Split (1)

train · 294k rows

ID string	chapter string	text string
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/copyright.txt	Copyright Copyright Astrea Record, Vol. 1 -The Rise of Evil- Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Tales of Heroes FUJINO OMORI Translation by Jake Humphrey Cover art by Fujino Omori This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. ASTRAREA RECORD vol. 1 -JAAKU TAIDO- DUNGEON NI DEAI WO MOTOMERU NO WA MACHIGATTEIRUDAROUKA EIYUTAN Copyright © 2022 Fujino Omori Illustrations copyright © 2022 Kakage All rights reserved. Original Japanese edition published in 2022 by SB Creative Corp. This English edition is published by arrangement with SB Creative Corp., Tokyo in care of Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo. English translation © 2024 by Yen Press, LLC Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author's intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author's rights. Yen On 150 West 30th Street, 19th Floor New York, NY 10001 Visit us at yenpress.com · facebook.com/yenpress · twitter.com/yenpress · yenpress.tumblr.com · instagram.com/yenpress First Yen On Edition: January 2024 Edited by Yen On Editorial: Payton Campbell, Ivan Liang Designed by Yen Press Design: Andy Swist Yen On is an imprint of Yen Press, LLC. The Yen On name and logo are trademarks of Yen Press, LLC. The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: ōmori, Fujino, author. \| Kakage, illustrator. \| Humphrey, Jake, translator. Title: Astrea record. Volume 1, The rise of evil: is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon? tales of heroes / Fujino Omori ; illustration by Kakage ; translation by Jake Humphrey. Other titles: Astrea record. English \| Rise of evil Description: First Yen On edition. \| New York, NY : Yen On, 2024. Identifiers: LCCN 2023053674 \| ISBN 9781975379889 (v. 1 ; trade paperback) \| ISBN 9781975379902 (v. 2 ; trade paperback) \| ISBN 9781975379926 (v. 3; trade paperback) Subjects: CYAC: Fantasy. \| Goddesses—Fiction. \| Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. \| LCGFT: Fantasy comics. \| Light novels. Classification: LCC PZ7.1.O54 As 2024 \| DDC [Fic]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023053674 ISBNs: 978-1-9753-7988-9 (paperback) 978-1-9753-7989-6 (ebook)
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/prologue2.txt	Astrea Record: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Tales of Heroes, Vol. 1 PROLOGUE The Unforgettable Melody of Justice Be troubled. For that is how you grow. Journey alongside your worries and fears. And at the end of it all, tell me what you have learned… …Of the light of justice, the light that glistens like stars in the night. "Thanks for helping me load all this luggage, Bell." "No problem! Always happy to lend a hand." Bell flashed a smile to the grateful merchant and peered up at the sky. It was so clear and cloudless over West Main Street, he could almost see the stars. He pulled his eyes away from the heavens and picked up another box. The man Bell was helping was someone he had become acquainted with as a novice adventurer—not that he considered himself much more than a novice even now—and he had supplied Bell and Hestia with Jyaga Maru Kun when the two were destitute. Bell was all too happy he could repay the favor. "…Hmm?" "What's up, Bell?" "Oh, nothing. It's just…" Bell glanced around. "The city seems…different today." The streets looked the same as they always did. A little sparser than usual, perhaps, but not without braying horses and rattling carriages. Shops and stalls lined the streets, selling fresh fruit and vegetables to passersby. It was a common place for gods and goddesses with time on their hands to enjoy a leisurely stroll. But the usual hustle and bustle of the Labyrinth City seemed strangely absent today. Much like the sky above, all was calm—the calm before a storm. "Ah, I guess you're still new to Orario," the merchant remarked. "Yes…I suppose I am," Bell replied. "Is there something I should know, Bogan?" "There ain't a single person in this city who don't know what today is," replied the man, his eyes fixed on some distant spot. Bogan gazed up at the sky in silence for a few seconds, then, just as Bell was about to inquire further, he turned back. "Sorry, Bell," he said, "but I've gotta get a move on. Thanks again for lendin' a hand." "Oh, um, you're welcome. Good-bye…" Bogan departed with a smile and a wave, but the interaction weighed heavily on Bell's mind. He stopped and took another look around, wondering what on earth could warrant the solemnity he saw. Like a service without ceremony, like churchgoers huddled in prayer, the people went about their days in silence. "…What's going on?" he asked aloud. "I've never seen the city so quiet." Bell was all alone. There were no plans for venturing into the Dungeon today, so Lilly and the others weren't with him. There was no one to answer his questions save the stone-faced pedestrians or the large number of veteran adventurers gathering around Babel and in Central Park. It was only upon seeing them that Bell finally realized what this reminded him of. "It's like the whole city is in mourning…" A feeling Bell knew all too well. As he pondered it, a familiar god emerged from a side street and spotted him. "Oh, Bell? Fancy meeting you here." "Lord Hermes…? Wh-whoa, what's with all those flowers?! There's so many!" The sight took Bell by surprise before he could even return a decent greeting. In Hermes's arms was a splendid bouquet of white lilies. "Ah, well, you see, I've got a laundry list of places to visit. There's lots of people to thank for giving us what we have today." "What we have today…?" Bell repeated. Hermes noticed the uncertain look on his face and said, "Oh, of course. You don't know what happened seven years ago, do you?" Seven years ago? thought Bell, but Hermes went on before he even had to ask. The god narrowed his eyes, focusing on memories of days long past. "A period of untold chaos unlike any this city has seen before or since: the Age of Darkness." Hermes's fleeting, lonely words became one with the air and swept over the city. "Many died…" A trickster goddess, a prum hero, a high elf mage, and a dwarven warrior set the table in a mansion courtyard, filling glasses with wine. "Many fought…" A boaz and cat person sparred, their weapons a blur as each sought to prove their oath. Four dwarven brothers and a pair of black and white elves stood nearby while a silver-haired goddess watched from the top floor of her home. "Many wept…" A god in an elephant mask waited beside a woman from his familia. Her tears long since dried, she stood before the single upright sword in silent prayer. There seemed no end to the graves around them. "And it all culminated in the events of what many call the Great Conflict, on this day, seven years ago." Hermes dropped his gaze from the sky and pulled his mind away from the scenes happening all across the city as he spoke. When Bell looked into those rubellite eyes, his breath was stolen. "The Age of Darkness," he muttered. "Eina and Lilly mentioned it once. They said there was this organization called the Evils…" According to the stories, it was a time when lawlessness and chaos gripped the Labyrinth City, brought about by the rise of an evil power. Hermes nodded. "Yes, a confluence of several evils, you could say. It was a terrible time. A terrible, awful time." Bell had rarely seen the frivolous god so serious. He wasn't sure how to react. After a moment, though, Hermes flashed a smile. "Luckily for us, there were those who stood up in the name of justice and beat back the darkness. It's such a shame they aren't here with us anymore…" "Huh, they aren't? …So you don't mean Lady Loki and Lady Freya?" Bell had assumed they must have had some part in ending the Age of Darkness. After all, fifteen years ago, their familias were the two major forces in Orario. Bell had heard that from none other than Hermes himself. But the god only smiled, as if giving a gentle nudge to a struggling schoolchild, that he might reach the answer on his own. "You know, Bell, I just ran into Lyu on her way to the Dungeon. What do you suppose she's doing there?" "Huh? Oh, could it be…?" Bell gasped as he remembered something. Something the elf girl had told him once in a Dungeon paradise, of a group of people devoted to justice above all. "Yes," said Hermes. "She's going to see her friends. After all, she was a disciple of justice herself, once upon a time." Deep underground, the light of myriad crystals lit up the gloom. Shards of blue and white shaped like chrysanthemums glittered in the ceiling overhead. This was Under Resort, a paradise of forests and lakes found on the Dungeon's eighteenth floor. "…I'm sorry it's been such a long time," said Lyu, a bouquet of white flowers in her arms. The grave opposite her stood silent. A multitude of weapons, including swords and staffs, stuck into the ground, many long since succumbed to rust or rot. Though the forest had begun its attempt at reclamation, the grave was still recognizable for what it was—or rather, for what it was not, as no bodies lay beneath the soil. Lyu knew this, and yet she spoke to the silent collection of mementos as though her friends were right by her side. "I always shirk my visits around this time. I wonder if perhaps I've lost the right to fight for justice…The right to come and see this place…to come and see you." The grave was hidden away in the eastern forests of the eighteenth floor. There was no one to hear her speak—to hear her confessions. Though painful and tragic, her memories of the past were precious. Lyu had tried to move past them, but she failed to take a single step forward. Five years ago, she dyed her golden hair a pale green, and everything since then felt like one long, failed attempt to regain everything she lost. She had abandoned justice, taken up the mantle of revenge, and all it had done was leave her with scorched wings. "I still don't know if I have the right," she said. "I feel like I'm going nowhere—like I've been going nowhere—ever since that day seven years ago. I haven't even spoken to Astrea in all that time." Lyu lifted her sky-blue eyes. Amid the silence of the dead, she mustered up a smile for her fallen comrades. "If you could see me now," she said, "would you be angry? Would you be sad to see what I've become? Or…would you smile for me?" Of course there was no answer. Her friends were gone. But Lyu could never forget their names. "Kaguya…Lyra…" The rebellious rival, the dry-witted prum. "Noin, Neze, Asta…" The optimistic human, the sisterly werewolf, the lovely little dwarf girl. "Lyana, Celty, Iska, Maryu…" The adept and novice mages, the booze-loving Amazon, and the big sister of the whole group. "…And Alize." Finally, the name of the one Lyu respected above all others. Memories unrooted themselves from the depths of Lyu's heart. A slumbering sense of justice steadily awoke, and Lyu's mind was whisked back in time seven years, to a battle with evil she would never, ever forget.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/prologue4.txt	Astrea Record: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Tales of Heroes, Vol. 1 The night was aflame. Thick pillars of smoke rose and became smoldering clouds, and flashes of hellfire lit up the dark. People were fleeing from a large factory engulfed by flames. Screams issued from within—the laughter of chaos, of those who would see order fall. As the fire turned a whole stretch of the city into ash, another sound rang out in the streets. The unmistakable clash of blades. This was the war cry of order, the melody of justice fighting to retake the day. "Gwaaah?!" A bladed boomerang whirled through the night, ripping through those who stood on evil's side. Its victims slumped to the ground that was already slick with their blood. The boomerang returned to the hand of its prum wielder. "Alize!" she shouted. "Warehouse number three is clear!" "Move on to number four!" came the reply. "Lyra, take Iska and Maryu and clear out the next section!" Flames and sparks continued to spill from the factory windows as smoke billowed from every door. Yet the brave and nimble footsteps never once broke stride. "Sure thing. Your orders?" asked Lyra. "Use ice to freeze the enemies and the flames! Stop both of them at once! Go, go, go!" The marching beat of justice was unstoppable. Glinting steel vanquished their foes, while a fierce blizzard extinguished the fires. With silvery blue flashes all around them, the fighters descended deeper into the heart of the factory. The scarlet-haired girl giving the orders raised her eyes as a smile sprang to her lips. "Kaguya, Leon! Take care of the enemy's main force!" A pair of footsteps echoed off the floor. The first belonged to a raven-haired human wearing a scarlet kimono, an odd sight this far west. Beside her ran a blond-haired elf in a cloak and mask. "Our captain really loves working us to the bone," muttered the first. "Make sure you don't fall behind, elf." "Enough talk, Kaguya. We move." Their speed took their opponents completely by surprise. Despite their slender physiques, the two girls were instantly in the enemy ranks, slashing wildly. Their weapons flew with meticulous precision, like the choreography of a delicate dance. The foes in their milk-white robes struggled to survive, much less fight back. Their swords and spears left openings, their axes moved too slowly, and even their shields broke apart under the unrelenting assault. The only thing left to decide was whether they'd be cut to ribbons by Kaguya's blade or broken by Lyu's wooden sword. The men had strength in numbers, but it availed them naught. The two girls tore through the band in an instant like a whirlwind. It was a ballet of violence played out against a complex backdrop of fire and blood. "Gyaaagh?!" Soon, the final enemy fell to Lyu's wooden sword. Beside her, the girl in the kimono raised a hand to her cheek and let out a despondent sigh. "How disappointing," she said. "It beggars belief how these hideous weaklings can cause so much misery and pain." Behind her feigned smile lurked a smoldering anger, as unruly as the flames themselves. It was then that a man, concealing himself for an opening, finally emerged from his hiding place and attacked. "Diiiiiiie!!" In a last-ditch attempt to go out in a blaze of glory, the man swung the enchanted crimson sword in his hands. A blossom of fire erupted from its tip. This was clearly the weapon responsible for the inferno. "An explosion?! It's an ambush!" cried Lyu. "It came from…Oh no! Alize!" said Lyra, the color draining from her face as she realized where the fireball had wrought its merciless destruction. The man watched on with glee, his shoulders heaving with every breath. But just as he was about to raise his voice in victorious laughter…time stopped. The fires parted, and a figure emerged from the sea of flames, unharmed. "B-but how?! Impossible!" the man stuttered, shuddering with fear. Before him, the girl combed her fingers through her long red ponytail. "Next time you fling a fireball, make sure your target isn't Scarlett Harnell!" she jeered, wearing the smuggest grin in the world. "The flames of evildoers leave no marks on my fair and beautiful skin! He-hem!" "Alize, your clothes are on fire!" yelled the prum girl. "Put it out, or we're gonna see that fair skin sooner than later!" The girl, startled, noticed the flames at her back and dashed to and fro until the speed of her movements extinguished them. "Phew," she said once the fire was out. "Well, these things happen! Failure is the mother of success! Now I'm one step closer to perfection!" Lyra looked at her in disbelief. "That's a lotta words to avoid saying you made a mistake…" "It must be lovely to smother all those inconvenient truths with optimism," Kaguya added. "Perhaps we should all take a leaf out of the captain's book." "I won't hear another bad word against Alize," said Lyu. "She's just a little…you know." "At least try to come up with somethin'," came Lyra's incredulous retort. "Y-you, it can't be…" said the man, breaking the comedic atmosphere. He raised a trembling finger at the scarlet-haired girl. "Oh, you've heard of us?" replied Alize with a beaming smile. "Should we do our introduction, then?" The girl raised her voice theatrically, as though she had been patiently waiting for this exact moment. She was fearless, unflinching, even in the face of the very evil she swore to destroy. "Protectors to the weak!" she declared. "Confounders of the strong! And sometimes, vice versa! Arbiters unfettered and unchained, weighing all atop the impartial scales of truth and law!" Their leader, Alize Lovell, was flanked by her ten compatriots. Elves, humans, and prum, all young girls, and yet the light of justice burned within each and every one of them. "Our wish is order, our every dream a smile! Our backs and our hearts shine with the sword and wings of justice!" Their emblem sat conspicuously on the girls' cloaks and clothing. Four sets of wings, and a sword that resembled a set of scales. It was the symbol of justice and synonymous with their lady's name. "We are Astrea Familia!!" Zeus and Hera's defeat at the hands of the Black Dragon was the harbinger of the Age of Darkness. Evil thrived, order devolved into chaos, and blood was washed away with more blood. Villains reigned supreme while the innocent suffered. These are the chronicles of a certain family and their efforts to change the darkest chapter in Orario's history.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/afterword.txt	Afterword Afterword When I was writing the script for the Astrea Record event, I read a lot of books and literature. Some of them were quite tricky, and I can't say I understood more than half of them, but I'm still quite sure that the question of justice and evil will never come to a satisfactory conclusion. No matter how the world changes, humans will always be humans, born at different times, in different places. I don't want to say it's impossible, but I find it highly unlikely that anyone but a god could ever succeed in finding common ground between all of humanity. I can't really believe I just wrote something so sanctimonious, but in any case, I wanted to see what sort of conclusion our gods, and of course Lyu and her friends, would draw were this question to be posed in the world of Danmachi. Perhaps there are those of you who share my thoughts, in which case, I wish both of us the best of luck. Perhaps there are those of you who don't, in which case I would very much like to hear your thoughts and conclusions. Searching for justice, finding your own justice—these are not easy tasks. I'm not even sure if it's what we should be doing. But that, to me, only makes it more important that we all think about what justice means to us, and I only have the highest respect for those who do. Now I'm starting to embarrass myself with all this preaching, but I think I'm allowed to treat myself, at least on this page, as a reward for getting all the way to the end. I would now like to move on to my acknowledgments. First, my lovely editor, Usami. It is wholly due to your tireless efforts that we were able to publish all three of these volumes in successive months. To Kakage, thank you so much for breathing a new form of life into Alize and the girls. As a mere writer, I can't imagine what an illustrator must go through to keep to such a tight schedule, and I'm so happy I was able to work on this with you. I also extend my warmest gratitude to everyone at WFS for putting up with such a poor excuse for an author as me. And finally, to you, the readers, thank you very much for picking up this series. Justice will go on. Dreams will persevere. Heroes and gods, too. What will this tale pass on to the familia myth as a whole? I do hope you will stick around to find out. —Fujino Omori
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter10.txt	Chapter 5: Playing the Violence Card CHAPTER 5 Playing the Violence Card The witch had unveiled her true might, and its effects were felt even on the surface, in the streets of the Labyrinth City itself. "This quake… It isn't like anything else we've felt so far!" exclaimed Asfi, pausing in the Casino and looking at the floor. "Was it the adventurers, or the monster?" muttered Falgar. "Or something else entirely…?" Shakti felt it, too, over at the home of Ganesha Familia. "Did the enemy manage to break through?" she pondered. "Alize, Leon…!" The quake was much shorter than the rumblings of the Dungeon monster that had rattled the city before, but this one came at a troubling frequency that alarmed any trained and experienced adventurer, even if they didn't fully understand why. While adventurers and Evils alike looked to the ash-laden sky for answers, the roar of monsters continued to echo in the streets. "Sounds like things are gettin' pretty lively down there," sneered Valletta, the only one in the city with a smile on her lips. "Guess it's all going accordin' to plan, right, Lord Erebus?" She looked out across Babel. Just then, a frightened subordinate raised their voice. "L-Lady Valletta, what was that?!" "Don't get cold feet now. That's the countdown to victory. The more the city shakes, the closer we are to winnin'." Valletta took little pains to ease the soldier's fears. Instead, a ferocious glint twinkled in her eye. "Still, if you guys are scared, then the adventurers must be shittin' their pants. Their morale should be droppin' like a stone right now." The tide of war was constantly in flux. Every tactic, every bead of sweat on a soldier's brow, every external factor—all of these tipped the scales of battle one way or the other. Valletta was not too ignorant to realize that these quakes shook the hard-earned faith that Finn's plan had won. "Now's the time!" she howled. "Finn's made his move—now let's make ours! Hey, you! Get in contact with Jura's people!" "Th-the tamers…? Y-you mean…?!" All the blood drained from the cultist's face. Valletta's cruel smile confirmed his darkest fears. "Yeah. We're gonna play our card. Let the rest of the monsters loose!" Clang-a-lang-a-lang-a-lang! The harsh sound of an alarm bell rang throughout the city. "The watchtowers!" cried Asfi. She and Falgar dispatched their opponents at the same time and turned in the direction of the sound. "Enemy reinforcements?" the war tiger bellowed. "It can't be! There's still more of them?!" At that moment, a scout ran over. "A large horde of monsters is approaching from the southeast, sir! Including several large species that we haven't seen in the battle so far!" "Tch! Nothing that should pose a threat. Let's move to intercept before their numbers grow too great!" Returning his greatsword to his back, Falgar set off at once. Until now, hordes of monsters in the streets below had forced the adventurers to conduct their battles on the rooftops. However, Mind and arrows could only last so long, and so at Finn's urging, the adventurers focused on culling these creatures. Now, at last, they could take to the streets again, eager to take back their city and force the monsters out. However, in the midst of all this, Asfi paused. "That's strange," she muttered. "Something doesn't feel right." The Evils were acting odd. They were strangely cooperative, opening a path for the adventurers. Instead of fighting, they focused all their efforts on shoring up their own defenses. The reason soon became clear. "Take this, you fiend!" "Roaaaaaaaahhh!!" A cleanly severed arm flew past Asfi's eyes—the arm of the upper-class adventurer who'd shot past the front lines to engage the enemy by himself. "Huh…? Aaaaaaaghhh!!" The next moment, he was crushed between a monster's jaw. His dying screams were only the first as adventurers all around them started crying out. "What?!" exclaimed Falgar as he deftly blocked the attack of a lizardman. The force of the blow was unbelievable, as was the number of wounded allies littering the battleground. The newly arrived monsters were already dominating the area around the Casino. "They're overwhelming us!" cried Asfi, looking down from the rooftops alongside a contingent of terrified mages. They're nothing like the monsters we've dealt with so far… What's happening?! All across the city, the adventurers were in a panic. Screams issued from each of the five strongholds, including the home of Loki Familia to the north. It was there that the dwarf Dyne came to his ally with news. "Noir! The monsters have stepped up their assault! We can't hold them off!" "What?!" Noir wheeled around in surprise. Just then, the Amazon Bahra spoke up as well. "They're tearing through our defensive garrison!" she said. "At this rate, the stronghold will fall!" "Grh…!" Noir trembled in impotent rage, but the monsters marched on unimpeded. It was over at the home of Ganesha Familia where one scout first realized the true nature of the assault. "W-we've spotted tamers at the rear of the charge! They seem to be controlling the monsters!" Ganesha himself stood at the battlements, surveying the carnage below. "From the monster's behavior, these tamers clearly aren't as skilled as Shakti and her crew," the god reasoned. "So why are the monsters so powerful?!" He gazed off in the distance, where he could clearly see the Evils tamers cracking their whips. One didn't have to be a god to see that their skill was somewhat lacking. Monster taming was one of the most dangerous professions, and unskilled practitioners usually met a grisly end in the jaws of their targets. Strangely, however, these powerful monsters were not rebelling against their amateur masters, and instead appeared oddly docile, as if they had been entranced. Shakti was doing her best to respond effectively. "Grr…! Send out our troops! Do not let those beasts come near the fortifications!" Then, after hearing the screams of her allies, she shot off toward the monster horde. Meanwhile, among the Evils, and especially the tamers, tensions were high. "Damn you, Valletta, makin' me do this shit…" Despite the heat emanating from the red dragon he rode, a cold, anxious sweat had broken out on the brow of the Rudra Familia tamer, Jura Harma. His animal ears twitched each time the dragon looked up at him with cold, lifeless eyes. He felt like he was another beast in a cage, just like the rest of them. "Argh! Let's just get this over with!" The animal person tamer cast aside his misgivings and cracked his magical crimson whip. The red dragon wearing a collar around its neck roared and began its charge, while dozens of winged lizards took to the skies. "They've got wyverns, too?!" exclaimed Falgar in surprise, seeing the flock approach the Casino. "Did they bring them all the way from the Valley of Dragons?!" The mages on the rooftop began launching their spells at the airborne attackers. Asfi had been watching the battle unfold alongside Falgar and had initially come to the same conclusion, but… If so, they're too strong! They shouldn't be able to break through a defensive line held by upper-class adventurers! She defended the mages with explosives and her blade, but she still couldn't figure out how this was happening. That was when a fireball from one of the beasts exploded on the main street. "Gaaaaagh!" "Somebody heeelp!!" The monsters were slaughtering her allies. The color drained from Asfi's face as the tide of war steadily shifted against them. "Could it be…? Are all these monsters…irregulars?!" "Nope, wrong!" Valletta said to no one in particular, gleefully addressing the terror and confusion she knew the adventurers all felt. "They're just plain old Dungeon monsters! I mean, I guess we've been trainin' 'em in Knossos, but what difference does that make to you guys?!" Now that her hidden card had been revealed, Valletta flashed a sinister grin. Everywhere she looked she could see monsters preying on adventurers, bathing the streets in blood. She was loving it. "Good thing I told Ikelos's goons to get all these monsters together. Some of them came all the way from the deep levels!" Valletta had tasked Hazer and other hunters of Ikelos Familia with capturing monsters from the Dungeon, while Jura and the rest of Rudra Familia were asked to tame and control the more powerful specimens. To facilitate this, Valletta had also strong-armed a hexer possessing the advanced ability Enigma into creating a prototype magic item—a crimson whip that allowed any monster to be tamed, regardless of the tamer's skill. It was a triumph of teamwork, coming from the diverse familias that made up the Evils conglomerate. "Kill, my monsters, kill!" Valletta howled, "Make that Finn cry!" "C-Captain! The monsters keep coming! They won't stop!" came Raul's report, half screamed across the rooftop of Guild HQ. Finn stood at the building's edge, grimly surveying the city. He could see the truth of Raul's words, but he couldn't show despair lest it spread among his allies. "Situation report!" he barked. "Our scouts all across the city have been wiped out! The stronghold garrisons are down to their last defenders! We had the Evils surrounded, but now we're struggling to hold the line!" "Grh…! Fall back and defend the strongholds! Use magical bombardment, even if it causes damage to the city!" A Loki Familia member hurried to transmit Finn's orders, but his fingers were shaking. He didn't need to be a general to see that things were very quickly going from bad to worse. "These monsters have the power to turn the tide of war in an instant," grumbled Finn. "Did they really gather this many enhanced species? No, that's impossible! There's still something you're hiding from us, isn't there, Valletta?!" Finn Deimne was far from omniscient. He couldn't read minds or pull facts from thin air. All he could do was rely on the reports of his subordinates, his own observations, and his uncanny instinct for detecting danger. Although he was vaguely aware of other entrances into the Dungeon, he could not have fathomed the Evils had a way to safely extract a large horde of dangerous monsters, especially at a time when the existence of Knossos was not publicly known. Whatever secret made this feat possible, Valletta had managed to keep it hidden all this time. Finn grimaced…and just then, the impossibly loud sound of clashing blades shook the skies above Orario. "Oh no… It can't be!" Everyone heard it, adventurers and cultists alike. And so did Valletta. "Hee-hee-hee!" She chuckled. "Sounds like the other fight is already over!" She looked toward the city's center—toward Babel and the thick wall of ice surrounding it. There, in Central Park, a duel had just reached its conclusion. The boaz man fell to one knee, his armor and flesh both ruined. "Grh…!" "You lasted longer than I expected," said his opponent, the conqueror. In contrast to Ottar, his plate armor was unscathed. Zald shouldered his greatsword and peered down at the broken man. "Grh… Hrh…!" The roaring flames on the Dungeon's eighteenth floor virtually drowned out the groans of someone trying to stand. To the north, Aiz fought madly against Delphyne, while here, the girls of Astrea Familia were lying on the ground. "…Hey… Any of you still alive…?" Lyra croaked. It was Neze who answered her, one foot in the grave. "I am…" she said. "But I don't have a clue why. How are we not dead after that?" Alfia's magic had hit them head-on. That level of power should have far outstripped the meager defense granted by Asfi's accessories. "It was Riveria's magic…!" exclaimed Lyu. "Without it, we would have been obliterated!" She looked down at her palm, where the green glow of Riveria's magical protection had completely vanished. It had saved Astrea Familia from destruction but faded in the process. "I see you are all still in one piece," said Alfia. "Has my magic waned that much? …No, it is that high elf who deserves the credit. She has grown strong." "Grh…!" Lyu screwed up her face in disgust as Alfia drew closer without a sound. "However," the witch said. "That protection will not avail you a second time." But just as she prepared to finish them off, the dragon roared, and Alfia calmly glanced in its direction. What piqued her curiosity most was Aiz. "So their battle continues," she said. "That little girl fares well against a god-slayer who calls the Dungeon home." Her form, clad in wind, moved like a storm. "This may only be a prelude, but it is worthwhile nonetheless." The beast belched fire, burning away the wind's shackles. The earth convulsed beneath its feet, and everything it touched turned to ash and dust. Watching it was like witnessing the end of the world. Lyu trembled. There was no room for doubt after seeing it with her own eyes. The dark god's prediction—the destruction of Babel and the manifestation of the underworld—was all too real. It made her heart pound and turned her blood to ice. Kneeling on the ground, unable to lift a finger, she instead peered up at Alfia. "Do you feel nothing?" she asked her. "About what?" "All this. Do you see it and feel nothing?!" Fire flickered against the witch's face, but she showed no emotion whatsoever, as if regarding nothing more or less than the ironclad rules of nature at work. To Lyu, Alfia's callous disregard was more than she could bear…or comprehend. "Your allies are slaughtering people! They revel in death and destruction! They summoned that…that thing…to destroy hope! Doesn't that make you feel something?!" "The noise irritates me," the witch answered, "but that is all." Lyu could scarcely believe the emptiness in her voice. "Wh-wha—?" she stammered. But Alfia went on. "A slayer of gods. The end of justice," she said. "There is no doubt this is the incarnation of evil. But if it can erase my disappointment, then so be it." Alfia looked down at her palm. "For my disappointment is the one thing I truly cannot bear." In the distance, the wyrm roared. The wind bellowed. But Lyu didn't hear any of it. The battle faded to silence. What Lyu wanted to hear, more than anything else, was the witch's answer. "…What… What is your disappointment…?" she asked. "What could be so disappointing to make the city's greatest protectors side with evil?!" At first, Alfia held her silence. Before long, all of Astrea Familia—Alize, Lyra, and everyone else—were waiting for her answer. Then at last, and perhaps on a whim, she spoke. "Very well," she said. "Since you have made it this far, I shall tell you." She peered upward through the cavernous stone roof to the battlefield of her fellow conqueror and the apocalyptic skies that lay above it. "Tell you the tale…of our disappointment." "Nine hundred and forty-seven," said Zald, counting the strikes that had been dealt. "More than I expected, but not enough." His weighty voice echoed throughout Central Park. "Mewling brat. Draped in the finest adornments this city can offer, and still you are no match for me." "Grh…!" Ottar was beaten black-and-blue. Cracks ran through every plate of his armor, including the golden pauldron atop his shoulder. All his weapons had been destroyed, leaving only a single greatsword. His armor aside, the man had taken heavy punishment, too. The conqueror's sword had left deep gashes in his rocklike skin, and even Ottar's ace in the hole—his transformation ability—had not been able to save him. He looked up into Zald's eyes. They were weighty and discouraged. "Pathetic," said the conqueror. "Truly pathetic. If you are the greatest defense this city can muster, then there is no other choice." Strangely, miraculously, as though tuned in to his fellow conqueror far beneath the earth, Zald raised his eyes to the sky as well. To the ash-gray clouds that blocked out hope and smothered the city. Far off to the north, and what lay beyond. "Orario needs to be destroyed. There is no avoiding that." Ottar struggled to his feet, but at those words, he froze. "What…do you mean? No avoiding it? What are you talking about?!" "I am saying there is no other way," answered Zald. "We must tear down the Dungeon's gate, release the monsters within, and cull humanity's numbers. I had sorely hoped it would not come to this." "Our disappointment," said Alfia, "is weakness. Powerlessness. A feeling you must all know well." "Weakness? Powerlessness? Whose weakness?!" asked Alize. The witch's ashen hair was framed against the sparks. "Orario's," she said. "This whole world's. And above all, our own." For a moment, a trace of pity almost seemed to cross the witch's face. "What're you talkin' about?!" groaned Lyra, barely able to stand. "Explain it like we're a bunch of babies!" "Explain our weakness?" Alfia replied. "Is it not painfully obvious? We slayed the Behemoth. We felled Leviathan. But against the Black Dragon, we were powerless." Lyu gasped. "The Three Great Quests!" Alfia did not deny it. "So mighty were we that even the gods recognized our strength," she said. "Yet we were nothing compared to that foul beast. It was a massacre—I have never witnessed one like it, before or since." "Grh…!" "The Black Dragon tore us to shreds and devoured us. Those of us who lived recall only the rivers of blood merging into a single crimson sea." It was the battle that ended Zeus Familia and Hera Familia. Just hearing of it was enough to render the girls of Astrea Familia speechless. Even though a survivor was recounting it firsthand, it didn't feel real. This witch had brushed off the girls' attacks like it was nothing, and now she spoke of the powerlessness she felt before the dragon's might. "In the end," she said, "we fled. Those of us who did not die." For the first time, Alfia looked angry. Angry at herself and the other so-called heroes who deserted their task. "It was then that I realized something," she said. "These methods can never succeed." "…What do you mean?" Alize was only barely able to speak, but Alfia ignored her. Her words burned with a righteous, indignant tone. "Adventurers. You cannot handle true despair. Your hope is a lie—to yourselves, and to the world. We cannot escape the end! Not while we cling to our gods!" "The world needs heroes," said Zald. "But how are heroes born, and how do they grow?" "What are you…?" asked Ottar, stunned. "Is it even possible while the gods still walk this earth?" The conqueror posed his questions. But it wasn't long before he also offered what he believed to be the answers. "It was not our intention," he said, "but we proved that it is not possible. We proved that our current heroes are doomed to failure." Beneath his helmet, the warrior narrowed his eyes. His lips curled in rage as he declared the source of his resolve. "No hero of the Age of Gods can slay that beast! Thus, we are left with only one choice!" "We must go back! Back to the Age of Heroes spoken of in myth and legend!" Ottar's eyes widened in terror. "You…you can't mean…!" "Yes! We must reverse the wheel of time! Return to an age when true legends walked the earth!!" Zald raised and clenched his fist. His own words elevated him past his grief, toward a cruel and barbaric solution. "When monsters roamed free and fear ruled the hearts of men! When humanity stood on the brink and still chose to fight!" The age Zald spoke of was from at least a thousand years ago. Before Orario, before adventurers. Before even the gods came down to wander the mortal realm. When all races lived in darkness, and natural selection separated the weak from the strong. "They chose to be the predator! They refused to be the prey! They tore through despair and went beyond what others deemed possible!" Several brave men and women stood up to change all that. Men and women still spoken of in legends to this day. "They were fierce! They were brave! They earned their place in history! And no one alive today can claim to be their equal!" The great blaze in the Sanctuary. Exterminating the bullmen in the capital. Guarding the continent with spear and hunting hound. Recapturing the Lonza Mountains. Uniting the animal tribes. The revival of Orland. Leaving hoofprints throughout history. And the ultimate hero: the man who plucked out one of the great wyrm's eyes. These were all feats that people of today could never dream to match. Even now, they were considered the crowning achievements of mortal beings everywhere. And so, after they confirmed what they believed to be the hard limits of the Age of Gods, Zald and Alfia came up with a solution. When Ottar realized what it was, his voice trembled. "You wish to take us back to ancient times?!" he demanded. "And to do that, you would release monsters from the Dungeon? Destroy the peace our heroes strove to uphold?!" "I would," said Zald without hesitation. "The world has grown soft. Only in chaos can a true hero be born. It is the only way!" he roared, as if the fires of his own failures were burning him up inside. "This is the only path forward! If we do not change course, the apocalypse will come for us all!" This was Zald's wail of despair. This was what had driven the old heroes to the dark side. "We must pay the price of millions to produce the one! The one hero capable of overcoming the Black Dragon!" "A thousand years," said Alfia as she let her thoughts drift to the past. "A thousand years since the gods came to earth and gave mortals their blessings. A thousand years to devise a course of action against the ancient beast, and what do we have to show for it?" Her words were a confession. Hollow guilt wrapped in a cloak of silence. All the girls of Astrea Familia bore witness. "Everything our familias wrought… Everything our gods wrought… It was all for nothing!" Lyu, Alize, and Lyra had no words. They had never seen the witch show such emotion before. "Never had there been a man of such majesty as him! Never had there been a woman so fearsome and noble as her! Yet I watched their blood spill! Their limbs fly! I listened to their death cries! All of it, gone in an instant, leaving me with nothing but despair at this world and everyone in it! Even ourselves!" By this point, there was no stopping her. The words spilled forth uncontrollably, fiery with hate, and Alfia spat them at the ground as though she could burn away all the sins of her past. After a while, she regained her composure and lifted her gaze. "But all is not lost," she said, calm again. "A heroic tale can still be written." Mired in despair, the witch spoke of the same idea her fellow conqueror had described. "In ancient times, there were no Falna. Though the spirits aided them, humankind repelled the monster threat with nothing but their own skills. Is that hard to believe?" It was the truth. The people of old laid the foundation for the modern day, including the city of Orario itself. "Starting with the first hero, a line of great men and women performed impossible feats…culminating in the robbing of the Black Dragon's eye and the removal of monsters from the surface world." Their tales were still told today. An unbroken tapestry of heroes stretching all the way back to antiquity. They had even managed to drive off the very beast responsible for Zeus and Hera's downfall. "Those heroes did what we could not. That alone speaks volumes." When Alfia finished her tale, the girls of Astrea Familia just stared at her in shock. None of them could find it in themselves to say a word. The roar of flames continued in the distance, and in the end it was Lyu who spoke up. "Then what you're saying…" she said through trembling lips. "Your despair… Your goal… It's…!" "No hero born of gods will ever suffice," Alfia answered. "We must cast them off and raise a true warrior. We must return to the Age of Heroes." "Wh-what…?!" stammered Neze. "Then the reason you're trying to destroy Orario…" "It is to save the world." This was the reason Alfia had returned. This was why she conspired with evil to bring death and destruction. This was why she and Zald joined Erebus, obeyed his commands, and sullied their own hands. They had made up their minds. They had decided that the fate of the world outweighed everything else. For the mortal realm to truly thrive…Orario needed to fall. The girls of Astrea Familia were stunned. None of them could find the right words. In the end, it was Lyra who spoke. "So you guys are after peace as well! Why not team up? We both want the same thing, don't we?!" "We could not be more opposed, prum. You have not seen what we have seen, nor felt the despair that we have felt. The threat of that beast is far greater than any of you can possibly imagine." Alfia remained resolute. Fear of the Black Dragon dominated her mind. "Our views are hopelessly incompatible," she concluded. "For Zald and me, there is no other way." "Grr…! You can't—!!" Lyu began to argue back, but then it happened. The wind howled, and the air shook. "Wh-what was that?!" cried Neze. "Look over there!" yelled Iska, pointing to the center of the floor. There, some mysterious force caused the winds to swirl at an incredible pace. "A tornado?! Here in the Dungeon?!" cried Lyra, her voice barely audible over the noise. "What monster's doin' that?!" The whirling winds stretched all the way to the cavern roof, taller still than Delphyne itself. All of Astrea Familia turned and stared. They had never seen anything like it in their lives. "None of them…" said Alize at last. "That's no monster!" I hate you. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! Why are you here? Just to kill people? Just to destroy things? Just to make us sad? Can't you see you're making us cry? Can't you see the world would be better off without you? Die. Go away. Or else…I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!! That was her cry. A cry of vengeance. Of grief turned to anger, and then hate. It was the darkness in her heart made manifest. "Tempest!" A cry. "Tempest!!" A howl. "Nizelle!!" A violent rampage. There was a flash of light and a deafening roar as the wind turned black as night. "No…it can't be!!" growled Gareth. "It's Aiz!" said Riveria. "She's combining her magic with her skill!" The huge tornado that took up the entire space contracted down in an instant, shrouding the young Aiz in a fearsome wind. The next moment, she threw herself at Delphyne. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaghhh!!" Clad in jet-black wind, her weapon sliced the great wyrm's flesh, spilling blood as hot as boiling magma. The girl's armor of storms kept her safe, however, and each slash produced six sharp blades of devastating wind that tore at the beast's hide. "Rooooooooaaaaaaaaaghhh?!" Delphyne howled in agony, experiencing true pain for the first time. All the while, the black wind continued eating away at the dragon's flesh so quickly that its regeneration could not keep up. "She's…she's winning!" cried Riveria. "But…!" As if to confirm her fears, at that moment a magnificent crack rang out, and a split appeared down the length of Aiz's sword. "Desperate got damaged?!" bellowed Gareth in disbelief. "That beast's hide is stronger than a Durandal weapon?" The pair from Loki Familia knew all about the darkness that lurked in the Sword Princess's heart, but this was their first time seeing it manifest. Riveria's eyes trembled in fear. "Stop it… Stop it! You can't keep this up! You'll die!" she screamed. But Aiz did not answer her. Her eyes were dark and hollow, and she could not be stopped. As if feeding on her hatred, the black wind grew in volume and intensity. "Aiz!!" Up until a few moments ago, it had been fire and infernos that ruled the eighteenth floor. Now, in the blink of an eye, the ominous black wind replaced it all. All of Astrea Familia could only watch in terror. "The Sword Princess…" muttered Lyu. "She's fighting that thing by herself!" "She's just one human!" yelled Lyra. "How the hell's she doin' that?!" Meanwhile, Alfia looked on in admiration. "Exceptional," she said. "The black wind. Unparalleled power. No wonder Hera wanted it." Despite her distance from the raging battle, the winds emanating off it extinguished her voice. They scattered the flames and sundered the earth. Alfia needed to shout for the girls to even hear her. "See that?" she cried. "That is the power of loss! Of fear and despair! That is the pinnacle of mortal strength, which can only be achieved by those who walk the darkest path!" "Hrh…?!" "Those are the heights our ancestors attained! That is the peak they gazed upon! Like her, we must know sacrifice! Like her, the many must die so that the chosen few can ascend higher! Only then will we find the strength to slay the Black Dragon!" This was the reasoning behind the conquerors' choice. Aiz was living proof that their quest would bear fruit, and that a return to the Age of Heroes was the only way. "No! That's not right!" yelled Alize. "Is it not? Then show me." Alfia turned and addressed the girls. Unlike her dark master, debates and philosophy did not interest her. What she wanted was very simple. "Show me a greater power. Show me proof I cannot deny." """!!""" The black wind was born of rage and despair. It was Alfia's argument made manifest. To dissuade her, the girls needed to surpass it. "Justice! Determination! Willpower! If these are so important to you, then show me why!" The woman who had been defeated by the Black Dragon stood firm, defying the girls to answer. Elsewhere, Erebus listened to the witch's cry. "Hmm. I like the sound of that. That's a scream only a woman who's known despair can make." A grin formed on his lips. "Now, Leon. And the rest of you adventurers. Can your justice measure up to that?" The god wore Eren's smile. He spoke aloud, though the storm hopelessly obliterated his words. "Let's pick up where we last left off," he said. "With absolute evil awaiting justice's answer." He tore his eyes away from Alfia and the girls to look at the other battlefield, cloaked in sparks and flames, where a single warrior fought a faceless man. "That woman's insane!" Kaguya yelled after she heard Alfia's declaration. "She wants to turn back time and plunge us into the Age of Heroes?!" But the expression of her opponent, Vito, was calm. "Is that so wrong?" he asked. "I, too, was surprised at first, but her reasoning is sound, no?" "Sound?! She wants to bring death and destruction to us all! How could that ever be right?" "Because her desire is grounded in reality. It's based on fact." "!" Kaguya inhaled sharply. Vito opened one eye a sliver and continued. "Facts of which you know nothing, may I remind you? To you, their actions may seem evil, but Glutton and Silence have no doubts their cause is just." "Wha—?!" "They fight to save the world; to protect it. Is that not the same cause you uphold, even though your methods may differ?" "Grh…! That's not…" Kaguya could insult their plan. She could call it foolish and inefficient. But the one thing she couldn't do was deny the reality that Zald and Alfia knew. The conquerors believed the only path to victory was a path of torment and suffering. Even if Kaguya felt otherwise, she could not dispute the validity of that choice. "Don't you people say it all the time? Good and evil are just two sides of the same coin. We all possess our own facts. Our own truths. Each of which persuades the coin to fall one way or the other." As Kaguya stood speechless, Vito's grin widened more and more. "Let me ask you a question, fair maiden. How do I seem in those eyes of yours? …Oh, don't give me such a horrid look. I'm all ears." "You're a bloodthirsty, blood-crazed maniac. All you know how to do is murder." "I see. You certainly don't hold back, do you? However, while my murderous habit may be a fact, it is not my truth." Beneath Kaguya's scornful eye, Vito offered a shrug. Then he raised his hand and ran a finger along his eyelid. "To my eyes, young lady. You are nothing but a loathsome gray." "…What?" Vito fixed his scarlet eye on Kaguya. The red was the red of fresh, still-slick blood, while the light seemed fake, like an empty window. "I was born with a peculiar defect," he explained. "Everything I see is colored the same ashy gray." "…!" "Similarly, people's voices sound like a rasp to my ears. The finest food and drink taste like foul, rotten waste. Never once have I smelled a scent I would call fragrant." Vito was not only colorblind—each of his senses was hopelessly impaired, save touch. He was forced to live and experience a different world from everyone else. "Ah, but if only that were the end of it," he went on, ignorant to Kaguya's surprise. "You see, one day, I discovered something." Vito still wore the same scornful smile. Only now, his disdain seemed turned upon himself. "In my canvas of eternal ash, only one color shone true: the vivid red of other people's blood." "!!" That was Vito's past. His truth. To the young Vito, the world was a cold and barren place. His parents spoke of beauty that did not exist to him. His fellow boys wore smiles, but he didn't understand why. Their happiness was lies. Their love for the world was fake. It had to be, because all he knew was gray. It was all bland. Tasteless, scentless. Every noise sounded like the wailing of a chained beast. It was ironic, because Vito's life was not otherwise a troubled one. The folk of his village were merry and kind, and appreciated the world they lived in. Meanwhile, the mind of that young boy grew more twisted by the day. The young Vito, however, was shrewd, and canny enough to conceal his defect. He lived a false life among his peers, pretending that he was one of them. An act that only deepened his sorrow. "The world is filled with light," they would say. To Vito, those words were nonsense. But fearing ostracization, he played along. He lived as though he believed it, while inwardly cursing his kinsmen's lies. The smile on his face and the thoughts in his mind were ever at odds, grinding against each other like sandpaper, whittling down the young boy's sanity until one day, he'd had enough. He turned his fists on a girl of his village—a sweet young thing who greatly admired him. In his rage, he spilled her blood—a sight the peace of his village had so far denied him. For the first time, Vito beheld the nectar of the gods. A fresh wine that surpassed all others in its sweetness. "Never shall I forget that day! Oh, how I wished to see it once more!" howled Vito, giddy with reminiscence, before his voice strained in grief. "Alas, no matter how much of my own blood I shed, that vibrant hue would not reveal itself." He locked eyes with Kaguya. "For as twisted luck would have it," he said, "only the blood of others suited my needs." The Far Eastern girl could not believe what she was hearing. "You see, I tried everything," Vito went on. "Yet without fear, without grief, without pain and despair—without any of these negative emotions, the blood looked just like everything else." "What…?!" Kaguya's eyes went wide. She searched his expression for some trace—anything—that would expose his tale as a twisted joke, but she failed. The look in the man's eyes told her everything he said was the truth. "Ha-ha-ha-ha! And once I realized that, I couldn't help myself! What if I cut someone, I thought? What if I beat them with a stone? What if I kill them?!" Heinous acts beyond description. "From that point on, my world had color! Life returned to my withered heart, and I gave myself over to the demands of my broken mind!" Passion gripped his voice. "When people screamed, I heard it! When people bled, I saw it! When people burned, I smelled it! Oh, and the smell! It was like nothing else!" Passion, and a disgust for the flaws that made him who he was. "Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh! How could the world be this way? How could I be cursed only to gain humanity through inhumane acts?!" "!!" "What is this, if not a paradox of creation? What is this, if not some divine comedy of errors? Should I be expected to kill myself and erase the gods' mistake?" Vito paused, as if lending the conundrum ample thought. But soon, any semblance of sorrow was washed away and replaced with anger. "No," he said. "That cannot be the way! The people of this world don't know their privilege! They go ignorant about their lives, experiencing pleasure, while I have to kill for it! Is that not an injustice that ought to be addressed?! If I am a defect this world produced, then is this world not at fault for producing me?!" The man weaved his indignant tirade, arriving at last at his noble conclusion. He threw his arms wide and bared it for the world to see. "There is only one way to strike back at this imperfect universe," he said. "And that is to destroy the world of mortal men! The great error must be corrected! That is my purpose!" Kaguya shot the man a dirty glare. "…And that is why you stand with evil?" she asked. "Yes. Because to proclaim my truth, I must first disprove what you girls call justice. Then, in order to stop this world creating any more poor victims like me, it must be remade." The winds of war carried the words of the dark follower's quest to his master's ears. Sitting atop his precipice, Erebus listened in silence. Vito turned and shot him a smile both loving and scornful. "Those detestable gods shall see their creation destroyed, and I can only hope a new and perfect world will be born in its place." But Kaguya was not convinced. "So what? You expect me to pity you?" she spat. "Not at all," said Vito dismissively. "I simply wanted you to understand the difference between facts and truth." He flicked his wrist, and his bloodstained knife appeared once more in palm of his right hand. "Who knows, maybe some small part of you will agree with me…and make you stand still while I cut you down!" He flew toward her without warning. Kaguya blocked his brutal blade with the steel of her own sword. "You cannot become good just by willing it! You cannot be a hero through intent alone!" "Grh…?!" "I am living proof! I am cursed to be reviled! That is why I must kill you!" This was his truth. His ash and his defect. Anger and ironclad faith drove his blade. His strikes rained down on Kaguya without mercy, forcing her to give all she had just to block them. Her clothes, her skin, all grew ragged with cuts. "This is my evil!" he roared. "This is my justice!!" "Good or evil? Right or wrong?" Beneath the gray skies, Zald spoke. "It matters not how future generations will remember us. All that matters is the oath I swore to uphold." He stared at the boaz man before him, beaten to the knee, wearing a look of pain and frustration, and carried on regardless. "That alone I can never go back on. I must complete my duty." "Grh…!" "And so I must devour all that stands in my way." A quiver began in Ottar's hands and worked its way up his arms. Zald couldn't tell if it was pain, or anger. Perhaps it was fear of what he knew was coming. Either way, the conqueror showed no interest in a man who could no longer stand. "We've spoken for far too long," he said at last. "I will not wait for the witch. I shall oversee Orario's demise personally." His long, crimson cloak fluttered as he turned and strode over to the white walls of Babel. "With this sword…Babel will fall." However, just as he passed the fallen Ottar… "…Wait!" He heard the flagstones crack, beneath the weight of a foot that was not his own. "…You stand?" Zald turned to see a shell of a man, his knees crying out in agony. Yet more than any vengeful spirit or enraged animal, Ottar looked to him like a newborn fawn. His legs quivered. His entire body dripped with blood. His jaw hung open, his breath ragged and hoarse. Zald turned and took in the grim and pathetic sight. "What do you expect to do now, stubbornly clinging to life?" he asked. "Do you really think you can stop me like—" But Zald never finished his sentence. There was a flash of steel. "!" A silver streak traversed his sight from right to left. Reflexively, Zald pulled his head back, but not fast enough. The blow caught his plate helm, stripping it from his head and flinging it high into the air. "My helmet…!" Humiliation further twisted Zald's bare, scarred face. Was it a sneak attack? No. From the moment Zald laid eyes on his foe, such a thing was impossible. This was a swing so mighty even the ever-vigilant conqueror could not move out of the way in time. Its source was none other than the very last sword that Ottar possessed. The boar man huffed in exhaustion, but leveled a fiery gaze at Zald's exposed face. Time seemed to stop, and it only restarted after the helmet hit the ground with a loud clang. "What…was that?" said Zald. "On second thought, you need not answer… I can smell it. I know what that is." "Grh…?!" "It's anger. You are more furious than any man I have ever seen." The source of Ottar's trembling was obvious to him now. It was not fear or pain, but unbridled rage. Ottar burned with flames of indignation. Like an engine, they drove him to stand and granted him unrivaled strength. "Do my words touch a nerve?" Zald asked. "Or do my actions incur your righteous fury?" Zald remained unblinking in the face of Ottar's fearsome scowl. He peered into the boar man's rust-colored eyes and scoffed. "It matters not what you think," he said. "My path remains unchanged. To save this world…we must destroy it." "Enough." Ottar's single word cut through the man's farce. "What did you say…?" "I said enough. Your excuses mean nothing to me." "My excuses? What do you mean?" "I mean, I couldn't care less about your self-righteous words!" Ottar listened to the cries of his own aching muscles, the curses of his own crumbling body. They spoke in Zald's voice on the night of Ottar's defeat. You are weak. Pathetic. Ottar allowed those words to fuel his anger, and with trembling lips, he spoke. "There is only one thing I wish to ask you, Zald, and it is this." His line of sight drifted down to the plate mail that covered the rest of Zald's body. "…How far has the sickness spread beneath that armor of yours?" "!!" For the first time, Zald showed pure shock, just like the witch when her trickery was revealed. "When I fought you, I felt nothing of this duty you claim," said Ottar. "All I felt was a burning desire!" Ottar was not a man of learning. He didn't have the knack for cunning like Finn did. All the boaz man knew was combat. Only in the heat of battle could he find enlightenment. "That night when you bested me… I was afraid of you…!" He cast his thoughts back to the events of six days prior. To the night of the Great Conflict, when he tasted complete and utter defeat at Zald's hands. Ottar had been forced to confront the embodiment of his limitations, a wall he could never cross. It was only now he realized how fearful he had been of it. "That was why I didn't see it back then. But I do now!" Thinking back to how he had been that night, eyes clouded by despair, Ottar could only curse how low he had allowed himself to fall. "You want to be a mountain for us to scale! That is all that drives you! You wish to propel us forward, just as your heroes did eight years ago! Just as Maxim did!!" His roar rang throughout Central Park. It carried beyond the wall of ice and the mages' barriers. To many adventurers, it was just a meaningless string of words. But a single goddess at the peak of Babel recognized their significance and narrowed her silver eyes. Zald, on the other hand, only laughed. "…Heh." He stood before Ottar like the devil himself, defiant and grinning. "That's a fanciful theory you've concocted, mewling brat. I'm not sure that I follow it, myself." "Grh…!" "But let's suppose for one moment you speak the truth. Why would that provoke you?" "Because you have put me to shame!" Ottar's answer was simple, and full of raging fire that roasted his flesh from within. "You've made a fool of me, each time I misjudged my strength! You've taught me only what it's like to suffer in defeat and wallow in despair!" These were Warlord's bitter memories. This was his truth. Time after time, he fought for the glory of his goddess, only to be humbled at the hands of Zeus and Hera. Though today he was known as the city's mightiest warrior, Ottar's road had been a tumultuous one, marked not by triumph but by defeat. "And even now, I am weak! Even now, I allow the two of you to block my path!" Ottar never directed his hate at others. Not his goddess, whom he loved and respected like no other. Not Zeus nor Hera, who constantly stood in his way. Not even Zald and Alfia, who laid waste to the city he called home. Ottar's hate always circled right back to himself. When adversity, injustice, or calamity got the better of him, he always blamed his own weakness first. "I am weak," he roared. "I am pathetic! That is what I curse, not your disappointment!" Zald grinned. "And so?" "Nothing you say can change my mind! There is only one thing I must do!" "And that is?" "I must defeat you!!" "Just try, if you think you can, mewling brat!!" As Ottar made his passionate declaration, wildness filled Zald's eyes. "You have never beaten me, child! What makes you think this time will be any different?!" His temper flared, like a mirror reflecting Ottar's own rage. "You're a loser! You always have been, and you always will be!! I'll put you right back where you belong—in the mud!" "Then I will turn that mud into bricks, and use those bricks to build my kingdom!" Ottar was not afraid. His strength came from both his oath to his goddess and his own determination. This was his truth. His mud and his bricks. Humility and failure were his bread and water, sustaining him on the way to the mountain's peak. Zald raised his slab of steel and swung it, greatly amused by Ottar's fire. "If that's your game, then prove it to me! Let me hear you roar! Show me that in the heart of every loser, there's a winner yearning to be free!" These were the words of his god, repurposed to provoke Ottar's ire. To rekindle his spirit. To revitalize his bones and sinew. His oozing blood became a coat of red-hot armor. His eyes took on the wildness of a fierce beast, and the boar growled. "Roooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!" The melody of blades. The song of war. It could be heard all across the city. It was the anthem of a man who refused to stay down, no matter how many times he was beaten. It rattled eardrums and shook the air. Atop Guild HQ, Raul couldn't believe what he was hearing. "The noise coming from Central Park…it's started up again!" he cried, the blood returning to his face. "Ottar still stands…" agreed Finn. "The battle's not over yet!" Clenching a fist as if he could physically secure his victory, the prum hero handed down his orders to a Loki Familia aide standing nearby. "Raise the flag!" he yelled. "Rally the strongholds! Let this cry fuel the flames of war!" The subordinate ran to the flag of the trickster god, raising it high and waving it for all to see. Before long, the other strongholds responded in kind, flying their colors from the parapets. Over at the home of Ganesha Familia, their patron god saw the signal and bellowed with pride. "It's Warlord! He has not fallen!" Shakti commandeered this reversal of fortune to rally her struggling allies. "Stand up! Listen to that chime! Orario will not fall while that bell tolls! Add your voices to the chorus!" "Raaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!" The adventurers' cries shook the earth, transmitting their willpower across the city. Loki, Freya, Ganesha—all of Orario's top factions took to the frontlines to howl in the face of adversity. These were the cries of the weak—of those who strove for ever-greater heights. Wild beasts yearning for their time in the sun. Even those who could not fight could sing, could aid, could bolster, could heal. For justice dwelled within each and every one of them—a powerful light to burn the darkness away. With the song of war to lead them, they drew their swords, raised their shields, and gripped their staffs. "Graaaaaaahhh!" "Stop it, Bete, you'll die!!" "Like hell I will!! You think I got any business dyin' out here?!" Ignoring Selenia's cries, the gray wolf allowed the beat of the boar man's war drums to flow through him, driving him on while the weak kneeled, subdued, behind him. Seeing him fight so hard in the flames of self-destruction irritated a certain follower of Ishtar standing nearby. "Samira! Izaila! Don't let that beastman's group outdo us!!" "Ge-ge-ge-ge-geh! Stop right there, uglies!" "Whoa! It's the toad!" The sound of Aisha's sword, Phryne's charge, and Samira's wild blows all combined into the song of the Berbera, laying waste to any monsters that stood in their way. Meanwhile, a horde of magic swordfighters attacked a lone group in unison. "Four o'clock! Attack incoming!" "Filvis! Watch our backs!" "Dio Grail!" The proud elf's chant produced a barrier to protect her friends. As the fires beat against it, the barrier creaked and groaned, but held firm. "Ersuisu! Hurry! Run, run, run!!" "Shut up! I'm the one who has to carry you! Just chant already!" "In the name of all that is holy—I heal you! Dia Frater!!" With Nahza handling all her other functions, Amid sat atop the animal girl's shoulders, casting her spells. "Captain Tsubaki! Don't do it! Those spirit warriors'll grind you into paste!" "If Freya Familia falls, we all fall! So fight! Kill! Any man or woman who holds back is an embarrassment to their craft!" Tsubaki ignored her underling's cries, flying into battle with a sword in each hand and her whole body red with blood. "Isn't that right, Mia?!" The dwarven proprietress swung her shovel, taking out not just a deep level monster, but also two spirit warriors in a single blow. "You really need to ask? It don't matter whether you're an adventurer or a blacksmith, all that counts is you're the last one standing!! So give him a good kick in the rear, boar boy!!" she yelled toward Central Park. Spirits were burning. The city was on fire. The cries of adventurers, the verses of mages and healers, the hammer-song of blacksmiths—they all combined into a flaming inferno capable of banishing the darkness from every corner. All directed their voices toward the center of the city, where two great men warred. The people grasped at victory, just as that boar did. "Look, Ouranos… This is the city of heroes." Fels paused amid his tireless errands and looked out over the city. Listened to its wild yet noble voice. And, lacking eyes with which to cry, chose to add his own voice to the cacophony. "So will it ever be, even now that Zeus and Hera are gone!" The city believed in heroes. It believed in the lights that lay beyond ash-gray skies. Its people combined their strengths, their skills, their wisdom, and their magic, to ensure that good triumphed over evil. Asfi, on the verge of exhaustion, heard the cries of the city, and a flame lit anew in her heart. "Falgar! Move our front lines forward!!" She leaped at the monsters attacking her allies, thrust her dagger, and bathed in their ash. Wiping it, as well as her own blood, with her arm, she did what needed to be done. "We can't waste this flame Warlord has lit! When it goes out, our city falls!" "Grh… Understood! Move out!!" Willing his battered body to move once more, Falgar did what needed to be done. Over in the casino area, the city's song breathed new life into the war zone. Adventurers were a wild breed; people who spent all their time in an underground labyrinth infested with hideous creatures. It hardly came as a surprise that they had determination and drive. Nobody knew more about surpassing one's limits than they. To the Evils, however, this mysterious resurgence was a terrifying mystery. The adventurers' pluck threw their commanders for a loop. "Curse you, adventurers!" "Don't they ever run out of strength?!" After the deep-level monsters had begun to turn the tide of battle, now it seemed as though the adventurers stood a chance again. The fight for the Labyrinth City was not yet over. The song of battle went on for many more verses yet. "What's Zald doing in there?" snarled Valletta, watching the adventurer's flags go up across the five strongholds. "Why does it take so long to kill one boar?! 'Cause of him, Orario's gettin' ideas again!" It could not be said that Arachnia underestimated her foe. Orario had earned its name as the center of the world, and Valletta knew that better than anyone. She knew she had to curb this spike in enemy morale before it was too late, and so she turned to her subordinate and gave her next orders. "Release all the monsters we got," she spat. "Every last one of 'em!" "A-all of them? But, ma'am, there aren't enough tamers to go around! If we do that, the monsters will attack people on our side, too!" The Evils squad captain spoke reason. There were barely enough tamers to keep the monster population in check as it was, and that was with every man and woman in active duty. But Valletta answered his concerns with only a cruel smile. "We don't need tamers! Let 'em die for all I care! If a monster gets 'em, that means they were too weak to help us in the first place!" "Grh…! U-understood, ma'am!" His face pale, the cultist hurried to carry out her request. He still had his misgivings, but wasn't willing to die for them. Valletta placed little stock in such niceties as "trust" and "comradery." She ruled with an iron fist, and if that earned her the ire of those under her command, then so be it. In return, the strict hierarchy worked wonders for the speed and efficiency of her leadership. To her, the men and women in her care were nothing more than pawns, to be used and abused as she saw fit. "Run in front of the monsters and lead 'em to Central Park!" There was only one way to stop Orario from reigniting its fighting spirit, and that lay at the center of the city—Ottar and Zald's battle, the source of the ceaseless wails that the city took for hope. Valletta lifted her twisted sword. Her fur-lined coat fell around her legs as she aimed its tip at the white-walled tower. "I ain't waitin' for Zald any longer! We'll trash that barrier and bring down Babel, then flatten that boar bastard as well!" "M-more monsters spotted!! They're heading…straight for Central Park!!" That message was like a bomb dropping on the rooftop of Guild HQ. "They've reached the barrier! They're flooding in from all parts of the city, sir!" Raul paled and stared at the hemispherical barrier in the center of town, which buzzed and sparked beneath the weight of the monsters' claws. The horde filled the streets, converging on the barrier while preying on any adventurers who stood in their way. "Grr… Valletta…!!" Finn ground his teeth and cursed. He had already caught on to his opponent's goal—to let loose every last monster they had and concentrate their forces in Central Park. "Master Allen! The monsters are nearing Master Ottar and Lady Freya!" "Grh…!! You guys stay here; I'm headin' over there!" "M-Master Allen?!" Allen was reinforcing the front lines alongside Tsubaki and Mia, but the moment he heard the report, he wasted no time. He dashed off toward Central Park, leaving the poor messenger in the dust. But he alone was not enough to turn the tide of war. A large monster approached the barrier and turned on the mages maintaining it. Asfi watched on in horror as it devoured one of them in a single bite. "The mages!" cried Asfi. "The barrier will collapse!" "Get away from them! No!!" Falgar screamed in vain. He wanted nothing more than to run to their aid, but knew the moment he deserted his post, all the civilians' lives would be forfeit. In stark contrast to his grief, the nearby Olivas chuckled with joy. "Heh-heh-heh-heh! I like the way you think, Valletta! I think I'll join in the fun! I want to be there when this city falls!" Leading his followers into the city center, Vendetta lent his own bloodthirsty hands to the cause. It was a parade of death. Hordes of monsters coursed down the eight main streets, converging on the central barrier. A small collection of Evils troops watched the march from the rooftops and thanked their dark gods they weren't down there in the thick of it. Dragonfire, and the flames of magic swords, beat against the barrier, causing cracks to appear across its surface. Its fall was inevitable. It was only a matter of time. Nobody could reinforce the mages or so much as leave the strongholds to which they had been assigned. Bete, Aisha, Phryne, and Samira clicked their tongues in frustration. Filvis, Amid, and Nahza gave in to despair. Tsubaki, Mia, Hedin, and Hegni, locked in battle with the sirens; the Gullivers, holding their own against Basram's spirit warriors—all their faces turned sour. Fels watched on in horror as their crystal orb fell from their hand and shattered to pieces on the floor. "No, stop… Stopppp!!" There was nothing the adventurers could do but rock the gray skies with their screams. "Hyah-hah-hah-hah! This is the end, Orario!!" Atop her rooftop, Valletta laughed wildly, safe in the knowledge her victory was close at hand. Evil rallied in triumph once more. The iron hammer raised, ready to come down and end the folly of justice once and for all. The people were running out of prayers. The adventurers succumbed to despair. Even the gods looked on, powerless and ashamed. All of them knew, deep in their hearts, that the end approached. "………" Among them all, one man stood still, looking out over the war zone that his home had become. Then, turning his back on his familia's stronghold, the man called out to his allies. "Dyne." "Yup?" "Bahra." "You got it." The two other veterans of Loki Familia gathered at Noir's side. "You don't have to say it," the Amazon said. "We know what you're thinking." "…Sorry. But let me say one thing anyway." The old man grinned a mischievous smirk. "It's been a real pleasure workin' alongside you old dogs!" The three shared a smile, evoking memories of the first time they ever strode through the Dungeon's gates side by side. "…Guys? Where're you goin'?" It was Loki who spotted them as they got ready to leave, as she watched the war play out from the mansion's bridge. With her divine insight, she didn't fail to spot the do-or-die attitude in each of their expressions. Noir looked back over his shoulder and flashed her a smile. "Loki… See you." "…W-wait! Noir!!" But the three veterans turned and vanished on the wind. Sorry, Loki. It's a real shameful way to go, defyin' our mistress like this. I hope you can forgive us. Noir danced across the rooftops, carving his final regrets into his heart. The other members of Loki Familia watched on in shock as the three veterans shot off like arrows and disappeared. Their destination…was Central Park. Noir's lips curled up as he prepared to unleash his sword. "In return, I'll show you what an old dog can do!"
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter12.txt	Chapter 6: The Nameless Heroes CHAPTER 6 The Nameless Heroes "Central Park is under attack from every direction!" came Raul's despair-filled voice. "They're targeting our mages! The barrier won't last much longer!" Finn swore he could hear Valletta somewhere, laughing at him. He put his mind to work immediately, searching for a way out, but grim fate was not content to wait for his answer. "None of the strongholds can spare anyone to send help! We're doomed!" "The horde's just too big! What are we supposed to do?" "Even Vana Freya can't defend Babel from all sides at once! Anyone else we send in there is just going to get themselves killed!" Finn was at a loss. He couldn't divert any more first-tier adventurers without sacrificing the defense of the strongholds. Finding the numbers was an impossible task, especially since Babel needed protecting from every angle. Perhaps if I abandon one and redirect the guard… No! If I sacrifice the people now, morale will drop to an all-time low! We can't suffer another loss like we had on the night of the Great Conflict. We may save Babel, but it'll all be for nothing if the city and its people are lost! Valletta still has forces monitoring the city walls. Not much, but enough to make things difficult for us! The hectic situation demanded every aspect of Finn's powerful mind, and it was critical that he maintained the guise of the coldhearted hero: prepared to make any sacrifice if it would bring him victory. The only choices left now were suicidal, guaranteed to cause the chain of command to crumble. But if they were the only way forward, then… "…Hmm?" It was at that moment, lost in thought, that Finn's wandering eyes fell on something. "C-Captain? What's the matter? What have you seen? …Erk!" Raul followed his gaze and saw it, too. To the north, three figures, making a beeline for Central Park. "Is that…?" he asked, shocked. "…Noir?" Finn completed the question, equally dumbfounded, as he recognized them. The three veterans of Loki Familia, running wildly through the streets, cutting down all in their path. "Yaaaah!!" "Gruuuh!!" Noir's slash drew a death cry from the monster. He continued on through the ruins of North Main Street, slicing apart the parade of fiends, starting from the back. "You got any more, Dyne?" "Yup, picked these ones up just now." "Well, hand 'em over, then!" Dyne passed something to Noir, which he slipped under his clothes. "Now we're ready! Let's give those monsters what for!" yelled Bahra, waving something she'd snatched from the Loki Familia home before their departure—the trickster's flag. "Right, then! Off we go!" cried Noir, and he and Dyne joined her, disappearing into the monster horde. "Wh-what are they doing? They've lost it!" cried Raul, watching events play out from the rooftop of Guild HQ. "You can't fight them alone! Come back!" But Raul's screams went unheard by those he sought to warn. The veterans all wore grim, determined smiles, slicing and dicing a path through the horde. "Noir…don't tell me." Finn already knew what they were thinking. There was only one solution to the current predicament, and Noir, Dyne, and Bahra had figured it out first. The veteran adventurers had gone on ahead, sparing Finn from the difficult decision that had to be made. Over on the enemy side, the Evils were beginning to notice, too. It was Vendetta's squad who spotted them first. "M-Master Olivas! We're under attack!" cried a scout. "A handful of adventurers have engaged the monsters in the north!" "What?!" Olivas scowled. "Those foolish adventurers! What do they hope to accomplish?" Burning with indignation, he led his troops northward. Meanwhile, the other adventurers saw the changing tides. "The monsters…they're heading north?" remarked Shakti, perplexed. "C-Captain! Look!" Her subordinate pointed to a spot amid the horde…where a single faction's war banner flew. "…Loki Familia?" Beside her, Ganesha wore a look of deepest regret. "…So that's what you've chosen, brave warriors…" he said, his heart full of anguish. Even the younger ones among them were starting to notice. "Don't tell me…" "…They plan to die out there?!" Falgar and Asfi watched on in shock. Bete, Aisha, Samira, Filvis, Amid, Nahza, Tsubaki, Mia, Fels, Hedin and Hegni, and the four Gulliver brothers—all knew what the frenzied cry of the veterans meant. """Rooooooaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!""" It was a funeral dirge sung by old warriors and meant for the new. As they hacked a path, turning red with the blood of their foes and themselves, they left behind a comet tail of light. They held out life's flaming torch for the next generation to take, and with it, they burned the raging shadows to ash. "Noir!!" Finn screamed. For the first time, and the last, he dropped his guise. For one moment, he was not the callous commander…but a fledgling hero concerned for his dear mentors. "Haah… Haah… …Rrraaaaaghhh!!" Noir howled. Losing strength by the minute, he focused all his remaining life force into a thundering roar. When did it start? As his body weakened Noir retreated to the dark, dusty confines of his mind. When did it start, I wonder? The creeping feeling of inevitability. How long ago had it begun? And when did it replace the drive of youth? His arms were tired. His vision faltered. His legs, like withered trees, refused to obey him anymore. The gods' blessings could only prolong his life so much. Soon enough, the realities of the flesh began to sink in. I suppose… He was getting too old to be a hero. He could hold his own for now, but another three years, and who knew? I suppose it's time to hand off… His life. For hope. For the next generation. "Listen to me, all you tired old dogs out there! Let's show the little ones how it's done!" By Noir's side, the dwarf Dyne lay down a challenge to all his peers. With a burly arm, he lifted Noir back to his feet. Bahra patted the dust off his back and laughed a boisterous laugh. "We're goin' on ahead to take all the glory!" she yelled. "If you don't like it, then try to keep up!" Even if they couldn't see her face, anyone could imagine the brazen smile across her lips as she invited the city's old veterans to their final feast. "You Loki Familia scoundrels…" muttered one, an animal man. "Always showin' us up!" "Tryin' to egg us on, are ye?" growled a dwarf. "You think we'll let you outdo us?" snarled a human. Senior adventurers from every familia grinned and set out to uphold their pride. Leaving the future in their juniors' hands, those old men and women each embarked on a one-way trip to the city center. In the southern stronghold, Falgar looked on in shock as the older cohorts set off on their final journey. "You… You're kidding, right? Don't go!!" He tried in vain to stop them. They all departed with a daring smile and a twinkle in their eye. "The veterans… They're all leaving!" Asfi's eyes quivered like the rippling surface of a lake. It felt like she was reliving the past, watching her captain say good-bye for the very last time. Over in the southwest, Shakti barked after her deserting subordinates. "Where do you think you're going?! Return to your posts! Jaf! Rahza! Kain! Have you all lost it?!" These were people who had defended Orario long before she became captain. Tears formed in her eyes as she called out to them. "Please don't follow in Adi's footsteps!" Long in tooth and claw, these grizzled warriors hurled themselves into combat, a smile on each of their faces. Though the monsters' breath scorched them, claws tore at them, and jaws bit down on them, their noble charge could not be stopped. Together, they beat back the monster horde making its way to Central Park, leaving the melody of war that thrummed at its center untouched. "…You old bastards. What are you doin' here?" Allen paused and glanced toward Noir and the others. He had headed to the center of the city straightaway and had been fighting here ever since, yet the old men and women were no less tattered and bloodied than him. "Sorry, Vana Freya," Noir replied with a grin. "After this, the rest is up to you." The old man paused only to answer Allen's question before sprinting off once more. Allen said nothing, but his gaze wandered ever so slightly downward. "…The adventurers, they're followin' Noir and them into the center of town…" muttered Loki. "It's like they've all chosen to die…" Her usual devil-may-care attitude was nowhere to be seen. She didn't have any of her usual jokes. She, Alicia, and the other members of her faction simply watched from the parapets in silence. "Be seein' ya, kids! Take good care of our god after I'm gone, yeah?" "Master! You can't leave us! Masteeer!!" An elderly human said his final farewells and left. His disciple, too wounded to move, could only watch as his figure grew smaller and smaller. "Don't worry, the bonds of blood will always connect us!" "Wait! Waaaait!!" An old animal woman mage smiled at her daughter, her apprentice, before heading off to give her life for the cause. The stronghold walls were like the bars of a cage, preventing the young girl from giving chase. "This is the song of those whose names will not be remembered…" Hermes muttered a few sad words, like a eulogy, as he watched the city's greatest sacrifice. "Or perhaps…this is just another page in the familia myth." "What's the big idea?" Valletta spat, watching it all play out. "You think a few old bags of bones are enough to stop this monster horde?" The laughable production put a sneer on her face. "Go ahead! Throw your lives away! It ain't gonna change a goddamn thing!" Maybe, thought Noir as the laughter of evil and the roars of crazed beasts rang in his ears. His clothes were stained red with blood, but still he fought. "Roaaaaaahhh!!" Dyne and Bahra were just like him. Marks of crimson ran down their cheeks, but their fists and ax could not be stopped. They were not alone now—all around them, many of the city's most venerable adventurers gave their lives to halt the monstrous advance for even just a single second. To safeguard the voice of a hero. It was just then that Olivas appeared on the scene, accompanied by his loyal followers. From atop the roof of a building, he yelled down at Noir and the others fighting in the streets. "Your time has long since passed, dusty fossils! Why do you continue this fruitless struggle?! You must know the horde is too great! Babel will fall!" "Is that right? Well, you won't mind if we just delay the inevitable for a while, then!" "And try to take as many of these monsters down with us as we can!" Nothing Olivas said could strike fear into the adventurers' hearts. Bahra and Dyne just laughed and continued their slaughter. "If you want to stop us so bad," shouted Noir. "Then why don't you quit your yapping and come down here yourself?!" "Grh…!" "Don't tell me you're scared of a few monsters?!" he added with a taunting grin. "Y-you feeble little man!" fumed Olivas. "To arms, my followers! Ready your bows and magic swords!" He raised his arm, and then… "Attack! Kill them all!" On his signal, bolts of fire and lightning and a hail of arrows rained down. "…Heh." The lightning scorched Bahra head to toe. It was a fatal wound. She dropped to her knees, a smile on her lips. "…Ha-ha…" The explosive flames hit Dyne dead-on. The results were devastating. He fell to the ground with a grin. "Gaah!!" Blood gushed forth as Noir was riddled with arrows. They skewered his vitals, feathering his back. There was no surviving that. Yet Noir made sure to watch the last smiles of his friends. Urged on by their final will, he roared loudly enough for the three of them. "Raaaaaaaaahhh!!" Then he cut down a monster, shook off the blood, and dashed forth. Olivas and his men watched on in utter shock as Noir summoned the last of his strength and ran toward the city center. All eyes were on him and his final mad sprint. The last bright gleam of a soul's final moments. It burned a memory into the eyes of all who saw it. "Dyne… Bahra… Noir…" Finn watched, too. His predecessors, leaving to join the great march in the sky. And Noir, who put off his departure for just a little while longer. "Captain! You've got to send someone out there! Save them!!" Raul screamed and pleaded with tears in his eyes. "…We can't," was Finn's answer. His head was hung, his hair over his eyes, so no one could see his emotions. "We have no one to send. We have to protect the strongholds and our people. Noir's insubordination has left holes in our ranks… Fixing them takes priority." "Captain!!" "Do not defy me, Raul. This is an order." "No! Please! We can't! They…!" Raul shook his head in denial. He failed to realize how tight his captain's fists were clenched, or how much they shook. He let the tears stream down his face, no matter how pathetic it made him seem. "They've done so much for us! They've taught us, rescued us, watched over us! And we've done nothing for them!" "………" Finn did not cry. No tears stained his face; only rivulets of crimson rolled down his knuckles. It's not your fault, Finn. Far away, Noir thought of what he wanted to say to the young prum. We're only passing the torch. We've sat around, outliving our purpose for long enough. It's time we let you take over the story. This is your age. Make of it the greatest tale of heroes this world has ever seen. These were the words that Noir bequeathed to this city. "Seventy years and change, huh?" The sea of monsters turned. Noticing the lone swordfighters who had foolishly challenged them, they let out a bloodcurdling roar. Noir kicked off the floor and leaped high into the air. Staring down at the endless horde, a wicked grin spread across his lips. One hand slipped beneath his kimono. "Nothin' but trouble, every last one, yet I wouldn't change a thing about 'em!!" The air roared. A massive wave of heat surged past as an enormous explosion spread out from the point Noir landed. It was a combination of dozens of the Evils's self-destruction devices, plucked from the corpses of fallen cultists. The result was a gigantic vortex of flames, with a power far surpassing any that had been seen in the war so far. The last light of a dying generation, a supernova that lit up the faces of all who saw it. Any nearby monsters were incinerated immediately; even their magic stones did not survive the blast. When the dust had settled, not a trace remained of the first-tier adventurers who had given their lives. Not even ashes to remember them by. The only proof they had ever existed…was a large void in the monster horde on the north side of the barrier. "They blew themselves up in the middle of the horde…?" Olivas was stunned as he gazed upon the fruits of a struggle he had called fruitless. The old adventurers had proven without a doubt the truth of their words and the strength of their wills. "Curse you… Curse you aaaall!!" His wild bellows joined the chaos of monster screams as they noticed the gaping hole among their number. "Noir… All of you…" Compared to the vastness of the monster horde, that hole was only a drop in the ocean. They had bought a minute of time at best for the boaz at its center. But for the adventurers who would decide this city's fate, it was a crucial win. Loki shed no tears. She only said a few words. "I'm sorry… And…thank you." "NOIIIIIIIIIIIIR!!" Instead, it was the young man who cried. A boy forced into a war zone where he didn't belong. Raul's painful cries rent the city. Elsewhere, a single chariot stopped and heard the news of the veterans' sacrifice. Another one returns to dust. Another one falls by the wayside. All I ever hear is screams. Screaming's not going to save anyone. Why can't they do anything? Why are there only corpses in my wake? You guys are useless. Why can no one follow in my tracks?! "Rrraaaaaaaaaaghhh!!" "Grr! What's taking so long?! Why is Babel still standing?!" Valletta was furious. She'd watched the aged adventurers carry out their suicide attack and chalked it up as a petty hindrance at most. However, in spite of that, the monsters still hadn't succeeded in bringing down the barrier, and it was starting to get on her nerves. "It doesn't matter how many idiots they send to their deaths! We have numbers on our side! Now break that shield already!" Indeed, even if all Orario's venerable adventurers gave their lives, they couldn't eliminate more than a small fraction of the monster population. Even Valletta's subordinate understood this. Thus, he could only report to his mistress the facts. "M-ma'am… We've spotted a strange ring of light surrounding Central Park. It's tearing apart any monster that tries to approach!" "A ring of light? What the hell are you talking about?!" she snapped, before looking to the center of town, whereupon her eyes went wide. For she witnessed the truth of the scout's words for herself. There, around Central Park, and amid the surging crimson sprays of monster blood, was a halo of silver and black. "It's the Chariot!" the Evils cultist wailed. "Nothing can stop him!" Around and around and around he raced, pulverizing any monster that stood in his way. His legs were wheels. His blood was fire. His vision tunneled to a single point, trapping Allen in a world of absolute speed. Faster. Faster. Faster. Tear 'em to shreds when they step too close. Even if you're movin' so fast it hurts like hell when you strike. My fingers are broken. My head is poundin'. My heart won't stop racin'. But who cares? I'm a chariot. Breakin' rules is what I do. Those old bastards are out there buyin' time. I gotta make the most of every last second. Maybe I'm too worthless to save ya, but I'll make your sacrifices worth somethin'. "So give your lives to me, you old dogs!!" Allen yelled, even as the extreme speed caused his eyeballs to bleed. "Give 'em to me! Give 'em to him!" He yelled his heart out, making his purpose known to the old veterans who even now continued to lay down their lives. "You listenin' to me, Ottar?! You better beat that asshole!!" The roar of the Chariot, the light of the veterans—all of it protected the battleground at the center of town. It was there that Ottar locked eyes with the conqueror and roared. "Roaaaaaaaahh!!" I unleashed my strongest attack. A sword slash that could fell a dragon. But like a conductor waving his baton, the man parried my blow with no effort at all. He was a monster. Nothing less than a demon whose sole purpose was to fight. He had eaten many things, made their blood and flesh his own, and now he had come for me. His fiendish fangs could tear out my throat in an instant. I had given everything I had, and it wasn't enough. I had surpassed my limits, and it still wasn't enough. I howled and heard a cry of war in return. Blood dribbled from the man's lips. His greedy eyes fell on me, and for the first time, I felt fear. "Nrrggghhhhhh!!" I blocked the man's heavy sword with my own. The steel of my blade cracked, as did the bones in my wrist. Every one of my techniques had been in vain. As for outwitting the man, I had abandoned that hope long ago. He was my better in every way that mattered. Defeat drew near. Only one weapon of mine remained. My willpower. The humiliation that accompanied my constant failure. The fires of rage that burned within me and demanded I bring glory to my goddess's name. I allowed those emotions to become my strength and poured them into my blade. ""Graaaaaaaaahhh!!"" I was always alone. I fought for my goddess alone. Sought strength for my goddess alone. Never once did I seek to learn from others or cooperate with them; instead I fought my battles with only my blade by my side. I am not proud of that, but nor am I ashamed. I only did what I needed to do. Because the peak I saw, the one that always lay so far out of reach, it was one I could only climb by myself. But now… "You listenin' to me, Ottar?! You better beat that asshole!!" For the first time in all these years, my arena of solitude played host to the voice of another. "Nothin' but trouble, every last one, yet I wouldn't change a thing about 'em!!" For the first time in all these years, I felt touched by the sacrifice of another. For the first time, I desired victory not for my goddess, or for myself, but for others. At some point, the power of the one had become the power of the many. All around me, I heard the clashing of blades. I heard the cries of brave men and women risking their lives. I heard the song sung only here, in the city of heroes. I heard the voices of all of you here on this earth, and all of you in heaven above. Become a hero. My whole being demanded I answer the call. So long as those voices echo, my bones will never break. The mantle of hero means nothing to me. I have never cared for fame or glory. But then, what is this flame that burns in my heart? What is this fire that runs through my veins? Why do your voices stir my very soul? I do not know. But I do not need to know. All I need is for this feeling to empower me—to strike down he who stands before me!! "Ottar!!" Shakti yelled as the waves of sound from Central Park washed over her. "Warlord!!" cried Asfi. "We're counting on you!" said Falgar as the pair sliced their way through hordes of monsters. "You can do it!!" screamed Raul, his face still wet from watching the veterans sacrifice themselves. Hearing the sounds of battle unfold, Ganesha filled his lungs and bellowed. "Never give up!!" Hermes prayed. "May you reach what you seek." Loki watched. "Do it for us." Every last god and mortal in the city turned to face that sound and entrusted their prayers to the wind. And finally, Ottar himself. As he watched the blood drip down Zald's chin, he turned his thoughts inward and prayed to the one and only object of his unbreakable loyalty. My lady, please forgive my foolish ways. Today, I fight not just for you—I fight for them!! I began to chant. "Silver moon's mercy and the golden plains. I offer this body to the lord of battle!" I sang the one song allowed to me. "Charge bearing the goddess's will!" I prepared the most destructive blow available to me. "Hildis Vini!" A golden light enveloped my body. It enveloped my sword, my final weapon, transforming it into a blade of radiant light. The spell did nothing but raise my weapon's power. Simple, but devastating, and the product of my strength crossed with my magic, was a force that no one could stand against. Across from me, Zald roared, his eyes wide with fury. "O Father, forgive me, for I thieve from the plate of the gods! Let my flaming tongue devour! Let my burning fangs consume! Rea Ambrosia!!" The flames that technique brought forth were surely not of this world. Zald's weapon was clad in the fires of calamity, and with one swing, those fires spread to every part of our arena. But none of it mattered. Every fiber of my being had but one purpose—to obliterate the man who stood before me! The wall of ice had begun to melt and crack from the flames that roiled within it. What crystalline structures remained reflected firelight across the city. Finn stood with one foot planted atop the balustrade of Guild HQ, shouting his message back. "Don't stop now, Ottar! Keep going! Surpass him and leave us all behind!!" From far above, Freya watched as heroic fire fought with golden light. She raised her voice and bequeathed her message below. "Go forth, Ottar. Bring me victory!!" This fight would begin and end in a single blow. It would come down to a single instant. Both men flexed their fabled strength and raised their slabs of ungainly steel, their swords of light and fire. Each prepared his mightiest technique and aimed it at the other unstoppable force that stood across from him. "Roooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!" His foe was the conqueror and he the untamed beast. Blades of gold and fire collided. And a shock wave was born. The entire city shook with a force unlike any it had ever felt. """Grhhhhhhh?!""" Adventurers, Evils, citizens—even the monsters—had to brace their legs so the blast winds did not blow them away. Gouts of flames and raindrops of golden light spilled forth from the arena at the city's center. So powerful was the blast that the ice wall continued shaking for some time, and even started breaking apart. "The ice wall…and the barrier! They're coming down!" Asfi watched as a huge slab of ice sheared off and slammed into the ground, filling the air with crystalline dust. Meanwhile, Shakti strained her ears. "I…don't hear fighting anymore." The air had fallen painfully silent. Atop Guild HQ, Royman came running onto the rooftop, almost tripping over his own feet before reaching the balustrade and pressing his stomach against it. "Who won…?" he asked, straining his eyes to see into the distance. "Who won?!" "Zald did, obviously!!" Valletta cackled, reveling in glee as Orario held its breath. "Finally settled your score with this city, huh? Took you long enough! Come out and let's see ya already!" She narrowed her eyes, casting a diabolical grin toward the cauldron of fire around Central Park. "Let Orario know the truth, and despair! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha- ha-ha-ha!!" She laughed. She laughed and laughed and laughed, and then— "…Ha?" —she noticed something. Deep within the sparks and fire. Deep within the billowing smoke. The twinkling of a pair of eyes. "The dust is clearing…" said Falgar. "Someone's stepping out!" cried Raul. All eyes converged upon Central Park. And then…
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter14.txt	Astrea Record: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Tales of Heroes, Vol. 3 When they caught sight of the city's champion, Asfi shed tears of joy. "It's Warlord!" she cried. Then came the cheers. """Hooraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!""" It came from every corner of the city. From the hearts and lungs of deities and mortals alike. All of Orario united in proclamation of their joy. "Ottar!" exclaimed Allen with a hint of anger. "You did it!" cheered Ganesha. Loki's eyes went wider than ever before. "You defeated him! The mightiest being this city has ever known!" she cried. Even Hermes felt the excitement creep into his voice. "You've surpassed Zeus and Hera!" he said. "A thousand years of history!" Nobody escaped the sweeping frenzy. All across the city, those who stood in the light of justice felt their hairs bristle and their hearts ignite. Even the citizens cowering in their strongholds knew. They knew their sword had pierced evil's breast. One after the other, they stood, and their confused murmur slowly transformed into cheers. "Raise your voices, adventurers!" There was one man who would not let the changing tides go uncapitalized upon. Zald's defeat was the spark that could rekindle the coals of victory. "Salute your champion!" Finn yelled. "Your one and only: Warlord!" "Roaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!" Finn's burning fuse set its charge alight. From every corner of the city came an outflux of emotion, and the people's clamor caused the earth, and even Babel itself, to quake. """Ottar!! Ottar!! Ottar!! Ottar!!""" The people chanted their victor's name. The sound echoed beyond the mountains and rose above the clouds. "H-he defeated Master Zald?!" "Impossible! No one can best Master Zald!" "Th-then how…?" This shocking turn of events was bitter news to the Evils. Morale was plummeting in the wake of their champion's defeat, and this effect was only hastened by the rallying of Orario's troops that was happening all around them. It was a complete and utter reversal of fortune. "Th-this can't be…! It's impossible…!" Even Evils lieutenants such as Olivas were beginning to show concern. In fact, his humiliation seemed even greater than most. "Was it those old fools…? Should I have stopped them after all…?" One didn't have to be a god to realize it was the efforts of Noir and the other veterans that had left Ottar with just enough time to seize victory. Realizing he was partially responsible for their success, Olivas tore at his hair and let out a maddened scream. "Zald…lost?" Valletta stared off into space. "Hold on. You gotta be shittin' me. There's no way. There's no way…" Her shocked stupor gradually gave way to a deranged anger. "There's no waaaaaay!!" She shot a deadly glare at the boaz man standing in the distance, then issued an order to her troops. "Listen to me, you tamer shits! Ottar's gotta be on death's door after that! Send in the monsters and finish him off!!" The tamers jumped to attention and hurried to execute their leader's command. They lashed their whips, commanding their ruby-studded giants, and the monsters unquestioningly followed. The horde converged on Central Park, where the flames of war still raged. "Oooooooouuughhh!!" "Grh…" Ottar grimaced, watching them approach. The battle had left him severely injured, and it was a miracle he could even stand at all. His allies attempted to keep back the horde, but the mages' barriers had already failed, and monsters streamed in from all directions, overwhelming the defenders. "Dammit… Ottar!" Even Allen had reached the limits of his stamina. He could no longer protect Central Park as he had been doing. All he could do was crouch atop a pile of rubble, watching as the monsters breached the plaza. It was at that moment, when all hope seemed lost, that the clack-clack of a pair of glamorous heels rang out across the battlefield. "Stay strong, Ottar. I will not permit you to bend the knee here." "…! Lady Freya…" Appearing before the boaz man was a silver-haired beauty of peerless defiance. From her position atop the tower, Freya could see clearly the perils of exiting Babel, but had chosen to do so anyway. She stepped close to her warrior and looked up into his eyes. "You are victorious, Ottar," she said. "A true lord of war." "………" "Always stand tall, Ottar. No matter who you face. No matter how painful. You must always bear my glory for this city to see." "…Yes, my lady." There was no other answer Ottar could give. He stood straighter and concealed his pain, becoming his goddess's rock once more. "I shall now update your Status," said the goddess. "Stand still and stare down our foes until I am finished." Freya moved behind Ottar. His armor was in tatters, revealing a large gash from his shoulder to his flank. It was there that Freya penned her ichor, rewriting the hieroglyphics that covered Warlord's muscular back. Before long, they glowed with the sublime light of ascension. "Your great deeds have been recorded. Take up your sword, Ottar." The boaz man silently obeyed. "You have strength enough to wield it?" "Yes…" "It is you who stands atop the peak?" "Yes…!" Ottar answered each word from the goddess's mouth with complete and utter conviction. "Then show us. Remove those ghastly fiends from my sight." "As you wish, my lady." Ottar twisted, his body like seasoned oak. The muscles in his shoulders bulged as he positioned his sword behind him, preparing to execute his goddess's will—a spinning slash with the two of them at its center. All the while, the monsters drew nearer. When they came close enough, they pounced. The fangs of beasts, the claws of monstrous birds, the cries of dragons. """Rooooooooahhh!!""" But Ottar was simply silent, his spirit spent in his previous duel. Warlord only raised his hefty blade and swung. What came next was a vortex of annihilation. The creatures were erased without a sound. Ottar's sweeping blade bisected every last one of them before they could even cry out in pain. "Wha—?!" A partial cry of shock escaped Valletta's lips. The large monsters crumbled, drumming the earth in a melody of death, while the smaller ones returned to dust, their magic stones destroyed. Ottar's one attack had wiped them all out. "That whole horde… Gone, just like that!" Valletta couldn't believe her eyes. But it wasn't only her; every adventurer who witnessed it reeled in shock. "Such overwhelming power…" said Asfi. "That can only be…!" It was Falgar who completed her thought. What he had just seen was so destructive as to belong to a higher category; another plane of being. "The power of a Level Seven!!" he said. "Ottar has well and truly surpassed us all!" exclaimed Shakti, witnessing the birth of a new ruler, a person on the same level as Zald was. The title of mightiest adventurer was an invaluable weapon in and of itself. Simply usurping it from the Evils' side was enough to turn the tide of war. "All units! Eliminate the remaining enemy forces!" Finn pounced on the opportunity to issue his next order. While the enemy faltered, he raised his spear to finish them off. "Their morale is in tatters! Don't let up now!!" """Raaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!""" It was a fledgling cry of rebellion. "Orarioooo!! A filthy city of contemptible heroes!!" As the reality of defeat set in on his army's side, Basram roared with anger. "This cannot be! I refuse to let it be so! I refuse to accept your wretched, righteous faith!!" His goddess's domain was injustice, unfairness. Everything rotten and crooked. That was why he could not acknowledge the truth—that fair and righteous justice, free of trickery, had triumphed. Zald's defeat painted a bitter scowl across his usual calm and priestly features. "Kill those tiny weaklings, my spirit warriors!! Show them that our profane ways trump the rule of law!!" No longer concerned with keeping up his gentle facade, Basram swung his ringed staff in fury. In response, his four spirit warriors emitted a soulless yell. The Gullivers combined their weapons to block a single greatsword swing, yet the force of the blow sent all four of them flying backward. They had struggled in the fight so far. The enemy Level 5s had them completely outclassed. All four prums had lost their helmets, their dashing features marred with blood. Yet still they did not back down. """Dvalinn, what have you found out?""" "The human uses fire, and the elf and dwarf use lightning, while the animal person has no magic. Only the latter two possess regenerative capabilities." """Berling, are there any other foes around?""" "Not that I can see. They must have been scared off. And our fellow adventurers are keeping the other spirit warriors busy." """Grer, have you worked out their strengths and weaknesses?""" "The human is fastest to respond to Basram's staff, while the dwarf is slowest. Of all of them, the elf is the least proficient with a blade; it's likely they used some other weapon when they were an adventurer." """Alfrik, put it all together!""" "We must take them out one by one, before anyone comes to help. First the elf, then the dwarf!" The four prums readied their weapons. Among the siblings, Grer excelled at observational skills, Berling at reconnaissance, and Dvalinn at magical sensibilities, while Alfrik's superior analysis skills enabled him to make quick decisions on behalf of the group. "Last time, we panicked, and it ended up as four one-on-ones." "Yup." "That was silly." "For us, four four-on-ones is the only way!" Four pairs of hawklike eyes fell on the spirit warriors under Basram's control. The dark priest shuddered, before steeling his courage and swinging his ringed staff. "Silence, you incessant chatterboxes! Don't think for one second you could even begin to understand the true depths of my goddess's majesty!" The staff chimed, and the four spirit warriors flew into battle. In response, the four siblings hit the deck. They let their foes sail right over them, crashing into the ground behind their backs in a devastating explosion of dust and rubble. The Gullivers seized the moment to draw their weapons and make good on their word. "Ghhhi!!" They spun around and immediately ganged up on the elf, as planned. Greatsword and greatax came flying in from the foe's left and right, which the spirit warrior easily blocked with a sword each. However, that was simply a distraction, allowing the greatspear to lunge for the elf's throat. Expecting this, too, the spirit warrior leaped back—straight into the path of the greathammer. This powerful blow sent the spirit warrior flying, separating it from its allies. """"You're first in line!!"""" the brothers yelled, lunging after it. "Tch!" The Gullivers' plan was to split up the spirit warriors and eliminate them one by one. Basram couldn't allow this plan to succeed, and so he clicked his tongue and swung his staff, ordering his remaining three servants to catch up and stab the prums in the back. "………" However, even when they came from behind, the four siblings handily evaded the spirit warriors' blows, and their fierce charge went unhindered, "Your back isn't your only blind spot!" "Be aware of attacks from all angles!" "Leave no gaps in your defense!" "You have to be ready to dodge, block, and counter all at once!" Folkvangr. The clash of first-tier adventurers that took place just prior to the final showdown. It was there the Gullivers had discovered the secret to defeating Basram's spirit warriors. It all came down to tactics. The Level 5s boasted superior might, and their attacks were damaging, but so long as the four prum brothers could endure that and focus all their energy into setting up a four-on-one fight, there was hope for victory. """"If that boar can do it, then so can we!!"""" The fires of envious rage burned within them as they sought to replicate Ottar's feat. Spear, sword, and ax all sliced off one of the elf's limbs, moments before the final hammer crushed its head. "Impossible!!" Basram couldn't believe what he was seeing, but the Gullivers spared him no notice and moved swiftly on to handling the dwarf. With only three foes now remaining, splitting them up was even easier than before. Basram had made a critical error and underestimated how significant this shift would be. When it was four-on-one instead of one-on-one, Bringar's unparalleled coordination made the difference. There was a reason it was said that the Gullivers could overcome any foe by working together. Once all four completed their individual analyses, the enemy was stripped bare, and the brothers could utilize their superior teamwork to finish things off. "Gaaaaaaaaahhh!!" Upon receiving their combined attacks, the dwarven spirit warrior immediately fired off a lightning spell—the power of the spirit that dwelled inside him. The human added his flame magic to the mix, creating an explosion of both elements in an attempt to tear the brothers away from his fellow thrall. Smoke and dust swept the battlefield, and Basram covered his face to protect his eyes. Still, he wore a confident smile, assured of his opponents' imminent demise. …However, it was then that he heard a voice from behind. "It was Dvalinn and Grer who figured it out. They realized the spirit warriors would use their magic if threatened." He spun around to see one of the prum brothers wielding an enormous spear. "You of all people should know better than to take us at our word, Basram." He was bloodied and beaten, but his cold, piercing eyes revealed the truth he didn't say. Did you really think I wouldn't choose the quickest way to beat you? This had been their plan from the beginning. A bluff. To state that their plan was to eliminate their foes one by one, then draw out the enemy spells, causing a smoke screen in which one brother would sneak away and get the drop on Basram himself. "Without that staff of yours, the spirit warriors are nothing but mindless beasts, isn't that right?" Alfrik glared at the magic item in Basram's hand—the only means of controlling the dark priest's heretical creations. It took Basram half a second to get over the shock, and another half a second to raise his staff… …But it took Alfrik far less than that to swing his spear, detaching the beastman's arm, and with it, the golden staff responsible for so much pain and misery. "Aaaaaaaaaaaarghhh!!" Basram howled. Meanwhile, the artifact's absence caused an immediate response in the spirit warriors themselves. They jerked unnaturally—only a momentary magical glitch—but Bringar were quick to capitalize upon it. Crossing their weapons to block the last few spells, Dvalinn, Berling, and Grer lunged, severing the limbs of the beastman warrior, while shattering the spirit dagger that remained lodged in the dwarven one's brain stem. The remaining human spirit warrior attempted to fly into a mad rage, when a thrown spear shattered his skull from the back, bringing the battle to an abrupt end. Alfrik's three brothers gathered at his side and handed him back his spear, then all four turned their murderous eyes on the dark priest. "Krh… Rgh… My…arm…" Basram groaned. His remaining hand went into the folds of his robes, pulling out his last resort—the final spirit dagger, wrapped in a hexproof cloth. "You tiny, insignificant wretches!!" He stabbed the blade into his stump and began to transform. This spirit dagger was not like the others. Its wild magic flowed into Basram, grotesquely enlarging one side of him, until he no longer resembled his former self. He had turned himself into one of his own creations. This was the ultimate fate of a doctrine that abandoned intelligence and individuality. """What are you, stupid?""" said the three younger siblings with identical looks of exasperation. "A man whose last resort is to trade away his mind for power…" said Alfrik, an enlightened twinkle in his eye. "Isn't that exactly the sort of thing the gods mock us for?" The four brothers stared down this hideous monster, then readied their cracked and battered weapons for one last symphony of death. Basram swung a magic-infused punch, which the four brothers dodged before each disposing of one of the creature's limbs. The mass of flesh pitched forward, and Alfrik drove his spear right through its heart. The misshapen lump oozed red effluent and was silent. "M-Master Basram?! A-all units, retreat!!" After watching it all play out, one Apate Familia officer raised his voice, then hurriedly retrieved the blood-soaked staff before fleeing the Amphitheatrum alongside the other spirit warriors that Mia and the others had been fighting. """Erm, Alfrik?""" said the three younger Gullivers, after watching the enemy abscond so easily with their artifact. "…Apologies," answered their eldest, wearing a look of guilt. "I let down my guard." All of them realized they were far too wounded to give chase. Their heroic victory over four Level 5s had come at a heavy price, and none of them could even stand upright a moment longer. All Alfrik could do was watch as the remaining four spirit warriors fled to the southeast. "I let them get away…" he muttered. ""Oh, Hegni and Hedin! This is so much fun!"" Fear and panic ruled the ranks of evil. The sole exception was here, where two crazed sisters carried out their frenzied dance. The elven twins, the elder Dina and the younger Vena, kept up their assault in spite of the deep wounds inflicted upon their respective fair and tanned skin by their precious archnemeses. ""Just a little longer, and we'll hold your cold, lifeless bodies in our loving embrace!"" ""Grr!"" Dina twirled her stiletto daggers—intended to be a dying knight's reprieve—while Vena commanded all-consuming hellfire, burning much of the Amphitheatrum to ash. Her flames formed an arena of death, preventing other members of Freya Familia from coming to the rescue. Hegni and Hedin dodged the flames and steel both, landing a short distance away. Hegni was battered and beaten. Hedin was covered in blood. The Dis sisters had shown their true power, and chances of victory were looking slim. "Not long now, Vena! I'll let you have my power! Now give me yours in return!" "Yes, Dina!" The sisters shared deviously innocent smiles they clasped hands, sharing their magical energy. Dina began to chant. "Black mire; red sin. We tear each other with our teeth; the slime that is our bodies mix'd!" It was not a spell, but a curse. "Dialv Stige!" A crimson light wreathed the fairer-skinned of the two, which then spread to cover her sister as well. This eerie glow caused a fluctuation in the girls' stats, almost as though they were trading blood and flesh. "Oh, your magic always tastes so sweet, Dina! It's going to drive me wild!" "So is yours, my lovely Vena! Oh, it feels like your baby is in my belly, trying to burst free!" "Oh my, Dina! How lewd!" ""Tee-hee-hee! Ah-ha-ha!"" This repulsive conversation earned a look of anger and disgust from Hedin. Ignoring him, the two sisters licked their lips, as if lapping up the excess power each had received. Dina's curse, Dialv Stige, had the effect of mixing her basic ability scores with those of whom she touched. Using it, she was able to steal half the target's Strength and Agility. No curse came without a downside, however, and in this case, Dina was required to compensate the target with an equivalent amount of her own Defense and Magic. It was a fearsome spell, evoking the image of a dismal mire, of sinners cutting each other piecemeal, and of their blood and bodies mixing in a crimson stream. ""Now we can start the feast!"" In the hands of the Dis Sisters, however, the spell's drawback was no drawback at all. Dina took to the front lines, wielding her twin stilettos with speed that would put an animal person to shame, while Vena covered her back with powerful magic spells. This trading of ability scores only served to reinforce their respective roles. "Their curse seems stronger than when last we fought…" muttered Hegni, panting heavily from exhaustion. "It seems we aren't the only ones who've been training," agreed Hedin, clutching his upper arm. The blood was already beginning to seep through his fingers. "No doubt those sirens have been preying on their own monstrous allies in our absence." With Dina focused on melee combat, and Vena concentrating on magic, the sisters' power level approached that of two Level 6s. "Your magic has come undone, fool." "And you've lost your glasses. You look so lame without them." The elves of Freya Familia had suffered significant damage in the battle so far. Hegni's Dáinsleif had finally worn off, while Hegni's spectacles had been blasted off his face. While also Level 5, the Dis sisters were on another level compared to Basram's spirit warriors, and so the elven adventurers had their work cut out for them. Thanks to the humiliation they had suffered, Hedin and Hegni had both sworn to kill the sisters personally, and there was no room in their hearts for teamwork. Besides, they were both members of Freya Familia; they considered themselves mortal foes and rivals for their lady's affection. In Folkvangr, they had been seeking to kill each other, and so could hardly team up now. "Aw, even now, Hedin and Hegni are being big, mean, grumpy-pants to each other! Isn't it sad, Dina?" "So sad, Vena! If they just put their differences aside, they might be able to catch up with us; at least enough to lick our toes!" One giggled while the other guffawed. Hegni and Hedin knew the girls were taunting them, but they showed no reaction. After a short pause, they spoke without turning to look the other in the eye. "Hegni." "What?" "It sounds like Ottar won." The cheers of adventurers could be heard behind them from Central Park. Warlord had given everything and earned the city's praise. "…I know." Hegni cut loose his anger and disgust, and cast his gaze downward. "Everywhere, the fires of life are burning." The blood of the einherjar fueled their fierce cries, and Heith's healers risked their lives to provide support. Tsubaki's sword, Mia's fists—nothing was being held in reserve, and the city screamed with a desire to repay the veterans who had laid down their lives. It would all be for naught if these two prideful, stubborn, infuriating elves could not cast aside their differences now. And so, with one short meeting of their eyes, the elves of light and dark slipped the shackles of their respective oaths. ""Hmph!!"" The two sprang forward. Their paths crossed. Hegni took Vena, and Hedin faced Dina. Up until now, it had been the other way around: Dina and Hegni, the two melee fighters, and Hedin and Vena, the two mages. From now on, they would swap targets. But this change in tactics only caused the corners of the evil twins' mouths to creep up, like the opening of a carnivorous plant, as though the pair had fallen right into their trap. ""Silly Billys!"" "Did you think you could take me down with magic just because I'm weak to it?" "Did you think you could humiliate me in close combat just because I'm bad at it?" ""Sorry, boys, but that's not going to happen!!"" Dina, holding her stilettos, flickered, and Vena with her magic sword, flared. Just as he reached optimal range for his spell, Hedin's eyes widened in shock. Despite the shortness of his chant, the siren's blade moved faster still, tearing the rhomphaia from his grasp. Just as he entered cutting distance, Hegni was dumbstruck. Vena swung her magic sword while swiftly chanting a magic circle, unleashing a hailstorm of fire. ""You call that teamwork? How pathetic!"" ""Grhhh…?!"" In close combat, there was nothing Hedin could do. He was by no means poor with the blade, but he lacked the punch and power of Dáinsleif. At long range, Hegni was strapped for options. He possessed magic, but nothing with the range and casting proficiency of Hildsleif. With the curse enhancing their specialties, the twins were able to draw both elven adventurers into their own private arenas and overwhelm them. The attempt to strike at the girls' weaknesses had failed, and in addition, the boys had been stripped of their swords, Victim Abyss and Dizaria. "Dialv Dis!" The twins had them in check, and their destructive magic was about to end the game. Ten magic circles appeared overhead and summoned ten pillars of hellfire, trapping Hegni and Hedin in a hurricane of destruction. Even their superior evasive maneuvers could not protect them from the blast waves that came at them from every angle. And then… ""Now you're ours!"" At that very moment Vena, Hedin, Hegni, and Dina lay on a perfectly straight line, in that order. The two men were completely surrounded. To the sisters, it was the perfect arrangement. To Hegni and Hedin, it was the worst. As they crawled to their feet, Vena began to chant, and Dina rushed forward. "In paradise, the heretics face fire; let errors and perversions both be cleans'd; and in a thousand tombs those sinners burn! Let the sixth garden open! Let the ninth song howl!" The third and final spell of Vena Dis. Incineration. It annihilated anything in her line of sight that she considered heretical, and it was impossible to dodge. It was a rare spell that could burn her foes to ash while leaving her sister Dina completely unharmed. You're a feisty one, Hedin! But it's too late now; my spells are faster than yours! Why don't the two of you just cry in our arms already?! The range of her spell easily surpassed twenty meders, so it didn't matter how hard Hedin scowled; there was nothing he could do to reach her in time. Vena wanted nothing more than to burn to ash the white elf who was so repulsed by her. Dina wanted nothing more than to tear to shreds the dark elf who was so disgusted by her. And so, having returned to their formation so that each received the target she desired, the sisters were ecstatic. Vena prepared her final magic circle, while Dina rushed forward to skewer her love in the heart. "…?" But just as the magic circle opened like a devil's eyelid, Vena noticed it. Hedin was acting strangely. He stood side-on, blocking the contents of his left hand from view, like a fencer about to lunge. Did he plan to throw his weapon? But wait…he lost his rhomphaia—when did he retrieve it? A fraction of a second passed as those questions flew through her head, and in the end, Hedin revealed the answer. "I never thought this day would come," he said. "………" In his hand, he held a cursed black sword. It was not his own weapon, but Hegni's: Victim Abyss. At the same time, Dina's eyes went wide as plates as Hegni pulled out the Hildsleif's rhomphaia, Dizaria. It had all been on purpose, including the very moment the two elves had their weapons flung from their grip. A mind-numbingly simple bluff that allowed Hedin and Hegni to change swords. "Sip and slurp, you rotten sword. Victim Abyss!" Hegni's trusty sword was a curse weapon, able to extend its reach at the cost of the wielder's stamina. Hedin was never one to hold back, and so he allowed the sword to drink of all his stamina, pouring it all into a single thrust. The resulting blade reached fifty meders in length. "Gh…" The thrust, like a vacuum wave of invisible energy, piercing at first Vena's magic circle, and then her breast. Before she even worked out what had happened, a line of blood ran down her lip. Then, the moment she realized that Hedin's and Hegni's teamwork was responsible for her demise, an explosion engulfed her. An Ignis Fatuus. The inevitable result of a spell that had gone out of control. Seeing her sister consumed by blossoms of fire, Dina turned and screamed. "Vena?!" Hedin's attack had been carried out with perfect and diabolical timing—planned from the very beginning to lure Vena into using her spell, and dooming her in the process. "Hediiin!!" The remaining elder sister screeched, and her anger drove her ever faster onward, to strike down the white elf in vengeful anger. It was then that Hegni entered her path, Dizaria raised high. "You're after me, remember?" he said. Furious, Dina tried to cut him down, but then, beyond him, she watched as Hedin turned and shot her a disinterested glance. He raised the black sword in his hand and began to chant. Hedin's support. Caurus Hildr. A low-power, precision-strike magic that he was using to avoid hitting Hegni. Dina would have no trouble evading a spell like that. That was Dina's split-second reasoning. She was wrong. "Valiant Hildr." There was nothing remotely like restraint in Hedin's response. "………" Dina froze for a moment, unable to speak, before the lightning engulfed her. Hedin had chosen not a hail of magic missiles, but a single great beam of light that devastated all in its path—not just Dina, but Hegni, too. "Aaaaaaaaaaghhh!!" She screamed. And then, amid a world of white, terror overcame her as she saw Hegni approach. "Grgh?!" He had not fallen. Even taking constant damage from Hedin's twisted magic, he lunged for Dina, sword drawn. Dina could not resist it. Through the curse, she had traded away not only her Magic, but her Defense as well, to her ill-fated sister. There was nothing she could do. It was all the result of Hedin's plan. A plan built on the back of Hegni's suffering. A plan that Dina, who loved her sister, could never have conceived. This was not trust. This was not faith. This was not teamwork. The only word for it was spite. A strategy birthed from a single vile sentiment the knights both shared: If it was this easy to kill him, I'd have done it a long time ago. "Roooooaaaaaaaaaggghhh!!" A guttural roar, issued from the depths of Hegni's belly. He lacked any buff to block the pain, and only held Hedin's blade. There was a flash of steel. "Ugh…" Guided by all Hegni's might, the blade cut Dina from shoulder to hip. She staggered back and fell, and Hedin's magic finally dispersed, giving way to colorless gray skies. It was at that moment she saw it. Hegni, sword poised for a horizontal swing, no love at all in his eyes. "Hegni," she said, "I—" love you. Those final words were never spoken, interrupted by Hegni's borrowed blade. The siren's severed head flew through the air, a peaceful smile on its lips, and Hegni turned his back, refusing to dignify the death of his cursed kin with a moment more of his attention. Instead, the head landed at the feet of Vena, who had escaped death due to her stolen defense. She picked up Dina's severed head and peered at it. "D-Dina…?" The light softly left her own eyes, and soon she tossed it aside. "No! No, no, no! It's so dirty! Such a dirty thing can't possibly be her! We're both elves! Beautiful elves!" After her outburst, Vena laughed. She went on laughing as the tears began to roll. "Where are you, sister? Where did you go? Don't leave me!" A vital part of her destroyed, she broke. Then again, the Dis sisters had always been broken. It was only through each other that they ever falteringly clung to sanity. The tears and laughter overflowed. Here she was, a deviant who had only ever pursued her own lust for killing. At last, her eyes fell upon Hedin. "Ah, there you are, sister!" Crawling on her front, she arrived at his feet and clung to his leg. Hedin looked down at her, at this twisted creature who had created a refuge inside her own brain, but he said nothing. Only his hair fell across his face. "Break me, sister! Love me, sister! Hurry up and turn our pain and suffering into joy, so I don't have to feel so cold!" Soon Hedin could bear her pathetic, dirty, rotten, vile and hopeless behavior no longer, and he snapped at her. "Shut up, you filth!" "Eep!" His hand tightened around her skull, and he hoisted her into the air. His coral-red eyes burned like fire, causing Vena to squeal. "It hurts! It hurts so good!" "You abhorrent, accursed, befouled, begrimed, defiled, depraved, fiendish, foul, greasy, grimy, loathsome, lousy, malicious, malodorous, oblivious, obnoxious, perfidious, pernicious, repulsive, revolting, sinful, spiteful, toxic, treacherous, ungodly, unholy, vicious, vile, weaseling weevil! You are evil incarnate! After all this time, you seek to be absolved of your sins?! I can hardly bear to admit we are the same race! Get out of my sight!" His anger provoked, Hedin took his revulsion, and like a fire-breathing dragon, he belched a stream of insults at the hated elf before preparing to remove her from this world entirely. "Strike forever, indestructible lord of lightning!" Gazing deeply into the burning hellfire of Hedin's eyes, Vena smiled as bitter tears rolled down her cheeks. "Hedin. Sister. I love you!" "Valiant Hildr!!" Lightning erupted. Once the magical embodiment of Hedin's rage had subsided, there was nothing left of Vena. But unlike Hegni, Hedin had been forced to bear witness to the elf's last words. "You make me sick!!" he spat. "A-Apate…and Alecto, too?!" In the Amphitheatrum, the Evils cultists paled as they beheld the fates of their masters. At that moment, there was a rallying cry from a field captain atop the eastern walls. "S-send in the reinforcements! Take down the strongholds, now!" He could see the smoke and flames rising all across the city, but what worried him most was the shouts of adventurers he heard. The balance of power had clearly tipped in Orario's favor. "The adventurers abandoned their posts to sally forth!" he yelled, seizing his last chance to scrape things back. "Strike at their weakened defenses, and we shall have victory yet!" Central Park was a lost cause, as was the Amphitheatrum, but the other four strongholds were vulnerable due to the charge of Noir and the other veteran upper-class adventurers. Many of them had been Level 3 and above, and there was no doubt their maverick sacrifice left holes in the defensive line. That was precisely why Finn had been so reluctant to send them in the first place. "All units, descend from the city walls! Chaaarge!!" The troops entrusted to maintain the siege were highly skilled. Seeing the war about to come to a decisive end, this commander ordered those troops to leave their positions and join the fight below. However, just at that moment… "Guh!" "Gah!" They were all hit by a frighteningly accurate hail of arrows. It came not from the streets below, but from their flank—a fact that could only mean their assailant was on the walls with them. Flabbergasted, the elite Evils troops wheeled around and were shocked by what they saw—one of the gods themselves leading a charge of her bow-wielding followers, each wearing the mark of the moon and bow. "Shoot them!" she cried. "A-a goddess?! Gahhh!!"
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter16.txt	Astrea Record: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Tales of Heroes, Vol. 3 The goddess moved so fast; it was only due to his Falna that the captain could even see her. His focus was split between her fast approach and the rain of arrows loosed by her followers, to which the goddess herself seemed to pay no heed. Then, with godly timing, she leaped upon him while drawing her mythril blade. Seven swift cuts to the seams of the armor he wore beneath his robes, and the follower of darkness crumpled. He watched with growing despair as the reinforcements—allies from outside the city—streamed over the walls, until a hard blow from one of the goddess's followers knocked him unconscious. "Lady Artemis! We've captured the eastern walls!" "Hold them. We must hold this path into the city. Our enemies have spotted us, and we can no longer rely on the element of surprise. Wait here until Lanta arrives." This azure-haired beauty was Artemis, goddess of chastity. Answering her follower without looking back, she instead turned her gaze left, toward the southeastern walls. Far in the distance, an Evils cultist pointed in her direction and started making a ruckus. The goddess loosed an arrow, which sailed through the air and struck the alarm raiser, who promptly exploded. Artemis frowned. She hadn't known that would happen. "Still, it's a relief to finally be here in Orario," said her captain. "After marching for five days and five nights, I thought we would collapse!" "Sorry about that, but we couldn't just abandon the people here. If Orario falls, the mortal world is done for." Artemis continued shooting arrows even while conversing. She struck a brave and awe-inspiring form, her wise eyes constantly scanning the city for movement. This was Artemis Familia. A familia without a home, who wandered the continent on a perpetual hunt. Though not officially part of Orario, they still counted upper-class adventurers among their number, and even the goddess herself was a formidable fighter to be reckoned with. Three days prior, in their underground hideout, Valletta and Vito had said the following words: "How will the other cities have resources to spare when they're dealing with an unprecedented outbreak of riots all at the same time?" "Even if one or two of 'em manage to put down the riots and send someone over, they'll only be Level Two at best. Nothin' to piss our pants over." They had decided that the continent had better things to do than to send aid to Orario. They were wrong. These brave women put Orario's needs above their own. Though the strongest of them were only Level 2, no hunt was too dangerous with the divine leadership of their goddess at their backs. "I can appreciate why it was important to liberate all the towns and villages along our path, but shouldn't we be out helping other world powers like the empire?" "We'll leave that to the School District. Their forces far outclass ours, both in quality and quantity. Plus, they have the Knight of Knights on their side." "You mean that brat who helped slay the Leviathan…?" The actions of Artemis Familia had been swift. The moment she heard news of the Great Conflict, Artemis had made the decision to come here, to Orario, instead of assisting elsewhere. Having scaled the massive walls with a rope, she beheld for the first time just what had become of the inner city. "Either a return to the ancient times, or a prelude to Makhia… Is this truly this city's destiny?" "…Hmm? Lady Artemis?" "Nothing. Once Lanta returns from exterminating the monsters below, we'll move out. Rethusa, decide who'll join the hunting party and who'll stay here!" "Yes, my lady!" Artemis's captain returned a vigorous nod. A spark-filled wind blew over them, but the goddess tried to ignore it, pulling back her bow and resuming her archery. "Artemis, you came!" said Hermes, seeing the azure-haired goddess and her all-female band conquering the city walls. As he watched them proceed clockwise, Hermes felt a sense of relief, knowing the days of the enemy siege were numbered. Alone, atop one of the buildings in the casino area, he turned his gaze to the streets below. "Things are just about settled up here," he said. "Our brave adventurers have given too much to lose now." It was not a prediction, but a given. The fires of rebellion were lit and already far out of control. It was only a matter of time before evil succumbed. "The problem now is the Dungeon… I hope you can handle it, girl." "…Well now. I certainly didn't expect to see you down here." Erebus could hardly conceal his shock. The last of his followers lay beaten at his feet, trounced by the adventurers who accompanied his unexpected guest. The dark god smiled and lifted his head, meeting her gaze. "You sure do like surprising me, don't you, Astrea?" Standing before him was a goddess clad in purest white, with long, walnut hair that fell about her waist. For the second time, the goddess of justice had come to confront absolute evil in person.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter18.txt	Chapter 7: What She Wished For CHAPTER 7 What She Wished For The flames cried out. Crumble, crack, perish. The eighteenth floor was no home to paradise now; only a burning arena that trembled and sparked amid the dueling forces of justice and evil. "Those adventurers with you… Followers of Hermes, I presume?" Atop a bluff commanding a view of the entire floor, Erebus looked to each of Astrea's escorts in turn: a male elf, a chienthrope thief, and a human girl. "I suppose that makes sense," said Erebus with an aura of calm. "After all, your own followers are otherwise occupied, aren't they?" "Yes. But Hermes was kind enough to lend me his own from outside the city. It was pressing I meet with you, you see." Her indigo-blue eyes were stoic and firm, like an arrow of justice. The corners of Erebus's mouth crept up. "And why is that, Astrea? Come to pass your judgment on me, have you?" Erebus was alone, unbacked by any of his followers. Most had given their lives to protect their dark master from the ire of the monster Delphyne, and Astrea's escort had swiftly dispatched those who remained. If Astrea wanted to deal with Erebus right here and now, there was no doubt she could do it. But instead, she gently shook her head. "That is not why I have come, Erebus. After all, if you die here, you will not return to see the light of heaven." "………" "The Dungeon will devour you, and you will be forever lost." Erebus shrugged. Astrea stared at him and continued talking. "I only came to see you and be with you as the ordainer of justice, while the fate of our children plays out." Standing by his side, Astrea looked out over the Dungeon floor, where the black wind fought Delphyne, and the followers of justice kneeled at the feet of Silence. "Show me," the woman said; it was a silent scream from the lips of the most powerful beauty to ever walk the battlefield. "Show me a greater power. Show me proof I cannot deny. Show me will! Show me resolve! Show me justice! Show this evil what your light can do!" Nobody could answer her. Lyra, Neze, Noin, Iska, Lyana, Celty, Asta, Maryu—all of them wore bitter scowls across their bleeding faces. Even Alize could only ball her fists in frustration. Lyu was no different. All of Astrea Familia lacked the power to teach the witch her errors. However… OOOOOOOOOoooooo… The roof of the Dungeon shook. A rumble from the surface, spanning the long distance, as if to spur the girls on. There was no way they should have been able to hear it, and yet hear it they did. The sound of those who fought. Was it Warlord? Braver? Was it Andromeda? Or was it a funeral dirge for adventurers whose names would not be remembered? Either way, it was the howl of heroes—of those who seized their future, and of those who passed it on. Lyu felt it, too, in the very depths of her soul—and made a choice. Planting her hand on the ground, she bore her bruised and battered body to its feet. "Leon…!" said Alize, wide-eyed with wonder. Alfia turned to the girl, her eyes closed as ever. "Erebus's favorite," she said. "Do you have an answer for me?" Lyu looked down at the wounds on her right hand. "…No," she said in an almost imperceptible voice. "What?" "Right now…in my current state… I cannot persuade you, or even say for certain what justice is." Lyu spoke the truth of her heart. She didn't lie or try to show off. Instead, she laid her weakness bare. "I'd be lying," she said, "if I said your tale just now—of destroying Orario to save the world—didn't shake my faith a little." "Leon…" said Lyra, looking up at her. "Even now, I'm nothing but a lost traveler on an endless journey…" Lyu went on. Then she clenched her right hand tight. "But there is one thing I know for sure, Alfia! With your solution, justice will never go on!" "What…?" "You look only to the past! Not to the future, or even the present!" Alfia's ultimate aim was to revive the world of antiquity. A return to the Age of Heroes from thousands of years past. She looked not to step boldly forward, but to undo the progress of history, and that was something Lyu could never accept—for one simple reason. "You'll be casting away everything we've been given—everything we've inherited from people like Adi!" "!" "That's why I can never accept your way! You'll be wasting all their lives—all their deaths!" Alfia wore a look of utter shock. And it wasn't just her. Alize, Lyra—all of Astrea Familia were stunned. Lyu's gaze was fixed firmly on the future, not the past. She did not run from the fear and despair that lay ahead, but stood to oppose it. "All their rights…and all their wrongs! I carry all of them with me and reach for whatever lies ahead!" Perhaps it was naive of her. Perhaps it was youth. Youth blinded her to the horrors that awaited her. Youth allowed her to dream. Perhaps, to someone like Alfia, who had personally witnessed the brutality of the world, Lyu's thoughts were a fanciful fiction. A wish that could never be fulfilled. But Lyu had known despair once. She had tasted loss and grief. She, too, had seen how harsh the world could be, and she had not given up. Her chin remained lifted, her eyes directed ahead. Lyu chose to keep walking despite knowing full well what she might find. Her will was noble; her journey long. Even if she were to fall again, she would get up and keep walking. It was her righteous sense of justice that allowed her to do so. And so, with that fire in her heart, and starlight in her eyes, she looked at Alfia and said, "That is my duty to those who came before me!" Justice would never die. In order to pass it on, Lyu looked to tomorrow. The torch she received would burn away the darkness. That was what she believed. That was what Lyu declared. She would uphold her vow, both to Adi, and to those who still fought on the surface, even now. "………" Alfia was frozen. She was still trying to make sense of what she'd heard, as if the concept of something other than despair were alien to her. Meanwhile, Lyu's words lit a fire in the other members of her familia. "…You said it, kiddo." It was Neze, the animal girl, a grin on her face. Hearing those words from the lips of their newest recruit, she slapped her knees and pulled herself upright. "Hah. That's our baby sister for ya. Such a simpleminded idiot," said Lyra, climbing to her feet and wiping the blood from her cheek. It was then that Alize, somehow the most energetic of all, leaped to her feet and proudly thrust out her chest. "I think Leon's onto something here!" She beamed. "Future! Yeah, that's right! Future! Just keep saying 'Future' and it sounds all justicey! Yeah! Now that's what I call justice!" "…Oh, I forgot. We've got an even bigger idiot on the team, and it's the eldest sister…" said Lyra with a sigh. "But it sounds like we've got our answer," said Lyana, the human mage, swinging her wooden staff. "Yeah. Thanks to Lyu," said Maryu, the healer, and the actual eldest sister. She chanted her spell and restored the other girls. "We've got to chase after the future, no matter how bad it gets," said Noin, the human. "Because we're the only ones who can carry on Adi's words, and her smile," said Iska, the Amazon. The two of them lifted each other, shoulder to shoulder, and stepped forward. "Until the day comes when we return to stardust…" said Asta, the dwarf. "…we'll all keep walking forward," Celty, the elf, concluded. The two of them shared a smile that transcended race. Alize looked around at her fellows, and with a bright, sunny, smile… "We follow our duty! We balance the scales! Until the day the stars claim us!" Without further prompting, the girls all looked at each other and shared a nod. "Like comets in the sky above, we leave our starry trails on this earth where'er we go!" Lyu and the rest of her family completed the oath. """"""""""This I swear, on the sword and wings of justice!!"""""""""" The ashen hair of Silence fluttered in the combined wind of the maidens' vow. "Not the past, but the future," she muttered. "To look not to proven history, but the unknown and unwritten. Then to you girls, I must seem a specter, bound to the past…or perhaps a dusty old memento of times gone by." To anyone paying close enough attention, it must have seemed as though the witch's lips formed a gentle smile. But the very next second, that illusion was lost amid the whirling sparks. "Very well," she said. "This is the end…of you foolish children and your impossible dreams. I swear on my own life that I shall bury you all. There will be no salvation. There will be no mercy. All will be erased. You have brought your noise to me…and now you shall pay." "Oh, we'll pay, all right!" chirped Alize. "And we'll take you down!" "This is it, Alfia!" yelled Lyu. "This ends here!!" The scarlet flames raged, and the gale wind blew. Lyra and the other girls followed. Ahead of them stood the conqueror of evil, eager to put an end to their ongoing justice. "Future…? Dreams…?" Wreathed in a magical light, the bell of Silence tolled, and a battle began to unfold. A short distance away, Vito watched over the girls make their promises with a look of utter shock. "I don't understand. How can such cheap rhetoric empower them? How can they face the might and despair of Silence?" It wasn't their words that surprised him; Vito was no stranger by now to the pretty white lies of justice. But the conqueror was unassailable, and no amount of hot air could change that. Vito knew as much firsthand. He still remembered his reaction to being stripped bare by Zald. Pure terror. Like meeting a being from another dimension. A man against whom any and all resistance was a futile endeavor. And yet, Astrea Familia had found strength in those pretty white lies. They faced the witch without any fear in their hearts. What sorcery made such things possible? What justice? At that moment there came a hysterical laughter. Not from the man's own lips, but those of the girl standing beside him. "What is so funny?" he asked, turning to Kaguya. "Oh, nothing," the girl replied, wiping her eyes. "It's just…I knew that girl was stupid, but not this stupid. Even for an elf, she's remarkably stubborn." A gentle smile appeared on her lips, as though she'd found something precious she had been missing for a long time. "Look at her, defect. Look at that idiot. Look at that elf." Vito followed Kaguya's gaze to Lyu, fighting wildly with an elven sword in one hand and the weapon of her departed friend in the other. The trails of her blades shimmered like starlight. "Isn't it beautiful?" Normally, Vito would have denied it reflexively, but he was so entranced that he couldn't respond. "Isn't it blinding? The faith of a moron who believes in hope. Someone who strives for perfection, who admits their mistakes, and who looks ever forward." Failing to put in the effort would bring you nothing. Ignoring your flaws was a mistake. Anyone could ignorantly believe in hope. Similarly, anyone could give up on the future. But to take steps in the direction of that hope, and to aim for that future; that was something truly special. To Kaguya, that was surely where true justice lay. "That is what we must fight for. That is what Adi wished to pass on. That is the justice we must carry!" At that moment, her smile was that of the gentle elder sister, looking out for her sibling in her own, clumsy way. "Justice will go on. A lovely phrase, don't you agree? It means even my own sordid past is worth preserving," she said. But Vito refused to accept it. "Those words are nothing but a comforting lie!" he yelled. "If justice is so important, then what about me?!" He sneered in a futile attempt to conceal his self-loathing. "I am the incarnation of the world's imperfections! There is no future for me! No hope I can cling to, nor justice to pass on!" "No justice to pass on? That's because you never listened to one." "Hrk!!" Kaguya's sharp gaze cut the man's rant to ribbons. "You decided you didn't need to; you knew what justice was. You were all alone, and nobody could ever understand you, and it just wasn't fair. You gave yourself over to madness and cruelty, and disguised it as anger. How could you ever pass that on?" Vito was dumbstruck, but Kaguya's cutting words did not stop there. "You incorrigible fool. You're nothing but a bloodthirsty beast, hiding behind tragic tales, blind to the paradox that lays at your core. Truly defective." "Grrh!!" Vito had no response. He couldn't argue back with logic, but neither could he surrender to violence and mayhem. The word defective, that Vito had once welcomed, now seemed like a curse he could not escape. "No matter what you say, we will preserve them. The ideas we've been given. The justice we've inherited." Kaguya returned her trusty sword, Higanbana, to its sheath. "We will prove to you…that there are things that will long outlive us!" "Hrk…?!" "They will sing our heroic tales forever! Not because of a fixation on the past, but to strive for the future!" When she closed her eyes, she saw the girl who once stood in twilight. And she saw the nameless few who fought and died this day. With their thoughts occupying her mind, she allowed just a sliver of her blade to peek out, preparing to cut down whatever lay in her path. Vito couldn't keep up. "Heroic tales? That is the hope you bring against despair? What absolute nonsense! I won't accept it! That's ridiculous!" He screamed and cried like he was throwing a tantrum. It was all he could do to avoid admitting the truth and breaking down completely. "I must kill! I must destroy! It's the only way to make the world right again! Your 'justice' is nothing but fabricated lies! You're a fool to believe it!!" "Enough." Kaguya silenced him with a single word. "I will put an end, here and now, to your ridiculous delusions. With my own tainted justice—the art of my accursed Gojouno line." The Far Eastern girl shifted her foot, aligning her body side-on while lowering her posture. There was no mistaking what kind of technique she was preparing. Vito took a few steps backward in fright, before planting his feet, steeling his nerve, and launching himself at her with a mad scream. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghhh!!" With no way out of his harrowing realization, the man resorted to the only thing that would bring him solace—plunging his knife through Kaguya's heart. However, Kaguya's gaze was firm. "Begone, twisted brute. Ill-omened flower of death." She spoke her ultrashort chant, and her sword flew from its sheath. "Iai Strike: Five Lights!" All of a sudden, Vito's world shrunk. Five crimson streaks, the same red as the spider lily, trapped him like the bars of a cage. "Rgh…!" Vito saw her, in five positions at once. In front, to either side, behind, and finally, above. Her impossible bladework had sealed his fate. The arts that Kaguya so despised were a fusion of magic enhancement and pure swordplay. Her former house, the Gojouno clan, sat in the shadows of the Imperial Court. They handled arrests and executions, but also murder, assassination, and seduction—anything the higher-ups wanted dealt with discreetly. And sometime in the early days of the Age of Gods, this clan discovered a peculiarity in their bloodline: the transmission of certain skills and spells. Just like how elves possessed a common seed that allowed similar skills to manifest, so, too, did the pure blood of the Gojouno line permit the mass creation of assassins, all with identical abilities. Identical skills. Identical spells. The same horrifying training regimen enforced upon all members of the clan. Bred to be replaceable, and imbued with the founder's abilities, honed to perfection over a thousand years of history. That clan's highest art was this: a paired skill and spell, each bearing the name Five Lights. The spell was an exceedingly simple one that merely conjured five magical slashes at whatever angle the user wished. It required the caster to possess an ungodly sword skill to elevate it and achieve something greater: an inescapable coffin of blades. Vito dodged the first slash by a hair's breadth. With the knife in his hand, he parried the second on his right. He sacrificed his left arm, allowing the third blade to slice it off, while the fourth carved a gash into his back. "Gaaaaaaaaaghhh!!" After that, his luck ran out. The fifth and final blade descended on his neck, slicing into his shoulder, and was about to reach his heart when it disappeared. For what reason he could not fathom, but the girl had dispelled her magic at the very last second. But such mercy was not enough to save Vito's life. Perhaps it was not mercy at all. All around him, his own blood drops were hanging in the air like a flurry of cluster amaryllis—the crimson color Vito admired most, rendered only to him as a cold, inhuman gray. "This is the end, defect. Lie there until you perish." Her repugnant, despicable flower. Kaguya had grown used to its sight by now, but it disgusted her nonetheless. She returned her sword to its sheath, then turned her back on the fallen Vito. "Captain! Leon! I'm on my way!" Her destination was, of course, her loyal friends, still locked in battle with the Silent Witch. She left, clutching the wounds she had suffered. "…Not…yet…! This…can't be over…yet…!" The man she left behind burned with hate; hate for the world and everything in it. He clung stubbornly to life, fighting to stem the waters of life flowing out of him. "I need to… I need to…!" Meanwhile, from his vantage point far away, a single god looked down on his follower in silence, his face devoid of emotion. The fierce fighting continued. Fire and wind came at her from opposite angles, but Alfia dodged and parried every last blow like a leaf in the wind. "Brave of you to come so close, children," said the witch. "Do you think speed and recklessness alone will win you the day?" "No, but what choice do we have?! Your magic can hit us at close range or far, so we might as well be where we can hit you back!" "That's the only chance we have of winning!" said Lyu, agreeing with her captain's words. "A long-range battle favors nobody but you!" The two girls' combination attacks were nothing short of art, but the witch was unperturbed. She parted her lips, preparing to blast the pair of them off the face of the earth. "Besides, mixing close- and long-range combat is a vital skill for any adventurer!" It was Neze, a midrange fighter, who plugged the gaps and put a stop to the spell with her throwing daggers. For Alfia, just a small tilt of the head was required to avoid them, but it created the smallest of openings for Astrea's finest mages to unleash their spells. "Celty, now!" "Yes, Miss Lyana!" An immense fireball and stream of roaring flames created an inescapable prison of fire. However, the witch negated it entirely. "Ataraxia." Her barrier obliterated the two spells, leaving not even magical residue behind. "Erk, she put her enchantment back up!" exclaimed Noin, having paused for a moment to use a healing item. "Well, of course she would!" shouted Lyra. "She only needs to say one word to activate it, and she can turn it off whenever she likes! Even if it's not instantaneous, she can switch between offense and defense in the blink of an eye!" Her irritation was plain to see. Neze once more voiced her concern. "I know, but…doesn't that make her unbeatable?! She doesn't have any weaknesses at all!" No, she has to have some, thought Alize. Otherwise, she would have wiped the floor with us by now! She's a Level 7, and we're Level 3 at best! There's no doubt about it…her power level is dropping! Two adjacent levels were an order of magnitude apart. A Rank Up was likened to an ascension of the body and soul, one step closer to godhood. The very idea of a Level 3 facing a Level 7 was so laughable it couldn't even be called a fight under normal circumstances. So then, circumstances were not normal. Alize had figured it out. "We're on the right path!" she said. "Braver's plan to wear her out is working! Leon, commence operation Hit and Run! It's not very hero-like of us, but we have to keep her busy!" "Right, Alize!" At her leader's command, Lyu flew into a resolute barrage of swings. She never attacked from the front, but instead from the sides, behind, and sometimes used that as a feint to go in from above. "Taking turns to keep me on my toes, are you? I suppose you aren't likely to give me a chance to cast my spells… No matter. Against you, I hardly need them." The strategy was sound…against any normal foe, at least. Against Alfia and her prodigious talent, it fell woefully short. Just as she covered for Alize and came in close, Alfia pressed the sword aside with her palm, while her other hand, deadly as a guillotine blade, came down upon Lyu's neck. Alize was too far away to step in, but… "Out of the way, greenhorn!" A lightning-fast blade repelled Alfia's chop. "I step out of the fight for two seconds, and this happens! I just can't leave you alone, can I?" "Kaguya!" Alfia stepped back to avoid her blade, allowing the Far Eastern girl to land beside Lyu. "I was wondering where you went off to!" Alize chirped. "I didn't believe for one second you'd just leave us all behind and run! Honest!" "You're as bad at lying as the elf, Captain. Best you keep your mouth shut…and leave this old hag to me!" Kaguya did not spare so much as a glance in her leader's direction. With a snarl that exposed her pearly whites, she kept her wicked eyes on Alfia. "I've rid us of that meddling pest," she spat. "Now it's time to settle the score!" "You have an impressive fire, child," said Alfia. "However, I should correct you, for I am merely twenty-four." "Whoa! You're actually that young?! I thought for sure you were, like, forty or something, and it was just your Falna making you look pretty! Color me shocked!" "Alize! I know we're fighting her, but you don't have to be so rude!" said Lyu. The weary gazes of the adventurers at the center of the formation converged on the pair. "What are they doing over there…?" Lyra sighed. "Oh, pardon my rudeness!" said Kaguya. "It's just, all old women look the same when you're just seventeen!" "If you mean to provoke me," responded Alfia, "you'll have to try a little harder than that. Your youth is nothing to be proud of." Without making any sound at all, Alfia instantly closed the distance with Kaguya. The Far Eastern girl's eyes flew wide as she beheld the terrifying speed and power of the witch's bare hand—as formidable a blade as any first-tier equipment. "People age faster than you could ever know." What followed was a deadly storm. The girls couldn't believe their eyes: Not only did Alfia's hand remain completely unharmed—her bare-handed parries actually wore down the girls' blades instead. She's still going?! thought Kaguya. She's even faster than before! thought Alize. She's a monster! thought Lyu. "We grow old," said Alfia, "every time we think of what could have been. To regret our actions is to curse ourselves. Even I no longer know my heart's true age." Her gentle looks betrayed no emotion, but her words were laced with sorrow. "We cannot fix our past mistakes. They are what make us who we are today… Zald and I are of one mind in this regard." Beneath the ashen clouds, the people's voices roared. These were the cries of adventurers—the city's scream itself. Ottar gazed to the sky, taking them in, before lowering his gaze to the man before him. "Zald…" In Central Park, just south of Babel's gates, the defeated conqueror was lying on the ground. All around, the scars of their fight were carved into the land. Flagstones had been uprooted, revealing the bare earth beneath. By now, the sparks of war were fewer in number, and the hell this man had wrought was beginning to fade. Ottar's right hand gripped his sword, though he no longer possessed the strength to wield it. With unsteady movements, he made his way to Zald's side. "…You bested me, then." "Yes… I did." Zald was staring death in the face. His armor was battered and torn, and the flesh beneath was blackened with blood. It was obvious he was not in good health. Perhaps he never had been. "Hah. Mewling…brat…" His face was slick with blood, and the light in his eyes was fading fast. It was clear he was trying to laugh, but most of the muscles in his face no longer worked, and all he could manage was a slight twisting of his lips. There was no trace of the fierce, imposing figure who had blocked Ottar's path for so many years—just a dying hero on his way out. "Things would have been different ten years ago," Ottar said, casting his mind back to the past. "Besting you now means very little to me." "Spare me your pity…" Zald grunted. "Before this war, I feasted well… Never have I felt as strong as I did today…" The one thing Zald didn't want to listen to was the boaz downplaying his own achievements. "You bested me regardless," he said. "Take pride in that…and never forget it…" "…As you wish." Even on his deathbed, the warrior had more to teach. Ottar fell silent, his mind swarmed by unnecessary thoughts and feelings. His keen nose picked out a trace of rot amid the stench of blackened blood, and it brought to mind a memory—a memory of a time prior to the Black Dragon's onslaught—when Ottar stood with Finn on a plain of black sand. Thinking back to that time, he asked the man a question. "Zald, do you regret slaying the Behemoth?" "…I do not." A question the man denied. "I only played my part. For the good of this world…and for my fellow man. What…is there…to regret…? If there is one thing I regret, it is…Cough! Hack!" As he tried to speak, Zald retched horrifically, spluttering black ooze that washed away the crimson blood. "…Sleep now, Zald," came the voice of Freya, standing silently by her warlord's side. "I may not be your god, but I shall be here for you in the end regardless." "Heh. What spirit of fortune I should thank…to behold you in my final moments…instead of that boorish old man…" Zald managed to crack somewhat of a smile, taking one last parting shot at his familia's god. "…Ottar," he said. It took Ottar a moment to realize what sounded so odd. The man had called him by name for the very first time. "…What is it?" he asked. "Do not…rest easy. You have far…to go. Greater heights still…await…" "…I know." "Good…" With his receding gaze fixed on the ashen skies above, the old hero left his final words. "Never stop…fighting. Never stop…growing… Leave us…all… behind…" With that, Zald breathed his last. There was no funeral song; instead, only the hymn of war resonated in the background. However, just for a moment, it seemed to grow in intensity, as if fulfilling his wish. A gentle smile remained on Zald's lips, even after he passed. The goddess kneeled, reached out her hand, and softly closed his eyelids. "The final remnant of Zeus Familia is no more," she said. "At last." "Yes…" Ottar stood, half listening to his goddess's words, as a thousand years of history crumbled in his presence. He craned his neck upward, beholding the same ash-laden sky Zald saw in his final moments. "Zald…" he said. "I will always be grateful to you." "Zald confirmed dead! Almost all the enhanced species have been wiped out, and the stronghold defenses are all under control!" Adventurers called out to each other amid the rapidly evolving war zone. There seemed to be no end to the good news constantly streaming in, bringing the strongholds hope. Ottar's victory, as well as the sacrifice of the veterans, empowered them to shake off their despair and fight on in spite of their horrific losses, dealing a heavy blow to the Evils and monsters alike. "This is the home stretch!" said Asfi, her faith returning. "The Evils won't be able to hang on much longer! But still…!" Behind her spectacles, her eyes narrowed. Her line of sight shifted to the fleeing Evils. "Master Zald has fallen…? This cannot be… You'll pay for this!!" "Come back here! …Damn!" Falgar watched in frustration as Olivas and the other lieutenants left the battlefield, covering their retreats with whatever forces remained available to them. If only we had the forces to pursue them, thought Asfi, biting her lip, but we've taken too many casualties already! We can barely defend the strongholds as it is! The Evils still have plenty of suicide bombers and monsters on their side. At this rate, we'll have no choice but to let their leaders escape! At that moment, a runner from Loki Familia appeared from the northwest—the direction of Guild HQ. "Perseus! A message!" The use of a runner instead of a signal informed Asfi that the contents were more than what a brief sequence of flashing lights could convey. She stiffened in fear of what that might be. "You're to join up with Ankusha and assume overall command!" the envoy said. "What?! Me?" Asfi shrieked. "What happened to Braver?!" There were already standing orders in place for the worst-case scenario—in which Finn was assassinated or otherwise taken out of the battle—but they required the strongholds to act independently, not for anyone to take over the prum general's spot. The messenger hemmed and hawed awhile, struggling to find the words, before… "…The captain has, er…opted to take independent action, ma'am…" "…You're kidding me…" Asfi's eyes flew wide as she realized what he intended to do. "Morale on all fronts is dropping fast! We don't know how long we can sustain the attack on the strongholds! Heavy casualties among the tamers, too!" "Apate and Alecto have both taken heavy damage from Freya Familia! I'm getting unconfirmed reports that the Dis sisters and Master Basram have all been killed in action! The remaining spirit warriors are retreating alongside the rest of our troops!" Despair crept into the voices of the Evils messengers. Every word out of their mouths only enraged Valletta more and more. "Dammit, dammit, dammit!! Order those losers to hold the line and tell our lieutenants to get their asses back to Knossos!" Valletta was a competent commander. She wasn't one to let the anger get the better of her. Suppressing the fire roaring inside her, she shifted her mind to plans of retreat. "And don't let Finn's lot find out about our secret entrance!" she yelled. "Stay off Daedalus Street and use the one outside the city! Make 'em think we're runnin' away!" "B-but, ma'am, even if we regroup, we no longer have the strength to make another offensive! The day is lost!" "No it ain't! Listen!" cried Valletta as the ground beneath her feet shuddered. "Hear that? Erebus and Alfia are still alive down there! That means the war ain't over yet! We just gotta make it to Knossos, regroup with that woman, and then…" But then came a voice. A voice Valletta had never expected outside her worst nightmares. "Spear of magic, I offer my blood! Bore within this brow." "…Gh?!" Be it through some fluke of the wind, an auditory hallucination, or some uncanny sixth sense like Braver's thumb—Valletta heard a voice that should've been too far to be audible. "Hell Finegas!" Her eyes were immediately drawn to its source—to West Main Street, where a lone prum stood atop a mountain of Evils corpses. He slowly opened his eyes. "…There's no escape," he said. "This is checkmate." His irises, once azure, were now a burning crimson. Blasting the cobbles at his feet, he sprinted faster than the wind, bearing his greatspear. "F-Finn?! You bastaaaard!!" Valletta screamed his name and leaped from the trading house edifice, leaving her flustered underlings to follow. Springing from rooftop to rooftop, she traveled from the southwestern district toward the southeast, hoping to escape the prum's wrath. She had made a snap decision. She was fast on her feet. But the prum was even faster. "Gaaaaaaaagh!!" A scream echoed through the streets. It belonged to one of the cultist pawns Valletta had sent to die in her stead. She had left them to harass Finn like a swarm of wild hornets, and they had succeeded in their task for only a few seconds before he took them apart and resumed his pursuit. Finn lopped off hands, skewered hearts, let lips run red with blood. Heads flew, bathing the streets in crimson rain, before landing far away. But these people had toyed with human life, and their fates meant nothing to him. Instead, he fixed his scarlet eyes on Valletta. It was difficult to keep him in sight because of his sheer speed. Finn was like a vicious hound, refusing to give up the chase until one of them was dead. "I've left command of our armies to Asfi and Shakti," he muttered, eyes fixed unerringly on his target's back. "There's only one man uninjured enough to go after you, and that's me. What's the matter, Valletta? Never expected the king to come after you alone? If so, you only have yourself to blame." A lone cultist hurtled down at him from above, but one swing of Finn's greatspear caused the unfortunate man to light up the sky in a premature explosion. His bloody remains splattered the walls as Finn locked eyes once more with the enemy general. "You don't know how long I've waited to do this, Valletta." Without even a moment's pause, Finn resumed his pursuit. "Where's your guard, Finn?!" screamed Valletta over her shoulder. "You think I can't handle one sneaky little prum?!" Still, she seemed to be avoiding challenging Finn one-on-one. "Once I regroup up with Apate and Alecto, you're dead meat! We'll kick the shit out of you!" Apate Familia and Alecto Familia had been charged with conquering the Amphitheatrum in the east of the city, and right now they were heading south through district three—just a stone's throw from where Valletta was in district four. Even if the Dis sisters and Basram were no more, the surviving forces included four spirit warriors, and the means of controlling them—Basram's staff. These Level 5 soldiers would be more than enough to handle Finn. "And don't think I don't know all about that spell of yours!" she sneered. "It raises your stats, but at the cost of your sanity! You're just a berserker incapable of rational thought!" Hell Finegas was a mind-altering enchantment. It granted the user a buff comparable to a level increase, but also imbued them with a lust for battle. Under its effects, Finn was unable to make coolheaded decisions, let alone command an army. In a straight-up fight, its potency was unmatched, but it rendered Finn far more vulnerable to traps and tricks. "You're a fool to come at me alone, Finn! And soon you'll pay the price!" With a swing of her arm, Valletta tossed a flash bomb. Upon seeing that signal, the survivors of Apate Familia immediately changed course. Though not as distinguished as the Dis Sisters, the other followers of Apate were a cut above the Evils' rank and file. Their acting leader immediately took Basram's staff in hand and struck its base against the rooftops, causing the four spirit warriors to charge like savage beasts. Valletta grinned a malicious grin. In just sixty seconds, Finn would be nothing but a bloody puddle on the pavement. However, Finn seemed completely unperturbed. "Sorry to disappoint, Valletta," he said, "but it's not going to be that easy." The four spirit warriors came straight at him. Finn landed upon the roof of a large brothel. As soon as he did, sixteen of Alecto Familia's soldiers leaped out of hiding, their spells already charged. The trap was sprung. But with the cold flames of brutality brewing within him, the man people called a hero unleashed his ferocity. It was a massacre. "………" The distant sounds of his greatspear going to work sent a chill down Valletta's spine. Finn sliced the first of the spirit warriors in half almost immediately. A thrust skewered the second in the neck. The carnage was enough to give even those mindless beasts pause, but even that was short-lived before the third of them fell prey to the raging tip of Finn's weapon. The remnants of Alecto Familia trembled with fright. The spirit warriors had been weakened in their battle with Freya Familia, but they still should have made for formidable foes. The fourteen mages of the ambush squad immediately fired off their prepared spells and magic swords. In response, Finn gripped the still-moving body of the third spirit warrior and used it as a human shield. The very last thought that passed through the minds of the mages as their target disappeared into the flames, was how on earth had a mad berserker had been able to think up such a maneuver. The very next second, a throwing knife came speeding out of the inferno, skewering the Evils captain in the face. It crackled with dark lightning, betraying its true identity—the spirit dagger that had been lodged into the experiment's spine and gave it its powers. With their leader's death, his men were overcome by confusion and chaos. It was then that a voice issued forth from the flames. "Don't run away. Let's end it here." Then the small spearman leaped forward, slaughtering the remaining mages in the blink of an eye. Without their captain, they struggled to defend themselves, much less fight back. What was supposed to be the hunting of a mindless beast very quickly became the exact opposite, and the mad sycophants of Alecto and Apate were forced to pay the price for their vile crimes. The last spirit warrior roared and leaped at Finn, but they were no match for the prum captain and his magical enhancements. Watching the fight made it quite clear that Finn's spell had not dampened his tactical acumen to anywhere near the extent that Valletta had hoped. "Wha—?!" Valletta was at a loss for words. After breaking through the melee fighters, Finn moved on to the supporting mages. By disturbing their ranks, he was able to push through the blockade. "H-he's wiped out both Apate's and Alecto's forces!" cried a subordinate. "Braver's coming this way, ma'am!" "He defeated our ambush?" snarled Valletta. "How?! That shouldn't be possible!" Finn was meant to be nothing more than a savage beast, incapable of rational thought, let alone predicting a surprise attack. Up on the brothel roof, now a hill of blood, Braver stood and swung his spear. "As it turns out," he said, "I can break through the madness if I'm angry enough. I do confess that I didn't know that before. And wouldn't you know it…I'm quite angry." Finn's mind was sharp, his decisions swift. Like a flame so hot it burned clear and blue, his rage was more defined than it had ever been. "I had to watch my mentors die," he said. "I know this won't bring them back, but…won't you help me grieve?" Blood was splattered across his cheeks like an unholy specter, Finn took one step across the battlefield. "I want to bathe you in your own blood." His voice quivered like fire. "I want to make you buy back each and every life you've taken…with your own suffering." The hero became an avatar of rage and shot forward. "S-somebody stop him!" Valletta cried. "Hold him off so I can get away!!" Her soldiers let out terrified squeals as they ran to engage, but each of them ended up splattered against the cobbles like the ones who preceded them. "That look… That look in his eyes! There's no doubt about it…he's still sane! He's lost it and kept his sanity at the same time!" Pale with fear, Valletta had no choice but to accept the truth. Using his magic, Finn's as strong as a Level 6! He's the most powerful man in the city, alongside Ottar! My only edge was that he couldn't make rational decisions! Once that's out the window, I'm toast! Valletta's worst fears had become the honest truth. As she fled toward the center of the southwest district, Finn's golden spear, soaked in blood, bore down on her. "H-he can't be stopped! He's just one man, but… Gaaaagh!!" The last of Valletta's troops fell to Finn's attacks. All that was left was the toxic spider herself. "Don't try to squirm your way out of this one." "S-stay away from me! Stay awaaaaay!!" She let out a scream, fighting to be as far as possible from the lone prum. But Finn was completely cold to her humiliating flight. With one hand, he raised his spear like a javelin. "…Rot in hell, Valletta." He threw. The spear spiraled through the air at an ungodly speed, whistling toward the enemy commander. "Hrgh… Grgh!!" Time ground to a halt as pain shot through her body. The impact lifted her off her feet and into the air. Valletta shifted her gaze down and to the side. There, sticking out of her shoulder, was the tip of Finn's spear, coated in her own blood. "Gaaaaaaaaaaghhh!" The weapon remained lodged in her flesh, dragging her down into the snarl of streets below. "I missed," cursed Finn. "I only hit her shoulder. And now she's fallen into…" Daedalus Street. A labyrinthine maze of alleyways and passages. The city's second Dungeon. No amount of familiarity could help even a resident of Orario make sense of its enigmatic twists and turns. Some said that anyone who ventured in too deep would never come back out. Finn narrowed his crimson eyes. "I should hunt her down…end her life with my own two hands…but…" He shook his head. It was like his boundless rage and the mind of Braver were warring inside his brain. "I can't risk getting lost when there's so much going on. As much as it pains me to let her go…" Valletta was a slippery one. Even wounded, there was no telling how far into Daedalus Street she could make it. It would take Finn time, not just to track her down, but to make his way back. And time was one thing he didn't have right now. The longer he was absent from the board, the more Finn risked letting other enemy pieces give him the slip. "It's not good enough to win the battle… We need to win the war. Not just for those of us who live, but for those who've died." Muttering to himself, Finn closed his eyes. "…At times like this, I wish I really were a mindless beast." Consigning his sorrow to those words, he opened his eyes again. Now they were calm and blue, and filled with reason once more. "We'll call it quits here, Valletta. Both of us have lost too much." Turning his back on Daedalus Street, Finn departed to rendezvous with nearby troops and mop up the stragglers. The sight of him mowing down enemy forces by himself raised the spirits of adventurers across the whole battlefield. He may have allowed Valletta to escape, but Finn was dead set on making sure the remaining Evils understood the price of their sins, and that they were prepared to pay them back in full. With Valletta gone, there were none left among the Evils capable of matching Finn at the game of war. And so, the hero set dedicated himself to securing a complete strategic victory. We've taken out more than half of the Evils' lieutenants. It's safe to say the battle aboveground is drawing to a close now. In the casino neighborhood, Finn rejoined his army and went over the messengers' reports. The cries of adventurers filled the air. They seemed like they would burst into song at any moment. From the top of the building, Finn surveyed the whole city. All that's left is the Dungeon. Since she wasn't up here, I'm guessing Alfia really is down below, just as I predicted. The Dungeon monster, and Hera's finest. The task Riveria's group faced was harsher yet than anything in the city streets. However, if by some fluke their battle was still raging… "…Then her time should be running out right about now." Finn's eyes were drawn to the ground beneath his feet, where unfathomable depths below, his allies fought. Blades swung endlessly, creating an unremitting cacophony of sound. "Gah!" Hit by the witch's magic, Lyu was sent flying. "Leon!!" cried Alize, calling after her. There was nobody left to assuage her fears. Kaguya, Lyra, Neze—all the other girls had fallen to her might. Lyu looked up and saw a flutter of ashen hair. "This is the end," came Alfia's voice. She was so close there was no hope to either dodge or block her spell. Lyu watched in terror as the witch raised her arm. "Gospel." But just then, right after speaking her ultrashort chant, Alfia became mysteriously still. "Huh…? It didn't work…?" Lyu was astonished to find herself still living. She immediately leaped back to a safe distance, then shot Alfia a puzzled look. Why hadn't the witch's spell obliterated her? It wasn't long before Lyu received her answer. "…Hack!" Alfia's hand flew to her mouth, just as a flood of crimson erupted from her throat. "What?!" Lyu and the other girls had no idea what was happening. It was like the witch was suffering a fit of some kind. "She's…coughing up blood?!" "But we didn't do anything!" Lyu and Kaguya watched in shock as Alfia continued to choke. Her blood spilled forth, staining her dress and the crystals at her feet. Before long, she was standing in a scarlet puddle. "…It's true, then. What Finn said…" It was Lyra who spoke up first, still awestruck at what she was seeing. "I didn't believe him at first. I mean, these two are so friggin' powerful, there's no way…but he was right." The doors of memory were flung wide, and the girl's minds each played host to a scene of the past. It was Lyu who instinctively described the scene. "The weakness of Alfia, Silence…" "A weakness? Zald and Alfia have one?" They met on the eve of the decisive showdown, just a few short hours before total war began. Loki Familia had some vital information to share with the girls of Astrea Familia. "Yes," Finn had said. "There's a small chance you might end up fighting one of them. I'm telling you this just in case." Finn had already included this information in the battle plans sent to each of the familias, but at the eleventh hour, he had decided to call Astrea's girls to the Guild Headquarters war room. "A weakness, huh? Something that'll let us take 'em down in seconds, like a monster's magic stone? No chance." Lyra scanned the faces of Loki Familia's three leaders, clasping her hands behind her head. "Some tiny advantage, I bet. A of good that'll do when we're talkin' about two Level Seven's who'll flatten us with one hit," she said. Riveria answered Lyra's flippant attitude with neither anger nor blame. She only stated the facts. "That is true," she said. "It will not trivialize your task. However, we believe that if you plan appropriately, victory can nonetheless be yours." "…Against those two?" exclaimed Lyra in astonishment. "…You're pullin' our legs, right?" It was Gareth who answered. "This weakness existed back when the Zeus and Hera familias were still around. In all likelihood, they have not been able to cure it." "…We fought her, once," said Kaguya. "And we didn't see any sign of a supposed weakness. Nothing at all…" "There is one," Riveria reiterated. "What's more, it's the reason Alfia is still only Level Seven despite all her talent." Jaws hung open at Riveria's brazen remark. Even Alize was too stunned to say anything. It was Lyu, standing next to her, who spoke on her behalf. "And what is that weakness?" she asked, a hint of tension in her voice. Riveria closed her eyes. "The one thing that held her back from perfection: an incurable illness."
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter2.txt	Chapter 1: March and Break CHAPTER 1 March and Break Any adventurer could tell that the air was different in the Dungeon. It was like an invisible line dividing the world above from the one below. The moment they entered, a chilly air filled their lungs, reminding them exactly how far they'd strayed from the watchful gazes of the sun and the moon. But today the difference was even starker. "Roaaaaaaaaaghhh!!" Shouts filled the air on the first floor. It was more chaotic than ever. "The monsters are agitated!" cried Kaguya, looking around. "I think something's frightening them!" "No shit!" replied Lyra. "The ground's shaking beneath their feet, and it sounds like bombs are goin' off or somethin'! There might as well be a damn fireworks display!" She wore a cynical grin. All around her, goblins, kobolds, and other low-level monsters seemed to have taken leave of their senses and were running around like the world was going to end. "The quakes are way stronger down here!" shouted Neze. "I didn't really believe a monster could break through floors before, but I do now!" To the girls of Astrea Familia, the earthquakes felt like a giant had picked them up and started rattling them like a pair of dice. There could no longer be any doubt about the danger of the approaching threat. """Groooooooooagh!!""" "Horde of monsters, spotted dead ahead!" reported Noin, grasping her shortsword in one hand and buckler in the other. "Size is…I don't know, but it's a lot!!" "They're in a panic!!" added Celty, the elven mage. "They're attacking anything that comes close!" "What do we do, Alize?" asked Maryu, turning to her captain for guidance. The column of Astrea Familia moved swiftly through the Dungeon. Alize gave her orders without a second's delay. "Just ignore them!" she yelled. "Our target is the big one!" With her ponytail fluttering behind her, Alize pulled Crimson Order from its sheath and brandished its narrow blade. With one clean slash, she cut down three monsters that stood in the party's way. """Gyaaagh?!""" "Don't slow down! Don't let anything stop us! Go, go, go!!" """Got it!""" The girls answered their leader's command with practiced swiftness. The mad rush of monsters ran face-first into Noin's sturdy shield, and then met Kaguya's and Lyu's swords, Lyra's boomerangs, and Neze's twin blades. Thus Astrea Familia carved a path through the sea of foes. But following behind them was the strike team's smallest member. "Leave them to me." Her golden hair seemed to leave a glittering trail as she moved. Aiz Wallenstein wove deftly between her allies, then raised her sword—Desperate, the Durandal Superior-class weapon. "Die." As if parting the oceans, a single slash cut through the horde and reduced them to ash. The little monster hunter was unstoppable. She spun like a top, delivering another devastating swing, before leaping into a dance of death that dissolved the wall of foes like molten butter. Her foes were the runts of the Dungeon, but that didn't make her speed any less impressive. Noin clapped her hand to her mouth in astonishment. "She's so strong…!" "That girl ain't any taller than me, but look at her go!" said Lyra. "And she's gonna keep growin'! You call that fair?!" "Keep your envy to yourself, prum," said Kaguya. "It's distracting me." But as a fellow swordsmaiden, even Kaguya was forced to acknowledge the young girl's skill. "All power, no technique," she said, "but still, it's a miracle a child so young can fight like this. Now it makes sense why they call her the Sword Princess." Kaguya looked over at the girl once more. Just then, a second figure appeared beside Aiz. "Hai-yaaa!" "Guhhh?!" Lyu was quickly growing accustomed to wielding two swords at once and was making short work of the monsters. The skirmish continued for a short while, then, as the two combatants ran side by side, Lyu realized the girl had been staring at her for some time. "…Is something the matter, Sword Princess?" she asked with an awkward smile. "…Have we met?" Aiz replied. Lyu's long ears twitched. Yes, we have! It was dark, and I was wearing a mask, so maybe you don't remember, but we were basically trying to kill each other! Lyu attempted to make sure that none of her awkward inner thoughts showed on her face. All she could think about were the events of five days prior. "I apologize in advance. This is nothing but the futile tantrum of a lost and foolish elf." "I don't understand. Which means…I have to beat you." "Insolence!" Mired in the pain of loss and embarrassment of defeat, Lyu had lost sight of justice, and had been wandering aimlessly through the city when she ran into Aiz. A few tactless comments from the girl, along with her misguided interpretation of the situation, had led to a fight to the death. A fact that, if revealed now, would be so disgraceful, Lyu feared that none of her fellow familia members would ever want to speak to her again. There's no two ways about it—I gave in to my despair and attacked a little girl! I can't let Alize find out about this, and definitely not Lady Riveria! Lyu was greatly concerned with appearance and dignity. If her familia discovered this transgression, their teasing was the least of her worries. As for Riveria, the respect Lyu's kind felt for high elves bordered on divine worship. It was unthinkable to allow her embarrassing secret to come to light. Luckily, Aiz didn't seem to have worked it out yet. The mask had done its job, so that was some relief. However, Lyu's frantic mind still failed to spit out a coherent response. "Your eyes…and your voice. They seem…familiar somehow…" "Th-th-that's because…we got into a fight over the last Jyaga Maru Kun one time!" Lyu spat out a big, fat lie that raised more questions than it answered. Aiz scrutinized the elf girl closely, while a bead of sweat slowly worked its way down Lyu's face. "…Yes. That must be it," the young girl said at last. Completely fooled, Aiz moved on in search of her next target. Lyu didn't know whether to be relieved or concerned. "…I'm lucky she's an airhead…" However, there wasn't much time to think about it before she heard Kaguya shouting at her. "What are you doing, standing still like an idiot?! The monsters are going to be on top of us any minute!" "S-sorry!!" Lyu yelped, and she ran off to rejoin her allies. By this point, monsters were beginning to emerge from the lower levels. War shadows, killer ants, orcs—all creatures that would only normally appear much deeper. Neze dispatched a few of them, and then called out to her allies. "Where are we going to fight this monster, anyway? It's gotta be as big as a floor boss!" The animal girl furrowed her brow as quakes continued to rock the Dungeon, and Alize echoed her ally's concerns. "There's only a few places we can realistically fight something that size! Plus, we don't want to get ganged up on while we're trying to focus on the big one!" "Right you are, girls," said Gareth. "We can't have a scrap with a beast like that in the tunnels. A wide-open space would be much better." "A wide-open space, without too many monsters," said Riveria. "There's only one place I can think of that fits the bill." "You don't mean…?" asked Kaguya, though she suspected she already knew what the high elf was going to say. "The eighteenth floor—the Under Resort." "The Under Resort! And we'll be fighting an absolute behemoth!" cried Alize. "I've never heard of anything that even comes close to this!" Floor eighteen was a safe haven where no monsters spawned. While monsters could come up or down from the adjacent levels, to Alize's knowledge, nobody had ever attempted to conduct such a large-scale battle there before. However, the eighteenth floor also held special significance to the girls of Astrea Familia. Running alongside Alize, Lyra gave a short chuckle. "Bet you this was Finn's plan all along," she said. "Guy like him, he'd have come up with a strategy the moment he heard the monster was on its way." "You mean…?!" asked Lyu, astonished. "Yeah. That's why we were waitin' up top for so long. He calculated how long it would take us to reach the eighteenth floor and sent us off at the last minute so we would meet the monster there just in time." Lyra's words were little more than conjecture, borne of the confidence she placed in her people's hero, but Loki Familia remained silent, refusing to confirm or deny her theory. Kaguya, on the other hand, could not hold her tongue any longer. "He's no hero—he's a demon! How can he think so many steps ahead in such an unprecedented situation?!" The tone of her voice was a mixture of fear and awe. Her sentiments were echoed on the faces of every member of Astrea Familia. They could scarcely believe the prum hero had planned everything from the very first move. "Let's not forget about the people fighting on the surface," Alize pointed out. "The Dungeon monster is one thing, but fighting all the Evils at once is even worse!" "Plus, his top lieutenants are down here with us," added Lyu. "Is he really going to be all right?" The two girls couldn't help but be concerned. For all Finn's genius, he was on a strict timeline and faced an impossible task. There were bound to be holes in his strategy, weren't there? "It's okay," someone said. "Huh?" It was Aiz, running alongside them. "It's okay. Finn's unbeatable." In the young girl's mind, she was simply stating the truth. "That's why he won't lose." Lyu and Alize were a little taken aback by her directness. Meanwhile, Riveria and Gareth gave a little chuckle. "Aiz is right," the high elf said. "We won't get anywhere poking holes in Finn's plan. Better to focus on the task at hand." "Besides, the finest warriors of Freya Familia stand with him," added Gareth. "They make for troublesome foes, but there's no one I'd rather have on my side in a war." The old dwarven soldier shouldered his battle-ax and gazed at the Dungeon roof above. "Finn placed his trust in us," he said. "Now we must place our trust in him." """Ooooooouaghhhhh!!""" With a cry that shook the ash-gray clouds above, the minions of evil began their dark advance. "The enemy is descending from the walls! East, West, South…they're coming from every direction!!" Atop Guild HQ, in the northwestern district, Raul screamed his report. The armies of evil approached on all sides, leaving no hope of escape. Finn, however, did not let Raul's panicking disturb him. He calmly proceeded with his orders. "Mages! Magic swordfighters! Prepare to attack at will! Let them come into range, but don't give them a chance to set off any explosives!" Finn's commands were carried across the battlefield either by messengers, or through the signals of magic-stone beacons. "Ooooooaughhhh!!" Right on cue, the barrage commenced. Fire, ice, lightning—missiles of every element were hurled into the enemy ranks, detonating in earthshaking explosions. The war with evil had well and truly begun. "Besieged on all sides…?! I didn't know the Evils still had so many troops!" By occupying the city walls, the Evils had turned Orario's greatest defensive feature into the bars of a cage. Royman watched the opening of hostilities from the rooftop of the Guild and quailed in fright at their foes' complete and utter positional superiority. "They must be sending everyone they have!" he cried. But Finn narrowed his eyes. "Correction," he said. "Not quite everyone." "Oh, it's begun!" Valletta cackled. "It's really started now!" From her position atop the walls, she looked down at the city, where already the streets had turned to chaos. "But you know," she added with a grin. "Where's the fun if we don't add a little twist?" She peered across the war zone—toward the rooftop of Guild HQ, where she knew Finn must be watching as well. Then, in a loud voice, she declared… "I'm the kinda gal who likes a big, flashy opening! Feast your eyes on this!!" The Evils lieutenant snapped her fingers. The sharp sound hung in the air for a moment. Then… An explosion. "Wh-what?! What was that noise?!" cried Royman as a tremor knocked him from his feet and onto his rump. It was a quake unlike anything the Dungeon had spat out so far. Scanning the horizon, Raul's eyes finally fell on columns of smoke. "I-it's an explosion!" he yelled. "They've destroyed the city gates!" "What?! Which gates?!" Raul's face went pale as he stammered. "A-all of them…" "…What?" When Raul finally got over the shock enough to elaborate, he yelled his report as loudly as he could. "All the city gates have been destroyed! And that's not all! Monsters are entering the city from outside!!" Deafening screams and rumbling howls filled the air. There were eight gates equally spaced around the circumference of Orario. And now, from every cardinal direction, monsters began flooding into the city. "Aaaaaaaghhh!" "Graaaaaarghhh!!" Stepping over the ruins of a collapsed house, the monsters poured into Orario like an invading army. Within the shelters, the city's residents were pushed to the brink of despair. The heavy footfalls of a host thousands strong signaled the desecration of their home. Meanwhile, jubilant cries rose up from the other side. "Hah-hah-hah-hah! Ain't that a beautiful sight?! Now this place has really gone to the dogs!" To Valletta and her fellow Evils, the sight of monsters within the city walls symbolized the downfall of their hated foe. She watched with glee as the invaders advanced on the embattled adventurers. "Let me see you cry! Let me see you break! Let me see you die! In the end, I'll be the last one standing!!" "Th-this can't be happening… Monsters, here in Orario, the bulwark of the entire world?!" Meanwhile, back atop Guild HQ, all the color had drained from Royman's face. "This is outrageous! Those monsters defile the legacy of our great and noble ancestors!" "It's the obvious move," replied Finn without batting an eye. "If I were in Valletta's position, I'd do the exact same thing." "Wh-what?!" "Valletta's job is to cause mayhem and destruction. For that, monsters make the perfect pawns. All she has to do is lure them into the city, and they take care of the rest. This is just another reason they wanted to occupy the walls." In terms of pure combat ability, the Evils were sorely lacking compared to the entire city of Orario, which could call upon many upper-class adventurers. In such a situation, it made perfect sense to focus on quantity instead. Finn knew and understood this better than anyone, but Raul and Royman both found the prum captain's calm deduction shocking. The latter was especially bewildered, as he immediately went red-faced and began ranting at Finn. "I don't believe you, Mr. Deimne! You knew this all along and did nothing to prevent it?! Why?!" "Don't be ridiculous, Royman," Finn answered without turning around, "You know full well it would've been impossible to protect the gates. If we even made the attempt, Babel and the five strongholds would've fallen instantly." His steely gaze remained fixed on the city as his keen mind analyzed the many factors at play. "It doesn't matter if our enemy destroys the gates, the walls, or even the city itself. We can always rebuild, just like our ancestors built this city before us." "…!" "Don't forget our priorities," Finn reiterated. "We must defend Babel to the last. Failure is not an option." A cold calculation. A rational choice. Even Royman hesitated to speak carelessly in the face of Finn's blinding determination. "B-but even so!" he stuttered at last. "The city is almost in ruins as we speak! Do you have any idea how much it's going to cost to repair if things get any—" "Groaaaaaaaghhh!" "Wha—?!" "That's enough, Royman. The enemy is coming. Go back inside." "Grr…! Listen to me, Mr. Deimne! You had better win this war, you hear me? If you don't, I'll have some stern words for you!!" After speaking like a true bureaucrat. Royman disappeared inside the Guild HQ building just as the sound of monster roars filled the air. Finn didn't once look away from the battlefield to watch him go. "Of course we will," he muttered, now only to himself. "That's what we're here for." His azure eyes scanned the streets below, where the initial exchange of magical blasts, arrows, and breath attacks was drawing to a close. Waves upon waves of monsters and cultists descended on the strongholds in the city, and on the adventurers who guarded them. Due north of Babel, in the fortified Loki Familia home, Dyne silently readied his weapon as he stood alongside Bahra and Noir. "Here they come…" Noir muttered. In the south, within the famed Casino that stood amid the ruined shopping district, Falgar gripped his weapon and lowered his center of gravity, while dozens of Berbera stood by his side. "Let them come!" he roared. In the east, Allen's eyes burned with a murderous rage. "…I'm gonna turn you into roadkill!" He launched himself at the enemy. The city's spear rapidly closed the distance between the oncoming enemies, and just as the two were about to clash… The hero spoke. "It's time. The battle has begun." All across the city, combatants roared in agreement with his words—words they couldn't possibly hear. Their voices rose as one, united in opposition to the resounding voice of evil. The gruesome death cries of monsters carried through the walls, accompanied by the endless clashing of steel. Within the Casino, all the lights had been switched off, and civilians huddled close together in the darkness. "It…it's begun!" one of them said. "The fighting's so close…!" From time to time, a tremor would cause the building to rock as if it were a ship sailing the turbulent oceans, while the sounds of rampant violence filtered in from outside. The waves of Evils were the stormy seas, the monsters the tumultuous skies, and the adventurers the brave sailors at the helm. Belowdecks, all the citizens of Orario could do was stifle their screams and hope that the planks of Orario's hull would hold. "Waaah! I'm scared!!" Many of the young ones were crying, and it was all the grown-ups could do not to join them. The incessant tears of children mirrored their own desires. It was then that one woman placed a reassuring hand on a crying girl's head. "It'll be okay. The adventurers will protect us." It was a woman who had lost her own daughter—a girl called Leah—to the horrors of war. Once, she had turned her anger and despair upon the girls of Astrea Familia and thrown stones at them. "W-will they really?" the child asked. "Yes. Because no matter how many times they fall down…they always stand back up." The woman's faith in justice was so dazzling that the girl froze. She could see it in the woman's eyes; hear it in the strength of her voice. After a short while, she managed to suppress the rising feeling in her throat. She looked up at the bereaved mother, with tears in her eyes, and nodded. Seeing that, Leah's mother smiled. A man was watching the two of them from a short distance away. The same man Adi had once forgiven. A man who had cast aside his wickedness and stood in harm's way to protect Lyu. "Stay strong…stay strong out there!" he yelled, raising his eyes to the ceiling. "We'll stay strong in here, too! We believe in you!!" The man's words echoed in the hearts of everyone present. Across the hall, people clasped their hands in prayer and thought of their saviors. And outside, adventurers let out a wild yell as if they were answering those prayers. """Roaaaaaaaahhh!!""" They fought bravely to defend the civilians' refuges: the Casino, the Amphitheatrum, Guild HQ, and the Ganesha Familia home. They stood on the rooftops of buildings, pelting the monsters with projectiles both magical and physical, while simultaneously fending off the Evils with blade and shield. Anyone who was wounded and fell, whether friend or foe, met a grisly end at the jaws of the mindless beasts below. Blood and war. Fiends and chaos. Surely, this would be the state of the world today had Babel not been built to seal the monsters below the earth. Meanwhile, before the gates of Twilight Manor, the home of Loki Familia, Noir's blade cut through five of the monsters at once as they attempted to pounce. "Now we have to deal with these fiends as well as our fellow man?" grumbled the old dwarf, Dyne. "Plus, they've no concern for the damage they cause this city with their magic!" "The monsters are only from the surrounding fields!" yelled the Amazon, Bahra. "They're not that strong, so don't worry!" With ax and fist, they cleared the enemy ranks, raising the morale of everyone nearby. The other members of Loki Familia were inspired by their brave actions to do whatever they could in the city's defense. Among them all was a single elf girl who had only recently become a Level 2. "Alicia! Where's that support?" Bahra yelled back at her. "Are your teeth chattering so hard you can't recite the spell?!" "Why don't you go back to the watchtower like Raul and Aki?" suggested Dyne. "N-no! I'm the one who volunteered to be here! I-if I can't at least fulfill my duties, then I can't possibly show my face to the other elves…not to mention Lady Riveria!" Alicia tried her best to ignore the teasing of her elders. Although this was far from the worst of the fighting, as she was stationed on the battlements of the manor, the terror of being in a real war for the first time was almost too much to bear. She tried to stop shivering and reminded herself of her mission and her pride. Then she raised her bow and unleashed a scattershot of icicle-shaped projectiles into the enemy lines. Her aim was lacking compared to a more seasoned mage, but it was still very effective at suppressing fire. Noir smiled and wove among the arrows, delivering a fatal slice to the enemy forces as they faltered in terror. "Still," he said. "They have us vastly outnumbered, and there are still suicide bombers to deal with…" Noir paused to swig a healing potion before more enemies could arrive. He looked back at the manor he was defending, where hastily constructed fortifications ringed it on all sides. Even now, monsters swarmed the base of those outer walls. He and the other veterans had all leaped down into the fray, but the less-experienced familia members could only hole up inside the building and attack at range from the battlements. That was how fierce the fighting had become. Plus, there were the bombers to consider. Right now the ranged unit was focusing their attacks on them, ensuring their bombs detonated behind the enemy front line, before they could get close to the fortifications. This strategy was working for now, but if the enemy advanced in earnest, there would be little the manor's protectors could do to stop it. Meanwhile, all it would take was one cultist to get close enough to blow a hole in the defenses, and the civilians inside were as good as dead. An army of death. That was what people were starting to call it. Noir muttered curses under his breath. The enemy marched with no regard for their own lives or safety. Even the veterans had never seen anything like it. "It's backbreaking work keeping the fortress safe while we fight off wave after wave. I can't believe you'd foist all this work on your elders, Finn…" Noir cast a glance toward the silhouette of Guild HQ in the distance and gave a bitter smile. The events of a few hours earlier played through his mind. "Noir, I'm leaving to assume command and carry out the defense of Guild HQ. The Twilight Manor is in your hands while I'm gone." It was shortly after Finn had left for Guild HQ to share the details of his plan—shortly after the enemy destroyed the city gates and allowed monsters to flood the streets—that Finn returned to the Twilight Manor and spoke to Noir. "We're countin' on ya, Noir!" Loki had said. "We may have paid off the loan on this place, but we can't let the enemy put a single scratch on me and Riveria's love castle!" "Oh, and take care of Loki, too, will you?" Finn had added with a smile. "That's an awful lot of work for one man," Noir had protested. "Plus, given the city's layout, the northeast of Orario is where the fighting is going to be the thickest!" Orario sat at the western tip of the continent, while the brackish lake upon which Port Meren sat extended from the west to the southwest of the city. Even without Finn's strategic genius, Noir could predict where the vast majority of monsters would appear. The Evils could never hope to take direct control of the monsters and strategically guide them to a specific location like a proper army. All the tamers in the world couldn't make such a feat possible. The Twilight Manor stood not far from the northeastern gates into the city. For Noir, the duty of protecting it was a poisoned chalice, and he could scarcely believe the prum's gall in handing it to him. But the brazenness of Finn's subsequent response made his previous words seem entirely reasonable by comparison. "It's only you I can trust with this. Besides, I'm sure your old-man wisdom can come up with something. Isn't that how you, Dyne, and Bahra beat sense into us back in the day? What are you worried about?" Noir still vividly remembered the prum's grin. He made short work of a monster that attempted to catch him unawares, then gave a derisive snort. "You picked a fine day to start respectin' your elders, young'un! If you ask me, we didn't beat you hard enough!" "Finn was just a kid who didn't know the first thing about the Dungeon back in those days!" said Bahra. "Gareth and Riveria, too!" "But those kids were strong, and they tore through waves of monsters without even needin' our help," added Dyne. "I still remember all the fights we used to have!" Noir nodded in agreement, then fixed his eyes on some distant spot. "And now, the fate of this city rests on their shoulders… It's a weighty burden, to be sure…" He paused in contemplation, but the enemy would not allow a moment of solace. Seeing the approaching foes, Noir readied his sword. It was a single-edged blade, based on those from the Far East, and its name was Undying Vow. "I suppose it's only fair," he said. "If Finn places his trust in us, then let's make sure he won't regret it!" "Groooooooaaaaghhh!" The monstrous screams were deafening. The Evils and adventurers all shuddered at those inhuman sounds. The source of these screams, striking fear and awe into friend and foe alike, was a catman who had earned himself the title of the city's fastest. "Drop dead, freaks." "Gyaaaagh?!" Allen Fromel was waging a one-man war, making short work of the cultists with one sweep of his silver spear. He reminded people of a capricious kitten…if a kitten could tear its prey to shreds in a single blow. His speed allowed him to hit the enemy from the front or the back before they even knew what was happening, and whether they attempted to flee or fight back, all were trampled beneath the wheels of Vana Freya, the chariot of the gods. The mages on his side didn't even have chance to cast their spells before Allen's spear ran the suicide bombers through, and then, once he was already far out of the blast range, a chain of crimson flowers bloomed across the battlefield. """Wh-whoooooooaaaaaaahhhh!!""" The other adventurers couldn't help but voice their shock. Allen's high-speed assault didn't even give the enemy time to detonate their own bombs. Allen was defending the Amphitheatrum, in eastern Orario. Along with the northern districts, this region was where the majority of enemies were expected to appear. However, right now it was serving as the private hunting grounds of the warrior currently boasting the highest body count in the city. Many of Freya's other followers were stationed here, bolstered by adventurers from other familias. They fought to protect the civilians taking refuge within the stronghold. Anyone or anything that approached the walls were swiftly repelled with bolts of fire and lightning, while the warriors created a wall of steel with their axes and blades. As Allen and the other members of Orario's most prominent familia continued to fight, their allies cheered them on. Those cheers could be heard far across the city, atop Guild HQ, where a single prum hero smiled and said, "Nicely done." The efforts of Freya Familia on the east side of the city were steadily raising the coalition's morale. However, once the enemy was completely eradicated, a member of Freya Familia shouted across to Allen from the battlements. "M-Mr. Fromel! You're straying too far forward! Wh-what about defending the stronghold…?" "That's your job. I'm here to run people over. That's all." Allen's main strength came from his ability to fight alone. Staying too close to his allies would only result in trapping people beneath the wheels of his chariot. Normally, tightening Allen's leash was Hedin's job, but as the white elf was otherwise occupied, Allen was free to act as he pleased, and the most useful thing he could do now was disrupt the enemy ranks and sow chaos, plus filling any gaps in the defensive line. "You need a first-tier adventurer to wipe your ass for you?" Allen sneered at his junior. "Don't tell me you still got cold feet." "!" "You heard that prum asshole's speech, right? There's nothin' left to lose. Those bastards took it all from us." Allen's words were far from a typical pep talk, but they did their job all the same. He leveled a sharp gaze at his animal girl junior, and she snapped to attention. "Y-yes, sir!" The other defenders threw themselves back into the battle once more. Allen, meanwhile, paused and looked around. For a few moments, his gaze drifted in the direction of West Main Street and a certain tavern that stood there. "I got nothing left to lose…" he repeated. "But if you're gonna try to steal from me anyway, then you'll get what's comin' to you." Then a moment later, he put that thought behind him and once more dashed off in the direction of the enemy lines. "Look at 'em, actually puttin' up a decent fight. Finn had to know this was comin'." With a gentle tap, a pair of boots landed on the rooftop. Her fur-lined coat swept around her legs as Valletta surveyed the city up close. She had descended from the walls into the trading district in the southwest and set up a temporary forward base atop the largest building in the area, allowing her an unhindered view of the city, and the war zone it had become. "What a shitty little hero… I put all this work into surprisin' him, and he doesn't even blink!" Valletta beamed with a malicious grin while two of her subordinates came running over to her. "Ma'am!" one of them said. "All units are now engaged! We have a report to make regarding the enemy formation!" "They seem to have concentrated their forces in five key locations!" the other piped up. "We haven't spotted any adventurers or civilians anywhere in the streets!" Valletta Grede raised a puzzled brow. "Eh? The hell's that supposed to mean?" "We believe the civilians are being kept in those five strongpoints, ma'am!" "But even there, we've encountered only a handful of first-tier adventurers! We believe the remainder must be waiting somewhere in reserve!" Ankusha of Ganesha Familia, Perseus of Hermes Familia—all these top warriors were conspicuously absent. Even of Freya Familia, only Vana Freya had been spotted in the wild. The stress was clearly getting to the two cultists as they continued their report. "Plus, we've spotted a great number of enemy scouts—even more numerous than our own! We believe they must be trying to locate Lord Zald and Lady Alfia!" Valletta pondered the matter for only a second before exploding into laughter. "Ha-ha-ha-ha! So that's your game, Finn! You rotten bastard!" "L-Lady Valletta…? Is something the matter…?" "Finn doesn't give two shits about protecting the people! He's using them as bait!!" Valletta stared out across the city once more. "North, northwest, southwest, south, and east! Five strongholds, equally defended, making us divide our forces!" The northern point was Twilight Manor, in the northwest, Guild HQ, in the southwest, Iam Ganesha, in the south, the Casino, and in the east, the Amphitheatrum. Some of Orario's troops were putting up a perfunctory defense, but the bulk of Finn's forces were lying in wait. It stank of an ambush, and there was only one thing Valletta could guess they were after. "They're comin' after our trump cards!" "You mean…Lord Zald and Lady Alfia?!" "Exactly. That cocky bastard! He's sayin', 'Take as many rooks as you want, 'cause I'm comin' for your king and queen!'" Valletta drew her crimson tongue across her lips and pointedly looked at the heart of the city. "The rest of their forces must be in there! That wall of ice ain't for keeping us out; it's for keeping them hidden!" "The barrier is made up of ice. It encircles all of Central Park." "Not a magical barrier, but a physical one. Our enemy seeks to furnish its keep with walls, it seems." Valletta thought back to what Olivas had said when the barrier first appeared. Shards of ice, like petals of a cactus flower, surrounded the base of Babel. But the purpose of that barrier was not, as Valletta first expected, to reinforce the tower while the adventurers fought elsewhere. In truth, the bulk of Finn's armies had not taken a single step out of Babel's shadow. The wall of ice had been constructed to obscure that fact. "I—I see…" said one of the soldiers after Valletta explained all this. "It's true. The scent of helpless civilians sheltering inside the strongholds is drawing all the monsters away from Babel." "W-was this Finn's plan all along?! To use people as bait?! Wh-what do we do now, Lady Valletta?!" The strongholds were relatively close to the city gates. In all likelihood, Finn had chosen them for precisely that reason. As soon as the monsters set one foot inside the walls of Orario, they would catch the whiff of fresh meat and be drawn to the battlements, where bands of adventurers were waiting to dispatch them. This left the Evils unable to rally enough forces to seize Central Park. The Evils soldiers could scarcely believe how much the enemy commander had seen through their plans. They looked up at Valletta for guidance. The woman was silent. Her laughter had disappeared into the wind, and she now wore only a steely scowl, like a chess player pondering their next move. If all their top dogs are waitin' at Babel, then a half-assed strike force ain't gonna cut it. Even if we ditch the monsters and send our whole army there, those strongholds are perfectly positioned to encircle us no matter which direction we come from. We march in there, it's gonna be a bloodbath either way, and not the good kind. The battle of wits had begun. Valletta almost felt as though she could see her opponent, standing far away on the rooftop of Guild HQ, across the intermediary streets that served as their board. But if we go after the strongholds first, we're playin' right into Finn's hand. That's why he set up the board like this. It's exactly what he wants… At that very moment, across the vast divide, Finn was also scrutinizing the state of the game. If Valletta wants to rid the board of these troublesome strongholds, she'll need Zald and Alfia. But our scouts are spread throughout the city. The moment those two Level 7s make a move, we'll know about it. Their downfall will ensure Orario's victory, and we have enough forces on standby to make it happen. Finn's sole aim was to topple the enemy king and queen. To do that, he was prepared to pay any price. So long as those two indomitable conquerors remained on the board, all of his stratagems were meaningless, no matter how clever they were. And if you don't want to make a move, he said to the Valletta in his mind, then that's just fine by me. We're on our home turf, and a drawn-out battle favors us. You're the ones who are going to grow weaker as time goes on. Just as Valletta feared, Finn wanted her to devote time and resources to taking down the strongholds first. He'd gathered the civilians in those five locations for precisely that purpose, knowing full well he was exposing them to danger in the process. They were bait in every sense, both for the enemy commander and for the monsters that swarmed the walls. Of course, Finn wouldn't give up the strongholds without a fight, but if the people inside had to die, the prum commander fully intended to capture a powerful piece in return for this sacrifice. It was Finn's ruthless approach to command that earned him Valletta's begrudging approval. His cutthroat gambit was the key to setting up the board. Even the gods could agree on that. It was truly as if the war were nothing more than a game to him—a game that he endeavored to win. High above the people and their individual woes, he and Valletta considered their options and made their trades with precision. The gears in his mind finally slowed and Finn opened his eyes to peer across the city in the direction of his distant foe. "All our pieces are on the board now," he said. "From here on out, the battle is all up here, in our minds. So, what'll it be, Valletta? What's your next move?" "Ain't it obvious?! I'm gonna take that bait!!" A ferocious smile worked its way across the woman's lips. "Get me Zald!" she barked at her subordinates. "Send him to Central Park! We're gonna bring that wall of ice down!" "Y-you wish to send Lord Zald in there alone?!" "He may be Level Seven, but he can't take on all of Orario's top warriors at once!" Her orders were like flames that she spat at her witless subordinates, causing them to quail in confusion and terror. Valletta laughed scornfully at their cowardice. "You deaf, shitheads? That's Zeus's top dog you're talkin' about! Besides, who cares as long as he takes the adventurers down with him?! Countin' the monsters, we easily outnumber those stinkin' babies! Crushing their strongholds one by one'll be child's play, and once those grade A assholes at Babel are outta the picture, no one'll come runnin' anymore, and they won't have nowhere to run to!" "B-but…!" "Have the troops keep attacking the forts! Get everyone else together, call up Alecto and Apate's kids. They're gonna nip the adventurers' hope in the bud! We'll show 'em how a king does things!" "Y-yes, ma'am!" For all Valletta's cruelty, she was a frighteningly intelligent woman. As the Evils cultists ran off to deliver her orders, she shouldered her sword and looked out across the city. "We don't need fancy strategies! We've got the most powerful piece in the world on our side!!" Valletta knew not to trust her pieces too much, or too little. She also knew better than to let the intricate maneuvers of her opponent befuddle her. Above all, she knew that, in this situation, a direct attack was the most effective move. And so, she locked eyes with her foe across the vast distance and made her proclamation. "If you're worried about the king, then you can have him! Wait right there, Finn! After I eat the bait, I'm comin' for you!" "C-Captain! The enemy is altering their formation!" The enemy lines shifted like a coiled viper. The cultists, previously content to wait behind the waves of monsters, now joined the assault on the strongholds. "So Valletta's chosen a head-on attack, just as I suspected she would!" Finn squinted down at the streets, where he could see for himself how the battle was unfolding. "Raul!" he cried. "Send a message to Central Park! The enemy is on their way; stick to the plan!" "Y-yes, sir!" Raul ran over to the magic-stone beacon installed on the rooftop and began operating the signaling mechanism as fast as he could. The beacon flickered in several different colors, and before long, a flashing light on the thirtieth floor of Babel issued a response. This system allowed messages to be transmitted almost instantly across any large distance. Codes were agreed upon in advance, and shortly after Finn's order was sent out, the other strongholds responded as well. Messengers ran to and fro, shouting over each other to be heard, and at this present moment, the rooftop of Guild HQ was as busy as any normal day within its walls. "I knew it was too much to hope that this gambit would stump our foe," muttered Finn to himself. "The situation hasn't changed, and we're still at a heavy disadvantage." Finn had hoped that the bait would at least trip Valletta up for a moment, but it seemed the enemy commander was every bit as smart as Finn had suspected. The cultists and the monsters were still battering the strongholds and their attacks had not eased up at all. Instead, the strongest piece on the board was headed for Babel alone. "I'm sorry, Ottar. It looks like we're counting on you after all." His voice carried on the wind, ferried toward the ring of ice that surrounded Babel's base.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter20.txt	Chapter 8: The Price of Talent CHAPTER 8 The Price of Talent "An incurable illness?" In the war room of Guild HQ, Lyu repeated Riveria's words with a sense of shock. Finn took over the explanation. "Yes," he said. "According to our sources, Alfia has had it since birth. Even receiving a Falna didn't cure her of it—instead, it manifested as a negative Skill." The Skills and spells granted by Blessings were usually beneficial, but not always. They were a reflection of that person's inner truths, and so sometimes they were all downside without any merit. Alfia was one such example. Finn had learned as much, back in the glory days of Zeus and Hera. "You could call it the price she pays for her exceptional abilities." "It is the one rule that even Alfia must follow," said Riveria. "Something that no magic or item can overturn." Everyone in the room was shocked, save for Lyu. After scanning the surprised faces of the team, Gareth moved on to the next point. "As for Zald," he said. "While Alfia's weakness is inborn, his is acquired. A pestilent rot slowly consumes him." "Acquired? Rot? What do you mean by that?" asked Kaguya. The dwarf's gaze became unfocused, as if he were looking far into the past. "It happened when we slew the Behemoth," he said. "In the battle, Zald was afflicted by the beast's poison." ""!!"" Alize and Lyu were both surprised to hear talk of that old battle come up. "This is top-secret information, but Zald possesses a Rare Skill called Deus Ambrosia." Any records the Guild kept on its familias and the adventurers within them were considered strictly confidential. Some were so afraid of having information leaked that they secretly avoided reporting to the Guild at all. However, Zeus and Hera shared a special relationship with Ouranos, the founder of the city. They had delved deeper into the Dungeon than anyone else, mapped out each of its floors, discovered how to unlock Advanced Abilities, and studied the best way to develop Statuses. It was safe to say that, without them, Orario would not be what it was today. The city's history was their history. Hidden somewhere in those thousand years of recorded history were Zald's and Alfia's secrets. After their familias crumbled, Finn had gone to the Guild to request it. The Guild, with Ouranos's blessing, agreed, thus pinning their hopes on a new generation of hero. Reading those reports for the first time blew Finn's mind. The Abilities those adventurers possessed were off the charts. And Zald's was the most unbelievable of them all. "Have you ever wondered why they call him Glutton? It's because his Skill is activated by eating. Animals, people, even monsters. And when it does, it boosts his stats." "Wha—?!" exclaimed Lyra. "He gets stronger just by eatin'?! That's basically cheating!" "Of course, many things only offer a miniscule increase," explained Gareth. "It depends on what he eats. The stronger it is, the greater the effect. I've heard he eats anything from materials gathered in the Dungeon to the bodies of his fallen allies. But what he ate most of all was monsters." "So you mean…" Lyu trembled, realizing where this was going. Gareth closed his eyes. "Yes. Zald ate the Behemoth, too. In order to win, he bit straight into its flesh. That granted him the power to deal the killing blow, but Behemoth's deadly poison struck back like a curse, devouring him slowly to this very day." Astrea Familia was at a loss for words, hearing for the first time how the Behemoth was really slain. To bite into the flesh of any monster was a vile, repugnant act for most people. It was unthinkable to try that with an incarnation of death like the Behemoth. What must have passed through Zald's mind when he did it? Was it a necessary step to take down a powerful foe? Or an act of bravery to protect those dear to him? At last, the girls understood what Gareth had meant when he described Zald's weakness as "acquired." "He, too, was fighting his own torment. One that we couldn't possibly understand." "That's awful…" muttered Lyu, imagining the price Zald paid for his heroic act. Though he was their foe, she couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic. Lyra grimaced. "In the end, the Behemoth had the last laugh… Ironic, ain't it?" "Both Glutton and Silence played important parts in the slaying of the Leviathan and the Behemoth," explained Riveria. "But due to their actions, Zald was forced to retire from frontline combat, while Alfia's condition dramatically worsened." "So then, the weakness you wanted to tell us about…" Alize ventured. "Yes," answered Finn. "They can only fight for so long. If the battle drags on, their curses take their toll. Perhaps Ottar can get away with ignoring this, but for anyone else, it's the only way to even have a chance against them." After a short pause, Lyra piped up. "Even if they did have these tickin' time bombs strapped to them back in the day—and I'm not sayin' I totally believe it, either…" she said. "But who's to say they still have those conditions? I mean, they weren't shy about marching straight into the city, and they sure aren't actin' like their days are numbered. Maybe they found some way to cure themselves while they were away all those years doin' gods know what." The coolheaded brain of the party was never one to indulge in optimistic thinking. Plan for the worst, hope for the best was her mantra. Sensing somewhat of an affinity with his own personality, Finn grinned and explained to her the basis of his theory. "You're right, Slyle," he said, "but I have reason to suggest that's not the case." "How's that?" "On the night of the Great Conflict, Zald and Alfia could have easily struck a decisive blow, but they chose not to. What if that wasn't caution on their part, but simply necessity, imposed by their respective conditions?" Alize's face lit up with understanding. "Oh! You mean, they wanted to finish us off but couldn't? Like, they needed to rest after the battle?" "That would explain why it took some time before we saw those two again…" added Kaguya. Finn nodded. "But that's not all. Even before the Great Conflict began, we realized the Evils were up to something." The way Finn spoke suggested that of his two points, what he was about to say was what had convinced him his hunch was right. With confidence in his voice, he spilled what he knew of the Evils' plans. This was what Astrea, Freya, and Loki had convened to discuss only two days before the Great Conflict began, and what Hermes Familia had discovered eight days before that. It was Gareth who picked up the remainder of Finn's tale. "We know they conducted raids on magic-stone factories in order to acquire the detonators for their suicide bombs. However, there were two other points of activity that didn't make much sense at the time…" "The first were the actions of unblessed followers in Dedyne," Riveria explained. "And the second was the theft of holy tree branches." "Dedyne…home of the Black Desert, where the battle with the Behemoth was fought…" The eighteenth floor still burned. Atop a cliff, Astrea was discussing with Erebus the very same topic her children were. "The land lies barren as a result of the King of Beasts' toxic flesh," she said, "but it is said that somewhere in the desert, a single species of plant thrives." Astrea didn't even need to say the rest for Erebus to admit it. "Quite perceptive," he said. "Yes, we sent our followers there to harvest that plant and make from it a tonic to keep Zald's illness in check." "And the elven tree branches…" "A partial remedy for Alfia's condition. The ample magic power those branches contain is perfect for easing her symptoms." All of it had been in pursuit of these two items, so the conquerors could fight at full power for as long as possible. Meanwhile, aboveground, Hermes muttered to himself. "That's why we never saw the bigger picture," he mused. "The detonators, the activity in Dedyne, and the holy tree branches—they were all for different purposes." It was Hermes Familia who first learned of the goings-on elsewhere on the continent, but they only realized their significance on the night of the Great Conflict, with the arrival of Zald and Alfia. They had informed Finn at once—that the enemy's trump cards were limited-use. That information was what had allowed Finn to stay hopeful, even when the conquerors' might seemed overwhelming. "All along, the Evils were funneling resources into their three secret weapons: the suicide bombs, Zald, and Alfia," said Hermes, grasping at the singular line that led to victory. "But now that we know that, it's proof enough that Glutton and Silence still possess their weaknesses." "Cough! Cough! Hack!!" No matter how much Alfia choked, the blood kept coming, staining her sickly pale skin in sticky crimson. Kaguya blanched at the sight. "Just how much blood have you lost?" Lyu couldn't help but ask. "And how much pain have you lived through your whole life?" "How can I possibly answer that?" Alfia replied, after her fits had finally subsided. "This is all I have known from the moment I was born. If I asked you to describe the blood that flows through your veins, what would you say?" With a slender arm, she wiped the blood from her lips. "Alas, this detestable sickness has taken everything from me—even my own twin. If not for this, could I have slain the Black Dragon?" This was her regret. Her curse. Her twin sister was the price she paid for her power—power that still fell short of fulfilling her goals. "Could I have escaped this odious noise? Could I have escaped your scornful and piteous glares?" Neze, Noin, Lyana, Maryu, Iska, Asta, Celty. Their eyes were all focused on her, causing Alfia to twist her lips in rage. The witch spoke the truth—if not for her illness, she would have obliterated Astrea Familia. Perseus's accessory, Alfia Belador, and Riveria's spell, Veil Breath, had allowed the girls to survive Alfia's opening gambit long enough for her ailment to kick in and decide the fate of the battle. Since the fight began, Alfia's condition had been steadily deteriorating. It was as if someone had been casting anti-Status Magic on her every second. Alize had realized it first, when she noticed the witch's power level was dropping. The name of her Skill, the manifestation of her illness, was Gif Blessing. It induced a perpetual Limit Off state, but at great cost. In battle, or whenever she suffered her fits, she was hit with many simultaneous status conditions, including poison, paralysis, and immobilizing sickness. Plus, for as long as it was active, her stats, stamina, and Mind all continuously decreased. It was the price of her monstrous talent, unmatched by even the most costly of curse spells. No matter how hard she tried to mitigate it with technique, tactics, or going all out, Alfia at present possessed no greater combat ability than a Level 5. Perhaps even only a Level 4. As she was now, even Astrea Familia's victory began to sound possible. That was because any adventurer party was capable of overcoming a one-level gap through teamwork—it was the basic theory behind fighting a floor boss. It wasn't only that Alfia could flatten her foes in an instant—she needed to. If the battle was allowed to drag on, she was doomed. "Grh…! Alfia, we…!" Lyu stepped forward and yelled at her but wasn't able to find the words to go on. Before she could think of them, Lyra butted in. "Let's cut to the chase," she said, casting the witch a deadly glare. "We both know you're boned, so why not give up and come quietly, eh?" "It's painfully obvious you cannot keep up the fight any longer," Kaguya agreed, directing a look at Alfia that one might give a decomposing corpse. "As much as it vexes me to give up on my revenge, I will not bring my sword down on such a pitiful sight." "Alfia," said Alize with sincerity in her voice. "It's best you surrender. We might not be able to overlook the things you've done…but I understand why you did them; I really do." There wasn't long left. From the very beginning, Alfia had been paying with her life just to be here, and now it wasn't even certain she'd survive to see it through. Alize's gaze held a fierce condemnation for Alfia's evil acts, but there was still a trace of respect. "Surrender… Surrender, you say…" Her words played on Alfia's lips. Feeling the battle was reaching its inevitable conclusion, the girls began to lower their weapons. And then… "When will you vermin stop disappointing me?!" She unleashed a wave of magical energy and rage. "Gah?!" "Do not make the mistake of taking pity on me, whelps. It does not matter how far my sickness progresses, it will never stop me burying every last one of you!" The sound blast hit Lyu and her allies all at once. Alfia straightened her back, tall and proud once more, determined to live up to her name. "And what does it change, in any case? Even if I am destined to die, Orario is finished! Killing me changes nothing! Behold, the monster rages yet!" Alfia swept her arm, and as if on cue, the girls heard Delphyne's terrifying roar. "Roaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!!" Lyu looked in its direction and grunted. "Grh…!" "Th-the monster!" cried Celty. "It's regenerating!" said Kaguya. "It's somehow even uglier than before! At this rate, it'll break through Loki Familia!" Delphyne began to take up even more of the cavernous space. Its jaw split into many shapes, odd protuberances grew across its length, and it spread a pair of toxic, purple, butterfly-like wings. At last, it managed to shake free of Aiz's wind and Riveria's barrage of spells, and its roar alone was enough to shake the entire floor. "I'll end you all here and allow that beast to reach the surface! I will shatter the Dungeon gate!" Alfia's prediction was close to becoming reality. If Lyu and the other girls fell here, and if Aiz, Riveria, and Gareth couldn't stop Delphyne, the evil dragon's breath would burn a hole through the ground itself, drawing the curtain on the Age of Gods and ushering in a new Age of Heroes, just as the conquerors had planned. "I have made my pact! Traded my soul to the god of the underworld. I cannot bend my knee to justice now! I must see this ruinous path to its end!" Her will shone brightly, even if it was an evil one. Alfia was not ready to give up on all she had worked for. The sands in her hourglass continued to fall, and until the very last grain stopped, the witch would follow her chosen road. "Godsdammit, woman!" snarled Lyra. "Why would you go that far?!" growled Lyu. "What I seek is the past!" she proclaimed. "A return to the Age of Heroes! So long as you look to the future, we can never coexist!" The girls gave her bitter looks, but her answer remained unchanged. Then the force of her next spell flung them all backward. "………" Alize was silent, arm raised to protect her face. She lowered it, then stood at ease. "How can I stop you, then?" she asked, her face a mask of pure sorrow. With nothing but regret for her own powerlessness, she raised her sword and pointed it at Alfia—the one sinner she could not save. "There is only one way," replied the witch.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter22.txt	Astrea Record: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Tales of Heroes, Vol. 3 "Become a hero." """"!!"""" The eyes of Alize, Lyu, Kaguya, and Lyra all flew wide open. On Alfia's lips was a smile. Her eyes were open for the first time: one green, the other gray. "Become a hero, and strike me down!" she said. "If you want to see the future, then show me you have what it takes to protect it!" Neze, Noin, Lyana, Maryu, Iska, Asta, and Celty all clenched their fists. "Show me this justice you so staunchly believe in! Show me it surpasses my evil!" The witch made her principles known. There was no meaning in intent without the power to see it through. There was no value in power without a strong will to guide it. Only a noble soul, possessing both, would be capable of stopping evil. In spite of the despair she had endured, Alfia was still a hero, and she presented her challenge to the unhatched eggs of justice who stood before her. Lyu was stunned. It was Alize, standing beside her, who spoke first. "Alfia…" she said, closing her eyes. And then, "Grab your weapons, girls. We're doing this." "Alize…" Lyra watched as her captain readied Crimson Order. She spoke her leader's name, then nodded. "Just you watch," said Alize, pointing her sword between the witch's bicolor glare. "We'll show you! We'll show you that justice goes on and carries the light of the past forward! We'll take the hope we're building and shove it in an old hero's face!" "…I know." Kaguya drew her katana. Neze readied her twin blades. Noin had her one-handed sword. Lyana, her wand. Celty, her rod. Maryu, her mace. Asta, her ax. Iska, her fists. Lyu took up her wooden sword in one hand, and the blade of her fallen friend in the other. "Adi…" she muttered. "Give me strength. Give me justice! Let me overcome the hero who stands in my path!" The girl's legacy filled Lyu's heart and became her courage for the fight ahead. "You're going down, Alfia! This we swear, on the sword and wings of justice!!" Alfia smiled. "Come, then." She narrowed her eyes at the dazzling light of justice before her. The next moment, she roared with ferocious spirit. "I'll show you what a true hero is made of, insolent children!!"
