.

“Ooki-sensei, I think I should get back to my dorm soon.”

“Are you leaving soon?”

“Yes. After changing into a suit, I need to receive something similar to my grandfather’s will.”

Sayama opened the emergency exit. Ooki frantically got up from the railing and charged through the open door. Sayama also entered the school building as he closed the door.

Sayama walked through the hallway alongside Ooki. The last school newspaper of the year was attached to the classroom-side wall. The First PR Club put out the paper weekly. It generally carried articles related to IAI and this issue contained the school’s employment rate to IAI as well as a few other pieces of news.

Ooki stopped as she looked over at an article at her eyelevel which was one level below Sayama’s.

“They have detected an extrasolar star system with a high probability of being habitable. …That’s amazing!”

“It’s only been discovered. Just looking at this article will tell you how difficult a problem anything further would be.”

Sayama pointed at another article. The article’s photograph showed a giant pile of machinery lying collapsed on a large area of asphalt.

“According to this, they created an eight-meter-tall bipedal robot and it failed spectacularly. The joints were made too weak so its knees broke just from walking. …No matter what we may discover, it means nothing if we do not have the technology to use it.”

“Hm. So it’s the same as spotting a good-looking girl but not knowing how to talk to her.”

“I am glad you are so wise. Is that something you told yourself as an excuse?”

“Well, last Christmas, some of my friends and I…wait, no.”

When Ooki said that, Sayama realized she was looking up at his face.

''Why is she staring?'' he wondered.

“Is it that rare to see me smile?”

“No, it’s not that it’s rare. It’s interesting.”

Ooki began walking once more. Sayama followed.

Ooki asked, “Can I ask you about your grandfather?”

“Of course,” replied Sayama.

He had nothing to hide.

And so he spoke. He talked about a lot as they walked.

He told her how his grandfather had left the war during World War Two and had begun researching something.

“And it seems the Izumo Aviation Institute was involved at the time. After the war, he used the connections and discoveries he had made as a base to set out into the financial world and become a corporate blackmailer.”

“A corporate blackmailer, hm?”

“He did a lot of pretty horrible things. …Every time he was in the newspaper, he would give the following line.”

Ooki nodded and cut in.

“ ‘The surname Sayama indicates a villain’, right? I saw it once in a weekly magazine.”

“That’s right. My grandfather was a villain through and through. When he saw some giant opponent as an enemy or evil, he would fight them by becoming an even greater evil. And…that is also why I do not want to grow serious about anything.”

“That is?”

“I am inexperienced. ‘The surname Sayama indicates a villain.’ My grandfather always told me my abilities were meant to perform necessary evils. However, I lost him when all he had taught me was how to do it.”

“So… You don’t know when the evil you perform is truly necessary?”

“Yes. I do not want to die, so there may be times when I will get serious. However, growing serious when I cannot tell if it is truly necessary is a frightening thing.”

As he spoke, Sayama suddenly brought his right hand to the left side of his chest.

As he brought his hand inside his coat and held his chest, Ooki spoke without turning toward him.

“It sounds like you have it tough in your own way.”

“Yes,” he nodded.

“Then can I ask you about your father?”

“Why?”

“I never asked last year despite being your homeroom teacher, and…” The ends of her eyebrows lowered. “I think this is part of a teacher’s job.”

Sayama nodded as he lightly held the left side of his chest. After taking a breath, he spoke.

“There is nothing to worry about. It is a simple issue. More importantly, how much do you know, Ooki-sensei? I am curious.”

Ooki glanced upwards and folded her arms.

“Your father was adopted by your grandfather and he entered IAI at the same time as your mother. However, he was killed in the great Kansai earthquake at the end of ’95. Your mother, um, well, brought you with her and-…”

Ooki trailed off and Sayama smiled bitterly.

“Before I tell you not to worry about it, I need to correct some of that. My father died as a secondary casualty of the earthquake when he was sent by IAI for earthquake relief.”

Sayama took a breath. He held up his empty left hand. That scarred left fist had a women’s ring on the middle finger. The pearl decoration glittered a bit in the dimly lit hallway.

Ooki turned to look at it as she walked.

However, Sayama also looked at the ring instead of looking at her.

“Go where those precious to you are waiting, hm?”

As his words deepened, Sayama felt as if something was moving within the left side of his chest.

It was pain.

And it felt like his chest was creaking.

It was coming.

And then Sayama saw Ooki looking up at him with her face completely pale.

“Sayama-kun. A-are you okay?”

He tried to answer “yes”, but he realized he was not breathing. When his body bent forward, he realized someone had suddenly started to support his chest.

Ooki had caught him from below.

“Ah…”

When he heard Ooki say that, all of his body’s senses returned.

He first felt exhaustion. He then felt he could breathe again and sweat poured from his back and legs.

He brought strength to his legs to stand up, but Ooki was still lightly holding her arms out toward him.

“A-are you okay?”

“I am fine.”

“Really? Okay? You are okay?”

“I am okay, but that is not correct English.” His body was now obviously returning to normal. He nodded and said, “I am fine, so do not worry. It seems I get stress-induced anginas from this topic.”

“Then why did you agree to talk about it?”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to know? You truly are a horrible teacher if you forgot that.”

“Oh, but, um…”

As Ooki began frantically waving her hands in denial, Sayama smiled again.

“What are you trying to deny? Think about it. I am free to say what I want. And you are free to support me when I fall. I would say you performed the better deed here. Don’t you agree? But let me say one thing.” Sayama removed his right hand from his chest. “My mother would often tell me she hoped I could do something one day. I have to wonder if she ever did anything. And now the child raised hearing that has no idea what he can do. And so I must ask: what should I do?”

“I see… So you do not know what you can do.” Ooki nodded and her shoulders drooped. She looked up at Sayama and earnestly said, “I finally understand why you are so extreme about everything.”

“I cannot overlook that. Who are you calling extreme?”

“What? You didn’t hear me? I said it quite clearly. Is that a nose on the side of your head?”

Sayama’s left hand gave a lightning-fast flick against the forehead that had asked that question so seriously.

“Eeee,” groaned Ooki as she crouched down.

Sayama brought a hand to his chin and said, “Some teachers can say truly horrible things about their students.”

In the end, Sayama did not leave his dorm until past four.

It had taken time to put on the three-piece suit he had inherited from his grandfather and to prepare the seal and digital recording device needed for official records. He wrote down his time of departure at the dorm’s reception desk and left.

The sun was still in the sky.

He walked through the gravel clearing located between the general school buildings and the dorm. It normally functioned as a faculty parking lot. He was headed toward the main gate.

As he cut behind the second year general school building as a shortcut, he heard baby birds singing in the trees.

As he listened, Sayama heard two sounds other than the chirping of the birds.

The first was organ music coming from the music room on the second story of the school building.

“Silent Night…”

He recalled occasionally hearing it on the weekends. However, this was the first time he had been able to determine exactly where it was coming from. He wondered who was playing it, but it was so perfectly played that he assumed it was not a student.

And as the organ music played, another sound could be heard approaching.

It was the sound of a motorcycle engine. Specifically, the low tone of a 4-stroke.

As he heard that noise coming from the direction of the main gate, Sayama muttered, “Izumo and Kazami.”

He then walked out to the asphalt road west of the school building.

He looked out toward the faculty building, the vast sports ground, and the martial arts facility. He spotted two people riding a motorcycle appearing out from the side of the faculty building. Despite the large amount of exhaust, the black touring motorcycle moved smoothly along the road.

Aboard the motorcycle were a well-built young man wearing a thin brown coat and a girl with semi-short hair and carrying a black rucksack. The back bared by the girl’s white sleeveless top pointed in Sayama’s direction.

The two were chatting while riding the motorcycle.

Suddenly, the young man noticed Sayama. A friendly smile appeared on his fairly long face.

“Hey,” he said with a raised hand.

He then stopped the motorcycle next to Sayama.

The young man was over one hundred eighty centimeters tall and broad-shouldered, so he supported the weight of the heavy motorcycle with his leg.

The girl swayed gently and rested up against the young man’s back.

The young man smiled with the girl leaning up against him.

He looked up and said, “Where do you think you’re going, Sayama, you idiot? To go spew insults at someone?”

Sayama brought a hand to his forehead and sighed.

With a troubled tone of voice, he said, “Izumo, unlike you, my brain is working properly. And I have never spewed insults at anyone, you sick bastard.”

“Sure, sure. Thanks for keeping up your acting style even during spring break.”

[[Image:OnC_v01_0051.png|thumb]]

“No need to thank me. But should the three top members of the student council really be having this sort of conversation?”

The young man, Izumo, smiled bitterly at that.

“Of course not,” he agreed.

The girl leaning on his back turned their way.

“Sayama, you’re going to IAI, right?”

“Yes, I am. Kazami, Izumo. What about you two?”

“I was just headed back to the dorm to have some fun with Chisato…kh!”

As he spoke, Izumo’s head twisted upwards. The girl named Kazami had grabbed at Izumo’s head and jaw from behind. A delicate sound came from Izumo’s neck and he gently fell backwards.

“Kaku, that is not what he asked. Sayama wanted to know where we had been.”

Izumo’s head came to rest on top of Kazami’s thighs and he stopped moving.

“There, there,” said Kazami as she stroked his head. She then showed Sayama the black rucksack next to her and smiled.

“We went into the city. We bought some clothes, new music, and other stuff for the All Holiday Festival. Being on the edge of Tokyo really makes you forget all about culture.”

“…I see. But you two are third years and you live together, right?”

The girl, Kazami, thought for a bit looking troubled, but then spoke.

“Well, that’s how it turned out. Now, when I try to mingle with the others, they’re overly cautious about how they treat me. My role in the dorm has become that of an older sister. An underclassman even apologized just for passing by me in the hall.”

“Your face seems to be turning to cement.”

Kazami turned her head down, said “Oh, sorry”, and relaxed her shoulders. She casually clapped a hand against Izumo who was lying motionless on her thighs.

“Don’t turn into an idiot like him, okay? He abuses his authority as the son of IAI.”

“It seems to me you are enjoying that abuse quite a lot.”

“I know that, and that’s why it angers me so much. He needs to at least take his student council job seriously.” Kazami raised her head to look Sayama in the eye. “Oh, right. Sayama, I was thinking of having our first student council job for the term in the second year school building’s Kinugasa Library. Do you have time? The three of us can make some plans for the All Holiday Festival and Invitation Festival in the spring.”

“I have to head out today and I do not know how late I will be back.”

“We’re leaving for the city again tomorrow afternoon, so how about 9 AM tomorrow in the Kinugasa Library?”

“I can do that,” agreed Sayama. He glanced over at the school building next to them. “The Kinugasa Library, hm?”

On the western side of the second year general school building’s ground floor, an area four classroom’s length across was sticking out. It stuck out about the width of a classroom. Inside this space was an area equal to eight classrooms.

A look in the windows would show the backs of wooden panels. These thick wooden panels created the silhouettes of bookshelves.

The room was a library.

Almost the entire eight classroom space was filled with books and the hallway and basement had been used for extra book storage. That was the Kinugasa Library.

As Sayama glanced toward the library’s window, he heard Kazami speaking.

“The library created by the school’s founder isn’t a bad place for our first job, right? The librarian, old man Siegfried, may be unsociable, but he does put out tea. We used that place a fair bit during the election, so I was thinking we could continue to use it as our base.”

“This year’s treasurer certainly is different.”

“I think the president and vice president will be quite different as well. But what do you think? Are upperclassmen like us suitable for someone as prideful as you?”

“I think that statement alone shows you can compete with me when it comes to pride. …But at the very least, there is no one in this school who is better suited. Izumo Kaku, the son of IAI which supports this city of Akigawa, and Kazami Chisato, the girl who shares a room with him, are true problem children.”

“…”

“There is no way you two are ignorant of what the world says about you. I respect you for your ability to continue acting like this regardless.”

Hearing that, Kazami showed off her teeth slightly and looked down at Izumo who lay on her legs.

“Well, it doesn’t matter what people say. Kaku may cause problems, but he is not a bad person.”

“The same goes for you, Kazami.”

“Then what about you, Mr. Family of Villains?” Kazami raised her head to look at Sayama. She glanced up and down his suit. “You look good enough, but you make things difficult.”

“In what way?”

“I’m having difficulty imagining who would stand next to you. I can’t imagine someone to balance out your idiocy like Kaku is for me.”

“There is no one out there with enough power to handle me on an equal footing.”

“That isn’t what I mean.” Kazami gave a troubled smile. She lightly waved her hand front and back. “I’m talking about balance. Equals can only stand on the same side of the scales, right? You need a counterbalance.”

Sayama thought on the meaning of Kazami’s words.

And, “Someone like that would either be an opposing force or a hindrance.”

“So am I an opposing force or hindrance to Kaku?”

That question was spoken with a small smile. Sayama relaxed his shoulders.

“I do not know the answer to that, so I cannot argue about it with someone like you who does know the answer.”

“Oh, how honest.”

“I am an honest person, Kazami. It is just that, for some odd reason, I seem to end up in trouble for it from time to time. Is this what they mean when they say an honest man will look a fool? Yes, our ancestors said some excellent things.”

“Okay, sure. If that’s how you want to view it in your personal universe, I won’t stop you.”

Sayama smiled bitterly at that. He exchanged a glance with Kazami and spoke.

“Fine, then. I will admit relationships like yours and Izumo’s exist. However, I am doubtful the same could happen to me. I also think it is a problem to even think about placing someone like that next to me.”

“A problem?”

“The surname Sayama indicates a villain. What do you put next to evil?”

Kazami had no answer to that. She only let her shoulders droop and sighed.

“You really are a complicated person.”

“Ooki-sensei said the same thing earlier.”

“Everyone thinks it. We also wonder when exactly you will get serious about something.”

“I have never done it, so I couldn’t say. …And if I did, I am so inexperienced I would likely be afraid of myself.”

“…You really are complicated, Sayama.”

“You do not need to repeat yourself,” said Sayama with a smile before lightly tapping Izumo’s back where he lay unmoving as if asleep. “You’re awake, right? Hurry on back and dive headfirst into your unrestrained lifestyle.”

“Eh?” muttered Kazami as she looked down.

Izumo opened his eyes.

“Hey.”

“No, not ‘hey’. If you came to, why didn’t you get up?”

“You smell really good, Chisato.”

Izumo’s eyes bent upwards happily as Kazami blushed.

“Ha,” laughed Sayama before patting Kazami on the shoulder, turning his back, and walking off.

He continued toward the main gate.

As he did, he noticed a new figure.

Someone was walking down the stairs from the second floor of the second year general school building.

It was a tall elderly man. He wore a black vest, black trousers, and black gloves. He was bald and had a beard.

“Siegfried Zonburg, the librarian.”

Sayama had spoken with him a few times during his student council work. The man used only the bare minimum of words.

“You do not often see him outside of the Kinugasa Library,” he muttered before continuing on.

He looked around once more and saw nothing but the scenery of the school near the peak of spring.

“Such a peaceful place…”

Behind him, he heard repeated sounds of flesh being struck followed by screams from Izumo.

The sun was setting in the west.

Below that setting sun, even a forest surrounded by mountains had light passing through it like wind.

The forest was primarily made up of cedars. A single figure was fallen in front of one of those trees.

The figure was sitting on the ground.

This middle-aged man sat such that the sun shined on him from the side. His close-cropped hair was wet with something so it reflected the sun. The liquid wetting his hair dripped down his forehead and dyed the left half of his face a dark color.

His clothes resembled a white and black military uniform. However, the left shoulder and left leg of that uniform had split open and something dark could be seen flowing out as he breathed erratically.

He stretched out his left hand and scratched at the ground. With the blood in his eyes, he might as well have been blind. His left hand wandered across the ground.

Eventually, he managed to pick something up from between the rocks and fallen leaves.

It was a long gun made of metal. The side was engraved with something written in German.

He embraced the gun tightly and took a deep breath. He stuck a finger into the pouch on his right hip.

“This is Tsuurin Daiichi. My current location is in the mountains near Point 3 between Okutama and Shiromaru. I succeeded in preventing the single enemy from escaping. I successfully read the enemy’s string vibration and sent it in. Currently…everyone but me has been taken out. Please hurry.”

A staticky voice replied from near his throat. It was a female voice.

“Testament. The special division is on their way. We will send aid for you as well, so withdraw.”

“Tes. …Or so I’d like to say. Unfortunately, my leg was taken out. And my healing tools and spells were destroyed along with it. I only have my favorite weapon left to rely on. …When I asked you to hurry, I meant the special division, not aid for me.” He took a deep breath while sweating profusely. “The enemy is from a faction of 1st-Gear’s revolutionary army. Yes, a werewolf from the second Royal Palace faction. He likely came for negotiations with the peaceful faction. He must have had a 1st-Gear philosopher’s stone because he turned into a wolf in this real world.”

“Do not speak. The concept space will be deployed in another five minutes.”

“Ha ha. Make it so a silver bullet will work. Also, young girl…or is it young lady? Anyway, you don’t think this is our fault, do you?”

He was met with silence. He cast his eyes down before continuing.

“Fine. It was our mistake for deciding to go. In the standard division, we have the right to choose…right?”

Once again, he received only silence. Yet he did not stop.

“What unit are you from? Even in the special division, not many units have women in them. But I think there was one put together recently. A unit filled with beautiful UCAT-raised girls and women. I think it was the IAI-…”

He stopped speaking. His eyes opened wide and he stood up by using the tree behind him as a support.

“Hey, when I get back, meet me with flowers. It’ll be a triumphant return. What’s in bloom this time of year?”

“Testament. I think Primula modesta and the like are.”

“No, you’re supposed to say you are.”

He laughed and removed his right hand from the pouch. He moved the long gun from his left hand to his right. He bit the strap, used the stock and grip in his right hand to create three points of support, and faced forward.

He heard wind ahead of him.

A large shadow could be seen in the setting sun shining on the mountain. It was slowly approaching while swaying back and forth.

There was no sign. He simply followed the sound of the wind and squeezed the trigger.

A gunshot traveled across the forest along with the light of the setting sun.

Sayama opened his eyes aboard a train running through the mountains on the way to Okutama.

He had dozed off due to the setting sun shining on his seated back. And he had woken up due to…

“The train has stopped?”

He glanced around the train. The only passengers besides himself were two people seated a short distance away.

One was a white-haired man wearing a black suit. The other was a white-haired girl wearing black clothes and seated next to him. They may have been father and daughter and they were looking outside the opposite window.

Sayama followed their gaze out the window.

There he found the mountains of Okutama. They were all formed from round shapes and no small hills could be seen.

“So we are around the second tunnel near Shiromaru. Only one more stop to Okutama.”

He was familiar with the terrain here. He continued speaking while looking out at those similar-looking mountains.

“This is thanks to Hiba-sensei forcing me to run through these mountains.”

…''If I had not learned the land, I would not have been found until spring.

Sayama nodded and looked down at his left hand. His skin was white around the bones of his fist as if something had scattered across it. His eyes turned toward the ring on the middle finger of that scarred fist.

“It was also around here that we got out of the car when my mother took me with her back then…” he muttered.

According to his watch, it was 5:30 PM. He was to be at IAI at 6:00 PM.

When he calculated the time, his heart seemed to stiffen. He stood up, raised his suit collar to fix it with a snapping noise, and approached the two other passengers. The white-haired man raised his head. The man was wearing sunglasses, but Sayama could tell the man was looking at him. Sayama gave a quick bow.

“Excuse me. Why is the train stopped?”

“It received a stop signal. Once it is released, it will return to Shiromaru.”

The man’s tone had a bit of amusement mixed in and Sayama realized he was younger than he looked. Sayama had initially assumed he was elderly, but a closer look showed he was only just entering middle age.

The girl next to him wore the black dress and white apron of a maid. She was not the man’s daughter.

…''I had heard the ownership of a lot of the mountains around here stretches way back.

Sayama noticed the girl was holding a staff. It was a metal cane that could be attached to the wrist. It was clearly too long for her to use. However, Sayama ended his investigation of them here. He needed to know something else.

“Why is this train returning?”

“Maybe there was an accident.”

“I see,” nodded Sayama, realizing the man must not know the details either.

Suddenly, the girl sitting next to the man looked up at Sayama. With her eyebrows lying flat and no discernible expression on her face, her black eyes that were almost purple peered deep into Sayama’s eyes.

She took a breath and then opened her mouth.

“My apologies,” she said in a low, fairly mature voice.

“Think nothing of it,” said Sayama before turning his back on the two of them.

He opened the opposite window and heard the same voice as before from behind him.

“Are you getting out?”

“I cannot go back. Also, someone is waiting for me.”

“You are being hasty. The train might soon continue forward. Once you regret a decision, it is too late to turn back.”

“I do not know what god of advice you are, but let me tell you something. A decision can lead to joy just as easily as it can regret. I appreciate your concern, but I know this land. And is there anything truly dangerous in this world?”

“True… That is very true. There is no danger in this world,” said the man before closing his mouth in a smile below the sunglasses.

As soon as the man spread his legs out from the seat, Sayama stuck his legs out the window and jumped out.

He landed on the gravel supporting the railroad. He ran out into the open air and onto the mountainside bathed in the light of the setting sun.

“…”

Sayama did not turn back toward the train up the slope from him. He continued through the forest spreading out before him.

He trampled the underbrush as he headed down the mountain.

After only a few breaths, he sank into the shadows produced by the forest. The setting sun coming from the side and the branches of the trees drew a grid of shadows across him. This light and air were familiar to him.

“It’s been two years since I stopped coming to Okutama. I suppose the Hiba Dojo is still around.”

As he muttered that comment, he heard a metallic noise from behind him.

A whistle sounded and the train began to move. He heard it move up toward Shiromaru. The sound of the receding wheels told Sayama he had made the right decision.

“Good,” he said with a nod as he quickened his pace.

Shiromaru Station was an unmanned train station.

When the train came to a stop, the few passengers disinterestedly exited onto the long, narrow platform.

A short distance away from those bored individuals were the two people Sayama had spoken to just before.

The white-haired man held the cane in one hand as he stood next to a card-only payphone located in the shadow of a private home outside the station.

The girl dressed as a maid stood in front of him holding the receiver for the green telephone.

She pulled a bundle of telephone cards from her apron like it was a deck of playing cards.

She quickly lined the cards up in front of the green phone and turned toward the man.

“Itaru-sama. Why do you not carry a cell phone?”

“Because I am a coward, Sf. Remember that. If the phone rang, it would probably give me a heart attack.”

“How about I carry it for you?”

“No. You have not acquired the skill to take messages. If you cannot always answer as if I am gone even when I am with you, there is no point in you having a cell phone. Do you understand?”

“Tes. I understand that possessing one would be meaningless on a fundamental level.”

The girl called Sf stopped lining up the cards while looking at him. She was lining up the well-used cards in order of number of uses. The punch holes showing the number of uses lined up perfectly without the slightest deviation.

Sf casually picked up one card with few uses left and slid it into the green phone.

She used her right fingers to instantly dial a number.

A few seconds later, “This is Sf. Registration Number 9609812B. Connect me to extension #0013.”

Sf then handed the receiver to the man next to her. He took it and spoke.

“This is Ooshiro Itaru. Has Team Leviathan left yet, Sibyl? …I see. I just met an interesting idiot. Something stupid is about to happen. A world of stupid false good and false evil is about to unfold. …You don’t understand? No, someone like you or Sf that has not woken up wouldn’t.”

As Itaru spoke, Sf inserted a new card into the green telephone. When the small sound of connection indicating three minutes had been added came from the receiver, Itaru nodded to Sf. He continued speaking as he saw Sf nod back.

“Sf confirmed this idiot’s string vibration. I’ll have Sf give it to you, so add this idiot’s vibration to the string vibration of the concept space. It’s the usual type, so this change should be easy and the outside will be visible, right? Drag him in from reality. …What? You want to know who this idiot is? You’ll know soon enough.”

Hearing that, Sf asked, “Itaru-sama, is it really okay to get him involved like this?”

“That brat has ignorantly decided that this world is a safe place. We need to teach him a lesson and a first-hand lesson would be best. From now on, he is sure to be overturned again and again. From here on out, he will deny all things because all things exist. He will deny joy because he knows joy. And…Yes, that will continue until the world is satisfied.”

Itaru gave a small smile and handed Sf the receiver.

“Sf, tell them his string vibration. And then we will teach him what reality truly is.”

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume1 Prologue|Prologue]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume1 Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
|-
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume12 Chapter 17

2026-04-26T01:25:53Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 17: An Older Time==
[[Image:OnC_v12_0481.png|thumb]]
''Now, you are here

''To test your resolve

''To test what you must know

Two sets of footsteps walked down a dark corridor.

However, this corridor was not surrounded by walls.

It was located between several partitions and machines.

The footsteps traveled down a path lit only by the small emergency lighting.

One set walked out ahead and the other remained a bit behind.

The leading set was created by a pair of sandals.

“What do you think of the sixth basement, Hiba-kun? …Of course, I only came here for the first time just a bit ago.”

The leading footsteps produced a male voice and Hiba stopped observing his surroundings and faced forward.

“Um, well… It feels like I’m somewhere important.”

Hiba, who wore a blue track suit and a bandanna, scratched his head.

“And I didn’t expect you to be showing me around, Kashima-san. To be honest, I thought I was going to be lectured for losing the Concept Core.”

“Ha ha ha. I can let Kazami-kun and the others handle that. I even have permission to film it. …It’ll probably be rated R15 for violence.”

“Why do you make it sound like that’s a foregone conclusion!?”

“Calm down,” said Kashima, asking the impossible. “Anyway, I’m not really the best person to show you around here. I’ve only walked back and forth on this main corridor. This is the sixth basement’s uncompleted concept creation facility.”

Hiba nodded.

He had been told to come here only half an hour earlier, so it had been quite sudden.

Until then, he had been holed up in UCAT’s underground medical room.

The night before, he and Mikage had apparently been rescued directly after Tatsumi’s attack.

He could only say “apparently” because his medical treatment had been complete by the time he came to.

The doctor had said his entire body had been damaged almost evenly. He had apparently fared fairly well for being punched by a god of war and slammed into the ground.

Charms had been placed across his body and he had been given plenty of medicine.

After half a day, he only felt a lot of fatigue and most of his injuries were beginning to heal.

…''The real problem is…

Mikage.

She was sleeping on the intensive care bed in a private room at the back of the medical room.

Her injuries had primarily been the broken right arm and the chest wound.

The doctors had said her right arm would heal nicely if she rested for another night.

That made him wonder if they had let his injuries heal more roughly, but…

…''The chest wound.

The philosopher’s stone in Mikage’s chest was gone.

Specifically, it had fallen out onto the road. The blue stone had lost its light and split in two.

The wound itself was healing. It was apparently less severe than Hiba’s and her head had remained untouched, so she should have regained consciousness before him.

Despite that, she had yet to come to. The Doctor said her brainwaves resembled those of sleep but were highly uniform.

…''Like a sleeping machine.

He wondered how long she would sleep, but he shook his head because there was nothing he could do about it.

He shook off his unease and looked forward to Kashima’s back.

“Um, how far are we going?”

“Just a little further. So do you know where this is?”

Hiba tilted his head at Kashima’s question.

All he could see in the darkness and shadows was outdated-looking machinery, but that was only because of their old design.

He had never seen anything like any of them. Several consoles and layers upon layers of piping joined together to create something.

He noticed what he had previously thought was a wall was actually a number of tanks measuring several hundred meters tall. That was when he realized how massive this facility was.

He maintained the tilt of his head.

“Isn’t it a facility for creating concepts? That’s what you said.”

“Sayama-kun called after obtaining Wanambi and you heard what he said about why this facility is here and why it was never completed, didn’t you?”

“I suppose,” said Hiba noncommittally while thinking.

He had received a regular check-in from Sayama and according to the past that Sayama had seen below Izumo UCAT…

“Shinjou-san’s mother left behind altered data, right? She destroyed the facility below Izumo UCAT and left the people of Low-Gear with a…false theory?”

“Sayama-kun speculated that Shinjou Yukio could not stand to have the concepts used as weapons, so she altered the data on her theory before leaving for Top-Gear. That way, no one could use concept creation for war.”

Kashima took a breath and scratched his head.

“It is true that Shinjou Yukio seems to have gone to Top-Gear and tried to create a space for Low-Gear there. So…”

“Even if she was doing it for peace, it must have been a shock to the people she lied to.”

Hiba knew how Sayama and Shinjou lived at school. And he knew their parents had spent three years at that same school.

…''Being lied to by someone like that couldn’t have been easy.

''Then again, Izumo-san and Sayama-san sometimes lie to each other.

''I guess everyone’s different,'' he thought. But then he remembered the past scene of Shinjou Yukio he had seen in the Kinugasa Library. What he had seen there made it hard to believe she could lie, but he wondered if that was his weakness for girls showing through.

“She was really committed to her decision, wasn’t she?”

“Yes.” Kashima nodded deeply and stopped up ahead of Hiba. “Now, then.”

He scratched his head as Hiba caught up to him.

Once he did, Hiba saw what lay ahead of him.

“A metal bed.”

“Do you know what this is?”

“Um…”

Hiba thought. He thought deeply and added on an additional ten seconds before clapping his hands.

“Yes, it’s a new SM device, isn’t it?”

“Ha ha ha. Hiba-kun, you really are a member of Team Leviathan, aren’t you?”

“O-oh, god. You think I’m like them!”

Kashima smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it. We will all accept you as you are…while keeping our distance.”

“I don’t think you’ve fixed the misunderstanding at all.”

“Calm down.” Kashima nodded and looked to the two meter metal bed ahead of them. “Listen. It was only for a short time, but this place was made to store the Concept Cores to help build the concept creation facility. And since everything has been left untouched since the Concept Cores were stored here…”

He lightly tapped the bed, producing a metallic ring.

“This bed is the same as the one built into Susaou’s bridge to seal 2nd-Gear’s Yamata. …This is where Mikage-kun originally slept.”

Hiba listened to Kashima.

“When Shinjou Yukio analyzed 3rd-Gear’s concepts, she must have used the concept reading coming from Mikage-kun as she slept here. Also…”

Also…

“Mikage-kun was being treated as a mere concept container, so Hiba Ryuuichi may have wanted to take her in and that may have been the condition used to get him to fight for UCAT. …That’s my guess anyway.”

“…”

Hiba was left speechless and Kashima turned toward him with a hand on the metal bed.

“If I’m right, why do you think your father wanted to take Mikage-kun in?”

“Are you saying you know why?”

“No.” Kashima hung his head and shook it. “But I feel like I might. I’m a father too, after all.”

“So it has to do with videos?”

Kashima gave Hiba a serious look and frowned.

“Hiba-kun, this is hardly the time to be discussing that. …Videos should be discussed in a calmer setting. Also, the lighting in here is awful and the sound is far too lively.”

“Yes, I guess you’re right. I really don’t care anymore, so can we get back on topic? Sorry.”

“You have a habit of not taking people seriously, don’t you!?”

Hiba nodded twice and tried to keep his cool.

“I’d love to see some of your videos some time.”

That put Kashima back in a good mood, so he nodded, tapped on the metal bed, and resumed speaking.

“I think your father was trying to protect Mikage-kun. He saw her as a person instead of a Concept Core.”

“But he died in that battle.”

“By that time, he already had you.”

Kashima turned toward Hiba.

“As a father, I feel like I understand what it means to have a child you can leave things to.”

With his eyebrows lying flat, he looked straight ahead and asked a question.

“Have you protected the person he left to you? …I would never leave Harumi with a boy who couldn’t protect her. So what about you? You couldn’t protect her, could you?”

“Well…” muttered Hiba before clenching his fists and breathing in.

He knew the answer. He had not been able to.

But just as his regret began dragging down his thoughts, Kashima said something more.

“Do you want the power to protect her?”

“Eh?”

Hiba frowned.

What did Kashima mean by that?

“W-will you be giving me some kind of weapon? Like an ultimate Cowling Sword called the Goddamn Slayer!?”

“No, no. Not even I am that overly creative. You need something else right now.”

Kashima smiled.

“You need to make ''yourself'' stronger.”

His light comment contained a very simple idea.

''Oh,'' thought Hiba as he realized his thoughts had been running in fruitless circles. He lowered his shoulders a little before speaking.

“If only I could do that…”

If he could do that, he would not have lost to Tatsumi.

…''How can I get as strong as her?

He and Mikage used Susamikado, a top-class god of war.

But as humans, they had been no match for Tatsumi.

And that led him to a certain fact.

…''I won’t be able to protect Mikage-san from anyone on Miki’s level.

He gulped at that conclusion and Kashima gave a deep nod in front of him.

“I understand your concerns. To put it into words…you were having dirty thoughts, weren’t you?”

“N-n-n-n-no!?”

“Uh, why was that a question?”

“W-well…”

Hiba briefly grew flustered. His thoughts had been perfectly serious, so why had he been unable to show any confidence in himself?

“I-it’s possible my adolescent skills have manifested themselves on a subconscious level. In other words, my mind is always in firing mode, so I can’t even trust myself!”

“I see.” Kashima pushed his glasses up his nose. “Can I ignore that?”

“Go right ahead.”

They both sighed, let their shoulders droop, and hung their heads.

After a while, Kashima looked back up.

“Anyway,” he said while scratching his head. “How about we begin training?”

“Training?” asked Hiba as he too looked up. “Is there a 36th Chamber of UCAT or the UCAT Wooden Men or something like that?”

“No, but a personality modification room is in the works. We received quite a few requests to make one for UCAT Director Ooshiro.”

“Oh? Just out of curiosity, what does it do to people?”

“They stop moving.”

“I think you’re modifying something more fundamental than their personality!”

“Calm down.” Kashima smiled bitterly. “At any rate, do you want to get stronger?”

“I…”

He nearly gave a noncommittal answer, but stuck a hand in his pocket instead.

He found two stones there.

They were the two broken pieces of Mikage’s evolution philosopher’s stone.

He wrapped his fingers around those solid shapes.

…''If I’m going to make sure this never happens again…

“Yes.”

He answered on reflex. And…

…''Ah.

Even he was surprised that he had answered so honestly.

''Will this really work out?'' part of him wondered. ''But…'' said another part of him.

The night before, he had only been able to collapse onto the road with Mikage in his arms. He recalled that fact and nodded in his heart.

He really did want to grow stronger.

Meanwhile, Kashima nodded twice and quoted Hiba’s answer.

“ ‘I…yes’, hm? That is a linguistically odd answer, Hiba-kun. Or were you too lost in thought to notice?”

“J-just tell me how already!!”

Hiba glared at Kashima, but he ignored it, stuck his hands in his pockets, and smiled bitterly.

Afterwards, he softened his expression and faced the boy.

“Sorry about that. It was just such a great response. It showed you have a real reason to want this strength.”

He inhaled and straightened up.

“After all, I once hurt someone important to me and tried to cast aside my power. And I continue to lie even now because of it.”

“Eh?”

Kashima did not directly answer that question.

“I want to know why Shinjou Yukio lied to everyone she cared about. And unlike me, you are the type of person who can get by without lying to Mikage-kun,” he said. “So I will give you a chance to fight someone powerful. …You must fight and struggle to grow stronger. That is the greatest way of achieving your goal.”

Hiba then heard a new voice.

It was doing an awful job of singing.

“Memories in the distance! Such a beautiful universe!”

The song continued unopposed.

“Once the beam flashes! The northern hemisphere is destroyed! Now, the apocalypse has arrived! But the bikers! And bike shops! All survived!!”

“Th-that’s Atsuta-san, isn’t it!?”

Hiba saw a man suddenly appear right in front of him.

He had sensed and seen no movement.

…''The Art of Walking.

“Oh, c’mon. Don’t look so shocked when you predicted it was me and everything.”

The man’s short blond hair and sharp eyes were looking down on him from within arm’s reach.

“Listen. The Great Atsuta here is going to give you some training.”

His right hand reached for his back and pulled out a Cowling Sword.

It was a bluish-white sword with a long, narrow, and straight blade.

“This is Prototype Kusanagi. …It’ll apparently be the greatest masterpiece yet, but it’s a little too unstable. I’m supposed to test it out.”

“Test it out? You mean on me?”

“Of course.”

Atsuta frowned and leaned forward to peer down at Hiba from above.

“Aren’t you happy? You can fight a nice battle here. Lose and you’ll die, though. …And you know what? If you do die, 2nd-Gear will call that our official punishment for Japanese UCAT’s lies and leave with Totsuka.”

That meant this battle with Atsuta would be a redo of the Leviathan Road with 2nd-Gear.

But Hiba gathered a bit of strength in his body and took a deep breath.

He looked to Kashima who crossed his arms and nodded.

…''Want to take a stab at it?

The man seemed to be asking him that and Hiba trembled at the thought.

This had to be what he wanted.

…''I can gain the strength I need to protect Mikage-san.

That thought settled it for him.

He suppressed the slight tremor that Atsuta’s powerful presence gave him and he asked a direct question.

“What happens if I win?”

Atsuta’s expression changed.

His eyebrows shot up and he bared his teeth in a smile.

He also tapped Kusanagi against his shoulder.

“You’ve got guts. I’ll have to cut them out of you. Listen up, little monkey. If you beat me, we’ll pay you back for the help the girl who slept here gave us in sealing Yamata long ago.”

Hiba listened to Atsuta.

“To pay you back, the development department will do everything it can to give you the strength necessary to wake up that sleeping beauty. That’ll be enough, won’t it?”

A curtain kept the setting sun out of a white hospital room. The fluorescent light on the ceiling worked to overpower the scarlet glow of the curtain and the people inside the room cast a shadow both to the east and straight down.

The shadows came from two humans and a creature.

One was a girl in a school uniform sitting on a stool by the window-side of the bed.

She was working on something using the black laptop on the side table.

Next to her, a woman sat up in the bed.

The woman had a creature resting on her stomach. It was a plant creature.

Its fur was made of vegetation and it spoke to the woman in the bed using its thoughts.

“Went to school. Heo has lots.”

“You went to Heo-san’s school, didn’t you? And she has a lot of friends, doesn’t she?”

Heo, the girl operating the laptop, blushed when she heard that.

She grew needlessly flustered and had difficulty coming up with an explanation.

“U-um, how should I put it? It was nothing I haven’t told you about, Yui.”

“Heo. Heat.”

Only then did she realize she was blushing despite having no reason to be embarrassed.

…''I’m not used to having people talk about me.

She talked about herself a lot. On the days she visited Yui, she would tell her all about school, but Yui would always listen and ask just the right questions. She asked how she had felt about things, what she had thought, or why she had done something. When she gave a good answer, Yui would praise her and rub her head. When she gave a sad answer, Yui would say something quietly and rub her head.

Yui’s questions allowed Heo to confirm that she really had been there, so she appreciated it. If she ever had children, she wanted to listen to them in the same way.

But that was all a self-report. Having someone else say what she had done felt kind of embarrassing.

“Sorry about that. …I’m not sure why I’m so embarrassed.”

“You’re embarrassed that someone else is talking about you?”

She nodded, thought for a bit, and turned to the plant creature.

“If they say something bad, I can always correct them. But when they say something good, I’m not sure how to correct them. It’s kind of scary and makes my heart pound.”

“So it’s a sort of verbal humiliation with you?”

“Verbal humiliation?” asked the creature.

It took three minutes to correct it and prevent that unnecessary knowledge from reaching 4th-Gear as a whole.

Afterwards, Heo sighed.

“What about you, Yui? If you hear something really, really good about me, but I say it isn’t true…would you feel disillusioned about me?”

As soon as she asked that, a weight reached her head. It was Yui’s hand and the fingers slipped into her hair.

“Heo-san, would you really be able to tell me it wasn’t true?”

Heo thought for a bit before answering.

“Yes. Unfortun- ah.”

She was interrupted by her surprise at having her head rubbed.

She narrowed her eyes and her shoulders trembled at the ticklish feeling on her scalp.

“Um, why? I just said I was a hopeless girl.”

“You know, Heo-san? I won’t be disillusioned to find you aren’t what people say you are. But I would be disillusioned to find you cared more about what people say you are than what you really are.”

“…”

The rubbing hand eventually slowed.

“I like honest people. I like people who don’t lie, can apologize when they do something wrong, and think doing the right thing is so natural they don’t feel the need to tell anyone about it.”

“R-really?”

Heo raised her head and Yui nodded.

“Is there anything you aren’t telling me?”

Heo panicked.

…''Something I haven’t told her!?

''There’s a lot of that. Will she forgive me if I tell her now? Well, this isn’t very much, but she probably wants to hear about it. Um, uh…

“L-last night, Harakawa said he didn’t want me!!”

“My, how awful. He deserves to be executed for that.”

“N-no, I already got back at him plenty! I ate all the snacks he had bought, I stayed up late, and I ate the cake meant for both of us!”

“Oh, my. You’re such a delinquent. How many calories in the cake?”

“W-well! It had a whole 666 calories! Kazami would have committed seppuku if it were her!”

“You really are a delinquent, Heo-san! You’re on an entirely different level. You’re a mega-delinquent!”

“Yes, I am a delinquent! And not just a mega one! I’m a giga-delinquent! S-so I even wore Harakawa’s shirt and slept in his futon last night!!”

“You wore my son’s shirt and slept in his futon!?”

“Y-yes, and on my back!! It was a reverse full-body prostration!”

“A face-up reverse!!”

The plant creature responded to this.

“Morning. Heo hugged futon. Called for Harakawa.”

“Y-yes, I did! I don’t remember it, but I was probably talking in my sleep!!”

“You pass!!!”

Yui rubbed her head hard enough to rock it back and forth.

…''Huh? That wasn’t just being honest.

“That was revealing everything…”

“Don’t come back to your senses now, Heo-san. You need to get even more worked up!”

The woman, girl, and creature clenched their fists, lowered down, and gathered their excitement.

After about half a minute, Yui straightened up and smiled.

“Things are so fun with you around, Heo-san. There’s plenty to look forward to now.”

“Why do I feel like I just made the mistake of a lifetime?”

“Heo T? Worried? Worried, Heo T?” asked the creature.

“Heo T?” cut in Yui.

“Heo called that at school.”

Heo was embarrassed and worried Yui would find it childish.

But the woman seemed to realize where the nickname came from. She looked to her uniform’s nametag before speaking.

“I see. I guess that would make me Yui N, but that doesn’t flow very well.”

Heo tilted her head when she heard the initial N.

“Why N?”

As soon as she asked, both the questioner and the questioned realized something.

For Yui, this was probably her first time letting that slip. For Heo…

…''That’s Harakawa’s late father’s name!

''I shouldn’t have asked that,'' she realized while panicking.

She quickly smiled and waved a hand back and forth.

“U-uh, then why not use the initial from Harakawa? You would be Yui H-…”

She had dug her own grave.<ref>In Japanese, H can mean perverted, lewd, sexual, etc.</ref>

Her hand and smile froze in place and Yui nodded.

The woman gave her a serious expression and picked up the plant creature so it would face her.

She then spoke to the creature.

“Heh heh heh. Heo-san just misspoke. If being Heo Thunderson makes her Heo T, being Harakawa Yui wouldn’t make me Yui H. And once she becomes Harakawa Heo, she’ll be H Heo.”

“H Heo?” asked the plant creature.

“Yes, H Dan and H Heo will make a wonderful H pair! Hooray, so much H.”

As she listened to the woman and creature’s conversation, a cold sweat poured from Heo’s smiling face.

…''This is a test! This is a test I have to endure after messing up twice!

But the test suddenly crumbled away when the plant asked a question.

“Harakawa important to Heo?”

However, it was not facing her. It asked Yui.

“What does Yui think? Harakawa important to Heo?”

…''Eh?

Heo saw Yui smile as the plant creature continued.

“Yui different from Heo. But understands Heo,” it said. “Heo and Yui similar to 4th.”

“Ah.”

That syllable escaped Heo because she felt like she had realized the purpose and meaning behind her renegotiation with 4th-Gear.

The plant creature had not come for a dispute or “just because”.

…''It wants to know if we truly are complete individuals.

Everything in 4th-Gear was either the manager Mukiti or the single entity that made up the entire world.

To them, a fellow member of your race was another part of you that shared your same mind.

…''They see someone trustworthy as a being that shares your mind.

4th-Gear’s creature did not understand, but it was definitely interested. It wanted to know if people could understand others in Low-Gear.

“Heo. Lots of friends.”

And…

“Friends worried. Asked Heo ‘are you okay?’ ”

The creature called for her.

“Heo T.”

“…”

“Used different name: Heo T. But still worried for Heo,” it said. “Strange. What is Heo? Heo and others not together, but the same. Why? Where is the real Heo?”

Heo decided to answer that question. She placed a hand on her chest and said what she wanted to say.

She faced the plant creature and Yui as she spoke clearly to make sure it understood her.

“I am right here. But…”

She smiled.

“I am not here.”

''Huh?'' she thought. ''I feel like I just said something strange.

But she also felt this was the truth.

Long ago, she had made a certain decision when faced with a battle.

She had thought of her mother and the others she had lost, she had thought of all they had left her with, someone important to her had hinted at it, and she had desired to fly.

There had been no need to think about people who were no longer with her, but she had anyway.

…''They aren’t here, but at the same time, they’re here with me.

And so she asked Yui a question.

“Who is ‘Heo’ to you?”

Yui lifted up the plant creature and turned it toward herself.

“My Heo is the same as the Heo you saw. She cares for my son, she trusts him even when he pushes her away, and she trusts in the fact that she has him.”

“Everyone has everyone!?” asked the creature.

“Yes,” replied Yui. She lowered it and rubbed its head. “We have you as well. So you too are both here and not here.”

“The same!”

The creature’s fur stood on end and it shook its body.

“Yui, the same. Heo, the same. Harakawa, the same. Heo! Heo T!”

Heo nodded at its innocent thoughts and it began swaying left and right.

“Heo, the same. Sayama, the same. Shinjou…”

“U-um, let’s not get carried away with who we’re saying I’m the same as!!”

The creature tilted its head and Yui smiled bitterly.

“You’re so cute, Heo-san. Take care of my son, okay?”

There, she suddenly changed the subject.

“How about I tell you about my husband? …It seems my friend won’t stop me today.”

The window was growing dark as the light of the setting sun faded.

The curtain fluttered and Heo realized the window had opened at some point.

Before, there had been an origami crane on the windowsill, but there was a piece of paper there now.

“Herrlich.”

Yui picked up the white paper with that word written on it.

“I hear that boy left for work and hasn’t come back. I bet he was lying about it being for work, but do you know why he doesn’t quit his part-time job at the base when he has his job at UCAT?”

“No…”

Heo shook her head and Yui turned a bitter smile toward the paper in her hand.

“Herrlich,” she muttered under her breath. “That boy is making sure he won’t forget the time when we lived on the base.”

Heo did not need to ask why. She knew Yui was about to tell her that. As for why she would tell her…

“Will you…make me the same as Harakawa?”

“Yes, let’s talk. I’m sure he is learning even more than he already knew right about now. So I will tell you as much as I can.”

Yui’s expression grew serious.

“And all to help you become H Heo!”

Harakawa could see clearly as soon as he came to.

That could be due to the light or how clear his mind was, but it was more due to the light this time.

A white fluorescent light shined down on him from a cement ceiling.

He could clearly see the color of that light.

“…”

He vaguely wondered why he was seeing it.

It was on the ceiling, so he had to be facing up. However, he felt no strain on his neck, so…

…''I’m lying down.

Once his body’s senses returned to him, he could tell what position he was in.

“Why am I lying down?” he muttered

“Oh, are you awake?”

He recognized that voice, so he sat up.

A moment later, he felt like his entire body was breaking or like some great impact had hit him.

“————”

“Your bones are all healed, but your muscles have yet to fully recover. I have extended them and set them in place, so forcing them to bend will feel like breaking your entire body.”

“…!!”

Harakawa ignored that and got up.

After letting out a breath and sitting up with his disheveled hair, he found he had been lying on a white bed.

He also saw someone in front of him.

“Your name was Roger, wasn’t it? …So this is in American UCAT?”

“Testament. You are in American UCAT’s medical room below Yokota.”

“I see.”

He tried to nod, but began sweating instead.

It was a sticky sweat. It felt like his movement had twisted his body and forced out the moisture.

His arms trembled from the shoulder down and he could not gather strength in his fingers. His back was stiff and he had to tense his abs to make sure he did not collapse backwards like a clockwork doll.

The joints of his back were all as stiff as if they were connected by a nail and he had to force his muscles to move properly if he wanted to bend so much as a finger.

But he managed to move regardless. He gathered strength in his gut, slowly but surely pulled back his right leg, and used his hand to move it down from the bed.

“You are very stubborn.”

He did not have it in him to listen. He only now realized there were white cloth partitions on either side of the bed.

He was wearing a smock and his clothes were in a basket to the side of the bed.

He put his jeans on first and then removed the smock. As he did, he noticed Roger’s gaze.

“Are you interested in guys’ bodies?”

“Not particularly. I was just surprised how well-toned you are.”

''Ridiculous,'' he thought.

Anyone who had decided to live on their own would remake themselves in the same way.

…''But…

He remembered coming across one person who had not really done that and that released his excess tension.

His relaxed mood must have acted as a sign because he was suddenly able to move his body better, even if a little awkwardly.

“It’s cold.”

His sweat had rapidly cooled, which meant no more sweat was leaving his body.

He decided to get dressed as quickly as possible, so he put on his leather jacket.

“I had assumed you wouldn’t be able to move for another half a day.”

“Are you basing that on the records of some little kid? If that’s how long it takes your soldiers to recover, it says a lot about American UCAT.”

“To be completely honest, I was basing it on myself.”

“I get the feeling I can actually talk with you.”

Harakawa adjusted his position on the bed and looked up at Roger.

“Will you show me the past?”

“I will not be showing it to you. The sand will.”

“You’re the one that makes the decision.”

He received only a bitter smile in response. Roger pulled a small bottle of sand from his sleeve and held it in both hands.

“This is a blend of sand from Top-Gear…and this base.”

“That sounds like a bitter blend.”

“Testament. I was right to bring a dummy to the meeting yesterday. I don’t have much of this left.”

“Left? I hear regularly imbibing the past isn’t good for you.”

“You are more than qualified to see this.”

Roger lowered his hands and placed his fingers on the bottle’s lid.

Roger did not ask if he was ready.

He did not even ask why.

It was like Harakawa had shown up just as he had wanted to show off a dream of the past.

It was like this had been predetermined.

It was like this had been promised.

And it was like he knew exactly why Harakawa was here.

“…”

Roger opened the bottle’s lid with his fingers.

After the small metallic sound, the man opened his mouth.

“The colonel said to give you what you wanted.”

“He probably went insane.”

“Testament. Then I too must be insane for obeying him.”

“You just do what you’re told. Only your commander needs to be crazy. Any more would be too much trouble for the rest of us.”

Roger laughed bitterly at that.

It was not a very pleasant laugh, so Harakawa frowned.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing much. I just happened to have a very similar exchange over ten years ago.”

“…”

Harakawa felt his hair stand a bit on end and he saw blue sand dance through the air.

“Now, the north wind still seeks the past even after it was broken, but what will it see there?”

He heard Roger’s voice.

“I hope that the north wind can blow once more.”

A moment later, Harakawa’s mind was taken away.

He dropped to the depths of a dream. He fell into an abyss that began in this base and ended ten years prior.

To learn what happened on that Osaka battlefield ten years ago, he fell.

<noinclude>

===Notes===
<references/>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume12 Chapter 16|Chapter 16]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume12 Chapter 18|Chapter 18]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume12 Chapter 9

2026-04-25T02:09:02Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 9: Sudden Weakness==
[[Image:OnC_v12_0265.png|thumb]]
''You couldn’t reach her

''By the time you did, it was too late

''And only tears of excuses remain

A large space was filled with the color white.

It was located underground, it was fifty meters square, and white tables and decorative plants filled the large area between the columns.

It was a cafeteria and the paper sign on the wall said “Japanese UCAT Temporary Cafeteria”.

This space had been prepared while the aboveground cafeteria on Japanese UCAT’s second floor was being repaired. It and the spaces for experiment relocation had been among the first of the newly constructed underground facilities.

When evening transitioned to night, the cafeteria was usually filled with people eating dinner.

Today should not have been an exception, but it was relatively empty for the time period.

This was not due to a lack of people. Field operations personnel were filling the tables near the entrance and emergency exit.

However, the number of people grew sparse toward the center of the tables.

Only three people sat at the white table in the very center.

And everyone was staring at those three.

On one side was a blonde woman in a jacket and on the other side were an elderly man in white and a well-built elderly woman in white.

The two in white had loops of paper around their wrists.

An aluminum pot on a portable burner sat between the three of them.

The woman in the jacket was putting meat inside the pot.

“C’mon, Hajji-san. C’mon, Jord-san. If you don’t eat sukiyaki quickly, the meat gets too tough.”

“Yes.” The elderly man in white, Hajji, nodded and broke apart his chopsticks. “Are you sure you should be communicating with us every week like this, Ooki?”

Hajji saw some splinters on the break of the chopsticks and rubbed them together to smooth them down.

“To be honest, I have no intention of changing my stance as an enemy of Low-Gear. You know that, don’t you? Hm?”

“Well, there’s no helping that. We both have our parts to play here.”

“Then why have you been inviting us to eat with you each week for the past month and a half?”

“I’m not choosing you two specifically.”

Ooki smiled while taking some shirataki from the pot and rice from her bowl and putting them both in her mouth.

“In my financial situation, I can only invite two people once a week. When I say only two can come, the others confined down below always suggest you two go.”

She took a breath and swallowed the rice.

“Wow. It really is great getting to eat rice with it. …Anyway, it feels like the others either trust you or want you to eat instead of them.”

“I see.” Hajji nodded again. “It is true eating and chatting here is better than eating alone in that room I can never leave. Yes.”

“How about you, Jord-san?”

“Me?”

Jord slowly grabbed her chopsticks in her fist, jabbed them into the pot, and pulled out some meat.

However, the large hunk of meat broke apart as she lifted it and only a small piece remained.

“My betrayed expectations are really getting to show what they can do.”

She smiled bitterly and Ooki gave a troubled smile back.

Ooki then took some meat from a nearby plate and handed it to Jord.

Jord glanced at the other woman and lifted the corner of her mouth in a smile.

“Oh? You’re a pretty nice person. The food tastes better with someone like you around.”

“Then you must be a nice person too, Jord-san. Anyone who can enjoy a good meal is a good person.”

Ooki pulled out a charred green onion.

“Neither of you is a bad person.”

“Oh, really? That’s just your excessive kindness tricking you. We’re the enemies of this world.”

“But we eat the same food. …That means we can only live in the same kind of world. Oh, I just said something complicated for the first time in a while.”

“But food is entirely different from politics and emotions, Ooki. Both politicians and bad people still eat.”

Hajji poked around inside the bowl and his chopsticks came to a sudden stop.

“You put fried tofu in sukiyaki? That is certainly unusual. Yes.”

“It’s amazing if you let it soak up the soup and eat it with rice.”

Hajji saw that the fried tofu still had some yellow to it and pulled it all toward himself.

He then glanced around at the people in white armored uniforms sitting about two tables away.

“This is quite a peaceful meal. Yes. …But Ooki, what if we tried to escape? I expect some of those suggesting we eat with you are hoping we will take action.”

Hearing that, the surrounding people rose slightly from their seats.

Meanwhile, Jord gulped down the tea in her cup.

“We have paper bonds on our arms and legs and this entire underground space is controlled by a concept. If we tried to reach the surface without permission, the concept would send us back underground without us noticing. Of course, that kind of thing won’t work on us very well.”

The two prisoners’ words created a powerful aura that weighed down on the others, but one person seemed wholly unaffected.

That person was Ooki.

She calmly placed her favorite ingredients inside the pot.

“You two won’t try to escape. After all, you lost.”

The word “lost” chilled the cafeteria air a little.

Hajji and Jord slowly faced Ooki once more and the others prepared to react at a moment’s notice.

However, Ooki’s expression was as carefree as ever as she flipped over some meat.

“The others from your group are outside. And so are the Top-Gear people. …They retreated from that battle, but they haven’t lost yet. But if you or the others here met back up with them, you would bring your loss with you.”

She took a breath.

“Also, you’ve done what you can as the Army, so you want them to do what they can while not relying on your power.”

“You have quite the active imagination.”

“Ah ha ha. Maybe I do. But…”

“But?” urged Jord.

Ooki grabbed some meat with a smile.

It turned out to be a large piece, so she gave an excited cry. The other two defiantly grabbed their own large pieces from the plates next to them and threw them into the pot.

As that meat began to sizzle, Ooki broke an egg over hers.

She then gave the continuation to her previous “but”.

“They’re on the move, aren’t they? The people you trust are trying to find some kind of answer. After all, my students are doing the same, so there’s no way yours will stay still.”

“I see.” Hajji sighed and shrugged. “Mine are powerful.”

“Yes, but so are you. And Jord-san too.” Ooki gave a bitter smile. “It may not seem like it since you were captured, but Hajji-san pushed back Director Abram on the surface and made it all the way to the sixth basement. And then you defeated Director Abram again and you never would have been defeated if it hadn’t been for Shinjou-san and Sayama-kun’s power. …And Jord-san was the same. You wouldn’t have been defeated if it hadn’t been for Kazami-san.”

“I’m honored to have your praise. Yes.”

“Praise is surprisingly embarrassing.”

“Really?” asked Ooki with an embarrassed smile of her own.

She then continued her previous thought.

“The people who are on the move now earned the trust of people as strong as you, didn’t they?”

“Yes. But you seem very carefree about that assessment. Are you not afraid that the enemy is on the move?”

“The others will do what they want whether I’m afraid or not. Those kids wouldn’t listen even if I did try to stop them. And no matter which side wins, I think they’ll find some kind of answer, so I just want them to do everything they can and leave no regrets.”

She suddenly gave a questioning look.

“Is that wrong for a teacher?”

Hajji and Jord exchanged a glance but eventually looked back to Ooki.

The three of them leaned in toward each other over the pot.

“To be honest, we’re pretty much the same. We’re still your enemy and everything that comes from our mouths is going to come from our grudge against this world, but apart from that, we do have hope for the future that this fighting will create. So be careful.”

Hajji nodded and continued.

“The ones we trust will be taking this seriously. …I only hope your students are as well.”

Ooki nodded, raised her eyebrows a bit, and brought her hands to her chest.

“No need to worry about that.”

She took a breath.

“After all, I was the one to teach them.”

The cafeteria immediately filled with an explosion of protesting voices.

A road ran through the night.

The asphalt one-lane road passed through a residential area.

The houses were lit, but no voices could be heard within.

It was winter and the end of the year was approaching, so the windows were closed tight to keep in the heat and everything else.

Only the excess light escaped and a shadow moved through that light.

The shadow was cast by a motorcycle with a sidecar.

The motorcycle’s engine was silent because this was a residential area at night. The engine’s noise would reflect off the asphalt, reverberate through houses, and reach the ears of the people closed inside.

That was why two people pushed the motorcycle. One was a boy holding the handlebars from the right and the other was a girl pushing on the back of the sidecar from the left.

The boy looked back over his left shoulder.

“Are your hands cold, Mikage-san?”

“Nn. I’m fine, Ryuuji-kun. And we’re not far from home.”

“Is that so?”

Hiba nodded and faced forward again.

A certain thought about Mikage came to him as the chilly winter air washed over him.

…''She doesn’t just go with the flow anymore.

Until that summer, he had always been with her. But once the battle with 3rd-Gear ended and they joined UCAT, she had started acting on her own discretion more.

Did she want to use her own legs now that she could walk?

Did she want to be less of a burden on him?

Once Heo had joined them, Mikage had stayed with her quite a lot. He had once asked why.

“Because we’re similar,” she had answered with a tilt of the head.

He could see some of that as they pushed the motorcycle now. Both of the girls normally rode in the sidecar and they had both joined Team Leviathan after most of the others.

…''And they’re both part of the blonde genre!

He nodded in his heart and thought about asking her if she was cold.

“…”

But he decided against it.

He felt he was worrying too much and then wondered if feeling that way was in itself worrying too much.

So he opened his mouth and said something else instead.

“It’s a shame we never managed to open that barrier in the Study, isn’t it?”

The barrier had a wrist-sized hole on either side and they had found the inside was split into the shape of five fingers.

They could feel a dividing line at the wrist, so the inside of the hole was clearly made to turn.

However, neither of them would do so.

Hiba and Mikage had matched their timing perfectly, Izumo and Kazami had used all their strength, Harakawa and Heo had used some strange sort of effort, and Sayama and Shinjou had tried their best while Sayama said and did some odd things.

…''But they never turned.

They had originally been checking over the holes to make sure they were not a trap, but that had changed once Mikage had slowly stuck her hand inside one.

Hiba had frantically asked her if she was okay and she had answered with a smile.

“I’m fine, Ryuuji-kun. Nothing happened. So you try to turn the other one with me.”

“Of course!!!”

He had immediately thrust his hand inside and jammed three of his fingers because it was split between the fingers inside.

The others had quietly asked each other why he threw himself at things like that, but he did not care.

At any rate, he and Mikage had been unable to turn them.

Kazami and Izumo had used all their strength, but Kazami had immediately pulled out her hand.

“It’s no use. This is all about the initial burst of strength, right? If it doesn’t work then, it’s never going to work. Keeping at it will only hurt your wrist. …And I’ll break my nails.”

Harakawa and Heo had failed and Sayama and Shinjou had done no better.

Hiba had baselessly assumed Sayama and Shinjou would be able to do it.

They had discussed it afterwards and found that Sayama’s left hand and Shinjou’s right hand had been the closest fit to the shape inside. That had revealed that the left and right holes were different sizes inside.

However, the barrier would not open no matter how many times they tried.

Shinjou had said the following:

“Well, if it would open that easily, wouldn’t Sayama-kun’s mother have opened it?”

Kazami had added:

“It looks like you need something other than the best fit to get past Professor Kinugasa’s trick.”

And according to Sayama:

“It is hard to believe, but we may require a key in addition to the perfect fit that Shinjou-kun and I have.”

And…

“If my mother never opened it, that key must not be here. Professor Kinugasa had connections to the National Defense Department and the Izumo Company in general, so the possibilities are as limitless as the ever-expanding universe.”

In the end, they had left opening that barrier and retrieving Georgius as a task for later.

Fortunately, Georgius came from Professor Kinugasa, so it had no connection to Top-Gear or the other problems of the past. Sayama had decided they did not need to find it immediately.

However, one thing had bothered them. Heo had mentioned it to Sayama as they ended their meeting.

She had felt something odd about the sky in their dream of the past. She did not know what exactly it was, but that girl with the greatest connection to the sky had felt something off about Top-Gear’s sky. It was certainly worth keeping in mind.

…''Sayama-san and Shinjou-san are on their way to Izumo and Sakai. They’re searching for Shinjou-san’s mother’s past since it’s probably closely related to Top-Gear.

After thinking that far, Hiba returned his focus to his vision and his hands.

He spoke while pushing the motorcycle through the night with Mikage.

“Sayama-san and Shinjou-san are probably boarding their train right now.”

“Really?”

Mikage did not know much about trains. He doubted she even knew that the Chuo Line began at Tokyo Station.

“How about we take a train somewhere sometime soon?”

“Nn. Then…how about to UCAT?”

“Why that hellhole? And we go there all the time.”

“Nn. But never by train. Sayama and the others use the train, don’t they?”

That gave Hiba a thought.

…''If she learns how to get to UCAT by train…

She would be able to go there on her own.

He almost asked if that was what she wanted, but he stopped himself.

''I keep stopping myself from asking things,'' he sighed n his heart.

Lately, Mikage had started doing a lot and helping with a lot, but she would sometimes surprise him by suddenly showing off her results. For example, when Heo had taught her to cook, she had brought him a completed meal after he returned from training or school. He had been surprised and happy that she could do so much, but he had also been bothered that he had not been a part of it.

…''We aren’t passing each other by, are we?

He firmly rejected that idea. ''That isn’t true,'' he told himself. ''If it was, she wouldn’t be pushing from behind.

…''And she wouldn’t offer to take a bath with me!

Yes, she had made that promise after leaving the medical room.

He accepted the bath as a fundamental truth.

She wanted to show him something she had not shown him recently, so he suspected something had changed in her mind or body.

…''I hope we can start taking baths together all the time again.

He decided to trust in her change, but he heard her voice from behind.

“I wonder if Sayama and Shinjou will be okay.”

“I’m sure they will. 8th-Gear’s Concept Core is below Izumo UCAT and they’ll return after a quick stop in Sakai. Apparently, they’ll be bringing 8th’s Concept Core with them.”

“I see.”

“Are you worried?”

“Nn,” she replied. “Because there are 3rd automatons at Izumo UCAT.”

“That’s right,” he said before turning a bitter smile toward her. “But if Sayama-san needed help, he would definitely tell us and he would never put Shinjou-san in danger.”

He saw Mikage looking at him.

“Nn.” She smiled. “That’s right.”

“Yes, it is.”

He nodded and thought to himself.

…''She’s so damn cute when she smiles!! What? What is this flavor in my heart! It’s sweet!?

But he hid those thoughts and faced forward.

They were almost home and that meant they were almost to the bath. That was fantastic.

But there was something he had to say.

“We need to make sure we don’t let our guard down either. We have 3rd-Gear’s Concept Core, so those automatons at Izumo UCAT might challenge us to a fight.”

He expected another “nn” in response, but he did not immediately receive one.

Assuming she was thinking, he waited a few seconds and finally got something in return.

The motorcycle handlebars shot forward and out of his grasp.

“!?”

He could only imagine Mikage had given a powerful shove to the sidecar.

“Mikage-san!?”

When he turned around, he saw Mikage collapsed on the back of the sidecar.

Hiba looked to Mikage who lay on top of the sidecar.

…''Did she trip?

But that idea was immediately overturned.

Something had appeared on the back of her right shoulder.

“A knife…”

The blade looked about fifteen centimeters long and it had a black grip.

It was sticking up from her clothing as if it had been stopped by her shoulder blade.

Wondering who had done this, Hiba strained his ears for any sign of the enemy, but he found nothing.

He knew it was dangerous, but he turned around and ran toward Mikage.

“Nn…”

She let out a quiet voice and tried to get up.

That action added color to the clothing at the base of the knife.

Even in the night, the dark color was impossible to miss. That color was the proof that Mikage was human.

“Mikage-san! Don’t move! You’ll only widen the wound!”

But she still tried to get up. It was as if she were trying to show him she was fine.

A moment later, Hiba sensed a presence behind him.

“————!!”

He swung his right hand on reflex.

The palm of that hand immediately grabbed something: the guard of a knife.

He looked down to see the black grip of a knife extending from his palm.

And the blade of the knife was extending from the back of his hand.

“…!”

Someone had thrown the knife and he had stabbed it into his own hand, but he had no regrets. If he had not done that, it would have pierced the left side of Mikage’s back.

He clenched his teeth to bear with the cold, penetrating pain and he pulled the knife out.

“Mikage-san.”

He turned back around and leaned over Mikage’s back to protect her and push her down as she tried to get up.

“…Nn.”

He tried to remove the knife from her shoulder, but in that instant, he saw something.

As she lay collapsed on the sidecar and faced forward, a certain emotion filled her face.

It was surprise.

“Ryuuji-kun! In front!”

He looked in the indicated direction and saw the color silver approaching.

But this was not another knife. It was thicker and longer.

He also saw someone holding it.

They stood in front of the sidecar and swung down the Japanese sword.

“Tatsumi!?”

Tatsumi’s black combat coat fluttered around her and her left arm sent down the blade with enough speed to escape the wind.

“It’s been a while. …Don’t tell me you thought 3rd’s automatons were the only opponents you had to watch out for.”

With instantaneous speed, she rushed forward without hesitation.

“Top-Gear still intends to fight you.”

Hiba was filled with as much surprise as Mikage had been and that slowed everything down.

In the three-beat sequence of perception, understanding, and reaction, he ended up a definite step slower than Tatsumi.

Her attack was targeting him.

But even if he avoided the sword, it would reach Mikage below him.

After considering using the knife to strike her just as she struck him, he reached a certain answer.

He chose to protect something more important than himself.

“…!”

He completely covered Mikage from above.

He would protect her no matter what happened.

She had a blade in her back as she tried to get up. That foreign object would prevent her from joining with Susamikado and it meant she could not use her full strength.

So he embraced her from behind.

He felt her body jump in surprise.

“Ryuuji-kun!?”

She cried out in confusion and she seemed to have realized what he intended to do and what Tatsumi’s actions would cause.

She knew he was trying to protect her no matter what happened to him in the process.

He felt her breathe in and then…

“Susamikado!!”

Her ringing voice called in the pieces of that steel power.

It all occurred in a series of instants.

A black god of war appeared behind Mikage and Hiba.

Metallic sounds filled the air, the pieces of its body fit together, and its metal left fist shot forward.

Tatsumi did not stop her sword, so its tip collided with Susamikado’s fist.

However, three things happened then.

First, it produced no sound whatsoever.

Second, Tatsumi remained standing and was not knocked backwards.

And third, Susamikado’s fist was stopped by the tip of her sword.

An attack from a god of war standing nearly ten meters tall could not break the tip of that sword.

Tatsumi simply pulled back her left elbow a bit and gently reversed her wrist.

Mikage opened her eyes wide and gasped at the scene before her eyes.

“It can’t be,” she muttered.

“Mikage-chan, don’t look so surprised.” Tatsumi smiled. “You actually did pretty well to make me pull back my elbow.”

Tatsumi had absorbed the force of Susamikado’s blow with just the movement of her left arm and the sword and she now raised her right hand.

After she inhaled and snapped her fingers, something appeared behind her.

It was Typhon.

The white god of war broke through the wind blowing down from the heavens, but it landed silently on the asphalt.

That god of war possessed the name of the storm dragon in Greek mythology and it drew a sword from its right shoulder.

It was coming, so two powers worked to fight back.

One was Hiba as he lay over Mikage. He threw the knife in his hand toward Tatsumi.

The other was Mikage as she ignored the pain in her right shoulder. She raised her right arm and…

“Keravnos!”

They worked in perfect unison.

Tatsumi would have to break her remote control of Typhon to brush aside the knife with her right arm and that would stop Typhon just long enough for Susamikado to use Keravnos as it appeared on its right arm.

Tatsumi chose to prioritize her own life and she grabbed the knife with her right hand.

Immediately afterwards, a heavy metallic sound rang out and the tip of Keravnos collided with Typhon’s unmoving chest.

With a crash of destruction, the spear of light pierced through the white giant’s chest and out the back.

White armor scattered through the air and an oil-like black liquid splattered everywhere.

After confirming the damage to Typhon, Hiba jumped forward.

He intended to attack Tatsumi.

He kicked off the edge of the sidecar and leaped above her head.

He pulled up his right leg so he could jab it down at Tatsumi as he fell.

“…!”

He gave a yell, but one thing still bothered him.

…''Is this how she intends to settle things!?

He had fought countless matches against her when she attended the Hiba Dojo under the name Miki.

She had excelled at turning aside and defending against attacks, so he had never once hit her.

However, he could manage it with his current timing.

He had jumped past the sword in her left hand and her right hand had just caught the knife.

He opened his mouth wide to brush aside his slight hesitation.

“This fight is already over! This one-sided and meaningless fight doesn’t need to continue!”

He prepared to launch his right leg attack.

But just before he did, he saw an odd movement and heard an odd sound.

He saw Tatsumi suddenly let go of what she was holding.

She let go of the knife in her right hand and even the sword in her left.

“What?”

As he wondered what this meant, he heard her speak.

“That’s right. I never told you the reason why you should fight me.”

''There’s no reason for that,'' he immediately thought.

He was her fake, but that was her reason and it meant nothing to him.

But she continued to speak as he made his kick.

“When the enemy invaded Top-Gear, I was the one who drove your father to his death.”

“…!?”

“In other words, I killed Hiba Ryuuichi, your father”

A moment later, he saw two things.

First, the fingers of Tatsumi’s right hand moved slightly.

And second, a giant white fist flew toward him.

“How can Typhon still move after that hit from Keravnos!?”

Regardless, the uppercut performed by Typhon’s right fist said all that needed to be said about its functioning state.

Hiba reflexively put up his guard, but the giant metal fist crashed into him as if to say his defenses were meaningless.

She had outdone him.

Several thoughts and decisions came to Hiba, but none of them produced words.

It seemed he was collapsed on the asphalt.

More than doubled over, he seemed to be bent into a Z-shape.

A few bones were broken, his muscles were trembling from the shock, and he was pretty sure he had torn some of those muscles.

However, he felt no pain and he had no sense of equilibrium. His vision wavered and was wet with tears.

He could neither inhale nor exhale, but his pulse raced and his vision grew dark from lack of oxygen.

But even as he fell into darkness, he turned his trembling gaze forward.

“No, Ryuuji-kun! Don’t get up!”

He could see Mikage who was sitting up while holding her right shoulder and he saw a white god of war beyond her.

The black god of war’s left arm and Keravnos were still pierced through Typhon’s chest, but it was still moving.

…''How can…it move?

He heard Tatsumi’s voice as he trembled and forced himself up, starting with his butt.

“You don’t get it? Typhon doesn’t need a cockpit in the chest when it’s remote controlled, so I had it hollowed out as much as possible. …Surprised?”

Hiba was unable to respond.

He simply swayed up and down, trembled left and right, and tried to stand.

“Ryuuji-kun!”

He could not respond to Mikage’s voice either. Instead, Tatsumi said more.

Her affected tone of voice made it clear she knew perfectly well he could not answer.

“Oh, dear. Keravnos seems to be stuck.”

She raised her left hand and Typhon forcefully raised its own left hand.

As it rose, the inside of the bent elbow scooped up the elbow of Susamikado’s extended right arm. That very same arm still had Keravnos inside Typhon.

“I expect you’ll have reinforcements before long, so I’ll be leaving.”

Her words were accompanied by the sound of something breaking.

Susamikado’s right elbow broke upwards and Keravnos was removed.

“…!”

Hiba’s wavering vision saw Mikage’s right arm jump up.

That arm was bent ninety degrees at the elbow. And it was bent the wrong way.

He distinctly heard her gasp.

Unable to hold on any longer, Hiba’s vision moved forward as if tripping.

That was when his thoughts fully restarted. It was slow and awkward, but he was thinking.

…''I have to go.

He did not know where or to do what. All he saw was a single charm placed on Keravnos as it stabbed into Typhon.

“Goodbye, Ryuuji-kun, Mikage-chan.”

With Tatsumi’s parting words, Typhon spread its wings.

She was going to escape, but Hiba’s vision simply continued forward while shaking to the left and right.

…''I have to go.

“No!”

He heard Mikage’s trembling voice. He turned toward her and saw she was looking his way.

…''She’s crying?

''Why?'' he wondered. ''Oh, right,'' he realized.

…''Does your broken arm hurt?

''I’m sorry,'' he thought. ''I’m sorry, but I’m about to go protect you.

He did not entirely understand. He did not entirely understand any of this.

A certain girl had been close to him long ago and he had treated her like his sister, but she had just said something strange.

She had claimed to have killed his father.

That was a lie. He knew it had to be a lie. That strong, strange, and perverted father could never have been killed.

He had to find out the truth.

…''And I have to protect Mikage-san.

He was only six meters from where Mikage had landed. That felt like such a great distance and he kept feeling his knees just about to give out, but he still continued forward.

“Mikage-san.”

Something fell to the ground below his feet. It was not sweat. It was thicker than that and it was a dark red.

''But,'' he thought. ''Mikage-san is in a much worse state.

He passed between Susamikado’s legs and his vision darkened as he reached out toward Mikage.

He wanted to take her hand, pull her close, embrace her, and protect her in every way possible.

But suddenly, he realized he had stopped moving.

…''Huh?

''Strange,'' he thought.

His vision had not fallen yet and he should still be dragging his trembling legs forward.

''Why?'' he wondered just before noticing what was stopping him.

A point of force was pushing back at the top of his chest.

That force had a short blade and a black grip.

It was a knife.

Tatsumi had thrown what he had thrown back at her and it had stabbed into the center of his sternum.

“Ah…”

''I need to go forward,'' he thought, but his legs would not move.

He felt a weight in his knees and his vision dropped down.

His knees bent and reached the ground. He stretched his hand out toward Mikage, but it could not reach her.

However, that hand suddenly did reach her.

She stretched her left hand back toward him and their hands touched.

…''Eh?

He looked up at her and saw her eyes were closed.

She was collapsing.

''Was it the pain in her right arm?'' he wondered before seeing a certain color.

Dark red was seeping from her neck.

He looked up as she collapsed and the sky came into view.

With the dark winter sky in the background, a single giant sword split the heavens.

It was the sword in Typhon’s right arm.

The tip of the sword pierced accurately through Susamikado’s chest and neck. The blood on Mikage’s chest came from her synchronization with the god of war.

A moment later, her body struck Hiba’s.

A creaking sound came from his body as her broken right arm hit the knife stabbed into his chest and pulled it out.

As soon as he held her in his arms, he exhaled.

He let out the breath he had been holding this entire time.

“Kah!”

He expelled a mist of blood and carbon dioxide.

He felt the warmth of his and Mikage’s blood on his chest.

His vision grew dark as he looked up into the sky.

Unable to support Mikage, he began to collapse backwards.

His upturned eyes saw Susamikado vanish.

The black giant instantly disappeared and Typhon’s sword returned to the bottom edge of his vision.

Meanwhile, he tried to stop the blood flowing from Mikage’s chest by holding her tight in his arms and he heard a voice.

“Thank you, Ryuuji-kun, Mikage-chan.”

He heard a breath.

“Thank you…for being so weak.”

“…!”

Just as a thought reached his mind, Hiba hit the asphalt with Mikage in his arms.

The impact shook his entire body, the back of his head struck the asphalt, and tears fell from his eyes.

He realized that Tatsumi’s presence and Typhon’s presence were gone.

He stared motionlessly into the night sky and cried as his vision fell into darkness.

“Kh…”

Still embracing Mikage’s unmoving body and still looking into the sky, his mind also sank into darkness.

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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume12 Chapter 8|Chapter 8]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume12 Chapter 10|Chapter 10]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume10 Chapter 7

2026-04-24T03:34:16Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 7: Victorious Treachery==
[[Image:OnC_v10_0173.png|thumb]]
''And the cry turns to static

The nighttime battle in the mountains began with the sound of breaking metal.

As Ikkou swung his sword diagonally downwards, Izumo defended.

Kazami saw him forcibly twist the motorcycle’s accelerator.

The large-displacement Kawasaki obediently responded to the sudden “full speed ahead” command.

The back wheel skidded a bit and pushed the bike forward.

While the back wheel pushed forward at full speed, the front wheel lost and rose up.

As if assisting the motorcycle’s standing motion, Izumo swung up the hand holding the accelerator.

The rising vehicle was knocked toward Ikkou as if it had been kicked away.

Izumo then wrapped his right arm around Kazami’s waist and kicked off the seat to jump backwards with her.

…''Wow.

Izumo forcibly rotated around once and entered a low landing stance. She spun with him and her vision pointed in the same direction as his.

That was the front.

The front wheel rose like a snake’s head and the motorcycle crashed into Ikkou.

Or more accurately, into his sword.

With the sound of scraping metal, the motorcycle was split in two along a horizontal line.

A silver line ran from left to right through the center of the seat.

The vehicle was made from plenty of metal, various components, and a thick frame, but it was all bisected as easily as tofu.

Kazami thought to herself while watching the heavy metal pieces collapse to either side.

…''Is this a dream?

About a month before, she had been given a similar dream while fighting Roger of American UCAT.

In that dream, the motorcycle had been split apart by a strange power.

But that had been a false dream.

This was not.

“So you’re an enemy.”

With that comment, Izumo removed his right arm from her waist.

His eyes were looking past the motorcycle on the ground. They were trained on Ikkou.

“Come.”

The unusually low tone to his voice worried Kazami a little.

“Kaku.”

She called out to him, but he did not turn toward her.

Another voice then supported her worry.

“Now, how about I show you my brother’s fixed concept? Mitsuaki.”

Ikkou’s words were followed by a voice resembling the one produced by her own throat. This was the voice of a concept.

The voice spoke to another world that rejected the current one.

—'''There is no mutual understanding.

With the sound of shattering glass, the world transformed.

After hearing the concept text, Kazami lost everything.

…''Eh?

She understood what the concept meant. She could no longer comprehend any information the external world sent her way. It was a version of 2nd-Gear’s Art of Walking that encompassed the entire external world and could not be broken.

She understood the idea, but…

…''It can’t be broken?

She could see and she could hear, but she could not understand what was happening around her.

She could see Ikkou standing beyond the wreckage of the motorcycle.

She could see him holding the Azure Dragon Sword.

However, she could not understand what it was she was seeing and hearing.

“Is this…!?”

Her ability to comprehend how she felt about her surroundings was completely lacking.

…''What about Kaku!?

Wanting to know what he was doing, she turned left, but then she gasped.

Why she gasped was simple: she could not grasp that he was to her left.

He was to her left. She could see him there.

Nevertheless, she could not find him. Normally, seeing him would provide her with the information that “he is there”, but that information would not reach her.

As she turned left toward him, her gaze continued right on past him. She had already turned to the dark night behind her.

…''I don’t know where he is.

She could not tell if he was there or not. To sum it up…

…''We have no mutual understanding.

This was a world of only her own information.

She had nothing to compare to, so she could not even conclude that she was wrong.

Suddenly, her memories called forth a similar fact. Something much like this had happened recently.

…''When Team Leviathan was ordered to temporarily disband.

She rebuked herself for thinking about that now, but she could not stop her thoughts.

“I can’t understand it, I can’t find a solid answer, and the world is absolute.”

…''What can I possibly do!?

While asking herself that, she still decided to move.

But that was when she heard a voice. However, it was a voice that’s very existence she could not comprehend.

While desiring her next action, she heard that incomprehensible voice.

“Can you not move?”

She heard it, but she did not know what it said.

She faced forward. She knew the enemy was most likely there. She turned to face not an enemy she could see but one she could predict was there.

But just as she tried to step toward that enemy…

“…”

She could not move.

No. The truth was she did not want to move.

She knew why.

If she stayed there, she could at least know where the enemy and Izumo had been at first.

…''But if I take even a single step, I won’t even know where I am.

The thought of losing her own reference point made her shudder and panic.

She knew she had to move, but her body was trapped by the fear of not knowing where she was going.

The pressure in the bottom of her feet told her the ground was below them.

“But I don’t know where the enemy is!”

If she lifted a foot, she would no longer even know the ground was there. Like carelessly taking a wrong step on a staircase, she might not know where to step and miss the ground altogether.

Then she would fall and not even be able to stand.

…''Dammit.

Her anger formed words.

“Why? Why did it all have to end up like this!?”

She felt urgency in her gut due to a variety of things and she let out the thoughts that could not reach anyone.

“Why!?”

“What is the meaning of this?”

White light leaked out of the small building of Okutama Station.

The white-walled building resembled a mountain cottage and Sayama crossed his arms in front of it.

He spoke to what lay beyond his gaze and beyond the shadows formed by the light extending from the open building.

“Doctor Chao, why are you waiting for me here?”

He looked at Chao and his eyes narrowed in on the slender face of that girl-like woman.

Chao then spoke with her mouth twisting into what might have been a smile.

“Well, there’s a lot I’d like to say. But are you sure this is a good idea? Are you really heading into the mountains unarmed when someone could attack?”

“Okutama is my home ground, I am familiar with the land, and I have not forgotten…”

He thought while he spoke. Due to Team Leviathan’s temporary disbanding, he had not brought any UCAT products with him. Besides what he had borrowed from the Tamiya family, he had brought a few other necessities. For example, the handheld digital recorder with an edited compilation of Shinjou’s voice, his Shinjou album, a full set of Shinjou goods, and…

…''With my imagination, I have more than enough!

He nodded and spoke to Chao with a relieved look.

“I have not forgotten anything.”

“I’m not sure what that was about, but I’m glad to hear it.”

She glared at him and he tilted his head.

“But,” he began. “Why have you shown up just before my delightful mountain-climbing trip? Do you have something to say concerning the current cultural exchange between my former teammates and the four old brothers?”

“Oh? You’re pretty sharp.”

Chao had a smile in her tone, pulled a cigarette from her white coat’s pocket, and placed the paper cylinder between her lips.

“Well, it wouldn’t have been too hard to figure out if you gave it some thought. Four brothers of unknown origin were working underneath me, the person in charge of 7th-Gear.”

She raised her head which indeed held a smile. It was a pale smile with the eyebrows slightly lowered.

“I’m guessing the reason no one else figured it out was that they couldn’t bring themselves to believe it. But you seem to be different, grandson of Sayama. You will take us on, won’t you? Let’s see, right now you’re…”

“Team Leviathan has been freely disbanded.”

“So should I call you the main force of Japanese UCAT?”

With that, she removed the cigarette and exhaled smoke.

The smoke spread through the air, but she opened a hole by breathing out her next breath and the two of them faced each other through it.

“You actually saved us by catching up before those four reached their limit. And that’s why you need to be tested to see if Low-Gear is worthy of receiving 7th-Gear’s Concept Core.”

“Can you not accomplish that via the Leviathan Road?”

“This is the Leviathan Road, grandson of Sayama. This is the same negotiation you have brought to the other Gears. The only difference is that 7th-Gear is taking it to you this time. Yes, just like before.”

“Just like before?”

Chao smiled bitterly at Sayama’s question.

“That’s right. On September 29 of 1945, people from 7th-Gear invaded the Izumo Company, but they left without killing anyone or destroying anything. Do you know why?”

“A simple question: because they were curious.”

''What a boring question,'' thought Sayama as he answered and stepped forward.

After approaching through the darkness by one step, he adjusted the bag on his back.

“Doctor Chao, you have altered your body to extend your life, but when was that done? Based on your apparent age, was it done during the Concept War so you could battle 7th-Gear? And it was most likely done using the 7th-Gear techniques you had acquired at that point. Am I wrong?”

Even as he asked, he continued speaking.

“Based on the four brothers, I can guess 7th-Gear excelled at techniques to strengthen the human body. And as the Divine States-World Interaction Theory places it in China, I can also guess it was the world of the sage gods. They had mastered everything they could as people, so they attempted the final task they had left. In other words…”

An old man’s voice continued from Sayama’s right. It was Nijun’s voice.

“They gathered together the ultimate power they had gained through their various forms of training. They combined the individual sage gods’ powers and created the ultimate of the ultimate.”

“And that is the four of you?”

Nijun, the old man in a white coat, appeared from the darkness, but he did not nod.

Instead, Chao blew out some smoke.

“It was funny. When they invaded again, they completely cornered us, but they rejoiced when they saw the human modification facility I had built below Japanese UCAT.”

“They had found someone in this boring Gear who understood them. 7th-Gear viewed their human modification techniques as entertainment, so it must have been a shock to them. They realized the people of this ridiculous Gear could ‘enjoy themselves’ just as they could. Doctor Chao, that was why they invited you to 7th-Gear, wasn’t it? And as for you four brothers…”

Sayama turned to Nijun.

“The residents of 7th-Gear created the ultimate power by combining with their Concept Core. Are you that Core’s borrowed form after it was split in four?”

He took a step back from Nijun as he spoke. He turned to the side to prepare for a fight, but Nijun quietly shook his head.

“Sayama-sama, people will notice us here and I am the shyest of my brothers.”

“I see,” said Sayama while maintaining his defensive stance.

…''What is the situation?

Chao was there and some of the other brothers might have been there too.

He told himself not to let his guard down while Chao waved her right hand back and forth.

“Don’t be in such a rush, grandson of Sayama. We’ve waited for sixty years. While modifying those four on the other side, I spent an even longer time in a space that seemed to distort time. …So we can wait a little longer. Oh, I know. How about until you’ve had time to look around in the mountains? We can do this once you come down.”

“In other words, you plan to interrupt me while I am happily descending the mountain with thoughts of Shinjou-kun in my head?”

Still ready for a fight, Sayama glared at the other two.

“I am willing to do it here. How about you?”

His question was answered by a movement from Chao.

She took a step to the side to move from his path away from the station and she shrugged.

“I stand on the side of 7th-Gear since they invited me as a guest. I’ve sent in my letter of resignation along with theirs. …But I won’t interfere. I’ll just watch on and make sure they can do this properly.”

With that, she put her hand in her white coat’s pockets.

“And since you’re going mountain-climbing, let me give you a piece of meaningless information. The only two who went to Professor Kinugasa’s home looking for documents on Georgius were your father and your mother.”

“My mother? Why?”

“That’s simple. She was helping your father. She was the one that actually found Professor Kinugasa’s documents. Do you know why they needed them?”

“Was it for a battle? Perhaps a large-scale one in Osaka?”

Sayama’s words received a whistle in response. Chao sent the noise into the sky.

“Nicely said. I can’t tell you anything else, so if you want to know more, go play with those four. …Listen. If you defeat them, they will give you the Concept Core and some information on the past. After all, those four brothers fought in that Osaka battle.”

“!?”

“Those related to the Leviathan Road are forbidden to reveal the past, but this is a special case since we brought the fight to you. That rule no longer applies. Even if it’s only a few fragments of information, you should come to understand quite a bit.”

As she spoke, Nijun swayed in the corner of Sayama’s vision.

The old man was about to vanish so he could wait in the battlefield he would share with Sayama.

“…!”

Sayama immediately began to move.

He took an instantaneous step that flowed into a right roundhouse kick.

It was a demonstration for the opponent and a feint meant to keep the man from escaping.

If the man was not planning to fight now, it meant he was not prepared.

That meant Sayama could not let him escape. The suddenness and the distance between them precluded a clean hit, but the feint of a kick was the first step to reach one.

“…!?”

However, Sayama both saw and realized that his own body would not move in the slightest.

…''What?

Confusion filled his motionless body.

Even as a feint, he had poured all his strength into the kick, but his body remained in the defensive stance from before.

He could not move.

…''What is this?

“That is Nijun’s concept. Sayama, he might just be the worst possible opponent for you.”

He heard Chao speak, but Nijun was nowhere to be seen.

As he wondered when the man had vanished, Chao’s voice filled the chilly night air around him.

“Let us enjoy this, grandson of Sayama. And I hope your teammates do the same. 7th-Gear desired a satisfying destruction after fulfilling their own enjoyment. Once they reached the climax of their happiness, they wished to welcome in the end and entrust themselves to the next generation.”

And…

“Can you accept 7th-Gear’s happiness? Can you lead those four brothers to destruction not through a harsh battle, but through enjoyment? Can you use these battles to give them a happiness that exceeds that of 7th-Gear which left everything to me and was destroyed?”

Her questions resounded and hung in the air, but finally silence washed over their surroundings along with a warm night wind.

Sayama heard dried leaves scattering across the small space in front of the station building.

His eyes looked to his own shadow on the asphalt and Chao beyond it.

“Quite a one-sided proposition. But either way, I have no objection to enjoying all things, but making it obligatory will cost you.”

He looked up to a place a bit lower than the heavens. The mountains of Okutama formed a darkness even deeper than the night.

After the span of a breath, he spoke while staring into that darkness.

“I just hope my former teammates can enjoy it.”

“Will they be okay? According to Hiba’s grandson, Kazami and the others aren’t accepting your temporary disbanding of Team Leviathan.”

“Even I am half in doubt about it.”

As he spoke, Sayama walked forward. His leather shoes produced steady footsteps and he arrived next to Chao.

“But I believe it is necessary. If you will delightfully and happily oppose us, then the reason I had Team Leviathan disband will become all the more obvious.”

Chao asked a question as he approached.

“Do you mean you are implicitly telling them to back off now because it is dangerous? Are you telling the members of Team Leviathan to leave the front lines because the battle is about to grow even more dangerous?”

Sayama gave his answer while walking past her.

He smiled ever so slightly.

“…”

And then he gave his parting words.

“Farewell, Doctor Chao.”

He passed by her and continued walking. He made his way into the Okutama mountains and to the path that would take him forward.

He did not bother turning back toward the late autumn wind.

Kazami could not move.

She was in a space where she could not know what to do.

Part of her said she had to do something and another part of her told her to give up because she could not do anything, so she was left unable to choose either option.

The word impatience filled her heart.

She could not comprehend anything in her field of vision and nothing that entered her ears held any meaning to her.

All she could understand was herself.

…''But…

If she did not understand her opponent, she could not fight.

She saw someone else step out of one of the RVs blocking the road. It was a short-haired old man in a white coat, but she did not know who he was or even that he had left the RV.

A meaningless voice reached her.

“Brother Ikkou, how is my fixed concept working?”

“Mitsuaki, it is a little short on fun, but it is very effective. It is incredibly hard to use.”

“Then what will you do? This is plenty fun for me.”

“Well, to increase my fun, why not give Kazami-sama and Izumo-sama a single chance.”

[[Image:OnC_v10_0191.jpg|thumb]]

“A single chance?”

Ikkou nodded at Mitsuaki’s question.

At that point, something appeared from the northern sky beyond the mountain.

They were two lines of light.

Each light had a weapon at the front: the white spear named G-Sp2 and the white sword named V-Sw.

Those weapons were very familiar to Kazami.

“…”

But she could not understand what was flying their way.

At the same time, her own senses brought a question to mind.

…''Shouldn’t G-Sp2 and V-Sw be arriving about now?

How long had it been since she had shouted the name of that trustworthy weapon?

She raised her right hand and waited for a sensation in her palm.

She could not comprehend light or sound in this world, but she could faintly feel the sensation of the ground below her feet.

She was not feeling the repelling force of the ground itself. She was feeling the pressure as the skin on the bottom of her feet was pressed into her flesh by the ground.

Because she could only understand herself in this world, she could easily understand the sensations of her own body.

She would feel something in her palm because something had flown into her hand.

The moment after that was her chance to attack.

She remembered where her opponent had been the moment before entering the concept space. She had not moved a step, so there was not much to mislead her.

Once she had her weapon in hand, she could run across the unseen ground and attack the enemy’s estimated location.

''That’s enough,'' she thought.

“!”

In that instant, what she wanted reached her hand.

“G-Sp2!”

Her reflexes immediately accomplished everything.

She felt G-Sp2’s handle slip into her hand. Its speed had not dropped, so G-Sp2 must not have been able to comprehend her either. She forced it to a stop by squeezing her right hand around it.

It was hers now.

The brief friction heat in her palm made it feel like she had grabbed fire, but she did not care. The sense of heat was reassuring in this sensationless space.

She forcibly spun G-Sp2 around to ensure it was there.

She pointed the tip forward as if thrusting it.

“…!!”

And she ran.

She ran across the visible yet unseen ground to reach the enemy she could see yet could not locate.

Her first step felt a little low, so she raised her hips on the second step. That second step felt tilted to the right, so she steadied her footing on the third step.

She ran.

She raised G-Sp2 in order to swing it toward where she estimated the enemy to be.

That location was a bit to her right.

There was one reason she had chosen the right.

…''Kaku is on the left.

He had held her on the right when getting off the motorcycle, so he would be on the left.

She knew he would have called in V-Sw, but he lacked the same burst of speed she had. That meant she would be out ahead of him.

If she charged in on the right and drove the enemy to the left, she would be sending them right in Izumo’s attack.

She was certain he was thinking of the same cooperation.

…''Yes.

She agreed in her heart, nodded with her body, and continued to soar onward.

She stepped forward to attack with the speed of her run and poured her entire body into jabbing the spear tip forward.

G-Sp2 would not know what was going on as she held it.

…''Sorry. This must be scary.

''I’ll explain later, once we leave this incomprehensible concept space.

''So bear with it until then,'' she pleaded. ''Don’t worry. We’re strong.

Then the moment she had hoped for arrived.

She collided with something.

Starting with a pressure in her hand, the impact spread throughout her body.

A sensation like breaking through a wall spread from her hand to her arm, her arm to her shoulder, and her shoulder to her entire body. Soon, she shifted to press her entire bodyweight forward.

Something had stopped the spear tip.

It had been blocked.

''By what?'' she wondered, while also thinking, ''We’ve won.

Their enemy wielded only an Azure Dragon Sword. With the skill to slice apart a motorcycle, he could likely stop her spear with just the sword tip, but it was still just an Azure Dragon Sword.

It could not defeat G-Sp2 which contained 10th-Gear’s Concept Core.

Kazami instantly operated the console.

“Change to your second form.”

When G-Sp2 had flown to her, the shield portion had already been attached below the tip, so the cannon form could be quickly completed. If she fired while their blades were locked, she could easily destroy the Azure Dragon Sword.

And meanwhile…

…''Kaku will arrive and attack the defenseless opponent.

“Fire the-…”

“Are you sure, Kazami-sama?”

She heard a voice but did not understand its meaning.

She could feel the movements of G-Sp2 transforming in her hands and it would soon finish.

Afterwards, she only needed to hit the firing switch.

“Kazami-sama, are you having fun?”

The incomprehensible voice arrived again.

“Then allow me to provide even more fun. Mitsuaki, please release your fixed concept. I wish to show them my fixed concept and the concept weapon we stole from Izumo UCAT.”

A moment later, Kazami heard a voice.

—'''Strength is infinite.

Finally hearing a voice from the outside world surprised her.

Having gone for so long without hearing anything caused the concept text to sound all the louder.

And that was not all.

“Eh?”

The world around her changed.

Comprehension returned to the incomprehensible world.

Kazami saw the darkness around her and a small light.

The darkness was the night that filled the sky and the light was the white streetlight illuminating the area.

She stood on the asphalt and she held a long white spear.

The spear had transformed to its cannon form, but the pointed tip had been blocked by the Azure Dragon Sword.

The wind blew.

“…”

The cold air traveled up into the night from behind her. That wind that seemed to well up from the ground gave her a chill and she narrowed her eyes.

Only then did she grasp the situation.

“Why?”

A word wrapped in dazed confusion escaped her lips.

Ahead of her, Ikkou held an Azure Dragon Sword in his left hand. That was the sword that had stopped G-Sp2, but…

“Two of them!?”

The fact before her eyes answered her question.

Ikkou also held an Azure Dragon Sword in his right hand. The thick metal blade reflected the light and…

…''It blocked V-Sw.

Izumo stood to her left. His eyebrows were slightly raised and he tried to press V-Sw against the Azure Dragon Sword.

However, Ikkou remained motionless. He was holding back their full strength with the weapons he held in a single arm.

As she wondered how, he tilted his head.

“Hm,” he muttered. “This is Rowless, the concept weapon I stole. Don’t worry. It is a weak weapon. It is made with simple steel, but it easily breaks. To make up for that, it can reproduce itself nearly infinitely.”

Izumo snorted at the old man’s explanation.

“For being such weak Azure Dragon Swords, they’re sure stopping our weapons easily enough, Ikkou-san.”

Kazami nearly nodded in agreement, but she realized she could not agree.

…''He isn’t blocking us with the Azure Dragon Swords.

Ikkou had no strength gathered in his arms.

“Kazami-sama seems to have noticed. This is thanks to my fixed concept that activated just now.”

The concept text had said strength is infinite.

“Inside the concept space I control, all weapons have their strength set to infinite. These small blades and your weapons all have identically infinite attack power. And…”

And…

“If they have any power in reserve, it will be drawn out.”

Kazami heard two sounds.

They were high-pitched groans coming from the weapons in her and Izumo’s hands.

G-Sp2 and V-Sw almost seemed to be screaming.

“W-wait! What is it, G-Sp2!?”

“————”

The color green filled G-Sp2’s console and a single value appeared there.

“18%.”

The percentage increased along with the machine’s loud scream. It reached nineteen, twenty, and then jumped to the thirties too quickly to count.

“G-Sp2!?”

The weapon shook as if writhing in agony. The irregular shaking formed waves as if the individual shakes were synchronizing and the entire device seemed to jump up.

V-Sw was doing the same and Izumo was operating the console in a frantic attempt to restrain the sword’s vibrations.

But they would not stop. Both shaking weapons emitted voices loud enough to echo off the surrounding forest and they gathered wind around themselves.

They almost seemed to be entering their third forms on their own.

They were out of control.

To obey the will of the Concept Cores, the weapons drew out their power to the very limit. That power had constructed an entire world and the force that usually restrained them was releasing it with no attempt to stop it.

…''Wait!

The console’s value jumped to the forty percent range.

A chill ran down Kazami’s spine. During the battle with 5th-Gear the month before, she had measured an output of 38%. That had only partially produced 10th-Gear’s concept dragon, but it had still covered around a dozen kilometers in the sky and devoured the 5th-Gear mechanical dragons like nothing.

She now saw an even higher number in her hands.

It had easily reached and exceeded the power she could draw out herself.

She shuddered.

“W-wait!”

The vibration in her hands had grown to the level of an impact.

A moment later, G-Sp2 and V-Sw both transformed.

They revealed their third forms.

“…!?”

But Kazami looked past G-Sp2 as it rose up in front of her.

Ikkou kept his two blades pressed against the rampaging G-Sp2 and V-Sw’s blades.

Firework-like sparks scattered from the points of contact and lit up the area.

Light began to leak from the gaps in G-Sp2 and V-Sw’s cowlings. They could not contain their own power inside.

…''Not good!

She cried out in her heart at the same moment Ikkou spoke.

“Isn’t this fun, Kazami-sama, Izumo-sama?”

“Wh-what are you talking about!? If they go off here, you’ll be blown away too!”

“You are bearers of power. Don’t you find it fun to be able to use that power at its maximum?”

She did not understand what he meant.

Power was dangerous. Knowing that fact was one of the duties of those who fought.

…''How can you enjoy it?

She instantly pulled G-Sp2 back. She wanted to remove the restraint of the Azure Dragon Sword and then think.

…''I need to defeat this enemy before they explode!!

Her initial burst of speed would decide everything, so the moment after pulling G-Sp2 back, she thrust the tip toward the enemy’s gut.

It was a swift attack.

The light leaking from the tip and the gaps of the cowling trailed behind it like mist and formed a straight line.

The white light raced toward the enemy’s gut.

“I see you still do not understand.”

Ikkou swung down the Azure Dragon Sword in his left hand.

The steel sword collided with the spear that bore a Concept Core and attempted to pierce him with that light.

“Trying to attack with a weapon that is not yet even halfway to infinite? How boring.”

With those words, one of the weapons was destroyed.

That weapon was the large white spear.

The destruction greatly resembled shattering glass.

Kazami first saw a point about halfway up the spear tip swell out a bit.

A moment later, the white external cowling split and burst almost all the way to the handle. The inner frame was covered in squeezing cracks and it expanded before bursting as well. The thirty centimeter protective cylinder guarding the Concept Core was released the instant the impact hit and it prepared to be ejected outside.

“It hurts.”

That message appeared just before the console blacked out and the protective cylinder was contained by the part of the external cowling that had not been fully destroyed.

However, the destruction did not end there.

Kazami felt pain in her hands. The pain resembled grabbing a handful of thumbtacks.

The handle she held was also covered in cracks.

“Wha-…?”

When she turned around, she saw the third form’s foot pedal bend and then break and she saw the vertical tail wing shatter like a glass panel hit by a stone.

Finally, the entire white cowling burst like a firework.

G-Sp2 had been destroyed.

“!?”

Even as the fragments tore at her hands and skin, Kazami watched.

She saw G-Sp2 stop as if it had lost a battle of strength.

“You’re kidding…”

She blankly stared at the mass of metal remaining in her hands.

She waved it a little, but it simply felt heavy and lacked the life of a weapon.

She noticed that the protective cylinder inside the tip had left its proper spot.

10th-Gear’s Concept Core was held inside that.

With it removed, the console was silent and its owner could feel the weapon’s weight once more.

Would G-Sp2 return to normal if that cylinder was restored to its proper place? Would the weight vanish, would words appear on the console, would the damage disappear, and would it be able to fight again?

Kazami subconsciously reached for the protective cylinder.

Only once her hand touched the metal cylinder did she realize her hand was covered in blood.

She also realized it hurt.

“Ah.”

She finally remembered what she was trying to do and what the situation was.

When she looked up, she saw a raised Azure Dragon Sword.

Ikkou was swinging the left blade toward her.

“—————”

''It’s over,'' she thought. ''I can’t avoid it. The weight left in my hands is too much.

More importantly, her legs suddenly refused to move.

Her experience told her where the sword would arrive: ten centimeters below her neck.

With the speed and thickness of the blade…no, while inside this concept space, the sword would slice her in two.

''At least it won’t cut my face apart,'' she thought in her horribly calm yet somehow lacking state of mind.

She would be cut through.

But just before she was, three things rushed in front of her.

One was a large white sword.

Another was Izumo’s body.

And the last was his voice.

“Oh…”

That vowel sound extended on and on as his giant body moved between her and the blade.

V-Sw collided with the Azure Dragon Sword and loudly shattered.

Simply put, he had saved her.

But Ikkou did something else.

He had already swung the Azure Dragon Sword in his right hand.

“…”

The second sword silently came from the left like a cold wind.

The blade’s trajectory and length could reach both Izumo and Kazami who he was trying to protect.

It would slice through her below the chest and him above the waist.

''No,'' she thought.

But not even she knew what that word in her heart meant. She could not say if she was stating that it was over for them or if she was protesting the situation.

She simply thought the word “no”.

And then Izumo took action.

He sent his weapon crashing into the Azure Dragon Sword. He used the most primitive weapon provided by the human body: the fist.

What happened when two infinite weapons collided?

Kazami saw the answer.

Both of them were destroyed.

The Azure Dragon Sword burst to pieces like a spray of water.

“Kaku!!”

Starting from Izumo’s left fist, cracks ran halfway up his forearm and the arm was smashed to pieces.

A dark spray was thrown into the night air.

Kazami heard a scream and guessed it was Izumo’s. The loud scream seemed to extend on and on.

But as she listened, she realized something.

The voice she heard did not belong to Izumo who collapsed before her eyes.

…''That’s my scream.

“Ahh!”

Her cry resounded through the night sky.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume10 Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume10 Chapter 8|Chapter 8]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 8

2026-04-23T02:10:01Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 8: Confirmation of Determination==
[[Image:OnC_v14_0305.png|thumb]]
''The place for determination

''Is known as a decisive battlefield

Sayama had entered a white cave.

“Now, should I call this the interior of Noah or the interior of Babel?”

The vast cave continued for as far as he could see.

It was dimly lit, so his view ahead was limited, but the ceiling and walls seemed to all be over one hundred meters away.

He then looked back over his shoulder.

“The entrance, hm?”

The entrance he had come through was a hole located on the floor.

This space was oriented vertically when viewed from the ground.

However, Noah was an ark, so it was naturally tilted at ninety degrees when standing vertically from the ground.

Gravitational control was allowing him to stand on what would be the wall from the ground’s perspective.

…''But this was originally the floor.

Its size could be explained if it had been a transport passageway along the exterior wall.

He could see a few hatches and holes along what were walls when viewed from the white floor.

“Now, then.”

Sayama faced forward, toward Noah’s bow.

A single white light was visible there.

It was a white automaton with twelve wings and she had said her name was Noah.

She resembled Shinjou…no, Shinjou Yukio and she turned back toward him.

“Sayama-sama, this way. Only sixteen more minutes. Over.”

Hearing that, Sayama recalled the dream of the past in which he had seen Noah.

This was likely the automaton his parents had seen with Shinjou’s parents at the top and center of this ship.

The three of them had to have been in the control room for the concept creation facility.

In that case, his destination was up ahead.

He breathed in and then asked Noah something.

“Were you here when Top-Gear was destroyed?”

“Testament,” replied Noah, using the response that Shinjou Yukio had likely brought to that world. “Beyond the infinite past, on the December 25, 1995 of approximately sixteen billion years ago, the one said to be your father visited and my creator left with him. Over.”

“They left you behind?”

“I was given a job to complete. And…”

And…

“As I fell into a location I determined to be a void, I entered a permanent sleep mode. But based on the memories of my terminal consciousness, Low-Gear was created, people were born, and – while I did not understand how it was possible until thirty-seven hours ago – someone identical to your father entered me about ninety years ago. Over.”

Who was that father of his?

Sayama exhaled as if relaxing his lungs.

“Professor Kinugasa, you mean? …But you understand what that was now, don’t you? You understand why the same people from approximately sixteen billion years ago are here now and why my father and your creator came here over twenty years ago.”

“Testament. Twenty-three hours ago, a theory arrived concerning that question and I checked back over the memories of my terminal consciousness in units reaching one hundred two digits, but I have determined it is all the truth. Over.”

Noah faced forward.

“I will show you the way. I hope you will not be late. Over.”

“Yes.”

Sayama took the first step through the great white cave as he followed Noah.

But then…

“So you have come, Sayama.”

A voice reached him from the passageway’s sky.

It was Mikoku’s voice. The voice contained a hint of exhaustion and its intonation shook a bit, but Sayama nodded in response.

''So she is watching,'' he thought.

“Does the master of the house not even provide tea for her guests?”

“The master was long since destroyed. I am simply borrowing the place. And you have a guide, don’t you?”

He noticed a small bitter smile in her voice, so he formed a similar smile.

''Is this smile nothing but a bluff?'' he asked himself.

“I am on my way there.”

“I will not be serving tea,” she said. “But I will turn on the lights. …Noah.”

“Testament.”

After Noah’s one-word response, there was light.

Bluish-white lines of light appeared on the cave’s floor, walls, and ceiling.

The great space was illuminated.

The bluish light was calm and quiet, but there was obvious shadow remaining on the passageway.

“Follow the path of this light. And after you reach the end, take the right-…”

Mikoku briefly trailed off.

“Which way are you facing now? If you are facing up, then, um, you would need to turn toward your chopsticks-holding hand, and…”

“Just to be clear, I am left-handed. And in this situation, which way would ‘up’ be?”

“W-wait, stop confusing me. Um, let’s see. I am right handed, so…”

Noah tilted her head.

“Mikoku-sama, you can solve this problem by leaving it to me. Over.”

“No, I should really do this myself. Um…”

“This is a recent discovery, but you are actually an idiot, aren’t you?” cut in Sayama.

“Look in a mirror when you say that!”

They both fell silent after that and then they both smiled.

“If I looked in a mirror inside Babel, I would probably see you in it,” said Sayama.

“Noah is not that harsh.”

After a three second pause, Mikoku continued.

“Continue straight ahead, and turn right when the lights go out. You will find an elevator there.”

“And I take that up?”

“At the top, you will find hangar doors that lead to…”

He heard her voice.

“Georgius’s foundry.”

Sayama was dumbfounded.

Instead of speaking, he held the right Georgius to his chest.

His aching ears heard more.

“Pass through there, follow the single passageway to the end, and you will reach me.”

“Quite the direct path.”

“There used to be a lot more here.”

That was all Mikoku said concerning her inner state.

“Hurry. The positive Concept Cores have already been placed within the facility. The negative concepts are activating and – as you can see – Noah is waiting to activate. You only have about fifteen minutes.”

“Will you wait to create your philosopher’s stone until I am there?”

“No,” she replied. “Noah was overjoyed by my visit and she is already preparing everything. …After all, it seems I was the last thing my parents registered with her. She was set to recognize my voice and follow any of my orders after entering standby mode in response to the activation of the negative concepts.”

The winged maid nodded in response.

“I was unable to predict that I would be able to meet you again after a nearly infinite amount of time. Over.”

“I see,” said Sayama as he began to run down the great passageway lit by blue light.

He could hear his running footsteps echoing in the distance and he sped up as if to erase that echo.

“Wait for me.”

He pursued the white wings, exhaled white breaths, and literally “ran up” the tower.

“I will reach you very soon.”

Fluorescent lights illuminated the walls of a small lobby.

The lobby contained a red telephone, a deactivated television, and a sofa.

This lobby was on the second story of a hospital, near the nurse station.

Visiting hours were nearly over and very few people passed through the lobby, but there was one person there.

A woman in a gown sat in a chair in front of the red telephone.

The nametag on the gown’s chest said Harakawa Yui and she held the phone’s receiver.

She smiled as she spoke into it.

“Oh, dear. Roger-kun, I see you’ve earned enough promotions to be stuck in this troublesome position. It must be tough not being able to head out onto the battlefield yourself. It serves you right.”

“Your own son is on that battlefield,” noted the voice coming from the receiver.

“And he’s responsible enough to take care of everything on his own. Plus he has Heo-san with him, doesn’t he?”

“Testament,” replied Roger. After a pause, he continued. “Is that how I should respond, Mrs. Harakawa?”

“You can use ‘miss’ if you want, Roger-kun.” Yui narrowed her eyes. “I hear something big is about to happen to the world.”

“You still get right to the point, I see.”

“That man liked to keep things frank. So does his son and so does Heo-san. …Don’t you think it’s wonderful? Everyone’s so open about everything that there’s no need to observe what’s going on in their home.”

“I am having trouble figuring out how that is ‘wonderful’,” said Roger. “And I only called to keep you updated, but I’m glad to see you’re as unreasonably calm as ever.”

“How rude. Especially when you’re as modest as ever despite your promotion.”

“That’s only because all of you naturally end up looking down on people!!”

“Maybe so,” she said.

She smiled bitterly at the sigh she heard from the other end of the call.

“C’mon,” she said. “How about you settle down a little? I know some nice nurses I could introduce you to.”

“For example?”

“Would you prefer a girl who loves pink bowels or one who enjoys giving injections a little too much?”

“You really haven’t changed! And knowing you, you’re probably serious!”

“Of course I am. I’m trying to solve your problems, so I can’t just make something up.”

Roger fell silent, so Yui continued.

“Another one wants to start a blood drawing exchange diary?”

“Can we get back on topic?”

Roger sounded exhausted, so Yui quietly apologized.

He then cleared his throat.

“Well, if something happens with the battle, I will contact you again.”

“Yes, yes,” she replied. “But I might not be here next time you call.”

“Where will you be?”

“Well,” she said.

That was when the phone rang.

The red telephone she was already using produced a noise.

It must have reached the man over the phone because she heard him gasp.

“It seems you have a visitor. Who could be visiting a lady at this hour?”

“Don’t you know? It’s always a witch that visits a girl at night,” said Yui. “I’m about to leave for the castle.”

“Do you have your glass slippers?”

“My normal ones will do just fine.”

With that, she set down the receiver.

The phone was still ringing and she was afraid of disturbing anyone else in the hospital, so she picked up the receiver again and brought it to her ear.

“What is it?” she asked.

A quiet female voice with a slight tremor answered her.

“I am right behind you.”

“Then why call on the phone?”

“That’s a good point.”

After hearing that, Yui turned around.

At some point, a woman in a black suit had appeared there.

The woman had written “telephone” on a paper cup and held it next to her mouth.

“Diana, at least make enough noise as you walk so that I can hear-…”

Yui trailed off when she saw Diana’s eyebrows lying flat.

“Is Yukio’s child doing that badly?”

“…Testament.” Diana lowered her shoulders. “She was hit by an attack with the name ‘Mikoku’ under the effects of 2nd-Gear’s Concept Core.”

“You don’t have to explain. You don’t.”

Yui stood up and brushed a hand through her hair.

“I can’t believe this… Diana, answer me honestly. Do you want to save her?”

“Well…”

The witch shrank down but said nothing more.

Yui nodded as Diana simply stared at her.

“You’re so afraid of not being able to save her that you don’t want to save her?”

After a few seconds, Diana slowly closed her eyes.

“But at Osaka back then…”

“What about it?” Yui smiled bitterly. “I’m not going to say that those of us in the western unit wanted you to help us withdraw after you completed the eastern pillar of the barrier.”

“But…”

“You think you could have saved me from my illness, those who died afterwards, or those who are suffering like I am, don’t you?”

Diana nodded like a scolded child.

“I wanted to save all of you…”

“But you couldn’t move, could you?”

Diana looked up in surprise with tears in the corners of her eyes, but Yui went out of her way to show her a smile.

“If you couldn’t move, then there’s nothing you could have done.”

“B-but I…” The witch brought a hand to her forehead. “If I had been more determined back then, I might have been able to save Alberto, James, and Hiba.”

“Or you might have gotten yourself killed along with them.”

Yui spoke to Diana who was half in tears.

“That’s just how it is, Diana.” She took a breath. “Your broom was broken and you didn’t have anything to use in its place. The witch couldn’t fly, even if she had power. You think you might have been able to save them, but if you ask me, you would have been going off to your death.”

Yui stuck out her tongue.

“And I should really apologize. To be honest, I remember saying some awful things to you after that battle. And not even the negative concepts can erase that.”

She looked to Diana and Diana quickly lowered her head.

The witch had a hand over her eyes, tears spilled from below it, and her shoulders shook silently.

Yui took a step forward and gave a deep, bitter smile.

“That’s just how it is. I’m sorry it took me this long.”

As soon as she said that, Diana casually looked back up.

She turned her hand around to show a paper with “tears” written on it and smiled.

“Those were fake tears.”

“You haven’t changed at all!”

Diana laughed, straightened up, and nonchalantly looked up at the ceiling.

“You apologized just now, didn’t you?”

“…It’s possible.”

Diana smiled.

“That really hit me hard back then and I never really resolved any of it, but since you apologized first, I guess I will apologize too.”

She nodded.

“Sorry for not being powerful enough.”

“So do you think you could have saved them?”

“A German witch is as powerful as she is confident.”

Diana smiled and Yui saw something transparent in the corners of her eyes, so Yui patted her on the shoulder.

“So you did cry.”

“I-I did not. It was an act! All an act!”

“Germans sure are bad at lying.”

“And the Japanese love to misinterpret things.”

Yui laughed off Diana’s blushing complaint, but then she held out her right hand.

“How about now? You may not be powerful enough, but you still have time, don’t you? In that case…”

Yui asked something of Diana who had briefly stopped moving.

“Do you wish to save her? Even if it might be hopeless?”

She held her hand out to the regretful witch.

“You might not be able to save her, but if you won’t fear that fact, then take this hand, Diana. If you will stop fearing your former regret and wish to save someone once more…”

She took a breath.

“Then I too will work to help one of the children who will inherit the present.”

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> slowly but surely raised her speed on the battlefield.

As she moved her racing legs, she lifted her two machineguns.

The enemy rushed in ahead of her. That enemy was hundreds of dolls.

That was enough to call a horde.

But she did not care.

She swung the raised weapons like wings.

“Here I come!”

She squeezed the triggers with her fingers.

A series of gunshots immediately began to sound and the staccato noise, that resembled beating on paper, shot sparks into the night sky.

The vibration and sound sent out bullets at a pace of more than eight hundred a minute.

She controlled them and focused all of her functionality on her fingertips.

She pictured a great number of threads attached to each of her fingers.

“————!”

She controlled all of the flying bullets.

The ammunition belts ran out and the machineguns’ loading coils had nothing to load.

But she did not mind.

Her focus was on the bullets scattered throughout the air.

As if flapping her “wings”, she threw aside the machineguns and spread her fingers.

“Send these supersonic bullets to everywhere they might go.”

She gathered strength in the arms she had closed while “flapping”.

“There are no blind spots in the three hundred sixty degrees over which I serve!!”

The speeding bullets immediately struck all of her enemies.

They collided with the dolls’ necks, shoulders, arms, stomachs, waists, and ankles.

She heard the sound of penetration and snapping wires.

Those same sounds overlapped countless times and filled the air as a single ensemble.

Not one of the dolls was not pierced and thus absent from the song.

The dolls in the field had their bodies broken in places.

As they collapsed limply to the ground, new ones arrived from behind.

However, some space had opened up, so #8 ran.

She ran through the now unobstructed field to reach the large automaton.

That was her true target.

…''If I do not defeat this, I have determined they will take control of this place!

She could deal with the normal dolls somehow or other.

By taking their equipment, she could fight them up to her limit.

But the large doll was different because she could not destroy it with the dolls’ equipment.

And if she was to do so with her own equipment…

…''It has to be when it is still careless and not interfering!

That meant the initial attack.

She had to make this first attack count because the large doll was still carelessly assuming a single automaton could not do anything to it.

Her weapon was a hardened combat knife and she had a single target in mind.

…''The shoulder wire cylinder!!

Such a large doll would be quite heavy and the shift in balance from damage to one arm would require some adjustment. This would not completely take the large doll out of the fight, but incapacitating one of the arms it used to wield its weapons would mean a lot.

Normally, she would have gone for the knees or ankles, but it had defensive armor there.

The shoulders however had a clear gap for when it opened the armpits, so she would attack there.

The problem was the fifteen centimeter diameter of the wire that acted as the giant doll’s tendon.

…''How can I cut through that with this knife?

She knew a way. There was only one way for an automaton born in 3rd.

She could create high gravity near the tip of the knife blade and then give her attack extreme acceleration.

As long as she cut a notch, the wire’s own tension would do the rest.

“This will work.”

She calculated it out.

She had controlled hundreds of bullets a moment ago, so she only had to focus that power on a single point.

“I have determined this will work!!”

The large doll took a step toward her.

It was a step of interception. It had frantically taken the step after noticing her movement, but it was too late.

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> only had to use its outstretched leg as a foothold and jump up to its right shoulder.

She briefly created a band of repelling gravity behind herself.

“!!”

And she accelerated.

She was headed toward the top of the large doll’s foot. That metal stepping stone was two meters long.

She performed a flip and used her right hand to pull a knife from below her apron.

She held down her skirt and apron with her left hand, bent her knees a little, and landed on her enemy’s foot.

At the same time, she kicked off the foot.

She made the kick much like a step and kept herself curled up like a cat.

She jumped straight up to approximately eight meters in the air.

She then rotated around and prepared the knife.

Her right palm wrapped around the bottom of the hilt and turned the blade straight toward the large doll’s shoulder wire cylinder.

“————!!”

A moment later, #8 realized that she had lost the right half of her body.

“…Eh?”

It was not that she could not determine what had happened.

She simply could not react. Her senses of sight and touch determined what had damaged her and from which direction.

A giant wooden arrow had smashed her body.

It might as well have been an entire log and it had been fired by what seemed to stand up from the forest to the right.

…''A second large doll!?

This was a new enemy and she had not been able to anticipate its presence.

After abandoning its bow, the large doll slowly crossed the forest and approached #8.

A flood of new dolls appeared from the forest at its feet.

This second large doll appeared in the field like the lord of those dolls.

By the time she realized it looked so large because she was looking up at it, #8 crashed into the ground.

“…!”

She felt no pain. There was only static.

She had lost everything from her right collarbone to her right hip.

A lot of her internal structure had been taken with those parts.

There was fortunately no damage to her head, but the center of her body had entered independent control mode for self-preservation in order to prevent any interference from the missing parts.

Her parts locked down their bypasses and balanced themselves.

This brought a sensation much like having an invisible hand groping at her insides and stroking along her muscles.

“Khah…”

She twisted and stiffened her body.

“Ah…”

But then she realized the enemy was right in front of her.

There were two giant forms and countless ones her size.

With the two large dolls looking down at her, she bit her lower lip.

“…”
She grabbed the one remaining shoulder strap of her apron and pulled it down.

She was covering her broken and exposed parts.

Only after twisting her body and raising her knees to hide her body did she face her enemy again.

This prevented her from resisting any further, but…

…''I never let even Sayama-sama see that.

She stared straight at her enemy with her raised body.

What was she to do now?

Her experience told her.

She knew exactly what a member of Team Leviathan would do, so she changed her expression and spoke.

“This is an expression of confidence.”

She formed what she thought was a powerful smile.

“How well would you say I reproduced it?”

She only received a single response.

Both large dolls raised both their sashimi knives.

''No,'' reflexively thought #8 when she saw them prepare to swing the blades down at her.

…''With a knife, you are supposed to cut with a pulling motion!!

They should have moved it past her and pulled the blade back across her, and yet…

“How inept!!”

As soon as she shouted that, the inept two were sliced apart.

…''Eh?

The first thing #8 sensed came from her hearing devices.

She heard the sounds of splitting metal and snapping metal wires.

She actually heard hundreds of those noises, but…

…''It all sounds like one.

It was a lot like the sound of a fork dropped on the floor.

For just an instant, a ring of white water vapor surrounded the torsos and waists of the large dolls overhead.

“!!”

Both of them burst from within at the same moment.

“Wh-…”

Just as she was going to ask what was going on, #8 heard an odd sound.

She heard the odd new sound as she looked up at the large dolls bursting to pieces from an internal shockwave.

It was an awful singing voice performing an original children’s song not found in her memory.

“One niiiiight, when wallllking through the forrrrrrest, I stumbled on a porrrrrrrrn graveyarrrrrrrd.”

The singer was on the mountain path to the field.

He was sitting on a motorcycle while randomly playing an accordion on pure intuition.

“Ken-channnn got all turned onnnn. It’s a treasure trooooove, he said. I’m taking it with meeeee, he said. Then caaaaame the class triallll.”

He then pulled on either side of the accordion until it ripped in two.

“Yeahhhhhhh!!”

All of the dolls in the field stared at him, wondering what in the world was going on.

But he paid them no heed and stuffed the torn accordion in a trash bag he had brought with him.

“Ahh, what a pain in the ass. Kashima won’t shut up about keeping the mountains clean.”

As he spoke, #8 sensed more presences around her.

Her hearing devices sensed sounds and her tactile devices sensed the movement of the air.

“You all…”

The ones she had urged to retreat had walked up behind her.

And that included the badly damaged ones inside the coolers.

They were all approaching with smiles on their faces.

“We called in reinforcements.”

“Reinforcements?”

More figures left the forest behind the young man who had sung the aggressive children’s song.

They were all dressed as maids, but…

“#8-sama!!”

She heard their voices.

“The forty-two of us who were resting with the train have arrived!!”

The maids then split apart, creating a path for an old man in a lab coat.

“#-#8-kun!! Are you oka-…”

He looked at her and then at the enemies between them.

After seeing the bows and arrows the dolls slowly prepared, he tilted his head a bit.

“Mind if I just leave now?”

Everyone ignored him.

The young man on the motorcycle then took the Cowling Sword leaning against the motorcycle and rested it on his shoulder.

He sighed and looked to #8.

“Well, you did pretty well for a doll.”

“Yes,” replied all of those around her while placing a blanket over her to hide her broken form. “#-#8-sama was forced to expose herself!”

“No, it wasn’t that bad…”

“It was!” insisted the others as they looked across the enemy and then to Atsuta. “Smash them all to pieces, Rapist-sama!”

“I am not a rapist!!”

The enemy took a defensive stance toward his shouting and new dolls appeared from the forest.

But Atsuta remained relaxed and whistled as he looked at them all.

He also looked at the automatons behind #8.

“Grab your fellow doll and get out of here.”

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> could not help but raise her voice.

“A-Atsuta-sama! I must stay by Babel to protect Sayama-sama!”

“Shut up,” he said while stepping off the motorcycle.

After spitting out a light “keh”, he looked around his surroundings.

“You don’t have to go to the trouble. This’ll be over soon. Wait until I clean things up here. Then you can go sit in front of Babel and wait for that idiot to come out all you want.”

After hearing that, #8 began to shake.

A tremor ran through her.

However, it was not caused by her.

Something was shaking the air and the earth.

Her scans instantly located the source: the Cowling Sword.

“This thing’s still in testing. …I used it once just now, so I’ve still got four to go.”

Atsuta raised the white Cowling Sword as he spoke.

“I’ll cut them all down with the remaining four!”

At the same time, a helicopter landed at Japanese UCAT.

Harakawa Yui stepped out of it wearing pajamas and a gown.

On her way to the operating room, she requested all of the defensive philosopher’s stones the development department had.

With a single order from Tsukuyomi, that request was granted.

But according to the report, Shinjou’s heart rate had already dropped below half of what it had started at, so she was in real danger even without worrying about the concept.

That was why Diana and the others were on the move.

They were preparing their various formations in the struggle against an entire world.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 9|Chapter 9]]
|-
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume11 Chapter 29

2026-04-22T02:01:34Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 29: The First Step==
[[Image:OnC_v11_0259.png|thumb]]
''That walk is swift

''That walk is strong

''That walk never ends

Hajji opened his eyes in the darkness.

The surrounding darkness confused him. He did not know where he was.

He only knew he was sitting on something that shook and he was surrounded by shadow.

…''Where am I?

He then remembered he was inside a moving vehicle.

He was on the way to UCAT for the attack that night.

He checked his watch and found less than an hour had passed since they had gathered in front of the Takao factory.

He shrugged his drowsy shoulders in annoyance and he heard a woman speak in front of him.

“You sure are calm. You seemed to be having a pretty good dream.”

He saw a large woman in a white combat coat. It was Jord.

She smiled bitterly, but he gave no response and looked around to check on the situation.

The back of the transport truck had been transformed into a hangar and men and women were standing silently along the left and right wall. They were accompanied by another three trucks that would also be filled with pre-battle tension.

In the night, he heard the wind blowing across the truck and the tires racing along the road.

In front of him, Jord opened her mouth to break the silence.

“It certainly is strange to be fighting alongside you. …10th and 9th never got along and, if it hadn’t been for all of you, my friend and daughter wouldn’t have died so soon.”

“I see. I’m sure you’re just angry, but I suppose I’ll ask. Yes. What was your friend’s name?”

“Aley.”

Hajji covered his mouth with a hand and lowered his eyebrows.

“That would indeed be my fault. Yes. A real shame.”

“Well, it was technically due to 9th-Gear’s politicians. 9th-Gear’s king took a holy spear containing half of 9th’s concepts to Low-Gear and died there. That didn’t leave enough power to activate Zahhak.”

“When I returned, I tried to stop Zahhak’s activation for that very reason, but the palace had a connection to an underground organization in 10th-Gear and they stole Thor’s Hammer to use the 10th concepts it contained to help activate Zahhak. Yes, that was quite the commotion.”

''That must have been a tough time for the politicians too,'' he thought.

…''And after Thor’s Hammer was brought back and Shahrnavaz gave up…

“She combined with Zahhak as its brain to protect me from the false accusations of abandoning the king.”

“What? Did you say something?”

“No, nothing. Nothing at all, Jord. That has nothing to do with anyone but me. Yes. …But a group with no one controlling it is always a problem no matter what time period you’re talking about. Isn’t that right? In the early days, a lot of people in the Army tried to randomly take revenge on UCAT.”

“So you purged your own followers, leaving you with the group you have now?”

“That’s right,” said Hajji.

The truck shook as it turned left and tilted up a slope. It was a long slope leading up a mountain.

“I see. So we’ve started to cross the mountain leading into Okutama. Not long until the battle now. …With the people here and the doll unit coming later, we should be able to reach the center of Japanese UCAT.”

“But how do you plan to eliminate the concepts?”

“I have a way. Yes. And I know where they can be destroyed.”

“Where they can be destroyed?”

“Yes.” He nodded. “I’ve only ever heard of it, but the person who explained it actually saw it there. They said we could ‘do whatever we wanted’ with the concepts if we go there. …And I’m sure UCAT would end up there if they did complete the Leviathan Road.”

“Where is that?”

“Why do you want to know? But either way, I will end up talking about that tonight. You can look forward to it if you like. …More importantly, all of you need to think about what to do afterwards. The concepts of the other worlds will no longer belong to UCAT. Your concepts that support your reservations will be the only ones left.”

As he spoke, the floor shook vertically.

Everyone in the back of the truck lowered down and held their weapons close.

Meanwhile, Hajji continued.

“Once the concepts are taken from UCAT and destroyed and once UCAT itself is defeated, the different Gear reservations will have to adjust from being protected and ruled by UCAT. This will reset the world. I suppose 4th and 8th will fall under 10th’s protection.”

“Are you trying to create a new world?”

“No, we will return Low-Gear to its original form. Once the Gears are no longer held hostage through the Concept Cores and reservations, they can hold proper negotiations with Low-Gear. Yes, that would be for the best. Everything will return to a blank slate and continue from there. We only need to crush UCAT and disappear ourselves.”

The truck sped up and everyone prepared their weapons.

Once the speed lowered and the truck came to a stop, the attack would begin.

As the truck descended to its destination, Hajji held his own weapon and formed a slight smile.

“We are not creating a new world. We are creating what can be called the true world.”

Kazami gathered her things in a moonlit room.

She put her half coat on over X-Wi and held G-Sp2 with a bag wrapped around the tip.

“It’s dark,” said the spear’s console.

“Bear with it. I’ll remove it once we get outside.”

She extended a hand toward the corner of the room where two fist-sized spheres floated.

One was blue and the other black.

They swayed as her hand reached them. They almost seemed to be hesitating.

But soon the blue sphere seemed pulled in toward her and the black one followed.

They flew to either side of her and into her half coat’s pockets.

She started to close the pockets, but smiled bitterly and stopped.

“Why do inorganic things seem to like me so much?”

She looked across the room.

The baby was no longer on the chair. She had returned it to its original place before the concept space vanished.

V-Sw leaned against the wall. The armor-covered sword’s shape had changed somewhat.

Its console flashed randomly and Izumo slept in the bed next to it.

Izumo’s left arm stuck out from the bed. The solid cast on the elbow had broken and a fairly pale left arm grew from there. It was a newly made arm.

“Was that the healing power of 10th-Gear’s world tree and the power of destruction and regeneration of 6th-Gear?”

Some things felt a little off inside her own body. Some areas seemed to be moving a little better as if they had been modified.

She looked over at V-Sw and G-Sp2.

“You forgave me just once for not understanding you and losing because of it, didn’t you? But the next time I lose will be for real, so that won’t happen again. Isn’t that right?”

“We are strict.”

She smiled a little at that blunt response and looked at Izumo who seemed to be sleeping.

“Thank you. I would have died if you hadn’t protected me. And I need to thank the others too. I need to thank them for being with me.”

She slowly lowered her head and placed her lips on his.

After some damp time passed, she moved away.

“I’m going on ahead. And remember. From now on, my heart will not go with you. Even when we’re walking side by side, remember that I will be hoping to go with you. And…”

And…

“I think I’ll try to have more confidence in myself. No matter what anyone says and no matter how much I worry over what my actions lead to, I’ll always try to do my very best.”

She smiled.

“So I’ll always be fresh.”

She looked at V-Sw and the words written on the white sword’s console.

“See you later.”

“Right.”

She nodded, stepped out the door, and entered the hallway.

She hesitated for a moment but began to run.

The head nurse looked her way from in front of the nurse station.

“Oh, are you really okay? It seems everyone is rushing over here.”

“I’m fine, so please tell them to head back. I’ll go meet them myself.”

She held up G-Sp2 with the bag over it.

The head nurse’s eyes stopped on the weapon and finally seemed to realize it had been repaired. She looked surprised and smiled.

“Do your best.”

“I will.”

Just before she started down the stairs, Kazami spotted someone in front of the nursery window.

…''It’s that child’s mother.

The woman looked at her just like before.

“Are you heading out? And with some big tool?”

“Yes, well… It’s for a bit of a part time job.”

“Is that so?”

The woman tilted her head but gave a genuine smile.

“The head nurse told me something odd just now. She said you saved my child.”

“I’d say it was the opposite actually.”

“Eh?”

“Oh, and sorry. …I took his first kiss. But I had a reason for it, so don’t get the wrong idea.”

Kazami bowed and the woman looked down at her in utter confusion.

But when she looked back up, the woman tilted her head.

“First kiss? Um, I’m not quite sure what you mean…but my child is a girl.”

“Eh?”

Kazami dropped her head forward and looked the woman in the eye.

“…”

She swallowed her voice and let out a deep laugh.

She doubled over, came to a personal understanding, and suddenly looked up.

She nodded toward the mother of the child who had helped her out.

“Thank you very much.”

As soon as she raised her head again, she ran down the stairs.

She skipped one step, then two, and desired to continue on and on.

…''How strange.

Why did she feel so lighthearted and elated?

Her heart felt like wind. It would sometimes blow violently along, crash into a wall, and smash to pieces, but it would also rise into the air as it freely went where it pleased.

This had to be a time for that positive side of the wind.

“Yes.”

As she descended the staircase, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a letter. It was the letter of advice Brunhild had left.

It was a little late for that, but she opened it anyway and found a single line of writing.

“I’m sure an idiot like you will win regardless, so I’m not going to write anything.”

“Well, of course.”

She quickly jumped down the circling staircase.

She ran outside and into the moonlit night wind.

A band of light shined below the night sky.

The light illuminated a long strip of asphalt in a valley between mountains.

It was a runway.

The asphalt covering the three kilometer runway was brand new.

In exchange for the new asphalt, thick walls two meters tall continued along either side of the runway. They were barricades made using the piles of the old broken asphalt.

The top of the barricades had been made roughly flat and a few figures walked along them.

They were automatons wearing UCAT combat maid outfits and philosopher’s stones that allowed them to remain active in the outside world.

They carried machineguns at their waists and they constantly monitored their surroundings with their sight and concept senses.

There were so few of them on patrol because their individual senses could cover a wide area, but they would be replaced by other maid automatons quite frequently. This also helped provide a change of pace since they would otherwise be inside all the time.

They were deployed to more areas than just the runway. Some were in the southern and northern forests and some were in the front of the 1st-Gear reservation to the west.

They patrolled in groups of two, but they did not communicate with their voices.

They handled everything through their shared memory.

“This is 56th Iris on patrol with #57. Nothing to report at the southwestern edge of the southern forest.”

“Testament. Please return. #93 and 94th Camellia are next, so they will take your place.”

“Yes, sir. …What are you working on there?”

“Currently, we are opening up most of the camouflaged building’s third floor and piling up the equipment and explosives in case of an attack. The cafeteria will act as a base and this will be the storage area. To prevent an external attack, the defense shutters have a concept saying ‘—You cannot enter here’ applied.”

“Yes, sir. This is using a lot of special equipment, so I have determined it must be tough. I hear Lady Miyako took command of Izumo UCAT’s mass-production of reflection concept philosopher’s stones to oppose the thought compulsion concept that girl used when she visited UCAT.”

“Testament. Those arrived by air a while ago and have been carried to the third floor. I have determined they will be helpful.”

The automatons used their shared memory to transfer what they saw as data.

Large concept barrier emitters were set up at the four corners of the runway.

The devices had six barrel-shaped metal objects arranged in a circle, they each created an area of gravitational control around themselves, and they prevented large machines from flying. Their effective range was approximately five kilometers. As soon as an unregistered philosopher’s stone reading was scanned approaching through the air, the reading would be taken inside the concept space and sent straight down.

The automatons covered the ground and the barrier emitters covered the sky.

Just in case, a prefab station was set up by the runway. Light still came from the prefab building located next to kneeling gods of war hidden by covers. If anything happened, the god of war pilots could immediately board them.

Negotiations were underway to have other countries’ UCATs help with security, but American UCAT’s Yokota branch had decided on its own to rush over in an emergency. If anything happened, their mechanical dragons would arrive within ten minutes.

In truth, Japan had wanted American UCAT to remain in Japanese UCAT permanently, but the other nations’ UCATs had put a stop to it so that the United States would not gain such an advantage. Unfortunately, that had led to the other nations’ UCATs hesitating to help with security now.

They were currently planning to have a meeting on the subject come November.

The automatons were aware of all this and they had their own thoughts on it.

“Yes, sir. This world has yet to unify itself,” said one.

“Testament. That means world peace is reliant on our work here.”

Happy to be given work like that, they continued to move.

Their vision could see through the darkness and see heat.

However, one could easily hide from that using concept camouflage.

Their greatest advantage was their ability to detect faint philosopher’s stone readings while only being the size of a human.

The Army’s weapons would be altered with concepts.

During day or night and even when hidden by cover, their eyes could pick up on readings that normal sensors would miss. The effective range of their senses was approximately two kilometers.

Just in case, they formed groups of two. On top of that, the automaton guard groups were given patrol routes that overlapped.

The humans would use sensors and their own eyes from the runway and building and the automatons would make long range patrols.

If they sensed a philosopher’s stone reading, they could send word over their shared memory and immediately have others sent in.

And they worked diligently.

They continued to share a number of words and reports.

“Yes, sir. But is it really efficient for half of us to use ‘yes, sir’ and the other half to use ‘testament’?”

“Then what should we say instead, #93?”

“Why not take the start of one and the end of the other for ‘yestament’ or ‘tes, sir’?”

“I have determined that does not change very much.”

“Yes, sir. 101st Lotus here. Then how about the start of both or the end of both for ‘yestes’ or ‘sirtament’?”

“That is an excellent decision, 101st. How about we see what #8 thinks? …#8?”

They all listened to #8’s unedited thoughts.

“Listen, Ooshiro-sama. How many times do I need to tell you? You are not going to trick me by pretending to pass out again.”

After a while, the automaton that had asked for #8’s opinion spoke again.

“Everyone, I have determined #8 is enjoying her job.”

“Yes, sir. 101st Lotus here. I will add ‘waiting for #8’s response’ to my remaining tasks. …Oh.”

“What is it, 101st? Did something happen?”

“Yes, sir. I spotted a puppy and a black dog. They are wearing collars, so there is nothing strange about-…”

But her voice vanished. The supervisor automaton waited several seconds which was a very long time for an automaton.

“101st Lotus, #100? What is the matter? …I can still detect your presence.”

She received a response via their shared memory, but it was not in words.

The response was as follows.

“Woof.”

The automatons mentally tilted their heads at the voice they heard and they all mimicked it.

“…Woof?”

After a while, the one who had given that response, 101st, spoke.

“Oh… S-sorry about that.”

“Of course…but are you okay? If there is a problem with your memory functions, you can go in for maintenance.”

“I’m fine. I think it was just a moment of confusion and we were on our way there anyway. Send in our replacement.”

“Your replacements are #75 and #77. They just left, so you should be able to see them from there.”

Sudden noise reached them from 101st’s location.

It was gunfire.

Immediately afterwards, static ran through their shared memory.

The supervisor shouted out in response to the static.

“#75 and #77’s functions are dropping! They have been shot!! This is an enemy attack! Determine the enemy’s location!”

After receiving that shared thought, all of the automatons outside headed southwest.

But when they got there…

“101st Lotus here. …Nothing to report.”

“This is #98 in charge of the southern area. I have arrived as well, but there is nothing to report. …Eh? …Kh!”

That voice was accompanied by more gunfire.

After another pause, the supervisor spoke without knowing what to do.

“#98 and #99’s functions are dropping…”

The automatons below the night sky saw something in the southwestern forest. Their thermal vision saw 101st and #100 aiming their machineguns toward the southern area #98 and #99 had been in charge of.

“Why?” one of them muttered.

At the same time, brief silence filled their shared memory.

They all performed high-speed scans on each other and confirmed their settings.

All of the automatons had been given a certain setting as a family.

“We cannot destroy other automatons of our type and only 1st through 3rd can remove that setting from themselves.”

But the footage arriving from the vision of those on the runway showed 101st and #100 firing their machineguns to the southeast. More gunfire reached their ears.

“This is 108th Sasanqua. We are under attack from 101-…”

The voice cut off there.

This left a single fact.

The automatons with the numbers 101 and 100 were being controlled by some kind of power.

However, none of them could act. They wanted to stop the two of them, but their settings prevented them from destroying their fellow automatons.

But then how could those two destroy them so easily?

They could not find an answer. To change that, they all spoke to the supervisor.

“Send out UCAT!!”

But before they received a response, another voice reached them.

It was 101st’s voice.

“Woof.”

Their minds froze up when they heard that mimicked dog bark again.

And then they heard it a third time, but that was followed by another voice.

“Ahem. Can you hear me, automatons? Well? Hm?”

“…”

The automatons’ minds ground to a halt.

They did not recognize this voice at all.

“…”

The automatons could not move.

There were three reasons for this.

First, how had someone else cut into their shared thoughts?

Second, they had no idea how they were supposed to react to this unexpected turn of events.

And third, they could not determine what was going to happen.

What were they supposed to do?

All of them decided they had to tell someone other than themselves about this.

But they could not.

Their thoughts and their shared memory were being locked down by someone else. Their shared memory used machines as an intermediary, but unlike Low-Gear’s artificial intelligences, theirs were true artificial thoughts.

It should have been impossible for anyone else to intervene.

That was why their automatic thoughts determined this was some kind of misunderstanding.

However, they also wondered if this could possibly be a misunderstanding.

This was affecting every single one of them, so that left two possibilities.

First, the same misunderstanding had occurred in all of them simultaneously.

Or second, someone had interfered with their shared memory with a method that exceeded their own abilities.

In order to reject the latter possibility, the 3rd automatons decided that no one could exceed their abilities.

And it was also possible to assume a common misunderstanding could occur in all of them at once because they were built on common standards.

Ergo, this supposed fact was actually a misunderstanding on their part.

All of their artificial brains instructed them to ignore the misunderstanding and continue with their work.

But one thought inside them said their conclusion was wrong and the thought process began anew.

Their thoughts looped thousands, millions, and even billions of times. The doubt in their minds was opposing the fundamental decision-making part of themselves.

But their thoughts never reached a definite conclusion and the infinitely looping thoughts left the automatons motionless.

But just before they all froze up, a certain automaton added in a new thought.

“We are excellent.”

The 3rd automatons knew what it meant to be excellent.

They had been taught that during the Leviathan Road battle three months prior.

An excellent individual could admit their own defeat, would continue trying to win despite that, and would try to stay at the same level as both winner and loser.

And a doll that could admit to her own mistakes and inexperience was treated kindly by her master.

A certain memory returned to the automatons. It was the memory of one of their own losing and being carried by a human.

That confirmed for them that they could lose and admitting that fact led to a single conclusion.

“3rd’s automatons are excellent. It is unthinkable for all of us to reach the same erroneous conclusion!”

One of them shouted those words. It was weak and not quite a cry, but the one speaking out against her own control had been given an obedient personality.

“So this is the truth! Our minds are being invaded by someone!!”

With those words, all of the automatons came to their senses.

They broke free of their infinitely looping thoughts and awoke.

“…!”

Someone was interfering with their shared thoughts.

And this was not a misunderstanding of a single unit. It was a phenomenon occurring in every single one of them.

Something supposedly impossible was happening.

This was a contradiction, but it was also a fact.

And that fact reached them in the form of words.

“Well done. Yes. An excellent recovery. I would expect nothing less of a product of the Gear of dolls!”

The dolls hearing those words as fact shouted back as one mind.

“Who are you!?”

The individual units had yet to fully recover from the contradictory thoughts, but their artificial minds put up their guard and they stopped moving while speaking to the intruder.

“We demand you free the compromised units!”

“I can’t do that. No, I definitely can’t do that.”

The voice answered without delay and continued before they could say anything more.

“Unfortunately, we have taken control of two automatons. Yes, I’m truly sorry. I really am, but that’s why I would like it if you did not resist. Yes.”

“Who are you?”

“Is saying I’m Hajji of the Army enough? We’re on our way there as quickly as we can. So could you form a wall and wait for us? Well? Hm?”

The tone of voice was awfully calm for what it was saying.

And 56th Iris sent out a quiet thought from the southwestern area.

“Emergency report.”

She continued.

“We are under attack!! There are one hundred twenty-one of them and a great number of small animals. I have determined the animals are dogs! But…they are thermally and conceptually identical to real dogs and yet I cannot hear a single pulse from the entire group! These dogs are made from high-density information, so I have determined control of 101st and #100’s artificial brains was taken by them!”

56th’s next words were muffled by gunshots.

“Hurry! Even as we hesitate, the enemy is-…”

Her thoughts cut out and something else could be heard instead.

An alarm blared from Japanese UCAT and a large group of footsteps filled the southern forest.

“…!”

Countless enemies ran into view from that forest.

They were a kilometer and a half from UCAT’s disguised building.

The enemy was too close.

All of the automatons had that same thought as they began to move.

The time they had spent frozen had been devastating. The fact that automatons from 3rd had been “hijacked” had slowed everything down.

Japanese UCAT’s night guards had sensed danger in the automatons’ silence and they had come charging out, but even that had been too slow.

The enemy had already left the forest and reached the runway.

“…”

It would take too long for the god of war pilots to leave the station and start up the gods of war.

They had all expected an attack by mechanical dragons or gods of war. They had thought an attack too quick to react to would destroy the UCAT building or grounds and then the Army would come pouring in.

But the Army had begun on foot.

More and more people in black armored uniforms appeared from the forest.

They cut across the lawn next to the runway that contained the station and barricade and they ran toward the runway.

They climbed over the barricade and looked west to see a straight shot to the white building.

They only had to make a run for it.

They had a great number of dogs running at their feet and they were led by an elderly Arab man with a black turban around his head.

101st and #100 accompanied him on either side.

The blowing wind was the sound of late autumn and the elderly man spun his weapon in his hands.

It was a Cowling Spear with a sword-like blade attached.

He held it under one arm, crouched low, and stared straight at the white building.

“Now, let’s get this started.”

The automatons did not move, but he did.

He moved forward and took the first step of a run.

“This will bring the end, so…don’t hold back.”

As soon as he spoke, the battle with the advancing black forces began.

A light traveled west toward Okutama starting from a road near a hospital in the mountains.

The light took the form of wings and flew straight up into the night sky.

Two people on the ground looked up at the wings of light.

They stood in front of a vending machine below a streetlight in front of the hospital.

One was a gray-haired woman in a black suit and the other was a well-build elderly man in a white suit.

The woman took a sip from a can labeled “Black Coffee – Extra Bitter”.

“What do you think of tonight’s events, President Izumo?”

“Well, I do want to know what my stupid son is doing sleeping. Don’t you agree, Diana-kun?”

The man, Izumo Retsu, drank from a coffee can printed with a giant abstract image of a professional wrestler.

“But…how should I put it? The Izumo family has always been really lucky with women. Two goddesses in a row and now an angel who can tame a dragon, even if she seemed hopeless for a bit there. Did you see that, Diana-kun? You did, didn’t you? She took care of her opponent so quickly it even shocked me a little. Now that’s what I’m talking about!”

“Are you not going to greet her?”

“Eh? No, it’s best to just hide and watch these things. …And I knew she was going to win anyway.”

“Why would you think that? She almost died.”

“Well…”

He looked up into the whiteness of the moon, but suddenly stopped.

“No, I can’t. If I said anything here, it would sound so cool I’d make myself blush. Ha ha. Give me a break here, Diana-kun.”

“I see you haven’t changed.”

“That’s not really true. I don’t like to admit it, but I’m a lot different from a decade ago. After all…”

He nodded and crossed his arms while still holding the can of coffee.

“I really don’t like to admit it, but…I’ve aged ten years in the past decade.”

“…”

“You don’t get mad like you used to, Diana-kun. That makes this a lot less fun. How about it?”

“I’ve simply learned how to hide it inside. …How to hide everything inside.”

Diana shrugged and turned toward the hospital.

“Are you going to go see the Izumo boy?”

“That idiot will live on even if I don’t. And he can come to me. I need to make sure I don’t die before then, so I have a lot of work to do.”

“Everyone from the Izumo family is a real pain to deal with.”

“There are other problems, too.”

“Eh?”

Diana tilted her head, so Retsu elaborated with a bitter smile.

“You see, the 10th-Gear reservation contacted me personally. Annoyingly enough, a god named Jord who’s also my mother-in-law seems to have left the reservation.”

“You mean…?”

“She said she’s joining the Army. See, I told you there are other problems. The Army is coming.”

Diana gasped and Retsu narrowed his eyes and looked up at the moon.

“I think I’ll go see just how far my mother and wife’s protection can reach. Just how powerful are the feelings of those two who so loved this world’s moon?”

He held the can up toward the moon.

“And if they end up losing…well, destruction can be amusing too.”

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume11 Chapter 28|Chapter 28]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume11 Chapter 30|Chapter 30]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume10 Chapter 6

2026-04-21T22:00:58Z

N-Ch:

== Chapter 6: Resentment’s Beginning ==
[[Image:OnC_v10_0153.png|thumb]]
''Howl and bite

''Test the strength of your fangs

''And…

Sound filled a lit room.

Eleven fairly solid tones came from the clock on the wall.

That sound reached the girl sitting in the large kotatsu at the center of the room.

She had long black hair, her upper body was lying on top of the kotatsu, and her eyes were closed.

She was asleep.

The television in front of her was turned off and its dark screen reflected her face.

Once the clock fell silent, only the girl’s steady breathing could be heard.

That was when the blanket on another side of the futon rose and a dog exited.

The large white dog was almost a meter tall and he slowly crawled out from the kotatsu and circled around next to the girl.

He then barked.

His voice reverberated throughout the room and the girl frantically sat up.

“Kyah! Sh-Shiro! Don’t bark. You’ll disturb the neighbors.”

She raised her eyebrows while scolding the dog and moved her left hand to hit him. However, he must have known she would not actually do so because he only stared at her hand as it stopped partway.

The dog did not move and she frowned at the motionless dog’s expression.

“Did something happen?”

She strained her ears but could not hear anything.

She brought her left hand to her chest where a blue stone pendant and a red cloisonné pendant hung at her neck. She wrapped her fingers around them both and slowly stood.

The floor creaked a little below her feet.

The sound deepened her frown and she pressed a button on the TV remote sitting on the kotatsu.

Light raced across the black screen, color filled it, and sound came from it. The sound belonged to a late-night show.

“Now! It’s once again time for the World Execution Show!! Today’s challenger is Incester Sisconsky who was arrested for his feelings toward his little sister! He’s already warming up here in the Illinois Central Prison stage! Now, how are you feeling as you face one hundred fifty lashes with a metal whip while completely nude?”

“I’m gonna do my best!!”

“Okay, that’s the spirit! If you can win here, our sponsor US-IAI will give you a year’s supply of their new potable bath additive ‘Dashi of Me’! Now, this is a good time for an ad break!!”

The girl had started nodding along, but the ad for the potable bath additive brought her back to her senses.

She quickly moved to the wall while using the loud TV to hide her footsteps.

A thick white coat hung on the wall.

It was for training. For the most part, it was entirely white, but the name Shino was sewn on the inside of the collar in orange.

She put her arms through the coat’s sleeves and fastened the front.

“Shiro, come.”

She opened the wood and glass door on the south side of the living room.

There she found a dark hallway and the entranceway beyond it.

…''It’s cold.

This space led outside and its air was cold and still.

Shiro stepped out into the hallway first as if to lead the way and protect her.

Slight cautious tension filled the dog’s back.

…''What is it?

Shino was alone in the house at the moment, but the fact that Mikoku was not here bothered her even more.

Mikoku would normally head out first, but she had gone to the factory tonight and she was not back yet. Hajji had apparently gone to get her, but he had not returned either.

…''Maybe I should have gone too.

But she doubted she could have gone even if she had wanted to.

If she had, Mikoku would have said something.

Lately, Mikoku hated it whenever Shino was involved in the fighting.

It had started as warnings not to accept any of the Army’s missions, but it had lately shifted to scolding her about taking part in the following day’s attack or even going to help prepare at the factory.

Mikoku was also trying to keep some distance between them.

…''Why?

Shino guessed Mikoku was trying to say that she would protect her because fighting was her job.

She did think that was very like Mikoku, but…

…''Why can’t I take part in a fight that will influence the world I’ll be a part of?

She had never asked that question.

She had a feeling Mikoku would be unable to answer if she did. Even if she knew the answer, she would be unable to give it. That answer was something very close to her true thoughts.

…''And she has trouble being honest.

But that fear would vanish with the ending of the following day. Shino was one of the backup members for the attack. Mikoku had begged Hajji to change his mind, but Shino had done all her work just fine since summer, so there was no room for complaint.

“It’ll be okay.”

She muttered to herself in the dark hallway so both she and someone in her heart could hear.

“I can manage on my own.”

She nodded and followed Shiro down the hall.

The word “chilly” seemed to gradually crawl up from the bottom of her feet.

Her feet did produce footsteps down the hall, but the television in the living room drowned them out.

“Now, it’s time to introduce today’s executioner! Let’s see, he belongs to the Illinois Central Prison, he’s ranked third in the World Execution League’s heavyweight class, and he’s gained the skill of a master in his thirty years of using the metal whip. Let’s hear it for Markovic the Butcher!!”

After some cheers and entrance music, cries of Incester or Marko echoed from the audience. Out of the corner of her eye, Shino saw a shirtless macho man wearing a triangular black mask, but she reluctantly stepped entirely out into the hallway.

She walked the seven steps to the thick front door.

“…”

Shiro arrived ahead of her and raised his tail while lowering his head.

Shino stood behind as if hiding and focused her ears.

“Now, Markovic is going in for the attack! He attacks! He boldly attacks! He targets the crotch! The crotch! Three quick lashes to the crotch! And when the challenger shrinks back, he strikes the jaw from below! The challenger is completely on the defensive!!”

“Ahhhn! I-it hurts! But it feels so good!! Should I just go ahead and die!?”

She was curious about what was happening there, but she instead focused her ears on the door in front of her.

Someone was there.

She could not see anyone in the patterned glass to the side of the door, but she sensed a presence. Someone was hiding right behind the door.

The door did not have a peephole, but she could check on the intercom’s LCD display that used the security camera below the entranceway roof. However, she did not want to create an opening by reaching for the intercom.

And so she asked a question instead.

“Who is it?”

Her voice filled the nighttime hallway and reached the door.

“It’s me, it’s me,” immediately replied a voice. “It’s me, it’s me!!”

“I-if this is some kind of scam, I don’t want any!!”

“Just open up. Are you going to leave a helper from 10th-Gear out in the cold autumn night?”

Shino then remembered that Hajji had said something about bringing back a guest before heading to the factory.

…''But why would 10th help us?

And something else bothered her as well.

“Hajji isn’t with you?”

“He said he had something to discuss with the factory manager and it isn’t appropriate for a woman to hang around while men speak. Of course, that means us women need to turn our anger toward those men when we speak.”

And…

“You’re Shino, right? Open up. I’m carrying some pretty big luggage right now.”

“Luggage?”

[[Image:OnC_v10_0161.jpg|thumb]]

“It’s the girl named Mikoku. She’s stubborn, so I had to kill her about seventeen times. That must have exhausted her because she went right to sleep.”

Shino acted on reflex when she heard that. She ran past Shiro and to the door.

“You have Mikoku!?”

She opened the door to the night, but she did not find what she had expected.

Instead of the darkness of the night or the shadows of the neighborhood houses, she saw a large woman in a white coat and the muzzle of a gun.

The cold steel pressed against her forehead left her speechless.

“This is the end, Shino,” said the woman beyond the gun. “You are very kind, but that is exactly why this is the end. Remember this. On the battlefield, that kindness of yours will give you the final push toward death.”

The gun lightly pushed her and she took a cold and heavy step backwards.

Only then did she get a good look at the woman.

She was a large woman that Shino had to tilt her head back to see. Above her thick body and past her coat’s collar was the face of a hooked-nosed middle-aged woman. The woman’s blue eyes were turned toward Shino.

“Oh? You certainly look like a good girl. You are one, aren’t you? You’ll live a long life. If you can stay alive, that is. But to do that, you need to follow the rules of good girls. Make sure you do that.”

With that, she held out what was in her left hand: Mikoku in her work outfit.

Mikoku’s limbs and hair dangled limply down.

However, Shino found herself unable to react to this sudden guest, what that guest looked like, and what that guest said.

…''Um…

While hesitating over what to do, Shiro arrived at her right side.

The dog peered at Mikoku’s face and poked at her forehead with his nose.

“Nn…”

Mikoku gave a troubled groan but did not wake. The woman lifted her up and away.

“Oops. It’d be a shame to let the dog wake her. Shino, get me some food. I’m starving and I need carbohydrates.”

“Who are you?”