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter24.txt	Chapter 9: A Hero's Trail CHAPTER 9 A Hero's Trail She was a hero. Even now, crippled by disease, standing at death's door, with the very last of her life melting away like a snowflake, Alfia was a hero. "Haaaaaaargh!!" "Luminous Wind!!" She danced between the blades of justice, nullified the flames that bore down on her like a hammer, and with a sweep of her arm unleashed the gospel that swept everything away. She was a hero. In power, in strength, in appearance. Though she walked the path of evil, she was a hero nonetheless—perhaps the worthiest of the title by far. "Mages!" screamed Lyra. "Keep peltin' her with spells! Don't let up!" "Keep fighting!" shouted Kaguya. "Don't give up, and don't run!" Their faces were stained in blood, but none of them took their eyes off the witch for a moment. "Answer that monster with everything we have!!" The disciples of justice raised a rallying cry in response to Kaguya's words. "I can't show my back! Not to her!" Clad in a verdant light and gripping her two swords, one elf ran forward, her mind attuned to nothing but the blood-spluttering hero before her. "We have to surpass her! It's the only way!" Everything accelerated. Swords, shields, staffs. Flashes, slashes, bursts, and roars. Even their minds. The disciples of justice devoted everything they had to the pursuit of more and more power. "Alga! Alga! Alga!!" Each time she spoke the word of power, more and more of Alize's energy was drawn from her body and into her magic. The fires around her grew and roared, and at last, they collided with the sound of the witch. "Alvarna!" "Gospel!" Their blazing movements were like a shower of meteors. The shooting stars of justice left glowing paths in their wake, combining their radiant light to extinguish evil. "Alize… Girls…" The gods watched from atop their cliff. Beside Astrea, the primordial darkness donned a smile. "A battle of good and evil—their last battle, at that. Yes, this is what I wanted to see!" Erebus shivered and spread his arms. "This is your story, connecting the past to the present, and stretching on into the future!!" Beneath his and Astrea's watchful gazes, the black star of evil faced off against the myriad comets of justice. Until… "O cursed root of my blessing, O maledict birth. O sin of mine, my twinn'd half's demise…" The witch began a third incantation. "That's not her usual spell! It's a new one!" "Wait, this is…" "It's an ultra-long chant!" It was not her wave of sound, focused on speed. Nor was it her magic-nullifying enchantment. Lyana, Maryu, and Celty, being the mages of the group, were the first to realize that fact. The witch had been concealing a third ability this entire time and was just now invoking it. "Grh! Stop her! Don't let her finish!!" yelled Kaguya. She could feel in her bones that whatever Alfia was planning, it would surely end the battle in one fell instant. Lyu and the rest of her familia charged the witch, like bees swarming a scent they can't ignore. Many times their blades rang out; a vortex of strikes that birthed gouts of flames and gusts of wind, creating an inescapable realm of justice. However, the song of evil went on unhindered. "There is no ablution, purification, or solace. Heaven's bell begets my sin." Alfia's sonorous voice continued its ode to demise. She's dodging all our blows! She's even fighting back! Concurrent Casting! We can't stop her! It was a peculiar stance. With both arms hanging limply by her waist, she weaved to and fro like a weeping willow, evading every last swing the girls took at her. Alize and Lyu were shocked to see that none of their attacks were connecting at all; the witch paid no heed to their consternation and struck the two girls in their plate armor with a sweep of her chopping hand. Even Riveria and Gareth were distracted, their eyes drawn away from Delphyne and toward the melody of battle unfolding at the other end of the floor. "This incantation… This flood of magic! There's no mistake; it's Alfia's final spell!!" "You mean the one she used to finish off the Leviathan?! Is she crazy? She'll destroy us—and the whole floor, too!" They were the only two beings present who had witnessed that spell before, at the conclusion of one of the Three Great Quests. More than anyone else, they feared what was about to be unleashed. "Why, Alfia? Why do you seek destruction? If you have so much power, then can't you find another way?" But Alfia ignored the high elf's pleas. "O bugle of the gods. O harp of spirits passed, O melody of light; all traces of my unpardonable act." Discarding her silence, the witch drew deeply and allowed everything within her to become her strength. "O wretched life of mine; the god's most blessed craft, hearken now my hate!" She laid her heart bare, using the key of hate to unlock the belfry of her sin. "Here is my confession! The price of my sin, I pay in full!" Her chant reached a crescendo as it approached its conclusion. The eyes of every girl in Astrea Familia beheld the same blinding light. A powerful, all-consuming…gray. Not the white that she could never attain, but a cruel reminder of the sin that tainted her very soul. Then Alfia raised one arm and pointed up, and a magic circle appeared above her head, above which spawned a large gray object in the rough shape of a church bell. "Hear the howl of the holy belfry!" Everything shook. It sounded nothing like it should. It was a noise with no future—an awesome, magnificent sound that heralded the end of days. Lyu felt trapped in time. Alize felt frozen in ice. Kaguya was awestruck. Riveria and Gareth looked on in horror. The black winds calmed, and even Delphyne was hesitant. There was no stopping her now. The ash-gray bell that hung above her shone with searing light, then cracked, and burst open, releasing a howl of destruction that swept the land. "Genos Angelus." It was the epitome of ruin. It snuffed out all the flames, quenching light from the floor in an instant. It shattered the land, extinguished fires, and broke the trees. Pure destruction. That's what was coming for them. The waves it left in its wake were enough to strip the adventurers of their gear and cause blood to seep from their eardrums. Moments later, the true blast bore down on them like a god-slaying hammer. It was the cry of a Level 7 who wanted everything to perish. The effect range was over one hundred meders. It couldn't be dodged. It couldn't be blocked. This would spell the end of Astrea Familia. But just then… "Finally, my time to shine!" One of the girls started running straight at her. "Raaaaaaaaaaahhh!" Before anybody could stop her, Lyra pulled the shield off her back and threw herself at the oncoming sound, curling herself up to fit fully behind it. Immediately upon impact, the shield shattered into a million pieces, but not without first neutralizing the effect of Alfia's spell. "Wha—?!" Kaguya, Riveria, and even Alfia couldn't believe their eyes. It was the witch herself who first realized what had just happened. "That was my Silentium Eden! But how?!" Only one among them possessed the knowledge to answer her. After flying halfway across the battlefield and rolling painfully across the ground, Lyra shot her a smile. "What're you complainin' about?" she sneered. "You're the one who gave it to me." It had happened just a few short hours prior, after Kaguya had split off to fight Vito. In order to make up for the girl's absence, Lyra had moved up to the front lines…or so she had made it seem. In truth, she had been aiming for a specific moment. "Raaaahhh!!" "A shield bash? Are you playing dwarf, prum?" At that time, it was this very same shield that Lyra had used to attack Alfia. And so the shield had come into contact with the witch's magical barrier! "You mean, back then…?!" "Perseus worked together with that Cyclops to make it happen. This shield can steal any magic spell… Well, it could until it broke." Finn had already informed Lyra about Alfia's spell far in advance. As the witch seethed, the prum calmly explained how she had performed her trick. "Hermes gave us the design. It's based on one of Zeus's old shields. What did he call it again…?" Lyra paused for a moment, then grinned. "Oh yeah. Aegis—that was it." "Hrh…?!" That was the name of a legendary artifact passed down by Zeus Familia. A shield that could ward off any calamity and could even reflect a petrifying gaze back at its wielder. There wasn't a single member of Hera Familia who didn't fear its awesome might. "Alize! Leon! Now's your chance," she cried. "Beat her to a sorry pulp!" Right after Alfia's ultimate spell was blocked and the magical aura around her died down, the witch began spluttering blood. It was then, in her moment of weakness, that the two girls rushed in to finish her off. Two swords of justice, and one of order, each draped in their own bearer's magical enchantments. The light of stardust and petals of crimson. Lyu and Alize ran like the wind, like the roaring flames, into the opening that Alfia had finally conceded. Ultra-close range… Alfia already knew. There's no avoiding it! She already knew where those blades of justice would fall. "Luminous Wind!" "Arveria!" A blazing gale swept the land. The pair's combined attack was accompanied by a barrage of magic that seared the Level 7's flesh. The attack resulted in a flash of fire and starlight, compounding its devastation. Sparks flew from the point of impact, showering the floor in shooting stars, and everything disappeared in a huge cloud of dust. The floor of the Dungeon shook, and the girls of Astrea Familia had to hit the deck to avoid being blown away. The rumbling continued for some time, even after the wind had completely died down. The sheer force dislodged several crystals from the ceiling, which fell and shattered nearby. Soon the earthquake stopped, time began flowing again, and the cloud of dust began to settle, revealing Lyu, bent down on one knee, and Alize, using her sword as a crutch. "Did we…get her?" asked Neze, still uncertain whether to be hopeful. "If not, then we're really screwed…" muttered Lyra, watching the dust cloud closely for any signs of movement. It was Kaguya who spoke next. "There's no need to worry," she said, glaring across the battlefield. Where her gaze fell, the witch slowly fell to the ground. "Ghah…! Hrg…" Alfia was sliced, burned, beaten, and spluttering blood. Death was coming, and it was only a matter of time before it arrived. She kneeled, both hands on the ground, her dress tattered and torn, defeated just short of attaining her goal. "Haah… haah…!" Lyu panted, slowly staggering to her feet. "Alfia…!" "We've won," said Alize, drenched in sweat from head to toe. "Cough! Cough! …Hrgh…hgh…hgh…" Alfia's blood spilled from her lips, onto a floor almost as torn as she was. After a short moment, a smile, fleeting and almost imperceptible, appeared on her lips. "…Yes," she said. "You've won." She rose to her feet, as though her body weighed nothing at all. Almost like the soul had already left her. "What truly…noisy brats," she said. "You did………you did well, to defeat evil…" As the dancing sparks illuminated her fragile form, the ashen witch bestowed her blessing upon the travelers who had bested her. "Alfia…" Lyu didn't dare move a muscle. What she and her friends had achieved was nothing less than impossible. Alfia was an unbeatable foe, and yet with enough determination and tenacity, they had beaten her. It had taken all their wisdom and knowledge. Their pride and bravery. Strong will and determination. But it was done. Though the Great Conflict had left them mired in despair, they had risen above it. That was the only reason they were still alive now. That simple, stubborn purity of will had allowed justice to go on. "I have…one last thing to say…" said the witch, like a blasted tree about to crumble in the wind. "…Do not…forget this. Do not…forget my fate. This…is what awaits you all in the end…when the Black Dragon comes." "Rgh…" "That is how fragile…and fickle a thing…justice truly is." The former hero left her final warning. Here was a woman who had fought to save the world, who had gazed upon despair and been forever changed by it. The polite trappings of justice were not enough to sway her mind. "However…" As the girls all stood there in shock, Alfia mustered a smile. "Even if all returns to ash, the path you girls have walked will not be in vain." """"!!"""" "If justice can indeed be passed on, then find hope…" "Alfia…" muttered Lyu. "Gather it all together…and raise the final hero…" She was still smiling. Her bicolored eyes were distant, as though she could see where she was headed next. She imparted her wishes to the elven girl's heart. Engraved them on the inside of a shell of despair that would surely one day be opened. "…Got it," said Alize. "We'll remember you…and what you just told us." Alfia gave a gentle smile and closed her eyes. Then she turned her back on the girls and started walking, leaving a trail of bloody footprints across the shattered earth. "Alfia! Where are you going?!" Lyu called out after her, but the woman didn't respond. Not before she reached the edge of a deep, dark pit—the tunnel to the lower depths that Delphyne had wrought with fire. The molten rock walls were fluid and smooth, and even now gouts of flames spewed forth from it, as though it were an abyss terminating in the very pits of hell itself. "I always wished to be consigned to ash," the witch explained, "just as she was." She peered over the edge, toward the pit's invisible bottom. "Farewell, followers of justice. Farewell, Orario." Lyu finally snapped out of her stupor as she realized what the witch was planning. She began sprinting, but it was clear she would not make it in time. Alfia turned back and offered the girls a smile. "The future…is in your hands now." With that, she tipped herself from the precipice. In a matter of moments, she was swallowed by the flames, incinerating her hair, her clothes, and even her flesh. And then she was gone, removed from this world by the judgmental fires of hell. Lyu kneeled at the edge of the pit, the sight of Alfia's death forever burned into her eyes. And in her memory still rang the words she swore she heard, right at the very end. "Ah, Metelia, my beloved sister…" "At last, at last, I can be with you once more…" "Alfia's gone…" From a distant point, evil watched over the witch's demise. "…Thank you," said Erebus, his voice swallowed by the raging fires. "I owe you a great debt." "Erebus," said Astrea. "Your mightiest followers are no more. Your plan is finished." The dark god regained his smile. "Really, Astrea? I think you're forgetting someone, don't you?" As if on cue, a ferocious roar shook the cavern. Astrea's adventurer escort paled as they turned to look at Delphyne, still going strong. "Yours and Loki's children are growing weak. Even if they find the will to go on, there is nothing more that they can do." "………" "And don't expect any reinforcements from above," Erebus went on. "Even if Zald is dead, he won't have gone down without a fight." Erebus swept his arms like an opera dancer, indicating first the fallen girls of Astrea Familia, and then the distant forms of Riveria and Gareth, still locked in battle with the monster. In fact, it was a wonder the latter two were still standing. The only one still burning with hatred and determination was Aiz, but even her wind was beginning to die down. It was only a matter of time before the battle swung in Delphyne's favor. "The one in check here is you, my dear Astrea. The mortal world is on the brink of destruction." The dark god grinned and gave the goddess a sideways glance, but she wasn't looking at him. Her eyes were fixed on her children, who carried the light of justice with them. "You're wrong, Erebus. I came down here precisely to prevent that." Her indigo eyes twinkled like shooting stars, and Astrea immediately turned to leave. Her escort hurried to catch up with her, leaving Erebus to stare after her blankly. "Oh, Astrea." He shrugged. "You never do give up, do you? Not until the very end…" He gave a genuine smile. "You're a fine woman, you know that?" "Is everyone still good to go? The fight's not over yet!" Alize's voice sounded downright unsympathetic after all the girls had just been through, like the crack of a whip spurring them all on to face their next battle. "Lady Riveria has been fighting that monster with only Gareth and Aiz to help," agreed Lyu. "We must join her!" Lyu was raring to go once more, emboldened by her victory, and ready to fulfill Alfia's dying wish. "I get it, I really do, but…" whined Lyra. "We're on death's doorstep here! That beastie's as powerful as a floor boss! How're we meant to go up against it like this?!" Lyra looked down at her hands. They wouldn't stop shaking. It was obvious Alize and Lyu were only putting on brave faces. None of the others were faring any better, either. Up front, Asta and Noin, in the center, Neze and Iska, and bringing up the rear, Lyana and Celty. These vibrant young girls were in a pitiful state, and their stamina and Mind had both reached rock bottom. There were eleven of them and not a single one had energy to spare. "I'm at my limit, too!" Maryu lamented. "Alize, as a healer, I can't allow us to fight any longer!" As a result of her role, Maryu was always the one who kept tabs on the party's health levels, and she never allowed her Mind to run dry. Yet right now, even she couldn't muster much more than a feeble green glow. Alfia had been so overwhelmingly powerful in spite of her handicap that Astrea Familia was forced to give everything they had to fight her. Now that it was over, there was nothing left. Alize and Lyu both made grim faces. "We brought so many items with us, and we've used them all up…" muttered Kaguya. "Besides, even if we were at full strength, would we even be able to defeat that thing…?" At that moment, the whole troop heard a familiar voice. "Lift your heads, my children. You must not turn to fear and despair." "Lady Astrea?!" exclaimed Alize with surprise. "Why are you here…and how?!" asked Lyu. "I thought deities were forbidden from entering the Dungeon!" Her long walnut locks bunched on her shoulder as the goddess tipped her head and gave a coquettish smile. "They are," she said. "So don't tell anybody, or else I'll be in big trouble!" "T-trouble's not the word for it…!" Lyu wasn't sure where to begin, but before she could speak, Astrea shifted to a more serious expression. "I brought enough elixirs for each of you," she said. "Please use them." She presented a bag filled with eleven small bottles. The girls took one look and went wide-eyed. "L-Lady Astrea, I love you!!" "I love you too, Neze, as I do all of you girls." Astrea looked to each of them in turn. "So please, win this fight, and come back to me alive." Astrea had braved the dangers of the Dungeon to see her children and share her blessing. It was enough to inspire all of them to live up to their goddess's words. However, Lyra couldn't find it in her to be convinced. "…Lady Astrea, I'm really happy you came down here to see us. Really, I am. It's just…we can't. Kaguya's right. That monster's way too strong!" "………" "If only we had somethin' to give us the edge…" Lyra watched Delphyne raging in the distance as sweat dribbled down her brow. The god-slayer was a complete enigma. It was as mighty as some of the strongest floor bosses ever encountered, and in terms of level it was at least 6 or 7. Alfia had been handicapped by her illness. It was a miracle that Astrea Familia had been able to beat her, but they had done so by seizing that slim chance of victory. However, Delphyne was completely different. With its constant regenerative capabilities, it was not unreasonable to say it outclassed the witch herself. To go in without a plan was tantamount to suicide. That was what Lyra was saying. Lyu and the other girls looked to her in reluctant sympathy. None of them could think of a word to say in response, until… "What are you talking about, Lyra? We do have something!" """What?""" That cheerful, tone-deaf voice could only belong to one person. Lyu, Lyra, and Kaguya all looked to their fiery-haired leader in shock. "Our goddess is here!" she said with a smile. "Doesn't that tell you something?" A deity could offer more than just potions. As Alize's face lit up, Astrea gave her a soft smile. At last, a groan came forth from the center of the black wind. "Haah…haah…! Hrh…hrh…!!" Aiz panted heavily, taking no notice of the sweat pouring off her. The wind had only just begun to groan, but the girl's muscles and bones had been complaining for a long time already. She was incapable of withstanding the unrestrained might of Airiel for prolonged amounts of time, and her arms and legs were feeling the burn. Her body was covered in open gashes, her muscles were torn, and her bones felt like they had been ground to dust. Her little finger was bent at an impossible angle from swinging her blade. She wrenched the finger back into place and gripped her sword once more. "Nizelle!" At Aiz's word, her festering hatred poured forth. It gorged itself on her magical energy, turning her groans into screams and restoring the black wind that shrouded her. She couldn't feel a thing anymore, but that was just how she liked it. Her hate was never-ending; as long as she used it as fuel, the flames of battle would never die out. Aiz launched herself once more at Delphyne, without realizing or caring how closely death crept. "Riveria!" yelled Gareth. "Use your magic and take care of its wings! Burn them, freeze them, whatever works! Once it stops moving, I'll attack!" The old dwarf's fingers tightened around the hilt of his ax. But Riveria's face went pale. "Gareth?! What do you mean?!" "I'll hack my way to its magic stone, even if it kills me! I don't know where it is, but if I keep slicing, I'll have to get there eventually!" "Are you drunk, fool?! Even Aiz can't overcome that creature's regeneration! All you'll do is get yourself killed!" "Then what do you suggest?! The girl is in danger! If we waste any more time, we'll all be doomed!" "Grh…!" Their argument tipped the scales this way and that, but Delphyne was ready to sweep them aside without waiting for them to come to a decision. There wasn't enough time to come up with an optimal plan, and so Riveria was forced to make a difficult decision. "Aiz…Gareth… I…!" But at that moment, a chain of magical blasts, stardust, flames, and lightning struck the beast head-on. "Graaaaaaaahhh?!" "Magical bombardment?!" "It can't be! It's…!" Gareth and Riveria were stunned. Then the dwarf recognized several figures, running like the wind to assist in Aiz's fight. "Astrea Familia!" he yelled. "Hrh…what…?" Aiz paused and looked up in confusion, seeing the multicolored missiles striking her foe out of nowhere. "You must have taken leave of your senses," someone said, "to take on a beast this size by yourself." "…!" "Let's join forces. Will you help?" When Aiz saw who it was, her eyes widened. Standing there before her, her cloak and golden hair fluttering in the wind, was Lyu, a wooden sword in her hand. "Join forces…? Never! That monster's mine! Stay out of my way!" Once she understood what the elf was saying, Aiz screamed. Lyu silently approached the girl and… "Ow!" …conked her on the head. "Listen to me," she said sternly. "That hurt…" "You need to calm down. Do you have any idea how difficult you're making life for Lady Riveria?" Lyu looked down at the girl, a full head shorter than her, and sighed. But it was a sigh that was aimed, at least in part, toward herself. "I wonder if that's what I looked like, back when we fought. It's embarrassing." "Huh? What are you talking about?" "…Nothing," she said, abandoning that line of thought and peering into Aiz's golden eyes. "Just listen to me. We can only beat this monster by working together." "No! Let me do it! I want to do it!" At that moment, a second voice came to Lyu's rescue. "You can't just say gimme, gimme, Sword Princess! Or maybe I should just call you 'Shorty' from now on!" "Shorty?!" Alize leveled a finger at Aiz's shocked expression. "You might end up hurting yourself so bad, you'll never be able to eat a Jyaga Maru Kun ever again!" she declared. "B-but I like Jyaga Maru Kun!" "And besides," Alize went on, in a less frivolous tone that sounded more like the voice of a gentle big sister, "you'll make everyone who cares about you sad. Only monsters make people cry! You don't want to be a monster, do you?" "…!" As the girl's exhaustion set in, the hate and anger swirling around inside her finally began to fade. At the mention of her fellow familia members, the light returned to her eyes, and she turned to look down toward the Dungeon floor. There, she saw Riveria and Gareth, fighting to protect her. Alize's words struck a chord somewhere deep within her heart, and Aiz found herself slowly coming to her senses. "It's okay," Alize said. "We're all at our strongest when we fight together! If we join forces, that big, bad monster's going down! Wink! " Alize beamed like the sun. "So put away that nasty wind, okay? You don't need it with all of us here." "…Okay." At last, her words seemed to get through to the girl. The black wind faded away and reason returned to her eyes. "That's our leader for you," said Lyu to herself. "Nobody can compete with her when it comes to dealing with children." Then her expression turned grave as Delphyne's furious roar shook the Dungeon. "Looks like it's finished regenerating…" said Alize. "Here it comes, everybody! We three need to keep it busy while our allies set up!" "Got it!" replied Lyu. Alize looked between them, frowning. "But what are we meant to do?" she asked. "I slashed and slashed, but nothing seemed to work…" Nobody knew more about the creature's terrifying capabilities than the one who had been fighting it head-on. She glanced down at her sword, Desperate, and at the cracks running along its length. But just then, Alize puffed out her chest so hard it looked like she was about to topple over backward. "Don't you worry about that!" She grinned. "As of a few moments ago, we pure, pretty, and perfect girls are now pure, pretty, and perfect Level 4 girls! Heh-hem!" "What's that?! Every member of the familia ranked up at once?!" Riveria struggled to process what she was seeing, when all of a sudden came the voice of none other than Astrea herself. "That's right," she said. "I updated their Status a moment ago. Their earlier victory earned them plenty of excelia." "Wait," said Gareth. "One shocking turn of events is quite enough for one day, I fear. I was just coming to terms with Alfia's defeat, and now this?! Perhaps I'm getting too old…" "You're not alone," Kaguya said. "I'm having trouble processing it myself…" The reckless behavior of their patron goddess was enough to put exasperated smiles on all the girls of Astrea Familia. Among them, Lyra alone wore a fearless grin that much resembled that of Braver. "But just think how much stronger we are now," she said. "That's eleven levels worth of improvement—we gotta be able to do somethin' with that, right?" Unless we concentrate our attacks, we'll never cut a path to its magic stone! That was what Gareth had said when first confronted with the beast's regeneration. The creature's unique skill was healing, not defense or evasion, and so with enough firepower, it was possible to overcome the rate of regeneration and expose the core. With that, it wouldn't matter what level the monster was—one attack would end it. For the new-and-improved Astrea Familia, such a feat should be possible. "To think there was enough excelia to rank up all eleven of them!" exclaimed Riveria. "Alfia really was something else!" "Indeed," said Gareth, "but this does give us a chance…!" Excelia from a target was divided among its recipients according to their contribution. The received value could therefore fall below the amount required for a great feat. The fact that this didn't happen, despite the eleven-way split, only went to show how formidable a figure Alfia really was. Lyra felt the new weight of her weapons in her hands. Overflowing with an innate sense of power, she turned to Gareth and Riveria and explained her plan. "Might take us a while to get used to our new strength," she said, "but now that the gang's all here again, how's about we have a real raid battle, like we were always meant to? Give us a buff, Nine Hell." "Shields in the front, mages in the back," said Kaguya. "And my sword will be wherever it can do the most damage. After this, it'll finally be over." Riveria and Gareth both nodded. In bitter spite of their wounds, they summoned the last of their strength. "Alize! Riveria's magic is here! And all the others, too!" The jade light of Veil Breath enveloped the trio as Lyu deftly evaded a fireball and turned to look behind her. There, Gareth, Riveria, Lyra, Kaguya, and the rest of Astrea Familia clanged their swords, raised their shields, and readied their staffs. "Right!" Alize chirped back. "Then let's finish what we came here to do! It's been a long time coming!" Alize leaped toward the dragon, and the other adventurers followed. Only one figure stood back, watching over the fight. "Erebus…" Astrea muttered. "These girls are about to draw the curtain on the battle you started." The searing air, filled with sparks, carried her words to the top of the bluff where Erebus stood, but the dark god did not answer. He simply narrowed his gaze, watching events play out with neither fury nor spite. In the void of his silence, one sound triumphed. "I will not lose here," Lyu yelled. "I must carry her justice into the future!" And so the fate of this battle was already set in stone. With her detection magic, Lyana swiftly deduced the location of Delphyne's magic stone. Then eight fighters in all—Lyu, Alize, Kaguya, and Lyra among them—got up close and personal in an attempt to overwhelm the beast. The two greatshields of Gareth and Asta protected the back ranks, where Maryu treated the party's wounds before they grew too serious. At the very rear stood Riveria, the main target of the party's defense and support. Free of distractions or interruptions at last, she recited the words of her ultra-long incantation: a spell powerful enough to hit across floors, and the reason for her inclusion on the monster-slaying unit. At last, she unleashed it, and it joined Celty's and the other mages' spells, dealing a fearsome barrage of blows to the dragon that destroyed its wings, its armor-like scales, and tore a path to the core. Then the wind sang once more. Aiz, her silver sword wrapped in a tornado, combined all her magic and skills into one devastating swing that shattered the purple orb into a million pieces.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter26.txt	Chapter 10: A Smile Unknown to All: Twilight Answer CHAPTER 10 A Smile Unknown to All: Twilight Answer The monster was no more. Its final cry seemed to equal a mother's grief and rocked the Dungeon floor. Then its huge body began to dissolve before exploding in a shower of ash. Black sand, painted crimson by the flames, fluttered in the air like snow, painting the eighteenth floor in ephemeral colors. "…Did we win?" It was Neze, battered and broken, who spoke first. She seemed ready to collapse at any moment. "Yes…we did," answered Lyu. "Victory is ours," added Kaguya. The ash gently settled on the floor, leaving no doubt that Delphyne was well and truly gone. Astrea Familia paused, uncertain if they should believe it, before finally erupting into cheers. "We did it!!" "Well done, everyone!" cried Celty, running over to celebrate with her allies on the front ranks. Lyana let out a deep sigh. "It was touch and go for a while there…" she muttered. "Is everyone okay?" asked Maryu, checking up on her collapsed friends. Iska fell flat on her back, utterly exhausted. "I just want a baaath!" she groaned. Everyone rejoiced. Some even had tears in their eyes. Astrea watched from a distance, smiling at the sight of her triumphant children. Meanwhile, Aiz was standing alone, her armor in tatters, when Riveria approached her. "Aiz," she said. "…Riveria." The high elf was just as beat-up as she was, and her robes were torn in several places. Aiz looked up at her guiltily, until… "Ow!" Without another word, Riveria brought her fist down on the girl's head. And she didn't stop there. "Oof! Bah! Ouch!" Again and again, her delicate fingers produced the most unbelievable of sounds against the young Aiz's head. Blue flames seemed to spark in her jade-green eyes, and Lyu and Celty trembled in fear at the apparent madness of their elven queen. At last, Gareth stepped in. "Now, now, Riveria, that's quite enough," he said. "I think if Aiz is going to learn her lesson, you need to speak to her, no? Besides, all this beating is going to stunt her growth!" At last, the furious elf loosened her fists. "Owww…" Aiz clutched her head with both hands, tears forming in her eyes. Riveria huffed with exertion, then finally reached out her arms. Thinking she was in for more punishment, Aiz flinched, but the next thing she felt were Riveria's warm arms around her shoulders, and the elf's soft cheek against her own. "R-Riveria…?" "You idiot, Aiz. Never do something so stupid ever again." "…Okay, Riveria… I'm sorry." At Riveria's motherly words, Aiz softly closed her eyes, her head buried in the high elf's stomach. She awkwardly raised her arms and wrapped them as far as she could around Riveria's waist. The heartwarming scene put a smile on Gareth's face. A little distance away, Lyu was also watching, when Alize walked over. "All's well that ends well, right, Leon?" "Yes… It's finally over." Then all of a sudden, Alize seemed to trip and clung to Lyu's side. "A-Alize?!" "I'm tired, Leon… Can you give me a piggyback?" "I don't think I can, Alize. I'm worn out, too…" Her cheeks reddened, and the elf girl mustered a smile. Alize was smiling, too, her eyes closed like she was asleep. "Hey, Leon," she said. "Let's go visit Adi's grave after this." "…Yeah." "Let's go see Leah, and all the adventurers who gave their lives for us." "…Yeah." Leon tried to stop her smile from turning into a frown, but a single droplet still ran from her sky-blue eyes and stained her cheek. Alize's slender arms tightened around her shoulder. "…That's it, then." Evil stood watching justice from afar. There was no smile on his lips, but no anger or sadness, either. It was as if he simply accepted the way things were. Like he had reached the end of a truly moving play and was still basking in the afterglow. At that moment, a second god appeared. "Yes, Erebus. This is the end." The dark god turned to see Astrea, clad in her pure-white robes. "Good has triumphed, and evil has fallen," she said. From behind her came her eleven followers, while Gareth, Riveria, and Aiz appeared on the opposite side, trapping Erebus. Loki Familia, Astrea Familia, and the escort from Hermes Familia. All eyes were focused on the lone enemy king, stripped of his last line of defense. "Excellent work," he said, grinning. "I played the part of evil to the best of my ability, but in the end, your justice and persistence won the day." There were no more tricks up his sleeve. No more means to alter the board. Yet even now, the cornered god hardly seemed to care about his predicament. "I'll admit it," he said. "You win. Nobody likes a sore loser." Contrary to his words, it didn't feel like Erebus recognized his loss at all. He stood calmly, one hand on his waist, under the scornful gazes of Lyra and Kaguya. "You're talkin' real tough for someone who's about to be mincemeat," said the former. "I do hope you're not expecting us to just forget about all this and let you go after everything you've done?" added the latter. "Oh, good heavens, no. But what kind of evil would I be if I pleaded for mercy now?" The girls seemed about to lose it, but Erebus only smiled back. "Go ahead," he said. "Hate me. For what greater joy is there for evil than to be reviled and hated?" ""Grh…!"" Lyra and Kaguya scowled with fury, and some of the other girls stepped forward, but Loki Familia bade them stay. "We are but mortals," said the high elf. "It is not for us to judge your actions… We'll leave that to your fellow gods." "Your evil deeds end here, menace," added the dwarf. "Have you any last words?" Erebus looked blank for a moment, then answered. "I do have a request, if you'd be so kind." "What is it?" snorted Gareth. "I wish for you to send me back, Astrea. It is only right that evil should meet its end at the hands of justice." Astrea stared back at him but said nothing. "And as for where it should be done," Erebus went on. "I'm thinking somewhere high up, surrounded by the endless sky. Somewhere quiet, where the two of us can be alone, without these meddling mortals around to disturb us." Astrea's followers were not amused by the brazen demands of their captured prey. "Y-you're joking!" Lyra exclaimed. "Are we sure we don't want to take a swing at him?" said Kaguya, balling her fist. "Wow! I'm amazed!" said Alize. "I knew he was arrogant, but this is ridiculous! This is beyond evil at this point; gods are a different breed!" "Please stay quiet," Lyu cautioned. "You're not making it any better." "Oh, and one more thing," said Erebus. "What now?" tutted Riveria with spite. Erebus turned and looked out off the cliff. "Let my lovely follower go," he said. "You don't have to help him; just leave him." "!" "Maybe the monsters will get him, maybe not. Either way, you'll have done your part. So, just let him go." The girls were aghast. They wondered if the god might still be plotting something, and didn't agree to his request right away. But far away on the ground, Vito looked up at his dark master. "…E-Erebus…?" Cut to ribbons by Kaguya and left to die, there was no way he was escaping the dungeon without a miracle. Erebus stared at him, then turned to face Astrea once more. "He's only one guy," the dark god insisted. "What's the worst that could happen? Then again, if you're burning for revenge, I understand." "…Fine. We shall grant your request," said Astrea. "Oh, how benevolent. I knew you'd see it my way." With that, Erebus walked off past Astrea. "Let's be off then," he said. "Evil to the very end." The adventurers turned and glared at him, but, restraining their various emotions, they calmly escorted him toward the surface. Hermes Familia surrounded him, while Riveria, Gareth, and Aiz followed. Only Astrea Familia hung back. After a short while, Lyra kicked a stone in anger. "Godsdammit!" she swore. "That guy pisses me off!" "I don't think I'll ever find it in myself to forgive him, no matter what Lady Astrea says," agreed Kaguya. "Every time I look at him, I think of all those he's taken from us." The other girls clenched their fists or stared at the ground, silently echoing her words. "Perhaps this is what it means," said Lyu, "to fight evil instead of joining it." The elf girl found it hard to breathe. To her, this was more than a simple triumph. Victory had come with its own difficulties. "………" Only Alize stood silent as the god left, as if searching for a truth that as yet eluded the others. Astrea, too, said nothing, and only cast her eyes downward. Delphyne and Alfia were no more, and Erebus had been taken into custody. Once this news spread to the surface, Orario's protectors let out a cheer that rippled through every part of the city. Adventurers celebrated, while gods breathed a sigh of relief. Any remaining Evils had either fled the city or gone into hiding underground, and there were not enough of them to stage a meaningful counterattack. The rumbling from below had ceased, too, signaling an end to the worst of the fighting. The dark, ashy clouds finally cleared above Orario, bathing the city of heroes in the light of sunset. The rejoicing continued. By nightfall, the civilians had been let out of their strongholds, and they took to the streets in celebration. Strangers hugged one another, and everyone praised the adventurers who had fought so hard on their behalf that their weapons and armor were almost broken. The adventurers shed tears for those they'd lost; their brave comrades, and the nameless heroes who had come before and given their lives. Eventually, joy turned to rage, and people flocked the base of Babel to bear witness to their foe's execution. Central Park was teeming with so many people that not everyone could fit there, and some had to climb atop buildings to get a good view. Atop the tower stood two gods: one of justice, and one of evil. "It's the first time I've come up here, you know," said Erebus, scratching behind his earlobe. "Just look at that view. There can't be a better one in the whole city, am I right?" The night wind ruffled his jet-black hair. Even from his position at the center of Babel's rooftop, he could see much of the lamplit city beneath. Beneath those lamps stood the people of this fine city, eagerly awaiting his death. "…I suppose I do have one, tiny complaint," he said at last, returning his gaze to the two figures ahead of him. "Hermes, my old friend. Why are you here? Come to make sure I don't weasel my way out of this?" "Something like that," the messenger god replied. "Sorry I couldn't leave you two alone, but hey, pretend I'm not here, and you got exactly what you asked for." Under his watchful gaze, Erebus shrugged. Then Astrea silently approached him. "It's just the three of us now," she said. "Everyone else is down there watching us." In one hand, she held a silver straight sword modeled after a set of scales—a weapon that looked extremely out of place in the hands of one so benevolent as she. "The blade of justice," said Erebus. "Of judgment. Why, it's almost as beautiful as you are." Then he spread his arms wide. "Do it," he said. "Make it quick. Don't think you get to torment me just because I'm evil. Even I feel pain…and I wouldn't be caught dead screaming like a woman." He grinned. To the very end, he seemed to regard justice with a sense of smug superiority. But Astrea did not frown in anger, nor did she offer any judgmental words. She only regarded him for a moment, then spoke. "First," she said, "I have something to ask you." "Ohh, you do like to keep me on the edge, don't you? What could you possibly want to ask of someone as evil as me?" Erebus received his answer soon enough. "What is justice?" "………" That was the moment the dark god's smile vanished. His eyes flew wide, and he stared at Astrea with pure, unmitigated shock. "Astrea! What are you…?" Hermes was just as surprised. But Astrea went on. "You kept asking us that question, didn't you? What is justice? How far does it go? And if we know, then we should prove it to you." Ever since the day he first appeared before Lyu in the form of Eren, Erebus had been demanding to know the true form of justice. Even after his grand reveal, he still came to Lyu, seeking her answer. He'd asked Lyra, Kaguya, and even Astrea herself about this concept, which lay at the far opposite end of the spectrum of morality. "It's almost as if," said Astrea, "you were guiding us. At least, that's how I saw it." "………" "And now your work is done." Erebus remained silent and expressionless as Astrea spoke. "Because you have your answer. You've seen them fight. You've seen them rise." At last, Erebus gave a twisted grin. "I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about, Astrea." "Oh, no, Erebus. You're not talking your way out of this one, I'm afraid." Astrea smiled sweetly. "We can always do this down there, in front of all those people, if you prefer?" "…Are you really a goddess of justice?" Erebus sighed. "Because right now, you seem more like a hunter, like that Artemis." Astrea's threats caused Erebus to wear a frown for the first time. "That's rude to her," Astrea said, still smiling. "She's far more innocent and pure than I am." "I think you're both probably equally bad," said Hermes, off to one side. A bead of sweat worked its way down Erebus's temple, and he let out a resigned sigh. "I should have known you wouldn't let me keep my dignity." Compared to the smile of evil, this one was altogether different. "I am glad you feel that way," said Astrea. "Consider it punishment for all the trouble you've caused." "…I should have asked someone else," said Erebus, looking into her sweet yet mischievous smile. Her eyes were the same shade as the starlit sky above. Erebus lifted his head and braced his eyelids against the wind, awaiting the moment he would pay the price for his sins. "Hrgh… Hrgh… Hrgh…!" One man huffed and puffed his way up the seemingly endless stairs. His wounds only partially healed, Vito trained his eyes on the top of Babel. "Grh… My…master… Erebus!" Having escaped the Dungeon using his hidden passage, Vito emerged on the streets of Orario, careful to escape detection by its jubilant adventurers. He sneakily made his way to the tower before slipping inside. He had failed to stem the bleeding completely, and the arm that Kaguya had sliced off was still missing, but Vito pushed himself on to be by his dark master's side. However, it was not to save him from the blade of justice. "What are you doing…? What were you thinking…?" Down on the eighteenth floor, when the two had locked eyes at the very end, Vito had seen something. A look in his dark god's eyes, saying, Live. He needed to ask Erebus what it meant. Was he not evil? Was his cruel and callous nature not precisely what had charmed Vito in the first place, and driven him to sacrifice so much when he refused to serve anyone else? Vito had to know what it meant. Though his body felt like lead, he dragged himself on, hurling himself up the countless steps, until at last, he reached the rooftop and saw his master standing beneath the starry sky. "!!" "Tell me, Erebus. As the goddess of justice, I would like to hear what you think justice is." Seconds passed. The wind blew. Beneath a sea of stars, Erebus opened his eyes. "…You told me there was no such thing as absolute justice." "Yes, I did." "I don't think that's right, Astrea. In fact, I think I see it now." Erebus looked her straight in the eye. "Now that I have stood for evil, I think I finally understand." By living on one face of the coin, he understood its reverse. By standing at one extreme, he had managed to see the other side. "Understand what?" Astrea asked. "Justice," said Erebus, "is a dream." Everyone listening was struck silent. Astrea, Hermes, and Vito, watching from the shadows. "Our children come up with the funniest ideas. Take the Trolley Problem, for instance." Erebus began speaking of the decision he had once presented to Lyu. "If you don't pull the switch, you're letting five people die. If you do, you're killing one. A simple choice that they believe forms the basis of all morality, ethics, and justice." "………" "But I don't think they're right. I don't think that's what justice is at all," he went on. "Justice is not simply to choose. It is to take." "To take?" "Yes. To see beyond two choices. To produce a third. To birth a million answers, and pluck from them a single one." The dark god nodded. "Justice is to ignore the rules, to defy norms. To make the impossible possible. Sweep the scales aside. Whatever works." "Erebus…" Hermes spoke his old friend's name with a surprised yet sorrowful tone. "That is what mortals call justice…and what we call heroism." That was Erebus's answer. Dreams and ideals lay far beyond the reach of even the most ambitious mortal, farther still than the gods themselves. Yet despite this, they still believed in them. This was the true form of justice. Anyone could claim that dreams were just fantasy. Anyone could say they didn't help address the true injustices in the world. Anyone could ask, If it isn't possible, then why even try? And yet the world needed dreams. Everyone knew this, and everyone knew what to call those who achieved them. "And that was your true goal, all along?" asked Astrea, "Heh, so you already figured it out, huh?" "Yes. After our discussion on justice, I could hardly fail to notice." Erebus gave a weak smile. This whole farce had been in vain. Then Hermes spoke, trying not to let his emotions get the better of him. "Erebus," he said. "We may not have gotten along too well up in heaven, but I knew one thing for certain: even as the god of the underworld, you never liked seeing mortals die." Erebus turned his head to look at the battered and scarred city below. "I wanted an answer," he said. "A sign to show this world which way to go." "Erebus…" "I wanted to see the light of our children, of a people who keep on chasing their dreams, no matter what hardships await. I wanted to see the heroes this world needs." That was the dark god's true desire. That was the only thing he wanted. "And that is why you chose evil," Astrea said. "You led the darkness in an attempt to birth a future hero. You recruited Zald and Alfia to put Orario through a trial." Together, they had deceived thousands, sacrificed their allies, and in the end, themselves. Erebus had cast aside his compassion and put Orario through a gauntlet. This had been the goal all along, from the onset of the Great Conflict, right up until the final showdown. "Was there no other way, Erebus?" "I'm afraid not, Hermes. You know that as well as I. Zeus and Hera are gone, and in spite of the covenant, the promised time fast approaches. Time will not wait for us. The hands of the clock keep on moving." What he spoke of, only the gods knew. And so only they could truly sympathize. Hermes voiced no objection, but looked down at the ground. "Perhaps Leon didn't find her answer in the end. Perhaps none of them did. But that's okay. It's still okay." "………" "Because I believe the light of hope awaits them, at the end of their journey. And once they find it…I have no doubt they'll pass it on." Erebus's voice sounded gentle and kind, a far cry from his primordial darkness. It sounded like the soft swaying of wheat stalks in the twilight glow of evening. "You were right, Astrea. I've caused a lot of trouble. In the end, that's all I wanted." He shot them one last mischievous smile. "…You sent countless lives up to heaven. You selected your champions and presented them with trials. You transformed good and evil into a foundation for this city's future." Astrea calmly listed off the god's crimes. "That was your will," she said at last. "That was your justice." Erebus only grinned. "That wasn't justice," he said. "Like I said, justice is a dream. This was nothing more than the whims of a capricious god. There's a name for that, and it's evil." The dark god had claimed so many lives, and he wasn't about to let Astrea have her way. What he had accomplished was neither proud nor noble—it was despicable. All his sins were his own. All the people's hate was his to bear. There was no whitewashing the things that he had done. Erebus was intent on being branded as evil to the very end. "Is that so? Then, as the goddess of justice, allow me to pass my verdict." Astrea took up her sword of judgment, and without compassion or mercy, laid the dark god's heart bare. "You," she said, "are a necessary evil, not absolute evil." "You are a stepping stone that will raise our children toward heights they might never reach. You are the shadows that work alone, reviled by all. Our children may never understand you, the other gods may mock you…but I will never forget your sins." The goddess's voice was solemn as she enumerated the dark god's offenses. "…You're ruthless, you are," said Erebus with a grin. "I wanted to go out like a badass, and here you are making me sound like a fool." "I'm afraid I must have missed the part where that was my problem." "Heh. Yeah… You got that right, at least." Erebus couldn't help but laugh, seeing the sweet smile on Astrea's lips. "I'll say it again: You're a fine woman, Astrea. I wouldn't mind waking up next to a goddess like you." "Well, I would, Erebus. You're far too contrary for my tastes." "Ha-ha… Damn, you're really gonna do me dirty like that, huh?" Then Erebus turned to the other god present. "…Hermes," he sang. "This is why I asked Astrea to bring me up here. Don't go blabbing to others about what you saw here, all right? This is for the three gods…and one human." He turned again. To the top of the stairs, where his sole follower stood. "!!" Vito reeled with surprise. He had heard the god's whole confession, believing they were all unaware of his presence. But Hermes didn't even look in Vito's direction. "All right," the god of boundaries said. "I promise. After today, I'll forget everything I saw and heard here. It will be unwritten, absent from both our Oratoria and that of our children." "Thank you…my friend." The two gods exchanged no more words than that, as though none were needed between two so closely knit as they. With no more regrets weighing on his mind, Erebus turned to Astrea. "End it, Astrea. For real, this time." He lifted his arms gently, welcoming her sword in his breast. Astrea closed her eyes. Not to doubt or reconsider what she must do, but merely to grant a moment of calm. "Just tell me one last thing," she said, looking back into his eyes. There was no good and evil now—just one god speaking to another. "Do you love this world?" A shooting star raced across the sky. The night wind whistled. Erebus watched it all, as the breath of the world rustled his jet-black hair. Then he turned his back on it all, and smiled. "Of course I do, Astrea."
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter28.txt	Astrea Record: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Tales of Heroes, Vol. 3 "I love all our children." It was a smile unknown to all, beside the three who shared the rooftop with him. "………" Astrea cast her eyes downward. When she looked up again, it was with the determination necessary to carry out her duty. "Erebus, you will face judgment for your crimes." There was no last will, no sore words, no apology. Right up until the blade fell, there was only the smile of one committed to evil. On that day, another god was sent back to heaven. The whole city watched a golden pillar of light pierce the firmament and rejoiced. The evil god who spread death, struck fear into the populace, and garnered so much ire was gone. They would praise the blade that struck him down and ended the reign of absolute evil. But the goddess would never forget his necessity. He never asked for pity. He never asked for praise. What he did was evil. The dark god had said as much himself. Just as there were countless forms of justice, so, too, was his evil only one of countless many. "Hrgh…hrgh…hrgh…! Erebus…you tricked me!" The man's screams bounced off the walls of the subterranean waterway. "Absolute evil? Hah! Dreams? Hah! You knew of my defect and still you seduced me! Oh, how cruel! How barbaric!!" He huffed and huffed, trembling with indignation. He ran, hair disheveled, through the muck before suddenly coming to a stop. "Heh… Heh-heh-heh-heh! This isn't over. Oh, not by a long shot! I swear on my hatred of the gods themselves that I shall see this world remade!" He was crying. But as he cried, he laughed. He knew not why he cried, or even that he cried. He simply gave himself over to the ruinous urges seeking to control him. "I shall see this world's defects erased! Heh-heh-heh! Hee-hee-hee! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!" "You'll pay… You'll pay… You'll pay for this, Finn!!" In the dark depths of a labyrinth of stone, Valletta cursed her defeat. "I'll never forget this pain…this humiliation! I'll get you, Finn! Just you wait!!" Valletta clutched her wounded shoulder, eyes wide like a wild beast. Her blood-soaked hand trembled with anger, feeling the brand left by her detested foe. "Just you watch!!" Only the walls of the man-made labyrinth heard her vengeful scream. Evil persisted. It slunk back to the shadows, spread its roots, and prepared for the day it might once rise again. Justice, too, went on, its dreams still far out of reach. "Nonetheless…" Astrea stood at Babel's peak, looking out over the city. She focused on the lights dotting the streets and protecting every window. The lights of a people who had overcome their trials and protected their city. "Keep searching," she said. "Keep asking. Keep wanting. Keep on looking for real justice—one you can pass on to others." Braver and his comrades were there. Warlord and his fellows stood strong. And the followers of justice gazed at the stars above. "I pray," said Astrea, "That at the end of it all, the final hero will be born." Hope. Sadness. Order. Justice…and dreams. The goddess thought of the future and swore a solemn vow. "We will always watch over you," she said.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter4.txt	Chapter 2: The Conqueror's Return CHAPTER 2 The Conqueror's Return A ruined plaza near the city's south gate had been strangely untouched by much of the fighting. The cries of combat were distant here, and even the violent crash of steel sounded more like the clanging of a smith's hammer accompanied by the roar of the forge. The battle standard of some familia lay discarded on the ground, sticking out of the rubble and fluttering in the bone-dry wind. "………" Beneath smoky skies, the ruins stood like tombstones marking the graves of the city's dreams. Zald stood alone, taking it all in. "What are you doing, Master Zald?" From seemingly out of nowhere, a man with bloodred hair emerged. It was Vito, lieutenant of the Evils known as Faceless. Despite his abrupt appearance, however, Zald showed no surprise, as if he had known the man was there all along. "Gazing upon the fruits of my efforts," he answered. "Burning them into my mind. As humans, we forget things. Not just what we had for lunch, but even the streets we grew up in. This is something I don't want to forget." "And what, pray tell, is the value in remembering a doomed city? I never took you for a man of sentiment, child of Zeus." Zald and Alfia were the remnants of Zeus's and Hera's familias. When people said the word conquerors, everyone knew that it referred to them alone; symbols of the two forces that ruled Orario unchallenged for a thousand years. Thus, this imprudent remark was tantamount to blasphemy, but Vito seemed not to realize or care. He only snickered as though something were highly amusing. Zald did not even turn to answer the man, the sole follower of the dark god Erebus. "Value is not something that is found, but created," he said. "What you refer to as sentiment, I simply call…my payment." The conqueror's statement sounded like a simple matter of fact. But no one could possibly understand what was going on in his mind as he gazed upon the ruins of his old home. Certainly not Alfia, another conqueror, or the gods above, either. "Payment, you say? Payment for what, I wonder?" "You are much like Freya's mewling brat. You ask too many questions. I'm starting to see why Alfia detests this world so." Vito's impertinent and persistent queries caused Zald to furrow his brow. For the first time, Zald glanced over his shoulder and locked eyes with the man. "You are…Faceless, if I am not mistaken," he said. "Are you sure you should be here?" "Oh, but it matters very little where I stand, sire. Our victory ultimately hinges upon you." There was not a sliver of doubt in Vito's words. He spoke like a philosopher describing the essential nature of reality. "A few isolated losses here and there hardly make a difference in the grand scheme of things," he went on. "Why should it matter if I'm a little late to the party?" "Then why have you come?" "Because I have a question, sire. A question I've been meaning to ask a hero like yourself for a long, long time." At this point, there was a slight but noticeable change in Vito's tone. "Because, make no mistake, you are a hero! You see, I've always found heroes fascinating! They aren't content to live in an imperfect world! They rise up against absurdity! They fight against the irrational! How noble they are! How sublime! They are the ones worthy of my praise, not the gods!" Vito's disdain for divinity was clear. He opened his eye a crack and spread his arms wide. It was as though he had come face-to-face with a character from a fairy tale. His voice was as sweet as melted sugar, but his gaze was like that of a child who knew only betrayal. "What I want to ask you, sire, is this: How could such a noble man as yourself turn your blade to evil?" Zald stood unmoving, looking over his shoulder, without the slightest change to his expression. "I see," he muttered. "You are a broken man; that much is clear. You fail to even realize your own contradictions." At this, Vito gave a puzzled look, but Zald went on. "What you feel for heroes is not respect—it is scorn. Forgive me, but I must ask: Is this because you are blind to color?" "Hrk!" Zald's question gripped Vito's heart like a vise. His eyes flew open with shock. But Zald didn't stop there. "No…that's not all, is it? Your hearing, your smell, your taste; none of them work as they should. The only sense of yours that functions properly…is touch." "H-how did you…?" "Because I have eaten a great deal," came Zald's answer, "and my senses have grown sharp. Your defects are clear to me from sight and smell alone." This bold claim was not a simple lie or misdirection. It was how Zald had earned his title—Glutton—and another part of his incalculable might. "Imagine a slab of beef placed before you," he explained. "Before it even passes your lips, you can imagine how it must taste. The smell, the crispness of the edges, the texture as your teeth bite down…those are all harbingers of the flavor yet to come. In the same way, your defect was obvious the moment I set eyes on you." Vito was aghast. All his former frivolity was stripped away, replaced by a mask of anxiety and sweat. Zald, meanwhile, spoke without pity or ridicule, but the ease with which he cut to Vito's core caused him to twitch. "It is that defect that births your hatred," he went on. "And it is your obstinacy that sustains it. Have you tired of playing at humanity already?" "Grh…! You're a monster…!!" But Zald didn't rise to Vito's insult. He simply chuckled at the ineffectual retaliation of a powerless man. "Didn't you know?" he said. "Monsters and heroes are two sides of the same coin. It should come as no surprise whatsoever that I stand alongside people like you." Zald was unperturbed. He had seen it all, heard it all, and eaten it all. The gulf of power between him and his fellow man was so wide, there was almost no reason to consider him the same species. "But to answer your previous question," he said. "I fell to evil…because it was necessary." At this point, the conversation between the two of them came to an end. All that punctuated the space between them was the soft moan of the wind. Vito was still so shocked he couldn't move a muscle. Zald, meanwhile, simply turned his gaze forward once more. It was then that a cry came from the southwest, and an Evils soldier came running toward them. "Lord Zald!" the messenger cried. "I bring orders from Lady Valletta! She requests you advance on Central Park to eliminate the adventurers lying in wait at Babel!" "It is time… Very well. I have said my farewells to this city." With that, Zald placed his helmet atop his head. His plate armor, so heavy that its weight would crush an ordinary adventurer, creaked as he walked. He turned and set his gaze on the alabaster tower at the city's center. "All that remains is to annihilate Orario's disappointments…with my own two hands." With a sword as large as a dragon's jawbone strapped to his back, the man clad in all black set off. The cries echoing in the distance were like a hymn of praise in his name, or perhaps a song of lament for the despair he would soon bring. With his crimson cloak fluttering behind him, Zald left. Vito watched him go, dumbstruck, before maniacal laughter began working its way out of him. "Heh…ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! He can't be stopped… Not by us…and certainly not by the adventurers!" He clenched his fists tightly in a vain attempt to stop them from trembling and spoke once more of the true nature of reality. "Today marks the end…of Orario." Finn's thumb trembled, as if it was screaming, and the city shook. Not a second later, Raul came running over from the signaling device bearing a new message. "I-it's Zald!" he cried. "He's been spotted engaging our troops!" "Tell me where!" "On South Main Street, Captain! He's heading north!" Before the building they were standing on could even stop shaking, another blast—the shock wave of the conqueror's attack—rocked the city. "…Weak." "Gwaaaaaagh?!" Each swing of Zald's blade was like cannon fire. Nothing could halt its devastating arc. South Main Street had become the venue for a concert of screams. Scouts trembled in their boots at his mere presence. Adventurers flung themselves at him, hoping to inflict even a single scratch—but he flattened everything in his path. Weapons and armor shattered like glass at his touch, and each footstep turned the cobblestone beneath his feet to dust. Nothing could stand in his way. The former hero continued his advance toward Central Park unimpeded. "Glutton sighted on South Main Street?!" Nearby, in the adjacent pleasure district at the besieged Casino, Falgar spoke in hurried tones with another Hermes Familia adventurer. "That's right, sir! But that's not all; the enemy is ramping up their assault! The monsters are growing fiercer! There's not much more we can do at this rate!" "Curses! Our target is right under our noses, but we can't leave our posts! Is there really no one who can stop him from strolling through our streets as he pleases?!" From his vantage point atop a nearby theater, Olivas watched the siege and chuckled. "Fools. You've boxed yourselves in, and we intend to keep it that way!" Spreading his arms, he shouted down at his forces. "My loyal brothers! Take the fort before they have time to even weep!" Cheers was too joyous a word for the horrendous cries of evil that rose from the dark host and quickly spread to all parts of the city. "It seems our time has come earlier than I expected." The cries of evil rang in Basram's ears like a feast being held all across Orario, and the animal person priest of Apate Familia roused his old, yet stout, frame and gazed at the Amphitheatrum ahead. He stood atop a building on East Main Street, surrounded by his fellows as well as the Level 5 spirit warriors. "Still, I would much prefer to be assaulting Braver's location rather than this colosseum." The Alecto Familia and Apate Familia made up the bulk of the Evils' strike force, and thanks to their preliminary skirmishes, the Evils were confident they had mapped out all the allied strongholds. With their combined power, it would only be a matter of time before Guild HQ fell, and without Finn to lead them, Orario's forces would quickly fold. And yet, the Evils refrained. Basram couldn't help but think this was Valletta's ill nature at work. She always granted her archnemesis Finn special treatment, even when such behavior bordered on strategic error. Perhaps she intended to leave him alive until the very end in order to prove her superiority once and for all. There was always the option of disobeying her orders and marching on Guild HQ regardless, but what Basram was seeing here at the Amphitheatrum quickly put such thoughts out of his head. "I never expected them to be able to muster a counteroffensive without opening holes in their defense. This is a threat that cannot be ignored." The forces of Freya Familia were very close to eliminating their besiegers. If this happened, they would be able to sally forth and reinforce the other strongholds. Basram smiled bitterly at the thought. Freya Familia was being supported by the blacksmiths of Hephaistos Familia and their magic swords. Their bombardment had prevented the Evils from making much progress on the barricades, a task that was made next to impossible by the presence of Vana Freya. Allen's speed was unmatched, and he tore through the attackers' ranks like a chariot of war. If the Amphitheatrum garrison were allowed to go on the offensive, the balance of power would shift decisively in Orario's favor. They would first march south, rescuing the Casino from Olivas's forces, before joining the defense of Twilight Manor in order to liberate Loki Familia. At that point, Zald's one-man assault would be in peril. That was why it was Basram's job to keep the Amphitheatrum locked down and nip that possibility of relief in the bud. "If we lose the power of Zeus and Hera, I would place our odds of winning this war at about fifty-fifty… But given the adventurers' knack for seizing fate by the horns, perhaps it is even lower. Very irritating." But despite his words, the black-and-violet-swathed priest wore a smile on his lips. There could be no doubt that the ongoing battle here at the Amphitheatrum was the pillar of Orario's morale. Just like Braver at Guild HQ, eliminating this location meant dealing an unrecoverable blow to Orario's forces. "In which case," said Basram aloud, "I am more than happy to obey Valletta's command. In the name of our goddess, Apate, we shall beat them back." """Groooooaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!""" With a shake of the beastman's golden staff, a dozen spirit warriors let out an earsplitting cry, and marched upon the enemy stronghold. "Hey, Vena, I don't think Hegni's here, do you?" "I heard he and Hedin are both behind that large wall of ice, sister!" ""Then what we really want to do is go over there and give them both a big, warm hug!"" Like Basram, the duo Dina and Vena were preparing for battle nearby. They stood, hands clasped, looking down from a rooftop at the Amphitheatrum in the distance. Below, their subordinates were visibly anxious. The Dis sisters were infamous for slaughtering anyone who displeased them, friend or foe. The twin leaders of Alecto Familia shared a venomous smile, like the blossoming of a toxic flower. ""But wouldn't Hedin and Hegni be just so happy if we put all these poor, crying people to sleep first?"" The only care in these two sirens' heads was their twisted affection for Freya Familia's elven brothers. The two danced gleefully in each other's arms, their voices swollen with perverse joy, before offering the name of their spell in support of the Evils assault. "Let the first gate devour all. Turn all hope into despair! Dialv Otua!" From the sky came balls of black fire. Like meteors of Armageddon, they rained across the land, causing widespread destruction. The walls fell, the people screamed, and adventurers burned, while the blacksmiths used their magic swords to intercept the projectiles, defending as many of the civilians as they could. Up until now, Orario had been displaying its superiority in the defense of this location, but in the blink of an eye, the scales of war were tipped. "Zeo Gullveig!" Then the Andhrímnir, Freya Familia's formation of expert healers, unleashed their spell. The mending light spread in all directions, encompassing the entire arena and restoring everything within, save the barricades and walls. No matter how many times they were skewered, sliced, or torn up, those brave adventurers stood up once more, throwing themselves again and again into hellish battle. "Tch! So they came after all, just like that asshole said they would!" Executing his rampage on the north side of the Amphitheatrum, Allen suddenly stopped and looked across at the sudden emergence of Alecto Familia and Apate Familia. The indiscriminate carnage put a sour look on his face. "And…he's in the south…" For all the hell the followers of Alecto and Apate were raising, there was one sound that couldn't be silenced—that of Zald's advance on South Main Street. Allen had been hoping to secure a rematch with the black-clad man, but it was looking vanishingly unlikely he'd get that chance. Annoyed, he took his frustrations out on a group of monsters, turning them into diced meat with one swing of his spear, which sang like a silver flute in his hands. "M-Mr. Fromel! Wh-what do we do?!" For direction, all the younger members of Freya Familia looked to Allen, the only first-tier adventurer on the eastern battlefield. But Allen didn't hear their cries. His mind was on Central Park and the ice walls that surrounded the foot of Babel. But after a short moment, as if to cast aside his regrets, or perhaps to uphold a promise he had made, he tore his gaze away. "…We don't do anything," he barked back. "Just shut up and follow Finn's plan!" With that, he dashed across the battlefield, eyes fixed on the spirit warriors advancing toward the northeastern walls of the Colosseum. "If you got time to complain, then you're not fightin' hard enough!" he yelled. "We can't do nothin' till we get rid of these assholes!" As time marched on, the prelude was slowly coming to an end. The conqueror's arrival had changed the entire state of the board. Zald strode along his path with calm and purpose, even as the battle grew wilder and wilder around him. "Ghaaah?!" It was the same as on the night of the Great Conflict. The man was without equal. Anyone who crossed his path became his prey. All he had to do was touch them, brush them, graze them, and his opponents were torn apart. "You are all soft. Disgustingly soft. Too mild to even tempt my appetite, and yet…" Within the recesses of his helmet, Zald's steely eyes narrowed. I know they can fight harder than this… They're luring me in. Zald already knew, as Valletta had surmised, that all of Orario's forces lay behind that wall of ice, waiting in ambush. How many did their forces number? A hundred? A thousand? Such details were none of Zald's concern. "Thank you," he said. "For preparing my feast. You've saved me a great deal of trouble." Beneath his helmet, behind his unchanging expression, Zald thought of the countless offerings that were waiting for him. The city's finest warriors were nothing more than food on his plate. He straightened his back, filled his lungs, and bellowed. "People of Orario! In our absence, you have grown weak!" His rumbling voice carried to every corner of the city. Adventurers and Evils alike froze and listened to his words. Even the monsters were so shocked at the noise that they stopped what they were doing and looked up to the skies. "Come out, and cater to me with your very lives! Summon every scrap of power! Of wisdom! Of inner strength!" Zald's absolute demand put a sheen of sweat on every adventurer's brow. "That is the only way you can face the truth! Face my hunger! For the sin of weakness is far worse than gluttony!" Finn and Allen both wore deep scowls as they glared toward the south of the city whence the voice came. "Do not feed me disappointment, for I can stand it no longer!!" There was no one in the city with the power to dispute his words. Zald had taught them all as much on that fateful night of tyranny. "My throat burns with despair. Not even the fires of hell on earth can quench this bitterness!" The man was unstoppable. No one in the city could block his path. The five strongholds and the tower of Babel quaked at his approach. And before long, the man stood before the wall of ice. "And so it falls to you to satisfy my thirst," he roared. "To heat my blood and boil my flesh!" Zald lowered his voice and raised his sword, aiming to carve a gate to his next battlefield. "Let the feast…commence." A shock wave shook the city, accompanied by a peal of thunder. Countless shards of glass-like ice filled the air. Zald stepped through the cloud of debris that had been kicked up and entered the arena. As the dust settled, the white walls of Babel came into view. Then his eyes went wide. "………" There was no one there. None of the city's finest were waiting for him. "…Where are they? …Wait…" "…There's only one?" He narrowed his eyes as he studied the plaza that was conspicuously empty…with the exception of the one boaz who stood there. Now that the icy dust had cleared, Zald could clearly see that Ottar was alone. The boaz glared back with a heart full of courage and opened his mouth to speak. "We shall not be disturbed," Warlord said to the conqueror. "The task of bringing you down falls to me alone." Raul spotted the signal from the upper floors of Babel and came running. "C-Captain! Zald's reached Central Park! He's made contact with Warlord!!" Finn's order was immediate. All the building tension in his body was instantly converted into movement, like a fisherman who had finally hooked the catch he had been waiting for. "Activate the barrier!" he yelled. "Seal off Central Park and signal our allies!" Raul hurried to a nearby desk and grabbed one of many flare guns lined up on it. Raising it overhead, he sent a blue streak trailing into the sky. At the same time, an enormous glowing forcefield appeared. "Huh?! What the hell's goin' on?!" "A-a barrier has appeared around Central Park, ma'am! It surrounds the wall of ice, Babel…everything!" This unexpected turn of events bewildered the Evils. Valletta looked on in shock. Far off in the distance, she could see that dozens of mages had taken to the rooftops around Central Park and raised their staffs in unison. Evidently, they had chanted their spells well in advance, because the barriers appeared without delay, layer upon layer, all differing colors and elements, forming a hemispherical dome around the city center. "A barrier?! They're trappin' Zald inside Central Park?! But why?!" Although she didn't yet understand the reason, something about this turn of events gave Valletta a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. However, she didn't have to wonder for long before her answer came in the form of a bellowing roar. """Rrraaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!""" It came from the center of the city. "What is it this time?!" she spat in irritation, when a second subordinate ran over, even more flustered than the first. "New enemies have joined the fray, ma'am! They showed up just after the signal flare was fired!" The news made Valletta's eyes snap wide open. "That's the signal! We've hidden long enough! Now is the time to fight!!" In the southwest of the city, near the trading district, the doors of a mansion built right next to the Ganesha Familia home flew open. Out came Shakti, leading an army of her familia's elites with her powerful voice. "I-it's an ambush! We're surrounded—aaaaaaaghh!!" Just as the Evils were certain that the stronghold was on the verge of falling, Shakti's unit took their forces by surprise and struck them with a rear charge. Meanwhile, in the shopping district to the south, an army of adventurers came rushing out of a different casino. "Our enemy has overextended themselves by attacking all the strongholds!" yelled Asfi, leading the charge. "Take them out swiftly, before they have a chance to reform their lines!" "You're finally here, Asfi!" cried Falgar, his face awash with relief. "Perfect! All units, no more defending! Time to bring the fight to them!" """Raaaaaaaaahhh!!""" Falgar raised his greatsword high, and the stronghold's defenders, only too eager to exact payback for the pummeling they'd received, descended from the barricades and launched themselves at the enemy. Working in perfect sync with Asfi's strike team, the two forces pincered the horde of monsters and cultists. "They're everywhere! Have they been hiding in the buildings this entire time?!" Olivas stood atop a building, spared from the carnage below but unable to avert his eyes from it. "They knew we would gather our forces at the strongholds… This was a trap all along!" The vigor in the adventurers' voices confirmed his suspicions. It was a trap, and the Evils had fallen for it magnificently. Over on the roof of a trading-house in the southwest, the information from her eyes and ears forced Valletta to confront this uncomfortable truth. Even if she didn't know the full extent of it yet, it was impossible to deny what was happening. "L-Lady Valletta! Our forces at the strongholds…they've all come under attack by adventurers who came out of hiding!" "An ambush? But it doesn't add up! Were they hiding there all along? There's too many! All the other adventurers were supposed to be at Central Park!!" Valletta couldn't shake the apprehension that had crept into her voice. "Unless…there's no one there!" When the realization hit her, she emitted a wrathful snarl. "That wall of ice was just a distraction! It was meant to make us think that they were hiding an army!!" "Th-then…who is Zald facing? Surely they don't mean to ignore him completely!" "Ottar!! It's gotta be that pig bastard! We been followin' Finn's lead this entire time, and now the board's set up just the way he wants!" Finn's sole aim was the enemy king and queen. The bulk of the city's forces had been gathered in Central Park to take out Zald and Alfia. These were both myths that Valletta was made to believe. The whole time, Finn had been leading them, as if by magic, with a beckoning finger. The civilians had never been bait at all. The entire board was the bait. And by leaning so heavily on the power of Zeus and Hera, Valletta had ended up handing Finn the outcome he had truly been seeking. "Finn, you bastaaaard!!" The moment she realized the truth, that she had been dancing in Finn's palm all along, the veins in Valletta's forehead bulged, and she exploded with fury. But far across the city, Finn continued executing his maneuvers without delay. "All units, keep up the pressure! Don't let this chance slip through our fingers!" The brave adventurers carried out his commands with enthusiasm. "Ignore the monsters! Focus on the Evils up on the rooftops!" Shakti hopped from building to building, beating back enemies with her spear. "They don't have full control over the beasts! Force them into the streets and let the monsters tear them to shreds!" Finn had entrusted command of the southwest district to Shakti, and the eagle-eyed captain lived up to her role by accurately discerning the relationship between the two enemy forces. There were well over a hundred monsters in total, and there were at least five locations to attack. Even if the Evils had possessed tamers of sufficient skill, it was an impossible task to control the entire horde. There were simply too many of them. Ganesha Familia, on the other hand, was home to many tamers. Shakti herself was one of the best in the entire city, and nobody understood the behavior of monsters better than she. One slip on the part of the Evils, and their greatest ally in this battle could very well become a crushing liability. Over in the casino area, Asfi made another keen observation. "Think of it like a pass parade!" she yelled. "The enemy only has so many tamers! Make them pay for that!" The only enemies who could exert influence over the horde were those holding tamers' whips, and these were few in number. They each commanded just one of the stronger monsters in the hopes that the lesser ones would simply follow suit. For someone familiar with the behavior patterns of the species, then, this method was a crude but simple means of controlling an entire horde. However, if the tamer or the stronger monster was defeated, all hell would break loose. """Raaaaaaaaaaahhh!!""" The adventurers hit hard and fast. They had cloaked their scents with deodorizing items so as not to betray their presence to the monsters or any animal people among the Evils. All throughout their hiding, they had been forced to listen to the dying screams of their friends, biting their own arms until they drew blood so they would not rush out and reveal themselves too early. Now was the time to unleash their pent-up anger on the witless Evils. "E-eek!!" "Their attack…it can't be stopped!" The adventurers raised their voices, striking fear into the hearts of the monsters and cultists alike, turning the tables on their foe in an instant. Led by the veteran adventurers, they advanced on their targets, eager to repay the debt incurred on the night of the Great Conflict. "Focus on eliminating the Evils! Now is the time to exact our revenge!!" Asfi leaped into the fray alongside her allies, careful not to let the deaths of Lydis and Adi blind her. She wanted her black hatred to become scarlet courage. The enemy's greatest losses, however, were suffered to the east. "Struggle for eternity, indestructible soldiers of lightning." There it was not a rallying war cry that announced the beginning of Orario's ambush, but a single chant, spoken in a voice colder than ice. Just northeast of the Amphitheatrum itself, atop a magic stone factory, Hedin stood alone. His patience had been tested to the very limit, like a bowstring about to snap, and so, the instant the magical shield that concealed his presence dropped, he unleashed his boundless anger. "Caurus Hildr!!" What that bowstring let fly was no arrow, but thousands upon thousands of balls of lightning that rained down without mercy on the Evils forces that swarmed the Amphitheatrum. "Gaaaaaaaaaaghhh?!" "Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugghhh?!" Unlike Shakti and Asfi, there was no need for him to focus his efforts. The tyrannical thunder laid waste to human and monster alike without distinction, detonating the Evils' suicide bombs and causing a string of explosions that tore through their ranks. "Ggh?!" "Zheeeeaaaaaaahhhh?!" Basram's spirit warriors were no exception. Madly and mindlessly focused on what was in front of them, eight of them were struck from behind by Hedin's lightning, leaving only four still standing. The sharp-witted mage unleashed another barrage, eager to wipe out this threat while the opportunity presented itself, but while mad, the spirit warriors still possessed the extreme capabilities of Level 5s. Their unnatural recovery rate healed the wounds in the blink of an eye, or they used their animallike reflexes to dodge the blasts. However… "Slaughter all until the feast is finished! Dáinsleif!" Like a calamitous black star, the dark elf tore across the battlefield, swinging his sword with extreme speed. "Gaaaaaaghh?!" "What?!" Basram looked on in shock as Hegni sliced one of the spirit warriors clean in half from shoulder to hip. It was a wound even the creation's regenerative abilities could not heal. Hegni and Hedin very rarely cooperated closely, but when they did, the result was devastating. """"Basram!"""" Meanwhile came the voices and weapons of four prum brothers. Like Hegni, they entered the battlefield with calm disregard for the barrage of lightning summoned by their ally. The Gullivers carved a path through the monsters, arriving before the dark priest and launching their spear, hammer, ax, and sword in his direction. "Grh!!" "L-Lord Basram, what are you…? Gaaagh!" The sturdily built priest hooked his arm around an ally, pulling him in to act as his own meat shield. While the hapless cultist was torn apart by the spear and blade, then smashed to pieces by the hammer and ax, the sheer force of the prums' combined attack sent Basram flying back as well. He looked down at his right hand, which was now missing the third and ring fingers, and clicked his tongue in annoyance. He raised the staff in his left hand and rang it, summoning the four spirit soldiers who'd escaped Hedin's assault to his side, thus blocking any further follow-attacks from the Gullivers. Elsewhere, two girls squealed with joy. ""There you are, Hegni, Hedin!!"" It was the Dis sisters. Initially deployed to assault the south side of the Amphitheatrum, they had spotted the targets of their twisted affection on the northeast and headed straight over. The murderous gazes of Orario's white and dark elves fell on them, sending a shiver coursing down their spines as they unleashed a magical greeting in the form of a fiery hail. The Freya Familia elves responded with a storm of lightning and the flashing steel of the dark warrior king. Flames and thunder canceled each other out, while the dark elf's steel sang a deadly duet with the stiletto blade of his foe. Only seventeen seconds had passed since the ambush began, and already the bulk of the Evils troops had been wiped out, leaving only the lieutenants unharmed. The smoldering corpses of Evils and monsters comprised the backdrop for what ensued. The twisted twins invited their kinsmen to a deadly tea party, while the wicked priest composed his dark hymn for the four warriors who fought at his side. The arrival of the city's first-tier adventurers had thrown the city into chaos, and in the east, Orario was about to see its fiercest battle yet. "A-allied forces taking heavy losses, ma'am!! They're steadily isolating our troops, cutting them off from the chain of command, particularly in the east!" "They're using the monsters against us! We started with the advantage in numbers, but if this keeps up…!" The subordinates' voices and their accompanying woes piled up in Valletta's ear. It was obvious this was no slapdash ambush: it was a carefully calculated plan with the aim of surrounding the Evils in five locations at once. As much as she hated to admit it, she could deny the truth no longer. Finn had played her like a fool, and Valletta was angrier than she had ever been in her life. "Damn you, Finn," she growled. "You really think this stupid little scheme is going to help you?! You're gonna give up on your only shot at beatin' Zald so you can mop up our weaklings instead? Leave Ottar to die in a one-on-one? And you think that's a good plan? You're outta your goddamn mind!" Her scowl deepened, and she spat out the unalterable truth. "Once that boar bastard goes down, it's over for you! You hear me?!" Finn's move was one Valletta's calculating mind could never have created. It was bizarre, mind-boggling, and difficult to see therein any genius whatsoever. If this was the culmination of Braver's plays, then Valletta could scarcely believe her archnemesis's idiocy. "Don't think for one second this 'power of friendship' bullshit is gonna turn things around! Is that really your plan, Finn?!" Though he could not hope to hear her furious yells, far across the city, Finn replied all the same. "No, Valletta. It's not," he said. "It's a matter of risk versus reward. Our choices were a pitched battle that would almost certainly result in heavy losses, or a duel between the two strongest forces in the city. We chose the latter." Finn spoke with determination. "We chose Ottar. He gives us the highest chances of beating Zald." Though they were from different familias, Finn had witnessed the power of the boaz man firsthand. He thought back to a moment from fifteen years ago, before the Age of Darkness even began. "You don't know Warlord like I do, Valletta. You don't know what he's been through." In that time, Ottar had suffered tremendously. While his strength was great enough that it made others quake in their boots, there were those in the city who had surpassed him. Ottar had tasted the ignominy of defeat many times at their hands. "But I know. I know what Zeus and Hera did to him, and I know that never once was he content to stay defeated. I know something you don't, Valletta, and that is that Ottar will never give up!" The cliff Ottar wanted to climb towered ruthlessly high. At the top was a pressure weighty enough to crush any common man. Even if he climbed all the way up, that still wouldn't let him reach the thunder that sparked above it. And even if he reached it, the lightning could easily tear him to shreds. Everyone knew that Ottar's quest was not brave; it was foolish. Yet the man continued on his foolish path nonetheless. For he could not abide his own weakness, nor could he allow his goddess to wallow in infamy. Raw persistence, willpower, and self-loathing alone drove him to conquer that indomitable peak. "Ottar has the teeth to bite back at Zald! If he can't do it, then no one in this city can!" That was the hero's plan. That was Warlord's obsession. Finn focused his azure eyes on the magical dome surrounding Babel. "Isn't that right, Ottar?" he said. "Finn and I… We always looked up to you." In Central Park, Warlord and Glutton stared each other down. Clad in his multitude of armaments, Ottar slowly raised and clenched his fist. "The peak of despair, and a roiling anger. These are what you left me, and I always swore I would leave them behind." It was not adoration. Nor was it envy or hate. To Ottar, Zeus and Hera represented nothing more than a wall that needed to be scaled. "The time to fulfill that oath…is now. It is today." Ottar raised his gaze, fixing his eyes on those of the warrior in black before him. "Today is the day I surpass you. Today is the day my teeth tear at your flesh." Zald's mouth, the only visible part of him, curled into a grin. "Very well, mewling brat." It lasted only a second, replaced with a howling roar. "You face me alone! The weight of this city's fate lies on your back! And still you seek to devour me?" Zald's voice tremored with glee and a thirst for battle. Even his thick armor seemed incapable of repressing his aura, which caused the hairs on Ottar's skin to bristle. "Very well! Let us see what you can do! Become a beast! Cast off your weak flesh and consume mine! At long last, a feast I can enjoy!" Ottar pulled out two longswords as Zald made his move. Glutton unsheathed his black slab of steel, then raised it up to the sky as if in prayer. "Which will win the day: your obsession, or my disappointment? Let the gods above bear witness!" High above, a goddess stood on the uppermost floor of Babel. "Oh yes, I'm watching." From her private seat, Freya alone gazed down at the battle about to unfold. "A baptism. A battle where the very fate of the world hangs in the balance… And, if all goes well, this will be the moment my child ascends." Her silver eyes locked on the combatants below. "Go forth, Ottar. This is your greatest test yet. Do not disappoint me." Her words were the signal for the duel to begin. The two fighters, swords raised, let out a yell and dashed for each other. ""Rrraaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!"" Pure brute strength drove their weapons. Power surged from their muscles to their steel, unleashing a shock that rattled the very earth, and which could be heard in every part of the city. A titanic clash of blades ensued, sending sound waves rippling throughout Orario that people mistook for the explosive belches of flames spat forth by a fire-breathing wyrm. The cacophony was so overwhelming that the rumbles of the Dungeon monster seemed to pale in comparison. "It's started!" cried Asfi, shuddering as she stood in the casino area of the pleasure district. "The battle between Orario's champions of yesterday and today!" "Each blow feels like an earthquake!" said Shakti, from the home of Ganesha Familia. "It's unbelievable!" "If you lose out there, I'll kill you!!" spat Allen, in a brief moment of pause during his rampage around the Amphitheatrum. While adventurers around the city were shocked by what they heard and felt, they were not disheartened by it. The thrum of Warlord's blades instilled in them a sense of courage, and they turned their own claws upon the Evils with renewed vigor. The forces of Orario and their foes were roughly equal, and with their enemy's strongest piece locked inside Central Park, the adventurers held the upper hand on the outside. "Grr, the fight's still goin'. This ain't a complete wash like on the night of the Great Conflict. Looks like that pig bastard's been trainin'…" Valletta's lips curled into a nasty snarl. But she only allowed herself to succumb to anger for a moment before readopting the cruel coolheaded persona that earned her the alias of Arachnia. With a calm mind, she reevaluated the impact of Finn's plan, and of Ottar's duel. None of it matters so long as Zald wins—which he will. There's something more important I've been thinking about… She turned back and addressed her subordinates. "Look lively, numbnuts! I wanna know the name of every last first-tier adventurer who's fightin' out there in the streets!" "Y-y-yes, ma'am! I-it will only take a moment…" The flustered subordinate was about to hurry off to gather the information his mistress requested, when a man with bloodred hair appeared and answered her query. "Besides Braver and Warlord, I have also spotted Vana Freya, Bringar, plus Dáinsleif and Hildsleif," he said. "You picked a damn fine time to show your face, Faceless. Where have you been all this time?" "I was curious as to how Glutton fared and went to see for myself. I apologize for my tardiness, my lady." Valletta was a little taken aback by the uncharacteristic honesty of the man's apology. She knit her brows and waited to hear the rest of Vito's report. "Vana Freya is defending the stronghold, while Dáinsleif, Hildsleif, and Bringar are engaged with the Apate Familia and Alecto Familia," he went on. Freya Familia had devoted themselves to the defense of the Amphitheatrum, in the eastern quarter of the city. The most heated battle in Orario's history was taking place there, second only to the one in which Ottar was engaged at the foot of Babel. "As for Nine Hell and Elgarm…I couldn't say. I haven't seen hide nor hair of either of them—nor, for that matter, the girls of Astrea Familia." Vito surveyed the view from the trading house rooftop once more. While Astrea's followers were not exactly linchpins of the enemy force by most standards—the highest among them were Level 3—they had quickly become beacons of hope in the city's eyes. Vito was keen to emphasize that they were not a force to be taken lightly. There's no way Finn's still keeping cards close to his chest at this point. Which can only mean… Her eyes narrowed like daggers. The theory she was currently entertaining was outlandish, but if Finn was behind it, anything was possible. "Listen to me, Vito. I want you to head through Knossos and enter the Dungeon." The look on her face was graver than any Vito had seen before. At the mention of Knossos, their subordinates standing nearby shuddered. "Hmm? And why is that?" Vito replied. "Because everyone up here is focused on Zald," said Valletta. "I ain't seen anyone gearin' up for the monster that's about to come outta Babel." She gnashed her teeth in vexation. "That can only mean one thing: Finn's sent a team down there to deal with it. That's gotta be where Astrea Familia is at, plus that damned high elf and dwarf of his." "A little overkill, no? Especially when his forces are so valuable here on the surface." Vito opened his eye a crack. "You don't suppose he knows about our little shortcut, do you?" "Suspects, maybe. No way he knows for sure. If he did, he'd have done somethin' about it by now." But the fact this was only a hunch made Finn's actions all the more incredible. "I don't believe ya, Finn! Actin' so decisively when you ain't got a shred of proof! It's insane, I tell ya! I've never met anyone who's got half the nerve you do!" Of course, she didn't know that Finn had changed the plan to be this way at the last minute due to the tingling of his thumb. Vito was silent for a while, but he soon realized, as Valletta did, that Finn's plans endangered their own. "…Very well, I shall take a contingent and head down there at once. That is where the key to our victory lies, after all. But are you sure you don't need me up here?" "You're the only one I can trust with this, Faceless," Valletta shot back. "Olivas is a useless piece of shit. Besides, I still got one more trick up my sleeve." Valletta's mind went to her secret weapon, and she relished a chance to unleash it. "I'm sure you ain't forgotten," she said to Vito, "but the upper gates are all closed off after what we did to our allies." The mass exodus that took place on the night of the Great Conflict was made up in part by the Evils' own gods. Erebus had fully intended all along to use them as sacrifices. Of course, the followers of those sacrificed gods had not taken the decision lightly, and the Evils secret base had suffered heavy damage in the ensuing unrest. As one final act of resistance, the cornered gods had destroyed the gates leading to the upper floors of the Dungeon. "Which means…?" asked Vito. "You'll be headin' to the middle floors—the eighteenth floor, to be exact." The corners of her mouth curled upward. The prelude had almost reached its finale. "If there's gonna be a war, it'll be there." An enormous tremor rattled every bone in the adventurers' bodies. It felt as if they were standing over a dragon's open jaw, readying to jump in. The brow of every member of Astrea Familia was slick with sweat. Lyu's fingers tightened around her swords. "It's getting closer!" They were currently on the seventeenth floor, and the tremors from below were growing stronger by the second. Lyu sliced a minotaur in two, carving a path for her allies. She was desperately trying to turn her mounting tension into strength rather than fear. "We're almost at the eighteenth floor," noted Aiz, clearing the hordes with her sword. "And these rumbles are no joke!" added Gareth, swinging his ax. "No doubt the monster will meet us there as planned!" The strike team had been able to maintain a good pace and were quickly approaching the deepest part of the seventeenth floor—the Great Wall of Sorrows. "I suppose that means we needn't worry about being late to the party," said Kaguya, narrowing her eyes and licking her lips in anticipation. "Yeah, in fact, the timing's so perfect it's scary!" cried Lyra. "The heck is wrong with you, Finn?!" This location was meant to be home to the Goliath, a Monster Rex, but right now it was startlingly empty. It was as though all the powerful monsters of the Dungeon had gone into hiding. "We'll take up our positions before the enemy arrives," said Riveria. "As soon as we reach floor eighteen, take the high ground. We'll start the battle with a fusillade of spells!" "Got it!" came Alize's spirited reply. "Leave it to us!" She sprinted off ahead, and the rest of Astrea Familia followed. But just then, Lyu spotted something strange. A scarlet ember was dancing in the air. "…Sparks? Where are they coming from…?" But Alize didn't notice the girl's confusion. "I see the way to floor eighteen right ahead! I'm going in!" She leaped through the hole at the end of the room, into a dark tunnel that slanted downward. Soon, the light of the exit came into view, and Alize jumped out into the world beyond. Instantly, she felt a blistering heat. Her ears were deafened by a thundering roar. And hellfire stretched as far as the eye could see. "Wha—?!" Lyu was at a loss for words. Kaguya, Lyra, and Aiz couldn't speak, either. The girls of Astrea Familia froze. Riveria and Gareth paused, their eyes wide. "…What…happened…?" muttered Alize, stupefied. The Dungeon paradise was on fire, and it now looked like a gateway to hell.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter6.txt	Chapter 3: Eden's Demise CHAPTER 3 Eden's Demise The crystals were melting. The forests had been reduced to ash. The land itself cracked and burned. Glittering lakes had become bubbling pools that belched blistering steam, and droplets of molten crystal rained from above like hail. It was a vision of apocalypse painted in scarlet and crimson. Not a memory remained of the Under Resort the adventurers knew. "Is this really…floor eighteen?" Lyu muttered in disbelief as the girls of Astrea Familia stood dumbfounded beside her. "The paradise we all know and love, reduced to…this?" Lyu recalled the vow she had exchanged with her friends just two weeks prior. Astrea Familia had promised to be buried here when the time came, but there was no sign of that paradise now. "The trees are burning…" wailed Celty. "All the greens and blues…they're gone." "I ain't never seen anythin' so…horrible," muttered Lyra. Aiz lifted an arm to her sweat-soaked brow. "It's so hot…" she complained. "It's hard to breathe…" "This is like hell itself," said Kaguya. "It…it can't be," cried Riveria, the horror plain on her face, "but this is just like…" "Yes." Gareth completed her thought. "It's the same as the Dragon's Urn on the deep levels!" The rocks in the walls and floors disgorged a terrifying heat, like magma. The two first-tier adventurers scanned the area, taking it all in. "What's the Dragon's Urn, old man Gareth?" asked Alize, but she didn't get to hear his answer before the ground at her feet split open, unleashing a column of fire. "Whoa?! What's happening?!" cried Iska. "The ground just exploded!" yelled Lyana. The strange phenomenon occurred three times, the ground shaking violently with each burst. "A large group of monsters got engulfed by the flames," cried Neze, "and they're coming this way!" While floor eighteen was a so-called safe point where no monsters spawned, a good number of monsters still ventured in from the adjacent floors seeking respite. Clad in fiery armor, bugbears and mad beetles advanced toward the adventurers. "I've never seen anything like it!" shouted Kaguya. "We have to fight them!" She drew her katana and lunged for the horde. "The monsters are a pain in the butt, but…" "Those pillars of fire are a real danger, too!" Lyu finished Lyra's warning. "What incredible heat… A single hit from one of those and we'll be incinerated!" The two girls leaped with impressive agility, fighting burning monsters while dodging fiery columns that shot up from their feet. All the while, the sheer heat scorched their flesh, leaving no doubt in their mind that these flames were responsible for floor eighteen's dramatic transformation. Kaguya paused during a break in the hostilities to cry out to her allies. "Why is fire coming out of the ground?" she yelled. "What's going on?" "It's coming from the floor below," came Gareth's reply. "Wha—?!" Riveria studied the landscape. "It's the monster we're looking for," she concluded, after drawing on the wisdom she and her fellow first-tier adventurer had obtained over the years. "It must be. It's blasting its way up through the floor as we speak." "By spitting fireballs?! That's insane!" cried Neze. Her thoughts echoed the minds of everyone else in Astrea Familia. Compared to Riveria and Gareth, they were practically greenhorns. While they looked on in utter shock, the first-tier adventurers went on. "The Dragon's Urn is a deep level that only Zeus and Hera have ever reached," Riveria explained. "We only have Guild reports to go on, but we have heard tales of attacks that cross floor boundaries." "From floor fifty-two onward, the Dungeon becomes hell," added Gareth. "I wouldn't be surprised if our quarry is using the same tactic it would down there." The girls of Astrea Familia were stunned. "So this is what it's like down on floor fifty-two?!" spat Lyra in disbelief. "You've gotta be kidding me! That's crazy!" The Dungeon was an abyss that defied all reason. Lyra was only now beginning to realize its true extent. Alize, meanwhile, eyed the fiery landscape, then gave a cheerful smile and a nod. "So this monster's as powerful as the ones you find past floor fifty, huh? Yeah, that's scary! My alias is Scarlett Harnell, but that might not be enough to save me here!" Alize thumped her chest with a smug grin. "Why do you sound so proud when you say that?!" Lyu shouted. The rest of the girls fell about in disbelief. Aiz tilted her head in confusion while Lyu shook her head, wondering if it was a good or a bad thing that Alize's foolishness had banished the tension in the air. "Never mind, just form up as Lady Riveria indicated!" she said in the end. "That's right," Riveria agreed. "The monster hasn't broken through yet. We still have time to—" But before she could give any concrete orders, a new voice interjected. "Do not interrupt." All sound disappeared at once. The adventurers froze in stunned silence, as if their voices had been stolen. Out of a cloud of whirling sparks stepped a woman in a jet-black dress. Despite the scorching conditions, everything around her seemed cold and desolate. "We bear witness to the final moments of the Age of Gods." Her words flowed like poetry. Her ashen hair fluttered around her shoulders. "In death, as it was in life. Obtrusive, violent, and cruel." Her voice carried like the tinkling of a bell. "Do not resist. There is no need to add your voices to the world's death knell. You can simply remain forever silent." Her words sounded like a prayer, but they were an omen of the end times. A prophecy of destruction laid down by the second conqueror before the astonished adventurers. It was Lyu who recovered first and spoke the witch's name. "Alfia… Silence!" "I-it can't be," stammered Maryu. "H-how did you get here?!" "It's not just Babel's sentries—you would've had to sneak right through our main base! How did you manage that?!" Alfia remained cool throughout Kaguya's interrogation. "I see no reason to answer that." Then her neck turned ever so slightly, placing Riveria and Gareth squarely in the path of her unopened eyes. "I see you are not surprised, followers of the Trickster." "Finn warned us," answered Riveria. "He said there might appear a foe even more deadly than the Dungeon monster." "Yes," added Gareth. "We wouldn't be here were it not for his canny hunch." "I see. In any case, it matters not. Demise is imminent." Alfia quickly seemed to lose interest in the pair. What she said next was a pronouncement of death. "Promise to neither cry nor act. Remain silent, and I shall leave you in peace." """Hrh?!""" "You shall be exempt from despair and destruction. Free from resentment and loss." The woman was dead serious. Her words cut Astrea Familia to their core. All—save Lyu, Kaguya, and Lyra—were seeing her for the first time. The raw power behind each of the Level 7's words was incredible. It was as if she were a messenger of hell itself, come to spread word of humankind's downfall. She held the power to carve out the silence she desired for herself. That much was undeniable. Any adventurer in Orario ten years ago would call her the Grand Silent Witch. Any god in heaven would call her the world's final boss. She was lofty, supreme, and no mortal could intrude upon her silence for even a moment. Alfia spoke as if she were tracing the score to her requiem with her finger. "Promise me to wait out this tower's fall and the end of an era without word or deed. If so, then—" "Nope, sorry!!" One insensitive young redhead shattered the weighty mood. "I don't get all this 'bringing an end to the Age of Gods' stuff, but if you think I'm gonna stand around while Orario crumbles, then you've got another think coming!!" Alfia's lips parted gently in surprise. The jaws of the rest of Alize's allies, on the other hand, hit the floor in shock. Alize ignored all of them and continued shooting off. "You're trying to destroy the city! That's ridiculous! Besides, we've already come all this way! You really think I'm just gonna go, 'Oh, okay then,' and not do anything just because you asked?!" Riveria and Gareth went uncharacteristically wide-eyed, while Aiz blinked multiple times. "Well, I'm sorry, but our justice doesn't care what you think! What do you think of that, eh? Too hot for you to handle? Well, that's too bad!!" Alize puffed out her modest chest and put on the smuggest smile she could muster, eyes closed. The only sound that ensued was the roaring of the flames. Kaguya was the first to break the silence. "…Heh. Ha-ha-ha!" "Talk about disrespectful. Sheesh…" Lyra hung her head in defeat. "…But I guess that's what we all love about ya. Never change, Captain." She gave a warm smile. Lyu couldn't help but agree. Alize's outburst gave them all courage. So long as she was there for them to look up to, the disciples of the stars could go on fighting adversity for as long as it took. Freed from the grip of silence, Lyu's fingers curled around Adi's blade. "Hwah-hah-hah-hah!" Gareth chuckled. "I see not even Silence can put the fear of the gods in you, lass! Hold on to that courage—you'll need it against her!" "We could all take a leaf out of Alize's book," added Riveria with a smile. "If Alfia hates noise so much, then perhaps we should be making more of it." "Yes. Let's take her down," said Aiz, tightening both hands around the hilt of her sword. "Everyone else is working hard. We won't lose like last time." All of them saw something in the enthusiastic young girl. It couldn't quite be called hope—but it inspired them nonetheless, and each of them leveled their weapons at the witch standing in their way. "Hmm." For one short moment, while her face was obscured by the sparks…Alfia smiled. Then any trace of amusement was obliterated. "The rallying hymn of foolishness mistaken for courage," she said. "Orario has not changed." The air about her suddenly gained an unbearable weight. "Very well. If you will not watch this world's demise in silence, then perish alongside it. Let the cries of life and war return equally to nothing. That is the mercy I offer you." Suddenly, unbelievable waves of magical energy began radiating off her. "Get ready!" Riveria immediately set up a magic circle and started chanting, while Alize raised her sword, Crimson Order. "Let's go, girls! There's a world that needs saving, so we've got a job to do!" "Yes, Alize!" came Lyu's reply, and she and the other adventurers all launched themselves at the ashen-haired witch. "Raaaaaaaaaahhh!" The curtains of battle rose as Gareth led with a mighty swing from his battle-ax. The witch's response was a single word. "Gospel." "Graaaaaaaghhh!!" With an unfairly short chant, a wall of sound hurled Gareth's stout frame backward. The adventurers, however, knew all about Alfia's spell by now and had been expecting it. They continued their assault without hesitation. "Hup!!" "Tempest!" Gareth's distraction gave Lyu and Aiz the time they needed to follow up. They raced across the terrain like panthers, approaching the witch from opposite sides and unleashing a pair of upward swings. Any average monster would have been torn to shreds by the two hurricanes, but… "I see the echoes have still not died down." Alfia was not an average monster. She was a monster among monsters. As the two blades approached her flesh, she spoke the next word in her hymn. "Rugio." Another sound of destruction. "Wha—?!" "Aaaahhh!!" Lyu and Aiz were flung back as if they'd stepped on a mine. The elf crossed her swords and dug her feet into the floor, while the lighter Aiz soared through the air like a ball. The two girls had leaped into the spot Gareth had only just vacated and were immediately enveloped in explosive magical energy. "That was a spell key!!" yelled Lyu, recognizing the nature of the force. By reciting the spell key, a spell could be detonated at will, releasing the latent energy in an instant. Lyu realized that this was what Alfia had done just seconds after dealing with Gareth. The scary thing was, she had released the spell once already, so what Alfia was detonating was not a new spell, but the residual energy left behind by the first. Usually, spell keys were used with spells that utilized homing projectiles or beams, so that the caster could detonate the projectile at will. Lyu had never seen anyone do what Alfia had done, a kind of two-stage attack that cast a spell once, then triggered the residual energy for a follow-up attack. "Wait, what?! What just happened?!" shouted Alize, looking left and right between the combatants. "I blinked, and now old man Gareth's on the floor, and Leon and the Sword Princess got blown back as well!" "She uses sound magic!" yelled Lyra, never taking her eyes off the foe for an instant. "Weren't you listening when Finn explained it to you?" "The casting time is ultrashort, hits as hard as Nine Hell's magic, and you can't even see it coming!" yelled Kaguya. "And if that ain't enough, the wave'll bust your eardrums and make you dizzy as hell! Every hole in your face'll be oozin' blood—even your eyes!" "Ew, gross! I can handle a nosebleed or two, but that sounds nasty! If even old man Gareth got blasted off his feet, then I hate to think what it'll do to me! It'd break every bone in my body!" "…And yet, you all remain in once piece," spoke Alfia above the hubbub of Astrea Familia. "How curious. A magic item, perhaps?" Kaguya and Lyra could freely attest that a single spell from Alfia was enough to end the battle then and there, but Gareth, Lyu, and Aiz all staggered to their feet, ready for more. From each of their ears hung a small purple piercing in the shape of a miniature harp. "Precisely," answered Gareth. "Finn devised them, and that Perseus lass crafted them for us!" "One for each of us," added Lyu. "So don't expect us to go down easily!" They were originally a type of accessory called a Silence Lyre, which Perseus had developed to protect against the alluring songs of mermaids and sirens. However, at Finn's orders, Asfi had modified them to ward off the damaging effects of all sound-based attacks. It combined active and passive noise cancellation, generating a field around the wearer that dampened incoming sound waves. It was a piece of equipment custom-made to counter Alfia, and were it to be given a name, that name would probably be something along the lines of Alfia Velador—Witch Bane. Aiz picked herself up from the ground and swung her sword as she readied herself once more. "Evidently, the noise will not die out so easily," Alfia muttered. "How irritating…but at the same time, it reminds me of something." She spoke of the past without much visible emotion. "You and that elf always did have an answer for everything, dwarf. A wall to our sword, a veil to our magic. And now, these cheap tricks." ""Grh…!"" "Your own past has saved you," she said. "All that noise was not in vain after all." She spoke of the long feuds between the Loki Familia and Freya Familia and those of Zeus and Hera. The only reason Riveria and Gareth were able to respond so decisively this time was because they had been beaten so soundly and so often in the past. Yet the witch spoke dismissively of those events fifteen years ago. She considered them but more noise. Riveria and Gareth shot her a rotten glare. "Then let us see, shall we? Let us see how long that legacy will hold." A second passed as Alfia's unassuming words hung in the air. And then the onslaught began. "Urgh?!" cried Lyu. "Dammit! This ain't fair!" shouted Lyra. "How are we supposed to get close when she keeps blasting us back?!" complained the dwarven vanguard, Asta. Alfia's magic could not be stopped. Even the adventurers' specialized defensive enchantments could not completely attenuate the raw power of her attacks. Lyu and her allies were dashed across the ground and hurled into crystals that shattered on impact. At long range, fighting Alfia was an impossible task. She alone surpassed all the mages that faced her combined, including Riveria. She cast faster and hit harder. A contest of magic was doomed to end in failure. "Ignore it! Keep pushing!" came Riveria's command. "Overwhelm her with numbers and don't give her breathing room! Keep casting!" The high elf sprinted to a different position, using concurrent casting to keep up her own attacks. Obeying her orders, the melee fighters leaped into action. "Leon, Kaguya! Let's go!" cried Alize. "I'm coming, too!" came the voice of Aiz. The four launched themselves at their foe; Alize in the lead, with Lyu and Aiz at her sides, and Kaguya bringing up the rear. All four of them attacked in concert…only for their whirlwind of blades to hit nothing but empty air. """"Grh!!"""" "Don't even raise your swords if you lack the skill to use them properly." It was like Alfia could see the future. With just a lean of her torso, a tilt of her head, or a brush of her fingers against the sword edge, she deflected or avoided every blow without even opening her eyes. The four girls reeled in shock. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. I can't touch her! thought Alize, her eyes wide. Even four of us can't land a single hit! observed Kaguya, scowling in frustration. I've never seen a mage move like her! Sweat beads formed on Lyu's brow. It's like… Aiz's heart thrummed to the melody of the unknown. She's a frontline fighter, just like us! Soon, the witch seemed to grow bored of only dodging. "Give me that." Her arm shot out, and in a flash Desperate was hers. "Wah! That's mine! Give it back!" Aiz ran over and began hopping for her stolen weapon like a bullied playground kid. Quickly, the other girls caught on to the witch's intent and pulled her back, but by then they were too late. "Let me show you how to use a sword." There was a roar, like thunder, and the streak of steel seared a burning horizon into the girls' retinas. Mere moments before all four were bisected, the old dwarf jumped in the way, greatshield raised. "Raaaaaaaaaaahhhh?!" Like a replay of a few moments past, Gareth was blown back, though he succeeded in protecting the lives of Aiz, Lyu, Alize, and Kaguya. All five were scattered across the ground, along with the shattered remains of Gareth's shield. "Leon! Alize! Kaguya!" shouted Neze. "That attack just sent all of 'em flyin'!" yelled Lyra. "The hell was that, anyway?!" Her eyes trembled in fear. It was Riveria who answered with a scowl. "That was one of Zald's techniques!" None among Astrea Familia could believe what they were hearing. "You're joking," spat Kaguya, lying flat on her back. Her arms trembled as she reached up, peeling the dazed Aiz off her stomach and tossing her aside. "Glutton's swordplay? She's supposed to be a mage!" It was Alfia herself who provided the answer. "I can reproduce any technique if I've seen it even once before," she explained. "While I cannot pretend to possess Zald's physicality, I can imitate his swordplay, at the very least." The girls of Astrea Familia couldn't believe what they were hearing. Least of all Noin and Asta, who gulped in terror. As frontline fighters themselves, nobody understood better. The witch who stood before them made a mockery of hard work and effort. "The Monstrously Gifted…" muttered Lyu. "You're not human!!" screeched Kaguya. It was then that Gareth crawled to his feet. "No point in comparing yourselves to her, girls! She's exceptional even by Hera's standards! A mage who fights on the front lines, but not as a magic swordswoman! A category unto herself! An avatar of destruction, dominating with sheer talent!" "I know not if that is insult or praise, dwarf, but it is noise either way." Alfia tired of the adventurers' words, and raised Aiz's sword to shoulder height, testing its weight. "This weapon does not suit me, after all," she said. "How ridiculous it looks in these twigs I call my arms. You may have it back." She tossed the sword, dumping it carelessly onto the ground at Aiz's feet. The golden-haired girl stooped and took Desperate in both hands, her brow dripping with sweat. "My heart's pounding… I've never felt scared of another person before!" "Rest assured, I despise your kind as well, girl. All I ever evoke in the eyes of children…is fear." A wave of sound marked the recommencement of hostilities. Aiz and the other adventurers did their best to leap out of the line of fire. A horrifying melody of silence. Swordplay, magical ability, inborn talent: none of it mattered against the Monstrously Gifted. She was the storm, and all the adventurers were the sailors clinging to their ship for dear life. That was simply how powerful Hera's Level 7 was. "Alize! Girls! Get back!" "The chant's complete! Get ready!" Lyana and Celty shouted, their voices cutting through Alfia's ceaseless barrage. As back-rank fighters, they had been spared the brunt of the attacks so far. Together with Riveria, they raised their staffs, unleashing a vortex of magical energy. "Wynn Fimbulvetr!" Fire, lightning, and three blasts of arctic wind that far outclassed the rest. This magical bombardment could fell a floor boss, but all Alfia did was extend her arm and speak a single word. "Ataraxia." The magic dispersed as though colliding with an invisible wall. "Wh-what the…?!" "All our projectiles are being nullified just before impact!" Celty's and Lyana's faces paled. "Grh!" Riveria scowled. "She can use that barrier even after she's just cast a different spell!" The mages had timed their combination attack for the precise moment it would be impossible to block—right after Alfia had unleashed her magic on the frontline fighters of Astrea Familia. Alfia, however, had seamlessly pivoted to defense in mere moments. "You never learn, do you?" Alfia said. "How many times do I have to silence your paltry spells? I was under the impression the elves were a wise race, young one. Is that not the case?" "Young one?! I'm older than you!!" Of course, Alfia was by far Riveria's senior when it came to adventuring, and the high elf understood that. That didn't stop the witch's remark cutting her to the bone. "That makes it worse," Alfia shot back. "It means your years have taught you nothing, you ill-tempered spinster." The high elf snarled, her anger so plain that it startled the young Aiz, who jumped in fright. "Rrrrrrrrrrrrghhh!!" "Don't lose your head!" cautioned Gareth. "To think that anyone could set you off like Aina did…" But more concerned than anyone else by Riveria's outburst were her fellow elves. "Lady Riveria's lost it!" cried Celty. "Wh-what do we do?!" asked Lyu. "Drop the comedy act, numbskulls! We're in the middle of a fight, here!" Lyra chided the two elves, then turned her attention back to her foe, a cold sweat making its way down her neck and into her clothing. Still, that high elf is right; her abilities are crazy! She can put up a wall so quickly after batterin' us with spells! It was unreasonable. It was unfair. It defied magical common sense. Even Alfia's level wasn't enough to explain it. There's supposed to be limits to what ultrafast casting can achieve! She's practically castin' two spells at the same time! Such a feat was supposed to be impossible. One of the central rules of spellcraft stated that spells could not be cast without performing the corresponding chant. And it was impossible to recite two chants at once, no matter what rare skills a mage possessed. If one tried, the words would become muddled and both spells would fail. "There's gotta be some trick to what she's doin'! How's she able to mix offense and defense so easily?!" Lyra glared at the witch, unable to unravel her mysteries. Alfia looked down on her with disappointment and spoke a single word. "Gospel." This spell contained more energy than all the previous ones. Sound transformed into pure destruction, breaking the ground apart and sending everything flying. "It's a wide-area attack!!" "We can't evade it!!" "Grrrrrhhhh!!" Alize, Lyra, Lyu, and the other girls of Astrea Familia were engulfed in the blast. The entire floor shook, and the sound of shattering crystals filled the air. Soon, only the distinct sound of a tuning fork lingered. The dust cleared…revealing two dwarves, protecting the party with their shields. "E-Elgarm, you saved us…" stuttered Neze, seeing the old dwarf's damaged state. "Is everyone okay? You did well, too, young one." Gareth's words were directed at Asta, who stood alongside him, her own shield up and at the ready. "W-well, I'm a dwarf, too, after all…!" she replied. "Do you have a spare shield? I'm afraid this one won't do anymore." "O-of course! Here you go!" "Appreciated. However, I fear for our prospects. We shall have no weapons or armor at this rate…" Gareth tossed aside his shield, of which very little now remained, and Noin passed him a new one. Alfia was burning through their equipment faster than a floor boss. The party's sound-cancelling accessories could only accomplish so much. One look at Asta's full plate made this obvious, seeing how it was cracked from head to toe. "There's no gap in her attacks to exploit!" cried Riveria. "And there's not much time! Soon—!" But right on cue, there was a sound so loud it outclassed even the Level 7's spells. "Another attack from below! It's a big one!" cried Kaguya, barely managing to stay upright. But she didn't get another word out before an enormous explosion drowned out all sound. Like a waterfall in reverse, a column of fire erupted from the ground, spanning the entire height of the cavern. "It's coming through the ground!" cried Aiz, raising her arms to shield her face from the blistering heat. "What is this monster supposed to be, a volcano?!" yelled Lyra. She watched as the great tree at the floor's center was consumed by the flames and crumbled to ash. "There's a big hole in the center of the floor!" shouted Lyu. The attack left a void about twenty meders in diameter, and a rumble like the horns of heaven announcing the creature's arrival. The adventurers all turned to stare at the abyss in shock. "Oh no… It's here!" "…A demon wreathed in flames," Alfia calmly declared. And then… "The Dungeon's cry made manifest. A monster's first birthday." "Grh…!!" A divine voice wormed its way through the labyrinth of suffering until it reached Lyu. She spun to face its source. "The birth of evil. A nightmare made real. In the name of primordial darkness, I have upheld my oath." Framed against a pillar of flames that seemed to go on without end, a single figure approached, a contingent of troops at his back. Lyu froze when she saw him, and her lips trembled. "It's you… Erebus…!" The dark god stepped out of the veil of scarlet and into stark relief. "Here I am," he said. "And I brought the apocalypse with me." Three pillars of flames erupted behind him, and a harbinger of destruction climbed out of the abyss.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter8.txt	Chapter 4: Apocalypse Cometh CHAPTER 4 Apocalypse Cometh "Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!" The adventurers clutched their heads. The creature's roar shook every last pebble on the eighteenth floor. Even Alfia gave a slight grimace, while the monster rose into the cavernous space and spread its crooked wings, shedding black motes. "Wh-what is that?!" cried Neze. "Some kind of winged serpent… Is that a dragon?!" yelled Alize. "How does something that big manage to fly?!" "It's disgusting…" said Kaguya. "I think I'm going to throw up! I've never seen a monster so hideous!" Its head alone was enormous and misshapen, with a ragged jaw resembling that of a demon spawned from the deepest abyss. The creature itself was massive, but its limbs were thin and spindly, like a chimerical amalgamation of a snake and a malnourished human. It was only after much difficulty that Alize correctly identified it as a dragon—a creature that stood at the top of the monster food chain as an apex predator. "An anomaly born from divine transgression on the thirty-seventh floor. As for a name…how about Delphyne?" The dark god named the beast on the advent of its ascent. "Can you see that hole, children? It goes all the way down to hell." He spoke with excitement, brandishing his divine might. "That right there is a gate and symbol of the underworld, my friends. And we're taking it all the way to the top. Once Babel falls and the Age of Gods is over, only then can a true legend be born." "Grh…!" "Yes…an Age of Chaos." As Lyu watched on, Erebus flashed a twisted smile. "Rejoice. And die. Accept the oblivion I offer you. This new world has no need for the light of justice." As if agreeing with his words, the creature from below, Delphyne, let out an ear-shattering roar. The god was calm, but his followers were already panicking. "L-Lord Erebus!" one of them said. "H-hurry and get to safety!" "W-we will not be able to keep you safe much longe—" It only took an instant. The whole world flashed black and crimson, and all that remained of the Evils lieutenant was his arm and the echo of his words. "E-eeeek!" The other Evils fell over themselves. Erebus, on the other hand, merely cast a glance over his shoulder. "A little close for comfort, that one," he said without a care. "I suppose it is me you're after, isn't it?" Smoke still billowing from its mouth and nostrils, Delphyne glared at the dark god. "Very well, then. This is your last job, my followers. Get me safely to Alfia's side, and it's all over." "…!" "We can't let the leading man make such an undignified exit so ahead of schedule. Else this show would turn into a comedy." Erebus's followers had given their lives to see him this far, and they were prepared to sacrifice more still. They let out a terrified yell, steeling themselves to pay the ultimate price. Fire rained down from the heavens, but the cultists spared no opportunity to martyr themselves, throwing themselves in front of their god and becoming cinders in his place. "Hmm. I was not expecting to see a beast so vile," said Alfia. "Truth be told, I doubted Erebus's words. But it seems there is no end to the mysteries this Dungeon can bring forth." Alfia stood and watched the monster, evaluating it, while the flames bathed her pale skin in a scarlet light. Meanwhile, the adventurers dripped with sweat. With the creature's arrival, the temperature on the eighteenth floor had spiked, but that wasn't the only reason. Now that they had seen with their own eyes the undeniable proof of the beast's ability to smash through floors, they quickly realized that time was running out. "Blast!" growled Gareth. "That thing doesn't care what side anyone is on! And its power is unbelievable…not only did it burrow a tunnel between floors, but all of Under Resort will soon crumble at this rate!" "We have to fight it!" yelled Riveria. "But Alfia's still a danger as well…" It was at that moment, while Finn's two most trusted lieutenants gazed up at the avatar of destruction circling overhead, that it happened. The pair suddenly heard a wind. They turned to see Aiz, her sword rattling in her hands, her shoulders rising and falling with every heated breath. She looked like she'd lost her mind. That thing… That thing… That thing…!! It was like she'd come face-to-face with an archnemesis she'd sworn to get revenge on. There was no light of reason in her eyes, just anger—a burning, seething fury. The world blinked in and out of focus. Her magical energy spilled forth like a storm. And the beating of her tiny heart rang in her ears and refused to stop. "Aaaaaaaaaaghhh!!" Her hair fluttered out behind her like a glittering golden trail as she threw herself at the dragon. "Aiz?! Wait, come back!!" The girl couldn't hear Riveria's plea. She was the wind. Words had no meaning for her now. Standing between her and her target were hordes of monsters driven equally mad by the roaring flames and overwhelming fear. The girl slaughtered all of them. Her golden eyes glimmered in the dark like the flashing steel of her blade. "Ruuuuuughhh?!" A violent tempest. Severed limbs. Gouts of flames and showers of blood. Lyu and the other girls stood slack-jawed with shock, as that magic-infused whirlwind tore through all it touched. "Out of my way! Out of my WAAAYYY!!" Nothing could divert the young Aiz. She moved like an arrow in flight. Soon, the wall of monsters blocking her path was gone, and she came upon Erebus fleeing Delphyne alongside his followers. "Oh. Didn't expect to see you here," the dark god said, chuckling. "Come to help your old foe, have you? Much apprec—" But the young girl ignored even the god's words. She sailed right past him, slicing an oncoming fireball in half. The sliced projectile scorched the air to the left and right, leaving Erebus startled but unharmed. "…Are you not even listening to me? You're a genuine agent of chaos in a little girl's clothes." The dark god's surprise, however, lasted only for a moment, before his lips formed a smile once more. "Excellent timing. Your heroic sacrifice will grant me just enough time to reach safety. Time for me to get moving. Let's see, where around here offers the grandest view?" Erebus scanned the ruins of the eighteenth floor. His divine eyes picked out a cliff that looked relatively undamaged. "Ah, my VIP seat," he said. "Perfect for watching the end run its course." Alongside what few of his devout followers remained, Erebus headed straight for it. "Aiz! Curses, I never expected her to lose her temper like this!" The roar of the wind joined the bursting fireballs, causing the entire floor to shake even more. It was like an act from a heroic legend, watching the young girl depart to face the monster alone, and Riveria frowned as she envisaged what tragic fate lay at that tale's end. "Aiz cannot face that thing alone!" shouted Gareth. "No matter how crazed she is, it's too powerful!" "Grh…!" Riveria was torn. She wanted to go save Aiz, but she couldn't turn her back on the Level 7 standing before her. To even stand a chance against Alfia required the combined strength of their entire party, and if Riveria left, only a crushing defeat awaited those who remained. But just as she began to struggle under the burden of command… "Go!!" someone called. ""!!"" Riveria and Gareth went wide-eyed with shock. It was Alize's clear voice that cut through the battlefield. "You and old man Gareth go save the Sword Princess!" she said. "We'll handle Alfia somehow!" Alize's decision was quick, but it was reckless. Riveria couldn't believe what she was hearing at first. "Don't be ridiculous, Alize Lovell! How can a group of Level Threes at best hope to take on a Level Seven?!" "We'll be okay! I still remember Braver's plan! No matter how many times she knocks us down, we'll stand right back up again!" The girl's enthusiasm left the high elf speechless. Alize placed her hands on her hips, exuding her trademark smugness. "Our justice is as unbreakable as we are pure, pretty, and perfect, don't you know?! Heh-hem!!" Then she adopted a serious expression. "So please trust me, okay, Gareth?" The old dwarf was silent. Without affirming or denying her words, he adjusted his helmet. Then he turned toward the dragon. "Let's go, Riveria. I'd wager you won't be able to focus without Aiz at your side, anyway." "Grr! I'm sorry, Astrea Familia!" Riveria made her decision. Both Gareth and Alize had seen through her facade completely. All she could do was leave those brave girls with one last parting gift. "Gather, breath of the earth—my name is Alf! Veil Breath!" Her sacred protection enveloped every member of Astrea Familia in a verdant glow. It was armor that would protect them against magical and physical attacks. "This shall keep you safe so long as the magic lasts! Please, take care!" "Alfia is in your hands, lasses! When this is all over, we'll have a feast, and I'll treat you to some real dwarven spirits!" With that the two departed. With staff and greatax in hand, they left to assist Aiz. "All right, girls! Drinks with old man Gareth confirmed! And Nine Hell gave us this nifty buff as well! Can't complain about that, can you?" "Yes we can, you idiot!!" came Lyra's swift rebuke. She looked like she wanted to strangle the life out of her bigmouthed captain. "What the hell do you think you're doing, makin' promises we can't keep?! We're gonna die out here, and it's gonna be all your fault!!" "Oh, Lyra, you're so pessimistic! We're not going to die yet, don't be silly!" "You absolute moron…!" cried Lyra, clutching her head in her hands. It was all the other girls could do to keep the smiles on their faces. Meanwhile, Kaguya, who had been examining the aura bestowed by Riveria, stepped forward. "Under normal circumstances," she said. "I would agree with the prum here, but just this once I have to side with the captain." The smile on her face was sickeningly sweet. "After all, I have a debt to settle with that woman there," Kaguya said, glaring at Alfia. "I will have my revenge, even if my decapitated head must bite out her throat!" Lyu appeared beside the not-so-innocent maiden and said, "If it will ease Lady Riveria's burden, then I'll fight as well. Somebody needs to eliminate that witch, so it might as well be us." She leveled her own glare at Alfia. Wisps of flames danced around the ashen-haired woman. All of Astrea Familia drew their weapons. "Are you finished with your little play-pretend?" the witch said. "Yes, we're finished," replied Alize. "And it's not pretend; our determination is very real." "Then perish. I shall choke the life out of you so you never sully this world with your noise again." After that final pronouncement, her magic swelled. The air itself groaned, but Alize's smile was unfaltering. "Sorry, but being noisy is the one thing we're good at!" All eleven of the girls wore brave smiles. "We're gonna keep going until you're ready to give up!" Delphyne's roar echoed throughout the floor. Every gout of flames caused the floor to shake, but there was a certain wind in the dragon's eyes that it couldn't get rid of. "Raaaahh! Aaaaaaghhh!" Aiz's face twisted in madness and rage. She used Airiel to cloak her body in an armor of wind that granted her unparalleled mobility, allowing her to leap all the way up to the monster's face. The beast attempted to stop her by swinging its heavy wings and tail, but Aiz repelled every blow with a hurricane of steel. As soon as she touched down, she launched herself at the creature once more. It was an unprecedented clash of fire and wind. Her ceaseless attacks, like an everlasting tempest, caused the beast to howl in anger. "Aiz! Come back! …Curses, she's not listening to me! Her anger is in control!" "Not even my ax can handle a beast of this size!" No matter how many times Gareth hurled his weapon, it bounced harmlessly off the creature's thick scales. Riveria's magic fared little better, as the dragon's fiery breath vaporized it utterly before impact. And she couldn't rely on her more hard-hitting spells for fear of striking the rampaging Aiz by accident. Only the young girl had found any success attacking the beast and keeping it in check. "Wait, look…!" The dragon's skin bubbled as if it were boiling, emitting steam and an ominous purple light. Then Delphyne's wounds closed before Gareth's very eyes. Even the shattered scales quickly reformed. "It's healing itself…!" Riveria spat. "As soon as we land a solid hit, this happens!" said Gareth. "Unless we concentrate our attacks, we'll never cut a path to its magic stone!" Their opponent was nigh invincible to begin with, but even when they managed to do some damage, the creature's regeneration rendered it meaningless. Gareth clenched his jaw in frustration. The beast's vitality seemed bottomless, and half-hearted attacks would not cut it. The only way through was to rely on the strength of numbers, just as Finn's plan had dictated. But it didn't seem possible to pacify Aiz without leaving themselves open to the dragon. Besides, with her tiny body surrounded by gale-speed winds, there was currently no way to even get close to her. "Aiz is giving it everything she's got. It's unfortunate, but right now her anger is the only thing keeping that monster at bay." "But it won't last!" cried Riveria. "She's using more power than her body can handle!" True to her reputation as a monster slayer, Aiz's abilities were specialized in defeating them. Only Riveria and Gareth understood the true depths of her might, which Aiz drew upon with zero regard for the consequences. With every wind-infused slash, the beast was forced to defend instead of attacking, but at the same time, Aiz crept closer and closer to her own destruction. "We have to stop her!" roared Gareth, raising his ax and dashing after her—when all of a sudden, he stopped. "What's the matter, Gareth?!" When Riveria turned her head, Gareth was looking in the complete opposite direction, toward the eastern end of the floor. There, in the distance, the high elf glimpsed several figures rising from the blasted terrain. "What the…?!" "Agallis Arvesynce!" Alize's chant summoned a torrent of magical energy that burst forth from her body, followed by the sound of dynamite. Her arm, her legs, and her sword—all were bathed in the same fiery glow, the color of her crimson hair. "A fire enchantment?" said Alfia, unperturbed. "Is that the best you have?" "You bet your butt it is! A pure, pretty, and perfect girl like me needs a pure, pretty, and perfect spell to match! What do you think? Now you know why they call me the Scarlett Harnell! Heh-hem!" Alize's proud look lasted only a moment before she got down to business. "Form up, girls! Start operation Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee!" """Got it!""" Responding quickly to their captain's order, the girls formed a ring around Alize. "Three in the back, five in the middle, and three in the front. I suppose they have to bolster their defense now that Elgarm's not with them." From his vantage point atop a crystal bluff, Erebus watched the battle unfolding below. Only two of his underlings remained by his side, utterly exhausted. "They're not doing so bad holding their own against a Level Seven like Alfia," he said. "Especially considering one good hit from her will tear any of them in half." Astrea Familia's performance was nothing short of exceptional. They were fighting an opponent four levels higher than themselves. Any adventurer could tell what a hopeless endeavor it was. Even a single level gap was enough reason to throw in the towel. It was like fighting a foe on another plane of existence. Erebus might as well have been watching eleven bunny rabbits take on a fire-breathing dragon. "But their teamwork is extraordinary," he went on, "and that's an adventurer's greatest asset. That's the one thing that gives them a chance to go up against unwinnable odds and come out on top." Watching that teamwork somehow plug the gap between their levels, Erebus couldn't help but smile. When Alize lunged forward, the mages quickly covered her assault. When Lyra and the other support crew in the center of the formation launched their projectiles, Lyu and Kaguya were there with perfect timing to press the advantage. Healing spells and buffs from the rear constantly kept the party fighting fit. This was what adventurers were truly capable of. Having the courage and the faith to put their lives in their allies' hands, even when one slip could spell doom for all of them. Preparations like Perseus's accessories and Riveria's magic were the distillation of a thousand battles' worth of accumulated experience. This fight was essentially a Dungeon raid; a party of adventurers combining their strength to take down a formidable boss. "They're doing well, even accounting for Alfia's little handicap." Erebus grinned. "Now, where will things go from here, I wonder?" But the witch's answer to that, as for all things, was the same single word. "Gospel." That word produced an invisible, yet deafening wall of sound. "Grh?!" Although Lyu managed to take only a glancing blow, she was still tossed through the air. Alize wasted no time in giving her command. "Maryu! Healing!" "Leave it to me! Rea Vindemia!" The eldest member of the familia cast her spell without delay, and the curative light enveloped not only Lyu, but also Asta and Noin, who had sustained wounds of their own on the front lines. "Don't forget all the potions and elixirs Braver gave us! Just stay alive and I'll heal you right back up!" yelled Neze from the middle rank. Along with Noin and Iska, she was spending the battle using curative after curative on her allies. There were even magic potions in her arsenal, so the mages on the back rank didn't have to worry about suffering from Mind Down. This focus on magical resistance must be the prum's doing, thought Alfia. My sound is not getting through. Especially with that high elf's protection in the way. Silently, she observed the actions of her opponents. Their ceaseless attacks are testing my nerves. Plus, they are cautious. They neither stray too far, nor come too close. Instead, they constantly force a response, whittling down my patience. She could come to only one conclusion. "They are trying to tire me out," she said. At that moment, a sneak attack came from behind her. Alfia moved effortlessly to the side, dodging the attacker's blade without a second thought. "She's a monster!" spat Kaguya in frustration, after her blade failed to so much as nick a single strand of ashen hair on the witch's head. "How many of my attacks has she avoided so far?!" Astrea Familia had been forced to fight defensively ever since parting with their Loki Familia allies. However, that hadn't stopped Kaguya and the other front liners from making bold attempts on their foe's life. Yet the unflappable Level 7 did not show so much as a single bead of sweat on her brow. A wave of sound gouged the earth, and although Kaguya's evasion was immediate, she was still tossed backward. Thrown clear of the battlefield, she struggled to her feet and used her sword to cut down a flame-wreathed monster that leaped toward her. Afterward, she raised her blood- and sweat-stained face and cut a path through the smoke and cinders to rejoin her allies. Kaguya was keenly aware that one direct hit would be the end of her. "We can't take this much longer, but that witch hasn't even paused to catch her breath!" she muttered. "If she doesn't wear out soon, this will all be for—!" "Oh, I see you've already started without me. My fault for arriving late, I suppose." "!" She spun toward the direction of the new voice. "However, it seems the feast is far from over. I can't wait to join in." It was a man sporting hair the color of boiling blood—the Evils lieutenant known as Vito. He arrived on the eighteenth floor with a contingent of eight troops. "It's you!" growled Kaguya, recognizing the man as the one she had fought in this very place not two weeks past. "Why are you here?! Did you come via Babel?!" "Oh, it hardly matters, right? The fact is, I am here, and eager for our second dance." He opened one eye a sliver and flashed a fearless smile. "Aren't you?" "Ah, Vito. You made it." The keen eyes of Erebus's follower quickly picked out his master, watching from on high. "It is good to see you safe, my lord," he said, in spite of the vast and uncrossable distance between them. "Pray do not do anything too reckless. You are liable to get scorched to ash sitting out in the open like that. That would mean the loss of my blessing, and I wouldn't be able to enjoy my feast like that very much, would I?" Vito turned his focus back to the girl standing before him, and his lips curled up in a grin. Kaguya did not even bother to hide her displeasure. "Back again, you disgusting cretin? I suppose the only reason you were down here that day was to scout things out?" "Quite right," replied Vito. "Sending a god into the Dungeon is risky business, as I'm sure you're aware. Everything had to be planned out perfectly to avoid any little mishaps." He showed little reluctance in addressing her query, almost as though it didn't matter. "However, meeting you girls back then was a strange twist of fate," he went on. "Perhaps our paths are destined to cross?" "I sincerely hope not," replied Kaguya. "Having to see you once is bad enough. Get out of my sight before I throw up." She grimaced at the man through the billowing smoke and heat. Just then, she heard Lyra's voice. "Kaguya, what are you doin'?! —Hey, what?! More enemies?! Argh, that's the last thing we need!" Lyra spotted new trouble and was about to come over to assist, when… "Get back, Lyra! And don't tell the others!" Kaguya's furious rebuke caused the prum girl to stop in her tracks. "If we let them split our focus, we'll be overwhelmed! Besides, I am more than a match for this group of powerless fools!" "Y-you're unhinged! You can't take 'em all by your—" "Make up for my absence, prum! Now go!" "You what?! How am I meant to fight for two people at once?!" "Now!!" "…Argh, fine!" said Lyra, caving to Kaguya's stern glare. "But you owe me a drink back topside!" The priority was the Level 7. Lyra knew that, and she also knew there wasn't any room for error. Thus, she disappeared back through the curtain of steam and rejoined the battle. "Heh-heh-heh. I do hope you weren't including me when you said 'powerless fools,'" taunted Vito. "Even a man like me has a sense of pride, you know." "Shut it, scum. Be grateful I even give you the time of day. I would like nothing more than to tear that woman's head from her shoulders." Then a dauntless smile appeared on Kaguya's lips. "But don't think I forgot how you made fools of us all back then. I'll cut you into ribbons, so I never have to see that smug grin of yours ever again!" "Ha-ha-ha! What a foulmouthed young lady you are! Then let us dance, as you wish." On his cue, Vito's subordinates rushed into battle, and the dance began in earnest. Evil on one side, and the cold steel of a Far Eastern blade on the other. Three cultists came rushing forward, two from either side and one from the front, brandishing their poison-tipped swords. Kaguya made short work of them before instantly slicing a fourth enemy who jumped down from above. One of the cultists writhed on the floor, coughing up blood, and reached to detonate his explosive device, but Kaguya slammed her toes in his face, knocking him out. The hem of her kimono fluttered, offering a glimpse of her fair legs. Then, without even looking behind her, Kaguya spun around and parried a thrust aimed at her back before slicing the assailant in the stomach faster than his eyes could open wide in surprise. "Hrgh!" "Gurgh?!" The name of her sword was Higanbana, and the blood droplets left in its wake aptly looked like fallen petals. It was a sword forged in Orario for the sole purpose of cutting down villainy. With an expertly crafted edge, it had carried Kaguya through many a battle against evil. Though shattered in the girl's previous encounter with Alfia, the fragments had been recovered and reforged, resulting in a successor to the weapon's legacy. Five Evils servants littered the Dungeon floor. Only four remained, including Vito himself. Kaguya's one-woman war raged on in service to her friends fighting the Silent Witch elsewhere. She surged forward. Vito's attacks were on another level compared to those of his underlings, yet Kaguya subtly altered their trajectory even while dodging the onslaught of the frustrated Evils. The enemy blades sliced through strands of her beautiful, silken hair, and left cuts in the cloth of her kimono, but the only look on Kaguya's face was one of scorn and disdain. Then her sheath sang as she drew her sword. Flashing Blade: a technique of her accursed bloodline, an iai slice that cut through three foes at once. "Gaaaaaghh!!" Their bodies hit the floor, and Kaguya wiped the sweat from her brow. Then she directed her gaze forward once more at Vito, who stood completely unharmed. "Magnificent!" he said, clapping. "What beauty and strength! Look at all these grown men and women who couldn't keep up with one little girl! Am I the only half-decent dancer around these parts?" Then a cold, brutal smile returned to Vito's lips as he watched her struggle for breath. "You must be getting tired by now, mustn't you, princess?" "…You repulse me. Shut your mouth!" Steel clashed with steel, and the dance went on. While Kaguya and Vito fought under a curtain of dust, Lyu and the other girls were trapped in a conflict of their own. ""Haah!"" Lyu and Alize came at their foe from opposite angles. Alfia gently brushed aside the former's wooden sword with her palm, while trapping the latter's blade between two slender fingers. "Argh! Why are you so fast? It's so irritating! And how come you're not feeling the heat from my sword? Is that your magic-nullifying power as well?!" "Do not bombard me with questions, child. All it means is that you are weak." The witch's face was laden with disappointment. "However," she said. "Your speed and power have definitely improved, red one. You must possess a rare skill." Lyu was also powering herself up with Mind Load, but the increase in Alize's stats were too drastic to explain any other way. "Heh." Alize chuckled, pulling a smug grin. "How observant of you! Yes, my skill, Rubrud Beckia, lets me—" "Alize! Don't just blurt out what your skills do to the enemy!" Lyu silenced her talkative captain before she gave the game away and slashed at Alfia. The witch released Crimson Order and stepped back, avoiding the elf's blow. "You are especially noisy," she said with a deep sigh. "I must be rid of you at once." "I'll take that as a compliment, thank you very much!" chirruped Alize, a feisty grin forming on her lips. "After all, being noisy lets me distract you like this!" Alfia knit her brows dubiously, and a second later, her suspicions were answered when a short figure leaped out from behind her. "Raaaahhh!!" "!" Lyra emerged from her veil of dust and sparks and attacked, but Alfia reacted without a moment's delay. She spun around, catching the prum's body blow on her elbow. "A shield bash? Are you pretending to be a dwarf, prum?" "Shut it, lady. I'm just doin' what I was told… But damn, nothin' fazes ya, does it? I shoulda known, but still…" After her attack failed, Lyra immediately jumped back to a safe distance, knowing a single counterattack from the witch would be the end of her. She screwed up her face in frustration, looking down at the shield in her hands—the one she had been wearing on her back this entire time. "At least I finally figured it out, though." "Figured out what?" replied Alfia, her closed eyes scrunching together. "That thing you got that nullifies magic—it ain't no barrier spell; it's a passive enchantment." "………" Alfia seemed to tremble ever so slightly in response to Lyra's declaration. It was the first reaction of hers that could be called genuine surprise. "What do you mean, Lyra?" asked Alize. Lyra jerked her chin in the direction of the ashen-haired witch. "You know how when she activates her barrier, she holds out her hand and chants? Well, it's all just smoke and mirrors to make it look like she's casting a spell." Alize thought back to when Alfia had been attacked by Riveria and the other mages. At that time, the witch had acted exactly as Lyra said, seeming to cast an ultrafast barrier spell immediately following an offensive one. "Yeah…and when I attacked her with my fire-enchanted sword, the heat didn't seem to bother her at all! But now that I think about it, I remember the flames disappeared right where she touched the blade, even though she didn't cast any kind of barrier that time." Lyra nodded. "That's 'cause it ain't a barrier spell at all. It's like your fire enchantment, or the Sword Princess's wind. Only, hers is invisible, always protectin' her from any magic." The Astrea Familia girls all stood around the battlefield, huffing for breath, listening to Lyra's explanation. They all wore the same look of surprise, which then turned to understanding. "I get it," said Lyu. "So it's not that she's really fast at switching between offense and defense; it's that her defense is always on." "This explains why you seem to be able to cast two spells at once!" said Neze. There was a short pause as Alfia remained silent. "…What of it?" she said at last. "Simply understanding changes nothing." "Yeah, you're right," said Lyra. "But we know one more thing, at least. So long as we're fightin', you can't turn that armor off. You gotta keep it up the entire time." If Alfia made one mistake fighting the girls of Astrea Familia, she would inevitably be hit by magic. And magic was deadly, no matter the origin. That was why short-term buffs were so valuable in a Dungeon raid. No matter what Alfia did, there was always that chance—even if only a tiny, tiny chance—that a spell would finally land and result in her defeat. If Alfia wanted to eliminate that chance, there was only one choice: She needed her armor, even if that armor came at a price. "You ain't showin' it, but an enchantment that nullifies magic can't come cheap, eh? How much you wanna bet it's tankin' your Mind as we speak?" "Lyra, you mean…?" "Yep. All we gotta do is keep up the assault, and sooner or later, she's gonna get Mind Down." "So it all comes down to who can last longer? Well, that's nice and simple!" exclaimed Alize. "That's one more path to victory confirmed!" The battle had been wearing on for some time now, and it stood to reason that Alfia's Mind consumption far outclassed that of the girls. "You hate noise so much, you're prepared to pay whatever it takes to keep the walls of your silent paradise intact…" muttered Lyu. "That is your weakness!" Alfia finally parted her lips to speak. "Correct," she said. "As painful as it is to admit, that Level Two prum has outwitted me for a second time." Alfia had let Lyra slip through her fingers when she'd confronted the witch alongside Kaguya in the streets of Orario. If that had not happened, the prum would not be here to expose the witch's scheme now. A humiliating turn of events for the all-powerful Level 7 but cause for congratulation as well. "There is more to you than meets the eye, prum, and there is more to ability than strength, skill, and strategy. I would do well to remember that." "Gee, a big, scary Level Seven tryin' to butter me up? I think I'm gonna wet myself." After a lighthearted chuckle, Lyra fixed Alfia with a glare. "So, whatcha wanna do, queenie? We can keep doin' this until one of us gives up the ghost, or you can drop your enchantment and finally face that noise you're so scared of." This, too, was strategy. Of course, Lyra wanted to taunt the witch into removing her armor and offering even a sliver of vulnerability, but if Alfia didn't take the bait, that was fine as well. That would only mean sticking to the original plan of wearing her out, only with the added bonus that now there was light at the end of the tunnel. Revealing the Level 7's trick had granted the girls of Astrea Familia courage and raised their morale—so much so that it hardly mattered whether the odds had really shifted. However… "…You all seem to be misapprehending the situation here." In truth, Lyra had not come even one step closer to uncovering the truth behind the witch's silence. "What I call noise is not your artless cacophony, wretched though it is… It is the hateful tune of my own gospel." "What…?" "You have correctly uncovered the true nature of my Silentium Eden. While it protects me, all forms of magic are automatically nullified." Alfia put a hand to her chest and spoke in an unsettlingly soft tone. "That includes magic originating from within. Do you understand what that means?" She raised her head and explained. "While it cannot nullify it completely, this enchantment drastically reduces the power of my own magic." The moment it dawned on them what the witch was saying, Lyra, Alize, Lyu—all the girls of Astrea Familia—paled in shock. "My silence is no armor," Alfia declared. "It is a double-edged sword. A seal upon all hateful noise, including my own." That was the one point that Lyra had failed to realize. Of course, it was perhaps the most important one of all. Alize couldn't speak. Wait, but that means… Lyra shivered in fear. All those crazy attacks she's been peltin' us with… Lyu felt the despair creep up her limbs like frostbite. That's her weakened state?! She hasn't even been using her full power?! "Listen now, and listen well," Alfia spoke. "For this is the noise that gives me such grief." A sound that was just barely audible rang out, and the invisible shroud covering Alfia's body flickered, like a mirage. The next moment, tremendous blasts of magic billowed out from her. "She undid the protection?!" exclaimed Lyu. "This gale!" Lyra yelled. "It's all the magical energy that was being kept inside!" A terrible thought came over Alize, and she instinctively screamed, "Get back, everyone! Get away from her!" But then the witch spoke in a cruel voice. "It's too late," she said. Breaking her veil of silence, she lifted one arm in the girls' direction. "Gospel: Satanas Verion." First came her usual ultrashort chant, and the true name of destruction followed. For a moment, the world was robbed of sound, and then came the gospel. """!!!""" It was destructive and deafening. The soft timbre of a ringing bell concealed a magical scream. The followers of justice didn't even have a chance to raise their voices before a wave of sound engulfed them, dragging them into a vortex of destruction. "Wha—?!" Kaguya clapped her hands over her ears and leaped away as a dust-filled gale hit her like a tidal wave. The whole floor shook. For a moment, even Delphyne's cries couldn't be heard. A flood of sound waves hit their eardrums, and the ground tremored like an earthquake. After being tossed repeatedly this way and that, Kaguya finally climbed to her feet and looked up…finding nothing but a fan-shaped zone of death. "Captain…? Lyra…? Leon…?!" There was no answer to her frenzied cries save Vito's laughter. "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Is there no limit to their power?! Glutton and Silence both!" Even as the blast waves washed over him, he laughed like a broken man. "There can be no future for Orario while those fallen heroes stand with us!" Soon, the dust cleared, revealing that Alfia was the only one still standing. The followers of justice were strewn across the shattered ground, or lying among fragments of broken crystals, like so many tattered rags. The witch gazed at what she had wrought with a sorrowful look in her eye. "All my power can do—all it has ever done—is take."
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/copyright.txt	Copyright Copyright Astrea Record, Vol. 3 -The War of Good and Evil-, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Tales of Heroes FUJINO OMORI Translation by Jake Humphrey Cover art by Kakage This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. ASTREA RECORD vol. 3 -SEIJAKESSEN- DUNGEON NI DEAI WO MOTOMERU NO WA MACHIGATTEIRUDAROUKA EIYUTAN Copyright © 2022 Fujino Omori Illustrations copyright © 2022 Kakage All rights reserved. Original Japanese edition published in 2022 by SB Creative Corp. This English edition is published by arrangement with SB Creative Corp., Tokyo in care of Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo. English translation © 2024 by Yen Press, LLC Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author's intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author's rights. Yen On 150 West 30th Street, 19th Floor New York, NY 10001 Visit us at yenpress.com · facebook.com/yenpress · twitter.com/yenpress · yenpress.tumblr.com · instagram.com/yenpress First Yen On Edition: November 2024 Edited by Yen On Editorial: Ivan Liang, Anna Powers Designed by Yen Press Design: Andy Swist Yen On is an imprint of Yen Press, LLC. The Yen On name and logo are trademarks of Yen Press, LLC. The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: O¯mori, Fujino, author. \| Kakage, illustrator. \| Humphrey, Jake, translator. Title: Astrea record. Volume 1, The rise of evil: is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon? the fall of justice / Fujino Omori ; illustration by Kakage ; translation by Jake Humphrey. Other titles: Astrea record. English \| The fall of justice Description: First Yen On edition. \| New York, NY : Yen On, 2024. Identifiers: LCCN 2023053674 \| ISBN 9781975379889 (v. 1 ; trade paperback) \| ISBN 9781975379902 (v. 2 ; trade paperback) \| ISBN 9781975379926 (v. 3 ; trade paperback) Subjects: CYAC: Fantasy. \| Goddesses—Fiction. \| Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. \| LCGFT: Fantasy comics. \| Light novels. Classification: LCC PZ7.1.O54 As 2024 \| DDC [Fic]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023053674 ISBNs: 978-1-9753-7992-6 (paperback) 978-1-9753-7993-3 (ebook)
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/epilogue.txt	Epilogue: On and on Down the Unending Road of Justice EPILOGUE On and on Down the Unending Road of Justice Beneath the clear blue sky were dozens and dozens of flowers, all lined up in neat rows. But this was not a field—cultivated or natural. It was a graveyard, and every stalk was an offering. "…There we go. Thanks, Bell. Sorry for making you come with me." It was the First Graveyard, also known as Adventurers Graveyard, a collection of graves in the southeast of Orario. After placing a single flower at the base of a white grave marker, Hermes slowly rose to his feet. "No, it's okay," said Bell. There was no embarrassment or consternation in his voice. He shook his head solemnly. He was praying for the souls of the deceased. Though he knew not the faces of anyone sleeping there, he stood in their shoes as an adventurer of Orario, and felt obliged to pay his respects. Upon the grave before him was carved the name LYDIS CAVERNA. It was not a name with which Bell was familiar, but the smile on Hermes's face was one he had never seen before, and somehow he understood. "Lord Hermes," he said. "Was everything you just told me true? I can hardly believe such a fierce battle happened here only seven years ago." On the way to the graveyard, Bell had heard Hermes's experiences during the war of good and evil. Even if there was more to the tale, what little he had heard had stunned and filled him with marvel. "Yes," Hermes replied. "That's why they also call it the Seven Days of Death. No other time in Orario's history has seen the loss of so many lives." Hermes started walking, simply reaffirming the truth of what he had said. He didn't seek pity or sympathy from someone like Bell. It was a weight only the few who had been there could bear. The word adventurer had never felt so heavy before. But Bell felt like he better understood the foundations the city was built upon. That's why Orario is so quiet today, he thought. As he followed Hermes out of the graveyard, he couldn't help but glance around. He and the god were not the only two here to pay their respects. Many of the graves had visitors. Adventurers, gods, and ordinary residents of the city. Blacksmiths, merchants, Guild employees, prostitutes, and travelers. All came together, without regard for race or class, each carrying with them a bouquet of flowers, and all of them alike in their silence and the prayers they kept to themselves. Today, the city was mourning what it had lost in the fight against evil. Suddenly, Bell spotted a familiar face and stopped. "Oh, Bogan?" he called out. "Bell!" the man replied. It was the merchant Bell had been helping before he came here with Hermes. He had said he had something to do, and vanished. It seemed he had gone to get changed, as he was now wearing an armored breastplate. "That's…an adventurer's armor, isn't it?" "…That it is." Bell didn't like to brag, but he was technically an upper-class adventurer, somehow, and so could tell the armor was of quality make. Out of reach for most lower-class adventurers, and certainly not something civilians ordinarily owned. It seemed to show traces of heavy use. "Wait," said Bell, shocked. "Does this mean…you used to be an adventurer, Bogan?" "Ha-ha. Nah, that ain't it." The man laughed and placed his hand on the breastplate. "Ya see, the thing about this armor is…I stole it." "Huh?" "Then, uh, some stuff happened, I saw the error of my ways, and I gave it back. After that, I saved some money together and eventually bought it good and proper." Bell wasn't sure what to make of this claim. The knowledge that one of his and Hestia's close acquaintances was a robber was hard enough to take in, but the man's subsequent actions seemed to make little sense. Seeing his confusion, Bogan gave a wry smile, which then became a sad, somewhat lonely look. "I did some bad things, a long time ago, and my crimes eventually caught up to me. But I was forgiven. Someone stood up for me and showed me justice." The man stared at the grave in front of him. Written on it was a girl's name. Bell thought it must have belonged to a kind girl, full of justice and smiles. Nothing else would explain the look on the man's face at that very moment. "I washed my hands of all that nasty business," Bogan went on, "and I turned my life around. It wasn't easy, but I had to pay that kid back somehow." The man smiled. He looked back at the grave, then up at the sky. It was a smile that Bell had never seen him make before; a mischievous smile, like that of some street thug, except one that had been touched by the grace of justice. Bell looked once more at the grave. It was evidently a popular one, given how many flowers lay at its base that must have come from acquaintances, friends, and family. Bogan added a single white flower to the mix. "We'll have that Jyaga Maru Kun some other time," he said, still smiling. "Right, then, Bell. Be seeing you. Make sure you grow up big and strong, and don't disappoint all these people who came before you." "Yes, I will." Bell watched Bogan leave with a wave and a smile. Something occurred to Bell as he looked at that smile. He didn't know any of the people who slept beneath the soil. But they had touched him nonetheless and given him something to carry on. Just then, he heard a muttering from behind him. "A heroic tale… The perseverance of justice…" Bell turned to see Hermes, lost in thought with a curious look on his face. Bell tilted his head in confusion, whereupon the god said, "Oh, it's nothing," and quickly changed the topic. "I'd better finish the story I was telling," he said. "We didn't only lose things during that battle—we gained things, too. And now those things are in your hands." "They are…? What are you talking about?" "Lots of adventurers grew to new heights," Hermes explained, walking off. Bell quickly followed him. "Braver, Nine Hell, and Elgarm all reached Level 6. Little Aiz also became Level 4 around that time, I believe." "…!" "I already talked about Warlord, but that was when the other top dogs of Freya Familia became Level 6 as well." Every few steps, Hermes would pull a flower from the bouquet in his arms and leave it at the side of a nearby grave, even if the recipient was not of his familia. All the while, he spoke of the events of seven years ago, and how important they were in making Orario the city it was today. "There's no doubt in my mind," he said. "That war is what pushed us to the next stage." "And Lyu's familia…?" "That's right. They departed to heaven shortly after that. But I believe it was their actions that brought an end to the Age of Darkness." There weren't many flowers left now. Hermes left one at each of three graves belonging to Loki Familia adventurers, then spoke. "Alfia's actions were not in vain after all," he said. "Hmm? Alfia?" "Never mind, Bell. Come, the next grave is the last one." With that, Hermes set off walking in a different direction. Almost immediately, Bell sensed something odd, for the god swiftly left the beaten path and headed into a copse of broad-leaved trees. Bell looked back and forth between Hermes and the First Graveyard, and he hurried to keep pace. Before long, he arrived at a trio of graves. "Erm…who do these belong to?" Bell asked. "And what are they doing all the way out here?" Hermes had carved a path through the trees to reach them, and it seemed that under normal circumstances, nobody would even know they were there, let alone come to tend them. They had proper headstones, but that was about it. They were simply made, and were clearly rarely maintained, for they were covered in moss. "They're awfully far from the other graves," said Bell. "And it doesn't look like anyone's taken care of them." "…Well, I hardly think they could be buried alongside everyone else," the god said with a hint of irritation and irony in his voice. "Huh?" Bell tilted his head once more, noticing that Hermes's expression was serious. It looked like he was about to ask Bell something very important. "Bell," he said. "I feel it was fate, meeting you today. Could I ask you to lay these two flowers for me?" "M-me?" "Yeah. I know you didn't know them, but please, pray for them." "…Okay." Bell had never seen the god so serious. He didn't know why, but he also didn't ask. He simply took the flowers, as instructed. The color of their petals was the same as his hair. "Rest in peace." He kneeled, closed his eyes, and prayed in the dappled sunlight. That was all. The song of the birds, and the rustling of the leaves gave way to a soothing silence. "…I've finished," he said at last, standing up. "Thank you. Sorry for making you come along," Hermes said with a smile. Bell still didn't really understand what he'd done. "It's no problem," he said, "but…what about that last one?" "Oh, that belongs to a god everyone hates," Hermes explained. "Now that Astrea's not around anymore, I'm the only one who comes to visit it." "W-were they really that bad…?" "Well, I can't say I blame them. Besides, a god's grave doesn't even really mean anything, does it?" He seemed to direct this last comment at the grave itself. He sighed, gave a theatrical shrug, and placed the final flower at its base. "But I suppose I can do this much, at least, while I'm fortunate enough to still walk the mortal realm." "Were they…someone important to you?" "Oh, no. They were a bit of an ass, to be honest. Always trying to show off and do things their own way." The tone of his voice changed. Hermes stood up straight and gave a slight smile. "But they were still…a friend." Bell's eyes widened, and the pair's long task finally drew to a close. Through the trees, Bell could make out the blue sky above. It was such a beautiful day that the tragedy of seven years past was difficult to imagine. But Bell would not forget all he saw today, nor about the war of good and evil he had heard from Hermes's lips. For a while, the glade remained steeped in silence, but soon enough, the wind picked up once more, like the hands of a stopped clock resuming their onward march. Hermes ran his finger along the brim of his hat and looked up at the sky. "Now, then," he said. "I have something important to take care of, if you'll excuse me." "Hmm? Something important?" "Yes. I have to go deliver a letter to a goddess." Seeing Bell's blank stare, Hermes closed one eye. "Don't you remember what I said? Before I met you today, I ran into Lyu." "Oh…" The wind blew. The soft sound of a gentle gale crossing the sky. To my dear goddess. I still haven't found my justice. I keep on wandering to this day. In fact, I don't even think I wander. When I lost myself to vengeance, I lost my right to fight for justice. How can I claim to be searching for it now? I have stopped. Stopped traveling. Stopped growing. Turned my back on everything I've learned—everything I saw seven years ago, and everything Adi and Alfia taught me. …But perhaps this is just another step along the road of justice. Perhaps, one day, I will be able to move on, and search for my answer once more, and if that day comes… …then I will come and see you. This I swear, on the sword and wings of justice, and on the wishes I carry with me. Lyu thought back over the letter she'd left in Hermes's care and slowly opened her eyes. She was still standing before the grave of her friends. A mass grave without any bodies—only the broken weapons that Lyu once fought alongside. Floor eighteen: Under Resort. The place her friends had once wished to be buried. Lyu had come here to relive the experiences of seven years ago, in the war of good and evil. A smile appeared on her lips. "Alize," she said. "All of you. One day…I think I'd like to start my journey again." There were still regrets. There were still sins she had to atone for. But Lyu made her intent clear to her friends nonetheless. "Until then, Adi. I'll watch over the justice you passed on to this city." Perhaps her meager wish was not enough to reach the shooting stars above. It was proof she was not ready to move on just yet. But the elf knew one thing for sure: Wherever she went from here, it would only take her further on her journey. That was what allowed her to face her friends with pride in her heart and an oath on her lips. "I'll be thinking of the future you all dreamed of." Be troubled. For that is how you grow. Journey alongside your worries and fears. And at the end of it all, I will await your answer… …in the astral record, written into the stars above.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/extra.txt	Extra: A Meaningless Tale of Gods and Heroes EXTRA A Meaningless Tale of Gods and Heroes A god's voice broke the silence. "Are you two sure about this?" The faint glow of evening filtered through the stained glass window, casting an orange light across shattered flagstones and splintered pews. The name of the church had long since been forgotten, and now the only ones present there were a god and two adventurers. "You really want to help me with my stupid little plan?" Erebus seemed amiable enough at the moment. The wicked charisma of absolute evil was nowhere to be seen. The three were completely alone. Passersby rarely frequented this corner of the Labyrinth City, but that wasn't why the god had shed his mask and presented himself as he truly was. Opposite him stood a man and woman. "'Tis a little late to ask now," said the ashen-haired one, opening her heterochromatic eyes and casting Erebus an accusatory glare. "Was it not you who sought us out and dragged us from our seclusion when we were content to wait for death?" "Yes," said the man clad in a large set of plate armor, a smile upon his diabolical features. "What was it you who told us? If we're to die either way, then why not allow the future to be built upon our backs? I must say, you surprised us both. But as I recall, we already gave our answers back then." Erebus gave a theatrical shrug. His two partners in crime—Zald and Alfia—were so brazen in the way they spoke to a divine being like himself, that he couldn't help but smile. "Just want to be sure," he said. "This is your last chance to back out." Erebus turned up his palm, as though offering a contract to sign in blood. "Whatever happens from here on out, the two of you will be remembered as villains. Villains who betrayed humankind and slaughtered hundreds, thousands. You'll go down forever in history, and not in a good way." It was the truth. A plan was being forged that would in ten days raise up evil and knock down justice, and end in a terrible war of good and evil. Lines of right and wrong would be drawn, and the names of all present would forever be uttered in the same breath as history's greatest monsters. "Are you both really sure that's what you want?" Alfia and Zald returned only bored and fearless expressions. "How many times would you have us say it, Erebus? We made up our minds long ago, and it was not done with such little deliberation that we would change our answer now." "History can remember me however it likes, but I will die content." Like a wicked witch, Alfia was undaunted by the sins that lay ahead of her. Like a soldier, Zald dismissed the assumed guilt of his future actions with a scoff. Bathed in the light of evening, these two conquerors seemed far too genial for the name. Erebus softened his gaze and smiled back. Truly, they were both heroes. Even a god could see that. "My god taught me that anything can be a treasure if you set your mind to it. A sword, a woman, or even life itself. Not that he ever inspired great confidence." At Zald's lighthearted jab, Alfia suddenly grew intensely displeased. "Must you really remind me of that lecherous old man?" she spat. "How many times did his wandering hand approach my breasts? It irritates me to this day that your god is ever spoken in the same breath as my own." Never one to let a juicy morsel slip, Erebus chimed in. "Oh?" he said, his voice taking on a sultry tone. "Don't stop there, dear Alfia, you must tell me more. Whatever came of this god's philandering?" "My spells taught him a lesson before he could lay one finger on me," she answered, in a tone devoid of mercy. "Zeus, you're lucky you didn't get sent back to heaven…" "And then I told Hera about it." "Zeus, you're lucky you're alive…" Erebus gave an awkward smile. He turned his empty eyes toward the cracked ceiling and beheld the sky beyond. After a few beats of silence, Zald chuckled. "Ha-ha-ha… But, are you sure you have no regrets, Alfia?" he asked. "Didn't you want to see the child?" At this, Erebus's ears suddenly pricked up. "Hmm?" he asked. "I didn't know you had a child, Alfia. You're looking remarkably stunning for a woman who's given birth." "It is not mine," replied Alfia, shaking her head. "The child belongs to my younger sister." Then she lifted her head and squinted through the cracked glass toward the sunset outside. "The blood of a child of Hera runs in his veins…as does the blood of one of Zeus's." "Huh. You mean, the kid's dad is from Zeus Familia?" Erebus's curiosity was piqued, and he narrowed his eyes, trying to ascertain how this would tip the world's scales. It was Zald, after a moment of awkward hesitation, who elucidated. "…Yes," he admitted. "One of the lowliest humans in our ranks, in fact. So weak that even that boar and the hero child could best him." Zald could barely stand being associated with such an embarrassment. Just thinking about it gave him chills. "It happened after our group was wiped out by the Black Dragon under Maxim's leadership. I still remember how furious I was when I heard. One of our own, knocking up a Hera girl?" Zald suddenly looked so guilty that he was ready to die on the spot. He couldn't even maintain eye contact with Alfia, who simply stood there, exuding malevolence. "I mean, we speak of Hera's women! Do you understand?! Even after the Black Dragon rendered her familia as desolate as ours, it was suicide to violate their purity!" Erebus smiled. "A curious stance for the follower of a philanderer to take." "…Zeus may have been my patron, but I do not share in his madness!" The perverse pursuits of Zeus were known to everyone, both in heaven and the world below. Zald was one of the few men of good conscience in the god's familia, and it was panic—mainly for his own safety—that drove him to cover his former fellow's transgressions. Even without words, the queen's ice-cold silence spoke volumes, and her feelings toward the uncouth ruffian who had bedded her younger sister could not have been clearer. After thinking about it for half a second, Alfia raised her hand for a chop, causing Zald to brace both his arms. "No, Alfia! Please!" he yelled. Her wrath surpassed that of all the world's protective aunts and uncles combined. Erebus gave a soft chuckle. "I can just imagine what things were like between your two familias," he said. "So, where is that child now? With Hera?" "…No," replied Alfia, after briefly taking out her anger on Zald. "My sister entrusted him to Zeus. I was told they are living a peaceful life in the mountains." "Hmm. I see what Zald is asking now," said Erebus. "This child is your only surviving relative—and a memento of your sister, at that. And you sure you don't want to see him? Is your sister the only one you cared about?" "…I did not interfere with her decision," Alfia admitted, after a short pause. "I raised no objection when my dying sister chose to leave him with Zeus." Whatever emotions she felt, she didn't speak of them. She stated only facts. "I chose to prolong my own life instead of caring for my nephew… I don't deserve to see him." Her final words sounded more like a confession. As Alfia stood still in the light of the setting sun, Zald opened his mouth to speak. "Alfia," he said. "I won't claim that blood ties are all-important. And I won't say that you have the right to call yourself his family. But if any small part of you feels for the boy, then…" "It doesn't, Zald. Forget what I said." The ashen hair swept her shoulders as Alfia shook her head, denying Zald's words. A smile formed on her lips. "Whether I have the right is irrelevant." With that, she rendered her tale meaningless. "Besides, I don't think I could handle being called Auntie," she said. Zald gave her an extremely odd look, like his eyes were bulging out of his sockets. Erebus was much the same. Then the two of them snorted loudly before bursting into howling laughter. "Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Well, that explains it! I can't blame you for that!" roared Zald. "Agreed," said Erebus, trying to choke back his giggles. "We have no right to comment on such a delicate topic for women." That peaceful, pointless noise filled the chapel. After he had finally had enough, Erebus straightened his back, cleared his throat, and spoke. "Alfia," he said. "I wish to ask you something. Your twin sister must have been likewise beautiful, but was she also as difficult, neurotic, and violent as you?" "My sister was weaker in every way. She couldn't even go for a walk by herself." The witch closed her eyes, casting her mind back to the past. "Plus, she was the most dull-witted girl this world has ever seen, and indeed may ever see." "Harsh," said Zald. "But true. For you see, while we were in the womb, I stole her gifts for myself." At that moment, the witch seemed truly saddened. "Within me lies the potential that was meant for the two of us. That is my crime, and it is only natural that I should be reviled and feared for it." The woman's self-deprecating words tore at the walls of her heart. But the one she longed to speak to most was no longer there. Instead, only the hallowed walls of the church heard her confession. After a long silence, Alfia opened her eyes. "That woman was everything left over after making me," she said. "All that remained…was kindness." That was her sister's one redeeming trait. "It was curious, but people loved her even though she could do nothing. Even Hera did everything she could to prolong her life. She was an ordinary girl in every sense…save that whatever kindness she received she would always repay." Alfia's words sounded like the melodies sung by spirits in heaven. Erebus couldn't bring himself to speak and interrupt them. At this moment, the witch sounded kinder and gentler than ever before. "Metelia," she said, "was the purest, kindest soul I've ever known… That is why I loved her." The smile that accompanied those words was the most beautiful thing Erebus had seen. "I see," he said with a smile of his own, then he turned to Zald. "And what of the father?" he asked him. "Nothing to say," the man replied, suddenly looking sour. "At least nothing that brings me pride. A mere supporter who ran at the first sign of trouble, and who joined our god in peeking in on the women's baths…" Zald was despondent, mortified he had to follow up Alfia's moving and personal tale with reports of degenerate behavior. "…But I suppose you're right. Perhaps I should have seen the child, too. I suppose…if he is that idiot's son, then in the end, he is family." Zald broke into a smile as he recalled the mischievous grin of his junior, the source of so many headaches back in the day. Erebus gave the pair a fond look, then opened his mouth to speak. "Ah, I haven't asked you the most important thing yet," he said. "Zald, Alfia. What do you hope to gain from this battle?" The heroes answered immediately, as though their answer were written in stone. ""A future,"" they both replied. "For our descendants to devour us and surpass the Black Dragon." That was the warrior's dream. From a loser's heart, a winner would be born and lead the world into a new Age of Heroes. "For this world to know hope, and for my sister's child to not have to fight." That was the witch's wish. Lasting peace that would give birth to a world for a memento to live on in happiness. "And what if…?" the god went on, picking at the fickle strands of destiny. "What if that child comes to this land, guided by the blood of his parents? What if he is called to battle, and the fate of the world hangs in the balance?" With a smile on his lips, Erebus asked, though he already knew the answer. "Do you really have to ask, Erebus?" "Yes. The answer to that is obvious…" Alfia and Zald spoke as one. ""We wish there to be strong heroes to protect him."" It was only one possible future. Perhaps, at some point, a single white rabbit would pass through the gates of Orario, where countless setbacks and difficulties awaited. "May he be baptized in the fires of fellow heroes and strive ever higher." Perhaps he would be shattered and built back up by those around him. By a warlord, a hero, or elven royalty. By warriors, a chariot, or a sword princess, or a gale wind. Perhaps the young heroes in whom Zald and Alfia placed their trust would become a test for that child to pass. "May he succeed in his trials and become a hero himself." Perhaps he would inherit their dreams and carry them upon his own back. And perhaps, though he never knew their faces, Zald's and Alfia's wish would become his own. Just as justice endured and went on. A tale of heroes. "If he turns out anything like his father, his quick feet should come to the aid of many an adventurer." "And if he turns out anything like his mother, his kind deeds should dry the eyes of many a friend." Sharing thoughts of the boy's parents, Zald and Alfia placed their faith in the bonds of blood and trust. Nobody believed more in that child's future than they. That was love. Whatever anybody else said, it was their love. "I see…" After lending a serious ear to their words, Erebus grinned. "Love is a terrible thing. For you to wish hardship on a boy you barely know…I'm starting to feel sorry for him." "We are the children of Zeus and Hera," said Alfia. "We are capable of much worse." "Yes," Zald agreed. "The boy should count himself lucky our familias are no more." The two of them wore defiant grins, showing no shame at all for their cruel words. "Oh, dear. Whatever am I going to do with you two?" Erebus shrugged and gave a wry smile that nonetheless bared the emotions laying at the bottom of his divine heart. "Erebus," said Alfia. "Do not test us any further. We have no regrets and will carry out our duties to the bitter end." "Many will perish at our hands, but if a future can be built upon our deeds, then it will all be worth it." The smiles were gone from their faces now. All that remained was to shoulder the weight of their sin, without eagerness or regret, and uphold their oath to the world. "There is no other way," said Zald. "This is the ultimate test. I will give what little of my life remains to see it through." If Orario could not reach their future, if the city of heroes succumbed to the might of the conquerors, then Erebus, Zald, and Alfia were fully prepared to topple Babel and send the world back to ancient times. It was the only way humankind could carry on. They knew and accepted the price they would have to pay to assume the mantle of evil. But at the same time, they believed it would not come to that. "Yes," said Alfia. "Let us bring despair and forge a keystone of hope. We have lived long lives. This will be our final duty." They knew that the city contained unrealized potential. Something that could strike down the cannibalistic fiends they would become. And in a corner of that very city, in an abandoned church, the warrior and the witch gave their vows. "We leave all that we are to the heroes who come after us," said Alfia. Erebus closed his eyes. Of his own regrets, he spoke only to himself, only now indulging in the rightful confidence of divinity. Ah, how bright they shine. These are the heroes who should be sung about in unending tales. And yet here I am, dragging their names through the mud. Look how bright they shine in spite of that. If they're going to be so gung-ho about it, then I should be the same. Sorry, Vito. I know you're not going to like this. You won't understand my love. You'll curse my lies and never learn to love this world. But I have a dream. A dream I must accomplish. I know you think that word's silly now, but I hope it one day inspires you to love something. I will join these two and search for justice. For heroes. Because I believe that Orario, and the whole world, will reach its dreams one day. I love you, Vito. I love all my children. I love this world, so small yet so, so vast. "…Very well. Then, in my name, I declare…" When he opened his eyes, no longer was there a god who loved the world. Only pure evil. A being of chaos, who sought nothing more than to spread his word and harry the agents of order. "From this day forth, we work together. We are necessary. We are absolute. And we will go down in history as symbols of sin itself!" The warrior narrowed his eyes and nodded. The witch closed her eyes and smiled. "Even so, I alone will sing of the great deeds you are about to perform!" The god signed an unbreakable covenant with the world's mighty heroes. He wrote a footnote of history that would never be read by mortal eyes. He turned, pushed open the church doors, and bathed in the light of the outside world. There, he looked back at his two accomplices. "Let's go," he said. "To give birth to a new generation of heroes."
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/prologue.txt	Prologue: Last Intermission PROLOGUE Last Intermission This is a record. A record of a time in which evil flourished. This is a memory. A memory I must never forget, of the justice left by passing stars. And finally, this is a truth. A singular truth, of a smile unknown to all.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/prologue2.txt	Prologue: Last Intermission The predawn skies were leaden and weighty. For a short few minutes, the stars had been visible before dark clouds gathered and blocked them out. Some said they would not return until it was all over. The city was dark. Every street and alley was scarred by war. Dust and rubble filled the avenues, lined by hollowed-out buildings. Half the city lay in ruins, like the rotting carcasses of so many giants. It felt like a dream nobody could wake from, no matter how much they tried. The most unbearable thing was the silence. Ordinarily, a big city like Orario should be overflowing with the sounds of shopkeepers, busy townsfolk, and little children. There was none of that now. Only a chilly, lifeless wind blew through empty streets. Orario was dead. "Is this really our city?" Raul's thoughts spilled from his lips as he peered around at the destruction. He'd never seen anything like this. "Everyone's gone. I can't hear a thing," said Falgar of Hermes Familia, standing next to the boy. He looked around and growled like a lion forced out of its den. "It was better when everyone was condemning us, crying out in anger and pain. At least then the city felt alive." The streets were completely empty. Nothing made a sound, save the adventurers themselves. They could hardly imagine anything farther from the Orario they knew and loved. It was as shocking as it was disturbing. "The place is a ghost town," Falgar went on. "Nobody would believe that this is supposed to be the center of the world." Falgar's words echoed Raul's thoughts. How could the young boy have possibly imagined, back when he first left his hometown to step through the magnificent gates of the City of Heroes, that he would one day see the land of his dreams reduced to ruins? "It's like…we're watching the end of the world," said Raul. He wasn't sure why, but he wanted to cry. "Don't let your emotions take over, young ones," said one of Loki's oldest followers. Falgar recognized the sagely man. "The Bowstring Blade…" "I…I'm sorry, Noir," said Raul, turning around. The man who'd spoken was a human who had seen seventy years come and go, but age had done little to impair his tempered physique. His spine was straight as an arrow, and he stood at a respectable 180 celches, as lithe and spry as a weeping willow. He dressed in old-fashioned combat gear that closely resembled a kimono from the Far East and was the epitome of a seasoned master fencer. That was Noir Sachsen of Loki Familia. The man had converted from his old familia some years back and was one of several mentors who taught Finn, Riveria, and Gareth the basics of being an adventurer. Along with the dwarf Dyne, who was still robust even in old age, and the Amazon Bahra, who possessed the mature beauty of a woman in her forties and the fighting instincts of a beast to match, the three veterans of Loki Familia were a shining example for its leaders to follow. "Still, I must admit," said Dyne, surveying the city. "In all our years, we've never seen carnage like this." "Hey, it's not that bad. Remember when Zeus and Hera were warring with Horus and Sobek? It was like a Great Conflict every night!" Bahra cackled. Raul, Falgar, and the other members of Loki Familia and Hermes Familia found it difficult to laugh at her tasteless joke, but it brought an awkward smile to their faces nonetheless. The dozen or so adventurers were currently conducting their final patrol. It wouldn't be long before the entire city would become their battleground. Noir scratched his full beard, steeled himself, and directed his next words at the desolate streets. "It's not over yet," he said. "The real showdown hasn't even begun." The war room in the Guild Headquarters was busy, with people coming and going constantly. Finn was standing over a table covered in maps when the voice of his goddess caused him to look up. "Got a report here from Noir's team, Finn," Loki said. "They've finished evacuating the residents. There's not a single soul left anywhere in the city. They're all holed up in one of our five designated strongholds: here, the arena, the Casino, Ganesha's home, and our very own Twilight Manor." "Thank you," replied Finn. "What about the adventurers?" "They've already taken up defensive positions," said Loki. Then, scratching her vermilion hair, she added, "I still can't believe we're really doin' this. When you first told me what you were plannin' when the siege started, I wasn't sure what to think…"
Officially Translated Light Novels	Astrea Record/Astrea-Record-Volume-03-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/prologue4.txt	Prologue: Last Intermission Once the night of the Great Conflict had passed, and evil retreated to the city's walls, Finn had ordered the fortification of five of the city's most prominent locations so they would have places to safely house noncombatants. Construction had been going on in the background ever since. Even while the followers of justice searched for meaning, and the followers of beauty warred in pursuit of strength, Finn's astute mind had calculated what their side would need to have a chance in a decisive battle. "We no longer have any choice," said Finn. "Not if we want to protect the people as well as Babel." Finn had considered using Folkvangr, the home of Freya Familia, as one of the strongholds but decided against it because of its extensive size. Though it was large enough to hold many civilians, that size made it harder to defend. He also couldn't afford to concentrate their forces in a single location if their plan was going to work. There was one other crucial thing Finn needed. He asked Loki to confirm. "What about the barrier in Central Park?" Loki shrugged. "We're settin' it up just like you asked," she replied. "Riveria's over there leading the other mages as we speak… But even she agrees it's a rush job. It ain't gonna hold once the enemy comes a-knockin'." "That's fine," answered Finn, completely unperturbed, returning his gaze to the battle maps strewn across the desk. "It only needs to block their line of sight." "The hell did you just say? A barrier?" Beneath ash-colored clouds, within the city walls, Valletta stopped setting up chess pieces and shot Olivas a bewildered look. "Yes. It's just appeared," he replied. Valletta had ordered him to keep a close eye on Orario's protectors, and to inform her immediately if it looked like they were up to something. Valletta's face stiffened. She sprang out of her chair like a leopard and climbed the rugged stone staircase to the top of the walls. "Well, shit…" she muttered, when she saw it. "The barrier is made of ice," Olivas noted. "It encircles all of Central Park." The cold, dry wind ruffled Valletta's hair. From this height, she could see that multiple layers of thick ice now covered Central Park from all angles. The sharp, overlapping sections of ice at the foot of Babel looked like a cactus flower. "Not a magical barrier, but a physical one. Our enemy seeks to furnish its keep with walls, it seems." Olivas wasn't wrong, but there had to be more to it than that. Valletta Grede knew how Finn thought better than anyone. "Hah," she spat. "First they hide away all the civvies, now Finn's up to somethin' tricky! Heh-heh-heh, fine by me! Where's the fun in winnin' without a fight?!" Her eyes narrowed as she attempted to discern the thoughts of her prum archnemesis. "You're on, Finn! Let's make this whole city our board! Move your pieces, make your gambits, 'cause I'm gonna turn you into mincemeat, you hear me? Ha-ha-ha-ha!" She laughed, twirling the chess queen in her fingers. Watching her made the Evils sentries break out in a nervous sweat, while Olivas merely gave a derisive grunt. Then there was a rumble, like the growling of distant thunder. Everyone felt it in their bellies and their hearts. As the ground beneath her feet trembled, Valletta's face twisted into a smile. "Listen to that," she said. "The beasts of hell are comin' for you!" The tremors ran through the entire city. The source was deep beneath Babel, lying within the Dungeon itself. "………" Freya listened to the Dungeon's howl from atop the highest floor of her ivory tower. "Lady Freya. You must seek refuge." The heavy footfalls behind her heralded the arrival of her most powerful warrior, Ottar. He was armed to the teeth and ready for battle. "Why is that?" Freya asked without shifting her gaze. "The other gods have already gathered at the Guild," said Ottar, his voice strained with tension. "The final battle is almost upon us. Our enemy seeks the destruction of Babel. It is not safe for you here." "Ottar. Do you know what this is I'm wearing?" "…I do not, my lady." Freya was not clothed in her usual black dress. It was the complete opposite—a pure snow-white robe, along with a translucent stole that wrapped around her arms like a celestial raiment. Even Ottar had never seen her in it. "These are the same clothes I was wearing when Hera defeated me in battle." Ottar's eyes widened in shock. "Why…would you wear that now?" "For absolution," replied Freya, speaking her heart. "Today I sever my past with Zeus and Freya and wash away the taint of defeat." She turned around at last. "I expect you to indulge me," she said. "Both my divine proclamations…and my personal whims." "………" As Ottar stared into the silvery eyes of his goddess, he slowly understood what it was she wanted to say. Freya, meanwhile, looked her follower up and down before smiling. "It has been a while since I last saw you dressed for war," she remarked. A golden pauldron covered one of the boaz's shoulders, and his crimson cape and waistcloth were both woven from enchanted salamander fabric. He carried a number of daggers at his belt, along with the two crossed greatswords on his back. Beauty and practicality. Each stood at opposite extremes, yet in some ways they were perfect reflections of one another. Their change of costume reflected their true desire. "What does your outfit mean to you?" asked Freya. "It is a promise to carry out my intent." "And that intent is…?" This time, Ottar's reply was immediate. "To conquer." "Do you intend to lose, Ottar?" "I do not." "Then it matters not where I stand." With that, she broke eye contact and turned back to the city. "I shall watch your victory from here. The view may be the same as it ever was…but there is no better place to see all of Orario." "………" "I shall be watching over you, Ottar." "…Yes, my lady." And then, with unshakable loyalty, he added, "Victory shall be yours." The air was filled with the sound of roaring forges, and a deadly heat. Even in the face of countless attacks from the Evils, this workshop did not close. It was a testament to its artisans' pride, and it was there that a new weapon was born. "So this is it…" Lyu took the wooden sword, taking stock of its weight and the holy power that resided within it. "Made from a branch of the holy tree, just as you requested," replied the forgemaster, captain of Goibniu Familia. The exhaustion was clear in his voice as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "It works perfectly as a sword, of course, but you can also use it like a staff to amplify the power of your magic." Lyu had indeed been the one to commission this weapon, using the memento of her hometown that Shakti had bequeathed her. "A weapon made from Adi's gift…" said Alize, standing beside her. "Isn't that great? I'm so glad it got finished on time!" But the forgemaster was more cynical. "It ain't finished," he said. "We were in a hurry, so I'm afraid it's a rush job. It'll do in a battle, but it's far from perfect." That much was true. The final battle was fast approaching, and no forge could afford to take its time. Though the process was quite different for Lyu's weapon compared to a metal sword, it still involved a great deal of work on the magical side—work that would be impossible to complete without the assistance of a trained mage. As none were available, Goibniu himself had been asked to act as a substitute, but the result was a weapon that relied heavily on the latent power of its materials. These facts, while unavoidable, were a matter of great shame for the forgemaster. "…That's why you can't die out there," he said, folding his arms. "That weapon's a blot on our reputation. Come back alive so we can finish it properly, you hear?" "Yes, I will," replied Lyu with a smile. "Have you decided on a name, Leon?" "Alvs Lumina. Lady Astrea thought of it." The name meant elven starlight. It symbolized the bond between Lyu and her familia perfectly. Alize beamed. "That's a great name!" she said. "And thanks to the supplies Asfi stockpiled, we've all gotten makeovers too! Now it really feels like the final battle!" Alize was wearing a new set of armor that made her look like a flame in motion. Her boots and socks were white, and the latter came up to her thighs, where they met a miniskirt adorned with all kinds of ailment-warding accessories. Her cloak and jacket completed the image of a scarlet knight, and at her hip she carried her trusty one-handed sword, Crimson Order, which had been worked on by the smiths and now gleamed like it was brand-new. "We've been hand-picked to slay the Dungeon threat," mused Lyu. "Finn placed his trust in us. I intend to live up to that trust." Finn's plan called for two forces: one to protect Babel from above, and one from below. On the surface, they had to contend with the combined armies of the Evils, while underground, a monster was working its way up from the lower levels of the Dungeon and had to be stopped. The latter team was composed of a relatively small number of elite warriors but included the girls of Astrea Familia. The subterranean battle was expected to be no less fierce than the war in the streets, so Finn had put in orders for the girls' equipment to be enhanced to the best of the city's current capabilities. The entire familia had received extensive upgrades, up to and including Asta, the party vanguard, but Astrea had insisted that Alize and Lyu be given special attention as they were, respectively, the captain of the familia and the elf who had aroused the interest of the dark god, Erebus. Lyu's outfit featured contrasting whites and blues, combining the purity of justice with the brilliance of the wind. Her regalia was worthy of any guardian of order. Other than the parts covering the joints of the arms and legs, there was very little armor to speak of, and instead the equipment's focus was maintaining agility and magical defense. Alize looked at her and Lyu's gear with a proud grin but just then the ground almost seemed to bulge beneath their feet, as a low grumble emerged from it. "The noises from the Dungeon… They're getting louder. It's almost time," she said. "Yes. The monster's nearly here." The battle would begin at dawn, just as Finn predicted. All levity vanished from the girls' faces as they checked their equipment one last time. It was at that moment that Lyra and Kaguya entered the workshop. "Alize, Leon," said the pink-haired prum girl with a lighthearted grin. "Time to get moving." "You finished your preparations, right?" asked the kimono-clad human by her side. "Then let's walk into hell and slay some hell spawn." Alize turned to Lyu and nodded. "Yes, we're ready. Let's go!" "Give 'em hell!" "Come back safe!" "Don't break that, you hear?!" Cheered on by the forge hands, Lyu and the other members of Astrea Familia made their way to Central Park. The city was abuzz with tension over the upcoming battle. At Guild HQ, adventurers completed their final checks. Their minds were focused solely on the task at hand, and on nothing that lay beyond. The adventurers took stock of their trusty weapons, their armor that had been serviced by city craftsmen, and their ration of all-important items. There would be no room for error. Veteran adventurers sparred with their fists or arm-wrestled each other. It was a common prebattle ritual for them. Younger recruits did their best to calm their nerves, while older warriors imparted a few encouraging words. When we get back, the first round's on me, kids. Thus a promise was forged. "Finn's dressed to the nines, too, just like Ottar and Astrea's crew… Can't have our captain bein' upstaged, now can we?" Amid all the bustle, Loki sat in the Guild's lobby, watching her captain with a grin. The crimson robe Finn wore over his top-class equipment looked like a signature written in blood. The cloth ran over his right shoulder and was fastened in place at the waist, while the remainder flowed from his shoulders like a cape. His other arm was protected with a steel vambrace that extended past the elbow. To a prum, he must have looked like an incarnation of their goddess, Fianna. Finn flexed his joints, testing the armor for flaws right as a scouting party returned and handed him a rolled-up scroll. Finn exchanged a few words with them, and then the scouts headed out once more. As they left, Finn unfurled the parchment—a map of the enemy's locations—and studied its contents in silence. As he did so, Royman came over, spraying spittle at him. "I'm begging you, Finn! We've invested every last drop of our city's resources in ensuring you adventurers have the best equipment money can buy! You cannot fail us now!!" Royman's nerves were every bit as frayed as those of the warriors fighting on the front lines. His flab jiggled as he nagged Finn like a nosy mother-in-law. Finn didn't even spare the man a glance. He just replied, "We'll do everything we can," as another tremor rocked the building. At the same time, a flustered Guild woman ran in. "We've just received news that the monster has reached the twentieth floor! The scouting party has suffered heavy casualties!" In more peaceful times, the woman worked as a receptionist, but her lovely face was twisted with fear. "They cannot continue the mission! They're requesting permission to evacuate! I'm sending the retreat order right now!" The Guild woman shouted her report, causing almost every adventurer within earshot to turn and stare in horror. Royman went pale. Only Loki and the first-tier adventurers were able to stay calm. "Accounting for the time it took this report to arrive," said Gareth, stroking his beard, "the beast should have reached the nineteenth floor by now. A little faster than we expected." "Yes," replied Riveria, "but that's fine. Astrea Familia and I are done with our preparations." She eyed the staff in her hands. "We are ready to go anyti— Finn?" The prum commander had still not said a word, and his eyes were fixed firmly on the contents of the parchment. There was a brief silence as everyone turned to him. Possibilities raced through his head. After five excruciating seconds, Finn licked his thumb. "…We need to alter the Dungeon team," he said. "Gareth, Aiz. You two go with Riveria and Astrea Familia as well." "What?" Riveria was taken aback at this last-minute change of plan. "Hold on, Finn," said Gareth. "The plan was for the girls to keep the beast busy with their swift movements while Riveria hit hard enough with magic to take it out in one blow. What's changed? Zald and Alfia will be coming. We can't spare anyone on the surface." Gareth was right. The threat of those two Level 7s far exceeded that of the Dungeon monster. Orario needed to meet them with everything they could muster, even if that meant dividing their forces unequally. It was none other than Finn who had come up with that plan in the first place. "I thought so too, at first," Finn replied. "But I've just read this report on the enemy dispositions…and something's not right." Finn walked over to the reception counter and spread the map on top of it, placing black-and-white chess pieces to mark allied and enemy formations. "I worked out seventeen different ways the enemy could deploy their forces, and what we're seeing doesn't match any of them. The battle even hasn't started yet, and already I can't shake the feeling we're missing something." Finn moved the black pieces one by one, reflecting the deviation in their predicted and actual locations. As he laid out the discrepancy for them, the other adventurers began to murmur in discomfort. The last piece to move was the enemy queen, which ended up on the eastern side of the city. Finn narrowed his azure eyes and glared at it. "…So, ya think the Evils are gonna show up down in the Dungeon as well?" asked Loki. "That's one possibility," Finn replied. "But that's not the worst thing they could do…" He opened his mouth to elaborate, then closed it and shook his head. "…No, that doesn't matter. What matters is, my thumb is aching, just like it did on the night of the Great Conflict. We could be walking right into a trap again. I don't want to take that chance." "Well, that's a good enough reason for me," said Loki. "Finn's thumb's cannier than the gods themselves sometimes." "N-n-now wait just a moment! Surely you cannot be serious about making such important decisions based on some…random pain in your fingers?!" While Loki seemed convinced, Royman loudly refused to accept Finn's patchy reasoning. But it was someone else who walked up behind him with soft footsteps and an answer at the ready. "It's fine. Once we defeat the monster, we can come back. It won't take long." It was Aiz, carrying a sword that seemed much too large for her strapped to her back. All eyes were drawn toward the girl who was so small, most in the room had to look down to see her. The first one to break the silence was the old dwarf warrior. "Ha-ha-ha!" Gareth laughed. "Right you are, girl! Beat the monster quick enough, and it doesn't matter if Finn's prediction is off the mark!" "We owe our lives to your hunches, Captain," added Riveria. "I'm perfectly happy to place my trust in you once more." Royman couldn't believe what he was hearing. "H-have you all lost it?!" he shrieked. But Finn only smiled. "Thank you, both of you. And you too, Aiz. I'm counting on you." The golden-haired girl gave a single nod in response. At the same time, on the rooftop of Guild HQ, Hermes surveyed the city. A voice from behind him caused him to turn. "Hermes." "What's up, Astrea? The war's about to begin; you should get to safety." "I called you here because I have something important to tell you, Hermes. I believe Erebus has descended into the Dungeon." The moment she said that, Hermes abandoned any notion of persuading the goddess to go into hiding. For a few moments, he considered how to respond. "…On the day of the Great Conflict," he said at last, "Erebus appeared before us. That was part of a performance to draw our attention away from what was happening in the Dungeon." Erebus's true goal that night was well-known by now. By preaching absolute evil and massacring multiple deities at once, the dark god ensured that all eyes and ears were on him instead of the Dungeon. As a result, nobody realized that a god had unsealed their Arcanum down below and summoned a nightmarish fiend. "Unless Erebus can be in two places at once, then the god who unleashed their Arcanum has to be someone else," Hermes went on. "In other words, he couldn't have been in the Dungeon. He has an alibi, so to speak." There was no other way to summon a monster of this caliber besides breaking the divine taboo within the Dungeon. If the summoning really did occur during Erebus's speech, it was physically impossible for him to have done it. In essence, the dark god had demonstrated his innocence to the entire city of Orario. There was another reason Hermes found it hard to believe. "There's only one way down there, and that's through Babel," he reminded her. "Precisely where Loki Familia has been positioned all this time. If Erebus came within spitting distance of the entrance, there's no way they wouldn't know about it." Finn had quickly decided to make Central Park the base of allied operations, and right now the foot of Babel was the most fortified location in the city. The Evils's probing attacks hadn't managed to come close to scratching the tower. Even disguised as Eren, Erebus would have an impossible time making it past the eyes of countless sentries. "But you already know all this, don't you, Astrea?" Nothing Hermes said should have come as a surprise to the goddess. However… "I do," she confirmed, staring unflinchingly into his eyes. "But even so, I am certain he's down there, leading the enemy as the incarnation of absolute evil." "………" "Hermes. You used to be his friend, did you not? Surely you've sensed something?" Hermes was a god who armed himself with reason and logic. That was precisely why Astrea was sure he found his own words unconvincing. No matter how many times he reminded himself of the facts, he still harbored doubts. Astrea knew that. Her indigo eyes, as deep as the starry skies, saw everything. A cold wind caressed Hermes's cheeks. After a moment, he let out a deep sigh. "…What does it change?" he asked. "Even if our hunch turns out to be right, and Erebus is there, why does that matter? Why come to me now?" Hermes leveled his keen gaze at her once more. "What do you want from me, Astrea?" The goddess said nothing and simply stared back at him. When the Age of Gods began, and divine beings first walked the earth, mortals learned what really happened after death. The legends, myths, and fanciful stories of old were replaced with hard truths. After coming face-to-face with deities and their undeniable miracles, there was no choice but to accept this new reality. Many were afraid. Many sleepless nights visited mortals who worried whether eternal paradise or torment awaited them. Many debates centered around the precise nature of the suffering that took place in the netherworld's deepest abyss. But all those people would surely agree that if hell were to suddenly appear in front of them, it would look just like this. It was the seventh of the Seven Days of Death, and evil's work was nearing completion. "The quakes are still coming from the Dungeon…" noted Kaguya. "…But apart from that, everything's so quiet," replied Alize, taking a look around. "It really doesn't feel like the final showdown is about to begin." It was just before dawn, and Central Park was as still as a grave. Nobody spoke a word. They all listened to the rumbling ground, like the roars of a great dragon that slept beneath the earth. Grim expressions marked each of their faces. They all knew something big was coming. However, some in the crowd tried their best to not let their nerves get to them. "What's with that shield strapped to your back?" asked Neze. "It makes you look like a turtle." "Who you callin' a turtle?" snapped Lyra. "This here's my secret weapon!" Nevertheless, the animal girl's description was perfectly apt. The circular shield was almost as large as Lyra, and it would have covered her head as well if it extended just a little farther above her shoulders. It seemed more suited to a dwarf—not to mention the shield was an unusual amount of defensive gear for Lyra, who usually fought from the back ranks instead of up close and personal. "I was gonna leave it behind, but then Finn told me to take it with me. I ain't got a clue how it's supposed to help, but who knows. It is what it is, eh?" "…Is it?" "…Whatever, forget it," said Lyra with a wry smile and a shake of the head. "The point is, this ain't just any shield. The great and almighty Perseus made it for me." Lyra grinned and glanced over to elsewhere in the crowd, where a soot-stained head of sky-blue hair was visible. "Andromeda…are you okay?" Lyu asked Asfi, who was visibly disheveled. "You don't look well at all…" "It's your familia's fault," the girl replied. "There's so much work, I haven't slept a wink. I haven't even had a break for seventy-seven hours!" "I-I'm sorry," said Lyu. "I mean, I don't think it's my fault, but still…" "I can't take it anymore! If I die out there, make sure everyone knows it's Slyle's fault, okay?!" The overworked captain of Hermes Familia had deep bags under her eyes and looked like she had aged years in the course of a few days because of all the last-minute commissions. She had turned into a walking corpse, and Lyu had nothing to offer her beyond her deepest apologies. Asfi let out a deep sigh. "But, Leon," she said. "I can't help but notice that sword you're carrying. Not your wooden sword, the other one…" Her eyes were fixed on Lyu's hip. There, the elven girl carried two swords: the newly completed Alvs Lumina, as well as a weapon that Asfi swore she recognized. "Yes," replied Lyu. "It's Adi's." Its name was Sacred Oath, and besides the girl's undying justice, it was the last thing of Adi's that Lyu possessed. Lyu had already received Shakti's permission to carry it. She stroked the pommel and looked back at Asfi. "Today, she fights alongside us," she said. "I see…" Asfi smiled, finding comfort in Lyu's proud determination. "In that case," she said. "Make sure you come back alive. For once, I'd like for us to bond over something besides suffering." "That's what I intend to do. You stay safe out there, too, Andromeda." This was the kind of camaraderie that could only be found on the battlefield. With that thought, Lyu offered the other girl a smile. Then Gareth approached Riveria. It was time. "Everything's ready," he told her. "We move on your mark." Aiz stood beside her mother figure and looked up at her. The high elf's eyes were closed in contemplation. At last, she opened them, and… "…Very well." Dawn broke, signaling the beginning of the battle to end it all. All across the city, adventurers took up arms as they prepared to protect their world. And all around the borders of that city, evil grinned as they prepared to manufacture hell on earth. "It's time." Atop the city walls, Valletta licked her lips and leveled the point of her sword at the white-walled tower at Orario's core. "Today's the day, kids! The day Orario falls!!" """Roaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!""" The evil army's shouts seemed to shake the clouds in the sky. Meanwhile, atop Guild HQ, Finn raised his golden spear. "Let me hear your voices! Today we fight for our city!!" """Hooraaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!""" Orario became a war zone as armies filled the streets. Meanwhile, Riveria and Gareth stood at the foot of Babel. "Move out. We have a monster to slay." "Follow me, younglings!" The two of them disappeared into the tower, followed by Aiz, and the members of Astrea Familia brought up the rear. They sprinted down the stairs, into the tower's basement, and through the entrance to the Dungeon. Standing on the brink of the abyss, Lyu unsheathed her two swords. "Let's go, Adi!" Then she jumped in.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/appendix001.txt	BLACK BULLET EPILOGUE PUTTING ON A BOLD FRONT The Seitenshi's palace was, in a word, magnificent. Turning his head, Rentaro could see the forest of marble pillars, the graceful arch of the domed canopy, and the polished floors with mosaic pictures. Occasionally, he reached up to fix the collar of the unfamiliar white formal suit, scratching his head. How had it turned out like this? It was not the first time he'd screamed this question in his mind that day. "Tomorrow is the celebration ceremony, so don't be late," Kisara had said the day before, throwing a map and the suit at Rentaro, looking like she couldn't be bothered. He thought about being extremely late, but in the end, the next morning, Rentaro found himself changing trains by himself. He frowned, thinking something was strange as he looked at the map, but he was not mistaken—the ceremony was in Tokyo Area's First District. He was stunned when he realized that it would be smack-dab in the middle of the Seitenshi's palace. As Rentaro repeated quietly to himself that this must be some kind of mistake, a guard approached him with eyes that said he thought he was facing a suspicious person. However, the moment Rentaro showed his invitation, it was like he had said, "Open sesame," and the guard's face broke out in a smile as he hit Rentaro's shoulder with friendly, but hard, blows and let him through. Kisara stood in a dress in front of the large door where the ceremony was being held. She had her hands on her hips and looked unhappy. After seeing Rentaro, all she said was, "You're late," which brought them to the present. "Satomi, you are the guest of honor today," she said. "Please don't look around like some tourist. As your employer, you are embarrassing me." "Hey, but Kisara, you didn't say anything about what a big deal this was," Rentaro protested. "Oh, didn't I? Yesterday, I told you that the Seitenshi herself would be decorating those civsec officers responsible for remarkable achievements, so come dressed in your best, didn't I?" "No! You threw the map and suit at me like it was too much of a bother to do anything else. That was it." "Really? Oh well. Oh, Satomi, your necktie is crooked. I'll fix it for you, so stay still." His heart thumped as hands covered to the elbow with black lace gloves reached for his neck. Kisara was beautiful. After his nervousness faded, he was able to gaze at her again. She was wearing a black dress with frills that looked like bunches of black roses, and she had a matching black ribbon tied in her hair. She didn't notice because she was crouched over as if in a fight with Rentaro's necktie, but from where he was, he had a perfect view of her full chest in her shoulder-baring dress. Kisara's hair smelled really good. "H-hey…," said Rentaro. "You know you're at a terrible angle right now?" "Don't talk to me," said Kisara. "Jeez, why are neckties so hard to tie?" Rentaro's fingers opened and closed against his will. "Maybe like this…?" Kisara pulled at the necktie with amazing force. "Guh…." Rentaro choked. The tie had tightened around Rentaro's neck with amazing force. Kisara closed her eyes and shook her head. "It's not working. I'm not good at stuff like this. Satomi, you look just like the Hanged Man card in my Tarot deck, especially with that unfortunate face of yours. You'll just have to tie your necktie yourself." Right after she said it, she realized how rude it was and covered her hands with her mouth. Kisara looked with conflicted feelings at where Rentaro's right arm used to be and finally opened her mouth to speak. "Your new artificial arm isn't ready yet?" "No, but I think it's almost ready," he said. "Speaking of which, I saw Dr. Sumire the other day. She said, 'I can't believe he defeated a Stage Five with a rocket punch. He's seen too many super-robot cartoons. I thought he was just a regular carefree kid, but he's an idiot. He's a carefree idiot. Oh, how funny! How funny!'" She ended with an impression of Sumire's laugh. "Why is it that even though I saved Tokyo Area, I have to be made fun of this much?" "How should I know?" Kisara pulled a pocket watch out of her pocket. "It's time. Now, listen carefully. I told you earlier, but I'm going to tell you again. The Seitenshi is taking valuable time from dealing with state affairs to conduct this ceremony, so there's a silent understanding that these kinds of ceremonies should be done as quickly as possible. So when she asks you a question, you should reply with concise answers like Yes or No. And don't ask any questions. Do you understand?" "Yes." "Good answer." Rentaro stood in front of the large door and took a deep breath. He prepared himself and pushed open the door. It felt cold but was lighter than he expected. Belts of light shone in inside. As he looked back, Kisara smiled at him kindly. "Under the circumstances, you did a good job this time. Good boy. Please continue to work hard and fight, my knight." Emotions welled up in his heart, and he wanted to say something, but the words wouldn't come out right away. The large door closed, and looking around, he saw a red carpet and a slightly winding marble staircase stretched out in front of him. The Seitenshi sat comfortably at the throne at the top. It was a spacious room with high ceilings. Next to the honor guard were ladies and gentlemen around a table looking down at them. "Satomi, thank you for coming." The Seitenshi came down the stairs wearing a slight smile on her face. "Have your wounds healed?" "Yes, thank you," Rentaro answered formally. "They are a lot better." "How does it feel to be the savior of Tokyo Area?" A few days had passed already. Even though it was a plan that deployed a large number of civil officers, the details remained hidden to the public. For some reason, a civsec officer happened to be nearby to bring down the Gastrea Scorpion that suddenly attacked Tokyo Area with a super-long-range attack. "The reactions of those around me have changed a little, so it's a little embarrassing," Rentaro said. "I'm sure it is," said the Seitenshi. "That's not surprising. Just remembering the scene makes me tremble." The shot that Rentaro and Enju fired at a great speed flew straight into the Scorpion's head and made a giant hole, blowing away its brains. The Varanium's regeneration interference worked, and it should have died instantly. However, with supernatural strength, right before it died, it swung its upper body and looked in Rentaro's direction. Its half-closed eye sockets seemed to shake as if making an appeal to Rentaro, and when it finally shut them, it fell sideways into the water, and a giant tsunami broke on the shore of Tokyo Bay. "I am proud that someone with your abilities was there at that time," the Seitenshi continued. "Satomi, will you offer your assistance to Tokyo Area in the future, as well?" Rentaro kneeled as he had been instructed. "Yes, even if it means my life." The Seitenshi raised both hands high overhead and proclaimed solemnly, "To all who are gathered here today, hear my words. The hero here has sworn to fight for the sake of Tokyo Area. He destroyed the Zodiac Scorpion and the Kagetane Hiruko and Kohina Hiruko pair, who formerly held an IP Rank of 134. In light of those accomplishments, after discussion with the IISO, we have decided to consider this a Special First Level Battle Result and promoted the Rentaro Satomi and Enju Aihara pair to an IP Rank of 1,000." The spectators suddenly let out shouts of joy. The Seitenshi smiled as she shifted her gaze to Rentaro. "Rentaro Satomi, do you accept this decision?" "Yes, with pleasure," he answered. The Seitenshi smiled mischievously and continued in a small voice. "The Satomi-Aihara pair originally had a rank of 123,452, so this is a significant promotion. It's probably the first of its kind in history. You might even make it into the Guinness Book of World Records." "Y-yes, ma'am." "Well then, do you have any final words you would like to say?" "No, I don't." If he had said that, everything would have ended smoothly. Rentaro made a silent apology to Kisara as he raised his head. "There is," he said. The Seitenshi's eyes opened in surprise, and the atmosphere in the room suddenly became so tense that his skin prickled. "Let us hear it," she said. "I saw what was in that case," said Rentaro. The Seitenshi's eyes widened again. The people around them could not tell where he was going with this and started murmuring in confusion. Rentaro remained kneeling as he continued. "I know I shouldn't have. After defeating the Gastrea Zodiac, in the short time before the missiles burned down the church, I opened the case that was recovered and looked inside. I saw…" Rentaro hesitated for a moment before continuing. "…a broken tricycle inside. What is the meaning of this? How did that become the catalyst to summon a Stage Five Gastrea? No, what are the Gastrea—the enemy organisms who suddenly appeared in this world—in the first place? What happened in this world ten years ago? Please tell me, Lady Seitenshi." The noise that broke out became so great that it was out of control. The Seitenshi made her face blank and murmured in a low voice so that only Rentaro could hear. "The Inheritance of the Seven Stars was hidden outside Tokyo Area in the Unexplored Territory, but one of them was stolen during this incident. If that had been destroyed, I cannot imagine what would have happened. The Zodiac came to get it back. I cannot tell you any more." "What do you mean, you can't?" said Rentaro. The Seitenshi closed her eyes for a long time. Finally, she exhaled and opened her eyelids. "Those Initiator girls are possibilities. As you know, as civil officer pairs are promoted, they also receive certain rights. You obtain a certain social class, but above all, the access key to top-secret information should be tempting. Because you are currently ranked 1,000, you are now at access Level 3. If you defeat your present rivals and get into the top ten, you will receive the highest access key, Level 12. "Satomi, please win. Defeat the other eight Zodiacs besides the missing Zodiac, Cancer, and rise in the ranks with Enju Aihara. Then, you will know. You will know what you are and what you were born to do. Please become strong and aim to be the best. If you would call yourself the son of Takaharu and Mafuyu Satomi, then you have a responsibility to know the truth." Rentaro sprang to his feet and pressed the Seitenshi for an answer. "What are you talking about?! Why are my parents' names coming up now?!" No matter how long he waited, there was no answer. He became angry and reached out, about to grab the Seitenshi by the collar. Right before he touched her, the Seitenshi shot him a cold glare and his hand stopped. "Stop. If you grab me now, you will be executed for treason." At that moment, he realized that the room was filled with enough murderous intent to make his blood grow cold, and cold sweat dripped down his cheek. He didn't know where the source of it was. However, it wasn't a joke or an exaggeration that there was a fighting master who could cut off Rentaro's head or torso in a split second. Rentaro gritted his teeth. His fist shook as he lowered it. "My apologies…" He somehow mustered enough strength for that before he threw his body into the large door to open it and left the Seitenshi without looking back. Rentaro went to the Tendo residence. The main Tendo residence was a luxurious house located in the best residential neighborhood of the First District of Tokyo Area, with Western-style architecture reminiscent of a country house. This was also the house where the young Rentaro had been taken in and raised. Currently, Rentaro was living two people to a one-room, eight-tatami-mat apartment, and Kisara had also left the main house to be independent. It had been a long time since he visited this house like this. Even though all the citizens of the country were complaining about the lack of land, there was easily a hundred meters between the entrance and the actual building of the house, as if trying to rub it in. The trees in the garden were neatly pruned by the gardener, and they were composed in complete symmetry. A fountain with angels bathing in it was covered with shell inlay. Going inside with a spare key, Rentaro went straight up to the second floor, heading for the room he had come here for. In the hallway, he passed the elderly housekeeper. Seeing Rentaro, she murmured, "Young master, is that you…?" and looked like she was about to drop the linens she held. He wanted so much to stop and apologize for not contacting her for so long, but if he didn't hurry, that man would come home. Rentaro lowered his face, pretending he didn't know what she was talking about, and rushed past her. When he finally came to the door of the room, he pulled out his XD, used his teeth and knee to deftly attach the silencer, and fired a few consecutive shots, breaking off the hinge. Thinking that it really was inconvenient to not have his artificial arm, he took off the silencer, picked up the empty casings, knocked down the door, and went inside. It was spacious inside, with a warm carpet and a bookshelf covering half the wall. And in the middle was a work desk made of rosewood. Wanting to get it over with as soon as possible, Rentaro opened a drawer and started examining the papers inside. Rentaro's cell phone chose that moment to vibrate. It was an unknown number. Damn, why did it have to ring at a time like this? Rentaro hesitated for a moment but then put the receiver to his ear. "Hello, Satomi. Good afternoon." A chill ran down his spine. Rentaro tried to calm his wildly pounding heart and let out a deep breath. "You're alive, Kagetane?" Rentaro's feet felt restless as he remembered what it felt like when he sent Kagetane Hiruko flying with his kick. After that fight, Kohina had gotten up with a selfless expression, slipping past Rentaro to Kagetane's aid. Kagetane probably did not survive that. That's what Rentaro had thought at the time even though he wasn't sure. "Yeah, somehow," said Kagetane. "But it was pretty effective. I've been ordered to rest for now. I won't be able to work for a while. It's a bother." "Work murdering people?" said Rentaro. "Why don't you take this as an opportunity to quit that line of work?" "No, work my day job. I'm sure we'll meet again eventually. I just wanted to tell you that today. I won't lose the next time we meet." "Yeah, I won't lose either." In reality, in that fight, Rentaro was only barely able to win because of the pile of clever tricks he'd used to outsmart his enemy. He wasn't sure what he could do if he had to fight a completely prepared Kagetane pair head-on. "Also, I thought it was about time I introduced you to my client." Damn it, that was what it was? Hearing the sound of a gun cock behind his back, Rentaro threw the phone down and drew his XD without looking back. He pointed it at the sound. Standing up slowly, Rentaro prepared himself as he turned around. Pointed at his nose was a gun with double Magnum barrels. Rentaro had his finger on his own trigger, at a distance that couldn't be avoided. "Sneaking around like a thief, Rentaro?" said the man holding the gun. "You're home already?" said Rentaro. "I thought you wouldn't be back until tonight, Lord Tendo." Kikunojo Tendo was wearing a formal Japanese hakama on his toned body, and stood almost 180 centimeters tall. His back was completely straight, and even though his beard and hair were white, the sharp, glittering eyes that Kisara had inherited were serious. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. "I was looking for things that could be used as evidence," said Rentaro. "But I don't need to anymore. Asking the person himself is faster. Kikunojo Tendo—on the surface, the recent incident was settled with the reckless behavior of Defense Minister Kutsuwada. But I don't think that was the end. The mastermind behind these events was you, Kikunojo Tendo." Kikunojo didn't move an eyebrow. However, his finger on the trigger tightened slightly, making Rentaro's heart race faster. With their guns pointed at each other, they moved in a small circle around the fulcrum of the point where their arms crossed. It was a suffocating dance in bad taste that took place on top of the carpet. "Did Kisara instigate this?" Kikunojo asked. "I'm acting on my own judgment," said Rentaro. When he said that, Kikunojo snorted derisively. "Oh? Why did you suspect me?" Rentaro was taken aback. "You're…not going to deny it?" Kikunojo's shoulders shook as he scoffed at him. "If I did, would you believe me?" "No……" But he had still wanted Kikunojo to deny it. He started saying so before he closed his mouth. Rentaro lifted his face. "Defense Minister Kutsuwada died. He hung himself at home while out on bail!" "I know that. What about it?" "What do you mean, 'What about it'? I saw the joint compact. It's true that everyone whose name was written on it was arrested… But the real ringleader's name wasn't even on there. I was surprised when I saw the names written on the joint compact. Every single one of them was either in your faction or had been connected to your faction in the past. When I was younger, I greeted all of them at the evening parties held in this house. What is the meaning of this?!" "This child seems so wise. Only to be expected from a child adopted by Master Tendo." "I'm sure you'll be an excellent politician when you grow up, Rentaro." Thinking back on their words, Rentaro's eyes prickled with tears. His hand shook with anger as he held his gun, and he felt like he could almost pull the trigger. "Everyone was kind," Rentaro continued. "They all respected you! How could I believe that you, their chief, was the only one not part of this plan? Mr. Kutsuwada hanged himself to stop the investigation against you. The second he died, all the people who were arrested immediately used him as a scapegoat. There's no way I can know what you're thinking. But… But, after all this, you're not embarrassed to continue acting arrogantly, Kikunojo Tendo?!" Rentaro said all this, panting. But Kikunojo's face only twisted slightly with the faintest bit of self-deprecation. "Why would I do such a thing? Are you saying that my goal was the destruction of Tokyo Area, then? That's absurd." "I didn't know why at first, either. But when Kagetane stole the case and went to the Unexplored Territory to summon the Stage Five, for some reason, that information was almost systematically leaked. If that happened, Tokyo Area would've fallen into a ruinous panic, and no one stood to benefit from that." "Did you figure it out?" "The New Gastrea Law." Kikunojo's eyebrow twitched in surprise. "The bill the Seitenshi is pushing to pass despite the resistance from those around her. A law that would improve the social positions of Initiators and allow the Cursed Children to coexist with everyone else. Ever since your wife was killed by a Gastrea in the Great War ten years ago, you've been a staunch advocate of discrimination against Initiators. "I don't know what kind of deal you made with Kagetane, and I don't want to imagine. However, Kagetane, the Gastrea elite who think it would be disgraceful for humans and Initiators to coexist, shares with you a mutual interest in crushing that bill. If it were leaked to the press that Kohina Hiruko, one of the Cursed Children, was participating in terrorist activities to destroy Tokyo Area, then there would be no one supporting the girls in public opinion. You weren't planning on destroying Tokyo Area from the start, you coward." Without warning, Rentaro was kicked in the stomach, struck with enough force to make him feel like regurgitating the contents of his stomach. A gun was pressed against his throat, and he was pushed like that into the bookshelf. The moment his back hit, hardcover books began thumping to the floor. Kikunojo pressed the gun against Rentaro with a look of rage. "Try saying that again!" "I'll say it as many times as you want!" said Rentaro. "This is how the incident progressed. You had one of your subordinates go to the Unexplored Territory to get the catalyst to summon the Stage Five, what the Seitenshi called the Inheritance of the Seven Stars. He successfully acquired the catalyst and was supposed to hand the case over to Kagetane, thus finishing everything smoothly. "However, on his way back from the Unexplored Territory, your subordinate was attacked by a Gastrea and took in its bodily fluids. Your subordinate barely escaped alive running back into the Monolith barrier, but there, he unfortunately turned into a Gastrea. He became a Model Spider Gastrea and infected a human. As evidence, one person whose name was written on the joint compact is still missing even now. I'm sure he was the source Gastrea that Enju and I defeated. "In the end, Kagetane was somehow able to get the case, but now the information that was supposed to have been leaked was quickly sealed off with a news blackout by the Seitenshi. So in order to make people remember their fear of the Gastrea and crush the New Gastrea Law, you approved the actual summoning of the Stage Five." "That's right!" Suddenly, Kikunojo yelled like he was on metaphorical fire. "It was all to wake up those complacent fools. How could they forget? How? Ten years ago on that day, the sun set, the earth split apart, and humans were driven out of their own world! Demon brats with the blood of those worms are strutting around town with innocent looks on their faces, you know. Those Red-Eyes are demons who will destroy the whole world. How can you be so calm about it? You want to give them human rights? Don't be ridiculous." Rentaro took the space of a moment to brush away the hand with the gun. When he did, the sound of a gunshot boomed and the bullet grazed Rentaro's cheek. As Rentaro swept Kikunojo's legs from under him, he drove his knee into the older man's ribs. The feeling was a familiar one to Rentaro, and Kikunojo raised his voice in anguish. "Everyone's like that!" Rentaro said. "It's true that your wife was killed. But Kisara's parents were killed. You lost your lover. But everyone, everyone lives coming to terms with their past. You're a ghost, Kikunojo Tendo! You're a ghost being dragged along by hatred from ten years ago. Even in your position of aide to the Seitenshi, you try to forestall her. Do you hate the Seitenshi?" Kikunojo coughed violently as he declared, "Don't say ridiculous things. I regard her with respect and affection. Of all the Seitenshis, she is the only one who could be called a match for the wise monarchs of the past. She is a queen I truly want to serve." "Then…" "That's why there are things I cannot forgive!" Rentaro kept his XD sighted on Kikunojo's forehead as he looked at the man's fiery eyes. He could not see any affectation in them at all. This man held in equal parts devotion to the Seitenshi and hatred for the Gastrea, and it was driving him mad. "I'm sure Kisara has also realized the truth," said Rentaro. "I'm sure she has," said Kikunojo. "But you have no proof. You can't do anything." Rentaro met Kikunojo's eyes for a long time. When he finally moved his knee, Rentaro tucked the XD in his belt and turned on his heel. "What are you planning?" said Kikunojo. "If you don't kill me now, you'll regret it." "I'm already regretting it, 'cause you're Kisara's greatest enemy," said Rentaro. "What about you, Rentaro…?" "What?" When he turned around, Kikunojo had on a fierce expression with his wrinkles scrunched in the middle of his face. "What about you, Rentaro? Your arm and leg were eaten, and you lost Takaharu and Mafuyu, didn't you? How can you forgive them? You don't resent them?" "I do resent them! Tearing them apart from limb to limb wouldn't be enough. I thought I would kill all the Gastrea and the Cursed Children with these hands!" "Then why?!" "Have you talked to even one of those girls? They cry at the smallest things, laugh, sulk—they're filled with human warmth. You called them worms? I say they're humans. I, Rentaro Satomi, believe in Enju Aihara!" "Rentaro… You…" Rentaro closed his eyes slowly. "You saved my life. You told me, 'If you do not want to die, survive, Rentaro.' So concise, and so very like you. At times when I closed both eyes in despair, I would remember these words, and they would help me push through. I remember every single day what happened that day ten years ago. Thank you… Good-bye, Father." Rentaro left the house. "Hey, Rentaroooo! Over heeeeere!" Enju, dressed in a thin hospital gown, was hopping and yelling loudly enough to be heard throughout the district. A surprised old woman strained her back, a three-year-old girl peed her pants, and an old man's dentures and wig were blown off at the same time. "A-at least be quiet inside a hospital, you dummy," said Rentaro. "Do you know what the word manners means…?" Before he could finish, there was a thud as Enju thrust her face into his chest. "Rentaro, Rentaro, Rentaro! Big news! During the checkup, I got my body measurements, too, and my boobs got a little bigger! Aren't you happy, Rentaro?" Looking at Enju proudly sticking out her flat chest, he almost let slip a "Huh, where?" "Don't you think I should wear a brassiere soon?" "Y-yeah. Maybe in about five years?" Rentaro nonchalantly said something mean. "How was the ceremony thing? Were you praised? Did they say 'Good job'? My checkup was so boring. I wanted to go see, too. Oh, that suit makes you look cool, Rentaro!" Enju's eyes sparkled as she asked Rentaro question after question. "Enju, what were the results of the checkup?" Her eyes suddenly glittering, she made a victory sign as if saying, Listen to this! "Twenty-four point nine percent. It barely changed." Rentaro almost involuntarily let out a groan, but he somehow swallowed it. "I… I see…" "Rentaro, I'm gonna change now, 'kay?" When Rentaro looked up, he saw the unusual sight of Sumire Muroto out of her basement room beckoning him. "I'm going to go hear what annoying things Doc has to say." "Then I'll wait for you at the park in front of the hospital." Saying that, Enju raced down the hall. As Rentaro watched her leave, he went to the room where Sumire was waiting. In the park, there was nothing to block the sunlight, and it was a very comfortably warm day for April. Even though the peak of the cherry blossom season was over, the cherry trees squeezed out the last of their strength to bloom proudly. Rentaro and Enju strolled along a walking path that was scattered with flower petals every time the wind blew. The smell of sprouting plants filled his nostrils. "Oh ho, so our IP Rank went up that much?" said Enju. "Yeah," said Rentaro. "They said it was the first time in history anyone went up that fast. We'll get the official notification next week." As Enju spotted an ice cream stand in the corner of the park, she said, "Can I buy some, Rentaro?" Thinking that they were expensive, Rentaro reluctantly opened his wallet and let out an involuntary groan. Even if their ranking went up, the inside of his wallet still continued to be as empty as ever. Rentaro sighed. Grabbing hold of the bill with a shaking hand, he slipped it into Enju's hand. "This needs to cover this month's living expenses, so use it wisely." "I understand," said Enju. "I should buy as much ice cream as I can with this, right?" "Why did you take it that way? Hey, wait! Enju!" Already not listening to the yelling Rentaro's words, Enju ran away. Rentaro looked at her retreating back in shock. He smiled unwittingly. He was alive. He was hungry. What a wonderful thing. Enju didn't know. In the peacefulness of Tokyo Area, she didn't know that one more precious life had been sacrificed. After operating the railgun, Rentaro put Enju, deep asleep, gently onto the floor, and then slipped outside the facility. Looking at the sky, he saw that the night sky was slowly starting to grow lighter. Because of the high altitude, his breath had been white, and he'd kept rubbing his hands as he made his way down the bare rock. Once he was some distance away from the facility and looked back at the Stairway to Heaven, he could clearly see that the rail part where the projectile was accelerated was crushed. The rail was not strong enough to withstand the sudden acceleration of a projectile after all. As Rentaro walked, something he had been trying hard not to think about came back into his mind. Gastrea were very sensitive to loud noises. Depending on the Gastrea, there were some that would gather after hearing a sound a few kilometers away. During his fight to the death with Kagetane, and when he fired the railgun, thunderous roars should have echoed throughout the Unexplored Territory. However, in the end, his duel ended uninterrupted and the railgun's firing sequence ended without being delayed. It was obviously a strange situation. Someone had stopped the large wave of Gastrea that should have surged toward them. Eventually, the smell of blood grew stronger. Rentaro went behind a large rock, and then he held his breath. In front of his eyes was the corpse of a giant Gastrea. The body, which was like a Komodo dragon that had been turned ten times as large as normal, was missing its front legs, and its lower jaw had been blown away. And that wasn't the only corpse. There were Gastrea that looked like insects, Gastrea entwined with plantlike vines, snake types and frog types, and many others that had been changed so much that their origins were unclear. There were also many different shapes and sizes, from large Gastrea to small Gastrea, Stage One to Stage Four. What they all had in common was that the spark of life was gone from every Gastrea. Rentaro walked among the dead bodies. Finally, he saw a human leg with its shoe still on strewn casually on the ground. Near it was an empty magazine. A little farther, and he found the remains of a fully automatic shotgun that had been broken cleanly in two. Rentaro desperately held back a sob as he walked through the mountain of corpses. In deathly silence that almost made his ears hurt, all Rentaro could hear was his shoes stepping on the gravel. And then, he found her. Unfortunately, he found her. Rentaro shook his head gently. His voice felt like shaky, and his hands were clenched into fists. "Why…? Why didn't you run? Didn't you say you would run when you were at a disadvantage?!" Kayo Senju, who was being propped up by a large rock, looked up at Rentaro with fading eyes. "I couldn't…do that…" Her left arm and right leg were missing. Her white dress was stained with blood, and she had bite marks all over. Her injuries were healing unbelievably fast. Not only were they healing, but her missing arm and leg were regenerating, as well. But this was not a welcome situation at all. "Satomi…I'm…?" she started. Rentaro forced his pounding heart to calm down and said, "Your body's corrosion rate is probably over fifty percent." The Cursed Children were constantly taking massive doses of corrosion-inhibiting medication to control the Gastrea inside their bodies, but it still only inhibited and did not stop the corrosion completely. Because the girls carried the inhibiting gene, they did not turn into Gastrea immediately like normal people, but if they suddenly used a lot of their power, or if Gastrea bodily fluids got inside them, then their corrosion rate would slowly increase. And then, like a normal person, if their corrosion rate went above fifty percent, then the corrosion would start, and they would not be able to keep their human form any longer. There was nothing that current medical technologies could do to change that limit. Rentaro took his XD gun out and checked how many bullets he had left. He had exactly one Varanium bullet left in the chamber. Rentaro put the silencer on and aimed at her forehead. He knew what he had to do. Kayo Senju could not be saved. She had to die right here, right now. "Satomi, what happened to Shogen?" Kayo asked. "He's fine," said Rentaro. When their eyes met, she lowered her lashes in relief. "Satomi, please. Please let me die as a human." His breath shook as he exhaled. It wasn't because he was cold. The muzzle of the gun jumped around, and his aim was all over the place. Even though he was so close, there was a possibility that he would miss. What a joke. Suddenly, remembering the irreplaceable time they had spent together surrounded by firewood and talking, his heart was so filled with affection that it tore at his chest. Damn it, damn it! "Satomi, please, don't cry…," said Kayo. Rentaro ground his teeth so hard his molars felt like they would break, and he smiled. "Don't worry, I'm not crying. This isn't my first time." "You affirmed my existence. I didn't want to let you die. That is why I tried hard. My heart is full of gratitude right now. Thank you, Satomi." Rentaro had no words and could only shake his head left and right. Kayo continued. "Hey, Satomi, you don't have many friends, do you?" "Huh?" "You're hopeless, so I'll be your friend." Rentaro's and Kayo's eyes met for a brief moment. "Yeah, it's sad how few friends I have. Thanks." His hand stopped shaking. His heart calmed. "You are my irreplaceable friend. I will never forget you." He lifted his gun and aimed for the space between her eyebrows. Her eyes were not focused. Her voice was hoarse. "Satomi, after this… I imagine you will face many trials. If you lose your way and are lost in the darkness, follow the compass in your heart…to…to the light… Satom……save…this…world……" He pulled the trigger. The .40-caliber recoil made his arm kick back. There was the sound of a muffled gunshot, and a single empty casing was expelled. His slide stop came up and locked. The girl's transformation stopped. There was an acrid smell in the back of his nose; he must have inhaled some gunsmoke. When he turned around at the sound of a helicopter, he could see the red sunrise shining in from beyond the faraway mountain range. Her fight was over. Another Initiator had died in battle, unseen. Enju looked like she was still having fun choosing her ice cream. Looking up, Rentaro slowly raised his palm to shade his eyes from the sun and thought as he squinted at the bright light of the sun. What are humans, anyway? They can speak, they walk on two legs, they wear clothes. But that didn't prove that they were human. And humans only had at most twice as many genes as flies. Then, what are the Cursed Children? Sumire Muroto called them "God's substitutes as messengers between humans and Gastrea." The Seitenshi had said, "Those Initiator girls are possibilities." Kikunojo Tendo called them "demons who will destroy the whole world." Human beings once lived on the earth invincible, proud, and rejoicing that they were the prime of creation. However, that ended with the appearance of the Gastrea. It could be said that about ninety percent of the surviving humans in this degenerate world had latent prejudice against the Initiators. More and more children were abandoned because, with the contamination of their DNA, their paternity couldn't be proven. Abandoned to the darkness before they could even open their eyes, they rubbed shoulders in a corner of Tokyo Area, children who just wanted to be loved. The girls faced unending prejudice and ceaseless enmity. Were they just a new classification of human beings? Rentaro closed his eyes quietly. Enju Aihara said, "I am human!" I will believe Enju. Those girls were the ones who'd broken through the human shell and gazed out over the world, looking down at mankind as it trod a path of destruction, humans killing each other over differences in race, religion, or language. The Cursed Children were a "new humanity" that could bring a new perspective. Kikunojo, who was so torn up by despair that he spit ill omens and cursed everything on earth, could have been Rentaro if he had not met Enju. Like Kisara Tendo, who could not live without her hemodialysis— Like Enju Aihara, who could not live without her dose of corrosion-inhibiting medication— —Rentaro Satomi surely could not live another second without Enju Aihara's smile. Those girls were definitely not worms. "Rentaro, are you feeling unwell after all?" By the time he returned to himself, Enju was looking at him with mountains of ice cream in each hand. "N-no! Look, see? I'm so happy that our rank went up that I'm jumping." He forced a laugh and ran up on a nearby bench and started to jump off. Enju's eyes widened for a second at Rentaro's strange behavior, but she soon burst into laughter. "Weirdo." At that moment, the clear sound of something metal hitting the stone pavement stopped time. Rentaro looked back and forth at his own left arm and the ground, dumbfounded. On the ground were fragments of a bracelet. They had chrome silver-plating over an engraved design. That's right. Enju had bought this for him. If he remembered correctly, it was a toy from a cartoon… "What's that?"