“Jord, a survivor of 10th-Gear’s gods. …I’m ‘Betrayed Expectations’ Jord. You can call me God or Jord-chan or whatever. What I want to be called changes on a whim, but never call me ‘old lady’. That’s the rule. Got it? Now, let me in, Shino. And food. Get me some food.”

Shino nodded, tapped Shiro’s neck, and returned to the hallway.

Jord passed through the door as if shaking her large body.

“Oh.”

Mikoku struck the doorframe and Shino gave a quick “ah” at the dull sound.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m not made for precision.”

“B-but…”

“It’s fine, so keep quiet. I don’t like kids who get worked up over trivial details. If you’re going to scold me, then I’ll have to scold you for staying up so late. But I won’t do that, so you don’t say anything to me. And get me some food. No complaints about that, right?”

Shino thought about it. She was worried about Mikoku’s head and Jord was overly pushy, but she did not detect any hostility in the woman.

It made a lot of sense once she thought of it like quieting an animal by giving it food.

“Then come in. And please remove your shoes.”

She stepped back into the entranceway and Jord smiled.

The corners of her mouth bent up, her eyes closed, and there was not a hint of sarcasm or ulterior motive behind the smile.

“Good. Children are best when they’re honest, Shino. I’ll be coming in then.”

Jord bent her thick upper body in a bow.

Shino had not expected the sudden action, so she was late to bow back. She made up for it by waiting a full three seconds before straightening back up.

When she hesitantly raised her head, Jord was closing the door behind her. She hung Mikoku’s back collar on the doorstopper and sat down in the entranceway.

“Ahh.”

The floor creaked and the movement seemed to stir up the air.

As she watched Jord remove her military boots one at a time, Shino confirmed her decision that the woman was not a bad person.

“Jord, why are you fighting UCAT?”

“Sticking your nose into a woman’s secrets isn’t a good idea. I have my reasons. Just remember that. You have your own reasons, right? It isn’t good to ask for someone else’s reasons without explaining your own. And I like good girls, Shino.”

Jord sighed.

“I also don’t approve of children staying up this late. Hajji needs to be more thoughtful. What is he doing?”

“Oh, um, but…”

She started to bring up Mikoku, but cheers from the living room cut her off.

“I can’t believe what I’m seeing. The master is using the flexibility of the metal whip to strike his target’s crotch from front to back. And it forms a compact blow filled with the consideration of a true master!”

“Ah! No! Ow! That really-…! Hwah! Hwaaaaahh!!”

Jord glared in the direction of the realistically dubbed screams and cheers.

“I don’t approve of that either.”

Shino ran for the living room to change the channel.

Below the night sky, a mountain range was steeped in deep darkness.

The mountains were covered in forest and a narrow river and road ran through them.

The road had white streetlights at distant intervals.

Past the guardrails of the spottily lit road was a drop of around a dozen meters and rocky river bank. The river itself could not be seen in the darkness, but the loud sound of rushing water indicated its presence.

A single sound and light moved quickly through the light, the darkness, and the sounds of the river.

The sound was a motorcycle engine and the light was a headlight.

The large-displacement motorcycle was an old Kawasaki and two people rode it.

The driver was a well-built boy who wore a brown mountain jacket to fight the cold. He gently tilted the large motorcycle to either side as he took the corners.

The one clinging to his back was a girl in a blue half coat.

The banking motorcycle and the wind blew her short hair about as she looked forward over his shoulder.

She was looking at the sky visible past the mountains and forest ahead.

Despite being night, the sky was tinged with purple thanks to the lights in the mountain.

She sighed and opened her mouth.

“IAI’s lights are still on. Did UCAT order them to keep the lights on to help defend against a possible attacker?”

“Probably. This is starting to feel pretty serious. What do you think, Chisato?”

The two of them, Izumo and Kazami, both looked to the brightness in the sky.

They would occasionally pass below a streetlight and the sky’s light would become difficult to make out.

“It doesn’t look like anything’s happening. And they have Hiba, Mikage, Harakawa, Heo, and everyone from 2nd there, so they should be fine even if there is an attack.”

“Are you worried?”

She paused before answering his question and she leaned against his back as she did so.

“I am worried.”

She felt the wind as a chill in her ears.

“I just can’t accept why Sayama would tell Team Leviathan to disband. …What about you, Kaku? Aren’t you worried with everyone splitting up at such a dangerous time?”

“I’m fine as long as you’re with me.”

“Oh, my.”

Kazami removed her cheek from his back and smiled bitterly.

She was about to express her gratitude, but then she felt his back press against her cheek once more.

However, he had not leaned back. She had been pushed forward.

“Kaku, why did you brake?”

“There’s a checkpoint up ahead. And isn’t that…?”

As the motorcycle slowed down, she looked past his back and indeed saw a checkpoint.

A “no entry” sign had been set up and two large white RVs blocked the road.

A red warning light lit up everything there.

She then noticed that the RVs were UCAT’s disguised security vehicles.

…''It’s a UCAT checkpoint?

“Looks like they’re being really cautious about an attack. What a pain.”

Kazami agreed with Izumo.

However, she recognized the person waving the red warning light in front of one of the RVs.

“Ikkou-san?”

She called out from the motorcycle that was now moving at a walking pace and Ikkou looked up.

“Oh.” A narrow-eyed smile formed below his gray hair. “Sorry about the trouble. It’s just that things have been quite dangerous recently.”

“Thanks for going to the trouble. …Are the others still on the other side?”

She pointed toward the bright sky past the mountain and Ikkou nodded.

“They should be. That’s why we were forced out here.”

“Ah.” Kazami shrunk down and lowered her head with a troubled look. “Sorry. And it’s so cold.”

“No, no, no. Do not worry about it. We have the UCAT director’s approval for this job.”

Ikkou lowered the warning light and lifted the “no entry” sign. He then placed the sign in the gap between the two RVs blocking the road.

“Hey, Ikkou-san. Why are you blocking our way?”

Kazami answered Izumo while hitting his shoulder.

“You idiot. It’s a checkpoint, so even we need to show our IDs.”

“That is not why,” said Ikkou.

He circled behind the RV on the valley river side and opened the trunk.

He pulled something out and rested it on his shoulder.

“Two meters long. This is short for an Azure Dragon Sword.”

He approached as he spoke and the solid footsteps of his leather shoes rang through the night air.

The slow sound of the footsteps was joined by light in the Azure Dragon Sword’s blade.

Kazami had a sudden thought about the scene before her.

…''Huh?

“W-wait a second, Ikkou-san. What is going on?”

“You cannot tell?”

With that question, he arrived within three meters of them.

His sword’s maximum reach was two meters, so he only had to take a step forward to be in range.

Kazami understood that much, but…

…''Eh?

She could tell a forced smile had appeared on her lips, but not even she knew what it was meant to hide.

She only knew that Ikkou was slowly raising the Azure Dragon Sword.

“Hey! Chisato!”

Izumo’s voice brought her back to her senses.

She felt like a sudden adjustment had come over her vision.

An attack was coming and it was coming from someone she knew, someone who had helped her for so long, and someone who had even saved her.

…''Wh-why!?

When doubt prevented you from moving, it was called hesitation.

And as she hesitated, she saw Izumo’s large back lower down as he prepared to move.

When she did see him move, she finally realized it was okay for her to move as well.

…''But what for?

She knew the answer. It was only a possibility at this point, but it was likely true.

“Chisato! They were the attackers!!”

“Yes, I must apologize, but it was the four of us.”

Once she realized that fact, she recalled the information on the attackers.

First, the men who had attacked Izumo UCAT had been covered in black, but one had wielded an Azure Dragon Sword.

Second, Gyes had said she knew them, but the match was not yet sufficient to make a public announcement.

…''But…

“Wh-what is going on!? Why would Doctor Chao’s four brothers attack us!?”

“It is a simple matter. You could call us the illegitimate children of 7th-Gear. In other words, we ourselves are the Concept Core.”

So…

“How about we continue the Concept War?”

With those words, Ikkou made his attack.

He prepared to lower the raised Azure Dragon Sword along a diagonal path and it was clear what that path would do.

…''He’s trying to slice Kaku and me in two!

He was serious. That confused Kazami, but she opened her mouth regardless.

“I can’t accept this!!”

She raised her right arm toward the sky.

“G-Sp2!!”

Her shout traveled high into the sky.

“Come!! We need to put a stop to this nonsense!!!”

A moment later, Ikkou’s sword raced through the air.

A slicing sound followed.

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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume10 Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume10 Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume9 Chapter 26

2026-04-20T03:00:07Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 26: Running Destination==
[[Image:OnC_v09_0221.png|thumb]]
''Your heart tells you to go

''And your voice wants to say something

''“I’m going”

A small room of about eight square meters had an arched roof.

The floor was orange carpet and the walls were covered in wallpaper made of a fairly thick white cloth.

The only furnishings were a sofa and bed affixed to the ground, a television embedded in the wall, and some shelves.

The lights embedded in the ceiling created shadows in front of the door and at the edge of the bed.

Both of those shadows were cast by a person, both of whom were female.

A tall woman in a black suit stood in front of the sliding door and a short girl sat on the edge of the bed.

“Okay, Heo. I will be leaving now, so are you sure you’re okay?”

“Y-yes. I can see what’s going on using the TV, Mrs. Diana.”

“That’s right,” replied Diana with a smile. She placed a hand on the door behind her. “Don’t worry. We just received word that Black Sun was destroyed, remember?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Heo nodded and remained sitting without even removing her jacket.

Seeing that, Diana tilted her head while still smiling.

“You don’t believe it?”

“It’s not that. I see no reason for them to lie about it. It’s just…that means there was a battle.”

“Yes, and it seems many lives were lost.”

Heo hung her head when she heard that and Diana continued speaking.

“Feeling sad is a good thing, Heo, but if you are going to actually say something, say thank you. They were fighting to create happiness, not to make people sad.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Despite the sinking tone of Heo’s reply, Diana narrowed and bent her eyes.

“But you probably won’t really understand that until later, so think about this again once you are more certain of your safety and have grown up. …Perhaps after you have children.”

“B-but I’m still a long way from getting married.”

As Heo tensed her shoulders, blushed, and waved her hands back and forth, Diana laughed a bit.

“It’s better for girls to be cute like that instead of looking sad, Heo.”

“Ah,” said Heo upon realizing Diana was comforting her.

She relaxed her body and let out a sigh.

“Thank you very much.”

She lowered her head a bit while giving her thanks, but she had formed a small smile by the time she looked up again.

She asked Diana a question in a bright voice that sounded a little forced.

“What about you, teacher? Mr. Roger told me you are married.”

“I don’t have that kind of relationship with my husband. The two of us once investigated a small organization’s source of income in the United States. We ended up fighting that enemy and, after about a month of fierce fighting, we found we had a lot in common.”

Heo’s eyes opened wide, but Diana only continued with a smile in her voice.

“We promised each other to singlehandedly bear the death of the other if they die first.”

“What… What kind of person is he?”

“Well, he rejects others, acts superior to everyone else, and believes that he is always right about everything, but at the same time, he truly hopes to find he is wrong.”

Diana’s words almost seemed directed at herself and they left Heo speechless.

Heo mouthed the words to herself and sighed.

Diana’s shoulders fell a bit as she heard that air escaping the girl’s lungs.

“Do you have someone like that?”

Heo’s shoulders tensed when she heard that question and the movement brought noise from the stone necklace around her neck.

“N-no, I don’t.”

“Heo, you know you can’t lie to me.”

Heo looked up and faced forward.

At some point the door had opened and the transport plane’s cargo hold lay behind Diana.

Heo’s room was inside a protective barrier placed inside the already concept-protected transport plane. This was a special plane that masked any concept signal when transporting concept-altered items. This guest room had been put together especially for Heo.

She felt the chilly breeze blowing in from the door. And…

“Heo.”

She heard a voice that seemed to break through the great noise of the airplane’s jet engines.

“If you had tried to stay in that apartment, I would have taken you here by force if necessary.”

“Is that because…that’s your duty?”

Diana retained her smile as the wind blew at her hair and Heo asked a sudden question.

“What is all this? I was given an explanation, but I still don’t fully understand. Great-grandfather and you belonged to the organization called UCAT…but were my parents part of it too? Did you all fight in deadly battles?”

“Yes, and that is how things ended up how they are.”

That simple answer was accompanied by no change of expression.

Heo was momentarily dumbfounded, but her words exploded out soon thereafter.

“Why!?”

Diana did not reply, so Heo continued speaking. She rose a bit from the bed and her eyebrows shot up a bit as she did so.

“I just want to live a normal life. Is that not what my parents or great-grandfather wanted?”

“But it is because of them that you are who you are. They are the ones that protected the happy life you want and people like them will support it in the future.”

“But…” Heo’s expression crumbled and twisted. “But I want a normal life. Why does everyone have to go out and fight? This…this kind of problem will fix itself if you give it enough time!”

Diana took a step back without saying anything more.

“Teacher!”

Heo called out, but Diana stepped out the door.

Heo reflexively stood up and tried to run after her, but…

“…”

She shrunk back and came to a stop. She had seen a smile in the darkness beyond the closing door.

Diana’s narrowed and smiling eyes looked directly at her through the vanishing gap of the door.

“Heo.”

The smiling mouth opened as the door reached the halfway point.

“Let us return to a previous topic. …You are an excellent student, Heo. After all, you did not sell yourself short at that apartment. Yes, a true woman must help a careless gentleman make his way and she must have the consideration to let him take the first step to lead the way.”

“Eh?”

“Just wait, Heo. The north wind that carries the dark clouds with the lonely star has not abandoned the family of thunder. And Heo, as your teacher, let me give you one answer ahead of time.”

“Eh? Oh, yes, ma’am.”

Diana’s smile grew at her student’s confused reply.

“About your previous question, it is not just time that is needed to resolve your problems. You also need…”

The smiling eyes and voice were joined by the sound of the door closing.

“Resolve. This will be on the test: Point Allocation (Your Life). Got that?”

Relaxation filled the air in an underground portion of the Kanda Laboratory.

However, this was not in a figurative sense.

In a large open space with B3F on the concrete wall, automatons were relaxing the various components of their bodies to let out the excess heat built up from overwork.

B3F was partitioned into a number of blocks and it was normally used for development research and to gather all the philosopher’s stone readings in eastern Japan. Now that American UCAT had requested the use of the large-scale concept space creation device, the entire floor and its philosopher’s stone detectors were being used for that singular purpose.

As a result, the American UCAT forces had taken damage, but the reading determined to be Black Sun had stopped.

Currently, a slight change was being made to the concept space during the time before it naturally vanished.

The concept space corridor running through the Fussa region had been bent to incorporate Yokota Air Base.

That way they could fully protect Heo Thunderson’s transport plane until it took off and entered Tokyo airspace.

Six mechanical dragons had been waiting in Yokota to intercept the black mechanical dragon, so their job was now to escort that past hero’s descendant until she reached the very edge of the concept space.

After setting all that up, the automatons announced their success over their shared memory.

“Mission complete. As is to be expected.”

They showed some reserved celebration and loosened their joints to let out the heat caused by raising their reaction speed.

The air around them grew hot.

The large-scale concept space creation device was located at the back of B3F. Technicians were gathered around the machine which contained multiple ten meter thick cylinders of different sizes which were held in place on each side by a key-shaped shield.

Those technicians were making adjustments to the machine and they had stopped trying to resist the heat coming from it. Most of them were wearing T-shirts and shorts. To cool themselves off, they had prepared buckets of ice, kiddie pools, and even anti-tank water guns, but they were still finishing up their work.

After this, they only needed to retrieve the concept space creation device terminals set up on the Chuo Expressway, national routes, and other roads. After that, they would need to negotiate with American UCAT about securing Okutama’s safety.

Apparently, American UCAT had settled for a ceasefire with the Japanese UCAT counterattack unit there.

At the same time, they did not know what to do with the Vesper Cannon that Japanese UCAT had used as a diversion. One of the automatons intercepting the optical communications spoke over the shared memory.

“They do not know how to load the Vesper Cannon on their mechanical dragons. The top of the cannon sticks out as a single long, narrow panel, so a mechanical dragon cannot climb on top of it and use its legs to grasp it from below.”

The automaton in charge of making drafts, #27, had secretly calculated out some estimated data, so they had been able to compare the new information on the Vesper Cannon’s size with American UCAT’s mechanical dragons.

“For a mechanical dragon to hold the Vesper Cannon from above, I have determined its legs would need to be nearly twice as long as theirs. At the same time, the mechanical dragon mount on top of the Vesper Cannon is about three meters, the same as American UCAT’s mechanical dragons.”

Also, their estimated data said the mount was so thin that it would not attach well to the mechanical dragons. Even if they could attach the Vesper Cannon, the mechanical dragon would wobble back and forth on the mount and lose all sense of unity. If it tried to fly with it, it would almost certainly lose its balance.

“The mechanical dragon needed for the Vesper Cannon would have legs twice the standard length and a body half as wide.”

That estimation allowed them to predict the desired mechanical dragon.

“That is impossible.”

The automatons exchanged questions while relaxing their bodies.

“Why is it impossible?”

“Because of the frame strength. The thinner the body, the thinner the frame. It could not support its own weight like that. A mechanical dragon specially made for the Vesper Cannon would be necessary, but such a dragon would be unable to fly or walk.”

“But if it could not function on its own, they would have built the Vesper Cannon into it from the beginning, right? In that case, there must be a mechanical dragon that overcomes all those problems. It must have been created to fight Black Sun.”

That comment came from 31st “Daisy” who was from 3rd-Gear.

However, someone suddenly gave another opinion.

This was 78th “Gentian” who was also from 3rd.

“But that mechanical dragon did not fight Black Sun. When Black Sun was putting up so much of a fight and was ultimately shot down, would that mechanical dragon really ignore the Vesper Cannon and do nothing?”

It was a simple idea that could be viewed as a thought or a complaint. However…

“…”

Her idea created something among them all.

It was a high-speed series of thoughts brought by their experience and it was similar to a human having a “hunch”. They connected their minds to function as a single thinking machine and they thought on a certain question.

…''Why was Black Sun defeated even though the mechanical dragon meant to fight it did not appear?

They thought and they all suddenly gave off a lot of excess heat and jumped up.

“I have determined this is dangerous!! Calculating back arrives at a single conclusion.”

That being…

“If the Vesper Cannon’s user has not appeared, that must not have been Black Sun!!”

The automatons’ shout reverberate through the underground space. A moment later, they all switched back to making individual decisions and began to move.

Those who controlled the machine moved back to their posts, those who measured readings turned back to their screens, and those who operated computers reached for their mice. A hot wind moved among them and their movement produced mechanical noises and the rustling of clothes.

“Open the optical communications! Ask them to check on the concept readings in the supposed Black Sun’s reactor to see if it truly contains the Concept Core!”

“We just received a transmission from American UCAT! Black Sun contained…a large weakened concept! The only obvious reading from 5th-Gear’s Concept Core inside the concept space is the one in Okutama! Which means…”

Amid the silence, a shout filled their shared memory.

“The defeated mechanical dragon was not Black Sun!”

A moment later, they all looked in a single direction.

A map was displayed on the ceiling so it could be seen from within any of the partitions.

It was a map of Kantou and it was synced with the radar displaying the status of the operation.

“A large philosopher’s stone reading has appeared. It is off the coast of Chiba and moving toward Tokyo through the ocean.”

An actual voice slipped from the mouth of one of the automatons.

A red dot had appeared in the blue ocean to the right of the green map of Kantou.

And…

[[Image:OnC_v09_0233.png|thumb]]

“This reading is much larger than the previous Black Sun and two…three…four…many more readings have appeared around it! There are six of them and they are each the same size as the defeated mechanical dragon!!”

Confusion swept across that underground space and an alarm began to blare.

“Send out an optical transmission!! This is an emergency! Also, activate the experimental concept space communication device!”

“B-but the alpha test still hasn’t been-…”

“That does not matter! Contact the cellphones of all UCAT personnel inside and outside the concept space! This is no longer a problem for just American UCAT or just Japanese UCAT!”

“Testament… Ah!?”

“What is it!? Did something happen!?”

“Just as I was going to contact American UCAT, the optical transmission facility was destroyed.”

After a breath, a pause that should not have occurred for an automaton, she continued.

“W-we have an intruder!”

The ceiling display instantly changed to Kanda’s underground security camera footage divided between one hundred eighty screens. The footage of individuals with a proper ID signal and those not displaying anything were then eliminated.

It finally zoomed in on a single screen which displayed a few unidentified individuals.

Four figures could be seen walking down an underground corridor.

Three of them approached with a girl behind them and those three were…

“Automatons?”

“They are unidentified. The echo scan of their joint movement sound does not match any UCAT-made model.”

They then saw the face of the girl.

“Nagata Tatsumi!!”

As if responding to their voice, she looked directly at the camera and waved.

An instant later, the camera footage blacked out.

One of the technicians spoke in the now-silent space.

“Are they here to steal information on this concept space creation device and the concept space communication device?”

The man almost sounded angry and he started toward the stairs with a wrench in hand and while wearing nothing but a black bathing suit. He was not going to let the enemy approach. However…

“Um, please wait. I will intercept them. This kind of work is my specialty.”

A dignified voice filled the air and a short figure appeared in the central passageway.

She raised her bespectacled head and spoke quietly to the others.

“I am 13th ‘Violet’ of 3rd. If anyone wishes to help, please respond with ‘yes, sir’.”

Below the starry night sky was a large schoolyard. To prepare for the athletic festival, it was divided by straight and curved lines for sporting events and by the spectator seating.

The clock on the school building to the north said it was 8:40 PM and the festival lighting was shut off.

However, a single figure stood in that schoolyard.

It was a boy. The dark-skinned boy had a bandanna over his wavy black hair. Instead of a school uniform, he wore black jeans and a black leather jacket that was a little much for early autumn. But below the jacket, he only wore a black T-shirt that looked like it would leave him feeling chilly.

He faced forward where a motorcycle with a sidecar was stopped past the edge of the schoolyard.

“Since that was fine, they must be almost completely ignoring me.”

The eyes hidden by his sunglasses looked down at the straight white line at his feet.

He looked back up and his gaze followed the line for the several dozen meters to the goal.

But when he began to walk, Harakawa stepped over the line and outside the course.

“…”

He then looked up into the sky.

…''Should I drive around on the motorcycle to distract myself?

The small radio in the sidecar said there was some lightning in the sky on the Chuo Expressway near Chofu. The announcer said to be careful as that meant a sudden thunderstorm was possible.

''In that case, it might be best to travel south along 16 until I reach Yokohama or maybe Shounan.

“Yeah, I think I’ll do that. …There’s nothing to worry about.”

…''That idiot said she would be fine.

“She said she would do her best in her new home.”

He sighed, told himself that was the last time he would think back to that, and walked toward the motorcycle.

He did not understand that girl.

She would start crying at the slightest provocation, but she also did not like making others worry.

She would readily say the most unbelievable things, but she would look confused when someone tried to believe her.

She would say she was better off alone, but she was afraid to be alone.

“She’s such a liar.”

…''And she’s such a little kid. You can always tell when she’s lying.

She was probably the only one who had not noticed.

When Heo Thunderson lied, she would shrink down. She would stiffen her shoulders as if trying to make herself disappear and as if she did not like having to lie.

If being able to lie without being found out made one an adult, then she was a child.

Harakawa recalled his most recent memory of her.

He recalled her slender shoulders when she had said she was fine and that she would do her best in her new life.

“You liar!!”

The sound of his own shout brought his feet to a stop.

He then took in a breath as if he had just remembered something and he shook his head.

…''Why am I so mad? Ignore it like you always do. You need to protect your normal life.

''You put so much distance between you and tried to drive her out, didn’t you?'' he told himself.

But another fact remained and that fact would not leave his heart.

“You’re the one who took her in because you couldn’t ignore her.”

He already had his answer to what had started this.

He lowered his gaze, but there was no longer a line at his feet.

He checked and found his stopped feet had already reached the goal. He had indeed reached this spot while walking along the outside of the course.

“…Dammit.”

His back was turned to the straight line he could see when he looked over his shoulder.

“Dammit.”

He gathered strength in his shoulders and walked forward.

And he thought.

“Dammit!”

He did not have a shift at the base today.

“…Dammit!”

But wouldn’t it be perfectly normal to stop by the base since he had some extra time?

“Goddammit!”

He was low on money this month, so couldn’t he ask for an extra shift?

“Yeah, that’s right!”

He arrived at the motorcycle. The black vehicle was stopped along the ninety degree corner leading to the academy’s main gate.

…''I’m just going. I stop by the base all the time.

He placed one leg over the motorcycle’s seat and sat down. The sidecar was empty.

He then recalled the final moment. What had Heo said when she had left?

…''A bookstore, hm?

He could guess his mother had told her. Heo had simply believed it and mentioned it without knowing at all how he felt, but…

“Is that something to say to me so proudly, Heo Thunderson!?”

He jammed the key in the ignition and turned it.

He put back on his sunglasses and took a breath.

Just then, sudden shadow and light appeared from the left.

“…!?”

Before he could erase his look of suspicion, something stopped next to him.

It was a large motorcycle with two people sitting on it.

“The president and treasurer?”

That was all he said before looking away from the two who had a giant cloth bag attached to their motorcycle.

The treasurer wore a track suit and gave a bitter smile from the back of the motorcycle.

“Oh? You don’t have any questions for us? Even though we’ve been watching you since you got here?”

“When I thought about it, I realized you’re the same breed of eccentric as Sayama. I would end up regretting anything I asked you.”

“Hold it right there, second year. You need to watch how you speak to your upperclassmen.”

“Then let me tell you something,” said Harakawa while putting on his riding gloves. “In the language spoken in the country of the father I hate so much, people address both their elders and little kids with the word ‘you’.”

“ ‘Yoo’? What’s that mean, Chisato?”

The president turned around with a frown and the treasurer punched him upwards.

While Harakawa ignored that normal turn of events, the treasurer held the head of her swaying partner.

“Harakawa, take these.”

She held out a black watch and a cellphone. He noticed she wore an identical watch but the president did not.

“Why do I have to wear the president’s?”

“Just put it on. It’s a magic tool to bring you closer to Heo Thunderson. I’ll tell you how to use it on the way. After that, do as you wish. We have work to do at Okutama, so we’ll have to leave partway there. We’ve already contacted Sayama, so he might have something to tell you.”

“I see.”

With that, Harakawa squeezed the accelerator.

He moved forward and toward Taka-Akita Academy’s northeastern gate. That was near Akigawa’s northeastern end which was not far from the neighboring city of Fussa. It was almost a straight shot to Yokota Air Base.

“Ah, wait! C’mon, Kaku!”

He heard a blow behind him and then the light began to pursue.

But despite the movement from behind, Harakawa only accelerated further. He shot past a school building and down the gravel road through the row of student dormitories.

He could hear the tires tearing across those stones.

…''What am I even thinking of doing?

Still, there were a few things he did know. The night before, she had started to cry and stopped running on the hundred meter track. And today, she had lied so he would not worry and yet had given him her support.

He had said nothing and had done nothing for her. So if he was going to make it…

“Honestly.”

He squeezed the accelerator tighter.

“This isn’t like me at all.”

“Harakawa!”

The light behind him caught up and raced alongside him. He heard the treasurer call out his name, but Harakawa did not respond. “Someone else” spoke instead.

“I’m not Harakawa right now. After all, I’m doing something that isn’t like me at all.”

“Eh?”

Hearing that tone of question, he pushed his sunglasses up his nose to hide his eyes and opened his mouth.

“Right now, I’ll use the surname of the father I hate so much.”

“Your father’s surname?”

“That’s right,” he said into the oncoming wind. “Dan Northwind. That’s my name if I take on my father’s surname.”

''It'' flew into the sky. That sky covered a burning city and a harbor.

It was over eight hundred meters long as it flew through that sky. Its main body was only three hundred meters, but it had evolved additional armor and twin-fuselage wings that greatly supported its body. This was its perfect battle equipment that it had not possessed ten years ago or the night before last.

It travelled into the western sky with its greatest fighting power.

When it had entered the bay, it had noticed some kind of concept space instantly stretch out and envelop it.

Leaving that space would be easy, but the scene visible below and the information from the child craft it had sent on ahead told it the concept space contained enough power to destroy one of the child craft.

It rode an updraft and thought on the fact that a wild beast attacked the weakest enemy first.

But it was not a wild beast. It knew it was a machine meant to protect mankind.

The false humanity existed outside the concept space, so what was this fighting force inside the concept space?

It decided this world must have machines built for the same purpose as it.

That fact seemed familiar.

It had lost its memories, but something it retained allowed it to recall the slight vestiges of a memory.

It had once fought opponents like this. That enemy had come as an army and it had once lost to them. The enemy army had been nearly destroyed, but the result of that fight had been put off until later.

“…”

It ascended, wrapped itself in wind, and accelerated.

The large black mechanical dragon decided to fight them. Was it for the conclusion of that battle it did not remember? Was it for the lost people it did not remember? Or was it simply because it had evolved to fight?

It did not know, but it did know it sought something.

It sought many things.

Why did it desire to fight?

Where were the people it was meant to serve?

Why had it lost its memories and why did it wish for those people despite losing its memories?

Why?

“…”

The black mechanical dragon stopped thinking.

It could simply crush any problems one-by-one and find the answers. The first step was eliminating the enemy that was trying to get in its way.

It wished to hurry. Its additional twin-fuselage was an extension of its wings and that closed slightly to point all of its rear accelerators backwards.

It continued on.

The air was now a wall of great pressure, but it knew that breaking through that wall to continue forward was known as flying.

A group followed in the sky behind it.

They were all black mechanical dragons.

Countless dragons appeared from the sky and the sea and they were divided between two general sizes: the small forty meter ones and the midsized three hundred meter ones.

There were six of the midsized ones and not even the large one could determine how many small ones there were.

This was an army of black mechanical dragons.

''This is evolution,'' it thought.

In the past, it had been powerful yet alone, and that was why it had been cornered and sunk.

It had chosen the very same method its former enemy had used to defeat it. It had duplicated its own parts to create companions.

Each of the child craft it sent out to gather information obeyed their imperfect instincts and sought the enemy.

As a result, the enemy had destroyed one of those midsized craft.

Twice now, it had seen the false humanity that was its enemy.

Both times, it had removed this additional armor to approach the nostalgic scent it had detected.

The first time, its evolution had been incomplete and it did not entirely remember the incident, but it recalled that the incident had happened in front of a small building in a grassy field. A woman had tried to protect the building from it, but it had sensed the familiar scent within the building and had injured her with its claws while trying to move her out of the way.

It did not think that woman was its enemy, but it did not entirely remember what had happened afterwards.

The second time had been two days ago. It had found a man wielding a spear within a small concept space.

It did not know if it knew that man, but when it had brought its claws to the man, something had begun within it. It was as if lost functionality had restarted and the hands of a clock had begun to move again.

It had been confused.

It had been so confused by the unexpected development that it had fled. It had escaped to the northern ocean it lived in. When it had detected the nostalgic air on the way back, it had left the issue to a midsized child craft.

The child craft had been attacked and that had told it a new fight was beginning. There was a nearby enemy that gave off the familiar scent of a destroyed world.

It more or less knew how powerful that enemy was. When the previous child craft had been destroyed, that child craft had sent back an analysis of the enemy’s power. Even the enemy’s primary weapons had only barely managed to destroy the midsized craft.

However, it erased that prediction. After all, its former enemy had destroyed it.

This time, it would utterly destroy its enemy and it would destroy the false humanity that filled this world.

It did not care if it became the only thing in the world. It only needed to continue evolving, increase its army, and envelop the entire world. If it did that, it was possible the humanity it knew would eventually return.

Once that happened, would the people praise it for completely protecting the world using the machines they had created to protect people? Would they praise it for building all that up on its own?

Would they praise it and say that was a truly happy thing?

“————”

It opened its mouth and roared.

And as it roared, it recalled the name its child craft had heard during the previous battle: Black Sun.

If it became a sun in this black sky, would humanity return? While wondering that, it set Black Sun as its own name.

While letting out a cry of joy at having a name, it felt a great familiar sensation to the west.

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| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume9 Chapter 27|Chapter 27]]
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Owari no Chronicle:Volume9 Chapter 22

2026-04-19T05:09:27Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 22: Dead End Escape Path==
[[Image:OnC_v09_0115.png|thumb]]
''The path you know leads out of imprisonment

''But your body has yet to step into its entrance

''People call that a dead end

An apartment sat below the dark sky.

It had an old, beige exterior.

Two people watched a black vehicle drive away from it.

The two of them were in a small park across the road and two buildings east of the apartment building. Standing below a chestnut tree in that park were a boy and a girl carrying a large cloth bag.

The girl wore a white track suit with the name Kazami sewn on the chest.

She watched the closed green steel door on the eastern end of the apartment’s first floor.

“Harakawa really did return alone, Kaku.”

“And Heo’s off to UCAT after checking on her great-grandfather’s corpse. …At least it doesn’t look like Harakawa had his memory erased.”

“True,” said Kazami while leaning against Izumo’s motorcycle that was parked below the tree. “They’ll probably wait until Heo returns to the States for that. She might ask to meet him before then.”

She shrugged and pulled a cellphone from her pocket. She sent an email instead of making a call. She wanted to contact Sayama every so often, but she had not been able to reach him since he had entered the 4th-Gear reservation. That was why she used email.

…''Harakawa is back.

She looked down to check the message.

“Harakiri is back.”

Distracted by what the autocorrect had chosen, she reentered the message.

“I also need to mention this.”

She pulled a folded piece of paper from her back pocket. It was a single faxed page.

The document was related to Heo Thunderson’s “demon”. Sibyl had hunted down a newspaper article about her mother’s death and had also sent a copy to IAI headquarters where Sayama and Shinjou were headed.

Izumo peered in from the side and frowned for once.

“That was a weird story.”

“You think so too? It was a lot like a monster movie. Her mother was brutally killed and the villagers saw a giant shadow, but for some reason, her mother was smiling.”

Kazami did not understand why she would have smiled.

“The police speculated that she had relaxed because the murderer had been someone close to her and the journalist guessed it was a satisfied smile because she had protected her daughter from the murderer. Either way, it’s a depressing story.”

Kazami typed in the information they had received from Sibyl and Kanda.

There was a lot to tell.

First, the Americans had determined it was Black Sun that had carried Harakawa and Heo away.

They based this on the fact that Thunderson had said none of the 5th-Gear mechanical dragons remained and because a Black Sun-like reading had once more been detected off the coast of Kantou.

Japanese UCAT would soon do what they had agreed on while speaking with Sayama and Shinjou the night before.

Also, they were planning to keep Harakawa under surveillance.

“There’s still a lot we don’t know, but we have no choice but to act.”

With that, she pressed the send button.

The send screen opened, the shaman girl saying “sending” danced three times, and the screen vanished.

“Now, then,” she said while leaning against the back of the motorcycle. She felt a tugging pain in her side, but she had placed a charm on it and there was nothing more she could do at the moment.

As for what she could do…

“We have to wait for some movement related to Heo Thunderson. When we called, Sibyl said they were doing well.”

“She’s holding it together pretty well given the situation. …Anyway, should we really sit around waiting for Harakawa? Shouldn’t we get back to UCAT and-…”

“Don’t worry. Sibyl said everything’s okay. If we’re going to head back, let’s stick around here for as long as we can first.”

She took a breath.

“And you saw those two in the Nishitama Cemetery, right? Do you really think they can be separated? She was watching Harakawa’s back as much as the scenery around her and he didn’t turn around even though he noticed. If anyone can get Heo Thunderson moving in the next few days, it’s Harakawa.”

She was oddly sure of that, but it came from how the girl had chosen him even when she had to run away.

“Also,” said Kazami. “Unlike when I took part in that first battle because of you, Harakawa has no method or connections for entering a concept space. When a young man wants to meet the princess in the castle, he needs a wizard to give him a magic tool.”

“That young man just needs some guts. Plus, it’s been less than a day since the two of them met.”

Izumo sounded doubtful as he leaned against the driver’s seat and Kazami looked up at him.

She could only smile bitterly at what he said. To say why, she brought a hand to her chest and gave him a true smile.

“Have you forgotten? There’s at least one precedent of someone making up their mind in such a short time. …And it’s right here.”

“How about you refresh my memory? You’re saying it’s here? Right here?”

He shoved his face into her track suit, so she hit him.

He spun back through the air and collapsed onto the motorcycle.

“Ah.”

The two of them fell backwards on the tilting vehicle.

A long, white, and windowless corridor had a drink vending machine by the wall, doors on either side of it, and a placard saying “Locker Rooms”.

A single sound filled that empty space.

The automatic door to the women’s locker room on the right opened and a girl stepped out.

She had short, blonde hair.

She wore a blue armored uniform that had been lightened by removing the skirt and as much of the armor as possible. A necklace made of stones hung from her neck and she wore an orange work jacket that hid her shoulders.

The jacket had a number of different crests and the chest had a nametag.

That nametag said “Heo Thunderson”.

She wore that coat to protect her from the air of that empty space, but she had no color in her face. She also had no expression, so her face was pale and blank.

She lowered that empty face as if bowing.

“Great-grandfather.”

She raised her head again and spotted a water fountain next to the vending machine and a mirror on the wall to its left.

She looked in the mirror and found she appeared dull in the colorless light. If there was any color in her, it was the slight redness at the corners of her eyes.

She approached the mirror and gently placed her hands on her upper cheeks while trying not to press too hard on the red and swollen areas around her eyes.

“…”

She then noticed sudden movement.

It came from the water fountain to her right, but it was not that the device had activated.

“Eh?”

She trembled as the water fountain approached her. Instead of rolling on wheels, it moved its body back and forth to crawl on the metal parts on the base that resembled legs.

…''U-um…
She did not know what was happening, but she instinctually shrank down.

The water fountain noticed her action, took a half step back, and looked up at her.

“…”

It bent forward as if in disappointment.

It turned around and slowly swayed its way over to a corner of the wall.

“U-um.”

She spoke up without thinking and it stopped, twisted its body, and looked toward her.

Its supposedly nonexistent gaze met hers.

On the way to the hospital to see her great-grandfather’s body, a man named Roger had given her a lot of information in the form of a dream.

Seeing it in a dream still felt strange to her, but she believed it because Roger had confirmed what she had seen once she had woken up.

…''Is it like a device that teaches you while you sleep?

There was a lot she did not understand, but there were other things she did.

Long ago, her great-grandfather had belonged to an organization called UCAT that protected the world.

He and some others had destroyed a few worlds, the world was once more headed toward destruction, Japanese UCAT was trying to singlehandedly negotiate with the survivors of the other worlds, and they had shown they were not up to the task.

[[Image:OnC_v09_0123.png|thumb]]

Of the other worlds known as Gears with which the negotiations were complete, there had been one which gave life to machines.

The water fountain in front of her had to be that.

She regulated her breathing, crouched down, and held her hand out toward it.

“Shake.”

''Is that what I should say?'' she wondered, but it finally turned toward her.

It shook itself back and forth to approach at its full speed.

It tilted upwards as if to lick her hand.

“Ah.”

The water got on her hand.

She honestly commented that it was cold.

After cooling her finger to a certain extent, she brought it to the corner of her eye and brought her other hand to the water fountain.

It was hard and cold, just like a machine. However, this machine was alive.

Realizing that, she tilted her head and brought her hand around to its neck.

She stroked it there and it twisted around a little to rub up against her hand.

Someone then arrived in the waiting area to the left.

“I see you have finished changing.”

It was Roger and he soon realized she was playing with the water fountain.

“Cute, isn’t it? Of course, we only saw it for the first time yesterday.”

“It was a little surprising.”

She smiled, but she was aware there was no strength in it. Still, she was relieved to find she had regained a little of what had left her since visiting the hospital.

She continued rubbing the living water fountain’s neck and spoke.

“I think my great-grandfather planned to tell me a lot of different things once he brought me here.”

“I can only speculate, but I would say that is likely.”

He pushed up his glasses and glanced over her body.

“Those clothes may be a little tight, but they are perfect for adding concept effects. An airplane home is waiting at Yokota, so I will see you off.”

“What about my great-grandfather?”

Roger lowered his gaze before answering.

“The autopsy has not yet been performed, so he will be sent back to his homeland later. …The thing that attacked you and that boy may have been targeting some special characteristic of Mr. Richard’s.”

Heo recalled the wind that had carried them away in the cemetery.

“Isn’t that demon after me?”

“Do you remember what you were taught in that dream? Mr. Richard is the one who fought that demon named Black Sun. If it is after you as well, loading the body on the airplane…” Roger altered his wording. “Being with the body would likely double the odds of Black Sun attacking.”

He continued speaking to distract from his insensitive phrasing and he nodded toward her.

“But we have the Concept Core here to lure in Black Sun. It is approaching Tokyo while resting from the exhaustion of the battle the other day. The airplane prepared at Yokota has been modified to mask the string vibrations of anything inside, so Black Sun will come here without targeting you.”

“You’re going to fight that demon?”

“That is why we are here. Ever since Mr. Richard was with us, American UCAT has been obsessed with defeating it.”

“I see.”

Heo stood and rubbed the edge of the water fountain that also straightened up.

It pressed up against her before returning to the wall.

Heo looked at Roger and wondered what expression was on her face.

“I should be worried for all of you, shouldn’t I? …But will you tell me one thing? What will happen to me once I am returned to the States?”

Roger listened to Heo’s question.

The ends of the girl’s eyebrows were lowered and her lips were slightly parted.

Roger felt she looked more doubtful than questioning and more confused than uneasy.

However, he ignored the passive phrasing and answered.

“Once you return, you will live in a city managed by American UCAT. As a relative of Mr. Richard’s, UCAT views you as the descendant of a hero, so you can live out the rest of your life with no issue. You can live a normal life now.”

He shrugged and hoped the girl was feeling at ease.

“…”

However, she was left speechless and looked dumbfounded.

''I suppose she would be,'' he thought. ''She was repeatedly transferring between schools, no one would believe what she said, and her everyday life was a challenge, but now she is being given a fixed home, everything she has said is being accepted as true, and her everyday life is stabilizing.

She should have no complaints, yet…

…''It is ironic that she gained all this from her great-grandfather’s death.

''But,'' he said in his heart before continuing out loud.

“Is anything else bothering you?”

She tensed her shoulders.

“No.”

However, she quickly shook her head, took in a breath, and puffed out her chest a little.

“I’m sorry. There actually is.”

She lowered her head and lightly held her own body.

“Why did Harakawa and I move to the beach like that?”

“Optical stealth is one of Black Sun’s special techniques, so we have determined that was its doing. Also, it lurks in the ocean off of Hokkaido, so it likely brought the two of you there to…”

He was going to say “execute you”, but he decided against it. He crossed his arms to buy a moment of time before continuing.

“Anyway, it may have decided to give up on that plan once it noticed us pursuing it or once it noticed this country’s self-defense force had sent out a fighter without telling us.”

Heo remained silent and she lowered her head as if she could not accept it.

In truth, Roger had not fully accepted that explanation either. However, that was the only explanation with the facts available to them and Roger was not the type to obsess over an unanswerable question.

So…

“Is there something else?”

“Oh, yes. …Where is Harakawa?”

“He was escorted home. At a later date, the base should send him a reward for protecting you.”

Roger brought his right hand to his mouth to hide his expression, but his eyes remained fixed on Heo.

“We will have to prevent him from speaking about these events. It is unlikely anyone would believe him, but we cannot allow this to get out.”

“I know. That’s how it was for me…”

He saw her shoulders droop as she watched him.

But then footsteps and a female voice approached from the passageway on the left.

“Oh, Heo? Have you finished changing?”

Heo’s shoulders jumped a bit and she turned to the left, as did Roger.

“Oh, it’s Diana,” he said.

As she had called the girl “Heo”, he deduced she had met her before. However, he had been with Heo when she was led to the locker room.

As Roger wondered what this meant, he saw that Heo was at a complete loss for words. Diana wore her usual black suit and she tightly embraced the girl when she reached her.

“You’re finally here, aren’t you? You’ve grown so much. Roger, you didn’t do anything did you? You didn’t say anything strange, teach her anything strange, touch her anywhere strange, or jump around strangely?”

“What?” replied Roger.

As he tilted his head, Diana enjoyed herself by placing her chin on Heo’s head. However, she still turned toward him.

“What kind of-…”

Before he could ask what their relationship was, Heo moved. She pulled her face away from Diana’s breasts, gasped for breath, and looked up at the woman in surprise.

“Wh-why are you here, teacher!?”

Diana’s eyes narrowed and Roger asked another question.

“Diana, what does she mean by ‘teacher’?”

“I was worried about you, Heo, so I ended my beauty treatment early.”

“Diana, is it just me or did you intentionally ignore me just now?”

“Hm?”

It was only after hugging Heo again that she looked to him.

Still looking confused, Heo turned toward him and gave a frantic explanation.

“U-um… Mrs. Diana is my tutor. She was apparently my mother’s friend, so my great-grandfather had her teach me once I started transferring between schools too much. She lived with us for a while and she taught me how to cook and speak Japanese. …It’s been three years since I last saw her, though.”

“That’s right,” said Diana quietly.

However, a sudden voice burst from the floor.

“A tutor!?”

The power maintenance cover on the floor was knocked into the air by a headbutt and Ooshiro’s head stuck out from the opening.

The cover embedded itself into the ceiling a bit and he looked utterly shocked down below.

“Th-this is a brand new genre, Diana-kun! A well-endowed foreign wife teacher!? How strangely bizarre can you get!? I’m so glad I’m the director of Japanese UCAT! There are so many new and exciting things on a daily basis!!”

“Wh-who are you calling a brand new genre!? And UCAT Director Ooshiro, this is a repeat joke!”

“A repeat joke!? It isn’t, it isn’t! It’s a new genre, so it’s a new joke!”

He wiggled around and used a feminine voice, so Heo trembled and looked to Diana.

“T-teacher, what is that?”

“Shh. Don’t look at him. His germs can infect your mind through the eyes.”

“D-Diana-kun! Don’t teach that girl lies!”

After Ooshiro’s shouted protest, Roger pushed his glasses up his nose and spoke.

“I apologize for interrupting your excitement, UCAT Director Ooshiro.”

“Oh, Roger-kun. Long time, no see. You seem to be doing well. …So what do you want? Well? Are you lonely? Then go cry on your own. Relying on me is a big no-no. Okay?”

“How about you say that into a mirror so I don’t have to deal with you? Also…”

Roger thought and finally spoke to the old man again.

“What is 1 + 1?”

“Two.”

As soon as he answered, the cover fell from the ceiling. And it was oriented vertically.

With his lips still forming the “oo” of “two”, he sank down below the floor.

The cover caught on the edges of the hole and fell into place. That sound was accompanied by the sound of something falling and collapsing down below.

Roger wiped the sweat from his brow and turned to the teacher and student embracing and looking cautiously toward the hole in the floor.

“We will disinfect him and capture him. From there, he will be sent to a cell.”

Mikage was in an open space.

It was the rest area on UCAT’s first basement that had a large mirror on the wall.

The neighboring space was even larger, but that was the cafeteria.

People in blue armored uniforms were using the cafeteria for a change.

…''When is Ryuuji-kun getting here?

She sat in a chair and a large white table sat before her.

Her hands were up on the table and they held a piece of colored paper.

Hiba had given her the paper before she had taken her nap. He had said to wait in the cafeteria if he was not around when she woke up and he had given her one hundred fifty pieces of colored paper to kill time with.

He had not been around when she had awoken under the nap room bed the previous night.

She had gone down to the cafeteria, but the usual people in white armored uniforms had been gone.

Instead, everyone was wearing blue.

…''Did they change the uniform?

Still, she had found it unusual that no one was shouting strange things or attacking each other. She had made her way here, but a few men in blue had stopped her. When she had tilted her head, they had placed an armband on her.

She did not entirely understand, but it apparently meant she was a guest.

She had been here ever since and about half of the paper was gone.

She looked to the side and saw someone folding colored paper just like her.

That person’s body was also…no, it was even more of a doll’s body than her own.

She had red hair and went by the name #8. She had said her body was destroyed due to her inexperience, so she had switched over to a spare body. She was currently wearing a white shirt and jeans that had been supplied for her.

Mikage folded the paper along with her to both kill time and help with the automaton’s rehabilitation.

“Ryuuji-kun is late.”

However, he had never said when he would arrive, so it might have still been too early.

''I don’t want to wait too long,'' she thought.

She looked up and saw some people sitting across the table from her.

Those men and women were all wearing blue armored uniforms and they were all holding colored paper she had handed them.

She did not understand their language, but she would use gestures to show them how to fold the paper when they asked.

“Yes. Folding it like that makes people happy.”

She folded, #8 folded next to her, and the red-haired automaton spoke while checking the movements of her fingers.

“Excuse me, Mikage-sama, but this is not a very accurate motion.”

“Ryuuji-kun said that’s better. He said it’s better to have mistakes.”

“I do not want many mistakes.”

“Then you do make some mistakes?”

That made Mikage happy and she said something else to #8.

“We’re the same.”

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> looked back at her with slightly raised eyebrows, but she soon turned back to the colored paper.

“I apologize for my lack of knowledge. I see now that I was wrong.”

“It’s okay. I’m not very smart.”

''So relax,'' she happily thought. ''I’m glad something like this is enough for me to relax.

She did not know what kind of expression to make at times like this, but Hiba had said it would come out on its own without her having to make it.

She wondered if that was happening now. She thought she looked expressionless on the mirror covering the wall, but that might not have been the case.

She did not know the answer, but it did not feel bad and she did not mind.

Her body was definitely improving, bit by bit.

She also thought her mind was improving as she learned more and more, but the others would improve as well and so the distance between them would not change. She focused more on the happiness that they were all improving than on that gap.

…''I can’t wait.

While folding the paper, she told herself that the future was sure to be infinitely more enjoyable than anything so far. She finished the final fold along with the dark-skinned woman across from her and held up the paper.

She inflated it, spread it out, and folded out the front of the portions sticking up on the front and back.

“A crane.”

That was what they had both made. The woman whistled at what she held in her hand.

The two cranes were shaped slightly differently, but the expressions on their faces were the same.

The woman said something and #8 translated.

“She said she will teach her child how to do this once she returns to her home country.”

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> then held out the paper she was folding. The creases on the paper had dotted lines across them, arrows to show the direction, and numbers to show the order.

The woman took it and brought her hands together.

Mikage did the same in return and all the people in blue armored uniforms quickly took the same pose.

“Namu.”

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> frantically looked across them all, but Mikage felt it was unavoidable. That automaton still was not used to how things were done here.

Mikage thought while exchanging nods with all of the people across the table from her.

…''Where are all the people in the white uniforms?

And…

…''Ryuuji-kun really is late.

Hiba was inside a small room.

It was located on UCAT’s first basement and one wall was covered by a large window.

The placard by the entrance called it the Hidden Rest Area.

The window was a one-way mirror and it gave him a view of the rest area next to the cafeteria. The window was located to his left and he could see Mikage sitting at the table in the other room.

She, an automaton, and the American UCAT members observing her were all folding the colored paper he had given her.

She had likely been folding the paper ever since she had been taken into American UCAT custody. She was also waiting for him.

“That must be nice…”

He sighed toward her back and then faced forward.

His hands were not on the table before him because they were handcuffed behind his chair.

These handcuffs had been placed on him the moment he had been captured.

A man sat across the table from him. The bearded man in a blue armored uniform had spoken in Japanese to introduce himself as a sergeant and to say Hiba was to be interrogated.

“Let me ask again,” said the sergeant. “How many people have evacuated down below, how many are injured, and what kind of weaponry do they have?”

“Of course I’m not going to tell you any of that.”

Hiba placed his head on the table and faced sideways so he could calm himself by watching Mikage’s back.

“If you just tell me already, I’ll take you to that world of freedom out there.”

“What are you talking about? It’s better to hide while watching.”

“This seemed like a good place for an interrogation, but what is the point of this room anyway?”

“You don’t know? For the non-humans, especially werewolves or aquatic types, it’s apparently painful to wear clothes for long periods of time. But they can’t exactly strip in front of people, right? So when they can’t stand it anymore they come here, strip naked, and enjoy some virtual streaking.”

Hiba and the sergeant glanced around the room. It contained a radio-cassette player with an exercise tape inside, a hula hoop and treadmill for exercise, and for some reason, a camera on a tripod.

The sergeant cleared his throat before speaking.

“They could just hide their nudity with an optical camouflage philosopher’s stone.”

“They apparently tried that, but things showed up while heading home in the rain or someone they happened to bump into on the street got a good grip on a certain part of their body. After that, they doubled down and created mosaic-style optical camouflage, but it apparently wasn’t popular with foreigners.”

“Ethics really are a tricky thing.”

The sergeant nodded in understanding, reached below the table, and pulled out a machine with a volume switch.

“Now, let’s get the interrogation started for real.”

“Y-you’re just as forceful as my upperclassmen! And what is that machine?”

“This is a philosopher’s stone interrogation device developed by American UCAT. It is called the Shameful 2000 and it contains a philosopher’s stone that will make you want to let out all your secrets. You will begin making confessions of your own accord in proportion to the volume setting. I’ll be fine since I have a philosopher’s stone with an opposing concept, but how long can you last?”

The sergeant suddenly turned the volume up halfway.

—'''Secrets are not to be hidden.

Hiba gave a quiet shriek and shrank down in his chair.

After thirty seconds, the Shameful 2000 gave a chime indicating it was done.

Hearing that, Hiba peered at the sergeant and the man peered back at him.

“Now, let me ask again. How many people have evacuated down below, how many are injured, and what kind of weaponry do they have?”

However, Hiba remained silent and the sergeant smiled.

“You’re focusing your thoughts, aren’t you?”

He raised the volume and Hiba began speaking with a perfectly seriously expression.

“A bath with Mikage-san. A bath with Mikage-san. A bath with Mikage-san. A bass with Mikage-san. A ass with Mikage-san. A bath with Mikage-san’s ass. A bath with Mikage-san’s breasts. A bath with touching Mikage-sa- Oh, no! My focusing thoughts are leaking out!”

“How in the world is that focusing your thoughts!?”

“Don’t underestimate the Japanese, you American! You may have everything out in the open all the time, but our race has a special skill to burn everything into our memories in an instant! When she sits in front of you with a short skirt, leans forward in a shirt, or touches you without thinking, that skill activates! You can almost feel the power coursing through your mind!!! If you take a bath with them, the constant damage to your focus causes your latent powers to awaken! Long live the infinite plain!! And I’ve gotten awfully honest under this confession concept, haven’t I!?”

The sergeant raised the volume to maximum.

“Ah,” said Hiba and a change came over his expression.

Despite all the previous yelling, his expression grew completely blank and he fell silent.

Meanwhile, the sergeant sighed, wiped the sweat from his brow, adjusted his position in his chair, and faced Hiba’s empty eyes.

“Now, let me ask yet again. How many people have evacuated down below, how many are injured, and what kind of weaponry do they have?”

There was a short pause before Hiba answered.

He turned his distant, dead eyes toward the sergeant and spoke with his mouth hanging open.

“Oh,” he said first. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I actually gathered online images of that foreign model because I thought she looked like Mikage-san. I’m sorry. The other day when we were eating lunch on the emergency stairs. I’m sorry. I couldn’t help but look when the wind blew up Kazami-san’s skirt. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Two days ago, I saw Shinjou-san (Boy Ver.)’s underwear from under the arm of the armored uniform. I noticed that it was green but I didn’t say anything.”

“Oh, no. Did I take it too far?”

The sergeant lowered the volume to about halfway and Hiba’s expression returned to normal.

“Listen! If you want to focus the mind properly, you need to focus on the shameful things that-…”

He brought the volume back to maximum.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I only touched Mikage-san’s butt in the bath seven days ago because-…”

“This is hopeless.”

The sergeant lowered the volume to zero and then raised it again.

“Wh-what do you mean hopel- Just coursing through your- I’m sorry.”

“This is definitely hopeless.”

He fully lowered the volume again and Hiba tilted his head toward him.

“Is it really?”

“Yes, so let’s take a more physical route. I’ll be using concepts so it won’t leave any marks.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t waste my time if I were you. I had a fortunetelling done earlier and it said I’m the dog type, so this probably won’t work. It said I’m a dog that loves its master even if it finds that master annoying. It was that punching bag fortunetelling machine in the entertainment room we passed on the way here. I think it’s called ‘A Direct Hit to Your True Character’. Anyway, everyone was a little disturbed by my result.”

“Hmm. Then I guess it wouldn’t count as torture if I chained you up and hit you until you cried.”

“Um, sorry, but wasn’t this supposed to be an interrogation?”

The two of them exchanged a glance and groaned as they thought.

A moment later, a noise reached them.

It was a high-pitched and carrying noise that repeated again and again.

“An alarm!?” shouted the sergeant as he turned toward Hiba.

Hiba collapsed on the table and looked toward Mikage. The people around her were moving, but she was slowly folding the colored paper.

“That must be nice… And I guess it’s about time for what we set up.”

That comment was followed by a shouted announcement.

“Emergency! Everyone on the surface, be on the lookout! A transport lift is rising from underground! It’s carrying…”

After a breath, the voice continued.

“The Vesper Cannon!!”

“When they deem the time is right, Japanese UCAT will strike back while using the Vesper Cannon as a decoy.”

Sayama’s voice filled the mountains as he walked.

The sky above his head was almost entirely filled with the colors of night. He held two travel bags and walked through a large parking lot with Shinjou who had a flower in her hair.

“Do you think they’re all okay?” she asked with a tilt of her head.

“American UCAT is spread out to deal with Black Sun and Japanese UCAT is divided between a concept space unit and a normal space unit. The enemy cannot gather into a single army as when they attacked, so if our side gathers on one side or the other, they have a chance.”

To their left and continuing into the forest behind them was a long runway. A small airplane with the IAI emblem was stopped on that runway.

Their destination was the white building up ahead.

Much like a large hospital, the facility rose five stories above ground level and it too contained the IAI emblem.

“That’s IAI headquarters, isn’t it?” said Shinjou. “We’ve finally come here.”

Most of the building’s windows were dark as business hours were already over.

However, two people stood in front of the building.

One was a blonde maid with a blue stone pendant hanging from her neck.

The other was a girl with semi-long black hair who wore a lab coat. She raised a hand in greeting.

“Should I just say hi? It seems like things have gotten exciting at Okutama.”

“Indeed they have.” Sayama nodded with a bitter smile. “Think of it like an athletic festival between Japan and America. At any rate, it is strange to meet you like this. Are you undergoing UCAT training, Tsukuyomi Miyako-kun?”

“Yeah, and I’m glad to see you’re as self-important as ever. Right now I’m being trained in reproducing weakened concepts. If you like, I could make you one with some leftover materials. …This is Moira 1st. You remember her, right?”

Miyako said it was time to get going and turned around. She faced the dimly-lit entrance to IAI headquarters and tapped Moira 1st on the shoulder. The maid bowed toward the two visitors and turned in the same direction as Miyako.

“I will show you the way to Japanese UCAT’s western general headquarters, supporters of the Leviathan Road.”

“Please do. Here, we should be able to find records from before UCAT’s blank period, such as employee records from the Izumo company days. We are looking for pre-World War Two records on Kinugasa Tenkyou and a man named Shinjou Kaname. Also, any records of people with the surname Shinjou from around twenty years after that.”

Sayama quickened his pace as he spoke and he stepped up onto the raised tile in front of the entrance.

“Doctor Chao mentioned a New Year’s card from the Shinjou family which referenced a child. Upon learning of their father, that child might have gone to the same place as him to learn more about him. Much like we are doing now. …And as a child born during the war, they likely married during the sixties and had a child. And in that case…”

Sayama looked behind him and to Shinjou who was currently Sadame. She met his gaze with a stiff expression.

However, he ignored her tension and spoke without hesitation.

“The odds are good that your father, the one you inherited the surname Shinjou from, was Shinjou Kaname’s grandson. …Let us hurry. The others will have secured a place for us by the time we return.”

At exactly 8:00 PM, the American UCAT teams guarding the large explosion-resistant doors sealing off Japanese UCAT’s fourth basement and below realized a group of people in white and black armored uniforms had appeared without opening the doors.

They had opened a small concept space and passed through the door inside it.

American UCAT was slow to react because they were dealing with the appearance of the Vesper Cannon on the surface and trying to find a way to attach it to one of their Blanca 9 mechanical dragons.

The group in white charged toward American UCAT while letting out a shout.

“Hello!!”

They did not yell loud enough, so they did it again.

“Hellooooo!!”

They all rushed forward and a flow of blue expanded on the building’s aboveground area to fight back.

The second clash was beginning.

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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume9 Chapter 21|Chapter 21]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume9 Chapter 23|Chapter 23]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume8 Chapter 5

2026-04-18T04:08:22Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 5: The Depths of Memory==
[[Image:OnC_v08_0147.png|thumb]]
''Think back and you will reach your past self

''But

''Does that directly link to your future self?

Heo dried off in front of a small bathroom.

She was in a strange apartment, she had nothing to wear, and the apartment’s owner had left.

She was glad she had gotten permission to use the shower when Harakawa had left for school. Her clothes and underwear were hanging from the kitchen ceiling, but she had still been covered in the sweat from the previous night.

The sweat had hardened her hair, but that hair was now damp instead.

However, she had made one mistake. Just because she liked the color, she had chosen the blue container of shampoo. She had kept her guard up because it was made by IAI, but it had still felt so refreshing she had accidentally let out a shout.

…''Do boys like that kind of thing?

A strange refreshing feeling remained around her armpits even after drying off with a bath towel.

She found it ticklish as she wrapped the towel around her.

The cloth felt good on her skin and she suddenly remembered that Harakawa had seen her naked.

She blushed slightly.

…''If I get married in the future, should I tell my husband he isn’t the first one to see me naked?

She sighed and reached for the clothes hanging from the ceiling, but then she realized something.

“They’re damp.”

They still had some water in them and they had the dampness of something that had just left the washing machine.

…''Boys.

But after that thought, she shook her head. While he had seen her naked, he had also saved her and been considerate.

She could not let herself focus on the negative results and ignore his intentions.

The clothes would need to dry before they were back to normal, but he had given it some thought.

“Thank you very much.”

She smiled as she spoke to someone who was not there and then she looked around.

A white washing machine was located to the side of the bath entrance. It was the IAI high-speed washing machine named the “Super Twister”. A similar model was popular in America, but she was pretty sure it had been brought to court because it had put a permanent tendency to spin on a child who had played inside it.

A basket was located next to the machine and it contained the pajamas she had removed and his clothes below that.

That was probably what he had worn the night before and maybe before that.

…''He should have washed those, but he did my clothes first.

She felt she was meddling, but she turned on the washer. The time settings for the different functions appeared on the console, but the time for the spin cycle was set very low. She wondered why.

“Maybe because he runs it after getting home from work at night.”

He would want to keep the noise as short as possible, but it was daytime now. While making a mental note to return it later, she set the time to three times longer.

She divided the laundry between whites and colors.

She first placed the white clothes in the washer and dropped in the appropriate amount of the detergent placed on top of the machine. She did not see any fabric softener, guessed he did not own any because he was a boy, and hit the start button.

The sound of the motor began and the water shook. Once the rotation began, noise filled the previously still apartment.

She let out a breath to add her own noise to the mix. The rhythmic rotation of the water was quite pleasant.

The next thing she knew, she had opened her mouth and started to sing a song.

''Silent night, holy night''

''Long we hoped that He might''

''As our Lord, free us of wrath''

''Since times of our fathers He hath

''Promised to spare all mankind

''Promised to spare all mankind

She sang a verse of the song she had sung on the night just before her father had died.

She recalled also singing it later at the town church her mother had often brought her to.

She kept her voice low enough to be hidden by the washing machine’s noise and she sang with her eyes closed.

“…”

She then took a breath, nodded, gathered strength in her shoulders, and opened her eyes.

The washer was rotating. She wondered if her clothes would be dry by the time it finished washing and she looked down at herself and the bath towel she wore.

“Um…”

She hesitated, but she removed the towel and put it in the washer. She thought about wrapping the futon around her instead and she recalled that Harakawa had said he would be working until late at night after school.

…''It shouldn’t be a problem if it takes me a little longer before I leave.

After telling herself that, she lightly wrapped her arms around herself and walked toward the living room.

“First, I need to go to the train station.”

She needed to take a bus or taxi to the Nishitama Cemetery that they had passed the previous night.

…''Will great-grandfather be there?

She lowered her head as she entered the living room and approached the futon folded up on the tatami mats.

She unfolded it in the morning light and placed it over her head as if trying to crawl into it.

She found herself surrounded by nothing but her own scent, the weight of the futon, and darkness. The only sound was the washing machine muffled by the futon.

She then repeated a certain thought.

…''Is it happening again?

She closed her eyes and recalled something from long ago. When she had been a child…no, she was still a child, but it was long before now.

She recalled when she had lost her mother.

Heo remembered being in a larger place than she was now. It had been made of wood, the ceiling had been high, and it had contained lines of pews as well as a cross and a pulpit up front.

It had been a church. The light of midday had shined through the stained glass, but she had lain on the floor right in front of the pulpit.

She had been exhausted from running until she had collapsed to the ground.

Her memories had been in chaos at the time. While trying to remember why she had been running, she had been reminded of her father who had died long before.

Her father had often praised her for being an incredibly fast runner.

Before moving to the town that contained that church, she had lived in a place with lots of fields and running had allowed her to see many different things.

She had often gone outside with her parents, partially to receive their praise.

Once her father had died, she had come to that church’s town. When going shopping there, she had run down the road while tugging on her mother’s arm.

Her mother had often scolded her for running on ahead, but she had always been smiling when doing so. It had been during that time that her mother had given her the necklace of stones.

Was this the same as back then? She had a faint memory of her mother suddenly shoving her forward while they were taking a walk together.

Her mother had told her to run.

She had asked why and her mother had answered while pointing at the church on the top of the hill.

“It’s a race. When we get there, I’ll sing for you.”

But the smile on her mother’s face had been stiff.

She had thought something was wrong, but she had been too afraid to ask and had thus begun to run. She had simply run while squeezing the necklace her mother had given her as a mental support.

Even her mother’s footsteps behind her had scared her as she had run to the church as fast as she could and then collapsed.

The young Heo in her memories had stood up and wondered what had happened.

She had run back to the church’s entrance and found the door had closed.

When she had pushed open the wooden door, she had found a certain sight: with the field in the background, someone sat with their back to her.

Her mother had sat on the stairs up to the church.

“—————”

She had called out to her mother but received no answer. When she had hesitantly placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder, she had found an odd weight there.

The weight moved in her direction, she had been unable to support it, and her mother had slowly lain back on the stairs.

The white shirt her mother had always worn on walks had been dyed a dark red from the chest to the stomach.

“…!”

Heo had shouted something and embraced her mother. Then, her mother had moved slightly.

Her unfocused eyes had looked up into the sky and then at Heo.

She had been smiling and her eyes finally focused as she looked at Heo.

“…”

She quietly uttered something that did not even form words and her hand fell limply down.

“———!”

Heo had shouted and shaken her mother, but the woman would no longer react.

After crying out for a while longer, Heo had looked around.

What had happened and what had caused it?

That was when she had seen it.

It was wind.

She had seen a mass of wind in front of the church. It had shaken and her memories remembered nothing except that it had been gigantic. The movement of the air had seemed like a mountain.

That was when the word “demon” had entered her mind.

And then the demon had vanished.

She did not remember much after that. Her great-grandfather had taken her in and they had moved again and again, but everywhere they went, the story of her mother’s death would get out and she would be known as the girl saved from a demon attack.

A few people who had come running had apparently seen the same mass of wind as she had.

The further away she went, the more the rumor grew distorted as it pursued her.

She went from being protected by god to being loved by a demon and sometimes she was said to be on the run after killing the people of her old town.

At first, she had been angry, but at some point, she had started to cry instead. Even later, she had accepted it as normal and hidden it away within herself.

Her sociable great-grandfather had moved with her again and again and the rumors had eventually vanished, but she had started actively avoiding people by that point.

…''If I get close to someone…

That demon could come again and kill them.

She had lived for eight years while dragging those thoughts around. She had to take her entrance exams this year, so her great-grandfather had made various arrangements and suggested they visit her father’s grave. If nothing happened then, he said everything would be okay.

“But it came again.”

This was the same.

Her mother had once told her to run and her great-grandfather had done the same last night.

She was praised for her running, but she may no longer have anyone to give that praise.

…''What happened to great-grandfather?

She had to find out, but then she opened her eyes in the darkness.

“…”

She took a breath inside the darkness of the futon, wiped away the tears that had appeared in the corners of her eyes, and crawled forward to leave the futon.

But her head hit something hard.

“~ ~”

She raised her head and the futon along with it and she found a metal window frame. She belatedly remembered she had entered the futon headfirst with the futon spread out in front of the large southern window.

She turned around with the futon still on top of her and she moved to the table.

During breakfast, Harakawa had said he had left the key on the table.

“Huh?”

But there was no key there.

She tilted her head and looked to the wall between the living room and kitchen. Perhaps as a decoration, ten or so American motorcycle license plates were placed on that wall.

However, there was no key hanging on the walls or the columns.

“…?”

She tilted her head further and stood up to check the kitchen. She folded the futon up next to the living room wall and moved swiftly while lightly wrapping her arms around her naked body.

She checked on the sink, the walls, the columns, the running washing machine, and the laundry basket, but she could not find a key.

“Um…”

…''Now I can’t leave.

She wondered what to do and brought a hand to her neck.

She felt a tremble run down her back. The cause was simple.

…''My necklace.

The necklace her mother had given her was gone.

She frantically checked through the laundry basket, but there was no sign of it there. She doubted Harakawa was the type to steal, so she was left with only one conclusion.

“I dropped it while running last night?”

She wanted to go out and search and her thoughts raced outwards, but her clothes still needed time to dry and she did not have the key.

“…”

Unsure what to do, she started back for the living room and recalled when she had cried because Harakawa had seen her naked.

He had stayed with her until she stopped crying and he had told her she could use the bath as he left.

And he had locked the door.

“That means he took the key with him.”

[[Image:OnC_v08_0159.png|thumb]]

She guessed he had forgotten to leave the key because she had confused him by crying.

And as she held her body and wondered what to do, the front door opened and Harakawa stepped in.

He was clearly in a bit of a rush.

“I forgot to leave the key. Heo, are you here?”

He stopped speaking when he saw her.

“—————”

He frowned while she gasped and froze in place.

While still looking at her, he tilted his head.

“Why in the world are you naked in the middle of the day?”

He then saw Heo cry for the second time that day.

A few people walked in the sunlight as noon approached.

The three boys and one girl moved by foot and motorcycle.

A girl in a school uniform rode on the back of the motorcycle.

Of the two male students walking in front of the motorcycle, the one with long hair turned around while shaking a travel bag.

“Kazami-san, I’m amazed you found Izumo-san. How far had he drifted?”

As they crossed the railroad track cutting across the road, Kazami replied while sitting on the back of the motorcycle.

“I found him being chased by sharks off of Fukushima. If he had drifted any further, he might have ended up on a route circling the Pacific. Kaku, how was the ocean?”

“When there aren’t any swimsuits around, the ocean is just the ocean. I don’t want to remember any of it. …But anyway, aren’t you on your way to Kyushu after this, Sayama, Shinjou? Should you really be running an errand for Ooki-sensei?”

“We already have a response from 4th-Gear. More importantly, I do not see why you two would come along for one of Ooki-sensei’s random requests.”

Sayama turned back toward Izumo and Kazami. He held two travel bags.

“Well, we can view it as the student council giving a warning to a student who is not showing up at school. It would have been nice to have the Hiba boy along after Kazami half-forced him to join as assistant treasurer. He is in the same club as Harakawa, after all.”

“It would be strange if we brought Mikage with us and Hiba said he was training with her at UCAT after earning his attendance for the day. Sibyl was very excited about finishing the armored uniform for Mikage. She’s acting like she has a new little sister. It makes me feel a bit lonely,” said Kazami with a shrug. However, she soon gathered her eyebrows together. “But that isn’t the only reason we’re here. UCAT’s Japanese branch has received some instructions to be carried that completely ignore the fact that we’re supposed to be off duty. We’re to be on our guard in the Akigawa area and take Heo Thunderson into custody if we find her.”

Sf had informed Kazami of that fact when she had arrived in the decorated lobby during mid-morning. Diana and the others had been burning straw dolls on a Buddhist altar. They claimed it was to clean up the celebration preparations, but Kazami had not understood what it meant.

“They probably want to make up for that Thunderson man’s death a little by finding his missing great-granddaughter.”

Kazami looked across the others and pulled a photograph from her breast pocket. It showed a blonde girl in shorts running on a track and the words “Japanese UCAT Overseas Travel Department” were printed at the bottom.

“The girl in this photo – that was clearly taken without her knowledge – is the one who disappeared last night. But this photo isn’t much to go by. I’d like some more information, but it’s all we have because it seems America isn’t giving us anything else.”

“I hope we do find her, but when it has been this long with no word from her and no demand for a ransom, she might have been abducted and imprisoned by someone with as many odd interests as the old man.”

“I seriously doubt another abnormality like him exists. …But that black mechanical dragon from last night created the concept space she escaped from, right? What was that?”

Sayama answered by pulling some copy paper from the side pocket of one travel bag. It was a printout of the classified UCAT data Kashima had sent them that summer.

He expressionlessly held the documents up toward Baku on his head.

“Have any of you realized that we can read more of this now? Specifically, the section on 5th-Gear. Oh, Izumo. No need to force yourself. I understand that savages have a low literacy rate.”

“Don’t look down on me, Sayama. I’m a high-level person who learned to read ‘women’s bath’ before any other Japanese term.”

“Th-that certainly is a high level of something…”

“You don’t have to respond to those two idiots, Shinjou. Just hurry up and check the documents.”

Kazami thought about the past as she watched Shinjou frantically read through the documents.

…''Kaku just lied.

After all, she had been the one to teach him to read Japanese.

The first term she had taught him was “Kaku” and the first one he had learned himself was “Chisato”.

''It’s been two years since then,'' she thought while the scenery ahead began to slope down.

Sayama’s classmate named Harakawa lived at the end of this road after an intersection with another road.

She had attended elementary school next to the river down below, so it had been a while since she had seen this scenery. Once they reached the elementary school, she would be able to see her house in the residential area across the river.

As Shinjou walked down the slope as if pushed along by her travel bag, she suddenly looked up from the documents.

Her eyebrows were raised in surprise.

“Um, it’s true. I can read what’s written here now. That’s amazing, Sayama-kun!”

“Ha ha ha! Praise me more, Shinjou-kun.”

“Chisato, I have a feeling being able to read it has nothing to do with Sayama being amazing.”

“Shh. Receiving food from its master is one of the joys of a pet.”

“I-I am not a pet! I’m the one giving him food!”

“Does that mean I am your pet, Shinjou-kun? In that case, I request that you groom me, bathe me, and let me sleep in your bed on a daily basis. How about that?”

“You should probably go ahead and get him fixed,” cut in Izumo.

Meanwhile, Kazami took the documents from Shinjou.

After taking the copy paper, she leaned forward as if to cover Izumo’s back. She reached over his shoulders to hold the documents where they could both see them.

“Look, can you read it, Kaku?”

“Hm? Oh, a bit to the right. Good, now a little lower. Yes, right there. That puts your breasts in a nice calming- I give, I give, I give! I’m gonna fall! No choking!”

Kazami clicked her tongue and released the chokehold. She looked forward and found Sayama and Shinjou glaring at her.

“Pressing your breasts against him, groping, and embracing all in broad daylight? What an indecent couple.”

“A chokehold is not an embrace! And if you want to see groping, it’s more like this!”

Letting Izumo say anything more would just cause more problems, so Kazami silenced him.

She flipped through the documents and indeed found the 5th-Gear investigation report to be readable.

However, it was written in English.

She frowned at the fact that it was not in Japanese, but then Shinjou tilted her head.

“Can you read it, Kazami-san? I couldn’t read much.”

“Yes, not only can I perceive the writing, I can actually read it. You might not expect it, but I know English. …Anyway, the report was written by Richard Thunderson. He was from American UCAT, right?”

Shinjou looked impressed and Kazami gave a bitter smile in return. She wondered if Shinjou would think of her more as an upperclassman now.

Kazami went on to read the report on 5th-Gear.

“5th-Gear was originally a world with two planets. It had no outer space and was surrounded by a sky filled with air.”

Its concept of gravity made it a world of “falling” rather than of normal gravity. A civilization of flying by falling was quickly established and people began traveling between the two planets.

“However, they created two powerful weapons for the Concept War. A Concept War self-defense base was created on one of the two planets and the self-evolving combat mechanical dragon named Black Sun was left there. The other planet was used to manufacture weapons and the self-evolving weather control mechanical dragon named White Creation was left there for the people who had been evacuated to there.”

“I believe this continues with a ‘but’,” commented Sayama.

Kazami nodded.

“Black Sun had been ordered to fight and protect the people, but after evolving, it had doubts about how its own military base of a planet was sending those people to the battlefield. It concluded that, if the base did not exist, the people would not go to die and they would not kill the people of other Gears, so it forced the people to evacuate and destroyed the very planet it was meant to protect.”

And…

“Black Sun then found a way to completely end all conflict and bring peace. That was to destroy the remaining planet and the weapons it contained.”

Shinjou gulped at what she had read, but Sayama merely nodded and spoke.

“The two planets were destroyed in the early stages of the Concept War. 5th-Gear became a land where the wreckage of the planets floated in a vast sky and the change in atmospheric pressure brought the people to extinction. The only way Black Sun could protect itself from the contradictory actions it had taken was to evolve into an out-of-control weapon.”

“Then the black mechanical dragon from last night was probably Black Sun, wasn’t it?” asked Shinjou.

However, Sayama lightly crossed his arms and did not nod.

“Is that really the best way of putting it?”

“Why do you say that?”

“There is an addition at the end of the report. Black Sun was destroyed off the coast of Hokkaido but escaped deep under the ocean while White Creation and the other mechanical dragons all vanished. 5th-Gear was then destroyed by Richard Thunderson.” Sayama tilted his head. “Based on what we know, the mechanical dragon from last night was Black Sun or Tezcatlipoca from South American mythology, but it has evolved and resurrected itself after sixty years. Meanwhile, the mechanical dragon named White Creation that corresponds to Quetzalcoatl is currently missing. But where did White Creation and the others go and how did Thunderson-san bring about 5th-Gear’s destruction. Both of those mysteries remain.”

Kazami suddenly recalled a certain fact.

“Do you think 5th-Gear’s Concept Core is inside those two mechanical dragons? Half of it is said to be stored in UCAT as a powerful weapon, isn’t it?”

“But is that powerful weapon a mechanical dragon?” asked Shinjou. “If it was, wouldn’t they just call it one?”

“In that case, there may have been something more to 5th-Gear than just those two mechanical dragons,” said Sayama.

“Hmm,” thought Kazami while cheerfully thinking how much more fun a conversation was with plenty of people. “But who are we supposed to hold 5th-Gear’s Leviathan Road with?”

“The old man refused to tell me that. I think he plans to tell us once the negotiations with 4th are complete. It may be with the weapon held by UCAT or White Creation may still live. He said Thunderson-san was to be involved in 5th’s Leviathan Road, so it is also possible American UCAT’s inspector will guide us to our negotiation partner.” Sayama remained expressionless. “But American UCAT has remained silent ever since sending their temporary inspectors. …What do you think about that?”

“It sounds dangerous to me. Thunderson-san was supposed to be cooperative as one of the Eight Great Dragon Kings, but can we say the same for the temporary inspectors American UCAT has chosen?”

“If Thunderson-san had lived, we would have known everything including why he had come to Japan, but that cannot be changed now.”

After everyone exchanged a glance and nodded, Kazami shrugged.

“There’s just so much to worry about. For one, we don’t know where the other half of 5th’s Concept Core is. If the black mechanical dragon named Black Sun has it, it might have recovered its strength by the next time we see it.”

Shinjou also shrugged and she opened her mouth with a relaxed expression.

“But that footage your transport plane took showed the mechanical dragon was over three hundred meters long. …If we fought that, it would be like a monster movie. Sayama-kun, you know about monster movies, right? They have those huge monsters like Whalerilla which was a combination of a whale and a gorilla to symbolize its strength.”

“Ha ha ha. It’s time you came back from the past, Shinjou-kun. Later, I will show you a mysterious movie in which the piano wire is not visible at all. It is even on a black disk that resembles a CD.”

“C’mon, Sayama-kun. Stop trying to trick me. A movie would never fit on something like a CD. You need something as long and thick as a tape.”

“Sayama,” said Kazami in exasperation. “As her roommate, you need to teach Shinjou more about the modern age.”

Kazami then looked forward. They had reached the end of the downward slope and the four lanes of Old Itsukaichi Road cut across in front of them. The narrow road they were on continued straight on after the intersection.

“Harakawa-kun lives in the old apartment building at the end there, right?” asked Shinjou.

Suddenly, Baku looked up from Sayama’s head. Kazami saw the creature look at the documents in her hand.

“Hm?”

She tilted her head and Baku did so as well.

A moment later, the past opened up before her eyes.

Shinjou found herself in a dimly-lit space.

Her experiences immediately told her she was in the past.

…''But when in the past?

No one was going to answer her question, so she looked around in search of the answer.

It was a large concrete space that measured one hundred meters in each direction. She saw small lights installed on the walls, pillars with cranes and winches installed near the walls, and large boxes filled with tools.

In addition to that, several large objects were visible in the space.

…''Fighter planes with propellers?

The floor in the back was sloped and she saw a shutter for heading up and out. She belatedly realized the space had no windows.

“This is an underground hangar.”

Once she made that realization, she looked to the airplanes. They were all smaller than the fighters and transport planes she had seen on UCAT’s runway and their emblems were not all the same.

Some said Izumo Company, some said US-UCAT, and others said GER-UCAT or CHI-UCAT. She could think of only one place all those would have gathered.

“Japanese UCAT after the war. This is in Sayama-kun’s grandfather’s time.”

''But why am I being shown this past?'' she wondered while tilting her non-existent head.

She tried walking from the wall left of the exit to the opposite metal wall.

“Huh?”

She found something strange at the bottom of the metal wall before her.

They were blades.

A mechanical component the size of a small car had three blades extending from it.

Each blade was thicker and longer than her own body, they were white, and they reflected the dim light coming from the wall.

“Claws?”

She took a quick step back which expanded her field of vision and she looked up at what she had assumed was a wall.

She found it was actually a dragon.

It was a mechanical dragon. The blue and white mechanical dragon sat on a large transportation pallet.

It was so large that she could only call it gigantic. It was over three times as long as the fighters and she guessed it was at least thirty meters.

It was hunkered down so it just barely fit below the ceiling, but nothing could be done about its length. It looked like it was simply sitting still so as not to be in the way.

…''What is this mechanical dragon?

She had heard that American UCAT had been researching mechanical dragons as far back as before World War Two and that they could currently deploy them for combat.

However, the mechanical dragon before her eyes looked like it was from an entirely different civilization than the airplanes next to it.

Its moving parts were made large yet complexly, the armor appeared to cling to it rather than being riveted on, and there was no sign of any part having been welded.

“What is this?”

She then noticed a man was sitting on the floor near what appeared to be the dragon’s face.

He had blond hair and blue eyes, he held a bottle of yellow liquid in his right hand, and he spoke while facing the dragon.

“So when you get down to it, what are you?”

Shinjou’s mind heard the answer.

The answer came in the form of sound.

“I do not know. I simply found myself flying through the sky in this body.”

The sound was produced from the mechanical dragon’s throat.

…''He’s talking with the dragon.

Shinjou had her mind run over to the two of them. ''Um,'' she thought as she tried to figure out where to stop. She chose the airplane next to them and stopped below the upwards-curving wing of the propeller plane. She sat her mind down on the landing tire.

She faced forward as the dragon continued speaking to the man.

“At first, I did not know who I was. I only knew that I was flying through the sky. No, I did not even have the word ‘sky’ back then, so I was flying through empty space. As I flew, I found others like me and managed to speak with them. Once we were able to look at each other, we realized something.”

The dragon raised its head slightly, opened the windshield, and exposed the empty cockpit.

“Our heads are empty.”

“Sounds like a horror story.”

“I do not know the meaning of that term. …But as we investigated, we managed to operate the structures inside us and found that our bodies would move on their own. The one being experimented on suddenly took off at full speed and caused a fair bit of damage.”

“Sounds like you were pretty reckless. A lot like we used to be.”

The man laughed a bit and the dragon lowered its head.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Oh, so you understand laughter? …I wasn’t laughing at you. I was laughing at my old memories. I call them old, but it was only a year ago.”

“So short-lived races refer to recent events as ‘old’.”

“Will that help you understand this world? Anyway, how did the investigation of yourselves go?”

“Well, we guessed that something was meant to fill that empty space and pilot us. That meant we were meant to be used and our masters were gone for some reason.”

“Gone?”

“We quickly found the reason. There were small pieces of rock floating in the air that we would use to rest on, but the observations taken by my many companions allowed us to guess that they had originally been one single object. Most likely, the place in which our masters lived was destroyed and only we remained.”

“And what destroyed that place?”

“We do not know the details, but an enemy soon appeared. It was a black dragon much larger than us. He attacked and shot down a few of us. However, a giant white dragon quickly appeared to help us.”

Once the dragon finished speaking, Shinjou heard another sound. The man grabbed the bottle sitting next to him and brought it to his mouth.

As the contents foamed, he spoke.

“Sorry. I got some answers I expected and some I didn’t.”

“What is that liquid?”

“It’s made by fermenting grains such as wheat. Have you never heard of alcohol?”

“I have heard it is a combustible compound. It must function as your fuel. How very interesting.”

“Let’s just leave it at that and continue. So what was that giant white dragon?”

“He called himself White Creation and told us to take identifiers that indicated why we existed. In other words, names. Thunderson, these were the same as the series of sounds and letters that you use.”

The man, Thunderson, brought the bottle to his mouth again and then rested his chin on his hand.

“Did your names give you power? Do you have a concept like 2nd-Gear?”

“No, that is not what they were for. They were to distinguish between our existences and our roles. We are machines meant to be used, so our masters give us identifiers to tell us apart and they give us permission to make full use of our abilities. But without any masters, we are given no names and we cannot release the limits on our abilities. However, we wished to avoid destruction,” said the dragon. “Both Black Sun and White Creation had been given names by our lost masters, but they were no longer around to give us names. That was why White Creation used his power to open a gate to this world.”

“Wait,” said Thunderson as he held out his left palm and looked directly at the mechanical dragon. “So you were given names by…?”

“By the people of this world, yes. Using your units, I believe it was over one thousand five hundred years ago. I could not grasp the pronunciation perfectly, but I chose the name Xolotl for myself. It was this world’s word for the Evening Star. This makes my third time to be restored, so I now go by Xolotl 3.”

“Have you been fighting all this time?”

“Yes, but Black Sun is stubborn. He and White Creation both possess a half of our world’s Concept Core. When we corner him, he flees to this world.”

“…”

“When half of the Concept Core is lost, the world is destroyed. In the instant Black Sun leaves, our world begins to crumble and we must end our pursuit.”

“So that’s it.”

“That is what?”

Thunderson looked up at the ceiling as he spoke.

“James was right. That thing is being pursued by all of you, so it distracts itself by hunting the weak here and then returns to your world before it’s destroyed, right?”

“Have you met Black Sun?”

“I wasn’t able to catch up.”

“That is for the best,” said Xolotl 3 quietly.

Thunderson frowned, but the dragon continued.

“You must have concluded that your world’s technology cannot stand up to Black Sun.”

“Hey.”

“Richard Thunderson, I made a few mistakes on my way here. My first was when I fought Black Sun six years ago and was shot down in this world. My second was being captured here and yet remaining behind and protecting the people here from that sudden concept battle that occurred when you brought me back to my crash site.”

And…

“I assisted you on the advice of 3rd-Gear’s Rhea and placed this world’s ‘mankind’ within the effective scope of my name.”

“The effective scope of your name?”

“That means the power I can use by the name of the Evening Star applies to you as well as my companions. And with that said, I still say that you cannot stand up to Black Sun.”

“Are you saying you can?”

The blue and white dragon moved in response to Thunderson’s question.

It raised its body a little and produced the sound of moving metal.

It revealed something below its belly. It was a long white cannon installed as if the dragon were carrying it in its arms.

“This is my personal weapon that can only be installed on me. To use your country’s current language, it would be named the Vesper Cannon. According to White Creation, it is the only weapon that can directly pierce Black Sun’s armor on its own.”

“…”

“For some reason, this world has no concept power and I thus cannot refine fuel from the air. I was finally able to accumulate enough fuel to fly with Rhea’s help, but my companions have surely been fighting in their own names the entire time. The time for me to fly is approaching and I will bring you to 5th-Gear, Thunderson.”

“Why?”

“When you see the state of 5th-Gear, you will see what it means to make Black Sun your enemy. But do not worry. We will surely destroy Black Sun and then we must part ways until our world is destroyed.”

The dragon faced Thunderson with white light in the sight devices that acted as eyes.

“When we first met, you ignored me when I asked if you were here to get information from me. You instead carried my pallet out under the blue sky and simply read a book. Why did you do that?”

“Hah. No real reason. Back then, I thought I might be able to use you to defeat Black Sun, but when I saw you, I realized you weren’t something that should be chained up in here.”

“An excellent decision.”

“And that’s why I decided to let you do what you wanted. At the very least, I wouldn’t keep my mechanical dragon holed up in a hangar if it had a mind of its own. So are we gonna go, Xolotl 3?”

“I do not yet have the power needed to pass through the gate, but once I do, I will go ahead, receive permission from my companions, and then return for you. If you then find records of 5th-Gear, we will go even further ahead. To use the phrase the one named Sayama taught me, I believe we are on our way to the destination of our resolve.”

Shinjou heard a bitter laugh and her vision grew dark.

The past was beginning to end.

She sat up from the landing leg she had been sitting on and she looked at Thunderson.

…''Huh?

She noticed something strange about the bottle in his right hand.

He had brought it to his mouth a few times during the conversation.

“But the amount inside hasn’t changed.”

He was only pretending to drink and she closed her mental eyes as she wondered why.

…''There must be something.

Something that he would have been unable to say or unable to keep quiet if he had not been pretending to do so.

As she realized she had done the same thing in the past, her mind fell into darkness.

A moment later, the past ended.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume8 Chapter 4|Chapter 4]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume8 Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume8 Chapter 1

2026-04-17T02:30:25Z

N-Ch:

[[Image:OnC_v08_0026-0027.png|thumb]]
''I think I want to go somewhere

''I also think I want to be somewhere

''Are those the same thing?

—''You may not know the answer

—''However, you will not even know that unless you seek the answer

==Chapter 1: Descent of Darkness==
[[Image:OnC_v08_0029.png|thumb]]
''Something comes this way

''With no footsteps

''With nothing to communicate

A large lobby had a high ceiling and an oil painting on the wall displayed the Virgin Mary holding her child.

It was the lobby of UCAT headquarters which was disguised as IAI’s transportation building.

Currently, the lobby’s front window showed the darkness of night, but the inside was bright and filled with different colors.

The colors came from the decorations added to the lobby. Banners of red and white or black and white were hanging from the walls, gold paper balls and chains of colored paper hung from the ceiling, and…

“Why are there paper cranes and straw dolls, Diana?”

A gray-haired girl looked across the lobby and spoke. She had a black cat at her feet and a blue bird sitting on her head and she looked to the woman in a black suit who was decorating the empty lobby on her own.

The woman, Diana, hammered a straw doll with a red and white band around its stomach to the wall.

“Oh? In Japan, these are used to pray for a visitor’s safety. You didn’t know that, Brunhild?”

“I’ve never seen a showy tradition like this in Japan.”

“That is because the Japanese are a modest people who coexist with nature. They tend not to show off this sort of celebration. From what I have read, these straw dolls are made from a natural material that is kind to nature and they are secretly hammered to trees near shrines. There even seems to be a rule about only hammering one hundred times so you don’t hurt the trees. …Want to help?”

Diana turned around and pointed at a nearby work table.

Brunhild looked over and saw long nails, straw dolls, and a wooden hammer on the table.

“What is this? It has a paper attached that says Ooshiro Kazuo.”

“UCAT Director Ooshiro paid for the celebratory wreaths and I still had money left over after preparing both the red and black ones, so I made these dolls as well. That one has one of his hairs in it, so it should properly represent him during the celebration.”

“I see.”

Brunhild nodded and walked over with doll, hammer, and nail in hand. She arbitrarily stopped in from of a red and white sotoba on a nearby wall.

“But what is the celebration for?”

“An inspector is arriving from American UCAT. Team Leviathan will soon begin the Leviathan Road for 4th-Gear and 5th-Gear, right? Well, 5th has strong connections to America.”

“They sure took their time in calling in a major player like that. The business with 3rd was finished at the end of July, but it’s already October and they’re only starting to talk about the next Leviathan Road now? The world is going to be destroyed at this rate. …Would I be right in assuming that’s because Japanese UCAT was too busy dealing with the restraints placed on them by the other UCATs?”

“Yes. You may be aged, but I see the blood is still reaching your brain.”

“Oh? That’s because I belong to a race that naturally ages slowly unlike a certain someone whose brain is wrinkling while she keeps her appearance looking young.”

Brunhild placed the straw doll on the wall and made the first strike on the nail.

“I also hear Shinjou met someone from that ridiculous group called the Army. The automaton named Gyes handed over some information on them, right? There’s that girl named Shino that I saw, the woman named Tatsumi and the mechanical dragon that showed up after the battle with 3rd, the Toda Mikoku that Shinjou met, and the man named Hajji that Gyes mentioned. What are you going to do now that they’ve shown themselves?”

Diana did not respond, so Brunhild hammered the nail again and clicked her tongue.

“Are you planning to give the inspector such a warm welcome so you can avoid that issue?”

“Sorry, but this inspector quite likes Japan even if he doesn’t show it. Once he’s here, the Leviathan Road should go quite smoothly. I don’t know the details myself, but UCAT Director Ooshiro says he will take part in the Leviathan Road with 5th-Gear.”

“What do you mean he will take part? …And who is he anyway?”

“Richard Thunderson, one of the Eight Great Dragon Kings. He is the one who destroyed 5th-Gear. …Also, I do not know how he will take part in the negotiation. He may be an intermediary to avoid the restraints set in place by American UCAT.”

Brunhild frowned and hammered again. The nail pierced the doll, the sotoba, and then the wall behind them.

“That sounds nice, Diana, but why are you decorating for his arrival. I thought you didn’t like America.”

“I will talk about that once our guest arrives. …Or do you really want to know now?”

“Hah. The words of some elderly witch aren’t worth hearing.”

Brunhild looked away from Diana and repeatedly hammered in the straw doll. Diana did the same to her doll and Brunhild nearly lost herself in the overlapping sounds.

But then the black cat at her feet spoke.

“Brunhild, seeing this doll celebration gave me a thought. Are you sure we aren’t being gradually fooled by this entire world?”

Just as Brunhild was going to ask “about what”, someone exited the stairs leading to the lower floors.

“Tes. Diana-sama, I have gathered most of them.”

Sf placed countless straw dolls on the work table.

“I have taken hair samples from 80% of UCAT’s personnel ranked supervisor or higher and placed them inside the dolls. I have determined the blessing effect during the celebration will be extraordinary if all of these dolls are hammered to the walls.”

“Just out of curiosity, how did you take those samples?”

“Tes. I visited the individuals as they worked and took the samples.”

“I see. That’s surprisingly normal.”

“Tes. The automatons of German UCAT are very well made. To ensure I did not interrupt their work, I approached silently from behind and pulled out the sample such that it caused no pain.”

Brunhild glared at Sf and Diana approached the work table to pick up a certain doll.

“Oh? You made a doll of Itaru? Are you sure about that, Sf?”

“Tes. I explained their purpose to him and he gave me permission to take his hair sample as long as I did not use it for anything bad.”

“That isn’t what I meant. Are you sure ''you'' want to do this?”

“Tes. My decisions are ranked below Itaru-sama’s.”

“Is that so?” Diana’s eyes narrowed and bent as she held the Itaru doll out to Sf. “I’m giving this to you.”

“You will not be using it for the celebratory ritual?”

“Itaru told you not to use it for anything bad, right? That did not limit its use to celebration, so I am giving it to you based on my own decision.”

“Tes.” Sf nodded. “Thank you very much. I will use my Japanese-style modesty function.”

She waved her hand side to side in front of her face.

“No, no. I have determined that is not necessary. …How was that?”

“No, no. Take it. I insist.”

“Tes. I have determined that was an excellent comeback, Diana-sama. In that case, I apologize, but I will take it.”

She took the straw doll, held it in both hands, and raised it toward the ceiling.

“But what is this? The real Itaru-sama is still there. This is not him. Yet it contains a portion of him. So what is it?”

“Can you imagine it?”

Diana’s question was answered not by Sf but by Brunhild who was still hammering.

“She can’t. A machine is a machine, so it doesn’t have a person’s imagination.”

“Tes. Brunhild-sama is correct. I will activate my praise circuits.”

She placed the doll on the table and gave five expressionless claps toward Brunhild.

“I have determined that was wonderful. …How was that?”

“That was more than enough.”

Brunhild gave an annoyed sigh, placed the handle of the wooden hammer against her forehead, and thought for a moment.

“Y’know,” she began. “A complex system like imagination might be difficult for a machine, but doesn’t a machine have its own form of imagination? For example, if you want to think of the doll as that gray-haired man, how about you try identifying the doll as him? Give it his name or something.”

“Tes. I have determined that idea is based on 2nd-Gear’s concepts. But I must say that the doll does a poor job of reproducing Itaru-sama even if it is given his name. It will not function as a replacement.”

“Don’t blame me for that,” said Brunhild. “Okay, we don’t have to worry about the definition. Just answer me this: do you want to throw away that doll or do you want to keep it? If you want to throw it away, I’ll burn it right here. If you want to keep it, then take good care of it.”

Hearing that, Sf looked at the straw doll on the table. She picked it up, held it up, and hugged it thrice.

“Tes. Understood. I have determined I should place it in a vacuum-sealed vault to store it unquestionably safely.”

Brunhild saw Diana smile bitterly.

She also felt something tap her leg. She looked down and saw the cat looking up at her.

“I need to reconsider my opinion of you, Brunhild.”

She kicked it away with her heel and began hammering once more.

Amid the noise, the doll hugging a doll spoke.

“Come to think of it, the guest should have arrived already.”

A short silence followed.

“I wonder where he is.”

It was night.

Below the dark sky was an expanse of land containing mountains and a city.

However, there was one odd thing about the city constructed between the mountains.

An area with a diameter of a few hundred meters stretching from the city’s northwest edge to the center was surrounded by a slight shadow. Also, the shadow was too faint to see without looking closely.

It was a concept space.

That alternate space was created by altering a portion of reality and recreating reality inside. But in most cases, the inside would be deserted and the electricity and water pipes would be cut off.

Not a single light illuminated the city and the cars on the main road had lost their drivers and come to a stop after either hitting each other or running up onto the sidewalk.

Even the traffic signals had lost their light, so they were nothing but obstacles. A red car had crashed into the base of one signal and the sign hanging from it indicated this was the city of Akigawa.

Two sets of footsteps traveled below that sign and to the south.

One was the sound of light shoes and the other was the sound of leather shoes with one leg dragging a bit.

The two who were running south along the dark road were a girl and an old man.

The girl’s shoulder-length blonde hair was illuminated by the light of the real nighttime scenery outside the concept space. She ran but soon looked over her shoulder. Her eyebrows twisted a little over her blue eyes.

“————?”

The words she spoke were in English and her appeal of a question was directed at the old man who was dragging his right leg. His gray hair was cut short, he was tall, and he too had blue eyes.

He nodded and looked around the area. They were in the center of the two-lane road. Nearby, a white sedan was stopped by the curb of the sidewalk.

The old man dragged his leg and shook the bottom of his summer coat as he slowly approached the white sedan. The driver’s side window was open and he spotted the key in the ignition.

He further peered inside, corrected the position of the gear shift and hand brake, and turned the key.

But the car did not react. He turned the key a few more times, but it would not start.

“…”

He slowly muttered something to the girl.

“…?”

She repeated his words as a question and he nodded after moving away from the car. He narrowed his eyes and looked across the sky with his right hand in his pocket. There was a division between inside and outside the concept space. The border was marked by the line along which the low clouds and shimmering of heat came to an end.

They currently stood on the southern side of the dome-shaped concept space.

After confirming that, he sighed.

He removed his hand from his pocket, looked to the girl, and spoke a name instead of more English.

“Heo.”

The girl looked up and the old man held his right hand toward her and opened it.

A wristwatch sat on his palm. It was large, undecorated, and old. The original blue and white coloring had peeled off and the brass frame now dully reflected the light.

However, the watch was functioning even in the concept space, including the red dial below the hours, minutes, and seconds hands.

Five letters were currently displayed on that odometer-style red dial: ACCEL.

The girl named Heo tilted her head even further when she saw those letters, but the old man only smiled back. He said something and pushed his palm even further toward her.

Heo hesitated, but she finally reached for the old man’s watch.

She gave him one last questioning look and finally took it once he nodded.

She then followed his instructions by placing the watch around her slender left wrist, turning the stem, and manipulating it in a few other ways.

The meter dial displayed a series of letters, five at a time.

NEWRI DERSE TUP!!

After seeing that text, the old man raised his hand and pointed to the south.

Heo’s shoulders trembled and she shook her head.

“—————”

He spoke and brought a hand just beneath her neck.

She wore a necklace made of stones around her skinny neck. It was missing a few stones, but Thunderson called her name as he touched it. When he spoke next, he no longer spoke English.

“You learned this piece-of-shit and pain-in-the-ass language from me and your teacher, right?”

“Y-yes. I don’t think it’s a piece of shit, though.”

“I see. We can’t have that, Heo. This language is used by shitty people. It is loved by an insincere and deceptive bastard who pretends to be evil and a mountain ape that loves martial arts.”

“I don’t think you can blame people for using their native language.”

“Heo is making excuses!” The old man looked up to the sky with a hand over his eyes and he sighed. “Where did I go wrong in teaching you!? Now how am I supposed to face the parents who left you with me?”

“Um, g-great-grandfather? Y-you’re right. It is a piece of shit, isn’t it!? I understand, so please stop lamenting and preparing to lecture me.”

“I see, I see. As long as you understand that this country is a piece of shit.”

Satisfaction filled the old man’s face and he nodded, but Heo was already hanging her head and speaking to herself.

“I’m sorry, mother, father. I just used a bad word. I’m sorry, teacher. I just lied. I’m sorry, god. It felt kind of refreshing.”

“What are you muttering about, Heo? You were just telling it like it is. Say it proud.” He lightly patted her on the back. “Well, you’ll be using that language in this country until you get sick of it or don’t like it, Heo. Here, I’m sure you’ll be able to say goodbye to all the moving around and transferring to new schools.”

“B-but, great-grandfather, I thought I was only coming here to visit my father’s grave and maybe get some information on my great-uncle if we’re lucky. …What is this? What’s pursuing us?”

“Our luck ran out once we arrived in this country that you left ten years ago. This pain-in-the-ass country must have taken a liking to the family of thunder.”

“You mean…”

“It’s a premonition, Heo. Sounds like nonsense, doesn’t it?”

Heo was left speechless by how definitively he said it, but he puffed out his chest and continued.

“Premonitions are great. The one’s that excite you are the best.”

“I only have bad ones.”

“Then there must be something wrong with your brain.”

“G-great-grandfather, you sometimes need to be more careful how you phrase things.”

“Don’t worry about it. I had a time like that long ago. A time when everything looked bad and made me uneasy.”

He maintained his smile and pointed to the south with his chin.

“Go on ahead, Heo. You like running, right? You missed the last athletic festival when you transferred schools, but I think this country’s one is coming up soon. Go enter at the last minute and take first place. I’ll be right behind you.”

“…”

“What is it?”

“I don’t want to go without you.”

The old man smiled again when he heard that.

“Don’t worry. I’ll have this dealt with before long and then I’ll be right behind you. Have you ever seen me lose in a fight?”

She shook her head and he pulled something from his summer coat.

It was a grip with a double-edged blade attached to the end. The grip was made of a hard white material, but with a swing of his right hand, it extended into a spear.

He saw Heo’s eyes open wide and he clenched his teeth in a smile.

“This is your first time seeing this, isn’t it? The leader of a group I belonged to sixty years ago taught me some techniques. I’ve only used it to plow some fields lately, but I can probably still tear into steel.”

“Great-grandfather… You look like a dangerous person.”

“Is that so? I guess you still can’t recognize the charm. …But you’ll understand eventually.”

“I-I don’t think I really need to.”

“Heo isn’t listening to me!”

It took an entire minute for Heo to calm the old man.

Afterwards, he lowered his shoulders and looked behind him to the north.

“It’s about time,” he muttered before turning back to Heo. “Everything you see here will be new to you and also the truth, but it would take too long to explain any of it. I’ll do the explaining when we meet again, Heo. I’ll also explain about the mother and father who gave you your name. …Oh, right. We need a rendezvous point.”

“The embassy?”

“No, it’s possible they’ve sent people there. Spend the night in a business hotel or somewhere like that. You have money, don’t you? And we can meet up… There was a cemetery we passed on the way here today, remember? Was it called the Nishitama Cemetery? We’ll meet at its entrance at 2 PM.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yes, tomorrow. And I may need to shake pursuit and contact some people, so return at the same time for three days if I’m not there. If I still haven’t arrived after three days, go to IAI in Okutama, show them that watch, and tell them this.”

His words filled the air.

[[Image:OnC_v08_0045.png|thumb]]

“Show me to UCAT, you pieces of shit.”

“…”

However he may have interpreted the drooping of her shoulders, the old man reached out his left hand and rubbed her head.

Next, he grabbed her shoulders, pointed her to the south, and patted those shoulders.

But what he said afterwards was not her name or an instruction to go.

“—————”

It was some kind of name.

However, it contained the intent to take care of something. He spoke it as if checking on something and Heo hesitantly looked over her shoulder.

“Great-grandfather, what was that?”

“The name of a friend. The friend who taught me the meaning of your name, Heo.”

He looked up into the sky with a smile. The Evening Star shined in the southwestern sky.

Just as Heo looked to the sky as well, a wind blew in. It was a nighttime north wind.

The chilly current of air washed over her in an instant and she narrowed her eyes.

She then heard the old man speak.

“So the north wind is supporting the child of thunder. Then this journey is sure to be a new experience. Heo, your great-grandfather promises you one thing: we will meet again very soon.”

“Y-you really promise?”

“Yes.”

Hearing his agreement, she moved forward.

She began hesitantly, but she leaned forward without turning back and she began to run.

“Go ahead!”

Hearing the old man’s shout, she accelerated.

The old man gave a sigh as he watched Heo leave.

He saw her skinny and small back vanish down the dark road.

“Is this the last piece of atonement I can do for you after you died sixty years ago, James? If possible, I wanted to be her great-grandfather…and find your other child.”

Holding the spear, he turned to the north where footsteps approached.

The source of the footsteps came into view.

It was just one person and he stared at the slender person in a gray combat coat.

“What, just one?”

As he spoke, he thought. Most likely, he and Heo had been accompanied by disguised guards from Japanese and American UCAT on their way here. This single person had reached them through all of those guards and expanded the concept space to capture them inside.

“This looks like it’ll be a pain. …To get right to the point, you’re from the Army, aren’t you? You haven’t done much in America, so I take it your base is in this country.”

The person stopped their approach but did not answer his question.

They were approximately fifteen meters away on the road and they wore their coat’s hood over their head. Their hands were empty, but their stance allowed them to move at any time.

The coat-wearing figure then asked a question in a female voice.

“You are Richard Thunderson, correct?”

“Now that’s a terrible pronunciation. It’s even worse than the mountain apes I met sixty years ago. …What is this about? No, I’m sure you’re here for 5th-Gear’s Concept Core. You want me to tell you where it is, don’t you?”

“…”

Thunderson took her silence as a yes.

“I hear the Army attacked Japanese UCAT and took a peek inside their databank a while back. You supposedly weren’t able to take everything in the core back with you, but you should have seen a good bit. For example, you should now know that the half of 5th-Gear’s Concept Core in Japanese UCAT’s possession is inside a mechanical dragon weapon.”

“But we did not know what that weapon is. And let me tell you one thing. The Army already has an excellent mechanical dragon. We have no interest in acquiring 5th-Gear technology.”

“You mean…that mechanical dragon uses 5th-Gear technology? How did you get it?”

“I do not need to tell you that. I will be the one asking the questions. Also, the Army will be the one to win. We are already on the verge of developing a new weapon that uses a god of war’s remote control system. We simply want to know the identity of your weapon.”

The coat-wearing figure removed her hood and a girl with sharp features appeared from below.

“I am Toda Mikoku and I am here for that answer. The Army knows how to choose which enemies it fights. If you hand over the information, I will do nothing to you.”

Mikoku observed the old man facing her.

His name was Richard Thunderson. He was around one hundred eighty centimeters tall, he was armed with a spear, and his leg was injured. He would be unable to move too intensely, but his height gave his arms and spear a decent reach and he was one of the Eight Great Dragon Kings of the former National Defense Department.

She assumed his spear was a concept weapon, but she was armed with a single Japanese sword. He definitely outdid her in reach and, even if her sword was well-made, it was only a Low-Gear one Hajji had bought.

…''All of the Army’s weapons are currently on their way to Takao.

The factory manager and his men were spending sleepless nights modifying all of the weapons. They were using the slight information stolen from UCAT and methods they had come up with themselves.

Mikoku had defeated a few disguised UCAT bodyguards on her way here. She had caught almost all of them by surprise, but she still had a few injuries.

…''And the old man in front of me must be a lot stronger than those bodyguards.

Every factor seemed to be against her, so the sword felt heavy at her waist, both physically and otherwise.

She told herself not to let her guard down while she faced Thunderson.

“Will you answer or not?”

But he responded with a question of his own.

“You said your name is Toda, didn’t you?”

“…Yes, what about it?”

“What is your mother’s name?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“You don’t feel like answering?”

“No, I do not. And I think I will pretend I don’t know.”

Mikoku gave a bitter laugh in her heart as if she had just remembered something.

…''He must be thinking something similar.

She came to an odd sense of understanding.

If their thoughts were the same, it actually meant there was something about her that was different from him.

With an internal nod at that thought, she drew the sword from her right hip below her coat.

“Well? Will you answer or only ask questions of your own?”

She then received her answer.

She first sensed wind blowing next to her right ear. The subsequent sensation of cloth told her what was happening. The right side of her hood had been cut away.

But she had not taken her eyes off of Thunderson. The tall old man rotated the spear once in a single hand.

“My spear can pierce even steel.”

“Are you proud of piercing something more easily pierced than a human?”

She stepped forward and the next attack arrived as her footstep rang from the asphalt.

It was wind and it was aimed at the center of her chest, the core of a human body.

Before it hit, she maintained her step forward but collapsed the rest of her body forward.

The wind stabbed by above her lowered head.

To support her collapsing body, she moved forward. She ran along the asphalt with the same motions as running up a wall.

“…!”

She approached Thunderson from low to the ground.

By spinning his spear around and thrusting it forward, he could hold back his opponent and keep his distance, but there was a common fear with any bladed weapon: hitting the blade against the ground or a wall.

If the blade struck something hard, it would stop one’s attacking motion and possibly chip the blade. A spear’s long grip was good for swinging it around in the air, but it was especially difficult to use around the limited area at one’s feet.

As Mikoku approached from low down, Thunderson stepped back with his unhurt leg to put some space between them.

A moment later, Mikoku leaped. She saw he held the spear in his right hand, so she leaped to her own right.

As they passed by each other, she passed her sword to her left hand and moved to his right and behind him.

She then turned around while slashing behind her with her left hand.

The silver line raced through the air and toward Thunderson’s back as he took his step back.

But the blade she had sent out as a counter was deflected with a metallic noise.

“!?”

She looked and saw he had held the spear vertically and rotated it around to the center of his back.

Her sword had struck the grip and that white grip with “Northwind” printed on it had powerfully deflected the blade. As her sword was tossed back, she could not immediately prepare it for another attack.

…''Damn!

As if pulled back by the deflected sword, she moved away from Thunderson.

However, he twisted his body toward her. He rotated using one leg as the axis and he swung the spear.

There was wind.

“…”

Mikoku had to make a decision. Would she lower her hips to take the attack or would she flee? Choosing the latter proved to have been the correct decision.

When she leaped to the right, a pale white line ran through the spot she had just been in.

…''Is that the true form of the wind?

Before she could finish thinking, she heard a dull sound behind her.

Next, the movement of the air told her something had happened there.

One of the concrete telephone poles on the roadside was cut at its base.

It collapsed and brought the surrounding power lines with it.

Once the pole collapsed, she would have to escape to the left or right. The power lines would likely eliminate the front or back as options.

She instead chose to move forward before the pole could fully collapse.

But then Thunderson cried out.

“Stand back!”

“What!?” she shouted back.

She slipped below the collapsing telephone pole and escaped to the side. She heard the sound of destruction as the concrete pole fell onto the asphalt.

“Why are you telling me to stand back!? Do you think I can leave empty-…”

She trailed off before saying “handed”.

She had realized why he had told her to stand back.

A certain presence had suddenly approached. It felt like a great pressure that weighed down on the air.

“What is that!?”

And then it arrived.

—'''Everything falls.

It was a voice.

Specifically, it was the voice of a text added to the concept space.

Thunderson felt the true form of the voice.

He spoke to the girl named Mikoku who stood at a distance.

“Leave, Army girl. Playtime is over. My enemy has arrived. …You felt something in that concept text, didn’t you?”

The girl who was clearly cautious of her surroundings nodded after a short pause.

“You called this your enemy. …Is this change to the wind caused by that enemy?”

“Yes,” muttered Thunderson.

As she had said, the flow of wind in the area was odd. The wind had been blowing from the north earlier, but something like a disturbed air current was circling around the area.

It was as if something giant existed in front of him to the north.

Mikoku seemed to realize that because she looked northward.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Leave,” he muttered with raised eyebrows.

He then looked up to see the shape of the sky changing. The domed roof surrounding them was disappearing. In its place, the current in the sky was creating an invisible cylindrical wall with a diameter of several kilometers.

The previous added text was remaking the concept space.

“So you really have recovered after being shot down sixty years ago. And you’re pursuing your enemy.”

He took a defensive stance toward the empty darkness to the north and he saw the air tremble.

It happened on a large scale. It went beyond the cars stopped nearby and shook the air over several dozen meters.

He heard Mikoku taking a defensive stance within that pressure.

''She has good instincts,'' he thought with a bitter smile.

And so he took action. He took a light step with one leg and moved toward her.

“…”

She looked blankly at him, but he was unsure if she was questioning the fact that he had easily approached before she could do anything or if she was questioning what was going to happen.

However…

“Gives you a nice premonition, doesn’t it?”

He knocked her away with the bottom of his spear.

…''Girls really are light.

As she gasped, she rose several meters and flew through the air as if being carried. She vanished into the darkness on a smaller road running alongside the main one.

After a moment, she could be heard landing on her feet and speaking in the darkness.

“Damn you!”

“Leave! And tell them that 5th-Gear’s Concept Core is looking forward to fighting you.”

“Is the entire Concept Core with UCAT?”

“No,” he answered as he turned from the smaller road to the north. “But the family of thunder will acquire it under the name of happiness.”

He took a low stance, held the spear tightly, and faced the presence that rose like a mountain in the darkness.

“Let’s resume this sixty-year-old battle, Black Sun. My final weapon is the spear of my dead commander, but it should be enough for you.”

The darkness moved as if responding to his words.

And then something appeared within the wind as if the empty darkness was melting away.

It was a giant black form. Not only did it fill the road, but it stretched far into the distance.

Thunderson smiled as he spoke to it.

“Come, Black Sun. I will show you the destination of my resolve. And this time, you will lose once and for all. …To be honest, there’s a lot I’m uneasy about, but I’m sure the descendants of Sayama and the others will find the answer using my final riddle. They will find the answer of happiness.”

He held the spear even tighter, clenched his teeth, and continued speaking.

“My thunder is swift, the stars watch over it all, and the north wind can pierce even a dragon.”

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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume8 Prologue|Prologue]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume8 Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume7 Chapter 34

2026-04-16T01:50:03Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 34: Battlefield of Farewells==
[[Image:OnC_v07_0281.png|thumb]]
''Let’s go

''Let’s go

''To the place that calls to us

Miyako opened her eyes.

She had apparently fallen asleep and the cloth-like sensation wrapped around her up to the shoulders was a 3rd-Gear blanket.

After a few breaths, feeling returned to her body and her pulse throbbed in the left temple that was touching the blanket. She was currently on her side with the blanket up to her shoulders.

“Nn…”

Her dim vision saw the faint light of the room, white sheets, and…

…''Apollo.

He lay on his side while facing her, but his eyes were closed and he seemed to be sleeping.

She thought about touching his defenseless face.

“…”

She decided against it, but she let out a breath that did not feel bad at all.

“I don’t know what I’d say if I woke him.”

“Hey” or “morning” would sound strange, but tapping him on the shoulder and saying “you gave it a good effort, boy” was a little too oddly fitting.

…''More importantly, what time is it?

She did not know. She had slept with Apollo just before evening. Despite everything that happened and then sleeping for a bit, she doubted it was very far into the night. After all, the man sleeping before her eyes had not yet been called by Typhon.

“But then why did ''I'' wake up?”

She would wake up when she had plans, but she would just let herself sleep otherwise and there was no sign of him having touched her after she fell asleep.

“?”

She slowly sat up as she realized something was off.

She carefully crawled across and off the bed while making sure the blanket on him did not move.

She was not wearing anything, but she saw some clothes on the bedside table. Moira 1st or someone had likely prepared them.

…''I wish they hadn’t seen me like that.

But she stood with a genuine smile and dressed. Some parts of her body ached a little from using muscles she did not normally use, but that pain only strengthened her smile as she passed her arms through the sleeves.

She turned around and saw he was still sleeping with a peaceful expression.

…''That’s for the best.

She nodded.

“If I join with Typhon, you can sleep like that every night. You can walk onward with the automatons…and become a king.”

She turned her back, shook her hair, and opened the door without looking back. She entered the hallway to find Moira 1st or Gyes and tell them what she wanted to do.

She wanted to finish it before Apollo woke.

However, she found something unexpected in the white hallway with red carpet.

“There’s no one here?”

''What’s going on?'' she wondered as she quickened her pace toward the emergency exit.

“…?”

At that point, the sense that something was off returned to her.

“It’s shaking?”

Something down below was shaking the building with a set tempo.

…''The gods of war!

Before she could think, her impatient reflexes sent her into a run toward the emergency exit.

Something was happening. A single god of war would not cause this much of a tremor.

“What is this?”

She took a breath and moved her arms, but strength left her knees after a few steps and she collapsed. It was partially due to having just woken up, but she was truly having trouble using her body.

“Shit,” she swore while placing a hand on the wall and using that to balance herself as she ran.

After turning a few corners, some wind reached her. The darkness of the night lay directly before her and the city nightscape formed the borderline between earth and sky.

She left the building and stepped onto the emergency elevator.

She looked down while catching her breath and forcing her weak knees to stand.

“Lady Miyako.”

Far down below, she heard Moira 1st’s voice and saw a familiar sight.

That sight was the many maids and the gods of war.

There were eight green gods of war with their back and shoulder thrusters lit and warping the air. Moira 1st looked up at her from the center of them all.

“Lady Miyako! Congratulations! You can prepare your own sekihan tonight!”

“You idiot, that’s the wrong tradition! That was over a decade ago for me!”

…''And that’s not why I’m here.

“What are you doing!?” she shouted through the blowing wind.

“UCAT is attacking.”

“What?”

“This is a festival. 3rd-Gear’s final festival. We will handle everything, so you run away with Lord Apollo!”

Miyako shouted down at Moira 1st’s smile. Her eyebrows rose and she grabbed the railing.

“You idiots! Do you know what decision I want to make here!?”

“Running away is an acceptable choice, Lady Miyako.”

“But you’re going to fight, aren’t you!? You’re maids, so ''can'' you even fight!?”

“3rd-Gear automatons are the greatest of any Gear. We may have areas we are less skilled in, but that does not mean they are impossible for us.” Moira 1st narrowed her eyes. “We will buy you some time and we will achieve victory. We will also take all responsibility, so you elope in Typhon with Lord Apollo!”

“You can’t call it eloping if it’s officially approved!”

“Wh-whatever you want to call it, just make sure there is something of 3rd-Gear left over!”

“What are we, the uneaten part of a meal!? But those can be good with some hot rice, so remember that.”

“We will! And I will trust that we can eventually serve it.”

Moira 1st closed her eyes in a smile.

“We have told you what we want, Lady Miyako. You are the one who gave us names and taught us to sing, so perhaps we really should refer to you as our princess.”

Moira 1st bowed and Miyako tried to stop her with a shout.

…''Once that bow ends, they’ll disappear!

But there was a small smile on Moira 1st’s face when she raised her head. That smile was less perfect, less neat, and more crooked than any she had given before.

“We will be taking a short break from our duties,” she said.

In that moment, all of the maids bowed and began to run in unison. They ran through the forest, down the mountain, and to the city. To the battlefield.

They vanished.

And as if that was their cue, the eight gods of war kicked off the ground.

Eight roars shot through the air.

“!”

Those eight warriors flew quickly into the sky and toward the city. They drew paths of wind, clouds trailed them, and they flew into that night scenery.

All that remained were the wind, the scattering leaves of the trees, and…

“Dammit,” groaned Miyako.

“Huh? What’re you doing here, Miyako?”

She turned around and found the short maid named Moira 3rd.

“What are ''you'' doing here? The others already left.”

…''Not that I want any of you to go.

Moira 3rd nodded.

“Yeah, how should I put it? I had a quick job to do.”

“A job?”

“Yeah, adjusting the concept space. It’s been spread out pretty big, after all. This place might be taken over too, so you should leave with Lord Apollo before that happens.”

“No need.”

Miyako let go of the railing, stood in front of the maid, and took in a breath.

“You know how to sync with Typhon, right?”

“Y-yes, but…”

Moira 3rd stiffened and tilted her head such that her semi-long hair shook.

“Are you serious, Miyako? It’ll probably hurt. How should I put it? It’ll be like having your medulla oblongata stirred up by chopsticks.”

“Why are you so good at describing things you don’t even have? Anyway, this is what I’ve decided to do.”

She glanced down the empty hallway.

“I was whipped into shape here, so I can probably get by even if I leave this place. Even if everything goes wrong, I feel like I can still get by.”

“I see. To be honest, we all feel the same way. They’re all using our joint memory to say they think we can now do all sorts of things without growing tired of it.”

“I see.” Miyako smiled, nodded, and gave Moira 3rd a soft look. “But there’s one person here who hasn’t been turned around yet. And yet it was him that helped turn me around.”

“Miyako.”

“What?”

“Is he important to you?”

“He is,” she answered without hesitation.

“I see,” said Moira 3rd with a smile.

She took Miyako’s hand from her shoulder and pulled it toward the elevator railing.

Facing that way brought the night scenery into view. Moira 3rd looked up while standing in front of the railing and she folded her hands in front of her.

“Miyako.”

“What is with you right now?”

“Well,” she said with a nod. “You can punish me later until my hip joint comes loose.”

Miyako gave a questioning voice just before a light pain reached the back of her neck.

“…”

It was a light impact, but it hit just the right spot and her consciousness easily faded.

…''Eh?

The surprise attack sent her collapsing forward and her mind went dark.

As she collapsed, she saw the one who had made the attack.

It was Apollo.

…''You idiot.

That was her last thought before her consciousness cut out.

Moira 3rd looked up at someone from the top of the elevator.

It was a blond young man carrying a woman in white clothes under his arm.

“Are you sure, Lord Apollo? Miyako will probably cry.”

“I’m sure. I’m glad I made it before she did anything rash. Can you lower the elevator?”

Moira 3rd hesitated for a moment, but she finally nodded and lowered it.

As the wind blew up from below, she asked Apollo a question.

“What are you going to do, Lord Apollo?”

“Find the answer I need to become a king and to settle everything surrounding 3rd-Gear.”

“But Typhon…”

“The first and second options we have long spoken of are gone. That leaves the third path that I will now choose. It’s good that Moira 2nd was repaired. We all have something we must do now.”

He looked up into the sky.

The moon was out, but it was very low.

“Today is perfect. I will be able to remain myself for a long time.”

He then faced Moira 3rd and shrugged.

“Keep this a secret from the others. I want to surprise them.”

“A book from this world said a kingdom ruled by someone who loves theatrics will quickly fall to ruin.”

“That’s probably true.”

His laughter spilled out into the night.

The elevator lowered and reached the side of the fully-open hangar door. As it continued further down, the light of the hangar came into view and the ends of Apollo’s eyebrows rose as he watched that light.

“Now, it’s time we went and finished this, Artemis.”

At 10:30 PM, five trucks suddenly appeared at a three-way junction in southeast Kurashiki.

The streetlights illuminated the trucks’ blue text on a white background saying “Surprise Attack Delivery – Hair Clipper Service” and a drawing of a shouting middle-aged man with closely-cut hair.

The front two trucks moved first. They turned into a hospital parking lot to the right of the junction, turned around, and came to a stop.

The other three remained on the road and came to a sudden stop on the left curb.

A moment later, people wearing white and black armored uniforms left all five trucks.

The boy named Sayama looked around after exiting the third truck on the road.

The streetlights and the buildings were lit up.

Electricity was flowing.

“Everyone, so as not to affect the concept space, its expansion was stopped before it reached Kurashiki’s transportation networks. Also, UCAT’s Okayama and Izumo branches supplied every generator they had so we could have power within the concept space. This concept space is very nearly a deserted version of Low-Gear. Do not forget that!”

“Testament,” replied the others.

“Find the enemy!” shouted Sayama before they had even finished the word.

The trailer of one of the trucks in the hospital parking lot rose and a tent-shaped pallet with a slanted roof made of bulletproof material came out.

The pallet was mechanically lowered to the ground and it was set up to the east. Its low roof had a viewing platform where Ooki peered out with binoculars. She folded her fingers next to the binoculars to count something.

“Found them! There are four big ones next to the road south of here! Um…two are on the other side of the Achi Shrine! And two are moving from the Achi Shrine to the Kurashiki Station area! That’s more or less how it is!”

“Thank you for that explanation that killed all of the tension.”

Sayama watched as the second tent meant as a medical area was lowered into the hospital parking lot.

“The hospital trucks will continue down the road to the Achi Shrine area. They will function as barricades against the gods of war. They can fly, so the first truck should charge in and the second one should roll on its side after seeing what they do.”

He looked to the left where the train track to the Mizushima area was separated from the road by a single building.

“Ooki-sensei, can you see the disguised train that is arriving after us?”

“Here it comes!” shouted Kazami from the roof of one of the truck trailers on the road.

The proof of her words came soon thereafter. A black form passed by on the track visible between the northern homes and paddy fields to their left.

The steel track creaked as the unmanned and remote controlled train carried a great weight at approximately sixty kilometers per hour. Ten canopied freight cars followed the blue car in front.

“Will it work as a decoy?” muttered Shinjou who looked north while sitting in the trailer of the third truck.

“They will have to deal with it somehow. If that creates an opening, it will be worth it. …Stand up the first and third gods of war!”

“Testament,” replied a voice as the trailer Shinjou sat in began to tilt.

With the sound of motors, the large pallets on the first and third trucks stood up.

The pallet covers automatically unlocked and fell as if being lowered down. This revealed two white and black gods of war. They contained UCAT’s emblem and one of the nearby UCAT members clenched his fist and spoke quietly as he watched it.

“Please stand up. You should even be able to fly with this concept.”

Sayama mentally nodded toward the man’s words.

…''Will Low-Gear be able to fall into step with many different people and be better off for it?

The two gods of war took their first steps forward almost simultaneously.

Everyone cheered and they raised a hand to reach for the weapons on the pallets behind them. They contained a sword and an anti-god of war SMG.

“Good,” muttered Sayama as he watched them take the weapons.

At the same time, a giant form stood up from the second truck on the street without a pallet rising up.

It was Susahito Custom.

The black god of war lowered one leg from the back of the truck and easily stood up.

Its movements were so natural that those who had watched the UCAT gods of war could not help but gulp.

Susahito Custom was based on a 3rd-Gear god of war and it far outdid the UCAT models that used their greatest technology. Sayama felt that was a gap they needed to fill. The others watched Susahito Custom check its bladed equipment and they all sighed yet kept perfectly serious expressions. They were seeing what they had to catch up to.

Sayama was satisfied with the strength in their gazes, so he spoke.

“Unit #3 will defend this spot! #1 and #2 will continue on! #1 will attack Kurashiki Station! #2 will follow, but do not forget to drop off the combatants on the way!”

He ran forward as he gave instructions and Shinjou ran alongside him. The second truck’s trailer shook the exhaust as it began to move. Once they caught up to it, Sayama and Shinjou grabbed the edge of the trailer and pulled themselves toward it.

The first truck lowered its raised trailer and moved forward, the second followed, and the third ejected the equipment aboard and began to lower its trailer.

As everyone began to move, someone appeared from a side road. It was a white-haired maid.

“Sf-kun?”

Sf lifted her skirt slightly, ran alongside the others, and bowed.

“Tes. It is fortunate I arrived in time. I have a warning before you run another one hundred meters,” she said while facing Sayama. “I have detected a powerful philosopher’s stone reading in the Kurashiki Station region. I believe it to be some form of concept weapon. Something is headed this way. The time until impact is-…”

An instant later, something struck the raised cargo pallet on the trailer of Unit #3’s truck.

Everyone lost their sense of hearing as they watched it.

The white cargo pallet for Unit #3’s truck was still slightly raised when something smashed through the center.

In that instant, everything grew silent and even the movement felt delayed.

The hole in the center of the cargo pallet that had carried a god of war was frayed like melted plastic and it expanded on the opposite side.

However, it stopped at about two meters across. The shimmering of heat momentarily rose from around the hole.

“!”

The sound arrived, but it was not a roar or a crash.

It was a tremor.

It pierced through the entire body of everyone listening, shook the surrounding buildings, and shattered a few windows in an instant.

The vibration of the air formed a mist that was blown along by the wind.

Meanwhile, the trailer of Unit #3’s truck was launched into the air by the impact.

The base of the trailer was destroyed and the giant metal panel that had lost its support almost seemed to bend backwards from the impact. It flew almost directly above the rest of the trailer.

The giant white metal panel made it over a dozen meters up into the air.

Below it, the truck that pulled the trailer had its back end pulled up by the base of the trailer.

The truck could not move as the metal panel fell down on it while oriented horizontally.

The impact sliced right through it.

A quick and clear noise left the truck sliced in two by the pallet that was stabbed into the ground like a wall.

The air was filled with the sound of wind and the other two trucks beginning to move.

Those sounds were joined by Sf’s distancing voice.

“The second shot is coming. It is going elsewhere, though.”

It arrived that very instant.

“!?”

The sound came from the left as they continued onward.

They all looked to the left which was the north.

The train track was there and the disguised train was moving along it, but that train was easily pierced all the way through by some kind of power.

“…”

They could not see the bullet, but they could hear it.

First, they heard multiple quiet metallic noises.

They began at the very front of the disguised train and left the very back of the last freight car.

So far, it was all sound and nothing had actually happened.

Everyone held their breath and it arrived a moment later. “It” being destruction and much louder noises.

Trailing the first noises, everything on the train track split apart and flew into the air.

Everything on the train car chassis was thrown into the air and scattered like scraps of paper. With the sound of breaking metal, the remaining parts of the chassis were disorderly lifted into the air and bent.

Everyone heard an explosion that sounded like surging waves.

Next, the track itself exploded.

Like a reverse waterfall, dirt and the twin lines of metal were blasted upwards and the train tossed itself into empty space.

The eleven cars rolled, stabbed, and slid onto or into empty houses and paddy fields. Destruction and noise were scattered everywhere.

As everyone held their breath, one voice carried through the air.

That female voice belonged to Kazami.

“I know what this is! I just heard shouts from Kurashiki Station!”

She stood up and looked at the others.

“The only sound of the bullet being fired was the sonic boom. Since they could quickly fire on the road and the train track as two separate targets, it can’t be some giant cannon, but it still fires at ultra-high speeds. Also, the shouts I heard were female.”

She nodded.

“We’re up against automatons!”

At the south entrance of Kurashiki Station was a large roundabout for buses and taxis.

It was deserted in the moonlit concept space, but something other than people stood on the asphalt.

“Let us show you the hidden power of 3rd-Gear’s finest automatons.”

About half of the automatons below Moira 1st and excluding Moira 2nd and 3rd were there.

“Counting me, there are thirty-seven of us. …Time for the third shot!”

Moira 1st looked from the roundabout to the road. A white object was visible about a kilometer down that road. One of UCAT’s truck trailers had raised its empty cargo pallet as a barricade.

…''It is unfortunate we must do this to another machine, but you are in the way.

Their only choice was to destroy it without letting it feel pain.

“Okay! The distance is approximately one thousand two hundred meters. The angle is eight hours twelve minutes to the southwest!”

The maids ran as if to continue her words. Their footsteps passed by and they formed two columns with Moira 1st at the end.

Each of the automatons faced one in the other column and held their hands up and down toward them.

With a large vertical gap between their hands, each pair formed a circle together.

Moira 1st spoke as she saw the series of circles formed from the maids’ arms.

“We are using the gravitational control that is standard with any 3rd-Gear automaton. Our individual powers may be weak, but if this many of us point that power in the same direction…”

They had formed a series of rings.

Moira 1st stood at the end where she counted a total of eighteen rings and could see the white trailer through that straight line of rings.

The other maids looked to her and nodded, so she nodded back.

“Begin output!”

“Yes, sir!”

A distortion grew in the eighteen rings formed by the maids. The scenery on the other side looked warped as if viewing it through a lens.

That distortion came from the flow of high gravity and that gravity was oriented from Moira 1st and toward the road.

Moira 1st quietly spoke toward the white truck trailer that appeared warped through the lens of gravity.

[[Image:OnC_v07_0303.png|thumb]]

“These eighteen gravity acceleration lenses will turn any object into incredibly destructive acceleration.”

She took a breath.

“We call this the 18-Layer Maid Gravity Acceleration Gun. What can you do against this, UCAT?”

Moira 1st pulled two plates from her maid uniform and held them up with a smile.

“Today’s bullets are 3rd-Gear’s heat- and explosion-resistant plates that can withstand one hundred gods of war stepping on them without breaking. Quite affordable weapons if you ask me.”

She placed the plates together like a shellfish and held them together with gravitational pressure. She then used her gravitational control to levitate the resultant disk between her hands and held them next to her waist.

“Get ready! And a question, everyone. What is the primary job of a maid?”

“Yes, sir! Attending to the guests with a smile!”

Seeing them all form artificial smiles and face the road, Moira 1st’s eyes narrowed in a smile.

“Well done.”

She then fired the disk with her maximum power.

The disk’s journey began with enough force to produce an explosion of steam behind her.

“Fire!”

The disk sliced through the wind as it passed through the rings formed by the maids’ arms and the warped space therein.

“!”

From there, it was repeatedly accelerated by the frictionless gravity. They did not fire it at the absolute greatest speed possible because they held back just enough to not be swallowed up by the sonic boom themselves.

However…

“There is nothing that cannot be pierced by this gravity acceleration railgun formed by thirty-six smiling maids!”

In an instant, strength gathered in the maids’ hands. The air grew even more distorted and they suppressed the recoil. The eighteen gravity rings continued to accelerate the disk and it finally reached the last ring.

“…”

It was fired and it flew.

The wind whipped up by the disk felt like an explosive blast and the disk itself could no longer be seen.

An instant later, Moira 1st and the others saw the raised cargo pallet blow apart.

Despite the distance, they vividly saw the white metal tear apart, fly through the air, and destroy the nearby buildings.

The clear noise was audible even at that distance.

The maids gave cries of joy, but Moira 1st frowned as she watched the pieces of the trailer scatter through the air.

…''I’m sorry. It would be faint, but you must have been alive while in this concept space.

Without opening her joint memory, she decided to gather it later and recreate it.

''But,'' she thought as her frown grew. ''This is odd.

Once she realized why, she let out a shout with her eyebrows thoroughly gathered together.

“Prepare the next shot!”

Taken aback, the others stopped moving and turned toward her, so Moira 1st opened their joint memory and sent high-speed words to inform them of the situation.

…''This is dangerous.

After all…

“Unmanned target,” said a voice in midair.

She looked up and saw a large blue automaton in the sky with the moon.

“Master Cottus, that trailer really was empty?”

“Decoy confirmed.”

And…

“Enemy approach confirmed!”

That shout was followed by a sound from the south of the city.

It was a war cry as well as…

“Explosions and metallic noises.”

Moira 1st saw people in white armored uniforms much closer than the truck.

They made their way forward through gaps in the explosions.

Moira 1st determined they had split into two groups while using the truck as a decoy. One group had approached them on the north of the city while the other had cut down a central road to advance toward the base to the southeast.

The enemy had made the correct decision and that fact set Cottus in motion.

“Acting as vanguard.”

He began toward the enemies spread out on the road, but Moira 1st shouted out.

“Master Cottus! You take care of the enemies advancing to the southwest! We will defend here!”

Cottus turned back toward her and nodded.

“Understood.”

He expanded the wings on his back and flew to the south as if jumping.

Moira 1st nodded toward his rear vision. All hesitation had vanished from her face and her eyebrows were raised.

…''I am being unreasonably angry, but some things are unforgivable.

They had used a metal truck trailer as a decoy.

“If you do not win, that trailer’s destruction will have been in vain.”

She raised both her hands and two white disks floated above her head. They were plates, but she did not wait for them to fall back down. With a snap of the wrist, she prepared another plate in each hand.

She caught the two falling plates on the two plates in her hands.

She now held a bullet in each hand and she slowly swung them down and backwards.

She leaned forward to bring the plate pairs even further behind her. She swung them up like wings and let out a shout as she bent her body.

“Prepare two cannons!”

The maids wordlessly did so. They lifted their skirts slightly and flipped them around as they took a step and rotated their own bodies. They now formed two rows of nine pairs each.

The cannons were shorter, but there were two of them.

“The strength drops in half, but rapid fire is more important now.”

Moira 1st used an underhand toss to throw forward the plates in her right hand.

The right cannon whipped up the wind and fired. In that instant, she threw the left one while twisting and then spinning her body to the right.

Her hair danced, her apron flipped around, and her blouse’s sleeves flew.

Over a hundred white plates flew out from within those places and into the air.

She began forming bullets from those midair plates and throwing them into the cannons.

As if dancing, she grabbed plates, served them forward, and spoke with a smile.

“Come visit us. Come visit us, our guests. This is the place in which we serve using the discipline of steel. A white apron over black clothes is our uniform, receiving and seeing off a guest with a smile even when in pain is our external appearance, and ensuring our guests’ satisfaction is our internal desire.”

Her smile deepened, her body rotated, and she formed countless bullets as if dancing.

“No refusal or restraint is necessary when receiving our services. Simply demand, and demand, and demand some more. Leave your heart in our service, leave your body in our comfort, and leave your life in our control.”

She threw.

“We will take care of everything.”

And she fired.

The maids sending the bullets through the acceleration lenses would spin around in turn as the bullets reached them. As they rotated around, they eliminated the old acceleration lens and gathered strength in their arms once more.

“Contact! Continue serving!”

The way the pairs brought their hands together after spinning looked like a dance.

Once they were done, Moira 1st sent a new bullet with her right hand and she had already prepared a new plate in her left hand.

They fired again and again and they did not stop.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume7 Chapter 33|Chapter 33]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume7 Chapter 35|Chapter 35]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume7 Chapter 28

2026-04-15T02:47:00Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 28: Confrontation of Discovery==
[[Image:OnC_v07_0097.png|thumb]]
''What is it called when your eyes meet?

''Or is it what happens next that matters?

''Eyes speak despite not uttering words

A pale green light could be seen in the darkness and someone stood before it.

The person was Miyako.

She was in 3rd-Gear’s basement and the light was located in the center.

“Is this the remote control for the gods of war?”

She had come this far using that light.

Moira 1st had opened the way to this giant underground storehouse. God of war parts and automaton parts were stored inside hard packaging and some packages were labeled as food.

Miyako belatedly realized what it meant for the maids to use ingredients bought outside rather than the food stored down below. She gave a nod of silent thanks and looked around once more.

…''I saw a large area of darkness north of the entrance.

“I should probably check over there.”

As she began to walk, her eyes adjusted to the darkness enough to notice something before tripping over it or running into it.

She then saw something.

“?”

The large object lay collapsed in the darkness.

“Is that a god of war?”

Her muttered question quickened her pace.

After two or three more steps, she started jogging and she soon began to run.

She brushed her hair back and arrived at the object. It was indeed a god of war. It was covered in pale blue armor, the frame was large, and the armor plates were thick.

“Why does it seem so similar to Typhon?”

She noticed the god of war had been sliced in two.

The collapsed body’s torso had been split by a shallow diagonal strike. When she circled to its back to check on the damage, she noticed something had been ripped out of it. There was only empty space there now.

“Why are these scraps here?”

She approached and attempted to peer into the damaged portion.

She touched the armor and looked into the torn out area. Based on what she had seen of Typhon, the cockpit should have been there.

…''Was the cockpit forcibly removed?

She checked the cut and saw it had only diagonally grazed the bottom of the removed portion. The cockpit itself had likely been unharmed. However, she had learned a bit about gods of war in her time here.

“Any damage to a god of war is returned to the pilot.”

If the torso was sliced this spectacularly, the pilot would have died.

“So why did they bother keeping it here?”

She noticed something odd while peering into the damaged area.

…''Huh?

She wondered what it was and then spoke her thoughts aloud.

“It’s so deep.”

That was it. The hole was oddly deep.

She looked up and checked the damage again. The hole was about three meters deep. She could tell a single block had been removed because the internal frame had a smooth surface meant to carry something.

The back also had a frame meant to support the cockpit.

“It must have stuck out of the back quite a bit.”

She checked and the god of war’s back was indeed made to jut out.

She recalled Typhon’s back. It had not been as noticeable because of its wings, but it had jutted out about the same.

“Huh?”

She remembered something else about the day. Moira 3rd had said the other gods of war were made to be remotely controlled without altering the cockpit.

She had seen their backs when running across the catwalk.

“But they weren’t as thick.”

An odd feeling filled her chest.

She realized it was unease. It was the unease of facing something she could not predict.

She shuddered at that realization and began to take a step back.

“…?”

But the pale blue armor panel reacted when she removed her left hand. A small area on the armor lowered slightly and then rose back up. By the time she realized it was a switch, light had appeared underneath her left hand.

Writing scrolled across the armor. She did not recognize the green characters, but she could read it.

“Preparing to activate.”

The appearance of the writing was accompanied by a minute trembling in the pale blue god of war. It was beginning to start up.

More writing scrolled by as if continuing the startup process.

“Primary pilot: Unknown. Inactive.”

It had no cockpit, so that was hardly surprising.

However, the writing did not end there. It vanished and new characters appeared.

“Standard Copilot: ”

Miyako gasped when she saw the name it displayed. This was why the cockpit block had been so deep.

…''It had two pilots! And that name!?

But at that point, the text was rewritten.

“Deleted.”

“Hey!” she shouted futilely.

Both the writing and the trembling vanished.

Darkness and silence returned, leaving nothing behind.

She took a step back in that darkness as if to move away from the craft before her eyes.

When she did, her back touched something.

She bumped into someone standing behind her.

“…!?”

As soon as strength filled her shoulders, a hand was placed on one of those shoulders.

The ocean roared below the moon.

Two people walked lightly through the waves on the edge of that noise.

One wore a shirt and chino pants while the other had long hair and wore a short-sleeved shirt and culottes. The one in chino pants brushed up his slicked-back hair.

“Shinjou-kun, is this your first time playing in the waves?”

“Yes,” replied Shinjou with a nod.

She held sandals in one hand while avoiding the approaching waves, chasing the receding waves, and sometimes giving a faint cry when she intentionally let the water wash over her feet.

“This is my first time doing this, Sayama-kun. Ah, I’m already so wet.”

''Is that so?'' thought Sayama. ''I need to save that comment for future use.

A large wave broke and almost reached their feet. Shinjou laughed and clung to him as the wave chased her.

She did not hesitate to grab his arm, so he silently spoke to the ocean.

…''I must thank nature.

He then looked at the arm Shinjou held and saw the thick bundle of copy paper in his hand.

He suddenly realized she was looking him in the eye and that her joy had changed to calm.

“U-um, sorry about getting excited on my own like that. …Have you been thinking about what we discussed earlier?”

“Yes,” he answered while thinking back.

Shinjou was referring to the meeting they had held during their post-dinner free time. The main force of Team Leviathan had borrowed one of the boy’s tents and looked over the documents from earlier that day.

They had primarily communicated through writing to make sure no one outside the tent could hear them and Hiba had taken part. Mikage had not left the girl’s tent, so she had not joined them.

“Everyone had documents they could read and those they couldn’t, didn’t they?”

“Kazami could read the fewest because she has the weakest connection to any other Gear. Sibyl-kun also remained silent, but she did appear to look through most of the documents.”

Sayama held up the documents after moving them to his left hand so Shinjou would not have to let go of his arm.

He flipped through them with his fingers and folded them open with a flick of his wrist.

“During the early stages of World War Two, the National Defense Department was aware of 1st through 8th. They had too little information on 9th and 10th and they decided to postpone dealing with 5th and 7th. 5th was the world of aerial mechanical dragons, so they wanted to wait until they developed a corresponding weapon. 7th simply rejected their gates, so there was nothing they could do.”

“And so the main force of the National Defense Department dealt with 1st through 4th, 6th, and 8th.”

Shinjou looked at the documents in his hand.

He stopped walking and held them up so she could see and so the moonlight reached the writing.

She gave a breath of laughter.

“You can actually read by moonlight here. That only occasionally happens in Akigawa.”

“Rather than saying it is always like that here, it would be better to say this is the normal state of the world.”

She nodded and began reading the text.

“1942, National Defense Department Primary Representative, Izumo Zen, Age 27, Lieutenant, 6th-Gear.

“Technology Division Director, Ooshiro Hiromasa, Age 36, Lieutenant, 2nd-Gear.

“Guard Division Director, Hiba Ryuutetsu, Age 23, Sergeant Major, 3rd-Gear.

“Special Division Director, Sayama Kaoru, Age 25, Lieutenant, 4th-Gear.”

Her voice slowed on the next line.

“Special Division Assistant Director…Shinjou Kaname, Age 24, Warrant Officer, 8th-Gear.”

And she continued normally from there.

“Advisor, Siegfried Zonburg, Age 27, Lieutenant, 1st-Gear.

“Advisor, Kinugasa Tenkyou, Age 64. He was not in charge of any Gear.”

“Even if they held official positions, it appears they were mostly a field operation team with special abilities. They were a small number of elites, much like us now.”

“Should we really praise ourselves like that?”

“Judging yourself accurately is a good thing, Shinjou-kun.”

Sayama flipped through the documents and found something like a chronology.

It was a record of Shinjou Kaname’s 8th-Gear. It had likely been handwritten to begin with, but the writing lacked any personality because it had been digitized and printed out.

Even so, it was important information. The text said 8th-Gear’s life forms were made up of completely different bodily tissues than those of Low-Gear. The report said they appeared no different from stone.

“8th sounds like it was a peaceful Gear,” commented Shinjou. “That’s kind of surprising.”

“If a creature’s scale of time is different, it will take part in a war differently. Between a Gear of people and a Gear of stone, the latter will be forced to act primarily as onlookers. The records say much the same about 4th-Gear which was populated by plants. While it was not to the same extent as Low-Gear, those two Gears were not seen as enemies or were at least put off until the later stages of the Concept War.”

“This Shinjou and your grandfather were probably trying to grasp the true state of the Concept War by approaching 4th and 8th.”

Sayama felt pain in his chest as he recalled the records of his grandfather, but his right hand contained the documents and his left was taken up by Shinjou. ''I must endure,'' he told himself before taking a breath.

“The scene does not suit my grandfather. 4th-Gear was a world where three rings of land intersected. The sun was located in the center and the inner walls of the rings contained flowing rivers. Was that old man dreaming?”

“I’m sure it really existed. …It said your grandfather had trouble speaking with Tree Serpent Mukiti because of how long it took.” She smiled bitterly. “It apparently took several hours for a single response, so it later evolved more high-speed plants.”

“It must have been that experience which made that monkey so short-tempered. Anyway, it is a shame none of the records go beyond the National Defense Department days.”

“Yes. We don’t know what happened to Shinjou Kaname.”

She reached out and flipped through the documents.

The 8th-Gear document ended partway through and had the following written at the bottom.

“July 21, 1945. I have requested that Sayama Kaoru continue the investigation.”

“It seems he fell ill. The 4th-Gear document says this: starting July 25, I will begin investigating 8th-Gear in place of Shinjou Kaname who has been hospitalized.”

“I wonder if those two got along.”

“Who can say? But this Shinjou Kaname may have been your grandfather or another relative.”

“We can’t know that.”

Her expression was perfectly serious and she seemed to be speaking to herself more than anyone.

“We shouldn’t get our hopes up. Shinjou is a pretty common name and this is from over sixty years ago. If he was twenty-four in 1942, he would be around eighty-seven now. That would put him around seventy when I was born. You can fit two generations in between.”

“And if a daughter was born even once, the Shinjou name would not continue on.”

“Yes. Also, I’ve felt short-lived joy at seeing the name Shinjou several times in the past,” she added. “Still, I wonder what happened to him. It says he was hospitalized and we know he was with the National Defense Department but not UCAT, right? So what if his illness…”

“Even if that is the case, you are still here, Shinjou-kun.”

Shinjou trembled at that and he spoke directly to the gaze below her lowered eyebrows.

“Whether something happened or not, I am looking at you now, so do not worry.”

“…Right.”

She lowered her head before suddenly speaking up.

“Oh. S-Sayama-kun!”

She frantically called his name and touched the left side of his chest.

“What is it, Shinjou-kun?” he asked when he felt the touch of her hand. “Why the sudden chest-groping heart massage? If you are going to do this, go bolder and more sensitive!”

“Stop making about three leaps of logic at once! …U-um, we’ve been talking about your grandfather this whole time, so does your chest hurt?”

He had been ignoring the pain.

“No? I am perfectly fine.”

“Don’t do that. I don’t want you to hurt.”

“I get the feeling you have not been listening to me recently.”

“Eh?” She tilted her head and looked up into the sky as if thinking on his words. “W-well, that makes two of us.”

She took a breath and looked around to make sure no one else was around.

“What is it, Shinjou-kun?”

“Oh, well… I was just thinking we’d come a long way.”

“We have. We might be on the opposite side from the camp.”

The distant lights were no longer from Shikoku. They were from the north.

“That is the Kojima peninsula. The light from the Mizushima industrial complexes is quite orderly. Also, another island seems to continue on beyond it, but that is likely from the Great Seto Bridge. We could not see it during the day, but the light must make it show up at night.”

“I see…”

Shinjou sounded disinterested as she looked in the direction he pointed.

“Is there something you want to say?” he asked her.

“Eh? Um, yes.”

She lightly held her body through her shirt and looked around again.

“This is just between the two of us, but you said you are looking at me now, remember?”

She averted her gaze as she spoke.

She slowly relaxed her arms and reached for her clothes.

A moment later, her culottes slid down her legs and to the sandy beach.

She blushed as she looked back at him, but then she smoothly undid the buttons on the chest of her shirt.

“It’s not because you said that…but will you look at me?”

With that, her white shirt fell from her shoulders.

Below the moon was a large white-walled building.

Three people could be seen by its southern wall. They were all female and two of them faced the third.

That third one wore a red suit and faced forward. Her sharply narrowed eyes first turned toward the one with blonde hair and a maid uniform. She opened her lips which were covered in red lipstick.

“Moira 1st, do you understand what you have done? Many secret items are located down below and you allowed in an outsider.”

“Yes, I understand, Lady Gyes. However, it was what Lady Miyako desired.”

Gyes turned to the right and toward Tsukuyomi Miyako, the black-haired woman standing next to Moira 1st.

She looked her in the eye and Miyako frowned as she looked back.

…''Surely she knows she is no match for my combat abilities.

Gyes did not understand, but this was a favorable situation for a combat automaton.

However, she kept that hidden and spoke to Moira 1st once more.

“Did you say that to pin the blame on Tsukuyomi Miyako here?”

“No.”

Moira 1st responded immediately and Miyako frantically looked up, but Moira 1st continued with a smile before the woman’s look of protest could lead to words.

“My decisions are my responsibility. I helped Lady Miyako because that was what I wished to do. I did it for myself.”

“Are you saying you now have a designated master? You have worked for anyone’s sake for millennia as the leader of the Moirai, but you have chosen this woman after only a few days?”

“Yes.”

She smiled as she answered and that expression told Gyes that her ability to form expressions had grown constant. Gyes thought about why that would be.

…''Oh.

“Moira 1st, you hold a position different from Lord Apollo’s 3rd-Gear, don’t you?”

Gyes pulled a sword from her suit and Miyako reflexively stepped in front of Moira 1st with her arms spread.

“What the hell are you doing!? Aren’t you on the same side!?”

Gyes frowned and looked to Miyako.

“That is exactly why I must do this. A machine that has lost sight of its objective must be disposed of or displayed in a museum. And Moira 1st, why do you not stand in front of this woman? If she is your master, it is your duty to protect her.”

“It is, but I am happy that Lady Miyako would stand in front of me.”

“Automatons cannot feel ‘happy’.”

“But we can make associations. Automatons are machines, but we understand it is worthwhile for our master to draw out more of our own functionality and to treat us with care so that we might last longer. From there, we only need to associate happiness with smiles and the actions we take to confirm our master’s existence.” She continued to smile. “If we do that enough, our trust in our master rises and we should be constantly happy.”

“So did you hug me earlier because that trust gauge overflowed?”

“Y-you are not supposed to mention that, Lady Miyako.”

Moira 1st placed her hands on Miyako’s shoulders from behind.

“Now,” she said as she finally moved forward. “Thank you very much for your concern, Lady Miyako. That was more than enough. I will handle the rest.”

“Is that so?”

Gyes watched as Miyako stepped back with a reluctant expression.

“Don’t look at me like that. When she says that, what choice do I have but to let her handle it?”

“Are you jealous, Lady Gyes?”

“I have no such emotion. Also, we have been treated with plenty of care since Lord Apollo awoke five years ago. I have no complaints.”

“Yes, but Lord Apollo does not have us do anything. Do you never want to remove the curse placed on him?”

“Do not say that, Moira 1st!” shouted Gyes on reflex.

However…

“It is no use. Lady Miyako has already realized there is a mystery surrounding Lord Apollo.”

''It can’t be,'' thought Gyes just before hearing Miyako’s voice.

“Are Typhon and the god of war in the basement related to why that rich boy can’t leave here?” She took a breath and scratched her head. “When I checked Typhon’s back today, I saw a name on the cockpit console. It said Artemis. But the Artemis I saw was obviously some kind of ghost walking through the building. I doubt she could be piloting Typhon. Also…the console for the god of war in the basement gave Artemis’s name as the copilot.”

“And what do you say this means?”

“How should I know? I’m not smart enough to come up with an answer right away. But the god of war in the basement and Typhon both have a connection to the name Artemis. Also, there are some odd things about Typhon.” She folded her arms and looked to Gyes. “When Moira 2nd was crushed, I looked at Typhon again and noticed something. The forehead and right arm were being repaired today. Those are the same places Apollo was injured when he fell from the cliff yesterday. What’s up with that?”

She received a single response.

“————”

Gyes began to move.

Her mechanical mind had determined this was dangerous. One of 3rd-Gear’s secrets lay there.

…''That secret is necessary for 3rd-Gear’s continued existence!

If it was discovered, the foundation they served would grow unstable.

“You have learned too much!”

The attack was a straight jab. The silver line tore through the air and split the darkness of the night.

“!”

However, the sound it produced was not that of pierced flesh or breaking bone.

It was a metallic noise.

Gyes realized the sword in her hand had broken.

''Why?'' she wondered, but the answer was directly before her.

Something had stabbed into the ground between her and Miyako.

“My sword.”

Her implied question was answered by a deep male voice.

“Have you forgotten the promise you made with Low-Gear? You promised to speak with them if they placed this sword where they think our base is.”

She sensed two people behind her.

“Aigaion and…”

“Moira 3rd!” announced the smaller maid.

“What are you two doing here?”

“I’d like to know that too.” Miyako shrugged. “I get that the rich boy has something going on, but what is it? How are the god of war in the basement and Typhon binding that idiot?”

“Why do we have to tell you?”

“What if Lord Apollo actually wants this, Lady Gyes?”

“What?”

Gyes frowned and Moira 1st nodded.

“When he shouted at Lady Miyako yesterday, it was the first time I had seen such powerful emotions in him for a long time. I believe it was the first time since he awoke and left Typhon five years ago. That is something we could not produce in him in those five years.”

“I do not want to make my master shout in displeasure!”

But Moira 1st only spoke with a peaceful smile.

“I am sorry, Lady Gyes, but Lord Apollo was smiling after that argument. And that was not the smile we have seen for these five years. It was the same smile he would give before 3rd-Gear began to struggle in the Concept War. That is what I have determined.”

Automatons could not lie, so that had to be the truth.

…''Did this woman remind Lord Apollo of feelings we were unable to give him?

“Why were you able to drag a smile out of Lord Apollo?”

Miyako stepped forward with a frown and tilt of the head.

“Drag a smile out of him? What do you mean?”

“Have you not realized despite being the one to argue and smile with him? We have spent five years with him and yet were unable to give him a natural smile. He often smiles, but the movement patterns of his facial muscles show that there is no strength behind those smiles.”

“Maybe your service is just really bad. Maybe he can’t smile because you’re too awkward.”

“Um, Lady Miyako, that is actually our job,” protested Moira 1st.

“Sorry, sorry.”

The corners of Miyako’s mouth twisted as she further approached Gyes.

She was already at close range. If Gyes drew her sword, the others could not stop her in time, but there was something she had to ask first.

“Human, how did you give Lord Apollo that expression?”

“That’s easy. I hit his head too hard and knocked a screw loose.”

“Damn you!”

Gyes reached toward her back and into her suit, but she saw that Miyako had already leaned backwards.

“Headbutt!”

The headbutt struck Gyes right on the forehead.

The attack caught her completely by surprise. She had not switched to combat mode, so her only defenses were the defensive membrane of her skin and her skeletal structure. Unfortunately, the defensive membrane was not enough to suppress the vibration.

“…!”

The vibration reached her artificial skull and her brain sensed danger. She shut down her wiring to prevent the vibration from sending random commands through her nervous system. It only took an instant to reconnect, but she could not move in the intervening time.

She collapsed as if her knees had given out.

The reconnection succeeded a moment later and she regained her senses of sight, hearing, and touch.

“Ah…”

But Miyako was holding her by the collar and the woman’s empty left hand was pressed against her own forehead.

“That rich boy is quite something if he was smiling after taking blow after blow like that. Tell me, Gyes. What is his secret?”

“Why? Why do you want to know so badly?”

“It’s nothing much.”

Miyako averted her gaze and frantically spoke up when she noticed Moira 1st peering at her from the side.

“Oh, but…um…I don’t mean it’s nothing. There is something. It’s just…”

“Yes? What is it?”

“Well… You know that rich boy’s eye color? That yellow? Typhon sometimes has that same eye color, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, it does,” answered Gyes. “Although only for a short time.”

Hearing that, Miyako looked relieved. Her shoulders lowered, she took a breath, and she looked at the others.

“Listen. Don’t tell anyone about this. …To be honest, I don’t really get it myself, but I feel like that eye color is really important to me.”

“What do you mean? If you want that eye color, you can change yours by- That’s just cruel, big sister!!”

After watching Moira 3rd being carried away, Miyako turned back to Gyes.

“Answer me this,” she started. “Did that rich boy always have that look to his eyes? Y’know…that weak one.”

“No. That appeared when 3rd-Gear began turning its people into gods of war to fight and he was left all alone.”

“I see. What was that idiot like before then?”

“He was strong. He was kind and meant to become a king, but…that was taken from him.”

“Why?”

“He was killed by the traitor’s daughter and a member of your Gear. The god of war from below is a remnant of that.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. Apollo was killed? But that idiot’s alive.”

Gyes did not answer, but Miyako continued speaking.

“So is that the curse? Is something keeping him alive while also binding him? Is that what’s moving Typhon and keeping him from leaving here!?”

What could that something be?

“Is it Artemis!?”

As soon as she shouted that name, she heard a noise. It was a low groan that almost sounded like the earth trembling.

“The hangar door.”

Aigaion’s comment led her to turn east where the forest was now lit up. The hangar door was opening and someone appeared from the light within.

“Artemis!”

That woman of light exited the hangar.

Her gentle movements resembled dancing as she floated atop the grass in front of the hangar.

Her expression was near tears, she held herself in her arms, the wind blew her hair, and she looked up into the sky.

The moon was there.

She opened her mouth and let out a voice that took the form of a shout and a scream.

“————————!”

However, that tremendous scream came from within the hangar and a giant white form soon followed the sound out.

It was Typhon.

As they all held their breath, Typhon came to a stop behind Artemis.

The white, six-winged god of war reached for Artemis and lifted her on its palm.

It looked to the sky. The giant’s eyes were pale and those eyes were turned upwards where the moon floated in the night sky.

Typhon placed Artemis on its shoulder and roared once more.

“——————!”

With that deep mechanical voice, the white giant flew into the sky.

It left noise and wind behind.

“!”

Gyes covered her eyes amid the gust of wind, but she still saw Miyako continuing to hold her collar and looking up into the night sky.

The wind blew leaves into the air, but only the moon was visible in the sky.

“Is Apollo inside Typhon?” asked Miyako.

Gyes took several seconds to conclude that question had been directed at her.

But before she could reply, Miyako asked again.

“He is, isn’t he, Gyes?”

“Why?”

“Why what? You aren’t making sense.”

“That does not matter. Answer me, human. Why do you put so much focus on Typhon?”

“Well,” muttered Miyako as she looked up into the night sky. “I used to be strong, just like Apollo. And recently, I realized something. The truth is, I was also weak back then and I’m also strong now. It was that eye color that led me to that realization.”

Miyako nodded.

“Yes, that’s what it is.” She let go of Gyes’s collar. “And that’s why I’m so interested in those eyes. I want to know if there’s something I can do, even if it’s unwanted.”

“…”

The word “regret” appeared in Gyes’s mind.

Just as Moira 1st had said, she was associating Miyako’s words with her own desires.

It was unclear if Miyako had realized it or not, but Gyes’s assessment of Apollo was the same as Miyako’s assessment of herself.

That would mean something had happened to Miyako that was similar to what had happened to Apollo.

“Miyako, are you closer to him than any of us despite the difference in Gear and the short time you have known him?”

Miyako did not look Gyes’s way, so the automaton got up and stood next to the woman.

“Let’s go.”

“What’s this all of a sudden? Go where, you idiot?”

“To pursue Typhon. When Typhon goes on a rampage, it is our duty as the Hecatoncheires to stop it. And while we are at it, we will let you see it all. So come with us. And…” She nodded. “If you still wish to do something after seeing this, I will choose to trust you!”

Black hair danced in the moonlight.

That color black was sent dancing by the girl playing in the waves while wearing a white swimsuit.

As the waves washed up to above her knees, she swept it away with her hands, slowly circled around, and otherwise enjoyed herself. Her movements waved her black hair about and the dark spray of water reached her skin and the white cloth covering her chest and lower body.

When she spoke, her voice was filled with surprise and delight.

“Ha ha! The bottom really is cold at night, Sayama-kun.”

She turned toward the boy who sat on the beach.

Baku sat on his head and Shinjou’s shed clothing was untidily placed next to him.

He had one knee raised as he watched her.

“Are you enjoying the ocean, Shinjou-kun?”

“Yes. I’m glad I came.”

[[Image:OnC_v07_0125.png|thumb]]

She collapsed into the water, but a wave crashed down above her before her back hit the water. She sank into the unexpected cold and pressure of the water.

“Wah!”

She frantically stood up and brushed up her slightly damp hair.

''That was pathetic,'' she thought while turning toward Sayama.

She spread her arms as if showing off her body.

“How do I look? I was afraid white wasn’t all that different from underwear or our combat uniforms.”

“Never fear, Shinjou-kun. Swimsuits are an entirely different genre. You look wonderful.”

“Since you didn’t make any strange comments, I’m really glad to hear that.”

However, she began to hold her body with a troubled look. She was feeling a bit cold now that she had been soaked with water.

…''It actually feels less cold when in the water.

She found that strange as she scooped up the waves and splashed the water over her skin.

“Waves are so very strange, Sayama-kun. I wonder how they work.”

“The wind and the flow of the tides move the water and the continual overlapping movements become repeated waves.”

“That answer kind of ruins the mood…”

But what made her smile was not what he said but how quickly he gave the answer.

That smile produced a question from him as he buried Baku in the beach such that only his head stuck out.

“Did I say something funny?”

“No. I was thinking about how you have a response no matter what I say.”

“I am only this verbally generous when it comes to you, Shinjou-kun.”

“Thanks, but it can’t just be with me.” She narrowed her eyes as she spoke. “This may not be exactly what I truly think…but even if I’m no longer with you, you have to continue the Leviathan Road and continue speaking.”

“How ominous. You should avoid saying that sort of thing.”

“Why? Low-Gear has no concept that makes words come true.”

“Perhaps not, but my mother said we were going to meet someone important and then she alone went to meet that person.”

His face looked white in the moonlight, but Shinjou spotted his right hand on his chest.

…''Ah.

She realized her words had taken them in an unintentional direction.

She frantically moved toward him in order to take his hand in the moonlight, to see each other’s faces better, and to eliminate the misunderstanding faster than words could.

But the sandy ground was loose after being torn into by the waves and a receding wave tugged at her feet.

Meanwhile, Sayama spoke.

“Also, the automaton known as #4 defined her own death and truly did die once that definition was fulfilled.”

His hand remained on his chest.

“And yet there is no concept giving words power.”

“That’s…”

She tried to add “not true” as she crossed the waves. She did not know about his mother, but she could comment on #4.

“That can’t be true. Sayama-kun, if you try to carry everything yourself, you’ll- Ah!”

The receding wave caused the sand below her feet to crumble and she tripped forward.

The water was only knee deep, but a wave crashed down from above and she sank down to the bottom. The warm water and sound around her hands, elbows, and knees was pulled back toward her butt and it tickled.

She quickly got up and sat on the sandy ground below the water.

“Ah.”

She spat out the salt water in her mouth. The water in her eyes stung, but rubbing her eyes would not help. She shook water from her hair while a new wave hit her on the waist and then receded.

Once she raised her head and opened her eyes, she found Sayama standing directly before her.

…''Ah.

He had entered the ocean up to shin height with his shoes and everything still on. He was as expressionless as ever and Baku sat on his head.

“Are you okay, Shinjou-kun? There are rocks and shells on this beach, so do you have any cuts?”

“I-I’m fine, but your pants and shoes…”

“Do not worry.” He took a shallow breath. “This happened immediately after I made an odd comment. It would have been a much bigger deal had something happened to you.”

Shinjou realized what he meant by that.

…''What happened with his mom and #4 means a lot to him.

She wanted to tell him to stop thinking like that, but she knew it would not be that easy.

Instead, she reached out a hand toward his right hand. That was the hand he always used to hold the left side of his chest.

She grabbed the hand and tugged it toward her.

“Let’s stay together forever.”

It took several seconds for him to reply, but he did finally nod.

His expressionless face changed to a small smile and he spoke.

“Saying it once merely cancels out what you said before, Shinjou-kun.”

“Th-then I’ll say it twice: let’s stay together forever. If you want, I can say it a third or fourth time.”

“Is that so?”

He nodded and pulled on her hand to help her stand.

He looked at her wet body and she decided to assume he was checking for injuries. Feeling appreciative, she turned around.

The lights of Okayama were visible there. Beyond that were the lights of the Great Seto Bridge as Sayama had previously explained and lights likely continued on and on the farther back one looked.

“Your parents protected the lights of that city from the Great Kansai Earthquake, didn’t they?”

“Rather than protecting them, you should say they allowed them to remain. …Or perhaps they were unable to do even that.”

He took a deep breath and looked in the same direction as her.

“My parents were certainly part of IAI and they seem to have been part of UCAT as well, but I do not have much desire to remember how things were back then. A lot happened and the memories I wish to reject are more powerful. But…I think my father was an obedient person, unlike my grandfather.”

“…”

“The Great Kansai Earthquake in 1995 creates a dividing point for it all,” he said. “The old man said the epicenter was Babel, the ancient tower which contains this world’s negative concepts. On that night, my parents were called in to help and my father did not return. My mother would only say he was caught in secondary damages. However…I do not know what really happened.”

“Eh?”

He nodded.

“Do you remember what I said earlier today? There is a lot we still do not know about that earthquake. That is what I am talking about. We know what caused the earthquake, but we do not know what caused the activation of the negative concepts.”

“W-was it just a coincidence or due to something we don’t know about yet?”

“Yes. For example, the interference of the Army or a group that preceded them.”

Shinjou gasped.

…''The interference of the Army or a similar group?

What if the activation of the negative concepts had been an intentional act by some group?

“Would that mean this group activated the negative concepts for some reason? Like to destroy Low-Gear?”

There would have been a battle and the negative concepts had not been fully activated.

“Does that mean your father and the others were trying to stop them?”

“There is no way to be sure because we still lack too much information. We do not know if such a group even existed or if there was a battle around Babel. However…”

“However?”

“Here is an interesting piece of information. On that final night, my father said he had work to do at IAI, left with my mother, and then died when he was sent out to help with the early morning earthquake. In other words, my parents were called in to UCAT before the earthquake actually occurred.”

He took a breath and placed his right hand on his chest.

“I wish to look into the records. What positions within UCAT did all those who died from the ‘secondary damages’ hold? If they were all skilled fighters, why were they called in just before the earthquake? Of course, it is possible they were all given the night shift by coincidence.”

“This is all speculation, isn’t it? It’s hard to believe there was some decisive battle between UCAT and an opposing force ten years ago.”

“Yes,” he said with his eyes closed. “We do not have enough information to support or reject that theory. And if this theory is correct, nothing could be more humiliating.”

“Why would it be humiliating?”

He opened his eyes, faced her, and answered with a serious tone.

“It would mean I am fulfilling the Leviathan Road in order to make up for my parents’ inability to fully prevent the activation of the negative concepts in that battle. Also, it would mean there were those in the battle who were truly attempting to destroy Low-Gear. That is exactly the sort of person I wish to defeat in negotiations.”

“I think your desires are straying toward the extreme.”

“I suppose so. But remember that this is only speculation, Shinjou-kun. We will likely learn the truth in the future, but I intend to avoid being trapped by my own imagination and feeling let down when I face the truth. After all, I know that I am the world. The truth found in that world must agree with my thoughts and that is why I wish to make sure that is the case.”

He sighed.

“At any rate, I still do not know what happened back then. All I know is that my father died and my mother grew depressed afterwards.”

That comment led Shinjou to look toward him.

He was lowering his gaze from the lights beyond the ocean and to her.

She met his gaze and had a single thought in her mind.

…''No matter what past he might face, I’ll be by his side.

“Yes, it’ll be fine. I’ll be watching you and I’ll do my best to be seen by you.”

She did not say she would outdo his mother or #4. Instead, she spoke to his expressionless face. She knew he would say nothing more about his feelings now, but…

“If you ever feel like saying more, I’ll listen.”

He nodded and did not hesitate to wrap his arms around her. Her pulse began to race as she felt her wet skin begin to soak his shirt.

“Ah, Sayama-kun! I’m all wet!”

“I thought we would be together forever.”

Before she could reply, his lips touched her forehead. After a moment, his tongue licked her forehead and lowered to her lips.

She closed her eyes as he removed the remaining salt water from her mouth. It was not a bad feeling.

Once she finally let out a breath, he spoke.

“You have a wild salty flavor today, Shinjou-kun. And your swimsuit is wonderfully thin and see-through.”

“Please stop saying things in such weird ways. …And what do you mean see-through!?”

She frantically bent back within his arms and looked to her chest.

The truth lay before her eyes. As she blushed, he spoke.

“Some cleverness is needed when wearing a white swimsuit. Did you not know that?”

“No. K-Kazami-san didn’t say anything about it.”

“She wears swimsuits made of diving suit material, so she would never have to worry about this. Also…”

That last word sounded ominous. She tilted her head and he looked to her clothes on the beach.

“Shinjou-kun, it may be too late, but did you bring any underwear to change into?”

“Eh? I was wearing this below, so…” She came to a sudden realization. “But if I wear those clothes over this, I’ll ruin an entire outfit. And I only just changed before dinner.”

“I doubt anyone would blame you if you stripped down naked and wore the clothes over your bare skin.”

“I don’t want to be that unguarded.”

“I see. Well, I thought this might happen, so I prepared some underwear for you.”

“Where did you steal those from!?”

She could not help but shout out when he pulled underwear from his breast pocket like a magic trick.

However, he shook his head.

“I did not steal it. I bought it as a present for you.”

“Just out of curiosity, where did you buy it?”

“At UCAT’s large-scale store.”

UCAT’s third floor was a market facility. She pictured Sayama spreading out underwear in the lingerie shop while the female employees who shopped there watched him. He of course had Baku on his head.

…''I can actually see that happening.

“I want to end that unpleasant image, but how did you know my size?”

“Ha ha ha. That was easy. I am always embracing you, so I was able to use a method my grandfather taught me. I embraced all of the store’s mannequins to determine which one was the same size. It takes a fair bit of effort, but it is the best way to prepare a gift without asking the recipient their size.”

…''I can never walk through UCAT’s third floor with him again.

However, he embraced her shoulders.

“Now, let us return to the beach so I can give you your gift. After wiping you dry by hand, I will put the underwear on you.”

“What are you talking about!? Wipe me dry by hand? You’re putting the underwear on me?”

“It is my gift for you, so I must see it through to the end. Can you think of another way of doing that?”

“No, but I can think of some good ways to strangle you.”

“Ha ha ha,” he laughed. “You are being very funny and amicable tonight.”

He thought for a moment and his expression grew perfectly serious.

“You are a truly fucable person, Shinjou-kun.”

“Sayama-kun, do you remember what I said earlier today?”

She decided to strangle him and thought the strap of her swimsuit would work well.

A moment later, a sudden voice reached them from the direction of the tents. It was Kazami.

“Sayama! Shinjou! We’ve got a bit of an emergency! You aren’t doing anything indecent, are you!?”

“Ha ha ha. We were just about to, Kazami. Just watch and- gwah!”

“W-we weren’t doing anything. Anyway, what is it!?”

Kazami’s panicked voice came from the darkness beyond the beach.

“Well! Mikage is missing!”

“Mikage-san is!?”

Hiba and Izumo burst from the forest with binoculars in hand.

“That’s a big deal!” shouted Izumo.

“No, those two are the bigger deal!” shouted Hiba.

He faced Shinjou who frantically tried to hide her body.

“Wh-why is Shinjou-san a girl!?”

She was unsure what to say when directly asked like that and she thought about whether to explain it.

“Well, um, it would take a while to explain.”

“Don’t tell me you underwent a surgery in Morocco!”

Just as she started to think that would work as a lie, Sayama stepped forward to hide her and then turned to her.

“It would be best to give a quick explanation that eliminates the misunderstanding. …Hiba boy, listen carefully.”

“Y-yes? What is it?”

“People have their own preferences and Shinjou-kun is no different. Try to read between the lines.”

“That does not eliminate the misunderstanding!!”

Shinjou kicked Sayama from behind.

“We need to find Mikage-san!”

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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume7 Chapter 27|Chapter 27]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume7 Chapter 29|Chapter 29]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume6 Chapter 19

2026-04-14T02:10:09Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 19: Pursuit into the Depths==
[[Image:OnC_v06_0223.png|thumb]]
''Some answers contain traps

''That is normal

''So destroy them without thinking of immersing yourself in them

The black clock on the wall indicated the time was four in the morning, but there were no windows on the white walls to let in the morning sun.

The large underground space was divided by several partitions and a woman walked along the western side. The woman, Tsukuyomi, walked to the director’s desk on the south end while holding a bundle of documents.

The sound of her sandaled footsteps suddenly came to a stop.

Something lay at her feet. Namely, a figure in a lab coat had fallen forward and lay sprawled out before her.

She looked closer and spotted a nearby laptop.

“Oh, it’s Kashima.”

With that, she walked past him and he spoke up from behind her.

“You’re going to ignore me, Director Tsukuyomi?”

“Yes, I assumed you were asleep.”

“Adults don’t sleep on the floor.”

“I see.”

She began to walk once more, but he quickly sat up.

“You don’t want to know why I collapsed from shock?”

“I really don’t, but if you’re going to tell me anyway, get it over with.”

“Natsu-san is so cruel. You know the wash toilet we’re developing?”

“You mean the prototype product named ‘Right There!’? You brought it home with you last night, didn’t you?”

“Yes. Before leaving home, I hooked it up and set the spray pressure to ‘anti-ship beam’ since that’s the main selling point. Well, Natsu-san called me during the night with a slight smile in her voice and told me I can’t come home for three days as punishment. She even suspected it could take pictures. Honestly, she’s so cute!”

“Hm. Your point?” she asked expressionlessly.

He stared blackly at her, looked to the side, and lowered his shoulders in a sigh.

Finally, he stared off into the distance and spoke in an earnest tone.

“This workplace has grown so brutal over the past few months. Our boss is ignoring what her subordinates tell her.”

“You really are going all out with your lovey-dovey side. And you’re forcing your boss to listen to it.”

“I am not being lovey-dovey. It just so happens that subjectively explaining the situation makes me feel happy.”

“My sympathies. …Anyway, get to sleep. You’re Team Leviathan’s instructor, aren’t you? I hear you’re having difficulty putting together lessons recently.”

Kashima stood up when he heard that.

“I’m managing by including some of my own interests.”

He picked up his laptop and showed her the screen. The displayed window had a few spheres drawn inside it: ten small red spheres and one blue sphere.

He looked at the screen, smiled, and faced her.

“This is a simulation on the origin of the eleven Gears to confirm the meaning behind the Leviathan Road. The different UCATs have been researching this since World War Two and have achieved some results, but I doubt any of them know the answer. How the eleven Gears came about is still shrouded in mystery.” Kashima tilted his head. “Anyway, I heard they were leaving for a training camp.”

“They all left by helicopter at about three along with that boy named Hiba and that automaton named Mikage. They should have arrived above Nagoya at this point.”

“I see.”

“Are you interested in Mikage because of your grandfather and Susaou?”

He thought for a moment and eventually formed a weak smile.

“A little. After all, that Mikage was supposedly used to control Susaou. But I hear she doesn’t remember it herself, so I’m hesitant to ask her directly.”

“Yes, being considerate is a part of the job. Well, if you’re lucky, you might get a chance to ask.”

“Perhaps,” he said while looking at what she held.

Seeing those documents led him to ask a question.

“Are those documents for the training camp?”

“I’m not going along for that. As a director, I have the right to cancel.”

“But the Seto Inland Sea is where 3rd-Gear…”

“If it’s about my daughter, don’t worry. She wouldn’t get killed so easily. Plus, I think you’ll be more interested in this.”

She held up the documents so he could see.

“This is the report on the Georgius tests.”

Kashima pushed up his glasses, put his laptop under his arm, and stared straight ahead with a smile on the corner of his mouth.

“Nice. What did you find? What are its effects and its origin?”

“What do you think as someone who saw it firsthand when Yamata was sealed?”

“Its function is to amplify concepts, its purpose is to increase the power of concept weapons, and its origin is Low-Gear. Am I on the right track?”

“That’s a good question.” She gave a small smile. “You could be right and you could be wrong.”

“Why are you being so vague?”

“Because that’s all I can be.” She shrugged and her smile grew bitter. “I don’t know the answers. It didn’t react when I applied concept fields around it with the examination device. As far as I can tell, Georgius is nothing more than…”

“A glove?”

“Yes. What we saw for ourselves conflicts with the results of the tests.”

She had learned this after experimenting for the entire day.

She recalled Ooshiro’s face when he had agreed to lend her Georgius. There had definitely been a broad smile there.

…''He doubted I could learn anything.

And in truth, she had not determined Georgius’s identity. She had learned very little else, but one fact stood out.

“At the very least, Georgius is strange. When Totsuka sealed Yamata, Georgius emitted light and the sword’s power increased. And the same thing supposedly happened in the battle with 1st-Gear.”

“Yes, Gram was apparently given power when it was too weak to withstand Fafnir Custom’s attack.”

“If Georgius did those things, there has to be something there, don’t you think?”

Tsukuyomi pulled a specific page from the report.

As she held it out to Kashima, he looked at her hand before looking at the document.

“Director Tsukuyomi.”

Her right hand was wrapped in bandages up to the wrist and she laughed toward the white cloth that was faintly stained with blood.

“Ha ha. I should have known better. When I wasn’t finding anything, I tried it without thinking. I put away the machine covered in a special defensive concept and grabbed it with my bare hand to try and put it on.”

The result lay before them.

“Doctor Chao says it will take two weeks for a full recovery. She’s going to the training camp, so she won’t start truly healing it until she gets back. I’m going to have to go out for meals for a while.”

“I see,” said Kashima slowly.

Whatever he was thinking, he took the paper while looking at her hand and then lowered his gaze to the printed paper.

“Is this…?”

“Looks like an ECG, doesn’t it?”

“Yes,” he agreed.

The paper contained rectangular waves running along a graph. Such a graph would normally have a lot more written on it, but this only had about three waves.

“But what are these occasional pulses?”

[[Image:OnC_v06_0231.png|thumb]]

“Check the unit of time.”

He looked above the graph and Tsukuyomi knew he would catch on if he was clever.

Sure enough, he frowned.

“What? One pulse at a rate of approximately eight hours?”

“Exactly. That is the faint vibration inside Georgius. Anyone who likes to jump to conclusions would say this means Georgius is alive.”

“…”

“Even in 3rd-Gear, some kind of internal mechanism is needed to supply a pulse to the metal parts. However, Georgius is nothing more than a leather glove and a metal chip and yet the pulse comes from both of them.”

Tsukuyomi did not know why that was, so she asked him.

He did not immediately reply but eventually spoke.

“It would be simpler to assume that Georgius is alive even so. If we cling to that theory and search deeper, we will at least know it is not alive if we find out we’re wrong.”

“Why do you think it is alive?”

This question received an immediate answer.

“It chose the one named Sayama as its master.” He took a breath. “What if that was not a setting and it wished for Sayama of its own free will?”

Tsukuyomi did not answer because she could not do so when she did not know the truth. He seemed to realize that because he lowered his head and apologized.

“Sorry, but to continue, Georgius was given to Sayama Mikoto by his mother. Can’t we assume it has a will of its own and was waiting for him?”

“Why do you ignore the possibility that it was set to do that and instead insist it has a will of its own?”

“If it was just a setting, it would only need to remain inactive when someone else wore it. However, it rejects others to the point of hurting them.” His expression was completely serious. “That is an action only taken by a being with a will of its own.”

“So you think so too?”

“What?”

His eyebrows rose in confusion, so she raised her right hand and snapped her bloodstained fingers to call him over.

“Come here. I think you’ll like this.”

She turned around and walked to her own desk.

It took only a few steps and the clock on the wall was approaching 4:10 AM. The time was likely drawing near.

“The night before I started the tests on Georgius, I set this up.”

“Wh-what is it?”

“I’m hacking into the deepest depths of UCAT’s databank. In other words, I’m illegally accessing the version of the Second Reference Room on the data servers. Only VIPs can view it and it contains the information on UCAT’s blank period, the Concept Cores, and the National Defense Department.” She smiled. “While investigating Georgius, I had some very limited access to that information in their examination room, so I used that as a way in from here. I have it set up to gather all the classified information at the core of the data servers.”

Kashima reacted after a short pause.

“Director Tsukuyomi, you’re betraying UCAT.”

“Are you going to stop me?”

“No, I just wanted to say that. Oh, and if anyone asks, this means I tried to stop you.”

She turned around in front of her desk and saw him shrugging his shoulders.

His expression softened and he sighed.

“This isn’t just about Georgius, is it? You’re trying to get information on the National Defense Department to help out Team Leviathan, aren’t you?”

“Well, if I take all the information, there’s sure to be some of that in there. And if I have it, I might as well hand it over to them.”

''And,'' she said to herself. ''If I find data on UCAT’s blank period, I’ll learn about my husband.

“…”

She decided to leave her sentimentality until later and switched on the deactivated display.

Tsukuyomi looked toward the newly lit-up monitor.

A black window filled the screen and had several symbols and words scrolling across it.

Kashima smiled bitterly when he saw it.

“You’re using our hacking software ‘Genius Hacker Girl – Gomez’? That’s the nastiest one, but it’s a pain to use because all the settings are done with text commands.”

“Yes, but it can do the most and it’s pretty smart. When the development department was reorganized, some idiot went too far in a demonstration hoping to increase our budget.”

“They hacked into a certain country’s databank, checked to see if their Secretary of State wore a hairpiece, and added a protector to keep the data from being altered. They did it all without being noticed, but it caused a small commotion in that country when UCAT Director Ooshiro checked to make sure it was accurate.”

“It’s a good thing that country had a sense of humor. When the Secretary of State was giving his official response to the accusations, he said he would reveal their nation’s greatest secret and then removed his hairpiece.”

“I hear Gomez has been upgraded a few times since then.”

“This is Version 4. After all the work I’ve put into it, she’s like a child to me.” Tsukuyomi pointed at the screen. “Anyway, this is a map of the area around the protectors on the strictest portion of Japanese UCAT’s servers. We set up the foundations of this ten years ago, so we should be able to break through it even if I don’t know what kind of modifications the UCAT Director has added since.”

A pursuit at the speed of electricity was unfolding in the server space shown on the screen.

The hacking program would access the areas it had access to and attempt to continue deeper. Sometimes it would delete data, use that as a hole to plunge deeper, and restore the original data so as to cover its trail.

However, the firewall working to cut off the hacking program was also well made. It would constantly check for illegal access, but the scope of that checking would expand or contract so as not to put a burden on the server’s main functions. While tracking the hacking program’s movements, it would also work to detect the origin point of the illegal access.

The hacking program recorded every point it passed through and constantly recalculated the shortest route to use on its way back. The destination of that route was the origin point in question.

Recording that route was much like a homing instinct.

If captured, that origin point could be checked, so the hacking program would destroy itself in case of capture.

The pursuit continued in the electronic world where a single touch meant it was all over.

The standard setting Tsukuyomi had used was to prepare a single hacking program to reach the core of the servers and to send out a great number of dummy programs.

Too many dummies could trigger an emergency where all the servers shut down, so the number of dummies was monitored in real time and new ones were sent out with randomly set destinations.

“From the looks of it, a few million dummies have already been sent out and then destroyed.”

“It says here seven dummies have been captured.”

“Those ones had their origin point set to the general affairs and security divisions. This’ll cause them some problems, so we need to secretly give them some nice equipment.”

“I’d feel guilty if they thanked us for it, so let’s send it anonymously. …But what happens if they capture a dummy from our territory?”

“It’ll say Atsuta’s machine was doing it, so there’s nothing to worry about. If someone comes by, boot up his machine and deal with it. I’ll pretend to play a game or something.”

“Atsuta’s machine has the Heart Sutra for the wallpaper. Do I really have to boot that up?”

“Give it your best shot,” she said with a sigh.

Suddenly, the image on the screen changed.

The black window displayed a straight vertical corridor. The corridor was drawn with two green lines and looked like a cross section of a straw, but it was an abstract image representing the digital world.

“Here we go. It’s on the path to the core.”

The green lines were ten centimeters apart and the blue line indicating the hacking program was falling between them.

“That blue line is long. Are you sure you don’t have it recording too much of its route? How optimized is it?”

“I want it to take a few detours to lose pursuit on its way back. This was the limit.”

Several yellow lines cut across the green corridor to block the way.

Those were the firewall, but the blue line broke through them in an instant and continued on down.

The blue line opened a console and asserted its presence.

“I’m 2nd-Gear.”

Red dots flew up from below to intercept it, but it fired light blue dots and curves that destroyed all of the red dots.

“I see you’ve given it more attack programs. It only had the blaster and zapper when I was working on it.”

“That was to avoid a barrage, so it had to be flashy as well. Personally, I enjoyed it more back when you could still grasp the location of all the bullets.”

“The times are changing. I don’t like saying it like that, though.”

As they spoke, the blue line scattered light blue dots around itself as options.

An especially thick yellow line formed a door down below and one light blue dot flew over and destroyed it.

At that point, the screen suddenly went dark.

They had left the corridor, so the corridor opened like an upside down funnel and then formed a circle.

The blue line had entered a large circular space.

“This is the core.”

Enough red dots filled that space to completely cover the screen and a white sphere sat at the very center.

The blue line paid no heed to the red dots. It fired the light yellow dots while slipping past the mass of red dots to access the empty space beyond. That was a spot of safety, a place where no one would attack it, and a location where it could view all.

It circled around to check on the white sphere in the center.

The sphere was about five centimeters across and the entire circular space was about thirty centimeters across.

“That isn’t a space you want a fight in.”

As if to check on that space, the blue line circled the entire space while slipping past the pursuing red dots.

It finally arrived at a location ten centimeters directly below the white sphere.

“What will it do?”

As if to answer Tsukuyomi’s question, light came from the blue line.

A blue dotted line extended from the front of the blue line and toward the white sphere in the center.

That dotted line represented the predicted access route and a window opened for just a moment.

“Go ahead? Y/N.”

But they did not even have to press a key because the development department’s program was autonomous.

“Y”

A moment later, the blue line raced into the darkness.

As it did, the mass of red dots pursued.

The wave of red surged toward the blue line’s destination and the blue line threw light blue dots out like a spray to intercept.

The light blue spray canceled out the red dots.

The silent disappearance of the two created an open space and the blue line continued into that darkness while showing no sign of turning back.

The red group arrived and more light blue splashed out at them.

The red and light blue vanished and the blue line continued forward through the darkness.

That collision and cancellation of color continued at high speed.

As it produced the instantaneous sprays of light blue, the blue line broke through the center of their afterimages.

That line raced toward the white sphere. Once it reached a distance of sixty-four pixels, the red group changed its tactic.

It formed a wall.

The red group realized it could not predict the blue line’s actions, so it tried to surround the white sphere and prevent access from any position.

In other words, UCAT’s core was being completely cut off.

The expected result of this action was displayed on the screen with a note in parentheses.

“Emergency (of the awkward variety).”

The server was being shut down.

The firewall represented by the group of red had determined that shutting its own system down was the only way to protect itself.

The wall of red approached completion, but the blue line did not hesitate.

It continued on its predicted path below the white sphere because that was the shortest route from its current position.

The line cut through the darkness in an instant and approached the red group attempting to set up a wall.

“!!”

It danced.

It quickly traveled to the all access points around itself and fired its attack programs around as it did so to make the red wall collapse.

The light blue spray collided with the red.

Without even checking on the progress of that attack, the blue line rebounded straight up toward the white sphere.

Just as it arrived, text appeared on the screen.

“Mission complete!”

The blue line fired a light blue line from either side of its body and those two lines formed a protective corridor that repelled the red group.

The blue line began quickly taking data from the white sphere and the light blue corridor displayed the rate of destruction at different points.

“It should hold up long enough to transfer out the data!”

Tsukuyomi watched the indicator on the monitor. A window divided into one hundred segments slowly but surely informed her of the data transfer rate.

She gave the program further instructions.

“Skip the core’s dummy data!”

“Select option: call keyword.”

“What keyword should I use to trigger a skip?”

She thought for a moment, but Kashima reached over to the keyboard.

“18+.”

As soon as he hit enter, the speed of the indicator shot up. The blue line was no longer reading the dummy data and was quickly extracting only the important classified information.

Tsukuyomi sighed toward Kashima as he watched the monitor.

“Not bad. …Wait. Why does the core contain mostly 18+ data!?”

“You were only supposed to download a few files, but now you’re downloading all of UCAT’s core data, aren’t you? Will it all fit on your machine?”

“Of course not.”

“But the development department server is directly linked to the other servers, so they’ll have no problem catching us if you put it there. What are you going to do?”

“Don’t worry.” She nodded. “I’m encrypting it and sending it to every development department member’s machine. By my calculations, there should be enough space as long as I delete the unnecessary data on the machines.”

“I see. It is true our individual machines have our exclusive security on them, so no one outside the department can view them. …Wait, Director Tsukuyomi! My latest family movies are on my machine!!”

The monitor they watched displayed the layout of desks in the department. On the overhead map that displayed the partitions as white lines, Kashima’s desk was gradually filling with blue.

“Ahhh!!”

As he watched, his desk on the map grew entirely blue.

After a quiet chime, the data switched from his machine to the machine next to his.

“Ahh…” He fell to his knees. “I couldn’t protect my family…”

“C’mon, stop that. You need to distinguish between 2D and 3D.”

A moment later, noise filled the room.

The emergency alarm was going off.

“Eh?”

She checked the monitor, but the light blue corridor protecting the blue line had not been breached.

That meant the electronic battle inside the server had not been discovered.

…''In that case…

“This must be something else.”

Kashima stood up and an announcement explained the situation.

“Um, sorry to interrupt all of you working the night shift, but, um, this is UCAT’s security department. An intruder entered the first floor and, um, the security department did not arrive in time to stop said intruder from moving further inside. Um, we would like to ask all the standby members of the field operation department to assist.”

Muttering voices could be heard in the corridor as some people began to take action.

They could be heard shouting to each other and equipping themselves as a further announcement arrived.

“Um, this is the security department. We have more information on the intruder. Um, she is a girl. I repeat, she is a girl. Her beauty has been ranked Class A. We have a beautiful girl accompanied by a large number of dogs. It is a truly moving sight. Even if you have nothing better to do, please remain where you are!”

The voices in the corridor grew oddly bright and the noises grew even louder.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume6 Chapter 18|Chapter 18]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume6 Chapter 20|Chapter 20]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume6 Chapter 17

2026-04-13T02:00:59Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 17: Afternoon Space==
[[Image:OnC_v06_0139.png|thumb]]
''Where is that which you seek?

''Where is the one who you seek?

Three mountain ranges existed to the west of Tokyo.

The Okutama mountain range was the farthest north, the Akigawa valley traveled south from the Okutama hills to Akigawa, and the Hachioji and Takao mountain range was south of the Akigawa valley.

A highway traveled east to west deep in the mountains of Hachioji. A major road ran through the southern part of Hachioji to allow passage to Kanagawa, so it was a convenient area for transportation despite being mountainous.

Long ago, Hachioji had been well known for its many spinning factories. Afterwards, other industries had prospered, but the remains of the obsolete factories still existed in the mountains.

One such factory was hidden in the mountains yet was built on a large plot of land.

Despite being abandoned, both the land and the road leading to it were maintained.

At the time of day when the afternoon sun permeated the mountain with heat and the cries of cicadas filled the air, a small figure stepped onto the old factory’s land.

She was a girl wearing a short-sleeved safari dress and a straw hat.

She held a large wicker basket in her right hand as she entered the empty land in front of the factory.

As she did, she raised her left hand with a chain around the middle finger. The end of the chain fell down toward her palm and contained a blue stone.

She looked around to make sure no one else was around and stepped forward.

—'''Minerals are alive.

An instant later, her surroundings had completely changed.

The crying of the cicadas was gone and the air smelled faintly of oil.

“…”

Most noticeable of all, the factory before her was no longer abandoned.

It was just as well-used, but it was clearly still in use. Heat-resistant boards were laid out around the building and a large number of people in work uniforms were sitting around in the building’s shadow.

The tape in an old cassette player was playing a radio recording from the previous night.

The DJ giving his recollection of the Showa era provided background noise as the elderly work manager gave his own commentary to the younger workers.

The girl jogged toward the factory’s large main entrance that stood open, but she turned toward the building’s shade before entering.

“I made some snacks.”

The workers raised their hands in joy, but the elderly manager stood up.

“Shino-san, hot tea is best when it’s hot. Do you have any? These guys need it most. I can’t have them getting too exhausted.”

“Yes. I had a feeling you would say that.”

The younger workers gave groans of protest, but the old manager quieted them down with a glare.

Shino smiled at all of them.

“I also have some cold drinks.”

“Shino-san, don’t spoil them. They’re already too slow as it is.”

“Sometimes you need to relax.”

“That’s right, that’s right,” agreed the young workers with smiles.

Shino set down the basket, pulled out what she had made, and placed it on a sheet she spread out.

She set down some honey-preserved lemons and bottles of frozen sports drinks. The candy was homemade. She also had peanut butter sandwiches that were a tad small but would feel like plenty to someone with an empty stomach.

But the main attraction was the tea and the youkan. Shino sliced up the latter, but the young workers began reaching in before she was done and the old manager raised his voice.

“Don’t be greedy, you brats! And the bottom edge belongs to Shino-san. Don’t you dare touch it.”

She smiled bitterly and used her daily experience to neatly divide it even for an odd number of people.

With the eagerly waiting workers behind her, she stuck a toothpick into each piece of youkan.

“Ah.”

Something arrived on four running legs.

It was a dog.

The large white dog was as tall as her waist and it ran over impatiently.

“Shiro.”

The dog playfully rubbed up against her head. It happily pushed her around and pressed against her, but the surrounding workers all stopped moving.

She followed their gazes and looked at her feet. A shadow stretched out at her crouched feet, but ''only'' her shadow.

A closer look at Shiro showed the dog was slightly transparent.

Shino then looked toward her own chest.

The chain hanging from her neck spilled from her collar and to her chest. A blue stone was attached to the chain and it was currently giving off a blue light.

“That’s a troubling light, Shino-san,” said the old manager. “But he likes you, so don’t be cruel.”

Shino smiled with the ends of her eyebrows lowered.

“I can communicate with and give form to minds of various types. This is the power I inherited, so it doesn’t bother me. And Shiro will come for me even if I don’t call for him. Like he did that one time.”

Shino turned toward the entrance to the factory grounds.

Beyond the border of the concept space was a gate in the real world. The gate was opened, but a stone lay next to the road and to one side of the gate.

The oblong stone was about the size of a weight stone used for pickling and covered in moss, but a water dish and flowers were placed in front of it.

“When we first let him out of here, I was so excited to be his owner that I ran right out into the road. And then…”

“Don’t worry too much, Shino-san. Shiro is still alive. This is his home and your surroundings are his territory.”

“Yes. I still remember what Mikoku promised me back then.” She smiled toward the ground. “She promised to one day…one day create a world that can conquer death.”

She reached a hand over Shiro’s shoulder and the dog licked it.

She could feel the lick, but she knew it was nothing more than the power of her stone. The dog’s form was created by the concept power that the stone produced through her.

“Sometimes I’m afraid that I’m using this power on all of you as well.”

“Don’t worry, Shino-san. Sometimes you make food that isn’t very good, but you can tell when you see these guy’s faces, can’t you? If you were controlling us with your concept, we’d always be happy with the food.”

She and Shiro looked back and saw awkward looks on a few of the workers’ faces.

Not knowing how to react, she smiled bitterly and they did the same.

“Um… When that happens, please scold me. I’ll feel better that way.”

“But…uh… We couldn’t possibly… Oh, manager! You eat the food too, so you can do it!”

“Don’t be stupid. I was born during the war. It’d take a lot for me to complain about the food. Also…”

He looked to the east. The city of Takao was visible through the trees and the city of Hachioji was wrapped in a bit of heat haze even further along.

“She’s the adoptive daughter of the people who took me and this factory in after it looked like there was no hope left. If she served me poison, I’d eat it.”

“Manager! You say that, but you always make sure you’re first in line after Shino-san for the youkan!”

“Pay attention, you fools. My diabetes test came back positive. I’m risking my life here.”

“U-um, manager? That’s actually really serious.”

Shino began wondering if she could make a low-sugar youkan.

While he continued looking toward Hachioji, a smile appeared on the corner of the manager’s mouth.

“Well, however it happened, this is funny. This factory is almost entirely filled with people from other worlds and I’m the only one from this world. My family thinks I just like messing around with old junk,” he said. “Anyway, Shino-san, did you know that Hachioji, this city west of Tokyo, was bombed during World War Two?”

“Eh?”

“Strange, isn’t it? With all the spinning factories, it was pouring smoke into the air as it made cloth during the war. But that must’ve made them look like military factories. In the early morning of August 2, 1945, one hundred seventy B-29s dropped sixty-seven thousand napalm bombs and killed more than four hundred people. Over eighty percent of the city was burned away.”

The old manager reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette.

He lit a match despite the fuel and oil tanks around him.

“And that’s not all. On August 5 when the evacuation train was restarted after the bombing, it was hit by a Grumman air raid on the Takao tunnel. They sprayed machinegun fire on the crowded train and killed about nine hundred.”

As he spoke calmly, he breathed in the cigarette smoke and exhaled.

“But even after all that, no real help came. Not even from that special unit in Okutama.”

“…”

“After hearing about them from Hajji, I realized they might have been able to do something with the concept powers they had. I know I’m just complaining and I have a family now, but I still think there needs to be some kind of protest.” He smiled and grabbed the cigarette. “Don’t tell Mikoku. She might not look it, but that girl can be too considerate.”

“You don’t have to worry about that as long as you don’t say anything.”

Shino stood up and stroked Shiro’s back.

“I’d like you to show me around Hachioji sometime.”

“These youngsters could introduce you to some better places. Unless you want people to think you’re looking after your grandfather or something.” The manager pointed toward the back of the building. “More importantly, Mikoku is over there. She’s training with Tatsumi before heading to Kurashiki tonight. Such nonsense.”

“What about Alex?”

“His weapons haven’t been attached yet, but he should be ready. He’ll make it in time to get what you’re after. If all these youngsters actually do their job, that is.”

The younger workers groaned in protest, but he spoke over them.

“At any rate, we’ve waited ten years for this. The Army is finally beginning to move.”

The green of the trees was almost blue.

The sun could be seen descending beyond the trees, but the brightness of that summer sunlight had not waned.

Two figures stood in the forest’s harsh contrast of light and shadow.

A young man in white led the way.

His long blond hair waved behind him as he walked through the forest without breaking a sweat.

A woman with semi-long black hair followed him. She frowned and had the bottom of her white clothes tied to the side.

“Hey, rich boy,” she called out to the man. “Where are you taking me?”

“Well, you see.” He stopped and did not turn toward her. “Miyako, I am letting you escape.”

“What?”

Miyako stopped behind him, but he checked to either side regardless.

“This isn’t easy. The maids might be watching from somewhere.”

“And if they are?”

“They’ll scold me.”

He turned toward her and smiled, but Miyako could tell he was lying. The smile did not reach his eyes.

There had to be more to this. They had automatons who could erase memories, supply memories, and control gravity. That had to be kept a secret and that applied to their master as well.

…''If I’m spotted escaping, I’d be the only one punished.

Then why was he checking their surroundings?

Realizing why he was doing it, she clicked her tongue.

“Thanks, rich boy.”

“Pease call me Apollo, Miyako. You gave the automatons names, yet you are still referring to me by a title for nobles.”

“Rich boy isn’t a title for nobles.”

“Really?” He placed a hand on his forehead. “But the common language concept is telling me it refers to the son of a wealthy family.”

“There’s sometimes a hidden nuance to words. But if you don’t get it, I suppose it doesn’t really matter.”

“If you say so.”

His eyes bent in a smile.

''What a nonthreatening idiot,'' she thought. ''Well, I guess it’s better than an idiot who’s always looking around suspiciously like me.

She had a feeling Moira 1st and the others did not refer to him as “lord” simply out of obligation.

…''At the very least, I don’t feel like deceiving him.

She sighed inwardly.

“So what made you feel so sorry for me that you’re letting me escape?”

“To put it simply, you’re too much trouble.”

He gave his mouth-only smile once more.

''That’s a lie,'' she thought, but she made sure not to let her thoughts show.

“That’s not a surprise.” She shrugged. “I ignored your intentions and gave names to your maids. I can’t complain if you kick me out.”

“I’m glad you understand.”

Apollo’s face looked somehow pale.

It may have simply been the shadows of the trees. After all, they had only walked around a small mountain. It had not been enough for her to be out of breath and he was a man.

…''I’m worrying too much.

“So how do I get out of here?”

“This concept space has a weakened boundary. The farther out you go, the weaker the concept gets. The life of machines should be fairly weak here. The final line is a few meters ahead.”

Apollo pulled a metal rod from his cloak. He swung it and it extended into a staff.

“To break through that line, hold this and walk straight through.”

“Oh? But, um, I left all my stuff here.”

“Don’t worry. I have your…is this a change purse?”

“Don’t be stupid. That’s every last yen I own.”

“My apologies. This world uses paper money, doesn’t it? It must not have many resources.”

“You must not have many brain cells. Watch carefully. If you take this bill and fold the part with the face like this and then like this… Look, from below he’s smiling and from above he’s crying.”

She held it out and Apollo stared intently at it.

“…”

After a while, he turned around and his shoulders shook.

''That was a complete failure,'' she thought to herself.

“If you want to laugh at my stupidity, don’t hold back, you idiot.”

“Th-that isn’t it. I was just realizing how soft Low-Gear’s culture is.”

“If you’re trying to be tactful, try harder. And I had more possessions than just this.”

“Yes, I have the rest too. Here is your underwea- gfh!!”

Miyako stepped forward, elbowed him in the side, and swiped the two pieces of white cloth. She clenched her back teeth and spat words at the curled-up and cloaked back.

“I see Sun God Apollo is just as perverted as the myths say.”

“Is that what you say about me in this world?”

“Yeah, and that you got along a little too well with your sister. Have you never heard of morals?”

“3rd-Gear had no other choice. I was the only one left with the ability to have children, so I attempted to do so with many different women, extracted their concepts and wills into the Concept Core, and turned them into gods of war. …It was all on my father’s instructions.”

“You just do what your superiors tell you to do?” she spat back.

Miyako sighed inwardly.

…''We’re a lot alike, so I’m not one to talk. In fact, I didn’t even get to the point of having superiors telling me what to do. I was rejected at the interview.

But Apollo did not protest. He only lowered the ends of his eyebrows and stood up.

“Family was not off limits, so Artemis was indeed tested at the very end.”

The phrase “at the very end” caught Miyako’s attention. She wondered why he would save his sister for last.

…''Normally, wouldn’t you test someone that important before anyone else so they would not be taken from you?

No…

…''Was he afraid of finding out it wouldn’t work?

She felt bad for speculating about this.

Moira 1st had not told her what had become of Artemis.

Zeus and the others had taken back Rhea’s daughter, split the Concept Core in two, given one half to Typhon, and given one half to Typhon’s weapon named Keravnos. But Keravnos had been stolen in an attack by Low-Gear. With half the Concept Core gone, 3rd-Gear had been destroyed.

She did not know what had happened to Artemis, but she did not seem to be around anymore.

“I don’t really understand everything, but do your best for your sister’s sake too.”

“I will.”

A weak smile formed on only Apollo’s lips.

''He’s lying,'' she realized again.

She did not know why he was lying, but she knew that smile indicated a lie.

She considered asking further, but he was trying to have her leave. She decided not to pursue the truth because she might be nothing more than a brief visitor here.

“But what will you do from now on?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Hold up. How can this place last with a master like that? You can use that giant white god of war, right?”

“I’m not the one piloting it.”

“Then who is? Aren’t you the only human in that base?”

“Even so, I’m not the one piloting it.”

“I see,” she said with a nod.

All of them were tightlipped about Typhon. She was not going to receive an answer by asking about it here, so she sighed.

“Well, you’ll be fighting people from my world, won’t you? And you won’t stop if I ask you to.”

“No. We have our reasons. As I’m sure you are aware.”

Hearing that, Miyako asked about something she was curious about.

“Is your opponent Rhea’s child?”

After a short pause, Apollo nodded.

There was no smile on his lips, so Miyako believed him.

Silence followed.

That quiet gave her an urge to run away. She sensed that, unlike him, she belonged to a world that knew nothing of fighting.

She opened her mouth and made a joke.

“So if you win, will you marry her?”

“Yes, I suppose so.”

Miyako frowned because it sounded like he had only just realized that fact.

“You’ve never thought about it before? How can you continue on if you don’t think about things like that?”

“I’m not the one fighting. I suppose it was due to relying on someone else that I had not thought about it much. …But this is a bit of a problem. I had been thinking about moving somewhere else once we won this fight.” He looked out toward the city of Kurashiki. “There are even more cities, mountains, and oceans beyond this city, aren’t there?”

“Of course there are.”

“I see.” He looked relieved. “My grandfather told me this was a large world. I’d like to see those things first. I want to see the world with the morning sun washing over me. Having a wife by my side would make it even better.”

“Stop getting lost in fantasy. Isn’t that only if you win?”

“Yes. And our opponent is strong.”

He went on to ask a question.

“Did you see Typhon and that black god of war fight?”

A certain scene appeared from Miyako’s memories. Typhon passed by the black god of war in the sky. Typhon suddenly changed its location and launched an attack on the other machine.

In the end, the black god of war had attacked with lightning, but Typhon had endured it.

“Is that black one really that dangerous an opponent?”

“It is just as powerful as Typhon. Although from a purely mechanical perspective, Typhon is stronger.”

“Then the black one can’t win,” she said while scratching at her head.

''Try to sound more disappointed,'' she thought to herself.

But Apollo narrowed his eyes.

“It might be able to win.”

“How?”

“That’s a good question. I don’t actually know. But my grandfather told me to leave everything to Low-Gear if Typhon is ever defeated by that black god of war.”

“The old man liked riddles, didn’t he? I don’t like it. So what are you supposed to do? If that black god of war defeats Typhon and kills you, is 3rd-Gear just gonna sell itself to Low-Gear?”

…''Don’t be ridiculous.

“There won’t be any 3rd-Gear people left.”

“There is still Rhea’s daughter,” he pointed out.

“Rhea defected to Low-Gear! She joined this world. To us, that black god of war is the giant hero that faces the giant mechs of an evil organization.”

“I’m not sure what that means, but it is true that she is officially known as a resident of your world. But…”

“But?”

She purposefully let her displeasure show and Apollo continued slowly.

“At the moment, that black god of war cannot possibly defeat Typhon and this will all be settled before long. I want to win if I can and we are currently in a position to win. Is there a problem with that?”

“No, you idiot. And if that’s your conclusion, why’d you even have to say the black one might win and start this whole argument in the first place? Stop confusing the issue and keep things simple. Say the other side’s strong, but it isn’t a problem.”

…''Ahh, why am I lecturing this idiot?

She frowned and looked Apollo in the eye.

He looked back with a serious expression.

His eyes were the same yellow as Typhon’s eyes the other night, but the emotion there was different now.

What had that emotion been? She had a feeling Apollo knew the answer.

“Well, whatever. If I stay here arguing against your rich boy thought process, I’ll be here all day. …You want me to leave, right?”

“Yes.” The seriousness left his face and a smile formed on his lips. “I won’t force you, though. You were enjoying yourself while escaping reality with the maids, weren’t you?”

Those words triggered her rebellious side and her hand moved reflexively.

She snatched the metal staff from him and turned her back.

…''Dammit.

If she walked forward with this staff, it would all be over. Her clothes were ridiculous and she wore sandals instead of shoes, but she had underwear and her wallet. If she bought a T-shirt or something, she would look fine enough. If anyone looked at her oddly, she was used to getting people to back away with a glare.

…''It’s time to leave.

She let out a snort toward the man behind her and began walking.

After the first step, her body naturally started forward.

There was no excess strength or guilt in her gait, so she gave a sigh of relief and continued forward.

She hesitated a bit when she thought about Moira 1st.

When giving the maids their names, she had been trying to make a nice change to their environment.

…''But that was an unneeded bother for their master.

She decided to leave.

A strange conflict involved the master of this place and he did not seem to want her getting involved.

She recalled her continuing attempts to find a job. Right up until the last moment, she would think about the things to do if she joined that company, but she always left before it really started.

''This is the same thing,'' she complained in her heart.

Apollo did not follow behind her. That irritated her, so she quickened her pace.

But…

“…”

She suddenly stopped.

…''What am I doing?

That thought began with her right hand holding the staff.

She felt heat in that hand.

During the day, she had repeatedly swung down the hoe. The heat in her grip was similar to pain.

She had used the hoe to dig up some dirt, placed the dirt in the pots, and planted the seeds the automatons had taken their names from.

Their pots were now lined up along the southern edge of the white building.

She had been a part of all that.

“…”

…''Can I really just leave?

“Naïve”, “child’s play”, and other terms people had constantly said to her floated up in her mind.

But her focus shifted to the pain in her hand.

…''I managed to accomplish something, didn’t I?

The automatons had taken their names and wanted her to use them. To record them perfectly, it was apparently best to have a trustworthy person use the name.

The approximately sixty faces she had memorized the night before had been matched to as many names.

The first automaton to be given its name, Violet, had then asked for her name.

She had once more answered “Miyako”.

Her father had given her that name so that a great many people would gather around her.<ref>Miyako means “capital city”.</ref>

She thought about her own name and the name the automatons had started calling her.

…''Well?

“Was I…?”

…''Was I trying to escape my name?

“…”

It took her a moment to answer. Many different thoughts appeared in her mind, but she discarded them in an instant.

She was good at cutting through to a clear answer. She was also good at regretting and forgetting.

She turned her stopped feet backwards. She frowned, clenched her teeth, and likely had a terribly grim expression, but she knew that was to hide her true thoughts.

And even if she tried to hide it, she did have true thoughts behind it.

So she made a certain decision.

…''I’ll stay here.

“There has to be something I’ve left undone.”

She turned around to say something to Apollo. He was trying to have her leave, so she wanted to somehow gain his permission to stay.

But she saw something unexpected.

“Wait.”

He was sitting on the ground where he had been standing a moment before.

It looked like he had sunk down into the grass and he did not seem to be breathing.

“What are you doing, you idiot?”

She walked, ran, and hurried over while tossing aside the metal staff.

…''What’s going on?

Weren’t only machines supposed to grow weak by the concept space’s boundary?

She ran over and hurriedly sat next to him. He was sweating profusely, his breathing was shallow, and his face was almost completely white.

She had not been seeing things when he had looked pale earlier.

“You idiot.”

As soon as she spoke, she felt as if all strength left her legs.

“Ah?”

She looked down and the grassy ground was shaking.

In that instant, she noticed that she and Apollo were near the edge of a cliff in the forest.

And the ground was crumbling out from under them and toward the slope.

“…!”

She fell.

A certain wooden room was about six square meters, had shelves of baskets on the wall, and had a scale and refrigerator.

The refrigerator said “Tamiya Family Property – No Modifications” on the side.

This was the changing room for the Tamiya house’s men’s bath. The clock on top of the shelves said 5:50 PM.

A figure entered through the sliding door to the right of the clock.

It was Shinjou.

She held a blue yukata and wore her school uniform.

“Um…”

She looked around to make sure the room was empty and then opened the frosted glass door to the bath.

She saw a tiled bath beyond the warm and humid air. The washing area was about six square meters and the fairly deep tub was just as large. The washing area had four faucets and showers, so she assumed the bath was usually used in shifts of four.

“Does your average house have a bath like this?”

She was only familiar with the large bath for UCAT employees and the even larger public bath named Eternal Sunflower, so she did not know how to judge the Tamiya family’s bathing space.

…''I never expected to spend the night here.

It was due to the destruction of Hiba’s house.

Izumo and Hiba were staying in Sayama and Shinjou’s dorm room while Mikage and Kazami stayed in Izumo and Kazami’s dorm room. Someone had suggested letting Hiba and Mikage share a room, but the first term had only just ended and a lot of students had yet to return home. Izumo and Sayama had discussed it and reached the following conclusion.

“It’d start rumors if a first year and a blonde were seen entering the room of someone as well-known for his idiocy as Sayama.”

“You fool. If they were seen entering the room of a certain violent couple, people would think it was some new kind of bedroom play.”

From there, they had all settled on the current arrangement.

Mikage had looked discouraged which bothered Shinjou, but she had seemed to calm down a bit once Izumo had given her a diary from the things collected beneath the destroyed house.

When Shinjou imagined the diary as being like her binder, she felt a sense of relief.

…''Everyone has something like that, don’t they?

“Yeah,” she said before closing the glass door to the deserted bath.

She went around to all the clothes baskets just in case, but they were all empty. There was truly no one in the bath.

Kouji and the others were in the kitchen preparing dinner for the night shift.

She and Sayama had eaten early and Sayama had gone to the living room to read the newspaper, but he had disappeared at some point.

If she wanted to safely take a bath, this was her chance. After all, this house was always under the influence of Sayama space. She needed to quickly finish her bath and get to sleep early in preparation for the training camp the next day.

She reached to the other side of the sliding door and placed a sign saying “in use by guest” on the outside column.

After that, she silently removed her clothes. She removed her shirt, pants, underwear, and socks to reveal her skin.

Setsu’s body appeared from below the clothing.

She reached for a towel, loosely embraced her chest, and continued on. She opened the door to the steamy space.

“Wow.”

The steam was much thicker than in the large baths she was used to and she quickly started sweating.

The sun was still setting outside the window. She could not see that light in the usual larger baths. She checked that the window was locked to ensure no one could peep and even checked the corners of the bath for hidden cameras.

She had the place to herself.

…''Yay.

She crouched down as if covering her body with the steam and pulled over a nearby bath bucket.

“Hm?”

It was quite heavy because it was already filled with water.

She had not seen anyone in the bath, yet the water was warm. Wondering why, she observed more closely.

Something familiar was floating in the bucket: Baku.

The small animal was practicing its flutter kick with its front paws on the edge of the bucket.

Shinjou frowned at the quiet splashing sounds. She looked around and even up at the ceiling, but…

“His owner isn’t here.”

''Is Baku playing here on his own?'' she wondered.

Whatever the case, Sayama was definitely not here and she did not have time to hesitate.

“I need to finish my bath.”

She spoke aloud to herself, grabbed a different bath bucket, and leaned out over the tub.

She looked down and her eyes met with Sayama’s as he lay face up at the bottom of the tub.

“…”

Noticing her from the light blue tiles below the water, he raised a hand.

She even saw his mouth move as if giving a casual greeting.

“W-waaah!!”

Sayama responded to her shout by swiftly rising up and out of the water. Steam and water shot into the air and he brushed up his hair with his left hand.

“Phew. Why did you shout, Shinjou-kun? Did you see something strange?”

“Look in a mirror before asking that!”

Sayama turned toward the mirror on the bath’s side wall and then frowned.

“I see. So that is the problem.”

After his nonsensical comment, he fixed his wet bangs. He posed in front of the mirror, fixed his hair further, and then checked the shape of his face from an angle.

“That should be back to normal. You are surprisingly picky about appearances, Shinjou-kun.”

“Sure.” She nodded and smiled. “Um, Sayama-kun? I’ve discovered a fascinating new fact: you are insane!”

“This certainly is sudden. Calm down, Shinjou-kun. We can work out this misunderstanding. Do you have a question about something?”

“I’d rather not mention it for my sanity’s sake, but…why were you submerged at the bottom of the bath?”

“Oh, that.” He raised his right arm to show off the UCAT watch on his wrist. “I have been training my lung capacity since I was quite young. I am still a long ways off from my best time.”

“Since you were quite young?”

“Yes. I used to compete with my grandfather. He would say I could not come out until I had counted to one hundred and then that horrible old man would hold my head under the water until I almost died. Later when he was submerged, I dumped in a bunch of detergent to sterilize him. The scene of him rampaging around in the bubbles was straight out of a monster movie. …Old people these days are all so horrible. Fortunately, their numbers were recently reduced by one.”

“I think someone is quickly growing into a decent replacement for him.”

“Ha ha ha. Do not worry. I am from a much higher caste than him.”

Shinjou felt that was reason enough to worry, but then he asked another question.

“Is there anything else you wish me to explain?”

“Um… Well, your clothes weren’t in the changing room.

“How very strange. I put them in the refrigerator like always.”

“What do you mean ‘like always’!?”

“It says ‘Tamiya Family Property’, doesn’t it? It actually functions as a safe. It used to be in the kitchen, but the key was lost for half a year. The contents were a sight to behold after that, let me tell you.”

“Okay, I think I understand the situation. …I was wrong to expect common sense from you inside the Sayama space.”

She turned her back, realizing it was all over. She could not take a bath now. She also decided to be cautious around the refrigerators in the house. With that decided, her smile began to look forced.

[[Image:OnC_v06_0169.png|thumb]]

But then a figure appeared through the glass door leading into the bath. Shinjou only saw the color of flesh with a pink towel wrapped around it.

“Yahoo, Setsu-chan? I’m here to wash your back.”

“Eh? Ryouko-san?”

As Shinjou spoke up in confusion, a small wind suddenly wrapped around her.

In no time, her body changed into Sadame.

“…!”

She gasped just as the door began to open.

She frantically grabbed the frosted glass door to prevent Ryouko from opening it.

“Huh? Does this door not fit the frame right?”

“Th-that isn’t the problem! U-um, Sayama-kun!! Sayama-kun, um…!”

“What is it, Shinjou-kun. It is only Ryouko. There is no need to put up such a struggle.”

“No need? B-but we can’t let her see us!”

Ryouko reacted to that shout.

“Setsu-chan? What do you mean you can’t let me see you? Are the two of you doing something amazing?”

…''A misunderstanding! How am I supposed to explain this? No, I have to avoid explaining it.

She had difficulty determining her priorities for various things and grew indecisive.

“Eh? Um, that isn’t it. You see… Why are you just watching, Sayama-kun!?”

“Lately, I have been wondering if I am being unintentionally rude to you, Shinjou-kun.”

“Th-this is no time to suddenly become considerate. Stop watching and get over here!”

“Ooh! I want to see, too! Let me in!!”

Ryouko began shaking the door like a monkey, but Shinjou endured.

“Ahh, Sayama-kun! Please grab on! Grab on and help me!”

“If you wish,” she heard him say.

A moment later, his hands firmly grabbed on…to her butt.

He firmly gripped her with fingers warmed from soaking in the bath and he spoke calmly.

“Shinjou-kun, I have grabbed on, but what should I do now? You asked me to help, but there is not much I can do from this position.”

“Sayama-kun, this is one of those unintentional things you were just mentioning. …Ahh! Stop it, Ryouko-san!”

As she shouted, new footsteps approached the changing room and the door leading into it slid open.

“Sister! What are you doing in the men’s bath!?”

“Hm? You have to ask, Kouji? I want to wash Setsu-chan’s back.”

“You do know Setsu-kun is a boy, right? And he is not a part of our family.”

“Don’t be silly, Kouji you little scamp. If he’s in our house, he’s part of our family.”

“Listen carefully. Different families have their own rules, so please try to abide by them when they are here. You can’t suddenly throw our way of doing things at them. Setsu-kun might never come back again.”

“Don’t worry. I have a waterproof camera to help convince him to come back. …Ahh! Why would you take it away!?”

“To keep you from committing a crime!!”

Ryouko could be heard groaning in thought, but she quickly spoke up cheerfully.

“Listen, Kouji, listen. Um, I think Setsu-chan is actually a lot like us.”

…''She’s surprisingly perceptive.

But Shinjou’s thoughts did not reach Kouji. She heard him sigh.

“Sister, have you ever heard of common sense?”

“Of course. I got a 5 in Japanese language class.”

“As a percentage score I assume? Also, this is the men’s bath. As your aide, I cannot allow the president to corrupt the company’s morals.”

“Eh? You sure are strict, Kouji. I’m not doing work now, so I’m an individual instead of a president.”

“Fine, fine. Then I say the same thing as your brother. Leave, sister.”

“No fair!! Are you saying you’ll let the young master and Setsu-chan in the men’s bath but not me?”

“Yes, because those two are boys! Even if Setsu-kun would probably become a victim of something or other before making it five meters in the Bronx!”

''Oh, so that’s how they see me,'' thought Shinjou with an odd sense of understanding. ''And Kouji is relatively normal, so it’s pretty convincing.

The strength on the other side of the door vanished and she could hear receding sounds of the elder sister struggling.

“Ah! Wait, Kouji! Are you really going to throw me out in nothing but a towel!? You can’t do this just because mom and dad are away bear-hunting in Karuizawa. Oh, c’mon!! I’m gonna give you tons of curses!!”

…''I can’t believe she would say that.

Shinjou’s shoulders relaxed, she swept aside the hands admiring her butt from behind, and she grabbed a bath bucket.

“Um, Sayama-kun? Is it always like this?”

“Lively, isn’t it?”

She felt no reason to say otherwise, so she sighed and nodded.

After pouring water over herself and entering the tub, her entire body relaxed.

She took a breath and Sayama sat next to her. She felt the hot water soaking into her body, but she shrank back a bit once he sat there.

She wondered why and quickly found the answer.

…''Come to think of it…

“U-um, this is the first time we’ve bathed together with Sadame’s body, isn’t it?”

Shinjou used her hands to hide her body in the water and Sayama smiled bitterly next to her.

“Relax. I will not do anything you do not want.”

She felt like expressing her doubt, but decided against it.

There were times when that was true.

“Yeah, I know. I always resist and almost cry, but you stop.”

“About two months have passed while doing that, but has anything changed with your body?”

She shook her head.

She had made a promise on that night two months before when she had first revealed her identity.

She had him occasionally check on her body, but she still did not have her period.

“There hasn’t been a change in my male body either.”

She felt like that wording was blaming him, so she wanted to say something more. She looked toward him in preparation and he tilted his head.

“What is it?”

“Oh, uh…”

She did not like these direct questions, but there were some things she could only say at times like this.

“U-um, I am happy with what you’re doing for me, so don’t worry. Even if I don’t act like it.”

She had wanted to say this for a while, but putting it in words made her blush.

She could not stand his gaze on her, so she looked away. While trying to convince herself she was flushed due to the heat of the bath, Sayama nodded and gave a small smile.

She looked away from that smile by lowering her head.

She reached forward, grabbed her knees, and pulled them toward her. While embracing her knees below the water, the tops of the knees rose above the surface. She placed her cheek on them and changed the subject.

“U-um, I think it might be hopeless.”

“What might?”

That response seemed to cool off the heat in her body.

She took in a breath and spoke the thoughts she had had when the night of nothing but a stomachache had arrived as always at the end of the previous month.

“My body might never develop properly. I might always have nothing but pain.”

She looked down at the bottom of the tub that wavered through the water.

But then something warm touched her right cheek. The damp and solid object was Sayama’s finger.

She looked up in surprise and heard a voice from the right.

“Do you remember when Kazami slapped you?”

“…”

“I do not want that to happen again. And to make sure it does not, I will help you with a different method. After all, this is what I want as well.” A smile filled his voice. “And if having nothing but pain means you cannot develop into an adult, I am the same.”

“…Ah.”

She quickly looked over her soaking shoulder.

She saw him looking at her with his expressionless face, but there was strength and harshness in that face.

Seeing that, she leaned up against him. She grabbed his left arm with her hands, bent her elbow to pull herself toward him, and placed her lowered forehead on his shoulder. When she opened her mouth to speak, it was no longer an apology that came out.

“Thank you.”

She nodded. As she lowered her head further, her mouth sank into the water and then rose once more. She decided to think more positively from now on and she spoke.

“U-um, we were switched out today, weren’t we?”

“Yes. In that concept space, you were me and I was you.”

They had not discussed it yet, but she felt relieved hearing that. That meant their thoughts were reaching each other and it meant she was human.

“Um, Sayama-kun? …How was my body?”

Sayama nodded with a serious expression and looked her in the eye.

“It was very, very delewdcate.”

“Yes. I know what I want to say, but I’m having trouble expressing it. It’s really irritating.”

“I see. Truly good words are hard to come by.”

Sayama leaned against the inner wall of the tub and folded his arms in thought.

Shinjou wondered what was on his mind, but then she remembered that morning.

Sayama’s body had been different from hers. She had initially been surprised by how much higher his vision was. And she had realized something else while looking down on her own body.

…''He’s always looking at me properly.

Instead of looking down at her with his gaze, he would turn his face toward her, so she had done the same.

She belatedly wondered if she had been giving him upturned looks all this time.

When she had been handed Ex-St, her surprise had changed to complete astonishment. Ex-St had been so much lighter than when she moved it around. She had been able to run without losing her balance and without needing to catch her breath.

…''And he’s always matching his pace to mine.

When she had run at her usual pace in the concept space, she had noticed her own body falling behind.

''I’m no match for him,'' she thought while lowering her head even further.

“Borrowing your body today got me thinking.”

“Did you want to use my body to experience various things with a male body?”

“Y-yes. How did you know?”

“Ha ha ha. I had wanted to try that out as well. I thought it might help learn what is troubling you. If you are being held back by a mental issue, then what would happen with my mind?”

“Would it be wrong of me to borrow your body?”

“If it would help give you a sense of relief about your body changing, I see no problem with it.”

…''Really?

She anxiously held her own body, clenched her teeth, and gulped.

But she soon opened her mouth again.

“It’s too late to try it out now, though. Too bad.”

“A normal person would not have the chance in the first place. Even if we could not make use of that opportunity, we still have the same possibilities as anyone else.”

“You’re a persuasive talker…”

She smiled bitterly while feeling thankful for him. She made up her mind and steadied her breathing.

“Do you remember what I said before?”

“About what?”

“It was a while back, but I said I would…return the favor. I know you’ll tell me not to force myself, but I managed to feel your body up close today. I’d like to use it as a reference point for my own. And if it makes you happy, it would make me happy. So…um…well…”

“I see. Then let us both do our very best.”

“Sure. …No, wait! Your idea of ‘our very best’ is on a completely different level than mine!”

“Ha ha ha. In other words, yours is on a much higher level?”

Before she could deny it, he embraced her with a smile.

That smile caused her to relax and she spoke quietly as they pressed their bodies together.

“Let’s work together to do our very best in everything we do from now on.”

<noinclude>

===Notes===
<references/>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume6 Chapter 16|Chapter 16]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume6 Chapter 18|Chapter 18]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume6 Chapter 16

2026-04-12T02:21:36Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 16: Flowers on the Board==
[[Image:OnC_v06_0113.png|thumb]]
''The seasonal colors begin to change

''There is no right answer when coloring the blue of the heavens and the green of the earth

Sunlight filled a large space.

It was a lobby with windows covering the southern wall. An oil painting of the Virgin Mary holding her child decorated the back wall and six lines of a song were engraved into a copper plate below it.

Three figures sat on the sofas by the window to the side.

One was an old man in a lab coat.

The other two were a black cat and a girl in black with a bird on her head.

A three-cornered hat lay next to the girl and she was facing forward.

A shogi board sat between her and the old man.

She moved her hand across the board.

“UCAT Director Ooshiro, I hear Sayama and the others intercepted 3rd-Gear. Check.”

“Wow, you don’t hold back. …You weren’t there at the time, Brunhild-kun?”

“I detected a strange philosopher’s stone reading this morning, but it was all over by the time I went out. I threw the cat at the disguised food stand to stop it from leaving and I asked them what happened. I also got a rice ball. Check.”

“Oh, right. They were serving breakfast there. I’m jealous.”

The black cat glared at his owner from the side, but Brunhild did not notice.

“Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of pudding. Caramel tastes bitter to me. Check.”

“Damn, you’re persistent. Anyway, why are you here today?”

“I asked Siegfried about 3rd-Gear, but he wouldn’t tell me anything. Check.”

“Gwah. I think you might know more about it than him. When 1st-Gear and 3rd-Gear came to this world, you were right next to each other in the Chugoku region and the Setouchi region, weren’t you?”

“All I know is that they did not take any real action until five years ago. Check.”

“What do you mean that’s all you know?”

Brunhild stopped moving for a moment and finally grabbed a pawn.

“Will you give me that silver? I like silver. It’s nice and refined.”

“Fine.”

Ooshiro moved the silver general forward.

Brunhild returned the pawn to its previous spot, grabbed a bishop instead and moved it behind the silver general.

“Check.”

“Ahhh! That’s just immature, Brunhild-kun!”

“How about we start talking?”

“Okay.”

As Ooshiro calmed down, Brunhild lightly crossed her legs.

“It’s simple. Five years ago, 1st-Gear’s City faction considered moving to the west, but found that area was already occupied. Occupied by 3rd-Gear. Check.”

“Did you greet them?”

“Yes. Our scouts gave a polite and hostile greeting of weapons and spells. They were given a warm welcome by 3rd’s automatons. Check.”

“A warm welcome?”

“Yes.” Brunhild nodded. “They apparently held a sukiyaki party. And the leader of their automatons, Moira Something-or-Other, told them to stay away from their concept space between eight at night and four in the morning from then on. That prevented us from moving. Check.”

“I see. But I assume the radicals inside the City faction had other ideas.”

“Yes. We wanted a larger area. And…”

Brunhild moved her hand, announced “check” again, and continued quietly.

“There were those in 1st-Gear who held a grudge against 3rd because their relatives had been taken away. Those people formed a revenge unit before Venerable Hagen could decide how to handle 3rd.”

“And what happened then?”

“The day after they left without permission, they too received a warm welcome. Check.”

“Another warm welcome?”

“Yes.” Brunhild nodded again. “This time it was a slaughter party. We found them all as corpses and it seemed to be a message telling us not to approach them again. …Also, 3rd-Gear’s fortress had disappeared.”

“Disappeared?”

“It was no longer where it had been before. It had likely been moved along with the space it existed in.” Brunhild looked up at Ooshiro’s face. “I heard UCAT was spotted at the time. UCAT followed the string vibration of 3rd-Gear’s fortress being moved, didn’t they? Check. Having 3rd-Gear out there somewhere was a problem and UCAT was poking around, so we gave up trying to move. Check.”

The bird on her head chirped quietly and she pulled a small wooden box from her pocket.

She opened it to reveal some yellow bird food and a portable water bottle.

The bird started pecking at the food.

The cat stared intently at it, but Brunhild grabbed his tail and pulled him toward her.

“The final transmitted text from the ones who died said ‘white god of war’, ‘insurmountable opponent’, and ‘can’t attack or even defend’. Venerable Hagen realized what that meant. I’ll tell you what that was, so give me that gold.”

Ooshiro moved forward the gold general and she actually took it with the pawn this time.

“I don’t get this country’s culture. What do minerals have to do with war?”

“War is an economic activity.”

“I don’t care, so give me that knight.”

Ooshiro did as he was told and spoke with a serious expression.

“Please spare me this one. I’ll cry.”

“I won’t stop even if you do cry, so don’t worry. Or do you accept defeat?”

“No, no. I can turn this around.”

“Then let’s keep fighting and talking. The white god of war was likely Typhon, the strongest god of war that 3rd-Gear developed for their royal family. Venerable Hagen realized that, so the slaughter and the mysterious messages reminded him of another fact: 3rd-Gear’s next king and his sister possessed the 3rd-Gear’s concepts of time.”

“In other words, 3rd-Gear’s next king and his sister were piloting Typhon and controlling time to assist their attacks?”

“Not quite. Check. I do agree the attacks included time control, though,” said Brunhild. “The ones who had met 3rd-Gear earlier had learned a few things from their automatons: Apollo was 3rd-Gear’s only survivor, he was ill, and they wanted to keep things quiet for him. Check.”

“I see. That would mean Artemis was not there.”

“Yes. But that leaves a mystery. If Typhon really was created for the royal family and was controlling time, Apollo would have to be the one piloting it. But do you think a sick person could pilot a god of war and use something as powerful as a concept of time? Simply piloting it would sap his strength and kill him. Fighting would be out of the question.”

“Perhaps the automatons were lying.”

“It would take a special kind of automaton to lie about their master. There were countless automatons receiving them, but no one there doubted what they were saying. Check.” Brunhild raised her right index finger. “It seems 3rd-Gear’s concept of time is divided in two. Apollo controlled the daytime and Artemis controlled the nighttime. With only one of them, do you really think 3rd-Gear could freely use the concept of time in the urgency of a battle? Also, wasn’t Artemis supposedly turned into a god of war?”

“Then who is piloting Typhon?” Ooshiro exaggeratedly tilted his head. “Such a mystery.”

“It seemed like Venerable Hagen had a vague idea of what happened. Check. He said it was all related to the connection between Zeus’s children. I hear UCAT is stopping the Leviathan Road with them, but I doubt you can stop Sayama and the others. How about you secretly tell them where 3rd-Gear’s fortress is? Check.”

Ooshiro tilted his head even further.

“To be honest, I don’t actually know where it is. UCAT is still searching for it. We know it’s somewhere in the Kurashiki region, but there are a lot of decoys and they’re hard to detect because they travel at extremely high altitudes.”

“I’d like for you to crush them. I’m not saying that as an inspector; it’s a personal opinion. They may not have been the smartest bunch, but a group of my brethren was killed by 3rd. …And you need to give up already. Check.”

“Brunhild-kun, you need to show more respect to your elders.”

“Oh? And how old are you? Check.”

“About sixty. I’m at the age where I finally gain a refined charm.”

He raised his right thumb and Brunhild replied by looking to the side and somewhat relaxing her shoulders and expression.

“Heh.”

“Th-that was a laugh of scorn, wasn’t it!?”

“Quiet down. Check,” she said. “Listen. While I’m here dealing with club activities and my summer break research project, Team Leviathan will apparently be enjoying themselves at the beach. Sounds lovely. Check. How about you actually make them do some work for once? I thought you Japanese were supposed to never stop working.”

“Brunhild-kun, I have nothing against sending one more person to the beach.”

“Oh, I said nothing about wanting to go along. Why would I want to soak in saltwater and throw off my body’s salt content? Anyone who confuses that for fun can go cleanse their body’s impurities with salt. Check.”

“Then if I win, you have to hold a photo shoot at the underground saltwater pool instead of going to the beach.”

Brunhild frowned.

“How can you hope to win now? Moving your king toward my pieces isn’t going to help.”

Ooshiro silently moved his bishop deep into Brunhild’s pieces.

“That promotes it.”

He flipped over the bishop, but the lacquered engraving said “nuke”.

“W-wait a minute! What is this!?”

“You’ve never heard of Ooshiro shogi? Too bad! This nuclear suicide bomber turns every piece in a range of three spaces to ‘ash’. Damn, that’s harsh!”

Without speaking another word, Brunhild flipped over the shogi board.

Below the afternoon sky were a forested mountain and a giant white building at the top.

Several figures stood in the empty land in front of the building.

Twenty were maids in black and one was a princess in white.

The maids all held flowerpots and the princess held a hoe in front of them.

They were all speaking together.

The princess spoke in a very masculine way and instructed them to answer her with “yes, sir”. The maids complied.

Her voice carried to the automatons who were opening the windows of the living space at the top of the white building.

They all looked down on the commotion.

“Okay, everyone. Get back to work. Lady Miyako is about to do something with the others, but she has prepared enough for everyone.”

Moira 1st’s voice filled the rooms and the automatons there resumed their work.

They placed their brushes against the floor or wiped down the walls, but still exchanged a glance. Their high-speed conversations achieved by accessing their shared memory devices were all about those down below.

Moira 1st walked between the rooms and viewed everyone’s shared memories.

Only identical models could access the shared memories and they were something like a multi-way phone connection. She listened to the conversations there, but still asked a question from the princess’s room.

“What are they doing down there?”

She did not actually know the details.

The night before, Miyako had asked for a list of all the automatons. She had given a powerful nod and thanked Moira 1st upon receiving the list, but she had not said what she wanted it for.

…''What is she doing?

Moira 1st asked the question out of expectation rather than suspicion and a maid in front of her looked down from the window.

“Well, from what I’ve heard…”

“?”

“It seems the princess is giving everyone names,” explained the maid running a vacuum cleaner across the floor.

“Names?”

Moira 1st looked out the window and saw Miyako speaking while gesturing with the hoe in hand.

“We told her that we do not have names,” said the maid next to Moira 1st. “We said that is not one of our functions. But then she asked Master Aigaion to prepare all this before he left this morning.”

“All what?”

“The pots they’re holding and the flower seeds.”

Moira 1st looked more closely at what those below held.

“She says we need to care for the flower whose name we choose. She says there are autumn flowers, winter flowers, and spring flowers, but we should take one of their names because they all bloom eventually.”

Below the blue sky, maids were lined up in front of a giant white building.

All twenty of them stood side by side in a single line.

Across from them, Miyako wore what resembled a white dress and rested her elbow on the bottom of a hoe.

“Okay, does everyone have their seeds?”

“Yes, sir!”

Miyako nodded at their answer.

…''This is going well. With a group this obedient, I could probably conquer Kantou at least.

But she noticed one maid with a downcast look who was not looking at her flowerpot like the others.

She stood at one end of the line, she had braided hair and glasses, and she was staring intently at the ground in front of her rather than the flowerpot with flower seeds in it. The ends of her eyebrows were slightly lowered and her expression was weak.

Miyako tilted her head and realized there were differences even among the same model of automaton.

However, she was curious what was causing the maid’s downcast look.

“What’s wrong?”

“Eh?”

The maid quickly pointed her glasses upwards and hurriedly spoke again after seeing Miyako’s bitter smile.

“Oh… Y-yes, sir.”

“Good, good. Always try to put some energy behind your answers. …Anyway, what’s wrong? Why do you look so down?”

“Y-yes, sir. I do not have that sort of emotional functionality. I am simply having trouble deciding.”

“What do you mean?”

Miyako stood in front of her.

“You chose a flower, right? Do you not want to take that name? If you don’t want a name, that’s fine. I was just hoping you would take one is all.”

The glasses maid lowered her head again.

''That must not be it,'' thought Miyako. ''This look is coming from somewhere else.

…''But what?

She thought back to when the automatons had taken the pots. They had walked up to the lines of seeds and pots and they had chosen the one they wanted while thinking and conversing.

…''Oh.

Miyako remembered that this maid in glasses had not joined in with the others.

She had been the one to take the last remaining option. Miyako sighed as she realized why she was having difficulty deciding.

“Do you not like a name you didn’t choose?”

…''Not that I chose my name.

Her parents had given her that name, but she could guess what the problem here was.

“You’re thinking that you might have chosen something else had you chosen on your own, aren’t you?”

And…

“You’re thinking that this name doesn’t suit you, aren’t you?”

The maid looked up in surprise and started to say something but stopped.

“…”

She lowered her head again, but Miyako did not overlook it.

Miyako pushed up the maid’s head with a finger under the jaw and looked her right in the eye.

“Where’s your answer?”

Miyako was sure she had been right, but the maid shook her head. By not answering, she was eliminating her own will.

Miyako understood why. If she said yes, she would be complaining about those who chose first and she would be personally admitting how terrifying it was to take a name.

…''This is her consideration as an automaton.

But something about it seemed odd, so Miyako mentally tilted her head. They were all automatons, so why was only this one lowering herself and prioritizing the others?

…''It must be a difference in ability. Or a difference in the work they can do as an automaton.

There had to be differences between automatons. Not only were they given different appearances, but there also had to be differences in the quality of their parts and the way those parts fit together. Just like a human’s height or muscle distribution, that would influence their body’s functionality and determine their strengths and weaknesses.

This maid likely had a great number of weaknesses and so her duty was to act after all the others so as not to be in the way. And here she had determined that those who worked more deserved priority in choosing a name and that she was not suited even for the name the others had not chosen.

''Don’t be stupid,'' thought Miyako. ''Look at it in reverse, and it’s obvious you want a name more than anyone.

“Where’s your answer?” she repeated.

The maid started to shake her head, but Miyako used her fingers to hold the maid’s jaw in place and faced her.

“Silly maid, ‘yes, sir’ doesn’t have to be an affirmation. Here in Japan, it works as a denial too, so feel free to use it.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

Miyako nodded, let go, and reached into her pocket.

[[Image:OnC_v06_0129.png|thumb]]

She pulled out a pile of documents made from strange sheets that were clearly not paper. They had data on the maids engraved into them. In fact, they contained all the information on the sixty-three maids that Moira 1st had supplied the night before.

Miyako had memorized the information during the night. She had done some teaching work in college and she had found that learning people’s names helped calm her down and helped relax the other person as well.

That was why she pulled out the documents but faced forward without looking through them.

This maid was 13th, but Miyako did not use that number. She instead picked up the seeds from the pot the maid held.

The white flowerpot contained a flower seed packet bought at a flower shop and that packet had a picture of purple flowers on it.

Miyako held up the packet and looked to the right.

On one end of the empty land was Aigaion who wore his greengrocer apron and some bandages. He currently had a large pile of flowerpots at his feet. When he had returned at midday, he had said “we failed”, but he had brought everything she had asked for. Feeling thankful, Miyako turned back toward the maid.

“That guy bought these and he made sure they’re all different.”

She held the seeds out toward 13th and asked a question.

“So why did you choose these?”

“Yes, sir…”

“When everyone was distributing them, you refused to join in, you hesitated even when invited, and you simply took the last one left, didn’t you?”

“Yes, sir…”

“Was this a leftover?”

“Yes, sir…”

“If so, were you the one that made it a leftover?”

“Yes, sir…”

All of her responses were identical, so Miyako felt she was repeating the same decision in her head. Miyako did not know how the individual automatons gained their individuality, but 13th understood she was the reserved one of the group and was trying to hold herself back to keep it that way.

…''This is not the time for that.

So Miyako asked a question.

“Do you not like this flower? Does the name scare you?’

“Yes, sir…”

“Is that because you chose it as the last one left? And is it because you are inferior?”

“Yes, sir…”

“Really? Did you really choose this one because there was no other option? Are you really not suited for this name?”

“Yes, sir…”

“I see.” Miyako nodded. “Then let’s throw out this leftover and unsuitable name.”

“!”

The instant Miyako let go of the seeds, 13th reflexively reached out and grabbed the seed packet.

The automaton brought the packet to her chest as if embracing it, trembled, and looked at Miyako with obvious caution.

“I see.” Miyako nodded again. “You were lying when you said you didn’t want it, weren’t you?”

“Eh?”

“Where’s your answer!?”

“Y-yes, sir.”

“Okay.” Miyako rested her elbow on the hoe’s handle. “Then let me ask again. You don’t like that flower, do you?”

“…Yes, sir.”

“You didn’t want to choose it, did you? You feel it’s wasted on you, don’t you?”

“Yes, sir…”

“But you still think it came to you, don’t you? Even if you think the name doesn’t suit you, you’re thankful for it and you want to make it suit you. Isn’t that right?”

“Yes, sir.”

She was repeating the same words, but the strength behind them was changing.

Miyako smiled.

“I fell into old habits and spoke a tad harsher than I should have. Sorry about that.”

“…Yes, sir?”

The maid’s tilt of the head deepened Miyako’s smile and Miyako placed her fist over the hands holding the seeds to the maid’s chest.

“Listen. That flower’s name is Violet. It means ‘modesty’ in the language of flowers. That’s the name that came to you. If you choose to trust in that name, then use it as your own.”

“…”

The blank look on the automaton’s face did not mean she was indecisive. It meant she was truly unable to make the decision.

So Miyako gave a shout to awaken the one who had been given the name of that flower.

“Where’s your answer!?”

“Yes, sir!”

Hearing that, Miyako raised the hoe and slammed it down.

It created a clear noise as it gouged into the ground.

“Everyone, over here! I will once more teach you the names you’ve chosen! And from now on, even after I’ve left, take care of yourselves instead of waiting for some princess to arrive! And take care of the names that have come to you!”

Moira 1st smiled at the voices down below.

She turned toward the back of the room where a maid stood hidden behind the window’s vertical blinds.

“Moira 2nd.”

Moira 2nd turned her blue eyes toward Moira 1st and tilted her head.

Moira 1st approached the window and used her gaze to ask what was going on.

Down below, Miyako was explaining how to plant the seeds. Moira 3rd stood next to her and she must have done something because Miyako karate chopped her head.

Laughter rose from below.

“We don’t use that function very often.”

Moira 1st looked toward Moira 2nd and found the ends of her eyebrows slightly lowered.

“I think we can trust her.”

But Moira 2nd shook her head.

In response to her younger sister’s denial, the elder sister placed a hand on her cheek and sighed.

“It is true that you might not be able to think about this like I do. The ability you were given means you must be the closest one to the princess. I erase memories and 3rd creates new ones, but you view child string vibrations. You are the Moira meant to manage the princess’s health.”

Moira 2nd said nothing, but Moira 1st continued.

“Is it that hard to forget the other princesses who have come here? Is it that hard to forget the ones who feared us when they learned we were automatons, who wished to return to Low-Gear as soon as possible, and who did not even try to leave this room? Is it that hard to forget the ones who did not call for you? And…”

And…

“Do you still insist on remaining silent because you were not given the opportunity to work when you wanted to?”

The question was quiet but not hesitant.

Moira 2nd closed her eyes while facing out the window.

Moira 1st lowered the ends of her eyebrows.

Suddenly, someone appeared at the room’s entrance and Moira 1st turned toward her.

“Lady Gyes. If you’ve returned, you should get some rest.”

“I have a new job thanks to information from Moira 2nd.”

Moira 1st saw Moira 2nd’s expression stiffen, but that younger sister did not reply. She kept her eyes closed and her mouth shut.

Moira 1st reached out and grabbed her sister’s shoulders.

“Moira 2nd, what did you tell her?”

“Don’t scold her, Moira 1st. This is important.”

“It is important for us too. Have you forgotten our raison d’être!?” shouted Moira 1st while still holding her sister’s shoulders. “A 3rd-Gear woman might have fallen into some other Gear during the Concept War. If we find one, we need to teach her 3rd-Gear’s history and stabilize her body. That is why we three sisters were created in order to safeguard 3rd-Gear’s fate. And Lord Cronus once told us this.”

She took a breath.

“We are to support the Concept War’s surviving world even if it is filled with those of another Gear. We are to make no decision that will cause even one of them to be lost!”

“Even if that princess of yours might be from UCAT!?”

“…?”

Moira 1st froze in place, so Moira 2nd gently grabbed her hands and raised them.

Moira 1st saw her sister look out the window with opened eyes.

“According to Moira 2nd, that princess is a pure-blooded member of 2nd-Gear. We also have some internal UCAT information thanks to a certain information broker. Tsukuyomi Miyako is most likely the daughter of Tsukuyomi Shizuru, director of Japanese UCAT’s development department. She is part of 2nd-Gear’s imperial family! She might be giving names to those mass-produced models in order to control them through their names as a member 2nd-Gear!”

“I have determined there are too many uncertain factors in that information. For example, her mother belonging to UCAT does not mean she does.”

“True.” Gyes crossed her arms and entered the room. “That is why I’m suggesting giving her a test. Last night, you gave her as much information as you were allowed. And just now, Lord Apollo discussed something with me.”

“What did you discuss?”

“He suggested letting her leave even though the automatons like her and even though she has her memories.” Gyes nodded. “Lord Apollo knows nothing, not even that she is a descendant of 2nd-Gear, but if she takes him up on his offer and tries to leave the concept space…”

Gyes walked toward the window and looked at Aigaion down below.

“Aigaion and I will dispose of her. We must eliminate that possibility of danger.”

“So that is the conclusion of a combat automaton.”

Moira 1st could make no sense of it, so she remained motionless for several seconds.

Eventually, her stalled brain abandoned that line of thinking and produced a different thought from her memories. She recalled her conversation with Miyako the day before. Moira 1st trusted that Miyako would not run away.

She took a breath, turned toward Moira 2nd and Gyes, and used the breath to adjust her control mechanism.

“Fine then,” she said. “I know what Lady Miyako would say to this test: if you want to test me, go right ahead, but make sure you’re suitably prepared.”

“You certainly have grown fond of Low-Gear.”

“I tested her and received something suitable in exchange.” Moira 1st brought her hands to her chest and smiled. “She did not flee, she tried to learn about us, and she made sure to keep in mind her position here. Because of all that, I made a brand new decision to trust her even more. My payment for testing her was my obedience and the use of functions I rarely use.”

Moira 1st smiled again, but unlike before, this smile was filled with confidence.

She looked down below and saw a blond figure approaching Miyako and the maids who were moving the pots to a sunny spot.

The figure was Apollo.

He raised a hand in greeting and Miyako used the hoe as a cane with an annoyed look.

Moira 1st watched Miyako ask a question and Apollo scratch his head.

“I hope you are prepared, Lady Gyes. And Moira 2nd, if you really do not trust Lady Miyako, then go down there and see what she is doing. Go see that and learn what possibilities Low-Gear holds.”

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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume6 Chapter 15|Chapter 15]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume6 Chapter 17|Chapter 17]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume5 Chapter 9

2026-04-11T02:33:44Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 9: That Which a God Desires==
[[Image:OnC_v05_0315.png|thumb]]
''You think you said too much

''But what you are thinking is the same

''It is simply a difference in the sky you live below

A river flowed through the night.

The Aki River cut east to west across the southern end of Akigawa which was west of Tokyo. The city was named after the river and the river had quite a few fields and empty lots on its northern side and several residential areas along the mountain range to its south.

In the center of one residential area was a red-roofed building at the base of a mountain next to a Shinto shrine.

The nameplate said Kazami in black characters.

The kitchen window let light into the dark night.

The sounds and conversation coming from within were those of dinner.

The ten square meter kitchen had a wooden table in the center and the three members of the Kazami family sat around it.

Kazami’s parents were eating, but Kazami herself was not. She had placed a large rucksack on the table’s guest chair and was using it to pack.

Her father sprinkled some furikake on his rice and spoke.

“If you’re leaving the morning after tomorrow, can’t you visit here tomorrow? You’re making your father sad.”

“We’re meeting at the school, so I want to be at my dorm tomorrow just in case. And you have a job tomorrow, don’t you?”

“Yes, I have a meeting to get a new game project off the ground. It’s called Father Princess 2. The first one had twelve papas. Eleven of them were dandies and experts at something and the last one was a Hanshin fan, always hilariously drunk, and a pachinko addict, but that just made it all the more popular.”

“I see your projects are as weird as ever. It must be tough.”

“Your training camp is going to be tough too, right? Children and adults are the same in the end.”

Being called a child made Kazami smile.

…''I only get treated like that at home.

“Well, I’ll do my best. And sorry I can’t come back here tomorrow.”

She wondered if this was a case of a child not understanding how much her parents worried. She then wondered if wondering that meant she did actually understand, but she also felt that was just an excuse.

Whatever the case, she had a reason to leave early the next morning.

She was going to visit Hiba’s home with Sayama and the others.

In the Kinugasa Library, Hiba had asked them if they were prepared to face the first impurity and they had found their answer.

…''We have no choice but to do something about it.

And she had said she wanted to hear Sayama and Shinjou’s opinions.

But they had their training camp the day after the next, so they had decided to meet the next morning. She had contacted Sayama as he returned from Kanda and he had agreed.

''I have to get up early tomorrow,'' she thought as she packed her bag. She left an open space in the bag, but there was a simple reason for that.

“What kind of souvenir do you want?” she asked.

Her mother thought with a finger on her chin.

“Hmm. As long as you come back safely, that’s good enough for me. And I’ve already gotten most kinds of souvenirs from your father’s business trips. I certainly don’t need another giant humanoid horseshoe crab like the one hanging from the ceiling on the second floor. I’ll knock you to the ground if you give me one.”

“U-um, mom? I won’t buy anything that senseless.”

“That’s right, mama. And that wasn’t a souvenir. It’s the costume I wore in the Kansai-only tokusatsu show ‘Übermensch Purge – Soukatsu’.”

“The theme song for that was amazing. Lightning~ flashes~ from the~ electric chair~! Is that how it went? I know it’s a bit late to look into the mystery of my parents, but why do we have it?”

“Well,” said her father as he crossed his arms. “After filming, I sat next to a fountain and started feeling really dehydrated, so I collapsed right into the fountain. Everyone was watching and they laughed at the ‘swimming horseshoe crab’, but I almost died. I brought it home to dry it, but the show was canceled and I never got to return it.”

“Another canceled show? What was it about?”

“An excellent question. To adapt to the impatient modern children, Soukatsu fired his Special Arrest Beam and started getting torture-induced confessions within seven seconds of the show starting. The remaining twenty-five minutes were spent verifying the misdeeds of his opponent. He would shout ‘find the evidence!’ But reality is harsh, so it would sometimes turn out his purging had been in error.”

“You can’t do that in a kid’s show!”

“Don’t worry. He would give a cheerful apology at the end of those episodes. ‘Hi, everyone! It’s Soukatsu! It looks like I killed an innocent today! I truly regret what happened!’ I think it didn’t catch on with the kids because the setting was just too complex.”

“I’m pretty sure it was more than just the kids who had problems with that show.”

…''I need to stop asking these questions. Let’s see… I need toiletries and we’ll be swimming at the beach, so I should pack twice as much underwear. That leaves…

“Chisato? Your father might be a bit crazy, but you have to listen to him. It’s dangerous to let him talk to himself.”

“U-um, mom? Can’t you listen to him?”

“Chisato, I am speaking to you, not your mother. Even if what I’m talking about is completely pointless!”

“Kyaah! Your father is always so strict about the most pointless things!”

Kazami sighed as her parents laughed. She was reminded that she would never be a match for them.

But then her mother asked a new question.

“You said this student council training camp is on a desert island in the Seto Inland Sea, right? Will the people other than you be okay?”

“I’d appreciate it if you worried about me too.”

“You’ll be fine. Door-to-door preachers from a religion big on sacrificing stopped by the other day and I asked them to pray for my daughter instead of me.”

“Please don’t do that, mom!”

“Chisato, I have an important quote for you: one for all and…I forget the rest.”

Kazami hung her head. She tried sticking her head in the opened rucksack in front of her, but no convenient concept space created an escape route there.

“Chisato? Why are you shutting yourself in there? I don’t remember teaching you to play like that.”

“You didn’t have to teach me. This was naturally created by the environment here.”

“I see.” Her mother nodded. “Anyway, will you be leaving the island?”

“No. Is there a reason to?”

“Your mother is a nice person, so she has some concerns about Kansai.”

“Stop that,” said her mother with a glance and a sigh toward her father. The ends of her eyebrows were lowered for once. “I’m sure you have heard about the great Kansai earthquake.”

“That was when you were just a little kid, Chisato. A year later, we put together a charity concert.”

“Papa, you may be trying to help me, but stay quiet. I can handle this.” Her mother sighed again and turned to Kazami with a relaxed expression. “Back then, I was still refusing to sing because I was fixated on myself. …Silly, isn’t it? There were people who wanted to hear me sing regardless of my fixations.”

Kazami froze in place when she heard this sudden comment.

She realized her pose for packing was not good for listening, so she quickly straightened up.

She was unsure what to say, but she wanted to say something befitting her position as her mother’s child.

“Do you regret it?”

''I feel like I’m digging up her past,'' she thought, but her mother shook her head with a smile.

“I do to a certain extent, but I also feel I mustn’t sing while lying to myself. Basically, the problem is being bound by my fixations. As long as they remain, both singing and not singing will lead to regret. …Sorry I’m so selfish, papa.”

“But it does seem your mother will be taking part in an event at the end of the year, Chisato.”

Kazami turned to her mother who shrugged.

“I wonder what will happen to the lies I am telling myself. Anyway, let’s get back on topic. And hurry up with the packing, Chisato.”

“Right.”

Kazami raised her head and thought. After managing to break out of her previous mood, she wondered if there was a way to get some proper information out of her parents.

Asking about the Seto Inland Sea area was likely taboo. That would only lead to unpleasant memories.

“By the way…”

As she thought about the past and the Mediterranean area, she recalled the Divine States-World Interaction Theory.

“Have you ever been to Greece?”

Her parents exchanged a glance.

“Do you want to go there? I have a project coming up called ‘The 36th Chamber of Olympus’, so- gwah!”

“Sorry. My hand slipped and I dropped an alarm clock on you.”

“Don’t do that, Chisato. Only I’m allowed to beat up your father.”

“Okay, okay. But from that, I take it you’ve been there. Are you familiar with the local mythology?”

“Mythology again? Are they getting into that in world history classes these days?”

“That’s right,” she said with a nod.

Her father crossed his arms and gave an impressed groan. Her mother tilted her head, but she did not ask anything.

“What about the mythology do you want to know?” asked her father.

Kazami’s father’s question brought her relief and her shoulders relaxed.

“Well, maybe about dragons and divine swords… Y-y’know, like when I asked about Japanese mythology before. Can you tell me about that kind of thing?”

“Hmm.”

Her father crossed his arms even deeper and her mother glanced at the clock.

“Twenty seconds!”

“Ah, isn’t that being a bit harsh!? My heart’s racing like crazy!”

After he rejoiced for a bit, he finally spoke.

“In that case, I’ll start with the topic of dragons. As you probably know, Greek mythology is quite popular with the constellations and such.”

“Yeah.”

“The thing is, that mythology doesn’t have any dragons of the type we think of nowadays. They’re mostly multi-headed snakes or great serpents. Other than that, they’re all humanoid gods with a snake texture to them. There’s also Medusa with snake hair, but most of the monsters in Greek mythology are human based. Giants, for example. That area had a lot of war, so they may have viewed humans as the true monsters.”

“Then does Greek mythology not have any obvious examples of dragons or divine swords?”

“They actually do. The dragon was an embodiment of that which humans could not stand up to. In other words, that which not even the giants could stand up to was treated as a great dragon in Greek mythology. And that was Typhon.”

“What was it that not even the giants could stand up to?”

“Think about how Typhon is spelled.”

“Ah,” said Kazami.

She had finally realized that it was one letter off from “typhoon”.

“The typhoons created from shapeless wind were thought to have a spiraling dragon in the center. That Typhon was Greek mythology’s greatest monster and he was said to have a human torso, a dragon’s tail, and countless dragon heads. After he defeated Zeus, he was tricked and sealed below a volcano. Zeus’s divine spear of heavenly thunder was used to do that.” He smiled bitterly. “But it was the three Moirai sisters who controlled fate that successfully tricked him. If you think about it, even with fate on their side and the power of a volcano and lightning, he could only be sealed.”

“They couldn’t defeat him?”

“No. In a way, that is the greatest problem of Greek mythology. The question here is simple: how can one defeat Typhon who not even Zeus, father of the gods, could defeat?”

Her father’s tone was lighthearted, but Kazami could not speak.

In 3rd-Gear, Typhon was a god of war. Also, Hiba had clashed with it twice.

But he had been unable to defeat it.

The giant white god of war had been able to instantly switch between attack and defense.

…''And it is different from the Art of Walking.

They had wondered if it might be 2nd-Gear’s Art of Walking, so Izumo had used it against Hiba. Even in the cramped library and against someone he barely knew, Izumo had pulled it off.

But Hiba had said that was not it. With the Art of Walking, one still took time to move. And he said Typhon’s technique could not be teleportation because it had already been attacking the instant after it disappeared.

It had some power that surpassed even the wind.

“How do you defeat something like that?” she muttered aloud.

“Yes.” Her father looked up at the ceiling with his arms still crossed. “But there is a way.”

“Eh?”

“Think about it. Zeus sealed Typhon and brought prosperity to the world. Why was that? Why did he face the world by turning his back on a monster he could not defeat?”

Kazami did not quite understand what he meant.

Was he saying there was a way to defeat the dragon that not even the most powerful god could defeat?

As she frowned and tilted her head, her father smiled and nodded.

“Think about it. Your training camp is on the Seto Inland Sea, right? Perhaps that will help you think about Greece which also borders an inland sea.”

Kazami let out an admiring breath and placed a folded towel in the rucksack.

“My parents really are amazing.”

Her parents cheered and high-fived each other.

Once more, she realized she would always be no match for them.

Below the moonlit night sky, Miyako and Moira 1st sat outside the emergency exit.

They were high up. Once Moira 1st had brought out what she claimed was sake, Miyako had insisted they drink it while viewing the moon. They had brought a few cooked ingredients from the crab hot pot for snacks and Miyako drank while Moira 1st sat to her right.

The moonlight was a pale blue.

A bit of light escaped the hangar door down below, but it was not enough to interfere with the moon viewing.

She had asked to be let in there earlier, but she had been gently refused.

“We would need to clean up first.”

The sake had been produced to console her realization that there was some secret there, so she drank.

The cup seemed to be made of aluminum and it grew a bit soft whenever she took a sip. It may have been embarrassed.

…''What a strange world.

She looked around and saw Kurashiki in the distance. It was already past nine. Based on her memories from her school trip, that city closed early. Even the theme park to the north end of the city had shut off its lights.

She nodded.

“Will Mr. Rich Boy be fine after I floored him?”

“You mean Lord Apollo? Moira 2nd said he should be fine.”

That name reminded Miyako of the maid who had entered the dining hall, grabbed Apollo’s collar, and carried him out with the other maids. Miyako had seen her short blonde hair and blue eyes, but the maid had never looked her way.

…''Does she not like me?

Moira 1st shook her head as if in answer and Miyako’s eyebrows rose.

“You can’t read my mind, can you?”

“No, but you are honest, so I can tell from your expressions.”

“Don’t be silly. I’ve always been rebellious.”

Moira 1st only smiled in reply.

Miyako could do nothing but sigh and rest her head on her hands. She looked up in the sky and saw the moon.

“So when you get down to it, I can’t leave this place?”

“Yes. I am very sorry,” answered Moira 1st after a short pause. “And I must apologize again because we cannot allow you to leave until our problem is at least temporarily settled. This is all because your memories returned.”

“Can’t you give me new memories again?”

“Forcing it a second time would create interference and possibly fry your brain, so you must remain with us until our problem is settled.”

To sum up what she had learned that day, 3rd-Gear had not surrendered to an organization named UCAT and they were also fighting that black god of war which was not part of UCAT.

…''Both sides must want to settle this.

“That sounds rough.”

“What does?”

“You all are betting your world and everything else on this. It’s pretty amazing. I can’t compare to that.”

She sighed and looked up at the moon. The pale blue light of the moon was connected to her family name.

That color made her think about the white god of war’s eye color. She thought about the feeling that the yellow light had given her and that the pale blue light had not.

…''What was that?

Was it something only she could understand? She was not sure if that possibility made her happy or sad. She did not understand anything.

…''After all, that white god of war suddenly grabbed me and carried me away after I ran across it.

When it had the pale blue eyes, its movements had grown much more vigorous.

She suddenly became intensely curious as to why.

“I asked Moira 3rd about that white god of war’s name and she said it was Typhon.”

“Yes, but why do you bring it up? It only took you hostage because it was afraid after receiving an attack for the first time. I will apologize in the pilot’s place.”

Miyako tilted her head and opened her mouth uncertainly.

“No, I was just wondering if I could speak with it. …Well, I suppose meeting with the pilot would work, but you won’t let me, will you?”

“No. Typhon is filled with secrets. If we could erase your memories, I could receive permission, but that is not the case.”

She ended her statement with a smile and Miyako held out her cup to receive more sake.

“I apologize for all the lack of freedom, but in exchange, you may freely use us while we are here.”

“C’mon, don’t get carried away. So if I told you to strip, you’d strip?”

“Are you interested in my joints?”

Moira 1st reached for her skirt, so Miyako frantically stopped her.

''She’s serious,'' she thought. ''Although she might be more stupid than she is obedient.

“When you say ‘we’, how many does that include?”

“There are three primary models with the Moira designation which are numbered 1st to 3rd and there are sixty-three others. We all have numbers, but they are not all sequential because our family originally had one hundred twenty members.”

“So I’m supposed to just use the numbers? You three still have the Moira name, but just a number isn’t enough.”

“But we would never be insolent enough to take a name.”

That comment made Miyako tilt her head.

“My mom always says that even machines needed some kind of designator besides a number. …This is a world of living machines, isn’t it? If you’re alive, why should you be counted like you’re dead?”

“But… what should we do?”

Moira 1st was clearly older than Miyako, so Miyako was unsure what to say when she lowered her eyebrows and asked that.

“How about they give themselves names? Or you could give them names. You’re the head maid, right?”

“Hm… There are sixty-three of them. This country has fifty sound combinations, so by using combinations of two, a suitable number of names can be constructed. …Names like Geru and Gugu are simple enough, right?”

“Stop that. Can’t you come up with something cuter?”

“Hm… Can’t you think of anything, princess?”

She thought about it. When she occasionally played video games, she would choose a female character.

But she would always play with her real name. Seeing a character with her name level up and defeat the enemies of the final dungeon without breaking a sweat was a wonderful feeling.

“Following that wonderful feeling won’t work.”

“Are there names that feel wonderful?”

“Play games with your real name and you’ll understand.”

As she wondered what to do, a light suddenly appeared behind her. She turned around and saw a man standing in the light. He was over two meters tall and wore a blue apron.

“Master Aigaion, what is it?”

Aigaion nodded and turned toward Miyako.

“I see the new princess is with you. She is being quite…unreserved.”

“Don’t worry about being polite, old man. …Does that apron belong to a greengrocer in this world?”

Aigaion’s laughter filled the air.

“Gyes and I bring in supplies from outside and I took such a liking to the outside world that I live near the train station.”

“And do you help out at a greengrocer?”

A sudden thought came to Miyako and she turned toward Moira 1st and her maid outfit.

“Did you choose these maid uniforms for them?”

“Hm? Was that wrong? I was looking for clothes they could use while cooking and cleaning, so I borrowed these from a large dining hall’s storeroom late at night.”

“Don’t go around robbing strange restaurants!”

[[Image:OnC_v05_0333.png|thumb]]

“Calm down, princess. We quite like these clothes. We look cute in them, don’t we?”

“I feel I need to ask: how old are you?”

“Hm… We go through a certain level of formatting every day, so my age would be zero.”

“That’s cheating.”

“Machines are long-lasting. If you replace the old parts, they can live forever.” Moira 1st then turned toward Aigaion. “Master Aigaion, do you need something?”

“Yes. We’ll be heading out tomorrow morning, so anyone with nothing else to do should handle Cottus and Gyes’s normal preparations.”

“Cottus?”

“He is the one who caught you after your dive today, princess. Even as large as he is, he is still an automaton.”

“I see,” said Miyako as she thought about what Aigaion had said.

When he said they were “heading out”, it had to mean more than simply going somewhere.

“Are you heading out to fight?”

“You saw that black god of war, didn’t you? That is the one who destroyed 3rd-Gear, so we cannot forgive it.”

“But isn’t it a human from my world piloting it?”

Aigaion and Moira 1st exchanged a glance and Moira 1st chose her words carefully as she started speaking.

“Princess, we do not want to kill that black god of war. For a variety of reasons, we would like to protect it if possible.”

“It sounds to me like you’re telling me not to interfere.” Miyako smiled bitterly. “It’s true that I want to interfere when I hear about the situation, the various possibilities, and what you can or can’t do. But I don’t know anything about what happened sixty years ago and I’m not a descendant of those involved. I’m trying to keep in mind that I’m a guest from the outside world.”

Miyako recalled the black god of war she had seen the night before. As it had tried to corner Typhon, it had used a powerful lightning strike.

…''But Typhon successfully defended against it.

It was not that the black god of war was superior. Given the difference in build, she guessed that the black one was actually the inferior of the two.

…''That was a desperate attack.

The pilot of the black god of war had to have his own issues just as the people before her eyes did. She could do nothing but give it some thought and there was only one thing she could say.

“Try to get along.”

“Eh?”

“Long ago when I couldn’t fit in with those around me, someone told me ‘if you can’t fit in, at least try to get along’. I knew I couldn’t fit in, so I was supposed to resist my desire to cause conflict and truly try to get along with them. …And that’s what made me who I am today.”

She smiled bitterly.

“It may not be my place to talk when you’ve probably been doing this for thousands of years, but how about giving that a try if you haven’t already? By the way, this is a lecture.”

She looked forward and found Aigaion and Moira 1st staring at her with slightly surprised looks.

“Stop looking at me funny and give me more to drink.”

“Oh, yes. Right away.

“That’s right. Fill it all the way up. And, um, don’t laugh when you look at people, old man.”

“But you are quite amusing. The people of this world truly are amusing, princess.”

“Stop calling me princess. I’m a guest and you can call me Miyako. The princess would be your master’s wife.”

And that master would be the young man she had floored in a single blow earlier. He seemed unreliable, but he also had the same eye color as the yellow light in the god of war’s eyes.

“And as a guest, I have some thoughts about all this. I think I’ll try to motivate you a bit. Old man, if you work at a greengrocer, can you help me out tomorrow morning?”

“We will be heading out early tomorrow morning, but if you need something, I can leave a note for the owner. And we should return by noon. Most likely.”

“Okay, a working man is a good man. And a good woman helps out around the house. Moira 1st, can you prepare me two things? A note to give to him and documents introducing all of you.”

“Yes, right away.”

As Moira 1st stood up, Miyako did the same and leaned on the railing in front of her.

The metal railing gently bent into a curve as it supported her weight.

''This is a surprisingly soft world,'' she thought as she looked into the night sky.

She faced the moon floating in the heavens.

“Things around here should be a bit busier tomorrow.”

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume5 Chapter 8|Chapter 8]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume5 Chapter 10|Chapter 10]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume5 Chapter 2

2026-04-10T03:30:18Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 2: Meeting of Steel==
[[Image:OnC_v05_0103.png|thumb]]
''Stare, stare

''First, face each other

''Then, either hit each other or pass each other by

A white hallway had no windows, but it did have writing on the wall.

That writing said BF2.

This was Japanese UCAT’s second basement floor and the hallway passed in front of the development department. The center of the hallway had a rest area with a sofa and a few vending machines.

A woman stared at the floor in front of the coffee vending machine.

Her long gray hair hung down over the chest of her lab coat which contained a nametag reading Tsukuyomi Chizuru.

She took a sip of the cold coffee in the paper cup she held.

“What is going on?”

“What is it?” asked a sudden female voice.

Tsukuyomi frantically tuned around and saw who was walking down the hallway.

“Diana Zonburg.”

“Is something the matter?” Diana wore a black suit and held a brown paper bag. “I heard you were traveling to Kanda this afternoon to retrieve an examination device for Georgius.”

“Eh? Oh, so talk of that has reached the higher levels, has it? UCAT Director Ooshiro was opposed to the idea, but our younger members offered to help him make a perverted game in exchange.”

“So a mysterious concept weapon is worth the same as an 18+ game?”

“Only when using the Ooshiro currency. …More importantly, what are you doing here?”

Tsukuyomi gulped down her coffee while Diana squeezed the paper bag in her arms.

“I just bought a swimsuit at the store up above and I was taking a stroll through UCAT on my way back.”

“A swimsuit? How luxurious.”

“No, this is part of my job as inspector. Team Leviathan is apparently having a training camp at the Seto Inland Sea the day after tomorrow, so I will be going with them. …This is a job. Let me spell it out for you: this is a j-o-b.”

“Well, it’s quite a luxurious j-o-b.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“The float sticking out of that bag makes it hard to.”

“Th-this isn’t a float. It is a beach mat to lie on while sipping on a drink.”

“How luxurious a time are you planning!?” shouted Tsukuyomi before sighing and facing Diana who was adjusting the contents of the bag. “If I was only five years younger, I would have gone with you.”

“U-um, did I mishear that? I thought I heard a number about ten times too small.”

“You’re supposed to laugh. But when I see you and Doctor Chao, it makes the longevity and anti-aging techniques look pretty good. I was already on the way to being an old lady by the time I joined UCAT, though.”

“Heh heh. But you decided to stay with Low-Gear, right?”

After a pause, Tsukuyomi nodded and narrowed her eyes.

“Yes. I have a daughter, so I can’t undergo the anti-aging techniques,” she said. “Have you heard? My daughter was abducted. And the rumor is that Typhon, that white 3rd-Gear god of war, did it. But they must be a terrible judge of character to abduct her.”

Diana remained silent, but her expression did loosen a bit.

The ends of her eyebrows lowered and she nodded once.

“I have no children, so I don’t really understand.”

“That’s fine. I’m sure there’s a part of it that any woman would understand.” Tsukuyomi gave a bitter smile in return. “Her bag and coat were found at the site the flying object fell last night. She was probably accidentally taken inside the concept space, but…”

“…”

“Don’t give me that look. It’s fine. That girl won’t die so easily. After all that idiot has done to disobey me and do what she wants, she’ll manage on her own.”

“I see she is worrying you.”

“Let’s just leave it at that.”

Tsukuyomi’s bitter smile deepened and Diana nodded.

At that point, a new female voice reached them.

“I am not sure you two should be speaking about 3rd-Gear so openly.”

Diana recognized the voice.

“Sf?”

She tilted her head, looked around, and spotted Sf.

She was standing sideways in the small gap between vending machines.

“U-um, Sf? Did you gain some strange habits when formatted for the Japanese language? Why are you crammed in that small space?”

“Tes. Monitoring Itaru-sama at all times is one of my duties, but he moved out of range of my senses. I have determined he is viewing the sky from a corner of the roof.”

“And that spot is just barely within range?”

“Tes. I have determined it was a dangerous situation. I was on my way back from disposing of some trash at the underground incinerator, and I would have lost him for the first time if I had been just a little slower.”

Tsukuyomi looked back and forth between Sf in between the vending machines and Diana next to her.

“So this is what they call German quality.”

“Th-this is because of the local formatting.”

Diana waved her hands in denial and glanced over at Sf.

“Should I go and tell Itaru to move from the roof?”

“Tes. However, that will not be necessary. Statistically, he never continues any one task for long, so I have determined he will return to his office soon. I will remain on standby here until then. His irregular action here is most likely due to him thinking about the coming Leviathan Road.”

“It is true he used to always go outside while thinking.”

Diana’s comment caused Sf to tilt her head between the vending machines.

“That information is worth adding to my records.”

“You didn’t know that? When we had all reached various dead ends, I was often dragged outside. Both by him and someone else I know quite well.”

“Who is that?” asked Tsukuyomi, but Diana only smiled weakly back.

“If you always choose to continue on, you will eventually arrive somewhere. You remember that too, Sf. And do not leave Itaru alone again.”

“Tes. I will make sure to never again leave him while he is thinking.”

Sf bowed from between the vending machines.

“My ability to wait is infinite, but I will never allow myself to leave him.”

The sun rose high into the sky.

Several large buildings were lined up below the sunlight.

The buildings all belonged to a school. The sunlight covered a large campus and students in summer uniforms walked between the buildings.

Most of the students were headed to the dormitories or their club activities. Some held graded tests in their hands.

Among them all, a few people sat in front of a school building in the center of the campus.

Four students sat on the lawn in front of the library protruding from the school building. Three wore male uniforms and one wore a female uniform.

They were Sayama, Shinjou, Izumo, and Kazami.

A large multi-layer bento box and a small multi-layer bento box sat between them.

With a black binder sitting next to her, Shinjou reached for the small box. She used chopsticks to grab a croquette and held it out toward Sayama to her right.

“Here, Sayama-kun. I even made the filling this time.”

Once it was put in his mouth, Sayama thoroughly chewed the croquette and swallowed it.

Shinjou looked a bit worried, so he thought for a moment and then spoke.

“Yes. A supreme flavor, Shinjou-kun.”

“Wow, I’m glad. I can almost feel the horrible rumor from this morning disappearing within me.”

She smiled and grabbed a new croquette.

“I used the cafeteria kitchen to cook these and this one contains some strange leaves that Old Lady Tome said make a good secret ingredient. She said they only grow on her balcony.”

“Hm. I think I see why that cafeteria has so many regular customers. I would prefer not to know any more details, though.”

Sayama smiled pleasantly in the sun and Shinjou’s cheeks reddened slightly.

Across from them, Kazami and Izumo stared at them with half-lidded eyes.

“Even though I know the truth, it feels weird to see them flirting in male uniforms.”

“I can’t believe they’re doing this when that rumor started only this morning.”

The two tilted their heads, but Shinjou continued feeding Sayama.

As students passed by, a few girls lowered their heads toward Kazami.

“Hello, Kazami-san.”

When she looked up and nodded back, they would bow again and leave.

Izumo looked impressed as she nodded in self-satisfaction.

“You sure are popular.”

“Heh heh. That’s because I’m the only one who can stop you and Sayama.”

That was when more people greeted her. A few boys with disheveled uniforms were passing by.

“Ah… K-Kazami-san. Good morning!”

They immediately covered their faces with their crushed bags and quickly ran away.

They left only the wind behind.

After a pause, Izumo nodded expressionlessly.

“Chisato, I’ll stick with you no matter what, so tell me what happened. And be honest.”

“What do you mean by that? I didn’t do anything ''too'' horrible.”

“Eh?” said Shinjou. She held her nose and made a gesture of something falling from it. “Drip drip?”

“Shinjou-kun, not even cute onomatopoeia can soften this, so do not even try. Now, Kazami, about last night.”

Kazami froze in place when she heard the term “last night”.

After a short pause, she looked around and nodded.

“You mean about Hiba Ryuuji? Don’t worry. I summoned him via his homeroom teacher, so he’ll be here soon. More importantly, I assume Sibyl contacted you this morning.”

She took a breath.

“You heard that Director Tsukuyomi’s daughter was abducted, right?”

Shinjou looked up as she listened to Kazami.

“It happened in the battle that Hiba guy was fighting, didn’t it?”

“Yes. The items left inside the concept space last night show that Director Tsukuyomi’s daughter was there. And Hiba Ryuuji probably knows the truth of the matter. He was taken into UCAT custody, so he probably told them about it.”

She gave a bitter smile.

“Based on Ooki-sensei’s opinion and the fragment of white armor left at the scene, both Hiba Ryuuji’s craft and his opponent have power on the level of a Concept Core. We can’t say anything about Hiba’s, but his opponent was likely Typhon. That proves that some remnants of 3rd-Gear remain. …And Sibyl also mentioned that she discussed another matter with you two.”

“Yes. Sayama-kun received an additional call.”

As Baku mimicked him on his head, Sayama nodded.

“Director Tsukuyomi is headed to the UCAT Kanda laboratory to receive a device needed to examine Georgius and another important item. Shinjou-kun and I will be accompanying her as witnesses of the event.”

“Georgius is going to be examined? But why does Shinjou have to go too if you are only retrieving equipment?”

“Most likely to distract me from my interest in 3rd. Even if I refuse to act as witness for some reason, Shinjou-kun cannot refuse. …And thus I will go too.”

“Uuh… I-it’s true I can’t turn down jobs people ask me to do.”

“Oh, so Shinjou is the lure to get you to go.”

“Kaku, don’t say it like that. The term you want is ‘bait’. That sounds much more normal.”

“Y-you don’t have to make it normal!”

Hearing that, Sayama shook his head solemnly.

“Shinjou-kun, normal is best for humans. If you ever need a model, just watch me.”

“You’re right. Watching you is a good way of realizing normal is best.”

It was unclear if her meaning had reached him because he nodded deeply and crossed his arms.

“At any rate, 3rd-Gear’s Leviathan Road has yet to start and we are already meeting a boy who is personally fighting 3rd-Gear and 3rd has abducted someone. If Japanese UCAT does not wish to provide the other UCATs with any misunderstandings or excuses to interfere…”

“…then they wouldn’t want Team Leviathan to deal with anything problematic? …And then there’s that impurity that Hiba mentioned last night. He said he wanted some time.”

“Yes, but UCAT might be expecting us to do something. We have summoned the Hiba boy to meet us, but no one has interfered. And only Shinjou-kun and I are going to Kanda. Izumo, Kazami, that means the two of you can do as you wish.”

For once, clear irritation could be heard in Sayama’s voice. A hint of harshness had entered his expression as well.

Seeing that, Shinjou smiled in her heart.

…''He wants to take the initiative and gather information himself.

And so she wrapped her ring-wearing right hand around his left elbow.

“Let’s eat lunch.”

“…Yes.”

He nodded, closed his eyes for a moment, and returned to his usual expressionless look. Shinjou was worried she was forcing him to do this, but he looked her in the eye.

“Come to think of it, Kazami, don’t you have something to give Shinjou-kun?”

“Eh? Kazami-san has something for me?”

''What could that be?'' she wondered.

After a moment, she shook her hands in denial as Kazami’s shoulders rose in realization.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that! As thanks for helping me shop the other day, I bought her a raw milk gyuudon at the UCAT cafeteria, but you don’t have to pay me back for that.”

“Chisato, is that why you’ve been worried about your waistline recently?”

“N-no. I ran around the school buildings after I got back that night.”

As she pled her case to Izumo, Kazami pulled an envelope from her pocket and handed it to Shinjou.

“Can I open it?” asked Shinjou as she hesitantly took it.

“What would be the point if you could not, Shinjou-kun? It is for you.”

After a moment of hesitation, she opened it.

She read through the document inside and then spoke.

“I’m being appointed as secretary of the student council?”

Surprise filled her face and a bit of heat followed.

…''Wait. Is this…?

“Did I get this position through connections while ignoring the election? Hooray.”

“Shinjou-kun, choose either suspicion or excitement. Kazami, explain it to her.”

“While this is ignoring the election, the student council has the authority to appoint new members. All the lower positions starting with secretary were open this year because a lot of people pulled out of the running during the election.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Last year, a certain female student performed a flying kick on a dumb yet large candidate during a speech. That led to candidates dropping out like the receding tide.”

“Oh, I-I see.”

“And what exactly do you mean by that?” asked Kazami with a smile.

Shinjou shrank back, but Kazami continued speaking.

“So will you accept the position? If you don’t like secretary, there are plenty of other positions: general affairs director, manager, animal official, and loser. You can also decline the offer altogether.”

Her question had a persuasive tone to it.

[[Image:OnC_v05_0117.png|thumb]]

Shinjou hesitated for a moment and looked over at the black binder next to her.

…''Is it worth having less time to work on this?

“Um, well… What exactly does the secretary do?”

“Well, you take notes on the proceedings of meetings. I’ll interpret for Kaku, so don’t worry about that.”

“I get the feeling you just casually insulted my humanity,” said Izumo. “In fact, I know you did.”

“Ha ha ha. Before you complain about that, try writing so that a modern human can understand it, you foolish primitive,” said Sayama.

“Ha ha ha. It must be nice having no humanity whatsoever and your mindset in the distant future.”

“Oh, and I will handle training these inhuman people, so don’t worry about that either,” added Kazami. She continued as the two boys glared coldly at her. “And once you join, we can talk about the Leviathan Road while claiming it is a student council meeting. We’ll be able to reserve the library and call Ooki-sensei to join us. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?”

She smiled bitterly.

“This school will be our base.”

“Ah…”

With that voice of realization, Shinjou found her answer.

…''It will give me ideas for my novel and help the Leviathan Road.

She felt that was looking at it too simply, but she still nodded.

“Th-then I will be the secretary.”

“Are you sure, Shinjou-kun? If you join the same group as our crazy president and violent treasurer, it will start some unwanted rumors.”

“Sayama-kun, I think you forgot to mention someone.”

“Ha ha. Of course I did. It is not right to praise oneself needlessly.”

Kazami glared at him but then ignored him and looked down at her watch.

“Isn’t it about time for you two to leave? Get lost, Sayama. We’ll talk with Hiba and then go shopping. We need to make preparations for the training camp the day after tomorrow.”

“I see.”

Sayama stood up and Shinjou stood up next to him.

As she did, she suddenly saw an odd color. It was a red that resembled a flower or fresh blood.

She focused on that color that was not often seen in an outdoor lawn.

“Eyes?”

She turned around and saw a motorcycle parked on the road running alongside the yard. It had a sidecar attached and a boy sat on the motorcycle itself.

He had short hair, he wore a white bandana around his head, and he was looking their way with his red eyes.

He was Hiba Ryuuji and he had a troubled look on his face.

“Here I am. Just as you asked.”

As soon as he said that, Shinjou saw Baku stir on Sayama’s head.

And then the past arrived.

“…”

Shinjou found herself standing on a road surrounded on either side by green trees.

She had become nothing more than sight and hearing.

…''This is the past.

She was on a mountain and the road running downhill was made of dirt. The light brown dirt was covered in tire tracks and weeds were growing up here and there.

…''Where is this?

She looked around and saw manmade objects to the left and right.

They were pillars. A wooden pillar hardened with turpentine stood on either side of the road.

The fronts of the pillars were split vertically and lacquer had been poured into carved words on the smooth surface.

“Izumo Aviation Laboratory – Tokyo Branch.”

That meant…

“This is the entrance to the National Defense Department!”

As she cried out with her mind, her pulse quickened.

If the National Defense Department lay ahead, there was one fact that drew her interest the greatest.

…''There should be someone with my family name here.

The person had been Professor Kinugasa’s assistant during the National Defense Department days, but all records of them were gone by the time UCAT came about. This person had her family name and a connection to Sayama Kaoru, Sayama’s grandfather.

…''And they might have some connection to my relatives.

With that thought, she tried to move her mind forward. She did not know how far the recreation of the past went, but that person might be in the National Defense Department up ahead.

“I want to see them.”

That comment made her realize her thoughts.

…''I am yearning.

But she had no clear answer what exactly it was for which she yearned. She could only think up immature words, but she never thought about casting aside the desire.

And so she took a step forward.

“…?”

But she stopped when she heard a noise.

Something was approaching from below the mountain behind her. She could tell it was a number of vehicles. She could hear the metallic noises of a dozen or so wheels and chassis.

…''What kind of vehicles?

She turned around and saw the approaching convoy.

It was a line of green jeeps and trucks.

The flat hood of the jeep in the lead had a star mark on a white background.

This was the American military.

But Shinjou found something odd. A number of men rode that jeep, but something was off about their military uniforms. She could not quite place what was wrong with them, but she found the answer once the convoy grew closer and she could see them more clearly.

“…Ah.”

It was the crest on the shoulder of their jackets.

It had a blue shield and a collection of lines surrounded by white wings.

They were UCAT.

A closer look showed that the men in the jeep and those in the trucks behind them were made up of a number of different races.

“American UCAT is leading the different UCATs of the Allies.”

The convoy was approaching while acting as part of the occupying army.

…''What is going on?

Shinjou knew about the origin of UCAT, but she knew nothing more than that the National Defense Department became Japanese UCAT.

She did not know the details of how it happened.

Meanwhile, the convoy approached the two pillars that formed an entrance.

She could hear their engines as they approached.

And just as it felt like they were going to run her vision over, something fell from the sky right in front of her.

It was silver-colored and shaped like a long blade.

It was a Japanese sword.

The curved blade stabbed forcefully down in front of her eyes and audibly tore at the dirt.

“!”

The elderly soldier sitting in the jeep’s passenger seat raised a hand.

In response, the convoy came to a stop. All the vehicles’ brakes screeched, their chassis shook, and they tore up the dirt road surface.

The sounds of the dozen or so vehicles shook the leaves of the forest.

Shinjou heard the wind blow as a sudden wind arrived from behind her.

She turned around and saw motion.

It was a large green military motorcycle.

“Ha ha!”

With a laugh, the motorcycle turned sideways and slid toward Shinjou.

A short young man drove it and his short hair waved in the wind.

“So you’ve decided to show up, have you!? Are you here to steal our position? We work in the same field, don’t we!?”

As he spoke, he forcefully planted his foot in front of the sliding motorcycle.

“There we go!”

And he used that foot to rotate the motorcycle around in front of Shinjou.

The high-speed spin stopped perfectly at 180 degrees.

The young man was directly in front of the Japanese sword that had landed earlier. He now faced the convoy with the blade between them.

He supported the motorcycle with both legs and observed the convoy with his black eyes.

“You want a fight?”

He narrowed his eyes and got down from the motorcycle.

His military boots made his footsteps ring loudly from the dirt.

At the same time, everything began to move.

The people in the leading jeep and the backs of the trucks stood up. Shinjou saw a fair number of women among them.

…''And those weapons.

In addition to guns, they wielded plenty of swords, spears, and shields. And unlike normal blades, they had been modified with exposed cords, components, and tanks.

The technology was still undeveloped, but those weapons had been modified with cowlings.

The elderly soldier then stepped out of the jeep’s passenger seat. He held a spear.

“I ask that you surrender.”

She heard the Japanese meaning of his words over the English he was actually speaking. His tone was polite yet forceful.

However, the young man’s smile remained.

“I don’t have a damn clue what you’re saying, you old foreign bastard.”

The elderly soldier’s spear moved slightly.

And it produced a noise very near the handlebars of the young man’s motorcycle. The single rearview mirror on the right side flew into the sky.

“I am Sail Northwind, representative of American UCAT. My north wind can pierce even steel.”

“Oh, that’s a neat trick.” The young man’s smile did not waver. “I think I’ve figured out what you’re trying to say. This is what you’re saying.” He pointed at the elderly soldier’s face. “ ‘Oh, that was a hell of an entrance! You’re pretty cool!’ ”

As soon as he spoke, all of those standing in the vehicles jumped down. At least a hundred armed people covered the road and forest and prepared to fight.

Countless footsteps and the metallic noises of the weapons filled the air.

But something even more impressive arrived from further down the road.

A giant form suddenly fell behind the young man and his motorcycle.

“…!!”

The form was accompanied by the sound of something extremely heavy striking the ground. The ground split and Shinjou finally saw what it was.

…''A god of war.

She heard everyone gasp as a silver-colored humanoid machine stood behind the young man and his motorcycle. It was approximately eight meters tall, it resembled a female armored warrior, and it had two pairs of wings on its back.

The god of war already held a long, narrow sword in its hands.

With a mechanical noise, the wings on its back moved. They folded up to allow easier motion on the ground.

Meanwhile, the opposing soldiers could not move. They clenched their teeth and stared at the god of war behind the young man.

The spear-wielding elderly soldier’s expression was the one exception. A smile remained on the corner of his mouth and he continued to look at the young man. The young man was looking back at him with an identical expression.

Time seemed to drag on, but it suddenly came to an end.

First, the silver god of war crouched down.

Next, a slender figure appeared from its back and climbed up onto its right shoulder.

It was a woman. The young woman’s blonde hair flowed across her back. As Shinjou looked at her thick eyebrows and strong-willed face, she noticed a certain color.

…''Her eyes.

They were red. That deep scarlet below her inconspicuous eyebrows looked down at the young man.

She opened her narrow mouth as the wind whipped at her white shirt and flare skirt.

“Do not play around, Hiba.”

Both her awkwardly-spoken Japanese and the name she mentioned shook Shinjou’s mind.

…''Hiba? As in, Hiba-sensei?

But something was off. Hiba Ryuutetsu’s left eye had been colored a deep scarlet, the same as the eyes of the woman on the god of war’s shoulder.

…''What does that mean?

With no answer to her question, the woman continued speaking.

“Do any of you match me in power? If so, I will battle you. If not, Hiba will handle it.”

“Who are you?” asked the old man who had given the name Northwind.

The young man grinned when he heard the old man’s perfect Japanese.

“Oh, so you know Japanese after all.”

The woman smiled bitterly.

“I am Rhea, a refugee from 3rd-Gear. And I have decided to seek refuge in Japan’s National Defense Department. If you attempt to take this place from me, I will battle you whether you match me in power or not.”

“…!”

The elderly soldier’s smile strengthened when he heard Rhea’s words.

At the same time, a black figure appeared next to Hiba. Shinjou recognized the tall man wearing a black cloak.

…''Siegfried-san!

The young Siegfried calmly appeared next to Hiba as if he had grown out of the shadows of the trees. He wore black gloves and already held several pieces of paper.

When the elderly soldier saw him and the paper in his hand, he asked a smiling question.

“Siegfried Zonburg!?”

“It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Lord Northwind. Did you perhaps read the reports I sent my nation? …However, you are being too hasty here.”

“It seems so, but I have learned one thing. This is the place that desires the world,” said Northwind.

Hiba folded his arms and nodded.

“You’ve got that right. But think carefully, Old Man Northwind. The Izumo Aviation Institute’s National Defense Department is working for important people right now, but if it is let loose, it will work for something else.”

“And what is that exactly?”

Hiba did not answer. Instead, the woman named Rhea spoke in a dignified voice.

“That would of course be this world itself. This world has nothing and sits at the lowest level, but that is precisely why it has everything!”

Shinjou looked up just as the others were. The red-eyed woman was smiling. Instead of looking down at the people, she faced them and looked across all of them.

“I fled to this world. I abandoned my own concept to the Tartaros and came here as an individual. However, I was treated as a guest rather than a prisoner of war. There were misunderstandings and conflicts, but I now stand here as a soldier because that is my wish! I wish to fight for this world. And…”

She looked across the surrounding area. She looked at the blue sky, the trees, the earth, and the rustling wind. She left a smile in the wind and gently brought her right hand to her stomach. Only then did she look back down toward the others.

“And so that I can be with this child here. We have already begun preparing for battle. If you wish to be with us, then let us speak. But if you obstruct us in the slightest, we will be your enemy!”

“Rhea, you’re sounding a lot more self-important than the rest of us. It might’ve been a mistake to let Kaoru prepare your Japanese lessons.”

“Ha ha. You men are always so slow. When preparing to be a mother, a woman wants immediate decisions. If you do not like it, then bring me something sour to eat. …Soldiers, give your answer.”

There was a clear smile in her voice.

“Do any of you wish to be the ally of my child!?”

That booming question signaled the end of the past.

As her sight and hearing rapidly fell into darkness, Shinjou thought about Rhea’s words.

…''Her…child?

That had been sixty years before, so where was that child now if it had been born?

Shinjou had been in UCAT the longest of the group, but she had never heard about a descendant of 3rd-Gear. She had only ever heard that 3rd-Gear was the Gear of gods of war and automatons.

“Come to think of it, this is the first time I’ve heard it mentioned that there were people there.”

She wondered if Sayama was right and the Gear had few people, but she had no way of knowing. She assumed that would be one thing she would learn later. If she stayed with Sayama and the others, she would learn that along with how they were destroyed.

''But,'' she thought. ''What if a descendant of hers is still alive?''

Just like Shinjou, they would have no other members of their race and not know their parents.

“I wonder if they feel lost too…”

Shinjou awoke from the past.

“…”

She took a breath and focused on the scene before her eyes.

Standing on the yard around her were Izumo, Kazami, Sayama, and Hiba.

Further away, a lot of students were returning from school and only a few seconds of time had passed.

She let out a breath and looked around. The scenery was the same. Kazami and Izumo were exchanging a dazed look, but Sayama had experienced the past several times before.

“So that is one connection between Hiba-sensei and 3rd-Gear.”

He placed a hand on his chest, took a breath, and faced Hiba.

“I see there was a refugee from 3rd-Gear.”

“Yes. That was the first time I’ve seen something like that, though.”

Hiba’s face was pale as he sat on his motorcycle. He nodded weakly and stepped to the ground. He approached but stopped with a step still separating them.

“What was that?”

Sayama grabbed Baku from his shoulder and held the creature up.

Baku looked to the left and right but suddenly hung its head and began to sleep when it noticed everyone focusing on it.

Sayama nodded deeply.

“I am sure you understand now.”

“I don’t understand at all!”

“Then let me put it simply. Listen and be amazed. Are you ready? Baku here can show people the past.”

“Oh, I see. …I-I mean, wow! That is amazing! I’m shocked!”

''You could make it less obvious,'' thought Shinjou as she stared at him, but Sayama nodded in satisfaction.

“Hiba-sensei was quite young, but he looked somehow like you, Hiba boy.”

“Are you implying I’ll look like him when I grow old?”

Shinjou nodded and tapped on Sayama’s shoulder.

“You should give up now. The more I hear about Sayama-kun’s grandfather, the more they sound alike.”

“Shinjou-kun! That is an incredibly rude assertion. How am I anything like that self-centered old man who did nothing but eloquently mock others?”

Everyone fell silent at that.

Amid the silence, Sayama nodded, smiled toward Shinjou, and slowly spread his arms.

“Just look. Everyone is using their silence to show their agreement.”

“I’ll just jump to the conclusion: you need to go to the hospital.”

Before Sayama could reply, she turned to Hiba and he seemed to pick up on her intent.

“U-um, anyway.”

He frantically looked across the group.

Shinjou observed his expression. He looked frantic and his eyebrows were slightly lowered, so it seemed he was unsure whether he should say something or not.

She tilted her head toward that expression that she herself had often made until recently. She also lowered the ends of her eyebrows.

“There’s something you want to say, isn’t there?”

“Eh? Oh, yes. I hear you all are doing something called the Leviathan Road.”

“What about it? Do you wish to ask us to stop the Leviathan Road with 3rd-Gear?”

“Yes. This is a request from the one whose grandfather destroyed 3rd-Gear.”

His immediate response came with the relief of having said it.

Shinjou and the others judged his meaning and remained silent for a moment.

But then…

“W-wait a minute. Isn’t a bit sudden to just say your grandfather destroyed 3rd-Gear?”

Shinjou understood why Kazami was so hurriedly stopping him. They wanted to know what he had meant the night before.

…''So we need to take this slowly.

Shinjou sat up a bit and spoke.

“Ryuuji-kun… Yeah, I’ll call you that to differentiate you from Hiba-sensei. Anyway, you’re from this Gear, right? So why are you stopping us from negotiating with 3rd-Gear?”

Sayama nodded and added to her question.

“We can discuss Hiba-sensei’s countless wrongdoings at a later date, but your mention of an impurity suggests a larger reason. Based on the situation from last night, you have an automaton, your grandfather belonged to the National Defense Department, and yet you are fighting Typhon without the help of UCAT.”

Hiba’s expression changed at the mention of the name Typhon.

He frowned a bit, so Sayama expressionlessly continued.

“And UCAT has officially told us not to get involved with you. In other words, getting involved in your fight would be a negative for us. Have you come here to tell us why that is, Hiba boy?”

“Y-yes. It is a long story and I am not sure what conclusion you all will reach, but this is what I know for sure,” said Hiba. “If you carry out the Leviathan Road with 3rd-Gear and bring them to your side, it will sully the name of the Leviathan Road.”

“Sully?” asked Kazami.

Hiba nodded.

“There are actually two impurities we must purify. I came here to tell you about one of them.”

“This all sounds very pretentious.”

“I know what you mean. But…even though I intend to bear these impurities, I do not know what will happen once I truly face them.”

“In other words, you’re testing us, aren’t you? You’re going to tell us about a lighter impurity to see if we are prepared to face the true impurity.” Kazami smiled bitterly. “You’re underestimating us.”

But Hiba only smiled bitterly in return.

Seeing his smile, Kazami thought.

…''A bitter smile, hm?

The smile he gave could only be made by one who had thought the same thing countless times. It was the smile of someone who had no other choice.

She wanted to hear him out and speak with him, but some of them had other things to do.

“Hey,” she said and showed her watch to Sayama.

He nodded.

“Hiba boy, I apologize, but I must ask that you give your test to Kazami and Izumo. Shinjou-kun and I already have plans.”

“And those plans are more important than speaking with me?”

“Is speaking with me more important than speaking with Izumo and Kazami? That extreme violence couple has been involved with the Leviathan Road longer than me.”

“Oh, I-I see. Sorry.”

Hiba frantically bowed.

Kazami smiled bitterly and Izumo solemnly folded his arms and nodded.

“Look, Sayama. Underclassmen these days are so polite.”

“Hiba boy, courtesy is an expendable good. Choose wisely who you use it on. For example, you could use it all on me.”

“Oh…”

Hiba did not seem to know what to say, so Shinjou turned a forced smile toward him.

“D-don’t worry too much about what they say. They’re all very strange.”

“Oh, I-I see…”

His gaze stopped on Shinjou’s arm.

Kazami then realized that Shinjou had her arm wrapped around Sayama’s.

“Oh, how passionate.”

“Eh? Ah! Wah! Th-this is just…”

“Ha ha ha. Shinjou-kun, why are you blushing? The opinions of those who do not know the truth about us are irrelevant.”

“Stop saying things that will only confuse this further!!”

Hiba tried to back away from them as he stared at them with half-lidded eyes.

…''What is he doing?

Kazami stood up and tapped him on the shoulder. With an exasperated smile, she spread her arms.

“Do you understand now who the most wholesome and normal of us is?”

“…Using the process of elimination?”

“What was that?”

“Nothing, nothing.”

He shook his head just as someone else cut in.

“Wait a minute, Hiba.”

Izumo suddenly stood up and Kazami saw him look Hiba in the eye.

“How about we continue our talk in the Kinugasa Library? You want to test us, right?”

“Yes, sorry.”

“No need to apologize. I’ll be testing you, too. I want to see what kind of person you are.”

“Eh?”

Hiba tilted his head and took a light defensive stance.

With his arms crossed, Izumo stepped forward. Izumo was approximately one hundred ninety centimeters while Hiba looked about one hundred sixty. Kazami thought Izumo was going to use that difference in height in some way, but he instead opened his mouth to speak.

“The test is simple, Hiba. I have one question about the past we were just shown. …Did you see it?”

Izumo glanced to the side a bit as he spoke and the look on Hiba’s face changed. A sharpness filled his eyes.

But he finally frantically shook his head.

“I-I didn’t see anything. …What is the point of this sudden test?”

Hiba’s arms were spread as if it had started raining.

…''He definitely saw something.

Izumo continued speaking as if he understood what Kazami was thinking. He patted Hiba’s shoulder and looked him in the eye again.

“You saw the same thing in the past as I did, didn’t you?”

“N-no. I didn’t see anything.”

“No, you had to have seen them from below. At least a glimpse. They were blue, weren’t they!?”

“No, they were white! I happened to get a good look!”

Hiba’s reflexive response caused everyone to freeze in place.

Wind blew through the silence that lasted a few seconds.

“…Ah.”

As Hiba realized his mistake, Izumo nodded several times in understanding.

He folded his arms and spoke in a serious tone of voice.

“You have a promising future. I hope you can diligently-…”

Kazami swung her right leg and Izumo vanished.

After a short pause, she heard the sound of a human-sized object hitting the wall to the left, but she paid it no heed. She was used to this.

“Now then.”

She looked at the others who turned toward her after looking to the left.

She saw Baku staring rigidly at her from Sayama’s shoulder.

…''This is the first time he has looked me in the eye.

That made her happy, but she had something to say.

“Next time you want to show us a past with a girl or woman in it, do it when Kaku isn’t around, okay?”

The smile on her face made Baku frantically nod repeatedly.

“Good boy.”

When she reached out to pet the creature, it fluffed up its fur and let her.

Shinjou gave a stiff smile from next to Sayama.

“C-come to think of it, this is the first time you’ve petted Baku, Kazami-san. Isn’t that nice?”

“Heh heh. I guess it’s true that animals can sense people’s emotions. I’m very calm right now. So calm I feel a strong urge to do this.”

Sayama seemed to have chosen not to comment, so she took Baku from his shoulder and held the creature to her chest.

Shinjou frantically took Sayama’s arm and looked back and forth between Hiba and Kazami.

“Um…what do we do now? Th-that leaves Kazami-san to handle Ryuuji-kun.”

“Eh? Ehh? Sh-she’ll break me!”

“Heh heh heh. Don’t be so shy, freshman. Don’t worry. It doesn’t hurt that much.”

With the same smile as before, Kazami cracked the knuckles of her right hand and faced Sayama.

“You two can leave now. I will handle this interrogation…I mean forced information extraction…no, that isn’t it either. Um… How should I put it?” She nodded once toward Hiba. “I’ll have you tell me everything about this test, the impurity, and everything else. How about that?”

With all the hair on his body standing on end, Hiba nodded repeatedly.

Sunlight filled a hallway.

A tall maid walked through the hallway. She was Moira 1st who had spoken with Tsukuyomi Miyako.

She was pushing an ornamented metal stretcher. The table-like surface contained silver plates with semispherical lids.

Outside of the hallway’s windows were a forest, a slope, and a city. The city was packed with small buildings and houses. She glanced over at them and narrowed her eyes.

“The princess will not remember us once she returns there.”

“That isn’t necessarily true,” immediately replied a fairly low female voice.

Moira 1st slowly turned around and saw two people standing by the wall behind her. One was a tall woman in a red suit and the other was a large man wearing a T-shirt, jeans, and a blue apron. Moira 1st looked at the two of them.

“Mistress Gyes and Master Aigaion. Are you working, Master Aigaion?”

The large man named Aigaion brushed up his short-cropped blond hair and looked down at his clothes. The thick material of his blue apron said “Dragon Grocer” in white.

“I have no other choice. I simply dropped by while out on delivery because I heard the princess had woken up.”

“I told you to stay away because your huge body only gets in the way.”

Gyes, the woman with short black hair, shook her head.

“But Cottus is bragging about being the first to see this princess,” said Aigaion. “After all, his position down there let him see her first when Typhon brought her back.”

“Moira 1st, why did Typhon abduct that woman?”

Moira 1st tilted her head.

“According to the maintenance maids, there was an intense scorch mark on Typhon’s back. It apparently came from Keravnos.”

“So it ran across that black god of war. Does that mean it took a hostage in the shock of the initial strike?”

“Most likely,” said Moira 1st.

Suddenly, a new male voice cut in.

“Are you three Hecatoncheires interested in her?”

The voice came from the wall even further down the hallway. A young man leaned weakly against it.

He wore white clothes and had long, blond hair. Moira 1st faced him and raised her eyebrows.

“Lord Apollo, should you really be up?”

“With all the noise out here, it sounded more interesting than the bed or garden.”

He got up from the wall and moved his yellow eyes.

He turned a weak smile toward the plates Moira 1st was transporting.

“Has she woken up?”

“She is quite energetic, Lord Apollo.”

Gyes twisted her head at Moira 1st’s informative tone.

“It might be feigned. All the others who wandered here were like that.”

As soon as she finished speaking, her expression changed.

The harshness left her face and she let out a regretful sigh.

“Sorry. I know this is a rare pleasure for you.”

“There is no need to apologize. What you said is true. But…” Moira 1st tilted her head as she chose her words. “To put it bluntly, she broke through the memory manipulation that Moira 3rd so delightedly applied.”

“It is not that unlikely a turn of events. If the memories you sealed or the story Moira 3rd told included something important to her, she would naturally reject them. Then the seal and the story would vanish, correct?”

“Yes, but the seal is still in place. The new princess believes those memories are missing. Perhaps we should have given more thought to Moira 3rd’s story.”

“What story did Moira 3rd tell? The princess was taken here from the eastern side of this country. No normal artificial memory would form a proper connection.”

“Yes.” Moira 1st nodded with a serious expression. “It was simple. The train the princess was riding from a station called Shinjuku was abducted by a flying saucer and all the people aboard were given physical examinations by aliens. After having her sitting height erroneously measured too high, the princess angrily punched the little greys until she had taken control of the bridge. She then shouted ‘take me to Hawaii!’, but the flying saucer underwent a Dutch roll and crashed in Okayama! The title is ‘The Naked Princess in Space: To Terra’.”

“Sounds exciting, but there’s no heroine.”

“In this case, the protagonist of the princess doubles as a powerful heroine. A meaningless shower scene partway through where she only washes her shoulders is a must. I have studied this with the limited resources available to me.”

“I see.”

Aigaion and Apollo folded their arms and nodded, but Gyes frowned doubtfully.

“At any rate, the fruit of your studies was rejected. …Are you going to try a second story?”

Moira 1st lowered her head but finally answered.

“I think it would be difficult. Moira 3rd’s stories are meant to be placed over the memories I seal, but there should be a half-erased blank there now. If we forcibly attempt to change the story…”

“It could apply pressure to her memories until they break, destroying her personality. …Humans are difficult to deal with.” Having said that, Gyes frantically turned toward Apollo. “My apologies. I was not trying to say that you are difficult to deal with.”

“But I am. I don’t do anything and I’m no use whatsoever.”

Gyes fell silent and Aigaion elbowed her in the side.

Moira 1st smiled bitterly as she looked at the two and then at Apollo.

“In other words, you are sensitive.”

“Yes, exactly. Well said, Moira 1st. Now, Lord Apollo, Moira 2nd says you have been in good health recently, so will you go outside today?”

“Are the dolls worried for their master? …But I do think I will wander around outside for a bit.”

Apollo smiled bitterly just as a maid arrived from down the hallway. Moira 1st saw her jog toward them.

“Do not run in the hallway, 43rd. Now, what is it?”

The maid named 43rd nodded and got down on one knee in front of Moira 1st.

“I apologize. But…the princess has escaped!”

“Escaped?” asked Gyes rather than Moira 1st.

The maid nodded and pulled a piece of cloth from her chest. It was a pillowcase with thick letters written using something brown.

“This was written with the chocolate Moira 3rd gave her.”

Moira 1st read it, let out a laugh, and then turned to Gyes.

“It says ‘Thanks for your hospitality’.”

“You sound happy, Moira 1st. Did you know this would happen?”

“No.” Moira 1st tilted her head and spoke to Gyes, who looked suspicious, and the two men, who looked a bit surprised. “But if you recall, I did say she was energetic.”

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Owari no Chronicle:Volume5 Prologue

2026-04-09T03:11:13Z

N-Ch:

==Prologue: On a Trip of Self-Questioning==
[[Image:OnC_v05_0011.png|thumb]]
''What exactly is a question?

''Do you go and continue on?

''Or do you go and come back?

Two automatic doors led to a large white airtight space. The fifty square meter white walls, floor, and ceiling were all covered with light emitting panels.

The placard at the entrance illuminated by that light was printed with the name of the space: Training Room 9.

Four people sat in the center of the training room. They were taking a break after completing their training. They all wore white and black armored uniforms and they were looking at small handmade documents.

The first one to speak was the well-built young man in the center. He held up the document in his hand as he did.

“Anyway, we have three days until Team Leviathan’s summer training camp known as the ‘we have less than five months until the world grows too negative and is destroyed, so let’s go to the beach and hope someone’s top falls off’ training camp, but… What is it, Sayama, you idiot?”

Before he could say anymore, the boy who had raised his hand spoke.

“Izumo, while the name of the camp is surprisingly good, I must ask…”

“I know, I know. You want to know about the next Leviathan Road, right?”

Sayama nodded and turned to the long-haired girl sitting to his left.

“We need to take action soon, but that will likely make us quite busy. Did you have any plans for summer break, Shinjou-kun?”

“Hm. I want to beat some of the new games I got, but I guess the Leviathan Road is more important.” Shinjou smiled bitterly and turned to the other two people. “Kazami-san, what about you two?”

“No, I don’t think we have anything,” answered the girl directly across from her. She brushed up her short hair as she continued. “But do you know where 3rd-Gear is, Sayama? I hear we still have a few of the 3rd-Gear automatons that fell into our possession when 3rd was destroyed, but I’ve never heard anything about the location of the other 3rd-Gear remnants.”

“The other day, the old man gave me a hint concerning that. He mentioned a large-scale string vibration abnormality in the Kurashiki region about five years ago.”

“Kurashiki? You mean…?”

Shinjou looked up at the ceiling in thought and Kazami immediately spoke up.

“That’s in Okayama. It’s the Kojima Peninsula. According to the Divine States-World Interaction Theory, that’s Greece. So are they there?”

“No. It seems the Okayama branch immediately investigated but was unable to detect 3rd-Gear’s presence. But we might find some sort of hint if we go there. And before that, I would like to meet the automatons kept in UCAT custody.”

“I see,” muttered Shinjou.

…''3rd-Gear.

That Gear became the basis of Greek mythology and had created automatons and the giant humanoid weapons known as gods of war.

“The Concept Core was split in two and one half is held by Typhon, right?”

“Yes, and Typhon is most likely a god of war.” Izumo scratched his head as he continued. “But we don’t know where the other half is. And with 3rd-Gear, we’ll probably be up against gods of war, so the Leviathan Road is probably gonna be tricky.”

Shinjou nodded.

Thanks to the concept activation ten years prior, UCAT was able to stabilize the operation of automatons and gods of war. Before that, they had only been able to construct an unstable concept space for humanoid machines, so their development of automatons and gods of war had been mostly guesswork.

“I wonder if 3rd-Gear’s remnants are living in this world with Typhon.”

“If they were not caught in 3rd’s destruction, they must be. There probably are not very many of them, though.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Merely a guess. They have yet to do anything at all, so the odds are high they have few usable personnel. That is all.”

Hearing Sayama’s words, Shinjou tilted her head. She had a certain thought.

“Then,” she began. “Why are they hiding? If they really don’t have many people like you say, they could always surrender. If they don’t, they have to act.”

“The answer is simple: they have something to feel guilty about. If they show themselves, whoever finds them might take some form of revenge. They may have that sort of reason for their reluctance to make an appearance.”

As he spoke, Sayama looked at Shinjou, Izumo, and finally Kazami.

“We should be careful. 3rd-Gear’s Leviathan Road will not be resolved so simply.”

“When have we ever resolved something simply? Maybe if we didn’t have a certain idiot complicating things.”

Izumo’s comment caused Sayama to nod deeply, fold his arms, and give a serious expression.

“Yes, you are very right. But you should not refer to yourself as an idiot. Let me say it for you: you are a damn idiot. How was that? Will that make a sufficient replacement for your self-deprecation?”

Izumo ignored him and glared at Kazami in annoyance.

“I want to get this conversation back on track. Can you force it in that direction?”

“Sure. I’m good at forcing things. …Anyway, let’s move from the Leviathan Road to the training camp. Shinjou, did you see where we’re going?”

“Eh? No. The location is chosen randomly every year and the thought of the Mount Osore medium tour for last year really got me down, so I don’t check it until the day we have to leave. That way I can resign myself to it the instant I see it.”

“Perfect. And I’m sure Sayama is the same.”

Kazami showed off the pamphlet in her hand with a smile. She narrowed her eyes and laughed.

“Heh heh. We’re going to the Seto Inland Sea. Specifically, a deserted island owned by IAI. It’s officially a test site, but it’s actually a UCAT training ground. And…that area feels like it’s related to 3rd. Right, Sayama?”

Sayama did not immediately react, but after a short pause, he cleared his throat and spoke disappointedly.

“It sounds like a nice place.”

His casual tone caused Shinjou to smile bitterly in her heart.

…''He’s actually really happy.

“We might be able to do some preliminary investigation of 3rd-Gear, Sayama-kun.”

“Perhaps so, Shinjou-kun. But… Kazami, how will the tents be arranged?”

“Unfortunately for you two, you will be separate. There will be a boys tent and a girls tent.”

“I-I don’t particularly see that as unfortunate,” said Shinjou.

“I certainly do. And on top of that, there is a problem with that arrangement.” Sayama nodded quietly. “If we are separate, I will be unable to continue my standard inspection of Shinjou-kun’s bod-…”

“Waaaah!!”