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/appendix001b.txt	BLACK BULLET "It's the bracelet that the Tenchu Girls wear. It's proof that the forty-seven warriors are friends, and it cracks when a friend tricks another friend or lies to them, so they can tell when a friend is lying." Rentaro exhaled with a shaking breath and stared at the fragments of the broken bracelet. ENJU AIHARA'S DIAGNOSIS CHART –PRIMARY PHYSICIAN, SUMIRE MUROTO • Enju Aihara has a Gastrea virus corrosion rate of 42.8% • An estimated 7.2% left until shape collapse • Comments from the physician—Extremely dangerous territory. To prevent the patient from being too shocked, I reported a lower number to her. According to regulations, notification of the patient is at the discretion of the Promoter. This part is written not in my capacity as a doctor, but is my advice as a friend: Don't let her fight anymore, Rentaro.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/appendix002.txt	BLACK BULLET AFTERWORD Nice to meet you. My name is Shiden Kanzaki. To explain to those reading from the afterword, this book involves the tag battle of a protective high school hero and a ten-year-old Lolita heroine. I have written about this in other places, too, but I had so many uninterrupted publishing offers that— Actually, this did not happen at all. Rather, I took my manuscript and said, "Please publish this, please publish this," and rolled around on the floor of the Dengeki Bunko editorial department like a cute cat. Thus, I tricked Mr. Kurosaki into coming near me and grabbed hold of his leg firmly, which brings us to the present. REGARDING THE TITLE I didn't think about it too hard and just put together a color I liked and the title of a movie I liked and got Black Memento. From the beginning, my editor disapproved of this title, but I was used to calling it that, so I waited it out in a war of attrition and schemed to publish it that way. But then he attacked directly with a phone call in the middle of the night. I realized that he really hated this title and was immediately reformed and settled on the current title. REGARDING THE DOUBLE GUNS The concept behind the double guns of a certain person that come up in the book are "the worst double guns in history." To you double-gun lovers on the other side of the page reading just the afterword in the store, pretend you've been tricked for a second and try reading this book. I'm sure you will realize—little girl heaven, boobs galore, perverted guns, fake martial arts—there are many attractive elements prepared for you here as I await you who will never read it again. Now, let me be a little serious here. A hundred apologies and ten thousand thanks to the nice guy who found me, my editor, Mr. Kurosaki; the artist who drew the gorgeous pictures, Saki Ukai; the chief editor who helped me when I caused a certain problem; and everyone else who was involved in the creation of this book. Finally, to you, the reader who is using their precious time to read the afterword: Thank you very much. I am grateful for this meeting from the bottom of my heart. I look forward to the joy that I will receive when you, the reader, read this book. I pray that all of my readers will be blessed. blog: kanzakisiden.blog.fc2.com twitter: twitter.com/Siden_K
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter001a.txt	BLACK BULLET BLACK BULLET CHAPTER 01 THE TENDO CIVIL SECURITY AGENCY 1 SPRING. Beneath an evening sky dyed red, the square-jawed, rough-faced senior inspector of the homicide department approached the fine-featured, thin young man threateningly. "Huh? You're the civil officer who's here to help us? Even stupidity has its limits. You're just a kid!" The young man who was being approached with such derision, Rentaro Satomi, let his listless eyes slide up to the side, looking idly at a crow cawing as it returned to its nest. All he wanted was to go home. Rentaro answered the inspector evasively, grumbling, "Doesn't matter what you say. I can't do anything about it. I'm the civil officer who's here to help. I have a gun and a license. My boss told me to come here, so I did, because I had to, but if you're going to doubt me, I'm going home." Clucking his tongue, the inspector started walking around Rentaro, narrowing his eyes as if appraising him. "That uniform… You a student?" Rentaro looked down at his uniform. On the chest of his pitch-black uniform that looked just like a suit was the embroidered insignia of Magata High School. "What's wrong with that?" he said. "So these days even kids can play at being civil officers, huh?" said the inspector. "Show me your license." When Rentaro pulled out his license, the inspector looked at the picture on it and compared it to Rentaro's face. He snorted. "That's an unlucky mug. Not real photogenic, are you?" he laughed, his stomach shaking. This is work, too. Just deal with it, Rentaro said to himself as he glared at the inspector. The inspector, who introduced himself curtly with nothing more than "I'm Tadashima," threw the license back at Rentaro. "Tendo Civil Security Agency, huh? Never heard of it." "It's 'cause we aren't that well known," said Rentaro. "Uh, sorry to rush things along, but can we talk about work now?" Rentaro lifted his face and looked up at the dilapidated apartment building in front of them. Cracks, filth, corrosion, and damage made it stand out, but it was an extremely normal six-story apartment building. It was called the Grand Tanaka. "This is really where the trouble is?" "Yeah, that's right," said Tadashima. "The guy in Room 102 called screaming, saying there was blood leaking down from the room above. Putting all the info together, there's no doubt it's a Gastrea. Anyway, let's get in there already. Friggin' finally." At the finally, Tadashima raised his voice, as if intentionally trying to be overheard, and walked into the building. Civil officers and inspectors not getting along wasn't anything new, but it was so obvious that rather than being angry, Rentaro was just disgusted. He stopped in front of the building, seriously considering going home, but then reluctantly followed the man in. Shortly after the defeat, a law was put in place stating that no one was to enter the scene of a crime involving Gastrea without a civil security officer, or "civsec" for short. It was a necessary step in the efforts to try to slow down the skyrocketing rate of police officer deaths, but there wasn't a police officer to be found who welcomed with open arms the civil officers who were stepping into their jurisdiction. At that moment, Tadashima put his rough face close to Rentaro's, as if realizing something. "Hey, where's your Initiator partner? You civil officer fighters come in pairs, don't you?" "Oh, I didn't think this was bad enough to need her," said Rentaro. He was startled on the inside, but he couldn't admit that he'd accidentally left her behind. Thinking that maybe it was a bad idea to not have her after all, he looked back down the dim hallway they came from, scratching his head. When he heard about the Gastrea incident in their neighborhood from the agency president, his one and only boss, he remembered pedaling his bike seriously for once, trying not to let another agency get the job before them. He must have left his partner behind at that point, too. He just hoped she didn't get lost. When he got up to the scene, room 202, there were already a bunch of officers gathered near the door. "Has there been any change?" asked Tadashima. At Tadashima's words, one of the squad members looked back with a pale face. "S-sir. Just now, two point men went in through the window. After that, we had no further contact with them." The atmosphere at the scene froze. "You idiots! Why didn't you wait for the civil officer to arrive?!" "We didn't want the guys who always come and run wild on the scene stealing the credit from us! You know how that feels, don't you, sir?" "Who cares about that?! Anyway—" "Outta the way, you idiots! I'm gonna break in!" Rentaro interrupted. Tadashima looked into Rentaro's eyes for a second and jerked his chin with an order. Two of the fully equipped police squad members waiting behind them were stationed in front of the door, holding shortened door breacher shotguns at the hinges of the door. Rentaro also pulled out his gun, a Springfield XD, from his belt, cocking the slide as he did so he could fire if necessary. He took a deep breath to clear his mind. Wiping the sweat from the palm of his hand on his pants, he clicked his tongue. This had really turned into a troublesome case. "Do it," he said. The two shotguns fired at almost the same time Rentaro kicked down the door. His eyes narrowed for a second as the brightness of the setting sun flooded his vision. As if rising out of the sunset, the small, six-tatami-mat room was dyed with the setting sun. However, something redder than the setting sun was spilled out all over the floor of the living room. There was also the rich, unmistakable smell of blood. Two police squad members had been thrown against the wall, dead. Rentaro saw something he found hard to believe there. In the middle of the room, a tall man was standing still. He was probably over 190 centimeters tall. His too-skinny arms and legs were attached to a too-skinny torso. The mysterious figure was outfitted in a wine-red pinstriped tailcoat, silk hat, and to top it all off, a maschera mask, like you'd wear to a masquerade. The Gastrea was gone. But who was this man…? Eventually, the masked man turned around and gave a faint smile. From behind the mask, he turned his sharp gaze to Rentaro. "You're rather late, civsec, my boy." "What…? Are you…in the same business?" said Rentaro. "It's true that I was also after the Gastrea that was the source of the infection. However, I am not in the same business as you. Why, you ask?" The man spread his arms in front of him as if performing on stage. "Because I am the one who killed the two police officers." The instant Rentaro realized the man was an enemy, his body reacted. He closed the gap between them in an instant and hit the man with the heel of his hand, not waiting for an answer. The angle and timing of the attack were both good. "Oh, you're rather skilled," said the man. Just as Rentaro thought the masked man looked like he was having fun taking the attack, there was an impact on his chest. The punch made Rentaro's chest cave, throwing him across the room. He crashed onto the glass coffee table in the living room on his back, winded. What in the world is this guy? Rentaro thought. His face twisted in extreme pain, he opened one eye and saw the masked man winding up his fist for another close-range punch. As he hurriedly rolled off it, the glass table splintered with a shrill crash. Rentaro was able to jump out of the way and stand up, but a roundhouse kick came right at the side of his head, as if his evasive position had been anticipated. Both he and the arm he put up to block the attack were sent flying into the wall with the terrible force of the kick. The masked man sniffed contemptuously. Rentaro was dizzy with despair at the vast difference in their abilities even as he took a firm stance. Then, an out-of-place ringtone echoed through the room, and the masked man picked up the phone. "Kohina? Um, yeah. I see, okay. I'll go meet up with you." "Look over here, you monster! This is for my friends!" shouted a voice. When Rentaro turned to look, standing in the door were a number of police squad members holding carbine rifles. The masked man quickly drew a gun from the holster on his hip without even looking in their direction. Blood suddenly erupted from their blue tactical vests and splattered on the wall. The masked man kept firing, and three people who used to be human were shot down in the blink of an eye. The officers waiting outside became agitated. Rentaro closed the gap with all his strength and stepped firmly on the floor. "Tendo Martial Arts Second Style, Number 16: Inzen Kokutenfu!" The round kicks that he fired off in return were avoided by neck movements from the masked man, but Rentaro stepped quickly into his second attack and unleashed his Inzen Genmeika. Rentaro fired off high kicks that didn't miss their mark this time, and hit the masked man's maschera directly. Rentaro started to yell "Yes!" but the man put a hand on his neck—which had been twisted back with the force of the kicks—and forced it back into position with a strange sound. The most surprising part was that the man did not once let go of his cell phone. "Oh, it's nothing. I'm just a little busy. I'll be there soon." Flipping his cell phone closed, he didn't move, looking intently at Rentaro. Rentaro felt chills freeze his blood. The man let out some short laughs as he held his mask to his face. "Oh my, that was wonderful. Even though I was not paying attention, I didn't think you'd actually get a hit in. I would love to kill you right here, but there's something else I must do right now." He stopped talking for a moment, and his piercing eyes looked at Rentaro from the depths of the mask. "By the way, what's your name?" "Rentaro…Satomi." "Satomi…Satomi, huh?" the man mumbled to himself, sidestepping the pieces of glass from the broken window and going out to the balcony, putting his leg on the handrail. "Let's meet again sometime, Satomi… Or should I come find you?" "You… What are you?" "I am the one who will destroy the world. No one can stop me." The man jumped down from the balcony in a single bound. For a while, Rentaro's stiffened body couldn't move, as if it had been sewn down. He opened his sweaty palms and closed them hard. Could such a powerful being exist in this world? He heard a groan and looked back with a start. The men who were shot by the mysterious masked figure were seriously injured and were being carried out on stretchers, their friends calling desperately to them. Rentaro's fist shook. Then, he felt a hand on his shoulder give him a strong shake. "Get a hold of yourself, civsec! We've been prepared for this since starting this job. What you need to do right now is—" Rentaro clucked his tongue and shook Tadashima's hand off. "I know! I have to stop the Pandemic first!" Looking at the clock on the wall, he gathered his thoughts and gave himself a pep talk. He had lost a lot of time, but his work wasn't over yet. Shutting out thoughts of the strange man from his consciousness for the moment, Rentaro, gun in hand, cautiously checked the bathroom and inner Japanese-style living room, opening all the closets. Finally, he opened the only thing left to check—a large wooden closet. Inside, there was nothing but clothes. "Hey, what's going on? Where's the Gastrea?" said Tadashima. Rentaro was a little confused hearing Tadashima's voice behind him, but he put his gun away and went back to the living room. The problem was a puddle of blood that had spread on the floor where the masked man had been standing. It was not the man's blood. He had not been injured. And even though Rentaro didn't want to think about it, this was enough to be fatal. Rentaro looked at the picture frame on the low table. It was a picture of a family, with the daughter tucked in between the loving embrace of the husband and wife. "The guy living here was living by himself, wasn't he?" "Yeah, it was a man living by himself," Tadashima answered. Rentaro checked the ceiling. "What the…?" Tadashima made a face, following Rentaro's gaze. There was an object stuck to the ceiling with green gel. Rentaro jumped and touched the thing stuck to the ceiling. He rubbed it with his fingers, and it felt extremely sticky. "There's no mistake that the victim was attacked here," said Rentaro. "But the victim probably escaped from the window of the living room looking for help. And then, I don't really wanna say it, but moving around after losing this much blood, he's probably…" Tadashima nervously groped around in his pocket and pulled out a cigarette. "Let me get this straight. Not only is the source of the infection still walking around somewhere, but the infected person is, too?" Rentaro nodded. "Inspector Tadashima, please evacuate the neighborhood immediately and request a blockade to seal off the area. They couldn't have gone far. We should look outside, too. If we wait until it becomes a Pandemic, demotion's gonna be the least of your worries." It was like drifting between being awake and being half-awake. There was a reassuring floating bridge connecting the two, but just as the man realized what it was, it would disappear. Before he knew it, he had stopped his wandering around in the sunset. He looked to his right and to his left. Why was he walking around this place? Even though it was at some remove from his home, the view in the distance looked familiar, so this had to be be somewhere in the Tokyo area. He couldn't say exactly where he was, but he had a faint memory of the scene around him. He thought maybe he was so drunk that his senses had gotten confused, but his thoughts were clear and he had not lost his sense of balance, except for the slight languidness left in his body. He shook his head slightly. What was his name? It was Sumiaki Okajima, of course. After having the name for forty-five years, he wasn't going to forget it that easily. It was fine up to that point. But then why was he in this place? No matter how hard he thought, he could not come up with a single explanation. It didn't seem like he was sleepwalking. This was a residential area, but he didn't have any friends who lived in the area. He couldn't possibly have trekked all the way out here, then. Or perhaps he had just set out on an aimless walk, and the inertia of his feet had carried him here. Inertia, he repeated inside his head and couldn't help but smile bitterly. Ever since the company he worked for had gone under, it was as if he'd just kept living through inertia. Tired of having his savings get lower and lower, he'd tried to compensate for their loss through gambling and poker, but that was the beginning of the end. By the time his delirium died down and he was able to objectively see how stupid he had been, he had already paid an immense fee to learn his lesson. After the Gastrea War, Sumiaki had looked with scorn on those people who had lost their purpose in life and were slowly killing themselves, but he had now turned into exactly what he had scorned in the past. He could not bring himself to blame his wife and daughter, who had washed their hands of him early on. When he lost money, he would get drunk and violent. No one could call him an excellent father by any standard. His ability to barely maintain a clear head was, pathetically, because he had run out of money to buy alcohol. His house had been foreclosed upon, and now that he spent all day in his cramped apartment spacing out, he'd grown uneasy at not being a productive member of society, and was occasionally so overwhelmed with emptiness that he wanted to scream. Sumiaki bought a sports drink from a vending machine by a utility pole and put it to his mouth. Maybe it was because the flavor was too light, but it didn't taste like anything to him. He downed the five hundred milliliters in the blink of an eye, but it just seemed to make him even thirstier. "Seriously, why am I here—" At that moment, Sumiaki was taken aback, hearing someone yelling in a loud voice. "Rentaro, you insensitive imbecile!" In front of him, he saw a girl with a long shadow walking toward him. She seemed about ten years old, wearing a short skirt and a fancy coat lined with a checkered fabric. She had thick-soled lace-up shoes, and her hair was tied with largish hair ties into pigtails that swayed slightly left and right. As he passed her, he heard her furious voice saying, "You bastard, you've got some nerve abandoning me, your fiancée, like that!" It seemed like someone had left her behind, but she passed Sumiaki without noticing his presence. Thinking she lived in the area, he called her from behind. "Miss, can you give me some directions?" He himself was surprised at how suspicious he sounded, so it made sense that the girl was surprised. She lifted her face, suddenly jumping and backing away. "W-wait, please. I don't mean you any harm. My name is Sumiaki Okajima, and I think I live around here, but I don't know how to get home." The girl looked at him without moving a muscle. As he was thinking about what else he could say to clear up any misunderstanding, the girl seemed to realize something and looked at him in bewilderment. "Sir… You don't know what has happened to you?" "What do you mean?" "There's nothing I can do for you. Of course, there's nothing anyone else in the world could do for you, either. But… Well, is there anything you have left to say in the end? To your family or friends? You have someone, right, sir?" "What in the world are you saying?" "I'm not saying this because I want to. But Rentaro says it's my duty to tell the person, so that's why I'm telling you, sir." Their conversation wasn't meshing properly. Sir? This girl that barely came up to Sumiaki's chest was looking at him with what seemed like pity in her upturned eyes. "You have not realized, after all? Then you should take a look at yourself. But do it slowly, so as not to fall into a panic. Then you will understand my words." Overpowered by the mysterious resignation the girl emitted, Sumiaki looked at himself. "What the… What is this?" His abdomen was dyed red. No, it wasn't just his abdomen. He had a large wound that looked like he was ripped open up to his collarbone or throat, and there was still fresh blood flowing from it. His blood was dripping and forming a puddle on the paved road where he was standing.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter001c.txt	BLACK BULLET Gingerly touching his abdomen with his hand, he felt a slippery, unpleasant sensation. Why didn't he notice until now? Why didn't it hurt, anyway? What had happened to him? Just then, his vision took a turn for the worse, and it looked like the sky and the earth switched places. The next thing he knew, Sumiaki had collapsed on the ground. "I…remember. That's right, I became penniless, and then…" In the countless job interviews Sumiaki had gone to, his character would occasionally be attacked, and he would be tormented by frustration that made him grind his teeth. Eventually, he was hired as a solar cell module cleaner. It was hard work, but he was guaranteed a certain wage, so once his life settled down, he might even be able to bring his wife and daughter back to live with him. It was still just a dream, and his goal for the time being was just to put his life back together, but once he realized there were still things that he could do, his body was filled with excitement. He wanted to at least hear their voices. Thinking that, he had gone out to the balcony of his apartment to call his wife's parents' house. In the few rings it took for the other side to answer, Sumiaki looked up suddenly, which might have been the most unfortunate thing he did in his life. There was a giant, human-size organism stuck to the wall on the fourth floor. It seemed to choose the moment Sumiaki noticed it to move, and its two eyes flashed red like fresh blood as it climbed down. "I ran away after almost being killed by that Gastrea, and got all the way here." "You have infectious Gastrea in your bodily fluids," the girl said in an emotionless voice. Sumiaki looked at the marks left by two fangs on his collar. "Oh," a resigned sound leaked out of his throat. He remembered what he saw many times on TV during the war. A lab rat was injected with the Gastrea virus, and minutes later became a terrifyingly strange-looking creature that scared audiences out of their wits when it gave a cry. After the girl pointed it out, his calf started to itch, and his body grew hot, tormented by a pressure that was bursting out from the inside. His DNA was probably being rewritten at high speed that very second. The next thing he knew, his eyes welled with tears. "Then you're a civil officer's…?" "Yes, I am an Initiator. My name is Enju Aihara. I'm ten, and old enough to be a real lady." He tried to smile, but his face twisted with a spasm. His body was already starting to move on its own. "I have a favor to ask… Will you apologize to my wife and daughter for me? Tell them I'm sorry for everything I did." "I will." That was the last of the world Sumiaki saw. Just like that, he passed the critical point where he could stay in human form. Just as it seemed like his arms and legs were shriveling faster than common sense would allow, long, thin, pitch-black legs sprang out from his body as if piercing through it. Hair sprouted from the legs, and four pairs of glowing red eyes appeared on the head. His abdomen swelled up like a ball, and from the corners of his mouth, two glistening fangs grew in. The yellow-and-black spotted pattern would fill a human with a visceral disgust. This was a giant spider. The petite girl didn't scream or run away. She just quietly readied herself. Then, she was interrupted by a voice from a completely different direction. "Gastrea—Model Spider, Stage One, confirmed. Entering battle with it now!" "Rentaro!" said the girl. "Enju, you okay?" Enju ran to him. Rentaro also ran toward her with his arms spread wide. Even if it was just for a short time, the two had been apart, and under the slowly setting sun, in a flood of emotions, they reunited with an embrace—an embrace Enju would under no circumstances allow, as she let loose a kick straight at Rentaro's crotch. "Owwwwww…" Holding his crotch, Rentaro went to his knees and put his forehead to the ground. Writhing with an intense pain unknown to any woman, Rentaro clenched his teeth and lifted his face. The girl, Enju Aihara, 145 centimeters tall, was looking down arrogantly at him with her hands on her hips. "You have some nerve shamelessly showing your face in front of me again after throwing me off the bicycle." "A-are you mad?" "Of course I am." "I-I had no choice. If I didn't get this job, Kisara would have kicked my butt, you know!" "I would do the same if you abandoned me." "Then what am I supposed to do?" "You should just offer your buttocks quietly. Then the only remaining problem would be who is going to kick it. You can choose who will kick it." "Dummy, who wants to choose between two options like that?" The two were interrupted once again by the roar of a gunshot. Arriving late to the scene was Tadashima, holding a smoking revolver in his hand. "Hey, you two! Are you ignoring the enemy to do a comedy sketch? Do your job, civsec!" The newly born Gastrea's skin spurted blood when the bullet hit it, but in the next instant, it began healing with terrifying speed, and finally spit out the .38-caliber bullets that Tadashima had fired from the healed wound. The Gastrea turned its head toward Tadashima and let out a shrill cry. Not good. Rentaro decided it was faster to rush over and knock Tadashima to the ground than it was to yell at him to duck. "Oof! What're you doin—" The giant spider lowered itself and jumped, scraping the area the two had just been with incredible force. Tadashima's face paled. "Inspector, this is a single-factor Jumping Spider Gastrea." "J-jumping spider?" "The original is a spider that can jump tens of times its body length to get food. You can tell from the characteristic coloring on its body. Also"—Rentaro took Tadashima's revolver—"regular bullets are not that effective against Gastrea. If you shoot at them, you'll just make them excited, so you're not supposed to use them." "Then how are you supposed to defeat them?!" Just then, a dark shadow covered them, and Tadashima let out a short scream. The smell of rotten eggs hit their noses, and Rentaro turned around slowly after feeling a chill run up his back. There was the giant spider with all eight legs opened wide. Opening and closing its mouthparts and fangs with venom glands on them, its stomach faced him. Its physical form and flashy coloring brought on a visceral feeling of disgust, and its spinnerets made a grating sound. Seeming to suddenly notice something, the Gastrea quickly turned its body to face the small girl. Pointing its spinneret at the girl, it trembled and suddenly covered the girl's body with something that looked like a casting net, and changed positions. "Eww, what is this? It's rather sticky." The girl tried pulling at it with her hands, but whenever she did, the viscous threads wound themselves around her more. At that moment, Rentaro glanced sharply at the glowing, slimy green strands, completely unlike a normal spider's silk. It was the same as the stuff he had seen in the victim Sumiaki Okajima's house. "Get down, Enju!" "Huh?" The girl couldn't react to the quick order. Her frail body was thrown to the side, and she flew almost twenty meters, scraping the ground so violently that she left a mark. "Enju!" Rentaro shouted as he quickly drew his gun from his belt and pulled the trigger. His arm jumped with the recoil from the intense discharge. The second the bullet hit, the Gastrea let out a loud scream and tried to protect itself with its eight legs as it retreated. There was no sign of the wound starting to heal itself. All right, this is good, thought Rentaro to himself. He fired again. He fired bullets continuously at the spot where a leg had been blown off and its body was shaking violently off balance. Its hard exoskeleton ripped open, its bodily fluids gushed out, and the .40-caliber bullet drilled a black hole in its mark. Rentaro fired about ten shots before the gun's slide release stopped, telling him that it was out of bullets. In the distance, the Gastrea's body was curled into a ball, and it didn't even twitch. Approaching it carefully, he saw that one shot had taken one of its venomous fangs off, along with part of its face. But then Rentaro stopped. Oh? he thought. Not only had less than half of his bullets hit, but there was also no trace of any bullets hitting the vital organs. He gulped. He had a bad feeling about this. In that instant, the spider jumped up and uncovered its venom glands, rushing straight at Rentaro. His body couldn't react quickly enough to the surprise attack. Rentaro was hit, and his body stiffened. Just then, with the sound of a fierce impact, the Gastrea's body was thrown alongside the ground, bouncing once, crashing into the stone wall next to him, destroying it and making the utility pole collapse along with it, blowing up a great pile of dust. For a second, he didn't understand what had happened. "Oh, was that you, Enju?" he said finally. Enju stood where the Gastrea had just been a moment ago, a proud look on her face. "Hah! You're always letting down your guard too soon, Rentaro. I cannot bear to watch you." Tadashima's mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. He surely couldn't believe that this slight girl's kick had sent flying the sixty-kilogram Gastrea that had been there a moment ago. On the outside, the girl didn't really look any different from a normal girl—except for one thing. Her eyes, black until just a moment ago, were now shining red. She had crimson eyes, just like the Gastrea. The shock on Tadashima's face slowly turned to understanding. "Ah, so this kid's the Initiator." "I'm Rentaro's partner, Enju Aihara. Remember that, you public servant," she informed him deliberately, with a triumphant look. Her arrogance was improper for her age, yet at the same time charmingly beautiful. Rentaro had learned his lesson after the ten-year-old girl pointed out his worthlessness, and reloaded before he approached the Gastrea with his gun out. Stretching its many legs up toward the sky, the spider gave a final spasm, and then was really dead. Rentaro turned toward Tadashima and bowed his head seriously. "Sorry, Inspector. I let my guard down because it was a Stage One." "Hey, wait, weren't you going on earlier about how regular bullets weren't effective on Gastrea?" asked Tadashima. Rentaro turned to face Tadashima. It wasn't really a secret, so Rentaro didn't say a word. He just showed his spare magazine—or rather, the bullets in it. Tadashima's small eyes widened in understanding. "I see, they're Varanium bullets." Rentaro nodded and took one out, rolling it on his palm to show him. The tip of the golden cartridge—the Varanium-black bullet—reflected the setting sun sharply. "As you know, this is made of the metal Varanium, which inhibits the Gastrea's ability to heal wounds." And it's because we have this that mankind has barely been able to avoid extinction, he thought inwardly. The Gastrea hated this metal vehemently, and if they were thrown into a room lined with it, they were said to waste away and die. "There are things you can do to a bullet, too, huh?" asked Tadashima. "There are civsec officers who stand out more with swords and spears made of this metal, but mine is a bullet. The bullets are special, but the gun is just an ordinary gun," Rentaro said. "Look." He held out the XD he used to show him, and Tadashima put his hand on his chin and looked impressed. Suddenly, Rentaro felt a few light tugs on the sleeve of his uniform and turned to see Enju smiling and vigorously pointing at herself. "I know, I know. You were amazing. Good job. And you saved my life. That's what you wanted to hear, right?" "I also have something to say to you." Enju beckoned him, so Rentaro had no choice but to lean in to her eye level. He figured she just wanted to tell him that his finishing move was too weak, or that he should get stronger, which made him want to sigh. Then, he found his head being quickly rotated, and like a surprise attack, something soft pressed against his lips. Wha—?! His body stiffened, and Enju moved away in a flash, hands clasped behind her back bashfully. She laughed. "Thanks, Rentaro. You still have a long way to go as my partner, but when I let my guard down, you stood in the way of the enemy alone. That was kind of cool." "Y-you…" "What, did you want to do it more? If it's you, you can do some other things, too." Rentaro felt the blush rising in his cheeks. "I… Idiot! Don't even say that kind of stuff as a joke! What'll you do if there are people around who misundersta—" Feeling a sudden chill on the back of his neck, he turned and saw Tadashima pull handcuffs from his hip and sidle over. "You've got some strange tastes, you pig," said Tadashima. Rentaro broke out in a cold sweat. Tadashima continued glaring at him. "Recently, there's been an idiot playing pranks on girls in the area. His physique is about the same as yours, and his weight is about the same as yours, too… What do you think about that?" "Y-you've gotta be kidding me. It's a misunderstanding, a false accusation! I plead not guilty!" "I'll hear what you have to say at the station." "Y-you bastard!" Rentaro and Tadashima chased after each other around Enju. "E-Enju, please! Say something!" Enju puffed her chest out as if to tell everyone to listen to her. "We have a deep relationship that cannot be summed up in one word." Tadashima cocked his revolver. What? Was he going to be shot dead? "She's a freeloader!" said Rentaro. "He's always so amazing at night that I can't sleep," said Enju. "I toss and turn in my sleep!" "Our futures are sworn to each other." "No, they're not!" Tadashima looked back and forth from Rentaro to Enju, comparing them. Finally, he put the handcuffs away. "Man, I was gonna put a pair of shiny bracelets on you, too." "P-please stop, Inspector. Your joke's going too far." Rentaro drew a deep breath as his gaze dropped to Enju's back. The skin on her back was peeled off, and it was completely red. It must have happened when she took the blow from that thing's body earlier and scraped her back against the ground. "Does it hurt, Enju?" he asked. The girl snorted with triumphant eyes and looked at him unwaveringly. "I'm fine. It'll heal soon. I'm more angry about my clothes being ruined. It even broke one of the straps of my camisole." As if to back up the girl's words, what she said came to pass. The painful-looking scratches that covered her back got smaller as they all watched. Eventually, the wounds healed as if nothing had happened, and all that was left was the beautiful, smooth skin of a young girl, along with her ripped clothes. Looking at Tadashima's gaping mouth from the corner of his eye, Rentaro thought, That's the normal reaction. An ordinary human would first get a scab over the wound, and then the wound would slowly heal over time under that. The fact that she skipped that process when her wound healed emphasized the fact that she was no ordinary human. Superhuman powers of healing. That was one of the benefits they had as Initiators—girls who could control the Gastrea virus under certain conditions. The extraordinary muscular strength and agility they possessed also fell into that category. And when she was not using her powers, like now, her eyes were always black. Rentaro was a Promoter, someone who supported the Initiators, and he had the responsibility of directing her onto the right path. "Oh yeah, Enju. You talked to the victim before he experienced shape collapse, right? Did he say anything?" "Yes, he said to say 'hi' to his wife and daughter." "I see…" Rentaro looked at his watch, straightened his back, and gave Tadashima a salute. "On April 28, 2031, at 1630 hours, Initiator Enju Aihara and Promoter Rentaro Satomi eliminated the Gastrea." "Good work, civil officers." Even if it was ritualistic, Rentaro bowed back at the highest-ranking officer on the scene. Exchanging glances with Tadashima, they both let smiles escape. At that point, an innocent voice that didn't understand what it meant to read the situation broke the mood. "Hey, more importantly, are you going to make it back in time for the sale?" "Huh…? Oh!" Rentaro hurriedly pulled out the day's insert flyer from his pocket. The blood drained from his face. "Oh, you're going already?" asked Tadashima. "Yeah, if you've got more work, let me know." Tadashima seemed to be mumbling something for some reason. "Well, you know, that…when you, uh, helped me earlier… Oh, never mind. Anyway, what's the important business you're rushing off to?" "Bean sprouts are six yen a bag!" Watching the young man's shadow as he ran away, followed by the playful smaller shadow following him like a puppy, Shigetoku Tadashima grumbled. "Bean sprouts…?" He had thought about thanking him for protecting him earlier, but it seemed silly now. "You made it out in one piece, Chief?" Turning around, he saw his subordinates who had split up to search for the Gastrea start arriving late to the scene. "They looked like new faces. Do you think we can use them?" "Who knows. Speaking of which, I forgot to ask for their IP Rank." Tadashima pulled out a cigarette from his chest pocket almost unconsciously and lit it. Seeing that, his younger subordinates gazed at the cigarette without a word. "You gonna work with the cigarette in your mouth?" one said. "Don't be so stuffy. I almost died just now." Ignoring his subordinate's knit eyebrows, he took a deep puff into his lungs and blew it out. It had been clear all day, so even the Monoliths standing far in the distance could be seen in one glance. The enormous rectangular walls standing 1.618 kilometers high and one kilometer wide dotted the scene like steel towers at regular intervals. Even though they seemed out of place in the natural landscape, there was also a feeling of reverence for them for some reason. Within the Monolith barrier that completely surrounded a portion of the Kanto Plain was one of the last paradises left for mankind. What looked like a forest of black chrome stone blocks were actually slabs of metal made of Varanium. They were the same as what surrounded the Kanto Plain, extending into Old Tokyo, Old Kanagawa, Old Chiba, and Old Saitama. Gastrea hated Varanium. With the special magnetic field given off by Varanium acting as a natural barrier, Tokyo Area was able to avoid large-scale Gastrea attacks. To put it another way, outside of the five remaining areas in Japan including Tokyo, the rest of the land was teeming with nonhuman monsters and nonhuman monsters that used to be human. If a mere human were to take one step outside of the Monolith, he would either be devoured in an instant or end up as one of them. And this wasn't just happening in Japan. Before Tadashima knew it, forensics and other police had gathered, gathering evidence and putting up caution tape that said KEEP OUT. Ten years ago, these Gastrea began to appear around the world, and with their infectious capacity, their destruction of humanity accelerated with incredible momentum. One infected person became two, two became four, four became eight… When humanity finally began to worry about the multiplying Gastrea, it was already too late. There was nothing they could do. All the countries that suffered damage during the large-scale war used the Monoliths, which were barely good enough for practical use, to build barriers. Now, ten years later, they continued to desperately barricade themselves with them. Humanity lost the Great Gastrea World War. The cigarette smoke that rose into the air soon dispersed in the setting sun. In those ten years, Japan had healed the wounds of its defeat and finally gotten its cultural compass back to the levels of the early 2020s. Tadashima crushed the shortened cigarette butt with his foot and looked out of the corner of his eye at his subordinate, who was moving briskly to the scene. Occasionally, to prevent a Pandemic, they would have to hunt an early-stage Gastrea that had wandered in. At first, that was the job of the police and the riot squads under their command, or the self-defense force, but now, civsec had a firm hold on a large share of the fighting jobs. The police were left to deal with the aftermath. Feeling the thick spring air on his skin, Tadashima looked at the two disappearing backs with uncharacteristic sentimentality. Initiator and Promoter. Fighters who came in pairs. They used the power mastered by their bodies to fight the Gastrea. They were mankind's last hope. 2 "Do you have anything left to say before you die, Satomi? Do you?" Cold sweat ran down Rentaro's cheek, and he backed away from the voice, but his back was soon against the wall. The girl with the dangerous-sounding voice had a frown on her face and her arms crossed, and her foot tapped impatiently. He knew that this would happen. She was extremely angry. In front of Rentaro's eyes was a beauty in black. In sharp contrast with her smooth skin white as light snowfall, her long straight hair was jet-black. The only places where her skin was exposed were her face, the nape of her neck, her hands, and the part of her thigh that could be seen between her skirt and her high socks. Everything else was covered in black with the school uniform of Miwa Girls Academy, and other than the red ribbon tied at her chest, it could be said that she was completely black and white. Her turned-up almond eyes were sharp. She was cute when she smiled, but she was usually in a sullen mood, which seemed like kind of a waste. Rentaro was trying his best to protest while being overpowered, but he kept his voice low. "Wh-what's done is done, right?" "You moron!" Her shouting echoed in the small, cramped room, and when Rentaro avoided her sharp punch at the last moment, she seemed to snarl as she glared at him. "Why did you dodge? You're making me angry." "Don't be unreasonable!" When Rentaro made a move to escape, the girl followed, fists flying, chasing him around the reception area's furniture. Damn it, the whole day's been like this. "The only thing…you're good at…is running…" The girl had no stamina and shortly fell back, her shoulders heaving as she caught her breath. "C'mon, I'll work hard when we get a new job, all right, Kisara?" said Rentaro. "Don't be stupid! This was our last chance!" the girl said. "And," she continued, glaring at Rentaro, "at work, you are to call me 'President,' not Kisara." Flipping her long hair, she briskly returned to her work desk. "Useless thing," she said as she sat in her office chair. Rentaro sighed. When he got back to the office, it wouldn't be a mere butt-kicking waiting for him, it was an iron-fisted punishment that knew no moral bounds. There was a large ebony work desk about the size of a grand piano and a well-tanned leather office chair. Seeing a girl wearing a sailor school uniform sitting there looked very strange. Kisara Tendo. The youngest daughter of the Tendo family that took Rentaro in ten years earlier, and the president of the Civil Security Agency, that Rentaro worked for. "In other words, is this what happened? You rushed off to buy the sale items that are sitting on that desk right now, and didn't realize until you were halfway there that you had forgotten to get paid by the police?" "Yeah…," Rentaro mumbled brusquely as he averted his gaze. He had hurriedly called Tadashima, who said, "What? I thought for sure that it was a pro bono service you were doin' for us. Well, what's done is done, so why don't we just call it a free trial? If more jobs come up, I'll make sure to work you good and hard!" he said, laughing as he hung up. Kisara rested her chin on her knee and continued with a look of displeasure on her face. "And then all you bought were two bags of bean sprouts?" "Y-yeah! It was limited to one bag per person, so I brought Enju and bought two!" Wondering what kind of report he was giving, he searched for something else to talk about. "Do you want some, too?" A bag of bean sprouts flew right into his face. "Come on, Satomi, we've had zero income this month. Whose fault do you think that is, you useless, good-for-nothing fool? Besides, is the supermarket time sale more important to you than your report to your boss?" Suddenly, Kisara started trembling with her hand still in a fist. But instead of a punch, she put both hands on the table and stood up. "Most importantly, why didn't you tell me about the limited-time sale?!" As if on cue, Kisara's stomach growled, and the girl collapsed on her chair, holding her stomach. Her eyes were blank. "I can't take this any longer. I want beefsteak…" "I do too, you know," said Rentaro. Kisara was currently living on her own, separated from the Tendo family, so even though she looked rich, her wallet was empty. "Hey, Satomi," she said. "What is it?" said Rentaro. "Get to work." "Ugh, I'm getting spasms from my chronic disease." "They'll stop if you work." Kisara looked down at the rush-hour traffic from the third-floor window of Happy Building, where the Tendo Civil Security Agency was a tenant. She shook her head gently and sighed. "Owning a business is harder than I thought it would be." "Did you think it would be easy?" "Playing the stock market or foreign exchange is easier. Just moving things from the right side to the left side results in a profit margin. But a business is completely hopeless. That's also because you're an unreliable moron, Satomi." "You don't think it's because the second-floor tenant is a cabaret and the first floor is a gay bar? The fourth is a loan shark, you know." "You don't get it, do you? Location doesn't matter to a truly good company." Was that how it was? Rentaro thought. "We should just pass out flyers or tissues and advertise on the streets," he said aloud. "Boring. Doing average things will only bring average results. If we're going to do something, we need something with more impact." "Then why don't you wear a maid outfit and pass out flyers?" He meant that because Kisara had extremely good raw material to work with, ten out of ten people would turn to look at her, but apparently Kisara did not get that. Her face turned red and the vein on her temple bulged. "I am a Tendo! Are you telling me to imitate those lowly waitresses and hostesses? I will do no such thing! You should run into a crowd and shout 'Tendo Civil Security Agency is right here!' while setting yourself on fire or blowing yourself up!" "That's terrorism…" Rentaro was half-shocked as he looked around. "But, President, seriously, let's hire another employee." Even if it was small and cramped, the Tendo Civil Security Agency rented out a whole floor for its offices, and having just Rentaro and Enju as its only two employees was too much of a waste. "I will if there's someone I think I can use," Kisara said curtly and snapped her fingers to change the subject. "Satomi, make some tea." "Do it yourself," he said. "Oh my, what idiot was it that forgot to get paid again?" "Damn it. Okay, okay. I shall bring it directly, Miss." Wondering how she could still put on such airs when she was so poor, Rentaro poured hot water into the teapot and put it on Kisara's desk. "Oh, thanks," Kisara said, but didn't look as she continued typing on her laptop with her delicate white fingers, but when she looked up for a second, their eyes met. "Hey, the Gastrea you defeated was an infected, right?" "Yeah," he said brusquely, and continued, answering what she left unasked. "We couldn't find the source of the infection, but it was probably the same Model Spider Factor. Since it wasn't a bird or winged insect type, another company probably found it and took care of it already. If it were above Stage Three, we would've been called in to help. Besides, the biohazard alarm didn't go off, either." The single-factor Gastrea that Rentaro had defeated was just a scaled-up version of an animal on Earth, so it was still almost cute. With two or more factors, and especially with four or more, the DNA was so mixed up that the resulting Gastrea could only be called a monster. For Gastrea in Stages One through Four, as their stage numbers increased, their strength rose exponentially. So even though the employees of the various civsec companies were by no means friends, if they were in a situation they felt was more than they could handle, they would work together to exterminate it. Because there was no request for help, the source Gastrea must have been easily exterminated. Dropping her gaze to the computer display, Kisara rejected Rentaro's opinion. "There are no reports to that effect, or any eyewitness reports at all." "What?" said Rentaro. Kisara turned her laptop 180 degrees. On the screen was a map. It was from the civil officer agency website, and it showed where there had been fights with and sightings of the Gastrea over the past ninety days. "This is…" Rentaro scowled and looked at Kisara, who nodded slowly. "There aren't any reports, are there?" she said. "But there's no way there wasn't a single eyewitness report of a source, right?" "There isn't one here." Kisara brushed back her hair and looked at him provocatively with upturned eyes. Rentaro narrowed his eyes and looked at the map and the words on the website again. "Why isn't the government sending out a warning to the whole region? This is a serious matter." "Satomi, the government is not incompetent, but they hardly ever use coercive means like evacuation orders, so there's no point in getting your hopes up. I mean, that's why we civil officers exist." It really is a terrible job, he thought, clucking his tongue. He shook his head lightly. "I need an expert opinion on this. I'll go talk to Doc after this." "I'll also try asking other civil officers indirectly about it. We'll be hunting the remaining source, too, as soon as possible." "Roger." Kisara lowered her beautiful eyelashes and sipped her tea. Rentaro looked sideways at his boss with respect. No matter what she said, she understood that human lives needed to be put first. Having no way of knowing Rentaro's inner thoughts, Kisara finished working on her computer and closed it, clasping her hands together and stretching. Rentaro could hear her back cracking satisfyingly. He noticed that he was accidentally looking at her generous chest pushing up her sailor school uniform and hurriedly averted his gaze. "Oh, come to think of it, where's Enju?" asked Kisara. "Huh?" said Rentaro. "Oh, she said she was getting sleepy, so I took her home first. If you're going home soon, I can walk you partway." "Sorry, I have hemodialysis today, so I have to go to the hospital." "Oh yeah, I forgot." Taking a sip of the half-cooled tea, she surveyed the inside of the office. Rentaro followed her gaze. The reception area furniture for meeting with clients faced the plain desk used by the only employees, Rentaro and Enju. Because there were times when they had to stay overnight, there was also a small kitchen to cook in, hidden behind a curtain. It was shabby and cramped and cold in the winter. It wasn't comfortable by any standard, but strangely enough, she didn't hate it. "It's been almost a year, hasn't it?" she said. "Since you became a Promoter and met Enju." "It's only been a year," he replied. "We're still not even halfway to our goal." Kisara tilted her head slightly to the side and smiled. "Satomi, you really have changed since you met Enju. You've started to smile more, and you can cook now. I never would have imagined you could turn out this way." Rentaro turned his head sulkily. "I'm not that different." "Hey, Satomi. What's your goal now?" "Huh?" His heart suddenly skipped a beat. "To find Enju's parents for her? Satomi, have you given up on your own mother and father? You said it a lot when we were kids, didn't you? That your mom and dad were definitely still alive and that you'd find them. But I haven't heard you say it recently. Do you really still believe it even now?" She wasn't particularly angry or blaming him, she was just looking at him. But Rentaro couldn't bear it any longer and shook his head. "It doesn't matter, does it?" He tried to speak calmly, but a harshness remained that sounded like he was spitting out the words. "You just have to know everything, don't you? It's fine. I know that my parents are dead for sure." Damn it, now I've done it, thought Rentaro as he trudged down the night streets. On the way, a lady from the cabaret on the second floor winked at him and said, "Stop by sometime." Then, on the first floor, a brawny man with a shaved head and goatee from the gay bar winked and said, "You'd be the best 'top.' Stop by sometime." (Rentaro wasn't really sure what a "top" was, but it seemed to be a gay term.) And then a little ways from the building, the loan shark from the Hiroshima yakuza greeted him saying, "Yo, Rentaro, today was hot, huh?" But Rentaro could only give a halfhearted reply to each of them. When it came to his family history, he was never good at controlling his feelings, but he didn't think that it would make him do something as dumb as taking it out on the people around him. Rentaro put both hands in his pocket and tilted his head as far back as it would go, gazing at the night sky sprinkled with stars. There was no helping it. Tomorrow, he would go back and apologize without becoming too emotional. Rentaro headed straight for the hospital that was part of Magata University. He had never seen the lights off in the lab building next door to it. Magata University had many departments, from computer science to farming, on its vast grounds. It made the school Rentaro attended, Magata High School, look like a miniature garden. Next to the main school building was the university hospital, although it was actually a slight distance of about three hundred meters away. The receptionist knew Rentaro and let him in without any questions. The front entryway was open, and the smell of disinfectant hung in the air. The people passing Rentaro in his school uniform (which, because of his chronic cash shortage, also served as his casual clothes and work uniform) all seemed to have unpleasant looks on their faces. What? You got a problem with me? Rentaro thought at them, but he still bowed silently as he passed. Once he got to the north side of the building, the number of people around dropped suddenly, and there was an abrupt dead end to the hallway where there appeared to be a square hole cut into the ground. At first glance, it looked like a pitfall, but when he looked carefully, he could see that there were steep stairs attached to it. As he walked down the stairs, he thought about the look people would have on their faces if they heard that a mysterious individual had added a morgue to the university hospital without permission and was living there alongside the corpses. He was sure that the slight chill he felt wasn't just because the temperature had dropped. A strong mint fragrance wafted through the air as he pushed open the door engraved with grotesque demons with breasts that were probably meant to keep people away. Inside, it was dimly lit but surprisingly spacious. The whole floor was covered with green tile, and even though it was slightly eerie like an operating room, if he looked carefully, he could see underwear and lunch boxes and a chalkboard covered with German or some other foreign language, which gave it an overall lived-in feel. However, the person this space belonged to was nowhere to be seen. "Doc, where are you?" Rentaro called out. "Over here," said a voice. Turning toward the voice, Rentaro gave a start. In front of him was a naked muscular body over 180 centimeters tall with sunken eye sockets. On the cleanly shaven head were fresh scars from where the skin had been extracted. It was the corpse of a man Rentaro had never seen before. "Woah!" he shouted. No matter how he thought about it, the voice seeemed like it was coming from this man, but he knew corpses couldn't talk. Rentaro was not very good with scary stories of this genre. "Boo." From behind the corpse was a woman in a white lab coat who he did know, and relief made his knees weak. "D-don't scare me like that, Doc!" "Hey, Rentaro. Welcome to the Abyss." She spread her arms wide to complete the performance. She was wearing a tight skirt with a white lab coat so long it dragged on the ground. Her skin was an unhealthy pallor, and her presence was so faint that she seemed like a ghost. She didn't bathe and let her bangs grow so long that they covered one eye, but underneath it all, she was a beauty. Sumire Muroto. Head of the forensics lab and a Gastrea researcher. She was the queen of this dimly lit basement room and had severe social withdrawal to boot. If left alone, she would stay here for as long as her stockpile of food lasted. "Who is this man?" Rentaro asked her. "Charlie," she answered. "I forget his real name. He's my lover." "Didn't you have a woman named Susan here before?" "Unfortunately, she is no longer here. He is her replacement. Corpses are great. No idle chatter from them. They are the only ones who understand my feelings." Saying that, she lovingly applied embalming liquid to the corpse's cheek. Even though he had already given up on trying to understand her, Rentaro scratched his upper arm as he watched the scene with dreary thoughts. Because of her extreme dislike of coming into contact with other people, she was openly ostracized within the school. Her favorite motto was, "In this world, there are only people who have died and people who are going to die." He needed to take care of his business and leave as quickly as possible. Rentaro started to open his mouth, but Sumire was faster. "The Stage One Gastrea you defeated was just brought to my lab," she said. "Do you think you can kill a little more cleanly next time? The impact of the bullets injured the flesh. On top of that, the bullets were all over the place. Nobita is a perv and lazy and weak, but at least he's a good shot. You're a perv and lazy and weak and a terrible shot on top of that. You're the worst. Honestly, why haven't you already committed suicide? It's not like you have a hope left in this world, do you?" "I'm not that hopeless!" Rentaro sighed. This depressing beauty was actually entrusted by the government with the dissection and research of Gastrea, and even though she didn't look it at all, she apparently had a high IQ and was once the darling of the academic world. "By the way, did you eat dinner yet?" she said. "Huh?" "Dinner." "Not yet…" "Then eat this, my culinary creation." She stood up and took out a plate from the microwave, unwrapping it. At first glance, it looked like completely white porridge, but it was half-solid, or rather oatmeal-like, and when scooped with a spoon, the closest word to describe it would have been gloopy. Rentaro wondered how it had gotten to the point where it smelled like it had gone bad. Involuntarily, large drops of sweat beaded on his face. "Doc, do you know the food called Tastee Wheat from the movie The Matrix?" "Yeah, that looked delicious, didn't it? Guri and Gura's pancake, Laputa bread, and Tastee Wheat. You could call them the top three on my list of 2-D foods that I want to eat." "Isn't one of those things not like the others?" "Huh? Wait, even though a TV screen is flat, The Matrix was a live-action movie, so should it be counted as 3-D? What do you think?" "Oh, I know! Let's talk about work." "Hurry up and eat. If you don't eat it, I won't tell you anything." "S-seriously…?" Rentaro looked at the dim ceiling, then gazed at the Tastee Wheat, puzzled. A bubble rose to the surface and popped with a "glop," almost as if it were sneering at him. Chanting a prayer, he put it in his mouth. It was unexpectedly good! No, that was a dream that could not be. Instead, the next instant, he felt a piercing pain and the collective outrage of his senses. "Gahhh, my throat itches!" "How is it? Is it good?" "Does it look like it was good?" Sumire used her thumbs and forefingers like a photographer to form a frame. Peeking through it, she gave a thoughtful nod. "If I were a photographer, I would call it 'Anguish: Trapped Between Hell and Purgatory.'" "Ugh, on top of being sweet, there's also a gross sourness. What the heck is this?" "Oh, it's half-melted, but it started as a donut. It came out of the stomach of a corpse." Rentaro pressed a hand over his mouth. "The sink is over there." He tried to throw up all the contents of his stomach. Gagging, he said, "W-wasn't that evidence?!" "No, the case was already solved. When I asked the inspector in charge if I could eat it, he gave his consent right away." "That's definitely a lie!" "You're too concerned about the details." "It is not! A detail! At all!" "Oh, I know," she said, changing the subject, "since we've finally got three people here in these wonderful catacombs, let's do something like the Oath of the Peach Garden from the Three Kingdoms! 'Even though we were not born on the same day, when we die, let it be on the same day, at the same time.' Oh, but Charlie is already dead." She laughed, amused at her own joke. What should I do? Rentaro thought. I seriously want to go home. "For the cast, Charlie is Guan Yu, you're Liu Bei, and I'll be Zhang Fei. Hey, that unhappy-looking Liu Bei is terrible. I don't sense a shred of personal virtue. It's terribly miscast." "But a Zhang Fei that can only love corpses is okay?" Rentaro's whole body felt tired. His shoulders drooped. Sumire laughed happily as she took notes. "All right, let's get down to business. Did you want to hear my autopsy report on the organism you killed?" "Doc, the source—I think it's probably the same Model Spider Factor, but there have been no eyewitness or extermination reports. At this rate, there will be more victims. I want to exterminate it as soon as possible. If it were to go into hiding, where do you think it would be?" "Let's see." Sumire started to play around, spinning in her chair and crossing and uncrossing her legs. "One possibility is that it opened the lid of a manhole and went underground, shutting the lid firmly behind it." Rentaro raised his eyebrows. "With those spider's legs?" "It's got twice as many limbs as a human. Wouldn't that actually make it easier?" "'Gastrea are not intelligent organisms. They are simply lower life-forms that act on their natural instincts.' Isn't that what the textbooks say?" Sumire shook her head, as if saying "Oh dear" and spread her hands. "For some reason, it's become the accepted theory in Japan that Gastrea are not intelligent, but it's been proven that this is mostly wrong. In the West, the opposite is the accepted theory." "Well, that's what I think, too…," said Rentaro. "But while your hiding underground theory seems to be on the right track, I don't think that's quite it. Recently, even the sewer system has security cameras equipped with night vision. If it's as you say and the Gastrea ran underground, it would've been caught by those devices." "Oh, when did Japan become so advanced? I suppose being down here, I don't know enough of what's going on in the world. Hmm, the DNA of the source of the infection this time was overwritten with that of a jumping spider, huh…?" She looked at him. "Now that I think of it, you know a lot about animals in general, don't you?" Rentaro scratched his head and looked down, muttering to himself. "Well, I just know a little about natural science and ethology, that's all. It started because I liked Fabre's Souvenirs Entomologiques, and it kind of continued from there…" She laughed at him. "I get it. You were the type who had no friends, so you watched bugs instead, right? You were pleased when you submerged an anthill with water, weren't you?" Her voice changed a little. "'Hah, drown! It's Noah's great flood! Know the wrath of God!'" "Is that supposed to be me? Don't just make stuff up!" Sumire rested her chin on her elbow, which was on the armrest, and grinned broadly. "Anyway, you're a real wimp. With such a gloomy hobby, you won't be able to catch Kisara's eye. If you like her, you should make her yours by sheer strength." Rentaro scowled. Why'd she start talking about this? "Doc, didn't you know? Kisara is a master of the Tendo Martial Arts Sword Drawing Style. I'm only at the beginning level, so I'd just be killed. Her kidneys are failing, though, so she can only move for short amounts of time and does mostly office work now."
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter001e.txt	BLACK BULLET When they were little, Kisara often protected Rentaro, who was bullied a lot by her older brothers at the Tendo house, but he didn't like how she'd treated him as a servant ever since then. Even though he'd gotten strong enough to protect her now… "Oh? Ah well, let's get back to the topic at hand," said Sumire. "Do you know the distinguishing trait of a jumping spider?" "Its coloring, isn't it?" said Rentaro. "And it's famous for jumping to catch its prey." Sumire pulled out her own Tastee Wheat from the microwave and suddenly thrust a spoonful into her mouth. Eww! Rentaro thought as he watched her. "That's right," she said. "You know, of course, that even if it became human size, the jumping spider, which uses its powerful jump to capture prey, would not be able to maintain the jumping distance of ten times its body size, right?" "Yeah—uh, wait, really?" "Hey now, get yourself together," said Sumire. "They say that if a flea were human size, it would be able to jump as high as the Tokyo Tower, but if a flea were actually to become that big, never mind its jumping ability—it wouldn't even be able to support its own body weight with those legs, and it wouldn't be able to get enough oxygen through cutaneous respiration. It's the same thing. Based on the law of gravity and the principle of scale, it's pretty obvious that such a creature should not exist. But the Gastrea virus turns that idea on its head." The woman in the white lab coat stopped talking for a moment and smiled enigmatically. Rentaro remained silent, urging her to go on. This wasn't entomology anymore, it was physics. There was no place for the layman Rentaro to interrupt. "When a Gastrea transforms, the hardness of its exoskeleton and its body functions increase to match its size. That's why the larger the Gastrea, the harder and stronger it is. The Gastrea virus, which redesigns living organisms, is a threat. In principle, it is very similar to the reverse transcription of a retrovirus, but it doesn't just replicate copies of itself—after analyzing its host's DNA, it reconstructs it into its most suitable form. "The problem is the speed at which this occurs. The corrosion speed of a Gastrea virus overwriting DNA is outside of the standard of all the living organisms on the Earth. Dawkins would probably piss his pants. If you told me that that it's not from this planet, I'd believe you. "And once its corrosion exceeds fifty percent inside the host's body, the host is no longer able to maintain human form, and goes through the process of shape collapse, resulting in the host becoming a Gastrea. Through that process, some individuals gain original abilities that should not exist. Get it? It's an evolutionary leap through mutation." Before Rentaro knew it, Sumire's plate was empty. What in the world is wrong with her sense of taste? "That was a long tangent, but the missing source could possess some sort of new ability, you know," she said. "Since we haven't been able to find it, could it be some kind of optical camouflage?" Rentaro suggested. "It could be a simpler mimicry camouflage, like a chameleon. If it really had the ability to distort light, Tokyo Area could be annihilated by a Pandemic tomorrow, even." "Don't worry. Enju and I, as Initiator and Promoter, exist to prevent that from happening." "Enju, huh?" "What is it?" "I find the Cursed Children especially creepy. Especially once I found out about their origins. Ten years ago, at almost exactly the same time the Gastrea virus first appeared in the world, children in the womb with Gastrea-controlling factors were born, as if to oppose them. At first, a big deal was made of them being a gift from God to control the Gastrea, but in the end, that was completely wrong." Sumire looked like she was dreaming as she squinted in the air and let her gaze wander. "The only way for an ordinary person to contract the Gastrea virus and become a monster is through the blood. Aerosol, or airborne infection, is not believed to occur. There were also many experiments that confirmed that infection did not occur orally or through sexual intercourse. "However, when the virus entered orally, it did not die immediately, and if it happened to enter a pregnant woman's mouth, then the child in her womb stored up the virus before it was born. "The Cursed Children had red eyes when they were born, but appeared normal otherwise. In other words, even though they were infected with the Gastrea virus, the progress of the disease was extremely slow. If we think about the fact that normal people who are infected with a large amount of Gastrea virus at once change shape almost immediately, the fact that these girls' bodies don't change shape for years is miraculous. It is extremely interesting. See? I explained it without using a lot of technical jargon. Even an idiot like you can understand the gist of it, right?" "Yeah, I wish you'd always talk like that…," said Rentaro. She'd stuck in plenty of nasty asides, but he was able to understand the general concept, thanks to her. Mimicry camouflage, huh? No matter what you might say about her, she was pretty amazing. "Well, I'll be going then, Doc." Sumire smiled as she gave a light wave to see him off. "Come again, FBI Agent Starling." "So we're gender-bending now, Dr. Lecter?" "Rentaro, you are late!" When he returned to his dear apartment, the window of the second-floor bathroom suddenly opened, and out with the bath steam came Enju, leaning her upper body out of the frame. He was glad that she was welcoming him with her face wreathed with a smile, waving her hands, but he couldn't condone her doing so while she was obviously naked and in the middle of taking a bath. "Hey, idiot, what if someone's looking?" he shouted back to her. "Close the window." "Don't worry. My body belongs only to you!" "Will you please try to understand what I'm saying? I'm saying it's embarrassing for me!" Rentaro ran up the stairs and thrust his key into the door of the corner room on the second floor. He flew into his eight-tatami, one-room home, and when he got to the changing room, he could hear the sound of the shower and see the silhouette of Enju's slender body. It was a modest bodyline, but thin and supple and very beautiful. He was flustered for a moment, but when he noticed the piece of paper that said "You can peek if you want" in Enju's messy handwriting taped to the bathroom door, his strength left him all at once and he sank to the floor. He could hear a voice from the bath. "You are late. Were you doing something naughty with Kisara?" Rentaro plunked down and crossed his arms. "Shut up. She beat me up and told me to get to work." Enju laughed. "She would. That's what I thought happened, as well." "You're an evil freeloader." "Anyway, is dinner ready yet? My stomach feels like it's caving in." Okay, okay, he thought as he picked up the clothes Enju had shed with abandon and put them in the laundry hamper with his own dirty clothes, then took them to the coin laundry on the first floor. There didn't seem to be anyone else around, so he decided to use the machine that worked the best, the newest one in the back. Rentaro thought that Enju wouldn't want her clothes to be washed with his, but unexpectedly she had said, "Imagining you getting excited about wearing clothes that were washed with my underwear is fun," and said it was fine. They were being washed with detergent, so there was nothing to get excited about, but it still meant he could wash them all in one load, so he let her believe what she wanted. Thinking there was no way anyone would steal their clothes, he went back to the room and opened the fridge. He lined up the ingredients they had, including the bean sprouts they had bought, and thought for a moment. Today, he would make egg-topped rice out of the eggs, braised burdock and carrot out of the burdock root and slightly old carrot, and fry the bean sprouts with the bit of cabbage that was left over. Once he figured out what to make, he knew the rest of the work would go quickly. He put a pink apron on over his school uniform and started cooking at lightning speed. Before he knew it, he was humming merrily away as he manipulated his long cooking chopsticks. There was one time when Enju pestered him into letting her cook, but the result tasted so bad that he'd wanted to spit it out, so he had firmly sworn that he would never let her in the kitchen again. Sumire's cooking not only tasted bad, but she also used unknown ingredients that gave it an unearthly feel. When Kisara cooked, the kitchen went up in flames. Why did all the women around him completely lack cooking abilities? Just once, he wanted to meet a woman who could make a miso soup that tasted better than his. With those thoughts floating around in his mind, the sauce of the last dish, the braised burdock and carrot, turned golden. He turned off the heat, removed his apron, and looked at the clock. It was eight p.m. As he returned from getting the clothes downstairs, Enju had just finished her long bath. When she saw the kitchen, she said, "Ooh!" and jumped, reacting like the kid she was. "Wait, don't eat yet," said Rentaro. Enju turned to look at him like she was about to bite. "Why can't I? When I came home, I gargled and washed my hands!" "That's not it." "I took the neighborhood circular next door like I was supposed to, and I didn't doodle on it like last time." "I said, that's not it." "I didn't watch more than three hours of TV today!" "That's not it, either." "I'm not on trash duty today, am I?" "That's not it, Enju. Please, just notice!" The small head couldn't take it any longer and began to roar. "Just give me my food! Are you trying to starve me to death?!" Enju seemed to notice something at that point, and her face turned bright red as she looked at him with upturned eyes. "Don't tell me you were thinking that an empty stomach would exacerbate my lust, and that this was a roundabout way to tell me you desired to have an ultimate fight with me?" Rentaro put both hands on Enju's shoulders. "Just put on your underwear. We can start from there." "Thanks for the food," said Rentaro as he put his chopsticks down and bowed. "Thanks for the food!" said Enju, imitating him and giving thanks. "The food you cook is delicious, Rentaro. How is it that you can make such delicious food from such plain ingredients? You are like a magician." Enju, who had changed into casual clothes, looked at him with her face bright. Rentaro thought with a wry smile that she was overreacting. But it didn't feel bad to be praised. "Well, yes, being imaginative and creative is important in every endeavor, Watson." "Who's that? More importantly, will I be able to learn how to cook like you soon?" "Uh, well, um, yeah…I'm sure you'll be able to…eventually," Rentaro answered, not meeting her eyes. "Everyone has their own strengths." "You said too much." Rentaro poked her head gently, and she laughed with a "Tee-hee" and stuck out her tongue. That was when Rentaro noticed a small cardboard parcel next to Enju. "Enju… What's that under your arm?" "Oh, it's a new laptop computer! It just arrived." "How much was it…?" "I found a cheap place, so the newest model was only 180,000 yen." "O-o-one hundred and eighty thousand…" Rentaro got dizzy and had to prop himself up with his hands. Because Enju was also an employee of the Tendo Civil Security Agency, she received a salary that was way too much for a child's allowance. To Rentaro, who was living hand to mouth, Enju cheekily buying expensive things and rubbing them in his face gave him stomachaches. Seeing the greedy expression on Rentaro's face seemed to make Enju realize something, and a smirk unbecoming of a child crossed her face. "I will lend money to you any time you wish." "Oh, you little devil. It's your fault that I…" One time in their poverty, right before they were about to be evicted from their apartment, he went crying to Enju and borrowed money to pay the rent they were defaulting on. However, the next day, Enju spread the story after dramatizing it to make it more amusing. Because of that, the people around him gave Rentaro the blunt nickname of "Lolita-complex pervo living off of a ten-year-old girl" (which spread to residents of the apartment, as well). After that, he made do with his own salary even if it killed him. As he carried the dirty dishes to the sink, he glanced at the clock and remembered. From the dresser drawer, he took out a needle-less pressure syringe and flicked it open with his nail. "Enju, it's time for your shot." "Drat, is it that time already?" she said. He urged her to put her arm out. Enju hated shots, but she grudgingly stuck out her arm, her body stiff and eyes squeezed shut. Rentaro pressed the piston with a bitter smile. The girl's frail body gave a twitch. The soft arm, thin as a small branch, sucked up the transparent blue liquid. Once a day, it was the duty of all Initiators to get a shot of corrosion-inhibiting medication. If she neglected to do so, the corrosion percentage in her body would increase, and in the end, she would turn into a Gastrea. The girls were born under special circumstances. Most mothers who gave birth to red-eyed children who were Gastrea factors went half-mad. For a time, there were a slew of infanticides where women would give birth to their children by a river and drown their babies in the water. Kids playing by the river could see the corpses of babies floating down the river. Rentaro also saw one once in the past, and it gave him a feeling of emptiness that was hard for him to describe as a child. Before he knew it, Rentaro was looking intently at Enju's face, eyes closed tightly, bearing the pain of the shot. Laughing, crying, angry Enju. It had taken a whole year for her to show him this much emotion. He thought about how she was when they were first introduced a year ago, and his heart was pained. When he first met her through the mediation of the International Initiator Supervision Organization, or IISO, he'd been taken aback by her hostility and distrust of people, as well as her wild eyes. Rentaro had never felt such obstinate rejection in his life. But now, Rentaro loved her smiles and even how she sometimes seemed too mature for her age. Of course, he loved her as a much-younger sister—or even, if he were bragging, as his own daughter. "All done, Enju," he said gently. The girl's wet eyes opened slowly, and her rosy, glossy lips opened slowly as if cramped. For some reason, Rentaro felt guilty and looked down in a hurry. "What's wrong, Rentaro?" she asked. "I-it's nothing!" He would never say it out loud, but Enju had grown very pretty recently. If Kisara were a beauty with a dark side, then Enju was her complete opposite. "All right. We're done with our work for the day. We're done with dinner. Now that we're full, there's only one thing left to do." Enju looked embarrassed for a second and looked downward, spreading her arms and smiling as if she would accept anything that was done to her. "Yup, good night." Rentaro pulled the string of the light twice, pulled the blanket over himself, and lay down. After a while, he suffered a blow to the crown of his head that made his skull ring. "Owwwww!" he groaned. "Why are you ignoring me?!" shouted Enju. "When a lady makes a demand, it is a gentleman's duty to quietly go along with what she wants." "Don't be ridiculous. What lady are you talking about? You're a ten-year-old child! Save the sleep talking for when you're actually asleep!" "Then let me ask you this: What part of me is not a lady?" Enju stuck her chest out as far as she could. "Hah, first of all, a lady is modest and prudent," said Rentaro. "And your chest is completely flat." "What?!" She turned red as she balled up her fists, shaking. "Th-they will keep growing!" "Enju, it's important for a person to know when to give up." "It's Kisara's fault. She stole the part of my boobs that were still getting ready to grow!" "Kisara has no such weird, goblinlike ability. I can guarantee that from when we used to bathe together as kids." When he said that, he was surprised at his own perverted statement. "Argh! I shouldn't have bought a computer! I should've saved up to pay for breast implants in the future." Rentaro didn't like the idea of an elementary school girl thinking about breast implants. Enju pushed herself up. "However! There are unfortunate men like Rentaro in this world who are unable to love adult women. 'Big brother, pwease give me a shot of love!' That's the kind of stuff you like, isn't it? Sumire told me, you pervert." His head started to hurt, and he pressed his temples. "Please, don't tempt me with your hellish sorcery. Anyway, where do you keep learning all those words?" Enju puffed out her chest haughtily. "I learned them from my friend, Gookle." "That person's evil! How many times do I have to tell you not to hang around with Gookle?!" "Who cares? Let's just get married. Let's get married today! I will accept all of your perverted desires!" On top of making him out to have a Lolita complex, she'd decided that he had perverted desires, and thumped around repeatedly, jumping so that it echoed into the apartment below them. Their downstairs neighbor, woken up by the noise, started to bang angrily on the ceiling with a bamboo stick, and the situation became extremely confused. Rentaro held his head. If it weren't for this, she'd be cute. Tilting his head to look at the clock, he sighed and wondered what time he would get to sleep tonight. Enju blushed as she turned her head sharply in his direction. "That's enough. I will take off my clothes." "Leave. Them. On!" 3 Shrinking away from the noisily chirping sparrows outside, Rentaro looked in the mirror at the face of a young man who looked like he didn't want to do anything. There were circles under his half-closed, twitching eyes from lack of sleep, and more than an unfortunate face, it looked like the face of a villain. Fixing the collar on the black suit that was his uniform, he tied his necktie. For some reason, his neck felt itchy. I don't want to go to school, he thought from the bottom of his heart. The TV had been left on and was showing the day's horoscope. Taurus had the worst luck with money, as usual. To make matters worse, Taurus had bad health today, too. Hopefully the horoscope was wrong. Turning off the shrilly whistling kettle, he poured hot water into his cup of instant coffee and let himself be enveloped in the aromatic fragrance of morning, closing his eyes and breathing deeply. Just then, the door to the entrance opened with a violent force. "Rentaro, the landlady said she'd lend us a bike!" said Enju, who flew in, her spirits high despite the early hour. Yesterday, he had abandoned his bike near the scene of the incident, so even though it was regrettable, he probably would have been excused for being late. But now his excuse to rest longer was going away. He had a contract with the student council president and couldn't skip school without a good reason. He finished off his coffee and took the remote to look for a better channel. Just as he was about to turn off the TV, a reporter shouted, "Look at this!" and Rentaro and Enju turned their attention to the screen without thinking. The young reporter gripped the microphone firmly in excitement, standing in front of the grand palace of Tokyo's First District. Anyone would have immediately recognized the distinctive paved road and beautifully pruned trees. Just then, the camera cut to a girl dressed in white on a balcony. Wearing layer upon layer of pure white fabric as thin as Japanese paper, her head was covered with a veil of the same material, making it seem like a wedding dress. Her clothes looked like a deep covering of heavy snowfall. Her skin, and even the hair on her head, was white. "Lady Seitenshi…" His own voice shook as if his soul were leaving his body with the words. Ten years ago, Japan had split into five areas. She was the ruler of one of those: Tokyo Area. She was the third Seitenshi, and had been installed in the position after the death of the previous Seitenshi. With her otherworldly beauty and shrewdness that was not just for show, this girl had far more support than the first and second famously bold and heroic Seitenshi. "Rentaro, look." Enju was pointing at the stern-faced seventy-year-old man standing next to the smiling girl. With his tall, dignified body dressed in formal Japanese hakama, from his build, he could have been part of the Secret Service. "Damn, it's the old man, huh?" said Rentaro. Kikunojo Tendo, the Seitenshi's aide, managed all of her support. Because Seitenshi was a hereditary position, in Tokyo Area, after they lost the war, that aide position became the political post with the greatest authority. That old man had made the Tendo family what it was. Not really paying attention to what the reporter was so excitedly saying, Rentaro muttered absentmindedly, "No one has ever implemented a government where there's no ruling class, huh?" "Oh, really? By the way, won't you be late?" "Hmm? Oh!" When he looked at the clock on the top right-hand corner of the screen, the time it displayed gave him a start. As an ordinary student and regular civil security agency employee, he had nothing to do with the government types, and he didn't like the guys in positions of power, anyway. He turned off the TV and urged Enju outside. "Let's go!" he said to her. She grabbed onto Rentaro's waist, stuck her legs out from the luggage seat and shouted energetically. It was the pose she called the "Roman Holiday seat." The bike the landlady lent them was in pretty bad shape. The brakes hadn't been oiled, and let out an ear-piercing sound every time he used them, and the spokes were so rusted that pieces of oxidation fell off as he pedaled. He wondered how many years this antique had been left unused in the shed. But those things were soon forgotten once he started pedaling. As he strained to put strength into his feet on the pedals, he pushed comfortably through the fresh morning air. Enju gave a cheerful greeting to the students and men in business suits they occasionally passed. If he looked hard enough, he could see the Monoliths in the distance, brightly reflecting the sun's rays. Underneath the trees lining the street that were sparkling with morning dew, the sunlight filtering through the trees changed shape and blinked like a kaleidoscope. He felt strange. Ten years ago, material civilization was at the brink of being destroyed due to the invasion of the Gastrea, and a vast number of people were killed or turned into monsters. At that time, the only expressions on people's faces had been despair and loathing that had no outlet. It had only been ten years. Even so, it had been ten years. Rentaro closed his eyes and breathed the scent of spring deeply into his lungs. Hearing the bell of a departing streetcar in the distance, emotions welled up from the bottom of his heart. Just as Enju was clumsily shouting, "Rome! By all means, Rome" as Princess Ann, Enju's school, Magata Elementary School, came into view. "All right," she said. "I will now be zealous in my studies. We must part for a while, but don't cry while I'm gone." Enju made her parting farewell with her hand stretched out gallantly. Looking at Magata High School two buildings down, Rentaro sighed in exasperation. "C'mon, Enju. We're only going to be separated for a few hours. Don't you think that's a little too dramatic?" "If I had my way, we would be together twenty-four hours a day. Rentaro, won't you transfer to my class? I mean, you are not that intelligent, right? You could take the opportunity to start over from elementary school." "You say the craziest things out of the blue. Be kind to my pride." "Hmph," she sulked. "Then be held back and wait for me for six years until I become a second-year in high school. That is my final compromise. Take it or leave it." "Being a twenty-three-year-old high school student is wrong in a lot of ways." "I don't see anything wrong with it." "I do. Anyway, if I get held back that much, they'd kick me out." "How dare they?! I want to be in the same class as Rentaro…!" Seeing the female students around giggling as they passed, Rentaro felt the heat go to his cheeks as he shrugged his shoulders. "F-fine, I get it. By the way, Enju, inside the school—" As if knowing what he was going to say next, Enju shook her head slightly and finished his sentence for him. "I know already. In order to hide the fact that I'm one of the Cursed Children, I must act with the utmost consideration inside the classroom." Only when she was saying things like this did Enju show her dead, cold eyes. Rentaro uncomfortably shifted his gaze. "All right… That's fine, then… Sorry." "Oh, good morning, Enju!" A cheerful voice interrupted from the side. Rentaro saw a girl about Enju's age with frizzy hair. "Good day to you, Mai. I'm glad you look in good health." "You're talking funny, as usual," said the girl. "By the way, did you watch Tenchu Girls yesterday?" "Of course. Tenchu Black's nihilism where one could not tell if she was friend or foe was excellent, as expected." She was probably a classmate. Once the girls started talking about the cartoon, they didn't spare another glance for Rentaro. Even though Enju's attention was taken away from him in a second, and he was relegated to outside the mosquito net, watching the two talk, his face broke into an easy smile. He felt dumb for worrying even for a moment about her school life. "Well, I'm going now, Enju." Before she could say anything, he turned his back and straddled the bike. He kept going until he reached the bike stand of Magata High School two buildings over. The bell signaling the start of school rang as he parked the bike and put on the U-shaped lock. Rentaro clicked his tongue. He was late. Looking up at the school with an unambitious expression on his face, he half-seriously considered going home. Instead, he hooked his bag on his back and rounded his shoulders, walking slowly into the school. It was the beginning of another boring day. He slept through Japanese class, and during math class, he was called on three times, but the teacher gave up after being ignored all three times. During break time, the rodentlike girl who was the class president approached him nervously trying to get a survey that had been completed by everyone but him, but he ignored her, too, and she left, looking like she was about to cry. Some meddlesome girl who looked like her protector came to say, "Hey, don't you think you were a little mean?" but he ignored her, too. "Fine, do what you want, idiot!" she said, and went back to the circle of girls. Rentaro could hear someone saying, "Is that guy even trying? Why is he even here?" Rentaro looked out the window at the faraway Monoliths with a yawn. Right around when fourth period ended, the phone in his breast pocket started to vibrate. Who's calling me at this time of day? he thought as he rubbed his sleepy eyes and looked at the screen. Looking wearily at the caller's name, he waited another ten rings for the caller to hang up, but lost to the persistent ringing of the phone and pushed the TALK button. "What do you want at this time of day…President?" "Don't call me President when we're not working. Well, I'm calling you about work, though." From the phone's speaker, he could hear Kisara's voice as clear as a bell. "Is it about the case from yesterday?" "Yeah, I'll tell you more details in the car. Anyway, just come with me to the Ministry of Defense for now." "Huh?" He thought he heard wrong. Wasn't the Ministry of Defense responsible for Japan's national defense? Huh? "H-hey, what're you talking about…?" "Look out the window." Hunching, he did as he was told and went over by the window. When he did, he saw a jet-black limousine parked in front of the school gates and his breath caught. "Damn it, all right, I'm going." "Idiot. You're late. I'm behind you." "Huh…? Woah!" Taken aback, he let out a pathetic shout without thinking. Behind him was someone so beautiful it was bad for the heart when she appeared suddenly. He could tell that the other people in his class were also confused at the sudden appearance of someone from another school. "Come on, let's go." "B-but what about school?" Kisara put her hands on her hips and glared at him as if he was trying to sneak a peek from below. "I left Miwa Academy for this, too, you know. School or work, which is more important? This month, we've had zero income thanks to someone, remember? Good-for-nothing Satomi." Rentaro shifted his gaze away from Kisara. "For some reason, I've come to love work a whole lot…" "Very good. Now, come." He tried to find an opportunity to apologize for yesterday, but he completely missed his chance. Oh well, he thought, walking hunched over, two steps behind Kisara, who was slicing through the wind with her shoulders. Every one of the students who passed Kisara stopped, gaped, and looked back at her. "Isn't that the uniform for Miwa Academy?" "No way, the same Miwa Academy that the Seitenshi attends?" "It's a school for rich girls, isn't it? Woah, look at how beautiful she is. Who in the world is she?" "No way, no way, no way!" "Hey, who do you think that is walking behind her?" "Who knows? A servant or something?" A guy from your class! At least remember my face! Rentaro silently replied to the voices as he followed behind Kisara. As they exited the school gate, Kisara got into the limousine—or at least pretended to as she turned back and passed it gallantly. "Hey, fake rich girl," Rentaro called toward her. "Did you know, Satomi?" said Kisara. "You can call for a limousine on the phone." "Then why aren't you getting in?" "If I do, they'll want to be paid." "Did you prank call them?" "Don't worry. I pinched my nose and gave them a fake name." "No, no, that's not the issue here." "Oh, Satomi, look. It's a stray Chihuahua." "Listen to me!" Kisara broke into a run and started playing with the dog. When she leaned over to pat its head, the stray Chihuahua started licking her hand, and she laughed like it tickled. As Rentaro looked at the profile of her face, his heart started beating violently. "Satomi, do you have something I can feed him?" "Oh, huh?" he said, startled. "Hmm, oh yeah, I do have something. A lot of stray dogs come to our garden, and Enju likes to feed them. Here," he said, pulling out a bag of beef jerky from his back pocket and holding it out to Kisara. Kisara's stomach rumbled with emptiness. Kisara stared at the beef jerky for a while. Before he could react, she grabbed it out of his hand with the force of a purse snatcher, turned around with her back facing him, and then—of all things—she started eating it. Rentaro gaped, unable to move. The poor Chihuahua, its food stolen from it, started to tremble, looking up with big wet puppy dog eyes. Before long, Kisara, who was red up to her ears, turned just her neck to face Rentaro. "What? Do you have something to say?" "Kisara, that was for the dog." "I was a dog in a past life!" She'd moved into the "unreasonable" phase of the argument. "Kisara, shake." Kisara glared at him with a look that could kill, but before long, she bit her bottom lip and put her own hand on top of Rentaro's palm, looking as red as a boiled lobster, and then turned her head away suddenly. If she found it so humiliating, why was she giving him her hand? "Turn around." Kisara spun in circles. Somehow, it was starting to be fun. "Weenie." "Pervert!" "Wait, was there a trick like that?" "You're a pervert, Satomi!" "Joking aside, Kisara, are you really having that much trouble making ends meet?" Kisara looked down, embarrassed, and pulled out her wallet, opening it to show him. Looking inside, he suddenly felt the desire to cover his eyes with his hands. He didn't realize she had fallen so low. "Hey, Kisara… You don't have to purposefully pay a lot of money to go to a rich girl's school. You could just go to a regular public school, can't you?" "Attending Miwa Academy is all that's left of my pride as a Tendo," she said defiantly. "I'm allowed, aren't I? It's the money I made from properly managing the meager assets I have as stocks and exchanges." "But Kisara, I thought you hated being called a Tendo?" "How other people see me is a different matter, isn't it?" "Well, yeah…it is, but…," said Rentaro. He tried a different tack. "Well then, how were you planning on getting to the Ministry of Defense with what's left in your wallet?" Kisara smiled an extremely charming smile. "Satomi, you withdrew money from the ATM two days ago, didn't you?" Rentaro looked away from Kisara. His boss was trying to bum off of him! "Satomi, you withdrew money from the ATM two days ago, didn't you?" "I did, but…" His voice trailed off. "Satomi, you're such a hard worker, and so strong, and reliable, too!" "I thought you called me 'good-for-nothing' and 'weak' and 'unreliable.'" "That was ages ago. I've long since forgotten about that stuff." "That was yesterday, wasn't it?" "That was ages ago. I've long-since forgotten about that stuff." "I'll expense it." "I'll pay you back in my next life." He was appalled to hear this coming from a company president. Rentaro sighed a heavy sigh. "All right, fine! Let's just hurry up and get going." As Rentaro started walking, Kisara grabbed hold of his sleeve and looked down. Seeing this, Rentaro got fed up. "What, was there something else?" "Um…," she said. "Satomi, the beef jerky… Is there any left?" In the end, he gave Kisara the last two pieces of beef jerky, and she ate them then and there. The stray Chihuahua looked up at Kisara with a betrayed expression on its face. "It's kind of late for this, but was it okay that we didn't get Enju?" As the train's departure bell sounded, the doors closed with a rush of air. They were the only ones in the car. Kisara pulled up her hair so that the nape of her neck was showing and looked at Rentaro. "It's not like we'll be fighting. It's more like something that would just put Enju to sleep." "Oh, I see." Rentaro understood. So they were going to be asked something about the incident from before. But why wasn't the usual report enough by itself? "I didn't hear the details either, but I was just told to go. I hate bureaucrats. They've got the nerve to tell the civsec officers who protect the Tokyo Area that they should be grateful they are even getting jobs from them." "Then you should've just refused them this time." "No way. If they give even the slightest hint that they won't give jobs to puny people like us, then we have no choice but to obey." Rentaro sighed. "Even though we're 'civil' officers, we're still attached to the government by a thread, huh?" "They're jealous. Theoretically, there is no limit to the abilities of the Initiators. A top-class Initiator is supposed to be strong enough to sway the balance of the world's armies. That's why the government generally wants to have all the civsec officers under control to manage them." "They want to have their cake and eat it, too. But wait, then does that mean that we're about to enter enemy territory, in a way?" Kisara lowered her long eyelashes and nodded slightly. "Oh dear, you just noticed? That's why I went and got you, my bodyguard. You're the only one I can depend on, so you need to be strong, okay?" Inside Rentaro's head, only her last words continued to echo, and gradually, deep emotions began to well up. Just then, a soft weight fell gently on his shoulder, and he gave a start. Kisara was leaning her head against his shoulder. She blinked her heavy eyelids in annoyance. "Sorry… I'm a little sleepy. Let me borrow your shoulder. I'm always like this after I eat. I can't sleep at school, either…" "You can't sleep?" he asked. "Why not?" "I…am a Tendo… I'm supposed to be a model for everyone. I cannot show an unsightly side of myself." She reached her limit. As the strength left her body, a weight fell on his shoulder. She seemed to have really fallen asleep. Clang, clang, went the train, rushing along with a pleasant rhythm. The sunlight streaming in through the window changed the shadows and shone on Kisara's expression. Careful not to wake her up, Rentaro slowly turned his head toward her, and his eyes went to her bosom, where he would normally never look directly. Between her slender shoulder and the largely exposed area around her neck was the beautiful line of her collarbone. The soft swell that pushed up her school uniform slowly rose and fell at a distance that seemed almost close enough to touch. His gaze went from her eyes and the tip of her nose to her well-featured face, lips, and long hair. A sweet fragrance that wasn't perfume or shampoo intoxicated him. Every time her soft breathing hit the back of Rentaro's neck, he felt like he was being shocked. She's beautiful, he thought. "Satomi…" He almost answered her until he realized that she was talking in her sleep. But the words she choked out next left his heart hurting. "Satomi…my revenge…help me…kill…Tendo…" He paused for a long time before saying, "I will." Kisara knit her brows and curled up her body, starting to shake with fright. "Fa…ther… Mother…no…don't die… Satomi…help me…" Rentaro put his arm around Kisara's shoulder and hugged her tightly without a word. 4 The government building was deserted after lunch. When Rentaro and Kisara gave their names at the entrance, they were led into the government building and taken up in a pristine elevator. In front of a room marked MEETING ROOM 1 the staff member who was leading them bowed and left. Opening the door in Kisara's stead, Rentaro raised his voice involuntarily. The room was far larger than the small door made it seem. In the middle was a long elliptical table, and the back wall was covered with electroluminescent panels. The problem was the people who were inside. "Kisara, this is…," he started. "I didn't think that we were the only ones to be called," said Kisara, "but I didn't expect that so many people in the same business would be invited." People wearing well-tailored suits who looked to be civsec agency presidents were already sitting in their assigned seats, and behind them were people who obviously specialized in fighting, staying back. In their hands glittered black chrome Varanium alloy weapons. They were definitely Promoters like Rentaro. He also saw a number of Initiators about the same age as Enju next to them. What in the world is about to start here? The instant Rentaro stepped into the room, the idle talk that had filled it stopped, and bloodthirsty glares shot at him. "Woah, hold up. What's the deal with the quality of civsec officers these days? Are kids playing at being civsec now? Maybe you've got the wrong room. If you're here for a social studies field trip, you should just turn around right now." One of the Promoters yelled loud enough for him to hear and headed in their direction. The Promoter's intimidating, iron plate–like chest was obvious even through his tank top. His hair was spiked like flames, and his mouth was covered by a face scarf with a skull on it. The eyes assessing Rentaro's worth were opened wide, with white showing between the iris and the lower eyelid. He held what could be called a bastard sword—a thick, long broadsword that looked like it weighed more than ten kilos. Of course, it was made of Varanium, so the blade was black. The slender Rentaro would have had a hard time swinging the giant sword. Just the fact that the Promoter was holding it lightly made it clear that he was no ordinary man. Rentaro mustered his courage and stood in front of Kisara to protect her, but apparently the man didn't like that. "Yeah?" he said threateningly. "Who the hell are you?" said Rentaro. "If you've got business with me, tell me your name first." "What do you mean, 'Who the hell are you? If you've got business with me, tell me your name first,' little boy? You're obviously a weakling." "Civsec officers' true abilities can't be determined by how they look." "'Civsec officers' true abilities can't be determined by how they look'? You're getting on my nerves. I want to kill you. Seriously." His sticky glare made Rentaro's knees shake and beads of sweat appear on his forehead. Damn it, why is there a thug like this guy here? He didn't want to pick a fight in a place like this. As he looked around wondering what agency the man belonged to, a sharp blow hit his face. Rentaro was blown back and stumbled backward. The next instant, he jumped up, pressing on his face with one hand. Being suddenly head-butted in the face he was more surprised than hurt. He stretched his hand out to the XD gun in his belt. "Idiot," said the man contemptuously. "What're ya gettin' all worked up about? That was just a greeting." Around them were sniggers that seemed to be making fun of him. That bastard! thought Rentaro. "Satomi, don't get involved with the likes of him. Don't forget what we're here for." "Hey, bitch, what did you say just now?" "Stop it, Shogen!" Their rescuer was a man sitting at the table who was probably the Promoter's employer. "Aw, come on, Mr. Mikajima!" "Enough's enough. If there is bloodshed in this building, we are the ones who would be in trouble. If you cannot follow my orders, then get out this instant!" The man called Shogen looked like he was thinking things over and was eerily silent for a moment. Then he left, with an insolent "Yessir" and a final sidelong glance at Rentaro. Rentaro relaxed his body and sighed deeply. When he did, this time it was the man's employer approaching them, with his hands wide. He looked to be in his midthirties and had the air of the elite about him. He wore a Christian Dior suit and looked like an intellectual. "You there," said the man. "Sorry about that. He's terribly short-tempered." "You can't even properly discipline your pet dog?" said Rentaro. The man didn't blink an eye at Rentaro's snide remark. "I really do apologize." "Yeah? Well, I'm used to it, so it's fine." That was the truth. Of the civsec Promoters, the hard truth of the matter was that while there were those who stuck to their philosophical beliefs, there were also many who just wanted a place to run wild, or who were criminals who used the position as a cover. The man turned to face Kisara. "It is a pleasure to meet someone so beautiful." "My, aren't you a sweet talker," said Kisara. The man showed no sign of turning in Rentaro's direction again. Even as he seemed calm and collected in his expensive suit, he also gave an air of nervousness. Kisara wrapped things up with a sociable smile, and she was moderately pleasant as she sat down in a tall-backed chair. "We're in the lowest seat, huh?" said Rentaro. "There's no helping it," said Kisara. "In terms of strength, we're the lowest in rank." Looking around again, Rentaro saw those invited were all big names who practically oozed with capability. "Then why are weaklings like us even here?" Rentaro whispered quietly in her ear as he looked at the guys from before sitting across from them. "Also, who are those guys?" Kisara pulled out the business card she had exchanged with the man earlier, still facing forward. There was a watermark on the back that said in gold letters, MIKAJIMA ROYAL GUARD, REPRESENTATIVE DIRECTOR, KAGEMOCHI MIKAJIMA. Rentaro gave a small groan. Even among the major players, this was a huge name that even Rentaro had heard of. It was a large civsec agency that employed many capable pairs. "That means that Promoter is also extremely skilled, huh?" he said. "Someone said 'Shogen' earlier, so he's probably Shogen Ikuma," said Kisara. "His IP Rank is 1,584." "He's on the thousands board, huh?" IP Rankings, which were regulated and published by the International Initiator Supervision Organization, were rankings based on the number of Gastrea defeated and the battle results. There were problems with individual differences in compatibility, but the rank assigned by the IISO was basically thought of as the basis for measuring a pair's strength. Rentaro wiped the sweat from his palms onto his pants. If that man had come at him in a rage earlier, Rentaro would have been knocked flat, no doubt about it. "By the way, Satomi, do you remember the IP Rank assigned to you and Enju?" said Kisara. "I don't remember exactly, but…around 120,000 something, right?" said Rentaro. "I don't remember the exact number either, but it's about there." Kisara peeked in Rentaro's direction and sighed affectedly. "And that corporation employs pairs that are even stronger than him. I'd love a Promoter that strong in my office. Even though my Initiator is extremely gifted, my Promoter is a good-for-nothing idiot who's ranked lower than me, and is hopelessly weak, at that." Rentaro pretended he didn't hear her, but inside his heart, he felt that Kisara's words had hit the nail on the head. How well-known a company was was directly linked to the quality of its Initiators and Promoters. In other words, if a civsec agency was famous, it was because it employed a number of strong pairs. Enju was strong. With an adequate Promoter, she could probably make it into the thousands board. If she was stuck in the 120,000s middle zone, it was natural for her partner to be called incompetent. Just then, a bald man wearing a uniform entered the room. All at once, the company presidents in the room, including Kisara, stood up, but the man urged them to sit with a wave of his hand. He was too far away for Rentaro to make out his badge of rank, but he was probably a self-defense force staff officer. "The fact of the matter is that we have gathered you civil officers here today because we have a job for you. Feel free to assume the job comes from the government." The bald man seemed to be waiting for something as he paused for a beat and scowled as he looked around. "Hmm, one absentee, I see." Now that he looked, Rentaro could see that the only empty seat was six seats down from them with a triangular nameplate that said OSE FUTURE CORPORATION on it. He had met them once before on a job. The fat president had been accompanied by the lanky secretary who briskly took care of whatever the president needed. They seemed like a comedy duo, somehow. He wondered what had happened to them. "Before explaining the contents of the job, if there is anyone who does not wish to take on this job, please stand up and leave the room now. Once you've heard what the job is, you may no longer turn it down." Rentaro sighed inwardly. What was the difference between a job you were forced to take and a task you were ordered to do? He looked around, but as expected, not a single person stood up. The elliptical table that was not quite round had over thirty people seated around it, including Kisara. Kisara, who had come straight from school and was still wearing her school uniform, stood out like a sore thumb, but she herself didn't seem to care. And behind the company presidents were the Promoters. Their clothes were all over the place. There was a woman who was wearing all red, with a red bodysuit and even dyed-red hair, and a tall, gangly man with bandages on his face who brought to mind Giacometti's statues. The thought that "I'm going to a government building, so I should wear formal clothes" didn't seem to have crossed a single one of their minds. Shogen Ikuma stood by himself with his back to the wall. Huh? Rentaro noticed a girl standing close to Shogen. She wore a dull, long-sleeved dress with tights. She had large bright eyes, but there was a coldness to them. Shogen had left such a strong impression that Rentaro didn't notice her until now, but she must have been his partner Initiator. At that moment, his eyes met the girl's. Rentaro hurriedly shifted his gaze, but he could feel her staring at him. After a while, he moved only his eyes to look in her direction, but she was still looking at him. He didn't know what she was thinking, but she pressed on her stomach with her hands and looked a little sadly in his direction. At first, he was worried that she might have a stomachache, but he soon realized that the subtle expression on her face meant "I'm hungry." She was an interesting girl to be paired with the tough Shogen. "Very well, then may I assume that no one intends to refuse the job?" The bald man seemed to emphasize this point by looking at everyone in order. Then, he said, "You will receive the explanation from this personage," and withdrew. Suddenly, on the large panels in the back of the room appeared the figure of a girl. "Good afternoon, everyone." Kisara opened her eyes wide, and then stood up with force the next instant. At almost the same time, the other company presidents also stood hurriedly. Rentaro, too, looked at the panels with unbelieving eyes. With her pure white clothes that made it look like she was covered in snow and her silver hair—it was the Seitenshi, the ruler of Tokyo Area after Japan's defeat in the war. At a distance not too far and not too close was Kikunojo Tendo, who accompanied her like a shadow. It looked like a live feed from a Western-style room somewhere. For just a moment, Kisara's and Kikunojo's eyes met, and sparks flew. Knowing the feud between them, Rentaro was scared. The Seitenshi sat comfortably in an art nouveau–inspired chair of delicate craftsmanship, and expensive-looking paintings and a canopied bed could be seen behind her. It was probably her private room in the Seitenshi's palace. Rentaro started to feel a strange uneasiness at the sudden appearance of such a person of authority. He had a hunch that they had become involved in something dangerous. "Please be at ease, everyone," said the Seitenshi. "I will now explain the circumstances." Not a single person sat down. "That being said," she continued, "the job itself is extremely simple. The job I have for all of you civil officers is the elimination of the source Gastrea who infiltrated Tokyo Area yesterday and infected one person. In addition, please safely recover the case thought to have been taken by said Gastrea." Case? thought Rentaro. A separate window opened on the EL panel, and a photo of a duralumin silver case popped up. The number that appeared next to it was the reward money for completion of the job. Seeing that price, obvious bewilderment filled the air. Mikajima suddenly raised his hand. "May I ask a question? May we assume that the Gastrea either swallowed the case or the case became engulfed in it?" "That is correct," said the Seitenshi. Being "engulfed" referred to a phenomenon that occurred when a victim became a Gastrea, and ripped clothes, skin, or anything the victim might have been wearing would be surrounded by the skin portion and thus adhere to the Gastrea. If that happened, the only way to remove them was to defeat the Gastrea first. "Does the government have any information on the Gastrea's shape, type, or current location?" said Mikajima. "Unfortunately, those details are still unclear," said the Seitenshi. Next, Kisara raised her hand. "May I ask what is inside the case that you would like us to retrieve?" In the commotion that followed, it became clear that the agency presidents around them were excited. Unexpectedly, it seemed that Kisara had asked what was on everyone's minds. "Oh? And you are?" "My name is Kisara Tendo." An expression of slight surprise crossed the Seitenshi's face. "I have heard of you… Even so, that is a strange question, President Tendo. Because it concerns the privacy of the client, of course, I cannot answer." "I cannot accept that. If, according to common sense, the source Gastrea is the same type as the infected person, then the source Gastrea is also a Model Spider. Something of that level could be defeated by my Promoter by himself." After she finished addressing the Seitenshi, she turned toward Rentaro with a look of uncertainty in her eyes and added, "Probably…" What a rude president. Kisara continued. "The question is, why is such an easy job being presented in such an unprecedented way—and why ask all the top-class civil officers? That is what I do not understand. Isn't it only natural, then, that I am left to assume that the danger that merits such compensation lies in what the case contains?" "There is no need for you to know that, is there?" said the Seitenshi. "Perhaps not. However, if you insist on keeping your cards hidden, then we will withdraw from this case." "If you leave now, there will be a penalty involved." "I am prepared for that. I will not expose my employees to danger with such an unsatisfactory explanation." In the tense silence that followed, Rentaro thought about the unexpected outcome. On the train, Kisara had said that she could not refuse a job from the government, but— Just as he thought he should say something and opened his mouth, shrill laughter suddenly filled the room. "Who's there?" asked the Seitenshi.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter001g.txt	BLACK BULLET "It's me." Everyone's gazes, including Rentaro's, went to the speaker. Rentaro was startled at what he saw. In President Ose's previously empty seat, the mysterious man in a mask, silk hat, and tailcoat sat with his legs on the table. The CEOs on both sides of him were so surprised at his sudden appearance that they screamed and fell off their chairs. Rentaro knew who he was. In fact—"You're… No way…" "Oof," said the man, as he bent his body and jumped up, stepping on the table with his shoes on. The agency presidents watched dumbfounded. Once the man got to the middle of the table, he confronted the Seitenshi. "Tell me your name," said the Seitenshi. "Oh, excuse me." The man took off his silk hat and folded his body in half to bow. "I am Hiruko. Kagetane Hiruko. It's a pleasure to meet you, miss incompetent head of state. To put it bluntly, I am your enemy." The chills running up his spine made Rentaro draw his gun. "Y-you…" The man who called himself Kagetane turned his neck with a violent force toward Rentaro. "Oh ho, have you been well, Satomi? My dear friend." "How did you get in here?!" Rentaro demanded. "Oh ho, the correct answer to your question is: from the front door, like everyone else, I suppose. There were some annoying little flies that kept coming at me, though, so I killed a few of them. Oh right, this is the perfect time to introduce you to my Initiator. Kohina, come." "Yes, Papa." Before they could turn to look, a girl walked up between Satomi and Kisara. Rentaro felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand. How long had she been behind them? She had short, wavy hair and wore a frilly black dress. From the length of the two scabbards that crossed her back, they probably held short swords. "Whoopsie daisy," she said as she lifted her arms and legs and climbed up the table with effort, going to stand beside Kagetane and curtsying, holding her skirt in her hands. "I'm Kohina Hiruko, ten years old." "She is my Initiator and my daughter," said Kagetane. Initiator? This man is a civsec officer? Kohina slowly looked left and right with a sleepy look on her face. After a short while, she tugged on Kagetane's sleeve mild-manneredly. "Papa, everyone's looking. It's embarrassing, so can I kill them? Also, that guy is pointing a gun this way. Can I kill him?" "There, there," said Kagetane. "But you can't kill them yet. Have patience." "Aw, Papa…" Seeing blood dripping from the scabbard on the girl's hip creating a stain on the table, Rentaro shuddered. Continuing to hold his gun ready, he used his free hand to move Kisara behind him. "What do you want?" he demanded. "I came to greet you all today," said Kagetane. "I just wanted you to know that I am also entering this race." "Entering? What are you talking about?" "I'm saying that we are the ones who will take the Inheritance of the Seven Stars." The moment she heard those words, the Seitenshi squeezed her eyes shut for a moment in resignation. "The Inheritance of the Seven Stars?" said Rentaro. "What's that?" "Oh? You were all really being made to take this job without knowing anything, huh? You poor things. It's what's inside the duralumin case you were talking about." "So yesterday, you were in that room because—" "That's right. I followed the source Gastrea into the room, but what I was looking for had disappeared somewhere, and as I was hanging around, a police squad broke the window and came in. They surprised me, so I ended up killing them quite by accident." He laughed from deep in his throat as he held his mask to his face. Rentaro felt hatred for the laughing Kagetane. "You bastard…" Kagetane spread both arms wide and turned on the tabletop. "Ladies and gentlemen, let's review the rules! This is a race to see who can find the source Gastrea and get their hands on the Inheritance of the Seven Stars first. The Inheritance of the Seven Stars is surely engulfed in the Gastrea's body, so all you have to do to get ahold of it is kill the Gastrea. How about we bet your lives?" "I can't listen to your yapping any longer." The muffled voice came from the other side of the table. It was Shogen Ikuma, with his bastard sword and his skull-face scarf. "You're talking too much. Basically, we just need you to die right now, right?" Rentaro thought Shogen had disappeared, but the next instant, Shogen had buried himself into Kagetane's chest. He was fast. "I'm gonna kill you." "Oh?" said Kagetane, amused. Surrounded by a sudden surge of wind, the great sword swung like a tornado. Its deadly timing was perfect, leaving no margin for escape. But then—it was repelled with a thunderous clang, and the next instant Shogen's sword flew in a different direction. "Wha…?" said Shogen. "Too bad!" said Kagetane. What was that just now? It was only for a second, but Rentaro saw a bluish-white phosphorescent glow between Shogen's sword and Kagetane. "Get back, Shogen!" With Mikajima's single roar, Shogen instantly understood and retreated, clicking his tongue. As if they had been waiting for that instant, all the presidents and Promoters who had gathered drew their self-defense pistols at once and fired round after round. Rentaro fired. Kisara fired, too. The ear-splitting sound of gunfire came from all directions, 360-degrees around. The thunderous sound came again, and this time, the bluish-white glow was more clearly visible. It was a dome-shaped barrier. When the bullets hit the barrier, they were repelled in all directions with a shrill sound. The glass in the furniture and on the paintings was blown away, and the sound of bullets competed with someone's war cry. Rentaro also shot his XD gun as if possessed, but after a while, he was out of ammo and the slide stop popped up, and everyone there had fired all of their bullets. In the strange silence filled with the pungent smell of gunpowder smoke that followed, the cries of the unfortunate people here and there who had been hit with stray bullets could be heard. "No way…" Rentaro swallowed his bitter spit along with the out-of-this-world sensation that he felt. In the middle of the table riddled with bullet holes, the masked man and the girl looked down at everything around them. All the high-ranking people in attendance froze as if numb. Kagetane placidly spread his arms. "It's a repulsion force field. I call it Imaginary Gimmick." "A barrier…? Are you really human?" said Rentaro. "I assure you I am human. However, in order to generate this, most of my organs have been replaced with Varanium instruments." "Instruments…" "Let me tell you again who I am, Satomi. I am Kagetane Hiruko, former member of the Ground Self-Defense Force's Eastern Force, 787th Mechanization Special Unit, of the New Humanity Creation Project." Mikajima's eyes widened in surprise. "The special unit created to counter Gastrea during the Gastrea War…? It actually exists…?" "You are free to believe it or not," said Kagetane. "Well, what am I trying to say, Satomi? Basically, I was not fighting seriously at all before. Sorry." Kagetane came silently in front of Rentaro, and like he was performing a magic show, he used a white cloth to cover the palm of his hand, counted to three, and pulled it away. When he did, a box tied with a red ribbon appeared. Putting it on the table, he lay a hand on the astonished Rentaro's shoulder. "It's a present for you," he said. "And now, I will take my leave of you. Fall into despair, civsec. The day of extinction is at hand! Let's go, Kohina." "Yes, Papa," said the girl. The two walked calmly to the window, broke it, and jumped down as if this were completely natural. Everyone in the room, including Rentaro, could not move for a while. No one said a word about chasing after them. It was the first time Rentaro thought he might be killed with a glance. Just don't vomit, he told himself as he bore down with all his might on the nausea that was rising from the pit of his stomach. Rentaro gave a start as someone suddenly laid a hand on his shoulder. Turning, he saw Kisara with a stern expression on her face. "Satomi, I demand an explanation. Where have you met this man?" "Well…," Rentaro hesitated. In the silence, Mikajima's anger got the best of him, and he banged on the table with his fists. "Lord Tendo. The New Humanity Creation Project—was what that man said true?" "There is no need to answer that." The boulderlike Kikunojo replied immediately, unwaveringly. As a heavy silence fell, a man in a half-mad state suddenly burst into the meeting room. "It's terrible. The president is…!" The shrill voice belonged to the lanky secretary who was always with President Ose, who was absent from the meeting. He was deranged, and his shoulders heaved as he panted and his eyes bulged. "The president was killed in his house! Th-the head of the corpse is nowhere to be found!" Everyone's gaze went to the box that had been set in front of Rentaro. Each side of the box was about thirty centimeters long. Rentaro untied the ribbon with shaking hands, and lifted the lid. After facing it for a while, he slowly lowered the lid. He had only met the man two or three times on the job, but in the midst of so many bloodthirsty civsec officers, he was a man who never stopped smiling, so Rentaro remembered privately liking him. His balled up fist shook, and he was filled with so much rage it made him dizzy. "That bastard…!" "Quiet!" At the Seitenshi's clear voice, Rentaro slowly raised his face that was frozen in an expression of rage. "The situation has taken a rather unusual direction. Everyone, allow me to add a new condition to fulfilling the job. Please retrieve the case before the man trying to get the case does so. If you do not, terrible things will happen." Kisara glared at the Seitenshi. "You will explain just what is inside the case, won't you?" The Seitenshi closed her eyes and bit her lip lightly. "Very well. Inside the case is the Inheritance of the Seven Stars. It must be sealed. If misused by wicked people, it could destroy the Monolith barrier and cause a Great Extinction in Tokyo Area."
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter002a.txt	BLACK BULLET BLACK BULLET CHAPTER 02 THE CURSED CHILDREN 1 As the morning light filtered through the clouds in beltlike shapes, the sparrows chirped and frolicked on the branches. In the vacant lot behind the apartment building where Rentaro and Enju lived, eight boys and girls were gathered, looking up at Rentaro with bright eyes. Rentaro thought they looked familiar, and it turned out that they were all Enju's classmates. Stifling a yawn, Rentaro stood stock-still in the vacant lot with his bed hair. Uncomfortably, he fidgeted and moved his body, sending his gaze to the heavens. "What, so basically you want to be my disciples?" "That's right!" said the kids. Looking askance at the kids who responded with voices loud enough to overpower him, Rentaro, at a loss, started at Enju, looking pleased with herself next to him. "Hey, Enju… I want to politely send these kids home, so what should I do?" "Aw, don't be like that," she said. "You can train them a little." The disheartened Rentaro sighed. Apparently, this had all started when Enju had spread word around her school that Rentaro was a martial arts master. Thanks to that, Rentaro had been shaken awake early in the morning, and he had to give up the morning of a rare day off. Normally, this was the time when he could stay in bed and try to go back to sleep. "Master! Is it true that you can shock a grizzly to death with just your eyes?" said one child. The truth had been embellished with surprising momentum. "Master! Is it true that you annihilated a whole marine battalion with your bare hands?" said another child. Apparently, he also killed marines. "Master! Is it true that you stopped a nuclear warhead and threw it back?" said yet another. Rentaro shot a reproachful look at Enju. Just how hard are you trying to make this? When their eyes met, Enju gave him a thumbs-up and an earnest look with complete faith in him that said, "Rentaro can do anything!" Rentaro wanted to sigh again. The problem with Enju was that part of her seriously believed that he could do anything. Rentaro scratched his head. Everyone went through a phase where they projected themselves onto their favorite superheroes. It wasn't like he didn't feel the need to protect the dreams of innocent boys and girls. He nodded decisively and prepared himself. First impressions were important in times like these. Anyway, kids were no problem. Easy. "All right you guys, thanks for coming. I am the great Rentaro Satomi!" Silence. Rentaro couldn't take it anymore, and he blinked his eyelids rapidly, sending a call for help to Enju. Enju grinned and waved at him. It was almost refreshing how the message didn't reach her at all. "Um, well, you guys, the concept of Tendo Martial Arts was created by the originator, Sukekiyo Tendo. To put it simply, the basics of Tendo Martial Arts are the First Style punches, the Second Style kicks, and the Third Style that covers everything else. Sorry to dash your expectations, but I'm only a beginner and can't do that much. There are many hidden secrets that I can't teach you yet—" "Master! We don't care about that. Just teach us your special move!" "Dang it, I guess I have no choice." Disconcerted by the children's short attention spans, Rentaro went to stand in front of the single maple tree in the vacant lot. He lowered his hips, shifted into the basic Infinite Stance, and inhaled deeply. "Tendo Martial Arts First Style, Number 3"—he exhaled sharply and dispatched a punch with a twisting circular motion—"Rokuro Kabuto!" His fist hit the tree with a heavy thud, and the maple shook as leaves fluttered down. Rentaro exhaled and returned to his stance. Then, he turned around abruptly. "H-how was that?" "What? It was too fast. I couldn't see what was going on!" "It was just a punch." "Seemed kinda lame." "Right?" "Make the tree fall down!" "I want my money back!" "Asshole, asshole!" Rentaro was at his wits' end. What should I do? I just wanna punch these kids. "W-well, you know. This was just a warm-up. I have a technique I've been saving. One of the Tendo Martial Arts hidden secrets, Second Style, Number 11: Inzen Kokutei." "Ooh!" "That one sounds a little cooler." "It's just the name, idiot." "We won't be able to tell until we see it, right?" Thinking, I'll show them this time, Rentaro turned back to the tall tree, jumping with enough spirit to kick down the tree. "Tendo Martial Arts Second Style, Number 11—" Abruptly, Rentaro's consciousness was drawn back to the incident in the meeting room the day before. Going around and around in his head was one of the phrases Kagetane had let slip. New Humanity Creation Project. Questions filled his mind. The Seitenshi had said, "As I am sure you all know, currently, Tokyo Area is protected by the barrier of the Monoliths. I will omit the details for now, but if the Inheritance of the Seven Stars is misused, it could create a large hole in a corner of a Monolith. If that happens, Tokyo Area will be overrun by a storm of death. Time is of the essence. You must retrieve the Inheritance of the Seven Stars." Rentaro narrowed the corners of his eyes. No matter what, he could not lose to that man—to Kagetane Hiruko. Tightening his lower abs, he fixed his glare on the trunk. "Here I go. Hidden secret—" At that moment, out of the corner of his eye, he could see a boy who had gotten bored and was playing with a soccer ball kick the ball right for Rentaro. "Argh!" The start of his move was easily shut down, and Rentaro fell out of position and into a ditch headfirst. The sound of laughter filled the air. He couldn't meet Enju's eyes as he held his temple and shook his head. "Lame! Super-lame! He couldn't kill a beetle with that weak kick." A beetle…? "I've had enough. Let's go home and play Playstation." "Yeah!" the other kids chorused. "H-hey, wait, you guys—" Rentaro's pose was in vain, and Enju's classmates left one by one, leaving Rentaro and Enju by themselves. Enju started stamping her feet too late. "Drat it, come back! Rentaro really is amazing! He's amazing at night, too!" "G-give me a break…" Checking the time, Rentaro saw that it was still morning. But after all that, he didn't think he could go back to sleep. "Enju, is there anywhere you want to go?" Enju's face brightened in an instant, and she jumped up and down with joy. "Shopping!" "Okay, okay. We'll go, we'll go!" Getting off the crowded train that smelled of sour sweat, Enju pulled Rentaro's hand and he stumbled forward as she dragged him to the toy store. And it wasn't just any toy store—it was a large-scale toy store that rented out a whole floor of a large electronics store. Because it was a weekend, it was crowded, and there were many people who brought their families. Looking at a child who screamed coquettishly sandwiched between her parents, who were holding her hands, Rentaro wondered how he and Enju looked to other people. Rentaro played around with a toy block puzzle sample, and as if his hands remembered the sensation, he was gradually filled with a sense of nostalgia. "It was a long time ago, but I used to play with stuff like this with Kisara. It's kind of unexpected that you'd like this sort of thing, too." "My business is with these things over here." As she said this, she pointed her finger at the cartoon merchandise section where an extra-large IMOD display stood. Rentaro could read the words Tenchu Girls written in a decorative font. Now that he thought about it, wasn't Enju talking to her classmate about this show yesterday? "What's this show about?" he asked. He then regretted asking about the show even though he wasn't actually interested because Enju turned to him and said, "Wanna know?" with glittering eyes. Summarizing what Enju told him triumphantly, the story was about Oishi Kuranosuke Yoshiko (magical girl), whose foster father, Asano, was killed. Swearing revenge, Yoshiko gathered forty-seven warriors (magical girls) from around the country to raid the Kira estate. Apparently, it was an epic, long-running cartoon. He had heard something about how "Ako samurai magical girl shows" had become popular recently. "Even though it's a magical girl show, it's a story about revenge?" he said. "Aha, but that is what's good about it," said Enju. "I-I see…" He looked toward the sword in the special section. It was a sharp, silver Japanese sword where only the handle had been made to look like a magical stick. Apparently, it was called the Stick Blade. Watching the trailer, he saw the atrocious face of the heroine, Tenchu Red, as she screamed, "Dieeeee!" and swung her large war sword. Rentaro couldn't tell what they were going for. Besides, they didn't use magic at all. Looking at the price tags of the Stick Blade and magical girl costumes in the most prominent part of the display, he involuntarily let out a groan. "Why are they so expensive…?" "Expensive? They seem normal to me. I will buy it with my own money, so you do not have to worry about your wallet." Enju said just that over her shoulder and then started looking through the large piles of merchandise. "What do you think of this?" What Enju eventually brought to show Rentaro was a bracelet. It had chrome silver-plating over an engraved design. It was probably made of aluminum or something, since it felt very light when he held it. "What's that?" he asked. "It's the bracelet that the Tenchu Girls wear. It's proof that the forty-seven warriors are friends, and it cracks when a friend tricks another friend or lies to them, so they can tell when a friend is lying." "Oh? Sounds like the folktale of the broken mirror." "What's that?" Rentaro explained. "It's a story I heard from Doc a long time ago. It's a folktale about a couple who lived apart, so they broke a mirror in half and each took a piece as proof that they would meet again. However, the wife broke her vows and cheated on her husband. And so, the mirror broke and turned into a bird that flew to where her husband was, and in the end, they divorced. Now, Aihara, what is the moral of this folktale?" "It's to not get caught cheating, sir!" "Huh?" Enju put her chin in her hand. "But they are kind of similar. That broken mirror thing must have stolen the idea from Tenchu Girls." "It doesn't matter who stole the idea from whom. By the way, how much is that?" "6,980 yen. It's so cheap!" "That's expensive! That's two months' worth of food for me." Rentaro didn't even have a chance to stop her before she went to the register and bought it. "Here, Rentaro. Put this on your arm, too." "What, me, too?" "It's a pair of bracelets. Who will wear it with me if not you, Rentaro?" Seeing that Enju put it on her right wrist, Rentaro also started putting it on his right wrist, but then changed his mind and put it on his left. Enju smirked as she looked at him. "Wh-what?" he said. "We match now, like a couple. Now you cannot deceive me or lie to me. Cheating with another woman is forbidden. If you become charmed by Kisara's breasts, the bracelet will crack, as well." "What? I, Rentaro Satomi, love Enju Aihara…," he said sarcastically. "It didn't crack." "That's because it's the truth." "Damn it, is that how you're gonna take it?" After they left the department store, they walked hand in hand talking about nothing in particular. It was mostly Enju nattering on about something, and Rentaro nodding and agreeing with her, but he felt the gloom from the day before lift just from talking to her. Rentaro stopped suddenly, seeing the Seitenshi on one of the TVs in the street. It looked like recorded footage from a news show, and her stern expression was completely different from the day before. She was talking about how she was planning to propose another bill to respect the basic human rights of the Cursed Children, the much-talked-about New Gastrea Law. Rentaro wondered if the bill would pass. He fervently hoped that it would. Rentaro squeezed Enju's hand, which was still in his. Just a short while ago, it was normal for Cursed Children to be delivered in secret alongside a river, then killed before they could even open their eyes, and because of their incomplete regeneration abilities, they often became the target of their parents' extreme abuse. It was also said that parents with Gastrea shock—an aftereffect of the war where a person would go into shock if they saw red eyes—could not even look their own children in the eyes. Also, because the shape of their DNA was contaminated by the Gastrea virus, even if a paternity test were conducted, it could not be proven that they were related by blood. Because of this, there were those who even went so far as to wonder whether or not they were human. Since pretty much all of the generation that experienced the Great War, the Stolen Generation, had the potential to practice prejudice against the Cursed Children, there were extremely few who could be called these girls' allies. Honestly, Rentaro thought the problem was more than he himself could bear. If the top official of Tokyo Area was a person who understood their circumstances, he wanted to welcome her with open arms. In fact, he would rather just leave everything to the Seitenshi. "Oww, Rentaro. Let go of me," said Enju. He suddenly came back to the present and let go of the hand he had been holding. When he looked, the news had already moved on to the next topic, and Enju was looking up at him with a confused expression on her face. "Sorry, I was out of it. Let's go." As he turned, he noticed a crowd had formed on the other side of the street. As he tilted his head, wondering what was going on, he heard an angry roar from the other side of the street that made the ground shake, and the thirst for blood emitted by the gathered onlookers drifted over to where he and Enju were. He didn't know why, but he had a bad feeling about this and stood, unable to move. The only reason Rentaro, who was completely average in athletic and shooting ability, had been able to survive this long as a civil officer was that his hunches were never wrong. That hunch told Rentaro to get away from this place as quickly as possible. "Enju, it'll take a little longer, but let's go home from the other side—" "Catch her!" At almost the same time a rough voice screamed these words, the crowd broke apart and a single girl ran out. The girl was carrying a supermarket basket full of food. The logo on the basket was from a large chain that Rentaro had also been to before. When the girl looked at Enju and Rentaro standing in her way, she stopped suddenly. Rentaro couldn't move, feeling as if he had been bound hand and foot. She was wearing a denim skirt with a leather belt and a tasteful white tunic. However, her face was sooty, and her clothes bore similarly sooty stains that made it unclear when the clothes had last been washed, and there were signs of repairs in many places. Like the food she was currently hugging close to her, they had probably also been stolen. He could tell at a glance that she was a child who lived in the Outer District. In addition, the girl's eyes that reflected Rentaro and Enju were wine-red. Like Enju, she was one of the Cursed Children. The countless hands that reached out from behind ended their long face-off. When the grown men and women used their hands to violently push down her back, even Rentaro could hear the sad creak of her bones clearly. The fruits and vegetables fell out of the basket around Rentaro's feet. "Let go!" The girl's handsome face, which had been forced to lick the asphalt, twisted, and she bared teeth like a tiger's as she thrashed and raged. Not a single onlooker had pity for her. "You thief! You're the trash of Tokyo Area." "All right, good job! Take that, you stupid Gastrea." "Shut up! Stop screaming, you murderer." "If only you Red-Eyes didn't kill all my relatives…" "Go to hell, you Red Devil!" Rentaro tapped the shoulder of someone near him. "Hey, why is she…?" "What do you mean, why? That brat stole food and then half-killed the security guard who tried to stop her!" Looking at Enju's face, it was pale, as he expected, and she was shaking. At that moment, the girl whose name they didn't even know looked at Enju. As long as one of the Cursed Children hid her red eyes, she looked just like a normal girl on the outside. That was why there was no way she could have known that Enju was one of the Cursed Children by looking at her. But for some reason, the girl looked at Enju and reached out her freed hand, asking for help. Rentaro quickly brushed that hand away and glared at her. Stop it. Don't get Enju involved. The girl drew a sharp breath and looked at Rentaro's expression, her fear clearly showing. "What in the world are you all doing?" At the moment, police officers cut through the crowd to settle the situation. The pair consisted of a skinny man with glasses and a well-built man with a crew cut. Rentaro calmed his heart, thinking inside that this lynch-mob-like situation would finally end. However, the police officer with glasses let out a cold "Oh" as he saw the now-silent crowd holding the girl down and lording it over her. Forcing the girl to her feet, strangely without even really asking the people around what had happened, he put handcuffs on her wrists. Giving the dumbstruck Rentaro a sideways glance, the man with the glasses saluted a representative of the crowd with thanks, pushed the girl into the police car, and drove off. Did that police officer really know what crime the girl had committed? After the girl disappeared, the onlookers dispersed in twos and threes after grumbling to themselves. It all happened in a flash. Afterward, only Rentaro and Enju remained. There was no helping it. There was nothing he could have done about it. Feeling uncomfortable, he pulled Enju's hand to go home. As he did, he looked to his side, surprised. Enju had her hands in fists and was glaring at Rentaro. "Why didn't you help that girl, Rentaro?!" she shouted at him. Rentaro was overpowered. Her eyes had turned a pale red. The people who were scattering looked back their way with suspicious expressions on their faces. Rentaro felt shaken but forced it down inside. "It's nothing," he said, willing them to believe him. Rentaro took Enju's arm and pulled her into an alleyway between two buildings. From the exhaust pipe came a smell that bothered him. "It couldn't be helped, Enju. Under those conditions, if they found out your identity, they would have lynched you, too." "But you hit away the hand of someone asking for help!" she said. "There are things that I can and cannot do! Besides, what she did was definitely a crime! Even if the environment of the Outer District is bad, it's still illegal to commit a crime." Without thinking, he replied with logic even though he knew it would only put fuel into the fire of Enju's anger. Enju shook her head fiercely. "That's just an excuse. If you wanted to save her, you would have been able to. You are a champion of justice. There is nothing you cannot do!" "Don't force your childish illusions on me. I can't do anything… I can't do a single thing." With that, Rentaro suddenly returned to himself. Enju was holding back her sobs as she cried. As he reached out his hand to her shoulder, she stepped away from him. "Hey, Enju… Could it be… Did you know her?" he said, unsure. But Enju nodded as she cried. "When I lived in the Outer District, I saw her around. I never talked to her, but she remembered me, too." "I can't believe it. But… But when I hit her hand away, I was desperate. I wasn't thinking that deeply into it…" Rentaro couldn't talk anymore after looking at Enju's eyes. He asked the conscience in his own heart. He didn't need much time to make a decision. "Enju, can you go home by yourself?" "Huh?" she said. Before he knew it, his legs were moving on their own. He dashed out of the alley, and looking quickly left and right, his eyes rested on a boy riding a scooter waiting at a traffic light. Tapping him on the shoulder and making him turn around, Rentaro immediately flashed his civil officer license. "I'm a civsec officer. A Gastrea has appeared in the area, and I need to borrow your scooter." "H-hey, wait. What're you talking about?" said the boy. "Looking at your build, you're still in middle school, aren't you? Think we can settle this peacefully?" Getting agreement from the flinching boy, Rentaro took the scooter from him violently. With a roar of the engine, he made a U-turn and turned it to face the direction the police car had gone earlier. He didn't put on a helmet, and he ignored the traffic laws. If he were stopped, he could thrust his civsec license in their faces and make them understand the situation, but he would lose a lot of time. Weaving dangerously through traffic, Rentaro's heart was beating hard with nervousness about a danger worse than a collision. Why did the police take the girl away without asking the girl or the victim a single question? What was behind the excessively simplified procedure? Also, it looked like where Rentaro was heading now was not an important police station or even a local police station. If he kept going this way, he would get closer and closer to the Outer District. Rentaro prayed to the god he didn't even believe in. Please let me be worrying needlessly. Even as he thought this, the Monolith barrier that had looked so far away grew larger and larger, and there were traces here and there of buildings that had been destroyed and abandoned. The dark side of the flourishing Tokyo Area, the Outer District. Just as he started thinking maybe he had passed them somewhere, he twisted around and discovered a police car parked next to a radio tower that had been bent in half. Rentaro put the brakes on about thirty meters before he reached it in order to keep from making too much noise. Then, he hid the scooter in what appeared to be the ruins of a gas station and approached carefully. He wondered why he was sneaking around like this, but for now, he trusted his hunch. He approached the police car, going around through the dilapidated buildings in front of him and cutting in. The first floor of one of the buildings he passed through was only exposed steel beams, and the concrete walls inside were scraped away, with wallpaper and wiring drooping like a horror movie. When he touched it with his hand, something plasterlike peeled off and crumbled away. It was hard to believe that it had only been abandoned for ten years. It was dead silent around him, and there was no sign or shadow of people anywhere. Crouching as he approached the police car, he peeked inside, but as he suspected, neither the girl nor the police officers were inside. Disgusted with himself for being inwardly relieved, he turned his attention to the radio tower facility, and began moving toward it. Going under the broken iron fence, he heard unexpected voices and hurriedly leaned his back against a nearby wall. Slowly peeking around the corner, he saw the backs of the skinny spectacled officer and the crew cut officer. A little distance away, made to stand in front of the iron fence, was the girl from earlier, unmoving. She must have had some idea of what was going to happen to her, and turned pale and shook with uneasiness. The officers with their backs facing him turned quiet, and Rentaro gulped in the uneasy atmosphere. As he frowned, wondering what in the world would happen next, the silence was suddenly broken by a gunshot. Blood gushed from the girl's head, and she fell to her knees. She slowly touched her head and looked at the blood that dripped from it, trying desperately to understand what had just happened. Then, like raindrops came a rush of bullets, and her stomach, chest, arms, and legs were riddled with holes. Her body twitched as if she had been shocked, and she was thrown into the iron fence behind her. "Shit, she's still alive?!" As the skinny spectacled officer approached her, he shot three more bullets into her head. The girl fell forward onto the ground, and as a torrent of blood flowed out from where she landed, she stopped moving. Rentaro covered his mouth with both hands, swallowing the scream that wanted to spill out of him. The police officers looked as if they had been cursed by something and looked left and right, quickly running away from the scene. With shaking legs, Rentaro walked over to the girl, got on his knees, and put his hands together. Damn it, Rentaro cursed inwardly. Holding her upright, he hugged her, not caring about getting his clothes dirty. He could feel her body growing cold from blood loss, and Rentaro shook with the rage that welled up within him. Wasn't it the job of the civsec officers to bring justice to the innocent citizens? To protect the innocent citizens? And be a champion of justice? Damn it, why the hell did I just watch? I did nothing while a child was being murdered in front of my own eyes! What is right? What is wrong? Who is the enemy I should defeat, anyway? Rentaro succumbed to his unbearable thoughts and shook his head vehemently. At that moment, the girl in his arms choked and coughed up blood. Rentaro opened his mouth slightly. She was alive. She could still be saved. Before he knew it he was running, the girl in his arms. IT WAS AROUND 2:00 A.M. In the spring night's lingering chill, so unlike the daytime weather, Rentaro staggered home. He didn't know if it was from exhaustion or not, but he had an almost unbearable thirst and a pounding headache. A lot happened that day, so it could have been the aftershocks of everything. Now that he thought about it, holding a thirty-something kilogram girl in one arm and driving a scooter took extraordinary strength, but in his desperation, he hadn't felt her weight. It was probably the same as how some people drew out great strength during a house fire. As soon as the girl reached the hospital, the ER doctors took her, and she disappeared into the operating room. As the operation took place, Rentaro sat on a chair in the hall being asked questions by another doctor. The doctor made an unpleasant expression when he heard that the girl was from the Outer District and had no relatives. Occasionally, if they operated on an orphan from the Outer District with no family registry, let alone insurance, they would not be able to get the operation fee from anyone, and the hospital would have to bear the cost. If Rentaro had not said he would cover the cost at that time, at the last moment, he probably would have been fed the transparent lie that there were no surgeons available. At the end of the eight-hour-long operation, the girl narrowly escaped death. The fact that the bullets were small in caliber, that they were not Varanium but regular lead shots, that as one of the Cursed Children, she had miraculous powers of regeneration, and that she had a tough skull—if any one of those factors were lacking, she would not have been saved, the surgeon who operated on her explained. Thankfully, the graying doctor was someone who understood the circumstances. He said, "You should tell the police who it was who shot her as soon as possible," but Rentaro only said good-bye with a bitter smile. He was honestly glad that she had been saved, but he couldn't completely rejoice when he thought of the operation fee and the cost of the hospital stay that he would have to pay later. On the highway in the middle of the night, Rentaro conscientiously stopped at the traffic light, but looking around, there were no signs of pedestrians or even cars anywhere. After a while, he finally saw his eight-tatami-mat apartment. The lights were off. Of course, Enju would not be awake so late into the night, but he had hoped that maybe she would be, so he felt a tinge of loneliness. "You seem tired, Satomi." He drew his gun reflexively and pointed it at the voice. Looking slowly behind him, there was a gun pointed at the tip of his nose, as well. Before it had been customized, it had probably been a Beretta, and in the gas port at the top, there was a muzzle spike attached for close quarters combat. On the large stabilizer to reduce the kickback at the mouth of the gun, there was a bayonet housing attachment. There was also a long extension magazine with extra bullets. On the left side of the slide, there was a party seal that said, "Give the life with dignity." On the right, it said, "Otherwise, give the death as a martyr." Embedded in the grip was a medallion modeled after the evil god, Cthulhu. Sharp spikes covered the angles of the weapon. And the one holding the gun was— "That's an evil-looking gun you have, Kagetane Hiruko," said Rentaro. Kagetane laughed. "Good evening, Satomi." The mysterious masked man in the tailcoat suddenly lowered his gun. Surprisingly, he had another custom Beretta in a different color. "This black one here is the machine pistol, Spanking Sodomy, and the silver one is called Psychedelic Gospel. My beloved handguns." "What do you want?" "Actually, I came to talk to you. Won't you lower your gun, too?" "No." "Oh, dear." Kagetane snapped his fingers with a click. "Kohina, cut off that troublesome right arm." "Yes, Papa." As Rentaro reflexively jumped backward, the sound of wind accompanied a lighting-speed slash that came at the place where Rentaro had been. Before he knew it, a girl wearing a black dress appeared next to Kagetane. Kohina made a troubled face and looked like she was about to cry. "Come on, don't move, or I'll cut off your head by accident," she said. Chills ran along his back, and he broke into a cold sweat. Crap, I couldn't see her sword at all. The next time she attacks— Again, Kohina kicked up a cloud of dust and disappeared from sight. Even straining his eyes, he couldn't follow her movements. Rentaro thought he was done for and squeezed his eyes shut. With a clang, two bodies collided in midair and were blown apart with the sounds of scraping. Surprised comments came from both sides. "I couldn't kick her?" said one voice. "What? I couldn't slash her?" said another. "Enju!" Rentaro yelled. Next to Rentaro was Enju, with scorching red eyes. "Rentaro! Who are they?" Enju asked. "The enemy." Kohina stood with her two swords out as if protecting Kagetane. Her personality seemed to change 180 degrees from her earlier timidity, and she stood firmly on the ground with her Varanium blades crossed in her unique stance. "Be careful, Papa. That one over there… She's strong. She is probably a kicking specialist Initiator." "Oh?" said Kagetane. "You must have a pretty good Initiator for Kohina to think so highly of her." Kohina screamed, "You little squirt over there. Tell me your name!" Enju hopped up and down until her face turned red. "You are little, as well. How rude! I am Enju. Enju Aihara, a Model Rabbit Initiator!"
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter002c.txt	BLACK BULLET Kohina kept her face down and grumbled softly to herself. "Enju, Enju, Enju… All right, I'll remember. I am Model Mantis, Kohina Hiruko. In close combat, I am invincible." Kohina changed completely and pulled on Kagetane's sleeve with a sad expression. "Um, can I kill the rabbit? I'll just leave her head, so can I kill her?" "How many times do I have to tell you, silly girl," said Kagetane. "You may not." "Aw, I hate you, Papa!" Kagetane said, "Oh, dear," and fixed the placement of his silk hat, then turned back to Rentaro. "It looks like things have gotten complicated. Do you want to fight?" Rentaro kept an eye on Kagetane without letting his guard down and looked around. They were in a residential neighborhood, so if they fought here, there would be more meaningless victims. After biting his bottom lip hard, Rentaro lowered his gun. "Hurry up and say what you have to say, moron. I'm sleepy and still have to study for a quiz next week." Kagetane snickered behind his mask and put his gun back in its holster, holding his arms wide open magnanimously with the moon as a backdrop. "Let me get straight to the point. Satomi, will you join me?" "What did you say?!" "For some reason, I've liked you ever since I first saw you. I thought it'd be a waste to kill you. If you join me, then I won't." "I'm still a civsec officer, you know." "What of it? I am a former civsec officer myself. Unfortunately, there will soon be a wild storm that will bring Great Extinction to Tokyo Area. At the moment, I have some strong backup. If you become my ally, you can have money, women, power… I will give you anything you want." Rentaro did not say a word. "Satomi, have you ever thought you wanted to change this unreasonable world? That the way Tokyo Area works is wrong? Have you ever thought that, even once?" Before he knew it, the image of the girl whose name he didn't even know resurfaced from the back of his mind. Her head flew back in slow motion, and blood spurted from her forehead. The blood dripped slowly, getting absorbed by the ground. There was the girl, with her eyes refusing to accept what happened, the police officers whose mouths twisted in evil pleasure, and Rentaro, too cowardly to run out to save her because he was afraid he would be killed to keep his mouth shut. Seeing Rentaro's hesitation, Kagetane pulled out a white cloth from his pocket and covered the ground, counting to three. When he pulled the cloth off, an attaché case appeared beneath it. "From what I hear, apparently, you are not doing very well economically." Kagetane used his foot to slide the attaché case over to Rentaro. When the case stopped in front of Rentaro, the lid popped open. Inside, it was stuffed with stacks of bills. "This is just a small gift to express my feelings." Rentaro stared at the stacks of bills without moving an inch. "I hear you make that Enju over there pretend to be human and have her go to school? Why would you do that? Those girls are the shape of the next generation of humans that have gone beyond the current Homo sapiens. The only ones left after the Great Extinction will be us, the strong. Join me, Rentaro Satomi." Rentaro kicked the attaché case back with all his strength and shot it three times with his gun. The case jumped, and the bills were riddled with holes. Some of them floated out of the case like petals. Kagetane looked at the attaché case riddled with holes for a while. "You have made a grave mistake, Satomi." "Mistake? If I made a mistake, it was that I didn't kill you when I first met you, Kagetane Hiruko!" "Fool! Will you insist on completing your jobs till the end? No matter how hard you work for them, they will only keep betraying you." Rentaro glared at Kagetane. Kagetane glared back at Rentaro. Rentaro wasn't sure how long this went on, but after a while, they could hear the siren of the police car coming to investigate the gunshots. Kagetane sighed. "We will pick this up again later, Satomi. I don't like doing things this way very much…but see what happens when you go to school tomorrow. You need to start looking at reality." Throwing that last line at Rentaro, he took a big leap backward and melted into the darkness. Staring in the direction Kagetane disappeared, Rentaro asked Enju, "What do you think of his Initiator?" "She's strong," she said. "Frighteningly so." "Can you beat her?" "I don't know." "I see…" The burden of Kagetane's last words to him as they parted weighed down on Rentaro, and he couldn't erase them from his memory. 2 "Is that true?" Rentaro stood as he squeezed his cell phone tightly. A number of his classmates who were idly chatting stopped in surprise and looked in his direction. Rentaro quickly lowered his voice. "I-I'll be there immediately." After folding his cell phone shut, he dashed out onto the school grounds and ran two buildings over to Magata Elementary School. Hastily taking off his shoes and putting on the visitor slippers at the entrance, he went to the staff room and grabbed Enju's homeroom teacher, who was just about to head to the classroom. His face was pale and thin, and there were large circles under his eyes. He was shorter than Rentaro, but even though it wasn't that hot, he kept dabbing his handkerchief on his forehead, and his eyeballs protruded like he was nervous. "Oh, you're the guardian…" "What is going on? Is Enju really—?" Rentaro drew closer to him with a threatening look. Even though he knew that it was useless taking things out on her homeroom teacher, he couldn't control his feelings. The man answered incoherently as he took quick glances at Rentaro. "Yes, the rumor that Aihara is one of the Cursed Children appeared from somewhere. At lunch, the…harassment…directed at her began." "I can't believe it… But…did Enju…deny it…?" The teacher looked down as he began to dab his forehead repeatedly with his handkerchief. That was better than any answer. "Satomi, you had Aihara attend this school without telling any of us that she was one of the Cursed Children." "If I had told you beforehand, wouldn't you all have just found a reason to refuse to admit her?" The teacher looked away from Rentaro and started wiping his mouth with his handkerchief again. "I had Aihara leave school early because of the shock. I have no right to ask this, but will you go be with her, Satomi?" Rentaro didn't remember what path he took to go home. Unlocking the door, he entered the apartment panting, and a silent chill touched his skin. Enju was not there. She wasn't anywhere. His whole body shook with chills, and even taking off his shoes seemed to take too long. He checked the bath and restroom and opened all the closets. She wasn't there. He started to turn pale at the thought that maybe she hadn't even made it home, but opening her clothes dresser, he saw traces that she had at least been there once. As Rentaro fell into a panic, he let out a deep breath and bent his knees, fumbling around in his pocket to call Enju's cell phone. She seemed to have turned off her phone, so he sent her a few texts. He did not receive any response. Rentaro took deep breath after deep breath and told himself, It's all right. This is Enju's only home. Rentaro kept waiting. But in the end, Enju did not return home that day. 3 Rentaro opened his eyes slightly at the sound of a soft tapping in the distance. The first thing that came into the field of his blurry and hazy vision was the brown ceiling. The grain of the ceiling changed shape with a twist and turned into a person being chased by a boar. The person was fleeing desperately, but it looked like the boar would catch them soon. He woke up with a start, and turned his neck to look around the room. He was alone. Enju hadn't changed her mind and come home. His stomach was heavy with disappointment, and a headache that seemed like it was lying in wait attacked, making him crouch where he stood. Looking out the window, the rain on the glass distorted the view. That was the source of the tapping earlier. His eyelids felt heavy and cramped, and he felt worse than when he went to sleep. He was nauseated now, too. Pulling the clock toward him to look at the time, he saw that it was seven a.m. It had only been about fifty minutes since he'd fallen asleep. Because he hadn't eaten anything since the incident happened yesterday, his stomach was so empty that it hurt, but he didn't feel like cooking for himself. With his hazy vision and his head feeling like it was full of mud, Rentaro crawled to the fridge and, finding a half-full milk container, drank it dry. It tasted like bitter, half-solidified saliva. He cracked open a raw egg on the side of the fridge and dumped what was inside into his mouth, then chewed some mustard greens and lettuce in desperation. His own actions shocked him, given that he was usually proud of the fact that he liked cooking. After he got to the point where he could move around, Rentaro started putting away Enju's clothes, which were scattered around the living room. The previous day, Rentaro had taken all of the clothes Enju left behind out of the closet and slept with them around him. Unlike Rentaro, who was poor, Enju had a lot of clothes in the latest fashions. That was how he felt after spending the whole night with them. Which reminded him, whenever Enju bought new clothes, she would pose suggestively in front of Rentaro, asking him over and over, "Am I cute? Am I cute?" How had he answered her then? Rentaro picked up the syringe that had fallen in the crack by the dresser. Inside it was cobalt blue medicine in liquid form. Realizing that she hadn't taken her medicine, he became very sad. Nothing would happen if she skipped it for a day or two, but if she didn't take it for a while, the corrosion rate of her body would gradually rise. "Damn." Rentaro threw the syringe on the floor and held his head in his hands. Pretty much every day, he took her to and from school, and when they came back to the apartment, Enju would be pestering him for food. She was critical of everything he made, which had motivated him to cook well. That life had been broken to pieces. Rentaro stood up and looked around the too-empty eight-tatami-mat room. What was he supposed to do now? He slapped his cheeks hard with both hands. It was obvious. He needed to do something. Taking off the uniform he wore every day, he took a shower, letting the hot rain strike his body and loosen his stiff muscles. After he got out of the shower, he felt a little more like himself. Putting on a fresh uniform and looking in the mirror, he saw that his cheeks were slightly hollow and that only his eyes were glittering, but he decided that it was good enough. Checking to make sure he still had a close-up picture of Enju's face on his phone, Rentaro took his wallet and went outside. Suddenly wondering how much money he had left, he opened his wallet and laughed involuntarily. He would probably have to walk home, but he didn't care. Rentaro jumped onto the train and got off at the last stop. Since it was early morning on a weekend, the entrance and exits were both empty. Raising his umbrella and looking into the distance to check where the Monoliths were, he walked unwaveringly toward the Outer District. It had already been ten years since the Monoliths had formed the boundary that separated humans from Gastrea. The Tokyo metropolis was the only place that had remained whole after the Great War. The neighboring Kanagawa, Chiba, and Saitama prefectures all had pieces cut off by the Monoliths. It had been nine years since the Tokyo metropolis absorbed the neighboring prefectures and became Tokyo Area, with its forty-three districts. The numbering system started from the middle of old Tokyo (the Seitenshi's palace was in the First District), with the numbers increasing as one got closer to the border. The Outer District that Rentaro was heading toward was District 39 on the map. The Outer District referred to the border district connected to the Monolith, a no-man's-land where no one wanted to live at the time. Slowly, there started being fewer and fewer people, and he started seeing strange things here and there. There were gigantic footprints that didn't look human and chairs that had blood stuck to them that wouldn't come off. Inside a four-wheel-drive vehicle with broken windows that had turned red as though rust bloomed on them grew a mysterious reddish-purple grass out of the space between the cushions, luxurious in its thickness. A message board created in response to the emergency was still covered with many layers of colorful papers after ten years. "Sho, this is Atsuko. If you're safe, please contact me here." "To Daiki Kato—I'm at your grandfather's house." "This is my number: xxxxx. Koji Aso." "I'm looking for this boy." There was a picture of a boy about five years old attached. "To Yoko. Dad and Fuyumi are fine…" The rest was scratched off and couldn't be read. Rentaro had involuntarily started sweating uncomfortably. He felt like his necktie was tightening around his neck and loosened his collar. This was a message board created by people who had been separated during the war in order to reunite with loved ones. With transmission base stations destroyed, cell phones were nothing but pieces of trash. This was probably a region that had been caught up in the war. The traces of the Gastrea War that were left behind still seemed fresh. If he really wanted to remember the conditions from ten years ago, there were plenty of videos uploaded online, but there was no one who could watch them and feel happy about it. Once, a long time ago, Rentaro had watched a video called "Memento Mori," and he remembered running to the sink afterward. The farther he went, the more he could see, because with the collapsed buildings and dilapidated homes, there were fewer things to obstruct his vision. In the midst of that were conspicuously large factories that looked like they had been newly built. They were facilities for geothermal, steam, water, wind, solar, and nuclear energy. Japan had always been surrounded on all sides by the ocean, so it had strong ocean winds. Besides that, it had about ten percent of the world's volcanoes, so it could make use of their geothermal energy, and because of its complex terrain, there were many extreme rises and falls, so it had strong waterpower, as well. Now, in the year 2031, solar battery panels had made great advancements in conversion efficiency, and in forty-one districts, they were piloting a new Tokamak nuclear fusion reactor. It could be said that most of the energy for the center was produced in the Outer District. However— Rentaro looked at the pristine asphalt road compared to the ruined buildings and a bitter expression crossed his face. There were examples from other disasters, too, but when a disaster of this magnitude occurred, the first thing to do was restore roads to transport goods. The next thing was to start securing the all-important lifeline of water, and then to aim for enhancing food, clothing, and shelter. Why had restoration not moved forward if the roads had been paved so nicely? It was probably because the government had no intention of restoring the Outer District. There were currently three uses for the Outer District. First, it was a place to manage dangerous nuclear reactions, and second, it was a landfill for the trash created by those in the center of Tokyo Area. Finally, it was where they planted the genetically improved "miracle seed" that was expected to produce large harvests in a small amount of land. Fortunately, powdered concrete worked to lower the acidity of the soil. In other words, it was an abandoned area that was now a field for these three things. None of those three uses showed any consideration for the few residents who lived here. The Monoliths started to look very big. Surveying the area, it did not look like there were any people there, but Rentaro felt eyes looking at him from somewhere. It was probably not just his imagination. Rentaro gripped the handle of his umbrella hard. Other than the umbrella he was using, he had also brought a child's umbrella with a Tenchu Girls character printed on it. The circumstances this time were more serious than Rentaro had thought. There was no way that it would be resolved easily, with Enju at Kisara's or Sumire's or a classmate's house. If anything, it would make more sense for her to return to her hometown, the Outer District. Before he knew it, he had reached almost the innermost area. Rentaro relied on his memory to go to a single manhole, and knocked two, three times on the cover. Shortly after, the cover was lifted open with a heavy sound, and a lisping voice said, "What?" as a young girl showed her face. She was probably around seven years old, and she peered at Rentaro with a puzzled look on her face. Her eyes glowed red. "I'm looking for someone," he said. "Can you help me?" "Are you the police? We have no intention of leaving, leaving, leaving." "No, I'm not the police." "Then, then, are you a sex offender?" "Huh? A sex offender? No…that's wrong, too…" "Then, please leave." The manhole cover shut with a clang, and Rentaro froze with his mouth still open. Returning to himself, he knocked again. "I hate persistent sex offenders," said the girl. "Wait, wait, wait! Why are police and sex offenders the only two options you have prepared?!" said Rentaro hurriedly. "And why did you decide that I was a sex offender just now?!" "It was what I thought after seeing your face." "You little…" "By the way, did you need something?" Keeping his irritation inside, Rentaro put down his umbrella and took out his civil officer license with his right hand and pulled up the picture of Enju saved on his phone with his left hand. "I'm a civil officer. I'm looking for this girl. Have you seen her?" The girl looked back and forth at the license and the picture and said, "Nope." "I'd like to ask other people, too. Is there an adult around?" "That would be the Elder. I'll go get him, so please wait inside." "Uh, all right…" Pressured by the girl's lilting speech, he went down the ramp and stood in the sewer. It was unexpectedly spacious inside and cleaner than he expected. However, the strong stink of many years of human wastewater had become ingrained in the walls and made his head hurt. But the girl seemed used to it and said, "Please wait here," and bounced off into its depths. Rentaro looked at her departing back with complicated emotions. Manhole Children. Children who had become orphans after losing their parents and siblings during the war. As he started looking around after his eyes became used to the darkness, he could hear a clanging sound reverberating from inside a pipe, and a man appeared. He was short, and his hair was white, but his spine was straight. He wore glasses and gave the impression of being intellectual. He used a wooden cane with a rubber end, but he still looked too young to be an Elder. "I'm Rentaro Satomi," said Rentaro. When he gave the man his civil officer business card, the man looked at it carefully and then said, "Aha," nodding. "Are you the guy that strange girl from earlier called 'Elder'?" "Ah, Elder is a nickname," the man laughed. "I'm Matsuzaki. But I'm surprised, too. Maria said, 'A guy who's a police with his right hand and a sex offender with his left hand is here.' I thought it was some kind of riddle." The girl from earlier appeared to be called Maria. It would probably be hard to make her understand the difference between a police officer and a civil officer. "Excuse me, but what do you…?" Rentaro ventured. "Oh, I look after the children here." Rentaro was silently moved. The man wasn't homeless but probably lived here of his own accord. He couldn't help looking a little shabby, but when he smiled, his gentleness shone through. Rentaro thought he must have once worked as some kind of educator. The man pushed up his glasses with his middle finger and looked into Rentaro's eyes. "It's warm in here compared to outside, isn't it?" "Yeah, now that you mention it." Rentaro had actually noticed when he entered. He thought the sewer would just block the wind and rain, but with this warmth, it would not be hard to live through the winter. "It's because most of the drainage from the power plants is hot." "Oh, that makes sense. But it's easy to get sick with this sanitation environment…right?" After he said it, he thought it was probably rude and added the last part. But the man laughed loudly. "That's not true. The girls are actually more resistant to this environment than us normal people, thanks to the Gastrea virus. Even in the past, when this area was flooded with Gastrea, the Gastrea didn't come all the way to the sewers, so this is a pretty comfortable place to live." Rentaro looked into the water pipe where the girl named Maria had disappeared. "So, is she one of the Cursed Children, too? She lifted that sixty-kilogram manhole cover like it was nothing." "Did you notice? She still cannot control her emotions well. I hope that she will be able to leave here someday and live among normal people, but it's problematic if her red eyes give her away, so she needs to at least learn to control her emotions." The man looked like he was having fun twirling his cane as he explained. Rentaro thought about the girl called Maria. All of the Cursed Children were female. To begin with, all new lives in the womb are female for the first seven weeks. Then, the embryo's sex is determined, and some become male. The Gastrea virus mutated the gene that determined the sex, so none of the Cursed Children became male. "Mr. Matsuzaki… Aren't you one of the Stolen Generation?" Rentaro asked. "That doesn't matter," said the man. "When Gastrea invaded, unfortunately, the virus also infected children in the womb. The girls, the Innocent Generation, are victims." "If only everyone thought like you…," Rentaro sighed. "I completely agree with you." "It can't be helped. It's not a grudge that will go away in ten years. Everyone has become overly sensitive to the word Gastrea, so it's only natural that they would hate having children walking around town who carried the virus in their bodies." Feeling comfortable with this unexpected sympathizer, Rentaro could have kept talking about this same subject, but then he remembered what he had come for. "Sorry, I'm in a hurry. Did this girl come here? Her name is Enju, Enju Aihara." He showed the picture to Matsuzaki, who appeared to think a little before shaking his head. "Sorry, I don't know." Well, Rentaro hadn't expected to find her this quickly. Of course, he wasn't going to get discouraged over something like this. As Rentaro bowed to leave, for some reason, the cane stretched out to stop him. "Where will you go now?" Matsuzaki asked. "I'll search all of District 39," said Rentaro. "It's her hometown. I'll look for her until I find her." "From the looks of it, you are a Promoter whose partner ran out on you." Rentaro suddenly couldn't speak, and his face looked frantic. That appeared to be enough to confirm Matsuzaki's suspicions. "Does it have to be this girl?" Matsuzaki asked. "What…?" said Rentaro, unsure of what he meant. "When you take care of those girls, you naturally get to know them, but it's not rare for civsec officer pairs to have personality conflicts. If a pair breaks up or if one person dies, you could contact the IISO to form a contract with a new Initiator. Your IP Rank will plummet, but at your age and with your record, it wouldn't be hard for you to bring it back up again." Rentaro inhaled and exhaled silently and closed his eyes. "I came looking for Enju, but not because I'm a Promoter or because she's my Initiator. You're a good guy, and I thank you for that. But let me say this—don't act all high and mighty without knowing anything!" Matsuzaki widened his eyes in surprise and dropped his cane. Rentaro clicked his tongue, thinking that he'd done it now. He had trouble controlling his emotions when it came to these topics. "Sorry… I didn't mean to yell. I'll leave now. Bye." Matsuzaki looked affectionately at Rentaro's departing back and then turned around slowly, raising his voice into the darkness behind him. "You heard him. He's a nice young man. Are you sure you want to let him leave like this, little lady?" 4 THE NEXT DAY. Rentaro was speechless as he hung up the phone. His arm fell limply and he did not recover from his shock for a while. Looking at his surroundings, he saw thin clouds like the previous day's and cherry tree leaves that looked like they were about to be scattered in the strong wind. The sky looked like it might start crying any minute. Outside the school, Rentaro gave a start as he heard the warning bell, but his legs felt heavy and he didn't feel like going to his classroom at all. During the break between first and second periods, he realized that he had to explain that Enju would be absent to her homeroom teacher, and went behind the school to call from his cell phone. The response he got was completely unexpected. Rentaro looked back at the school and went back and forth wondering if he should hurry back to his classroom or not, but in the end, he turned around and headed toward Magata Elementary School once more. He went to the staff room and met up with Enju's homeroom teacher. The teacher's face looked like he also did not understand what had happened. "Yes, Aihara is at school." Rentaro searched his memory and only just realized regretfully that her schoolbag and a set of books had been taken out of their apartment. After he left the manhole the previous day, he'd searched District 39 until sunset, but he didn't get any valuable information, and his feet dragged as he went back to the apartment. The teacher brought Rentaro to Class 4-3's room. They peeked at the situation inside through the window of the sliding door in the back. There she was. Even though it was break time, she sat alone, looking down resolutely, her eyes staring at the desk, proof of her iron will. There was extra space between her desk and the others, and her classmates treated Enju as if she weren't there. Rentaro's heart broke at the pitiful sight. He wanted to yell at her to stop. But this was probably Enju's way of fighting. He had no right to stop it. "Do you want to see her?" the teacher asked. He wanted to see her. He had a mountain of things he wanted to ask her when he did. As Rentaro squeezed his chest, he pulled out a syringe with the cap on from his breast pocket and handed it to the teacher. Inside was cobalt blue liquid medicine. "What's this?" said the teacher. "It's a special medicine…" Rentaro shook his head. "No, I'm not going to lie anymore. This is Gastrea corrosion-inhibiting medication. Please give it to her." Saying just that, he turned his back on the teacher, who looked at him questioningly, and cast his body into the violent winds. Would Enju continue to attend school like this? Even knowing that she would only get hurt? Losing his will to return to his own classroom, Rentaro headed for the university hospital where Sumire was. He had been going to school every day for a while, but he realized with a bitter smile that he was starting to skip classes again. As he passed the demon-engraved ward-objects and entered the basement, Dr. Sumire was just coming out of the operating room. Taking off her green operating scrubs and mask and throwing them in the trash, she lifted the corners of her mouth and said, "Hey." The queen of this basement room would always be here to welcome Rentaro with her strange smile no matter what, come hell or high water. "Doc, what were you doing?" Rentaro asked her. "I had some free time and couldn't take it anymore, so I went to break up with Charlie. Unfortunately, he has been turned into small parts. Oh, while it was extremely stimulating, I feel a little sad because now I have to find a new lover tomorrow." Rentaro looked at the double doors the fed-up doctor had come out of. The aromatics that were all over the room were only there to mask the intense odors coming out of the dissection room she called her "kitchen." "It's not much, but make yourself at home," said Sumire. Rentaro stood in front of the bookshelves that covered the left wall of the room. She was a movie maniac, and she had everything crammed on the shelves. He wasn't sure if it was because she was just the type of person who threw everything on her bookshelves, but next to The Tenth Dimension vs. the Eleventh Dimension: Settling String Theory!!!!, a book that looked like it was about quantum theory, was Forbidden Training 24 Hours: Karin's Big Brother's Pregnant Wife, an adult game. It was terrible. "You really are something else, Doc," he said. "What, you just noticed?" she said. "Famous universities admit people based solely on their test scores, so they end up as nests of eccentrics." Sumire laughed. "Don't be jealous, silly boy. I'm a genius because my parents were both geniuses. That brings back memories. When I was young, Mother used to read Dante's Inferno from his Divine Comedies to me as a bedtime story. This was all she read, and she read it over and over. The misery of a person who is sent to hell…" She laughed. "So your family's been strange since your parents' generation, huh?" "I'll dissect you alive." "No, please, not that!" "Oh yeah, by the way, the demon to scare people away out front has the face of the fallen angel, Lucifer, or should I say the demon king, Satan? It's related to the Divine Comedies. It's an unexpected foreshadowing, don't you think?" "If I cared less, I'd be dead." "Now, let's see…what were we talking about again? 'The word Erromango, that is the name of the island, Erromango, means "I'm human," but don't you think there's some truth to how it sounds like erotic?' Was that where we left off?" "Stop lying. We weren't talking about that!" Rentaro was disgusted. Why didn't anyone around him listen to what others had to say? "I was kidding, you stingy, inflexible boy. I can't help but feel bad for your beloved Kisara." "D-don't say that!" "Oh, speaking of which, your patron came by earlier." The hair on the back of his neck stood up, and he looked uneasily from left to right. "She was here?" "Yeah, and she wasn't happy. She said that since you never visit her in the student council room, she goes to your classroom to look for you, but you're never there." "It's 'cause I always run away to avoid seeing her." "Why are you doing that again? She's the school idol, isn't she?" "Well, she is kinda c-cute, but that's just because no one knows what that woman is really like. If she got worked up, she would shoot up the school with a Magnum semiautomatic…" But, he thought as his voice trailed off, she was also the one who provided Rentaro the civsec officer with weapons and ammunition free of charge. It was the natural order of things for civil officers and weapon companies to work together. For example, the Bastard Sword, Mark IV Gibraltar used by Shogen Ikuma was from Escari, the company that supported him. By backing him and having him use their products and be a tester for their new products, they could say "Used by Shogen Ikuma!" in their marketing campaigns, so it was extremely natural for companies like that to be devoted to finding talented Initiators and Promoters. However— "In what part of me does she detect any promise?" Rentaro said. "You have such an unfortunate face that she probably just felt bad for you," said Sumire. "That's ridiculous…" Saying that, he suddenly remembered something and narrowed his shoulders. "Doc, sorry… I actually came today because I wanted some advice." Putting on the long, white lab coat that hung over her chair, she pulled out a coffeepot and two heatproof beakers, saying "Hmm…" Filling the beakers to the brim with coffee, she slid Rentaro's cup over to him, where it stopped in front of him. As the hot coffee flowed into his stomach, Rentaro could feel the knot in his chest swell. Rentaro told Sumire everything—about the girl who had been shot, Enju running away, and what he went through to find her. They arrived at a moment of silence. Sumire, with her chin in her hand, had a grave expression on her face that Rentaro had never seen before. Rentaro suddenly felt uneasy and massaged the palm of his hand. "D-doc?" "Hmm? Oh, sorry, I was thinking about what to make for dinner tonight," said Sumire. "Hey, wait a minute!" "I stopped listening halfway through 'cause your worries are so normal that I was getting bored." "Wh-what…?" Seeing Rentaro staring frozen at his beaker, Sumire pushed in to deal the final blow. "Hey, Rentaro, mankind will become extinct one day, you know. It could be in a few million years, when the whole Earth freezes over, or in the far future, when it is swallowed up by the expanding sun. Or the land with the Monoliths could be destroyed tomorrow, and Gastrea could surge in and kill everyone. "Wonderful movies, famous novels written by literary masters, beautiful buildings—all of them will fall into ruin and return to nothingness in the far future. Do you understand that? From the universe's point of view, essentially, there is no reason for humans to be alive." Seeing the maniacal smirk on Sumire's face sent shivers down Rentaro's spine. She seemed to be overcome by nihilism. "Hey, Rentaro, why do Gastrea have to be exterminated, anyway?" He was caught unawares and faltered for a moment. "You can't say?" "No, wait," said Rentaro, finding his tongue. "It's because Gastrea are enemies of mankind who prey upon humans and rewrite their DNA, of course." "In short, it's because Gastrea are inconvenient organisms for humans to have around, right? But don't you think mankind is a little too spoiled? They rest on their laurels, certain that they are the pinnacle of evolution and look down on other organisms, but that's just because they can't help but feel superior to other organisms based on the consciousness they've acquired. "But if you think about it carefully, it is our consciousness that is telling us that our consciousness is proof that we are advanced organisms. As long as humans are humans, there is no way to prove that objectively. For example, what about Gastrea? They have the godlike ability to interfere with an organism's genes and redesign them, right? Couldn't you say that that is an ability that surpasses our 'consciousness'? It has died down in Japan, but around the world, there are a number of religions that consider the Gastrea sacred. That they are divine messengers who have appeared to purify this corrupt world." "Really?" said Rentaro, surprised. "Why…?" Sumire continued. "Humans are using up all the resources and are the cause of the rapid destruction of the world. From the perspective of the spaceship Earth, if Gastrea controlled the world, they would probably be able to steer the ship a lot better. There is that saying that all life is fleeting. The idea that the Earth is just a temporary inn for all living creatures to stay. Aren't we humans leaving the inn too messy? Wouldn't it make sense for us to make the bed neatly before we pass it on to the next generation of governors?" Rentaro pretended to drink his coffee, lost in thought. "Isn't that the same as the excuse of deep ecologists? With too much ecology, humans end up not being needed at all in the end. Even if there are people out there who affirm Gastrea, I can't agree with them. Anyway, if they're divine messengers, then what are the Cursed Children supposed to be?" "They are the most fit to be God's substitutes as messengers between humans and Gastrea." Before he knew it, he couldn't take it any longer and stood up. "Enju is human. She is a human with her own personality and her own will! Nothing more, nothing less." The coffee that spilled with his movement formed a stream that led to a small river that dripped off the edge of the desk and onto the floor. Sumire playfully spread her arms in approval. "That's exactly right. See? You do understand." "Oh." She had set him up. When he realized that, he suddenly became embarrassed and collapsed into his chair. She purposefully said things that would rub him the wrong way. Everything she had been saying was to force him to honestly confess his feelings about Enju voluntarily. She had him completely by the nose. "Hey, Rentaro," said Sumire. "At least you know who you are and where you came from. Enju doesn't even have that." "Huh?" said Rentaro, confused. "Most of the kids living in the Outer District were abandoned. Because those girls were born after we lost the war, they don't know their parents' faces, and all they've ever known is the small world of Tokyo Area. They're being spurned by so many people without even knowing anything, being looked down upon with scorn. The first generation of those girls will soon be entering adolescence, and because of those origins, they will definitely agonize over the loss of their identity. It was my hope that you could be there to help lead Enju through that—you guys are family, right?" Rentaro's mouth opened slightly and he felt shivers going down his spine. Just how far did she…? "Doc, I'm gonna go see Enju after all." Sumire waved her hand limply and had no further intention of looking at him. As he left the university hospital, his cell phone buzzed. It was a call from an unknown number. "Hello, is this Satomi." He knew who it was from the voice. "Yes, speaking." "This is Aihara's homeroom teacher. There has been an incident with Aihara… Can you come to the school immediately?" By the time Rentaro reached the school gates, panting, a small crowded had gathered. There was a donut-shaped wall of people surrounding two people who were having an argument. Three girls passed by Rentaro. "What's going on?" "Remember that girl from Class 3? Apparently, she was a Gastrea virus carrier." "No way! I think I touched her before. What should I do?" "I never liked her. She always acted like she was better than everyone else." Feeling an uneasy sense of déjà vu, Rentaro felt like he was being suffocated and loosened his tie as he drew near to the ring of people. From where he was, he couldn't hear what they were arguing about, but he could hear the loud voices of two people. However, what was unfolding was decidedly one-sided. When someone who sounded like a boy yelled, the crowd around yelled encouragement, but when the girl yelled, all she got were cold, dead stares and a critical silence. When Rentaro realized that the person inside the circle was Enju Aihara, he felt like vomiting and covered his hand with his mouth. His worst fears had come true. As he started toward Enju again, he heard murmurs around him that made him sick. "There really were Red-Eyes around us. Why don't the civsec officers exterminate them?" "Ugh. Her eyes glow red. I wish people like that wouldn't come to school." "Don't come out of the Outer District ghetto." Who do you think is protecting the peace of Tokyo Area?! Rentaro was overcome with the urge to run into the middle of the wall of people and send them all flying. But seeing their expressions, he had to put down his fist. Most of the people were onlookers or worthless gossips, but there were some pale faces who were seriously afraid that they would catch the Gastrea virus. If they had been educated properly, they would have known that unless they received a large amount of blood from the girl, they couldn't get the virus from her. Rentaro had seen the boy who was arguing with Enju in her class picture before. His face and closely shaved head looked like it belonged to an energetic little leaguer, but right now, his face was flushed purplish-red, and he was pressing Enju for an answer with a shrill voice. "My dad had been drinking every day and hitting my mom ever since his leg was eaten by a Gastrea during the war! Because of all your killing, my family's…!" Enju shook her head furiously. "No! That wasn't me. I'm human!" "That's disgusting, how you pretend to be human." "I am human!" "Shut up, you monster!" "I am human!" "Are not!" Rentaro looked down, clenching his teeth. It was too hard to watch. This wasn't a conversation anymore—she was just being unilaterally rejected. "No matter how hard you work for those guys, they will just keep betraying you." This was exactly what Kagetane had told him would happen. Tears of frustration welled up in his eyes. "Enju…" When Enju noticed him, her eyes opened wide, and she took a step back. "R-Rentaro…" Realizing that he was connected to Enju somehow, the wall of people parted, and an unpleasant silence descended. Rentaro tread firmly on the sand in the schoolyard with the bottoms of his shoes and walked slowly toward the center. The boy who was verbally attacking Enju faltered and said, "Wh-what do you want?" trying to act tough. Rentaro passed right by him and when he got to Enju, he hugged her silently. Rentaro closed his eyes and spoke slowly, punctuating each syllable. "Enju, let's change schools." In his arms, Enju's body moved slightly. Enju's cold body trembled as she drenched the shoulder of Rentaro's uniform with her warm tears. "I…don't want…to give up… I made so many friends, too…" "They're not your friends anymore." He heard Enju sniffling. "Is it all over for me? I can't start over anymore?" "Yeah, it's all over. It'll take some more time before the world is ready to accept you." "But we have to keep fighting?" Rentaro paused. "Yeah." Rentaro wiped her tears with his fingertips and put a handkerchief over her face, letting her cry for a while. Finally, he let go of her and made her stand, smiling at her. "Now, at least leave with your head held high." "But my bag is in the classroom." "Does that stuff even matter anymore?" "N-no! You're right!" Enju wiped her eyes on her sleeve and acted cheerful. That's right, Enju. At that moment, Rentaro's phone vibrated. He thought of ignoring it, but after seeing the name on the screen, he pushed the TALK button. "Satomi, I know where the source Gastrea's hideout is," said Kisara's voice on the other end. "It's in District 32." "Kisara, I mean President…," said Rentaro. "How did it get all the way to District 32?" "Listen to this. It looks like that Gastrea can fly." He thought he heard wrong and shifted his phone to get a better grip. "The infected became a Model Spider, right? So the source Gastrea should also be a Model Spider. What do you mean a spider can fly?" "Just hurry and get to the hideout. The other civsec officers are also after the source Gastrea"—she gave a snort of triumph and continued—"but the Tendo Civil Security Agency will get there first. I have your location on the GPS, and I've contracted someone amazing, so chase down the Gastrea with them. In order to get them, I had to use my tuition for next semester. Which means if someone else gets the credit, I'll have to drop out of school! Do you get it? So work hard and do your best." "Ah, hey, wait, Kisara…?" Hearing the empty dial tone, Rentaro sighed and flipped his cell phone closed. What in the world did she mean by "I've contracted someone amazing"? At that moment, he could hear commotion mixed with screams in the schoolyard. Rentaro looked in the direction the crowd was pointing. Before long, he could see something that got bigger as it drew near. Finally, it was so close that voices couldn't be heard over the thunderous roar of the rotors, and shock waves blew away the clouds of dust in the schoolyard. When Rentaro narrowed his eyes and looked up, the sky above him was dyed blue with the polished body of an aircraft. In the middle of the aircraft was the picture of a snake wrapped around a staff. It was the emblem of the god of medicine, Asclepius. Rentaro winced inwardly. Just like a rich girl. She did everything on a large scale. Looking dumbly into the sky, one of the teachers murmured, "Medevac helicopter…" 5 Shortly after the helicopter flew away, the streaks of rain suddenly got stronger, and it started raining heavily outside the window. Rentaro cupped his cheek nervously in his hand, squirming and checking the passenger seat over and over. Inside the helicopter, it was eerily silent compared to the wild weather outside. Enju was riding on the flap door in the back where a patient on a stretcher would normally be. Because of the wall between them, Rentaro, riding in the passenger seat, couldn't see Enju, who was riding in the back. I should have ridden in the back with Enju. The more he looked at the Shakujii River rising in the rain, the more he thought so. If he had, then he could have used the time it took for them to get to their destination to talk with her a little more. Rentaro looked at the glowing GPS dot that Kisara had sent him. Because they couldn't use the satellites in this rain, this was the position from ten minutes ago. It was highly likely that the Gastrea had already moved from this position. As they neared the Outer District, Rentaro could see the Monoliths blocking their way like a giant mountain range. It was still hard to believe that they were masses of Varanium. One probably had enough for hundreds of thousands of the Varanium bullets Rentaro used. Maybe more. "I wonder what that is?" said the pilot. Rentaro saw a flying object below them where the pilot was pointing. He rubbed his eyes and pressed his forehead against the window. About eighty meters in the air, he could see a flying object shaped like an arrowhead. At first, it looked to him like a kite flying in the sky. It looked like a white isosceles triangle floating above the forest. Beneath the isosceles triangle, he could just make out a shadow with eight long, thin legs. "A spider's parachute…," said Rentaro with realization. "Damn it, so that's what it was. Please go after it, pilot." "You know what that is?" asked the pilot. "Yeah," Rentaro answered. "That's the source Gastrea. Somewhere in South America, there is a small spider that weaves its nest into a parachute and uses it to ride hundreds of kilometers on the wind. Since it rides on the wind, it might be easier to understand if you think of it as a dandelion seed. Spider silk is basically a type of polymer, but that Gastrea was able to weave it into the shape of a kite…" Putting that much into words, he suddenly had a new thought, and his words trailed off. Why did it make it into an isosceles triangle then? Rentaro felt like he was missing something important. Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in his head. "I see… It's not a parachute, it's a hang glider. If that's the case, then it all makes sense. The front is tapered so that it can cut through the wind and give it lift. That's also why there were no sightings of the source Gastrea. If that's the case, then this is an amazing feat. Because there's no mature spider in the world that possesses this ability." In any case, he now knew why it wasn't caught by any of the surveillance cameras around town. Outside of the Outer District, the surveillance cameras were meant to watch people from above, so it was normal for them to be pointing down. To capture a Gastrea gliding far above was completely removed from what they were supposed to be used for. This Gastrea probably dug its claws into the side of a building and climbed to the roof to fly off using the eddies of wind around high buildings. It was smart. "Wh-what should I do?" said the pilot uncertainly. "Lower our altitude and match its speed to follow it like this from above," Rentaro ordered. Just then, there was the violent sound of an iron plate being punched through, and the aircraft lurched to the side. Rentaro hit his head on the glass a few times. "Oww…," he said. "What the hell was that?" "The door in the back was broken open," said the pilot. "That Initiator you brought did it." "Enju? No way, we're in midflight right now. What in the world is she trying to do…?" At that moment, Rentaro realized what Enju intended, and his blood froze. "Wait, Enju!" he shouted. By the time he yelled, it was too late. He could see Enju falling headfirst from a high altitude. Seeing Enju get smaller and smaller as she fell on a path following the law of gravity, Rentaro almost screamed. Aiming for the spider's hang glider woven from spider silk, Enju crashed into it with the speed of a shooting star. For the Gastrea, it was a violent attack that came from its blind spot directly above it. Enju and the Gastrea fell tangled together into the forest that ran along the banks of the river.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter002e.txt	BLACK BULLET "Lower our altitude," Rentaro told the pilot. "Hurry!" Rentaro quickly looked around and pulled out a vinyl rope he found tucked away to the side of the helicopter. He had no time to think. He pulled the rope out with all his strength, and doubling it up, he tied it around the side of the seat and pulled it a few times to test its strength. The instant he kicked open the door, the pouring rain and driving winds that had been absorbed by the thick glass blew into his face. Because both the back and side doors were open and the craft was affected by the winds, the helicopter had not been steady for a while now. Rentaro dangled the vinyl rope, but it was buffeted by the strong winds. In addition, the vinyl rope had a terrible grip compared to a rappelling rope. There was no lifeline or carabiner, either. When he looked down, it was so high that it made him dizzy. The pilot looked at Rentaro, his eyes wide with surprise. I wonder at my own sanity, Rentaro thought. The hell with it. He prayed, gripped the rope tightly with both hands and feet, and let his body down into midair. The vinyl rope, wet with rain, was much slipperier than Rentaro had imagined. He tried to brake, but he wouldn't stop. Just as he was finally able to control his speed by gripping the rope so hard the skin came off his hands, a sudden wind that even Rentaro could hear rocked the rope. By the time he realized what had happened, it was already too late. With a terrible floating sensation, he was thrown into the air. He spun both arms in panic, but the ground spun as he closed in on it with terrifying speed. Fall headfirst? No, I need to fix my position. I'll absorb the shock with my legs. His brain was functioning at amazing speed, and for just a brief moment, time seemed to slow down. In that moment that felt like an eternity, Rentaro somersaulted in midair and successfully pointed his feet downward. Immediately after, the ground rushed up to meet him. He felt the vibration all the way to his organs. His body was swung about, and after being spun around four times like he was being blown away, he found himself lying on his back in muddy water. Gasping to get back some of the wind that was knocked out of him, he spit out the disgusting bits of gravel that had gotten into his mouth. He couldn't stand until his head stopped spinning from the damage to his inner ear. When he felt like his consciousness was focused again, he gave a weak wave at the helicopter that was flying nervously overhead and felt pain in his whole body as he lifted himself up. It had probably been about twenty meters. He had heard that the farthest a human being could fall without dying was about fifteen meters, so he wasn't sure why he was alive himself. That was when he first realized that the ground he had landed on was muddy from the torrential rains. Where was Enju? That's right, Enju. Favoring his right leg, he stood and walked into the forest along the river. The intense rain pounded down on his face, and his sight was blurred with the water. On top of the uncomfortable sensation of his wet hair plastered against his face, his uniform was heavy from the water it had absorbed. Feeling cold, he rubbed his elbows with both hands. Beyond the tall curtain of evergreen trees echoed intermittent sounds of battle. When he climbed the small hill that obstructed his vision, supporting himself with his hands on the trees, he saw a battle unfolding before his eyes. On one side was the Model Spider Gastrea, with venomous fangs bared menacingly, thrusting skillfully with its eight long, thin, and rapier-sharp legs. Just as Rentaro had imagined, in order to fly, its body had been made as light as possible, and other than the yellow-and-black mottled pattern on its body, it looked just like a long-jawed orb weaver. However, Enju's red-hot eyes saw through the Gastrea's every move. Dodging the skillful thrusts, she swiftly hid herself underneath the Gastrea's abdomen and kicked upward with an iron-hammer-like force that made it seem as if she had Varanium in the soles of her shoes. The kick was only aimed at the Gastrea's abdomen, but its flesh was torn and its chin was crushed to pieces, fangs and all. It flew about ten meters into the air and spun once before striking the ground with its own weight. The bodily fluids that flew out even reached Rentaro's uniform. Not only were three of its thin, wirelike legs broken, but bodily fluids were gushing out of its abdomen. She had won. "Rentaro, I beat it! We were the first ones here!" When Enju saw Rentaro, she waved her arms excitedly at him. He sighed with relief. "Don't be so rash. I thought you'd given in to your despair, and I…" As he moved near Enju to put a hand on her shoulder, her face twisted in pain. "Are you hurt?" he asked. "I-I'm not hurt! I just twisted my left ankle a little. It'll be fine in an hour." He thumped Enju on the head. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" "You dummy…," Rentaro said. "You're not fine. Don't pretend it doesn't hurt! You're just a kid." Rentaro tilted his head and walked over to the Gastrea's corpse, looking dissatisfied. Collapsed with its shrunken appendages, the Gastrea was smaller than he'd expected. Like the information they had gotten said, the duralumin case in question was embedded in the Gastrea's body, stuck to the upper part of the abdomen. When he saw it in the picture, it was hard to tell how big it was, but he could see now that it was about wide enough to fill his arms. "What is this…?" said Rentaro. There were long handcuffs attached to the handle of the duralumin case. Before the victim had turned into a Gastrea, he probably connected the case to his hand so that he would not let it go. However, the victim's corrosion rate had passed the limit. The gloomy sound of the rain reached Rentaro. Rentaro held the Gastrea down with one leg and pulled out the case, handcuffs and all, and then took a few steps back. He shivered with a sudden chill down his spine. He didn't care what was inside anymore. He just wanted to hand over the case as soon as possible and get this job over with. Rentaro turned his neck to look around. There was no sign of anyone even though it was about time other civil officers should have arrived. The fabric of his clothes poked him, and his body prickled all over. He heard a laugh. "Good work, Satomi." "Huh?" The second he looked back, there was a white mask at point-blank range. Five long, thin fingers grabbed his face, splashing it with muddy water. Rentaro choked. He tried to break free, but he was thrown violently into the tree trunk with a terrifying force. He couldn't do anything about the inertia, and at the same time, something sharp crashed into his spine. The air was squeezed out of his lungs, and his vision grew dark as his consciousness faded. "Rentaro!" cried Enju. "Found you, Enju." As Enju rolled to the side instinctively, the plants behind her split into three before she remembered to yell and was blown backward. Kohina appeared with her Varanium-bladed short swords, taking a stance that looked like she was about to spread her wings. Rentaro stood with a fit of coughing, glaring at the man holding onto the mask with one hand while laughing evilly. "Kagetane… Hiruko…!" Kagetane spoke. "Even though your president's cute, she does some pretty nasty stuff. She was sniffing around my backers without caring about appearances. I'm acting on an order from them. They said to take care of this quickly." Rentaro felt chills as he held the duralumin case behind him and retreated. Kagetane snorted. "Are you waiting for other civsec officers to show up? You probably shouldn't. I killed almost all of the weaklings nearby on my way here." Rentaro noticed the splatters of blood coating Kagetane's wine-red tailcoat and shuddered with horror. He drew his XD and fired. Kagetane was ready. "It's no use. Imaginary Gimmick." As he yelled this, the bullets hit an invisible wall and bounced off in all directions. The sound of the rain returned to Rentaro's ears. Kagetane opened his arms magnanimously to show that he was unhurt. Not yet, thought Rentaro as he threw the duralumin case away. Pressing down, he stepped onto the ground, focusing his strength. "Tendo Martial Arts First Style, Number 8: Homura Kasen!" It was a straight punch with his whole body behind it. However, before it reached Kagetane, it collided with the stubborn bluish-white barrier and was thrown off course, hitting thin air. Kagetane drew a custom Beretta from its holster, and unfolding the bayonet, he stabbed Rentaro's shoulder and fired off three shots point-blank. Rentaro groaned. Pushing down on the intense pain in his shoulder, he stumbled. Something hit his back. It was a large rock. He couldn't run away. Kagetane slowly and deliberately raised his arm and faced Rentaro. "I'll show you one of my special moves—Maximum Pain!" Suddenly, the repulsion field around Kagetane expanded and rushed at Rentaro. It was a side attack that suddenly hit his whole body. With terrifying force, Rentaro was thrown onto the rock and blood gushed from his head. His body sank into the rock, his flesh was crushed, and his bones creaked like they were about to be pulverized. It felt as if his whole body had been run through a press. As Rentaro screamed, he finally understood. The first time he encountered Kagetane, the police officers who had entered ahead of him had been crushed to death against the walls. This was what he had used against them. Suddenly, the intense pressure disappeared, and Rentaro fell to his knees, coughing up blood. "Oh? You're still alive?" said Kagetane. Rentaro's vision wavered. His head hurt. He felt like he was going to fall apart. This was how strong Kagetane was. In addition to the huge difference between Rentaro's and Kagetane's combat abilities, there was Enju's injured foot. Rentaro's brain calmly calculated the most reasonable combat strategy, and he lowered his head weakly. "Enju, run." Enju widened her eyes and shook her head. "No!" Seeing Kohina getting ready to thrust behind Enju, Rentaro fired a shot at Enju's feet. She reflexively leapt into the air. Rentaro called at her with his eyes. Bring other civil officers here. Enju disappeared into the brush with a sad look on her face. "Papa! Enju ran away! I want to kill her! I want to go after her!" Kohina, whose duel had been cut short, was on the verge of a temper tantrum. "No, my daughter," said Kagetane. "If they meet up with other civsec officers, it will become troublesome. Let us finish our job." Kohina glared at Rentaro, and the next instant, just as he thought that she had disappeared from his sight, he felt a strong impact to his stomach. Two Varanium black blades appeared in there. It took him a few seconds to realize he had been stabbed from behind. "But you're so weak!" Kohina taunted. "So weak! So weak!" Blood frothing from his mouth, Rentaro swung backward with his fist, then ran away, firing shots from his gun. With each shot he fired, he felt the recoil in his wounds and almost lost consciousness from the pain, but he gritted his teeth and ran, firing without aiming at anything in particular. But even though he thought he was hurrying, his steps were extremely slow. His vision blurred. Raindrops stole the heat from his body. It was so cold. He felt like he was going to freeze. Pushing down on his stomach and forcing his way through the curtain of trees, he arrived at a clearing. It was the flooded river. It was flowing at a speed that was impossible to swim across. Turning slowly, he saw Kohina and Kagetane, along with the muzzle of that custom Beretta, looking at him. The white noise of the rain tapped his earlobe. Rentaro closed his eyes. Enju, Kisara, I'm sorry. "Any last words, my dying friend?" said Kagetane. "Go…to hell…," said Rentaro. "Good night." The Beretta fired into Rentaro's chest, stomach, thighs, not caring where it opened up its small black holes. Letting his gun fall, Rentaro's upper body slowly crumpled. At the edge of his darkening vision, he saw Kagetane crossing himself, as though he were a man of faith. When Rentaro's body hit the water, the river's flooded current carried him away with amazing force. It was noisy around him as someone roughly tapped Rentaro's cheek. Someone was calling his name. He opened his eyes with great difficulty, and long fluorescent lights slid one after another on the ceiling. At the edge of his vision, he could see people wearing white coats who looked like paramedics. It looked like he was being taken to the ER in a stretcher. His whole body was so cold it felt frozen, and his breathing was ridiculously rough. Inside his mouth was the unending metallic taste of blood, and he couldn't breathe. He probably had blood in his lungs, and he felt like he was suffocating to death. "It'll be fine." "We'll take care of you." The empty words the paramedics chanted as they pushed the stretcher went in one ear and out the other. With a loud bang, he was thrust into the operating room, and a female doctor wearing green scrubs peered at Rentaro. She looked like skin and bones, overcome with grief, with only her sunken eyes glittering. Rentaro tilted his head, but the instant he saw himself in the mirror in the operating room, he almost screamed. Rentaro's right arm and leg were torn off, and his left eye had been gouged out. But the most surprising part was that his body had shrunk. It looked like a child's. No, that's not it, he realized. I see. This is the past. The female doctor looked coldly down at Rentaro as if he were about to die, and thrust the pieces of paper she had in each hand at him. "Hey, you're Rentaro Satomi, right? Nice to meet you. And soon, I'll say good-bye. In my left hand is a death certificate. In another five minutes, I would've finished my notes on this, and you would have quickly been erased from your family register. And in my right hand is a contract. This can save your life, but you must offer up everything but your life. Choose. You can just point with your left arm." Just lifting his arm caused an unbelievably intense pain. His hand was shaking ridiculously, and the blood overflowing from his mouth stained the stretcher. His body trembled like he had the shakes. Suddenly, Kikunojo Tendo's words replayed themselves in the back of his mind. "If you do not want to die, survive, Rentaro." As he pointed with his unbelievably white hand, the doctor said, "Good boy," and smiled with satisfaction. Then, Rentaro lost consciousness.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter003a.txt	BLACK BULLET BLACK BULLET CHAPTER 03 THE GASTREA THAT DESTROYED THE WORLD 1 The first thing Rentaro heard was a scratching sound. He felt like he was wrapped in something very soft. It was warm and comfortable. Then the strong smell of medicine pierced the membrane of his nose. He felt a faint light on the other side of his eyelid. A bitter taste remained in his mouth, and he grimaced. He returned to consciousness feeling like he was crawling at the bottom of a swamp. He was still surprised that he was even conscious. He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids were so heavy that his eyelids just flickered. After a while, he could see the ceiling fuzzily. Unlike the wooden ceiling in his apartment, this was a bluish-white ceiling. He was lying in a bed. Kisara came into his line of sight. She was wearing her Miwa Academy uniform, and her eyes were wet as she looked down at Rentaro. He could smell the scent of shampoo coming from the tips of Kisara's hair that were tickling his nose. It was such a deep, glossy black that it looked tinged with green. Thinking she was pretty, Rentaro gazed at her for a while, his head still fuzzy. "Hey, Kisara." He tried to make it sound as peaceful as he could. Kisara squeezed her eyes tightly and bit her lip, her eyelids fluttering, finally smiling earnestly through teary eyes. "Welcome back, Satomi." Rentaro smiled wryly. "Is this heaven?" "It's still hell, you idiot." Rentaro looked at the side table. "You peeled an apple and cut it for me?" Kisara wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "Do you want some?" "No, even though I don't think I ate anything, I don't really feel hungry." Forcing his troublesome body to turn his head, he looked out the window and saw that the sky had cleared and a crescent moon was peeking at them. Rentaro turned back to Kisara. "How long did I sleep?" "A full day and about three hours. It was a major operation. The doctor was about to give up. But at the very end, your heart started to beat. You hadn't given up on living. You did well." Kisara traced Rentaro's chest with her index finger and tapped twice above his heart. Rentaro's heart fluttered a little. As he tried to force his upper body up, Kisara held him down, but when Rentaro shook his head slightly, she didn't try to stop him any longer. He checked to make sure he had his right arm and leg and gently touched his left eye. "You're really supposed to be resting completely," said Kisara. "Kisara, how did you know where I had been washed off to?" asked Rentaro. "Because of this." Saying that, she dug in her bag and pulled out Rentaro's gun. The slide stop was raised and the slide lock was on. It was his XD in the "hold-open" position. If he remembered correctly, he had dropped it during the fight. "This had fallen next to the river. That's why I thought maybe you were downstream, so we searched there." He finally understood the reason he was alive. Rentaro opened and closed his hand to make sure everything was working. Suddenly, he realized that Kisara was peering at him intently. "A lot happened while you were sleeping, Satomi," she said. "Hmm… Where should I start?" Kisara lifted her chin prettily as she forced her mouth into a smile. "We might die soon." "What?" said Rentaro. "More accurately, all the residents of Tokyo Area might die soon." "Don't tell me Kagetane Hiruko is…" "All the civil officer representatives were just gathered and told the truth behind this job. Listen calmly. Inside that case is a catalyst of some kind that can summon a Stage Five Gastrea." He couldn't react right away. Before he knew it, his palm was damp with sweat. "Stage Five—as in the eleven Gastrea who destroyed the world…right?" "What else is there?" I see. That's why there would be a Great Extinction… Aloud, Rentaro said, "But Kisara, there's no way anyone would be able to just call out a Stage Five!" "It is possible. That was the first I'd heard of it, too. Apparently, someone important from the Seitenshi faction was covering it up." Rentaro clicked his tongue as an image of the Seitenshi and Kikunojo came to mind. That's why he hated people in authority. "Please, keep going." "All the civil officer representatives were brave," said Kisara. "No one fainted or fell into a panic, and only a few people rushed to the sink. The rest were quiet." Rentaro said nothing. "I heard from Enju that you fought Kagetane Hiruko. How was it?" "He's too strong… He's not human." "The Seitenshi's group gave us information about them. Promoter Kagetane Hiruko. Apparently, his repulsion field can repel antitank rifle bullets and stop the iron ball at the end of those tower cranes used in construction. His Initiator is Kohina Hiruko. She is a Model Mantis—in other words, she is an Initiator with the genes of a praying mantis, and with long-enough blades, she is invincible in a close fight. This pair had their license revoked because they caused too many problems, but before that, their IP Rank was 134. You're lucky to be alive." "They were ranked 134?!" Rentaro's eyes opened wide. No wonder they were crazily strong. It was the first time he had ever seen such a high-ranking pair with his own eyes. He thought again that it was amazing he was still alive. "Kagetane Hiruko and Kohina have currently run to the Unexplored Territory outside of the Monoliths and are making preparations to call the Stage Five into Tokyo Area. The government is spearheading plans for a large-scale operation." "I can't believe all that happened while I was sleeping…" Suddenly, they both stopped talking, and they were wrapped in the stillness of the night. Kisara's eyes narrowed sharply. "Now, Enju, isn't it about time you came out?" "Huh? Enju?!" "Perverted bastard!" Rentaro heard Enju's voice close by. At that moment, the blanket in Rentaro's bed was lifted, and Enju appeared. Rentaro was the most startled of them all. "Woah, hey…you little…don't tell me you were there the whole time…?" "I slept next to you this whole time. And I heard everything. I heard your love-struck voice. What's so great about Kisara, anyway? Kisara's just a pair of boobs!" Kisara made a disgusted face at being called a pair of boobs. "Anyway, I was comatose until just now," said Rentaro. "I can't believe you could sleep next to me like that." Enju held her head up proudly. "It's because the nurses and doctor were idiots." "I wasn't asking about your methodology. Don't crawl into my bed. At least let me rest while I'm comatose." "It's none of your business where I sleep." "Hey, you little…" "Rentaro," Kisara cut in. "Don't you have something more important to say to Enju?" Rentaro paused. "That's right, I'm sorry for giving you that order." An arm wrapped tightly around Rentaro's neck. Silently, Rentaro hugged Enju's thin body back. "I'm a failure as a guardian, huh?" "Completely. You are completely hopeless as a guardian." Contrary to her words, Enju looked like she was about to cry. "Do you know how I felt when I thought you were about to die…?" Rentaro patted Enju's shoulder to comfort her. "I'm really sorry…" At that moment, Kisara's cell phone rang. Her ring tone was Ravel's Pavane for a Dead Princess. After saying a few words, Kisara gave the phone to Rentaro. "Satomi, it is I." Rentaro stared at the phone in surprise for a brief moment. "What do you want now, Lady Seitenshi?" said Rentaro. "Satomi, the pursuit of Kagetane Hiruko has begun," the Seitenshi informed him. "Many civil officers are participating in this, the largest operation of its kind to date. I am sorry to ask this of you while you are still recovering, but I would like you to participate in this operation." "There's one thing I want to ask. That man, Kagetane Hiruko, is…" "I'm sure you've already heard some of it from President Tendo, but ten years ago, he killed many of the staff at a government hospital and deserted. In the confusion following the war, he changed his name and became a civil officer. We, the government, had been covering up the fact that he deserted." Rentaro gripped the cell phone so hard that he almost crushed it. "Why didn't you take any countermeasures against him?" "Satomi, the New Humanity Creation Project is a project that does not exist. A soldier who did not exist cannot desert." "What the hell?! Do you know how many people he's killed? It's all your fault! Why should I clean up after your mess? Like hell I will!" "Satomi, if you do not fight now, many more people will die. Your dear friends, the people you love. Could you bear that?" Rentaro hid his face in his hands and shook his head weakly. "Why…? Why me…?" "You know him best. You are the only one who can stop Kagetane Hiruko." Rentaro let out a deep breath. "All right. But I'm not doing this for you guys. Don't forget that." "That's fine. Good luck, Satomi." Rentaro ended the call and threw the phone back to Kisara. He felt like his arm was being pulled by something, and looking by his pillow, he saw a number of vital sign numbers. Rentaro checked to make sure he wouldn't sound the alarm, then unplugged it, pulling off the electrodes and needles one by one. When he touched his wounds, he grimaced with the intense pain, but he could do it somehow. It was probably thanks to the latest treatments he received in the ICU. On top of his wounds were recovery patches to promote fast healing, so as long as he took things easy, he should live. Checking to see that it was his own uniform in the paper bag on the shelf, he took off his hospital clothes and started changing. Kisara blushed and called him an idiot before she turned her back to him. "Satomi, can you win?" she asked. "I can't lose," he said. "You'll die." "I'm prepared for that." Rentaro could hear a squeak as Kisara bit her lip hard behind his back. "Must you go?" she said. "There's me and Enju, and the three of us together make up the Tendo Civil Security Agency. Isn't that good enough?" Rentaro paused. "Sorry, Kisara. I…" "It's all right. I won't ask you anymore. There's something that's been bothering me, as well, so I will look into that. When Kagetane Hiruko went outside the Monoliths to call the Stage Five, information was almost leaked to some of the media outlets. The Seitenshi managed the information quickly and just barely stopped it, though. I'm going to look into this matter some more." Rentaro thought that was strange as he tightened his necktie. If a Stage Five was about to take Tokyo Area, at worst, that could mean the whole Tokyo Area would be wiped out. If that news was broadcast, regular citizens would probably fall into a panic. Would it help anyone to have that information? Was there still a trump card hidden somewhere after all this? Rentaro announced that he was done changing. Righting herself, Kisara flipped her black hair, the moon behind her. "This is an order as your boss. Crush the Kagetane-Kohina pair and stop them from calling the Stage Five Gastrea. Satomi, I need you to work a hundred times harder than you've ever worked for me. And I'm going to work a thousand times as much as I ever did, for you." "I will definitely stop it," said Rentaro firmly. "I'll do it for you, too!" 2 IT WAS 9:00 P.M. Listening to the wasplike groan of the rotor, Rentaro looked carefully at the dark forest spread out below them. It was the first time he had ever ridden on a helicopter twice in such a short interval. The forest was shrouded in a deep darkness that the moonlight could not pierce. Rentaro had been in the hospital on the brink of death, so he had missed the Seitenshi's personal briefing, but based on the course of the helicopter, it looked like Kagetane's hideout was around the Boso Peninsula of the old Chiba prefecture. The pilot had pointed out the site of the New Tokyo International Airport earlier, but it was too dark to see. It was probably just ruins that had been converted into plant seedbeds, anyway. Rentaro wasn't really interested. Other than Abiko, Usui, and some other areas near Tokyo, most of Chiba prefecture had not been surrounded by the Monoliths in time. The helicopter had passed the Monolith border much earlier. They were already in the dangerous area where Gastrea tread, the Unexplored Territory. Somewhere here, a pair that had once held an IP Rank of 134 was hiding. It was about time the other civil officer pairs were dropped off by helicopters or other transport vehicles in the areas they were assigned to cover. Rentaro tapped his feet nervously as he rubbed his hands together. This was the full force that had been called out to hunt the Kagetane pair down. He had heard that there were many pairs other than himself involved in this operation. Among them, there should be pairs higher ranked than the Kagetane pair, as well. There was an extremely low likelihood that Rentaro would be the first one to find the Kagetanes' hideout and engage in combat with them. Even so, as time passed, he grew more and more nervous. What was this indescribable impatience he felt? Before they left, Rentaro stopped by the university hospital to visit Sumire. Looking at his face, Sumire threw a large shopping bag at him. Rentaro took it, tottering, and was surprised when he opened it up and looked inside. "It's from your patron," Sumire said. "She said everything she thought you might need was inside. Is that enough?" "Wow…it's more than enough…" Thanking the student council president in his heart, Rentaro attached the waist pouch and holster to his belt, filled the pouch with the different tools he needed, and changed the XD barrel for one with a silencer. He tried jumping lightly, and he didn't feel much difference in weight. Since his patron knew that Rentaro avoided wearing equipment like battle dress uniform, headgear, and bulletproof vests, she kept things that changed his appearance or added weight down to a minimum. Miori Shiba, the daughter of the CEO of Shiba Heavy Weapons. She really knew Rentaro well. "Man, how annoying," said Rentaro. "Now I have to thank her the next time I see her." "She has high hopes for you, doesn't she?" said Sumire. "Thank her by achieving great things." He instantly caught what she threw into his chest. There were five small syringes connected together like bells. Inside each was a red liquid, and a cap was on each needle. "That's my going away present," she said. "It's something I made while researching Gastrea. You know what I'm talking about when I say it's the AGV test drug?" Rentaro gazed at them in wonderment and kept looking at the drug inside. "Don't use it unless you have to," she continued. "If you go away, there will be fewer visitors to this basement room, and that'll be problematic." He didn't know what he could say to thank her, so he just stood still for a moment. "I have one important piece of advice," said Sumire. "Do you want to hear it?" "Y-yeah." Rentaro straightened. Sumire put her hands on his shoulders. "You know…if you die, you should die neatly." "Huh?" "I would prefer you to freeze to death if possible. No, no, that's asking too much. In this case, starving to death would be fine, too. I'll pour turpentine down your anus and cover you with natron salts and put you out to dry in the sun." "A-are you planning on turning me into a mummy and using me to decorate your lab?!" "You understand things quickly. That's right. Don't worry, as a burial accessory, I'll put a pair of Kisara's underwear on your head and put you up in the university where everyone can see!" She laughed evilly. "I've just decided! When I die, I'm going to die with a bunch of hand grenades in my arms. I'm gonna rest in pieces!" Asking himself what kind of threat that was supposed to be, he became a little depressed that he couldn't even die carelessly. "Rentaro, can I just say one more thing?" Sumire sat down and crossed her legs. Rentaro sat like he wasn't going to be tricked by her again. But he was wrong. "Ten years ago, from the day Gastrea first started exterminating mankind, my world changed completely. Heaps of bodies, streams of blood, mangled corpses… No matter how many words you used, it would not be nearly enough to describe that hell. However, even if that was the case, what I did to you cannot be forgiven." Sumire shook as she clutched the locket on her chest. Rentaro knew that there was a picture of her lover inside. "My conduct was abnormal at the time. I don't know what I can say to apologize." Rentaro hesitated a few times and then finally spoke. "Doc… I have never once resented you, ever since that day." Sumire didn't say anything for a while. Rentaro snuck a glance at the locket before returning his gaze to Sumire. Rentaro silently put his XD into its holster and turned to leave. As he was leaving, Rentaro looked at her shelves with her Western film collection and suddenly gave a thumbs-up. "I-I'll be back," he said falteringly. Sumire looked at him blankly for a moment like she didn't know what he meant. Rentaro was suddenly embarrassed, but he couldn't just pretend it didn't happen at this point, so he tried yelling it one more time in desperation. "I said…I-I'll be back!" The next instant, Sumire was holding her stomach with laughter. "Oh man, you think you have the face of a Hollywood star? Even if I forgave your terrible acting, you need to at least be able to say that without getting embarrassed. And you need to become a man worthy of that line. Don't die." He was suddenly pulled back to reality by a tug on his sleeve. The sound of the helicopter's rotors returned to his ears. "What's wrong?" Enju asked. "What are you thinking about, Rentaro?" "Nothing…," he said. Enju, bundled up in an extra layer of green flight jacket, was staring up at him. Her mouth had been clamped shut for a while as she fidgeted nervously. "Now that I think about it, is it your first time going to the Unexplored Territory?" asked Rentaro. Enju nodded. Rentaro understood. Things that one had to do outside the Monolith were definitely not something you thought about if you lived inside. He braced himself, thinking that he would have to provide her with the best support he could. "Is there anything you want to ask about before we start the operation?" "What is this helicopter called?" Enju asked. Rentaro looked around inside the aircraft. "It looks like parts of it have been upgraded, but it's probably the Japanese version of a Black Hawk." "I know that name! It's one of those weaklings from that retro movie I borrowed from Sumire where two of them crashed. Rentaro, is this going make a nosedive and fall headfirst, too?" The pilot looked over at them with an unpleasant look on his face. "Hey, idiot! What are you saying?" Rentaro apologized with a look, and was about to complain to Enju, but when he turned to her, she had such a dark look on her face that he couldn't finish what he was about to say. She was probably trying to get rid of her nervousness in her own way. No matter how much her strength surpassed the human norm, she was still a ten-year-old child. Looking at Enju, sometimes he forgot that. Rentaro decided he would stay with her to the bitter end, and nodded slightly with resolve. "Do you have any other…questions you want to ask?" said Rentaro. "Then…what part of this helicopter is upgraded?" asked Enju. "The helicopter again? You really like helicopters, don't you? The rotor has probably been changed to a newer model that makes as little noise as possible." The sound of the rotors interrupted every break in their conversation. "It's still really loud, Rentaro." "We're pretty high up, so from the ground, it should be a lot quieter. Inside a helicopter, you'd normally have to talk a lot louder to hear each other." Enju looked like she still wasn't satisfied with the answer and swung her legs. "Why do we need to be quiet?" "So we don't wake the Gastrea. There are some that wake up in the morning and sleep at night like us humans, but there are also nocturnal ones that are active at night. If we make too much noise, we won't just catch the attention of the nocturnal Gastrea, but we'll also wake up the ones that are sleeping right now, and it'll be troublesome. I'll teach you how later, but when we get to the ground, you need to make sure you move without making any loud noises. If not, terrible things will happen." Enju murmured, "I see," and looked up at him. "What was the Stage Five you were talking about in the hospital room? I thought Gastrea only went up to Stage Four." "Oh, that?" Letting his eyes look out the window, he could see the ghost town of a city below. Suddenly, he saw a small shadow in the window of a residential house. That was probably some kind of animal, or a former human. Inwardly, he thought, She's finally asked the question, huh? Rentaro answered her. "Where should I start…? Normally, Gastrea start with Stage One, and then move on to Stage Two and Stage Three, growing bigger as they mature, with their skin growing harder, right? In that process, they take genes from various animals, so each one takes on a unique appearance as it matures. Because of that, there is no one way to deal with Gastrea." "Yeah, I already know all that," said Enju. "Yeah, I'm sure you do. You could say that the Stage Five is something outside of that general knowledge we have of Gastrea. Normal Gastrea go up to Stage Four—in other words, the complete form, where they are not supposed to grow anymore… But Stage Fives certainly exist. We confirmed their existence ten years ago, when Gastrea appeared repeatedly around the world at the same time. No one knows how they came to be, or where they came from, but anyway, they're so gigantic that they make Stage Fours look like children. Besides that, in order to not be crushed by their own weight, their muscles, skin, bones, and even their organs have been reinforced and are hardened. Doc once said that the Gastrea virus is like a designer that designs creatures, but this is the idea to its extreme." "But since we have the Monoliths, no matter what Gastrea comes, none can come into Tokyo Area, right? It doesn't matter how big they are, does it?" "That's a good point. That's where the problem is. The long and short of it is that the magnetic field given off by Varanium doesn't affect Stage Fives." Enju's eyes widened. She was clever enough to have noticed right away. Mankind made Monoliths out of lumps of Varanium and holed up like badgers in winter, preserving this delicate peace for the past ten years. But there was the possibility that that peace could be shattered. "That's not all. The most frightening thing is if even one part of a Monolith gets destroyed by a Stage Five. If that happens, Stage One through Stage Four Gastrea will come flooding in through that broken line like an avalanche. If that happens…" Enju held her breath as Rentaro trailed off, lost in his words. "Wh-what'll happen?" "We call cases like that Great Extinctions. In the past, it happened in the Middle East and Africa, but in a word, it's hell." Enju's face paled. In his head, Rentaro critically asked himself what he was trying to do, scaring her like that. After thinking about it for a while, Rentaro shook his head firmly. He couldn't treat Enju like a child anymore. She had a right to know the full extent of the dangerous situation occurring right now. "You understand, right, Enju? This is the critical moment that will decide whether or not Tokyo Area faces Great Extinction. Even I still have a hard time believing that there's a way to summon a Stage Five to Tokyo Area, but with the government spearheading such a large-scale operation, it is probably possible. And its origin is that duralumin case that was stolen from us. That's why we have to defeat Kagetane and his partner and stop it." "Are there a lot of Stage Fives?" Enju asked. "There were eleven that were seen," said Rentaro. "Miraculously, two were defeated. Generally, cells with the Gastrea virus automatically repair and regenerate their telomeres, so theoretically they won't die of old age. The ultimate goal of the civil security agencies is to destroy the remaining nine Stage Fives. No—you could say that's the wish of all mankind." Just then, the pilot's voice said, "We're here," over Rentaro. Rentaro stretched his hand out to Enju. "Now, let's go, Enju. Let's save Tokyo Area." Looking at the helicopter starting its way back after it dropped them off, Rentaro began feeling discouraged. The next time he would ride in a helicopter would either be when they successfully completed the operation, or when his corpse was carried out in a bag. From here on out, they would need to clear the path themselves. Rentaro and Enju had been dropped off in the middle of an extensive forest. The tall, dense evergreens grew thick, and the fact that it was nighttime contributed to the low visibility. Because of the torrential rains the other day, the whole forest was wet, and their nostrils were filled with the thick smell of humidity and the night. In any case, they couldn't keep standing there forever. Rentaro took the lead, and Enju followed him. Rentaro took the bush knife from his hip and cut away the branches that looked like they would get in Enju's way as she followed after him. With Enju's strong regenerative ability, a scratch caused by a branch on her arm would be healed in a second, but she still felt pain, so he never felt like it was acceptable for her to get hurt. A canopy of tall trees about thirty meters high covered the moon, and the forest was extremely dark. Unexpectedly, the map he had received ahead of time was completely useless. The map was ten years old, so he had naturally expected there to be differences, but it wasn't just a matter of vegetation—even detailed topography had changed. Rentaro quickly surrendered and was forced to use the light he had brought. He had not wanted to use the light because it would reveal their position to the enemy Gastrea and to Kagetane, whose location they didn't know, but he had no choice. He twisted the bottom of the switch cover. The 180-lumen circle of light cut through the darkness and illuminated various things. Rentaro looked at the scene and was dumbfounded. Even though it was chilly, ferns and shrubs that only grew in tropical rain forests stretched as far as the light shone. Among them, there was even a plant he had never seen before that twisted its trunk around the surrounding trees. It was like a strangler fig, but he had never seen one with a mottled black and red pattern. The strangest part was the sound. At night in rain forests near the equator, it would be noisy with the chorus of bugs, birds, and frogs, but this fake forest was dead silent and seemed as if it had already died out. "R-Rentaro…" Enju was spooked, too, and drew closer to Rentaro. "This is my first time out this far away from Tokyo Area," said Rentaro. "Isn't this terrible?" The distribution of plants and animals in an area taken over by Gastrea was always crazy, but this was the worst Rentaro had ever seen. Of course, there should have been living things that hadn't been made into Gastrea, but perhaps they were in hiding. In any case, they were nowhere to be seen. "Enju, we're gonna get out of here and head to a nearby town." "Weren't we told to look in this area?" she asked. Rentaro put his hand on his chin and thought a little. Currently, in the First District of Tokyo Area was the headquarters of this operation being spearheaded by the Seitenshi. Somehow, these government officials had decided that they would use a human wave attack to draw Kagetane out, and as Enju had said, Rentaro had been given instructions to search this area before they left. But, he thought as he shook his head. "No, let's go to the town after all. No human in their right mind would want to stay in a place like this for long. I'm sure Kagetane and his partner are somewhere else." Enju didn't object. After a while, they found themselves on a forest path. Under their feet, the soft ground changed to paved asphalt. From both sides of the road, the forest looked like it was trying to cover the road. The asphalt was cracked and broken. Enju started to jump on the road with a strange look on her face. "What lousy work. The Japan Highway Public Corporation is a tax thief." "Hey now," said Rentaro. "After we humans leave, the roads are more fragile than you think. Weeds start growing soon after, and then cracks develop, and when water gets in there and freezes and melts, the cracks start getting bigger and bigger. It's not necessarily cracked because the government wasn't doing its job." "I see. Then, let me correct myself. The Japan Highway Public Corporation is a good tax thief." "What's that supposed to mean?" Rentaro smiled wryly and looked up at the sky. Because there was a lot of oxygen, at least the air was fresh. They followed the road. When they got out of the fake tropical rain forest, they finally saw more familiar trees like dawn redwoods and maples. However, even though it was spring, the maple had red leaves, and the undergrowth showed signs of root rot and was a dark reddish brown, giving off a rank smell. When mankind one day beat the Gastrea, would they be able to find a way to restore the environment that had been destroyed this thoroughly? "Enju, someone in our line of work said they saw a quetzal in the Unexplored Territory before," said Rentaro. "A quetzal?" said Enju. "Yeah, the bird Osamu Tezuka's Phoenix was modeled after, the legendary birds whose males are said to be the most beautiful birds in the world. Of course, there aren't any in Japan, so I always thought he was lying, but with the ecosystem this messed up, I think it might actually be possible." "Rentaro, you really like animals, don't you? Do you wish to see one?" Rentaro pouted. "What, something wrong with that?" "No, if you want to see one, then so do I. If they are so beautiful, then they will surely be delicious." "You want to eat one?! They're legendary birds!" Just then, there was a growl in the distance, and Rentaro reflexively turned off the light and crouched down. Removing the XD from his hip, he pulled out the one-touch mountable silencer, fixed it on the muzzle of the XD, and slowly approached the sound. He could hear the sound of a small stream in the distance. That sound grew louder as they approached. Moving forward silently for about a minute, they slowly pushed their way through the thicket. It was closer than Rentaro had expected. He was paralyzed for a moment before he rushed back and crouched in the thicket. The first thing he saw was the thin pupils in the glowing yellow eyes. Its long, narrow snout was crammed full of teeth. From its head to its long tail, it was covered with a hard armorlike skin that glittered slimily. Placed as it was with only half of its body out of the river and with its thick skin, it looked like a heavy tank. "It's a gator," said Rentaro. "A gavial…I think? But…" Its long, thin snout was definitely different from that of an alligator or crocodile. But Rentaro still felt uncertain about that conclusion. It wasn't even worth being surprised at the body enlarged by the Gastrea virus, but it had five legs, and there were four extra eyes in places eyes would not normally be. The Gastrea virus was not perfect. There had probably been some sort of error after the body was designed when the cells were dividing that made it turn into that. Perhaps it could be called God's aesthetics, but most living things were created with symmetry. When that symmetry was altered, it was hard not to be revolted. The long, thin snout of the gavial had evolved into a shape suitable for catching fish, but, it was hard to believe that it subsisted entirely on river fish given the size of its body. The creature had also noticed Rentaro. It still didn't seem like it was about to attack, but it stared at Rentaro sideways. Cold sweat broke out on his palms. What should I do? Fight it? Rentaro dropped his gaze to his gun. Currently, in order to allow the silencer to work at maximum efficiency, his gun was loaded with what were called "weak charges," subsonic Varanium bullets that used less gunpowder and dropped the initial velocity to below the speed of sound. Thinking about the naturally tough gator skin being reinforced by the Gastrea virus, he thought that he if he aimed at its head, the cranium would probably stop the bullet. Enju pulled at his sleeve and shook her head slightly with uneasy eyes. He knew that she was telling him to ignore it. That was the last straw. Rentaro held out his gun and stepped back slowly so as not to provoke the creature. He didn't know what the five-legged gavial was thinking, but it kept its eyes on him, watching his every move. As soon as he lost sight of it, he ran as fast as he could away from it. Once he got to a place he thought was safe, he let out a long breath. His heart was still hammering loudly in his chest. He suddenly felt cold and started shivering. He didn't even have enough composure to laugh off his own cowardice. "If I hadn't stopped you, you would have started attacking, huh?" Enju said in an unhappy voice. Rentaro couldn't answer. "Even though you are more fragile than I am, you desire too much to walk in front of me." Once he thought things through calmly, he realized that there were too many problems with his risk and ammunition management. Thinking about what might have happened if he had tried to defeat the creature like that made him shake his head. "Sorry. I'll be more careful—" However, before he could finish, the vibration of a low explosion ripped through the air. Rentaro knew immediately what had caused it and clicked his tongue. "That idiot! Some civil officer pair used explosives in the forest… Why did they have to do that?" At that moment, although it wasn't clear where they had been hiding, from inside the forest, a cloud of bats flew out all at once, calling shrilly and flying above Rentaro's head as if going mad. Rentaro broke out in a cold sweat. This was the worst thing that could have happened. The forest was going to wake up. Calamity soon appeared. With a thud, a low sound different from before could be felt beneath their feet. It was the rumble of large bodies treading on the ground. It reverberated in all directions, and Rentaro couldn't tell where it was coming from. Next was a low growl that echoed in his stomach and made him look hurriedly around him. He thought it was the growl of the gavial from earlier, but it was something more twisted and sinister. Suddenly, Enju's face paled, and she stared at a single point. "Rentaro… What's that?" Even when he looked in the direction Enju was looking, all he could see was a large shadow. Rentaro turned on the light and then almost dropped it in shock. From deep within the canopy, a pair of large eyes were fixed on them. Its body was over six meters long. It had the fierce face characteristic of reptiles, with a long neck and a flickering red tongue. Small warts covered its face like boils, and Rentaro and Enju could smell the stink of rotting flesh on its breath wafting downwind toward them. Its body was green, and the bones of its arms had evolved to form wings, so it went without saying that it had mixed with some sort of bird Gastrea. It looked like a fairy-tale dragon. There was no doubt that this was a Stage Four Gastrea. It probably had a number of different bird and lizard species mixed in, but with its evolution progressed this far into the stages, it was hard to pinpoint exactly what the original animal was. Just then, Rentaro noticed that there were what looked like remnants of cloth caught in the Gastrea's fangs, and he let out an involuntary groan. With the government pushing through this operation without regard for material resources, he had known in the corner of his mind that there would be victims sacrificed, but he had blocked that out of his consciousness. Nevertheless, it bothered him. The dragon started to kick the ground nervously with its right leg, as if it were a runner getting ready to start running before a race. Keeping his eyes on it, Rentaro fished around in his pouch with shaking hands, but he soon realized that he didn't have a weapon that could work against such a large creature. At that size, without a heavy machine gun or antitank rifle outfitted with Varanium bullets, he wouldn't have a chance. "Enju," he said, "can you carry me and run?" Enju showed her understanding with just her eyes. Keeping his eyes fixed on the dragon, he put his arms around Enju's shoulders. Because of the difference in their heights, he was practically leaning on her, but this was no time to worry about that. "Enju, if you can't get away, leave me." "I cannot do that!" As she spoke, she kicked sideways with enough force to send them into the air. The cold wind hit Rentaro's cheeks, and when he opened his eyes slightly against the pressure of the wind, they were already in midair. Enju had hopped. She had jumped almost twenty meters while carrying Rentaro on her back. The cuffs of his clothes fluttered, and they stopped for one brief instant in midair. Right after that instant, they fell on the curve of a free fall, and the forest drew near with intense speed. Enju found a thick branch to land on with both legs on it and then leapt up again. This time, she made short jumps from branch to branch between trees that were about five meters apart, jumping faster than the eye could follow. Rentaro clung pitifully to Enju. Every time Enju jumped, he was swung about by strong G's and felt like he was about to fall off. Looking behind them, his eyes widened with shock. The fierce hunter was leaning forward in pursuit, trampling the trees in its way. The snapping sound of live trees being torn apart chased after them from behind. The pressure was more than he imagined, and it made him want to scream. Rentaro fought against the pressure of the wind and opened his eyes narrowly to look behind them. But he realized one thing. Those wings probably didn't function, or, like those of the giant pterosaurs of the past, had only limited functionality. If it could fly, then it would have followed them through the air. If it followed them on the ground, it would eventually hit its limit. It probably couldn't breathe fire like the dragons in picture books, either. Convinced that they could get away, he made a fist. But then, when he faced front again, he almost lost consciousness with despair. "Enju, it's a cliff." A cliff rose perpendicularly in front of them, and it was about a hundred meters above the vast forest below it. "Hang on tight, Rentaro!" said Enju. "Hey, don't tell me you're gonna—?!" Enju bent her knees low on the trunk she had just landed on and made a huge jump. Rentaro almost bit his tongue. The scenery passed by with amazing speed, and they leapt over the cliff and into the air. The strong wind whisked by, and Rentaro and Enju experienced a strange climbing sensation for an instant. Inertia and gravity cancelled each other out and they were completely still in midair. Rentaro's mouth gaped. There was forest as far as he could see. It was like a miniature scene. It was a moment when all his worries, thoughts, decisions, and past travels—nothing seemed to matter anymore. It was the moment he realized his own insignificance. Looking in front of him, the yellow moon seemed closer than usual. Even though he knew what he was doing was foolish, he stretched out his hand to grab it. He gave a small laugh. Just then, in the space between the forest and the moon, about ten kilometers away, he saw something strange and rubbed his eyes. A long man-made cylinder was stretching smoothly toward the sky. With just the silhouette, it was hard to gauge its size, but it looked to be about two kilometers in length. I see. So that's the Stairway to Heaven…? At that moment, Rentaro felt an unpleasant drifting feeling, and the inertia disappeared and gravity pulled at his body. Rentaro felt like he was about to be torn away from Enju, who was carrying him, and clung on hurriedly. He gritted his teeth and concentrated on not screaming. Enju was completely calm, and selecting two branches on the ground, she grabbed one as she fell. When the branch bent to its limit, Enju let go and grabbed the branch below it. Enju's thin arms were overloaded, and there was a snapping sound. However, the force of their drop did not decrease, and the two fell like lightning bolts into the middle of the forest. Countless leaves and branches scratched Rentaro's cheeks, and fresh blood spurted out. Enju landed with both legs on a large rock, and shattered pieces of rock flew in all directions. Thrown by the force, the two of them rolled on the ground a few times before finally coming to a stop. Holding back his body in a fit of coughing, Rentaro used his hands to push himself up and looked up at the cliff they had fallen from. Far up at the top of the cliff, the dragon looked frustrated at missing out on eating dessert and turned several times before letting out a howl and returning to the forest. Rentaro felt the strength leave his hands as exhaustion suddenly closed in on him in response. He almost collapsed as he let go of his focus. After all that, Rentaro and Enju didn't start moving again for another thirty minutes. Enju had hurt the joints in her body during the fall and needed some time to recover. Of course, compared to the weak Rentaro, her recovery time was amazingly fast. He had been planning on walking in front and getting rid of anything suspicious, but he changed his mind and decided to have Enju help, too. He lectured her as they walked side by side. "You have to be careful of the antitank land mines, the spring-type land mines, the guided mines, and the unexploded cluster bombs. These were scattered by the retreating self-defense force during the Great Gastrea War and left behind, so occasionally civil officers doing jobs in the Unexplored Territory will get hurt." He traced simple outlines of the shapes of the dangerous objects she should be careful of. "I see," said Enju. "But why did they do something that would mess up their own country so much during the war? Did they not realize that they would be the ones who would have to deal with it later?" Enju made such a good point that Rentaro was caught off guard, and he pondered for a moment. "You're right… Now that you mention it, that's exactly right, but ten years ago, mankind was cornered and would do anything. Land mines and poison gas were just the tip of the iceberg. At the time, in order to survive, a bunch of inhumane things were allowed, so no one would've batted an eye at things like that." Looking at the small girl walking next to him, he thought to himself that this was the difference in perception between the Stolen Generation, who experienced the horrors of ten years ago, and the Innocent Generation. He uncharacteristically felt a generation gap. Enju grinned. "Don't worry. Now there are strong people like me fighting, so everything will be fine. If the enemy finds us, I'll carry you again and jump away." "Thanks to you, I don't think I'll be scared of the free-fall rides at the amusement park anymore." "I'm glad. You should thank me." Rentaro let out a large sigh. She didn't understand sarcasm when she heard it. "But something seems strange…," said Enju. "Ever since coming here, I've been feeling excited for some reason." Enju opened and closed her hands curiously. Of course you would, agreed Rentaro silently. The Varanium that Gastrea hated also had an effect on Enju and the other girls, who were infected with small amounts of the virus. Most Initiators, when they went outside of the Monoliths, felt temporarily better, or even high. Their wounds also healed faster. Even as they talked, they proceeded with caution. Even though they were a considerable distance away, the surrounding forest had been woken up once, so they couldn't be too careful. Once in a while, Rentaro would put his ear to the ground and send Enju high up into a tree to check for danger. It slowed their progress considerably, but in the end, that gave them early notice of a light that was burning far away. As they approached warily, there was a break in the brush, and they could see an obviously man-made stone building. It was a small, one-floor stone building, and at the entrance was a wall of piled sandbags. It was a pillbox shelter built during the Great Gastrea War. It was dilapidated and had lost most of its function, but it still served as a place to get out of the wind. Light leaked from inside. Rentaro's heart started beating faster at the thought that it could be Kagetane. Giving Enju a hand signal, he took the gun from his hip and approached from the back. Enju approached from the front. He could hear the crackling of the firewood burning. Apparently, there was a fire burning inside. From the holes in the pile of rocks, he could see the changing shadows created by the flames. Rentaro stood with his back to the wall and took two deep breaths. Then, he held out his gun and rushed inside. "Don't move!" he said. Rentaro's XD and the muzzle of his opponent's shotgun intersected at almost the same time. Rentaro was speechless when he saw his opponent. "You're…" His opponent panted, looking at him with blank eyes. She was wearing a dark, long-sleeved dress with tights. It was an outfit unsuitable for the hell of the Unexplored Territory. However, his eye was drawn to the painful-looking wound on her arm that blood was gushing out of nonstop. It looked like she had been bitten by a giant beast, and the wound had been gouged out with tooth marks. Rentaro remembered seeing the girl before. "If you do not put the gun down, I shall kick your head off." With that cold threat, Enju, who had snuck in from behind, kicked her leg out to lay it on the back of the girl's neck. "Wait, Enju," said Rentaro. "She's not our enemy." "Wha…?" Enju looked from Rentaro to the girl a few times and finally put her leg down reluctantly. Rentaro went to where the girl was sitting weakly and looked her in the eye. "Hey, we met once at the Ministry of Defense. Do you remember me?" "Yes, of course." The girl spoke as she exhaled painfully. "Anyway, let's stop the bleeding and get this bandaged up. We can talk after that." Then he noticed Enju watching them from the side, grinding her teeth. "Wait a moment," she said. "I do not know this woman. Explain your relationship with her, Rentaro." Rentaro turned back to face Enju. "Oh yeah, this is your first time meeting. She's the Initiator partner for a Promoter named Shogen Ikuma." 3 When they threw the dry branches they had gathered into the bonfire, the fire revived and rapturously scattered orange light on the stone walls. Once Rentaro used his emergency kit to stop the bleeding and disinfect and bandage the wound, the wound started regenerating with help from the Gastrea virus. However, her regeneration speed was very modest compared to Enju's. Afraid the enemy would approach while he was treating the girl, he had Enju stand watch. However, Enju seemed put out for some reason and pouted, saying, "I don't accept that girl!" and "If it were me, my wound would've healed in three seconds!" as she went outside the pillbox shelter. Rentaro wanted to say that three seconds was too short, but she seemed really unhappy, so he didn't. The girl's name was Kayo Senju. Rentaro was astounded at himself for not knowing the name of the girl he had thought of as the "hungry girl" until now. "For some reason, it looks like your partner is extremely angry." The girl spoke with a strangely cool attitude. Rentaro looked in the direction Enju had gone. "Jeez, why did she suddenly get so upset? Don't tell me she's already at that rebellious age…?" "I think the reason is obvious…" She spoke as if spitting out her words into space, with a tone devoid of all emotion. Rentaro was at a loss. Because she had a calmness that didn't match her age, it was hard to read her emotions. At the Ministry of Defense, Rentaro had thought she had a better sense of humor than that, but apparently he was wrong. "Do you think I am strange?" the girl asked. Realizing that he was staring, Rentaro shifted his gaze. "No, not really…" The girl closed her eyes and put her hands to her chest. "Do not worry about it. I am used to being treated this way. I am also one of the first generation of Cursed Children. However, because I possess the Dolphin Factor in my body, I have a higher IQ and better memory than normal Initiators. My IQ is at around 210 points." Rentaro was startled. "You have more than twice my IQ?" "Well, intelligence tests taken as a child have the tendency to overestimate." She showed humility even though she was a child. Rentaro was overwhelmed with a strange sense of defeat. "So then, you take the command and the rear guard with your brains, and Shogen is the advance guard? That's an unusual style." "That is just because Shogen has muscles for brains and has no patience, so he can't back up anyone. He still gets upset when we get battles taken from us. His way of thinking is old-fashioned and inflexible, which is problematic." The girl broke a thin branch in two and threw the pieces into the fire. Utterly amazed at the way she did not mince words, Rentaro looked at the shotgun lying beside her. "Let me see your gun." She thought for a while. "What if I say no?" "That's fine. If you don't feel gratitude for being rescued, you can do that." Kayo looked resigned and exhaled through her nose, handing him the gun. "If there's one thing I have learned, it is that when a good deed is done for a reward, it becomes corrupted."
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter003c.txt	BLACK BULLET Rentaro pretended not to hear as he examined the gun. Kayo's fully automatic shotgun with a silencer had an add-on-type grenade launcher unit on a 20-mm equipment expansion rail. Both were Shiba Heavy Weapons 2027 models. When Rentaro slung the launcher out to the right and peeked into the chamber, he frowned. Then he looked up, staring at the girl in front of him. "Why did you use explosives in the forest? This is the empty case of a 40-mm high-explosive projectile." It was because of that that Rentaro and Enju had been chased by a Stage Four Gastrea and almost died. In the Unexplored Territory, preserving silence was a hard and fast rule no matter what one was doing. A pair whose ranking was far above Rentaro and Enju's should have known this. Kayo hugged her dainty knees and gazed at the fire for a while. "Shogen and I were caught in a trap," she said. "Thanks to that, we were not only injured, but we were also split up." "A trap?" said Rentaro. "Yes. We were also dropped off in a deep forest, and inside the forest, we saw a short flickering light pattern. We thought it was an ally and approached with our guard down." Hugging her knees harder, the girl became smaller. "If we had been more careful, we would have realized that no one would use such a dim, blue, will-o'-the-wisp-like light." Rentaro gulped. "What was it…?" Kayo glanced at him and looked back into the fire. "The first thing I noticed was a rotten smell. There was an intense stink of something rotting, and a large swarm of flies had gathered. The Gastrea had disgusting flowers growing here and there, and its tail was emitting light. When it saw us, it trembled disgustingly, like it was delighted. I have seen many different kinds of Gastrea, but that stopped me in my tracks. "Thinking I would be killed, I used the high-explosive projectile at the spur of the moment. After that, it happened as you imagined. All the Gastrea in the forest woke up, and while we were being chased, I got separated from Shogen. That was also when I was bitten on the arm. Fortunately, only a small amount of bodily fluid was injected, so it does not seem like it will have much effect." Rentaro put his chin in his hands as he listened to Kayo's story. "This is just a guess, but I think that was a Firefly Gastrea." "A firefly?" "Yeah, fireflies live on pollen and nectar, but did you know that there are fierce carnivorous fireflies, too? They imitate the light patterns of other fireflies and prey on the fireflies that approach them. In order to prey on humans, it probably evolved specially to emit a light pattern it thought would draw humans. You guys fell right into its trap. The plants surrounding it were probably orchids. I've heard that there are species that give off smells like mold, urine, and rotten meat in order to lure flies and small winged insects to them to carry their pollen… It probably synthesized a smell that would draw humans. It's unusual to see a Gastrea mixed with a plant type. With a specimen specially evolved that much, it is probably a Stage Three." Kayo's eyes widened. "Is that possible?" "Gastrea do that in order to outwit mankind. Humans wouldn't lose to dumb organisms." Kayo didn't say anything for a while. However, when the tension in her shoulders was finally released, she let out a slow breath. "Anyway, you did a good job guessing the type for a Gastrea you didn't even see. Are you a fan?" "Ugh… Don't call me that." "You seem like you had a gloomy childhood where you were pleased when you submerged an anthill with water. Were you like, 'Hah, drown! It's Noah's great flood! Know the wrath of God!'? I imagine you had fun, huh? I understand." "Yeah, that's right, that's how it was. I killed a ton of ants, I'm sorry, all right?" Kayo looked amused for the first time and crinkled the corners of her eyes. Then she dropped her gaze back to the fire. "But it must be nice. I do not think I would be bored if I had a Promoter like you. I am just a little jealous of Enju." Rentaro tried to act as nonchalant as possible as he asked, "Do you have fun with a Promoter like Shogen?" She paused. "Initiators are tools used to kill. That is all there is to it." Kayo did not answer Rentaro's question. "Enju has probably never killed a person before, has she? I can tell by looking at her eyes." "That's true, but you have?" "Yes. I killed a pair that we met along the way here." At first, Rentaro thought he had heard her wrong. "Why did you do something like that…?" "Shogen ordered me to. When we were lured in by the firefly's light, if it had been another pair of humans and we had the chance, we probably would have done the same then, as well. According to Shogen, 'I won't let anyone else kill that jeering masked bastard.'" Rentaro made a fist. "You don't think anything of killing someone?" "I was scared. My hand shook. But that was it. This was my second time. I think I will get used to it eventually." Anger flared inside him. Before he knew it, Rentaro had grabbed at Kayo and pushed her down. "Don't joke around! The scariest thing about killing someone is getting used to killing. When people realize that they won't get punished for killing someone, that's when they forget that it's a sin." "Is that something you can say because you have stained your hands with murder before? You have mysterious eyes, Satomi. It seems you have had a complicated past. They are kind, but extremely frightening eyes…" Rentaro paused. "Hey, do you know why Enju speaks so pompously? It's because she thinks she is doing the important job of protecting mankind that she is able to speak proudly with her head held high. Simple, isn't she? Once, there was a time when Enju half-killed a has-been Promoter. Enju moped around the operating room the whole time, and when she heard that he had survived, she was happy the whole day and even went to visit him in the hospital. I think that's just fine." "Satomi, that is just lip service." Kayo looked up at Rentaro with a strange look in her eyes. The orange from the bonfire was reflected in her eyes. Rentaro got up slowly and turned away from the girl. "Sorry. I don't know why I'm saying such self-important things. Damn." "Why are you apologizing?" Something grabbed the sleeve of Rentaro's uniform tightly. "Huh?" said Rentaro. "Why are you apologizing even though what you are saying is right?" asked Kayo. "You are right. Please have more confidence in yourself. I feel odd right now. I do not understand this feeling. Even though I immediately thought of dozens of rebuttals to what you said, I do not want to deny the words you spoke… This is the first time I have ever felt this way." "Kayo…" A strange emotion welled up in Rentaro's chest. The impression Rentaro had of her from their first meeting had not been wrong after all. As she quickly wiped her eyes on her sleeve, the chink in the armor he saw in the weak ten-year-old girl went away. "Do you want something to drink?" Kayo said as she pulled out a kettle and some instant coffee from her pack and started boiling water. Listening to the popping of the firewood, Rentaro looked at the ceiling. A sharp crescent moon shone in the sky that peeked in from the roof of the pillbox shelter that had collapsed in the wind. Looking around inside the house again, he saw the ruins of rusted small arms left behind by the self-defense force during the Great War. Rentaro picked up one of the bullets that was lying by a 9-mm gun and held it above the bonfire. Deep beneath the thick rust and dirt, the brass shone, lit by the orange light. "Do you know what this is?" he asked her. "It's called a 9-mm Parabellum. A Parabellum is—" She cut him off. "I know what it is. It came from the Latin that meant 'prepare for war,' right?" Rentaro shot a glance at Kayo. "As expected of someone with an IQ of 210. You know everything, don't you? Yeah, it means, 'If you seek peace, prepare for war.'" Kayo poured some coffee into a paper cup and handed it to Rentaro. His palms gradually warmed up. Kayo held her cup with both hands and blew on it to cool it down. "Is this the result of preparing to fight?" she asked. "Large numbers of land mines in the Unexplored Territory, large numbers of unexploded cluster bombs scattered everywhere, and after all that, all we won was this small miniature garden, far from peace." "It was a time when they couldn't worry about appearances, that's why," said Rentaro. "But in these past ten years, they have been able to carry out proper restoration." "Is the restoration they are doing these days really a healthy restoration?" For some reason, he was startled by her question. "Why do you ask that?" "I am part of the Innocent Generation who did not know the Great War. However, in the hearts of the Stolen Generation, whose children were devoured before their eyes and whose lovers transformed into ugly Gastrea, I can see glimpses of frank hatred. Public morals and sentiments are in disorder, and there are many weapons that are made especially for slaughter, like the Stairway to Heaven." Looking up in the direction Kayo was pointing, he could see a ladder-shaped object that was moving behind thin clouds. "This is no more than the tip of the iceberg," she continued. "You have also heard of the New Humanity Creation Project, right? The project was abandoned once people realized the fighting abilities of us Cursed Children, but there were experiments in the past to create the ultimate soldiers using the power of the Varanium alloy. I heard that they were even performing experiments on people. This is something that no one would have been able to imagine in a Japan before the Great War." Rentaro listened without moving a muscle. Kayo stopped talking and took a sip of her coffee. "Well, the latter part I thought was just an urban legend until I saw Kagetane Hiruko," she added. "Relying on that kind of power is something cowards do," said Rentaro. "Satomi?" Rentaro didn't know what to say and put his coffee to his lips instead. He grimaced involuntarily at the bitterness that filled his mouth. Suddenly, he was startled by the static and roar of a rough male voice that came from the black receiver next to Kayo. It appeared to be a radio. When Kayo turned the knob that was sticking out, the sound became clear, and turned into the voice of a man he couldn't forget even if he wanted. "C…ome here. Hey! If you're alive, reply!" Kayo signaled Rentaro with her eyes. She was probably telling him not to talk. Rentaro nodded silently. It was true that it would be hard to explain to Shogen why he was here with her. "I was worried because there was no contact from you," she said. "I am glad you are safe, Shogen." "'Course you are! More importantly, Kayo, I've got some good news." Shogen Ikuma stopped talking for a moment, as if about to make an important announcement. Through the radio, Rentaro could imagine him smiling under his skull-patterned face scarf. "I've found the masked bastard." Rentaro's and Kayo's eyes met. "Where did you find him?" Kayo asked. Rentaro pulled his map out of his pocket and spread it out on the ground. He quickly found the location Shogen described. An urban area near the coast? It was pretty close. "Right now, the civil officers nearby are gathering to launch a joint surprise attack. I really want to jump the gun and act first, but well, he is ranked higher than us, and the Initiators seem reluctant. We finally decided on the plan I just told you right now. If we all split everything equally, it won't be interesting. You should hurry up and meet up with us, too." He disconnected without even waiting for Kayo's answer. Rentaro had heard rough voices and laughter behind Shogen. The attack plan was probably progressing as he had said. Kayo immediately started packing and putting out the bonfire. "So you're going?" Rentaro asked her. "Yes," she said. "In spite of it all, he's still my partner. What about you, Satomi?" Rentaro became uncertain of his own feelings. If the other civil officers could take care of it, then he was inclined to rely on them to do so. He had acted cool in front of Kisara, but the fear of being half-killed by Kagetane without being able to lift a finger was only a little over a day old and wasn't something he could forget yet. He shook his head softly. No, he had to do it himself. Rentaro put his own personal feelings aside for a moment and analyzed the strategy objectively. The problem was how good those people Shogen had joined forces with were. Their ranks were unknown, but it didn't seem like there were only one or two pairs behind him. There were probably at least a little under ten pairs. And among them, they even had the battle god, Shogen Ikuma, with an IP Rank of 1,584, who could fight without the assistance of his Initiator. Whether Kagetane won or the civil officers team won, it would inevitably be a fierce battle. "How's your arm?" Rentaro asked. When the girl took off the bandage silently, he could see that the wound was still in the process of healing. Rentaro looked in the direction of the town. At the very least, he should see how this battle turned out. 4:00 A.M. Rentaro called Enju back, and the three of them left the pillbox shelter. Compared to Rentaro and Kayo, who had been snug inside with the bonfire, Enju, who had been standing watch for a long time, had better night vision by far, so he had her take the lead. After walking for a while, there was a break in the forest, and they found themselves in an open field with a good view. If they continued that way for a few more kilometers, they would find themselves in the town, but Rentaro deliberately went around and headed for a small hill. There was nowhere to hide in the straight path to town. He decided that they needed to proceed with caution here. As they walked, the smell of water was carried to their nostrils. The ocean was close. Partway there, there were traces of a night camp in a place that was surrounded by tall undergrowth. They must have been afraid that there would be smoke, so there was no sign of cooking, but pouches from portable food were scattered around. It was a bigger group than he had expected. Rentaro started to panic. Since Shogen had said they would launch a surprise attack, that meant that it would likely be a night or early-morning attack. There were only two hours left until dawn. If they had left here, then he could safely assume that they had already started their operation. Taking their careful detour, the three of them reached the small hill where they could look down on the town. Below them, the town was eerily quiet. A countless number of fishing boats and small boats were moored in the bay bent like a crescent moon. It was a small town that was probably worried about its decreasing population even before the Great War. Just as he thought that there would of course be no light, he saw a single light atop a white building that looked like a church. That must be the place. Suddenly, he heard the sound of guns and gulped. The first shot signaled the start of the battle, and bursts of gunfire and the shrill sound of swords clashing continued. It had begun. "Rentaro!" Enju screamed. "All right," said Rentaro. "Let's go." "I will stay here," said Kayo. Turning in surprise, Rentaro saw Kayo with her back facing him. "Why?" The moment he called out, a four-legged beast appeared in the path where they had come, shooting out like a bullet. Kayo released her power and clashed with it face-on, holding back its rush. Rentaro was startled. It was a deer Gastrea. There were horns piercing through its skin all over the top half of its body. Getting pierced by a number of those horns, Kayo forced her shotgun into the Gastrea's mouth and pulled the trigger in a flash. The Gastrea let out an eerie scream as it was blown away and stopped moving. Kayo turned as if nothing had happened, despite the blood flowing from her stomach. "It looks like they followed us. Also, did you not hear the noise, Satomi? If no one stays here to hold them back, everyone will be wiped out whether we win or lose." Looking behind him after she said that, he heard low growls and shrill whistles from the thick forest they had just come out of. Awakened by the gunfire from town, the Gastrea were communicating with their friends through various frequency bands. Kayo thrust her fully automatic shotgun into the ground with extreme calm, put down her knapsack, and took out all her extra magazines and started lining them up on the ground. She was preparing to resist to the bitter end. The wounds in her pierced arm and stomach were regenerating even as she did this. "Then, we'll stay, too—" Rentaro started. Kayo rested the shotgun on her shoulder and fired a shot into the sky. Some of the shots found targets, and silhouettes that looked like monster birds gave a cry as they dropped into the forest. "Satomi, are you stupid?" Kayo said. "The die has been cast. You two must cross the Rubicon River. In return, when you finish, please come back to assist me." Rentaro closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, then exhaled. If he remembered correctly, a superior commander had to make decisions in five seconds based on the ever-changing state of the war. "We'll leave this place to you. Stop the Gastrea. But don't try to do the impossible." "Do not worry. Once I am at a disadvantage, I will run away, so please take care of Shogen." "All right. Come on, let's go, Enju." "O-okay, got it," said Enju. Rentaro started running. The town slowly got bigger. Seeing that the houses and small buildings had kept their original form, Rentaro could tell that the people here had abandoned their town before being attacked by Gastrea and had taken refuge in Tokyo. Their original forms had been preserved, but not completely. Normally, in houses or buildings where the heater stops being used, when they undergo large temperature changes, after expanding and contracting over and over, the walls start to crumble. In the case of this town, in addition to the usual expansion and contraction, the salty ocean wind also corroded the base material, so the situation was even more serious. Looking at the ruined town, Rentaro could plainly feel the weakness of a man-made environment. As Rentaro entered the town, he weaved through the shadows of the buildings. The countless moored boats were also completely rusted, and the fishing boats had been transformed into a bizarre state that made it easy to mistake them for haunted boats. Every time the wind blew, these darkness-colored silhouettes made a grating sound. Rentaro and Enju gradually approached the vicinity of the gunshots. Rentaro's heart pounded. His skin, which had become as sensitive as a radar, prickled every time the wind blew. He wondered what had happened. He hadn't heard gunshots for a while now. If they had defeated Kagetane, then someone would have given a shout of triumph. Why was it so quiet? Notice, Rentaro Satomi. Removing the silencer that was now just an impediment, he held the XD in his right hand and the light in his left. Crossing his arms, he proceeded with the backs of his hands together. He waited to turn on the light. When he met the enemy, he could turn the light onto the enemy's face and destroy his night vision as he fired off one-sided shots. It was a close quarters gun-battle technique called the Harries stance used by professionals. Eventually, her feet hit something, and as Enju groped around to pick it up, she let out a short scream. An upper arm had been graphically cut off still holding a gun. It was so fresh, it looked like it would still give off steam. At that moment, a thump came from a one-story house, and Rentaro almost fired. "My sword… Where…is my sword…?" "You're…Shogen…Ikuma…?" The man with the skull-face scarf who was plunked down on the stool of the general store recognized Rentaro and slowly stood, making his way unsteadily toward him. He seemed to have lost his sight. "'Scuse me…," he said. "Do you…know…where my sword is…? As long as I have that, I can still fight…" Rentaro gaped as he looked for a long time at the enormous broken sword stuck in Shogen's back. When Shogen passed by Rentaro, he fell to his knees, coughing blood, and then fell to the ground. He did not move again. The situation was so different from what Rentaro had imagined that it took a while for his brain to process everything. Shogen was dead? One of the highest IP rankers, with a ranking of 1,584? Rentaro gripped his XD and apologized to Kayo in his heart. Finding Shogen's backup gun at his waist, Rentaro examined it quickly. A Smith & Wesson automatic gun, Sigma. Seeing that it was fully loaded with .40-caliber Varanium bullets, Rentaro tucked it in his belt and stood up. He stopped at the corner that led to the street. "Enju, we're going out onto the street. However, no matter what you see, you cannot scream." "How much worse can it get, Rentaro?" she asked. Rentaro did not answer. Because they were downwind, he had been smelling the rich smell of blood for a while now. Holding his gun ready, he ran out into the street. Enju gasped. "Rentaro… What is this…?" The closest thing was only a few meters ahead. It was the head of an Initiator that had been cut off and rolled onto the ground. It looked at them with a permanent expression of shock. Farther down was a pile of Initiator and Promoter corpses piled on top of each other. These had been killed quickly with a gun. The street had turned into a sea of blood. Among the corpses, Rentaro saw a few faces he had seen at the Ministry of Defense. Rentaro bit his lip and tried desperately to stay upright in the midst of the choking stink as his knees threatened to give way. Another hundred meters ahead, he could see an open door leading into the church. The candlesticks on the wall burned brightly with flames. The holy cross hanging overhead looked coldly down at the picture of hell below. At that moment, he heard a familiar voice come from the pier. "Papa, I'm astonished. He really is still alive." The Kagetane pair was standing at the tip of the pier, gazing at the surface of the ocean. One had two swords at her waist and was wearing a black dress. The other was the mysterious man wearing a wine-red tailcoat, mask, and silk hat. Rentaro could not believe his eyes. That pair had intercepted many skillful attackers and had eliminated all of them, yet neither had a single scratch. Rentaro was tormented by an intense regret and took a step back. Why didn't he wait until he could call for the support of other civil officers? He had faced the pair a number of times and had been plainly shown their superhuman strength each time. Even if he hadn't, the outcome of the battle was clear when Shogen Ikuma was killed without being able to do a thing. At that time, Rentaro could have still turned around and run away. After wasting both chances he had, he was now in the worst possible situation. It was too late to run now. "Kagetane…," he said. "Where is the case…?!" "I knew you would come." A lukewarm wind blew on Rentaro's skin. With the moon behind him, Kagetane Hiruko turned around with a gun in both hands, opening his arms wide with benevolence. "The final curtain is near. Let's settle this, Satomi."
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter004a.txt	BLACK BULLET BLACK BULLET CHAPTER 04 THOSE WHO WOULD BE GODS 1 4:10 A.M. A silent electronic eye watched the confrontation between Rentaro Satomi and Kagetane Hiruko from an altitude of eight hundred meters. At the operation headquarters in the First District of Tokyo Area, the Japan National Security Council, or JNSC, used the various data transmission technologies that unmanned surveillance drones were equipped with in order to display the events on the monitors in the meeting room practically in real time. A dead silence had descended on the operation headquarters. Sitting at the long table, the Chief Cabinet Secretary and the Minister of Defense kept looking at each other's faces furtively. Just moments earlier, they watched the footage of fourteen pairs and one person—twenty-nine civil officers in all—who jointly challenged Kagetane Hiruko and had the tables turned on them. Currently, they had footage from above as two pairs of four people faced each other silently, waiting for the battle to start. Sitting at the head of the long table, the chair of the JNSC, the Seitenshi, sighed as she looked at the Minister of Defense. "Currently, what other civil officers are in their vicinity?" "Er, even the closest pair would take over an hour to reach them." The bulldog-faced Minister of Defense seemed at his wits' end as he started dabbing his face with a handkerchief. The Seitenshi looked at the vice-chair, Kikunojo Tendo. With his boulderlike countenance, Kikunojo returned her look with a nod. "Your decision, Lady Seitenshi?" After a moment's contemplation, the Seitenshi stood up from her chair. "Very well—" Suddenly, the sound of the raised voices of the security police who were standing guard outside the meeting room could be heard. The door to the situation room was suddenly thrown open, and a number of people surged into the room. The Seitenshi saw the girl at the front of the pack, and her response was delayed for a moment. "What is going on?" the Seitenshi demanded. The black-haired girl at the front of the pack and president of the Tendo Civil Security Agency, Kisara Tendo, swaggered into the middle of the room, cutting through the middle to thrust a piece of paper in the faces of everyone sitting there. The paper in Kisara's hands was covered with circles, and outside the circles, like a collection of autographs, were handwritten signatures and stamps of signature seals. The Seitenshi peeked at the paper and gulped involuntarily. It was a compact under joint signatures. If she remembered correctly, long ago, during the Peasants' Revolt, they used this in order to form a strong contractual bond among the group and hide the ringleader at the same time. The gazes of everyone around very naturally turned to the person whose name was one of the many on the list—the Minister of Defense. The other high-ranking government officials drew away from him. "Good afternoon, Minister Kutsuwada," said Kisara. "Wh-what kind of joke is this?" said the Minister of Defense. "Your subordinate had this very interesting piece of paper, you know. It's just as it says on the joint compact. You are one in a group secretly maneuvering behind Kagetane Hiruko. In addition, you are also the one who stole the Inheritance of the Seven Stars and tried to leak that information to the media." "Th-that's not true…" Kisara put her hand to her chin and put on a show of tilting her head. "Handwriting a compact under joint signatures is a very old-fashioned thing to do. Thanks to that, I can round up everyone responsible at once, which saves me the extra trouble." The Seitenshi narrowed her eyes. She could not continue to listen silently. "This meeting room is a place of the law that bears the burden of this country's defense. It is problematic for you to enter rudely like this." "Th-that's right. You are no more than a filthy civil officer dog! I don't know where you got hold of such a thing, but you need to get out of here!" The minister howled, riding on the Seitenshi's coattails. However, Kisara remained composed. "Lady Seitenshi, I agree completely with what you say. However, when I discovered these facts, I could not wait another second to share this with you and hastened to this place. Lady Seitenshi, you must also feel the need to dispose of the spy before continuing with the proceedings, do you not?" She was very eloquent. The Seitenshi signaled Kikunojo. Kikunojo looked coolly at the Minister of Defense. "Take him away." "W-wait…Lord Tendo!" The minister had a pleading look on his face. "I'm… I'm…!" The security officers lifted the man by both arms and took him screaming out of the meeting room. "Then, I will take my leave here," said Kisara. "President Tendo, I cannot let you do that," said the Seitenshi. Kisara, who looked like she had been about to turn on her heel, stopped her movement and turned back halfway. "Why not?" "I'm sorry, but I cannot have you leave this building until this operation is completed successfully. I will have you informally confined to this room for the time being." Kisara pretended for just a moment to put her hand to her chin and think. "If that's the case, then I suppose I must stay." "Kisara…I cannot believe you would show your face here." Kikunojo did not do anything to hide his wrath. However, Kisara just flashed him a calm smile. "Good afternoon, Lord Tendo. It has been some time." "Have you returned from hell for your vengeance?" "I have just come to exterminate a cockroach that was crawling around my bedside. It was only coincidence that I happened to be here at the same time as you. Don't you think you are being too suspicious?" "I cannot believe you can joke around like that…" Kisara's eyes gave off a cold glitter as she narrowed them. "Every Tendo must die, Lord Tendo." "Y-you little…" It did not sound anything like a conversation a grandfather would have with his granddaughter. Even just knowing part of the relationship between Kisara and Kikunojo made the Seitenshi frightened. "Please leave it at that, you two," she said. "President Tendo, if you have been watching the monitor, then you must understand what the situation is to a certain extent. Will you tell us your opinion on the matter?" 4:15 A.M. The lukewarm wind blew against Rentaro's skin. The smell of salt was strong in his nostrils. There was the sound of rippling waves breaking against the concrete wharf. The moonlight made the surface of the water shine like silvery scales, but the bottom of the ocean was so dark that it could not be seen. The smell of the water was mixed with the smell of blood. There was a mountain of corpses nearby. And at the tip of the pier stood the two fighting asuras. Rentaro looked at the spreading sea of blood and asked in a low growl, "Did you bastards do all this?" "We didn't want the church to get dirty with blood," said Kagetane. "Everything that we could do is over already. I'm sure the Stage Five Gastrea will be here soon. All that's left is to wait." "Is the case inside the church? And if I go in and wreck all your preparations right now, will the summoning of the Stage Five be stopped?" "I don't think that's possible, because we are standing in your way." "Then, I'll destroy you." Kagetane raised his eyebrows and laughed. "I am the one who will destroy the world. No one can stop me." "President Tendo, what do you think the Satomi pair's chances are of winning?" the Seitenshi asked. Kisara's eyes showed no expression as she put her chin in her hand, thinking. "Perhaps about thirty percent? If I am allowed to take my own expectations into consideration, then I believe he will definitely win." The Chief Cabinet Secretary scoffed and laughed. "President Tendo, it's not that I do not understand wanting to believe in the strength of one's own employees. However, twenty-nine civil officers have just been killed. And one of them is a survivor of the New Humanity Creation Project. He doesn't even have a one-percent chance of winning." "One of them? No, you are mistaken, Chief Cabinet Secretary." "What?" "Secretary, I will spare you the details, but ten years ago, right after Satomi was taken in by the Tendo family, a stray Gastrea invaded my house and devoured my mother and father. Because of the stress of that time, my chronic diabetes worsened, and my kidneys pretty much stopped functioning." The secretary looked confused, like he could not tell where she was going with this story. "I-I do believe that is an unfortunate story, but what does that have to do with—?" She cut him off. "When Satomi protected me then, his right arm and leg were eaten by the Gastrea, and his left eye was gouged out. Near death, he was taken to Section 22. The doctor who operated on him was Dr. Sumire Muroto, celebrated as a miracle worker of the times." "Sumire Muroto, you said? Then, don't tell me he is…" Thinking that this was a good time, the Seitenshi looked next to her. "Kikunojo, pass out their specs to everyone, please." Rentaro glared fixedly in front of him. In front of him was the enemy. The enemy he needed to defeat. Closing his eyes silently, he rolled up his right sleeve and pant leg and stretched his arm straight out. "I will stop you, Kagetane…for the sake of those you killed mercilessly, and for Kisara's and Enju's sakes. Kagetane Hiruko, I will stop you!" With a creaking sound, cracks appeared on his right arm and leg, and artificial skin made of plastic elastomer and silicone warped and peeled off, piling at his feet. After taking a glance at the materials, the secretary stood up with a shrill cry. "Impossible!" He scratched his head and made his confusion and fear known. "There is no way… What is the meaning of this…? There was one more? Another human weapon born of the Gastrea War?" Eventually, a jet-black arm appeared from underneath Rentaro's artificial skin. His left leg also glistened with black chrome from the crotch down. Air vents that stuck out like barbs autonomously started peristalsis, and when he opened his eyes, his field of vision widened, and the colors became more vivid. His artificial eye was connected directly to his optic nerve, widening his field of vision and allowing it to capture objects in 3-D. Built into his artificial eye was a nano-core processor made using a graphene transistor. It activated and started operating. The inside of the pupil spun, geometrical shapes emerged, his sense of smell became sharper, and a rich taste filled his mouth. Kagetane's body trembled. "Artificial Varanium limbs…? Satomi, don't tell me you're one, too?" Rentaro raised his head slowly. "I will give you my name, as well, Kagetane. I am Rentaro Satomi, former member of the Ground Self-Defense Force's Eastern Force, 787th Mechanization Special Unit, of the New Humanity Creation Project." "Satomi's artificial limbs and eye are made of the alloy Super-Varanium, made from a base of Varanium in a state of weightlessness and mixing in ten different kinds of rare and common metals. It is a next generation alloy that has many times the hardness level and a much higher melting point than Varanium. The section Kagetane Hiruko was with, Section 16, was tactically concerned with absolute defense and created a repulsion force field to stop the attacks of Stage Four Gastrea. Satomi was with Section 22, which was concerned with the exact opposite. Using the propulsion force of ten cartridges in his arm and fifteen cartridges in his leg, he can attack with superhuman strength. It is the personal armament of a New Humanity Creation Project soldier born of the desire to consign Gastrea to oblivion using man himself." Kagetane spread both arms and started laughing wildly. "I see, I see! So that's how it was! From the moment I met you, I liked what I saw, but I didn't think we really were the same kind!" The laughing continued. Enju gave a heartbreaking scream. "Rentaro, I thought you were never to use that again?!" "It's fine," said Rentaro. "More importantly, you need to settle this once and for all. It doesn't agree with you to stay the loser, right?" Enju glared sharply in Kohina's direction and then gave a hard nod. Enju's and Kohina's black eyes turned a fiery red at almost the same time as they released their power. "I am thankful to Kagetane Hiruko," Kisara continued with dignity. "This past year, no matter how much I hounded him, Satomi lazily refused to use that. He hates himself. But right now, Satomi is seriously angry. I have only seen this once before myself, so I cannot predict what will happen after this." The Seitenshi stood from her chair and looked around as she announced, "I hope you all understand the meaning of this fight. The battle between Rentaro Satomi and Kagetane Hiruko could be called the battle between the ultimate lance and the ultimate shield, the battle of opposites. However, they will be at odds with one another. In this battle, when it is all over, one pair will definitely be annihilated. Please fight, Satomi, and prove that you are the strongest!" "Please win, Satomi… Please." The Seitenshi heard Kisara murmur under her breath as she clasped her hands together. The cold night wind blew and teased at Rentaro's uniform. The air was tense, and it seemed sinful to even breathe. Rentaro stepped firmly on the dirt with the bottom of his boots. Sweating in anticipation of the fight and feeling choked, he tore off his necktie. The enemy was serious. Even when a large number of civil officers banded together, they could not even scratch him. Kagetane took a stance. He took his two custom Berettas from their holsters, unfolded their bayonet units, and held them out to his sides. Kohina had also drawn her short swords and was holding them crossed in front of her. As the perpendicular swords and guns diffused the moonlight, they formed the shape of a cross of death, ready to engrave God's majesty on those who would die. "Do you understand, Satomi?" said Kagetane. "Do you understand what it means to challenge me, who once held an IP Rank of 134?" Rentaro took his stance silently. The Tendo Martial Arts Infinite Stance made him conscious of the eternally limitless existence of the heavens and the earth. "Don't worry. I know exactly what that means, Kagetane. I've lost twice, all my allies have been annihilated, and no backup is coming. This is not the situation I wanted to be in, scumbag! Let's start the fight. I'm going to exterminate you now, you bastard!" That was the signal to start the battle. As Rentaro stepped forward, Kagetane came at him first. He swung his arms as if he was going to mow him down. "Maximum Pain! I'll crush you…!" The bluish-white field expanded in a fan shape and rammed into Rentaro with terrifying momentum. "Tendo Martial Arts First Style, Number 3—" The sound of an explosion rang in the air, and the extractor that ran along Rentaro's fake ulnar nerve on his artificial arm picked up empty golden shell casings and kicked them out as it rotated. "Sokuro Kabuto!" Rentaro finished. His explosively fast fist, which was sped up through cartridge propulsion, warped the incoming wall and punched through it. The point of impact exploded, and both he and Kagetane were sent flying into the air. "So you broke through Maximum Pain, huh…?" said Kagetane. "That's not all!" said Rentaro. Suddenly, Kagetane's knees bent, and he coughed up blood. He wiped the part of his mask around his mouth and looked wonderingly at the blood that flowed out. "Papa!" Kohina shouted. "The field couldn't block all of the damage?" Kagetane laughed maniacally, standing on his tiptoes and spreading his arms as he spun around once. "What fun! What fun, Satomi! I am in pain! I am alive! What a wonderful life! Hallelujah!" Just as Rentaro thought Kohina had disappeared from sight, she appeared in front of him and Enju. She screamed in his ear, "Don't be mean to Papaaaaa!" Kohina spun once as if dancing with short swords still in both hands. She covered the ten meters between them and slashed with great speed, but other than that swing, her swordsmanship was very random. There was the sound of clashing blades. In the end, a look of astonishment appeared on Kohina's face. The bottom of Enju's shoe was on her right sword, and Rentaro's artificial arm had blocked the left sword in defense. The perception amplification device in Rentaro's artificial eye calculated the enemy's position and predicted the direction they would move in based on how fast they were moving. As they were locked together, Rentaro used his free left hand to draw the XD from its holster. However, before he could finish pulling the trigger, Enju's body rammed into his. It was a strong enough force to make him feel the contents of his stomach come up, but in the blink of an eye, the place where Rentaro had just been exploded into a cloud of dust, and Rentaro understood her actions. From the pier, Kagetane had covered for Kohina with his Beretta. Keeping her hold on Rentaro, Enju jumped toward the ocean, hopping like a rabbit from the top of one moored rental boat to another. The bullets that were following in hot pursuit riddled the boats with bullet holes right after Enju jumped off, sinking the boats. Rentaro was astonished as he was pulled about by the intense G's. Using only one point of support while shooting two fully automatic guns at once was usually pretty useless if the enemy was more than five meters away. Just being able to follow Enju's movements—which were hard to even see—and control the recoil at the same time was already no small feat. Enju hopped high in the air and, checking the warehouse district on the wharf, tapped Rentaro's shoulder twice. The signal meant she was going to drop him. In less than a second, he felt the now familiar floating feeling. This time, the drop was from about five meters in the air, so he used his right leg to break the fall and rolled swiftly into the shadow of a nearby shipping container to hide. He did that all in one movement and turned his neck to survey the place where he had been dropped. There was heavy construction equipment and the like that had been left behind next to evenly spaced-out metal freight containers. Of course, the Unexplored Territory was uninhabited, so the heavy equipment and containers were all covered with rust from the salty ocean breeze.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter004c.txt	BLACK BULLET Rentaro stood with his back to a container, held his gun ready, and inhaled deeply, then exhaled. Jumping out from the shadow of the container, he aimed the XD at Kagetane in the flesh and fired. The stinging recoil flung his arm back, and the .40-caliber Varanium bullet was fired, its empty casing bouncing onto the ground. To fire at the Promoter, who acted as the commander, was a standard by-the-book move for tag-team battles. However, Rentaro found himself being surprised for a third time. There was a strange noise like someone hitting a cracked bell with all their might, and the bullet disappeared. Kohina had appeared by Kagetane's side unnoticed. It took Rentaro a few seconds to realize that she had cut apart the bullet. Rentaro's legs shook. You've gotta be kidding me. He fired off as many shots as he could. As if ridiculing his efforts, every last one of the bullets was cut down with a crack. Spinning her body like a top as she skillfully used her two swords to repel the bullets, she looked like she was dancing. Kohina kept spinning in circles with her short swords in hand until she finally came to a sudden stop with her head tilted in question. "That's impossible…," Rentaro breathed. In the back, Kagetane flipped up his mask, gripped one of his guns that had run out of bullets in his mouth, and calmly used his free hand to change the magazine as he walked toward Rentaro. Darkness lurked behind the mask, and Rentaro could not see his features. The ocean breeze made the long tails of his tailcoat flutter, and it made Kagetane's body look larger than life. There were not even any traces of him having used Imaginary Gimmick. Enju's face also paled as she drew closer to Rentaro. Rentaro closed his eyes and thought as hard as he could. "Enju, how many seconds would it take for you to defeat Kagetane one-on-one?" Rentaro asked her, his eyes not leaving the enemy. Enju seemed to realize something and looked worriedly at Rentaro, but she finally faced forward and said, "I'll defeat him in ten seconds!" and dashed off in a blast with the superfast acceleration that could be called a distinguishing trait of Model Rabbits. Kohina came forward to intercept her, but Enju slid to evade her slash and rushed toward Kagetane. Kohina saw the signal too late and a regretful expression crossed her face, but she soon turned to focus her attention on Rentaro. It was the story of two rooks aiming for the unguarded kings at the risk of their own lives. At this rate, it was a race to see which Initiator could cut down her opponent first. Enju was definitely not an easy opponent for Kagetane to handle. However, the same could be said for Rentaro about Kohina. Kohina came at him as fast as a bullet with her body low to the ground. The device in his artificial eye started sparking, and the back of his eyelid stung as if getting burned. He could just barely track her movements. Twisting his upper body to avoid one sword, he used his right fist against the second sword that was aiming low. Now—he thought. An explosion rang through the air, and golden empty shell casings spun as they were ejected. Tendo Martial Arts First Style, Number 3—"Rokuro Kabuto"! "Off with your head!" Kohina shouted. The quickly swinging fist exchanged blows with the short swords. The force of the shock wave sent a cloud of dust high in the air, and Rentaro and Kohina were both knocked backward with their feet flailing. Rentaro was able to move again first. In no time, he was shooting with his XD as he drew near Kohina. Kohina flourished her two swords as she cut down the bullets with piercing, resounding sounds. Rentaro narrowed the distance between them as he fired. But even when they were less than three meters apart, not a single bullet hit the swordswoman with her twin swords. Rentaro gave in to his impatience and started firing, aiming at her head instead of her body. Right after he did this, he was attacked by intense regret. As if waiting for this moment, Kohina avoided the bullets just by moving her neck, and moved to close in on him. He got chills when he realized she had lured him in. She thrust the sword blades at him at an impossible speed, and his artificial eye became so hot it burned, as it was forced to to operate at super-speeds. Rentaro avoided the thrusts on instinct alone and pinned her arms to her sides. Lowering his hips, he swept Kohina's legs out from under her, taking a judolike stance. However, his enemy was not to be taken lightly. In an instant, she used her strength to free herself and ran away, kicking off of Rentaro's back and springing into the air. The sword she forcefully pulled out gave Rentaro a shallow cut. He couldn't believe his eyes as he saw the small girl fly almost five meters into the air with one jump. However, he predicted where she was planning to land, and then it was Rentaro's turn to shout. "Above you, Enju!" Enju, who had been playing a seesaw game with Kagetane, alternating between attacking and defending, hurriedly did a backflip to jump out of the way. Kohina skewered the spot where Enju had been with an amazing force as she dropped down. "Howl, Sodomy! Sing, Gospel!" Kagetane shouted. His two guns fired, making explosive sounds like a rotating saw. One of the shots that followed Enju hit her left arm as she retreated. "Argh," she said as the arm that was hit by the 9-mm bullet flew up to the left reflexively. "Enju, get down!" Rentaro shouted as he changed the magazine of his gun in a split second. Drawing the Sigma gun with his left hand, he pointed it at Kohina, pointing the XD in his right hand at Kagetane. With his arms crossed, he pulled the trigger on both at the same time—an impromptu double-gun stance. Immediately after, muzzle fire scattered from both of Rentaro's hands like fireworks, and both arms were thrown back with intense recoil. Kohina used her swords to repel the bullets as she danced, while Kagetane mumbled something under his breath. By the time Rentaro realized that it was the preliminary setup for Imaginary Gimmick, the bluish-white phosphorescent wall had already appeared with a bang to repel Rentaro's shots in all directions. The Sigma in his left hand ran out of bullets first, so he threw the whole gun away. He took a reinforced steel cylindrical can out of his pouch, pulled the pin out with his teeth, and threw it. As Kohina thought only to clear it away without worrying about the details, Kagetane raised his voice for the first time. "No, Kohina, not that!" She fell for it. Exactly two seconds later, the steel can exploded in a blast of light that spread to blow the darkness away. It was a stun bomb, with an explosive blast of light that was 170 decibels and 200 candelas. When it exploded, the vibrations created by the compressed shock waves of this chemical-throwing bomb would have made someone go deaf in a small room, and it scattered light brighter than the sun. "Ahhhh!" Kohina writhed in pain as she covered her ears and screamed in anguish. It even had enough of an effect on Kagetane. Enju was not one to let that chance go to waste. The rabbit-footed girl closed the gap between them in an instant and tread firmly on the road with her left foot, creating a deep impression in the ground. Kohina immediately crossed her short sword to protect herself. There, Enju landed a direct kick. Enju's center kick was strong enough to kick through thin steel plates, and despite breaking one of the short swords, its power did not wane, and she blew Kohina off the pier. Then, kicking the surface of the water and creating tsunamis, Kohina advanced about twenty meters before she sank. "Rentaro!" said Enju. Even before Enju called out to him, Rentaro had already started running. He sprang out in front of the remaining man in tailcoats. Before Kagetane's muzzle could be trained on Rentaro, Rentaro used a striker to set off the bottoms of the cartridges he had in his legs. The extractor positioned along the fake hidden nerve pulled onto an empty cartridge and ejected it. At the same time the explosion sounded, Rentaro's leg flew up with amazing speed, and on top of that, Enju matched the timing of her kick with Rentaro's. He and Enju's eyes met. "Tendo Martial Arts Type 2, Number 24—'Inzen Genmeika'!" he yelled, with Enju shouting next to him, and they gave two explosive kicks, side-by-side. When the impact reached Kagetane, a bluish-white light blocked it, and with a large crash, it blew away the air around them. Kagetane was also blown off the pier, landing on the water and sinking. Rentaro checked where Kagetane hit the water and fired a few shots after him with his XD. He ran out of bullets after three shots. As the night fell silent, the quiet sounds of small waves breaking on the shore returned. That was when he first realized that he had been yelling and taking short breaths. Rentaro gripped his gun firmly with both hands, praying and waiting. Gradually, his breathing calmed down. "Enju," he said. He bent over Enju, who had sunk to the ground, and looked at the wound on her arm. Rentaro frowned. Enju's wound showed no sign of healing and was still oozing blood. Varanium bullets prevented a Gastrea from regenerating after being wounded, and it was no different for the Initiators who were able to regenerate thanks to the Gastrea virus. Facing Varanium weapons, she was as vulnerable as a regular human being. Enju's eyes welled with tears and her mouth was turned down at the corners. "I-it'll be fine!" he said as he patted Enju's head lightly. "It hurts!" she retorted. "Dummy, how can you expect to be unhurt after being that reckless?" Enju looked at the surface of the water. "Did we beat them?" Rentaro turned his neck to look past the pier, staring at the dark surface of the water. Cautiously, he pulled out a spare magazine for the XD and exchanged it for the empty one. It hadn't felt like he had made it past Imaginary Gimmick, but the force was strong enough to rupture the caster's organs. Even if Kagetane wasn't dead, he was probably out of commission. And because Rentaro thought that, when an arm suddenly appeared out of the surface of the water and grabbed his ankle, he was so surprised that he couldn't react right away. He couldn't hear Enju's scream for a second. He was pulled underwater with an incredible force, and his eyes and nose and all his orifices were filled with cold water and darkness. Seeing a white mask a mere twenty or thirty centimeters in front of him, he almost screamed. The hand holding Rentaro's ankle was glowing phosphorescently. Rentaro gasped as he twisted his body desperately. Aiming the XD, he fired at point-blank range. He hit Kagetane's shoulder, but the fingers digging into his skin did not let go of Rentaro. Bad things came in threes. The XD couldn't fire properly underwater, and the bullet got caught in the slide and jammed. Cornered, Rentaro fired off the cartridges in his artificial limbs like explosives. Small explosions burst in the water, and as white bubbles clouded his vision, Rentaro himself was also blown back. He couldn't keep his eyes open in an impact that nearly took off his arms and legs. He felt a strange floating feeling. He couldn't tell what was up and what was down and moved his arms and legs awkwardly. He couldn't even get into a proper falling stance when his back suddenly hit something hard and the intense pain knocked the air out of him. He couldn't tell what had happened for a moment. There was the sound of rain as drops hit his arm. Wrenching open his trembling eyelids, a clear starry sky spread provokingly above him. Rentaro was lying on his back on the deck of a small fishing boat. It looked like he had been blown out of the water from the blast of firing all the cartridges in his arm and leg at once and was lucky he had been tossed onto a fishing boat. What he had thought was rain was the spray of water that had been blown up with him. Using both hands to push his body upright on the deck, he vomited the ocean water he had swallowed and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. Not only were his clothes heavy from the water they had soaked up, but they clung to his skin and felt disgusting. Where in the world was Kagetane? Suddenly, his vision jerked down. He thought his knees had collapsed under him, but both feet were planted on the deck. At that moment, he felt chills go up his spine. About two meters in front of him saw another moored fishing boat. Staggering, Rentaro went in for the approach and made a long running jump as he leapt into the air. His instinct was screaming that he had to be there. As the heel of his shoe flew over the dark sea, he landed on another deck. Sure enough, a scene that made him doubt his own eyes exploded in front of him. As small waves rippled on the surface of the water, they were pushed apart and split in two, and with a thunderous roar, they became two enormous waterfalls. At around eight meters below sea level, Rentaro could see seaweed and old moss-covered tires. The fishing boat that Rentaro had just been on had been pitifully turned upside down, its bow crushed with a sorrowful sound. Rentaro was horrified as he rubbed his arms. And at the ocean floor, a pair in a tailcoat and black dress stood close as they looked up at him. They had taken some damage. One of Kohina's short swords was broken, and Kagetane had been shot in the shoulder and had lost Psychedelic Gospel. However, they were far from being out of commission. Their narrowed eyes clearly showed a will to continue fighting. The flame of their fighting spirit was still burning. This was what it meant to be one of the highest-ranking pairs. Rentaro let the XD drop and stepped back. His brain wouldn't process the fact that the ocean had been split by the repulsion field. "What are you doing, Rentaro?!" Before he knew it, Enju was by his side, grabbing his arm and leaping into the air. They landed on the largest passenger boat anchored in the bay. It must have originally been a café or lounge, and there were a number of table sets with umbrellas lined up on the deck. Tilting his shoulder toward Kohina, Kagetane also soon leapt onto the stage. Hatred peeked out from behind Kagetane's mask. His arm was stretched straight out in front of him, his fist clenched. "Why are you getting in my way?! Why?! We of the New Humanity Creation Project were created to kill. If the Monoliths are destroyed and the Gastrea War restarted, it will prove that we have a reason to exist. Hatred will not disappear. The war will not end. We will be needed! "Don't you understand, Satomi? A world where the Gastrea War continues is a win for us soldiers of the New Humanity Creation Project!" Rentaro felt a shock like he had been hit in the head with a hammer. "Don't tell me…that was the only reason…? You bastard!" "What if it was? The extinction of mankind is only a trivial matter. If we do not fight, no one needs us. Now, let us have war! And more war! This is my war for me, by me. I won't let anyone get in my way." "Even after spilling that much blood, you still want a massacre?" "This is a grand experiment! In any case, those who are killed so easily by me will not be able to survive in my ideal country. How was the reaction of those around you when your Initiator was exposed as one of the Cursed Children? Were they happy for you? Did they shout for joy with you? Did they hold your arm with delight? Of course not. I was chosen. Kohina was also chosen. You two are also chosen. You should be able to understand my ideology. Now, Rentaro Satomi, I will give you everything you desire. Come with me!" "Don't be ridiculous, you bastard! I refuse to allow the future you describe!" "Then, die…!" Seeing Kagetane point his gun at them, Enju plunged in. However, Kohina predicted all of Enju's movements as she came in to intercept her. Just as the bottom of Enju's foot stopped the side sweeping of the short sword, Kohina continued on to ram Enju with her shoulder. Enju, who had been balanced on one leg, was knocked over easily. Kohina grabbed Enju's leg, and swung her, throwing Enju into Rentaro. Then, Rentaro gasped as he saw Kagetane aiming his gun at them. A Varanium bullet would be bad. Catching Enju, Rentaro turned his body in a semicircle. "Howl, Sodomy!" Kagetane cried. A storm of 9-mm Varanium bullets flooded Rentaro's back, and spasms racked his body as if shocked by electricity. "Rentaro!" Enju shouted. He gritted his teeth at the intense pain. He was alive. He had avoided instant death. Rentaro put his hand to his waist and pulled out the string of plastic bell-like syringes. Pulling off the cap with his mouth, he stuck it in his abdomen and injected the medicine. "Don't use it unless you have to." Sumire's voice echoed in his head. His heart leapt with a sudden throb. His whole body felt intensely hot, and he felt the illusion of his limbs extending. With the sound of sizzling meat cooking, the wounds in Rentaro's body healed, and the bullets in his body were pushed out. It was the AGV test drug, a drug Sumire created while studying Gastrea that made a human's regenerative abilities go through the roof. This dramatic effect could even overcome the inhibiting effect of Varanium. If it weren't for the side effect that twenty percent of the test subjects became Gastrea, Sumire would be so famous that her name would be in textbooks. In the end, Rentaro had won the gamble. He opened and closed his hands and rotated his arms. His body felt fine. There were no symptoms of him turning into a Gastrea. Kagetane went crazy shooting his fully automatic Beretta. Rentaro's arm went up to protect his head and heart as he shielded Enju. Again, he felt the intense attacks pierce his flesh as blood flew out of his whole body. Almost all the bullets hit their target, but immediately afterward, the bullets were excreted from his body. Even as Rentaro felt dizzy with the pain, he chuckled inside. As long as he had this— However, that self-conceit only lasted for a few seconds. Because Rentaro had raised his hands to guard his face, he noticed Kagetane's approach too late. The rear guard was coming in for close combat? Why? Completely deliberately, Kagetane slowly put the palm of his hand on Rentaro's side. "It's over. I will show you my secret weapon." Rentaro could hear Kagetane's voice deep within his skull. "Endless Scream." In the blink of an eye, an intense shock ran through Rentaro's body from his toes to the top of his head, and his body floated for an instant. "Huh…?" said Rentaro. The repulsion field had become an enormous spear and pierced through Rentaro's abdomen. Kagetane pulled out the spear with great momentum, and Rentaro tottered and stumbled for a few steps. The right side of his abdomen was gone. A circle was cut out of Rentaro's body as if drawn by a giant compass. A cross section of his ribs was visible, and his internal organs peeked out. Rentaro slowly put his hand to his stomach, scared of what he would find. Blood welled up as if it had just remembered it needed to, and his organs and bowels spilled out. "N-no…way…" Rentaro coughed up blood and fell to his knees. Turning his head and seeing Enju with both hands covering her mouth, he reached out a hand, imploring Kagetane Hiruko, who was looking down at him with cold eyes. Kagetane crossed himself. "You've lost," he said. Thinking that the ground was drawing near, Rentaro fell forward. The stain of blood encroached on the deck. The shadow of Rentaro's death was reflected in the puddle of blood. His arms and legs twitched on their own. No matter how long he waited, the wound in his body would not regenerate. Even with the effects of the AGV test drug, it apparently could not deal with such a large wound. Unable to bear the pain, Rentaro's cells were quickly giving up on their host. Darkness came at Rentaro from all sides and an extraordinary loneliness descended on him. Enju was desperately shaking his body. Tears poured out of her eyes as she screamed at Rentaro for some reason. He couldn't hear what she was saying. Then, Kohina kicked Enju's chin away as Enju raised her head. Enju flew into the lounge table and fell loudly, getting tangled with an umbrella. Kagetane aimed at Enju's head with his gun and mumbled something under his breath. Was he planning on killing Enju? Enju, who had already lost the will to fight? Enju stretched out her arms at Rentaro, without any consideration for her own safety. The pain seemed to gouge out Rentaro's heart. "…………!" He couldn't hear. He couldn't hear Enju's voice. He could feel the cold hand of death reaching into his wound. "………………!" His consciousness disintegrated, and he sank into a deep darkness. His eyelids felt heavy and trembled. Suddenly, Enju's voice mixed with sobbing flooded in through his eardrum and echoed in his head. "Don't die, Rentaro! We haven't been able to do anything yet. Don't leave me alone!" Thump, his heart leapt, and his eyes opened suddenly. His right hand grabbed the four remaining AGV test-drug syringes in a flash and, holding them between his fingers, he pulled off their caps with his mouth and thrust them all into his abdomen. With a familiar sound, Rentaro's chest swelled, and his bones rang with a strange sound. His body cramped and boiled, and he felt chills like something was crawling around through him. The hole in his body made a popping sound, and then— Enju was surprised at the regeneration that started. Blood spilled, flesh bulged, bowels hung out, nerves connected, his body temperature dropped, bones were rebuilt, and cells regenerated as they died out. Rentaro's body was dying at a terrifying speed and then coming back to life with amazing momentum, a melting pot of contradictions. Feeling an intense pain as if his internal organs were being rearranged, Rentaro writhed and randomly hit his head against the deck. Then, Rentaro gave a great scream at the sky and stood up. He staggered a few steps as he almost slipped on the blood pooled below him. His vision was severely distorted, and his depth perception bent the world as if he were completely drunk. But he could still see the death god he was supposed to defeat. His body was hot. It felt like it was on fire. He felt extreme nausea that came with a pounding headache and the urge to vomit. Rentaro himself wondered why he was able to stand. However, his arms and legs could still move, and he was alive. Kagetane's mouth gaped as he stood, frozen. "Satomi… What in the world are you…?" Rentaro shot an evil look at his enemy and readied himself. He took the Tendo Martial Arts Water and Sky Stance. The clear ocean and sky became a single, boundless blue. It was a stance that attacked without worrying about defense. When Rentaro let out a hot breath, it lingered white in the air and then was carried away by the wind. He closed his eyes and then slowly opened them. Then, he kicked the ground. The sound of an explosion rang from his feet, and an empty casing was ejected. He turned his leg's mobility thruster back and let the jet propulsion come out of the back of his leg. His body felt like it was being torn apart, but he bore the pain and sprung out in a second in front of the enemy. Kohina unfroze and jumped out without a moment's delay. "Off with your head!" she shouted. "Outta the way!" said Rentaro as he used his right arm to deal with the blade she swung downward with all her might. Three empty casings popped out at the same time as the explosion, and the strong smell of gunpowder filled their nostrils. Kohina's eyes opened so wide that the corners of her eyelids seemed about to split apart. Tendo Martial Arts First Style, Number 8: Homura Kasen, Burst. Coming at Rentaro from the front again was the fist and the short sword. Intense shock waves pierced his whole body. With his Super-Varanium fist, he broke the remaining short sword into pieces and blew Kohina away like a scrap of paper. She bounced on the deck and broke through the wall to the pilothouse, crashing into the meters and gauges inside. Kohina lay stunned against the wall with a concussion. Without stopping, he fired his leg and accelerated again with an impact that almost blew him away. He charged directly through a barrage of bullets. Kagetane lowered himself with a flutter of his tailcoat. "Endless…" "Tendo Martial Arts First Style, Number 15…," Rentaro began. Kagetane turned and threw away his gun and reached behind him to ready the spear. At almost the same time, an empty casing flew from Rentaro's arm, and he let loose an uppercut with wonderful speed that looked as if it were scooping something from the bottom up. "…Screeeeeammm!" Kagetane finished. "…Unebikoryu!" Rentaro shouted at the same time. A phosphorescent spear hit Rentaro's fist and a thunderous roar scattered through the night sky. The clash of a strong fist with unparalleled hardness and a bluish-white spear that could repel bullets from antitank rifles lit up their surroundings like midday. Rentaro gritted his teeth, his leg sinking with the deck. The ship planks on the deck were flying off from the shock. He tasted bitter adrenaline in this mouth. As the superior spear slowly pushed his arm back, he broke out in a cold sweat all over his body. Rentaro screamed, stuck together with Kagetane, and fired off a succession of cartridges. The first shot pushed the spear, and the second shot made it clear that his arm was shoved into the spear. The third shot—Rentaro felt his arm suddenly thrown forward. With an explosive sound that deafened his ears, a supersonic uppercut blew the spear and Kagetane's body ten meters into the air. Kagetane looked like he did not know what had just happened. Rentaro bounded up, changed the thruster angle to the back and fired. Jumping up as high as Kagetane, he half turned his body at the top and, facing downward, he fired off the rest of the cartridges in his leg. "Tendo Martial Arts Second Style, Number 11—" For a brief moment, everything seemed to be in slow motion. A shower of empty golden casings shot out as he turned, seeming to pour down in a shower from above, filling his vision in slow motion. In the downpour of empty casings, his eyes met Kagetane's. Kagetane spoke in a quiet, hoarse voice, as if he had already given up. "I see… So I lost…to you…huh…?" As the wind whistled by Rentaro's ears, time returned to normal. It was all or nothing. "—Inzen Kokutei Unlimited Burst…! Fall…!" It was an overhead kick of judgment that turned the sky and earth upside down. With his Super-Varanium toes, he ripped through Kagetane's field and crushed his lungs, breaking a few of his ribs and blowing him away. Kagetane's body bounced with amazing speed over the top of the ocean like a skipping stone, going through two of the small boats moored in the bay, blown almost a hundred meters away, where he landed with a pillar of water like a tsunami that rose and sank. Rentaro couldn't completely negate the force of his own kick and spun in midair as he dropped, landing hard on the ground on his back with a groan. Immediately jumping up, he surveyed the ocean without letting down his guard. Ten seconds passed, then twenty. The air shimmered with the heat let off from the successive firing of large-caliber shells from his artificial limbs. The enemy remained submerged. Slowly letting out a breath, he turned toward to Enju to show her a smile. "All right, we won, Enju! Yahoo!" Enju gaped, flabbergasted. Rentaro scratched his head. Well, it was surprising. "No… Papa, Papa…!" Turning his head toward the voice, Rentaro saw Kohina on her knees with an expression of despair on her face. Enju appeared conflicted as she looked up at Rentaro. Rentaro shook his head softly. "She's not an enemy anymore." At that moment, there was a vibration in his chest pocket, and a tinny electronic sound echoed in the air. "It seems you're alive, Satomi." He knew who it was just from the voice. Hot tears pricked his eyes when he heard the graceful voice filled with kindness and confidence. "It's done," said Rentaro. "I won, just like I promised, Kisara." "I saw. Unfortunately, I have one piece of bad news for you." "Bad news…?" Kisara spoke with an unusually gloomy voice. "Listen calmly. A Stage Five Gastrea has appeared." "What?" Rentaro could only respond questioningly. The words wouldn't sink in and just floated superficially at the surface of his mind. So it was over for Tokyo Area. Everyone would be killed. No one would survive. 2 Kisara added one thing after another using present progressive tense as the events were happening. According to what she said, at almost the same time the JNSC council room celebrated the defeat of the Kagetane pair, they received the report of the appearance of the Stage Five, and everyone's faces paled. The instant the nonstandard-size Gastrea's head appeared in Tokyo Bay, missiles, poison gas, and torpedoes were fired, but the missiles and torpedoes barely scratched it, and those scratches healed in a second. The poison gas was a VX nerve gas, the worst known to man, but after taking in the gas, the Gastrea virus analyzed its components in a second and developed a resistance to it. The dependable Varanium armor-piercing ammunition was repelled by the Gastrea's hard skin. Kisara ended by telling him that the people in the meeting room had fallen into a panic. Rentaro looked from the port to the faraway horizon of Tokyo Bay. It was true that he could see light and hear soft sounds of explosions in the night. The battle had already begun. From what she said, he gathered that Kisara had somehow been invited into the JNSC situation room. While they were talking, Rentaro could hear frantic screams and angry shouts arguing back and forth incessantly in the background behind her. It was probably only a matter of time before people started trying to run away. "Is it all over for us? Is there no hope left of saving Tokyo Area?" Rentaro shut his eyes tightly and prayed as he waited for her answer. Finally, she spoke, her voice with its usual dignity. "It's too soon to give up. When I asked the Seitenshi if the plan I just came up with was physically possible, she said, 'I daresay we can do it.'" "We can survive…? H-how?" "We can see you and Enju from here. You can see the answer if you look southeast." He turned his head in the direction she had given. Then he understood her plan and was taken aback. No way… It's impossible, Kisara. There's no way it'd work. Two parallel rails 1.5 kilometers long stretched out and pierced the sky at an angle of elevation of about seventy degrees. From where he stood, thin clouds were in the way and he could not see through to the tip. A relic of the last stages of the Great Gastrea War, the massive weapon was completed but had not even been tested once before it was unavoidably abandoned and left to watch over the loss of the war. It was called the Stairway to Heaven. It was also known as a Linear Electromagnetic Projectile Device. It was a railgun module that could accelerate and fire metal projectiles eight hundred millimeters or less in diameter at near light speed. "You two are the closest to the target location. There's no time to lose. You're going to do it, Satomi." The electric lights of the facility turned on all at once as Rentaro and Enju approached. Using the power supply network from the mainland, it was the first time in ten years that they had been turned on. Because the thick power cables were securely shielded and buried underground, they did not suffer any damage from the Gastrea running wild aboveground and could still operate now, ten years later. The facility sat atop a small mountain, and a deep forest spread around it. The pure white outer walls with spikes on top rose sternly to refuse entry, but unfortunately, it did not take into account the jumping powers of a girl with a Rabbit Factor. Enju quickly carried them over the wall, and they went inside. From the air, Rentaro could see the whole facility for an instant. The giant base of the Stairway to Heaven that was propped up by supports was connected to a round object about a hundred meters in diameter, which was probably used to store power of some kind. However, compared to the impressive railgun module, the adjoining research facility looked smaller even than the grounds of Rentaro's school, Magata High. The mystery was soon solved when he looked at a map of the facility that had been sent to his phone. The facility stretched belowground like an ant nest, and the building that showed its face aboveground looked like it was just the tip of the iceberg. "Satomi, hurry," Kisara said from Rentaro's cell phone. Rentaro dashed inside the facility with Enju. Inside was a tangled, complicated maze, as though its designer had been afraid of guerrilla occupation. The room they were looking for was on the second floor of the basement. Following the map and Kisara's guidance, Rentaro reached the middle computer room, panting. The dome inside was spacious, with computers and other equipment set up around the room. On the front was a giant angled electroluminescent panel spread out, and surprisingly, even after being abandoned for ten years, there wasn't a speck of dust accumulated on it. Rentaro hurried to the control panel in the center of the room, stretched out the external connection terminal, and connected his cell phone. When it suddenly asked for a twenty-digit password, he was flustered, but Kisara's clear voice over the phone did not show a moment's hesitation. He could hear other people's voices behind Kisara. Apparently, in the midst of this confusion, Kisara had been made responsible for this plan. Which meant that the Seitenshi and everyone else present were probably staying back and relaying information to Kisara. The password went through easily and the green bars extended, completing the link. Transmissions between the facility and headquarters began. "…the electricity supply from the unmanned transformer station underground looks good, and there are no irregularities with the power supply network, either. The vacuum flask for the liquid helium also looks good. This will work. We will carry out the launch sequence on our end." As they were getting a handle on the condition of the facility, Rentaro fidgeted nervously. Kisara's voice was far away. On top of that, there were fewer transmission signal indicator bars showing up than he had expected. At first, he thought it was because of the large amount of data, but it seemed to be a problem with the signal. But why? A satellite phone was never out of area, so he didn't know why the data would transfer so slowly. He had a bad feeling about this. If his connection to Kisara was cut off right now, it would be all over. While all this was going on, an alert lamp lit up in the facility and a synthetic female voice echoed through the halls. "We will now commence the activation of the Linear Electromagnetic Projectile Device. Workers in the interlock portion of the superconductor flywheel power storage system should evacuate immediately. Sequence, moving to Phase One. We will now commence energy storage." There was a circular indicator displayed on the right side of the panel showing the percentage of energy stored. Even though Rentaro wasn't touching anything, the touch-panel screen was tapped and flicked at dizzying speeds. Headquarters was controlling it remotely. A joystick stored in the housing of the control panel suddenly popped out, and movements of an invisible hand firmly pulled and pushed it. The rhythmical movements were like a car's gear changes. Rentaro swallowed. His skin pricked with the enthusiasm of the people on the other side of the phone with Kisara, and after all this time, he finally understood that this was not a lie or a joke, but that what was happening now was a critical moment for the survival of Tokyo Area. Suddenly, a shock that made the earth reverberate assailed Rentaro and Enju from below, and they both staggered. Looking at the view on the front panel, he saw that the base of the Stairway to Heaven, which had been fixed at an angle of elevation of seventy degrees, had started to move slowly with a grinding sound. However, the movement was so slow that it made him want to go to the place himself and move it. Finally maintaining a distance pretty much level with the ground, the feet of the two tripods installed on the lower parts of the long rails on the left and right were brought down with amazing speed into the ground, digging deep into the ground and leveling a hill as they stopped. In order to prepare for the recoil of the blast, the railgun dug itself in deep. "Changing to online mode, linking data with satellite. Activating the CYCLOPS system. Showing target on the main monitor." Before long, the front of the three-sided panel changed, and seeing the zoomed-in image there, Rentaro almost had to look away. Just how many tens of thousands of species' genes had been incorporated into that body? The Gastrea's dark brown skin was cracked and had warts all over it that made it look like it had smallpox, and there were objects sticking out of it. Eight sickle-shaped barbs stuck out all over the grotesque body in random places—on the neck, head, right eye, and other places. Its head was swollen beyond strange, and something shaped like a curved beak projected out near its mouth. The remaining left eye was so small that it looked almost sad. On the screen was a horrifying giant walking on two legs. Based on the scale, it was probably about four hundred meters tall. As it pushed its way through the ocean, it brushed off the flying missiles cutting through the night sky with its feelers. Smoke from the explosions scattered, and the ocean water near it evaporated. But Rentaro could not see anything that looked like damage. Enju, gazing dumbfounded at the monitor, looked at Rentaro with a pale face. "R-Rentaro, what's that?" "A Stage Five," said Rentaro, "also known as the Zodiac Gastrea: Scorpion. Ten years ago, it was one of the monsters that wreaked havoc on the world." It was originally used by the U.S. Department of Defense and the Japanese government as a code name to tell them apart, but before they knew it, it had become a household name that everyone used. Rentaro made a tight fist and gazed at the repulsive angel of death. If a whale that swam in the ocean was brought onto land, it would die, crushed by the weight of its own body. It went without saying that the same should have been true for something with a frame many times the size of a whale's. Suddenly an unbelievable view came into sight. Just how tough was that Gastrea, such that it could support that vast body weight and still move? It was probably harder than anything else that existed on earth. There was no way an existing weapon could kill that. As the Scorpion suddenly stopped, the feelers all over its body stood straight up perpendicularly, and it pointed its giant beak toward the sky. The next instant, Rentaro cursed the fact that these facilities were equipped with a sound collection device. "Hyooooooooooooooooooooo!!" It was a loud shriek of a monster that seemed to unnerve everyone working hard around Japan. An earthquakelike vibration shook the whole facility, and a cold sweat broke out all over Rentaro's body. There was anger in that howl. The roots of his teeth clattered loudly. He didn't even have a chance to scream. "Did you hear that? Don't lose focus, Satomi!" Rentaro came back to his senses with Kisara's cry. Even Kisara could not completely eliminate the panic and irritation that were mixed into her voice. "Satomi, listen calmly. We're in a bad situation. There's no Varanium armor-piercing ammunition in the chamber." "Wh-what do you mean?" Rentaro asked. "There's nothing that can be shot out of that railgun! In other words, it prob…can't be used…like that. S…plea…secu…it……self……" Suddenly, Kisara's voice became so faraway that he couldn't tell what she was saying. Not knowing what was going on, Rentaro pressed the phone harder to his ear. "Kisara? Kisara?! What's wrong? Hey, Kisara!" Glancing left and right, he looked suddenly at the control panel and stared at the screen. All the blood suddenly left his face. The indicator bars that had been steadily showing their wireless data transmission had come to a complete stop. The data transmission had been interrupted. "Right now, we can't enter anything remotely… The transmission is probably…being affected…the supermagne… The rest is up…to yo…Satomi……" Even as she was breaking up, he could pick up what she was trying to say. Rentaro clutched the cell phone in his hand like his life depended on it and screamed. "Kisara! No, Kisara! Stop! Please stop! I can't do it. Don't leave me alone!" "Satom…… The world…depen……… please…" There was static, and then their call was cut off. Rentaro gazed at his cell phone with unbelieving eyes. He was suddenly enveloped with chills. But this was not the end of the terrible situation. Suddenly, a piercing alert echoed, and when he looked up, the status screen on the left panel seemed to be red with rage. "Coolant leak in power storage system confirmed. Please abort experiment immediately. I repeat—Coolant…" On top of that, the synthesized voice said, "Fire-control system UNTAC is not activated. Please reactivate it or abort the experiment." "Railgun firing angle, eleven degrees above ground level. Energy eighty-eight percent filled." Rentaro forced himself to take deep breaths and calm down. He couldn't let this abort now. He didn't know how much the coolant leak would affect the firing, but looking at the status screen, it was only leaking slightly. He could probably shoot once. But at the same time, he knew if he missed, he would not have another chance. He prepared himself. Opening his clenched fist, he checked to make sure he could move all five fingers. He stretched his black artificial arm straight out in front of him and narrowed his fingers into the shape of an arrowhead. With his left hand, he felt around behind his humerus, where his triceps would have been, and pushing a button he found there, his arm turned counterclockwise and popped out. The connection whirred and came loose, and Rentaro's right arm came off from the elbow down. Rentaro stared for a while at the nerve connector terminal, insulation, shock absorber, and other parts in the cross section of the arm. Finally, he opened the universal bolt connected to the chamber next to the control panel. Rentaro then set his disconnected right arm into it and pushed the LOCK button. His right arm was sent to the chamber and locked into place. "Rentaro, don't tell me you…?" Enju said, her voice trailing off. "Yeah, I'm using my right arm as a bullet," said Rentaro. "Super-Varanium should be good enough." As if approving of Rentaro's sacrifice, the composition analysis results were displayed. This material would be able to withstand up to five percent below light speed. "Still no response from the fire-control system. Switching to manual trigger control system. Energy one hundred percent filled. Ready to shoot." Another joysticklike object came out of the control panel. All this stick had was a trigger like that of a gun. Rentaro prayed as he gripped it hard. The indicator flickered one hundred percent on the screen. The whole facility shook with the powerful energy of a mass of billions of tesla volts of energy looking for an exit. The fire-control system that allowed for automatic aiming to hit the target was not responding, which meant that Rentaro would have to manually hit the target. He couldn't do it. Rentaro squeezed his eyes shut. There were almost fifty kilometers between this facility on Boso Peninsula and the target in Tokyo Bay. In the world of shooting, where hitting a target a kilometer away was already considered a miracle, even if the target was large, how was he supposed to hit it from fifty kilometers away? Manually, he didn't even have a fraction of a percentage of a chance of hitting it. The panel showed the Scorpion trying to land in Tokyo Bay, with a firing line rushing at it as the battle with the self-defense force at the water's edge progressed. Beyond them was the line of jet-black Monoliths standing silently to protect Tokyo. At that moment, the Scorpion shot out one especially long sickle-shaped feeler and mowed down all the artillery batteries and missile silos crowded around the coast of the bay at once. Dense clouds of sand and rocks were stirred up and Rentaro could tell that the state of the war was starting to take a dire turn for the worse. Replaying the Scorpion's hate-filled war cry in his head, he gripped the joystick so hard it almost broke. He wiped the sweat from his hand holding the joystick on his clothes. The coolant loss alert was annoyingly shrill in his ears. It was as if it was urging him saying, Hurry up, hurry up. He heard a ragged sigh come from his own throat that sounded like that of a wounded animal and clenched his teeth. He could not let that organism step on the land of Tokyo Area. If he quit here, what in the world had he been fighting for this whole time?! Do it! Do it! You can do it, Rentaro Satomi! The tips of his fingers seemed like they had solidified and wouldn't move. Rentaro finally fell to his knees, still clinging to the joystick. "It's no use……… I can't do it. I'm……" He wanted to run away. Suddenly, a small hand was placed on top of Rentaro's. Surprised, he looked next to him, where Enju was looking at Rentaro with an unusually kind expression on her face. "Rentaro, I am here." His mouth was parched. The corners of his eyes felt hot, and looking down, he hugged Enju and squeezed hard. "If this misses, it's the end for us." "It won't miss. You can do it." "Don't be ridiculous. Of course it's impossible. First of all, how can you believe in a weapon that was inactive for ten years that never even had a test run? One wrong step and the bullet could shoot toward Tokyo Area and cause an unprecedented disaster there." "But you can do it." "How can you always say such irresponsible things? I'm…"
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter004e.txt	BLACK BULLET Enju suddenly brought her face so close they almost bumped heads. She focused on him with her eyes wide and bit her lip. "I have not said a single irresponsible thing. It is what I always think. You are the only one who can save this world. No one else but you, Rentaro." Rentaro was surprised and covered his mouth. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath to calm himself. "Enju…I definitely don't want to lose you." The tension left Enju's tense body and, at peace from the bottom of her heart, she closed her eyes and put her arm around Rentaro's neck. "Don't worry. I love you, too." Her body felt so hot he thought he would be burned, but he also felt relief like being wrapped in down. He didn't know how long they stayed like that. Suddenly, Enju let out a strange sound and pressed in on Rentaro's face. "Rentaro, let us be clear. I can interpret what you said just now as a proposal, right?" "Uh………………. D-d-dummy! Of course it just means I like you. Interpret it in a familial way! What does a ten-year-old kid have to say about love, anyway? Besides, before you can even think about feelings, the law says…" Enju looked dissatisfied as she stared at Rentaro with the corners of her mouth turned down. "Then, do you love Kisara?" Rentaro gave a start. "Don't say that……!" Enju thrust a victory peace sign in front of Rentaro's nose. "Two years. Within two years, I shall make you like me more than Kisara!" Rentaro smiled wryly and scratched his head. "When you're twelve and I'm eighteen, huh? The older I get, the more criminal it seems, doesn't it?" "I can't wait longer than that." "Okay, okay, I get it. I expect a lot from you." Enju smiled faintly and slowly peeled her body away from his. "Are you still scared…?" Rentaro looked at the palm of his own hand and was strangely moved. The trembling had stopped. Rentaro closed his eyes. "No… Thanks. Give me your hand. We're gonna end this." Lifting his face, he looked at the panel. He even felt pity for the raging Scorpion. Sorry we made up a name for you. But I can't die yet. The energy that was about to run wild earlier had started shaking like an earthquake right below them. Rentaro gripped the joystick again, and Enju put her hand on top. They put their fingers on the trigger together. Rentaro closed his eyes. Strangely, he felt good. He felt like he couldn't miss. "Enju." "Yeah," she said. They slowly pulled the trigger. He felt so light and comfortable that it would be a disservice to compare it to floating. He lost all sense of time. Finally, everything was enveloped in light, like a blessing.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/copyright.txt	BLACK BULLET Copyright BLACK BULLET, Volume 1 SHIDEN KANZAKI Cover art by Saki Ukai Translation by Nita Lieu This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. BLACK BULLET, Volume 1 ©SHIDEN KANZAKI 2011 All rights reserved. Edited by ASCII MEDIA WORKS First published in Japan in 2011 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo. English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo. English translation © 2015 Hachette Book Group, Inc. All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author's intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author's rights. Yen On Hachette Book Group 1290 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10104 hachettebookgroup.com yenpress.com Yen On is an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The Yen On name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher. First ebook edition: August 2015 ISBN: 978-0-316-34495-1 E3
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/newsletterSignup.txt	Orbit Newsletter Signup Thank you for buying this ebook, published by Yen On. To get news about the latest manga, graphic novels, and light novels from Yen Press, along with special offers and exclusive content, sign up for the Yen Press newsletter. Sign Up Or visit us at www.yenpress.com/booklink
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/prologue.txt	BLACK BULLET PROLOGUE DEFEAT The boy sat hugging his knees in a corner of the cracked road, watching people pass by. The rain had turned the narrow road muddy, and there were a surprising number of people traveling on it, or sitting in protest and making a fuss about something. If the boy strained his eyes, he could see an elderly man who had not received rations and was staving off hunger by gnawing at the roots of trees. The man's eyes bulged, and his throat was extremely swollen. The boy could not look directly at the scene, since like most people who had once had no choice but to eat grass and bark, he knew that it would make him sick. There was a man selling small pieces of crushed biscuits at an exorbitant price whose pockets were stuffed with ten-thousand-yen bills that were basically useless scraps of paper. But the man in question was skin and bones himself and seemed to be the one most in need of nutrition. Behind him, at a hastily made barricade, the protestors were a mountain of black, carrying placards and yelling. The placards were not quite visible from where the boy sat, but they undoubtedly said "Let us live." They had all abandoned their possessions and homes, making a reverse evacuation into Tokyo. But not even Tokyo had the capacity to accommodate the entire nation's refugees. Despite the plentiful open land, everyone pitched their tents close together in dense formations. The most certain method of keeping off the wind and rain was to take shelter inside a building, but it took a lot of courage to live inside half-destroyed office buildings and department stores that could collapse at any moment. Before the boy's eyes spread a scene he'd once thought existed only on TV: the end of the world. What everyone had in common were their dirt-covered faces and the despair and hopelessness that ate away at their hearts. The many who rejected this pitiful way of life had long since ended their lives to hold on to their dignity. Who in the world would believe that this moment was the present and that this place was the area around the capital of Japan? Suddenly, the boy was overcome with a great listlessness, and his consciousness faded away. He didn't know what he should do. He didn't have a place to go home to, either. Every day, countless numbers of people died, and the war just kept getting worse. The dead were either piled on top of one another and burned, or recently, to save fuel, they were being thrown into a mass grave and covered with dirt. These past few days, there wasn't a day that went by without the smell of burning protein or rotting flesh. The boy was sure he had been lucky. However, even if he tried to believe that he should be grateful that there'd even been a funeral, the sadness that oppressed him didn't let up one bit, and blood continued to flow. When he closed his eyes, the first thing that came to mind was a low, repetitive, monotone voice. The boy had been made to sit in the front row of a room where the sound of chanting, cicadas, and a faraway wind chime mixed together. Two caskets were stretched out in front of a monk chanting prayers to Amitabha, and in front of those were a large number of flower wreaths offered in tribute. Almost buried beneath the flowers were pictures of the deceased smiling brightly. The boy's stomach twisted with pain, and he squeezed the fist on his knee so hard that his whole body shook. He hung his head in shame as the teardrops he tried to hold back dripped down his nose. The stain spread on his already-soaked pants. It was only a week earlier that the area where the boy lived had become the site of a bloody battle with the invasion of the Gastrea. As jet engines of missiles and the flames of mortars dyed the night sky crimson, the boy's father desperately pushed the struggling boy unwillingly onto the night train so that he could be taken care of by his father's friend in Tokyo. Just before the train doors closed, his father said with a serious look on his face, "Mom and I will be there soon, too." Indeed, a mere five days after the boy had been taken in by the family in Tokyo, his parents arrived. As ashes. Joint funeral. It took many hours of explanation for the boy to understand what those two simple words meant. At first, he couldn't believe what had happened and grabbed at the dark ashes with his hands. The clumps were unbelievably easy to crumble with his hands, and they fell like fine pebbles through his fingers. The boy opened and closed his blackened palms, trying to connect with reality the explanation he'd received, but it was no use. There was just no way he could believe that those ashes had been his mother and father just a few days earlier. Ashes could not laugh with him, sleep next to him, or cook him delicious food. Before he knew it, he had bitten the chanting monk and kicked off the lids of the caskets, going wild. Showing the people who had come to the funeral the empty caskets, he screamed, "Mom and Dad aren't dead!" and ran outside, bumping into the black-and-white curtain used for funeral services. And then two days later, the boy ran out of the large residence with many servants and ended up where refugees had set up their temporary tents. But because the boy did not have any ration tickets, there was no way anyone would bless him with food. With no other choice, he chewed on tree roots and sucked on the juice of grasses. He ended up with violent diarrhea and became dehydrated from food poisoning. Overcome by dizziness with his vision narrowing, he could not stand any longer, and let his body sink to the ground while leaning on a wall in the street. Looking in front of him with his vision blurring, he saw many legs in his field of vision. The legs of the thousands of refugees walking on the street passed in front of the boy's eyes. Thin legs, old legs, children's legs, men's legs, women's legs. His mouth was so dry that he didn't even have any spit left. Even when he stretched out his hand in supplication and called out with his thin, weak voice, none of those legs stopped. A single tear ran down the boy's cheek. He didn't want to go back to that house—the Tendo house—again. The boy didn't think he could stand living any longer with the new parents and many older brothers and one younger sister he had had for one week. Even though he was a child, he knew. It was the end for this country. Over eighty percent of its country's land had been taken by Gastrea, and land, sea, or air, the self-defense force had suffered devastating losses. It was unbelievable how many people had been killed. He was sure it would hurt less if he just died here and now. But—the boy put strength into his hand and scratched at the earth. If he were somehow able to survive this, he would spend the rest of his life searching for his parents to the ends of the Earth. Suddenly, a long rumble like distant thunder echoed through the area. The people going to the road stopped their feet and tilted their heads. The man who guessed the situation first climbed the bell tower attached to the church and rang the bell with a desperate look on his face. The boy slowly followed everyone's gazes toward the sky and saw a gigantic shadow flying over the ridge of the mountain range in the distance. The moment everyone realized that it belonged to a creature with gigantic wings, the camp descended into chaos. Raising their voices in screams, pushing and shoving, stepping on fallen old women and children, they all started to panic and run, trying to get just one step farther away from the thing. The boy's hazy consciousness kept him gazing at the sky as he put strength into the hand holding his knee, but with his empty stomach and in his dehydrated state, he could not move another step from where he was. Behind the being by a few seconds came a mass of machines that appeared from beyond the mountains—the self-defense force's support fighter aircraft. As the fighter aircraft pursued the giant creature, their engines roaring, the creature tried to shake them off. They almost seemed to dance as they drew an acrobatic path through the air. It was a scene that could have only been seen on TV just a short time ago. Finally, seeing a good opportunity, a fighter aircraft in the back fired an air-to-air missile. The creature twisted its body in midair in an attempt to avoid the Sparrow missile that rocketed toward it, but the missile impacted its flank nonetheless, and a blaze of fire bloomed in the sky. Seeing the creature let out a long scream as one wing was broken off in midair, the crowd stopped and cheered loudly. But the next instant, those cheers became screams. "It's coming this way!" someone yelled. The falling giant changed its course as it fell, and eventually it came to fill the boy's field of vision. The rising shouts and bellows mingled until all that could be heard were screams. As the giant being scraped the ground, severe tremors shook the earth, and the crowd of people fell one after another like dominoes as they screamed. The monster took a path to the ground like an airplane trying to land on a runway, but the impact of the large body was not so easily reduced. Cutting down a swath of buildings and temporary tents with a loud destructive reverberation, the creature made a hard landing, heading directly at the boy. I'm going to be crushed, thought the boy, shutting his eyes tightly. The air resounded with the sounds of cracking and crumbling and screaming as large bits of rock and clods of earth hit the boy's face. Then, there was the choking smell of the earth, and all he could hear was a sound of ragged panting that was not his own. He was alive. Opening his eyes, through the thick cloud of dust, he saw the head of the giant creature before his very eyes, close enough to touch if he stretched out his hand far enough. "Gas…trea…," the boy murmured without thinking. It was probably about fourteen meters in length, and it looked like a dinosaur from prehistoric times. Its reddish wings looked like a bird's, but it had two eyes that stuck out like half-moons, sparkling like lumps of crystal. They seemed like a dragonfly's compound eyes. It was an avian-insectoid Double Factor. From its pointed beak flowed a great volume of venous blood, and from within its heaving chest was a glowing red light. Thanks to this… No, because of this… As if responding to the boy's hate, the Gastrea strained its whole body to raise its head. Blood dripped in long, flowing threads. The monster suddenly opened its beak and let out a shriek in front of the boy's eyes and nose. A mixture of saliva and blood splattered on his face, and a blast of beastly smelling wind played with his hair. His whole body shook, and a scream almost escaped from his throat. He drew back his body, thinking he was done for. At that moment, someone pulled the boy's arm with an explosive force, and he just barely escaped the Gastrea's sharp beak. "Huh…? S-sir?" said the boy. Though the man was easily sixty, he had the solid body of a martial artist and a tall frame that towered over the boy. This was Kikunojo Tendo, the head of the Tendo family that had taken the boy in. He came to look for me? All the way here? thought the boy. As he stuttered, trying to thank the man, the extremely late Special Forces surrounded the nearly dead Gastrea, holding their rifles ready. The boy's savior, without looking in his direction, told him: "If you do not want to die, survive, Rentaro." At the captain's signal, empty shell casings flew into the air as the dry sound of gunfire filled the sky. Two months later, Japan declared its de facto defeat to the people, and each region closed their Monolith barrier and took a stance of autonomous defense. Following Japan's lead, the major powers of the world also closed their Monolith barriers as a temporary measure. The majority of Japan's land had been taken over, and there were a vast number of casualties, with tens of times more missing. In the year 2021, mankind lost to the Gastrea. Ten years later…
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-01-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/welcome.txt	BLACK BULLET Begin Reading Insert Table of Contents Yen Newsletter Copyright Page In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author's intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author's rights.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-05-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter001.txt	Black Bullet, Vol. 5: Rentaro Satomi, Fugitive PROLOGUE THE QUICKENING NIGHTMARE The beautiful soprano's voice, one with a wide, emphatic range used to sing professionally, is a portrait of constant change—sometimes high, sometimes low—as it exploits the finely tuned acoustics of a wide, expansive theater. Kenji Houbara, reclining in his dimly lit seat in the audience, held his breath as he stared transfixed upon the sight before him. The players, dressed in the traditional seventeenth-century Scotland garb, sang their speech in a recitative manner as they pranced up and down the stage. To the side, a digital lightboard occasionally came to life, providing subtitles for the lyrics being performed. The intensity onstage was contagious, infecting the audience until both parties felt connected by a taut, groaning rope of emotion. Kenji was taking in the opera Lucia di Lammermoor, an 1835 work by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It tells the tale of Lucia Ashton and Edgardo di Ravenswood, two star-crossed lovers caught in a bitter feud between their respective families. Despite their attempts to quell the feud, Lucia's brother tricks her with a letter purportedly proving that Edgardo has another love, forcing her to agree to an arranged marriage to a rich nobleman instead. Edgardo, not knowing this, is so enraged at the news that he appears at Lucia's wedding and gives her a very public rebuke. This causes Lucia, already brought to the mental brink, to finally go mad and kill her bridegroom, ultimately dying herself soon after. Learning the truth at last, Edgardo swears to follow her to heaven as he stabs himself in the heart. When it came to classical opera, Kenji was strictly a Mozart aficionado. However, Donizetti—and Lucia di Lammermoor in particular—was one of the few exceptions he was willing to make. He could no longer count how many times he'd watched it, and he could now recite the plot just as surely as Lucia and Edgardo themselves, but time and again, he always found himself at another performance. Reflecting for a moment, Kenji couldn't help but notice that most operas that stood the test of time seemed to be tragedies. Even true love's firmest bedrock could be quickly eroded away by tiny cracks of jealousy and suspicion. Although he knew it was improper, he looked at the audience members seated next to and behind him. He made a glum expression. The New National Theater, with a capacity of 1,800, had failed to fill even a third of its seats. But perhaps it was unavoidable, he thought. Ten years ago, the Gastrea War had robbed the world of so much promising talent forever—both in film and in live performance. Then he felt someone sitting down next to him. A sweet scent filled his nostrils as the sight stunned him into silence. A middle schooler, perhaps? Her wide-brimmed straw hat kept her face hidden, and a thin, shimmering dress accentuated her chest area like a stage light cast through a scrim. What stood out the most, however, was the pink teddy bear she had in her hands. There are a million other seats in this concert hall. Why did she pick one right next to me? Just then, with a thunderous percussion, the orchestral accompaniment burst into his ears. Lifted up by its ominous clamor, the soprano playing Lucia began to sing the so-called "Mad Scene" aria. He had been so lost in the performance that only now did he notice they were already into the third act. Lucia, blood-spattered and raving after killing her would-be groom, had suddenly thrown herself back into her own wedding ceremony from stage right, a blank look on her face as she began singing a fearsome, maniacal song. The bloodstained knife was still in her hand… Then, Kenji's body reeled from a sudden shock, intense pain running across his body. He felt something foul well up from the pit of his stomach—and the moment he did, he began to spew blood profusely. Looking down, he found an unbelievable sight: a knife stuck into his own chest. He had no idea what just happened. Groggily turning his head around, he realized the hand around the knife's handle belonged to the girl in the straw hat next to him. She must have hidden the weapon in her teddy bear, the knife she had so adeptly just slipped between Kenji's ribs, piercing and ultimately destroying his heart. "Wh…wh…?" Why? Before he could ask, Kenji felt a hand over his mouth as the girl brought her face closer. "Ssssh," she said, her index finger at her lips. She was like a slightly miffed arts patron, enjoining a nearby stranger to mind his manners while the performance was still underway. His consciousness began to ebb away. Unable to even groan in response, Kenji slumped in his seat, then quietly expired. The girl, her attention still focused on the opera unfolding before her, picked up Kenji's arm, making sure there was no pulse before standing up. The final scene had just begun. With the orchestra playing solemnly behind her, she left the auditorium. The moment she left the climate-controlled theater, the sun's powerful rays began to beat angrily down upon her. In the distance, she could see hazy air drifting up from the cooking asphalt. Then she set off, tapping a number into her cell phone. "This is Hummingbird. Mission complete, Nest. Awaiting further orders." In Saya Takamura's world, every day began by waking up her still-sleeping husband and son. She would always let the oak floors creak under her weight as she climbed the stairs, entering first her child's, then her husband's room, both adjacent to each other. She was dealing with a couple of well-trained sleepers. A quick shake or two wasn't going to be enough. There was a certain trick to it, and that was to rip the comforter off the futon and leave the doors open. Once she left them alone and began making breakfast, her husband and son would jump out of their respective coffins, lurching like zombies toward the fetching aroma. Neither resembled the other very much, but this shared habit was all the evidence needed to prove they were family. This morning she was mixing cheese into omelets, pairing it with some curried lamb mince from last night, along with toast. She spotted the rest of her family creep toward the kitchen table, then in time sent her husband off with a box lunch of salmon onigiri rice balls, and helped her son climb onto the kindergarten bus. Now the real battle began. Tying her apron tight behind her back, she checked the weather forecast as she dumped a nearby pile of dirty laundry into the washing machine, pushed the START button, and put on a pair of rubber gloves. Today, her main goal was to remove the mold staining the grout between the bathroom tiles, a task she had a tendency to put off for as long as possible. If she had time afterward, the toilet area could use a touch-up as well. Despite her worst fears, the tile work actually went fairly easily. The high temperatures must have caused the dirt and mold to float to the surface. Kneeling there, spraying the walls with bathroom cleaner and scrubbing away at the grout lines, she couldn't help but notice how joyous the whole process was. It was obvious that she cared for her husband and son. It was a given that she did chores like these. Ten years ago, a portrait of happiness she never could've hoped for was right here, before her eyes, between the tiles. She stood up just in time for the washer to buzz its confirmation that the laundry was done. Both hands carrying damp clothes, she used a leg to open the sliding door leading to the rear balcony. The sky was an indescribably fetching shade of blue, liberally decorated with silent, puffy white clouds. The sun shone brilliantly upon her. From this vantage point, Saya could only barely hear the front doorbell's chime. She hurriedly tossed the laundry on the floor and dashed for the front door, wiping her hands dry on the apron. "Hello!" she said as she opened the door. Then she froze. A man was standing there. An intimidating one. He was easily over 190 centimeters tall, and despite the summer heat, he was wearing a long trench coat. A short, well-maintained beard was visible below his round sunglasses. It was immediately clear that he wasn't visiting on any kind of legitimate business. "Um…" "You Saya Takamura?" the man intoned. A miniature snowstorm of paper scraps flew toward her before falling to the ground. She lifted her arms up in self-defense before realizing she was "attacked" by several dozen photographs. She was the subject of each picture. Hidden-camera photos, all of them. "……!" The moment she recognized what they were, Saya took a Glock pistol out from deep within an apron pocket. But the next instant, a gunshot sent her body reeling toward the wall behind her. "Nhh…" At some point, the man had readied a shotgun in his hands. A ribbon of hot, white smoke drifted out from the muzzle. The barrel and stock had been cut off, an aftermarket modification that made it compact and easier to hide. Saya brought a hand to her stomach. The anti-personnel bullets had ripped through her lower torso, fatally wounding her. She let the handgun fall through her fingers and raised her face up high. "Who…are you?" She was answered by twin shotgun barrels placed between her eyes. The man pulled the trigger and delivered a second salvo. Not bothering to watch Saya's body as it slumped to the floor, which left a vertical blood smear on the wall, he hid the shotgun back in his coat and briskly left the home. Some neighbors, noticing the gunshots, were already out scoping the scene by the time he closed the front gate behind him. Making sure he was a safe distance away from the scene, the man took out his cell phone. "Swordtail to Nest. Mission complete. Awaiting further orders." "So, like, getting back to the singles meet up I went to last night… Right when we were all about to head out and pair up, the guys were all like 'You mind if we go Dutch on this tonight?' I mean, hell-oooo? They were all, like, ten years older than us! Can you have any less of a clue?" A cacophony of unflattering laughter ensued, vulgarly echoing its way across school grounds through the wide-open classroom windows. The place stank of perfume. Anyone could tell that someone had applied far too much. Whoever came up with the expression "too much of a good thing" must have been imagining this exact sort of confab. I really don't like where this is going, thought Yuga Mitsugi in a corner of his mind, but he shook it off as he approached his seat. "Hey." "Uhhh, yeah?" He was greeted by the unruliest one of all. She was a second-year student here at Nukagari High School, and while her collar was folded down, it was badly bent out of shape, and her hair, which she swore to her teachers was real, was dyed a light blond. She always put her earrings back on whenever they were on break, and once the warning bell went off, she always took them off and pretended nothing was amiss in front of the next teacher. She didn't respect the rules—and in ways that did far more to annoy than actually cause any harm. Yoshiko Kamuro, he thought her name was. If any girl in her school year crossed her, she and her clique would surround the offender, drag her into the bathroom, and conduct their so-called "punishments," one after the other. That the characters in her name literally meant "good child" was simply comical. "Uh, that's kind of my seat." "So?" Yoshiko replied, her ample rear end parked on Yuga's desk as she swung her legs in the air. "Would you mind moving a sec? I can't get my textbooks out." The request made the air in the classroom frigid. The boys and girls surrounding her swiveled their heads upward at him, eyes engorged with hostility. Yoshiko joined them, glaring silently at Yuga, then moved exactly half her rear off the desk. And no more. This was all she was willing to concede. With some difficulty, Yuga proceeded to remove the textbooks he needed for the next class. He then left without another word, figuring a "thank you" for allowing him access to his own desk would be silly. When he made it to Shingo Kuromatsu's desk, his friend gave him a clearly concerned look as he waved. "Oof. Not cool, Mitsugi." "What's not cool?" "What do you mean, what…?" Kuromatsu gaped at him for a moment before sighing, realizing there was no saving him now. "Mitsugi, it's been three months since you transferred to this school, right? And we're friends, right? So I hope you'll take this the right way when I say, like, you gotta try harder to adapt to this place a little. I dunno what kind of social life you had over at Seishin High, but hell if I could imagine it." "……" Okay, so what was I supposed to do over there? He was putting forth at least a modicum of effort to act like any other student around here, but something about Yuga's behavior led the others to find him abnormal. And even if he revealed to his well-meaning friend that he had never set foot once in Seishin High School and that his presence there was strictly in name only—and even then those records were faked—it wasn't like that'd help solve the problem at all. Besides, his past three months as a transfer student was all for the sake of today's mission. So maybe it didn't matter anyway. "Mitsugi, look. I really hope I don't piss you off when you hear this, but sometimes you act like…you're really far away from us, y'know? Like you're a space alien from another planet and you're here to observe what life on Earth is like." "Wow. That hurts." "Huh?" He laughed at his suddenly concerned classmate. "I'm just joking." Then Yuga's cell phone rang. Here we go. Yuga pushed his biology textbooks against Kuromatsu's chest. "Hey, I'm sorry, Kuromatsu, but can you take these to bio class for me?" "Huh? Uh, sure, but…" Before he had time to hear Kuromatsu's full answer, Yuga turned around and left the classroom, running past the rooms that lined the hallway and into an inconspicuous teacher's bathroom. There he pushed a hands-free headset into his ear and poked at his smartphone. "Hey. This is Dark Stalker." "Bad news. I got word that your target boarded the bullet train before the one in the plan." Yuga's brows twitched a bit. He looked at his watch. "How long ago?" "Twenty-five minutes. You got just five minutes until the train passes by you. Get to your post immediately." He didn't need to be told twice. Flying out of the bathroom stall, Yuga clambered up the stairway next to the teachers' offices. At the landing, he made a quick twirl, one hand still on the safety rail. In an instant, he was behind the locked door leading to the rooftop. Taking out a previously made key, he stuck it into the hole and threw the metal door open. Despite having "physically weak due to childhood illness" written in the special-comments section of his transfer certificate, Yuga had traversed the fifty or so meters from his classroom to here without so much as quickening his breath. The warning bell rang just then. He could hear the students scurrying to and fro below him. The door's hinges creaked as he opened the door, revealing bright light and seemingly boundless sky before his eyes. Yuga made a beeline to a spot behind the rooftop water tank, pulling out the thin attaché case he had stashed between the tank and the safety fence on the roof's edge. With another key, it was open, revealing a single rifle and the scent of gun oil—a DSR No. 1 sniper rifle, manufactured by AMP Technical Services. It was a bullpup-style bolt-action rifle, one whose action—the mechanism that locks and fires the ammunition—was located farther behind the trigger in order to keep the barrel length down while retaining accuracy. It was a low-noise, low-light rifle, using .338 Lapua Magnum cartridges and an attached silencer instead of the usual flash hider. Its beauty lay entirely in its mobility—a sniper rifle not beholden to a single location, like so many before it. Class must've just begun. From the music room directly below him, he could hear a low, heavy throb against his stomach as a majestic composition began to play. It was "Ode to Joy," the final movement in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. Yuga checked the time. Two minutes left. With expert concentration, he settled into a prone shooting position and turned his rifle toward the high-speed train line that deftly tore its way through the tangled mountains on the opposite side of his school. Opening the flip-up cover on his optical scope, Yuga unfolded the bipod stored in the far end of the barrel jacket. Then, muzzle still pointed at the rail line, he placed the monopod stored in the shoulder stock on the ground, keeping the gun stable at three different points. Taking a box magazine from the holder attached to the front, he pushed it into the bottom of the action and operated the bolt handle, loading the first bullet into the chamber. The scope he peered into presented him with assorted data, from wind speed to shooting angle. A Carl Zeiss company product, it was the newest 2031 model, boasting a calculator that provided real-time ballistic information at a glance. The range to his target was 1,200 meters. It was already zeroed in on the right point. "Thirty seconds left," the voice on the phone said, unable to hide its alarm. "It's coming!" Yuga's face, meanwhile, was as calm and collected as the mirrorlike surface of a perfectly still lake. The background noise faded away; all he could hear was the loud beating of his heart. With several breaths to prepare himself, he placed a finger against the trigger and pulled it taut. —Then he unleashed his cybernetic eyes. A spinning geometric shape appeared over both of his irises as the CPU within his pupils came to life. They began to rotate, overclocking the miniature computer's thought processes to increase their speed by the hundreds. In tandem with this, the world around Yuga seemed to fall into slow motion. Beethoven's masterpiece became an indecipherable mishmash of bass noise, and the sunlight around him seemed to go two levels darker than before. The flow of all forces in nature slowed for him. Even the black kite bird in the corner of his eye seemed to stop in midair, its wings unmoving, as it lazily cruised the skies.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-05-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter003.txt	Black Bullet, Vol. 5: Rentaro Satomi, Fugitive On the right edge of his vision, the bullet train sluggishly churned its way onto the scene. Normally it'd be here and gone in a flash, but now he could see everything down to the teeth on every individual passenger. His dossier told him that the target would be seated windowside in a reserved seat in row twenty-five, as counted from the front. But if he boarded the train before the one he was scheduled for, that must have changed as well… —Found him. Still by the window, but now in row twelve. A bald man, lips gnarled as he chomped at an expensive-looking cigar, a look of clear irritation on his face. Just like in the pictures. Yuga's eyes completed their calculations, providing a formula that guaranteed him a clean hit. Narrowing them, he let the predator in him seize his body as he squeezed the trigger. He could feel the spring inside bend, and before long, he had it completely pulled back. The firing pin in the attached bolt mechanism struck the detonator at the bottom of the cartridge, setting it off. A small explosion took place within the action, a dull, muted flash emanating from the far edge of the silencer. At the same time, the Lapua Magnum bullet made its way through the barrel, the internal rifling giving it rotational speed as it smashed through the air toward its target. A blunt firing recoil gradually pounded itself against his shoulder. In a world where everything was slowed to near-statuesque proportions, only the bullet proceeded along at high speed. Yuga had given himself enough lead. He watched as the blast penetrated through the train window, broke the glass, and made a clean traverse through his target's temporal lobe. The target listlessly began to fall to his side and downward. Realizing there was no point admiring his efforts any further, Yuga lowered his CPU's operational speed and returned his sense of time to its normal state. The instant he did, the explosive bombast of "Ode to Joy" thudded against his ears as the remaining recoil force pounded painfully against his shoulder. Before long, the sun grew just as bright as it was before. Standing up as he watched the bullet train motor along at top speed, he tilted his head toward the blue sky. "You get him?" "It hit home, yeah." He even managed to camouflage the muffled gunshot in the overlapping sounds of "Ode to Joy" and the passing train. Yuga sighed. "…So, Dark Stalker to Nest. Mission complete. Awaiting further—" "—What…what was that just now…?" Yuga whirled around, only to find a student—a girl—standing dumbfounded, clearly unable to believe her eyes. It was Yoshiko Kamuro. The wide-open metal door behind her instantly told Yuga why she was here. Maybe he was near the time limit and didn't have any wiggle room to work with, but he cursed himself for not even bothering to lock it back up. Yoshiko, engaged in her usual boycotting-class habit whenever possible, must have noticed the half-open door and thought it was her golden opportunity for an hour or so of freedom. Not even realizing it'd cost her her life. "You saw it, huh?" a detached Yuga said as he took a deliberate step toward her. Yoshiko took a step back. "Wh-what the hell is up with that huge gun or whatever? Like, that's just…totally nuts!" If she could've kept her legs from shaking, the half smirk she employed to accentuate her act just might have seemed convincing. Yuga kept approaching Yoshiko silently. She continued to step back. Before long, she was against the metal fence that edged the roof. "Are you, like, a hit man?" "Nope. I'm an avenger." Yuga shrugged and looked up into the air. "Sorry, but if I let you live, that's gonna leave a black mark on the whole operation. I really feel bad, saying this to you after just three months—but die." There was no excitement or passion—nor any advance warning—behind the heel of Yuga's palm as it hit home against her chest. The moment it did, there was a sharp crack as her torso cavity caved in upon itself. It was a perfectly timed move, one that took every field of human anatomy into consideration as it so expertly destroyed the body before him. It was at a zero-degree-impact angle, working its way through her pectoral muscles as it shattered her ribs, ensuring the ruined fragments embedded themselves deep into her heart. Instant death. What could have run through her mind during that one final circulatory cycle, the last time her doomed heart gave its mighty heave? He doubted her brain had enough time to comprehend her unsteady feet entangling themselves beneath her, or the meaning of the fresh blood bubbling into her mouth. Catching her as she fell, Yuga spoke into his headset. "Nest. Sorry, but I got an unexpected corpse here. I'm gonna sneak it into my locker on the stair landing, so make sure you have someone pick it up before the janitor finds it after school, please." "Dehhh! This always happens with you—" Yuga cut off the link before he had to listen to the rest. He laid down the girl's body, already embarking on its transformation into a cold lump of meat. Then, from the Nukagari High School roof, he took in the vista that unfolded below him. As the summer wind beat drearily against his cheek, he peered into his palms. "I have all this strength. So why am I such a failure all the time…Professor?"
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-05-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter005.txt	Black Bullet, Vol. 5: Rentaro Satomi, Fugitive BLACK BULLET 5CHAPTER 01 RENTARO SATOMI, FUGITIVE 1 The monster loomed large in his optically magnified vision. The single Gastrea, clambering an almost sheer vertical wall, looked like a crustacean-type at first glance—one with octopus-style tentacles growing out of it. Its form, replete with a seemingly endless supply of sucker-laden feet, was clearly a walking mollusk. Its base core, however, was covered in a thick, almost helmetlike shell. Its head was directly attached to its chest area, making it impossible to tell exactly where its eyes or brain were, and as you went down the gentle plane of its back, you eventually came upon a long, sharp, spiked tail. Just then, the Gastrea used its tentacles and arms to take another step forward, straight up the building, its entire body tensing itself at the effort. The sun, now halfway up the sky, kept it brightly lit as large droplets of sweat spilled from its eyebrows and down its cheeks. Its piercing, insectlike cry was extremely annoying to all who could hear it, and its skin was tanned so deeply that it seemed ready to catch fire under the sun's rays at any moment. Even in this tense environment, though, Rentaro Satomi found a very different stress placed upon him. The Gastrea was climbing straight up Tokyo Tower's proud, bright-red iron frame. "Big Brother, the wind's blowing at ten to thirteen kilometers per hour from six o'clock." Rentaro pulled his face up from the scope on his sniper rifle to stare quizzically at the blonde girl next to him, lying prone on her stomach. This was Tina Sprout, and just like Rentaro, she had a sniper rifle loaded and ready, ignoring said "Big Brother" as she kept a watchful eye down her scope. The Bits that formed part of her aiming system flitted at regular intervals between her and the target Gastrea. Those were the infantry of sorts for her Shenfield, a thought-driven interface that, like so many buoys strewn across the sea, transmitted wind speeds and other pertinent sniper information directly into her brain. She and Rentaro had set up shop atop a building not far from the Tower. Although he had a wet towel wrapped around his head, the punishing sunlight crashing down from above made him feel like he was taking a nap on a frying pan. Wiping the never-ending torrent of sweat from his brow, he tried to fight off the heat, strong enough to make his vision twist and warp. But despite the clear afternoon weather, Tokyo Tower and the area around it was bereft of its usual activity. There were no resting children, nor any elderly dozing off into an afternoon nap. That was only to be expected, given how police had cordoned off the entire area, and every street around the Tower was crawling with patrol cars. A virtual army of officers sat resolutely at their positions, shotguns pointed upward. Yet they didn't seem poised to take action. Ever since Gastrea-related crimes sent the police's line-of-duty death rates through the roof, responsibility for Gastrea incidents fell somewhere in between the police and self-defense force, right into the hands of the civil security agencies. For a change, Rentaro and Tina were the first civsec group on the scene, earning the right to take out the Gastrea latched on to Tokyo Tower from their sniper nest's vantage point. He peered back into his scope. One hundred meters between him and the target. No sweat for any regular sniper, and the low wind speed worked to their advantage as well. He could get away with ignoring the wind effect on his shot if that kept up. But despite all his efforts, Rentaro's vision kept blurring and falling apart through his scope, robbing him of any decent trigger chance. The sense of impotent irritation that resulted did nothing to calm his thoughts. "Big Brother!" The voice came tumbling in from behind him, pushing him to act. Throwing caution to the wind, he squeezed the trigger. He felt a sharp kick at his shoulder. The Varanium bullet flew up and to the right, missing the Gastrea and pinging against the metal of Tokyo Tower. There was no time to gnash his teeth in regret. The Gastrea, now on high alert, opened up its head/torso and deployed wings it had kept under wraps before. —Oh, great. It's gonna fly off on us. Quickly, Rentaro pulled the handle to load the next shot. Rapidly, he fired again and just barely missed, the bullet aimlessly flying through the Gastrea's former location. Just as the monster was about to penetrate the police perimeter and make Rentaro question why he woke up this morning, there was a loud crack as a bullet cut through the Stage Two beast's core. It fell into a tailspin in midair, crashing helplessly to the ground. Cheers erupted from the police officers nearby. It wasn't dead yet, but thanks to the Varanium bullet blocking its regenerative abilities, it was no longer in any shape to fight. Rentaro looked to his side, noticing a wisp of smoke from Tina's Dragunov sniper rifle. She kept her eyes closed for a beat or two, perhaps so she could take in the remaining vibration from her gun, but a moment later, she looked up from her infrared-detector scope and wiped away the sweat with her arm. "It's all right, Big Brother," she said. "That's how it is for everyone at first." Rentaro hung his head in defeated shame. The nicer Tina acted around him, the more it seemed impossible to be around her a second longer. But he'd sound like a spoiled brat if he ever let that get out. As both a gunman and a Tendo Martial Arts practitioner, Rentaro was just as much a close-range specialist as his Initiator partner, Enju Aihara. He felt it was his duty to provide some mid- to long-range cover when Enju's skills weren't a good match for the fight. As far as mid-range went…well, his pistol skills were good enough. But what about beyond that? That was what drove him to ask Tina for a little instruction. Which was fine and all, but—and it really did hurt him, deep down—he wasn't progressing nearly as quickly as he had hoped. Rentaro shook his head. "I can't do it," he said. "I have the worst time trying to focus on just one single thing like that." And look at what just happened, besides. One more mistake, and that Gastrea would have gotten away. Who knows what kind of disaster that could've caused? "Big Brother," Tina replied, "why did you want to master sniping in the first place?" The force of her pure, emerald-green eyes overwhelmed him. "Because I thought I needed to," he said, averting his gaze. "I mean—I don't know. I just feel like I gotta make myself stronger." "That's exactly it." Tina lifted a finger into the air. "You want to get stronger, Big Brother, but you can't clearly articulate why. And that's what's showing up in your marksmanship. It's making you hesitate." "So you're saying it's all in my head?" Tina nodded. "You've noticed it, too, haven't you? What being a sniper is all about?" Rentaro groaned. That hit a little too close to home. She was right, of course. As he had learned the hard way through training, shooting a pistol required a completely different skill set than firing a sniper rifle. There were the distances involved, of course, but more than that, a sniper had to reap his target's life before he even realized he was being targeted. To Rentaro, it felt a little too much like premeditated murder to wrap his head around. If they were debating a gun battle between two hostile, engaged foes, he could at least explain that as a case of justifiable self-defense. But snipers didn't work that way. Rentaro still didn't know how to approach the connection between his pull of the trigger and the death that ultimately resulted. This was somewhat doable with a Gastrea, at least. But Rentaro couldn't keep himself from thinking about it: Could I will myself through the sniper process if this was a human opponent? "Can…can you deal with that?" The platinum-blonde girl nodded brightly, eyes still on him. "Sniping is the entire reason I exist. If I couldn't master this skill and manipulate this Shenfield the way I can, Professor Rand would've branded me a failure and I'd be disposed of like yesterday's garbage." "Disposed of?" "Yeah… Well, I heard all kinds of rumors, but I still don't know exactly what happened to the children who couldn't adapt to their machine bodies. If anything saved me, I think it's the way I shut off my imagination. That kept me from thinking too much about the future. That's how I mastered all the skills granted to me in pretty quick time. You can't kill another person unless your own soul dies, too." "But that's not the way a person lives, Tina." Tina fell into a shamed silence. "Are you saying I need to kill off my own emotions if I want the strength to pull the trigger?" "No, Big Brother. I'm saying you need to find a reason for yourself. One that'll make it seem worth taking another person's life. And that's something I really can't help you find. Or, really, unless you do find it, all the practice in the world isn't gonna make you any better, Big Brother, so you should probably give it up sooner than later." When it came to this subject, at least, Tina wasn't one to mince words. For a few moments, she and Rentaro were silent, merely staring into each other's eyes. The lukewarm wind blew across the roof, gently tossing their hair around. Rentaro was the first one to speak again. "You're a real slave-driving teacher, Tina." Tina smiled through the sweat covering her face. "You've been teaching me this whole time, Big Brother. I'm just glad I have something to teach you back." Then she hefted up the Dragunov rifle and pointed downward. "The Gastrea's still alive. Let's finish it off before it hurts any citizens." "Yeahhh!" a joyful voice bellowed out from below. "You did it, you bastards!!" Startled, Rentaro and Tina tracked the voice to its source. At Tokyo Tower's base, they noticed a familiar civsec pair, both bedecked in some pretty authentic hardcore-punk fashion. It was Tamaki and Yuzuki Katagiri, two old comrades they had fought alongside during the Third Kanto Battle; they had already set upon the Gastrea Tina had shot down. It was clear their foe didn't have long to live. Which meant— Rentaro and Tina looked at each other and shouted in unison: "They're stealing our bounty!!" 2 It was mid-August, and even with the Gastrea War decimating population figures worldwide, global climate change was still a serious problem. The latest way it manifested itself was in the tundra—the eternally frozen land up north. Now that the permafrost wasn't so permanent any longer, the animal and plant carcasses caught under the ice were starting to decompose, unleashing an astonishing amount of methane into the atmosphere and further accelerating the warming trend. The media were on it like hyenas, of course. The human race was releasing only a tiny fraction of the carbon dioxide that it used to, but they were still inheriting the cost for all the excesses of generations past. For all anyone knew, it was well beyond the point that anything could be done about it. Even when operating at full blast, the air-conditioning unit back at the office could do little against the 39 degree Celsius temperature outside. The droning of the cicadas began to sound like a plea for help in the occupants' ears. At least it was quiet inside the office. Solemn, even, in a way. Tina, Enju, and Rentaro were at their seats, meekly examining one another as the sweat poured down. In a corner of the Tendo Civil Security Agency, lit diagonally by soft light from the setting sun, lounge chairs were positioned around a glass table. It was meant for conducting conversations with paying customers, although in practice it wasn't used for this purpose too often. Kisara Tendo, wearing an apron tied over her school uniform, appeared through the noren curtain separating the lounge from the kitchen area, setting four plates on the glass table. The one placed in front of Rentaro emanated a sweet scent that found its way into his nostrils as the steam washed against his face. It was enough to make his stomach growl. Settling down with her own plate, Kisara closed her eyes and put her hands together. "All right, everyone. Ready to get started?" Rentaro and Enju did the same, but just as they were about to tuck in, someone shouted "Wait a minute!" in a panic. Tina looked around in abject bewilderment, then pointed at her plate. "Um…what is this?" Rentaro followed Tina's eyes down to the object placed on her lily-white plate. It was shaped like a somewhat elongated diamond, laid upon the plate in all its purple, tuberous glory. "What is it? …Well, it's a potato, right? A sweet potato, to be exact. A perennial root vegetable from the family Convolvulaceae." "Th-that's not really what I meant… I mean, is this all? This is all we have for dinner tonight?" Kisara placed an index finger on her chin, having apparent trouble understanding Tina's complaint. "Hmmm," she muttered, before slapping a fist against her hand. "I got it! Just a minute, okay?" Tina breathed a sigh of relief as Kisara ventured back into the kitchen. "Wow, President Tendo, you sure can be a prankster sometimes!" Before long, Kisara cheerfully came back out, plinking a cup down in front of Tina. "Here you go. A glass of tap water. All the seconds you want, too." Tina's face stiffened for a moment. "Uhhmm, President…? Is our agency really this short on money?" "It's desperate." "Wh-what's on the menu tomorrow?" "Bean and bean-sprout soup. Also, plain udon noodles. I've got some bread crusts that the bakery gave me for free, too." "What about the day after that?" "Sautéed bean sprouts and bread crusts." "And the next day?" "Bread crusts." Tina began to see a pattern emerge. "Umm, and f-four days from now?" Kisara, impressed that she even dared to ask, gave herself a confident thump on the chest and smiled warmly. "Well, on the fourth day, I figure we'd change it up a little and go with fried bread crusts!" "That's the same thing!" Tina shouted. "Just because they eat fried food all the time in the US doesn't mean I have to!" This triggered a sudden mood swing on Kisara's part. She stood up and slapped her hands against the table. "What do you want from me?! We've completed exactly zero cases this month, too! I was preparing beefsteaks for all of us tonight, but Satomi's such an idiot that we're out the entire bounty! And we even had you on site this time, Tina…!" Rentaro scratched the back of his head. He was certainly not expecting the Katagiri Civil Security Agency to scavenge his (okay, their) kill like that. The end result was all too clear, however: Today, the civsec experts at the Tendo agency were going hungry. "But why," asked Enju as she poked at her sweet potato with a finger, "are we always so penniless like this?" "Yeah." Tina nodded, seeing the logic in this. "Where's our pay from the Third Kanto Battle, Kisara?" The Tendo Civil Security Agency, after all, had at least three major jobs under its belt. The Kagetane Hiruko terror incident; foiling the attempt on the Seitenshi's life; and more or less snapping victory from the jaws of defeat during the Third Kanto Battle. Each should have generated a nontrivial payment on its own. Kisara looked oddly startled for a moment. Then she turned her eyes upward, cheeks reddening. "Listen, Satomi," she mumbled. "I kept this under wraps until now, but about two months before the Hiruko case, our finances pretty much hit the limit and I couldn't pay the lease on the office any longer. So I, uh… I kind of borrowed some money." "From where?" Rentaro asked, already dreading the potential answer. Kisara replied by bashfully pointing up at the ceiling. Their upstairs neighbors—Kofu Finance, the friendly neighborhood yakuza-funded loan shark. "You might be too stupid to realize this," Kisara dolefully continued, "but when you take out a loan, there's something called 'compounding interest.' For example, let's say I borrowed a million yen, right? After ten days, they'd apply ten percent interest on it, so now I have to pay back 1.1 million instead. Then, ten days after that, they add on ten percent of that 1.1 million figure…so then it becomes 1.21 million." That was all it took for Tina to put her hands to her face and start crying. Rentaro, for his part, closed his eyes tightly and silently apologized to her. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Tina. It's not your fault our president is so clueless. "What'd you use for collateral when you borrowed the money?" "Y'organs." "Buh?" Kisara said it a little too quickly for Rentaro to pick up. "I said…your organs, Satomi. Like, Abe up there said your lungs and corneas and stuff would go for a lot of money, so…" "Wuh?" Kisara, cheeks still flushed, put her hands on her hips. "Look, you're my employee, Satomi," she sulked. "I'm the president, and that means you're mine. Plus, you get to work for one of the cutest presidents out there. A cornea or spleen or two is more than a fair price for that!" Rentaro stared at Kisara. There were no words. —Did I just have this girl I like order me to hand over my internal organs? Enju looked equally disgusted, but in another moment her eyes were back down upon her plate. "So these potatoes…" Kisara ran a hand up through her black hair. "Uh-huh," she intoned. "Kind of the Last Supper, if you know what I mean. Starting today, it's nothing but bean sprouts and bread crusts, day in, day out. By which I mean six days, because starting day seven, we're gonna have nothing but water to live on. I hope you enjoy all the luxury I'm giving you tonight." The group listlessly stared at the sweet potatoes on each respective plate. A sudden quiet descended upon the office. Enju silently raised a hand. "I have a suggestion on how we can split these," she said. "We should divide Kisara's potato into thirds and give one piece each to me, Tina, and Rentaro." "Wh-why is that?" "We three couldn't survive three days without food or water, but with all the nutrients you have stored in your breasts, Kisara, I'm sure you'd be all right for at least a year or so." "Oh, a year without food or water, huh?" Now it was Kisara's turn to raise her voice. "I'm not a monster! Besides, Enju, you're always picking on me about my chest, but it's not like this is all wine and roses for me! They make my shoulders all sore, there are never any nice-looking bras my size, I keep getting prickly heat all over them…" Sadly, the pain Kisara's gifts gave her was not shared with the others. "Daaaaaahhhh!" Stricken by a sudden case of breast hysteria, Enju lunged over the table toward Kisara. "If you don't want them, let me take them from you! Give me back the boobs you sucked away from me!" "Ow ow ow ow! Stop pulling at them, Enju! You're gonna rip them off!" Tina shot Rentaro a nervous look. Rentaro shook his head at her and sighed. "The hunger's just getting us all worked up." Then he turned toward Kisara, an offhand premonition crossing his mind. "Hey, um, we are kind of the 'saviors of Tokyo Area' and everything, aren't we? Shouldn't that earn us at least a little more regular work?" Kisara, finally a safe distance away from Enju's ferocious attack, turned back toward him. "It is," she said, her breath ragged. "Someplace on the east coast of the United States wanted us to eliminate a great white shark Gastrea that's been appearing around the beach. Apparently it's been chewing up all the local shark fishermen with gusto, and the local oceanographers and police chiefs don't know what to do about it. How's that sound to you?" "It sounds like something we better leave to an underwater specialist. What else?" Kisara ripped a page from the memo pad next to the office's landline phone. "Here, I'll read it to you," she said. "'They're late with my food delivery again; do something about it.' 'I challenge Rentaro Satomi to a duel. Let's find out which of us is the real man!' 'Hey, President Tendo [heavy breathing], what color panties you wearing right now [groan]?' 'Get this cockroach out of my closet!' 'I want you to kill that good-for-nothing housewife next door for me.' …That kind of thing." A wave of hopelessness crashed over Rentaro. What do people think civsec officers do all day, anyway? "Okay, well, do we have any other way to make money?" "You could always work at the gay bar on the first floor, Satomi. They said they'd start you at 8,000 yen an hour." "Why don't you work at the cabaret on the second floor, Kisara? They said they'd give you 10,000!" "……" Between the yakuza on the fourth floor, the den mother running the cabaret on the second, and the strapping lads behind the bar on the first, there was something about the Happy Building that kept its tenants either slaphappy or trigger-happy all the year through. Rentaro, given the choice, preferred not to deal with them. "Still," Enju murmured, her face harboring serious contemplation. "We might not be wrapping up any jobs, but I heard the number of Gastrea sightings is creeping up." Rentaro nodded at the observation. "Yeah. A little too much, if you ask me." Whenever a Gastrea was sighted or caught on a security camera, an alert mail was automatically sent to all civsec officers within a ten-kilometer radius. From there, it was an all-out first-come, first-served Gastrea competition. Agencies may have occasionally worked with one another, but generally, whoever struck the killing blow first would get the entire bounty from the government. That was how civsec agencies kept the books balanced—never receiving formal requests, just hoping the right Gastrea crept along at the right place and time—but the sheer number of incidents lately was getting crazy. The alerts would force Rentaro out of bed in the middle of the night, its shrill, piercing beep even going off during class before summer break began, making his teachers want to stab him. None of these invaders had triggered a Pandemic yet, thanks to a citizenry well used to evacuation and a herd of civsecs always rushing to the scene in time, but the sheer numbers would put anyone on edge. And to someplace like Tendo Civil Security Agency, getting tossed this way and that by all these alerts and always missing out on the kill by the barest of margins, it was starting to become downright frustrating. "Is there another Monolith problem, maybe?" "No way." Rentaro was quick to reject Kisara's question, but his voice trailing off showed that he wasn't too convinced himself. The previous Third Kanto Battle took place because of a defect in a Monolith, something thought to be impervious to damage. It was a completely avoidable, manmade disaster. The only sure thing when it came to security was that there was no such thing as a sure thing. It hadn't even been a month since Tokyo Area paid a dear price for failing to realize that. The eyes of the agency's employees wandered over to the window. On the other side, draped in a dark red, the line of Monoliths stood tall, their tops hidden by a line of clouds. "This really doesn't taste good…" Turning back, Rentaro found Tina chewing on the potato, her face puckered. Enju, driven by curiosity, took a bite herself, only to bunch up her face and stick her tongue out. "Nnh! This isn't cooked all the way through." "Um, really?" said a confused Kisara. Enju sighed. "Kisara, you should really have Rentaro teach you how to cook sometime. For real." The sheltered little rich girl shrugged despondently in response. After a moment, she dejectedly turned her eyes upward. "Could you?" "Uh, sure." With another deep sigh, Kisara dragged her feet over to the reproduction of some Klimt masterpiece across from her ebony-colored desk. Slipping her hand behind it, she took out a thin envelope. "All right," she said, burying a 10,000-yen note in his hand. "Here. My private stash, if you want to call it that. Go buy something with this. You can have Enju and Tina do the shopping." The two girls' faces sparkled with joy. "We'll try to keep it as cheap as possible!" Enju said with a wave as she took Tina out of the office. The sound of them clanging down the stairs faded away, silence reigning once again. It was half past seven in the evening. The wretched-sounding drone and clicking of the evening cicadas filled up the emptiness, and across from the now deep purple sky, the last weak rays of sunshine were dimly lighting the room. Once the sunlight disappeared for good, a nearly full moon drifted into the heavens, the LED lights bordering the signs beyond the window began to systematically flicker into existence, and the Magata neighborhood found new life as a town of the night. The moldy smell seeped into the room from somewhere. "We're alone." "We are." Rentaro stole a glance at the side of Kisara's face. "And?" "Hmm?" "Did you send the girls out shopping because you wanted to talk to me?" "Well, sort of." With practiced hands, Kisara untied the apron behind her back and shook her hair a bit. There was the sound of rustling clothes as the apron fell to her feet. She picked it up and, with the echo of her slip-on loafers, walked over and sat on her ebony work desk, a tad forlorn as she looked at Rentaro. "Listen, Satomi… I've been offered an arranged marriage." She looked at the surprised Rentaro, then back down at her feet as she began swinging her long, thin legs back and forth. "It came to me through Shigaki. I told him I didn't want anything like that yet, but he's done a lot for me, so I couldn't just turn him down…" Through Shigaki, huh…? Having that name brought up left even Rentaro in a weak position. Senichi Shigaki, once a butler at the Tendo residence, was probably approaching fifty-six years old this year. He had known Rentaro and Kisara since back when they lived in the Tendo manor. Even after he retired, he had helped them through all sorts of issues in their lives. Most important, though, was that (on paper) he was the manager of the Tendo Civil Security Agency, not to mention Rentaro and Kisara's more-or-less legal guardian. They owed him a lot. She couldn't dismiss his offer out of hand. "But why now?" Kisara had long been disinherited from the Tendo family will. If she was still considered a Tendo woman, it wouldn't be unusual for her to be forced into a succession of arranged (or even forced) marriage proposals starting at sixteen—a sort of modern human sacrifice still prevalent in Japanese high society. But now that she was de facto not a Tendo, she could no longer effectively function as a tool for a strategic marriage. What were Shigaki's aims, making a request like that? Kisara seemed to understand Rentaro's doubts, but merely shook her head in response. "I don't know. But you'd know the guy pretty well, Satomi." "I would?" Kisara took a piece of paper out from the desk and gave it to Rentaro. The moment he saw it, he felt a jolt of surprise. "Atsuro Hitsuma…? …Why?" The headshot, printed upon the fancy cotton paper used for the résumé-like introductory papers, stared blankly in response. He was somewhat oval-faced, wearing silver-framed eyeglasses and projecting an air of intellectual ease. "We must have both been eleven, right? The last time we saw Hitsuma." Sliding his eyes down, Rentaro saw that he was a police superintendent, working at Tokyo's metropolitan police department after passing the civil-servant exam. His whole family was in law enforcement, his father the commissioner of the entire force. A brilliant record, all written down in elegant block-style lettering. He seemed like the embodiment of the perfect man—tall, handsome, highly educated, well paid. But before any of that…he used to be Kisara's fiancé, too. "I thought the whole thing was broken off after you left the family, Kisara." "I know. So did I. What could Shigaki be thinking at this point…?" Rentaro could feel something spread out from his chest—something he couldn't describe, but wanted none of. He didn't want to hear anything else from her—for some reason, he was seized by an impulse to get up and walk out of the room immediately. But instead he silently handed the résumé back to Kisara, acting like it was nothing. "So when're you gonna meet him?" "…Tomorrow." "Tomorrow?" Which meant the proposal must've come a long time ago. "So you've already agreed to meet, or…?" Kisara twirled her hair around her finger as she averted her eyes. "I wasn't trying to hide it or anything. It was just kind of hard for me to say it…so I wound up dragging it out all the way to today." Rentaro realized he had been unconsciously clenching his fists so hard that he could feel his nails against his skin. Kisara lifted her head. "I want you to be there for me, Satomi. As my attendant." "…What do you mean?" "Hitsuma is going to have his mother and father as attendants, and Shigaki was going to act as both my manager and attendant, but I still need someone else. I don't really have anyone to ask besides you, so… Please. I know this is unusual, but would you mind accompanying me to the meeting?" "……Fine by me." "Really? Good." The beauty in black breathed a sigh of relief, but still anxiously darted her eyes back toward Rentaro. "What do you think, Satomi?" "What…?" "Are you, like, against it?" Of course he was. Just imagining Kisara being held in the arms of another man made him feel sick to his stomach. But Rentaro knew well enough by now. This was Kisara Tendo. A proper girl, from a proper family. The class system may have disappeared from modern Japanese society long ago, but among super-rich families like the Tendos, things hadn't changed much. If she was a Tendo girl, it was only common sense that she would marry the scion of another suitably wealthy family. The idea of her running off with some stray dog instead was preposterous. Ever since it was founded, the Tendo family had never allowed a single exception to this ironclad rule. Practically speaking, Kisara should never have even exchanged words with the mere adopted child she shared a home with—nor had any other personal connection, for the rest of either of their lives. That was something the Tendo private tutor imprinted deep into Rentaro's mind from the moment he was taken in, almost to the point of brainwashing. "Listen," she would say. "Tendos aren't like regular people. Don't you dare catch yourself acting like you're one of them."
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-05-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter007.txt	Black Bullet, Vol. 5: Rentaro Satomi, Fugitive "…I think it'd be a good match. If it works out okay and you wind up being happy with it, I bet Enju and Tina would love that." "You, too, Satomi?" Light reflected from a passing car's high beams streaked across the room for an instant, bathing Rentaro's and Kisara's heads in white light. He looked up, straight at Kisara. "Of course." For some reason, the reply made Kisara lower her head, her face like a wounded animal. After a moment, she forced a smile, trying her best to bottle it up. "Yeah…I guess so. It's not like we were ever exactly a pair or anything, besides. I'm acting pretty stupid, aren't I?" She gave herself a light bop on the head and stuck out her tongue, determined to laugh it all away. That was the last straw. "Hey, I'm gonna go look for Enju and Tina. I'm kinda worried about them." Rentaro turned around as he finished, going through the office door before he could hear whatever Kisara said in response. As he quickly descended the staircase, trying his hardest to leave the Happy Building as fast as humanly possible, he felt a small jolt in his right shoulder. His mind was so occupied with Kisara that it took him a beat before he realized who he had bumped into. "Hey! Hey, is that you, Rentaro?" He looked up in surprise to find the face of a man, one who had only just begun to climb the building's stairs. Traces of happiness streaked across that face. He was young, maybe about Rentaro's age. His face was long, his brow broad, and his hair a shade between brown and orange. His pointed gaze gave him the look of a street thug, but something about his smile made him seem oddly charming when he flashed it. Rentaro combed his memory—he looked familiar to him. The man before him began to overlap with the face of a boy from his memory. He let out a yelp. "Wait, are you Suibara? Kihachi Suibara, year four, class five, seat ten?" That was apparently the right answer. The man gave him a broad grin and stuffed his hands into his jeans. "Yuh-huh…Rentaro Satomi, year four, class five, seat nine…" Before he could finish saying it, Suibara's arms were around Rentaro. "Damn, it's been years!" he exclaimed. "Hope you've been doing good, you bastard!" "Y-yeah, you, too." Rentaro's vision lurched to and fro as this unexpected old friend jostled him in his arms. But instead of enjoying this almost too-perfect chance encounter, another sensation made the hairs on his neck stand on end. He looked up at the roof of the building in front of him. "But, Suibara, what are you doing here? You haven't started cruising cabarets or gay bars at age sixteen or anything, right…?" He noticed the Rolex on Suibara's wrist as he spoke. "And I guess you aren't poor enough that you're borrowing money from the yakuza, either." "Of course not, you dumbass," an astonished Suibara replied, eyes half-closed. "So—" Suibara thrust a thumb toward his face. "You guessed it! I'm here to visit the Tendo Civil Security Agency. I'm a client, Rentaro." —A client? This childhood friend that he hadn't spoken to in years was a client? Between this and Hitsuma's name coming up a moment ago, a lot of old friends were popping up in the oddest of places. Suibara shrugged at the notably bewildered Rentaro. "Well, we ain't just gonna stand by the stairs here, are we? Show me where your company is!" "Um…" Rentaro hesitated. He had just half-forcibly ended a conversation with Kisara and all but sprinted out of the office. Something told him trudging back up wasn't a good idea right now. He shook his head. No. I gotta get this client back to our place. Why am I acting so guilty about this? Leading the way for Suibara, Rentaro stood before the Tendo office door. It was already dark out, but there was no sign of a light inside. Pushing the door open, he saw Kisara sitting in her office chair, staring forlornly out the window. Once she noticed them, she shot back to her feet and bounded up to them. "Oh, good, Satomi," she gasped. "I was thinking about some stuff just now, and—!" She stopped abruptly, presumably noticing Suibara behind him. Rentaro could barely stand the awkwardness of it all, but kept it off his face. "I got a client," he whispered. Kisara, looking happy about something else up to now, froze. She hung her head back down, as if heartbroken. "Oh…" What the hell? Rentaro thought. A few hours ago, you were practically pleading for a client to come in through the door. Suibara hurriedly intervened. "Um, I'm sorry, did I come at a bad time or something?" Kisara shook her head before Rentaro could open his mouth. "No, not at all. Good evening. My name's Kisara Tendo, and I'm the president." With a shallow smile, she extended a hand. Suibara, a surprised look on his face, gingerly accepted. "Uh, hello. I'm Kihachi Suibara." "Come on in. It's kind of dirty, I know, but…" Kisara pushed a button on the remote she had stationed on the desk. Dazzling light poured from the ceiling, making Rentaro instinctively squint. Pictures drawn by Enju and Tina were strewn around the room, and the would-be dinner of sweet potatoes and nothing else was still laid out on the table. Kisara's show of humility was clearly anything but a show as the full state of the office came into view. "I'm sorry. I'll clean this up in a sec…" "Oh! No, actually, about that…" Suibara paused a moment before continuing. "I'd prefer to talk to Rentaro alone about this job, actually. Sorry if that's weird…" Rentaro and Kisara exchanged glances, and he silently signaled her to leave. The request seemed baffling to him, but he could hardly turn this guy down now. He gave an affirmative nod to Suibara, who nodded back in agreement. "All right. I'll go look after Enju and Tina, then." "Sure. Thanks." Once he was sure Kisara was out of sight downstairs, Rentaro cleared the dishes and sat across the table from Suibara. The young man propped his arms on top of the backrest, clearly at ease. "That's Kisara Tendo, huh? Man, you were head over heels for her back when we were all kids, weren't you? She's gotten dang pretty since then. That's the most beautiful girl I ever saw in my life, even." Rentaro silently agreed. Between his encounters with people like Miori Shiba and the Seitenshi herself, he had run into a lot of women with sirenlike beauty. They had lived long enough together that it would occasionally slip his mind, but to Rentaro, the sight of Kisara side by side with Miori or standing alongside the Seitenshi was always such an embarrassment of riches for him that it'd often take his breath away. And now this beauty was going to discuss a marriage proposal with Atsuro Hitsuma tomorrow. Rentaro shook his head to clear his mind of the distractions plaguing it. "So, what did you need?" Suibara studied the office around him like a curious archaeologist. "Oh! So, hey, do you remember how it was when we first met?" "Hmm? Yeah, I do…" If he closed his eyes, he could instantly transport his mind back to the fourth year of elementary school. It was four years after Rentaro lost his right arm, his right leg, and his eye. Because he was still growing, he had to have his artificial limbs replaced frequently. The continual pain he experienced each day made him want to die at times. The way he could hide his metal skin under an artificial human epidermis was a fairly recent invention in the grand scheme of things. In his younger years, during school and for every other hour of the day and night, Rentaro had to live with a pair of dull, black prosthetic limbs for all the world to see. "Nobody wanted to come near me. They were all freaked out by this weird black arm and leg I had. But you weren't. I think the rest of the class shunned you, too, right? Because there was one of the Cursed Children in your family." "Yeah. My little sister." The story of Suibara and his sister ultimately fell down a tragic path. Once the child's presence was known to the general public, a lot of people naturally began to have a problem with that. Their mother was the first family member to let it all break her down—the stones her neighbors lobbed through the windows, the filthy diatribes spray-painted on the fence. "If only she wasn't here," she'd whisper to herself over and over like a woman possessed—and, unfortunately, Suibara's father kept a pistol inside a locker at their home for self-defense. Everything was in place for a tragedy. "We were together in our loneliness," Rentaro said in profound tones. "That's why we started hanging out and playing with each other." "Yeah!" Suibara excitedly added. "You knew a ton about stuff like fish and bugs, and we'd go running around the hills and stuff. That was so much fun! It's like just being with you helped me learn all kinds of things, y'know? Like how to catch crayfish with a string, or how to mount an insect specimen." His words were all it took to jog his memory. Soon they were sprung to life by the dozen, as if bursting out of a giant toy box. Back when he had no friends and couldn't even leave the house freely, Rentaro would hole up in the Tendo family library and spend the entire day poring over full-color insect field guides and plant references. After a while, there was no one who could even hope to challenge his knowledge. "Yeah, and I learned how to trash talk from you, didn't I?" Suibara beamed. "Yeah, I remember how you were all 'to-mah-to' when we first met." Rentaro turned away, cheeks red with embarrassment. "Ah, shut up. Kisara was really sad once you started rubbing off on me, y'know. She was like, 'Satomi's talking like this criminal now!'" "Oh, don't give me that crap! Who's the guy who started imitating me in the first place?" "Ah, eat shit and die." "You first!" Once their eyes met again, Rentaro and Suibara grinned at each other. "Rentaro," Suibara said, leaning forward on his sofa deep in thought and lowering his eyes down to his clasped hands. "It probably wouldn't be fair if I didn't show this to you first." The item he took out from a side pocket made Rentaro gasp. It was a black chunk of metal that made a clink when he put it on the glass table. He spotted a trigger attached to the dull matte-black frame. It was a sixth-generation Glock pistol, one where even the slide was made of a glass-fiber reinforced polymer to reduce the gun's weight. Why? was the first question that came to mind. The general public still wasn't allowed to carry concealed weapons outside their homes. According to the laws of Japan in 2031, there were three types of people allowed to walk around armed in public: the police, members of the self-defense force, and— Suibara placed something else from his pocket on the gun: a synthetic leather rail-pass holder. Seeing the civsec license inside, complete with ID photo, gave Rentaro the biggest shock of the evening. "Suibara, you're a civsec?" Suibara, grinning, tapped a few buttons on the cell phone in his pocket and showed it to him. The screen showed a photo of a girl, her hair done up in a bob cut, her averted eyes indicating she didn't enjoy having her picture taken very much. "Whoa, did you…?" Failing to notice Rentaro's astonishment, Suibara soldiered proudly on. "That's my Initiator. Her name's Hotaru Kouro, and, man, is she a cutie, am I right? I mean, my grandma used to say, 'You're so sweet, I could just eat you up,' but now I think I get what she was talking—" "Stop." Rentaro, his mind still a jumble, just barely managed to get the syllable out. Suibara's sister was one of the Cursed Children. It had wrecked the entire family. The idea of him teaming up with another one of them and working the civsec beat was hard for Rentaro to swallow. What's more, this job meant that he was all but completely dependent on his Initiator if he wanted to stay alive. It had to be a bitter pill. "Is she…taking the place of your dead sister for you?" The quiet question made Suibara peevishly turn his face away. "Nothing like that, no. What's the big deal?" Then, after a moment's pause, he placed an elbow on the table and rested his chin above it. "You wanna hear about this job for you, or what?" Rentaro thought about that. A civsec hiring another civsec—subcontracting work, in other words—generally meant the client had a job that was too much work for him to handle alone. That often meant whoever he hired would get the short end of the stick paywise. But despite knowing that bit of conventional wisdom, something still told Rentaro there wasn't anything conventional at all about Suibara's job. "Lay it on me." "Now we're talking," Suibara replied. But what he had for Rentaro next was a complete reversal of his light, friendly tone. "So, Rentaro, like… You were the last guinea pig for the Ground Self-Defense Force's enhanced-soldier project, right?" This shock was enough to send Rentaro back to his feet. Why did he know that? Maybe Suibara could surmise that Rentaro's artificial limbs were black because they were made out of Varanium, but there was no possible way he could've connected that with the so-called New Humanity Creation Project. "Bingo, huh?" Suibara murmured as he glanced sidelong at the stunned, wide-eyed Rentaro. But there was something close to regret on his face, like he'd just realized he was right when he had wanted to be wrong. "So look, Rentaro, I picked up on some serious shit earlier. Have you ever heard of the New World Creation Project or the Black Swan Project? Either of those names, at least?" "New World… Black Swan Project? …No." The "New World" Creation Project? What's that? It sounded too close to the "New Humanity" Creation Project. An ominous premonition started to build in Rentaro's spine. "Okay," Suibara muttered in reply. Then he fell silent for a few moments, staring at the glass ashtray on the table. Rentaro waited patiently for him to go on. "Well…I don't know how much you're aware of this, Rentaro, but among us civsec folk, you're the subject of a lotta rumors. You were raised by the Tendo family, and I've heard that you got personal connections with Lady Seitenshi." He paused, face turned upward. "So that's what I'm here for. I want you to get me connected with the Tendo Group or Lady Seitenshi. I don't care what it takes; I gotta get a person-to-person audience with either her or her aide, Kikunojo Tendo. We're talking serious crisis mode for all of Tokyo Area, you know what I mean?" "Is that connected to the projects you just mentioned?" "Yeah." "There's no other middleman you can go through besides me?" "No. If I try that, there's no telling where they'll hear about it." "Are you trying to blow the whistle about something? 'Cause if you have any evidence you can give me, I can make sure it gets to her." "…I'm sorry. My evidence got stolen." "Stolen?" Suibara nodded grimly. "My place has been broken into a few times lately. A few things were stolen, including the evidence. The only option I got left is to appeal directly to the Tendo Group or Lady Seitenshi as a living witness. I mean, you're about the only guy left I can trust." This was no longer a friendly chat between old friends. Rentaro rubbed his fingers against his chin. He had no particular vendetta against Suibara, of course. He'd like to help make that request happen, as much as he was able. The problem was how. Not only was he no longer technically related to Kikunojo; they hadn't spoken a word to each other since their somewhat…strained conversation after the Kagetane Hiruko case. He doubted Kikunojo wanted to see him much, and the feeling was absolutely mutual. But the Seitenshi? He literally had her digits. That connection, at least, seemed plausible enough. "Let me float up one condition. I want you to tell me beforehand what you'd say to Lady Seitenshi." "Aw, c'mon, you don't trust me?" "We're talking about the head of state, Suibara. I gotta be careful." "…Yeah, I guess so, huh?" Suibara seemed open to concessions. But then he looked around the office, his body language betraying his uneasiness. "…Hey, this room ain't bugged or anything, is it?" "Huh?" "You know, bugged. Like, do you trust the guys who live above and below you?" "Man, who knows?" Rentaro's eyes followed his conversation partner's around the room. The floor and ceiling were surprisingly thin in this building. Sound had a way of traveling around. The walls were plain mortar, too, and it wasn't exactly a wide margin between this building and the adjacent one. In a rickety old dump like this, soundproofing would never be a priority. If someone had any sort of decent-grade listening device or parabolic microphone, Suibara's right to client confidentiality would be worth about as much as a sheet of toilet paper. "Okay," Suibara said. "Not here, then. Tomorrow night… You know where they're building the new Magata City Hall, right? Let's meet there. But lemme make sure we're straight on one thing: Once I tell you, you're in, got it?" The earnest truthfulness Rentaro saw in Suibara's eyes made him shudder. After proposing an exorbitant sum of money for Rentaro's services, Suibara stood up from the sofa and prepared to leave. Rentaro stood up to see him off, and they chatted about assorted silly little things on the way downstairs. It was completely dark outside, with women plying their trade and groups of drunken businessmen mingling on the congested city streets. The wind that beat against Rentaro's skin bore the lukewarm heat of an August night. Right in front of them, Enju, Tina, and Kisara had returned, their arms laden with well-stuffed shopping bags. They were excitedly laughing and poking at one another as they meandered along, apparently enjoying their night out to the fullest as the streetlights lit them from behind. Suibara squinted, as if looking at a bright light, then slapped Rentaro heartily on the back. "Rentaro, I'm pretty sure they think you're involved with me by now. Sorry I got you involved in this, but watch out, okay?" "They?" Suibara thrust both hands into his pockets and set off without another glance. Watching him go, Rentaro realized that he still couldn't figure out how to parse this within himself—this old friend he just reunited with after so many years. He could practically see lines of depression emanate from Suibara's back. If this secret of his had to do with that, he would be fine with trying to get it out of him so that they could shoulder the burden equally. Suibara tried to forget about his sister as soon as he could, way back when. Seeing him involved so deeply with the Cursed Children now was nothing less than astounding. Rentaro didn't know what changed his mind about it all, but the Initiator taking the place of his sister… How did she feel about it? Either way, there were several terms Suibara bandied around that Rentaro could never let go unexamined. There was time until tomorrow night. He had some avenues he could research. "Mm? Did our client leave?" Looking down, Enju was right next to him, grinning from ear to ear as she held up the spoils of her big night out. "Look! We picked up all kinds of meats and vegetables on the pre-closing sales. Tonight we're gonna have a yakiniku party with Kisara's secret stash!" Turning his eye toward Kisara, Rentaro realized she was sizing him up at the same time. They turned their eyes elsewhere with near-perfect timing. Straining to keep the awkwardness from showing up on his face, Rentaro flashed Enju a smile. "Sorry, Enju, but I'm not hungry. You three can eat by yourselves." "Ehh?" Enju's expression froze. Gradually, it began to grow anxious. "Why…is that?" "Oh, no reason. It's no big deal if a guy wants to eat by himself now and then, is it?" With that, Rentaro turned around and walked off, making sure he didn't accidentally catch a glimpse of Kisara's facial expression as he did. 3 The hollow bamboo tube, its head heavy with water accumulated inside, had its tail end struck against a nearby boulder. It was a shishi-odoshi, a traditional Japanese contrivance meant for scaring birds away from gardens, and the sharp clack it made could be heard from the balcony above. A beautiful sound, Kisara thought. Compared to that, the clamor from the equally traditional room she was sitting in, lined with tatami mats, was hard for her to stomach. "…And so, while our child was quite the handful back during his more rebellious years, he ultimately decided to follow the same path his father did a generation ago. In fact, at the police academy he's head of the class—in the schoolroom, and out in the training grounds." "Hey! You don't have to embarrass me like that." "…Ha-ha-ha! Ah, how wonderful. Almost too good of a match for my Kisara here." The middle-aged man at the head of the table, mouth wide open in a hearty laugh, was face-to-face with Tadashi Hitsuma, police commissioner, the scar across his face giving him a decidedly gangster look. By his side was his wife, sporting a pair of horn-rimmed glasses. She raised a hand to her mouth as she tittered in agreement: "Oh, no, not at all," she said. "Your young Tendo is as beautiful as a porcelain doll! Why, our Atsuro told me it was love at first sight!" There wasn't a girl on earth who really liked being called "beautiful" by a stranger, but considering how much of a farce this was, Kisara doubted even less that she could take the compliment at face value. Kisara herself was currently ensconced inside Utoro, an impossibly fancy Japanese restaurant. Including her, there were six people seated around the table, participating in this omiai—an arranged-marriage meeting. Only about half of these six were active in the conversation, however. Rentaro, next to Kisara in his typical school uniform, sat there silently, his face inscrutable. When she first brought up the engagement offer with Rentaro, Kisara honestly thought he'd explode in anger. That was why seeing him give such a blithe okay disappointed her—and enraged her. She was hoping Rentaro would stand up right now and do something to ruin the proceedings for her. But why? She darted her eyes around the room as she pondered this, eventually settling on a mirror hung next to a wall scroll, the frame demonstrating the elegantly sculpted work of an artisan. She craned her neck to get a view of herself, only to find a Kisara done up in lipstick, blush, an elaborate hairpin, and a kimono, of all things. She was passing acquaintances with the daughter of Shiba Heavy Weapons' president, a lover of traditional Japanese clothing, and while she was reluctant to go near one at first, she had to admit—it suited her well, sitting here. She adjusted her head in the mirror, wondering how she'd look at a forty-five-degree semi-profile. But as she did, she sensed someone's eye on her and turned around. It was the bespectacled man sitting face-to-face with her, smiling warmly. It made her cheeks redden. She hurriedly returned to her original posture. There was one other person in the audience left to describe. He was slender, even more so than in his picture; he hardly ever spoke at all; and he was more than a little handsome: Atsuro Hitsuma. He was seated in a formal kneeling position, the family crest clearly visible on his own traditional clothing. He had grown in the past five years, and it gave him a touch of masculinity that wasn't there before. "Right," said his mother. "How about us old fuddy-duddies leave the room and let these two lovebirds talk to each other?" She stood up before anyone could respond. "Oh, what, I gotta leave, too?" "Of course you do, you fool," Senichi Shigaki said, pulling Rentaro up. "Come over here." The Hitsuma parents followed them, pulling the sliding screen open and leaving the room. The only thing that remained was silence. Kisara emitted a light sigh as Hitsuma politely lowered his head. "I apologize," he said. "My parents are getting carried away." "It's been a long time, hasn't it, Mr. Hitsuma?" "Yes. Five years, I suppose?" Kisara had trouble figuring out how to interact with the man in front of her. She found it honestly bewildering. "Um… So you got promoted to police superintendent?" "Ha-ha! Yeah, the last time we met, I had just joined the force, hadn't I? I hardly knew right from left back then. Now, five years on… Well, really, I mean, look at you. You're a completely different person from five years ago. I still thought you were cute in a kidlike way back then, but now there's no doubt about it. You're beautiful." "Oh, stop flattering me, Mr. Hitsuma!" She meant it, too. Kisara looked down, cheeks blushing. "But…why now, though? Out of the blue…?" "What do you mean?" he replied, smiling graciously at Kisara. It made her feel a bit guilty as she went on. "I mean that I feel bad for you, Mr. Hitsuma. I disowned the Tendo family by my own free will. That's why you received the cancellation notice that you did. So…and I'm sure you know this already, but…I don't think marrying me will help you make any inroads with the Tendo family. I'm fully separate from them now. They treat me pretty much like they've disinherited me. I still go by the name Tendo, but I don't feel that I'm a Tendo at all. Not one bit." If Kisara had it her way, she'd have all the Tendo blood flowing within her drained from her body and replaced with someone else's. She opted against sharing that little tidbit out loud. "Well, it's not that I made this request to Mr. Shigaki because I wanted to build a connection with the Tendo family." "So why did you, then? Your dad's police commissioner; you're already a superintendent yourself… I'm sure you'd have no problem attracting attention." "Is being taken with you at first sight a good enough reason?" Kisara blushed and turned her face away at this unexpected attack. "Oh, stop joking." "I didn't mean it as a joke." "That makes it even worse… You're embarrassing me." She was willing to hear out Hitsuma's sweet nothings, but a darker voice was making itself known in her heart. There was a time when even Kisara believed in Cinderella. That dream she had, of some Prince Charming falling in love with her and saving her from disaster, disappeared from her life the day her parents were killed by being eaten alive. If there really was a prince or a wizard or whatever out there, she'd want him to resurrect her parents right this minute, not marry her. Kisara urged herself to press on as she adjusted her posture. Then she decided to change strategies. She was getting sick of this whole arranged-marriage system—trying to make yourself out to be perfect while watching your partner like a hawk for any imperfections. It was time to buck the system. "The whole reason I'm alive is so I can take revenge on the Tendos." "I know." "What?" Kisara heard the shishi-odoshi clack against the rock behind her. "Of course. I'm fully aware of your circumstances, Ms. Tendo." "And you went through with this proposal anyway?" "Yes. In fact, I think I might just be able to help you on that particular matter." "…Um, how so?" Hitsuma briskly stood up from the table, a smile crossing his intellectual demeanor as he pointed outside. "Would you like to go for a walk while we discuss it?" Kisara nodded. It was the only thing she could do. The pair left the room, walking around the perimeter of a gravel-floored garden. A small pond lay in the middle of it, with an arched, bright red footbridge decorated with ornate, knob-topped guardrails crossing it. Kisara sprinkled some dry food from the bridge, marveling at the dazzling colors of the Japanese koi fish that gathered to lap it up. "So…?" Kisara began, not trying to sound too keen lest he was simply taking her for a ride. "I…will omit the details for now, Ms. Tendo, but we in the Hitsuma family do not have exactly a cozy relationship with the Tendos either." Kisara's eyebrows twitched. "That's playing with fire, you know," she said, eyes still focused on the koi she was feeding. "The Tendo clan is filled with financial giants. They train their kin from infancy to become full-fledged members of the political elite. Trying to resist them is like trying to resist the government itself. They would raze your family to the ground, just like all the other people who faded into darkness after opposing them." "I imagine they would, yes, if we took a full-frontal approach. But even the most heavily guarded of fortresses can be conquered, if you just know which untended back door to strike at first. Someone like you, attempting to eradicate Kikunojo Tendo and his allies from the face of the earth, should know that all too well." A koi leaped out of the water with a splash. "…How much do you know?" "Just what I've picked up through the grapevine." Kisara turned around and looked at Hitsuma. "Well, I'm glad you're offering to help me, but this is my battle to wage. I'm not interested in having other people use me." "But you may feel free to use me all you like. I will not use you at all." This made Kisara's brows furrow. "You're starting to creep me out. What do you want from me? Just come out with it." Hitsuma put a hand to his chin, as if pondering over something. "All right," he said. "Let me rephrase that, then. There is something I want from you." Then he suddenly wrapped his arm around Kisara's waist, holding her hand with his own. The presence of such a comely man at close range made Kisara's heart skip a beat. "You've been making me go crazy, and it's thanks to your beauty. If I ever do anything to make you dislike me, then by all means, take up your sword. But if not…" Hitsuma brought his face closer to hers. Kisara turned her red cheeks away. "You've been reading too much Shakespeare." "I mean it." It was a surprise to her, this man's passion all but forcing her into his embrace. Satomi would never do anything like this for me, she thought. Searching around in his pocket, Hitsuma took something out and placed it in Kisara's hand. Startled by the feel of cold metal, she looked down to find a disc-shaped object shining a golden hue in the reflected sunlight. "What's this?" "A pocket watch. Open it up." Following his suggestion, Kisara lifted the watch's golden lid. Her mouth opened a little in surprise. The hour and minute hands were also done up in gold, and the fancy-looking clock face was lined with jewels, dazzling her with a flood of color. "This is so nice. Is it for me?" "I'd be glad if you took it. It won't go to waste that way." She was about to say thanks, but swallowed the word after realizing something. "But," she said, "our old engagement was canceled." "That doesn't matter. I love you." "…If I had someone like you whispering about love into my ear, maybe I'd start looking for a pair of glass slippers before long." "Would you like to try?" Kisara watched as Hitsuma's lips advanced upon her. Then she closed her eyes. Neither the beautiful white sand that extended out toward the right-hand side of the Japanese garden nor the sublime ephemerals of the rock garden's dry landscape were enough to brighten Rentaro's heart by now. He was walking down the wooden platform that lined the garden, in search of a bathroom as the anxiety began to well in his mind. What is Kisara's problem, anyway? Getting all dolled up and putting on that nice kimono for his sake. She doesn't have to act all preoccupied about how she looks. Around me, it's been the exact same black school outfit, 365 days a year. The gloominess in Rentaro's heart had, if anything, only been magnified by the five years that had passed since he last saw Hitsuma. He was, after all, the first real love interest in Kisara Tendo's life—and the worst part was that she probably didn't even realize it. He thought his shallow memories of that time would drift away over the years, but now that he saw Kisara dressed in her finest and discussing marriage like this, he wasn't so sure that would ever happen. "Listen…Tendos aren't like regular people. Don't you dare catch yourself acting like you're one of them." What do I want Kisara to do here? Do I…? Just as he rounded a corner of the walkway, staring at the garden for lack of anything better to focus on, Rentaro stopped. Kisara and Hitsuma were talking on the arched bridge. He couldn't hear what they were saying from his vantage point, but if Rentaro's eyes weren't deceiving him, they looked like they were enjoying themselves. "…!" Then Hitsuma brought her close, his lips approaching her face. The two silhouettes overlapped. Rentaro's body tensed up, as if struck by lightning. Sweat ran from every pore in his body. Then he turned around on the spot and swiftly walked out of the restaurant. As Hitsuma's face dominated the entirety of her vision, Kisara closed her eyes. But, the moment before their lips met, Kisara brought her palm between them like a partitioning board, pushing him away with the other hand. "…For now," she said, "let go of me." She was freed without complaint. Kisara adjusted the neck of her kimono in order to focus attention away from her flushed cheeks. "So is that how it is? You don't mind if I use anything of yours that I find useful, and in exchange for that, you want me?" "You can feel free to see it that way, yes." Kisara mulled this over silently as she pretended to adjust her wardrobe. No matter what she decided to do, her life was worth about as much as a pebble on the side of the road. All she had to do was make sure she kept it intact until the remaining four Tendos were slain. And being lucky enough to be born with this beauty, being able to use it as a bargaining chip for her aims—who could ask for anything more? It's a matter of using, and being used. As simple a relationship as that. I might even find myself liking Hitsuma before long. A prickly sensation ran across Kisara's chest. …Wait a minute. Is this what love and romance is? 4 "So you saw Kisara get all kissy-kissy and that pissed you off so much that you ran away from her?" Sumire Muroto, head of the Magata University forensics research lab, stared at Rentaro with a look of pure glee on her face. "It's, it's not like that, or anything…" "The way you look, you're not exactly convincing me otherwise." Rentaro remembered that he was currently head down on the desk. He sheepishly sat back up and looked distractedly at the bare light bulb illuminating the basement room. He liked visiting the forensics lab at times like these. It was his way of appealing for divine aid—or, in Sumire's case, demented aid. Someone older and more experienced was a treasure to have right now. Rentaro failed to sleep a wink the previous night. The whole thing with Suibara played a role in that, but to be wholly honest with himself, he was agonizing over Kisara's arranged marriage. He decided to give Sumire the whole story because he was certain she'd have just the right piece of advice to cut through this crisis. Right now, he was being disappointed. "Well, forget it. Just give it up. The fact that a prime piece of land like Kisara hasn't been snapped up yet is a miracle in itself. She just found the right buyer, is all." Rentaro grimaced. "Jeez, Doctor… I thought you were rooting for the two of us." "What, are you kidding me? I'm just trying to stir the pot a little, 'cause if I didn't, nothing would change until you both had one foot in the grave. In fact, if things start working out between you two, I'd start sabotaging it for fun." "Awful. Just absolutely awful." "Though actually, I was really hoping you'd finally let your hormones get the best of you and just push her down. Think about the headlines you'd make once the police caught you!" "Why would the police get involved?" "You think you'll ever bag Kisara any other way?" Rentaro snorted in disgust as Sumire pulled up a chair facing him, waving a hand in front of his eyes. "Just knock it off, okay? Knock it off. I know you're thinking about some hanky-panky with Kisara and maybe marriage in the future, but why do you think marriage is such a good thing anyway? Lemme give you a little lecture on how men and women work. Men, you know…they have to put up with women nagging them to no end until it drives them insane. They give up on their dreams, and they have to resist the urge to stare at every big-titted bimbo they see on the way home from work. And women, too—they have to deal with men's crazed fetishes; they have to cook and dress in a way that pleases them; they give up their entire bodies to them! It's just a constant string of sacrifices for them both. Men, at the core, really hate women, and women, at the core, really hate men." "So why do people get married, then?" "'We all need the eggs,' as Woody Allen put it." "What's that mean?" "Eesh. Look, Rentaro, could you at least try to make an effort to think a little? People in ancient times thought that brains were used for nothing but creating the snot out of your nose, but you're not using your brain for too much apart from that, are you? Your whole existence is a tragedy. I'm a nihilist, remember? Just take the nihilism out of my advice if you don't like it." "What'd even be left?" "Men, at the core, love women, and women, at their core, love men. Don't tell me you don't even get that." Rentaro froze, as if bewitched. It was impossible to tell where the jokes ended and real talk began with Sumire. She stood up and turned her back to him, no doubt off to whip up another batch of coffee. Rentaro stared at the back of her oversize lab coat and resolved to bring up another topic close to his heart. "Doctor, have you ever heard of something called the Black Swan Project?" "No, I haven't," Sumire said as she filled a kettle with water and pushed the ON button within her induction cooker. "However," she added, "if they named it 'Black Swan,' it might have something to do with the black swan theory." "The black swan theory?" Sumire measured out a suitable amount of instant coffee from the can. "Swans, you know," she began, "are supposed to be all white in color, but then they found a population of black swans in Australia. It turned the world of ornithology upside down back in the day. The entire world ran on this assumption that swans were supposed to be white, so nobody was ever able to predict that black swans would ever be a thing, too. "So the 'black swan theory' is where you build long-term predictions while bound by your current state of comprehension, but thereby fail to account for unpredictable events even after they happen. It can cause all sorts of damage if you're not careful. There's no such thing as absolutes in this world—life's full of uncertainties. Making predictions as if these uncertainties are ironclad facts always costs you in the long run. "You could kind of see this theory as a warning to the human species, and how their minds work. If you've had ten years straight of bountiful harvests, you'd never imagine that a flood would ravage your farmland tomorrow, right? Or maybe crises that theoretically shouldn't occur for millennia keep taking place every few decades, or an unexpectedly huge earthquake causes a meltdown at a nuclear power plant, or—" "—Or a pack of virus-infected parasites appears and tries to destroy the human race?" Sumire grinned. "That's exactly it. Glad to see you're quick on the pickup, at least." Rentaro turned his eyes toward his hands. The "Black Swan Project"—something about the name disturbed him. He was already starting to regret what he'd said before. Perhaps the situation Suibara fell into was a lot more dangerous than he thought. Perhaps he should've forced the whole story out of him at the office. He checked the clock. There was still a fair amount of time until their meet up. "There's something else, too, Doctor. The 'New World Creation Project'—does that ring any bells?" Sumire swung around, surprised. Judging by the reaction, Rentaro knew he hit the nail on the head. The eerie resemblance between "New World Creation Project" and "New Humanity Creation Project" was something that stuck out in his mind from the moment Suibara uttered the term. The kettle began to emit a shrill whistle, the lid clattering around on the top. "Where did you hear that name?" "A client relayed it to me." "How much do you know about it?" "Pretty much nothing. That's why I'm asking you, Doctor." Suibara had been acting far too jumpy. He had been paranoid about bugging devices and wanted to talk at a separate location. It seemed fair to think that these "New World" and "Black Swan" projects were something dicey enough to put the fear of God in him. Sumire considered this for a few moments, a thoughtful hand on her chin. "I think I told you why the New Humanity Creation Project was disbanded." "Yeah…um, because it cost too much money and stuff." "Right. The natural-born Children we use cost nothing, but even building one of you took vast sums of money." Sumire picked up two heat-resistant beakers and filled both to the brim with coffee, staring up and down Rentaro's body as she did. "You're a ten-billion-yen kid, Rentaro." Yeah, that'd sure torpedo the project, all right. If it took that much to produce just one soldier, setting up some kind of mass-production system would've been all but impossible. "But if it weren't for the Children showing up," Sumire continued, "the New Humanity Creation Project was prepared to move on to the next phase. In other words, the New World Creation Project. You can basically think of the New World project as the final, complete version of the New Humanity one." "Complete version…?" "Right. People like you and Tina and Kagetane Hiruko are walking high-tech marvels—superfibers, replacement organs, metal skin, you name it. The New World Creation Project would've taken that one more step. The aim was to replace at least half the human body with machines. The idea was to eventually work up to replacing the entire body, except for the brain." "Wait a minute," Rentaro interjected. "You said that the success rate for New Humanity surgeries was pretty low as it was. If you guys tried to replace even more of the body at once…" Sumire sat back down, looking a bit remorseful as she squinted at the light bulb. "Well," she replied, "there was a nonzero chance of it working. And if there's a nonzero chance, a scientist is always gonna take a crack at it." "…But you're a doctor first, aren't you? Not a scientist." "I am, yes. But the poison you and I call 'curiosity' works its magic at astonishing speed with people like us. It kills a lot more than just the cat, you know." Sumire slid one of the beakers Rentaro's way. He picked it up with both hands and stared at the murky black liquid inside, a faint warmth spreading across his palms. "But what're you talking about, though? The New World Creation Project never took place, then? I heard that name right from the mouth of my client…" "Yeah, I'm awfully curious about that myself. I was the woman in charge of the New Humanity project, but I never heard anything about the New World one starting up. But…hmm. Maybe it's got to do with those murders?" "Which ones?" Sumire sat in silent thought for a moment before continuing. "Well," she said, "a man was killed at the New National Theater a bit ago. Kenji Houbara, age thirty-five. An opera aficionado. He was stabbed during a performance. At the same exact time, someone went into the home of Saya Takamura, age twenty-eight, and murdered her with what's believed to be a shotgun. And at the same time as that, Giichi Ebihara, age fifty-three, was shot to death by a sniper while on a high-speed train." "Three murders on the same day…?" "Yeah. But that's not the point. The point is that all three victims had something in common." Sumire took a sip of coffee, her tone suddenly growing dark and heavy. "Kenji Houbara and Saya Takamura were both surviving soldiers enhanced by the New Humanity Creation Project." "What?!" Sumire crossed her legs and tilted her glass again as she glanced at her dumbfounded guest. "They were both my patients. Let me tell you, I was shocked. I knew them both really well. I was hoping you wouldn't have to know about that—two ex–New Humanity soldiers, hunted down like that… But this was premeditated murder. Both of them saw action in the Gastrea War, unlike you, and they both retired to civilian life after the war because they were sick of fighting." Rentaro had heard from Sumire earlier that a lot of enhanced soldiers, finding themselves with no place to go, wound up becoming civsec officers like him. Apparently there were exceptions, though. Sumire put her hand back on her chin and stared off into the distance. "If they wanted peaceful lives for themselves, I welcomed that with open arms. But it looks like there was a snake tempting them. This guy." Sumire picked up a sheaf of papers from her cluttered desk and tossed it over. An autopsy report, apparently. The first page had Giichi Ebihara's name and profile printed on it. "Who's he?" "Someone high up in Public Security." "Public Security" referred to the Public Security Force, the department that protected the national government from things like radical extremism and international terrorism. Most of their investigative techniques were classified, but word on the street indicated it was akin to a secret police or spy organization. "Why Public Security?" "It looks like this Ebihara guy made secret contacts with these two war retirees. He had them do some kind of secret-agent stuff, apparently. I say 'apparently' because now that he's dead, I can't establish what kind of relationship they had. He's the only one who would've known that. I only learned about this because Ebihara's secretary saw him conduct a secret meeting with Houbara in their building. He said that he heard the term 'New World Creation Project' in their conversation, not that he knew what that meant at the time." "And now all three of them are dead. Which means…?" "They all knew something they shouldn't have. What, I couldn't say." Silence descended upon the basement. The humid air lapped against Rentaro's neck as Sumire extended a pale, veiny hand toward another file on her desk. "By the way, Satomi, have the police visited Tina yet?" "No…why?" "Well, I got all curious about these murders, so I had Miori give me some information. There were no witnesses to Kenji Houbara's stabbing at the theater and they couldn't find any fingerprints on the knife, but apparently there was a faintly sweet scent left on the weapon. Saya Takamura was murdered with anti-personnel rounds fired by a twelve-gauge shotgun. No witnesses there, either. As for the train murder, the bullet that killed Ebihara was a powerful type of sniper bullet known as Lapua Magnum. I don't know all that much about guns, but the train would've been running at high speed at the time—200 kilometers an hour or so. Despite that, the sniper made a clean kill through the train window and right through his head. Can you believe that?" Now Rentaro knew why Tina's name came up. "Wait a minute, Doctor! Tina's not a murderer!" "Well, I'd like to believe that, too. But if you whittle down the suspects to the kind of people with superhuman skills like that, Tina's bound to show up on the list sooner or later." No way. There's no way Tina could do anything like that. "Lady Seitenshi pulled a lot of strings to keep Tina's punishment down to just probation, but remember, she tried and failed to assassinate our leader. If she racks up any more charges, it's gonna be the firing squad for her." "…But—all right—even if we assume there's some kind of superhuman hit man group out there, that doesn't necessarily mean they're from the New World Creation Project. If they were, though…like, could I even beat them, being an older type?" Among Kagetane, Tina, and Aldebaran, Rentaro had a lot of high-profile kills under his belt by now. But he never thought his powers ever gave him an inherent advantage. If anything, he was amazed he always managed to eke out a victory at the very end each time. Sumire sighed dejectedly, apparently knowing what Rentaro was getting at. "I don't know if you have the wrong idea or something, but there's still a lot of potential for improvement in your artificial limbs." Rentaro paused for a moment, having trouble parsing this statement. "R-really?" he said, all but pressing Sumire for an answer. She confidently lifted her hands in the air. "Really really. You're in the top class of the soldiers I created, and when I say that, I'm talking about your potential, too. You're doing a great job using your limbs and your eye, but I can't say you're performing up to the specs I envisioned at first. That eye, for example." Rentaro instinctively brought a finger to his artificial left eye. "There's a limiter circuit in your eye that ensures its processing speed doesn't go above a certain level." "Wh-why's that?" "Because you'd see too much. It probably feels like time's slowing down for you as your eye calculates the enemy's range and future position, but it can still go a lot further than that. We transplanted a version of your eye without a limiter into several patients, but none of them ever came back." "Came back…?" "The moment their eye was unlocked, their brain scans started going haywire, then flatlined to zero. I have no idea what they saw, and I couldn't really use it if I didn't know what was going on, so we were forced to stick a limiter on it. It's a pity. I mean, every day of our lives, we use things that we can't fully observe—operate a car engine, write data to hard drives, that sort of thing. But when bio-ethics get involved, the bosses get all picky about every little thing." "Well, yeah. If you ignore stuff like that, that's criminal neglect, isn't it?" "Neglect, huh…? I see. So I'm a criminal to you, then?" "You're pretty much as gray area as you can be without going full black." Sumire offered an offended snort. "It's all in the way you put it, isn't it? Though I'll admit, the limiter was probably the right answer. Lowering the processing speed does a great job reducing the burden on the user's brain. But there's one term I want you to remember: terminal horizon." "Terminal horizon?" "Right. Your eye's processing speeds up in tandem with your emotions, such as anger or sadness. When you have it activated, I'm sure it feels like time slows down for you, but it's not like time itself is slowing. Your brain is just operating at faster speed as it works with the powerful computer in your eye, so time feels slower by comparison. But eventually you hit a wall, and that wall's one two-thousandths of a second—in other words, a second of real time slows down to what feels like two thousand to you. That's the terminal horizon. All the patients who crossed that never came back. Their brains were completely fried." Rentaro was shocked. Even in the fight against Kagetane Hiruko—when he was sure his eye ran quicker than it ever did before—he'd peg the slowdown to around fifty virtual seconds for every real one. Maybe it maxed out at a hundred on limited occasions, but even that was iffy. Two thousand, though? That far ahead? But Rentaro also understood that, if anything, this was good news for him. If he didn't want to see himself lagging behind the rest of the Tendo Civil Security Agency's employee roll, trying to come as close to this terminal horizon as possible would never be a bad thing for him. Even if he still couldn't handle a sniper rifle as deftly as he wanted, it would be a killer advantage. "But let's get back on topic," Sumire said as she recrossed her legs. "I know you have to maintain confidentiality with your client, and I don't need to know his name, either. But you better make sure this guy's safety is a priority for you, as much as you can. If your client has the same info the other three victims had, he could be in serious trouble." That settled it. Rentaro stood up, figuring he'd better go to Suibara's meet-up site immediately. "One more thing." Sumire shot a sharp look at Rentaro. "We still haven't come to terms with something else. What are you gonna do with Kisara?" Rentaro froze to the ground. "I'm not gonna do anything." "Nothing? So you'll just sit there and gnash your teeth while she goes off with another guy?" Rentaro left his stool, looking down at Sumire. "Doctor…I talked to you before about the thing between Kazumitsu and Kisara, didn't I?" "Yeah…" During the Third Kanto Battle, Kisara Tendo killed Kazumitsu Tendo, her adoptive brother. In the cruelest of manners, no less. "I…I mean, I like Kisara. I'd be willing to do just about anything for her. But after that experience, I think I realized something. She's let her hatred for the Tendo family dominate her." For a period, after her parents were eaten by a Gastrea before her eyes, Kisara lost both her speech and any reason to keep living. One day, though, she just got out of bed, begged Sukekiyo Tendo to teach her, and began learning swordsmanship at an astonishing pace. The one thing driving her heart and having her try to keep living was the desire to plunge the people who ruined her life into the deepest pit in hell. "Things were pretty fun for the first year or so the Tendo Civil Security Agency was running, so I thought she was forgetting about it. But I was wrong." "Don't you understand? Justice isn't good enough. Justice can't oppose evil. But absolute evil—evil that goes beyond evil—can. I have that power." Rentaro gritted his teeth, head hung low. "Nothing I said reached her…" As he spoke, his thoughts gradually coalesced together. Now he was starting to see what kind of attitude he needed to approach Hitsuma and Kisara's arranged marriage with. "Ever since the Tendos took me in ten years ago, I've owed so much to Kisara. I could never pay her back in a million years. I'd do anything to make her happy. I've made up my mind, Doctor. I want Kisara to realize something. That life's worth living for more than just revenge. And if I can make that happen…" Then Rentaro realized something. The decision he had just made in his heart meant a final good-bye to all the emotions he had accumulated for Kisara over the past ten years. Sumire looked dubious. "You're gonna stand down because you're putting Kisara's happiness first? Do you know what that means, Rentaro? If you really just want Kisara to be happy, you're gonna have to keep killing off your own feelings. There's no way to half-ass that. Do you swear you'll do that?" Rentaro closed his eyes. Behind his eyelids, he could see the beautiful Kisara, a graceful hand near her lips. "I swear, Doctor." "Even if this proposal goes well and Kisara gets married, has children, gets happy—even then, she still might not forget about her revenge. You can always rebuild a broken body, but a broken heart's beyond all help. You can't do a thing with it. And if it's too late for Kisara, that's gonna be up to you to manage. Can you do that?" Rentaro stood up and turned his back to Sumire. "I'm leaving, Doctor. I'm meeting with my client in a bit." He half-walked, half-fled from Sumire, but his feet were heavy as they pounded on the stairs. I can do anything for Kisara's sake. Anything… Realizing that his breathing was growing rapid and out of rhythm, Rentaro instinctively put his hands to his hips. He wanted to grab his pistol's grip with both hands, clasping his fingers around it in a macabre prayer as he tried to calm himself. But his hands caught air instead. The familiar weight hanging from his side was gone. In a panic, he felt around with both hands. Nothing. Rentaro's XD gun was gone. He couldn't believe it was possible, but there was no sign of the gun in any of his pockets. Did I drop it somewhere? It's been hectic all day since the morning, so I wasn't really paying attention, but… Suddenly, his conversation with Suibara shot back to his mind. "…I'm sorry. My evidence got stolen." "Stolen?" "My place has been broken into a few times lately. A few things were stolen, including the evidence. The only option I got left is to appeal directly to the Tendo Group or Lady Seitenshi as a living witness. I mean, you're about the only guy left I can trust." And he'd said this, too, hadn't he?: "Rentaro, I'm pretty sure they think you're involved with me by now. Sorry I got you involved in this, but watch out, okay?" He shook his head. This is ridiculous. There was no way Suibara's enemies could just reach out to him like that in less than twenty-four hours. And even if these supposed "enemies" were behind this, why would they bother stealing Rentaro's gun? It was almost time to meet up. Rentaro shook off the premonitions making themselves known in his mind and hurriedly walked to the designated building. 5 The new Magata City Hall building was still under construction, its bare concrete walls lit dimly by the pale moonlight, which itself fell through a mass of scaffolding and temporary platforms to create an evocative piece of shadow art. In this landscape stood Suibara, scuffing at the floor with his hands in his pockets. He was a good hour early for the planned meeting because he was fresh from a little quarrel with his Initiator back home. He began to wonder if meeting in a more crowded public place would've been a better idea, but quickly shook it off. There was no way they could have a relaxed conversation someplace where there was no telling who might be listening in. Just a little bit longer, Suibara forced himself to think. If I get this out to the public through Rentaro, it'll all be over. Then I can finally sleep in peace again. Everything's going exactly as I want it. Just a little bit— Suibara turned around, hearing heavy footsteps behind him that echoed across the darkness. His shoes were the first things to appear, the moonlight streaming in diagonally through a crevice, illuminating the man from the bottom up. Checking his cell phone, Suibara realized he still had forty minutes to go. He grinned to himself. Man, he's here already? What's with all the hurry? The idea of Rentaro being as impatient as he was gladdened him as he walked up. "Yo, Renta—" The roar and light of the muzzle flash was perfectly synchronized with the impact he felt on his side. The force made his cell phone fly out of his hand and into parts unknown. "Uh?" He didn't know what had happened at first. An empty shell casing clinked on the floor, and right after that, his side felt burning hot, as if someone took a branding iron to it. Hesitantly looking downward, he saw the blood that seeped through his shirt in the abdominal area. "Ah…nnh…!" The moment he realized he was shot, Suibara experienced an intense pain across his entire body. No. This isn't Rentaro. The figure fired two more shots as it walked forward, striking Suibara in the thigh and stomach. He crumpled to the floor. He couldn't breathe. And as a second wave of pain crested over him, he felt something rise up from his stomach and vomited a large volume of blood. Now chills ran across his body. Not wanting to die without knowing what happened, he bent his body like an inchworm, stretching it out, trying to get even another millimeter away from his assailant. But the awkward attempt at escape ended in an instant. Something thumped against the back of his head. He could tell by instinct that it was the barrel of a gun. An array of happy memories began to flicker across Suibara's brain. Tears fell in a waterfall. His breathing pitched; he reached out into the air to grab at the greatest memory of all—the memory of a certain girl. "Hotaru…!" There was a gunshot, and the building was bathed in light for an instant. The sound of the empty cartridge clinking against the floor, and the seemingly incessant echo of the explosion, stayed in the attacker's ears for a long time to come. A warm wind blew through, shaking the nearby rows of trees. The moment he arrived at the Magata City Hall construction site, Rentaro stopped, sensing something was wrong as he looked up at the building. There was a crisp, clear August moon above the unadorned walls. He still had around twenty minutes until the meet-up time, and as he ascended the stairs, he wondered if he had shown up too early. He shook his head and continued climbing to the fourth floor, remembering Sumire's parting words. They'd agreed to meet here, but it was still dark, vast, and empty. He turned on his smartphone's flashlight and called out to the void. "Hey, Sui—" He didn't make it to the bara part before the smell of blood wafted into his nostrils. He swallowed nervously, motionless for a moment until his brain could catch up, then brought his smartphone above his head to light up the darkness. It took only a few moments for him to notice the man in a pool of blood, collapsed behind a column. "Suibara!" Rentaro flew like an arrow to the site, desperation already consuming him. Suibara was lying facedown, having been shot four times: in the side, the thigh, his right breast, and the back of the head, which must have been the killing blow. He was dead—this man who, just yesterday, was breathing, smiling, talking assorted random nonsense with him. Then Rentaro spotted something that put him in even more disquieting spirits. "What the hell…?" On Suibara's exposed back was a gun, presumably the murder weapon. Hesitantly, Rentaro reached out to it. A voice in his heart was urging him to stop: This is a crime scene now. You're about to tamper with a crime scene. The warm night air brushed past his skin, and a cold bead of sweat ran down his cheek. Driving the appeals to reason out of his mind, he picked up the gun. The slide was four inches, the left side engraved with a notice that it was a .40-caliber weapon. It all looked too familiar to him. In fact, it was clearly a Springfield XD pistol. The slide was the same length as the one he used. It was the same-caliber model. And there was no doubt at all this gun was just used to commit a murder. A closer look at the nicks and scratches on the frame and slide, the results of years of heavy use, confirmed it for good—this was the gun that saw Rentaro through his battles against Kagetane Hiruko, Tina Sprout, and Aldebaran. The gun he thought he lost was right here all along. At the scene of Suibara's murder. Why? Then, right at that moment, two beams of light flooded the room. Rentaro covered his face against the brightness. "Police! Don't move!" Squinting, Rentaro could open his eyes just enough to spot the police uniforms. A cold shiver ran up his spine. "No! Wait a minute!" "Drop the gun now!" With a loud boom, a warning shot gouged its way through the floor beneath him. It made Rentaro realize he had a steely death grip on the gun that just killed Suibara. He let go of it at once. One of the light beams approached, and before Rentaro knew it, he was tackled, his arm screaming in pain as it was twisted behind his back. The concrete floor advanced upon him, and he groaned as the impact hit him face-first. There was the sound of metal against metal, and then he felt something uncomfortable around his wrists. Gritting his teeth, he turned himself around, only to find his hands connected together by a pair of dully shining handcuffs. "Secured!" Rentaro shut his eyes tight. This was a trap!
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-05-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter009.txt	Black Bullet, Vol. 5: Rentaro Satomi, Fugitive 6 Rentaro slammed his fist on the steel desk as hard as he could. "God damn it, I'm telling you I didn't do it!" "Quit lying to us! Who else would there be?" "Someone framed me!" "The victim was killed with your gun. The rifle in our database was a perfect match with yours. We got all the evidence we need. Trying to deny it all's just gonna give you a longer sentence." This was getting nowhere. Rentaro crossed his legs and plopped himself back down on his stool. The cramped interrogation room he was brought into dripped with tension. The dull, dark-gray walls were complemented by a set of tiny stools. It was the size of a shoebox, but it was certainly tidy—there was no other furniture or decoration. After two hours of pointless prodding and coercing, Rentaro was starting to get sick of it all. Enju must have noticed he wasn't coming home by now. Hopefully, she wasn't worrying herself sick. Why did this have to happen to me? I need to get home ASAP. The frustration of being accused of a crime he didn't commit brought him to the point where he wanted to beat some sense into the officers. The door opened, and the detective interrogating him stretched up to see who it was. A thick, wrinkled face peered through the doorway. To Rentaro, it was like a helping hand pulling him up from hell. "Inspector Tadashima!" It was Shigetoku Tadashima, an inspector in the violent-crimes department. They had conferred with each other during any number of Gastrea attacks. Finally, a kindred soul! Rentaro was sure he'd testify that he'd never commit a crime like this. But, at the next moment, he realized exactly how over-optimistic he was. "So, you're Rentaro Satomi?" "What?" His eyes looked like they were chiseled into his square-jawed face. A glare from him was enough to make even nonoffenders involuntarily shiver. That's when Rentaro realized it. Tadashima wasn't here to talk with Rentaro Satomi, his acquaintance in the civsec industry. He was here to question Rentaro Satomi, murder suspect. Expecting a warm welcome from him now would be as useless as crying and pleading for clemency on the guillotine stand. Tadashima traded places with the younger detective in the room, sitting face-to-face with Rentaro. The detective questioning him before now stood behind him, pacing back and forth along the wall—a classic intimidation tactic. Then Tadashima leaned over the steel desk. It creaked under him. "How about we start by you telling me what you were doing the night of the murder? From the start." "I've already told you guys a thousand times." "You didn't tell me." Rentaro stopped himself from lashing out at his arrogance. This was another conventional police tactic—have the suspect give his story time and time again, searching for any contradictions that appear along the way. He kept himself cool as a cucumber as he gave Tadashima the basic outline. "So I understand the pistol belongs to you?" "I told you, someone stole it from me. I reached for it, and it was gone." "If it was gone when you reached for it, why are you so sure it was stolen? You didn't think that you dropped it somewhere?" He broke into a greasy sweat. This wasn't good. "That… I said it was stolen because it wound up getting used to commit a crime. I didn't think it was stolen at the time." "Misplacing a gun is a pretty serious issue. Why didn't you immediately inform the police about it?" "Well, like I said, I didn't think it was stolen. I figured it'd turn up if I searched the office or my home." "When did you notice it was missing?" "Um…a little bit before I was gonna meet Suibara." "Hmm. Just before meeting the victim, huh? Kind of a convenient time to remember that." The doubt and suspicion was clear in Tadashima's eyes. Ah, shit. If Rentaro had a time machine, he would've used it right now to warn his past self to report it to the police first. "Listen, Inspector Tadashima, when Suibara called upon the Tendo Civil Security Agency, he was already fearing for his life. Why would I be the one killing him?" "Who would know about that?" "What do you mean?" Tadashima opened his notebook, licked his thumb, and flipped through a few pages. "Before I came here, I asked a few basic questions to the people in the Tendo Agency." Rentaro thought his heart was going to stop. So Kisara, Tina, and Enju all knew he'd been arrested. "Your boss testified that the victim, Kihachi Suibara, visited you to discuss a job. Thing is, though, she didn't hear what the job was about." "He only wanted to discuss it with me. It was a trust issue." "All right, so who would know about that?" "We were the only two people in the office. Suibara told me to get everyone else out of there—" "—So nobody besides you knows what the job was about?" "…What are you getting at?" Tadashima's eyes settled on his notebook. He began flipping through pages again. "Well, I have some testimony here from your Initiator. She said you were clearly acting strange when she got back from her shopping. She offered to eat dinner together with you, but you declined and disappeared somewhere, apparently." "That…!" Rentaro raised his voice at first, but fell silent for a moment, unable to figure out what to say. "What is it? Go ahead." "That's a different thing…" "You're using your right to remain silent about it?" "No! My boss got an offer for an arranged marriage, so…you know, it was hurting me, sharing the same space as her." Tadashima's face indicated this wasn't the reply he expected. "So you're in love with your boss?" Rentaro blushed and stared at the floor. He could hear snickering from behind. "Stop trying to dodge the question." "What do you mean by that?" Rentaro turned around and glared at the detective behind him. "Keep your eyes on me," a low voice rumbled from in front. He followed the order, as Tadashima placed his elbows on the desk and clasped his fingers together. "All right, so this is what we're saying here. Basically, we don't think Kihachi Suibara had any job for you at all." "What?" "The victim was demanding money from you. Blackmail. I don't know what he had on you, but you knew each other since childhood, so I'm sure he could dig up something. You saved Tokyo Area's hide in the Third Kanto Battle and the Kagetane Hiruko terror attacks, so Suibara figured he'd try extorting whatever money he could from you. He threatened you, and that freaked you out so much that you didn't feel like eating dinner together with your coworkers. Am I right? "Then, once you decided to kill him, you lured Suibara to the site of your choice, you pulled the trigger, the police got a report of gunshots, and there you were. Kind of a silly thing to commit murder for, isn't it?" "That's bullshit, man!" Where did all that come from? There wasn't a shred of truth to it… But there was, too. He was the only person to hear the nature of Suibara's request. And he really did leave afterward, because he couldn't bear to face Kisara. He never dreamed the events of that evening would lead to this kind of misunderstanding. The sweat continued to run down his cheeks. "…Look, Inspector. I fought in the Third Kanto Battle. I fended off Kagetane Hiruko. Do you really think I'd kill someone over something like that?" Rentaro was ready to turn to prayer at this point. If he lost Tadashima, the only person he could turn to now, his fate was all but sealed. But the inspector just gave him an indifferent head shake. "I don't know that. That's why I'm here questioning you right now. Evil people do evil things. They get arrested for it. I've seen dozens of so-called 'nice guys' in here after something possessed them to go bad." Rentaro weakly shook his head. "I didn't do it." "So you're denying the charge?" "Of course I am! I'm not gonna own up to something I didn't do. Get me a lawyer. You gotta have a lawyer on duty, right?" Tadashima gave Rentaro a tiny sigh, staring straight through his suspect with cold eyes. "Rentaro Satomi, I'm officially placing you in police custody. I'm gonna request an extension from the judge tomorrow, too, so I hope you're ready to spend a little while in jail." 7 "Well, I guess luck's not been on your side lately, huh, Rentaro?" Sumire Muroto sat on one side of the reinforced-glass barrier, picking at her hair distractedly as she griped at the prisoner on the other side. "I swear, every time I get involved with you, I wind up being forced out of the basement over and over again. I hate it. I had to expose myself to the sun at full blast on the way here. I thought I was gonna turn into a pile of ashes, ha-ha-ha." Even by Sumire standards, the laugh sounded terribly contrived. "They wearing you out in there?" Rentaro gave her a shrug. "I'm doing pretty good, actually. Three hots and a cot, and all that. Plus, I can nap all I want." Sumire looked surprised for a moment, then curled her lips upward. "That's the spirit, my boy," she said. "If you could keep your spirits up long enough to escape, that'd save me a lot of trouble." A cough emanated from behind Rentaro as the prison guard chose that moment to make his presence known. Sumire replied with a calm shrug. The two of them were in the visitation room. A week had passed since Rentaro was placed under custody. "Y'know, I figured if you ever got yourself arrested, it'd be once you finally succumbed to your raging hormones and started licking little girls' rear ends in the park. But murder, though, huh? For better or for worse, you've really surpassed my expectations." "I didn't kill anybody." "They must've let you talk to an attorney by now. How's that going?" "It's going nowhere. I'm a shoo-in to get prosecuted, and he said I don't stand much chance of winning." "Must've been a shock, huh?" "Not really," Rentaro lied. Somewhere in his heart, he still believed in himself. He didn't kill anyone, so someone would understand soon enough. Justice would be served. But it turned out that he didn't need much time for that hope to transform itself into hopelessness. There were the intense interrogation sessions, the extension of his custody period, the cuffs and belly chain they made him move around in like a hardened criminal, the being forced by detectives and assistant prosecutors to recite what he did on that evening dozens of times. His miserable pleas of "I didn't do it" were cut off by apathetic inquisitors telling him to "just answer the questions you're asked," shouting down the voice of innocence. The idea that some assassin group rubbed Suibara out was greeted with open derision. On more than one occasion, the desperation made him want to confess to everything and put the matter to rest finally. "I bet we could improve your chances if I represented you in court, but I guess I'd need to go through all this stupid paperwork and licensing and so on first." "Uh, you're a doctor." "Nothing in the law books saying a doctor can't be a lawyer, is there?" "Well, no, but…" "Besides, I've read all the statutes already. All of them. Pretty heady reading. It took me thirty whole minutes to memorize them all." "What did you think of it?" "It's a remarkable guide to all the greedy desires of mankind. There's a lot of them. And by the way," Sumire said as she looked at Rentaro's chest, "I heard that Enju's been paying you regular visits." She was staring at a poorly made patchwork rabbit sewn into the loose hoodie he was wearing. He touched it, noting the quilted fabric. A gift from Enju. The school uniform he had on during his arrest was confiscated from him—he could've hung himself with the belt, or swallowed the buttons on it to die of suffocation or blockage or something. He really should've had his cybernetic limbs taken from him, too, but the artificial skin covering them meant he didn't have to worry about that unless he blabbed about it. Enju had been his only other visitor. Neither Tina nor Kisara showed their face once. "How's Tina doing, Doctor?" Sumire shook her head. "She hasn't gotten back from the police yet." Tina was detained not long after Rentaro's arrest. Just as Sumire feared, Tina was the only person they could find capable of shooting a target traveling on a 200-kilometer-per-hour train. According to Enju, she wasn't charged with anything, but the police hauled her in as a material witness and she hadn't been sighted at the office since. Her inability to provide an alibi for the day of the murder was another black mark on her credibility. "If this keeps up, they'll probably make you out to be the mastermind behind Giichi Ebihara's murder, with Tina serving as your hit man." "That's insane!" As Rentaro spat out the words, Sumire, distracted, leaned over and calmly placed her elbows on the table in front of her, putting her chin on her crossed arms. "It is. It's really insane. But whenever something absurd and nonsensical happens, they always try to rationalize it as much as possible. You were at the scene of the crime, and you were standing there with the murder weapon in your hand. Meanwhile, a sniper killed their target under next-to-impossible conditions, and they can only find one person realistically capable of doing that. Only the scales of justice know what the verdict will be, and all that, but it's pretty easy for me to imagine the jurors' faces listening to that story." "……" "But enough good news, huh? Lemme give you the bad news. Once you're found guilty in a court of law, the regulations say that your civsec license's gonna be revoked. I guess they don't want convicted felons carrying those licenses around. Who knew, huh? But the worst part of that is, once you're stripped of your right to perform civsec duties, Enju's gonna be turned over to the IISO—the International Initiator Supervision Organization." "They're…?" "You're allowed to live with a ten-year-old girl you're not related to because your civsec license gives you that right. If you lose that, Enju's gonna be put in a pretty rough situation." "She can just retire from the Initiator business, then." She should have the right, Rentaro reasoned. Initiators in Tokyo Area were fielded from a pool of volunteers and scouts. But Sumire shook her head. "I don't think that's gonna work. If Enju quits that gig, her supply of anti-corrosion drugs from the IISO will dry right up. In her current state, that's gonna be fatal." "Shiiiiit." Rentaro slammed his fist against the table. "We're all screwed, aren't we?" The prison guard rolled his eyes at them as Sumire stood up. "Well, just think about it, all right, Rentaro? It's do-or-die time." Then she left the room. What should I do? Rentaro internally asked himself. But no clear answer came to mind. As long as he was locked in here, it wouldn't be easy for him to do much of anything. His last hope was that they'd decline to prosecute due to lack of evidence. Calming his frayed nerves, Rentaro put his hands against each other, as if in prayer. I won't get prosecuted. I mean, I didn't kill anyone. Even after the guard motioned him to stand up, he stayed right in place, silent. Two days later, Rentaro Satomi was officially indicted by the assistant prosecutor and went from being a suspect to the accused. 8 Days of dejection followed the filing of the prosecution papers. When he was first told about it, Rentaro grew so angry at all its unfairness that the guard escorting him had to hold him down. What followed after that was a profound emptiness. He hadn't been able to see Tina since his arrest and detainment, but based on what he heard, the situation wasn't too favorable for her either. Normally, the ten-year-old Tina Sprout would be offered at least some protections in the juvenile courts, but the prosecutor was apparently bound and determined to throw her to the gallows, using the excuse that she was not strictly a human being in order to try her as an adult and get her on the stand in court. The despair in Rentaro's mind weighed on him intensely. Wasn't the law supposed to be the final line of defense the weak could turn to? Had human civilization decayed to the point where witch hunts like these were allowed to happen? Or was it that the hearts of the people themselves had decayed? Enju, at least, came to visit him almost every day. She'd lean close to him, almost pressing her face against the partition, and give him all sorts of trite pleasantries—"It's gonna be all right," "You haven't done anything bad at all, Rentaro," "Once you get out, I'll let you cop a feel free of charge," that sort of thing. Rentaro, for his part, gave what he thought were suitable replies—"Thanks," "Of course not," "I'll pass on that." Still, he was deeply in gratitude for her. Without her encouragement, the punishing despair he was facing would cause irreversible damage to his psyche. If it weren't for the shatterproof glass in the way, he'd embrace her in a shower of kisses. Then, realizing he was getting this worked up over a ten-year-old girl, he felt an odd sense of embarrassment. Today, once again, Rentaro was seated on his visitation-room chair. The person sitting across from him, however, was neither Sumire nor Enju. For a while, Rentaro stayed silent, not knowing how he should break the ice. To the girl in the black school uniform, it must have been the same way. The clock on the wall robotically ticked off three minutes of their valuable visitation time before the girl opened her mouth. "I'm sorry," she said. "I had wanted to show up earlier than this…" "It's all right, Kisara. I don't mind." Enju had given him enough advance warning that he had managed to keep himself calm at the sight of her. He had no way of knowing this at the jail, but Rentaro's arrest and Tina's volunteering herself to police questioning had drawn the attention of the mainstream media—a frenzy that fell squarely on Kisara's shoulders to handle. He respected how wild and audacious she could be, but he also knew that this was still just a sixteen-year-old girl. Worse, Tina's and Rentaro's absence meant that the Tendo Civil Security Agency now boasted a roster of exactly zero pairs. Enju mentioned that they'd had to turn down the paltry number of jobs they'd been offered in the meantime due to that—and, to help prop her up mentally, Kisara had met up with Hitsuma several times, her potential marriage partner now serving as her closest confidant. "So what're you gonna do about the marriage, Kisara?" Rentaro gently asked. Kisara put a bright face forward. "Well, Hitsuma's a really good person. He's with the police, so we've been able to talk about your case a lot, Satomi…" Then she stopped for a moment, head hung low. "But, Satomi, you want to ask me a lot more than that, don't you?" "Like?" "Like, why I haven't come to see you until now?" "Not really," Rentaro bluntly replied. "You were busy, weren't you?" But the accusation startled him internally. He did want to know. It was driving him nuts. No matter how busy she was, she didn't have a single moment to stop by? Did Hitsuma have something to do with that? …It sounded so pathetic to him, asking about trivial nonsense like that. What remained of Rentaro's pride kept him from doing it. "You know, Satomi, I've been thinking about a lot of stuff. I thought that I probably shouldn't see you until I was ready to give a concrete answer…but I think I have that now." Kisara raised her head up, adjusting her posture as she looked at Rentaro. "Satomi, I'm willing to do anything for you. I'll hire the best attorneys I can find. You don't have to worry about the money. I'm going to make sure Tina wins her case, too, and then all four of us can go back to running the Tendo Civil Security Agency. I know it took a little too long, but that's my answer." Rentaro looked at Kisara, speechless, emotions welling up in his chest. Where would Kisara, who once tried to make her employees live off nothing but sweet potatoes, get that kind of money? She must have been talking about taking all her assets—her stocks, her savings, the deposit paid toward her tuition at Miwa Girls Academy—but, no, that still wouldn't be enough. And if he wound up losing his case, that would be the final straw for their agency. She'd be so in the red, she would never be allowed to run a business again. And yet, that was the decision she made. Rentaro felt ashamed of himself. He was obsessing so much over Hitsuma and Kisara's relationship that he completely lost sight of what was important. The ugly jealousy that ruled over him melted away into nothing. Love replaced it. He wanted to smash through the partition and bring Kisara close to his heart right this minute. But a voice in the back of his head stopped him. "Do you know what that means, Rentaro? If you really just want Kisara to be happy, you're gonna have to keep killing off your own feelings. There's no way to half-ass that. Do you swear you'll do that?" The forensics department head asked him that in Magata University Hospital's basement. How did he reply, again? It was clear enough from what Kisara had told him that he was important to her. Rentaro closed his eyes and slowly opened them again. I won't hope for anything more. "Kisara, I'm glad you feel that way, but I don't need that." "Wh-why not?" Rentaro stared at his knees, gauging the shocked Kisara from the corner of his eye. "How about you calm down a bit?" he asked dryly. "I've sat here and let you talk, and what I see is that you've been running around with all your might, trying to be a hero. And that's your right and all, but I don't want your help." "What's with that…?" Kisara, eyes wide open, was at a loss for words. "What's with it is that I don't need it. Besides, you're about to go through with your marriage anyway, aren't you?" He loosened his voice, taking on an admonishing tone. "Well, now's a good time to start transitioning, isn't it? Now that I'm like this, I can't watch over you anymore, Kisara. You can have Hitsuma protect you from now on." Happiness would never materialize for Kisara Tendo as long as Rentaro Satomi was by her side. That was his steadfast conclusion. To Kisara, Rentaro's existence was just a painful reminder of her parents, the ones she lost in the most traumatic fashion imaginable. All he was doing was holding her back, in bondage, and if that's how it was: Their only choice was to separate. That was the only and final way for Kisara to forget about revenge and find happiness. If it was possible, Rentaro wanted to be the source of happiness in her life. He wanted to teach her everything that could make a woman happy. He thought perhaps he was the one who could send her to dizzying heights of ecstasy. But he wasn't, and it grievously troubled him. Kisara stared at the aloof Rentaro, ruefully pointing her chin at him. "What is your problem today? I mean, Hitsuma's a nice guy, okay? He treats me like I'm important, unlike some people in my life. He's got money, unlike some people in my life. He's tall, unlike some people in my life. And he wants to marry me, too, okay? Maybe you don't know this, Satomi, but I actually have a social life with the opposite sex. Hmph!" "Oh? Well, that's great." "What do you mean, that's great?" For some reason, Kisara demonstrated an extreme dislike for Rentaro's blunt reaction. "Look, Satomi, are you looking for them to find you guilty, or what? You didn't kill him, did you? You're acting weird!" Kisara blushed and turned her head away, rubbing her thighs together nervously. "You know that my chronic diabetes prevents me from fighting for extended lengths of time. That…that's why I want you to keep protecting me, Satomi. Because in the end, I'm just another weak little girl." Rentaro wordlessly shook his head. "Please, Kisara. I don't want you to come here anymore." "Why not? Why are you saying that? Do you hate me or something?" Rentaro stared straight into Kisara's eyes. Thanks, Kisara. I've been so grateful to you, ever since the Tendo family took me in ten years ago. The Gastrea that killed your parents took an arm and a leg from me, too, but the fact I managed to keep you safe is something I'm kind of proud of. I really like you, Kisara. "Please don't come back. I don't want to see your face again. That's all there is to it." With a clatter, Kisara stood up off her chair, covering her mouth with both hands. Tears were welling out of each eye, running down her cheeks. "What is…? What are you?" No matter how much she wiped at them, the tears incessantly came down. She must not have been expecting this display herself, saying "What?" and acting terribly confused. Then she quickly turned around and tried to rush out of the visitation room. This is how it should be, Rentaro said to himself. Hitsuma will make her happy. He watched Kisara as she reached for the doorknob, as if that was the punishment he was facing this whole time. Just as her figure was about to disappear behind the door, Rentaro had a flashback to Tina, Enju, Kisara, and himself around the dining table, laughing with one another. Something he would never have back again. The tears rushed into his eyes. Don't go, Kisara. "Help—" Rentaro closed his eyes and put both hands over his mouth, struggling with everything he had to keep the rest of the words from coming out. He didn't have to worry. The door closed shut with a heavy bang, and then only a cold silence remained. Tears dripped down from the end of his downward-facing nose, spreading across the thighs of his pants. He sobbed, his voice cracking, at the pain of losing something he could never replace. The image of the Tendo Civil Security Agency breaking apart in midair quietly spread across his mind. 9 "Why…?" For the nth time today, Rentaro's mouth opened a crack and whispered the word as he took in the view of the Seitenshi's palace, in District 1 of Tokyo Area. Why am I here? Looking back, he should have suspected something from the moment he woke up, when he was ordered to put on his school uniform instead of the hoodie Enju gave him. That same prison guard effectively banned belts and buttons from his life when he was first sent to jail. Even when he noticed that the minivan he shared with a driver and two escorts was taking a different route from the usual one to the public prosecutor's office, he didn't pay it any special mind apart from finding it a bit odd. The view out the window was dull, dark, and bereft of any color. Since his first and last meeting with Kisara, Rentaro had grown indifferent to nearly all external stimuli, spending more and more of his time lost in thought. Diligently, he tried to collect all the fun, happy memories he had and examine them all one more time. The problem was, recollecting his time in the Tendo Civil Security Agency seemed all too short to him. "Keep your head forward. Lady Seitenshi is seeing you." His unfocused thoughts jumbled with one another as his consciousness returned to reality. They didn't come fully together until he finally understood what he heard. "Lady Seitenshi?" Upon following his escort's directions, a key was thrust into his handcuffs, freeing his hands. He was relieved from the chain wrapped around his waist like a dog's leash, and then he was led forward, guards in front of and behind him. The palace guards, standing like statues of Adonis in front of the entrance, saluted the procession as they passed. They must have received advance word. After a few minutes' wait in the reception room, lined with dozens of trophies and an unnervingly realistic hawk sculpture, the group was led to a large hall meant for special events. The high ceiling arched above them; the well-polished floor formed a mosaic beneath their feet. Rows of marble columns lined the space. Every piece of décor was done up to enormous proportions, making Rentaro feel like he had stumbled into the home of a giant. Everything inside the palace was refined and splendorous. Nothing like the gray walls of the interrogation room, or the jail cell he was in. That, at least, brightened Rentaro's spirits a little. "Here," a guard said, "take this." It was, oddly enough, the same civsec officer's license that was confiscated from him at the time of his arrest. "Why this? What's happening here?" The guard did not respond. Instead, he just nudged his back, making him stand in front of a large door. With a low rumble, it opened from the other side, letting a warm beam of light enter the room. Proceeding in, then up a steep, winding stairway, they found the Seitenshi at the top, just as she left her throne and was on her way down. The two guards around Rentaro straightened their backs as tightly as they could. The Seitenshi made a sweeping motion with her hands. The guards sandwiching Rentaro on both sides gave each other worried looks. "Lady Seitenshi, it's too dangerous for you to be alone!" "I don't care. Stand aside, please." They disappeared behind the door with extreme reluctance. Only Rentaro and the Seitenshi remained in the gigantic space. "It's been far too long, hasn't it?" The Seitenshi smiled a sad smile. "Well, yeah. You're the head of state, and I'm a failure of a civsec officer. You wouldn't be meeting up with me unless you had some kind of business." "Yes. In which case, I suppose this is a good thing. A civil security officer out of a job means the world must truly be at peace." "Yeah, sure." Rentaro rubbed a shoulder as the Seitenshi gave him a graceful laugh. The tension palpably melted between them. "So what do you want?" he asked. The Seitenshi put both hands together in front of her dress skirt. "Mr. Satomi, are you aware of which way public opinion is going on your case?" "Can't say I am. They don't allow any media in jail." "People were beginning to soften their stance against civil security agencies, after they made such a heroic effort guarding Tokyo Area through the entirety of the Third Kanto Battle. Your on-the-scene arrest for murder, sadly, put an end to that." "…You think I killed him, too?" The Seitenshi shook her head. "I don't know that, and I am in no position to determine that." "But you rule this whole area." "I am the head of the political apparatus, yes, but that does not extend into the realm of judiciary power. I do, however, have the power to appoint people to certain positions. I've done that for you before, and I've also helped you get your rank promoted no less than three times. Along those lines, the attention I've demonstrated for you has also made me the target of criticism." Rentaro, realizing the conversation was drifting into hostile waters, broke into a cold sweat. Why was I invited to the palace today, anyway? It still made no sense to him. "Today, Satomi, I'm afraid I need to tell you some bad news." The Seitenshi paused deliberately, raising her face to eye level. "As of today, your civil security agency Promoter license has been revoked." "Wha…?!" Revoked? If that happens… "Do you remember, Satomi?" the Seitenshi continued, indifferent to Rentaro's obvious consternation as she continued. "When you protected me from that sniper, I remember telling you this: 'I will have to ask you to work continuously from now on. For me, and for our country.' It is a shame I have to renege on my word in so short a time." "Wait a minute! If you confiscate my license, the IISO's gonna take Enju away. You can't take Enju from me, too!" The Seitenshi turned her face away from Rentaro, a dejected look on her face as she kept her eyes away from view. "It has already been decided." Rentaro's fists began to shake. He took the license from its plastic cover and, with shaky hands, placed it in the Seitenshi's hand. Then he turned his back to his ruler, just as she opened her mouth to speak, and briskly left the chamber. The fifty-million-yen paintings that lined the corridors, as well as the brass vases with arabesque patterns sculpted upon them, were nothing that could move the Seitenshi's heart any longer. As she trudged down the hallways from the meeting chamber to her personal room, she came across a man in a white formal hakama gown, his white hair and beard a seeming mismatch for the firm, muscular body he possessed. It was Kikunojo Tendo, the Seitenshi's aide and a major powerbroker in the world of politics. "I admire your hard work, my lady." "Kikunojo…do you think that was the best thing?" "But of course. Our story is this: Before he was arrested, he requested to be removed from the roster of civsec officers and returned his license to the authorities. That way, the civsec industry can retain its good name, and damage to your administration for appointing him will be kept to a minimum." "But…we are drowning out the voices of those pleading his innocence!" "It is my priority, my lady, to do whatever it takes to protect you." "But that is not my way." "Lady Seitenshi, you… I am afraid you have to choose. If the lifeboats are already full of people, you must have the resolve to let those who couldn't find space on them die. That is a must in order to keep the boat itself viable." "If I jump off the boat, I could rescue one more person." "Are you saying you would let a starving person cannibalize you, then? That is very self-sacrificial, my lady, but it has no role in politics, and it is the political system that you are charged with directing." "But what do you think of Satomi, Kikunojo? He was once your adopted son, and when you were chosen as a Living National Treasure of Japan, I understand you designated Satomi to be your apprentice, though not a blood member of the Tendo family. Your opinion of him couldn't have been entirely negative; at least, not at the time. But how can you be so coldhearted to him now?" "…Ever since he abandoned our family with Kisara, he has been neither my kin nor anything else to me. If this is the end for him, I can only call it his just deserts." "How could you…?" The Seitenshi stared at the floor and bit her lip. Unable to withstand it any longer, she flew into Kikunojo's breast and clung to him. "I can't help but notice," she whispered softly. "Wherever Satomi goes, there I am, watching from behind. Whenever I speak with him, I feel my heart beating faster. I…I yearn for him." Kikunojo's chest twitched with rage. "What…?!" "It pains me. My public persona demands that I must be harsh, but as a living, breathing person, I wish I could use all my political influence to help him out of his plight. My heart, and my body, are being pulled in two different directions. I feel like I'm going to be ripped apart." "……" "It pains me. Kikunojo, what am I supposed to do…? What…?" Kikunojo placed a hand on the Seitenshi's back and silently stroked it up and down. 10 Touji Watagasa put his hands on the Elgrand minivan's steering wheel, placed his foot on the accelerator, and turned his eyes toward the windshield, even though his mind was still focused on the eerie silence unfolding behind him. It was night. The unpaved private road lit by his headlights made for a bumpy, uncomfortable ride, the car lurching to and fro whenever it ran over an odd tree root sticking out. The tall trees jutting out from both sides depressed him, and—unusually for him—he began to regret trying to take a shortcut. Touji's main work for today involved picking up the prisoner Rentaro Satomi from lockup and driving him to the Seitenshi's palace. Now he was making the return trip, taking him back to jail. He was on standby inside the van while they spoke, and thus had no idea what had transpired in the palace, but judging by how much gloomier the atmosphere was in the car leaving than going, it must've been something bad. He looked behind him in the rearview mirror. Rentaro Satomi, slumped down between his two guard escorts, looked like he just had the life sucked out of him. He already looked pretty rough when he picked him up, but now he was even worse—a gruesome sight to see, even. He couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Touji would readily admit that he had a visceral disgust for the Cursed Children, these Gastrea Virus carriers strutting around like there was nothing wrong with them. But he also understood well enough that he was still alive right now thanks to their efforts in the Third Kanto Battle. It was complicated—and it didn't help that he lost the lottery for a shelter spot during that fight, forced to stay with his family and curse his bad luck. The joy he felt when Aldebaran fell was difficult to put into words. Seeing this Promoter in such a miserable state right now made Touji wish he could do something to help. But what, though, exactly? The question made his mind hit a wall. Even if he did something as reckless as help him escape, the sense of satisfaction that would give him wouldn't be worth the lengthy prison term he'd receive afterward. He had a family to support. Touji chided himself. No, he didn't have what it took to be a hero. All he could keep safe was a small sphere of people around him. And that was good enough for him. Sometimes it was better to listen to the timid little voice of his conscience. This was the kind of hero who could stand up and devote all his courage to the preservation of Tokyo Area. Now, though, he was yesterday's news. The rules of the world could change with just a snap of the fingers, it seemed. Thinking about all this caused Touji to lose his concentration. It made him notice just a moment too late that something was jumping in front of the minivan. He didn't see what it was at first, but once the headlights thrust their way through the darkness, a girl with chestnut hair cut in a bob danced between the beams. There she stood, in the middle of the road, arms open wide—it was already too late by the time Touji realized this. An instant later, no doubt, the bumper would be smashing into the small figure's body. A chill ran down his spine, and before he could think about it, his foot had slammed the brake to the floor as he pulled the wheel to one side. There was a screamlike screech as the wheel locked itself. The car veered into the woods. They had just barely dodged the girl, but the tires fell into a rut on the side of the road, and the van was lifted into the air like someone had tipped it up. Just when Touji realized he'd made a poor decision, the bloodcurdling feeling of weightlessness struck his body as his vision slanted to the side. Only a few seconds ago, he'd been picturing himself pulling into the jail's parking lot, just like he had done a million times before. There was no way he could have predicted the intense pain that would invite itself into his life a moment later. The results were similarly disastrous for Rentaro in the backseat. He felt his rear end rise up, then he yelped in pain as his vision lurched and his body was battered around the interior. The noise of the crash drowned out all his shouting. The next thing he knew, Rentaro was lying facedown, his face buried in something soft. The droning sound of the car's stuck horn just barely kept him conscious. He heard something dripping, and a disquieting scent sickened him. He felt something pricking under his eyelids. Something must have struck his throat, because even groaning was painful for him. It was hard to breathe in whatever confined space he was in. His consciousness still hazy, he opened his heavy eyes, only to find one of his escorts right in front of him, blood dripping from his head. He was approaching his golden years, loose wrinkles on his cheeks. Then Rentaro realized the van had flipped over, and he was staring at the ceiling. Why was that? It was too dark to figure out how the car had fared, but all of the guards in the car were completely silent. The thought that they were possibly dead made him anxious. I gotta get outside, first of all. But— Oh, wait, I'm still cuffed. Groaning in frustration, he started kicking at the side door. It took about three good kicks before the door blew open. He crawled his way out, experiencing the crisp, warm night air of summer. Just as he'd thought, the minivan had flipped on its roof, an impressive layer of burned tire rubber on the road behind them. He had no idea what led to this. Then he noticed a black liquid seeping out of the car. It jogged his memory. The smell that caught his attention in the vehicle was gasoline. The engine was still sparking. The whole thing could blow soon. Even with his hands cuffed, Rentaro managed to pull the two guards in the rear out to safety. It was just when he was trying to pull out the unconscious driver that a spark finally lit up the fuel. A wave of heat and flame pushed upon him, making him shut his eyes. He just barely got him out in time. Rentaro sized up his body. Miraculously, apart from a few scratches and bruises, he was not seriously hurt. He turned back toward the minivan, now engulfed in flames. Really, though, why—? "Are you Rentaro Satomi?" A startled Rentaro turned toward the voice, only to find a girl dancing on the other side of the undulating curtain of flame. She was short, child-size, and while he couldn't discern her face, the legs jutting out from her hot pants indicated she was definitely female. Did she just stand by idly while he was trying to rescue the guards? "Why did you help them?" she asked. "Who're you?" "That doesn't matter to you." "Did you make this van flip over?" he demanded. "You're the one who killed Kihachi, right?" "Kihachi? You mean Suibara? No. It wasn't me." The moment he denied it, he felt a wave of rage emanate from the figure. She took a step forward, trampling the earth with her foot. "So why were you arrested for it?" "I…" For a moment, Rentaro flashed back to an image of himself at the crime scene, XD gun in his hand. The girl picked up on his lack of an immediate response. She pointed her arms forward toward Rentaro. There was a small-size revolver in her hands. "Don't think bad of me for this. I'm never going to be at peace with myself if I don't." Her trigger finger moved without hesitation, setting off the percussion hammer and slowly spinning the magazine around with a metallic sound. Rentaro's body froze at the expected blast to come. But, for whatever reason, the shot didn't arrive. The contradiction taking place before the girl—this guy who killed Suibara rescuing three guards from a burning vehicle—perplexed her. And just before she could pull the trigger that little bit more, the sound of a wailing police siren plunged between the two of them. There was no doubting it. The girl groaned to herself and quickly executed a flip that propelled her into the woods. The leap sent her form flying all the way up to the top of the tree canopy. Her jumping skill was clearly something beyond any ordinary human's ability. Oh, great, she's an Initiator, Rentaro thought to himself as he watched her bound away. The voice didn't sound familiar to him, and he couldn't make out her face. But if this was an Initiator on a first-name basis with "Kihachi," who was also out for revenge, that narrowed it down pretty quickly. Rentaro scoped out his surroundings. There were three unconscious guards and one burning minivan. It wouldn't be easy to explain this, but his only choice, he supposed, was to be honest. Suddenly, he noticed a small key that fell out from one of the guards' pockets. It was for a pair of handcuffs. His heart thudded loudly in his ears. As if on cue, the police siren began to grow louder as it approached. Right now, right at this minute, he could get away. But if he fled now, in the worst case, he might wind up copping the blame for this accident. As of right now, he was merely indicted for murder, not condemned. It'd take time to plead his case in court. If he wasn't going to scream his innocence to the high hills to the end, why did he go through all this up to now? But, he asked himself, is that really the case? A trial was all about sizing up the available evidence and using it to decide between guilty or not guilty. Had they discovered any sort of evidence so far that'd clear his name? Judging by the highly loaded questioning he had been subjected to so far, it seemed beyond a reasonable doubt that the "presumed innocent" clause would be worth about as much as the paper it was printed on. Many times now, Rentaro had been forced to put on that belly chain and shuffle between jail and courtroom. They'd be much quicker with Tina. She'd be found guilty before she walked in the room, and—with her role in the attempt on the Seitenshi's life brought into consideration—she would be immediately condemned to death. Thanks to the astonishing regenerative powers of an Initiator, the government was aware that the usual method of hanging would only serve to make execution a needlessly painful process. An injected cocktail of barbiturates and muscle relaxants wouldn't work, either—the Gastrea Virus would immediately take action to neutralize the poison. So, by process of elimination, Tina would be sentenced to death by firing squad. Her legs would shake as she was dragged to the execution stand, a sack placed over her head as she was tied to a pole. There was no way the fragile psyche of a ten-year-old could withstand the sheer terror of this situation, so she would sob, crying about how she didn't want to die. But no one would be willing to listen. Varanium bullets would be the ammunition of choice, naturally. The firing squad would line up in a row, waiting for their captain to give the signal to fire at once. As per tradition, one of the squad's rifles was equipped with blanks, but none of the team knew which one. This gave the squad members plausible deniability for their actions, believing in the possibility that they hadn't killed her as they went home and enjoyed a hearty meal with their families. But Tina would still be dead. With her employee list now empty, Kisara would have little choice but to shut down the Tendo Civil Security Agency. She would marry Hitsuma, live her life, and—despite the handicaps her diabetes presented—successfully give birth to a child. Over time, her memories would fade. Of Tina, whom she treated as her own sister; of Enju, whose boundless energy put her at her wit's end on so many occasions; even of Rentaro—she would forget about them all, and never take another look back. With the loss of her partner, Enju would be picked up by the IISO, which would then assign her another Promoter to work with. Her new partner would be far from ideal. He would refuse to give Enju so much as a decent meal, and he would regularly abuse her. The girls' healing abilities were the result of a metabolism that worked several times as quickly as regular people's, so being left to starve meant her wounds would stop healing correctly. Without her corrosion-suppression drugs being administered, Enju's internal corruption rate would surpass 50 percent, making her experience pain like her guts were being turned inside out, and eventually she'd transform into a Gastrea. The total cost of an Initiator with the overwhelming strength of Enju going Gastrea would be nightmarish, both monetarily and in terms of human lives. And how ironic would it be, that the group charged with hunting her down would be other civsec officers—the only group that Enju took pride in ever belonging to… Rentaro, his breathing shallow, returned to reality. Was the sick prediction of the future he just envisioned really nothing more than paranoia in action? What made him think the future would turn out any other way, once he was found guilty? He looked down upon his palms. His wrists, black and blue from the handcuffs, stung at him. He shook his fists. I didn't kill Suibara. Why do I have to put up with all this absurd insanity? Whoever framed me is probably cackling to himself right now, thinking everything's gone to plan. He never got taken to court. Rentaro's vision grew hazy as the insides of his eyes became warm. It was frustrating, so frustrating that he couldn't stand it. He wanted to get it back. Everything from his normal life. Everything that was taken from him. The same Tendo Civil Security Agency he once knew, with Tina and Kisara and Enju. More than anything, he wanted to hunt down the real murderer and burn him with the brimstone of rage. His pride and his reputation, so cruelly ripped from him and trampled upon, demanded nothing less. The siren grew stronger, bashing against his earlobes. It clearly wouldn't be long before police officers would be swarming down the road. The time that remained forced Rentaro to make a decision. After a moment, Rentaro's body stopped shaking. He turned his face up and gave a cold stare to the dazzling neon city beyond the woods. Several minutes later, once police arrived on the scene, they found a flipped and burning Elgrand, three unconscious but breathing guards, and an empty and abandoned pair of handcuffs. Rentaro Satomi was nowhere to be found. 11 "What…?!" The Seitenshi couldn't help but say it out loud. "Satomi…escaped…?" "Yes, my lady," the saluting palace official replied. "We believe he staged a deliberate attack on his transport back from the palace in order to escape. The three guards on the van haven't regained consciousness, so we don't know the details yet, but…" She could hardly believe her ears as she palpably felt the blood drain from her face. How could this be? Did taking his license in order to keep him safe wind up driving him to desperation? What was I supposed to do, then? The Seitenshi, as the political leader of Tokyo Area, loved all her subjects equally. She was not allowed to see anyone as more special than anyone else. She noticed a heavy hand on her shoulder. "Lady Seitenshi, please get ahold of yourself." It was Kikunojo. "With all due respect, my lady, he fled his fate because he is spiritually weak. It is your task to do what must be done." The Seitenshi closed her eyes, refocusing her attention on her situation. Her pulse slowed. "Are the police in pursuit of him?" she said, somehow managing to remain calm. The palace official stood bolt upright. "Yes, my lady," he bellowed. "We believe they will arrest him before long." "Then—" "—Would you mind leaving that business to me?" "And you are…?" The Seitenshi looked up at the interrupting voice. The tapping of thick boots rapped across the chamber as a man walked in from the darkness on the other side of the corridor. He was perhaps just a little under sixty, his medium-length crew cut partially interrupted by a diagonal scar that ran across his scalp. His eyes were deeply sunken into his head, the excessive white between the iris and the eyelids giving the impression of someone prone to anger. It was a familiar face. "Ah, Commissioner Hitsuma," said Kikunojo, standing to the side of his leader. Commissioner Tadashi Hitsuma walked up to the Seitenshi, giving her a respectful salute. "I apologize; I couldn't help but overhear the conversation. Forgive my lack of communication, Lady Seitenshi." "It is good to see you, Commissioner. But what brings you here?" "I called for him," Kikunojo responded, giving a glance at the Seitenshi before continuing. "Since your former bodyguard conspired against you, I have been your sole protector, a situation that cannot go unaddressed for much longer. I asked the authorities if they would be willing to assign a security-police unit to you." "And judging by what I hear, the escape was entirely a failure on the part of the police," Hitsuma continued. "But do not worry, Lady Seitenshi. We will capture this cowardly fugitive as soon as humanly possible…and I know the ideal person for the job." "The ideal person?" "Yes. My grandson. He may still be green, yes, but he is a well-put-together lad. I am sure he will hook this would-be escapee in very short order." The car door slammed shut as some of the lukewarm night air found its way inside, the smell of raw earth reaching his nostrils. The scene around the burning minivan was crawling with media, swarming out from God knows where and lighting up the night with their flashbulbs. Even without them, the flashing lights from the police cars and ambulances nearby would have provided more than enough ambient light, further punctuated by the reflective police tape around the scene. Pushing his way through the reporters, Shigetoku Tadashima ducked under the tape. "Chief," a familiar voice called out. Turning toward it, he saw Yoshikawa, a younger detective with a look of regret on his face. "Oh, I mean, Inspector…" "Where's the scene?" Tadashima asked, ignoring him. "This way," Yoshikawa replied, taking him to the burned-out husk of the minivan. He sized up the upside-down minivan, its ceiling crushed by the impact, and peered at the brake marks left on the road. "What do we know?" "This minivan was transporting the suspect back to jail when a girl ran in front of the car. The driver swerved and flipped the vehicle. The two guards in the rear are in the hospital with broken bones. The driver got out of it better, though. He's awake and alert, and we're questioning him now." "A girl? Did that civsec's Initiator come to help him?" "Doesn't look like it, actually. Rentaro Satomi was being transported from Lady Seitenshi's palace, where apparently he voluntarily resigned his post. He surrendered his license on the spot. At about the same time, a person from the IISO visited Tendo Civil Security Agency and met with his former Initiator, Aihara…um…" "—Enju." "Right, yeah, Enju Aihara. He apparently seized her, and that reportedly wasn't so voluntary. Either way, though, she's got an alibi." "Okay. So who was it?" Tadashima sighed. He remembered how drained and pathetic Rentaro looked when he told him that Enju was captured by the enemy during the whole Seitenshi sniper crisis. The type of Promoter who really cared for his Initiator, in other words. If he gave up his license, then was told he'll never see his Initiator again, that might just drive him to do something rash. Fanning himself, Tadashima sat on a nearby fallen tree trunk and looked up at the starry sky. "Pfft," he said. "I didn't think we were really gonna indict him." "You're still saying that, Inspector? You think he's innocent or something?" "Nah, I mean… He's the hero of the Third Kanto Battle, you know. I just figured someone up high would've stepped in to cover all this up by now." "You know Lady Seitenshi hates doing that, though. She likes keeping things clean like that. Bet she's been crying her eyes out the whole time, though." The conversation trailed off. Tadashima tapped a pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket, taking a smoke out and lighting it. "You think he's really the guy, though?" Yoshikawa muttered to the side. Tadashima took a deep drag and exhaled the smoke into the air. "Who knows?" He stood up from the tree trunk, watching the officers scurry to and fro around the scene. Just as he took in a lungful of air to bellow his orders, he heard someone say, "Are you the man in charge here?" There, among the flashing lights, the police tape, and the seemingly endless flashbulbs, was a slender young man walking right up to him. His posture was straight, his silver-framed glasses matching with his business suit. He was unfamiliar to Tadashima. "Atsuro Hitsuma, sir," he said as he saluted. "Superintendent at the department. Are you in charge of the scene?" Realizing he was outranked, Tadashima hurriedly dropped his cigarette, put it out with his heel, and saluted. "Y-yes, sir. Inspector Shigetoku Tadashima with the Magata department." There was something almost cartoonlike about the scene—the wide, barrel-chested Tadashima and Hitsuma, barely a wisp of a man, saluting each other. Tadashima couldn't help but feel a little cowed. "Oh, great, a career-track grunt," Yoshikawa groaned forlornly from behind. Tadashima elbowed him to shut him up. "I apologize, Inspector, but I'm taking over the investigation." "Sir, this crime took place in our jurisdiction. Besides, why would a police superintendent go hands-on with a sorry scene like this? I really think we're in a better position to handle it." He tried his best to remain polite around his superior, but the irritation behind his words remained clear. But the pale, wispy man remained composed, using his middle finger to adjust his glasses. "Inspector Tadashima, I'm afraid I can't allow that. This is a much bigger situation than what you're picturing. We've decided to form a special investigation team for this case. They'll be based in the metropolitan police HQ instead of the Magata department, and it's being led by the commissioner. Starting now, the Magata department will be taking their orders from us, and us alone." "It's going up to commissioner level?" asked Tadashima, clearly taken aback. Hitsuma shrugged. "Well, this was caused by ground-level police error. We want to get it squared away as soon as possible." "God damn…" What the hell is going on here? Tadashima wanted to scream. It had to be one hell of a major case if they were forming a team to handle it. It wasn't something they'd deploy just to catch a single fugitive. "Inspector, how long has it been since the suspect fled the scene?" "I'm told it was about an hour ago." "All right. He shouldn't be far, then." The light glinted off Hitsuma's frames. "Could you tell me what you know about Rentaro Satomi? I read his profile on the way here—height 174 centimeters; weight 61 kilos; first-level black belt in a combat style called Tendo Martial Arts. That's not what I want to ask about. I understand that you knew him personally, Inspector. What kind of person was this Rentaro Satomi, would you say?"