Shinjou frantically tightened Sayama’s tie. With her eyebrows raised, she lightly shook him back and forth.

“Stop saying that in front of people. Your morals may be set to a foreign level or even an animal level, b-but I want to treat that kind of thing with more-… Are you listening?”

“Shinjou, I’ll answer for that idiot: he can’t breathe.”

She looked past the tightened tie and saw a happy and nonresistant look on his face.

“Wah!”

Shinjou supported him as he limply collapsed.

…''Oh, no. I went too far. Oh, well.

Izumo watched as Baku mimicked Sayama’s collapse from atop his head.

“Okay, let’s leave that idiot be and leave for the day. I’ve gotten hooked on winning prizes at the batting center upstairs. They have a bunch of great prizes and Chisato loves them.”

“But, Kaku, stop making a fool of yourself by winning a prize you already have. …Oh, and I guess it would be dangerous to abandon Sayama here. Whoever is using the place next would be worried. Right, Shinjou?”

“Um, yes… I suppose the others do view him like that.”

Shinjou took a breath, but Sayama still appeared to be sleeping. After some hesitation, she placed his head on her stocking-covered lap.

She grabbed Baku from his head, placed the creature on her shoulder, and faced forward.

“Kazami-san, why do you look so impressed?”

“I was just surprised you do that without being asked.” While sitting to Izumo’s left, Kazami slapped her own lap. “Resting him on your lap, I mean.”

“Yeah…”

Shinjou nodded and looked to the white staff engraved with Ex-St which lay to her side. She recalled the first time she had done this several months before…no, only about three months before.

“Sayama-kun wanted to do this the first time we met. And he asked me the other night as well. I think he sometimes wants to depend on someone like this.”

“The other night?”

“Yeah, I played cards with him and lost horribly. And then…um…”

He had asked for a lot more than just to rest on her lap, but she was naturally hesitant to mention any of it.

She frantically formed a smile as she decided to change the subject.

“S-Sayama-kun said his grandfather taught him how to play cards. He’s really good. I can only ever win at video games. In the new fighting game ‘Virtua Leader 2’, I can use the American representative to get in some good air combos.”

“Chisato. I think she’s trying to hide something.”

“Yeah, I sense it too.”

“I-I’m not hiding anything. I’m not.”

She waved her hands in denial, but Kazami gradually gained a bitter smile.

She shrugged dismissively and looked Shinjou in the eye.

“Well, whatever. But not letting himself do this unless he beats you at cards sounds like him.”

“Yeah.” Shinjou smiled bitterly as well and lightly brushed up Sayama’s bangs as he lay unmoving on her lap. “I’m willing to do this whenever he wants, but he seems to have trouble with it.”

“I see. That’s nice. …By the way, Chisato, sometimes I want-…”

“A fist to the face? That’s perfectly fine. Do you want the right? The left? Or maybe both?”

Shinjou looked around the training room while ignoring Izumo who was pretending to cry while collapsed to the side. She saw that they were the only ones there.

“Where are Sibyl-san and the others?”

“Sibyl left with Ooshiro-san. They apparently had someone to meet.”

“I see.” Shinjou nodded and looked down at the training camp pamphlet in her hand. She then looked at Sayama’s face as he breathed shallowly on her lap. “By the way, Sayama-kun has been a bit irritated lately because the Leviathan Road has been progressing so slowly.”

“In the two months since the negotiation with 2nd-Gear, our only orders have been to train and we haven’t tried to contact any other Gears. And now we have to go on a training camp? It must be horrible for someone as impatient as him.”

“But holding the camp near land related to 3rd has to be Old Man Ooshiro’s doing,” said Izumo. He sat up, folded his arms, and looked toward Sayama. “It is true the other countries’ UCATs complained about our actions after we dealt with Yamata. They said kids shouldn’t be sent into such danger without training. American UCAT was especially annoying.”

“The Divine States-World Interaction Theory associates America with 5th-Gear, right? Something likely happened between them in the past. American UCAT may not want us taking the initiative in the negotiations and advancing to negotiations with 5th. They’ll probably interfere with that Leviathan Road.”

“The world is a real pain.”

“Oh? Quit acting like you understand. The problem isn’t the world; it’s the pride of the people living in it. …I have my own pride and I’m sure Shinjou does too.”

Shinjou thought when she heard that. She had a feeling she did indeed, but she also wondered what exactly she had inside her.

As she focused on that thought, her gaze dropped and the boy sleeping on her lap entered her vision. She brushed up his hair with her right hand which had a ring on it. That was when she naturally found her answer.

“Yes. I think I probably do too.”

She nodded and Kazami smiled.

“Sayama must as well. And it’s his understanding of that that irritates him so much. He also has his grandfather to pursue, so he must want to begin the Leviathan Road with the next Gear right away.”

Shinjou nodded and remembered something.

“The training camp and the Leviathan Road are important, but we also have to worry about summer homework. We have a lot.”

“That’s a rather carefree concern when the world might be destroyed.”

“I know what you mean, but Ooki-sensei used the wrong book for our first term classes. We found out the day before yesterday and Sayama-kun set up an inquiry commission, but the only result was ‘Oh, no! I’m so sorry!’ …Our school is a surprisingly careless organization.”

“Heh heh heh. Don’t worry, Shinjou. The way I see it, it’s a surprisingly thrilling organization. …And I forgot this was your first time for this. That means it will be your only time. Third years get no homework because we have entrance exams to worry about.”

Hearing that, Shinjou suddenly raised her head. On the other hand, Kazami and Izumo remained relaxed.

“Why do you look so interested, Shinjou?”

“I just had a thought: what will we do once you two graduate?”

“Needless to say, Chisato and I will- gah! I didn’t even finish the setup!”

“Shut up,” muttered Kazami while ignoring Izumo as he once again lay to the side and pretended to cry. “I plan to go on to university, but we’re doing the Leviathan Road, right? So once I graduate high school, I might try studying abroad at different universities. Who knows what will have happened to the world at that point, but the different UCATs should be busy. I was thinking of helping them out a bit. Oh, and Kaku would be with me.”

Shinjou was unsure what to say.

“You’ve thought that through… Surprisingly.”

“That’s not exactly a compliment.”

“S-sorry. But…um…how should I put it?”

“Saying anything more would just dig yourself deeper, so stop. And this is normal. Next year, you’ll be thinking about it too. In your third year, there’s no one above you and simply flipping through the calendar gets you thinking. You think about it even when staring out the classroom window.”

After saying that, a sudden look of realization came over Kazami and her eyebrows rose slightly while she tried to retain her smile.

“I’ve practically been lecturing you while soaking in self-satisfaction, haven’t I? Well, you can let me act like an upperclassman every once in a while, right? I can’t say this kind of thing in front of Sayama.”

“True. Sayama-kun worries about people a surprising amount, so he would probably be overly considerate.”

Shinjou lowered her gaze toward Sayama.

He lay motionlessly on her lap. She did nothing but stare at him, but it still put a smile on her face.

Seeing them, Kazami let out an exasperated sigh.

Izumo remained in his position collapsed next to her.

''How quiet,'' thought Shinjou.

But then a noise filled the training room.

“An alarm?”

Kazami stood up as the repeating high-pitched noise stabbed through the air.

Next, an announcement filled the room.

“Um, this is an official announcement. Currently, um, two huge philosopher’s stone readings are flying in from the left side of Japan. So, um, the special division and the…standard division? Both are to send all personnel in training or on standby to the main entrance.”

Hearing Ooki’s voice, Shinjou frantically looked at Sayama. His eyes remained closed, so she spoke.

“Sayama-kun! Sayama-kun! Wake up! Wake up! Ooki-sensei is saying something strange!”

But his eyes did not open. Shinjou panicked, thought for a moment, and then whispered in his ear.

“I’m on my way to the bath.”

“Wait for me!”

He jumped to his feet with his arm held out as if holding a wash basin under it.

The moon-filled night sky was colored a dark blue.

The sky, the air, and the shadows created by the moonlight were all dark blue and they all seemed to blend into each other.

And below all that dark blue, forested mountains and valleys were visible.

The area was filled with the murmuring of the rivers flowing through the valleys and the sounds of forest insects.

The river noises seemed to continue without end.

But the insect noises were different. In some parts of the mountains, the insect cries would cease.

That silence of the insects was not contained to a single place. The silence climbed the unlit road leading up and into the mountain.

Two figures were visible on that silent mountain road.

One of the people treading on fallen branches was an old man in a lab coat.

“Sibyl-kun, how should I put this? Can we rest for a moment?”

As he gasped for breath, a blonde girl wearing a white summer coat turned toward him.

Sibyl’s blue eyes bent in a smile.

“I apologize, Ooshiro-sama. It has been so long that I began to hurry without realizing it.”

“And are we going to rest?”

“Testament. No, we are not.”

As she smiled, Ooshiro looked up into the sky and continued to walk. He stared beyond the overhead leaves and branches.

“I get the feeling that everyone has my priority level set very low of late…”

“Testament. Do not worry. If everyone has it set low, it means you do not have to worry about people treating you differently.”

“Wah! Are people abusing the elderly with sophistry these days!?”

His shout was followed by bird cries from the branches overhead. The panicked cries were followed by a few sounds of flapping wings and Sibyl coming to a stop.

Ooshiro stopped as well and she looked at him with her smile gone.

He waited for the bird cries and flapping to end before speaking.

“Sorry.”

He bowed and Sibyl had vanished by the time he raised his head again.

“Ah! Being ignored is the worst of all!”

He began to run, but the mountain road ended before long and the forest opened up.

“The old Hiba Dojo.”

With that comment, he arrived below the moonlight.

The space was twenty meters square and the ground had been packed down by countless feet.

But while the ground was hard, it was also unmaintained. Cracks had formed in places and grass was growing up from them.

This was the old Hiba Dojo.

“The Hiba family used this outdoor dojo until the end of the war.”

As he looked across the unmaintained dojo, he saw two people on the northern end.

The first was Sibyl in her white summer coat. The other wore a white T-shirt and shorts.

“Hiba-sensei.”

“Oh? Ooshiro’s kid is here too?”

Hiba Ryuutetsu raised a hand in the moonlight and faced Ooshiro.

As he smiled, his red left eye reflected the moonlight.

“Why did you call me to this location of the past on this early summer night?”

“It is beginning again, Ryuutetsu-sama.”

“ ‘It’ being the cleanup of that conclusion?”

Sibyl turned toward Ryuutetsu’s voice as she bathed in the moonlight.

A train could be heard in the distance and the moon illuminated a slight smile on her face.

“That is correct. We will be purifying the vestiges of that battle over the search for a human form,” she said. “That is why we have called you, warrant officer of the former National Defense Department and bearer of the power that destroyed 3rd-Gear.”

In the moonlight, Ooshiro pulled a pile of documents from his lab coat’s pocket.

When he handed the clip-bound pile to Ryuutetsu, Ryuutetsu’s expression grew serious.

“If you look that stern, it makes me want to make a joke.”

“Go right ahead. But it’ll cost you an arm if it isn’t funny. That’s the rule.”

Hearing that, Ooshiro froze in place and Sibyl smiled at him.

“Ooshiro-sama? There is no need to force yourself.”

“That really pisses me off! I’m definitely going to say something funny now!”

“Better not, boy. Not even five arms would be enough for you.”

Being called ‘boy’ made Ooshiro smile bitterly. He scratched at his head while unsure how to respond.

“That really takes me back.”

“I’m sure not many people call you that anymore, but I remember when you were born. Hiromasa was so happy. I was…twenty-four and Hiromasa was thirty-seven, I think.”

Ryuutetsu flipped through the documents he had been given. He just looked like a little old man in the moonlight.

However…

“You look good for someone turning eighty-five this year.”

“I haven’t had a longevity treatment like Chao or Siegfried and I’m not near all sorts of concepts in combat like Abram, so the years are really starting to catch up to me. Fortunately, my wife is the same age,” he said. “But I think Thunderson or I will be the first of that group to die.”

His words caused Sibyl to close her eyes next to him.

She thought closing her eyes had hidden her expression, but Ryuutetsu said nothing to her. He continued flipping through the documents before speaking again.

“Are you going to retrieve you-know-what in UCAT’s Kanda laboratory tomorrow?”

“Yes. It was repaired in the Kanda lab, so we’ll be picking it up tomorrow. Would you like to come along?”

“Not after all this time. I only brought it back because I couldn’t bear to throw it out. And that’s Kaoru’s jurisdiction anyway.” He looked up. “But remember. I’m giving it to you, but in exchange…”

“Yes. UCAT will not interfere with your grandson’s actions.”

“Heh. When did you get so obedient? What happened to the ten-year-old Peeping Tom who would peep on the women’s bath with me?”

“Oh, c’mon.” Ooshiro scratched at his head, but suddenly turned to Sibyl. “S-Sibyl-kun? Why are you silently taking notes?”

“Testament. I think Chisato-sama will find this information useful.”

“Wh-what information! And why!?”

Sibyl ignored him. She continued to ignore him as he sadly sat on the ground with his arms around his knees.

“Anyway, Ryuutetsu-sama,” she said. “Japanese UCAT wishes for a mutually beneficial deal. In exchange for the object we will retrieve tomorrow…”

“You will temporarily put 3rd-Gear’s Leviathan Road on hold. Officially, at least.”

Ryuutetsu’s comment brought silence.

A silent wind blew through and Ryuutetsu’s voice filled the air once more as that wind shook the mountain’s trees.

“3rd-Gear has an impurity, so their Leviathan Road should not be carried out. The survivors from that time in the other UCATs told you the same thing, didn’t they? If we accept 3rd-Gear to our side, something best avoided would occur.”

“What is this impurity?”

“There are actually two. The first is the official one and the other one is more personal. The latter should only be known by me and the survivors of 3rd-Gear, so the other UCATs would be talking about the former. But both will be cleansed before long. 3rd-Gear is approaching a second destruction.”

“You mean…?”

“I will tell you about that now. I will tell you what 3rd-Gear is most likely doing right now and what we are doing. Once you hear that, you will be forced to think about the Leviathan Road with 3rd-Gear as an adult.” The corner of Ryuutetsu’s mouth rose in a smile. “I wonder what will happen. Once the adults learn of these impurities, they will certainly move to stop the Leviathan Road with 3rd-Gear. But what will Mikoto and his friends do?”

“Testament.” Sibyl looked somewhat disappointed, but she still gave a small smile. “Sayama-sama and the others generally have a certain extent of free reign over the Leviathan Road. If they come into contact with your grandson while learning of the past on their own and working to clear that barrier…”

“Will that change where those inexperienced children are headed?”

“Testament.” Sibyl nodded, but she was truly smiling now. “I think it will change where you are headed as well. They may be inexperienced, but… Chisato-sama said she was wondering what they would do once the Leviathan Road ended.”

She continued smiling.

“They have already started forward along with the entire world. And they have done so whether you wish for it or not.”

“Heh heh. I hate how sharp you are with things like this. …I really have gotten old. I’ve started worrying about sending kids to dangerous places.”

Suddenly, Ryuutetsu brought a hand to his face.

“…”

He brought it to his crimson left eye.

His action brought tension to Sibyl’s face and Ooshiro turned around.

“It can’t be…”

“It is. That idiot really is drawing the battle this way.”

“What idiot?”

“Take a guess,” said Ryuutetsu. His eyebrows were raised, but he had a smile on his lips. “The one I have allowed to cleanse the impurities!”

Below the moon, the lights of a train traveled east.

The train was on its way to Okutama on the Oume Line. It was leaving Ikusabata Station near Oume and it was traveling east along the Tama River.

The light could be seen leaving from a paddy field on the southern side of the river.

The area had no external lights and the green heads of rice were illuminated by the moonlight. The sounds of the insects in the grass and the frogs in the paddy field filled the area.

The wind shaking the rice plants traveled down from the mountains and across the river, so it was fairly chilly.

The moonlit breeze crossed the paddy field and traveled downstream as if pursuing the train.

But that wind suddenly danced about.

A single figure stood on the gravel farm road traveling down the center of the paddy field.

This young woman had her back to the distant station lights.

The beige suit coat hanging over her left shoulder was worn out and faint disorder could be heard in the sound of her pumps treading on the gravel road. She lightly swung around the bag in her right hand.

“Ahh…”

She let out a weary voice and brushed up her hair with her left hand.

Below her semi-long bangs was a face with flushed cheeks. But that face was accompanied by the smell of alcohol on her breath and eyebrows brought together in a troubled look.

The motion of brushing up her hair caused her suit coat to fall from her left shoulder.

She paused for just a second and looked down at the coat on the gravel road.

She then sat down on top of the dropped coat and started to cross her legs.

“…”

But the hem of her tight skirt was too narrow, so she kept her right knee raised. With a click of the tongue, she opened her bag. She pulled out a single sheet of paper: her resume.

The name field said Tsukuyomi Miyako.

The young woman named Miyako held the resume in both hands and held it forward in the proper reading position. She let out a nauseous groan before looking at the writing with a blank look in her eyes.

“What am I supposed to do? Mom’s gonna let me have it when she hears I couldn’t say anything at the interview.”

She suddenly glanced to the right which was the west. In the dark mountains of Okutama, she could see a few small gatherings of light.

“She’s always saying she’ll introduce me to IAI, but I’m not gonna use connections to get a job.”

Still sitting, Miyako brushed up her hair with her right hand and turned back to the resume.

The paper clearly described all the results she had produced so far: middle school, high school, university, the clubs she had belonged to, and whether she had a license.

“But…”

She let go with her right hand and searched through the bag. She pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

She brought the flavorful smoke into her mouth, savored it, and breathed it out in a ball.

“That isn’t what I want them to see…”

She turned toward the fields for hobbies and special skills. Cooking and engineering were written there in ballpoint pen.

''This just isn’t working out,'' she thought as she looked at it.

“I hate relying on people, but now it’s past mid-July and I still don’t have a job.”

She folded the resume in two and then folded it in half again.

She stuck it in her bag and sighed. With the cigarette still in her mouth, she collapsed backwards onto the ground.

She thought it was pathetic, but she grabbed the cigarette and held it up toward the moon.

“Even a former delinquent like me wants to flee this cruel world.”

She smiled bitterly, flicked the cigarette to knock off the ashes, and watched them scatter in the wind.

“Can’t something good happen for once? Like a meteor destroying society or a wealthy Prince Charming proposing, dying right after the marriage, and leaving me an easy life with tons of maids to do everything for me.” She showed her teeth in a smile. “Ridiculous.”

Her smiling face slowly grew serious.

“I just want to be a proper adult.”

As soon as she muttered that, she heard a voice.

She heard it in her mind rather than her ears and it resembled her own voice.

—'''Minerals have life.

“…What?”

Wondering what that voice had been, she got up.

She started to ask “who’s there”, but never finished.

Something fell to the ground directly to her right.

“!?”

It was a giant mass of wind. As she was almost blown away by the great roar and wind, she looked up.

“That’s no meteor…”

The moonlight illuminated a white giant.

A giant white figure stood in the moonlit paddy field.

The white armored warrior was over ten meters tall.

As she sat at its feet, Miyako realized this white oddity was not disappearing, so she slowly looked around the area.

Once the wind produced by the giant vanished, everything grew still.

All the movements, insect noises, and frog croaks had vanished.

The silence and stillness was so great that a sense of confusion fell over her. It was as if all life had vanished from the area. And the giant standing next to her was more than just confusing.

She called all of her engineering skills and knowledge into her inebriated mind and stood up.

“This isn’t an anime, so how sturdy does that thing have to be to stand like that?”

The unmoving white giant was close enough to reach out and touch. And so she took a step closer to do exactly that.

As she did, two lights appeared on the giant’s head.

They formed the eyes on what appeared to be its face. The lights were yellow and she felt a certain warmth in them.

They may have been a signal that something was activating.

…''I feel like I’ve seen those eyes before. But where? No, I’ve never seen glowing eyes before. It’s the general feeling they give me.

Looking at those eyes brought a brightly warm and weak feeling to her chest.

[[Image:OnC_v05_0037.png|thumb]]

…''What is this?

With that thought, her drunken mind prioritized curiosity. As if tempted, she reached a hand out toward the white giant.

And just before she touched it…

“…!”

The light in the giant’s eyes suddenly strengthened and it moved.

It took a half step to the side as if avoiding her.

…''It’s running away.

As it reacted like a frightened animal, it produced a powerful noise and wind. When it stepped into the paddy field, it tore off heads of rice and produced a splashing noise. The foot sinking into the mud produced an equal volume of muddy water flowing onto the gravel road.

It had moved approximately three meters away and Miyako still could not hear any insects or frogs.

In that silence, she looked at the fingers of her outstretched arm and the giant beyond them.

She saw the white giant look down at her as if hanging its head.

“—————”

The giant’s head suddenly produced some sort of noise. She could tell it was a male voice, but she did not know what language it was.

But after speaking, the giant turned its back to her.

“Wait,” she called out.

But then she gasped in realization.

…''What am I doing?

She had gotten drunk after failing an interview and now she was telling a white giant to wait.

Just as she wondered how much of that was normal, the giant made its next move.

The six large wings on its back spread out.

“Wow…”

It had three pairs of main wings with ailerons. The main wings were over five meters long and their flaps rose and fell. She even saw in-wing thrusters which should not have existed in reality.

The wings spread out like a living creature and they blossomed in the moonlight.

''What is this?'' she wondered. ''This shouldn’t exist.

But that sense of reality was wiped out by the truth before her eyes.

The spread wings gave off a dignified glow in the moonlight and wind suddenly exploded out.

The white giant flew into the sky.

“!”

Miyako crossed her arms in front of herself, but it was too late. ''Uh, oh,'' she thought as her body floated up a bit. In the next moment, she fell onto her butt.

The impact itself was not as bad as the pain of the gravel stabbing at her.

But she immediately forced herself through the wind and back to her feet.

She had seen the white giant turn toward her in the instant it jumped up.

Its yellow eyes had seemed afraid of something.

“…”

She opened her mouth, but no words came out. She did not know what to say.

She felt a strange sense of frustration, but she must have sympathized with the giant to have read fear in its eyes. Something similar to that giant’s fear resided within herself.

But what was it inside her?

Instead of an answer, she heard a noise. It was a muffled sound as if something were tearing at the wind.

A reverberation of the wind fell from the previously silent sky above.

She looked up and saw a single white cloud drawing a line through the night along the path in which the white giant had flown.

But…

“…!”

Something else came from the sky behind her.

With the sound of something tearing at the wind, a new figure swiftly cut by overhead.

As if showing its intention to whip up the wind, the figure repeatedly accelerated as it passed by above her head. It flew through the night sky while producing a chain of roars resembling the flapping of wings.

Miyako put up with this second wind as she watched. This new figure wrapped in wind and noise was another giant much like the white one from before.

But it was colored a dark black.

The black giant pursued the white giant as it flew through the night sky.

The night sky was chilly and clear.

The black giant flying through the air had four metal wings extending from its back.

The two pairs of four meter long wings were spread out with two toward the sky and two toward the ground.

This action should have created air resistance, but it did not. The pale light emitted from the front of the wings cut through the air and only the necessary amount of air was brought inside the front slit to be stored inside the wing.

The swing-down portion of the wing would then beat down the air.

The atmospheric explosion emitted from the wing’s rear thruster accelerated the metal giant upwards.

The distance to the sky above vanished in an instant.

As the black giant ascended, a sharp red light appeared on its face as eyes.

It then located its enemy in the wind, the night, and the sky.

That enemy was the white giant.

The white giant’s back was visible at a high enough altitude to be called “the heavens”.

It was ascending, so the black giant ascended even further.

As it flapped the wings on its back, a noise came from the black giant.

It was a voice coming from the mouth portion of its face.

“Are they planning to leave the concept space they set up themselves?”

The voice that seemed to be questioning itself might have belonged to a boy or a young man.

And another voice immediately replied. This time, a feminine voice came from that same black machine.

“I don’t know. But if we can end this here, we should use our weapon of destruction.”

A male and female pair spoke within the same craft and the female voice continued.

“Keravnos!”

That name produced movement.

A concept space expanded around the black right arm and the weapon known as Keravnos appeared in pieces.

First, the frame of a spear was emitted from space. The claws on the bottom of the frame locked onto the arm and combined with the rail meant to fire the spear shell. Next, side guiderails and an upper counter-head were emitted from space. Those parts surrounded the top and either side, forming a cannon.

After that, a shock absorber appeared and connected to the back. With the inside complete, the spear shell entered.

The spear shell was made up of three spears, all which glowed white. They were the color of a thunderbolt.

Finally, twelve steel bolts were emitted from space. With six on either side, they drilled into Keravnos one pair at a time. The six-fold harmony of metal closed the weapon, fixed it in place, and made sure it would not budge.

It all occurred in an instant.

“Finished. We can do this!”

Just as the female voice cried out, something happened above the black giant’s head.

The white giant flipped around with the moon above it and the black giant below it.

It almost seemed to collapse backwards until its head was pointed down toward the black giant.

Immediately afterwards, the white giant flapped its wings.

It charged down toward the other giant and toward the ground.

It had been carrying a sword over each shoulder and it was now holding the right one down toward its left waist.

“Here it comes!”

But the black giant also flew. With a large flap of its wings, it calmly soared.

And then music came from the black giant’s mouth.

The boy’s voice sang a song.

—Silent night, holy night

As if riding on the gentle rhythm of the hymn, the black giant accelerated without rushing.

—God’s Son laughs, o how bright

At such great speeds, contact would only last an instant.

—Love from your holy lips shines clear

The descent at greater than free fall speeds and the ascent fighting against the pull of gravity crossed paths.

—As the dawn of salvation draws near

The sword on the left and the spear on the right clashed.

—Jesus, Lord, with your birth

“Go!!”

The song’s final line transformed into a shout as the spear easily broke the sword.

However…

“…!!”

Something odd happened.

The white giant vanished and suddenly appeared to the side. It appeared on the right with zero time lag.

“Did it take our attack again!?” The boy’s voice seemed to forcefully turn around in the sky. “Mikage-san, what was that!?”

“It’s no use! The attack is already here!”

As she had said, the white giant’s sword had already been swung down.

“That isn’t just teleportation! It’s an instant attack!”

With teleportation, the giant’s movements afterwards would continue from before, but when it had appeared an instant after vanishing, it had already been swinging the attack.

This was not high speed, invisibility, or teleportation. It was as if the black giant’s attack had been taken away.

“What’s the trick to this!?”

As he asked that question, evasion and attack crossed paths.

With a great noise, the white giant’s sword deflected the firing device at the base of the spear.

And then the white giant crashed into the black giant.

The sound of destroyed metal filled the sky.

Sounds of pain and surprise came from both and the result of the crash showed itself.

The white giant was larger and was moving faster. To eliminate the lingering effects of the impact, it rotated and dropped straight down. But the black giant was knocked through the air with its chest armor and back wings broken.

Its altitude quickly dropped and it approached the surface.

“Kh.”

The black wings spread out. It flapped them at just above the ground to throw its body sideways, but it was too little, too late.

“…!!”

It used all of its leg strength to kick off the ground and forced another strike of the wings to correct its path. It flew in a high-speed horizontal glide and pursued the white giant which was similarly skimming along the surface approximately one hundred meters ahead.

“Damn.”

“Sorry. This is because I am incomplete.”

The boy did not respond to the female voice’s comment. After a short pause, she spoke again.

“Did you see Typhon back there?”

“Yes, but what about it?”

After another short pause, the female voice spoke as if checking with herself.

“Its eyes were yellow. …The color was different when we fought it before.”

“True,” muttered the boy.

The black giant’s head tilted as if to ask why, but the female voice cut off the boy’s puzzlement.

“Typhon is slowing down.”

“Why?”

“I do not know, but this is our chance!”

The black giant nodded at her words.

It continued forward. It kicked off the ground once to leap into the air and then flapped its wings. It was taking a low-angle yet high-speed dive.

And it charged in. It swung Keravnos on its right arm toward the white back it approached.

“Cry out, crushing lightning strike!”

The male and female voices cried out in unison and the stabbing spear was fired while wrapped in light.

As the white giant glided along, it frantically turned around and swung its sword toward the other giant.

“What!?”

Keravnos devoured the sword. The metal sword shattered in an instant and it scattered through the sky.

But the black giant saw where the white giant was headed.

“A person!?”

A woman wearing a white shirt and a beige skirt looked through the sky while walking. It looked like she had lost sight of the giants and was searching for them. She slowly turned her head toward them.

“…”

She caught sight of the approaching white giant and her expression filled with shock and paled.

Seeing that, the white giant took action. It fully spread its wings, drastically lowered its speed, crouched over, and spread its arms.

It moved to protect the woman from the attack approaching from behind.

As the pursuing black giant swung its right arm, it altered the trajectory away from the white giant.

“Dammit!”

The attack could not punch through the white giant.

But the fired spear produced a lightning strike.

Light enveloped the two gods of war and a great rumbling rang out.

Miyako stood on the gravel road which was scorched, broken, and giving off heat.

She was surrounded by an intense light that had fallen from the sky, but she did not close her eyes.

She saw everything that happened. The heat- and light-filled wind brought slight tears to her eyes and made her tremble, but she continued to watch.

It started when the flying white and black giants had descended toward her.

As soon as the one with white wings landed in front of her, the light had come.

Sound raced by around her like she was surrounded by a waterfall and light filled everything. She could tell the hot wind was blowing from below her feet.

She did not remember much else. She had simply suddenly noticed the white giant standing before her.

…''Did it protect me as I carelessly wandered around?

She tried to speak her confusion aloud, but she could not form the words.

Her lips were trembling. As were her face, head, abdomen, and knees.

But her eyes looked steadily up at the white giant. She looked up at its face.

Those eyes emitting a yellow light would be there.

As if responding to her thoughts, the giant lowered its head slightly. She could now see its face.

…''It’s different.

It was a pale blue.

Rather than the yellow light, the white giant’s face gave off a pale light.

''This is the same color as moonlight,'' she thought.

In the next instant, the white giant moved. As if refusing to lower its head any longer, it suddenly spread its arms slightly and bent backwards.

“————!!”

It let out a roar. The roar sounded like a mix between an “ah” and a “gah” and it was clearly a female voice. The foreign-sounding male voice from before was gone. It now produced a pure, bestial, and scream-like voice.

The cry blew away the steam and exposed the moon above.

The entire chilly sky was now visible. The sight made Miyako shudder. She then heard a noise. Something was shaking the air as it approached from behind the white giant.

“The black one…”

The dark giant moved in. It skimmed across the broken paddy field at high speed and instantly arrived from a distance. It was already swinging the spear attached to its right arm.

Miyako heard it give a war cry.

In response, the white giant ended its cry and swung its right arm toward Miyako.

“What?” asked Miyako as the white giant grabbed her.

In no time, the steel fingers had wrapped around her tense body.

She was restrained.

She was lifted up in an instant and then forcefully squeezed.

As she wondered what was happening, the white giant turned around, bringing her with it.

And it held her out toward the black giant.

“I’m a hostage!?”

Even as she almost passed out, she saw the black giant stop when it saw her.

She once again wondered what was happening.

The white giant which had shown her fear had protected her but then taken her hostage once the color of its eyes had changed.

Meanwhile, the black giant had stopped moving upon seeing her despite continually attacking the fearful white giant.

…''Which is the good one and which is the bad one?

While held by those five steel fingers, her breath was squeezed from her lungs and she had difficulty drawing in more air. Her breathing was shallow and her vision grew blurry.

And then the white giant flapped its wings.

Just as she felt her body grow heavy, she found herself in the sky.

Her vision had reached the heavens.

The large moon was visible overhead.

She saw the pale color of the moon just before her consciousness cut out.

The black giant stood on the paddy field’s gravel road.

After the triple spear on its right arm was dismantled and stored in the concept space, it lowered its right arm.

Afterwards, its shoulders clearly drooped.

The face was clearly turned toward two things on the ground.

Sitting on the gravel were a balled up woman’s suit coat and a black bag.

After a moment of silence, it spoke with the boy’s voice.

“The concept space will vanish soon, but should we pursue them? They got someone else involved.”

The response came from a weak and quiet female voice.

“We can’t. I can’t send power to the wings properly.”

“I see,” said the boy’s voice.

At the same time, light arrived. This was not the moonlight from above. It came from directly in front of the black giant.

“!?”

The white light pointed directly at the black giant’s face.

More lights illuminated its face and body from the sides and back.

And then the black giant saw it. A great number of large forms were visible beyond the hands holding the lights. And several human forms were visible on top of them.

“Are those…?”

They were trucks. The large trucks had surrounded the giant as a barricade.

The lights were approximately fifteen meters away. The giant had not noticed them as they approached. Which meant…

“Did they use some kind of concept?” muttered the male voice.

He received a response from a boy standing in the center of the people lined up on one truck. His hair was slicked back, it had some white mixed in, and his sharp face was turned toward the giant.

“To use the stereotypical phrase, we have you surrounded! Feel free to resist if you like. We have already prepared a stupid but sturdy shield and a beautiful gunner that can shoot through anything as long as she has enough guts!”

“Am I that shield you mentioned, you son of a bitch?” said a well-built young man standing to the boy’s left and holding a giant sword.

The girl standing to the boy’s right then spoke while holding a giant staff.

“U-um… My Ex-St doesn’t use my guts for output. It uses my spirit.”

“That’s the same thing!”

The girl cowered down as everyone else shouted at her, but the sharp-faced boy in the center patted her shoulder.

He then faced the black giant once more.

“Now, what will you do?”

Rather than the male voice, it was the giant’s female voice that answered.

“What should we do?”

The line of people took defensive stances when they heard that question. Except for one of them.

That one was the sharp-faced boy who had spoken before.

Rather than going on the defensive, he loosely folded his arms and placed his left hand on his chin. It looked like he was evaluating the black god of war.

“Will you fight?” he asked.

“Are you picking a fight?”

“That depends on you.” He nodded and calmly continued. “If we do fight, you may come to regret it.”

The black giant did not move, but the male voice muttered to himself.

“I give up…”

“Ryuuji-kun?”

“Please shut it down, Mikage-san. These people are not our enemy. Not that they are our ally either.”

He took a breath.

“You are from UCAT, aren’t you?”

“That is correct.”

As the sharp-faced boy answered, the black giant trembled.

The hatch on the bottom of the stomach opened outward.

A short figure jumped out and to the ground. He was a boy wearing black jeans and a white tank top. He had short hair and a white bandanna wrapped around his forehead.

“Red eyes…”

He gave a troubled smile as he heard that comment from the surrounding people.

“I get these red eyes from my grandfather. …Also, I request protection. Will that suffice, student council members?”

“…?”

Sensing confusion and surprise, the red-eyed boy spoke with a smile.

“I am Hiba Ryuuji from Class 1-F of Taka-Akita Academy. The one about to appear from this god of war is Hiba Mikage. Sayama-san, do you remember me? I’m the grandson of that troublesome old man, Hiba Ryuutetsu.”

As he spoke, the boy named Hiba raised his hands. He also stopped between the black giant’s legs.

He held his raised arms forward as if to catch something.

“Mikage-san.”

As soon as he spoke that name, the black giant transformed.

No, it was not a transformation. Starting with its limbs, the entire body folded and bent inward until it vanished into thin air.

With the sound of building blocks being piled up, the black craft disappeared.

And just before it did, the back of the craft opened and a human figure fell out.

It was a female figure. The blonde girl wore a black shirt and a white dress.

As she fell, Hiba caught her from below.

The girl, Mikage, did not move. She did not fix her disheveled hair and she merely took repeated deep breaths.

…''Is she okay?

As he thought that, Hiba felt something damp in his right hand. Something warm began to cover that hand.

As that warmth caused him to gasp, he heard a voice from above.

“Is she injured? We can treat her.”

“We always handle it ourselves, but it looks like that won’t happen today.”

He realized that everyone surrounding them was staring at Mikage.

He knew why she was drawing their focus. Her visible skin at the neck and hands was different from that of a human. The material resembled human skin, but the joints were black and made with a geometric pattern.

“An automaton,” someone said.

That comment caused an even deeper silence to fall which Hiba did not like.

But that silence was broken by Sayama giving instructions.

Hiba took a breath as he heard the footsteps of people frantically beginning to move.

A white-clothed rescue team quickly arrived and spread out a white sheet, so he gently lowered Mikage to the ground behind him. He placed her on the sheet and lightly placed her hands on top of her stomach.

“It’ll be okay,” he said reassuringly and the rescue team smiled at him.

“We will make sure she is okay.”

His smile in response was weak, but he raised his head as he heard the sounds of medical equipment.

He turned around and turned his red eyes in that direction.

“Thank you very much. Please take her to a good doctor.”

And then he looked around the area once more.

He first noticed that Sayama was looking his way.

“This is Team Leviathan, isn’t it?”

“Did you hear about us from Hiba-sensei?”

“Yes, but only a bit. Something about winning each Gear to your side, right?”

“Correct. Are you fighting 3rd-Gear?”

As Hiba wondered whether he should answer, Sayama continued speaking.

“This is not just a casual request. I am sure you have your reasons, but could you end your fighting? It will hinder the Leviathan Road with 3rd-Gear.”

“No,” replied Hiba reflexively. His eyebrows rose. “3rd-Gear is our opponent. And…I cannot hand them over to you. If you want 3rd-Gear’s Concept Core, then wait until we have settled things with them.”

“Why?”

“An impurity.” Hiba chose his words carefully. “3rd-Gear has an impurity. If you touch them, you will be stained, so we will cleanse that impurity and then give you the Concept Core.”

“And until then, you want us to leave you alone?”

Hiba nodded.

After a moment, Sayama folded his arms and a small animal that had climbed to his head mimicked the pose.

“I see. An interesting proposal. According to my horoscope, I am a bit short-tempered today and my lucky word is ‘anger’, so-…”

“W-wait, Sayama-kun! Don’t do anything rash based on the astronomy department’s fake horoscopes!” cried a voice from behind the truck.

Sayama frowned and turned toward the voice.

Hiba tilted his head as he thought the voice sounded familiar.

“U-um, we just received word from Ooshiro-san. Is there a Hiba-kun here!? If so, please raise your hand!”

Hiba did as requested. But after a few moments of silence, Sayama looked at him and then on the other side of the truck once more.

“Can you see him from there?”

“O-of course I can!”

“Then answer me this: which hand is he holding up?”

“U-um… Um, uh… The middle one!”

“Please redo your evolution from the microscopic stage. At any rate, what is it?”

“Well,” said the voice. “It seems we’re supposed to secure Hiba-kun and the girl with him without asking them anything! It sounds like a complicated situation and I didn’t really understand it.”

“Ha ha ha ha ha. Thank you for being so wonderfully useless, Ooki-sensei.”

“Teh heh heh. Stop flattering me.”

''That was flattery?'' thought Hiba, but then the name Sayama had mentioned made him recall a famous teacher from his school. ''Oh, so that teacher is part of Team Leviathan too.

…''Now I’m worried about the world.

Sayama and the others faced him and Sayama gave him an expressionless look.

“There is a lot I would like to ask you, but we will prioritize the organization here.”

“I see.”

Hiba looked up and around at the people surrounding him.

They were UCAT members, but they were mostly quite young. A lot of the girls were about his age.

The same was true for the girl standing next to Sayama. She did not seem to be a member of the student council, but…

“Huh?”

She looked familiar, so he tilted his head.

…''Isn’t that the person named Shinjou who is always with Sayama-senpai? But isn’t Shinjou…

“…a boy?” he muttered.

He suddenly shuddered.

As sweat poured down the back of his body, Shinjou spoke to him.

“What is it? You don’t look too good.”

“Eh? Oh… U-u-u-u-uh… Well…”

He looked around to find something to say. As he did, he looked up at the girls.

“With the design of the girls’ uniforms, it feels like I’m peeking up their skirts,” he muttered with a serious expression. “Does thinking that make me a pervert?”

Countless silent attacks flew his way.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume5 Preface|Preface]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume5 Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
|-
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume4 Chapter 21

2026-04-08T02:51:08Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 21: Honest Intentions==
[[Image:OnC_v04_0185.png|thumb]]
''When your question repeatedly rings out

''It resembles striking stone again and again

''In which case, what will the answer sound like?

In the Tamiya household, breakfast and dinner were split into two.

The family ran a security company, so they served food for the employees who lived in the house. They would eat once before being sent out and once upon returning.

It was currently 6:00 PM, the first dinner.

Japanese food made by Kouji and those not on duty was laid out on the dinner tables lined up in the main hall.

On the upper end of the table were those who had just returned from their security job and a few of those tables had beer on them. The three central seats of honor were all empty while Kouji and Ryouko sat in the two seats to their left.

Kouji would eat at the later dinner, so he munched on some beans, sipped on some tea, and sighed.

Ryouko ate at this earlier dinner, so she cheerfully swayed back and forth while poking at the food on her plate.

Kouji could not help but comment as he watched his elder sister eat her food.

“Tonight sure is peaceful.”

He lowered his gaze toward those surrounding the tables.

There were currently fifty-one of them and they were primarily those with day duty and those off duty that day. Adding in those currently out on night duty, there were seventy-seven people total.

He looked at them, looked at his sister, and slowly opened his mouth.

“Everyone, just put up with it all for two more days. Father and mother will be back then.”

Just as everyone let out a sigh of relief, Ryouko’s shoulders rose slightly.

“Sorry, but our parents called a bit ago. They said they’ve taken a liking to the hot spring they stopped by on their way back, so they want us to send that body board. Y’know, the one they bought last year. Here, this has the address of the inn and when they will be back.”

She pulled a note from her kimono sleeve and handed it to Kouji. Kouji’s expression clouded over.

“They won’t be back until next week?”

“Did I say anything wrong?” asked Ryouko.

“No, the blame does not lie with you. It’s just like how the blame does not lie with nuclear power itself.”

“Kouji, try not to mention nuclear power. Look, Shige-san is holding his head and trembling.”

“Sorry, sorry. Hey, could someone bring him his Marxism book?”

Once that was complete and the dinner began again, Kouji sighed again.

“By the way, I hear Atsuta-san stopped by the other night when you were locking up.”

“Yeah, he did. We chatted a bit. How did you know?”

“I met him yesterday and he mentioned it.” Kouji frowned. “But I take it you told him about the young master.”

“I did. Why do you bring it up? The young master is no longer so nervous, so it doesn’t matter if I tell people, does it?”

Kouji’s face paled.

“Sister, do you know why Atsuta-san passed by our house?”

“It was just a coincidence, right? That’s what he said.”

“How do you feel about him?”

“I guess he’s a nice guy.” She tilted her head while Kouji’s pale face stiffened. “When we would play pachinko back in our school days, he would lend me balls. He was also good at getting the slots just right. And when he would go on his own, he would bring back presents for me. It was usually cookies or some other snack.”

“He was trying to lure you in with food. …Anyway, just like old times, do not tell anyone about the young master.”

“Eh? That’s no fun. I need to brag about him to the people in the neighborhood.”

“But you help out the neighborhood and work for the neighborhood association.”

“Stop arguing with me.”

As Ryouko began pretending to cry, a sound came from her right elbow.

Kouji looked down and found she had toppled her teacup and tea was spreading across the table.

“Ah,” she said.

“Sister…” said Kouji with a cold look in his eyes.

“Th-this time, it wasn’t my fault. Wait, don’t lock me out again. Ahh, Kouji! Why are you pulling on my ear!?”

Kouji ignored her, stood up with her ear still pinched between his fingers, and looked around at the others.

“Please excuse us. Feel free to continue eating.”

“Ow ow ow ow! Stop, Kouji! Help me, everyone! I’m the company president.”

“Yes, yes. We all know how important you are, sister. Now, let’s go outside. …Please ignore this, everyone. This is a family issue.”

“C’mon! If you treat a female president roughly, there will be a murder!”

“That murder will occur at nine on Tuesday night and will be solved by eleven. Everything will be fine.”

“Wrong! It will be solved at 10:45! Ow ow ow ow ow!! S-stop! Who do you think pays your allowance?”

“Masa-san from accounting.”

“Masaaa!! Why are you buying people off!?”

That shout was ignored as the sliding door opened and closed. The siblings and their voices soon vanished down the passageway.

A few people calmly wiped up the spilled tea and continued eating.

Shinjou was out in the city of Okutama.

Night had almost completely fallen. Her wristwatch said it was just past 6:30 PM.

The IAI bus was enough to reach the city, but she had opted to walk. She had taken a long route which took around two hours.

If she had taken the bus, she might have run across Sayama.

That was also why she had gone out to the city.

“I don’t know where to go,” she muttered.

She was currently on the grounds of the Hikawa Shrine near Okutama Station. If one left the station, left the roundabout to the south, and crossed the intersection, the shrine was right there.

The bus passed through this area, but the shrine was located near a flowing mountain stream on a lower level.

The vehicles passing by on the road above could only see the shrine’s roof.

Shinjou sat in front of the shrine on stone steps which were chilly from the night air.

As it was night, there were no playing children around and the air chilled her skin.

She figured it was about time Sayama would leave UCAT and return to the school dorm.

He ate dinner at eight, so he always returned by that time.

The only exceptions were when he met Shinjou Sadame at UCAT and ate dinner there.

Because she was currently here, he would definitely return to school by eight.

“…”

Traveling from Okutama to Akigawa took an hour and a half by bus and train.

To return by eight, he would have to head for Okutama Station from UCAT at just past six.

Earlier, she had seen the roof of the IAI bus pass by on the road above. It had been headed north, toward the station. That was the most likely bus for Sayama to have been on. Once another bus passed by, she would return to UCAT.

“It’s been a while since I slept at UCAT.”

A nap room at UCAT was Shinjou’s “home”.

But she did not have much there at the moment.

“Setsu took it all with him.”

She held her own body while thinking. She thought about how she did not want to see Sayama and what Kashima had said.

“What will I choose…?”

She bent forward while thinking. She placed her chin on her raised knees and swept sand off the stone steps with both hands.

And then she realized something.

…''I want to choose, but I’m afraid to.

Would she continue with her lie or would she stop?

“It scares me…”

She raised her head from her knees and sighed.

Suddenly, a bus passed by on the road above.

It was the IAI bus. Was Sayama on that bus?

“If so, it’ll pull into the station.”

It stopped.

“And he’ll get out.”

She recalled Sayama’s brisk actions. He would make his way into the station only a few seconds after disembarking the bus. As she pictured the scene in her head, she smiled bitterly and muttered to herself.

“This is goodbye, isn’t it?”

She stood up, brushed off her butt, looked around again, and realized the darkness had deepened.

The only light was coming from the incandescent lights on the shrine’s grounds.

She began walking. As the slight night wind washed over her, she silently descended the stone stairs, left the shrine’s grounds, and climbed the slope next to it.

As she headed for the shrine’s entrance, she heard the whistle of the train leaving the station.

Past some external lights, she saw a line of lights moving quickly through the darkness of the mountain. As the train traveled along a raised structure, it headed east toward the city of Tokyo.

Sayama was likely on that train.

…''He left without ever knowing I was here.

And that thought brought something else.

“Uuh…” she groaned.

For some reason she suddenly stopped walking and strength gathered below her mouth.

“What am I…?”

''What am I doing?'' she belatedly thought.

She recalled what she had been doing all day.

…''And yet he is always looking out for me.

“I’m running away because I’m too scared of the answer I might get…”

That thought seemed to hit her head hard. Her stomach felt heavy and her vision grew distorted.

She felt heat gather at the corners of her eyes, she let out another quiet groan, and she wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

Checking her sleeve told her that her eyes had been a bit damp.

Why had they been damp?

''Ahh, I’m completely hopeless,'' she thought when she realized why.

She held something so heavy in her heart.

“And yet I’m avoiding Sayama-kun.”

She was not trying to speak with him.

In front of the training rooms, Kashima had told her to choose, but Sayama had already left.

“It’s all because I lied…and ran away.”

As she spoke, an unexplainable feeling squeezed at her chest and began to grow stronger.

She could not stand it, so she moved beneath a large cedar tree at the shrine entrance.

“Why was I so afraid of Sayama-kun that I chose my lie?”

She began shedding tears as if providing a release for the painful feeling welling up within her.

A sob escaped her lips and she frantically wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket.

But as more and more tears appeared, she was unable to keep up.

She had no choice but to place the sleeve over her eyes and cover her face.

As if blocking her vision had been a sign, her shoulders began to tremble and her breathing grew erratic.

She cried.

She began coughing and could not form words, so she thought.

…''Sayama-kun. I really do want to see you.

She thought it was silly to think that now, but a scratchy voice finally escaped as she thought about the fact that he had left.

“I want to see you.”

…''This is what I really think.

What would he say to her if she did see him? When he asked her something, how would she respond?

She did not know. She simply wanted to see him. It scared her, but she did.

“Hyah…”

The tears showed no sign of stopping, so she gave in to the crying.

While the desire to see him and the knowledge that she could not mixed together, she tried to lean against the trunk of the cedar tree.

She wanted something to support her.

And…

“Shinjou-kun.”

The voice she heard caused her to tremble and stop breathing.

In Shinjou’s teary vision, she saw a boy and an old man backlit by the outdoor lights.

While holding a sake bottle, the boy approached from the sidewalk in front of the shrine.

Shinjou defensively held up her hands at chest level, but…

“Sayama-kun?”

She did not step back. She only asked the question filling her mind.

“Why?”

“What a silly question, Shinjou-kun. You wanted to see me, did you not? Would you like to join us? I was on my way to eat dinner at run-down Hiba-sensei’s wonderful dojo.”

“Mikoto, I think you mixed up your descriptions of me and the dojo.”

“Sensei, listen carefully. Appearance is not what matters with people. It is first impressions that matter.”

“That’s the same thing, you fool.”

Sayama ignored Ryuutetsu’s opinion and held his left hand out toward Shinjou.

Shinjou stared at his hand and took in a breath. Her trembling lips moved a few times and she breathed out.

“Why are you here…?”

“Because you wished for it and I wished for it,” he said as the wind brushed through his hair. “If you are feeling pain and I wish to protect you, I will protect you. If you do not wish to be alone and I wish to speak with you, I will speak with you. If you have decided you wish to carry your worries alone and I care for you, I will leave you to be on your own. If you do not wish to be here and I wish to do what is best for you, I will hate you.”

And…

“If you wish to grow closer to someone and I see you, I will stand by your side.” He kept his hand held out toward her. “How does that sound?”

But she did not answer by taking his hand.

What she had thought she had lost now stood before her.

That fact eliminated her fear. She let out a voice that split through the night sky and she leaped toward his chest.

“Ahhh!”

Sayama firmly caught her.

All she could do was shed tears, cling to his chest, and speak.

“I don’t want to…”

She breathed in and repeated her confused thoughts.

“I don’t want to lie…”

Her hands scratched at his suit, shirt, and vest and she pressed against him.

“But…but… If you learn my lie…you’ll hate me… That scares me…”

She sobbed as she breathed in and out.

“Both Setsu and I are important.”

“I know.”

“Setsu is the same.”

“I know.”

“B-but Setsu keeps causing trouble for you. He can’t be with you, but he wants to be.”

She did not know what to do.

“I don’t know what to do… I don’t know and it scares me!!”

“I see,” he said and reached his hands around to her back.

He embraced her awkwardly at first, but then adjusted his grip as if making sure.

As strength entered his arms, she heard a bottle breaking at their feet.

The old man to the side let out a dismayed cry, but they both ignored him.

“I want to be with you…”

Shinjou’s heavy breathing struck his chest and tears spilled from her eyes.

“I want to be with you…”

She could tell Sayama had nodded.

But he said nothing in response. He only patted her back lightly with his left hand. He repeated the action again and again as if telling her to calm down.

[[Image:OnC_v04_0199.png|thumb]]

And for some reason, she felt the excess strength leave her own body. She slightly loosened her grip on him and her tears slowed. There may have been something nostalgic about the patting on her back.

It felt like nostalgia for part of her own past that she did not remember.

She heard his pulse through the ear pressed against his chest.

The sound was slightly hastened but still calm.

She matched her breathing to his and relaxed further.

She was exhausted.

The weariness rose from the bottom of her body. The sudden tired feeling seemed to fill the core of her mind.

“I’m sorry. I only ever cause trouble for you…”

He only replied once she said that.

He gave a confident nod and spoke.

“That is not true.”

Just as he had in the past, he denied her words. She did not know how to respond.

Should she smile or shake her head?

Before she came to an answer, she lost consciousness in his arms and toppled over.

A large, white space was filled with several large machines.

This was the 3rd Production Room. A single red-hot sword sat in front of the large, flat work table in the center of the room.

It was a thick blade with a length of over two and a half meters.

It was named Futsuno.

Futsuno was split in two. The hilt and blade were broken and separated.

That damage had been caused by an accident during an experiment.

A single man wearing a work uniform stood in front of Futsuno’s broken form.

He was Kashima.

But he was facing forward rather than at Futsuno. He was facing the 3rd Production Room’s entrance.

He was watching five younger people in identical work uniforms.

“Now then,” he said to them. “We have completed the first stage of the repairs. It does not need to be hammered out any more with a chisel, so we will now re-carve the name that the sword lost when it was broken.”

A chubby young man with short hair asked a question.

“Manager, we have the frame for the Cowling Sword, but when will we make the cowling to regulate and direct the power?”

“An excellent question, Katori. But we do not need one for Futsuno.”

Everyone else gasped.

“B-but a concept weapon like that would be too dangerous.”

“The danger is determined by who uses it. When someone’s life is taken, do you blame the weapon?”

One of the others began walking toward Kashima.

The young man was named Mikami and he had a sharp look in his eyes.

“I am opposed to everything that is going on in here.”

“Are you? Why?”

Kashima casually nodded toward Mikami and the young man’s eyebrows formed a harsh look.

“You are being conceited. You assume we are on the side of justice and that it is acceptable for us to wield destructive weapons.”

“Wow. That’s quite something,” said Kashima in a sarcastic tone.

Mikami glared at him for an instant.

But he quickly turned toward Futsuno and spoke.

“Powerful weapons can become tools of killing depending on who uses them.”

“Hmm. I suppose that’s true.” Kashima relaxed his shoulders. “But what if the weapon you create can’t stop our enemies?”

“Well…”

“What will you do then? Will you blame the weapon? Of course not. The blame lies with us, the ones who created the losing weapon.”

The others frowned when Kashima said “us”.

As they all watched him, he looked down at the ring finger and little finger of his own left hand.

“It’s quite something, but there is justice there.”

“Where!?”

“In the trust. But not the trust in the weapon’s power. The trust between the one who made it and the one who wields it. For example, Atsuta has promised me he will not kill.”

“…”

“Swords are swords and people are people. Weapons exist to fulfill their role as weapons. Am I wrong?” He took a breath. “Do not fear your power, do not fear your weapon, and do not feel overly proud of either one. We create weapons. Our thoughts are transferred to the blades and reach the ones who wield them. So gather your beliefs as you forge the sword and only hand it to someone you can trust. If you do that, they will exhibit only the power we want.”

Kashima took a step back and approached Futsuno and the shimmering of heat rising from it.

He then looked toward Mikami and the others.

As he nodded, he looked at the collection of machines behind the others.

They were machine tools and heat-resistant equipment that they had brought in from the 2nd Production Room.

Noticing where Kashima was looking, Katori tilted his head.

“Is there a problem?”

His voice trembled slightly. It was a weak tremble and the ends of his eyebrows were lowered.

But Kashima ignored that trembling and emotion. He replied casually.

“What is all that equipment for? Don’t tell me you plan to use it on Futsuno.”

“But to work on the high-temperature frame, we need-…”

Katori’s words were cut off by a small laugh.

It was not Kashima’s laugh. The bitter laugh came from behind.

Kashima’s shoulders drooped in exasperation and he turned around.

An elderly manager stood before a white plant base which was tempering metal.

The one-eyed man turned his darkened face toward Kashima.

“That’s right, Kashima. You’ve gotta teach them from the ground up. These kids started down the path of swordsmithing from an intellectual standpoint.”

“What a pain. …Okay, do you all understand your own name?”

While looking at the younger men, Kashima placed his left hand on Futsuno’s blade.

That mass of metal was red-hot and the air above it shimmered.

The five men before his eyes all gasped at his action. But…

“Nothing happened?” asked Mikami with a pale face.

Kashima nodded.

As Mikami had said, Kashima’s left hand was unaffected by the high temperature blade.

“We are sword gods, military gods, and swordsmith gods. You cannot be harmed by that which you are meant to use. With a block of metal that has yet to be made into a blade, you need nothing but a metal comb and chisel. In fact, even that is too much. The more you work through unnecessary tools, the more your conversation with the metal will stray off track.”

Kashima grabbed Futsuno’s broken hilt.

He picked it up, spun it around, and held the hilt out toward the five of them.

“If you believe in your name enough to touch this, you may help work on Futsuno. Got it?”

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| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume4 Chapter 22|Chapter 22]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume4 Chapter 17

2026-04-07T02:26:02Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 17: A Scream in the Rain==
[[Image:OnC_v04_0085.png|thumb]]
''Not everything is inevitable

''There are some places where “yes” will certainly be said<ref>'certainly' and 'yes' are 'kanarazu' and 'shikari', the kanji of which when together are the word 'inevitable' ('hitsuzen').</ref>

''But the one to shout it has to reach that place first

Just as the clouds hid the afternoon sun, the wind began to blow.

The white-walled building of Japanese UCAT’s headquarters trembled very slightly in the wind.

The noise could be heard in the first-floor lobby.

Two figures were there to hear it: Ooshiro Itaru and Sf.

Itaru sat on the sofa while drinking a glass of water.

“Sf, how is my old man doing?”

“Testament. He is holed up in his room. Should I check inside with my thermovision?”

“Can you also shoot lasers? If he’s playing an 18+ game, fire one into his ass.”

“Eye beams is an available option. Please email a request to German UCAT’s Sf Development Official. Students receive a 50% discount, so I can forge a student ID if necessary.”

“Oh? How kind of you. What goes on in that brain of yours?”

Sf nodded and pointed at her own head.

“Testament. The artificial synapses of my artificial brain are preserved at minus forty degrees, a temperature cold enough to hammer a nail with a banana.”

“I see. Is that why you’re so coldhearted?”

“No. The oil that acts as my blood is kept at room temperature. My exterior is kept at a slightly lower temperature to reproduce an artificial coldness.”

“That’s what makes you coldhearted.”

Itaru sank into the sofa and did not even turn toward Sf as he spoke.

“You sit down, too.”

“Testament.”

Sf sat sideways on Itaru’s lap.

He half-closed his eyes.

“What’s this? Did I ask you to use your master as a chair?”

“Testament. You told me to sit down. My deep memory contains an incident when you asked me to sit down in a train and you stopped me when I attempted to sit on the floor. If the floor would be preferable, I can move there.”

“I see, I see. I’m shocked. You can actually learn? I’m truly shocked.”

“Testament. If you are delighted, please stamp this card.”

Itaru wordlessly stamped the card and returned it. Sf bowed.

“Testament. Kazuo-sama certainly has been staying in his room a lot lately. Is he trying to rot away in there?”

“Let him rot. This is because…his old man destroyed 2nd-Gear.”

“That statement is incorrect. Based on the records I have recently reviewed and the conversation from the other day, 2nd-Gear was destroyed because the people of the Gear overused their control system until they lost control of it.”

“That’s why. If there was anything the people of 2nd-Gear could have done, they could have shared the sin. But my old man’s old man was the one who should have been able to do something. He failed on his own and bore the sin on his own,” explained Itaru. “Remember this: my old man’s feelings about this are complicated. He’s the one person who knows the full story.”

“The full story?”

“That’s right. His old man was the one who couldn’t stop Yamata in 2nd-Gear, so why was he able to do it here in Low-Gear? My old man was a kid back then, so he knows the answer.”

Itaru looked up at Sf.

“Do you want to know why?”

“Not really.”

“Then I won’t tell you. …Now, I’m about to talk to myself for a bit, so don’t listen.”

“Testament. I will begin speaking to myself as well.”

Itaru took a drink from his glass, looked up at the ceiling, and opened his mouth to speak.

“The project to build Susaou began March 12, 1945. Three days before that, a certain event occurred in Tokyo. And my old man’s old man took part in the event even though his friends tried to stop him.”

“I can determine this event was something quite flashy. …By the way, that was me speaking to myself.”

“Then this is me talking to myself. …It was a flashy festival. So flashy it’s still written about in history textbooks.” Itaru let out a breath. “After all, it created such a cry of pain that the city of Tokyo was almost destroyed.”

Shinjou and Sayama arrived at Shinjuku in Tokyo.

Sayama had said they needed some material on World War Two, so he had gone around to the different major bookstores and bought a few books. Shinjou had never seen the big city before, so she was overwhelmed by the size of the bookstores.

“Would you want to live in a place like this?”

When Sayama had asked her that, she had nodded.

After leaving the Showa Memorial Park, he had not asked about her.

He had not asked about why she had been late or about the lie she had mentioned the night before.

[[Image:OnC_v04_0091.png|thumb]]

Currently, he was simply pulling on her hand as they walked toward Shinjuku Station.

They were surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the city. People and their voices filled every direction.

And seemingly catching all those people were the lines of buildings and car-filled roads.

When the faint oppressiveness of it all caused her to look up toward the heavens, she saw the gloomy sky and felt the wind blowing down from it.

The humid wind was filled with the scent of the city.

The dampness of the wind told Shinjou it would rain soon and she started to look around.

“A-are we going to the station? Are we going back? Is it going to rain soon?”

“Ha ha ha. I will answer each of our questions in turn: we can reach the station from anywhere, we can return at any time, and we still have some time before it rains. After all, we are on our way to a moment in the past.”

Sayama let go of her hand and pulled a book from the paper bag under his arm.

“I have finally found a common point between 2nd-Gear and us for this Leviathan Road. Here it is.”

“An overview of American aerial missions during World War Two? How… How is this a common point?”

“Do you remember when the project to build Susaou began? March 12, 1945. …When you think about it, there is no greater point in common. Do you remember back in UCAT’s cafeteria when I said I would mention something once I had confirmation?”

“Oh, that’s right. Did you find some kind of meaning in that date?”

“An excellent question, Shinjou-kun. I feel as if I am returning to a simpler time. …Three days before that date, something very similar to 2nd-Gear’s destruction occurred here in Low-Gear.”

“Eh?”

What did he mean?

The other Gears were connected to Low-Gear in fixed places via the ley lines. However, she had not heard of any indirect effects like that. And this would be something similar to destruction.

“Y-you’re kidding, right? After all, Tokyo is right here. It wasn’t destroyed.”

“No, it was not. It survived and it recovered.”

Sayama suddenly stopped walking.

They stood at the center of the large scramble crossing in front of Shinjuku Station’s east entrance.

“Look, Shinjou-kun.”

Drawn by his words, Shinjou looked around.

A great number of people were moving out of the way and walking past them. Lines of cars were waiting for all of the people to cross.

And on the asphalt road supporting them all were structures made from a metal framework.

Shinjou felt the humidity press in at her throat.

Sayama’s left arm suddenly wrapped around her back.

“A busy place, isn’t it?”

“Looking at it again… Tokyo is an amazing place.”

“Yes, but this city was nearly destroyed once. That is a fact.”

“Eh?”

Her questioning tone brought Sayama’s gaze toward her.

“It happened on March 9, 1945. That was approximately five months before Japan surrendered in World War Two. And it was three days before the project to build Susaou began. On that day, the American military performed a certain experiment on the city of Tokyo.”

“A-an experiment? What kind of experiment?”

“The same experiment they had earlier performed on Hamburg, Germany and failed. While bombing, they used flammable fuel in place of normal explosives. They performed a firebombing,” said Sayama. “Tokyo was constructed from wood, so the result of the experiment was clear. In one night, approximately one hundred twenty thousand people died and almost all buildings in Tokyo were destroyed. That experiment elicited the greatest cry of pain Japan gave during World War Two.”

“You mean…”

“Yes, the Firebombing of Tokyo.”

And…

“Why did Ooshiro Hiromasa grow so serious about constructing Susaou and Totsuka after he did not save 2nd-Gear? …The answer is simple.”

“You don’t mean…”

“Yes. He was here when Tokyo was bombed. He saw it with his own eyes. He saw his own world of Low-Gear destroyed in flames.”

Sayama remained expressionless as he spoke.

And Shinjou saw Baku poke his head from the breast pocket of Sayama’s suit.

The first thing Sayama could sense was light.

He saw crimson. He saw the color of flames.

He also heard noise, saw motion, and saw the scenery. But…

…''It is all mixed together.

Flames burned.

Was he in a village, a town, or a city?

Sayama knew the answer: this was Tokyo.

The sky was covered with dark clouds and smoke. Flames and wind blew across the land.

Countless shades of scarlet colored the crumbling people and houses.

He heard countless sounds of something being dropped from the sky.

He also heard ringing fire bells and people’s voices.

The heat sent countless voices crying together into the sky.

Amid those voices were people crying for their father, their mother, their son, or their daughter. Some were crying for their grandfather or grandmother.

All those voices gathered together, but not a single response came.

The sounds of destruction and the whistling of flames slammed the crying voices into the ground and the color of flames blasted up into the sky.

The scene of Tokyo burning lay before Sayama.

“…!”

He clearly saw it.

He saw dark shadows. As they crumbled in the flames, he could not even tell if they were people or buildings. As people ran and shouted in confusion, the attacks from above scattered the color scarlet across them.

The wind blew, but it did not bring in rain. It only caused the flames to dance.

This air current was created when a large area was burning. It first gathered flames around itself and then raced across the city in search of oxygen.

The wind was not merely hot; it was burning.

Wind as hot as fire raced across Tokyo in every direction and burned away rows of houses just by caressing them.

East, west, north, and south. The raging wind guided the flames in every direction.

That wind raced about to find air.

The rivers flowing through Tokyo were all filled with people trying to escape the heat, but the burning wind descended to the river and roasted them as well.

The people standing atop the bridges were struck by the hot wind flying in from the side.

The heat cooked the metal of the bridges and easily bent them. Once set afire by napalm and exposed to the blazing wind, the bridges’ arch structures melted and they collapsed into the river in no time at all.

Before the water could splash up, the shimmering of flames and the black of smoke rose up.

No one could escape. They were not allowed to.

Most of the air-raid shelters were roasted inside and out because their doors were sucked open by the pressure difference created by the flames.

The roads, buildings, rivers, basements, people, and everything else touching the air were roasted and they instantly showed one what carbon was.

Above the rising smoke, shimmering, and screams, countless dark shadows and dark rain could be seen in the sky.

The shadows were large B-29 bombers and the rain was a barrage of incendiary bombs.

Occasionally, a few of the bombers would descend and fly close by over Tokyo.

As the great noise and heat assaulted Tokyo again and again, Sayama saw something.

A man stood still in front of an Izumo truck which had been burned with the city.

Sayama knew who he was.

“Ooshiro Hiromasa!”

Hiromasa wore a lab coat and stood within that city which was nothing but shimmering and light.

The stone hanging from his neck emitted its blue light at full force.

That light protected him so that he grew dirty but did not burn. He shouted something and questioned the city.

“————!?”

Is anyone there? Hurry up and evacuate. Get out of here. All of his cries were drowned out by the wind and the bombs. The heat twisted the screams he heard, so he could not even grasp how far away they were.

But he continued shouting and ran aimlessly through the burning city. He jumped over what looked like clumps of charcoal lying in the roads, tripped over one, fell, and continued running.

He ran through a flame-filled alley, trying to find a safe street.

But just before he made his way out into one, a burning wind passed through the street like a wall.

“!”

That one quick pass brought a great roar with it.

Once the flaming wind had passed, nothing remained.

The buildings, people, and everything else were unrecognizably covered in flames, leaving only black silhouettes.

No matter which way he looked, he saw only the burning ground and the night sky filled with sparks.

He fell to his knees when he reached the empty, flame-filled street.

Sayama suddenly spoke while watching him from behind.

He spoke his unheard voice which could not reach the past.

“You failed.”

Hiromasa hung his head down.

“You knew there was nothing you could have done, but you still wanted to gather the survivors and feel that you had ‘saved’ them. That desire came to you here, didn’t it? You wanted to atone for failing to save 2nd-Gear.”

But…

“But the destruction did not even allow you that.”

Hiromasa touched the blue stone hanging from his neck.

“So will you destroy yourself? If destruction is the only path remaining for the world, will you gain a lonely superiority by destroying yourself ahead of time? If that is what you intend, just look before you.”

A wave of crimson assaulted the street before Hiromasa’s eyes.

That wave resembled a giant serpent. It was the largest fire current created by the center of Tokyo burning. It undulated, blew across the rows of houses, and brought a burning wind.

“Now, Ooshiro Hiromasa. This is a crossroads. To take responsibility for being able to do nothing, will you throw away your protective stone and wish to be destroyed along with everyone else? Or will you cling to your small life and expose yourself to the shame?”

The expanding flames seemed to answer Sayama.

Hiromasa reacted. He squeezed the philosopher’s stone in his right hand.

“!”

He tore it from the string around his neck.

“Now, what will you do with that stone? Make your decision!”

As if responding to Sayama’s question, Hiromasa slowly raised his hand.

He was preparing to throw it.

But then he saw something.

The flames approaching around him lit up everything and made their structure clear.

“…”

Something lay collapsed there.

Something sat motionless on its knees.

Something lay motionless over a child.

Something had placed a blanket over a child to protect it, but had become just as motionless as the child.

Hiromasa had a child of his own. But the flames ignored that fact as they easily burned everything away.

Everything burned. Everything turned to charcoal.

Soon thereafter, Hiromasa opened his mouth.

“Oh…”

A voice escaped.

“Oahhhhhh!”

His voice became a great cry similar to a newborn’s and it did not stop.

He then began to move.

But he did not throw away the stone. He held it in his hand as he formed a solid fist.

The philosopher’s stone which kept him alive was no longer something which simply hung from his neck. He now clenched it in his fist.

He forcefully stood up while continuing to cry out.

Sayama only existed as his vision, but he smiled at the action.

“So you have chosen to live in disgrace, engineer of the past! That is the action of one who continues forward without fearing failure!”

With the flames before him, Hiromasa looked up into the sky.

He opened his mouth, arched his back, and shouted something further.

This was a cry of protest. It was a voice of anger.

As Sayama watched, he spoke in response to that protest.

“Shout! Feel your anger! Destroy your hesitant heart! Face the unreasonable sight before you!”

He looked at the flames in front of him.

“Let out a scream!”

And Hiromasa did just that. He let out a loud, loud voice toward the many, many flames before him.

“I…”

He threw his fist toward the burning wind which ripped him from the ground and blew him away.

“I…!!”

As Sayama heard that shout, he was knocked from the past.

A narrow road traveled through the forest of Okutama’s mountains.

No cars drove on this road, but a man wearing a work uniform walked along it as clouds began to cover the sky.

He was Kashima.

The right shoulder of his clothes was still torn from a sword strike.

In his left arm, he held the thick waterproof envelope his parents had given him.

He thought while the cold wind bringing rain pushed at his back.

…''What should I do?

That thought filled his mind and would not leave.

What should he do?

With his past in the 3rd Production Room before his eyes, he had run away. That had reminded him of a certain fact.

…''That is where I used to be.

Long ago when he had failed to fulfill his grandfather’s dying request, he had tried to forget by losing himself in his power as a man of 2nd-Gear.

And in doing so, he had forgotten about the person he cared about as a man of Low-Gear.

“Natsu-san…”

He had forgotten about her and had only remembered once he had hurt her and rescued her.

He would never forget that again.

But at the same time, he had begun to deny something.

He had been denying that thought for so long now.

“I was denying that I had not forgotten my power.”

The cut in the right shoulder of his clothes told him all he needed to know about his power.

…''I can never truly be someone of Low-Gear.

He looked like one, his culture was similar, and he had a family there, but there was nothing he could do about his own existence at the base of it all.

But the thought still would not leave.

“What should I do?”

There was a simple answer: he just had to stop having these thoughts.

He just needed to forget about his power. If he did not, he could not be honest with Natsu and Harumi.

…''Should I continue lying and lose myself in my power again?''

''No,'' he thought.

“But,” he muttered.

…''But what am I supposed to do?

Suddenly, the cold wind blew across him once more.

The chill snapped him out of his thoughts and he realized he had stopped walking.

Ahead of him, the road turned sharply to the right. This was to circle around a steep slope that jutted out.

“This is…”

It was where that landslide had occurred eight years ago. This was where it had all been determined.

Kashima stood at the location of his past.

As he stood silently, something small struck his shoulder.

It was rain.

The rain fell from the sky and began gently striking Kashima and his surroundings, but it gradually grew stronger.

The rain did not stop.

It only grew more intense.

In the plaza in front of Shinjuku Station, rain clouds filled the sky and the wind blew, but the flow of people did not lessen.

As everyone moved to their destinations to escape the coming rain, a single figure sat on a stone step.

This figure crouching at the bottom of all the noise was Shinjou.

Another figure walked toward her.

It was Sayama. He held a cup out toward her.

“Want a drink?” he asked.

Shinjou looked up and gave a weak smile.

“Oh, sure. Thanks. What kind is it? Don’t tell me it’s 100% sea urchin juice or something.”

“Ha ha ha. We are not in a shady secret organization beneath Okutama. It is just tea.”

“I see. …That feels kind of empty,” she said with a bitter smile.

Sayama thought on her comment.

…''Would it have fit her ideal image of me if I had bought something strange?

If he had searched for an IAI vending machine, he could have found something that packed a punch. It would not have been as much as what one found in UCAT, but it would have been a start.

…''Did I make the wrong choice? No, but… No, no. But…

“S-Sayama-kun? It looks like you’re lost in thought about something. A-are you okay?”

“Y-yes. Sorry. I was just thinking about my ideal self.”

“That sounds suspicious… But what drink did you get?”

“Strawberry milk.”

“…”

“I have a lot to think about, so I need sugar for my brain. I also need calcium for concentration, so this was the best option. Yes. Now that I think about it again, this choice is well worth praising me ove-… What is with that look?”

“Nothing. I was just thinking nothing I said could stop you.”

Shinjou’s expression then returned to normal.

“I can’t believe you’re fine after seeing such a harsh part of the past. You really are tough, Sayama-kun.”

“Really? Setsu-kun once said I am surprisingly timid.”

“Enough about that,” she said with an exasperated look.

He was unsure how to react and Shinjou seemed to sense something from his expression. She lowered her head and said “sorry”.

“But I wonder if Ooshiro-san’s father was able to truly feel the destruction of 2nd-Gear in that bombing,” she said.

“I think we can assume so. He saw what would happen to this world if Yamata appeared here. That was why he put all his thought into creating Susaou and answering Yamata’s question.” Sayama nodded. “And the people of 2nd-Gear held the same thoughts. And they must still hold them.”

“Eh?”

He narrowed his eyes and nodded in response to Shinjou’s questioning tone.

He spoke what it was he had learned during the preliminary negotiations.

“I believe 2nd-Gear is a sleeping dragon. They wish for peace, but are still able to choose the best option. That is what they did sixty years ago. Those who created Susaou and Totsuka had to have raised a cry of resistance in response to what they had lost.”

He took a breath and asked a question.

“Can you hear it, Shinjou-kun? Can you hear 2nd-Gear letting out a scream as they awaken from their slumber?”

The rain soaked Kashima, but he continued facing the slope ahead of him.

His eyes stared forward at the guardrail that cut him off from the slope.

The guardrail turned to the right to follow the new road, but the old road lay behind it, buried by the slope.

Most of the bottom of the slope was hidden by concrete.

This was a place of memories. It had once received that concrete makeup, but the rain caused hard mud to spew from the cracks and from above. Its old face peeked through.

As the mud spilled down, he heard a soft noise. It seemed to be asking a gentle question: why are you here?

The sun must have warmed the ground because mist began to rise across the area.

He was surrounded by rain, mist, and a slight wind.

The gathering clouds above produced the rain.

As he heard the rain falling, Kashima looked into the forest and up into the sky.

“A world much like this once existed.”

The people who had tried and failed to protect that world had argued with each other.

But even as they did, they had worked to protect this new world.

Why was that?

Why had the two fought yet protected this world together?

…''I don’t know.

That was the past and it was what others had done. There was no way he could know.

But he had had a certain thought about it in the past.

“Even if I can never fully understand, I can still approach an understanding.”

…''That’s right.

His grandfather had told him stories of a war in a different world.

He had not thought they were true and his grandfather had always enjoyed telling them, but the old man had always looked sad at the end.

…''I never said anything about that sad look.

“Can we really just forget it all?”

Could they really just forget about his grandfather and the thoughts his grandfather had given him?

“Can we really just forget it all?”

He realized the answer was no. And he realized no one but him could arrive at that point.

“…”

The sky suddenly grew blurry in his vision. He assumed the rain had fallen in his eye.

The rain felt oddly warm. It seemed to have body heat. As he felt that rain, he spoke to himself.

“I need to decide.”

''What are you saying?'' he thought, but not even that could stop the words from coming.

“This must be the place where I need to make a decision.”

This was where he had come to fear his own power and where he had gained something precious.

He trembled as he stared at the slope which was partially covered in concrete.

The trembling he had felt in front of the 3rd Production Room returned.

Choosing the old road would bring trembling.

With that in mind, he turned toward the new road to his side. That safe road brought no trembling.

But he quickly shook his head. It looked like he was shaking something off.

“There is something I need before I can head down that road.”

He took a breath and took a certain action.

He would cross the guardrail. He would move to the other side where the slope lay waiting.

Amid the rain, he took one step and then another.

With that action, he crossed the guardrail and stopped on the other side.

He could not stop the trembling.

Even so, he had chosen to stand here.

That was his decision.

He used his trembling body to take in a breath.

He opened his mouth and spoke as if addressing someone.

“This is the method I choose.”

He took a breath.

“I will carry the past as I walk down a new road.”

He walked through the rain and approached the slope.

He trembled, but the trembling gradually vanished as he continued forward.

And as he walked, he recalled the past.

He recalled his grandfather asking for forgiveness in the very end.

He recalled the disappointment of finding the bridge in Susaou’s head destroyed.

And he recalled causing this landslide and grasping Natsu’s incomplete hand.

Amid all of those memories, there was one thing he could say for sure.

There was one thing in common about all of his questions, anger, resentment, and joy.

…''It all came from having this power.

He could not forget or rid himself of those memories.

Those memories had left him conflicted for so long and he had not been able to shake free of them even when he gained a family.

“But there is one thing I never asked of the power that caused it all.”

He stood before the slope and spoke in a scratchy voice.

“Can my power do anything other than take things from me?”

He took in a breath and placed his left hand on the dirt of the slope.

He slowly held up his right hand and shook his head.

“I know it’s selfish! But I…I want to use this power which hurt the person I care for the most!”

He swung his right fist into the muddy slope before his eyes.

A splashing sound rang out.

“I want to use it to regain everything I lost!”

His hand sank into the mud up to the wrist. The soft and wet mud was warm from the sun.

As he felt the heat in his right hand, some of the rain on his face entered his mouth.

That warm rain dripped onto his tongue and he tasted it.

…''It tastes just like blood.

He tasted that flavor and sensed his right hand in the mud.

The wet feeling in his hand was a lot like what he had felt while holding Natsu’s hand back then.

He had not forgotten.

The trembling of his spine expressed the emotions brought by the same sensation as eight years ago.

But he could no longer turn his back on the slope.

“I…”

His voice trembled as if he were bearing with something.

“I am going to lie to you, Natsu-san.”

''I’m sorry,'' he thought. ''I’m sorry, Natsu-san.

''I am trying to once more wield the power that hurt you.

''I’m sorry, Harumi. Your father is a liar.

''But I will not apologize for lying after this. I will not say sorry.

“Because I have made up my mind.”

He had decided to lie and to protect everything with his own power.

And with his decision made, he turned to the right.

He grasped the feeling from eight years ago as well as some mud and looked toward the new road.

The asphalt road seemed to continue on forever.

“…”

Every part of his body sensed his heavy breathing and racing pulse.

But his heart remained calm.

…''I am not choosing 2nd-Gear or Low-Gear.

“I am choosing to hide my 2nd-Gear power and remain within Low-Gear.”

…''The place to which I am headed is not one or the other.

He had decided. He felt it was selfish, but he could find no more opposition to the idea than that.

And so he made up his mind.

He pulled his right hand from the slope and opened his mouth.

“Oh…”

A voice started to escape.

He had no reason to oppose his thoughts.

He opened his mouth toward the heavens and released it.

He cried out. It was like the cry of a newborn baby.

His trembling vanished as if thrown off of him and his voice grew even louder.

“…!”

He twisted his body, bent forward, and arched backwards.

His body stretched toward the sky, breath passed from his lungs to his throat and his mouth, and he let out a cry.

His great roar tore into the gathering clouds in the sky.

Below the dark clouds and amid busy Shinjuku, Shinjou’s shoulders trembled at Sayama’s question.

“A cry?”

“Yes.”

Sayama nodded and brushed up his hair in the wind.

He looked up into the sky with a calm expression. He spoke as if remembering something.

“People who struggle and people who fight will use their voice or their thoughts to raise a cry that is either voiced or silent. Just like Ooshiro Hiromasa did.”

And…

“Just like 2nd-Gear is sure to do.”

Shinjou gasped.

She remembered two things: what Ooshiro had told her about Kashima the night before and the past she had just seen.

…''Will he make up his mind like Ooshiro-san’s father did?

He would. She was sure of it. After all, he knew what power he held.

…''But…

What about her?

She had no answer. The emotion that fact brought caused her to tremble.

“!”

She reflexively moved.

To reject the thought, she stood up and gathered her strength.

But…

“…”

When she realized what she had done, she looked over at Sayama who was looking up at her.

He gave her a questioning look which caused her to realize again what she had done.

“S-sorry. I’m not feeling well.”

Her shoulders drooped and she took a breath.

And when she awkwardly sat back down, she heard Sayama speak.

“I can understand having difficulty getting over seeing that scene from the past, but it is not healthy to be so tense.”

“I know…”

To keep him from realizing how shaken she was, she forced a smile and asked a question.

“Th-then do you have anything to talk about so I can get my mind off it?”

Sayama thought.

After a few seconds, he clapped his hands. On his head, Baku emulated the action. He then turned his head and Baku toward her.

“Then how about I once more invite you to the All Holiday Festival tomorrow?”

For just an instant, the word festival brought a look of joy to Shinjou’s face.

But she quickly realized something and her shoulders trembled.

…''I can’t.

She frantically waved her hands toward Sayama.

“U-um, I have to train tomorrow, so…well…enjoy the festival with Setsu.”

“That does sound nice, but…”

Sayama’s halfhearted tone brought an immediate question out of Shinjou.

“Do you not like Setsu?”

“Of course I like him.” He embraced the binder under his arm. “But I was asking if ''you'' would come.”

“Ah,” gasped Shinjou.

She realized what her question meant and what Sayama was thinking.

She realized his consideration and her reasons for rejecting it.

“…”

She did not know what expression was on her face.

Sayama’s slightly frowning expression told her the answer: she was about to cry.

“Shinjou-kun.”

“I-I’m sorry.”

She stood up and took a step back.

She checked her watch and found it was just about to turn 5:40 PM.

“U-um, Sayama-kun. I…I’m not feeling well, so…I’ll head back on my own.”

Sayama’s eyebrows moved.

He raised his head as if in realization and put on a serious expression.

“Given the subject matter, I will ask indirectly, but is it your perio-…gfh!”

Her knee struck his gut mid-sentence. He doubled over and she panicked further.

“S-sorry, but it slipped out because I think ‘indirect’ means something else.”

“Heh…heh heh heh. That was an excellent attack, Shinjou-kun. And it was actually a repeat joke, so I suppose I deserved that. However…”

“Enough of that. For one thing, I still haven’t started having a period.”

“What a pain,” he muttered.

But then his eyebrows moved. He formed a puzzled expression and spoke in a puzzled voice.

“You still haven’t started?”

“Ah,” said Shinjou when she realized what she had said.

…''But it’s true.

She held her own body to harden her defenses. She then took a deep breath so she could look him in the eye.

“Is that…strange?”

She felt it was strange, but she asked to be sure.

However, his answer was different. He straightened his tie and collar as he answered.

“It differs from person to person, so I cannot say anything one way or the other.”

“I see.”

Even as she nodded, Shinjou could tell her face had grown red.

What was she supposed to say here?

“Sorry I’m just a kid. But there’s a reason for it… And I think that same reason is causing problems for you.”

“Is this reason the lie you mentioned last night?”

“…Yes. But I can’t say anything more.”

Shinjou quietly nodded and then turned toward the station.

“If I say anything more now, I don’t think I can stand it… But I do want to ask one thing. Will you let me ask a sudden question?”

“If you wish to ask it, go right ahead.”

She had permission. That fact brought relief and she formed the words.

“I said I wanted you to go to the All Holiday Festival with Setsu, right? Well, I’m not sure how else to put this… Would you be fine if Setsu left?”

“…?”

“Don’t give me that look. Your arm is healed now, right? And…and even if Setsu leaves, you still have Sadame…you still have me. So you don’t need Setsu, right?”

Shinjou somehow managed to draw out the words which were sinking down in her gut.

“But right now – just for a bit – stay by Setsu’s side.”

That was all she could manage. She could not continue.

She glanced at his face and saw a slight look of surprise. That expression made her feel apologetic.

And so she turned her back, brought strength to her legs, and began walking.

“Sorry. …I’ll see you later! Later, okay!”

She immediately checked her watch and switched to a run.

Sayama stood up, but he could not make it in time.

She slipped into the crowd and between two women carrying large bags.

Something fell from the sky and landed on the shoulder of her jacket.

It was not an incendiary bomb that fell on her. Something else was falling on the world of the present.

“Rain.”

<noinclude>

==References==
<references/>
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume3 Prologue

2026-04-06T01:20:12Z

N-Ch:

==Prologue: The Beginning of False Testimony==
[[Image:OnC_v03_0011.png|thumb]]
''The beginning contradictorily tells of the end

''Where does that wind lead?

The heavens were filled with the dark colors of night, but no stars could be seen.

This was Tokyo. The moving people shook the air and artificial lights erased the stars from the night sky.

A certain sound was audible in one street of that city.

It was a solid sound. A metal tip was striking the asphalt.

A voice joined the sound.

“Sf, what do you think of Tokyo’s Kanda district at night?”

Those words were spoken by a gray-haired man wearing a black suit. He used a metal cane to walk alongside a white-haired maid named Sf.

Sf spun around and looked around the area when she heard his question.

“The sidewalks are filled with people and the roads with cars, but I have determined they are all moving toward the train station.”

“Oh? And does a wise automaton such as yourself know why?”

“Tes, I have determined they are hurrying home, Itaru-sama.”

“I see,” said the gray-haired man with a nod. Sf stopped in front of him. “What is it, you stupid automaton? Are you trying to block your master’s path?”

Sf was holding both hands out. Those small hands were holding something.

“What’s with that small piece of paper and stamp?”

“To put it simply, this is an ‘I did what Itaru-sama wanted’ point card. Once I reach twenty points, I can praise myself. I usually stamp it myself, but this is the twentieth point. Itaru-sama, you do the honors.”

Itaru narrowed his eyes as he took the card and stamp and stamped it.

“What is this weird super deformed face symbol?”

“It is you, Itaru-sama. It was developed by the UCAT development department.”

Sf took back the card and bowed.

“Excuse me a moment.”

She rubbed her own head with her right palm, lowered her hand, and spoke expressionlessly.

“Tes. I am done.”

“Is once enough? You sure are modest.”

“If you wish, I can do it any number of times.”

“Once is enough. And don’t do that in front of people. …Who knows what they would think.”

“Tes. I will only do it in front of you, Itaru-sama.”

“Oh? Sorry, but I’m a person, too.”

“If you say so, Itaru-sama.”

Itaru gave no response.

He began walking again. His feet and cane chose a path leaving the road.

He left the people hurrying home along the main road.

“Itaru-sama, doesn’t this path lead to…?”

“Yes. You’ve been here for some adjustments before.”

Itaru stopped in front of a large white-walled building taking up a large space in the city.

“Officially, it’s known as a hospital, but it’s actually Japanese UCAT’s Tokyo lab. It works with the Okutama development department. I hear they’re improving the anti-3rd god of war.”

“Why are we here today?” asked Sf.

Itaru pulled an envelope from his pocket.

“I have to give this to a certain man. He’s a descendant of 2nd-Gear which is the basis of Japanese mythology.”

“A descendant of 2nd-Gear?”

“Yes. …He holds the name Kashima which is both 2nd-Gear’s strongest military god and swordsmith. Tonight, he left UCAT in Okutama and came here.”

“Could you not wait until tomorrow and give it to him once he returns to UCAT?”

“In all things, the atmosphere is important. Remember that, Sf.”

“Tes. In all things, useless additions are important. I understand.”

Itaru returned the envelope to his pocket and walked toward the white building.

Sf followed right behind him.

“But who is this Kashima?”

“Well, this may be a roundabout way to answer…but do you want to hear about 2nd-Gear?”

“No, not really.”

“Then I will tell you.” Itaru slowed his pace and smiled. “Sixty years ago, 2nd-Gear sided with Izumo Aviation Institute’s National Defense Department before any other Gear.”

“I have heard of that. Control of 2nd-Gear’s Concept Core control system was lost as the Concept War continued and it became the flame dragon Yamata. They signed a treaty and asked that IAI come to their aid.”

“Yes, but help did not arrive in time. 2nd-Gear was burned and destroyed by Yamata. …And in ’46 after the war ended, Yamata was sealed here in Low-Gear. It was sealed using a giant humanoid machine created by a certain researcher in Low-Gear as well as…” He took a breath. “A sword created by Kashima’s grandfather. But…”

“But what?”

“But when it was sealed, the flame dragon Yamata was unable to trust the people of 2nd-Gear who allowed it to lose control. It was sealed based on the trust of a certain Low-Gear researcher. The right to control Yamata should have been passed down by certain people of 2nd-Gear, but Low-Gear stole that right due to Yamata’s lack of trust,” explained Itaru with a bitter smile. “But the Low-Gear researcher who spoke the word to seal Yamata was burned to death by the heat of the flame dragon while sealing it.”

“So the word used to seal Yamata has not been passed down to anyone?”

“Only the Kashima family knows it.”

“Testament. And that is why you are meeting Kashima-sama. Yamata must be controlled when 2nd-Gear’s Concept Core is released.”

Sf looked forward and Itaru followed suit.

An oden stand was set up on the empty street in front of the white-walled building.

“That oden stand is a UCAT disguise, isn’t it? It is the central guard station.”

Currently, a single man sat in the chair behind the stand.

He wore glasses, work clothes, and a lab coat. He looked around thirty, had a slender frame, and was facing the laptop placed on the small counter.

As Sf approached him, she narrowed her eyes. Finally, she spoke.

“Tes. I have checked his child string vibration. He is Kashima Akio of Japanese UCAT’s development department. His is a senior member. He, his parents, and his grandparents all have pure 2nd-Gear blood. However…”

“However?”

“His physique does not befit the title of strongest military god.”

“No, it doesn’t,” said the man behind the counter as he stood up.

Kashima stood with a relaxed posture and smiled toward Itaru and Sf.

He took a few steps toward them.

“I like it when people don’t think of me as a military god.”

Kashima gave a small bow. Sf lowered her head in place of Itaru, but she frowned.

Kashima tilted his head when he noticed.

“Did a sudden thought come to you?”

“Tes. Kashima-sama, why would you like that I did not compliment you?”

“Because I dislike power. …I dislike my own power.”

“That’s all there is to it, Sf, so don’t question it. He’s a member of the development department. Do you want to cause a split among comrades by unnecessarily finding fault in him?”

“I was not aware you had any comrades, Itaru-sama.”

“Oh? It looks like modern automatons naturally reject their master’s personality.”

Kashima suddenly smiled in realization as he listened to the two of them.

“Oh, by any chance are you Supervisor Ooshiro of Team Leviathan? What are you here for?”

“I am here to meet you. Am I interfering with your work? From what I heard, you were on guard duty so you could defeat some persistent attackers while also testing a Cowling Sword.”

“Yes. Oddly enough, the research facilities around here have been attacked a lot lately. And by a mysterious group. My friend Atsuta and I have guard duty here, but I arrived a bit early.”

Kashima raised his right hand. That hand held the laptop which had been sitting on the counter before.

Itaru looked at the opened LCD monitor.

“Were you killing time by researching Cowling Swords as a bearer of the name Kashima?”

“No, I stopped producing them eight years ago. I was passing the time by watching videos I took of my daughter. She’s only four months old, but she’s super cute. Look.”

As the screen displayed a video of a baby, Itaru grabbed Sf’s shoulders and casually pushed her forward.

Sf watched the baby and woman with short hair on the screen.

“I can find no visual match. …Are this woman and child from Low-Gear?”

“She was a classmate during my college years. My wife is Natsu and my daughter is Harumi. Oh, look. Harumi is about to raise her hand. Look, look, look. Ah, she raised it! How cute!”

“Itaru-sama, how should I react to this?”

“Praise him.”

“Tes. Kashima-sama, I have determined Harumi-sama did very well.”

“Thanks, thanks. …Anyway, what do you need with me?”

“Well, Kashima-kun, it’s a simple matter. To put it in a more roundabout way, what do you think of Team Leviathan?”

Kashima gave a troubled smile at that sudden question but answered after a short pause.

“I think it’s amazing,” he said with a shrug. “You have unfair weapons using Concept Cores, you’ve gathered skilled people from all over, and you’ve proven yourselves by getting 1st-Gear to ally with you. I think you’ve done quite well.”

“Then how would you compare us to your own power, Kashima-kun?”

Kashima’s smile vanished, but Itaru continued speaking.

“I hear the Cowling Sword you wielded eight years ago could emit power that rivals Izumo’s V-Sw.”

“That…was destroyed back then,” said Kashima expressionlessly.

Sf must have thought something about this change in Kashima’s attitude because she took action. She swiftly moved in between Itaru and Kashima.

“I apologize. Kashima-sama, your shoulders have tensed-…”

Sf trailed off because Kashima had placed his hand on Sf’s head at some point.

Sf’s expressionless face grew even harder. Kashima sighed and nodded.

He rubbed Sf’s head.

“Sorry. I have no intention of harming your master.”

“Then please stop rubbing my head.” Sf pulled a paper card from her pocket and held it out. “If you wish to do so, take this. If my usefulness earns twenty points, you may rub my head.”

“Thank you. …Anyway, I hope you understand. I sealed my own power in that accident eight years ago. I sealed my power to create swords and to wield them. Why are you here, Supervisor Ooshiro? Don’t tell me you came here to dig up my past.”

“I am happy to tell you that is exactly why I am here. You can be as surprised as you like.” Itaru gave a nod and a bitter smile. He pulled the white envelope from his pocket and held it out. “The next negotiations in the Leviathan Road will be with 2nd-Gear. Tsukuyomi, the development department director, said you would be the representative.”

“…”

“2nd-Gear has already allied with Low-Gear, so what could you want now? And what could the military god who sealed his own power want? I would like for you to show us that.”

Kashima remained perfectly motionless and Itaru bowed his head.

Sf did the same while standing in front of him.

As they bowed, a single voice and the sound of a metal cane rang out into the night.

“For our atonement with the past that the late Sayama wished for, you will take part in the Leviathan Road in search of some answer. That is what we all wish for.”

The area that best absorbed the darkness of the night was not the ocean or the city.

It was the forest.

A certain Tokyo forest existed far to the west of the city center. It was located in the area known as Okutama.

Below the moon in the night sky were trees surrounded by darkness.

Just one spot of that dark forest was not filled with shadows. The moonlight reached that spot.

Rows of white-walled buildings could be seen sitting there.

Those buildings were the Tokyo branch of IAI.

Further back in the valley behind IAI was a single long runway and a white building.

That building was the IAI transportation administration building as well as the headquarters for Japanese UCAT.

The lights were on in that building’s lobby.

White light filled that high-ceilinged lobby and a single painting hung on its wall.

The framed oil painting measured two meters square and it showed the Virgin Mary embracing her crying child. Below the painting, six lines of English lyrics were carved into a metal plate.

They made up the English translation of the hymn Silent Night.

Two people sat in the red carpeted lobby below the painting.

One was a black-haired girl. She sat on a sofa while wearing a black T-shirt and a white denim dress. She was speaking to the old man sitting across from her.

The gray-haired old man wore a lab coat and smiled as the girl gestured and smiled while talking.

The girl raised both hands and her smile grew.

“And Sayama-kun is just so amazing, Ooshiro-san. What took me a month in reflexes training he finished in just a week. There are some things he’s really weird about, but I think he’s mostly an amazing person.”

“That is because Mikoto-kun used to train at a really weird dojo called the Hiba Dojo. Shinjou-kun, he should tell you about it eventually. As well as what happened to him.”

“Yeah,” said Shinjou Sadame as she lowered her hands.

“Where is Mikoto-kun now?” asked Ooshiro to the girl whose cheeks were a bit flushed.

“With starting school this month and working with the student council, he hasn’t finished his training time yet. He said he would work at it until late tonight. …He sure has a lot of energy.”

Her eyebrows lowered slightly and she looked at the painting on the wall.

Her mouth opened slightly and she muttered the first line of the English lyrics.

Shinjou then lowered her gaze once more.

“It seems Sayama-kun’s left arm is almost fully healed. Will Setsu’s role be over soon? He won’t need Setsu to help him out anymore.” Shinjou’s voice grew quieter. “Once Setsu leaves Sayama-kun, my lie will be half gone.”

“Are you really okay with Setsu-kun leaving him?”

Shinjou raised her head, looked at Ooshiro with her black eyes, and formed a smile.

“I think it went well. Normally, I…Setsu and I are not allowed out of UCAT. Getting to go to school and be with someone like him may have been more than enough.” She nodded. “Once the Leviathan Road is over, Sayama-kun will have no more reason to be with me. …Once that happens, will I have to stay goodbye to Sayama-kun as well?”

“Well.” Ooshiro folded his arms. “Shinjou-kun. I have a hypothetical question for you.”

“Hm? What is it, Ooshiro-san?”

“What if Sayama-kun said he wanted to remain with you even after the Leviathan Road?”

Shinjou thought for a moment and blushed.

“Th-that would never happen. Sayama-kun is only with me so he can bring out his serious side and face the Leviathan Road. I can’t conveniently assume it’s anything more. And…”

“And?”

“If I’m always with him, he’ll find out about my lie. Sayama-kun is clever. It’s dangerous enough as it is. …If he found out about my lie, I think he would start avoiding me.”

Shinjou lightly embraced her own body.

She sighed as if to say it was not fair.

“I can only be with Sayama-kun because of my lie. You understand, don’t you, Ooshiro-san? You and the others who know the reason behind my lie take such good care of me.”

After a while, Ooshiro finally nodded. He let out a deep breath and adjusted his position on the sofa.

As he did, the sound of exhaust could be heard outside the lobby and next to the administration building.

Shinjou and Ooshiro looked out the large window and saw the lights of three vehicles leaving and heading toward IAI.

“Come to think of it, you use those trucks disguised as mobile food stands even at night. What are they heading out for?”

“You know the UCAT Tokyo Laboratory in Kanda, right? They research concept space production devices and update the god of war. Lately, there have been some attempts to get at what’s inside there, so we’ve strengthened the security a bit.”

“Security? So was that some special division?”

“No, it was the development division. The 2nd-Gear group said this was a good opportunity to test out a new Cowling Sword. Director Tsukuyomi always helps us so much with our equipment that I can’t say no.”

“I see. 2nd-Gear adapted well to Japanese UCAT and has already been fully naturalized, right? 2nd-Gear was the basis for Japanese culture after all.”

“Yes. They are impossible to tell apart form a normal Japanese person. Some of their older people will occasionally give classes on 2nd-Gear history for the younger ones, but they are otherwise normal citizens of Low-Gear.”

“I see,” said Shinjou again with a nod.

She looked out the large window which showed her reflection a bit. The lights of the vehicles were no longer visible.

She looked at herself in the window.

She was surprised to find the ends of her eyebrows lowered.

Shinjou tilted her head at her own reflection.

“I hope I can adapt to myself.”

In the Kanda district of Tokyo, the stillness of late night surrounded the UCAT Tokyo Laboratory.

This was the time when the city of Tokyo would get some short sleep in the light of the streetlights.

However, a few noises around that white-walled building disturbed that sleep.

There were three noises in all.

The first was the wind rustling through the trees along the road, the second was a high-pitched metallic noise, and the third was a song.

The first was the last traces of the wind signifying the end of spring, the second was the clashing of swords signifying the beginning of a battle, and the third was an out-of-tune male voice.

“Say farewelllll to themmmm! Knock them out with a single punnnnnch!”

As that song filled the air, the wind may have died down, but the sounds of the swords never stopped.

The voice and the noises came from between some buildings located away from the UCAT Tokyo Laboratory.

The song came from a shadow.

This shadow sang as he weaved along the functional street that contained no residences.

A few other shadows charged at the first shadow. They reached him but were blown away.

“As they shed some tearsssss! Say goodbye with three taaaaaps!”

The shadow running on ahead would not fall.

Without lessening his speed, he ran across the road, weaved between the trees, and cut in between buildings.

After a total of seven clashes, seven other shadows collapsed and the chorus came to an end.

Once the shadow finished singing, he ran out from between the buildings and into the street.

He stopped below a streetlight.

The light showed he was a young man wearing the white combat coat of UCAT.

He had short hair dyed blond, slender shoulders, and thin forward-looking eyes.

“I can’t keep this up. I just can’t. I’ve even run out of enka songs. …I need some more fuel.”

As he spoke, he held his right hand up to his shoulder. He wore a black gauntlet to prevent the sword he held from slipping. On the surface of the sword’s white cowling was a black label that said “7STAR”.

He casually held the sword between his right shoulder and neck so he could use both hands to search through his pockets.

As he did, a staticky male voice came from his neck.

“Atsuta. I’m not getting any data from the Cowling Sword. What are you doing?”

The voice came from a small communicator. The young man named Atsuta frowned.

“I was taking a quick nico break.”

“Nico break?”

“It means to smoke, Kashima. Y’know, nicotine and all? I think it sounds more bright and positive than calling it a smoke break.<ref>Nico is Japanese onomatopoeia for smiling.</ref>”

“I’ll ignore most of that, but no smoking on the job. For the sake of your health, chew some of the nicotine gum in the box I gave you. It will make some people very happy. Me, especially.”

“Yeah, you quit smoking after your kid was born. But why are you trying to regulate my health, too? Anyway, come watch my battle and recital. I’m sure you’ll find it moving.”

“Moving, hm? We do say that when something fills us with emotion. The question is which emotion this would fill me with.”

“C’mon, you idiot. This is a hell of a lot more normal than staring at pictures of your wife and kid.”

“Staring? You have it all wrong. I am admiring them.”

“It’s the same thing, you idiot father.”

“Ha ha ha. Thanks for the compliment, Atsuta. More importantly, I have something to discuss with you, so accompany me on the train ride home.”

“What do you want to discuss?”

“The Leviathan Road. Supervisor Ooshiro went out of his way bring me the paperwork himself. It seems Director Tsukuyomi has given me full authority. To be honest, I’m not sure what to do.”

“Yeah, you lost all assertiveness eight years ago.”

Atsuta started ignoring Kashima.

But when he pulled his hands from his pockets, he held a long, narrow package of gum.

That nicotine gum had the UCAT symbol on it. The front had a drawing of a smiling man with his eyes opened wide as he ran down a railroad track. The name of the product was “Thomas the Danger Engine Nicotine Gum”.

“Kashima, quick question. …What is wrong with your taste for coming up with something like this?”

“The sales just keep rising.”

“Are you sure you’re not reading the chart wrong? Is it rising as you go to the left?”

“What are you talking about? Do you hate Thomas the Danger Engine that much? …All the kids love him.”

“Um, kids don’t need to stop smoking. Can’t you make some nicotine gum for adults that’s filled with sex and violence? Something like Female Teacher Excitement Nicotine Gum.”

“Calm down. If I made that, it couldn’t be sold in the normal market.”

“Are you insane, you naïve father? You’re going to sell this gum to the general public?”

“Apparently, it will be sold as an IAI product. The copyright check was strict. Something about the smile needing work.”

Without speaking another word, Atsuta switched off his communicator. He grabbed the sword held between his neck and shoulder and looked up into the sky.

“I need to forget that unpleasant conversation.”

He began chewing the gum.

“Salted salmon flavor. Now I want some rice,” he muttered while slowly glancing around.

At some point, Atsuta had been completely surrounded.

Atsuta stood in the center of the illumination of the streetlight and a few different shadows were standing around him.

There were four in all. They were all men wearing long black clothing.

As Atsuta watched, he realized all four of them had altered a portion of their body.

“Ha ha. You’ve got the armored body modifications from 3rd-Gear. Wouldn’t it be better to attach those toys to an automaton instead? …What Gear are you from?”

The men silently took defensive stances, but Atsuta lowered the white sword in his right hand.

“No. That attitude just won’t do. It just isn’t right. Listen up, you idiots. When I ask you a question, you answer me. Let’s try it again. …Are you part of that rumored Army that takes in people from any Gear?”

The only response he got was silence. Atsuta chewed the gum while a smile appeared in his eyes and on his lips.

“You’re here to steal the god of war being improved in the UCAT Tokyo Laboratory, right? You bring such a large group to sneak in during the night and this is all that’s left to take me on? How boring. You might as well just go ahead and leave.”

In the very next moment, Atsuta took action.

He took a casual step to the right.

It was a quick action.

He moved toward the right hand soldier in black who had mechanized both his arms.

The soldier frantically moved his metal arms into a defensive position.

But he did not make it in time.

Atsuta had already made his way close enough.

Immediately afterwards, his Cowling Sword swept by in front of the man’s chest.

That was enough to smash his arms like ice.

“———!”

The soldier in black opened his mouth in a wordless cry and Atsuta pulled a piece of gum from his pocket and shoved it into the man’s mouth.

“It’s popular with children, you defeated beginner.”

Without waiting for the man’s opinion of the flavor, Atsuta kicked his unguarded body.

With his arms gone, the soldier in black collapsed and a metallic noise rang out.

But Atsuta did not even look at him. He turned around and watched the remaining three.

“Don’t worry. I won’t kill you. I’d never hear the end of it from Kashima otherwise.”

“Oh?” replied a voice.

It came from the man with two false arms who stood in the center of three standing ten meters away.

“I had heard there was an insane warrior in UCAT. He comes from the sword god family of 2nd-Gear which is the basis for Japanese mythology. His family name is Atsuta and his given name is Yukihito.”

“I’m surprised you know that. You sound like a sensible person.”

“What are you saying? You are the descendant of the gutless Gear that surrendered to UCAT before any other Gear!”

“Shut up. You’re gonna bring up something from sixty years ago that not even my dad was around for? That won’t do. It just isn’t right. …And what do you mean we surrendered, you idiot? Listen,” began Atsuta. “The culture here in Japan with its occasional sexiness and violence is based on 2nd-Gear. Our ancestors didn’t surrender. They compassionately descended before the primitive natives here, you complete idiot.”

His words and tone erased all expression from the three soldiers’ faces.

But one breath later, the man from before spoke again.

“Then we can assume 2nd-Gear will cooperate with the Leviathan Road? The holy sword Totsuka that sealed Yamata is held by UCAT along with the giant humanoid machine Susaou. So will you also…”

“Ally ourselves with UCAT in the Leviathan Road?” asked Atsuta. “I don’t know. We’ve gotten used to this country in the sixty years since the war, but Low-Gear doesn’t know the truth about us.”

“The truth?”

“The word used to control Yamata. The Low-Gear researcher who sealed Yamata died while sealing it, so it wasn’t passed on to Low-Gear. The only person who knows it now is my friend Kashima.”

In that case…

“Low-Gear can’t control Yamata right now.”

Atsuta nodded and looked at the three men.

“Okay, that should be enough. I’ve talked enough for today. I’ll cut you down now.”

As Atsuta watched them, his enemies’ faces stiffened. One was on the right, one was directly in front, and one was to the left.

“Oh, so you can show some nice expressions. As a reward, I’ll show you something neat.”

“What?”

“Just watch. If you can.”

As soon as he said that, Atsuta began walking. He walked toward the man on the right.

He walked casually and without suppressing his footsteps. However, the man did not react. He only waited for the approach as if he could not see Atsuta.

Atsuta moved up to the man.

Finally, the man panicked. He looked left and right as if he could not see Atsuta who stood right in front of him.

“H-hey, where did that idiot get-…?”

His cry was cut off.

Atsuta had cut him down.

“I won’t kill you. Take your time and enjoy this.”

Atsuta stuffed a piece of gum in the man’s mouth and turned around toward the man who had been on the left.

The exact same thing happened.

As soon as Atsuta turned around, the man on the left lost sight of him.

He checked to the left and right and bent down as if he could not see the man standing directly in front of him.

“Wh-where did-…!?”

His question was cut off.

Atsuta had traveled six steps to the left and cut him down.

Once again, Atsuta stuffed a piece of gum in his mouth.

The men on the left and right had both been unable to react until he had already attacked.

All that remained were the two wrappers Atsuta balled up and tossed aside.

“You can tell your kids about it when you get home. It should be going on sale soon.”

With that comment, Atsuta stood before the man who remained in the center. Atsuta’s expression was one of complete boredom.

“Now then. Why do you look so pale, you ape? I haven’t removed any of your blood. Or did you panic because you think I’m a psychotic murderer or something?”

Atsuta held the Cowling Sword in front of the man’s face.

When he saw the white steel point of the sword, he flinched back a bit.

“That technique,” he muttered.

“That was 2nd-Gear’s Art of Walking. You approach while escaping your opponent’s perception and then take their life. There are stories of approaching an enemy to assassinate them in Japanese mythology, right? Anyone well-known in 2nd-Gear can do at least this much.”

“You have that much skill and power yet you still serve them?”

“Shut up, you idiot. …The thing is, this woman who’s important to me is from Low-Gear. It may just be one person, but, well…she’s important to me.”

Atsuta smiled bitterly. With that embarrassed smile, he scratched at his head.

“C-c’mon, you idiot. Don’t make me say such embarrassing things at a time like this.”

With that comment, Atsuta jabbed his knee into the man’s gut.

With a loud sound of impact, the mechanical arms and organic body collapsed and stopped moving.

“Ahh, ahh,” sighed Atsuta. He looked over the four collapsed figures and said, “Make sure to clean up before you leave. And don’t spit your gum out on the road. Got it?”

<noinclude>

===Notes===
<references/>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume3 Illustrations|Illustrations]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume3 Chapter 1|Chapter 1]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume2 Chapter 26

2026-04-05T02:03:38Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 26: Recommendation to Lie Prone==
[[Image:OnC_v02_0321.png|thumb]]
''A pain once had

''Is related to your current self

''By becoming a pain someday

Sayama and the others checked on various things before heading out.

First, they placed a simple table in the center of the basin area and used it as a meeting spot.

Ooshiro Itaru and Sf stood at the side of the table pointed toward the mountain.

Across the table from them, Sayama stood with the others around him.

As Sayama watched, Itaru placed his cane on the ground.

“The ultimate objective of the Leviathan Road is to bring every concept to UCAT and release them all simultaneously. Doing that will suppress the negative concepts here in Low-Gear. You understand that, right?”

“Where are these negative concepts? I have heard 1st-Gear’s concepts are contained in the Concept Core that is currently split between the sword known as Gram and Fafnir Custom. But what about the negative concepts of Low-Gear?”

Ooshiro gave no response, but Sayama began to think upon seeing the smile that appeared on his lips.

And after thinking, he spoke.

“Each Gear’s Concept Core is contained in a weapon or the like that is unique to that Gear.”

“And?”

“The negative concepts are contained within the mythology that does not fit into the other ten Gears. Namely, the bible.”

“And if they are? What would it be that contains Low-Gear’s negative concepts?”

Sayama nodded in response and glanced at Baku on his shoulder.

“That would be…Babel. Am I wrong?”

Everyone turned toward Itaru. Izumo and Kazami nodded and everyone else frowned.

As some people whispered “Babel?”, Itaru gave a slight nod while still smiling.

“You really are an annoying brat. You are correct. …Did you see that tower?”

“Yes.”

“I see. That is your ultimate destination. The ten negative concepts reside in that tower and it was the epicenter of the great Kansai earthquake. To reach it, you must deal with all the other Gears.”

Having said that, Itaru pulled a metal case out from under the simple table.

The case he placed on the table with a heavy metallic noise was the color of iron and thirty centimeters square. It was about ten centimeters thick and the letter L was carved into the surface.

Sayama looked at Itaru, but the man only silently held the case out toward Sayama.

As if taking Itaru’s place, Ooshiro stepped up to his right and nodded.

“Open it.”

Sayama had already begun undoing the lock on the side of the case.

With the sound of air escaping, the upper lid shifted.

Sayama placed a hand on that lid and opened the case.

The inside was divided into two blocks.

The left block contained a metal medallion. Its silver surface had a plus symbol carved into it. And the right block contained…

“A glove?”

A black, fingerless gauntlet sat within a cavity in the block created to match its shape.

It was made to protect the wrist and other points and the top had a round metal hard point attached.

It was made for the left hand.

As Sayama observed it, he heard Ooshiro speak.

“We are giving that to you. Its name is Georgius. That is the name of a holy lance.”

Sayama frowned.

“You mean the lance St. George used when slaying the dragon? I know one theory said it was Longinus, the same lance used to stab the son of god.”

“Yes. It seems to have been named after that. It was named after the lance that can injure god and slay a dragon. However…” Ooshiro trailed off and Sayama looked up at him. When their gazes met, Ooshiro nodded and continued. “We do not know what power this Georgius has. We do not know many of the details about what it is. It is a concept weapon with many mysteries.”

Sayama glanced around. Everyone was focused on Georgius in front of him. Kazami, who stood behind him, suddenly realized he was looking at her.

“This is the first time I’ve seen it.”

She nodded and so did everyone else.

Puzzlement could be seen on their faces, so Sayama spoke their doubts and his own question to Ooshiro.

“If you do not know what good this gauntlet is, why was it stored so exaggeratedly?”

“It is a memento of your mother.”

The instant Sayama comprehended those words, he felt a tightening in the left side of his chest.

Intense pain filled his body. It was much stronger than it had ever been before.

“…”

He could tell everyone had frozen in place and was staring at his back. Sayama placed his right hand on his chest and grabbed at it.

From behind, only a slight movement should have been visible, but they might have noticed.

But it did not matter. If they had noticed, there was nothing he could do about it.

He endured the pain and took a breath. And then Itaru opened his mouth across the table.

“So you get chest pains when you hear about your parents or your grandfather. You intend to walk down the Leviathan Road with that odd bomb inside you, don’t you? Your father died and left you behind, your mother tried to kill you along with herself, and your grandfather passed away without telling you anything of import. …Sayama Mikoto, you are a pitiable person. A truly pitiable person.”

A small stir spread through the surrounding people. A mixture of voices and gasps responded to Itaru’s final words.

Pitiable.

Sayama vigorously raised his head against that atmosphere that seemed to be looking down on him.

He glared. He glared straight forward where Itaru lowered his sunglasses and looked at Sayama as if glancing up at him. And just as Sayama was about to speak a rude word toward those eyes and the smile on those lips…

“Everyone has a weakness,” said a figure standing to the left.

Itaru, Sf, Ooshiro, and even Kazami and the others behind him looked to his left.

Everyone’s gazes gathered on Ooki.

[[Image:OnC_v02_0327.png|thumb]]

“Um…” she said as she placed a hand on her chest and looked up into the sky. “But it is overcoming that weakness that gives us valuable experience. For example, Itaru-san, you have your cane and Sf-san to help you with the disability in your legs. Sayama-kun will find something or someone to act as his cane or his Sf-san. I don’t know if that will be this glove or someone from UCAT, though. But…”

Ooki nodded and glanced around. She looked at Itaru, Sf, Izumo, Kazami, Sibyl, Boldman, Ooshiro, and her other comrades.

“Sayama-kun will be fine. I guarantee it.” Ooki seemed incredibly satisfied with her own words. “Yes, yes. That’s just how it is. For example, Izumo-kun is an idiot, but Kazami-san corrects him. Kazami-san is violent, but Izumo-kun absorbs it all. Mr. Boldman is bald, but everyone pretends not to see it and it helps make him more unique. Am I wrong?”

“I think you might have just ruined everything you had built up, Ooki-sensei.”

“Eh?” asked Ooki as three hands grabbed her collar and dragged her into the crowd.

While listening to Ooki’s “Hyaaaaah!”, Sayama sighed.

The pain in his chest was gone. It had disappeared. And so he spoke to Itaru.

“You can decide whether I am pitiable or not based on my results from now on. Let me ask you one thing: were my parents members of UCAT?”

“Yes. They were disguised as IAI personnel and they acquired Georgius during a certain mission.” Itaru clicked his tongue once, but his smile did not disappear. “Here’s another job to add to the Leviathan Road. It seems Georgius has a right hand as well, but it was lost and not even UCAT can find it. You find it on your own.”

“Is it needed to complete the Leviathan Road?”

Ooshiro Kazuo answered this question.

He nodded and said, “All I can tell you is that this is a weapon that can bend any concept to your will and there is meaning in having both the left and right hand. Everything else, including its creator, is unknown.”

“That is all…my mother said?”

“Yes. Your mother, Yume-san, told us that and left it with us. We believed her that it holds some kind of meaning for the Leviathan Road.”

After Ooshiro finished speaking, Sayama suddenly realized a sigh had escaped his lips.

He recalled his memories of the past and of his mother right up to the line of the dangerous territory.

He recalled a woman with short black hair and slightly sharp eyes. This was a created memory.

He had little memory of what she had done for him or told him.

''She hoped I could become someone who could do something,'' he thought. ''And she tried to kill me.

His memories were vague, but he had gained something new he could add to them:

Georgius.

“It is hard to understand. She had hopes for me, tried to lose me, and gave me this.”

She was selfish, that was for sure. However, Sayama looked down at Georgius.

“Can I take this?”

“Yes, but be careful. We are unable to equip Georgius. When we try to touch it, we are spatially repelled. Trying to force one’s hand into it will rip your fingers apart.”

Ooshiro showed off his left palm. White scars from some slight lacerations were visible.

“I see,” said Sayama.

But he grabbed Georgius without hesitation. From the way Ooshiro jerked his left hand back in fear, it seemed that was when the rejection reaction would have occurred.

“It seems nothing happened.”

Sayama equipped Georgius on his dominant left hand. It was a bit large for him, but tightening the band on the wrist set it in place. The scars on his fist were hidden as the characteristic warmth of leather covered his hand.

The palm had a shallow semispherical metal part corresponding to the hard point on the back of the hand. That half sphere had a plus sign carved into it. Other than that, the gauntlet was unremarkable.

Sayama pulled the plus sign medallion out of the case. He placed the medallion in the round hard point on the top of Georgius. It fit perfectly.

As soon as he did, Georgius suddenly began to vibrate.

“…”

Wind gathered and was sucked into the space between the medallion and Georgius.

Everyone froze in place around Sayama. Izumo stopped pulling on Ooki’s ears and shouted out.

“…What kind of special effect is this!?”

A word rang out over the other voices of protest. An unfamiliar male voice came from the surface of the gauntlet.

“I…!”

But that was as far as it went. The wind disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.

Georgius stopped shaking and calm returned.

Everyone stared at Sayama while still in defensive stances. As those gazes fell on him, Sayama lightly shook his left hand with Georgius on it. Nothing happened. After determining that fact, Sayama spoke to the others.

“It seems something even more amazing will happen with both of them.”

With the black cat on her shoulder, Brunhild met up with and marched with her comrades.

Their loud and hurried footsteps traveled toward where the holy sword Gram had fallen. They had recently calculated out the general location, so their priority was gaining control of that area.

UCAT’s Gram recovery team was closer than they were. They had to catch up with that team and defeat them.

Fafnir Custom was at the lead of the marching army.

He tried to fell as few trees as he could manage, but he still created a path for the rest.

The sounds of his four massive legs and of toppling trees could be heard.

Brunhild walked quickly along while making sure to look at the break in each felled tree so she could remember it. Those around her did the same. And most likely…

…''Venerable Hagen is doing it as well.

They were occasionally ambushed by enemies with guns and occasionally came across explosives.

But they were all stopped and quickly crushed by Fafnir Custom.

Fafnir Custom spoke as he received the effects of the gunfire and explosions.

“Do not interfere.”

The others obeyed him. They did not draw their swords or aim their guns.

As Brunhild watched, she saw that Fafner did the same as he walked behind Fafnir Custom.

The white dragon of steel took on all the fighting.

The group of green and black cloaks merely walked forward.

And then several white figures became visible in front of Fafnir Custom. There were at least ten of them.

“We’ve caught up to UCAT!”

Fafner raised his voice and everyone put more strength into walking.

This was UCAT’s Gram recovery team that had been sent ahead. As Brunhild watched from behind Fafnir Custom, they stopped moving and turned their weapons toward the dragon. It seemed their plan was to make a stand here.

''That’s impossible,'' thought Brunhild.

Suddenly, she felt a soft sensation on her cheek. It was the tail of the cat on her shoulder.

“…?”

The cat met her gaze for just an instant and then looked behind her.

Brunhild’s pace slowed slightly as she walked.

She looked behind herself as well.

What she saw first were the others walking toward her. Their forward-bent march made them appear to be approaching her specifically.

As she cowered down a bit, those green and black cloaks slipped past her and walked on ahead. No one said a word. They only looked forward and marched toward the awaiting battle.

But Brunhild saw something else. It was even further behind those marching soldiers.

It was in the distant forest beyond the mountain range. She saw a light so small one had to pay close attention to even see it.

That was the forest basin where they had been not long before.

It had been abandoned as a gathering point, so no one should have been left.

“…They’re coming, aren’t they?”

She stopped walking altogether as she muttered those words.

The others continued forward like a muddy stream flowing beside her. They continued forward to pursue their enemy and acquire Gram.

But Brunhild had a thought: were they really driving their enemy away?

She heard Fafner’s voice behind her in the direction everyone was headed.

“What is it?” he asked.

He received an answer from Fafnir Custom further up ahead. His voice was partially drowned out by the wind.

“I asked her to stop the enemy pursuit. We will hurry ahead and retrieve Gram.”

Brunhild shut her eyes at those considerate words. She had no recollection of him asking that of her.

She could not thank Hagen. She merely held Requiem Sense up a bit. His auxiliary vision devices would see it.

The moonlight fell down as if sliding across the curve of the scythe.

Brunhild began to walk while thinking how obtrusive that light was.

She walked forward. She walked in the opposite direction of the others.

Sayama and the others prepared to head back out into battle.

Sayama stood within the basin. The others gathered a few meters in front of him as if creating a wall.

Sayama swung his right hand in front of them all. That hand that sliced through the air and stopped held six scraps of paper. He used his thumb to spread those six cards out.

Each of them had the word “steel” written on it.

“Now. This is all of our unbreakable and unbendable ‘steel’. Sf-kun, if you do not mind.”

After Sayama finished, Itaru spoke.

“Go. Earn yourself some gratitude.”

“Tes.”

As she spoke, Sf took a step in front of the others.

Sayama swung his right wrist and threw the six pieces of paper into the air.

They no longer moved like paper. They rotated and flew up with real weight to them. That paper was now “steel”.

As the lights set up in that basin illuminated the paper, the paper reflected that crimson light.

Sf raised her right hand.

By the time she did, the sounds of six gunshots on the ground and six metallic noises in the air had all faded away.

Sf’s hand had already returned to its original position.

While paying no heed to the smoke spreading out before her eyes, she wordlessly bowed toward Sayama and then toward everyone else. As her white-haired head lowered, six small lights fell at her feet.

They were empty shell cases.

Everyone there gulped, but Sf returned to the wall of people without caring. Unlike before, the wall of people split open to let her in.

And as she turned her back, six pieces of paper fell to the ground.

Sayama picked them up. He reached down and grabbed the papers that had stabbed into the soft ground.

“Now then. This one, this one, and this one are no good. They have holes.”

The fourth one had a large dent where it had bent in the shape of a bullet.

“This one seems to have been about as effective as a bulletproof textile. The writing is very nice, though.”

“Ahh,” groaned Kazami at the front of the wall as she brought a hand to her forehead. “But I earned the intermediate level in calligraphy.”

“This cursive one was tougher. It only bent.”

“Oh! That was me! That one’s mine!”

Ooshiro took a break from typing up records on his laptop to joyously raise his right thumb.

Sayama ignored him. He picked up the final paper and frowned.

“This is splendid. It did not bend and it does not have a scratch on it.”

He showed it to everyone.

“But what is with this writing? It looks like the death throes of an earthworm suffering from a twisted intestine. Who wrote this curse?”

“It was me, you damn idiot! Are you trying to pick a fight!?”

Izumo took a step forward and the shoulders of everyone behind him drooped.

“I knew it,” they said in unison.

“What do you mean by that!?” he shouted.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” said Kazami as she patted his shoulder. She sighed and added, “I can’t believe my intermediate level calligraphy lost to these worms…”

“Hey. Are you trying to comfort me or complain? Make up your mind.”

“It seems what matters most is the image the writing gives you, not the technical shape of the character. Instead of writing it neatly so the Japanese can read it, we need to make it so anyone can understand it… Writing that looks more like a picture may be more effective in this world. Here, take this.” Sayama tossed the paper to Izumo. “Now, Izumo. Gather all the writing tools here and write this character on as many objects as time allows. Write it on our equipment, the paper we have, stones on the ground, and sticks you find. Strengthen everything we can use.”

Sayama nodded.

“So written information has power in this concept space…”

He walked forward. He made his way to Ooshiro who held his laptop under his arm.

“Old man.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“Could you give me all of that computer’s storage devices to use as explosives?”

“What!? Wh-what are you talking about!? Explosives!? Wh-what writing makes it an explosive!?”

“Shut up, you ancient otaku. Answer my question honestly. …How much disk space on that computer is filled with 18+ games?”

“Th-thirty gigs maybe?”

“…Thirty?”

“F-fifty… N-no, I think it might have been one hundred twenty.”

“Have you fully completed all of those games using your real name?”

“O-of course not. I don’t have the time to-…”

“Hey! Someone come torture this painful old man!”

“I do! I have time! I have more than enough time! Other than the one I’m currently working on, I completed them all on my own!”

“I see. That likely makes this a worldly desire bomb with the destructive power of a nuclear bomb. Very good.”

Sayama nodded, took a step back, and looked over the silent line of people.

“Please understand. He is merely a victim of modern Japan.”

Hearing that, first the men and then everyone else formed a line and patted Ooshiro on the shoulder one by one.

“T-trying to comfort me like this is only going to hurt me further!”

“You have nothing to worry about. Now you can brazenly leap into the world of eroticism while on the job. Just place a note on your back saying you are producing bombs.”

“Oh, you’re right!”

Just as Ooshiro’s expression brightened, Itaru grabbed his shoulder rather than patting it.

“We are having a family meeting once this is over.”

Shinjou ran through the forest.

Behind her, she could hear the footsteps of Fafnir Custom that sounded like cracking stone and the footsteps of the marching 1st-Gear troops. Their advance was made clear by the sounds of falling trees and breaking stone.

As those sounds of destruction pursued her, Shinjou was accompanied by injured UCAT members.

After being chased from the remains of the base by Fafnir Custom and getting separated from Izumo and the others, Shinjou had met up with these people.

They said they were the Gram recovery team. They said no reinforcements were coming but they were going on ahead regardless.

And now they were being pursued by that white mechanical dragon.

“Ah.”

Shinjou was out of breath.

She felt the weight of the Cowling Staff named Ex-St in her arms.

When she had encountered Fafnir Custom at the remains of the base, it had ultimately been Kazami who put an end to Izumo and Fafner’s attacks. She had interfered from the side and deflected Fafner’s pressure so it destroyed the earth’s crust.

Shinjou had been unable to do anything.

She was out of breath. Her weapon felt heavy in her arms.

But she thought of the injured men running alongside her. And so she sucked in some air.

“Everyone.”

Shinjou turned toward the man running next to her. This man was lending his shoulder to an injured comrade.

“I’ll draw his attacks to me. Look to the right up ahead,” she said to him.

As they ran through the trees, a stone could be seen sticking up in the middle of the forest.

“Let’s split up behind that stone. You go hide.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! You can’t do anything on your own!”

Shinjou looked up at the man and forced a smile.

“Don’t worry. Team Leviathan will catch up soon. …They are my comrades.”

The man’s expression vanished for an instant when he heard that unit name. He then gave a troubled smile.

“That’s difficult to hear.”

“Wh-why?”

“My friend died the day before yesterday when Team Leviathan showed up too late.”

Shinjou was at a loss for words. She could tell her smile had vanished.

She ran with her head hanging down and began to apologize.

“Don’t say it. An apology isn’t enough for me to forgive you,” he said. “But those of us in the normal division rank lower than the special division. That relationship is absolute. However, if you truly want to keep it absolute, make sure to keep your word. If you will remember that, we will not forget either.”

“…What won’t you forget?”

“A small thing. Someone left flowers for our comrade.”

Just as Shinjou heard those words, they arrived at the tree they had used as a landmark.

The men fired behind them and leaped to the right without saying a word.

Shinjou leaped to the left and turned around to check behind her. The gunshots and bullets flew toward where Fafnir Custom was felling trees and the others were taking shelter.

Shinjou was not sure if they had seen what the men had done.

But she ran all the same.

To make sure the enemy could see her, she flipped the hem of her armored uniform into the air.

The white mechanical dragon saw his prey before his eyes.

That white figure was a single girl.

That girl had been running alongside the men who had been in the lead just a moment before. The fact that she was alone now meant…

''She is covering for her comrades,'' thought Hagen within Fafnir Custom.

He saw her spread her body out with exaggerated motions and the white of her clothing was easily visible in the darkness.

And she ran. She kept her back to him and ran deep into the forest.

Either way, she was headed the same direction they were.

Choosing her was unavoidable. As if pursuing that running prey, the mechanical dragon felled more trees and hurried forward.

“—————”

He roared. That reverberating, high-pitched, creaking noise informed his comrades behind him where they were to go.

Fafnir Custom created a path and pursued his prey. The hot armament reactor located below his neck emitted a heated wind. The Concept Core within was functioning properly.

Fafnir Custom was running well.

''But,'' thought Hagen who had combined with the mechanical dragon. ''I do not have long.

He could move his body, but he felt a slight sensation similar to fatigue. A mechanical body was not supposed to grow tired.

Combining with a mechanical dragon was not the same as simply being inserted as a component of the machine. All of one’s information was converted to writing data and synced with the machine. This was a 1st-Gear modification of the mechanical life form synchronization systems created in 5th-Gear and 3rd-Gear.

Just as writing on paper gave that paper power, a living being could be converted into writing data and added to a machine.

A deviation had appeared in that synchronization.

This deviation was caused by Hagen’s writing data deteriorating over time. Even though he was inside a machine, this was the proof that he was still alive. This was a reminder to ensure he did not lose sight of himself, but it was also his weakness.

Hagen thought to himself as he listened to his advancing footsteps.

''Please hurry.

This was a battlefield. The more Fafnir Custom moved, the more he would push the limits of his abilities and the greater that destructive deviation would grow. He had to resolve this while he could still move.

He thought of the holy sword Gram, of Brunhild, and of Fafner.

''Please hurry. Please hurry, my enemy.

Hagen watched his enemy from within Fafnir Custom. He watched the back of that girl up ahead.

''Please hurry.

''I need an enemy to resolve everything.

As he thought, Fafnir Custom let out a roar. This loud voice seemed to rule over the concept space he had created.

He put all of his thoughts into this roar.

…''I want to win this.

As Sayama and the others ran through the destroyed remains of the forest, they heard what sounded like the distant roar of a beast.

“That is Fafnir Custom.”

Everyone tensed when they heard Siegfried’s explanation. However…

“Hurry.”

That was the conclusion they reached.

That group wearing clothes of white and black traveled along the moonlit path left by the dragon. Their footsteps were not in unison, their equipment was not identical, and the whistles blown by a few of them were scattered.

But they all hurried. They all moved further and further ahead.

And as they ran, a black shadow moved out of the forest to the left and into the middle of the moonlight.

“!?”

Everyone took defensive stances and stopped their hurrying feet.

The shadow before them was a human form.

This human wore a three-cornered hat and black clothes. A black cat sat on her shoulder. Kazami spoke the name of the girl who carried a long scythe.

“Brunhild Schild.” With a bitter smile, she adjusted the backpack on her back. “What a coincidence. We only just saw each other around here. …Did you forget something?”

“Yes, I did. Student council president, vice president, treasurer, and…the school librarian.”

Brunhild held the scythe horizontally in both hands.

At the same moment, Izumo took a step forward and spoke in a disinterested voice.

“Let me guess, the thing you forgot was our lives.”

“No. I only forgot one thing: my mercy.” She was completely expressionless. “And I had just remembered where I forgot it. …I believe it was back at school.”

“Well, that ain’t good. I hope you wrote your name on it. With writing as pretty as mine.”

Izumo laughed and Siegfried grabbed his shoulder.

“Go on ahead. And correct the comment about your writing.”

“Old man, the writing comment was a joke at my own expense. You’re supposed to laugh.”

Siegfried gave no response to Izumo. He spoke while looking at the girl standing in the moonlight ahead of them.

“This is my fate. I cannot hand it off to anyone else.”

Izumo finally began to move when he heard that.

His shoulder’s drooped and he sighed. He then pushed Siegfried’s hand off of his drooped shoulder.

“Old men who are into young girls tend not to live long.”

Izumo gave a bitter smile and Kazami smiled back at him. Sayama nodded and looked to Ooshiro next to him.

“It sounds like you will not live long.”

“Are you still stuck on that!?”

Sayama grinned bitterly, patted Siegfried’s shoulder, and then held that hand up.

“Let’s hurry on ahead. We have our opponent, he has his opponent, and I have my precious person.”

He took a breath and they all began to move. They began to walk along a course around Brunhild.

They all gave her a parting glance, but they soon hurried toward their destination.

And just as they all left, Brunhild raised her scythe.

She held the blade up toward the night sky as if it were a partially eclipsed moon.

Below it, Brunhild looked toward Siegfried.

She moved her small lips and quietly spoke some perfectly ordinary words.

“Now, how about we get started?”

Shinjou heard giant footsteps pursuing her.

When she turned around, she could see the approaching giant white form that was snapping trees underfoot.

Shinjou cowered down a bit as she ran, but her eyebrows moved inward as she nodded resolutely.

…''Yes. This is for the best.

She could not fight well, but she could do this.

She cleared her mind as she ran. This purification of her thoughts produced movement and she held up her Cowling Staff in both hands.

She ran and leaped. She twisted her body around and fired the instant she was pointed backwards.

She was targeting the legs of the white mechanical dragon approximately one hundred meters behind her. This was a diversion she did not intend to hit with, but it was enough to draw his attention and stop him for a step.

''That’s right,'' thought Shinjou.

She had a way to join the fight. She could not currently think of any way but this, but she was sure of something.

“I know I too can…”

As she muttered, she landed. She turned her body around and ran forward once more.

“I too can…?”

Who was she comparing herself to?

“I too can…do what? What do I want to do?”

Suddenly, her pulse quickened. Thoughts of a certain boy floated up in her mind.

What was this?

What did it mean that she thought of him? Why had she thought of him?

As those questions ran through her mind, light spread out before her eyes.

She had come to the end of the forest.

“!”

Before her was a space with no cover. It was nothing but moonlight and a grassy plain. She saw more forest about two hundred meters ahead. That forest looked pale in the moonlight and it continued on to the distant shadows of the mountain range.

The grassy plain continued as far as she could see to the left and right. The wind blew past her.

“Kh.”

Shinjou ran. She ran toward the forest on the other side.

The heavy metal footsteps pursued her from behind.

“There they are! That’s the recovery team that went ahead!”

Sayama and the others rescued their injured comrades from a rocky area on the way.

The surrounding area was already filled with battles against 1st-Gear.

As the initial sounds of gunfire passed by over their heads, those with nothing else to do began treating the ten or so injured men.

Ooki and Sibyl covered the wounds with the charms they had received from Chao and wrapped bandages around them. As they were being treated, the men spoke while trying to catch their breath.

“A girl who also belongs to Team Leviathan went on ahead…”

Sayama’s eyebrows moved when he heard that. He looked toward the middle-aged man who seemed to be the team leader. The man nodded and began to speak as blood flowed from his head and he shut one eye.

“The holy sword Gram is located just outside this forest.”

“I see,” nodded Sayama.

Hearing that was enough.

He looked into the distance. Beyond the scorched areas filling the forest was their enemy. And that enemy was pursuing something.

The back of a white mechanical dragon was visible at the lead.

They were approximately two hundred meters away. The trailing members of the enemy group had noticed them and begun to approach.

The mechanical dragon was moving toward an open space where the forest ended. It was a grassy plain filled with moonlight.

That would be where Shinjou was. Sayama had to break through the enemy army.

He stood up as he listened to the sounds of clashing swords, gunshots, and explosions that had begun to reverberate loudly through the area.

He was surrounded by the members of Team Leviathan. Itaru and Sf simply watched on from the back and Ooki and Sibyl worked at healing the injured. However, Izumo and Kazami stood to his left and right and Boldman stood behind him.

“Okay,” said Sayama. He looked toward the approaching enemy forces. “Izumo, create a path for me.”

When he heard that, Izumo finally put on a smile.

“Now we’re talking! Boldman! Cover me from behind!”

Izumo pulled what looked like a single white cloth from the torn sleeve of his coat.

“With this, I’m invincible.”

Shinjou fought as she fell back.

She ran along the moonlit field, spun her body around, held up her Cowling Staff, and fired. Its light was fired at the white mechanical dragon’s legs one hundred meters behind her.

She also had to turn her focus and attacks toward the sky.

Leaving the forest meant the soldiers of the winged races could fly up into the sky.

Their arrows of light flew in accurate straight lines toward her current location or the location she would soon be in.

The sound of the attacks resembled that of white spray.

She gasped for breath.

She fired.

That Cowling Stock labeled Ex-St on the side was Shinjou’s personal weapon. It was a concept weapon that functioned by using the philosopher’s stone located near the back end. To ensure it could be used under any concepts, the front end where the attack functionality was focused could be swapped out for other parts.

…''Its attack power is proportional to the strength of my intentions.

It would not create more destruction than the user wished. That was the one thing Shinjou had requested. And it was also the greatest thing holding her back. If she hesitated to attack and did not produce an effective strike, that powerful weapon was no more than a cane.

But she fired.

A scythe of light flew and struck the front right leg of the white mechanical dragon. The scythe shattered with the sound of breaking glass, but the dragon’s leg was left unscathed.

In the corner of her vision, Shinjou saw a single book be ejected from the book holder on the front end of Ex-St. She had drawn out all of the power collected inside.

She had two books left.

Her ammunition was running low, but her attacks were having no effect.

Just as she regretted that fact, she saw a light in the sky.

“!”

She jumped backwards as her legs tangled together. Again and again, light stabbed into the spot she had just been standing in.

A great impact exploded out.

Dirt and scraps of grass flew into the air and covered her face and legs. And before Shinjou could find that annoying, she fired into the sky and began to take a step backwards.

However, she felt something overpowering arrive at her feet.

It was a shell fired by Fafnir Custom.

“…Kyah!”

The ground was split apart and all sound disappeared from her ears.

Her vision blacked out in an instant.

She only avoided passing out because of her fear. Her fear of losing herself quickened her pulse, caused her spine to tremble, and stopped her consciousness from sinking into darkness.

She brought herself back as if waking up. And when she did, her vision was filled with a dark blue.

…''What is…?

Before she could finish her thought, her mind grew clear.

What she saw was the night sky.

It seemed she had collapsed onto the grassy ground. She could feel almost nothing with her body’s senses.

A weak “ah” escaped her lips. Or at least she thought it had.

She could not hear anything.

Her mind told her she was in trouble and she hurriedly stood up. But her action held no strength. The core of her body was numb and her consciousness alone moved ahead. With horribly rough movements, she rolled to the side, placed her hands on the ground, and got up.

She stood up and her vision returned to its proper angle.

Above her was the night sky and below her was a grassy plain with a giant hole in it. That was as it should have been.

Her vision swayed to the left and right. She planted her feet in the direction she swayed and balanced herself. She gave a bitter smile in her heart as she wondered if this was what it was like to be drunk.

She looked forward where the white mechanical dragon stood one hundred meters away. She had nowhere to run and she could not move her body properly.

Sound began to return to her ears. She managed to focus her eyes.

The mechanical dragon’s eyes glowed red directly in front of her.

…''Is it coming?

Just as she asked herself that, the white mechanical dragon, Fafnir Custom, spoke.

“I will give you five seconds. Surrender to 1st-Gear.”

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| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume2 Chapter 27|Chapter 27]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume2 Chapter 19

2026-04-04T02:59:50Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 19: Prematurity of Thoughts==
[[Image:OnC_v02_0143.png|thumb]]
''What is the difference between being hasty and acting quickly?

''The answer is incredibly simple

''It is decided by whether the outcome is successful or not

The preliminary negotiations with Fasolt began with a check of the initial assumptions.

“At the moment, there is no sign of the City faction joining us. The negotiations will primarily relate to the Royal Palace faction joining. These negotiations are the preliminary preparations for the Leviathan Road.”

From there, Fasolt informed Sayama of a few matters:

UCAT had asked that Fasolt remains 1st-Gear’s representative, UCAT special division security guards would be maintaining a presence in the reservation for a temporary period of time after the Royal Palace faction arrived, and due to cultural similarities, the reservation would prefer if those guards were sent in from German UCAT.

Sayama replied that he understood, Shinjou nodded, and Ooshiro typed it up on his keyboard to keep records.

Once the initial assumptions had been clarified, Fasolt said, “The day after tomorrow, 167 members of the Royal Palace faction will be arriving here. It is impossible for us to secure enough arable land for all of them.”

“Are you asking for an expansion to the concept space creating the reservation?”

Fasolt did not nod. Sayama turned to Ooshiro.

“What would happen if it was expanded?”

“It already covers a radius of one kilometer. If the radius was expanded by one hundred meters, the area would increase by 21%. …It is a simple calculation, but you understand what it means to increase their yearly budget by 20%, right? We already put ten digits worth of budget a year into maintaining this place.”

“I see.” Sayama turned back toward Fasolt and said, “Just because the Royal Palace faction is joining you, I cannot approve merely expanding the reservation.”

“Why not?”

“You mentioned before that there is a process for naturalization. That means you try not to bring in anyone who can survive outside of 1st-Gear’s concepts, correct?”

“Yes.”

“That means we need to go over the list of those arriving and see how many belong to races that can be naturalized. We can build temporary lodging for those who can be naturalized, temporarily prioritize food distribution, and build houses for and expand the fields for those who will be ultimately staying. I think we can hold new negotiations over the land issue once you know how many will be staying.” Sayama gave a bitter smile. “But I think you knew all this. That is why you said what you said: ‘It is impossible for us to secure enough arable land for all of them.’ And that is why you did not answer my question, isn’t it?”

After a short silence, Fasolt laughed from deep in his throat.

“Yes. I did no more than tell the truth, Sayama Mikoto. You are the one that misinterpreted, boy.”

Sayama smiled and Shinjou let out a sigh next to him.

''Something is beginning,'' thought Sayama.

He quickly began to calculate out what he and his opponent had at their disposal.

Via UCAT, Sayama had the authority to do whatever he wanted with the concept space. However, if he used that authority, he would be distancing 1st-Gear’s cooperation in the Leviathan Road.

On the other hand, his opponent had a past Sayama was unaware of and could make demands from the position of a victim. When he used the sudden arrival of the Royal Palace faction as a shield, Sayama had difficulty telling the truth of his demands because too much was unknown.

…''At any rate, he will be making demands.

He would give some reason for making a demand no matter how ridiculous. If Sayama misjudged the situation and accepted it, his opponent would profit.

Possessing a kind heart would be a disadvantage here.

Sayama trusted his prediction that the negotiations had already begun.

He took a breath, pulled a handkerchief out of his breast pocket, and wiped his brow.

Fasolt watched Sayama.

In one hand, the boy was folding the handkerchief he had pulled from his breast pocket.

Fasolt looked up and found the sun was at its highest point.

“It really is hot,” said Sayama as if informing Fasolt who was looking up into the sky.

“Yes, it is,” agreed Fasolt before lowering his gaze.

''He is very young,'' thought Fasolt about Sayama who was looking directly at him.

Fasolt thought back to the previous conversation. The boy had responded properly to his slight test and he had seen through Fasolt’s intentions. Even the standard UCAT negotiators could do the same. It was an issue of paying attention.

But this boy had intentionally pretended to be mistaken and had thought up an actual means of handling the situation, even if only a superficial one.

His solution had been incomplete, but it was the specialists’ job to finish it off.

For a leader, what truly mattered was negotiating without making any mistakes and deciding on a general course of action.

Fasolt had yet to fully make up his mind about Sayama.

Sayama looked up toward the sun high in the sky and began to remove his coat.

He roughly gathered the sleeves, folded it so the front was visible, and handed it to Shinjou next to him.

As soon as he did, Shinjou’s eyes opened wide and she whispered to Sayama.

“Wh-what are you saying? I c-can’t do that…”

Shinjou looked over at Fasolt. She then frantically adjusted her position and held Sayama’s coat.

With a slightly disappointed look, Sayama returned to his proper position. He wiped his brow with his handkerchief and placed it in the pocket on his shirt. The handkerchief stuck out from the shirt a bit.

Nevertheless, Sayama turned toward Fasolt.

Next to him, Shinjou continually glanced over at him, but Sayama did not seem to notice.

Fasolt then looked over at the coat Shinjou was holding. Its breast pocket was turned toward him.

Fasolt thought about the boy before his eyes. ''He really is young,'' he concluded before making his next move.

Sayama heard Fasolt speak.

“Our demands are quite simple, Sayama Mikoto. We want you to hand over Siegfried, the holy sword Gram, and the Concept Core held within the sword. Until then, we will not give you the right to use 1st-Gear’s Concept Core and we will not help persuade the City faction.”

“What?”

Fasolt did not even acknowledge his question.

“After the Concept War, this reservation agreed to cooperate with UCAT, but we agreed to nothing concerning the Leviathan Road. That is why we demand that we begin anew here. Hand over the war criminal. If you promise that, the Royal Palace faction and the City faction will both fall in line with the peaceful faction. We will make sure they do.”

“And you want us to hand over Gram and the Concept Core inside it?”

“I think it will be necessary to convince the City faction, but what do you think? Even if we persuade them to join with us, I doubt they will do what we say if we have not been granted some power.”

Sayama remained silent. Fasolt watched him as he sat silently.

“Just to be clear, threatening to remove this concept space to aid your negotiations will gain you nothing.”

Sayama did not say he would not do so. If he had to, he would. Fasolt had warned it would gain him nothing, but those were nothing but words. It was impossible to know what would happen if he actually did it.

However, that was a last resort. Using it would end the relationship between them.

Sayama took a breath.

“Could you stop testing me? Unnecessary statements could hinder our negotiations,” he said.

“Saying many things in quick succession is the special characteristic of a storyteller.”

The dragon gave no apology. That gave Sayama an odd sense of relief.

His opponent was a proud person. That may have been a common characteristic of 1st-Gear. No matter how far they lowered themselves and no matter what means they chose to use, they would always give precedence to their self-respect.

…''They are obstinate and direct.

They were easy to handle as allies, but impossible to avoid as an enemy.

With that in mind, Sayama once more pulled the handkerchief from his breast pocket.

He wiped his brow and Shinjou’s shoulders jumped slightly next to him.

At the same time, Fasolt looked over at Shinjou.

“There is nothing to be afraid of. As Ooshiro said, you can take it easy.”

“Oh, right,” said Shinjou as she slightly relaxed her legs which had been strictly kept in the seiza position.

As soon as she did, Fasolt’s hand moved.

“Ah,” gasped Shinjou, but Fasolt had already snatched the coat from her lap.

“This is a nice coat. Do you mind if I take a look at it?”

As Fasolt asked his question, an object fell from the suit coat in his hand.

Sayama clearly saw the cell phone drop. It was able to record audio.

“Whoops,” said Fasolt as he grabbed it in midair.

And with a clear noise, he crushed the cell phone in his hand.

“Oh, my mistake. I give you my personal apology. However.” Fasolt returned the suit coat to Shinjou and held up the remains of the cell phone in his other hand. “This was not running by any chance, was it? You were not so concerned about me that you felt the need to give a sign to have me filmed from the side, were you?”

Fasolt saw Sayama’s expression change twice in response to his words. It changed from tense to harsh and then from harsh to joyful. Fasolt’s thoughts raced as he saw those changes.

…''Did he notice my trick?

When Fasolt had watched over the autopsy of the werewolf that had committed suicide the day before yesterday, he had inspected Sayama’s possessions. And knowing that Sayama would be his opponent in the negotiations, he had thought up a certain trick.

He had switched on the digital recorder to drain the battery and had left the cell phone untouched. If Sayama brought the two items to the negotiations, he would need to use the cell phone to record any proof of what was said.

However, the cell phone’s microphone was weak, so it and the built-in camera would have to be on the surface.

Locating Sayama’s hiding spot for it had not been difficult. The camera had been sticking a bit out of his coat pocket.

Fasolt was certain the boy had been recording him. He had seen the small exchange between Sayama and Shinjou and he had seen Shinjou’s movements.

''Such awkward teamwork,'' thought Fasolt.

That was why he had grabbed the coat and smashed the cell phone.

Sayama’s use of the cell phone was proof that he had viewed the negotiations as dangerous and had wanted to secretly leave some proof behind. Taking that from him and destroying it while also warning him would inflict inescapable pressure on the boy.

Sayama was currently looking at the smashed cell phone.

“I do not believe I had it running,” he said with his head down as if trying to recall.

''Liar,'' thought Fasolt with a bitter smile in his heart.

As Fasolt watched, Sayama turned to Ooshiro to his left.

“Not that it matters. The old man here will handle recording what is said.”

Fasolt followed Sayama’s gaze and watched Ooshiro typing.

He nodded and said, “Unfortunately, Ooshiro’s records will not pass as proof.”

“Wh-why not?” asked Shinjou as she held the coat.

Fasolt nodded and replied, “That data can be easily altered. That is why I want to resolve these negotiations right here like this.”

Fasolt pulled a sheet of canvas from the inside pocket of his vest.

It was covered with the writing of 1st-Gear. Sayama would be able to read it because an image of the meaning took priority here.

It was a contract saying UCAT would accept the reservation’s demands. Below the agreement was a five centimeter underline.

Once he saw Sayama’s gaze stop on the underline, Fasolt spoke in a tone that held a slight smile.

“You will stamp your seal there. …You have your seal with you, don’t you? It is with the digital recorder with the dead battery.”

Shinjou embraced Sayama’s coat. She squeezed it between her arms.

And she glanced over at Sayama next to her.

''What will he do now?'' she wondered. ''Is there anything he can do?

As she watched on, Sayama stared expressionlessly at the contract.

He then suddenly moved. He pulled his handkerchief from his breast pocket with his right hand and lightly shook his wrist.

He looked at Fasolt and said, “So you saw through it. Yes, the battery is indeed dead. In that case, I no longer need it.”

He produced a digital recorder from the handkerchief. The power light was off which indicated it was not running. However, he was not looking at the recorder. He was looking at the broken cell phone that had fallen to the ground.

“I was planning to record any promises you made to perhaps later change our demands.”

Sayama sighed and took his seal case out of his pocket using his free left hand.

He placed the digital recorder and handkerchief next to him and placed the seal before him.

“But I am not yet ready to stamp my seal,” he said.

“Are you saying you will eventually do so?”

Sayama gave no response.

He remained silent and his face held no expression.

Faced with this, Fasolt froze in place.

Shinjou gulped lightly at seeing this silence and expressionlessness from Sayama for the first time. However…

“…”

His pulse was calm.

''Why is that?'' she wondered.

She felt as if she had seen him like this before.

When had it been?

She searched through her memories and arrived at a certain moment in the past.

The night before last, when he had stood before her and beyond the werewolf.

''What happened after that moment?'' she thought.

She thought back. In that moment, Sayama had stepped forward and spoken to their enemy. He had provoked the enemy. And now…

“You should learn that those who trust in writing can be betrayed by writing.” Sayama lightly raised his right hand. “Let me be clear up front: I cannot agree to any one of the demands you have given.”

“Then what will you say when you see this?”

Fasolt pulled a thick book from his vest and held it so Shinjou and the others could see.

It was a hardcover book made of canvas sheets and cloth. Shinjou had seen it before.

“That’s the book the knight had yesterday.”

“Yes. It is an investigation report on the destruction of our Wotan Kingdom. Volunteers from the Royal Palace faction visited both the peaceful faction and the City faction to gather the records to create it. These records could only have been made by the Royal Palace faction that sat in the middle. Neither we nor the City faction could have made it.”

Sayama took the investigation report and opened it.

Shinjou peered at its contents from the side. It listed a calculation of the total amount of destruction while using spelling that avoided any dangerous terminology. Each time Sayama turned the page, Shinjou could sense the image of the destruction detailed within.

Arton Central Street was smashed along with the decorations for the festival in the small park: thirty-eight dead.

Ethos District 3 contained a wooden school, but it was crushed along with the people who had taken refuge inside: ninety-one dead.

The evacuation warning never reached the 3rd redevelopment sector and the pioneer village was eliminated without knowing what was happening: forty-six dead.

In addition, there was damage to houses in several sectors or out in nature, the loss of assets and livestock, and a calculated value of the land lost. It was all calculated out to reach a final sum for the damages.

“Once converted to the currency of philosopher’s stones, UCAT must maintain this reservation for 7022 years. We have lived here for sixty years, so that still leaves 6962 years. Exchanging that debt for one man and a sword sounds like a bargain to me.”

''That’s absurd,'' thought Shinjou with a gulp.

She slowly looked over at Sayama so Fasolt would not notice her internal panic. She found Sayama as expressionless and silent as before.

''What will he do now?'' she thought.

And she had another thought.

She recalled what Fasolt had said when he had destroyed the cell phone:

You felt the need to give a sign to have me filmed from the side.

She did not know what he had meant by that. She had not been given that role.

But even if she did not understand, Shinjou knew that everything was advancing. And she knew that Sayama likely had some plan.

Sayama looked at Fasolt.

Fasolt had been looking at him for a while now. With that in mind, he spoke.

“Giving concrete value to people’s lives is something else I am not willing to do.”

“If doing so is necessary for a negotiation, we will choose that as our weapon.”

“And so you are demanding a human life in the place of money?”

“Demanding? No. My role here is to present you with possibilities. Your role here is to choose, Sayama Mikoto. I have presented you with a means of paying reparations for the damages. You are the one that chooses whether you will pay for your ancestors’ mistakes with seven thousand years of expenses or by handing over that man and Gram.”

“And if I handed them over, I would be putting a price on a human life?”

“Yes, if you did. We would have prepared a different path, but you would have chosen that path because you could not pay. It would not hurt us in any way.”

Sayama thought. According to Ooshiro, it was impossible to even increase the reservation’s yearly maintenance expenses by 20%. That meant it was beyond impossible to pay off the seven thousand years’ worth of debt right away. And that was why he asked the next question.

“Are Siegfried and Gram really that valuable?”

“They are.”

“I see.” Sayama picked up the contract and the seal case in front of them. “Shinjou-kun, hand me a pen from my coat’s breast pocket.”

“Oh, right.”

Shinjou took a silver ballpoint pen from the pocket and handed it over.

Sayama flipped over the contract and wrote something while using the cover of the investigation report as a desk. He stamped what he wrote with the seal he took from the case and then placed the contract in front of Fasolt.

“If you want something of such great value, then how about we resolve everything like this?”

Everyone looked at the back of the contract.

Shinjou gulped, Fasolt clenched his hands, and Ooshiro smiled bitterly.

Sayama read what he had written on the back of the contract.

“Seven thousand years shall be added to the current seven thousand year debt. In exchange, we shall buy the half-dragon Fasolt and all of his rights. …That should be fine with anyone who will give monetary value to people’s lives.”

“You will buy your negotiating opponent!?” cried Fasolt.

A wind blew through and disturbed Sayama’s hair, but he ignored it and spoke.

“If doing so is necessary for a negotiation, we will choose that as our weapon. Those are your words. And I believe we had agreed to that view. …You asked me to sell someone’s life if I could not pay.” He gave a bitter smile. “But that also means I can buy someone’s life if I can pay.”

“…”

“We will pay what is needed. It does not matter how many years it takes, who might suffer, or even if you refuse us. So let me say this: you may think you all have pride, but you only have the spirit of poor slaves.”

“Slaves? Now you’ve said it, you aboriginal.”

“Aboriginal? We certainly have evolved. I miss the days when we were called yellow monkeys.” Sayama’s bitter smile deepened. “Fasolt, let me tell what kind of race we are. We are the Japanese, the ‘economic animals’. We have nothing to fear when it comes to money. A debt? We just need to save up. The government? It runs on money. A grudge? That is just a bias of the poor. Now, Fasolt, for fourteen thousand years of peace for your comrades, you will be ours. And let me say this: you will physically remain with 1st-Gear, but as our possession,” he nodded, “you will withdraw all of your demands. No need to lower your head. You are our comrade now that we bought you. We have the right to do this. You are the one that brought up buying people’s lives, something we had never done before.”

At that point, Sayama threw the investigation report to the ground.

“This is absurd, Fasolt.” He took a breath. “What is this investigation report? It may have some truth to it, but how much of it is truth? If you are going to carry out an investigation, have a third party do so or at least do so while we are present. Otherwise, this is nothing more than reference material. …Is presenting unreliable material at the negotiating table the 1st-Gear’s way of doing things!?”

Fasolt responded to the last part more than anything else.

The creaking of his fangs could be heard from his clenched mouth.

But that was as much of Fasolt’s power as was seen.

He slowly reached out a hand and picked the book up from the ground. He let out a long sigh.

“It is true this contains a fair bit of personal opinion for an investigation report. But are you really going to use the lack of records from this conversation to say such abusive things?”

Sayama turned a smile in Fasolt’s direction.

“Abusive? That was a rebuke over how useless your investigation report is. …I was trying to say that your actions were showing contempt for the value of 1st-Gear. If you misinterpreted me, I apologize.”

“No need.” Fasolt drew back and held the book to his chest. He spoke once more after suppressing the anger in his voice. “Either way, we will not give you the right to use the Concept Core unless you accept our demands. …How do you intend to gain that right from me?”

Sayama glanced around. The nearby houses had their windows open because it was a sunny day, so he could see inside. Inside the shadowy houses, he could tell the items within were a bit different from those he was used to. Every house had bare walls and they grew flowers.

Sayama was searching for ''a certain object'' within those houses.

But from what he could see at a distance, it was not there. It was a completely normal object in his world, but it was absent here.

…''It could be easily brought in from outside, but there is none here.

The possible reasons for this were simple. It may never have existed in 1st-Gear and was not needed, or UCAT feared letting 1st-Gear have it and so refused to do so.

It was one of those or possibly both.

Once he realized that, another fact came to Sayama. He realized the true purpose behind the negotiation.

“…”

He silently relaxed. He cooled his head that had begun to grow serious.