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-05-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter011.txt	Black Bullet, Vol. 5: Rentaro Satomi, Fugitive "Well, he might act all happy-go-lucky and clueless, but he's a natural at his job. And if I may speak freely, Superintendent, I really don't think you have a chance at catching him." Hitsuma stared blankly at Tadashima, then gave him a forced smile. "Oh?" he said. "You seem to be quite a fan of his, Inspector." Tadashima's spine shivered as Hitsuma clapped his hands to attract the attention of the nearby investigators. "All right, everyone, I want us to establish a perimeter at a 25-kilometer radius around the area before we let the fugitive get away from us. The escapee's name is Rentaro Satomi; average size, average build. He's a student and former Promoter at a civilian security agency. I'll get photos out to everyone. Repeat: Rentaro Satomi, fugitive at large." He clapped one more time, signaling them to start their work. The investigators, presumably his own underlings, sprang into action and dispersed. Tadashima dolefully stared at Hitsuma's back. "So, Superintendent, what are you gonna do next?" he asked. "Rentaro Satomi doesn't have that much of a social life. It'll be pretty easy to figure out who he'll try to contact first. In fact, I know the person myself, so I'll handle that on a personal basis. Don't worry, Inspector. I have a feeling you'll be proven wrong. We're going to solve this case by the end of the night." 12 A heavy silence flooded the Tendo Civil Security Agency, the sole tenant on the third floor of the Happy Building. Kisara Tendo, in her usual black school uniform, sat at her wide ebony desk without saying a word. The clock ticking away the seconds sounded abnormally hollow to her ears. In her mind, she pictured the second hand beating against a fully inflated balloon, ready to burst at any minute. Instinctively, it felt like once the hand inevitably popped the balloon, it would all be over for her. It hadn't been long since someone claiming to be an IISO agent appeared at her door, taking the reluctant Enju and all but dragging her out of the office. He said Rentaro had voluntarily surrendered his civsec license to the Seitenshi, which officially made Enju IISO property. That was just too ridiculous to be true. Kisara had a front-row seat to Rentaro's behavior around Enju, and if anything, she thought he was a little too attached to her. Even if they knew they were doomed to be pulled apart, there's no way he'd so readily toss out his civsec license like that. Something else must have happened at the palace. But another voice in her mind wondered about that. "Please don't come back. I don't want to see your face again. That's all there is to it." Why did he have to be so curt with her? Kisara still couldn't figure that out, but if that was the moment when Rentaro changed his whole outlook on life, then maybe he really would abandon hope for Enju and obediently hand over the license. She felt her heart throb. It made her sick to her stomach. Enju was gone, Tina was gone, and Rentaro was gone. Why bother running this firm, then…? Just then, her cell phone rang. She used the third movement of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 as her ringtone. Reluctantly, she picked it up. "Kisara, it's me; you gotta help me." "Satomi?" She jumped out of her seat. Looking at the screen, she saw the call came from a public phone. "Wait, what…what happened to you?!" She could hear the hesitancy in his voice from the other side of the call. "—I don't have time to explain. Things have changed. I need you to help me." "Things have changed? What…?" "Listen. First floor café lounge, Magata Plaza Hotel, eight thirty. Can you do that? I'll tell you everything there." Kisara glanced at the wall clock. That was only half an hour from now. Rentaro grunted. She could hear police sirens faintly over the connection. "'Kay, see you there, Kisara." "Whoa, wait a—" The sound of him hanging up seemed to linger in the air for a few seconds. She had no idea what she just experienced. Rentaro couldn't have been released, on bail or otherwise. His custody period was extended because the prosecutor convinced the court that he might try tampering with evidence. That he contacted her from the outside meant he was out on his own initiative. Kisara couldn't think of too many legal ways he could've done that. "Oh, no…" "Sorry, but I can't let you go anywhere." Turning around at the unexpected voice, Kisara was shocked to find a handsome, bespectacled man leaning against the wall by the entrance. "Mr. Hitsuma! Why are you here?" "That was a call from Satomi, wasn't it?" "N-no." The harried denial made Hitsuma mournfully shake his head. "I don't know if you heard yet, but he flipped over the transport vehicle he was in and escaped with a girl we believe is his accomplice." "His accomplice? …Who?" "I don't know. We're investigating." Hitsuma spread his arms as he approached Kisara, the smell of his pomade flying into her nostrils. "Ms. Tendo," he said, "as someone in the business of Gastrea extermination, I'm sure you know how important the initial hours of the investigation are in solving a crime. Unfortunately, he's already gone past a certain point. If you know where he is, would you mind telling me? I still have authority over this, so I can be gentle with him." "But you…" Hitsuma's arms were extending out, attempting to embrace her shaking body. Kisara took a step back and pushed Hitsuma's chest away. He looked at her quizzically, like a hurt puppy. "Do you like him?" "No…I don't. He's an idiot, he's useless as an employee, he's chronically poor, he treats Miori like she's some kind of goddess, he pays zero attention to me, he never calls unless I call him first…" Kisara ran out of things to say. She turned away from Hitsuma, head hung low, then felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. "If he was innocent and wanted to earn justice for himself, he could've proved his innocence in a court of law. He might be innocent, for all I know. Maybe it was a false arrest. Maybe the police messed up the investigation. "But even if they did, I can't really approve of him crashing a police vehicle and sending three innocent men to the hospital. Ms. Tendo, if you really want what's best for Satomi right now, you know what you should do, right? Tokyo Area's not that big of a place. He can't run from us forever. Sooner or later, we'll find him. But you're the only one who can keep him from adding any more charges to his record." "Please don't come back. I don't want to see your face again. That's all there is to it." Kisara shook her head from shoulder to shoulder. "I just don't know. I don't know what Satomi's thinking, I don't… I don't know anything. I did before, but now, I just don't." Before she knew it, Kisara felt a hand raising her chin, dragging her face toward Hitsuma's friendly grin. "Well, you can just leave the rest to me. I promise I won't treat him badly. Where is he?" Kisara hesitated. Hitsuma decided to keep pushing. "You don't want to see it all end with an officer shooting him down, do you?" "N-no," a startled Kisara said. "Okay. So you know what you should do, right, Ms. Tendo? Just think about what's the best thing you can do for Satomi right now. Take your time." After excusing himself from the Tendo Civil Security Agency office, Hitsuma went down the stairs and stood in front of the building. The blissfully unconcerned face from before was a thing of the past. He was close to losing his temper, ready to kick the first thing that came into sight—an empty can, a small dog, anything. Hitsuma took out his cell phone and tapped a number in his call history. He didn't have to wait long. "Hey, how's the reception on the bug you put in Kisara Tendo's cell phone?" "Loud and clear. But I'm sure Rentaro Satomi's moved on from his previous call location. She promised she'd meet him at the café on the first floor of the Magata Plaza Hotel. We'll have some people there." "Pfft." "Something wrong, sir?" "Kisara Tendo… She didn't disclose anything to me." "Are you doubting our technology, sir?" The man on the other end of the line didn't understand what he meant. "Whether she cooperated with you or not, we've got all the intel we need—" "—No. Not that. I was testing her. I wanted to see whether she'd testify against Rentaro Satomi or not. But she kept mum. Right up to the end." "It's nothing that's compromising our mission, sir." "No…it's not." Hitsuma shook his head, trying to put his mind back on track. "Do we know where the memory card is yet? What about Hotaru Kouro's whereabouts?" "Nothing on either front yet." "This is getting messier than I thought it'd be." He had a mountain of issues to deal with. The only way to deal with them was to tackle them head-on, one by one. Let's start with Rentaro Satomi. "I'll tell the police about this later. We got thirty minutes." "What are the higher-ups telling you?" "Feh. My father told me that Lady Seitenshi ordered him not to be killed. Maybe the rumors about her having some kind of special feelings for the guy were true after all." "Well, that sure makes me jealous. What are you planning to do, then? I'm assuming you don't want him unhurt." Hitsuma snickered to himself. "Don't be stupid, Nest. We have no idea how much Suibara told him. I don't care anymore. Rub him out. We're using Dark Stalker for this job." 13 The Magata Plaza Hotel was even more gaudy and ostentatious than what he was picturing. The lounge café, an open-air setup underneath the lobby's vaulted ceiling, was separated from the rest of the world by a series of connected glass pieces, all in assorted geometric shapes. A combination of recessed lights and a chandelier filled the space with warm orange light, the atmosphere tied together with the calm melodies of classical music. A waiter made his way between the tables, each covered with a prim white tablecloth. Occasionally one would see men in expensive-looking business attire or pastel-colored Oxford shirts, entertaining their lady friends with impassioned discussions about what the Varanium industry would be like in ten years or whatnot. Although it was theoretically open to the public, the café's customers all seemed to be overnight guests. Perhaps this was a bad time after all, Rentaro thought, as he began to regret the uncharacteristic location he selected. The sight of a nervous-looking young man in a dirt-stained school uniform fidgeting by himself at one of these tables was bound to stand out a fair bit. His mind was a frazzled mess, and not merely because of the cups of coffee he drank just to give his hands something to do. Looking at the clock on the wall, there were less than ten minutes until the appointed hour. He doubted the police could have targeted this hotel before the end of the evening, but looking back, opting for such a public place was hasty thinking on his part. Rentaro was isolated, helpless. The police could figure out where someone like that would attempt to spend the night. He could rough it outdoors for a night or two, but sooner or later, he'd want a roof over his head again. Once he did, the first place they'd scope out would be hotels like these. When the time hit twenty-five minutes after eight, Rentaro decided to ditch the café. He was too worried that something might've happened to Kisara. "Are you eating alone?" Rentaro's face darted up at the voice. A smiling young man was peering down at him. He was about the same size as Rentaro and couldn't have been much older. The navy-blue stand-up collar on his uniform looked familiar to him. It was from Nukagari High School in District 9, not far from where he lived. The smile seemed friendly enough. For someone like Rentaro, whose facial setup made it seem like he was faking every smile no matter how hard he tried, the warmth behind this one almost made him envious. The mystery kid shook a deck of cards in front of his face. "Care for some blackjack, maybe?" "Uh, no, I…" Before Rentaro could piece together a coherent response, the boy sat down across from him and dealt him two cards from the deck, turning one of them faceup—the king of clubs. Well, Rentaro thought, guess I missed my timing. Better just play a game with him, then shoo him away. He very reluctantly turned the other card. It was an ace of diamonds—and since an ace counts as eleven as long as the total doesn't exceed twenty-one, this meant his total was twenty-one, a natural blackjack. The boy's own cards totaled sixteen, so Rentaro won with absolutely no effort on his part. The boy grinned and opened his palms wide. "Congratulations!" he said. "You're just like what the rumors say, Rentaro Satomi. Guess you really do have the luck of the heavens on your side, huh?" Rentaro's shoulders twitched. "Why do you know my name?" The boy put the used cards into a separate pile and began setting up a second game. "If you're looking for Kisara Tendo, she's not coming," he said indifferently. Rentaro instinctively began to lift himself from his seat. "And you are…?" The boy ignored the question, eyes on the game as he pointed at the deck—his signal for another hand. This irked Rentaro, but he still sat back down, figuring he wasn't going to start swinging at him here in public. Picking up the corners of his facedown cards, he saw he had an eighteen—nothing worth taking a further risk on. Then his opponent revealed his cards. Another eighteen. A push. The boy placed his elbows on the table and crossed his arms together, fixing his gaze on Rentaro. "We went through all the trouble of taking care of Suibara and the Public Security guys and pinning the blame on you, but you're just so stubborn, aren't you? You keep running on us, so our entire blueprint's about to fall apart. That's pretty grave news for us. We've already decided on our script—Suibara tried to blackmail you, you killed him out of desperation. It's a little too late for rewrites." "So are you—?" "—The New World Creation Project. Nice to meet some of the old alumni. I was built to surpass you." It was like someone hit the side of his head with a hammer. "That's crazy…" If Rentaro was pursuing a case that already cost the lives of Suibara and a Public Security officer, he was prepared to deal with not just the police, but other, more nefarious organizations. He didn't know who was involved with it—he had only a hazy idea of its structure, really—but he was convinced it was far more dangerous than anything the police could do to him. What he wasn't expecting was for this assassin group to track him down less than two hours after his escape. He would've laughed it off at the time, but here it was, all laid out in front of him. The sight of this perfectly composed kid sharing a table with him was an utter shock. He fell silent for a moment. The boy picked up the slack. "My code name is Dark Stalker, but my real one is Yuga Mitsugi. You can call me whichever one you like more. Glad to get to know you. I've been assigned to your execution." "That's bullshit! The New World Creation Project never got off the ground!" "So what does that make me, then?" Yuga said, the spite becoming clear in his voice. "Some kind of ghost? Satomi, we need you as a sacrifice. Tina Sprout's going to be executed. Kisara Tendo's going to be trained to destroy the Tendo family. Enju Aihara's actually got her next Promoter assigned to her already. He's a bad seed. A buddy killer. Worse than you'd ever imagine. And once you're found guilty, the whole picture's complete." So everything from the very start… "I've been told to ask you this, so I will," Yuga blithely continued as Rentaro gritted his teeth in anger. "Where is the memory card Suibara gave you?" Rentaro stopped himself from asking What's that? just in time. He had no memory of Suibara giving him anything like that. But his instincts told him that if his foes had the wrong idea, he needed to find a way to exploit it. "If I give it to you, what'll you do?" "That'll be your best way to assure this meeting ends as amicably as possible. It'll give you the right to shut up and get back in your cage. You'll get to keep your life." "That's a load of crap, and you know it." Yuga laughed derisively at his conversation partner. "So that's the end of negotiations?" "We never started negotiating in the first place." "Well, I suppose that means I'll have to kill you and strip it from you instead. Which is really stupid of you, you know that? I gave you a chance at survival and everything." Invisible sparks flew between them. They could have exploded at any time. Rentaro quelled his emotions and analyzed his enemy's war power. Yuga, calmly seated in front of him, was average in size and height. His physique wasn't much different from his own. His capabilities, though, were a complete unknown. If he was really part of the enhanced-soldier project, at least part of him had to be cybernetic. If Sumire was correct, in fact, these were the guys who killed Kenji Houbara and Saya Takamura—the New Humanity Creation Project specimens who were completed ahead of Rentaro. People with real experience in the Gastrea War. Losing this battle would mean New Humanity would be forced to completely submit to New World. For the sake of the dead, at least, he couldn't afford to lose. He made a tight fist beneath the table. "Well, should we get started? Where did you—?" Seizing the first move, he swung his leg and kicked the table upward. The guests around them nervously shouted. Yuga's surprised expression was soon masked by the table's circular shape as it knocked itself over. Standing up, Rentaro planted his left foot on the ground, lowered his hips, and kicked the middle of the table with his right leg. From Yuga's perspective, not only did the table block his field of vision—the obstacle was advancing upon him. There was no way he could dodge it. —That conviction was why the sight of Yuga easily leaping high over the table and advancing upon his vision was something Rentaro failed to instantly react to. Realizing he was about to unleash a flying kick, Rentaro promptly wrapped the tablecloth on the floor around his toes and kicked it up, sending it flying. The white cloth billowed in the air, catching Yuga's body. The moment he used every bit of his agility to crouch down, Yuga's kick scraped just past his ear. Rentaro had only a moment to shake the sweat off before he adjusted his stance toward the cloth-covered, mummylike Yuga. Tendo Martial Arts Second Style, Number 16— "How about…this!" —Inzen Kokutenfu. The roundhouse kick, delivered with all his might, slapped home against the side of the struggling Yuga's head. He was sent into the air, crashing into an adjacent table. Plates of dinner meals flipped into the air, and the shrill sound of shattering porcelain rang through the lounge. The guests' shouts were escalating into a panic. He felt he had something good going. But, in the next moment, it was Rentaro yelping in surprise. Yuga wasn't down. He had carved a pair of large gouges in the carpet as the kick drew him back, but he wasn't knocked down—he had blocked it. No forward vision at all, and he blocked it. Unless he was tapping directly into Rentaro's mind, that shouldn't have been possible. His adversary finally tore the tablecloth off his body. The moment Rentaro saw his face beneath, his eyes opened wide enough to nearly tear his eyelids off. A pair of geometric shapes were laid over his irises, both rapidly spinning. "That…that's crazy…" Both his eyes are cybernetic? That's like saying he's— "Oof. Guess you noticed, huh? Didn't I tell you I was built to surpass you?" Yuga, the very picture of calm composure, pointed a finger at his right eye. "This is the 21-Form Enhanced, an improved version of the 21-Form Varanium Artificial Eye. Compared to what you got, all of this model's specs received major upgrades." "The 21-Form Enhanced…?" Who did that? The 21-Form Varanium Artificial Eye, developed by Sumire, was just one reason why she was hailed as one of the Four Sages. Your typical member of the scientific community, as he understood it, wouldn't be able to decipher even its basic workings. As he stood there in a state of near-total desperation, he heard someone say, "Um, excuse me, sir…" from behind Yuga's back. He was a muscular hotel employee clad in a black suit, clearly a bouncer or something of the sort, and now he was placing a hand on Yuga's shoulder in a belated attempt to restore order. "I can't have you brawling in here, guys; you're interfering with other—" With a sharp blam, the man spouted a fountain of blood as he arced through the air, flipped over and unconscious the moment he hit the floor. The backward punch Yuga unleashed without even turning around smashed cleanly against his chin. "Aaaaaaaaaahhhh!" There was a series of ear-piercing screams as the hotel guests, their panic unleashed by the sheer bizarreness of the situation, began to swarm toward the revolving door at the hotel's entrance like an avalanche. Amid the echoing screams and shouts, only Rentaro and Yuga remained quiet, a distance away from each other as opponent sized up opponent. Yuga reached down to his waist and took something out. It was no coincidence, perhaps, that it was almost exactly where Rentaro liked to keep his gun. In Yuga's hand now was a Browning automatic revolver, high-powered. Yuga raised it up, cocked it, and pointed the barrel forward, his squinting eyes focused on his prey. Rentaro could feel the murderous rage already. The shrill drone of the alarm drifted away as his mind immersed itself in the situation. He swallowed hard, his heart beating like a drum. Ignoring for the moment the question of why he even had cybernetic eyes, Rentaro decided to consider his position. His own artificial eye was built for gunners' work—to help him predict the path of a bullet, from the barrel to the target. But if his foe had the same capability, how effective would that remain? There were fewer than ten meters between them, but to him, it may as well have been a yawning chasm. Quietly, Rentaro closed his eyes. Don't get scared. Along with his keen, natural eye, his artificial one began its high-speed calculations. He could feel a burning pain behind his eyelid as it began to heat up. As Rentaro's vision began to go into a bizarre sort of slow motion with the overclocking of his eye, Yuga's finger tapped against the trigger and slowly began to squeeze. For a single-action weapon, it had a uniquely long and sticky stroke, a trademark of high-powered revolvers. With his focus turned up to maximum, Rentaro could even hear the trigger spring creak as it was being compressed. Soon, the bar attached to the trigger did its work on the sear, the hammer swinging its way forward, the firing pin inside the breechblock striking the bottom of the cartridge. Then, with an explosive flash, the bullet spiraled its way out of the barrel with 339 foot-pounds of muzzle energy, plowing its way straight toward him. Rentaro calculated his escape route and started moving. The sight of hotel bystanders screaming and crawling out the hotel door in a panic was quickly noticed by Inspector Tadashima, whose crew of officers was secretly staking out the building from the outside. "Superintendent!" Hitsuma, accepting the radio call from his director's van, replied an "All right" and nodded to the man beside him. "Inspector, the commissioner just gave the order to deploy a Special Assault Team." "An SAT?! Do we really need to go that far?" Hitsuma brought in a blue-uniformed special-forces captain. They saluted each other. "Captain, I need you to bring your guys in. Take the fugitive dead or alive; just get the situation under control ASAP." "B-but, Superintendent Hitsuma, Lady Seitenshi said to not hurt the fugitive as much as possible…" "I think we've got some wires crossed, Captain. I want you to shoot the fugitive down. You have my backup on that." Just then, a single gunshot rumbled its way across the hotel, as Rentaro Satomi and an unknown teenage boy began to wage battle in the middle of the lounge. "What in the…?" Tadashima groaned. The battle proceeded in bizarre fashion. The mystery kid would fire off a succession of shots, and Rentaro would step to the side or back to dodge them all. Not only that, but whenever there was an opening, he'd edge that much closer to his opponent. By the fifth shot, he was at point-blank range, the point where fists would decide the path of the fight. Rentaro unleashed three punches from his arms. All of them would have ended the match right there, if they landed in the right place. The kid deflected them, retaliating with a high kick of his own. Rentaro bent his chin back to dodge it as he unleashed a horizontal chop designed to smash against his opponent's throat. It was a dizzying array of attacks, dodges, and further counters, like an elaborate martial-arts demonstration. The number of strikes offered by each fighter in the space of a single second made any side observer's head swim. They appeared to be looking at each other, but in a way, they were both looking somewhere much farther off. When he realized they were simultaneously dodging attacks while piecing together a strategy for their next ten strikes, Tadashima's entire body shuddered. This wasn't the sort of battle any human being could tag into. What in the hell is going on? Tadashima slipped a hand inside of his suit and tightened his grip on the revolver in his holster. He was going in after the first SAT assault. Not that Tadashima could have known, but there was no way a battle whose participants could conduct the entire thought process—observation, comprehension, action—behind each move in a hundredth of a second could ever be stopped by a team of regular people, whose comparatively paltry muscle-reflex time never had a chance of reaching below 0.20 seconds.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-05-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter013.txt	Black Bullet, Vol. 5: Rentaro Satomi, Fugitive The core processors behind each of their cybernetic eyes calculated furiously, straining near their maximum output to find a hole to exploit. But, gradually, the battle began to demonstrate a certain one-sidedness. "Gah!" Taking a kick that made it feel like he was about to be reunited with the contents of his stomach, Rentaro found himself falling over a nearby upturned table. A flurry of glass shards rained upon him. "We're working with different specs here, okay? Different specs." Ahead of him, he could hazily see Yuga, calm and content as he opened his arms to him. Rentaro gritted his teeth as he stood up, readying himself for battle on unsteady legs. Yuga, observing his actions in detail, snorted. "I know, Satomi. You've applied force to your right hamstring, your right femoral bicep muscle, and the ulnar extensor and ulnar flexor muscles on your left wrist. You're planning to feint with a left and strike me with a mid-level kick, aren't you? That's gonna be a poor move, though. Once we exchange blows for the thirty-seventh time, I'm going to smash your skull bone to pieces. Checkmate." Startled, Rentaro tossed his accumulated tactical analysis into his mental garbage can and began to conceive a new strategy. "Oh, are you changing gears now? That's gonna be even worse. If you lunge at me to try to pin me down, I'll break your jaw in ten moves or less. Checkmate." "No…" The short circuit taking place in his brain made it impossible for Rentaro to even formulate a plan. He found himself edging back in fear. Yuga lowered his stance, a self-assured smile on his face. The moment he did, a team of blue-suited assault troops streamed through the entrance and windows behind Yuga, charging for both of them. The SAT? Why? This was going too fast. The alarm bell only just started ringing a second ago. The situation was beyond Rentaro's comprehension, but he could tell they weren't exactly here to rescue him. He had to get out of there. Now. At that moment, a move flashed across his brain like lightning. A move that could completely turn the tables. So how about this? Tearing through the skin on his right leg, he revealed his artificial limb, the black chrome shining brilliantly in the light. The striker hit the cartridge hidden inside his leg, the ejector kicking it away. "Raaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!" Leaving his body to the power of inertia, Rentaro kicked. His foot was aimed at the floor beneath the carpet. His Super-Varanium toes tore through the fabric, pulverizing both the marble beneath it and the bare concrete beneath that as it blew all the debris forward. The results were akin to a directional anti-personnel mine, one with a lethal, unavoidable payload of shrapnel. The rock and marble, now crushed into several hundreds, several thousands of shards, unerringly advanced upon the SAT troops and Yuga. Even one of them striking anyone's head would cause a sure concussion—and if not, a few dozen of those striking Yuga's armorless frame could very likely result in multiple bone fractures. But, amazingly, Yuga covered up his face and plunged right into the storm of shrapnel. An innumerable amount of fragments pounded against his entire body. Blood flew. His clothes were ripped to pieces. But he still made it through the shockwave. By the time he realized Yuga was at his chest, the heel of his palm right against his breast, it was all too late. The blood drained from Rentaro's face as he witnessed the twisted look of joy on his opponent's. "I admire your performance, Satomi. Good-bye." He twisted his palm. A paralyzing pain took Rentaro, as if the torsion was applied directly to his internal organs. Picturing the cold hand of death clasping itself around his heart, he quickly spun his body, kicked at the floor, and flew back, avoiding lethal injury. Something heavy smashed into his back, knocking the air out of his lungs. The next thing he knew, Rentaro had flown into an elevator car, panting for breath. Yuga was positioned for a follow-up strike. Reflexively, Rentaro jabbed his finger against the DOOR CLOSE button and the one for the top floor. The door closed so slowly, he wanted to scream—and Yuga was advancing on him the whole time. Just as Rentaro thought his adversary disappeared behind the heavy doors, Yuga let out a shuddering kick to prevent his escape. With the sickening sound of twisting, crushing metal, the door began to dent inward. The entire elevator car shook, bits of wall tile falling off and plinking against the floor. It took Rentaro some time to realize this disaster was engineered entirely by a single kick. Still, after a moment or two of thought, the cable hoist installed at the top of the shaft apparently decided to haul the elevator up. The elevator rose with a slow, listless, but nevertheless constant force. Rentaro gritted his teeth at the grinding pain as he rolled up the long-sleeve shirt he was wearing. The mark Yuga's palm had left on his chest was a sickeningly deep shade of blue. What kind of strike could damage the human body so profoundly? All he knew was that Yuga meant that last move to be his finisher. If it had hit him full bore, he'd be dead right now. That was the New World Creation Project. "Damn it…!" He sighed deeply as he stared at the ceiling, languid. Despite losing his prey, Yuga—eyes staring at the elevator's floor indicator to see where Rentaro would escape—felt perfectly refreshed in his heart. The edges of his lips curled upward. "The game begins, Satomi. Just try to escape this hotel alive." "Halt!" Suddenly, a rather impolite voice flew at him from behind. "Put the gun down and put your hands on your head!" He narrowed his eyes, annoyed at the interlopers ruining the mood. As he expected, a large force had their eyes and guns pointed at him. They were clad in blue, which nicely framed their black bulletproof vests and the visored helmets on their heads. The front line wielded handguns and riot shields, the troops behind them armed with submachine guns. It was the SAT. Yuga very reluctantly put his left hand above his head, the right one pointing at a pocket in his light jacket. Receiving a nod of permission, he slowly, deliberately took out a card holder and threw it on the ground. An SAT team member gingerly picked it up, fixing his gaze upon it. It contained a civil security license. Yuga was not a Promoter, nor did he have an Initiator partner. It was a fake, given by his "employer" to make it easier for him to walk around armed in public, but the special-forces team would never have a chance to confirm that. "Oh, what, you're a civsec? What're you doing here?" "I heard about him escaping on the news. I spotted him on the street, and as a fellow civsec, I felt it was my duty to do something about this. Guess he got away, though." The SAT member tossed the case back at Yuga and waved him away. "All right, you can go. We'll take over the scene." Yuga shrugged and walked toward the entrance. Just as he did, two detectives came through the revolving door. One was clearly Hitsuma—tall and handsome, even from afar—but who was that worn-out old guy next to him? Hitsuma clapped his hands to get the SAT troops' attention. "All right, hurry up and cut off the elevator's main and backup power. Once we trap Rentaro Satomi in there, you guys take the stairs up. I have another team coming down from the roof; we'll close in on him from both sides. Do not let the fugitive get away." With a single order, the hall filled with noise as the SAT crew divided into two groups, one running for the emergency stairwell. As he passed by Hitsuma, Yuga took advantage of the loud footsteps to whisper into his ear. "I'm ambushing Satomi from another point." "Don't make this harder for me, Dark Stalker. Not even I can cover for you forever." "I know, Mr. Hitsuma." The whole interaction took place without so much as their eyes meeting. Once Yuga emerged out the revolving door, he found a small herd of police cars, their lights bouncing off every surface in the area around the hotel. A hot, sticky wind blew against his face, but it still felt weirdly refreshing to him as he looked up at the Magata Plaza Hotel, looming large in the night sky. They had already allowed him to escape once. If Rentaro made it out of the hotel, the police's reputation would be at stake. There was no doubt they'd pull out every stop to hunt him down. From this point forward, Yuga's adversary would be the SAT. Rentaro slapped his cheeks to mentally refresh himself. He couldn't sit in this car forever. Before long, the elevators would shut off. They'd operate a circuit breaker or two, he figured, to make sure only his elevator would stop in place. This meant the car would turn into a giant metal tomb. He'd just have to sit there and wait for his arrest. But how am I gonna get out of this hotel…? Looking at the floor indicator, he found the hotel spanned a total of thirty-two floors. He pushed the 20 button, nearest to where he was now, and in a few moments, the door opened with a chipper beep. Then the light in the elevator shut off, darkening his vision. Just as the door was about to close, it stopped cold for good. Rentaro had no time to be startled—he knew immediately what had happened. A bead of cold sweat ran down his back. The lights were still on in the corridor he stepped into—recessed lights, illuminating the beige wallpaper. Towels, nightgowns, and other detritus lined the floors. Perhaps unnerved by the sudden alarms, most of the guests on this floor left their doors wide open, fleeing the scene with whatever they could grab. In other words, most of them were long gone. He couldn't sense anyone nearby. Keeping his guard up, Rentaro crept up to a twentieth-floor window and carefully looked down. The police had already arrived, and the flashing lights of their cars silently revealed the multilayered perimeter they built around the hotel, ringed by yellow police tape. Beyond that, a crowd of reporters and onlookers teemed. There wasn't enough room for so much as an ant to slip through. Suddenly hearing a rotor from afar, he squinted at the sky, spotting a helicopter restlessly spinning its searchlight around. Rentaro edged away from the window as the ray of light swept past it. There was no way he could stay on this floor for long. The police already knew the elevator was stopped on floor twenty. But going down was out of the question…which meant his only option was to go up. Rentaro knew all too well that things were only getting worse for him. Pushing open a metal door beneath a green emergency-exit sign with a little running man on it, he felt a chill wind against his face. In stark contrast to the magnificent interior décor, the rustic emergency stairway was lined with exposed pipes as it spiraled up and down. Hearing subdued footsteps from below, Rentaro looked over the guardrail to find SAT troopers in riot gear, their faces covered by visors, about seven floors below him. He met eyes with one of them. In a panic, he pulled his face away from the guardrail, in tandem with the trooper pointing his gun upward and pulling the trigger. With a blast muffled by a silencer, a hail of bullets clanged against the rail, making Rentaro snap his head back. Sweating, he crouched down low as he sped off. One way or the other, his only path was upward. But, after a few floors, he heard a clatter of equally subdued footsteps from above. His spine froze in terror. They must have climbed out from the helicopter. Realizing he was the victim of a pincer attack and feeling the desperation settle in, Rentaro looked at the metal plate in the stairwell. Floor 26. Opening the metal door, he rolled into the hallway, fairly wide and lined with beige wallpaper, recessed lighting, and familiar-looking doors on both sides. The same as the twentieth floor. Several doors were open, left unattended by panicking evacuees, some leaving their shoes and even their wallets on the floor as they stumbled away. He had to stand his ground here. Rentaro thought about barricading himself in an empty room, but the voice of reason stopped him. He was dealing with professionals at resolving standoffs and disarming terrorist groups. What chance would he have? He ducked into the nearest room, went up to the bathroom mirror, and took an elbow to it. With a dry cracking sound, it shattered. He chose a suitable piece, left the room, dove left at a T intersection, plastered himself against the wall, and pointed the mirror fragment at the hallway he had just left, pulling his wrist back as he adjusted the angle. As he guessed, he heard the faint creak of the emergency-exit door, stirring up the otherwise-stagnant air of the empty hotel. Here they come. Six of them, with riot shields, in the mirror-image world. Surprisingly, even though they were in heavy headgear, protectors, and combat boots, he could no longer hear them move. Their intense wariness indicated that they were sure of his position. Quietly, Rentaro wiped a sweaty palm on his pants. The troopers' headgear protected their eyes from things like flash grenades. Their submachine guns were a half-and-half mix of Heckler & Koch and Shiba Heavy Weapons, both deadly accurate. Luckily, they hadn't noticed him yet. Since he was still in the clothes he wore to the Seitenshi's palace, Rentaro had neither his wallet nor any sort of gun. He'd have to tackle them empty-handed. An all-or-nothing bull rush at them might allow him time to finish off one or two, but no more than that before someone shot him. But if he stayed still, they'd spot his position, roll a Flash Bang down the hall, and that'd be it. Those things were serious business—between the sound, the light, and the pressure wave from the explosion, they were the perfect weapon for indoor combat zones. The shockwave, in particular, was powerful enough to break cell phones, wristwatches, and other precision devices. Having one blow up at point-blank range could even cause bone fractures and ruptured eardrums—nothing you could avoid just by closing your eyes and sticking your fingers in your ears. Rentaro's pulse quickened, the hairs on his nape sticking out. What do I do? What do I do? Even as he thought about that, the SAT were following what they learned in training, tackling each doorway in pairs to eliminate blind spots before entering and clearing out the hotel rooms. It was shocking how silent they were. Something bounced off Rentaro's foot as he began to walk. Looking down, he realized it was a Magata Plaza Hotel–branded box of matches. A guest must have dropped it in the frenzied confusion earlier. A flash of intuition struck Rentaro's mind, and looking straight up, he found exactly what he was looking for. Resolved to his plan, he nodded to himself and performed a move he never thought he'd do in his life. Suddenly, one of the hallway doors opened, revealing a confused-looking woman wandering out. He thought she might've been a straggler who missed the evaluation, but one look, and he knew it. Those empty eyes told Rentaro she was struggling under some sort of illness. A surprised SAT trooper pulled his gun on her. "Whoa, wai—" Before Rentaro could stop him, an empty-sounding blast ripped across the hall as an unfortunate shot bounded its way toward the woman. She fell to her knees, then to the floor. Rentaro sped out to get near her, only to be pushed back by a steel wave of bullets, pulverizing the wall behind him and creating a cloud of dust that got in his eyes. They got my position, too. He had no time to think. He dove into a nearby room, took a chair out of it, then stood on it as he struck a match against the flint. A warm flame kindled itself in his hands. He thrust it toward the edge of the ceiling. It was aimed squarely at the fire alarm system. The heat-detection sensor picked up on the flame from the match, immediately ordering the adjacent sprinkler to activate. An intense rain sprang up across the floor. Listening to the SAT team fall into confusion and making sure their fire had stopped, Rentaro looked down the corridor. The scene was exactly what he envisioned. The SAT troopers, their sight robbed by the sprays of water, were a disorganized mess, trying their best to remove their helmets. This was his chance. Leaping out from the wall, Rentaro activated his gunpowder-activated artificial leg, firing off a single burst. Thrusters spat out exhaust from the back of his foot. "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!" His body zoomed at superspeed down the hall, so quickly that he felt like his body would fall apart. Then he smashed right into the SAT men in front of him. Even through their visors, he could tell he had the element of surprise on his side. Keeping the thrust going, he used his pivot leg to give himself rotational force, unleashing a roundhouse kick. It slammed into one of the polycarbonate shields, smashing it along with a trooper's visor as he was sent flying through the air backward. The point man—lagging behind because of the potential for friendly fire—along with two troopers desperately trying to rip their helmets off, were struck in the face by a pair of fists launched from Rentaro's body. Without skipping a beat, he searched for his next target. The heel of his palm applied to another trooper's chin rattled both the SAT member's visor and his brain. He finished another with a chop to the throat before his opponent even knew what happened. One could only guess what the final survivor was thinking, watching his comrades get picked off in less than a second. After an instant of thought, he threw off his submachine gun and tried to take out his backup revolver. It goes without saying that this move was ill-advised. Handguns had little power when one was within closed-fist range of a target. After that point, it all came down to how gifted a martial artist one was. Rentaro lunged at his chest, grappling at him as he placed a hand above his holster to keep him from drawing. His other hand was placed palm-down on the plating in his bulletproof vest. "Tendo Martial Arts First Style, Number 12—" A bolt of terror flashed across the man's eyes. But it was all too late. "—Senkuu Renen!" With a heavy thump, the very air shook across the floor. The trooper's body bounced off the floor, eyes lolling upward. The force applied to him at such tight quarters was enough to finish him, no matter how thick the plating on his vest was; that was an ironclad rule in close-quarters combat. This was the unchanging credo that gave Tendo Martial Arts such all-powerful strength. Amid the torrential rain from the sprinkler, Rentaro quietly took the Infinite Stance, calming his heart just as the five SAT troopers he had faced fell to the floor all at once, flopping over the one Rentaro had defeated first with his roundhouse. The fight was over. The rain falling around him was warm to the touch, weighing down his school uniform. Sensing the water droplets falling from his hair, his chin, his nose, Rentaro adjusted his breathing for a moment as he remained in his stance. Then, returning to reality, he crouched down next to the woman one of them shot. "Hey. Hey, hang in there." She was shot once in the abdominal area with a 9-mm bullet. It was still lodged in her body. The woman groggily opened her eyes. "I…I couldn't sleep… I…I took some…pills…" Rentaro heard that being forced awake after taking a strong relaxant resulted in intense feelings of anger and the inability to walk steadily. Whatever her illness was, her medicine knocked her out so cold that she couldn't even respond to that alarm in time. He fetched a towel from a nearby room and pressed it against the open wound to stop the blood. It went bright red in the blink of an eye. The sprinkler water was chilling her body as well. This was nothing first aid could solve for her. And he had no time left to lose. Giving himself a nod, Rentaro walked over to an SAT trooper—the one who fired the fateful shot at her. Kicking the submachine gun away, he grabbed his knife and gun, holster and all. Making sure he was wholly unarmed, Rentaro crouched down and slapped his cheek. With a groan, he opened his eyes, trying to hazily focus on Rentaro in front of him. A professional to the core, he didn't make a noise once he realized the situation, and instead glared at Rentaro. "You've got nowhere to run. Stop filling up your rap sheet." Rentaro aimed his gun at him. "Shut up," he threatened. "That ammo you fired hit an innocent woman. She needs surgery to remove the bullet right now. Can you carry her down to the lobby? Just nod if it's yes." The man looked overwhelmed for a moment, but quickly returned to his usual grave countenance. Still pointing the gun at him, Rentaro made the man pick the woman up and saw him off to the stairwell. Before they left, he grabbed the woman's hand. "Stay calm, okay, lady? They're gonna save you." The woman gave him an unfocused look. "You…," she said, unsteadily. "You're…a killer… Why'd you…help…?" "……" Then the woman extended a hand to him. "I…ah… Thank—" "Don't talk. Just think about staying alive." Rentaro gave the man a nudge. He looked back a couple times, clearly wanting to say something, before descending the stairwell. Carrying a person down from the twenty-sixth floor was hard work, but a trained SAT trooper could probably deal with it. Rentaro watched him go down, thinking to himself. The HQ might be panicking about the lack of contact from their SAT group, but once they realized how it doesn't affect their position all that much, they'd just send in another team. There was no guarantee he'd win next time. And there might be other stragglers like that woman. If he broke down a door or two, grabbed some quivering hotel guest, and took him hostage, that might prevent the cops from making the first move. "…Don't be stupid." Rentaro immediately shook his head. He made it this far because he wanted to prove his innocence and find the real killer. Committing more crimes for non-self-defense reasons would be putting the cart before the horse. He took a glance at the floor above him. He knew this great escape had every chance of ending soon, but there was nothing else he could do. He just had to struggle for as long as he could. Not bothering to stop at the top floor, he continued climbing the stairs, through an AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY sign and right up to the door leading to the roof. He shook the knob. It didn't budge. Locked. Activating his artificial arm, he swung a fist right into the middle of it, sending it off its hinges and into the outdoor air. Stepping onto the roof, he noticed the clouds zipping by at high speed in the night air. The sky was so much closer now; the wind lapping between the high-rise buildings made the sopping-wet Rentaro feel unpleasantly cold. Running to the edge of the building, Rentaro observed the police lights flash on and off below him. The sound of the helicopter rotors was, thankfully, far away. Spotting a building in front of him taller than the Plaza Hotel, Rentaro found himself seized by an odd sense of déjà vu. Then he remembered something. His battle against Tina Sprout, the Seitenshi sniper, amid the derelict buildings of the Outer Districts. In order to get under her position, he had used his leg thrusters to launch a series of rapid bursts to leap from building to building. It wasn't pretty, but it worked. Could that work here, too? Rentaro took another glance down. The authorities had surrounded the hotel building, but nowhere else. The adjacent building was free. Eyeballing it, he estimated the distance between here and there to be around twenty meters. A wide river flowed between the two buildings. He had made it across a much larger distance, he figured, in the Tina battle. Just do it the same way as before, and it would be a shoo-in. Can I do this? Can I? Rentaro brought a palm up to his face. It was shaking slightly. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't scared, but knowing this wasn't the first time he had faced a deadly leap like this pushed him over the brink. Walking back from the guardrail, he went all the way to the other side, giving himself ample space to build up a head of steam. He pictured the successful traverse in his mind. One little error in his timing, and he'd be falling straight down to his death. The hotel, if his memory served him, was 147 meters tall—not exactly the duplex down the street. Mess this up, and not only would they have to peel him off the sidewalk; he'd have plenty of time to picture the whole scene on the way down, too. He stretched out his fingers, forming them into fists and opening them up again to calm the nerves. The sweat came right back to his palms. He inhaled, then exhaled. Staring at the space in front of him, he started running. Slowly at first, not more than a jog. Then gradually building up speed, then at full blast, making sure not to get his feet tangled. The guardrail was in sight. He stepped over it, then flung himself into the air. After a moment spent gliding, he felt an odd type of weightlessness as the wind carried him into its current. Simultaneously, he set off a cartridge in his leg. With a bang, he felt acceleration hit him like a wall as it propelled him forward. Barely managing to squint ahead, he saw thin air spread in front of him. The angle, and the timing of the thruster blast, were perfect. Now he just needed to maintain a steady rhythm of cartridge blasts to keep him— Suddenly, he felt a shock rip through the side of his stomach. "—Uh?" He'd been so sure of his success just moments ago, he couldn't immediately identify the plume of blood fanning out from his side at first. From that point forward, the world went into a bizarre sort of slow motion. Rentaro's body flailed in the air, head pointed straight down. Then he saw it.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-05-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter015.txt	Black Bullet, Vol. 5: Rentaro Satomi, Fugitive There was a gunshot wound on his side. A sniper hit him, in midair, at blazing speed. The rangefinder almost reflexively activated in his eye, spotting a figure 200 meters off in the distance, on top of a roof with a gigantic light-up billboard on it. "N…no…" Feeling gravity do its work on his body, Rentaro was swallowed up in the perpetual darkness. The smell of hot smoke wisped out from his gun, searing his nostrils. "Checkmate." Yuga, assuming a kneeling posture on the roof, lifted his head up from the night scope mounted on top of his DSR sniper rifle. He turned the handle as he pulled it forward. An empty cartridge flew to the ground. Standing up, Yuga watched Rentaro fall for a few moments as he took out his cell phone. "Dark Stalker to Nest. Mission complete. Target silenced. Awaiting further orders." "You're sure you got him?" "He fell in the river, so I can't be sure, but falling in water from the height he did is just like impacting concrete. He must've broken every bone in his body. My condolences to his family." 14 "No…!" The Seitenshi rose from her throne in horror, both hands covering her lips. The police commissioner in the crew cut, hands clasped behind his back, sadly shook his head. "They were apparently forced to neutralize him after he put up heavy resistance. There was nothing we could do." The shock was similar at the Tendo Civil Security Agency. "You, you're kidding me…" Kisara, rearing away, was blocked by her desk from going farther. Hitsuma quickly acted to hold her before her legs gave out. "I'm deeply sorry, Ms. Tendo. I told my men multiple times to take Satomi alive if they could, but apparently there were some crossed wires in our command chain." Kisara shook violently as she embraced Hitsuma. "What am I gonna do…? I… What am I gonna do? Enju, Tina, Satomi… They're all gone." There was something moving about the sight—such a firm, resolute woman, looking so pitifully small now. Hitsuma turned her head away from the desk, then lightly blew into her ear. It practically made her leap out of his arms. "Now you're all alone," he sweetly whispered. "I want to be here. To help you forget about your loneliness… Will you marry me, Kisara?" They both had their respective chins on each other's shoulders so he couldn't gauge her face, but through the shaking, he could feel one firm, palpable nod on his body. Now this girl is mine. Resisting the urge to shout out in joy, he turned his face downward. Her hair was as jet-black as a raven, her skin almost a sickly white, her neck thin. Her collarbone was flushed with pink, no doubt from her emotional agitation. Her breasts, like fruit, pushed up by her black school uniform, were ripe and ready for the picking, practically dripping with sweetness radiating off her body. It was like a work of art. Just as he was reaching toward one of them, hoping for perhaps a small taste, the cell phone in his breast pocket rang. He nodded at Kisara, almost groaning in frustration in the process, and answered it. "This is Nest. Dark Stalker says he needs to talk to you about Rentaro Satomi. It's urgent." It was now one o'clock in the morning. Police officers swarmed to the riverside where Rentaro fell, Yuga Mitsugi among the crowd. He stared at the river with his hands in his pockets, motionless. Is this it? he wondered to himself. Rentaro Satomi… He considered the life of his adversary: the savior of Tokyo Area. Part of the civsec pair whose names were on the lips of people worldwide. The slayer of Kagetane Hiruko, Rank 134. Slayer of the Zodiac Scorpion. Slayer of Tina Sprout, Rank 98. Slayer of Aldebaran, the immortal Gastrea. If this was any normal civsec, he would've been 100 percent dead in these circumstances. But was he? A bespectacled young man sidled up to him. "What is it?" "Mr. Hitsuma," he said as he stared at the black water, "can you get divers on the scene right away?" Hitsuma eyed him doubtfully, wondering what inspired this. "There's no point doing that until sunrise." "It'll give me some peace of mind, at least. It'll be too late by then anyway." Hitsuma's eyebrows arched downward. "You think Rentaro Satomi is alive? You said you defeated him." "I'm saying that we need to prepare for anything. Common sense doesn't apply to him." "That's high praise, coming from you." "You haven't fought him, Mr. Hitsuma. You wouldn't understand. My specs were defined so I'd be able to suppress Rentaro Satomi. When we did the calculations before the mission, there was supposed to be a 0.02 percent chance of Satomi even landing a blow on me. But even though I deflected it, Satomi landed the first strike. A kick. When we unleashed our eyes, he managed to graze me three times because I couldn't calculate his moves fast enough. In the end, I was hit by a rain of shrapnel I had no chance of dodging. Satomi was starting to get accustomed to my moves." "……" "Wouldn't that make you sleep better, too, Mr. Hitsuma, if we found an arm or his head or something?" "Look, are you threatening me?" Yuga shrugged and raised his hands in surrender. "No, no, no. I'm just making a suggestion. Just get those divers in here, all right? As long as we don't find a body, I think it'll be smarter for all of us if we treat him as alive."
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-05-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter017.txt	Black Bullet, Vol. 5: Rentaro Satomi, Fugitive BLACK BULLET 5CHAPTER 02 THE NEW WORLD CREATION PROJECT 1 He could hear droplets of water going plink-plink into a puddle at regular intervals. Some insects were faintly droning a fair distance away. He could smell rusted metal. The air batting against his skin was humid, and he felt something hard and solid on his back and hips that made him wonder where they put him down. How long had he been asleep? He needed to get up. He had important things to do. Something really important… Trying to move his body, he realized that he almost couldn't move his arms at all. Whenever he tried, all that resulted was some kind of jingling metal sound. His arms hurt. Was he tied up somewhere? —Where am I? Finally, he came to the core question. His eyelids felt like they were made of iron, but he struggled through it, blinking several times until he could finally start to make out the environment around him. The first thing he saw was a wall lined with light blue tiles. He was sitting on tile as well. He couldn't move his hands. Something was hanging between his arms, keeping them aloft. He twitched his neck upward to look. Both of his wrists were cuffed, binding him to an orange, rusted metal pipe. It appeared Rentaro had been resting his back on the side of a bathtub. Yes. That was the case: He was handcuffed to a pipe in a bathtub. It wasn't a large bathroom, just big enough for the tub in question, and he couldn't even stretch his legs all the way out. He guessed he was in someone's private residence. After a few more moments, he finally realized his predicament. He was being held. Beyond that, he knew nothing. Who was keeping him in here, and for what reason? His mind was still hazy, but he felt he had a grip on at least two things. One, he was alive. Two, he probably wasn't taken in by the police. If that were the case, he would've awoken on a hospital bed or something. Looking down at his abdomen, he found several layers of bandages wrapped underneath his open shirt. It was basic, but he was receiving some treatment, at least. The bathroom was dark and partitioned by a sliding door. It was bright on the other side of the opaque glass, but he could only discern faint outlines beyond it. Forcing his body to shift position, he felt an intense pain shoot out from his side and course across his body. "Is…anybody there…?" he called out haltingly. Then he repeated it a few times. At the third repetition, he heard heavy tramping as a shadowy figure came up to the glass and slid the door open. "You're awake?" The first thing he noticed was her legs—too thin to be called supple. Looking up, he realized her thighs and arms looked just as thin, like easily snappable twigs. She had on short denim pants, a pink tank top, and an American Apparel jacket. Her cold eyes and bob-cut chestnut hair danced around in the air, a quiet anger burning behind her gaze. She was a girl as frigid as ice. "Do you know who I am?" Rentaro slowly nodded, trying to will his pounding head into kindling his memory for him. I think her name was— "Hotaru Kouro…right? Suibara's Initiator." Hotaru slowly returned the nod. "And do you know why I'm confining you in here?" Rentaro took another look around the cramped bathroom. "More or less." His memory served him up to the point when he was shot out of the air by a sniper and smashed into the river's surface. Given that he wasn't six feet under, he supposed that meant he was dragged out of the water at some point. That, and he had an idea of what this girl who saved him wanted. At that exact moment, the barrel of a gun darker than death dominated his sight. An automatic revolver, pointed right between his eyes. "Got anything you want to say?" "You're the girl who flipped that van over, aren't you?" "Mm-hmm," the girl murmured without hesitation, staring icicles at him. "Why did you do that?" "To get revenge for Kihachi. Is there any other reason?" "You look pretty calm, considering." "Do you have any idea how long you were out? Three days. Three days is long enough for anyone to calm down a little." "Why didn't you kill me before now?" "I wanted to see you confess your sins," Hotaru replied, eyebrows wholly motionless as Rentaro glared up at her. "I didn't kill Suibara, man." "Don't give me that shit." The words were quiet, but Hotaru's irises were a blazing shade of red. The gun's hammer was cocked, her hand virtually crushing the grip. Silent rage enveloped her tiny frame. "Don't you care about your life at all?" "I mean it. Seriously, I didn't kill him—" Then he took a teeth-shattering blow to his lower jaw, and the next thing he knew, he was looking at the ceiling tile. It broke a molar or two—he was gritting his teeth at the time. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth. It took some time for him to realize Hotaru landed a straight kick on him. "Gnh… Ahghh!" He fixed his gaze on Hotaru as he spat out the tooth fragments. A ribbon of saliva mixed with blood hung down from the side of his mouth before falling. Hotaru watched from above like an executioner. "I don't think I heard you." "I already told you, I didn't—" The next kick was to the wound on his side. "Grhh…nnh!" She kept her foot on the opening, making him experience enough pain to make his brain explode. Hotaru refocused her gun's aim on Rentaro's head. "All right—I'm not into tormenting people like this, so this is your last chance. If you admit to your crime and beg for mercy, I'll turn you over to the police instead of killing you. But if you lie to me, the next time your head hits the floor, it'll have a hole right in the middle of it. Think it over before you decide—do you need to live, or do you need to die?" Rentaro, still staring at Hotaru, nodded silently. "Okay. Here goes: Do you feel any guilt at all about killing Kihachi? He said you were one of his best friends, and you caught him in that dirty little trap and killed him. Are you even a little sorry for that? Answer me." What a witch hunt this was. All she wanted was for Rentaro to confess to it. She didn't believe he was even a little bit innocent. But, perhaps because of that, the girl's words were completely unadorned. They came from the heart. If Rentaro screamed his innocence, she was absolutely going to pull the trigger. The voice of logic in his mind shouted at him to admit to it for now. He could make up for it later. This girl's just like the cops. Why would he ever hesitate to deceive her? His conclusion made, he gave Hotaru a defiant, resolute look. "Please believe me," he said, elucidating every syllable. "I didn't do it. Really." The gunshot blared across the bathroom. Rentaro's body spasmed. With a tink, the empty cartridge bounced off the tile a few times before the silence returned. White smoke wafted out from the gun barrel. Gingerly turning his head to the side, Rentaro found a bullet lodged in the bathtub, millimeters from his nose. Hotaru turned away from him as she took out a cell phone and dialed a number. "Oh, hello," she said after a moment, "is this the police?" She turned back to Rentaro for just a moment before continuing. "I came across the wanted fugitive Rentaro Satomi, so I placed him under citizen's arrest… Right. No, this isn't a prank. It's true." After relaying her name and address, Hotaru ended the call and looked back at Rentaro. "They thought I was kidding," she stated, "but they're still coming. They said I wasn't far from the nearest station, so it won't even be five minutes." Hotaru leaned in, putting her eye level on the same height as her quarry. "I'll listen to what you have to say. But only until the police arrive. Once they do, that's it. You're going with them." "Why didn't you kill me?" "Because you're not worth it anymore. Have fun getting strung up by the court." "Whoa, what did the police tell you?" "They said you lured Kihachi over to you and killed him for money." Rentaro attempted a scornful laugh, but gurgled out a cough instead. He gazed at Hotaru as he spat out a mixture of phlegm and blood. "The story they told me was, Suibara was blackmailing me for money and I killed him to shut him up." "…That's a lie. There's no way Kihachi would do that." "Of course not. He didn't do that at all, and I didn't blackmail him, either. So there, you see? Right from the start, our stories are contradicting each other. I think we've got enemies in the police, too. Don't you think there's something weird about all this? Nothing striking you as odd?" "…You got four minutes." "There's something I do need to apologize to you about. It's that I couldn't keep Suibara safe. He was a nervous wreck by the time he came to my office. I was fully willing to listen to his story so we could share the burden, but he was too freaked out to tell me. And I didn't pursue it. I misjudged the situation, and for that, I am truly sorry." Hotaru kept her eyes away from him, twisting her eyebrows low as she anguished for her Promoter. "Stop it." "Look, in a court of law, you're supposed to listen to both sides of the story and then the jury or a judge or whatever makes the decision, right? You've already heard the police's side. Now I want you to hear mine, but I can't wrap that up in the course of five minutes. I want you to give me a chance." "A chance?" Hotaru found herself leaning forward. "There's a group out there that framed me," Rentaro continued, choosing his words carefully. "Not only did they pin the murder on me; they targeted everybody in the Tendo Civil Security Agency. I'm not some kind of innocent bystander here. I want to catch the guys that framed me. Can you help me with that?" "You're just gonna run away." "If that's what you think, then go right ahead and hand me over. But, if you think even a little bit that I'm worth listening to, I want you to wait on that. I know you want to learn the truth about all this, if you can. I took a case from Suibara. He was keeping some kind of secret, and he said he wanted to go through me so he could reveal it to the Seitenshi. A day later, somebody killed him. There's got to be something going on behind the scenes." "…Two minutes." "If it turns out there's not anyone behind the scenes, you can go ahead and kill me then. Burn me at the stake, draw and quarter me, put my head on a pike; anything." "Are you…serious?" Rentaro returned Hotaru's stare and gave her a powerful nod. "Suibara trusted in me. Now it's your turn. Please." The two of them looked into each other's eyes for several moments. Rentaro held his breath in silence. A drop of water from the tap fell with a splip onto the tile floor by his feet. Just as Hotaru was about to say something, someone began repeatedly pressing the doorbell. It was the police. Rentaro closed his eyes and tried to keep his body from shaking. Time's up, huh? Hotaru, all emotion quelled from her eyes, stood up and walked out of the bathroom. She didn't close the glass door behind her, forcing Rentaro to watch the entire proceedings. The layout of this place meant that the main bathroom and the front door were extremely close to each other, so it took only a few seconds for Hotaru to undo the door chain and greet the person outside. He could see Hotaru, but not the policeman she was talking to. "Are you the girl who called?" A chill crossed Rentaro's spine. "Yeah." "All right," said the clearly doubtful voice of another officer. There must've been two of them. "Um, so…let's cut to the chase. Did you really capture Rentaro Satomi?" Rentaro jammed his eyes shut, already imagining the next sentence. Oh, do come in. Want some tea? I have him in cuffs in the bathroom. "I'm sorry, that…that was a prank call. I didn't think the police would actually show up or anything!" Watching Hotaru bow down deeply in a laudable act of apology, Rentaro had to stop himself from audibly saying Wha? "Yeah, I figured," said an officer, not sounding particularly angry about it. "The news said there's a good chance he's dead anyway. But you know it's against the law to waste the police's time like this, all right, kid?" Hotaru continued to apologize. The policemen continued to give her a mild scolding. They exchanged a few more words. And then they left. Her sorrowful expression immediately drawing itself back, Hotaru went expressionless once more as she briskly walked to the bathroom. Falling to one knee, she took a key out of her pocket, inserted it into the keyhole in Rentaro's cuffs, and turned it. "Why…?" Rentaro whispered, deeply moved as he heard metal rattling. "You're not the guy, are you?" Hotaru replied, refusing to return his gaze. Of course he wasn't. But how many times had he screamed that before? How many times had she ignored him? Hot tears began to well in his eyes. He wiped them away with the pit of an arm. Soon, there was another clink, and the handcuffs fell to the floor. Rentaro tried to stand up as he checked his wrists. His knees refused to cooperate. He decided not to risk it, instead borrowing a shoulder from the suddenly cooperative Hotaru. The moment he stepped out of the bathroom, the droning of the insects outside went up an octave in his ear. He was greeted with a tiny, cramped, and disorganized studio apartment. He didn't realize it in the bathroom, but apparently it was the middle of the afternoon outside, the contrast between his poorly lit bathroom cell and the great outdoors reminding him more than a little of his own place. Taking a closer look, Rentaro realized that all the newspapers and magazines strewn around the apartment had coverage of the Suibara murder in them. THE FALLEN HERO, began one. SATOMI ARRESTED, screamed another. It was like every outlet was falling over themselves to get more sensational with their headlines. Right after the Third Kanto Battle, it was almost as if they printed a new article every time he so much as ate breakfast. He couldn't believe how far the tables had turned in less than a month. Listening to the strange noises coming from the ancient, whirring air-conditioning unit, he was led to a creaky pipe-frame bed and felt a stiff blanket being pulled over him. There were stains from previous water leaks on the ceiling, bits of paper missing from the walls, and everything was a duller color than when it was first installed. Suddenly, Rentaro began to suspect something. This apartment was clearly meant for one person. There was a lone single bed in this studio. So she didn't live together with Suibara? Idly pondering this, he removed his shirt in bed, unwrapped his bandages, and examined his side. The gruesome sight almost made him groan. It was no longer bleeding, but the wound was still a blaze of pain. "Hey, how did you stop the blood?" "I stuck a hot frying pan against it." "Oh, so that's what I'm smelling? Were you making some yakiniku?" Hotaru's eyes widened for a moment. Then she let out a light sigh. "I'm amazed you have the energy to mouth off at me," she said. "I dunno if it's luck or not, but the bullet didn't get lodged in you." "Sounds like luck to me." "Not to me," she replied, chin stuck high in the air. Then she narrowed her eyes at him again. "That's a pretty funny body you got." Rentaro followed her eyes down until they reached his cybernetic right arm and leg. They were still a dark shade of black. He had ripped the skin off them while he was trapped in the hotel. "What is that?" "Suibara never told you? It's a set of armaments from the New Humanity Creation Project." That made Hotaru open her eyes even wider. "Wait, so you don't know anything about the New World Creation Project? Or the Black Swan Project, maybe?" Hotaru gave him a clueless look. Aha. Suibara must have kept any dangerous knowledge away from her to keep her safe. The fact she wasn't as dead as Suibara was all the proof he needed for that. If she knew everything Suibara did, she would've been part of their hit list, too. There's no way she'd still be alive. Thus, Rentaro reasoned, whoever killed Suibara figured there was no harm in leaving her be. He noticed a first-aid box tossed at him. It contained a tube of fibrin, a form of biological glue that Rentaro was well familiar with by now. Civsec officers turned to it first whenever they wanted their wounds to heal quicker. It wasn't quite as insta-heal as some of the potions in the RPGs Enju liked, but it patched things up far more speedily than Mother Nature could. Shutting one eye at the stinging pain in his side, he applied a fibrin glue pad and kept it fast with bandages. He was over the worst of it. Or so he thought. Then his greedy stomach started to whine at him. In a few moments, he was pestering Hotaru for some rice water, something that his stomach wouldn't immediately reject. Soon, he was slurping up rice porridge. Considering he hadn't eaten in three days, his gastrointestinal system hadn't faltered on him that badly, enough so that he managed to keep down bread and soup well enough. The bread was only lightly toasted and he wouldn't dare put any jam on it, but the wheat flavor that spread across his mouth with every bite almost made tears come out of his eyes. Before he knew it, he wolfed down the whole slice. The food in jail wasn't all that bad. But he couldn't remember the last time he had anything resembling home-cooked food. He lay back in bed, his full stomach making him feel tremendously satisfied. The thick, starchy blanket and comically creaky bed seemed fit for a king to him. He could feel himself falling asleep, but there was no time for that. Nothing had changed for the better at all. His exploits at the Magata Plaza Hotel the other day seemed like ancient history to him, but the bitter, painful experience he was handed there filled him with impotent resentment. More to the point, Tina was still with the cops, and Enju was still in the IISO's hands. Dark Stalker, aka Yuga Mitsugi, told him at the hotel that Enju's new partner was a "buddy killer" and promised her a painful death. He was suddenly very curious about what the past three days were like. "I still don't trust you," Hotaru said scornfully as she sat down on the edge of the bed. "Can you tell me what's going on already?" "Well, where should I start…?" Staring straight up at the ceiling, Rentaro regaled Hotaru with the story of how he accepted Suibara's job, got arrested, and found himself leaping off the roof of the hotel. By the time he was done, Hotaru was at rapt attention, chin resting in her hand and deep in thought. "So Kihachi got rubbed out by this…group, because he knew a lot about these New World and Black Swan projects?" "Do you believe me?" "It's too complex to be made up. Plus, I definitely noticed that Kihachi was hiding something from me. Never imagined it was something this immense, but…" Seeing her accept this story the police dismissed as absurd gladdened him. It was almost anticlimactic for him. But Hotaru still glared at him coldly, the hostility still not entirely gone from her eyes. "So what are you gonna do now?" "What do you want to do?" "That Hitsuma guy's one of them, right?" "Yeah, probably." "Satomi," Yuga had told him at the hotel, "we need you as a sacrifice. Tina Sprout's going to be executed. Kisara Tendo's going to be trained to destroy the Tendo family. Enju Aihara's actually got her next Promoter assigned to her already. He's a bad seed. A buddy killer. Worse than you'd ever imagine. And once you're found guilty, the whole picture's complete." Trained to destroy the Tendo family. That was what threw him. Kisara wasn't stupid enough to let someone use and abuse her like that. But what about someone whom she'd opened at least some of her heart to? Someone with a clear gift for manipulating people's minds? There was no telling, Rentaro thought. And in Kisara's recent social life, there was only one man who filled that bill. If Hitsuma was part of this criminal group, he could've easily ambushed Rentaro using what little information he gave his civsec boss about his whereabouts. Then he could've interrupted the orders from the police, put Yuga in place, and surrounded the hotel with police just in case. It seemed to fit the picture well enough. He doubted Kisara would give up his location that easily, but if she did, that meant she was wrapped around Hitsuma's finger. Rentaro shut his eyes tightly, hands balling into painful fists. I thought I could leave Kisara safely in your hands, Hitsuma. Kisara trusted in you. He ground his teeth. And you used her. You've gotta pay. Hotaru lifted her head up from her thoughts. "I'm going to kill that Hitsuma guy," she said. "And Dark Stalker, too, if he fired the shot." "Don't." "Can you tell me why not?" replied a clearly peeved Hotaru. "Because that won't solve anything. Even if that went without a hitch, you're still a criminal. You flipped a van; you injured three law enforcement officers; and if you did that, too, you'd be a double murderer." "It's not like my enemy was playing fair. Why do I have to?" Rentaro thought Hotaru resembled someone he knew. Now it finally dawned on him. "Satomi, I just realized. You couldn't punish the mastermind behind the Kagetane Hiruko Terrorist Incident, Kikunojo Tendo. You couldn't punish the mastermind behind the Seitenshi Sniping Incident, Sougen Saitake. But I was able to punish the person responsible for the Third Kanto Battle, Kazumitsu Tendo. Do you know why? "Don't you understand? Justice isn't good enough. Justice can't oppose evil. But absolute evil—evil that goes beyond evil—can. I have that power." "No. You can't do that. It's wrong. If someone's unfair to you, you have to be fair back at him. If you wind up turning into a criminal on me, how am I gonna face up to Suibara's grave?" "Don't give me that lip service. What other choice do I have?" "The choice of exposing the Black Swan Project, getting evidence, and arresting the perpetrators. That way, they'll round up Hitsuma and everybody else involved in this." And it'll clear his name if they arrest the real killer. But it wouldn't be that easy, of course. Suibara lost his life trying to reveal Black Swan to the world. Their dark tentacles had extended themselves not just to Rentaro, but to Tina, Enju, Kisara, and the Tendo Civil Security Agency itself. He didn't know how much of a bead his enemy had on his movements, but if they failed to fish his body out of the river, they'd be striking back soon enough. And now, there was more than Hitsuma and his police force pursuing him. There was that mechanized soldier, too, the New World update of his New Humanity self. Frankly, he thought, I don't like my chances much. Surrounded on all sides. Completely isolated. The situation was nothing short of hopeless. If he could, he didn't want to make Hotaru—Suibara's only living memory—cross a bridge as dangerous as this. "Look, I don't want you to get the wrong idea…" Hotaru turned the cold eyes underneath her chestnut hair an infinitesimal amount toward him, face still blank. "But I need revenge for Kihachi. You're just the bait." "The bait?" "Mm-hmm. If the enemy finds out you're alive and starts gathering around your blood, that's perfect for me. All I have to do is take out the people trying to take you out." The sleeves of her jacket sprang up as she swung her hands to her hips. The next minute, she had a pair of jet-black pistols at the ready. "This battle's how I'm gonna be paying my condolences to Kihachi." Rentaro breathed an admiring sigh. She didn't pull the triggers, but she'd drawn those guns so fast, you'd miss it if you blinked. Even before this point, he had imagined she was pretty handy with a gun. This must've been how she fought in battle, then. Her guns were both Gold Cup National Match models, one of the custom government pistol lines manufactured by Colt. They weren't exactly suited for dual wielding, but gun collectors cherished them for ease of handling (even a small girl's hands could wrap around them) and their sheer beauty, making them a world-renowned model. They came with a crisscrossing dual holster she kept behind her back. Guns still at the ready, Hotaru turned her freezing gaze upon Rentaro. "So let's keep this strictly business, all right? I use you; you use me. There's nothing else to it. If you die, I won't even take a look back. And if the opposite happens, feel free to leave me on the sidewalk." "No cooperation?" "None." Rentaro grimaced. It was a blunt reaction, one that made him wonder if he hallucinated that single moment of empathy she showed in front of the police. "…All right. Well, you can fight for whatever you want to, but if we run into anyone calling himself Dark Stalker, I want you to let me handle him. He's this conceited little bastard in a school uniform with a pop-up collar." "Is he good?" "Damn good. He'd be too much for you." "You mind not selling me short, please?" Suddenly, something black and heavy flew toward Rentaro. He caught it just in time. It was a pair of nylon hip holsters—one with a gun, the other a knife. The very ones Rentaro confiscated from the SAT trooper in the hotel. The knife was a survival blade from Gerber. The gun was— "—A Beretta…?" It must have been a custom job owned by the trooper. It featured a reinforced "brigadier" slide, something that went out of production long ago. Kisara used a custom-line Beretta 90two as her choice of gun, Rentaro recalled. Beretta always devoted as much care to the look of their guns as they did their performance. It seemed like a match made in heaven for Kisara. But would it work for him? "That's not your gun?" "Nah, I seized it along the way. My XD's still in evidence storage." "An XD? That cheap piece of crap? You'll hit more often with a Beretta." "Yeah, but doesn't the sight system take some getting used to? I mean, say what you want, but I was pretty used to that XD." "That means you're a cheap piece of crap, too." "I knew you were gonna say that!" Then Rentaro realized he had yet to ask something important. "Hey, by the way, what kind of Gastrea factor is in your blood?" Hotaru gave him a sullen, silent glare as she turned her head. "I don't need to tell you." Man, she pisses me off. Rentaro decided to check how tight his holsters were instead of engaging her any further. "I'm not done with you yet," he heard Hotaru say. "Jeez, girl, there's more?" a fed-up Rentaro replied, only to find Hotaru's index finger sticking right in his face. "Do not call me 'girl.' My name is Hotaru." "…You're the boss, Hotaru." "What should I call you?" "Rentaro works." "Really? Well, great. Rentaro, then." Thus, their alliance to defeat their foes and uncover the truth was formed. They weren't exactly the most steadfast of teams, but to Rentaro, she was the only ally he had in the entirety of Tokyo Area. The feeling was probably mutual, too. "So what're we gonna do now?" "We start here," Rentaro replied, looking around the room. "I meant to search Suibara's place for evidence anyway. You can help me save some time." "This isn't Kihachi's apartment." "Huh?" "I said, this isn't Kihachi's apartment." "So where are we?" Hotaru gave an exasperated shake of her head. "Rentaro," she said, "have you seriously not noticed yet? I don't have a Promoter, but the IISO still hasn't taken me away." "Oh—" The vague feeling of discomfort stuck in the back of his throat suddenly made total sense. Enju was seized by an IISO agent practically the moment Rentaro surrendered his license. If Suibara was dead, Hotaru should've been expecting a visit from them, too. "Wh-why's that?" Rentaro dared to ask. Instead of answering, Hotaru pointed outside. "Let's go outside. It'll be easier to show you." The moment they were out, Rentaro was greeted with eye-piercingly bright sunlight. The air conditioner that had so kindly kept him cool inside now blew hot, processed air at him, making him immediately break into a sweat. They went down the stairs, each step creaking in dangerous-sounding fashion, and went away from the building a bit before stopping to look at it. The apartment was tilted to the side, boasting a simple corrugated sheet-iron ceiling and walls. Other similar-looking buildings surrounded it. The area must not have enjoyed the benefits of garbage pickup—piles of scrap iron and other junk were all over the place, and the ground was lined with a rainbow of colorful plastic trash. The stench made his nose wrinkle. Feeling someone's eyes upon him, Rentaro saw a sharp-eyed man staring at him before turning back into his hovel. Judging by his face, he obviously wasn't Japanese. And it clearly was his home, judging by the sounds of daily life coming from it. But why would he leave that "house" of his in such terrible condition? Something told him the landlord probably had at least a couple gang connections. He thought he was in the Outer Districts for a moment as he took a 360-degree look at his surroundings, but the Monoliths were far away from here. He was inland. "Why're you living in a place like this?" "I had to stay in some illegal slum or another. It's not like anyone else would take in a lone child without any parent or guardian. I had to get out of our place before the IISO got me. I knew they'd be coming." Again, Rentaro had to commend Hotaru's coolheadedness and ability to take action. When she learned Suibara was killed, she barely spent a moment mourning him. She got to work. Enju was kind of mature for her age, yes, but that was because she had to experience everything from direct threats like frostbite and hunger to emotional ones like contempt and persecution. There was some truth in the idea that hardship and adversity could make a person stronger, but not even Enju could so sensitively pick up on unseen threats and flee this much in advance. Rentaro wondered what Hotaru must've gone through to reach that point. "The police are staking out the place we used to live in." "Oh…" Rentaro thought for a moment. "Are you willing to risk that?" "No. We better not, Hotaru. There's someplace I want to go first." "Where?" Rentaro looked at Hotaru. "The place where Suibara was killed." 2 Shigetoku Tadashima stood bolt upright, notebook in hand, thinking to himself how much he wanted to strangle the person he was talking to. "But that guy didn't abandon me! He treated my wound and told that police officer to carry me down. I really don't think he's the monster the media's portraying him as… Are you even listening to me?" "Yeah…" "Okay. So where was I? Oh, right! I was all groggy from the sleep medication I took, so I didn't make it out of the hotel when the alarm went off. So then—" "—Um, I think I have enough, thanks," an exasperated Tadashima said, trying to hide the chagrin on his face as he closed his notebook. The somewhat well-nourished woman he was interviewing, sitting cross-legged on her bed, looked a tad disappointed. "Oh, really? But I haven't even told you a third of what I wanted to!" "It's been a great help, ma'am. I might have some more questions for you later, but I think we're good for today." Tadashima seized the moment to salute while he could and left the room. "What's up, Inspector?" asked Yoshikawa, waiting by the door, the moment he emerged. "Don't get me started," a fed-up Tadashima said, waving a hand in front of his face. "I know the perp saved her life and everything, but she couldn't heap more praise on his feet if she tried. She's not a witness so much as she is a groupie. Must be that Stockholm whatever in action." Yoshikawa chuckled. "I'm heading back to the station for now. Are you coming with me?" "Nah, Hitsuma's called me in. Looks like it'll be me and him in a two-man cell. I'll be the investigator, and he'll just yell at me all day." "Must be hard keeping your career on track, huh, Inspector?" Tadashima gave Yoshikawa a bop on the head. "Ahh, quit your bitching. If you wanna say something, say it to him, not me. Oof… The guy's a genius, but something about him just bothers me." Leaving Yoshikawa behind as he rubbed his head, Tadashima left the hospital and caught a taxi to the point Hitsuma had directed him to. It was an enormous skyscraper, easily dwarfing everything adjacent to it. It was matte black, making the inspector wonder if it was made of Varanium, and a guard armed with a pistol was standing in front. A stone tablet with CENTRAL CONTROL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION carved into it stood in front of the structure. People on the street just called it "the black building." Nobody really knew what went on inside. Tadashima rechecked the map Hitsuma texted him. This was definitely the place. Reporting to the guard, he showed his badge and was quickly ushered inside without further question. The elevator he boarded seemed to break the sound barrier as it rose, almost making him lose his footing on the way to the sixty-fifth floor. From that point, a female employee in a lab coat guided him as he went through multiple security doors, each protected by a different kind of card-key lock or biometric scanner. Tadashima grew more and more nervous. He was dressed in the same wrinkled suit he slept in last night over at the investigation team HQ, and the stubble on his face was starting to cross that inscrutable boundary to full-on beardhood. He didn't know where he was being led to, but he would hope for no dress code, at least. The bulletproof-glass door labeled CONTROL ROOM opened with a hydraulic-sounding pshhuu. Behind it, Tadashima could hear footsteps running back and forth and a cacophony of noise. The sight that unfolded startled him. The gigantic, fan-shaped room was dimly lit, mostly by the seemingly infinite number of holodisplays deployed in every inch of available space. Indicator bars and numbers danced across each screen. It resembled the air-traffic control tower of a particularly busy airport, but the main difference was the huge holodisplay in the center of the room depicting a map of Tokyo Area, monitoring electricity usage region-wide in intense detail. Tadashima had to fight back the impression that he had somehow slipped into the future. "What is this…?" "Have you ever heard of the SmartCity concept?" Startled, Tadashima turned to find Hitsuma in a freshly pressed suit, arms open wide as he walked toward him. Tadashima attempted to jump-start his mind back into action. It had been a while since it worked right. "Um…wasn't it an old urbanization plan? I think the first Seitenshi proposed it in an effort to optimize electrical demand." "Precisely, Inspector. Electricity is transported along power lines using high voltages, but a lot of that power winds up getting lost before it reaches homes. Storing it is not only difficult, but produces a lot of waste of its own as well. "For example, places like large data centers usually keep some of their power supply in an idle state, just in case there's any unexpected server load or heavy access, but they only use around six percent of the electricity sent to them. Twelve tops. All the rest of it is wasted. The SmartCity concept has the city monitor energy usage to distribute power efficiently while avoiding things like blackouts. You remember how strained the grid was around Tokyo after the Gastrea War." Tadashima nodded silently as he gave another astonished look at the SmartCity nerve center before him. "So you actually finished it, huh?" he said. "It hasn't been in the news for ages. I thought it was canceled or something." "Well, we didn't want it to become a terrorist target, for one. That's why it's in this nondescript building with a nondescript name." "Right," Tadashima replied with a shrug. "So what did you want from me? I barely even touch a computer unless I'm doing things like police paperwork. I'm sure you didn't call me here just to show off all your fancy machinery." "Of course not. There's actually one function of this control room I wanted to show you." Hitsuma tapped at the central control panel. The system promptly showed a variety of video images, showing a shopping district, a café, a theater, and so forth, most looking down from a very high viewpoint. It was a familiar enough sight to Tadashima. "Are these surveillance cameras…?" "Yes. We had these installed in places like rail stations and airports at first, but now they cover all of Tokyo Area in order to quickly spot Gastrea." "How many cameras do you have for that?" an astounded Tadashima replied. "You'd need thousands. Tens of thousands." "Too many for human beings to monitor, certainly. That's why we feed the video through the face-recognition system we have here in this control room. If you search based on that, you can do things like this." One of the images on the giant holodisplay expanded out to take over the whole screen region. "Whoa," Tadashima marveled. There, shot from slightly above a restaurant building, he saw a young police detective in a gray business suit, speedily slurping up ramen from the front-facing bar. He recognized the face right off—despite his three years on the force, he still looked like a raw recruit. In fact, they were just talking a few moments ago. "Yoshikawa…" "Exactly," Hitsuma replied as he triumphantly nodded behind him. "And we've got Rentaro Satomi's facial pattern in the database, too. The trap's already been set. Now all we have to do is wait for our prey to show up." "I see. That's some pretty amazing tech. But I'm impressed you could call on the services of this place without a warrant or anything. Does the investigation team know about this?" "Actually, no. Outside of myself and my father the commissioner, you're the only one." Tadashima couldn't believe his ears. He was acting by himself without even the HQ knowing about it? A police department was supposed to be stricter, more bureaucratic than that. Even if this was the commissioner's son, was it really all right to let him run wild like this? The detective felt something brooding in the pit of his stomach. It told him that the Hitsuma clan was after Rentaro for more reasons than just the crimes he allegedly committed. "By the way," a voice said from behind, cutting off his thought process, "how's your investigation been going, Inspector Tadashima?" It belonged to a boy in a school uniform, coming out of nowhere in the dimly lit room. "Oh, you're, um…" "Yuga Mitsugi. The civsec who ran into Satomi by accident at the Plaza Hotel. Sorry for all the trouble I caused." Why was this boy in the room, too? "Um, hey…" A clearly agitated Hitsuma greeted Yuga with a cold stare. "What's the big deal, Superintendent Hitsuma?" Hitsuma's breezy composure was now a thing of the past. It looked like he was afraid the boy would say something he wasn't supposed to. Did they know each other? "So, uh, Inspector, how's the investigation coming along?" The boy's overly familiar speech rankled Tadashima. "I'm afraid I can't discuss that with the general public." "Inspector, would you mind telling him for me? It sounds like he'll be offering help to the investigation as a civsec officer." Tadashima took out his notebook, offended and wondering why anyone asked for a civsec's help with a non-Gastrea case. "I went to the hospital and spoke with one of the SAT officers the suspect tangled with," he stated, "along with a woman hit by friendly fire during the incident. Surprisingly, the woman said that Rentaro Satomi saved her life. She even thanked him for it, saying, 'He can't be the killer. I'm sure there's something else compelling him to do all this.' The SAT officer was just as cheerful with me. He smiled at me and said, 'I'd love to have another match with him.'" "Ha-ha! Pretty funny civsec, huh? Even as he's fleeing us, he's building a fan base for himself." Tadashima ignored the equally cheerful Yuga, turning toward Hitsuma instead. "About that, actually. None of it makes any sense to me. He's a murderer. If he wanted to get out of this as safely as possible, wouldn't it have been faster for him to take the woman hostage and barricade himself in a room?" "I imagine he figured her wound wouldn't make her much use as a hostage," Hitsuma replied bluntly. "Yeah, but he could've taken one of the SAT officers hostage, too. He also went through the trouble of simply incapacitating the SAT team. For him, that has to be a thousand times harder than just killing them. Don't you think that's strange at all? He's on the run from the law, but he's still taking time out to save people's lives on the way. If he really murdered one person already, would he be this hesitant about killing another?" "He probably can't shake off the image of himself as the hero of Tokyo Area. And who's to say he didn't mean to kill any of the SAT guys? Maybe he meant to and just failed at it." "You sure seem intent on his guilt, Superintendent." "And you must think he's not guilty, don't you, Inspector? You're the one who interrogated him, aren't you?" Tadashima rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, you got me there, sir. But I don't play favorites in the interrogation room. I'm tough with everybody I talk to in there. I can't get a confession out of a criminal if I think he's innocent." Yuga, to the side, gave out a sudden laugh. "Either way, though, as long as Satomi isn't defanged, he's going to do something for us. It's pretty clear searching the river isn't gonna do anything for us at this point. He's alive—I'm sure of it. Heh-heh… This game's only getting started, Satomi." Tadashima rubbed the top of his arm, feeling something cold and heartless behind the boy's inscrutable chuckling to himself. 3 With a flashing green light and a melody that sounded like a tweeting baby chick, a mass of humanity scrambled across the busy intersection. The asphalt radiated heat like an oven burner, and everyone in the crowd looked fatigued. Amid this swell of humanity dodging and weaving around itself in intricate geometrical patterns, Rentaro Satomi's eyes darted to and fro. There was a man with a hurried, restless walk repeatedly looking down at his watch. A couple walking hand in hand together. A mother on the way home from shopping, her son staring into his mobile phone as he walked. Whenever someone happened to size him up, he would unconsciously shudder. "Keep looking forward, Rentaro," a dry voice next to him said. "Try not to do anything too suspicious." It sounded like the chestnut-haired girl had nothing fun, nothing exciting left in her world. "Yeah, but it's kind of hard to act normal when you're consciously thinking about it." "At least you're aware of that. But I don't think you need to worry. People don't care about you as much as you think." "Why are you finding ways to berate me with everything you say?" "I'm just trying to help you relax, all right?" the girl replied, not a trace of emotion to her voice. Rentaro fell silent. She was making sense. Even now, the world was in a state of constant flux. It had been three days since Rentaro's alleged death. He recalled how Sumire once told him, "You know, people care a hundred times more about how they just banged their little finger against the corner of the dresser than about some politician or famous singer dying." Everyone walking around in public had their own lives to live. Not a single one of them had any mental capacity to consider Rentaro's role in their existences. He understood that on an intellectual basis, and he kept consciously telling that to himself. But what if somebody recognized his face? What if someone screamed and ran up to him, grabbing his arms? The nightmarish image kept flitting in and out of his mind, filling him with a dreadful sense of uneasiness. Soon, they were past the intersection and on their way down a long, wide shopping arcade. Rentaro gave his head a light shake. Something he keenly noticed, now that he was all alone in the world, was how much he appreciated all the people that once supported him in life, tangibly or intangibly. If it wasn't for the warmth of the girl walking next to him, he might have been too scared to so much as walk out the door. Of course, as partners went, the girl couldn't have acted more disinterested in him. She only saw him as a way to lure over the New World Creation Project soldier in her sights, and it admittedly irritated him a little. "We're here." Rentaro turned his head, only to find the bare framework of the new city hall building looming before him. Construction had ground to a halt on the site, the catwalks that lined the outside walls barren of people. Tractors, power shovels, and other bits of construction equipment lay abandoned around the building, like some kind of avant-garde art installation. The sun was at its highest point in the sky. Rentaro and Hotaru fled under the building's shadow, sweat pouring unbearably out of their bodies. They were in the middle of the city, but it was still oddly quiet. Or perhaps it was their sixth sense creating the tension, warning them of another human being's death in a way difficult to put in physical terms. "Are you okay?" "Don't worry about me," Hotaru replied as she walked on ahead. Rentaro grimaced. Did she really care about Suibara so much that she was willing to kill in his name? He sighed and followed after her. The police were finished with the crime scene. There was no clotted blood on the floor, no white pieces of tape marking out evidence locations—but simply standing at the scene made Rentaro's brain vividly re-create the entire incident. He closed his eyes and made a silent prayer for the deceased. What did you want to tell me, Suibara? Looking to his side, he saw an expressionless Hotaru standing bolt upright. "You're not going to pray for him?" Rentaro asked. "I did all my mourning when he died. I don't have any tears left." "Oh…" "So?" Hotaru's chestnut hair swayed in the wind as she looked up at him. "What're we going to do here?" Rentaro scratched distractedly at the back of his head. "Well," he said, "it's not like I had some grand scheme in mind. But you never know what you'll find at the crime scene, you know? Plus, just being here is reminding me of all kinds of things." The fateful night replayed itself in his mind. "The body was still warm when I got here. He couldn't have been dead for long. It was too much of a coincidence that the police just happened to show up at that time. Someone waited until the moment I appeared to call the cops."
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-05-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter019.txt	Black Bullet, Vol. 5: Rentaro Satomi, Fugitive Which meant the culprit was someone close to the scene—close enough to visually monitor Rentaro's movements. Then something flashed into his mind. "Hotaru," he said to the inscrutable girl next to him, "you said you noticed Suibara acting 'strange' around you, right? How was he acting, exactly?" "He started working solo a lot more. He'd go out more and more often, and he'd never tell me where. He'd try to make up silly little excuses about it. I didn't pry at all. I figured a guy like him just had a bunch of stuff going on in his life." "I told you about how he wanted to meet with Lady Seitenshi, right? I think he wanted to talk about a pair of conspiracies—the New World Creation Project, and the Black Swan Project." "Right. And the New World is just an updated version of the New Humanity Creation Project, isn't it? What about Black Swan?" Rentaro shook his head. "I have no idea. But something tells me that if I can find out, that'll blow the whole door open on this thing." Suddenly, Hotaru's remarks made a new image of Suibara rise up in his mind. "Are you trying to blow the whistle about something? 'Cause if you have any evidence you can give me, I can make sure it gets to her." "…I'm sorry. My evidence got stolen." "Oh, right. When he came to my office, he said that he had some evidence that got stolen from him. That's why he wanted to meet directly with either Lady Seitenshi or her assistant…" …Then, another voice rose up from the depths of his memory: "I've been told to ask you this, so I will. Where is the memory card Suibara gave you?" "Ah…" Rentaro and Hotaru exchanged glances. They must have come to the same conclusion simultaneously. "Didn't the assassin at the hotel ask you for a memory card, Rentaro?" Rentaro thought for a moment, eyes on the ground. "Yeah… It's weird. Logically speaking, that card must've been what was stolen from Suibara, huh?" "Wait…so, what, then? Kihachi got his memory card stolen by some evil group, but then that group thinks you have it? So who has it now?" The cry of some irritated-sounding cicada in the distance seemed to rise in volume. The shadows cast on the building uncomfortably adjusted their positions. Now Rentaro was sweating for another reason. He felt ill. Hotaru suspiciously eyed him. "Rentaro, are you sure Kihachi didn't give you anything? Like, anything at all? He didn't slip you something while you weren't paying attention?" Rentaro briskly shook his head. "No. Nothing." "Oh…" "What about you? Did Suibara ask you to keep anything for him?" "Nothing I can think of." They were right back where they started. But Suibara's memory card had to exist somewhere. It was the one thing they could link to everything else in the case. Rentaro decided to file that thought away for now as he mentally switched gears. "Hotaru, there's something else coming here reminded me of. Do you have Suibara's cell phone or anything?" "I was kind of hoping you did," Hotaru replied, leaning against a concrete column. "You don't know where it is?" "No…" Rentaro had been asked multiple times by police interrogators about Suibara's mobile phone. It was clear, if indirect, evidence that the cops didn't have it. Smartphones had been everyday parts of people's lives for over twenty years now, their functionality and privacy measures both far advanced over the initial generation. If they could track down the phone, that would earn them valuable evidence, such as his site-access history and call records. The police would doubtlessly do anything to find it. "The killer must've taken it with him," Rentaro said. "Bastards thought of everything." "We shouldn't jump to conclusions yet," replied Hotaru as she took out her cell phone, tapping at it a bit before bringing it to her ear. Must be calling Suibara's line, Rentaro thought. Suddenly, he could hear the faint sound of a phone ringing somewhere. "Where is it?!" "Ssh!" Hotaru brought a finger to her lips. Somewhere between the quiet, the cicada calls, and the roar of the trucks occasionally passing by the building, they could hear a sound as soft as the cry of a mosquito. Tiptoeing to the edge of the building, they felt the wind blow against their faces as they peered downward from the dizzying height. The sound was coming from beneath them. Rentaro and Hotaru looked at each other, nodded, and quickly went downstairs. It came from the far end of the building's outer perimeter, and now they could clearly hear it. A pop tune, one whose main melody was familiar even to the chronically nontrendy Rentaro. Wading through the tall grass to the side, they finally found it—a black smartphone, lying facedown, vibrating a little on the ground. He picked it up just as the vibration stopped. The phone fell silent, and no matter how much he jabbed at the start button, it wouldn't respond. "The battery must be drained. That sure was close." "Oh…" The phone must have fallen out of Suibara's hand as he was shot. If he consciously threw it out of the building as he fell, it'd be a pretty remarkable feat on his part. Suibara… Rentaro felt an odd sense of nostalgia as he turned the phone over. The screen was heavily cracked, like someone had taken a knuckle-duster to it. It was amazing that the internals survived intact. Looking at the home screen, there was only the barest sliver of a charge left. Uncharacteristically, Rentaro found himself thinking this was the hand of fate at work. "Let's go find a charger." Flying into a nearby Internet café, the two of them grabbed a PC booth, settling down on the hard, contoured chairs and plugging the phone into the universal charger on the side of the computer. They waited a few moments, hands clasped in prayer, and then the phone whirred in Rentaro's hand. One percent charged. Rentaro and Hotaru gave each other a joyous glance. The screen was just as damaged as before, although the touchscreen somehow still worked. But before he could start flicking around the screen, Rentaro's finger stopped. Suibara might be dead, but how permissible would this be—poking around someone's private property just to clear your own name? He might be about to go face-to-face with a Kihachi Suibara he never knew before. Browsing through it might be something he'd eternally regret. Paranoia set in. Well, he thought as he brought finger to screen, so be it. From there, Rentaro and Hotaru took their time, searching through the phone for whatever clues they could find. But there was nothing particularly noteworthy in his inbox, and his photo gallery mostly consisted of people—all shapes and sizes. Over half of them were of Hotaru. Rentaro could've predicted it, given that Suibara adored her to the point where he had her as his wallpaper. Then his eyes stopped on a certain photo. It must've been shot on Christmas. Suibara and Hotaru were there, both wearing Santa hats and standing on either side of a fancy cake in the background. Judging by the high angle, it must've been a selfie. But the biggest surprise in the pic was that Hotaru was smiling. Not exactly beaming, per se, but both sides of her lips were curled gently upward as she gave the peace sign to the camera. It made Rentaro feel like a depraved peeper of sorts, and he swiped the photo away before Hotaru could notice his surprise. With their check of the gallery complete, all that remained to search was the call history. There, they spotted something strange. Twice on the day of the murder, and once the day before, he had spoken with someone identified as "Dr. Surumi" in the directory. Looking further back in the history, they discovered Suibara exchanged a total of twenty-five calls with the doctor, extending back over the past month. "Do you know who this is, Hotaru?" "Yeah. Dr. Ayame Surumi. A forensic Gastrea pathologist. They spoke a few times about autopsy findings and stuff as part of our work." "Wow. Just like the one I know…" "The one you know?" "Ah, never mind. Do you know why they'd be talking to each other so often?" Hotaru thought for a moment, then shook her head. "I can't think of anything. I don't think Kihachi and Dr. Surumi had any kind of private relationship." "All right. We better check this person out." "Her office is in a university hospital in District 6," Hotaru said as she stood up. "She's a woman?" "Yeah." "Uh, she wouldn't happen to be pale to the point where you can see her veins, or wear a lab coat so long that it drags against the floor, or call her autopsy room 'the kitchen,' or have a body temperature of around 32 degrees Celsius, or build an expansion to her basement lab so she can have more room for her collection of corpses?" "What?" replied Hotaru, clearly put off. "Oh, uh, nothing. I'm sure it's not the same woman. Probably." "She's absent? Why?" "Well, that's what I'd like to know," the tired-looking doctor replied, his ample belly fat wobbling as he walked up to them. He couldn't have been an intern, but his youth was evidently clear. "She won't answer the phone, and now I have to fill in for her shifts. I'm practically going out of my mind here." One eye exhibited a nervous tic as he spoke. It was clear that either stress or fatigue was taking its toll. Rentaro and Hotaru were in an examination room at Shidao University Hospital. They managed to catch this doctor, who introduced himself as Kakujo, right as he was about to take a well-deserved break. "Have there been that many Gastrea lately?" Rentaro asked point-blank. Kakujo nodded broadly and opened his arms wide. "That many ain't the half of it! It's crazy! People are spreading all kinds of rumors about how there's something up with the new Monolith 32 they built after the Third Kanto Battle." That couldn't have been the case. The old Monolith 32's collapse was entirely avoidable, the result of adulteration that reduced the purity of the Varanium inside. The new one was 100 percent Varanium, something Rentaro and the Tendo Civil Security Agency personally confirmed for themselves. Come to think of it, didn't Enju mention an uptick in Gastrea numbers lately, too? Apparently the trend wasn't exclusive to the Tendo Group's jurisdiction. Where were they all getting in? "Say," Rentaro remarked, "you mind if I ask you a question? How many ways are there for Gastrea to get into Tokyo Area, anyway?" "Mmm, good question. Where should I begin…?" The doctor looked up at the ceiling, pointing his potbelly directly at Rentaro. "Basically, there are three infiltration routes—air, land, and underground. You sometimes see sea-dwelling Gastrea make it in, too, but they can't be much of a danger if they can't breathe air, you know? Otherwise, the Varanium field weakens once you get about 200 meters underground or 5,000 meters into the sky, so if you can burrow below or fly above those numbers, you can get in that way. Remember back when a pack of really obstinate guys picked up an upward-flowing air current and caused a huge racket around the city? That sorta thing." The Morphe Butterfly Incident, Rentaro thought, as he nodded vaguely at the doctor. But he didn't voice it. If he demonstrated too much knowledge, Kakujo might start thinking he was a civsec. He wanted to avoid that if he could. "So how would land-dwelling Gastrea get in?" Hotaru asked from the stool she was sitting on. "Between the breaks in the Monoliths," Kakujo instantly replied. "The breaks?" "Yeah. The Monoliths are built ten kilometers apart from one another, right? So they kind of aim for the places where the Varanium field's at its weakest, usually in that five-kilometer interval right in the middle." "Do they really succeed all that often?" "Nah. Probably nine out of ten of 'em die trying—plus, we got the self-defense force patrolling the border, so that one lucky survivor usually doesn't last long, either. They say maybe one out of a hundred land-based Gastrea who attempt the crossing actually make it through. But we're still talking a ton of them, and they have a tendency to try to attack people first, so no matter how much we beat 'em down, they keep on trying to get into Tokyo Area. So that's why, in terms of sheer numbers, it's still the land-based ones we see the most of in the statistics." "Wow. I see." "I mean," Kakujo grumbled, "you know how much of a hit the SDF took in the Third Kanto Battle. Something like half the civsecs in Tokyo Area lost their lives. All we got left are people who didn't join the battle or who fled to other Areas, and do you think we could really count on those guys? We're still managing to keep this boat afloat so far, but all of us on the ground level are scared stiff that we'll have another Pandemic before long. Plus, the news said that the 'hero of Tokyo Area' guy died in the Plaza Hotel a few days ago. Hey, actually, you look a little like—" Rentaro scrambled to say something, but a cool, composed voice stopped him from the side. "I apologize, Doctor, but could you tell us a little more about Dr. Surumi? How long has she been absent from work?" On the way there, the pair decided that Hotaru would pose as Dr. Surumi's sister. The ruse seemed to be working. Dr. Kakujo abandoned his suspicion and thought a little bit. "Well, four days, I guess. On a job like this, if you're absent for that long a period of time, you're not gonna last too long. It's tough, but that's how it is." "Have you contacted the police yet?" "The police? Nah, nah," the doctor said, smiling as he dodged the question. "The retention rate in this place—ah, you probably don't know what that word means, huh, little girl? Basically, people quit a whole lot around here. Surumi had a good head on her shoulders, so I figured she'd stick around for the long term, but…" He was doubtlessly right. Performing pathological work on something as hideous as Gastrea corpses would require some pretty thick skin. Sumire, who enjoyed calling it her life's work, was one in a million. "Is there any chance she may have disappeared, or gotten caught up in something?" "Hmm… I couldn't really say," Dr. Kakujo replied as he stroked his five-o'clock shadow. "I never thought about that…" Then he slapped a fist against his hand. "Hey, are you guys going to visit Surumi's place after this?" Hotaru drooped her shoulders in disappointment. She had a natural talent for acting. "I wanted to," she said, "but my sister never gave her address out to anyone in the family, so…" "Oh, that's fine, I can give it to you. I think I asked her for it when I had to send off some stuff that came to the office for her." Rentaro wondered whether Dr. Kakujo was allowed to be so cavalier with people's personal information, but he nevertheless appreciated his falling so completely for Hotaru's cover story. Somehow, he doubted he could have convinced him to hand off the address by himself. The doctor stood up and recomposed himself. "In exchange for that, there's a favor I'd like to ask of you, if you don't mind." "What's that?" "Well, Surumi conducted a Gastrea autopsy about a month ago, but the electronic version of her report's disappeared from our database for some reason. I know Surumi printed out a paper version for our records right beforehand, so she might still have it kicking around somewhere. Sorry to bother you guys, but if you see her, would you be able to get that for us? I don't really mind if she wants to quit or not, but we got a legal obligation to keep track of our records, so…" Rentaro and Hotaru gave each other a glance. Dr. Surumi began making frequent contact with Suibara a month ago, too. "Sure thing," Rentaro replied, nodding deeply as Dr. Kakujo wrote down the missing doctor's address on a piece of notepaper. The duo was just about to leave when the doctor called to them from behind. "Hey, you guys don't happen to know what Black Swan is, do you?" Rentaro and Hotaru both whirled around at once. "Where did you hear that name?" Dr. Kakujo's brows arched, a little taken aback by Rentaro's sudden forcefulness. "Uh…well, no, I mean, I just remembered it. Surumi kinda mentioned it in passing not long before she left. Like she was kind of brooding over it, you know? It was almost like she was having a nervous breakdown or something at her lab station. And that's not all…" The corpulent doctor looked honestly bewildered as he spoke. "She said she 'had to burn the vineyard,' whatever that means." The Shidao University Hospital grounds were orderly and well-kept, complete with artificial lawns and ponds. It would have been an inviting spot to rest and forget about your classes on most days, but to Rentaro, the sight was simply depressing. Hotaru's gait next to his was similarly heavy, almost plodding. It was clear now that Dr. Surumi and Suibara were working together. But that just led to new problems for them to tackle. "What the hell is the 'vineyard'…?" Hotaru, preoccupied with the same question, had already taken out her cell phone, setting it to holodisplay mode so Rentaro could see the screen in the air. The first result was for an English instruction site. The pronunciation made it sound like some Romance-language word, but it turned out "vineyard" was simply a fancy way of saying "grape farm." "'Burn the vineyard,' though… What could that mean?" "I don't know." "That guy said Dr. Surumi started acting weird about a month ago, right?" said Hotaru, her voice free of any intonation. It was a far cry from the forlorn little girl she pretended to be for a moment in the doctor's office. "And now that I think about it, I think I started noticing Kihachi hiding stuff from me a month or so ago, too." There it is again. A month. "What happened during that time…?" Rentaro decided to step back and take an impartial look at the situation. Dr. Surumi and Suibara, two people who allegedly had no personal connection to each other, had talked on the phone twenty-five times in the past month. They started puzzling the people around them with their behavior at about the same time. Suibara was a civsec. The only thing that could connect a civsec with a Gastrea pathologist was…well, a Gastrea. "Did you and Suibara have any Gastrea encounters in the past month, Hotaru?" "Yeah… Actually, Kihachi and I ran into one a month ago." "What kind was it?" an expectant Rentaro asked. Hotaru gave him a vague look of discomfort in response. "I dunno…just your typical Stage Two. A flying one. It had a see-through thorax, so you could see all its guts and stuff floating around. It had a really long nose, too. Pretty gross." "Did you kill it?" "Yeah. Kihachi and I were driving on the expressway and it was flying alongside us. I stuck myself out the passenger-side window and blew it away with a shotgun." "And then?" "That's all." "That can't be all, Hotaru." "There's really nothing else worth mentioning about it. I mean, the Gastrea looked pretty weird, yeah, but you could say that about all Gastrea that are Stage Two or higher. So then we left it to the police and went home, and… Oh, I remember that Kihachi got a phone call, then hurried right out of our place. Now that I think about it, I bet that was from Dr. Surumi." If the Gastrea looked normal enough but caused Suibara alarm later, the forensic pathologist must have discovered something highly unusual about it. But, just as before, this lead was getting them nowhere. Rentaro felt like they had a pretty decent selection of puzzle pieces, but there was no telling how they fit together to form a complete picture. It was clear, however, that they now had information their foes absolutely did not want them to know. If the enemy picked up on their presence, they would undoubtedly face the full brunt of their vengeance. Hotaru was sadly not privy to Suibara and Dr. Surumi's first exchange—but then again, if she were, chances were that she wouldn't be breathing right now. A thorny dilemma. They were now at the end of Shidao University grounds, an ornate cast-iron gate in the red brick wall that surrounded the area marking the front entrance. There, Rentaro noticed a security camera positioned overhead, watching the thin stream of students going in and out. He kept his head down as he passed by, but for a single moment, he couldn't help but look at it out of the corner of his eye. The moment his eyes met the lens illuminated within the domed shell, he felt a chill run down his spine. He hurried his way out of the school. "I found him!" The tension across the control room was palpable as the operator shrieked out. "Where?" shrieked Hitsuma, trying to contain his excitement. Instead of replying, the operator put up an image of a gate somewhere in the city on the gigantic main holopanel. "Where's this?" "The front gate of the Shidao University Hospital in District 6." Tadashima watched on, agape. "You're kidding me… So he didn't flee to the Outer Districts? He's been walking around inland the whole time?" The operator tapped at her panel, highlighting a section of the image. This wasn't the grainy footage of a generation or two ago, too fuzzy to be admissible as court evidence. The video transmitted to the server was clear as day. Nobody had to strain their eyes to decipher the scene before them as, for a single moment, a downward-facing man in black clothing peered at the camera. It was apparently just enough time for the face-recognition program to do its work. Next, the operator stopped the video and zoomed in on the figure's face. There was no mistaking it. It was Rentaro Satomi. Hitsuma turned his head left and right, scanning the control room for a certain face. Soon finding it, he sidled up to Yuga. The boy's hands were in his pockets, but the look on his face made it seem like he was about to break into song. "What is the meaning of this?" Hitsuma said, his voice low enough that only Yuga could hear. "You told me your sniper bullet made a clean hit on him. And now he's up and walking around!" Yuga shrugged. "Guess it wasn't so clean after all. But what's the problem? This just makes things more fun." "Fun? You find this fun…?" Having Rentaro alive would not only make the police the laughingstock of Tokyo Area—it'd also instill a sense of hope in Kisara Tendo, right when Hitsuma thought he had her tamed and obedient. Before Hitsuma could explode in rage, Yuga used his right hand to point out a section of the holopanel. "Mr. Hitsuma, that girl there was Kihachi Suibara's Initiator, right?" He was pointing at the quiet, demure girl with the bobbed haircut walking next to Rentaro. He had seen the face several times in the evidence sheets. There was no mistaking this, either. "Hotaru Kouro…?" Kihachi Suibara's Initiator. They had ordered Nest to conduct an undercover investigation, but they had no idea she was working in tandem with this fugitive. Tadashima approached Hitsuma, saluting. "I'll take a car over to headquarters to request support. In the meantime, sir, I want you to stay in contact with me on the radio and tell me where the suspect is headed." He then briskly walked out of the control room. Hitsuma watched him go, stony-faced until he was sure the inspector was gone. Then he took out his phone and made a call, his mind running in circles as he listened to the ringing. He couldn't afford to have the police catch Rentaro. He wasn't sure how close this civsec was to the truth, but he'd already caused this much trouble for them—it would take a lot more than the status quo to take care of him. He couldn't afford another mistake. The phone picked up. "Nest? Can you create a traffic jam for me? I've got a police car that I need to have delayed. Also, he's still alive. Get me Hummingbird. We're gonna crush him." The up-to-now composed Yuga blanched at this. "Wait a minute, Mr. Hitsuma! Why Hummingbird? Rentaro Satomi's my prey. I'm gonna head out." "People have seen your face." "My body was specifically designed to be capable of suppressing Rentaro Satomi! Who could possibly be more qualified than I am?" "Hummingbird's good enough." "But…!" "Enough!" Yuga's mouth stayed open, still hoping to get a final word or two in, but he thought better of it. He left the control room, gnashing his teeth the whole way. Hitsuma, his breathing accelerated, glared at the close-up of the boy in the holopanel. If he's pouncing upon us, trying to take us down with him…then it's time to prove to him that dead men really don't tell tales. 4 "Well, here's the place. You can just toss the key back into the manager's room once you're done." The building manager used a bony hand to give Hotaru the key, distractedly using his other to adjust his reading glasses as he turned and left. Wasn't the manager supposed to accompany them if someone besides the person renting the place came in? He didn't act like he cared to, anyway. Rentaro gave a look to his "sister" standing next to him. Once she was sure the manager was gone, Hotaru wiped the smile from her face and returned to her usual dour expression. "You got a problem with something?" she asked emotionlessly, once she noticed Rentaro staring at her. "It's almost night. I'd like to get this over with by the end of today." The yellow sunlight streaming in through a west-facing window felt warm against his skin. They were finally about to be freed from the blazing fire of the afternoon. They were in the hallway of a high-rise apartment complex. Rentaro looked around. The floor was comprised of two parallel corridors linked by a landing that offered two elevators, an emergency staircase, and another one for regular use. There was also an external stairwell with a ramp. Ever since the Plaza Hotel, Rentaro was in the habit of scoping out the floor plan and potential escape routes wherever he went. Looking at the nameplate, they saw 1203—AYAME SURUMI written on a faded piece of paper. They had already rung the doorbell several times before visiting the manager's room, but they tried it again once more with a sliver of hope. The artificial chime went ding-dong, ding-dong twice, but there was no response from within. At his feet, Rentaro noticed a dead cicada on the floor, frozen and exposing its grotesque-looking stomach to them. A small army of ants was already on the scene, ready to feast on the meal. "I don't know if she's holed up in there or she's gone somewhere else," Hotaru said, "but hopefully we can find something about Black Swan." "Holed up? 'Gone' somewhere? You really think it's gonna be that easy for her?" "Huh?" "Hotaru, have you ever seen a dead body before?" Hotaru looked startled for a moment. "I'll go in first." Rentaro unlocked the door and opened it a crack. Then he shivered. Through the crevice, he could feel an unnervingly strong chill—along with the light scent of something rotting. Pulling the breechblock on the weapon at his hip to ensure he could fire it at any time, he silently went inside. Immediately to his left was the kitchen, equipped with a semi-circular dining table. Some vegetables lay shriveled on the kitchen counter, and a half-eaten piece of cake was currently serving as an all-inclusive resort for a clan of black ants. She might have been in the midst of preparing a meal—there was a bowl of sliced-up vegetables soaking in water—although the surface was now entirely covered in black mold. They knew from before that all the apartments in the building contained two rooms and a kitchen. Keeping his guard up and his gun cocked, Rentaro brought a hand to another doorknob and slowly pulled it. He couldn't see inside at first—some curtains had been drawn—but it was her bedroom, as well as the site of her home computer. There was also an air conditioner chugging away as it spat cold air into the room. It sounded unnaturally loud in the otherwise completely silent apartment. Despite being occupied, the apartment was almost bare of decoration, its colors uniformly beige. There wasn't so much as a poster on the wall, although one shelf rack contained a digital picture frame. The final room lay beyond. Drumming up all the willpower he had, Rentaro pulled the door open. There was dust all over the closets and dresser, as well as the large desk that sat next to a bookshelf that occupied an entire wall. But there wasn't any sign of a corpse. The rotting smell was already fading away. So where did that come from…? Just as he thought about it, Rentaro heard a sound that made him gasp nervously. He ran back to the kitchen, only to find Hotaru frozen like a statue, her eyes focused on a singular point. He realized that, from her position, she could see the bathroom door. Below it, a very dark red liquid was oozing out. "Get back," Rentaro said, biting his lip to keep his voice from shaking. Taking a moment to compose himself, he gently pushed the door open. The body was kneeling on the floor, face still under the surface of the water in the bathtub. It was naked, the skin pale and bereft of blood. The long hair from its head floated on the water like algae. The water itself was black in color. On the floor, near the drain, was a pool of coagulated blood. At Rentaro's feet were three or so fingernails, appearing to have been pulled from the corpse. Torture must have been involved. Judging by how it only took three nails, they must have extracted the information they wanted from her in relatively short order. Rentaro gave the body a quick once-over, then turned around and opened the closet, finding a large picnic blanket that he then placed the body on. He wondered if altering the crime scene was such a great idea, but he and Hotaru had already been seen together, and besides, the police could figure out when she died and realize soon enough that Rentaro couldn't have been involved. Somewhere in the midst of this, Hotaru came up next to him. He thought she'd be frozen in fear. He was wrong. "That's a real pity. We could have gotten a lot from her alive. Guess they beat us to the punch." Rentaro was shocked. "A real pity? Beat us to the punch? Is that all you have to say? You knew her, right?" "So?" Hotaru steeled her gaze at him, a little annoyed. Rentaro balled his hands into fists, the anger welling to the surface as he shook his head. "You're making no sense to me at all…!" "Why do I need to?" She turned her back to him, then rotated herself halfway back. "You're free to drop out of this, if you insist." "Like hell I am." "Oh?" she said, blithely walking into the bathroom to check out the body. "You know, given the time, she's been decomposing pretty slowly. I guess that's because of the AC running." Rentaro took a deep breath, bottling up his irritation. This girl was deeply involved with the whole case. Being with her got him closer to the truth; being alone kept him firmly away from it. It was theoretically far more efficient than attempting all of this solo. He had to make the best of it. —Even if my partner's somebody I absolutely cannot respect as a person. It was also very clear now that their foes had no problem rubbing out anyone who got too close to the truth. They definitely weren't out of the shark tank yet. "All right. Let's split up and search the place. We might find something." Hotaru walked off in apparent agreement. Watching her go, Rentaro went back into the bedroom. Having a dead body in the bathroom made him all the more reluctant to continue, but continue he did. The first thing he noticed was the digital frame beyond the door. It was cycling through some pictures with the main university building in the background, presumably from her undergraduate days. It must have been fun for her. She was smiling in each and every one of them. A lot of them also included a man, perhaps a love interest. Rentaro recalled something Dr. Kakujo told him: "Surumi conducted a Gastrea autopsy about a month ago, but the electronic version of her report's disappeared from our database for some reason. I know Surumi printed out a paper version for our records right beforehand, so she might still have it kicking around somewhere." Suibara and Dr. Surumi were connected by that Gastrea. It seemed natural to think that autopsy report had something to do with all this. Sidling into the next room, Rentaro noticed that someone had broken the lock on a drawer in the desk and rummaged around inside. He groaned. Whoever tortured and killed Dr. Surumi must have asked her about that report. A day late and a dollar short, yet again. Their foes thought of everything. But not even the enemy could be perfect. As long as they weren't machines, they had to make some kind of human error. There must be something. Praying to himself, he methodically took each book off the bookshelf and paged through it. Then he noticed something on the ground in the tight crevice between the desk and the wall. Carefully pulling it out and blowing the dust off, he realized it was a printed-out photograph. The moment he looked at it, Rentaro's eyebrows arched downward. The photo depicted a Gastrea in mid-autopsy. The stomach had been cut open, with a mark engraved on the translucent, mucusy organs, like the insides of a squid. Looking closer, he could tell the mark was a five-pointed star, a delicately designed feather on one of the points. "Hotaru, come over here." He showed her the photograph. "Does this look familiar to you?" "The claws you see on the side of the photo… They look kind of like the ones on the Gastrea from a month ago I told you about. I don't know what that star's for, though." "Oh…" "You think this is what Dr. Kakujo was talking about?" "Probably. I don't think she had a picture as grotesque as this one sitting around for decoration." Gastrea may not be your typical wildlife, but they were still the creations of nature. They wouldn't naturally be sporting pentagrams on their stomachs. As he thought this over, a shrill sound made Rentaro's heart leap. It was the phone ringing from the bedroom. He slipped inside—first his head, then his entire body—and stood gingerly in front of the noise source. It was a landline phone—a rarity, given how smartphones and satellite phones dominated the market. Rentaro gave Hotaru a silent nod, then slowly picked up the receiver and put it to his ear. "Hey, this is Satomi, right?" The heavy, overwrought voice was hard to make out over the nonhuman pitch. It was someone using a voice changer to disguise his or her real one. Rentaro stared at the receiver for a moment. "Who…are you?" "The enemy's about to head your way. Code name Hummingbird. A soldier from the New World Creation Project." "What're you talking about? The enemy? Hummingbird?" "You're free to think I'm lying. But maybe it'll make sense to you when I say this: That's the one who killed Kenji Houbara, ex–New Humanity." "Wha—?" This was all beyond his understanding, but at least one thing was clear. This was no prank, no pack of lies—the voice on the other end of the line was warning Rentaro about a real, and impending, danger. "Lemme tell you what Hummingbird can do. You should probably use the time to devise a strategy with that li'l lady you got there with you." Rentaro fell silent, waiting for him to continue. "You there? With Hummingbird, you got—" Then, with a click, the call ended. "Hey, what happened? Hey!" "—Lemme have it." A hand reached out from the side to snatch the receiver away. Hotaru fought with the phone a little bit, but then shook her head and put the receiver down. "I'm not even getting static. Someone's cut the phone lines, haven't they?" Hotaru fumbled around her pocket for her cell phone, looked at it, then pointed it at Rentaro. NO SERVICE, it read. He felt another shiver run down his spine. He knew they had service when they entered the apartment. The room, absent any other activity, was silent. "Our enemy's here," Hotaru said. "In this building. They're already inside." The sound of a propeller slicing through the air echoed throughout the cargo room. Rika Kurume opened the sliding door. The wind blew against her body, the cold air flapping her dress around and almost knocking her straw hat off. The evening sun, half-hidden behind the Monolith to the west, was bright enough that she had to squint. She was in the cargo room of a transport plane one thousand meters in the air. It was clear out, with no stratus or nimbostratus clouds blocking her view. The cityscape beneath her looked like an elaborate miniature; there were no people or even cars visible. She could smell a cool clearness in the air. "Hummingbird—jumping out." Rika took a step away from the cargo room, then fell backward, leaving her body to the air. She pointed her head down, her long hair forming a comet's tail as she plunged straight toward the ground. The whole time, she was performing a mental countdown. That, plus her experience, told her when she was at the 500-meter point. Then she twisted her body around, spreading her limbs wide like a flying squirrel and pulling the cord on her Ram-Air parachute. It opened, the tremendous feeling of deceleration jarring her body from the harness on her back downward. It didn't last long. Opening her eyes and looking down below, she saw her feet beat against thin air. Craning her neck back upward, she watched her open parachute grow, bathed in the orange-red of the setting sun. Making one final check of the city below her, she waved her right arm to the side. A point of light appeared on the roof of one of the many buildings down below, an arrow labeled TARGET marking it out in her vision alongside its vertical and horizontal range. It was being implanted on her retinas by the augmented-reality contact lenses she put on before the drop began. Rika used her control lines to carefully make fine-tuned adjustments as she descended. Before long, her targeted apartment building loomed large in her sights, both feet pointed at the dead-center point. No matter how many times she dropped, the force of the impact always tended to make her fall forward. Today was no exception. The parachute settled down on top of Rika soon afterward. Removing the belt and escaping the tangled chute, she put on the straw hat she had stuck between her dress and the harness and hugged her favorite teddy bear against her arm as she patted the debris off her skirt. Then she took a cell phone out from one of her spandex socks and called a certain number. "This is Hummingbird. I'm safe at the target point." "Copy that. I'm sending target faces to you now." In just a few moments, the file was sent over and floating in the air on her holodisplay. There were two photos—a boy slightly older than she was, and a girl slightly younger, captioned RENTARO SATOMI and HOTARU KOURO, respectively. "Hang on, Nest," Rika said in her high, resentful voice. "Don't you think you're overworking me a little? I just killed some weird old guy a few days ago. You're not giving me much free time between jobs." The voice on the other end of the line seemed unfazed. "This is your mission," it said. "Stop complaining about it. I've electronically shut off the building from the rest of the world for thirty minutes, just like you asked me to. If you lose that window, we're gonna lose them again, too." Rika rolled her eyes, then pointed at the photo of Rentaro with a finger. She gave a light, pity-laden laugh. "Dark Stalker couldn't kill this target, right? Talk about pathetic." "Yeah. Dark Stalker actually had a message for you. He said, 'Don't underestimate Rentaro Satomi, or else you might be the one regretting it.'" Now Rika's laugh was indifferent and haughty. "Oh, what is he, stupid? He screwed up, and now he's making excuses for it? Laaaame… Whatever, though. I'll make this quick." As Rika spoke, two smaller parachutes settled down on the building roof behind her. They looked like regular old tires at first—each about the size of a flying disc with beveled edges used for high-speed, long-distance throws in disc golf—but there was nothing typical about them. Rika's brain was implanted with a brain-machine interface (BMI) chip that allowed her to move and operate objects linked to her mind by thought alone. These tires were the "interface" her mind worked with. "All right, Necropolis Striders—it's time to get up, my beloved familiars." She brought her palms together. The compact motors within each tire began to whir, and they stood up as if operating by themselves, whirling in a tight circle around Rika. As they did, she reviewed her map of the apartment building, finding the phone line running behind the basement switchboard. It seemed to her that disabling the alarm system would be a good idea, too. "Right. Let's make sure nothing gets in my way first. Offensive Enchant: Thorn!" There was the sound of metal piercing rubber as the tires suddenly grew large blades across their entire external surface. In an instant, they had both become sharp, lethal stabbing weapons, cutting grooves on the floor as they continued to wheel their way around Rika. The assassin pointed at the rooftop door, then sent her Striders away. "Go!" On her signal, the shockwave engines installed on each Strider revved into action, propelling them at high speed. They smashed into the steel door, their "thorns" seeking to cut through its weak points like a buzz saw. The sound, and the sparks, were terrific. But before long, the latch and deadbolt were cut clean off, the disabled door slamming inward to the floor. The Striders, not particularly moved by this sight, used their shockwave engines to pinball their way down the floor, the ceiling, the walls—on their way into the landing, leaving deep ruts wherever their rampage took them. Soon, Rika could hear screaming and the sound of shredding flesh from a floor below. The Striders would never stop until Rentaro Satomi and Hotaru Kouro were dead. Whenever Rika activated them, she made sure no one was breathing afterward. Hence the "Necropolis" part. Wherever they went, a city of death reigned. Before long, Strider 1 sent a signal to Rika indicating it had cut the targeted phone line. Strider 2 was keeping watch at the front door, ensuring no one tried to flee outside. Enjoying the carnage playing out in her mind, Rika adjusted her grip on the plush bear and sang to herself as she walked downstairs. "Overrr the raaaainbow…" With their phone call cut off, Rentaro and Hotaru found themselves having to come up with a new plan of action. Fast. "This is bad," Rentaro said. "The guy on the phone suggested he knew you were here, too." Hotaru tried to present a façade of coolness as she thought over the situation. It was difficult given the adrenaline coursing through her, urging her on toward revenge. This was the perfect chance. She never even dreamed she'd have an opportunity to swing the iron hammer of justice so quickly. Reaching for the pair of government handguns on her back holster, she closed her eyes as she felt the sensation of steel in her hands, praying for their salvation as she undid the safety on both. Kihachi, I need your strength. "We better focus on getting out of this building for now." "No. I'm taking them on. Now I can finally get revenge for Kihachi." "You're crazy. We have no idea what kind of enemy we're facing or what they're capable of. They'll kill you." Hotaru sneered at Rentaro out of the corner of her eye. This was exactly the kind of limp-wristed feebleness that got Kihachi killed in the first place. "I told you. The only reason I'm working with you is so I could hunt down the enemies after your blood. You've been the best decoy I could ever have hoped for. If you think we've got some kind of partnership going on, let me assure you, it's all in your head. I always hated you anyway." "Hotaru, this really isn't a good time for this, all right? The enemy's probably got you on their hit list by now. If we stand here and argue like this… That's exactly what our enemy wants from us. We'll waste whatever chance we have to win this." Rentaro extended a hand. "You need to work with me, Hotaru. The enemy's shut us off from the outside world. If they're willing to do that, then worst-case scenario, they're willing to massacre every man, woman, and child in this building. We need to get everyone evacuated—" He was cut off by a dry, shrill slap. Hotaru, face full of sullen resentment, beat his hand away from her. "If you're so hell-bent on saving people's lives, why didn't you save Kihachi's?" Rentaro winced, unable to respond. "Rentaro, are you really the hero? This guy who took all those demoralized civsecs in the Third Kanto Battle and drove them to defeat Aldebaran? Because you don't look like it to me." He kept his eyes straight on her. "The dead don't care about revenge, Hotaru." "I don't care about you. I'm hunting them down, and I don't need your help. Good-bye." "Hotaru!" She headed for the door, Rentaro hot on her heels. Out in the hallway, she closed the door behind her and took a deep breath, focusing her mind's eye on her navel. She could feel her limbs warm up, her five senses expanding themselves and releasing their powers. Quietly, Hotaru opened her eyes. He's wrong. I'll be fine by myself. I'll prove it by killing my enemy alone. She scanned the hallway before her, ensuring nothing was amiss. The phone was dead, but the lights were still on. Then, above her, she heard a scream and the sound of something being sawed through. She raced up the stairs, two steps at a time, and stormed through the thirteenth-floor doorway. The smell of blood weighed heavily upon her nose. It was, as Rentaro put it just moments ago, a massacre. Dismembered corpses littered the hallway, dark-red blood tracing its way across the linoleum floor. The ceiling and walls had heavy ruts etched into them, as if a giant was swinging a long broadsword around the hall. She crouched down to look at the body of a female victim. Her wounds appeared to have been made with a coarse, sawlike weapon. Looking closer, many of the bodies featured missing arms, legs, and heads, with others in a multitude of small pieces. It must have been hell for them. They must have come out of their apartments to investigate the noise and screaming. Around the corner, she saw an open elevator car with a body preventing the doors from fully closing. Every time the doors attempted to close, they squished against the corpse in gruesome fashion, changing its position just a little each time before opening back up. Rentaro was right. The enemy was killing indiscriminately. An enemy so completely free of morals like this— Can I really beat them? Hearing a quiet motor nearby, Hotaru turned to find something on top of a body at the other end of the hallway. At first, she thought she was looking at a jaguar gnawing on the flesh of some kind of wild game. It took several moments for her to realize it was a small tire, the size of a flying disc. It was covered in serrated blades, and given that they didn't seem to deflate the tire at all, she figured it must be filled with some kind of reinforced plastic or the like instead. Right now, it was spewing exhaust from two rear-facing pipes as its blades ground their way into the corpse. Instinctively, she could tell this was it. She had no idea what made it tick, but this machine was the perpetrator of this massacre. Is that Hummingbird? She shook her head. No. This isn't even human. The killing machine changed position—it had noticed her. By the time Hotaru realized the danger, it was already too late. With a scream wholly different from anything a gasoline engine could produce, it blazed a trail straight for her. Witnessing the saw blades proceeding toward her at worrying speed, Hotaru crossed her guns together in self-defense. The tire hit them, sending her reeling back as it spun against her defensive shield, sparks flying. She gritted her teeth, attempting to push back with her strength. The distance between them grew, just enough for her to take aim and blaze away with both triggers. Then Hotaru found herself gazing in wonder again. Running a zigzag across the hall, the tire dodged every one of her .45-caliber shots, jumping off the floor and latching itself onto the wall. It ran along, not letting gravity affect its joyride as it crossed over to the ceiling and carved out a track for itself, advancing upon Hotaru again. Hotaru, her aim upset by this unexpected move, instantly leapt to the side. A moment later, the murder machine's claws had sunk into the floor where she was. She gave a kick, knowing that it could cost her her leg. One of the knives stabbed her in the knee. A groan of pain leaked out from between her gritted teeth. But her enemy paid the price, too. The tire, taking the full brunt of an Initiator's kick, was sent against the wall, smashing into and almost through it before falling to the floor, twitching in its final death throes. Hotaru jumped with one foot, healing her right leg instantaneously in the air as she sank both of her heels into the wheel portion of the tire. She landed on it, took out both guns, and fired a flurry of shots at point-blank range. She experienced it all—the noise, the eye-watering flashes, the recoil kicking at her arms, the spent cases bouncing off the walls and floor. The results pulverized the spokes and smashed into the shockwave engine installed in the hub. At the same time, the slide stop on both guns popped up, indicating she was out of ammo. There was a moment of silence, the smell of smoke invading Hotaru's nostrils. She resented the heavy panting she heard, only to realize it was coming from her. She wiped the sweat from her brow. The mystery machine was dead. Somehow or other, she had won. If she had her way, she'd prefer this to be the only enemy she had to face. "Help me!" Turning toward the sudden shout, she realized a girl was running toward her. She had all but told Rentaro that she didn't care about survivors. Yet the sight of someone actually making it through this disaster alive still felt like a relief to her. The girl bounded right up to Hotaru, hugging her as she did. With a jnnk sound, Hotaru convulsed as a shockwave spread across her body. "Huh?" Slowly, her eyes fell upon her chest. The girl, clad in a straw hat and carrying a teddy bear, had removed a knife she had hidden in her stuffed toy. And now the edge of it was— The girl brought her lips to Hotaru's ear. "You dummy." "Ahh…hhh…" The blade, easily making its way through her tank top, had gone right through her left lung. It was long, black, and over halfway inside her. Varanium, without a doubt. "Well? Can you feel it? Can you see? How does it feel to be dying?" "N-no…" Was this the girl—? "Good-bye, my splendid princess." She wrested the knife away from her body. Then, the next point she struck was the heart. Hotaru's body convulsed as if struck by lightning, while she coughed up copious amounts of blood. The girl took a step back to dodge the stream. The Initiator's vision blurred as she fell to her knees. Her fingertips felt cold. Her blurred eyesight looked up at her enemy. The girl in the dress grinned as she looked back down at her. The ground approached. Before her face even hit the linoleum, Hotaru's consciousness was torn apart, as she embraced the end of her life. Hotaru's assailant picked up the fallen girl's hand, ensuring there was no pulse. She checked her pupils, too, just in case. Listening for a heartbeat as well seemed like overkill, so she skipped that step.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-05-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter021.txt	Black Bullet, Vol. 5: Rentaro Satomi, Fugitive Something about the sight of the body struck Rika as funny. She trampled on Hotaru's fixed expression, stamping on it with her sole. "Just onnnnnne leeefffft!" Rika turned around and helped herself to the stairway, seeking her final enemy. 5 Rentaro pushed the door's intercom button. The moment the door opened, he took a hand to the edge, pushed himself inside, and readied his weapon. "Get out. Now. Keep it slow." The bathrobe-clad old man, nonplussed to be facing the barrel of a gun this time of night, sheepishly went out the door, not quite managing to find the right timing to scream or at least act surprised. "Could I ask who you are?" Rentaro ignored the question that finally did come out, prodding the elderly man forward until he was in the elevator. Inside were ten other people from the twelfth floor, all corralled there by him in the same manner. "Is it money? Do you want money?" "What was that noise just now? Was that gunfire? What's going on?" "—I don't have time to explain. I'm sending you guys down to the lobby, so just get out of the building and call for help." A few moments ago, there was gunfire and the sounds of combat from the floor above. The enemy was up there. If he could get these people down, at least they wouldn't run into the guy. That was Rentaro's line of thinking as he pushed the L button and took a few steps back from the door. Before he could see them off, though, misgivings began to creep into his mind. The enemy cut off the phone lines to prevent him from contacting external help. They'd need switchboard access for that, and that switchboard had to be either on the first floor or the basement. Definitely not on the thirteenth or higher. Which meant there had to be multiple hostiles—one snapping the cords, one engaging Hotaru above him. The moment before the door closed, Rentaro stuck his arm in to stop it. "Wait. I'm getting on, too." The residents of the twelfth floor dolefully glared at him. God damn it, I'm trying to protect you guys. The doors began to close again. This time, Rentaro stopped them because of a voice shouting "Wait! Help!" from across the corridor. A girl in a straw hat, maybe thirteen or fourteen, was making a dash for the elevator, teddy bear at the ready. "There's some kind of tire monster upstairs! There's dead people up there!" "Tire monster?" Rentaro exclaimed. Then he had a thought. He put his hand up to around chest level. "Hey, did you see a girl about this tall up there?" The girl shook her head, tugging at her stuffed animal a little. "Oh…" The gunshots and other noise were gone. Whichever way the battle went for Hotaru, it was over. Hopefully she made it. Looking at the button panel, Rentaro noticed the building had fifteen floors and two basement levels. The occupants of the car, perhaps moved by the girl's disturbing testimony, remained meekly silent. The door finally closed. The L button was lit. There was a slight sense of weightlessness as the car shuddered into action. The number on the top of the panel began to count downward, far too slowly for everyone's tastes. Nobody said a word. The smell of stagnant sweat permeated the car. Rentaro had a bad taste in his mouth. The silence was painful, and not just because of the lack of personal space. Rentaro wiped his palms against his slacks, his brain preoccupied with the thought of the elevator jarring to a halt and the overhead light going out. Luckily, it didn't happen. The elevator let out a cheery ding as it reached the lobby. Suddenly, a ferocious sense of dread struck Rentaro, for reasons he failed to articulate. —Then someone or something smashed into the car with a loud roar, strong enough to put a dent in the door. Gigantic serrated blades made their way through the slit in the middle. Then they began to spin, generating a cascade of sparks. Pressing the DOOR CLOSE button did nothing. It was being pried open. "Aaaaaaahhh!" Doom and panic prevailed inside the car. Rentaro jostled his way to the front. No time to think. Sizing up the whirling blades wresting the doors open, he rolled up his right sleeve, revealing his cybernetic arm as he held his body low. Waiting for the moment when the door was open enough, he activated his arm. There was a loud percussion, followed by a single empty cartridge spinning in the air. "—Kohaku Tensei!" He unleashed his arm, driven by a sudden massive propulsion that sent him into the lobby. The punch, easily a match for the mysterious spinning object, cut through the blades. He could feel the blow hitting home. The tables were quickly turned. Rentaro's blow, powerful enough to send a microbus into the air, smashed right through the spinning saw, sending it bounding off the floor and into the opposite wall. "What is that…?!" Now the enemy was fully in sight. "Tire monster" was the only way to describe it. Its engine revved loudly. An unmanned drone? Or…? The person who called Dr. Surumi's home came back to his memory. "The enemy's about to head your way. Code name Hummingbird. A soldier from the New World Creation Project." If this was what this Hummingbird was capable of, Rentaro knew someone who had notably similar capabilities. Tina Sprout. She had a brain-machine interface that let her use brain signals to operate autonomous machines—technology that Ain Rand, genius scientist and former colleague of Sumire Muroto's, pioneered and produced. Meanwhile, Yuga Mitsugi—aka Dark Stalker—boasted the same abilities as Rentaro's 21-Form Varanium Artificial Eye, an advanced piece of tech that Sumire expended countless hours of research and effort to complete. What kind of group would it take to not only copy this tech, but actually upgrade it? Who was behind the New World Creation Project…? Rentaro had little time to think about it. The tire monster resumed its position. He removed the Beretta from his holster and fired two shots. Shockingly, the enemy zigzagged left and right to dodge them. Rentaro deliberately ignored the gunsights his eye put up for him and fired again, aiming at a fire extinguisher near the hole the tire just gouged into the wall. The sturdily built Varanium bullet broke through the glass and dented the aluminum exterior. Rentaro kept firing. On the fourth shot, the extinguisher finally gave up the ghost against the supersonic 9-mm Varanium bullets and went flying. He was ready for this. "Haaahhh!" The next moment, he closed in on the tire, gun aimed at the engine inside its hub. "Tendo Martial Arts First Style, Number 12—" He triggered a cartridge in his arm. The smell of gunpowder burned his nostrils. The monster shuddered in fear, but it was too late. "—Senkuu Renen!" The entire floor shook as his hand plowed through the tire's engine and sank into the floor itself with a loud bang. The force of the point-blank strike rendered his enemy motionless, the faintly blinking signal light on it fading as it fell to the ground. Once he was sure it was done for, Rentaro loosened up his body and took a breath. Leaving a BMI-driven machine unattended would be suicide. It was better for him to crush it while he had the chance. It was a lesson Rentaro had to learn the hard way in his fight against Tina. Rentaro took a look around the first-floor lobby as the smoky mist from the extinguisher began to dissipate. The sight made him furrow his brows. The BMI devices had done in some of the residents who'd noticed early on that something was up and had tried to escape. The bodies were now in multiple pieces and splattered across the walls and floor. Was everyone in the New World Creation Project this heartless…? Then, remembering his duty, he turned back through the mist, toward the elevator as he waved his arms. "It's all clear now!" The people slowly, warily filed out of the elevator car. One of them, the old man in the bathrobe, asked a question. "Wh-what is this? What's going on…?" Rentaro shook his head. "I don't know," he said. "All I can say is that the lobby's safe. All of you get out right now and call the police." "What about you?" "I'll get as many people out of here as I can until the police come." It wasn't a very well-made plan, but without so much as an emergency alarm at his disposal, the best one he could think of involved positioning himself and the residents up and down the elevator until police arrived. Considering he was a wanted man, he wasn't entirely sure he had an escape route if the authorities decided to send an army of cops his way, but he wasn't willing to simply leave this hideous murder scene behind him and run. Besides, the whole reason for this massacre was because Rentaro was here, paying a visit to Dr. Surumi. Rentaro watched the twelfth-floor denizens leave out the front door, then turned around. He noticed someone still on the elevator. The girl with the teddy bear. Rentaro irritatedly waved at her. "Hey! You get out of here! You want to get killed?" The girl meekly smiled back. "Let me help, too," she said. "Two people would be more efficient than one, right?" It was a fairly incredible request to Rentaro's ears. Unless you were trained to do so, or at least had a fairly strong sense of duty, you wouldn't be wanting to help other people in a situation where your own life was in danger. If a lion was chasing you, your main focus wouldn't be on the friend running away with you. But this girl…? Rentaro was honestly more suspicious than thankful. The girl gave him a flick of her eyebrows and smiled. "Come on, let's go. Even as we speak, those tire monsters are still running around, aren't they? It'll be twice as efficient with the two of us." She had a point. Rentaro closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them. "All right. You can help if you want. I'll get off at the eleventh floor," he said as he entered the car and pushed DOOR CLOSE, "so you take the tenth." Then he smelled something sweet. Perfume. He didn't notice it when they were packed in like sardines earlier, but she must have been wearing it. This triggered something in his brain. Something he heard from Sumire at her underground lab when he discussed the murders of Kenji Houbara, Saya Takamura, and Giichi Ebihara. "I got all curious about these murders, so I had Miori give me some information. There were no witnesses to Kenji Houbara's stabbing at the theater and they couldn't find any fingerprints on the knife, but apparently there was a faintly sweet scent left on the weapon." —A faintly sweet scent? Rentaro shuddered. If the tire monsters were BMI devices like Tina's Shenfield system, there had to be someone nearby the scene controlling them. If Hummingbird was inside the building right now, then where? The elevator door closed with a clattering sound. Rentaro's pulse quickened, his chest pained. He felt nauseated. His hand, checking the position of the holster around his hips, was drenched in sweat. He looked at the girl opposite him in the car, but the large straw hat made it difficult to gauge her expression. She held the teddy bear in her left hand, and now, with her right hand, she was fumbling around its stomach area. Taking a closer look, there was an odd indentation in the bear's stomach. Clearly there was something besides stuffing in it. Rentaro's brain went on red alert. The elevator door was fully closed. The girl moved. Rentaro moved with her. At lightning speed, his gun was drawn and aimed. But the next thing he knew, his vision was dominated by the barrel of another gun, one aimed squarely at his head. The girl had a ferociously self-confident smile on her face. "Oh-hoh? How come you noticed that, huh? I think this might be the first time I didn't get the first attack on someone. It's kind of novel!" "Are you Hummingbird?" "Uh-huh! I'm the second assassin." Rentaro gritted his teeth bitterly. I am such an idiot. How could I fail to notice the assassin when she's right in front of me? "Listen, um, I kinda lied to you earlier." Hummingbird waited a moment before showing off a mischievous smile. "Hotaru Kouro's actually been cold dead for a while now." Fury erupted from Rentaro's fingertips to the top of his head. He squeezed the trigger, just as he tilted his head to the side to get out of her sights. His enemy mirrored him, doing the exact same thing. Two deafening gunshots erupted. The heat from the muzzle flash opposite him made him squint his eyes as he felt a sonic boom from the bullet whizzing by his ear at somewhere above Mach 1. One of the shots ricocheted, zinging between the walls of the elevator car—but by some diabolical coincidence, neither party was injured. Now it was time to disable the enemy's weapon. Rentaro slapped the girl's thin arm away, smashing the elbow on his cybernetic right arm against the palm of her hand. She yelped in pain as the gun fell. A moment later, it transformed into a maniacal laugh. What is with this girl? Hummingbird lowered her body, then unleashed a kick aimed at Rentaro's crotch. It was a clean hit. Rentaro fell back just in time to take a blow to a joint right above the arm holding his gun. The pain made him feel like his arm was being twisted off. It made him quickly shut off his pain receptors, but it was just enough to make him drop his own gun. The girl rammed into him, plastering him against the wall of the cramped elevator and knocking the wind out of him. His back slammed against the button panel, hard enough to make the elevator shudder to life. A cold sweat ran down his side. He was flexing his muscles to the limit, but the sheer unrelenting force his enemy used against him was something no young girl should possess. Desperate, he finally managed to land three knee strikes on her hips, waiting for her to let up just a little bit before sidestepping around and behind her. Then his brain triggered a danger signal. He reared his head back out of instinct, just in time for Hummingbird's nails to miss the eyes they were targeting. There was no time to even be shocked. He shouted in pain at the blow she then landed on his left calf. The upper-body eye gouge segued perfectly into a low kick. Taking a dagger out from the teddy bear lying on the floor, Hummingbird held it close to her stomach and rushed forward. There was too little space to escape. With an electronic beep, the door opened behind him. The elevator was on the fifth floor. Rentaro realized he had an escape path after all. There was no time to evaluate how practical his plan was. Grabbing his foe by both shoulders, he diverted the kinetic energy of her bull rush behind his back, holding his own body down as he sent her flying in a classic judo-style overhead throw. Unable to stop herself, the girl flew into the air, a surprised look on her face. She must not have realized what had happened to her at first. Before she could, her tiny body smashed into the opposite wall of the elevator lobby at full speed. It offered Rentaro a perfect chance at a follow-up strike, but his leg was still in pain from the low kick, preventing him from taking nimble action. Hummingbird leaped back to her feet, hiked up her skirt, drew her auxiliary pistol from a holster strapped to her thigh, and fired. Rentaro hid behind the elevator frame, turning his head against the ensuing blast and rain of sparks. He jabbed at the DOOR CLOSE button. The elevator obeyed after a moment. He pushed the LOBBY button. The elevator began to descend. He leaned his body against the now-pockmarked elevator wall, just barely managing not to crumple to the ground. Every part of him was screaming. His bandaged wound was about to reopen. For the time being, at least, he was distant from his foe, but the threat was no less present. His mind raced. What should I do? What should I do? Then the elevator rattled like it was the victim of a sudden earthquake, the ceiling light flickering on and off. Rentaro held on to the wall to keep from slipping. Something must've fallen on it from above. But what? The answer was obvious—Hummingbird had fallen on him from the fifth floor. Rentaro threw his body to the ground, grabbing his Beretta and the gun his enemy dropped, then unloaded both straight upward. His foe was firing by instinct from above as well. The flying bullets smashed the button panel and shattered the ceiling lights, sending a rain of glass down at him. He tried as hard as he could to fight back. The concerto of crisscrossing gunfire continued on, empty cartridges providing bombastic percussion to the proceedings. A pang of pain as a bullet grazed his cheek. Then, the intense heat of bullet against bone as a ricocheting shot struck him in the knee. Both of his guns ran out of ammo simultaneously. So did his enemy's. For a moment, there was deafening silence, and the smell of gunpowder assaulting Rentaro's nostrils. What happened? After a moment, he heard something heavy thudding against the ceiling above him. Somewhere in the midst of the battle, the elevator had stopped moving. The shot that struck the instrument panel must've knocked it offline. The ceiling lights were gone, except for a single flickering bulb. The space was dim. Holding a hand against the wall, Rentaro gingerly got himself up and peeled off a dangling, heavily perforated ceiling panel. A prone Hummingbird tumbled into the elevator, groaning once her body hit the floor. Two 9-mm shots in the stomach and one in the chest were staining her dress crimson, her upper body heaving as she gasped for breath. The battle was over for her. The girl looked up at the ceiling in disbelief. "You…you're kidding me," she whispered. "I was built to…to surpass the New Humanity Creation Project…and I lost…?" Rentaro looked down silently at her for a few moments. "…There's a lot I want to ask you. I'll treat your wounds if you don't resist me." Hummingbird scowled in self-derision, coughing violently in response to the pain in her chest. A fountain of blood shot out, and faint lines of red oozed from her lips. "Don't be…stupid," she said weakly, her trembling hands tapping against her heart. "They're…monitoring my heartbeat, and if, if they, found out you, helped me… I'll, I'll be rubbed out either way. You…you'll never have any more peace. Even if—if I die…it'll be someone else, next. My friends, will kill…you. It's all the same." She sighed as she stared upward, resigned to her fate. "I guess…I guess Dark Stalker was…right after all." "What do you mean?" "Dark Stalker…was the only one, who, who recognized…what kind of threat you were. He said you…you were a genius. He wanted to, to fight you again, and…and he fought our, our leader over it." "……" Internally, Rentaro was shocked that someone as breathlessly confident of himself as Yuga was willing to heap that much praise upon him. Maybe Yuga Mitsugi was the greatest threat to his life after all. Then he noticed Hummingbird's skirt was up, revealing her lily-white thighs. He gazed at them in wonderment. There was a five-pointed star tattooed on one of them, a pair of intricately designed feathers drawn on two of the points. The exact same. Just what he saw carved on the Gastrea in the photo. "Hey!" he hurriedly shouted. "What's that? What's that star on you mean?!" Hummingbird simply smiled wryly. "Look…look at what's, what's inside my teddy bear." Rentaro, despite his suspicion, obeyed. The polar bear, a scarf around his neck, still had an oddly bloated stomach. There must have been another weapon inside. He stuck a hand in, trying to get it out, but it was too big to easily take out of the slit. The bear was soft and fuzzy on the outside, but inside, there was something cold and solid to the touch. What is this? Growing increasingly impatient, he finally just ripped the bear's upper body apart. Cotton stuffing flew out from it, revealing what was inside. Rentaro gulped nervously. The bear's stomach was lined with cords and lumps of what looked like clay. A cheap digital timer was attached to the middle. It had just gone past thirty seconds. The moment he realized it was a time bomb, his blood froze as a dark chill crashed upon his body. Hummingbird let out a bitter laugh. "If…if my heartbeat, goes down enough, it's, it's set to automatically, go off. The elevator's down, your leg's hurt… I don't think you're escaping. So…can we, can we call it a draw?" "Shit!" Rentaro jumped for the door, trying to pry it open. It wouldn't budge. Then he tried jumping for the ceiling, holding his wounded leg in the air. A sharp pain erupted from it, incapacitating him. Twenty seconds to go. Then, with another loud noise, his vision was jarred up and down as his feet struggled for purchase. It didn't take him as long to realize that something just fell on the elevator again. Through a hole in the battered ceiling, he could see what it was. Rentaro and Hummingbird both opened their eyes wide, the confused dismay particularly clear upon Hummingbird's face. She let out a scream. "You, you're supposed to be dead—" The reply came in the form of gunfire. With a dry crack from the gun, Hummingbird's head exploded in a spray of blood, falling limply against the wall behind her. A cold voice fell in from above. "Good-bye, my splendid princess." "Hotaru!" The shadow he could barely make out above turned into a silhouette of Hotaru Kouro, her frozen eyes coming into view. "You… Hummingbird said you were dead…" Then he shook his head. There were more pressing issues at hand. He looked at the timer. Seven seconds left. "Hotaru! The bomb!" "Gimme your hand!" He lifted up his arm. It was yanked up, hard enough to almost dislocate his shoulder, as he was pulled into the elevator shaft. His vision suddenly went dark, the sound of the cable groaning at the weight pounding his eardrums. "Grab on to the wire!" Rentaro obediently did so. Four seconds left. With a series of nimble shots, Hotaru fired at the braking devices latched on to the guide rail, destroying them all. —Three seconds. Then she took out her knife, using her Initiator strength to snap in an instant the three cords besides the one Rentaro held. Two seconds. Grabbing the one remaining wire with her left hand to secure a lifeline, she lifted her legs high and bashed her heels against the top of the car. One second. The elevator car, struggling at this new force applied to it, snapped its remaining wire, tumbling down the shaft like a shooting star. The wire the two of them held shot up in response, zooming up like a bungee cord. Rentaro and Hotaru tried madly to hold on to the torn wire. Below him, he could see the car generating sparks as it plunged down the guide rail. The counterweight scraped against the side of the shaft as it, too, whizzed downward. Then—the bomb finally went off. A hot shockwave, too hot for Rentaro to keep his eyes open, slammed up at him. Like a tugboat in a typhoon, they were tossed and roiled as they clung to the wire. Flames shot up the shaft as the elevator began to consume itself, stopping only when they were right at Rentaro's and Hotaru's feet. Slowly, they retreated downward, almost like a living creature licking its wounds in chagrin. The two of them breathed a synchronized sigh of relief. Hotaru's eyes, now unexpectedly close to his, were wide open with surprise. They looked endearing to him. But the attention made Hotaru avert them in embarrassment. "Let's go up," she said as she pulled the rope, dragging Rentaro along. They emerged at the fifteenth-floor elevator lobby. The setting sun bathed the area in a bright red, almost too bright to set eyes upon. It was near the end of the day. In the light, Rentaro noticed Hotaru's tank top was torn, shredded, and covered in a rich crimson. "Did she stab you?" "It's already closed up." "Closed up…?" She had clearly been stabbed right in the heart. Was it too shallow to kill her, though? No way. Rentaro shook his head. Hummingbird had said it herself—"you're supposed to be dead." He doubted a gifted assassin like her would fall for a victim playing possum on her. "Hotaru, what type of Gastrea factor do you have?" Hotaru stared silently at Rentaro for a moment. Then she shook her head lightly, perhaps realizing there was no way to hide it any longer. "It's a dugesia, a type of flatworm." "Dugesia…?" Rentaro had heard of this. He hadn't read all those nature books in the Tendo family library for nothing. It was a type of planarian flatworm, a small creature with astonishing regenerative skills and the ability to weather just about any kind of famine. They could famously form two distinct and healthy flatworms even if cut in half, making them useful for experiments in natural regeneration. "So that means you can…" "Basically, I have enhanced regenerative skills. Most Initiators can close up their wounds and heal even if their injuries would kill any normal person. In my case, my ability's strong enough that I can push back against Varanium inhibiting that." Rentaro sighed in amazement. The natural world always had a way of aweing him like that. Twice in the past, Rentaro had personally witnessed people healing themselves at astonishing speed. The first time, it was Rentaro himself—the AGV test drug from Sumire helped him overcome mortal injury and fend off Kagetane Hiruko. But that drug had the Russian roulette–like side effect of turning 20 percent of its patients into Gastrea. Rentaro using all five of the syringes given to him and still not making the transformation was something of a miracle. It wasn't exactly safe for everyday use. The second time he saw regeneration like that was with Aldebaran, the enemy he fought in the Third Kanto Battle. Those ominous memories were still fresh in his mind. The high-powered EP bomb developed by Shiba Heavy Weapons eventually blew it to smithereens, but that battle couldn't have been a closer call than it was. "That's so…powerful. Why'd you hide it from me?" Hotaru shook her head in frustration. "It's not the cure-all you probably think it is," she replied. "The human body's a lot more complex than a flatworm's, so I can only regenerate so much at a time. If someone lit my dead body on fire with gasoline or decapitated me, I'm not gonna be able to make up for that. It's not like I can put up a resistance while I'm dead, so I need to make sure my enemy doesn't know about that ability. It's hard to work into a battle strategy. I kept it a secret from you because if someone tortured that info out of you, that'd mean trouble for me." I see, thought Rentaro. That makes enough sense. When two Initiators fought against each other, even a single blow could be lethal, no matter what the ability. If her foe knew about her innate skills, that could easily be used against her. As a result, Initiators generally stayed tight-lipped about that sort of thing. Loose lips sank ships in this business. "Wow… Well, I guess I see now. I thought you really hated me for a while." "There was that, too." "……" "What?" Rentaro scratched his head, forcing himself not to pursue this line of conversation. He removed the outer jacket of his uniform and tossed it at Hotaru. "Here," he said, "put that on. Your clothes are all bloody. You can't go walking around like that." Hotaru gave Rentaro's jacket a light sniff, then winced. "It smells terrible. Why does men's sweat have to be so stinky all the time…?" "Okay, give it back." "Well, I'll put it on if I haaave to." Rentaro rolled his eyes and turned around. She was so annoying to deal with. "Oh, uh, thanks." "Huh?" "Nothing. Let's go, Rentaro." Her cheeks were red, perhaps because of the evening sunlight she was drenched in, as she marched off. "Wait a sec," Rentaro said, stopping her as he pointed at his left leg. "Lend me a shoulder." Hotaru watched him silently for a moment, walked back, and just as silently offered her shoulder. He sheepishly accepted. She was unflinchingly cold to him, but for whatever reason, her skin felt hot to the touch. Wisely opting to leave the elevator for someone else to worry about, the pair of them limped down the stairs and out the main entrance. The front was lined with people. It was only a matter of time before the police showed up. Wary that someone would notice him, Rentaro hid his face, pretending to be unconscious as Hotaru dragged him along. She keenly picked up a taxi and directed the driver to the apartment she was hiding out in. The middle-aged driver gave the two extremely disheveled passengers a dubious look, but his sense of professionalism willed him to gently bring the car into motion regardless. They could hear sirens far away, and before long, a small squadron of police cars came in from ahead, lights flashing. As they passed, Rentaro and Hotaru instinctively ducked from the windows. The Doppler effect made the sirens sound almost comical as they faded away behind them. Cautiously, they sat back up and looked toward the rear. The police were now pouring into the apartment building they had just left. Just in the nick of time. Rentaro loosened up, the mental strain exiting his body—but then the driver's eyes met his through the rearview mirror. He looked startled for a moment but quickly averted his gaze, as if he had just witnessed a couple making out at the bar. The odd response made the hairs stand on Rentaro's nape. That stare indicated the driver had just connected a vague memory with his current reality. And his eyes darted away right afterward. From the backseat, Rentaro sensed danger. What did the driver just remember—? What else could it be? His face matched the fugitive's from the news. Otherwise, why would he awkwardly take his eyes away like that? And of course Hotaru had to give him the exact address of her apartment before hopping in. The idea that the driver would drop them off then not exercise his civic duty to contact the police seemed far too optimistic to him. In fact, he might even drive his taxi right to the police station instead of taking them over. If he did, they were finished. The taxi stopped quietly at a red light. Hotaru sat there, picking up on Rentaro's nerves and waiting to see what happened next. She knew the driver was on to them. The tension was at the boiling point. Just a light prod could make it explode. The light turned green. The driver stepped on the gas. Rentaro could feel the inertia drive his body into the seat a little. "Um, sir…?" Rentaro shuddered. His body tensed up, as if a judge just sentenced him to death. "Would you mind," the driver continued, "if I talked to myself for a little bit? I know this isn't exactly a glamorous job I have, but y'know, I was seriously thinking about joining the self-defense force a month ago. At my age, you know? Like, you remember how they expanded the age limit to accommodate for just about anybody during the Third Kanto Battle? I figured, y'know, maybe I needed to take up arms and fight to defend this city, too, so…" Then the driver fell silent. "Uh, and then what?" Rentaro dared to ask. The steering wheel squeaked a little underneath the cabbie's grip. "Ah, it didn't work out in the end," he said mournfully. "I was too scared. I lost my wife and kid in the war ten years ago, so I figured I had nothing left to lose, but…you know, I wound up marrying another widow, someone just like me. We live in a pretty humble place, but we're happy, y'know? …So I just couldn't go through with it. Not if it meant losing something again. If I'm doomed to die, I wanted it to be together with her." "…Nothing wrong about that. That's a natural reaction." The taxi entered a tunnel. A steady stream of orange lights whizzed by, weakly illuminating their faces at regular intervals. "Do you have any family, civsec?" the driver asked. He had no doubts about Rentaro's job position, at any rate. After a moment figuring out what to say, Rentaro decided to just shake his head, not bothering with pleasantries. "They're all dead." "You weren't scared of that Aldebaran guy at all?" "Well, sure I was." Hotaru looked at Rentaro, mouth slightly open. "That wasn't something anyone should have to experience. And compared to the work it took, I've gotten far too little appreciation for it." "So why do you do it?" Rentaro thought for a little, then shook his head again. "I don't know," he admitted. "But I was the only one there who could, really, so…" "Oh…" The driver clammed up again. Rentaro grew anxious, squirming in his seat as he wondered if he had offended the cabbie somehow. But the words that finally greeted him weren't what he expected. "I guess the kinds of people we call heroes are pretty much like that, huh?" The driver smiled at him through the mirror. "Don't worry. I've been terribly forgetful as of late, y'know. By the time I drop you off, I'm probably going to forget I even had anybody in this car." "Oh… Uh, well, thanks. I really owe you one." Rentaro didn't know what he could say after that. So he kept quiet. His conversational partner joined him. The atmosphere was far gentler now. He closed his eyes. He was no hero, no savior of humanity. That much he was sure of. But if what he did helped others smile just a little more, enjoy that little bit more of happiness—didn't that mean there was some greater meaning behind the path he took, at the end of it all? Nothing at all had improved with his situation. Enju was still a ward of the IISO. Tina was still locked up in jail somewhere. And Kisara was still wrapped cruelly around Hitsuma's finger. The thought of Hitsuma taking advantage of her trust in him filled his mind with rage, but it wasn't like he could storm the police headquarters with guns a-blazing. That would just add to his already-long rap sheet. His only hope was to follow Suibara's trail down whatever he was investigating and catch the people who put him in this mess. He managed to dispatch Hummingbird. The girl who almost certainly killed Kenji Houbara. Judging by the sniping skill he showed off at the Plaza Hotel, Dark Stalker must have been Giichi Ebihara's killer. Which meant, by the process of elimination, that someone whose name he didn't even know must have assassinated Saya Takamura. So, two killers left. And the one Rentaro really had to watch out for was Dark Stalker. One thing the battle with Hummingbird made clear was that he didn't have to dread them so much after all. They were strong, but beatable. And sooner or later, he'd make that clear as black and white to them. The fury in his stomach warmed his entire body as Rentaro contemplated his enemies, wherever they lurked, across the Tokyo Area landscape. 6 A loud wham echoed across the control room, making the operators sit bolt upright in their seats. Atsuro Hitsuma, not caring about the pain in his fist as he slammed it against the terminal, winced as he scrunched his eyebrows downward, all but crushing the cell phone in his other hand. "All right," he managed to squeak out. "Let me know if anything happens." Then he stormed out of the control room. As he walked along, he bashed his fist against a vending machine down the hallway. "Shit… Shit! This is ridiculous! He got Hummingbird?!" "Oooh, Mr. Hitsuma, you're gonna have to answer for that, huh?" Hitsuma rolled his eyes toward the voice. A completely unfazed Yuga shrugged at him, apparently enjoying the show. "I told you that you should've let me take care of him. Hummingbird just didn't have what it takes." "Whether she did or not, could any one of us have predicted that she'd lose? She had a one-hundred-percent mission completion rate!" "One hundred percent of a bunch of small-fry hit man jobs. How could anyone be proud of that record? That's all she had the capacity for, really." Yuga's reaction to his colleague being killed went far beyond indifference and into the realm of coldhearted callousness. "Rentaro Satomi… God." "So is it clear who we're dealing with now, Mr. Hitsuma? Next time, why don't you—?" "—No! Not yet! We still have Swordtail! And I'm done screwing around. It's no mercy from here on in! I have to get them killed!" Yuga wrinkled his nose as he chuckled. "Well, do what you like," he said chidingly. "But hasn't Inspector Tadashima been calling for you?" Hitsuma blinked, stood up, and looked at his watch. The idea of having to act cool and deal with him when one of his top assassins was dead didn't exactly appeal to him, but he couldn't delay the inspector any longer. It could lead to some completely avoidable misunderstandings. "You hold down the fort here," Hitsuma grunted as he passed by. Yuga responded with an uncharacteristically stern face. "Mr. Hitsuma, about that inspector… He's pretty angry, all right? Make sure you keep your guard up." "Tadashima is?" Hitsuma shook his head, dismissing this warning. "I don't care. He's almost up for retirement anyway; he's not gonna risk his pension trying to rock the boat. There's no way he'd ever come near the truth. That's why I chose him as my partner." "Well, hopefully so. Just watch he doesn't trip you up, all right?" The smell of defeat was in the air. The steering wheel of his beloved car creaked in his hands as it thundered down the road. He had the accelerator all the way down, forgetting the fact he was on duty, and he was well beyond the highway speed limit. Dark Stalker, one of his men, was openly revolting against him. If he couldn't count on Swordtail to quiet things down, the organization might start asking some very unwelcome questions. "God damn you, Rentaro Satomi…!" Hitsuma found himself having trouble dealing with his emotions. If he met with Tadashima like this, he might notice something was up. So he decided to take a quick breather in order to release some of his stress. I have enough time for that, he figured, as he spun the wheel and got off the highway, turning across several narrow roads until he reached a street lined with bars and restaurants. He stopped in front of a dingy-looking building. Going up the stairs, he glanced at the nameplate of the Tendo Civil Security Agency. He opened the door, using a key he had made for him, only to find the office brightly lit by the evening sun through the window. Deeper inside, behind an ebony-colored desk, Kisara Tendo sat with her back turned to him. Stealthily, Hitsuma crept up to her, then brought his hands around her head. "I've come to see you, Kisara." The girl in black, only noticing him once he spoke, sluggishly raised her head to meet Hitsuma's gaze. Her eyes were glassy and devoid of life. They were turned toward him, but they didn't actually seem to be looking at anything. "Oh…Mr. Hitsuma," she slowly intoned. It was a 180-degree difference from her usual lighthearted self. "What were you looking at?" Hitsuma said, smile deepening as he followed her eyes. "…Oh, did it show up?" The soft chiffon fabric shone beautifully, extending out across the pleated skirt. It was a full-length dress, as pure and white as a young woman's chastity. The mannequin it was on had its head covered in a see-through veil that ran down to the shoulders. It was the wedding dress Hitsuma bought for her—one he spared no expense on. Kisara had been like this ever since she heard Rentaro died at the Plaza Hotel. Pre-wedding jitters, perhaps, or something like it. Hitsuma appreciated how pliable it made her. His previous research indicated that Rentaro had feelings for her. Hitsuma could have any woman he wanted. To him, taking Kisara for his own had deeper meaning. The moment Rentaro was dead and this girl was his, his revenge would be complete. "We should hurry with the ceremony, Kisara," he said, a twisted smile on his face as he ran his hand through her black, silken hair.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-05-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter023.txt	Black Bullet, Vol. 5: Rentaro Satomi, Fugitive AFTERWORD To a writer, the plot is something like the blueprint of a story, something they use as a springboard to weave the entire tale together. In my case, I start by saying to myself, "I want to do this kind of scene!" then backtrack in my mind in order to figure out how "this kind of scene" would ever happen. It's called the inductive method. The opposite, where you start at the beginning and go on to the conclusion, is called the deductive method, and I could never use it very well. Whenever I try to write deductively, my hands just freeze. It reflects my deficiencies as an author, of course, but it has its advantages as well—the inductive method is a pretty logical approach, and getting it right allows you to write consistent, logical stories. On the other hand, once your story setting grows complicated enough, going on induction means a nearly infinite number of things have to be decided upon early, usually causing my mind to overflow. (In my case, I have a thing about making my text as easy-to-read and visually engaging as possible as well, which doesn't do much to improve my writing speed either.) With this volume, I knew I'd be having trouble ever since I tossed the plot I had spent considerable time working on into the trash after just such an overflow. Still, I had no idea I'd take up this much time for it. It was a difficult birth to be sure, but still, we finally managed to get it out to the public. Sorry to make all of you wait. As long as my readers enjoy it, there'd be nothing in the world that'd please me more. My thanks go out, as always, to my editor Kurosaki, a deeply well-educated person who apparently even wrote about opera in the past. They also go to Saki Ukai, a person who does nothing but smile stiffly whenever people say "I thought you were a guy" at autograph sessions (multiple times at one!), as well as everyone in the editorial department involved with this book. I appreciate it. Finally, one more note to readers: Shiden Kanzaki, a detestable author who trolls his readership with promises of boobs and Lolita innuendo then blasts them in the eyes with decapitated heads and oozing guts with every page—a marketing approach unlike anything seen before—is getting even more detestable going forward. I think I'll get the next volume out faster, anyway. Check out Dengeki Bunko's webpage or my Twitter account for publication details—that way, you'll be sure you'll know about it first. Thank you again for reaching out and picking up this volume. May God shower His blessings upon everyone who reads my work. Shiden Kanzaki
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-05-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/copyright.txt	Black Bullet, Vol. 5: Rentaro Satomi, Fugitive Copyright BLACK BULLET, Volume 5 SHIDEN KANZAKI Translation by Kevin Gifford Cover art by Saki Ukai This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. BLACK BULLET, Volume 5 ©SHIDEN KANZAKI 2013 All rights reserved. Edited by ASCII MEDIA WORKS First published in Japan in 2013 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo. English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo. English translation © 2016 by Yen Press, LLC Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author's intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author's rights. Yen On 1290 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10104 Visit us at yenpress.com facebook.com/yenpress twitter.com/yenpress yenpress.tumblr.com instagram.com/yenpress First Yen On Edition: December 2016 Yen On is an imprint of Yen Press, LLC. The Yen On name and logo are trademarks of Yen Press, LLC. The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Kanzaki, Shiden, author. \| Ukai, Saki, illustrator. \| Gifford, Kevin, translator. Title: Black bullet. Volume 5, Rentaro Satomi, fugitive / Shiden Kanzaki ; illustrations by Saki Ukai ; translation by Kevin Gifford. Other titles: Rentaro Satomi, fugitive Description: New York, NY : Yen On, 2016. \| Series: Black bullet ; 5 Identifiers: LCCN 2016035659 \| ISBN 9780316344920 (paperback) Subjects: \| CYAC: Science fiction. \| BISAC: FICTION / Science Fiction / Adventure. Classification: LCC PZ7.1.K29 Blae 2016 \| DDC [Fic]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016035659 ISBNs: 9780316344920 (paperback) 9780316344999 (ebook) E3-20160325-JV-PC
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-05-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/newsletterSignup.txt	The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 5 Thank you for buying this ebook, published by Yen On. To get news about the latest manga, graphic novels, and light novels from Yen Press, along with special offers and exclusive content, sign up for the Yen Press newsletter. Sign Up Or visit us at www.yenpress.com/booklink
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/appendix001.txt	Black Bullet AFTERWORD The entities called novelists all more or less have something called escape material. Escape material is the mental catalyst used as an exodus from the physical world full of fetters to the mental world used by an author who's backed against a wall by an approaching deadline. What Kanzaki, the author, often uses is the thing where, if you gather seven Dragon Balls, you can make a wish to Shen Long. The list of things to wish for is never ending—eternal youth and longevity, the underwear of a high school girl, the publishing company exploding—but in the end, he narrows it down to the conservative wishes like being able to write three times faster. However, when he's done, he doesn't have an answer; trying to come up with one is the fun part. When I was writing this book, the schedule was crazy, and I depended a lot on escape material. An author who wishes passionately for Shen Long to appear while staring into space, sitting in the chair at a diner even though the manuscript is due the next day is, conservatively speaking, pretty hopeless. One day, in a half-groggy state with tired eyes, I said, "Kurosaki, will you help me think of wishes?" trying to pull my editor into the completely unproductive Shen Long space. But he responded saying, "Okay, once you've successfully finished everything on time, let's think about it together!" pretending to help me up but actually throwing me into hell. Just thinking about how good his retorts were makes me wet my pillow with tears. This book was created by the aforementioned author and editor. Also, this book isn't Black Bulled, it's Black Bullet. Please make sure you annunciate clearly. If you say "bulled," fast and slurred, it can start to sound like "black bread." But I guess that's okay, too. Bread made with brown sugar to look black is superdelicious. Now, I'll be a little more serious. I'd like to thank my editor, Mr. Kurosaki, whom I am always indebted to; Saki Ukai, who drew the beautiful illustrations; everyone at the publishing company; and everyone else who was involved in creating this book. And finally, to the readers. I still have a lot of ideas in my head, so please keep looking out for this series. Thank you very much for buying this book. I pray that all of my readers will be blessed. Shiden Kanzaki
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter002.txt	Black Bullet BLACK BULLET 2 CHAPTER 01 VARANIUM WAR 1 Kisara Tendo stood in the middle of the tatami-floored dojo filled with the cool morning air, wearing her black sailor-school uniform. The soft morning light sparkled on her straight, too-black hair, throwing small shadows behind her. She stood with her eyes closed and her hips low, with her hand on the grip of her sword. She had already been in this position for ten minutes: The Tendo Martial Arts Sword Drawing Style, Nirvana Stance. The stance meant being in the midst of a state of constant change and existing freely in that state. It was a stance that encompassed all the offense and defense of the Tendo Martial Arts Sword Drawing Style. She's beautiful, thought Rentaro from the bottom of his heart as he looked up at his fellow pupil, at the same time unable to suppress a shudder. There was not a single opening in her stance, and there was something about it that made Rentaro certain that the moment he stepped within reach of her blade, he would be cut down. Rentaro discreetly took his smartphone from his pocket and looked at its LCD screen. It was almost time to leave for school. She would move soon. Just as he thought, there was almost no need for him to wait. Kisara exhaled softly, and her clear voice rang out. "Tendo Martial Arts Sword Drawing First Style, Number 1—" Her scabbard rang, and her sword was unsheathed with the speed of a lightning bolt: "Tekisui Seihyou." The slash made an extremely modest whoosh. But the top half of the target in front of Kisara—a carved wooden target wrapped in cloth—was blown off with a destructive blast, and pieces of it flew into the dojo's walls. The most astonishing thing of all was that there was a distance of more than six meters between Kisara and the target. Rentaro gulped. The striking distance of a sword catapulted by its sheath to accelerate when drawn was equal to the length of the sword plus the length of the swordsman's arm and step. However, the Tendo sword-drawing technique has something more than that. It was not like Rentaro had seen all of Kisara's techniques, but he knew that she could slash up to three times her striking distance. And this was data from three years ago… Standing up quickly, Rentaro clapped as he approached her, throwing her a towel. Kisara, whose face was haggard from the intense mental concentration this had required, said, "Thanks," and wiped her face with the towel. "That was incredible sword speed as usual, Miss Master Initiate President." Kisara stuck her chin in the air primly. "Don't call me President when we're not working. And if you think that, you should be more diligent, First Dan Satomi." "That was helpful. Even if the Sword Drawing Styles and Martial Arts Styles are different, they are all Tendo techniques, so there were a lot of things I could learn from that. You were seriously in a state of enlightenment just now." Kisara did not seem dissatisfied as she chuckled and lifted the hair above her neck. "You know, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but there is no enlightenment in the path of the sword. Apparently the moment you think you have reached enlightenment, deception and vanity are born and cloud your sword. And when I rose to master initiate level, Master Sukekiyo looked at me and said, 'Your sword is so rusted, it's sad. I will make you a master initiate taking that into consideration.'" "……that demonic old man. He's still alive?" "He'll be an active one hundred and twenty years old this year." "Damn, he should just commit seppuku already…" "But thanks to him, I didn't become too prideful. Now that I'm honing my mental spirit like this, I understand that there is still a lot that I can achieve." A fearless look crossed Kisara's face as she started to put away the target. Watching her, Rentaro pouted, feeling pitiful. She didn't need to become strong. He would protect her. Then, he realized. Rentaro thought she had been using her usual sword-drawing practice sword, but although the black scabbard and base and red cord looked similar, this was a real sword. "The murderous blade, Yukikage, huh…?" "That's right." As Kisara stopped working and looked at him, she dusted off the scabbard and held it up to the sunlight coming in through the window. Bathed in the morning sun, the wavy temper pattern on the blade scattered the light, filled with a charm that drew in all who looked at it. Kisara looked at the blade absentmindedly and murmured, "Satomi, did I ever tell you what 'murderous blade' means?" "No…" "In Zen, it's the opposite of the life-saving sword; it negates all human delusion. This…is the sword that will hunt down all the Tendos, Satomi." Rentaro made a fist where Kisara couldn't see, his eyes flashing. Should he point out that Kisara, enthralled by the light of the murderous blade, also seemed to be possessed by delusions? Kisara, whose failing kidneys meant she could no longer fight for long periods of time, recently gave up fighting on the front lines and shut Yukikage in a locker in the office. What did it mean that she was wielding it in the dojo again? Like Rentaro, who was using the recent terrorist incident as a chance to clear up the facts of his parents' deaths, was there some sort of change in Kisara's state of mind, too, or was he overthinking it? A line from the Hojoki, a famous classical text he had studied in Japanese class, came to mind: "Although the river flows unceasing, the water will never be the same as before." As Rentaro was just about to open his mouth, he heard loud footsteps, and the door of the dojo was opened violently. Enju bounded in, looking just like a rabbit with her hair in swaying pigtails. "Rentaro! Today is the day you promised to assist me with my training!" Had he promised to do something like that? Rentaro released the slide lock of the toy gun and loaded the first round while keeping an eye on Enju ten meters ahead. "If you think you're in trouble make sure to yell. Understand?" Enju shouted, "I understand!" and waved her hand at him. Rentaro and Kisara circled the back of the dojo by the lawn. Rentaro took a deep breath. The tip of the gun Rentaro held was painted red in order to show that it was a toy gun that shot only BBs. Rentaro could feel Enju releasing her power as he took up his stance. "I-I'm starting." Rentaro aimed at Enju's chest, then fired a bullet with a dry-sounding gunshot. Huh? thought Rentaro as the bullet grazed Enju's side. He thought he missed his aim and tried again, aiming and shooting, but this time it was even more clear that Enju moved out of the way in an instant. "Y-you little…" Rentaro fired consecutive shots, and Enju avoided them all safely. In fact, she scowled, obviously bored. "Rentaro, this is boring." "Idiot, battle training isn't supposed to be fun." But, if she was going to go that far… Rentaro abandoned the toy gun and drew his Springfield XD. It was loaded with nonlethal rubber rounds, but they were fired with gunpowder, so their speed was the same as real bullets, and it would do more than just hurt if Enju was hit with one. Even if Rentaro knew that she had powers of regeneration, he didn't want to make her use them. He fired the first shot. As he absorbed the recoil, he predicted where Enju would cross paths with it and fired continuous shots into her possible escape routes. He could tell that Enju had gotten serious by watching the afterimages left by her sharp eyes. Using the dojo's outside wall to do a triangle jump, she approached Rentaro while staying one step ahead of the bullets. Amazed, Rentaro continued firing as he stepped back. He was startled as Enju suddenly appeared in front of him. He tried to bring the gun's barrel back to bear on her, but her footwork was overwhelmingly faster. "Take that!" she said. Rentaro felt the pain of the skin of his hands rubbing off as Enju's kick came from below to send his gun flying. "Match point!" Kisara, who had been watching the match with her arms folded, judged. As Rentaro felt cold sweat running down his cheek, he slowly shifted his gaze to the side and saw Enju's foot pushing against the side of his neck. Enju lowered her foot slowly and peered at Rentaro happily with her arms behind her back. "Well, I guess I should say I have high hopes for you," Rentaro said, making a sour face as he picked up his gun. At this rate, it was hard to say who was training whom. During the last terrorist incident, he'd faced off against Kohina Hiruko, a dual-sword wielding Initiator, and was surprised at her speed, but fighting Enju like this, he could tell—the speed specialist Initiator, Enju Aihara, was even faster than Kohina. Enju could even be called the natural enemy of all gun users. But this was not the only reason Enju was amazing. Initiators possessed enormous power, but in cases when they lost to ordinary people, it was because they'd seen swords or guns pointed at them in bloodlust and forgotten their reason for fighting. In other words, when the girls lost, it happened because their mental weakness as ten-year-old girls had been exploited. However, Enju was not afraid of the muzzle of a gun. And that was an ability she had since before she met Rentaro. Enju was one of the Cursed Children, and someone who made the Stolen Generation, who ran the world ten years after the war, hate Gastrea even more. It didn't bother her, but just imagining the situation she was in before they met where she had to face the muzzle of a gun made his heart hurt. He was sure he couldn't forgive a society like that. Rentaro put the XD gun on the palm of his hand and took a long hard look at it. It had been a long time since the general public was allowed to carry guns in the name of self-defense. However, in Rentaro's many brushes with death, he learned that a gun was an offensive weapon that existed to allow you to aim accurately at your opponent, to pull the trigger a fraction of a second faster. The idea of "self-defense" was an expedient one that nobody would touch. This was the technologically advanced country of Japan, broke and scattering weapons in exchange for money and taxes. In reality, it was because of this that large global corporations like Shiba Heavy Weapons were created, but on the other hand, Japan had also become a hotbed of gun violence, so there were pluses and minuses. Rentaro could say with certainty that he hated guns. However, if he didn't use one, he would not have been able to make up the difference between his abilities and those of his elder disciple Kisara, or strong Initiators like Enju. Rentaro shook his head softly. There was the New Humanity Creation Project, where humans were operated on to turn them into mechanized human soldiers designed to obliterate the Gastrea. Rentaro hated that power as well. More specifically, he felt disgust for the large-caliber Super-Varanium alloy shells inserted into his right arm and left leg. This was because bullets, whether they were used for both attacking or defending, killed people in the process. It would be better if things like that were erased from this world. Definitely. Definitely. Just then, something pulled on his sleeve. When he turned around, Enju was beaming, pointing at herself enthusiastically. "Rentaro, how did you find my fighting?" Rentaro closed his eyes and exhaled deeply through his nose. "You know, Enju, you shouldn't do a bunch of high kicks in a row in a skirt." Enju blinked in surprise for a moment before holding down her skirt, embarrassed, but then smiled happily and said, "You speak of such even though you were happy about it." Breaking out in a cold sweat as he felt Kisara's spearlike gaze on his back, he put his hand on Enju's head and ruffled her hair. "Idiot," he said, as Enju half-closed her eyes in pleasure. "Satomi." Turning around, he saw Kisara with her right sleeve rolled up, tapping her wrist where her watch was with her left forefinger. It was time. "Uh…Enju, Kisara and I have to go to school now." Enju suddenly froze for a second but then recovered immediately. "Right. Well then, be zealous in your studies!" Saying that, she stuck out her chest proudly. Rentaro watched her with a conflicted expression on his face. "Enju, I'll try to find a place that will take you as soon as possible, okay?" "Take your time. It's fine." Enju laughed, but she sounded a little troubled. After they left the dojo and turned a few corners to walk out onto a large street, they continued along that same street. It was still relatively early in the morning, so there weren't very many cars, and people only appeared sporadically. As Rentaro walked next to Kisara down the street lined with fresh-smelling poplars, Kisara spoke, still looking ahead. "You still haven't found a new elementary school for Enju yet?" "No…," Rentaro mumbled as he looked at the granite tiles at his feet. During the Kagetane Hiruko terrorist incident, Kagetane had exposed Enju as one of the Cursed Children, and Enju was unavoidably expelled from school. Enju pretended she didn't care, but it was supremely embarrassing as her guardian to have her pretend for his sake, so in order to bring back her smile somehow, he had gone around to a bunch of schools trying to find one that would take her. Rentaro kicked a pebble on the street as hard as he could. Of course, he had not gotten very favorable reactions. It wasn't something he was proud of, but even though he hid the truth about Enju's identity and filled out the transfer applications as if she were a normal child, it seemed that nothing escaped the information net the schools had among themselves, and it had been passed along that Enju was one of the Cursed Children. Once, he was shockingly told upon arrival, "I hate Red-Eyes, and I think those who're on their side have the Gastrea virus in their brains, too." Rentaro lifted his face and glared gloomily at the brightly shining sun. Enju got good grades, was really athletic, and could brighten a classroom with her presence. She was a student schools should have been trying to convince to attend. So why was it that—Damn it. Suddenly, the tip of Rentaro's nose was pushed hard. Surprised, he looked next to him and saw Kisara with her hand on her hip, peering at him with an angry expression. "Hey, Satomi, do you think this problem is yours to handle alone? It's our problem, you know. Enju is an employee of the Tendo Civil Security Agency, which means her problem is my problem as well. You know, I was thinking… What if we had her attend a school in the Outer District?" "That open-air classroom in the ruins? The classes would be so easy, it's not even worth considering." "Oh my, does that mean you want Enju to go to an academically challenging school?" Rentaro groaned as she hit a nerve. It was true that the most important priority should be whether Enju would be comfortable at the school or not. Even if she were able to completely blend into her surroundings, as long as she herself was conscious that she was deceiving others, she would not be able to feel completely at ease there. And Enju definitely wasn't thick-skinned or someone who could lie easily to others. When Rentaro stopped, Kisara went a few steps ahead and then turned around. "Well, I mean…," he started. "I'll consider your suggestion." Kisara sighed with exasperation and shook her head softly. "Satomi, everything really revolves around Enju for you, doesn't it? Why don't you take a look in a mirror? Unlike before, your face looks superhappy now." Rentaro hurriedly ran his hand over his face, but as he did, he saw Kisara gloating and realized that she was toying with him. "Now, Satomi, no matter what we end up doing, there's something we have to do first. We have a job. We've gotten to the point where we get work even if I don't go around begging for it. Lady Luck is smiling on the Tendo Civil Security Agency now, too," she laughed. "What is it? I don't wanna do anything annoying." Kisara looked at him with suggestive eyes, flipped her shiny black hair, and told him. "The job is an escort mission. The package is Lady Seitenshi. If you would believe it, Lady Seitenshi herself asked for you, Satomi." 2 After school, Rentaro changed trains and headed to the First District of Tokyo Area. On his way, he absentmindedly looked out the window at the Monoliths as he wondered why she chose him. About a month earlier, Rentaro had ruined a ceremony that was supposed to honor his achievements saving Tokyo Area and destroying a Stage Five Gastrea. She should have resented him. They definitely did not have the type of relationship where she would offer him a job. Still not completely satisfied, Rentaro got off at the station in front of the Seitenshi's palace. After a few minutes' walking, the Seitenshi's palace came into view. It looked like it was built in the neo-Gothic style of architecture. The whole thing seemed to consist of many organic curves, with the curved glass windows that could be seen through the stone pillars that looked like bones and the area in front of the entrance slanted like waves. No matter how many times he saw it, it was always a gorgeous Western-style building, but for Rentaro, who lacked aesthetic sense, it just looked like the poor taste of people with new money. He gave a security guard his name and the purpose of his visit. After the security guard called inside and talked for a while, Rentaro was allowed to pass, sandwiched between more guards in front of and behind him. There were folding chairs lined up in an orderly fashion, and in front of them were a spotlight and a tiered doll stand. That was probably where the spokesman always stood to smoothly answer questions from the press. In the past, Rentaro had had the opportunity to see similar events when he was at the emperor's palace, so there was a strange familiarity when he came to a place like this. Because of those thoughts, he was surprised when he realized it was the Seitenshi herself who came to the podium. Directly in front of her sat a few people scattered about. It looked like she was practicing some sort of speech. It seemed she had not yet noticed Rentaro. The third-generation head of state of Tokyo Area was wearing the same pure white dress she always wore and had a strained expression on her face. As usual, she possessed such beauty that she was hard to approach. "Today is a day of good fortune, and I wish health and joy on those gathered here today. Now, there are only three points I wish to speak of today. Only three—" Her eye contact, the placement of her breath, the tempo of her speech—everything was perfect. In front of Rentaro's eyes, there was a national ruler his age presenting a speech that would put adults to shame. Rentaro was reluctant to interrupt and listened attentively, putting his hand on the back of a chair on the side. When he did, a leg on that chair gave a loud creak, and he was surprised as everyone turned to look at him. The Seitenshi adjusted her seated posture and folded her hands elegantly in front of her dress, cracking a smile. "Good afternoon, Satomi. You're right on time." Suddenly, the memory of almost grabbing the Seitenshi resurfaced in Rentaro's mind, and he looked down slightly, scratching the back of his head. "Um, sorry about before." "I am not concerned about it." Looking at the Seitenshi's faint smile, he grumbled in his heart that she didn't just look good but she also had good character. No wonder she was so popular with the citizens. A woman who looked like a secretary pushed up sharp glasses as she approached him. "Who is this?" "Kiyomi, this is your first time meeting him, isn't it? This is Rentaro Satomi from the Tendo Civil Security Agency, the hero of Tokyo Area who drove away a Stage Five Gastrea." The woman called Kiyomi was taken aback. "Rentaro Satomi… You mean the former kids' TV singer and stripper at a gay bar? That Rentaro Satomi?" "Who're you calling a stripper at a gay bar?! Who's spreading these false rumors, anyway?!" Because of the incomplete news blackout that had been imposed, strange rumors were being spread, primarily online. Having his personal information distorted was a big headache for Rentaro. Based on those rumors, Rentaro was a former shiitake mushroom cultivation engineer, a former fortune adviser, and a former animal therapist. Kids' TV singer and gay bar stripper were new. "Hey, if you don't need me for anything, I'm going home." "I do need you for something." The Seitenshi signaled with a look telling those around her to back off, stepped down from the platform, and approached him. "Satomi, President Saitake, the Osaka Area representative, is informally visiting Tokyo Area the day after tomorrow." "What?!" Rentaro froze unconsciously as she said a name he recognized. Sougen Saitake? "That's right. I'm sure you already know this, but currently, Japan is split into five areas—Sapporo, Sendai, Osaka, Hakata, and Tokyo Areas—ruled by five heads of state. One of them, President Saitake, sent a message out of the blue the other day saying that he was going to visit Tokyo Area and that he wanted a conference with me." "Why…?" Osaka Area hadn't contacted Tokyo Area at all these past few years. What could he possibly want after all this time? "I do not know. However, I believe a large part of why he chose now is because of the absence of Kikunojo." "Now that you mention it, that old man is in China or Russia or something, right? They showed it on TV." The Seitenshi nodded silently. Saitake and Kikunojo had a long history of being political opponents since before the Great War, so to come while Kikunojo was gone could be seen as cowardice or underhandedness. "I see. Well, you said you wanted me as an escort, but what exactly did you want me to do?" "I want you to sit next to me in the limousine when we travel, stand behind me during meetings, and be my bodyguard." "Does that mean you want me to stand in the old man's place where he always stands and be his replacement?" "To put it plainly, yes." Rentaro didn't know what to think anymore. What in the world was the national head of state in front of him thinking? "Is this at your own discretion?" "Yes." "When the old man comes back and finds out about this, he's going to be furious, you know." "Why would he be?" "Because…I followed Kisara Tendo." As if she understood with just that, the Seitenshi let out an "Ah." "I do not make plans based on concerns over the Tendo family feud." "But you know that it's not as simple a matter as a family feud." She did not say anything. "Anyway, don't you already have proper guards around you?" "I was just about to introduce you to them. Please, come in." When the Seitenshi raised her arm to summon them in, there was the stamping of soldier boots, and men without a thread out of place entered the press conference room and formed a line. These were the Seitenshi's personal guards, who were always seen off to the side during TV broadcasts. Rentaro counted six of them. They all wore white overcoats and uniform caps, with handguns at their waists. He didn't want to say it, but more than guards, they looked exactly like the treasonous military police from World War II. When they looked this similar, it was strange that there was no military sword at their waist. "Satomi, this is the captain, Yasuwaki." A conspicuously tall and handsome man stepped forward, smiling with his right arm outstretched. "Pleased to meet you. I am Takuto Yasuwaki. My rank is second lieutenant, and I have the honor of being the captain of the guard. I have heard much about you. If anything happens while on duty, I am counting on you, Satomi." "I haven't accepted the offer yet, you know. Besides, I didn't come here to serve. I just came to hear an explanation of a job." Even as he spoke, Rentaro was inwardly surprised. The man looked to be in his early thirties. He was very young to be the captain of the Seitenshi's personal guard. Rentaro stared at the proffered right hand for a while, and then raised his head to look at Yasuwaki. He had sharp eyes in a narrow, pointy face that looked nervous. Behind his ingratiating voice, those eyes stared at him coldly. Rentaro could feel them on his skin that had suddenly become as sensitive as radar. For some reason, contrary to Yasuwaki's tone of voice, Rentaro was apparently not very welcome. Seeming to sense the unrest in the air, the Seitenshi hurriedly intervened. "Satomi, isn't it a little impolite of you to not return his handshake?" Yasuwaki lightly took off his hat and smiled at her. "No, Lady Seitenshi. I am used to being treated this way by civsec officers. Even if he is a hero, he is still a mere high school student, so he must be a little nervous." Yasuwaki did not seem particularly hurt as he withdrew his hand and gave a polite bow. He knows how to handle himself, Rentaro thought. Was it my fault? The Seitenshi looked back and forth from Rentaro to Yasuwaki. Then, with a strange uneasiness, she quickly moved on to discussing compensation. Rentaro let that go in one ear and out the other as he put his hand on his chin and thought, setting his personal feelings aside for a moment. He felt bad doing this to Kisara, but it wasn't really a job he felt like doing. First of all, during the previous terrorist incident, he had gone through a lot of trouble because the government had been hiding important information. The job this time seemed to be a personal request of the Seitenshi's, but it sounded like the selfish wish of a princess where he would definitely get the short end of the stick. Another reason was that he simply did not think he was good enough. A job like this should be undertaken by a specialist unit of VIP guards. It was one thing if there was no money and the client wanted to keep costs down by hiring a civsec officer, but for the national ruler, this was unthinkable. Guarding a helpless girl like the Seitenshi would likely be a nerve-racking job. He didn't think anything would happen, but if something did, the responsibility would be too great. "Well then, if you will accept the job, please fill out the necessary paperwork and contact us." The female secretary from earlier finished the standard explanation and handed Rentaro the contract. Then, the Seitenshi concluded, saying, "I have another engagement," and left, taking her personal guards with her. By the time Rentaro stretched out his arm asking, "Uh, hey, where's the exit—" everyone had already left the press conference room. At a loss, Rentaro scratched the back of his head, stuffed both hands in his pockets, and wandered around the Seitenshi's palace. However, he stopped suddenly and scratched his head three minutes later when he realized he was lost. After passing a reception room decorated with gigantic stuffed deer and alligators and the like, then a locked meeting room, Rentaro found himself in a hallway he had never seen before with a red carpet, without knowing how he had gotten there. As Rentaro walked around looking for a worker to ask for directions, he suddenly felt a shot of pain as his arm was wrenched behind his back. "Don't say a word," a stifled voice whispered in his ear, and he was pushed into a nearby men's restroom and thrown against the wall. Rentaro saw stars, and he thought his forehead had split open as he watched a bloodstain spread on the wall. Bastard. Still trapped, Rentaro elbowed his captor behind him and tripped him. Getting free, he used his left hand to grab his opponent's head and banged it into the wall in return. "Son of a bitch." Rentaro felt someone else coming from behind to hit him and took the attack by putting up his right arm to block without looking. Then, he used a bit of aikido to twist and throw his opponent into the wall. There was a gasp as air was pushed out of his attacker's lungs. "That's enough." There was the click of a gun cocking, and Rentaro stopped moving. Turning around slowly, he saw the six guards from before, including Yasuwaki. One was standing guard outside the restroom, two had been beaten by Rentaro, and two had drawn their sidearms and had them pointed at Rentaro. And the last, Yasuwaki, had his arms clasped behind his back, looking down at Rentaro like a snake tormenting something weaker than it. "What are you trying to do…bastard?" Rentaro said. Yasuwaki walked briskly over to Rentaro, and just as Rentaro thought he had drawn a large knife from his hip, Yasuwaki thrust the side of Rentaro's face into the wall of the restroom as hard as he could. Yasuwaki brought his mouth next to Rentaro's ear and whispered in a stifled voice, "Rentaro Satomi, turn down this job. It is my job to stand behind Lady Seitenshi." "Huh?" "You make me sick. Who cares if you're the hero who defeated a Zodiac? You just happened to be the one by the abandoned railgun module, you whelp. If I had been there, I would have defeated the Zodiac." Rentaro didn't say anything. "Why you?" Yasuwaki continued. "Lord Tendo left Lady Seitenshi to me while he was gone. To me. Lord Tendo's usual position by her side should be mine." "You're always by her side protecting her, aren't you?" Yasuwaki gave a snort. "Idiot. It's not the same as being with her in the car or during meetings. Besides, Rentaro Satomi"—Yasuwaki leaned over and grinned, licking his lips repulsively—"Lady Seitenshi has grown up beautifully and will be sixteen this year. Don't you think it's about time Tokyo Area's ruler had a successor, as well?" "Oh, is that how it is? In the end, it's always that, huh?" Yasuwaki drew his gun from his hip and thrust it between Rentaro's eyebrows. "Shut up. Now, I'll have your answer." "I'm not gonna listen to you." Yasuwaki put away his handgun quickly and headed for the hallway with a jerk of his chin. "Crush the bones in his arms and legs." Were these guys serious? Held down by guards on his left and right sides, he was disgusted and flailed wildly until suddenly the hold on his right hand loosened. The next instant, before he could even think about it, his hand had reached out to the gun on his hip. He aimed slightly to the right of Yasuwaki's astonished face and pulled the trigger. The bullet flew straight and grazed Yasuwaki's cheek, and then the explosive sound of small-arms fire in a small room thundered throughout the palace. Then, there was a brief moment of silence, and the smell of gunpowder smoke stung Rentaro's nostrils. "This guy…" "I can't believe you fired in the Seitenshi's palace." The guards were shocked. Yasuwaki roared at the guards, who had started to look nervous. "Get yourselves together, idiots!" Holding his cheek where the bullet had grazed him, Yasuwaki narrowed his eyes that were burning with hatred. "I'll kill you…… I'll kill you, you son of a bitch!" Spitting out his parting threat, he and the guards quickly retreated. In their place, workers rushed in in great numbers. "Are you all right?" they asked Rentaro. As Rentaro waved away the hands reached out to him in his confused state and stood up, he glared at the exit Yasuwaki and the others left from. Apparently, the Seitenshi's personal guards were far from being honest or diligent. Rentaro received simple treatment and was interrogated by the staff and found innocent. By the time he was led out of the palace by the staff, he had decided to take the job. When Rentaro left the palace, the sun was low, and the sky was dyed red. He stretched hard, and the bones in his body made delightful popping sounds. Every time he had to undergo this kind of questioning, it made his shoulders stiff. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain and pressed his hand to the bandage on his forehead. On the other hand, despite the extremely serious matter of boldly shooting a gun in the Seitenshi's palace, he had been allowed to go home surprisingly easily. For some reason, the staff understood his situation, but when Rentaro tried to turn the conversation to Yasuwaki and the other guards, the staff gave a start and looked down. It looked like the staff inside the palace had some knowledge of the arrogance of the Seitenshi's personal guards. At least, enough to figure out immediately that something had happened between Rentaro and the guards when they saw Yasuwaki and the others leave the restroom, with Rentaro inside with blood dripping from his forehead. Rentaro sighed. It had turned into something annoying. Then, he looked up and thought, Oh? There was a bicycle circling the elaborately designed fountain in front of the Seitenshi's palace. It had been circling this whole time. Riding the bike was a girl about the same age as Enju with hair that could probably be called platinum blond. The wind blew her beautiful hair up, and it reflected the red light of the setting sun, sparkling brightly. However, the girl was wearing baggy pajamas, her feet shod in house slippers, she had a serious case of bedhead sticking out from her head, her mouth hung half-open, and she pedaled the bike with a self-effacing expression on her face. It was hard to watch. The people walking by had expressions on their faces that made it clear they did not want to get involved with what looked like a sleepwalker on a bike caught in an endless loop around the round fountain, and they quickened their steps to pass her. Rentaro had a bad feeling about this and hunched his shoulders, walking quickly to pass the girl on the side, leaving plenty of space between them. With a feeling of relief, he stroked his chest and tried not to look back as he headed home. Suddenly, there was the sound of something falling behind his back. "Hey…! What the…?! Watch where you're going!" The thunderous voice carried a hundred meters, and when Rentaro reluctantly turned back, there were three delinquent boys with bleached blond hair surrounding the girl from before. The girl had been thrown off her bike and looked like she didn't know what had happened. Surprised, she looked left and right, but then the kicks started mercilessly, and Rentaro closed one eye. The girl's back crashed into the edge of the fountain, and the muffled voice that escaped when the air was knocked out of her lungs even reached Rentaro. "Why aren't you saying anything? Say something, bitch. You ran over my foot with this bike. Get it?" "Aw man, that foot's probably broken." "You've gotta pay compensation! Compensation!" One of the boys started stomping on the vainly spinning spokes of the inverted bicycle in a fit of anger. The girl didn't know what was going on and just stood with her mouth open. There were more people around them who avoided the girl and walked by, and some started appearing who didn't want to get involved and turned away completely. Rentaro felt bad for her, but he wasn't such a good person that he would act like a hero and go in to help. His feeling of not wanting to get involved won, and he turned around, but when he suddenly thought of what Enju would say if she were here, his legs stopped as if they were glued to the ground. Rentaro ruffled his fingers through his hair. Damn it. Might as well call her parents, he said to himself as he put his hand on the spiky-haired one who was poking the girl and who seemed to be the leader, forcing him to turn around to face Rentaro. The spiky-haired boy scowled unpleasantly and said, "Huh?" Rentaro regarded the boy with little in the way of enthusiasm. The pure violence of this type of scary-faced loudmouth was definitely easier to deal with than the underhanded, spiteful Yasuwaki. When Rentaro didn't say anything, the boy said, "Who the hell are you?" and put his face close to Rentaro's to threaten him. Rentaro didn't say anything and just tapped his own back twice where his gun was stuck into his belt. The spiky-haired boy's reptilian eyes gave off a dangerous light, and there was an oppressive silence. The fibers of Rentaro's clothes poked his skin. He didn't know how much time had passed, but the spiky-haired boy finally turned on his heel and said, "Hey, let's go," and left, taking his friends with him. Exhaling softly and relaxing his shoulders, he swore to himself that he would never do this again. As Rentaro turned back reproachfully, he saw the blond girl looking at him with her mouth open. "A hero… It's my first time ever seeing one." The girl in pajamas that he saved looked at him with an absentminded expression. "You don't have to thank me. Just hurry up and go home! Later." As he waved carelessly and was about leave, the girl grabbed the sleeve of his uniform. "Where are we?" Rentaro covered his face with his palm and shook his head softly. Damn it, he had gotten involved, after all. Sitting the girl on a bench in a green park in the neighborhood, Rentaro went all the way to a water faucet, got a towel wet, and brought it back. Wringing out the towel, he wiped the girl's face. "Stay still for a sec." The girl lifted her chin, narrowed her eyes, and stayed there. "You seem to be…used to this." "I've got a freeloader about your age at home, that's why. There, all clean." Rentaro took a step back to look at the girl, putting his hand on his hip and nodding once. The girl lowered her head to bow in thanks—but strangely, she never lifted her face back up. Rentaro thought this was suspicious and peeked at her face from below. Her eyelids looked heavy, blinking sleepily as she started falling asleep. "Hey…" Suddenly raising her head, the girl dug around in her pocket and pulled out a bottle with an English label on it, took a pill out of it, and put it in her mouth. Rentaro thought she was eating something and stole a look at the label on the bottle and frowned. Apparently, they were caffeine pills. "I'm…nocturnal, so if I don't do this, I can't stay awake during the day." As she spoke, she tossed a large number of pills in her mouth one after another, chewed sleepily, and swallowed. Rentaro did not know much about this type of pill, but he could tell that this was more than a normal dose. "Where did you come from? What's your name? Where's your guardian? Why are you wearing pajamas and house slippers?" The girl looked down at her own clothes and tilted her head slowly. "Dunno…" It had taken her about ten seconds to react. "What do you mean, 'dunno'? Jeez… What about your name, then?" "My name is…" For some reason, the girl's eyes shifted for a moment, but then she seemed to give up and lifted her face. "Tina…… It's Tina Sprout." "I'm Rentaro Satomi." "Call me Tina." "Then, you can call me Rentaro." "Rentaro…?" Tina looked at Rentaro absentmindedly with her mouth half-open. "What is it?" "I just…wanted to try it out." Rentaro slumped his shoulders. This was tiring. "Well, Tina, I'll ask you again. Where's your guardian?" "I don't have one." She didn't? "Where did you come from? You can just tell me what you remember." With her eyes half-closed, Tina tilted her head front and back, left and right, stuck her forefinger on her chin, and started to speak slowly. "All I remember is that I think I woke up in my apartment today, took a shower, changed my clothes, and went out."
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter004.txt	Black Bullet "Don't lie! Not only haven't you changed or showered, you look like you just woke up!" Tina opened her mouth and said, "Oh," softly, her eyes still half-closed. "You know me better than…I know myself…don't you?" "Hey… The bike that was broken was yours, right?" "Bike? Was I…riding something…like that?" "Never mind. You should go to the police box and ask for directions." "I can't…really…" "Just do it. I realized now that I can't deal with you." "Don't…say that." Rentaro wrote his phone number on a piece of paper and handed it to her. "Here, if you get lost again, you can call me, so just go to the police box. Please." "Then, can I try calling you as a test right now?" "Why do you have to do something like that…?" "Because you might have given me a fake phone number." Rentaro had no words. Tina turned her back on him and fiddled with her cell phone, and then Rentaro's chest pocket started to vibrate. "I know this is sudden, but you are interested in ten-year-old girls, right?" "Wh…what…?" "I was keenly aware of you gazing at the skin peeking out from my pajamas." "Go see an eye doctor." "I was afraid to say it to you in person, but you really have an unfortunate face, don't you, Rentaro?" "Shut up." "I also didn't get a chance to say this, but I know where my apartment is." Rentaro felt foolish. Then, what was I hanging out with this kid for? Tina smiled faintly and folded her cell phone shut slowly. "Today was a very fun day." Apparently, in this girl's mind, this farce was saved in her memory as a fun day. It wasn't fun at all for me, you know, he almost said, but kept it to himself after seeing her happy face. Tina slowly slid off the bench and smiled. "I hope we can meet again." Rentaro scratched his head, then gave up and gave a big nod, shooing her off with his hand. "Well then, good-bye, Rentaro." The girl bowed politely and walked falteringly out of the park. Rentaro watched her go, not exhaling with relief until he couldn't see her anymore. She didn't seem like a bad kid. Thinking he had another story he could tell Enju, he walked in the opposite direction of the girl. 3 Cars were passing by so quickly they made Tina's ears hurt before going off into the distance. The temperature had cooled down, and it had gotten a little chilly. As Tina trudged down the highway, before she knew it, she had turned her face toward the cars with their headlights turned on. The sky was dyed with darkness and the moon shone in stark contrast. Night is coming. It's my time. One by one, the cells in her body started to awaken, her mind became clear, and her body became filled with energy. Just then, Tina's cell phone vibrated. Looking at the caller's name, she put the phone to her ear. "Master?" "Give your report." It was a hard, businesslike voice. "I have infiltrated Tokyo Area successfully. I will now return to my apartment and then head to the designated location to retrieve the items." "Anything out of the ordinary to report?" "There was some trouble, but it was nothing serious." Tina put her hand on her chest and closed her eyes as she continued slowly. "……a kind person helped me." The person on the other end of the phone spoke, sounding irritated. "I thought I told you to avoid contact with other people if possible. In order to avoid information leaks, make sure you give a false name if possible." "Yes, sir…… No problem." "Tina Sprout. What is your mission? Let me hear it again." Tina lifted her face and looked at the moon. She was completely awake now. "Do not worry, Master. I will carry out the assassination of the Seitenshi." Tina's feet took her back to her apartment. The wooden apartment building was old, built based on old building standards with pillars that had been rebuilt time and time again in order to extend its life. The white paint was peeling, and there were cracks in the wall. Tina's master probably thought this would make the best hideout for her because there were no conspicuous buildings around, and it was a quiet area. Still, what was up with still using a pinfire gun in the year 2031? she wondered, remembering her classes on espionage as she put her key in the lock and turned. The minute she opened the door, she was met with stagnant, moldy air. Just like the outside, the inside did not consider the comforts of its renter, but this was a temporary mission, so she just had to bear with it while she was here. Thinking that, she took off her slippers. Tina blushed as she stood in front of the full-length mirror left behind by the previous occupant. I stood in front of that man dressed like this? If I dressed up a little, I would look cuter than this, she thought regretfully as she took off her pajamas and went to take a shower. Changing her clothes, she replaced the battery pack of her cell phone with one that was fully charged and put a futuristic-looking spindle-shape wireless headset over her right ear. Then, she called her master back as she left the apartment. She headed toward a seedy place where freight containers from the suburbs were stacked neatly together. They were a kind of rental boxes called trunk rooms. After the Great War, apparently, there were a number of people who started a business by simply installing freight containers on vacant land. Because of Tokyo Area's chronic land shortage and with the price of land going up gradually, it was a practice that continued steadily until the land was sold off and the owners withdrew. "Master, I have arrived." Tina held an IC card up to the unmanned gate and went inside, looking for the container he was talking about. Before long, she found the number she was looking for on a conspicuously large container. Inserting the key in the lock, she entered the numbers into the padlock as she was told and opened the door. When she stepped inside, Tina was shocked. "What do you think, Tina?" She could hear the pride in his voice over the phone. The interior of the gigantic container, about the size of six tatami mats, could be called an armory. Of course, there were small arms and sniper rifles, but there were also rocket launchers, recoilless guns, antitank rifles, and other superior weapons overflowing from the walls and ceilings. It seemed like he had gotten one of everything that looked like it could be of use, just to be certain not to be lacking something. Getting a peek at his neurotic eccentricity, Tina chose an antitank sniper rifle and put it in her gun case. However, as she tried to lift it up, it wouldn't budge off the ground even when she used all the strength she had as a weak girl. Left with no choice, she calmed her breathing and released her power. She could feel her whole body gradually growing warm and felt her five senses physically expanding. She didn't have a mirror, so she couldn't see for herself, but she was sure her eyes were red. This time, she was able to lift the case easily, and she passed through the gate with her head down so her eyes wouldn't be seen and walked quickly toward her apartment. All that was left was to get back home. Perhaps because of that self-conceit, she froze when high beams from a car suddenly shone on her from the side. "Miss, where are you from? You shouldn't be out right now. Do you know what time it is? Where do you live?" A door slammed, and someone came out of the car. Promptly covering just her face with the palm of her hand and seeing the sirens on top of the car, Tina reported the situation very calmly. "Master, I'm sorry. There has been an unforeseen situation. I have been stopped by the police." Apparently, they thought she was a runaway. "Have they seen your face?" "No…" "Oh, well…" The man seemed to nod on the other end, and then gave her the order coldly and evenly. "Kill them." 4 "This is terrible…" Holding the spoils of the evening limited-time sale war in their reusable bags, Rentaro's and Enju's feet stopped. The police car sunk into the concrete wall was in a sorry state —it looked like it had been kicked by Godzilla. The sirens were smashed, the hood was crushed, and the exhaust pipe was bent in a strange direction. Outside the cordoned-off area, a large number of onlookers were crowded around, taking pictures with their phones with one hand. Rentaro approached one of them hesitatingly and said, "Hey, do you know what in the world happened here…?" "Who knows? It looks like they haven't caught the perpetrator yet. But aren't the only ones who can do something like this the Red-Eyes?" Rentaro ground his teeth in frustration at not being able to refute this presumptive reasoning. It was true that even though it wasn't strictly speaking impossible for a human to do this, the probability that it was a human was low enough to ignore. "There are no leads, and the officer attacked is still unconscious in critical condition." "Critical condition? He's not dead?" "Hmm? Yeah, what about it?" "Nothing…" Rentaro felt bad saying it, but because the car had been so thoroughly destroyed, he had thought that the officer driving it would have left this world, as well. Rentaro gave a quick bow in thanks and returned to Enju. Enju had covered her eyes, still holding her shopping bag. Rentaro stopped for a second and approached her slowly. "Enju," he said quietly, "you're not the one who did it. It was one of the other Children." Enju gave him a quick, bitter smile but then soon showed him a full smile. "Rentaro, you are too kind. Yes, I am fine now." "All right, let's go home, then." On the way home, he and Enju had a rambling conversation as she swung her shopping bags back and forth. "And then, you know the new cartoon Go, Zengar! that just started…?" As Rentaro snuck a peek at the side of Enju's face, he wondered if he should say it. Should he just mind his own business? Rentaro said diffidently, "Enju, don't worry about it. You weren't the one who did it." Enju tilted her head and looked at him like she didn't know what he was talking about. "Hmm? Whatever is the matter, Rentaro?" "You weren't the one who did it." Enju's gaze wavered, and she seemed flustered. "Wh-what's the matter, Rentaro? You seem strange." Rentaro put his hands on Enju's shoulders and turned her toward him, saying each word clearly and distinctly. "I said, you weren't the one who did that, Enju…" Enju made a perplexed face, but then unconsciously, her face crumpled and her expression wavered. Enju looked down and wiped her eyes quickly with her sleeve. "R-Rentaro, you're amazing! How did you know that I was still concerned about that? Even though Kisara and Sumire wouldn't have realized…" Rentaro put his hand on her head and let out a long breath. "Because it's you…" "Why can't everyone just get along, Rentaro…?" Enju's voice was hoarse, and it sounded like it would disappear at any moment. "I don't know………" Even as Rentaro tousled Enju's hair, he saw a bleak future for the Cursed Children. Born at almost the same time as the Great Gastrea War ten years ago, the Cursed Children were ten years old or younger. As such, it was probably too much to ask for them to possess wise judgment. However, each time a crime like this was committed, the hatred the Stolen Generation—who already hated Gastrea—had for the Cursed Children grew stronger. The girls didn't know. They didn't realize that hatred would swing in the opposite direction of where force was applied, like a pendulum. Sometimes with far more force. Each time one of the Cursed Children committed a crime, it was as if Enju's neck was being strangled slowly with a silk rope, and it made Rentaro's chest hurt to watch it. No, more accurately, it was as if the net trapping the Children was getting tighter, in a way they couldn't see. Rentaro narrowed his eyes and looked back once more at the scene behind them. He didn't know who'd done it, but Rentaro doubted he could forgive the perpetrator. Enju finally separated herself slowly from Rentaro and wiped her face one more time with her sleeve. "All right, this time—this time—I am surely fine!" Rentaro smiled. "Yeah… Okay." In order to dispel the solemn atmosphere, Rentaro exhaled deeply, puffing out his chest and laughing loudly, looking down at the shopping bags. "By the way, Enju, we got a good haul at the limited-time sale today, huh?" Enju grinned mischievously. "I did not think we would be able to purchase meat so cheaply, either." Rentaro pumped his fist. "We're having sukiyaki today!" "Sukiyaki…!" Enju hopped happily. As soon as Rentaro got back to their rundown eight-tatami-mat apartment, he put on an apron and went to the kitchen. As he cut the vegetables into bite-size pieces, Enju capered around Rentaro, chattering excitedly about the cartoon she was currently into, Go, Zengar! It sounded like it was based on those old shows about fighting squadrons and transforming robots. "And then, and then, there's the robot of justice, Zenin Zengar, and the evil robot, Akuin Akkar. And the storyboards for episode eighteen were—" "Zenin zenga, like 'one good turn deserves another'? And akuin akka, like 'what goes around comes around'? Aren't those Buddhist terms or something? That's a pretty advanced cartoon." Enju proudly put both hands on her hips, as if impressed that Rentaro had noticed. "That's right. And the most amazing thing is that the squadron consists of four chief priests and a Buddhist nun, and they are all bald, and their five temples combine to form one large transforming robot." "R-really……" The cartoons you watch are so weird, Rentaro thought as he put konnyaku noodles, leeks, chrysanthemum leaves, and mushrooms on a bamboo draining basket and then unfolded a low table that was leaning against the wall. Putting on oven mitts, Rentaro moved the sukiyaki pot from the kitchen to the gas burner on the table and turned it on. Before long, the ingredients were boiling gently, and the warm steam was rising to meet Rentaro's and Enju's faces. As the sweet smell of the sauce filled the room, Rentaro started salivating. He couldn't wait to eat. It had been days since he'd had such extravagant food for dinner. After Rentaro chided Enju for putting her hands on the low table and jumping around, she switched to hitting the bowl with the egg in it with her chopsticks and yelling, "Is it time to eat yet?" Rentaro gave a wry smile. Urging Enju to sit down, they had just started to chorus, "Time to eat!" when the front door's intercom rang unexpectedly. Rentaro scowled as he turned to look at the clock on the wall. Who could it be at this time of night? "S-Satomi dear…" With a voice that was on the verge of death, a beautiful girl wearing Japanese-style clothes barged in. She had a large face mask over her mouth, her face was red, and she sounded like she had a bad cough. Rentaro was taken aback. He knew this face. And it was a face that he wanted to avoid seeing if possible. "M-Miori?! What are you doing here?" The girl in the kimono took cold medicine and nutritional supplement drinks out of the shopping bag on her arm and put them in Rentaro's hands. She seemed to be making an appeal to him as she pointed at herself repeatedly. "T-take care of me…while I'm sick…" Saying just that seemed to use up all her energy, and she fell with a thud to the floor of the entryway. Rentaro's mouth gaped as he was overcome with surprise. But, that was not the end of the situation. Seconds after the girl in the kimono fell, Kisara Tendo came through the entrance, her face haggard. "S-Satomi…… I know it's sudden, but take this…" Then Kisara handed him a tray of beef with a half-price price tag on it. It was cheaper than the sale meat Rentaro had bought. "Make sukiyaki with it… I'm…hungry…" Saying only that, Kisara fainted from hunger and fell with a thud to the floor of the entryway. The girl in the kimono was smushed and made a weird sound. One sick person. One unconscious person. A total of two people had suddenly barged into the Satomi home. Rentaro turned white as a sheet. "Th-this is terrible…" Enju raised her voice, sounding unhappy. "Another woman I do not know is here! Rentaro, explain yourself! Who is this woman who is not Kisara?!" "A-anyway, Enju, I'll pretend I didn't see anything, so please abandon one of them outside!" Enju didn't really understand what was going on and tilted her head in question. "Hmm? Rentaro, what are you saying?" "Kisara and this girl don't get along at all! Leaving them in the same space will cause an awful chemical reaction." Enju leaned over the girl in the kimono and started poking the girl with her chopsticks. "Well, who is she?" Rentaro scratched the back of his head and remembered that Enju hadn't actually been introduced to her yet. "This is Miori. Miori Shiba. The student council president of my school, Magata High School, and the daughter of the CEO of Shiba Heavy Weapons, the weapons corporation that supplies us with equipment." The phrase "bed of thorns" was meant for times like this, Rentaro thought as he broke out into a cold sweat. Across the table from Rentaro was an unhappy-looking Kisara, kneeling properly and poking at the sukiyaki pot. Diagonally across from him was Enju, grinning, and next to him in equally high spirits was Miori. Miori's face was still red, but after a dose of cold medicine and nutritional drinks, she had soon recovered enough to sit up. Now, she had even taken off her face mask that would get in the way of eating sukiyaki. In the end, it was doubtful whether she even really needed someone to look after her while she was sick. Rentaro looked sideways at Miori, wondering if it had just been an excuse to come to his house. She seemed to be the perfect little rich girl, with her long, wavy, shiny black hair and her brightly colored Japanese-style clothes. As they were both rich girls with a certain noble air about them, she and Kisara were very similar, but there were definite differences in their Japanese versus Western tastes and in their ways of thinking. "Sorry y'all ended up treating me, too, Satomi dear," Miori said with a drawl. "There's nothing to be sorry about—" "Yes, there is," Kisara said flatly, with her eyes closed and just her chopsticks moving silently and continuously. "We brought ingredients like respectable people do, but that snake woman over there is eating for free. It's a bother. I wish she would leave immediately." "Oh, were you here, Kisara? Your boobs were so large that I couldn't see your face." There was a strange sound that Rentaro had never heard before as Kisara crushed the chopsticks in her hand. Hey, those are my chopsticks! "Sorry, Satomi, can I have another pair of chopsticks?" Kisara tilted her head with a sweet rich girl smile, but her hand was shaking. Rentaro stuck out his hand fearfully, and Kisara deposited the chopstick shards into his palm. When he looked more closely, he could see that the chopsticks had been shattered into well over twenty pieces. He couldn't even imagine how much strength was needed to crush them so thoroughly. Rentaro, who had managed to defeat the highly ranked Kagetane Hiruko pair as well as repelling a Stage Five Gastrea, wanted to run away from this place this instant. Kisara stared at Rentaro. "By the way, Satomi, what are you going to do about the job?" "About that. If you're okay with it, President, I'd like to accept." "All right, I'll fill out the paperwork and send it along." Rentaro turned to face Enju again. "Enju, I'll tell you more about it tomorrow, but we have an escort mission. I'm counting on you." Enju saluted sharply and said cheerfully, "All right, a job!" Miori narrowed her eyes and looked at Enju mischievously. "Enju, I've heard a lot about you from dear Satomi. You're such a cute little thing. Dear Satomi's always complaining to me about how hard it is to hold in his feelings when he's turned on by you." Enju's pigtails bounced sharply in surprise. "Is that right, Rentaro?! It is not necessary to hold in your feelings!" "It's not true! Miori, stop making things up!" Miori spread open a large fan and covered her mouth, snickering. At first glance, it looked like a refined gesture, but her fan was an iron fan, reinforced with iron in a number of places and a fine weapon in its own right. "You know those combat shoes you wear, Enju? We designed them based on measurements from dear Satomi. How are they? Are they comfortable?" "Oh, yes! So you made those? Yes, they are good shoes." "I see, I see. Come back and tell us when your feet grow and they get too tight. I'll make some new ones for you. Also, Enju, those Varanium bullets dear Satomi scatters all over the place, and the equipment he uses—they're all provided by our company, you know." Enju looked around at the shabby eight-tatami-mat room and tilted her head with a look of bewilderment. "But Satomi doesn't have the money to pay for that." "It's free." "Free?" "I'll explain about that," Rentaro interrupted. It might have seemed like civsec officers were the only ones who gained from sponsorship contracts with weapons companies that supplied them with equipment, but of course, that was not the case. For weapons companies, being known to supply equipment to strong civsec officer pairs whose names were brands in and of themselves could be used for marketing campaigns. Once pairs rose to a certain rank, their private information stopped being published on the list managed by the country, but if they weren't afraid of being kidnapped or assassinated by other countries and continued to show their faces in public, strong pairs could make a lot of money from advertisements and commercials. However, the weapons companies also did not just sponsor anyone off the street, of course, and there was a strict review process involved. A year earlier, when the Tendo Civil Security Agency had just been founded and had no results to speak of yet, they applied knowing they had nothing to lose, but— Miori was all smiles as she took Rentaro's arm and suddenly blew into his ear. Rentaro's body stiffened in surprise. "And then, Enju, the minute I saw dear Satomi, I knew. He will be someone great in the future, I thought. That's why we accepted him, with some conditions." "Conditions? What conditions?" "There were a few. He had to test new products, appear in commercials, you know. One of them was that he had to study with me at Magata High School. I have it all in writing." She laughed. "Dear Satomi is all mine." Rentaro thought going to school was a waste of time, but because of their contract, he was partially bound to the school and was being forced to attend. The worst was if they happened to bump into each other during the all-school assemblies, when Miori would be on stage as student council president and give him conspicuous winks or wave at him, which made the other boys at school hate him. "Satomi, get away from that woman this instant." Kisara's eyes were steady. "H-hey, idiot, get off of me, Miori. They're touching! They're touching!" As Rentaro became flustered, Miori smiled teasingly, still hanging on to his arm. "What? What're touching? Could you be talking about my chest? I'm making them touch on purpose. Even so, you've got it tough, Satomi dear. Kisara has those large breasts hanging off her but seems unexpectedly prudish, and if you go after Enju, you'll end up in handcuffs, right? So…" With slightly flushed cheeks, Miori looked at Rentaro with upturned eyes. "Hey, Satomi dear. Am I cute?" "H-huh?! You beat the second-place person at the beauty contest at the school festival by a wide margin. What are you asking about it now for—?" "I want to hear it from your lips, Satomi dear." He was perplexed by her strange tone of voice and her acting cute and scratched his head. "Well, y-yeah, you're cute." "Say it again." "I-I said, you're cute…" "Did you hear that? Hey, Kisara, did you hear that? He called me cute twice! Oh my, what should I do?" Kisara had her fists on her knees and was trembling all over. "And you know, Satomi dear, we have our own private civil security agency at Shiba Heavy Weapons, so why don't you quit Tendo Civil Security Agency and work for us?" Miori continued. "If you join now, I'll throw in the right to do whatever you like to the most beautiful girl in school whenever you want." "Y-you can't!" Kisara hurriedly leaned her body forward. "S-Satomi has a contract with the Tendo Civil Security Agency! Not with you guys." "He can just break that contract. We can pay you this much, Satomi dear." Miori quickly flicked the abacus she pulled from the sleeve of her kimono and brought it coquettishly to Rentaro's face. When he saw the number, the chrysanthemum leaf he was eating almost came out of his nose. "What's with that number? It's a joke, right?" "Satomi dear, you've risen to the rank of 1,000, haven't you? That's your market price, you know." "It is?" Looking at Kisara, he saw her stuffing her mouth with meat and vegetables like a squirrel and turned her nose up, looking the other way. Apparently, she had activated the Kisara rule where she didn't have to talk if there was something in her mouth. As Enju blew on her meat to cool it, she looked at Miori. "Why don't you and Kisara get along?" She should have just stopped, but instead, Enju waved handheld fireworks around a powder keg. Miori laughed. "That's a good question. Of course, there is a long history between the Shiba and Tendo families, but Kisara and I are way beyond that. We hate each other on a genetic level." "Small boobs." Kisara mumbled this softly. However, Miori was the better actor. She turned over her fan and waved it softly. "Japanese clothes look better on those with moderate chests. Large, vulgar breasts are unnecessary. Do you understand, Kisara?" For some reason, Enju's head bobbed up and down as she nodded. There was a popping sound—the sound of Kisara's blood vessel ripping as she looked down. Even though there was no more food on Kisara's plate, her chopsticks were still mechanically making the trip between her plate and her mouth. It was scary. "Hey, Yukikage…… What's that? You want to drink the blood of the snake woman? Well, if you say so…" She laughed evilly. Kisara was so angry that it caused a shift in her mental state, and she had begun talking to the sword at her side. "Satomi, this food tastes good, but I think there's something missing. And that is Miori's blood!" Hey, come on… Kisara finally started to stand unsteadily. "Miori, do you know what bloodletting is? Apparently, when sick people bleed a little bit, they feel better. I will……be happy to perform bloodletting on you." Kisara drew her sword and aimed it at Miori's eyes. "Everything from the neck up is unnecessary." That's not called bloodletting. Rentaro wanted to just hold his head. He didn't want this to happen. That's why he didn't want to have the two of them in the same space. "C-calm down, Kisara." "Calm down? Did you just tell me to calm down? My anger is ecstasy!" Even her language ability was uncertain now, and when Kisara started to breathe Lamaze style, Miori stood quietly with a smug look on her face. Rentaro remembered the phrase "an ostrich in the desert." There was an anecdote about how an ostrich in the desert will stick its head in the sand and pretend it can't see anything when an enemy appears. At a loss, Rentaro desperately stuffed meat into his mouth and tried to avert his eyes from reality. Yeah, the meat is delicious. It's superdelicious. Kisara and Miori moved away from the table and faced each other, opening some distance between them. Kisara spoke. "Miori. Someday, I will buy your company's stock twice over and short sell it, crushing the whole company! And then at the general stockholder meeting, I'll disrupt the meeting as an extortionist and torment you until you cry!" "I wouldn't if I were you. Shiba Heavy Weapons is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as part of the Nikkei Tokyo 60, and is one of Japan's mainstay industries. It's suicidal to try to short sell it. Anyway, how much capital does the runaway daughter of the Tendo family have, anyway? If you start by buying, you can make a lot of money, you know." "I would rather bite off my tongue and die than make money off your company's stocks!" "Does that mean you won't back down?" "I'll send you to the other world." Miori reached into her kimono sleeve and pulled out a government sidearm, a Swordfish, custom-made just for her, and then took a complicated stance with her iron fan in one hand and handgun in the other. "I don't know about your Tendo style or whatever, but it's just an improvised martial art that's barely been around for a hundred years. I'll make you bow to the Shiba style." Kisara took her sword-drawing stance and spoke in a cold voice. "Shut up, Miori. Save your sass for the hereafter." In the midst of this volatile situation, Enju was the only one who balled her fist and said, "Be careful, Miori! If you touch Kisara, she'll suck up your boobs!" energetically cheering her on. It seemed like Enju was on Miori's side. For some reason, the fluorescent lightbulb that had just been changed flickered. "Shiba Style Niten Kitcho—" "Tendo Sword Drawing, First Style, Number 2—" Rentaro realized that he was never getting his cleaning deposit back and was suddenly very depressed. 5 After being rocked in the luxurious limousine for about two hours, they finally reached their destination. Rentaro got out of the limousine and looked up at the enormous building in front of him as he listened to the clear cry of a skylark in the bushes. The informal conference would be taking place at a high-rise hotel eighty-six stories tall. Rentaro had heard that along with each area's embassies, it was often used as a safe house for important persons. Because countries around the world lost a lot of land to the Gastrea invasion after the Great Gastrea War, it had become necessary to build taller buildings in order to cram in the large numbers of people that remained. After the creation of real estate tax laws favorable to allowing buildings to stretch vertically, a number of high-rise buildings were built quickly as if in competition with one another. Tokyo Area was already dotted with buildings taller than the Tokyo Skytree.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter006.txt	Black Bullet "Rentaro, go and do your best on the job," said Enju, waving at Rentaro from inside the limousine. Rentaro waved back and then followed behind the girl in white in front of him, the Seitenshi. The Seitenshi's white formalwear looked like a wedding dress and exposed a lot of her upper back. Rentaro could see her slender shoulders and a peek of her shoulder blades in addition to the light pink skin with its healthy blood circulation. Rentaro felt a little guilty and shifted his gaze, asking her curtly, "Did you have to leave Enju in the car? It would be safer if she was with us." "I cannot bring a child into a serious place like this." With no choice but to obey, Rentaro sighed inwardly. The Seitenshi went through the rotating doors and informed the gorgeous front desk obviously meant for nobility of the reason for their visit. They were immediately received by the manager, who pressed a key courteously into the Seitenshi's hand, deferential but stiff with nervousness. The Seitenshi gave a slight smile and thanked him, and the manager smiled a self-satisfied smile. When they got on the elevator, the Seitenshi stuck the key into the keyhole and turned, and a button to the highest floor appeared that was not there before. He couldn't get used to this feeling no matter how many times he rode these elevators—the feeling of being pushed down by slight pressure as the antique indicators counted the floors with a metallic clicking sound. "Hey, do you really not know why Saitake wanted to have an informal conference?" Rentaro asked. "Yes, I have no idea. That is to say"—the Seitenshi glanced at Rentaro for a moment—"I have never met President Saitake." Rentaro was surprised, but now that he thought about it, it made sense. After the Tokyo metropolitan area was renamed Tokyo Area and its forty-three wards, there had been a number of Seitenshis. The first Seitenshi, who rebuilt Tokyo after they lost the war and renamed Tokyo Area, died from sickness a little less than a year later, and the second Seitenshi took over. And now, the girl in front of him was the third Seitenshi, who had been a politician for only a year. "Satomi, you are acquainted with President Saitake, are you not?" "Yeah, well, when I was younger, right when I had been taken in by the Tendos, old man Kikunojo wanted to make me a politician and took me around to different parties. I guess you could say I'm acquainted with Saitake. It was a long time ago, though." "I actually have a question for you. What kind of person did President Saitake seem like to you? Whenever I asked Kikunojo about Saitake, he became obviously ill-humored…" "Adolf Hitler." "Huh?" The Seitenshi's voice cracked, and she blinked with surprise, making a funny face that Rentaro had never seen before. As the Seitenshi turned her whole body to face him, she rubbed the corners of her eyes lightly. "I'm sorry, Satomi, I've been so busy with state affairs lately that I seem to be tired… Will you say that once more, please?" "I said, he's like Adolf Hitler." "That's a joke, isn't it?" "I'm serious. Even you know that Saitake has had seventeen assassination attempts by Osaka Area citizens, right? Anyone would be angry at having such heavy taxes levied, but that guy doesn't care. Anyway, Lady Seitenshi, the heads of Sapporo Area, Sendai Area, and Hakata Area are like that, too. Those first-generation guys are the real deal, the ones who rebuilt their areas from the devastation of the Great Gastrea War. "You know how people say the shogun's council of elders got younger after Perry's black ships arrived? During times of peace, it doesn't matter who is in charge of Japan, but when things get really bad, the ones who crawl up are the really capable and dangerous guys. All the area rulers are guys who can say nonsense like 'I am the representative of all of Japan' with a straight face. Saitake is the worst of them. Be careful." "I-I understand. I appreciate the warning." The Seitenshi looked a little overwhelmed and nodded gravely. Partway through, Rentaro had started talking as if to convince himself, as well. He lifted his gaze to glare at the highest floor. Even if this was unofficial, the other side wouldn't be so dumb as to set a trap in the conference location, but anyway, Rentaro was thinking of how he could successfully complete his job. The Seitenshi looked nervously at Rentaro. "Please do not leave my side." "Yes, ma'am," said Rentaro, a little insolently. She looked put out, and stuck her index finger in his face. "Also, you have a short temper, so please keep yourself under control. If you hit Saitake and start a war between our areas, I won't be able to bear it. Also, you must not use impolite phrases like 'Shut up' or 'What the hell?'" "Dang, I wouldn't say stuff like that." The indicator finally stopped on the top floor, and the door opened gravely. Unexpectedly, the first thing they saw was the blue sky, and Rentaro's stomach sank. The reinforced hexagonal glass that formed the half dome above them was transparent, and looking out from there, the world seemed to spread out forever. Instead of feeling like they were in a room of the hotel, it seemed like a set of office furniture was placed in a private room of the observation deck on the top floor of a high-rise building. Standing by the side of the elevator, bowing deeply once while standing erect were Saitake's guards. Brawny and muscular, it was obvious that they were extremely skilled. There was also a white-haired man with his back to them, sitting on a designer sofa and looking down at a six-page flexible paper display. Rentaro knew who it was just by seeing his back. After a while, the man stood from the sofa and turned around. "A pleasure, Lady Seitenshi." He seemed to notice Rentaro then, and the tone of his voice dropped suddenly. "And is that the boy taken in by the Tendo family?" "You're still alive? You should just die already, old man," said Rentaro. "Watch your mouth, civsec officer! You know where we are!" His voice roared like thunder, and next to Rentaro, the Seitenshi trembled in surprise. The man looked majestic, with his mustache curled at an acute angle, and his beard and hair connecting to look like a lion's mane. His eyes were sharp, and his tall height was clothed in a suit. He was supposed to be sixty-five this year, but he always seemed to be overflowing with energy, not seeming his age at all. He was Kikunojo Tendo's rival and a cunning politician who had buried one political rival after another: Sougen Saitake. "Rentaro, I have heard rumors about you. Tempted by that Tendo vixen and running away… You acted foolishly. Now, you are not a Tendo politician, you are a civsec officer at the same level as a worm crawling in dirt. I will treat you as such, and you shouldn't forget how low you are!" Rentaro stuck his hands in his pockets and approached Saitake with dangerous eyes. "What the hell are you talking about, old man? Social status? Pedigree? If you can't be satisfied in a conversation without those things to lift you up, then you should go back to Osaka Area and stay there! Whether or not I'm a Tendo, I'm me." Rentaro closed in on Saitake until they were almost nose to nose and glared at him. Unexpectedly, the one who relaxed his mouth and stepped back first was Saitake. Apparently, Rentaro had passed for now. Looking at the Seitenshi, Rentaro saw that she had paled at the threats and stood holding her lace gloves. Rentaro wanted to hide his face. Come on, Lady Seitenshi. Stuff like this is just a warm-up. Saitake jerked his chin. "Is that Buddha sculptor doing well, Rentaro?" Buddha sculptor surely referred to Kikunojo Tendo. Sougen Saitake's rival, Kikunojo Tendo, separate from his role as a politician, had an unexpected side as a Buddhist sculptor, carving images of the Buddha from wood. Kikunojo, who had been made into the youngest living national treasure of Japan at age sixty-two, was required to raise a disciple after receiving the title. When Rentaro's thoughts reached that point, they dredged up bad memories, and he shook his head to get rid of them. "He hasn't been carving much lately, ever since his incompetent disciple ran away." "What, do you regret what you did?" Rentaro glared at Saitake, who was looking at Rentaro with unconcealed scorn. "Do you wanna fight, pal? You'll look smarter if you keep your mouth shut a little, you know." The Seitenshi blinked her eyes in surprise. "Satomi, you…were Kikunojo's disciple…?" Apparently it was the first she had heard of it. "So what if I was?" Rentaro said it so distastefully that the Seitenshi hurriedly covered her face and said, "It's nothing…" Saitake offered her a seat, and the Seitenshi sat down on the sofa on the other side of the glass table, and Rentaro stood behind her. Rentaro thought for sure that they would start political discussions now, but Saitake raised his gaze to look at Rentaro. "Rentaro, when you defeated the Stage Five Gastrea, you used the railgun module, destroying it beyond repair in the process, didn't you? Do you understand how important that was?" "Huh?" said Rentaro. "In war, according to Sun Tzu's Art of War, whoever is in a position of higher ground wins. The army who shoots arrows from the top of a hill wins, the army who drops bombs on an enemy from above wins, the army who figures out the enemy's position using a satellite wins—so then, what's next? That railgun you destroyed was a next-generation weapon that was supposed to be transferred to the moon to shoot down Gastrea on the ground from the surface of the moon. And you…" Rentaro frowned. "Wait a minute, old man. Even if you could get the railgun onto the moon, would you really just use it for Gastrea?" Saitake scoffed with contempt. "Of course not, idiot. It's just as you're imagining. It's a next-generation deterrent as part of the groundwork to push Japan into becoming a great world power." "Do you plan to threaten other countries with violence?" The Seitenshi couldn't bear it any longer and interrupted. However, Saitake just laughed slowly and stood up, spreading his arms wide in an exaggerated gesture. "Lady Seitenshi, you have no vision. We must be thinking of the world after we exterminate all the Gastrea. Japan should reign as one of the world superpowers. I'm sure you have noticed as well. Ten years ago, right before the major powers of the world stopped functioning, many things were taken away and destroyed by the Gastrea. And now, ten years later, whichever country recovers from this unprecedented disaster first will have the right to be the leader of future generations. And Japan should aim for that. This is my grand strategic design! If I must, I will eliminate every obstacle, every incompetent, and everyone who will not do as I say!" Rentaro was at a loss for words. This could be taken as an implicit declaration of war against the heads of state of all the areas besides his own. There were many other heads of state who secretly plotted to get the drop on the other areas, but this man was probably the only one who would say it out loud. Rentaro was stunned. He didn't know where he should start in pointing out this man's mistakes. The world's mathematicians and statisticians had calculated a devastating number for the likelihood that mankind would be able to exterminate all the Gastrea, and yet Saitake wanted to kill more people this late in the game. If Sumire Muroto were here, she would have said with a triumphant look on her face, "Humans are foolish creatures who, when they get tired of peace, turn to war, and when they tire of war, they want peace." Saitake suddenly stamped his feet in anger. "And you—you turned the railgun into scrap iron by making it take too heavy a load. You deserve to die a thousand deaths." "Well, sorry. You should be glad I tested it for you. Besides, the wreckage is still there in the Unexplored Territory, so you should go and retrieve it if you want it so bad." "Hmph. But, well, given my flair for leadership, I wouldn't mind allowing you the opportunity to make up for it—" "Huh?" Saitake sat down on the couch and leaned forward. "I heard you defeated a pair that formerly had an IP Rank of 134. Rentaro, a vulnerable city like Tokyo Area will be destroyed eventually. If you do not want to be a citizen of a ruined country in five years, come with me. Let's take over nations together, you and I. To watch the creation of a new world together with a wineglass in one hand—I'm sure it will be a sight to see." The Seitenshi paled and started to stand, but Rentaro stopped her with just an arm. "What the hell? Go back to your own area!" Saitake's eyes blazed with spite, and he waved his arms as he frothed at the mouth. "I won't give up. I will gather all those with power and make them part of my plan! My will is Japan's will! Japan's will is my will!" The Seitenshi quietly put her hands in the lap of her dress and sat up straight. "President Saitake, may we move on to the matter at hand?" Saitake looked dumbfounded as he clucked his tongue and waved his hand saying, "Yeah, that's fine." Two hours later, the first unofficial conference was over. The only thing to come of this conference was that the Seitenshi and Saitake both realized that they were incompatible, mortal enemies. 6 By the time they got in the limousine to go home, a thick curtain of darkness had fallen. Though Enju had spent a long time waiting in the car, she was now fast asleep on Rentaro's lap, drooling and hanging off him. Jeez, you're a great guard, he thought. Once the car reached the Seitenshi's palace, the first day of their job would be successfully concluded. He knew he should be glad nothing major happened, but… When he lifted his face, he saw the Seitenshi sitting prettily across from him with her hands folded neatly in her lap, looking out the window at the darkness outside with a slightly melancholy expression on her face. "Don't be so depressed," Rentaro said. The Seitenshi responded to Rentaro's voice and slowly shifted her gaze. "I'm not depres—" Stopping midsentence, she quietly shook her head. "You're right, I am a little… Generally speaking, I always believed that if I spoke sincerely, the person I was talking to would understand where I was coming from, no matter who it was, and I believe that even more now." "It's not like it's your fault, you know. Even Kikunojo would have trouble with someone like Saitake. You did a good job." The Seitenshi gave a mischievous smile as she place her hand on her chin. "You're unexpectedly kind, Satomi. Even so, you surprised me today. From a budding politician to a Buddha sculptor to a soldier of the New Humanity Creation Project, it seems you've had a complicated past." Rentaro shifted his gaze with a start. "Hell, those are all parts of my past that I'd rather forget. Don't make me think about them." "Will you carve something for me sometime?" "No way." The Seitenshi put her hand to her mouth and chuckled. The atmosphere inside the car seemed to relax slightly. "But you're amazing, Satomi. You didn't back off one bit against Saitake. I think it's that part of you that I like, Satomi." "Like?" "Yes, everyone I come into contact with, from my tutors to Kikunojo, speaks to me with respect. There isn't anyone around me who tells things to me straight like you do, Satomi. It's very refreshing." Ah, now I get it, Rentaro thought. During the Kagetane Hiruko terrorist incident, Rentaro had not said anything to make the Seitenshi like him; instead, he had snapped at her constantly. He kept wondering why the Seitenshi would nominate him for this job, but now it made sense. "But why a civsec officer? You have your own personal guards, don't you? You know, like that guy that looks like a military police officer?" "Yasuwaki? He… He's too dazzling. It's a little scary to be with him." Even as Rentaro responded with an indifferent grunt, inwardly he thought it served Yasuwaki right. Yasuwaki seemed to be trying to shrewdly attract the Seitenshi's attention, but it looked like his ulterior motive wasn't gaining much traction. The Seitenshi took out some peach juice from the mini fridge and poured it into a glass. She offered some to Rentaro, as well, so he took it. He was only planning on taking a sip, but when he swallowed, the cold sweetness penetrated his internal organs, and he downed the glass in the blink of an eye. Apparently, he was thirstier than he thought. When the Seitenshi lifted her face from her cup, for some reason, her eyes looked like they were clouded with the resolve to drink poisoned sake. She looked at Rentaro. "Satomi, it is rumored that President Saitake has been fostering relations with foreign countries." The car approached a curb, and Rentaro's body swayed a little to the right. On his lap, Enju murmured something in her sleep. The city lights shone on the glistening metal car top, slipping away as they drove past. "Keep going…," he said. "I've heard that America and other foreign countries have been secretly contacting Saitake, providing him with capital and weapons." "What's the benefit for the foreign countries?" "Varanium." The Seitenshi stopped talking for a moment and lifted her face. "Varanium is the material used for the weapons and ammunition of civsec officers and the Monoliths that separate humans from Gastrea. All these are essential in the fight against the Gastrea. A small country without that much land like Japan is still okay, but large countries like Russia and America need a large amount of Varanium to take back the land stolen by the Gastrea. And rough estimates of the amount of Varanium left in the ground indicate that even if we scraped together all the Varanium in the world, it would not be enough to take back all the world's continents from the Gastrea. Do you understand what that means?" Rentaro understood what she meant so well it was almost painful. Different natural resources around the world were distributed unevenly. The Middle East was rich in oil, and South Africa was plentiful in gold and diamonds. Varanium was found on volcanic islands. Even if the islands were separate, it could still be said that the bulk was found on Japan. Rentaro had recently met a boy who ran away from working in the mines, and he had been shocked at their terrible working conditions. Illegal mining of Varanium in the Unexplored Territory might seem like a failure at first when looking at the risk and return, but taking into account that there was a constant stream of illegal miners, as long as one bore in mind the risk of being crushed by a whole mine, it was still possible to find some reasonable profit in it. Rentaro's thoughts came one after another. Now that he thought about it, the bulk of the conference seemed to involve Saitake thrusting unfavorable conditions on Tokyo Area and the Seitenshi refusing them. Because of what she had just said, it seemed like Saitake was looking for an excuse to start a war. "Then, what Saitake wants to do so badly that he would get help from foreign countries is…" Rentaro's voice trailed off. "Yes. He probably wants to unite the military power of Tokyo, Sapporo, Sendai, and Hakata Areas. In return, he would provide them with a stable supply of Varanium." "Is Saitake being controlled by the larger countries?" "I do not know." Rentaro put his hand on his chin. "I don't think he is someone who would just do what he's told." "I do not think so, either. The foreign countries probably think they have tamed Saitake, and Saitake is probably planning on forestalling them." The Seitenshi straightened and continued with a clear voice. "In the ten years that have passed since the end of the war, each country has been holed up inside Monoliths in order to just recover their national power. However, it is now the time to look outward and take back the land that was lost. Whoever recovers their national power first will be the world leader of future generations. That part of Saitake's thinking is not incorrect. In other words, whoever controls Varanium will control the world. "Satomi, from now on, countries around the world will contact the different areas of Japan either cooperatively or with hostility in search of Varanium. And the next generation of wars will not be flashy with ballistic missiles or bombers, but will be focused on assassinations carried out by civsec officers with high IP ranks who are strong enough to rock the world's military balance. "In no time, all the strongest civsec officers will come to Japan, the country bound by the curse of natural resources. Satomi, in the previous terrorist incident, you defeated Kagetane and Kohina Hiruko and drove away a Zodiac. Unfortunately, Tokyo Area cannot afford to allow one of its capable human resources to play around right now. I will have to ask you to work continuously from now on. For me, and for our country." Rentaro stamped his foot with irritation that he could barely hold back. "You just decided that yourself. You really will decide everything based on whatever's convenient for you, won't you?" "I recognize that." Then, the Seitenshi put both hands on her lower abdomen with a sorrowful expression. "I may also collapse in the whirlpool of turmoil. Because I can now have children, those around me keep telling me I should hurry up and bear a successor. However, instead of bearing a child with the best genes using mechanical means, I would rather bear a child through love, even if it is prideful." Rentaro started to stand up without thinking. "Fight back! Why do you only think about death? If you know that Saitake is that dangerous, then there are a lot of ways you could oppose him, aren't there?" The Seitenshi's face twisted with an expression more sorrowful than Rentaro had ever seen. "Even you're saying the same things as Kikunojo?" "What?" "Satomi, you said that your perspective was narrow. I plan on taking back the land of Tokyo Area and one day connecting it back to Sendai and Osaka Areas. One day, when all the areas are connected again, the citizens will remember, won't they? That ten years ago, Japan was one country, and we were fellow citizens all looking up at the same sky. And then, they will be embarrassed to have ever been trapped in the cramped boxes of Tokyo or Osaka Areas. "I do not have any intention of invading, and even if assassination or murder attempts occur, I have no intention of yielding. Revenge and the like is also absurd. Such cowardly acts are like trying to wash blood away with blood. "Satomi, do you know who the first victims of a war are? They are the infants who barely open their eyes, and the elderly. During the period of confusion after the war, I went to visit the different parts of Tokyo Area with my mother and was shocked. "In an environment with terrible hygiene, there were children who were sick and couldn't even move, but when I smiled at them, they did their best to smile back at me. But the next day, they became cold and flies swarmed over them." The Seitenshi shook her head firmly. "I do not want to see anything that terrible ever again. I must be the embodiment of peace. Not with words, but with actions." The Seitenshi folded her hands together and wrung them in a position of prayer. "Satomi, I cannot bear to have more seeds of sadness sown in this world…" Rentaro felt a shiver up his spine. I regard her with respect and affection. That's why there are things I cannot forgive! Rentaro was reminded of what the real mastermind behind the previous terrorist incident, Kikunojo Tendo, said about the Seitenshi. At the time, Rentaro didn't understand Kikunojo's actions of hatred toward the Cursed Children and his inability to hate the Seitenshi, but now Rentaro felt like maybe he could understand. Rentaro shifted his gaze away from her. "You're the idealistic type that dies young." "I do not want to become a person who cannot talk about her ideals." "Then you need to learn to outmaneuver others better." The Seitenshi was silent. Rentaro lowered his gaze and rubbed the sleeping Enju's back and shoulders. Finally, he lifted his face. "You're stupid… But I don't hate that." The Seitenshi blushed slightly. "Th-thank you very much." Just then, he felt a sudden sharp pain on his lower jaw. His head rang like he had just received an uppercut. Enju, who up until now had not woken up from all manner of jostling and shaking, suddenly jumped up, her eyes wandering left and right. Apparently, he had gotten head-butted by the awakening girl. The pain brought tears to his eyes. "Wh-what was that for?" Rentaro looked at her as he rubbed his chin. Enju crossed her arms and nodded as she looked back and forth. "My Rentaro Radar reacted to something just now…" "R-Rentaro Radar…?" "Yes, it reacts when Rentaro seems to be taking up with an unsavory type." Enju seemed to have obtained a devilish new power. She looked back and forth, and when she finally settled her eyes on the Seitenshi, she stared at her silently. "Wh-what is it?" "You can't have Rentaro." "U-um, I don't know what you're talking about…" "Rentaro is from the planet of boobs, so he doesn't recognize women with boobs smaller than Kisara's. That's why it's impossible. You should give up now." The Seitenshi looked at Rentaro contemptuously. "Satomi… That's filthy." "That's a grossly false accusation." Rentaro denied it with his whole body, looking at Enju resentfully. "Y-you little…" However, Enju wasn't looking at him anymore and was instead looking intently in front of them. "Rentaro, I have a bad feeling for some reason." The car was approaching a four-way intersection and stopped slowly at a red light. It had started sprinkling, and the view from the window was distorted by the water. Rentaro put his face next to Enju's to look in the same direction as her. Past the window Enju was pointing at, on a faraway building towering in the night, there was nothing out of the ordinary except for a few red aviation guidance lights on the edges of the building. At least, that was how it looked to Rentaro. However, Enju was an Initiator whose bodily functions, including her sensory organs, far surpassed those of ordinary humans. Without knowing why, Rentaro also became nervous, and he prayed fervently that the car would start moving again soon. Finally, as if his prayers had been heard, the light turned green and the car started to move. He breathed a sigh of relief. However, Enju still had not relaxed. Looking at Enju's continued seriousness, he shifted his gaze once more. Near the roof of the building, for a split second, there was a glint of something. The instant he realized that it was a muzzle flash, Rentaro's spine froze, and before he could yell, he pushed Enju's head down and covered the Seitenshi with his body. Then, they were attacked by a great calamity. Surrounded by the sound of breaking glass and the squeal of the emergency brakes on the limousine, the Seitenshi started to scream. The car continued to slide sideways and crashed into a road sign. Rentaro was at his wits' end as he was thrown into the car door by the G's inside the car and almost lost his breath. A sniper inside the city? "Rentaro!" Enju screamed. Rentaro swung to attention immediately and yelled, "Enju! Get out. Take the driver with you." Rentaro also kicked the door open and, taking the Seitenshi, who was in a state of shock, by the hand, he rolled out of the car. Smack-dab in the middle of town, at an intersection. First, they needed to find shelter to hide under. Right after he thought he saw a flash of light on the roof of the building again, there was the echo of an explosion. The sniper bullet had shot out the fuel tank of the limousine, making it go up in flames, distorting the air around with its heat. Around them, members of the general public were screaming, their panic contagious, and the shock wave from the explosion made the Seitenshi fall forward. When Rentaro went to help her up, the Seitenshi shook her head, her face stiff. "S-Satomi, I don't think I can walk…" Rentaro ground his teeth and looked at the building. This was bad. There was a third flash of light. He stood in front to cover the Seitenshi but then looked regretful. It was no use. It would go through him and hit her. His spine knew that it was going to be a direct hit, and he squeezed his eyes shut. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Then, he heard Enju's yell and the shrill sound of the attack. Enju rolled several times on the ground after she was thrown back. At first, Rentaro didn't know what had happened, but he soon realized after he saw Enju pulling the sniper's bullet from her shoe. Amazing. Rentaro didn't know where Yasuwaki and the rest of the Seitenshi's personal guard had been up until now, but the guards now came to form a wall around them as they withdrew. The retreating Seitenshi still seemed to be in a state of shock, and her face was pale as she trembled, gripping the sleeves of her dress. Suddenly, there was a buzzing like the sound of an insect flapping its wings, and Rentaro looked around, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary. What was that sound just now? Enju pulled Rentaro's arm hard and yelled. "Rentaro, what are you doing?! If you don't hurry up and hide—" "No, the enemy has already run away." Rentaro twisted his neck to look around. Flames danced, and ashes blew in the wind. The burning limousine threw up thick black smoke into the sky, and the mania that had spread to the masses showed no sign of abating. The streaks of rain became stronger, wetting his hair and streaming down his cheeks. Rentaro glared at the faraway building, ignoring the rain that was soaking him. It was roughly one kilometer away. At night, with strong winds and the extra rain, it would be hard enough to shoot three times in a row point-blank, let alone having all three rounds go where they were supposed to. "Bastard… Who are you…?!" "I'm sorry, Master. I failed. There was a skilled civsec officer guarding her. After I retrieve the Shenfield, I will retreat promptly." "A civsec officer? That wasn't in the intel. It wasn't just those idiot Seitenshi personal guards?" Ignoring her angry master cursing "Damn it, damn it" over the radio, Tina put the Barrett antitank sniper rifle in its case. "Hey, did you see the civsec officer?" "Yes, but it was too far away to see what he looked like." If Tina had seen correctly, the third shot was kicked away by an Initiator. The antitank sniper bullets Tina used were ranked above all but cannons and Vulcan canons in the ranks of the bullets that existed in this world, and possessed an enormous amount of kinetic energy. She caught that? She was incredibly skilled. A strong opponent. Tina finished getting ready to withdraw and held down her hair being blown by the eddies of wind around the building. She turned around and looked down, glaring with icy eyes. "Who are you…? Who got in my way…?"
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter008.txt	Black Bullet BLACK BULLET 2 CHAPTER 02 TINA SPROUT 1 "Here, I bought some." Rentaro rushed back to the bench, handing over the tray he bought at the takoyaki stall. Tina squinted in pleasure as she rubbed her sleepy eyes. "Thank you, very much." A day off. It was early afternoon and sunlight flooded the government-sponsored park, the grass and trees swayed comfortably in the wind. Inside the park was a small man-made waterfall, and the spray from the falling water felt refreshing on Rentaro's face. Around them, they could hear the sound of families with small children laughing. Rentaro plopped down next to Tina, opened his wallet once, and sighed, thinking of the hard times ahead. With the current condition of his wallet, he couldn't even spare the expense of two people's worth of takoyaki. Rentaro thought for a second that if Kisara continued to work him this hard for inhumane wages, he really would sell himself to Miori's place. Looking over along the bench, he saw that Tina was wearing a dress, trying much harder than when she wore the pajamas he saw her in before. However—and he wasn't sure if these should be called the finishing touches or not—the buttons on her chest were off by one, and her hair tie was in a strange place. She had probably been too sleepy to try that hard. Just as he thought that, Tina's head drooped as she nodded off. She rubbed her eyes and rustled around in her pocket, fishing out her bottle of caffeine pills and sprinkling them on the takoyaki. "Hey, wait! What are you doing?!" said Rentaro. "Is something, the matter, Rentaro?" said Tina. Looking at Tina moving leisurely and looking up at him with upturned eyes, Rentaro's anger somehow disappeared, and he waved his hand and said, "Never mind." With a long toothpick, Tina awkwardly fished up a ball of takoyaki covered with pills and tried to bring it to her mouth. Rentaro watched her on pins and needles until, sure enough, her hand slipped. "Ah, ah…" The takoyaki fell with a plop! Rentaro was about to scream. It cost four hundred yen for six of them! Tina looked at Rentaro and lowered her eyes apologetically. It took a lot of work for him to wave his hand to show that he wasn't angry. Ignoring Tina, who had started to grapple with another ball of takoyaki, Rentaro shifted gears and leaned back into the bench, looking up at the fluffy, cotton candy clouds. One week had passed since the attempted assassination. Of course, immediately afterward, there had been a debriefing to decide what countermeasures to take. It would have been fine if it had been a useful meeting about finding the problem in the guard unit or looking back at the incident to see how to prevent it from happening in the future. But Rentaro had been greatly disappointed in the meeting he attended. Because from beginning to end, all they did during the meeting was push blame on one another, focusing on the question, "Why would a sniper ambush the route the Seitenshi took home?" Of course, the first people who should have been blamed were the Seitenshi's personal guard, including Yasuwaki, who created the guard plan. However, at the meeting, Yasuwaki said, "This guy! He's the one behind it!" spittle flying, pointing his finger at Rentaro, who was standing in a corner leaning on the wall. Yasuwaki's reasoning was that even though the Seitenshi had never been targeted before, as soon as Rentaro was hired, there was an assassination attempt. Therefore, Rentaro must be secretly communicating with the assassin. This was strange for two reasons. First of all, when Rentaro called to say he would take the job, an office clerk told him, "Then, please come to the Seitenshi's palace on the appointed day." And then, when he went to the Seitenshi's palace, he was put in a limousine, driven to the location of the conference, and then they were attacked on the way back. In other words, even though Rentaro had been hired as a guard, he was never briefed about his role. This was probably done on purpose by Yasuwaki and the others to exclude Rentaro. Ironically, that was what gave Rentaro an ironclad alibi. Even if Rentaro allowed that he was in secret communication with the assassin, he didn't know the route, so he had no information to give. Secondly, and this was the most important point, Rentaro knew himself that he had not been in contact with the assassin. He explained this, of course, but Yasuwaki interrupted him numerous times while he was talking. Yasuwaki would interrupt, saying things like, "Don't be fooled!" and "Everyone, you can't listen to his opinion!" trying to seduce those present at the meeting with his fast-talking. Yasuwaki was furious, and given how many rivals he'd taken down with his wiles, he was eloquent as expected and adept at stretching the truth and splitting hairs. Summarizing Yasuwaki's reasoning in one sentence, all he said was "I didn't do anything wrong," and did everything in his power to make Rentaro take the blame. Rentaro, at a disadvantage during the meeting, was saved by the Seitenshi unexpectedly barging in. "I am the one who hired Satomi of my own volition. If you doubt Satomi, then that means you doubt my judgment. More importantly, Yasuwaki, are you treating the hero who saved Tokyo Area like a criminal? You should be ashamed!" she told him curtly. Yasuwaki couldn't say anything in response and returned to his seat looking frustrated. However, Rentaro could tell that Yasuwaki hadn't given up with one look at the fight burning in his vindictive eyes. Smiling creepily and muttering, Yasuwaki's gaze was more than enough to send chills up Rentaro's spine. Afterward, Rentaro heard from a sympathetic staff member that Yasuwaki misunderstood Rentaro and the Seitenshi's relationship as being more than that of a civsec officer and head of state. What a nuisance. Rentaro crossed his legs and put both hands behind his head, lost in thought again. He did his best to ignore the "Ah, ah…" plop! beside him that he was hearing for the second time today. There was still a lot to think about. What was the assassin after? Looking at it from a historical standpoint, assassinations happened less because of conflicts of interest in political or religious matters and more because of feelings of unjustified resentment or the desire to monopolize a celebrity by a rabid fan. The Seitenshi was more beautiful than the average teen idol, so there was more than enough reason to think she would be such a target. Since Rentaro took on the job, he did feel a certain amount of responsibility, so he asked a palace staff member to let him into the warehouse where threats and crime notices were managed, recorded, and stored for safekeeping. The threats ranged from the extremely simple, "I'll kill you!" and "Anybody supporting Red-Eyes should die!" to absurd "You are mine, and only mine. I'll bleep my bleep into Lady Seitenshi's bleep pant, pant…" that made Rentaro want to say, "Don't put a stamp on something like this and send it." If the Seitenshi saw them, she would probably faint then and there. Rentaro was flabbergasted at the sheer volume. Even in the year 2031, at the height of Internet use, there were this many analog threats. There were probably many times this amount sent through e-mail. However, Rentaro had taken all this into account and figured he could ignore the ordinary fan in this case. This was because this incident had the additional element of being cold-blooded and calculating, from the deduction of the route to the long-distance sniping. A regular person who was carried away by his delusions would probably try to shoot the Seitenshi as she got on stage to give a speech before thinking of sniping. Rentaro sharpened his eyes and rested his chin on his folded hands. This was a dangerous enemy. The Seitenshi couldn't stand for her talks with Saitake to not make any progress, so she had no intention of canceling the conference. Soon, the second unofficial conference with Saitake would begin. Ever since that day, the existence of the assassin felt like it was growing bigger inside Rentaro day by day. If only he had a hint about the enemy— "Ah, ah…" "Just how many are you gonna drop?!" Looking at the ground, there were three large balls of takoyaki on the pavement, which meant that there was no evidence that she had successfully brought a single one to her mouth. After looking at the takoyaki on the ground for a while, she raised her face and made a very serious expression. "Rentaro, this takoyaki is trying to run away from my mouth. It's possible that the octopus inside is still alive—" "No, it's not! Here, give me that!" Rentaro took the tray from her and stuck the toothpick into one of the balls, forcing it into her mouth. Tina briefly made a surprised face, but as she started chewing, her face muscles relaxed, and her face looked very happy. "Rentaro, more please," Tina said, her body hanging half off the bench, eyes closed, with her mouth open. Rentaro's heart skipped for a moment as it seemed like she was asking for a kiss, but then he changed his mind and decided that it actually felt more like feeding a baby bird. Plop, close. Plop, close. It was so funny to watch Tina give off her aura of happiness and relaxation every time she ate one that before he knew it, Rentaro had given Tina all of his takoyaki, as well. "Here, stay still for a sec." As Rentaro pulled out his handkerchief to wipe her mouth covered in sauce, Tina narrowed her eyes and lifted her face, letting Rentaro do whatever he wanted with her. Hearing laughter behind him, Rentaro turned just his head to see a family pointing at them and laughing cheerfully. Rentaro wondered how he and Tina looked to them. For some reason, his heart felt strangely warm. Leaning back and putting a hand on his hip, he nodded, thinking that she was clean now, and Tina opened her eyes slowly, murmuring slowly and quietly, "I like you, Rentaro." "H-huh?" He flinched from the suddenness of it all, but Tina seemed to have been looking forward to that reaction and put her hand on her chin.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter010.txt	Black Bullet "This is the first time in my life that anyone's been so kind to me, I think." Tina seemed to remember something distasteful and lowered her eyes a little, rounding her shoulders. "I haven't really had any fun since my parents died." "Fun?" "Yes, ever since then, my life has just been pain. That's why, right now, I'm having my first fun mood in a while." Rentaro paused, not knowing what to say. "Hey, Tina, you said before that you didn't have a guardian, but what did that mean? Why are you in a place like this in the first place? What do you do normally? Tell me more about yourself." Tina's gaze wavered. "That's…" Today marked his fourth time seeing Tina. After their first meeting, she called him on the phone every other day or so. The last time, they went to an amusement park, and the time before that, she said she wanted to see the Outer District, so he showed her around Enju's hometown, District 39. To Tina, everything she saw seemed unusual, and Rentaro truly enjoyed watching that face of hers. However, there was also the mysterious side of her that thrust upon him the condition to not tell anyone that he was meeting up with her. Occasionally, if he put together all the information she let slip little by little, he could see that she did not seem to have led a very happy life, but he wondered what that had to do with the condition. "Hey, Tina—" At that moment, the cold ring of a cell phone interrupted him. Looking at the sender's name, the girl's face stiffened frighteningly for a second. "H-hey." Rentaro became worried and stretched out his hand, but Tina slipped away from it and jumped down from the bench. "Rentaro, I have to go now." She didn't wait for an answer as she turned away from him. For some reason, Rentaro was stricken by extreme uneasiness and called out to her, "Wait," but she only half-looked back. The wind blew hard, and the trees around them swayed, rustling their leaves. Tina smiled as she held down her blond hair. "Let's meet again, Rentaro." She gave a polite bow and left. Rentaro kept looking at her back for a long time after that. Then, it was Rentaro's cell phone that vibrated. He had a text from Miori. It said to come at once, and she included a geotag to show where she was. Apparently even though it wasn't a school day she was still at school. Rentaro raised his face again but Tina had disappeared from sight, and he couldn't see her anymore. As Tina walked through the government-sponsored park, she returned the call. "You took too long," said the voice on the other end of the line. "I'm sorry, Master. I was in a place where I couldn't answer the call." "Awaken your consciousness until you can hold a conversation," ordered the hard, cold voice. Tina took out the bottle of caffeine pills and poured the rest into her mouth, chewing violently. Grimacing at the bitter taste spreading through her mouth, she crushed the empty bottle and threw it away into a trash can in the park. After walking for a while, her consciousness cleared up to a certain extent. She was probably about 40 percent awake. Still far from a perfect condition. "Yes?" she asked. "I have received the next Seitenshi guard plan." "That was fast." She thought for sure that the second time, they would be more cautious and that the plan would not be leaked to them, so had given up on it, and this was a bit of a letdown. They must have some really incompetent people around the Seitenshi. She could hear a small chuckle from the other side of the phone. "We must thank the staff member at the Seitenshi's palace who's been so cooperative." "What kind of person is our cooperative informant?" "Just someone whose child was eaten by a Gastrea in front of them. Not an unusual story." Tina listened to that with mixed feelings. One of the Seitenshi's political slogans was to give the Cursed Children basic human rights and coexist with them. Because of that, she seemed to have many enemies. It was ironic. What the Seitenshi was doing was more than correct as a human being. However, within the palace, there were those near her who would betray her, and Cursed Children like Tina were trying to assassinate her. It's because you're supporting Cursed Children like us, Tina thought. "Our client wants to settle this while they are in Tokyo Area." "Master, that civsec officer will get in the way again." "I know who they are, too." "Really?" Tina pushed the cell phone hard to her ear. "Apparently, they are part of the Tendo Civil Security Agency. There is still time before the next conference. We cannot allow them to get in the way again." The girl's master gave a short laugh. She knew exactly what he was trying to say. Tina stopped walking. Her finely honed senses could tell. "Tina Sprout. I will give you your next mission. Kill the president of the Tendo Civil Security Agency, Kisara Tendo." 2 The hallways of Magata High School were as still as death on the weekends. As Rentaro took off his shoes and changed into indoor shoes, he looked around with a sense of novelty. In middle school, he hadn't belonged to a club, and when he started high school, he started the civsec officer business with Kisara and hadn't had time to join a club. So he rarely ever came to school on a weekend. Rentaro headed toward the student council room, the sound of his shoes loud in the silent halls, doing his best to ignore the jangling sound of metal following behind him. Most of the students he came across occasionally were shocked after one look at him and would lower their eyes and quicken their pace to pass him. Well, it wasn't like he didn't understand how they felt. Rentaro reluctantly turned around and saw the fully armed Kisara Tendo following behind him. She had two fierce-looking SPAS-12 shotguns slung crossing one over the other on her back, a Beretta 92 gun in her left hand, and the murderous blade, Yukikage, in her right hand as she walked. She had different kinds of grenades hanging off the leather belt she wore over her skirt, including fragmentation grenades, incendiary grenades, tear gas bombs, special stun grenades, and a variety of others, so when she walked, she made a loud metallic sound. Kisara, weighing about sixty kilograms all told, walked behind Rentaro without saying a word, increasing her concentration with a strange breathing method. "H-hey, Kisara." "Be quiet for a minute," she said curtly. From the front entrance, they went up the stairs on the far west, turned right, and saw a sign that said STUDENT COUNCIL ROOM. Kisara pulled the slide of the Beretta and made the gun ready to fire, then quickly flattened her back against the right side of the door. Rentaro cringed and was about to knock on the door when Kisara shook her head as if in disbelief. "Wait, Satomi. Are you planning on breaking through from the front? That's too dangerous. Remember the exam to get your civsec officer license. After throwing in a tear gas bomb, the two of us can shoot Miori to death as she comes out, easy as pie. Two to the chest, one in the head, and we can make that woman say good-bye to this world." "H-hey, Kisara…… I didn't come here to kill Miori. I came to ask her about the results of the analysis of the bullets found at the scene of the sniping." "That's pretty much the same thing!" "No, it's not!" Rentaro was overcome with strain and rubbed the corners of his eyes. Even though Kisara never made any mistakes, why couldn't she keep her cool when it came to Miori? After saying good-bye to Tina in the park, he called the office to say he was going to stop by Miori's place. The minute he told her, Kisara said, "I'm going, too," and forced him to meet up with her, which turned into all this. He made a huge mistake in letting Miori's name slip in front of Kisara, but he never dreamed that she would show up heavily armed and ready to kill. "Hey, Kisara, I'm going to talk to her, so sorry, but you wait outside." "N-no way! I can't let you and Miori be alone together." "Why not?" "I just can't! You are never on any account to meet with Miori alone. When you meet, I must go with you. President's orders." Rentaro shook his head, thinking he couldn't go along with her any longer, and knocked on the door, turning the knob without waiting for an answer. "Oh, wait, Satom—," Kisara started. Suddenly, a hand stretched out from the crack of the door and pulled him into the room, and then the door was closed and locked. Rentaro staggered a few steps and looked back. Blinds were drawn in the dim room, and Miori stood with her back to the door as she locked it behind her back with a bewitching smile. His eyes were drawn to the brightly colored Japanese-style clothes she wore despite being at school. "Welcome, Satomi dear." At that moment, Kisara started banging violently on the door behind Miori's back. "Miori, open up this instant! If you don't, I'll break down the door." Miori closed her eyes and lifted her chin in the air. "You can if you want, but I'll make sure to send the receipt to the Tendo Civil Security Agency." The sound of pounding stopped suddenly, and it was replaced by the sound of Kisara gnashing her teeth. Sadly, Kisara, who was so poor she went to Rentaro's place to sponge dinners off him, did not have the financial means to pay for a door. "Good job figuring out Kisara followed me here." "I didn't know. But with all that noise y'all were making out there… Why don't we go next door?" Miori pointed at the room next door with her index finger. Guided by Miori, Rentaro entered her private room. He felt like he had been transported to another world. Besides chairs and tables in strong primary colors that twisted in avant-garde style, there were fifty holodisplays floating in the air. When Miori swept the displays showing stock prices and economic news horizontally, the displays came together into one giant display, and an aquarium screensaver started up, the surround-sound system playing the quiet sounds of bubbles. The whole room started to glow a dim blue. It really felt like they were in the depths of the ocean. Thinking of his own worn-out eight-tatami-mat hovel, he looked around the room again. It was hard to believe they were living in the same era. This was a room Shiba Heavy Weapons ordered especially for her. He wondered what she was planning to do with the room after stepping down as student council president next year. Miori pointed her folding fan toward the display and said, "Seitenshi Sniper Incident Evidence," and pictures from the scene came up on the panels one after another. Miori stretched her arm out in front of her and enlarged one image, that of the tip of a bullet. "The bullet used by the sniper looks to be one used for a .50-caliber Browning heavy machine gun, but I looked up the rifling, and it's clean. There's no record that it was used in a crime before." Rifling, also called a gun's fingerprint, referred to the helical grooves left behind on a bullet when it was fired. Miori opened her fan and rotated it, and the screen changed a few times before settling on a miniature version of the scene of the crime with 3D modeling. Rentaro was unwittingly taken in for a second by Miori's beautiful form, looking as if she were dancing a traditional Japanese dance. Miori pointed out the roof of the problem building where the sniper was with her fan and dragged the fan toward the limousine. As she did so, a line showed up on the model image showing a distance of 991 meters. Miori rotated the model so Rentaro could get a better look. "Hey, Satomi dear, just checking… You're certain the enemy shot from that building? And that the limousine was moving?" "Yeah… What about it?" "Satomi dear, how much do you know about sniping?" "Not much." He knew so little about the subject that he made sure not to choose it during his civsec officer license exam. On top of waiting in one place for the target to come and using finely honed nerves to pull the trigger, it required an enormous amount of patience and concentration. Rentaro wasn't confident with either. "The empty shell case that sank into the road at the scene was retrieved. Looking at the angle of the shot, it does seem highly likely that it was fired from this building, but…" Miori sounded like something was stuck in her teeth as she spoke, but then lifted her face and continued. "Y'know, Satomi dear, in the year 2031, sniper scopes and rifles have gotten more precise, but in the end, the most important factor in figuring the accuracy rate is still the human factor. And humans' hearts are always moving, and they have to breathe, so their hands shake slightly. If a sniper can hit a target eight hundred meters away, I consider them expert. A kilometer away is a miracle. From 1.2 kilometers away, it's a stunt. More than that, and it's a coincidence." Rentaro was shocked. "It's that hard?" "Try taking a hula hoop from the P.E. equipment room and using it in a ring toss to try to get a color cone twenty meters away. Sniping is different from a ring toss, but it'll help you understand just how hard that is." "That…is hard…" Rentaro didn't have to do it to imagine how impossible that would be. He finally understood what Miori was trying to say. She was suggesting that to pull off the feat of hitting a target a kilometer away three times was pretty much impossible. Then, Miori explained the effects of temperature, humidity, angle, pressure, Coriolis force (how the bullet has a hill-like trajectory and is the highest at 55 percent of the way to its target), and the wind around the buildings that are the natural enemies of snipers. Rentaro closed his eyes and thought back to the flames of the limousine, the people's screams, and the glint from the roof of the building. There was no mistaking it. There really was a sniper there who shot from that building. It didn't matter what Miori said. Suddenly, Rentaro asked Miori about a suspicion that came to mind. "Hey, Miori, your company sells weapons wholesale to police and the self-defense force, too, right? Do you know someone called Takuto Yasuwaki?" "No." "He's the captain of the Seitenshi's personal guard. Do the Shiba Heavy Weapons files have anything on him? Tell me what you know about him." Miori tilted her head and put her hands together, saying, "Search, Takuto Yasuwaki." When she did, the search started at dizzying speeds, and in no time, the display called up a headshot of Yasuwaki. Next to it was a brief personal history. "Takuto Yasuwaki. Age thirty-two, male. His rank is second lieutenant. Satomi dear, you're a master sergeant, so he's one rank above you." "Huh?" There was one phrase he couldn't let pass without comment. "Hey, Miori, I'm not a soldier, so I don't have a rank." More precisely, since the New Humanity Creation Project was started by the self-defense force, when Rentaro underwent the enhancement operation, he was forced to register as a solider, but his rank was supposed to be that of the lowest soldier. It definitely wasn't anything as self-important sounding as master sergeant. "Yes, you do. Even if it's just a pseudo-rank, as your IP rank goes up, your top-secret information access key goes along with it. Your IP rank is 1,000, so you're a master sergeant, Satomi dear." Now that she mentioned it, during the conferment ceremony, he thought did receive a top-secret access key and pseudo-rank to go along with his promotion to rank 1,000. The top-secret access key he got was so low level that he couldn't get any valuable information. If Rentaro wanted to find out more about his parents and details of the Gastrea War, he needed a higher-level access key, after all. "Well, what can I do with that pseudo-rank, then?" "Nothing much, really. Since you do roughly the same work as someone of regular rank, you have the right to give orders, but since at most yours is a pseudo-rank, you don't have the authority to lead soldiers or have them follow your orders." The right to give orders without the right to lead, huh? "Then, what's the point of those ranks?" "Giving civsec officers those ranks makes them feel better, and that way they can make people think 'The civsec officers still belong to the country.'" Rentaro sighed. "Even though they're civilian security agencies, they're tied to the government, huh?" "Well, it can't be helped. The strongest civsec officer pairs are strong enough to change the world's military balance, so countries want to manage them as much as possible. The civsec officer system was originally declared a privatization of military power with great fanfare at the beginning, but these were just empty statements." Looking at Miori smiling cynically, Rentaro suddenly remembered that he had had a similar conversation with Kisara in the past. Miori opened up a paint program and used it to draw whiskers on Yasuwaki's face and shave off his hair, starting to hum as she did so. "Anyway, the self-defense force said things like 'The undrawn sword is the pride of peace' to sound stoic and cool, but civilian control stopped working on members of the most aggressive group that had the best results during the Gastrea War, and they started doing things that the old army did. The Seitenshi's personal guard is like a symbol of that." "Civilian…what is…?" "Well, to put it plainly, they're bad guys. Also, Satomi dear, guarding a VIP should really be the job of the police, but only the Seitenshi has personal guards at her own expense. But this isn't all good. Do you know why?" Rentaro looked Miori in the eye and nodded gravely. "They have no expertise." "That's right." Miori pointed her fan at his nose. "The Seitenshi personal guard is a young organization that just started its operations a mere ten years ago. Naturally they are less proficient than the Metropolitan Police Department's security section guards and have not accumulated as much expertise. Above all, ten years ago, the Seitenshi's personal guards did nothing more than serve as a wall to block the mass media." Rentaro was also concerned about that. Even if he was being kind, Rentaro wouldn't say that the way they coped with the situation at the scene was in any way skilled. He sighed. He had to decide soon. Yasuwaki was more useless than expected. And even more alarming was that he hadn't learned anything from the assassination attempt. "To make a mistake and make it again is a mistake," someone once said. The way things were going, a second assassination incident seemed likely. Rentaro had to do something himself after all. "Miori, I have a favor to ask. Will you look into Sougen Saitake for me?" "Why?" Rentaro hesitated for a second, wondering how much he should tell her, but then shook his head and fixed his eyes on Miori. "He's the one who hired the assassin. I'm pretty sure of it." Miori whistled happily, saying, "Satomi dear, what a thing to say!" "But I have no proof. Will you collect some from your end?" Miori said, "Hmm," and put her hand on her chin. "I'm glad you're counting on me, but you shouldn't expect much. Even if it's what you think it is, unless the head of state of Osaka Area gives some careless order that leaves evidence behind, I'm not going to be able to do much." "I won't be any worse off. Please." "Hmm… All right." "Thanks." With that, Rentaro figured he had done everything he came to do. As he thought that and lifted his face, he saw Miori's face was unexpectedly close to his. Miori sidled close to Rentaro with flushed cheeks, rested her chin on his chest, and purred. "Hey, Satomi dear, I did what you asked, and I don't want to say I want this in return, but I want you to show me your real power, too, Satomi dear." She was surely talking about his power as a soldier of the New Humanity Creation Project. "Jeez, that has nothing to do with you. Anyway, it's not something to show other people." "Satomi dear, do you like Kisara that much more than me?" "D-don't say that!" Miori was a little put out. "If you forget about Kisara, you can do whatever you want with my body, Satomi dear." Miori put her smooth hand on Rentaro's chest and pet it, as if drawing circles on it. She put her body right up against his, and he could just see part of her chest from where the collar met, making him strangely excited. He unconsciously met her moist gaze, and Rentaro's heart pounded as he turned his face away from hers. "Please, Miori, stop messing arou—" Suddenly, there was a roar as the door was kicked open, and Kisara panted at the door and then barged in. "What are you two doing?!" Kisara looked in surprise at Rentaro and Miori, looking back and forth a few times before lowering her gaze, putting power into her hand holding her sword, and making it shake so hard it clattered. Behind her back, the door had fallen inward, and it looked like she had ended up destroying the door after all. Miori gave a small snort where Kisara couldn't see, as if thinking of something bad, at the same time pulling the sleeve of her Japanese-style clothes in front of her mouth, posing modestly. "Patience, patience, Kisara!" "Huh?" Kisara blinked, as if all the spite had left her. "Dear Satomi and I really, truly didn't do anything in this room. So don't misunderstand, Kisara." Miori fixed the collar of her Japanese-style clothes a few times even though it wasn't messed up, cheeks flushed. The sword and gun in Kisara's hands fell to the ground with a clang at the same time. "No way………" Miori looked back at Rentaro and said, "Well, Satomi dear, let's move forward with that, okay?" and ran, departing. "H-hey, what do you mean, 'that'?" Rentaro stammered. Miori stopped and looked back with teasing eyes. "I was talking about how if I give you my body, you would come join my company, Satomi dear. Oh, Kisara. It's really nothing. Later." Saying that, she really left the room this time. As she left, she stuck out her tongue where Kisara couldn't see. "No way………" Kisara stood with her eyes open in shock, not moving a muscle. Rentaro pushed down the disturbed feelings in his heart and scratched the back of his head. "H-hey, Kisara, I think you already know this, but that's just Miori's way of teasing…… Hey, wait, are you listening?" Even when he waved his hand in front of her face, her eyes and mouth stayed open, and she didn't even blink. He wondered how long she had been like that. Finally, Kisara picked up her sword and turned on her heel, walking through the broken door with shaky steps. "Damn it," Rentaro cursed, pressing his temple. You really did it this time, Miori. Then, his cell phone vibrated. After he saw who was calling, he put his phone to his ear. "What is it, Doc? I don't really have time for this right now…" "Hey, Satomi. Do you have a little time after this? I need to talk to you about something important." The Gastrea researcher, Sumire Muroto spoke disdainfully. Rentaro kept his mouth shut and lifted his face, looking at the door Kisara had left through, mumbling, "I guess." "Then come now. I want to talk to Enju, too, so bring her with you. Later." "Huh? Enju, too?" As he said this, he could already hear the dial tone. Even though he wasn't satisfied, he contacted Enju, and then looked aimlessly at Kisara's name in his address book. What the heck? Why did she have to misunderstand like that? He had an excuse to call her now with the pretext of reporting that he wouldn't go back to the office but would go straight to Sumire's. Normally, he wouldn't think so much about it and would just call her, but for some reason, Rentaro lingered nervously in Miori's room for a while before finally getting up the courage to call Kisara five minutes later. After about twenty rings, just when he was about to give up, Kisara finally answered. "H-hey, Kisara?" "Who may I ask is speaking?" said an unexpectedly cold voice on the other end of the line. "Huh? I-it's me, Rentaro Satomi." "Which Satomi?" "Wh-what?" She seemed to be bent out of shape. He could easily imagine her on the other end of the phone with her chin lifted in the air, turned huffily the other way, with her arms crossed. Rentaro scratched the back of his head hard. "Aw jeez, it's me, the good-for-nothing, weak moron, Satomi! Damn it, that's what you wanted to hear, right?" "Oh, that Satomi. I remember now." Through the phone, he could hear Kisara chuckle slightly and the pressure in Rentaro's chest let up just a little. "But you forgot 'the perverted Satomi who was flirting with Miori,' you stupid, stupid, stupid idiot." Just how stupid does she think I am? "That was a misunderstanding." "Liar." "I'm not lying." "Well, it's not like I care. Even without you, I would be perfectly fine…" "If I leave, you won't have any employees." He heard a groan on the other end of the line. Apparently, she hadn't thought that far ahead. "Oh, I'll just hire someone new. Because then I won't have to pay your salary anymore, Satomi." He almost retorted, "With that salary?!" but held back and tried to speak calmly. "Um, Kisara, I think you already know this, but most civsec officers are worthless guys who are former criminals or yakuza-types who have nothing to offer but violence, so you'd be in trouble if you ended up hiring someone like that." He heard another groan at the other end of the line. Apparently, she hadn't thought of that, either. "I-I won't let you have Enju!" Rentaro was fed up. It was extremely hard to tell her, but Enju didn't really like Kisara. Once, when he asked her, "What do you think of Kisara?" Enju replied bluntly saying, "Her boobs are an eyesore!" He didn't want to boast that Enju liked him more or anything, but if Enju was left to her own devices, he had a hard time finding a reason she would stay with the Tendo Civil Security Agency. "What about food…? The food you make is gross, isn't it? You come over to eat once every three days, don't you? I mean, even on the days you don't come over, all you eat are boxed lunches and snack breads and other things with unbalanced nutrition, right?" "What are you talking about? I eat crusts of bread, too!" Rentaro didn't say anything. Apparently, she was eating crusts of bread, too. "Besides, I won't get fat eating the delicious food you make, so it'll be a good diet, too." Rentaro started to become uneasy. If he quit the Tendo Civil Security Agency, it was possible Kisara would quickly die like a dog by the roadside. "I mean, what? From what you're saying, it sounds like I'm just a poor but haughty rich girl who can't get by on her own and pays low wages while exploiting her employees." That was exactly what he was saying, but…… "How unpleasant. Now I'm angry. Even if you cry and shout that you want to return to the Tendo Civil Security Agency, it's too late! Good-bye!" With those last words, she hung up on him violently, but not even ten seconds later, she called him back. "……Satomi, you like bugs and animals and stuff, right?" Unsure of where this new, calmer Kisara was going, he nodded. "Yeah, well…I liked Fabre's Souvenirs Entomologiques, so I guess that just continued." "Then, I'll tell you a fable so you'll be able to understand easier. Once, there was a Satomi bug." "S-Satomi bug?" He was confused by the sudden appearance of a bug with a name that sounded too much like his own. "It's the scientific name. I'm sure it's because there was a scientist named Satomi somewhere who discovered it first and named it after himself. It has nothing to do with you, Satomi." Rentaro didn't say anything. "I'll continue. That Satomi bug was cute as a grub. He was a kind and honest bug who followed the Kisara butterfly, who'll come out later, around everywhere. However, as he matured, he grew impertinent, and started saying foul things like 'What the hell?' Satomi, what do you think after listening to this story objectively?" "That bug can talk…?" "Yes, it's fluent in Japanese." Rentaro had no words. "I'll continue. One day, the Miori bug appeared in front of the Satomi bug and started to seduce him. This bug was a relative of toilet crickets and cockroaches, a poisonous bug that serves as a carrier for smallpox, malaria, and the Black Death! Oh, but this has nothing to do with Miori." The story that was hard to comment on continued. Anyway, crickets were in the order Orthoptera with grasshoppers, and cockroaches were part of the order Blattodea, so they were actually completely different organisms and not related. "Gallantly appearing on the scene was the Kisara butterfly you heard about earlier. To make a long story short, the Kisara butterfly was a Space God, a messenger of god. By the way, she was supercute, cuter than the Miori bug, at least. The only one who could save the Satomi bug from the evil clutches of the Miori bug was the Kisara butterfly. And to the Kisara butterfly, it was a little sad to think that the Satomi bug who had been with her since they were little would be taken away. In other words, the Satomi bug would become happy by being with the Kisara butterfly. Satomi, what do you think after objectively listening to this story so far?" Rentaro was starting to get a headache. She wasn't telling this story about bugs and butterflies because she wanted to say that last line, was she? "Just stop being mad already." "It's not like I'm trying to make up, or anything." Rentaro was starting to get annoyed. "Hey, Kisara, will you stop already? I'm not going to Miori's place, and I'm going to keep working at your place like I have until now." He realized his slip of the tongue too late and gave a start. "I don't want you to work for me out of pity! Hmph!" The angry sound of the phone being hung up made Rentaro think he messed up, and he slumped and hung his head. This wasn't what he was trying to say. He seemed to have been in the student council room for a long time, and when he went outside, the setting sun was dyed a bright red. Picking up Enju at the statue in front of the school where they had arranged to meet, he continued on foot to Magata University Hospital, where Sumire was. "Enju, be careful." As he walked past the reception desk and into the university hospital hallway, he looked next to him. "Hmm? What's wrong?" "I don't know why Doc told even you to come. I have a bad feeling about it." "Really? It has been a long time since I have been able to see Sumire, so I am looking forward to it." Watching Enju swing her fists happily up and down, Rentaro sighed. He had a feeling that even if he looked all over the world, Enju would be the only human who looked forward to seeing Sumire. Going down the clean, swept hall for a while, they went down the familiar staircase to the basement. As usual, it was dim and smelled strongly of room fragrance, but today, Rentaro could hear a piercing laugh on top of that. The voice that bounced off the walls and reached Rentaro's earlobes sounded like the maniacal laughter of a witch, and even Rentaro, who was used to coming here, hesitated. Fed up, he passed the demon-engraved people-warding objects and found Sumire spread out on top of the table laughing uncontrollably. As she moved about on the table, she pushed off test tubes and beakers, and they broke with a crash. "Hey, Rentaro, look at this article! The yakuza were tricked by the April Fools' joke about immigrating to the moon and started buying up land on the moon to sell. They're such dreamers even though they're yakuza! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Rentaro's chest was already filled with the feeling of wanting to go home. The world-renown doctor, Sumire Muroto, had a side of severe necrophilia to the point where she expanded a morgue without permission just so she could live with the corpses. "Sumire, we came to play!" Enju waved her hand happily, and Sumire sat up, pushing up her hair, which had been allowed to grow as much as it wanted. And then she sat cross-legged on top of the table, brushing aside the hem of her lab coat, spreading both arms dramatically. "Welcome, Rentaro, Enju. Welcome to my nightmare." Sumire looked back and forth between Enju's and Rentaro's faces with an ecstatic expression. "Rentaro, you would be better mummified than stuffed, after all. Kisara would definitely be better stuffed than mummified. If she were mummified, then her boobs would stick out, so it wouldn't look good. Enju……would be fine as a mummy. Yup." "Hmph, what part of me were you looking at when you said that?" "I don't care who it is, but won't one of you die soon? I'm about to die from lack of corpses here. Oops, I almost forgot. It's been a while, Rentaro. You have an unfortunate face, as usual. It's depressing just looking at it. Sorry, but could you get some plastic surgery on that face by tomorrow? I can't stand looking at it anymore." "Am I really that depressing?!" Sumire stood up and stuffed coffee beans into the coffeemaker, put a beaker under it to catch the coffee, and turned it on. When she did, the room echoed the sound of the mill grinding the beans. "More importantly, Rentaro, I heard you're doing an escort job or something interesting like that?" "Word travels fast." "I don't know much about stuff like that, but I heard you're up against a sniper this time? I always thought you knew a great deal about sniping. I mean, you are a man with the concentration to gaze at a young girl going to school through binoculars on the second floor, combined with the marvelous patience to wait until a dad brings his daughter into the hot springs. You should be called Love Sniper, you Lolita-complex bastard! Die!" "There's no truth in any of what you just said!" Enju looked at Rentaro with excited eyes. "Is that true, Rentaro?" "No! Stop it! Don't give me that look! Anyway, Doc, thanks to you making up stories and spreading them around, Enju thinks they're funny and broadcasts them to the people who live in our apartment building, which is problematic. You know, the other day when I went to take out the trash one of our neighbors suddenly spit on me! What are you going to do about that?!" "Yeah, I calculated ahead of time that that would happen when I spread the stories to Enju." "You are scum!" "Thanks, that makes me happy. Watching you get socially destroyed is the last piece of joy I have left." Sumire laughed evilly. Rentaro was speechless. Just how much was he supposed to let this person make him despair? Just then, two beakers filled to the brim with coffee slid toward him on the table. "Well, come on, sit down," said Sumire. Watching Enju happily plunk herself down on a stool, Rentaro also grudgingly sat next to her. Sumire, sitting across from them, put her chin on her hands and lowered the tone of her voice, making a solemn face. "Rentaro, it's a little late, but congratulations. You defeated Kagetane Hiruko and moved up in rank. Now that you've moved up to 1,000th to join the ranks of the high-ranking pairs, I thought I should talk to you soon about things you should be careful about with the three geniuses other than me who exist in the world." "The three geniuses?" Rentaro shifted on the chair when he realized the conversation was heading from calm to cloudy. "Rentaro, what kind of understanding do you have of me as a person?" Rentaro knew this was a serious question, so he considered. "You were the person responsible for the New Humanity Creation Project." "I can only give you partial credit for that answer. I am the most brilliant mind in Japan, and I was responsible for the Japanese branch of a mechanized soldier project that spanned four countries: Japan, America, Australia, and Germany." Rentaro interrupted in his confusion. "What the heck is that…? Wait a minute, this is the first I've heard of it. Four countries? Then—" Sumire explained solemnly. "The head of the Australia branch, Obelisk, was Professor Arthur Zanuck. The head of the U.S. branch, NEXT, was Professor Ain Rand, and the head of the Japan branch, the New Humanity Creation Project, was Professor Sumire Muroto—in other words, me. And the one who unified all of this and was in charge of everything was a German scientist, Professor Albrecht Grünewald. The four of us are the four people with expertise on mechanized soldier creation. We were called things like the Four Kings, or the Four Sages… How nostalgic." "'Four Sages'…?" "That's right. The four of us were the great minds of the world, gathered in order to save the world from the invasion of the Gastrea. Now, Rentaro, do you think we produced great results working together hand in hand? Unfortunately, the answer is no. I'll tell you from the end of the story. The four of us were jealous of one another's ability and hid the results of our research from one another. I'm embarrassed to say that I was the same as the rest, too." "Why would you do that…?" Pressed for an answer, Sumire just shrugged her shoulders. "Can you understand? For all of your life, there was not a single person around who could be called your equal, so you became conceited, but then suddenly three geniuses who threatened your existence appeared. I was frightened and extremely jealous at the same time. Coupled with the fact that my lover had been killed by a Gastrea around that time, and I couldn't really see what was going on around me. You should remember what I was like back then." Rentaro paused. "I do." He nodded, remembering Sumire all skin and bones, with just her glittering eyes. The Sumire now wasn't the person responsible for the New Humanity Creation Project or the Sumire whose lover had just been killed by a Gastrea. She was half-forgotten by the world, but she seemed much happier now than she was back then. "To continue, in the end, the four of us each used our individual expertise to the best of our ability and created mechanized soldiers." Sumire laughed masochistically, shaking her head slowly. "My heart never connected with any of them during the whole process. Not once. And then, all the projects disbanded a little after the war. Do you know why?" Casting a sidelong glance at Enju, whose body had tensed with nervousness, Rentaro opened his mouth to speak hesitatingly. "Because mankind realized the high-fighting abilities of the Cursed Children." "Exactly. Even though it took a huge amount of money to create a single mechanized soldier like you, these girls were born naturally equipped with power that was equal to that of the soldiers. It was only natural for the government to think it was ridiculous to waste money on building the mechanized soldiers, right? "And so all the organizations were disbanded, and the soldiers were relieved of their duties. Where did they go? Did they decide to live as ordinary citizens to spend the rest of their lives in peace? The answer to this is also no. After the civsec officer system was born, most of the mechanized soldiers went out into the world as Promoters. For them, the disbanding of the organizations just meant that the place where they fought changed. "The current government is trying to manage the civsec officer system as clients. Well, it's just what those government types wanted. Since civil security agencies are civilian organizations, it's cheaper than having them work for the country. Price wars and other market forces are also involved. Lucky for them, the mechanized soldiers are also part of these organizations, so governments can just have them form tag teams and make great use of them. And these days, strong mechanized soldiers paired with strong Initiators get great military results, and most of them sit in the seats of the highest ranks. Do you understand what this means?" Rentaro nodded as he slowly licked his dry lips, and Sumire continued. "Rentaro, if you have decided to go after your origins, I am not particularly opposed to it. However, if you are going to defeat the enemies in front of you and aim to be among the highest of the highest ranks to get the highest-level top-secret information access key, then you will soon run into mechanized soldiers made by the other three geniuses who have become Promoters. You should be careful. Their abilities may have evolved past what we can even imagine." Without noticing it, Rentaro found himself sitting up straight and holding his breath as he listened. Cold sweat dripped down his cheek. He had been holding his breath, and he shook his head as he felt released from an invisible pressure and slowly drew oxygen into his lungs. He could easily imagine how this could become a fearsome path of thorns. "But Rentaro, it's not something to be pessimistic about. You already defeated one of Mr. Grünewald's mechanized soldiers." Rentaro looked up with surprise. "Don't tell me he was…" "That's right, Kagetane Hiruko." Just hearing that name gave him the chills and made him feel sick to his stomach. Manipulating a repulsion force field with superior defense along with two sinister handguns, Kagetane Hiruko was, without a doubt, the strongest opponent Rentaro had ever faced in his short life. It was more or less a miracle that he had won. "Only Mr. Grünewald did not have a research lab in his own country, so he had facilities in Japan, Australia, and America. Section 22, which you were in, was under my jurisdiction, but Kagetane's Section 16 was under Mr. Grünewald's jurisdiction. Also, it might sound like the Four Sages were equal in their abilities, but Mr. Grünewald's genius was obviously a rank above that of Arthur, Ain, and mine. Once, I thought I'd try to steal the knowledge he had of mechanized soldiers and looked at his blueprints, but there was a portion that even I didn't understand." Rentaro shook his head. Honestly, what she was talking about had gotten too big for him to wrap his head around. Next to him, Enju had her mouth half-open. She probably did not understand half of what she was hearing, either. "Wait, Doc, are you really that amazing?" There was still a trace of fatigue left in his lighthearted words, but Sumire was indifferent and recrossed her legs. "What, it's not a big deal. The way you and Enju would read a single book is how I would read a single library. That's the only difference. It's simple, isn't it? You might just think of me as a coroner, but I actually have no particular specialty. Everything is my specialty." "Then why are you doing autopsies on Gastrea now?" Sumire hunched her shoulders and twisted her lips in a smile. "It's because I like it. Corpses are great. No idle chatter from them. Oh, but the most unfortunate part about this job is that your patients never say 'Thank you.'" Rentaro was fed up. "Just how old are you right now, Doc?" "Fifteen." "You're younger than me?! Have you no shame?" "Silence, or I'll dissect you while you're still alive." "No, please. Anything but that!" As if realizing something at those words, Sumire gave a smirk. "Hey, I've been wondering about this for a while, but you have school during the day, go to Kisara's office after school, and then you're with Enju at home, right? As a healthy male hominid, when do you take care of your pent-up frustrations? Tell me." "Now that you mention it…" Even Enju was starting to look interested. Rentaro's hips twitched unconsciously. "Hey—! Th-that has nothing to do with anything. Enju's around, too! What are you saying, Doc?" "Then don't ask my age, idiot. Everyone has one or two things they don't want people to ask about." Rentaro sat back down in his chair with a sour look on his face at that severe retaliation. "Doc, you really are a terrible person, aren't you?" "Of course I am. That's why I have no friends. Did you only just notice?" Disgusted, Rentaro looked at the large bookcases in the basement room. There was no sign of the person who was once the greatest mind in all of Japan on the bookcases filled with movies and adult video games. "By the way, did you know, Rentaro? In the first dating sim games, the main character's parameters were set, and if he wasn't above a certain level in intelligence and looks, the girls wouldn't even look at him. Even though it was a game, it didn't contain any dreams or hopes, which kept it from being a great game, so other game companies went in a different direction." "What are you talking about?" The enigmatic female doctor took a mechanical pencil from the breast pocket of her lab coat and tapped it on the table complacently. "Well, I was just wondering how far you got with Kisara. Kisara is wasted on someone like you with an unfortunate face obsessed with bugs. It's strange that she hasn't had a conspicuous boyfriend yet. You should be in more of a hurry. For all your rude talking, you can be a gentleman, but you lack the lust for conquest that will allow you to overcome a woman's indecision and make her your own. That's your weakness, you know. Have you noticed, Rentaro?" "Sh-shut up. It has nothing to do with you." Seeing Enju looking discontented, Rentaro was startled and averted his face quickly. However, he smoothly slid just his gaze toward Sumire and asked, "Well, what would you do if you were me, Doc?" "I'd probably slip a sleeping pill into Kisara's drink." He shouldn't have asked. Rentaro scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, Rentaro, but you should go home first." "Why?" "I have some things to talk to Enju about now. I don't want you to hear it." "Hey, Doc, don't tell me—" You're not going to talk to Enju about her corrosion rate, are you? Rentaro glared. But Sumire shook her head. "It's not that." "I…see… Then, I'll get going. Enju, can you get home by yourself?" "Yes, no problem." Rentaro gave a small wave at Enju and left the university hospital reluctantly. 3 "Why did you have Rentaro leave?" "Because I thought you wouldn't want Rentaro to hear this. That's the kind of thing we'll be talking about now." Sumire sat back down into her chair, and it gave a sharp creak. "Enju, let's make this brief. Have you ever felt sudden chills on the back of your neck when fighting a strong Initiator or when walking around town?" Enju couldn't tell where the question was going and was mentally tilting her head in bewilderment, but she answered honestly. "No." Sumire recrossed her legs and put a coffee-filled beaker to her mouth. "Let me rephrase the question. Enju, you're an Initiator who specializes in speed, but has that speed continued to improve? Have you had trouble improving your speed? Where it suddenly stopped getting better?" Enju put her hands on the table in surprise and leaned her body over the table. "Do you know something about that, Sumire?" Sumire sank her body deeply into the chair. "It's just as I thought. You've reached your growth limit point, huh?" Growth limit point. Enju couldn't help but feel chills at the sound of those words. Sumire flipped a lamp switch and pulled out a binder from a pile of documents, flipping through its pages to find the document she was looking for. "Enju, will you tell me a little about that feeling in your own words?" It was like a doctor interviewing a patient, and remembering that Sumire actually was a doctor, Enju righted herself on the stool and sat up straight. "Yes, well, it was not something I was aware of in the past, but the more I used my power, the faster I became. However, that has not been the case recently at all. How can I describe it—?" She couldn't find suitable words and folded her arms. Sumire said helpfully, "Is it like you're running into an invisible wall?" "That's it! It feels like I am running into an invisible wall. No matter how much I practice, it does not feel like I am getting faster at all." "I see, it's just as the report says." Sumire threw the binder onto the desk. "Sumire, what is this?" "That is the growth limit point. After an Initiator's abilities improve to a certain point, they reach a plateau. In conclusion, Enju, your speed will not improve more than this." The words echoed gloomily in the basement room. "No… Isn't there anything you can do, Sumire?!" Before she knew it, Enju had pressed up against Sumire, breathing hard. Through the curtain of hair that covered her eyes, the doctor looked back at Enju in amusement. "No, there isn't. However, it's not all bad. It means that God has proclaimed that you don't need to get any stronger than this." "I thought you didn't believe in God, Sumire!" Sumire spread her arms. "It's regrettable. I think every day that it would be nice if God did exist. However, there is so little evidence that God exists from an objective standpoint that I have merely deferred my opinion for now." After saying that, she told Enju, "You can go home now," and turned her back to the girl. Enju looked at her and cast down her eyes, her mouth opening and closing until she suddenly murmured, "Sumire… What is Zone?" Sumire turned back in surprise and looked at her sternly with narrowed eyes. "Who did you hear about that from?" "I overheard rumors about it from Promoters and Initiators that we work with. Doesn't it refer to very strong Initiators?" "More accurately, it does not refer to the Initiator herself, but to the state of the Initiator. And, it has nothing to do with you." Enju practically threw herself on Sumire as she grabbed her lab coat and shook it. "Sumire, what is this Zone? Does that have something to do with how I can become stronger?" Sumire showed a moment of indecision. "Sumire, I must become stronger, whatever it takes!" That was the last straw, and Sumire said, "Damn," putting her hand to her temple and flopping into her chair in desperation. "Enju, I will answer your question from before. There is actually a way to overcome your growth limit point. It's the Zone you were just talking about." Enju held her breath, waiting for Sumire's next words. "The wall you feel right now is also frustration born of the desire to rip through your growth limit point. It might be easier if you imagine pulling yourself up onto a horizontal bar. At first, no matter how many dozens of times you practice, you can't do it at all, but one day, you are suddenly able to do it. Once you are able to do it once, there's no going back. Apparently Zone is like that. And Initiators attain Zone, which breaks through their growth limit point through strict self-control and discipline. It is also called 'Awakening Zone.'" "Attain Zone…? Awakening……?" "I'm not an Initiator, so I don't really know the details, but from the literature I've read on it, only a small handful of Initiators can actually attain Zone. And of the super-high-ranking pairs, there are many Initiators who have attained Zone. You and Satomi are probably alive right now thanks in large part to the fact that you have not met anyone who's reached Zone yet." Enju was startled. "Is this Zone thing truly that strong?"
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter012.txt	Black Bullet "It is. There is a large difference in ability between those who've reached Zone and those who do not. It is said that those without Zone cannot beat those with Zone. When you encounter them, apparently you feel tingling at the back of your neck, so if there is an Initiator your instincts tell you is someone with Zone, you should definitely not get involved with them. You guys fought Kohina Hiruko, who was pretty strong, but since you beat her, she must not have had Zone. If she did have Zone, then there's no way you two would have survived." It was hard to believe this all of a sudden. "If even after all that, I do end up fighting someone with Zone, what should I do?" "Run away. Take Satomi with you and run as far as you can." "Is that the only way?" "Yes. It would be a different story if you attained Zone, though." Not even Enju could hold back her gloomy feelings. The foolish expression about how the super-high-ranking pairs were strong enough to rock the world's military balance single-handedly suddenly seemed to have a seed of truth in it. Sumire looked at her with eyes tinged with compassion. "Rentaro and Kisara will probably both continue to become stronger. Enju, they'll become stronger than you." "Stronger than I?" She laughed, thinking it was a joke, but Sumire's face wasn't smiling. Enju crossed her arms and considered. During the fight against Kohina Hiruko, Enju had noticed several weaknesses with Rentaro's artificial limbs. Rentaro's artificial limbs relied on the propulsion provided by exploding cartridges built into them to provide an incredible attack power, but they also missed a lot. In actuality, when he fought the swordswoman with two swords, Kohina Hiruko, he used the function in his artificial eye to predict the trajectory of the enemy's attack before he readied his fist for a counterattack. This was entirely to minimize the risk of missing. Also, because she herself was a speed specialist Initiator, even if she fought Rentaro, she thought she could easily lead Rentaro to miss. Next was Kisara, and the truth was that she wasn't sure how their matchup would be. To Enju, Kisara was almost a complete unknown, and Enju had never really seen her fight. According to Rentaro, she was "crazy strong," but if Enju thought about it as the strength of a human, then it was hard to believe that she could be a threat to Enju. It was hard for Enju to imagine the two of them becoming stronger than her. "Enju, do you know the story of the race between the turtle and the hare? The one where the hare falls asleep and is overtaken by the turtle? Enju, why do you think the hare lost to the turtle?" "Isn't it because the hare let down his guard?" "No." Enju was surprised and looked at Sumire again. "That's not it?" Sumire nodded once. "The answer lies in what the goals of the turtle and the hare were. The hare's goal was to pass the turtle, so after he passed the turtle, he let his guard down. The turtle's goal was to finish the race, so he didn't let his guard down until he was done. It was this slight difference in the way they thought of their goals that resulted in their respective win and loss. Enju, you're the hare. I'm not just saying this as a joke. Your myopic way of looking at things will likely one day lead you to a definitive defeat." Enju opened her eyes wide and shook her head furiously, yelling, "Even if that's true, it's something that's way in the future! It's not now!" After she said it, she was surprised at herself. She didn't know why she was yelling so loudly herself. Before she knew it, Sumire had come in front of Enju and put both hands on Enju's shoulders, looking her straight in the eye. "Enju, do you understand? Do you understand what it means to attain Zone? If I can give my personal opinion, I would strongly urge you to forget it. Try asking Satomi, too. There's no doubt that he would say the same thing as me." Enju had some idea of why Sumire would be opposed to it. It was likely that once she achieved Zone, her body's corrosion rate would increase faster than usual. If she remembered correctly, her corrosion rate during her last exam was 24.9 percent. That was dangerous, but even if she were able to attain Zone, if she used it sparingly, it shouldn't be a problem, right? Was it really something that should garner that much opposition? Sumire looked sad that she was unable to deter Enju's motivation and murmured, "Let's leave it at that for today," cutting their discussion short. "You should just prioritize the job you have in front of you right now. Let's take our time to talk about this after you've taken care of your escort duties." Sumire waved her hand, seemingly done with this conversation. Even though Enju was not quite satisfied, she could do nothing but nod. "By the way, Enju, what is the Lady Seitenshi's guard like right now?" Enju wasn't sure how much she should tell her, but in the end, she told Sumire everything. After Sumire heard everything, she put her elbow on the table and cupped her chin in her hand, making a troubled face. "Isn't that…bad…?" "Hmm? Why?" "To be able to deduce the Lady Seitenshi's guarded route means that the enemy has considerable ability to gather information. It's likely that it has also been leaked that the Tendo Civil Security Agency has been hired to guard her. If I were the assassin, in order to make sure my second assassination attempt succeeds, I would crush the Tendo Civil Security Agency decisively. This is bad, Enju. Hurry up and tell the other two." 4 "Master, will you give me more information about the Tendo Civil Security Agency?" "What do you want to know?" The voice on the other end of the headset responded immediately after she asked. Tina Sprout tilted her head, gazing at the half of the sun setting beyond the faraway building. The busy shopping district she just left had been filled with annoying oily smells and had a ton of vulgar people. It was hot enough during the day to make one sick, so she was quickly coming to hate Tokyo Area, but the setting sun was the only thing that was beautiful enough to touch her heart. I do like the night, after all, thought Tina to herself as she waited for the light to turn at the scrambled intersection. "Master, I do not know much about Tokyo Area, but I think Tendo is the same as the last name of the Seitenshi's aide, Kikunojo Tendo. Are they related in some way?" "Yeah, the president, Kisara Tendo, is Kikunojo Tendo's granddaughter. However, she is currently estranged from the Tendo family and is running the Tendo Civil Security Agency independently. Oh? Her personal background is pretty interesting—" She suddenly felt eyes on her and looked back, seeing an elderly woman staring blatantly at what Tina was holding in her right hand. The woman was looking at a khaki-colored gun case. It was even thicker than the case she used for the huge antitank rifle she used last time, and even with her power released, it was still heavy enough to make her tired. "—the president, Kisara Tendo, lost her parents when they were eaten by a Gastrea that strayed into the Tendo residence when she was a child, and she herself was so stressed from that time that she lost the function of her kidneys." "Her kidneys?" "That's right. On top of that, this incident appears to have been premeditated murder, and the culprit is said to be someone from the Tendo family. Obsessed with revenge, Kisara Tendo madly honed her swordsmanship and left the Tendo family. Even now, it is said that she is just waiting for the opportunity to kill everyone in the Tendo family." "That's…" It was a very bloody story. On top of that, she was a master swordswoman, huh…? "I don't know if it's because they have no money or if it's because they value quality over quantity, but there is only one pair employed by the Tendo Civil Security Agency. These guys are the ones who got in our way the other day." Tina lifted her face in surprise. "What are their names?" "The fact that their names don't come up on the list means that their information is being protected by the government. Oh, but their names have been leaked onto the Internet." For some reason, Tina made a hard fist as she waited for his next words. "The Initiator's name is Enju Aihara, and the Promoter is—" Just then, a truck cut in front of her blasting its exhaust loudly. Tina covered her other ear as she shouted, "Excuse me, Master, what did you say—?" "Hey, how long are you planning on standing there? Will you please move?" Tina turned, and the elderly woman from before was looking at her with an angry expression on her face. When she looked forward, the light at the scramble intersection had turned green, and everyone around her had started walking at once. Tina made a hurried bow and lifted the case, cutting across the geometric pattern made by the white lines. Continuing on by turning into a few narrow alleys, she reached an area of drinking establishments. Probably because of the time of day, there were not many people around. Following her master's navigation, she soon saw a small building. It was a dingy four-story building. She twisted her neck to look at the height of the building. She had proposed sniping Kisara Tendo down beforehand, but her master rejected that idea promptly. She could see now that she would not have been able to secure a field of fire here. She had no choice but to barge in directly and shoot her down, after all. The building in question was called Happy Building, and its tenants from the first floor up were listed as SPERRGEBIET, MA CHÉRIE, TENDO CIVIL SECURITY AGENCY, and KOFU FINANCE. Sperrgebiet meant "no trespassing zone" in German, and Ma Chérie meant "my love" in French. The sign did not say what kind of stores they were. Was Kofu Finance some sort of financial consulting company? Tina dropped the gun case she held in her right hand to the ground with a heavy sound. She opened the case up left and right, and an enormous gun appeared. It was an M13 made by the General Electric Company. It was a Gatling gun that used the power of a battery pack to make a bundle of six barrels rotate, allowing for continuous fire. She was not that good at using weapons other than sniper rifles, but as part of learning the conventions of killing, she had also learned how to use general weapons and explosives. Up until now, she had always sniped at her targets through an optical scope, so she was slightly nervous, but it was not enough to be a problem. Tina put the bullet box feeder connected to the Gatling gun on her back. Passersby were giving her dubious looks as they passed, but because she was doing it so blatantly, no one screamed or called the police. Tina was planning to ask her master for a vacation after the Seitenshi's assassination was over. She was sure that her master would strongly oppose her staying in Tokyo Area after the assassination was completed, but she wanted to avoid leaving this place without saying anything to him. Tina put her hand to her chest. It was strange. She had only seen him four times, yet she felt like she could do anything for him. Even though she had never done anything but kill people, she was amazed that her heart could still beat for someone else like this. Her heart was warm. She felt like she could do anything. Tina closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled. "Master, could I lose against Kisara Tendo?" She heard a loud laugh on the other end of the phone. "There's no way. No way. According to my calculations, there's not even a one percent chance that you will lose against Kisara Tendo. According to the information, Kisara Tendo is alone in the office. Make sure you get rid of her." "Roger, Master. Ending call now." Tina quieted her footsteps and entered the building. Perhaps to save on maintenance fees, there was no elevator, so the only way to get to the upper floors was to take the stairs. Sperrgebiet on the first floor was a bar. It looked like they weren't open for business yet, and the lights were off and no one was around. Compared to the bar on the first floor, it was much easier to tell what kind of store Ma Chérie on the second floor was. There was wallpaper pink enough to make a flamingo feel nauseated and a disco ball. They were also not open yet, but it looked like some kind of sex establishment. Tina silently climbed up to the third floor. In order to use the Gatling gun in an indoor battle, the barrels were shortened as much as possible to make it more compact, so it did not get in the way of her movements much. Tina quietly pushed open the shabby door with a sign that said TENDO CIVIL SECURITY AGENCY hanging on it. At a large work desk facing front, a black-haired girl that she thought to be Kisara Tendo sat with her shoulders squared, writing something. Seeming to sense someone coming in, the girl put down her fountain pen, crossed her arms in a huff, and looked the other way, as if saying, "I'm still mad, you know." It seemed as if she had Tina confused with someone else. It was a chance Tina would not get again. "You are…Kisara Tendo…?" "Huh?" Seeing the girl lift her face and open her eyes in surprise, Tina prepared for the gun's recoil by firmly placing her feet onto the ground. "Prepare yourself." Pushing the trigger button, the body of the gun started spinning from the battery power, and immediately after, there was an ear-splitting explosion, and the Gatling gun spit fire. In the blink of an eye, Kisara crouched down reflexively, but the work desk and walls were all covered with holes, and ricocheting bullets destroyed the glass on the pictures and the glass water pitcher, penetrating the sofa of the lounge set and scattering feathers everywhere. This was the true value of the massacre weapon, the Gatling gun, a high-speed rifle that could spit a hundred rounds a second. Compared to the menacing threat of this rapid-fire weapon that could turn their target to pieces, the shots of a normal machine gun were about the same level as a fly landing on something. After getting knocked backward from the strong recoil from the five-second salvo, Tina released the trigger button and looked around the inside of the office. Riddled with bullet holes, the inside of the office looked like a tornado had passed through it. There was a sharp smell of gun smoke as papers drifted through the air, and at her feet was a pile of empty cartridges the gun had spit out and a mountain of belt links. A heartbeat later, a Klimt reproduction fell, frame and all, to the ground with a small sound, and Tina could see powdered mortar floating in the air in the diagonal shaft of light shining in from the window. She was sure that Kisara Tendo had left the world without knowing exactly what had happened. Tina could only pray that the other name for this gun, Painless, was the truth. Thinking to check the corpse, Tina stepped into the room. Just then, as if waiting for that moment, Kisara rushed out from the side of the ebony table with her hand on the handle of her sword. The cold eyes peeking out from under the long, disheveled hair were like carnage. Suddenly, Tina's master's voice replayed in her head. Obsessed with revenge, Kisara Tendo madly honed her swordsmanship— Tina got chills and reflexively bent backward, and there was a high-pitched screeching sound as something scraped right next to Tina at high speed. A lock of Tina's blond hair that lagged behind was cut diagonally, along with the barrels of the Gatling gun, and there was a loud roar like artillery shells crashing into one another as the whole building shook. Behind her, the wall was split in half vertically. Tina looked at the unbelievable spectacle in shock. Was she within range of Kisara's sword attack? Tina thought it was impossible, but the glint of Kisara's sword had just sliced the wall and a number of Tina's hairs, and it cut the steel body of the gun like butter. Tina cursed her master who gave Kisara Tendo the too-low rating of a less than 1 percent chance of winning. She felt chills up her spine. It wasn't a joke. Her abilities were unmistakably at the upper limit of what a human could achieve. However. Tina jumped left and right like she was doing a triangle jump and kicked twice, sticking to the ceiling, and then while her vision was upside down, ran past on the ceiling. She saw Kisara glare as her sword-drawing technique started to go out of control. Right after, the two sword-drawing attacks she unleashed as quickly as meteors landed far behind Tina. They were too slow. Tina, who was looking down at the inside of the office upside down, ran until she was right above Kisara Tendo and kicked the ceiling, falling inverted down on her. Kisara's face paled, and she slid backward, but that was all within Tina's predictions. Tina brought down the Gatling gun that weighed a little over twenty kilograms. She wasn't aiming at Kisara but at the floor. The blunt and heavy steel weapon that was brought down with the fierce power of an Initiator destroyed the flooring. Not only that, but it also easily shattered the concrete block with a 24-Newton force, shattering the fragments and making them explode into Kisara. To Kisara, it was like being shot with a shotgun. Even though she quickly raised her arm to block, she was showered with blows to her stomach and chest, and dropped her sword, thrashing against the wall. Without hesitating, Tina calmly calculated the most efficient way to destroy the swordswoman in front of her and used the superacceleration of an Initiator to ram against her shoulder. With a roar, the wall collapsed, and Kisara was drained of strength against the wall. It was still. This was it. Breathing a sigh of relief, Tina swiped the sweat from her brow. Then her eyes became as cold as ice, and she decided to do what she had to do. She took the body of the Gatling gun that had turned into a soldering iron from all the shots it fired and pushed it against the limp Kisara's stomach, forcing her awake. Kisara let out a painful groan and brushed back her hair. Grinding her teeth, trying to bear the pain, she opened her eyes in slits and looked at Tina. "Who…are you?" "There is no need for you to know." "Why is a child like you…?" Kisara started. Tina's thoughts were troubled by the anxious look in Kisara's eyes. Even though Kisara had suffered serious damage, why was she concerned about Tina? Tina was deeply irritated at the incomprehensible girl and made a hard fist, putting her face close to Kisara's. "You will die soon. That has nothing to do with you. You are about to die. You will disappear from the world without becoming anything; you will not leave anything behind. I will now kill you in such a way that even those who love you will not be able to tell that the pieces are you. Do you understand? You are going to die now!" Kisara shook her head slowly with a tired look on her face. "You are afraid to kill people, aren't you?" Tina's eyes opened wide, and before she knew it, she was strangling Kisara's thin neck. Her fingers sank delightfully into the girl's smooth, white skin, and Tina could almost hear the grating of her bones. Kisara shook her head slowly left and right without a sound, a sad expression on her face, but soon her expression turned into a grimace. Her body started to convulse, and her consciousness clouded. She squeezed her voice out forcibly through lips that had turned purple. "Help…me…Satomi… No……" Tina was so surprised that the force in her hands let up for a second. What? Who's Satomi? "Tendo Martial Arts Second Style, Number 16—!" Suddenly, just as she heard a voice that could barely contain its anger come from the side, something rushed into her with the force of a bullet. "Inzen Kokutenfu!" On instinct, she let the top half of her body spring backward, and immediately after, there was the sound of a roundhouse kick grazing her cheek. She jumped aside with a backflip. Backup? Tina thought. She made sure to get enough distance between them and, with her hand still on the ground, lifted her face. —And then, her world froze. "No way…" Between the space between her cracked lips, a hoarse voice that didn't sound like her own slipped out. "No way… No way, no way… No……… There's no way…" Tina shook her head slowly and moved backward. The connections in her brain were shorting and getting ground down, and inside, her feelings were a stirred-up mess. Her legs shook, and feeling sobs about to leak from her throat, she hurriedly held them back. Since he showed up at this time, she had no doubt that it meant that the enemy in front of her was the civsec officer employed at this agency who had interfered with her sniping. His compact and toned body was covered in a school uniform that looked like a black suit. Behind that brusque attitude was a stupidly honest person who was sincere and good at taking care of others. She had learned this from her short acquaintance with him. She had liked him. She thought he was a good person. She had trusted him. Tina ground her teeth in frustration as she held back her tears and screamed, "Why…! Why, Rentaro?!" Rentaro was just as shocked. The dark rage scorching his chest collided with the momentary charm and stopped Rentaro's movements. "Why are you…?" Tina looked down and shook her head, murmuring like she really did not want to say. "Because you will get in the way of my assassination." "I see, so you're the……" Rentaro bit his lip hard and closed his eyes. And then he asked himself what he should do. He slowly opened his eyes. Tina also looked like she was smiling and crying at the same time as she desperately put both hands on her chest. "But Rentaro, I……" Rentaro used the Tendo step to close the gap between them and unleashed Homura Kasen, a straight punch with all his strength behind it. It scraped the shaken girl's cheek. There was a short scream, and a sharp, cutting pain welled up in Rentaro's chest. However, Rentaro did not listen to Tina's scream. He couldn't listen to it. He thought he should take the Gatling gun she held and grabbed at it, but she resisted half-reflexively and pushed Rentaro away with the tremendous physical strength of an Initiator. The momentum pushed the trigger button, and the body of the Gatling gun pointed at the sky exploded. It took everything he had to suppress it. In the midst of the sound of gunfire, Rentaro ground his teeth and screamed behind him. "Kisara! The floor… Cut it………!" He could sense Kisara behind him suddenly leaping to action with the sword in her hand. "Tendo Martial Arts Sword Drawing Third Style, Number 8—" Her deep exhalation made the air in the room tense in a second. With all the noise from the gunfire, he shouldn't have been able to hear it, but Rentaro was sure he could hear the clear sound of steel sliding out of the scabbard. "Unebiko Yuusei—Go swiftly, Yukikage!" The calamity that occurred immediately afterward could scarcely be called a physical phenomenon. It felt like Rentaro's field of vision was cut into a number of pieces, and along with the cracking sound of an icicle being cleft in two, all around the room were cuts carved in every direction. Suddenly, the world tilted in a way that made it impossible for him to continue standing. The floor had been cut off. Along with the nauseating floating feeling was a destructive collapsing sound. Bodies pulled by gravity, Tina and Rentaro were being dragged down as they grasped each other. Seeing that Tina seemed confused about what had just happened, Rentaro saw his chance and positioned himself above her, keeping her below him as the floor of the next floor down approached with tremendous speed, slapping her down on it. "Guh…" The air was knocked out of Tina's lungs, and Rentaro readied a fist in order to knock her unconscious. But his enemy was not one to go down easily. Just as he saw her leg spring up, he felt a sharp pain in his lower jaw, and there was a ringing inside his head as his vision started to black out. He stumbled for a few steps, but then shifted to step firmly. Not yet. "Tendo Martial Arts Second Style, Number 14—" "Listen to me, Rentaro!" "—Inzen Genmeika!" He repeatedly aimed sharp kicks where he predicted she would move to avoid him. The kick that got a clean hit on the arm the girl put up to block blew the small girl away, and she broke past the window behind her and fell from the second floor. Tears fell from Tina's eyes, and they glittered, reflecting the glass of the window until they finally disappeared. Rentaro drew the gun at his hip, not letting his guard down as he approached the side of the window. He looked down timidly but did not see any sign of her save the small dent on the hood of the car parked in front of the building. She appeared to have run away. "Satomi, did you win?" Looking back, he saw Kisara in the midst of the thick dust, holding a handkerchief to her mouth as she climbed down to the second floor. Rentaro looked away from Kisara and looked once more past the broken window. A crowd had gathered nearby, and the police would probably show up soon. "I didn't win. She ran away from me…" "I see…" Kisara came to stand next to Rentaro and followed his gaze, then looked sideways at him anxiously. "Did you know her?" "Yeah…" Rentaro remembered Tina's face when she was almost crushed by self-denial, and his chest tightened. From the looks of it, she had not known who he was when she approached him. However, if she was the assassin after the Seitenshi, and if she was trying to take the life of the president of the Tendo Civil Security Agency that was trying to stop the assassination, then there was no room for discussion. Assassin and bodyguard. Two absolutely incompatible positions. Despite that, Tina had obviously been trying to talk to him. And the one who had pushed away her outstretched arm and forced their parting was none other than himself. Rentaro gripped his XD with both hands and shut his eyes hard, holding it and praying. How long did he stay like that? He tried to force himself to switch gears by surveying the damage inside, and then he scratched his head. "What are we going to do about this, Kisara?" Looking up, he saw a large hole providing nice ventilation between the second and third floors that couldn't possibly be fixed. On top of the concrete dust irritating his throat, there was also the smell of paint thinner coming from somewhere in the building, which was starting to make his head hurt. When Enju came back and saw that the office had turned into Swiss cheese, she would surely be surprised. Fortunately, the cabaret on the second floor still had some time before they opened, so no one was around, but the proprietress would be coming in soon to get ready to open. Rentaro had no confidence that he would be able to explain the situation well. He shot Kisara a critical gaze that said, "You didn't have to destroy everything so thoroughly." Kisara blushed, put her hand on her hip, and looked up at him through her lashes. "What? You're the one that said to cut it, Satomi!" "That's true, but—" "D-die, you scoundrel!" Suddenly, yakuza with long daggers in each hand rushed in shouting, nearly blowing Rentaro away. When he looked carefully, Rentaro saw that they were the yakuza from the loan shark upstairs, Kofu Finance. Looking left and right and seeing no sign of the enemy, they became restless and looked very strange. They must have been very confused, because some of them were using the lid of a pan as a shield, and some were even wearing the pot itself on their heads. All of them had shaking knees. The reason for their late appearance could be deduced somewhat by that attitude. A representative came over to where Rentaro was, scratching his head in confusion. It was Abe, who had a surprisingly comical face when he took off his sunglasses. "R-Rentaro, bro, Tendo, sis, what's goin' on here? It's not a raid?" Kisara took a step forward and spread her arms levelly. "This has nothing to do with you guys. I believe the police will come soon, so you should put away whatever you don't want them to see. Come on, hurry on home now!" She clapped her hands, and the members of Kofu Finance reluctantly headed out the door, looking at one another. Yakuza being pushed around by a high school girl. It was a strange sight. "Satomi…" Saying that, Kisara, whose back was to Rentaro, suddenly leaned toward him as if about to fall. He hurriedly caught her shoulder. It smelled sweet and felt too dainty and soft to be that of a master swordswoman. Rentaro felt his whole body heat up, and he was afraid Kisara would hear the too-fast beating of his heart. "H-hey, Kisara, this is no time to play aroun…" Then, he suddenly realized. While Rentaro had been rushing around, Kisara had been practically killed. Even though she was his boss, she was still a girl. After being met with such a dangerous situation, wouldn't she want to cry on someone's chest? With such sweet expectations, he held her and peeked at her face—and then the blood drained from his face. Kisara's handsome face was twisted in pain, and she held her lower abdomen as she bit her pale lips. "Hey, Kisara? Kisara! Get ahold of yourself! Hey!" Then a lightbulb flashed in his head, and he gritted his teeth. This wasn't from the damage she sustained from fighting. It was her kidneys malfunctioning. 5 The sounds of regular and intermittent machinery echoed through the white hospital room. "I never thought that our office would be targeted. We've been doing pretty well recently, so I let my guard down a little," Kisara muttered as she sat down in a reclining chair, smiling weakly at Rentaro. "I don't look that cute here, so I didn't really want to let you see me in a place like this, though." "It's too late for that. Just because I see you like this doesn't really make me think anything special." Rentaro was lying. Kisara usually looked unhappy, giving orders in her refined and energetic way. He couldn't stand to see her looking like a puppet with its strings cut, sprawled with her arms and legs stretched out on the chair. On her arm with the sleeves rolled up, there were needles sticking in her veins, which were connected to the dialysis equipment next to her. An artificial kidney called a dialyzer worked in the place of Kisara's malfunctioning kidneys, filtering out the toxins from her blood. Two or three times a week, she would spend four or five hours this way. And this was the reason she could not fight on the front lines as a civsec officer. Kisara had always strongly refused Rentaro's attendance at her dialysis treatments. Knowing that she probably didn't want him to see her bound by the dialysis equipment after all this time, Rentaro was embarrassed at himself for being inconsiderate. Now that he thought about it, Kisara also made sure to never show Rentaro or Enju when she took her insulin shot after meals. The sun had almost completely set, and it was dark outside the window. The streetlights were giving off a dubious light. Earlier, there was announcement that it would be lights out soon. After Kisara collapsed, Rentaro panicked, almost dropping his cell phone multiple times before he managed to call the ambulance and bring Kisara in. "Again, Miss Tendo?" said the nurse in an unsurprised and angry voice. Watching Kisara apologize with a wry smile, Rentaro could tell that Kisara was not very assertive about going to her dialysis treatments. A young nurse who seemed friendly with Kisara said, "Oh? So you're the one Miss Tendo was talking about…" with a meaningful smile, walking around Rentaro to look at him. She finally turned on her heel and said, "When you're done, press the nurse call button," waving a hand and leaving. Currently, only Rentaro and Kisara were in the room with the dialysis equipment, and the other three sets of equipment for patients to use were not operating. Rentaro sat quietly watching Kisara's dialysis on a chair nearby. "Doesn't that hurt?" "I'm used to it…" "You should get a kidney transplant." "I can't find a donor that easily, you know. Besides, if it's someone not related by blood, there's a high possibility that my body would reject it." "Didn't Doc say something about how there's some IPS thing now?" "Oh, you're talking about induced pluripotent stem cells, right? Dr. Sumire doesn't need to tell you about that. But I'll refrain." "Why…?" Kisara leaned back against the chair, stared at a point of empty space, and finally stretched out a hand as if grasping something. The hospital ward was quiet and a little chilly at night. "This pain is mine and mine alone. I decided that my life would only be used to erase the Tendos from this world. If I forgot this pain, I'm sure I would forget my revenge, as well. That's why I can't." "Wouldn't it be all right to forget, too? You have Enju now, right? You have me!" Kisara looked bewildered for a second, gaping, but she then she lifted the corners of her mouth and smiled. "You're right. Thank you." Rentaro looked down and gnashed his teeth in deep despair because he could tell that the second he yelled, Kisara's true feelings, which had surfaced a little, sank underneath as a fake smile floated to the top in its place. His words would not reach her. He could not stop her revenge. Rentaro's chest tightened as he looked at Kisara and her pale beauty once more. Tendo Martial Arts Sword Drawing Third Style, Number 8: Unebiko Yuusei. What in the world was that thing she used against Tina? Even Rentaro, who had been with her for ten years, had never seen that terrible move before. It was likely a special attack she'd polished through years of persistence, in order to obliterate the Tendo family. Even thinking about it now, its terrifying destructive power gave him shivers. It was a move that cut an entire room to slivers in an instant. No matter how many times he ran a simulation in his head, Rentaro couldn't figure out how he would deal with it if the attack was directed at him. Was this the true strength of the Tendo-killing Tendos, Kisara? "Kisara, aren't you…" Aren't you stronger than me with my power unleashed? He couldn't ask this no matter how hard he tried. If the answer to that was yes, he didn't know what kind of face he was supposed to make. The buzzer indicating that the dialysis was finished sounded. Once Kisara knew that her blood was purified, she removed the equipment with practiced hands without pressing the nurse call button. Those hands stopped suddenly, and Kisara looked at Rentaro hesitatingly. "Satomi, when that girl was attacking me…did you hear me calling your name?" "Hmm? Did you say something?" Kisara looked relieved and shook her head gently. "It's fine if you didn't hear it." After another heartbeat, she looked at Rentaro with her eyes filled with resolve. "Satomi, there's just one problem left that hasn't been resolved. The incident with Miori." Rentaro slumped his shoulders, fed up. "Will you stop with that already?" Just when they were finally able to talk normally, too. Kisara stood up and brushed the dust off her skirt, then pointed her index finger at Rentaro's nose. "No. I hate having things left ambiguous. I won't ask about what amazing thing Miori did to you, and you don't have to talk about it. I-I probably won't be able to keep a cool head if I heard about it……" She didn't do anything! Please, just stay coolheaded! These words stuck in his throat. Kisara unhurriedly twirled her black hair around her fingers, and seemed restless as she recrossed her legs. "Watching Miori's actions, I also learned something. It's true that the salary I pay is on the low side—" His boss in her black sailor school uniform walked to the window and turned around, closing the curtains with her hand behind her. After a slight hesitation, she looked up at Rentaro through her lashes. "Th-that's why, Satomi, you can…hold my hand." "Huh?" Rentaro raised his voice hysterically. "My hand. I said that I would let you hold my hand!" Rentaro paused. "Why your hand?" "What, you don't like it? You know, letting you hold my hand is a pretty big deal." "What part of it is?" Kisara turned quickly to the side, pouting and muttering, "I mean… it's…like we're l-lovers or something, don't you think?" Rentaro was even more discomfited, so Kisara braced herself, making her muscles hard, and stuck her hand out at him with her eyes closed. "Satomi, hurry up…… I'm so embarrassed, I think I might die," she urged. A mesmerizing smell emanated from Kisara, and Rentaro started to breathe harder naturally. From her collarbone to her shoulder and waist, her feminine lines were beautiful no matter how many times he saw them. Sumire's words passed through the back of his mind. "For all your rude talking, you can be a gentleman, but you lack the lust for conquest that will allow you to overcome a woman's indecision and make her your own. That's your weakness, you know. Have you noticed, Rentaro?" "K-Kisara, I……" "Satomi, wait, no way…… What are you touching…? That's not my hand, that's my chest…… W-wait… Satomi. I wasn't planning on allowing you to go that far… Oh, but I may have Miori beat with these." "Hmm? The size, shape, elasticity… They are utterly faultless. It is vexing, but even I must give them a triple A-plus." "Huh? Vexing?" Opening one eye slightly, Kisara saw Enju grasping her chest tightly with a serious expression on her face and hurriedly jumped backward. "E-Enju? What are you doing?" "I am the one who wants to know! After I got back to the office, I was surprised to find it full of holes. And then after I asked the police and had them show me where to go, I find you here with your breasts hanging out, tempting Rentaro!" "They're not hanging out, and I'm not tempting anyone!" Rentaro stood with his mouth half-open at his wits' end, watching their exchange. Finally, Kisara gazed fixedly at Rentaro with wet eyes, trembling slightly. "Since Enju touched them, that means you, her guardian, touched them! With this, you're mine, Satomi. I-I won't let anyone else have you!" A single tear ran down Kisara's cheek, and she ground her teeth as sobs threatened to escape, but she lifted her eyes sharply and somehow managed to finish her words. If you were that scared, you shouldn't have said you'd let me hold your hand. Could it be that all rich girls were extremely idiotic individuals? Enju puffed out her cheeks and jumped over. "Rentaro, Rentaro. I have no idea what happened." Rentaro leaned over to her eye level and quickly explained the details of the attack on the office and how it was linked to the attempted assassination of the Seitenshi. He hesitated but hid that he knew Tina beforehand. After she finished listening, Enju looked disappointed, like she had missed out on something. "What, is that what happened? Then, we just have to finish protecting the Lady Seitenshi, right?" "Y-you know what…? That's easy for you to say, but—" No, Rentaro stopped and shook his head. Now that he thought about it, she was exactly right. What Rentaro had to think about was not Tina's or Kisara's revenge. Enju had a simple way of thinking, but she never lost sight of what was important. "Satomi, since that girl came to erase me because I was in the way, that means there will definitely be a second attempt." "Yeah." "The Lady Seitenshi is someone who will be necessary to Tokyo Area in the future. I know that you don't like politicians, but you need to bear it and set your personal opinions aside for now." "I know." "Imagine, Satomi. In our current situation, with the fourth Seitenshi still unborn, if the Lady Seitenshi were assassinated, the resulting political vacuum would throw Tokyo Area into confusion. The fate of Tokyo Area rests in your hands. You cannot fail." At that moment, all the lights in the room turned off, and the room was wrapped in darkness. It was time for lights out. Kisara adjusted her posture and brushed back her hair with the moon behind her. "I order you as president of the Tendo Civil Security Agency. Eliminate the sniper targeting the Lady Seitenshi and carry out justice!" Rentaro closed his eyes, put his hand to his chest, and asked his conscience. "I will stop her. I will be the one to stop her." 6 "For such a thing to happen…" They were inside the car. The Seitenshi sat elegantly with her hands on her lap, hiding her face. "I'm sorry. I had good intentions when I asked you to take on this job, but I didn't think it would come to this." "You do not have to worry about that! When we were offered the job, Kisara said she was so happy, it was like it rained on her drought." That was Enju. It was a great response—if only she had said "welcome rain in a drought" instead of "it rained on her drought." Rentaro leaned his back deeply into the all-leather seats and followed suit. "It's just like Enju said. We looked at the risks properly and are getting paid to do our job, so it's nothing you need to worry about. The insurance looks like it'll cover the building, too. The only thing is that Yasuwaki thinks I'm secretly communicating with the culprit, so it makes it harder to do my job." "He thinks you're secretly communicating with the culprit?" The Seitenshi responded with a smile, and Rentaro had to keep his mouth shut. He wasn't secretly communicating with her, but he knew her. But if he said that, what kind of face would the country's leader make? Today's second unofficial conference would be at a restaurant for a change of scenery, and it would start at eight p.m. and was scheduled to continue late into the night. Rentaro checked the time. It was currently seven thirty p.m. Thinking of how the last conference went, it was hard to imagine that this conference would bear much fruit, but that was beyond the jurisdiction of a guard, and not something he had a say in. "Rentaro, do you think this will go well?" Enju asked. Looking at Enju's eyes filled with a mix of expectation and anxiety, he checked that the decoy limousine was driving in front of them and finally turned his head back around to look inside the car. "I wonder," he replied. The van they borrowed from the staff at the Seitenshi's palace had a worn-out suspension or something that made it shake terribly, and it was no comparison to the comfort of riding in a limousine, but the Seitenshi sat quietly and expressed no discomfort. It was Rentaro who suggested switching cars at the last minute. Even that was sudden and only in the presence of the Seitenshi's trusted personal aides. At first, the aides just stared at him in shock. Apparently, just the suggestion for a holy personage such as the Seitenshi to ride in a normal car was hard for them to believe. However, a clever scheme that followed the rules of common sense was not a clever scheme. The more absurd the idea, the more likely it would be to fool Tina. The guard plan leak last time meant that it would make sense to assume that there was a traitor in the Seitenshi's palace. If the traitor was part of the Seitenshi's personal guards who wrote the guard plan, then it would be annoying, but if the traitor wasn't, then they would be arrested sooner or later. There was already an internal investigation team that had started work on bringing to light who was leaking information. If they had caught the culprit, Rentaro would be able to relax a little more with his guarding, though. There, Rentaro remembered the face of someone he disliked and hit his knee with a fist. "Sougen Saitake… I'm sure he's the culprit." The Seitenshi's head twitched, and she looked at him with a sad expression. "Satomi, that's…" "I know. I don't have any evidence yet. But when I think about who has the most to benefit from your death, he's the only person who comes to mind. Why is he sneaking around coming unofficially to Tokyo Area, anyway? That's pretty suspicious by itself, and then you were attacked on your way back from that meeting. And there's one more thing that's suspicious." Rentaro stopped talking for a second and looked into the Seitenshi's eyes. "Lady Seitenshi, all your personal aides are scum. All they did was lay blame on others for leaking the plan, but they didn't even try working out a plan to prevent anything from happening. In the first place, why didn't they talk about who ordered the assassination? It wouldn't be hard to figure out if you just thought about it a little. But if they really expose Saitake as the leader behind the scenes, then one wrong step could lead to an outbreak of war between areas. Those guys are afraid to even think about it." The driver, who realized that the conversation was taking a turn for the worse, started to fidget in the driver's seat. The Seitenshi kept her eyes closed for a while. However, she eventually opened her eyes quietly and looked at Rentaro. "Satomi, I will keep what you said in mind, but only to myself. Please do not talk about it to anyone else." Rentaro understood there was more to it than she said and reflexively started to stand up, but the Seitenshi shook her head slowly. "I am still the ruler of this nation. I cannot cancel a conference without evidence. Satomi, this is something that cannot be helped." "You'll be killed!" "If that is the fate chosen for me by the heavens, then there is nothing I can do. I will follow the god inside of me." Rentaro suddenly felt a red-hot sensation, and before he knew it, he had grabbed the Seitenshi's collar and raised a fist overhead. "Rentaro!" Enju hurriedly tried to intervene, but Rentaro just barely managed to grit his teeth with his fist trembling. The Seitenshi just let it happen to her and quietly looked into Rentaro's eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut. Rentaro didn't know how long he stayed like that, but he thrust the Seitenshi away and sat down in ill humor. Why were all the women around him idiots? There was a limit to how mentally strong one could be. It was hard not to be envious. "I will protect you. I did not take on the job of guarding you just to have you killed before my eyes." "Thank you, Satomi." Before long, the van arrived at the first-class restaurant, Utoro. It was on a large plot of land, and the outer wall was very high. The guard unit that had arrived earlier to investigate and disinfect the inside of the restaurant guided the van to a stop next to the restaurant. Rentaro pulled the sliding door open and stretched a hand out to the Seitenshi. "Now, let us go, princess." "I'm not a princes—," the Seitenshi started to say reflexively, but then bashfully looked down and quietly took Rentaro's proffered hand. Exiting the car and exposing his body to the slightly cool air outside, Rentaro looked at the entrance of the restaurant and scowled. An angry Yasuwaki had come out to meet them, looking like trouble. "Rentaro Satomi! What is the meaning of this? Why is the Seitenshi riding in such a shabby car?" "We changed the car. I decided that a limousine would be too dangerous." "Why did you not tell me?!" Rentaro glared at Yasuwaki silently. Because I couldn't trust your abilities. Yasuwaki kept grinding his teeth. "Bastard…… A big-headed grandstander like you will destroy the whole team! You scumbag!" Because the angry Yasuwaki had moved a hand to the sidearm on his hip, Rentaro also put his hand on the XD on his hip to stop Yasuwaki if necessary. In the middle of the tense atmosphere of the explosive situation, Enju also made her eyes red and pawed the ground with her shoes. It had turned into a bad situation. Suddenly, there was a buzzing sound, and Rentaro twisted his head back and forth but did not find anything. There it was again… The sound was the same as the buzzing that he heard during the last sniping incident. What in the world was it…? Those tense nerves played a part in allowing Rentaro to anticipate a glint on the roof of a large building in the corner of his field of vision. He wasn't mistaken in what he had seen. It was the same sniper muzzle fire as he had seen the other day. As Rentaro yelled, he hurled himself against the Seitenshi to force down the upper part of her body. The next instant, there was a sharp pain in his body. Rentaro was sure he felt the hot tip of an antitank bullet graze his side. A heartbeat later, the place became frenzied. A number of the guards who understood Rentaro's intention quickly became a shield. Rentaro pushed the Seitenshi into the van, rapped on the driver's seat, and ordered, "Drive." The limousine that was blocking the front and the van they had gotten into started moving at almost the same time. Rentaro put a hand to his side and felt something slippery as blood stuck to his hand. Unconsciously, one cheek twitched. Even with this, they were lucky. If he had been hit straight on with a bullet designed to pierce through armored cars, a frail human such as himself would have died immediately. A small trick like switching cars was not enough to fool that sniper, after all. "Rentaro!" said Enju. "Enju, don't worry about me! Keep watch behind us," said Rentaro. The Seitenshi's face paled as she reached her hand out toward his wound, but Rentaro waved her away with just his hand. The danger wasn't over yet. They had to break away to a safe area as soon as possible. At that moment, Enju, who had been observing the roofs of the buildings behind them, gave a yell. "A glint!" At almost the same time, the sound of screaming breaks and a crash flew into their ears. Ahead of them, the decoy limousine was fishtailing with a large hole in its roof. Rentaro felt chills when he realized that the sniper had not missed, and the car tilted forward, softly scattering splinters of glass as it turned on its side. As it spun, it entered his field of vision, approaching with frightening speed. Then and there, he realized what Tina was intending, and gritted his teeth. The driver of the van froze with his hands still gripping the steering wheel. Rentaro kicked up the steering wheel from the backseat. The tires screeched as the van slid sideways, narrowly avoiding the approaching limousine. Anticipating the driver returning to his senses, Rentaro leaned his body forward and yelled, "Go into the parking lot of that building, quick!" The flustered driver turned the steering wheel hard to the left, and the inertia threw Rentaro hard onto the glass of the window. They rushed into the basement parking lot of the nearby building, scattering the shocked security guards. The moment the van stopped, Rentaro and Enju jumped out and started running. They got out onto the street just in time to see the driver crawl out from the ruins of the limousine that was used as a decoy. Antifreeze and gasoline had spilled onto the street. Rentaro's mind was on the verge of panic. With this, the sniper had hit five out of five super-long-range shots, not missing a single one. Was this a coincidence, or…? He tried to run toward the building Tina was sniping from, but he fell to his knees dizzily. His gunshot wound throbbed in pain. Rentaro gritted his teeth and looked up at the giant building between the two tall buildings. But at this rate, he would let Tina get away again. What could he do? Just then, something shook Rentaro's arm hard. It was Enju. "Rentaro, I will go after the sniper!" "Go after…? Will you make it?" "If I'm by myself." Rentaro was surprised by Enju's response, which was accompanied by serious eyes and a hard nod. In other words, the injured Rentaro would be a burden. Rentaro hesitated. Enju losing was unthinkable, but he also wanted to avoid a situation where Enju wounded or killed Tina. What in the world was he supposed to tell Enju? "I will return, Rentaro!" Feelings rising up from deep in his gut pierced through Rentaro, and before he knew it, he had grabbed Enju's arm. "Be careful. Make sure you come back." At first, Enju opened her eyes wide, but then finally smiled wryly and said boldly, "You are such a worrywart, Rentaro. Who do you think I am? The sniper does not have Zone. It's fine." "Zone?" Rentaro said. "I'll be back shortly." Enju unleashed her power, turned her eyes bright red, and jumped. The onlookers pointed at Enju and started screaming, wondering what was going on, but Enju ignored them and jumped to the top of the building closest to them, and then soon disappeared. After a while, Rentaro looked in the direction Enju had gone off. For some reason, even after hearing Enju's words, his uneasiness didn't let up one bit. "Satomi, are you all right? The ambulance will be here soon, so please don't worry." He looked back. It was the Seitenshi, looking pale. "Get back into the parking lot, now!" is what he opened his mouth instinctively to say, but his words were swallowed by empty space, and he looked down, staying silent. That wasn't what was occupying his mind anymore.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter014.txt	Black Bullet She was a little calmer and noticed the state Rentaro was in. "What's the matter, Satomi?" Rentaro hesitated, but before he knew it, he had told the Seitenshi about Tina. If he didn't talk about it to someone, the uneasiness that had already risen up to the back of his throat would make him go crazy. "Tina Sprout…?" After the Seitenshi heard what he had to say, instead of telling him what she thought, she repeated the name of the young sniper wonderingly, continuing as she quickly rushed back to the car. Rentaro tilted his head questioningly at her mysterious words and actions, but those feelings were soon overwritten by different thoughts. Rentaro had a strong impulse to call Enju to make sure she was safe, but when he opened his address book, he gritted his teeth and stuck his cell phone back into his pocket. Enju and Tina were sure to be in the middle of their fight right now. If he foolishly called her at a time like that, it would be a devastating state of affairs for Enju. If Enju won, there was no way she would not contact him. He had to wait until then. He broke out in a cold sweat, and his vision lurched, forcing him to his knees. The dull pain was slowly but surely invading Rentaro's body. In his head, he remembered the training they had in the back of the dojo the other day. Enju had slipped past all of Rentaro's rubber bullets in no time and was closing in on him. There was such a great difference in their strength that it could barely be called practice. Enju had said she was bad against a barrage of bullets from a shotgun or machine gun, but she was strong against guns designed to shoot single bullets, like a handgun or sniper rifle. Sniper rifles were almost always used with optical scopes with high magnification used to enlarge the target. This was something that was not that different in principle from the microscopes used in science or biology classes. Of course, with higher magnification, even though the target could be seen more clearly, moving just a little caused the target to leave the field of vision. There was no way a sniper could capture a girl who could move at superspeeds—a girl with the Rabbit Factor inside her. Since this was night sniping, there was probably also some sort of infrared equipment being used, but either way, there was no way Enju would fall behind the other girl. It'll be fine. Calm down. Rentaro chanted this over and over. Thinking that about thirty minutes had passed already, he looked at his phone and realized that it had only been five minutes. It was irritating how slowly time was passing. "Satomi!" Screaming, the Seitenshi came running toward him. "Get Enju back here right now!" The girl who had been able to say it was her fate to be killed was in front of him right now looking pale, with her shoulders heaving as she panted. "H-hey, what's the—" "I used my authority to do an International Initiator inquiry into Tina Sprout's name. Her IP rank is 98. She's an owl Initiator and one of the enhanced NEXT soldiers. I saw her specs, and her numbers are terrifying. Enju will be killed!" IP rank 98. Just those words echoed over and over in Rentaro's head. That was way above Kagetane Hiruko and his daughter. Rentaro recalled Tina's face and shook his head softly. There was no way. Then, he suddenly regained his senses and dialed his phone as if hitting it, pressing it hard to his ear. As it rang a few times, he shut his eyes tight and prayed desperately that Enju was safe. It rang about ten times, and then there was the sound of the phone being picked up. "Enju! Is that you, Enju?!" he called desperately. "Ahh, oh good, get back here right now. We're going to rethink our strategy." There was no answer. No, he could hear faint breathing from the other side. "Enju, what's wrong? At least answer." Rentaro listened dubiously, but there was no answer after all. "Enju…? What's…the matter…? En…… Huh?" Rentaro took the phone off his ear for a moment and stared at it fixedly. "Is this……Tina………?" There was a long silence. That said everything. The cell phone Enju should have been holding was in Tina's hands. Then, what had happened to its rightful owner? All sound disappeared from his ears, and his blood froze. No. No, no… No…! Suddenly, there was a click, and the dial tone rang. The cell phone slipped out of his hands, ringing dryly as it bounced. The blood running out of his side spread slowly on the ground, soaking the phone. Rentaro fell to his knees, shaking his head from side to side without a sound. Enju had been…killed?
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter016.txt	Black Bullet BLACK BULLET 2 CHAPTER 03 THE COURAGE TO BE IMPERFECT 1 "Hey, you came, civsec. It's kinda sudden, but I'll have you look at the scene of the crime." The square-jawed face of Inspector Shigetoku Tadashima of the First Investigation Division had a fleeing expression that looked like sympathy, but he tried to treat Rentaro as matter-of-factly as possible. When Rentaro touched his own face softly with a pale hand, he felt dry skin and cracked lips. What kind of expression did he have on his face right now? Rentaro shook his heavy head and looked left and right. There were no window frames or anything, and the undressed concrete floor was riddled with bullet holes. Rentaro was on the sixth floor of a building under construction. Around him, crime scene inspectors and people from forensics came and went hurriedly. Also jokingly called the homicide department, the First Investigation Division of the Metropolitan Police Department had long included all Gastrea incidents, which had a high probability of being criminal, in their operations. The work of the crime lab was also partially privatized, and things that required complicated calculations like analyzing the trajectory of a bullet were, after thoroughly preserving the evidence and ensuring confidentiality, entrusted to large corporations like Shiba Heavy Weapons. Rentaro shook his head. What was he thinking? He was putting off his thoughts, his mind secretly trying to desperately deny what he was about to see. Rentaro had seen a number of crime scenes with the police as a civsec officer, but it was the first time his stomach felt so heavy. It was because the victim was possibly someone he knew very well. His brain wouldn't function properly. The fact that he was standing here breathing seemed like something on the other side of the TV screen and felt strangely like he was watching someone else. "Hey, are you all right, civsec?" Someone shook Rentaro's shoulder, and he returned to himself with the pain of the wound in his side and shook Tadashima's hand off. "I'm fine… Just, just show me the crime scene." Tadashima looked at him questioningly but silently cleared the way for Rentaro. When they got to the back, the forensics people in blue jumpsuits noticed Rentaro and nodded uncomfortably. When Rentaro finally stopped walking, he stared at the ground. On the concrete floor, there was a spot that had an especially concentrated number of bullet holes, and like stepping-stones, there were countless bloodstains that had small round chalk marks drawn around them. Recently, there had been a number of days with record-breaking high temperatures, but today felt especially hot and humid, and Rentaro loosened his necktie. "This is where the victim was shot." "It's pretty intense," Rentaro was warned, and when he looked at the photo, he had to cover his mouth to hold back the nausea he felt. "It's been hot recently, so the flies gather. That's why I said it was intense." Rentaro swallowed the urge to vomit and looked once more at the bundled stack of photos, flipping through them. Most of the pictures were of pieces of flesh. The occasional pieces of white were probably bone fragments. Even though he was just looking at them, he felt like he could smell the choking stink of blood. The last picture was that of a pink smartphone that had been stomped to pieces. His eyes weren't tricking him. It was Enju's. Rentaro stood up and frowned, looking back and forth between the photos and the places marked by chalk circles. Enju Aihara was defeated by Tina Sprout here. "Strangely, the victim was shot from four different places at the same time," Tadashima said. When Rentaro looked in the direction Tadashima pointed, he saw that Tadashima was referring to buildings in four directions on his right, left, in front of him, and diagonally to the right and above. "And from the rooftop of each building, we found the ruins of heavy machine guns from three different places. I don't know if it was to keep any evidence from being left behind, but the machine guns used were destroyed with plastic bombs and abandoned. They have been sent to Shiba Heavy Weapons for analysis, but what we know right now is that the serial numbers and identifying information of the guns have been scratched off, and that parts that are not normally used on machine guns were equipped." "Is Enju dead?" Rentaro absentmindedly raised just his gaze. "I don't know… Right now, they're checking the DNA of the scattered victim and your Initiator." "It's Enju. There's no mistaking it. In the pictures, I saw scraps of Enju's coat." "I see……" Even Tadashima had a gloomy look on his face as he looked down and finally looked around the crime scene. "Don't despair yet. They're saying that the bullets probably hit her in the gut, and there was no body at the crime scene. On top of that, all the bullets that they gathered were made of regular lead, not Varanium. Initiators won't die if they aren't shot directly in the heart or the brain, right?" "Even if that were the case, this means Enju has been taken away by the enemy!" And the bullets that hit Enju were antitank rifle bullets. Like their name implied, these were extremely powerful bullets developed to pierce through the armor of a tank. Tanks had become stronger because of Chobham armor and the like, so antitank bullets were unable to bring tanks down anymore, but because they were such overkill when used against humans, their use was limited through war agreements. If shot at a human body, it would open a large hole on impact, and even if the person managed to escape instant death or death from shock, they would still feel a writhing pain. Imagining that much, Rentaro squeezed his eyes shut. Right now, at this instant, was Enju undergoing harsh interrogation or torture? There was no way a child could withstand severe torture. In addition to having all the information she had pulled out of her, Enju was probably already— Rentaro's fist shook. Why hadn't I noticed? Idiot, idiot, idiot! Just as he was trying to anticipate the sniping and figure out a plan to deal with it, Tina also knew that someone was on her trail and had figured out a plan to deal with that. And Enju had fallen straight into her trap. How in the world did she defeat Enju? How did she get Enju, the natural enemy of snipers, with a sniper rifle? In the first place, that Enju had been shot from four places at the same time was hard to understand. Assassinations were really only done by the best of the best, so there were probably two perpetrators, Tina and her promoter, but was that not the case? No matter how hard he thought, he couldn't find the answer. The only thing he knew was that Tina boasted battle power far above what he had imagined. Rentaro let out a shaky breath. The only thing left was a cold fear toward the professional killer named Tina. It was all his own fault for not being able to keep Enju back. In the end, the Seitenshi's second conference was canceled. At this point, it was unclear whether or not there would be a third. His head was heavy and felt like it was filled with lead. His brain wouldn't work more than this. Besides, in his innermost heart, he didn't care anymore. Everything had lost its meaning. Rentaro turned on his heel and left the crime scene, not listening to the unmoving Tadashima's voice. Rentaro went home dragging his feet. When he arrived, he put his key into the keyhole and turned. Unexpectedly, air cooler than that from outside touched the back of his neck. Rentaro stood stock-still in the entryway for a while. During the last terrorist attack, there had been the distressing incident of Enju running away from home, but compared to that, the situation this time was much worse. It was painful staying at home, so Rentaro went outside. After walking for a while, he realized he forgot to lock the door to his apartment and stopped but decided he didn't care and continued walking. The sun was setting before his eyes, and it became dark. He didn't know why, but Rentaro's feet headed toward the downtown area with a lot of people. Perhaps he was looking for the company of others. However, what Rentaro wanted wasn't there. Rentaro leaned against the guardrail of the pedestrian bridge and looked down on the town, but the dazzling lights were too bright and the happy laughter of the families was too loud and hurt his ears. One feels loneliest in a crowd. This was exactly how he felt. He felt miserable, like his heart was about to be crushed. Rentaro looked at one of the families. A child about Enju's age was jumping at the father's back. Why am I not them? Why are they not me? Questions with no answers swirled inside his head. Rentaro went home as if running away and fell asleep embracing his despair. The next day, Rentaro stayed home from school. He felt no will to leave his blankets. Though an eight-tatami-mat room was too small for two people to use, it was too big for one person. When he turned on his cell phone, he had several texts from Kisara, Miori, and Sumire, but he didn't feel like looking at what was inside and left them. He had a hard time falling back asleep, and he felt dazed. He had a sense of loss like there was a piece of him missing, but his heart was numb. Waking up after sleeping for a number of hours, he was starting to have a hard time telling the difference between day and night. The day before, he had pulled back the dark curtains and put masking tape over the windows and cracks, so the space Rentaro was in now was filled with darkness. In his light slumber, Rentaro dreamed. The intercom rang, and when he went out front, Enju's grotesque corpse had been left there. Another time, it was a burned body curled up like a fetus, and then a body that had been strangled to death with rope marks on the neck. A corpse with the head cut off. A half-dismantled body. All the Enjus were left in an unspeakable condition. "Why did you not come save me, Rentaro?" they asked. Rentaro pushed his face into his pillow and writhed, trying desperately to make the delusions go away. After another ten hours passed, he stopped seeing even the self-punishing destructive delusions that swirled in his head. His stomach had stopped telling him he was hungry. It had probably started consuming his own organs because it couldn't take it anymore. He remembered what Sumire had once told him. When people live only on water, they will become skin and bones and die, but if people don't even drink water, they will die from acute starvation, dying before they use all the nutrients in their body, not giving their bodies the chance to become thin before death. His consciousness became muddy, and various hallucinations came and went. Like throwing everything out of a toy chest, he was swallowed by the torrent of his thoughts as they flowed. Then, Rentaro felt odd, and his shoulders shook. The next thing he knew, moisture was running down his cheeks. The tears had finally come. If Enju was dead, then what was he supposed to do with himself from now on? If he was to take a step out of the house, should he go right? Should he go left? What should he do? Should he just do nothing? Should he live? Should he die? He didn't even know the answer to that anymore. Enju, Enju, Enju, please come home. I miss you, Enju. Suddenly, he started to lose consciousness. He was probably faint from not eating. He didn't want to think about anything anymore. There was a voice calling his name. He thought he was hearing things, but he wasn't. Outside the door, a spare key was thrust into the keyhole, and the door opened vigorously, making Rentaro squint his eyes at the brightness. Kisara panted as she came in. With wet eyes and both hands on her mouth, she said, "Enju is… Enju is—" Rentaro rushed into the hospital room with enough force to run something down. There was baby's breath in a flower vase, and the breeze coming in from the open window made the curtains flutter. In the middle of the hospital room, a girl was lying on top of the bulging bed. Her small chest went up and down, so he could tell she was breathing. He wasn't imagining things. Rentaro kneeled by the bed with an expression of ecstasy on his face, and he prayed, putting both elbows on the bed and holding Enju's hand. O God, God, God! Without words, he prayed thanks that Enju was safe. Suddenly, Kisara hugged him tightly from behind, and he smelled a sweet fragrance. "You're so emaciated… Your injury isn't fully healed yet, either, idiot… Why do you treat yourself so badly? If you and Enju are both gone, then what am I supposed to do…?" The end of her sentence half-disappeared in her tears. Rentaro put the palm of his hand on top of the palm of Kisara's hand and closed his eyes. "Sorry, Kisara. I'm really sorry…" Guiltily, Rentaro rolled up the hem of Enju's hospital gown and breathed a sigh of relief. Enju's stomach was the pretty skin color of a normal child's stomach, and the gunshot wounds had healed over nicely without even leaving a scar. "Is it all over, then…?" he said. The assassin had failed once and faced danger to try again. Surely there would be no third time… Kisara looked up at Rentaro with eyes shaking with uneasiness. "Satomi, I sent you a text. Did you see it? The date of the Seitenshi's third unofficial conference was set yesterday." "When?! What's the date and time of the conference?" "Tomorrow night, at eight o'clock…" "Tomorrow…" Just then, there was the sound of a door opening. Looking back, Rentaro saw a doctor and nurse come into the room. He got up with a start to press them with questions. "Is Enju all right? Will there be any aftereffects? Where did they find her? I want to talk to her. Is it okay to wake her up?" The doctor looked at the nurse and replied with a troubled face, "We will know for sure once she wakes up, but we probably do not have to worry about aftereffects. However, right now, it would be best not to force her to wake up. Many times the lethal amount of anesthetic was intravenously injected into her before she was left in a room in an abandoned building where the police received a report and took her into their care. The only reason she is still alive is that she has the Gastrea virus in her."
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter018.txt	Black Bullet Many times the lethal amount of anesthetic…? The doctor and nurse exchanged looks, as if the next part was hard to say. "There is one thing we must tell you, Satomi. About your Initiator's body's corrosion rate… The process involved to heal the large wound from this time made it rise slightly." Rentaro made a fist, grinding his teeth and looking down. It's my fault, he thought. Finally, biting his bottom lip with regret, he lifted his face. "How long before Enju wakes up…?" "I'd like to keep an eye on her for two days." "Two days…" Something was strange. As Rentaro tried to find the source of his discomfort, he pressed his temple, but suddenly his vision blinked, and his body swayed. The next thing he knew, Kisara was holding him up. Now that he thought about it, he was on the verge of death himself. Since he had remembered, he couldn't figure out how he had been standing up. He felt languid and exhausted, attacked by the pain of his wound, and his vision faded into darkness. Rentaro sipped the rice gruel, but when he forced the porridge into his mouth, his stomach was surprised and started contracting. He wanted to recover as soon as possible, so he forced the food down through the nausea, consuming half of the hospital food in several sittings, and had them give him more saline in his IV drip. Holding Enju, he dozed off next to her, and when he woke up, he was feeling much better. The doctor said, "You need to be hospitalized, too," but Rentaro smiled bitterly and left. Then, Kisara held her nose and pointed out, "You stink! Satomi, you have terrible BO!" So on his way home to pick up a change of clothes, he stopped by the public bath to wash his hair and wipe down his body. When he got out of the bath, he rewrapped the bandages over his recovery patch in the changing room and lightly touched the wound in his side. It still throbbed painfully, but he decided he could bear it. Rentaro put his hands on the large vanity and stared at himself. His cheeks were hollow, his lips were cracked and dry, and his hair had lost some of its shine. However, his mind was working again, and the vague discomfort he felt earlier finally became clear. The doctor had said Enju had many times the lethal amount of anesthetic injected into her, but Rentaro wondered if it really was chance that kept her from dying from the excess anesthetic. It would have been easy to kill Enju. Her head or heart just had to be destroyed. However, Tina had not done that. Why not? In the first place, using injection as her method of choice was strange. When giving an injection to one of the Cursed Children, who had threatening powers of regeneration, one usually used a pressure-style injection that didn't require a needle, or a Varanium needle that prevented the wound from healing itself. These were the two main types. Even if a regular needle was used, the moment the needle pierced the skin, regeneration would begin, so the needle could break, get stuck to the skin, or something else bad could happen. After checking Enju's arm, Rentaro saw needle marks. This was the second type—in other words, it was evidence that a Varanium needle had been used. Why would Tina go through all this trouble? Rentaro kept staring at the mirror. Just then, the ruins of the police car thought to have been destroyed by one of the Cursed Children crossed the back of his mind. The police car had been thoroughly destroyed, but the police officer had miraculously survived. It was similar—even though one whole wall around Enju had been covered with bullet holes from a heavy machine gun, Enju's life had been spared. Rentaro thought about it carefully one move at a time. Tina was definitely trying to kill the Seitenshi and Kisara. The person who hired Tina, or her Promoter, had probably told her to kill them by name directly. However, it was possible that Tina was trying her best not to kill people not on the list to be assassinated. That was why Enju and that police officer did not die. Was that too big a leap to make? Of course, this act was contrary to the opinion of the person who hired her and her Promoter. It didn't make sense for those twisted enough to order an assassination to have any hesitation about getting rid of the witnesses. Pressing forward with that line of thinking, Rentaro put his chin in his hand. Tina wasn't a bad person at heart. Was it his desire to believe this that was skewing reality? Just then, he saw Tina's face in his mind, smiling softly and eating takoyaki in the sunny park, and shook his head hard. Damn it. What am I thinking? She's a professional killer. In his head, he turned over what the doctor said about it taking two days before Enju would wake up. There was something this assassin didn't want Enju to wake up and say so badly that she put Enju to sleep. Tina Sprout was probably planning on finishing all the assassinations and leaving Tokyo Area in the next two days. There was hardly any time left. What will you do, Rentaro Satomi? 2 Irritated at the unanswered questions, Rentaro changed and left the bathhouse. On his way back to the hospital, Rentaro stopped by a vending machine under a humid-smelling overpass and pushed in some coins, pushing the button consecutively several times. Twisting off the cap of the carbonated drink the machine spit out, he gulped it down and emptied the plastic bottle in a second. Perhaps because he was distracted, he didn't notice he was being followed until he heard his name. "Hey, Rentaro Satomi." Rentaro looked back with a sinking feeling. What he saw was Yasuwaki and the other Seitenshi personal guards grinning, riding in a black Benz. "What do you want…?" Rentaro slammed his plastic bottle into the trash can with unconcealed displeasure and started walking. The car was going so slowly to keep pace with Rentaro that it made him angry. "The third conference has been decided." "I know." Rentaro said it without looking at Yasuwaki, so Yasuwaki pulled out a thin bundle of papers and started fanning himself with it. Yasuwaki laughed. "However, you can't guard her anymore. Why? Because your last ray of hope, your Initiator, was beaten by the sniper and sent to the hospital, right? That's unfortunate. That means the new guard plan is useless to you, of course." The guard plan for the third conference? "Give me that!" Rentaro stole the papers out of Yasuwaki's hands and leafed through them quickly, ignoring the enraged Yasuwaki as he burned the escort route into his memory. Suddenly, a hand stretched out from behind him and stole the papers back. Crushing the papers as he got out of the car, Yasuwaki looked at Rentaro with eyes frozen with hatred. "Bastard… You aren't planning on stepping down from guarding the Seitenshi?" Those words surprised Rentaro. Why did he look at the guard plan? Was he planning on continuing this job? Even after going through all that? Kisara had been half-killed, Rentaro suffered a serious injury, and Enju was in a state of unconsciousness. In addition, the enemy was an unprecedented IP rank 98. To put it bluntly, she was way beyond the capacity of the Tendo Civil Security Agency. The money was not worth their lives, and in this case, the risks had already far outweighed the returns. The Seitenshi had likely promised a large sum in compensation, but even so, if the enemy was ranked 98, even ten times that wouldn't be worth it. Of course, this was where they should return the advance and wash their hands of the case. The Seitenshi would probably be sad, but she would not stop them. They would walk away from the job on good terms. Yasuwaki would also stop holding strange grudges against him. Enju would wake up eventually. The Tendo Civil Security Agency would continue on. It would be wonderful. Rentaro shook his head softly. That was the one thing he couldn't do. What would happen if he were to step down from this job right now? It was obvious. That prideful-but-honorable leader of the nation would surely be destroyed. Even if they were to hire a stand-in civsec officer other than himself, there was no way they would be able to stop the peerless Initiator with her super-precise, long-range shooting abilities. Rentaro sighed as he lifted his face and looked at Yasuwaki straight on. "I will continue with the job. I will protect Lady Seitenshi." "Stop messing around, asshole! It all, all got messed up after you came!" Seeing Yasuwaki's arm move toward his holster, Rentaro's right hand also moved at the same time. The next instant, Yasuwaki's Luger P.08 gun and Rentaro's XD gun were pointed at their opponents' brows. The other members of the personal guard who were riding in the Benz jumped out in a flurry. At the same time, a train came by on the overpass, and there was a shrill sound as it passed. Yasuwaki's persistent eyes blazed brightly as they looked at Rentaro. "Rentaro Satomi, do you really like being by Lady Seitenshi's side that much?" "Don't make me the same as you. More importantly, are you planning on proceeding with this plan? The information's gonna get leaked again." "You're the one leaking the information, bastard!" "Bullshit! Did the internal investigation of the Seitenshi's palace come up with any information about the person who leaked the information?" "The list has been narrowed down quite a bit, thanks to the efforts of the internal investigation team. Your name is at the top of the list, of course." "Then give everyone on that list a fake copy of the guard plan." Yasuwaki's hand holding the gun shook with anger, and the hand on the trigger was white as snow. "Don't, tell me, what to do………!" Just before the sound of Yasuwaki's gunshot, Rentaro brushed Yasuwaki's arm away and swept his feet out from under him. After he pushed Yasuwaki down with his knee, Yasuwaki made the anguished croak like that of a frog being squished. "I'll tell you just one more time! Give everyone on that list a fake copy of the guard plan! I'll take care of the rest." 3 She slammed the desk with all her strength, and beakers and flasks jumped noisily. "No! Hell no!" The queen of the basement, Sumire Muroto, was livid, with her lab coat trailing behind her as she paced inside the basement room. Rentaro had a faint idea of what would happen, but this was a reaction way beyond what he had imagined. This was probably the first time he had ever seen Sumire so worked up. Using her own authority, the Seitenshi had printed out information about Tina Sprout and her rank and given it to Rentaro. On that piece of paper, Tina's Promoter's name was also printed out. Rentaro remembered hearing the name before. "Ain! Have you fallen so far, Ain Rand?!" Sumire shouted. Rentaro said, "Then this Ain Rand is that person you were talking about after all, Doc? Your—" "Yeah, that's right. There's no mistaking it. Someone who was once called one of the Four Sages with me, as hard to believe as that is." "W-wait a minute, Doc. Why are you so angry?" "How can I not be angry about this? He's sold the last pride he had as a doctor to the devil. Rentaro, how did you end up getting the surgery for the New Humanity Creation Project?" "That was…" When Kisara's parents were eaten by a stray Gastrea, and Rentaro protected her, it resulted in his right arm and leg and left eye being eaten. Near death, he was brought to Sumire's lab. "In other words, you had only two choices: undergo the surgery and live, or die," said Sumire. Rentaro lifted his face with a start, and Sumire nodded once before continuing. "Kagetane Hiruko was the same. He sustained a serious injury to his internal organs, and he was left with only two choices: undergo the surgery, or wait for death. The four of us, including Ain and me, swore one thing before establishing the mechanized soldier project in our respective countries: 'We are doctors first and scientists second.' Of course, that was because of the extremely low success rate of the surgeries, but more than that, we wanted to respect the wishes of the patient, and we did not want to forget our respect for human life. After hearing that, I'll ask you this, Rentaro. Have you ever heard of one of the Cursed Children sustaining so grave an injury that she was near death?" Rentaro shook his head. In exchange for having shackles on their lifespans called corrosion rates, the Cursed Children had overwhelming muscle strength, agility, regenerative ability, and they did not get any of the diseases or impairments of normal humans. Like how Enju did not die even after being injected with a lethal amount of anesthetic, the Gastrea virus inside their bodies was extremely sensitive to dangers to its host's life and rendered foreign objects nontoxic. In reality, Rentaro had never even seen Enju catch a cold. In other words, it was unthinkable that they would ever be in a situation where they only had the choice between surgery and death. "You get it already, right, Rentaro? Ain, that brute, broke his vow and brought healthy Children into his lab." Rentaro was astonished. How in the world did Rand perform surgery on the Children? It wasn't something Rentaro could wrap his head around then and there, and he shook his head. Rand would have had to use Varanium scalpels, forceps, and other surgical tools to open their bodies. Of course, since Varanium inhibited their regeneration, using it to injure the Initiators would mean their healing abilities would drop significantly, as well. As a result, wouldn't the success rate be much lower than that of an ordinary person? Just how many dozens of Children disappeared into the operating room? No, how many hundreds? Rentaro started to imagine the grotesque scene of Children's bodies being opened and had to put a hand to his mouth. After all this time, he understood that that small assassin was standing atop a large number of corpses. "Rentaro, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Ain Rand has pretty much no combat ability to speak of. I can guarantee that as someone who worked with him in the past. They are pair in name only, and he probably isn't more than the person giving commands regarding the assassinations. You don't have to worry about him coming out into the front lines." "What's the bad news?" Rentaro asked. "Tina Sprout's rank of 98 is something she is maintaining with her own combat ability and hers alone." Rentaro was shocked. The IP ranks given by the IISO, or International Initiator Supervision Organization, were called "IP" as an abbreviation of Initiator and Promoter, and they were based on their battle results among other things, calculated based on the combined total of the Initiator's and Promoter's combat abilities. If Rand did not fight, then Tina's rank of 98 was calculated solely based on her own combat ability. Was something that ridiculous even possible? "Rentaro, that Initiator named Tina hit a moving target five out of five times from a great distance away, is that correct?" Sumire asked. "Yeah, that's right," said Rentaro. "If that's the case, then I have an idea about the trick the enemy's using to pull off that precision sniping." "Really?" Sumire nodded once and pushed through piles of old documents on her desk to find an old-style terabyte disc, which she inserted into her computer. When she pointed the remote control at the wall to operate it, a screen slid down and connected wirelessly to the projector. Soon, there was a large image projected onto the screen. Rentaro leaned forward, wondering what was about to start, but at first, he just saw a cold blue background with the words TEST 1 on the screen. The next instant, in a space as wide as a bowling alley, a stocky bald man who was blindfolded appeared on the screen. The picture was crude, and there was no music. It had been made in a very businesslike way. Rentaro frowned. What was this? The video changed to a shot filmed from behind the man's back. That was when Rentaro first noticed the man had a handgun in his right hand, and that there were three shooting targets inside the room. It looked like he was going to shoot them blindfolded. Rentaro didn't dare blink in case he missed something. However, what happened the next instant completely surpassed what Rentaro was expecting. From his navy blue jacket, the man pulled out three round, fist-size black Bits and threw them toward the ground. However, the Bits didn't fall to the ground, but floated up and started circling over the man's head without a sound. Finally, the man lifted his arm high and then brought his arm down, as if to say, "Go." In a moment, the plasma engines at the bottoms of the Bits ignited. They flew toward the targets with amazing speed. The blindfolded man lifted his right arm and fired three shots from his gun. The picture changed. The next shot was an enlarged shot to prove that the three gunshots went through the middle of each of the three targets. Rentaro took a step back in shock. His brain couldn't understand what he was seeing. What was this? Something like this shouldn't be possible. This had to be some sort of special effect. If not, it was a problem. He turned back with imploring eyes, but Sumire's stern look and crossed arms rejected that possibility completely. "Thought-drive interface, a Shenfield. That is probably the trump card Ain has up his sleeve. Do you know what a BMI is?" "Brain machine interface?" "That's right. The BMI is actually not something new in research. For patients whose arms and legs are paralyzed to control a computer cursor with only their thoughts when their brains are connected to electrodes is something that has been possible for over twenty years. "The man in the video used an advanced version of that. With a neurochip implanted in his brain, he can control a number of devices with just his thoughts. Those Bits are like scouts. They have precise observation instruments installed, and they send information about the location of the target, including its coordinates, temperature, humidity, angle, and wind speed, wirelessly to the brain of the operator. That's why that man could shoot through the targets blindfolded. Of course, the surgery the sniper underwent was not just for this. "I have heard that shaking hands are also a great enemy to snipers. It is likely that a metal balancer was implanted in the body to completely shut down any movement to the hand from heartbeats or breathing. Putting something like that in is a piece of cake for someone like me or Ain. Rentaro, do you understand what this means?" There was no way he could understand. By making full use of this weapon, the Shenfield, the sniper could scout the enemy's movements while concealed. That was a great advantage when sniping a human, and it probably made possible the amazing feat of hitting five consecutive targets a kilometer away. But there, Rentaro had a question. If that was the case, that meant that last time, and the time before, when they were on guard, these black Bits were observing Rentaro and the others from somewhere? Just then, something seemed to pull at his thoughts. When he realized what it was, he lifted his face and jumped over to Sumire's computer. Ignoring the flustered Sumire, he turned the volume up to max and replayed the video from the beginning, staring at the screen. The man fished the fist-size Bits out of his jacket, and the Bits floated and started circling. At that moment, Rentaro could definitely hear something that sounded like the buzzing of an insect, and his eyes opened wide. This was it. There was no mistaking it. The strange sound he had heard during the last sniping and the sniping before that was this. Rentaro felt chills and rubbed his arms. Those Bits had been flying near Rentaro both times after all. And Tina was an Initiator with the Owl Factor. She probably already had eyes that could see well at night, and her vision was probably much better than that of the average person. It was possible that Tina didn't even use the optical scope essential for a sniper rifle when she operated hers. The reason she was so tired when he saw her during the day was that she had a nocturnal animal factor in her body. There was no mistaking it. Everything made sense now, and all the mysteries were cleared up at once. Rentaro finally understood. This was the ability of Tina Sprout, the superstrong Initiator specialized for sniping people at night. "Research like this was being done almost ten years ago…?" he asked. "I was also surprised when I heard about the sniper from you," said Sumire. "Because I thought Shenfield was an obvious failure." Rentaro looked at Sumire, surprised. "What do you mean?" Sumire frowned. "I mean what I said. This was a failure. The neurochip implanted in the brain gave off a large amount of heat and burned the inside of the subject's brain. The man in the video also died in the end. Ain, you bastard, don't tell me you completed Shenfield…" "Doc, how many Bits can be manipulated at once?" "Three. More than that and the brain is overloaded and the operator can't handle it." Three… Rentaro crossed his arms and rested his chin on his hand, stroking his chin in thought. Sumire sat down in a chair somewhere and narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Rentaro, what are you thinking about?" "How to beat Tina," said Rentaro. "It's impossible. Stop it." "Why?" "Those with ranks under a hundred have sold their souls to the devil. It's no exaggeration to call them monsters. It's too early for you to overtake the hundreds." "Doc, that's stupid! You didn't say anything during the Kagetane Hiruko terrorist incident!" "Of course not." Sumire put her elbow on the armrest and put her chin in her hand, sighing. "During that incident, all the lives in Tokyo Area could have been lost. This time, it's different. It might sound bad, but there would only be one life lost." "It's not a matter of number!" "It is a matter of number. It's true that the Lady Seitenshi's life is hard to replace with another, but even so, it's not something that can be compared to all the lives of Tokyo Area." Seeing Rentaro hesitate, Sumire tried to talk to him in a way he could understand. "Rentaro, let's do a simple calculation that even you can understand. Let's assume that my New Humanity Creation Project and Ain's NEXT have the same amount of hidden power. If we subtract the abilities of a mechanized soldier from you and that assassin, what do we have left? The unsurpassable wall between a human and an Initiator. Can a human beat a gorilla? Think about it carefully. Rentaro, just stay on the sidelines this time. There's no need for you to take any more risks than you already have." Rentaro ground his teeth as he made a shaking fist. "Still, I…" "Rentaro, science can make the impossible possible, but it's not perfect. Science is the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge that humans ate that became the original sin, and we humans are descended from Cain, who was the first to stain his hands with murder. I am a doctor as well as a scientist, and I am proud of that, but I think scientists are the most sinful humans. "Even I had a period when I thought to fill the world with peace and happiness with a bright flame. However, when my lover was killed during the Gastrea War, I fell easily to the path of demons. I didn't know that humans could hate something so deeply. And the result of that was that I killed many patients to create an enhanced soldier like you. Rentaro, do you know why Varanium is black?" "No…" "My loathing has stained it black." Rentaro shook his head. "That's not scientific." "But I believe it even now. And I sent you all into the world with the intent to slaughter and massacre. However, you alone I raised in a completely different way. Outwardly, your tone is sulky, but you are straightforward. That was when I realized it—My soul had been saved by your growth. When I had cried out after losing everything I had in the world, I was still connected to the world through your existence. When I hold the banked fire of that shining passion from that time, it is very warm. If you die, I will return to the darkness. Rentaro, don't take the light away from me." "Doc…" "Rentaro, what is happiness, anyway? I'm sure even you know that it's not to be rich. If wealth and authority were the conditions for happiness, a multimillionaire wouldn't take a gun and shoot out his own medulla oblongata. Rentaro, I believe that you are someone who knows your own happiness. And a person's worth is decided once their coffin is closed. It's not like you can't see Enju and Kisara crying if you die, right? I would be sad, too, and regretful. Rentaro, you have it good. There's no reason for you to speed up your death." Rentaro shook his head. "You're a coward, Doc. You're too good at persuading other people." Sumire smiled suddenly. "Yeah, it's something I'm secretly proud of. Then—" "No, even so, I have to go." "Wha—?" Sumire stood up as she braced herself, and yelled in a voice filled with anger. "What are you, a child?!" "Then is giving up what it means to be an adult? Let me tell you, Doc. You're wrong!" Rentaro stretched his right arm straight out and made a fist. "I want to prove it. I want to prove that this arm I got from you is to save people! "Doc, I once saw hell. Ten years ago, on that day, mankind was eaten by Gastrea, devoured, torn to pieces, and if you climbed a small hill and looked around, the sky was burning no matter where you looked. It was a scene I'll never forget. I kept trying not to remember it, trying not to think about it. But I can't do that. "Even if I am at the heights of happiness with Kisara in my left arm and Enju in my right, I'm sure I would keep remembering that hell and agonize over it. In order for me to put an end to that nightmare of despair, all I can do is to protect the Lady Seitenshi, defeat Tina, raise my rank, and bring to light the mysteries of this world. I can't run away…!" Rentaro fell silent and turned around, walking forward. "Where will you go?" Sumire asked. "Forward. Doc, I'm going." "You're going to be killed… There's no doubt about it. You will be killed! Hey!" Rentaro didn't stop his feet anymore as he left the basement room behind him. Sumire's cries of "You will be killed!" echoed through the basement, following Rentaro until he left the university. It was night outside. The cold air on his skin cleared his head. Rentaro pushed buttons on his cell phone and when the person on the other line picked up after a few rings, Rentaro said, "The enemy can hit a target a kilometer away a hundred percent of the time with a sniper rifle. I can't win the way I am now. If you know of some way to deal with an enemy like this, tell me!" The person on the other line was silent for a moment. Rentaro held his breath, shutting his eyes tightly in prayer as he waited. Finally— "Well, it's not like I don't have anything." On the other end of the line, the daughter of the CEO of Shiba Heavy Weapons, Miori Shiba, laughed bewitchingly. 4 "Motion Reality Prism Battle Simulator Version 10.0 activated. Data card reading completed. Welcome back, Rentaro Satomi." A synthetic female voice read his name smoothly, and the words HELLO, WORLD appeared in the space about a meter in front of him. Alice and the White Rabbit holding a watch from Alice in Wonderland started chasing each other around the words. It was probably just the programmer having fun, but the issue was the level at which this was reproduced. Both the blond girl in the apron and dress and the rabbit with his nose twitching looked like the real thing. Rentaro got close to them and leaned over, stretching his hand out slowly, but right before he could touch them, they disappeared. Rentaro was surprised and stood up, lifting his face. He was in a white room. A really big one. It was empty inside, and it was swept so clean that there wasn't a speck of dust, but the light shining from far above filled the white room with a diffuse light that made it so bright, he had to squint. "How is it, Satomi dear?" asked Miori. Rentaro said, "I can't tell my right from left or front from back in this space, as usual. My brain is starting to hurt." As Rentaro gave noncommittal grunts to Miori's voice over the headset, he looked around him. It was the fifth floor of the basement of the Shiba Heavy Weapons building. Rentaro was inside a space called the VR Special Training Room, a gigantic cube about a kilometer around. The inside of the room was made completely of a special rubber that allowed one to use anything from real bullets to different types of explosives. It was one of the few advanced virtual combat training facilities in the world. It was often used by the self-defense force and special police, civsec officers, and even rich hobbyists, and apparently, it was booked up a year in advance, but Rentaro was able to use it as a special favor from Miori. Living in a shabby eight-tatami-mat apartment, Rentaro sometimes forgot that this was the year 2031, but seeing such futuristic equipment, he remembered. "Miori, sorry to jump right into it, but please start now," he said. "Oh my, Satomi dear, you're so impatient." As he started to retort back, "Why do you always have to make everything sound so perverted?" the scenery around him twisted. The next thing he knew, Rentaro was abandoned in a desert. Twisting his neck, he could see the sun shining furiously in the middle of the sky, and hot wind and sand hit his body, making him damp and sweaty. Astonished, Rentaro went to the top of the sand dune in front of him and looked around. Under the clear blue sky was desert as far as he could see. Rentaro was bewildered. His body was definitely in that white room. This room was just a virtual reality. It was not as if he had been transported to an actual desert by a warp from a science fiction movie. Even though he knew the sweaty temperatures and wind were created by an air-conditioning unit, he couldn't tell what this hill he was standing on was. He thought the ground was made of some kind of turgor pressure material that was making instantaneous indentations, but then when he saw the dilapidated pillbox shelter in the distance, he wasn't sure what was going on again. It wasn't possible to create such a complicated building out of turgor pressure material. "Miori, I think this every time, but what principles are at work here?" Rentaro asked. "It's a bottom-down system for the 3DCG and a top-down system for the reality capture combined with some other stuff. In other words, it's a business secret," she replied teasingly. When Rentaro scooped up the sand on the ground, the hot sand spilled from between his fingers. It was definitely real—at least, that's how it felt to him. "Satomi dear, what do you want to do with the pain level?" "Set it to max. If not, it won't be training. Also, give me another of the XD guns that I use." Just then, almost ten holodisplay panels popped up in front of him. They were clauses regarding life endangerment saying basically, "We take no responsibility if you die." Rentaro pushed the AGREE button without really reading them, and the windows closed. Rentaro put his left hand in the air. A moment later, he caught the XD gun that rained down from the sky. "Now, let's get started. I'm looking forward to seeing you get serious, Satomi dear." "About that, Miori. For the simulator, just release my left eye. I can't refill the cartridges in my right arm and leg, so I want to save those for when I fight Tina." After mollifying Miori by promising to go all out for her sometime, Rentaro pulled his own XD gun from his waist and waited with both guns out. A countdown like one from an old movie appeared in front of his eyes—10, 9, 8—flickering inside the black circle surrounding it. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and closed his eyes quietly as he heightened his concentration by paying attention to his breathing. "Mission start!" the synthesized voice said, and with the sound of a fierce wind on the battlefield, he started hearing the rolling words of a foreign language that sounded Middle Eastern. There must have been terrorist-type enemies positioned in the battlefield. Rentaro quietly opened his eyes wide. Artificial eye, activate. The nano-core processor made using graphene transistors activated and started operating. Geometric patterns emerged on the spinning iris of his eye. His field of vision expanded and the colors became brighter. Slowly, he inhaled, then exhaled. "Let the battle begin. I will now eliminate the enemy." "No way… What is this……?" Watching on a monitor in another room, Miori Shiba was so shocked, she couldn't speak. The name of the stage Rentaro was in was Impossible. Thirty enemies consisting of militiamen in turbans were positioned in this impenetrable stage. Immediately after it started, the militiamen attacked with assault rifle cross fire, so there hadn't been a single person who had cleared this stage before. The other day, the top ten members of Japan's Special Assault Team attempted this stage as a team, and they were all kicked out after being judged DEAD.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter020.txt	Black Bullet Miori thought it would be satisfactory if Rentaro took even one of the enemy with him and threw him in this stage half-maliciously. However— Miori's face was almost touching the monitor. Her gaze was glued to the young man in the monitor wearing a suitlike uniform. Rentaro Satomi had the strength of a demon. Immediately after the battle began, Rentaro ran down the slope of the sand dune with fierce momentum. Sand pillars rose from the gunfire around his feet like explosions. Not even bothering to hide in the shadows, Rentaro charged into the enemy camp. As he ran, he fired warning shots from his two guns. Slipping through the gunshots of the militia hiding behind a wall of sandbags, he jumped and kneed one of them in the face, jumping into the middle of the sandbags. He shot and killed a militiaman he knocked out at close range. Stealing a grenade from the fallen militiaman, he pulled the pin out with his teeth and threw it into the pillbox shelter. The sound of the explosion and the enemy's screams came at almost the same time. Turning toward violent engine sounds, Rentaro promptly rolled out of the way and a truck passed by with a roar, trying to run him over right where he had been. Moreover, there was a heavy machine gun installed in the bed of the truck. With a deafening explosive sound, the heavy machine gun spit fire. A second before the heavy machine gun caught Rentaro and blew him to smithereens, Rentaro rolled onto the sand and fired two shots rapidly, laying low. The first shot was at the shooter of the heavy machine gun on the truck bed, and the other went through the head of the truck driver, killing him. The truck lost control and spun on its side, exploding and spitting up a pillar of fire. Even as this was happening, the numbers of the remaining enemy were going down ridiculously quickly. "The 21-Form Varanium Artificial Eye. That is the true form of what is in Satomi's left eye." When Miori looked back, there was Kisara, brushing back her hair, her crisp footsteps sounding against the floor. "Kisara… What is that?" asked Miori. "Inside his left eye is a high-performance computer with a CPU that uses a graphene transistor wrapped in a Super-Varanium shell. Miori, would you believe me if I told you that people feel the passage of time differently?" "Huh?" "As a child, one day feels very long, but when you become old, a day goes by in an instant. Have you ever heard that? For example, assume that as a child, your brain can think about a hundred things in one minute, but when you become old, of course your brain function declines, and you can only think about ten things in one minute. If that's the case, then what do you think happens? "Don't you think that a day for a child would feel ten times longer than a day for an elderly person? Time stretches and shrinks depending on the person. In addition to having various sensors, Satomi's artificial eye is equipped with a multiplier function that overclocks the brain's thought frequency thousands of times, so apparently time passes very slowly in the world Satomi sees. That's why the enemy's bullets don't hit him." "B-but, that's different from his body becoming faster, right?" "Of course. But according to Satomi, it doesn't work after the bullet has been fired, but figuring out a safe position based on the trajectory of the bullet before they pull the trigger isn't that hard." "Is that even possible…?" "It is. That is the true power of Rentaro Satomi, called the greatest masterpiece of the godlike doctor, Sumire Muroto, head of the New Humanity Creation Project." However, instead of looking proud, Kisara, who was watching the monitor with her arms crossed, looked at Rentaro with sad eyes, murmuring. "We've kept this from Enju, but when Satomi doesn't unleash the power of his left eye, he can only see out of his right eye. His artificial left eye is set up to move the same way as his right eye, so no one can tell that he can't see out of it." Miori was at a loss for words as she looked at the soldier on the monitor. "But it's not all bad. Satomi's artificial limbs have pain sensory nerves made of carbon nanotubes, so they're pretty much the same as a normal person—" "Wait a minute, Kisara. There's only one enemy left." This time, it was Kisara's turn to tilt her head in question. "He's almost cleared it then, right? What are you worried about?" Miori tilted her head at Kisara and said each word slowly and distinctly. "The last person is a sniper." Rentaro stood stock-still in the middle of the enemy camp filled with piles of corpses. The area was enshrouded in flames warming his skin and smelled of gunpowder smoke. It was so hot that Rentaro tore off his necktie as he breathed with his shoulders heaving. His whole body was covered with sweat, and one of the XD guns had disappeared somewhere without him noticing. The enemy was now nowhere to be seen. Just as he started wondering if he had cleared the stage, something grazed the top of his shoulder. When he thought he had been shot, he sank to his knees and pressed the wound with his hand. The superthin shock paddles he stuck on his skin before entering the VR training room recreated the heat and pain of being hit by a bullet. Even though he had only been grazed, he gritted his teeth at the intense pain that felt like he had been cut. He looked back and glared beyond the sand dune. "A sniper, huh?!" The range finder built into the artificial eye found the enemy. The enemy was two hundred and twenty meters away. On top of being too far to see with the naked eye, the hot air created waves distorting his vision. The worst conditions for shooting. The standard response here would be to get closer to the sniper while hiding in the shadows of the sand dunes. However, Rentaro did not do that but turned back toward the enemy and spread his legs shoulder width, holding his gun diagonally from the target's point of view. Tina's voice played in the back of his mind. "My life has just been pain. That's why, right now, I'm having my first fun mood in a while." Rentaro pulled the trigger slowly and fired. His shot went wide past the target by a long shot. One more shot. This time, it was too low. Shots were grazing his ears with ferocious speed, and his legs were shaking. The enemy was firing back. Torn between frustrating impatience and fear, he inhaled, then exhaled shakily. Closing his eyes, he cleared his ears with the sound of his own heartbeat. All living things eventually lose their lives and die and repeat the cycle of reincarnation. The way of the heavens and the reason that preserved harmony among all living things filled his heart, assimilated within him, and sharpened him. A beam of light flashed in his head. He opened his eyes wide suddenly. There! He pulled the trigger and fired. His arm was kicked back by the recoil, and an empty brass-colored cartridge spun as it was spit out. The bullet grazed the upper right part of the Dragunov sniper rifle the sniper held and entered through his left eye socket. It shattered his skull, and the path taken by the bullet was in a vacuum for an instant. The next moment, his body systems were compressed, and his brain was destroyed. The bullet that was the extension of Rentaro's arm had brought death to every single one of his virtual enemies. He took the Infinite Stance and quietly stayed on alert. Rentaro Satomi was one with his gun. There was a fanfare and the floating words MISSION COMPLETE, along with the smooth synthesized female voice saying the words. The next thing he knew, he was back in the white room. Only the necktie scattered on the floor, the other XD gun, and the empty cartridges told him that the fight that had just happened was not a dream. "Satomi dear, you're amazing! Two thousand, two hundred percent!" Miori screamed into the headset with excitement, causing feedback. Rentaro yelled, holding his ears. "Be quiet! What do you mean, 2,200 percent?" "Satomi dear, you used this simulator three times before, remember? If the average of your combat ability during those times is 100 percent, then that's your combat power this time." I see, Rentaro muttered to himself. This meant that with his artificial eye unleashed, he was twenty-two times stronger than usual. "Satomi dear, how much stronger would you be if you unleashed your arm and leg?" "Roughly three times stronger that this." "Six thousand, six hundred percent! S-Satomi dear, take me now!" Rentaro snorted. "Wait, Miori, what are you saying? Satomi is mine! I'm all he sees!" Apparently, Kisara was also with her. "Miori, I'm sure you don't know this, but Satomi attacked me like a beast and did all sorts of dirty things to me. My body is enough to satisfy him!" The one who did all sorts of dirty things was Enju. That made Rentaro think of something suddenly. "Hey, Miori, Enju has used this simulator before, too, right? What are her numbers compared to mine?" For some reason, that made Miori stammer, "Well…" evasively. Finally, she mumbled reluctantly, "Eight thousand, six hundred percent." Rentaro exhaled sharply. Well, that wasn't unexpected. Enju had extraordinary strength for an Initiator. However, it might be paradoxical to think so, but Rentaro did not think that he could not beat her. As part of a martial arts family, such as he was, he had experience and intuition that Enju lacked. Enju might think that if she made Rentaro miss with the exploding cartridges in his artificial limbs, she could win, but if she thought so naively, she would be easy to handle. "Then what about the projected numbers for Tina, who beat Enju?" Rentaro asked. "If the enemy's specialty was sniping, thinking about it using common sense, going up against Enju would have been the worst matchup for her. If she won despite that, then you should assume she is over 1.5 times stronger than Enju." "Over 12,900 percent?!" It was a number that defied common sense. It wasn't that he had been optimistic, but this was… "Satomi dear, you can use any of the equipment we have to offer. And we'll use the simulator to crush your weaknesses one by one." There was some time before he answered. "All right." In any case, he didn't have any other choice. He had long abandoned the idea of running away. "Now, we'll use an anti-sniper program next," said Miori. At that moment, the world changed again. "Situation two, stage name: Killhouse. Activating—" 5 Surprised, Tina jumped out of bed. Reflected in her eyes were scattered junk food wrappers and foam food trays. Turning her head, she saw the bluish-white light of the moon shining into her room in her temporary residence. Water dripped from the faucet, falling with a splashing sound into a bowl, and the sound of the ticking secondhand of the clock on the wall slowly grew louder in her ears. It was three a.m. Her underwear was drenched with sweat, and the back of her eyelids throbbed as she shook her head and pressed her hand to her temple. As if it had been waiting for Tina to wake up, the cell phone next to her rang. "It's me," she said. "What are you doing? How many times do you think I called you?" "I'm sorry, Master…… I was taking a nap." "I have the guard plan for the third conference. I'll send it to your device now." The guard plan arrived on her PDA. She changed it to holodisplay mode, and it projected the images in the air. She looked over them quickly. Tina frowned. What was this…? "Those foolish people… How many times are they planning on repeating the same mistake? Well, it gives us the chance for our third assassination, though." "But Master… Isn't there something strange about this?" "What is?" "Why are they using such a roundabout guard route? And this route contains a perfect sniping spot. It's as if they are asking for it." Tina continued inwardly. On top of that, the sniping spot was in District 39, where she had gone once with Rentaro before they discovered each other's identities. Tina had a slight familiarity with the terrain. "In other words, what are you trying to say?" "Could it be a trap?" Rand contemplated on the other side of the phone. "There is still no sign that our spy inside the Seitenshi's palace has been discovered." "Master, I have a bad feeling about this. I think we should wait and see just this once." "No! You've already wasted two perfect chances, and our client is angry. We cannot fail!" Then, as if he remembered something, her master's voice dropped, and he asked, "Hey…Tina—Tina Sprout." "Yes?" "I got information that the police officer and Initiator I ordered you to kill are still alive." Suddenly, an uncomfortable silence fell. "I thought I delivered a killing blow," Tina said, exaggerating her surprise a little. Immediately after, she reproached herself for being too obvious. "Tina…my precious work of art. Surely you are not disobeying my orders?" "Of course not, Master." Her master stayed uncannily silent. Tina wiped the sweat on the palms of her hands on her skirt without letting him notice it. "Tina, who is your master? Let me hear it." "You are, Master…I mean, Professor Rand." "To whom do you owe your life?" "I owe everything to you, Professor Rand." "What are you?" "I am your tool, Professor Rand." He paused on the other end. "Fine. There is no change to what you must do. However, I'm sure you understand this, but you cannot fail." "What if it is a trap?" "Break through it by yourself. You should have enough strength for that, at least. However, if you are somehow about to be defeated"—Rand stopped before continuing—"Die." Tina clutched the hem of her skirt in her hands. "Kill yourself." Tina calmed her breath and put her hands to her heart, closing her eyes. "I understand, Master." Once he heard that, Rand hung up without another word. Tina turned her head and looked around her apartment. She would leave here soon, too. Opening the lid of the plastic container next to the bed, she poured the gasoline inside over everything in the room. Her head hurting from the gasoline vapors, Tina backed up to the door, then flicked the lighter and threw it inside. Snakes of flames reached all the way into the center of the room, and the whole room was enveloped in crimson flames. Checking to make sure the fire alarm was working, she left the apartment. The fire truck appeared soon after, and shouts from curious onlookers started. From a slight distance away, Tina watched the burning apartment as the flames pierced into the night sky. When a pillar burned down, the apartment building collapsed in the cloud of ashes. Even if Rand was a scientist, he was now taking orders from someone above him. There was no way he would change his mind just because she voiced her dissatisfaction to him. If that was the case, then all Tina could do was what she was ordered to do. And even if the guard plan was a trap, what of it? Her own combat history as an Initiator was currently at a hundred straight wins. There was no one who could reach her. However, when she fought the boy dressed in black, Tina had once thought that if there was someone who could defeat her, then it could possibly be— Just recalling his face made her chest hurt with emotion. Even though the waves of heat on her skin were hot enough to burn, Tina hugged herself, shivering with cold, looking down. "Please, don't come…Rentaro…"
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter022.txt	Black Bullet BLACK BULLET 2 CHAPTER 04 AGAINST A PERFECT SNIPER It was the night of the final showdown. In the hospital room that had fallen silent, Rentaro stared at the sleeping Enju in the bed. Like yesterday, Enju was breathing healthily in her sleep, and her sleeping face was peaceful. In the end, the faint hope he had that the anesthetic would wear off early and that she would wake up did not come true. He had no choice but to imagine the fight she had against Tina and how she had been defeated, but based on the crime scene riddled with bullet holes, there was little doubt that she had received an antitank rifle bullet to the stomach. She must have been scared and frightened. Rentaro looked at the full moon shining outside the window and patted Enju's head. Enju, if you were conscious, would you have been opposed to this like Doc was? But, he thought, raising his gaze, Tina Sprout was a victim of this twisted world. If I have the power to straighten out the world, then I think it's worth risking my life, Enju. Rentaro put his hand softly on the head of the sleeping Enju. Then, he left the hospital and took the last train out to the Outer District. Rentaro got off at District 39. He had brought Tina here once. When he hadn't even dreamt that the two of them were mortal enemies. As he went farther from the station, the surrounding sounds starting disappearing, and the sound of Rentaro's steps and breathing seemed too loud. It was neither hot nor cold. The wind was strong, but he continued walking, knowing this would barely count as a handicap for that sniper. Perhaps because of the lack of streetlights, it took his eyes a while to adjust to the darkness, but eventually, the ruins of the Outer District that had gone through death emerged in front of him. Buildings covered in vines that had cracked the pavement, buildings that had been burned down. The fires were not the work of the Gastrea. In urban areas, after people leave, dried branches and fallen leaves would pile up with no one to gather them. When lightning struck, it is a simple matter for that to develop into a raging fire. Man-made environments crumble quickly when humans stop taking care of them. Rusted vehicles were crashed into one another, and abandoned cars could be seen everywhere. Inside cars and cell phones, there were small amounts of rare metals like silver, palladium, and gold, so these were called "city veins" and were an important source of income for the Manhole Children. Just as Rentaro stepped into the center of District 39, his cell phone suddenly vibrated. He had been planning to look here and there until he had covered all of the Outer District, but this was much faster than expected. Of course, he had no doubt who the person on the other end of the phone was. "There's nothing here after all, huh? You got me," she said. Rentaro looked around him while holding his phone to his ear, but he could not see Tina anywhere. Still, it was likely that the young sniper could see him. Rentaro set his eyes on the group of dilapidated buildings standing tall in front of him. "Is this your idea of preventing the sniping? I know the location of the unofficial conference. If I leave now, I can still make it in time to go after the Seitenshi when she leaves the meeting." "My job is to keep you from doing that," said Rentaro. "My job is to kill the Seitenshi," said Tina. "Why, Tina? Why do you kill?" Tina hesitated slightly. "This is the only way left for me to prove I have a reason for existing." "That's sad, Tina. You're sad. Are you okay with that?" Tina did not reply. "If you're saying that if I don't fight, then you're going to go kill the Lady Seitenshi, then I can't let you go! The future of this country lies on the shoulders of that princess. If you want to kill her, then go after you kill me!" Rentaro rolled up the right arm and right leg of his uniform and stretched his arm straight out. After feeling some slight pain, there was a creaking sound, and fissures ran through his right arm and leg as the artificial skin warped and peeled off. His artificial limbs appeared to be black chrome, reflecting the light of the moon. "I do not understand. The swordswoman, Kisara Tendo, was defeated. The ace, Enju Aihara, was defeated. You alone are left. You cannot defeat me." "I won't know until I try, right?" At the same time, Rentaro unleashed the power of his artificial eye. The inside of his artificial left eye started spinning, and geometric patterns emerged on the iris. A pungent smell hit his nose, and his body became hot. After unleashing his power, Rentaro lowered his hips and held his stance quietly. The Tendo Martial Arts Infinite Stance was a battle form filled with the meaning of the eternally limitless existence of the heavens and the earth. "Now, let's settle this, Tina!" Rentaro gazed at the darkness, still in his stance. He was attacked by a suffocating thirst for blood, and he gritted his teeth and gripped the dirt hard with the bottom of his boots. The enemy used a Bit from the thought-drive interface, Shenfield, to scout his location. The second he was caught by the Bit, he was sure he would see a perfectly precise sniper bullet flying toward him. The scene of the final showdown was the block of land where the dilapidated buildings were lined up. Of all the places in District 39, this was an urban area, but it was of course all ruined, so there was no fear of damaging the surrounding areas. Rentaro had been given various secret plans by Miori. But there was no way Tina had come empty-handed, either. Sharpening his five senses, he extinguished himself and became one with nature. The wind howled, caressing him from the back of his neck to his cheek. Rentaro didn't move an inch, focusing all his concentration on his senses of touch and hearing. There was a flicker, and for a second, he saw light coming from the roof of a tall skyscraper far away. There was a slight vibration in the air, and his sensitive skin, radarlike, felt a round object flying through the air. Here it comes! thought Rentaro. "Tendo Martial Arts First Style, Number 3—" The sound of an explosion rang in the air, and the extractor that ran along Rentaro's fake ulnar nerve on his artificial arm picked up empty golden shell casings and kicked them out as they rotated. "Rokuro Kabuto!" His fist, sped up through cartridge propulsion, grasped the superfast antitank sniper rifle bullet. The explosive sound of impact rang throughout the ruins, and the shock wave blew away all the gravel around him. The fist he sent out twisting crashed into the sniper bullet, smashing it to smithereens. He had pulverized a .50-caliber armor-piercing bullet with a jacket made of tungsten carbide with over thirty times the kinetic energy and destructive power of a 9-mm handgun bullet. He should not have been able to hear it, but Rentaro was sure he heard Tina gasp in astonishment. Rentaro activated the range finder in his left eye and had it calculate the position of the shooter from the direction of the shot. The distance to Tina—1.5 kilometers directly in front of him. It was hard to believe how far away she had shot from. He quickly took his smartphone out of his pocket and glared at the screen. There was a small golf-ball-size attachment installed on his phone. It was a supersmall sound sensor installed to use with a sniper detection application that Shiba Heavy Weapons had spent an enormous amount of money developing. As if confirming Rentaro's prediction, the cursor indicated a sniper bullet approaching from the front. There was no mistaking it. Rentaro put both hands on the ground abruptly and raised his hips, taking a stance like that of a sprinter. He raised his eyes with a roar, glaring at the skyscraper soaring high above its surroundings in front of him. Target, 1.5 kilometers ahead—Fire. The next instant, the bottom of the cartridge hit the striker of the fake hidden nerve and exploded. An empty cartridge was ejected. The mobility thruster in his leg fired, accelerating him almost to the point of being blown away, and he sprinted forward. He didn't have time to worry about the sniper bullet that flew in at a great speed and gouged out the area Rentaro had just been. In the midst of such strong headwinds that he could hardly open his eyes, he barely evaded the large rocks and cars that were coming at him with terrifying speed, plunging into the crack in the stone wall, dashing into the dilapidated building with a whirlwind behind him. The skyscraper grew steadily bigger in front of him. There was a faint glimmer of light on the other side of the building, and Rentaro realized that a third shot had been fired. He gave himself another boost by firing off another cartridge in his leg. Immediately afterward, a sniper bullet gouged out the area behind him with a high-pitched screech. Rentaro was shocked as he felt intense pain that seemed to rip his body apart. When he used his leg thrusters, he reached a top speed of a hundred and fifty kilometers and could barely even be seen. Tina not only followed his movements, but she also predicted where he would be and shot after calculating enough lead time. Rentaro and Tina were both using techniques beyond the abilities of humans. There were only six hundred meters left between him and Tina. Rentaro fired a third cartridge and rode it quickly into the skyscraper with violent momentum, but as he got closer, his heart beat hard, recalling a different type of worry. When a sniper bullet was fired from a kilometer away, there was about a second between seeing the light of the muzzle fire and having the bullet approach him. He knew this because he had experienced this many times firsthand. Up until now, he had always started taking evasive action after seeing the light, but the closer he got, the shorter the time would be between when he could see the muzzle fire and when the bullet came flying at him. As if Tina could miss at this distance. Just then, he saw another flicker of orange muzzle fire from the roof of the skyscraper and gasped in surprise. Shoot, Rentaro thought as it hit his Super-Varanium right arm. He fell from his superaccelerated state and rolled once, getting chills. He was going to be smashed into the wall. Would he be crushed to death? No, he had to stand back up. He changed the position of the thruster in his leg so that it stuck out to the side, and fired. Gritting his teeth, he forcefully twisted against the inertia, crossing his arms in front of his head and aiming to crash through the entrance of a nearby building headfirst. With a loud crash, he smashed through the glass and rolled a few times on the floor of the entrance before forcing himself to stand up. There was damage to his inner ear that caused him to lose his sense of balance, and his legs danced like those of a groggy boxer. The joints in his body were in pain, and blood spread inside his mouth. Apparently, he had a cut somewhere in there. It took some time before he was able to calm his ragged breathing and look around to survey his surroundings. Tilting his head, he could see that even though the building was dilapidated, the atrium that reached the ceiling looked pretty nice. It had probably been a state-of-the-art intelligent building before the Gastrea War. It wasn't as tall as the building Tina was shooting from, but it was still pretty tall. He couldn't just stay here. She had the Shenfield. Rentaro quietly slid under the decaying marble reception desk. Soon after, a fist-size round object turned silently into the entrance. There was no mistaking it; it was a Bit that Tina was controlling. It was his first time actually seeing it, but it must have been what had been observing Rentaro and his surroundings before. It barely made a sound as it flew, and was probably built for clandestine activities. The Bit acted like a living thing and floated mysteriously as it scanned the area around it with lasers, investigating the topography. The Bit neared Rentaro slowly but surely. As Rentaro carefully pulled his gun from his holster without making a sound, he pressed the safety to be ready to fire. Calming his wildly beating heart, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. As he flew out from under the reception desk, he was caught by the Bit's sights, and the Bit turned sharply to face him. Rentaro fired without missing and shot out the Bit's camera eye. In an instant, the Bit was flying around lopsidedly. Before long, he had thrown it to the floor, scattering sparks, and after some slight death throes, it ran out of power and was completely silent. This was good. Rentaro smiled inwardly. This Bit was Tina's eye. If he destroyed all three of the Bits Tina controlled with her neurochip, then he would be able to shut down her unparalleled precise shooting. If he destroyed the other two like this, hiding under the reception desk— Just then, his breast pocket vibrated, and he pulled out his phone. He was dumbfounded when he saw that the caller was Miori Shiba. What was she thinking? She should have known full well that he was in the middle of a battle. No, he reconsidered. She must have thought he hadn't started yet and had something she just had to tell him. He pushed the button and picked up the phone. "Satomi dear, are you alive? I have the results of the analysis of the machine gun!" said Miori's familiar drawl. He frowned, wondering what she was talking about, and then remembered the pieces of the heavy machine gun that were collected from the scene where Enju had been shot. If he remembered correctly, Inspector Tadashima had said that Enju had been shot from four different directions. He knew that one was a shot from Tina. But the remaining three—"Did Tina have help after all?" "No! The machine guns retrieved had remote control modules installed. In other words—" There was the faint buzzing of a machine operating, and Rentaro looked up with his phone still on his ear. He froze as he came face-to-face with another Bit looking down at him. The second one? When did it get here? Rentaro muttered in shock, "This is bad, Miori… It's found me…" "Satomi dear, get out of the wayyyyyyy!" At Miori's scream, he came back to himself and reflexively jumped forward diagonally to the right. What happened afterward was beyond the bounds of common sense. The sound of gunshots came from all directions at superfast speeds and went past him, scattering debris from the walls that were hit, splintering them. Rentaro turned sharply and aimed the muzzle of his gun at the Bit, but the Bit had already disappeared. He calmed his ragged breathing. What was that just now? He immediately looked at the sniper sensor on his smartphone, but the cursor looked like it was confused and was pointing at six random places. No, were these really random? "I just confirmed it with the Shiba Heavy Weapons satellite. There are five Barrett antitank rifles set up around you, Satomi dear!" The satellite was probably a man-made satellite owned by Shiba Heavy Weapons that could take night images by the gigapixel. Antitank rifles set in five places, remote-control devices, Shenfield— After being told this much, even Rentaro understood. Tina used her brain machine interface not just for the Shenfield, but also to remotely control the antitank rifles set up in five places. Rentaro felt chills suddenly and rubbed his upper arms. That was absurd. Wasn't ballistic sniping something that could only be done by experts, who could aim in the direction the enemy was heading and control the movement of their arms? Wasn't it holy ground that only humans could inhabit that machines could not copy? Why didn't she use it until now? It was obvious. It was to draw Rentaro in so that he would be caught in her besiegement. Now that he had been seen by the Bit, .50-caliber armor-piercing bullets with terrifying penetrating power would come flying at him from five directions, plus a sixth direction where Tina was. Though the building had been left at the mercy of time for ten years, just now, Tina's bullet had penetrated the outer wall and flown right at Rentaro. In his mind, he could see the vision of himself caught in a spiderweb, struggling. He shook his head gently in despair. It was this. This was what had gotten Enju Aihara. Rentaro thought he had slipped past Tina's sniper bullet to get close to her, but that wasn't the case at all. Instead, she had drawn him deliberately in. Tina Sprout, a transcendently perfect sniper. It was a miracle that he had escaped the bullet just now. If another came at him— Rentaro's vision darkened in despair, and he shook his head hurriedly. Think, Rentaro Satomi. If you stop thinking now, next time, you really will be killed! Anyway, he couldn't stop here. The Bit had already found him. Even so, if he left this building with an unobstructed view and went outside, it would be suicide. After being spotted by the Bit, he would be full of holes. Rentaro turned his head and looked at the atrium that reached the ceiling. His only option was to climb the building. And intercept all the Bits that infiltrated before they could enter his location coordinates. The Bits were black. They were probably made of Varanium. If he aimed for their hard outer shells, the bullets would just be repelled, and he would not destroy them. His only choice was probably to aim for the camera eye, which was equipped with different sensors. He had succeeded earlier, but he wasn't sure if he could manage the accuracy needed to hit a moving target so many times. He had no choice but to try, though. Rentaro jumped out from under the reception desk and started climbing the stairs. As he climbed the sharply turning stairs, he stopped at every floor, hiding himself as he searched for the best floor to fight on. From the second floor to the twentieth floor, there wasn't really anywhere to hide himself. Things that could have been used had been stolen long ago, and the floors were mostly empty. When he peeked into the twenty-fourth floor, he thought, This is it. The twenty-fourth floor had been a typical office floor. Furniture that was hard to carry out had unsurprisingly been left behind by the thieves. Rusted steel desks remained, mazelike, wires hung from the broken ceiling, and sand that had blown in through the smashed windows accumulated at his feet. Thankfully, however, it was not lacking in places to hide. Rentaro stepped quietly and hid himself in the hollow of a wall. He could have hidden under a desk or in a locker, but he decided that places that were easy to hide in would be the first ones to be searched. Rentaro quieted his breath, pressed his back right up against the wall, and succumbed to an endless stream of introspection. Was the twenty-fourth floor really a good place to hide? If he went to a higher floor, there might be a better structure for him to hide in. By choosing the twenty-fourth floor, he'd abandoned that possibility, hadn't he? The small bud of anxiety eventually grew large, and he started feeling like his worries were founded. Just when he'd made up his mind to move from this place immediately, there was the sound of a machine moving, quiet enough that he wasn't even sure he was hearing it. The normal Rentaro would definitely have missed it. Rentaro poked his face out from the hollow in the wall and then hurriedly pulled it back in. A Bit had infiltrated through the crack of a broken window. As Rentaro calmed his pounding heart, he peeked into the room again to see what was going on. The Bit floated carefully as it scanned under the desk and in the locker. If he had hidden there, it would have been over in an instant. His instincts hadn't been wrong, after all. As he held his XD and tried to find the right timing to jump out, another Bit suddenly came from an unexpected direction and cut in front of the hollow in the wall. Surprised for the third time, he hid his body inside the wall. The other Bit had come up in a pincer attack, from the stairs Rentaro had climbed. The Bits seemed to be whispering to one another as they communicated. They looked like they were asking one another, "How about it? Was he there?" Rentaro wiped his sweaty palms on his pants and took a deep breath. It was all or nothing as he jumped out and fired continuous shots. Before the Bit on the left could figure out what had happened, its camera eye had been destroyed by a .40-caliber bullet. However, the Bit on the right was hit on its shell and repelled the bullet. It bobbed as it lost its balance, but quickly righted itself and found Rentaro with its camera eye. He didn't even have time to regret his mistake, but jumped forward with all of his strength. The next instant, there was a barrage of gunfire. Rentaro grimaced as a hot bullet grazed his side, but he wasn't going to let it get away, and grabbed the Bit, rolling on the floor as he shot at it. There was a loud crash as he smashed it against the wall. Then, the Shenfield was silent. A silence that hurt his ears returned to the dilapidated building. As he sniffed the gunpowder smoke, Rentaro pressed his right side and stood up. He felt an upsettingly slippery substance, and when he looked at the palm of his right hand, there was dark red blood on it. Damn it. He was lucky to be alive, but if he'd had his way he would have preferred to avoid taking any damage that would hinder his movements before his final battle with Tina. He injected a small vial of morphine into his stomach. He didn't have the AGV test drug that regenerated his wounds this time, like he had when he fought the demon, Kagetane Hiruko. It had a side effect that made twenty percent of the test subjects into Gastrea, so when he told Sumire that he had used all that she had given him, she gave him a good scolding. Besides, this time, he and Sumire had parted with a fight, so either way, he couldn't count on getting that drug. He thought about what he should do next, but before he knew it, he had started walking upstairs for some reason. He wondered why, but since he had no plan at the moment, all he could do was rely on his instincts. When he arrived at the iron door to the roof, he finally understood what he had been trying to do. First, he opened the door quietly with his back to the wall. After confirming that there was no sniper bullet being shot at him, he looked at the skyscraper standing tall before him. There was no sign that she was going to snipe him. She might have lost his position after losing all the Bits. That would have been great for him. Going through the door, he was hit by strong eddies of wind blowing around the building and had to hold down his hair. He walked over to the fence that came up to his hips to prevent falling and peeked down. The ground was dizzyingly far away, and it looked like it was opening its mouth wide like the bottom of Hades. The faraway building Tina was in was easily two hundred meters away. Cold sweat ran down his cheek. Was he really going to do it? It was crazy. However, he was resolved to do this. In order to hold his own against someone with the superhigh ranking of 98, he had to take some risks. Rentaro let go of the handrail and went to the handrail on the other side. There, he fixed his eyes straight on the skyscraper and started running. He started slowly, at a walking speed. Slowly approaching the edge of the building, he started running full strength, as if tripping, and kicked the ground, flying over the whole fence. There, he fired a cartridge in his leg. The cartridge fired with a Bam! and ejected. Immediately afterward, Rentaro's body was flying toward the skyscraper through the sky so fast that he couldn't even open his eyes. He fired off cartridges in his leg in rapid succession. Tina had noticed. He thought he saw an orange flash of muzzle fire, and then a bullet whooshed toward him with a screech and grazed his side. This was her sniping without the Shenfield. However, her precision was as threatening as before. Tina fired her antitank rifle repeatedly. From the short intervals between shots, Rentaro could tell that Tina was also flustered. Each time Rentaro fired off a cartridge, he changed the angle of the thruster in his leg slightly to slip past the fatal sniper bullets one after another. The skyscraper got bigger before his eyes. Slipping past two more of Tina's sniper bullets, Rentaro fired his last leg cartridge. "Goooooooooooooo!" he yelled. The glass window approached with terrifying momentum, and Rentaro drew his gun and fired twice into the window as he plunged in. With a shrill sound, Rentaro broke through the glass and was thrown over ten meters as he rolled on the floor. Putting both hands on the ground, he forced his body up. As he did so, drool dripped onto the floor. His ears were ringing, he was nauseated, and he felt strange chills. He was blacking out after being exposed to extreme g-forces. But—he had finally made it. He was probably about ten floors down from the roof where Tina was at that very moment. Rentaro thought as he stood up. Looking behind him, he saw the roof he was just on far away. He still couldn't believe he'd flown that distance to get here. However, if he hadn't done so, he wouldn't have been able to even get close to Tina. Since Tina was a sniper, she probably would not like to be approached from underneath, where she could not shoot. There were undoubtedly plastic explosives and antipersonnel land mines on the first floor of the skyscraper, and there was no doubt that the minute Rentaro stepped inside, he would have been caught in a trap that could blow him to pieces. However, Tina could not have predicted that a normal person like Rentaro would approach her in this way.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter024.txt	Black Bullet Rentaro looked at the ceiling. Round two was about to begin. Rentaro took four cartridges from his artificial arm and used them to refill his artificial leg, which had heated up. He changed the magazine of his XD gun. He pulled the SureFire military flashlight from his waist and held his XD in his right hand and the flashlight in his left. Crossing his arms, he climbed the stairs with the backs of his hands together. Of course, there was no electricity, so he could not use the elevator. Even if there was electricity, it was unthinkable to use something that would ding and report his arrival to his opponent. Climbing the stairs cautiously, he reviewed what he knew in his head. Tina Sprout was an Initiator with the Owl Gastrea Factor. The majority of owls are nocturnal, but good night vision is not their only distinguishing characteristic. What was to be feared even more is their keen hearing that can pick out even the faintest sound from the movement of their prey. It was completely natural to imagine that Tina's hearing was also very good. From here on out, he would have to do his utmost to not make a sound. The moonlight shone on the bluish-white world, the air on his skin was chilly, and it became silent. Being careful as he stepped, Rentaro muttered to himself that this was the first time he had fought this way, now that he thought about it. Both Kohina Hiruko and Enju Aihara were the straightforward martial artist types who didn't use a lot of tricks. Compared to them, the person Rentaro was facing now, Tina Sprout, was a soldier type, like him. Someone who used guns to get around traps and was good at handling explosives. This was an enemy who would do any kind of sneak attack to win. If he let his guard down for a second, he would be killed. He was carefully keeping his footsteps silent as he made his way to the roof, but when he got there, all he saw was an abandoned antitank rifle and empty magazines scattered around it. There was no sign of Tina. She must have hidden on one of the floors. First, he would go one floor down to the floor he had just passed. The floor was divided into three rooms. The instant he got to one of them, Rentaro sensed that something was off and stopped. It was dark. It was too dark. It wasn't that his vision wasn't working, but that there wasn't even moonlight shining in. All the windows had probably been sealed. Why? It was obvious. His opponent had night vision and keen hearing. She could move perfectly fine even in the dark. There were two shell casings lying on the ground at the entrance to the floor. Under normal circumstances, he would be convinced that Tina was concealed here. But Rentaro wasn't sure after he saw them. Why would she leave shell casings on the floor on purpose? It was as if she was advertising her presence. If that was the case, then he would have to work out a Plan B. Rentaro fished around in the pouch around his waist and pulled out a bundle of something made of carbon. Rentaro pushed a button to make it return to its original shape, and what had been a folded frame instantly took on a ball shape, and a sensor inside it activated. It was a pocket sensor package he had gotten from Miori. It had a thermal sensor and motion sensor, and if there was anything moving inside other than Rentaro, it was linked to Rentaro's smartphone and would send an alert with the enemy's position. Rentaro threw the pocket sensor inside. He waited for a while, but there was no response. But with just that, he was still nervous about rushing in. Rentaro pulled out a stun grenade and pulled the pin out with his teeth. Concealing his body against the wall, he waited for the sound and light of the explosion to pass and then went in. Using his flashlight to look around, Rentaro cursed involuntarily. It was spacious inside, and there were stone pillars in a few places, but like on the roof, Tina was not there. It had been a decoy after all. With the explosion just now, Tina definitely knew which floor Rentaro was on. Rentaro started to feel like he was suffocating. With Tina's specially evolved sight and hearing, a stun grenade, which spread sound, light, and pressure, would have been perfect to use against her. But he had just used it up. Now that he thought about it, Rentaro realized that he had not seen Tina once since this battle started. Was Tina Sprout really in this building? The sudden horrifying thought clouded his mind, and he shook his head. No way, what was he thinking? His mind was filled with anxiety and fear and wasn't thinking straight. Amazed at how the darkness that prevented him from seeing was able to take away a person's reason and presence of mind, Rentaro went down to the next floor. Its layout was exactly the same as the floor above, with the same forest of stone pillars in the sprawling space. Holding his gun ready, he hid himself behind the pillars, carefully examining the whole floor. Just then, he was startled by the sound of an alert on his phone. Hurriedly pulling out his phone, he saw that the pocket sensor he had thrown earlier had picked something up upstairs. A chill went down his spine. It was impossible. Even as he tried to make himself believe that it had picked up a mouse or something else that just happened to pass through, the alert continued to ring noisily, as if screaming. He was sure that Tina had not been in that room. Unless Tina was able to appear and disappear like a ghost? Then, he saw the emergency exit out of the corner of his eye and suddenly understood. That should connect to the outer stairs. Of course, the outer stairs of a skyscraper would get a lot of wind, and in order to prevent falls, it would be strictly locked. It was probably never used by anyone other than the building manager and the janitors. However, what if Tina had unlocked it ahead of time? What if she had escaped out the emergency exit to the outer stairs when Rentaro threw the stun grenade inside, waiting for the opportunity to return? Instantly, he pulled out his spare XD and held both guns, with his left hand pointed at the outer stairs, and his right hand pointed at the inner stairs he had just come down. His breathing got shallower and shorter, and he almost screamed in fear. The alert grating his nerves would not stop. It was as if it was saying, "Run away! Run away!" Suddenly, the sound broke off, the sensor stopped ringing, and a heavy silence fell. The tension left his shoulders. It was some kind of animal after all, right? Holding one of his guns with his teeth, he used the freed hand to pull out his smartphone and looked at the screen. He saw the words SENSOR CRASH in big letters across the screen and felt a chill down his spine like he had been put into a block of ice. The sensor had not stopped ringing, it had been destroyed. That meant that Tina was— Just then, he heard a noise. He turned his head up quickly toward it, and a Rank 98 battle demon rained down with pieces of concrete. Rentaro looked at the scene in despair. It was unexpected revenge for the move Kisara had used to destroy the floor during the shooting incident at the Tendo Civil Security Agency. Even as Rentaro paled, he put all his strength into his roundhouse kick that was aiming for Tina's neck to use as a spring to escape. A terrifying faint buzz passed near his ear, and he started pouring cold sweat. He rolled forward like that a few times, pulling the triggers on the XD guns in both hands, firing as much as he could to shower Tina in bullets. Tina held out a one-touch unfolding polycarbonate shield and took the whole barrage of twenty-four bullets. Both of Rentaro's XDs ran out of bullets at the same time. Tina must have decided that was a good time to throw away the cracked shield and plunged toward him with the speed of a bullet. In the civsec officer combat manual, they were told to avoid a close-in fight with an Initiator at all costs. Rentaro abandoned his XDs and gritted his teeth. He dropped his hips to intercept Tina. His artificial eye gave off heat as it spun, calculating at superspeeds. The moment Rentaro saw the reflection of the moonlight on the dagger in the darkness, he pulled back his right arm. Tendo Martial Arts First Style, Number 5—At the same time, a cartridge spun and was spit out, and the smell of gunpowder filled his nostrils. "Kohaku Tensei!" There was a screech. Tina's flash like lightning and Rentaro's superfast thrust clashed, and there was an explosion at the point of impact. The sand that had accumulated on the floor was blown away, and the shock wave shattered all the windows. Both of them left skid marks on the ground as they were thrown back. Rentaro jumped for the XD that had fallen to the ground and reloaded it, pointing the muzzle at Tina, but that was when he gasped in surprise, realizing she had disappeared. Rentaro cautiously held his gun ready as he stepped backward and hid behind a pillar. This was bad. The darkness was on her side. Her owl eyes could amplify the light and see into the darkness, and in the worst-case scenario, her owl ears could probably even pick out the sound of Rentaro's breathing. How was he going to crush her advantage? Just then, something bounced on the floor with a clang, and a round green object rolled before Rentaro's eyes. All the hairs on Rentaro's body stood on end—it was a fragmentation grenade. His mind went blank, and he kicked the hand grenade and then jumped to take cover. There was an explosion. A number of fragments bit into his skin, tearing it away, and the intense pain burned into his brain. He had no time to writhe in agony. His brain was screaming that he should not be here. Forcing all his muscles to move, he promptly rolled to the side, and the next instant, Tina's kick fell right where Rentaro had just been, smashing the concrete road and all. Rentaro gave a roar and swung out to trip her. He got her, but Tina acrobatically put a hand on the ground and quickly backflipped to escape. Tina reached her hand into the hem of her dress and threw out a round black object. After the faint activation sound, it floated with its single eye flashing and then headed toward Rentaro at full speed. There was no doubt about it. It was definitely a Shenfield Bit. A fourth? Why would a scout approach him? For some reason, he got terrible chills, and as he stood, he shot his gun a few times, but the Bit skillfully avoided all the bullets and closed in on him. Realizing that he was in trouble, Rentaro promptly pulled the pin of an incendiary grenade to ignite it, but the enemy was overwhelmingly faster. The single camera lens stared him in the eye, and the soulless machine seemed to smile creepily, narrowing its gaze. Rentaro didn't have time to be surprised before the Bit self-destructed at his chest. Thrown back by the large explosion that burned his skin, his body bounced on the floor before being thrown into a pillar, back first. He was in so much pain that he gritted his teeth until a molar splintered, and his vision started to go black. Rentaro gave a sickening cough, and blood started to overflow from his mouth without stopping, the warm blood wetting his chest. Fluttering his heavy eyelids to look in front of him, he saw that Tina had two more Bits deployed around her, on guard against him. Right between Rentaro and Tina was the incendiary grenade that Rentaro had pulled out. The ignition pin had been taken out, and the safety was off, but it didn't explode no matter how much time passed. It was a dud. In the end, even luck had abandoned him. In any case, the range where the thermite reaction from the combustion of the incendiary grenade would have caused heat damage was too far away from Tina to do any good. His clothes were scorched in the fumes of the explosion and gave off a terrible smell. Three large pieces of the Bit were stuck in his chest, like a grotesque art piece. He could not move another finger. Rentaro quietly shook his head left and right, and sighed shakily, enduring the pain in his injured lungs. She was too strong. Blood that wouldn't stop flowing was dripping to the ground from different places of his body. Even though his skin was burned and blistered, because he was losing blood by the minute, his body started to feel frozen with cold. Was he about to die? In a place like this? It didn't make sense. His vision blurred, and his consciousness started to fade. In the back of his mind, memories of fun times flowed like a slideshow. Suddenly, he remembered a movie he watched with Enju at a repertory cinema called Barry Lyndon. Apparently, it was made by a director named Kubrick, and after the movie was over, right before moving on to the credits, on a completely black screen, a written epilogue suddenly appeared. GOOD OR BAD, HANDSOME OR UGLY, RICH OR POOR THEY ARE ALL EQUAL NOW, it had said. If that was the enlightenment reached by someone who lived many times what he lived, then it was too sad. It was too terrible a nihilism. He felt like he was getting sucked into the bottom of a dark hole. It was cold. It was dark. Damn it. Jeez, I'm dying. "Rentaro." A familiar girl's voice suddenly flowed into his slowly fading consciousness. Just then, there was the sound of a sudden explosion. A thermite blaze shot up between them, and an inferno manifested. Rentaro was struck dumb. Was it the incendiary grenade? Normally, it took only a few seconds between throwing the grenade at the target and the detonation. If it were a very defective product, it could take dozens of seconds before it exploded. Something that didn't explode after that was a complete dud. According to his body clock, it had been about a minute since he dropped the incendiary grenade. There was no way it would suddenly explode— When he looked, he saw Tina with her arm raised covering her eyes. Doubts were raised in his head. Why? It was true that there was faint moonlight here, and it wasn't like he couldn't see anything. But looking at the struggling Tina covering her face, barely able to stand, let alone walk, it was as if she could not see anything at all. Realization dawned on him. She actually could not see anything. Her owl night vision must have backfired, letting in too much light at once with its light amplification abilities, clouding her vision completely white. Enju, was it you? Did you make this miracle happen? This was a golden opportunity. His last chance. That's right. He hadn't lost yet. I'm here bearing the hopes of Enju, Kisara, Sumire, Miori, and the Seitenshi. There was a world he needed to return to. There were people waiting for his return. "It's not over yet!!!!!" He mustered the last of his strength. As blood streamed from his whole body, the puddle at his feet expanded rapidly. But, he didn't care. He used the last of his strength to get into the Tendo Martial Arts Water and Sky Stance. He fired a leg cartridge and ignited the mobility thruster in his leg. Accelerating violently, he passed through the thermite blaze and jumped out in front of Tina. From Tina's perspective, it looked as if Rentaro had jumped out of a curtain of hellfire at two thousand degrees Celsius. "Raaaaaaagh!" he roared. Going around the Shenfield that had come out to defend her, Rentaro stepped on Tina's right leg with his boot and rammed into her with his shoulder. Tendo Martial Arts Third Style, Number 9: Usarocho. With a crack, Tina's thin body was knocked away, and she let out a cry. When he rammed into her while stepping on her leg, it would be hard for her to absorb the shock, so if he got a good hit in, he could cause enough damage to turn her organs inside out. Tina couldn't help but totter a few steps forward. Rentaro wasn't one to pass up that chance. "Tendo Martial Arts First Style, Number 15—" With the sound of the explosion from a cartridge firing in his arm, he caught a fleeting glimpse of regret on Tina's face. "Oh n—," she said. "Unebi Koryuu!" The uppercut with intense destructive power broke the dagger Tina had drawn to defend herself and exploded. Tina's body was blown back easily, and it smashed concrete as it made the ceiling cave in. "Tendo Martial Arts Second Style, Number 4—" Rentaro stretched his right leg straight out and kept it straight as he raised it overhead. Like a baseball pitcher's special stance, his leg was at a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree angle with the bottom of his shoe facing the sky, and then became still. Tina's body became unstuck from the ceiling and fell down, powerlessly. Tina looked at him with weak eyes. There were three consecutive blasts from his leg. The three empty golden shell casings spun as they were ejected, glittering as they reflected the swaying light of the flame. The smell of gunpowder filled his nostrils. In no time, all sound disappeared. The world was quiet and calm. Rentaro closed his eyes. "Inzen Jokahanameishi Burst!" His heel came down in an axe kick like an iron hammer, hitting Tina cleanly. An extreme tremor shook the whole floor, and large parts of the floor caved in and fell through. The enormous energy of three shots of large-caliber cartridges blew Tina's body away like sick leaves and then broke through the floor with a thunderous roar. After a tremor so large it seemed like it would destroy the whole skyscraper, the noise finally stopped. Looking down, at the bottom of a hole that looked like a series of reflected mirrors, on a floor eight stories down, was Tina's prone body. After going through eight floors, she had finally stopped, it seemed. Tina was passed out at the center of the explosion, unable to continue fighting. The flames stretching up threw Rentaro's long shadow on the floor. Rentaro let out a breath quietly and continued to be alert as he took the Infinite Stance. Then, his vision swayed, and before he knew it, Rentaro was also lying spread-eagle on his back. His head was pounding, and he was dizzy and nauseated. Even now, his body felt like it would disintegrate. I can't believe I fought with this body, he thought in utter amazement as he stared at the ceiling. He closed in on a sniper from 1.5 kilometers away and crushed her in close combat. Considering that the by-the-book tactic to deal with a sniper was called a counter-snipe, where you sniped the sniper, it made him realize just how crazy his strategy was. Rentaro got up, slightly annoyed that he had to, and putting one knee on the ground he put a hand on his knee and forced himself to his feet. He let out shallow, short breaths like a wounded animal. His whole body felt like a bundle of pain nerves. Just breathing in made his lungs hurt. Saliva mixed with dark red blood dripped from his mouth, and he spit blood on the ground. He wiped his mouth. This was no time for strong emotions. Rentaro still had something he had to do. Putting his hand on the wall, he went down eight flights of stairs, where Tina was lying. Rentaro aimed his gun between Tina's brows as he approached her. Tina's clothes were tattered, and she had a number of broken bones. She had gotten a good hit from a Super-Varanium axe kick, so her body probably wouldn't do what she wanted it to do for a while. Tina wheezed, tilting just her head toward him, opening her eyes slightly to look at Rentaro. "Ren…taro… Please…finish me…off…" Rentaro didn't say anything. His eyes met Tina's. His strong feelings of victory disappeared, and he didn't feel angry or sad, either. The only thing left was emptiness. Tina continued her disconnected groans. "My…body…is a mass of…technology… I cannot live…and be caught…by another country…" Kill her. If he did so, he would be able to completely remove the threat to the Seitenshi. Either way, if he handed her over to the police, he didn't think an Initiator who attempted to assassinate a national ruler would be treated very well. Even more worrisome was what the man pulling her strings, Ain Rand, was after. Putting together what Sumire had said, Rand didn't think of humans as human. It wouldn't be strange for a man like that to have ordered Tina to kill herself immediately after being defeated. If Rand found out that she had not chosen to die, then it was possible that Tina would be the next assassination target. No matter what happened, Rentaro had a hard time seeing a bright future for Tina after she survived today. Rentaro put strength into the finger on the trigger of his gun. Finally, he nodded once with resolve and closed his eyes. He put his gun away, helped Tina up, and supported her with his shoulder. Tina's eyes opened wide in surprise. "Why…?" "I didn't fight because I wanted to kill you." Rentaro kept his gaze in front of him and focused on the hospital beyond the wall. "Besides, you saved Enju… Thank you. I kept wanting to tell you that. I'll make sure they don't treat you badly!" Through his shoulder, he could feel Tina shaking, and then next to him, he heard the sound of small sobs leaking out. Rentaro tried to pretend not to notice as something hot and wet soaked his shoulder. "I've lost everything. Even though all I had was my fighting ability, I lost, so now everything is gone." Rentaro didn't say anything. "Rentaro… I don't know anything anymore. Why did things turn out this way…? What should I do…? I have no idea. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. My life keeps turning strange, so now I really don't know what I'm supposed to do……" "Don't talk. It'll make your injuries worse." And then, Rentaro, supporting Tina with his shoulder, walked down the long flight of stairs, one step at a time. The first floor was a nest of explosives, as Rentaro had imagined, but luckily, they were not the type that exploded automatically when triggered by movement. They were all the remote control type, so since Tina was out of commission, it didn't seem like they would be a problem. When they left the moldy building, they were met with fresh air and moonlight. Rentaro lifted his face. First, to the hospital. "I'll have you take responsibility for this." Surprised, he looked next to him and saw Tina smiling weakly with her eyes swollen from crying. "You defeated me, so I'll have you take responsibility for that."
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter026.txt	Black Bullet Rentaro was taken aback for a moment, but he soon nodded cheerfully. "All right, I will." Suddenly, there was the sound of a gunshot, and Tina fell to her knees. "Ah………" Tina looked in disbelief at the black hole that had opened up in her chest. The fresh blood leaking from the hole slowly soaked into her clothes. Tina moved her slightly gaping mouth a little, but couldn't speak as she looked up at Rentaro, then tilted her head in embarrassment as she tried to smile. A man approached them briskly, wearing a uniform cap with a white cape, shooting a Luger pistol. Fresh blood spouted from Tina's throat, and she fell backward. Yasuwaki kicked Tina's stomach hard, sending her body lightly into the air. It landed with a thump when it fell. The whole scene was like a bad joke. "I can't believe you're having so much trouble with a little killer!" said Yasuwaki mockingly. What's he doing here…? His brain numb, Rentaro tilted his head in confusion. Yasuwaki looked in his direction, as if to answer his question. "I safely escorted the Lady Seitenshi to her conference. She is probably in the middle of talks right now. I need to get back before the conference ends, so I don't have a lot of time. More importantly—" Yasuwaki stopped and grinned evilly. "What's with that expression? I just disposed of a piece of trash for you. Why don't you thank me for it?" When Rentaro heard those words, rage pierced his spine, and his brain lit on fire. "I'll kill you!" Just as he put his hand to his holster to draw his gun, there was a rustle and an attack from behind. Rentaro gasped as the air was squeezed from his lungs. He looked back and saw a friend of Yasuwaki's, one of the Seitenshi's personal guard, with a fist buried in his back. Panting, Rentaro smashed his attacker's chin with a backward punch, but someone else held down his hips and kicked his legs out from under him. Just as he thought the ground was approaching, a strong force pushed his head down and slammed it into the ground. A sharp pain shot through his arm, and looking back with effort, he saw that three other guards were on his back, pinning his arms back. Gritting his teeth so hard he thought he might crack a tooth, he groaned and flailed hard, but they didn't loosen their hold at all. "Yasuwakiiiiiii! You bastard!" Yasuwaki laughed. "This is exactly what it means to profit from someone else's fight." Just then, Tina's body curved, and she coughed up blood. Tina! She's alive! After Yasuwaki looked at his own Luger pistol, he looked at Tina warily. "It really is hard to kill them without Varanium bullets." Then, looking like he just thought of something, he smiled faintly at his friends. "Hey guys, wanna do a biology experiment? The topic is How many shots does it take to kill a Red-Eye with lead bullets?" The other guards' shoulders shook, and they started snickering. Stepping over Tina's prone body, Yasuwaki pulled the trigger of his gun a few times. Tina's body danced, and fresh blood gushed out and got on Yasuwaki's face. Tina's legs became taut, and they kicked at the ground. Rentaro yelled. "Stop it…! I'll kill you, Yasuwakiiiiii! You bastard…! I'll kill youuuuuu!" Yasuwaki spread his hands and laughed maniacally. "That's it! That's the expression I wanted to see, Rentaro Satomi!" He kept laughing. Yasuwaki lifted the muzzle of his gun and aimed between Tina's eyes. "It's time for the finale!" "That's enough!" The roar of the dignified voice made every person at the scene freeze. Yasuwaki, his subordinate guards, and everyone else froze with their mouths gaping, holding their breaths and looking in the same direction. "Lady Seitenshi……," someone muttered. Her beauty was like that of glittering stars, but her piercingly powerful eyes were like lightning. This authority of pure white wasn't supposed to be here—but she was. Yasuwaki let his gun drop and turned pale as he stepped back. The binds on Rentaro loosened, and he stood up in a daze. Why was she here right now? Wasn't she in the middle of a conference? Yasuwaki seemed to have the same questions and started saying agitatedly, "Why in the world…?" "I heard that you all were acting without permission, so I excused myself from the meeting with President Saitake to come here." "Impossible! I cannot believe you threw away a conference with the ruler of Osaka Area for the sake of a mere civsec officer!" "To me, Satomi is not just a mere civsec officer. And I cannot overlook your violence any longer." The Seitenshi looked sideways at Rentaro. "Satomi, please tell me. You saved my life. What is it that you wish for in return?" What did he want? He made a hard fist. It was obvious. "I want power! I want the power to protect the people I care about!" The Seitenshi kept her eyes shut for a while. Finally, she opened her eyes and said resonantly, "Satomi, with power comes responsibility. You must not forget that when you swing your sword, it leaves blood behind it. With too much power, one becomes a tyrant, and with too much responsibility, one's heart breaks. From the beginning of the universe, power and responsibility has never been balanced. But you must find that balance." She paused. "Very well, I will give you that power." The dignified voice resonated in the night sky. "With my prerogative as ruler of Tokyo Area, I waive the written appointment of the IISO and hereby promote Rentaro Satomi from Rank 1,000 to Rank 300. Satomi's top-secret information access key is now at Level 5, and his pseudo-rank has been promoted to first lieutenant. In other words, you are now one rank above Yasuwaki. Do you understand what that means?" "Yes," said Rentaro. "Justice without power is not worth anything. Become stronger, Satomi, stronger than anyone." Rentaro raised his face quietly and the personal guards froze, with Yasuwaki losing all color in his face. Rentaro drew his XD gun and fired three times. One hit Yasuwaki's right shoulder, the second hit his side, and the last blew off the thumb of his right hand from the joint. "Arghhhhhhhhh!" Yasuwaki screamed. Rentaro looked coldly sideways at the flustered guards who pointed their guns at him. "Who do you think you're pointing your guns at?" Surprised, the guards stopped moving. Rentaro passed by them to stand in front of Yasuwaki, looking down at him. Yasuwaki shuddered, awestruck, and tried desperately to back away. "Ahhhhhh… D-don't come near me… Don't come near meeeeeee!" Rentaro, with the full moon behind him, raised the muzzle of his gun and aimed at Yasuwaki. His heart was boiling like magma, but his voice was frozen at absolute zero. "Get out of my sight, and never come near Tina again. If you refuse, I will shoot you to death here and now for refusing to obey orders from a superior officer."