''If I am right about the true purpose of this negotiation,'' thought Sayama, ''trying to crush Fasolt would not be the best strategy.

And that was why Sayama said what he did next. He breathed out, breathed in, and then spoke in a calm voice.

“Instead of Siegfried and the holy sword Gram, we will provide you with technology equivalent to seven thousand years’ worth of budget or allow you to use said technology.”

“Technology equivalent to seven thousand years’ worth of budget?” asked Fasolt before laughing from the throat. “What do you mean by that? We already sustain ourselves. Is there any technology we could possibly want and is there any technology Low-Gear could possibly provide us with?”

“There is.”

“And what is it?’

Sayama thought and said, “It can be used as a weapon. It can be used as culture and civilization. It can be power and it can become anything in existence.”

“Hah! How amusing! We in 1st-Gear live with the power of writing, so what more culture and civilization do we need!? And with our mechanical dragons, why would we need weapons?” Fasolt strongly held the hardcover book against his chest. “Tell me, Sayama Mikoto. What is this technology you think we would exchange our Concept Core for? What is this technology that UCAT has been keeping from us?”

Sayama nodded and spoke a single word.

“Paper.”

Fasolt almost dropped the book he was holding to his chest.

“Why would you think we need-…?”

“All of your writing is on parchment or canvas. And I do not see any bookshelves in these 1st-Gear houses. Paper is a necessary item to bring a society past a certain point, but it is being restricted here in some way. That is why I thought I could use the removal of that restriction as a bargaining chip.”

Fasolt understood what Sayama meant.

In 1st-Gear, writing held power, so spelling something out held the possibility of danger. Needless to say, creating that writing in the proper form to create power was difficult and it was nothing but scribbles if done wrong.

However, nothing was as frightening as an unlikely accident.

That was why a storyteller like Fasolt passed down writing in the form of sound and most records were kept using symbols that were difficult to call writing. The writing in the investigation report had been carefully chosen so it would provide the proper images yet not have actual power.

Due to the conditions of their world, writing technology had not advanced. Most of the tools that could easily write had been in the control of the royal family and very few were produced.

As a storyteller, he knew very well that 1st-Gear’s culture was built around that.

But he had to wonder what would happen if that assumption was removed.

The boy before him spoke.

“What if you used the safe writing used in that investigation report as the foundation for a carefully selected set of everyday writing with little power? Wouldn’t that allow you to pass down your current culture and allow anyone to perform research?”

He was saying the current state of 1st-Gear’s culture would change.

Sayama held a hand out toward him. He reached for the book at his chest.

Fasolt handed the boy the hardcover book as he wanted.

Sayama took it and flipped through the pages.

“You had so many houses. And the people living in them worked at the schools, stores, and government offices. But out of fear of dangerous writing, you could not record any of it. You never expanded the writing technology that would support those records and UCAT is currently keeping our technology from you.”

“That is true…”

“UCAT will remove the restrictions on that technology as a form of reparations,” said Sayama.

Fasolt turned to Ooshiro who looked back at him.

“Well, we would need to negotiate it out with the UCATs from other countries. What a pain,” said the old man.

Fasolt gave a quiet laugh from the throat and listened as Sayama continued to speak.

“Our world is immature, Fasolt. About a thousand years ago, we believed our world had the same table shape as your world. But our people walked, left records, and changed our beliefs to match the truth. And even now we are building up more and more records to divide truth from falsehood.”

“And you are telling us to do the same? I see,” said Fasolt with a nod.

It was a nice idea. If they had writing tools that could be mass produced, they would only need people with the ability to write in the proper way. And instead of restricting usage of the writing tools as the royal family had done, they would restrict the words that held power and spread the safe words.

Knowledge would spread and they would even be able to interact with other cultures. However…

“Sayama Mikoto. That is a nice idea, but a problem remains. And our negotiations must continue.”

“Eh?” said Shinjou as Fasolt turned back toward Sayama.

Sayama showed no panic or surprise over his words.

He only said, “Yes, you understand, don’t you? Writing can betray those who use it. Building up and spreading records can do more than create; it can also destroy.” Sayama held up the hardcover book. “If you obtain the technology to publish books, you will have books like this one. And that will pass your grudges down to the later generations. The power we give you will create more enemies for us.”

“And that is why I must ask you something, boy… No, you are no boy. You are merely Sayama Mikoto. Can you give us this technology without fearing the spread of our grudges, protect Siegfried and the holy sword Gram, and also acquire the Concept Core?”

“Of course,” replied Sayama.

Shinjou’s eyes opened wide when she heard what Sayama said.

“Y-you can’t, Sayama-kun! You can’t make an enemy of him!”

“I think it will be fine. Fasolt understands that this investigation report is nothing more than reference material. After I rebuked him, he admitted that it includes personal opinion.”

“He did, but…”

Fasolt nodded.

“Those comments and the records of them are worth nothing. At the negotiating table, only the final decision matters.”

Ooshiro looked up and said, “Um, you do know I am working really hard typing up everything you say, right? Please do not say it is worth nothing.”

Fasolt ignored him. The half-dragon looked down at the remains of the cell phone lying between Sayama and himself.

“My comment admitting the investigation report contains personal opinion will not remain in the records. That means I can insist on its legitimacy. No matter what you say, it will be seen as accurate. Even if you protest, it will be published and distributed to everyone. A large number of people will believe it over you!”

“Fasolt, I am about to test how much you have been paying attention. Is that okay?”

Sayama’s sudden words caused Fasolt to look up.

“What?”

“I will be asking some questions and you will answer me. Got it? When you destroyed the cell phone whose remains lie before me, did you check to see if it was running?”

Shinjou did not understand the point of the question.

And Fasolt did not seem to either.

He sank down slightly and asked, “Are you saying…it was not running?”

Those words which were inarticulate for a half-dragon caused Shinjou to tilt her head in confusion.

“What do you mean?” she asked and Fasolt quickly turned toward her.

“Why are you asking?”

“Oh, um, it’s nothing. Nothing at all. There might have been a slight misunderstanding.

She frantically waved her hands in front of her, but Fasolt kept his gaze on her. He opened his fang-filled mouth and spoke.

“What is going on? Shinjou, I thought you and Sayama were working together. He would give you a sign and you would record what I-…”

“W-wait a second!”

Shinjou did not understand some of what he had said. And it reminded her of another baffling thing Fasolt had said earlier. Shinjou asked about the confusing parts.

“What do you mean we were working together? And what sign?”

Fasolt had been leaning forward, but he straightened up in an instant.

While still looking at Shinjou, he bared his teeth and trembled.

“Sayama Mikoto handed you the cell phone along with his coat. When he raised his handkerchief as a sign, you began recording, did you not? He wanted you to record my abusive remarks.”

“Eh? N-no. I wasn’t given that role.”

He was mistaken about something. For some reason, that half-dragon was focused on her even though she had been doing nothing but listen.

Fasolt continued to speak to provide his evidence.

“Then why did you squirm a bit whenever Sayama Mikoto pulled out his handkerchief and wiped his brow? He provided you with instructions when he handed you his coat, correct? I heard you say you could not do something.”

Shinjou gasped.

“N-no!”

She looked to the side and found Sayama staring expressionlessly up into the sky. He must have noticed her looking at him because he picked Baku up from his left shoulder and placed him on his head.

He and the beast squinted as they looked up into the sky.

He was determined to ignore her.

That left her with no choice. While prepared to blush, Shinjou proved her innocence to Fasolt.

“I-I will tell you what Sayama-kun told me to do when handing me his coat!” She hesitated for a moment. “ ‘I am so nervous that I really want to feel up your butt. If I am unable to resist any longer, I will give you a sign by raising my handkerchief. When I do, stick your butt out for me’! But I can’t do that. B-but it was a request from Sayama-kun, so I-I would jump in shock a bit whenever he pulled out his handkerchief!”

As she blushed and gave her explanation, Fasolt’s mouth hung limply open.

He slowly faced forward while his open mouth continued to produce no sound.

He stared at Sayama who still had Baku sitting on his head.

In response to everyone’s gazes, Sayama picked up what was lying next to him and held it up.

It was the digital recorder wrapped in his handkerchief. Its red power light was lit.

Sayama nodded and looked at Shinjou. He then spoke quietly for his own curiosity.

“Now, please continue, Shinjou-kun. What happened after you jumped in shock?”

“Why is that running!? Wasn’t its battery dead!?”

“Could you remain quiet, Fasolt? That will make it more difficult to edit later.”

“Th-the difficulty doesn’t matter! Explain what is going on!” demanded Shinjou.

Sayama picked up a part from the remains of the cell phone.

It was a battery that had been badly bent.

“You want to know why it is running? If you cannot answer a question this easy, I look forward to the difficulty you will face once you have paper, Fasolt. The answer is simple. I switched out the cell phone’s battery before entering this concept space. Most modern handheld devices use a standard battery type whether they are IAI-made or not. You should remember that.” He nodded and asked, “Fasolt, you were outside this place just before we entered the concept space, weren’t you? You used your limited time outside to observe me. Isn’t that right?”

“How do you know that?”

“The forest was too quiet. When a human is lurking in the forest, the birds and beasts grow cautious, but it was even more silent than that. In other words, there was something greater than a human there. Also, you had come from the field, but your jika-tabi had moss on them. That proves you had run through the forest. When you noticed me looking at it, you frantically kicked it off.” Sayama showed Fasolt the digital recorder. “When I noticed this recorder’s battery was dead, I realized someone had tried something. Once I knew my opponent had tried to eliminate my use of this device, I merely had to use that to my advantage. Once I received them from Shinjou-kun, I switched out the batteries and decided to use the cell phone as a decoy.”

“Then, Sayama-kun, this entire negotiation…”

“Has been recorded, yes. But it is missing the one thing I said while taking it out and placing it next to me. I had to turn it off to make it look like its battery was dead.”

Fasolt gulped and recalled what Sayama had said back then.

“You said the recorder’s battery was dead and that you intended to record any promises I made with the cell phone… Was it all to put me at ease so I would bring out greater demands!?”

“Now, now. Please stop discussing comments you have no proof were ever spoken,” said Sayama. “Or should I play back what I have recorded? I have you calling us aboriginals in response to my rebuke.”

“No, more importantly…what do you want?”

Sayama shook his head in response.

“I want nothing. But let us do what is natural. I will approve providing you with our technology if you allow us use of the Concept Core. And you may carry out an investigation of 1st-Gear’s destruction if it is done in cooperation with UCAT. For mutual understanding and reconciliation, we must have records if you are to have them. And once that is complete, we can begin thinking about what to do afterwards. …Am I wrong?”

In lieu of a response, Fasolt raised both of his hands.

Sayama sighed.

''So it is over,'' he thought.

He lowered Baku from his head and muttered a short statement.

“What a farce.”

Sayama’s annoyed statement caused Shinjou to tilt her head. She could see he was frowning.

“A farce? Why? You look displeased.”

Sayama nodded, looked in her direction, and then turned toward Ooshiro.

“Old man, please do not make me do this again.”

Ooshiro looked up and gave a bitter smile. Shinjou could make no sense of the exchange.

“Wh-what do you mean? What did Ooshiro-san do?”

“I realized it partway through. The old man set all this up. Think about it. How was Fasolt able to touch my possessions? And who asked you to return them to me? How was Fasolt able to wait for us outside the concept space during his limited time outside of it? And who was it that stopped us in front of him and asked if I was carrying anything?” He took a breath. “Simply put, these preliminary negotiations were a test. I realized it once I noticed the paper technology issue. 1st-Gear is obedient enough to go along with Low-Gear’s restrictions. In that case, it was odd for Fasolt to be on the attack. I am ashamed I did not realize why and grew so worked up over a prank.”

Sayama folded his arms and closed his eyes. Shinjou was unsure what to say to him.

Fasolt laughed from deep in his throat.

“Do not feel too bad, Sayama Mikoto. You may not believe me, but I was serious.”

“Serious, hm?”

Sayama sighed with his eyes still closed.

His shoulders drooped and he seemed to have his own thoughts on the matter.

…''Does he think Fasolt went easy on him?

“O-Ooshiro-san. Was today’s negotiation effective?”

“Yes, removing the restriction on paper manufacturing is indeed a useful idea. I believe this was effective.”

“Take this seriously. Sayama-kun wasn’t arguing for fun.”

Hearing that, Sayama opened his eyes. Shinjou looked him in the eye and thought.

…''He can manage something in any situation.

“You are like the evil king of sophistry.”

“Thank you for the blunt opinion,” said Sayama with a bitter smile.

But Shinjou looked at him once more. When faced with an opponent making an absurd argument, this boy had refused to negotiate properly and had replied with an absurd argument of his own.

…''The surname Sayama indicates a villain. Is that it?

She recalled that Sayama had said he possessed the abilities needed to carry out evil.

''Is this what he meant?'' thought Shinjou.

She wondered what she would have done had she been in his place.

…''If I had come back with a proper argument, I might have only been faced with another absurd argument.

But the truth of that could not be known. And it was a fact that Sayama’s absurd argument had caused Fasolt to give in.

The only other information she had was Sayama’s expression and the drooping of his shoulders.

…''He did not get serious. That is probably because he realized partway through what Ooshiro-san had done.

She nodded and decided she would willingly play the role of listener if he wanted to complain about anything.

Doing so would surely be valuable for what had ended here today.

And just as Shinjou made up her mind, Fasolt turned to Sayama and spoke.

“This really did not go as I planned. Perhaps I should have expected that with Sayama’s grandson.”

Shinjou saw Sayama hold the left side of his chest. He frowned and looked up at Fasolt.

“You knew my grandfather?”

“I did, even if it was only for a short time. When we first arrived in this world, he was the member of UCAT that prepared the location which became this reservation. Siegfried had given him the holy sword Gram, so he extracted the concepts needed to create this place. I have not seen him since those initial negotiations, though.”

“I see. Then I suppose you would know nothing of my father. He worked for IAI.”

“We do not leave this place, so we know nothing of that. However, I do remember your grandfather quite well,” said Fasolt. “Sixty years ago, we exchanged arguments very similar to these provisional negotiations. He too shouted angrily at me when I requested reparations equal to the number of the dead. He told me not to calculate the number and value of the dead and to instead live peacefully here and put together a plan to restore our lost pride, even if there was an opposing faction. We have yet to do that, though.”

Shinjou suddenly turned to Ooshiro who sat next to Fasolt. Ooshiro glanced toward Fasolt’s back.

On that back that she had once clung to were the scars from the severed wings.

''Oh,'' realized Shinjou in her heart. ''So that’s it.

A short silence followed. Whatever Fasolt may have thought of that silence, he slowly turned toward Ooshiro who was looking up at him. While glancing over at the old man, he spoke in a critical tone.

“This is more your problem than mine, but UCAT is filled with too many mysteries.”

“It is an organization that has hidden itself in the world so that it may save that world. Of course it has a lot of mysteries.”

“So not even 1st-Gear’s representative knows the details,” commented Sayama.

Fasolt nodded and said, “We know almost nothing about UCAT’s activities. The one thing everyone knows is that a large scale change occurred in 1995. Japanese UCAT was temporarily dissolved and reorganized.”

Shinjou and Sayama both spoke in unison.

“Temporarily dissolved and reorganized?”

Sayama saw Fasolt look at Shinjou and himself.

“So you do not know about that. It happened suddenly at the end of ’95 which was almost the exact same time Shinjou was taken in by UCAT. All of the personnel other than the leaders left the organization.”

“Why?”

“I do not know, Sayama Mikoto. I would love to be told. I would assume only Ooshiro here and a few others know the truth behind it. One theory is that they were taking responsibility for the many deaths during relief operations after the Great Kansai Earthquake.”

“I see,” said Sayama with a nod.

He was not discouraged.

The Leviathan Road had come with several conditions added by his grandfather. One of those was that they had to gather all of their information themselves.

Here, he only needed to learn about 1st-Gear. And…

…''This just means I need to investigate UCAT in addition to the ten Gears.

Sayama nodded and Fasolt nodded in return. The half-dragon then turned to Shinjou and opened his mouth to speak.

“I have gone back and forth on whether I should tell you this, but I will tell you now since you have returned after so long.”

“Eh? Me?” she asked.

“Yes. It will be an old story for you two. This concept space was constructed by Sayama Kaoru, but he said he was only able to do so by basing it on some data he had been given.”

“From another UCAT member?”

“No, he said it was from another member of the former National Defense Department. While investigating for the National Defense Department, this person had managed to estimate what concepts the different Gears used. Sayama Kaoru said he had only followed the data from back then.”

Fasolt looked up into the sky. His gaze moved slowly around as if he could see the invisible wall forming the concept space.

“This person originally became involved in the National Defense Department while working as the assistant of a Professor Kinugasa, but they never joined UCAT. I do not know what became of this person.”

“Who was this person?” asked Sayama.

Fasolt spoke a single surname.

“Shinjou. That is all I was told.”

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| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume2 Chapter 20|Chapter 20]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume12 Chapter 10

2026-04-03T02:01:21Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 10: A Comfortable Place==
[[Image:OnC_v12_0295.png|thumb]]
''I may be feeling down, but you’re full of energy

''Even if it’s really annoying

A small six square meter room faced the east.

The fluorescent light on the ceiling had a Japanese-style cover and two people moved below it.

One was a woman in glasses and a blue kimono. The other was a girl in a gray kimono.

The two of them were laying out a futon in the room.

However, the woman in blue was having trouble getting the kimono in place and the girl in gray could not use her right leg well enough to fix it.

“Um, Ryouko? The sheet is out of place on your end.”

“Oh, sorry, Shi-chan. But don’t you think that’s the sheet’s fault?”

“No, I don’t see how it could be-… Anyway, how about I do it all?”

“You can’t. It would hurt the reputation of the Tamiya family.”

The girl in gray, Shino, looked at Ryouko.

Ryouko frowned as she stared at the sheet and groaned as she fixed its position.

“And we have to treat you right when Kouji of all people took you in.”

“Eh?”

Ryouko brought a hand to her chin and looked at the sheet’s position.

“He doesn’t have a tendency to take people in like I do, so someone like you is rare.”

“R-really?”

“I wonder why he took you in.”

“Well, um, I was lying injured on the road.”

“That’s too boring.”

She gave Shino a serious look and raised her right index finger.

“You have to at least say it’s because he has a thing for little girls! Otherwise it isn’t exciting enough.”

“I-I’m not that little!!”

“You’re right. We did take a bath together when you first got here.”

“Wah.”

That unexpected response made Shino lean back in surprise.

She had needed some assistance because of her broken leg, but Ryouko had handled most of it. She could not let the leg get too warm, so she had started with only using the shower. However, Ryouko had often spoken to her from the bath. She had initially ignored the woman, but…

“You were so quiet, but you finally said something when I tickled you.”

“B-but…”

“It’s easier to talk than to stay silent, isn’t it?”

Ryouko smiled.

“And you know what?” she continued. “Talking about what you decided not to say is a lot of fun. In an immoral way.”

She spoke with a smile, but her tone was even sharper than with her previous serious expression.

Shino was a little surprised, but Ryouko’s smile remained.

“Is everyone treating you well?”

“Eh? …Oh, yes. They’re giving me plenty of food.”

“Tch. They’re all trying to get on your good side.”

“Eh? D-d-did you say something!?”

“Don’t worry about it, don’t worry about it. But Shi-chan?”

Ryouko tilted her head while still smiling.

“Do you like it here?”

Shino was unsure what to say.

They had taken her in, they let her stay without asking anything, they made food for her, and lately she had helped with that too.

Kouji was indirectly inviting her to venture outside for rehabilitation, but she had not yet worked up the resolve to face the world, UCAT would be looking for her, and…

…''The others from the Army might find me.

That kept her from wanting to head outside.

All those things kept her here, but on the emotional side…

“It isn’t a bad place…”

''What do I think?'' she wondered.

She had met Kouji, Ryouko, and other unique people here.

…''So what am I supposed to think about the people of this world?

Before, she had thought about the school near this house and the lives of the people living in this area.

What was she supposed to think now?

…''I’m supposed to be their enemy.

But she could not even say that and she could not join the others because she did not want Mikoku to push her away.

“…”

She had come to her own understanding of what Shinjou had said about her “graduating” from the Army.

…''My feelings are still with the Army, but I now belong here instead of with them.

However, did that mean she was no longer part of the Army?

“————”

That thought made her gasp and she felt a dull sweat on her back.

“Shi-chan?”

She was brought back to her senses by Ryouko’s voice and the eyes leaning over like a cat to peer at her.

Her eyes focused and she saw Ryouko’s face close enough to feel her breath.

“Sorry, Shi-chan.”

“No, um, you don’t have to…”

“But I do. I shouldn’t have said something that got you so lost in thought. I forgot you’re the serious type.”

Ryouko brushed back her hair, laughed quietly, and narrowed her eyes.

“But you sure are cute. When you’re worried about things, it shows on your face.”

“P-please don’t tease me. I’m trying to take this seriously.”

“Wow, you’re actually mad. I’m so happy.”

Ryouko clapped her hands in joy, but Shino sighed and lowered her shoulders.

“I already knew I couldn’t stand up to you…”

However, she then said “um” to begin a new question. She asked about the greatest reason for her mixture of relief and doubt concerning her current situation.

“Why are the people here so kind to me?”

“Why do you think?”

“I was asking because I don’t know.”

“I see.” Ryouko glanced up at the ceiling. “It’s because they’re only interested in girls below the age of fifteen.”

“Eek.”

“Just kidding, just kidding.”

“O-of course.”

“Yeah, that’s only a few of them. …Just kidding, just kidding. But I don’t think they mean any harm, so go easy on them.”

Shino wondered how she was supposed to “go easy” on them and she saw Ryouko smile bitterly.

“Well, I think it isn’t really kindness if there’s a reason for it. …Did you think we were showing you that ‘other kind’ of kindness? Did you think we were getting something out of it?”

Only then did Shino realize what her question had meant.

She sensed something nasty behind the thought that created the question.

“Sorry…”

“You’re so cute, Shi-chan. That was a leading question.”

“Eh?”

“You only asked if there ''was'' a reason. But when I asked what you thought, you had to start thinking ''of'' a reason, right?”

“Oh.”

Shino was at a loss for words and Ryouko lowered the ends of her eyebrows.

“Sorry about that, Shi-chan. I should be the one apologizing. But make sure you only fall for that kind of thing when it’s me. Otherwise you’ll get abducted by some bad men.”

“…”

A moment later, Shino felt a weight on her head. It was Ryouko’s hand as she rubbed her head.

“And Shi-chan? Because of what happened to our family in the past, we make a point of helping people.”

“In the past?”

“Yes,” replied Ryouko. “It was the kindness of a complete stranger that allowed our family to survive.”

“What happened to that stranger?”

“They died before we could thank them. Since my parents didn’t know who to thank, they decided to be kind to everyone just in case it would reach that person somehow. That gave us a habit of being kind and…”

A quiet laugh reached Shino’s ears.

“More recently in the past, I learned that the stranger had a granddaughter, but that granddaughter didn’t know anything about what had happened.”

Shino thought about what that meant.

…''Ryouko knew something that person didn’t.

Shino felt she shared that trait.

And that made her wonder what Ryouko had done about that important fact.

Ryouko gave the answer before she could even ask.

“I never told her. If I had…it felt like it would have placed her above me.”

“Th-then do you ever wish you had told her?”

The fact that she held such an important secret led Shino to ask, but…

“I don’t know. Because no matter what I think now, there’s no way I could have said it at the time.”

Ryouko answered with a bitter smile, leaving Shino slightly dumbfounded. Shino had started leaning forward, so she straightened up.

“Do you not…regret it?”

“Hm? Of course I do. I didn’t say it at the time, she ended up leaving for somewhere far away, and I was actually relieved by that fact. I regret every part of that and I seriously worried about it for a long time, but…”

Ryouko rubbed Shino’s head again.

“Our young master brought back someone who had inherited that person’s surname. The Tamiya family was finally able to give its thanks and repay them. After sixty years, we finally did it.”

“Wait…”

Shino belatedly realized who Ryouko was referring to.

“You mean Shinjou, don’t you?”

“Yes. And I would be happy if you could get along with our young master and Setsu-chan.”

Ryouko finally let go of Shino’s head.

She straightened up on the futon, smiled, and opened her mouth again.

“Are you listening?” she began. “If you’re worrying about whether you should be here or not, remember that we don’t mind at all. If there’s a problem, it’s on your end. Kouji, the others, and I don’t care what kind of person you are. You may be a bad person, you may have run away from home, there may be a search for you underway right this moment, and it may be a crime to keep you here, but… None of that matters as long as you do one thing in addition to getting along with our young master and Setsu-chan.”

“One thing?”

“Yes.” Ryouko nodded. “Don’t force yourself to do anything. Forcing yourself to do something is painful.”

She took a breath.

“And what you’re worrying about is your problem, so don’t hold it inside. You can’t make it someone else’s problem, so you should just do whatever it is you want to do. And…”

Ryouko said one last thing to Shino.

“I think you should be fine going with whatever answer that gives you.”

A ten square meter tatami mat room was prepared for a meal.

The round fluorescent light had a Japanese-style shade and a round table sat below it.

A girl in track shorts and a T-shirt was wiping off the table.

The chest of the T-shirt said Heo in magic marker.

“Harakawa, I’ve finished cleaning the table. I’ll go clean up the closet now, so you go take your bath.”

“You take your bath first, Heo Thunderson. I’m busy fixing our late dinner.”

She heard Harakawa’s voice and the sound of a knife on a cutting board coming from the kitchen.

He could not see her, but she still shook her head at his suggestion.

“A package should be coming for me soon.”

“You called UCAT after we left the school, didn’t you? What’s in the package?”

“A laptop.”

“I see. Then we’ll at least have to check it for bugs and hidden cameras.”

“You’re following a pretty strict set of rules, aren’t you?”

Heo’s shoulders drooped as she slid open the closet door.

“And Heo,” continued Harakawa. “Don’t tell me…”

“I’m only borrowing it. I didn’t buy it or have someone give it to me.”

As a freeloader, she made that clear up front.

“There’s something I want to look into. …Back before November, Hajji of the Army explained how the world was made, remember?”

“What about it?”

“That’s been bothering me. I don’t really understand it all, but I can’t help but wonder if that’s really true or not.”

“We do know that Top-Gear existed, so it must be true.”

“Yes,” agreed Heo while asking herself where this doubt came from if she thought it was true. “I’m not trying to say that explanation of the world’s creation isn’t true. But…it scares me to think it all happened the way Hajji said it did.”

“Are you looking into it because you’re scared? Are you borrowing a computer, running simulation after simulation, and wasting your time until you give up, Heo Thunderson?”

Harakawa’s words briefly caused Heo’s heart to shrink back.

She thought that was a more realistic way of looking at it than her own and she wondered if he would ever understand her worry.

“I don’t want to give up. I want to be prepared.”

To make sure he did not reject her opinion, she continued before he could say anything.

“I want facts to support the truth. I want to solidify our footing. After all, Top-Gear isn’t our only opponent anymore. We have to speak to Low-Gear’s crimes when facing the other Gears as well.”

“That’s not quite accurate, Heo. They aren’t Low-Gear’s crimes. They’re our parents’ crimes and they’re crimes that never would have been found out if no one had said anything.”

“Yes,” agreed Heo, but she said nothing more.

She did not want Harakawa to reject her doubts or thoughts any further.

She had a feeling he would not accept a mere vague uneasiness.

…''I really should talk it out with him, though.

She had nothing to support her doubts. She simply felt that something about it did not sit well with her. It could be nothing more than a desire to oppose Hajji for rejecting their world without giving them a chance to speak.

But she wanted to investigate it and find an answer she would accept. And she did not want anyone to keep her from doing that.

With that in mind, she crawled into the closet. The bottom shelf acted as her bed and bedroom and the walls and floor were fully equipped with insulating mats now that winter had arrived.

She would sometimes hit her head on the top, so Harakawa had added a polyurethane cover.

She turned on the light to reveal a bookshelf filled with textbooks and other books and a shelf containing her clothes and other small belongings.

The drawing board she had originally used as a study desk had been added to the wall after Harakawa told her to maintain a proper posture while studying. She now used the living room table as a study desk, just like Harakawa did.

She pulled a board from between the books on the bookshelf.

It was a mirror of about A4 size and a photograph was held in the skinny wooden frame. It was from when she had won first place at the athletic festival race and accidentally ran over to Harakawa in the stands instead of lining up by the numbered flags.

She was satisfied that her current self in the mirror resembled the smiling self in the photo.

“…”

She returned the mirror to the bookshelf.

Her surroundings were dimly lit and the kitchen’s sounds reached her.

The chopping had changed to the washing of a pot.

Harakawa always used cold water to wash the dishes and he never let Heo help.

She had yet to decide how to interpret that.

…''Should I help?

But a sudden sound cut off her thoughts.

It was a cellphone.

Hers was sitting in the charger at the back of the closet, but Harakawa’s was in his pocket.

Before she could climb further into the closet, the water stopped and there was a short pause for Harakawa to dry his hands.

“This is Harakawa. Heo’s here too.”

She heard him speak and then silently listen to something.

“…?”

Sudden confusion filled her as she crawled out onto the tatami mats.

…''Huh?

She felt distinct unease in his silence.

There was a reason for that.

This silence came from complete motionlessness.

She knew Harakawa’s habits when he listened to people, but she did not hear him cautiously crossing his arms or leaning up against anything to urge the speaker on.

What was UCAT telling him that warranted such silence?

…''Did someone else fight one of the other Gears like Kazami and Izumo did?

But why would that make him so silent? He had received word of Izumo and Kazami’s battles before heading out to the school, but he had still conversed with the caller then.

So where did this motionless silence come from?

“Um…”

Unable to endure the silence, Heo started to speak.

But at that exact moment…

“Understood. You take care of things there.”

She heard Harakawa’s voice from the kitchen and the sound of him putting plates in the sink to soak.

“Heo.”

Hearing her name came as such a surprise that she found herself unable to respond.

“Can you hear me, Heo Thunderson?”

“Y-yes. What is it?”

“I have work to do. I’ll be going to Yokota. Make and eat dinner on your own.”

“Eh?”

''What is going on?'' she wondered.

She had heard her cellphone ring too.

That call had been from UCAT, not from Harakawa’s part-time job at the US base.

As if to answer her doubts, he left the kitchen. He balled up his khaki apron, tossed it toward the washing machine, and removed his leather jacket from the hanger by the entrance.

“Heo, let me tell you one thing. Until Sayama returns…no, until Sayama returns and settles things with Top-Gear, don’t get involved with the Leviathan Road.”

She stiffened at that sudden command and he continued as he put on his jacket.

“You should stay away from the Leviathan Road altogether, Heo Thunderson.”

After Harakawa verbally pushed her away, Heo breathed in yet did not lose her voice.

“I don’t want to do that! Wh-what came over you all of a sudden!?”

He did not answer her reactionary shout. Instead, he picked up the keys sitting on the shoe-holder at the entrance.

The jingling of the keys sounded awfully cold among the living sounds of him dressing to go out.

So Heo got up from the floor.

“Harakawa! Please say something!”

“I’m saying it’s dangerous, Heo Thunderson.”

She thought she heard him sigh.

“Continuing with the Leviathan Road will create hatred directed at us. …Until now, all the hate was caused by what our grandparents or parents did, but from here on, it will be us they hate. Are you sure you want that?” he asked. “Is the power you were given meant to spread hate? Think carefully, Heo Thunderson.”

“Think carefully? But about what?”

“Luckily, there are no survivors of 5th-Gear. You are the representative of 5th-Gear and its Concept Core is safely stored in the Vesper Cannon below UCAT. That gives no one a reason to attack you. …And as 5th-Gear’s representative, you need to be protected, Heo.”

So…

“If you stay put, you can avoid having anyone hate you.”

As he spoke with his back turned, Heo realized two things.

“Someone was attacked, weren’t they? And had their Concept Core taken.”

The answer to her question was simple.

“You can stay in a safe place, so that is none of your concern, Heo Thunderson.”

He put on his shoes, sighed toward the floor, and gave an additional comment.

“There is nothing for you to do now. Taking any careless action would only put you in danger. …You understand, don’t you? This apartment is protected by the Americans, so don’t make their job any harder than it already is.”

“But-…!”

She tried to shout in protest, but he cut her off.

“Do you really think I don’t know about the dreams that wake you up in the night?”

“…”

“Who is it that still has nightmares of Black Sun or the Army’s attack? Do you want to add more bad memories to the list? That isn’t a duty of yours. Would your parents have wanted that?”

“B-but without us, the others won’t have any large aerial firepower if there ''is'' a battle! Kazami can’t handle it all on her own.”

“But that would place the sins on your own back.”

He crushed her words and she could not deny what he was telling her.

But she still wanted to object, so she took a breath and a step forward.

“Why are you saying this all of a sudden? We’ve fought alongside the others until now!”

“Because I’ve realized doing that any more would be too dangerous. From here on, you would be accepting the world’s hatred.”

With his shoes on, Harakawa stood up and kept his back to her.

“This is no longer a battle against the hatred created by our grandparents or parents. This is about us changing the world ourselves. Heo, are you really prepared to do that just because someone you know is?”

She had no logical argument against his point.

It was true that the others were fighting as Team Leviathan, yet she could avoid being targeted herself.

Even her investigation of the world’s creation with that borrowed laptop was only for her own personal satisfaction.

So if possible, she should remain safely in UCAT as much as possible.

…''And try to head out only in an emergency.

But that was definitely the plan of someone in a safe place.

And if she left that safe place, she would be placing hatred onto herself.

“So, Heo. Is your power truly necessary at the moment? There is no hatred directed at you, so are you really going to go out of your way to find some? Well?”

With that last word, Harakawa turned back toward her in the entrance.

She wanted to say something and stepped forward.

“———”

But no words left her.

The boy standing before her had his eyebrows slightly raised and a sharp look in his eyes.

…''He’s serious.

He seemed to be telling her not to make any pointless arguments.

“But…”

Her words crumbled.

“Why are you trying to hold me back?”

Just before October, he had kept American UCAT from doing exactly that.

Instead of feeling satisfied at being holed up in a safe place, he had told her to go wherever she pleased.

That was why she was here in the first place.

“If I’m trapped here, I can’t go anywhere anymore.”

Even she knew that was an odd thing to say, but that was all she could say.

This was the only place she had and yet she was being imprisoned here.

She brought her trembling hands to her cheeks and felt tears spilling from her eyes.

“Why?”

She wiped the tears away as she asked.

“Why would you say that, Harakawa? You were the one who pushed me to go somewhere dangerous, so why are you holding me back now?”

“Think about that for yourself, Heo Thunderson.”

He stood up and looked at her without holding out his hand.

She felt like he was testing her, but in that case, what was he testing her for?

“Do you not want me here?” she asked.

His eyebrows moved a little at that.

“If that is what you think, then you can leave, Heo Thunderson. You might think you have nowhere to go, but you have plenty. You could go to Japanese UCAT or American UCAT. But…”

She listened to him.

“At the very least, this is not the kind of place you’re looking for.”

“Th-then where am I supposed to go!?”

“Pay attention, Heo. What do you think I’m doing right now?”

She looked to him, sniffed her runny nose, and saw him in his leather jacket.

She then remembered what his mother Yui had once said.

…''If he really did mind, he would leave on his own.

What that meant reached her all the more because he had not told her himself.

And so her words came from deep in her heart.

“No…”

Not even she had expected herself to sound so dazed, but she still tried to step forward into the entranceway.

“N-no! If anyone…if anyone should leave, it’s me!”

If he left, she could no longer stay here.

And that would ultimately mean she would be trapped.

But he gave a single answer with his back turned.

“I’ll be back late. This job will probably take a while.”

Those words were accompanied by the chill of the winter night.

Harakawa opened the door and stepped out into the rectangle of night beyond it.

She tried to follow, but the outside air turned her breath white and her T-shirt and bike shorts were not enough to protect her.

Her trembling legs stumbled on the room’s divider frame.

“…!”

She tripped onto the entranceway floor just as the door closed.

“Ah.”

She bent her body and pushed herself up with both hands.

“Harakawa!”

The closed steel door bounced her words back at her.

She had been abandoned and left behind.

She had been left alone.

That meant…

…''He thinks I’m someone he can just leave behind. He doesn’t care if I’m left alone.

She wanted to think that was not true, but the sound of a motorcycle starting up said otherwise.

So she stood up. She grimaced at having fallen on her knees, but it was not an issue of any actual pain. There was a different, invisible pain coming from somewhere else.

A heavy, sinking, and inescapable feeling filled the bottom of her chest.

“Harakawa!”

She shouted for him not to leave her behind and stepped barefoot into the entranceway.

She turned the steel doorknob and prepared to push her body against the door to open it.

“Ah…”

But she heard the motorcycle driving off into the distance.

He was leaving. The sound of the engine shook the door and permeated her body, but it quickly faded away.

“Ah.”

And it was gone.

It had completely vanished.

Even when she strained her ears and held her breath, she could not hear a thing.

''He’s gone,'' she thought.

However, she had no idea where to place that fact in her mind. She simply went limp and leaned against the door.

“No…”

The green door would not open. She removed her hands from the knob and covered her face.

She did nothing but raise her voice and cry.

She had been abandoned, she had been left behind, he was not coming back, this was all she had been to him, and she no longer knew what her life here had meant. All of that mixed together and weighed on her heart.

“Ahh…”

She doubled over, slid down the door, and found her elbow had reached the cement. She had fallen onto her side in the entranceway.

She curled up, forcibly kicked away the shoes in the way of her body and legs, and cried some more.

“Why?”

She sobbed and let her covered face sink into the center of her curled-up body.

She then let out a trembling voice.

“Harakawa.”

There was no response and she eventually stopped calling his name.

However, she did hear a sudden sound in the quiet entranceway.

“Eh?”

It answered her doubt by sounding again. This time, she realized it was a low and quiet rumbling.

It was her stomach growling.

“Uuh…”

Still crying and with her face red, Heo stopped moving.

However, her stomach did not care.

It quietly growled again as if asking for something.

So she got up and brought a hand to her stomach.

“H-honestly. Why do you have to do this now? Why when I’m feeling so down?”

She willed it to stop and gathered strength in her abs.

But it did not hesitate to growl again, so she sadly collapsed back onto the floor.

“Honestly… Does my body not know how to take anything seriously?”

Feeling ashamed of herself, she stretched out on the floor.

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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume12 Chapter 9|Chapter 9]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume12 Chapter 11|Chapter 11]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume2 Chapter 16

2026-04-02T02:20:30Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 16: The Conditions of Good Will==
[[Image:OnC_v02_0071.png|thumb]]
''I shall chirp

''If I sing well

''Will it reach someone?

After landing on the roof, Brunhild entered the school building with her three-cornered hat and broom in hand. She “unlocked” the rooftop door with her philosopher’s stone and quickly made her way to the art room on the third floor. Her footsteps sounded loudly as she made her way down the stairs with the cat.

She unlocked the art room, entered, and found the same dimness as when she had left.

The clock on the wall read 2:00 AM.

A cardboard box sat atop the work desk next to the window whose curtains had been drawn.

The box was in the same place as when she had left. There was no sign of anyone having touched it.

Brunhild breathed a sigh of relief.

She placed her hat and broom on a nearby desk and peered into the box.

The small bird was inside.

However, it was not sleeping in the center. Its small form was collapsed with its head on the edge of the food dish.

It was not moving.

Brunhild’s knees gave out and she fell to the floor.

Brunhild suddenly realized she was sitting on the floor.

She could not remember why she had sat down.

And before she could find an answer, she felt a cold sensation on her butt and thighs. It was the temperature of the wooden floor.

This brought the same question to mind once more: why was she sitting on the floor?

And then…

“Brunhild!”

The familiar voice of the black cat stabbed into her ears and her shoulder’s jumped.

She came back to her senses. She understood the situation. And then she felt strength fill her body. That feeling in her back, shoulders, arms, waist, and legs brought back her determination.

''What can I do?'' she thought as she shot to her feet.

And then she saw the black cat leaning into the cardboard box.

“What are-…?”

Before she could say “you doing”, the cat stopped her by looking up at her. Its gaze was straightforward and its eyes contained no calm.

“Brunhild.”

Brunhild wanted to stop it from speaking any more, but it opened its mouth regardless.

“It’s still alive.”

“Eh…?”

Brunhild’s vision suddenly started to grow distorted, but she steadied her breathing and asked a question.

“What do you mean?”

“It looks like some of the food got caught in its throat. And I think it’s hungry as well. Get the tweezers.”

Brunhild began to search for the tweezers. She was panicked, so it took her several seconds to remember she had left them next to the cardboard box. When she faced forward with them in hand, the cat was lightly holding the bird in place with its front paws.

The bird’s beak opened and something yellow was visible within.

“You couldn’t swallow it, could you?”

Brunhild used the tweezers to grab the piece of corn stuck in the bird’s throat. She pulled, but failed twice due to using too little force. If she pulled too strongly, she could injure the bird’s throat.

Brunhild dipped the tip of the tweezers in the bird’s water. She then slowly grabbed the food and pulled it out. The piece was smaller than the pieces she had given it that evening.

The cat sighed and said, “It probably is not used to taking food from a dish yet. If the food isn’t fed to it from above, the food can’t get through its throat. …Look, it’s breathing, but weakly. What should we do?”

Brunhild thought on that question.

What should she do? She thought and began speaking what sounded right to her in the order the ideas came to her.

“We need to lightly wrap it in cloth, warm it up, and give it some food…”

“You can’t exactly feed it in this state.”

That comment troubled Brunhild. The cat was exactly right. What could she feed it?

She did not know.

“But at this rate…”

It was no good. That was why Brunhild made up her mind. She placed her hands on the cardboard box.

“I will find someone who knows what they are doing.”

“Is there anyone like that here? You’re almost all alone in the dorm, remember? You’ve also been all alone with your club activities because of spring break.”

“But this is my only option.”

“Well, first you need to change.”

Brunhild looked down and realized she was still wearing the black clothes of a witch.

“It’s all over for us if we draw too much suspicion,” added the cat.

“But,” began Brunhild before gritting her teeth.

She ground her teeth together, but nodded.

“I am from 1st-Gear…”

She walked over to and opened the locker. Requiem Sense greeted her with a dull light, but she said nothing. She grabbed the uniform lying below it and placed it atop the work desk.

She removed the black clothes. She realized clothes perfectly fitted to her body were inconvenient when it came to quickly removing them.

Fifteen seconds. It took that long for Brunhild to strip off the black clothes. She opened the curtain as she grabbed the shirt of her uniform. No light was coming from the school buildings or girls’ dorm visible out the window.

Was no one there or were they sleeping? Would they help her? As she stared into the darkness with those thoughts filling her mind, she thought her knees would give out. She shook her head, looked up, and realized the hand holding her shirt was trembling.

She heard silence. Nothing but silence

Brunhild held the sleeve between her teeth as she passed her hand through it and a muffled voice leaked out.

“What am I supposed to do…?”

Late at night, Sayama passed through the entrance of the second year general school building on his way to the Kinugasa Library.

He had been on his way back from a convenience store just outside the main entrance of the academy. The bag hanging from his hand contained packing tape, two drinks in plastic bottles, and a bit of light food like rice balls.

Shinjou Setsu was currently unpacking his luggage in their room. During the short period in which the floor was unusable, Sayama had gone out with Baku to buy a late-night meal, but he had noticed the Kinugasa Library’s lights were on when he had returned.

“I thought we locked up for the night when Shinjou-kun arrived earlier…”

…''Could it be that someone from 1st-Gear has arrived?

A glance at his watch told him it was 2:01 AM. The atmosphere of the night put Sayama on guard as he walked through the dark central lobby.

Baku glanced around to the left and right as he rode on Sayama’s shoulder. The small creature may have been acting as a lookout. Sayama smiled at the small bit of reassurance that gave him. He then felt tension within his own body and a slight phantom pain from the scars on his left hand.

When he pictured himself objectively, his smile transformed into a bitter one.

“I am walking through the school at night with a convenience store bag in hand while preparing myself for an enemy attack.”

…''What am I doing?

But the world had become a very dangerous place for him.

The source of that danger came from the Leviathan Road and the decision of whether to take part in it or not was drawing near.

''What should I do?'' he wondered as he leaned against the wall. If he turned left at the next corner, he would be in the hallway passing in front of the Kinugasa Library.

He would then know why the lights were on. Sayama nodded and looked forward.

He saw only darkness.

The dark emptiness before his eyes suddenly brought the previous day’s battle to mind.

He recalled the forest, the heavy breathing, the werewolf, and that werewolf’s expression just before the conclusion.

“…”

At that time, he had chosen to defeat his enemy and Shinjou behind him had not.

But that werewolf’s expression made him question whether it had truly been necessary to defeat it.

And it had been the same today. He had chosen to fight and Shinjou had chosen to save.

But had it truly been necessary to defeat that knight and the others?

Sayama remained silent. He thought of Shinjou, partially closed his eyes, and thought to himself.

…''I was wrong.

Why had he been unable to make any choice but the one he had?

…''If I could make the decision Shinjou-kun made, I would likely be more confident.

But that was something that could never happen. And so he must not think it.

“How can I hold pride in my own decisions?”

That was something his grandfather had not taught him.

And it was necessary. Not just to join the Leviathan Road, but to get serious about anything.

He took a breath. He opened his eyes and immediately began to move.

He made his way down the hallway in front of the Kinugasa Library while keeping his footsteps silent. He checked on the situation. The door was open and he could see inside. The library looked bright and empty.

“…”

He entered, closed the door behind him, and crouched down. The convenience store bag would make noise, so he tightly grabbed it lower than the handles to hold the contents in place.

He faced forward and spotted Siegfried next to the counter at the entrance.

The tall old man was asleep. He was sitting shallowly in his chair, his arms were folded above his stomach, and he looked perfectly peaceful.

A convenience store bag identical to the one Sayama held and an empty bento were placed on the counter.

“…So that is what happened.”

Sayama stood up and sighed. Red flames were visible in the small potbelly stove placed next to the old man. Sayama felt warmth coming from those flames and he waved his arms to relieve the tension from before.

Baku stretched atop his shoulder. He must have been tense as well because he let out a sigh.

“We certainly get along,” muttered Sayama as he stroked Baku’s head.

Immediately afterwards, Sayama’s vision slid away from the scene before his eyes.

Sayama saw a dimly-lit area.

It was not the Kinugasa Library. It was a single wooden room measuring five meters square. A table sat in the center.

The room was filled with a slight crimson light. The light illuminated a high ceiling that left the slope of the roof bare. The walls did not reach the ceiling and the length of the joists suggested there were six rooms total. Sayama was within the largest of the rooms.

And then Sayama looked down at himself.

…''I exist only as my vision once more.

This was the past being shown by Baku. Sayama did not know this place

Just as he began to wonder whose past it was, he noticed two figures across the table from him. The first was a young woman and the other was a man sleeping in a chair next to the table. The man had his back to Sayama.

The woman fixed the position of the blanket covering the man. The woman had long and soft red hair and a slender face. She wore a shirt and stole over a simple pale green dress.

Sayama thought it looked like an outfit from the Middle Ages as he looked over at the woman. From the lack of outward awareness in her actions and the way she walked on her tiptoes, Sayama could guess what sort of social status she belonged to. Suddenly, Sayama smiled. He had noticed a stain on the sleeve of her shirt.

…''Is that paint?

He lowered his head in his mind and walked forward. He moved to the other side of the table where he could see the two.

A fireplace was located on the wall opposite the table. The fireplace had no firewood or fire.

…''What?

A single slab of stone was placed in the fireplace.

The blue, slightly cracked slab was thirty centimeters square and it had a single word written on it. It was a foreign word that Sayama did not recognize. However, Sayama could sense the meaning of the word.

Fire.

The pale crimson light was being produced around the stone slab. It even produced heat and the flickering shimmer of a flame.

This told Sayama a certain truth: he was in 1st-Gear.

Sayama looked toward the two people in front of the fireplace. The woman was adjusting the hem of the sleeping man’s blanket. From Sayama’s new position, he could see the front of the man.

He was a young man. He had broad shoulders and a nicely-shaped nose. His hair was blond and short, and his eyes were closed in sleep. He wore long black clothes over his tall form which looked cramped in the chair.

Sayama recognized the man. And the woman adjusting the hem of the blanket spoke his name.

“Siegfried…”

With her back to Sayama, the woman suddenly tilted her head. She reached a hand past the blanket and underneath the chair. She seemed to have found something.

After a while, she slowly, slowly pushed her hand to the side underneath the chair. Something was hidden by the blanket there and she was pushing it out from under the chair.

What came into view was a birdcage. It was a new birdcage made from wooden branches tied together. A blue bird with a bandage around its right wing stood inside.

The woman sighed. She stood up with the birdcage in her arms and turned in Sayama’s direction.

She looked down while frowning slightly. She sighed again before speaking.

“Nein begged him to do it, I’m sure. And he even made a cage…”

The language was the same one the knight and the others had spoken during the day. He was hearing the meaning rather than the actual words spoken.

The bird in the cage then looked up. It looked up at the woman from its branch and spread its un-bandaged left wing. The wing bent into two at the middle. It gave a quick high-pitched chirp as it showed the woman its wing.

That chirp caused the woman to frantically turn toward Siegfried behind her.

He was asleep, but he turned his head a bit to the side and frowned.

The woman hurriedly placed the birdcage above the fireplace She ignored the bird that tilted its head as it looked at her. She covered the cage with a half-knit brown wool cloth.

She looked back and forth between the sleeping Siegfried and the chirping bird. She whispered toward the birdcage. Sayama smiled when he sensed her words meant “be quiet” and “go to sleep”.

The woman’s words must have gotten through to the bird because it quieted down after chirping a bit longer.

The woman let out a breath and spoke while bringing her arms around the birdcage.

“I suppose we have to keep it…”

“Yes,” replied a quiet voice.

Sayama looked over just as the woman did. Next to the fireplace, an old man was poking his face in below the lintel leading to the passageway.

The old man’s clothes were such a dark green they looked black. He was short and lean, the top of his head lacked any hair, and his face was covered in wrinkles, but his eyes held a powerful light.

The man entered the room and stood before the fireplace. He placed his hands on his lower back.

“Lady Gutrune, he is a soldier from another Gear. We must not let our guard down.”

“But, Doctor Regin, he saved our village. And…” The woman, Gutrune, pointed toward the birdcage covered by the half-knit wool. “Why did he do that? He came to destroy this world, but he stopped the rampage by the mechanical dragon my father, the king, had you make and he also worked to heal that injured bird.”

“…Where is Nein?”

“Sleeping…I think. After finishing dinner, she did nothing but listen to him play music on that instrument.”

Gutrune looked toward the hallway and Sayama followed her gaze.

He could not see anything, but the old man named Regin followed her gaze as well.

“It has been a long time since that six-rowed keyboard has been played. What song did he play?”

“I did not recognize it. He said he had been taught it long ago in his hometown.”

“So the other Gears have cultures much like ours.”

“Yes,” said Gutrune with a nod. She looked over at Siegfried and spoke more quietly. “That instrument had not been played for years, but that was because we had forgotten about it. We have been so busy ever since my father began tightening this Gear’s defenses. …We have had to create the mechanical dragons, extract the concepts to create the Concept Core, and seal off or defend every entrance into 1st-Gear.”

“What do you think of him, princess? Does a softhearted princess like you think he might have saved the village and rescued that bird so we would let our guard down?”

“Why would he need to do that for such a small world? With his power, I think he could have easily destroyed everything without doing that. Yet he has not done so and is now working to learn our language.”

“He said he came from a country with a similar language structure, similar terms, and similar written characters.”

“Yes. And today, he taught us the meaning of the lyrics of that song he sang while playing the keyboard.” Sayama saw Gutrune narrow her eyes as she watched Siegfried. “It was a holy song. It was not a song of demons as those suspicious of him say it is.”

“Are you referring to me?”

“No, Doctor Regin. I would not say you are suspicious of him. You are merely skeptical of everything.”

Gutrune then stroked Regin’s bald head.

Regin stopped her with both hands and, unsure what to do with her arms, she crossed them.

“It seems men do not like it when you stroke their head.”

“…Did you do the same to him?”

“Yes. When I taught him some words and he managed to get his meaning across. For some reason, he did not like it. Yet he always seems so happy when Nein does it.” Gutrune sighed but quickly composed herself and looked back toward Siegfried. “But is everyone in his Gear like him? Do they all end up saving people despite intending to fight?”

“You could perhaps say that he fights despite intending to save people.”

“I suppose so. …But I see possibility in that. It may be dangerous with how vague an idea it is, but if there are a lot of people like him, perhaps they could actually save people in their attempts to destroy.”

“Princess, your excellent upbringing leads you to think about things in such wonderful ways.”

“But how about this? Could someone like him use the holy sword Gram you created? Would that holy sword with a will of its own choose a simple human to be its master?”

Suddenly, Gutrune turned in the direction of Sayama’s vision.

“Hello,” she said with her eyes curved like a bow. Her gaze directly met his own.

Soon thereafter, Sayama realized what had happened. She was speaking to the corner of the room behind him.

Sayama turned around and found a short figure in the darkness of the corner where the light from the fireplace did not reach.

It was a girl. She was short and slender. She had gray hair and purple eyes. She stood behind Sayama while looking up at Gutrune. She was trying to reach up to the birdcage on top of the fireplace.

Behind her, Gutrune spoke with a smile in her voice.

“Were you hiding it all this time? Do not worry. I will not take it away any more. If it is important enough to you that you need to hide it and watch over it this late at night, you can take it with you to your room.”

Those words put a smile on the girl’s face. Gutrune let out a sigh that held no hint of disagreeableness.

“You need to thank him. Okay, Nein?”

That was the girl’s name.

As soon as Sayama heard that short name, he awoke from the past as if waking from a dream.

Once he awoke from the past, Sayama found himself in the Kinugasa Library as before.

However, one thing had changed: Siegfried was now awake. He stood up from his chair and spoke.

“Did Baku show you the past?”

“You can tell?”

“We used to use the same method. You can see a considerable amount in only a few seconds.”

Sayama checked the clock to find it was 2:03 AM. As Siegfried had said, only a small amount of time had passed.

Siegfried pulled a bottle of instant coffee out of the small refrigerator installed below the counter. He pulled two paper cups out from below the counter as well.

Sayama watched Siegfried grab the kettle from the potbelly stove.

“I thought Germans were picky about their coffee.”

“One can be picky about quality and one can be picky about quantity. And I am not so unmannered that I insist on the highest quality in a place intended for books.” He then pointed at a few hardcover books and documents sitting on the counter. “I am glad you are here. I found these while organizing the supply room. Look at that on top.”

“?”

Sayama walked up to the counter while the smell of coffee permeated his nose.

After placing his convenience store bag on the counter, he noticed a photograph on top of the pile of documents and books.

It was a large black-and-white photograph in a wooden frame. It was old, stained, and the corner was wrinkled due to expansion. The left half must have sat in the light too much because it looked like it was covered by white fog.

“It is too faded to see very much…”

“It seems it was already in this state when my predecessor found it.”

“So it was already too late. …Is this a commemorative photograph taken at some mountain?”

The location was a mountain somewhere. The background showed the sky as well as a forest and prairie down below.

On the surviving half of the photo, about ten people were visible. Some wore military-looking uniforms, some wore the samue of Buddhist monks, and some wore mountain climbing gear. Some of the people were women.

Siegfried placed a cup on the counter for Sayama.

“This is from the days of the National Defense Department. After taking the photo, we discussed who looked most like a criminal. It was later used for decoration here because it was too dreary a place otherwise, but I never thought it would still be here.”

“So who was ultimately decided to look most like a criminal?’

“I am forbidden to reveal that information under the conditions of the Leviathan Road.”

“So you do not want to tell me,” said Sayama with a sigh.

However, he felt a sudden palpitation in the left side of his chest. He brought his right hand to his chest and thought about the cause.

He quickly realized why. If this was a commemorative photograph of the National Defense Department…

“…Where is my grandfather?”

“He is next to me. Can you not see him?”

Sayama searched for the Siegfried he had seen in the past a moment before, but unfortunately, the very center was too stained to see well. Once he realized that, the pressure in his chest left like a receding wave.

He let out a breath.

And suddenly his eyes froze in place. He recognized the clothes of one figure in that black-and-white image of the past.

In the center of the back row, someone had their back to the camera. Sayama recognized the person looking up into the sky as the discoverer of Babel he had seen in his dream. It was a one-armed old man.

Siegfried noticed his gaze and said, “That is Tenkyou-sensei. …He founded this school. He said he lost his arm during the Russo-Japanese War.”

“Every time I hear that name I cannot help but think that Tenkyou is a bit of strange name.”

“I have heard theories that the name should actually be read as Amayoshi or Amayasu, but I never heard him use either of those. Those closest to him always called him Tenkyou.”

“Reverence for heaven, hm?”<ref>This is the literal meaning of the kanji for the name that can be read as Tenkyou, Amayoshi, or Amayasu.</ref>

“It seems it was such an over-the-top name that it embarrassed him. That is why we also suspected his family name of Kinugasa was also a fake. If I had to choose a word to describe him, it would be ‘eccentric’.”

“An excellent choice.”

Sayama picked up the paper cup from the counter.

He drank the coffee which was of course bitter. He looked at the photograph and tasted the bitterness while listening to Siegfried.

“At any rate, he enjoyed teasing people. Everyone fell victim to that at some point or another.”

“Hearing you say that so seriously is enough to convince me.”

Sayama placed the photograph back on the counter and began walking though the library. He was headed for the shelf with the books written by Kinugasa. It was not far away. He arrived almost immediately. The books he had looked at that morning were on the third row from the bottom.

He opened the first volume which discussed Norse legends. The text was written horizontally and from left to right.

“Wait…”

Sayama placed the book on a nearby table. With his left-arm unusable, Sayama realized something about the horizontally-written book.

“This is made so the pages can be easily turned with the right hand…”

“He really was a selfish person. He announced that he came from the Imperial Court, but I later learned that was a lie.”

“This school was not made by a proper adult, was it?”

“He liked to brag and was very broad-minded. When he was involved with creating the National Defense Department, he was already researching the different mythologies of the world even before we learned of the Concept War. …He knew that the different Gears were fighting, but he waited until we realized it as well,” said Siegfried. “He was the founder of this school and he was an authority in the fields of folklore and mythology. He is also the one who designed this library. During the National Defense Department days, he would often come here when he needed research material. I hear he concentrated mostly on mythology after discovering Babel, but he dealt more with technology when working with the Izumo Company. He was the one who constructed our earliest concept weapons.”

Sayama looked at the other rows on the bookshelf and saw both books related to mythology and books related to engineering.

The mythology books were often about the ten mythologies of the different worlds, but there were also a lot related to the Bible.

“In other words… You could say our place here was created by the Concept War?”

“A lot happened back then.”

Sayama nodded, returned the book to the shelf, and walked back to the counter.

Siegfried picked up the photograph on the counter.

“The National Defense Department became UCAT after World War Two. Until then, these were the primary members. Thinking back, we were truly devoted back then.”

“Why did it become UCAT after the war?”

“Oh, UCAT was originally an American and European organization. They learned of our existence when Germany lost and they discovered some documents I had sent there. And after that, Japan was crushed by America.”

“So Germany merely ‘lost’ while Japan was ‘crushed’?”

“Germany only had its capital occupied. It never gave in.”

“Isn’t it a bit late to be that right-wing?”

“Do not worry about it,” said Siegfried as he passed the photograph over the counter to Sayama. “At any rate, America and England arrived and discovered us. Each country had suffered losses to strange monsters that had appeared in the war. They created UCAT as a countermeasure. However, the National Defense Department’s research and technology was superior to theirs.”

“Well, of course it was. Thanks to the stimulation of the ley lines using the Divine States-World Interaction, Japan had more contact with the Concept War than any other country.”

“Yes. They were at the stage of investigating what had happened while we had made our way to the actual battles. But for the sake of America’s pride, the National Defense Department became Japanese UCAT and we agreed to cooperate with America. However, only those on the scene were sent in, so most of those that arrived from the victorious nations were crowded out. After quite a bit of conflict, we ultimately destroyed the other Gears.”

Siegfried fell silent for several seconds before suddenly placing his cup on the counter.

The cup produced a solid noise as it struck the counter. By that time, the old man was already moving.

“?”

Sayama watched his long strides.

The tall man covered the distance from the counter to the door in only five seconds.

Before Sayama could ask what was the matter, Siegfried placed a hand on the doorknob and pulled it to the side.

Sayama thought he heard a voice at that time.

He did not know if Siegfried had muttered it or if it was a remnant of the past he had seen in the library, but the voice spoke a name Sayama remembered.

“Nein.”

With that quiet voice, the door slid open to reveal the cold hallway beyond.

Brunhild stood before the Kinugasa Library. The indoor shoes she wore were covered in outside dirt.

Her shoulders and the legs supporting her body were trembling slightly and she could not stop it.

The small bird in the cardboard box she held was lying on its side and breathing shallowly.

Brunhild’s lips moved. No voice came out, but the movement of her lips formed the words she needed to say.

Please.

She had to say that one word.

She had gone to the cafeteria, the girls’ dorm, and the faculty building, but she had not found anyone to speak that word to. This was the only place left. The Kinugasa Library was her only option. She had hurried here once she had realized that.

But now that she was here…

“…”

The trembling of her legs refused to stop, the ends of her eyebrows lowered, and her head hung down. She felt as if something heavy were sitting inside her stomach.

“Why?” she muttered in a trembling voice. “Why is it him again?”

But her lowered vision showed her the small bird.

Its breathing was shallow. When she saw the slight up and down movement of its body, Brunhild made up her mind.

With her body still trembling, she took a step toward the door.

Her footstep was quiet.

However, the response it received was forceful and loud.

The door slid open in front of her eyes.

The object before her eyes was removed and she saw light.

A tall shadow stood in the center of that light.

Siegfried Zonburg. That was the shadow’s name.

His blue eyes looked straight at her and his expression was not even remotely harsh.

His beard-covered mouth moved as he asked a question. The voice sounded so very nostalgic to her.

“What is it?”

He then spoke her name.

“Brunhild Schild-kun.”

He used her current name. As if in response to that, Brunhild’s vision grew blurry.

“Ah…”

A breath escaped and it turned into a small cough. She had tried to speak the words she had prepared.

Please. Help this small bird.

She had to speak those words. She had to speak them firmly so her intention would be conveyed. And she had to ensure he did not learn of her identity.

She spoke. Or rather, she tried to.

“…”

Her lips trembled without moving, another breath escaped, and she audibly sucked it back in.

As her shoulders trembled and she began breathing heavily, she realized something was trailing down her cheek. It felt warmer than her body temperature.

What was it?

She did not know.

What she did know was what words she had to say. She looked forward. In her blurry vision, the figure standing before her of course looked blurred. Brunhild spoke to that man who seemed to have an indefinite form.

Please.

“Help…”

Help this small bird.

“Help…!”

As she spoke, a breath seemed to catch in her throat.

At that moment, something passed by at her feet. It was the sensation of a black cat. She looked down and the blurriness in her vision spilled down her cheek. As her vision grew a bit clearer, she saw the black cat rubbing its head against the man’s shin. And she heard a voice from above.

“Understood. …I will help you.”

Brunhild looked up. That movement caused something larger to fall from her eyes and her vision grew perfectly clear.

In her raised vision, she saw Siegfried. He was looking down at her. His angular face held no smile, anger, or sorrow. He was merely staring back at her.

Brunhild raised her still trembling voice in a question.

“Really?”

“It is true there are occasionally conflicts between us.” He nodded and took a step to the side while inviting her in with one hand. “However, you have come to me after admitting there is something you cannot do yourself. You formed words and tried to open this door. And it was all for someone other than yourself.” He took a breath. “That action takes courage. I have no reason to refuse you. And you have no reason to cry. After all, I will save this bird and the bird will thank you for making the right decision. …Come in, young girl. This was your decision.”

Once it became clear Siegfried was going to remain in the library all night, Sayama left and returned to his dorm.

Before he had left, Sayama had put new water in the kettle and bought three corn soups from a vending machine next to the school building.

…''I really have become kind.

With that thought, he made his way to the second floor of the dorm building. He stepped out into the hallway and noted there was no luggage in front of the room anymore.

“Oh?”

He looked in and found the room’s lights were off.

''Did Shinjou-kun go to sleep ahead of me?'' he wondered as he walked through the door.

The room was illuminated by the pale moonlight and it had been cleaned up. A few of the boxes remained on the floor, but…

“Is this the luggage for the shared spaces?”

There was no sign Shinjou had touched the shelves to the side of the bed, the trunk next to the wall, or any of the other storage areas he shared with Sayama. Unopened boxes were sitting in front of them waiting to be unloaded.

''I suppose I should have returned earlier,'' thought Sayama as he placed the convenience store bag on top of his desk.

He found a note on the desk. It was written on a piece of loose leaf paper. In the center, it said, “I am feeling tired, so I will go to sleep ahead of you. Sorry.”

After reading the note, Sayama looked over at the bottom bunk. He saw Shinjou’s silhouette lying atop the mattress.

…''So this is what it is like to have a roommate.

When he nodded and placed the note back on the desk, Baku suddenly jumped down from his shoulder and onto the desk. Baku ran over and jumped to the desk that would be Shinjou’s.

The writing equipment Shinjou had brought had been placed on the desk.

There was a red cloth pencil case, binders of loose leaf paper, and a notebook-style computer. There were two different types of loose leaf paper. One was lined and the other was Japanese-style manuscript paper.

Baku climbed onto one of the loose leaf paper binders and quickly went to sleep.

…''Is that important to Shinjou-kun?

Baku did not respond or even turn toward Sayama. He was already curled up and fast asleep.

Sayama gave a small smile.

He looked forward toward his own desk and saw the study equipment he had used since the first year.

He reached out toward the corner of the desk. A single picture frame was placed there.

He grabbed the small wooden frame with his bandaged left hand and brought it into the moonlight.

The picture showed a large gym. It was brightly lit and a white winners’ platform was placed at the bottom. The winner’s platform was divided into three levels. Boys wearing karate uniforms stood at first place and third place.

Sayama was not in the picture.

He silently returned the picture frame to its original spot. The scars on his left hand glowed white in the moonlight.

“…”

He heard a sudden noise. It was the sound of rustling cloth.

Realizing what it was, he turned toward the source of the sound.

The sound had been caused by Shinjou turning in his sleep on the bottom bunk.

Shinjou’s hair was unbound and spread out across the bed’s mattress. His body was bent in a shallow V-shape and a thin blanket covered him. He was wearing a white shirt.

The blanket had come off slightly, so his feet and white thighs were visible.

“Nn…”

A slight voice escaped his lips and his expression changed slightly.

With a short breath, he adjusted his position. His weak movements had deepened the V-shape of his body.

The blanket slid to the side and the white underwear covering his butt could be seen peeking out from under his shirt. Sayama visually followed the lines of his thighs, one of which was slightly forward of the other. The lines continued in long curves that curved in all the right places.

Sayama looked at the white underwear covered butt and tilted his head.

“Is that really not Sadame-kun?”

He brought a hand to his chin and thought. He realized he would know once and for all if he removed the underwear before his eyes.

And he continued to think.

He thought on the situation, the suddenness of it, what would happen afterwards, and how he could handle the aftermath. And he finally decided on a plan.

“If I explain the situation, he will understand.”

He gave a deep nod and felt those words held great persuasive power.

His doubts were gone. He now began to take action. He leaned over the bed as if covering Shinjou with his own body.

He then began to reach toward the cloth displaying the round shape of Shinjou’s butt.

But then a quiet voice escaped Shinjou’s lips. He spoke in a trembling, broken voice.

“…Sorry.”

Sayama raised his head and looked toward Shinjou’s face.

Shinjou was frowning and casting down his closed eyes. His mouth opened slightly as he spoke.

“I am always wrong…”

His partially disturbed breathing sucked in the words. He could no longer speak, but his expression remained unchanged.

Sayama recalled the words Shinjou had spoken and shook his head.

For the past few days, he had been trying to give meaning to what people said in their sleep.

…''Am I that vague a person?

Sayama looked at Shinjou’s face, but he spoke as if as a warning to himself.

“That is not the case. …I guarantee it.”

As he spoke, Sayama used his outstretched hand to grab the blanket. He placed it back over Shinjou’s body.

He then lightly tapped Shinjou’s back. He did so slowly as if lulling a child to sleep.

“Nn…”

Shinjou’s breathing gradually grew steadier. However, the stern expression did not leave his face.

''This is my limit for now,'' realized Sayama.

Sayama nodded in understanding and got up from the bed. He looked out the window and saw the white moon in the sky. Sayama opened his mouth to speak as he looked at the moon sending out moonlight that could be called cold.

“I am acting unlike myself, but this may be my only chance to do so. Will I continue to be hated until my body is destroyed or will I give up on everything? …I must choose one or the other before long.”

He reached his left hand out toward the moon. The pain in his bandaged left arm ran up through his shoulder and into his head.

However, Sayama spread his scarred left hand and then clenched it into a fist as if grasping the moon.

He let out a breath and some words.

“What are the conditions for being a villain?”

<noinclude>

===Notes===
<references/>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume2 Chapter 15|Chapter 15]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume2 Chapter 17|Chapter 17]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume10 Chapter 7

2026-04-01T01:40:03Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 7: Victorious Treachery==
[[Image:OnC_v10_0173.png|thumb]]
''And the cry turns to static

The nighttime battle in the mountains began with the sound of breaking metal.

As Ikkou swung his sword diagonally downwards, Izumo defended.

Kazami saw him forcibly twist the motorcycle’s accelerator.

The large-displacement Kawasaki obediently responded to the sudden “full speed ahead” command.

The back wheel skidded a bit and pushed the bike forward.

While the back wheel pushed forward at full speed, the front wheel lost and rose up.

As if assisting the motorcycle’s standing motion, Izumo swung up the hand holding the accelerator.

The rising vehicle was knocked toward Ikkou as if it had been kicked away.

Izumo then wrapped his right arm around Kazami’s waist and kicked off the seat to jump backwards with her.

…''Wow.

Izumo forcibly rotated around once and entered a low landing stance. She spun with him and her vision pointed in the same direction as his.

That was the front.

The front wheel rose like a snake’s head and the motorcycle crashed into Ikkou.

Or more accurately, into his sword.

With the sound of scraping metal, the motorcycle was split in two along a horizontal line.

A silver line ran from left to right through the center of the seat.

The vehicle was made from plenty of metal, various components, and a thick frame, but it was all bisected as easily as tofu.

Kazami thought to herself while watching the heavy metal pieces collapse to either side.

…''Is this a dream?

About a month before, she had been given a similar dream while fighting Roger of American UCAT.

In that dream, the motorcycle had been split apart by a strange power.

But that had been a false dream.

This was not.

“So you’re an enemy.”

With that comment, Izumo removed his right arm from her waist.

His eyes were looking past the motorcycle on the ground. They were trained on Ikkou.

“Come.”

The unusually low tone to his voice worried Kazami a little.

“Kaku.”

She called out to him, but he did not turn toward her.

Another voice then supported her worry.

“Now, how about I show you my brother’s fixed concept? Mitsuaki.”

Ikkou’s words were followed by a voice resembling the one produced by her own throat. This was the voice of a concept.

The voice spoke to another world that rejected the current one.

—'''There is no mutual understanding.

With the sound of shattering glass, the world transformed.

After hearing the concept text, Kazami lost everything.

…''Eh?

She understood what the concept meant. She could no longer comprehend any information the external world sent her way. It was a version of 2nd-Gear’s Art of Walking that encompassed the entire external world and could not be broken.

She understood the idea, but…

…''It can’t be broken?

She could see and she could hear, but she could not understand what was happening around her.

She could see Ikkou standing beyond the wreckage of the motorcycle.

She could see him holding the Azure Dragon Sword.

However, she could not understand what it was she was seeing and hearing.

“Is this…!?”

Her ability to comprehend how she felt about her surroundings was completely lacking.

…''What about Kaku!?

Wanting to know what he was doing, she turned left, but then she gasped.

Why she gasped was simple: she could not grasp that he was to her left.

He was to her left. She could see him there.

Nevertheless, she could not find him. Normally, seeing him would provide her with the information that “he is there”, but that information would not reach her.

As she turned left toward him, her gaze continued right on past him. She had already turned to the dark night behind her.

…''I don’t know where he is.

She could not tell if he was there or not. To sum it up…

…''We have no mutual understanding.

This was a world of only her own information.

She had nothing to compare to, so she could not even conclude that she was wrong.

Suddenly, her memories called forth a similar fact. Something much like this had happened recently.

…''When Team Leviathan was ordered to temporarily disband.

She rebuked herself for thinking about that now, but she could not stop her thoughts.

“I can’t understand it, I can’t find a solid answer, and the world is absolute.”

…''What can I possibly do!?

While asking herself that, she still decided to move.

But that was when she heard a voice. However, it was a voice that’s very existence she could not comprehend.

While desiring her next action, she heard that incomprehensible voice.

“Can you not move?”

She heard it, but she did not know what it said.

She faced forward. She knew the enemy was most likely there. She turned to face not an enemy she could see but one she could predict was there.

But just as she tried to step toward that enemy…

“…”

She could not move.

No. The truth was she did not want to move.

She knew why.

If she stayed there, she could at least know where the enemy and Izumo had been at first.

…''But if I take even a single step, I won’t even know where I am.

The thought of losing her own reference point made her shudder and panic.

She knew she had to move, but her body was trapped by the fear of not knowing where she was going.

The pressure in the bottom of her feet told her the ground was below them.

“But I don’t know where the enemy is!”

If she lifted a foot, she would no longer even know the ground was there. Like carelessly taking a wrong step on a staircase, she might not know where to step and miss the ground altogether.

Then she would fall and not even be able to stand.

…''Dammit.

Her anger formed words.

“Why? Why did it all have to end up like this!?”

She felt urgency in her gut due to a variety of things and she let out the thoughts that could not reach anyone.

“Why!?”

“What is the meaning of this?”

White light leaked out of the small building of Okutama Station.

The white-walled building resembled a mountain cottage and Sayama crossed his arms in front of it.

He spoke to what lay beyond his gaze and beyond the shadows formed by the light extending from the open building.

“Doctor Chao, why are you waiting for me here?”

He looked at Chao and his eyes narrowed in on the slender face of that girl-like woman.

Chao then spoke with her mouth twisting into what might have been a smile.

“Well, there’s a lot I’d like to say. But are you sure this is a good idea? Are you really heading into the mountains unarmed when someone could attack?”

“Okutama is my home ground, I am familiar with the land, and I have not forgotten…”

He thought while he spoke. Due to Team Leviathan’s temporary disbanding, he had not brought any UCAT products with him. Besides what he had borrowed from the Tamiya family, he had brought a few other necessities. For example, the handheld digital recorder with an edited compilation of Shinjou’s voice, his Shinjou album, a full set of Shinjou goods, and…

…''With my imagination, I have more than enough!

He nodded and spoke to Chao with a relieved look.

“I have not forgotten anything.”

“I’m not sure what that was about, but I’m glad to hear it.”

She glared at him and he tilted his head.

“But,” he began. “Why have you shown up just before my delightful mountain-climbing trip? Do you have something to say concerning the current cultural exchange between my former teammates and the four old brothers?”

“Oh? You’re pretty sharp.”

Chao had a smile in her tone, pulled a cigarette from her white coat’s pocket, and placed the paper cylinder between her lips.

“Well, it wouldn’t have been too hard to figure out if you gave it some thought. Four brothers of unknown origin were working underneath me, the person in charge of 7th-Gear.”

She raised her head which indeed held a smile. It was a pale smile with the eyebrows slightly lowered.

“I’m guessing the reason no one else figured it out was that they couldn’t bring themselves to believe it. But you seem to be different, grandson of Sayama. You will take us on, won’t you? Let’s see, right now you’re…”

“Team Leviathan has been freely disbanded.”

“So should I call you the main force of Japanese UCAT?”

With that, she removed the cigarette and exhaled smoke.

The smoke spread through the air, but she opened a hole by breathing out her next breath and the two of them faced each other through it.

“You actually saved us by catching up before those four reached their limit. And that’s why you need to be tested to see if Low-Gear is worthy of receiving 7th-Gear’s Concept Core.”

“Can you not accomplish that via the Leviathan Road?”

“This is the Leviathan Road, grandson of Sayama. This is the same negotiation you have brought to the other Gears. The only difference is that 7th-Gear is taking it to you this time. Yes, just like before.”

“Just like before?”

Chao smiled bitterly at Sayama’s question.

“That’s right. On September 29 of 1945, people from 7th-Gear invaded the Izumo Company, but they left without killing anyone or destroying anything. Do you know why?”

“A simple question: because they were curious.”

''What a boring question,'' thought Sayama as he answered and stepped forward.

After approaching through the darkness by one step, he adjusted the bag on his back.

“Doctor Chao, you have altered your body to extend your life, but when was that done? Based on your apparent age, was it done during the Concept War so you could battle 7th-Gear? And it was most likely done using the 7th-Gear techniques you had acquired at that point. Am I wrong?”

Even as he asked, he continued speaking.

“Based on the four brothers, I can guess 7th-Gear excelled at techniques to strengthen the human body. And as the Divine States-World Interaction Theory places it in China, I can also guess it was the world of the sage gods. They had mastered everything they could as people, so they attempted the final task they had left. In other words…”

An old man’s voice continued from Sayama’s right. It was Nijun’s voice.

“They gathered together the ultimate power they had gained through their various forms of training. They combined the individual sage gods’ powers and created the ultimate of the ultimate.”

“And that is the four of you?”

Nijun, the old man in a white coat, appeared from the darkness, but he did not nod.

Instead, Chao blew out some smoke.

“It was funny. When they invaded again, they completely cornered us, but they rejoiced when they saw the human modification facility I had built below Japanese UCAT.”

“They had found someone in this boring Gear who understood them. 7th-Gear viewed their human modification techniques as entertainment, so it must have been a shock to them. They realized the people of this ridiculous Gear could ‘enjoy themselves’ just as they could. Doctor Chao, that was why they invited you to 7th-Gear, wasn’t it? And as for you four brothers…”

Sayama turned to Nijun.

“The residents of 7th-Gear created the ultimate power by combining with their Concept Core. Are you that Core’s borrowed form after it was split in four?”

He took a step back from Nijun as he spoke. He turned to the side to prepare for a fight, but Nijun quietly shook his head.

“Sayama-sama, people will notice us here and I am the shyest of my brothers.”

“I see,” said Sayama while maintaining his defensive stance.

…''What is the situation?

Chao was there and some of the other brothers might have been there too.

He told himself not to let his guard down while Chao waved her right hand back and forth.

“Don’t be in such a rush, grandson of Sayama. We’ve waited for sixty years. While modifying those four on the other side, I spent an even longer time in a space that seemed to distort time. …So we can wait a little longer. Oh, I know. How about until you’ve had time to look around in the mountains? We can do this once you come down.”

“In other words, you plan to interrupt me while I am happily descending the mountain with thoughts of Shinjou-kun in my head?”

Still ready for a fight, Sayama glared at the other two.

“I am willing to do it here. How about you?”

His question was answered by a movement from Chao.

She took a step to the side to move from his path away from the station and she shrugged.

“I stand on the side of 7th-Gear since they invited me as a guest. I’ve sent in my letter of resignation along with theirs. …But I won’t interfere. I’ll just watch on and make sure they can do this properly.”

With that, she put her hand in her white coat’s pockets.

“And since you’re going mountain-climbing, let me give you a piece of meaningless information. The only two who went to Professor Kinugasa’s home looking for documents on Georgius were your father and your mother.”

“My mother? Why?”

“That’s simple. She was helping your father. She was the one that actually found Professor Kinugasa’s documents. Do you know why they needed them?”

“Was it for a battle? Perhaps a large-scale one in Osaka?”

Sayama’s words received a whistle in response. Chao sent the noise into the sky.

“Nicely said. I can’t tell you anything else, so if you want to know more, go play with those four. …Listen. If you defeat them, they will give you the Concept Core and some information on the past. After all, those four brothers fought in that Osaka battle.”

“!?”

“Those related to the Leviathan Road are forbidden to reveal the past, but this is a special case since we brought the fight to you. That rule no longer applies. Even if it’s only a few fragments of information, you should come to understand quite a bit.”

As she spoke, Nijun swayed in the corner of Sayama’s vision.

The old man was about to vanish so he could wait in the battlefield he would share with Sayama.

“…!”

Sayama immediately began to move.

He took an instantaneous step that flowed into a right roundhouse kick.

It was a demonstration for the opponent and a feint meant to keep the man from escaping.

If the man was not planning to fight now, it meant he was not prepared.

That meant Sayama could not let him escape. The suddenness and the distance between them precluded a clean hit, but the feint of a kick was the first step to reach one.

“…!?”

However, Sayama both saw and realized that his own body would not move in the slightest.

…''What?

Confusion filled his motionless body.

Even as a feint, he had poured all his strength into the kick, but his body remained in the defensive stance from before.

He could not move.

…''What is this?

“That is Nijun’s concept. Sayama, he might just be the worst possible opponent for you.”

He heard Chao speak, but Nijun was nowhere to be seen.

As he wondered when the man had vanished, Chao’s voice filled the chilly night air around him.

“Let us enjoy this, grandson of Sayama. And I hope your teammates do the same. 7th-Gear desired a satisfying destruction after fulfilling their own enjoyment. Once they reached the climax of their happiness, they wished to welcome in the end and entrust themselves to the next generation.”

And…

“Can you accept 7th-Gear’s happiness? Can you lead those four brothers to destruction not through a harsh battle, but through enjoyment? Can you use these battles to give them a happiness that exceeds that of 7th-Gear which left everything to me and was destroyed?”

Her questions resounded and hung in the air, but finally silence washed over their surroundings along with a warm night wind.

Sayama heard dried leaves scattering across the small space in front of the station building.

His eyes looked to his own shadow on the asphalt and Chao beyond it.

“Quite a one-sided proposition. But either away, I have no objection to enjoying all things, but making it obligatory will cost you.”

He looked up to a place a bit lower than the heavens. The mountains of Okutama formed a darkness even deeper than the night.

After the span of a breath, he spoke while staring into that darkness.

“I just hope my former teammates can enjoy it.”

“Will they be okay? According to Hiba’s grandson, Kazami and the others aren’t accepting your temporary disbanding of Team Leviathan.”

“Even I am half in doubt about it.”

As he spoke, Sayama walked forward. His leather shoes produced steady footsteps and he arrived next to Chao.

“But I believe it is necessary. If you will delightfully and happily oppose us, then the reason I had Team Leviathan disband will become all the more obvious.”

Chao asked a question as he approached.

“Do you mean you are implicitly telling them to back off now because it is dangerous? Are you telling the members of Team Leviathan to leave the front lines because the battle is about to grow even more dangerous?”

Sayama gave his answer while walking past her.

He smiled ever so slightly.

“…”

And then he gave his parting words.

“Farewell, Doctor Chao.”

He passed by her and continued walking. He made his way into the Okutama mountains and to the path that would take him forward.

He did not bother turning back toward the late autumn wind.

Kazami could not move.

She was in a space where she could not know what to do.

Part of her said she had to do something and another part of her told her to give up because she could not do anything, so she was left unable to choose either option.

The word impatience filled her heart.

She could not comprehend anything in her field of vision and nothing that entered her ears held any meaning to her.

All she could understand was herself.

…''But…

If she did not understand her opponent, she could not fight.

She saw someone else step out of one of the RVs blocking the road. It was a short-haired old man in a white coat, but she did not know who he was or even that he had left the RV.

A meaningless voice reached her.

“Brother Ikkou, how is my fixed concept working?”

“Mitsuaki, it is a little short on fun, but it is very effective. It is incredibly hard to use.”

“Then what will you do? This is plenty fun for me.”

“Well, to increase my fun, why not give Kazami-sama and Izumo-sama a single chance.”

[[Image:OnC_v10_0191.jpg|thumb]]

“A single chance?”

Ikkou nodded at Mitsuaki’s question.

At that point, something appeared from the northern sky beyond the mountain.

They were two lines of light.

Each light had a weapon at the front: the white spear named G-Sp2 and the white sword named V-Sw.

Those weapons were very familiar to Kazami.

“…”

But she could not understand what was flying their way.

At the same time, her own senses brought a question to mind.

…''Shouldn’t G-Sp2 and V-Sw be arriving about now?

How long had it been since she had shouted the name of that trustworthy weapon?

She raised her right hand and waited for a sensation in her palm.

She could not comprehend light or sound in this world, but she could faintly feel the sensation of the ground below her feet.

She was not feeling the repelling force of the ground itself. She was feeling the pressure as the skin on the bottom of her feet was pressed into her flesh by the ground.

Because she could only understand herself in this world, she could easily understand the sensations of her own body.

She would feel something in her palm because something had flown into her hand.

The moment after that was her chance to attack.

She remembered where her opponent had been the moment before entering the concept space. She had not moved a step, so there was not much to mislead her.

Once she had her weapon in hand, she could run across the unseen ground and attack the enemy’s estimated location.

''That’s enough,'' she thought.

“!”

In that instant, what she wanted reached her hand.

“G-Sp2!”

Her reflexes immediately accomplished everything.

She felt G-Sp2’s handle slip into her hand. Its speed had not dropped, so G-Sp2 must not have been able to comprehend her either. She forced it to a stop by squeezing her right hand around it.

It was hers now.

The brief friction heat in her palm made it feel like she had grabbed fire, but she did not care. The sense of heat was reassuring in this sensationless space.

She forcibly spun G-Sp2 around to ensure it was there.

She pointed the tip forward as if thrusting it.

“…!!”

And she ran.

She ran across the visible yet unseen ground to reach the enemy she could see yet could not locate.

Her first step felt a little low, so she raised her hips on the second step. That second step felt tilted to the right, so she steadied her footing on the third step.

She ran.

She raised G-Sp2 in order to swing it toward where she estimated the enemy to be.

That location was a bit to her right.

There was one reason she had chosen the right.

…''Kaku is on the left.

He had held her on the right when getting off the motorcycle, so he would be on the left.

She knew he would have called in V-Sw, but he lacked the same burst of speed she had. That meant she would be out ahead of him.

If she charged in on the right and drove the enemy to the left, she would be sending them right in Izumo’s attack.

She was certain he was thinking of the same cooperation.

…''Yes.

She agreed in her heart, nodded with her body, and continued to soar onward.

She stepped forward to attack with the speed of her run and poured her entire body into jabbing the spear tip forward.

G-Sp2 would not know what was going on as she held it.

…''Sorry. This must be scary.

''I’ll explain later, once we leave this incomprehensible concept space.

''So bear with it until then,'' she pleaded. ''Don’t worry. We’re strong.

Then the moment she had hoped for arrived.

She collided with something.

Starting with a pressure in her hand, the impact spread throughout her body.

A sensation like breaking through a wall spread from her hand to her arm, her arm to her shoulder, and her shoulder to her entire body. Soon, she shifted to press her entire bodyweight forward.

Something had stopped the spear tip.

It had been blocked.

''By what?'' she wondered, while also thinking, ''We’ve won.

Their enemy wielded only an Azure Dragon Sword. With the skill to slice apart a motorcycle, he could likely stop her spear with just the sword tip, but it was still just an Azure Dragon Sword.

It could not defeat G-Sp2 which contained 10th-Gear’s Concept Core.

Kazami instantly operated the console.

“Change to your second form.”

When G-Sp2 had flown to her, the shield portion had already been attached below the tip, so the cannon form could be quickly completed. If she fired while their blades were locked, she could easily destroy the Azure Dragon Sword.

And meanwhile…

…''Kaku will arrive and attack the defenseless opponent.

“Fire the-…”

“Are you sure, Kazami-sama?”

She heard a voice but did not understand its meaning.

She could feel the movements of G-Sp2 transforming in her hands and it would soon finish.

Afterwards, she only needed to hit the firing switch.

“Kazami-sama, are you having fun?”

The incomprehensible voice arrived again.

“Then allow me to provide even more fun. Mitsuaki, please release your fixed concept. I wish to show them my fixed concept and the concept weapon we stole from Izumo UCAT.”

A moment later, Kazami heard a voice.

—'''Strength is infinite.

Finally hearing a voice from the outside world surprised her.

Having gone for so long without hearing anything caused the concept text to sound all the louder.

And that was not all.

“Eh?”

The world around her changed.

Comprehension returned to the incomprehensible world.

Kazami saw the darkness around her and a small light.

The darkness was the night that filled the sky and the light was the white streetlight illuminating the area.

She stood on the asphalt and she held a long white spear.

The spear had transformed to its cannon form, but the pointed tip had been blocked by the Azure Dragon Sword.

The wind blew.

“…”

The cold air traveled up into the night from behind her. That wind that seemed to well up from the ground gave her a chill and she narrowed her eyes.

Only then did she grasp the situation.

“Why?”

A word wrapped in dazed confusion escaped her lips.

Ahead of her, Ikkou held an Azure Dragon Sword in his left hand. That was the sword that had stopped G-Sp2, but…

“Two of them!?”

The fact before her eyes answered her question.

Ikkou also held an Azure Dragon Sword in his right hand. The thick metal blade reflected the light and…

…''It blocked V-Sw.

Izumo stood to her left. His eyebrows were slightly raised and he tried to press V-Sw against the Azure Dragon Sword.

However, Ikkou remained motionless. He was holding back their full strength with the weapons he held in a single arm.

As she wondered how, he tilted his head.

“Hm,” he muttered. “This is Rowless, the concept weapon I stole. Don’t worry. It is a weak weapon. It is made with simple steel, but it easily breaks. To make up for that, it can reproduce itself nearly infinitely.”

Izumo snorted at the old man’s explanation.

“For being such weak Azure Dragon Swords, they’re sure stopping our weapons easily enough, Ikkou-san.”

Kazami nearly nodded in agreement, but she realized she could not agree.

…''He isn’t blocking us with the Azure Dragon Swords.

Ikkou had no strength gathered in his arms.

“Kazami-sama seems to have noticed. This is thanks to my fixed concept that activated just now.”

The concept text had said strength is infinite.

“Inside the concept space I control, all weapons have their strength set to infinite. These small blades and your weapons all have identically infinite attack power. And…”

And…

“If they have any power in reserve, it will be drawn out.”

Kazami heard two sounds.

They were high-pitched groans coming from the weapons in her and Izumo’s hands.

G-Sp2 and V-Sw almost seemed to be screaming.

“W-wait! What is it, G-Sp2!?”

“————”

The color green filled G-Sp2’s console and a single value appeared there.

“18%.”

The percentage increased along with the machine’s loud scream. It reached nineteen, twenty, and then jumped to the thirties too quickly to count.

“G-Sp2!?”

The weapon shook as if writhing in agony. The irregular shaking formed waves as if the individual shakes were synchronizing and the entire device seemed to jump up.

V-Sw was doing the same and Izumo was operating the console in a frantic attempt to restrain the sword’s vibrations.

But they would not stop. Both shaking weapons emitted voices loud enough to echo off the surrounding forest and they gathered wind around themselves.

They almost seemed to be entering their third forms on their own.

They were out of control.

To obey the will of the Concept Cores, the weapons drew out their power to the very limit. That power had constructed an entire world and the force that usually restrained them was releasing it with no attempt to stop it.

…''Wait!

The console’s value jumped to the forty percent range.

A chill ran down Kazami’s spine. During the battle with 5th-Gear the month before, she had measured an output of 38%. That had only partially produced 10th-Gear’s concept dragon, but it had still covered around a dozen kilometers in the sky and devoured the 5th-Gear mechanical dragons like nothing.

She now saw an even higher number in her hands.

It had easily reached and exceeded the power she could draw out herself.

She shuddered.

“W-wait!”

The vibration in her hands had grown to the level of an impact.

A moment later, G-Sp2 and V-Sw both transformed.

They revealed their third forms.

“…!?”

But Kazami looked past G-Sp2 as it rose up in front of her.

Ikkou kept his two blades pressed against the rampaging G-Sp2 and V-Sw’s blades.

Firework-like sparks scattered from the points of contact and lit up the area.

Light began to leak from the gaps in G-Sp2 and V-Sw’s cowlings. They could not contain their own power inside.

…''Not good!

She cried out in her heart at the same moment Ikkou spoke.

“Isn’t this fun, Kazami-sama, Izumo-sama?”

“Wh-what are you talking about!? If they go off here, you’ll be blown away too!”

“You are bearers of power. Don’t you find it fun to be able to use that power at its maximum?”

She did not understand what he meant.

Power was dangerous. Knowing that fact was one of the duties of those who fought.

…''How can you enjoy it?

She instantly pulled G-Sp2 back. She wanted to remove the restraint of the Azure Dragon Sword and then think.

…''I need to defeat this enemy before they explode!!

Her initial burst of speed would decide everything, so the moment after pulling G-Sp2 back, she thrust the tip toward the enemy’s gut.

It was a swift attack.

The light leaking from the tip and the gaps of the cowling trailed behind it like mist and formed a straight line.

The white light raced toward the enemy’s gut.

“I see you still do not understand.”

Ikkou swung down the Azure Dragon Sword in his left hand.

The steel sword collided with the spear that bore a Concept Core and attempted to pierce him with that light.

“Trying to attack with a weapon that is not yet even halfway to infinite? How boring.”

With those words, one of the weapons was destroyed.

That weapon was the large white spear.

The destruction greatly resembled shattering glass.

Kazami first saw a point about halfway up the spear tip swell out a bit.

A moment later, the white external cowling split and burst almost all the way to the handle. The inner frame was covered in squeezing cracks and it expanded before bursting as well. The thirty centimeter protective cylinder guarding the Concept Core was released the instant the impact hit and it prepared to be ejected outside.

“It hurts.”

That message appeared just before the console blacked out and the protective cylinder was contained by the part of the external cowling that had not been fully destroyed.

However, the destruction did not end there.

Kazami felt pain in her hands. The pain resembled grabbing a handful of thumbtacks.

The handle she held was also covered in cracks.

“Wha-…?”

When she turned around, she saw the third form’s foot pedal bend and then break and she saw the vertical tail wing shatter like a glass panel hit by a stone.

Finally, the entire white cowling burst like a firework.

G-Sp2 had been destroyed.

“!?”

Even as the fragments tore at her hands and skin, Kazami watched.

She saw G-Sp2 stop as if it had lost a battle of strength.

“You’re kidding…”

She blankly stared at the mass of metal remaining in her hands.

She waved it a little, but it simply felt heavy and lacked the life of a weapon.

She noticed that the protective cylinder inside the tip had left its proper spot.

10th-Gear’s Concept Core was held inside that.

With it removed, the console was silent and its owner could feel the weapon’s weight once more.

Would G-Sp2 return to normal if that cylinder was restored to its proper place? Would the weight vanish, would words appear on the console, would the damage disappear, and would it be able to fight again?

Kazami subconsciously reached for the protective cylinder.

Only once her hand touched the metal cylinder did she realize her hand was covered in blood.

She also realized it hurt.

“Ah.”

She finally remembered what she was trying to do and what the situation was.

When she looked up, she saw a raised Azure Dragon Sword.

Ikkou was swinging the left blade toward her.

“—————”

''It’s over,'' she thought. ''I can’t avoid it. The weight left in my hands is too much.

More importantly, her legs suddenly refused to move.

Her experience told her where the sword would arrive: ten centimeters below her neck.

With the speed and thickness of the blade…no, while inside this concept space, the sword would slice her in two.

''At least it won’t cut my face apart,'' she thought in her horribly calm yet somehow lacking state of mind.

She would be cut through.

But just before she was, three things rushed in front of her.

One was a large white sword.

Another was Izumo’s body.

And the last was his voice.

“Oh…”

That vowel sound extended on and on as his giant body moved between her and the blade.

V-Sw collided with the Azure Dragon Sword and loudly shattered.

Simply put, he had saved her.

But Ikkou did something else.

He had already swung the Azure Dragon Sword in his right hand.

“…”

The second sword silently came from the left like a cold wind.

The blade’s trajectory and length could reach both Izumo and Kazami who he was trying to protect.

It would slice through her below the chest and him above the waist.

''No,'' she thought.

But not even she knew what that word in her heart meant. She could not say if she was stating that it was over for them or if she was protesting the situation.

She simply thought the word “no”.

And then Izumo took action.

He sent his weapon crashing into the Azure Dragon Sword. He used the most primitive weapon provided by the human body: the fist.

What happened when two infinite weapons collided?

Kazami saw the answer.

Both of them were destroyed.

The Azure Dragon Sword burst to pieces like a spray of water.

“Kaku!!”

Starting from Izumo’s left fist, cracks ran halfway up his forearm and the arm was smashed to pieces.

A dark spray was thrown into the night air.

Kazami heard a scream and guessed it was Izumo’s. The loud scream seemed to extend on and on.

But as she listened, she realized something.

The voice she heard did not belong to Izumo who collapsed before her eyes.

…''That’s my scream.

“Ahh!”

Her cry resounded through the night sky.

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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume10 Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
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| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume10 Chapter 8|Chapter 8]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume1 Chapter 10

2026-03-31T02:31:19Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 10: Development of Will==
[[Image:OnC_v01_0277.png|thumb]]
''Is hesitation feigned goodness or is it courage?

''Then is determination feigned evil or is it recklessness?

''Neither one is a bad thing

The knight swung his shield and deflected the liquid.

When the pale yellow liquid struck the metal shield, smoke rose from it. A hole was eaten into the surface of the shield.

“That is quite a deadly poison!” commented the knight.

“You were really going to pour that into my ear!?” added Ooshiro.

The knight ignored the old man and silently squeezed the trigger of his long rifle.

Bluish-white light emitted from the side of the book loaded into the gun.

That bookshelf rifle drew out the meaning of that collection of words in the form of heat.

It was a more primitive method than adding a new ability with the words, but it was plenty powerful.

He fired.

A ball of light shot from the rifle’s barrel. However, he was not targeting either of those lying on the ground below him.

He targeted the black cat.

In the amount of time known as an instant, the bright yellow bullet grew to five meters across and traveled in a shallow arc to the south side of the grassy area.

The reverberation of electrical discharge was drowned out by the sound of destruction when it struck.

It exploded.

“!”

The southern end of the grassy area grew warped, crumbled, and then shrank inwardly, trees and dirt included.

In the next instant, everything within a twenty meter square was blasted up into the sky.

A tremendous roar was heard.

The knight said, “I doubt that was enough.”

He then turned toward the two below him.

“Now! I will handle the two of you. Even if this sullies my name, seeing this through is how I show my pride!”

The boy lying on the ground then muttered something.

“So you have decided what path you will take as well, have you?”

“What?” asked the knight.

However, he quickly lifted his rifle again and focused on the battle.

The book loaded in the rifle was already emitting bluish-white light from all of its pages.

If he squeezed the trigger, he could eliminate the two people clinging to a sheer cliff.

“I am sorry,” said the knight.

Unexpectedly, the boy answered him.

“There is no need to apologize.”

As he spoke, the boy suddenly stood up.

He stood atop the ground which should have been a cliff to him. He placed his feet on the ground and stood while keeping his body low.

“What…!?” The knight drew back. He held back up his shield and shouted, “Damn you! Have you added the same concept as us!?”

Without replying, the boy ran.

The knight’s comrades began to move and prepare to attack, but it was too late.

The boy circled around to the knight’s left which was the north. The knight tried to follow the boy’s motion with his rifle, but he did not make it in time.

With his back turned, the boy jumped lightly up.

He performed a reverse roundhouse kick.

It hit home.

His heel struck the knight’s left shoulder with more weight than expected.

The knight’s bones creaked and his body was lifted up.

“Kh.”

He endured the pain and lowered his hips to land properly. He tried to aim the rifle in his right arm toward the boy, but his body felt numb and he could only aim to the front.

While remaining on guard for another kick, the knight rotated his entire body. He held his shield toward the boy.

He found the boy landing from his kick on all fours.

He then gently lifted his body a bit before running. He circled around to the north once more.

When the knight tried to follow him, one of the giant attendants shouted out from behind him.

“Look!”

The knight turned toward the deep voice and found the old man named Ooshiro moving to the south of the grassy area. His stance was low, but he was definitely running.

“How?” muttered the knight.

South was set as down, so the ground should have been perfectly vertical.

He and his companions were only able to stand due to the effects of the philosopher’s stones they held. Their enemies should not have had any of their own, yet they were still running around on that vertical ground.

“How!?”

To the north of the grassy open area, a line of trees had escaped the destruction of the stone wall.

It now functioned as footing stretching out perpendicular to the ground. On one of the tree trunks, the battle beginning far below was visible. Sf stood there carrying a single café set.

She held a parasol, a portable cooler, a table, and chairs. She skillfully placed them on the tree trunk as she heard the knight’s question from far below: How?

Sf gave a small nod.

She pulled a single bullet from her pocket. On its side, the words “bullet, one more hit” were written.

“You made a mistake in your theory.”

She placed the bullet atop the table which was sitting on the line of trees.

The bullet remained still at first, but it eventually accelerated and began rolling.

“That area may appear to be a wall, but it is actually a slope,” said Sf as if to confirm it. “Setting south as down was a naïve decision but not a surprising one for a resident of a flat world such as 1st-Gear. …After all, the earth is round and Japan is located on the northern hemisphere.”

Sf looked at the grassy area below her. Sayama charged into the center of the enemy ranks and was fighting while focusing on evasion. He was running along a slope of about forty degrees while repeatedly evading and attacking.

Sayama’s method of attack was simple. He would circle around to the north of his enemy, choose an attack method such as a direct kick or roundhouse kick that would make full use of his body weight, and then directed it toward his enemy down the slope to the south.

Sayama had no choice but to stand on a slope.

He had to keep his stance low, but this made it easier to avoid his enemy’s attacks. When he was cornered, he could jump far to the south, using the slope to gain more distance. Sf nodded as she watched on.

“To forestall an initial attack from his enemy, he pressed down against the slope, pretending it was a wall.”

As she spoke, Sf placed the cooler’s strap over her right shoulder and held the parasol in her hand.

She suddenly looked up to find a winged archer had noticed her.

“Oh, dear,” said Sf as she opened the cooler.

The archer above brought a hand to his bowstring. The center of the string had a single piece of cloth attached. The cloth had words written on it. The archer drew the bowstring and an arrow of light appeared between the cloth and the bow.

Instead of firing right away, the archer twisted the cloth to the right.

The string grew tauter and the bow creaked, but the arrow of light multiplied to three.

Finally, the archer fired.

The sound of the light being released sounded similar to a flute.

As that high-pitched trio rained down from the sky, Sf bowed slightly.

“Thank you for such an ordinary attack. As thanks, I shall provide a common attack of my own.”

She pulled what looked like two long metal staffs from the cooler.

The two objects appearing from below the canned drinks were a machine gun and its barrel.

She attached the heavy barrel with one hand and loaded the ammunition belt. The first bullet was instantly brought into the chamber.

“Over forty thousand have been produced. That should be common enough.”

With that comment, Sf aimed into the sky and squeezed the trigger.

Sayama could tell he was being surrounded. His enemies were once more beginning to hold him in check.

The old men wearing square bonnets who looked like priests and the old women wearing hoods who looked like magicians were clearly keeping their distance while the two giant attendants began circling around to his north. They were preventing him from taking his advantageous position.

But Sayama felt that was fine as sweat flew from his brow.

At the very least, he had drawn the enemies away from the woods were Shinjou was and Ooshiro Kazuo had been able to escape.

That meant he need not worry about this battleground. And he had another thought.

…''I was right. Shinjou-kun did not fire.

When he had attacked the knight, he had given the signal, but Shinjou had not fired. He had predicted it, but it was still a slight shock.

''She really does continue to surprise me,'' he thought as he walked around.

“Shinjou-kun is serious about everything,” he muttered. “Even when she hesitates.”

It was because she took this so seriously that she had been unable to pull the trigger this time as well.

Sayama suddenly recalled what had happened that morning. He recalled Ooki’s words to him.

…''When those who rarely get serious finally do get serious, they can draw out a lot of power. Is that it?

“And thinking that you cannot get serious means you are constantly thinking about getting serious.”

Sayama decided Shinjou had to have reached that stage.

…''But what about me?

“Will I ever-…”

Would he ever get serious?

His questioning gaze caught sight of the end of a magician’s staff glowing. Instead of leaving behind an afterimage of the light, it looked more like the word was being burned into the atmosphere. Sayama did not recognize the word, but he could read it.

It meant fire.

He leaped as soon as he read it. He leaped south down the slope.

In the next instant, a pillar of fire shot up in the spot he had just been standing in.

As he heard the air burning, crimson flames shot up in a triple helix. The end of the spiral bloomed outwards and scattered through the air as the pillar of fire energetically came apart and disappeared.

Sayama landed.

At the same moment, Sayama realized the enemy’s formation was complete.

The priests and magicians to his north split to the left and right. The two giants traveled down the center of that group. They were approximately three meters tall. Under their dark green cloaks, those attendants wore light armor and were armed with black knives.

They could not make tight turns, but they used easily-wielded knives to cover for that disadvantage.

They came.

Sayama prepared himself. He could not defeat them head on. He needed to run around them. He lowered his body and sucked in a breath. He suddenly glanced over at his hard-to-move left arm and his left hand.

He saw the scars on his hand and the ring on his finger.

He tried to clench his left fist, but received only stabbing pain.

It was a phantom pain, but it felt real to him. And he could not swing the fist regardless.

An instant later, Sayama looked up from his left hand and ran.

He shrank down, stretched out, and sent his body forward.

At the same moment, he spotted a shadow coming from the sky above.

It was an archer.

''Not good,'' he muttered silently.

His enemies were not planning to have the giant attendants attack him.

They would surround him and he would be shot from the air.

“Kh.”

Sayama took in a breath and twisted his body around.

To avoid the coming attack as much as possible, he rolled along the ground.

But what fell to the ground was not an arrow or even a bow.

It was wings.

“!”

With the sound of flesh being struck, a giant four-winged form fell to the ground where Sayama had been a moment before. It was the archer who had been in the sky. Sayama could see red blood spewing from the base of his upper right wing.

Sayama got up on his knees and heard a certain sound before he could even wonder what was going on.

He heard gunfire.

He looked up. He looked to the north which was up to him.

In the sky there, another set of wings fell.

The four-winged archer fell into the woods to the east while staining his wings with red blood.

Only then did everyone look over.

A white and black figure was jumping down from a distant line of trees to the north.

“Sf-kun…”

She held a machinegun in her left hand, a parasol in her right, and a large cooler under her right arm.

Despite carrying two objects that looked too large for her body size, she was not running down the slope. She leaped through the sky.

She did not seem to care that one of the four-winged archers had fallen among some nearby trees.

She dropped down.

In the next instant, one of the magicians reacted. She wrote several words in the air, turned them into spears of light, and threw them at Sf.

The light flew with a high-pitched dash.

Sf took a single action in response. She held up the parasol in her right arm and opened it. With the sound of the wind being struck, Sf’s body appeared to be lifted up by the parasol as she began to float.

The spears of light passed by below her feet and stabbed into the grass in the distance.

Just as the spears of light could be heard bursting in the distance, Sf let go of the parasol.

After that, she traveled in a straight line.

Guided by gravitational acceleration, Sf’s heels crashed into the giant attendant who was on the left from Sayama’s perspective.

The impact caused a great noise.

“…!”

She sent all of her weight into both legs as they struck the attendant’s side and his body was knocked up into the air. Sayama backed away as the attendant rotated around in midair and slammed into the ground headfirst.

Repeated powerful sounds were heard as his armor and flesh crashed to the ground, but he eventually came to a stop.

The attendant no longer moved.

Instead, the slender woman who had only just now arrived on the scene moved.

She had short white hair and she wore a black dress with a white apron. Her silhouette spread out with the hem of her skirt and she bowed before Sayama.

“I am glad to see you are the same as ever.”

It was Sf.

Sayama glanced around. As Sf greeted him, the enemies were once more falling into formation around them.

The knight entered to replace the lost attendant and the two magicians moved back.

As they watched her, Sf opened the cooler and stuck her left hand inside. The formation of enemies prepared themselves as the sound of ice and water came from the cooler.

However, Sf was not looking at them. She was crouched down and looking toward Sayama.

“Sayama-sama, take this. It is a new product that is perfect for breaks between exercise.”

She handed him a plastic sports drink bottle. He took it and she bowed before sticking her left hand in the cooler.

“The rest of you can have this,” she said as she pulled out a black, glittering submachine gun.

She rotated around, firing all the while.

“!”

At the sound of gunfire, the attendant, knight, and other enemies frantically held up their shields or gauntlets.

But they were too slow.

As metallic noises rang out, they were either forced back or blown away.

Sayama stood up. Bluish-white smoke surrounded him and Sf. The formation around them had widened slightly and one magician lay collapsed on the ground. Sayama looked toward the magician while opening the lid of the drink bottle.

“She is not dead. As expected, they have some form of defensive power. This is not causing much damage.”

Sayama realized Sf’s right sleeve was torn. That showed she had already received some sort of attack. And the arm he saw below the torn black cloth was…

“A machine?” asked Sayama after a citrus flavor flowed into his mouth from the bottle.

Sf’s arm was made of what looked like narrow pearl-colored armor. The arm narrowed in considerably at the elbow joint between her upper arm and lower arm and only black plastic filled the gap.

Without turning around, Sf tossed the submachine gun to the ground.

“I am Sein Frau, an automaton created by German UCAT using 3rd-Gear technology. My body was put together for Itaru-sama’s exclusive use, so I am able to do the shopping or receive guests in bad weather and under inconvenient circumstances. My compact exterior can run for 24 hours if the philosopher’s stone is swapped out, so even the most sudden of unreasonable demands can be-…”

“Enough with the late-night infomercial sales pitch,” said Sayama as he handed the empty drink bottle back to Sf. And then, “What are your combat abilities?”

“According to German UCAT, the German people are the most excellent people in the world. I was created using their technology, so my combat abilities are top notch.”

“Didn’t that ‘most excellent’ right-wing country lose World War Two?”

“Truly excellent people need not desire victory. Victory is not needed in the eternal quest to grow stronger.”

“Who said that?”

“I do not know. However, it has been etched into my mind.”

As she spoke, Sf moved the machinegun in her right hand to her left and placed the muzzle against the ground. She moved the muzzle to the side so that it drew a curve in the dirt.

“My name is Sein Frau, ‘the woman who should exist’. I am a nonhuman who was born from the desire to ‘exist’. Now, come and bring the reason for your birth with you. If that reason is weaker than mine, you will not even be able to ‘exist’.”

[[Image:OnC_v01_0293.png|thumb]]

With a turn of her heel, she transformed the curve on the ground into a ring.

“I was created for the sake of my master. I sacrifice my steel for his bones, my chains for his flesh, my oil for his blood, and my determination for his heart. But there is one thing he has for which I have nothing to sacrifice.”

When the ring connected, she placed the gun’s muzzle on the point of connection.

“His tears. …As I have no emotions, I have nothing to give in return for those. As such, I do not desire my master’s tears. I desire only an outcome that requires no teardrops.”

She raised the gun.

“Steel for his bones, chains for his flesh, oil for his blood, determination for his heart, and…”

She took a breath.

“Selflessness for his tears.”

As she spoke, Sf squeezed the trigger while aiming at the line of enemies.

Shinjou sat on a tree trunk.

The trembling of her hands was beginning to abate, but strength would not return to her fingers.

“What do I…” she muttered.

''…lack at times like this?'' she finished in her thoughts.

She heard a voice from below.

“You had excellent scores in training and your marksmanship while providing covering fire from the rear guard was quite good as well. But it looks like you’re no good on the vanguard where a real battle is right before your eyes. Do you think I should remove you from Team Leviathan, Shinjou?”

Shinjou gave a quick gasp.

But the voice from below laughed.

“Hah. What’s with the serious look? I may be the supervisor, but you know I can’t do everything on my own discretion, right? You were added as a member on the recommendation of my old man. I can’t move you without his permission and your agreement.”

Shinjou frowned at the laughing voice and clenched her back teeth.

“Why are you always like this!? Ever since you took me in…”

“You really want to know?” said a smiling voice. “It’s because I know everything but understand nothing.” The voice then changed the subject. “Look, the fools are in trouble. Do whatever you can.”

Shinjou looked out toward the grassy area and realized what he meant.

Sayama and Sf moved around amid the gunfire and their enemies were collapsing from the attacks.

But a few of those had begun to move once more. First was the attendant Sf had defeated. He was trying to stand. And he was hidden behind another enemy, so Sayama and Sf could not see him.

Shinjou stood up on the tree trunk.

“Sayama-kun!”

As the knight charged toward her from the front, Sf charged in with her right shoulder held forward.

With the cooler still held under her right arm, she filled the gap between her and the knight in an instant.

The knight aimed his long rifle at her.

Sf raised the machinegun in her left arm slightly before swinging it.

She slammed her own machinegun against the enemy’s gun barrel.

With a metallic scraping noise, Sf pushed the knight’s rifle down and moved forward. Her running right foot reached the ground, but her left foot stepped down on the lowered rifle’s barrel.

The knight’s long rifle now had its tip sticking diagonally into the ground.

Sf used her machinegun as a cane and continued forward.

She thrust the machinegun into the ground and let go. She took a step along the knight’s rifle with her left foot and swung her right leg up to climb up the rifle.

The upward swing of her right leg continued into a kick.

Her foot flew toward the knight’s face. It was a straight and speedy kick.

The knight made up his mind in an instant.

He let go of the rifle.

With only the long rifle’s strap still in his hand, he leaped backwards.

“!”

The knight tugged on the strap as he moved back. The rifle that had been left stabbing into the ground was powerfully pulled back even with Sf halfway through her kick atop it.

He felt a bit of resistance, but the rifle still pulled out of the ground.

“!?”

Sf had her left pivot leg on the rifle, so her footing was pulled out from under her. She began to fall backwards.

Even so, she managed to kick off the rifle and jump high into the sky behind her.

But it was too late.

The knight had already pulled the rifle back into his hands by the strap.

He narrowed the sight in on Sf as she tumbled through the air.

Just as he was about to squeeze the trigger, something happened.

Sf’s body shrank down in the air and she rotated around once.

After jumping back, Sf had taken a crouching position in midair. Something was supporting her from below.

It was the machinegun she had stabbed into the ground like a cane earlier.

Sf’s right foot sat atop the gunstock that was sticking up toward the sky.

In the next instant, she stretched her body out and jumped.

Her skirt flapped through the air and the bullet of light produced by the knight’s rifle shot by below her feet.

Sf flew.

She swung the cooler through the air above her head and cartwheeled using it as a fulcrum.

She landed behind the knight.

The knight turned his shield toward her just as she pulled an object from the cooler and threw it at him with her back to him.

What she tossed under her arm with only a flick of the wrist was a large cylindrical object.

The knight reflexively swung his shield to strike the flying object from the side.

With a heavy yet soft sound, the shield deflected the object. It flew accurately back towards Sf.

The knight continued his rotation to aim the rifle at Sf.

As he did, he realized what the object she had thrown was.

It was a 500 mL plastic drink bottle.

“Wha-…?”

The dumbfounded knight saw Sf stand up.

She was facing him. Her left hand was in the cooler. Her gaze was focused squarely on the center of the knight’s wide open body.

With the sound of pieces of ice striking each other, she pulled a long metal object out of the cooler.

It was a shotgun.

Sf swung the barrel forward, using the action to cock it.

She used the reverse motion of it sliding back into place to pull the trigger.

A gunshot exploded out.

The shot first destroyed the drink bottle flying between the knight and Sf.

Immediately afterwards, it struck the knight’s breastplate.

A sound of impact exploded out.

The knight flew backwards as if he had received an uppercut.

And at that moment, a voice rang out across the open area.

“Sayama-kun!”

Sf turned toward the voice and saw a large shadow.

It was the attendant she had supposedly defeated earlier. His giant form had stood up and was now charging toward her.

After she had just fired, evasive actions were asking too much of Sf.

And the attendant held a knife in his right hand. It would strike her momentarily.

“A total loss is expected,” concluded Sf expressionlessly.

Her body grew limp as she prepared for the shock.

But then an attack flew toward the charging attendant from the side.

“…!?”

It was Sayama.

From a position back and to the right of Sf, he used the momentum of the slope and all his strength to throw a reverse roundhouse kick. His heel sliced through the air in a sharp curve before striking the attendant in the side.

It sounded more like a piercing strike than a dull one.

The attendant lost his forward momentum.

However, Sayama was half-deflected and thrown through the air due to the great difference in inertia. He kept low to the ground as he landed and took a breath.

He was not looking toward Sf. He was looking toward the woods.

Shinjou stood on the slope there.

After seeing where he was looking, Sf amended her conclusion.

“Partial damage is expected.”

Immediately afterwards, the charging attendant and Sf crossed paths.

The sound of fibers being torn could be heard.

Everything past Sf’s right shoulder flew through the air.

With its support gone, the cooler fell to the ground.

Sayama turned around and asked, “Does it hurt?”

“No, I have no sense of pain. The only pain I feel is from being unable to remain by Itaru-sama’s side.”

As she replied, her right arm fell atop the dirt and rolled two or three times down the slope.

And Sf saw something else.

Behind her, the attendant was preparing for his next attack with blood spilling from his mouth.

Sf rotated around and prepared to intercept him, but then her eyes narrowed slightly.

Behind the charging attendant, the knight was aiming his long rifle her way after he had recovered due to something written by one of the priests. And behind him, the remaining magician wrote something in the air using light.

The magician was not looking at Sf and Sayama. She was looking toward the woods where Shinjou had emerged.

Sf sensed Sayama moving behind her. She moved as well. However…

“…!”

The attendant’s charge, the knight’s shot, and the magician’s blast all came before Sf could aim the shotgun in her left hand or Sayama could take any kind of action.

The three attacks were loosed in quick succession.

Sayama saw the attack coming.

But it did not come from in front of him. It came from above. It came from above the charging attendant.

“What are you doing!?”

It was a girl.

The girl wore a lightweight white outfit and held something with a long silhouette in both hands. Her heels slammed into the attendant’s back. It was less a landing and more like a pile driver smashing the attendant into the ground.

By the time Sayama realized the girl held a long single-edged spear and a shield, he had already heard the attendant’s giant body crashing to the ground.

The attendant was struck to the ground without bouncing as if he had been hit with a hammer appropriate for his body size.

The knife he had held stabbed into the ground. It was only fifteen centimeters away from Sf’s foot.

However, she had escaped any further damage. Nothing had happened to Sayama either.

''What is going on?'' wondered Sayama, but then he recalled two other things.

Specifically, the knight and magician behind the attendant.

The knight had supposedly fired his long rifle.

That bullet of light should have destroyed everything within a twenty meter square of the point it hit, but it had never arrived.

Sayama frowned and took a closer look.

Beyond the collapsed attendant and the person who stood on his back was another silhouette.

This one was a young man.

He wore a white coat and held a giant single-edged sword in both hands.

To cover his body, he held the large white sword so the bottom of the grip was pointed up and the blade was pointed down. A bluish-white electrical discharge came from its blade.

Sayama recognized both of these newcomers.

Sf spoke to them as if to reconfirm Sayama’s memory.

“You are late, Izumo-sama, Kazami-sama.”

“Don’t say that… But I do apologize for not making it in time to save your arm.”

The one apologizing and holding a long, curving spear and shield was Kazami.

She wore the same type of white suit Shinjou had worn the night before, but her waist was wrapped in cloth. She also had a backpack that folded over.

She turned toward Sayama with the same smile she always had at school.

“Oh? You don’t look too surprised.”

“Of course not. After all the bizarre things you two do, this is easy to accept.”

“Well, that’s disappointing,” said Izumo.

With his back to Sayama, he lowered the giant sword using just his right arm and glanced over his shoulder.

“Team Leviathan Primary Team, Izumo Kaku. …How’s that for a cool way to name myself?”

Sayama ignored him.

Something else was bothering him: the magician’s spell. It had unmistakably been fired toward Shinjou.

''Is she okay?'' he wondered as he turned around.

He found a figure standing before the woods with her long hair waving in the wind. It was Shinjou.

But she was not alone.

Another familiar figure stood next to Shinjou. It was a tall old man wearing a white shirt, a black vest, and black trousers. When Sayama saw him standing there empty-handed except for his black gloves, he muttered the man’s name.

“The librarian of Kinugasa Library, Siegfried Zonburg…”

The man nodded, turned around, and met Sayama’s gaze with his own blue eyes. His white beard moved as he spoke.

“You need to add two other titles to that: former consultant to the National Defense Department and sorcerer.”

“Aren’t you forgetting one!?” shouted the knight.

Everyone turned toward him. The knight vigorously swung his long rifle up toward Siegfried.

“You are the great criminal who destroyed our 1st-Gear!!”

Izumo was closest to the knight, so he reacted first.

“How about you stop that!?” he shouted while swinging his large sword horizontally.

The single-edged sword soared smoothly and easily through the air.

However, the sound it produced was not that of it striking the knight’s armor.

The magician interfered.

“What!?”

The old woman used her staff as a shield to catch Izumo’s blade in front of the knight.

The staff bent and then broke and she was knocked into the air.

In exchange, the knight managed to pull the trigger of his long rifle.

It produced a metallic noise and light was emitted from the book loaded into the rifle.

It fired.

Light flew in a shallow arc toward Siegfried.

It was as if it had been thrown down at him from above.

In response, Siegfried lightly swung his right hand.

Something fell down from his palm.

It was a piece of paper.

Siegfried took a step forward.

He swung his right arm up at the light shooting toward him.

That mass of power had grown to five meters across.

He casually struck it with the piece of paper in his right hand.

In the very next moment, that powerful light disappeared.

As everyone’s eyes opened wide, Siegfried took another step.

“!”

He began to run.

The paper in the hand he held above his head had writing on it.

That paper that had been blank just before now had a certain destruction report written in powerful handwriting.

Sayama could not read the writing, but the images were transferred to his mind.

It was an itemized list of the dead in a certain district of a city.

Siegfried held the paper in his hand as he ran.

As he clenched it into a cylindrical shape, a blade of light appeared from it.

“…So this is the power of a grudge.”

He muttered those words and moved all in the same instant.

Siegfried charged right up to the knight.

The knight aimed his rifle and fired.

However, the attack shot below Siegfried’s arm.

Siegfried had moved as if about to sink down to the ground, but had instead raised the sword of light above his head and swung it down.

His strike targeted the knight’s rifle.

The trajectory of the blade left an afterimage of light behind and the sound of the gun being sliced sounded like a rock splitting open.

The front of the destroyed rifle where the book was loaded slid vertically before completely falling off. Seeing that, Siegfried stood up and swung his left hand.

The knight tossed his rifle aside and took a defensive stance.

However, Siegfried’s left hand was not headed toward him.

His left hand grabbed ahold of the book as it fell toward the ground.

Siegfried then held it out toward the knight and spoke.

“Do not drop this. Treat your books carefully. Even when making use of them.”

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Owari no Chronicle:Volume1 Chapter 1

2026-03-30T03:12:04Z

N-Ch:

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''It was probably at that moment

''When that which had been stopped

''Began moving once more

—''To me, trying to find or soothe oneself is nothing more than an illusion.

==Chapter 1: Sayama’s Beginning==
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''The privilege of those who know themselves

''Is being able to restrict oneself

''There is no more relying on others

Below the blue sky were two rows of blossoming cherry trees.

The road between those two rows led to a cement wall surrounding a large area of land. The stone gatepost at the opening to the west was inscribed with the words “Taka-Akita Academy”.

The schedule posted on the gate read “spring break” and the gate itself sat open with no one to pass through.

Once one passed through the gate, the central road continued with the cherry trees on either side.

These trees were in full bloom as well. Continuing further led to a half hectare general sports ground to the right and a martial arts facility as large as a great hall to the left.

Continuing straight on led not to a school building but to a faculty building.

The school buildings were lined up in all four compass points with the faculty building at the center. This was all one school, but other than the six general school buildings, it was broken down by specialization. To provide a proper environment, some of the school buildings were surrounded by rows of trees, but others had a research plant equipped with a silo or an asphalt course for test driving.

The buildings built very nearby those school buildings were the student dormitories.

This school took up the area that would cover three-fourths of a city. It had a few shopping districts, farms, and factories on the grounds and a lot of the city’s people lived inside it.

And every facility within possessed a certain mark.

It was the mark of IAI, the Izumo Aviation Institute. IAI supported this academy city.

However, the academy was nearly deserted during spring break.

This was even true for the western general school buildings nearest the main gate.

A single figure could be seen at the second year general education building just north of the faculty building.

A boy stood on the second story landing of the emergency staircase.

Despite it being spring break, the boy wore his school uniform, blazer and all, and the buttons of his shirt were buttoned all the way up to the collar.

His hair was slicked back and a single stripe of white could be seen on either side. Below that hair were sharp eyes and a sharp face.

He was looking up into the sky.

Floating in the blue sky were thin white clouds and the shadow of an airplane making a wide curve through the air.

“So the American soldiers at Yokota are not taking a break either. They also prefer high places like me. And they too do not return home even when they have the chance,” he said.

He swung up his left arm and the sleeve slid down. A white scar could be seen on his left fist and he wore a woman’s ring on the middle finger. A silver wristwatch was also revealed on his left wrist. The hands pointed to 2:30 PM.

He pulled a single piece of paper from his pocket.

“Sayama Mikoto-sama. To complete the transfer of rights left with us by your grandfather, the late Sayama Kaoru-shi, we ask that you visit the Okutama IAI General Tokyo Facility on March 30 at 6 PM.”

It was an invitation. That simple text was followed by an IAI map and the name of the one inviting Sayama.

“IAI section chief, Ooshiro Kazuo, hm?”

…''The old man, hm?

When Sayama’s grandfather had died, that elderly man had been the first to come rushing over for the funeral. The tall, gray-haired man always wore a white coat at IAI. The two of them would speak every once in a while and the man seemed to enjoy it when Sayama called him “old man”.

But as Sayama looked at the invitation, he muttered, “My grandfather was a corporate blackmailer, so what rights could he have had at IAI?”

He turned around to find the emergency exit and the wall. The aluminum door was polished, but the wall was dirty with sand and dust. Out of sudden curiosity, he approached the wall and touched it. The sand came off and stuck to his finger.

“Hm…”

Just as he wiped off his finger, the emergency exit moved a bit.

A young woman in personal clothes poked her head out through the slight opening. As the bangs of her short brown hair waved, her blue eyes turned in the direction Sayama had been not long before. “Huh?” she said and tilted her head.

Sayama said, “Over here, Ooki-sensei. You must have a lot of free time to be at school during spring break.”

Hearing that, the woman named Ooki frowned and turned around.

“I was sleeping and-…wait, the same goes for you. Are you trying to fully enjoy your youth by staring into the sky in a place like this? Also, Sayama-kun.”

“What is it? If you have a question, then out with it.”

“Okay, my first question: Why do you speak like that to your teacher?”

“That is my acting style. You lose as soon as you question it, Ooki-sensei. Now, any other questions?”

“Okay, my second question: If I punch a student during spring break does it count as school violence?”

“It does not matter as long as no one finds out. So who are you planning to punch? This must be quite a troublemaker if they can anger you.”

“And my final question: …Have you ever looked in a mirror?”

“I use one for a good long time every day. You really do like asking such obvious questions.”

“I was an idiot to try asking questions to someone filled with such originality. In fact, are you sure that acting style is okay?”

In response to that annoyed comment, Sayama removed his hand from the wall and swiped it forcefully through the air. The cloth of the sleeve let out a noise.

“Do not worry. I act this way to everyone. I intend to head down that path in the future, after all. It may be selfish of me, but I do not want people to say I suddenly started acting full of myself when I grow up. …This may give you some trouble though.”

Ooki’s neck relaxed and she gave a bitter smile at that last line.

“You should probably say that last part to the other teachers as well. Oh, but it seems I will be your homeroom teacher next year as well.”

“So you managed to get one of the best students in your class. Excellent work for a newcomer teacher with little authority.”

“Would you sympathize with me if I told you the other teachers were forcing the excellent but overly individual students on me?”

Sayama placed a hand on Ooki’s shoulder and nodded with a completely serious expression.

“If you seek sympathy, it is all over for you, Ooki-sensei. Although you may be almost there already.”

“Sorry, this is irritating me, so it would be nice if you would stop.” Ooki walked out onto the emergency staircase with her eyes half closed. She scratched at her head and said, “Talking with you really exhausts me. You take everything so seriously.”

Sayama gave a slight smile at that.

“Seriously? I-…”

“You don’t? But you were elected vice president in the student council election and your grades are excellent.”

“True,” said Sayama with a nod. He folded his arms and thought for a bit. Three seconds later, “I have never once gotten serious. …I just can’t make myself want to.”

“…Eh?”

Sayama ignored Ooki’s questioning voice and shrugged.

“Then again, everything I run across in school ends before I even have a chance to get serious. I was once scolded by my grandfather. He told me not to settle for being the ruler of a small place.”

“I see,” said Ooki with a nod. She leaned up against the emergency staircase landing’s railing. “Your grandfather was an amazing person. Compared to him, I can see where you are coming from.”

“Yes. Compared to my grandfather who would give Japan’s economy a nice smack from the shadows, the vice president of this academy city is nothing.”

“It’s more than nothing.”

“But it is true I have never actually tested myself. During the race for vice president, my opponent grew so desperate by the end that he even danced around naked in an attempt to gain more popularity. He was simply no match for me.”

“Were you the one that fired a bottle rocket at his butt while he was performing that nude dance?”

“No, that was Izumo while he was crushing everyone else in the presidential race. He even used a metal pipe as a gun barrel to increase his accuracy. Not something you would expect of a third year.”

“In that case, I won’t ask who blew up the stage afterwards…”

“That would be for the best. Are you gradually learning how to get along in life, Ooki-sensei?”

“Yes, yes. But I’m starting to get worried about being the next advisor for the student council…” Ooki frowned and sighed before continuing. “Is school really that boring to you?”

Sayama stopped moving when he heard that.

He turned his gaze to meet that of Ooki’s blue eyes.

After a short pause, he gave a small shake of the head.

“I have no complaints with the school. It is true the student council election and the tests are all such small things that I do not need to grow serious about. However, that does not mean school is boring. It is only natural to feel that school is a small place. And I think that school has its own unique things to enjoy.”

“What a complicated child…”

After falling silent for a short while, Ooki bent her back over the railing she was leaning against and looked up into the sky.

Meanwhile, Sayama glanced at his watch. It was 2:50.

“Ooki-sensei, I think I should get back to my dorm soon.”

“Are you leaving soon?”

“Yes. After changing into a suit, I need to receive something similar to my grandfather’s will.”

Sayama opened the emergency exit. Ooki frantically got up from the railing and charged through the open door. Sayama also entered the school building as he closed the door.

Sayama walked through the hallway alongside Ooki. The last school newspaper of the year was attached to the classroom-side wall. The First PR Club put out the paper weekly. It generally carried articles related to IAI and this issue contained the school’s employment rate to IAI as well as a few other pieces of news.

Ooki stopped as she looked over at an article at her eyelevel which was one level below Sayama’s.

“They have detected an extrasolar star system with a high probability of being habitable. …That’s amazing!”

“It’s only been discovered. Just looking at this article will tell you how difficult a problem anything further would be.”

Sayama pointed at another article. The article’s photograph showed a giant pile of machinery lying collapsed on a large area of asphalt.

“According to this, they created an eight-meter-tall bipedal robot and it failed spectacularly. The joints were made too weak so its knees broke just from walking. …No matter what we may discover, it means nothing if we do not have the technology to use it.”

“Hm. So it’s the same as spotting a good-looking girl but not knowing how to talk to her.”

“I am glad you are so wise. Is that something you told yourself as an excuse?”

“Well, last Christmas, some of my friends and I…wait, no.”

When Ooki said that, Sayama realized she was looking up at his face.

''Why is she staring?'' he wondered.

“Is it that rare to see me smile?”

“No, it’s not that it’s rare. It’s interesting.”

Ooki began walking once more. Sayama followed.

Ooki asked, “Can I ask you about your grandfather?”

“Of course,” replied Sayama.

He had nothing to hide.

And so he spoke. He talked about a lot as they walked.

He told her how his grandfather had left the war during World War Two and had begun researching something.

“And it seems the Izumo Aviation Institute was involved at the time. After the war, he used the connections and discoveries he had made as a base to set out into the financial world and become a corporate blackmailer.”

“A corporate blackmailer, hm?”

“He did a lot of pretty horrible things. …Every time he was in the newspaper, he would give the following line.”

Ooki nodded and cut in.

“ ‘The surname Sayama indicates a villain’, right? I saw it once in a weekly magazine.”

“That’s right. My grandfather was a villain through and through. When he saw some giant opponent as an enemy or evil, he would fight them by becoming an even greater evil. And…that is also why I do not want to grow serious about anything.”

“That is?”

“I am inexperienced. ‘The surname Sayama indicates a villain.’ My grandfather always told me my abilities were meant to perform necessary evils. However, I lost him when all he had taught me was how to do it.”

“So… You don’t know when the evil you perform is truly necessary?”

“Yes. I do not want to die, so there may be times when I will get serious. However, growing serious when I cannot tell if it is truly necessary is a frightening thing.”

As he spoke, Sayama suddenly brought his right hand to the left side of his chest.

As he brought his hand inside his coat and held his chest, Ooki spoke without turning toward him.

“It sounds like you have it tough in your own way.”

“Yes,” he nodded.

“Then can I ask you about your father?”

“Why?”

“I never asked last year despite being your homeroom teacher, and…” The ends of her eyebrows lowered. “I think this is part of a teacher’s job.”

Sayama nodded as he lightly held the left side of his chest. After taking a breath, he spoke.

“There is nothing to worry about. It is a simple issue. More importantly, how much do you know, Ooki-sensei? I am curious.”

Ooki glanced upwards and folded her arms.

“Your father was adopted by your grandfather and he entered IAI at the same time as your mother. However, he was killed in the great Kansai earthquake at the end of 95. Your mother, um, well, brought you with her and-…”

Ooki trailed off and Sayama smiled bitterly.

“Before I tell you not to worry about it, I need to correct some of that. My father died as a secondary casualty of the earthquake when he was sent by IAI for earthquake relief.”

Sayama took a breath. He held up his empty left hand. That scarred left fist had a women’s ring on the middle finger. The pearl decoration glittered a bit in the dimly lit hallway.

Ooki turned to look at it as she walked.

However, Sayama also looked at the ring instead of looking at her.

“Go where those precious to you are waiting, hm?”

As his words deepened, Sayama felt as if something was moving within the left side of his chest.

It was pain.

And it felt like his chest was creaking.

It was coming.

And then Sayama saw Ooki looking up at him with her face completely pale.

“Sayama-kun. A-are you okay?”

He tried to answer “yes”, but he realized he was not breathing. When his body bent forward, he realized someone had suddenly started to support his chest.

Ooki had caught him from below.

“Ah…”

When he heard Ooki say that, all of his body’s senses returned.

He first felt exhaustion. He then felt he could breathe again and sweat poured from his back and legs.

He brought strength to his legs to stand up, but Ooki was still lightly holding her arms out toward him.

“A-are you okay?”

“I am fine.”

“Really? Okay? You are okay?”

“I am okay, but that is not correct English.” His body was now obviously returning to normal. He nodded and said, “I am fine, so do not worry. It seems I get stress-induced anginas from this topic.”

“Then why did you agree to talk about it?”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to know? You truly are a horrible teacher if you forgot that.”

“Oh, but, um…”

As Ooki began frantically waving her hands in denial, Sayama smiled again.

“What are you trying to deny? Think about it. I am free to say what I want. And you are free to support me when I fall. I would say you performed the better deed here. Don’t you agree? But let me say one thing.” Sayama removed his right hand from his chest. “My mother would often tell me she hoped I could do something one day. I have to wonder if she ever did anything. And now the child raised hearing that has no idea what he can do. And so I must ask: what should I do?”

“I see… So you do not know what you can do.” Ooki nodded and her shoulders drooped. She looked up at Sayama and earnestly said, “I finally understand why you are so extreme about everything.”

“I cannot overlook that. Who are you calling extreme?”

“What? You didn’t hear me? I said it quite clearly. Is that a nose on the side of your head?”

Sayama’s left hand gave a lightning-fast flick against the forehead that had asked that question so seriously.

“Eeee,” groaned Ooki as she crouched down.

Sayama brought a hand to his chin and said, “Some teachers can say truly horrible things about their students.”

In the end, Sayama did not leave his dorm until past four.

It had taken time to put on the three-piece suit he had inherited from his grandfather and to prepare the seal and digital recording device needed for official records. He wrote down his time of departure at the dorm’s reception desk and left.

The sun was still in the sky.

He walked through the gravel clearing located between the general school buildings and the dorm. It normally functioned as a faculty parking lot. He was headed toward the main gate.

As he cut behind the second year general school building as a shortcut, he heard baby birds singing in the trees.

As he listened, Sayama heard two sounds other than the chirping of the birds.

The first was organ music coming from the music room on the second story of the school building.

“Silent Night…”

He recalled occasionally hearing it on the weekends. However, this was the first time he had been able to determine exactly where it was coming from. He wondered who was playing it, but it was so perfectly played that he assumed it was not a student.

And as the organ music played, another sound could be heard approaching.

It was the sound of a motorcycle engine. Specifically, the low tone of a 4-stroke.

As he heard that noise coming from the direction of the main gate, Sayama muttered, “Izumo and Kazami.”

He then walked out to the asphalt road west of the school building.

He looked out toward the faculty building, the vast sports ground, and the martial arts facility. He spotted two people riding a motorcycle appearing out from the side of the faculty building. Despite the large amount of exhaust, the black touring motorcycle moved smoothly along the road.

Aboard the motorcycle were a well-built young man wearing a thin brown coat and a girl with semi-short hair and carrying a black rucksack. The back bared by the girl’s white sleeveless top pointed in Sayama’s direction.

The two were chatting while riding the motorcycle.

Suddenly, the young man noticed Sayama. A friendly smile appeared on his fairly long face.

“Hey,” he said with a raised hand.

He then stopped the motorcycle next to Sayama.

The young man was over one hundred eighty centimeters tall and broad-shouldered, so he supported the weight of the heavy motorcycle with his leg.

The girl swayed gently and rested up against the young man’s back.

The young man smiled with the girl leaning up against him.

He looked up and said, “Where do you think you’re going, Sayama, you idiot? To go spew insults at someone?”

Sayama brought a hand to his forehead and sighed.

With a troubled tone of voice, he said, “Izumo, unlike you, my brain is working properly. And I have never spewed insults at anyone, you sick bastard.”

“Sure, sure. Thanks for keeping up your acting style even during spring break.”

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“No need to thank me. But should the three top members of the student council really be having this sort of conversation?”

The young man, Izumo, smiled bitterly at that.

“Of course not,” he agreed.

The girl leaning on his back turned their way.

“Sayama, you’re going to IAI, right?”

“Yes, I am. Kazami, Izumo. What about you two?”

“I was just headed back to the dorm to have some fun with Chisato…kh!”

As he spoke, Izumo’s head twisted upwards. The girl named Kazami had grabbed at Izumo’s head and jaw from behind. A delicate sound came from Izumo’s neck and he gently fell backwards.

“Kaku, that is not what he asked. Sayama wanted to know where we had been.”

Izumo’s head came to rest on top of Kazami’s thighs and he stopped moving.

“There, there,” said Kazami as she stroked his head. She then showed Sayama the black rucksack next to her and smiled.

“We went into the city. We bought some clothes, new music, and other stuff for the All Holiday Festival. Being on the edge of Tokyo really makes you forget all about culture.”

“…I see. But you two are third years and you live together, right?”

The girl, Kazami, thought for a bit looking troubled, but then spoke.

“Well, that’s how it turned out. Now, when I try to mingle with the others, they’re overly cautious about how they treat me. My role in the dorm has become that of an older sister. An underclassman even apologized just for passing by me in the hall.”

“Your face seems to be turning to cement.”

Kazami turned her head down, said “Oh, sorry”, and relaxed her shoulders. She casually clapped a hand against Izumo who was lying motionless on her thighs.

“Don’t turn into an idiot like him, okay? He abuses his authority as the son of IAI.”

“It seems to me you are enjoying that abuse quite a lot.”

“I know that, and that’s why it angers me so much. He needs to at least take his student council job seriously.” Kazami raised her head to look Sayama in the eye. “Oh, right. Sayama, I was thinking of having our first student council job for the term in the second year school building’s Kinugasa Library. Do you have time? The three of us can make some plans for the All Holiday Festival and Invitation Festival in the spring.”

“I have to head out today and I do not know how late I will be back.”

“We’re leaving for the city again tomorrow afternoon, so how about 9 AM tomorrow in the Kinugasa Library?”

“I can do that,” agreed Sayama. He glanced over at the school building next to them. “The Kinugasa Library, hm?”

On the western side of the second year general school building’s ground floor, an area four classroom’s length across was sticking out. It stuck out about the width of a classroom. Inside this space was an area equal to eight classrooms.

A look in the windows would show the backs of wooden panels. These thick wooden panels created the silhouettes of bookshelves.

The room was a library.

Almost the entire eight classroom space was filled with books and the hallway and basement had been used for extra book storage. That was the Kinugasa Library.

As Sayama glanced toward the library’s window, he heard Kazami speaking.

“The library created by the school’s founder isn’t a bad place for our first job, right? The librarian, old man Siegfried, may be unsociable, but he does put out tea. We used that place a fair bit during the election, so I was thinking we could continue to use it as our base.”

“This year’s treasurer certainly is different.”

“I think the president and vice president will be quite different as well. But what do you think? Are upperclassmen like us suitable for someone as prideful as you?”

“I think that statement alone shows you can compete with me when it comes to pride. …But at the very least, there is no one in this school who is better suited. Izumo Kaku, the son of IAI which supports this city of Akigawa, and Kazami Chisato, the girl who shares a room with him, are true problem children.”

“…”

“There is no way you two are ignorant of what the world says about you. I respect you for your ability to continue acting like this regardless.”

Hearing that, Kazami showed off her teeth slightly and looked down at Izumo who lay on her legs.

“Well, it doesn’t matter what people say. Kaku may cause problems, but he is not a bad person.”

“The same goes for you, Kazami.”

“Then what about you, Mr. Family of Villains?” Kazami raised her head to look at Sayama. She glanced up and down his suit. “You look good enough, but you make things difficult.”

“In what way?”

“I’m having difficulty imagining who would stand next to you. I can’t imagine someone to balance out your idiocy like Kaku is for me.”

“There is no one out there with enough power to handle me on an equal footing.”

“That isn’t what I mean.” Kazami gave a troubled smile. She lightly waved her hand front and back. “I’m talking about balance. Equals can only stand on the same side of the scales, right? You need a counterbalance.”

Sayama thought on the meaning of Kazami’s words.

And, “Someone like that would either be an opposing force or a hindrance.”

“So am I an opposing force or hindrance to Kaku?”

That question was spoken with a small smile. Sayama relaxed his shoulders.

“I do not know the answer to that, so I cannot argue about it with someone like you who does know the answer.”

“Oh, how honest.”

“I am an honest person, Kazami. It is just that, for some odd reason, I seem to end up in trouble for it from time to time. Is this what they mean when they say an honest man will look a fool? Yes, our ancestors said some excellent things.”

“Okay, sure. If that’s how you want to view it in your personal universe, I won’t stop you.”

Sayama smiled bitterly at that. He exchanged a glance with Kazami and spoke.

“Fine, then. I will admit relationships like yours and Izumo’s exist. However, I am doubtful the same could happen to me. I also think it is a problem to even think about placing someone like that next to me.”

“A problem?”

“The surname Sayama indicates a villain. What do you put next to evil?”

Kazami had no answer to that. She only let her shoulders droop and sighed.

“You really are a complicated person.”

“Ooki-sensei said the same thing earlier.”

“Everyone thinks it. We also wonder when exactly you will get serious about something.”

“I have never done it, so I couldn’t say. …And if I did, I am so inexperienced I would likely be afraid of myself.”

“…You really are complicated, Sayama.”

“You do not need to repeat yourself,” said Sayama with a smile before lightly tapping Izumo’s back where he lay unmoving as if asleep. “You’re awake, right? Hurry on back and dive headfirst into your unrestrained lifestyle.”

“Eh?” muttered Kazami as she looked down.

Izumo opened his eyes.

“Hey.”

“No, not ‘hey’. If you came to, why didn’t you get up?”

“You smell really good, Chisato.”

Izumo’s eyes bent upwards happily as Kazami blushed.

“Ha,” laughed Sayama before patting Kazami on the shoulder, turning his back, and walking off.

He continued toward the main gate.

As he did, he noticed a new figure.

Someone was walking down the stairs from the second floor of the second year general school building.

It was a tall elderly man. He wore a black vest, black trousers, and black gloves. He was bald and had a beard.

“Siegfried Zonburg, the librarian.”

Sayama had spoken with him a few times during his student council work. The man used only the bare minimum of words.

“You do not often see him outside of the Kinugasa Library,” he muttered before continuing on.

He looked around once more and saw nothing but the scenery of the school near the peak of spring.

“Such a peaceful place…”

Behind him, he heard repeated sounds of flesh being struck followed by screams from Izumo.

The sun was setting in the west.

Below that setting sun, even a forest surrounded by mountains had light passing through it like wind.

The forest was primarily made up of cedars. A single figure was fallen in front of one of those trees.

The figure was sitting on the ground.

This middle-aged man sat such that the sun shined on him from the side. His close-cropped hair was wet with something so it reflected the sun. The liquid wetting his hair dripped down his forehead and dyed the left half of his face a dark color.

His clothes resembled a white and black military uniform. However, the left shoulder and left leg of that uniform had split open and something dark could be seen flowing out as he breathed erratically.

He stretched out his left hand and scratched at the ground. With the blood in his eyes, he might as well have been blind. His left hand wandered across the ground.

Eventually, he managed to pick something up from between the rocks and fallen leaves.

It was a long gun made of metal. The side was engraved with something written in German.

He embraced the gun tightly and took a deep breath. He stuck a finger into the pouch on his right hip.

“This is Tsuurin Daiichi. My current location is in the mountains near Point 3 between Okutama and Shiromaru. I succeeded in preventing the single enemy from escaping. I successfully read the enemy’s string vibration and sent it in. Currently…everyone but me has been taken out. Please hurry.”

A staticky voice replied from near his throat. It was a female voice.

“Testament. The special division is on their way. We will send aid for you as well, so withdraw.”

“Tes. …Or so I’d like to say. Unfortunately, my leg was taken out. And my healing tools and spells were destroyed along with it. I only have my favorite weapon left to rely on. …When I asked you to hurry, I meant the special division, not aid for me.” He took a deep breath while sweating profusely. “The enemy is from a faction of 1st-Gear’s revolutionary army. Yes, a werewolf from the second Royal Palace faction. He likely came for negotiations with the peaceful faction. He must have had a 1st-Gear philosopher’s stone because he turned into a wolf in this real world.”

“Do not speak. The concept space will be deployed in another five minutes.”

“Ha ha. Make it so a silver bullet will work. Also, young girl…or is it young lady? Anyway, you don’t think this is our fault, do you?”

He was met with silence. He cast his eyes down before continuing.

“Fine. It was our mistake for deciding to go. In the standard division, we have the right to choose…right?”

Once again, he received only silence. Yet he did not stop.

“What unit are you from? Even in the special division, not many units have women in them. But I think there was one put together recently. A unit filled with beautiful UCAT-raised girls and women. I think it was the IAI-…”

He stopped speaking. His eyes opened wide and he stood up by using the tree behind him as a support.

“Hey, when I get back, meet me with flowers. It’ll be a triumphant return. What’s in bloom this time of year?”

“Testament. I think Primula modesta and the like are.”

“No, you’re supposed to say you are.”

He laughed and removed his right hand from the pouch. He moved the long gun from his left hand to his right. He bit the strap, used the stock and grip in his right hand to create three points of support, and faced forward.

He heard wind ahead of him.

A large shadow could be seen in the setting sun shining on the mountain. It was slowly approaching while swaying back and forth.

There was no sign. He simply followed the sound of the wind and squeezed the trigger.

A gunshot traveled across the forest along with the light of the setting sun.

Sayama opened his eyes aboard a train running through the mountains on the way to Okutama.

He had dozed off due to the setting sun shining on his seated back. And he had woken up due to…

“The train has stopped?”

He glanced around the train. The only passengers besides himself were two people seated a short distance away.

One was a white-haired man wearing a black suit. The other was a white-haired girl wearing black clothes and seated next to him. They may have been father and daughter and they were looking outside the opposite window.

Sayama followed their gaze out the window.

There he found the mountains of Okutama. They were all formed from round shapes and no small hills could be seen.

“So we are around the second tunnel near Shiromaru. Only one more stop to Okutama.”

He was familiar with the terrain here. He continued speaking while looking out at those similar-looking mountains.

“This is thanks to Hiba-sensei forcing me to run through these mountains.”

…''If I had not learned the land, I would not have been found until spring.

Sayama nodded and looked down at his left hand. His skin was white around the bones of his fist as if something had scattered across it. His eyes turned toward the ring on the middle finger of that scarred fist.

“It was also around here that we got out of the car when my mother took me with her back then…” he muttered.

According to his watch, it was 5:30 PM. He was to be at IAI at 6:00 PM.

When he calculated the time, his heart seemed to stiffen. He stood up, raised his suit collar to fix it with a snapping noise, and approached the two other passengers. The white-haired man raised his head. The man was wearing sunglasses, but Sayama could tell the man was looking at him. Sayama gave a quick bow.

“Excuse me. Why is the train stopped?”

“It received a stop signal. Once it is released, it will return to Shiromaru.”

The man’s tone had a bit of amusement mixed in and Sayama realized he was younger than he looked. Sayama had initially assumed he was elderly, but a closer look showed he was only just entering middle age.

The girl next to him wore the black dress and white apron of a maid. She was not the man’s daughter.

…''I had heard the ownership of a lot of the mountains around here stretches way back.

Sayama noticed the girl was holding a staff. It was a metal cane that could be attached to the wrist. It was clearly too long for her to use. However, Sayama ended his investigation of them here. He needed to know something else.

“Why is this train returning?”

“Maybe there was an accident.”

“I see,” nodded Sayama, realizing the man must not know the details either.

Suddenly, the girl sitting next to the man looked up at Sayama. With her eyebrows lying flat and no discernible expression on her face, her black eyes that were almost purple peered deep into Sayama’s eyes.

She took a breath and then opened her mouth.

“My apologies,” she said in a low, fairly mature voice.

“Think nothing of it,” said Sayama before turning his back on the two of them.

He opened the opposite window and heard the same voice as before from behind him.

“Are you getting out?”

“I cannot go back. Also, someone is waiting for me.”

“You are being hasty. The train might soon continue forward. Once you regret a decision, it is too late to turn back.”

“I do not know what god of advice you are, but let me tell you something. A decision can lead to joy just as easily as it can regret. I appreciate your concern, but I know this land. And is there anything truly dangerous in this world?”

“True… That is very true. There is no danger in this world,” said the man before closing his mouth in a smile below the sunglasses.

As soon as the man spread his legs out from the seat, Sayama stuck his legs out the window and jumped out.

He landed on the gravel supporting the railroad. He ran out into the open air and onto the mountainside bathed in the light of the setting sun.

“…”

Sayama did not turn back toward the train up the slope from him. He continued through the forest spreading out before him.

He trampled the underbrush as he headed down the mountain.

After only a few breaths, he sank into the shadows produced by the forest. The setting sun coming from the side and the branches of the trees drew a grid of shadows across him. This light and air were familiar to him.

“It’s been two years since I stopped coming to Okutama. I suppose the Hiba Dojo is still around.”

As he muttered that comment, he heard a metallic noise from behind him.

A whistle sounded and the train began to move. He heard it move up toward Shiromaru. The sound of the receding wheels told Sayama he had made the right decision.

“Good,” he said with a nod as he quickened his pace.

Shiromaru Station was an unmanned train station.

When the train came to a stop, the few passengers disinterestedly exited onto the long, narrow platform.

A short distance away from those bored individuals were the two people Sayama had spoken to just before.

The white-haired man held the cane in one hand as he stood next to a card-only payphone located in the shadow of a private home outside the station.

The girl dressed as a maid stood in front of him holding the receiver for the green telephone.

She pulled a bundle of telephone cards from her apron like it was a deck of playing cards.

She quickly lined the cards up in front of the green phone and turned toward the man.

“Itaru-sama. Why do you not carry a cell phone?”

“Because I am a coward, Sf. Remember that. If the phone rang, it would probably give me a heart attack.”

“How about I carry it for you?”

“No. You have not acquired the skill to take messages. If you cannot always answer as if I am gone even when I am with you, there is no point in you having a cell phone. Do you understand?”

“Tes. I understand that possessing one would be meaningless on a fundamental level.”

The girl called Sf stopped lining up the cards while looking at him. She was lining up the well-used cards in order of number of uses. The punch holes showing the number of uses lined up perfectly without the slightest deviation.

Sf casually picked up one card with few uses left and slid it into the green phone.

She used her right fingers to instantly dial a number.

A few seconds later, “This is Sf. Registration Number 9609812B. Connect me to extension #0013.”

Sf then handed the receiver to the man next to her. He took it and spoke.

“This is Ooshiro Itaru. Has Team Leviathan left yet, Sibyl? …I see. I just met an interesting idiot. Something stupid is about to happen. A world of stupid false good and false evil is about to unfold. …You don’t understand? No, someone like you or Sf that has not woken up wouldn’t.”

As Itaru spoke, Sf inserted a new card into the green telephone. When the small sound of connection indicating three minutes had been added came from the receiver, Itaru nodded to Sf. He continued speaking as he saw Sf nod back.

“Sf confirmed this idiot’s string vibration. I’ll have Sf give it to you, so add this idiot’s vibration to the string vibration of the concept space. It’s the usual type, so this change should be easy and the outside will be visible, right? Drag him in from reality. …What? You want to know who this idiot is? You’ll know soon enough.”

Hearing that, Sf asked, “Itaru-sama, is it really okay to get him involved like this?”

“That brat has ignorantly decided that this world is a safe place. We need to teach him a lesson and a first-hand lesson would be best. From now on, he is sure to be overturned again and again. From here on out, he will deny all things because all things exist. He will deny joy because he knows joy. And…Yes, that will continue until the world is satisfied.”

Itaru gave a small smile and handed Sf the receiver.

“Sf, tell them his string vibration. And then we will teach him what reality truly is.”

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume1 Prologue|Prologue]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume1 Chapter 2|Chapter 2]]
|-
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 26

2026-03-29T04:22:07Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 26: The Pace Ahead==
[[Image:OnC_v14_0927.png|thumb]]
''Bless your load

''Bless your song

''Bless your blessing

The battle to defend their positions for ten minutes began directly below the Leviathan.

A black force flew down toward a forest of anti-air fire coming from Shinjou and the other gunners.

The angels with the vacant minds of dolls did not fear the cannon fire.

Even if they were hit or destroyed, the concept release would be stopped as long as they managed to crush those below.

So on the Leviathan’s instructions, the black army cascaded downward.

But something happened once they arrived above Shinjuku Station.

“!?”

At only fifty meters above the earth seal, they collided with a wall.

It was an invisible wall.

“UCAT automatons! Use your full power!!”

On #8’s command, a circle of maids raised their arms in front of the station.

They were all heavily equipped with philosopher’s stone fuel tanks and radiator fins on their shoulders and backs.

They almost seemed to have several wings.

“Blow them away!!” ordered #8.

Heat shimmered behind them all, but they crouched down and…

“Testament!!”

A gravity lens created a defense barrier above them and they swung it like a tennis racket to perform a smash.

The sound of attack rang out.

With a bursting sound from the basin below, the black cascade scattered explosions and fragments through the sky.

The automatons were already preparing to form a second lens defense, but…

“————!!”

A new explosion shook the sky above.

Something was firing down on them.

The enemy attack tore through hundreds of their own on the way down.

The new black army cleared a path by splitting their own forces with gun and cannon fire.

They were fast and the gravity lens would not be up in time, but…

“Covering fire!!”

This cannon fire came from every direction.

The high-speed gunners on the vanguard of all eight armies had fired.

To #8 and the others, it looked like light was binding together the sky above.

The attacks from eight directions wore down the front of the descending black army, shrinking their numbers and slowing them. Even more fragments were created on the leading edge of that cascade.

It was working, but…

“Are we still not going to make it!?”

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> calculated that they needed about another thirty seconds to open the defense lens.

And if the enemy pushed their way in before that…

“Protect Shinjou-sama even if nothing else!”

The others expressed their agreement with her shared thought.

“I have determined that is known as loyalty!!”

At the same time, a new figure appeared at the center of their group.

An old man in a lab coat had rushed over while they were focused on the sky.

“#-#8-kun! Are we in trouble here!? I-is poor old Kazuo here going to die!?”

“Testament. I do not mind in the slightest if you are the only one to die.”

“That’s just mean! And after I brought a secret weapon with me too!”

Ooshiro pulled ropes from his pockets and let them dangle from his hands.

Several silver squares hung from the thin ropes.

“These are a new type of localized bomb! With this many, it should be a real sight to see, don’t you think!?”

“Testament. Referring to your filthiness in a quantified manner such as ‘this many’ is certainly a revolutionary idea, Ooshiro-sama. So what are you going to do with those?”

“Oh, well, I was thinking you could throw them into the midst of the enemy with your gravity lens.”

“I see.” #8 nodded. “But if we used the lens for that, we would be left completely defenseless.”

“O-oh, um…”

Ooshiro was caught off guard by that and #8 tapped his shoulder.

“Ooshiro-sama, please turn around for a moment.”

“Hm? Why? Do I have something on my back?”

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> used a permanent marker to write a single word on the back of his lab coat: rocket.

She then looked around with an impatient look on her face.

“Does anyone have a light!? Anyone at all!?”

“Nwaaaah!!”

Ooshiro cried out as some South African UCAT members wearing white triangular masks rushed forward and fired their flamethrowers toward his feet.

“Let your youth blast off!!”

A moment later, Ooshiro Kazuo really did blast off.

A giant explosion suddenly appeared in the center of the black army descending below the Leviathan.

The giant pink blast covered a vertical area of three kilometers and was shaped like a heart.

Thousands of angel automatons, gods of war, and mechanical dragons were swallowed up and vanished despite their attempts to escape.

“—————!!”

The trailing notes of the explosion sounded oddly FM synthesized.

But all of the UCAT members reacted to the pink pulse phenomenon lingering in the air.

“That’s UCAT Director Ooshiro!”

“Oh! Is that what you call Kleshas!?”

“是変態的爆発也!?”

After a few multilingual comments, they all joined together.

“That UCAT director just took all the world’s misdirection with him!!”

Waves of cheers ran through the armies in all eight directions.

But they stopped after the fifth cheer.

The flow of black had started toward the eight surrounding directions in addition to directly below.

The Leviathan was now sending its main force in every direction.

The first minute began of the ten they had to defend.

The light of the Concept Core filled the sky of northeastern Region 2, where 1st-Gear defended.

It looked like a cloud, like a dragon, and somewhat like…

“Fafnir?” muttered Brunhild.

She stabbed Gram into the ground and raised her own weapon.

That weapon was the Requiem Sense.