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/copyright.txt	Black Bullet Copyright BLACK BULLET, Volume 2 SHIDEN KANZAKI Cover art by Saki Ukai Translation by Nita Lieu This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. BLACK BULLET, Volume 2 ©SHIDEN KANZAKI 2011 All rights reserved. Edited by ASCII MEDIA WORKS First published in Japan in 2011 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo. English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo. English translation © 2015 Hachette Book Group, Inc. All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author's intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author's rights. Yen On Hachette Book Group 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104 hachettebookgroup.com yenpress.com Yen On is an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The Yen On name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher. First ebook edition: December 2015 ISBN 978-0-316-34496-8 E3
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/epilogue.txt	Black Bullet EPILOGUE THE PLACE I CALL HOME A while after the last bell rang, students left in twos and threes from the Magata High School gate. In the midst of them, there was also a mummified Rentaro Satomi, who had bandages wrapped around his head and various other places on his body. Rentaro put his bag on his back and hunched his shoulders as he walked out the gate and headed toward the shopping district following the highway, turning twice on the street in front of the supermarket and continuing on the narrow path of the shortcut. He suddenly stopped walking and tilted his head. Sunlight filtered diagonally through the leaves on the tip of the branch of the beech tree on the other side of the fence as they blinked, rustling in the wind. Sighing, he started walking again. As Rentaro walked, he went over all the things that had happened to him in succession recently. It had been a week since everything had happened. The other day, there was an official notice from the IISO that publicly raised Rentaro's and Enju's rank to 300. Since there was no flashy ceremony to confer his rank like there had been for the Kagetane Hiruko terrorist incident, only those close to them knew about their rise. He gave his access key to Sumire, so she would probably dredge up the information afforded a Level 5 for him soon. Sumire said, stunned, "I can't believe you had the nerve to do something as idiotic as defeat a Rank 98 by yourself." Miori also had a similar reaction, but she was even more stubborn in that she was already seriously considering putting him to use in a Shiba Heavy Weapons billboard. Even more surprising was the Seitenshi, who really did leave her conference with Saitake to come rushing to Rentaro's side. Apparently, Saitake had left in a fit of anger and returned to Osaka Area in a huff. In the end, there was no material evidence linking Saitake to Rand. According to Kisara, when there is an order for this kind of assassination, there are usually a number of people in between, and even if the end of the chain is caught, that does not always lead to the original client. If what she said was true, then even if they squeezed Tina for answers, the chances that it would lead them to Saitake were very low. It was like when someone wanted to do something malicious on the Internet, they would use a decoy server as a springboard until they were found out. Then, they would cut their ties with that server. Tina was the springboard. And like a lizard getting rid of its tail, she was immediately cut off and thrown away. Even though he knew who the culprit was, he couldn't do anything about it. He'd gotten a taste of this during the terrorist incident before, when he faced off against Kikunojo Tendo. Kikunojo Tendo— When Rentaro thought about that man, it always brought up conflicted emotions. Kikunojo loved and respected the Seitenshi and acted as her capable aide. At the same time, he also acted on his extreme prejudice against the Gastrea. Those two souls lived in one body at the same time. People say that humans are basically good or evil. However, in the end, humans were not good or evil. Based on their positions and values those two could interchange dizzyingly within one person. So for a moment, imagine the absence of good. How would one define the evil that should be defeated? Where would one draw the line between good and evil? Rentaro thrust both hands in his pockets as he tilted his head to look at the sky. The only thing that was clear was that Rentaro was definitely not of the same minds as Saitake or Kikunojo, who justified the means with their goals. He would probably have to go up against them again sometime. When that time came, if he could not decide what stance to take, that would likely become a chink in his armor. It was about time he also solidified his position. Even though Rentaro didn't remember where he walked or how he got there, before he knew it, he was standing in front of the Tendo Civil Security Agency. Habit was a fearsome thing. The dear old edifice, Happy Building, had undergone a big change. Thanks to Tina and Kisara going wild, there were pieces breaking off here and there, and the second-floor cabaret seemed to still be open, covered with waterproof blue sheets. Aimlessly climbing the stairs, Rentaro suddenly wondered if Tina was doing okay. Tina had survived after her operation. In an unprecedented measure, she had been given over to the Seitenshi's personal care, and was under house arrest at the Seitenshi's palace undergoing an investigation. He hoped that the sentence she received would be generous. He lightened his mood as he went through the door of the office and was greeted with "Oh, Satomi" and "Rentaro!"—the voices of the recovered Kisara and Enju. With the anesthetic out of her system, Enju was more or less completely healed, and now that she was out of the hospital, she was back to her usual self. Suddenly, the doctor's words in the hospital room came back to his mind. "There is one thing we must tell you, Satomi. About your Initiator's body's corrosion rate…" In front of him, Enju looked at him puzzled with her wide eyes. "What is the matter, Rentaro? Is there something on my face?" Rentaro looked at her in silence, finally saying, "No, I was just thinking that the atmosphere of the office is completely different when you're here, compared to when you're not." Enju looked surprised for a moment, and then laughed. "I see, I see." Rentaro shook his head to clear it. As he plunked down on the sofa to receive clients and stretched, he heard his bones and joints popping and creaking. Time to do some more profitless work today again! "Rentaro, here's some water." "Oh, thanks. That's thoughtful of you, Tina." He took a gulp of water before he realized what had happened, and the next instant, he spurted water magnificently from his mouth and nose. The girl gave a scream as she covered just her face with the tray to protect it from the water. Moving the tray aside a little, she looked up at him. Blond, with slightly sleepy eyes. It was Tina. There was no mistaking it. "What are you doing?" she asked. "Why are you here?" Rentaro said. He had copied her tone of voice without thinking. Kisara was all smiles as she went to stand behind Tina and put her hands on the girl's shoulders, looking at him. "I hired her," she said in a singsong voice, laughing. "What do you mean, you hired her…" If he remembered correctly, Kisara had been half-riddled with holes with a Gatling gun, and Enju had had a hole blown out of her stomach from an antitank rifle. Rentaro had had antitank bullets grazing him at a close distance. Honestly, he was about to cry. Were the girls' memories so bad that they forgot so quickly about almost getting killed? Or did Kisara and Enju get hit in the head so much by Tina without his knowledge that there was now a problem with their brains? The poor things. "Hey, Satomi!" Kisara said. "What's with that look? After Tina was discharged, she had no home to go back to. Don't you feel bad for her?" "But…she's a professional killer," said Rentaro. "I do not mind it!" Enju was all smiles as she waved and put her hand on her hip, puffing out her chest. "I finally have a junior. You can call me Miss Enju." Kisara followed suit, proudly puffing out her chest, closing her eyes, and putting a hand on her chest. "The gangster, Al Capone, also hired the person trying to kill him as a bodyguard, didn't he? I think I have the capacity to do that, as well." Rentaro froze with his mouth gaping slightly open. Then, the girl who had almost killed everyone in the agency stepped forward bashfully. "I will be in the care of the Tendo Civil Security Agency starting today. I look forward to working with you, Rentaro." She bowed once happily. Rentaro leaned back on the sofa in disgust and exhaustion until the sofa almost tipped over. Looking at the ceiling, he sighed deeply. It was a strange twist of fate, and there was the saying that even chance meetings were preordained— But don't blame me if anything happens, Rentaro complained to himself. At any rate, it looked like the office was going to get noisy. • Enju Aihara Gastrea virus corrosion rate: 43.0 percent • Estimated time to functional collapse: 560 days
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/newsletterSignup.txt	Hachette Newsletter Signup Thank you for buying this ebook, published by Yen On. To receive special offers, bonus content, and news about our latest ebooks and apps, sign up for our newsletters. Sign Up Or visit us at www.yenpress.com/booklink
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/prologue.txt	Black Bullet PROLOGUE THE MINEWORKERS With his future and his freedom at stake, Tsunehiro Koboshi ran as fast as he could. He had already run five kilometers, occasionally looking back and checking on his pursuers as he went. Running past the sunflowers on the roadside, he saw that the road had become a single straight path. All he could see was forest, and he sensed fewer and fewer people around, which made him uneasy. His muscles were tight and his clothes felt gross, plastered to his skin with sweat. This distance was hard to bear for a normal human who wasn't one of the Cursed Children. Suddenly, Tsunehiro remembered how a middle school classmate had tapped his shoulder lightly with a fist and a laugh, saying, "You need more stamina." That was exactly what he needed. "Tsunehiro, are you okay?" He shot a glance at the girl running alongside him. Three years younger than he, she was wearing the same work clothes as he was, which were slightly dirty all over. However, she was not panting at all, and her anxious eyes were wine-red. She had the same red eyes as the Gastrea. "I-I'm…fine… What…about you…Shuri…?" he asked, wiping his pouring sweat furiously as he spoke. Shuri gave a slight nod. He forced strength into his knees, which felt like they were about to give out, and gritted his teeth. His life was not just his own anymore. Now that he had gotten her involved, he could not allow himself to give up. Knowing that was the one thing he could not do, he looked back. He couldn't see their pursuers, but he knew for sure that they were behind them. Fear pierced Tsunehiro, and abruptly he tripped over his own tangled legs and tumbled on the ground. As Shuri hurried to a stop, she glared at their enemies who were firing at them from behind. "Tsunehiro, run away while I'm fighting them off!" Turning, he saw that Shuri was facing the enemy. "Y-you can't, Shuri! You can't fight that Initiato—" Before Tsunehiro could finish, Shuri was thrown along the surface of the road toward him with a loud sound. Tsunehiro paled. Thinking about how frighteningly strong this Initiator must be for Shuri to not even stand a chance, he went to help her up, and they continued with their escape. After a while, he saw an enormous structure in front of them. At first, he couldn't tell what it was, but after seeing the round gondolas and the silhouettes of rails in the air peeking through the wall, he slowly realized that it was an amusement park. Behind them were civsec officers, and in front of them was a dead end. Tsunehiro had a hunch that his short escape act would soon be over, and he gritted his teeth. He couldn't let it end here. He and Shuri, who was running next to him, looked at each other and nodded, then hopped over the amusement park's automatic turnstile. He saw a look of surprise come over the worker's face and apologized silently. If they let themselves get lost in the crowd, they might still have a chance. That's what he thought, but as they landed inside, Tsunehiro was dumbfounded. There was no one in the silent street, and the rides that turned round and round were almost completely empty. Part of it might have been because it was a weekday evening, but it was just too deserted. There were no crowds to get lost in here… He looked behind him and gave a start. The Initiator who had been chasing Tsunehiro and Shuri had jumped over the turnstile and appeared in front of them. She wore a fancy coat with checkered lining and a miniskirt. She had thick-soled lace-up shoes and pigtails tied with largish hair ties that swayed slightly left and right. With the setting sun at her back, she walked toward them, making a large X with her arms above her head. "Committing crimes is an absolute no-no! I will not allow it!" Behind her, a woman who looked like the girl's Promoter appeared, riding a bike. She went to the side of the turnstile entrance and thrust something that looked like an ID (probably her civsec license) at the worker, getting off her bike and flipping her black hair. She was a surprisingly beautiful young woman. What in the world was she? "Enju, good work." Saying that, the young woman turned to face Tsunehiro. "You're Tsunehiro Koboshi and Shuri Nazawa, right? Per our client's orders, we, the Tendo Civil Security Agency, are taking you into custody." The Tendo Civil Security Agency…? The name sounded familiar, so he racked his brain, and then gave a start when he realized. "Th-the Tendo Civil Security Agency……? Th-the real Tendo Civil Security Agency?" "Wait, what? You know who we are?" She leaned forward and looked at him with expectant eyes. "Of course I know who you are…" The saviors who defeated the Stage Five when Tokyo Area was on the brink of destruction. Those saviors were part of the Tendo Civil Security Agency. For fear of assassination, kidnapping, or headhunting from another country, their personal information was quickly placed under a media blackout, but not before just the name of the savior, Rentaro Satomi, had spread around the mine along with a lot of speculation. The young woman, her mood now thoroughly improved, put her hand to her face with a dainty laugh. "That's right. We are the Tendo Civil Security Agency, and I am the president, Kisara Tendo. And you two were lured here because this is the amusement park where Satomi works part-time." Rentaro Satomi— Tsunehiro staggered with shock, and Shuri's body shook. A celebrated, legendary civsec officer worked here? The female president waved her arms with a flourish. "Just look! This is the pride of the Tendo Civil Security Agency, our strongest Promoter, Satomi!" Tsunehiro and Shuri fell to their knees, still hugging each other. This was the end. Tsunehiro squeezed his eyes shut and waited for his last breath. However, no matter how long he waited, nothing happened. When Tsunehiro opened one eye and looked at the female president, she said, "Th-that's strange, I heard he was working here…" Blushing, she turned to the girl next to her. "Enju, do you know where in the park Satomi works?" "I have no knowledge of that. Many times I have said I want to come see him, but he always says, 'You can't come!' so I never found out." When the two of them started looking around them, Tsunehiro also shifted his gaze to his surroundings. The amusement park as a whole was silent, with no sign of people anywhere—No, that wasn't true. If he looked carefully, there was just one place where there was a crowd of people. Children were gathered around a magical girl. More accurately, young elementary schoolers were aiming at someone dressed in a magical girl costume, kicking and hitting all at once. It was the unpopular character, "Tenchu Violet," from the cartoon Tenchu Girls, which told the story of forty-seven magical girls. "Get 'er!" "Just die already." "Gah-ha-ha!" "Kill 'er! Kill 'er!" It wasn't clear what made them despise her so much, but the children single-mindedly beat on Violet like they were possessed. A muffled scream could be heard from the depths of the magical girl's smiling head as she was straddled and kicked. The female president made a disgusted face. "Don't tell me……" "Aaaarrggggghhhhhhhh, aaah, get the fuck off me!" Suddenly, the magical girl spewed unbelievably nasty words. The children froze and looked around, but of course, there was no one else around. As Violet rose slowly and put her hand on her neck, a young man appeared from inside her, panting and covered with sweat. He had an unpleasant look in his eyes and a sour expression on his face. "Be a little nicer, you little brats! I'm gonna smack you!" At first, the children were in a state of shock, but suddenly, starting with a child near the young man, the children started one by one to wet themselves in fear. "Violet died…!" "I'm scared!" "Something weird came out from inside her!" "Hey, don't cry! I said, don't cry! Violet is still alive. 'See? I'm a magical girl!'……… Aw, shit! That's right, I'm an alien larva born by tearing through Violet's stomach. Sorry about that, damn it!" The young man threw Violet's head and magical stick on the ground and slowly walked toward Tsunehiro and the others. He was still a magical girl from the neck down. That can't be Rentaro Satomi, Tsunehiro thought doubtfully. The female president crossed her arms. "Satomi, you're late! You are supposed to come right when I call!" Rentaro scratched his hair and complained in a dispirited voice. "You might say that, Kisara, but even after I risked my life to save Tokyo Area, why do I get paid less than a part-time convenience store clerk? Because of that, I had to take this part-time job where I become a human punching bag, you know." "You are to call me 'President' on the job. Besides, it's your fault, Satomi. After you defeated the Stage Five, the Gastreas' movements have died down, and we've had way less jobs. We haven't been able to resolve a single case properly since that incident, you know. We have zero income this month, too, because of someone. Do you get that, zero-dependability Satomi?" The young man let out a scream as if he had been poked somewhere painful, and he drew in his chin. Then, he noticed Tsunehiro and Shuri. "Well, what are these guys?" "Targets to capture." "Targets to capture? Is this a job from the government?" "No, the client is a civsec officer." "Do civsec officers hire other civsec officers?" "Well, it's not unusual." "What, like a subcontractor?" Rentaro complained listlessly, then leaned over to look at Tsunehiro. "Well, what did you guys do?" Tsunehiro and Shuri looked at each other, then said, "Actually…" and told them about what happened that led them to run away. Tsunehiro told them about how his father racked up a lot of debt, until one day, when Tsunehiro went home, there were yakuza in his house. The yakuza threatened him, saying, "Boy, tomorrow, you won't be able to go to middle school anymore." Just like that, he was brought to where the yakuza were illegally mining Varanium behind a front company. He told them about how at the Varanium mine in the Unexplored Territory, he was made to labor hopelessly in the mine day after day. Perhaps it could be said that birds of a feather flock together, but the civsec officers that they got to guard the mine were all good-for-nothings, and they seemed to be mostly concerned with making sure their fellow civsec officers didn't run away. He told them about how a fellow laborer was killed in a lynching. About how he met Shuri, and how they were able to start thinking about escaping. And then, about how they finally found an opening and stole a jeep, driving it crazily without stopping for rest, and barely making it into the Monoliths. "Hmm, they are not bad guys at all, are they?" When Enju said this, Rentaro and Kisara looked embarrassed. "What should we do, President?" Rentaro asked, after a pause. "How am I supposed to know…? Besides, I already contacted the client on the way here to say we found them……" "The client?" There was a whoosh of feathers, and something slammed into the ground at Tsunehiro's feet with amazing speed. It was the arrow from a crossbow. "Found you, you damn brats!" When Tsunehiro turned, he looked as if he was about to scream. The shooter unwillingly lowered his crossbow in his right hand with unconcealed hatred in the piercing, narrow eyes of his stern, craggy face. It was Haga. He was the embodiment of fear in the Varanium mine they had run away from, a terrifying Promoter who had killed three workers just because he didn't like them. Haga licked his lips, staring with his reptilian eyes. "You've got some nerve running away like that. Prepare yourself, you little bastards. I'm gonna kill you dead and feed your corpses to the pigs." They had to run. Despite his thoughts, Tsunehiro was frozen in fear, and his legs wouldn't move. Haga aimed his crossbow deliberately and put his finger on the trigger. "Hey, wait a sec, old man." Rentaro interjected. "Are you the civsec officer client? Where's your Initiator?" Haga slid his gaze to the side, seeming to notice Rentaro for the first time. "I'll pay you later, so shut up, you runt." "I said, where's your Initiator, moron?" Rentaro looked at Haga without blinking. Startled, Haga was the one who shifted his gaze first. "Damn. Oh yeah, now that you mention it, I had one. She cried and screamed so much I accidentally killed her, but well, I said she died in the line of duty, so the IISO will send me a replacement soon—" "Tendo Martial Arts First Style, Number 3—" "Huh?" "Rokuro Kabuto!" Rentaro's fist buried itself in the unguarded Haga's face, flattening his features, destroying three of his front teeth, and throwing him back almost three meters as blood flowed from his nose. Then, there was complete silence. "What the hell?! You're a disgrace to civsec officers, you bastard! Don't show your face in front of me again. If I see you again and you're still a civsec officer, I'm gonna friggin' kill you!" After swearing vigorously, Rentaro's body suddenly became stiff for some reason, and he turned toward Kisara with his shoulders hunched apologetically. "Sorry, I did it again…" "Hey Satomi, what're you doing knocking out our client?! How many times do you think we've lost our chance to get paid? If you're going to punch him, punch him after we get paid!" Kisara said. "That's what you're worried about?!" Left out of the action, Tsunehiro felt his mouth hang open. Had he just been saved…by the civsec officer? Borrowing a notepad and pen from Kisara, Rentaro wrote something down and put the piece of paper in Tsunehiro's hand. "Make an appearance at the homicide department here, in front of an inspector named Tadashima. That guy's not prejudiced against Cursed Children, so he'll probably help you. You might have to face consequences for driving without a license, but there were a lot of extenuating circumstances. Oh, but be careful. That inspector's got a face on him that'll make the yakuza look like Buddha." "U-um… I…" Tsunehiro was at a loss for words. When he lifted his face, thinking he had to say something, he was interrupted by Kisara's phone. "Satomi, it's been a while, but we've got some prey," she said after she hung up. "A Stage One Gastrea was sighted in Tokyo Area District 23! It looks like it went astray from a high altitude." Rentaro looked fed up. "Wait, Kisara. We're in District 11, right…? Will you get us a car or something?" Kisara righted the bicycle, straddled the saddle, put her feet on the pedals, and turned around. "Don't say stupid things. We don't have money for that! You're! Running! Right! Now!" Looking down, Rentaro confirmed that he was still a magical girl from the neck down. "Then help me out here. The zipper's broken on this thing, so I can't unzip it from the inside." Kisara and Enju looked at each other and grinned wickedly. "It looks good on you, Satomi," said Kisara. "It becomes you, Rentaro," said Enju. Rentaro hung his head dejectedly. "Give me a break……" In the slowly growing darkness, Tsunehiro watched the young man in costume with a girl following him like a puppy fade away with their long shadows, and a young woman on a bike following them yelling into a megaphone. People who accomplished their justice without wishing for anything in return. "That's…a real civsec officer." The flame of longing was lit, and feelings welled up in his chest. Making a fist so hard it hurt, he turned back to Shuri. "Shuri, I want to be a civsec officer when I grow up. So, um…if you'd like, I want you to be my Initiator!" Shuri was surprised and widened her eyes for a moment, but then she shyly tilted her head. "If that's what you want, Tsunehiro." Her smile was so bright that Tsunehiro turned red up to his ears. Averting his eyes in embarrassment, he gazed at the shadows that were growing smaller. The year 2031. Earth's surviving population: 750 million. Officially registered International Initiator Supervision Organization (IISO) civsec officer pairs: 2.4 million pairs. A declining world huddled inside the Monoliths, walking quietly down the path to destruction. Initiators and Promoters. Fighting together in pairs. Using the power cultivated in their bodies to fight the Gastrea—they are humanity's last hope.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-02-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/welcome.txt	Black Bullet Begin Reading Insert Table of Contents Yen Newsletter Copyright Page In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author's intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author's rights.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-04-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/appendix001.txt	Black Bullet AFTERWORD Where is the balance between art and compromise? Authors in particular are said by society to have absolute authority from the minute they open up a text editor and start working to when they finish their work, but that is not necessarily true. Time limits especially can expose dilemmas of quality and compromise that affect their work and with much headache. Depending on the person, the idea that anyone can create something good with enough time could be true or false, but either way, compromise is necessary. It might sound good to have your own style and never listen to other's demands, but acting arrogantly like that is like stepping on a tiger's tail—those who do it would not be able to remain authors for long. By the way, what about Shiden Kanzaki? Ever since he was admitted into the Dengeki group, he's been an impertinent transfer student, ignoring industry customs immediately after entering and doing crazy things, making the chief editor call him out and yell at him, not thinking about profits as he made changes over and over and making the sales department mad at him. Anyway, he's a terrible problem child. It's impossible to count the number of times he's said, "No, I won't hand it over!" and caused trouble for his managing editor by not handing over the manuscript on hand. Yes, even I have started to reflect on my style and the trouble I've continued to cause for others, and I have started to doubt my thoughts from their core. My smart readers might give me the advice to use the 80-20 rule. Pros are able to finish 80 percent of the quality with 20 percent of the effort, but in order to get the remaining 20 percent of the quality, it would take 80 percent of the effort, so it's not worth it. Kind readers might try to comfort me with Sturgeon's Law. Since 90 percent of everything is crap, at least we sometimes make something good. Where is the balance between art and compromise? In the first place, is compromise really necessary? Compromise is like knocking down dominoes, where if you compromise once, then little by little, it'll spread to everything. Like many people have said of the entertainment industry in particular, the speed of supply and demand is clearly different from ten years ago. Let's call the speed of that change a raging rapid. If I were to be loved by the editorial department and the sales department and my managing editor—but then throw out a work that the readers find boring on the stormy seas of the entertainment industry, will I really be able to smile at that point? Shiden Kanzaki wants to leave behind something that readers will truly find of value because of the age we live in. Of course, works have their waves, and it is a difficult trick to maintain the balance of quality. More importantly, in a series, I have never really seen anything that has been able to keep things continually interesting all the time. But I think aiming for that as much as I can is very meaningful. I have reached a good conclusion. I'm a problem child bastard after all, who thinks there's no point in telling a story if I have to compromise on its quality. I apologize to everyone who is involved. I intend to continue causing problems from now on, so please cooperate with me in creating a good book. THIS MONTH'S KUROSAKI At one point, he called me at his wits' end. "We seriously won't make the manuscript delivery! You've gathered dragon balls for this moment, right? If you don't use them now, when will you use them? Hurry up and summon Shen Long, please!" he said. It's come to the point where even my managing editor is pleading for a Shen Long summons. The cruel reality is that we authors and editors who prize objective and logical thought above all are resorting to entreating the gods. Oh dear, is this book really going to be all right……? REGARDING THE MANGA VERSION About half a month after the publication of this book, on August 27, the comic version of Black Bullet will begin serialization in the magazine Dengeki Maoh. It is drawn by the runner-up of the Thirteenth Dengeki Comics Grand Prix, Morinohon. Please look forward there to the efforts of the cool Rentaro and adorable Enju, as drawn by his sharp, precious brush. This time, I'd also like to thank my managing editor, Mr. Kurosaki, who stayed with me patiently as I didn't quite meet the scheduled deadline; the illustrator, Saki Ukai, who did the character designs for all the excessive new characters; Morinohon, who is in charge of the comic version; everyone in the editorial department; and everyone else involved with this book. Finally, to my dear readers who have taken this book in their hands. Um, well, in this volume, the merciless developments continue… But next time, there'll be lots of Lolita-complex and breasts, so please wait! Thank you very much for buying this book. I pray that all of my readers will be blessed. Shiden Kanzaki
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-04-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter002.txt	Black Bullet I know two things about you. One is that you were born. The other is that you will die someday. —Hyrum Smith BLACK BULLET 4 CHAPTER 03 THE THRESHOLD OF VICTORY 1 "It's begun, Satomi." At Kisara's reverential whisper, Rentaro frowned. But before he could say another word, she spoke again. "Look at the Monolith." Rentaro raised his gaze from the ground to look. A ripple of shock went from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. First, a corner of the rectangle collapsed. But that immediately led to the next collapse. Finally, the enormous body of the cracked Monolith couldn't stand up against the Varanium corrosion fluid any longer and let out a scream, and then nothing could stop the chain reaction of structural failure. From where Rentaro was, he couldn't hear the sound of the actual collapse, but that made the shriek of the Monolith a moment before even clearer. Abruptly, the whole bleached pane became fatally splintered, and the Monolith looked like it was shrugging its shoulders as it disintegrated. Chills went down his spine with it. The Monolith fell like time-lapse photography, starting from its base with fragments flaking off the top. In no time, it would crash into the ground. As he watched, there came a roar, and then they were hit with a shock wave rumbling the ground, forcing Rentaro to raise his arms and grit his teeth. The vibration shook Rentaro from his feet to his guts, and the shock wave blew away the surrounding debris, rotting signs, and sheet metal that had fallen. When Rentaro lifted his face, he saw the sky was covered by a cloud of dust and fine particles. "No way…" It was starting. The Third Kanto Battle was starting—and not when they were planning for it to start. "Satomi!" Kisara yelled. "I know!" Rentaro fixed his eyes on the broken Monolith once more and ran toward the battlefield. No matter what, he couldn't leave Enju, so he ran down the stairs from the roof and through the police station. Inside the station was chaos, with everyone pointing and screaming at Monolith 32 in the window. "Enju!" He found her sitting in the waiting room, looking down dejectedly. "Rentaro…" Enju looked at him and slowly tried to put a cheerful expression on her face. It was painful to watch. "Enju, let's go." Enju looked like she didn't understand. "Go where?" "What do you mean, 'where'? To the base at the front lines! The Monolith collapsed!" The girl turned her head, seemingly noticing the frantic screams and fleeing bodies around her for the first time. "It…collapsed?" Rentaro shuddered. "You… Don't tell me you hadn't noticed?" Even though it was so loud… Enju shook her head. "I noticed. It's just…I was just a little spaced out, is all." Rentaro didn't reply; he simply closed his eyes. Enju had just heard the news of the death of her classmates this morning. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't want to put her on the battlefield. However, the current situation was not so kind. "Rentaro, I'll jump with you on my back," said Enju. "No, that's okay… Let's run," said Rentaro. "Why?" "Just do it." Rentaro took Enju's hand and they hurried outside. He tried to flag down a nearby taxi but soon realized it was futile. The cars were fleeing, scattering whether or not there were passengers riding in them, and now all he could see were people running around screaming. When they hit a thoroughfare, the conditions were even worse. The six-lane street was in a state of confusion, with cars at a standstill and horns honking in a loud chorus; all the while people were abandoning their cars to get just a little farther away from Monolith 32. Rentaro and Enju bumped into shoulder after shoulder as they ran through the crowd, running in the opposite direction as everyone else. No matter how much time passed, they could not find a ride. There was no train station nearby, and even if they had been able to make it to a station, there was no guarantee that trains would be running on their usual schedule in this state of emergency. In the meantime, they passed through to the neighboring District 40. There were fewer people there, and it was mostly filled with abandoned buildings. As they ran, he swept his gaze left and right: Even though Rentaro's body was moving at full speed, his brain was calmly analyzing their current situation. There was still quite some distance between them and the civil officers' base at the front lines. So, it was obvious that he would not be able to continue running at the speed he was now, overexerting himself. Wasn't there anything he could do? There were scooters, motorcycles, and cars around them, but the former two were covered in rust and pretty much totaled; the latter were missing tires and had their hoods open, their parts looted. But shortly after, he glimpsed a bicycle hidden in the crack of a building. After a quick inspection, he found it in usable shape despite showing its age; it had air in its tires and had had maintenance done. A resident of the Outer Districts had fixed it and had been using it, no doubt. It was a granny bike with thin tires and a child seat strapped to the back. However, a joint-type bike lock connected the body of the bike to the pole next to it. Rentaro looked left and right and apologized silently to the owner, vowing to return it later. Drawing the gun from his hip, he took three steps back and aimed. He carefully pulled the trigger and fired, and the bullet blew the lock away. Sitting astride the saddle, he put Enju behind him and pedaled hard. The bike seemed to stretch as it accelerated, shooting through the streets of the Outer Districts. A sudden warning siren rang in his ears, and he lifted his face in surprise, looking around him. The siren roared high and low, coming at them from all directions. "A biohazard warning?" he said. In the ten years after the war, no matter how dangerous a Pandemic crisis Tokyo faced, this warning had never been sounded, but now, it was echoing around them, ringing like crazy. Then, another strange thing occurred: After a loud screech pierced his ears, a large black mass came toward them from the northern sky. Suddenly, the street was covered by a dark shadow, and Rentaro and Enju, who were going full speed on the bike, were completely surrounded by it, their world turning dark. It was so dark that it could have been mistaken for night. He soon realized what the black mass was. Birds. A group of birds of various species and sizes screeched noisily as they flew away in the opposite direction of the fallen Monolith. So even the birds had started their escape—they seemed to know instinctively that Tokyo Area had no future. Enju made a fist with her hand, which was wrapped around Rentaro's waist from behind, and he could feel sweat on his palm. Rentaro pedaled even harder and shifted into high gear. Before he knew it, the handlebars, too, were slick with sweat. He naturally lifted his pelvis as he sat and rounded his back to reduce air resistance, rising into a racer's stance. He raced around the utility poles that were bent back and forth and the useless traffic lights, weaving his way through the cars lying around like an obstacle course, leaning this way and that to avoid them. Avoiding the traffic signals enabled him to save more time than he expected. After the Monolith collapsed, they would definitely see Aldebaran's troops start moving. Unfortunately, the self-defense troops who were stationed downwind had been showered with the dense mineral dust from the collapse and were probably in a state of panic. The problem was whether or not they would be able to regroup and attack before the Gastrea arrived. Getting onto a highway, Rentaro stood up and pedaled to climb the small hill. There was a cliff to his right with a guardrail next to it. Climbing the hill required a lot of stamina, and he was soon panting, his calves straining, but he finally made it to the top, where a cool breeze whipped around his body. Looking over, he saw that the tracks of the overhead train line running parallel to them were blocked with piles of clay roof tiles and blocks that had been blown over. He was right to not head toward the train station after all. It would be impossible for them to run. Abruptly, he thought he felt a tire hop and gave a small yell. His inattention brought calamity, and he ran over a rock on the curb. The bike fluctuated wildly. "Rentaro! In front of you!" Enju shouted. Before him, the guardrail in front of the approaching cliff had been scraped away. The cliff below was steep, and the forest beyond seemed very small and far away. If they fell, it would be instant death. He yanked the handlebars to the left and released the power of his artificial leg. The artificial skin and his uniform on his right leg were torn off as he fired cartridges out of the limb. From the thruster, there was an instant of bursting sparks as their inertia adjusted. Resistance in the pedals disappeared as he lifted his feet, and they accelerated so much that it seemed like they were going to be thrown off. But they turned at the last minute, and followed the curve of the guardrail. Rentaro was in shock from the close call. They definitely couldn't afford to be injured in a place like this. Still, he didn't slow down as he continued. Finally, the base at the front lines came into view. Even from far away, he could see clearly how the civil officers were flustered. They were trying to make the formations they had learned in a hurry, but they were confused, and their lack of experience was already being exposed. By the time Rentaro had left the bike in front of their tent and rushed to the front of the squad tent, the rest of his team members were already talking things over in a circle. When Kisara saw Rentaro, her eyes widened. "Satomi, how did you get here? Even Tina and I just got here a minute ago—" Rentaro's whole body was covered in sweat, and he tried to calm his ragged breathing. He placed both hands on his knees and somehow managed to raise his head, then wiped his mouth with a sleeve. "I'll tell you later. We're going, too!" It took some time for the civil officers to recover from the confusion caused by the unexpected destruction of the Monolith. The destruction of the enormous rectangular structure standing 1.618 kilometers high and 1 kilometer wide produced an enormous amount of dust and ash that was blown upward into a heavy cloud. In little time, it covered the sky of Tokyo Area and hid the sun.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-04-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter004.txt	Black Bullet The prediction from the Japanese government office had included the shock wave from the collapse, the ashes, and the irregular weather, but there was a big difference between hearing about it and actually seeing it in person, and the strangeness of it forced Rentaro into feeling like the world was ending. Even so, he and the other civil officers managed to complete their battle formation in about three hours, but that did not seem to be the case for the self-defense force on the front lines. Because of the wind, the ashes from the Monolith were blown directly at the self-defense force's camp. But even with that, they were able to rally because of their regular training and their reputation as defenders of the country. At around 7 p.m., even though it was summer, the sky had turned an indigo blue, and it was finally time for the invasion of Aldebaran's troops. From where Rentaro and the others were, the back of the SDF formation was too far away to see Aldebaran's troops beyond them, but the clouds of dust their enemies kicked up as they marched forward in lines blurred the horizon, and the low, beastly roar of their voices gave Rentaro goose bumps. They had probably gone around the fallen Monolith before finally making it inside the city. It was the omen of an unavoidable Great Extinction. He'd watched the scene on a video-streaming site many times—when Gastrea invaded a broken line of Monoliths, the possibility that the people living in that city would all be killed was 100 percent, and up until now, there had been no example of any city avoiding the Great Extinction once a wall went down. The next instant, someone opened fire. The self-defense force's long-range weapons—self-propelled guns, tank guns, and automatic cannons—all fired at once, drawing a dazzling arc as they rushed into the enemy Gastrea. The next instant, there was an explosion. The first lines of Gastrea were blown away spouting flames, and the next line of them plunged in deeper than the first. A crimson battlefield appeared, and the sky burned. The shock wave came later and reached even Rentaro, and the hot wind of the battlefield hit his whole body. Rentaro lifted his arm to shield his face and narrowed his eyes beneath his hand. Looking at the scorching-red sky, Rentaro felt a throbbing pain at the base of his artificial right arm. It was the same. He had seen the same sky ten years ago. It was the hell that the young Rentaro had seen at the end of the Gastrea War: Gastrea had invaded the area where he had been living, and he had been pushed onto a train and sent to live with the Tendo family. On the way to Tokyo, he'd seen different battlefields from the window of that train—burning cities, burning farms, burning people. At the boundary between the jet-black sky and the red flames, the endless indigo blue gradation had warped and burned its image onto Rentaro's retina. The passengers had shoved in close together and were all shaking and crying inside the train car, finally resorting to prayer—quietly, to themselves, of course. The fact that the train had arrived in Tokyo without being overturned or derailed by Gastrea was a miracle in and of itself. Rentaro squeezed his chest and tried to check the unpleasant sweat pouring out of him with all his might, trying desperately to put a lid on the terrible memories. Five hours passed in the way, until the time read midnight. The battlefield was locked in night, and it became a night battle in earnest. The sky was closed off with the ashes of the Monolith, so there was no moon, and there were no streetlamps in the Outer Districts, so it was surprisingly dark. From the midst of all that, Rentaro could intermittently hear the deafening roar of tank guns and shock-wave blasts that shook the atmosphere. There were the flames of 25-mm machine guns firing rhythmically like a typewriter. In the spaces between, he could hear the groans of Gastrea, followed by their angry cries and screams. And, just as he had predicted, the self-defense force never asked for support from the civil officers no matter how much time had passed. Rentaro was growing impatient. What were they thinking? Did they really think that they could win this war holding on to worthless things like distinguished service, territoriality, and pride? Shouldn't they attack the Gastrea as one right now? Who was even winning? What was the current state of the war? When Rentaro turned his head to look at the civil officer troops' battle formation, he saw that even though they had built campfires, many also watched the proceedings anxiously. From atop a small hill, Rentaro and his group could see the situation of all the squads clearly. His group was a kilometer in front of where the frontline base tent had been built, and they were spread out to the side as they waited. The troop, made up of a little over a thousand civil officers, was grouped into adjuvants, and they were placed under the charge of a company commander in sets of ten. The one in charge of the company commanders was Troop Commander Nagamasa Gado. Diagonally in front of Rentaro to the right, he could see the superior officer directly above him in rank, the company commander. Apparently, all the company commanders had been selected from Gado's adjuvant, and this one was a young man equipped with a lead-colored, Japanese armor-type exoskeleton. His name was Hidehiko Gado, and he was the biological son of the general commander, Nagamasa. He had a pale face with hollow cheeks, with a long, thin face and glasses. He looked like an academic who was always shut up in research labs that didn't get any sun, or perhaps a librarian. Next to him was an Initiator named Kokone. At training the day before yesterday, Hidehiko had rubbed her shoulders, lifted her chin, and stared at her profile entranced. It looked like he had feelings for his Initiator beyond that of a partner or family member. Looking at Hidehiko, Rentaro couldn't help but feel uneasy. Even in just these last few days that the civil officer troops had spent training together, Hidehiko's clumsiness was apparent. It wasn't just that he passed down orders slowly—he seemed to lack the ability to make decisions, and Rentaro didn't feel any confidence or dignity from the man's orders. Even now, as he held his partner Initiator's shoulders, he looked like he was desperately mumbling a prayer. He was probably praying that the SDF would win and that he would not have to take his turn. Behind adjuvant leader Rentaro was the president of the Tendo Civil Security Agency, Kisara Tendo, and her partner, Tina Sprout, who was holding an antitank rifle almost as tall as she was. And then there was the president of the Katagiri Civil Security Agency, Tamaki Katagiri, and his little sister, Yuzuki Katagiri. Also waiting were Rentaro's senior disciple in the Tendo Martial Arts, Shoma Nagisawa, and his partner, Midori Fuse. They were all filled with nervousness, and they were holding their weapons at the ready so they could rush out and fight at any time. And right next to Rentaro was— "Rentaro, do you think the self-defense force will win?" Rentaro stole a sideways glance at Enju Aihara's profile, her nervous face staring far out over the horizon. Even as Rentaro felt impatient, he closed his eyes firmly and tried to change his thinking. Right now, he could not prioritize Enju. He had to prioritize what they were doing. How much time had passed? The gunfire slowly grew sparse, and the voices of the Gastrea faded. And then abruptly, both of those sounds disappeared. On the flat plain in front of him spread darkness that seemed to absorb the stillness of night. Agitation spread noisily, like ripples, among the civil officers. Rentaro overheard people saying: "Hey, what happened?" "Who won?" "Someone go look." Rentaro felt a sudden tap on his shoulder and turned around to see Shoma looking at him with a grave expression on his face. "What do you think, Satomi?" "I don't know… But thinking about it rationally, the self-defense force probably won." Rentaro stopped talking and looked up, into the darkness. "Right now, I can't hear the voices of the Gastrea or the sound of the cannons. It's probably because they drove the Gastrea away." He had said that mainly to make himself feel better. Then, he looked at Hidehiko Gado. "Hey, you. Why don't you try sending a flare up to headquarters to sound things out?" The oval-faced company commander shook his head like there was no way he could. "None of the other squads are doing that, are they? We can't act arbitrarily on our own!" Rentaro was about to protest that they should do it because no one else was doing it but then shook his head. This man's thinking was so different from his own that it didn't matter what Rentaro said. Suddenly, Tina, who had been peering into the darkness quietly this whole time, murmured quietly, "Big Brother, someone's coming." "You can see them?" Rentaro asked. Then, he remembered that Tina was an Initiator with the Owl Factor in her body. Her eyes had the ability to amplify even the tiniest bit of light and project it onto her field of vision. "Yes, there are people walking this way. And it's not just one or two of them." Before long, as if backing up Tina's words, shadows of people appeared blurrily about a hundred meters in front of them, near where the limit of the light of the bonfires reached, and he could see shadows walking toward them. There were about fifty people walking in a line, side by side. They were all SDF officers wearing digital camouflage that met the technical specifications for the year 2031. Among the civil officers an obvious sense of relief spread, and Rentaro could see some civil officers break rank to rush forward and tend to them. But Rentaro felt uneasy. Thinking about it rationally, they probably came to report that they successfully drove away the Gastrea. But then, why did they send so many people? It would have been enough to radio the information over, so they couldn't all be messengers. Even if he allowed that they would send messengers, then one, or at most, two, would have been enough. And they weren't even riding motorcycles. Slowly, they grew bigger in his field of vision. They seemed to be injured and were walking unsteadily. Seeing them, the Initiator from the team right next to Rentaro couldn't help but rush out toward them. She was a girl about eight years old. As an Initiator, she was probably just barely old enough to bear fighting. She had soft curly hair, and she looked kind. As she rushed toward the injured fighters, she peeked up at the faces from below, showing consideration for the soldiers. Then, abruptly, she stopped moving. At that moment, Rentaro also noticed something out of place. The soldiers were walking calmly, even as they held in their intestines that were spilling out of their stomachs. And they had gotten close enough that their expressions could be seen—their faces were ashen and their lips blue. The blood spilling out of their cut stomachs soaked bright red into their camouflage uniforms. From their half-open lips came cryptic groans. There was no question that they had lost more than a fatal amount of blood. It was an unpleasant sight that they were all too familiar with, and they all got chills. Rentaro called out to the girl. "Get away! Don't go near them!" The girl turned back, looking like she was about to cry. Suddenly, everything above her neck disappeared. The next instant, blood spurted forcefully into the air like a geyser. The girl's legs became tangled, and her body fell forward. There was a stifling stink of blood. Right next to Rentaro, there was a thud as something about the size of a basketball fell to the ground. He froze with his eyes wide open. He could not for the life of him find the courage to turn his head a little to look there. As if waiting for that moment, all the soldiers' bodies burst open from the inside. What appeared from each was eight legs that included a set of two large pincers. Bodies, flattened, slid parallel to the ground, but their backs arched and at the tips of their gigantic tails shone things that looked like sharpened blades. Arachnids—mottled scorpion Gastrea—appeared, attacking with red eyes glittering. One made a giant leap into the adjuvant next to them. Even though it was still a larva, it was so sudden that they were too late and were cut, screaming with a shower of blood. Looking around, Rentaro could hear screams and shouts from different directions, and their ranks became a melee. Just then, from the centerline where the general commander was, a howitzer shot something into the air with a long white trail of smoke. It stretched far and then opened up a parachute high in the sky. It scattered oxidizing materials, combustible materials, flame-coloring materials, and brightening materials that were fastened to the lower part of it into the sky, giving birth to a small sun. It was a flare. One after another, parachutes opened, and in no time, a number of lights were in the air, greatly expanding how far they could see. Rentaro shielded his eyes with his hand and narrowed his eyes. Then, he took a step backward in shock. The strong light exposed a small mountain of countless silhouettes. They were probably two or three kilometers ahead. They were all various types of Gastrea, big and small. As if they had been waiting for that moment, red dots suddenly appeared in the darkness. When Rentaro realized that they were all the red eyes of Gastrea, he gave an involuntary groan. In order to approach the civil officer camp unnoticed, they had closed their eyes and tread softly. What was really frightening was their number. The Seitenshi's prediction was that there were about two thousand Gastrea gathered outside the walls, but this was at least twice that. The self-defense force that was supposed to act as the advance guard was nowhere to be seen. And yet, the vanished SDF troops and the additional Gastrea seemed to balance each other out in his mental arithmetic. "There's no way…" His stomach dropped, and he felt like hurling. How did the Gastrea Legion manage to defeat the entire self-defense force? The SDF should have had the knowledge to completely shut out the Gastrea the way they had in the Second Kanto Battle. The Gastrea realized they had been exposed by the flares, and so, no longer needing to hide, they looked toward the sky en masse and gave a loud howl. The air rumbled, sending Rentaro's skin prickling. Finally, a conspicuously large Gastrea at the front rushed toward them, and the rest followed, one after another, making a number of rhombus-shaped battle formations. The front line drove toward the civil officers in a straight line, tips of their swords aimed forward. The invaders let out a rumbling war cry, one that sent a crack through the ground and clouds of dirt alike, to the point where it was hard to tell if it was the ground shaking or the entire earth. Sweat poured from Rentaro's frame, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. What was with these Gastrea that could follow orders? They didn't look like a troop of Gastrea, they looked like a school of fish that had gathered together, resembling one giant organism. Even humans who had trained for years would have had a hard time moving together like this. Just then, a piercing pain stabbed into Rentaro's head. He felt like he had noticed something important, but the thought had dispersed before becoming clear. Enju came close to him with an uneasy expression on her face and squeezed Rentaro's palm tightly. The Gastrea were less than two kilometers away. The civil officer troops were also experiencing a precipitous drop in morale. Even battle-hardened veterans were struck with fear. "E-everyone, prepare for battle!" Hidehiko instructed his subordinate adjuvants, but his voice shook, and the hand he raised into the air was weak. "Everyone, prepare for battle!" Rentaro repeated the order. Realizing that his own voice also sounded slightly nervous, he made an effort to stop his teeth's chattering. He drew his XD gun from his hip and pulled the slide so it would be ready to fire at a moment's notice. The Gastrea were one kilometer away. As the Gastrea slowly closed in on them, every single one of the civil officer troops seemed racked with nerves. Five hundred meters away. Reinforcing the front lines were the crustacean- and beetle-type Gastrea. Their forewings and bodies hardened with keratin and chitin were made into even harder armor by the Gastrea factor, and they glittered as they reflected the flares they were being hit with one after another. An adjuvant line that was equipped with rifles took a step forward and fired them at the commander's signal. There was the dry sound of bullets firing while muzzle flashes dazzled their eyes. The NATO-standard, high-speed Varanium rifle cartridges rushed into the first line of Gastrea. They were bullets optimized for destroying the insides of Gastrea, and would change into a mushroom shape to expand the wounds. The Gastrea's flesh would be ripped apart in the display of attack power. That was what was supposed to happen. Rentaro let out an involuntary shout. The Gastrea did not fall. Surprisingly, the beetle Gastrea in the front row did not stop even after receiving wounds that would have incapacitated normal Gastrea long ago. The rifle squad faltered, but they soon fired again continuously. Over the sound of blood splattering and flesh ripping apart was the strange sound of the Gastrea roaring with all their might. They finally brought down a few Gastrea after blowing their heads off, but those were soon trampled and detoured around, and a hopeless number of Gastrea gushed forth. The number that had been taken down was a lot smaller. It was as if they could not feel pain. Rentaro didn't really understand what had happened, but instinctively, he understood one of the ways they had broken through the SDF. Three hundred meters away. "Big Brother, over there!" Tina shouted. Rentaro put his face next to Tina's. She was pointing at something in the air. At first, it was too dark to see anything, but then a flare exploded close by. A squad of flying Gastrea appeared in the area where the veil of darkness had been lifted. There were a little less than fifty of them. The problem was the round objects they were carrying between their front and back legs: other Gastrea. In other words, paratroopers. When that realization struck, chills shot down Rentaro's spine. The flying Gastrea seemed uncomfortable at having light shined on them and tilted their bodies to move away from it, taking a large detour around the air above the civil officer troops and going behind even the area where they had set up tents, landing in the forest behind the backs of the civil officer troops. They released the Gastrea they were holding and then returned to the front lines. Rentaro looked at Tina. "Did you see that, Tina?" Tina paused. "Yes," she said. Seeming to understand the seriousness of the situation, Tina gave a quiet nod. That was probably a detached force sent to attack the civil officer troops in a pincer attack. Rentaro looked around, but it did not look like anyone else had noticed. Rentaro made up his mind and ran, going for the front line where Hidehiko Gado was commanding the rifle squad. When he got there, he put his hand on the man's shoulder and whirled him around. "There's a detached force behind us. We're going to be caught in a pincer attack. Let us go fight it." "Don't you understand that this is no time for that?!" shouted Hidehiko. "If they get through from behind, then it really will be over. We'll be completely wiped out!" Hidehiko waved his arm in front of him with bloodshot eyes. "Right now, we have to deal with the Gastrea in front of us. Get back in line, Satomi!" Rentaro wanted to object more, but he controlled himself. Turning around, he went back to his adjuvant, where everyone on his team was waiting for him with uneasy expressions. "Satomi, what is it?" Kisara asked on behalf of the group, meeting his eyes. He hesitated for a second but then explained the developments as briefly as possible. "That's serious!" said Tamaki, taken aback. Shoma watched Rentaro silently as he listened. "Satomi, what do you want to do?" "I want to go fight the enemy on our own." Enju looked uneasy. "Rentaro, but that means…" Rentaro nodded silently. That would mean disobeying orders from his superior officer, Hidehiko Gado. During the civil officer training they had undergone these past few days, Rentaro and the others had been given detailed instructions about the severe punishment that awaited them if they disobeyed orders. Yuzuki contemplated for a while, and then looked to Rentaro. "You decide, Rentaro Satomi. I'll do as you say, Leader." The adjuvant members all looked upon him as well, waiting expectantly for his decision. "I…" he started. Just then, a thunderous shout reached their ears. "Cease fire!" When Rentaro turned to look, he saw that the rifle squad was moving back under Hidehiko's instructions, passing the baton to the civil officers who had close-combat weapons. Rentaro's adjuvant had more close-combat fighters, so they were supposedly part of that group. Rentaro and the others moved forward, as if being pushed by the rifle squad and their paranoid gazes. The Gastrea were a hundred meters away. The rumbling of treaded ground combined with war cries to bring about the thunderous roar of the Gastrea. There was no sign of the enemy decreasing. What was going on? Rentaro's sense of crisis increased. No matter how he thought about it, he was far from being able to take an optimistic view of the situation. Looking left and right, he saw that the other adjuvants shared his anxiety. A young man to his right with hair sticking up like a rockhopper penguin was coincidentally the leader of the adjuvant next to them at camp, as well. Even though Rentaro was often hated by other civil officers for being an upstart, when the young man found out Rentaro was ranked 300, he put his hand on Rentaro's shoulder and said with an affable smile, "I'm proud to be fighting next to you." Rentaro ground his clenched teeth together. If he left right now, there was a possibility that the space left by his absence would cause the death of Hidehiko Gado or the neighboring leader. They were getting close to the time limit. A little longer and Rentaro would be saved by the easy ending that they had run out of time. In that sense, the choice of not choosing anything was undeniably an option. However, if the surprise Gastrea attack squad reached them without being noticed and they were completely overtaken from behind, they would lose more than ten or a hundred people. The last breakwater would burst, and Gastrea would flow into Tokyo Area. Rentaro took deep breath after deep breath and looked forward. This was no time to hesitate. It was time to move. "Let's go." He turned as he said this, and everyone nodded gravely. Watching each Promoter put arms around his or her Initiator, Rentaro also stood next to Enju and put an arm around her waist; she put her strong arm around his. His eyes met Enju's; her black ones turned a deep crimson. The next instant, he was hit with pressure pushing down on his body. It had been a while since he had last felt the acceleration that seemed like it would blow him away. Enju had awakened her Rabbit Factor. They flew over the sky above the columns of civil officers in large parabolas, heading for the back. Rentaro's uniform flapped in the gale, and it was hard to open his eyes in the wall of air pressing in on him. When Rentaro's feet touched the ground again, he gasped as he pulled air into his lungs. Looking back at what they had left behind, he saw that most of the people were staring at them with their mouths open, not understanding what had just happened. However, one person—Hidehiko—grasped his fist tightly, shaking with anger. Rentaro felt a second of guilt, but he soon shifted his concentration on what was in front of him. Checking to make sure his whole team had followed, he went through the frontline base where they had camped for the last few days and into the forest that had been at their backs until now. Rentaro squinted through the wall of air that came at him and instructed Enju and the others to gather in the forest. It was dark there, and full of sticky, humid summer air. Once together, he made sure everyone knew the rough position of where the Gastrea had been last spotted, and then set off. The group moved by holding on to the Initiators, borrowing their ability to move at high speeds. With the Owl and Cat in the lead with their night vision, the adjuvant members jumped through the tops of the trees like ninjas. Leaves grazed Rentaro's cheeks, and his gaze went left and right dizzyingly. Enju landed on a thin branch, and crouched to start another massive leap. This time, his chin was pulled down, and his vision rose and fell, practically giving him vertigo. Kisara, who had just newly formed a pair with Tina, looked like she was having a hard time with the girl's freely changing directions, but Rentaro couldn't say anything because he was having a hard enough time trying not to be thrown off by Enju's superfast acceleration. Inside the still forest, four pairs forming a total of eight people were advancing, rustling the leaves as they jumped. Rentaro's heart had been beating hard for a while as he stared in front of him at the impending confrontation. Some time had already passed since the airdropped Gastrea had landed; they'd most likely started moving already. If they were planning a surprise attack on the back of the front lines, then they would soon come across each other. Just then, there was a loud explosion behind them, followed by the sound of weapons firing. The main civil officer troops beyond the forest were finally fighting the Gastrea front lines head-on. From between the treetops, Rentaro caught glimpses of explosions' red flames painting the battlefield crimson. "Leader, I've found them!" Midori shouted toward him. Looking in the direction she was pointing, Rentaro, who couldn't see as well as she could in the dark, couldn't immediately tell what she was talking about. He signaled Enju by tapping on her shoulder three times, and she used her rabbit jumping power to leap even higher. Rentaro gritted his teeth against the invisible hand that seemed to push down on him as they accelerated, until the pressure finally disappeared. With the sound of the wind in his ears, he opened his eyes narrowly and saw that they were already fifty meters in the air. Straining to look in the area where Midori had pointed earlier, he saw a pitch-black group, darker than the darkness, squirming in a clearing. And a straight line from that was the main civil officer force led by Nagamasa Gado. There was no sign that the main force had noticed the impending danger of the Gastrea sneaking in from behind them. "We're going down, Rentaro!" After Enju spoke, they lost inertia and traced the trajectory of a free fall. The forest rushed toward them at a terrifying speed and the fundamental fear of falling engraved in his DNA ran through his whole body. However, Enju safely thrust her legs at a thick branch, and with exquisite timing, bent her legs perfectly to break their fall and jump toward the next branch. Before they had time to relax, Rentaro gave the hand signal to attack to those behind him. Everyone leapt off their branches. This time, he could see the enemy even more clearly. Their chests were made up of eight parts, and a pair of antennae extended from their heads like whiskers; each antenna had a pair of small compound eyes. The hard exoskeletons, like those of crustaceans, glittered like obsidian. And there were a lot of them. The Gastrea were shaped exactly like pill bugs, but in order to infect humans with their bodily fluids, their mouthparts were stretched wide and had giant fangs peeking out. They came up to about Rentaro's chest, but because they did not have crazy shapes, Rentaro concluded that they were all Stage One simple factors. The Gastrea crowded together in a diamond formation, but because they were so vigilantly waiting for a chance to launch a surprise attack on the main force, they had, luckily, still not noticed Rentaro and the others. After a while, one dropped suddenly from the sky and screeched to the others upon spotting Rentaro's crew, but by then it was too late. Rentaro and Enju jumped into the middle of the Gastrea gaggle side by side. Just before they landed, Enju cut Rentaro loose, and Rentaro rolled forward to break his fall as he landed. Enju released her terrifying natural leg powers and darted around, obliterating the enemy's admittedly crowded battle formation. Her hurricane roundhouse kick surpassed even the claws of a tiger, ripping through the armor of the crustaceans easily. With their exoskeletons peeled off, their bodily fluids spurted into the sky, and they were covered by the high-pitched screams of the Gastrea. The Varanium weights on the bottoms of Enju's shoes drew out a strong and unparalleled kick that was like a flash of death for Gastrea. They could not lose. "Haaaaaaa!" Rentaro released his artificial limbs. The artificial skin covering his right arm peeled off, exposing his black Super-Varanium artificial arm. Gritting his teeth at the fuzzy pain burning into his brain, Rentaro made a fist and raised it, activating its power. Empty golden shell casings were kicked out from his arm. At the same time, his arm was pushed forward with intense acceleration. He felt the thrust of Homura Kasen sink into the flesh of a Gastrea that weighed less than seventy kilograms. The next instant, it was thrown into the horizon like a bowling ball, impacting the surrounding Gastrea and scattering them like pins. The Gastrea had been planning a surprise attack, but they had ended up on the receiving end of one, and it threw them into confusion. The other members of Rentaro's adjuvant landed like shooting stars, crushing enemies left and right. Midori's nails sprinkled death before they could even be seen, and when the Gastrea tried to retreat, they were caught in invisible spider silk and exposed to the appalling slaughter of Tamaki's Varanium chain saw. Soon, about thirty Gastrea had screamed and were starting to flee, succumbing to fear. A violent urge filled Rentaro. He couldn't let them get away. Behind them spread the undefended Tokyo Area. If even one Gastrea created a Pandemic, it would be more than enough. "Leave it to me." Just then, there was a hint of the smell of citrus shampoo right next to him. Kisara, with her long hair fluttering, danced out in front of Rentaro. Using her right foot as an axis, she rotated her body once, slipping her sword out of its sheath with centrifugal force. "Tendo Martial Arts Sword Drawing First Style, Number 8—" There was a ringing sound as the sword came out of the sheath. "Muei Musou." The thirty Gastrea that had turned around and were starting to flee were suddenly cut in two, and there were screams and splashes of blood. In addition, the trunks of the pine trees and sugar maples in the area were also cleaved in half, and all the trees within range of the attack were felled. Rentaro stood still in amazement, forgetting for a moment that they were in the middle of battle. A whirlwind slash. It was the only way to describe that attack. But just then, Rentaro was surprised as the skin of the Gastrea that had been cut down started to foam, and then started to stand, convulsing. Gastrea that had escaped damage to their hearts and brains were showing signs of regenerating. "Kisara, get back!" Realizing what Rentaro was trying to do, Kisara retreated. Rentaro made eye contact with all the Promoters. Standing in a line horizontally, they drew their guns from their belts. The impact of the kickback reached Rentaro's elbows and his eyes were dazzled by the muzzle fire that bloomed in the dark of the night. They pulled the trigger continuously without even checking to see where their shots landed. Rentaro, Kisara, Shoma, and Tamaki fired with unwavering control, rushing into the bodies of the Gastrea that were trying to regenerate, and the Varanium's regeneration-inhibiting properties started to work. The Gastrea trying to revive themselves were pierced with a storm of bullets, and this time, they stopped moving. There was a strong smell of gun smoke from the muzzle of Rentaro's XD that had emptied itself of ammunition. Rentaro changed magazines and waited for a while, but after realizing there was no sign of regeneration, he sighed. They had defeated them all. And because he thought that, when one of the bodies at Kisara's feet suddenly jumped up and sprang at her, he wasn't able to deal with it in time. "Kisara!" he shouted. At his voice, a look of astonishment appeared on her face. Just as the Gastrea's fangs were about to pierce through Kisara's skin, a fist came from the side, twisting into its torso. The Gastrea that had been hit by the fist expanded suddenly and then burst, like a balloon that had been pricked with a needle. A sullen mist of blood hung in the air, and Rentaro and Kisara stopped in their tracks, eyes wide. In the end, Shoma was the one who had saved her. However, Kisara was so astonished that she even forgot to thank him. Abruptly, Rentaro's and Kisara's eyes met. Even without words, he could tell that she was asking, "What was that move just now?"—because Rentaro felt exactly the same way. If she were just asking the name, he could have told her that it was Rokuro Kabuto, which drew a circle around the opponent as it was released, but that wasn't a move that made the opponent explode. Shoma had improved on the move. Seeing Rentaro's and Kisara's eyes on him, Shoma turned his body around awkwardly. It was as if he suddenly regretted using the move. "Leader Satomi, we have finished here." Turning around, Rentaro was just in time to see Midori slipping her claws out of the last pill bug's body. She had skewered the brain easily through its armor by going through spaces between segments, and the light of life had already been extinguished in the Gastrea's eyes. In the middle of a terrible battlefield filled with corpses, the four Initiators looked at him with their eyes shining red. They killed them all in such a short time… Rentaro shivered. They were strong. This was the true value of the adjuvant system. Rentaro returned to himself with a start when he realized they were all watching him, waiting for orders. "All right, now let's hurry up and go back and help the main force." Rentaro and the others tried their best to move quietly as they hurried back. As he held onto Enju's shoulder, with her kicking trees and rustling leaves as she moved, for some reason, the uneasiness he felt showed no sign of going away. It was true that they had nipped the surprise attack in the bud, but everything they had encountered so far was Stage Ones. Where were the Stage Twos and higher? Finally, they could hear the rapport of weapons and hardened voices beyond the trees, and see red through the leaves. Suddenly, the forest cleared, and his vision widened all at once. The rough voices that had been muffled by the trees became noticeably louder. Because they had been in the dark until now, Rentaro involuntarily narrowed his eyes as light flowed into his retinas all at once. "Damn it, they're already here…?" They had only been away from the formation for a short time, but the battlefield had changed considerably. The battle formation that had been organized before had collapsed, and they had been pushed by the Gastrea all the way back to the tents. Flames were blazing here and there all over their own camp. A melee of enemy and ally mixed together; shouts and cries, guns and swords—the battlefield played the music of pandemonium. An enormous, cylindrical Gastrea that looked like a snake but had a mouth like a sucker smashed the tents around it as it writhed; it was a leech Gastrea. Fighting more than equally with a pair that had swords in both hands was a Gastrea that looked like a strange combination of spider and scorpion—a pseudoscorpion Gastrea. There was a group of civil officers with spears who had gathered to form a line around a boar almost ten meters in length. Pushed back by the fierce attacks, the civil officers fought hard within the camp, but no matter how Rentaro looked at it, there was too big of a difference in their numbers, and the civil officers were at a disadvantage. In this situation, it didn't matter which squad they were in anymore. In the back of his mind, Hidehiko Gado's face looking at him with betrayal crossed his mind for a moment, and he shook his head. He had to at least try to find them. Rentaro signaled his team members to follow him and then ran like the wind through the battlefield. Fortunately, all the combatants were focused on their own bouts, so they were able to weave through the gaps as they ran. Climbing the small hill in front of them, Rentaro suddenly found a shining, dark gray exoskeleton and sighed with relief. There was no mistaking it. It was Hidehiko Gado. In a spot a little ways away from the battlefield, not even giving any orders, he was wandering around idly. "Hey, you. This place is done for. Give the order for the troops' immediate retreat." Rentaro started to stretch out his arm, but he noticed something strange and stopped his hand in midair. "Well, if it isn't Leader Satomi." Hidehiko turned his pale face around to face Rentaro. Rentaro had always imagined that the man shut himself in a research lab all day, but at that moment he was more than pale; he was pallid. Even though he had been so nervous before the attack that even the roots of his teeth were shaking, right now, the man was strangely calm. However, rather than putting Rentaro at ease, it seemed eerie. The problem was the object Hidehiko held in his right hand. "Have you seen the Spear of Light?" Hidehiko asked. "The Spear of Light?" Rentaro repeated. Hidehiko chuckled. "If those guys have such a thing, then humans have no chance of winning in the first place. It's over." Saying that, he showed Rentaro the object he held in his hand. Next to Rentaro, Enju took a sharp breath. It was a human arm. It was a distorted cross section, as if it had been ripped off, and there was nothing past the elbow. From its size, it looked to be that of a young girl. It was probably his Initiator's. "Kokone and I were a real family. We said we would be together even until the end and held hands the whole time. That's when we were attacked by the Spear of Light… Before I knew it, the spear went astray and came right next to me. Kokone disappeared, leaving only her arm." One glance at Hidehiko laughing loudly, and Rentaro could tell that he was not in a normal state of mind. "But I'm glad that you're okay, Leader Satomi." Seeing Hidehiko take a step as his armor creaked, Rentaro involuntarily took a step back. In the end, that action decided their fate. Suddenly, the ground started to crack beneath Hidehiko's feet, and there was a sudden bump, and it split in half with a roar. "Look out!" Rentaro pulled so hard he thought his arm would be dislocated, and before he knew it, he had fallen on his back on the ground. Where Hidehiko had been standing, about ten meters of the ground had completely fallen away, and there was a giant hole. Gado had disappeared. Suddenly returning to his senses, Rentaro quickly took a flashlight from his hip and ran up to the hole. He covered his mouth to keep out the choking earth and its smoky cloud of dust. The second he shined the light on the bottom, however, he met the eyes of creatures. They'd dug their way out of the earth. Except—to be more precise, their eyes had degenerated so much and were so small that they could no longer see. They had fur that looked like wet velvet. Their five gigantic claws that had become enlarged were for pushing through the dirt, but the feelers and bright red flower that broke through their fur gave off the stink of a Rafflesia plant. If they didn't have the feelers radiating out from the tips of their noses covering their faces, Rentaro probably never would have noticed that they were star-nosed mole Gastrea. He had not expected this attack from directly below them at all, and it gave him the chills. They were probably Stage Twos. From what he could see, there were about five of them. They'd caused the cave-in and were coming to attack them. When the moles realized they'd been seen, they quickly rushed into a side tunnel. "Tinaaaaa!" Rentaro called out. "Yes, sir!" Tina leapt and jumped down to the bottom of the hole and thrust the antitank rifle that was almost as big as she was into the side tunnel and pulled the trigger. There was a dull bang, and a great muzzle flash spouted out of the tip of the rifle from the V-shaped muzzle break. The discharge gas that flowed backward blew up a cloud of dust that covered the surrounding area. In an instant, there were screams of Gastrea coming from deep in the tunnel. Without pausing to take a breath, Tina changed her aim and pulled the trigger again and again, mercilessly, until finally all the Gastrea were silent. "Big Brother, I have defeated them," she stated. Nodding once at Tina, who had jumped out of the hole and returned to his side, Rentaro looked over the battlefield. It had become a melee with no logic or reason. Once it had come to this, the commander's instructions had no way of reaching them. On the other hand, he did not have the power or authority to do anything about their current battle. Rentaro closed his eyes and then slowly opened them. "We will split up and help those civil officers who are fighting tough battles." Everyone gave a nod. Rentaro closed his eyes and took three steadying breaths, then announced, "Let's go." Promising to reunite, they bumped fists and split up by pair. Rentaro ran along the battlefield, looking for civil officers who needed to be rescued. Enju was able to make enemies retreat and rescue their allies at what seemed like lightning speed. They rescued an Initiator who had been cornered by Gastrea and was desperately scooting backward to escape, then saved a pair that had lost their comrades, and carried out the wounded without a break. Some of the people they saved were dumbfounded and stupefied, some repeated their thanks more than necessary, and some looked Rentaro in the eye and squeezed his hand, saying nothing as they returned to the battlefield. However, as was natural on a battlefield where life and death competed with each other, they didn't meet with just beautiful situations. Unfortunately, they were unable to make it in time to save an Initiator who they watched get ground up between numerous rows of sharpened teeth. In particular, their eyes were filled with the sight of confused Initiators who lost their Promoters, their commanders, and emotional pillars of support. In one place, there was a girl sitting unmoving next to the corpse of her Promoter. When Rentaro pulled her arm to try to get her to a safe place, he was met with resistance. "Stop," said the girl. "If I leave this man's side, I'll be hit a lot." The words were an account of the kind of treatment she had received from her Promoter when he was still alive. No matter how many times Rentaro told her that her Promoter had died, the girl wouldn't believe it, and Rentaro left to rescue someone else. When he passed by that area again, a large number of Gastrea had swarmed over, devouring something greedily with their backs turned to him, looking like they were fighting over something in front of them. They seemed to notice Rentaro, but they showed no sign of coming to attack him. They must have really liked whatever they were eating there. In another place, there was a Promoter who was turning into a Gastrea. He was aiming his gun so that he could at least die as a human, but an Initiator with her dyed hair in buns stood in his way, imploring him with tears in her eyes. "Shun, it's not too late. So don't kill yourself!" The next instant, the transformation was complete, and the girl's head was plucked off by the Gastrea behind her. Her body fell, spinning like a top. The smoke made Rentaro's eyes sting. His breathing became shallow. His face was probably black with soot and mud. The effective temperature was around a blistering 50 degrees Celsius. Rentaro ripped off his necktie at the battlefield's heat. He had gotten separated from Enju without realizing it. When he looked around to see where he should go next, he saw a flame of fire approaching an abandoned cottage right next to him. The flames of the burning civil officer tents called to each other and merged. When they did, they transformed into an intense swirl of flame that reached over 2,100 degrees Celsius. The roar made by the surge of crimson was like the bellowing laugh of the devil. If he remembered correctly, this building held gasoline— The instant he saw the tongues of flame stretch to reach the drums, the blood in his entire body froze. The next moment, there was a burst of flame, and his body was hammered with the wind from the blast as it was thrown into the air. Rentaro was thrown almost twenty meters back, and his body was pushed into the ground. He rolled a few times with the momentum until he finally stopped. There was damage to his inner ears. As his world turned, he spit out the gritty sand and put his hand on the ground, pushing up his hurting body. From his scorched uniform came the stink of burning synthetic fibers. His clothes were ripped all over the place, and there were dark red spots of coagulated blood. He breathed in too much thin air and dizziness hit him like a tank. Ringing reverberated deep in his ears. Feeling strange, he put his hands over his ears and realized that he could no longer hear. Damage to his eardrums… Rentaro stood, dazed, looking across the battlefield that had lost its sound. Black smoke rose from the civil officer's base at the front lines, which was red with flames. Ashes danced in the air. The remaining officers were shouting desperately with their mouths wide open, trying to turn the tide in their favor, but their situation just kept getting worse. There was an Initiator with her arm around a Promoter without a head. She was looking desperately for a medic. A reptilian Gastrea threw an Initiator's body high into the sky, then, when it caught her in its mouth, it and another Gastrea ripped the body clean in half. There was an Initiator who must have gotten separated from her Promoter. She had white skin and wore a white dress, and in the middle of the scorching battlefield, she covered her face with both hands, crying. At her feet, there were pieces of bodies mixed together that came all the way up to her ankles. The organs of the dead went flying, and opened-up craniums had brains showing as they rolled around covered in mud. It was hell. That was the only way to describe the scene unfolding before him. "What are you doing, Rentaro?" Suddenly, he felt strong pressure on his head. Enju's voice and the sounds of the battlefield returned to his ears. "It's coming this way! Get down." "What do you mean by it?" Before he could even finish those words, it suddenly happened. Far off in the distance, beyond the curtain of fire, he thought he saw a brief flash, and something that looked like a beam of light mowed down an area right above where Rentaro was, moving at the speed of light. The next instant, everything that was in that silver path had been cut, and with a strange sound, ten or so civil officers were split in two, their bodies dancing in the air. Chills went down his spine. Standing up reflexively and looking behind him, Rentaro could see those silver paths cutting through, with frantic screams one after another. Spears of Light—Those three words appeared inside his head. "No way…" Rentaro took a step back in shock. The anti-Gastrea tactics they had developed in these past ten years had been made on the assumption that Gastrea did not use projectile weapons. That assumption was crumbling from its base. This was probably the thing that had shot down the Tomahawk missiles fired by the aegis cruiser the other day and brought down the helicopter and fighter aircraft. His instinct told him that they could not win. They were all going to be killed. Rentaro himself, Enju, Kisara, Tina, and all their other adjuvant members would be killed for no good reason. At that moment, a long roar echoed across the battlefield. This roar reached from one end of the forty districts to the other. The roar that sounded like distant thunder was not a war cry or a shriek, but a scream of agony. All the Gastrea froze at once and turned their heads toward the roar. After a brief moment, the sound disappeared from the battlefield. Rentaro also followed their gazes, looking in the same direction. He saw an enormous silhouette that looked like a small mountain twisting its body in agony. It was obviously tens of times bigger than the other Gastrea. Rentaro knew instinctively that that was Aldebaran. On the heels of that thought, the Gastrea moved as one. Caterpillar Gastrea crawled along the ground, and insect and bird Gastrea all hung in the air around the enormous one, using their own bodies as a wall to retreat. Because of the Gastrea flying like a defensive mosquito swarm around Aldebaran, even if Rentaro strained his eyes, he could not see what the Gastrea in the middle looked like. However, the hoarse scream he heard for a moment and the excessively large silhouette were more than enough to send shivers up and down his body. Finally, all the Gastrea had left the battlefield, and all that was left were the living and the dead. "Have we been…saved?" The small Promoter next to him muttered this quietly, but it echoed in Rentaro's ears for a long time. 2 The next day, a black rain poured down on Tokyo Area. The torrential rains drenched Rentaro's whole body and dripped from the bottom of his chin. He thought about the temperature being 15 degrees Celsius in July and found it hard to believe how cold it was. However, that was only to be expected. When Rentaro raised his face, he saw a dark, lead-colored sky. The day before, the enormous Varanium structure, the Monolith, had collapsed. The seriousness of the effects had become clear after a night passed. On the news Rentaro watched in the morning, he learned that when the Monolith collapsed, a large amount of ash from the Monolith had drifted up into the stratosphere and formed a thick cloud. It blocked the sun and looked like it would remain in the sky above Tokyo Area for three days. The sound of the Monolith's collapse had been heard even at the edge of Tokyo, and the vibrations from the collapse were felt all across Japan, reaching even Hakata and Hokkaido Areas. The shock wave from the collapse went halfway around the world and was even seen at the weather observatory at Pike's Peak in Colorado, USA. On a global scale, there was a 0.3 hectopascal rise in atmospheric pressure measured. Based on recent weather observation models, the ashes and sand from the bleached Monolith were carried north by the westerlies and were expected to fall as far north as Hokkaido. Even the black rain that drenched Rentaro's body right now was apparently from the ash and sand from the Monolith's collapse that had been dissolved by the rain and were now falling back down. From the announcement made by the government, there was nothing harmful in it, but he could not tell if that was the truth or not. At the very least, he did not try to whet his thirst with it. Even more serious was that for the next three days, the sun would not peek out onto the surface of the earth. There was already a gloomy, defeated mood spreading through the civil officer troops who had survived the hell from last night. If at least the weather changed for the better, their moods could be changed so too, thanks to the secretion of serotonin in their brains, but… The bottoms of their boots were filled with mud, and it felt very uncomfortable. Rentaro lifted his head and looked around him. The surrounding area was a wide, vast plain, and Promoters were spread out. There was a mountain nearby of raised ground with one side covered with debris, telling the story of how intense the battle had been between the Gastrea and the self-defense force. Rentaro was walking where the infantry division of the SDF had made camp. He was sandwiched between body bags for some reason. This morning, only the Promoters were gathered under the pretext of searching for survivors and rescuing those in the base camp. Everyone had noticed that it was just a pretext to conceal the real reason they were here. The SDF facilities they were visiting were destroyed, and its officials were mainly lying around in a state where they did not need rescuing. The fact that the Aldebaran army had flooded the civil officer rear guard meant that the fate of the self-defense force that had been the front guard had already been decided, but it was still a shock to see it with his own eyes. They had been completely wiped out by Aldebaran first, after all. They could not come to an agreement with the Gastrea or take prisoners of war, so once they started fighting, it inevitably became a war of extermination. Thanks to that, there wasn't really anyone in need of rescue. It was reasonable to assume that most of those who were not here had become Gastrea themselves. Apparently, the goal given to Rentaro and the other Promoters was to retrieve the corpses before they rotted and spread serious infectious diseases, as well as to send them back to their bereaved families. Rentaro thanked them silently as he tried to gather as many of the parts of the corpses as he could and put them into the body bags one by one. Nevertheless, part of his brain was still stuck on asking why this had happened. There had been two battles in Kanto already. In the First Kanto Battle, the self-defense force suffered a defeat. In the Second Kanto Battle, the self-defense force had won. During the Second Kanto Battle, the SDF had come up with a strategy to force the Gastrea out and keep them out, so they were confident that they would be able to win the third battle as well. It was hard to believe that they had been defeated so easily this time. Just what was the difference between the last battle and this one? If they could not determine the cause of the self-defense force's defeat, there was no way they'd find the clues needed to help them defeat the Gastrea. Moved by instinct that was close to conviction, Rentaro walked around the remains of the battlefield in search of his clue. Before long, he came across one strange thing after another. A tank was split completely in two. From the sharp cut on it, he thought that it was probably from the Spear of Light. There were also those that had fallen into holes and couldn't move. Taking a quick look around, he saw that there were self-propelled guns and missile silos that were also in the same situation. This was probably the work of the Model Mole—the mole Gastrea that Rentaro had also encountered. They dug tunnels until they were right under the weapons of the main force and then scraped away at the dirt to make a hole, inducing the ceiling of the tunnel to cave in. No matter how good the tank treads were on bad roads, they did not appear to be able to get out of deep pitfalls. Rentaro's feelings had surpassed fear and had turned into admiration for their superb strategy. With their sniping, the moles had even brought down the general, Hidehiko Gado, in front of Rentaro's very eyes. No matter how Rentaro looked at it, they were being led way too well. They were like a single colony of insects. How in the world were they sharing information? Just then, he felt a prickle in his mind. That's right, I had thought about this possibility before. If he remembered correctly, that time, he thought they looked like a school of fish that gathered together to look like one giant fish. Suddenly, in the back of his mind, this image overlapped with the image of Aldebaran retreating with its subordinates circling around it like a swarm of mosquitos. A lightbulb flashed in his head and Rentaro involuntarily raised his voice. Could that be what it was? If that was the case, then Aldebaran's real ability was— "Man, this is terrible." There was a splash, and Rentaro turned his head to see Tamaki Katagiri standing with a grim look on his face. His dark blond hair had gotten darker after being in the black rain, and his face, under his sunglasses, was somber. Rentaro made a sound of agreement and turned to Tamaki. "Speaking of which, I haven't thanked you for your help yet." "Huh? What are you talking about?" "With Kisara." Tamaki seemed to understand and looked around them, saying, "Sure." Rentaro followed Tamaki's gaze and saw all the Promoters moving slowly, putting the corpses in the body bags. As a Promoter, Kisara should have also been called for this work, but after talking to the higher-ups about it, he convinced Kisara not to go, saying it wasn't something a girl should be doing. Kisara put up a fight, but Tamaki helped Rentaro try to convince her, and they somehow settled the matter without incident. Kisara had said, "What, both of you?" sulkily, but after seeing this scene with human body parts scattered all over the place, he confirmed that his judgment was correct. Tamaki shrugged his shoulders. "It's not like I did it for you. I did it for her." Just then, there was a noise from far away that split the air, and they lifted their faces. Rentaro had heard this noise before. It was a helicopter rotor. Looking in the direction Tamaki was pointing, he saw a helicopter the size of a bean growing larger and larger. Rentaro saw the logo of the news company on the side of the helicopter and got a bad feeling. Looking around, he saw that other civil officers had also stopped working and had turned their faces to the sky. The helicopter passed over Rentaro's head with a roar that made him want to cover his ears. He couldn't hear very well with the sound of the rain and the rotor, but a sliding door opened and a reporter shouted something. He could predict what the reporter was saying. In the first place, humans liked news where they could laugh about others' mistakes more than they liked news about others doing heroic things. What did the organization that was optimized for getting ratings have to say to the civil officers who couldn't even be said to have won an easy victory if they were being nice…? Rentaro gritted his teeth. Damn it, are they here to publicly scorn us? Suddenly, Rentaro was surprised by an explosion at his ear and a roar that moved upward at the same time. Covering his ears and looking next to him, he saw Tamaki looking up with white smoke rising from the muzzle of his Magnum revolver. Rentaro then heard the hoarse scream of the reporter in the helicopter. Apparently, the bullet had hit inside the helicopter, and the helicopter made a sharp turn and turned tail. "Shit! In movies, handguns could make military helicopters blow up, but it doesn't work like that in real life, I guess?" Tamaki muttered. "You were trying to blow it up?" Rentaro was dumbfounded for a moment, but when his shock subsided, a smile rose to his face. The civil officers working around them laughed pleasantly and cheered, and that slowly grew louder. Rentaro realized that the stagnant mood that had been on the battlefield had been driven off for a moment, and looked with wonder at Promoter Tamaki Katagiri. 3 In the end, the Promoters rescued sixty-eight survivors in half a day. Thinking about the fact that the self-defense force's infantry was a large force that had more than seven thousand people in it, this was only a hundredth of them, which was a depressingly low number. The injured were immediately brought to the medical squad. Those who were crying and had lost their will to fight from fear of Gastrea were deemed unable to withstand more battle, and were given similar treatment. They were currently hearing what had happened from the survivors, but Rentaro wouldn't hear anything from his lowly place on the totem pole, so he could only imagine what they were saying. After a while, the black rain stopped, and when it grew dark, they used that as a chance to end the search. They kept trying until the very end, so even though they didn't have any proof, they were able to feel pretty confident that they had picked up all the survivors. They returned, completely exhausted, to a town close to the plain. The towns in the Outer Districts had been abandoned for ten years and were growing wild, overrun with trees and grass, with plants budding from their roofs. The plants had grown bigger due to the Gastrea virus, and some were swallowing up whole houses with their massive roots. Tokyo Area, District 40, the Outer District where Rentaro and the others were fighting, had plateaus and steep slopes extending far into the area, so few people lived there. As such, there was little chance of coming across Manhole Children or people living illegally in the ruins, so the civil officer troops, who had lost their base to the Gastrea attack, requisitioned these buildings. Fundamentally, the buildings in the Outer Districts were exposed to remarkable aging the moment people stopped living in them and heating them, as they went through differences in temperature and expanded and contracted over and over. The government did not recommend living in the Outer District buildings that could collapse at any moment, but everyone was tired of exposing their skin to the black rain that had been falling since morning, so there were no objections. There were many different buildings of various sizes in the town, but only about a tenth had the minimum facilities to protect them from the rain and keep them warm. Peeking through a convenience store window whose glass had been shattered to pieces, Rentaro was very surprised to see a goat that had gone wild sprawled between the product shelves. The park he stopped by on the way back had an abandoned tricycle and a flattened soccer ball being blown drearily by in the wind. The letters on a rotting signboard with red rust making it thicker could only be half-read from the stains and peeling. Even on the day it started being evacuated as a Gastrea danger zone, the residents must have thought they could return in two or three days. The whole town still looked as if time had stopped on that day ten years ago, with traces of the residents' lives over everything. Rentaro was heading toward a certain junior high school deep within the town. Faint light leaked from the gym that was connected to it. If he remembered correctly, this was where Kisara and the others were working. Thinking that, he diffidently opened the emergency exit door with a loud creak. When he did so, the noise that had been absorbed by the walls rushed at him. There was the sound of people groaning and sobbing mixed with other unintelligible screams, with the sound of slippers running on top of all of that. Inside the building, it was like a field hospital. Injured civil officers and self-defense force troops lay on beds and futons, and when there weren't enough, on rush and straw mats. Between them, volunteer doctors and nurses in white coats hurried back and forth. It was so loud that one had to yell in order to be heard by the person next to him or her, and the smell of medicine wafting through the building was so strong it made Rentaro's head hurt. Because they had no electricity, there were lanterns and candles all over the place, with electric lights tied on top of generators used in place of the normal lights, so the whole place was dimly lit, and there was a strange mood in the air that was hard to explain. "Oh, Rentaro, Rentaro, Rentaro!" An especially loud voice called out, and he saw Enju waving an arm above her head as she ran toward him. With a thud, Enju's head rushed into him and a soft weight rested on his chest. Hugging Enju to him, he noticed a pink nurse's cap on top of her head. When Rentaro pointed at it, Enju lifted her face as usual and laughed gleefully. "Isn't it cute? They gave it to me since I was helping. They said workers had to wear this." "I-I see…," said Rentaro. Enju tilted her head slightly. "What's wrong, Rentaro?" "Nothing—" "Oh, Satomi, you're back early." Turning around, he saw Kisara holding a washbasin with hot water in it. She also had a nurse's cap on her head, like Enju. "Our shift is almost over, so please wait a bit." Rentaro looked around at the bustling atmosphere before looking back at Kisara. "Even Enju's here. She's not being a bother?" Kisara smiled and shook her head. "Not at all. Enju's a big help, holding the injured people's hands tight and just being with them. Everyone seems to appreciate her. On the other hand, I can only do random chores, so I'm sure I'm more in the way of the doctors and nurses." Enju stuck out her chest proudly and sniffed. "You see? I am being of help." Rentaro watched Enju silently. It was possible that Enju was recovering from the painful incident of her classmates being killed in a bombing. He had the urge to ask her directly, but considering the possibility that he was stirring up a hornet's nest, he could not speak carelessly. Rentaro hid his inner turmoil and patted Enju on the head, as if going through his usual movements, saying, "Yes, yes, good job," pretending to act normally. Enju did not seem to notice. "By the way, Satomi, have you met up with Dr. Sumire already?" Kisara asked. "What? Doc? Doc's here, too?" Just then, Rentaro felt a weight on his shoulders as someone draped their arms over him from behind. Cold skin like a corpse. Said person put lips close to his ears. "Good evening, Satomi. It's a nice night." "Gah!" Jumping away quickly and turning around, he saw a smiling face shining brightly with enjoyment through a curtain of hair that was left to grow as it pleased.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-04-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter006.txt	Black Bullet Dragging a long white lab coat, the coroner, Sumire Muroto, lifted her hand in casual greeting. "Yo," she said. "I had some free time, so I left my basement room. The outside is nice sometimes, too." Rentaro's mouth gaped in amazement, and he was unable to respond for a while. "Doc… Why are you here?" "There was a request, so I came here today to supervise the doctors. Didn't I tell you before? I'm a genius, so I have knowledge of everything. I'm just a coroner because it matches up with my hobby. In times of emergency like this, I get called in as a doctor, too." "So even Dr. Death saves people's lives once in a while?" "What, do you want to be euthanized, Rentaro?" "I-I was just kidding. Don't get mad, Doc." Just then, a question crossed his mind. "Doc, didn't you win a lottery ticket for the shelter? Why are you here?" "I didn't win it. I was given it. A government official came to my lab and said they couldn't let Japan's greatest mind die and gave me a ticket. I politely ripped it in half and threw it away then and there, though." "Huh?" The corners of Sumire's mouth lifted as she grinned. "What? Is that strange?" "No… But if you're going to rip it in half, then at least give it to someone." "Who would I give it to? Even if you had a single cup of water in the desert, it won't do you much good, will it? At most, people will just start killing each other over the water. It's more compassionate to resolutely throw the water onto the bare ground in this case." Rentaro paused. "Then, what fundamental solution would you propose for the lack of water?" "Find a giant oasis that can quench everyone's thirst, or get out of the desert. But looking at Tokyo Area's current evacuation situation, I don't see how we can find an oasis big enough to quench everyone's thirst. I came here because I wanted to support the idiots who are carrying out the idiotic plan to get out of the desert." "Just so you know, once the Gastrea rush into this place, you won't be able to run away." "I understand completely." "Doc, I thought you were a more logical person." Sumire grinned again. "Humans think about things logically and then move because of their emotions. I am the same. Keep moving, Rentaro. If you stop, death will catch up to you." "You're right… Thanks, Doc." Rentaro suddenly remembered something and asked her about Enju behind him in a low voice. "Doc, did you hear about Enju?" Sumire's eyes narrowed, and her expression grew stern for an instant. "Yeah, I did. Her classmates were killed because of all that uproar, right? It was very unfortunate." "Doc, how does Enju look to your professional eyes?" "Don't worry, she's probably already fine." "What?" Rentaro's mouth dropped open, stunned speechless. "Enju has more mental strength than we think she has." "R-really?" "You're a really suspicious guy, aren't you? Well, it might be that with the immediate danger of the Gastrea, she's just not thinking about the bombing incident. Just in case, don't say anything to her that might make her remember the incident." His strength suddenly left him in relief. It was all just his needless worrying. At the same time, he became embarrassed by all the nervous actions he took around Enju. Sumire nodded in satisfaction and looked back at Enju and Kisara, clapping her hands. "Now, you two don't need to help anymore, so go home and rest." "What will you do, Dr. Sumire?" Kisara asked wonderingly. Sumire stuffed both hands into the pockets of her lab coat and smiled. "I will spend the night here. I'm going to do my own job. It's better than you'd expect. It's the perfect dimness with a nice atmosphere thanks to all the candles reminding us to slow down and reflect. On top of that, the groans of the patients around me make me feel like I'm in the middle of a zombie movie. Thanks to that, I feel like I'll have some wonderful nightmares." After waiting outside the gym for a while, Enju and Kisara came outside. Rentaro accompanied the girls, walking streets wet with rain. Following the shining GPS dot sent from Shoma's cell phone, they headed toward the place supposedly secured for them to spend the night. When he finally raised his face, Rentaro found a ruin standing in the middle of a thick forest. It was called Century Heights Hotel. "Is this the place, Rentaro?" Enju asked him. "Yeah… At least, it's supposed to be," he replied. "I don't like it. It's kind of creepy," said Kisara. Rentaro couldn't help but agree with Kisara's opinion. He lifted the flashlight and shined it on the unfinished woodwork of the building; the place looked like a haunted house. There was ivy growing over the edifices, and the place looked like it had sports facilities, including a pool and tennis court. It looked like it was trying to be an all-in-one leisure facility, but that resulted in an air that smacked of identity confusion. Picking up a pamphlet that had fallen on the ground, he was surprised to find that one could even hold weddings here, once upon a time. "This plateau breeze will make your life more sophisticated." The aesthetic sense of that catchphrase seemed to go beyond a strained laugh and gave him the shivers instead. Rentaro and the others carefully picked their way through the entrance, where the ceiling had already collapsed. "Oh, Big Brother. Welcome." Wearing an apron over her clothes, Tina had a candlestick in one hand and a feather duster in the other and was running toward him noisily. "I cleaned this hotel so that we can live in it." Rentaro saw that the dust on the ground had been swept, and the broken glass in the windows had been removed, so it felt quite clean. "Well…even if you say we're going to live in it, we're just borrowing it for a few days." "Even so, if we have to stay here anyway, doesn't it make you happier if it's clean?" Tina's eyes were sparkling. She looked like a child who had made a secret hideout. When she led them to a Western-style dining room, they were met with an unexpected warmth. There was a long table with benches and a redbrick fireplace with brightly burning flames. Shoma, Midori, Tamaki, and Yuzuki had been preparing a meal and were just about to finish. There was a wood-chopping ax on the side, meaning someone had split apart the extra chairs and turned them into firewood. Thinking about it sensibly, it did not seem to make sense that they would need to use the fireplace in the middle of summer, but after the ashes from the Monolith covered the sky, the temperature dropped suddenly, and to Rentaro, the warmth from the fireplace felt just right. When preparations for the meal were completed, they didn't need to be ordered to sit and eat. The stew piled on plates and bowls smelled sweet, and when Rentaro brought it to his mouth hesitantly, his eyes widened in surprise. "This is good…" It was a little salty, but they probably thought that on a battlefield, it was better to have strong-tasting foods. It was hard to believe that these were made from canned rations and ready-made food packages. "Hah, how about it? What do you think of me now?" It was Tamaki, who sounded proud as he rubbed his nose. "You made this?" Rentaro asked. Yuzuki answered, challenging but triumphant. "My big brother's the chef at home. A perv like you couldn't even come close to his skill." Rentaro crossed his arms. This was exactly what was meant by "You can't judge a book by its cover." He felt the call of rivalry stir at the idea of another cook. Once the meal was devoured, they were filled with a languid satisfaction. It wasn't that there was a lot of food. In fact, since their storehouse had burned down in yesterday's fighting, the amount of food they'd been given wasn't enough to match the needs of all the civil officers who were left. If operations in Tokyo Area hadn't been frozen, they'd have promptly received relief supplies, but right now, those prospects were dim. Even so, the sense of relief they felt that all eight of them had survived the battlefield and were able to share another meal together overrode the physical shortage of food and gave them comfort. Midori and Tina brought coffee out unstably after the meal, and after that, they all chatted pleasantly. At first glance, it looked peaceful, but Rentaro noticed some awkwardness mixed into their conversation. If he had to say, it felt like they were choosing words in such a way that the critical points of their conversation were not meshing. But at that moment, Enju's innocent voice interrupted without sensing the mood. "Rentaro, why did Aldebaran run away?" "There are rumors flying among the ranks of civil officers," Rentaro started. "But no one knows the real reason why…" "Oh, is that so?" Enju made a serious face and crossed her arms. However, she seemed to think of a different question and murmured, "Will the Gastrea attack us again?" Everyone stopped suddenly and looked down. The light of the candles in the three-pronged brass candlestick flickered ominously. It was the question no one had dared to ask until now. Everyone had already lost too much. For Rentaro, he had studied how tragic war was time and time again in class. However, what he experienced after actually being thrown into the middle of a battlefield was a hell that destroyed the clichéd view of war he had a hundred times over. That battlefield, filled with screams that made his hair stand on end and dyed red with blood and guts, had opened up the lid to his sealed-off trauma and overlapped with images of the Gastrea War he had seen as a child. Honestly, Rentaro had avoided taking the initiative to start this conversation. However, if they continued to keep their mouths shut and avert their eyes from reality, it would result in a grave miscalculation of their chance at survival. When Rentaro looked up, he focused on Enju. "Well, we still have three days. I can't really say anything for sure." In the original scenario of the Monolith's collapse, the Monolith was predicted to collapse seven days after Aldebaran injected it with Varanium corrosion fluid, and three days later, the replacement Monolith would be completed. However, because the Monolith had collapsed a day early, and they had already started fighting, even after a night had already passed they were still three days away from the arrival of the replacement Monolith. And it would be expecting too much to think that Aldebaran would not come back in the next three days. "Satomi, wait…" Kisara raised her hand timidly. "About the Spear of Light…" At those words, everyone's faces clouded over with disgust. Everyone had had a hard time dealing with it on the battlefield. If Enju hadn't saved Rentaro in the nick of time, he might not have been able to remain in this world. "What was that, anyway, Kisara? Was it some sort of laser weapon or something?" That was the conclusion Rentaro had reached after thinking about it for a night. It was the work of a moment, but the instant anything touched the silver thread that looked like a wire saw, every object in its path seemed to be chopped up in a second. Kinetic bombardment—if it was like a bullet, tank gun, or particle beam, then it seemed like it would cause even worse damage than just blow things away around it. In the first place, if there were Gastrea that could shoot lasers, they would be an unbelievable threat. However, Kisara shook her head quietly. "After spending the day helping the medical squad, I saw those who had their limbs cut off by the Spear of Light. All of them had various symptoms like deafness, loss of peripheral vision, and trembling." Kisara stopped talking for a moment and stared at Rentaro. "Satomi, don't you realize? These are all symptoms of a disease we learned about in Japanese history—Minamata disease." Rentaro put his chin on his hand. If he remembered correctly, Minamata disease was a pollution-induced illness caused by the intake of methyl mercury concentrated in the bodies of seafood. Once he got that far, he stood from his chair without thinking. "Wait a minute, then Kisara, that means…" Kisara shifted in her chair and looked straight at Rentaro. "Dr. Sumire, who examined the corpses, said the Spear of Light that severed everything was probably compressed mercury." "Mercury…" The other members of the adjuvant were also unsettled and couldn't hide it, murmuring unanimously. Rentaro continued forward with his calm calculations. If that was the case, then somewhere, there was a Gastrea that could compress mercury inside its body and fire it. "Big Brother, there is something I would like to report regarding that," said Tina. "Tina, don't tell me you…" Tina nodded once and released a Bit from her sleeve into the air. It silently floated in the air and circled around their heads. "After we split up, I saw the Spear of Light as I fought. At the time, I immediately shot out Shenfield to capture the Gastrea that fired it, but unfortunately, it was five kilometers away and so my rifle couldn't reach it." "Five kilometers away?!" It fired at their camp from that far away? "What kind of Gastrea was it?" he asked, hoping against hope that she had seen. However, Tina shook her head hard. "I'm sorry, Big Brother. Because Shenfield puts a large strain on my brain, it doesn't have the ability to send images. All I know are things like the distance, wind speed, and coordinates. However—" Tina beckoned the patrolling Shenfield to return and held it in both hands, staring hard at it. "It is quite large. It's about ten meters high; its length and width is also about ten meters. It's probably a Stage Four." That was the thing that wreaked havoc on the civil officer base. They had no hope of winning unless they eliminated it. But how were they supposed to do that…? Just then, a loud voice called "Excuse me!" from outside the door. When Rentaro stood to look out the window, he saw a man he didn't know standing outside. "Is there a Leader Satomi here? I have a summons from Commander Gado. Please report immediately to the temporary headquarters." 4 Rentaro left the dilapidated hotel looking sidelong at Enju and the others, who were watching uneasily. He followed Gado's messenger to the temporary headquarters; he had heard that it was in the main school building of a different junior high, and this was his first time visiting it. The campfires he saw from afar grew steadily bigger, and the half-dilapidated school appeared slowly out of the darkness. After a quick, silent bow to the two guards standing in front of the campfires there to burn away the summer insects, they entered the school building. From the direction the messenger was leading him, Rentaro surmised that Gado and the others were using the staff room as their temporary headquarters. From the light spilling out beyond the room, it looked as though they'd given top priority to acquiring electricity. Once Rentaro was delivered, Gado's messenger bowed shortly and left. Rentaro knocked on the door and waited until he was given verbal permission to enter. At the voice, he slid open the door. Having grown used to the darkness, the brightness inside dazzled his eyes. The extra steel tables in the staff room were pushed to the corner, and Gado and the twelve or so members of his adjuvant sat around a U-shaped table. In the center was a single, high-backed chair. Everyone around the table was wearing exoskeletons that looked like traditional Japanese armor, and the heat they emitted made the room feel cramped. It was as if they were about to start an inquiry. Rentaro licked his upper lip and told himself to be careful. From the tense atmosphere and hostile gazes, Rentaro guessed that they weren't about to talk about something fun. "Sit down," urged the bald Gado, with his goatee and red armor, from the seat at the head of the table. Cautiously, Rentaro did as he was told. But Rentaro's eyes widened the moment he faced front and focused on Gado. Trying desperately to stifle his uneasiness inside, Rentaro nervously raised his arm and pointed at Gado. "You're…" "Yeah, it happened when I fought Him." There was nothing below Gado's left thigh. It looked like it had been cut off, stitched up, and covered with a bandage. The bandage was covered with a dark stain of blood. "By him, you mean…Aldebaran?" That instant, it was as if he had said an abominable name, and Gado's team covered their faces in agitation. The rumor was true then, after all. In yesterday's battle, there was a scream of agony that echoed right before the civil officers were completely wiped out, and then the Gastrea suddenly retreated. Rentaro and the other regulars hadn't been told the details, but it was a badly kept secret that Gado and his partner had fought Aldebaran, and that their fight had ended in a draw. What was baffling about the situation was that Gado had gone into hiding with no explanation after that, but seeing the sorry state he was in now, Rentaro understood why. It was beyond the level of a badge of honor. If Gado showed himself to the civil officer troops the way he looked now, they couldn't avoid a drop in morale. Gado seemed to notice Rentaro's silence and showed his white teeth with a sinister challenge, slapping his left knee. "You know, this leg wasn't stolen from me. I gave it to that damn Gastrea." "Nagamasa, sir, please do not push yourself." The quiet Initiator wearing a sky blue exoskeleton, Asaka Mibu, bravely waited upon him, trying to replace his leg. But Gado waved her away, annoyed, and looked at Rentaro. "What was Hidehiko like in the end?" "He fought gallantly, sir," Rentaro answered. Gado sighed deeply. "I was the one who forced him to give up being an artist and become a civil officer… If I had known this would happen, I would have let him do as he liked." Rentaro looked at the faces of everyone gathered there. "Did you fight against Aldebaran with everyone here?" "No, Asaka and I were the only ones who made it past the enemy's close battle formation. The enemy did a good job leading us by the nose with its splendid movements. Ironically, even though we can understand words, the enemy was a much better commander." "What if there was a rational explanation for why the enemy could command troops?" "What do you mean?" "Gado. Aldebaran's base is probably a bee Gastrea." This time, all of Gado's adjuvant stirred with astonishment, and Gado looked dubious. "What are you talking about…?" "Gado, do you know why the self-defense force that had an easy victory during the Second Kanto Battle was beaten so quickly this time in the Third Kanto Battle? Also, when you wounded Aldebaran, the surrounding Gastrea immediately formed a wall around it to protect it and retreated. Isn't that strange if you think about it?" Gado rubbed his bald head and tilted it. "Get to the point. Are you saying you found the answer?" "Pheromones." "Pheromones…? Are you talking about those things that come out of your body to attract the opposite sex?" "Those are sex pheromones. What made them all gather immediately to protect Aldebaran were probably swarm pheromones. It is said that swarm pheromones are what command a school of fish in the water to make them seem like one giant fish. There are also alarm pheromones, pheromones to tell friend from foe, pheromones to change moods, trail pheromones, and other different kinds. Over one thousand, six hundred have been identified. "Aldebaran manipulated mole Gastrea to efficiently stop weapons like tanks and automatic cannons from underground, and had dragonfly Gastrea drop others for a surprise attack to break through the rear. From the timing to everything else, it's too perfect. Aldebaran is probably able to use known and unknown pheromones to command the Gastrea. "Pheromones have no taste or smell, so normal humans definitely cannot sense them, and if Aldebaran can use pheromones so dexterously, then it has to be a bee or some other kind of similar Gastrea. Gado, you saw Aldebaran, right? Did you see degenerated wings or a stinger somewhere on its body?" Gado, lost in thought, didn't answer as he put a hand on his chin. It looked like Rentaro had hit the nail on the head. "Do you understand what this means? It means if we take down the head, Aldebaran, the whole swarm will fall apart. Gastrea working alone won't have a leader anymore and can be easily routed. If we continue to get rid of them, they will suffer an upset before long. There's no need to chase after them. Eventually, the replacement Monolith will arrive. We'll win." However, even after listening to Rentaro's plan for victory, Gado remained silent with his arms crossed. Eventually, he put his elbow on top of the desk and put his chin on his hand, looking at Rentaro listlessly. "Your opinion was very helpful. Then, I will share with you a piece of information that you don't know. About none other than Aldebaran—" "Commander!" A member of the adjuvant stood up with a screech of his chair. It was a middle-aged man whose face looked oddly similar to Gado's. He had been part of Gado's son Hidehiko's adjuvant. It was possible that all the members of Gado's adjuvant were his own blood relatives. "I must oppose this! If that is leaked, there will be a fatal drop in morale. You have no obligation to tell a mere soldier!" Gado shook his head. "It's not a problem. Leader Satomi's IP rank is 300. He has the highest rank out of everyone in the troop besides me. He has the right to know. If there's trouble from it, I will be held responsible." Saying that, Gado looked back at Rentaro and said gravely, "Leader Satomi, Aldebaran is an immortal Gastrea. There's no way to kill it." "Huh?" Rentaro responded stupidly. He thought he must have heard wrong. However, that faint hope was crushed to smithereens the next moment. "I will say it again, Leader Satomi. Aldebaran is an immortal Gastrea. Last night, I got in close to him, ready to cross swords and cut off his head. With this," Gado said as he had Asaka go get the weapon leaning against the wall. The weapon Asaka reverently brought back was a giant weapon about as big as she was. Two black blades came from the hilt. It was a special sword called a twin sword. "My sword split open the Gastrea's head, no mistake, and pierced its chest with its next stroke. I definitely felt like I had done damage to its brain and heart, but that thing didn't fall, and the next instant, its wounds started to heal, albeit slowly. I was extremely confused and left myself open. Thanks to that, my leg was eaten, and now look at me." "No way. That's impossible…," Rentaro said. Gastrea only had two vital spots—the brain and the heart. These two areas were supposed to be virtually impossible to regenerate, and other than stabbing these areas and defeating them, using Varanium weapons that inhibit regeneration to inflict damage was the main tactic used when fighting against Gastrea. Gado's sword, with its twin obsidian edges, was without a doubt made of Varanium. Damage to the brain and heart, plus the fact that these attacks were made by the regeneration-inhibiting Varanium, should have made triply sure to give Aldebaran a prompt death. To be able to heal wounds like that was extremely unusual. Gado shrugged his shoulders. "Gastrea cells repair and regenerate telomeres, so they never die of old age. In other words, rather than being immortal, it would be more accurate to say Aldebaran will not age or die." Will not age or die… The back of Rentaro's mind was numb, and he did not know what to say. The darkness of despair pushed in and enveloped Rentaro from all sides. He had thought that Aldebaran's ability was just the Varanium corrosion liquid and using pheromones to completely control a troop of Gastrea, but he had been jumping to conclusions thinking he knew the truth behind the ghost. There had been one more ability. Something that was the capability of the Stage Five Taurus's right hand, the Stage Four Gastrea Aldebaran. "Why—" Rentaro said, gasping. "Why, Gado? Aldebaran has been sighted numerous times in the past. Why hadn't anyone realized that it had this ability until now?!" "I'm sure there are various reasons for it, but one is that we were probably all too caught up with how strong the Taurus troops were," said Gado. "Until a year ago, when the girl of unknown citizenship and name called the world's strongest Initiator came and unexpectedly killed Taurus, many cities were completely annihilated when trying to stop their advance. Most countries did not survive to bring home intel." Gado took the teacup Asaka held out to him, gulped the contents in one go, and leaned forward with a rustle of his armor, looking at Rentaro with belligerent eyes. "Besides, this isn't the only trump card the Aldebaran troops have. Leader Satomi, you've heard of the Spear of Light that many civil officers are talking about, haven't you?" "That Gastrea that can shoot high-pressure mercury from five kilometers away?" Gado widened his eyes in surprise. "High-pressure mercury? It's shooting mercury?" Rentaro nodded quietly. "I have a lot of excellent people in my adjuvant. It's probably an archerfish Gastrea." Normally, archerfish were tropical fish that used their pointy, funnel-shaped mouths to shoot compressed water and bring down insects near the surface of the water. They only measured about twenty centimeters or so in length, but they could shoot up to 1.5 meters. "According to one of our Initiators, the enemy is a giant Gastrea about ten meters across in all directions, so I can't even begin to imagine how much pressure that compressed mercury is being shot out at." "I see…," said Gado. "Well, anyway, we were calling the Gastrea that appeared suddenly yesterday Gastrea X, but after consulting with the Japanese National Security Council this morning, it was acknowledged to be as much of a threat as Aldebaran and was given the code name Pleiades, after the group of stars in the middle of the Taurus constellation." "Pleiades…" Gado fished around in his breast pocket and pulled out two objects engraved with intricate designs. Rentaro could tell immediately that they were chess pieces, a king and a queen. "It's true that, like you said, if we defeat Aldebaran, we'll probably win this game. However, even if we try to defeat the king, the queen will definitely stand in our way. So in this game, we must defeat the queen in order to be victorious." In chess, everyone knew without saying that the king was the most important piece in predicting the outcome of a game. And that the queen, who could move in all directions and had an unlimited range, was the supreme ruler of the battlefield. It was a perfectly fitting phrase. "But this isn't chess, it's shogi, right?" "Hmm?" "The opponent's camp can use all the pieces that were defeated by the Gastrea virus. We're the ones that are being made to play by the rules of chess." Gado seemed to be holding back laughter as he shrugged his shoulders queerly. "That might well be the case." "How many people were killed?" "It would be impossible to explain that in one sentence." Gado took a sip of tea from the cup Asaka proffered, crossed his arms, and looked down. "When the battle started, the enemy numbered about two thousand. However, the seven thousand decisive self-defense soldiers were defeated, and though the Gastrea forces lost five hundred, in exchange, it looks like two thousand of the defeated self-defense force troops were infected with the Gastrea virus and turned into Gastrea, adding to Aldebaran's numbers. Then, the expanded Gastrea troop of three thousand five hundred bodies came up against our five hundred pairs of civil officers, or a thousand people. The enemy lost nine hundred, but half of our pairs were killed as well—and sadly, it looks like a hundred of them were added to the enemy's numbers." "In other words, the current match up of fighting bodies is…" "Two thousand seven hundred Gastrea to our five hundred." Rentaro was sure that wasn't all. They had suffered more serious damage than the numbers made it appear. There were, of course, the injured, but also those ten-year-old girls who were dispirited from the trauma of being suddenly thrown onto such a cruel battlefield. There were also many pairs whose combat power was less than half because one of the partners had been killed. Even if those who lost their partners formed impromptu unofficial pairs, they could not be expected to be in sync. It would be better to say that their actual numbers were about a third of what they had left, or a hundred and sixty-six people. "Those numbers are hopeless," said Rentaro. "I have nothing to say in response to that…," replied Gado. "On top of that, today we must give an even more painful ruling." "What?" Slowly, the pressure from the gazes around Rentaro became even stronger, and he felt intense pressure from them. The corner of Gado's eyes narrowed sharply. "Leader Satomi, do you know why you were called here today?" "What are you…talking about…?" "You were not called here today so we could ask you to analyze Aldebaran and Pleiades. The fact of the matter is, we want to ask you about the independent action your adjuvant took when you left Hidehiko's formation during the operation." When Rentaro understood what Gado was trying to say, he got chills down his spine. "Please, wait. We noticed the Gastrea that had gone to the back of the formation to prepare for a surprise attack and went to intercept them—" "We have confirmed the corpses of the Gastrea to the rear of the main battle formation. However, appearances are appearances, and disobeying orders is disobeying orders. We must think of these two as separate." Unlike earlier, Gado's voice now had coldness mixed into it. Rentaro realized that the winds were blowing in a strange direction and wiped the sweat on his palms hard on his pants. "In order to maintain appearances in the army, even if just one person from the civil officer troops disobeys orders, I'm sure you can imagine what would happen. From the perspective of the other civil officers who did not know the circumstances behind your actions, what you did looks like deserting under enemy fire. In addition, you and your Initiator are a high-ranking pair with an IP rank of 300. Your actions caused a fatal disturbance in the other civil officers who were desperately enduring their shaking knees to stand in line. I must have you pay for that." "B-but—" Even as Rentaro tried to argue vehemently, Gado cut him off completely. "It was rash, Leader Satomi. I hereby disband your adjuvant and sentence you to capital punishment. I will not hear any excuses. You disobeyed the orders of your superior officer and deserted under enemy fire. Those are serious crimes even among serious crimes. If I do not punish you, it will set the bad precedent that even if one disobeys orders, they will not be punished. Military troops with warped rules can no longer be called military troops. They are just a disorderly crowd. Especially now that the mood of defeat has grown stronger, discipline must be tightened." At Gado's words, a heavy weight fell on Rentaro with a thud. Capital punishment. In other words, death. "S-stop messing around!" The instant Rentaro stood from his chair to try to get closer to Gado, a strong fist sank into his stomach, and he almost passed out from the blow. "Oof." Rentaro couldn't bear it, and his knees bent. As he gritted his teeth against the pain, he looked next to him and saw the Initiator, Asaka, looking down at him with a bored look on her face. The little—! "If you move, you will send your life flying," she said. Rentaro was forced to his knees, and pressing into his throat was the cold blade of a Japanese sword. Behind his back, he could hear multiple guns cocking, and as he glared at Gado with his teeth gritted, he received a pitying look. "Leader Satomi," Gado said, "I personally expected a lot out of you. It's unfortunate." Damn it. Rentaro cursed his own carelessness as his clenched fists shook above his knees. When he had been summoned by Gado, why had he not sensed any danger? If he had been able to predict that this would happen, he could have thought of a way to deal with it. Instead, he just nonchalantly… Rentaro lamented his own foolish actions and the fact that he could not find anything wrong with Gado's logic. Gado's reasons were completely valid. If the rules of the corps were to be the most important, then he had to punish whoever broke the rules, no matter who it was. If their positions were reversed, then Rentaro likely would have imposed the same grave punishment on Gado. Resignation slowly took its toll. Rentaro's stomach felt as heavy as lead, and he started to feel dizzy. "My…" He saw Enju's smile in his head. He felt stunned, and his vision grew dark as he sweat profusely. Then, finally, words of defeat passed Rentaro's lips. "My adjuvant… Please do not punish them… They were just following my orders. Please." Gado snorted. "To think that the hero who defeated the Zodiac Gastrea Scorpion and saved the country is now on death row. Fate is ironic to the bitter end, isn't it?" "Commander. There is no need to have pity on him. Let us execute this man here and now!" demanded one of Gado's subordinates. Gado rejected his subordinate's suggestion with a wave of his hand and looked straight at Rentaro with a sigh. Then, he said, "Leader Satomi, are you ready to die once more?" "Huh?" said Rentaro, startled. "Commander!" said Gado's subordinate. "Now, wait a minute," said Gado. "Leader Satomi, as you know, the battle we are fighting right now is a defensive battle to hold out until the construction of the replacement Monolith. However, there are also people who think we should not just be defending. If we were able to eliminate the symbol of the civil officers' current fears, the Gastrea Pleiades, then I believe we can find a way out of this blockade. However, we do not have enough troops that I can deploy elite troops to do the job." Gado stopped talking for a moment and gave a bold smile. "So I have a request to ask of you." Gado stood with one hand on his cane, schooled his gaze, and spoke from his belly. "What I ask is for you to infiltrate enemy territory by yourself and exterminate the unknown long-distance sniper Gastrea Pleiades." Rentaro felt like he had been hit hard on the side of the head. He couldn't react for a good while. "What I really want to say is to go and defeat Aldebaran, but it would be rash to go up against an immortal Gastrea without a plan. "Asaka." Gado gave her an order, and she calmly operated the PDA device next to her. When she did, a giant 3-D image that seemed to bury the whole room appeared. In front of them spread the expanse of flat plains connected to the ruins that Rentaro and the others had requisitioned, and through the forest behind that was the memorial monument, the Flame of Return. It looked to be a scale model of District 40, where Rentaro and the others were. There was something similar in Miori Shiba's student council room, but the accuracy and color of this was nowhere near as good as the one owned by the daughter of a multimillionaire. From where Rentaro was, he could see the small mountain of powder in the back that was what remained of the Monolith. "Currently, the civil officer and Gastrea troops are positioned equidistant from the Monolith with the Monolith between them," said Gado. As if their hearts were beating as one, as Gado spoke, Asaka turned the model and drew a line. The line disappeared into an oval-shaped forest quite far away and outside the city wall. The forest was expansive, and there was a river that seemed to pierce its center. With a tree canopy that high, even a Stage Four Gastrea could hide in it. Gado continued. "Because of the Gastrea virus, this forest has seen abnormal growth and diverse ecosystems. Somewhere in this forest, the twenty-seven hundred-plus Gastrea we were discussing are resting." "Do you know what part of the forest Aldebaran and Pleiades are in?" Rentaro hedged. "Unfortunately, no. Not even the highest resolution artificial satellite could tell us this. We do also have sixth-generation unmanned reconnaissance crafts, but the JNSC cabinet ministers are extremely unmotivated to send them." "Pleiades, huh…?" "That's right. A being that the JNSC higher-ups are afraid to shoot down even with cruise missiles and support fighter aircraft. They had guaranteed us mastery of the air, but they have not brought that promise to fruition yet. Thanks to that, the flying Gastrea dealt us a lot of damage, and it was all we could do to defend ourselves. They really gave us a beating." The joke that even one powerful Gastrea could change the tide of a war was happening in real life. And the still unseen Pleiades that shot compressed mercury… According to Tina, it measured about ten meters on all sides. Since it was on land, its archerfish genes must have mixed with those of a land-dwelling animal, so Rentaro wondered what form it would take. "Leader Satomi… No, Former Leader. Destroy it. You have no right to refuse. You only have a small chance of succeeding, but since you were supposed to die anyway, it will be no great loss if you go. Dead heroes are very easy to use, after all." Fury pierced Rentaro's spinal cord, and he brushed off the men at his sides who were holding him down, pushed away the other subordinates trying to stop him, and pressed on determinedly toward Gado. Slamming the palms of his hands on Gado's steel desk, Rentaro got so close to the man that he practically head-butted his nose. "You've finally shown your true nature, huh? You old weasel…!" Gado smiled without changing the cool expression on his face. "But Satomi, these are also my honest, true feelings. Among the civil officers, there are those who mistakenly believe that we don't need to fight Aldebaran anymore and can sit pretty for another three days. Unfortunately, once Aldebaran completely heals the injury I gave it, it will definitely attack again. This is the only chance we have to attack. Satomi, if you accept this mission, I promise that I will not charge your adjuvant for this crime. But if you refuse, I will punish you all together. It looks like you have an Initiator who adores you as if you were her father and a lovely childhood friend in your adjuvant. I'm sure you could not bring yourself to let them undergo such severe punishment." "Just try laying even a finger on Enju or Kisara… I'll kill you!" "Then, it's decided. We will prepare the equipment for you. Go say your good-byes to your friends today." Rentaro closed his eyes and exhaled, then slowly opened them again. "There's one last thing I want to ask. You all saw Aldebaran with your own eyes, right? What did it look like?" The moment he asked, a startled expression crossed over everyone in the room. Gado had a frighteningly stern expression on his face and looked like he was about to shoot fire from his angrily narrowed eyes. "Satomi, unfortunately, I cannot answer your question. No, I do not want to answer your question. Last night, because of our encounter with the repulsive monster, none of us slept one wink. We will probably not be able to sleep well tonight, either. Do your best. I pray from the bottom of my heart that you will be able to complete your mission without running into Aldebaran." 5 "Oh, Rentaro!" Enju welcomed him back cheerfully as she bounced out of the abandoned hotel, her pigtails swinging. Enju's voice started off a chorus of flurried others. "What, Satomi?" "He's back?" —And other such calls. All of Rentaro's friends gathered around the door, noisily welcoming him back. Thinking they were overreacting, he checked the clock and was a little surprised. Apparently, he had been talking with Gado and the others for over three hours. Kisara looked at him uneasily. "Did you get a talking-to for what we did yesterday after all?" Rentaro said, "Let's talk inside," and they returned to the dining room en masse. He waited until everyone had sat down and calmed; he didn't know where to start, but thinking that everything was important, he falteringly gave a full account of what happened with Gado. It was a shock, as expected, and the part about Aldebaran's immortality and its attack after it healed its wound resulted in an air of silent despair among his team. And then, Rentaro deliberately hid the fact that he had been ordered on a mission to subjugate Pleiades. "Sorry, everyone. It looks like our adjuvant will be disbanded after all. It doesn't look like we can avoid it." "N-no… Wait a minute!" It was Yuzuki. Her gaze wavered, and she was obviously shaken. "I was finally able to make friends with Tina and everyone… R-Rentaro Satomi! Do something about it!" "No, what bothers me is how light the punishment is." It was Shoma, who had been silent until now, murmuring with a hand on his chin. "The commander said from the very beginning that disobeying orders would be punished severely. Don't you think just getting our adjuvant disbanded is letting us off too easy, Satomi?" As expected of Shoma, Rentaro thought admiringly, without letting it show on his face. "Shoma, I'm sure that is because the commander also took into consideration the results of our battle and made the punishment lighter," Midori interjected with a smile. Shoma did not look convinced but accepted her opinion. Midori's kindhearted reasoning was completely off the mark, but Rentaro was at least grateful that it kept Shoma from asking him more questions. "Then, what'll happen to us?" Tina asked, her face clouding over. Rentaro chose his words carefully to keep from upsetting her. "Maybe we'll be sent to support those adjuvants that have lost members? I don't really know, either." "I-I see…," said Tina. As if she had sensed the mood growing melancholy, Enju suddenly stuck her fist in the air above her head and snorted as she stood. "But even if we get separated, it's not as if we'll never meet again!" "That's…true, too." Kisara nodded a beat later. Beneath his sunglasses, Tamaki rubbed his eyes and sniffed. "It's just as that bunny girl over there says. It's a little sad to be sayin' good-bye tonight, but that's why I'll turn this into a grand good-bye party!" Everyone else looked at each other, grinning. The time after that passed like a dream. They lavishly used up the rest of the food they had been rationed for the three days and recooked it desperately, filling their half-empty bellies to bursting. Inside the room, large candles burned brightly and turned everyone's faces red. It put the room in a festive, birthday party-esque mood, and the dimly burning flames reflected in the eyes of Enju, Tina, and the other girls, shining lovely. Among them, the irises of Kisara's slightly smaller, cat-shaped eyes took in the light and reflected it in a bewitchingly beautiful way. Before he knew it, Rentaro was driven by the impulse to stare at it, but he didn't want to seem impolite, so he quickly turned his head to the side just when it seemed like their eyes were about to meet. Most of the time was taken by the girls complaining about wanting to take hot showers. On the other hand, the boys' conversation was extremely pragmatic as they tried to calculate how much of the emergency stores were left after the fire at headquarters. Rentaro joked that at this rate, they would run out of provisions and have to hunt lizards and snails to eat, and Kisara, who had been raised a proper lady, said with her eyes half-closed, "You're the worst." Tamaki brought some wine stolen from the wine cellar in the basement, and he had a cup with Shoma, who was also old enough to drink. Rentaro didn't think that the boisterous Tamaki and reticent Shoma would get along, but he seemed to be wrong. Shoma was nodding quietly as he listened to Tamaki's nonstop talking. The gloomy, defeated mood had been blown away, and it made them forget for a while that they were in the middle of a war. Rentaro also started to feel better and had fun without worrying about the time. The party broke up in the wee hours of the night, and everyone went to their respective hotel rooms. The hotel was small, with just three floors, and the windows were mostly still intact. Rentaro even tried going onto the roof, but it was submerged, possibly from a clogged pipe. The third-floor room Rentaro and Enju were assigned had two beds with a side table sandwiched between them. Part of the ceiling was broken, and insulation material was sticking out. The floor was covered with a thick coating of dust, but Rentaro saw that the dust on the bed had been brushed off. Tina probably cleaned here, he thought. The smell of mold that had been the room's inhabitant for the last ten years seemed to be a little like incense. Rentaro lay on the bed and talked with Enju until the lights went out. She went on about various topics unchecked, adding exaggerated gestures as she spoke, and Rentaro nodded in response. For some reason, Rentaro felt that he had to treasure this time. Finally, Enju got tired of talking and fell asleep, and the sound of her breath echoed into the darkness. Rentaro's heart gradually grew colder. And so, Rentaro Satomi realized that the last hours he had spent with his friends signaled the end. Staring at the darkness in the ceiling, he waited a while longer, just in case, and then got up slowly. For some reason, the air that hit his body seemed much colder than earlier, but still he put on his shoes and his jacket. Just as he quietly walked to the door and put his hand on the doorknob, a voice called his name, and he startled. Looking back, he calmed his pounding heart. Enju seemed to be talking in her sleep. Rentaro didn't know what kind of dream she was having, but there was a part of her voice that seemed sad. Enju's expression was hidden by the covers, so he couldn't see it. "Sorry, Enju." Looking downcast as he said this, Rentaro left the room. He went down to the dining room without encountering anyone else, and there, Gado's messenger was waiting by the fireplace. When Rentaro saw that the messenger had come into their temporary residence without taking off his shoes, he felt disgusted but was careful not to let it show on his face. The messenger casually threw Rentaro a backpack. Taking it silently, Rentaro upended it on the table, and the contents fell out. The first thing he saw was a heavy, rectangular mass. Feeling it over its wrapper, he saw that it was soft and pliable like clay. It was a C-4 plastic explosive. In a former age, when nitroglycerine was first discovered, scientists of the time were troubled by how even the slightest shock could make it explode, but current explosives were so stable that they would only burn down when thrown into a bonfire and did not explode accidentally. Instead, they were detonated through the fuse and combusted with a large blast. They combusted at over eight thousand meters per second and could cause an astounding number of casualties. This was probably custom-made to work against Gastrea, with powdered Varanium and the like mixed in. Besides that, there were portable rations, a canteen, a compass, a beta light, and various other survival goods. Rentaro took off his jacket and hung his pouch and back holster from his belt and made a small adjustment so he could attach the silencer onto the XD gun at his hip. After pulling back the slide so it could fire, he stored it in the carbon-fiber holster made by Blackhawk! He checked the fit of the holster by practicing a few quick draws. He also hung the combat knife from his belt with the scabbard still on, then refitted his jacket over it all and grabbed a strap of the backpack. Leaving behind Gado's lackey's indifferent look, Rentaro departed the hotel. He looked at the sky, pitch-black and starless, and heaved a sigh. The air outside had gotten even colder, too. In fact, it was cold enough that he would have believed it if someone had told him that it was late fall. He had not expected the Varanium ash to make the surface temperature of the earth lower this much. They were lucky, at least, that it was summer right now. Rentaro looked straight at the fallen Monolith and started quietly toward it. The regular crunching sound of his footsteps on the ground sent Rentaro into the depths of his thoughts. In the end, he'd left without finding the right time to tell Enju and the others what was going on. Of course, he had thought about the option of telling at least Enju the truth and having her go with him. But after thinking it over, Rentaro had decided that it was his responsibility alone to take care of this and had chosen to go alone. He had his reasons, of course— "Satomi…" Rentaro hid his backpack quickly and turned timidly toward the voice. He hadn't been hearing things. Shoulders hunched, standing stock-still and crestfallen with a shocked look on her face, was Kisara Tendo. "Kisara, how…?" he asked. "When I woke up to use the bathroom, I caught a glimpse of you leaving your room, and when I followed you, I saw your exchange with the messenger, and…" Kisara lifted her face and continued. "Where are you going?" Rentaro quieted his heart and tried to put on an air of nonchalance. "I was going to the bathroom, too. What, Kisara, do you want to come with me?" "S-stupid! Of course not!" "Then don't follow me. I'm just taking a walk after taking a leak." "Toward the Monolith?" A freezing summer wind blew between Rentaro and Kisara. It sent Rentaro's hair and Kisara's skirt fluttering. Kisara shook her head hard. "I can't believe you. Haven't you noticed, Satomi? I'm sure you've been given a crazy mission, but going alone is like going to your death." That was something he slowly understood after hearing the details of the mission. Ostensibly, this was a secret mission Gado entrusted to Rentaro, but in actuality, it was different. Rentaro's name at least was known in the world as that of the hero who defeated the Zodiac Scorpion, so if Gado had punished Rentaro in any way, Gado probably would have faced internal criticism. For Gado, who wanted to unify the civil officers because they were at a disadvantage, that could possibly work against him. In other words, Gado was in the difficult position of losing unity whether or not he punished Rentaro. That was probably why Gado came up with the plan to give Rentaro amnesty in exchange for defeating Pleiades. Of course, it was a mission that he was unlikely to return alive from. Rentaro would be finished off by the Gastrea in the forest, so Gado wouldn't have to dirty his own hands, and Gado would be able to keep up appearances in front of the other civil officers. In other words, Rentaro's mission was none other than a prettily decorated trip to the gallows. That was also the reason why he had not brought Enju. There was no way he could bring Enju along on a journey that would lead to her death. "Why just you, Satomi? Don't we all share the blame for following you?" said Kisara. It became hard for Rentaro to look at her face, so he turned his back to her. "Someone had to take responsibility. That's why I'll go." "Let's run away." "Where?" He heard a sharp breath behind him as she faltered. "Well…" "There is nowhere left to run in Tokyo Area. If we don't hold them back here, we'll die no matter where we run. I must avoid that, at least. Thank you, Kisara. But I'm going to go." Rentaro strode forward without looking back. "You really are stupid!" Her voice followed close behind him and seemed to pull at his hair. Desperately trying to control the feelings this stirred in him, he attempted to leave as quickly as possible. Because of the black rain that had been streaking down since the morning, his boots scraping along the undergrowth were soon soaked and felt uncomfortable. His nostrils were filled with the strong smell of earth after the rain. After walking a while, the fallen Monolith 32 grew large in his field of view. Its pieces had crumbled and formed a mountain of white debris, and only the pillarlike structures of the frame that had not been bleached remained standing in the mountain. The current spine-chilling remains seemed like some sort of grave marker.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-04-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter008.txt	Black Bullet What Rentaro found unexpected was that even after it became like this, the Monolith still seemed to evoke some sort of reverence in his chest. It was a massively enormous structure that surpassed UV rays, acid, attacks, and human intellect. He didn't know what to say now that it had collapsed, but thinking it appropriate to thank it for its hard work, Rentaro mourned it in his heart. Rentaro made a large detour around the grave marker of the Monolith and finally stepped into Unexplored Territory. Although, since Monolith 32 had collapsed, the boundary between what was within the Monoliths and what was Unexplored Territory had become ambiguous. Animals from the ocean could not live on land. Animals from land could not live in the ocean. At the water's edge, there was the undeniable boundary between life and death. This was the same thing. Humans could not live outside the Monoliths. Gastrea could not live inside the Monoliths because they would be exposed to the strong Varanium magnetic field. At least, that was how it was supposed to work. That rule was currently being overtly infringed upon. This was a battle with the lives of the Aldebaran troops and all the survivors of Tokyo Area on the line. There was no way he could afford to lose. Rentaro tried imagining what Aldebaran looked like, but no matter how hard he tried, it looked hazy and blurry. Even in the first picture he got from the Seitenshi, only the mouthparts had been lit up by the searchlight and could be seen clearly. He had not been able to see the other parts. It would not age or die, it had the ability to corrode Varanium, and it could command other Gastrea using various pheromones. Even though he kept finding out about its fearsome abilities one after another, he did not have the least bit idea what it looked like. And Gado's adjuvant wouldn't even be able to sleep well tonight because they had encountered Aldebaran. The darkness of the night sent Rentaro's imagination in the wrong direction, and he gave a start at the silhouette of a parabolic antenna in his peripheral vision. Rentaro shook his head. Get ahold of yourself, Rentaro Satomi. Meanwhile, he had passed the expanse of flat plains and could see the ruins of the area destroyed by the Gastrea War. Just about when he passed the wreckage of a railroad crossing that was forever open, Rentaro started to think that maybe this area had once been a factory town. The abandoned pulp factory had pulp plastered everywhere and was becoming a grayish white, and the roof thatched with galvanized zinc sheet metal had turned red with rust. The beams seemed to be giving up on supporting the roof, and looked like they were inviting a collapse. Electric cables were tangled on the ground and looked like they would wrap around his legs. Of course, there was no electricity running through them, so there was no danger of getting electrocuted, but he was still careful. The adjacent roof that protruded as much as it could seemed to be entwined in a complicated way, and they looked like a single organism that had combined. Rentaro tried his best to not make any sound with his footsteps, stepping slowly on the ground heel first. He stopped and strained his ears at even this slightest rustle of a mouse. He used his beta light to read his map and compass, checking his direction as he walked. Narrowing his eyes and looking far ahead, he could faintly see something that looked like a forest. Apparently, past these ruins was the forest where Gado had said the Gastrea were hiding. However, if he didn't go straight through and pass this long stretch of ruins, he would never reach the forest. Rentaro thought over Gado's explanation inside his head. Ten kilometers one way. Twenty kilometers round trip. Assuming Rentaro walked at a speed of four kilometers per hour, he could make it back in less than five hours, but of course, it would not be that easy. Even now, he was using all his senses as he slowly marched forward with Gastrea in his surroundings, and even after he got out of this place, he would have to successfully find Pleiades and defeat it to return alive. No matter how well things went, it would take at least three times as long. In addition, he did not know what Pleiades looked like. All he knew currently was that it was ten meters long and that it probably had funnel-shaped mouthparts that it used to shoot compressed mercury. He didn't have much to go on. Rentaro hesitated, but he decided to go into the factory and move forward by weaving from door to door. He decided that it was necessary in order to lower even slightly the possibility that he would get caught by one of the flying Gastrea since he had no way of knowing where they were observing from. He had been prepared for it, but he started to see strange things here and there inside the building. There was a giant rusting gear of unknown use, and below that was a bloodstain from some unknown animal's entrails that looked like they had been splattered and painted on the wall, and the handrails in the hall had handprints of blood clinging to them. Looking carefully, Rentaro saw that there were white objects dropped here and there on the floor. He picked up one of the bigger pieces and shone his MagLite on it. It was a piece of femur that had marks from where it had been chewed on and stripped of its flesh by some kind of animal. This is bad, he thought as he forced his fear down. There was some sort of Gastrea that counted this whole ruin as part of its territory. He was probably smack-dab in the middle of that monster's property right now. He had to get out of here as soon as possible, but if he ran into the Gastrea before getting out of the forest, it would be bad. He told himself that his first priority was to figure out what kind of Gastrea it was. He hadn't noticed until he turned on the MagLite, but he could see faint footprints of mud at his feet. They were pretty big, and each one was about as big as Rentaro's palm. From the looks of things, it walked on four legs. Also, stuck to the handrail that came up to about Rentaro's waist in the hallway was a piece of an animal's whitish fur. If it was already that tall on four legs, then it was probably pretty big. Leaning in and bringing his nose close to the fur, he could smell traces of animal. The leavings weren't that old. Rentaro passed through a number of buildings until he entered what looked like a cement factory. He stopped at the strong scent of animal—it hit him like a wall. Passing a hallway with piping all over the place, he carefully put an ear to the rusted iron door beyond a broken conveyer belt. Confirming that there was no sign of anything alive beyond, he opened the door slowly and quietly. When he got it partway open, the stink from the crack was so strong that he had to cover his nose. This was it. He was sure of it. The stink of animal, rotting meat, mold, rust, and other things he couldn't name mixed together into something so strong it made his eyes water. He fought desperately against the desire to immediately turn around and run out of the factory. Chanting to himself to calm down over and over in his head and taking a deep breath, he opened the door with all his strength and shone his MagLite inside. The ring of light he slid from right to left exposed a vast number of dried-up human bones in the dark and made them disappear again. Before Rentaro knew it, he had covered his mouth and was desperately feeling around in his pocket for a handkerchief. He had no room to doubt that this was where the Gastrea had feasted. As if begrudging the opening of a secret room, the place seemed to respond with a sullen silence. Rentaro made up his mind and stepped inside. His gaze was drawn to the flecks of dust dancing in the air as his light revealed them. Countless chains dangled from the ceiling, and a large, complicated machine was attached to the pipes. Timidly taking a step inside, his shoes squished something damp, and he was surprised by the creak of deteriorating floorboards. Even though he knew it was impossible, he couldn't shake the wild idea that the next second, the skeletons would start laughing boisterously and stand up to attack him. While leaning over to pass the pipes, he inspected a corpse that had not been completely bleached yet. It had received serious damage and most of it had sharp bite marks, large and small. It looked like this wasn't just one or two Gastrea. Is it possible that the Gastrea is even raising young here? Rentaro started to have an idea of what kind of Gastrea had claimed this area. If Rentaro's predictions were correct, then he needed to get out of here as soon as possible. He felt the urge to bury the corpses abandoned between the cold boards, but he didn't have time for that. He had no choice but to ask them to wait a little longer until they were able to reclaim their country's land from the Gastrea. When Rentaro left the cement factory, he froze, panting. The forest where Pleiades was lay right in front of him. However, his impatience spurred him to move more than before. Rentaro continued on the jet-black pathway. The beam of the MagLite that he'd left on shook, and the silent road changed into something suffocating. When he got out of the town of dilapidated factories, it was all wild, and there was nothing left to take cover in until he got to the forest. He just had to get across. Just then, there was a quiet sound he normally would have ignored, and steady footsteps coming from somewhere. Rentaro pricked his ears, making sure to not look back. It wasn't just one. There were at least five. And they were increasing. Naturally, his pulse quickened and he sped up his walk. Pulling his gun out of its holster, he attached the one-touch mountable silencer. It would be another hundred meters before he reached the forest in front of him. Even if he got away, he didn't think his pursuers would stop chasing him, but he had hope that some might give up. Rentaro wanted to start running immediately, but he desperately controlled himself, knowing that it wasn't time to provoke his pursuers yet. Apparently, they seemed to stop trying to hide their existence, and he could hear beastly howls from behind him. He was getting damp with sweat as he grasped the grip of his gun. For just one second, Rentaro glanced behind him. They were enveloped in darkness, so he couldn't see details, but he confirmed silhouettes with four legs and rounder eyes than usual for a carnivore. The pairs of eyes amplified the trace amount of light and glittered dangerously, with vertically slit pupils shining red. From the position and height of the eyes, he predicted that each Gastrea was about the size of a lion. They were all bigger than normal. Rentaro chanted prayers to Buddha. They were wolves. Actually, the Gastrea that gave civil officers the most trouble were not the grotesque-looking ones or the poisonous ones. When what would have eaten humans in nature—in other words, their ultimate predators, the animals at the top of the food chain—became Gastrea and formed packs, they became the greatest threats to the corps. And here in Japan, the wolf undeniably occupied part of the food chain's top rung. The horror of wolves becoming Gastrea was unbelievable. They were called "wolves in sheep's clothing" after the men who pretended to be gentlemen and escorted women home, only to make passes at them, and just so, these Gastrea wolves followed after their human prey persistently. Nine times out of ten, normal wolves would not attack humans. However, that wasn't true after they became Gastrea. After seeing the settlement at the cement factory, how could he have optimistically believed that wolves would not attack humans? These guys definitely killed humans and ate them. "Arooooooooooooo!" Suddenly, a wolf's howl shook the night and Rentaro's body was struck by metaphorical lightning. Crap! he thought and started running. The thin, almost sad howl was communication with the other members of the pack. In this case, it was without a doubt a command to attack. Rentaro heard countless footsteps and ragged breathing behind him. He gritted his teeth and fired off shots, half turning, the kickback hitting him in the shoulder. Because of the silencer, the whole gun was longer, and it was harder to turn and aim; he ended up firing randomly as he ran. He kept running, without checking to see if he hit anything. Rentaro ran through the animal trail he had turned into his own path and ran into the giant forest, pushing his way through the rough forest dense with prehistoric Jōmon cedars. Grasping at the rotted leaves and scattered puddles, he jumped over the intricate roots protruding from the ground. Making sure to shine light on the ground with the hand holding the MagLite, he told himself, Be careful. If his feet got caught and he fell, then he would be surrounded and tortured to death. The sound of footsteps ran alongside Rentaro in a fan shape. He couldn't see them, but he could feel the pressure of their terrifying, high-powered pursuit. Suddenly, he heard panting from directly in front of him. When he pointed his light toward it, his vision was filled with a large, open mouth full of fangs lunging toward him. Reflexively, he bent his upper body back, and the massive jaws clamped the air where his neck had been. As the large body passed by, he froze. When did it get in front of me? Just then, his feet tangled in fright and he tripped on a root. Shit, he thought, as his torso pitched downward and the tree root approached him frighteningly fast, giving him no time to take a defensive stance. The world shook, and he suffered a blow to his brain. He didn't even have time to groan in pain as one wolf Gastrea bit his artificial leg and shook it ferociously. He hurriedly cut off the pain sensors, but his nerves had already sent the shock straight into his brain. Rentaro sighted his XD gun even though he was still lying down, knowing it would be almost impossible to hit. He pulled the trigger three times. The 40-caliber Varanium bullets pulverized its fangs and jaw, and one shot hit an eye. Seeing the wolf retreat with a shrill canine yelp, he thought, I did it. However, there was a sudden heavy attack to his chest. His sternum grated loudly as a body that weighed at least two hundred kilograms leaned on top of him. A wolf's massive front paws sank into Rentaro's chest almost amusingly, and Rentaro let a groan out from between gritted teeth. A wolf other than the one that had mounted his chest opened its mouth wide and blew its beastly breath and drool toward his face. The fear of being eaten pierced Rentaro's spine, and in desperation, he flung his right arm up and stuck it into the wolf's mouth. "Haaaaaaaaaaahhh!" He ignited his explosive-style arm. In a moment, the wolf's face distended at terrifying speed and the next instant, it exploded. A huge amount of spinal fluid and blood splattered on Rentaro's face. Avoiding the giant body as it fell with violence, he jumped up and checked around him. He was surrounded. Then, how about this?! He stuck his right fist into the ground and activated his arm again. He used a striker to set off the bottoms of the cartridges inside and fired. There was a metallic clang, and the ejector kicked out empty golden shell casings that repelled the night as they rotated. A small explosion started from Rentaro's feet, and sand and gravel was kicked up with intense speed as it covered his vision. The wolves were flustered and moved back somewhat. Seeing the break in the enclosure around him, Rentaro fled with all his might. He ran all-out, without pacing, and soon all the strength left his body and he hurt all over. His vision grew hazy. He was covered in mud, panting heavily, pulse racing, and he felt so sick that the contents of his stomach threatened to come back up. Inside his head, the part that was still thinking calmly rang an alarm bell. He couldn't continue like this. Wolves followed their prey by smell. If he didn't remove his own scent, then they wouldn't stop chasing him. What should he do? He put his arm on a grove of prehistoric cedars and turned around, and suddenly his vision widened. Rentaro went dizzy with despair. The path ended abruptly and turned into a steep cliff. Shining his light on it, he saw that it was a long way down, maybe twenty meters to where the river at the base of the cliff flowed. It was flooded from the black rain that had been falling since morning and surged with thunderous roars. If he jumped in, there was no guarantee he would survive. He was surprised by a growl immediately behind him and turned around. His hand slipped with the momentum, and he dropped his flashlight. He hurriedly tried to pick it up but accidentally kicked the back of the light instead. It spun quickly, like a top, and with the light still on, as it strobed the landscape from light to dark, it brought out shadows of countless wolves from the darkness, only to have them disappear again. Rentaro took a step backward, dumbfounded. What in the world…? There weren't just ten or twenty wolves. From the glowing red eyes he saw between the cracks just now, no matter how he counted, he estimated that there were almost fifty of them. He took another step backward in despair and tripped, almost losing his balance. The fragile part of the cliff crumbled away, and he could hear the sound of the pieces rolling down the steep slope. Rentaro swallowed hard. Predatory beasts approaching from the front, a cliff at his back. He closed his eyes, exhaled, and slowly opened his eyes again. Using his right leg as an axis, he spun his body halfway around and turned his back to the wolves, looking at his feet. Without the MagLite, he couldn't see the bottom at all and could just barely hear the violent flow of the muddy river. He wasn't in his right mind. He berated himself for almost losing his breath at the sight of the wide-open mouth of hell below him. Behind him came the growls of the wolves and the sound of their footsteps sidling up beside him. The soles of his shoes seemed to have grown roots, for he had to forcefully peel his feet away as he forced himself to jump. He felt an uncanny floating sensation when the wind hit his face; he was getting sucked into the darkness at amazing speed. He flapped his arms to maneuver himself to fall feetfirst, but it didn't work. Abruptly, his whole body was hit with something hard, and he almost lost consciousness. But he was forced aware again by the frigid water that streamed over him. The flooded river started to carry Rentaro's body away with the force of a roller coaster. Even if he opened his eyes, he couldn't see even a meter in front of him in the muddy river. He was stunned witless for a second, until he started struggling desperately to find a handhold. However, he'd lost his sense of equilibrium and couldn't tell if he was heading up or down, and his screams turned into muddy bubbles. Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of a pitch-black mass, and it was approaching him. By the time he realized that it was a large, sharp boulder standing in the bottom of the river, it was too late. With the impact much stronger than he imagined it would be, his backbone creaked and most of the air in his lungs turned to bubbles and was forced out of him. He crashed over and over into driftwood and boulders, and still unable to tell up from down, he spun like diseased leaves being scattered by the wind, turning over and over on the river bottom. Rocks the size of fists pelted his body all over like slugs from a shotgun. He was about to lose consciousness again. If he let go of the reins of consciousness right now, he knew instinctively that he wouldn't wake up again. He waved his arms around desperately. Suddenly, Rentaro's right hand grabbed onto something. When he realized that the rough protrusion was a handhold on a rock, he made a split-second decision to stretch out his left hand as well and go against the rapids. Blood was streaming from the top of his shoulders. He gritted his teeth and clung on with his whole body, yelling as he heaved himself upward. Before he knew it, Rentaro was lying faceup on a rugged bank, his chest heaving up and down. As he vomited the water that he had swallowed, he fought against chills that made his stomach feel like it was going through the wringer. Finally, Rentaro lifted his pallid face and looked around. Before the Great War, it had probably been a mooring place for boats. There was a small concrete pier with an abandoned mooring rope, and next to it he could see a dark brown shack. Gazing at the black rapids that looked like ink had been poured into them, he told himself that he was not completely out of danger yet. Rentaro wrung out the dirty water from his uniform and stood up unsteadily, holding his aching body as he changed out his equipment. He hadn't noticed that the backpack he was carrying had been washed away, and the silencer had also come off, but at least his gun was still stored in its holster. It was a painful realization that his food rations, water, and the explosive he had gotten to defeat the Pleiades had all been washed away. Relying on the dim glow of the beta light, he went into the shack and found a match and portable fuel. There was alcohol and food, too, but it had been abandoned for more than ten years, so he decided that it would be better not to touch it. His uniform was heavy with the water it had absorbed, and his consciousness was about to give out, but in order to run away from those fearsome predators, he just had to move. However, he reached his limit faster than he thought he would. Unexpectedly, his vision wavered and his knees weakened. Rentaro fell to his knees. A wheezing sound escaped from his throat and his body trembled like he had the ague. When he looked up again, he saw an enormous tree trunk that pointed straight into the sky. This was probably thanks to the Gastrea virus. Giant sequoias that were easily more than five hundred tons were growing here and there, and just the outer circumference of their trunks was probably about ten meters. When Rentaro found a good clearing, he gathered firewood and laid out the solid fuel. The matches were damp and his hands shook, so he lost some matches before he finally lit a warm fire on the tenth try and managed to carefully move the subsequent fire. As the red flames grew bigger, he let out a sigh of relief from the bottom of his heart. After much effort, he peeled off the clothes twisted around his body, gave them a good wringing out, and put them back on. His body was covered with scratches and bruises, but seeing that he was able to move, he figured he did not have any broken bones. He was still worried about tetanus and other bacterial infections, but when he remembered that the portable dose of antibiotics was also in his backpack, his face twisted wryly. After his body had warmed up somewhat, the tense knots of nervousness also started to come loose. As if waiting for just that second, there was suddenly a sharp pain in his side. "Ow… Gah!" A large shadow the size of a lion had bitten Rentaro's side, and fresh blood was spraying out. More than the pain, he felt dumbfounded. Rentaro retreated to lean against one of the sequoias, holding his side. "Those guys…sure are persistent," he managed to squeeze out between pants. At Rentaro's words, the pack of wolves appeared smoothly out of the shadows of the trees. They showed no sign of being afraid of the bonfire. Why are they still here? he thought over and over in his head. Hadn't he taken a gamble and jumped into the river to wash away his scent to avoid letting them use their highly developed sense of smell? He thought that much and then shook his head. It wasn't worth thinking about. They had followed Rentaro down from the cliff and through rapids; they weren't going to stop now. Just then, the hedge of wolves suddenly split, and a gigantic Gastrea walked out from the depths of the darkness. It had round pupils and a pointed snout like a canine, and its silhouette was slightly short and stout rather than sharp. Its white fur gathered more red as it reached its back, and on all fours, it was already over two meters tall, making all the other wolves look like pups. It was a Japanese wolf, said to have been extinct since 1905. Its canines were overgrown and looked like a saber-toothed cat, its tail was split into three, and one of its eyes was cloudy. Its fur was shedding all over the place. It looked as evil as the watchdog of hell. It was probably a Stage Three, and no doubt the leader of the pack. Rentaro's legs became unable to support his body, and he slid down to the ground with his back still on the tree trunk, leaving a diagonal trail of blood along the way. Checking the wound in his side, he saw that the hand and shirt he had been using to press down on the wound was bright red. It was a serious wound that needed immediate treatment. Rentaro gritted his teeth and looked up at the sky. Was today the last day of his life? If so, what had been the point of his sixteen years of life? Was the hominid called Rentaro Satomi put on this earth for sixteen years just to be eaten by Gastrea in the depths of this dark forest today? Irreplaceable memories flashed in his mind, and before he knew it, tears welled up and flowed down his cheeks. The leader of the pack walked in front of him with sneering eyes, filling Rentaro's vision with its open mouth. But right before Rentaro was devoured, the wolves suddenly perked their ears. They changed the direction of their stances, tilting their bodies forward. As they growled, they focused on the darkness beyond the bonfire before Rentaro. He looked in the direction of their gazes hazily, but Rentaro couldn't make anything out. However, the wolves could see something. Just as he thought it, the pack of almost fifty wolves howled and rushed into the darkness. Immediately after, there was the sound of combat and yaps of pain. Rentaro didn't know how much time had passed, but suddenly, all the sound stopped, and the place was filled with silence. He heard the bonfire popping and the sound of an owl hooting from somewhere. What just happened…? Rentaro leaned the top half of his body forward and looked hard at the depths of the darkness in front of him. Suddenly, something was thrown at superhigh speed into the trunk of the sequoia next to him, and the sound of pounded flesh echoed. Rentaro gazed in wonder. That something that had been thrown into the tree was one of the wolves that had attacked him. Its neck was twisted with an abnormal strength, its tongue was sticking out, and a straight line was carved into its stomach. With the crash, a flower of blood bloomed on its face, and it became clear that it was dead. Seeing the slash on its stomach, something stirred in Rentaro's memory. Where had he seen this nightmarish swordsmanship before…? He raised his voice in surprise. This was the same thing as what he had seen with Enju three days ago at the civil officer frontline headquarters. They had found civil officers dead on the street while they were recruiting members for their adjuvant. It had looked like a quarrel between civil officers, but it had ended in him not knowing who had actually done the killing. The two civil officers lying piled on top of each other had been carved with the same swordsmanship. Why was this here? "Is there anyone who saw what happened?" "C-could you be Rentaro Satomi?" At the scene of the crime, this was the first thing the witness had said. "What if I am?" "Uh… Y-you… Never mind, it was my mistake. Forget about it." "Huh? What do you want?" "I said, forget about it!" When Rentaro had spoken, sounding irritated, the witness had turned and left the scene before Rentaro had a chance to call him back. Thinking back on it now, that was a strange dialogue. Why did the witness go out of his way to check Rentaro's name and then insist that he had made a mistake afterward? Could it have been something like this? What if a civil officer pair that was definitely not supposed to be there was there? A pair that had been defeated by Rentaro and Enju and were treated as if they were dead and removed from the civil officers' list? That's why the witness doubted his own senses. Because there was no way dead people could walk around… There was one. Just one pair that could maneuver such a sharp slash and that was supposed to have died in their clash with Rentaro and Enju during the summoning of the Zodiac Scorpion. Why hadn't he noticed until now? Three more wolves were blown out and crucified on the tree trunk in succession from out of the darkness. There was a cross cut into their stomachs, a death cross—the universal symbol of God's authority over those who were going to die. Rentaro's arm flung up, and he aimed his gun into the darkness. After a while, the leader Gastrea of the pack came stumbling out. Both of its saber-toothed cat fangs had been broken, and it was covered in cuts. There was a deep wound on its neck, and fresh blood dripped steadily from the wound and dyed its white fur red. The Gastrea looked with pleading eyes as its head shook left and right, and then fell to the ground with a plop. The body seemed to be at a loss for a while after losing its head, but it finally fell sideways to the ground, shaking the earth as it fell, and then stopped moving altogether.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-04-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter010.txt	Black Bullet * * * "Papa, I think he's the guy that was with Enju." "Oh my." There was the sound of a bell, and first, a white-gloved hand grasping the tree trunk firmly appeared from out of the pitch-black darkness. Next, a face with a white mask and silk hat was revealed, reflecting the orange light of the bonfire. In his crimson red tailcoat were the double guns, Spanking Sodomy and Psychedelic Gospel. Next to him, with short swords in both hands wearing a frilly black dress, was a young girl. Goodness. "Fancy meeting you here—my dear friend." "Kagetane…Hiruko……!" The strongest magician whom Rentaro had ever fought in a life-or-death contest appeared. 6 To think that he would one day sit around a fire with this man… Rentaro held his gun at the ready as he used his teeth and left hand to wrap a bandage around his stomach, never letting his guard down. The bleeding at his side had stopped at least, but if he tried to do too much, it was possible that the wound would open up again, so his movements would be limited for a while. Rentaro's gun was trained at the people sitting on the other side of the fire facing him. Kagetane gave a forced shrug. "I wonder if you might put that gun down soon." "No," said Rentaro. The man threw a dry branch into the fire. "Have you already forgotten who provided you with the bandages and antibiotics?" "What about you? Have you already forgotten what you two did?" Kagetane and Kohina Hiruko. They were the terrorists who had summoned the Zodiac Scorpion, driving Tokyo Area to the brink of destruction. Rentaro had used the railgun called the Stairway to Heaven to end the matter before anything happened, but one wrong step and it could have turned into Tokyo Area's Great Extinction. "If I get serious, your little toy gun's not going to work, you know." Rentaro was at a loss for words. He had experienced firsthand the despair-inducing defensive ability of the repulsion force field Kagetane used; the thing could repel antitank rifles. Yet after all this time, Rentaro still didn't know what the man was after. In their encounter earlier, while Kohina had asked enthusiastically, "Papa, can I kill him?" Kagetane had made her be quiet and threw over bandages and antibiotics himself. Their relationship had once been one where they were after each other's lives. There were a lot of reasons for Kagetane to hate him, and no reason for Kagetane to help him. Rentaro's nervousness didn't go away as he gently put the gun down. "Why are you here in the Unexplored Territory? Are you helping old Kikunojo with more of his conspiracies and doing some secret maneuvering?" "Oh dear, can you please not ask any leading questions? No comment," said Kagetane. "You were the ones who killed that civil officer pair on the street in the frontline base three days ago, weren't you?" "Let's see." Kagetane put a hand on his chin and looked at the girl. "Do you remember, Kohina?" The Initiator beside him, Kohina Hiruko, hugged both arms around her knees and covered her face, staring at Rentaro with upturned eyes. "You must be an idiot. How can I remember every little ant that I trample?" Rentaro was speechless. He realized again the difference between his values and those of these killers. Explaining morals to these two was likely to be more futile an endeavor than preaching to aliens. Kohina looked next to Rentaro for a second and then at him with upturned eyes. "Where's Enju? Is she dead?" "She's alive. She's doing something else." "I see." She spoke curtly, but her mouth smiled happily. "Enju…I want to see her, I want to kill her. I want to see her, I want to kill her. I want to see her, I want to kill her." Just then, Rentaro noticed that there were now four short sword scabbards on Kohina's back. "Satomi, what about you? Why are you in a place like this?" Kagetane asked. Rentaro couldn't decide whether or not to tell the truth. Would it be safer for him to bluff and say that his friends were close by? "I'm here to defeat Pleiades." "Pleiades?" "The unidentified Gastrea that can shoot mercury at long distances. Apparently, it's in this forest." "Yeah, apparently it is." That response was suspicious as hell. "Don't tell me you guys were also in the line of battle yesterday fighting against Aldebaran?" Kagetane laughed so hard he held down his mask, as if it was the funniest thing he had ever heard. "Of course not. I climbed the tallest tree in the area to get a better view. Why should we have to fight? What good would it do us?" "If we don't fight, everyone will die." "So fight, and then what lies ahead of that?" "Peace." "I have never desired that." Kagetane looked at Rentaro with pity in his eyes. "I can bear an eternal hell. I can bear this body being half-carved open and dissected. But you know, if peace and joy were to continue forever, I would scream and plead for someone to kill me." "You're crazy." "Are you saying I wasn't until today?" Rentaro and Kagetane glared at each other wordlessly as the bonfire sent up flames and started burning stronger. Rentaro shifted his gaze first. He couldn't suppress his anger at everything the man did, but even if he threw himself on Kagetane now, he would most likely be swiftly murdered. Kagetane sprinkled what looked like seasoning into the camp pot that was set over the bonfire and stirred the contents with a spoon. Finally, salted-plum rice gruel was served on a plastic tray. It wasn't a dish that sounded very appetizing, but Kagetane had probably made rice gruel on purpose out of consideration for the injured Rentaro, offering him something easier to eat. Since his backpack had been washed away by the river, Rentaro had exactly zero food rations on him. And there was no chance that he would be able to get any in the future. There's no way he poisoned this, right? Rentaro thought as he waited for the two of them to eat theirs, before timidly slurping a spoonful himself. It was salty, and there was some kind of soup stock in it as well, so it tasted less like gruel and more like chazuke, but it didn't seem like the taste was being covered up by salt like many store-bought versions; rather, it left a curious aftertaste. Rentaro was surprised to find that it was an understatement to call it delicious. Kagetane himself flipped up his mask and slurped the gruel with neither relish nor disgust, but the flames of the bonfire threw up intricate shadows. Unfortunately, from where Rentaro was sitting, the other man's face was a shadow and Rentaro couldn't see what it looked like. Rentaro finished eating in no time and helped clean up since he had nothing better to do, continuing to stare at the man's creepy face cover. "Why do you wear a mask?" he asked finally. Kagetane seemed to also be done eating and had put the mask back on. "Satomi, do you not wear a mask?" There was a short pause before Rentaro replied, "What are you talking about?" "I can see the mask you wear, you know. The guardian mask you wear when interacting with your Initiator, the Tendo Civil Security Agency Employee mask you wear when you work as an employee of that female boss of yours, and the facing the enemy mask you're wearing now with me. Aren't they all different 'Rentaro Satomis'?" Was this man talking about psychological personas? "Satomi, did you see my real face just now?" "No." "You were right not to try. I'm sure you'll regret seeing my real face." "You saying you're disfigured or something?" Kagetane shook his head scornfully as he tapped on his mask. "What's under this mask—is your face, Rentaro Satomi." "Stop messing around, you bastard." "You and I are the remnants of the New Humanity Creation Project. Twins, so to speak. I'm sure you've also noticed, right? We're human, yet we have power greater than that of other humans. Have you ever wanted to kill someone you couldn't stand? Have you ever wanted to violate a woman by force? That artificial arm could make all of that happen easily. "I'm sure you've had the thought before, when you were exposed to outrageous violence, 'I have enough power inside me to make you all into mincemeat.' I was able to make that a reality. That's why you hate me. Because you're jealous." "Shut up!" "But you know, Satomi, just like the honor student hates the delinquent, the delinquent hates the honor student, too. Do you know why? It's because each person can do what the other cannot. Just like you envy me in the bottom of your heart for being able to kill as I please, I also envy and hate you. Even though you are as inhuman as I am, you live comfortably in the world of light. I detest you so much I can't stand it." Kagetane's white mask suddenly came toward Rentaro and whispered into his ear. "Come with me, friend. We're both survivors of the New Humanity Creation Project. We're special beings. I'll teach you the pleasures of killing as much as you like. Kidnap a woman, and after you rape her, pluck her arms and legs off and kill her. I'll teach you how to use money, too. You can buy everything but poverty. You can buy love, and respect." "I'm not going to change how I use my power." A fat piece of firewood broke apart in the flames and fell, sending a shower of sparks into the sky and making Rentaro's and Kagetane's profiles dazzle for a second. Kagetane wore his silk hat low over his eyes and hid his gaze. "Let me make a prediction, Satomi. You will definitely come over to my side. Without a doubt." "Give it up. There's no way that'd happen." Next to them, Kohina didn't seem the least bit concerned about their conversation and silently got another helping of the rice gruel, polishing off most of it by herself. They ran out of things to say to each other, and when the firewood burned out, they used that as a sign to retire for the night. Rentaro's body had already reached its limit with exhaustion, and his whole body felt heavy and slow. Even now, his eyelids felt like they were about to close. But there was no way he would fall asleep before the other two. Rentaro pretended to sleep and didn't let his guard down until he saw that Kagetane and Kohina had truly fallen asleep. The bonfire smelled like burnt embers. His body clock told him that about an hour had passed, and when he heard Kohina's regular breathing that meant she was asleep, his eyes popped open, he grabbed his XD gun, and snuck over to where Kagetane and Kohina were sleeping, crouching. They seemed carefree, sleeping on their sides while holding each other and sharing a blanket. Rentaro silently aimed his gun at Kagetane's head. "What do you think you're doing?" Kagetane asked without moving a muscle. "You were awake?" said Rentaro. "What a fine way to treat us." "You don't seem worried, Kagetane. Is your barrier one that you can pull up faster than I can pull a point-blank trigger?" Kagetane didn't say anything. Rentaro glared at Kagetane with hatred. "Did you think that if you were nice to me, that I would cry with joy and be your friend? Did you think to bury the hatchet by putting me in your debt? Too bad. You're dangerous. As long as you're alive, you'll definitely cause another disaster. I have a duty to kill you to maintain public order as a civil security officer." "Will you kill my daughter, as well?" Rentaro took a fleeting glance at the soundly sleeping Kohina. "Is she really your daughter?" "Of course. Satomi, do you know about the jar of poison? A large number of insects and snakes are put in a large jar and made to eat each other until the last one left is said to be the strongest, the one with the most cursing power. Long ago, when I was still young, I kidnapped five women and artificially inseminated them. At the same time, I also gave the embryos a large dose of the Gastrea virus." Rentaro was at a loss for words. In other words, Kagetane had created artificial Cursed Children. "Then, I locked my five daughters into separate underground rooms for six years, training them to kill and brainwashing them. And then one day, I had them meet for the first time and try to kill each other. The one who survived was Kohina." "Why did you do such a thing…?" "You've gotta be kidding." "That must be a joke."—To be able to reject Kagetane's madness with empty words like that, to preserve his own peace of mind, was something that could have been done only by the Rentaro that existed before he had known what kind of person Kagetane Hiruko really was. Now, Rentaro imagined that Kagetane probably really did conduct that devil's experiment. Kagetane continued. "I wanted to know everything about this world. I wanted to rule over everything and discover the truth. I wanted to know what those girls who were the future of the humans species really were." "You demon. What do you think a human life is?" "I didn't know. That's why I tried conducting the experiment." "Children are innocent beings! They can be raised to be angels or devils. It's your fault, Kagetane! It's your fault that this girl turned into a devil." "Aye, I wanted to try making a devil. But I failed. What was born was an angel that just got in the way." Kagetane softly stroked the sleeping Kohina's hair and quietly lifted her chin. "Look at this. This adorable sleeping face. My unsightly, repulsive, sweet little monstress. These girls are strong as a biological species, but they also have an unfixable weakness." Just then, Kohina stirred and made a small sound in her sleep, and then whispered something that seemed completely out of place. "I love you, Papa." The muzzle of the XD shook with a start, and Rentaro was astonished. Why? Why? He wanted to shake Kohina's shoulder to wake her up and then scream at her, "You're being tricked! Your dad is brainwashing you!" Kagetane looked sideways at Rentaro's reaction and sneered inside the depths of his mask. "Satomi, what is the happiness of a human? I made this child live for six years confined like a frog at the bottom of a well. But she just kept looking up at the blue sky from the bottom of that well." "Stop screwing around! How many people do you think have died because of you two? Just how many people have you killed up till now?!" His gun hand shook with anger. "Please stop, comrade. Even if you could kill either me or Kohina, you'd surely die before you managed to kill the other." Do it, Rentaro Satomi. If you don't kill this man today, he will continue to spread death like an epidemic. You won't get a better chance than this to stop him. Kagetane is bluffing. Don't be tricked. Abandon your reason. To hell with thinking calmly. Fulfill your duty. But no matter how much he thought it, his trigger finger was frozen and would not move. Rentaro squeezed his eyes shut. "Damn it!" He put his gun away and went to a fallen tree in desperation, sitting down angrily. "I'm grateful for your help with my wound. But I can't trust you two." Saying only that, Rentaro watched Kagetane and Kohina as they sprawled on the other side of the fire, his trigger guard still on his gun. The flames of the bonfire seemed to sneer at him as they moved. It was the perfect chance. And you just wasted it. 7 It smelled like dirt. And grass. Rentaro could sense just the slightest bit of light on the other side of his eyelids. His shoulder felt cold, so he tried to pull up his blanket, but he couldn't feel the familiar smoothness on his shoulder, and his hand waved in the air a few times until his consciousness suddenly awakened. He stood up with a start and looked around. He had fallen asleep without realizing. Before him sat the smoky remains of a bonfire with just the faintest warmth still remaining. Realizing that his clothes were tinged with moisture, he looked around and understood why: There was a thin layer of morning mist, and the sky was cloudy. There was still no sign of the sky returning to normal from its covering of Varanium ash. There was no trace of Kagetane and Kohina in the spot where they had been sleeping. Rentaro was silent at that—it looked like they left without doing anything to his person, even though they had had plenty of chances. He checked the time. It was 8 a.m. He had fallen asleep around 3 or 4 a.m., so he was not fully recharged, but considering the situation, it wasn't too bad. Allowing his feet to go where they wanted, he pushed through the place that had been too dark to see last night. There was almost no undergrowth; instead, it was a mysterious scene with enormous, giant sequoialike trees continuing all around him. As if territorial in their own way, after a while, the stand of trees turned into different kinds of vegetation. The prehistoric Jōmon cedar, sitting in the middle of a nest of roots sticking out of the ground, was where Rentaro had tripped while being chased by the large pack of wolves the day before and thus gotten into trouble. Lichens, too, grew thick between the countless bumps of the fat tree's bark, and there were smashed cars stuck to the trunks, lifted up as if purposefully surrounded. Rentaro gazed at the sight for a while. If he had woken up next to this scene without reference, he would have succumbed to loneliness and despair, believing himself to have been thrown into the distant future where material civilization had collapsed, and he was cut off from returning to his own time. It still was not completely clear what effect the Gastrea virus had on plants, but even so, it was hard to separate it from how big they had grown in the ten years since the war. Of course, the plants had gotten better at surviving their environment. There were even absurd instances where there were forests like the Amazon inside Japan, such as during the Kagetane Hiruko terrorist incident. The area where Rentaro found himself was part of the Unexplored Territory near the Monolith, so this was still not as bad as other places. There were two days until the replacement Monolith arrived. "So you were in a place like this, huh?" Rentaro was surprised by the sudden voice and turned around. "Why are you here?" The owner of the voice was who Rentaro thought it was. There was a girl looking at him sullenly with undisguised wariness, holding four short swords; and a mysterious man with a mask and silk hat. "There was one thing I forgot to tell you yesterday," said Kagetane, holding down his mask. "We encountered that Gastrea you call Pleiades yesterday, once." "Where?!" As Rentaro braced himself to take a step toward Kagetane, the man suddenly raised an arm. "Just follow the river upstream. There's a big Gastrea campground there. I didn't see where the compressed mercury was being fired from, but that's probably Pleiades." Campground. Even Gastrea have campgrounds, huh? That was something Rentaro had been wondering about since he entered the forest the day before. He'd been sure that the instant he entered the forest, there would be Gastrea concealed all over the place and had readied himself for that, but in the end, the only Gastrea he had encountered were the wolf ones. In other words, the two thousand Gastrea of Gado's estimates were gathered in one place resting—like a human company of troops. "Why are you telling me this?" Rentaro demanded. In the past, the man in front of him had tried to summon the Zodiac Scorpion in order to break down the Monoliths. And his motivation for committing the crime was to restart the Gastrea War to give the New Humanity Creation Project a reason for existing—in other words, he had fervently wished to be needed. From Kagetane's point of view, the current Tokyo Area where the Monolith had collapsed by chance should have been his ideal. Even though Kagetane had saved Rentaro last night, the biggest reason he couldn't trust Kagetane was because of the worst-case scenario: that Kagetane was on the side of the Gastrea. Kagetane narrowed his eyes behind the mask and laughed. "Now, I wonder why? I don't really think about things like that much." How serious is he? Rentaro wondered. "If I had to say, it's because I like you. But unfortunately, if you continue like this, you will definitely die." Rentaro couldn't help but be at a loss for words. Kagetane continued. "You've been strange since yesterday. You said you were working separately from your Initiator, but you don't seem worried about her at all. You seem to be prepared for the special mission of defeating Pleiades, but there is no sign of your adjuvant around at all. If this was an official mission, then it would be a little hard to think that they would send a lone Promoter out to assassinate a Gastrea. In other words, it is reasonable to assume that you left your squad because of your own justice or were banished for some reason." He couldn't make a single strangled sound because it was exactly as Kagetane had said. Rentaro wanted to retort with something sarcastic, but he reconsidered, thinking that he couldn't buy the location of Pleiades for all the money in the world. Honestly, thanking Kagetane would be offensive, so he snorted and walked past them, starting to walk toward the river for now. But with the sound of his boots stepping on dirt, Rentaro noticed that there were other shoes mixed in. "Hey, what are you doing?" Stopping and looking back partway, he saw that Kagetane and Kohina also stopped short, as he suspected, about ten paces behind him. Kagetane shrugged and spread out his arms. "I wonder what? You just happen to be in the path upon which we are also heading." "Do what you want." Rentaro snorted in desperation and hurried forward quickly, but he soon heard footsteps behind him again. Rentaro succumbed to the mysterious feeling of annoyance mixed with bewilderment. After the wolves in sheep's clothing came Kagetane in sheep's clothing… It was such an unfunny joke that he felt his cheek spasm. "You bastards walk in front." "No thank you. I do not want to suddenly be attacked from behind." Rentaro scratched his head. Damn it, what the hell is this? After following the river for a while, Rentaro left its banks and climbed up a small mountain to check the time. As morning turned to afternoon, the temperature rose, and with the warming air, their body scents would be lifted higher; it was safer to gain altitude to keep the Gastrea from sensing them before climbing down again at night. Rentaro looked sideways at Kagetane and Kohina next to him, not letting down his guard. He couldn't calm down with them there, but Kagetane said he didn't want to walk in front either, so that was the compromise. His bizarre companions traveled with him, as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Next to him, Kohina was loudly—intentionally so—breaking the bar of chocolate Kagetane had given her while continuing to check Rentaro's movements. She seemed to be saying, Papa said I can't kill you, so I won't kill you…just yet. Because chocolate bars were a lightweight, high-calorie food that didn't take up much space, they were fitting for survival supplies, and Rentaro had heard that the self-defense force and other military organizations gave it to their soldiers as portable provisions. He had thought this since watching the food preparation process yesterday, but Kagetane seemed to be even more of an expert at survival than Rentaro had ever imagined. It was nice to have someone like that in his party—of course, that was if he was an ally and not an enemy. "Satomi, look at that." After they had climbed up a steep protruding rock face for a while, Kagetane handed Rentaro a pair of digital binoculars. Rentaro checked the state of his wound where the wolf had bitten him and kneeled down, looking through the binoculars in the direction Kagetane indicated. He got chills like someone had put a block of ice down his back and ducked reflexively, looking at Kagetane. "Did you see it?" Kagetane asked. "Below that?" said Rentaro. "If it's in the same place as it was yesterday, then probably, yes." Rentaro looked hesitatingly through the binoculars again. In the optically enlarged world, there was a large flock of bird-shaped Gastrea flying in a circle over a fixed spot, and underneath were trees densely woven together, their thick canopy spread out such that it blocked even sunlight. Suddenly, a dull noise echoed and a titanic tree shook hard; the birds it housed hurriedly took flight en masse. The leaves at the tops of trees rustled, and he could tell that a large being was moving through the forest. Rentaro's heart thrummed with nerves. It was there. There was some kind of land-dwelling Gastrea in that area. "Good timing. It's going to rain soon," said Kagetane. Surprised, Rentaro lifted his face and saw the man looking up with a hand stretched out over his head. Following Kagetane's gaze, Rentaro also looked up. The weather had been cloudy since the morning, and it didn't look like there had been much change to it. As if understanding Rentaro's misgivings, Kagetane continued. "The sound is echoing pretty far. That's because the temperature is rising, and there's more moisture in the air." Just then, there was a rumble of thunder from the clouds, as if backing up Kagetane's words. He's like a prophet, Rentaro thought in awe. In any case, the rain was welcome. Their smell would be washed away by the rain so canine Gastrea wouldn't be able to track them, and the noise from the rain would also make it harder to hear their movements. However— "It's that black rain again…?" Rentaro had learned the main points of World War II in history class, and he couldn't help but connect the black rain to the atomic bomb and felt a physical aversion to it. There were no adverse effects to humans being rained on by the ashes from Special Varanium; in fact, if the bleached Monolith had even a little magnetic field left to give off, the rain could possibly even restrain the Gastrea's movements a little. However, yesterday, when the black rain first poured down, the citizens who wanted to protect the home front became panicked, and the radio and news incessantly repeated "Don't worry" to calm the panic. Suddenly, Rentaro thought about how Enju and the others were doing. Half a day had passed since he had fled into the night. Everyone in the adjuvant had probably already figured out that Rentaro was gone. He wondered how Kisara had broken the truth to Enju. Did she tell Enju straight-out that he had left on a mission from which he had no hope of returning alive? Or did she try to give Enju hope by telling her that he would be back eventually? It was probably the latter. If Enju had known that Rentaro was in danger, she was likely to follow him and rush into the forest to cause a small disaster. There was no way Kisara would not realize that. Suddenly, he had the urge to hold Enju tight and just breathe in the smell of her hair. In any case, he had to defeat Pleiades first. If he safely completed his mission, then Gado probably wouldn't lump any more blame on him. He would defeat Pleiades and boldly return to Enju's side. Rentaro glared straight at the Gastrea campground. 8 The sky soon began to cry. Like the day before, there was a large amount of rain. In a bad mood, the sky rumbled, but there was still no lightning yet. As Rentaro climbed upstream, he wiped the raindrops from his face and looked at the palm of his hand. The raindrops coiled about like diluted ink. After a while, a three-tiered waterfall spread out in front of their eyes. It was as wide as the river itself, and the top tier had a drop of about three meters, the middle tier about two meters, and the bottom tier about three meters again. Normally, it might have been a beautiful scenic spot, but currently, the river was a dark reddish-brown, muddied from the dirt, sand, and rain, and the fact that it was about to overflow. Yesterday, Rentaro had jumped into such a fearsome muddy current. "We should probably jump to the other side now, while we can," said Kagetane. "Yeah." Rentaro immediately nodded at the suggestion. The Gastrea campground they looked down on from the top of the slope was probably on the other side of the river. "Kohina." "Yes, Papa." Kohina released her power, and her eyes turned a bright red. Kagetane offered her a shoulder, and they got to the other side in one jump. Rentaro watched them jump and then went to the bottom of the waterfall. There, he found a thin path at the back of the basin and walked across. He didn't feel like being at the mercy of Kohina. The waterfall roared as it splashed down with impressive force, and there were no sure places to put his feet. In addition, there was slippery moss covering the path, so he had to be extremely cautious as he crossed. Just then, he noticed a small hollow in the back of the basin. He tried sticking his hand in but felt the cool, slimy rock face and pulled his hand back quickly. It wasn't like in a movie, where the back of the hollow continued on; it simply ended presently. It wasn't that interesting, so he hurried forward, but then there was a slick sound as his feet slipped on the rock and kicked forward. Wagh— His whole body pitched forward. He was only able to stop himself and stand up again by sticking his hand on a sudden protrusion on the wall. He caught his breath after the shock. This time, Rentaro walked deliberately and carefully across to the other side. The moment he took his last step, he heaved an involuntary sigh of relief. Seeing that Rentaro had safely crossed, Kohina clicked her tongue. They continued north, checking the compass to confirm. On the way, they finally stopped following the river and entered the thick, luxuriant forest. Compared to the forest with the giant trees where Rentaro and the others had spent a night, the tops of these trees weren't that impressive, but there was no comparing how much denser the plants grew here. Rentaro took the lead, followed by Kagetane and then Kohina. Rentaro crouched as he marched, quietly taking out the Varanium survival knife from his hip. In a close-combat fight, it would be faster than sighting his gun and pulling the trigger. In the Unexplored Territory, it was a hard-and-fast rule to move without making any noise. Rentaro's XD gun had lost its silencer when he had been washed away in the river, so since they were nearing the crowd of enemy Gastrea, he definitely couldn't make use of it. There were many ferns at their feet; Rentaro spotted gingko and Adiantum. Bearing with the black rain in his eyes, Rentaro used his survival knife to move the intricate tripe-shaped leaves, and his field of view widened unexpectedly. There, he saw a strange scene and signaled behind him to stop. What is this? "Everything's been bitten off, huh? What is this?" Surprised, he looked next to him and saw Kohina slip past Rentaro like she was not the least bit nervous. Rentaro checked around him to make sure there were no Gastrea around before he followed behind her. There were many trees almost two meters high growing wild, but strangely, the leaf blades of this tree had almost all been bitten off by some kind of living being. Finding a whole leaf, Rentaro saw that it was flat, like broadleaf trees. Since the leaves looked like they had been bitten off by some sort of herbivore, it was strange that all the other trees around it were unharmed. Where have I seen this leaf before…? The second understanding shot through his brain, Rentaro let out an "Ah!" "Do you know what this is, Satomi?" Rentaro nodded silently. Even someone with such extensive survival knowledge like Kagetane couldn't be expected to distinguish between South American plants. "This is a coca leaf…" "Coca? As in…" "The plant that the raw material for the alkaloid from which cocaine can be extracted." Kagetane put a hand to his chin. "I don't understand. Why have these been bitten off? Of course, it was a Gastrea that bit the leaves off, right? What in the world was it after?" "The Gastrea must also be using it as a stimulant." Alkaloid plants and their derivatives could stimulate the central nervous system and temporarily block fears. Rentaro thought back to his first fight against the Gastrea the day before yesterday. Even when they fired on them with guns, the Gastrea in the front row yelled but did not fall or stop advancing. They had probably chewed these leaves beforehand for their stimulant and painkilling properties. Rentaro had conjectured all this on his own, but he still found it hard to believe. Even if they developed intellect, chewing coca leaves before going into battle was too far beyond what ordinary insects and animals could do. Before long, it was possible that Gastrea that could speak human languages and/or something similar could appear. Of course, human and animal vocal cords were very different, so it was uncertain whether they would be able to converse like humans, but still… When Rentaro looked carefully, he saw that all the plants had been beaten down in a uniform direction, and there were a number of footprints. There was no doubt that Gastrea often came through this area. Just then, they heard a groan that was obviously inhuman, and each looked in that direction. Suddenly, they saw two vertical shadows in the curtain of rain. Rentaro gulped. They were snakes with four legs, standing upright. They did not have the long, narrow faces of lizards, but rather had flat, apelike ones. The legend of the Chinese gods with human faces and snake bodies, Nüwa and Fuxi, passed through his head. The moment seemed to last forever as both sides acknowledged their sudden encounter with the enemy, and the Gastrea took a deep breath to call others of their kind. This is bad. Before Rentaro could rush out, Kohina had thrown two of her short swords at high speed. Her aim was true, and one sword skewered the brain of the Gastrea on the right, killing it before it got a chance to call out. The Gastrea on the left twisted its body quickly to avoid the other sword, but it couldn't get out of the way completely, and the short sword pierced its chest. Ignoring the Gastrea's cry of anguish, Kohina pulled out another two short swords from their sheaths and ran in faster than the eye could follow. With a light sound, Kohina jumped up and landed on the short sword before jumping again. Leaping up to where their noses almost touched, she inserted her blades to destroy the brain, quickly killing the Gastrea. The two monsters fell to the ground at almost the same time, shaking the world as they did so. Rentaro looked at the scene, dumbfounded. "You're weak. That's why you will die." With a cold glance, Kohina poked the corpses with her foot, looking bored. As Rentaro watched, chills shot down his spine. He bit his lip—he definitely did not want to reunite Enju with Kohina. Kohina and Enju were completely evenly matched. But added to that was Kohina's cruelty. Seeing that this girl was not shy about it at all, it was possible that she was not even aware that killing was wrong. Rentaro suddenly remembered how Kagetane had called her an evil angel. Rentaro had definitely been saved by some crazy people—devils he met in a hell called the Unexplored Territory. So that made this…the second level of hell. "Now, Satomi. We are nearing the enemy's inner circle." Rentaro nodded without saying anything. They had been hearing a growl that sounded nothing like the rain from beyond the forest for a while now. And then that omen became reality. Rentaro and the others, who were going through the forest halfway up the mountain, had prepared themselves already, so no one screamed in an unsightly way even after seeing it. "So this…is the enemy's base…," whispered Rentaro. Beyond their vision was an open area with various types of Gastrea, big and small, as far as the eye could see. There was a large organism that looked like a platypus, complete with a wide bill and a shell on its back. There was also a mouse with the faces of two different organisms stuck together in a strange place and covered with a chitinous exoskeleton. Could the roadrunner that had gotten so big it looked like a dinosaur fly with those wings it had? It was like a parade of demons in front of his eyes, but in modern-day Japan. A putrid breath blew over to where they were and made Rentaro's lungs feel like they were going to rot. Because Stage One Gastrea were just a larger version of animals that already existed on earth, they were able to make formations with others of the same type, but the Stage Twos and above did not fit in; they were around the edges and were all different shapes and sizes. They just ended up resting all over the place, it seemed. The camp was made up of all different sizes, from small Gastrea to some so large they could be mistaken for small mountains, and they continued as far as the eye could see. Rentaro could see a giant fly Gastrea staggering around with one wing ripped off, probably injured from fighting the civil officers and self-defense force. When he looked more carefully, he saw that some Gastrea had lost legs or had eyes that had carbonized white. Based purely on numbers, the Gastrea had an overwhelming advantage, but the Gastrea were in no condition to fight. Aldebaran should have also been there somewhere, but there were so many Gastrea that Rentaro could not find it. "Isn't that the Gastrea you all call Pleiades?" said Kagetane. Following Kagetane's gaze, Rentaro saw it: sixty, seventy meters distant. "That's…" Of course, it was Rentaro's first time seeing Pleiades, but he instinctively felt that that must be it. He roughly estimated it to be about ten meters tall and wide. It matched the report from Tina's Shenfield. It stood out a head and shoulders above the Gastrea around it, and its mouth stuck out like a funnel just as he had imagined it would. It still kept some fish characteristics, but its eyes were set apart like those of a herbivore's, and its mouth was more like that of a stork or pteranodon than an archerfish. The first thing to draw the eye was its swollen belly. It was inflated like a balloon, and it was so blown up that even now it seemed like it would float up into the sky. The pectoral and dorsal fins seemed to have atrophied and could not be seen, but in their place were things that looked very much like human hands and feet with five fingers and toes. Rentaro didn't understand what was going on. Compared to its swollen belly, its arms and legs were much too short. With those, not only would it not be able to bring the prey it shot down with the compressed mercury to its mouth, but it also couldn't even move the way it wanted to. That beast was a failure even by the warped standards of evolution of the Gastrea virus. If left alone, it would be eliminated through natural selection in no time. How in the world did it survive to see this day? His doubts were cleared up unexpectedly quickly. A Gastrea that looked like a demon monkey climbed adeptly up Pleiades' balloon stomach. As Rentaro watched rapt with interest, the monkey Gastrea shrugged its shoulders and made its whole body tremble as it regurgitated fish from its throat to give to Pleiades. Gastrea helping each other. Rentaro felt like he was witnessing an important part of Gastrea ecology. An unhappy-looking Kohina poked him with her elbow. She seemed to be saying, "If you're going to go, hurry up." Rentaro looked at Kohina and then Kagetane and gave a big nod, then detoured around the forest to get closer to Pleiades. It went without saying that this was Aldebaran's base. If they were discovered by the enemy and surrounded… Rentaro calmed his shaking breaths. This was a critical moment. He needed to calm down and do his job. He felt like he was about to slip in the muddy path, and the rain that started just then chilled the extremities of his arms and legs, so he was already numb. He hadn't had enough sleep, either, and most of all, being in constant fear for his life was wearing on Rentaro's nerves. He had also become part of the food chain. He had never been as aware of that fact as he was today. Just then, Rentaro took a wrong step—his boot stepped on and broke a twig that had fallen to the ground. Even in the midst of the sounds of the rainfall, the dry snap reverberated. One of the reptilian types sleeping nearby lifted its head slowly with a growl and shook its head left and right. Holding his breath, Rentaro stopped moving and closed his eyes. All he could do was pray. Finally, the Gastrea's neck seemed to wind back into place. Rentaro heaved a massive sigh. Detouring around the forest, Rentaro cautiously drew near to Pleiades, and his neck slowly tilted more and more. The creature's enormous body practically filled his vision, and a low, heavy growl came from what could have been its chest or its stomach, which was expanding as it breathed, blowing away rain with its breath. In the rain, white steam was coming off its hot body. This really is a huge Gastrea, he thought again. "What were you originally planning to do once you got to this point?" Kagetane asked in a low voice, frowning. "I was planning to set a plastic explosive and blow it up from a safe distance. But I lost the explosive along with the backpack when I was washed away by the river." "Then there's only one way to kill it." Rentaro looked at his exposed, black-chrome right arm with mixed feelings. The original purpose of the New Humanity Creation Project was to create human weapons that could destroy the Gastrea. The tactical ideology of Section 16 that Kagetane had been affiliated with was to create the ultimate defense that could stop the attack of a Stage Four Gastrea, and Section 22, where Rentaro had undergone unexpected medical treatment, had the ideology of creating an ultimate attack that could rip through the shells of Stage Four Gastrea. In other words, both of them were designed to deal with all Gastrea besides the nonstandard Stage Fives. According to Kisara, the former Seitenshi had called Rentaro and Kagetane the ultimate spear and shield, which was a fitting name for them. If that was the case, then it was possible for him to eliminate Pleiades by using his arm the way it was meant to be used. Suddenly, a snicker came from next to him and he turned to it. Kagetane was holding his mask and giving off an air of brutality. "That's great. I've always wanted to go up against something like that. I'll kill it." Rentaro was shocked. "Hey, wait. I'll go." "I don't take orders from you." Saying that, Kagetane left for the thicket they had seen earlier. Rentaro was dumbfounded for a moment but then soon followed him, pushing Kagetane aside with his shoulder. "You can't do anything with your attack power. Stay back." His shoulder was shoved back. "Injured people should stay back. That's my prey." "Y-you bastard…" Just then, a nearby Gastrea finally noticed them. Rentaro and Kagetane clicked their tongues at the same time and moved forward in the rain side by side. Rentaro was in a good mood, and Kagetane held down his silk hat. It was the walk of people who had given up trying to hide and had resolved themselves. Rentaro's heart beat loudly. They had to do this in one hit. Rentaro's explosive-style artificial limbs and Kagetane's repulsion field were both techniques that were far from being silent, and it was not hard to imagine the fearsome counterattack that would follow upon letting off such an attack in the Gastrea base. Therefore, their plan could only be to take one attack and withdraw quickly. Pleiades noticed them. It looked at them with reddish eyes that looked like they had a film of oil over them, but it did not look like it was going to take any action. Rentaro had seen it before. Those eyes were eyes that had given up on everything. Rentaro looked beyond his own position and couldn't help but sympathize with the monster. It had evolved only its ability to slaughter until it was unable to move freely, and was only being kept alive because it was being fed by other Gastrea. "Well then, shall we?" "Yeah." It was a strange feeling. In the past, during the many times he had fought against this mysterious man, he could not bear the reality that they were both alive and breathing at the same time. When Rentaro's spirit of justice mixed with hatred and clashed with Kagetane's logical evil, Rentaro and Kagetane could only deny the other's existence with their whole souls. That was the only way they could see to resolve their situation. But then why—how could he feel that he could rely on a man like that right now? What was this uplifting feeling he felt in his chest? The Gastrea around them screeched warnings to their comrades in response to the humans that had suddenly appeared in their base, but it was too late. There was a high sound, almost like the air itself was being cut, as Rentaro and Kagetane pulled back their arms. "Tendo Martial Arts First Style, Number 3—" "Endless—" Phosphorescence gathered around Kagetane's hands and formed into a sharp spear. At the same time, three empty golden cartridges flew out of Rentaro's right arm and bounced on the ground with metallic clangs. Rentaro's and Kagetane's eyes met. "—Rokuro Kabuto, Burst!" "—Screeeam!" The right fist with great mastery of technique in it and the shining demon spear of darkness drove into the abdomen of the Gastrea Pleiades at the same time. The sound of the impact reverberated out right afterward and blew the leaves off the tops of the trees, making the forest shake. The center of the explosion caved in, lifting up the bedrock and blowing it backward. As Rentaro's rotating arm thrust powerfully, he felt his arm swing through. Pleiades' skin, which had been reinforced to keep it from getting crushed by gravity, was split open and scattered in all directions. The creature was extinguished from the earth without even having a chance to scream. Under the Gastrea's shocked gazes, Rentaro tended to his fist that had heated up and took the Infinite Stance and focused; meanwhile, Kagetane put his silk hat back into place. Rentaro realized that he had completed the mission to defeat the Gastrea Pleiades. He groaned involuntarily. There was an intense pain in his side, and he fell to his knees and coughed, unable to bear it. His wound had opened up. "Papa, hurry!" said Kohina. Kagetane did an about-face and started running. Immediately, there were angry bellows in succession behind them, and the air shook. Almost three thousand Gastrea contacted their comrades to report an enemy attack. One side of Rentaro's face twisted with the dull pain, and he ordered his body to move, but his movements were slow, and he naturally protected his side as he ran. His vision turned hazy and his legs became tangled. He almost fell. He had used up the last of his strength with that last attack. "You're too slow!" He was suddenly pulled so hard he felt like he would dislocate his shoulder, and his body felt like it would be torn apart with the sudden acceleration. Opening his eyes while he gritted his teeth against the assaulting wind pressure, he realized that Kohina had taken him by the shoulder and was flying through the air. "Why are you…?" Kohina pretended not to hear, and jumped off of boulders and tree trunks, making Rentaro's vision shake. He felt like he was being shaken in all directions by her violent running, and he started to feel nauseous. Still, he held on tight so that he wouldn't fall off. He definitely did not want to scream, so he gritted his teeth. Behind him, he could hear angry bellows here and there that seemed to bunch together into a single roar. Danger signals resounded in the back of his mind. Their restless enemies had finally started to follow them in earnest. Of course, there was the threat of the fast-moving Gastrea, but if flying Gastrea also started following them… Ignoring Rentaro's misgivings, Kohina jumped from tree trunk to tree trunk as fast as a tornado. He grazed his cheek slightly on a giant tree, and the rough leaves cut his face. Light suddenly appeared on the opposite side. Kohina darted over with a vast leap and they continued on that road in the opposite direction, running through the forest where they could see the cloudy sky, light rain, and the swamp they were following. "Over there! There's a small hollow in the back of that waterfall!" Rentaro pointed at the three-tiered waterfall downstream of the river. Kohina didn't spare a single glance in his direction, but Rentaro could tell that they were on the same page by the way Kohina made her steps lighter. She silenced her footfalls and ran in the direction of the waterfall. With just two jumps, she brought them to the waterfall and let go of Rentaro without warning. He couldn't deal with the unexpected floating feeling and awkwardly flapped his arms in midair. Immediately after, he spun over and over with sharp pain hitting all over his body. He felt like he had just jumped out of a speeding train—and decelerated like it, too. Before he knew it, he was lying facedown. The rocks along the mountain stream hit him, and he thought he would lose consciousness in another moment. His joints hurt. Just breathing made his lungs hurt. Damn it, is she trying to kill me? "Hurry!" When he looked, he saw that Kohina was beckoning him, unconcerned about the details. Behind them echoed the sound of the earth rumbling as their pursuers followed them, and he desperately used his hands to push himself up and walk through the catwalk of the basin of the waterfall, practically hurling himself into the hollow in the back to hide himself. Not five seconds passed before a soaked Kagetane also rushed in, looking like a drowned rat. "Will they really pass by us if we stay here?" he asked. "There's nowhere else!" Rentaro snapped. "You two are both too loud!" Rentaro was taken aback by Kohina's roar and shut his mouth. After that, they didn't talk anymore and just holed themselves up in the crowded hollow, trying to quiet their breathing and hide. The short and shallow rise and fall of Rentaro's shoulders quieted down, but it meant that he could more clearly hear the vibrations of Gastrea pounding on the ground, and his world shook. In front of them was a curtain of water, and because of the rain, the Gastrea were not supposed to be able to pursue them by smell. Rentaro closed his eyes and made a hard fist. After a while, the loud cries passed over them, and the large group of Gastrea went by. This didn't feel like real life. Finally, their cries faded away with the Doppler effect. Rentaro was about to give a sigh of relief when the ground shook loudly, and just as he was about to fall into the waterfall basin, Kagetane grabbed both his arms. There was another loud vibration. Rentaro's body floated in the air, and his feet danced. He broke into a cold sweat. This time, it was an outrageously large Gastrea walking toward them. "Last night, because of our encounter with the repulsive monster, none of us slept one wink." Gado's words echoed through Rentaro's head. Could this possibly be what he had been talking about? The general over all the enemy, the Gastrea Aldebaran? The low rumble of its breath made the air vibrate, and the stink of animal attacked Rentaro's nose. It was here. He couldn't see it, but he could tell by its overwhelming presence. A giant Gastrea was plopped right above the hollow where Rentaro and the others were hiding. What in the world did it look like? What's wrong? What's it doing? Hurry up and leave. Why isn't it moving? Rentaro started to panic. Don't tell me it's noticed where we are? Just then, the waterfall in front of them split open, and the earth quaked as something large poked into the waterfall basin. At first, Rentaro thought that a stone pillar had fallen from the sky. But no, it was a leg. One of the Gastrea's gigantic legs had stepped into the waterfall basin by chance. That did not mean that they had been noticed yet. Rentaro pushed his back deep into the hollow as far as he could. Finally, the giant leg was pulled out of the waterfall basin, and the Gastrea's steps gradually faded away. Rentaro slid down the back of the hollow. In the next two hours, Gastrea came near them intermittently, but none of them came as close as Aldebaran. Rentaro didn't know where it had gone. Right now, all he could hear was the sound of the muddy water flowing past them. However, since they'd been spotted, the Gastrea were on guard; if they were seen again, it was less likely that they would be able to escape again. The three of them were in agreement about not moving until nightfall. After they waited another two hours, the dim, lead-colored sky had quickly turned into an indigo blue, and now, it was completely dark. It was hard to tell from the back of the waterfall basin, but it looked like the rain had also stopped. For Rentaro, having to hide himself in the hollow with a constant sheet of spray flying in was a cruel trial. Blood loss had made him pale, and he was shivering uncontrollably from the cold. Earlier, he'd injected himself with morphine, but it seemed to be wearing off, and now he was being attacked by stabbing pains. He'd sewn up his side with the needle and thread in his first-aid kit, which lay at the bottom of his survival knife under the back flap. Multiple times, he'd almost lost consciousness from the ordeal, but he was determined to survive despite it all. In the end, he covered the affected area with a pad of biological glue called fibrin and wrapped a bandage over it. When his mind was fuzzy from the morphine, various memories ran through it unchecked. He remembered how, at the Tendo Civil Security Agency lit orange by the setting sun one day, Kisara started complaining about how they didn't have any clients, and Tina mollified Kisara as she served tea. Enju stuck her head into the fridge without permission and started rifling through the stockpile of food, and Rentaro, who had been put in charge of accounting, glared at the unforgiving finance software as he desperately grappled with the numbers. Even though the memory wasn't that old, it seemed to be fading into sepia, slightly blurred with tears. For some reason, the casual everyday scenes had become irreplaceable. They were like an edited movie of happy endings with all the kissing scenes strung together and pressed in on his heart. "Rentaro." A voice suddenly called his name. The outline of the person was blurry, but a clearer image slowly focused on his retina. A square face with rectangular glasses, with hair that was over half-white, and rounded cheeks with deep laugh lines that gave the impression of being overwhelmingly kind. "Dad." Takaharu Satomi. The father who had passed away ten years ago when Rentaro was six years old. "Mom and I will be there soon, too." Saying that, Takaharu had pushed Rentaro onto a full train and told him the name where he was to evacuate—Tendo. Don't go. However, Rentaro knew what happened next: He knew that his father would not evacuate to Tokyo Area. The next time he saw his parents, they were in coffins. "Rentaro." His father kept calling his name. Tears ran down Rentaro's face. Why didn't his parents come for him? His father said that they would be there soon… Liar. I believed you. I loved you. "…tomi…Satomi…" "Dad." The blurry square face he had been looking at turned into a cold white mask before he realized it. The path between dream and reality was severed, and he reflexively jumped up. "Did your father wear a mask or something?" "Sh-shut up." Rentaro turned away to hide his hot cheeks, but when he did, the pain in his side returned immediately. He shook his head as he pressed down on his eyes, rolling with pain. "Where are we?" "We're still in the waterfall basin. However, there's something strange going on outside. Go out and look for a second." Rentaro's head still felt like it had been stuffed full of mud. But he crouched and, when he got outside of the water, saw large, round footprints pressed into the ground, with tracks of something crawling in their center. It looked like Aldebaran didn't walk upright, and had at least six legs. The wind was blowing too hard and cold. At first, he was on guard for Gastrea outside, but when he looked around, he soon noticed the strange feeling Kagetane had. It was too quiet. "There aren't any Gastrea around here anymore, huh…?" said Rentaro. "That's right. I had Kohina scout out their camp earlier, but it was empty," he replied. Rentaro felt like cold water had been poured on him. "They weren't there? Not a single one?" "That's right. It looks like the Aldebaran troops have started to move." Move. Where? No, it's obvious: the civil officers' base. That meant Aldebaran had recovered from its injury. —Enju! Rentaro sprang to his feet and started running. A voice behind him called for him to stop, but he paid it no mind. Since he'd already been seen by the enemy once, he should have moved far more cautiously, but impatience won out. There was no sight or sign of the enemy anywhere in the forest, which actually worked for the better, since he could run at full speed. He jumped from cliff to cliff, ran over mountains and through valleys. He didn't know how much he had run. He stumbled out of the forest, out of breath, and the space in front of him widened. He squinted at the light of flames and flares. Bizarre silhouettes were clumped together and attacking fiercely, scattering the puny humans below them. In fact, there were so many fewer people by comparison that it wouldn't have been strange for Gado's troops to have fallen apart already. The desperate bitter fight continued, but it was as plain as day that they would not last long. Enju and the others were in the midst of that. If anything had happened— He had no time. He took out his cell phone with shaking hands, switched it to satellite mode, and pulled up a number. It rang ten times, and then the person on the other line answered in bewilderment. "Satomi, this is not the time for—" "Lady Seitenshi, please listen! I have defeated Pleiades. You can use missiles and fighter aircraft now," said Rentaro. The Seitenshi gasped but regained herself quickly. "Please, continue." Rentaro reported the coordinates of the enemy troops' position verbally and then requested fire support quickly after that. "I'm counting on you, then." "Oh, wait, Sato—" Rentaro hung up and waited impatiently, praying. Before long, an object came in at such high speeds that it was impossible to track with the naked eye. It rammed into the back of the Gastrea troops and exploded. A large number of the enemy force was caught up in the blast. It was an antiship missile. Starting with that first one, missiles inundated the enemy with second and third consecutive waves. Heat pulses from the explosion pressed toward Rentaro, and he protected his face from the splinters and dust that blew his way. When he lifted his eyes, red flames were blooming in the night sky and hot wind gusted against his cheek. The crimson tongues from hell billowed upward with a thunderous roar, and there was black smoke from the burned-up sky. Two support fighter aircraft arrived at the battlefield late. Spitting out jet fire, the single-engine turbofan planes approached the battlefield at the speed of sound, crossing over them and letting loose five-hundred-pound guided bombs used for ground attacks. Heavy tips pointing downward, they sucked up the Gastrea on the ground, and more fire and heat from the explosions scattered around them. The Gastrea troops who had been rushing in headlong slowed to a stop for the first time and gave off sounds of bewilderment and fear. Just then, there was another shower of regular bombs, demolishing the front lines. The enemy was restless, and there were even those among them who had succumbed to their fear and were running backward toward their own troops. That was fine. If it turned into a stampede, it would be better for the humans. Just then, Rentaro saw a mysterious sight and held his breath. In a corner of the enemy ranks, in a spot that was relatively well controlled, a giant Gastrea suddenly faded in. When Rentaro saw the silhouette of its rounded back with thin tentacles sprouting from it in random places, he was shocked. It was almost fifty meters in length. No way… Is this Aldebaran? With a wave of one of this giant silhouette's arms, it swung downward at the Gastrea trying to run away. The monsters that had been pierced by the arms didn't even know what hit them; they struggled and finally started to spasm in death throes. Aldebaran brought the bodies of its subordinates to its mouth, opened its giant mouth wide, and threw them in without hesitation. Rentaro heard the dying cries of the Gastrea as they were ground to pieces, even though he shouldn't have been able to hear them. He resisted the urge to vomit. Aldebaran was eating the other Gastrea that were on its side. "Gahhhhhhhhhh!" Angered, Aldebaran howled into the sky. The remaining Gastrea that were just about to stampede froze in midstep. Finally, they slowly returned to their positions and once more faced the civil officer troops. Even their enemies were afraid of their commander, and were willing to struggle to the death on its orders. Aldebaran was also focused on aiming for the self-defense force's fighter aircraft. They were under attack. The flying-type Gastrea that had come to intercept the attack formed a large cloud to strike. The two fighter aircraft released air-to-air missiles. The spears of science from the four missiles ran into the wall made by the flying Gastrea and blossomed into flames. The sight of the countless Gastrea dropping from the sky as they screamed long screams made Rentaro's hairs stand on end, but he couldn't take his eyes off it for a moment. However, the enemy was not to be taken lightly. The flying Gastrea had strength in numbers, and a few of them went through the middle of the flames to throw themselves at the jets with a high-pitched neigh, prepared to die. One of the aircraft couldn't escape completely and was grazed on the edge of one wing, losing its balance and going into a tailspin as it fell. In the end, it couldn't recover its position and crashed into the ground. The remaining aircraft charged the Gastrea. With a cross counter that did not take defense into consideration, it delivered a single courageous strike to Aldebaran. The fighter aircraft let loose a guided missile at the same time that Aldebaran stretched out a conspicuously long tentacle. The alloyed metal body was pierced by Aldebaran's tentacle, which went straight through the cockpit as it exploded. The pilot probably didn't even realize what had hit him as he left the world. And the five-hundred-pound guided missile that the aircraft had left used GPS guidance to make slight adjustments to its position as it fell and was sucked into Aldebaran's torso. The next instant, there was a huge explosion, and Aldebaran's scream rang out. When the flames from the explosion cleared and Rentaro could see again, he saw that the silhouette of Aldebaran was still, not moving an inch. It had completely lost its head and was bare to its abdomen. "All right!" But just then, Gado's dispirited comment rang inside Rentaro's head: "Leader Satomi, Aldebaran is an immortal Gastrea. There is no way to kill it." Aldebaran's body twitched and wings unfolded out of its torso, fluttering at high speed. It was moving without a head. Rentaro looked on in wonderment. Its brains had been blown out. If Aldebaran was an organism that used nucleic acids as a base to replicate DNA to form proteins, then its regenerative abilities should have been greatly reduced, what with its heart and pulse stopped and its pupillary light reflex gone. It should have just been waiting for its inevitable death. "No way…" Was there really no way to defeat this thing? His shock aside, a familiar scene repeated itself before him. The entirety of the Gastrea halted abruptly and retreated while protecting Aldebaran. The flap of its wings earlier had probably been to spread pheromones. A mass of Gastrea troops left the Monolith and came toward Rentaro. He quickly dove into a dilapidated house nearby, removed a floorboard, and let the creatures pass him by. After waiting for the right time, he rushed out and ran back toward the civil officer base. "Kisara!" Seeing her among a group of civil officers covered in wounds, he waved his hand as he ran toward her. He could see Enju next to her, too; the girl noticed him at the same time. "Rentaro!" "Enju!" They hugged with such force that they almost knocked each other over. Rentaro embraced Enju tightly and buried his face in her neck.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-04-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter012.txt	Black Bullet The girl's arm went around his waist. "You idiot." "Sorry, Enju. Really…I'm sorry." Regrets flowed up from the bottom of his heart. He should have explained the situation to Enju, at least. He really thought so now, after he had seen how painful it was to spend time apart. "Why did you leave without informing me? I was worried." As she said that, she half-sobbed and punched his sides. "Argh, that hurts, stop it. I'm injured there! Don't touch it." "Satomi……?" Pushing Enju away from him, Rentaro looked toward the voice and gulped. Kisara's black hair and white skin were covered with soot and blood, and she had a cut above her eyes that forced her left eye closed from blood. When he looked more carefully, he saw that Enju's clothes also had traces of cuts and tears all over them. Even so, Kisara let her tears gather at the edge of her vision as she put a hand firmly on her hip and looked at him sharply. "Jeez, you're late!" "Sorry." Kisara looked like she was about to say more, but no more words came out. Clasping her hands in front of her chest like she was praying, she looked down, shoulders shaking. Rentaro was racked with guilt and scratched his head, not knowing how to deal with it. Just then, a voice called out, "Hey, isn't that Rentaro Satomi?" Rentaro raised his head as the surviving civil officers looked at him as if he had returned from Hades, surrounding him from far away. He heard voices raise a commotion: "I heard he'd been banished…" "Then, the missiles that flew over were…" "Did he defeat Pleiades and come back?" "No way…" From their reaction, he understood at once what the others had been told about his mission to subjugate Pleiades. He desperately controlled his expression to make sure his inner thoughts did not make it to his face. From their hollow eyes, he could tell that everyone was more exhausted than their visible wounds allowed. Thankfully, he still saw Tina, Tamaki, Yuzuki, and Shoma, but what was the deal with having their five-hundred-person-strong troops reduced to about sixty people before the second wave came? He wanted this to be a joke. He wanted to hear the sound of footsteps bringing the remaining civil officers saying, "Don't tell me you thought we died?" and laughing it off. He would feel annoyed for a moment, but then he would be grinning happily with them. "Where's…everyone else?" His voice sounded stiff, dry, and flat as he spoke. Kisara wiped her eyes with her sleeve and looked at Rentaro solemnly. "Satomi…Leader Satomi." Kisara saluted and looked at Rentaro sharply. "Commander Gado has died in battle." He felt like he had just been hit hard in the head. Died? Gado did? The war veteran with an IP rank of 275 died? "According to the Adjuvant System in the civil officer manual, article 40, if the commander dies, then the authority to command the troops will pass to the civil officer with the next highest rank." "Then who's in right now?" Rentaro asked. All the Promoters and Initiators around them looked their way. No way… Rentaro shook his head slowly as he backed away. It's impossible, Kisara. There's no way I can do it. "From here on out, we will fight with you in command. Please lead us, Satomi."
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-04-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter014.txt	Black Bullet BLACK BULLET 4 CHAPTER 04 DOGS OF WAR 1 After getting proper treatment of his wound at the first-aid station that operated out of the school nurse's office, Rentaro could finally relax. When he was freed from being in constant fear for his life, the first things to attack him were lethargy and a sense of emptiness. The effects of the excessive amount of adrenaline wore off, and the sharp pain returned to his abdomen. But the deep emotions he felt at surviving passed, and he was soon filled with a different kind of nervousness. He was reminded to stay in bed for at least a day after this, but he didn't have the time for that. He was now the leader of this worn-out group that could barely be called a troop, even if it hadn't quite sunk in yet. Thanking Sumire, he left the nurse's office and walked alone along the nighttime street. Now that he had become the commander, there were a ton of things he had to do. However, there was one thing he had to check, even if it meant putting aside everything else. Rentaro headed toward some facilities a little ways away from the school that were connected to the former first-aid station. When he told the person at the entrance why he was there, he was led through to a large hall. The room was spacious and dimly lit, and he occasionally heard sobbing. Laid out in an orderly fashion were five rows of black body bags. He thought they looked just like the rows of tuna at the wholesale fish market. He looked on with a strangely cold feeling, thinking that this would be his fate, too, if he died. The health-care center had turned into a storage area for the bodies of civil officers and their support personnel who had died in action. The corpses should have been promptly sent back to the bereaved families, but after Aldebaran's second attack, the personnel who would have transported them got cold feet, and the spirits of those who defended their country were now sleeping together in a huddle with no one to care for them. Because of the ashes from the Monolith covering the sky, temperatures had dropped dramatically, but it was actually still summer. That meant that the phenomenon called rigor mortis set in immediately after death, and it was hard to avoid the sour smell that filled the air and hit Rentaro's nose. The sound of shoes echoed shrilly on the linoleum floor, and the sound of the power generator in the room next door made the air vibrate slightly. Finally, the person on duty led him to where he needed to go, and then Rentaro stood in front of a single corpse. When the person on duty checked the tab, he bowed once and left. Rentaro watched him go, then got on his knees and quietly unzipped the body bag. Rentaro was greeted with muddy, wet eyes and a half-opened mouth. Compassion won over fear, and Rentaro looked at him face-to-face for a while. The man had lost both arms and legs, and Rentaro could see cruel cracks in his bright red exoskeleton, splattered with blood redder than red. "I…didn't hate you, Gado." From what Rentaro had heard, Aldebaran's second attack had been aiming for the commander, Gado, from the start. The enemy troops used an extremely primitive form of organization with Aldebaran as the head, but in terms of base instincts, humans had not changed that much, either. The civil officer troops lacked even a standardized set of indispensable equipment for modern-day warfare, and they hadn't had time for training, either, so it could be said that they had no choice but to fight with a primitive form of organization. The advantage was that the chain of command was simple, so it did not take long for orders to reach the soldiers at the end. The disadvantage was obvious—all the power was concentrated on the general, so if the general was out of commission, then the organization would simply collapse and everything would fall apart. Apparently, Gado's squad was lured in and surrounded, and at the end of a hard, desperate fight, they were pulverized. The civil officer troops didn't fall apart at that, but only because each and every civil officer was firmly aware of the fact that they were Tokyo Area's last stronghold. Rentaro had a silent conversation with Gado. Even with all that had happened, Gado had an IP rank of 275. Rentaro could not imagine how much of a handicap the man had fighting with just one leg, but if Gado had been healthy, he would not have fallen behind even if he had been outnumbered. Old or young, male or female, smart or foolish, good or bad—death did not discriminate. This world was fair to the point of being cruel. Nagamasa Gado had banished Rentaro Satomi and then had been forced into an inescapable situation. But Gado's actions had all been based on a certain kind of logic, and part of that was that he was constantly making decisions in an almost heartless manner. He had cast Rentaro away mechanically based on his own logic. However, that man had also met his fate by the same reckoning. This was not the ending Rentaro had wanted. He had wanted to surprise this man by showing that he could come back alive from a mission he wasn't supposed to survive. Rentaro turned his head to look at the rows of neatly lined up body bags. Their current combat power was a little over sixty civil officers who were up against one thousand, eight hundred Gastrea. They would not get any reinforcements. They had also run out of missiles and fighter aircraft. All of Tokyo Area was worn out, and it didn't matter what tactics they used—they were already facing certain defeat. Aldebaran would come. It would definitely come one more time. Rentaro's intuition, which had already surpassed rhyme or reason, told him that he would not be able to avoid a final decisive battle against that thing. The nihilist Sumire had often told him that there was no meaning to life, and that everything they did was just dancing on their graves. If that was the case, then was it complete coincidence that he was not already lined up alongside the rows of dead? Would the future change if he took command in Gado's place? Rentaro shook his head silently. No, it was the same. Nothing would change. It was then that he noticed that Gado's cloak had been taken off and folded. It wasn't like they were distributing mementos, but he thought to take something back with him, so he took that and turned around. Suddenly, he stopped, noticing that someone was walking toward him from the front. He immediately realized that it was Gado's Initiator. Asaka Mibu, whose hands were covered in mud from picking golden-rayed lilies, hung her head dejectedly, walking with heavy steps. It seemed she had managed to survive, but she looked so dazed—like she had dropped her soul somewhere—that it was hard to say whether she could be described with the word unharmed. When Asaka noticed Rentaro, she bowed and headed toward Gado's side. When Rentaro started walking again, he suddenly heard sobs coming from behind him and stopped. Rentaro's hand tightened into a fist. He ran without looking back. I'm not fit to be the commander. 2 Rentaro was still depressed as he took on the heavy responsibilities of Commander. He couldn't even tell if he didn't want to do it because he didn't think he could, or because he didn't think they could win, or if it was a combination of the two. Thinking to go back once to the hotel his adjuvant made camp in, he dragged his feet past what had once been a park and suddenly heard angry voices that made him raise his face. Straining his eyes to look, he saw a crowd of civil officers off in the distance. There was so much murderous intent, it was as if someone had stirred up a hornet's nest. He could see Tamaki, Yuzuki, Enju, and Shoma. And in the middle of the uproar was a conspicuously tall masked man and a girl wearing a black dress. Oh no, Rentaro thought, starting to run. They had followed him and descended upon the civil officer frontline base. It looked like before they could find Rentaro, they had been found by other civil officers and had caused a commotion. "Kagetane, Kohina!" Rentaro shouted. The two of them noticed Rentaro, and Kagetane spread his arms benevolently. "There you are, my comrade. I was looking for you." Enju shot a look toward Rentaro, startled. "Rentaro! What does he mean, he was looking for you?" "I'll explain later, but he saved me." "Saved you?!" Enju's voice cracked. Just then, Kohina narrowed her eyes and stepped forward with flushed cheeks. "Enju, I missed you." Drawing her black Varanium short swords, she licked a blade with her tongue. "Let's cross swords, Enju. Okay?" Just then, a shining thread wrapped around one of Kohina's short swords and restrained its movement. Kohina stared in surprise. "Wait a minute, you." Stepping out to the front with her arms crossed and looking furious was none other than Yuzuki Katagiri. "You people are the enemy of all of us civil officers! Now that we know you're alive, we can't just let you leave." Kohina gave Yuzuki a bored sideways glance and then pulled the hem of Kagetane's tailcoat. "Papa, these people are in the way. Can I kill them?" Rentaro's hair stood on end. If they went wild here, it would be trouble. However, not even Kagetane would get into a brawl with this many civil officers, already surrounded on all sides. That was Rentaro's way of figuring, anyway, but Kagetane betrayed his expectations and snapped his fingers. "Kohina, you can kill half of them." Raising clouds of dust, Kohina seemed to disappear, then appeared the next moment in front of Yuzuki's eyes. "Wha—?!" "You know, you're kind of strong, but—" Yuzuki threw up her arm suddenly in defense, but Kohina's short sword went past that to pierce Yuzuki's side. Kohina continued on to ram her, knocking Yuzuki off her feet and then treading on the overturned Yuzuki's abdomen with her feet. Cracks radiated out on the ground, and there was the sound of air being squeezed out as Yuzuki spit blood. "Gah…!" "It's not over yet," vowed Kohina. An Initiator with an IP rank of 1,850 was defeated in seconds. However, there was no time to be surprised as two Initiators struck at Kohina from both sides. Kohina spun with the speed of a tornado and slashed the stomach of the Initiator on the left and the tendon of the Initiator on the right and then kicked both to send them flying. The two of them pounded into the ground, outside of the crowd of people. She was amazingly strong. "Let go of Yuzuki, you little—" Tamaki rushed out, pulling the trigger of a large revolver. "It's no use. Imaginary Gimmick!" A repulsion field spread out around Kagetane, who had stepped between them. The bullet Tamaki fired hit the dome-shaped field and ricocheted with a thunderous roar. Tamaki's gun shook in his hand. "Wh-what the hell… It was a bullet from a .454 Casull, you know!" Kagetane chuckled. "Too bad!" This is bad. At this rate… As Rentaro rushed out in a rage, he suddenly felt tremendous killing intent coming from somewhere. "Please get out of the way," said a low voice, and the civil officers stopped in their tracks. There was a commotion as the crowd parted, and a single Initiator walked toward them. She held two fully automatic Glock guns in her hands, and her platinum blond hair was half-ruffled. "Release Yuzuki this minute. I'm getting angry…" "Tina!" said Rentaro. Apparently comprehending her unusual presence, Kohina took her foot off of Yuzuki. "Oh? You look strong. What's your rank?" Tina said her rank quietly in a voice only Kohina could hear. The instant she heard it, Kohina's eyes grew wide, and she muttered, "Interesting." She turned to Kagetane. "Papa, I'm going to kill her! I'll definitely kill her! Even if you tell me no, I'll definitely kill her!" Kohina abandoned the sword that had been wrapped in thread and pulled out a new one from her waist, crossing her swords and lowering her hips. At the same time, two Shenfields spilled out of Tina's sleeves and danced in the air. "You're not a close-combat Initiator, are you?" said Kohina. "What if I'm not?" Tina replied. "You can't win. Not someone like you." Tina looked momentarily confused but then soon shook her head. "What a joke." "Then why don't we give it a try?" The murderous intent and fighting spirit clashed, turning the air explosive. Shoot, Rentaro thought. Even if he ran out himself, there was no way he could stop them. However, he didn't expect a second intruder to appear just then. He heard the ringing of a sword departing its sheath and saw skirts fluttering gently. "That's enough." Kisara suddenly appeared between Kagetane and Kohina and flipped her long hair. She had an eye patch protecting the left eye she'd damaged in the recent fight. "If you insist on continuing this, I will intervene in the fight." Kagetane drew his gun from its holster and pointed it at Kisara's brow. "Oh dear, lovely Miss President. Do you remember me?" "Yes, of course. It's been a while, Kagetane Hiruko." Kagetane held his mask as he chuckled. "But your joke makes me laugh. You will intervene in the fight? What of it? I am the one who will destroy the world. No one can stop me." Just as Kagetane put his finger on the trigger of his Beretta, Kohina suddenly realized something, and the color drained from her face as she screamed. "Papa, no! She's the most dangerous out of everyone here!" Kagetane looked at Kohina in disbelief and then returned his gaze to Kisara. Kagetane held his weapon at the ready, and Kisara had her hand similarly on her scabbard. Invisible sparks flung between the two. Rentaro didn't know how Kagetane judged Kisara's strength, but surprisingly, Kagetane was the one to back off first. Kohina even looked regretfully at Enju and Tina and sheathed her short swords. Rentaro didn't understand what had happened. Even though Kohina had been even more eager to challenge Tina after learning her rank, she panicked the instant Kisara said she was going to intervene… Wait a minute. Does that mean— "My friend." His train of thought broken, Rentaro looked up to see Kagetane smiling softly as he held his mask. "I wanted to test the strength of your adjuvant. Sorry." He chuckled. Rentaro didn't say anything as he closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. After encountering Kagetane in the forest and somehow or other working together to defeat Pleiades, Rentaro thought that maybe even someone like Kagetane could change his ways for the better. However, in the end, even as Tokyo Area was on the brink of destruction from the approaching Aldebaran, this pair was more concerned with pissing contests. After glaring at Kagetane silently, Rentaro exchanged glances with Tamaki and nodded once. Tamaki lent a shoulder to his little sister, Yuzuki, and hurriedly took her to the relief squad. In the end, neither Enju nor Rentaro, nor the white-coated Shoma, had found an opportunity to join the fight. Hmm? Rentaro felt like something was off and looked around him, realizing that there was an Initiator he hadn't seen this whole time. Casually looking around him, he walked to where Shoma was. "Shoma, bro, where's Midori?" A startled nervousness spread on the faces of the members of the adjuvant, and Rentaro felt uncomfortable at that baffling answer. "Enju, did…did something happen?" Enju looked down, not meeting Rentaro's eyes. "Satomi, there's something I need to tell you." Solemnly, Shoma opened his mouth slowly and spoke. And then Rentaro understood why Enju had been silent. "No way…" Kisara shook her head gloomily. "Anyway, you should go see her. You'll still make it. She was waiting for you to come." 3 Rentaro went through the dense forest and came once again to Central Heights Hotel, careful as he went through the entryway with the collapsed ceiling and up the metal spiral staircase to the second floor. Relying on memory, he stood in front of room 201, stopping his hand just as he was about to knock. Rentaro realized that he still did not have his feelings in order. What kind of face was he supposed to show in front of her? There was nothing more worthless than an adjuvant leader who wasn't there when it really mattered. He couldn't complain if she blamed him. "Is someone there?" He heard a feeble voice call out from the other side of the door. Rentaro prepared himself and exhaled from his nose. He twisted the knob and entered quietly, but the screech of a rusted hinge mixed with the stagnant air inside the room. In the orange light of a silently burning lantern, he saw Midori Fuse lying in the bed on the right. Next to her was a water pitcher and cup. When she saw Rentaro, she hurriedly took the pointed hat from the side table and put it on to hide her cat ears. The light was only shining on half of her face, but she was sweating profusely, and her cheeks were flushed. At first glance, it seemed like she had just caught a cold, but Initiators were protected from a variety of illnesses in exchange for the corrosion rate that bound their bodies, so of course that was not the case. Rentaro brought over the stool in front of the vanity and sat down next to Midori. "How are you feeling?" "I'm all right, Leader." She tried to sit up and bow politely, but Rentaro hurriedly kept her down. The shoulder he held rose and fell with small movements, and she was panting, her pulse beating hotly. To Midori right now, even that small feat was difficult. "More importantly, are you really…?" Rentaro asked as he helped her lay down again. She smiled faintly, as if answering a question about the weather. "Yes, I'm sorry. I fell behind. The Gastrea got me, and now I cannot move my body as I would like." He couldn't help but feel compassion for the conditions of how she fell in battle. Alone and unaided, surrounded on all sides with the enemy closing in…it would have been possible for her to survive if she and Shoma had been able to keep their usual formation and focus on defense, but… Midori had seen an Initiator in trouble during battle. Apparently, they had only bumped into each other in the camp and exchanged silent bows, but because they were both shy, they had never actually exchanged words. But when Midori found out that girl had gotten separated from her Promoter and had lost both her legs and was just abandoned in the middle of the battlefield, she didn't think about anything else but rushing in to rescue her. What was frightening was how elaborate the Gastrea's tactics had been. At the very least, the Gastrea's mind had been developed enough to calculate profit and loss beyond immediate kill of the prey it had brought down. They had waited for another to rescue their haul, and thereby get both at once. Just as Midori rushed in to comfort the girl whose name she did not even know, the sandlike ground caved in under them and hollowed out into a funnel as they watched. At the end of the upside-down cone, a repulsive Gastrea with a snapping lower jaw appeared. It was probably an ant lion larva Gastrea, but its form had changed so much that she couldn't be sure. A minute passed. In that time, her arms and legs were being pulled down by the sand as she slipped down, and her movements were being stopped by neurotoxins as she was injected with the Gastrea virus. Organisms that had turned into Gastrea grew something called a virus pocket somewhere in their bodies packed with the virus, and they injected it into their opponents in one way or another to turn them into Gastrea, too. There were, on average, over two hundred million Gastrea viruses in each milliliter of the virus pocket. A normal person would have been turned into a Gastrea in no time, but it was unknown what would have happened to Midori if Shoma had rescued her even a second later. All that could be found of the Initiator Midori had tried to save on the battlefield were traces that looked like scraps of food, and there was no way to know exactly where she was. In addition, according to Sumire's close inspection, Midori had a Gastrea virus corrosion rate so hopeless that she hesitated to even say it. And Midori herself did not know this. "Leader, I'll get better soon and be able to fight again, right?" Rentaro looked down, unable to look straight at her face. "Kill that girl." Involuntarily, the masked man's baritone voice ran through his head. Those were the words of Kagetane, who had been eavesdropping when they were talking about the circumstances of Midori's situation earlier. "It's over for her. Even if you kept her alive, she would just slow you down. No, she would definitely get in the way. You should send her off swiftly before she turns into a Gastrea. That is your first duty as the new commander." When Kagetane murmured that, Kisara flared up fiercely. "You can't. I'm against it. If we keep Midori stable…at best, she could still live for another month." Kagetane shook his head in disgust. "This is ridiculous. Are you really going to face Aldebaran with the nonsensical illusion of friendship?" Kisara turned once and glared sharply at Rentaro. "Satomi, you better not listen to what a guy like this says. If you kill Midori, I'll scorn you forever." "Satomi, kill her. In the past, we fought because I wanted to throw the world into confusion, while you wanted to maintain world order. You won. This is the world you desired. You must deal with the consequences." The two of them glared Rentaro down, making him feel extremely conflicted as he left. I will… I will… "What's the matter, Leader?" Midori's voice brought him back to himself, and he shook his head listlessly. "It's…nothing…" Rentaro put his hand behind his back and checked the position of his XD gun. Midori had no way of knowing Rentaro's thoughts as she poured water from the pitcher into the cup and slid her finger around the wet brim. "Leader, I have a favor to ask of you." "A favor?" "Yes. I'm having trouble feeling my extremities… Will you play along for a while?" Saying that, without waiting for an answer, she stuck her arm out horizontally, still lying down. And then, she slowly closed her eyes. "Leader, please take hold of any finger you'd like." Rentaro look suspiciously at the outstretched hand but gently took hold of her middle finger. "Just now, did you touch…my thumb?" Rentaro was taken aback. There were no uniform symptoms for Initiators whose corrosion levels were close to the borderline. There were those who turned into Gastrea while in a deep coma, but on the other hand, there were those who turned mad in the midst of agonizing pain, losing all emotion as they turned into Gastrea. There was also the unfortunate case of the girl Rentaro had helped die in the past, Kayo Senju, who looked on clearheaded as she watched herself helplessly turn into a Gastrea.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-04-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter016.txt	Black Bullet Rentaro closed his eyes and murmured, "God." Midori's encroachment was starting at her extremities in the most tragic way. And she would likely remain clearheaded like Kayo as her brain stopped being able to control her muscles and her motor neurons died out. Her whole body would become numb, but her cerebral function would remain clear and she could watch herself as she succumbed to the illness. Now that it had gotten to this point, there was no way to save her. After this, the Gastrea virus could advance easily without using any more strength, and at the end of nursing her in vain, she would turn into a Gastrea. The Gastrea virus was called an invincible virus that did not respond to any interventions by modern medicine, so there was no way to escape inevitable death. Rentaro quietly changed his grip to her thumb without her noticing. "You got it right." Midori opened her eyes slightly and tilted her head with a wry smile. "Really?" "Huh?" "Really? You didn't cheat just now, did you?" He felt a second of intense panic. He desperately controlled his gaze so that he would not look shifty-eyed as he squeezed out, "I didn't cheat." Midori lowered her eyes, which had a tinge of pain in them. After that, she deliberately took off her hat, revealing the cat ears that grew on her head because of the Gastrea factor. "Because of these ears, no one ever needed me. Not even my mother, who gave birth to me." "Gastrea Shock, huh…?" "Yes." He had guessed already, so he was not especially surprised to hear this. It was said that the development of a child's personality was greatly dependent on environment. A child who was greatly oppressed while growing up would rebel. A child who was ignored would act up in order to get attention. Midori's timid and meek personality was probably because she was raised in a way that thoroughly denied her existence. "But then, Shoma came to need me. And then, so did you…" Midori stopped talking for a while and looked up at Rentaro, a dignified look in her eye. "I can still fight. Please let me fight." Rentaro silently shook his head. "It would make me and Shoma the happiest if you rested and got better quickly right now." For some reason, the saddest smile he had ever seen appeared on Midori's face. "I heard that you were promoted to commander. Congratulations, Leader." Rentaro looked down and dropped his gaze to his knees. "……I can't do it." It was something he couldn't even confess to Enju, but for some mysterious reason, it came out honestly in front of Midori. "I can't handle it. No one will listen to me." "Because you're still young?" Rentaro nodded, and Midori smiled faintly but broadly. "Then you really must be the commander, Leader. You should be happy." "Happy?" "Yes. If your age is the only thing that is being emphasized, then it could be said that you have fulfilled all the other requirements." "You're giving me too much credit. I'm not who you think I am." That's right. I even want to run away right now. I want to push the job of commander onto someone else. Once he put it into words, the insincere voices curled up in his mind came gushing out one after another, and there was no end to them. The fist he made on his knees shook slightly. A warm hand came and gently covered his own. He looked at the girl in surprise, and found her looking at him straight-on. She was a strange girl… He had never had a proper conversation with her, but unexpectedly, it seemed possible that she was not an Initiator who depended on Shoma one-sidedly. "Hey, what was the scent divination you were talking about when we first met?" said Rentaro. "Huh?" "Remember? When you introduced yourself, you said, 'my special ability is scent divination.' What is that?" Midori seemed to understand and put her hands in front of her chest, stroking them. "Oh, it's because I'm a cat. So I have a pretty good nose." Midori closed her eyes and showed him her nose twitching. "After smelling a lot of different people, I can tell each person's unique smell. When I used that as a kind of fortune-telling, it got an unexpectedly good response from the people around me." "Really? Then, what kind of smell do I have?" For some reason, Midori looked up at him timidly. "You won't get mad?" "No, it's fine." "You smell like destruction." His heart leapt. "I smell…like destruction? Does destruction even have a smell?" Midori also shook her head, bewildered. "I don't know. This is just something instinctive, so it's not like I'm thinking about it when I say it." Silence descended. Midori gulped down the water in the glass. The ice slid down inside the glass with a clatter. "Another thing, about Miss Tendo…" "Kisara?" Midori seemed to resolve herself as she looked at him. "Please be careful, Leader. She smells strongly of destruction. She seems to be easily drawn to darkness." Rentaro was at a loss for words. "What does that mean…?" "But if you're the commander, then I'm not worried. I'm sure you will do well. I am relieved." Their conversation seemed slightly off, but Midori forced herself up, put her hat back on, and stuck her feet into her shoes. "H-hey." "I'm just going out for a while. To the restroom. Don't tell me you're going to follow me?" Rentaro groaned. Midori smiled shyly, put her hand on the door, and turned her back to him. But then her hand stopped abruptly, and she suddenly turned back with an urgent expression on her face. "Leader! Um, I…!" However, she didn't finish the rest of her sentence, no matter how long he waited. She forced her emotions back, looking like she was in pain, and then her usual calm self returned. Her profile had a quiet resignation to it. "I might take a little longer in the restroom." Saying that, she left the room. She never returned. "Hey, Midori…!" "Midori!" There were a number of thin bright bands of light from the flashlights cutting through the darkness, exposing the uneven terrain. Enju and Kisara cried out earnestly, but there was no answer. Rentaro felt his feet sink slightly into the damp, muddy ground as he called out to Midori, who was nowhere to be found. "Would she really be in a place like this?" Kisara asked Rentaro in irritation. "But this is the only place we haven't looked yet." Rentaro checked his watch and cursed. It was 11 p.m. They had already been searching for an hour. He heard voices and saw lights here and there in the distance; it was almost a mountain manhunt. He didn't think that she would be in a forest like this, but since this was the only place left by process of elimination, he was hoping against hope. A three-forked road appeared out of the darkness in front of him. "Enju, go left. Kisara, go right." They nodded at each other, and then Rentaro took the path in front of him. If Midori had already released her power, she could be long gone from their search area. But why in the world would she do that? Rentaro was filled with an unknown impatience and fear, and he practically ran as he called out into the dark, but his voice was almost immediately swallowed up by the darkness. His feelings of futility increased, and his side started hurting with a different kind of ominous premonition. He was pushing his way through the deep grove of trees and halfway up the slope of the mountain when he slipped unexpectedly. Cursing, his vision spun. He stretched out his hand, struggling to stop slipping somehow. He fell with a lump of earth, and when he finally stopped rolling, he stood as he spat the mud out from his mouth, looking around him. He had apparently fallen into a crater-shaped depression that was filled with a light mist. And there she was. "Midori!" He hurried toward her, only to stop, immediately sensing that something was wrong. Beyond the mist, the girl was sitting with her back leaned against the trunk of a white Japanese birch tree. Her head hung low, and she showed no sign of responding to his voice. She also did not look like she was sleeping. Her pointed hat had blown away, exposing the cat ears that she was so shy about showing other people. Rentaro took one more step and noticed that something red had splattered on the white birch tree behind her back. "Mido…ri…?" There was no answer. His arms and legs started shaking on their own. He didn't want to see it or know what had happened. Fighting desperately against the feeling, his legs seemed to belong to something else as they moved toward the girl. His legs stopped in front of the girl. Her sleepy-looking, half-closed eyes did not reflect anything of this world anymore. Her gaze was still, and even when he shined a light into them, he could see no reflex to prove that she was alive. From her mouth, red blood had mixed with her saliva, dragging a long thread down like a weight. From her mouth to the back of her medulla oblongata was a small, round hole. The impact of the sight completely overshadowed the automatic pistol that lay on the ground next to her, making it look small in comparison. Next to her was a scrap of paper that said, "I do not want to be a burden, so I will die. Please take care of Tokyo Area." Rentaro fell to his knees with his eyes still open wide. "It's…my fault…" "Really? You didn't cheat just now, did you?" When he held her finger and realized that she had lost feeling in her left hand, Rentaro lied right away. But then, when she asked him this question, he panicked for a moment. That was when she understood from Rentaro's reaction that she was beyond saving and resolutely decided to die. What the hell was "It would make me and Shoma the happiest if you rested and got better quickly right now"? She had seen right through Rentaro's empty lies. That's why she had smiled at him so sadly. He remembered the sight of the eight of them promising to return alive. It seemed so far in the past. When she had left her room, she had turned around and started to say something, but in the end, she left without finishing her sentence. What in the world had she wanted to say? He could never hear her answer to that question now. Come on, smile, Rentaro Satomi. With this, you were able to get rid of the baggage that was getting in the way of your adjuvant without dirtying your hands. With this, you didn't have to kill Midori and make Kisara scorn you, or be laughed at by Kagetane for not being able to kill her. Isn't this best conclusion you could've had? Come on, smile. Rentaro hit the trunk of the tree as hard as he could with his fist and looked up into the sky. "God damnnn iiiiiiiit!!!" "…………" Shoma leaned over and looked at her condition for a while, then gently closed her eyelids and used her hat to cover her face. He tilted his head back and faced the sky, pressing on his eyes with his hands. "…I was empty. When I met Midori, she was empty, too. We were the same. That's why we worked together. It was a contract to fill each other's loneliness." Rentaro couldn't bear it any longer and cast down his eyes. He wasn't sure if he should tell everyone in the adjuvant about her death or not. But in any case, he thought her Promoter at least should know the truth, so he had brought Shoma here. Shoma looked at Rentaro. "Satomi, let's tell the others she ran away and hide the fact that she died. Everyone would be too shaken." "Shoma, man…" He had been ready to accept any type of scolding. But what was with Shoma's reaction? Rentaro's heart would have felt lighter if Shoma had just told Rentaro off with all his might. If it had been Enju lying there in this transformed state, Rentaro would have killed whoever was there with him, even if he knew he was just venting. But Shoma shook his head. "I really should have been the one to help her to die. I, her partner…" "Shoma, what was the emptiness you were talking about earlier…?" Shoma looked down, sorrowfully. "I quit the Tendo Style, remember? I was expelled." Rentaro was astonished. Expelled? The brilliant student that Kisara and I looked up to was expelled? "Satomi, you saw it, too, didn't you? That time Kisara made a mistake and allowed a Gastrea to attack, and I jumped in to save her." "…Yeah." The Rokuro Kabuto that Shoma had used had not only killed the pill bug Gastrea but had also made his opponent's body explode and scatter in all directions. The essence of the Tendo Style was to use a focused power to defeat and incapacitate the opponent, so destroying organs and other such cruel techniques were not expected. However, the technique Shoma used was obviously a killing technique to which he had modified and added his own style. "I strayed from the straight path. That's why I was expelled. I was betrayed by the Tendo Style that I had believed in and got lost by the wayside. That's also why I disguised myself as a civil officer." Rentaro didn't say anything. "According to Master Sukekiyo, if I continued like this, I would use my power for evil. That's why I'm actually forbidden from using the Tendo techniques themselves." "That's ridiculous. Kisara and I both know that you wouldn't do that." Shoma lifted the corner of his mouth just a little, looking happy. "I don't know what'll happen in the future. I don't think God knows, either." "Shoma, man, I'm so sorry… This was my fault." "It wasn't you who killed Midori, it was the Gastrea. If you want to grieve over her death, then swear right here, right now that you will defeat Aldebaran and save Tokyo Area." Shoma silently stretched his arm out to Rentaro. "Stand up, Satomi. You're the commander. If you don't do it, then it'll be Tokyo Area's turn next. Midori's death was no more than a sign. More gruesome deaths will be strewn around. You must stop Tokyo Area from becoming a sea of blood. You're going to do it." Rentaro's soul trembled. Even though Shoma had just lost his Initiator, who was like a part of him, he had not been overcome by resentment or sadness; instead, he'd told Rentaro what needed to be done. He was the proper successor to the Tendo Martial Arts, after all. Rentaro closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled. Then, he slowly opened his eyes and tightly grasped Shoma's outstretched arm. His heart had decided. Checking his watch, he saw that Japan had started a new day without him noticing. Tomorrow, construction of the new Monolith would begin. However, since the danger of Aldebaran coming back to make it collapse again even after they finished building it remained, he needed to defeat it with his own two hands, after all. It was starting. The last day. The day of the final decisive battle. Rentaro took one last look at Midori and then started walking without looking back again. The Third Kanto Battle had claimed another victim. Rentaro wouldn't allow it to claim any more. 4 Early the next morning, Rentaro put his hands on the washstand of the dimly lit public bathroom and stared at the partially clouded-over surface of the mirror. Amid the countless cracks on the mirror's surface were reflected many Rentaros with grim expressions. The words Kagetane Hiruko said in the forest the day before yesterday crossed his mind. "I can see the mask you wear, you know. The guardian mask you wear when interacting with your Initiator, the Tendo Civil Security Agency Employee mask you wear when you work as an employee of that female boss of yours, and the facing the enemy mask you're wearing now with me. Aren't they all different Rentaro Satomis?" Around the world, there were a number of ceremonies and rituals held by people of different races and ethnicities that involved the wearing of masks. When people wore masks, the lines between reality and illusion, gods and humans, life and death all became blurred, allowing them to believe that they could become something different from themselves. If that's the case, then I'll become the civil officer troop commander, Rentaro Satomi, right now. He told this over and over to the Rentaro Satomi in the mirror, imagining that he was putting on a cold mask. "Satomi, it's time." When Rentaro looked toward the voice, he saw Kisara standing in the entrance of the bathroom. "What about the thing I asked for?" Kisara glanced at Rentaro's remade jacket under her armpit with unease. "Are you really going to do it?" "Of course. Stay next to me, Kisara. All right, let's go," he said, urging Kisara on and trying to go outside. But something seemed to be bothering Kisara that she just had to get out, and she stopped, looking up at Rentaro through her lashes. "Um, you know, Satomi…" "Hmm?" "Satomi, have you noticed? You have a really scary expression on your face right now." The civil officers who had been gathered without explanation early in the morning and then made to wait in vain were obviously irritated. And that irritation reached its peak just as Rentaro took the stage with Kisara accompanying him. "Hey, that's…" "That's Commander Gado's…" "What the hell?" Rentaro could hear similar complaints all over the place. Rentaro allowed Gado's cloak with the troop crest to undulate, blowing in the wind as he walked in front of them to stand at the podium. He glared over the gathered civil officers, sighing inwardly without letting it show in his face. Their numbers were sparse, and more than angry, they looked exhausted. Rentaro had heard ahead of time that they only had a little more than sixty people, but of those, there were hardly any who were uninjured. Their hearts were anywhere but here, and they were far from being unified. They couldn't do anything with their anger and would do anything to vent, so they followed the closest thing that wanted them. They did not even seem to have the desire to win. I see. So this is an army that would face certain defeat, Rentaro thought. When he looked around, he saw Enju and the Katagiri siblings watching over him with concerned expressions. "I'm Rentaro Satomi, and I will command in place of Commander Gado, who died in battle." Immediately after he spoke, angry voices flew about, booing and jeering. Rentaro could hardly bear to listen: "You can't take the place of Commander Gado!" "Get off the stage!" "If you're gonna stick out that face, then I'm outta here." Just then, someone with a conspicuously loud voice appeared and shouted, "Hey, everyone!" It was a Promoter in his mid-thirties, one who was barely injured. He was probably the type who ran away right when the battle started and didn't actually fight that much. His face, including his nose, was flat. His head stuck out in the back, making it look like an inverted triangle. Was this what was called an expressionless face? He was a boring man with a boring face. Said face turned red like a monkey's as he jeered. "We can't follow orders from someone like this. It's all over for Tokyo Area. It's over. If that's the case, then don't you want to go home to your family and loved ones and spend your last days with them, everyone?" As the man stirred them up, other civil officers murmured their agreement. The man certainly had a point. With the daily reports, the whole world already knew that Tokyo Area was losing. The price of any and all the stocks on the Tokyo Area exchange had dropped so low that they were like scraps of paper. Interest rates for government bonds went up suddenly, and to make up for that, the yen suddenly became extremely weak. Despite all this, before the Third Kanto Battle, Tokyo Area had been considered a strong country with a safe haven currency, with its prosperous Varanium exports and track record of defeating the Zodiac Scorpion. All the rich and famous had long flown to other areas or countries, and no one in the world thought the civil officers would win. It was a hard situation to remain hopeful in. The man continued shouting. "Hey, let's all indulge ourselves together. It's not like there's anyone who can stop us. The new commander's so scared he can't even talk." The man stuck out his middle finger at Rentaro. "Hey, you. Try saying something." "Shut up," said Rentaro. "Huh?" At first, the man was taken aback, but the next instant, he looked at his supporters around him and started to smile with contempt. "Hey, you heard that, didn't you? He said, 'Shut up,'" the man scoffed. "Kisara, I'm going to borrow this." Saying that, Rentaro didn't wait for an answer as he drew the murderous blade Yukikage. "Hey, wait—" offered Kisara, but he left her behind as he jumped off the stage and went near the man. The crowd of people parted briefly, and the man snorted. "What do you want? If you're gonna do it, go ahead and try, you lily-livered—" Before he finished talking, Rentaro casually stuck the Japanese blade into the man's shoulder. The air around them froze. There was the sound of someone gulping. The frozen man turned his head, trembling with fear, and looked with disbelief at the naked sword sticking out of his shoulder. "Gyahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!" After Rentaro stared down at the man rolling on the ground with cold eyes, he slowly looked at around him. "Does anyone else have any questions?" The crowd drew back with a stir. The scornful voices stopped. Even Enju's eyes were wide at the sudden change in him. A Promoter with a bandanna seemed on the verge of tears as he said plaintively, "Why us?!" "Because there's no one else but us," Rentaro answered. "There's no way we have enough people with these numbers!" "If we don't have enough people, then we will add some to our number." The man was about to laugh at the impossibility of it, and smiled stiffly. "Where would we find people like that? Don't tell me you're going to recruit the doctors and suppliers deployed to us?" "There are people. Over there." Saying that, Rentaro jerked his chin, and everyone looked in the direction he indicated. And then groans of surprise could be heard here and there. "Wait, don't tell me you—" The man's face was pale as it turned from the gym back to Rentaro. "That's right. The injured." "Don't be ridiculous! There are people whose ears or arms and legs have been blown off in there, you know." "But they aren't dead. If we lose this fight, everyone's going to die anyway. And there are those who are faking illness because they don't want to fight. We'll take all of them and add another forty people." The man's face beaded with sweat. "Y-you're crazy. You're insane! Hey, everyone, why aren't you saying anything? The new commander's out of his mind!" That man looked behind Rentaro and a grin appeared on his face. "Chikaze! Kill him!" Rentaro turned reflexively and saw the muzzle of an AK-47 assault rifle. The girl pulled the trigger, and with flashy muzzle fire, 7.6-mm bullets rushed at Rentaro in a fully automatic sweep. Right before they hit Rentaro, there was a thunderous sound, and a bluish-white phosphorescence repelled all the bullets, sending them in all directions. Rentaro protected his face from the scalding wind pressure and opened his eyes slightly. "Kagetane, huh?" The coattails of the mysterious masked man standing in front of Rentaro fluttered in the wind. The assault rifle fell to the ground with a clang, and the girl called Chikaze held both arms up in surrender. At the girl's neck was Kohina's short sword, which had cut a thin line into the skin. In the midst of the frozen spectators, Kagetane slowly turned off the field and spread his arms dramatically. "Kohina and I will also put ourselves under Satomi's command. Do you still think we don't have enough people?" The crowd trembled with fear. "No way, that terrorist…?" "He was formerly ranked 134…" Rentaro glared at Kagetane spitefully. "What's with this turn of events?" "Don't you need my help, my comrade?" Kagetane chuckled, holding down his mask, as Rentaro glared at him coldly. "I can trust you, right, Joker?" "Leave it to me, King." Rentaro nodded once and then threw out an even colder glare at the civil officers. "That's how it is. If you try to run away or cause trouble, then you will be eliminated. After this, anyone who points a sword at me or attacks me will be eliminated. I'm not as soft as Gado. I will give you orders later. That is all. Dismissed." Rentaro left with a wave of his cloak. "Wait a minute, Satomi!" He walked a little farther before turning around to see Kisara, as expected. From her indignant eyes, it was clearer than the sun that she was not feeling kindly toward him. "Why did you do something like that? Making people obey you in such a violent way. Everyone's afraid of you now." "That's good." "What?" Rentaro turned his back toward Kisara again and closed his eyes without speaking. "Kisara, you saw it, too, didn't you? Everyone's exhausted, and they're all overwhelmed by fear of the Gastrea. They couldn't fight like that. That's why from now on, I'll have them fear me, not the Gastrea." Rentaro could see that Kisara's head and body were shaking. "Don't tell me, Satomi… Then that was all a performance…?" Rentaro didn't say anything. He could hear Kisara making a hard fist. "You'll be hated by everyone! Detested! Then who will be on your side, Satomi?" "I don't need anyone. At least, not right now." This was the conclusion Rentaro had come to while looking at Midori's dead body yesterday. If he wanted to do his best to keep there from being any more victims, he would have to abandon all his feelings as a human. He would think about allowing himself the luxury of feeling emotions like everyone else after he was still breathing when this war was over. Just then, he was hugged hard from behind in a surprise attack, and Rentaro's body stiffened. "Idiot." There was strength in the arms that wrapped around him from behind, and body warmth found its way into Rentaro's chilled body. "Kisara……" He felt the inside of his heart slowly become warmer. Kisara sounded like she was sulking. "Next time, you must consult with me, your boss, before doing anything like that. You're mine, Satomi. You need my permission even to breathe, you know." Rentaro laughed. "You're dangerous." "Idiot." "Sorry…" "Idiot." Just then, Rentaro noticed the quiet figure of a girl behind Kisara and slowly separated himself from Kisara, stiffening his expression again. "I heard your excellent speech." Asaka Mibu, wearing light blue Japanese armor, opened her closed eyes just a little. "However, please allow me to speak frankly. You are not fit to be commander." Kisara looked angry, but Rentaro held her back with his arm and had the girl continue. "If it were Master Nagamasa, he would have been able to gather the troops better and handle everything better. Simple people may not have noticed, but you cannot fool me. You are acting like a dictator." Rentaro looked down at Asaka coldly. "Gado is not here anymore. And I'm not Gado. His way of doing things failed. The way he was doing things was wrong. That's why we lost two battles in the past and it's turned into this war. Right?" Asaka's anger flared and she crouched down, drawing her long sword from its scabbard. "You dare insult Master Nagamasa, you peasant?!" The next instant, it seemed like Asaka had disappeared as she left an afterimage and rushed at him a high speed. The long sword she was brandishing drew an arc and would reach Rentaro's throat in no time. Just as it was about to get to him, a hand suddenly stretched out from the side and twisted Asaka's arm up. She gasped in surprise. Her body spun once and she was thrown onto the ground back first, making a depression in the ground. Her small frame convulsed sharply. Asaka looked at the sky with her eyes still open, looking bewildered. "Are you confused? That a simple human threw you?" The tall man in the long coat looked at her emotionlessly. "You rushed like a fireball. Are you only calm on the outside? Or did you get angry because Commander Gado was being made fun of?" Asaka leapt back like she was being repelled and fumed with teeth bared, "Who are you?! State your name!" "Shoma Nagisawa. Actually, I also lost my Initiator, so I was just looking for a strong Initiator. Wanna pair up with me?"