The dragon made of light was also made of writing. The pale, glowing writing were packed in tightly and gently floated through the air as if to say it was 1st-Gear itself.

The distant sounds of cannon fire were growing closer.

The front line was being pushed back and this area would soon become a battlefield.

The Leviathan’s goal was to stop the Concept Cores from being activated.

Just as UCAT’s side had stopped the positive concepts from being created, the Leviathan would win if it could stop just one point.

''Can we really do this?'' wondered Brunhild.

She frowned and gave a tense gasp when she saw the black light of the enemy beyond the road and beyond the trees of the park.

Suddenly, something tapped on her leg.

She looked down and saw a black cat looking up at her.

“Do you think we’re going to die?”

“You certainly like to reach extreme conclusions.”

“But…what happens if we do die?”

“Oh? You want to find out?”

“…What is that cold look for?”

“Well, I was just thinking I could help you on your way if you were interested.”

“C’mon, now. Ha ha ha. You don’t have to do anything like- ahee hee hee hee! Ahhh! It’s coming out!”

“Shut up,” said Brunhild as she stood back up.

The cat lying limp on the ground had distracted her, but she was still worried.

After all, 1st-Gear had been the lowest Gear during the Concept War and their enemy was the highest of Gears.

…''Can we do this?

But just as she thought that, she saw something.

It was a castle. She saw an image of a castle filled with flames.

…''Eh?

People wearing familiar clothing were evacuating the castle.

Also, someone stood by the wall of the castle’s main passageway.

“Gutrune?”

''This is the past,'' realized Brunhild as she looked inside the shaking castle.

The Requiem Sense was not releasing its souls, so…

“Baku!?”

In the sky above, Sayama felt Baku happily raise his front paws on his head.

The creature was showing off the past. Probably in a way that corresponded to the world’s fighting below.

“7th-Gear’s concepts are filling this space, too.”

Baku devoured people’s pasts in the form of dreams.

And he had a further effect in this space so filled with concepts.

“By overlapping the wills of the past or of older battles, one gains divine protection when taking similar actions.”

Sayama pulled out his cellphone and made a call.

“Sibyl-kun, I would like to order an additional concept text. There is still time, isn’t there? Make it…yes, provide divine protection from the actions of your ancestors or predecessors.”

He smiled thinly down below.

“We shall be joined and assisted by the actions of the past sixty years…no, and even those before!!”

Brunhild saw Gutrune shouting something while hiding her body below a coat.

Her face was pale, but her voice held the dignity of a princess.

“Do not panic! We have a world to go to! That world…”

Brunhild listened.

“That world will surely accept us!!”

Brunhild clenched her teeth at that.

She stood in front of Gram and looked across the others.

“It’s time to protect that world!!”

She swung her scythe and raised her voice as the black army finally came into view.

“Our princess got us to this world and it’s our duty to make it a place where we can live in peace!”

So…

“It’s time we engraved our words into this world! The fight for our honor lies here!!”

The second minute began.

2nd-Gear defended the southwestern Region 6 and Kashima had just released Totsuka’s seal.

Totsuka revealed its contents as if the string had been untied. That Cowling Sword was made from pieces of metal bearing names, but its role was complete and the rain dragon was revealed from within.

The seal’s astronomical model of names expanded in the sky and the great dragon of wind and water ascended from within.

But Kashima was more focused on Totsuka than the windy rain dragon.

He could hear everyone fighting around him.

Tsukuyomi was firing the Heavenly Moon Bow and all of those with names of military gods were on the front line.

But a sudden song filled the battlefield. It was an off-tune anime song.

“Isssss that cruel girl herrrrrre to crush your shadowwwwwwww!?”

Kashima had his back turned, but the voice approached regardless and powerfully skipped around him.

“She showwwwws no mercy to evilllll! Decapitation! Crucifixion! Throat thrust! She’ll defeat her enemy, their clan, and their retainers and put their heads on spiiiiiikes! Ohhhh, that’s right! That’s right! It’s Maaagical Girrrl Yun~!”

“It doesn’t really matter, but what part of that had the slightest thing to do with magic?”

“You idiot! Could you really not tell!? Getting that ‘~’ at the end right is really hard!”

“That isn’t what I asked.”

“Well, it’s what you should’ve asked about!! Got it!?”

Atsuta circled around in front of him and gathered his strength.

“~”

And…

“How about that!?”

“Oh, Natsu-san? Yes, I’m at work right now. Oh, well, something really pathetic just happened. Ha ha ha. Yes, I might be able to come home after a little more work. Yes, see you later. Mmmmwah.”

“Don’t get all lovey-dovey on the battlefield, you idiot!”

Kashima turned around.

“Idiot? Could you really not tell, Atsuta!? Getting that ‘mwah’ at the end right is really hard!”

Kashima held up his cellphone and pulled back his hips.

“Mwah.”

“And you call yourself a military god!?”

“It’s better than being a sword god that sings a cappella magical girl songs! Are you hearing things? Is that sword of yours picking up radio signals!? ‘Ahh, yes, this is Buddha. Someone please respond.’ ”

“Like hell that could happen, you idiot! Besides, I’m not hearing things!”

Atsuta ignored the looks of the others asking him to get back to work.

“I’m not just hearing those songs! They come from a secret place deep in my heart!”

“In other words, you’re picking up your own transmissions. That’s even worse.”

“You have to find fault with everything, don’t you!?”

Suddenly, the two of them moved back from each other.

A moment later, a pillar of light shot between them with a refreshing sound.

It was a moonlight arrow.

The one who had fired it, Tsukuyomi, kept the Heavenly Moon Bow aimed at the two men.

“Oops, my hand slipped. Sorry about that.”

“Y-you old hag! Are you picking a fight with me!?”

“Calm down, Atsuta. And Director Tsukuyomi, please wait until Atsuta moves away from me before firing on him.”

“Enough of that.”

Tsukuyomi looked around while drawing her bow.

“You can see the past around us.”

Kashima looked around them as well.

He could of course see it.

Baku was providing images of the past here in Tokyo.

The scene showed the people fleeing on the large runway below Susaou while Yamata was being sealed.

In the distance, the giant god of war wrapped its arms around the flame dragon and began absorbing the flames inside itself.

The fleeing people swept aside falling embers while they watched the seal in progress.

“Are we going to lose our world now?” asked someone in the past.

Someone else in the past answered.

It was a single engineer.

“No,” he said. “This means we managed to protect it all.”

Kashima listened to the voice as he looked down toward Totsuka in his hands.

“Director Tsukuyomi, if we win this battle…can I make a sword like this?”

“Submit a proposal. I’ll use that to decide.”

“Of course.”

Atsuta turned his back on Kashima.

“Do whatever you want, idiot. I’m on the way to the front line. I wouldn’t want to get you caught in the crossfire.”

He looked up just as black gods of war and mechanical dragons began to appear in the sky above.

The enemy’s main force was here.

They all gasped and clenched their teeth, but Atsuta raised his eyebrows in a slight smile.

“This looks like fun. I get to go on a dragon hunt!!”

He shook his body and raised his white sword.

“I can use it as many times as I want this time, so it’s time for slicing and dicing!”

The third minute began.

3rd-Gear defended the southern Region 5 and they began their fight with the enemy’s main force.

3rd-Gear had brought quite a few gods of war with them, so the southern region became a storm of shellfire and supersonic charges.

Susamikado stood at the very back, expanding the Concept Core from Keravnos, while the front line contained eight gods of war remotely piloted by Moira 2nd as well as the gods of war controlled by Gyes and Sibyl.

The in between area contained Miyako who stood with her arms crossed and Violet who was skilled at combat.

“Leave the ground battle against the angels to…u-um…us! Let’s all do our very best!”

Violet and the automatons under her command were joined by others.

“Fire both cannons!!”

Two groups created two rows of nine.

The Moirai formed gravity lens acceleration cannons to accurately fire on the flying forms.

Instead of plates, they used super-hard ceramic shells handmade by the maids. Thirty of them would work together to compress the warhead portion and the lacquer covering the entire shell gave it a refined look.

Moira 1st and Moira 3rd fired at the same time.

Wind and a great roar rose into the sky, but Miyako clicked her tongue in the center of it all.

Gods of war were growing visible between the distant buildings.

Moira 2nd, Gyes, and Sibyl were doing their best and the cannons were being fired nonstop, but the enemy was too numerous and those numbers were only growing.

…''Are we in trouble here?

According to the reports, the other groups had their hands full dealing with their own enemy reinforcements.

This was only the third minute, so they still had seven more minutes to go.

Miyako clenched her teeth and ground them. But then…

“Sister!!”

Moira 2nd cried out from the remote piloting device behind them.

She had seen something making its way down the road up ahead.

They were Lords gods of war. Those two-winged models were the most powerful among the Leviathan’s forces.

There were five of them and they were using their speed to break in.

“!”

Moira 1st and 3rd fired their acceleration cannons.

In that instant, the five enemies formed a row to charge the front lines.

Moira 3rd’s shell missed and 1st’s tore through the first of the enemies.

But the second enemy behind it used its sword to slice through the destroyed god of war.

The remaining four charged in without slowing down.

A moment later, green gods of war charged in from either side, swords at the ready.

These two were controlled by Moira 2nd.

But the second black god of war moved forward and swung its two swords to either side.

They collided.

The two black swords hit the green ones, but it took a sword as well.

All three were sliced in two at the same moment.

“————!!”

The third black one sliced through the second one from behind.

The remaining three continued forward. Their speed had not dropped. If anything, it had risen.

In an instant, the colors red and silver appeared before Miyako’s eyes.

It was Gyes and Sibyl.

Their gods of war moved in front to intercept the enemy.

The three black machines moved apart in response.

One moved right, one moved left, and one stayed in the center.

Gyes’s god of war moved left, Sibyl’s moved right, and the center black one passed between them and raised its blade toward Miyako.

It was coming, but someone responded.

“Ohhhhh!!”

It was Gyes.

Even as her god of war collided with the enemy on the left, she jumped toward the central enemy.

Her left arm was instantly severed by the god of war’s blade.

It sounded like tearing fibers.

She was hit by an impact too, but Gyes continued with her duty.

One-handed, she drew ten swords from below her suit and controlled them all via gravity.

“You stand in the presence of our princess!!”

She thrust all ten swords into the neck of the god of war as it swung down its sword.

She could not cut the neck frame, but the various control conduits were all severed at once.

“…!”

After losing control, the god of war fell to its knees.

And it fell over.

Gyes also fell onto her side. She had used up her charged gravitational control, so she needed a moment to recover.

Realizing that, Miyako ran over to her.

But at that moment, she noticed another black god of war in the sky behind the collapsing one.

“Did it come from above!?”

This enemy was targeting Miyako, their commander.

It spread its wings and charged in, using the collapsing god of war as a shield.

The Moirai could not fire their cannons and the gods of war would not make it in time.

But at that moment…

“————!!”

Miyako saw something.

As the black god of war raised its sword and charged in, a light blue god of war appeared behind it.

That sky-colored god of war looked somehow like Typhon.

However, Miyako clearly saw a transparent woman standing on its chest.

''Is that…?'' she wondered before Moira 1st gave a cry.

“Lady Artemis!?”

The blue god of war moved. It grabbed the wrist of the black god of war’s raised arm.

“————!”

Artemis swung her arm and the blue god of war pulled out the black arm.

With a sound of breaking, the black god of war finally noticed this enemy.

But it was too late.

The blue god of war grabbed the black sword and looked at it just as Artemis did.

“…”

It threw it aside. She had not taken a liking to it.

Instead, it drew a sword from its own shoulder and the sharp blade emitted the color of moonlight.

“———————”

The crescent moon sliced apart the nearly pitch black god of war.

Miyako was safe, but…

“Why?” she muttered.

Her shoulders had fallen, but someone placed their hand on them.

The hand belonged to a young man.

“Sorry about the wait, Miyako.”

The owner of the voice stepped up alongside her in white clothing and faced forward.

His yellow eyes looked to the woman standing on the light blue god of war. He looked to the blue eyed woman.

“Thank you.”

Hearing those words, the woman vanished with a smile.

“Now,” he said while extending a hand with a smile of his own. “What is the matter, Miyako?”

“Why?” she asked with her voice crumbling. “Why!?”

His smile deepened.

“Who was it that remade that god of war and placed Typhon’s pilot tank inside to stabilize it? And who was it that bothered to bring it here? Also…”

He looked to the sky. Light spread through that cloudy sky. It was the light of the Concept Core being released.

“This happened because the Tartaros Concept Core is being released. Everyone was urging me on. They were asking what kind of king lies around when his queen is working so very hard. …Yet I am the sun, so shouldn’t I be able to sleep at night?”

He laughed and held his hand even further out toward her.

“Let us go, Miyako.”

“I-I…”

She looked to the light blue god of war.

“I only know how to drive a motorcycle.”

“That is wonderful. I do not know how to drive a motorcycle.”

“U-um, and this will mean three people are piloting the thing!”

“We are all family, aren’t we?”

He looked straight at her before continuing.

“Do not cry, Miyako.”

He nodded.

“Let us go together to bring an end to those tears.”

The fourth minute began.

5th-Gear defended the western skies of Region 7 and those skies became an intense battlefield for all that flew.

American UCAT’s concept space combat F-15ARs achieved thrust from a “falling” concept and achieved high mobility by using their normal accelerators for secondary thrust and turning.

The nozzles could turn their vectors to the side and had been enlarged, but they used their ailerons and other equipment to drift through the air with a pilot inside.

Those fighters were protected by blue mechanical dragons equipped with additional accelerators.

Those Blanca models were air superiority defense craft with normal cruising frames.

Those blue fighters and blue dragons tore at the black dragons.

“Don’t rush this!” shouted a transmission. “Use groups of two to attack a single enemy! If you think you aren’t going to make it, break away!”

They all looked down where a blue and white mechanical dragon was crouched down hiding in the roundabout in front of a Chuo Line station.

White light was escaping from below the dragon.

Thunder Fellow was releasing the Vesper Cannon’s power.

Someone spoke over their communicator.

“Protect her.”

They sounded like their teeth were clenched.

“It’s our turn to protect her.”

“Were you there back then?”

Finally, another voice spoke.

“So was I. I saw her flying through the sky.

“She was so fast. I couldn’t turn around in time.”

“Before that, I never thought I’d see something faster than you getting rejected.”

The men laughed, but some of them could be heard getting shot down.

The flames of main cannons flew and the UCAT anti-air bullets were sometimes deflected even with a direct hit.

The enemy had the greater numbers.

The blue wind was being pushed back by the foul black wind.

“Bear with it!”

“That light down there is our flag! How can we call ourselves a free nation if we can’t even protect that!?”

A voice reached them all. Even as they fought, their inspiring national anthem mixed in with the blowing wind.

It began with the first verse, moved on to the second verse, and eventually they were all singing together.

“On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep.”

Most of them tried for headshots fired from head-on.

“Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes.”

The flowers of explosions reached some of them as well.

“What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep.”

But those remaining turned around.

“As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?”

They pursued the enemy from behind.

“Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam.”

They chased them.

“In full glory reflected now shines on the stream.”

They fired on them.

“Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave.”

They attacked them.

“O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”

The sky seemed to shatter as the battle continued. They never stopped fighting, but their enemy approached in great numbers.

“Don’t give up!!”

After all…

“No one ever gave up in our land of the free!!”

A sound and a voice answered that cry.

The sound was a metallic one. A power struck the sky and tore into the black dragons filling it.

“That’s right! That’s exactly right! We never give up! Do you understand? No one in our nation will give them ‘up’ – that is, the sky!!”

The owner of the voice stood on the station building near the blue and white mechanical dragon.

Everyone looked to that person.

“Colonel Odor!”

“No need! No need to call out to me! After all, I am a colonel and I am here! Whether you call out and confirm my presence or not, I will still be here. So fight!”

Odor raised his right arm and snapped his fingers.

“We will…! We will never give up this free sky! We decided to protect it long ago!!”

Countless figures responded by standing up from the station rooftop.

They were witches wearing black and white armored uniforms.

They all had broom-shaped flight devices next to them.

A witch with gray hair stood in the lead and she looked to the two men next to her.

“Okay, honey, Roger. We’re about to go give them a nice beating.”

“Good, good.”

Odor nodded twice and Roger pushed up his glasses.

“Diana, I see you intend to take the best role for yourself as usual.”

“My student is watching from down there, so I have to show off a little.”

Diana breathed in with her broom next to her.

“German UCAT aerial spell unit! Prepare for takeoff!”

“Testament!!”

As soon as they placed the brush of their brooms on the floor, a circle of light appeared below the brush.

More and more appeared from the front of the broom and into the sky, drawing out the course they would be taking.

“Get ready!!”

Diana sat sidesaddle on the vertical handle of the broom.

“!!”

The witch army whipped up the wind as they took flight.

With a roaring noise, they scattered paper into the sky.

Those papers flew about as glowing bullets or lines of power.

And not one of them gave up, feared, or fled.

But Roger suddenly frowned as he looked up into that high altitude battlefield.

“Is that…?”

It was the past. An event from another sky long ago was being replayed in this night sky.

The mechanical dragon pilots and witches all saw it as they flew through the sky.

A giant white mechanical dragon was flying with many smaller dragons around it.

The largest one was White Creation, the bearer of 5th-Gear’s Concept Core, and the others were an army including Xolotl 3.

They all knew that those dragons had abandoned 5th-Gear and come to Low-Gear in order to pursue Black Sun.

In the past, White Creation spoke to them all.

“We must stop this enemy who could be seen as another version of myself.”

A black gate was visible in that vast sky. Black Sun had created the giant gate to escape into Low-Gear.

White Creation accelerated toward it.

“We must stop him to protect the world of men. After all…”

White Creation continued.

“He too was created to protect!”

The fifth minute began.

6th-Gear defended the eastern skies of Region 3 as an intense battle reached them.

A unit made of the naturalized 6th-Gear residents in UCAT’s standard and special divisions was charged with defense here. They were a large force, but they could only fight on the surface and some of them were fairly inexperienced.

They had been attacked by the mechanical dragons that they were least suited to handle.

Those giant hunks of metal could fly through the sky and mow down anything on the surface. Not only that, but they had angels with them.

The metal mowed them down while the wings exterminated them.

“Don’t falter! We have gods of war!”

The gods of war developed by Japanese UCAT attacked with their cannons and swords, but they lacked the ground forces needed to assist them.

Once the people were blown away, the gods of war had no support and had to fall back lest they be isolated.

“Dammit!”

Boldman looked to the sealing barrier behind them.

Izumo was handling the Concept Core release ceremony in a supermarket parking lot.

V-Sw sat next to the boy with light escaping into the sky.

“Man, it’s cold. That light isn’t warming me up much.”

“That’s because I’m cool,” replied the weapon.

Boldman considered running over and knocking the boy to the ground, but unfortunately, the method to release the Concept Core had to fit both the weapon and its user.

“I never imagined our world’s concepts would be so easygoing.”

“Isn’t that just how things are in the world of the gods?”

That comment came from some men with dark skin.

They were either born of the same Gear or at least had some 6th-Gear blood. They were all injured, but they had smiles on their faces.

“Commander, did you know that 6th-Gear is split between a region of destruction, a region of rebirth, and a region of stillness?”

“They tried to dam up the rivers flowing between the regions – especially the river of destruction – to increase our Gear’s power.”

Boldman had heard this story from his mother.

“They created Concept Dragon Vritra to dam up that river of destruction. And to maintain a balance on the rebirth side, they created Vajra, a sword made with the same amount of concepts. But the politicians with the power to control Vajra and Vritra tried to use them to control reincarnation and a coup d’etat broke out.”

“The people decided to get rid of Vajra since it had only caused conflict. The young man who had borrowed it and contained Vritra was meant to be given all of the calamity,” said one. “And that young man was Izumo’s grandfather. He was given our misfortune. But our ancestors came to this world and ended up getting homesick.”

Boldman nodded, smiled bitterly, and lifted the equipment in his hand.

“And we took back our misfortune, didn’t we? …Resupply complete! Swap out with the vanguard!”

The men stood up along with him and nodded.

Boldman looked across them and sighed.

“Raise your hand if you ever thought you might as well die.”

They all raised their hand, so Boldman gave a deep, quiet nod.

“I understand the feeling,” he began. “But never think that again. Let’s go.”

He began to run. After a short break to resupply and reconfirm their past, they moved up ahead, ahead to the battlefield.

They made their way to the black mechanical dragons and angels.

When they did, a wind blew alongside them.

It took human form and wore a black vest over a white armored uniform.

“British UCAT!?”

“Indeed,” replied a middle-aged man with slicked back hair and a sword on his back.

Similarly equipped people lined up alongside him and so did a group in white maid uniforms.

“We are British UCAT’s concept combat unit and support automatons. Our automatons aren’t on the level of German UCAT, but we are more than competent when it comes to combat and tea.”

“Why would Britain be helping us?”

“Learn some history, gentlemen.”

With those words, the men and automatons drew their swords and faced forward.

“Men, trust in your lion’s heart and spirit’s will as you aim to dance with the darkness!”

He breathed in.

“The fog is thin tonight! A lovely darkness awaits us!!”

He then matched his speed to Boldman’s.

“Now, gentlemen, I would like you to teach us one thing. Our great nation may know how to slay monsters, but we are a tad lacking when it comes to legends of dragon slaying.”

He held his blade over his shoulder as he ran.

“Please tell us how to defeat these dragons. Do that, and I will teach you some history and how to make some excellent tea.”

The sixth minute began.

Chinese UCAT representative Chao Yu acted as 7th-Gear’s leader as he worked with American UCAT’s tank unit to attack the enemy.

The four balls were already rising into the sky.

They had been released, but they required stabilizing.

…''And I will not let anyone interfere!

But the enemy’s numbers were absurd. Even Chao Yu was left short of breath dealing with them all.

A few of the American UCAT tanks had already stopped moving and now functioned as barrier walls.

But the enemy was still coming, so they had to continue fighting.

“Don’t falter!”

Chao used an acceleration charm to jump and threw aside several flying angels as he did so.

“We are the world at the moment!”

“Yes, sir!”

Those in green armored uniforms ran alongside each other. They took a sideways stance as they approached the enemy gods of war and mechanical dragons and then they rotated their arms.

“Fnn!”

Their powerful stomp stopped the mechanical dragons and gods of war in their tracks.

The next group charged in, flipped forcefully through the air, and collided with the enemy feet-first.

…''Let them shake!

The masses of metal were blown away and the functioning tanks fired on them.

The enemy was broken and knocked away.

“————!”

But more enemies arrived.

The men who had charged in were exterminated before they could retreat, but…

“Even so, do not falter!!”

Chao let out the white breath of his shouting voice.

“A nation of one billion stands behind us! And the entire world stands behind that!!”

“Yes, sir!!”

They caught their breath, formed rows, and took their sideways stances.

They opened their mouths to perfectly synchronize their breathing.

They sang their national anthem: the March of the Volunteers.

“Qǐlái! Búyuàn zuò núlì de rénmen!” (Arise, we who refuse to be slaves!)

They stared down their enemy with the intense light in their eyes.

“Bǎ wǒmen de xuèròu, zhùchéng wǒmen xīn de Chángchéng!” (With our very flesh and blood let us build our new Great Wall!)

They took the first step forward.

“Zhōnghuá mínzú dào liǎo zuì wēixiǎn de shíhòu.” (The peoples of China are at their most critical time.)

They used small stomps to lightly fill their bodies with strength.

“Měi ge rén bèipò zhe fāchū zuìhòu de hǒushēng.” (Everybody must roar defiance.)

They used that strength to take an even stronger step forward.

“Qǐlái! Qǐlái! Qǐlái!” (Arise! Arise! Arise!)

They stomped right before the enemy’s eyes.

“Wǒmen wànzhòng yìxīn, Màozhe dírén de pàohuǒ, qiánjìn!” (Millions of people become one, Braving the enemy's gunfire, March on!)

They pushed their fists forward.

“Màozhe dírén de pàohuǒ, qiánjìn! Qiánjìn! Qiánjìn!” (Braving the enemy's gunfire, March on! March on! March on!)

Those fists landed.

“Jìn!” (On!)

The enemy was blown away.

And as their vision grew clear, a color reached them.

Whiteness was falling from the sky.

“It’s snow.”

The roar of battle and the changes to the air had brought it.

Snow was falling on Tokyo.

Snowflakes blossomed and fell through the darkness.

When Chao saw the scattering white, he let out a breath.

…''This is going to give me a chill.

''But,'' he thought as he moved forward and loosened his suit’s collar.

“It feels nice after warming up so much. And it makes a good story for when I get back home!”

The seventh minute began.

Abram defended the southeast for 9th-Gear and he watched the dragon of flames and shadows expanding in the sky.

That was the concept dragon of the Gear made from light and darkness.

Not even the snow was enough to slow it down as it curved its long body.

It grew ever larger like Yamata, as if to show itself off to the Leviathan above.

Abram was currently fighting alongside Japanese UCAT’s special division.

From the beginning, he had not been using B-Sp. He was using a spear reinforced by a piercing concept.

The front line was pushing the enemy back.

That was mostly because the enemy forces had been worn down by 3rd to the south and 5th to the west.

Not many of the enemy forces were being sent this way.

“We can do this! Keep attacking and moving on to the next piece of cover! If you aren’t on the front line, provide covering fire!”

Just as their front line tried to push forward, Abram heard a sudden sound in the sky.

A roar filled the snowy sky. It came from deep in the Leviathan’s throat far above.

“Is this…?”

The Leviathan was assisting its troops.

However, it was not firing or striking.

“Is it a concept!? From the excess positive ones?”

Abram and the others could not hear the emitted concept text, but the angels, mechanical dragons, and gods of war could.

No one knew what it was, but its effects became immediately clear.

Movement filled the wreckage and remains scattered around.

The destroyed but still movable ones suddenly began to get up.

It was an application of 10th-Gear’s healing concept.

Almost all of the destroyed enemy forces stood back up while healing themselves.

It was almost like those messengers of heaven were immortal.

The recovery filled every region with confusion.

Any of the pure-white or black dolls, gods of war, and mechanical dragons that had not been completely destroyed were restarted and began healing their armor and motors.

This included about seventy percent of the previously defeated enemies.

The enemy was supplied with immediate reinforcements.

They were not dead.

Unless their head was completely destroyed, they could continue to think and to move.

Those who still lived as dolls recovered in an instant.

Countless black forms stood up in the snow.

In 3rd-Gear’s region, the black gods of war abandoned behind Miyako’s group stood up. In 5th-Gear’s region, the broken and crashed mechanical dragons flew heroically back into the sky.

Most of the battlefields were caught in the middle and the front line was annihilated.

The front lines had pushed in on the black attacks, so the reactivated black machines appeared between the front line and the rear guard.

They all clenched their teeth at being surrounded like this.

“Don’t tell me the enemy was planning this!”

The Leviathan gave no answer. The great white mechanical dragon simply floated calmly in the sky.

Then a new turn of events began.

UCAT had advanced while wearing down the enemy’s numbers, but now the heavenly host recovered those worn down numbers and surrounded UCAT.

Most of the recovered enemy charged in from behind UCAT. The UCAT forces were split apart and their numbers dropped rapidly.

They had three minutes left, but the color black began to fill the battlefield.

The black momentum permeated the entire battlefield instead of just the center.

“————!!”

They did not stop.

The momentum of destruction continued devouring the people with no sign of stopping.

“Fall back!!”

Abram shouted across the chaotic battlefield.

He also told himself not to panic. The rear guard remained behind them to protect the stability of the Concept Core.

That was their foundation.

…''I’m worried about the center, but we have to get back there!

So…

“Focus on falling back to the rear guard!”

But black gods of war appeared behind him.

They were the pure-white ones that had been crushed when Sayama had run through.

They now stood back up after evolving into black bodies.

Everyone who saw them said the same thing.

“Is it hopeless?”

Would the enemy continue to get back up no matter what they did or how badly they crushed them?

But a sudden voice rang out.

“It is not hopeless.”

Abram turned around to find that aged voice had come from a maid standing in front of the gods of war.

The tall doll wearing a maid uniform kept its back turned as it spoke.

“I’ll help you out since this has gotten pretty bad.”

The voice belonged to the old manager.

At the same time, black armored uniforms appeared around Abram.

They stopped their high-speed movement and they were all just as old and dark-skinned as him.

However, their eyes were sharp and they kneeled in the snow.

“We are the former 9th-Gear members of the former Army,” one said. “Our king, give us your command.”

Abram let out a white breath and listened to the distant sounds of battle.

“I am no king.”

“But you saved my life during my very first battle.”

“Still, I am no king,” insisted Abram.

He ignored the kneeling men, moved forward, and passed by the maid doll.

“Don’t throw your life away. If you try to move forward to do that, then I’ll take that life from behind. It would be a shame to let the enemy have it.”

“Yes, sir.”

Abram heard a voice behind him.

“Those familiar words have filled my body more than the chill of the snow!”

He heard them all stand up.

Abram then ran toward the enemy before him and he heard running feet following behind him.

The gods of war also began to move, but Abram raised his weapon regardless.

“Focus on regrouping with the rear guard!” he said. “Once we arrive there, the situation will be no different from the beginning of this battle! And since we have already defeated them once, assume that we have the advantage!!”

The eighth minute began.

Kazami held the north for 10th-Gear and she looked up into the snowy night sky.

The northern region was primarily defended by students and French UCAT’s god of war unit.

The students made up for their weaker attack power with numbers and the excellent defenses of the god of war unit allowed them to swiftly carry out Abram’s orders.

How to retreat had been lesson #1 when the students had been trained.

Also, Kazami fought amongst them once they returned to the rear guard.

They fought on a road. It was the northern portion of Circular Route 7.

The black army awaited down that road.

The enemy had straightened out their formation while the UCAT forces retreated and caught their breath.

They had two minutes left. Holing up in one spot seemed like the best option for enduring for such a small amount of time, but the enemy came at them from the sky. And if they did not wear down the enemy’s numbers, another Leviathan-controlled army would rush their way.

Kazami looked to the back of the god of war unit and then looked up.

A giant dragon of light filled the snowy sky.

Some traces of the Concept Core must have remained in G-Sp2 because words appeared on its console.

“Are you having fun?”

“Yes.”

Unexpectedly, the dragon asked another question.

“Is this goodbye?”

“Don’t be stupid,” she said. “You’re going to be absorbed by this world, so we’ll always be together.”

“Will it be fun?”

“It will,” she replied. “Everything will still be fun.”

“Good,” said G-Sp2. “I’m glad.”

It said more.

“You are okay now.”

Kazami gasped when she saw that.

Two years before, when she had first met G-Sp in Okutama, she had escaped the battle, lost the enemy pursuers, and taken a break.

She had been very worried then and that was when G-Sp had first contacted her.

“Are you okay?”

They had been together ever since.

And now G-Sp2 had said the reverse of that.

She was okay now.

And yet the world might change in two minutes’ time.

Still…

“Yes, I am okay now,” she said. “And it’s all thanks to you. Thank you.”

The dragon curved in the sky.

“I’m glad.”

That was all.

No more new words appeared.

Light floated in the sky. It seemed to be dancing, it seemed troubled, and yet it seemed happy.

Kazami smiled a little and opened G-Sp2’s cowling. She pulled out the metal cylinder that had contained the Concept Core, but there was no weight or light inside it anymore.

…''It’s been freed into the sky.

The light was watching over them from beyond the falling snow.

She muttered her thanks once more and inserted the cylinder containing a photonic attack concept that was attached to the back of her waist.

Was it sentimentality that made her attach the empty cylinder to her waist?

When she faced forward again, the gods of war asked a question.

“Commander, give us our orders.”

“Okay then,” replied Kazami.

She began to walk forward. She passed by the legs of the gods of war, spread her wings, raised her spear, and placed that spear of light in the heavens.

“Everyone,” she shouted. “Charge!!”

“Testament!!”

With countless yells, the gods of war did just that.

The black group responded to the explosion of wind by charging in from the opposite side.

Amid the movement, Kazami heard a song. The pilots of the charging gods of war were singing.

It was France’s national anthem.

“Sing, our god of war pilots!”

They roared, charged, and produced sounds of breaking metal.

“Marianne has guided us here!!”

They sang.

“Allons, enfants de la Patrie, Le jour de gloire est arrive. (Arise, children of the Fatherland, the day of glory has arrived.)

“Contre nous, de la tyrannie, L'étendard sanglant est levé. (Against us, tyranny's bloody banner is raised.)

“L'étendard sanglant est levé. (Bloody banner is raised.)

“Entendez-vous dans les campagnes, Mugir ces féroces soldats? (Do you hear, in the countryside, the roar of those ferocious soldiers?)

“Ils viennent jusque dans nos bras, Égorger nos fils, nos compagnes! (They're coming right into our arms to cut the throats of our sons, our women!)

“Aux armes, citoyens, Formez vos bataillons. (To arms, citizens, form your battalions.)

“Marchons, marchons, Qu'un sang impur Abreuve nos sillons! (Let's march, let's march! Let an impure blood water our furrows!)”

The students responded to the song by following the silver giants.

Kazami watched as everyone ran by on either side of her.

Suddenly, someone stopped alongside her.

It was a fellow third year wearing glasses. The girl held a long sword and had a bandage on her smiling cheek.

“How have you been lately?”

Kazami was briefly confused, but then she smiled bitterly.

“I’ve been having lots of fun.”

“Good,” said the girl. “I’m glad to hear it.”

Kazami nodded, too.

But those students were not the only ones who appeared from behind.

White forms slowly lined up alongside her.

Jord and the rest of them were wearing white clothing.

“We are the combat gods of 10th-Gear. We decided to show up since the weak people were asking for help.”

The elderly man in the lead gave a feigned look of shock in Kazami’s direction.

“But I certainly didn’t expect to find a Valkyrie in the lead. When did we become the heroic dead?”

They all laughed at that.

“We had heard from Jord that a strange girl with wings was wielding our Concept Core. In that case, you truly are the Valkyrie that called us here.”

The men and women, both young and old, shouted in agreement behind him.

Some of them were actual Valkyries, but they were all looking her way.

“Guide us to the battlefield. As those who have lost our home, we should be able to help in this battle of Ragnarok.”

“Yes, we will no longer fight for the world of the gods! We will fight proudly on this Valkyrie’s guidance!”

“Is that so?”

Kazami smiled, raised her glowing spear toward the sky, and spread her wings.

She heard them cheer as she took flight.

She raised her wings and flew above them all.

And she sang.

La Marseillaise was a song born during the French Revolution and it was a song of the people. It was not a song of the weak being saved from the rulers; it was a song of the weak standing up on their own.

She knew all that from her father and so she sang.

The rear guard used their acoustic weapons to provide a brass accompaniment.

“—————”

The gods of war joined in as they spread metallic sounds around.

“Amour sacré de la Patrie, Conduis, soutiens nos bras vengeurs. (Sacred love of the Fatherland, lead, support our avenging arms.)

“Liberté, Liberté chérie, Combats avec tes défenseurs. (Liberty, cherished Liberty, fight with thy defenders.)

“Combats avec tes défenseurs. (Fight with thy defenders.)

“Sous nos drapeaux que la victoire Accoure à tes mâles accents. (Under our flags, shall victory hurry to thy manly accents.)

“Que tes ennemis expirants Voient ton triomphe et notre gloire! (That thy expiring enemies see thy triumph and our glory!)

“Aux armes, citoyens, Formez vos bataillons. (To arms, citizens, form your battalions.)

“Marchons, marchons, Qu'un sang impur Abreuve nos sillons! (Let's march, let's march! Let an impure blood water our furrows!)”

Kazami used her voice to circle above the enemy army, swing down her spear, and give a shout.

“Shinjou! Sayama! …It’s your turn now!!”

The ninth minute began.

Directly below the Leviathan, the eastern entrance of Shinjuku Station had once more become a scene of intense fighting.

The great pressure of the enemy had pushed the defense gravity lens down to only thirty meters above the ground.

And the surrounding enemies were resurrected without end.

But no one on that battlefield had given up.

“Don’t worry!!”

Shinjou yelled as she fired from the middle of them all.

She spun Ex-St around to the back of her hips like a baton and its shots tore through the gods of war trying to slip under the defense lens. Also…

“There!”

The muzzle hopped up behind her and she fired to silence a group of automatons approaching from behind.

“Next!”

She continued to fire after flipping Ex-St back to its proper spot on her shoulder.

Everyone ducked down as her rapid-fire shots tore by in all 360 degrees.

…''I have no blind spot!

But a shadow approached from above.

The Leviathan must have realized this was its last chance.

The descending black army looked like a single blob.

A glance at the clock showed they had forty-six seconds until the concepts of the ten dragons were fully released.

The aerial unit was visible dropping bombs above the Leviathan, but they could not send anyone down below the Leviathan.

Forty-five seconds remained.

Shinjou’s group had to do something on their own.

Forty-four seconds remained.

Ex-St had seventeen shots stored up.

Forty-three seconds.

Shinjou gave a shout.

“#8-san!”

Forty-two seconds.

As she shouted, she collapsed backwards.

Forty-one seconds.

After pointing Ex-St skyward, she placed the center of the enemy army in her sight.

Forty seconds.

A moment later, the barrier in the sky vanished.

Realizing what Shinjou wanted, #8 had deactivated the gravity lens.

Thirty-nine seconds.

The enemies standing on the lens lost their support and fell.

Thirty-eight seconds.

They fell.

Thirty-seven seconds.

But Shinjou did not care.

Thirty-six seconds.

“Achohhhhh!!”

Thirty-five seconds.

She fired repeatedly.

Thirty-four seconds.

She fired her seventeen bomber shots, but they stopped in midair.

Thirty-three seconds.

The force of seventeen consecutive shots stopped at fifteen meters above her and formed a massive reaction sphere.

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> and the other automatons had performed another technique instead of the gravity lens. They were gathering up all of the bomber shots to fire them all at once.

Thirty-two seconds.

The force of seventeen shots fused into one. The seventeen seams vanished from the giant white light and it seemed to ripple like a viscous liquid.

Thirty-one seconds.

Shinjou started to get back up.

Thirty seconds.

At that moment, countless black forms charged forward from above the nearby buildings.

Twenty-nine seconds.

They were automatons.

Twenty-eight seconds.

Most likely, they were the regenerated ones from the other battlefields. The Leviathan’s excess forces had been sent here.

Twenty-seven seconds.

“Oh, no!” shouted #8. “Shinjou-sama!”

Twenty-six seconds.

As #8’s cry suggested, the enemy’s target was Shinjou who could communicate with Wanambi.

Twenty-five seconds.

The enemy rushed in, passing by the shimmering that was beginning to take form.

Twenty-four seconds.

She saw blades. Around a dozen of them. And more enemies were on their way behind them.

Twenty-three seconds.

The next thing she knew, someone was holding her in their arms. It was…

Twenty-two seconds.

“Mikoku-san!?”

Twenty-one seconds.

Even with Mikoku leaning over her, Shinjou thought it was hopeless. The blades would stab straight through Mikoku who no longer had her regeneration philosopher’s stone.

Twenty seconds.

…''It’s all over!

Nineteen seconds.

But her thoughts came true in a different way.

Eighteen seconds.

Everything came to a stop.

Seventeen seconds.

Everyone saw what had happened right in front of Shinjou and Mikoku.

Sixteen seconds.

All of the blades had been stopped. They were stopped by a man’s body.

Fifteen seconds.

It was Hajji.

Fourteen seconds.

Hajji had stopped the dozen blades by letting them stab through his back and out his chest.

Thirteen seconds.

“Father!?”

Twelve seconds.

Shinjou’s body shook from Mikoku’s cry.

Eleven seconds.

But Hajji’s expression changed when he saw Mikoku. He smiled without hiding it.

Ten seconds.

“Hey,” he said.

Nine seconds.

“See, Mikoku? You can protect someone after all.”

Eight seconds.

He began to move. He turned around, instantly broke through the automatons, and charged toward those still approaching.

Seven seconds.

“Never forget! And even as you tremble, desire the world! After all, you currently bear everything we stand for! That may be painful, you may give in to anxiety or anger, and it may not be what you wished for. But…”

Six seconds.

Hajji gave a shout.

Five seconds.

“Mikoku, this is something only you can wish for!”

Unable even to breathe, Hajji charged forward.

He had to crush the enemies rushing in from outside the gravity lens.

…''Yes.

''I really was an awful father for Mikoku and Shino,'' he belatedly realized.

''But,'' he thought as he remembered their days together. ''We may have done nothing but fight, we may have done nothing but hold grudges, and we may have told nothing but lies, but the dinner table and living room were so full of life.

…''Yes, that’s right.

Hajji opened his left eye.

…''Hey, Shahrnavaz.

He exposed to the world that destructive power and everything else he had received from her.

Their world had not contained this black sky, falling snow, or chilly wind.

He spoke with a voiceless voice.

“Isn’t this a wonderful place?”

A moment later, he charged into the advancing enemy forces and activated a certain philosopher’s stone.

The stone transformed emotions into an explosion. It was 9th-Gear’s suicide attack weapon.

But the emotion he detonated was not his anger, his resentment, or his sorrow.

It was the emotion one always felt when thinking of someone precious.

Hajji did not know what it was called.

He simply muttered someone’s name and annihilated the enemy reinforcements.

Four seconds.

Shinjou and Mikoku watched Hajji leave.

Three seconds.

Mikoku said nothing, but Shinjou could tell the girl’s hands were clenched so tightly they had grown white.

Two seconds.

So Shinjou stood up and raised her hand toward the reaction sphere overhead.

One second.

She gave a shout.

“Sayama-kun!!”

The white bullet flew upwards and punched through the black cascade of the enemy.

The white power roasted the center, causing the black cascade to implode.

The black waterfall drew a circle in the sky and scattered from below.

Not even any fragments remained.

There was only a clear sky and the white light’s ascent.

The rising light collided with the defense field below the Leviathan.

“!!”

It broke.

The impact was powerful enough to bend the Leviathan’s giant body.

The great dragon shook.

An earthquake seemed to fill the air itself and everything trembled.

The heavenly halo burst in an instant. Like glass thrown to the floor, some pieces turned to spray and others scattered as shards.

The wind was whipped up.

The disappearance of that massive field set the air in motion.

The white ring crumbled and could not maintain its form.

The Leviathan had lost its defensive power.

On the earth, the heavenly host and UCAT clashed. While in the sky…

“Sayama-kun!!”

A voice on the earth called to the sky.

It called to the boy in the sky.

That boy, Sayama, stood in the heavens.

He rested on his heels, lightly spread his arms, spun around, and looked in every direction.

His eyes saw the flames of war spreading across everything below and he saw no sign of the clash ending.

The fight continued, but he had a thought as he looked down on it all.

…''Splendid.

“Am I really allowed something like this?”

After asking that, he clapped his hands and raised his voice.

“Everyone! Can you hear the sounds of your struggle against the world!?”

And…

“Everyone! Can you feel the strength of choosing the world!?”

Also…

“Everyone!! Do you understand!?”

He forcefully raised his spread arms.

“Make sure you understand that this is a splendid night!!”

His reverberating voice gave the word to begin it all.

“Listen.”

He spoke to the world itself.

“I will say it now! The surname Sayama indicates a villain!”

Brunhild listened.

She listened while receiving several injuries and being protected by the heroic dead and dreams of the past.

Sayama’s voice reached her from the sky.

“Everyone! We stand on a crossroads for the world!”

Kashima listened.

He listened as he used his Cowling Sword to slice through the enemy automatons and made his way to the front line.

“Everyone! The world exists right before your eyes!”

Hiba and Mikage listened.

They listened as they worked with a light blue god of war to destroy the enemy gods of war.

“Listen, everyone! Tonight’s foes are a spoiled bunch who wish to destroy the current world and create a new one!”

Heo and Harakawa listened.

They listened while joining their comrades’ fight in the sky.

“And listen carefully, everyone! We are lacking, we are insufficient, and we can never do anything right. But…”

Izumo listened.

He listened as he inserted a new cylinder in V-Sw and made sure to stick the old cylinder in his pocket.

“We need not see that as a bad thing! We are delinquents! You could say we are the world’s delinquents! But if we prefer to be self-deprecating and stubborn, we would instead simply call ourselves ‘bad’! Listen, everyone.”

Chao Yu listened.

He listened in the snow while pulling a woman’s photo from his pocket. It was a picture of his aunt who had never aged.

“We were enjoying our delinquent life, staring out the classroom window, and thinking about going somewhere, but now a delinquent-hating enemy has come to destroy us, school and all! Such nonsense!”

Abram listened.

He listened while working with his brethren to destroy the enemy and hearing of the former friends who had passed away.

“Listen, everyone. Delinquents do not punch people. But they are free to punch fools! And listen carefully, everyone!”

Kazami listened.

She listened while swinging her spear to cut through the enemy army with her comrades.

“Stand up, all you delinquents! We need not be good! But never come to a stop and always wish to leave your mark on this world! So stand up and pave the way forward, you delinquents! And to do that…”

Shinjou listened.

She listened while looking up at the Leviathan below the scattering snow.

“Listen, everyone. I have a single command! Ahead. Ahead. Go ahead!!”

She nodded.

“We will advance, strike, and bring together the worlds we have created. And to do that, we must move ourselves ahead with our strength in our right hand and our will in our left!!”

She heard his voice.

“Where is your answer!?”

Sayama listened.

Shouting voices carried a word to him up in the sky: testament.

It referred to a contract, to the Bible, and to a promise made by god. It was a holy word with meaning to both parties.

Tes, tes, tes.

We make our contract here.

Every power in the world was gathered in Tokyo and that word of promise rang out like it was a radio announcement broadcast every night.

And they all began to move in order to fulfill their promise with Sayama.

So Sayama responded, too. He prepared to lower his arms to give the ceremonial announcement.

But he suddenly realized something: two figures had appeared on either side of them.

…''Is this…?

The one on his right wore a military uniform. The one on his left wore a white armored uniform.

These were images of when this sealing ceremony had been performed in the past. To provide the divine protection of success, Baku had summoned the past of the Sayama surname. Sayama looked to the two behind him.

…''To think we would be speaking in unison now of all times!

He smiled bitterly and raised his arm toward the snowy heavens, synchronized with the two behind him.

The three of them also opened their mouths at once.

“I will say it now.”

The three Sayamas spoke in unison.

“The surname Sayama indicates a villain!”

First, his father swung down his right arm and gave a shout.

“With this act, I feel no regret toward the future!”

Next, his grandfather swung down his left arm and gave a shout.

“With this act, I feel no repentance toward the past!”

And Sayama gave a shout with his left hand raised toward heaven.

“With this act, I feel no hesitation toward the past or the future!!”

They all rotated their arm to audibly raise their forearm.

“The surname Sayama commands the world!!”

The three forcefully swung their arms forward with a loud snapping of the sleeve.

“World,” they shouted. “Do as I wish by moving!!”

A moment later, the ten released concept lights pierced through the concept space.

They came from the eight directions, the heavens, and the earth.

Writing, blowing rain, the Tartaros, watery mist, the windy sky, life and destruction, the sage’s body, shimmering heat, light and shadow, and the divine tree.

The ten world dragons instantly flew to their proper positions.

They all pierced through the Leviathan.

They tore through it.

And the fifteen kilometer Leviathan had its armor broken, burned, and frozen. Its internal frame was destroyed and it bounced through the sky.

“…!!”

It was intensely destroyed.

The dragon’s scream was as endless as the sounds of its destruction.

That destruction covered its entire surface, but it was darkness and light that left the opposite side.

Without fusing back together, the dispersed light and darkness spread through the sky like the falling snow.

Above the Leviathan, the negative concept storage pallets in the concept creation facility were destroyed.

The ten pallets instantly froze white and shattered inward.

The Leviathan’s body bent.

A tremor ran through the heavens and the careless were blown from their feet by the great wind that was pushed down to the surface.

But it did not end there.

There was movement in the sky and on the earth.

That movement came from a girl and a boy.

Pulled by the concepts under their care, the boy in the heavens descended and the girl on the earth ascended.

At the midpoint in the sky, they passed by and exchanged something in their possession.

It was a single metal chip.

The girl handed over the negative one and the boy handed over the positive one.

Concept power was passing through that space between heaven and earth.

Georgius’s power to destroy concepts could ride that current to any point.

And that included the Leviathan’s core.

They had a single target.

The negative concepts had solidified in the Leviathan’s core, so they would strike it and destroy it from both heaven and earth.

That would tear apart the negative concepts so they would be pulled away by the released positive concepts and utterly dispersed.

The negative concepts began to activate when gathered, so they would cool down once scattered so completely.

To do that, the girl used her right hand when she arrived in the snowy heavens.

And the boy used his left hand when he arrived on the snow-covered earth.

The two of them placed the opposite symbol chip in the Georgius gauntlet on their hand.

“Shinjou-kun!”

They gave a shout of confirmation.

“Sayama-kun!!”

The white and black lights released from heaven and earth pierced through the Leviathan.

They slammed into it.

A black spray spread through the sky and a white spray burst as if leading the way.

A white and black flash of light rippled outward in the snowy sky.

Shinjou flipped around in midair.

The light from Georgius was calming down and she slowly fell toward the earth below while gradually picking up speed.

She slipped below the waves of scattered concept light.

…''It’s over.

She looked up at the Leviathan overhead as she fell faster than the snow.

She saw the automatons preparing to catch her down below.

Sayama was also there. As was a scorch-marked Ooshiro.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she looked up into the sky again.

“—————!!”
She noticed a certain phenomenon.

And before she could even think, her cellphone rang in her waist armor pocket.

She heard Kazami’s voice.

“Shinjou! Can you see this!? Something isn’t right!”

Beyond Kazami’s panicked voice, she heard cannon fire.

“The enemy is still fighting! And…the spread of the negative concepts has stopped! Even the spray of positive concepts is struggling to expand!”

Shinjou understood because she could see the cause from closer than anyone.

“The Leviathan is…regenerating.”

The destroyed areas were returning to normal. And something was appearing from within it.

“The black angels, gods of war, and mechanical dragons are forming a new halo!!”

The Leviathan was holding back the negative concepts as they tried to scatter away.

Using the heavenly host contained inside, it had formed a defensive halo inside itself to restrain the penetrative power of the positive concepts. Then, it had restrained the scattering negative concepts.

It was currently healing itself at a rapid pace, but where did this power come from?

The Leviathan knew that power most likely came from Top-Gear.

Top-Gear had most likely developed something approaching immortality.

That power was allowing the Leviathan to heal.

And once it was fully healed, it could pull the negative concepts back in.

It would draw in the positive concepts at the same time.

The Leviathan felt joy at that fact.

The lost positive concepts would be regained in their perfect form.

It could do it. It could do it.

It would be able to do it now.

It would be able to change the world, and quite soon at that.

It could change the world.

To achieve that goal, the Leviathan gave a roar.

That roar shook everything.

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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 25|Chapter 25]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 27|Chapter 27]]
|-
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 24

2026-03-28T02:00:16Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 24: Two Battles==
[[Image:OnC_v14_0867.png|thumb]]
''I understand

''I really do

''So

''Please

Sayama stood in a large field located high in the sky.

There was green grass below his feet.

A white open-air bell tower was located at the far end of the field.

There were trees on either side and the pallets sealing the Concept Cores sat beyond them.

This Concept Core creation facility was made from Noah’s residential area.

It was located on the roof at the base of the Leviathan’s wings.

The sky was cloudy, but the field was somehow brightly lit.

Sayama felt Shinjou’s presence behind him and he saw his enemy in front of him.

Mikoku wore a black armored uniform and the automaton had white wings.

There was no wind and the sounds of battle no longer reached them. He asked a question within that silent green and white.

“You are not made of salt, I take it?”

Mikoku gave a small smile.

“I am not in the habit of giving salt to guests.”

“Guests, are we?”

“Yes. Everyone is a guest.”

Sayama listened as she continued.

“After all, everyone will be leaving me.”

“I see,” he muttered.

Before he could think of what to say, the most natural words left his mouth.

“I will make you cry.”

Mikoku’s expression quickly changed to one of slight surprise.

“Was that your emotion?”

“No. I have something to teach you. That is all.”

Sayama drew Mukiti’s wooden sword from his waist.

“Both sides have a single condition for victory. For us, it is to use the Concept Cores to preserve the seals of heaven and earth until 10:30. That will reject the Leviathan’s positive concepts as fakes and prevent their creation. Your plan to release the immortality concept and create a new world will be stopped and we will win.”

“Ours is the opposite. We must defeat you to stop the seals of heaven and earth before 10:30. The Leviathan can complete its positive concepts and renew the world.”

Sayama nodded.

“Basically, it comes down to which side is still standing come 10:30.”

He held the wooden sword up in both Georgiuses and the weapon seemed to waver.

It was a watery mist.

Mukiti’s body was escaping the wooden sword and creating a transparent blade.

That blade would freeze and break through anything around it.

At the same time, a dragon of heat stood up around Shinjou.

“Sayama-kun.”

He heard her voice.

“You’re aching, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” he replied.

Mikoku was drawing a sword up ahead.

Noah was spreading her wings behind the girl.

Noah was surrounded by freezing and blowing water vapor as well as shimmering heat and gravity.

Mikoku could swing her blade and Noah could produce any kind of attack, but…

“Shinjou-kun.”

Sayama removed his right hand from his wooden sword.

“Take this.”

He tossed her the right Georgius.

“Ah,” she said as she caught it. “U-um, but this…”

“No need to be embarrassed. …We will fight together. That is what this means, Shinjou-kun.”

He then prepared to fight. He faced Mikoku and Noah with his water sword raised to the left.

“Is there any need to name ourselves?”

Mikoku responded by shaking her head.

In that instant, the four of them began to move.

There was sound.

It filled the wide places on the battlefield, the narrow places, the center, and the corners. It was everywhere.

The clashing of power naturally produced sound.

There were voices as well.

They were the singing voices of automatons. In addition to Noah herself, the dolls, gods of war, and mechanical dragons on the battlefield were singing along with their leader.

They sang throughout the battlefield.

“Listen. Please listen.”

Their voices continued.

“In this world of rapid creation and destruction,

“The one and only invariable rule is the irreversibility of destruction.”

They sang loudly.

“The worlds began as only one.

“But the great numbers they created brought only more destruction.”

Their voices reverberated around them.

“Birth is the error leading to destruction.

“Growth is the syntax leading to destruction.

“And destruction is the absolute endcode.”

They cried out.

“This world has an ending.

“This world has no birth.

“This world will continue to end.

“It cannot continue to give birth.”

It grew to a roar.

“The sky.

“The moon.

“The stars.

“The sea.

“The earth.

“The wind.

“The flowers.

“And even light, sound, and the wills of mankind.

“If anything will not be destroyed, please tell us.”

Their voices seemed to split apart.

“At a random point of this world of destruction.”

As if they longed for something.

“I am living.”

No.

“I am searching for the answer.”

They ''were'' longing for something.

“And I am always aching!”

Shinjou fired without end.

She supported the overheated barrel with the Georgius on her right hand.

That negative Georgius provided a certain power to the shimmering serpent protecting her.

…''The power of the opposite!

That opposite power reversed the dragon’s heat and cooled the barrel.

“Weird” “Diet” “Ticked” “Duel” “Leave it to me”

During the high speed battle, the game of shiritori being played on top of Ex-St never stopped.

But the speed with which they wrote out the words told Shinjou that Wanambi was building momentum.

Their target was Noah.

Shinjou was shooting down every single bullet and attack that Noah fired.

She would not allow anything to interfere with Sayama and Mikoku who fought between her and Noah.

She switched between straight shots and scatter shots with the C button.

Normal shots used the A button and a blast using all of the built up energy used the B button.

Her shots tore, tore, pierced, and scattered.

Whenever Noah targeted her, she would evade.

She took the smallest dodge necessary. She never made any exaggerated movements.

She spotted the enemy bullets and spun around, allowing those bullets to pass below her skirt and shoulder armor guards.

But none of those counted as a hit.

…''If it doesn’t hit you, you don’t lose a life!

It took experience to have an instinctual understanding of something that seemed so obvious.

She continued playing.

''What is the most fundamental and beautiful type of play-through?'' she asked herself.

She knew the answer.

“A one-coin victory!!”

She fired.

Noah responded by deflecting the white cannon’s attacks with gravity barriers.

And that was not all.

When Noah swung her arms, spheres of light appeared.

The bluish-white spheres of lightning were three meters wide, she continually threw them to either side, and they quickly surrounded the green battlefield.

There were sixty-three in all.

Noah then held her right hand forward.

“Begin targeting!”

Shinjou realized red reticles had appeared on the grass at her feet.

An attack was coming. The sixty-three lightning spheres were going to fire on her.

“————!!”

Shinjou did not hesitate. She fired and did so while rotating Ex-St behind herself.

She destroyed the closest lightning sphere behind her, creating a hole in the lightning formation.

…''That gives me a safe zone!!

[[Image:OnC_v14_0877.jpg|thumb]]

She aimed Ex-St toward the approaching bundles of lightning while jumping through the gap behind her.

She took a back step.

Her sights were already turned toward the bundles of lightning targeting her.

Moving behind the lightning spheres restricted the enemy’s angle of fire. The closest one and the next eight on either side could no longer fire on her.

The enemy could use a total of forty-six lightning cannons.

Shinjou fought back.

And as she fired, the bluish-white light shattered.

The light sprayed up into the sky.

She could only hear her own breathing as she rapidly tapped the A button.

Then Noah began to move. To throw off Shinjou’s aim, she had the sixty-two lightning spheres circle around her like a folkdance.

But even as they rotated, Shinjou followed them. An acceleration charm burst.

“Speed up!”

She ran to the side while looking up and letting the flowers of gunfire blossom.

She did not let any of the approaching light escape. If she missed any of that lightning, she would be destroyed.

And she had a single way of destroying it.

…''Rapid fire!

Rapid fire was her only option now.

The tapping sound of the A button had stabilized. The button had passed an endurance test of more than one hundred thousand presses, so it was not going to be destroyed as it swept aside such a puny number of attacks.

So with more-than-wholehearted focus, Shinjou entered a realm void of hesitation and cessation and she produced the song of continuous fire.

This was a world of battle. It was the last level of the many worlds.

“…!”

Higher. She would lift herself higher. She would lift herself to the top of this world’s high score list.

“Right!”

Shinjou held Ex-St at the ready as she spun around.

She destroyed more and more as she fired through each and every lightning sphere from one end to the other.

Her shots pierced through every last one and they exploded.

She ran through that chain of explosive light and toward Noah.

Noah looked up in surprise.

“!?”

The chain of lightning struck her.

It crashed into her and sent her flying.

The wings on her back shattered, she bent backwards, and she trembled.

“————!!”

But Noah continued fighting.

She forcibly swept aside the lightning with her gravitational control, let it surround her, and…

“This is not over yet!! Over!”

She produced a shimmering of heat directly above herself.

It was a size bigger than the balls of lightning and a vertical line of them appeared on either side.

“Altogether, the Leviathan’s spare energy reaches 256! …Here I go!!”

She swung both arms toward Shinjou.

At the same time, the shimmering spheres audibly vanished.

It sounded like splitting stone and something more came from Noah’s hands.

“This is the same as the convergence of the Leviathan’s main cannon!”

The distorting power wrapped in lightning was fired toward Shinjou.

“Over!!”

The twelve meter wide attack was equal to the dragon cannon blast that had annihilated Japanese UCAT.

Shinjou was faced with that great power, but…

“…!!”

She raised Ex-St again, dug her feet into the ground, and…

“Bomber!!”

A great white light almost seemed to explode from the barrel.

“Goooo!!”

The straight white light intercepted the distorting power.

She had built up plenty of energy during the earlier rapid fire. And…

“Wanambi!”

She saw Wanambi wrap around Ex-St.

The energy released from the cooled cannon surpassed the word “momentum” as it simply fired its white light.

But…

“Do you think a human can stand up to a dragon, Shinjou Sadagiri!? Over.”

Sure enough, the trembling white light was pushed back by the distorting power.

The ammunition belts of distortion above Noah’s shoulders were rapidly consumed.

And that pushed back on Shinjou’s white light all the more.

A reaction sphere appeared where the light collided and split.

The white light and the black distortion mixed together and formed a massive spherical field of energy.

That field grew to five meters in an instant and continued to grow toward Shinjou.

And it did not end there.

Pure-white forms arrived from either side of the field.

One was a mechanical dragon and the other was a god of war. They were Seraph No. 0 and Lords No. 0.

Shinjou gasped when she saw them to the left and right.

“What!? No fair making this a mid-boss rush!!”

“But they are a part of me. Seraph No. 0 and Lords No. 0 are both my power,” said Noah. “Over.”

The mechanical dragon and god of war aimed their main cannon or sword toward Shinjou. Wanambi could transform heat into himself, but he was busy cooling Ex-St. If Wanambi moved away, Noah would immediately push in on Shinjou.

But the situation changed.

The pure-white god of war and mechanical dragon were blown away.

“!?”

The pure-white mechanical dragon was hit by a red, white, and blue mechanical dragon colliding with its side.

The pure-white god of war was hit by a white god of war falling from the heavens.

Who were they? Mikoku shouted their names as she fought Sayama.

“Alex…and Tatsumi!?”

“That’s right.”

The answer came from the figure standing on Typhon’s shoulder while Lords No. 0 righted itself in midair.

It was Tatsumi.

She lightly clenched her trembling hands and her face was pale, but she still faced her enemy.

“No interference, okay?”

Shinjou nodded.

While continuing to fire white light from Ex-St and while trembling, Shinjou shouted toward Noah.

“I am your only opponent!”

“Then let us end this. Over.”

Noah rearranged the distorting ammunition belts reaching up toward the heavens.

She arranged them into four stacks.

“Double the power. Over.”

With the distorting cannon doubled, Shinjou was pushed back by the reverse flow reaching her through Ex-St.

The reaction sphere, the energy, the pressure, and everything else were pushing her way.

“…!”

Sayama and Mikoku carried out a rapid swordfight within the light.

This was their third clash.

Neither of them was sure if they should call the score one-to-one.

The first time, Mikoku had tried for a draw, but Shino had gotten in the way.

The second time, Sayama had won the battle, but Mikoku had kept the war going.

Then what would happen this third time?

Mikoku no longer saw a draw as an option.

She would either win or lose.

And she threw her sword forward to receive that answer.

Distorting power was racing through the air.

A white cannon blast joined it.

Noah and Shinjou were fighting.

No, everyone was fighting.

The entire world was trying to stop what she wanted.

…''Do they not want this?

Mikoku wondered about that.

To bring the entire world back to life was to renew the world.

The world would briefly disappear.

“Do you not want that? But what about it do you not like?”

She threw her sword forward and felt Tokyo’s illumination below.

“Do you not like the idea of losing everything the world has inherited? Or do you not like that the world will disappear and you too will disappear?”

If it was the latter…

“You are only worried about yourself.”

The words she sent out with her sword strikes were answered with a voice and another sword.

“Then…I have one thing to ask you.”

Sayama raised his eyebrows as he threw his water blade toward her.

“You claim you never want to feel sad again. So aren’t you too only worried about yourself?”

“What other option is there!?”

She launched her sword.

Her skill with the blade was greater.

“I think with emotion and you think with reason! You reach for your reason even as you ache, but that pain is the proof of your inconsistency!”

She chained her slashes together, crouched down as she moved forward, and viewed the surrounding situation.

Noah and Shinjou were fighting, but…

“Look! Shinjou is obviously being pushed back! Yes, Noah has no emotions. She truly is my opposite! But Shinjou is different. She is as inconsistent and contradictory as you.”

She deflected Sayama’s water sword upwards.

She stepped forward and stayed low.

“Contradictions makes anything possible!? No! It only leaves everything incomplete!!”

Her sword ripped at Sayama’s body.

But that attack only tore a shallow gouge from his stomach to his chest.

His quick evasion came from his martial arts background.

Mikoku had not stepped in close enough because she had been facing him in the realm of sword fighting.

And as they showed off their strong points and weak points, the reaction sphere created from Noah and Shinjou’s power whipped up the wind and created lightning overhead.

The flashes of white light illuminated them again and again as Mikoku pursued Sayama.

She continued forward as he back stepped away.

“If you asked me whether emotion or reason is more powerful, I would tell you either one can be! It comes down to which one has been mastered more thoroughly!!”

And…

“I am merely transforming this inconsistent world into one where our emotions can rest easy! What is wrong with that!?”

“Then let me say this!”

Sayama swung his blade, but it was not even worth blocking since his hips were not behind it.

However, he did stop her attack with it.

“I will make you cry!”

“So what!?”

Sayama responded to her questioning attack by swinging his body. He deflected her strike with a compact movement of the water blade.

“Let me tell you an old story! Once, a boy lost his parents and became hopelessly full of himself! The lecherous old man the boy was left with would always say the same thing whenever the boy did something: ‘I will make you cry’!”

“What does that-…?”

“Do you still not understand!?” shouted Sayama. “Emotions can be dealt with so long as you cry!!”

“Is that your idea of reason!?”

Mikoku ran and slammed her blade against his. Their foreheads collided as they tried to push each other back and Sayama gave another shout.

“You are trying to run away before you have finished crying! You are trying to run away from this very world!”

“But Shino died!!” roared Mikoku as she stared Sayama in the eye. “Whether I try to run away or stay, Shino is still just as dead! She died!”

Mikoku used all of her strength to knock Sayama away.

She then crouched down and raised her sword on the left.

She prepared it like a baseball bat, but she leaned and ran forward as if to run into him herself.

She was using everything at her disposal to beat him down by force.

“Answer me if you can! This world is an inconsistent contradiction of both emotion and reason, but what does that accomplish!? All it brought was death! Isn’t that right!? And you…”

She knew she had to say this.

“You lost your parents, so you should already understand this!!”

For an instant, all movement vanished from Sayama’s body.

He was aching.

''That is your flaw,'' thought Mikoku as she saw him stop save for a faint tremor.

He attempted to hold two incompatible things within himself and he was tormented by the harsh reaction.

He could not endure it, no matter how strong a front he put up.

So she sent out her sword.

She first knocked Sayama’s wooden sword up from below.

The blow hit.

With a solid sound, the wooden sword flew through the air, Sayama’s arms were shot upwards, and his body bent backwards.

Mikoku pulled back her weapon as if drawing in her body.

Her body had twisted from the left to the upper right, so she pulled it back to the lower left.

She would drop her blade across Sayama’s arching body.

Mikoku spoke as she saw Noah and Shinjou’s battle continuing in Noah’s favor.

“Farewell!”

“Sayama-kun!?”

Shinjou was briefly distracted by Sayama and Mikoku’s battle.

“Do you have time to look away? Over.”

Pushed by Noah’s words and the pressure of the reaction sphere, Shinjou’s feet slid back over the grass.

She was worried about this battle and about Sayama.

But…

…''It’ll be okay!

She shouted the words to help convince herself.

“It’ll be okay!!”

Facing forward meant facing her enemy.

She spoke while holding her ground so she would not be blown away.

“Um!”

She watched the four ammunition belts being consumed above Noah’s shoulders.

“If you think that’s enough to win, then this will be easy!!”

Shinjou opened Ex-St’s console. Information on Ex-St’s current state appeared in front of the transparent floating image that functioned as a sight.

It was badly overheated, but that was not what she was interested in.

“Bomber stock.”

She displayed the number of charged shots she had stored. A maximum of seventeen could be stored at one time.

“I currently have sixteen plus the one I’m firing right now.”

“—————”

Noah frowned slightly, but Shinjou did not care.

“How much fighting do you think I did on the way here? You two were just watching, but we ran, endured, and cried out so many times. So…so…”

She gave a shout.

“I, Shinjou Sadagiri, will now fire all of my bomber shots!!”

''Such luxury,'' she thought. ''I can’t believe I have the luxury of making an attack like this.

In a quick succession of shots, she would use up everything she had built up.

…''You don’t get to fire sixteen in a row very often.

So she prepared her finger and breathed in.

“I only have one chance at this!!”

She began.

She stepped forward as if pushing on the reaction sphere that was already ten meters across.

“Here goes!!”

She activated some acceleration charms and leaped forward.

Her attacks were energy. The greater the distance, the more they would be weakened, so she knew the most effective method.

“A point-blank rapid fire barrage!!”

She used her leap to push in on and shake the reaction sphere and to fly toward Noah.

She began her rapid-fire barrage at the same time.

Mikoku and Sayama’s battle was also approaching its conclusion.

Mikoku and Sayama.

Noah and Shinjou.

The two pairs synchronized their movements.

Mikoku realized Shinjou had flown up overhead.

Her target was Noah, not Mikoku.

But if Shinjou was moving so much…

“Noah!?”

She received no response.

No, something even more important than an answer occurred before her eyes.

Sayama moved in response to her sword.

“————!”

He suddenly swung his body as if tearing it away from her.

…''He escaped the pain and moved!?

This had all happened in an instant. It was too soon for him to recover.

Mikoku had watched his mock battle with 2nd-Gear where Sayama had recovered from this pain from the past, but it had taken time, it had left him shaking, and it had been far from perfect.

But this had been much faster and he was not trembling in the slightest.

He jumped up, fell back, and dodged her dropping blade.

“You have got to be kidding me!!”

Shinjou saw Sayama use his own will to shatter the pain from the past.

Unlike during the battle with 2nd-Gear, he knew the meaning of the past.

He knew his feelings would never reach the past and he knew the many things that would never return. That was the source of his pain and it had grown even deeper than before, but at the same time…

…''You understand it now, don’t you?

“After learning so much, you understand what our parents were thinking,” shouted Shinjou as she fired. “It might make you sad, but you’re glad you understand what exactly it was we lost, aren’t you!?”

Sayama eloquently replied with his movements.

As Shinjou fired, he gave a shout and moved forward.

“Precisely, Shinjou-kun!!”

Mikoku took a defensive stance as Sayama approached.

He brought his right knee forward and spread his arms back like wings as he charged in toward her.

“Toda Mikoku! The new world you desire only exists in the past!”

“I will regain what was lost! Of course it exists there!”

“Then are you going to give up on yourself!?”

She heard his voice as he raced forward.

“What was it you inherited from the others? Wasn’t it a life in this world!?”

She held her sword low and shouted her true thoughts back at him.

“Are you trying to say this world is a richer one than the eleven that were lost!?”

“Of course!! After all, this world was made by those of us who have inherited everything that came before, so it must have more than the eleven worlds that led the way!”

Sayama quickly filled the gap between them.

“To inherit something is not just to gain the past. It also gives you the right to continue on ahead! The ''present'' exists as a contradictory combination of the ''future'' and the ''past'', Toda Mikoku! Thus, we are attempting to move forward, but you are not even inheriting the past. You are giving up on the present to become the past!!”

“But that is what our emotions want!”

Mikoku threw herself forward as she shouted back at him and she swung a quick sword strike from below.

“If desiring that contradiction leads to pain, then it is safer to immerse yourself in the unchanging past!”

“Then let me say this!”

Sayama leaned forward as he approached.

“Earlier, you mocked my simultaneous suppression and desire for this pain as inconsistent, didn’t you!? But let me say this: emotion and reason can coexist! After all…”

Sayama’s left leg suddenly kicked her rising blade aside.

“Wha-!?”

The action was only possible given his great speed.

And when he kicked his right leg forward, Mikoku knew it would hit her. She had no time to dodge it, but she did hear his voice.

“I ask you!”

His kick landed.

Mikoku bent backward and was knocked from her feet, but her sword did not leave her right hand.

Her body was shaking from the impact. Her consciousness had almost left her and she could not breathe.

But the philosopher’s stone in her chest told her that she could continue to fight.

She had a certain power.

That high-speed regeneration instantly adjusted her body.

Pain filled her. It felt like her entire body was being squeezed.

But that was precisely what she had inherited.

…''This is my power!

As long as she had this, she could continue to fight.

…''Yes.

“I cannot lose!”

That was when Sayama attacked again and spoke the same words as before.

“I ask you!!”

On a count of 1 2 3, he attacked from the left.

“It is both emotion and reason.”

He reversed his body to make a right smash.

“Yet it is neither.”

He was fast.

“It produces both resignation and hope.”

A sequence of heavy blows reached her.

“It can never end, yet it can be ended.”

Her body floated upwards, but an instantaneous adjustment allowed her to hear his voice.

“It is a human virtue, yet it can also be called a mistake.”

An attack from the right rang through her body.

“It is contradictory, yet it is also perfectly logical.”

She bent backwards.

“It is everything and yet it is the one thing at the base of both emotion and reason.”

He spun his body to build speed for a right hook while also preparing his left fist down low.

“Do you know what it is!?”

Mikoku instantly realized the answer, but she was not going to answer with words.

The answer would be shown by this battle’s outcome.

“If what you speak of truly exists, then prove it through the outcome here!!”

As if answering her cry, her body ached and adjusted itself.

She straightened her backwards-leaning body and swung the sword in her right hand.

“Not even your Georgius could break my power, remember!? In that case…”

She launched her attack toward Sayama who raised his left fist in front of her.

“My emotions are an unbreakable power!!”

She did it.

It was an excellent sword strike. The strike seemed to follow the sword’s own wishes. She felt like it was flying forward on its own and she was merely placing her hand alongside it.

If this did not slice through him, something was clearly wrong.

But then she saw it.

She saw the beginning of an answer overhead.

Shinjou moved through the air.

She had heard Sayama’s question while she shot her rapid fire blasts toward Noah.

She knew the answer to his question.

So she proved her answer.

In a single second, that bearer of the rapid fire blasts would settle this battle.

That was known as an instant kill.

“!!”

Pushed by the rapid fire, the reaction sphere crashed into Noah.

Noah endured it with a gravity barrier, but it suddenly surpassed her limits and slammed her onto the grass.

“————!!”

An explosion rose into the sky and the Leviathan shook.

“Sayama-kun!”

Shinjou took action to solidify her proof of Sayama’s answer.

She gave the answer to his question.

What Mikoku saw happened in an instant.

Before she could swing down her blade, a silver light flew forward from behind her.

It looked like a coin.

…''A chip?

A hand caught it in front of her.

It was Sayama’s.

His left hand was raised to attack and his right hand caught the chip.

He then swapped out the chip for the one in his positive Georgius.

“The negative one!?”

Both Georgiuses had finished warming up due to the repeated strikes of Mukiti’s wooden sword and Shinjou’s cannon blasts. By swapping out the chips, he had filled Georgius with the conflicting power.

“The positive in the negative and the negative in the positive. This is Georgius’s true form!!”

As soon as he completed his shout, Georgius emitted a powerful light. It was a black and white light.

“!?”

The two powers flew with tremendous speed.

And they slipped below her sword.

“I will give you the answer! What is it that is made up of emotion and reason, that produces all things, and that allows even contradictions? It is something everyone has.”

Sayama and Shinjou’s voices rang out in unison to give the answer.

“It is the power of one’s will!!”

It reached her.

“Remember this! Both emotion and reason are but a single part of a thinking mind!”

The counterattack exploded in Mikoku’s chest.

Mikoku had been hit by one half of Georgius.

Because it was incomplete, it brought forth a certain result.

On the skin below Mikoku’s shredded collar, the contradictory fist shattered her philosopher’s stone.

Instead of just splitting, it shattered into a spray.

She bent back from the impact, and…

“Ah…”

The shattered stone loosened its form and, in a desperate attempt to survive, fused with another color hanging from Mikoku’s neck.

It fused with the blue philosopher’s stone Shino had left behind. The blue light combined, formed a ball, and became one.

Afterwards, Mikoku was unable to stop the impact that had struck her body.

“…!!”

She was slammed into the ground.

Shinjou saw the conclusion.

She breathed a sigh of relief while pressing the chipless Georgius to her chest.

In front of her, Sayama was gasping for breath and grabbing Mikoku’s arm.

“Come. You have inherited more of the past than anyone else. …If you can see nothing but the past, then we will help you to not give up on yourself and to create a new world here.”

Shinjou listened to what Sayama told his other self.

“After inheriting so much of the past, I am sure you will find somewhere where you can get serious.”

Shinjou smiled bitterly when he mentioned getting serious.

So she ran over to him and elbowed him in the side.

“You have to search for that too, don’t you?”

He smiled bitterly.

“I saw some of the answer during this battle. …I saw a hint in the idea of creating a new world here.”

“Eh?”

Shinjou looked surprised, but Sayama raised a finger in front of his nose to ask her to keep it a secret.

She frantically nodded and he whispered in her ear.

“It is a lot of fun to think about what kind of world I would find fun. I do not know what that would be, but I get the feeling it will be both difficult and fun to create.”

Shinjou felt a look of joy fill her face, so she helped Sayama get Mikoku back to her feet.

“If you do decide to do something, will you invite me first of all?”

“Of course. I will need you to write about it.”

She nodded and looked around. The entire area was silent.

According to the bell tower’s clock, it was 10:29 and that reminded Shinjou of something.

“We won.”

She picked up Mukiti’s wooden sword from the ground, but…

“No. We have not truly won yet, Shinjou-kun.”

Sayama suddenly spoke to her.

She turned toward his low but sharp voice and realized he was not looking her way.

He was looking at one thing in particular. A doll, Noah, was standing on the grass.

She was injured and broken. Her hands were clasped in front of her waist and her head was somewhat lowered.

She showed no intention to attack.

But Sayama spoke.

“Noah-kun, this is not over yet, is it?”

“Eh?”

As soon as Shinjou expressed her surprise, Noah lowered her head a little and spoke.

“Testament.”

That word was a confirmation, but Shinjou did not understand what she meant.

…''W-wait a second!

“What do you mean it isn’t over yet!? Isn’t the battle over!? We completed the seal!”

The creation of the positive concepts inside the Leviathan would have been stopped.

What more could they fight over?

It happened a moment later.

“!?”

Shinjou felt a pulse.

It was not her own. The pulse shook this space itself.

This pulsating tremor of the very world shook the heavens and earth equally.

She looked up in surprise and found Noah looking her way.

“Do you understand? The Leviathan still holds the activating negative concepts. Over.”

Noah closed her eyes and spoke expressionlessly.

“Find a solution! If you do not…!”

The pulse sounded especially loudly.

“This world will fall to the negative side just as Top-Gear did! Over.”

With those words, Shinjou and Sayama were blasted into empty space.

She knew why. Noah had forced them away to safety as the Leviathan evolved to yet another combat form.

By the time she caught on, it was too late.

She was already in the sky. As it grew more distant overhead, the Leviathan began to spread out its curled up body.

Pieces of armor measuring several hundred meters were stretching out and remaking the great dragon’s body.

…''I can’t believe this.

Just as Sayama had said, there was more to that great dragon.

…''What’s going to happen!?

She heard Noah’s weak voice.

“The Leviathan will now imprison the uncontrollable negative concepts…”

Shinjou never heard the automaton say “over”.

That meant Noah had lost control of the Leviathan.

The positive concepts had been meant to oppose the negative concepts, so stopping their creation had allowed the negative concepts to rapidly eat into Noah’s interior.

“It’s lost control!?”

Shinjou saw the color white rising through the sky.

It was wings.

The angels fighting in the sky and on the surface had been summoned back to their home.

The color white returned to heaven while paying them no heed.

They would receive physical adjustments from the Leviathan, master of the negative concepts.

Shinjou had a thought as she and Sayama fell toward the others below: ''The world has decided what it intends to do.

“But the world itself will still be judged.”

Shinjou breathed in and shouted toward the white light gathering in the heavens.

“We’re about to judge whether this world can remain or not!”

It was 10:30 PM.

Once the negative concepts inside the Leviathan realized that the positive concepts binding them would not grow any further, they rapidly began multiplying like living creatures.

They took control of their host, the Leviathan, and they used the Leviathan’s thought circuits to gain crude thoughts of their own.

This created a will. Its duty as the negative was to desire the annihilation of anything positive.

A contradiction allowance concept was restraining it, but once its activation surpassed that, the world would pass its critical point and be annihilated.

And the Leviathan knew two things: it was trapped in a small space and there were those who would oppose it.

It also lacked the power it needed for a complete activation.

So the Leviathan gave its children new orders and gathered them inside.

That heavenly host was immersed in negative concepts.

To fight back, UCAT prioritized maintaining the seal while also settling on a certain plan. This plan would allow them to fully strike back against these ten powerful negative concepts.

“Operation Leviathan Release.”

That was the plan’s name.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 23|Chapter 23]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 25|Chapter 25]]
|-
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume9 Chapter 27

2026-03-28T01:59:34Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 27: Beyond the Forefront==
[[Image:OnC_v09_0247.png|thumb]]
''There is only one foremost point

''But how far does the empty space continue past that?

Motion filled an underground space made of concrete.

The motion came from a confused mixture of a hot wind, a cold wind, and a wind of bullets that pierced through both other winds. Soon, new movement created yet another wind.

This wind was known as a whirl.

The whirlwind filled a broad floor filled with pillars and it had four points of origin.

Three of those were expressionless automatons. They wore white maid uniforms and each held a different item: one a shield, one a spear, and one a bow. The shield doll always stood in front, the spear doll came next and took action whenever the enemy approached, and the bow doll stood in the back and continually fired arrows while the enemy was more distant.

The last of the wind’s points of origin was an automaton in a black maid uniform. Her name was Violet and her glasses acted as a windshield for her vision as she pursued the enemy with a submachine gun in her right hand.

She ran by a concrete wall that said B2F.

This construction floor was used to develop gods of war and other machines and it was also used to prepare various items for transport, so it had relatively few partition walls.

Violet leaped to the right in the center of that floor and she spun around by digging her toes into the floor upon landing. She ran along with the wind toward the other three dolls.

The three wielding shield, spear, and bow circled the floor while keeping the shield maid toward the center at all times.

When approaching or falling back, the shield would move forward and hide those behind her. When Violet approached, the spear would suddenly attack from the right or left of the shield.

When more distant, the bow would fire again and again whenever Violet tried to get anything but a head-on angle.

The way the three maids circled the floor in a line bound Violet’s movements.

“Um, I have determined this is a pain.”

Her bullets would be deflected by the white elliptical shield, but if she tried to catch her breath afterwards, either the tip of the spear would target her chest from the side of the shield or a steel arrow would target her legs from a distance.

She had no choice but to keep moving, but…

“Ah, the excess heat is affecting my movements.”

Automatons only breathed for show. Their joints were simple sockets and their body parts were only connected by the steel wires that took the place of muscles and the conductive wires that functioned as nerves. Each body part had to expel its heat on its own.

That meant extended periods of motion would make them begin to boil on the inside. Combat automatons had a humanoid structure partially to increase the durability of their joints, but it was more about allowing the water cooling effect of perspiration and circulation.

But Violet could not do that. If she relaxed her joints and the bases of her wire cylinders to expel the heat, the enemy would immediately take advantage of her slowed movements.

And from the look of the three enemies…

“Um, those are simple combat models, aren’t they?”

She could tell by viewing them with her thermal vision. Their joints had the same simple structure as her own, but the internal parts that moved the steel wires were kept in the torso or gathered together as much as possible.

For example, the parts to move Violet’s shoulders were installed in her shoulders and upper arms to improve her balance. Simply put, it was a twin engine system. Meanwhile, the enemies’ were only located in the shoulders. They had a single engine system. That prevented them from making more subtle movements, but it was lighter, simpler, and easier to maintain. And by making them lighter, they could be installed in locations better protected by their armor.

Also, having fewer heat-producing parts made it easier to position the openings to expel that heat.

“…!”

An arrow flew toward the right side of her face, so Violet accelerated left to avoid it.

As soon as she kicked off the floor, the shield was right in front of her.

She was not going to hit it, but she did not want it to block her vision, so she accelerated further to the left.

As she did, the spear flew toward her from the left.

The strike would slice her torso in two, but she could evade by jumping and almost flying into the air to the left.

However, the heat built up inside her interfered. The overworked motors spun in vain.

“I can’t avoid it!?”

An instant later, Violet chose to evade without relying on the movements of her limbs.

She chose the one function she excelled at: gravitational control.

The three enemies also possessed that function, but she knew their power was only on an independent level.

Violet side-flipped to the left by reversing up and down.

In the short moment that she cleared the blade and rotated to a midair handstand, she prepared her submachine gun. Below her, the ones hiding behind the shield were now in view.

She only had to fire.

But in that instant, the spear tip suddenly jumped up toward her despite having just been swung in a different direction.

“!?”

The movement completely ignored inertia, but the cause was simple. The shield doll standing near the spear tip had struck it from below and the bow doll had struck the back end of the spear from above.

The spear shot up while using the center doll’s grip on it as the fulcrum and it moved directly toward Violet’s torso.

“Nn.”

Just before firing the submachine gun, she slammed it against the silver line arcing toward her.

With the sound of shattering glass, the submachine gun broke to pieces.

But Violet used the recoil to jump away from her enemies.

That action and use of her gravitational control had brought her internal heat to its limit.

She had lost her primary weapon, so she only had a combat knife, a handgun, and a hand grenade.

And just as she landed, she spotted a single figure in the floor’s entrance.

…''Nagata Tatsumi!

Her arms were spread in front of her and she had something like rings on all her fingers.

“Can you see these? A gaudy kind of fashion, isn’t it? This is the Army’s special remote controller.”

Tatsumi’s voice coincided with Violet’s landing and Violet realized what she was truly up against here.

“We didn’t have the technology or spare time to create artificial intelligence, so we created dolls that could take the place of soldiers. I’m here to test those out a little.”

Violet and Tatsumi faced each other with the three dolls in between them.

Violet’s hips were lowered from landing and she pulled her knife from her apron as she slowly stood.

She had an awful lot of heat stored up in her body. The oil of her circulatory system had lost its viscosity and she could sense air bubbles inside it.

She knew she could not win at her current level of output, but…

“…”

A method for accurately expelling that heat suddenly occurred to her.

She looked up in surprise, but she also knew she could not let the enemy catch on.

And so she quickly looked to Tatsumi through her glasses and spoke the words needed to trick her.

“Um, in other words…”

She made the appropriate statement for the situation.

“You fight by controlling dolls? But then where is their will to fight?”

“Oh, how scary. But your will is also artificial, so I could also ask where it is.”

Tatsumi’s response told Violet the girl had not noticed her chance of victory.

At that point, a few more figures appeared at the top of the stairway that led down to the next floor.

They were Violet’s fellow automatons. There were around five of them, but their unit characteristics were not suited for combat and Violet could predict this was not an enemy that could be overwhelmed by numbers.

“Everyone, stay back. …You are recording the data of this battle, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” replied Tatsumi with a step to the right.

Two new individuals came into view behind her.

One was a girl and the other was a large dog.

However, Violet noticed something odd with her thermal vision. The girl and Tatsumi had a normal human heat distribution, but the dog was simply tinged with faint heat. It had no real form.

One of her fellow automatons explained why.

“That is the data stealing girl named Shino.”

Shino bowed and hid behind Tatsumi whose hands were still raised.

“The dogs have already begun devouring the data here. During the summer, we acquired most of Japanese UCAT’s weaponry documents and internal diagrams, so now we just need to get our hands on the information related to the large-scale concept space creation device and concept space communication device.” She smiled. “Even if Japanese UCAT creates their own battlefield, we will be able to alter it and communicate within it. Also, we will have further strengthened the weapons we made with your information and we will possess maps of your facilities.”

With that, the three dolls prepared to resume the fight.

In case of possible damage, Violet’s fellow automatons took a step back toward the stairway.

And Tatsumi continued to speak.

“Now, help me buy some time and give me some data while you do. How much can you automatons fight and how skilled am I with this remote control?”

Violet began to move before Tatsumi had finished speaking. She took the first step toward her victory.

First, she swung her arm to throw the knife.

“!?”

The shield doll moved to block the knife, but the weapon had a bit of gravitational control in it.

The steel blade could be heard piercing through the top of the ellipse.

While watching the three enemies and the shaking knife, Violet spoke to her fellow automatons. Even as she did so, she felt bad for receiving help from units whose primary skills were those of maids.

“U-um, did you bring my personal storage box?”

“Yes, sir. It’s right here.”

“Th-then prepare one of #4 and three of #5.”

“Yes, sir,” they replied.

She saw they were holding a pink storage box by the staircase and she was a little worried they might have dropped the potted plant that had been sitting on it.

…''But they are better at taking care of flowers than me.

She calmed herself down and spoke to Tatsumi.

“U-um, excuse me.”

“Yes? What is it? I’m guessing you’re stalling to help cool down, but you won’t have enough time to expel much of your heat. In that case, I suppose I’ll hear you out before I destroy you.”

Violet nodded and held her right hand forward with the index and middle fingers raised.

“Thank you for giving me your time. …I was born and raised in 3rd as a maid automaton, my identifier is 13th, and my name is Violet. My occupation and Gear were lost and I found myself in Japan of Low-Gear, which lies beyond all concepts. Eventually, I found myself here in Japanese UCAT’s Kanda Laboratory. I serve Lady Miyako, the successor to 3rd-Gear, but this is the place that has taken me in and protected my king.”

She lowered her raised fingers and pointed at her opponent.

“I am a named automaton. It was for precisely this sort of situation that I was given a name and thus made a proper individual. Our flowers do not bloom upon death. An automaton blooms in a more reserved fashion but still repays her debts of gratitude. In exchange for her name, an automaton will fulfill her work even if it means to wither away. So…”

She leaned forward and took a first step of acceleration.

“Let us see if the spirit of the unit given the flower name Violet can be crushed by mere dolls!”

She ran and took her second step.

“Oh?”

She stepped on an empty cartridge and fell head first to the floor.

Shino saw the automaton named Violet trip quite spectacularly.

This was her first time seeing an actual automaton and was also her first time seeing one tripping.

It happened so suddenly that she was left dumbfounded.

…''Can automatons be clumsy!?

This was a new discovery. She had to tell Mikoku when she saw her next.

But Mikoku was being cold to her recently. She would not hang around Shino during training and she always tried to warn Shino away from any missions she took.

…''She doesn’t think I’m capable.

Shino brought a hand to her chest and to the cloisonné pendant Mikoku had given her as a souvenir of Kurashiki.

Just as she lightly touched the red half circle of pottery, Tatsumi turned from Violet and toward her. Tatsumi looked a little dumbfounded, which was rare for her.

“She’s just like you.”

“I-I don’t trip like that!”

“True. You would have fallen – wham! – right onto your butt. Wham! Wham!!”

“Y-you don’t have to repeat it! More importantly, hurry up and…”

She was going to say “finish her”, but she stopped herself because that was not something to say so casually.

She nodded to solidify her awareness of that fact and Tatsumi’s eyes narrowed.

“Yes, that’s for the best. For you anyway. You need to fear those words.”

“Eh?”

As she looked up in confusion, sweat fell from her forehead and to her cheeks. However, this was not due to nerves. It came from the heat trapped in the underground space.

Tatsumi then turned back to the fallen automaton. Her fingers moved a bit to put the three dolls in motion.

They turned their shield toward the enemy and crouched down. The way the rearmost doll held her bow showed her intent to safely settle this with a projectile.

However, Shino continued to feel the heat and it almost seemed like the room temperature was rising.

…''Tatsumi-san told me about this, didn’t she?

When indoors, highly sealed automatons like the 3rd variety had a tendency to overheat.

This one named Violet should have reached her limit, but even while collapsed on the ground, her joints and other parts remained closed and thus were not expelling any heat. It was all still trapped inside her.

Shino saw Tatsumi’s doll draw its bowstring. Shino turned toward the target of the coming shot and realized a certain fact.

Violet had scattered empty cartridges while firing her submachine gun, so they littered the floor. It was stepping on one of those that had made her trip.

…''That means the cartridge rolled beneath her foot.

But Shino noticed that the cartridge located where she had tripped was crushed flat.

It had clearly not rolled and that led to a single conclusion.

…''She stepped on the cartridge, pretended to trip, and intentionally fell?

She wondered why and found the answer in an unexpected place.

Shiro, the ghost dog standing to her right, suddenly lay down as if it had nothing to do.

It placed its belly on the floor.

“Don’t tell me…”

Shino turned toward Tatsumi’s back. Tatsumi was moving her fingers in order to fire the arrow.

“Tatsumi! This is dangerous! That automaton is expelling her heat! She’s lying on the cold concrete so it absorbs all the heat from her body!”

A moment later, wind blew.

The arrow was fired and a form raced forward to strike back. That form belonged to an automaton.

Violet ran.

She saw Tatsumi frown and saw the bow doll’s hand let go of the arrow.

She jumped to the right to avoid it.

The enemy had crouched down to defend against a possible attack from the floor, but that meant they could not immediately stand up and react.

Violet leaped with a single footstep and circled around to the right.

With the handgun in her right hand, she fired into the shield to prevent the doll from moving it.

The repeated sounds of metal striking metal rang out and the shield was stuck down at waist height. If Violet continued circling around to the side, she would win.

However, she saw Tatsumi narrow her eyes and smile.

A moment later, the doll holding the spear swung that spear sideways and struck the doll in front of her with the shaft.

“!?”

The doll was knocked right and thus toward Violet.

And that shield automaton used that movement to keep up with her.

The three of them rotated and the wind blew, but Violet remained at the leading edge of that wind.

She had only expelled enough heat for this swift movement. She would have to settle this in only a few seconds.

She ran in an arc toward the wall near the staircase in the right corner.

However, the three dolls kept up with her as they rotated with the shield at the front.

Violet continued running regardless, fired her handgun, and gave a silent instruction just before reaching the wall.

“#4 and #5!”

Before that shared thought had finished, the objects flew toward her.

With unparalleled control, her fellow automatons threw her a handgun identical to the one in her right hand and three magazines.

As soon as the magazine of her current handgun ran out, she ejected it. In the same motion, she directly slammed one of the airborne magazines into place and caught the other handgun with her left hand.

She now had two guns and two spare magazines flew toward her as well.

Just as she was about to receive them, the shield doll stepped forward and toward her.

But by the wall, Violet took a step and reached toward the airborne magazines.

“Here I go.”

She used her gravitational control to launch the two magazines above the three dolls.

At the same time, she accurately fired both handguns into those magazines.

“Um, everyone!”

“Yes, sir!!”

The automatons waiting by the stairway instantly scanned the destruction of the magazines, calculated out the movements of the scattering fragments and bullets, and sent the result back to Violet.

Violet repeatedly fired her handguns toward the ignition portion of the bullets from the two scattering magazines.

The tips of the bullets she was firing had a simple gravity ram attached. These were normally meant to increase the penetrative power, but they had a different use here.

She was firing at the back end of all the bullets scattering in midair in order to ignite them.

With no barrel, the bullets did not have a stable flight, but several dozen rounds still rained down from close range.

“…!”

The three dolls trembled in the shower of impacts and noise.

However, Violet knew this much was not enough to have any real effect. The bullets ripped holes in the upper surfaces of the dolls and they calmly turned to face her with the shimmering of their internal heat rising from the holes.

But it was too late.

Violet had already turned toward the three of them while rushing just past the wall.

At her speed, a collision was unavoidable, so the shield was placed forward to stop her.

Next, the spear would be thrust past the left side of the shield to hit her in the chest.

Violet accelerated and pushed on her own back with her gravitational control.

“…!”

She reached the shield before the spear and she had one goal: the grip of the knife she had thrown into the shield earlier.

She stepped on it and jumped.

An instant later, a high-speed strike pierced through the spot she had just left.

Once again, the bottom of the spear tip was struck from below to knock it up toward her.

Violet had expected all of this, so she threw herself forward in midair. She flipped halfway around and shifted her gravitational control once she was truly upside-down. She set her gravity so the ceiling was the floor.

Her feet landed on the ceiling and she turned to the right in order to avoid the pursuing spear.

The spear slipped past her and continued rotating around and Violet almost seemed to follow after it as she stepped back along the ceiling to circle behind the three dolls.

That was when another attack arrived: the bow and arrow.

The bow doll had struck the back of the spear downwards to begin its rotation, but she had swiftly nocked an arrow afterwards. She was just barely fast enough, but if she fired straight up, it would hit Violet.

Or it should have.

What Violet did in response was truly simple.

She swung her right elbow back and rotated her body.

Her extended elbow struck the shaft of the spear that had rotated past her.

As the spear was swung down, it struck the bow doll diagonally from the neck to the waist.

The sound of the doll being sliced sounded a lot like splitting bamboo.

It was a very clear sound and the bow doll began to collapse with the arrow still pointed upwards in her bow.

But Violet did not overlook that. She jumped down from the ceiling, flipped back around, and reset her gravitational control so the floor was the floor.

And as soon as she landed, she supported the collapsing bow doll from behind. She did so by supporting the hand holding the bow and the hand holding the arrow and pointing them forward.

After landing on the floor and supporting the bow doll, she faced forward and saw the spear and shield dolls.

She re-nocked the arrow and fired it.

She targeted the center of the chest and the steel arrow accurately pierced both dolls.

“…”

With a metallic sound, the arrow hit the back of the shield, launching it forward from the doll’s hand and into the wall.

The empty metallic sound tumbled down the wall, but Violet had already turned her back on it.

She did not have much movement time left and her only remaining weapon was a single grenade. If she detonated it in the entrance to the stairway leading upwards, her job would be complete. And due to fighting by the wall, Tatsumi would have had to move out of the corridor to keep the dolls in her field of vision. There was no longer any way for her to escape the grenade.

When Violet faced forward and began to run, she saw that Tatsumi was indeed in the same entrance as before.

The girl was smiling, but her shoulders were lowered.

“Oh, dear. It looks like I shouldn’t try this kind of thing without more practice. I need to rethink some things.”

But she continued to face Violet.

“How about you hurry up and throw the grenade? Or will you show me a more automaton-like fighting style? In other words, approach us with the grenade in hand to defeat us even if it means your own destruction. That is the truly scary aspect of an automaton that can be good-as-new after some repairs. Am I wrong?”

“…”

Tatsumi had seen through her intentions. This was what Sayama had done to Violet during the battle in Kurashiki. Despite being a human, he had ignored any fear of his own destruction and focused entirely on eliminating his opponent.

…''You must ensure victory.

As an automaton, she did not need to fear damage. She had intended to teach Tatsumi that, but…

“Too bad. Now, let me tell you how we view things.”

Tatsumi brushed her fingers across each other as if massaging them and that simple action removed all ten rings. She then held them in her right hand.

“Do you know what we do when a doll breaks?”

“…?”

“Girls will feel a little sad and place it as if it is going to sleep, but we will then receive a new doll. And as for the old doll…”

She crushed the rings in her grip.

“We throw them out with the burnable trash. …Come, Shino. You should have the data by now, so let’s get home.”

With those words, Tatsumi leaped toward the stairway.

''I won’t let you escape,'' thought Violet as she ran forward, but she suddenly felt something pressing on her back.

…''Eh?

She then felt herself floating, but after that…

“!?”

She was thrown forward too quickly for her sense of balance to keep up.

By the time she realized the three dolls had exploded, she had slammed into one of the concrete pillars supporting the ceiling. By the time her entire body’s framework was crushed, the explosive blast arrived like a wall of sand.

She could no longer hear anything in the impact, but she could tell from where she hit that the pillar had broken.

Her auditory devices informed her that the ceiling had cracked and started to collapse.

The information her artificial brain received about her body did not tell her that she could not move her body. It instead told her that her body was no longer there.

To avoid any confusion caused by the destruction of her body, her artificial consciousness rapidly closed down.

But just before it did, Violet made a prediction and sent it out over her shared memory. She said the enemy had likely escaped with most of their information, that the upper floor of the Kanda Laboratory had likely collapsed, and…

…''Those new dolls.

They likely intended to eventually control Typhon like that.

“And…”

She informed her fellow automatons that she had completed her job and that they should continue with their jobs.

After all, they had unknowingly allowed Black Sun to approach outside.

And so she told them to assist in the fight against 5th-Gear.

<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 [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume9 Chapter 26|Chapter 26]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume9 Chapter 28|Chapter 28]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 22

2026-03-27T03:00:34Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 22: Rearrangement of the Battlefield==
[[Image:OnC_v14_0789.png|thumb]]
''No distance, obstacle, or journey

''Is any match for the gaze reflected in your heart

Dragon cannons crushed buildings and god of war swords split the earth.

The Seraph mechanical dragons flew with their six wings and burned the city with their flame cannons.

The Cherubim mechanical dragons used their control ability to access the automatons and reorder the confused front line.

The most powerful were the Galgalim mechanical dragons. They were specialized to fight on the surface rather than in the air, so their great bodies and legs literally trampled the battlefield underfoot.

Those heavy masses of metal raced through Tokyo.

Their push managed to force back the UCAT forces who had just started to gain the upper hand.

The human front lines fell apart and the battle continued on the elevated roadways or alleyways the dragons could not enter.

But then the giants flew down.

The two-winged Lords gods of war smashed the human hiding places with high gravity defenses and flame swords.

The Virtues gods of war fired bullets of salt from the cannons on their shoulders and the four-winged Powers gods of war flew across the battlefield and worked with the Galgalim mechanical dragons to exterminate the humans.

The front lines were thrown into chaos and pushed back.

Communications were equally chaotic and no one knew where the Concept Core weapon bearers were.

Flames and destroying winds surrounded them and they saw giant forms in every direction.

Were the silhouettes moving beyond the roaring flames mechanical dragons or gods of war? To a human, it did not really matter.

A single cannon blast nearby was enough to blow them away and the heat of the dragon cannons instantly vaporized glass.

“Ahh!”

Cries of pain and anger filled the air.

They had more or less known this would happen and had prepared themselves for it, but…

“Ahhhh!!”

Raising their voices was the last form of resistance with which they could make their presence known.

The silhouettes were still moving beyond the flames. The dragons and giants were flying down from the sky or running across the earth.

A power was supposedly fighting to save them. It was supposedly protecting people and cutting open the front line somewhere.

But where?

Where was the salvation among the great powers sweeping across the battlefield?

The people even had to ask where they themselves were.

They did not even know that as they heard cannon blasts and the footsteps of great beasts.

“Kh!”

Someone cried out.

While dragging an unmoving comrade, they looked back through the sparks rising from the gunfire.

“Dammit!”

They let out a roar.

Were their tears from the gunpowder smoke or the resistance in their heart?

On a road between buildings in the north region, the commander of a unit asked a question after confirming they were isolated on Meiji Street.

“How many are left!?”

The second-in-command answered with blood covering half his face. The man threw aside his bent rifle as he did so.

“Nine, counting you. We had the rest hide along the way.”

“Heh heh.” An elderly man spoke up with a broken sword in hand. “Marks sure did complain when I shoved him in that manhole. He said not even his house stinks that bad.”

The injured men laughed and even the captain made no attempt to hide the blood flowing onto his wrist from within his sleeve.

“I don’t know about his house, but his room sure smelled like a sewer.”

Their conversation was cut off by a tremor of the earth.

Some mechanical dragons were coming. The giant pure-white dragons approached from further down the valley of buildings.

Beyond the smoke and shimmering heat, eight of them raced along the road.

They smashed both the roadway and the buildings. On top of that, the men were all injured and they could not count on their weapons here.

The dragons were three hundred meters away, but they would fill that gap in no time.

Nevertheless, the commander spoke up.

“Hand over your ammunition and get out of the way.”

He turned his back on the rest and held a hand back for the bullets. His right hand held a light machinegun encased in a cowling.

“After all, my name can mean ‘bullet’, so I might be able to hold them off for a bit.”

The second-in-command commented after spitting some bloody saliva onto the ground.

“Hold them off?”

“Yeah. You don’t see any more of our men on this road, do you? That means we can’t let them through here. If they do get through, they’ll reach the people who must be positioned further back. I need to hold them off as much as I can so you can warn them.”

“But.” The second-in-command’s breath sounded hollow. “These are mechanical dragons. How long do you think you can hold them off?”

“Well… About three seconds maybe?”

“Quit lying. Your right shin is broken, isn’t it?”

“Two seconds then.”

“What about your broken right collarbone?”

“Okay, one second.”

“Wasn’t your daughter stolen by some guy?”

“You’re supposed to congratulate me for that one,” replied the commander. “Well, to be honest, I think I can hold off the dragons for about 0.7 seconds.”

He held the light machinegun below his arm.

“Isn’t that badass? I can save the world for a whole 0.7 seconds.”

His body shook as he laughed.

“I’ve never done anything like that before.”

So…

“Go on and warn the others.”

As soon as he said that, more armored uniforms lined up on either side of him.

There were four on either side and they were all exhausted and injured.

The commander spoke to them as the trembling grew stronger.

“You…”

A younger man on the far end with hair dyed blond looked up into the sky and spoke.

“I’m…so tired…that I can’t move.”

The chubby middle-aged man on the other end rested his rifle on his shoulder.

“I bet I can last 0.8 seconds.”

“Yeah.” An elderly man nodded and pulled a grenade from his pocket. “Report! 0.6!”

Starting from the right, they all gave their numbers.

“0.5.”

“0.9!

“0.7!”

“0.4!”

“0.8!”

Finally, it was the second-in-command’s turn.

“I’m 0.4, so that adds up to an amazing 5.8 seconds! Talk about a generous offer!”

The second-in-command pulled a pair of broken glasses from his pocket and placed them above his nose.

“Can we save the world like this?”

“How should I know?” The commander laughed. “This is a hopeless situation, but if we can save the world for 5.8 seconds, we can’t give up just yet.”

“Very true. Without us, the world might be destroyed a whole 5.8 seconds earlier.”

“Man, is that a lot of responsibility!!”

They all laughed at the youngest one’s comment.

But they all stopped laughing at once and faced the mechanical dragons that were now clearly in view.

“Readyyyy!!”

Just as the commander was going to say “fire”, the approaching group of pure-white dragons was blown away.

“…!?”

The first thing they saw was a building on the left bursting apart.

A black wind charged in from there and they knew its name.

“Susamikado!!”

It happened in an instant.

The black warrior did not hesitate to rush toward the mechanical dragons that were over four times its height.

The sword in its right hand bisected the pure-white armor and the shield in its left knocked away the giant running forms. Also…

“————!!”

A red god of war and a silver god of war rushed in after the black wind. The red one had no arms, but it swung six thick swords that floated in the air. The silver one challenged the dragons with its two swords.

Their destination had a voice.

That voice was a cheer.

A crowd entered the road. People in white or blue armored uniforms spilled onto the road like a waterfall pouring from between and above the broken buildings.

“Yes, sir! Are you okay!?”

Someone called out to the eight standing in the road. It was a maid automaton wearing glasses.

“I am Violet, a 3rd-Gear automaton. I will cover for you!! 3rd-Gear’s main force is here too, so there is nothing to worry-…”

She tripped in the middle of her sentence. Not only that, there was nothing at all to trip over.

''Is she okay?'' wondered the commander, but she quickly hopped back to her feet.

“Um,” she began. “A-anyway, I’m fine. Thank you for risking your lives to protect this spot!”

The commander looked to the pure-white wreckage littering the road ahead.

The eight mechanical dragons were being destroyed by the black god of war and the cannons of the others who had come running in.

He then felt something poking at his side. It was the second-in-command’s elbow.

“ ‘Thank you’? Did we do anything?”

“Shut up. Refusing to give up can be a lot of work.”

But even as he said that, the enemy was not giving up either.

Groups of white arrived from down the road and from the sky.

The mechanical dragons had their armor expanded defensively and the gods of war had their shields held out.

The commander gasped because there were far more of them than before.

“Get down!!”

Susamikado shouted with a girl’s voice.

At the same time, it put away its sword and shield.

“————!!”

When it raised an arm back and to the right, something arrived.

“Keravnos!!”

Wind blew down the road.

The concept space opening on Susamikado’s right arm sucked in the air and ejected something else.

It was the outer shell for a giant pile bunker.

But the metal object was quite different from before.

It was approximately twenty-five meters long. The frame was almost three times as long as Susamikado was tall, so arms extended from it to attach to the god of war’s back and waist as well as its right arm.

The next components to be spatially ejected were an inner shell resembling a long gun barrel and shock absorbers to reduce the vibration upon firing.

After radiators, buffering bands, and power cables, a light appeared.

That light was Keravnos itself. It was 3rd-Gear’s Concept Core.

It had been split into five before, but now it was all in one piece.

It resembled a giant spear.

“This is because Mikage-san finished evolving!”

Everyone knew that Keravnos had reflected Mikage’s incomplete evolution when it had been returned during the battle near Babel.

It now revealed its final form and thousands of bolts appeared in midair to hold it together.

The final bolt rotated and plunged in to complete what looked like a giant cannon.

The vibration of its completion reverberated into the sky.

At the same time, light raced across Keravnos’s surface. The light traced across some engraved writing which said…

“In accordance to the will of the Sun King and the Moon Queen, we of 3rd-Gear swear to become a power that gathers a great many people!”

There were people here.

“So unleash your power, Keravnos!!”

With an overhand swing, Susamikado slammed the twenty-five meter pile bunker straight forward.

Keravnos’s final form activated its power.

Light enveloped everything.

A giant bolt of lightning raced forward, covering not just the buildings lining the road but everything within a width of four hundred meters.

In legend, this was the one anti-dragon weapon the almighty god was said to have used.

Wind and a tremor accompanied the light.

“—————!!”

Instead of exploding outward, it imploded.

It lasted only an instant.

For a distance of approximately 1.5 kilometers, the earth, the sky, and everything in between were annihilated.

The mechanical dragons and gods of war were no more.

The vast power produced wind and the rising heat caused the sky to flicker.

Those surrounded by flames in each battle region could see and hear it.

“…!”

Everyone running along the battlefield knew for sure that someone other than them was still fighting.

So they gave a war cry of their own.

They stood at the bottom of the flames of battle, they were surrounded by smoke, and they were stained by injuries, but they made their presence known loudly enough to drown out the movement and cannon blasts of the gods of war and mechanical dragons.

“Don’t worry,” someone said. “Don’t worry!!”

He looked back.

There, he saw a wall of light rising into the sky and the rotating circle that protected the world below.

“As long as that’s there, the world is still safe!!”

The people advanced.

“Cry out!”

They raised their voices with the words they knew someone had to be shouting even if those voices were being drowned out.

“As long as even one of us can keep moving forward, the world is still safe!!”

A voice answered them from the sky. It came from the buildings to the southwest.

A blue and white mechanical dragon was engaging several pure-white mechanical dragons in aerial combat.

“Yes!”

The blue and white dragon flipped around and fired when the enemy passed below it.

“There’s nothing to worry about! And the enemy still has a weakness!”

Thunder Fellow shot down an enemy. That enemy was a somewhat round dragon.

“These Virtues mechanical dragons relay commands for the enemy forces! So if you have anti-air weaponry, please shoot down this model of dragon! If you do, the automatons and mechanical dragons under their control will have to act independently!!”

“That’s what I like to hear!”

This new voice came from the east. The blade of light stabbing into the sky there was V-Sw.

The glowing sword was several hundred meters long, but it accurately smashed a mass of metal flying there.

The destroyed object returned to being mere minerals which turned to sand and vanished in the wind.

More sounds of destruction followed.

The front line began to move once more. It was not much yet, but it was slowly approaching the center.

Voices reverberated through the air to support that change and to let others notice it.

The southwest formation moved from Ariake to Tokyo and finally finished crossing the harbor. That was Sayama’s formation.

He advanced along a street in that major urban region and Shinjou ran by his side.

“Everyone!”

His voice rang loud.

“Do not lose! And keep moving forward!!”

But a rebuttal reached him from the sky.

Mikoku swung down an arm as she stood on the Leviathan.

“That is useless!”

Mikoku asked a question of her advancing enemy as she viewed them on the transparent map and through the footage from an automaton’s vision.

“Are you going to stop this reformation of the world no matter what!?”

She knew the answer without being told.

Her opponent was her opposite.

She watched Sayama through an automaton’s eyes as he strengthened his forces with the power of the four balls, carried a plant creature on his back just like the others, and raced across the battlefield.

While the other groups were constructing a front line to clash with their enemy, he was focusing on mobility to break through as quickly as possible.

“Do not fall behind!”

He shouted to his comrades.

“Do not try to rush this. To us, this is walking.”

He ran and leaped.

“Do not think of this as a place of death. To us, this is a place of life.”

He built up his strength and ran to shake off the enemies approaching him.

“Do not pray to god. To us, the enemy is god!”

“Then,” said Mikoku with her eyebrows raised. “If you insist on running and arriving here, I will give you the ultimate reason to give up!”

She raised her right arm and snapped her fingers.

“I will test you, Sayama Mikoto. Let us see if you will truly never give up.”

She knew what she had to do.

“Noah! Use your excess power to rearrange the battlefield!”

“Testament.”

Noah nodded behind Mikoku.

Before that nod was even complete, a voice filled that space.

That voice filled the entire concept space.

It spoke through each of their minds.

—'''Everything leads to a single point.

When the concept text activated, the battlefield changed.

As Sayama ran, he noticed two changes.

First, the angels began forming a giant circle to protect the area around the Leviathan. And second…

“Shinjou-kun!?”

Just before he heard the concept text, she had been running to his right, but now she was gone.

And she was not all that had vanished. Everything that should have been to his right was no longer there.

It almost looked like a gray mirage extending into the distance.

…''What is this?

“I have only done as you wished. Since you seem to like charging forward so much, I have given you all the land you need to do so for as long as possible. Look to your left.”

After hearing Mikoku’s voice from the heavens, he looked left.

He saw a strange land there.

They had divided Tokyo up into eight regions, but for some reason, all eight were lined up in front of him.

…''What is going on?

Those regions were supposed to create a circle, so he should not have been able to see them all.

Nevertheless, the land before him was connected in a straight line. And at the very end of it all…

“Ariake and…the Leviathan in the sky above Shinjuku Station?”

Beyond the eight lined-up regions, he saw the location he had just run through and his destination.

When he saw that, he realized what this new concept meant.

Everything led to a single point.

“You mean I can only reach my destination at the center after crossing each and every region!?”

“Exactly. I even did you a favor and based it on you,” replied Mikoku. “From my ‘single point’, I can attack every single region, but you must pass through them all before reaching me at the center.”

Sayama frowned.

“Are you telling me to run through all eight regions?”

“Yes. If any single person passes through them all, the world will be reconnected and the concept will lose all meaning. And you are the one closest to the edge of the world, Sayama.”

That meant the entire battle was over if Sayama were to stop.

“I will now send my forces into all eight regions,” said Mikoku. “Your armies must survive until you have finished your run, Sayama. And listen carefully. I…”

She took a breath.

“I will not hesitate to send my army to attack Shinjou.”

“I see,” replied Sayama as he stared at the Leviathan in the distance. “That is good to hear. Now there is no need to hold back.”

He heard a sudden sound.

His cellphone was ringing in his pocket.

The people who had not been cut off from him focused on him as he pulled out the phone.

“S-Sayama-kun?”

“Yes, it is I, Shinjou-kun.”

He turned back to the flickering grayness where she should have been.

He approached the border of the flickering, reached out his hand, and could have sworn he felt something there.

“Sayama-kun.”

He heard Shinjou’s voice. She should have been right in front of him, but that precious voice was farther away than any other.

“I’m waiting for you.”

“Yes, I will be right there. I swear I will make it to you.”

He lowered his head and pressed his cheek to the flickering.

“Sayama…-kun?”

Her questioning voice felt so very close.

“Nn…”

They could not see each other, but they still kissed.

After a few seconds, he slowly pulled away.

“——————”

He turned his back on the flickering border and spoke.

“I will be right there, Shinjou-kun. No matter where you are…”

He took a breath.

“I will be there to take your hand, Shinjou-kun.”

“Yes!”

Others nodded in response too.

The comrades around him were a mixture of the special division and the standard division.

As he put his phone away, they gave him informal salutes.

“We’ll cover for you. For as long as we can keep up anyway.”

They stood on the road with their weapons at the ready. They were all filthy and not one of them was uninjured.

But Sayama nodded back while ignoring their exhaustion and injuries.

He left the four floating balls with a nearby commander and ordered the man hold the area. He told him to fall back to and protect the circle behind them.

He then pulled something else from his pocket.

It was a short wooden sword.

“This contains 4th-Gear’s Mukiti so we can set up the seals of heaven and earth.”

Just by holding it, the sword began releasing air.

As the wooden blade absorbed his exhaustion, he stuck it in the back of his belt.

That was the only preparation he needed to run.

With it finished, he looked across all of those around him.

“Now, here are your orders.”

He faced forward, where he could see the streets, the sky, white automatons, and white gods of war.

The enemy was everywhere.

But he did not hesitate and he spoke to the others without looking their way.

“Everyone, I am about to go meet Shinjou-kun, so I will be very busy. The Concept Core weapon bearers are to advance and beat down the enemy reinforcements. Everyone else is to help me reach Shinjou-kun.”

He crouched down, swung his arms back, and opened his mouth.

“Clear my way forward!”

With that shout, he began to run.

He ran west, where the Leviathan was visible in the distance.

He raced toward the person waiting for him.

He would connect the battlefield so that they would not give up.

He hit his full speed from step number one.

<noinclude>
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|-
| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 21|Chapter 21]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 23|Chapter 23]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume9 Chapter 24

2026-03-27T02:59:49Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 24: Heart of Identity==
[[Image:OnC_v09_0167.png|thumb]]
''If nothing is correct

''But pure things become correct

''Is it correct to wish for them?

Fluorescent light filled a small entranceway.

The door was shut and two people stood below that white light: Harakawa and Heo.

They were facing each other.

“Um…”

Heo began to speak and Harakawa listened silently.

Her gaze dropped to his neck but soon rose again.

“It seems the demon appeared again.”

“And it brought us on a trip to Chiba.”

“Sorry about all the trouble.”

“What you’re saying doesn’t follow, Heo Thunderson. Let’s have a proper conversation.”

“Eh?”

She tilted her head and finally looked him in the eye.

“You’re right.”

Her expression softened a bit. It now looked weak and resigned.

Meanwhile, he sighed and placed a hand on the wall.

“Why are you here, Heo Thunderson? You met the group called UCAT, didn’t you?”

During the car ride back home, he had been told about the death of Heo’s great-grandfather.

He had not been given the details, but they had said UCAT would be protecting Heo and ensuring her a place to live in the future. If she wanted anything, they would support her as much as they were able.

So if she said she wanted to run, they would continue to support her as long as she did not stop running.

…''She’ll have all the freedom she wants.

“Isn’t that just perfect? You’ll live in America where you don’t have to use any weird Japanese and you can do whatever you want. You can be surrounded by people without having to fear anything.”

He said that because he thought it was the best thing for her to hear.

…''That’s the opposite path from me.

''That’s right,'' he silently complained.

It was best for her if she did not simply give up like he had. And she had been given this blessing because…

“Someone is wishing for your happiness.”

With that, he nodded. He directed it both toward Heo and toward his own heart.

She initially reacted with silence.

“…”

She then lowered her hands from below her neck, lowered her head, and lowered her shoulders with a sigh.

“…”

But even as she hung her head, she smiled with the ends of her eyebrows lowered.

…''Why…

Harakawa thought to himself.

…''Why are you giving me that look, Heo Thunderson?

He felt like he knew why, but he had another thought as well: ''You’re simply afraid of having your environment change again.

Just as people could adapt to unhappiness and accept it as normal, people could adapt to happiness as well.

…''You should do the latter.

At that point, Harakawa wondered if that was what he had thought while speaking with Ooki earlier.

He did not know.

He had not settled his thoughts at that point.

Even now, he simply thought it was best for Heo if she went along with this and left the country.

“…”

He heard someone sigh.

It was Heo.

She finally opened her downturned mouth.

“H-Harakawa.”

She leaned toward him a bit and gently clenched her hands near her chest.

She then looked up and their gazes met. She tensed her shoulders as if demanding something, but…

“Yes. Don’t worry. I will do my best in my new home.”

Only then did she finally straighten up.

Her lowered eyebrows rose a bit and supported the smile in her eyes.

“So you do your best at opening a bookstore.”

He froze in place when he heard that.

…''How does she know about that?

Without even thinking, he realized it had to have been his mother.

But by that time, she had lowered her head.

“Thank you very much.”

Before he could say anything, she turned around and opened the door.

The wind blew, the night air entered, and her orange and blue form vanished outside.

He could see outside for just a moment. He saw the woman named Diana waving toward Ooki who left on a bicycle, the black car, and Heo rushing toward it.

“…”

The door closed.

By the time his hand reached the doorknob, he heard the car starting up.

By the time he turned the doorknob, he heard the car leaving to the left.

And so he stopped moving.

All that remained was the air that had grown as motionless as him.

Chilly night air washed over Shinjou.

She was just outside the entrance of IAI Headquarters.

She had left the reference room for a single reason.

“I need to cool my head a little. There’s just been so much that I’m feeling overwhelmed.”

The automatic door into the lobby closed behind her and she sighed when she heard it.

Sibyl had contacted them earlier. Japanese UCAT was fighting back against American UCAT and they had retaken up to the third basement. There had been gunfire in the background and Sibyl’s voice had sounded exhausted but delighted as she had said the following:

“By the time the two of you return, we will definitely have taken it all back. That is our duty as caretakers.”

“Please do,” Sayama had said before ending the call.

Everyone was working hard and, just as Sibyl had said, the fight to retrieve the facility was theirs.

And there was something else Shinjou and Sayama had to do here.

“So we can’t rush this and lose sight of our job.”

She said it aloud to drive it home.

She faced forward. She was just outside the white building’s entrance.

She saw the roundabout in front of the building and a large fountain that was not currently running.

There was light illuminating the large IAI building, but that light seemed to be absorbed by the night, the mountains, and the forest.

She gently spread her arms and walked into the wind that brought the chill of the air to her.

Beyond the fountain, she saw a lawn and then the runway and mountains.

Sayama was currently gathering a few more documents, but after that, they would wait for the periodic report and head out.

“Are we returning so soon?”

…''I hope everyone is okay.

She looked up into the dark sky and the white IAI building.

''It’s so big,'' she thought before lowering her gaze once more. A few vending machines were located along the building’s wall to the right. They may have been for those who drove to work and they were covered by a canvas roof.

Both to calm herself and as a favor to Sayama who was working down below, she thought it would be nice to buy some drinks.

She turned to the right and approached the machines. She brushed a hand through her hair while making sure not to knock out Mukiti’s flower. The night air entered through her hair and chilled her spine and the back of her head.

The touch of the chilly air helped calm her a little. Or at least she thought it did.

…''What should I do?

She muttered the question in her heart, but the answer came from her mouth.

“I guess I’ll go to Sakai.”

Once the athletic festival ended, the midterm exams began. After that was the school festival. She would have to go during the preparations for the school festival, but she was worried the others would resent her for that.

She was interested in the preparations for the greatest of Taka-Akita Academy’s bizarre festivals, but some things were more important.

After all, there would be another school festival the following year. Assuming the world still existed in some form or another, that is.

She understood her search for her parents was not actually related to the Leviathan Road. From the perspective of the Leviathan Road, they had made their trip here to pursue Shinjou Kaname as a member of the National Defense Department.

Sayama had also gathered information on Professor Kinugasa for future use.

After confirming his death, their research on Shinjou Kaname was as good as complete.

…''So searching for his granddaughter is my personal issue.

“I wonder if I can ask Sayama-kun to come along,” she said while stepping up to a vending machine.

She pulled a pink change purse from her pocket and pulled out 120 yen.

However…

“Oh, it’s only 100 yen. That’s a good price.”

She smiled and inserted the 100 yen. She heard the coin fall and the LCD screen next to the coin slot lit up with a message.

“No getting it back now.”

A very bad feeling entered her heart, so Shinjou immediately launched an attack on the coin return lever. But…

“Why isn’t it returning my money?”

She repeated her attack a second and third time before looking at the coin return lever. The bottom of the lever had a warning printed on a silver foil sticker. She read it aloud.

“ ‘This is actually a no-return acceptance lever. Too bad.’ This was a trap!!”

As if reacting to her shout, the LCD screen displayed a new message.

“Don’t worry about it!!”

She reflexively slammed her hand against the machine but only received an aching hand for her trouble.

“Fine then,” she said while lowering her shoulders and checking the drink options starting from the upper left. “Freshly Squeezed Mackerel. My Sweat – Lemon Flavor. Hot Yogurt. Drinkable Cheese. …Is this full of test products?”

“5, 4, 3.”

The LCD screen suddenly began a countdown. Sensing danger, she hesitated for one last moment, realized they were all the same, and frantically slammed her palm against the “random” button.

A slapping sound filled the air, a can could be heard falling through the machine, and it finally came out on the bottom.

She picked up the can.

“Indometacin Tea.”

“Winner!!”

''Eh?'' she wondered as the vending machine lit up in front of her. Smoke blasted from it, it opened up, decorative lights popped out, and a multicolored relay of lights flashed as it played the Warship March.

It then spat out another can. She cried out and managed to catch the can in midair.

“Iced Mitsumame Soda?”

She decided to give that one to Sayama and sighed. But as she lowered her shoulders and looked forward again, she noticed something.

“Why haven’t the lights stopped?”

She saw numbers moving along the LCD screen. Two sevens were lined up next to each other and it was vertically cycling through several numbers to the right. Soon, the speed dropped, another seven came down from the upper right, and…

“Noooo! Don’t get another one!!”

As Shinjou shouted and hit the machine over and over, the seven passed by.

“Ahh.”

''Thank goodness,'' she thought with another sigh.

Her shoulders lowered in relief, but then the seven at the bottom of the screen ended its feint and hopped back up into place. The decorative lights all flashed, the Ride of the Valkyries played as a fanfare, and Shinjou…

“Nwaaaaah!!”

“Winnnnnneeeeeeeeerrrrrrr!!”

“N-no! This isn’t a joke anymore!!”

“Isn’t it great!?”

“No, it isn’t! Why aren’t you listening!? And stop!!”

“No stopping it now!!”

Can after can shot out like a waterfall and piled up at her feet with countless heavy metallic sounds.

She cried out, stepped back, and looked around while trying to figure out what to do.

“A-a trash can! I need a trash can!”

[[Image:OnC_v09_0179.png|thumb]]

She held her hands forward and hurriedly looked behind her. That was when she noticed something.

Someone was standing on the edge of the runway past the roundabout and the lawn.

A girl in a black men’s suit stood alone in the night.

Shinjou recognized her.

“Toda Mikoku-san?”

After speaking her name, Shinjou waited for Mikoku to respond.

However, Mikoku said nothing, as if speaking her name was completely natural.

She simply stood there with her bag over her right shoulder.

…''She’s part of the Army, right?

This was certainly the girl Gyes had described and even drawn a portrait of.

Shinjou wondered what to do and was suspicious of Mikoku’s presence, but then she recalled her own situation. She had no weapons.

However, another thought came to her.

…''She isn’t a bad person, right?

That may not have been the right thing to think about someone who had defeated one of 3rd-Gear’s Hecatoncheires.

However, she calmed her breathing. Whatever the case, she had to keep the girl from moving and she could only wait for Sayama to come out as she was unarmed.

As she began to move, she thought about buying time and also about communicating.

She picked something off the ground and held it out toward Mikoku.

“U-um, Toda Mikoku-san? Do you want some…Eround Tea? …Why does this can have a picture of me on it!?”

“Is it a region-limited character product?”

“Who made this!? …And why is the answer so obvious!?”

She began to carry the can inside the building to complain to the culprit, but…

“Where are you going, Shinjou Sadagiri?”

Mikoku walked over to her.

Having her name called and the speed of the girl caused Shinjou to shrink back.

She froze in place and Mikoku’s footsteps filled the air as she approached but then stopped.

The two of them came to a stop with the fountain in between them.

And…

“Sorry I kept you waiting, Shinjou-kun. I had Miyako-kun create a philosopher’s stone of a weakened 5th concept. It is a handheld optical stealth concept, so now I can place hidden cameras more easily. Now we only need to wait for Kazami’s report and then return to Tok-…”

The entrance’s automatic door opened and Sayama stepped out with two travel bags.

When he saw the two girls, he stopped and faced Mikoku.

He did not hesitate. His eyes narrowed for just a moment and he turned back to Shinjou the next moment. He then gave an expressionless nod.

“So to sum it up, you won a lot of Eround Tea, didn’t you?”

“No!! Well, actually yes!! But the problem is over there!”

She pointed the hand holding some documents toward the fountain.

“Look! It’s someone from the Army!”

Mikoku watched Shinjou.

Shinjou waved the can of tea in her hand and spoke to Sayama who had exited the building.

“Do you see her!? You do, don’t you!? In a way, this is our first real contact with someone from the Army! You don’t see this every day!”

''This is a lot like a scene from that exploration party show on Wednesdays,'' thought Mikoku. ''Wasn’t last week’s episode about searching for the cameraman who went on ahead of them into the depths of the unexplored Amazon? Shino was really getting into it, but I did not think they would really find Team Leader Kazami.

Meanwhile, Sayama raised his hands a bit as Shinjou shouted an explanation at him.

“Calm down,” he said while pointing his palms at her. “It is dangerous over there, so come over here.”

“Oh, sure.”

Shinjou turned her back and started toward Sayama.

“Wait,” called Mikoku on reflex.

Shinjou jumped and stopped while Sayama raised his head to look toward Mikoku.

His gaze could only be called sharp as it pointed directly at her. She did not hesitate to accept it head on and she showed no fear as his gaze almost seemed to audibly pierce through her.

“I have something to tell Shinjou.”

“To tell me?”

Shinjou timidly looked over her shoulder, but Mikoku did not turn toward her. Her mind focused on her right hand which held her sword and bag. She made sure she could grab the cloth cover and draw the sword at any moment.

However, something stopped her intent to fight: Shinjou’s voice and anxiously lowered eyebrows.

“Why me? And…who are you?”

“Someone who knows a lot that you do not.”

Silence fell.

But Mikoku did not remove her gaze from Sayama. She saw Shinjou stiffen out of the corner of her eye, but she could not focus on her with an enemy present.

But she did notice that Shinjou gently held her own body, lowered the ends of her eyebrows, and opened her mouth.

Mikoku knew more or less what question was coming from Shinjou who had lost her memories.

…''She will ask if I know about her.

Just as she thought about replying that she did know, the mouth directly in front of her gaze opened.

“Toda Mikoku. Don’t tell me you too are the type that checks on certain things by tugging on them.”

“What? You ‘too’? And tug on what?”

“Waaaah!!”

Shinjou frantically waved her hands and stirred up the air around her. She faced Mikoku with some anger in her expression.

“N-nothing! Don’t let the words of a crazy person fool you!”

“Shinjou-kun, whose side are you on? More importantly, Toda Mikoku. Leave.”

He pointed to the forest behind her.

“Shinjou-kun and I are extremely busy. If you have something to say, make an appointment first. Call IAI and say you wish to speak with the emperor of the universe. That will get you transferred to UCAT’s complaints department.”

“Shinjou, is this boy always like this?”

“He’s usually a lot worse.”

She felt somewhat sympathetic.

''How sad,'' she thought. ''If only she had someone as normal as me nearby. Then she would not have so much trouble.

And so she spoke with Shinjou still in the corner of her eye.

“Shinjou.” She took in a breath. “Nothing I say to you now will get through to you and it is better if you know nothing. That is why I beg you to take this one thing to heart: could you perhaps leave UCAT while you still know nothing?”

“…”

“All of this… All of this comes down to our fight with UCAT.”

“Wh-why would you say that!? Why do I have to leave?”

Mikoku answered Shinjou’s question without preparing the words ahead of time. She spoke in a dignified voice so the girl could hear.

“Because you are someone who should not be involved in the fighting. This is for the sake of the world’s future.”

''That is the role I’m trying to have Shino bear,'' she thought.

And then she continued.

“The reason for this is only known by us and a few within UCAT. …And it is best if you do not know.”

Sayama watched Mikoku’s face.

Her eyes were sharply narrowed and she pushed back his gaze.

But he spoke up without hesitation.

“Let me ask one thing. Was Shinjou-kun on your side?”

Shinjou’s shoulders trembled at that. If Mikoku answered yes, it would mean Shinjou had belonged to the Army, their enemy.

But Mikoku shook her head.

“No. Shinjou’s parents did not wish for that. Neither did we or UCAT. But I know Shinjou. That is all that matters.” She shrugged. “I am not about to give you any proof, but I do not change gender. I know Shinjou from before she lost her memories, but that is all.”

“I…see.”

Shinjou’s voice spilled to the ground with some disappointment mixed in. She had likely been hoping to find someone else of her same race.

And so Sayama spoke to Mikoku in order to draw out some information to dispel Shinjou’s discouragement.

“I see. In other words, that warning was a personal one removed from our positions as the Army or UCAT.”

“That is a valid way of looking at this.”

“I see. Then…”

This is what that meant.

“To sum up, you are unable to forget Shinjou-kun, you casually approached her in Kurashiki, and you came all this way to see her. You are quite the stalker. …Now, listen carefully.”

He took a breath and pointed at Mikoku.

“Shinjou-kun hates perverts like that. You disgust me.”

A can crashed into his forehead.

He heard the heavy sound of the drink inside and his vision filled with darkness for an instant.

However, the light soon returned and he saw the sky and the can that had bounced off his head.

…''Hot Eround Tea.

He could not let that fall on the ground, so he recovered in an instant, grabbed the can in midair, opened it, and took a drink. It was delicious and it woke him up. Shinjou was smiling on the printed label. He was glad he had secretly photographed her for this.

“Excellent.”

“S-Sayama-kun? What exactly is ‘excellent’?”

“That is simple, Shinjou-kun. Your warm liquid is so incredibly delicious that-…”

“Don’t say it like that while rubbing your cheek against it!!”

Shinjou shouted at him, but her shoulders drooped in exhaustion and she turned her head to look at Mikoku.

“Thank you for the warning, but I am a member of UCAT.”

“I know that and I have no intention of recruiting you into the Army. But remember this: your parents did not want you to be on either side and you would be honoring their decision if you stopped fighting.”

“Why? Why am I in that kind of position?”

Shinjou’s question filled the night air and she tilted her head toward Mikoku.

“Who were my parents? Do you happen to know Shinjou Yukio?”

“Well…”

Just as Mikoku was trying to decide whether to agree or disagree, Sayama felt a slight wind to his left. The wind was blowing toward Mikoku.

That wind contained the color red.

The red was a women’s suit worn by…

“Gyes-kun!!”

Gyes ran.

She had thought carrying Sayama and Shinjou’s travel bags to the main entrance was a job for the Moirai, but she was glad she had gone through with it without complaining. She had never expected this.

“I have determined I am fortunate to receive this chance for revenge!!”

She shot past Sayama’s right side and then Shinjou’s right side.

The fountain lay between her and the enemy, but she did not hesitate to step over the fountain’s stone edge. Traveling over the water was the quickest route.

She rerouted the same amount of gravitational control used to control one of her swords and opened it below her feet to support her body on the surface of the water.

She kicked off the flat surface of the deactivated fountain.

She charged onward while bending backwards.

Nine swords expanded from the bottom of her suit.

“Ohhh!”

By the time she crossed the fountain and swung her body forward in midair, she was within five meters of Mikoku.

She moved her arms like wings and beat the air with her spread fingers to move ever onward.

The swords crashed toward Mikoku.

One swung toward her head from the upper left, one swung toward her right shoulder from the upper right, one was thrown toward her neck from the upper right, one flew toward the empty air to the left to prevent her from evading, one swept horizontally toward her side from the right, one swung diagonally down toward the hand holding her bag from the left side, one jabbed toward her stomach from the left side, and one jabbed toward her waist from the right side.

Mikoku fell back. That avoided all but the jabs and the throw and she likely planned to draw her sword before those attacks caught up.

And that was exactly what she did.

She took a large leap backwards.

Mikoku showed her skill by throwing her bag forward before drawing the sword.

The jabs to the side and waist were obstructed by the bag, so only the throw to the neck remained.

“…!”

But she swung her head to avoid that last attack.

She stopped falling back and drew her sword.

Gyes was still in midair and she determined Mikoku planned to target her just before she landed.

“You fell for it!”

“!?”

Gyes shouted back at Mikoku’s confused voice.

“How many swords did I attack with? Did you count them!? There were eight!”

She had one left and she drew it from where it was hidden behind her back.

She threw a single-handed strike while leaping forward.

Meanwhile, Mikoku stuck with her counterattack. She did not step back to gain enough space to attack after Gyes landed. She instead stepped forward to fill what gap there was.

…''Is she that confident in her sword technique!?

A moment later, Gyes smiled.

“I have determined that is the case!”

If this girl was skilled enough to drive back Aigaion, she would view Gyes, another of the Hecatoncheires, on the same level.

Having predicted that with high probability, Gyes went in for her true attack.

She tossed her raised sword into the air.

Mikoku frowned and that was exactly what Gyes had predicted would happen.

And while acting in accordance with her predictions, Gyes grabbed the empty air with her right hand.

“Come!”

With those words, something did indeed arrive.

It was a sword, but it was far too large.

A giant blade measuring eight meters appeared in the air.

Holding the hilt and swinging it down was a giant red arm synched with the movements of Gyes’s own arm.

This was Gyes’s god of war.

As soon as she landed, she sank down and slammed her right hand against the ground.

Her automaton palm tore into the asphalt and a spray of asphalt shot into the air. At the same time, the giant blade sliced through the roaring wind as it swung down toward Mikoku.

It was going to hit.

But just before it did, Mikoku did something else.

“…!”

She threw her sword toward Gyes.

When faced with this sudden action, Gyes’s artificial mind chose to evade.

…''Oh, no!

Her failure had been in not releasing her self-preservation limiter.

She had not been prepared to go down with her enemy and that had resulted in this automatic evasion as a machine.

“!”

Her body tilted to the left and Mikoku’s sword grazed her right cheek and flew behind her.

And the sword wielded by Gyes’s god of war slipped to the left.

It fell as if tearing through the air to Mikoku’s left.

With a great roar, the giant sword tore apart the asphalt.

However, Mikoku still lived. In fact, she was unharmed and still moving.

She first spun her body around, reached into the air, and grabbed one of Gyes’s swords that had previously fallen to the ground. The tremor in the ground from the god of war’s attack had knocked it back into the air.

Her hand began a snapping motion as if to throw the sword toward Gyes. Meanwhile, Gyes was crouching down after landing and she was in the process of releasing all of her gravitational control to prepare for its next use. In short, she could not immediately move.

…''What have I done!?

That thought was immediately followed by a sudden change to Mikoku’s expression. Her eyes opened wide.

“…!?”

She let go of the sword, raised the lightened hand in front of her, and grabbed something in the air.

“A new enemy!?”

With that shout, she leaped backwards.

She held something in her hand. It was what had stopped the attack against Gyes and caused Mikoku to fall back.

It was a single silver fork. However, it was a promotional anime product, so the handle was pink.

…''Is that…?

Gyes turned and found two people standing in the entrance. One was Miyako and the other held her arms toward Gyes.

“Moira 1st.”

“I borrowed that from Lady Miyako, but I cannot fire it well on my own.”

The automaton narrowed her eyes in a smile as she spoke and Gyes heard the footsteps of Mikoku falling back even further.

Gyes tried to stand and pursue, but Miyako stopped her.

“Calm down, Gyes. This isn’t someone you can defeat if you rush things. And this is their problem right now.”

Miyako pointed forward but not at Gyes.

She pointed at Sayama and Shinjou.

Mikoku threw away the fork and ran backwards.

The asphalt below her feet turned to grass and then the runway.

She saw Gyes’s god of war vanish and she saw Sayama and Shinjou run around the fountain and next to Gyes.

“What is the Army thinking!?” asked Sayama. “What are you thinking!?”

She could not exactly answer that. ''What are you asking?'' she thought, but that seemed funny to her.

She took a breath and showed her teeth in a smile.

“Do you not get it!? Do you understand nothing!? …You’re a lot like your father, Sayama Mikoto, son of Sayama Asagi.”

Those words scored a direct hit.

Sayama’s blank expression broke a bit. He frowned and the look in his eyes grew sharp.

“Why do you know my father’s name?”

“Do you really think I am going to answer that? If you want to know, then pursue the past. Although you might find something that makes you want to stop partway. …But if you can overcome that, then you will see the flow of history that everyone has chosen to ignore!”

She took a breath.

“And Shinjou, let me tell you what I failed to say a moment before. This information could lead to good or bad.”

“Wh-what are you-…?”

“I refer to your parents. They were both members of UCAT.”

She spoke as if throwing the words away, but she saw Shinjou’s eyes open wide.

It was a look of surprise. However, it was a joyous surprise, not a fearful one.

…''So she is happy to hear her parents were members of UCAT.

She momentarily closed her eyes to think on that fact and she gave herself over to running.

A moment later, she jumped past the runway and toward the forest.

She then heard the roar of something slicing through the air.

Just as Shinjou’s mouth opened to ask a question, something caught Mikoku’s airborne body from the side.

The object snatched her away in midair.

“Alex!”

It was a mechanical dragon.

Previously, the steel color of his mechanical body had been exposed, but he was now colored red, white, and blue. She was surrounded by a barrier of air he held and she shouted down below even as they began to ascend.

“We will next meet on the battlefield!”

Down below, the large white structure grew more distant.

The two people standing before it also grew smaller and the surrounding scenery came into view.

Her field of vision rose and she realized they were rising into the sky.

“Mikoku! Down below!”

Alex spoke while ascending with a roar of wind and Mikoku looked back down.

She searched for something different from before that would make Alex cry out.

“Is that…?”

Someone stood on the roof of the giant white building.

It was a well-built middle-aged gentleman in a white suit. His hair was slicked back and his likeable eyes and mouth were turned toward them. Even though it was night, he made a show of placing a hand over his eyes as he looked up. It was as if he were seeing them off.

“Who is that?”

Mikoku answered Alex without looking away from the man below.

She sat on the mechanical dragon’s back inside the barrier that protected her from the atmospheric pressure.

“He was once one of our enemies. But from what we have seen, he seems to have lost all will to fight.”

She crossed her arms and looked up into the night sky. It felt like her view stretched on forever.

“His name is Izumo Retsu. He is currently IAI’s executive manager, but he was the leader of Japanese UCAT during the Great Kansai Earthquake.”

“I see. More importantly, we must hurry back, Mikoku. Tatsumi has contacted us. Word has reached the harbor that some kind of large object is traveling through the ocean near Tokyo Bay. Most likely, that woman and the automaton who threw the fork at you were on their way to inform that Sayama and Shinjou of the same thing.”

“In that case…”

Alex’s words were brief.

“Tokyo will soon be the site of a battle between a mechanical dragon and the evil organization of UCAT.”

''It'' chose to move.

Its evolution was progressing smoothly and it had developed beyond what could be called necessary. It had used that evolution to overcome the subconscious wariness that came from a past it did not remember.

Even if someone had fought back against it in the past and even if that person had harmed it, it had surpassed all that with its current evolution.

But it also wondered if this sense of superiority was nothing but self-conceit. Was it simply relying on its own predictions and not looking at reality?

But it made a further decision. It used its predictions to their fullest to create the greatest enemy it could imagine and evolved to oppose such an enemy.

When evolving, it had to choose one of two basic types of mechanical dragon.

One was a non-transforming type that could somewhat alter the position of the exterior over its primary framework to create a generic form that could both fly and fight. As the frame did not change shape, it was more durable, but its abilities in flight and combat were lacking as it had elements of both built in.

The other was a fully transforming type that could transform the primary framework and fully transform the exterior to create two distinct forms for flight and combat. As the frame was made to come apart, it was less durable, but it could produce great mobility and attack power. The main problem was the lack of defensive power.

''It'' chose the former.

It had a reason: its giant form. It was large and therefore needed durability to maintain its body. And so it was born as a non-transforming type.

As it evolved, it needed to strengthen its weaponry to handle large enemies and to thicken its armor and strengthen its accelerators to handle smaller enemies that would attack and immediately withdraw.

However, it wondered if it would be defeated and injured using that method. It was the failure of that method that had sent it to the bottom of that water and set its evolution going once more.

It then found another answer.

Its previous evolution had not been wrong. It had simply lacked something.

It wanted to move once it had gathered everything.

“…”

It moved through the ocean.

It moved to fight. It moved for the sake of the people that should have been by its side but were not.

All the while, it wondered where those people had gone.

It was not the humans who first noticed the change.

A large white facility existed in Kanda, a portion of Tokyo’s center. The automatons in the underground facility spotted a single philosopher’s stone reading on the radar.

“Reading detected! At this size, it is almost certainly Black Sun! Activating experimental large-scale concept space creation device!!”

A moment later, a long, shallow V-shaped concept space opened from Tokyo Bay to the Chuo Expressway and from the Chofu Interchange, along National Route 20, and to Okutama.

At the same time, the American UCAT mechanical dragon unit deployed to Tokyo Bay ascended into the sky.

A giant object was already flying into the air above the ocean while surrounded by massive amounts of water.

It was a black mechanical dragon over three hundred meters long.

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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume9 Chapter 23|Chapter 23]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume9 Chapter 25|Chapter 25]]
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Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 20

2026-03-26T02:12:44Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 20: Just Before the Performance==
[[Image:OnC_v14_0729.png|thumb]]
''You continue on because you might as well

''That is why you fail to realize its importance

''And why it embarrasses you even if you do

It was December 25 and morning was coming to an end at Yokosuka Wharf.

American UCAT had an underground base there inside a concept space, but the area on the surface was currently being used as an anti-Leviathan transport relay base.

The base connected the forces coming from the American homeland and the large concept space surrounding the Leviathan.

A fifty kilometer tall concept space corridor had been created from Yokosuka to eastern Tokyo. Ships, fighters, and mechanical dragons would cut their stealth and enter that corridor.

They would then travel from Yokosuka to the eight locations surrounding the Leviathan.

They moved quickly and accurately.

However, this all created noise, so the wharf inside the concept space was constantly shaking.

A few figures could be seen inside the one special hangar in the wharf.

The hangar had been divided up to create living quarters and two large forms and a few dozen people were inside.

One of the large figures illuminated by the lights was a red, white, and blue mechanical dragon.

The other was a white god of war.

A girl sat at the dragon’s feet, looking outside.

She looked through the half-open hangar door to watch a gray transport ship slow down.

“There are aircraft coming from Atsugi too. It looks like the ones from Europe and Continental Asia are coming in through Iruma and Yokota. How does it look to you, Alex? Even if we are being held here as a form of imprisonment.”

The mechanical dragon named Alex turned his head just a bit toward the girl.

“If we swear to cooperate, they will let us out, Tatsumi. That was the condition Hajji asked for in exchange for providing them with information. If we cooperate, they will set aside everything we did.”

“I wonder how Hajji feels about cooperating.”

Tatsumi’s monotone voice brought a short silence from Alex.

But during that silence, Tatsumi sighed.

She then bent forward between her knees, stretched her hands forward, and took a breath.

She hung her head between her arms.

“I’m really not good with this kind of emotional trouble.”

“It’s not my favorite thing either. But…”

“But?”

“I think Hajji is closer to Mikoku than we are right now.”

Tatsumi stopped moving while still leaning forward.

“Closer to her? She wants to bring Shino back to life and now she’s trying to change the world. He may be her former comrade and might as well be family to her, but he’s trying to stop her. So how is he close to her?”

“Because he isn’t looking away from her,” answered Alex. “Tatsumi. At the very least, the two of us aren’t looking at Mikoku. We’re leaving everything up to her.”

“But nothing we could do would change anything.”

Tatsumi slowly straightened up.

She looked to the other people sitting around the hangar or leaning against the walls.

“If Noah is being used as a defensive weapon, it will use its great army. You all know what would happen if it were to attack, don’t you? Well, that hypothetical is the reality here.”

She pulled something from her straightened back.

With a troubled smile, she showed off the knife in her right hand.

“They didn’t even check us over for weapons properly. It’s like they think we’re on their side or something. But…”

She looked down at the knife and realized the blade was shaking.

The shaking was growing.

“…”

She dropped the steel blade.

A metal sound rang out as it hit the concrete.

“Tatsumi,” said Alex.

“Yes.”

She nodded and looked to her right wrist while holding it in her left hand.

Her right hand was shaking ever so slightly.

“I can’t focus properly ever since losing to Ryuuji last night. …I’m afraid to hold a blade.”

A line appeared on her right palm.

The red line slowly grew thicker and produced a few scarlet drips.

She did not even wipe away the color on her hand.

“I can’t even use the defensive techniques I was so good at.”

She clenched her right hand and the color was squeezed out.

She then slid her left hand along the floor.

“What about you, Alex?”

She grabbed something from the floor.

It was a bolt.

“Your destruction has been picking up speed since last night.”

Her eyes were turned toward the ships and aircraft invading Tokyo outside, but her heart remained inside the hangar.

“Our fight is already over, so do you really think we can go see Mikoku now?”

Noon that day passed by relatively quietly.

The international UCATs entered through bases and ports around Japan and gathered at the designated eight locations around Tokyo.

They created their formations inside smaller concept spaces set up near the large one surrounding the Leviathan.

One of those was located in front of Mitaka Station of western Tokyo. That reserve concept space was being used for Formation 7 to prepare.

Inside the concept space, tanks and fighters had occupied the area around the station and they were checking on the corridor connecting to the Leviathan’s concept space and on the route their forces would take.

Inside Mitaka Station, eight figures were gathered at a sunny spot on the western edge of the first line’s platform.

The eight boys and girls were wearing white armored uniforms.

They sat around a table, eating a late lunch.

A girl with short hair grabbed bread and vegetables to make a sandwich.

“So Heo, American UCAT had a Christmas present raffle to help raise morale, right? What did you win?”

She was answered by Heo who was scooping gratin onto her plate from an insulated metal container.

“Well, Kazami, I got a Christmas cake.”

“That’s nice. It sounds like a good omen to me.”

“Yes. And to make sure you don’t grow faint from an empty stomach on the battlefield, it was a super fatty cake with thirty thousand calories. And – here’s the best part – I was thinking we could all eat it here. …Why are you all looking away? A-answer me, Harakawa.”

“Don’t drag me into this. I’m too busy ingesting rice.”

“C-c’mon, can’t you at least look at it?”

A tall girl looked at the large caramel-colored cylinder Heo placed on the table.

She tilted her head at the excessively-shiny chocolate display saying “Happy X’mas”.

“Is this edible, Heo?”

“Y-yes! Do you want some, Mikage?”

“Wah!”

The boy next to Mikage moved to stop her by grabbing her chest from behind.

“Y-you mustn’t, Mikage-san! If you eat that, you’ll gain a bunch of weight and it’ll be sad!”

“But Ryuuji-kun, if I don’t help, Heo will have to eat it all herself.”

“So you’re already assuming I’m going to eat it all?”

Heo’s comment led everyone to look away again.

On the west end, a black-haired girl tugged on the sleeve of a boy with a small animal on his head.

“C-c’mon, Sayama-kun. If you look them in the eye now, you’ll get dragged into it.”

“Heh heh heh. Shinjou-kun, I do not mind at all if your body gains a little more volume.”

“Eh? R-really, Sayama-kun? …You’d prefer it if my breasts and butt were a little bigger?”

“As long as you do not get careless, you will be wonderful no matter what.”

“Really? Oh, c’mon…”

A well-built boy glared and pointed at the two of them.

“Hey, Chisato. Those idiots have gotten even crazier since yesterday.”

“I-I am not crazy, Izumo-san!”

“Ha ha ha. Shinjou-kun, that is what all the crazy people say. Why not try following my example?”

Shinjou strangled Sayama, but no one bothered stopping it. This was par for the course. So was Sayama turning purple from cyanosis.

But Kazami glanced over at the two of them.

“Come to think of it, I found two people sleeping in the same bed when I went to check on their dorm room before noon. Now, who was that?”

“Eh? Um, w-well…”

“Oh? Have you forgotten, Shinjou-kun? As if to say this could be our last chance, we stayed up all night checking on each other’s bodies, Setsu-kun’s included.”

“Waaaahhh!!”

While everyone’s focus was on those two, Heo stealthily cut the cake into eight equal portions.

…''We can share the damage. We can all share it together!

“Yes, that’s what teammates are for!”

“Heo, why are you emitting a sinister aura as you cut that cake?”

“Eh!? H-how did you notice!?”

When she turned around, the cream on the knife fell to the table.

The instant it landed on the white tablecloth, a change came over it.

“W-wah! What’s with this fat!? It’s spreading out like something from a horror movie!!”

They all gave a shout and moved their chairs precisely thirty centimeters back from the table.

Confused, Heo grabbed the manufacturer’s comment card from the box.

“ ‘This super fatty cake is a shout of protest against the pathetic modern health foods! If you can survive eating this, then you truly are healthy! –John A. Fettmann’ ”

For some reason, the others all hung their heads and Harakawa turned his back.

“That’s a German name, isn’t it? Give it your best shot, Heo.”

“G-give what my best shot!?”

She grabbed and pulled on his armored uniform’s collar.

“I-it’s a perfectly fine cake. It’s just a little fatty is all. Look.”

She used a spoon to fling some of the cream on the knife toward the pigeons in the station.

The pigeons quickly surrounded and pecked at the brown cream on the concrete floor.

Heo looked back at the others.

“S-see? Wild animals aren’t worried about it for no reason, so you can eat it too! It’s a perfectly fine cake. Wild savages like you should be able to handle it just fine!”

“Heo-kun, it is only appropriate to compare human beings to wild animals when you are talking about the old man or Hiba-sensei. And if possible, could you look behind you again?”

“Eh?”

She turned around and saw all of the pigeons were resting their bellies on the floor and hanging their heads.

“Wh-what’s wrong, you guys!? C-c’mon, fly! Fly like the wind!”

The pigeons all turned their backs on her and collapsed.

Heo heard the others whispering behind her.

“Oh, poor Heo. Once she eats that whole thing, she’ll be an expert in obesity.”

“Her body will be stuffed with foie gras like those pigeons.”

“Hey, Chisato. If you eat that, how much would you have to exercise? All the way around the earth?”

“C’mon, Kaku. Don’t ask the impossible. And besides, we’re talking about Heo here.”

…''Th-they’re all keeping their distance from me!

She slowly looked back just in time to see them all resume eating their lunches with a smile.

But…

“Wh-who moved the cake in front of my seat!?”

They all maintained their smiles.

“Oh, Sayama-kun, this marmalade is delicious. It’s so marvelous they should call it marvelade.”

“Ha ha ha. How wonderful, Shinjou-kun.”

…''They’re doing everything they can not to address it!

Heo made up her mind.

Her shoulders drooped as she sat in her seat and placed the box over the cake.

“You’re putting it away?” asked Izumo.

“Yes. It can wait until…I see an opening.”

When she erased her smile and glared at them, their smiles froze over.

“H-Heo?” asked Kazami while sipping at her oolong tea. “It takes courage to throw out even the bad memories. You could burn it like a candle.”

“You might wake up one morning to find it stuffed in your mouth.”

Heo’s plain threat brought a cold sweat to the others, but they did their best to keep their smiles.

“For future reference, let’s see what’s inside it, shall we? Also, try not to open your mouth on a dark road late at night.”

“I-I don’t like the sound of that…” said Shinjou.

Heo slowly lowered her shoulders and sorrowfully brought her hands to the corners of her eyes.

“I…I didn’t ask for this horrible fate…”

“You were pretty excited when you heard you’d won the cake.”

“Th-that was…u-um!”

“Yeah… you’re pretty hopeless.”

“N-no, that was before I’d checked what kind of cake it was!”

“In other words, you had failed to gather all of the facts.”

“But… Wh-why are you all such bullies? And Harakawa, please look this way.”

“This always happens. Bear with it, Heo Thunderson.”

She could only sigh and lower her shoulders.

This always happened. It really did. But…

…''This might be the last time.

Heo understood that this could be the last time.

No one said it, but they had gathered here because they all understood that.

By dinnertime, they would all have left for their respective locations.

This could very well be the final time they could all be together.

In that way, the trouble they were giving her was actually incredibly important and valuable.

“Wait. I was just about to accept this, but those are two different issues.”

“Why are you talking to yourself? Are you okay? No, I suppose not. Then there’s nothing we can do. Understood.”

“H-Harakawa, you settle everything for yourself too quickly these days!”

At that point, the large clock in front of Mitaka Station reached three o’clock.

They heard an electronic tone from their wristwatches and Izumo looked up into the sky.

“Six more hours, hm?”

“I wonder what the world will be like this time tomorrow,” replied Sayama.

“What do you think it will be like, Sayama-kun?”

“Well,” he answered. “I expect I will have made the world eroundic using your concept of eroundism.”

Shinjou smiled as she slammed a boiled egg into his forehead. And starting from the top of the egg.

The egg loudly cracked open and Sayama fell from his chair.

“Oh, sorry,” said Shinjou. “I didn’t have anything to crack it on. Thanks, Sayama-kun.”

…''That was an incredible retort.

''The Japanese really know how to do it,'' thought Heo, while also deciding to ask something.

“But will you all be okay? I think this will be an intense battle.”

She took a breath and gathered her courage to ask.

“Will the Concept Core weapons really work?”

“That’s a good question.” Kazami exchanged a glance with Izumo. “Well, we should manage if the Leviathan spits out some small fries. And even if not…”

Kazami looked back toward Heo with a smile and a serious look in her eyes.

She looked at both her and Hiba.

“I heard from American UCAT that you have some kind of plan.”

“You do too, don’t you?”

“Well, yeah. …After all, our attacks weren’t enough for the Leviathan.”

Kazami straightened her back and looked at all of the others.

“You have to have given it some thought too. Isn’t that right, Sayama?”

She addressed the boy who had recovered and returned to his chair.

He brushed off his armored uniform while wearing Georgius.

However, Heo knew Georgius had not been able to fully destroy Mikoku’s regeneration concept despite breaking the philosopher’s stone.

As if to check on that, Shinjou asked him a question.

“Will Georgius actually work, Sayama-kun?”

“It will.” Sayama nodded and lightly clenched both Georgiuses to show them off. “After all, I now know the true way to use it.”

“Eh?”

Everyone else’s confused voices joined Shinjou’s.

''What does that mean?'' wondered Heo as she saw Sayama smile.

“You taught me how in your novel, Shinjou-kun.”

“My novel? D-did I really write anything that could teach you something?”

“Yes. For example, that you can’t help but cry out if I grab your butt hard enough for my fingers to dig into it, that your navel is a weak point, and that the line above and below your navel also sends a tingling down your spine.”

“Waaaah!!”

Shinjou grew beet red and tried to stop Sayama, but everyone jumped at her to hold her back.

“C’mon, Sayama, tell us! What did Shinjou teach you!? Tell it loud and don’t omit any details!!”

“Wow, I’d love to hear about that too.”

“Waaah! Y-you’re not asking about Georgius at all, are you!?”

Heo shrugged and urged Sayama on while holding Shinjou’s arm.

“Heh heh. …Of course we are. Now, Sayama, tell us how babies are made!”

“Waaaah!!” shouted Shinjou. “L-let go! Let go! You have to let go! I need to stop him right now! He’s far too obscene!”

“That last part was a haiku, Shinjou-kun. But do not worry. Either way, the world will not be destroyed.”

“R-really?”

“Really.” Sayama nodded. “After all, I have yet to get an indirect kiss from you via a drink.”

He suddenly looked to the table and saw a paper cup Shinjou had drunk from.

“Oh, speak of the devil.”

With a shout, the others grabbed it and held it out to Shinjou who was still being restrained.

“Shinjou! Shinjou! Hurry up and drink the rest! If Sayama drinks it, he might lose his attachment to this world!”

''There’s something wrong with this world if this is how we have to protect it,'' thought Heo.

At any rate, Shinjou protested as the drink vanished down her throat.

Once she finished it off, she took a breath.

“Ah. Th-there! Sayama-kun! What’s this about a true way to use Georgius?”

“Well.” He nodded. “I would like something to replace that drink.”

Hearing that desire, the others exchanged smiling looks with Shinjou in the center.

“Eh? No, w-wait, everyone! Wah! This is a trap! This is Sayama-kun’s trap!”

Heo thought to herself while restraining Shinjou.

…''This really is the same as always.

''I’m not sure if it’s a good thing to think of it as “comfortable cruelty”,'' she began in her heart. ''But I hope we can keep doing this forever.

Shinjou’s cries of protest (but not too much protest) rose into the winter sky.

Mikoku slept in the evening sky.

She slept on top of the Leviathan’s forehead.

The night before, she had slept in a room of the residential area near the head, but it had been hard to sleep with the place so deserted.

That may have been why she had been overwhelmed by weariness after eating the meal Noah had synthesized and climbing up here.

“You slept well. Over.”

She had been fast enough asleep for Noah to comment on it.

She sat up and folded up the blanket Noah had placed over her.

She then lightly rolled her shoulders.

“With the atmospheric protection and the sun, this place is like a greenhouse.”

“Is it comfortable? Over.”

“Yes.” She looked to Noah and tapped lightly on the Leviathan’s forehead. “You really are a machine made for people.”

“Currently, I am only for you. Over.”

“That’s true,” she replied before immediately correcting herself. “No.”

She looked inside the glass at the center of the Leviathan’s forehead.

She stared at the girl there.

“All we have is Shino. And only for self-satisfaction on a frightening scale.”

“Testament.”

Noah nodded, but then…

“Those trying to stop us have arrived. Over.”

“So they’re here.”

“Testament,” replied Noah.

Looking down, white forms were visible directly below and around the Leviathan.

They were winged automatons, gods of war blocking the roads, and mechanical dragons flying around the sky.

Their appearances had changed since they were inside the Leviathan.

“You used the concepts being created to modify them for combat, didn’t you?”

“It was necessary for victory. Over,” said Noah. “And to ring the bell. Over.”

“Yes.”

[[Image:OnC_v14_0749.jpg|thumb]]

Mikoku stood up and looked across the evening world stretching in every direction from Shinjuku.

“Come listen to Noah’s bell ring. Today is the day of the holy one’s birth. It is a day of festivities. It truly is the best day for the ringing of a bell.”

She saw the sun sinking below the mountains in the west.

The setting sunbeams vanished before she had a chance to take another breath.

“The night has arrived. The night of the final battle.”

With those words, the sunlight completely vanished and only the scarlet vestiges remained.

The sky grew colder and darker.

The world was approaching night.

At 8:40 PM of December 25, eight different movements began at a radius of fifteen kilometers from Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station.

This was the beginning.

Aircraft and tanks were forming ranks on the streets inside the concept spaces and mechanical dragons were trembling in large parking lots or on elevated highways.

The battlefield covered eight regions.

The weapons containing the eight world dragons had gathered around Shinjuku.

The Concept Core weapons had all been given bearers.

Region 1: North. Kita. Leader is Hiba. The dragon-gouging weapon is Keravnos.

Region 2: Northeast. Arakawa. Leader is Kashima. The dragon-slicing weapon is Totsuka.

Region 3: East. Sumida. Leader is Heo. The dragon-blasting weapon is the Vesper Cannon.

Region 4: Southeast. Koutou. Leader is Sayama. The dragon-striking weapon is the Four Dragon Balls.

Region 5: South. Meguro. Leader is Kazami. The dragon-piercing weapon is G-Sp2.

Region 6: Southwest. Setagaya. Leader is Brunhild. The dragon-severing weapon is Gram.

Region 7: West. Suginami. Leader is Izumo. The dragon-cutting weapon is V-Sw.

Region 8: Northwest. Nerima. Leader is Abram. The dragon-slaying weapon is B-Sp.

The seals for the heavens and the earth would be handled by Shinjou and Sayama who had Wanambi and Mukiti in Region 4.

Wanambi would be the heavens and Mukiti the earth.

The seal to become the declarations of heaven and earth had to be activated on top of the Leviathan above Shinjuku station.

If they created a sealing wall at an equal distance between the heavens and the earth and caught the Leviathan in the center, they predicted they could keep the strength of the seal constant in each direction and therefore contain the Leviathan.

To do that, Sayama and Shinjou would approach the Leviathan along with the other representatives. Their plan was to arrive on top of the Leviathan using the mechanical dragons or something else.

They could guess Mikoku and Noah would be there.

If UCAT could withstand the Leviathan’s attacks and complete the ten-direction seal and declarations by 10:30, they would win.

If Mikoku and Noah could hold off the seal and declarations until the negative concepts fully activated at 10:30, they would win.

The main problem would be the seals of heaven and earth.

They had to be activated on top of the Leviathan, so Sayama and Shinjou would have to fight Mikoku and Noah.

Effectively, victory would come down to whether they could defeat those two and establish the seals.

And for backup, they had the international UCATs and the Gears.

UCAT had formed a reserve army for themselves and the students and others had been added in to create a multi-national and multi-occupational army.

If the members of the other Gears were counted, it was even a multi-species army.

Some of them would have normally worn a suit to work, some would have maintained vehicles in work uniforms, others would have worked a register in a store uniform, and yet others would have worked agricultural, janitorial, or security jobs.

Normally, they all should have returned home for Christmas at this time.

Nevertheless, they all stood here equipped with their personal weapons and armored uniforms.

At 8:41, Sayama’s voice arrived over a communicator as everyone had finished their preparations.

They breathed silent white breaths below the darkness and light as they heard a dignified voice.

“Good morning, everyone. It is time for the world to wake.”

They all listened.

“Your mission today is to beat down the idiot who has no idea what to do with herself because she has no one to spend this wonderful night with. You are to insist she let this night continue. But remember one thing.”

Sayama continued.

“She is another version of ourselves.”

They all gasped at that.

Their white breaths vanished and they focused only on Sayama’s voice.

“Feelings of anger when something is lost and the memories and pain that continue for years afterwards are something we all have and something we all wish would stop. …In other words, she is simply trying to do for us what we cannot. Therefore, I think there is one promise we must keep no matter what.”

Namely…

At 8:42 PM, Sayama held his cellphone to his ear at the lead of the army in Ariake.

“Once we win this battle, we will not accuse Toda Mikoku of any crime.”

At the same time, Shinjou’s eyes opened wide as she listened to Sayama from his side.

“You mean…”

She looked up at him and he spoke quietly without looking her way.

“Listen. She is trying to reject this world. I will neither allow nor condemn that action. I will leave her out in the cold by saying rejecting the world is no big deal.”

So…

“If you think being killed by her would be a wasted death, then leave. If you wish to punish her or kill her, then do so only after punishing and killing yourself. After all – let me say it again – she is another version of ourselves. It seems she has no one to spend this night with, but that is only because we are the ones that will spend the night with her. So…”

She heard him speak.

“Do not let this partner kill you during the dance. She is as desperate as the loyal retainer who cannot allow himself to approach the princess.”

At 8:43, no one moved in response to Sayama’s announcement.

No one moved back and no one ran away.

For that reason, Sayama’s voice continued from the various communicators.

“All of you have odd tastes.”

And…

“I too have odd tastes.”

At 8:44, Heo was preparing to board Thunder Fellow.

Behind the specially equipped blue mechanical dragon, she tried to get Harakawa to kiss her.

He refused.

But after climbing into the cockpit, he did so without speaking a word.

At 8:45, Hiba had finished checking on Susamikado’s secondary weaponry.

Sibyl asked him about Mikage’s evolution. She asked if he knew what new evolution she had wanted to show him just before Tatsumi had destroyed her evolution philosopher’s stone.

Hiba gave the following answer:

“You can have children now, can’t you?”

Mikage only blushed, smiled, and gave an “nn” of confirmation.

At 8:46, Kazami held G-Sp2 and took a slender metal cylinder from the development department.

She nodded when she was told it was “just in case”. She then sighed and made a call on her cellphone.

“Kaku?”

She took a breath.

“Hey? How does it feel to be standing in front of the world?”

At 8:47, Izumo rested V-Sw on his shoulder and held his cellphone between his head and other shoulder with a metal cylinder from the development department hanging from his waist.

“How are you feeling? The festival’s about to start, isn’t it?”

At 8:48, Mikoku crossed her arms atop the Leviathan’s forehead with Noah behind her.

She checked a transparent 3D map of Tokyo with white lights indicating her army.

“Now, it’s time to decide what kind of world this will be.”

At 8:49, Noah nodded at Mikoku’s words and calculated the estimated time of the positive concepts’ creation.

The answer came out to 10:30:18 that night.

“Please let me ring the bell. Over.”

As the Leviathan, she gave her commands to the army.

They were to work together and use their autonomous decisions to exterminate the enemy army.

At 8:50, the operators of the control devices creating the vast concept space containing the Leviathan detected movement in the philosopher’s stone readings within the concept space.

They raised the output to strengthen the walls of the concept space and reported to the eight armies that the Leviathan’s army had begun to move.

The angels, gods of war, and mechanical dragons had spread their wings.

At 8:51, lights illuminated an outdoor stage and people were gathering on the road in the real version of Shinjuku outside the concept space.

When they heard the backing band tuning their instruments, the crowd cheered to bear with the cold.

Those voices could be seen as the prelude before the festival began.

At 8:52, Ryouko watched live footage from Shinjuku inside the Tamiya house in Akigawa of western Tokyo.

She asked for some tea.

“Koujiiiii, it’s about to start, so could you bring in some tea and snacks?”

“You mean you’re not calling me in to watch it!?”

Kouji sighed in the kitchen, opened a window for ventilation, and looked into the sky.

He looked up into the moonless, cloudy sky.

At 8:53, Kashima’s wife, Natsu, closed the shutters at their house in Tanashi of northern Tokyo.

The sound would have drawn the baby’s interest and woken her, so she kept the shutters partly open.

She held the baby to comfort her and looked to the front door.

A large paper package wrapped in red ribbon sat there.

“It’s far too soon for a tricycle.”

She gave a trouble smile as she checked on the package with her child in her arms.

It had been sent by her own parents.

At 8:54, the three types of winged automatons, the three types of gods of war, and the three types of mechanical dragons began to move out using their respective abilities.

The names of what they were modeled after were written on their surface.

Those names came from the hierarchy of angels.

They all opened their mouths, shut their eyes, and produced words.

“Will this be a holy night?”

Their voices and tones belonged to Mikoku.

These were the voices of the temporary personality Noah had given them.

The personality left by Top-Gear set those nine angel types in motion.

They cut through the wind on the way to the border of the battlefield.

They were to hunt down the wills that opposed heaven’s intentions.

At 8:55, Sayama raised his right hand.

Surprised, everyone silently focused on him.

“Heh heh heh. You fell for my feint, everyone. The real command is coming from over here.”

He lightly raised his left hand and received a roundhouse kick from Shinjou.

At 8:56, Sayama got back up and raised his left hand again.

At the same time, the Leviathan’s concept space was linked to the eight concept spaces surrounding it.

At 8:57, the wind blew.

That wind was proof that they had connected to a vast space.

The blowing wind signaled the linking of the battlefield.

And that wind brought enemies with it.

At 8:58, Sayama saw a swarm of angels down the road they stood on.

They were approximately one hundred twenty meters away.

The angel automaton at the lead carried itself in a way Sayama recognized.

“Is that you, Toda Mikoku? Is that entire army you?”

The angel did not reply, but Sayama’s left hand was still raised.

“Everyone, prepare your weapons!!”

At 8:59, they all replied.

“Testament!”

After a slow pause, Sayama’s voice gave them another push forward.

He swung down his left hand and spoke to the enemy that prepared their weapons and moved just like his other self.

“Everyone.”

At precisely 9:00…

“Let the battle begin!”

Sayama gave a roar.

“Go ahead!!”

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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume9 Chapter 19

2026-03-26T02:12:16Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 19: An Invisible Known==
[[Image:OnC_v09_0043.png|thumb]]
''There is no question

''There is no answer

''There is simply what is natural

A grassy clearing about three hundred meters across was surrounded by forest.

A lake at the center filled about half the clearing and a large tree with the top cut off lay horizontally in the lake.

The tree was over thirty meters thick. The large trunk grew from the center of the lake and bent ninety degrees to lie horizontally to the east.

The top surface that was cut like a stump was mossy and hard as a rock.

Two people were inside the shadow of that giant stump.

They were Sayama and Shinjou.

The plant creature acting as their guide stood between them as they sat on the east side of the lake.

The ground was not made of dirt. The surface had a muscular structure made from intertwined plant fibers. It had been buried beneath tall underbrush in the forest, but at the core of the reservation, they could now tell that absolutely everything was made of plants.

A few points on the ground were making breathing sounds and Sayama commented on them.

“It seems this plant earth is exhaling oxygen.”

Shinjou tilted her head where she sat to his left.

“The ground here is alive?”

“Indeed it is. Rather than simply producing oxygen from carbon dioxide via photosynthesis, their metabolism functions by absorbing any and all heart, cleaning it, and returning it. I do not know how much conservation of energy applies here or if it applies at all, but they mostly seem to feed by absorbing any heat that is causing some kind of burden, cleaning it, and returning it. This is a powerful sort of metabolism.”

The ground around them shook lightly.

A plant creature had stood up from the ground to their right.

The area of two tatami mats laid end to end had stood up. The creature was made from the fibrous mass that was the ground and it was about a meter tall.

However, its form quickly hanged. The fibers covering its green body came apart to form fur. That plant fur trembled and its body swelled up.

“Is it increasing its ability to radiate heat?”

As if to prove Sayama right, the large green creature blew air from its entire body.

The air smelled clean rather than of grass.

Once it was done, the plant creature flattened itself down and sank back into the ground.

Shinjou smiled when she saw its head as the creature lay down.

“The way its narrowing its eyes makes it look happy. I wonder if it really is.”

“This earth must be like a giant circulatory system for them. By gathering together and moving about, they produce exhaustion, consume that exhaustion, and expel a portion of it as waste like we just saw. That system must be hard to maintain with a small group, but with a group this large, their weight alone is enough to produce a fair bit of strain and they gain enough food to last them an eternity without doing a thing. Isn’t that right?”

He directed that last question toward the ground between himself and Shinjou.

The plant creature that had brought them here was half embedded in the ground and swaying back and forth.

It looked up at him to reply.

“Feels good.”

“What does? The atmosphere? The mood?”

“I think he is referring to this environment, Shinjou-kun.”

Sayama looked around and saw a new plant creature slowly rising behind Shinjou so it could absorb her exhaustion.

“Their bodies are mostly made of water, so a warm and humid area like this helps them gather heat and thus ‘feels good’. The room below UCAT had artificially created this environment, but this is natural. It must feel like arriving at a hot spring.”

“Do they see us as letting all our food leak out of us?” she asked with a quiet nod.

She bowed toward the creature behind her and leaned against it.

She then looked at the giant stump in front of them.

She looked up, across, and down before opening her mouth.

“It’s so big. But,” she added while still looking at the stump. “Mukiti isn’t moving even though we’ve waited a while.”

“True. But Shinjou-kun.” Sayama asked her a question. “Do you think this giant stump is Mukiti?”

The question made her tilt her head and wrap her arms around her knees.

“Is it not? He’s called a tree serpent, so isn’t he the biggest tree?”

“Then let me ask something.”

He turned to the plant creature instead.

“Are we being tested right now?”

“Mukiti is waiting.”

Shinjou tilted her head further and frowned.

“Hm? W-wait, Sayama-kun. What do you mean by tested? And what does he mean by waiting?”

She pointed her index finger toward the giant stump in front of her.

“Isn’t Mukiti that tree?”

“Sorry, Shinjou-kun,” said Sayama. “But probably not. It is true that giant stump is the most conspicuous object here.”

He asked a question to the plant creature behind her back.

“Is that Mukiti?”

“Not Mukiti. But Mukiti will speak.”

“Eh?” said Shinjou when she heard that.

She quickly looked up at the tree and turned around again.

“I-it isn’t!?”

“It would seem not.”

She was left speechless and Sayama nodded as if it had been obvious.

“Listen. That 4th-Gear resident told us Mukiti was waiting and this is the spot he brought us to. In that case, Mukiti must be here waiting for us.”

“B-but if he isn’t this tree, where is he?”

“There is only one answer: Mukiti is not here, and yet he is here. We have simply not noticed him even though he is right in front of us. However, he considers his presence here to be so natural that the possibility that we have not noticed has not occurred to him.”

“Mukiti is waiting,” repeated the creature.

“Yes, he is waiting. And as he waits, he must be wondering why we are ignoring him when he is right in front of us. And,” he continued. “When I asked this 4th-Gear fellow about that tree, he said Mukiti would speak. In other words…”

Sayama asked a question of the guide creature.

“Does Mukiti reside in that tree to speak through it?”

“Mukiti will speak. But Mukiti not here. But Mukiti is here.”

“I see.” Sayama nodded. “It seems Mukiti chooses to use this tree, but it is not Mukiti himself.”

“How can you speak with them when we seem so out of sync?”

She glared at him and he tilted his head as if to say not understanding was more confusing.

“When they speak, they do not include what they believe to be completely natural. This is no different than reading an instruction manual that has all the technical terms blotted out. You use the verbs and adjectives to speculate what technical terms were there and then you take guesses at filling in the gaps.”

“It sounds like some kind of quiz. But based on what they said, it does sound like this tree isn’t Mukiti.”

Shinjou glanced at the tree.

“But…”

She pointed at one part of the tree. The fallen portion was not broken or twisted; it formed a perfect curve.

“Bends in trees are usually more twisted than that, aren’t they? I wonder if it moved like a dragon in 4th-Gear. That would match my vision of Tree Serpent Mukiti.”

She held her knees between her arms and frowned while turning to Sayama.

“But if that tree isn’t Mukiti, what is?”

He gave an expressionless nod toward her puzzled look.

“The people of the other Gears likely had the same question during the Concept War. After all, 4th’s healing power would have been attractive. If 4th went with my grandfather instead of any other Gear…”

“It means the negotiators of the other Gears couldn’t find Mukiti?”

“Perhaps,” agreed Sayama. “Let us give this more thought, Shinjou-kun. They are used to waiting. And this is an answer even my grandfather found with no hint. That means even a monkey can figure this one out. …You try answering it in my stead.”

“Eh!? W-wait! Why me!? How am I supposed to know!?”

She cried out in protest, but Sayama had already stretched out next to the plant creature and folded his arms behind his head. He almost looked asleep.

“If you cannot find the answer, just speak up. I will give my own theory. But the answer is simple enough to find if you look at the whole of the situation, Shinjou-kun. The answer is already before you. Try to think of it as getting to know 4th-Gear a little better.”

“B-but why do I have to get to know them better?”

Her question was tinged with resignation, but he actually answered.

“Because of the promise.”

“Eh?” she replied.

However, he did not elaborate.

He simply looked up into the sky, narrowed his eyes, and said something else.

“To be honest, I think the Leviathan Road with 4th-Gear will be more or less complete once we meet Mukiti.”

“Really?”

“Yes. If the purpose of the Leviathan Road is to clear away any malice left over from the Concept War, it has been half completed by bringing you here to complete the promise my grandfather could not keep. The other half is to meet with Mukiti and have him confirm the promise has been completed. But,” he continued. “Meeting Mukiti is the difficult part. This is the opposite of the normal pattern. Both sides have already given their demands, but we are having difficulty meeting their negotiator.”

“Yes, that is the exact opposite of normal,” said Shinjou with a frown. “But can I really replace the Shinjou they asked for?”

“That is for Mukiti to decide. At the very least, the 4th-Gear residents have accepted you as ‘Shinjou’.”

And…

“This is a test, Shinjou-kun. Mukiti is seeing if we are the same as the ‘Sayama’ he once spoke with. And most likely, the same goes for ‘Shinjou’. He is seeing if the ‘Shinjou’ that ‘Sayama’ promised to bring to meet him is really worth meeting. This is a test to gain 4th-Gear’s trust.”

Sayama re-crossed his legs and sharpened his gaze as he looked at the fallen stump in the lake.

“Shinjou-kun, find the identity of Mukiti who wishes to trust in you.”

He then looked up into the sky and closed his eyes.

Below the clear sky was a city. In that city was an arcade over a shopping district.

It was a broad arcade. The tiled path beneath was a pedestrian paradise and it led to the bus roundabout in front of the train station.

The sign on the arched entrance to the arcade said Hachioji Station Shopping District.

The trees lining the arcade still had green leaves, but some of the wooden table sets down below had brown autumn decorations.

A pair of girls walked through the people there to enjoy themselves. One wore a beige dress and a stole and the other wore a brown jacket and white slacks.

Shopping bags hung from their elbows and their arms were wrapped around some bottles and smaller paper bags.

“You bought an awful lot for just walking around and eating, Tatsumi,” said the girl in the jacket.

“True. Two sticks of grilled chicken, a stick of chicken meatballs, and two sticks of salted gizzards. And a One Cup.”

“You are going to gain weight.”

“Unlike you, Mikoku, I naturally don’t gain any weight.”

“I think we need to have a talk, so keep some time free.”

“Sure, sure. More importantly, what is that you bought?”

“A café vienna and a hotdog. The latter has spicy chili sauce.”

“You’re going to gain weight.”

“I ran plenty the night before last, so I can afford this.”

Mikoku adjusted her grip on the shopping bags as she spoke.

“What do you think, Tatsumi?”

“I…still think you’re going to gain weight. Just running isn’t enough.”

“That is not what I-… Well, that might be true, but I was referring to…”

“Team Leviathan has begun negotiations with 4th-Gear and will likely begin with 5th-Gear as well. The Army is interested in a short-term battle, so we do not need 4th-Gear’s healing power and we don’t need 5th-Gear’s technology when we already have Alex. …But you were asking what we would do next, weren’t you? If you’re that interested, why not ask Lord Hajji?”

Tatsumi adjusted the position of the shopping bags’ loops on her elbows and smiled. With that narrow-eyed smile, she took a sip from her cup and walked further and further through the arcade as if pulling Mikoku forward.

…''What a difficult person to deal with.

Mikoku also adjusted the bags on her elbows and followed.

Shino was usually with her, but this time was different. Mikoku realized what it was like to follow someone taller than yourself and she imagined this was how Shino felt while following her.

“…”

“Are you thinking about Shino? Or are you curious where we’re headed? In the latter case, it’s entirely up to how I feel.”

“Are you just walking around randomly?”

“No, it’s based on how I feel. I might end up shopping partway through and I might continue walking the entire time.”

They left that pedestrian paradise on the southwest side and reached the intersection with National Route 16. Tatsumi looked into the distance along the arcade covering the walking path.

“This area used to look really exciting, but most everything has moved to Tachikawa now.”

“Yes. Tachikawa remodeling the area around the station into a multi-story pedestrian zone had a lot to do with it. Of course, this area is closer for us and it’s enough for the shopping we need.”

“Is that your comparative analysis of the two cities? You like comparing things, don’t you? Or do you prefer Hachioji because it’s recovered this much after being burned away by the fires of war? Tachikawa, on the other hand, was the city closest to the American troops after the war.”

Tatsumi smiled and her shoulders shook a little.

''She set me up for that,'' thought Mikoku as she frowned and lined up next to Tatsumi.

She noticed the other girl had finished her two sticks of grilled chicken and Mikoku took a bite of her hotdog before asking a question.

“Tatsumi, what do you think about what happened to me the night before last?”

“As Thunderson said, you were right to escape. The giant presence there was probably from 5th-Gear, but you wouldn’t have been able to do anything.”

“Was I any use at all?”

“When Shino was driven back by a cicada, she didn’t ask that. Also, Lord Hajji said you did well, remember? And he isn’t the type to say that just because you are family.”

“You make it sound like you understand everything.”

“That’s because I’m satisfied with what I know. Unlike you who has to be sure of everything and yet decides things for herself without checking. You can’t know how this gizzard tastes from where you stand, can you?”

“Then let me have some.”

“No. I’ve already calculated out how much I’m going to eat.”

“Calculated out? You mean the calories?”

Tatsumi gave her a serious look and shook her head.

“No? I calculated out how much of my One Cup to drink after each stick I eat. I already said I don’t need to worry about calculating out the calories, remember?”

''I am definitely going to have a talk with her at some point,'' swore Mikoku in her heart.

After Mikoku had consumed over half of her hotdog, Tatsumi took a sip of her drink and spoke.

“Anyway, you need to head out into battle more so you can see for yourself if what you are doing is right. You know we’re planning to attack UCAT before long, don’t you?”

“Yes, I have heard. …We will most likely attack toward the end of the year once the Army’s equipment is in order and our training is complete. Our goal will be…” She took a breath before continuing. “Taking the Concept Cores UCAT has gathered.”

“Yes. That will be the final battle between the Army and UCAT. It will come as a complete surprise for them, though.”

Tatsumi’s voice contained hint of a smile and that smiling voice did not end there.

“You don’t want Shino to take part in that battle, do you? That way you can hand everything over to her afterwards.”

“…”

“But she wants to help you. And that is exactly why you are so concerned about your performance the other night. You are worried that your inexperience will lead Lord Hajji to send out the two of you as a single team. Yet at the same time, you are treating her as too inexperienced to be a part of the plan.”

“You are truly an unpleasant woman.”

“Coming from another woman, that is a compliment. …At any rate, just remember that Shino is thinking about you too. Make sure you get along in the end, okay? That is why I’m teasing you.”

“That’s part of what makes you so unpleasant,” said Mikoku.

Tatsumi smiled bitterly and ate the final meatball while holding the skewer horizontally.

“But don’t worry. Even if we steal the weapon UCAT was given by 5th, it would be difficult to use given how many people the Army has available. Not to mention that Alex was made using 5th-Gear tech. …You understand what that means, don’t you? We stole Typhon because we had no other way to obtain the technology, but mechanical dragon technology is different.”

“That is thanks to your mother’s research on 5th-Gear mechanical dragon wreckage, right?”

“Yes, and with the help of a certain person, she completed it. By having the pilot combine with it rather than riding in it, its reflexes reach the level of 5th-Gear’s mechanical dragons.”

Tatsumi began to add something more, but…

“…”

She stopped and closed her mouth, so Mikoku thought on the words she had swallowed.

…''So the technology her mother left behind means we don’t need to learn from 5th-Gear’s hidden weapon.

Mikoku took a sip of her café vienna.

“In other words, the Army already has enough military might. It all comes down to training now.”

“Mikoku, how can you say that with cream under your nose?”

She frantically wiped it off with her finger and stuck it in her mouth. She tasted the sweetness and heard Tatsumi laugh.

“You really are a child, Mikoku. Are you having misgivings about fighting? Has something like fear belatedly shown up? Listen. Lord Hajji does not intend to settle this entirely peacefully with all the Gears.”

“…”

“It is UCAT’s way of thinking that has messed everything up. Low-Gear claims to be gathering all the Gears to prevent the destruction of the world, but they secretly want to clear away the past and erase what they have done. However, they have not realized that, if their false show of good is allowed, then the opposite can also work.”

“In other words, crushing Low-Gear will also gather all the Gears together and that will also avoid the destruction of the world?”

“Yes,” said Tatsumi while looking to the side.

A shop selling women’s suits was there and she pointed at a blue suit in the window’s show lounge, but Mikoku waved a hand side to side in refusal. It was too expensive.

The two of them then walked on.

“What the Army needs is a narrow but deep military force that can destroy Team Leviathan and UCAT just once and wake all of them up. We are not UCAT, so we do not need a broad and shallow military force that will advocate peace and govern all of the Gears.”

“But will the other Gears really accept it if we destroy UCAT?”

“That is why you’re worried about Shino, isn’t it? Once the Concept Cores are stolen from UCAT, you intend to fully disarm the Army and leave everything to Shino and her concept of mutual understanding. …And you likely intend to leave her once that happens. How very cool of you.”

She snickered along with that last line and the smile remained as she continued.

“Well, either way, I think all the other Gears will end up obeying the Army once they hear the reason behind our justice.”

“The reason behind our justice, hm?”

“That’s right.” Tatsumi nodded. “No matter how hard Low-Gear tries, there is nothing they can do about that.”

Tatsumi finished eating one skewer of gizzard.

“You will be sent on another mission soon. As will I.”

“Yes, a mission that you can barely call a mission: monitoring the Leviathan Road.”

“Their negotiator is probably negotiating with 4th-Gear right about now. That can’t be easy.”

“It can’t be easy?”

“That’s right,” said Tatsumi. “Lord Hajji once told me about it. During the Concept War, 9th-Gear and the other Gears were unable to gain the cooperation of Tree Serpent Mukiti, Concept Core of 4th-Gear. No matter how many times they visited, Mukiti would speak but not show his form. And when they tried to forcibly extract the Concept Core…”

“Yes?”

“He never showed up again and the readings were too weak to tell where he was.”

“He vanished? No, he went into hiding? Then what is Mukiti?”

“I don’t know. That is something only Sayama Kaoru knows as he was the one to bring 4th-Gear to Low-Gear. But…I have a feeling his descendant and that descendant’s companions will know before long.” She gave a bitter smile. “And if they do find the answer, it will make things all the more fun when we steal the Cores.”

Tatsumi audibly gulped down the rest of her drink and gave a satisfied sigh.

“Oh, dear. I got so worked up that I drank the rest of it. Do you want the leftover stick of gizzard?”

A giant tree lay collapsed in a lake surrounded by other trees.

Shinjou stood before that giant tree.

“Where is Mukiti?”

She muttered that question to herself and looked around the area.

“…”

She saw the many trees of the forest, the ceiling of branches and leaves supported by that forest, and the waves of underbrush beneath.

Before her was a lake with plants at the bottom, a giant tree, and the sky.

…''But where is Mukiti in all this?

She looked into the forest, but there was no sign of anyone there.

She began to think. For the moment, she decided to think of Mukiti as an invisible being.

She sat on the ground to help herself calm down and she looked at the large tree.

The top was pointed toward her and the end was rough as if it had broken off, but the break itself looked fresh. It was dirty and mossy from the rain and wind, but it had none of the corroded holes common in large trees. She could see the many tree rings crammed in along that surface.

…''In other words…

“Does that mean Mukiti doesn’t even go inside it?”

If it had a hole inside, Mukiti could have entered the tree to move here, but she could guess at its internal density based on what she could see.

“He wouldn’t be able to go inside. Mukiti is outside. …But then where is he?”

Her question received no answer. She wondered if he was holed up deep belowground in the core of this ocean of plants, but that did not meet the requirement of him also being here.

Mukiti had to be anywhere and yet nowhere.

And unless she found him, they could not speak with him.

Earlier, Sayama had speculated that the other Gears had been unable to negotiate with 4th-Gear.

''That might be true,'' she told herself.

Anyone who saw that giant tree move would assume it was Mukiti and it seemed he had chosen to use the tree when interacting with others. In that case, he would have looked like a literal tree serpent.

…''But what if he isn’t?

Her eyebrows gathered together as she held her knees and rested her chin on them.

Something was then placed on her back.

She turned toward the faint scratching ticklishness and found a plant creature had lifted itself up. It had risen sideways and was leaning up against her.

''It’s a lot like a dog,'' she thought with a bitter laugh.

She found comfort in that and switched over her train of thought.

“Sayama-kun, your grandfather found the answer without any hints, didn’t he?”

“No, think about it more carefully, Shinjou-kun. It scares me to think of that old ape finding the answer without a hint. Thinking back, I wonder if someone else from the National Defense Department gave him an idea that acted as a hint. Or maybe there was a cheat sheet in 4th-Gear that told him the identity of Mukiti! That’s it! There just had to be!!”

Shinjou ignored the boy’s thoughtless refusal to lose, but she did think there must have been a hint.

4th-Gear would have had this same sea of plants and the plant creatures. It would also have had the giant tree that spoke for Mukiti, but that was just a deception.

Why had Sayama’s grandfather not fallen for that deception?

“…”

Shinjou removed her backpack.

It contained the case for the lunch she had eaten on the way, a towel, and a folded umbrella. It also held her precious binder and the copied documents Kashima had given them.

She pulled out those documents and opened them. There was still a lot she could not read, but she could read the National Defense Department investigation report on 4th-Gear.

She skimmed through it and found a certain passage.

…''On March 15, 1938, they took in a moving plant found in the mountains of Kyushu.

“Shinjou Kaname reported that the plant’s movements grew more active as it approached the ley line modification facility. He proved a low level of communication was possible.”

Shinjou looked quickly through the reports on the other Gears.

After the destruction of some of the ley line modification facilities, the National Defense Department had discovered the existence of foreign beings. That had been on August 4, 1937 when Hiba Ryuutetsu and Siegfried had fought.

…''Once they realized beings from another world existed, a lost individual of these beasts arrived.

“They first entered 4th-Gear on January 10, 1943.”

They had lacked the technology to open a gate, so Sayama’s grandfather and the others had been unable to do anything more than speak with the plant creature for over five years.

…''But that means they continued speaking with the creature without ever seeing the giant tree.

If someone with gate technology visited 4th-Gear, they would hear Mukiti’s words through the tree.

But what if someone lacked that ability?

“So that’s it. He had been speaking with the creature for so long without the preconception of the tree.”

She closed the documents and turned to the plant creature supporting her back.

“Excuse me.”

She asked a question while wondering what it had been like back then.

“What happens when you are separated from Mukiti?”

“Mukiti is here. Mukiti not here.”

“You mean…”

She trailed off and smiled bitterly.

…''Just like Sayama-kun, I’m imagining what the creature is trying to say.

But she continued speaking with that bitter smile filling her voice.

“You mean Mukiti is still with you even when you leave him?”

“Mukiti is here. Mukiti not here.”

The answer was the same. That meant it did not change.

They were always both with and not with Mukiti.

What did that mean?

She thought and a sudden memory came to her. And that memory led her to the answer.

While he lay with his eyes closed, Sayama heard Shinjou speak.

“Sayama-kun, do you have a moment?”

He shot to his feet, loosened his tie, and spread his arms.

“Indeed I do!! …Why are you glaring at me and scooting away, Shinjou-kun?”

“I’m just wondering if I could word my questions a little better.”

Her expression then changed. Her eyebrows grew flat and she gave him a peaceful look.

“Sayama-kun, you said it is impossible to communicate with plants, didn’t you?”

“You mean that business about attaching electrodes? I did say that. What about it?”

“Um, about that. …Why electrodes?”

“Living things produce a faint amount of electricity. That fact was likely used to give the theory a sense of credibility.”

Shinjou let out a breath when she heard that.

Her shoulders lowered in relief and she looked back at him.

“But,” she said. “That’s a human way of thinking about it, right? These creatures have no brains and their level of life seems comparable to ours.”

She stood up and the plant creature stretched its body toward her as if to pursue. However…

“Sorry. You can do that later.”

She removed her shoes and then her socks.

…''And next the safari coat and skirt.

Sayama waited with arms spread, but Shinjou walked to the lake and turned back with a forced smile.

“Ha ha. Sayama-kun? Were you expecting something that was clearly not going to happen?”

“Heh heh heh. I see being a tease is your specialty, Shinjou-kun.”

“Oh, c’mon, Sayama-kun. Being completely crazy is your specialty.”

She returned to a serious expression and turned away.

''Is she being shy?'' wondered Sayama. ''But that is wonderful too.

He looked to the spot she had left. The plant creature seemed interested in her shoes and socks because it was rolling them around and wrapping its front arms around them.

''Could it be?'' thought Sayama just before slowly picking up her shoes and socks and pressing them to his face

“Sniff sniff sniff!!”

“Wh-what in the world are you doing, Sayama-kun!?”

“It seems every hint of exhaustion was absorbed. They are odorless.”

He saw the creature expel some oxygen, so he quickly crouched down and inhaled.

“This is the oxygen produced from your right foot’s middle toe!”

“No, it isn’t!! Well, maybe it is, but it doesn’t matter!”

“Heh heh heh. A man with a discerning nose can tell, Shinjou-kun.”

“Yes, yes, yes. But, y’know what? I’d rather you didn’t turn into a dog. …Are you even listening?”

That question was followed by a splashing sound.

[[Image:OnC_v09_0069.png|thumb]]

He turned around while holding the plant creature that had expelled her oxygen and found her with her feet in the lake.

The water was shallow and she spun around with the water only reaching her ankles.

The bottom of her safari coat flew up and her hair swayed about.

She lightly kicked the water with right foot and smiled.

“I think plants might have their own way of communicating.”

“Are you saying they have a unique form of communication that provides a connection to Mukiti no matter where they are?”

“Yes. But that still leaves a question: why can 4th-Gear’s residents speak with people like us who aren’t plants?”

She lowered her leg and bent back to look up at the giant tree behind her.

“I think Mukiti is inside this tree right now.”

“But there is clearly no gap for him to enter.”

“There is. It’s just so incredibly small that we can’t see it. And this provides the link that allows us to communicate with 4th-Gear’s residents.”

She spread her arms as if to embrace the tree while keeping her back to it.

“It’s water.”

Shinjou lowered her gaze with her arms still spread.

She looked down at the lake’s surface where she was reflected in the water.

“It is everywhere in 4th-Gear and yet nowhere. It is in all of 4th-Gear’s residents and yet in none of them. And it has no set form but becomes a serpent when residing in that tree. In other words…”

She turned around with a smile and found Sayama sniffing at the air expelled by the plant creature he held.

“Are you even trying to listen?”

“My apologies, Shinjou-kun. …But look to your right.”

She did so and saw water.

Water spiraled up to her height.

It looked like a double helix serpent, but there must have been water flow within the pillar because it produced spray that almost looked like horns or scales.

“A dragon.”

The water serpent lowered its head at her words as if nodding.

It then raised its head and did not stop there.

“!”

It burst into a great spray of water.

But despite her surprise, Shinjou continued observing what occurred before her.

The scattering spray did not touch her. It formed a spiral in the air and flew through the sky like a mist. And…

“The tree.”

As the mist vanished, the large tree behind her began to move.

It produced many deep groaning sounds and formed waves in the lake.

It rose.

The rising tree pushed up the air and the forest cried out.

The shadow of the giant tree extended and Shinjou heard a pulsation. That was the pulse produced by the tree coming to life. With each pulse, the old water that had soaked inside the tree was expelled from the stump-like top that had already become the head.

She heard a sound much like a steam whistle, but no one responded to it. The plant creatures did not rise up and the trees of the forest did not make any more noise than necessary.

…''Mukiti is here, yet not here.

Mukiti was likely merged with all of the moisture in 4th-Gear. He existed everywhere so he could manage and control the entire Gear.

…''Is he like a swarm of liquid nanomachines?

A warm breeze circled the clearing and the large tree pulled itself fully upright.

She heard a voice. It was Mukiti’s voice. It was a distinct voice that could be taken as masculine or feminine.

“Hello, everyone.”

She found herself unable to immediately react to the sudden greeting.

After a moment, the voice spoke again.

“Let us try that again.”

“H-hello!!”

She frantically shouted back a greeting, and the tree shook a bit as if nodding.

“I am Mukiti.”

Another pause.

“Nice to meet you.”

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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume9 Chapter 18|Chapter 18]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume9 Chapter 20|Chapter 20]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 19

2026-03-25T03:59:46Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 19: Simulated Tomorrow==
[[Image:OnC_v14_0693.png|thumb]]
''Everyone

''How about we think of tomorrow?

''Of a tomorrow bright with destruction

Evening filled the sky.

Below, the forest sank into darkness.

However, that forest did not maintain its proper form.

The tree-covered earth was split, cracked, and broken.

Ropes and warning lights were set up to block off what little remained of the road.

Night was fast approaching, so most of the trucks and heavy machinery had been pulled back to the base of the mountain.

But even as everyone else was headed down, one figure remained at the top of the slope.

An old man in a lab coat and a yellow hard hat stood on the broken asphalt.

His nametag said Ooshiro and his eyes were pointed downward.

He was looking at the valley filled with dirt.

The dirt piled up at the bottom of the valley was two hundred meters wide and several kilometers long. It also contained fragments of manmade objects.

They were asphalt and metal pieces melted by the heat as well as pieces of white building materials.

Those were the remains of Japanese UCAT.

Ooshiro stared at them in the shadows of the setting sun.

“#8-kun, you’re there, aren’t you?”

He suddenly spoke to someone behind him without turning around.

The air moved slightly and #8 stepped out from between the fallen trees behind him. She too was wearing a yellow hard hat.

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> was wearing jeans and a down jacket instead of her usual maid outfit.

“What are you doing here, Ooshiro-sama? According to our estimations, the positive concepts will react to the activated negative concepts inside the Leviathan and change the world by midnight tomorrow night. To prevent that, the others have gathered at Yokota and Yokosuka and are holding a strategy meeting in Yokosuka’s underground meeting room.”

“And with all that going on, what does it look like I’m doing?”

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> saw Ooshiro looking back toward her with the setting sun behind him and she slowly observed their surroundings.

All she saw were the setting sun and Ooshiro.

…''Is this…?

After confirming the still scenery, she nodded and gave her conclusion.

“I believe you are mentally planning your next 18+ game.”

“A-are you really ignoring the sunset behind me, #8-kun!? Do I really look the same as always!?”

Hearing that, she wondered if she had made a mistake and looked into the sunset again.

“The sun is merely setting for the night. What about it?”

“Wah! This is the problem with you! And when I was really setting the mood, too!?”

“Really?” asked #8 as Ooshiro wiggled in protest. “Testament. Then I will ignore that part. As an emotionless automaton, I cannot hope to guess what is going on.”

She then changed the subject.

“Anyway, everyone is worried about you, so please return to your post as soon as possible.”

“Eh? R-really? I’m the mega hero everyone’s pinning their hopes on?”

“Testament. Everyone in Yokota and Yokosuka was complaining about having no one to shove the unpleasant jobs onto, the construction workers were complaining about an old man getting in the way of everything, and I am complaining because I was called out here when I was supposed to be tuning my spare body. To statistically sum it all up, you need to get back there right away.”

“Th-that’s nothing like what you said before!”

Despite Ooshiro’s complaint, #8 pulled something from her pocket.

“This is the straw doll containing one of Itaru-sama’s hairs. Would this doll be an acceptable substitute for spending your time staring into the sunset?”

Ooshiro looked at the proffered doll.

“This was Sf-kun’s…”

“Testament. Sf-sama followed after Itaru-sama. …Because this doll is not Itaru-sama.”

<nowiki>#8’s</nowiki> tone of voice was firm.

“But you are not the same as Sf-sama. …You are technically human.”

“What do you mean ‘technically’?”

“I went out of the way to leave that unsaid, so why do you insist on nitpicking my wording?”

“I-I’m the one being scolded over this!?”

She ignored him because she had something to say. She had to say this before gaining even more bizarre conversational experience.

“Humans have an imagination. They have the power to imagine someone where nothing remains. So wouldn’t a doll containing something he left behind allow you to imagine him all the more?”

“#8-kun…”

“Yes.” She nodded. “All your pathetic brain can do is imagine things about dolls or an image on a monitor, but that will finally be a useful skill. Now, have a good time imagining.”

“I-I just imagined something really sad about myself!”

Still, he took the straw doll from her hand.

“But #8-kun? It sure would be nice to have something else to cheer me up.”

“Such as?”

“Like having you hug me and console me.”

“How exactly?”

“Calling me Kazuo-chan and hugging me as sweetly and softly as possible! Like the tenderest of simmered meats! Something that would need the sound effect ‘honyo’ or ‘huryo’! L-like this! This! Just like this!”

<nowiki>#8</nowiki> stared at the old man backlit by the sunset as he made his sound effects and bent backwards again and again.

She wondered what to do for about three seconds, but finally said “testament” and nodded at the man. She then pulled her cellphone from her pocket.

“Hello, police? Yes, the pervert that I mentioned earlier is once again blathering on about bizarre nonsensical things while acting extremely suspiciously.”

“Wah, #8-kun! Stop, stop! And what do you mean ‘that I mentioned earlier’!?”

She hung up the phone and glared at Ooshiro.

“Have you made up your mind?”

“About what?”

“Will you be coming or not?”

She further clarified.

“Will you be giving up on or continuing the fight? Which will it be?”

He did not answer her.

He fell silent with the straw doll in hand.

So #8 determined what it was he wanted to say.

She opened her mouth to tell him.

“Testament. Then let’s go, Ooshiro-sama.”

“I-I’m going!? Don’t I get a say?”

“Since you did not answer immediately, I determined you were willing to go either way. And…”

She looked up into the clear sky as she spoke.

“We are in the mountains of Okutama at the end of December. The temperature will fall below zero at night. If you remain here, I have determined the frozen corpse of a pervert will be discovered here by tomorrow.”

“Well, I suppose that’s true.”

“You admit you’re a pervert!?”

“Damn, you’re strict!”

He wrapped his hands around his head and struck a pose, so she turned her back on him.

“You have to leave the mountain no matter what you choose, so your only option is to go. So I have determined there is only one thing to say: let’s go, Ooshiro-sama.”

“Ah, wait, wait!”

Ooshiro took a hesitant step after she began to walk.

“You’re pretty forceful.”

His shoulders drooped, but he followed her.

She looked back toward him.

“Are you coming with me?”

“Everyone wants me to, right?”

He pulled the helmet deep over his eyes.

“They’re hopeless without me, aren’t they?”

“Testament,” replied #8. “I have determined we are about to grow very busy. Prepare yourself.”

“I’ve been ready for ten years now.” His voice fell to the ground. “I thought I had prepared myself for this day back then.”

“You grow tired of things quickly, so I have determined you grew tired of being prepared.”

She suddenly sped up and he had to run to catch up.

“#-#8-kun! Why are you running away from me!?”

“I am not running away. Please stay at least five meters away from me.”

“I doubt I want to know, but why?”

“Testament.” She nodded. “A filthy old man carrying a straw doll approaching you from behind deep in the mountains? Are you trying to become a new urban legend?”

People filled a large space.

The bowl-shaped circular space was the meeting room below Yokosuka.

The room was completely filled with a great mixture of colors.

In addition to the representatives of the international UCATs, the national representatives accompanying them, and the Gear representatives, even volunteers from the normal members of those groups were present.

They all looked to the central space where a 3D image floated above a round table.

The transparent green light drew a 3D map of Tokyo with Shinjuku in the center.

“Tomorrow will be a day for the hidden annals of history.”

A boy in a suit, Sayama, spoke as he walked through the center of the large transparent map.

“This is the Final Concept War that will never be mentioned in the official history books. It will come down to a great urban battle in which a coalition force of UCAT, our various nations, and the Gears split into eight armies to attack the Leviathan.”

The Leviathan sat in midair like a giant island and red lights indicated the positions of the UCAT forces.

“According to our predictions, the positive concepts inside the Leviathan will be complete tomorrow, the 25th, at 10:30 PM. These positive concepts will react to the already activated negative concepts, but they will both fully activate and create the immortality concept at precisely midnight.”

In other words…

“At precisely midnight tomorrow, the world will be changed and the living will all be erased.”

Everyone gulped at Sayama’s words.

He then walked toward the image of the floating Leviathan and the eight red armies deployed in Tokyo moved toward the center.

The ribbon lines of movement had an arrow at the end. They split apart and covered Tokyo while approaching the Leviathan.

Sayama also reached a hand toward the Leviathan.

“If the Leviathan creates and activates the positive concepts, even the existing Concept Core weapons will be useless. After all, we have no idea how to defeat that colossal rampaging dragon,” he explained. “But the Leviathan has left us a decisive opening.”

Everyone looked up and Roger raised his hand in the American UCAT representative seat.

“What is this opening?”

“Until the positive concepts have been created, it must avoid moving as much as possible.”

As he walked, Sayama pointed back toward the curled up Leviathan.

“If it could move, it could have easily destroyed the outside world already. It has not and it has overlooked us as we gather together, so I can only assume it is confident in its own strength and currently cannot move.”

He took a breath.

“I know why. The Leviathan…no, Noah failed in its concept creation before, so it wants to be as careful as possible.”

“In that case, is destroying the Leviathan not our primary goal?”

“Correct. Our goal is to prevent the Leviathan’s positive concepts from reaching completion at 10:30. …I will now show you how.”

Sayama turned toward everyone else. On the 360 degree transparent map, UCAT’s red ribbons split apart and formed eight foundations.

“A representative bearing a Concept Core weapon will be placed in each of these eight directions. While holding those eight directions, a barrier wall will be created in each spot.”

Eight walls appeared to surround the center of Tokyo.

“Oh?” said the Chinese UCAT representative.

The man in black crossed his arms with an impressed look.

“A Bagua-style omnidirectional barrier? It looks just like the Eight Great Dragon King barrier used when sealing 10th-Gear’s Concept Core, though.”

“Not quite. The sealing walls will be used to keep the Leviathan from escaping and the circle itself acts as a declaration of the Concept Cores’ presence. In other words, we reject the creation of the Leviathan’s positive concepts by ''showing off the real ones''.”

Sayama kept his legs moving.

“But that rejection must not have a way out,” warned the man. “A simple eight-direction seal is not enough.”

“Then…” Sayama came to a stop right below the Leviathan made of transparent light. “We do this.”

He waved a hand and red light appeared.

It appeared directly below and above the Leviathan.

Two red walls were displayed above and below the enemy dragon.

“We add two extra Great Dragon Kings to the Eight to install a seal above and below. The Leviathan will have nowhere left to run and we can lecture it from all directions using the presence of the real positive concepts.”

To put it another way…

“Yes, for simplicity, you could call it the ‘Leviathan, your positive concepts are fakes and are thus banned! Ha ha ha. How do you like that?’ barrier.”

“That’s a little too simple!!” shouted everyone else.

“Simple is best, don’t you think?” replied Sayama. “But if you insist, we can call it the Ten Great World Dragons barrier.”

A short pause followed.

After a few seconds, Roger raised his hand in the American representative seat again.

“Who will be in charge of the two great dragons in the heavens and on the earth?”

“Anyone will do. As long as they are worthy of bearing a Concept Core weapon, that is.”

“Anyone?”

“Yes.” Sayama looked across the approaching red ribbons of their armies. “It may be a rough way of looking at it, but the Concept Cores are worlds themselves. They contain elements of the heavens and earth within them. So if two of the Concept Core weapon bearers traveling in these eight armies – or two others on the same level – bring in the Concept Cores, they only need to set up the seals of heaven and earth once the eight-direction barrier is established. To put it another way…”

He took a breath.

“Those two will be trying to score a touchdown on the Leviathan.”

He raised a hand, said “but”, and looked across his audience.

His expressionless face silently observed them.

“But you are thinking this sounds simple, aren’t you? We can transport the Concept Core weapon bearers in with an aerial force, after all.”

Once he said that, a few numbers appeared in the air. They were formatted like a time and they displayed an estimated length of time.

“Based on the time needed for the barrier in Top-Gear’s Osaka and the barriers used to seal 10th-Gear’s and 2nd-Gear’s Concept Cores, we can estimate it will take this long to establish a barrier large enough to seal the Leviathan.”

The proper numbers appeared and everyone gasped.

“The eight-direction barrier will take sixty-four minutes. Counting from there, the heaven and earth one will take sixteen minutes. That makes a total of eighty minutes that we must face the Leviathan. By counting back from there, we know when our attack must begin.”

Diana gave the answer from the German UCAT representative seat.

She gave the numbers with a serious look in her eyes.

“At the very least, it has to be eighty minutes before 10:30 tomorrow night. To give ourselves some breathing room, we need to attack by nine at night.”

“Exactly. And this is going to be quite troublesome.”

Sayama’s words brought the color blue to the map.

Blue ribbons appeared from the Leviathan.

It almost looked like the color blue had exploded from the dragon.

“The Leviathan contains a massive fighting force. Based on what I saw, its concept space hangars hold approximately two thousand five hundred gods of war of various types, one thousand mechanical dragons of various types, and as for automatons…”

He smiled bitterly.

“Approximately three hundred thousand of various types.”

A few people voiced their disbelief.

That simply seemed impossible.

That was when a sudden voice of rejection reached them. It was a sharp girl’s voice.

“You would not regret it if you showed a little more tolerance.”

The voice came from directly next to Sayama.

No one had seen them arrive, but two figures had joined the transparent map of Tokyo.

One wore a black armored uniform and the other was a twelve-winged maid automaton.

They were Mikoku and Noah.

Everyone in the meeting room began to raise their voices at their appearance.

Some reached into their pockets to pull out weapons, but they never completed that action.

“Please quiet down. Over.”

Noah’s voice seemed to be emitted from her entire body and a weight fell down from above.

It was a great burden.

“…!?”

Those who had started to stand up fell to their knees. Those who had reached into their pockets collapsed forward.

The weight bore down on their entire body.

But the cups and pens on the desks before them did not even budge and their clothes were not pulled down.

Only the people were pressed against the desks or the floor while Mikoku and Noah stood tall.

Noah had lightly raised her right hand.

“I have tripled your body weight. Please calm down, everyone. Over.”

But someone opposed those words and began to move.

Sayama stood in front of them and…

“Go!”

On his shout, two figures moved inside the meeting room.

The girl and boy moving quickly forward in their white armored uniforms were Kazami and Hiba.

Their movement time was shortened and they moved too quickly to see properly.

Kazami spread her wings and forced her way through the extra burden.

“!”

She circled behind Noah and thrust G-Sp2’s tip up from below without warning.

At the same time, Hiba rushed directly in front of Mikoku.

Kazami’s attack hit and the sound of the impact exploded out.

However, it hit Hiba.

“Eh!?”

The sound of everyone else gasping was louder than Kazami’s cry of surprise.

At some point, Noah had appeared behind Kazami with Mikoku in her arms.

“…!”

Kazami turned toward the presence behind her and Noah spoke expressionlessly.

“Please quiet down. Over.”

Hiba flew over their heads after being knocked into the air by G-Sp2.

He normally would have hit the tall ceiling from a blow like that, but the distance and height of his flight were shortened by his tripled body weight.

At this rate, he was going to crash into the third level of the stepped meeting room.

His arms flailed wildly, but there was nothing he could do.

His legs also flailed wildly, but there was still nothing he could do.

Kazami knew what to do at a time like this, so she gave him some advice.

“Hiba! It’s no use!”

“Y-you’re the one that did this to me!! You really are the worst!!”

However, he spotted someone to help him up ahead: Izumo.

Izumo was sitting in the stepped aisle between desks eating a hamburger, so Hiba shouted to him while flailing his limbs.

“I-Izumo-san!”

“Yeah…” Izumo nodded and averted his gaze. “It’s just that you’ve been making a lot of gay jokes lately.”

“Don’t give up like that! Try to have a proper conversation with me!”

Hiba braced for impact.

“Izumo-san! C-catch me! Please catch me! It might mean cracking a few bones, but l-let me plow into you!”

“It might mean cracking a few bones?”

Izumo gave a reluctant nod and went with Hiba’s suggestion.

He pointed at Hiba, held his sides like they were splitting, and spoke to the Kenyan UCAT representative sitting next to him.

“Hey, hey. Did you see that!? That idiot’s flying! Wa ha ha ha ha!”

Hiba crashed into the seat next to Izumo.

The sound of destruction was three times greater than normal.

Izumo spoke to Hiba’s legs and hands which were growing from the remains of the wooden desk and chair.

“Was that good enough? But if you want to ‘crack’ people up with your jokes, you can’t force them.”

Hiba shot to his feet, scattering pieces of the seat, and clenched his fist with blood flowing from his face.

“I-Izumo-san! There are some things you just don’t do!”

“And was this one of them?”

“U-um…”

Hiba hesitated, so Sayama shouted over at him.

“Was it!? Or was it not!? Give us a clear answer!”

Rushed by Sayama, Hiba held his head in his hands.

“I-it was…was not…was…”

He looked up in surprise, turned around, spread his arms, and gave his answer.

“It was not was!”

Noah was standing in front of him and she gave her response to his suggestion.

“Please quiet down. Over.”

“W-wah! Even the enemy’s treating me like this!?”

They all ignored him and Noah placed Mikoku back on the floor.

Mikoku took a breath, fixed her collar, and looked across the group in the room.

“Everyone, I am here to suggest you surrender.”

She expressionlessly looked through the transparent map of Tokyo surrounding her.

She looked at the red ribbons of UCAT and the blue ribbons moving toward them.

“To speed up your decision, I will provide you with some details concerning my weapons.”

Sayama fought the weight as he listened to Mikoku provide her numbers.

These were simply the numbers of her army, but…

“Mechanical dragons: 121 Seraph-type, 406 Cherubim-type, and 640 Galgalim-type. Gods of war: 301 Lords-type, 814 Virtues-type, and 1201 Power-type. Automatons: 98000 Prince-type, 10001 Arc type, and 189000 Angelus-type. Altogether, it is an army of more than three hundred thousand.”

Those simple numbers moved on the map of Tokyo as the color blue.

As everyone pinned to the desks or floor looked to the map, blue ribbons rose from the ground and began intercepting the red ribbons.

Sayama saw Mikoku instruct Noah to end the extra weight.

“Testament.”

With that word, the weight left them all and they breathed a sigh of relief.

No one around Sayama considered attacking Mikoku.

She must have understood that because Mikoku looked first to him and then the others.

“I have no intention of fighting yet. The Leviathan is always under my control. I can send out it and its troops as easily as you can clench your hand into a fist. Blindly attacking with no preparation will only lead to regret.”

“In other words, it is time for a chat straight out of the long-running TV show ‘Disastrous You’?”

Noah tilted her head, but Mikoku nodded and lowered her gaze a little.

“I doubt it will be a very nice chat.”

Someone chose to question that.

“I wouldn’t be so sure.”

It was Ooshiro who had entered the meeting room with #8.

People raised their voices to welcome him.

When he fixed his collar and raised his arms in an entrance pose, everyone smiled and applauded.

“Tch. Why’s he alive?”

“#8-san wasted four hours of her life bringing him back.”

“He bought up three or four of the limited-edition figurine I wanted.”

“I-is it just me or are all of you giving into personal grudges a lot lately!?”

“If you have something to say, get on with it, old man.”

“Very well.” He sat on the steps, pointed at Mikoku, and then pointed at the giant dragon on the map. “How should I put it? You may be able to use the Leviathan, but can you really utilize all of those weapons? It must take a lot to fire even a single cannon. Do you have any proof what you’re saying is-…”

Before he could finish, Mikoku snapped her fingers.

Noah nodded in response.

A moment later, everyone saw a building on the southeast side of the transparent map disappear.

Tokyo Tower had completely vanished.

As soon as the green, transparent tower disappeared, the automaton operating the round table controlling the map spoke quietly.

“The tower within the Leviathan’s concept space has been vaporized.”

“Testament.” Noah nodded. “The Leviathan is linked to me. I exist here as an automaton, but I am aware I am nothing but a weapon for Mikoku-sama. Over.”

“I see.” Sayama nodded and looked to Ooshiro. “Why are you even here, old man? It is your fault Tokyo Tower was destroyed inside the concept space.”

“Eh? I-it’s my fault!?”

“Ha ha ha. Who else could we possibly blame?”

Everyone in the meeting room glared at Ooshiro.

He shrieked, rolled along the floor, collided with the next step up, and rolled back to #8.

“#-#8-kun, are you going to give me the same look all of them do?”

She ignored him entirely, pulled a mop from below her apron, and began cleaning the floor with her back to him.

“#-#8-kun! Won’t you help me after going out of your way to bring me here!?”

“I apologize, but I am incredibly busy with nothing to do and am therefore cleaning.”

“How long will you be cleaning?”

Ooshiro asked while sitting on the floor and #8 answered with her back to him.

“Until the filth is gone.”

“Is that…a metaphor for something?”

“Testament. …Of course not.”

“Which is it!? Which of those answers am I supposed to believe!?”

“Ooshiro-sama.” She continued mopping with her back to him. “Do you really want me to answer that?”

He lay on the floor and pretended to cry, so everyone ignored him. Mikoku glanced over at Ooshiro.

“You are a strange bunch.”

“You’re one to talk!!”

Mikoku flinched back at everyone’s retort, so Noah supported her back and spoke expressionlessly.

“Mikoku-sama, do not let them bother you. What could they possibly be looking at to think we are strange? We are far too low-key for that. Over.”

“R-right. I am living such a low-key life that I had plain soba for lunch.”

“Since you would have been floating in the sky while eating it, that is a most impressive way of being low-key.”

Mikoku cleared her throat after hearing Sayama’s opinion.

She looked over at him and held out a hand to indicate the transparent map.

“Anyway, my army of automatons and gods of war has already been deployed within the concept space. Every last one of them wears pure-white armor. Meanwhile, what kind of fighting force do you have?

Sayama responded.

“You already know, don’t you?” he began. “We have millions upon millions of fighters.”

“Let me be blunt. Are you stupid?”

“Heh heh heh. I can see you are shocked by the overwhelming vagueness of our army.”

Mikoku gave Noah a look of protest, so Noah held out her right hand and bent her fingers twice.

“Based on my predictions, they currently have seventy thousand in all. By nine tomorrow night, they will have two hundred and ten thousand. Over.”

“You need to learn to dream.”

“I have never had a dream. Over.”

“That is unfortunate.” Sayama crossed his arms. “Dreams are wonderful. Shinjou-kun will perform all sorts of acrobatic positions while only putting up a token resistance. Come to think of it, I can do that in reality now.”

“Waaaah!!”

The meeting room’s door burst open and a shouting form rushed in.

“Ah! W-wait! Why are you dragging me out! I have an objection! An objection!! I demand an appeal!!”

The figure was taken back outside.

Sayama glanced over at it.

“Would you look at that. The dream has appeared for real.”

“You need to check yourself into a hospital,” said Mikoku.

She crossed her arms and addressed the comparative numbers of the blue and red ribbons.

“Going by the numbers alone, my force is 1.5 times larger than yours.”

Add in the superior fighting power of the gods of war and mechanical dragons and the Leviathan had an overwhelming advantage. Gathering every god of war and mechanical dragon from every Gear would have trouble reaching even a tenth of the Leviathan’s numbers.

Mikoku must have realized that because she continued.

“Therefore, I suggest you surrender. You can do so simply by doing nothing.”

“Why?”

She answered expressionlessly.

“If you do nothing, you can enjoy Christmas night with your families. You would be happier if you made some nice memories before being erased in the instant of the new world’s creation. And just like me, you will be reborn in the new world in some form. If you do not like the sound of that, then this will be your fate.”

She pointed to the map where UCAT’s red ribbons were being devoured by the blue ones.

They were devoured rapidly and in great numbers.

The erasure of the red left everyone in the room speechless.

Could they stand up to that?

But Sayama was unfazed.

“I see.” He looked Mikoku in the eye. “You certainly are brave to suggest we surrender. A very bold move if you ask me.”

“How is this bold? Are you implying you have some chance of winning?”

“Allow me to ask this: Do you seriously think ''you can defeat me?''”

Everyone gasped and Ooshiro shouted from the floor.

“M-Mikoto-kun! Don’t provoke her! That’s a big no-no!”

“There is nothing to worry about. We are merely chatting. For today, she will suggest we surrender and we will declare war. So let me make one thing very clear: We will stop the creation of the Leviathan’s positive concepts by 10:30 tomorrow night.”

“Can you? Even after seeing the result of the simulation surrounding you?”

The silence from everyone else grew heavier.

The reason for that silence was simple.

All red had vanished from the map of Tokyo in which Sayama stood and it was absolutely filled with blue ribbons instead.

If that simulation was accurate, every last member of UCAT would be devoured by the Leviathan’s army.

And Mikoku stood in the center of that blue battlefield.

“If all you have is pointless bragging, there is nothing left for you.”

But Sayama did not respond.

He said nothing. That was all.

They had already declared war against each other, so Mikoku looked down, closed her eyes, and hung her head.

“So all that remains is the battle. Understood.”

She sighed and raised her head without opening her eyes.

“Let us fight during tomorrow’s holy night. Let us fight with the entire world on the line.”

As soon as she said that, both she and Noah disappeared.

But they had not completely vanished.

“––––?”

They had lost their human forms.

With a sound much like sand, only a pile of something white remained where they had been.

When Kazami saw it, she frowned and spoke from the floor.

“Salt?”

“Yes,” agreed Sayama. “They were likely creating copies of themselves using gravitational control or something else. Such careful preparation and such overacting. I cannot believe they would force salt to cosplay as them. But…”

He moved his legs to enter the transparent map of Tokyo.

He moved below the Leviathan where Mikoku and Noah had been and stepped on the piles of salt.

“Was that supposed to be their declaration of war?”

No one answered him.

They all simply let tension fill their bodies.

So Sayama opened his mouth.

He let his words soak into them and remove their tension.

“That was an amusing little diversion. Now, let us get back on topic. I will give you my idea of how to escape this situation where Tokyo is filled by the blue ribbons.”

Everyone watched as he raised his hand.

In response, a flower bloomed in the blue Tokyo.

A few red forces suddenly welled up there.

There were not that many of them, but they were definitely there.

“I will now show you the battle as I see it. In other words, I will show you a battle of gods, where everyone is the same as me. And, everyone, I have only one thing to say here. There is only one objective to this plan I am calling Operation Leviathan.”

He spoke the words that were essentially a promise to the others.

“We must not allow the Leviathan to reach reality.”

The area around Shinjuku Station was filled with the lights of night.

According to the clock in front of the station, it was 4:22 AM.

There were people there, but not many. Some people in suits were arriving for the first train of the morning and some younger people and women who had spent the night in the area were moving between empty stores to keep out of the cold.

But there were a few people unlike them.

These men all wore work uniforms with matching blue jackets.

Large trucks were pulling up alongside them not just at the center of the taxi-filled roundabout in front of Shinjuku Station, but also in the alleyways by the south, west, and east entrances.

The trucks were loaded with metal pipes and panels.

“Who would have thought we’d be blocking off Shinjuku and building stages on the roads?”

That comment came from Kazami’s mother who stood in a small clearing in front of Nishiguchi Station.

She wore a coat and the man next to her, her husband, passed her a thermos of tea.

“It’s going to be blocked off from nine to midnight tonight. I’m impressed you got permission for this, papa.”

“Well, I’ve been planning this for a long time and I have some connections here since we used the area a lot for a police drama I worked on. You know the one: ‘Detective Fluke: The Activation’ where he always found the criminal on intuition.”

His wife smiled bitterly at that.

“I remember that. Chisato would always watch your shows back then. Like that popular anime.”

“Oh, you mean the sexual harassment food hero ‘Panpanman’? Chisato came up with a lot of the ideas for the pathogen monsters working for Gaikinman, the enemy boss who refused to work in the office. Choleraman and Aidsman were certainly straight to the point.”

“That one got canceled pretty quick, didn’t it?”

A short silence followed his wife’s comment.

Their daughter would normally keep the conversation going with a complaint, but she was not here and the father had to clear his throat.

“Well, ever since then, I’ve wanted to pretend to conquer Tokyo like this.”

“Oh, my. So are you conquering it with music instead of police authority?”

“Ha ha.” He laughed and smiled bitterly at his wife’s words. “I wonder what Chisato would think if she knew her papa was going to be a dictator tonight?”

“She’d probably come to overthrow you and tell you to stop dreaming.”

“Y-you sure are cement-like!!”

“Am I?” she replied.

Suddenly, a large figure approached them.

Kazami’s father stood up when she saw the man wearing a jacket over a white suit.

“Oh, Izumo-san. Why are you here? D-don’t tell me you searched us out with psychic powers!?”

“That’s exactly right! Esper Beam Beeeeeacon!!”

“Old Man Shield!! And Man Beam Birooooon!”

“What!? Shepaaaah!! …Oh, this is a paralyzing beam, okay?’

“Roger that. But… Ha ha ha. That won’t work on me! Meyo meyo meyo meyo meyo!”

The mother removed a shoe and struck the father’s head as he moved his arms in a wavelike motion and made a bizarre sound effect.

“Ow!”

He bent forward and she smiled his way.

“Why are you two posing at each other? I’ll grab your collar and hit you next time?”

“Hmm, are you saying you’re willing to hit just anyone, mama?”

“Anyway, enough of this nonsense only men can understand. Try talking like human beings.”

“Sure, sure, sure.” He straightened up and turned toward Izumo. “What brings you here so early in the morning?”

“I just have business in the area is all. But on the way, I heard something interesting was going on here. I’m really not sure what to say about this.”

Izumo Retsu looked around the nighttime station area and spotted the loaded trucks hidden in the alleyways.

“It looks like you’re up to no good!!”

“Ha ha ha. I see you understand. You sure are young at heart, Izumo-san!”

“I understand all too well. It’s like you’re conquering Tokyo!”

Wondering how he could tell, Kazami’s mother tilted her head and glared at them, but the two men paid her no heed and began discussing the location of the stage and the timing of the lights and sounds.

Suddenly, Izumo’s father crossed his arms and smiled.

“I wish I could have helped out with all this.”

“No, that would feel like we were abusing Chisato’s connections.”

“True enough.”

The two men smiled bitterly.

“So what do you have planned, Kazami-san?”

“Nothing much. Just calling in artists from around the world and having them perform on different stages simultaneously for a ridiculously exciting Christmas. Walking around the streets of Shinjuku will feel like walking all around the world.”

“Will your wife be singing?”

Kazami’s mother gave her husband a quick look, so the man gave a single nod.

“I’m not so sure.”

“Ah, what a shame! I have her LP, you know? The one where she adds that sound effect to the end. ‘I’m. Still. Seventeen. Piyo-piyo’.”

Kazami’s mother shrieked, held her head in her hands, and crouched down.

Seeing the father frantically try to help her, Retsu scratched his head awkwardly.

“You were traumatized by that? My bad. Then what about after you started writing your own songs? Y’know, like ‘No one will even look my way. I’m a sweet pea of a bygone era’?”

“Ow, ow, ow, ow!”

Kazami’s mother shook as violently as someone on the receiving end of an exorcism, but…

“I-Izumo-san, please stop hitting her past with these uppercuts!”

“Sorry about that.”

Retsu gave an honest smile.

“No matter how it might look now, we all had fun at the time, so I don’t see any reason to reject what happened back then.”

“That’s right. That’s right, mama! Did you hear what Izumo-san just said!? ‘No one has had as painful a life as me’ was a really, really good song!”

“Ow, ow, ow, ow! Papa! You wrote that song!!”

The father looked up in surprise.

“That’s right. That’s the musical curse I wrote when I was so mad at my idiot of a boss! I planned to send it to him, but I accidentally put it in your birthday card instead.”

“Yes, and the card saying ‘I want to be with you from morning to night (heart)’ ended up going to your boss. Didn’t he quit almost immediately after that?”

“Ha ha ha! And it was all thanks to you, mama!”

The mother hit his head with the thermos.

The empty thermos made a nice side, but by then, Retsu was already walking toward the station.

“Are you leaving already?”

“Yes.” Retsu waved without turning around. “I’m looking forward to it. We’re having a pretty serious festival too, so I hope we can enjoy the night together.”

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| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 20|Chapter 20]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume3 Chapter 7

2026-03-25T03:58:32Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 7: Lying Neighbor==
[[Image:OnC_v03_0171.png|thumb]]
''The question of something unseen produces a feeling

''One’s heart moves because that feeling resides within it

''Like the scent of flowers carried on the wind

After parting ways with Tsukuyomi, Sayama entered the training facility in UCAT’s third basement.

He was currently in the locker room. It was one location of several layers created by a concept space.

The room was about twenty meters long and bordered a shower room.

Tall lockers made of a dry white substance lined the wall.

On the way here, Sayama had picked Ooshiro up from the floor in the corridor and told him the following:

“After meeting up with Kazami and the others in the training room, I wish to decide whether we will perform the Leviathan Road with 2nd-Gear.”

But despite saying that, he already intended to go ahead with the negotiation.

…''I am interested. What type of negotiation should we use?

He still had not seen how 2nd-Gear viewed the Leviathan Road.

That was one thing he wanted to learn.

“There is also that technique Director Tsukuyomi used…”

What had that been?

Sayama understood pursuing something out of curiosity was dangerous.

However, he could not stop the feeling of curiosity.

The reception desk informed him Kazami and the others had already entered the training room. They all wanted to finish training as quickly as possible to have more time to exchange their ideas on the different issues.

While thinking about various things, Sayama placed Baku on his head and changed.

“I wonder if the others have all finished their Brazilian gymnastics warm up.”

The only names on the lockers were Izumo, Boldman, and Sayama.

This locker room was exclusively used by Team Leviathan and Kazami said the girls had a similar arrangement. However, Kazami also said Shinjou alone was treated differently.

Shinjou used the ninth women’s locker room, but that was meant for the people UCAT referred to as “VIP Level”.

“From what Kazami said, UCAT must really treasure her.”

It was true she was quite sheltered and had almost never left UCAT.

''They must have their reasons,'' thought Sayama as he finished changing.

He now wore a thin armored uniform colored primarily white and black. It was made up of a shirt and tights that covered almost his entire body, a vest, and pants.

His eyes stopped on the ring on his left middle finger as he equipped his arm band.

“They still will not give me Georgius.”

Ooshiro had given him that gauntlet during the battle with 1st-Gear.

That mysterious concept weapon had allegedly been found by his mother, but Ooshiro and the others had taken it back after the battle.

With all the unknowns surrounding it, Sayama felt that was the proper way of handling it.

He stared at the ring on his left hand for several seconds.

But then he shook his head.

He endured the pain in his chest and cut off that train of thought.

There was something else he needed to think about now.

Officially, he had to think about how to handle the Leviathan Road with 2nd-Gear.

And personally…

…''Once my left hand is fully healed, Setsu-kun will leave me.

Both were issues he would have to face eventually.

Suddenly, he recalled his conversation with Shinjou before leaving school.

In that afterschool classroom, Shinjou had hung his head down, hesitated, explained he was trying to write a novel, and said he resembled Yamato Takeru.

All of those actions had been signs of his desire to say something.

…''If Shinjou-kun grows serious about this, I must face him.

“Yes.”

Sayama nodded and stopped thinking. He then walked forward.

After a few steps, he reached a white automatic sliding door. The training room lay beyond it.

The door emitted an electronic tone and he heard a voice.

—'''People do not overestimate their power.

The power one believed one had was not an overestimation; one had that power.

That concept linked the locker room with the training room and both became the same.

Then the door opened.

Beyond lay the white walls, floor, and ceiling of a thirty meter square space.

Instead of the large space, Sayama first saw something odd.

It was a body contained within a white armored uniform.

This person was lying on their back in midair. It was a large man flying toward Sayama.

Sayama took an instant to look closer and realized this was Izumo.

“Oh? Have your natural eccentricities grown so great you can finally fly, Izumo?”

“Sayama!? Wait! This is dangerous! Stop saying stupid things and catch him!”

''Oh, it is Kazami,'' thought Sayama. ''Kazami is always the one to use violence against him, so why does she want me to catch him?

Was Izumo’s flight not her doing?

On second glance, Izumo was not flying through the air the way he usually did.

“When Kazami sends him flying, it is more…how should I put it? Rich and dense?”

“The way he’s flying is dangerous, so catch him! Do you want me to send ''you'' flying!?”

Sayama caught on immediately.

“It is not my style to catch a guy like Izumo, but if I must.”

Sayama prepared himself to catch Izumo and watched him fly closer.

Izumo’s trajectory was a bit high, so Sayama had to catch him from a bit below.

To spread his legs backwards, Sayama took a large step back.

As soon as he did, the door’s sensor lost sight of him and the door closed in an instant.

“Oh?” he muttered.

“Gbh!?”

The closed door shook as Sayama heard a pig-like squeal and a sound of impact on the other side.

The noise shook the lockers and produced a creaking that made one’s skin crawl.

“…”

Sayama remained motionless. He stared silently at the door while still in the pose to catch Izumo.

He had several thoughts, but he drove them all out of his head with a single sigh.

“Some things are simply outside of human control. What a pain.”

He stepped up to the door and it immediately opened once more.

He found Izumo standing there with blood running from his head.

“Oh, so you are fine. Such a disappointment for humankind.”

“D-damn you! Do I look fine to you, stupid Sayama!”

“Anyone with that much energy is doing well enough. And with you, anything short of death counts as fine, Izumo.”

“And if I do die?”

Sayama thought on that question. Finally, he clapped his hands together and Baku imitated the action on his head.

“A light wound?”

“Okay, you idiot. Do you mind if I say something? It’s for your own good.”

“What is it? If you are going to praise me, I would prefer you wait until after I complete some large job.”

“You belong in a hospital.”

“You do enjoy saying rude things, don’t you? Ha ha ha. You are a bastard at unprecedented levels.”

“Wa ha ha. I’m nothing compared to you, you cruel bastard. And more importantly…”

Izumo stood up and turned toward one corner of the training room.

From Sayama’s perspective, it was the back left corner. Kazami and three others stood there.

The first was Sibyl who wore a white armored uniform with skirt and everything else included.

The second was Shinjou who wore a white armored uniform and held a large metal staff.

And the third was a woman wearing a black armored uniform, a skirt, and a black three-cornered hat.

Sayama recognized this woman who held a bamboo broom and whose sleeve swelled out at the shoulders.

“Diana Zonburg.”

“Oh, are you finally here? From what I hear, you met with Director Tsukuyomi of 2nd-Gear. Have you already decided to negotiate with them?”

“No, not yet. After training here, I thought I would discuss it with the old man.”

“I see,” said Diana in a relieved voice. “Then do you still only have some small questions about 2nd-Gear?”

“Does that matter?”

“Yes. I have one thing to teach you to ensure you do not take this negotiation lightly. This is something very important for the Leviathan Road you are about to head down.”

On the first floor of Taka-Akita Academy’s third general school building, the setting sun filled the hallway through windows with no glass.

Ooki was stooped over by the wall and sweeping.

Behind her, Siegfried held a broom as well.

“Is this good enough?” she asked.

Siegfried stopped sweeping and ran a finger across the window frame.

“This is still fairly dirty…”

“That isn’t from the fight just now!”

Ooki let out an exhausted sigh and looked around.

She saw windows with no glass and a scorched hallway.

She changed how she looked at the situation and spoke her thoughts out loud.

“Siegfried-san, who was that Diana woman?”

“My niece.”

“That isn’t what I meant.” Ooki looked around at the glass shards in the dustpan. “Who is she to Sayama-kun and the others?”

The ends of her eyebrows lowered as she asked and Siegfried initially remained silent.

Ooki turned around and tilted her head at his silence.

Finally, he replied with a question of his own while looking down at her.

“Why do you ask that?”

Ooki smiled and gave an answer.

“Because they are my students,” she said as if that was only natural. “It worries me.”

“I see.”

Siegfried’s expression changed.

He smiled slightly.

Without showing any more of his true feelings, the sorcerer spoke.

“I do not know the details either, but Diana arrived in Japanese UCAT during the 1980s. She was a consultant in magic spells. And…she remained until the end of ’95.”

“You mean… she stayed until that earthquake?”

“Yes,” replied Siegfried. “Just like the original UCAT members had the Eight Great Dragon Kings, it seems the old UCAT leading up to the earthquake had a group known as the Five Great Peaks. Diana is one of them. …At the time, they were apparently trying to learn and use the combat techniques of each Gear. Why, I do not know.”

“In that case, this was not her true strength.”

Ooki looked across the hallway. The windows were gone and portions were scorched, but there was no more destruction than that.

Siegfried nodded and spoke.

“She may have seen a user of 1st-Gear’s true power as a chance to test the power of hers which is not borrowed. But I doubt she was taking this seriously.” He took a breath. “Before she left the school, she told me she had something to teach those who would be following in our footsteps.”

Shinjou’s eyes opened in surprise as she watched the mock battle being used as training.

Sayama was fighting, but…

“He can’t do anything…”

As she watched, Sayama continually back stepped as he moved along the training room floor.

He was pursued by a woman in a black armored uniform and a three-cornered hat. She was the woman named Diana from German UCAT.

Today was the first time Shinjou had seen her.

Just as Shinjou had finished changing in the women’s locker room, the woman had surprised her by suddenly entering.

…''She has a really nice figure.

Shinjou had immediately continued on into the training room, so she had not spoken with the woman as she changed.

However, the nod the woman had given in lieu of a greeting had seemed nice enough.

Shinjou did not think the woman was an evil person. But perhaps that was due to her naïveté.

At any rate, the woman was definitely giving Sayama trouble.

She moved by walking and her weapon was a broom.

Diana would walk up and try to sweep Sayama’s feet out from under him with the broom.

That was all she did. She swept the broom with a wide motion and her walking pace was relaxed. She was not using any kind of spell.

And yet…

“Sayama-kun! In front of you! She’s coming!”

Diana approached from directly in front of Sayama, but he did nothing despite wielding a sword.

Once again, he only took action a moment after she cried out.

“…”

His eyes suddenly focused on Diana who stood directly in front of him.

Diana tilted her head.

“What is it?”

Sayama’s eyebrows rose slightly and he leaped to the left.

An instant later, Diana swept her broom along the spot he had been in a moment before.

Shinjou heard the bamboo brush scrape cross the floor.

Kazami stood to Shinjou’s left and she finally spoke.

“Kaku was taken out by that broom. She knocked someone as big as him flying with one sweep of a broom. Who is she?”

Sibyl, who stood to Kazami’s left, tilted her head.

“That woman came from the locker room Shinjou-san always uses, did she not? In that case, I assume she is close to either Ooshiro-sama or Itaru-sama.”

“Probably,” said Kazami as she folded her arms and looked back across the room.

Shinjou followed Kazami’s gaze and saw Diana walking toward Sayama once more.

Kazami clicked her tongue at the scene.

“Why can’t Sayama do anything?”

“Hmm… Do you think she’s using some kind of ability? Like some kind of martial arts.”

“You mean martial arts instead of magic?”

“Yes. I don’t know how to say it exactly, but she isn’t using any spells or concepts. In that case, I think she has to be using some kind of deceptive martial art.”

As far as Shinjou could see, Diana was walking normally.

However, Sayama would lose sight of her.

“And he notices her again when she stops.”

Exactly that happened and Sayama back stepped away.

As she watched that scene play out again and again, Shinjou recalled what she had just said.

Diana would stop just before Sayama noticed her.

…''It looks like Sayama-kun is noticing Diana-san and then moving out of the way, but what if that isn’t what’s happening?

“Is Diana-san stopping to purposefully let him notice her?”

“If so, she’s quite the odd person. She’s waiting for Sayama to give up.”

Hearing Kazami’s comment, Shinjou could not help but shout out.

“Stick with it, Sayama-kun!”

As if in response, Sayama leaped toward her.

From a distance of approximately five meters, Sayama called out to Shinjou.

“Shinjou-kun.”

Shinjou did not know how to respond when he suddenly called her name.

“Shinjou-kun,” he called again.

“Eh? Wh-what is it?”

Sayama nodded.

“It seems I am a bit confused right now. I could use some help calming down, so-…”

“No repeating a joke by telling me to stick out my butt, okay?”

“…”

“Wh-why are you lost in thought now?”

''She is a surprisingly strict person,'' decided Sayama. ''Anyway…

“Shinjou-kun, let us talk about this battle. You called out to me to tell me Diana is approaching, did you not?”

“Yes. …It didn’t look like you could see her.”

“I could not see her.”

“Eh?” said Shinjou. “H-hey, Sayama-kun, what do you mean? Has the twisted wiring of your brain finally affected your vision too?”

“I see we have much to discuss after this is over, but I will overlook it for now. …So you are saying you could see her, Shinjou-kun?”

“Y-yes. Kazami-san and Sibyl-san could as well.”

“I see,” said Sayama with a nod.

He understood something now.

The technique Diana was using was the same one Tsukuyomi had used.

He still did not know what it was, but he had begun to analyze it.

“The effects are limited to me, so she is not actually hiding somewhere. Does that mean she is preventing my senses from detecting her?”

And…

“Kazami, one quick question. How did Izumo lose?”

“Well… Um, he turned his right side toward her and…”

“And he attacked straight ahead the instant she began to move?”

“Yes, but she easily evaded and…well, you saw what happened.”

“I see,” said Sayama with another nod.

Shinjou then asked a question from behind him.

“Is there anything you can do, Sayama-kun? You don’t see her when she approaches, right?”

“It is not that I am not seeing her. I think I am being made so I cannot see her.”

He sent a self-deprecating smile toward the floor and thought.

He still did not know on what principle this technique functioned. However…

“There is still a way of defeating an unseen enemy,” said Sayama.

He held his Cowling Sword to the right with his left hand.

He lowered the tip in an iai stance.

He faced forward at Diana’s smile ten meters away.

She had said she had something to teach him.

Was that this technique?

…''Or is there still something more?

Shinjou saw the atmosphere around Sayama change.

His back tensed a bit as he focused.

She did not feel comfortable speaking to him now because the slightest stimulus would cause him to move. However, she heard Kazami speak quietly next to her.

“This is bad. This is the same as when Kaku was defeated. The only difference is his stance.”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“Kaku stopped moving and took an offensive stance, remember? Do you know the way to attack something unseen?”

Shinjou thought, but a glance at Sayama and Diana told her she had no time.

So she said, “Sorry, but just tell me.”

“Sure. I’m betting Kaku’s idea was to attack his enemy when he lost sight of her.”

“So… When she disappeared, he knew she was coming in for the attack?”

“Testament,” replied Sibyl. “But look. Diana-sama disappears from Sayama-sama’s vision when she is approximately seven steps away from him.”

Shinjou mentally converted the distance of seven steps and her expression stiffened.

“Do you get it now, Shinjou? Seven steps is about four meters. At that distance, she can easily circle around or stop where she is. But since her opponent can’t know what she will do, he can only attack blindly. That’s why Kaku swung V-Sw like a bat.”

Kazami glanced over at the right corner of the training room.

A giant blade was stabbed into the white wall.

It was V-Sw. Its console was still active and a short sentence was displayed on it.

“So lonely.”

“What a pain,” sighed Kazami. “He should have expanded it to its second form.”

''What should I do?'' wondered Shinjou.

Like before, she could tell Sayama what Diana was doing. However…

…''Sayama-kun said he had a way.

Shinjou stared at Sayama’s back.

He remained perfectly still and waited for his opponent.

And so Shinjou decided to remain silent and wait.

Just like Sayama, she waited for it all to begin.

Diana tilted her head when she saw Sayama’s stance.

His stance was different than Izumo’s when she had swept him away.

Izumo had held his Cowling Sword in both hands like a bat, but Sayama held his Cowling Sword at his right hip in his left hand.

That iai stance reminded Diana of a backhand in tennis.

He had obviously thought this through.

''But,'' thought Diana. ''That will not work.

She had a reason to think this.

And if Sayama knew that reason, he would not have done nothing but run this entire time.

And so Diana thought, ''Your way of thinking about this is fundamentally flawed.

“I will not give you a warning.”

…''The inexperienced show the most growth after defeat.

Izumo sat in front of the door behind her. He saw no value in his defeat and instead felt only frustration and confusion.

That was fine.

[[Image:OnC_v03_0191.png|thumb]]

Those who did not glorify defeat and instead tried to oppose it were the most frightening when one saw them again.

Diana suddenly looked down at the chest of her own armored uniform.

“The insignia of German UCAT.”

The badge displayed Germany divided to the left and right with a cross binding the two halves.

She spoke as she looked down at that image.

“Sayama Mikoto-kun, you are facing a few different questions right now, aren’t you? You want to know how you should face 2nd-Gear as the Leviathan Road’s negotiator. And…”

“And?”

“You want to know how to relate to someone named Shinjou.”

Sayama’s expression remained unchanged and he said nothing. However, that lack of reaction gave an eloquent answer.

Diana took a breath and spoke.

“I will now bring defeat to you.”

Sayama’s response was a simple one.

“That is impossible,” he declared.

“Heh heh. That sounds promising. Will you still say that if I knock you around a bit?”

“I have been knocked around countless times by my grandfather and others in the past,” he said expressionlessly. “And on the psychological side, nothing pains me more than the past. …That is why I will never admit defeat even if I die. As long as you allow me the qualifier of ‘eventually’ I can confidently declare my victory.”

“Herrlich.”

A slight smile appeared on Diana’s lips. This smile came from her heart.

“Then instead of giving you defeat, I will leave it with you for the moment. Is that good enough?”

“Yes. In that case, I suppose I should say Testament. Do I need to pay it back with interest?”

“Testament. But please send that payment to your enemies. And while I leave this defeat with you, please think about why this happened. If you do, I think you will come to understand something interesting.”

“Something interesting? Is this related to my questions concerning 2nd-Gear and…Shinjou-kun?”

“Searching for those answers is your role. And this is my test.” She nodded. “Team Leviathan is too inexperienced to see through my technique, but you may show some promise. …I will be testing you on that now.”

Her smile deepened and she deemed it an excellent smile.

Everything that produced a smile would result in a cheerful conclusion.

As she thought on that, Diana held her broom forward.

“Questions. They form tests, doubts, riddles, truth seeking, searches, and definite displays of resistance.”

She walked forward.

“Think and ask questions. Send a question mark to yourself so that you can fight back.”

As she spoke, Diana continued toward Sayama.

Sayama watched the witch approach.

With her current gait, she was twelve steps away.

A footstep quickly reduced that to eleven. A heel cut it down to ten.

Once he counted down through nine, eight, and seven, she would be in her territory.

With a natural pace, she made that seventh step.

At the same moment, Diana disappeared from Sayama’s senses.

''No,'' thought Sayama.

He was seeing Diana a bit to the right.

He was seeing her, but his mind could not sense her.

Her footsteps and presence were both there, but his senses would not accept it.

…''What is this?

His perception was out of sync with his senses. With a smile, Diana approached to a distance of six steps.

Sayama felt a chill.

This was when he had made his back steps previously.

Diana had stopped here and his perception of her had returned.

But she did not stop this time.

She continued on.

For an instant, he was not sure if he should evade or not.

This urge to evade was what Izumo had transformed into an attack earlier.

Sayama felt it was commendable that Izumo had been able to resist evading.

But Izumo’s attack had been evaded and he had been blown away.

Seven steps or about four meters was far enough to evade almost any close quarters attack.

Faced with that fact, Sayama knew he had to grasp Diana’s location directly in front of him.

While wondering what he should do, Sayama had found a certain method.

Shinjou saw Sayama suddenly step forward toward Diana.

An “ah” escaped her lips.

She realized what Sayama was doing.

“He’s going to fight even though he can’t see her.”

Just because he could not see her did not mean she had disappeared.

She was there.

If his opponent would circle around outside his attack range, he just had to fill that gap himself.

That was the method Sayama chose and he continued to move.

As Sayama stepped forward, he held his right hand out ahead of him.

Diana had been walking straight toward him, but his outstretched hand stopped her.

No longer able to walk forward, Diana chose to evade. Her body moved to the side as she began to step out of the way.

At the same time, Sayama’s Cowling Sword shot out in his left hand. It formed a white arc from his right hip to directly in front of him.

“…!”

Even if he could not see his opponent, he could guide her with a few different movements.

If he stopped her from moving forward, she would definitely move either left or right.

And a sword swung from the right hip would extend the farthest to the left. In that case…

…''She’ll evade to the right!

Diana circled outside the range of the sword and to Sayama’s right.

The witch calmly evaded the blade.

However, Shinjou saw another smile. This smile was on Sayama’s lips.

Shinjou could guess why he had that smile. Sayama’s primary weapon was not his sword.

“Seh!!”

His right leg shot toward Diana in a high speed kick.

He put his hips behind this kick in a way only one trained in hand-to-hand fighting could.

It all happened in an instant.

The sharp trajectory of his leg struck the witch and a sound of impact rang out.

Sayama felt the blow in his leg. However…

“It was not a direct hit!”

“No, it was not. You think too much of yourself, but you did well for someone at your level.”

He could see Diana.

The black witch showed no sign of pain and no sign of having taken a blow.

He noticed his leg had not struck her.

She was holding her broom in front of her in her left hand. His leg had struck the broom’s handle.

“…”

She had not taken any kind of stance. She had simply held the broom forward. It was almost as if…

…''It looks like my leg struck the broom she had held out in advance.

“I knew what you were doing,” she said.

“You knew?”

“Sorry. I could have knocked you away before you even attacked, but you would not have accepted that result. I needed to show you that your chosen method would not work.”

Diana went on to describe Sayama’s strategy.

“You chose to forestall my movement and lead me as you saw fit, didn’t you? But that does not work against someone who knows how you think.”

Diana drew back the broom and Sayama lowered his leg.

They both took a breath, and…

“!”

Sayama suddenly threw a left kick.

It was fast and he had chosen a moment when her guard was down.

However…

“How naïve.”

Sayama’s kick was blocked by the handle of Diana’s broom as if that was the natural result.

Sayama frowned and Diana smiled.

“Do you understand now?”

He did. At some point, her broom had moved from her left hand to her right hand.

Just like her walking, he had been unable to perceive that movement of the broom.

What was happening?

The one thing he understood was that he did not understand.

“If you are faced with an enemy who can do this, you and those behind you are done for,” said Diana.

Sayama listened to her and uttered a grinding question through his clenched back teeth.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why can I not see you even though I am seeing you?” he asked as if throwing away the breath.

“Testament.”

Diana raised her head. Her eyebrows returned to normal and strength left her expression as she showed a true smile.

“That contradictory question is a very Japanese. I believe a man in Japanese mythology named Yamato Takeru used a method like this to defeat an opponent. He kept his opponent from suspecting anything, approached, and attacked.”

“…!”

Sayama recalled what Shinjou Setsu had told him afterschool.

…''What if I was Yamato Takeru?

He had thought that meant Shinjou Setsu had some lie.

And he had given a certain response to those words.

He had made a certain promise to Shinjou Setsu.

…''When Shinjou-kun gets serious and tries to tell me something, I will face him.

He focused on the idea of “facing” him.

Sayama realized a new meaning for that word.

He realized a new way of thinking about his promise with Shinjou, his training with Diana, 2nd-Gear’s acclimation to Low-Gear, and how he should carry out the Leviathan Road.

It was all the same.

If he did not properly face those things, he would lose something.

And so Sayama nodded.

He opened his mouth and rephrased his previous question into a new question.

“Why am I not seeing you even though I should be seeing you?”

That question would allow him to face his opponent’s true form. His question was based in conviction.

Naturally, Diana had no way of reading his thoughts.

But even so, she nodded in response.

“Testament. Think on this. Face everything that stands before you so that you do not lose sight of them. …Struggling against that sort of question is a good deed for you and your comrades.”

He heard her speak.

And as soon as he realized that, Sayama saw something white.

It was the ceiling.

He did not even know when he had been knocked into the air.

''Is even that a question I must ask?'' thought Sayama.

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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume3 Chapter 6|Chapter 6]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume3 Chapter 8|Chapter 8]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 18

2026-03-24T03:00:44Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 18: Feelings for a Voice==
[[Image:OnC_v14_0663.png|thumb]]
''Is it reality or imagination that has reached you?

''Grasp the answer using your own point of view

A pair of footsteps ran up a staircase filled by the morning sun.

They came from a boy and a girl and they were accompanied by words.

“Kaku! C’mon! Hurry up! The bell is going to ring! It’s the last day of the year-end festival, so the student council can’t miss the homeroom roll call two days in a row.”

“Hey, now. Who was it that took forever getting changed in the dorm room? You or me?”

“Honestly.”

Kazami blushed, grabbed Izumo’s hand, and pulled him along.

She then looked to the top of the stairs.

“Hurry. This might be our last homeroom.”

“I’d rather it wasn’t.”

Both of them held large bags.

The bags contained V-Sw and G-Sp2.

Kazami rested G-Sp2’s bag on her shoulder as if to better feel the weight in her arm.

“Once homeroom is over, let’s meet up with the others and go to Yokota Air Base. We should be able to get some detailed information on the situation there.”

The loss of everyone in Japanese UCAT was still unconfirmed.

Would they find the answer or not?

The two of them had called Harakawa and the others, but no one else had known anything either. It did seem Shinjou was safe, so Kazami hoped to learn more about that and the safety of the others after meeting up with Sayama and the rest.

Yokota seemed to be the place closest to the center of it all, so they hoped to gather information there.

That was why they would go there after meeting the others.

“After confirming what happened, I want to build my resolve.”

Kazami’s comment put a bitter smile on Izumo’s face.

She looked at him as if to say “What’s that for?” and he responded with the bitter smile intact.

“I see you’re playing this by ear.”

“Yeah. Adlibbing can be useful off the stage as well.”

As she said that, they reached the stairway landing.

They faced the hallway lined with classrooms. As they began running, 8:30 arrived.

It was time for homeroom.

The classroom was filled with students.

Some were speaking and a few were standing, but most were seated.

Sayama and Shinjou were in their school uniforms as they heard the bell ring.

Shinjou sat in the back and looked to both the teacher’s desk and the windowsill.

“Ooki-sensei and Harakawa-kun aren’t here.”

“Harakawa and Heo-kun are apparently on their way from Yokota. As for Ooki-sensei…who can say?”

Shinjou could not nod or shake her head to his question.

She said something else instead.

“I…hope she gets here.”

She then reached out her left hand toward Sayama’s seat on her left, took his right hand, and squeezed it.

He squeezed back.

They said nothing, but it was enough to calm her. So…

“Um, Sayama-kun?”

“What is it?”

“Once homeroom is over, let’s leave the school. We can meet up with the others and go to Yokota Air Base.”

“Yes,” he replied. “I was thinking the same thing.”

He squeezed her hand even tighter.

She glanced over and found him slowly looking across the classroom.

The class was waiting for homeroom.

All of their classmates were there.

In the seats toward the front, someone was silently looking forward with nothing to do.

Toward the hallway, someone was looking in a mirror and fixing her hair.

One was reading a book, one was listening to music, and one was chatting with someone in a nearby seat.

Sayama spoke quietly as he looked at them all.

“Everyone is fighting.”

“Eh?”

Shinjou questioned what he said, but she received no response.

When he spoke, he mostly seemed to be confirming it with himself.

“I began the Leviathan Road because I wanted to get serious. But…as we discussed early this morning, it was probably only a matter of chance that the one thing I could get serious about was the Leviathan Road.”

He looked around again.

“Shinjou-kun, you for example can get serious about writing your novel instead of the Leviathan Road.”

“I-I’m serious about the Leviathan Road too, you know?”

Her quiet protest led him to nod without turning her way.

“That means you have two things you can get serious about.”

He gave a small smile.

“I am glad I had something. And I will try to believe that I will find plenty more from here on. …And that is thanks to you.”

He maintained his smile and spoke so only she could hear.

“Everyone must be the same. They want to get serious, they fight, and they gain whatever it is. In that way, while there are differences in what exactly we do, the two of us are no different from everyone else.”

“—————”

He narrowed his eyes in a smile and finally turned that smile her way.

“And the same must be true of my other self.”

“Of Mikoku-san?”

“Yes,” he said. “She inherited so many feelings and an entire world and this is the first thing she has gotten serious over. Do you understand what that means? Even inside Babel, my other self hid her true plan from me and never revealed her serious side. …She lost someone important to her and even stored up the power of the philosopher’s stone created for that person, so no matter who opposes her, she will continue with her unavoidable revolution of the world.”

“You mean…?”

“She is incredibly serious. Noah-kun is a weapon and not a companion, so in truth, she is supported only by her own seriousness.”

Sayama looked down slightly and spoke quietly as if imagining the girl he spoke of.

“She currently stands at the leading edge of every world’s emotion of loss and she herself lost someone important to her. She has cornered herself in that position, so she has bet everything on a means of overturning that loss. And yet creating a world of rebirth will also reject herself as a member of the world of destruction.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

“Beat some sense into her.”

His quiet declaration left Shinjou briefly dumbfounded and he closed his eyes.

“I am someone who lost some things yet did not lose some other things, but just like her, I too can get serious. That means we are the same. And I do not like her methods. I need no other reason to punch my other self.”

“Can you…win?”

“If I do not, then her seriousness will win out. That is not a bad thing. After all, that conclusion would surpass my own seriousness. That would be a conclusion I could trust. And that is why I will abandon any expectations telling me I have an overwhelming disadvantage or I might be unable to turn this around. Instead, I want to do everything I am capable of doing.”

After a pause, Shinjou finally smiled bitterly.

Sayama gave her a puzzled look and she squeezed his hand before responding.

“You really can be childish sometimes.”

“Yes. Even I must admit it is truly adorable how I feel the need to lick certain things to see how they taste.”

“That’s not what I meant!!”

After checking to see if anyone else had heard that, Shinjou let her shoulders droop.

But without letting go of his hand, she added some inflection to her voice.

“I’ll go with you, you know?”

“I was counting on it, Shinjou-kun. Let us go punch that idiot together.”

He was expressionless, but she could sense a hint of a smile in it.

“And there are others who will help: Kazami, Izumo, the Hiba boy, Mikage-kun, Harakawa, and Heo-kun.”

“There are others too: American UCAT, the Gears who agree with us, and the surviv-…”

She trailed off before saying “the survivors from Japanese UCAT”.

She wondered what had happened to them.

Based on what she had heard of the Leviathan, she doubted the people they had mentioned were enough to put up a fight.

The enemy was much larger than a city and possessed the positive and negative powers of every Gear.

…''Is there nothing we can do?

She decided not to ask that out loud and Sayama said nothing either.

This was the one incident he would not reassure her about.

She squeezed his hand again.

“The final battle is tomorrow, isn’t it? How about we search for the others until then? And how about we gather people to fight with us?”

“I was thinking the same thing, Shinjou-kun.” Sayama nodded. “Our opponent is large and serious, while we are small and serious. So it would be best if we could gather an equal amount of seriousness before facing them.”

“Right.” Shinjou nodded, squeezed his hand harder, and wondered if it was hopeless. “Let’s do everything we can.”

As she spoke, she looked to the empty teacher’s desk.

Another sound then drew her attention.

“Eh?”

She heard static.

Everyone in the school recognized it because it always preceded the bell.

It pointed to a single fact.

“The final homeroom…”

It was beginning.

But the bell did not ring. Instead…

“————”

She heard the white noise that preceded a school-wide announcement.

“What is this?”

As soon as she asked her question, a voice escaped every speaker in the school.

Sayama braced himself for what was coming and listened with Shinjou to the voice coming from the speaker.

He heard a man’s voice.

“Everyone.”

He recognized the voice.

“Ooshiro…Itaru?”

''But,'' he wondered as the two of them exchanged a glance.

He gave a look of doubt and she gave a look of confusion.

“Did he…survive?”

Sayama’s question was eloquently answered by the speaker.

It provided the representation of a will known as words.

“Everyone.”

Kazami heard Itaru’s voice speak the same word again.

Izumo frowned in the next seat over.

“Hold on… We’re at school right now.”

She understood that. She really did.

But she also had a thought.

…''What is going on?

That thought became a desire to learn more and she lifted her gaze.

She looked to the speaker uttering the man’s will.

Everyone around her was too confused to do anything.

Within the stillness, Kazami and Izumo listened to the voice continue.

“Everyone.”

Itaru’s voice began with the same word for the third time.

“The entirety of UCAT will now enter a state of emergency.”

Hiba and Harakawa raced along the school’s northern road with their partners riding along and they listened to the voice reaching them from the row of boy’s dormitories.

“These orders are made with the full authority of Team Leviathan Supervisor Ooshiro Itaru,” said the voice. “All UCAT members are to enter a state of emergency regarding the world.”

Sayama squeezed back Shinjou’s hand and listened to the scratchy voice reaching them through the speaker.

He made sure not to miss a single word or syllable.

“By the time you hear this, I doubt I will still be with you.”

He heard a bitter laugh.

“Make sure to rejoice about that.”

And…

“You all stand at the end of the trend we created, so I’m sure all of you will stand up in my place.”

Heo placed her hands to her ears in the sidecar of Harakawa’s motorcycle.

She spread her hands to pick up the surrounding noise and the voice mixed into it all.

“It took sixty years to reach this point.”

There was a pause for a breath.

“It took ten years to change course here.”

Izumo listened.

Next to him, Kazami sank low in her desk, so he could tell she was focusing.

He feigned apathy, but as he rested his head on his hand, he kept his ear pointed toward the speaker.

“The ephemeral justice.”

Izumo muttered the same words.

“The compassionate villain.”

Harakawa drove his motorcycle to the north of the school buildings.

He approached a gravel path which increased the risk of the motorcycle slipping, but he squeezed the accelerator regardless.

If he slowed down here, he might be too late for something.

“Not to mention,” said the voice. “The reason, the emotion, and the bonds and intentions those things led to.”

Some self-deprecation could be heard in the voice.

“All of those things will be gathered in this worst case scenario. As ridiculous as it seems.”

Shinjou felt the strength of Sayama’s hand.

She felt heat and a beating pulse there.

So she nodded and looked in the same direction as him: toward the speaker producing Itaru’s words.

Itaru’s voice continued as if to respond to her gaze.

“Gather your strength. Let your wills cry out. That is what is needed now.”

The voice breathed in.

“After all, the past – including the last sixty years and the Concept War – is limited. If you wish for it, there will be much, much more to come. And you can only find it if you beat down the past and turn back toward it!”

“So at the very least…”

Mikage sank down in Hiba’s sidecar as she listened to the voice.

She looked up into the sky and saw no clouds there.

She felt like her soul could go anywhere today.

“At the very least, do not think of tomorrow as something that simply arrives.”

She heard what could be called a physical voice.

“Think of it as something you must take!”

Kazami listened to the voice of a man who had kept his distance from them for so long.

“Listen.”

She did so.

“If you are going to reach out your hand, then express your will. If you do that, you will be promised whatever it is you can grasp. So express yourself. There is only one response here.”

He continued immediately.

“Answer me! Will you or will you not continue on ahead and become the leading edge of it all!?”

Kazami just about responded to Itaru’s words.

She doubted the rest of her class knew what this announcement was about.

Still, she knew what it meant to answer that question and there was a single word she had to say.

To do so, she reached for the bag sitting next to her desk.

But something happened just before pulling G-Sp2 from the bag.

“Are you going to answer me or not!?”

Kazami saw and heard it.

All around her, as far as she could see or hear, every single student stood up, reached into their desks or bags, and noisily pulled weapons out.

“Testament!!”

Shinjou and Sayama heard it.

Before the two of them could do anything, the others stood up, lifted white cowling weapons, and raised their voices.

Tes, tes, tes.

We make our testament here.

They all said it, their weapons produced metallic sounds, and they laughed at what they were doing.

Those without a concept weapon on hand ran to their lockers and pulled them out.

Those with a concept weapon looked at each other’s weapons with surprised looks of “you too?”

“What is going on?” asked Shinjou.

Everyone looked at everyone else and laughed awkwardly.

Shinjou realized she and Sayama were the only ones still seated and she heard rushing footsteps and voices all around.

She heard Sayama’s voice next to her.

“Ha.”

He spat out his breath.

“Ha ha!”

He laughed and stood.

He pulled on Shinjou’s hand to have her stand as well.

Still confused, she stood, looked around, and saw the others turning back toward them.

She saw their eyebrows lifted in powerful smiles and she saw Sayama smile back in the same way.

They all held different weapons and noisily prepared them, so…

“…Right.”

Shinjou nodded back at them with her confusion becoming a bitter smile.

The next thing she knew, she heard footsteps and joyous shouts coming from the hallway and other classrooms. The same commotion could be heard from the ceiling and floor, so the same thing was happening on the third and first floors.

The rumbling coming from the hallway likely came from movement in the neighboring school building.

They were all the same.

They all raised their respective weapons.

“We’re all…together, aren’t we?”

Once Shinjou said that, someone in a white track suit suddenly opened the door and entered the classroom.

“Ah, is homeroom over already?”

It was Ooki.

Everyone turned around with shouts of surprise as Ooki brushed down her slightly disheveled hair, raised her attendance book, and looked around the room.

“Um, I’ll take attendance for the last homeroom of the year now.”

After a moment, surprise filled her face.

“Wh-why do you all have concept weapons!?”

“It took you that long to notice!?”

Everyone’s retort was soon followed by another question.

“Why are you alive!?”

“A-are you telling me to die!?”

“Wait,” said Sayama as he raised a hand to stop everyone and looked to Ooki. “Allow me sum it all up in a single question: where have you been, you tardy teacher?”

“Well…” Ooki scratched at her head. “Sf-san gave us an evacuation order straight from Itaru-san, so we all evacuated. But that took a lot of doing with 1st-Gear’s reservation and the 4th-Gear people.”

“Very good. All of that is acceptable. Continue.”

“Sayama-kun, are you making fun of me?”

“Of course not,” he replied. “I was praising you for having a proper explanation for once.”

“Yay! Sayama-kun praised me!”

Everyone gave her a look of shock, but she remained oblivious.

“Anyway, after we loaded the 1st-Gear reservation’s concept space creation device on a bicycle trailer and evacuated, it all blew up. And when we called for help, a whole bunch of police, firefighters, and JSDF showed up.”

“Ha ha ha. I suppose they would.”

“Right?”

Ooki gave a carefree bitter smile.

“Anyway, we couldn’t leave the concept space with all of them around, so we were stuck carrying the equipment all the way here.”

“I see, I see,” said Sayama as he nodded.

Shinjou realized he was going to say something soon, so she looked to Ooki.

But Ooki held her chest out proudly.

“I worked really hard. I clearly did a good job.”

“Yes, Ooki-sensei, you did work hard. You did a great job. …But I would like to ask why you never contacted us, you delinquent teacher. All of you have been missing since last night!”

“Eh?” Ooki frowned. “Was everyone worried? But Sibyl-san and Harakawa-kun’s mother were busy healing the wounded.”

“And what was a mere spectator like you doing?”

“Well… Odor-san and Diana-san said they were fine because they’d taken paid leave.”

“And why do you think you are on the same level as those inhuman people? And your paid leave has long since been used up thanks to your frequent tardiness, so do you have anything to say for yourself?”

“Um, well…”

It took five seconds, but Ooki finally found something to say.

“I’m sorry.”

Everyone sighed at her quiet apology.

“Well,” began someone as they all gave their thoughts at just about the same moment.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less of a superhuman that can coexist with roaches.”

“Who in the world let her be a teacher?”

“We’re never getting our final exams back, are we?”

“Wh-why are you all starting an anti-Ooki negative campaign!?”

“It’s not a negative campaign! We’re just telling the truth!!”

She flinched back from their unified response, but then Sayama sighed in her direction.

“Well, at least you are safe, Ooki-sensei. …Is your home okay?”

“It actually fell over.”

She sounded carefree, but everyone looked at her.

Shinjou knew that a tree spirit’s tree was equivalent to their own life.

…''If it fell over, she must have taken a good bit of damage.

Shinjou glanced over at Sayama.

He nodded back, telling her to ask her question.

So she did just that.

“Are you okay, Ooki-sensei?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine. The repair workers will fix the roots.”

Ooki was the same as ever. Or she seemed to be.

But then she scratched at her head.

“Although there is something I’m worried about.”

“Worried?” asked Shinjou. “If it’s something we can help with, just tell us.”

“Well…” Ooki kept scratching her head and slowly continued. “How should I put it? At the moment, I have no home, no clothes, and no money in the bank, so I was thinking of staying in the girl’s dorm for the time being. That would be fine, right? Right? It’s winter break. And once my home is standing again, I might like some volunteers to help fix all my toppled furniture. Also…”

Ooki continued with her true feelings on full display.

“I’d love it if someone could give their teacher a Christmas cake, a New Year’s meal, and a New Year’s gift.”

Shinjou and everyone else turned their back and ignored her, so Ooki raised her voice in protest.

That was when the courtyard grew noisy.

A shout came from outside the window.

Curious, Shinjou pulled on Sayama’s hand and ran to the window. She found a commotion leaving the courtyard and reaching the schoolyard.

“Everyone’s heading out!”

It went beyond that.

The group by the main gate was likely the people Ooki had brought. The UCAT members, Diana, the automatons, and the 4th-Gear residents were approaching the school buildings after leaving the concept space.

Everyone rushing out to greet them was a bearer of power.

That was why Shinjou squeezed Sayama’s hand.

“Let’s go with them! Let’s go to the power Itaru-san left for us!”

She and Sayama exchanged a look and a powerful nod.

“We can fight now. I’m sure of it!!”

She heard voices.

The voices no longer hid their strength and were confident that everyone was there.

Those voices never stopped reaching Shinjou’s ears.

A single person sat in the darkness while gathering and listening to the voices outside.

The broadcast room was a small room sticking out from the school building’s second floor.

The person sitting in front of the studio and mixer consoles and soaking in the joyous voices entering through the window was an automaton in a black maid outfit.

The letters “Sf” were stitched in the apron facing the window.

Sf looked to the tape recorder that was no longer running.

Its contents had already been released into the air.

“The will contained inside would deteriorate on a second playing.”

So she reached out and pulled the tape from the recorder.

She held it in her right hand and twisted her fingers.

“————”

She broke it.

Her gloved hand crushed and tore apart the wrapped magnetic tape and she tossed it aside.

“Itaru-sama.”

She held her hands to her chest.

She embraced the straw doll there, looked to the fingers that had destroyed the tape, and turned her eyes toward the scene visible out the window.

She observed the students and others in the courtyard as well as the concept weapons glittering in the sunlight.

“Itaru-sama…where are you now?”

She hugged the straw doll.

“You said you are everywhere, so you asked that I trust you. And you asked that I carry Shinjou-sama here. But…”

Her expressionless words continued.

“Where are you?”

The tape, the doll, and the voices outside were all things that would not have existed without Itaru, but…

“I am an automaton. I have no imagination. I trust you, Itaru-sama, but even though you said you are everywhere…where are you?”

Her plain words were not a question.

Her tone was one of confirmation.

And she used that tone to speak clearly.

“You are everywhere and nowhere, so…”

[[Image:OnC_v14_0689.jpg|thumb]]

She reached a single conclusion because she could not perceive his existence.

“You must actually be nowhere, Itaru-sama.”

She kept her legs together and her posture impeccable as she spoke.

Her dignified voice joined the joyous ones coming from all around and below.

“My name is Sf. I am the automaton with the name Sein Frau. That means I am the automaton who exists for that purpose. Therefore, I am to be more than a maid. I am to bear metal for flesh, reality for imagination, absence for existence, rejection for desire, and even speech for silence. But…”

She closed her eyes.

“You are my only master, Itaru-sama. I have determined as such. You always refused to see me as a maid and instead treated me as Sf, but also acted as the bearer of my tears. I cannot cry, but you always took that role in silence. And your final request for me was to live.”

She gave an expressionless nod.

“Tes.”

She did not hesitate to continue.

“If that is what you wish.”

A moment later, she fulfilled her master’s request as she understood it.

She halted all of her functions.

She immediately came to a complete stop in order to immediately fulfill her master’s request.

Even in stopping, she proved her how well-made she was.

She shut down silently, with no shaking, defect, or excess heat.

As a doll, she stopped moving.

She simply remained seated with no perceivable expression on her face.

The reverberation of movement had completely left this doll.

Diana stared at the automaton that had become a mere doll.

“I’m starting to feel like my life is nothing but watching over people’s final moments.”

She walked down the broadcast room’s narrow corridor and moved behind what had been Sf.

Diana knew exactly what the doll’s expression would be.

“Expressionless, right?”

And…

“Sf, you were an excellent machine. After all…you lived as a machine.”

Diana gently embraced Sf’s neck from behind and hung her head.

Her lowered head hid her face behind her hair and that allowed her to ask her next question.

“Was being a machine what Itaru wanted? …Was it really? I happen to know the very first thing he said to you.”

Diana released a breath that could have been a laugh or a sob.

“He said ‘What is this? Is it supposed to be a replacement for someone?’, didn’t he?”

The doll said nothing, but Diana still spoke.

“You decided to remain a machine because you didn’t want to be someone’s replacement, didn’t you?”

She received no answer.

She only heard the voices from outside.

She heard the voices that had inherited the will Sf had carried here.

Sayama and the others loudly celebrated each other’s wellbeing now that they were reunited. Their loud voices proved that their wills were present.

They raised their voices as one.

“Testament!”

That was a word of agreement, a word of a contract, and a holy word.

Diana raised her head and looked to Sf’s face.

She found an expressionless face with closed eyes.

It was Sf’s uniquely sharp face that was never influenced by anything.

“Yes.” Diana nodded. “Sf, you continue relying on Itaru.”

As if to let her hear the many voices reaching them, Diana deeply embraced Sf from behind and turned her slender body toward the window.

As if to store her deep in her heart, Diana pulled the slender frame close and spoke with a faint tremor in her voice.

“You…”

She breathed in.

“You are an excellent machine that chose to rely on your master as the very reason for your existence.”

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 17|Chapter 17]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 19|Chapter 19]]
|-
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume3 Chapter 6

2026-03-24T03:00:13Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 6: Former Admiration==
[[Image:OnC_v03_0147.png|thumb]]

''The world’s entrance is surprisingly close by

''Will you turn around or look upwards?

''The easiest boundary to accept is at your feet

When Ooshiro Itaru awoke, it was the afternoon.

Instead of his usual private room, he was on the roof of the UCAT building.

He had been sleeping in a cloth reclining chair and a blanket while below a large parasol.

Next to him was an astronomical telescope and…

“Sf, what are you doing with that notebook?”

“Tes. I am recording the heavenly bodies we saw last night.”

“Oh? I only remember showing you dark parts of the sky and saying ‘Look, dark matter’.”

He sat up and noticed Sf was filling the entire notebook page with the color black.

“Wait. Are you saying this was my fault?”

“This was what you wanted, Itaru-sama.”

Itaru brushed up his hair and placed a hand on the telescope.

“Wanna look at the stars during the day?”

“Tes. Thank you very much. Now I can use a different color of colored pencil.”

“What color are you going to use now?”

“Tes. Only the color blue.”

“So you think you can only see the sky, is that it? It’s time I taught this ill-tempered German machine that the stars do exist.”

Sf tilted her head in response.

“Are you sure you want to talk about the stars?”

“For me at least, they’re meaningless. But I have an interest in that kind of thing. Remember that.”

“Tes,” said Sf with a nod.

“Did anything happen since I fell asleep last night?” asked Itaru.

“According to the business division, Sayama-sama wishes to meet with the 2nd-Gear representative.”

“Ha. They haven’t even agreed to a mutual contract and he’s already here for a preliminary investigation? Any sign of him coming to me?”

“Tes, none at all. Kazami-sama and Izumo-sama arrived ahead of him and were let inside the Second Reference Room along with Sibyl-sama. I predict he will meet up with them.”

“I see,” said Itaru with a happy look. “He can dig up the past with his friends and trick himself into thinking he knows everything.” He gave a bitter smile. “2nd-Gear is a lot like us, but that means they won’t open up to us.”

Sayama walked through a corridor in UCAT along with Ooshiro.

He was on his way to a meeting with 2nd-Gear.

He had chosen to carry out the meeting alone because Kazami and the others were focused on inspecting documents.

“Most of the development department is asleep right now because they work through the night and the Leviathan Road representative has yet to arrive? It sounds like I will not be able to meet with them.”

Ooshiro nodded in response as they walked down the corridor.

“I can still introduce you to the director of the development department. And you need to experience 2nd-Gear’s concepts for yourself, don’t you?”

“True.”

They both created a loud footstep as they came to a stop.

They stood before the standard division’s first armory on UCAT’s second basement.

When the automatic door’s camera spotted Ooshiro, the door opened.

“Did you see that, Mikoto-kun? I’m a total VIP. You should show me more respect.”

“Wow, that’s amazing. …Is that enough?”

Ooshiro ignored him and stepped into the darkness before their eyes.

Sayama followed.

He heard a voice.

—'''Names provide power.

Sayama checked the red text scrolling across the watch on his left wrist.

He stared forward and saw that a dimly-lit storehouse had appeared at some point.

The ceiling emitted a bluish-white light and endless rows of steel shelves were covered in swords.

Countless swords were displayed while affixed to the shelves, scabbard and all.

“Listen. While in here, we gain power simply by having our names.”

“I see. Then what does Sayama give me?”

“Hmm… One theory says the name Sayama refers to a certain territory. Instead of giving you a special ability, it gives you the social status of owning that land. My name of Ooshiro means I am sturdy.<ref>Ooshiro means “great castle”.</ref>”

Ooshiro pulled a box cutter from his pocket.

He pressed it to his wrist and drew a line.

“See? Nothing happened.”

“Oh, now that is a surprise. But I am not sure I like the idea of an organization of which the leader walks around with a knife. Should I report you to the police? Also, old man, there is a flaw in your theory.”

Sayama took the box cutter from Ooshiro.

He immediately traced the blade along his own arm.

“Ahh! Mikoto-kun is going along with the latest fad!”

For some reason, Ooshiro raised his right thumb as he shouted out. Sayama showed him the right arm he had cut.

However, the arm was unharmed. The only mark was the slight redness of pressing something up against it.

“This box cutter is mass produced, so it has no inherent ‘name’.”

Sayama pulled a pen from his pocket and wrote the word “blade” on the knife blade.

“In 1st-Gear, this would have made it a blade.”

He did not hesitate to stab Ooshiro in the gut.

“Wahh! Wh-what are you doing, Mikoto-kun!?”

“Stop shouting. It only cut your clothes. It unfortunately did nothing to what lies within. Do I have to name it the ‘something-or-other knife’ for it to work? …This restriction is fairly strict.”

As he spoke, someone was staring at him with half-lidded eyes, but it was not Ooshiro.

He received a response from an amused female voice coming from further back in the armory.

“That’s more or less it. …You are a crazy person, bearer of the Leviathan Road.”

The voice held a bitter tone and Ooshiro scratched his head as he looked around.

“Hey, Director Tsukuyomi, could you come out to help us study 2nd-Gear?”

“Sure, but wait a moment. I need to put on some makeup with a young boy present.”

“Why bother?” asked Ooshiro.

As soon as he spoke, the old man flew backwards.

A sound of impact rang out.

''What was that?'' thought Sayama just as he spotted a light.

A bluish-white light had knocked Ooshiro beyond the automatic door.

However, it quickly disappeared.

“What was that?”

“Curious? You have excellent focus. Of course, that could cost you your life someday.”

The female voice suddenly came from quite nearby.

Sayama turned to the left and saw someone standing there.

An elderly woman in a lab coat stood in the dim light. Her narrowed eyes were turned toward him.

“You are here out of interest in 2nd-Gear, I take it?” She took a breath. “I am Tsukuyomi Shizuru, director of the development department. I will teach you a thing or two about 2nd-Gear’s concepts.”

The Second Reference Room was large.

Between two of the gray bookshelves on the white floor, Kazami wandered around with a few bundles of copy paper in her arms.

The sides of the lined up bookshelves gave the subject their documents were classified under.

“And the bookshelves covering the same subject are divided up by year and other subdivisions.”

Kazami was currently looking at the employee histories.

That was where she would find the data on the 2nd-Gear members working in UCAT.

The documents on the shelves were the master copies and a copier within the room was used to make copies that could be taken out.

However, some concept seemed to be in effect because some of the documents would have a portion blacked out on the copy.

“The truth lies in unseen places, hm?”

Also, it seemed there was some information they could read but would immediately forget and some they would interpret as entirely different text when they tried to read it.

Supposedly, a man had once snuck in to steal some income and expenditure reports, but when he arrived at home, he realized he had instead printed out twenty-six chapters’ worth of a story featuring a sick younger stepsister.

Kazami guessed that man had been Ooshiro.

“I get the feeling that would actually make more people want to sneak in… Anyway, you can’t take anything out at all unless you can alter its string vibration. And we only have permission to take out what we print onto the designated copy paper.”

…''I wonder if Sayama could find a hole in the concept’s rules and take out any information he wanted.

“He probably could…”

She smiled bitterly.

''That underclassman of ours can be a bit of thief and he tends to let the ends justify the means,'' thought Kazami. ''But what if Shinjou was with him?

The Shinjou siblings acted as a stopper for Sayama’s eccentric actions.

Sadame had filled that role during the battle with 1st-Gear, but at school, Shinjou Setsu had often acted in Sayama’s place and warned or stopped him concerning his speech or actions.

Kazami did not know much about Shinjou.

She had first met Sadame when Team Leviathan had been put together and had first met Setsu during spring break. Before that, she had only heard that there was someone named Shinjou who UCAT was protective of.

The one thing Kazami really did not understand was why Sayama made no effort to look into who those siblings were despite having both by his side.

…''He must have some reason and he must be satisfied just having Shinjou with him.

Her relationship with Izumo was similar.

They knew each other’s families, but the details about the other’s parents were mostly unknowns.

They were okay with not knowing and that might have meant what they already had was enough.

“I don’t know, though,” muttered Kazami as she thought. “Even if you’re fine not knowing about the other, you still want them to know about you. And that desire grows stronger the closer the two of you get.”

…''And Shinjou’s secrets are probably larger than ours.

For those sheltered siblings, the desire had to be even stronger.

“But will Shinjou be able to reveal her secret?”

Kazami just hoped Shinjou would not feel guilty if she continued keeping quiet about this important secret.

As she thought, she heard Sibyl’s voice in the distance.

“Chisato-sama.”

Kazami shrugged and turned toward the bookshelf.

Unfortunately, she had yet to gather the documents she had been tasked with finding.

…''Sibyl is way too fast.

She had no intention of feeling bad about being slower than Sibyl, but it made her stomach ache how Sibyl continued to call out her name.

“Um, uh, Chisato-sama…”

“Yes, yes. Wait just a moment.”

''That doesn’t even buy me a minute,'' thought Kazami as she looked forward.

The employee histories were lined up before her by department.

She glanced along the filing numbers on the edge of the clear file folders holding the documents and reached for the file she wanted.

But Kazami suddenly noticed a certain fact.

“There’s…”

“A missing period, right?”

Kazami turned around when she heard Izumo’s voice to her right.

He had a ten centimeter stack of copied documents detailing the development of 2nd-Gear concept weapons, but he tilted his head as he looked at her.

Kazami looked first at the blank spot on the shelf and then at the documents in Izumo’s hands.

“There is a blank period…but what’s with those documents?”

“Oh, Sibyl helped me gather th-…ow ow! Why would you start kicking me out of the blue?”

“Shut up. Guys who take the easy way out will never be good for anything.”

Sibyl’s skill was amazing, though.

“She is a master of information. The name Sibyl is based on a goddess, right?”

“Yes, Cybele. I wonder who named her that.”

“It was probably someone connected to UCAT, but I couldn’t say who.”

“Chisato-sama!”

“Oh, sorry. I ran into a distraction, so wait just a bit longer.”

“A distraction?”

“A terrible distraction. …Kaku, why do you look so upset?”

Despite Izumo’s expression, Sibyl called out again.

“Chisato-sama, how about I help you search?”

''Now there’s a good idea,'' thought Kazami. She almost agreed but swallowed the words. ''No, no. We asked her to help, so I can’t have her help any more than this.

Sibyl was always bringing tea and snacks during training.

In fact, Kazami had a feeling she would occasionally bring them bentos too. Bentos Kazami had taught her how to make.

…''Not good. She’s surpassing me and I never noticed until now. What do I do?

“Chisato, you look really conflicted, but some things are easier if you just give in.”

“Shut up. That comment settles it.”

''That’s right. I can’t rely on her. I need to stubbornly refuse her,'' she thought.

“I’m on my way,” said Sibyl.

Kazami’s shoulders drooped and she looked up at the ceiling.

''Dammit,'' she thought as Izumo spoke up next to her.

“Sibyl’s the type to not think too much about our feelings. But now you’ve been dragged into the same world of laziness as me. Wa ha ha! Give in to the laziness beam and just laze around until you die.”

“I’ll ignore that, but was it the same when she ended up helping you?”

“She walked up next to me and began pulling out all the documents I was after and piled them up with a smile. There was nothing I could do.”

“Sibyl really likes helping people, doesn’t she?”

“The scary part is how it’s like an indiscriminate bombing. Some people hate that kind of thing and there are some things people have to do themselves, so try to drag her away at times like that.”

“Sure,” said Kazami. “But, Kaku, what’s the deal with that blank period?”

“From the few bookshelves I saw, there are some shelves that really are empty. There’s nothing but a few abandoned documents remaining. I wonder if there’s a Third Reference Room where the really important stuff is-…”

“It was not moved anywhere like that,” said Sibyl as she walked up from behind.

Kazami turned around and saw Sibyl circle around a bookshelf while her high heels produced loud footsteps.

“Judging by the maintenance department’s concept space facility maintenance records, UCAT has no other concept space of this same type,” continued Sibyl. “I looked through most of the shelves and it seems the blank period exists here in the Second Reference Room as well.”

“As well?”

“Testament. UCAT has a past that is kept hidden from everyone.”

In the dim armory, a scarlet light appeared before Sayama’s eyes.

The light came from the sword in Tsukuyomi’s hand. The matte black blade was spewing red flames.

She turned toward him with a confident look.

“This is a piece of equipment used by the standard division. It is a Cowling Sword named Hinokagutsuchi. With a philosopher’s stone, it can produce high enough heat to cut through metal. In this concept space, its name gives it the ability to shoot out fire.”

“Can you control that fire?”

“Someone with the name of a sword god or someone with great skill would likely be able to.”

Tsukuyomi showed him the blade. The fire it produced illuminated the name “Ichiroumaru”.

“We number them like this so it’s still a name.”<ref>The name Ichiroumaru can be interpreted as the number 160.</ref>

“That is very thorough. But isn’t it inconvenient to call in power using names? Compared to 1st-Gear’s writing concept, it seems a lot more restrictive.”

“Didn’t 1st-Gear’s lack of restrictions prevent them from leaving behind many written records?” Tsukuyomi gave a bitter smile and returned the sword to its scabbard. “In 2nd-Gear, the bearer of power was determined properly. The different powers were controlled by those who possessed them and were used to their fullest when released. 2nd-Gear was a Gear of specialization in skills and ability.”

“Then 2nd-Gear’s representative for the Leviathan Road is…?”

“Yes, a man with great power. Kashima Akio is 2nd-Gear’s greatest military god and swordsmith.”

“He will negotiate with me?” asked Sayama before asking another question that floated up in his chest. “Did you make a military god your representative because you expect the Leviathan Road to involve combat?”

“It is a distinct possibility, isn’t it?” Tsukuyomi’s expression changed. The ends of her eyebrows lowered and she looked up with a troubled expression. “But it may not happen. I just hope he can face the Leviathan Road seriously.”

“Does he feel no desire to negotiate because 2nd-Gear is already on the same level as Low-Gear?”

To test the waters, Sayama threw out the question he and the others had raised earlier.

However, Tsukuyomi did not give him an answer.

“Kashima has his reasons. But that is exactly why I chose him. Sayama-kun? Do you have some time?”

“I intend to train with my comrades and exchange information on 2nd-Gear. Afterwards, I plan to tell the old man you knocked outside whether I would begin the Leviathan Road with 2nd-Gear or not.”

“I see. Then there is no need to hurry. But it would be best if you met Kashima soon. If you do, you should be able to face the question you have about 2nd-Gear.”

Sayama replied to the slight smile in her voice.

“Director Tsukuyomi, may I ask you one thing about that question?”

“What is it?”

Before he spoke, Sayama thought back once more to what Ooki had said.

“The people of 2nd-Gear are supposedly little different from the people of this world. But what do you think? Have you and the others been fully naturalized to Low-Gear?”

“Well.” Tsukuyomi thought for a beat while returning the sword to the shelf. “Those of us who do not know about 2nd-Gear and know nothing of concepts likely have no doubts they belong here. My daughter is like that.”

“I see. Are you saying you and the others here are different?”

“Hm, I don’t know. Everyone is different. We have a certain power, but we all view that differently. Personally, I have no intention of passing that power on to my daughter, but I still think it is useful.”

Tsukuyomi then added another answer to her statement.

And the smile on her lips deepened as she did so.

“How about you learn firsthand just how useful the power of 2nd-Gear’s ‘names’ is?”

Tsukuyomi snapped the fingers of her right hand.

In the next moment, Sayama sensed something coming from overhead.

He looked up and saw light. It was the beam of bluish-white light that had knocked Ooshiro away earlier.

Sayama took a defensive stance against the falling light and he heard Tsukuyomi speak.

“The name Tsukuyomi means to ‘read the moon’, so it lets me control moonlight. The dim light here is modeled after a moonlit environment, so the light here is my ally. This is the power of the name belonging to 2nd-Gear’s former imperial family.”

Meanwhile, the light arrived.

Sayama moved on reflex. He moved back to distance himself from Tsukuyomi. However…

“The light…”

The light should have fallen to the floor, but it suddenly bent and curved.

The light shot by across the ground and jumped up toward Sayama’s stomach.

Sayama stood in the narrow area between shelves, so he could not evade.

Tsukuyomi stopped smiling and spoke.

“If you make it through this, I will admit you understand a bit about us. And if you do, I will show you a certain technique as a reward.” She took a breath. “It is an anti-foreign world combat technique we can use without relying on the concepts of our Gear.”

Sibyl spoke to Kazami and Izumo in front of the rows of document shelves.

“A portion of the documents have been removed from the freely available First Reference Room as well. The period seems to span from 1985 to about 1995. Half of ’96 is missing as well.”

Kazami recognized one of those years.

“So it’s the ten years leading up to ’95 when this Gear’s negative concepts began to activate?”

“Testament. It is the ten years leading up to the great Kansai earthquake. …I am sure you have heard that information on UCAT was nearly exposed when we lost so many people in that earthquake. To avoid inspections and whistleblowers, the documents were destroyed. Some people refer to it as UCAT’s blank period.”

“So they decided it was safer for the important documents to not even exist, is that it? It is true the security here is ridiculously tight.”

“Is it?” asked Kazami with a hint of uncertainty.

“Yeah,” said Izumo with a nod. “I was looking at a porn magazine I found with the confiscated documents and none of the contents would reach my brain properly.”

“…Could you stop talking about that kind of nonsense so seriously?”

“Chisato-sama, that is just who Izumo-sama is. I would be more surprised if he said something worthwhile.”

“Hey, you two? Are you denying something about me?”

The other two ignored Izumo’s refreshing statement.

“Anyway, Sibyl, thanks for the help. …We really gathered a lot.”

“You are going in to train next, right? I will organize it all by the time you are done.”

“Thanks,” said Kazami again before sighing. “Sibyl, even ignoring the blank period, there’s still a great divide between us and the higher ups. Both Sayama and Kaku’s grandfathers died before they could learn about them.” She turned toward Izumo. “And he couldn’t find any documents on his father.”

“…I wasn’t looking for anything about him.”

“Fine, fine. If you say so. I saw you wandering around on your own, though.”

Kazami stroked his head as he glared at her and then she took a document from him.

The copied document described 2nd-Gear’s past concept weapon development.

She read the top of the fairly old-looking paper.

“A god of war?”

Printed at the top of the A4 piece of paper was the title Overall Diagram of the Humanoid Machine.

Sibyl peered over Kazami’s shoulder at the blurry lines of the paper.

“That is a very unrefined design. It is not a direct descendant of the ones from 3rd.”

“Well, it’s really old. Look, it says 1945…”

Kazami gasped when she realized what her own words meant.

“That’s the year Japanese UCAT was founded!”

Sayama took a certain action as the moonlight attack approached.

He looked up at the line of bluish-white lights on the ceiling.

Those lights produced the “moonlight”.

After checking on the faint lights filling the armory, Sayama faced forward.

Tsukuyomi looked a bit surprised.

“You plan to receive the attack? It’ll blow you away!”

“I will not let it!”

Sayama stared at the beam of light that was just about to strike him.

And he swung up his left arm.

With that single motion, he removed his coat and transferred Baku from the coat pocket to his head.

“If this is moonlight…”

Sayama placed the coat over his head as the beam of light approached from the front.

It all happened in an instant.

“If the moonlight is cut off from the moon, it cannot reach me!”

When the coat cut the beam off from the lights on the ceiling, it visibly weakened.

At the same time, Sayama kicked the moonlight up into the bundled-up coat.

The sound of the strike resembled a splash.

Particles of moonlight scattered from below the coat.

And finally, the light disappeared.

The coat fell to the ground, but Sayama left it there and continued moving.

He took another step toward Tsukuyomi.

…''Show me 2nd-Gear’s anti-foreign world combat technique!

He stepped forward with his left foot and threw a kick with his right. He aimed low down at her feet so it would be difficult to avoid.

He did not hold back because his opponent was a woman or because she was elderly.

“That is what it means to fight.”

Sayama kicked.

In the next instant, an unthinkable change occurred.

Tsukuyomi disappeared from before his eyes.

“!?”

His foot flew through empty air and he took a defensive stance.

Wondering where she was, he began to turn around.

“A negotiator should not drop his coat.”

Hearing that voice behind him, he hastened his turn. He found his coat held out toward him.

He slowly took it from Tsukuyomi who was holding it.

Based on the timing with which she had held out the coat, Sayama calculated the time it took her to move there.

“After I threw my kick and lost sight of you, you walked behind me and picked up the coat?”

During that time, she had vanished from his sight.

''What happened?'' he wondered while Tsukuyomi showed a bitter smile.

“Mysterious, isn’t it? 2nd-Gear developed techniques like this that we can use without concepts. That way we can win no matter when someone wants a fight,” she said while looking extremely pleased. “You will be looking into our past now, right? I hope you can bring us an excellent negotiation afterwards.”

Kazami looked at the humanoid machine drawn on the diagram in her hand.

It was a metal giant that seemed to be made by connecting together the bodies of warships using giant cylinders and bolts. The torso was a simple T-shape, but the arms and legs were very thick just like a toy.

Even the modern gods of war UCAT had started sending out into battle more closely resembled humans than this.

“The Yamata Sealing Humanoid Machine named ‘Susaou’. Jointly developed between Low and 2nd. …The central format is listed as Mikage format?”

Kazami thought she heard Sibyl gasp at the word “Mikage”.

However, Kazami did not ask about it. If Sibyl wanted to talk about it, she would.

She gave a bitter internal smile and continued looking through the blurry words of the copy.

How advanced a machine could they have made when Japanese UCAT was first established?

“The project to construct it was proposed March 12, 1945 and completed August of the following year. So they started this about half a year before the end of the war. …I’m amazed they could do that while Japan was undergoing tons of air-raids.”

“It was developed along with 2nd-Gear, so it most likely works under 2nd-Gear’s concepts rather than those of 3rd-Gear, the world of gods of war. That must be why it is called a ‘humanoid machine’ instead of a god of war.”

“I see.”

Kazami nodded and checked the measurements given around Susaou. She read off the blurry writing.

“Crew size: approx. 200 people. Total height: approx. 500…”

She trailed off. Her head was unable to keep up with what she read.

“…What is this? A height of approximately five hundred rice? Like, five hundred grains of rice?”

“No, Chisato-sama. That means five hundred meters. Meter used to be written with the character for rice.”

“Um, Sibyl. Even in a concept space, that’s too big to be real.”

“But these documents mean it is real,” said Izumo. He took a breath and met her gaze. “Are your thoughts bound by common sense by any chance?”

“O-of course they are.”

“Well, this huge thing exists somewhere in Tokyo along with Yamata. And there’s something even more surprising on that copy.”

Izumo moved in closer to her and pointed at one line on the copy.

It listed the names of Susaou’s captain and second in command.

“The captain was Ooshiro Hiromasa and the second command was Kashima. …Do you see the UCAT connection now?”

“I don’t recognize the name Kashima, but Ooshiro…”

“That’s right. …It’s all connected between sixty years ago and today.”

<noinclude>

===Notes===
<references/>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume3 Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume3 Chapter 7|Chapter 7]]
|-
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 17

2026-03-23T03:00:41Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 17: A Dedication to Relief==
[[Image:OnC_v14_0601.png|thumb]]
''Are you sure you want me?

''I am

''You wouldn’t want me

''That is not true

A long line cut across the land below the dark sky.

The illuminated westward-running line was a runway.

It was the western spare runway at Yokota Air Base.

Four people stood in front of the hangar located at one end.

They were two boys and two girls.

The boy with dark skin crossed his arms.

“Noah is sitting above Tokyo after turning into the Leviathan and we can’t contact anyone who was in Japanese UCAT. On top of that, our weapons can only stop the Leviathan temporarily and who knows if that will work again. …What are you planning, Hiba?”

He turned his sunglasses to face Hiba.

“The injury in your side has only been treated with first aid. I’m sure you had a reason to come here without even heading home, but shouldn’t you get treatment from the macho men in the medical room instead of calling just us here?”

Hiba scratched his head.

He let out a white breath with his eyebrows lowered a bit in a smile.

“Well, there’s something I wanted to show you first. I wanted to show just you and Heo-san.”

Heo tilted her head and lowered her eyebrows.

“Something you want to show us before you meet the macho men? It isn’t something perverted, is it?”

“Wh-what makes you think I’m a pervert!?”

Harakawa whispered into Heo’s ear.

“As hard as it is to believe, he isn’t aware of it, so try not to mention it. If you corner him, he probably really will do it. Keep in mind that this is the guy who took a hit to the crotch to make people laugh.”

“Oh, right. Testament. Understood. …I’ll try not to encourage him. It would make my teacher sad if one of us turned into a criminal.”

Heo forced a smile and looked back to Hiba.

“Wh-what is it you want to show us? I’m really looking forward to it.”

“I really feel like you have an ulterior motive when you say that…”

Hiba glared at her but then sighed. He turned to look at the girl with long black hair standing next to him.

“Well, I had us come here because of what happened to Japanese UCAT. There’s nowhere left to treat my wound, but also…”

He nodded.

“Mikage-san said she was worried everyone might be feeling a little hopeless.”

Hearing that name, Heo looked over and saw a slight smile on the other girl’s face.

“Mikage, do you not feel hopeless or like we’re completely outmatched?”

Mikage returned Heo’s gaze and tilted her head.

“The Leviathan is sad.”

“Eh?”

Heo looked surprised and Mikage turned to the east.

Tokyo was there.

The lights of Yokota Air Base kept the dark of night away, but the sky above the city center was even brighter.

The end of the year was approaching and Mikage looked to the sky illuminated by the bright city below.

“The Leviathan is so big, but it’s alone with Mikoku.”

Mikage looked down where something was moving within Yokota Air Base.

They were inside the concept space surrounding the base, but the main eastern runway was filled with the aircraft carrying various UCAT representatives that had arrived through the concept space corridor and mechanical dragons from the United States.

The spare runway they stood on would eventually be used as an apron.

“We have everyone here,” said Mikage as she watched their movement.

“B-but,” cut in Heo. “The Leviathan’s power is absolute!”

“If you’re powerless does that mean you can’t fight back?”

Mikage asked her question while looking at them all and it stopped Heo.

Harakawa suddenly patted her shoulder and looked to both Mikage and Hiba.

“Let’s not act so self-important. Heo especially has learned to get lost in her worries. If she stumbles even a little, she’ll make a huge fuss and show off how hopeless things are while naked. …You could call it a sudden-onset self-obsession disease.”

“H-Harakawa, you don’t have to be so mean about it!”

Heo frantically looked around and found Hiba giving her a puzzled look.

“Wow… Is that like the person who complains about the school in their graduation essay and says how unfair they had it, but they don’t actually mean it and just want to show off?”

“N-no, that’s not what this is…”

“Well, when Heo starts pointing out problems like that, she’s bound to get other people involved,” said Harakawa. “And the first up to bat will definitely be me. I should probably evacuate to a nuclear shelter.”

“N-no, like I was saying…”

“A shelter?” asked Mikage. “Heo, are you as powerful as a nuclear weapon?”

“No, wait, um, uh…”

Thick sweat poured from Heo’s entire body.

“U-um, are we really still doing this? Are we still continuing with the usual hate that completely ignores the individual in question? Really?”

“Calm down, Heo Thunderson. We are not ignoring you.”

“H-Harakawa. R-really? You aren’t ignoring me?”

“No, we aren’t,” he said. “But don’t infect me with your brain disease, Heo Thunderson. I have a busy life.”

“You’re mean!”

Hiba held out a hand to calm her.

Once she and Harakawa turned back his way, Hiba stood in front of Mikage.

“Anyway, whatever we might say, we’re the people who always end up fighting.”

“In other words, we’re dangerous people.”

“Harakawa-san, the way you know just when to take the shot is an art.”

Heo nodded in agreement and Mikage placed her hands on Hiba’s shoulders.

She then looked to Heo.

“Heo, you have a will, don’t you?”

“Eh?”

Heo hesitated and turned to Harakawa.

He averted his gaze and looked up into the sky.

“How about you answer on instinct like you always do?”

Hearing that, Heo sighed and looked to Mikage.

“Yes, I have a will.”

She directed her answer toward Mikage’s eyes and Mikage looked right back into her eyes.

“Then…let’s go hear the Leviathan and Mikoku’s cries.”

“Eh?”

“Before, you said people should cry when they want to, so let’s go hear it head-on. We’re the only ones that can do that. We’re the only ones that can grab their hand as they try to sweep everything away.”

“But,” said Heo. “Can our power reach the Leviathan?”

“It can,” confirmed Hiba. “At the very least, the two of us can.”

Heo glanced over at Harakawa.

“Harakawa, in weekly manga, isn’t it always the first one to declare victory that loses?”

“Shh. It’s true the short ones and huge ones get taken out first, but don’t say it loud enough for him to hear. We’ve finally got him back in the usual pattern, after all.”

“Wh-what are you two saying!?” Hiba sounded completely confused. “T-Team Leviathan doesn’t have someone to be the ‘opening act’ for that kind of pattern!”

Harakawa and Heo looked away from Hiba for a full five seconds.

Afterwards, Harakawa patted Heo’s shoulder and she gathered her strength with her head lowered.

For the second time that day, she worked to force a smile.

“U-um, what is this power that you and Mikage have?”

“Is it just me or have you decided you don’t need to take me seriously?”

“Th-that isn’t true. We haven’t at all decided we can just ignore you or look away from you!”

“Y-you do that all the time! You all need to treat me in a way that I can accept! If you do that, then I’m fine being looked down on like a mere animal! Can’t you find a way to make me feel more motivated!? Y’know, like how you would treat a puppy!”

Heo and Harakawa clearly wanted to ask him if he would really be fine with that, but then Mikage pressed up against him from behind.

“If I do this, can you tell how big they are?”

“You’re the best, Mikage-san! I’m absolutely brimming with meaningless motivation!! …Hey, you two! Stop looking at me like I’m a pathetic animal!”

“I don’t really care, so can we move this along, Hiba Ryuuji?”

“Yes.” Hiba maintained his good mood. “At the very least, I’m looking at our power in a different way now.”

“Looking at it in a different way?”

“That’s what I’m about to show you. …At the very least, it should be different than it was when we fought the Leviathan earlier. And…”

As he took a breath, Mikage opened her mouth and looked to Heo.

“Even if all of our power can’t reach it, the power Ryuuji-kun and I have might be able to. …Is this what you call hope? Or is it hopeless?”

“They do say nothing is as hopeless as hope with an uncertain future.”

Harakawa’s comment made Mikage smile.

“Then nothing is as hopeful as hopelessness with a definite future. That means we’ll be fine,” she said. “I think you two and the others have all overlooked something and still have something you can do. We’re about to show you an example.”

Hearing that, Heo took a hurried step forward.

“You’re about to? Um, then shouldn’t you call the others, too?”

“They might get caught in the middle of it if we did. And…”

Mikage closed her eyes.

“You’ll understand once you see it.”

A moment later, Mikage and Hiba spread their arms and cried out in unison.

“Susamikado!!”

Kazami apologized.

She was sitting on the floor and wearing a track suit.

She was in the living room and it was already five in the morning.

…''Why do we have to have a family meeting now of all times?

The idiot next to her had caused this, but she was also at fault for going along with it.

Thus, she could only bow down to her father who sat in front of her.

She apologized whenever he said anything to her and she used up all of the apologies in her vocabulary.

Sorry.

I’m sorry.

I’m so very sorry.

I am ever so sorry.

My bad.

Please forgive me.

Forgive me, okay?

C’mon, I’m telling you to forgive me.

Forgive me.

Forgive me already.

Just forgive me.

I’m. Telling. You. To. Forgive. Me.

“I-I’m starting to feel like I’m the one being scolded here!”

“Oh, sorry. I got a little carried away.”

Kazami bowed again and finally reached over to slam Izumo’s forehead into the floor.

“We’re sorry!”

Meanwhile, her mother approached.

Kazami slowly looked up and saw her mother handing her father a plate with steam rising from it.

She also saw what was sitting on that white plate.

“Ah! That’s the fried rice I was planning to make!”

“This used up all the rice.”

“You monster!!”

“Have you learned your lesson?”

Kazami felt the hunger in her stomach.

“Well…”

At some point, her mother had grabbed a fan that she used to fan at the fried rice.

…''Nwaah! That pepper and cooked fish paste smells so good!

“This is delicious!” said her father. “Your fried rice is so good, mama!!”

“Stoooop! There’s a difference between punishment and bullying!”

She could not help but complain and her mother looked over at her.

The woman lowered her shoulders.

“You know what?”

“What?”

Next to her, Izumo spoke up while wearing a track suit he had borrowed from her father.

“W-wait a second!”

He bowed his own head this time.

“This was my fault for getting carried away! It wasn’t Chisato’s fault at all!”

Kazami was a little surprised.

“K-Kaku. I’m actually kind of moved.”

“Don’t act like it’s never happened before. …But it doesn’t really matter. It really was my fault.”

Kazami’s father nodded while eating the fried rice.

“But Chisato went along with it, so she is somewhat at fault, Izumo-kun.”

Izumo’s head shot up when he heard that.

His expression was serious, but it immediately crumbled.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

''You moron,'' thought Kazami as she raised a fist, but she stopped when her mother cleared her throat.

Izumo had shrunk away from her fist, but he looked back to the two adults.

“Still, I don’t think it could be helped.”

“Why not?”

“Well,” he began. “If I wasn’t with her, Chisato would’ve started crying.”

“Why would she do that?”

“There’s been some…hard stuff at work.” Izumo chose his words carefully. “Some coworkers might be dead.”

He looked back down toward Kazami’s parents.

He gave them a troubled smile as if seeing how they would respond.

“She’d cry if she was on her own, right? That’s why I had to be with her.”

When she heard that, Kazami swung down her raised fist.

She lightly tapped his shoulder with it.

“I-idiot.”

She did so a few more times.

“D-don’t assume you know what I’ll do. I hate that.”

But he did not seem to mind. He kept his eyes on her parents.

When she stopped moving her arm and lifted her head to look at her parents, she found them looking back at her.

…''Wow.

She was not sure what to do about their narrowed eyes and she felt her cheeks growing redder and redder.

“Wh-what’s with all of you?”

“Well,” began her father while scooping more fried rice into his mouth. “I just realized that you’ll always need to rely on someone.”

She bent back as if someone had shot her.

…''I can’t stand this.

''Is no one going to stick up for my honor? Please come quickly, hero.

But after no one showed up even after asking thrice, she straightened back up.

“I-I’m not relying on anyone. Kaku, y-you need to stop making up excuses for yourself!”

Izumo looked at her with a perfectly serious expression.

“You’re super cute right now, Chisato.”

Without speaking a word, she knocked him to the ground.

''Oh, I think this actually made for a decent change of pace,'' she thought as she did so.

Sayama and Shinjou sat side by side on the bed.

They had their backs to the wall and they spoke about the current situation and Shinjou’s novel.

In the darkness, their words brought each other relief and brought smiles to their faces. Heat still remained in their bodies.

Shinjou had put on a shirt.

After they finished talking about the novel’s protagonist, Sayama said something more.

“It was good. I want you to write much, much more, Shinjou-kun. Are you going to be an author?”

“I don’t think it would be that easy to become one.”

“But if you do not go easy on yourself about becoming one, I think you can become one.”

“Is that how it works?” she asked before gulping and laughing.

Sayama tilted his head at the laugh and she bent her eyes in a smile.

“I was thinking I could continue making novels about you and the things that happen around us. That would end up being a lifework, wouldn’t it?”

Her small smile continued to grow.

“So I’m glad I’m alive and I want to defeat the Leviathan. Otherwise, I can’t write about what you do afterwards.”

She heard Sayama say “I see” and saw him lean back against the wall.

“If you will write about me, that could help me out, too.”

“Help you?”

“Yes.”

He nodded.

“—————”

After a while, he brushed a hand through his hair and said more.

“Just between the two of us, I do not actually have anything like your novel.”

Dumbfounded, Shinjou could only hear his quiet words ringing in her ears.

“Izumo has IAI, Kazami has her singing, the Hiba boy has the Hiba School, Mikage-kun has the many joys she will find in the human world, Harakawa has his precious everyday life, and Heo-kun apparently wants to be a teacher.”

This early morning space shared only by the two of them may have been making him more talkative.

He spoke of what his teammates had.

It may have sounded cheap to call them “dreams”, but they were what allowed those people to get serious.

Shinjou watched Sayama speak of their teammates’ futures, but then he closed his eyes.

“Do you understand? I can get serious when I need to, but the Leviathan Road was given to me by my grandfather and all I am doing is settling the past my grandfather and father left behind. Once that is over, I will still be able to get serious, but I will have nothing left but the work directly before me. I can only think of one other thing I could have.”

“What’s that?”

“Yes, perhaps I can get serious about loving you.”

“Calm down.”

Even as she said that, she wondered what would happen if he did get serious about that. She could not imagine what a Leviathan Road level of loving would be.

But when he opened his eyes, he was expressionless. It was the usual expressionless look, but…

…''He’s worried?

Noticing that, she took his hand and opened her mouth.

“Don’t worry. We can work together to find what comes after the Leviathan Road.”

That may have sounded a little too vague because he did not turn toward her.

Regardless, she created even more words.

“If the world is able to continue…then let’s continue seriously negotiating and fighting while we search.”

He still did not look her way.

“Do you really think anything on the level of the Leviathan Road will happen? I cannot imagine it would.”

“You’re wrong.”

Her immediate answer finally got him to turn toward her.

The surprise in his eyes asked if she was serious, but she did not falter.

She was confident that he was not someone that would be stopped here.

No matter how he viewed himself, she had absolute confidence in that fact.

…''I even have proof.

She felt she should tell him. He had revealed his own thoughts, so she wanted to answer in kind.

So she brought a hand to her chest and commanded her heart to speak honestly.

“Sayama-kun, are you less than your grandfather or father?”

“Something…something so nonsensical could never be true.”

He made that very clear, so she used his words and tone against him.

“Your grandfather had the ten-against-one Concept War and your father stood up against the world that contained the other ten worlds. And since you’re higher than either of them, there has to be something for you, doesn’t there? This world must contain a war of your own that you cannot win without getting serious.”

“Isn’t that the Leviathan Road?”

She smiled at that.

“Who was it that said that was only settling the past? That’s only something your grandfather and father left behind. Didn’t you say a while back that it was forced onto you? This isn’t what you were originally meant to do.”

Which meant…

“You’ll find something if you’re serious about it. In other words, as long as you hope for a stage on which to negotiate, fight, and do perverted things, you’re sure to find something on the same level as the Leviathan Road.”

“Did you slip an insult into the middle of that wonderful statement?”

…''Did I? But I don’t remember saying anything inaccurate.

After he thought for a bit, he looked away from her and spoke.

“Will you…help me find that stage?”

She had long since known the answer to that question.

She nodded, grabbed his hand, and turned him toward her.

“Yes. I’m a little worried about the perverted part, though. …B-but it isn’t just me. If you’re serious about it, I think everyone will gather around you and help you.”

After all…

“All of those things you said they have? If you hadn’t been serious, they would have lost them or never gotten them in the first place. I never could have made my novel without you and I was only able to seriously pursue my past because you were with me. So helping you get serious is the same thing as improving the things we have.”

“You make me sound like a leader.”

“You’re the ruler of the universe, aren’t you? And a god too.”

“Oh? Are you finally willing to admit it?”

Sayama’s usual tone of voice was back.

…''Ah.

Shinjou looked over and found him looking at her. His expression was much calmer and more peaceful than before.

She returned his gaze and realized the same expression appeared on her own face.

“Are you feeling better? You don’t need to worry, Sayama-kun. You may not have noticed it yourself, but when you get serious, people gather around you and accomplish something. Something very, very big. If not…I never would have written about you.”

She nodded as she spoke.

She plainly explained the source of the confidence allowing her to push him forward like this.

“I was the first one touched by your serious side and I gained the most from it, so I should know.”

“Then,” he said. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Anything. It’ll be fine whatever you do. But for the moment…let’s make sure the world can continue on.”

She took a breath.

“After that, you can look at the world and decide how you want it to be. And if you’re serious about it, then we’ll help you. Once you get serious, you never give up and you do everything you can to accomplish whatever it is, so it’ll be worth helping.”

“Then I will undoubtedly end up the ruler of the entire world.”

He sounded somewhat amused but also somehow serious.

Finally, a bit of a smile escaped to his lips and he nodded.

“Thank you, Shinjou-kun. …You are right. I thought what I had inherited was everything, so I may have forgotten to search for what comes after that. I thought I had nothing, so I did not even notice I had forgotten ''that I only have to try to find something for myself''.”

He suddenly added one more thing as if to sum it all up.

“So let us end it all.”

“Eh?”

“I will end what I have inherited and find my own battle within the fights and negotiations beyond that. …I will find something I can only find if I am serious. I will find my own Leviathan Road that requires the help of many people. And I will find it as many times as it takes. Yes…if my father and grandfather destroyed eleven worlds, then I will find even more battles than that. And…”

Shinjou heard him sigh. It was a sigh of relief.

“At the very end, I suppose the two of us shall become gods.”

“Wait.”

“Wh-why are you stopping me? Isn’t that the most natural plan for our future?”

The idiot next to her blatantly feigned confusion and looked up at her in surprise.

“Or are you saying you have already walked down that path as you are already a butt god!?”

“No, that isn’t it. Um…”

She thought for a moment but then changed her mind.

…''Since he’s back to his usual self, is it over now?

She doubted he was going to speak his heart anymore for the moment. Someday, at the end of some major incident, he might tell her more about what they had discussed.

But she was also happy he had said “the two of us”.

“I really am glad I’m alive…and that I’m with you.”

“So am I. It is so early in the morning and I have already gotten so many wonderful birthday presents. First I was reunited with you, then we confirmed each other’s presence, and…”

He continued.

“You helped me realize what I should do from now on.”

The emotion she felt in his tone filled her yet again with surprise.

She was surprised that he had been so worried about what would come after the Leviathan Road.

…''He seems so almighty, but he’s actually pretty withdrawn in some ways.

He had the ability to wish for so very much, but he would hesitate because he did not know whether he should wish for it. That was especially true when it would involve other people.

''No one else knows about this side of him,'' she thought. ''I hope I can learn even more about this side of him.

He looked at her and tilted his head a little.

“By the way, how did you get here? The door was locked when I got here, so what exactly happened? Add in what happened to the others, and there are so many questions left.”

He could not find an answer to any of those questions, but Shinjou smiled with the ends of her eyebrows lowered.

“I can’t say anything about the others.”

After seeming to think about what she meant, he asked another question.

“Then do you know how you got here?”

She had a single answer.

“Yes,” she said with a nod. “I do.”

Sayama saw Shinjou nod while sitting on his suit.

“I figured it out earlier. Can you look by the pillow?”

He did as he was told.

The suit and books were scattered around by the pillow, but he moved them out of the way.

He turned his back on her and prepared to remove the suit.

“Oh, you left a bite mark on my suit.”

“W-wah! I-I’ll pay for it, so forgive me!”

“It cost about seven hundred thousand, you know?”

She fell silent for a while before answering.

“Can I take out a thirty year loan for it?”

“Are you planning to buy a house?”

He smiled bitterly and dug down toward the bed. It was too dark to see what was there, but he could feel something small. They only felt like scraps.

“Straw?”

Only after asking did he realize what it meant. There was someone in Japanese UCAT who carried around a straw item.

“Sf-kun? It is true she could unlock and relock the door without the key.”

“Yes.” Shinjou gave a weak nod and presented more evidence. “You said before that something fired from below UCAT, right? Itaru-san knew what was down there, so I think it must have been him. But if so…that means Sf-san left him to take me here. And…”

And…

“What about the others? She might have only taken me away.”

They could not even contact Ooshiro at the moment.

The worry in Shinjou’s voice came from her understanding of the current situation.

So Sayama looked back to tell her it would be okay.

“Shinjou-kun?”

He found her standing on her knees in the center of the bed.

Without bothering to hide the unease on her face, she exposed her shirt-wearing form to the dark blue light coming from the window.

“Can you keep me from being afraid?”

She had tied back her hair at some point.

She had used his red necktie instead of her usual ribbon.

But even with her hair tied back, she lightly grabbed the bottom of her shirt.

“Um…? I changed earlier.”

Lifting the shirt a little did not reveal Sadame’s body.

She lowered her head and blushed, but her eyes looked directly to Sayama.

“Will you…check on me to the very end? And will you keep me from being afraid?”

He knew exactly how to answer her. First, he nodded.

“Do not worry.”

He moved toward her, took her hand, pulled her close, wrapped his arms around her, and held her tight.

“Let us both do so to keep away the fear, Shinjou-kun.”

Sayama loosely crossed his legs and placed Shinjou on his lap.

He stroked her shirt which fell from her shoulders and gathered around her waist.

When she looked back at him, he placed his lips on hers and touched her body.

He moved from her chest to her armpits and he lowered his fingers down her sides like her ribs were a musical instrument.

“Ah…”

He continued down from her sides.

He stuck his right hand below her shirt and wrapped his left arm around her body.

He spread his own legs a little to spread Shinjou’s legs on top of them.

“Wait, S-Sayama-kun. My stomach and below are defenseless.”

“If they were defended, I could do nothing. What would you have me do then?”

“You’re a poet in the most meaningless way.”

Sayama thought about that.

“Should I create a better mood?”

“What kind of mood?”

“The kind you like.”

She thought about that for a moment.

“Like what?”

“Video games.”

She thought even more on that and turned a smile his way.

“If you say you’re going to use the joystick and two buttons to enter rapid-fire mode, I really will hit you.”

“Ha ha ha. What are you talking about? We have to start by inserting a coin and pressing the start button.”

“What is that supposed to represent!?”

She protested, so he was not sure what to do.

Creating the proper mood was quite difficult.

But it was also fun, so he thought as hard as he could and finally found a good idea.

“Now, to begin with…”

“No.”

“You certainly are hasty.”

“Yeah, I know things are most dangerous when you pretend to actually think about it. It’s best to hit the cancel button immediately.”

“What on earth are you talking about? I was only going to advise that we release your extra ships to lower the difficulty.”

“What if you miscount the number of extra ships and get game over! I’ll turn off the game!”

But Sayama shook his head because he already had a solution.

“If that happens, I will insert another coin for a continue.”

“I prefer to win on a single coin, even at home.”

“In other words, you prefer to play this game outside in the arcade?”

Shinjou slowly turned toward him with a smile.

“If you say it’s a reverse-import from the home version that uses a 360 degree rotating machine, I’ll hit you.”

“Ha ha ha. I am perfectly fine playing the crane game.”

He touched her and she trembled a bit.

“Ah… S-stop. If you touch me like that, I’ll…”

“Hmm. It seems my machine has a weak arm. I need to grab on better!”

“What exactly are you treating as the prize!?”

But as she trembled, he lay back on the bed.

That caused her to lean back on top of him.

He kept his arms around her on either side and he further spread the legs bent under her.

“S-stop. The bottom of my shirt is pulling up. You can see everything below my navel…”

“Not to worry, Shinjou-kun. Just a little further.”

“Just a little further and what?”

“We will earn a full power up for your normal shot. Would you like a beam?”

“Stop that!!”

…''Strange. I thought she liked video games.

''I wonder why,'' he thought before realizing the answer.

''Is it because this is a shooting game?

“In other words, your weak punch is about to become an unbeatable super dragon fist.”

“Y-you don’t have to talk anymore.”

And so he fell silent.

He touched her in silence.

He rubbed her in silence and he moved in silence.

“Ah, w-wait. Sayama-kun. No, not without saying anything!”

“You tell me to stay quiet, but then you are mean to me when I stay quiet?”

“S-sorry, so, um…”

“Or should I do what you did before? Accept it all with my mouth?”

“N-no. You’re not allowed to do that. Th-that’s for me to do.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Yes. That’s right. That’s how it works.”

“Understood.” Sayama nodded in understanding and spoke in his most charming voice. “At any rate, I think it is about time for you to launch your bomber.”

“Have you noticed that the bomber gauge just rapidly fell?”

“You really do have harsh ups and downs, don’t you?”

But despite what she said, her body seemed to be heating up. As he continued, a tremor ran through her body.

“Ah, u-um, Sayama-kun!? I-I…I’m not Sadame right now?”

“But you are still Shinjou-kun.”

He raised his right knee a little to further lift her hips.

“As long as it is you, nothing else matters.”

After he touched and rubbed her more strongly, she kissed him and her body shook.

“…”

The surging sensation left Shinjou.

…''Ah.

She breathed out and her body sank into a deep sense of relief, but then Sayama touched her again.

“Ah, S-Sayama-kun. …I-I don’t get any invincibility after a death, so you’re going to use up all my extra lives!”

“Shinjou-kun, calm down.”

“R-really? We’re not doing that joke anymore?”

“No.” He nodded. “In my mind, we were playing best to three.”

“That’s the problem!?”

Meanwhile, she was lifted up. No, Sayama collapsed to the left below her and bent even further forward.

His momentum bent her forward with him.

He slipped his face and shoulder below her left cheek.

She was lying on his left arm and his left hand started touching her.

A moan escaped her lips and she bent further forward.

That was when his right hand touched her from behind.

She gave a start.

“U-um? Are you sure? Are you really sure? You aren’t going to regret this? Are you okay? Is your brain working properly?”

“Calm down, Shinjou-kun. I want to check on you, so of course I will be doing this.”

She hung her head at that and felt the heat in her face growing.

“It hasn’t even been a year since I met you, so…um…”

She tried to avoid the issue.

“We’re still in the warranty period, so you can keep going even if you find a manufacturing defect.”

“Not to worry, Shinjou-kun.”

“Really?” She asked

“Yes,” he confirmed. “Machines these days are guaranteed not to break for the first two years.”

“Don’t make it sound like I’m going to break in two years!”

“Ha ha ha. Then I will not hold back.”

She cried out but immediately suppressed her voice.

He checked her with both hands. He rubbed her and massaged her. She tried to bear with it and endure it, but he refused to stop.

She did not know what it meant when he stuck out his right middle finger, but she greedily brought her lips in close, wrapped her tongue around the finger, and licked it. She brought it into her mouth as if to swallow it just like she had done to him before.

After he rubbed his finger through her mouth and even along the back of her teeth, he pulled it out and slid it toward her back.

“Eh? I-in my butt?”

Before she could finish asking, his finger slipped inside.

It was so sudden that she gasped and tried to bear with it, but to his licked finger, it was only light resistance and there was no stopping it.

His finger made it past the gentle resistance and slipped on in as he varied the speed.

“Ah!”

By the time the sensation washed over her for the second time, she had lifted her butt up high on the guidance of his finger.

Her face-down body was covered in sweat, she was gasping for breath, and her chest was pressed against the suit below her.

She removed the shirt wrapped around the back of her waist and threw it away.

“Ahn…”

After brushing her hair out of the way, she pulled a pillow close and embraced it below her chin.

She was on her knees with her waist lifted high, so she tried to look back.

“Ah, w-wait, Sayama-kun! Don’t kiss my butt!”

“I am only doing the same thing I did to Sadame-kun.”

He treated it the same way.

Brief cries kept escaping her and she brought her knees together to fight it, but it was no use.

Her skin was damp with sweat and a finger or tongue could warmly slip past it even if she pressed that skin together.

“N-no, Sayama-kun. It’s going inside!”

Aiming for the instant she relaxed her strength, he spread her legs again.

She could feel the wet finger and tongue deep inside her, but she decided to give herself over to it.

That was when she noticed his face between her legs.

“Ah.”

He turned to the side and gently bit her.

What he had done and the slight pain it gave her caused her to lose control.

As a tremor ran through her, everything she had been holding back spilled out and was caught in a third handkerchief.

A “hyah” escaped her and her body went limp.

“D-don’t do that…”

“Hm. That seemed a little too powerful. I need to remember that as a surefire strategy.”

She kicked him.

She seemed to have hit him in the solar plexus so she turned toward his slight painful groan.

“You need to watch out for the boss character’s motionless attacks, okay? Honestly.”

“I-I am glad to see you are the same as always.”

After he caught his breath, he continued.

[[Image:OnC_v14_0637.jpg|thumb]]

“Will you…show me?”

After a pause, she responded.

“Yes.”

She lifted her butt back up, exposed everything to him, and let a warm breath escape her lungs.

“What do you think?”

He got back up, looked at her, and answered.

“You are eroundic, Shinjou-kun.”

“You’re saying that again?”

She smiled a little and spread her knees some more to see him between them.

“W-will everything work out? Will we be able to make a baby?”

“If so, I will have only one thing to say: congratulations.”

Hearing that, bitterness filled her smile and she held the pillow close while still looking at Sayama.

“Then…you can do it.”

“I can check on you?”

“Yes. …Will you?”

She narrowed her eyes.

“I never even dreamed that someone would check on me to the very end.”

“This is not a dream. It is all real. After all, it was in your novel, too.”

That made her sweat even more and the heat reached her ears.

“Th-th-th-th-th-th-that was, u-um, uh, just me writing what I thought would make the best story.”

“No, Shinjou-kun. That is not what you should say here.”

She then remembered what the novel’s heroine had said at the end of this sort of scene.

“Right.”

She altered the line she had written for her purposes.

“Here, this is my…this is Setsu’s birthday present for you.”

She bent her waist and lifted her defenselessness for him to see.

“And in exchange, will you let me check on you to the very, very end as your present to me?”

“Yes, I will give you myself as a present while I take you as one. All of you.”

As if to show his agreement, he made her words a reality.

His fingers dug into her skin as he held her in place. After that sensation confirmed his presence, the two of them checked on each other.

They did so slowly but thoroughly.

Shinjou was dreaming.

Her sleeping body felt the warmth and strength of his hands, so she knew this was a dozing dream.

The dream was made of the color white.

White light filled the place and a glowing pillar rose into the sky.

She looked up toward the heavens and saw a giant object on its side like a white cloud.

The pillar of light before her was in the center, but there were four more pillars in the four corners of the heavens.

…''Huh?

When she looked down, she realized two things.

Her vision was situated lower than it normally was and someone was sitting in front of her.

It was her mother wearing white.

She had some gray in her hair and she had grown a little thin.

She sat on a clump of sand that looked like stone and she was out of breath, but she was smiling toward Shinjou.

Shinjou realized her mother could no longer walk.

And she realized something else too.

…''This is the past.

It was when Top-Gear had been destroyed and when she had left her mother.

She sensed someone on either side of her. They were likely Sayama’s parents.

''But,'' she thought.

…''Baku isn’t here today.

She was only sleeping next to Sayama, yet she was having a dream of the past.

…''Oh, this is one of my forgotten memories, isn’t it?

So she watched these events of the past, of her and her mother.

“Mom.”

Her past self, not even half her current age, spoke.

“Let’s go together!”

Her younger self pleaded, but her mother shook her head while still smiling.

''She wants to go,'' understood Shinjou. ''But she can’t.

But her younger self did not understand. She ran the short distance to her mother and pulled on her hand.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!!”

Still, her mother did not move and could not move.

“…”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her mother hang her head and shed some tears.

Her younger vision was soon filled by her mother’s chest.

Her mother had hugged her.

Her younger self hugged back.

''Yes,'' she thought. ''I must have known what I wanted couldn’t happen.

Even so, the younger Shinjou raised her crying voice. She breathed in and spoke weakly.

“Let’s go! I won’t be picky anymore! I’ll go to sleep at my bedtime! I won’t say it’s your fault when dad doesn’t come home at night and I won’t cry about my body. I’ll be good! I’ll always be good from now on, so…”

She raised her voice.

“Let’s go!”

Her mother said nothing and only squeezed her tight.

As if to accept her child’s tears, she breathed heavily which shook her body and finally…

“Satsu-chan?”

“…?”

Her mother breathed in but could not catch her breath properly. Still, the younger Shinjou heard her speak.

“Do you care for your mother?”

“Yes! I do,” she said. “Y’know what? You know the clothes you made for me before? I said they weren’t like the ones the boys wore at kindergarten and I tore them apart and I said I didn’t like them, but I was actually so…so happy I got them… When you made me new clothes, I couldn’t say I liked the old ones better and I really wanted to cry…and I said I didn’t like them, but…”

“Yes.” Her mother nodded. “I understand. You really liked that white dress, didn’t you? …You were just embarrassed and thought you had to do that in front of the others, didn’t you?”

“Yes.” The younger Shinjou nodded. “Also, when we got in a fight when I knocked over that cup…I refused to eat the food you made.”

She breathed in.

“Make it again… I’ll eat it! I’ll really eat it this time! I’ll be good!”

Her mother did not respond. She only patted on her back to comfort her.

''Yes,'' thought Shinjou ''Hold onto her.

…''That will tell her how much you care and how much you love her.

“Satsu-chan.”

She heard her mother’s voice.

“Don’t worry. No matter how much you said you didn’t like us and got into fights with us, your dad and I both knew that you actually cared about us and loved us. We know you’re a good kid.”

“Really?”

“Really,” answered her mother. The woman breathed in and continued in a shaky voice. “Really. After all, you always called us mom and dad. …And those people you called mom and dad? We understand. Even if you say you don’t like what we give you, get into fights with us, or don’t eat what we fix for you, we know that deep down you remember and care about us and what we do for you.”

She took a breath.

“And we’re the same, you know? No matter what comes between us, we care about you and love you the most. You might get into fights with us, refuse to eat our food, and rip up or give back what we give you, but we really do understand that you care for us.”

Her mother nodded and Shinjou could feel the movement.

“It’s okay if you rip up your clothes. You were happy when you got them, weren’t you? And you usually eat all of the food we make, don’t you? I know that, so it’s okay. And before, you painted your nails to copy me and they made fun of you at kindergarten, didn’t they?”

“When I got home…I got mad at you…”

“That’s fine.”

“It is? Why? I said I hated you!”

“You know what? I’m happy just knowing you tried to copy me and that you’re with me. Just because they made fun of your painted nails doesn’t mean you don’t want to be like me anymore, it doesn’t mean you don’t want to be with me anymore, and it doesn’t mean you really do hate me, right?” She heard a bitter laugh.

“If your friends hadn’t made fun of you, you would have kept wearing that dress and painting your nails, right? And if you hadn’t spilled that water, you would have eaten that food, right? Your initial happiness would have stayed, right?”

“…Yes.”

“See? Then if nothing had happened, you would have still cared for us the same, right? It was only because of what happened that you got angry and said you hated me, but I know perfectly well that you wouldn’t grow to hate us over something like that. After all, you were so happy. Nothing anyone says can change what a good kid you are.”

“————”

“There might be misunderstandings, but that isn’t enough to fool me. I’ve been watching you from the very beginning, so don’t worry. …I only stopped making that kind of clothing or painting your nails because I wanted you to be happy without being made fun of. That’s better, right?”

And…

“I know that you really were happy. But because you were made fun of and had those misunderstandings, I did some studying and chose a method that wouldn’t let that happen. So I made those new clothes for you just like I made that dress. …I didn’t think the old one was better.”

“But…I liked the first one better…”

“I see.” Her mother laughed and lightly patted her back. “Then from now on you can choose to wear that kind. It was a white dress with a red necktie, wasn’t it? If you can wear that and hold your head high even if someone makes fun of you, then I’ll be glad I made that dress. …I’ll know you really care about the clothing I made for you.”

“…Really?”

“Yes. I know. We like a lot of the same things.”

Her mother embraced her long hair and brushed her hands through it.

“Yes, you are a lot like your mother. Like your hair. And…”

And…

“That song.”

“Yes.”

Her mother lightly patted her back.

She hugged her as if to tell her this was the last time.

Her younger self breathed in and her embracing arms practically clung to her mother.

Their breathing aligned and they nodded.

“Satsu-chan?”

“What?”

They both moved a bit apart and looked each other in the eye from close range.

“You don’t have to copy me even when I cry.”

“You copied me!”

“I guess you win this round.”

Her mother smiled bitterly. She briefly glanced at the two behind Shinjou but immediately turned back.

“No matter what happens from now on, you can trust in one thing. And if you remember anything bad you did to us or you want to tell us something when we’re not there, you can trust in this one thing. You can trust that we will always care for you no matter what.”

She took a breath before continuing.

“And you can also trust that no matter what you do, we’ll always be on your side. We will never betray you.”

“…Really?”

“Yes.”

When her mother narrowed her eyes in a smile, some tears spilled out.

“If you trust in that, you will always be able to reach us even if we’re not with you.”

So…

“Go, Satsu-chan.”

“But!”

“Don’t worry,” said her mother. “Eventually, you’ll find someone other than us you care for. You’ll find someone who you can trust will always care for you and love you no matter what you say and even if you act like you hate them.”

“N-no, I won’t! I have this body…and everyone always makes fun of me!”

“You will.” Her mother gave her another light hug. “I did and your dad did, and that’s why you were born.”

“…Really?”

“Really. So trust that our feelings for each other will never change no matter what, that we’re always listening to your voice, that we’re always rooting for you even if you can’t see us, and…”

She breathed in, moved away, and smiled.

“That you will be like us one day.”

“Will I…? Really!?”

“You will. I’m sure there’s someone waiting for you that will care for you just like we do.”

“Will that person-…?”

“They will not make fun of you. Even if you try to pull away, they will tell you that you are wrong, they will support you, they will always be by your side, and they will accept you in your entirety. And you will want to support them, too.”

She nodded.

“You can go now, can’t you? No matter where you go, we’re watching over you. Even if you can’t meet us, we know what you’re thinking. But if you do want an answer…”

She placed a hand on her chest.

“Remember that song. That special song we sing to celebrate.”

“Silent Night?”

“Yes. You remember that song I taught you, don’t you? …When you remember that, you will be singing with me in your heart. And when you do that, you will be with me.”

And…

“That song will lead you to your own precious person.”

Her mother said she was going to sing.

“Don’t forget. This song is the proof of our connection. The song I taught you is inside you, so even if I’m not with you, you still have proof that we’re connected.”

“Really?”

“It’s the song I taught you, isn’t it? Even if I’m not there, it won’t disappear, will it?”

“You’ll be inside me…telling me you’re there?”

“Yes.” Her mother moved completely away and placed her hands on Shinjou’s shoulders. “Don’t worry. When you sing it, we’ll be with you. Even if we’re not there, we won’t disappear and we’ll sing with you.”

“Right…”

“So if anything happens, make sure to sing. When you’re happy, sad, angry, disheartened, or want to celebrate, just sing that song and we’ll be with you. We’ll rejoice with you, cry with you…or just be by your side.”

So…

“Tell us all sorts of things, okay? Tell us what you’re doing and what you’re thinking. And…if you find someone you care for, sing to tell us. Tell us the holy child has found someone they love and care for. Make sure to tell us you’ve found someone who will be with you like we are. …When you do that, we’ll be happiest of all.”

“You’ll be happy?”

“Yes. You’ll have gone out and found someone on your own. You had us with you from the start, but this will be someone you chose yourself and let hear your song.”

“If I find someone like that, will you and dad celebrate?”

“Yes. We’ll sing with you. …And I’m sure that precious person will celebrate with us.”

When younger Shinjou nodded, her mother straightened her back and opened her mouth.

“Okay, Satsu-chan, it’s time to sing.”

“…Wait.”

Her younger self spoke to her mother.

“I’ll definitely, definitely see you again, won’t I?”

“Yes. If you trust in us and search for us, you should realize that we’ll always be together.”

Her younger self did not understand what that meant, but she still nodded and trusted it.

“Then sing, mom. I’ll listen…I’ll listen while I go. So…so don’t stop, okay? Make sure…make sure you keep singing!”

“Of course.”

Her mother nodded again and opened her mouth. Her younger self opened her mouth, too.

“————”

They sang.

As the destructive light grew stronger, her younger self followed her mother’s lead and began to sing.

They sang the first verse. By the time they sang the second verse, she could hear other voices behind her.

The two behind her were both awkwardly joining in the best they could.

Her mother briefly stopped singing and spoke to the younger Shinjou.

“Those people will take you with them. They will take you to the world of my song.”

“Really?”

She looked back and the two brightly backlit people nodded.

“Mom,” she said. “Thank you. I love you.”

“Thank you too, Satsu-chan. And I love you too.”

They both smiled, shed tears, and wiped the tears away.

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep singing forever. Even if you can’t hear me, I’ll definitely be singing in your heart. If you’re ever feeling hopeless, just remember that and sing with me.”

After hearing that, her younger self moved back and began walking.

Her mother looked to her and resumed singing. She nodded and heard the song even as she moved away.

''Oh,'' thought Shinjou. ''My mom is inside this song.

As long as she could hear the song, her mother was there and watching over her.

If she sang the song, her mother would be with her.

As she ran, she could only hear the voice.

She looked back and saw her mother was indeed looking at her.

…''Thank you.

She could hear the song. She was running. When she looked back, her mother was looking at her. Her mother was waving at her while singing. Her mother was probably waving at her even when she did not look back.

She was glad she had looked back, but it would have been fine even if she had not.

“Do not worry,” said the man running alongside her. “You will definitely meet your mother and father again.”

''That’s right,'' she agreed. ''The fact that this world exists means my parents and I are always together. I can be with them by singing.

As she ran and looked back, her mother grew more distant and eventually could not be seen beyond the light.

She almost stopped running once her mother was out of sight, but something pushed her onward.

It was a song.

She could hear the song. She could always hear it as if it remained in her ears.

The song pushed her toward the world where she could meet her parents again and where someone even more important awaited her.

Would that person be with her? If she wore the kind of clothes she liked and painted her nails, would they say it looked good on her? Even if she got into fights with them, said she hated them, or rejected what they gave her, would they trust that she actually cared for and loved them?

If she copied her mother and cooked for them, would they eat it like her father did for her mother?

If she ever stumbled or cried, would they tell her she was wrong, tell her it would be okay, and support her?

And would she want to support them and be with them?

…''I want to see them.

Her parents would always be with her and there was no need to check on anything there, so she was perfectly fine. But even so, she wanted to meet that precious person.

She wanted to sing with the person who would listen to her song.

That song.

Even if she could not hear her mother’s voice, the song her mother had taught her would remain inside her.

''This is what told me this,'' she thought.

…''It told me everything will be fine whether I look back or not.

They both understood everything they wanted to say, so everything would be fine even if they were apart.

At the moment, she heard her mother’s actual voice.

''Yes,'' she thought again. ''My mom’s voice is definitely in this song.

In her memories, whenever she had remembered the one song that had stayed with her, she had heard a voice not her own.

She had always thought it was her own voice.

…''But it wasn’t.

The voice providing the lyrics ahead of time when she sang had been her mother’s.

''She traveled to Top-Gear, met my dad, and sent me away, but she’s always stayed with me in this song and she makes sure I hear her whenever something happens.

Shinjou remembered how she had constantly sung this song.

Whenever she had felt alone, lonely, or sad, she had sung it.

…''But that was what I promised my mom. I promised to tell her whenever something happened.

White light filled her dream.

She could not tell if the world was ending or if the dream was ending, but she still heard the singing voice she had inherited from her mother.

That song proved they were together.

No matter what happened, her parents would be on her side and they understood she cared for them no matter what she might say or do. Even if they were no longer there or she wanted to apologize for something, it would all be okay and she could rest easy because they understood without being told.

This song of absolute relief contained her parents’ wills. She had inherited it and it stayed with her.

What would happen if she sang that song and tried to reach someone with it?

…''Would it get through to them?

Would they know that she wanted to be with them?

And she had indeed sung that song when she met that precious person.

…''Did he understand?

She had sung for the boy who had saved her and borrowed her lap in that Okutama forest.

A month and a half before, he had come to meet her after being delayed by nine years and two minutes.

When he had saved her again, she had lent him her lap again and sang for him again.

Had that reached her parents as her mother had promised?

Had they heard that she had met someone she cared for just as they had hoped? And in a white dress no less?

…''Yes.

It was because she knew they cared that she could leave her parents without issue, but then she had continued on so she could be with the person she had come to care for on her own.

''I’m so spoiled,'' she thought. ''I already have parents who say they care for me and watch over me, but I still chose someone else I care for and he responded to my feelings.

''How spoiled can I be?

They had held hands and sent their thoughts to her parents in front of the shrine at the Tamiya house, but she now knew her thoughts had been reaching them long before that.

…''Thank goodness.

She then spoke to the mother who had seen her off with a song, the parents still watching over her, and the precious person who was by her side now.

“Thank you.”

She held a hand in her own.

Just before waking, she held the hand of the precious person she had chosen herself.

She held it tight and refused to let go.

The morning sun began to rise.

It rose in the east and sent shadows stretching across the streets.

But those shadows were thinner in one place.

There were long runways there.

Those runways were in Yokota Air Base of Fussa in western Tokyo.

Inside the concept space, the eastern three thousand meter runway was being used while the secondary runways to the west and north were not in use.

In the hangar beside the runways, the maintenance and modification of mechanical dragons and fighters continued at a quick pace.

Even in the cold air, the light of welding and the sounds of drills continued without rest.

A bus arrived.

The base was large, so the bus carried personnel around.

Most of those disembarking in front of the hangar were a new shift of workers who were working throughout the night.

Those men in blue work uniforms exchanged greetings while some continued with the leftover work, others exchanged information to pass the work off to the new shift, and others ran off to grab some materials.

A worker from the morning shift approached the storage building next to the hangar.

He had to get a forklift to carry the special-ordered parts of a mechanical dragon.

He started toward the parking hangar alongside the secondary runway, thinking his favorite forklift was there.

On the way, he met a member of the group who had been working through the night.

“Hey,” he said in greeting. “I hear things are getting tough. Can we still not reach the colonel and the others?”

“No,” replied the colleague as he adjusted his work hat. “Same with the major. The other higher ups are managing the coordination with the States for now, but with only a substitute commander, this place might as well be a parking lot.”

“Do you think they’re alive?”

“I’ll bet you five bucks.”

“On which side?”

The man thought before nodding.

“Do you know why no one’s searching for the colonel, the major, or that German inspector?”

“Why not?”

“They put in for paid leave before heading to Japanese UCAT.”

“Then this isn’t a very good bet.”

“No.”

They both smiled bitterly.

“I’m sure they’re alive.”

“So am I. if they’re not…what then? That Leviathan is apparently sitting there above Shinjuku. …They put me to sleep with a forced injection kiss when I wanted to join the attack last night, but that thing’s Babel, right? There’s nothing we can do without the colonel and the others.”

He frowned as he spoke and the other man nodded.

“It’ll be tough even for them. Apparently not even Concept Core weapons work on it.”

“Then it’s all over, isn’t it? By tomorrow, they’ll have created the positive concepts inside the Leviathan and the world will change, right?”

“That’s why everyone’s working so quickly.”

“Can we fight it?”

He sounded doubtful and the other man tilted his head a bit while holding the brim of his work hat.

“I don’t know. Or rather, I do know, but I don’t want to know.”

“…”

“But,” he said. “We’re still going to do it.”

“Can you?”

“That’s the wrong question. We’re ''going to'' do it.”

He patted his shoulder.

“You have good luck. You’ll get to see it before even getting to work. …You’ll understand just how frighteningly made this world is. Even if you try to run away, a faint bit of hope will follow you around and lure you into hell.”

“Hm? What are you talking about?”

“It’s simple,” said the other man. “It’s like the worst kind of woman. Even when you know it’s hopeless, you still end up thinking it might work out.”

With that said, the man walked off.

The worker watched him leave but then sighed.

He recalled the gravity of the situation as explained over the base’s radio and he circled to the side of the hangar.

His heart was heavy.

If the Concept Core weapons did not work, the mechanical dragons they were working on would not work either.

“…”

Before getting to work, he thought about distracting himself by making a spinning turn with the forklift on the apron of the secondary runway.

He often played around like that when unpleasant things happened.

The world would change on the 25th. In that case, this might be his last chance to do this trick.

But he suddenly realized something.

…''I’m pretty sure this isn’t that guy’s post.

''Then why did he come from here?'' he wondered as he arrived on the side of the hangar.

He saw something there.

“What the heck?”

The secondary runway should have been there.

The runway was two thousand meters long, but that long strip of asphalt was gone.

A deep, two hundred meter mark was left in its place.

“Something tore up the entire runway?”

It was a canyon four hundred meters wide and over two kilometers long.

Some kind of powerful strike had burned the grass, melted the crust, and left its mark there.

“Oh, come on.”

He trembled from something other than the chilly morning air and let out a white breath.

“Now I can’t have any fun with the forklift.”

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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 16|Chapter 16]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 18|Chapter 18]]
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Owari no Chronicle:Volume1 Chapter 13

2026-03-23T03:00:21Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 13: Location of the Heavens==
[[Image:OnC_v01_0357.png|thumb]]
''A gaze looking down from heaven

''Is actually bound to that high place

''The pleasure of doing so is a different matter

As night began to fall, Sayama joined Izumo and Kazami in the Kinugasa Library.

The three of them sat around a table in that library that had a stepped floor leading toward the center.

Sayama sat on the eastern side of the table. Izumo and Kazami sat across from him.

Siegfried was making black tea at the counter where he supervised the library.

Sayama wore suit pants and a shirt and had his bandaged left arm resting on the table.

He waited for the black watch on his arm to reach six o’clock before speaking.

“Now, can you tell me the whole story about what is going on here, Kazami, Izumo?”

His sharp gaze was pointed toward Izumo who wore a black track suit over his well-built body.

“Ahh, I get the feeling an interrogation is starting here. Am I just imagining things?”

“What a coincidence, Izumo. I have that same feeling. Let us do our best to get through this together.”

“I’d rather not…”

Kazami wore a sleeveless outfit and gave a half-lidded look toward the two boys.

“This doesn’t really matter, so let’s keep it serious and cheerful. If you don’t, you’ll probably receive divine punishment.”

“You heard her, Izumo. Let us have a serious and cheerful interrogation.”

“So basically, it’s interrogation play? I know about that. At night, I’ll go like this with Chisato and…”

As he spoke, Izumo began making a kneading motion with his hands in midair before suddenly disappearing from Sayama’s vision.

Immediately afterwards, he heard a great sound of impact to his right.

“…”

Sayama looked to the right and found Izumo and his chair rolling below a bookcase. He rolled across the stepped floor once, twice, and thrice before coming to a stop.

He lay face down with his limbs sprawled out and did not move. After seeing that, Sayama turned toward Kazami.

She was lowering her hand to the table and was still seated.

“Hm?” she said as she noticed his gaze. She quickly reached her hand under the table and fixed her disheveled clothing. She finally looked over at her partner who was sprawled out on the floor. The ends of her eyebrows lowered, she brought a hand to her mouth, and spoke.

“Ahh, looks like the divine punishment really did come… God must have wanted Kaku to prostrate himself.”

“My eyes were not quick enough to catch it, but is divine punishment limited to the area below the table?”

“Yes. As they say, ‘god repays you in ways you cannot see’.”

“So he endorses assassination… But I did not expect god’s response to be quite so direct.”

“Well, it is. So what will you do? My god is the type that wants to punch with the left after punching with the right.”

“Hm.” Sayama adjusted his tie. “Then I will do as your god says and take this seriously.”

“Don’t accept this so casually!” Izumo stood up and pointed at Kazami. “What if I had been injured!?”

“But you weren’t… I have to wonder how, though,” said Kazami in annoyance.

Izumo looked down at his own body and said, “Oh, that’s fine then.”

“It is?” asked Sayama and Izumo shrugged and nodded before putting his chair back and sitting down.

After seeing the two back to normal, Sayama turned toward Izumo.

“Why are you so sturdy? I have wondered that for a while now.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s just a bit of divine protection.”

“Due to that, Kaku never learns his lesson and I catch myself reacting the same way to other people.”

“Chisato was amazing the other day when a molester touched her ass on the train,” said Kaku fondly. “She put the molester on the railing next to the seats like it was a wooden horse and shoved his crotch against the metal pole like this, again and again.”

“Evil must be destroyed and molesters must die. Never forgive them even if they shout and scream. …That was the slogan for the girls’ dorm last month.”

Kazami then nodded and loudly clapped her hands.

“Okay, let’s get started with the serious discussion! To get straight to the point, Kaku and I entered UCAT two years ago. The incident back then completed the Leviathan Road for 10th-Gear and 6th-Gear. My parents are both normal people who have no connection to IAI or UCAT. …What do you think?”

“I thank you for the quick and simple explanation.”

“Well, there’s no point in hiding any of this,” said Kazami.

Siegfried spoke up from behind the counter.

“It is only appropriate that the Izumo family handled those two Gears.”

“What?” asked Sayama with a tilt of the head.

With a small smile, Izumo explained, “My grandfather destroyed 6th-Gear and 10th-Gear.” He then asked Sayama a question. “This will take a while to discuss. Is your roommate okay? …Do you need to go and strengthen the bonds of friendship?”

“I will show him around the school later. …He is Shinjou-kun’s brother. Do you know him?”

“Oh… I have…heard a bit about him.”

“He does not know about UCAT. He is taking care of his luggage at the moment, so we should have time.”

“I see… Then, Chisato, bring out the world map. Let’s get this over with quickly.”

Kazami brought over a large map meant for a classroom. It was made of cloth and measured a meter square when spread out.

As she held onto one end and spread it out, a slight smell of wood scattered from the cloth.

A complete map of Japan which had discolored slightly with age lay on the table.

Izumo looked across it toward Sayama and opened his mouth to speak without a smile.

“It’s actually been a while since I’ve heard anything related to the National Defense Department other than about my grandfather. UCAT stores all of that sort of information in their archive and won’t let in anyone who doesn’t have permission. I did learn that old man Siegfried is a former member of the National Defense Department during the trouble a few years back.”

Sayama realized Izumo’s gaze was slowly moving up behind him.

Sayama turned his head around to find Siegfried standing there with a silver-plated tray.

The aroma of tea wafted from the four cups sitting on it.

“I would like to open a café, but I cannot do so right away.”

Kazami took the saucer and cup held out to her.

“They have tea in Germany, too. I drank quite a bit when I was there on a trip a long time ago.”

“Eh?” Izumo frowned as he took his cup. “Wh-when did you become such an international person?”

“It was before I met you, Kaku. I ended up all over the place thanks to my father’s job during my middle school years. It was my experiences then that taught me how to speak English. …Do you really have to give me that look? Sayama is even more of a threat. If I recall, he knows twelve-…”

“I know thirteen languages. My grandfather drove it all into me, so you cannot say it was my own ability.” Sayama took his cup and looked up at Siegfried. “Although that same grandfather told me nothing about himself or you.”

“That is unsurprising. I believe Izumo and Kazami only just learned I destroyed 1st-Gear today.”

“You’re right about that. Anyway, how much will you be helping us?”

“I will tell you the bare minimum of what I remember. And I will correct your knowledge.”

Kazami gave a short whistle at that. Siegfried frowned when he heard it, but she rid him of the frown with a single embarrassed smile.

She lowered her cup and said, “That sounds good to me. The two of us have been with UCAT for about two years, but we haven’t been given much information. And yet Kaku is the heir to IAI. Not to mention that the last time his father came to visit him was-…”

“Chisato.”

Kazami stopped speaking when her name was called.

“Sorry,” she said.

Izumo nodded and so did Sayama.

“He does behave badly,” commented Sayama. “Even parents have their own feelings about things.”

“I’m not sure if I should stand up for him or not…”

“Let’s just leave it at that,” said Izumo as he placed a hand on the map. “You heard about the Divine States-World Interaction at the Imperial Palace, right? Japan is connected to the world and that condition has continued to this day. After the ten Gears were destroyed and Japan lost World War Two, Japan escaped occupation by slowing the ley line acceleration and taking on the strange phenomena of the world.”

Izumo looked over at Siegfried. The old man merely nodded.

Sayama decided Izumo’s information must be accurate. It would be safe to let him take the role of teacher.

“Continue. What I want first is a list of the ten Gears. At the Imperial Palace, you said they influenced the myths, legends, and cultures of this world. And 1st-Gear is…”

“The Volsunga Saga of Norse mythology and the more well-known ‘The Song of the Nibelungs’. It’s the story of a hero defeating a dragon and then losing his life after being betrayed by his wife and old lover. The name Siegfried even appears as the hero,” said Izumo with a nod. He tapped between Japan’s Kinki and Sanin Region on the map. “At any rate, that’s 1st-Gear. You know where 1st-Gear’s Concept Core is, right?”

“Yes. Half of it is inside the holy sword Gram and kept in UCAT’s western branch underneath IAI headquarters. But the other half is inside Fafnir Custom, the mechanical dragon of a radical faction.” Sayama lightly folded his arms. “A mechanical dragon… Have you ever seen one, Izumo?”

“Once, but it wasn’t Fafnir Custom. Simply put, it’s a dragon-shaped machine. The main body alone is over thirty meters long. I hear there are some amazing ones that can fly.”

“They were the most powerful standalone weapons of the Concept War,” said Siegfried. “As Ooshiro explained, the Fafnir I slew with Gram had only one reactor. Destroying that one killed it. However, the modified version has two reactors and the crucial Concept Core is sealed inside the weaponry reactor at its throat. If it comes to a fight, destroying the weaponry reactor will not be enough.”

“Fafnir Custom would still be running, so it could crush us?”

“A mechanical dragon can fight effectively enough with just its gigantic body.”

Sayama nodded at Siegfried’s explanation.

…''If I accept the Leviathan Road, will it mean taking on that thing?

He grinned bitterly. He recalled what Shinjou Sadame had said that evening: you might die.

She might very well have been right, but for the moment, Sayama needed to gather information. He brought a hand to his chin.

“Next, I would like to ask about 2nd-Gear.”

“Oh, 2nd is easy. It’s Japan.” Izumo raised his hand and pointed toward the seven Izu Islands on Sayama’s side of the map. “That Gear is thought to be the basis for the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki. Its Concept Core is apparently a fire dragon called Yamata. The people of 2nd-Gear have mostly acclimated to life here. Negotiations with them should be easy.”

Izumo moved his outstretched arm to the side, pointing toward the Seto Inland Sea.

“3rd-Gear is the basis of Greek mythology. I don’t know much about its Concept Core. …It’s been split in half and one half is carried by something called Typhon. And…”

“And? What is it?”

“Have you seen the large humanoid machines we call gods of war? You have, right? 3rd-Gear is a world of those and automatons. That’s why I think this Typhon must be a god of war. The problem is that we can’t find the other half. Searching for it will probably be left to us. If you accept the Leviathan Road, that is,” said Izumo before adding, “Another problem is that we might have to fight those gods of war.”

Sayama had seen it the night before in UCAT’s underground hangar. He had seen a metal giant over eight meters tall.

…''First the mechanical dragons and now this. It’s all so showy.

He now further understood why he might die.

“What about 4th-Gear?”

As Sayama asked for further information regardless of the danger, Izumo gave a bitter smile. He pointed toward Kyushu.

“Africa. From what I hear, the Concept Core was made into the model of the tree serpent Mukiti and it is in UCAT’s possession. …And 5th-Gear is the Americas.” He pointed toward Hokkaido. “I’ve heard 5th-Gear is the Gear of mechanical dragons. Half of the Concept Core was apparently turned into some amazing weapon which is stored in UCAT, but the location of the other half is unknown.”

“6th-Gear is already taken care of, correct?”

“Yes. That world is the basis for Indian mythology. That Gear was ruled using a dragon named Vritra. If you see any Indian people in UCAT, you can assume they’re from 6th-Gear.”

While still smiling, Izumo slowly moved his hand over to point at Tohoku.

“I’ve been told 7th-Gear is China, but we don’t know anything about its Concept Core.”

“This is a lot to investigate…”

“Think of that as part of your duty. Next, 8th-Gear is Australia. That’s Shikoku on the map. Its Concept Core is held by the stone serpent Wanambi, but it is kept in the UCAT western branch below IAI headquarters.”

“We have a surprising number of them stored to the west.”

“Yes,” said Kazami as she stood up and pointed at the Chugoku region for Germany, the Seto Inland Sea for Greece, Shikoku for Australia, and Kyushu for Africa. “All of these were focused in the west. It seems they decided it would be useful to have them nearby in case of an emergency. Was that actually the reason, old man Siegfried?”

“It was, but it also grew difficult to move them afterwards. The remnants of the different Gears would plot to steal each other’s Concept Cores.”

“So the fighting continued even after the war ended. I suppose that should not surprise me. …Next, what about 9th-Gear?”

“9th is the Middle East. It has been suggested as the basis for Zoroastrian mythology. It seems they had some gigantic mechanical dragon named Zahhak, but 9th-Gear lost and its Concept Core is stored below UCAT. 10th is last, but it’s already been dealt with.”

“Tell me anyway.”

“Okay,” said Izumo as he pointed above Kinki. “10th-Gear is thought to be the basis for Norse mythology separate from 1st-Gear. 1st-Gear is less about the legends of the gods and more the basis of the folklore and myths. 10th-Gear is directly the world of the gods.”

“I see,” nodded Sayama.

That was the legends of ten different locations in the world and the corresponding Gears. And…

“You may not know about 7th-Gear, but are all the Concept Cores related to dragons?”

“Yes. And they are also often contained within weapons. In almost every case where the Concept Core has been split in half, one is in a dragon and the other in a weapon.”

Sayama thought on that.

…''So it is the dragon and the weapon to defeat it.

Power and restraint, wealth and influence, enemy and hero. It was a primitive symbol of that relationship.

“So it is called the Leviathan Road because it involves dealing with the dragons of the ten Gears.”

“And Leviathan also refers to the devil’s dragon in the biblical book of Revelation, right?” added Kazami. “I know a bit about it since my father is looking into that kind of thing right now for some event planning. The Leviathan has the appearance of all beasts.”

“That’s what’s wanted from us.” Izumo folded his arms. “This is just a guess of mine, but I think the Leviathan Road is a negotiation in which we confront the dragons of the ten Gears after acquiring the weapons needed to defeat them.”

Sayama began to nod at what Izumo had said, but then stopped.

There was a lot he still did not know. It was too soon to accept that deduction.

…''And something bothers me about that explanation of the Gears.

He got the feeling Izumo and Kazami’s explanation had contained no conscious errors. They had been clear about what they understood and what they did not.

However, Sayama still felt something crucial was missing. But what was the problem?

“Hm…”

Sayama crossed his arms and stared at the map of Japan. And then…

“?”

The arms folded in front of his chest felt a small movement in his shirt’s breast pocket.

It was Baku. He must have woken up from sleeping in the pocket because he looked up at Sayama.

“Wah,” said Kazami with a look that plainly said she wanted to touch Baku, but Sayama ignored her. He stroked Baku’s head and told him to stay put.

It was as Baku nodded and sank back into the pocket that Sayama realized what it was that had been bothering him.

In the dream Baku had given him that morning, he had seen some ruins.

He immediately gave voice to his thoughts.

“Babel. Izumo, do you know of a tower named Babel?”

Izumo looked up and exchanged a look with Kazami.

“Now that’s a surprise. We don’t know anything about it besides the name. How do you know about it?”

“Baku here gave me a dream with a giant tower in it. Where is it on this map?”

Izumo and Kazami exchanged another glance at that question.

From the way the ends of their eyebrows moved slightly, Sayama could guess the answer.

“You don’t know?”

“No. Since it’s called Babel, we know it’s most likely located in Japan’s version of the Middle East near Osaka. And…Babel must be related to Low-Gear’s biblical mythology.”

“You sound very certain for saying you don’t know,” said Sayama. “Are you saying this is a mythology of Low-Gear that has no influence from the other Gears?”

“Yes. Biblical mythology is thought to be a Low-Gear original.”

Izumo smiled bitterly and pointed toward the bookshelf behind him. It contained Kinugasa Tenkyou’s books that Sayama had looked at that morning.

“Do you remember the books you looked at this morning? The eleven books on mythology. Volumes one through ten correspond to the lineup of Gears we told you about. And do you know what the eleventh volume is about?”

“…The bible?”

“That’s right. Japan possesses the appearance of the world’s ley lines. I don’t know if Babel in Japan influences the Middle East or if the Middle East influences the Osaka region, but that tower definitely exists.”

“Do you really not know any details concerning Babel?”

“We tried to look into it, but the information has been completely shut down. Of course, that almost tells you it exists right there. We have no idea why it is being kept secret when it is related to our Gear,” explained Kazami with a shrug.

Sayama gave a bitter smile.

''I see,'' he said in his heart. ''These two have seen the mysteries in their situation and have investigated some of them over the past two years.

Something else seemed to click in place in his head.

“Is that why UCAT uses some terms related to the bible? Like saying ‘testament’ for ‘understood’. Testament can also refer to the bible.”

“Yes. There are a total of eleven different Gears: Low-Gear with the bible and the other ten that act as models for different mythologies. Your grandfather and the others from the National Defense Department destroyed all of the others.”

“But this is referred to as Low-Gear. Why does it have such a humble name?”

Siegfried nodded in response.

“The other Gears referred to each other by numbers based on the order of their worlds’ string vibration frequencies. Those codenames were created as the Concept War continued. And so we came up with our own. American UCAT suggested naming ourselves Law-Gear because we fought for victory and justice. But…”

“But?”

“Professor Tenkyou misspelled it when making the announcement. We have been Low-Gear ever since.”

“Am I supposed to laugh at that?” said Sayama with a sigh. He then took in a breath before asking, “At any rate, which of these Gears did my grandfather destroy?”

Siegfried said nothing, but he cast his eyes down.

Seeing that brought a pain to Sayama’s chest. He frowned and sucked in a breath.

Izumo must have noticed this change because he frowned. Kazami spoke from beside him.

“Sayama? Are you-…?”

The two of them were aware of his illness. That was why Kazami stood up from her chair and began to approach him. At the same moment, the entrance to Kinugasa Library opened behind him.

“Um, is Sayama-kun here?” asked a high-pitched voice.

“…”

Sayama raised his lowered head and turned toward the library entrance beyond Siegfried.

Shinjou Setsu stood there in personal clothes. Shinjou’s hair was worn up and it swayed as he looked toward Sayama.

His eyes were wide as he looked through the library and they narrowed once he spotted Sayama.

“Are you done with your work?”

Sayama nodded and realized a certain fact.

…''My chest pain is gone?

He did not know why. However, it was clear that Shinjou’s presence had played a role.

Sayama smiled bitterly in his heart as he wondered why.

He stood up and looked over at Izumo and Kazami. A smile appeared on Kazami’s lips.

“Go on. I hope you can take good care of your first roommate.”

Sayama listened to Kazami’s words and nodded. He walked over toward Shinjou who was tilting his head with a smile.

In the unlit art room, Brunhild stopped her hand that was moving the brush.

Her wristwatch told her it was 7:30 PM.

“I have been focusing on this for quite a while.”

She looked to the side. The small bird was sleeping in the cardboard box placed on the work desk. The dish cloth inside the box was crumpled such that a depression existed in the middle like a nest. The bird stood on the brush placed there in place of a perch. Its eyes were cast down in sleep.

As Brunhild watched the bird, she swung a leg. This produced a voice at her feet.

“Ow. What is it? I had just gotten to sleep.”

She heard the black cat’s footsteps on the floor. Looking down, she saw its slender body standing up and looking up at her.

Brunhild pressed her index finger against her mouth.

“Are you trying to pick your nose?” asked the cat.

She gently kicked the cat through the air.

The cat turned its back to her, rolled over, and began complaining, but Brunhild ignored it. She stood up and checked the food and water in the box. She soaked a few pieces of food in the water and left them for the bird.

She then crouched down, grabbed the back of the cat’s neck, and picked it up.

“Now, let’s go to the headquarters.”

“Ah? What about the bird? Is it okay?”

“It’s sleeping, so this is our chance.”

Brunhild lowered the black cat to the floor and walked toward the lockers. They were the lockers for the art club located in the back of the room. As she walked, she loosened her uniform’s tie and removed her coat.

She draped the coat over her arm as she arrived in front of one of the lockers. She touched the door and it opened.

“Sorry, Requiem Sense. The time to use you has not yet arrived.”

The giant scythe folded up in the locker called orbs of light into the surrounding area. As she watched that pale firefly-colored light, Brunhild grabbed some folded up cloth from the bottom of the locker.

As she lifted it up and spread it out with one hand, the black cat spoke its name.

“The black clothes of the witch.”

Hanging down from her hand were a black dress and a black three-cornered hat.

As Brunhild drew the black clothes toward her, she tossed her coat into the locker.

Her empty hand ran through practiced motions. Her uniform’s skirt fell from her waist and to the floor, she unbuttoned her shirt, and she slid her body out of it.

Partway through, her hand got caught on the right cuff of the shirt, but she bit the button to remove it.

She was now wearing only black underwear and stockings.

She then lightly waved the black clothes again to spread them out.

These black clothes had no stitches along the collar or chest. She sucked in a breath to make her body as slender as possible and slipped the hem of the skirt down her body. She breathed out and the three-dimensional form created by the darts below the chest and the tucks at the waist fit perfectly to the shape of her body with no need for a belt.

Brunhild pulled a pendant with a blue stone embedded in it from the dress’s breast pocket and placed it around her neck.

She lifted the three-cornered hat up in both hands and placed it on her head.

“Finished.”

Without even checking in a mirror, Brunhild began to move. She grabbed the shirt and skirt at her feet and threw them into the locker without bothering to fold them.

“Ah.”

The shirt got caught on Requiem Sense, so she frantically removed it.

She blushed and looked down. The black cat looking up at her quickly shook its head.

“I-I wasn’t thinking anything! I wasn’t laughing! I wasn’t thinking ‘you fool’ or ‘you ape’!”

[[Image:OnC_v01_0377.png|thumb]]

“Fine then,” she said quietly.

She shut the locker and the pale light floating around the area disappeared.

She glanced around to make sure no light remained. Afterwards, Brunhild looked over at the cleaning supplies locker three to the left.

She walked over, opened the wooden door, and pulled out a broom. It was a meter and a half long and meant to be used in both hands. The brush portion had a plastic cover with a floral pattern.

Brunhild spun it around in one hand to ensure the bristles had not come loose from the shaft.

“I hope this will be okay. During the major cleaning, a first year was pretending to play heavy metal on this.”

“And who was it that knocked him out by suddenly chopping him in the medulla oblongata with her hand?”

“I-I just panicked a little. I couldn’t think of any other way.”

“Your form was excellent for it being a split-second idea.”

“Shut up. Anyway, we need to hurry there and hurry back.”

Brunhild began walking and the cat sighed before following.

She unlocked the art room door and stepped out into the hallway. She then walked to the staircase. Their destination was the rooftop.

Once they reached the rooftop, the wind and moon showed themselves.

Brunhild looked up at the bluish-white glowing moon and frowned.

“This makes it more difficult. I’ll be seen if I fly.”

She looked down at herself to find her black clothing reflecting the moonlight, coloring her a bit blue.

The shadows of the broom and three-cornered hat on the rooftop were bluish black as well.

After puffing air out of her nose, Brunhild pulled a small pouch out of her vest pocket. It was leather and rectangular. The folded upper corner was the only portion made to open.

The black cat’s tail stuck up and trembled when it saw the pouch.

“I’m afraid of your driving enough already… Are you really using that too?”

“Come on. If I took off with my own power, the noise and light would give me away.”

“Low-Gear really is inconvenient…” said the cat as it hung its head down.

“Yes,” was the only response she gave before opening the pouch and tilting it downwards.

Sand spilled out.

Brunhild began to walk. She moved toward the western edge of the rooftop. She held the broom in her left hand and lightly shook the pouch of sand in her right hand.

Suddenly, she began to hum. She hummed the melody line of the hymn Silent Night.

The sand that glowed white in the moonlight fell to the rooftop amid the wind and seemed to mix together with the music in her breaths.

Despite the blowing wind, the sand fell straight down without scattering. The path Brunhild walked along and the way she moved her hand drew out a single pattern.

This pattern was a written character. This single 1st-Gear character measured a meter square.

From the center of the roof to the western edge, she lined up forty of the same character and then lined up twenty of a different character.

After she had finished writing the sixty characters, Brunhild lightly shook the pouch next to her ear. She nodded in satisfaction at how much was left and put the pouch away in her pocket.

She then returned to the black cat who had not moved. She stood atop the first character and faced the western sky.

“Now, let’s go.”

Brunhild pulled a single blue stone from her pocket. The stone had a thin chain attached to the front. She wrapped that chain around the middle of the broom.

She placed the broom’s brush on the ground and placed her right foot atop the joint between handle and brush. She moved the right hand holding the handle forward. This created a reverse triangle between the broom and her own body.

She carelessly grabbed the neck of the black cat at her feet and tossed it onto the front of the broom.

“Not the froooooonnnnnnt!”

“Shut up,” said Brunhild as she took a light step with the left foot that was still on the floor.

The first character was located there.

In the instant the sound of her step rang out, a change came over all sixty characters.

The change came in the form of pale light and movement. The sand of the first forty characters gave off a slight blue light and the sand of the twenty characters after them gave off an orange light. The sheet of all sixty characters began to move with the twenty characters in the lead.

Starting below Brunhild’s feet, the sixty meter long sheet created from the sixty characters created a shallow slope leading up into the sky.

After approximately thirty seconds, a slope of characters had been created with the very end raised by three meters.

This shallow slope could not be seen without ascending to the roof of one of the other school buildings.

A wind blew in from the east as if to wash across the backs of the characters.

Brunhild then stepped on the character on the floor beneath her feet once more.

It all happened in an instant.

The character beneath her feet produced a wind. This wind did not blow; it pushed.

“!”

A wind that had the mass of a wall pushed at her feet and her back. It started her, the broom, and the cat along the slope.

She picked up speed. Brunhild first felt the thickness of the atmosphere. She then felt the speed.

As her body sank down on the broom, she could see the scenery ahead and the line of characters shooting by at high speed below her feet. Once she passed a character, it would lose its light, return to being sand, and scatter across the floor.

In the period of time known as an instant, the first forty characters scattered.

When Brunhild reached the remaining twenty orange characters, her body began to float.

She began to accelerate further in a straight line.

The wind pushing her from behind began also pushing diagonally at her back and from below her butt.

When Brunhild saw the end of the slope and the starry western sky beyond, she lowered her body on the broom even further. She clung to the broom with her entire body.

Before she could even take a breath, all of the characters on the floor scattered and Brunhild shot into the sky.

A roaring noise struck her body.

“!”

She was in empty air.

Nothing was supporting her body. For an instant, that was all she could comprehend.

Her five senses were disappearing after being struck by inertia.

However, all of her senses returned soon thereafter. She felt the cold nighttime wind tickling from the front of her neck to the back.

“…Ah.”

When her slightly darkened vision recovered, she noticed a line of private homes running along below her.

The broom moved at high speed and it was falling as if scraping away at her gut. Brunhild was clinging to the broom’s handle with her entire body and the broom was shaking violently to the left and right with no sign of settling down.

Brunhild raised her head. She checked to make sure a pale bluish-white light was coming from within the floral pattern cover over the broom’s brush. She then released the cat from where she had been pressing it to the handle with her left hand.

As she flew through the wind, the sea of light flowing by below her was approaching. It only took her an instant to decide what to do.

She needed to rise. And to do that…

“Continue in flight form.”

Brunhild squeezed the stone wrapped around the broom and used a leg to push the brush toward the ground.

By the principle of leverage, the end of the broom pointed toward the sky.

That was the start.

As if in response, the floral pattern cover over the brush began producing its own driving force.

The brush portion emitted light downwards toward the ground.

Light shot from the left, right, and top of the tip of the handle. That light transformed into small fixed-position wings that looked like bird wings.

With thrust, wings, and an upward orientation, the broom would be sent up into the sky.

The night scenery flying by below was continuing to approach, but Brunhild ignored that visible cityscape.

“Here we go!!”

The light coming from the bottom of the broom suddenly exploded.

A solid sound burst out.

The tip of the broom produced a ring of steam and it was given permission to accelerate up into the sky.

With a roar similar to artillery fire, it shot straight up toward the heavens.

Brunhild flew.

By the time she felt the recoil, she was already much higher in the sky.

The broom continued to rise. However…

“…”

Brunhild silently observed the sea of light spreading out below her.

That was Tokyo.

But Brunhild let a bitter laugh out into the wind and looked up toward the heavens. She looked into the starry western sky. The moon was not visible that high in the sky.

She squeezed the stone in her right hand and accelerated further. She put all of her speed into ascending and moving to the west.

She flew. She rose up into the night sky. Every feeling in her body urged her to curve through the sky and continue west. The feeling of being thrown out into the sky brought joy to Brunhild. And so she added even more speed.

The cat was shouting something, but it fell silent when she replied with a smile.

She moved onward and upward.

As she shot by just below the clouds, she refused to let up or stop her speed until she reached her desired altitude.

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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 16

2026-03-22T02:01:10Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 16: Wiping Away Unease==
[[Image:OnC_v14_0565.png|thumb]]
''There is only one way

''It is neither awkward nor skillful

''All you must do is not let go

Sayama thought the novel was good.

That was different from calling it enjoyable.

Feeling sad or angry were not exactly enjoyable things.

Those feelings and others it gave him were what led him to call it good.

He read it in the library, in the hallway, in the classroom, in the emergency exit landing, in the empty cafeteria, and pretty much anywhere.

He even read it while walking around outside.

If he had been in a train, he would likely have read it without holding onto the hanging strap and without paying any attention to the scenery around him. He would have leaned forward when he was supposed to focus, he would have grown angry when he was supposed to feel anger, and he would have laughed despite the people around him when he was supposed to laugh.

It was that kind of good novel.

He read through it carefully.

This was Shinjou’s novel and it was what she had left with him, but those thoughts did not even enter his head.

He tidily read through it while only flipping back to check on the foreshadowing.

Sayama was the type to read just about anything, but that was why he had a certain rule.

…''I can only read this book for the first time once.

It was a simple fact. Everyone could only read any book for the first time just once.

Because he would read just about anything, Sayama felt he could never forget what it meant to read something for the first time.

He could not casually skim through it.

However, a good book still made the reader want to read through it as quickly as possible.

That was the kind of novel this was.

It was the story of a boy negotiating with eleven worlds and guiding them to a new world.

The protagonist boy had an awfully strange personality. He was disagreeable and he would suddenly grow perverted or insane, so Sayama could not help but wonder what was wrong with his brain. He especially thought the protagonist boy went too far when he thrice pulled on one of the heroine’s body parts in the bath.

…''But this must be well written. For some reason, it is really easy to identify with him!

The heroine was clearly Shinjou herself.

Then was the protagonist modeled after Sayama?

…''I feel like she gave me some horrible characteristics here.

But that likely showed how comfortable she was with him.

He could feel a connection to her even in those subtle facts, so he gave a satisfied sigh.

It was an interesting story.

Unable to contain his emotions any longer, Sayama read what Shinjou had created.

This was what she had made.

If it was something that only she could have made…

…''Then you could call this a part of her. No…

If the novel contained many things, including what had happened when they met and what had happened afterwards…

“Could you call this another version of her?”

It had no physical body, but it contained the will that had moved her body and produced her words.

So Sayama responded in kind.

He conversed with the will inside the book.

There was nothing strange about it. There was a will contained inside the book, so it would have been even stranger had he stayed silent and still when that will moved him to emotion. He would not gain anything by holding back.

Shinjou had often spoken to herself and smiled while playing video games.

She had moved the controller and her body as one, and when her character died…

“Ahhhh!”

Or when she won…

“Yes!”

And when she got worked up…

“Achohhh!!”

When he thought about it, he had a feeling she was always shouting, but that was cute too. When she grew especially focused and got careless with the hem of her shirt, her cuteness would double and create a heat island in his heart.

…''Splendid.

Sayama read the novel as he recalled that.

Sometimes, an interesting turn-of-events would surprise him.

“Ha ha. I never thought of that.”

Sometimes, he would get lost in thought.

“Hm… That was a good question.”

Sometimes, those thoughts would all be cleared away.

“How thrilling!”

Sometimes, he would feel sadness or joy.

“Ahh, what a good story.”

For him, reading through the words and turning the pages was not a means of finishing the book. He was placing himself on an equal level with the book.

Books required someone to create them. They could not be planted in the ground to make them grow on their own.

Sayama distinctly sensed Shinjou’s presence in the written words and what they showed him.

He felt like she was holding his hand without letting go.

She squeezed his hand to tell him she was there, but she did not squeeze too hard.

What she wanted to tell him was written there.

“I…”

He read it.

She spoke to him.

“Will you always be by my side?”

“Yes, I promise. I will always be by your side.”

She breathed a sigh of relief at his words.

And that seemed to be why he asked her about it.

“Why did you just sigh in relief?”

“Eh?” she responded.

After a pause, she realized what the question meant.

“Oh. I was just thinking how happy I am that you promised that.”

She smiled.

“Even if we’re separated or alone, I’ll never be unhappy because I know someone promised me that.”

“Really?”

“Really. If there’s someone who promised me that, then even when I’m alone…I know I’m the one who can always be with that person.” She bent her eyes in a smile as she answered. “I wish someone would have told me this when I was alone so long ago. I wish someone would have told me that, even though I was alone at the time, I would find someone I could be with and that only I could be with.”

She then asked him something.

“Hey, will you be with me forever?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Then,” she asked. “Will you…always be happy, too?”

Sayama finished reading the novel.

Up ahead, he saw a dark hallway and that hallway’s wall.

There was a steel door there. It contained the number of their room.

He reached for the knob and found it was locked.

He held the book in one hand, the key in the other, and opened the door.

The door-shaped rectangle of darkness revealed an empty room, but…

“Yes,” he said. “I promised I would always be with you.”

He squeezed the novel he held in one arm.

He breathed in.

“I am back, Shinjou-kun. Back to our home.”

He then entered the empty room and silently yet strongly closed the door.

Sayama observed the dorm room.

It was dark. The only light was the moonlight, so the window shined with a dark bluish light.

The desk was the same as when he had left the day before.

He looked to the right wall, but there was no sign of the closet having been opened.

He looked to the bed on the left…

“—————”

No one was sleeping on Shinjou’s bed.

The blanket was untouched after the bed had been made.

But he approached her bed and placed Baku on the blanket.

When he set Shinjou’s novel next to the pillow, he felt like she was actually there.

He pressed his face into the bed and sniffed at the surface like a dog.

He lay there motionless for about three minutes before slowly getting up.

He did not bother fixing his disheveled hair.

“Anymore would be a waste. …I need to seal it up to preserve it as is. Then I need to have the international UCATs arrange to register it as a World Heritage Site.”

For the time being, he sat courteously on the floor.

“This is quite the tea ceremony.”

He bowed and got back up.

He stood up, tossed his coat on the desk by the window, and removed his vest.

He took off his shoes, picked Baku up from the bed, and placed him on the desk.

“How much energy will I have after getting some sleep?”

He was worried yet a little hopeful as he climbed the ladder toward his own bed.

As soon as his head rose to the same level as his bed, he found a butt.

There was a butt in front of him.

To be classier, it was a derrière and it was not wearing any underwear.

“Is this…?”

It was lying on its side and split in two.

''Calm down,'' he told himself.

''You just read Shinjou-kun’s novel and your heart was shifting from depression to excitement. The blood must be rushing to the right side of your brain.

''This is most likely a hallucination.

…''No.

''I would not be hallucinating,'' he decided.

“Then is the butt god thanking me for my devotion to the butt spirit?”

…''That would mean this is not an imaginary hallucination! It is the astral body of the butt god!

Touching a spirit required great mental strength, so Sayama checked on his remaining MP.

…''It is at four digits, so I have enough to take a major hit!

Without thinking, he clenched his left fist and shook it up and down, but then he realized something.

The butt had legs and the bottom of a shirt rested at the top.

“…?”

He could tell the owner of the butt had turned in their sleep, sticking their hips out from below the blanket.

Some clothing was folded up by the pillow, but it appeared to be a hospital gown.

That could only mean one thing.

“Is the butt god ill?”

Baku frantically shook his head on the desk, but Sayama ignored him.

That was when the curves bent before his eyes.

“Nn…”

With a nasal groan, the body squirmed.

It curled up to hide within the blanket, but it was too sleepy to actually pull the blanket over its hips.

As a result, the butt gently poked out toward Sayama.

He really, really wanted to touch it, but he shook his head.

“How could I even think of touching the butt god out of mere curiosity or idle interest?”

“Nnah…”

The body squirmed again and the two round pieces of flesh bent a little more.

So out of mere curiosity and idle interest, Sayama reached out and vocalized his action.

“Touch.”

“Waaaaaaahhh!?”

The blanket shot up and the person underneath bent backwards.

Their head rushed toward the bookshelf by the head of the bed, the books toppled over, and the suit hanging from the ceiling was knocked down on top of the person.

“Wh-wh-what!? What!? A monster!? A super monster!? Or an airstrike!?”

Sayama saw who frantically dug themselves out from the pile of books and the suit.

“Shinjou…-kun?”

Sayama called out to her, but she was too panicked to notice.

Her eyes must not have adjusted to the dark because she frantically looked around.

“A-a molester!? O-or what? What? …The enemy!?”

Perhaps for self-defense, she pulled cutting charms from somewhere and held one in either hand.

Sayama had difficulty grasping the situation.

…''Why?

Japanese UCAT had been destroyed.

So why was Shinjou here?

Was this a hallucination? Except the sensation when he touched her had been real.

Then what was going on?

He thought about it but found no answer.

He looked to Shinjou who was in a complete panic.

He smiled and told her to calm down.

“Ha ha ha. Calm down.”

She raised her head in surprise and looked left and right with her unadjusted eyes.

“Wh-where!? Where are you!?”

Sayama nodded at her question and spread his arms invitingly on the ladder.

“I am right here, Shinjou-kun!”

“There you are!!”

A horizontal line of a cutting concept silently flew toward him.

He quickly removed his feet from the ladder, fell three rungs down, and let the cutting power sweep by above him.

The thick curtains to the two-level closet behind him were easily cut. That one strike would have easily beheaded him.

Then he heard Shinjou from the bed above.

“I missed!? Th-then once more! Once morrrre! Do your best, power of the headhunters!

“W-wait! Stop acting like some strange leader and calm down, Shinjou-kun!”

Sayama turned on the lights.

He heard a cry and the creaking of someone squirming on the bed, so he sighed.

After settling his feelings, he climbed the ladder.

He once more found the girl surrounded by a suit and books on the bed.

“Shinjou-kun?”

He saw Shinjou holding her unbuttoned shirt to her chest and between the legs.

She raised her knees and frowned, but she seemed to have noticed him.

“Sayama…-kun?”

They then spoke in unison.

“What is going on?”

After a while, they both reached the same conclusion.

“We need to calm down.”

They both nodded at once and lowered their shoulders.

Sayama climbed onto the bed and sat in front of Shinjou. The suit and books were scattered around them, but this was no time to worry about that.

He simply wanted to determine whether the person in front of him was real or not.

“Shinjou-kun, may I touch you?”

“That was sudden. Are you okay?”

“Ha ha ha. A quick touch was nowhere near enough. I want to touch you more.”

“You’re not okay at all!!”

She got mad, but this was the usual pattern.

So…

“What does this mean?” he asked.

Shinjou tilted her head.

“That’s what I want to know.”

She tilted her head even more.

“What happened to the battle with Mikoku-san? And I was in the schoolyard, so why…?”

With that, she seemed to realize where she was.

“Huh?”

She brought a hand to her forehead and glanced toward Sayama.

“Why…am I here?”

He did not answer that question.

He had no way of knowing the answer.

But he gave into the fact that she knew she was ''here''.

He placed his knees down in front of him, embraced Shinjou as she turned around, and fell onto the bed with her.

“Ah.”

He simply gave her a deep, deep embrace.

He did not let go. He did not loosen his grip. He felt like she would leave him if he did, so he held her tightly in his arms.

She shrank down in his arms and his chest, she briefly breathed in, and she relaxed.

“U-um…Sayama-kun? I’m cold.”

Nevertheless, the warmth he felt from her seemed more important.

He lifted his head and placed his arms into her shirt and along her sides.

He embraced her slender back.

An “ah” escaped her lips, so he sealed them with his own.

“Nnah… S-Sayama-kun. W-wait, um…”

Sayama did not feel sorry for what he had done. He only felt thankful for her presence and he confirmed that presence with the things only he could do to her.

His arms embraced her flesh, so he placed his lips on hers, touched her with his tongue, and pressed his neck and cheek against her.

When he removed his lips from hers, she let out a breath and went limp.

He saw her flushed cheeks, her unresisting arms, and her body unhidden by her partially-removed clothing.

Her expression was filled with confusion and joy.

“Wh-what happened? Were you really worried about me?”

“No.” Sayama shook his head as she lowered the ends of her eyebrows. “I was just about to conclude that I needed to think of a next step for our relationship.”

“You mean…?”

“To put it softly, I will express it with my voice. I would use my imagination to go ‘nwah’ or use pictures to go ‘fnh’.”

“That’s a pretty awful way of putting it softly.”

But Shinjou seemed to have understood what he meant.

“I see,” she said while curling up and nodding. “So that dream was real.”

“Dream?”

“Yes, it was a strange dream…with a strange old man.”

She suddenly laughed bitterly.

“Looking back, that was your grandfather and mother. They looked just like they did in the pictures and those dreams of the past.”

“That truly is a bizarre dream.”

“But…they were nice people.”

It sounded as if she were treating the dream like it was real.

“And? Um…”

She slowly spread her legs as if to accept his body and her right hand reached for his cheek.

“Hey, did you notice?”

She took a breath.

“You’re crying right now.”

''Am I?'' he wondered as a drop also fell from the corner of Shinjou’s eye and toward her ear.

“Are you hurting, Sayama-kun?”

“No…I am not, Shinjou-kun. Because you are with me.”

“I see,” she said. “Then why are you crying? And why am I crying?”

She laughed and placed her hand around his shoulder.

Her face grew even redder.

“U-um? Sayama-kun? This might be sudden, but what day is it?”

“December 24. It is early morning, though.”

“I see.” She took a while to continue. “Itaru-san was the one to tell me a long time ago, but today’s my birthday.”

“Mine too.”

Those two words seemed to drop down toward her and she moved away from him a little bit.

“Eh? …Ehh?”

“Why are you surprised? Seeing you again is such a wonderful present.”

“S-seeing me isn’t worth that much, you know?”

“But it is,” he insisted. “I, Sayama Mikoto, will head to the Diet this very morning and propose that today be made our own holiday. We can call it the Seeing Shinjou-kun Day. …How about it? We can abbreviate it as SS Day.”

“I don’t think the Germans would like that very much.”

“Probably not,” he agreed before thinking a bit. “Do you have a present for me?”

When she shook her head, he realized he had to give her something no matter what.

But she glared back at him.

“Are you thinking something dangerous?”

“Of course not,” he said before suddenly adding something else. “Can I ask one thing?”

“What is it?”

“Well. Instead of getting a present, I would like to check on you. I want to make sure you are really here.”

''Will she be opposed to that?'' he wondered.

But she nodded even if hesitantly.

She then looked him in the eye and nodded again.

“I want to check to make sure you’re here too.”

Kazami was taking a shower.

Her parents were out. They seemed to have a job in the city center.

…''Come to think of it, they said something about a Christmas concert a while back.

There was a possibility her mother would sing again.

Would she finally end her ban on singing?

Kazami felt that would be a wonderful thing.

She held her wet hair between her hands to let the shampoo soak in. She then brushed her hair upwards to even it out, wet it, and let it foam up.

…''Maybe I should make some food once I’m done in here.

After entering the house and managing to relax, Izumo had turned on the TV to check the news about Okutama, so she had gone to take a shower as if purifying herself.

He would probably take a shower next, so she could fix up a quick late-night meal for when he got out.

She had already checked the contents of the fridge.

Since they had been leaving for a bit, her parents had mostly left only the food that would keep, but there was always some leftover rice in there somewhere. There had also been two or three eggs that would last a few days.

After thawing out the rice, she could throw in some wieners and eggs for chazuke or she could make a quick zosui. Given the amount of rice, she could also make fried rice.

Something occurred to her after thinking that far.

“I’m staying pretty positive.”

She smiled bitterly. Despite everything that had happened, she could not argue with her empty stomach.

She was worried about everyone who had been at Japanese UCAT, but there was nothing she could do at the moment. In that case, would it be best to eat what she could and get some rest?

She did not know.

She did know that she would start to feel tired if she ate and rested.

Staying awake would show how worried she was for the others, but…

…''Would everyone want me to get so little sleep I can’t do anything right?

Was that just an excuse coming from her exhaustion?

She did not know and she had no way of answering. She only knew she had climbed onto the three-stage catapult of a bath, food, and sleep.

…''Instead of staying awake today, I’ll get moving tomorrow.

With that decided, she placed her head under the hot water and slapped her cheeks.

“That’s what it means to stay positive!!”

She looked up, and…

“That’s my Chisato!!”

Izumo opened the door and stepped inside.

“—————!?”

The situation was so sudden.

She was unable to react properly and she simply covered her body with her arms to protect herself.

Izumo gave her a relaxed smile.

“Huh? Fancy meeting you here, Chisato.”

“Don’t tell such blatant lies!!”

A right roundhouse kick knocked Izumo into the empty bathtub.

Shinjou was kissed by Sayama.

She was in Sadame’s body.

The room’s lights were still on as her shirt was removed.

Sayama checked over her entire body.

The room was lit, but he seemed to want to confirm the shape of her body by touch. His hands touched her and pushed down to confirm there was something below the skin. He massaged her and his lips crawled across her.

“S-Sayama-kun… Y-you’re pretty obscene, you know?”

“No, I am merely checking on you, Shinjou-kun. …It is all this hand’s fault! This hand! Now, Shinjou-kun, hit this hand for me! Give it a thorough flogging with your butt or chest!”

“You’re good at getting worked up over the most meaningless things.”

Meanwhile, she squirmed as he touched her.

When she moaned and twisted her arm, the arm touched one of the fallen books.

It was lying on Sayama’s suit which was laid out below her.

“U-um, Sayama-kun, your suit.”

“You want to spice things up with the suit!? Testament, then let us move below the light. …More light!”

He started to get up, so she grabbed him with her legs to pull him back down.

He lost his balance and lay back on top of her.

She twisted her sweaty body to catch his strength.

“Um? That’s not what I meant. Will the books and suit…be okay?”

“Anything lying below you counts as a bed, Shinjou-kun.”

''Is that how it works?'' she wondered as he suddenly smiled.

“I read your novel.”

“Eh!?”

That was the first she had heard of that.

Her body temperature quickly reached a boil. The words “wah” and “wait” came to mind, but he spoke first.

“It seems you enjoy it…when you are kissed.”

“No, um, wait. Uh…”

“You say you do not like it…but you cannot resist, can you?”

“Th-that’s um…that’s what you call fiction.”

Her flustered comment made him smile.

“Ha ha ha. Yes, it would be fiction, wouldn’t it?”

“Um, y-yes. It’s fiction! Fiction!”

Sayama laughed some more and immediately pulled her in close.

“But we must not forget the ‘non’ that precedes it.”

Before she could even cry out, his fingertip entered her navel.

It felt like his finger was reaching deep within her belly.

“————”

Her hips jumped up in surprise and she managed to keep her lower half in a sitting position.

“Ah…hee.”

She caught her breath and Sayama tilted his head.

[[Image:OnC_v14_0591.jpg|thumb]]

“How strange… That reaction was supposed to be fictional.”

“S-Sayama-kun, quit teasing me!”

“I am not teasing you, Shinjou-kun.”

“Th-then what are you doing?”

He thought a bit before answering.

“I am crossing the boundary between fiction and nonfiction.”

“That’s a really ordinary way of being ridiculous.”

As she spoke, she felt his fingers arriving below her navel.

“Ah.”

His fingers moved both quickly and slowly down her raised belly and gave a knock on the very bottom.

“Nn.”

When his fingers tapped softly and probingly, her voice just about left her, but her lips were covered up.

While she was unable to breathe, his fingers checked on the curves at the very bottom of her belly.

“Ah…”

He stroked his fingers up and down.

She gave another monosyllabic cry and breathed in through the airway opened by leaning back her head.

“S-Sayama-kun… Th-that’s indecent.”

“Hm, then let us arrange the environment to make it more decent. …Would you like to listen to an educational radio program? I believe they are having a direct competition on a rerun of the social studies program ‘Unemployed Old Man’.”

“That would just make me sad.”

“And after you asked for it yourself? What a selfish child.”

Hearing that made her smile and laugh bitterly.

With her hips still raised, she gave herself in to Sayama’s lips and stroking hand.

His lips lowered to her chest, sucked, and then pecked at various parts of her body.

His fingers continued stroking and pressing in on her. She wanted to resist the trembling ticklishness that created, but she only shook her waist a little since moving away would have been a shame.

But when she leaned her body back, his fingers were accepted inside as he stroked upwards.

“…Hyah.”

She frantically tried to move her body back, but he stroked and swept his fingers upwards and repeated the action again and again. It was like he was repeatedly knocking her body back upwards.

“…!”

The repeated upwards action caused her to tremble and she tried to catch her breath.

But just then, he moved his fingers even more strongly, except this time he pushed the wetness down and back.

The sudden reversal of the movement and the feeling of the fingers so far down caused Shinjou to tremble and gasp in surprise.

“————”

For a while, she felt as if something were leaving her body.

The next thing she knew, he had grabbed the hands extended by her side and he pulled her down.

This was the opposite of before.

Sayama was down between her legs. She was sitting with her legs spread, his arms were pulling her forward by the butt, and her arched belly and hips were thrust out toward him.

At some point, his stroking fingers had been replaced by his damp lips and tongue.

“Ah, S-Sayama-kun, that’s embarrassing…”

When he said nothing, she grew a little afraid and the throbbing she felt produced an honest cry.

“S-say something, Sayama-kun. Please…”

“On’t orry. Ere’s othing oo orry about Injou-un.”

“Don’t talk with your mouth still on me!!”

He pulled on her hands and she leaned back enough for her butt to rise from the bed.

She was offering up her defenseless self to his mouth.

She cried out as he reached deep inside her, but she eventually was unable to even do that.

“…Nn.”

A long tremor ran through her body and, when she came to her senses again, her body was limp.

She breathed out, looked up, and found him there.

“Shinjou-kun.”

“…?”

He nodded at her questioning breath.

“Are you there?”

“…Yes.”

She answered and turned her body to face him.

Aware of his warm breath, she got up and moved toward him.

“U-um?”

She spoke with the ends of her eyebrows lowered and a hand held up to her lips.

“You were worried about me, weren’t you? So, um… first, I’ll show you for sure that I’m here. And this time, I’ll go first after that too, okay?”

Before he could stop her, she touched him herself.

She showed him she was there using the reverse of the method he had just used on her.

She brought her lips in close and stroked with her tongue.

“Sayama-kun… You can do what you want to me, okay? You’ve saved my life so many times, so this is my present…this is Sadame’s present to you.”

She felt him stroke her hair and she felt a dampness on her lips as she took him into her mouth.

“Sayama-kun, don’t hesitate to give me something, okay?”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded, shook her body, and looked up at him.

“I’ll show you that I’m here. As the reverse of before, I’ll accept you…and accept you inside. So afterwards, you show me that you’re here, okay?”

An intense sound shook the Kazami house’s bathroom.

It came from Izumo who had fallen into the bathtub while spinning.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow! What the hell are you doing!?”

“That’s my line!! You surprise peeping tom!!”

Kazami switched the shower’s mode from “normal” to “direct fire” to “warship”, turned the water temperature to cold, and fired. The water attack was powerful enough to create a mist and Izumo shouted from beyond the spray.

“How in the world was that peeping!? And stop! Seriously stop, Chisato!”

“Will you apologize!?”

“Your body sure is beautiful.”

She clicked her tongue, switched the water to a lighter mode, wrapped a towel around herself, and sighed.

…''What is he thinking at a time like this?

She found Izumo looking up at her with an elbow on the edge of the bathtub.

“Feeling better?”

“Well, I guess.”

She gave another deep sigh, sat on the edge of the bathtub, and rested her own head on her hand.

“What were you thinking? And why is your head full of dirty things at a time like this!?”

“Well…”

He lowered his head a little, looked up at the ceiling, and slowly answered.

“You’d be in trouble if you were alone.”

She felt her cheeks flush at how spot on his answer was, so she looked away.

“That isn’t true.”

“Then,” he said. “There’s no need for us to get worked up right now. It isn’t our turn to act.”

“But!”

She turned around and remembered why she was getting so worked up.

She remembered so many people’s faces and realized this was not good.

“But…”

She trailed off and her vision blurred.

“Ahh, sorry, sorry. I said too much, didn’t I?”

He reached over, grabbed the shower, and sprayed lukewarm water over her head.

Her bangs created a wet black shadow that completely covered her face.

The water flowed down her face, leaving only her trembling voice.

“I don’t like this… I don’t…”

“Don’t say that. This was my fault.”

“It was.”

Her shoulders shook and she breathed in as if to wash her downturned mouth with the water.

“This was…all your fault.”

“Sure, sure, sure. It was my fault. All mine.”

“It’s always you. It’s always your fault. You’re always perverted, you’re undisciplined, you eat too much, you buy things impulsively, and you collect strange magazines… Ahh, now I’m getting mad!”

“Wait, wait. I think your anger gauge is rising on its own, Chisato.”

“And whose fault is that?”

He suddenly brushed up her bangs.

She looked up through the stream of water with one eye and saw Izumo peering down at her.

“Just say it’s my fault. That’s your special privilege.”

“A-and you’re fine with that? Really?’

“Sure.” He thought for a moment. “Because you always apologize afterwards.”

She paused for a moment when she heard that.

“———”

She smiled bitterly.

''That’s true,'' she thought and so she exhaled.

“Sorry.”

She pressed her cheek against his chest as she spoke.

“It’s painful for you too, isn’t it?”

“I’m fine. You don’t need to worry about it.”

“Really? Why?”

It took a while, but he finally answered.

“When my mom died, I thought nothing could ever be more painful. And after that, I got you by my side.”

So…

“If anything really painful happens to me, it’ll be when you aren’t with me, so…you don’t need to worry about me. And since I don’t have to worry about you either, it isn’t as painful, right?”

She was speechless, but he continued right on.

“It’s the same if you do lose someone. We know we at least didn’t make them feel the pain of losing us and that’s gotta be a really good thing.”

“B-but…!”

She wanted to say something. She could not think of anything to say, but she still wanted to say something.

That was when Izumo placed his hand on her hair and gave a bitter laugh.

“Let’s just leave it at that. …You can’t survive just by sitting around, so you did good, Chisato. At the very least, you kept anyone from hurting because of you. Right?”

She responded to that question by rising up along his chest and wrapping her arms around his neck.

“You’re so stupid,” she said as she placed her lips on his and wondered what kind of expression was on her face. “You really are stupid, so I’ll keep saying it: you’re stupid. That’s my special privilege.”

“Sayama’s been stealing that privilege from you an awful lot, you know?”

“That’s fine.” She leaned against him and smiled. “Getting him to apologize to me later is another special privilege of mine. So…”

She knew even her ears were red as she continued.

“Will you apologize to me?”

Izumo answered her with an embrace.

The warm water brought their flesh closer together.

“Ah…”

Kazami hesitated and narrowed her eyes.

But a moment later, she heard a sudden voice from the house’s entrance.

“Chisato!? Are you there!? Mama and papa came back to get something we forgot!”

The two in the bath exchanged a glance.

“Does this mean…?”

Izumo nodded at Kazami’s serious question.

“We have no choice but to show off our love!”

She slammed him into the bathtub once more.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 15|Chapter 15]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 17|Chapter 17]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume8 Chapter 17

2026-03-22T02:00:34Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 17: Meeting of Conflict==
[[Image:OnC_v08_0485.png|thumb]]
''We meet again

''We clash again

''But that too is not new

The color green lay below the blue of the sky.

The green took the form of a slope and the slope was located above a great expanse of salt water.

It was an island.

The island was only about a kilometer long, had a small pier on the east side, and had no buildings. The outer edges were covered in grass and most of the upper area had a roof of trees.

The only boat at the pier was a small fishing boat.

A path leading up the mountain-like island continued west of the pier and three figures were walking below the trees on that mountain path.

The one in the lead was an animal.

It was a six-legged creature that was made up of green plants. A blue stone hung from a string around his neck like a collar and he quickly climbed the mountain path that had little wind.

Suddenly, the plant creature stopped walking and turned around.

The two open holes on what seemed to be his face turned to the two people following him.

One was what appeared to be a girl in a safari coat and the other was a boy in a blue suit.

The one in the suit brushed a hand through his slicked-back hair and spoke.

“Shinjou-kun, he looks like he’s asking if you want to take a break.”

“N-no, I’m fine, Sayama-kun. The shade of the forest has cooled things down.”

Shinjou loosened her safari coat’s collar, wiped sweat from her brow with a towel, and smiled.

She was different from usual. Her hair was tied back as she did for Setsu, but it was tied with a ribbon and her clothes were different.

“Did you choose the tight miniskirt to combine Setsu-kun and Sadame-kun today?”

“Yes. …Is it weird?”

She brought her hands to her shoulders and showed him her outfit, but he shook his head.

She breathed a sigh of relief and smiled again.

“Thanks. Things went well with Setsu last night while dressed as Sadame, so while dressing this morning, I thought it would be best not to distinguish between them so much.”

She gave a bitter smile.

“When I tied the ribbon in the bathroom, I thought of it as crossdressing, but that’s kind of weird when I use ribbons for Sadame’s hair all the time. …But I’m relieved to hear you say it isn’t weird.”

Despite smiling, her eyebrows were slightly lowered the entire time.

“We’re almost to the peak, aren’t we? Let’s hurry. I want to learn all sorts of things and I also want to stop by Izumo HQ to look for information on the Shinjou from the National Defense Department. And I’m worried about Okutama too.”

“Is that so?”

[[Image:OnC_v08_0489.png|thumb]]

Sayama nodded toward the plant creature and the creature began walking once more. His rushing footsteps could be heard when he stepped on dried branches on the ground, but his gait was light as if he was enjoying it.

The two who followed him did not stop walking through the shade of the trees even as they listened to the occasional chirping of birds.

Shinjou let out a shallow breath of exhaustion.

“I wonder what the others are doing.”

“Izumo, Kazami, and the Hiba boy should be monitoring Harakawa’s apartment.”

“That’s not who I meant. I was talking about the people at school.”

She brushed a hand through her bangs which were plastered to her forehead with sweat and she looked at the plant creature walking ahead on the path. She then looked at the trees that seemed to be growing from a sea of underbrush.

“They would never imagine we’re in a place like this.”

While glancing around, she looked beyond the forest. Due to their elevation, the sea seemed to spread out down below and the tiny dots of boats were visible here and there.

When she looked even further, she saw land. That was the western coast of Kyushu.

While occasionally checking on her footing, she continued looking at the sea.

“I feel a little guilty for having so much fun in the middle of so much trouble.”

“No matter what happens in life, most anything can be settled by saying, ‘Oh, how delightful!’ ”

“Hey, I see some kind of big facility on the opposite coast. Do you think it’s a nuclear power plant?”

“Oh, how delightful!”

“I don’t think that’s quite the right way to look at that.”

As the two walked, they quickened their pace to catch up with the plant creature. The path curved to the left and thus to the center of the island and the ocean visible through the trees changed. Shinjou spoke up with the chirping of birds overhead.

“Sayama-kun, do you think this path is ever used?”

“It seems Nagasaki UCAT maintains it and preserves the forest. The 4th-Gear reservation is up ahead, but a forest is needed as a foundation if the reservation is ever to be expanded.”

“I see,” she said with a nod.

She then saw something dark cutting across the path and jumped over it.

“Is that a water pipe?”

“I assume they are drawing fresh water from underground. That way they can cover the island in the damp environment 4th-Gear prefers.”

“That means the reservation is right up ahead, doesn’t it?”

As soon as she said that, the plant creature turned toward them up ahead.

“…”

And he suddenly vanished.

Just as Shinjou gave a quiet “ah” at that fact, she felt a vibration.

The watches she and Sayama wore vibrated and text scrolled across the dial.

—'''Plants are the rulers.

An instant later, they were surrounded by even more green.

They had entered the 4th-Gear reservation.

A wristwatch indicated the time was two o’clock.

The black watch was wrapped around a thick arm that was connected to a large body that was leaning against a tree.

Next to the watch’s wearer was a girl also hiding with her back against the tree.

She peered around from the right of the tree and saw the blue sky and slightly blurry white clouds.

“The gravestones block people’s view more than you would think. But you’re tall, Kaku, so be careful.”

“Sure, but I didn’t expect them to be visiting a cemetery. Chisato, which one of them do you think wanted to have a date here?”

Izumo peered around the tree on the opposite side from Kazami.

The two of them were watching two other people walk between the orderly rows of gravestones.

One was a black-haired boy in a school uniform and the other was a blonde girl in a hoodie.

“Kaku, is that blonde girl Heo? She looks like the girl in the photo.”

“That’s a good question,” said Izumo noncommittally. “She is looking around curiously while he isn’t. I know what makes people act like that because I did it myself once. She’s not used to Japan.”

“Harakawa is checking that sign for the cemetery’s map. It looks like they’re headed to the foreigner area.”

“Does that mean the Harakawa or Thunderson family has a grave here?”

Izumo’s suggestion caused Kazami to stop moving.

She narrowed her eyes and stared at Harakawa and Heo as they walked between the gravestones. She then tilted her head.

“They have too many flowers.”

“What do you mean?”

“There are two containers for flowers at the grave. One on either side. But they have two flowers each.”

That meant…

“They might be visiting both the Harakawa and the Thunderson graves. What do you think?”

“I’m not sure what to think. It could be a coincidence and it may have some kind of meaning, but I don’t know what that meaning is. Either way, this means both of them have a parent buried here.”

“Yes…you’re right. Maybe we’re overthinking this?”

Kazami spoke aloud and nodded as if trying to convince herself.

After a pause, she nodded again, but she grabbed G-Sp2 from where it was leaning against the tree. She took a step forward and away from the tree, but Izumo called out to her.

“Hey, Chisato.”

“They’re going to move out of sight if we don’t move. Stay low and follow me.”

“If you insist,” said Izumo as he crouched down.

He grabbed V-Sw from the tree and soon made his way to her.

He glanced at her for a quick moment and then back at the two backs moving away.

“Chisato, you might’ve been onto something just now.”

“In what way?”

“My grandfather’s grave is up ahead too.”

She frowned at that and frantically looked around.

“W-wait a second. I need to buy some flowers for him and greet him. Um, what does your grandfather like? Porn magazines?”

“Chisato, make up your mind whether you’re gonna be polite or rude. But yeah, probably porn magazines. I’m sure he’d love it if we opened one and propped it up against the next grave up so he could look at it. …Anyway, can we get back on topic?”

“Sure. You were saying?”

She held her spear under one arm and began counting the contents of her wallet, but Izumo continued regardless.

“Not only is my grandfather’s grave up ahead, but so is Sayama’s grandfather’s, the Ooshiro family’s…and probably the Hiba family’s too.”

“Eh?”

Kazami’s expression and the hand in her wallet both froze.

She also stopped walking, so Izumo did as well. She glanced toward Harakawa and Heo to make sure she would not lose sight of them and then looked back at Izumo.

“What does that mean?”

“It means all those perverted old men are competing together for pervert supremacy in the afterlife. It seems a section of this cemetery is used for UCAT members after they die,” he explained. “But the old Thunderson still hasn’t been placed in the Thunderson grave and what about Harakawa? If his grandfather or grandmother had been a part of the original UCAT, we would’ve seen his name in the documents the military god papa gave us. In that case, it must be a parent of his that’s in the Harakawa grave.”

“The Harakawa and Thunderson parents? Why would they be in a cemetery for UCAT-…”

Kazami trailed off, glanced back and forth as if checking something, looked down, and finally returned her gaze at Izumo.

“Kaku, can I make a prediction?”

“Sure. My prediction for our future is two kids and a giant house.”

She took G-Sp2 from under her arm and spun it around a little to take care of that, but the concern remained in her expression even as Izumo collapsed.

“What if it’s the people who died in the secondary damages of the Great Kansai Earthquake? That could explain the graves from their parents’ generation.”

“It is possible their parents were in UCAT back then.” Izumo got up and brushed off the dirt. “But it’s a pain how so many mysteries are popping up. I wish we could’ve told Sayama this last night.”

“Why?”

“He and Shinjou are going to the IAI headquarters in Izumo, remember? My dad’s there and he should know just about everything. If they strangle him and have him spill the beans, it would solve everything.”

“Um, Kaku?” Kazami lowered the ends of her eyebrows but still smiled. “I’ve only spoken with your dad that one time two years ago, but I doubt he would say anything even if they strangled him.”

“You’re taking his side?”

“In a roundabout way, I was complimenting you.”

Bitterness entered her smile and she brushed some dirt off his shoulder.

“Anyway, let’s see where those two are headed. We can talk after that.”

“Right.”

Izumo raised his hips and Kazami did the same.

Harakawa and Heo had grown more distant and Izumo and Kazami stood up some because they doubted the other two would notice and because they wanted to hurry up and get closer.

But they soon noticed someone else standing on the next row of gravestones.

It was likely someone visiting a grave, so Kazami lowered her head a bit and pushed the back of Izumo’s head so he would do the same.

The other person also nodded and then their gazes met.

Kazami realized there was an entire group beyond the row of graves.

Most of them wore blue armored uniforms beneath their suits and they had machineguns hidden inside their bouquets of flowers.

In the lead was an elderly man in a suit and…

“Roger Sully!!” shouted Kazami.

After a moment, Roger looked up in surprise.

“Why are you here!? Are you here to do perverted things in the graveyard!?”

“Who are you calling perverted!? And I see that look on your face, Kaku, but stay quiet!”

She ignored how Izumo timidly stuck his right thumb in his mouth and she quickly held up G-Sp2.

Meanwhile, Roger and the others took a large step back and similarly prepared for battle.

The wind blew in and the sunlight passed through the clouds while the elderly man raised his right arm and spoke to Roger.

“Roger, Roger. Who are these two? I remember seeing one of them this morning!”

“Testament. Colonel Odor, they are a dangerous pair. After all…” He took in a breath. “When I gave them a dream yesterday, both of them independently began a one-man kissing and groping scene!”

“Y-you don’t have to get into so much detail! And Kaku, this is not the time to ask me if it’s true!”

“Roger, Roger. These are students yet they were making out? Japan truly is a depraved country!”

Kazami fired while making sure not to hit any of the gravestones.

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume8 Chapter 16|Chapter 16]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume8 Afterword|Afterword]]
|-
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume4 Chapter 27

2026-03-22T02:00:03Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 27: Your Name==
[[Image:OnC_v04_0335.png|thumb]]
''What is good and what is bad?

''The answer only lies within yourself

''Give that fear the name of expectation

Those who had escaped unharmed gathered in a small forest clearing.

Including Team Leviathan, a total of approximately fifty people had gathered.

Through the forest, the people of 2nd-Gear were visible in the field which had been destroyed by moonlight.

But they showed no sign of moving.

Both sides needed some time to regroup before they could attack or fight back.

And Shinjou spoke in front of those who sat in the clearing.

With Sayama next to her, she lowered the ends of her eyebrows and brought her hands to her chest.

“That’s the truth. That’s the kind of body I have.”

So…

“I’m sorry for not telling all of you.”

Sayama watched as she lowered her head.

''She is very diligent,'' he thought.

That diligence would sometimes be a negative thing for her.

…''But what about now?

Shinjou slowly raised her head.

Her slender body was examining the group. Most of those looking at her merely looked confused.

…''That is not surprising.

Shinjou had made this sudden confession on the battlefield.

They would not truly understand what she meant until later.

And amid those confused looks, someone stood up.

“I don’t fully understand, but excuse me a moment.”

It was Kazami.

She pushed G-Sp2 and its shield toward Izumo and walked over.

Her expression was calm and she said nothing. In exactly ten steps, she arrived in front of Shinjou.

There, she sighed and lowered her shoulders a bit.

“Sayama, support her.”

Her words were accompanied by a high-pitched noise from Shinjou’s cheek.

Sayama supported Shinjou as she trembled a bit.

In the follow-through pose of a right-handed slap, Kazami spoke.

“That should settle that. But let me give you a piece of advice. If you apologize for something like that again, I’ll slap you again. That’s all there is to it.”

“…Are you sure that’s all?”

Shinjou’s probing question produced a sigh from Kazami.

“Y’know, our job here isn’t to reveal everything about ourselves. It’s up to you whether you tell us something or not. And the responsibility that brings is yours, Shinjou.”

Shinjou did not nod or shake her head. Instead, she thought.

As Sayama supported her back, he realized Kazami had glanced over at him.

“I of course do not have a problem with Shinjou-kun keeping silent about this.”

“See? I don’t remember ever finding it to be a problem either. …And if the idiot who’s always with you took no damage from it, do you even need to ask those who are more distant with you?” Kazami turned back toward Shinjou. “But you can’t just apologize. You apologize when you have done something wrong. And if you apologize when you haven’t done anything wrong, it means that your very existence is wrong. You told us this because you didn’t want that to happen, right?”

“R-right.”

“Then that’s fine. Sorry for slapping you. I held back, so please forgive me.”

“Sure.”

Shinjou gave a large nod and something red dripped from her nose to her mouth.

“W-wah! S-Sayama-kun! Give me a handkerchief or something!”

“Heh heh heh. Shinjou-kun, you look beautiful even with a nosebleed.”

“Th-this is not the time for that! Give me something to wipe up the blood.”

“Wait just a moment. …Kazami, what happened to your restraint?”

Everyone turned criticizing looks in Kazami’s direction.

“Eh? Eh?” said Kazami as all those cold eyes turned toward her. “Th-that was only a tenth of what I always use on Kaku.”

“I’m always receiving ten times that?”

“Come now, you two. This is no time for a lovey-dovey couple’s conversation.”

“There’s nothing lovey-dovey about her violence!!”

Everyone ignored Izumo’s opinion.

Sayama pulled Baku and a handkerchief from his breast pocket.

He placed Baku on his head, used the handkerchief to wipe the area below Shinjou’s nose and around her mouth, and found the bleeding had already lessened.

Her expression seemed to say “is it okay?”, so he nodded. Kazami gave a sigh of relief before speaking again.

“By the way, why were you two so late?”

“Well, Shinjou-kun wanted to convince me of her body’s value, so she got on the bed and showed me-…”

“Waaaah!!” shouted Shinjou while grabbing his collar.

Either because they had been unable to hear Sayama’s words or because of Shinjou’s strange shout, Kazami and the others stopped moving and turned confused looks toward them.

Kazami tilted her head and spoke as a representative for them all.

“What? I didn’t catch that. She wanted to convince you of her value, so…what?”

Sayama looked at Kazami and everyone else over Shinjou’s head and nodded.

“So I spread her-…”

“You can’t tell them that!!”

As soon as he started speaking, Shinjou shook him by his collar.

As his vision shook, he had a certain thought.

…''I see. So this is what it means to be lovey-dovey. Heh heh. I have never experienced anything like it. Flirting like your average person is…

“Wonderful…”

''Bring on the lovey-dovey. Shake me even harder,'' he thought just before his necktie tightened.

“W-wait, Shinjou-kun. If you keep this up, my nirvana meter will enter the red zone!”

“I’ll stop those words at the source!”

Sayama tried to stop her, but Shinjou was showing no restraint this night.

Kazami nodded as she saw the look of anger on Shinjou’s face and their struggle over their arms and the collar.

“I see. So you’re in that kind of relationship.”

“K-Kazami-san, please don’t make strange, indecent assumptions!”

“Sayama, do this properly, okay? She isn’t used to it.”

“Do not worry. I am always gentle with Shinjou-kun. I treat everyone else equally, though.”

“S-stop making misunderstandings over my head! And Kazami-san! Why did your indecent conclusion lead you back to your original position!?”

“That’s right,” said another voice. Sayama glanced over and saw Ooki. “As your teacher, I cannot allow an impure relationship with the opposite sex!”

“Calm down, Ooki-sensei. Shinjou-kun is both sexes. As both a boy and a girl, the impurity cancels itself out.”

“Oh. Um… Is that how it works?”

“Someone tell her,” whispered the rest of the group, but she did not seem to hear them.

“B-but I’m relieved,” she said with a smile. “I realized Setsu-kun was Sadame-san from the moment he arrived.”

After a one second pause, everyone shouted out in unison.

“You’re kidding!!”

“I-I am not kidding. Any normal person would have figured it out.”

“Even if a normal person would have, I still have my doubts that you would.”

Hearing everyone’s comment, Ooki proudly puffed out her chest.

“Heh hehn. But I did figure it out. And I never thought Shinjou-kun – or would it be Shinjou-san? – was causing any trouble. I even sympathized. I have to hide my ears at school, but I would tell people if I could. I have to think about the age we live in and the world we live in, but I have my own personal feelings as well. And what matters is getting those two things to mesh.”

Sayama felt Shinjou relax in his arms.

“But,” said Ooki while obviously feeling satisfied with her previous words. “Coming out and getting rid of those worries is a good thing. For example, Kazami-san has shown her violent tendencies to everyone and- Hyaaaah! That was fast!”

A few hands reached up from behind Ooki and dragged her into the group of sitting people.

Sayama ignored the screams in the background and released Shinjou from his arms.

After she moved a bit away, she turned a troubled look in his direction.

“Was this really the right thing to do?”

“You can ask that again once we have seen the full result. The process is not over yet.”

“You’re right.”

Shinjou nodded and remade her expression.

That was when they heard a voice from the south where the main unit had been.

Sayama looked over and saw Yonkichi running over with someone following him. He wore a flight jacket and waved his hand.

“W-we’re in trouble, pi! The headquarters really was destroyed by the moonlight, pi! …Gwoohhh!!”

Yonkichi flew to the side for some reason. Soon thereafter, an old man in a lab coat, Mitsuaki, ran up.

“I apologize for our foolish younger brother’s out-of-place ‘pi’ gag! H-his older brothers will severely punish him later.”

“That fascinating introduction is nice, but please get to the point.”

Mitsuaki ran over to Sayama and slowed his pace.

“All of our supplies have been lost. In other words, we must fight the battle with only the personnel and equipment we have here!”

Everyone stood up and looked over their equipment.

They recalled what they had done as the moonlight fell and during the fighting just before that.

“We released the limiters on our concept weapons,” muttered Kazami. “We’re almost out of philosopher’s stone fuel.”

“That’s right, Chisato. The enemy got us good.”

Izumo’s complaint was followed by the remaining members of the headquarters arriving behind Mitsuaki.

The people looked like bluish black shadows.

They included Ooshiro Itaru with his metal cane, Sf, Diana, and…

“Brunhild Schild is accompanying me as a special inspector from 1st-Gear,” explained Diana.

A girl in black clothes and a three-cornered hat had a bird on her shoulder and a cat at her feet.

“You are the ones who spoke with the dragon of 1st-Gear, so what kind of battle will you show us here?” asked Brunhild. “We can’t exactly have you lose here. I never thought I would be attacked in your headquarters while drinking tea. I spilled my tea.”

“I see you are hoping for a tea-filled battle. That is quite appropriate for such a historic fight.”

Sayama then saw someone behind Brunhild and the others.

“Old man.”

“The star player has arrived.”

Ooshiro wore his usual lab coat and he held both a metal case and something long and narrow wrapped in paper. He raised his right thumb as he approached.

“I’ve brought Georgius and what you asked me for, Mikoto-kun. But it looks like you are having some troubles.” He smiled bitterly. “What happened?”

Atsuta’s voice reverberated across the still lake surface.

“There’s nothing Team Leviathan can do now.”

He was in the center of the concept space. Specifically, he stood on the southern shore of the artificial lake where Sayama and Tsukuyomi had held the preliminary negotiations.

The thirty meter square area was created by a clearing in the forest and it was covered in weeds.

“Team Leviathan has stopped moving,” said Kashima who was there with Atsuta. “That shows that the moonlight bombing hit their headquarters as planned.”

“Weren’t the inspectors there? Won’t that give them a bad impression of us?”

“Isn’t that what you would want, Atsuta?”

“That’s for sure.”

Atsuta smiled bitterly and Kashima looked toward the lake.

A floating pier made from rotting wood stretched out over the lake surface.

It continued to the center of the lake where a giant mass of metal stood.

“It’s so big…”

The moon provided the backlight for a five hundred meter iron giant.

That was Susaou.

Its arms were made quite long to help it balance while walking and those arms were held out into empty air as if carrying something.

The remains of the bridge sank into the chest and the convection of the wind wrapped thin clouds around them.

Kashima stared up at Susaou.

…''I’ve come here again.

But would the others make it?

Atsuta asked that question while casually swinging around Futsuno.

“Heh heh. …I wonder if they’ll make it here. I actually have a legitimate reason to punch that guy. You just can’t have a kid accepted by a grown woman. It doesn’t work that way.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about, but it sounds like a personal grudge.”

“Yeah, but what’s wrong with that? You need some kind of justification for fighting. This means I don’t have to worry when I punch him. …I think I’ll sing a song once I win.”

“Sorry, but I think you should probably lose.”

“What are you talking about?”

Atsuta spun Futsuno horizontally over his head.

Darkness suddenly fell over everything below the path Futsuno had taken.

It was a bluish darkness.

There was only one possible explanation.

Futsuno had cut the moonlight.

As Atsuta stopped swinging Futsuno around, the darkness thinned and finally vanished.

He then held Futsuno up and looked into the sky.

“I wonder how much that Sayama guy can do.”

“Are you listening? I will now give you the basic method for defeating 2nd-Gear.”

Sayama held up two handguns. As the guns hung down from his right hand like fruit, everyone formed a semicircle and watched.

He showed them the two guns.

“I had these handguns delivered to me on a certain condition. They are both nothing more than standard models from American UCAT. You can see that, right?”

Everyone silently nodded.

“And my sword has a name. Needless to say, that name comes from someone’s surname.”

Some people in the crowd raised her hand.

It was Kazami who stood with Izumo, Sibyl, and the others.

“But your sword cut the moonlight, didn’t it?” she asked. “Why? Even with sword names like Muramasa or Masamune, they’re still just Low-Gear names, right?”

“An excellent question. I will now show you what this means.”

Sayama tossed the two handguns into the air.

And…

“…!”

With a backhanded grip, he drew the sword hanging on the back of his waist.

And in the same motion, he swung it.

Two sounds rang out an instant later and three objects fell to the ground.

He looked down at his feet.

“The handgun the sword struck first deflected the blade, but the other one…”

He picked up the destroyed handgun which was now nothing more than a piece of metal sliced in half. The cut was sharp and it almost looked like a sliced vegetable.

But when he picked up the other one, it was unscathed.

“Now, does anyone know the difference between these two handguns?”

Everyone fell silent for a few seconds.

As they exchanged glances, a hand rose on the left side of the group.

It was Boldman. He pointed at Sayama and the handguns he held.

“Sayama…or should I call you commander? Anyway, let me see the side of the unharmed handgun.”

Sayama held up the left handgun.

The moonlight descending through the trees illuminated the side. This revealed something there.

When he saw it, Boldman let out a quick laugh.

“Whose gun is this?”

His answer came from right next to him.

A gray-haired elderly soldier from the standard division raised his hand. Boldman immediately looked over.

“What exactly is this carved into the side?”

“Chris. It’s my daughter’s name. She is always watching over me from heaven.”

As everyone gulped a bit, Sayama nodded.

“I apologize for treating your daughter so roughly. But does everyone understand now? That is what it means for names to hold power.”

Kazami tilted her head.

“So is power given by nicknames as well as the name you’re born with?”

“Correct. The question is how that name is perceived. If you think about it, it is obvious. For example, 2nd-Gear’s sword god is named Atsuta. The name Atsuta has nothing to do with swords, but they all perceive it as the name of a sword god.”

“Does that mean names have…?”

“Yes, names have two meanings: the literal meaning of the characters and the perception people have of the name itself. And in this concept space both of those meanings provide power.”

Sayama indicated the sword at his waist and the handgun in his hand.

“This sword was intended to defeat evil, so it was given a name that symbolizes an evil-defeating sword. And this gun was given the name of a woman who cares for her father, so it provides protection for that father. Names are a reflection of people’s feelings. A name many people care for will provide power for many people and a name an individual cares for will provide power to that individual.”

Sayama turned toward the elderly soldier.

“Your daughter is indeed watching over you.”

The old man nodded and Sayama nodded back before returning the handgun.

“Those of you with attachment to your weapons should trust in them. I also had the old man bring five more swords just like the one I have. Those who specialize in close-quarters combat should take them.”

“Oh, but, Sayama-kun? What are we supposed to do if we have no skills or weapons like that?” asked Ooki.

“I will explain that now.”

He beckoned Boldman over.

The crowd parted to allow the large man through and Sayama gestured for him to sit in front of him.

“The enemy will use the power of their names to advance on us. Tsukuyomi and her control over the moon is their cornerstone. She is their shrine maiden who can use the power of the moon and she will use that power to aid her allies.”

Sayama saw Boldman sit.

“We will use a similar method. We have a certain Greek goddess.”

“Cybele. Read it just a little different and it becomes Sibyl.” With a smile, Sibyl spoke from next to Kazami. “Sayama-sama, are you asking me to play the role of goddess in order to oppose Director Tsukuyomi?”

“Yes. And Sibyl-kun? You will also help with our equipment. If anyone has a nickname for their weapon, act as our shrine maiden and carve that name into it. And for the weapons that do not have a nickname, carve your own name to provide a goddess’s protection.”

A buzz ran through the young male personnel when they heard that.

“We can get Sibyl-san’s signature.”

“This is great. Just great. While we’re at it, I want her to sign my back too.”

“Now I want to avoid using my weapon as much as possible.”

The men excitedly lined up in front of Sibyl.

Ooshiro stood at the end of the line.

“Okay, this is the end of the line. Only one per person. Cutting in line gets you sent to the back.”

As Sayama watched the people lining up, Boldman looked up at him from the ground.

“So why am I sitting here?”

“Oh, my apologies. I forgot to explain that. Anyway, I will start with the most important information.”

He took a breath.

“We are currently surrounded.”

Everyone gasped and looked around.

The enemy was there.

At some point, some figures had appeared inside and outside the forest. They formed a wide circle around the group.

This was a different unit from those on the grassy field with Tsukuyomi.

The groups attacking the left and right units had continued on and slowly surrounded them.

“It would seem the enemy has completed their preparations. I am hoping we can hurry up as well.”

Sayama looked at the figures surrounding them. They stood in the forest without fear.

…''How brave.

“But due to their history, 2nd-Gear has not realized the full possibilities of their concepts.”

“Eh?”

Everyone around him tilted their heads.

“What exactly is a name?” he asked them.

Shinjou supplied an answer.

“It is a proper noun, isn’t it? It is a noun associated with something specific. It is a type of symbol used to distinguish people and things from other people or things.”

“Yes, and that is where the problem lies. In fact, I would say there are two problems there,” explained Sayama. “The first is quite simple, so let us test it out immediately.”

He grabbed Boldman’s head in front of him.

And then he looked to the west.

His gaze stopped on three figures approaching through the forest.

After a moment, they stood up.

Sayama estimated they were fifteen meters away. All three of them wielded swords in the darkness.

Sayama used a hand to stop those who wanted to take action.

“Now, let us have a language lesson. Are names given only to physical objects?”

As he asked his question, the enemies crouched down and prepared to dash forward.

As soon as they took their first step, Shinjou’s voice rang out.

“N-no! They are also given to physical phenomena and abstract theories!”

In the very next moment, roaring voices and countless footsteps filled the forest.

2nd-Gear had begun to move.

And as Sayama waited for them, he had a smile on his face.

He watched the blades of the approaching enemies.

“Precisely, Shinjou-kun. 2nd-Gear has grown so fixated on the names they give themselves that they have lost sight of everything else. And that is why this never occurred to them.”

The enemy left the forest and entered the clearing.

At the same time, Sayama shoved Boldman’s head toward the enemy.

“Attack names will give form to the attack itself!” he shouted. And then he raised his voice even further. “Baldman – Bald Flash!!”

With a roar, light shot from Boldman.

After a light appeared in the center of the forest and pointed to the west, its power took effect instantly.

It looked less like a sphere of light and more like an expanded version of Boldman’s face.

The giant face made of light had its teeth bared and it expanded even further while devouring the trees, the earth, and the air.

In the blink of an eye, it became an explosion of light with a radius of two hundred meters.

The light sounded like spraying water.

It produced enough of an impact to blow everything away.

“…!”

The western side of the forest was blasted into the distance without time to breathe.

The attacking members of 2nd-Gear were not even able to cling to the ground. The expansion of the sphere of light ripped them up and into the air.

The light produced destruction.

But it disappeared an instant later.

However, even that slight time had been enough to leave its mark.

It had whipped up a wind which rustled through the remaining trees. Below that, the crust was exposed on the ground.

The people and trees that had been blown away flew into the distance in a parabolic arc. Once they landed and stopped rolling, they did not move.

Everyone who saw that destruction froze in place. That was especially true for the 2nd-Gear members who were trying to surround Team Leviathan from all directions.

They turned toward the source of the destruction and the whirling wind. There they saw a boy.

Sayama Mikoto held the head of a large black man.

Nothing was moving except for the wind and the leaves of the trees.

Amid it all, Sayama turned toward his group.

“This was a bit of a gamble, but it appears to have worked well. It appears that it must be based on a common perception that no one can deny.”

“Y-you idiot!”

Boldman stood up in front of Sayama.

Sayama looked up at him.

“Hm. I am not sure why you look so angry. That was very useful, was it not?”

“Y-you may be my commander, but there are some things you just don’t do! …Ah.”

Boldman’s knees then collapsed out from under him.

Sayama understood why the man was shaking his head in confusion.

“It seems using this power takes away physical strength. That may have shortened your lifespan by about one hundred days.”

“Y-y’know… Kh!”

Boldman tried to stand up but let out a strange cry and toppled forward.

Rather than catch him, Sayama let gravity take over. As he collapsed, Kazami appeared behind him with her hand up in a chopping pose.

“Kaku, tie him up,” she said with a serious expression. “We can have someone without a weapon use him.”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen a better living weapon.”

“But try not to fire randomly. You do not want to hit one of our own people. …What is it? Is something the matter?”

“I don’t care if it’s a joke. Can you at least say you’re worried about me?”

Some men arrived with a rope which they used to tie up Boldman and turn him into a weapon.

“Now, then. I am sure you have something similar in your own fantasies. As close-combat specialists, you must have given it at least some thought. You must have felt the attack you thought up is unbeatable. If you have an idea and you believe in that idea, then shout it out. If your feelings are real, the attack will follow.”

“I see,” said Izumo as he tightened the ropes restraining Boldman.

He gently grabbed Kazami’s breasts so as to lift them up.

“Kazami Boob Bea- Gwoh!?”

“I’m not letting you fire anything from there!!”

After jabbing her elbow behind her, Kazami frowned.

“We have weapons already, so we don’t need to bother with that. …Hm? What? Why do you look so unhappy?”

As everyone nodded in agreement, the circling wind of the Bald Flash finally escaped into the sky.

Sayama watched everyone as they watched the wind leave.

His gaze met Ooshiro’s and the old man held up Georgius’s case.

That was when someone raised her hand. It was Shinjou.

“U-um, Sayama-kun? I was so overwhelmed by the Bald Flash that I forgot to ask something.”

“Mh? What is it?”

“What is the other problem regarding 2nd-Gear’s names that you mentioned? You never told us.”

“Oh, that is simple, so I was planning to explain it last.”

Sayama nodded and looked around.

2nd-Gear’s forces were beginning to move after being stopped by the previous attack.

But instead of rushing in, they were now approaching slowly and cautiously.

As Sayama watched them, he spoke.

“Think of the names Susanoo, Takemikazuchi, and Tsukuyomi. From a Low-Gear perspective, they are all missing something. Something everyone in Low-Gear has. …Can you tell me what that is?”

“Eh?” asked Shinjou as she furrowed her brow.

“Think about it, Shinjou Sadagiri-kun.”

<noinclude>
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| Back to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume4 Chapter 26|Chapter 26]]
| Return to [[Owari no Chronicle|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Owari no Chronicle:Volume4 Chapter 28|Chapter 28]]
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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 15

2026-03-21T04:30:37Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 15: Although You Are Not Here==
[[Image:OnC_v14_0541.png|thumb]]
''You are here

''You are not here

In the depths of the night, a quiet electronic tone rang thrice.

It came from below a large wooden gate.

The gate was located in the center of a fence surrounding a lit home, a woman sat on the curb below the gate, and her wristwatch was beeping.

It was Ryouko.

The quiet beeping of her watch was not enough for the eyes behind her glasses to look down.

She stared up into the dark night sky and let out a white breath.

“Will I be able to end this for myself in another hour?” she muttered. “How should I put it?”

She reached for the paper cup of coffee sitting on the curb next to her.

The coffee had already gone cold and the hand holding it had gone pale, but she still brought it to her mouth.

“Feelings tend to fade with time, but they don’t go away. If you try to create a dividing line with time, things tend not to go well next time.”

As she spoke, the gate opened and a young man in a suit sat to her right.

She turned toward him.

“Kouji.” She glared at him. “Why were you off doing your job and ignoring your sister?”

“You were the one that told me to leave this to you!”

“Yes.” She frowned. “You just don’t understand how girls try to show off. …What would you do if a girl told you to leave things to her in front of several hundred enemies!?”

“I would check her past records, her odds of victory, and her catch phrase to see whether I could leave it to her or not.”

“Wow, that sounded like something a smart person would say! …Become stupid!!”

“It doesn’t really matter, but calm down, sister.”

Ryouko flailed her arms around.

“No, no!! I don’t wanna calm down!!”

“What kind of tantrum is that!?”

“More importantly, what brings you to your sister’s sanctuary?”

“Your sanctuary? This is our front gate.”

“Obviously, everywhere I am automatically becomes a holy site! You really don’t get the elder sister genre, do you!? Is that something pedophiles can’t understand!? Is it!? Daughter of the Takahashi family two houses over! Our Kouji is only interested in girls fourteen or younger, so you’re three years too late!!”

Kouji responded while hearing breaking plates and glass coming from two houses over.

“Please stop spreading nonsense about me! Since when am I a pedophile!?”

“Eh? Y-you actually want me to tell you? Oh, no. My brother really hasn’t noticed!”

Ryouko turned to Pes who had walked over.

“Right, Pes? Everyone knows that, don’t they? If you agree, then sit. …Sit! See, he sat! Even a dog can tell you’re a pedophile! It’s standard knowledge even in the Animal Prefecture recently added to Japan’s forty-three prefectures!!”

“I’m going to completely ignore that second half, but you clearly commanded him to sit!”

“Wh-what are you talking about? All I did was say ‘sit’! That wasn’t a command!”

Kouji sighed.

He faced Pes and spoke in an entirely normal tone of voice to get Pes to stand back up.

“Good boy.”

He waited a few seconds, but Pes would not stand up.

After a few more motionless seconds, Ryouko gave a sudden cheer.

“Yayyy! I win! The animal compassion trial has found you guilty of pedophile justice (fourteen years of hard labor)!”

Kouji grabbed Ryouko’s hand.

“Ah.”

She opened her hand without meaning to and some small reddish-brown objects fell from it.

Pes scooped the few pieces from the ground with his tongue and ate them.

“Sister,” said Kouji. “What kind of woman hides dog food in her clothes in the off chance that she can eventually use it to harass her brother!?”

“This kind right here. …D-don’t tell me you’re denying reality and seeing something completely different!?”

“I will admit there are times when I imagine an ideal sister and find my head drooping.”

“Wow! So imagining me makes you lean forward to hide your body’s reaction!?”

Ryouko blushed and pointed at Kouji with both hands.

“Honestly. If I ignore my feelings, that makes me blush! But if I let my feelings in…y-you scum! Stop relying on your sister for everything!”

“It’s kind of amazing how easily you assume you’re the same as someone else’s ideal.”

Kouji sighed and looked up into the sky.

“Where’s Shino-san?”

“Hm? She isn’t back yet. There was an earthquake earlier, so maybe the trains have stopped.”

The last train of the night had long since passed.

They both knew that, but they discussed it regardless.

“Shino-san promised to buy us drinks…”

“Here.”

Ryouko pulled two drink cans from her pocket.

Kouji took them and looked at Ryouko who refused to look him in the eye.

She continued to look a little higher than straight ahead.

“I got these from Shi-chan. She told me you had taken good care of her. She said you lose a lot of points for being a pedophile, but that there are good hospitals for that so you need to work hard and reform your ways.”

“I’ll ignore that, but I asked her to buy three drinks.”

Ryouko paused before answering her brother.

“I drank the third one, of course. That one was yours.”

“I see.” Kouji stood up. “So Shino-san stopped by?”

“That’s right.”

“Then why are you still here?”

“I was seeing her off. And that’s gone into extra innings. We’re tied at the top of the eighteenth and I’m trying to keep pitching for the entire game,” she said. “More importantly, has the young master called? It seems like things are a huge mess over in Okutama.”

“He should be at school today and he’ll call if something happens. He wouldn’t die so easily.”

“You sure are carefree.” Ryouko smiled bitterly. “Well, I guess not.”

“I’m just not as serious as you.”

“Sure, sure.”

She rested her head on her hand.

At the same time, a sudden sound came from the sky.

The rumbling immediately moved from the northwest and vanished into the south.

“What was that?” asked Kouji. “It sounded really low to the ground.”

“A bigger one and a much, much bigger one flew by earlier.”

Ryouko let out a white breath and looked up into the black sky.

“Today’s been weird.”

She almost seemed to be reciting the words.

“I hope nothing happens to the young master and Setsu-chan.”

The Aki River ran east to west through southern Akigawa and a residential area was located along a series of windy mountains and forests.

The residential area was built on the northern slope of a mountain.

One of the houses there said “Kazami” out front.

It was a two-story house and there was no car in the garage. The nearby houses were all asleep.

That seemed to be why two people were breaking into the empty Kazami house.

The suspicious pair wore white clothes, the girl stood on the second story balcony, and the boy stood in front of the main entrance.

The suspicious girl commented on the fact that the balcony window had been carelessly left unlocked.

“I wouldn’t expect any less of me. I thought this might happen, so I forgot to lock up”

“If you want to take credit, don’t say you ‘forgot’, Chisato. Besides, you could get up that high with one quick hop using X-Wi.”

“The light would wake up the neighbors. And we’re wearing white, so we’d stand out, Kaku.”

“You’re realistic about the weirdest things.” Izumo sighed. “Wouldn’t it have been easier to head back to the dorm? We wouldn’t even have needed Susamikado to take us here from Okutama.”

“Hm… It’s true waiting in the dorm would be better than getting in everyone’s way as they work to recover in Okutama.” Kazami scratched her head. “But I feel like being at the dorm would bring its own difficulties.”

Down below, Izumo said nothing and Kazami knew he was urging her to continue.

“I mean, if we head back to school, we’d find the schoolyard where Shinjou was hurt and Sayama would be there. I’d feel like we should do something for him or speak with him. I’d just feel like I had to think about too much when it only just happened today…or yesterday I guess.”

Not even twelve hours had passed since Shinjou had been injured.

More and more horrible information had been pouring in for a while and she brought up the worst of them all.

“So Japanese UCAT is gone?”

The location of Japanese UCAT and IAI in the mountains of Okutama had collapsed and work was apparently underway to clear the roads.

Even now, they could hear the distant sounds of helicopters in the air and vehicles on the roads.

It had all been caused by the Leviathan’s main cannon blast.

And…

…''We can’t contact the people who were inside Japanese UCAT.

Japanese UCAT had been destroyed, so that was hardly surprising.

Due to the Leviathan’s information concealing concept, the people inside would not have realized it was approaching.

It was obvious what that meant.

The people in that underground space had been annihilated. Not even a trace of them would remain.

And they had no way of confirming it since they had vanished like that.

“It’s all because we didn’t make it in time.”

“Don’t let all that simmer in your mind too much.”

She nodded at the voice from below, but she could not help but imagine it.

Sibyl, Ooki-sensei, Diana, Harakawa’s mother, and Director Tsukuyomi would all have been there. Ooshiro Itaru and Sf would have as well and there would have been plenty of kind and courageous people whose names she did not know.

“And Shinjou…”

Kazami had heard Sayama’s roar reverberate into the heavens when Shinjou had been injured.

Returning to the dorm had been Sayama’s only option.

What would he do once he realized no one was there?

What would he do once he realized he had not avoided losing her even after she was saved from the life-carving concept?

“—————”

Kazami shook her head.

She knew her thoughts had turned in an odd direction.

She was no different. She had lost something and so had everyone else.

But to her, the day’s entire incident seemed to have begun with Sayama’s roar.

…''I’ve grown a little unsure what exactly it means to feel sorrow.

Should she let out a roar of her own, should she bear with it, or should she simply try to understand it?

She was not sure, so she decided to calm down as Izumo had suggested.

She opened the window in front of her.

“I’m home.”

She gave her pointless greeting and for some reason crouched low and removed her shoes before entering.

The room was dark, but it was her room. Izumo had never actually been inside it.

There was a simple reason for that.

“It’s full of things from before I met him.”

She looked around the dark room, but she relied on her memory more than her sight.

The room was mostly built around the stereo system she had had her father buy her when she entered middle school and the bed she had chosen during elementary school.

She had left the stereo system and bed behind when going off to high school because she had only brought what would fit in her bag and because a strange sense of independence told her she needed to grow up.

She had ultimately transported quite a lot by repeatedly bringing more over in her bag and Izumo had added even more, so things were less clear cut now.

Regardless, this was her foundation, so if she did not find it embarrassing, she felt that meant she had not changed.

“Hey, it’s cold out here!”

“Oh, sorry, sorry.”

She left her room and passed through the small living room on the left to reach the stairway landing. Her father’s study was on the other side.

She switched on the stairway light.

…''Even if the neighbors notice, they won’t suspect anything if I head out and greet them.

She walked over to the entranceway and opened the door. She put on a smile and faced Izumo on the other side of the door.

“Welcome home.”

She added in a flirtatious tone.

“What will it be first? Dinner? A bath? Or…”

Once she got that far, Izumo gave her a beaming smile, and…

“Right in the entranceway!?”

That was rushing things too much, so she attacked with her right fist.

Someone stood in the schoolyard at night.

It was Sayama in his white armored uniform.

The schoolyard was too large to see the other side and the concept space had already been removed.

It was now a normal space containing only the remnants of the year-end festival.

There was a wooden tower in the center and empty festival stands along the edges.

There was no sign of students or anyone else.

…''There are no lights on in the school buildings.

Everyone must have been worn out from the winter Bon festival the night before, so they had all naturally dispersed to return to their resting places.

Sayama looked up into the sky.

He saw a single white contrail leading eastward toward Fussa.

That was the path along which Thunder Fellow had flown.

After taking a look at Okutama, Heo and Harakawa had dropped Sayama off at the school and then left for Yokota.

After dropping him off, Harakawa had told him to get some sleep.

''A good decision,'' thought Sayama. He had not slept for a while, and…

“Shinjou…”

He knew exactly what had happened. Japanese UCAT had been destroyed and everyone inside was gone.

He had seen the Leviathan’s attack with his own eyes.

American UCAT and the other nearby Japanese branches of UCAT had rushed over, but they were mostly making emergency repairs to and checking on the road and crust. It was not yet possible to check for survivors.

It was obvious that Japanese UCAT was lost and there was nothing Sayama and the others could actually do.

Fortunately, UCAT Director Ooshiro had escaped the destruction because he had gone with the others to the battle.

…''He has the luck of a cockroach.

However, that had meant he could immediately contact them with instructions and to explain the situation.

He had given them a simple task after telling them he would contact them next in the morning.

“We are supposed to force ourselves to get some sleep without needlessly visiting the site of the attack.”

Otherwise, they could not put their emotions in order and they could not accept the truth.

And they would not be able to fight.

Yes, fight.

A battle still awaited them.

The Leviathan remained in the sky above Shinjuku, near the center of Tokyo.

The Leviathan had taken a direct hit from the great cannon hidden on the lowest level of Japanese UCAT, but it had not been destroyed.

It had taken such a powerful attack, but it was working to fully heal that injury.

It remained inside a concept space. The wide-range concept space production device in the Kanda Laboratory had forcibly grasped the one destroyed by the Leviathan’s attack and guided it into the sky above Shinjuku Station.

The massive concept space covered the eastern half of Tokyo.

The Kanda Laboratory’s personnel had been evacuated and eight duplicate devices were being used to trap the Leviathan.

The reports said it was not moving. It was imprisoned in the concept space, but it was rapidly healing its wounds. It possessed the power of all negative concepts, so it had more than enough power to escape if it wanted to.

Regardless, it remained curled up in the sky above Tokyo and it continued to evolve.

It did not try to move and Sayama knew why.

…''It knows no one here can hope to oppose it.

And…

…''It’s more focused on changing the world than on some puny enemy.

The Leviathan was creating the positive concepts corresponding to the negative concepts.

Once that was complete, it would create a concept to make the world immortal and it would self-destruct.

That powerful dragon would stay where it was and accomplish what it wished to do.

It had easily evolved and recovered from attacks made by Concept Core weapons. Next time, its defenses would be powerful enough to endure a direct hit from G-Sp2’s divine dragon and the Vesper Cannon.

Its speed would surpass all else and its attacks would pierce through anything.

It was a massive weapon worthy of changing the world.

That was the enemy they had to fight.

That was the enemy they had to prepare for.

And that was why Ooshiro had told them to get some sleep.

Harakawa had told him to do the same thing.

“But…will I be able to sleep?”

Sayama looked to the school building.

“When I wake up, won’t the destruction of Japanese UCAT be confirmed and won’t I be forced to accept everything that has happened? …I am still not ready for that.”

He took a breath.

“I am not ready to accept that nothing remains of Shinjou-kun.”

He faced forward. As he walked toward the school building, he turned his gaze to his surroundings.

“Ahh,” he muttered. “Someone…”

His voice was swept away by the wind.

“Isn’t someone still having a festival? Can’t someone distract me?”

He continued walking through the abandoned field.

“It hurts.”

He squeezed out his voice and held his chest with his right hand.

“It hurts knowing you are nowhere to be found, Shinjou-kun.”

A festival was underway below the night sky.

A giant form floated three thousand meters above Shinjuku Station.

It curled up as if asleep and looked down on the festival below.

The festival was the night scenery of the city.

It was early morning on Christmas Eve. Lights filled the city around the station. The roundabout and arcade were decorated with a tree and lights.

Winter break had begun for the students and not many people were visible on the streets, but a lot of the homes had lights on in their windows and a lot of people were still visible in the windows of family-oriented restaurants.

However, all of the people were only pale, transparent blue shadows.

They were only shadows of the outside world visible in the concept space.

The form looking down on them was a fifteen kilometer dragon.

Its body would stretch from Shinjuku to Mitaka, but it was curled up in a space of five kilometers by five kilometers.

Its six wings were wrapped around itself and two people stood on its lowered head.

These people were more than shadows.

One was a girl wearing a black armored uniform and the other was an automaton with twelve pure white wings.

The automaton pointed to the southeast.

“Mikoku-sama, what are those lights? Over.”

Mikoku looked to the light in the distance.

“That is…Tokyo Tower. You should know that. You have a map in your head.”

“This is my first time seeing Low-Gear’s Tokyo. Over.”

“I am not all that familiar with Low-Gear’s scenery either.”

“It is pretty. Over.”

“Yes,” agreed Mikoku.

She sat on the Leviathan’s head, lightly tapped its armor with her palm, and looked to Noah.

“Are you sure you want to do this? …If you create a world, you will disappear, too. You, me, and this world will disappear and then be brought back to life.”

“But I have only one joy. Over.”

Noah spoke as Mikoku watched.

“The new world is my only desire. Over.”

“I see.”

Mikoku nodded and lowered her gaze.

A glass cage had formed on the Leviathan’s head.

“The ejection point for the concept extraction…”

The Leviathan had been made new through evolution. Just like its main cannon, this device used all of the channels in its body to focus its power on a single point.

A girl was inside the cage.

She wore white clothing and floated within dark blue light.

“Shino-sama,” said Noah. “She will be the first brought back to life. So…”

Noah searched for the right words.

“Do not worry, Mikoku-sama. Over.”

“Right.”

Mikoku nodded and looked down at the brightly-lit false city. It was filled with the lights of a festival.

“You will finish creating the positive concepts tomorrow, on the twenty-fifth. All we can do is wait until then for the new world.”

“Is waiting that much trouble? Over.”

“I will be fine. I can distract myself by watching the festival.”

“Really?” asked Noah without forgetting to add “over”.

After a moment, she gave a hesitating suggestion.

“Would you like to play shiritori? Over.”

“Shiritori? …Oh, we did used to play that, didn’t we? You still want to do that?”

“Testament,” replied Noah. “My creator taught me that game. Over.”

Noah spoke quietly to Mikoku.

“Everyone was so kind. Over.”

Sayama was in the dark Kinugasa Library.

He had considered returning to the dorm, but his feet had taken him to the library as he passed the school building.

He had somewhat set the dorm as his final destination.

That was where he had the most memories.

If he went there right away, he felt like he would be crushed under the weight of those memories.

He had decided to ease himself into his memories.

He recalled the past as he walked.

He thought back to the spring. Whenever he had gone to sleep, Shinjou would climb up onto his bed to wake him. Some accidents had occurred and he had ended up seeing her butt and pulling on her underwear.

He had not quite known if she was Setsu or Sadame at the time, so on a few occasions, he had considered pulling down her underwear as she slept or focused his mind in the off chance he had awoken to the psychic power to see through her underwear.

Unfortunately, his training had been insufficient and Shinjou had confessed before his powers had manifested.

…''That takes me back.

A lot had happened during the summer and fall too, but he decided to immerse himself in those memories once he returned to the dorm. Still, he did remember how abnormally cute she had been at the end of summer when she had tried on her swimsuit one last time before putting it away for the year. She had even posed in front of the mirror.

Watching her from hiding had truly warmed his heart. She had knocked him to the ground once she noticed him, of course.

…''That really does take me back.

He then realized he would never be able to touch her again.

“Shinjou-kun…”

…''Could I imagine this library wall is Shinjou-kun?

He tried touching it. He placed his hand on the concrete wall and imagined the roundness.

“Shinjou-kun!”

He tried for three seconds before giving up. It was no use. Imagination was not an adequate substitute for some things. Especially when his impatience had led him to overlook the elementary fact that concrete was hard and cold.

…''I really should have made a plaster mold of her.

''Was some sixth sense at work when I felt the need to do that?'' he wondered.

Suddenly, he realized he was alone in the library.

“…”

He fell silent and sat in a nearby chair.

The day before last, they had held a meeting and trial in the library and Shinjou had rushed in at the very last moment to save him.

''That was the very opposite of the situation during the Army’s attack,'' he thought.

“I really do think the two of us are well-balanced opposites,” he muttered. “I am so serious, pure, and moral, but you still find a way to naturally seduce me. It was wonderful how you would cheer me on even as I lost myself in your charm.”

He sighed and looked up to the ceiling.

He decided he would head to their classroom, leave through the emergency exit, and then maybe visit the cafeteria before returning to the dorm.

He removed Georgius from his left hand, spread his fingers, and looked to the ring there.

Shinjou had placed it there the day before last.

It was the final thing she had given him that had a physical form.

His gaze dropped to Georgius.

“I wish I could have told you that Georgius’s will was based on your father.”

He removed the other Georgius as well, placed them both on the desk in front of him, and finally lowered his head.

“Father, I am sorry.”

He kept his head lowered for a full five seconds, breathed in, and looked back up.

He took both Georgiuses and stood up within the empty library.

But suddenly…

“?”

He spotted a certain color in the dark library.

That color was white.

It was sitting on a desk in the area designated as a rest area.

“A stack of paper?”

He remembered the day before when Shinjou had told him to wait and he remembered what she had been doing.

…''Her novel.

He ran over on reflex.

His leg slammed into a chair he had overlooked and his swinging arm collided with a desk in the darkness, but he did not even feel the pain.

“Shinjou-kun!!”

He arrived at the desk and grabbed the stack in both hands.

He grabbed what Shinjou had created and left here.

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</noinclude>

Owari no Chronicle:Volume14 Chapter 13

2026-03-20T03:11:04Z

N-Ch:

==Chapter 13: Noah’s Ark==
[[Image:OnC_v14_0475.png|thumb]]
''I made a promise

''And I will keep it

''Even if I had not made the promise

''I would keep it

Automaton Noah supported Mikoku in the corridor.

She used her gravitational control to hold Shino’s body in the air.

“Mikoku-sama.”

The person she spoke to had lost consciousness.

Her condition was due to exhaustion and the hits she had taken from Sayama.

She had been bearing with it, but she had suddenly found herself unable to continue on.

That was why she had lost consciousness.

Noah was already carrying out the instructions Mikoku had given her.

And Noah herself had been given another command.

This command had been given to her long ago by her creator.

“————”

She recalled the past.

She thought back to so very long ago when she had been surrounded by everything.

'''December 24, 2005

Noah remembered it. She even remembered the dates.

'''“Before” December 25, 1986

In the world named Top-Gear, she had been created for the coming new world. She was meant to protect the world filled with residents of the other Gears once Top-Gear had subjugated those other worlds.

She was an ark that protected the Concept Cores which supported the world and, even if the other Gears opposed them with their own Concept Cores, she could easily subjugate them and protect the people from the spreading flames of war.

She was a boat of salvation equipped with a facility for creating concepts so that she could oppose any and all threats and, more importantly, so she could give the people a life of plenty.

She had been guaranteed all capabilities and had been given every kind of power.

However, she had a single flaw.

For some reason, she had been unable to create concepts in Top-Gear.

Her creator seemed to have realized why.

'''“Before” September 12, 1988

In addition to the research and development of the concept creation facility, a plan was underway to increase Noah’s knowledge and abilities.

She would learn the knowledge, history, and combat techniques of UCAT and every Gear.

'''“Before” October 10, 1988

When mastering the Nagata-style techniques, she met a girl named Tatsumi who was the family’s heir.

She sparred with the girl a few times to confirm her skills, but the girl would get oddly angry when Noah held back so as not to injure her.

'''“Before” December 24, 1988

Her creator had a child. The child moved back and forth between the two sexes and her name included “life” in its meaning.

A friend of her creator’s back in Low-Gear apparently had a child as well.

Two children were born on the night before the celebration of the holy one’s birth.

Her creator commented that two holy ones had been born.

'''December 23, 2005

Noah remembered another child born that year.

That child was Mikoku.

'''“Before” July 14, 1989

Alex brought a crying Tatsumi to see the mechanical dragon takeoff and landing zone.

“What is justice?” Alex asked. “I wonder if I have my own version of it inside me.”

'''“Before” November 3, 1990

Noah asked her creator a question.

“Am I a failure? Is that why I can’t create the concepts? Over.”

Both of her creators told her that was not the case.

Based on her statistical analysis if human facial patterns, their expression at the time was a mixture of troubled and joyful.

'''“Before” November 5, 1990

Noah became painfully aware that some percentage of her giant body was wasted space.

She often suggested giving up on the concept creation facility and instead building more residential space for people to live. She had suggested building the facility known as a church, just like the one her creator had built.

She liked the ringing of the bell.

Its ring was a fluctuating sort of data that she could not create with her synthetic electronic sounds and it was much louder than other musical instruments.

It was ideal.

It made a unique sound that no one else could emulate and it also carried far into the distance.

'''“Before” March 25, 1991

Noah wanted to be ''like that''.

However, she had a flaw. Her concept creation facility was theoretically complete, but it would not function properly for some reason.

She had nothing that only she could do.

She had the Concept Cores corresponding to the ten Gears, but the other Gears had those as well.

A great many people could be evacuated into her residential areas and she could act as a final stronghold in an emergency, but she did not want to make use of that power.

'''“Before” September 18, 1991

“I want to do something good. Over.”

Noah knew that Top-Gear would invite Low-Gear to Top-Gear once the world’s time of destruction arrived.

Low-Gear contained reservations for the other Gears. At the meeting between Top-Gear and Low-Gear representatives, some had said the Gear reservations needed to be informed of Top-Gear’s existence and a plan to deal with them had to be determined before the time of destruction arrived.

'''“Before” January 10, 1992

Low-Gear’s representative agreed to reveal the truth in order to keep the other Gears from joining the Concept War between Top-Gear and Low-Gear.

They agreed to do so by three years before the time of destruction which was April of 1996.

'''“Before” March 10, 1992

Her creator’s child was apparently being bullied at kindergarten.

Noah could not go outside.

Mikoku had cried because she had not been able to protect Noah’s creator’s child.

Noah had no way to help, but she learned that Mikoku was a kind child.

Mikoku’s parents had made a certain expression. Noah statistically determined it was a slight smile.

'''“Before” March 20, 1993

Noah gained a single joy.

The concept creation facility was remade and the negative concepts were to be created.

Low-Gear would reveal Top-Gear’s existence in April of 1996, so it was expected refugees from the other Gears would arrive then. With “stiff” expressions, the higher ups had decided Top-Gear had to prove its superiority by building a place for any Low-Gear residents that arrived.

Noah was overjoyed.

Her creator also made a “stiff” expression, but the creation facility inside Noah was remade and – theoretically – all of the flaws had been dealt with.

'''“Before” December 25, 1993

One more thing was added to the creation facility: a bell.

The bell would indicate the completion of the concept creation. It would inform everyone that the world had changed.

This was something only Noah had.

She wanted to try ringing it right away.

This was hers alone. It was the physical proof of something only she could do.

'''“Before” February 18, 1994

Noah had a thought.

“Is it still not time for the world? Over.”

Was it still not time for the worlds to gather?

Was it still not time for the world to change?

Helping that along was something only she could do.

Creating, protecting, and supporting the beginning, ending, and everything afterwards was her job.

The great army inside her was to reach out if someone reached their hand into the sky.

The great armor outside her was to protect any precious people trembling in fear.

“Is it still not time for the world? Over.”

'''“Before” April 18, 1994

Mikoku and Noah’s creator’s child played a lot with the daughter of the Tamiya family.

Her creator’s child dressed as a boy outside but as a girl inside Noah.

'''“Before” December 24, 1995

The ending came suddenly.

Noah did not know exactly what was happening.

Theoretically, her concept creation facility should have been perfect, but for some reason, she lost control of the negative concepts being created and they began to activate.

'''“Before” December 24, 1995

It happened in an instant.

In that instant, Top-Gear was flipped toward the negative side.

By the time Noah worked to suppress the negativity by surrounding it in the positive concepts, the number of survivors was only in the triple digits.

The only survivors were those who had been lucky enough to be wearing anti-concept equipment at the time, so they were all scientists, their families, or soldiers in training.

'''“Before” December 25, 1995

Noah and the researchers worked to control the negative concepts.

However, those people collapsed and then the enemy arrived. Enemies had arrived from Low-Gear to destroy Noah.

Noah feared those enemies.

She had great power to defend herself or to protect the new world.

However, the people of Low-Gear were also those she was meant to protect. Also, Low-Gear contained the residents of many other Gears, so losing them would be a problem for the people behind them.

'''“Before” December 25, 1995

Noah asked her creator a question.

“What am I supposed to do? Over.”

Her creator replied while holding her child.

“Don’t worry.”

She then asked a question.

“Do you remember the song I taught you?”

Noah answered that she did remember. Yes, it remained in her memory.

'''December 24, 2005

Noah recalled what her creator had said.

'''“Before” December 25, 1995

“You are probably going to be alone, but the time is sure to come when you will become a creator. The time will come when you will know you should change the world.”

Noah could not believe it. Top-Gear was being destroyed, so that was not a possibility she could believe in.

But this woman was one of her creators. It would make sense for her to know things that Noah did not. More importantly, she had been the one to create that church bell and Noah’s intermediary terminal was modeled after her.

'''“Before” December 25, 1995

“If you have changed the world, you can sing the song I taught you. That song praises the birth of a holy person, so it’s an appropriate song for the creation of a new world. So…if you ever finish singing that song, please ring the bell. Ring the bell that signals the arrival of a new world.”

“Understood,” replied Noah. “Over,” she added.

'''“Before” December 25, 1995

After that, her creators invited in a Low-Gear man and left her.

When her creator left, she spoke so only Noah could hear.

“Take care of the new world.”

Noah agreed to do so.

'''“Before” December 25, 1995

The only Top-Gear residents in range of Noah’s scans were her creator and her creator’s child.

Noah determined even her creator had little time left.

The end was coming for the people who had created her.

It would not be surprising if that meant the ending had come for her, their creation, as well.

'''“Before” December 25, 1995

Noah was enveloped in light and closed off her consciousness as she felt the end arrive.

'''“Before” December 25, 1995

Noah stopped her clock at December 25, 1995 11:59 PM.

'''December 24, 2005

The automaton named Noah had records of the time before she had reactivated the day before.

Her main body had been active and experienced that time.

However, time had remained stopped for her herself, so she only needed to add about ten years.

After all, she had yet to fulfill a certain command.

That was something only she could do.

'''“Before” December 25, 1995

Her creator spoke to her.

“Take care of the new world.”

'''December 24, 2005

Winged Noah’s clock was stopped at December 25, 1995 11:59 PM.

'''December 25, 2005

Noah recalled what had happened after being dropped into the void.

'''Unknown

How much?

'''Unknown x10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000…

How much time had passed?

'''Unknown x10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000…

The positive concepts were no longer within Noah.

'''Unknown x10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000…

The negative concepts had not stopped activating.

'''Unknown x10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000…

Time passed and more time passed.

'''Unknown

At one point, something higher than Noah’s sleeping consciousness activated. Even when greater than 99% of her functionality was asleep, some preservation functions remained active and they attempted to record what her sight devices saw without waking her.

'''December 25, 210050077 BC

She saw the sky.

This was not her main consciousness. It was her unsleeping subconscious in her nerve terminals. They left her consciousness to awaken naturally and simply recorded everything that happened.

The earth, sky, and ocean were there.

There were forests, mountains, and winds. The stars and the sun swapped out in the sky as day and night came and went.

'''December 25, 8331 BC

Finally, an unnatural change occurred near the inland sea visible in the distance.

People had begun to move.

'''December 25, 6698 BC

A village was formed and lots of people were visible.

There were only about one hundred of them, but it was far more than zero.

'''December 25, 2517 BC

The village grew larger.

'''December 25, 1865 BC

The number of people grew even more once they built boats to catch lots of fish.

Small-scale conflicts broke out from time to time, but it was not enough to produce any deaths.

'''December 25, 1032 BC

People started living on the neighboring plains and mountains.

The terminal consciousness on the surface could not access Noah’s massive collection of knowledge, so it did not know where this was.

It knew this was some kind of world because there were people, but it did not know what world it was.

'''“Before” December 25, 1995

Her creator spoke to her.

“Take care of the new world.”

'''December 25, 1032 BC

However, Noah’s terminal consciousness realized that this was not a new world at all.

It was Low-Gear.

It did not know how this could be Low-Gear.

Regardless, the geography and weather were identical to those in the records, so this had to be that old world.

It did not know why, but this was Low-Gear.

'''“Before” December 25, 1995

Her creator spoke to her.

“Take care of the new world.”

'''December 25, 1995

Noah’s creator had told her to make the new world herself.

Noah would not wake until then.

'''December 25, 58

Finally, the village disappeared and was remade.

'''December 25, 423

Conflict arrived and it was built again.

'''December 25, 795

It grew.

'''December 25, 1018

Large wooden ships travelled to the city.

'''December 25, 1241

The ground was smoothed off, roads were built, and…

“————”

'''December 25, 1580

Noah awoke slightly.

When a castle was built inland, she heard the ringing of a bell.

'''December 25, 1612

However, the ringing soon stopped and only Noah’s surface continued recording.

She was inside a concept space.

No one came to visit her.

However, her terminal consciousness found a sudden visitor at one point.

'''December 25, 1911

It was a one-armed man.

Something remembered ''him''.

That something was the terminal consciousness near the elevator bulkhead door toward her stern, which was now her bottom.

That terminal consciousness had once welcomed ''him'' in.

The small thought circuits of the terminal consciousness did not know what that meant, but her creator had given her instructions long ago.

When ''he'' arrived on a mechanical dragon, she was to let ''him'' inside.

And so Noah’s terminal consciousness let ''him'' inside.

It had been a long time since she had last carried out one of her creator’s commands.

''He'' looked slightly surprised when she flashed her lights as a greeting.

“Are you welcoming me in? You are…as nice as always.”

According to her records, ''he'' had searched inside her and she had footage of him bowing his head toward a dropped sword.

From there, a small series of events began.

'''1911+

''He'' visited a few more times. Her terminal consciousness could open and close the door, but she could not hold a conversation because her consciousness had not woken.

But after a short period of time, he stopped visiting.

'''December 24, 1983

However, something strange happened.

The one-armed man visited again, except he had both arms and had grown younger.

Noah’s terminal consciousness did not know what to make of it.

Also, something even more incomprehensible happened.

Her creator visited with the formerly one-armed man and she too had grown younger.

Her terminal consciousness welcomed the two of them in.

Her own consciousness had not woken, but the two of them had searched through her and been amazed.

Her internal terminal consciousness had been a bit happy because it felt like they were praising her.

However, they only visited for a short time.

At one point, they stopped visiting, and…

'''December 24, 1995

“—————”

All of a sudden, Noah’s consciousness nearly woke.

The negative concepts were throbbing inside her.

She sensed danger.

There were two dangers.

First, she was worried she would be unable to entirely contain the negative concepts if they fully activated.

Second, a full inspection of her external records revealed that she was indeed in Low-Gear and she did not know why.

She was in the Gear that had destroyed Top-Gear.

However, she did not fully wake. After all, this was not the new world.

'''“Before” December 25, 1995

Her creator spoke to her.

“Take care of the new world.”

'''December 24, 1995

While still not fully awake, Noah worked at analyzing her data.

She read through the massive piles of data, linked it together, and detected similar pieces of information, but she still did not wake.

She still had no one to be her master.

Also, she could not accomplish her goal.

'''“Before” December 25, 1995

Her creator spoke to her.

“Take care of the new world.”

She was told to ring her bell.

She had the bell and she wanted to ring it.

But could she create a new world?

'''“Before” August 10, 1990

She often played shiritori with her creator. It was meant to increase her vocabulary.

That was where she learned the word “goal”. A “goal” was something to be accomplished and “means” were used to accomplish it. One had a goal because they had the means.

'''December 24, 1995

So Noah had a thought.

“I will create a new world.”

Was that the means or the goal?

She did not know.

She did not know because she had no reason.

But when she searched, she found a reason.

'''“Before” November 5, 1990

She liked the ringing of the bell.

It made a unique sound that no one else could emulate and it also carried far into the distance.

'''“Before” March 25, 1991

Noah wanted to be ''like that''.

'''“Before” December 25, 1993

One more thing was added to the creation facility: a bell.

The bell would indicate the completion of the concept creation. It would inform everyone that the world had changed.

This was something only Noah had.

She wanted to try ringing it right away.

This was hers alone. It was the physical proof of something only she could do.

'''“Before” December 25, 1995

Her creator spoke to her.

“Take care of the new world.”

She was told to ring her bell.

'''“Before” December 25, 1993

She wanted to try ringing it right away.

'''“Before” December 25, 1993

She wanted.

'''“Before” December 25, 1993

Wanted.

'''December 24, 1995

What only she could do became her “goal”.

'''December 24, 1995

Her creator’s command became the “means” to accomplish her “goal”.

Her means and her goal were the creation of a new world and the ringing of the bell.

''Goal. Goal. Goal. Lilac. Cosmos. Snapdragon. Oh, that ended on an “n”.

She had messed up like that a lot in the past too.

'''“Before” August 16, 1992

Noah’s creator rubbed her head.

She asked her creator why she was being praised for losing a game of shiritori.

“You like the names of flowers, don’t you?”

When she agreed, her creator gave her an illustrated encyclopedia of flowers.

She opened it in order to learn the names and not mess up anymore, but she became fascinated by the shapes of the flowers.

'''“Before” August 19, 1992

This time, she lost with dandelion.

She was praised regardless.

'''December 24, 1995

Noah reconfirmed that her creator’s command was the “means” to accomplish her “goal”.

'''December 24, 1995

With her creator gone and Top-Gear, the base of the new world, also gone, that command took top priority.

She had been tasked with creation.

She wanted to create.

''But,'' she thought. ''What am I supposed to do?

But at one point, the world suddenly grew a lot noisier.

'''October 27, 2003

The Concept Cores she could sense in this world began to move and demonstrate their power.

It mostly happened to the east, but…

'''March 29, 2005

She sensed that power to the west, near what would have been Mount Hyono on Top-Gear’s map.

'''July 24, 2005

She sensed more of that power near Kurashiki.

'''March 29, 2005

Once, a helicopter passed by near her.

'''May 11, 2005

Noah thought she might be able to do it.

'''“Before” December 25, 1993

She wanted to try ringing it right away.

'''May 11, 2005

If someone gathered the positive Concept Cores, they would activate them and send them out of control, but wouldn’t that mean releasing the activated concepts and remaking this world?

'''December 24, 2005

The result she had hoped for had arrived the night before.

Three survivors of Top-Gear had visited her with all of the positive Concept Cores.

They had not been her creator, but they had been worth listening to.

They had all remembered her and she had remembered them.

Strangely, despite so much time having past, the three of them had only aged by about ten years.

However, it really had been them.

One of them, Mikoku, had asked her to do something.

While holding Tamiya Shino’s remains, she had asked Noah to bring the girl back to life.

'''“Before” December 25, 1995

Her creator spoke to her.

“Take care of the new world.”

She was told to ring her bell.

'''“Before” December 25, 1993

She wanted to try ringing it right away.

'''December 24, 1995

Noah reconfirmed that her creator’s command was the “means” to accomplish her “goal”.

'''December 23, 2005

''I see,'' thought Noah in front of Mikoku.

''Yes,'' she also thought.

“A new world, you mean? Over.”

To bring everything back to life would be to bring her creator and everyone else back to life.

Was this why her creator had tasked her with creation?

Noah agreed and the philosopher’s stone creation was sure to go well.

The concept creation facility worked properly and it contained all of the original positive Concept Cores. She could sense that she would be able to create a concept without them activating beyond control.

However…

'''December 23, 2005

Someone stopped her “means” and “goal”.

They were from Low-Gear’s UCAT and they were the children of those who had destroyed Top-Gear long ago.

If she was stopped, she could not return the world to its original form.

If she was stopped, she could not sing her song or ring her bell.

She could have resurrected everything that had been lost, so why was Low-Gear interfering again?

'''December 23, 2005

Noah did not like this.

This was what only she could do.

She silently begged them not to stop what her creator had asked her to do.

'''December 24, 2005

But she was stopped after all. She was unable to pull the bell’s cord.

Fortunately, she had regained accurate data on the positive Concept Cores and she knew that the concept creation facility would work properly.

'''December 24, 2005

Currently, Noah was creating the positive Concept Cores inside herself.

Once that was complete, she could combine them with the negative Concept Cores and create the resurrection concept.

She would not let anyone get in her way.

Creation was the task given to her by her creator. Once everything was resurrected, everything she was to protect would return.

Anyone who would get in her way was her creator’s enemy and would essentially erase what she was to protect.

'''December 24, 2005

So Noah entered combat mode.

She knew who her enemy was: this world’s UCAT.

It would be okay.

Everyone would disappear regardless when she created the resurrected world.

She would first destroy the world and secure her safety. If she could then bring everything back to life, she could create a happy world where everyone was equal.

“It will be okay. Over.”

'''December 24, 2005

Noah muttered the words her creator had spoken to her.

'''“Before” December 25, 1995

Her creator spoke to her.

“Take care of the new world.”

'''December 24, 2005

Noah thought about Mikoku.

That girl had solidified her goal for her.

She had been unable to protect that girl in the past, but the girl had still come to rely on her.

'''“Before” December 25, 1995

Her creator spoke to her.

“Take care of the new world.”

'''December 23, 2005

Mikoku asked her to do something.

While holding Tamiya Shino’s remains, she asked Noah to bring the girl back to life.

'''December 23, 2005

Noah replied.

“A new world, you mean? Over.”

'''December 23, 2005

It all fit together.

Her goal, her means, her desire, and what she should do all fit together.

The destruction of Top-Gear had split everything apart and made it uncertain, but after so much time had passed, it had been brought together by her creator, herself, and Mikoku.

'''December 24, 2005

Noah moved forward.

Mikoku was her current master, her creator’s command lay at the foundation of it all, and she would fulfill her own and Mikoku’s desires.

Mikoku would be able to resurrect the world.

Noah would be able to ring her bell.

'''December 24, 2005

Winged Noah’s clock was stopped at December 25, 1995 11:59 PM.

'''December 24, 2005

If she rang her bell, would her time begin to move once more?

No, if she changed the world, the world would be utterly remade.

She too would disappear, but…

“I will have ''moved'' from stopped to ‘disappearing’. Over.”

When that time came, she could ring her bell.

'''December 24, 2005

Noah held Mikoku in her arms.

She had made up her mind.

She understood what she should do, so she gave the command to her main body.

Her entire body went through its greatest evolution and all of her armaments and armor were deployed.

She used her greatest speed to reach this world’s UCAT headquarters where her greatest enemy would be.

She would not let them escape.

With her speed, it would take less than half an hour to travel from Osaka to the mountains of Tokyo.

She would destroy them to keep them silent and then bring everyone back to life.

That was what only she could do.

And…

“We can all be together. Over.”

In the new world, they could all gather below the ringing bell.

Her creator, her enemies, and everyone else could all be together.

'''December 24, 2005

Noah continued on.

She flew through the night sky to tune the world that was worn down from all it had lost.

She then realized that enemies were fast approaching from behind using the original Concept Cores as weapons.

''The enemy is here,'' she sadly thought.

She would prefer not to lose them if possible, but…

“————”

They approached.

'''December 24, 2005

This was Noah’s first battle after passing through such vast spans of time.

She shifted into combat mode.

'''December 24, 2005

Noah spoke while carrying Mikoku and Shino to her bow.

“Awaken, my two servants. The enemy is here.”

'''December 24, 2005

Noah changed her main body’s name to what her combat form had been designated when it was designed.

She was now the great dragon that enveloped the entire world and fought to protect it.

She was the Leviathan.

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