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-04-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter018.txt	Black Bullet "I will not serve two masters." "Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not looking for a replacement for Midori, either. It's just, rather than fighting alone, I think we could more efficiently fight Gastrea as even a temporary pair. That's all I'm suggesting." "You mean…a pair to last only until the end of the Aldebaran War?" Shoma nodded. "I mean, I'm sure you know yourself how far off the mark you are by blaming Satomi. Satomi isn't the one who killed your Promoter. It was the Gastrea. Get rid of your grudge by fighting Aldebaran on the battlefield. Don't be mistaken about where to point your hatred." Asaka was silent for a while, thinking. However, she finally got on her knees and respectfully offered her sword to Shoma with both hands. For someone militaristic like Asaka, offering her sword meant she was offering her trust and allegiance. "I give you my sword for the time being. Use it as you will, Master." She exchanged glances with Shoma and nodded. Asaka and Shoma seemed to have a lot in common. Neither was very approachable, and they both had reticent but sober and honest personalities. They were an impromptu pair, but they would likely work together well. Rentaro felt emotions flare up inside him like magma. He finally had all his cards together: The King—Rentaro Satomi and Enju Aihara. The Queen—Kisara Tendo and Tina Sprout. The Jack—Tamaki Katagiri and Yuzuki Katagiri. The Ace—Shoma Nagisawa and Asaka Mibu. And right now, Rentaro also had the strongest wild card in his hand: The Joker—Kagetane Hiruko and Kohina Hiruko. The plan he had from the start for a five-pair adjuvant had finally come together at the eleventh hour. It was the strongest party he could think of. Rentaro glared at his old enemy, Aldebaran, beyond the grave marker of the collapsed Monolith. This fight will not necessarily end in our loss. 5 Just then, Rentaro heard the sound of a large number of distant rotors in the air. Turning to spot them, he estimated that there were over twenty transport aircraft and helicopters flying in a formation toward them. When the transport craft swelled and passed over Rentaro's head, he was sure he could see the Shiba Heavy Weapons emblem printed on its side. It looked like what he had ordered had arrived. As Rentaro pushed his way through the stunned civil officers, a rappelling extraction rope was lowered to the ground from one of the air units, and a girl wearing a kimono with long, fluttering sleeves gave a big wave as she blew a kiss toward Rentaro. "Satomi, dear! I'm on my way! Whoa!" Miori Shiba swung dangerously midair, and just as Rentaro expected, her sleeves got tangled with the rope in the air and she lost her balance. Rentaro didn't wait, but pushed the crowd out of the way as he rushed over, sliding to catch the falling woman. As she hit, he felt the air being squeezed out of his lungs and almost lost consciousness as a thud vibrated all the way to his organs. When he looked again, he was on his back and Miori was sitting on him, flushed with embarrassment. "Owwww… It's been a while, Satomi, dear. Oof. This is kind of a kinky position." "Hey, idiot! Don't climb down a rope ladder wearing a kimono and geta clogs!" Rentaro yelled. "But I wanted to see my dear Satomi as quickly as possible!" Flirtatiously, the daughter of the weapons conglomerate CEO put her arms around Rentaro's neck and whispered in his ear. "I knew you'd save me, Satomi dearest. I think I might've sprained my ankle. I wish you'd carry me in your arms like a princess to a nearby tent. You can take care of me however you want, mon ami." Her elegant kimono was made of dyed black cloth and embroidered embellishments. Her lustrous black hair was wavy, and her beautiful white face with its shapely nose was so close to Rentaro's face his heart pounded. "H-hey, Miori…" Rentaro said. "Sa-to-mi, my dear… Tee-hee," she said, articulating each syllable distinctly. Suddenly, Rentaro heard a sharp tongue click from behind him. "Too bad. It would have been nice if you'd fallen and broken your neck." Jumping up with astonishment, he found that it was Kisara who had spoken, as he expected, and was standing in front of his chest with her arms crossed, her legs shifting with irritation. "What business do you have here? Hurry up and take care of it and leave." "Oh my, it's been a while, Kisara. Have your breasts distended since we last met?" "We just saw each other recently! There's no way they'd get bigger so suddenly!" Miori took a fan out from her bosom and spread it, covering her mouth as she narrowed her eyes, laughing bewitchingly. "Unfortunately, I'm here today officially employed as a weapons advisor to dear Satomi. I don't have to listen to you." "What?" Kisara glared at Rentaro sharply. "Hey, Satomi! What's the meaning of this?" Rentaro felt like he'd finally gotten permission to speak as he went to stand between them. "It's true that I asked Miori to come. In order to defeat Aldebaran, we definitely need the cooperation of a weapons specialist." In the staff tent Miori constructed was a crude desk, and the lightbulb that hung from the ceiling with a simple lampshade over it lit only the desk. But around that desk were the members of Rentaro's adjuvant, plus Miori. Miori put her hands on the plain wood surface and looked around at everyone with an uncharacteristic scowl. "I've heard about Aldebaran from our dear Satomi. An immortal Gastrea is no joke. You've all done your best. Let us at Shiba Heavy Weapons back you civil officers up with everything we've got." Rentaro nodded. "Thanks. That's encouraging." "Hey…Miori." Kisara, who had her hands crossed in front of her chest, put a hand to her chin and looked uneasily at the woman. "It's not that I have any complaints against you all, but don't we have any extra backup other than Shiba?" Miori understood what Kisara was trying to say and nodded. "Kisara, you've been at the front lines this whole time, so you may not know much about the mood in Tokyo Area right now, but it's terrible on the home front. In the first place, in order to prevent the attack of the Zodiac Scorpion that came out during the Kagetane Hiruko terrorist incident, Tokyo's land, sea, and air self-defense forces were already nearly annihilated. Then, before the paint was even dry on that matter, Aldebaran came. The city's defense systems are practically worthless now. "Even if it can miraculously defeat Aldebaran, it would take Tokyo Area years to recover to its national power to previous levels. I'm sure the Lady Seitenshi will have to deal with more national troubles than any Seitenshi we've had so far." Gazes with deep-rooted criticism fell to the terrorist in the corner of the tent, but Kagetane just shrugged, showing no sign of remorse. Kisara continued. "What about support from outside the country, or other areas?" "That's difficult, too. The other countries have their own speculations, but in the end, most think of it as someone else's problem." Miori pointed a finger at Rentaro. "I have one more piece of bad news. This is a report from Shiba Heavy Weapons' man-made satellite. It looks like the Aldebaran troops have finally started moving." The mood inside the tent stiffened noticeably. "When are they expected to arrive?" Rentaro asked. "At eleven p.m." Rentaro hurriedly checked the time. They had a little over half a day left. Rentaro forced down the nervousness inside him and asked Miori as calmly as possible: "Well, Miori, is there a way to defeat Aldebaran?" Everyone's eyes seemed to cling to her as Miori suppressed a smile and hid her mouth with her fan. "Who do you think I am? Of course I came with a plan." Miori placed the small case at her feet on the table before opening it and pulling out a cylindrical object. The shiny black metal on its surface was probably Varanium; the red sensor inside that gave an impression of solidity, reflecting the light of the bulb above them. When Rentaro stroked the surface, it felt cool, and when he tried holding it, it was much heavier than he expected. It was just about as thick as a tea canister, but Rentaro could hold it with one hand with no problems. Since he had been preparing himself for what was about to come out, Rentaro was a little disappointed. And it looked like Rentaro was not the only one who felt that way. "Oh my, is Miss Miori going to make us some tea?" Miori did not respond to Kisara's sarcasm, but looked at everyone with seriousness. "That is a special bomb developed by our research team. Its development code name was the ekpyrotic bomb, but everyone calls it the EP bomb because the name is too long. It can cause extreme explosive damage to a very small area, and it has twenty times the power of the five-hundred-pound bombs dropped on Aldebaran by the self-defense force, so be careful when you're handling that." Rentaro almost dropped it. Seeing that, Miori chuckled and took the can from Rentaro's hand. "In other words, Miori, you're saying—" Miori nodded. "Completely destroy Aldebaran so that not even a scrap of it is left. There is no other way for us to win." Rentaro stared hard at the small cylindrical bomb. It didn't look like there was a spare. The fate of Tokyo Area literally lay in this single small bomb. "But Satomi, dear, at this rate, just hitting Aldebaran with this will not kill it." Rentaro tilted his head in question. "What do you mean?" Miori smiled bewitchingly and continued. "Exactly what I said. At this rate, I'm still worried that there is not enough firepower. That's why, based on the results of analysis by our research team, making this explode inside Aldebaran's body is the only chance we have to destroy it." Kisara, Tina, and Shoma had looks of sudden realization on their faces, but Rentaro still didn't understand. "Satomi, did you know that gunpowder is more powerful when you have it explode sealed up inside a hard container than when you just let it explode as is? It's like when you let a firecracker explode on the palm of your hand, your hand will just get burned, but if you hold it tightly in your hand, your whole hand can be blown off. The EP bomb is an amazing bomb that explodes with a high-pressure implosion reaction, but that will not completely destroy Aldebaran. That's why we would like to have it explode with another layer of complete airtightness around it." After getting that explanation, Rentaro was finally also able to follow the conversation. "In other words, Miori, you're saying we need to injure Aldebaran, toss the EP bomb in before it regenerates, wait until the wound fully heals, and then make the bomb explode?" All of the giant Gastrea had exoskeletons that were extremely hard so that they would not be crushed under the pressure of gravity. If they injured one, threw the bomb in, and then waited for it to heal, the bomb would be taken in by the Gastrea's body, which should completely seal it off. If they activated a timed fuse in those conditions, it was possible to create a terrifying detonation. In other words, Miori was planning to use the Gastrea's body as a vessel to increase the bomb's explosive power. Miori pointed at a slit in the middle of the tea canister–shaped bomb. Upon closer inspection, Rentaro noticed that the slit part was notched with red gradations. "If you twist the EP bomb itself to this notch, it will explode three minutes later. It will be more sensitive at that point, so after you twist the can, make sure you do not let it undergo any strong shocks." Rentaro was dumbfounded at the audacity of the plan. However, it was true that it might be possible to kill Aldebaran with this. But his doubts had not all been cleared up yet. "Miori, how do you plan on getting a wind hole into Aldebaran? We don't have a weapon left that can do that." The five-hundred-pound bomb dropped from the fighter aircraft could deliver a blow like a giant war hammer with the addition of gravitational acceleration, and the first blow to injure Aldebaran that Gado delivered was a satisfying one from the state-of-the-art powered-exoskeleton suit he wore. However, in order to throw the EP bomb deep into Aldebaran's body, they would need a combination of ballistic and penetrating power greater than those. Rentaro explained without pausing that even a tank gun or bunker buster might not be strong enough. "We do have a weapon strong enough. Just one. Something with greater ballistic and penetrating power than a tank gun. One that, if it's not damaged, is a weapon we can trust. Our greatest and last weapon." "Where?" As he braced himself for the answer, he noticed that all the eyes in the tent were looking at him—or more precisely, at Rentaro's arm and leg. Consecutive days of fighting had left the artificial skin peeling off, and he hadn't had time to do repairs. His uniform was torn and frayed. The cloak was also a hand-me-down from Gado, so its hem was worn out, and it was tattered, but it made it look almost strangely vintage. And, in the past, the defense ministry had asked for each individual soldier's equipment in the New Humanity Creation Plan to have enough power to defeat a Level Four Gastrea with certainty. Rentaro pointed at himself. "M-me?" Miori nodded with a grin. "That's right. Our last weapon is none other than you, my dear Satomi." Rentaro stared at his right arm. It was true that if they were to say who among them had attack power that could rip through Kagetane's transcendent barrier, Imaginary Gimmick, it would no doubt be himself. However, even though Aldebaran was not a Stage Five, it was much bigger than other Stage Fours, and if they were to rank it, it would be somewhere between a Stage Four and Stage Five. Could he really annihilate it with his own power? Rentaro shook his head. He had to do it; there was no other way. "Okay. I'll do it." Miori put the palm of her hand next to his ear and patted him twice. "Okay, attention please. I want to confirm with everyone. Aldebaran is a practically immortal Gastrea, but it controls other Gastrea with its pheromones, so as long as we defeat it, we'll win. "In order to win this battle, we have to fulfill the following conditions: One, find Aldebaran as quickly as possible from the midst of the enemy troops. I have a plan for this. Two, cut across the enemy camp with the rest of the adjuvant protecting Satomi, bringing him to Aldebaran. And three, to have dear Satomi fight Aldebaran and injure it, twist the detonation can of the EP bomb, throw it into Aldebaran, and escape. "If Aldebaran finds you, it's game over. If dear Satomi is defeated, it's game over. If the bomb Satomi throws in is not deep enough and does not completely destroy Aldebaran, it's game over." "That's tough." Rentaro let out his frank thoughts. "But there is no other way." "What are our chances of success?" "God only knows." "Isn't that hopeless?" Miori grinned and slapped the table hard, looking around at everyone. "This plan will be called Rapier Thrust." Rapier Thrust. Just like the name implied, it was a plan to rush through with a sudden attack that thrust at the enemy camp like a rapier, to cut up the enemy without thinking about defense. Miori grinned as she took a cell phone from her bosom and pushed the redial button. "There is one more lady who couldn't come here but wanted to support you, Satomi, so I'll introduce her now." Catching the cell phone thrown at him, he put it to his ear. From the polite way Miori described her, Rentaro had some clue as to who the person on the other end could be. "Satomi, it's me." He heard a dignified voice that made him straighten up unconsciously. "I thought it'd be you, Lady Seitenshi." "Yes, I also wanted to be there, but I want to continue the work of guiding the evacuees to the very end, so it was impossible for me to go. That's why I thought I could at least send my voice, and called." Rentaro was startled. "You aren't in a shelter?" "I will only go into a shelter when I have confirmed the safety of the last of Tokyo Area's citizens." Rentaro was shocked. He could easily imagine the Seitenshi refusing the pleas of her aides and continuing to stay on the scene, and it brought to mind the troubles of her aides. "Commander Satomi, I will not say much, but good luck. I think it is fate that you became the commander of our forces." She was exaggerating, but somehow, he did not feel like teasing her about it. "Yeah, okay. Thanks." He hung up and threw the phone back, and Miori caught it. Then, she looked at everyone and continued. "Now, we will abandon this place and go farther back to ready our camp. There, we will ambush Aldebaran." Kisara interrupted hurriedly. "Farther back than this? Is there a good place to set up camp back there…?" Rentaro and Miori looked at each other and nodded. Miori spread a map on the table and pointed to their current position, then brought her finger directly behind it. Kisara made a startled sound. Rentaro nodded slowly. "The location of the final battle will be the Flame of Return." 6 "All right! All right!" Rentaro watched from a distance as Shiba Heavy Machinery workers gave directions with hand signals that carried over the sound and shock wave of the transport aircraft propellers. The searchlight that was fastened to the bottom of the current transport vehicle was slowly lowered to the ground; apparently waiting for it to land safely, four other workers immediately bolted down the four corners to fix it to the floor. Standing next to him, Miori was watching them work with delight as she fanned herself. A strong wind blew by, and Rentaro held down his hair to perceive the sight below him. He was on the roof of one of the seven intelligence buildings that surrounded the memorial monument, the Flame of Return, in Tokyo Area District 40. The last time he had come here, he remembered it being a scenic tourist spot, with bright sunlight filtering in through the trees even in the forest, and old ruined buildings that were nesting grounds for wild birds. Now, however, the weather was bad and there was no sight or sound of the birds. It was as if even they had abandoned Tokyo Area based on some wild instinct. Rentaro looked up at the sky. The clouds were an ominous lead color today, too, and they flowed by quickly. The thought that they were facing a time of great social upheaval floated through his head, and Rentaro hurriedly ejected the thought from his mind. "It looks like the work will be finished before the sun goes down. That's good," Miori said in a bright voice as they watched the work happening in front of them. Rentaro watched her for a while. "Sorry, Miori." "Hmm?" Miori's big eyes looked up at Rentaro. "You've offered us help with so much equipment. Even though I'm sure the self-defense force has taken a bunch of stuff because it's a state of emergency." "Oh my, Satomi dear, are you worried about me?" "It's not that I'm worried…" Miori crossed her arms and stretched toward the sky. "Well, giving you so much equipment for free would be a big loss even for our company." Rentaro looked apologetically at her and scratched the back of his head. "About how much does it all cost?" "Oh, it's impossible for you. With your salary, you won't be able to pay it back for the rest of your life," said Miori, waving her hand in front of her face, putting her hand slowly on the searchlight. "But well, after this, we're just waiting for the battery to arrive." "Battery? There's no battery in that searchlight?" "No, there is the danger of the battery corroding if it is transported by air, so it's being brought by land right now. The self-defense force seemed to have some extra hands, so I had them do it." "I see…" Rentaro was uneasy for some reason, but as he quickly returned to work giving orders, his doubts disappeared before he noticed. Rentaro gathered the remaining civil officers and explained the plan, then had them take position. Even if it was a monument remembering the result of the Second Kanto Battle, that didn't mean that all the civil officers looked happy about it. They just had to force their way through with a brave face. Miori passed out small radios to everyone, and there was an equipment inspection. Rentaro got an extra magazine of bullets and a supply of special large-caliber ammunition cartridges for his artificial limbs. He also grabbed a number of other things that looked to be necessities this time around. It took until nightfall before the work to fortify the Flame of Return was completed. Rentaro took his cell phone out of his pocket and checked the time. They had less than three hours left. This would be the last battle, no matter what the result. That thought made his heart race whether he liked it or not. No matter how hard he tried to calm down, the wave of nervousness did not lessen, but in fact grew stronger. He lifted his face from his cell phone. A fire had been built in front of him, and the five pairs of people in Rentaro's adjuvant plus Miori and Sumire gathered around, surrounding it. They were able to continue within the margin of error left by the loss of Midori. Around them stood the thick night. It was as if they were the only ones left in the world. "We have to get into position soon, but let's defeat Aldebaran and survive to reunite. So, please get me to Aldebaran. In exchange, I will definitely be victorious." Everyone gave a nod. As if repeating the performance from that day before they started fighting, he raised his right arm with his XD gun high above his head. The others raised a weapon or arm as well. Kagetane and Kohina even followed, grudgingly. But then, Rentaro noticed that there was one person who was still looking down. "What…what's the matter, Enju?" Enju's shoulders shook in surprise for a moment, and then she shrank even farther down. She didn't speak. Unable to comprehend her feelings, Rentaro grew nervous watching her. "Enju?" She still didn't reply. Suddenly, Enju seemed unable to bear something any longer and turned on her heel and ran away. For a moment, Rentaro was unsure. However, he realized that this was the sign of something unusual and pulled himself together. Rentaro shot a look at his companions and followed after Enju. The temperature today was again unbelievably cold, and there was white in his exhaled breaths. He failed to glimpse Enju's back. Rentaro thought frantically. From her pained expression, he thought that perhaps the cause was this place. As a teacher, Rentaro had once brought the children from the Outer Districts to the Flame of Return on a field trip. It was a place filled with excessively happy memories. But those girls were no longer in the world. Since the girls had been killed by the angry populace, those happy memories were all flowing back to torture her with guilt. Sumire had already given her stamp of approval, saying Enju was fine, but Rentaro had continued to consider the possibility that this would happen. What if Sumire was wrong? What if, behind Enju's smiling broadly to brighten Rentaro's day, she was bearing a whirlpool of tears and screaming at the edge of despair? Without realizing it, Rentaro hastened his step. Before long, he found Enju; she was about fifty meters from the fire, hugging herself and shoulders shaking, her back to Rentaro. "Rentaro, what should I do? I don't want to fight." Her voice sounded weak, like she was at a loss. However, Rentaro had expected this, so he was able to keep from getting flustered. It was easy to tell that she had troubles jumbled up inside her just by those short sentences. If they saved Tokyo Area, they would save a lot of innocent citizens, but those persecuting Enju and the other Cursed Children and those who murdered Enju's classmates would also benefit. A torrent of feelings wanting to carry out justice smashed into the smoldering feelings of hatred and resentment inside her, and she hardly knew what her own feelings were anymore. "I don't know anymore. I don't know, Rentaro. Why does the Stolen Generation do terrible things to us, the Cursed Children?" When she continued, she was almost screaming. "All we want is to have a place in the world!" Rentaro closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Be careful, he told himself. This was a situation that was no less critical than the Aldebaran War itself. "Enju, do you hate people?" She didn't answer. "Do you detest the Stolen Generation?" Enju continued to look down resolutely. Rentaro tilted his head and looked up at the black sky for a while, then brought his gaze back to the girl. "Enju, I believe that being a civil security officer is the one job where you can die for the sake of another person's 'Thank you' or 'You saved me.'" Enju retorted, almost biting at him. "I heard what everyone was saying in town! I heard them saying that the civil officer system was just a good way of taking out the trash by having Gastrea and children with the virus kill each other!" Rentaro was shocked. Enju, you… "Have you always thought this way? Even when you ran around to defeat Gastrea with me? Have you always felt like you were being made to take out the trash?" Enju didn't respond. "Who do you want to believe?" Enju lifted her head with a start and stared at Rentaro. "Enju, do you want to believe me, or the people who said it's taking out the trash?" Enju looked like she was at a loss. Tears gathered at the edge of her eyes, and she wiped them with her sleeve. However, no matter how much she wiped, her eyes continued to overflow with tears. "Rentaro." That was all she said. And then, words started gushing out like a dam had burst. "Rentaro…Rentaro. Rentaro. Rentaro Rentaro Rentaro Rentaro!" "Idiot." He ran up to Enju, kneeled, and gave her a hug. He could hear her shaking and sobbing on his chest, and a wet stain spread on his uniform. The poor thing's body was chilled to the bone. "Enju, if you believe in me, you know what you should do, right? If we don't save Tokyo Area right now, you won't have time to draw a conclusion before it's the end for us all. There's no need for you to draw a conclusion right now. But in order to give you enough time to come to the conclusion that this world is really worth saving, the world must continue on." Enju nodded to herself in his chest, over and over. Rentaro could hear sniffles, and allowed her to cry as he rubbed her back. There were a ton of things he wanted to do, but the time for the start of their plan was drawing nearer and nearer, minute by minute. Finally, he sought a good time to ask her, "Do you think you can do it?" When he did, Enju made her eyes red like a rabbit's, sniffed, and gave a big nod. "All right," Rentaro said, and, putting his hand on Enju's head, patted her and stood. "Now, shall we go back? I'm sure everyone's worried." Enju rubbed her eyes and forced herself to smile, then looked up at Rentaro while forcing down a sob. "R-Rentaro, you're so mature." "Huh?" "Even though you're only six years older than me, y-you're so mature." Rentaro shook his head slowly. "It's only because I want to be mature in front of you that I act that way. It's not a matter of age. Do you know why I fight?" After thinking for a while, Enju shook her head. "The reason why I still want to live in this rotten world of ours is—It's because you're here, Enju." "Oh, they're back!" Kisara saw Rentaro and waved at him. Next to her, Tina couldn't bear it any longer and ran out to him. But she stopped short. "Wh-what is this?" The "this" Tina pointed a finger at was a grinning Enju with her arms and legs wrapped around Rentaro's side. Rentaro scratched his head hard. "I don't know. I can't get it off." She was heavy and made it hard to walk to boot, so he wanted her to let go as soon as possible, but she wouldn't listen to anything he said. When he returned to the bonfire with difficulty, Enju released him and landed with a thud, her face wreathed in smiles as she raised her hands in surrender. "I'm sorry I made you all worry. I am fine now." "L…looks like it," Tamaki said, clearly confused by Enju's sudden change in attitude. As Rentaro watched, Enju grinned and beckoned him with a hand. In the Satomi household, this was a signal to bring your face closer because the beckoner had something to tell you. Wondering what it was, Rentaro bent his knees so his eyes were on the same level as hers. Suddenly, something soft was pushed against his lips, and Rentaro's eyes opened wide. His vision was filled with the sight of Enju's closed eyes. Her cheeks were flushed. Rentaro moved away from her in a hurry, and Enju opened her eyes shyly. Rentaro exclaimed, "Hey, idiot! What are you doing, all of a sudden?! In the first place, why do you always have to suddenly—" Enju looked triumphantly in Kisara's direction and smiled. "Rentaro and I both love each other, like I thought. Rentaro said he wanted to continue living because of me. He said breast size didn't matter!" "Wait a minute, Satomi!" Kisara shouted. "What are you doing? You moron! Pervert!" Enju, carried away, jeered at Kisara, who had jumped up suddenly. "Kisara's vexed!" "I'm not vexed! Hmph!" Hmph? "Enju, you already have the advantage of living with him. You should be more discerning about your relationship with Big Brother!" Tina admonished. Enju just put her hands on her hips and retorted happily, "I don't wanna be more discerning." "Satomi, dear, let's kiss-kiss, too." Now even Miori was interfering, and the situation was getting out of control. Asaka looked at him with contempt in her eyes. "Having relations with four women at the same time…? What a brute." He thought that things were getting too complicated, but he also noticed that the place had grown brighter with Enju returned to her normal self. Rentaro gazed up at the night sky behind him. With this, all of our preparations are ready, Aldebaran. All that was left was to wait for the searchlight batteries to arrive… 7 The vehicle shook as it popped up stones, and the objects in the luggage compartment covered with a waterproof sheet sounded like they were lolling about. "Damn it, why do we have to do something like this?" Staring at his partner cursing in the passenger seat with his legs stretched out in front of him, Daigo Jogasaki gripped the steering wheel hard. "Well? Daigo, why do we hafta do something like this? Huh?" Daigo thought his partner was pretty drunk. He'd been grumbling about the same thing over and over like this for a while now. Well, it was understandable. Daigo responded: "I don't want to do it, either. I mean, transporting batteries is…" "Not that! What I'm trying to say is, why are we heading toward the civil officer troop that Rentaro Satomi of all people is leading?" Rentaro Satomi—when Daigo heard that name, his heart could not remain calm, either. "We're elites! Respect us! Damn it!" Daigo's partner, Tatsumi Ashina, held a cup of shochu in his hand as he yelled and kicked the dashboard with his feet. The latch broke and maps slid out of the opening and fell to their feet. "Damn it," he swore again, moping. He ground his teeth in regret, and started to sob. The self-defense force camouflage uniform he wasn't used to wearing did not suit him at all. Again, Daigo could not help but look back at his own decline. Just as Tatsumi had said, they had been elites. He had been incredulous when they received the invitation from the talented Takuto Yasuwaki, who was a year his senior at the National Defense Academy and had graduated at the top of his class. He and Tatsumi had talked it over for a whole day, a serious conversation about what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives. And in the end, it had been a great decision to follow him. Somehow, Yasuwaki was selected at a young age to become the commander of the Seitenshi's personal guard, and thanks to his influence, Daigo and Tatsumi had been able to work at the palace as his subordinates. The guys at the Seitenshi's palace were all terrible cowards who were easy to domineer over. Their duties were easy and their pay was good. When they had free time, they would change into plainclothes and go to the Outer Districts where they would shoot at Cursed Children. In order to keep them from running away, they restrained them with many layers of strong wire and then took turns picking them off from afar. It was really fun to shoot at a living doll that could scream, and it wasn't like the girls paid taxes or were in the family registers; the men almost felt proud—like they were playing a role in beautifying the area. When he went shooting with Yasuwaki, the man had often talked about his dreams. The Seitenshi still did not have a successor, and her advisors had often told her that she should get married. Yasuwaki wanted to become the idealistic princesses' knight in shining armor, receive a post in the national government, and pull the strings of Tokyo Area from behind the scenes. Yasuwaki had said, "Of course, I'll also bring you guys with me." Daigo had believed in him. He had believed in his own shining future and had not suspected anything. However, a trap had opened its jaws in an unexpected place. The Seitenshi Sniper Incident—apparently that was what the public called it. The skinny civil officer with the black uniform whom the Seitenshi had hired independently had changed everything. Daigo's hands gripped the steering wheel, creaking in anger. "I wonder what Commander Yasuwaki is doing right now…" Tatsumi was brooding next to him, but even though he was drunk, his ears were sharp enough to catch Daigo's words. "Don't call that idiot Commander! Rumor has it that he's in some mental hospital right now. He must've been real scared of that kid—I heard his hair turned all white." "Get out of my sight, and never come near Tina again. If you refuse, I will shoot you to death here and now for refusing to obey orders from a superior officer." Just remembering that voice sent chills down his spine. Of course, Yasuwaki's subordinates, Daigo and Tatsumi, were with him at the site of his downfall, but they were so overawed that they couldn't move a muscle. It wasn't that Daigo didn't sympathize with Yasuwaki, but because of what Yasuwaki had dragged them into, Daigo and Tatsumi also had to take some of the blame for the incident. The careers that they had built up turned into nothing, and they were made to join the boring transport squad. They would probably be doing this job for the rest of their lives. Forever, in this job with no opportunity for advancement. But right now, it seemed like it would be faster to be killed by Aldebaran. "Stop." Daigo hit the brake reflexively and pitched forward. "Wh-what's the matter?" Tatsumi ignored Daigo's question and got out of the car. They had reached the bank of a small lake. Thinking something was suspicious, Daigo followed him and went around to the back of the transport vehicle. There, Tatsumi opened the door to the back without permission and took out a battery that filled his arms. "Hey, what are you doing—" said Daigo. "This is what I'm doing—!" So saying, Tatsumi threw the battery into the lake. It rolled down the slope slowly before it finally dropped under the water with a loud plop. Daigo almost screamed as he grabbed Tatsumi's shoulder. "What are you doing, you idiot?! We'll be severely reprimanded if anyone finds out." Tatsumi's bleary eyes reflected an intellectual light that did not seem dead drunk. "No one will find out, Daigo. Think about it carefully." "What?" Tatsumi dug in his pocket and pulled out two plane tickets. "These are for the last flight to Osaka Area. They rose up to a ridiculous price, so I had to use your money, too, and now we're penniless, but with this, we can survive. Where there's life, there's hope. Either way, this is the end for Tokyo Area." Ignoring orders and deserting. It was true that they would be severely punished if they were caught—but of course, that was only if Tokyo Area continued to exist. Tatsumi's hands grabbed Daigo's shoulders tightly. His eyes shone, and his mouth was twisted into an evil smile. "Not only have we used up all our money, but we're also clearly criminals. Now that we've done all this, it's terribly unfortunate, but we'll just have to have Tokyo Area fall, or we'll be in trouble. Right?" We'll just have to have Tokyo Area fall, or we'll be in trouble… That was true. But even so, it pricked the small conscience that Daigo had left. Was there really a need to do all this? It was one thing to have nothing to do with the civil officer troop as they fought the Gastrea, but to purposefully do something that would be advantageous to the Gastrea… Just then, he noticed that Tatsumi's two jet-black eyes were peering at him, and he got chills up his spine. "Don't tell me you're gonna let me do all this and then pretend that you're a good boy by yourself when it's over," Tatsumi said. "O-of course not. That's not funny. It's not enough to kill Rentaro Satomi normally," said Daigo. "Then, you know what you have to do, right? Those guys destroyed us. Now, it's their turn to atone for their sins." Daigo could not refuse. After that, they threw all the batteries into the lake, and Tatsumi upturned a can of gasoline that he "accidentally brought" and emptied it of its contents. When he threw in a lighter, tongues of flame reached out from the lake. Tatsumi started to dance with the flames and shout with joy. "Whoooooo! Take that! Now it's over for them!" Watching his partner laughing maniacally out of the corner of his eye, Daigo wiped the sweat that had beaded on the palm of his hand on his pants. It was as if Tatsumi had been possessed by Commander Yasuwaki, but Daigo desperately forced himself to avoid speaking the thought aloud.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-04-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter020.txt	Black Bullet BLACK BULLET 4 CHAPTER 05 THE PRICE OF BEING A HERO 1 Rentaro vented his frustration by kicking an eighteen-liter drum barrel. The cylinder clunked and blew away, falling from the top of the building, getting swept sideways by the wind and disappearing from his sight. He rubbed his head vigorously and banged a fist over and over on the wall of the pump house. "Why?! Why aren't the batteries here yet?!" "Rentaro," Enju said with an uneasy voice. Rentaro put both hands on the wall and tried to calm his ragged breath. Eddies of wind gusted around the building like a flute shrilling in his ears and violently fluttered their clothes. Rentaro checked the time and ground his teeth in despair. It was 10:50 p.m. There were only ten minutes left before Aldebaran was predicted to arrive. Wandering to the edge of the building's roof, he gazed out into the distant darkness. Because there was no electricity in the Outer Districts, there were no streetlamps. The thick cloud of ash from the Monolith's collapse that covered the sky blocked the moon, so they could not count on light from that, either. Because his eyes were used to the darkness, it wasn't like he couldn't even see an inch in front of him, but it was not incorrect to say that he could see pretty much nothing. The only people who could move freely in this darkness were those few Initiators who had night vision, like Tina. And he could hear from the darkness the countless feet crushing bedrock as the voices of the Gastrea surged forward. Even though he couldn't see them, they were there. His nails dug into his fist. According to his and Miori's plan, they would use the searchlights set on the roofs of the seven buildings surrounding the Flame of Return to quickly find Aldebaran's location and then attack all at once. However, given the current situation, the searchlights were obviously useless. In which case, their plan would fall apart at its first step, with them unable to determine Aldebaran's position. The civil officer troops were already in position, hiding within the bottom floor of the building. It was too late to order a retreat. It made Rentaro regret not replenishing their supply of flares. Should they charge in desperately like this and try to lessen the enemy numbers even a little bit? But it was a fight they had no chance of winning. Once it became a Pandemic inside Tokyo Area, they would not be able to remove the lesion. Rentaro closed his eyes tightly. Even if he knew that they would definitely lose, he still had to carry out his duty as the leader of the civil officer troops. There was no other way. Rentaro took the radio in his hand and took a deep breath. "All troops, char—" Just then, Enju pulled his sleeve. "Rentaro, look at that." "What now, at a time like this?" Rentaro asked rhetorically, irritated, but Enju couldn't answer him. She just pointed dumbfounded at a single spot in the sky. Suddenly, Rentaro felt a soft, unusual light behind him, so he turned around to follow Enju's gaze. His eyes, which had gotten used to the darkness, were suddenly hit with a scalding beam of light. Rentaro shielded them with his hands and squinted. He was astounded. The sky over all of Tokyo Area was filled with a dazzling light. He soon realized that the source of the light was a large number of soccer ball–size hot-air balloons. At the bottom of the ball-shaped balloons was oiled paper soaked in fuel and burning brightly, the hot air making the balloons rise gently as they floated left and right.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-04-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter020b.txt	Black Bullet What was amazing was their number. The thousands upon thousands of balloons that filled the sky danced in the air like down feathers as they bumped into each other on their ascent. As they did so, even more were added to their number, and the light grew two or three times brighter. Rentaro's heart was stolen by the otherworldly light, and his mouth gaped open. "It's the Genan Festival. It was today, huh…?" Involuntarily, he recalled the conversation he once had with his students. "The balloons are supposed to be filled with thanks to the people who died fighting in the Gastrea War, and the festival started after the Second Kanto Battle." "Mr. Rentaro… Are we going to die? Will we be able to live…to see the next Genan Festival…?" But the Genan Festival that took place every year was supposed to be a modest affair that was held near the Flame of Return monument. There had never been such a large-scale festival held in the past ten years. And for it to become this bright, there had to have been an enormous number of people and balloons… Who in the world did something this big? Just then, Rentaro's cell phone vibrated. "Satomi, it's me." Rentaro gave a start and readjusted his hold on his phone. "Lady Seitenshi…I see, it was you…!" The Seitenshi seemed to straighten herself on the other end of the phone as she said, "Satomi, each and every one of those balloons carries the hopes, prayers, and will to survive of the citizens of Tokyo Area. Can you see them? If you win this battle, the Gastrea will fall. If you lose, we will fall. I entrust Tokyo Area's future to you. Now go, with the courage to continue fighting no matter what." Rentaro closed his eyes and then opened them slowly. "Don't worry, Lady Seitenshi. I will definitely win." Hanging up, Rentaro took Enju's hand quietly, and they watched the world of light together from the best seats in the house. The warm light made the balloons translucent, like paper lanterns, and the mass of orange nestled close and touched, sometimes crashing together as the enormous number of them slowly floated up. Rentaro felt a hard squeeze through their connected hands. Looking next to him, he saw the tears readily flowing down Enju's face as she looked up at the sky. "Enju, it's true that people from the Stolen Generation killed your classmates. But it was also somehow the Stolen Generation that created this light. People probably have two faces—light and darkness. This is the face of light. If even you can see the prayers and hope in each and every one of those balloons, then—let's fight." Enju quickly wiped her tears with her sleeve and regarded him solemnly. She gave a firm nod. "Of course! We have to save everyone." He felt like his and Enju's feelings were one. It was an indescribable sensation of unity. It was strange. It wasn't as if the situation had suddenly turned in their favor. In fact, they were overwhelmingly and hopelessly at a disadvantage. Even so, what was this feeling that was filling his heart? Why was he so at peace right now? The stiff nervousness dissipated, and he felt renewed. Until just now, he had been worried about whether or not they could win, but now that feeling was gone. No, he was now certain they could win. There was no way they would lose. Rentaro turned back with a determined look. And then, he froze in surprise. He could see. He could see perfectly. The countless lights that lit up all of Tokyo Area drove away the night sky in place of the searchlights, showing the troops of darkness as clear as day. He spotted Aldebaran easily. In the middle of the enemy toward the back—Hallelujah. Enju stepped forward firmly, and her usually black eyes burned red. Rentaro reached his right arm straight out and started his artificial limbs. Geometric patterns emerged on the inside of his eye as the graphene transistor nano-core processor activated. He felt a shock of electricity spread through his mouth as the iris of his artificial eye spun. He had only been able to see out of one eye, but now he could see out of both, and his field of vision expanded. He was able to see in 3-D. Rentaro put the radio to his mouth and took a deep breath. "We will now begin Operation Rapier Thrust. I repeat, we will now begin Operation Rapier Thrust. Tina, do it now." As he spoke, there was the sound of an explosion that made him duck involuntarily. Of the seven buildings that surrounded the monument, the six buildings other than the one Rentaro and Enju were standing on exploded at the same time—or so it seemed. The 20-mm Vulcan gun, 30-mm chain gun, 127-mm cannon, 155-mm howitzer, and other antiair guns fired at once from the roofs of those buildings. To Rentaro, the detonation and vibration seemed like a volcanic eruption, and it left his ears ringing. There was no sign of the shooter. They were all unmanned, controlled instead by Tina's remote control modules and, thereby, the neurochip in her brain. Rentaro knew firsthand just how scary their precision was, after being fired on by six antitank rifles from different places at the same time. The line of fire rushed into the Gastrea's flying troops, and the next instant, they exploded. Pushed back by the superheated shock waves, Rentaro couldn't even open his eyes. In the blink of an eye, hellfire materialized in the air and filled the sky. Flying Gastrea had their wings torn off, were burned up, and had their brains blown apart as they fell from the sky, one after another. It was an attack as precise as if they were all individually manned fort cannons. With a line of fire of certain destruction more accurate than that of an advanced computer, Tina exploded timed fuses in enemy vital spots to give the most efficient blows to the swarm. Rentaro gulped. This was the real strength of the former Rank 98, Tina Sprout. As long as she could hack the suitable weapons with her neurochip to integrate and control them, it was possible that she could even by herself create as much firepower as an aircraft carrier. Tina might even be able to defeat all the flying Gastrea by herself. Rentaro took another deep breath. "All troops, charge!" He heard war cries from downstairs. The civil officers burst forth in a desperate attack with their adjuvants. "All right, Enju. We should go, too." He and Enju nodded at each other and ran down the stairs. Just then, he heard a scream from the radio. "There's a giant Gastrea rushing straight toward us!" Stopping his feet running down the stairs, he ran through the floor and rushed up against the window glass. "What is that…?!" A giant Gastrea was wriggling on the ground. It was long and thin, and bigger than any snake or worm could ever be. The diameter of its torso was about as big as a subway tunnel, and it was about as long as a small building. Jormungand—The name of the giant snake from Norse mythology, created by the wicked god Loki, ran through Rentaro's head. It was probably a Stage Three. The enemy still had that ace up its sleeve? The giant snake writhed on the ground, cutting away large swaths of trees and upturning scrap cars as it rushed straight at the building where they were positioned. By the time they realized the giant snake was after them, it was too late. It stretched up and twined around the building and, shockingly, it started to constrict the building from its base. The metal frame twisted, and the glass windows passed their critical temperature to shatter with a crack. Hey, this isn't funny…! Gulping involuntarily, Rentaro's vision tilted, and he stumbled. It was already too late by the time he realized that the floor had become slanted. With an unpleasant and nauseating sound of collapse, the top part of the building bent over, and the floor became so slanted that Rentaro couldn't remain standing. Falling and rolling on the floor along with rusted steel desks and chairs, Rentaro landed back first on the floor—which had been a wall just a moment ago. The air was squeezed from his lungs with a sharp pain, like a hole had opened up in his back. Suddenly, his hips floated up with a different kind of vibration. Opening one eye, he found the building bowing, as if it were leaning against another building rather than fully crashing to the ground. In the bizarre world where vertical had become horizontal, he had no time to catch his breath. Enju tumbled toward him with pieces of glass; he froze when he spotted where she was going to fall. At that rate, she would go through the windows and smash into the ground. "Ennnnjuuuuuuuuu!" He stretched out his arm immediately. The girl stretched out her hand back. With a screech, Enju's body went through the glass window. "Gah!" A heavy impact ripped through Rentaro, nearly dislocating his right shoulder. Opening his eyes as much as he could, he saw that Enju had just barely managed to grab his arm in time and was hanging in midair. "Rentaro!" Enju called out in a pained voice. He felt throbbing pain along his spine. He didn't have time to pull out a mirror and check, but he knew he had been stabbed by the countless shards of glass that had tumbled down with the girl. Enju's wondrous jumping ability could manifest itself only with a hard floor to jump off of, so she couldn't step on air to jump. He had to make sure she didn't fall from this height. "Hang on, Enju. I'll pull you up." Holding the excruciating pain at bay, he gritted his teeth and put all of his strength into his arm. Just then, he felt overwhelming pressure and heat on his back. Turning his head, he found the giant snake Gastrea had stuck its head into the building and was flicking its red tongue in and out of its mouth. The hot air it breathed out smelled like rotten eggs. With just the long and narrow snout and pair of horns visible, it looked just like a dragon. If Rentaro didn't release Enju's hand, he wouldn't be able to evade the giant snake's attack. He paled with despair. Suddenly, the giant snake opened its mouth wide. "Satomi, I'm coming." Unexpectedly, a graceful voice echoed from his radio. Kisara, where are you coming from? Turning his head, Rentaro yelped. "Ahh!" Kisara was accessing their building from the roof of the one it was leaning on. She rushed down a steep slope with an angle of elevation no less than forty-five degrees, and at a speed close to falling. She was being reckless. She didn't even bring an Initiator with her. The giant snake noticed something out of order and raised its head to meet Kisara directly. Without warning, there was a sharp exhale. "Tendo Sword Drawing, First Style, Number 6—" With a clear tone that froze the air, Kisara drew the sword at her hip from its sheath as fast as a lightning strike. "—Midaei Suiken." Countless giant cutlines scattered into the air, and Kisara and the Gastrea crossed paths. They were so fast that Rentaro couldn't tell what was going on. Kisara braked suddenly with the heel of her shoe and exhaled deeply as she slowly resheathed her sword. When the naked blade was sheathed all the way to its base, the head of the giant snake that was already stiffening with rigor mortis spurted blood, and pieces of flesh that had been cut off like dots of a die splattered down in chunks. The body that had lost its head wriggled like a loose string, and then fell from the building. It fell with a creak of the ground and a thunderous roar, raising a thick cloud of dust. The civil officers below them cheered as they saw the defeat of the enemy's general-class Gastrea. Rentaro watched the scene with his mouth slightly open. Someone who wasn't an Initiator or a mechanized soldier—a regular human—had defeated a Stage Three Gastrea with a single attack. A Stage Three. With one attack. Kisara jumped down to where Rentaro was and flipped her hair. "Satomi, we're going to pull Enju up." "R-right," said Rentaro. With Kisara's help, they were finally able to pull Enju up. However, there was no time to pull out the pieces of glass stuck in his back before the world shook and he fell to his knees. Opening his eyes a little, he saw that the floor was getting even closer to horizontal. Cement dust fell and was blown away, and the entire building cracked. Rentaro broke into a cold sweat. The edifice was leaning over even more. At this rate, it wouldn't last more than a few minutes. If they stopped here, they would end up committing suicide with the building. "Enju!" She nodded once and put her right hand around Rentaro's hips, and the other arm around Kisara's waist. "Let's go." Enju bent her legs deeply and jumped. The next instant, Rentaro couldn't even open his eyes under the pressure; it felt like a giant was pushing its palm against him. Next to him, even Kisara screamed a little. Hearing the sound of clothes flapping, Rentaro forced his eyes open a little. The sky was crimson, lit up by the otherworldly glow of the hot air balloons within it, while the forest below held Gastrea in a dense formation. Civil officers, the size of grains of rice, attacked like the thrust of a rapier. Rentaro tapped Enju's shoulder twice and pointed at the middle of the vicious battle below them. His signal meant to land there. Enju gave a nod, and, doing a triangle jump off the building, she kicked twice. He felt G's hit his side so hard that it almost made him groan. Cutting through the wind, they went up over a hundred meters before inertia and gravity canceled each other out. They fell into free fall the next instant, and the brown dirt of the ground grew bigger as he watched. Just before they ran into the ground, Rentaro and Kisara curled up their bodies and rolled as they landed. Even though his vision spun, Rentaro stood up quickly. The ground was muddy with rain, so Rentaro's uniform was instantly covered in it. But he didn't worry about the details as he checked his surroundings. They were in the middle of the battlefield, surrounded by the sound of fighting, the rumble of the earth, and splashes of mud as ground was trampled. "Run, Satomi!" Even Kisara shouting with all her might was hard to hear in the midst of the shouts and war cries around them. Rentaro and Enju nodded at each other, and they ran through the battlefield, kicking up mud. Noticing that Rentaro had arrived, the civil officers around them exploded in war cries that made the air vibrate. Morale rose immediately, and their attack intensified. They surrounded the running Rentaro and Enju in a defensive circle, and the civil officers who had been aiming for the outriders boldly charged at Gastrea of all shapes and colors. He saw Kohina jumping from tree to tree like a giant flying squirrel as she precisely severed the heads of the Gastrea around her. Smaller Gastrea were caught up in Yuzuki's invisible threads, and Tamaki made them explode with his Varanium chain saw punches and roundhouse kicks. Blood splashed into the air. All of a sudden, there was a scream from behind him, and even as he ran at full speed, he turned around to see a giant rhino with horns all over its face scattering the civil officers around it as it charged toward him. "Go on ahead!" Kisara used her legs to brake suddenly and turned, lining up next to Asaka. The two swordswomen nodded at each other and readied their swords. Rentaro wanted to see the outcome of the fight, but he forced himself to face front again and ran on. Soon, he heard the high-pitched scream of a monster dying in agony. There was one here, too. Another Gastrea of the same shape was approaching. They had been planning on catching him in a pincer attack. "Let's go, Satomi." He suddenly heard the reliable voice of his senior disciple next to his ear, and he was filled with strength. Rentaro trampled the mud with the bottoms of his shoes as he stopped, inhaled, and focused his energy. He aimed his right fist at the Gastrea rushing at them and exploded a cartridge. The smell of gunpowder smoke burned his nostrils. Next to him, Shoma was using a similar technique. The rhino made the ground rumble as it approached. With its weight, its attack would be like that of a bulldozer. Tendo Martial Arts First Style, Number 3— "—Homura Kasen!!!" The rhino was hit straight on by two fists rushing at it, and its horns exploded. Rentaro and Shoma were likewise pushed back by the enemy rushing at them. The Gastrea with the attack power of a heavy tank had its horns broken as fists exploded onto the bridge of its nose, and its face was blasted into tiny pieces. The rhino's body, which had veered off in a different direction, did not seem to realize at first that its head had been pulverized. Suddenly, it lost its balance, fell with a crash, and slid on the mud for more than ten meters before it finally stopped moving. "Go, Satomi!" Before Shoma could finish talking, Rentaro had already started running. However, by the time he ran past a giant tree and noticed the Gastrea waiting next to it, it was already too late. The hard-shelled Gastrea with large pincers lowered its arms like a strangely swollen hammer. A giant shadow covered Rentaro. Just as he was about to be crushed, there was a thunderous sound, and the pincers stopped. "Kagetane!" Rentaro yelled. The man had sprung out in front of Rentaro and protected him with his repulsion field. It creaked with the enormous force of the attack, and the ground sank beneath them as bedrock was lifted up. The field couldn't absorb all of the attack, and the capillaries in Kagetane's body burst, showering Rentaro's face with blood. However, in his brush with death, Kagetane just threw back his body and laughed loudly. "That's right! Fighting to live! How exciting! This is death! This is war! How wonderful!" Enju dove under the crab Gastrea's body and kicked the six legs holding it up, destroying them one by one. As the body shook and fell, she brought her foot up and kicked straight above her. The shell armor was smashed to pieces, and the giant Gastrea flew up into the air. It crashed into the ground a moment later, bubbles frothing from its mouth as it died. Kagetane had released his repulsion field and fallen to one knee. As Rentaro was about to run to him, Kagetane turned his head toward Rentaro and stretched out a hand. From the depths of his mask came a dark, hoarse voice. "Nameless Reaper." Rentaro didn't even have time to be surprised at the unexpected move as a sickle-shape came toward him, leaving an afterimage. There was a slashing sound, and Rentaro's shoulders shook. Not knowing what was going on, his eyes opened wide, and there was a thud behind him as something fell. When he looked, he saw that the sickle that had grazed his cheek had taken off the head of a Stage One that had come at him from behind. The next instant, blood spurted up like a geyser from its neck. Blood splashed all over Kagetane's white mask. It took Rentaro a while before he realized that Kagetane had saved his life. Kagetane stood up and waved his hands. "Go! You don't have time to worry about me!" Rentaro nodded a quick thanks and took off again. They had already suffered a lot of damage. The civil officers had already lost many—a chip was starting to form in the blade of the rapier that was supposed to cut through the enemy forces. Even amid all that, the strength of Rentaro's adjuvant was a cut above the rest. Kohina was pushed back by an enemy attack and thrown into the air, but waiting there was Yuzuki, ready with her threads strung like tightropes. She inverted heaven and earth with a thread wrapped around her foot and caught Kohina midair like a circus trapeze artist. Then, using the rope bridge as a fulcrum, she spun her body and accelerated, and then threw Kohina straight down. Kohina's surprise attack from above pierced through the head of the Gastrea sneaking up behind Tamaki, killing it. Rentaro felt his chest grow warm from the inside. His adjuvant of ten was switching pairs between them as they unleashed a surge of chain attacks to cover each other's blind spots. Finally, the Gastrea started to falter at the adjuvant's ferocity. The enemy was starting to fall apart. With a finger, Rentaro signaled Enju, running next to him. She nodded. The cartridges in Rentaro's leg exploded, and the empty shells it spit out flowed out behind him. "Ahhhhhhhh!" He kicked off the ground. Enju and Rentaro, who were superaccelerated, came together to form a single bullet that passed through the spaces between their enemies' legs, getting them through the dense enemy formation. Then, breaking out of the forest, the world opened up. However, their unnatural stance was their ruin, and they messed up their landing to bounce over and over the muddy ground. When they finally stopped, Rentaro pushed himself up with both hands and spat gritty mud from his mouth. It looked like they had been blown all the way to the plain where the tents had been set up. When he looked at Enju next to him, he saw that she was looking up with her head tilted, dazed. As he stood, he followed her gaze, and then his body froze. "This is…" Rentaro's neck bent forty-five degrees, locked in position as he looked at the monster standing still in the darkness. "This is Aldebaran…" There it was: a large body that could be mistaken for a small mountain. It had a long tail, and eight short, thick legs that looked like stone pillars holding up its gigantic body. It stood on all eight, and on its back was a hard shell that looked like that of an armadillo. From cracks in the shell stretched countless tentacles. Each tentacle seemed to move independently, like the mythological, gigantic, eight-forked serpent. There were countless holes in the sides of its shell, as well; they were probably where it released the pheromones that it quickly spread via the wings tucked behind its shell. On its face, there were no eyes or nose. There was a giant hole that seemed to be its mouth, and from the depths of that eternal darkness, its breath whistled as it dripped green mucus. It looked, vaguely, like a turtle or armadillo monster. Now that he thought about it, he had only seen its silhouette from afar, or heard stories from people who had fought against it, so this was his first time seeing it with his own eyes. Its breath was hot. Just its existence gave off a huge pressure, and when it walked, the earth shook. Rentaro's stomach shriveled in fear, and he felt like he was going to vomit. But as long as we defeat this… Aldebaran had finally noticed them, and it pointed the tips of all its tentacles at them, not paying any attention to the battle in the forest. It was possible that Aldebaran had realized that Rentaro and Enju were the generals. It was a chance match between commanders. The other squad members were doing well, but they would not last long. If he did not finish things here, everything they had done up until now would go to waste. Enju stayed on guard as she edged closer to him. "We don't have much time, Rentaro." "I know. We'll be at a disadvantage if this drags out for too long. We'll go at full power from the start." Rentaro exhaled and relaxed his whole body, then tensed all four limbs and dropped his center of gravity, taking the Tendo Martial Arts Water and Sky Stance. "Commence battle. We will now eliminate the enemy." "Hyuuuurrrrooooooooooooooooooo!!!" Aldebaran made the first move. Like a bull mad with anger, it gave a war cry and then twisted its body—its tail came at them along the ground, moving as fast as a whip. Enju's arms wrapped around Rentaro's waist, and the next instant, Rentaro and Enju were in the air. However, the enemy had taken into consideration the possibility that Rentaro and Enju would evade its first attack: While they were midflight and unable to change direction, it brought down a tentacle in a vertical slash, along with a gust of wind. Rentaro and Enju put the soles of their shoes together and kicked off against each other, separating in midair. With a frightening rush of wind, a giant tentacle scraped the spot where Rentaro and Enju had been the moment before. Rentaro activated his artificial eye, and the iris spun quickly, calculating the estimated location of the tentacle's next attack. Rentaro pointed his leg thrusters in Aldebaran's direction and exploded one of the cartridges to change direction. His vision contracted and he felt like his body was going to be torn apart by the acceleration. Barely avoiding the undulating tentacles as they attacked one after another, Rentaro rained down on the center of Aldebaran's shell from above. "Haaaaaaaaa!" He released a dropkick with his artificial right leg. Super-Varanium and hard skin. Two extremely hard objects hit each other, and a crack formed in the shell as Rentaro felt his foot sink a little into flesh. However, it was far from a fatal wound. Aldebaran screamed in pain and shook its body hastily. The vast shell shook like an earthquake, and pathetically, Rentaro had to use all that he had just to hold on. If he got thrown off, those thick legs would definitely trample him. "Enju! Aim for its head!" Enju had been continuing the air fight, jumping from tentacle to tentacle as they moved in all directions. At Rentaro's shout, she jumped on a tentacle and ran down the road of flesh with her pigtails streaming out behind her until she drew near Aldebaran's body. Enju kicked a tentacle and dropped a second kick on its shell from the air. The attack exploded onto Aldebaran's head at the speed of a falling meteor, but it hit the surface of Aldebaran's face and then, Rentaro was free from the vibrations for an instant. "Rentaro!" He was rescued by Enju jumping over to him, and together, they crawled under Aldebaran's torso. The pulsating shell formed a ceiling about two meters overhead and gave off hot body heat, and its eight legs carried out their job of supporting the ceiling. First, they had to stop Aldebaran's movements. "Let's overturn this monster turtle." Enju's eyes opened wide. However, she soon gave a big nod. "All right." "Okay." They glared resolutely at the hard, pulsating stomach that formed the ceiling above them. Rentaro jumped high with Enju and whacked the striker at the bottom of his leg cartridge. His leg leapt up with violent speed. His eyes met Enju's. "Inzen Kokutei, Unlimited Burst!!!" "Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!" The two overhead kicks, unleashed with all of their desperate strength, slammed into Aldebaran's abdomen. The shock wave made a crack in the ground and blew back the air around them. Rentaro gritted his teeth as cold sweat poured from him. The skin was hard. If their kicks weren't strong enough and they were blown away, they could easily be thrown to the ground to break their necks. Impatiently, he forced strength from his whole body into his fingertips. Kicks beyond human understanding and the mass of a high-level Gastrea: Only then did the balance between the two pushing against each other fall apart. A huge depression appeared in Aldebaran's abdomen, and then its enormous frame gently floated into the air. Rentaro couldn't even imagine how many tons it was, but all two meters of the monster danced in the air, almost like a joke. Aldebaran struggled like it couldn't tell what was going on. And then, it crashed, back first, onto a dilapidated building, making the building collapse. The edifice crumbled toward the monster, raising clouds of dirty smoke. Aldebaran, thrown into a building with its stomach showing, looked exactly like a turtle flipped onto its shell. However, the monstrous Gastrea started struggling again, wriggling its legs. Its abdomen started to regenerate. That much damage would have killed a normal Gastrea immediately, but it wasn't going to go down that easy. Rentaro put his hand on the EP bomb that hung from his belt on a carabiner, gripping it in his hand as he asked the cold Varanium to save them. "Enju, let's finish this." There was no need to explain the whole plan. Enju put her arms around Rentaro's waist and jumped. As Rentaro's vision contracted from the g-forces pushing down on his head, they jumped to an altitude of fifty meters, looking down at Aldebaran. Rentaro locked onto the monster below them and like a multistage rocket, he kicked away from Enju's body midair, rushing down headfirst. At the same time, he lit the percussion fuse in his artificial arm—another Unlimited Burst. The extractor pulled out empty shells one after another as the ejector kicked them all out behind him. His body rotated in the air from the centrifugal force, and he swung his fist like a dive bomber. "Goooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Rentaro's fist sank into Aldebaran's abdomen. A moment later, a deeper depression split open Aldebaran's enormous body. Behind it, the ground jumped with a spiderweb of cracks running through it. Rentaro's whole body was dyed red, covered by a huge amount of hot blood. A scream unleashed from Aldebaran's vocal cords, blasting Rentaro's eardrums. As his arm holding the EP bomb buried into Aldebaran's abdomen, it continued wildly from the intense propulsion, as he expected. Feeling it go through organs, he twisted the can of the EP bomb to activate the timed fuse. At the same time, he felt around the back of his artificial arm with his left hand and pushed a button, turned it counterclockwise, and braced his legs. Suddenly, there was a hiss and the connection between the artificial arm and his flesh was separated. His arm, which had turned into a mass of propulsion, continued to go deeper into Aldebaran's body separated from Rentaro's will, cutting through flesh and carving up bone. Immediately, the cavity left by the path of the artificial arm rose and stuck together as it healed. Rentaro stared at the place where the artificial arm had attacked as it disappeared. Finally, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and yelled into the radio. "The EP bomb has been set inside Aldebaran. It will explode in three minutes. Everyone, quickly get out of the range of its blast!" He promptly faced Enju. "Enju, I'm counting on you." Enju hugged his side and made a few short jumps. In no time, they were behind a giant boulder tens of meters away. Rentaro checked the time. There were thirty seconds left. When he peeked out from behind the shadow of the boulder, he saw that there was smoke rising from Aldebaran's wound as it finished healing, but there was a scar left behind at the place of attack, leaving a marker for where the bomb was buried. When there were less than ten seconds left, Rentaro put his back flat up against the boulder. His heart pounded as it sent blood through his body. He was so nervous, he felt like his heart was going to jump out of his mouth. In order to bear the shock of the explosion, he closed his eyes tightly, put his hands over his ears, and gritted his teeth. Three, two, one. Zero……… "Huh?" He opened his eyes in surprise and hurriedly checked the time. And then— The predicted time of the blast came and went without fanfare. He was filled with panic. Was the explosion delayed? Did he mishear the timing of the explosion when Miori was telling him about it? Or was it something else—? Various possibilities passed through his mind, but then he realized that he just did not want to accept the most likely possibility. It didn't go off. After all this, it didn't explode. The strength left him from his lower body, and he fell to his knees with his eyes still wide open. Sticking his face out from behind the boulder, he saw the struggling Aldebaran lift up its body and look for Rentaro and the others as it shook its head. This was the end. Tokyo Area would be overrun. Everyone would die. "Rentaro." As he tilted his head listlessly, he saw Enju crossing her arms in front of her chest worriedly. He shifted his gaze away from her and looked down. The plan had failed. He just couldn't bring himself to tell her it. He felt like his heart was going to tear apart. It was a battle they were not allowed to lose. He even swore to her: that he would save Tokyo Area. Just then, a thought flashed through his brain like a lightning bolt. No, there was a way. There was just one way. What had Miori said when she was explaining how to use the EP bomb? "If you twist the EP bomb itself to this notch, it will explode three minutes later. It will be more sensitive at that point, so after you twist the can, make sure you do not let it undergo any strong shocks." That's right. A strong shock. There was another way to set off the bomb than by using the timed fuse. However, unlike the timed fuse, setting it off with a shock would make it explode immediately. In addition to having to work close by, there was no way to run away from the explosion. In order to do this, they would definitely have to sacrifice one person. Before he knew it, a sigh of resignation escaped from his lips, and his body cooled down, paying no mind to the turmoil in his heart. Rentaro closed his eyes slowly and let out a long breath. It had taken him an unbelievably short amount of time to prepare himself. Around him was the sound of flames burning. The sound of fighting. The stink of living things burning. His lungs burned every time he took a breath. His throat was dry. And for some reason, all of this felt so dear and irreplaceable. Rentaro got down to his knees, made his eyes level with Enju's, and gave her a hug, putting his chin on her shoulder. He whispered quietly into her ear. "Enju, good-bye." "Why?" "I always wanted to be someone who was suitable for you. After I took you in, I didn't know anything about raising a child, so I was completely absorbed in it. I didn't know anything, but I can say right now—it was fun." Enju moved her arm from around Rentaro's shoulders and grabbed his uniform hard, wrinkling it. She must have noticed, too. "Why are you saying that right now?" "In this year since we met, I was happy. I was even able to almost like the power of my artificial limbs that I hated before. I'm truly glad that I met you." At Rentaro's chest, a small head shook and squeezed out a thin voice. Enju was crying. "Don't go." "Tendo Martial Arts First Style, Number 13—" "Stop!" "—Senkuu Renen." There was a sharp sound, and Enju's body floated into the air. The force of Rentaro's fist, which punched into her at point-blank range, was thoroughly transferred to her body. Enju's once-crimson eyes turned black and wavered as if urging him to do something. Her knees folded, and she leaned on Rentaro. Rentaro put his arm behind the unconscious Enju's head and lowered her slowly to the ground, careful not to let her head fall too hard. Then, he stood up. He lifted his face and watched motionlessly as Aldebaran went wild on the battlefield of hellfire. The timed fuse did not go off. The only way left was to detonate it with a shock. The Stage Four Gastrea, Aldebaran, would have to be eliminated by the suicide bombing of IP Rank 300, Rentaro Satomi. Fortunately, one person was enough to accomplish this. There was no need for two people. Rentaro took a final look at the unconscious Enju and resolutely started to walk toward the monsters' general. The wind blew, and his cloak, which had become ragged in the battle, fluttered. He had thought that this day would come one day. He knew that if he continued this fateful occupation, one day, the long hand of Hades would catch him. The time has come. Accomplish your duty, Rentaro Satomi. The burnt scar was a good landmark showing him the position of where the bomb was buried. However, in order to apply a shock to the EP bomb buried deep in the enemy's body, he would have to deliver quite an intense blow. He had already lost his right arm. He had no cartridges left in his legs. His whole body was injured. He was wounded all over. His mobility was significantly decreased. However, he had no choice but to do it. He stopped, feeling the sensation of gravel getting stuck in the bottoms of his shoes. He sucked the hot air of the battlefield into his hurting lungs; they felt like flames. "I'm right here." Aldebaran noticed him again. His target was thirty meters ahead. The monster gave a loud war cry that violently shook the earth and then waved its tentacles desperately. At the same time, Rentaro started running all-out with the last of his strength. The tentacles of the giant Gastrea that moved at the speed of sound came down at the earth like meteors. Rentaro avoided the first attack by jumping to the side. However, two more attacks came down as Aldebaran predicted Rentaro's evasion. Rentaro gave a beastly yell and ran away, escaping in the nick of time. A piece of bedrock that had come off flew into his temple, and his vision shook violently. He almost lost consciousness from the pain, but he gritted his teeth and somehow managed to stay awake. However, that was all a trick. When the curtain of tentacles opened up and his vision cleared, he saw green mucus on the open mouthparts of Aldebaran. Rentaro felt chills down his spine. Abruptly, he lifted his arm to protect himself, but he had covered the wrong place. His artificial right leg, which had been showered with mucus, started to steam and slowly bleached. His eyes widened as he tried to figure out what was going on, but he soon realized the truth and ground his teeth at his critical mistake. It was Varanium corrosion liquid. In that case, he thought he would do it before his leg corroded, and he started another fierce dash. As he watched, Aldebaran's enormous body loomed as it drew nearer. Beyond the eight short, fat legs like stone pillars, Rentaro saw the scar where he had hit it before. If he applied shock to that area, the bomb would probably detonate. There were now less than ten meters between him and Aldebaran. Just a little farther. Once Rentaro got under its torso, it wouldn't be able to attack him. As long as he could get there… However, Rentaro suddenly lost his balance and stumbled over nothing. Huh? Still not knowing what was going on, the ground drew nearer, and he fell heavily into the mud face-first, groaning. Rentaro looked hesitatingly at his right leg. "N…no…way…" It was gone. There was nothing past his thigh on his right leg. There was just a pile of white ash shaped like a leg that had fallen like a bad joke. His artificial leg, made of the pinnacle next-generation metal, Super-Varanium alloy, was completely gone. His whole body trembled. Without that, he could not walk. Without that— Just then, Aldebaran suddenly turned its back to Rentaro, and its tail swung toward him at a terrible speed. Centrifugal force sent mud flying as it approached. Immediately, Rentaro rolled into the hollowed-out area near him that was shaped like a mortar. A fierce roar grazed him. He had avoided being hit directly, but the shock wave given off by the tail sent Rentaro's body flying into the air like a diseased leaf, and he was thrown, back first, into a standing boulder. There was an unpleasant crack, and he slowly fell off the boulder and slid to the ground, falling face-first into the mud. He felt pressure all over his body when he breathed, like he had broken at least a few ribs and couldn't get enough oxygen into his lungs. His breaths became short and shallow. Even when he put his hands on the ground and forced himself up, the next instant, he violently coughed up blood and a red flower bloomed on the muddy ground. Rentaro wiped his mouth in disbelief and then opened his fingers in front of his eyes to look at his bloody palm. Suddenly, strength left his arm like a string had been cut, and his whole body fell down. Cold sweat oozed from his pores. Even though he felt like he was in a hurry, no matter how much he tried, he couldn't muster the strength to move his body even an inch. Finally, he was unable to move anything of his own free will, and he turned slowly, head over heels, in the mud. He thought he was going to die. Lady Luck had left him. However, there had been no way it was going to go well from the start. There were things in this world that just weren't meant to be. The fate of mass extinction was just one of those things. That was how it was. His vision distorted. Everything was painted black with despair, and his eyelids grew heavy. "Satomi, you're really beat up, huh?" "Huh?" Just then, there was a thud, and his vision was filled with the fluttering hem of a long coat. His senior disciple, wearing a visor and white coat, had his back to him. "Sh…Sho…ma… Why…?" "I understand the situation. I'll go." "No… It's…impossible… You'd have to…apply a shock…deep…into its body…" After saying that much, Rentaro gave a start. "Have you forgotten, Satomi? My technique is considered heresy. It has the power to destroy an object from the inside out." His thoughts were distant, but he desperately shook his head. "N…can't… No…you can't… Shoma, bro…you'll die…" "Satomi, you saw my technique, too, didn't you? It was a sinister technique that twisted the Tendo style. It must be sealed into the depths of the earth. It's just as Master Sukekiyo said—I did actually realize it a long time ago. But it just took me too long to act on it." Shoma put his arm around the helpless Rentaro and brought him to the back of a small, nearby hill. Shoma didn't say anything else as he turned his back to Rentaro and ran off. Rentaro stretched out his hand, but it wouldn't reach. He tried to call out to stop him, but his voice was hoarse and no sound came out. Shoma was going to go away again. Even though Rentaro hadn't wanted to sacrifice anyone else. Even though he had been fighting for a bright future where no one else would have to die. After a while, loud war cries and rumbles in the ground continued from the other side of the hill, but Rentaro had no way of knowing how things were going. He gritted his teeth and dragged himself desperately with his remaining arm, crawling to the top of the hill. He saw that the fight between Aldebaran and Shoma had reached its climax. Shoma moved with a superhuman agility and dodged literally all of Aldebaran's continuous attacks, going under its torso. "Noooooooo, Shoma, Shomaaaaaaaaaaa!" Rentaro couldn't see after that, but he was sure that Shoma did what he had to do. Suddenly, the sound disappeared from his ears, and there was a glint and a ball of fire that dazzled his eyes. He was blown away by the hot shock wave and rolled over and over down the back of the hill. And then, he saw it. The fireball that came from the EP bomb stretched vertically from the rising air current and became a giant mushroom shape that sucked up all the dust and structures from the surface of the ground.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-04-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter022.txt	Black Bullet "Shoma! Shoma! Naaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" With a dreadful roar, a shock wave violently swept across the sky. Rentaro screamed into the sky until his throat was ragged. 2 Someone was rocking his body as they cried. Warm drops of water fell on his cheeks, his forehead, and his mouth and flowed down into his throat. It was salty. And then he realized: Oh, I'm alive. Opening his eyes slightly, he was able to see the silhouette even more clearly. It was a girl with pigtails that looked like bunny ears. Regretfully, he thought that even though he hadn't wanted to make her cry anymore, he had done it again. His cheeks were slapped, and his slowly sinking consciousness rose to the surface again. His eyes focused, and the coordinates of his consciousness became even more distinct. He vaguely noticed that the sky behind him was growing bright. Apparently, it was almost dawn. "En…ju…" Enju took a sharp breath. She didn't speak. Her mouth turned down at the corners, and she seemed determined not to cry anymore, but it twisted her face into a strange expression. Her eyes were wet, her mouth opened and closed silently, but then suddenly, she pulled her head back, and of all things, she started head butting him over and over. There was a sound that brought him back to reality, and he saw stars. "Gahhhh! I-idiot… What're you doing, you ten-year-old baby?" He pushed the top half of his body up with momentum and then scowled at the pain that came with that movement. After checking his own body, he wasn't surprised. Of course, his artificial limbs were gone, and his whole body was covered with burns and injuries, and his cloak and uniform were both scorched. He didn't have a mirror, so he didn't know, but his face was probably also black with soot. Enju glared at him with resentment as she rubbed her forehead, which also must've hurt. "I had too many things to complain about to express in words, so I head butted you without thinking." "Don't head butt me." "I have about a thousand things to say to you. First of all—" Enju looked like she wanted to argue vehemently more, but Rentaro held down her arm and looked around. "Enju, sorry. I'll listen to that later. What happened with the war? Sorry, but can I lean on your shoulder? I can't stand on my own." Enju made a face that showed how she thought about that, but then she did take his shoulder silently as she stood up. With Enju's help, he climbed to the top of the small hill. Apparently, it was the highest hill in the area, and nothing blocked his view in any direction. The world spread out at Rentaro's feet. "What is this…?" Where Aldebaran had been, there was a giant crater, still smoldering and sending up white smoke, with the bottom completely red, like lava. Aldebaran had been exterminated without a trace. So had Shoma Nagisawa… "Enju, what about the remaining Gastrea? Did we defeat them…?" "Yup. The movements of the Gastrea went strange after that explosion, and each one became really easy to kill. Most of them ran outside of the Monolith, though." Just then, there were shouts behind his back, and he turned to look. "Big Brother!" "Satomi!" He saw Tina and Kisara running toward them. Following their voices, the civil officers in the area looking for survivors gathered. Tamaki and Yuzuki were also safe. Asaka was sorrowful at losing yet another Promoter. The splatters of blood on Kagetane's and Kohina's clothes from their victims told of their impressive war results. But, as if they already knew that Shoma was no longer of this world, starting with Kisara, none of the members of his adjuvant seemed to want to meet his eyes. "Is this all? Is this all that's left?" In contrast to the nine members of Rentaro's party who survived, he could only see six others here and there. When they had started Operation Rapier Thrust, they had attacked with a hundred or so civil officers at the same time. And now, there were only fifteen left. Had he let the rest die? Just then, he felt light at his back and turned around, and he saw bands of the first light of day peek out from between the clouds in the eastern sky as the azure heavens were slowly dyed with the colors of the dawn. The faint beauty of the deep navy sky being dyed light blue shook him; the beauty of nature in the infinite gradation swallowed him up. It had been four days since the thick clouds from the bleached Monolith had covered the sky and they had seen the sun. However, what the sun's rays exposed in broad daylight was not a warm paradise. There were mountains of corpses of large and small Gastrea, and between them were remains of civil officers so damaged that it was hard to tell what their original shape was. There were streams of blood here and there that joined to form a small river. Spilled guts had rolled on the ground and were covered in mud, and gray matter had mixed together with it, turning the surface of the ground pink. The eyes the flies swarmed around could no longer see. The stink of burnt flesh and hair spread and permeated into the survivors' skin. It would be hard to get that smell out. Rentaro didn't think it would go away for some time, no matter how many times he bathed. That supremely appalling scene spread as far as the eye could see. This was what had become of the heroes who fought to defeat the Gastrea. This was the fate of those fools who had been tempted by the name of protecting Tokyo Area and had ended up being tossed into the pit of hell. Rentaro Satomi had tried to make a heaven of this hell where the Gastrea walked. Even so, what was this scene that spread before his eyes? How could he say for sure that what he did wasn't just to cross over hell with another hell? If you kill one person, you're a murderer. If you kill a hundred, you're a hero. If you kill everything, then apparently, you're a god. Rentaro was not a god. But he wasn't human, or a murderer, either. Rentaro had become a hero by accident. He had become a symbol. He had become hope for others. When he had been called a hero after the Kagetane Hiruko incident, it hadn't really sunk in, but now he understood. I see… So Rentaro Satomi is a hero. He was sure that the mountains of corpses and river of blood were a living hell that the clowns called heroes would have to see for the rest of their lives. Rentaro could feel Enju's warmth next to him. When he went back to the agency, Kisara and Tina would come out to meet him. Then what was this desolation blowing through the hole in his heart? Why did his heart feel like it was going to rip apart with loneliness even when he was surrounded by the smiles of so many of his friends? He was sure that he would spend more nights coughing up blood and sleepless with fear as he pursued the truth. That's why he was sure the truth would not make him happy. When he saw the Ardi File in Sumire's lab, he was even more certain. However, it wasn't like he could just stop. If he surrendered here, what would come of the prayers of Kayo Senju, who passed away leaving her future to Rentaro, or the wishes of Midori Fuse, or the hope of Shoma Nagisawa? In order to make sure their deaths were not in vain, he did not have the option of stepping down now. Just then, he suddenly heard noise in the air behind him and turned to see helicopters coming toward them. They had probably requisitioned all the helicopters in Tokyo Area. The helicopters had reinforced nets of rectangular blocks of Varanium hanging from them. The amazing number of helicopters flying toward them in formation covered the sky as they flew over the heads of Rentaro and the others, heading toward the remains of the mountain of ash left by the collapsed Monolith. They would probably work through the day and night to construct the Monolith. Rentaro squinted again at the light of dawn. From now on, how many valleys of tears would he cross? How many fields and hills of despair? And what lay in store for him beyond them? Only God knew. REPORT OF THE THIRD KANTO BATTLE The accumulated damage of Tokyo Area from the successive battles against the Gastrea Scorpion at the end of April 2031 and the Gastrea Aldebaran in July of the same year are as follows: Tokyo Area Ground Self-Defense Force—attenuation loss of 83%. Tokyo Area Maritime Self-Defense Force—attenuation loss of 45%. Tokyo Area Air Self-Defense Force—attenuation loss of 95%. Tokyo Area officially registered civil security officer pairs—attenuation loss of 43%. Adjuvant members with tremendous battle results received the following promotions in rank: Takami Katagiri and Yuzuki Katagiri pair—promoted from IP rank 1,850 to 1,000. Kisara Tendo and Tina Sprout pair—promoted from IP rank 9,200 to 3,500. Rentaro Satomi and Enju Aihara pair—promoted from IP rank 300 to 200. Initiator Asaka Mibu is currently under the care of the International Initiator Supervision Organization, due to the death of her Promoter. Kagetane Hiruko and Kohina Hiruko, who were thought to have participated in the battle, disappeared immediately after the incident. Their whereabouts are unknown. End report. Tokyo Area decided that it would be difficult to protect their country on their own and invited strong civil officers from overseas by promising priority access to Varanium supplies. Tokyo Area became the first model case of a nation reversing their presumed fate of mass extinction after the collapse of a Monolith.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-04-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter024.txt	Black Bullet There were four people left for Kisara to get revenge on. The only time to confront her about this was when she appeared as the Tendo Killer. "Rentaro, I'm getting nervous. Do you think my outfit's all right?" When he looked, he saw Enju turn around once for him. She was dressed up in her best clothes, wearing a brightly colored dress. It was an understatement to say she looked lovely, but he didn't want to tell her that directly, so he just said curtly, "Well, it's probably fine." And then, Rentaro also looked at his own clothes. He was wearing a pure white formal suit that he had worn before, for another ceremony. Rentaro and Enju were on this train headed to Tokyo Area's First District, where they had been invited to the Seitenshi's palace to attend a decoration ceremony. This time, Enju was also with him. Rentaro thought he knew that he had taken heroic actions, but it was still hard for him to get rid of the uncomfortable feeling he got when he was called a hero. Apparently in war, those who ordered the deaths were the ones who benefited, but the real heroes weren't people like Rentaro. The real heroes were those who threw their lives away and died glorious deaths without even having their names made known. They were people like Midori Fuse, Shoma Nagisawa, Nagamasa Gado, and a great many other civil officers and self-defense force troops. Not Rentaro. Shoma and Midori were both gone. They had already gone past the boundary to the world beyond and now existed there. Rentaro would never be able to see them again in this life. He himself would likely also have to make a decision soon to live or die. Rentaro shook his head. He was glad at least that the Family Register Revocation Law had been rejected in the National Diet. The danger still remained that they would look for a chance to present it again, but this could be called a modest victory for Rentaro and the others. On a different day, he had been cross-examined by Enju about how he had knocked her unconscious without permission during the fight with Aldebaran. She cried and hit him and finally bit at his head, and he couldn't get her off no matter how hard he pulled. They finally struck a deal after she made him swear by the "pledge" the teary-eyed Enju wrote in messy letters. "I will not face the enemy by myself." "I will do everything with Enju from now on." As he was being made to read the pledge with such conditions written into it, Rentaro realized that he was crossing his fingers where Enju couldn't see them. If another time came when only one of them, either Enju or him, could be saved, he would do the same thing to Enju without hesitation. That was his own way of showing his path to the one he loved who was too close yet too far away. Rentaro Satomi did not know how to show Enju Aihara his love in any other way. He checked the time. At this rate, they were cutting it close on whether or not they would make it to the ceremony on time. If he was even a minute late, it was obvious that Kisara would nag at him at the Seitenshi's palace again, so he definitely wanted to avoid that this time. But just then, there was a clang, and the train suddenly slowed down, and the grips all shook at once. An announcement was played inside the train. "There has been a passenger injury before the Tokyo Area District 3 station. The train will be stopped for a while." They were definitely going to be late now. Rentaro noticed that he had clicked his tongue without realizing it. Just then, Enju murmured in a faint and forlorn voice, "Rentaro, why do people jump…? Are they in pain? Are they having a hard time? Isn't there anything we can do for them…?" Rentaro was shocked. Just now, he had been more concerned about the train being late than about a person's life. He hugged Enju close with a shaking arm and buried his face in his chest, closing his eyes tightly. "Wh-what's the matter, Rentaro?" "I'm afraid of myself. I've become numb to the deaths of others. Enju, please stay with me forever. Please don't leave me." Enju smiled with mixed feelings. "Don't worry, Rentaro. You and I will always, always be together." • Enju Aihara has a Gastrea virus corrosion rate of 43.5% • An estimated 520 days left until shape collapse
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-04-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/copyright.txt	Black Bullet Copyright BLACK BULLET, Volume 4 SHIDEN KANZAKI Translation by Nita Lieu Cover art by Saki Ukai This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. BLACK BULLET, Volume 4 ©SHIDEN KANZAKI 2012 All rights reserved. Edited by ASCII Media Works First published in Japan in 2012 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo. English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo. English translation © 2016 by Yen Press, LLC Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author's intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author's rights. Yen On 1290 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10104 Visit us at yenpress.com facebook.com/yenpress twitter.com/yenpress yenpress.tumblr.com First Yen On Edition: August 2016 Yen On is an imprint of Yen Press, LLC. The Yen On name and logo are trademarks of Yen Press, LLC. The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Kanzaki, Shiden, author. \| Ukai, Saki, illustrator. \| Lieu, Nita, translator. Title: Black bullet. Volume 4, Vengeance is mine / Shiden Kanzaki ; illustrations by Saki Ukai ; translation by Nita Lieu. Other titles: Vengeance is mine Description: New York : Yen On, 2016. \| Series: Black bullet ; 4 Identifiers: LCCN 2016013677 \| ISBN 9780316344913 (paperback) Subjects: \| CYAC: Science fiction. \| Monsters--Fiction. \| Survival--Fiction. \| BISAC: FICTION / Science Fiction / Adventure. Classification: LCC PZ7.1.K29 Blad 2016 \| DDC [FIc]—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016013677 ISBNs: 978-0-316-34491-3 (paperback) 978-0-316-34498-2 (ebook) E3-20160722-JV-PC
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-04-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/epilogue.txt	Black Bullet EPILOGUE VENGEANCE IS MINE The somewhat musical cry of a cuckoo could be heard. It was 5 p.m., and the sunset was dazzling. Kazumitsu Tendo was accompanied by his secretary, Kazumi Shiina, walking quickly to leave the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and hurrying to his destination. The moment they stepped outside, they were met with a stuffy heat that wrapped around their whole bodies, and he suddenly wanted to call a limousine like he usually did, but that was something that he just couldn't do today, he told himself. It was then that he realized that his Armani necktie was crooked and he fixed it with an irritated hand. It was an error his normal self would never have made. He had been like this since the morning, and he couldn't even put his mind to his work. He couldn't bear the sweat anymore and took off his suit jacket, looking up in the direction of the faraway Monolith, where on a sunny day, he should have been able to see a corner of it. However, even though the weather was nice today, there was no sign of the Monolith. That was to be expected. The collapsed Monolith 32 was currently only restored to about six hundred meters tall, and it would still be some time before it would be completely restored to its original 1,618 meters. It had been two weeks since the incident, and summer had returned to Tokyo Area. When the ashes from the Monolith had covered the sky and the temperature had dropped suddenly, he had mistakenly yearned for summer, but now that the hot weather had returned like he had wanted, it felt like an extension of reality and made him irritated. No, he shook his head. Unusual days were still continuing. At least, they were for Kazumitsu. He felt a sharp pain in his stomach again due to stress. Such pain had been Kazumitsu's companion since the day he received the report that Aldebaran was clinging onto Monolith 32. And the place where Kazumitsu and Shiina were going was a place with deep connections to that matter. They changed trains and got off at Tokyo Area Outer District, District 37. The exit was deserted. It went without saying that once it became night in a few hours, it would be suicide to stay overnight here in this place full of abandoned buildings with no streetlights. Kazumitsu and Shiina walked for a while until they stood in front of a dilapidated dojo. It was a one-story building with a high ceiling, and the house part was half-destroyed. On the sign hanging outside was written TENDO STYLE with free-flowing brushstrokes written by Sukekiyo Tendo, who was also a calligrapher. The Tendo Style was originally a very insular school that was only passed down within the Tendo family, but there had been a few dojos that were open to outsiders, and this was one of those few. Seeing the blasted edifice, Kazumitsu sighed. It might be over for the Tendo Style. Giving Shiina an order, he opened the half-collapsed door and stood in the doorway. He hesitated for a moment before deciding to enter with his shoes on. And then, he opened the sliding door and saw her in the middle of the wide tatami-mat dojo, her murderous blade Yukikage sheathed and stuck into the ground. She had both hands folded on top of the hilt and was standing with her legs slightly apart. She slowly raised her face. "Welcome, Brother Kazumitsu. Or should I call you vice minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism?" "Kisara…" He never thought he would ever say his little sister's name with such hatred. The evening sun shone in slanted rays on her glossy, straight, jet-black hair, making it shine in contrast to her porcelain white skin. Kisara Tendo stood there with her thigh-high socks and black sailor-school uniform. That more than anything proved that this would be the location of a fight to the death. At the side of the dojo wall was a familiar face he hadn't seen in a while. "What, you brought children with you, Rentaro?" Kazumitsu said it malignantly, but Rentaro just continued to look nervous and did not answer. Next to him were two equally nervous-looking girls, one with pigtails and the other with blond hair. The girls were probably Rentaro's and Kisara's Initiators. "Brother, did you refrain from telling anyone that you were coming here, as you promised?" Kisara asked him. Kazumitsu shrugged his shoulders. "Thanks to that, I came on my own two feet without calling for a car. What about you? You brought what you promised, right?" "Are you talking about this?" Saying that, she pulled out a bundle of papers from her chest and threw them at Kazumitsu's feet. He pretended to be calm, but inside, he wanted to groan. He had Shiina pick up the documents and took them, flipping through them one by one. Unmistakable evidence was laid out in front of Kazumitsu. "Damn it, where in the world did you get this?" Kisara scoffed and chuckled. "I just happened to find it." "There's no way you could find it. This was all supposed to have been disposed of!" "Even so, I found it. Even I still have some connections I trust that I can use." Kazumitsu was taken aback and glared at Kisara. "You little… You snuck into the Tendo vault, didn't you?" Kisara shrugged as she smiled. "Shall we continue with our discussion, Brother?" Kazumitsu didn't say anything. "While we were fighting in the Third Kanto Battle, we kept thinking it was strange. How was Aldebaran able to cling to the Monolith if it was no more than a Stage Four? At first, we thought it might have been because of where it was situated or because of a special ability Aldebaran had. However, after a while, we considered the idea that something could be wrong with Monolith 32 itself. And then after looking into it, just as expected, I found something strange. You were the one responsible for ordering Monolith 32 built at the end of the Great Gastrea War, weren't you, Brother Kazumitsu?" Kazumitsu still didn't say anything. Kisara narrowed her eyes like a cat cornering its prey, spread her arms sadistically, and continued. "Up until now, public works projects have used a general bidding system to prevent corruption and collusion, but because of that, it can be quite complicated. For construction projects like the Monoliths, where speed is more important than anything, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism is responsible for gathering general contractors and directing the construction. "It's not like I have objections to this system in general. However, Brother, I cannot appreciate how you had filler materials mixed with Varanium in order to make the Monoliths more cheaply, using the leftover money to line your pockets." Kazumitsu gave a start, and his fist shook. "Of course, the Varanium with filler materials in it had a lower degree of purity and gave off less of the magnetic field that Gastrea hate. Because of that, it's possible that certain Gastrea can overcome the magnetic field of a weakened Monolith and cling to it." "Theoretically, that level of purity should have still been good enough! In reality, Monolith 32 stood for these past ten years, didn't it?!" "But it did not work against Aldebaran." Kazumitsu gulped. Kisara lifted the corners of her mouth and smiled, concluding ruthlessly, "You were the one who created the trigger for the Gastrea Aldebaran to come and start the Third Kanto Battle, Brother Kazumitsu." Kazumitsu's nails dug into his palm as he squeezed his fist, breaking the skin and allowing blood to well up. He wanted to shut this woman's mouth up immediately. It was a feeling that was hard to get rid of. "But isn't it ironic? Even though citizens of Tokyo Area who didn't win the lottery for shelter tickets couldn't sleep at night and shook with fear at the thought of being slaughtered by the Gastrea, because you are considered a VIP in this nation, you and your whole family received shelter tickets. So when we civil officers were desperately fighting for our lives, you were snug inside the shelter. What do you think the citizens of Tokyo Area would think if they knew this fact?" "…Do you have copies of these documents?" "No. That is the only copy." "Are you telling me to believe you?" "I am believing that nonsense you spouted about how you didn't tell anyone that you were going to come here today, so shouldn't we call it a gentlemen's agreement?" Kazumitsu snorted. "I didn't think my opponent in this fight to the death would be preaching to me about a gentlemen's agreement." Kisara smiled back ruthlessly. "I don't care, but I suppose I'll at least ask: Why did you mix filler materials into the Varanium? Don't you have more money than you know what to do with already?" Kazumitsu snorted again. "Kisara, you don't know anything. In order to be successful in life, more money is needed than you can imagine. Bosses have many different desires. Like wanting to hunt people with a rifle, or wanting to have a three-way with twin virgins, or wanting to star in a snuff film to kill someone. It takes an enormous amount of money to make the desires of bosses like that come true." A new expression crossed Kisara's face. "Hearing you say it straight out like that disgusts me. You wanted money in order to make desires like that come true?" "That's right. And I used that money to make those bosses owe me. I was able to become the vice minister of LITT not just because I had the shield of Tendo behind me." Kisara's eyes, which were narrowed with hatred, became even sharper. "Scum of the earth like you should have died during the first War." "Hah." This time, Kazumitsu sneered. "You don't know anything, Kisara. True villains do not die. They throw money around, and then while 'Death' is desperately picking it up, they make their escape." Kisara suddenly closed her eyes and then took her time opening them slowly. "Another reason to let you live is gone now. That is enough. Let us begin. Will the two witnesses please come forward?" Kazumitsu pushed Shiina up. Apparently, Kisara's witness was Rentaro. The two of them went between Kazumitsu and Kisara and stood facing each other. Shiina raised her right hand and swore first. "I, Kazumi Shiina, am a witness to this duel, and even if one side dies, I swear that I will not call the police or any other judicial authorities." After seeing Shiina's oath, Kazumitsu and Kisara naturally turned their eyes toward Rentaro. Rentaro had a pained expression on his face as he slowly raised his right hand, but then he immediately shook his head. "Wait a minute, you two! Let me ask one last thing. Do you really have to fight like this? Even I'm interested in a fight between two master initiates of the Tendo Style. But that should be done with wooden or bamboo swords. Not with real blades!" "You're talking too much, Rentaro!" hissed Kazumitsu. "If I don't shut this woman's mouth now, she'll blab the truth. There's no way I can allow her to live!" "But Brother Kazumitsu—" "Don't call me your brother. If you're on Kisara's side, then you're an enemy of Tendo. Rentaro, open your eyes. She's tricking you. That woman is a monster!" "Let me do it, Satomi," said Kisara. "I've been waiting for ten years. I've finally cornered one of the people I need to kill to avenge Father's and Mother's deaths. My fight with this man is fated." Rentaro opened his mouth to argue, but in the end he just said, "Damn it," and gritted his teeth. Finally, he raised his right arm and swore the oath. When he and Shiina finished the vows, they withdrew to the side of the walls, and only Kazumitsu and Kisara were left in the center of the wide dojo. Kazumitsu gave directions to his secretary with a jerk of his chin. She pulled out a spear from one of the two spear bags and threw it at him. Kazumitsu caught it with one hand. The spear came up to around his chest. When he held the spear, energy seemed to flow into his body from it and fill him with breath. His former feelings came back—confidence welled up, making him feel like he could take over the world with just one spear. Kisara shrugged scornfully. "Don't tell me you're really fighting with just a spear, Brother? I was sure that you would at least sneak in a gun…" "Don't be mistaken. I don't need to rely on projectile weapons just to pierce your heart." Just then, Kazumitsu noticed Kisara's ample chest shake and looked her up and down as if licking her. "Kisara, one of my bosses said he just slept with a dark-skinned girl kidnapped from one of the countries he passed through, and now he wants a pale girl. If I defeat you without killing you, can I pull off your arms and legs and give you to him?" Kisara chuckled. "Sure. In exchange, if I defeat you without killing you, maybe I'll feed you alive to some pigs." Kisara dropped her hips, narrowed her eyes, and took a stance with an expression of carnage. Tendo Martial Arts Sword Drawing Style, Nirvana Stance—the stance encompassed all the offense and defense of the Tendo Sword Drawing Styles by being in a state of constant change and existing freely in that state. "I've been waiting for this day for ten years. Taste the depth of my resentment and despair and die." Kazumitsu also took a stance. Tendo Martial Arts Divine Spear Style, Perfect Serenity Stance—the stance encompassed all the offense and defense of the Tendo Martial Arts Divine Spear Styles by abandoning all the cares in one's heart and achieving a state of nothingness, leaving the heart clean and serene. "I'm glad, Kisara. Even if we had different mothers, I'm glad I can bond like this with my little sister. I'll let you practice with me, so come at me." The atmosphere inside the dojo changed in an instant to one of tension. "Tendo Martial Arts Sword Drawing Styles Master Initiate, Kisara Tendo." "Tendo Martial Arts Divine Spear Styles Master Initiate, Kazumitsu Tendo." After saying their names, they both jumped back a step and faced off. Seeing Kisara take an offensive position, the Virtuous Heart Stance, without a moment's delay, Kazumitsu took a defensive position, the Iron Will Stance. When he did, Kisara flowed smoothly into the Nirvana Stance, and seeing that, Kazumitsu skillfully took the offensive position, Mythical Beasts Stance. It was Kisara's turn to be on the receiving end, and she transitioned into the defensive Moonlit Heart Stance. Kazumitsu watched Kisara's movements in silent admiration. Her transitions from one form to another were seamless and could even be called beautiful. He had been sure the blood would rush to her head and she would rush at him like a wild boar, but he was wrong. She might be a tougher opponent than I thought, he reconsidered. Because it was a fight between fellow students of the Tendo Style, they knew each other's hands completely, so naturally, there was a tendency to decrease the number of pointless moves and read ahead to predict each other's moves. And in Tendo Style, there was a paradigm of strategies where one must break down the other person's form by repeating moves in defensive position against someone in offensive position, using moves in neutral position against an opponent in defensive position, and using moves in offensive position against someone in neutral position, rules that created a three-way deadlock. It was like how snakes were scared of slugs, slugs scared of frogs, and frogs scared of snakes. A fight between two people well-versed in this theory was a dizzying series of changes from form to form. From the sidelines, it almost looked like a martial arts demonstration. However, in these changes of position without an exchange of swords, if one was even a split second late, then it would create an opening and the match would be decided in that moment. That was why they had to change positions with a smooth flow. Kisara was doing them with near perfection, to the point that they could be called beautiful. Kazumitsu had to admit it as well—that Kisara Tendo's abilities were on par with his own. It was as he thought this that he understood: In this fight, the first attack would decide it all. Outside, the chorus of cicadas was noisy, but inside was completely the opposite—there was almost no sound inside the room. The two of them changed forms silently, their shifting weight making the rotting tatami creak slightly. That was the only sound that filled their world. Kazumitsu wondered how many times they repeated the cycle of offense and defense. Just then, Kisara abruptly broke her form and let the strength leave her, only to lunge and raise her arm, sword and all, taking a stance he had never seen before. It was a form that connected drawing the sword to a downward slashing attack. "What is that form…?" The words came out of his mouth involuntarily. Rentaro also looked like he was dumbfounded. He was frozen with his mouth gaping open. Kisara spoke with a dignified expression. "I'll tell you the name of it at least, Brother. This is called the Tendo Martial Arts Sword Drawing Style, Dragon and Tiger Twin Attack Stance. I invented this form to obliterate all the Tendos." "You…created a form…?" Simmering anger welled up in him and before he knew it, Kazumitsu was screaming. "What the hell?! It is inexcusable to add your own arrangement to Master Sukekiyo's techniques! You should be ashamed, Kisara!" Kisara chuckled, looking at him with scorn. "Don't you think you're mistaken about something, Brother? Master initiates are allowed to create techniques and teach them. Well, I don't think someone who only has enough talent to swallow what they're taught and adhere to them can possibly reach that level of thinking." Kazumitsu's spear hand shook with anger. As if he would let her say what she wanted… He wouldn't let this woman say any more. "Shiina!" He called his secretary. She guessed what he wanted and pulled out a spear from the other bag. It looked heavy when she threw it to him. Kazumitsu threw away the spear in his hand and switched to the longer, more sinister-looking weapon. It was so strangely shaped that one almost hesitated to call it a spear. At its tip was a double-edged spearhead with four notches on it, and a crescent blade that practically surrounded it on all four sides. On top of that, there were four weights attached to the crescent by chains. Even if Kisara evaded the tip of the spear, the crescent blade would cut her, and even if she evaded the crescent blade, the weights would crush her bones. The spear looked as if it were a flower with petals blooming around the stamens and pistil in the middle. Yes, this was the Spear Flower—Kontensetsu. Stab, cut, strike. It was a special combination weapon that could do all three at once, and like a scimitar or Chinese halberd, it required its wielder to be very skillful and have a strong physique. "I didn't want to use this, Kisara. I didn't want to use such a treasured weapon to cut a whore like you." Kisara just silently narrowed her eyes. Kazumitsu took a stance—the Mythical Beasts Spear Stance. Kazumitsu daringly chose an offensive form for this deciding round. Kisara's Dragon and Tiger Twin Attack Stance was clearly either offensive or neutral, but Kazumitsu's instincts judged that this was as offensive form. If that were the case, then attacking in a defensive position would be the standard move. However, Kisara said she created the Dragon and Tiger Twin Attack Stance to kill Tendos. In that case, he could probably assume that it was an innovative form that could break through the defensive form. Kazumitsu also decided to abandon the standard reply to this situation. The onlookers held their breaths and didn't move an inch. The evening sun slanting in from the window made the dust in the air sparkle. The tense atmosphere filled with a thirst for blood was enough to make a normal person go mad. Beads of sweat appeared on Kazumitsu's forehead, and they dripped down the tip of his nose. He looked back at the image of himself reflected in the glass. A tall and lean man with a slender face. This year, he would turn thirty-nine, but he looked about ten years younger than his real age. His physical age was even younger. Kazumitsu asked himself, Am I going to lose? He replied immediately: No, that is impossible. He was a superelite who was born in the Tendo family and had been promised success. He was made to govern people. There was no way he was going to rot away in this dirty dojo that was less than a pigsty. He was not the kind of person who would fall like this. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" With a piercing scream, Kazumitsu launched his attack. With a powerful step, he thrust. Tendo Martial Arts Divine Spear Third Style, Number 1: Amako Genmeika. With a thrust that could have been called too honest and a Tendo-style step, he brought down the spear with a powerful stroke and incredible speed. With the addition of the compounding effects of his spear, Kontensetsu, there was enough force to kill Kisara ten times over. Kisara also drew the murderous blade from its scabbard fractions of a second later, but it was too late. Kontensetsu was expecting to bring certain death—but impossibly, there was a screech of steel and it was repelled upward. "What?!" Kazumitsu suddenly jumped backward. Both sides were uninjured. Kazumitsu was shaken by the fact that his special technique was repelled, but he had gotten an unexpected chance to regroup. Thinking that he would definitely rip her to pieces the next time, he kicked off the ground again. Just then, a shocked expression came over Kisara's face. Thinking he could do it, Kazumitsu advanced again to thrust his spear forward. But then, he realized that he had misunderstood Kisara's shocked expression. The next instant, his vision shook violently, and he felt like he had lost control of his legs. He was thrown forward by inertia for some reason and fell, and the tatami rushed toward him, filling his view. He couldn't even take a defensive position as he fell face-first into the rotting tatami mat. The match had been decided before the person fighting in it even realized. Kazumitsu had not realized that he had already been defeated. The instant the match was decided, Rentaro let out an involuntary groan. The match of Tendo Styles was decided in one attack, just as Rentaro had predicted. And it meant the inescapable defeat of the Tendo Martial Arts Divine Spear Style. The fallen Kazumitsu looked up at Kisara with an expression of incomprehension. "Guh, Kisara, why am I… What happened to the match? Did I lose?" Kisara looked down at him coolly. "You have not even realized that, have you, Brother? Why don't you check your legs?" "My…legs?" After she said that, Kazumitsu slowly shifted his gaze to his legs. Hearing Kazumitsu's heartrending scream, Rentaro wanted to cover his face. Kazumitsu's legs from the thigh down had disappeared cleanly. It was as if they had abandoned their master and had been thrown far backward into the wall. "Brother, you didn't even realize your legs had been cut off and tried to step toward me. I was so surprised, I almost laughed." As if they just remembered to bleed, Kazumitsu's legs started spurting blood, and the surface of the tatami mats turned into a pool of hell. Rentaro looked at the scene dumbfounded, shaking. He considered—Who was the strongest member of the Tendo Civil Security Agency? Was it himself, who possessed the abilities of a mechanized solider? Or Enju, who manifested the superhuman physical powers of the Cursed Children? Or Tina, who had the qualities of both? "Papa, no! She's the most dangerous out of everyone here!" The night before Operation Rapier Thrust, when Tina and Kohina were about to fight, this is what Kohina shouted about Kisara when Kisara went to intervene. Even though Kohina thought that she could win or at least put up a good fight against Tina and tried to continue their match, the moment Kisara intervened, she put her swords away. Even Kohina, an Initiator, understood that she was at too much of a disadvantage if she had to fight Kisara. Against Kisara, an ordinary human. Why hadn't he noticed before? The strongest person currently in the Tendo Civil Security Agency was— Kisara brushed back her black hair. "Tendo Martial Arts Sword Drawing Style Zero, Number 3: Azao Soutouken. This is the name of the technique I used on you, Brother." "S-style Zero…?" Kazumitsu whispered. "It attacks once and then attacks again. The second attack is faster than the speed of sound. With your kinetic vision, I'm sure you only saw the first attack that repelled Kontensetsu. With the second attack, your legs were already cut off." "N…no way… My spear was… The Tendo Martial Arts Divine Spear Style was……" Watching Kazumitsu saying that in a daze, Kisara mercilessly put her hand on the hilt of her sword. "Tendo Martial Arts Sword Drawing Style Zero, Number 1—" "Kisara, no!" "Kisara!" "President Tendo!" Rentaro, Enju, and Tina had decided not to interfere with this duel, but they had to yell out, unable to overlook this gruesome execution. Kisara gave them one bored look before murmuring the name of the technique, not thinking of the circumstances. "—Rasen Manzanka." There was a swift whistling sound, and then before they knew it, Kisara's sword had returned to its scabbard as if nothing had happened. Everyone present at the scene gulped. "Kisara, what…did you do to me?" Kazumitsu asked hesitatingly as he realized that nothing strange had happened to his body. "I stopped the bleeding. There are still things I need you to tell me." When he looked, Kazumitsu saw that the blood spurting from his legs had stopped completely. Kisara started to walk happily around Kazumitsu, who had lost both of his legs. "Now, Brother, since I won, I can feed you to the pigs like you promised, right?" "N-no, please don't! Please don't kill me!" Kisara placed her naked blade right at Kazumitsu's throat. "Then, please talk. Ten years ago, my parents were killed in front of me by Gastrea; Satomi lost an arm, a leg, and an eye; and my kidneys started failing. Officially, it was seen as an incident caused by a wild Gastrea going astray. However, don't you think it's unlikely that a Gastrea would suddenly appear in the heart of Tokyo Area? That was premeditated murder by someone in the Tendo family. Someone released the wild Gastrea to kill Father and Mother. I know that you participated. Who else was involved in the crime? Answer me!" "I…I don't know!" Kisara gave a thin smile. "Is that right? Then, I have no choice but to toss you into the stomach of a hungry pig while you are still alive." "N-no! Spare me, Kisara!" Kazumitsu seemed to think for a moment and then lifted his face up at Kisara pleadingly. "If I tell you… Will you spare me?" "It depends on whether or not the information you have is useful or not." Kazumitsu ground his teeth and groaned. Rentaro thought he would probably talk. It was obvious even to Rentaro watching from the outside which way the profit-and-loss arithmetic inside Kazumitsu was going. Above all, right now, Kazumitsu was being pressured by the revenge demon in front of him, and his teeth were chattering. "Th-there were five people involved in the plan. Me, Hyuga Tendo, Gentaku Tendo, Terutoshi Tendo, and Kikunojo Tendo." "Five people, huh? That's less than I expected." "Now, with that—" "Not yet. Brother, why did you kill Father and Mother?" Kazumitsu lifted his face and looked at her plaintively. "The old man was going to blow the whistle on the dark dealings of the Tendo." "Dark dealings?" "That's right. The Tendo family is famous in the political world for turning out a large number of leaders. Of course, there were one or two dirty dealings in the process of creating that legacy. The old man suddenly had some sort of awakening of justice and said he was going to expose all of that. If he had, it would have been over for the Tendos. That's why—" "—you had no choice but to kill him? He was still your father, you know?" "We only truly swear loyalty to our grandfather, Kikunojo. That man was not a father. After Mother died, he immediately remarried, this time with his mistress, and even had a child…" Just then, he looked at Kisara suddenly, taken aback, and his panic was obvious. "It's fine. It's true that I'm the daughter of his mistress. You and our other brothers apparently called me a whore's daughter behind my back, right?" "I-I did not! It was all our older brothers. I did not say that!" Kisara glanced at him coldly. "I don't care about that. Well, why did you attack me and Satomi, too?" "You two were only six and seven back then. Even if we explained our ideals to you, you would not have been able to understand. That's why—" "That's why rather than have us suffer the loss of our parents, you thought you'd send us with them? That was kind of you." Kisara smiled broadly. Because Rentaro knew the hatred chilled to absolute zero beneath that smile, Rentaro felt chilled, too. "Th-that's all of it. My information was useful, wasn't it? So please, spare me." "That's true." Kisara put her index finger underneath her chin and nodded cutely. "That's fine." "Huh?" "I said, that's fine. The information you brought me was extremely useful. Thanks to that, my revenge has been considerably narrowed down." Kazumitsu looked dazed for a while, and then hugged Kisara's legs. "Th-thank you! Thank you! I-I will mend my ways from now on. Really, I will!" For a second, Kisara looked at Kazumitsu like he was a bug, and then she nodded at Rentaro. "Satomi, Enju, Tina, let's go." After watching Kisara walk briskly out of the dojo, Rentaro and the girls also followed her out of the dojo, looking back and forth between Kisara and Kazumitsu. The moment they stepped outside, they were met with orange rays of light that blinded their eyes, and the chorus of cicadas sounded an octave higher. The cirrocumulus clouds in the sky were dyed red. "Thank you! Thank you!" Kazumitsu's grateful voice continued. Rentaro wasn't sure if it was a reaction to being freed from the terror of Kisara or what, but Kazumitsu's voice seemed to be on repeat like a broken record and showed no sign of stopping. Walking in front of them, Kisara stopped suddenly and said without turning around, "Satomi, it's too noisy. Can you close the door?" After Kisara said that to him, Rentaro hurried back and slid the sliding door of the dojo shut. Even so, he could still hear the slight sound of a voice shouting "Thank you!" "Kisara, I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but you did a good job holding back," said Rentaro. "Satomi, there is no move in my Sword Drawing Style that stops bleeding." "Huh?" Kisara kept her back to him as she stretched out her left hand levelly and snapped her fingers. "Tendo Martial Arts Sword Drawing Style Zero, Number 1: Rasen Manzanka, Open. I will have my revenge." Suddenly, the sound of an explosion roared inside the dojo, and the windows and sliding doors were splattered with something bright red. For an instant, the world became still, and the cicadas stopped their chirping. The next moment, a high-pitched scream could be heard coming from inside the dojo. Enju, Tina, and Rentaro all seemed to be caught in a spell and were unable to move. Rentaro's body started shaking wildly on its own. Don't tell me, don't tell me— He had to check. Rentaro slowly put his hand to the bloody sliding door and pulled it open. The stifling smell of blood rushed into his nostrils. The strength left the lower half of his body, and the next thing he knew, he was on his knees, his eyes still open wide. Inside, what had once been Kazumitsu was now scattered all over the place. The woman who had once been his secretary continued screaming as she desperately tried to gather pieces of what used to be her boss. Her scream, which made the hair of those listening stand on end, was the scream of someone who had lost their senses. The mental state of the secretary named Shiina would probably not be able to return to the world of reason and sanity. Rentaro closed the sliding door again and turned around. Kisara was holding her stomach with both arms as she laughed. She seemed unable to hold it in any longer and threw her head back to look up at the sky, laughing loudly. "Rentaro, open your eyes. She's tricking you. That woman is a monster!" Kisara spread her arms and turned back to look at him. She was smiling happily from the bottom of her heart. "Hey, look, Satomi. Look, Satomi! I did it. I finally defeated one of the people I needed to defeat to avenge Father and Mother. Isn't it amazing! Come on, look!" Even when the excited Kisara rushed into Rentaro's chest, Rentaro wasn't sure if this was reality or not. Of course, one of the reasons he was surprised was that Kisara, who blushed when she just held hands with a boy, had suddenly rushed into his chest, but besides that, what was with Kisara's attitude? He had thought that he wanted to hold this beautiful woman in his arms forever. He had thought that he wanted her for himself. So then why was his body shaking right now? Why did Rentaro feel chills from Kisara's arms wrapping around him? Her lips were a glossy red. Her eyes shone brightly with excitement. She was so beautiful it gave him goose bumps. "I can win, Satomi. Right now, I can kill all the Tendos!" And then, Kisara looked at him suspiciously. "What's wrong? You're not happy, Satomi? I was finally able to get my revenge on one person. I defeated one of the people who stole your arm and leg. Isn't this our revenge?" "It's your execution!" Rentaro put both his hands on Kisara's shoulders and shook her hard. "Why did you kill our brother, Kazumitsu?! I didn't think there would be that much of a difference in power between two master initiates. But you knew before you started, didn't you?! Why did you kill him?!" Kisara tilted her head slightly. She looked like she didn't understand what Rentaro was saying. "Kisara, this is no good. Right now, you're crazy! You're wrong. Kisara. You always tell me to carry out justice, don't you? Where's the justice in what you just did?!" Kisara slipped out of Rentaro's arms and clasped her hands behind her back, moving backward a step. "Satomi, I just realized. You couldn't punish the mastermind behind the Kagetane Hiruko Terrorist Incident, Kikunojo Tendo. You couldn't punish the mastermind behind the Seitenshi Sniping Incident, Sougen Saitake. But I was able to punish the person responsible for the Third Kanto Battle, Kazumitsu Tendo. Do you know why?" The ends of Kisara's mouth turned upward. "That's because I'm evil. Your fist of justice could not reach Kikunojo Tendo or Sougen Saitake. Don't you understand? Justice isn't good enough. Justice can't oppose evil. Absolute evil that goes beyond evil can. I have that power. I am convinced of that now! With my absolute evil that gathers hatred, I can kill everyone. I have that power!" "Please be careful, Leader. She smells strongly of destruction. She seems to be easily drawn to darkness." Midori's voice echoed in his head. Rentaro slowly shook his head from side to side. He gasped as he squeezed out his words. "No, Kisara. Don't go to that side… No… You won't be able to come back." Kisara tilted her head. "What are you saying?" Then, she realized that she was even looking reproachfully at Enju and Tina, and looked a little embarrassed. "I'm going home." Saying that, she turned around and walked away. The setting sun the color of blood sent Kisara's long shadow onto the ground. "That's…not Kisara," said Enju, shaking. "Big Brother, that's…" Tina paled as she looked at Rentaro. "That's right, Tina. That's the real Kisara Tendo, the Tendo Killer… No, she's gotten worse since before." Rentaro's heart sank. Kisara, you haven't changed at all since a year ago, have you? He remembered the conversation they had, lying in the grass before the Monolith collapsed, but it felt like a distant memory. Kisara had told Rentaro that she had recently been having nightmares. "I realized that I was crying because I understood that this happiness had to end some day." "I killed them. I killed everyone in the world." Rentaro lowered his eyelids slowly. The end that she knew would come someday. The days she knew were lies. But this was… He opened his eyes resolutely. As he watched Kisara's back disappear beyond the setting sun, he said, "Tina, Enju. I will tell you two this, at least. I might have to become Kisara's enemy." "I'm back." Kisara didn't expect an answer as she spoke into the empty office at the agency. She closed the door with her hand behind her and walked around the work desk to sit in the executive chair. She suddenly felt tired, like she could fall asleep just sitting there. But then she remembered something and opened the drawer of the work desk and pulled out a framed picture. Inside the frame was the image of the family she had lost. It was a picture from right after Rentaro had come to live with them: Kisara was in the middle, and she held hands with her mother and father. Six-year-old Kisara was all smiles sandwiched between her parents. She had no way of knowing the misfortune that would befall her after this… Rentaro was looking around shiftily, as he stood, bored, at the edge of the picture. Satomi was cute back then, she thought, petting the surface of the picture softly. "Father, Mother, I did it. I finally defeated one. I will definitely send the other four to join him." No voice answered her. The stillness of the agency had never felt as painful as it felt today. Kisara stood and went to the window, looking at the world with clouds lit by afterglow. And then, she thought of her four sworn enemies who were somewhere outside of that window. Each one was a master initiate of the Tendo Style. She did not expect to survive her fights with them. But gaining something meant giving up something else. She had given up everything. She had long given as an offering the happiness of falling in love with a boy, having a child, and creating a warm family. God would not manifest himself. But neither would the devil. In this world with no god, the only thing she could believe in and rely on was her sword. Her demon sword that slurped up mud and was polished with blood. The heretical sword. The sword of revenge. She would definitely make the remaining four rust on her blade. And then, once she successfully had a bloodbath with those four, she herself would be… Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in her lower abdomen, and her face twisted in pain as she crouched down. "Ow……" Her kidneys, which had given up on purifying their own body, were throbbing. As she felt the throbbing pain of toxins dirtying her body endlessly, she pounded the window with her fist. There was the sound of a crack as the glass broke radially, and Kisara spit out a curse at her enemies from the bottom of her stomach. "Hyuga Tendo, Gentaku Tendo, Terutoshi Tendo, Kikunojo Tendo—Everyone… I will kill you!" First, there was darkness. There was the strange feeling of floating around in space. The individual was stretched, up became down, down became left, and left was inverted, becoming something else. He didn't know who he was. Not even that was certain anymore. His own existence had probably disappeared. Who was he? "Wake up." He heard that voice, and it felt as if he was being pulled out from the bottom of a body of water. Opening his eyes slightly, he was exposed to light many times brighter than the sun and groaned. It took him some time to realize that it was the white light of a halogen lamp mounted above an operating table. He had probably been made to lie faceup. He couldn't feel his limbs. His body wasn't free. His vision was trapped. What state was he in? Suddenly, he saw an empty black dot in his vision where the halogen lamp had shined. A fierce-looking man was looking down at him. The man's hair and beard were connected like a lion's mane. He felt like he had seen that man before—that face that was full to the brim with confidence. "Who…are you?" He realized that he could talk. "Huh. You came to without knowing who I was, huh? Oh well, can you remember your own name?" "Name……" He was surprised. He remembered. "I'm…Shoma…Shoma Nagisawa…" "Oh, you remembered? When we retrieved your body from the center of the explosion, they said you would have a hard time even regaining consciousness. You're a very surprising man." His thoughts accelerated one after another. That's right, he had been fighting to defeat Aldebaran, and he had accomplished that. And then— "I did some research on you. Apparently, you were a master who studied those abominable Tendo techniques. It really is regrettable." "Regrettable? What…are you saying…? Where am I…? What happened…to me…?" "Whoops, it would probably be wiser if you do not look at yourself. Right now, your arms and legs have all been blown away, one eye has been crushed, your hair has melted, and seventy percent of your body is covered in burns. If you had not received the most advanced medical care the year 2031 could offer, you would have died." "Wha…?" Then the reason why he couldn't move his body the way he wanted was not because he was restrained or anything like that… Before he knew it, another four shadows appeared and surrounded Shoma, looking down at him. The halogen lamp made them backlit, and he could not make out their features. Including the first man, there were five of them, with a total of ten eyeballs appraising him. "This man has won the favor of the venerable Mr. Grünewald? I cannot believe it," said one of the shadows. The lionlike man responded. "It's not that hard to believe. I like him. I want this guy." Unable to stand the incomprehensible conversation around him, Shoma groaned. "…What are you? What in the world…are you people?" The lion man coolly chanted, "We are the Five Wings Syndicate. There is no need for you to know more than that right now." "Five Wings…Syndicate?" "If we leave you like this, you'll die soon. However, there is just one way for you to be saved." The man grinned. "Wanna take me up on that one, kid?" Rentaro had his elbow on the train car window and was looking absentmindedly outside. The scenery was flashing quickly by before his eyes. The city, the people, and the scenery were all the embodiment of peace. Peace had returned to Tokyo Area. The once widespread violence was quickly subjugated, and the people who had fled Tokyo Area on airplanes also returned. Rentaro gave a big sigh. In the process of restoring order to the area, a number of kinks were found. Winning shelter tickets were stolen and swindled, there were counterfeits, of course, and since women and children were given priority, there were men who had dressed up as women in order to get rations inside the shelter. There were even two self-defense force troops who were arrested when they tried to get on the last flight out of the area with underground tickets. Rentaro was also flabbergasted to find that there were a large number of civil officers mixed in with the people who were coming back by plane. They had promptly run away and abandoned Tokyo Area, and they came back looking as if nothing had happened. "Mphntaro." Rentaro tilted his head when he heard this and saw Enju stuffing chocolate in her mouth as she chewed, getting her mouth dirty. He tapped Enju's forehead lightly. "Idiot, don't talk with your mouth full." "Hmph," said Enju sullenly. Watching her face, he was glad in his heart that Enju had recovered. The other day, Rentaro and Enju had attended the funeral of the girls who were his students. Kisara and Tina were saddened by their deaths, and Enju had cried loudly the whole time. Seeing that, Rentaro thought from the bottom of his heart that he was glad he brought Enju with him. Funerals were places to mourn the dead, but at the same time, they were also places for the living to sever ties with the dead. Enju cried and cried and cried, and that probably allowed her to finally be able to give up any regrets she had about the girls who had passed. Those girls probably did not want the lives of those still alive to be continually influenced by shadows of their deaths. Seeing the bones of the girls at the crematorium, Enju murmured, "When people die, they turn into ashes and smoke, huh…?" For some reason, Rentaro could still hear her saying that in his head. They also saw the old man, Matsuzaki. All of his precious students were gone, so Rentaro was prepared for the man to be spitting curses, but contrary to Rentaro's expectations, the man came over and thanked him over and over, making Rentaro feel perplexed and embarrassed. "I'm sure the girls were happy. Thank you for looking after them," the man repeated as he grasped Rentaro's hand. Rentaro accepted that with mixed feelings. Ever since that day, Kisara had hidden the Tendo Killer and returned to being her usual self. No, it was probably more accurate to say that she appeared to have returned to her normal self. Even when Rentaro tried to talk about what happened then, she avoided the subject. However, ever since that day, there was no doubt that something inside Kisara had definitely changed.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-04-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/welcome.txt	Black Bullet Begin Reading Insert Table of Contents Yen Newsletter Copyright Page Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author's intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author's rights.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-07-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/appendix001.txt	Black Bullet AFTERWORD All the readers holding this book in their hands might feel a little dubious right now, wondering why this volume is rather surprisingly thin compared to previous ones. Considering the rest of the Black Bullet series always clocks in at around three hundred pages in the Japanese editions, I'm sure one can't help but notice that Volume 7…doesn't. The original plan for this volume called for a story that could be contained in a single book, like Volume 2, since both the Volume 3/4 and Volume 5/6 pairs wound up being two-parters. However, thanks to some (ahem) issues with my writing speed, it was decided that we'd cut it off at the middle and publish it like this instead. My sincere apologies go out to anyone expecting the usual length with this volume. There's no point dwelling on the past, however, so right now my sole focus is on making the second half as exciting as it can possibly be. Now, about the manga version. For the edition coming out in March, Dengeki Maou magazine is launching a second manga version of the Black Bullet series. Titled Black Bullet Interlude FAQ! it's a high-tension gag series (or so they tell me) penned by abua, an artist with a truly original sense of humor. Pick up a copy to check out the Black Bullet characters in all their screaming, shouting, bawling glory. Finally, I'd like to hand out some thank-yous. First, thanks to Kurosaki, my editor, who fought diligently to extend out the schedule as much as humanly possible. Thanks also to Saki Ukai, my illustrator, who performed some fairly amazing scheduling acrobatics in order to accommodate me as well. Hellos and kudos go out to Morinohon and abua, authors of the two Black Bullet manga versions, as well as everyone in the editorial and publishing teams involved in getting this out to market. Also, one more word to my readers. By the time this reaches print, I think the anime version will be just about underway. Personally, I think it'd be great if it turns into something that really wows all of you. Thanks, as always, for picking up this volume. May the blessings of the gods fall upon everyone who lays eyes upon this. Shiden Kanzaki
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-07-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter001.txt	Black Bullet BLACK BULLET 7 CHAPTER 01 TOKYO AREA HOLIDAY 1 The edge of the sky had just begun to whiten a bit, the thin veneer of red tightening its grasp over the air before sunrise. The rain from the previous day had collected in puddles in the alley, likewise dampening the trees and delivering much-needed nourishment to the undergrowth below. To young Rentaro Satomi, this particular commute to school was a bit more stressful than usual. Or maybe that stress was being transmitted to him thanks to the girl in pigtails, standing in front of him with her body turned to look at him. Enju Aihara tugged at both shoulder straps on the bright red backpack she wore. "I'm outta here." Rentaro patted both her shoulders. "One more reminder before you do, Enju. Do not use your powers—for any reason. And skip all your gym classes, too. If you ever get a cut or something—" "'Cover it with your hand and run off somewhere secluded, don't show it healing to anyone,' blah, blah, blah, right? You ever got anything else to say to me?" "Hmm… All right." Do I really repeat myself that much? Rentaro wondered. He scratched his head over the thought while Enju gave him a fearless smile. "I'm gonna make it this time, okay?" she declared before whirling her ponytails around and raising her hand in a sharp salute. This didn't exactly put Rentaro at ease, but if Enju was that resolute, there was no point applying further pressure. Soon, whether she knew about her friend's concerns or not, Enju disappeared into the early-morning mist without another look back. "Did she go?" Rentaro turned around to find an attractive young girl in a black school uniform standing in front of the dojo entrance, accompanied by a girl with blonde hair and emerald-green eyes. Apparently they'd just wrapped up morning practice, what with Kisara Tendo wiping the sweat from her still-flushed cheeks with a towel. "You worried about her?" she asked. "Not really…" Rentaro looked back toward the mist-laden path that led to Enju's school. "It's more like, 'Good for her to try school again,' you know?" This seemed to somehow put off Kisara as she gave him a side glance. "People can't live by themselves, you know. No man is an island." Rentaro frowned. "Jeez, she's got me, doesn't she?" It was meant as a show of strength, but then Rentaro realized what it truly was. Here they were, Enju's grand first day of elementary school at a new place, and neither he nor Enju let themselves act like they were enjoying it at all. Was it really something to celebrate, after all, seeing the time come when she finally wiped the dust off that backpack in a corner of her room? Enju had already been driven from one school after being exposed as one of the Cursed Children—and the open-air classroom she attended afterward ended in even more tragic circumstances. She was cursed, detested. She had every right to wail about her body, to indulge herself in pity. But she didn't. Rentaro never thought for a moment that he had a decent education. That, on the other hand, was one of Enju's strengths. If there was anything he felt proud about, it was helping her accept herself and access her potential. All the local schools had worked in tandem with one another to blacklist Enju, so she was traveling to a pretty remote elementary school instead. That was the main reason Enju was up this early—just to travel to class. "What about you, though, Tina?" Rentaro asked the blonde girl nearby, as she, too, looked down Enju's path. "I wanna get some more time to think about it, thanks. Including whether I even need school in the first place." "…" She had a point. Ten years on from that calamity, in this dying world, was there any real indication in life that going to school and finding a regular job was the right thing to do? It was one of the core questions that tugged at the mind of any man or woman, and Tina was running smack-dab into it. In many ways, it was similar to the emptiness people like Rentaro and Kisara, themselves part of the Stolen Generation, were doomed to grapple with. There was a small rumbling sound from somewhere. Rentaro stopped. Once he realized it was an airplane engine, he spotted a shining dot in the western skies. As its rumbling grew louder, the dot grew larger and larger; just as it seemed to loom impossibly gigantic above them, the craft zoomed by at supersonic speed, leaving a delayed but surprisingly strong wind behind it. Rentaro shaded his eyes as he looked up; the nearby trees rustled violently, sending a pile of shredded leaves flying through the air. The dot flew away, fast as ever, and already he had to squint to see it. "Eesh," Kisara whined as she spat out bits of leaf that went in her mouth. "Are they scrambling this early in the morning?" "That's a supporter fighter from the Tokyo Area force, isn't it? I thought most of 'em got shot down in the Third Kanto Battle." "They manufactured a bunch more at breakneck speed, I heard. It's still kind of just a staring contest right now, but if it actually gets to be a fight, I don't like our chances all too much. It's hard to imagine we're on equal footing with Sendai right now." "…You think there'll really be a war?" a concerned Tina asked. Rentaro was about to say something to reassure her but stopped just before he began. This time, at least, he had no idea how things would turn out. "They haven't contacted you at all, either, Satomi," a dejected-sounding Kisara said. Rentaro snorted at the thought. "Why would my name come up? There's no room for a civsec in international warfare." "No, but…like, you've gotten pretty involved in stuff like this over the past little while, so…" "Yeah, well, it's too complicated this time. Not like the Kanto Battle. If the government needs anybody right now, it's not civsecs. It's diplomats who know how to negotiate." Rentaro shrugged, only to feel something warm on his palm. The sun was just about ready to peek out above the horizon, its light already making the ground shine. Kisara clapped her hands, like a teacher asking for her class's attention. "Well, it's times like these when it's important we stick to the daily routine, all right? We better get ready for school, too. Don't wanna be late!" 2 To Enju Aihara, this new environment felt totally unique, nothing like Magata Elementary School or the open-air classroom. It was a higher-quality school, meant for gifted kids on a college track, so that had something to do with it—but that wasn't all. The Gastrea factor within her body gave her a keener sense of smell than most people, and walking down the hallway, she couldn't help but notice the strong scent of adrenaline all around. Hallways full of fear and mental strain. Meeting up with her new homeroom teacher in her office did little to change that impression. She was Ms. Yagara, a middle-aged woman, and her laugh lines were so deep that Enju thought she might be able to stick a finger in one of them. They went even deeper whenever she so much as smiled. But despite that (as well as her unusually enormous lips), her eyes were tiny little dots, giving her a coldhearted villain look. This wasn't the type of teacher you would want to actively discuss personal issues with too much. After some quick guidance, the homeroom bell rang and Enju was guided into the fourth-year Group Five classroom. It was time to introduce herself, and although her parental guardians often marveled at her utter lack of restraint, being planted in front of nearly forty pairs of eyes was enough to give even her pause. "My name is Enju Aihara… I'm transferring into this school because of my parents. It's good to meet you." She had a longer self-intro prepared but wound up toning it down for the big moment. The teacher motioned to a window-side seat in the far back row, apparently meant for her. "Wow, transferring at a time like this," she heard someone whisper. It was true. Having this overlap with that whole Libra crisis was a real bummer—in several ways, selfish and otherwise. "All right, everyone," Ms. Yagara said, demonstrating no particularly unusual interest in Enju, "I know people are all pretty nervous right now, but treat her well, all right?" "Ms. Yagara! Hey, Ms. Yagara!" espoused a rather eager-looking boy in the front row, hand raised. "Why do we have to keep going to school if Funagasaki Elementary next door gave all the kids off?" Nobody dared nod or show any other physical assent, but everyone in class gave him a silent agreement. Ms. Yagara gave an ever-so-thin smile. "Well, all of your parents have sent you here so we can help you grow up and become fine young men and women. Besides, your parents wouldn't want you to fall behind in your studies, now would they?" It was odd. Her tone was prim, practiced, and calm, but it was clear from her voice that she would tolerate no further dissent. But what made everyone in class tighten their expressions was what she did afterward, taking out her class student ledger without warning. "Now, then, I know this is sudden…" There it was. That awkward mental strain. The smell of adrenaline Enju detected before. And it was notably, overwhelmingly in fact, coming more strongly from the girls than the boys. Turning her eyes toward the teacher's desk, Enju saw the cold, curving smile on Ms. Yagara, an expression of pure sadistic joy. "But I've got some special news for you all today! You probably know about Kamo over in Group Two, but all the teachers have decided to remove her from class. She's already been turned over to the IISO, which is the perfect place for Gastrea-Virus carriers like her." Enju's body froze. Sweat poured out of her body. "This means that there are no more carriers in our school, and I hope all of you will continue to be the best students you can possibly be for me. That is all. Oh, yes! I apologize for springing this on our new student Aihara so quickly, but we're all going on a field trip to an electrical plant in the Outer District two days from now, so I'd like everyone to form groups for me today, all right?" Her heels clacked against the floor as she left the room. Homeroom was over, and the students all chatted with one another during the short break that ensued. Enju, forgetting to wipe the sweat she was soaked in, kept her head down and clawed at her knees. She barely felt alive. "Hey, I know Ms. Yagara's pretty high-strung, but don't let it bother you, okay?" Surprised, Enju turned to her side. A girl was there, wearing a horizontal-striped skirt and a short jacket, making her look a bit like an actress from several decades ago. She must have been nervous, because she was twiddling her thumbs behind her like she was hiding something and rubbing her legs together, a self-effacing smile emerging from underneath her fluffy curls. The smile must have been what she employed to keep people from thinking she was some kind of freak, but Enju could tell she had a shy streak as well. The girl fearfully pointed at Enju's desk. "Aihara, is that…?" She followed her eyes down to the laptop PCs they used for class. Enju's had a gaggle of Tenchu Girls stickers plastered on the back. Drumming up all her resolve, the girl revealed what she was holding behind her back. It was a tablet, another classroom accessory, but the moment Enju's eyes fell on the back panel behind the modular screen, she lit up. "Wh-whoa! A Tenchu Red special-color panel! You had to write in to Girls' Dream magazine to get that!" Even the tablet's stylus was fully Tenchu Girls–themed. It was the complete package. Who is this girl? she thought as she sized her up again. The girl waved the tablet around in the air, snickering the snicker of someone who'd just found a fellow comrade. "Whoa, no way! So you're commuting all the way from Magata, Enju?" "Yeah," Enju replied as she chewed on the bread roll that came with lunch. "It takes ninety minutes to get here. I have to switch trains and everything." The curly-haired girl, head down, was busy twirling yakisoba noodles with her fork. "Huh. You said it was because of your parents, right? Man, that's rough. This is kind of a gifted school, too, so we get a lot of homework sometimes." "Oh yeah?" "Yeah. Oh, and you better watch out for Ms. Katakura, the science teacher, okay? 'Cause she totally picks kids to answer questions when they have, like, no idea." Enju crossed her arms and nodded grimly. Every school had at least one teacher like that. The girl snickered in response. By the time their lunch break came around, Enju and the curly-haired girl had firmly hit it off with each other. For Enju, it was reassuring—finding someone so quickly to show her around, teach her the ins and outs of school customs, and not mess around with her too much along the way. She said her name was Momoka Hieda, and already Enju and Momoka were ditching pretty much all formalities. "Oh, hey, I live on the way to the train station. You think maybe we could walk together?" "Sure. No problem at all." The girl brought both hands together and smiled. "That's really great!" Pretty cute of her, the analytical part of Enju's mind said, until she realized something else: Was this the kind of girl Rentaro liked? That contrast made her think about exactly how much the parts of her mind differed. "Hey, um, Momoka? What was with that…thing in the morning?" The question had been filed in the back of Enju's mind for a little while now. Enju figured the time had come to ask. "Thing? What thing?" "Y'know, the news about that girl leaving school." Momoka grinned, finally picking up on the topic. "Oh, yeah, that was super awkward, wasn't it? I hate it when it's like that. But a lot of people are totally in this 'expose the virus' kick here in school, and Ms. Yagara's pretty much their leader and stuff."
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-07-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter001c.txt	Black Bullet "So, that Kamo girl who got kicked out… Was she one of those, uh, Cursed Children or whatever they call them?" The girl shook her head, a bit bewildered. "I dunno." Enju's eyes opened wide. "You don't?" "No, I…I mean, our school's kind of different, you know? Like, I don't think it really matters if they're actually Cursed or not. If people start suspecting you, you get taken to the IISO. And even if the IISO tests you and you're not a carrier after all, like… It's kinda hard to be around here, once you're back. A lot of kids quit school after that. I heard a rumor that the school accuses kids they don't like too much of being carriers so the IISO can take them away from the place." Aha. That explains why everyone in class—especially the girls—were so on edge back there. Rentaro told her once about how schools could be pretty closed-off, cliquish spaces at times, leading to situations you'd never expect to see anywhere else. This must be what he was talking about. The girl in front of Enju flashed a broad smile, perhaps trying to cheer up her suddenly silent new friend. "Like, as if any of us could even be Red-Eyes anyway, y'know?" Enju offered a vague smile in response. "Dahh! Okay, how about this: In episode thirteen of Tenchu Girls, 'Rage of the Sprawling Weeds,' you know how they fished up Carpatron from the lake? That's not, like, for real, is it?" "I think they had one of the staff actually go over to the lake to fish there first so it'd be more realistic in story form." "Oh. So what about 'Waiting for Godot,' episode twenty-one of the second season? Like, Tenchu Red spent the whole thirty minutes sitting in this chair waiting for Godot and talking about God and stuff. I read on the net that it was an homage to this guy named Samuel Beckett, but…" "Yeah, I heard this overworked screenwriter had a mental breakdown and wrote that script, and the crew did it as kind of a joke. Like, make it all artsy and fancy, you know?" "……" "Oh, but did you know—? The final episode of the second season? Where they go into Kozuke-nosuke Kira's house to take him down? Well, it actually turns out Kira used clone tech to create seven copies of himself!" "Whoa, whoa! Spoilers! I haven't seen that one yet!" Enju shouted, putting her hands on her ears. Momoka laughed. The two were on their way home after what wound up being a pretty breezy curriculum for the day. It was a clear, warm summerlike day in September, the unrelenting sun tormenting their skin, but Enju's legs couldn't have felt any lighter. The sunflowers that infested the edges of school grounds were practically falling over themselves to smile at her, the cicadas summoning up their last reserves of energy to serenade the two in song. "Boy, am I glad I went to school today." Momoka lifted up her straw hat to take in the full sun on her face. She raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?" "'Cause I got to meet you, Momoka." The brim of the hat went back down as Momoka hid her face. She must not have been used to people expressing themselves so frankly like that. "Me too," she replied, her voice almost lost among the insect cries. Then Momoka found her body being hugged tightly, as if someone had just rammed into her. "Mom!" Momoka exclaimed, still a little bewildered at the woman who suddenly appeared. The confusion cleared up once she looked at her mother's face. "Oh, thank heavens… Are you all right?" the woman said. She had on bronze-framed glasses, along with a lamé-finished black pantsuit, making her look like a career-track businesswoman and a helicopter parent in the making. An expensive-looking car was parked a couple steps away; she must have leaped out of it when she spotted Momoka. "I heard there was a Red-Eyes at your school, and oh, I was just beside myself… Did she touch you or anything? She might've given you the virus." "Oh, Mom, you don't have to worry so much! Oh, uh, lemme introduce you, Enju. This is my mother." Momoka seemed glad to show off her mom. The woman gave a polite nod. "Oh, thanks for making good friends with our little Momoka! I know she can be a little shy, but play nice with her, all right?" Momoka gave her mother a playful knee. "Oh, Mommmm! Stop doing that all the time!" "You have to wonder what those kids are thinking, though, always sneaking into school like that. Ugh, it makes me sick just thinking about it! And, you know, one of my neighbors told me that you're more likely to give birth to a Red-Eyes if you didn't want the child in the first place." "Oh, really? 'Cause this kid in school said you could get one if you had something called an orgy." "Momoka! Don't use that word! You're still too young for that." "That's not true." "Huh? What'd you say, Enju?" Momoka turned an ear to her, eyes large and round. "Oh, hey, Enju, why don't you come over to my place? We could watch the second-season finale together!" Enju lifted up her gloomy face and practically gritted her teeth, such was the effort required to force out a smile. "Sorry, I got some stuff to do this afternoon." Then she turned around and ran off to the station. 3 The pleasant scent of boiling soy sauce and mirin permeated the room as Rentaro flipped the contents of the frying pan with his wrist. Waiting for the food to reach the perfect level of cooking, he turned off the gas. The doorbell chose that moment to ring. Checking his watch, he found it was already eight in the evening. Untying his apron as he opened the door, Rentaro was greeted by a tan deliveryman. "Could I get you to sign this?" he said, wielding a pen. Rentaro picked it up and beckoned to Enju, who was watching TV inside. After a moment, she bounded over, eyes burning with curiosity. Rentaro took the opportunity to use her head as a table to sign the receipt and return it to the deliveryman. He gave them a weird look and left. "Ah, it's just so much more comfortable writing on your head, you know?" Enju, apparently treating even this as a compliment, gave out a little squeal of approval. "What's in the box, though?" she asked, her curiosity returning. Rentaro pushed her head away as she opened it. It contained two tickets. Peering at the tiny text printed on them, she realized it was a pair of free passes for the observation deck of a newly built skyscraper in nearby Magata. They were apparently reserved for the night of the next local fireworks show, and according to the letter inside, they were from an old client—a convenience store, if Rentaro recalled correctly, having problems with some street punks hanging out there at night. The letter thanked him again, ran down everything going on since then, and invited him to enjoy some fireworks for a change of pace. Rentaro had mixed feelings about this, but Enju was already intoning "Ohhhhhhh!" with a ticket held aloft in both arms, eyes sparkling. "We're gonna have to thank the guy who sent these to us! I can't wait for the summer festival." "Uh, yeah—about that, Enju…" Rentaro turned back toward her. "They're probably gonna have to cancel it." "Why?" It was hard to watch Enju look doe-eyed at him like that, but Rentaro continued. "Things are still pretty tense with Sendai Area," he dispassionately explained. "They're sending patrol planes back and forth to intimidate each other. All it'd take is one spark to set something off, so even holding a fireworks show could be enough to push Sendai over the brink." The neighborhood association wasn't stupid enough to fail to notice that. Chances were they'd cancel the entire festival. He expected this to crush Enju, but she was still every bit as excited as before. "Okay, so I'll fix everything up before the festival! Then it'll be held on schedule, right?" "Ah, there you go again with your silly nonsense…" This problem was a little too thorny for even her to help fix, but he had to appreciate the way she could instantly pep up her spirits like that. "Right, but let's leave that topic behind for a sec…" "Leave it behind?" Rentaro placed both hands on Enju's shoulders and brought his face close to hers. "I got food ready." Bringing out a low table, Rentaro took the bowls of rice at both stations and poured a combination of chicken, onions, and a soft-boiled egg that made its way into every nook and cranny of the dish. He felt justifiably proud of the work, and the sauce-sweetened scent of dinner wafted in the air, lovingly caressing Enju's nose. "Eeeeeeee!" She jumped up and down, hands still on the table, unable to restrain herself another minute. "All right, Aihara—do you know what this dish is called?" "Oyako-don, a chicken-and-egg rice bowl!" she explained, all smiles as she wiggled her rear end in the air. "Ooh, but to you and me, it's more of a looooovers' bowl, right?" "That doesn't exist." "Well, make a recipe and give it to me! Something as hot and sweaty as you and me!" "Yeah, sure. I better think up a recipe for freeloader's rice while I'm at it, too. Something that goes cold on you in, like, five seconds." Rentaro sat at the table, closed his eyes, solemnly brought the chopsticks to his mouth, and chewed. The sweet soy intermingled perfectly with the just-runny-enough egg. Yes. This works. Good job, me. I wish my compatriots, the dirt-poor demon girl in the kitchen and bunny rabbit Initiator, could learn a little something from this. He opened an eye to find Enju rapidly packing away the bowl. Can't be that bad for her, either, he reasoned. "Hey, how did school go today, Enju?" Enju smiled back, a bit of rice on her cheek. "I made a friend!" "Get into any problems or anything?" Enju opened her mouth to say something but stopped and shook her head instead, smiling wryly. "…" Her refusal to immediately answer said enough. If Enju was opting to keep it under wraps, it didn't feel right for him to badger her. "Enju, you can just laugh this off if I'm being too paranoid, but…don't be hesitant or anything just because I picked on you just now, all right?" "Wh-why're you bringing that up?" "I just mean, if you ever run into any problems you can't solve by yourself, don't be afraid to call on me. No matter what, I'm always gonna be at your side, okay?" There was no telling how many times Enju might've hesitated over it in the past. For now, she just flashed an embarrassed smile and said, "Sure, all right." Rentaro was just about to pull back and tell her to eat up while it was still hot when the doorbell rang again. Who could that be? he wondered as he stood up and opened the door, a little peeved. Suddenly, something pure white flew in. He caught it in his arms, experiencing its soft texture up close and personal. Carefully, he cast his eyes downward, toward his chest. A pair of watery eyes greeted him, and his heart skipped a beat. "You have to hide me, Mr. Satomi!" "L-Lady Seitenshi?" There was no mistaking the sight. It was the head of state, almost blindingly beautiful when viewed from point-blank range. "Rentaro! No boobs!" Rentaro froze at the uninvited commentary behind him as the Seitenshi hurriedly extracted herself. "Wha…? What do you mean, 'hide' you?" he asked. "What're you even doing here—?" The leader of Tokyo Area stretched out and stared into Rentaro's eyes. "Would you mind if I explained inside?" The Satomi residence, a single room around eight tatami mats large, had few perks described as desirable, apart from the low rent and the ability to befriend its many cockroaches. It was a classic dive. The plumbing was like a never-ending comedy sketch—fix one leak, another one appeared down the pipe. The lack of soundproofing gave you a front-row seat at the radio drama of the couple next door tossing pots and pans at each other in the evenings. Having a radiant, princesslike figure seated daintily in this hovel was a pretty unusual sight to behold. The perfumelike rose scent emanating from her did nothing to ease his mind at all. It showed, once again, just how beautiful she was. Rentaro, hearing the Seitenshi's story with arms crossed, then lifted her head upward. "So the guys in the palace drummed you out, and you wanna enlist me to help you get away from them?" "Precisely." "And you don't want to tell me why." "Precisely." "Could you screw around with me like this some other time?" Rentaro's attempt at a little hard cajoling was met with an even harder stare. Her eyes indicated exactly what kind of will she had to see this through. He scratched his head in response. Well, great. This ain't good. "Look, do you even realize what's going on in Tokyo Area right now?" "All too well, I am afraid." "And despite that, you still aren't planning on going back to the palace?" "I am not." "How did you escape the palace in the first place, even?" "I cut up a curtain, fashioned it into a makeshift rope, climbed out of the window, and boarded the back of a palace food delivery truck." Rentaro and Enju gave each other a surprised glance. Even Enju betrayed a bit of concern at this news. Was that all it took to elude the palace guard? "…Uh, so how're you planning to pay my fee, anyway?" "With this." The Seitenshi nonchalantly removed a card from her white handbag. It was bare, case-free—she must not have been in the habit of carrying a wallet around—and judging by its silver color, Rentaro had a hunch things like credit limits and location restrictions didn't apply to this sucker. "How'd you make it all the way over here?" The Seitenshi gave Rentaro a funny look, apparently not understanding the point of the question. "Well, via public transport, but…" "Um, so you got off the train at Magata Station?" "Yes…?" Greeeeat. Rentaro slapped his forehead with his palm. Apparently one of Tokyo Area's most famous people didn't realize that using credit cards meant creating a virtual paper trail for yourself. And when—not if—her pursuers found out she was at Magata Station, it'd be a cinch for Rentaro's house to come up in the conversation. His gut was telling him to turn this case down immediately. The Seitenshi didn't notice. She was too busy studying Rentaro's apartment, checking out the furniture and fixtures, novel in her eyes, before settling her eyes on the bath. "I'm sorry, Mr. Satomi, but would I be able to use your bath?" "The bath?" He was about to ask why, but then he saw the mud on the hem of her outfit. One of her ankles was also swollen. Where could she have possibly been wandering before she came here? Thinking about it, he decided she must have fled the palace the day before. An entire night and day had passed until she made it here. She couldn't have been lost that whole time. Even she must have realized, Rentaro supposed, that making a beeline for the Satomi residence would instantly bring him under suspicion. But in the end something about her troubles must've driven her to finally ring that doorbell. Or was that just Rentaro being overly generous with her again? It was all making her impatient, especially the sharp-eyed girl in front of her, and Rentaro couldn't help but feel a little pity for the Seitenshi. "Ahhhh, all right. Use the bath all you want," he said, turning a finger toward the door. "Excuse me, then," the Seitenshi responded as she stood and went inside. Soon, in the soggy, miniscule changing area, Rentaro could hear friction between clothing and skin as the Seitenshi's dress fell to the floor. Even through the glass door, it was amazing how supple her body's silhouette was—and as Rentaro's heart quickened, the silhouette's bra dropped down as well. Surprised, he turned back to Enju. She had a fist hidden under the table, cheeks pushed out in a high state of annoyance. "You're studying her way more closely than me when I undress!" He had never "studied" her body at all—all three measurements were the same numerical value, for one—but Rentaro knew saying that would make her snap at him again. So he took the tactic of facing the opposite wall while holding his ears shut. That oughta work. Ignoring the muffled sound of splashing water, Rentaro decided to take that moment to rewire and reorganize his thoughts. If he took this job, he'd have to take action at once. There were no handy hiding places in this apartment—even if there was, there was no way she'd escape the notice of a palace-hired professional investigator. Then the doorbell rang a third time. Ah, jeez, they're already on to her? Before he could act, though, he heard someone turning the key, unlocking the door, and turning the knob. There, standing tall, was none other than the cold-as-ice president of the Tendo Civil Security Agency. Her eyes were full of jealousy as she stormed in, her feet making sixteenth-note steps as she did. "I smell perfume." "Huh?" "There's a girl here besides Enju and Tina, isn't there? It's Miori, isn't it?" Kisara swiveled her head around, walked up to the low table, and crossed her arms. "That," she said, "and look at you. You're sitting bolt upright." "Y-yeah," Rentaro weakly replied to the verbal onslaught. She narrowed her eyes into slits as she looked at him. "Look, Satomi. If you're wondering what it is I don't like about Miori, I'll tell you—it's that she knows you're my personal possession, but she still does stuff like leave her toiletry kit in your place, or a spare pair of undergarments, or she throws away my hair dryer without asking…! And you know what else? You know the cup you put your blue toothbrush in, Satomi? Well, she goes and lines it up with my red one, or marks it with her initials and stuff! I haaaaate that! Are you even listening?" Rentaro had been ignoring Kisara, including her now-reddened cheeks and near-shout of a voice, because he was too busy thinking about when to come clean to her about the Seitenshi. They were both interrupted by the sound of the shower starting up. Kisara rolled her eyes over to it. "In there, huh?" "Hey, wait a…" Kisara, wasting no time, stormed toward the bathroom. She was just a few inches from Rentaro's grasp when the door opened. "Wh-whooooooaaaaaa?!" "…Aaaaaggggghhhhh!" Well, too late for that, then. Rentaro hung his head in shame at the two different screams emanating from his washroom. But as he did so, a light bulb went off; he slapped a fist in the palm of his hand. That's it. The perfect hiding place for the Seitenshi. Thirty minutes later. The doorbell rang for a record fourth time that day. Here we go, Rentaro thought as he prepared to act as peeved as possible before opening up. "You're Rentaro Satomi?" A well-built, gray-haired man appeared, sticking a foot inside without asking. Rentaro looked down. He had a foot in position to block Rentaro from slamming the door in his face. The thick leather on his shoes indicated that he'd have no trouble doing so. "What?" "I'm with the palace. I can't tell you why, but I need to search your home." "Why d'you have to do that? Go away." "I'm afraid I can't." The man called for someone behind him. They were invisible to Rentaro before, but suddenly a small herd of officials in white suits and palace emblems stormed into the room, passing by the increasingly flustered Rentaro. "Search everywhere," the gray-haired man said. "Under the tatami mats, over the ceilings—everything!" Enju, too busy tackling the rice bowl again, gave the men a mean look. "Hashiba?" Hashiba, the gray-haired man, turned toward the searcher talking to him and nodded. They were in front of the bathroom, the shower still running inside. "There's nothing in there!" "That's for us to decide," Hashiba warned as he pushed the door separating the bathroom from the living room. The moment he opened the door to the bath area, he found a cloud of dense fog and a short scream from the silhouette inside. "Oh, excuse me!" Hashiba said as he tore out of the bathroom, using a handkerchief to wipe his brow. "I wish you could've told me that Miss Tendo was in there beforehand." "I would've if you had bothered listening." "Hashiba! I can't find her!" Hashiba turned toward the voice. Two of his lackeys, one examining the tatami mats and the other the ceiling, gave him disappointed looks. Rentaro opted to cross his arms like an overbearing mother. "So, uh, what are you doing here?" Hashiba's forehead wrinkled as he agonized over the question. Then he took a business card out of his suit and put it in Rentaro's hand. "You can bill the palace for the damage. If Lady Seitenshi ever visits your home, I want you to use this number to contact me." Hashiba lifted his chin in a "Let's roll" gesture as he and his men filed out, just as briskly as they had entered. Once the last of them was out of sight, Rentaro pushed down the foot pedal on his trash can and tossed Hashiba's card inside. "You can come out now," he shouted into the air as he turned around. A few moments later, an embarrassed-looking young woman stepped out of the bathroom, arms hugging herself around her black school uniform. Behind her was the Seitenshi, trying to pretend nothing had just happened. Her hands were clasped in front of her in astonishment. "Well done, Mr. Satomi! That was a perfect plan." "Uh, there was nothing at all perfect about that," Kisara protested. "They all got to look at me naked!" Not even Hashiba could have guessed that there, amidst the thick mist covering the bathroom, was the Seitenshi, body plastered against the wall in a blind spot from the entryway. "Is that your new ninja skill?" Enju asked. "Your 'Ladies' Room Barrier of Death Jutsu'?" She made a few ninja-style moves with her hands to illustrate, evoking giggles from the Seitenshi. "So?" Rentaro asked, scratching his head. "So," Enju replied, "I assume that means we're taking her request." "Actually, I do have one more request. The real one I have to make, if anything." "Ah, crap, do you ever bring me any good news?" The Seitenshi smiled thinly at Rentaro's complaint as she crossed her arms. "President Tendo…Mr. Satomi…I'd like you to bring back two items for me. One is called Solomon's Ring, and the other is the Scorpion's Neck." 4 The crystalline object the Seitenshi brought with her was a shade of royal blue, compact enough that an uninformed observer would have assumed it was a sapphire jewel. She instructed Rentaro to turn down the lights; when he did, the crystal shone a deep blue, and suddenly a giant holographic model appeared in the center of the room. The light displayed a building that resembled a factory. "The incident took place five days ago at a laboratory in Russia." The model, reacting to her voice, expanded out and populated with a set of photographs. There was a machine room with parts lying all over the place, traces of blood and tape outlines on the floor. Probably taken by the local police, Rentaro assumed. The room had been fairly well ransacked. It was clear the criminals were looking for something. The tape and the bloodstains were the only things the victims had left for the world. Rentaro, chopsticks in hand, frowned as he shifted his gaze between his rice bowl and the images projected in front of him. It wasn't exactly his choice of dinner entertainment. "Somebody broke into this lab and made off with some top-secret research material." "The 'items' you were talking about earlier?" Enju asked quizzically. The Seitenshi courteously nodded. "One of them, yes. The work was being conducted under the code name Solomon's Ring. I believe it's involved with the current case we're facing here, in some way or another." "Solomon's Ring?" Kisara interjected. "The ring from the legend of King Solomon that lets him talk to animals and stuff?" Rentaro gave her a look of admiration. She pouted in response. "Everyone should know that much." "So," Rentaro said, turning back to the Seitenshi, "is that ring what you want us to get back for you?" "It's just a code name, as I mentioned before. In reality, it is a translation device—one the Russian government is developing to communicate with Gastrea." "Wha—?!" Rentaro wasn't the only one taken aback. He exchanged glances with Kisara and Enju, both rendered statuelike. "They can do that…?" The Seitenshi shook her head. "Just in a very limited, fractional manner. It sounds like they've been able to communicate simple ideas to the Gastrea, although they don't know what all the screams and cries in response mean." "So, what did these guys break into the lab for?" "I'll admit that I did not pay particular attention to the incident when I first heard about it. Not until Libra appeared." "Wait…" The Seitenshi's narrowed eyes shone in the dimness. "At almost the same time, someone broke into a research lab in Tokyo Area and massacred the researchers inside. Between the location and their modus operandi, it's almost certainly the same group. And while they were there…" "…They took that 'Scorpion's Neck' thing?" The moment the name came up, Rentaro had already resigned himself somewhat to his fate. He recalled his battle with the Zodiac Gastrea Scorpion, the Stage Five that appeared during Kagetane Hiruko's assault on the city, one of the strongest of all Gastrea, and the one that made Rentaro's current path in life all but unavoidable. It was not a name he was expecting to ever hear again. "Precisely. We had recovered the body of Scorpion after you two—the Rentaro Satomi/Enju Aihara pair—destroyed it, and we were having them research it in secret." "Would asking why be a stupid question?" "Gastrea cadavers, particularly Zodiac-class ones, are extremely difficult to come by. There are hundreds of research groups that would give their right arm for even a few tissue samples." "So, what do these two break-ins have to do with Libra?" Kisara couldn't help but ask. "Ever since eleven Zodiac Gastrea appeared at the same time worldwide ten years ago, we've theorized that Stage Five–level creatures can 'speak' to one another through their cries. And when they took Scorpion's Neck—or, to be exact, the vocal cords we extracted from Scorpion—and gave them an electrical stimulus while steeped in a cellular activator, it generated a mixture of electrical and sonic waves. It just sounds like information-free noise to us, so it's been a mystery to wave-analysis researchers across the world." "And the Solomon's Ring translator might be the key to solving that riddle?" "Like I said," the Seitenshi continued instead of answering Kisara's question, "the Ring is still under development. There's almost no actual communication that can be made with what few species they've had any success with, but apparently Libra is the sole exception." Rentaro rubbed his chin with a finger, pondering this. "Hang on a sec," he said. "If Libra occupied Mount Nasu immediately after those two robberies, are you saying it's in that Varanium mine and building up its stock of viruses because someone's directing it to?" "…I'm saying it is possible. We're talking two different laboratories that were targeted at once." "So why isn't the palace trying to do anything about that? This is serious!" "I'm sad to say that everything you've heard so far is little more than conjecture. If we explained this to the other Areas without any evidence, they might just see it as us trying to make excuses. It's not a lie, after all, that the Inheritance of the Seven Stars has the power to attract Gastrea. It's hard to blame Prime Minister Ino for concluding that Tokyo Area is the culprit." She tapped a finger rapidly on her still-crossed arms. "So this whole disaster's thanks to your government covering everything up, isn't it?" Rentaro fired back. "I mean, if it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck…you know?" "I am willing to take the criticism for that, yes. We have secrets, and these secrets open us up to questioning. But you would have known that, Mr. Satomi, after your military training under the Tendo family. Prime Minister Kaihoko would have, too, as would President Saitake. Even if we disclosed the Inheritance to the public, do you believe they would use that strictly for peaceful purposes?" "…Who would even do something this crazy, anyway?" "Both groups used small arms for their attacks. Judging by that and their methods, they were both professional outfits. Surveillance footage showed that one of their members is currently wanted by international authorities for terrorist activity." The Seitenshi rotated the laboratory floor plan in the air, tapping on a corner to expand it. The video screen showed a clear overhead view from a distant height as a man in a tactical vest pointed a rifle toward the camera view. The ski mask on his face prevented any positive identification. "So we don't know anything about them?" "Not necessarily." She tapped away at a holographic keyboard, trimming down the image to focus on the masked attacker's eyes. An analysis of his irises flashed on-screen, comparing the results with an international terror database and bringing up a photograph of a white male, accompanied by a detailed history of his life. "This is Marc Meyerhold. A native of Belarus who spent seven years with Russian Spetsnaz special forces. Voice scans also picked up two or so other Belarusians with criminal histories in their homeland." "Belarus? But didn't Belarus…?" The Seitenshi gave an approving nod. "Right. The Greater Minsk Area, which served as the capital of Belarus, was flattened by none other than Libra itself. That struck my curiosity, so I looked over some materials from the final days of Greater Minsk. It…wasn't pretty." She closed her eyes for a moment, lost in melancholy, then turned back to Rentaro. "There's something else I want to tell you, Mr. Satomi. These terrorists used to work under Andrei Litvintsev." This chilled Rentaro to his core. "Andrei Litvintsev?" He knew the name. It was one he couldn't forget, no matter how hard he tried. "Who's that?" asked a confused Enju. Rentaro turned to her. "You remember half a year ago? When that dude down the street was bitching at us about this weirdo going in and out of his neighbor's house? That guy." Enju slapped a fist against her palm. "Ohhh! The illegal immigrant?" Kisara sighed. "A lot more than that. It turned out to be the biggest spy-exposure case in Japan since Richard Sorge back in 1941. The newspapers were going nuts over it." Rentaro turned his head back to his leader. "Where is he right now?" "He's serving a life sentence in Mega-Float Prison. We believe he was heavily involved with the lab attacks, so we've been negotiating with him for info in exchange for reducing his sentence, but…" "…But he's staying mum?" "It might be worse than that, even…particularly for you, Mr. Satomi." "What do you mean?" The Seitenshi suddenly found it difficult to find the right words. Rentaro looked on silently. "Litvintsev…has asked you to mediate over the negotiations, Mr. Satomi." Waves of discomfort flowed over Rentaro's mind. He lowered his brows. "Me? Why me?" "We don't know. All we know is that Litvintsev says he's willing to negotiate if we send you over." Rentaro looked aside and prodded his chin to mull this over. "So these two labs in Russia and Tokyo Area were attacked, and you think there's a pretty good chance Litvintsev and his people are using what they stole from them to control Libra, right? What are their motives for that?" "We don't know that, either. The palace hasn't received any demands or claims of responsibility from anyone. But right now, I think figuring this out is less important than taking action, and quickly. Time's ticking away as we speak. Counting today, we have three days to eliminate the threat of Libra and prevent an all-out war between Tokyo and Sendai Area. Before then, I want you to travel to Mega-Float Prison, meet with Litvintsev, and find out where his friends are hiding." The city of Magata at night was windless and quiet. Not even a single insect or bird cry could be heard. The moon shone at an acute angle as the occasional car roared down the side street. "I absolutely reeeee-fuse to accept this!" The hapless Rentaro extended a weak hand to Kisara, storming down the sidewalk with shoulders whisking back and forth. "Well, what do you want me to do? My place is about the only safe spot she's got right now." Kisara suddenly stopped, making Rentaro run into her nose-first. He stumbled a bit in surprise as she turned around, hands on her hips. "That's not the issue, you idiot! I'm saying that a woman like Lady Seitenshi cannot sleep under the same roof as a guy!" Rentaro looked up at the heavens for divine assistance. They'd agreed to respond to the Seitenshi's request at a later time before moving the topic of conversation to where she would spend the night. Rentaro had suggested his room, which had immediately incensed Kisara. Considering Rentaro's apartment was the only place she was safe from palace searchers, there was really no choice. But for some reason, Kisara found that difficult to accept. All evening, it had been nothing but "No, no, no!" from her. Rentaro sighed. "You really don't trust me that much?" "How could I ever trust you?" She pouted, blushing, her voice low. "Besides, you attacked me once." Sweat shot out of Rentaro's body as the surface temperature on his face skyrocketed. "No, that…that was, um…" His mind returned to the events of a month ago while his mouth continued to fumble for an excuse. He had been framed for the murder of his old acquaintance Kihachi Suibara, which indirectly led him to discover and break the door open on the Black Swan Project and crush Atsuro Hitsuma's diabolical plans. It wasn't long after that when subsequent events had led Rentaro to kiss Kisara, and right after that— "Listen, uh…back then, Kisara, why did you—?" "…Ohhh!" She clapped her hands as she turned her head back up. "R-right! Now I remember. I was gonna pick up some groceries during the big sale they're having. Tina's probably hungry and stuff, so I'll let you go for now, Satomi. See you!" "Whoa, hey—" There was no time to say anything as Kisara ran off and gradually faded into the cityscape. He tried to give chase for a while, only to wind up completely alone on the little landing in front of the entrance to Magata Park. Looking at the clock lit up among the playground equipment, he realized it was half an hour past midnight. If there were any nearby grocery stores open at that time of night, Rentaro wasn't aware of them. "What the hell was that about…?" "Hey, I'm back," a still-troubled Rentaro said as he discarded the shoes he had hurriedly put on a few minutes prior. The first thing he saw was the uncommon sight of Enju and the Seitenshi sitting next to each other, the latter in a prim and proper kneel, while the former tried to mimic her in the most ladylike manner possible. They were both focused on the TV. It was some sort of live broadcast from the palace, which was lit up and surrounded by crowds of people. A reporter was in the midst, gripping a microphone tightly with both hands as she summoned her most authoritative voice. "One night after the palace held an emergency press conference, the Zodiac Gastrea Libra remains curled up in the Mount Nasu area. It has yet to move an inch." The image shifted to some previously shot aerial footage of the mountain area. "Libra…" Its long, thin body was curled into a ball, its fearsome, reptilelike visage resembling a snake's—or maybe even a dragon's. The viral sacs weren't visible from this vantage point, but there was no doubt they were still expanding, inflating, waiting for just the right moment to unleash their payload.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-07-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter001e.txt	Black Bullet "Tensions remain high between Tokyo Area and Sendai Area, as Tokyo responds to the shutdown of their embassy in Sendai with a shutdown of Sendai's. Prime Minister Ino doubled down earlier on his accusation that Libra was summoned by the Seitenshi administration, and Sendai aircraft are still conducting patrols around Libra and nearby Tokyo Area. Palace officials have yet to release a formal comment about this, but reports indicate that intensive negotiations are taking place beneath the surface at Lady Seitenshi's command." The Seitenshi scowled. "Hey, uh, you think it's about time you head home?" "Mr. Satomi…" She must have just noticed Rentaro then, her fetching but gloom-filled visage turning toward him as she shook her head. "I will not." Enju, unable to stay ladylike any longer, shot to her feet. "This is so boring, Rentaro. All the channels are showing this stupid live coverage. They preempted the Tenchu Girls special!" "Hey, even magical-girl fighters need a break now and then." Rentaro handed the complaining girl some new underwear, prodding her into the bathroom to take her evening bath. He was glad to get some peace and quiet—or, at least, he was until Enju stuck her head out the door and said "No peeking!" with a cheesy grin. "Who's gonna peek at you?" Picking up on some giggling next to him, Rentaro turned to the Seitenshi, who had a hand to her mouth. "Ah, children are so honest, aren't they?" "Nah. Enju probably didn't even understand half of what we were talking about anyway." "Well, does anyone though, really? I'm half in doubt about it myself." Their conversation faded just as a new advertisement came on, an upbeat melody accompanying a burst of light that illuminated both their faces as it ran across the screen. "May I ask you for a response to my request pretty soon? That's what you were discussing with President Tendo, no?" "Oh. Yeah. That." He had tried to discuss it, at least, but Kisara ran off before he could. It was all still up in the air. Rentaro focused on the TV instead. The ad was over, and now the news was showing a photo of Tokyo Area's Sendai ambassador and his family, still being held in his embassy by the local authorities. "We'll take it. I'll tell my boss about it later." "Um, are you sure Ms. Tendo doesn't need to be informed?" "Yeah, I'm sure. If I tell her I'm gonna do something, she never opposes me. As long as I'm strong enough with it, I mean." Almost immediately, Rentaro began to doubt himself. Did he take the job in order to stop some unknown pain and sadness coming in the world's future? Or was it just to take a dig at the indecisive Kisara? He shook his head, realizing he was turning into someone he didn't like very much, and decided to stop thinking. The reasonable side of his mind refused to advance this line of thought any further. The smoke that wisped up from the piggy bank–shaped mosquito-repellent holder was buffeted by the fan that whizzed back and forth in the darkness, leaving a sharp chemical odor as it vaporized into the air. Sleep was apparently going to be something rather distant tonight, since Rentaro's consciousness was operating at full capacity. Putting both hands behind his head, he found himself tracing the grains on the grimy wooden ceiling with his eyes. There was a rustling, followed by someone grunting a little in his ear. He felt breath on his neck, tickling him enough that he turned to his side. There was the sleeping face of Enju, almost close enough to touch. And across from Enju's futon was the Seitenshi, arms crossed in front of her, the picture of infallible tranquility as her chest rhythmically rose and fell. She was wearing a pink nightgown—part of the sleepover kit Miori brought with her long ago—but that did nothing to stain the sheer beauty and elegance that emanated from her face. Rentaro got up to relieve himself, then tiptoed to the refrigerator and polished off a half-consumed sports drink. The cold liquid flowed down to his warm stomach. He turned toward the nearby window. It was a bright night, the moonlight coming down on his surroundings at an angle. Suddenly he noticed, among the choir of summer insects gathered outside his door, another voice, almost hidden. He turned toward it and swallowed nervously. It was the Seitenshi, her back turned—and she was sobbing, her shoulders shaking. "Are you all right?" he asked, kneeling down to put a hand on one shoulder. She instantly spun around. Her eyes, practically drained of tears, sparkled as they reflected the moonlight. It made Rentaro freeze for a moment as the insects rattled their wings against one another, droning the night away. Then his brain went back to a question he had been dwelling on all day: Why did the Seitenshi flee the palace in the first place? He had been lightly prodding her about that since she'd arrived. It was possible, he reasoned, that she was here on a covert basis…that perhaps Kikunojo was against leaving the negotiations with Litvintsev in Rentaro's hands. But was that really it? The Seitenshi wasn't just some bureaucrat; she was the head of a nation, its commander-in-chief, and the chain of command made it clear that there was no one in Tokyo Area allowed to order her around. She had every right to turn down Kikunojo's advice and call on the services of the Tendo Civil Security Agency anytime she wanted. So why, then? The Seitenshi, still shaking, grabbed at the sleeve of Rentaro's pajamas, head down. "Every day, lately, I've been putting my hand on my Bible and asking it what I should do. But no matter how hard I try…all I am for this city is window dressing." The despair was clear in her voice. "As far as our citizens are concerned…Kikunojo is more than enough for them. I… They don't need me…!" "Lady Seitenshi…" "It pains me. I want to live my life under the firm belief that there is a good, and virtuous, side to everyone. But everyone around me is swept up by hatred instead. Mr. Satomi, what…? What should I…?!" Leave it to me; Don't worry; It'll all be okay—assorted phrases crossed Rentaro's mind, but none had the strength to reach his lips. Instead, he placed his palms over her clenched fists and held them, silently.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-07-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter002.txt	Black Bullet BLACK BULLET 7 CHAPTER 02 THE BULLET THAT CHANGED THE WORLD 1 The winds of war may have been blowing across Tokyo Area, but the weather determinedly refused to play the part. It was gloriously sunny, and Rentaro was constantly surrounded by the symphony of late-summer insects as he walked on. After seeing Enju off to class and informing Magata High School that he wouldn't be in today, he wiped the sweat off his brow and immediately took the bus to Magata University Hospital. The receptionist waved him through, and in another moment, he was headed toward Sumire's laboratory, going down a stairway so steep that it seemed to descend into an abyss. There was one issue he wanted to get straight with himself before he sat down with Litvintsev. "Doctor, are you—?" Before he could finish, there was a bang and Rentaro noticed something whizzing through the air toward him. "Aghh…?!" He promptly blocked his face. Then he felt something light and fluffy cover his head. He slowly opened his eyes and removed the aluminum casing and shredded paper that had been launched, crumpling it up. In the midst of this, the university's living ghost story had appeared in front of him, wearing Groucho glasses and a conical party hat. Just like that, she tossed the cracker she'd deployed at Rentaro's face into the garbage. "Congratulations, Satomi!" She pulled a string to her side, opening up a large ball strapped to the ceiling. From it unfurled a banner that read RENTARO SATOMI: CONDOLENCES FOR GETTING DUMPED BY KISARA. Rentaro could feel himself getting dizzy. "…Doctor, come on. You weren't waiting to ambush me just so you could do this, were you?" "'Do unto others what annoys them the most.' The Muroto family motto." The woman in the lab coat removed the glasses, the grin behind the fake mustache now glaringly obvious. "Why did your parents marry each other, Doctor?" "A mystery that time may never unravel, my friend. Now, then—" Sumire sat down on a chair, about to die of sheer joy. "You got dumped?" "I didn't get dumped, Doctor." "Well, give me some details, then. I only got the CliffsNotes version over the phone. Don't be so afraid to ask for help, man. Dr. Muroto, love adviser, at your service!" She winked, gave the peace sign, and stuck out her tongue. It didn't exactly befit her age. Rentaro was struck dumb. "You've got enough love experience to advise people, Doctor?" "Nooooo! The only loves I've had in life were all cold and rotting by the time they got carted in here. Even the one man I did love wound up dead at the end of it. So, corpses, mostly. Basically, if they're breathing, they can go screw themselves, as far as I'm concerned." "Does that count for me, too?" "Uh, yeah? Did you think I had a thing going for you, you piece of garbage? Pfft!" "Whoa! Don't spit on me, man!" Something about the way Sumire used the word dumped made him grit his teeth. Maybe it was because he couldn't deny it out of hand. From an impartial perspective, it might look that way. "…What's the point in asking you for advice, anyway?" Rentaro asked, his heart still reeling. Sumire shrugged. "Well, is there anything I can help you with?" "…" Rentaro brooded to himself as he sat on a stool, staring at the floor. Could he really be honest with Sumire? He ran a finger along his lips. The chill it evoked helped him recall past events with more clarity. Stopping the Black Swan Project helped mend their frayed relationship beyond all expectation…and it led Rentaro to take just one step forward to close the distance. But what happened next went completely beyond his expectations: Kisara turned completely ashen, started to shake, and, hugging her own body, pushed Rentaro away and ran off. He thought it was some error on his part at first, but looking back through his memories, that really didn't seem to be the case. No matter how much he dwelled on it, though, he couldn't figure it out. Even now, he had no idea why she acted like that. She dodged the question whenever he tried to ask her, leaving his heart feeling like it was hanging in midair. "I don't think this is just a matter of a woman's whimsy or anything," Sumire said, eyes now serious as she propped her elbow on the table. "…You aren't gonna pick on me? Like, 'You went too fast and started rubbing her assets,' or anything?" "Well, if that's what you want, then sure. But that's just gonna depress you even more, wouldn't it? I like to strike a balance, you know? Don't leave 'em dead, but don't let 'em live. It wouldn't be any fun unless you roused yourself back into shape and went at her again, after all." She phrased it jokingly, but Rentaro's heart still found itself lightened. He could feel a thin strand of sympathy between the words. He thanked her internally. "I think," he said, "Kisara feels kind of guilty at the idea that she can find happiness in her life." "Why?" Sumire grudgingly asked, almost rising off her chair. "Just chill out. You know full well that Kisara got her groove back because she's using her desire to avenge her parents as an emotional support. It's been a long time, but I had a chance to look at her medical records back during my practicing days. It was stuff like her insulin dosages, the interviews they conducted when she underwent counseling after her parents were killed, that kind of thing. One thing I remember seeing in there is that she said whenever she feels happiness, it triggers feelings for her dead parents. Apparently she had visions of them every now and then. They'd be standing there like ghosts, and they'd admonish her for leaving them behind. They begged her for revenge." "No way…" It was like the ghostly king from Hamlet. But unlike that apparition, Rentaro could hardly believe that Kisara's parents, Osamu and Yomiko, would choose those words for their daughter. "Anyway, I checked it again a while later, and all that material had been struck from her records. The doctor wrote at the end of it that she had gotten over her depression and was ready to tackle life on her own. It was a little too neat and pretty for my tastes. You saw how she got revenge against someone just a bit ago, right? It wouldn't be weird at all if she's letting those visions bother her again." "…" Even if it were true, that explanation would never please Rentaro's heart. He scratched his head to calm down. "Are you sure you should be giving other people's medical information to me, Doctor?" Sumire shrugged. "Don't go asking a no-good doctor like me for morals, please." "Guess I owe you one." "Oh, no need to repay the favor. If I started expecting you to repay them at this point, I'd have to get reincarnated before you finally made up the difference. Still, though…" Sumire paused to stretch herself out, arms wide. "We've got two Areas ready to declare war on each other, and here you are worrying your little head about love, huh? Are your danger sensors screwed up or something?" "And what do you think about a war, Doctor?" "I think it's a total waste of time. What's the point of killing one another? We're all gonna die anyway." She gave a defiant grin. "None of us can escape it. Sooner or later, it dawns on us all that there's no point trying to resist death." "You're the same as always, huh?" Sumire raised her arms up dramatically. "I am simply here to offer praise unto death. Death, you see, is death. People like you, trying to find some deeper emotion or meaning to it—that's what I don't understand." Rentaro got up off his stool. "There's something about this situation I wanted to ask you about, Doctor. Two labs in Russia and Japan were attacked. Someone broke into them and stole two items: Solomon's Ring and the Scorpion's Neck." Sumire's eyes twinkled. "Go on." He did, telling her everything the Seitenshi said yesterday, having received permission from her to ask Sumire for advice. "Hmm…Solomon's Ring, huh? Pretty fancy name for a dumb little translation device." Sumire stared blankly into space. "'Wise King Solomon talked about animals and birds, reptiles and fish.' The First Book of Kings from the Old Testament. I think the story about putting on Solomon's Ring to understand animals came from a mistranslation in another edition or something." "Do you know anything about it?" "No," she said, her face troubled. "I focused my studies on mechanized soldiers that could fend off Gastrea. I never looked at ways we could tame them or anything. It's a pretty novel approach, I think, but judging by how incomplete it is, I'm guessing they probably hit a wall somewhere." "If you combine that with Scorpion's vocal cords, though, I think you might be able to give orders to Libra, at least. We can't just ignore those things." "A fair enough thing to keep in mind, true. I'm afraid there's not much help I can give when it comes to Russian translation devices. But if this stare down between Tokyo and Sendai keeps going, I have a pretty good hunch how it'll turn out." "Full-on war, right?" "No, even worse," Sumire barked, like a teacher admonishing a wayward student. "I'm talking worldwide nuclear warfare. World War III." Rentaro stared at Sumire, forgetting to breathe for a moment. "Wh-whoa, Doctor," he managed to spit out. "Haven't you been watching the news?" He smiled, trying to classify Sumire's response as a joke. But there was no humor in her stone-cold face. "Reality, Satomi, is a nightmare that always unfolds one step ahead of where you expect it to. Turn on the TV." He grabbed the remote thrown at him, pointed it at the musty old television in one corner, and turned it on. It just barely sputtered into action, the image slowly coming into focus. It showed a number of ships pushing their way through the waves—cruisers, destroyers, supply boats, all accompanying a much larger battleship piercing its way through the wind. A nuclear carrier, it looked like. No Area in Japan as of 2031 had one in its possession—they simply cost too much to build and maintain. He assumed this was some drama at first, but a familiar news network logo in the corner convinced him otherwise. The text below told the story. US ACTIVATES NAVAL FLEET: ACCUSES TOKYO AREA OF VIOLATING BIO-WEAPON TREATY. And before Rentaro could recover, the screen switched again, this time showing another fleet—this one apparently from Russia. "This is the latest footage of the American and Russian fleets as they make their way toward Tokyo Area waters," a harried-looking commentator said as the studio cameras focused on him. He looked at his wits' end, and that was the final confirmation Rentaro needed. This was no large-scale practical joke after all. "What the hell?" he said, turning around. "'Bio-weapon treaty'…?" He found Sumire glumly staring at the screen. "Things took a turn for the worse while you were on your way here. That's an international biological weapons treaty they're talking about. That's what they're probably interpreting the Inheritance of the Seven Stars to be, since it supposedly controls Stage Fives and stuff. The US claims we're violating that treaty. They're demanding inspections in all Areas, including the palace in Tokyo Area. I'm sure we'll refuse, but…" "Why're foreign nations getting involved? It's just between the two Areas." Sumire gave Rentaro a commiserative look. "On the surface, it's because Tokyo Area asked its allies for help. Russia, the UK, France—they've got priority Varanium-supply relationships with those countries. Why do they ask for help? Because Sendai's asked for help from its own allies in the US, Australia, and China, of course. The real reason for this, though, is a little different." "What do you mean?" "Any type of natural resource dug up from the ground is inevitably distributed across planet Earth in an uneven fashion. Africa's got gold and diamonds; the Middle East has oil; that sort of thing. And in the case of Varanium, the top nation just happens to be Japan. Tokyo Area alone produces thirty-one percent of the world's Varanium supply. Sendai Area has sixteen percent. If Sendai fell apart and Tokyo managed to expand its territory—and, with that, their mining rights—that's almost half the Varanium in the world, right in their hands. And it's the same deal vice versa. If Sendai decides to open fire on Tokyo before Libra releases its viral sacs—let me remind you, an exhausted Tokyo after fending off both Scorpion and Aldebaran—then bam, they've got an oligopoly on forty-seven percent of the world supply. And do you know what that would mean?" "No…?" Rentaro replied, voice clearly nervous. "We all need Varanium to survive. It's used to build our Monoliths, not to mention our weapons and ammo. If a single nation controlled half the world's supply, it could basically name its price for the stuff." Rentaro made a startled gasp. "They see what's going on with the other nations, too. For example, let's say that Tokyo Area had to rely on imports for one hundred percent of its food. If the other Areas decided to ban exports to Tokyo, we'd pretty much have to be their lapdogs. Even if they set the prices sky-high, we'd still have to buy it, right? So depending on how this little skirmish between two Far East city-states works out, one of us might wind up controlling the very fates of the rest of the world. That's something other nations would like to avoid at all costs. It sounds like the US and Russia have their fingers on the nuclear buttons right now, but the fact that grown-ups like that are getting involved with this playground squabble has everything to do with Tokyo's untapped resources. It's a curse, in a way." "But isn't there a noninterference treaty between the Areas or anything?" "Not really. The five Areas of Japan are treated as independent nations, after all." Rentaro quickly searched his head for something to counter with. It was proving to be a struggle. "Well… Well, so won't the UN do anything? That's their job, isn't it, to step in between conflicts like this?" Sumire shrugged, like she'd known this was coming. "The UN's been pretty much dysfunctional ever since the Gastrea came along. And even if they weren't, what could they do? It's not like they could stop the Cold War from happening. That's what the twentieth century should've taught us all—once things get too big, it's beyond anyone's ability to stop it." The TV now showed a set of pundits, each wailing in their own creative way about Japan's current uncertain future. "Satomi," Sumire said, voice more gentle now, "you've probably read about World War I in your history book, haven't you? Do you know why that war happened in the first place?" Rentaro shook his head, lost. "On June 28, 1914, a young Serbian man involved in a clandestine terror organization just happened to come across a car carrying an Austrian archduke that had taken a wrong turn in Sarajevo. He took the chance to shoot the guy down, and the fallout made the already-unsteady relationships between the European nations, Turkey, and Russia even worse. That led to World War I, and well over ten million people died because of it. And look at the Battle of Lexington. That was fought outside of Boston on April 19, 1775. The US colonies didn't have the nerve to stage a full revolution against Britain yet, and when the American commander saw British troops advancing, he was within seconds of giving the retreat order. But then someone or other fired a shot, and all hell broke loose. The proverbial shot heard 'round the world—nobody knows who shot it, but there you go. The bullet from the Serbian, the bullet in Lexington—both of those trigger pulls changed the world." "…What are you getting at?" "I'm saying, once things go all the way to the very edge, all it takes is a single bullet to start a war. And once it starts, it won't stop until an astonishing number of people are dead. Right now, Tokyo Area and Sendai Area are both fanning the flames—closing their embassies and their airports. If that's not playing it on the brink, I don't know what is. All it'd take is one more bullet. It's a lot more serious than you could ever imagine." Sumire placed both elbows on the desk and put her chin on her crossed arms. "Satomi, you need to start negotiating with Andrei Litvintsev as soon as possible. You're the only one left with any control over this. Don't let anyone fire another bullet that changes the world." Then she grinned, as if recalling a joke. "The fate of the world might be resting on your shoulders right now." 2 During the Gastrea War ten years ago, when Tokyo put up the final temporary Monolith and shut the Gastrea out of the city for good, the people's hearts were filled not with relief from returning to safety but with a mix of boundless despondency and a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't really over. When Prime Minister Zama, head of state at the time, announced on TV, radio, and the Internet that the war was over, most people greeted the news with warm tears, even if they didn't know where their reaction was coming from. The tears symbolized sadness for the people who were killed, chagrin at losing the war, and a deep melancholy, a self-reckoning over what they had just done with their lives. Soon after, the last prime minister to rule over a united Japan lost his standing in the political world when, fearing for a Japan whose population was ten percent of what it was before, he placed intense pressure on the medical world to institute a blanket ban on abortion. This ban ultimately led to an explosive growth of what would later become known as the Cursed Children. The lack of access to birth control also led to an increase in unwanted children, causing a rash of abandonment and abuse—and indirectly leading to the urban legend that illegitimate children were more likely to be Cursed. Zama, ironically enough, met his demise in 2029 on the way to the hospital after one of the Cursed Children his policies allowed to be born snapped his neck in two. His rule was followed by the first Seitenshi, who worked to merge the city of Tokyo with the scattered prefectures that surrounded it to create the forty-three districts of Tokyo Area. After the end of the war, the Area was faced with a mountain of tasks—repairing broken infrastructure, solving the Area's endemic power shortages, procuring a reliable food supply, and securing more territory for the large population crammed into this relatively small space. That led to the construction of the so-called Mega-Float, an artificial island off Tokyo Bay. Construction on the bay had been frequent and vigorous before, but after the war, the shore was so densely packed that the buildings were eating into the bay itself, literally changing the map. And now Rentaro stood in front of one. The heavy shadow of a bird crossed the ground. Rentaro looked up, exposing his face to the torturous sun. He raised a hand to his forehead as the cries of some distant shorebird hit his eardrums. Probably a flock of seagulls, he figured, lazily working their way along the seaside. They were called umineko in Japanese, literally sea cat, because of their distinctive cry—a cry that Rentaro always thought sounded more like an infant than anything. Seagulls, he didn't mind so much. Especially compared to the herring gulls that shared this shore with them. They were stupid birds. Stealing chicks from other nests, ripping them apart and feeding them to their own, or sometimes taking them for their own babies and raising them instead. Ugh. Rentaro would've wanted to continue exploring the natural knowledge he had encased in his brain for a while longer, but he stopped himself and eyed the ominous-looking entrance before him. This was part of the rush of sloppily built construction the Area saw after the war; despite being less than a decade old, the white outer walls already sported cracks and falling plaster. There was a rustic feel to it, like an old seaside sanatorium, coupled with an inscrutable sense of pure evil. This was Tokyo Area's District 32 Offshore Criminal Detention Center. Among the chaos people had to endure in the postwar years was a short but intense period of hyperinflation, with a box of cornflakes almost reaching 100,000 yen for a time. But that was a common occurrence in history—things like 1,000-yen and 10,000-yen bills were just pieces of paper, after all; they only held value because of the good name and trust people held in the Japanese government. The Gastrea War cost these bills their liquidity, and once the Tokyo Stock Exchange shut down, people's trust in their currency went right with it. In the ensuing months, it wasn't unusual to see entrepreneurs with money to burn a few days ago suddenly being forced to poke around garbage cans for food. There was, naturally, an accompanying increase in crime. Most cases involved people with no other choice but to break the law—but there were light and dark sides to every person. People who lost their sense of guilt after committing one crime and getting away with it; people whose crimes escalated thanks to the adrenaline thrill they got… This offshore prison was built for people like that, people who took a step over that most final of lines. Looking back the way he'd come, Rentaro eyed the impossibly long wharf. The only thing visible on it was a solitary gate and guard booth. Despite being considered part of the Outer Districts, this bayside locale was free of rubble; it had been fully revitalized, in fact, the crescent-shaped bay around it now a beachfront park. It was an urban oasis of sorts, lined with lovers walking shoulder to shoulder, mothers pushing strollers, and activity centers for the elderly. Then there was this prison. It was cut off, separate. Rentaro gave his name and civsec license to the man at the front desk. He looked rather surprised when Rentaro asked for an urgent meeting with Litvintsev. He left for a moment, then brought back an older guard who said, "Come with me." Rentaro followed, hands balled into fists as he prepared to face this most final of confrontations. "Ah, you civsecs come pretty young these days… You're the guy who arrested Litvintsev?" It wasn't until they passed the second locked door that the guard leading him had finally opened his mouth. "Well, by sheer coincidence…but yeah." "I dunno if you know, but you won't find any normal prisoners in here. These are all people who were too much for our other facilities to handle." "Yeah, looks like it," Rentaro said as he looked around. There wasn't a single light on. It felt empty, with only the sounds of their footsteps filling the space. Small, barred windows dotted the walls at regular intervals, and light flowed diagonally down. It smelled like the sea, and the sound of seagulls in the air was incessant—and, once Rentaro looked hard enough, he spotted the lenses of surveillance cameras on all four corners of the ceiling. There were lines of holes in the floor, which he assumed contained metal bars that shot up in case something happened. He was also surprised to find some girls among the security staff. One was seated on a chair, with one leg over the other, as she tapped her foot nervously. There was a spade symbol painted below her right eye, like she was part of some underground club scene; it was clear she was trying to project a bad-girl image. "Wow, you've got Initiators on payroll here?" "Transfers from the IISO, yes. Not sure we need them, though. It's kind of going overboard with the security." Rentaro turned his head toward a particular bit of darkness that seemed to waver for just a moment. A pair of sharply lit eyes followed his movements silently from a darkened cell. He didn't know what the guy was in for, nor did he care, but it was clear he was one of the prisoners. The way he remained perfectly silent only made it all the stranger. "Over here, civsec." He could still feel the eyes stabbing into the back of his head as he approached a small guard post at the other end of the hallway. This marked the third gate he had gone through; presumably every gate opened the way to inmates who had committed more and more serious crimes. Once he passed, he noticed that the guard accompanying him was gone. Turning around, he found him standing at the entrance. "This is as far as I go. Be careful, civsec. That guy used his handcuffs to put me in a chokehold the first day he was here. If help came any later than it did, I would've been strangled." "…All right. Thanks." The guard bowed down to him, as if shrinking back in fear. Rentaro turned around, crossed the large C BLOCK stencil painted on the floor, and stepped into the darkness. He didn't exactly want to go it alone, but there was no way he could make the guard join him now. He wiped his sweaty palms on his pants. This block was generally built like all the others, but the eyes upon him seemed to stick more closely to him than before, infused with a vague yet clearly murderous animosity. Suddenly, there was a jangling sound from somewhere, like someone rolled a jingle bell along the floor. He followed the sound, which came from the far end of the corridor. When he approached it, the first thing that struck him was the brightness. It was a single cell, a bit larger than the rest, and it had a window much larger than elsewhere, illuminating almost all of the cell's bare mortar walls. They loomed over a plain pipe-frame bed and a simple shelf lined with books, their titles written in Cyrillic. His attention then turned to the wind chime tied to one of the bars. The wind blew at it now and again, sending a bell jangling along inside its glass compartment every time it did. That must have been it. And there, sitting in a folding chair and reading a book, was— Rentaro made a pair of tight fists as he felt his blood vessels constrict. "It's been a while, Andrei Litvintsev." The man wedged a bookmark in his book, put it on the shelf next to him, and looked up. "It sure has, Rentaro Satomi." The tenor of his voice evoked unpleasant memories in Rentaro's mind. He had a cleft chin and a well-chiseled face, one that didn't go too well with his black prison uniform. His blond hair shone in the sunlight. The tracking anklet on his right foot personified the sense of terror he projected, the same one the guard spoke of. "Why did you ask for me?" Rentaro asked. "I've been looking into you since my arrest." Litvintsev tilted his head, inviting Rentaro to have a seat. Rentaro picked up a folding chair propped against the corridor wall and set it up for himself, never taking his eyes off his adversary. He made sure to leave three paces' worth of space between himself and the iron-bar door that separated them, just in case. The chime jingled sweetly in the air, a sound heavily out of place in the oppressive atmosphere.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-07-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter002c.txt	Black Bullet "First Scorpion, then Aldebaran… You've been busy since you caught me, haven't you?" "You didn't bring me here just to crack jokes at me, I imagine. You sure got it good here, huh? Three hots and a cot, and all that." "Wanna trade places?" "Hey, I'm just saying, be glad you didn't get the death penalty." Litvintsev's lips curled into a smile. "You don't have to be so nervous. I'm not gonna kill you or anything." "I'm sorry, has your time in jail hurt your eyesight or something?" The prisoner sneered a jeer of supreme confidence. "Fear has a certain scent to it. You're masking that fear with your anger right now." "…" Rentaro glared back, fists on his legs, as he kept himself from trembling. As much as he hated to admit it, he was never any good at playing mind games with people. This was Andrei Litvintsev. A spy who gave bribes to several Tokyo Area politicians and tried convincing them to switch over to warmongering extremist groups. He was accused of building connections to the Area's heavy industrial, economic, and political powers, then reporting his findings back to Russia. He even built an operational office inside Tokyo Area for his activities. The authorities finally caught up with him, but when they did, they were only able to arrest five other people connected to him. All exercised their right to remain silent, so the courts weren't able to pin anything on him apart from the meandering offense of "disturbing the peace in Tokyo Area and collusion with other nations." It was sheer coincidence that a master spy like this was arrested at all. He was installing a litany of bugging devices in the house of a politician that opposed his friends, and the noise from the construction work annoyed one of the neighbors. That neighbor employed a civsec in order to file a complaint, and soon his entire cover was blown. Litvintsev was the darling of the news media for a while after his arrest as his other crimes came to light—but to the Tendo Civil Security Agency, which had the limelight taken from them by the district attorney and was only involved in the first place because they were handling a dinky little noise-complaint job, it was a little embarrassing, if anything. "The only reason you managed to catch me was because I didn't have an Initiator by my side. I don't want you to forget that." "Heh. Pretty lame excuse. That's the kind of explanation an elite-level agent like you's turning to? Almost makes me wanna cry. Or should I say ex–elite agent?" "Is that princess of yours doing well?" "Lady Seitenshi, you mean? Was she in here?" "Just for a little bit. Looked like a pretty delicate woman." "Well, don't pick on her too much. She's a really devout woman." "Devout?" Litvintsev asked, lowering his voice an octave or two. "She's turning to religion in times like these?" "Are they all atheists over in Belarus?" "Sorry. I stopped practicing once the Greater Minsk Area got thrown into the deepest pit of hell." "…Look, Litvintsev, you know what's going on in Tokyo Area right now. The Area's been falsely accused of making Libra do its bidding. We're half a second away from war with Sendai. They're looking for a fight, in fact, and unless something happens soon, they're gonna get it—and once that happens, it might wind up being a world war. Now, there's a chance the things your people stole—Solomon's Ring and Scorpion's Neck—are involved with this. You were up to your neck in that, too, weren't you?" "Why do you think that?" "You're paying off the staff here so you can contact the outside world. That'd be easy for you, wouldn't it?" Litvintsev chuckled as he shook his head. "If you tell me where those people are now, I can negotiate to have your sentence reduced. And just so we're clear—if you don't give me some intel soon, don't be surprised if it's worthless for you later. I'm not as patient as you are." Rentaro paused, gauging the response from the other man. Negotiations like these were largely unexplored terrain for him, but still he thought he did at least a tolerable job sounding caustic enough. The Seitenshi had given him advance permission to promise Litvintsev a release if the need arose, on the condition that he'd be deported to Russia and forbidden from entering the five Areas of Japan again, but it'd be foolish in man-to-man negotiations like these to show your cards right at the outset. He was a dropout, yes, but Rentaro was once a military cadet during his years with the Tendo family, and he had a grip of the fundamental rules here, at least. The regulations around this prison were strict to the point of paranoia. Only one visitation was allowed per month—even then limited only to family—and visitors were heavily restricted in what items they could bring into cells. Inmates weren't allowed to speak in the cafeteria, a place that served as the main social outpost for most other prisons. The ceiling was lined with tear-gas sprays set to deploy whenever any disturbance took place. Roll call took place twelve times per day; if you failed to respond, you were treated as an escapee and thrown into solitary. Even the twice-a-week outdoor recreation period, the lone chance inmates had to breathe fresh air, took place in an area surrounded by high concrete walls, patrolled by guards with live-ammunition rifles who circled above the prisoners like buzzards. There was, in other words, no chance to relax for a single moment. It sickened most inmates. Many tried to escape, but there was no report of any successful attempts. The strong defenses that lurked under the battered-looking exterior were symbolized by the extreme security measures taken in all areas. It was said that even the most hardened of thieves, killers, and arsonists broke down and cried like babies when told they were coming here. Litvintsev may be acting tranquil, but half a year in this facility must be taking its toll. That was the conclusion Rentaro had made when he profiled Litvintsev beforehand. It meant Rentaro was the one dangling the fishing pole in front of him; there was no need for easy compromises. He just had to put the carrot in his face, then keep reeling it away. The logical part of his mind knew that anyway, but on another dimension, his temples were throbbing with a sense of abject dread. There was no sense that the man in front of him could be driven by quick impulses. Is that just an act? Or am I missing something fundamental, something decisive in my thoughts…? Litvintsev let out a snicker that, after a few seconds, changed to a louder, more ridiculing laugh. "What's so funny?" Rentaro demanded. The prisoner glared back. "I think you're misunderstanding something. I have no intention of negotiating with you." "Wha…?!" Rentaro couldn't believe his ears. What did he just say…? He found himself lost for words as Litvintsev continued, "Now yes, I know I told that government official that I wanted to see you. That wasn't a lie, either. But I didn't call you here because I wanted to negotiate." "So, what, then…?" Rentaro muttered in a raspy voice. Litvintsev stood up and walked toward him. Rentaro knew the iron bars were there, but he still instinctively tilted his head back, steeling himself. "Listen," Litvintsev said sternly, face against the bars. "Starting now, I am going to destroy both Tokyo and Sendai Areas. The people you love in your life are going to kill one another. They'll be blown to pieces. They'll have their guts splattered all over the pavement like a bug on the sole of your shoe. And you can't do anything except grit your teeth and watch, cursing yourself for being so powerless." For a moment, Rentaro felt like he and Litvintsev had switched sides around the bars. The light from the window illuminated the prisoner's body only from the neck down; his head was completely dark, but his staring eyes shone brightly from within. They overpowered Rentaro, immobilizing him. But even in his paralyzed mind, one corner of his thoughts could understand the truth. His expectations had been completely overturned. This wasn't a negotiation. It was a declaration of war. "You better take your family and get out of this Area as soon as you can. I'm telling you this out of respect. You caught me once, so I owe you that much. But if you ignore this warning, you'll have to face a hell that's even worse than death." "Don't give me that shit!" Upon realizing that he could still move his arms, Rentaro immediately unholstered his handgun and pointed it between Litvintsev's eyes. The sight of the muzzle right in front of him put the prisoner into an eerie silence, his eyes stabbing at Rentaro. "Why? Why would you do something like that?! Are you controlling Libra because you want Tokyo Area to taste what happened to your homeland? Why?!" "You caught me once. But I'm not going to lose to you again." A harried voice shouted out. Before Rentaro could comprehend it, someone rammed into his side, clouding his vision. By the time he realized it was a guard forcing his way between them, another had stripped the gun away and put him in a full nelson. He tried to resist the guards but stopped after they twisted his neck, incapacitating him in dull pain. Litvintsev simply looked on, eyes frozen. Damn it. Rentaro groaned as he was dragged away. He had me in the palm of his hand. Here I am, thinking I'm reigning supreme, taking the leadership role in this chat—how could I be so stupid? That vague gut feeling he'd had about the guy before he had met him—that had been correct the whole time. He was like a natural enemy—someone he should've killed the moment their eyes met. After being chewed out by the guards and kicked out of the prison, Rentaro found himself awash in waves of inferiority. He dragged his body up, braving the intense fatigue as he traversed the wharf. Taking a look back, he glanced up at the bright sun, accompanied by the ever-chattering seagulls. With a sigh, he began to wonder how Enju was doing in school. 3 The sound of Ms. Yagara's voice as she took attendance seemed to drone on and on like a mantra. The wide-bodied teacher seemed fully defeated by the day's humid weather. "Hozui Watanabe… Um, right. Next, the girls. Enju Aihara… Er, Aihara?" Momoka Hieda, alert upon hearing that name, stole a look three seats down. The seat was empty, her friend nowhere to be seen. The sounds of the waves seemed to cleanse her head as she listened to the seagulls and closed her eyes, the light sound of water flowing nearly to the trunk of the knotted beech tree that her back leaned up against. Swishing her legs to enjoy the feel of the grass against them, Enju Aihara took in the sight of the faraway buildings across Tokyo Bay. The evaporating seawater made the offshore prison moored to the long wharf seem to shimmer in the air. I wonder how Rentaro is doing with that prisoner. He happened to mention the location to her, so she decided to abandon school and head over to the nearby beach park. Reaching into a bag, she took out a sandwich she had purchased at a convenience store along the way. Removing the plastic, she took a bite from one edge and swallowed. Now used to eating with her classmates, a solitary lunch seemed dull by comparison. Just then, she turned her face up at the sound of a shrill voice. A family of three was enjoying a beach outing—at a time like this, no less. A mother and father were smiling awkwardly as a girl, their daughter presumably, pulled at their hands and shouted, "Come onnnn, let's gooooo!" The parents may have wanted a relaxing trip to the park, but their child, too inured to social games and other, more exciting entertainment, must've found it incredibly boring. It was a happy family scene, one that should've warmed anyone's heart—but to Enju, it was discomforting. She was born as one of the Cursed Children, with no place in the world to call hers, and it was hard for her to look at a girl raised under the love of two parents and not take it personally. Normally she didn't even think about it, but whenever she felt battered down like this, even a teeny little trigger could break the seal on all the painful memories in her mind. The first thing that sprang to her ears was the sharp sound of someone striking her. It was just a memory replayed in her head, but it seemed so real that she physically tensed up. There they were, two figures grinning at her swollen cheeks. The unforgettable Aihara family, her mother and father. They never liked talking to her much. They preferred to express themselves through physical abuse instead. They starved her, made her sleep in the kitchen—they didn't want her; they wanted the stipend the government offered for adopting war orphans. She recalled the way Sumire put it a while back: "When you start attaching a monetary value to good intentions, you absolutely can't price it too high—or too low, either. For example, blood donation is so valuable precisely because it's meant as a donation. If you price it too low, people would see it as beneath them and stay away, but if it's too high, you'd start to see underground operations trying to profit off it. The late first Seitenshi is widely respected as a wise and able leader, but even she made at least one policy mistake. What was it? It was pricing the monthly benefit too high for taking in orphans." The Seitenshi must have gone into that with good intentions, but in the end it led to hyenas like the Aihara family appearing, licking their lips as they took in girls like Enju. Without love, of course no one could ever be a good parent. As long as Enju was breathing, they were satisfied. All other aspects of handling her eventually boiled down to either starving or punching her. Of course, it didn't last. She recalled herself standing in the living room, panting for breath. The dirty tatami-mat floor had been thoroughly destroyed. Her father, dressed only in a pair of boxers, was unconscious on the floor, his cheekbone practically caved in. Her walruslike mother, punched in similar fashion, was furtively edging away from her. Her eyes were glowing a sheer red, blood dripping from each solid fist. She was pretty sure she was crying at the time. She had spent the past year trying everything to make them love her, but all the wishing in the world didn't get her that prize. Now, her relationship with her adoptive parents had finally crossed the line. "It's—it's over for you!" her mother screeched at her as she bared her teeth, snapping Enju back to reality. "You're gonna be branded as dangerous and they'll get rid of you! I hope you're happy now!" Stricken by terror, Enju fled. She wound up in District 39, where she kept herself alive by performing almost any crime one could think of apart from murder. It put her in danger of being shot on more than one occasion. The care facility Enju lived in before the Aiharas took her knew that she was Cursed. They had long ostracized her, hoping she'd get out of there as soon as possible. There was no way she'd be allowed back. Along the way, her eyes had started to harden. Scared of the ill intentions of those around her, she began to live with her abilities unleashed at all times. She stopped believing in people. Somewhere along the line, another one of the Cursed told her that if she became an Initiator, they'd give her medicine to control her corrosion rate and wouldn't ever have to worry about where her next meal was coming from. She tried to volunteer, more testing it out than anything else—and while she could admit it now, there was something about the "Promoter" role, someone to guide and support her, that she was even looking forward to a little. The sorrowful, hangdog-looking face on the Promoter that the IISO official linked her with, however, made her want to curse the heavens. And the face wasn't the worst part. He acted like some street hoodlum, and he barely had two pennies to rub against each other. Between him and the agency president, who looked as if most of the nutrients in her body were being used to support her voluminous boobs, she swore she'd never get along with either of them. Enju took a big bite out of the sandwich in her hand. Why did she have to remember something like that at this point? Probably because Rentaro mentioned the Aihara family for the first time in a while over dinner last night. It was a sad connection for her—they gave her nothing but her last name—and now here she was, running again. First from her adoptive parents, and now from her classmates. "It's so gross. Their eyes light up red, don't they? Why can't they just leave this school alone?" "Why do they let 'em out of the ghetto at all?" "They should stop pretending to be people. It makes me sick!" All their words replayed in her mind, accompanied by their hateful expressions. She had eyelids that kept her from seeing the things she didn't want to, in theory at least, but she had nothing to plug up her ears. It was a sharp, inarticulate "Agh!" from nearby that lifted Enju from her pit of self-loathing. She craned her neck to find a girl, younger than she was, staring up at an adjacent beech tree and looking about ready to bawl. Following her eyes upward, Enju quickly found out why. A bright red balloon, its string no longer held by anyone, was caught on the tree's branches, liable to break free and into the wide-open sky at any moment. The tree, at a good four meters or so, was too tall even for a grown-up to summit. "Do you need that balloon?" Enju asked as she approached. The child looked timid at first but nodded after a moment. Enju looked at her surroundings. For a single moment, nobody else was around—she could do it, but it'd have to be right now. "Close your eyes for a minute." "Close my eyes? Why?" The question mark was practically visible over her head, but she meekly followed Enju's instructions. "Keep them closed, okay?" Enju closed her own eyes, focused on the center point of her body, and took a deep breath. With a single exhale, she unleashed her powers in one fell swoop. Her body grew lighter, as if gravity was starting to taper off, and her arms and legs felt longer as she enjoyed the feeling of omnipotence. Crouching down to keep the girl from suspecting her, she leaped. Buoyed by the feeling of being pushed upward, she opened her eyes to find the red helium balloon right in front of her face. Easily grabbing it, she went back down and patted the girl on the shoulder. She opened her eyes, a little reluctantly at first. There were many ways to describe how she reacted to the balloon provided to her—confusion, surprise, wonder, joy. Just watching her face vault between all the emotions filled Enju with happiness. "Thank you, lady!" Enju gave her a proud nod. "You're right! I'm totally a proper lady!" The girl smiled back, although she didn't know what Enju meant. Her mother chose that moment to run up to them, bowing thankfully and chiding the girl for letting go of the balloon before taking her away. The child waved at Enju several times as she walked off. Enju watched, reflecting on how doing a good deed for someone always made one feel great afterward. "Are you one of the Cursed Children?" The question made her spin a lightning-fast 180 degrees. There was another girl there, this one about the same age as Enju. Her silvery hair reflected the sunlight, and her black skirt and ruffled white blouse made her look stereotypically rich. Her unique ice-blue eyes gave her an intellectual air. Enju froze, cold sweat running down. She saw me? An adult discovering her in her Cursed state would cause a huge uproar, a gaggle of onlookers, and God knew what after that. "Wait just a second," the girl said, her cold eyes keeping Enju from turning around and running off. She covered her eyes with her right hand, then drew it away. Her ice-blue eyes were now a shade of dark ruby, shining amid the daylight. Enju gasped. "You too?" The girl nodded, put her hand up again, and removed it. Her eyes were back to their original shade. "I wasn't expecting to see somebody like me here, so close to the Monoliths." She was about to raise a hand to salute Enju but stopped. "What are you doing here, though?" "What about you…?" Enju stammered. It wouldn't do to reveal her current boycott of school. The girl looked down on the floor, her motives apparently just as difficult to discuss frankly. Just as the conversation looked doomed to end, it was interrupted by a low, long rumble. The silver-haired girl grabbed her stomach, her cheeks blushing. "That looks pretty good," she said, her eyes on the half-eaten sandwich in Enju's hand. Ten minutes later, the girl and Enju were sitting on a shaded bench, the girl with a steaming fish-shaped taiyaki sweet cake in her hand. She gave the sweet a long hard look. "The batter looks like it's made out of wheat flour, but there isn't really any fish inside, is there?" "You've never had one before?" The girl meekly shook her head. "Well, it's got anko inside. Sweet red bean paste. It's good!" "Oh," the girl replied. Then her brows fell, as if she was regretful of something. "But what about the money…?" "Ah, it's my treat." The girl still looked fiendishly conflicted about the taiyaki. Her body was less dishonest, releasing a single drop of saliva from the corner of her lips. That was enough of a trigger. She turned to Enju and gave a deep bow. "Thank you for this. You really didn't need to feed me. This is my fault anyway. I didn't bring any extra money for today's activities." "Activities?" The girl opened her mouth and took a big bite instead of answering. "Oh," Enju tried to warn, "it'll be hot, so you should take it slow instead of…" "—?!" The subsequent reaction from the girl was nothing short of intense. She squirmed on the bench, both hands covering her mouth. "Hey! Spit it out! C'mon!" "Ih…ih's nah haht 't all…" "No, but…" "…Ih's nah haht 't all!" the girl practically shouted, as if trying to convince herself. Her teary eyes suggested otherwise. She rolled the bite of taiyaki around in her mouth for a bit but finally managed to get a couple of decent chews on it before swallowing. "B-besides," she added as she began to blow excessively on the rest of the treat, "I don't want to waste this after you gave it to me and everything." Once bitten, twice shy, Enju thought as the girl timidly brought it back to her lips. "Ah," she said solemnly as she enjoyed another bite. "I see. This works nicely, doesn't it? I burned the inside of my mouth too much to feel how it tastes, but…" The sight made Enju laugh. She was about to call her by name until she remembered that she never asked it. "My name's Enju. Enju Aihara. What's yours?" The girl stopped just as she was about to take another extra-large bite, then thought for a moment before raising her eyebrows apologetically. "I'm sorry, Enju. I'm afraid I can't tell you right now. Or I guess I should say that I don't want to, since if I told you, it might put you in trouble." Don't want to…? It took a little while for Enju to understand what that meant. "What does that…?" The girl looked up at the clock mounted in the middle of the park. "Well, it's just about time. This might be good, actually. Enju, would you mind if I took a little of your time?" The light-red sun set the sea ablaze in color as it slowly tilted its way westward. It was already too dark to see below the water's surface.
Officially Translated Light Novels	Black Bullet/Black-Bullet-Volume-07-[Yen-Press][Kobo]/chapter002e.txt	Black Bullet There was a sense of having no escape, coupled with a difficult-to-describe feeling of excitement. Enju reached out to the warm water's surface and put a finger to her lips. The salt stimulated her tongue, burning her throat on the way down. The ripples lapped up and down along the boat's hull, making little splashing sounds as it bobbed the vessel this way and that. The distance from the boat to the shoreline was becoming unnerving to Enju. "Are you sure we're okay here by ourselves?" "No problem at all." The silver-haired girl Enju was sharing the boat with gave her an assuaging smile as she kept pumping the oars. They were facing each other, and while the girl seemed to be looking right at Enju, her focus was actually on the area behind her back. Her eyes were red, her powers released; she must've been too afraid of someone at the beachfront park noticing them to keep them that way back there. The two were out in Tokyo Bay, and Enju was starting to regret being so impulsive. She had been led to a dock where the girl had a boat hidden, and when she told her to hop on, Enju wound up doing so without really understanding what was going on. It was a tiny little thing, more suited for a tranquil pond than the wide-open sea—and they were alone on it, two children. If a fishing boat or cruise ship passed by, it might just land them in the news. "Could you tell me why we're all the way out here already, please?" "Because I wanted to be with you, Enju," the girl said with a half smile. Enju sat there, wondering what that meant. Even she could tell this wasn't the truth. With a sigh, she turned her ears toward the waves. A steam whistle went off somewhere. She decided to change the subject as she noticed the setting sun. "Listen… What do you think about Cursed Children going to school with normal people?" "Why are you asking me that?" It was hard for Enju to explain. She decided to give the whole story—her origins; the one time her secret was revealed at school; the way her memories were dragging her down at her current one; her self-hatred at being dishonest with her own school friends. As she did, she couldn't help but wonder why she was revealing all this to a girl she had only met that day. If there was someone Cursed in her life she could open up to, it ought to have been Tina, not this girl. The girl listened intently. When Enju was done, she closed her eyes, then opened them after a few moments. "I'm sorry, Enju. I don't think I can really give you an effective solution to your problems." Enju grinned and shook her head. "Ah, just listening to me… And not laughing at me, either. That's all I needed. I'm glad I did it." "My homeland was already gone by the time I was born." This startled Enju. The girl stood up as she looked at her, turning to a flock of seagulls, her eyes focused off in the distance. "I lost mine in the Gastrea War. I was actually born in a neighboring country, but that country was rife with famine and discrimination. It was hard to live in." A pause. "The more you live in poverty, the more it makes you closer to an animal. You just eat, sleep, and produce offspring. Did you know, Enju? They did a study, and they found there's more than a ten-point difference in IQ between people who grew up hand-to-mouth and those who didn't. Supposedly your IQ goes back once things get better for you, but once you're in poverty, it's hard to gain the knowledge you need to claw your way out. That's what makes it so pernicious. Myself, I was lucky. I got picked up by someone and I lived in a pretty upper-class housing situation, but escaping that yoke—the three core desires of any living thing—made me realize that thinking, and reasoning, really is the only thing separating us from other animals." She turned around, holding her hair down against the wind. "I don't know if that really compares to your problems, but whenever things get hard for you, I think you should remember that. How you aren't the only one who has issues in their life." Is it really right, though, using that as a support—that there are people worse off than you? That's simply looking down on them, isn't it? The girl, perhaps reading Enju's mind based off her expression, gently shook her head. "I mean, the connections we make with other people, Enju, no matter how annoying they can be sometimes, form the net that helps you break up and absorb the sad or difficult things that happen in your life. There's nothing shameful about taking advantage of that when you need to." Enju felt that her closed heart had suddenly grown lighter, that the setting sun looked a notch brighter than before. She looked at her palms, balling them into fists and releasing them. "It's weird," she said. "I don't feel as gloomy." "It's an honor to help you," the girl said, narrowing her eyes with a smile. "You're a really nice girl," Enju replied, giving her a smile of her own. "You should come to my place, so I can introduce my Promoter to you. We're madly in love—he barely even lets me sleep at night, even!" "Oh? I'm glad to hear you have a good Promoter, too." "Is yours nice?" "Oh, very much so," the girl said, beaming as if she was the one who had received the compliment. It made Enju wonder who this girl was all over again. Given her pale white skin and silver hair, she must have been a non-Japanese Initiator, at least. They came to Tokyo Area a lot, Enju had heard, whenever some issue related to Varanium rights popped up. She wouldn't know, though. It wasn't like Initiators always revealed their abilities freely to one another. "Well," Enju blithely noted, "I bet you're a pretty good Initiator. Strong, too. Able to make the right decisions all the time." The girl scowled a bit at this appraisal. "Oh, not at all, no," she said in a dejected tone before falling silent and pretending to focus on rowing the boat. Enju brought her body up, worried she had touched upon something she shouldn't have—then a pang of pain crossed her head. Looking around, she immediately saw why. There were two gigantic walls of jet-black Varanium in front of her, one on each side. She had taken care to scope out the beachfront first and stick to an area between the Monoliths where the Varanium force was at its weakest. This boat must have taken her to a point beyond what was safe for maintaining her equilibrium. "Are you all right?" Enju asked. "I think I am, yes. It's hurting you at this distance? You must be pretty sensitive. Forgive me if I'm being rude, Enju, but what is your corrosion rate?" "Around 25.4 percent, I think. You?" "Fairly close to that, yes." The girl looked at Enju, perplexed. "It's strange, though. If our rates are nearly the same, we should be equally affected by the Varanium fields, too." "Oh, really?" Come to think of it, Tina had about the same corrosion rate, too, and it was the same deal with her. Enju figured her body was just more sensitive to Varanium than the norm. "Well," the girl concluded, "maybe it's related to your genetic makeup or something. Ah, we've arrived." Enju looked around. There was nothing near them they could have moored to. "I needed to visit that building over there," the girl said, pointing to the landing point as she pulled out a pair of binoculars. It was starting to grow dark, and even without the visual aid, Enju could see the offshore prison looming far larger than before. "You've got something to do in this prison, too?" The girl's eyes opened up wide. "Well! That's a surprise. I didn't think you'd know that was a prison." She looked at her watch, then threw herself down, lowering her center of gravity as she kept the binoculars in hand. "They'll be here in a second." As Enju puzzled over this, she spotted the presence of a boat advancing upon them from the side. She lowered her own head as well. It was about as large as a fishing vessel, and it passed them by without paying their boat any special attention. Once it passed, though, it made a wide turn and approached the prison from the rear, mooring at the Mega-Float's small loading dock. "There's a network of naval mines around the area to keep prisoners from escaping, and the guards can set them off from land if they want to. The ship's taking the longer route in order to avoid them. They must be shipping something over that's too difficult to carry by land." The girl beckoned Enju to come next to her, then handed her the binoculars. "Very tight security, indeed. Can you see, Enju? It looks like just another weather-beaten building, but it's packed with all the latest technology—sensors, biometric authentication, you name it. The walls look like they're falling apart, but I heard they're reinforced with Varanium core material, so they can probably take a real beating." The girl was too focused on her excited commentary to notice the expression on her conversational partner. "Um, so why are you scoping out a prison?" The girl flashed a look of guilt before averting her eyes. "Oh, I'm just a fan of prisons like these…" Enju shot a perplexed look at her suddenly taciturn partner. Presumably, the girl would have arrived here even if they hadn't met—and yet, when she ran into Enju, the girl was dead set on her coming along. Maybe she was just being used to fill up the ranks, since two people on a little recreational boat ride would draw less attention than a solitary rower in the bay. Enju should've been angered by being used like this, but she couldn't drum up the reaction. To be honest, she was starting to like this mystery girl quite a bit. She recalled Rentaro telling her that if she found someone she wanted to be friends with her whole life, she needed to treat them well, no matter what. "I guess there's a reason why you can't tell anyone else. I won't pry, I promise." The girl furrowed her brows. "Thank you, Enju, but…we should probably head back. Sorry to ferry you all around the bay like this." The seagulls above them cried out into the evening as the dwindling sunlight colored the girl's face red. "Do you think we could meet again?" "I think it'd be better for both of us," replied the girl, "if we didn't." She gave an inscrutable smile. "My name is Yulia." "Huh?" She ran a hand through the hair above her ears. "I said, my name is Yulia Kochenkova." 4 "Yulia Kochenkova," the Seitenshi said as she looked at the photograph that popped up. "Andrei Litvintsev's Initiator; the strongest of the former Belarus region. She was once a member of Witch Squadron, a special-forces unit manned exclusively by Initiators. Her Gastrea factor is the cheetah." It was past seven in the evening at Rentaro Satomi's darkened apartment. The crystal in the middle of it shone blue, just like it had the day before, as it projected a holographic window into space. Rentaro tapped the photo, expanding it out. The girl, in what looked like a hidden-camera photo, was turned toward the left, lips pulled tight in an off-putting expression. "Cheetah…?" "Yes. Oriented for speed. The same type of Initiator as Enju, in other words." Rentaro whistled in astonishment. The cheetah required no introduction. It was the fastest hunter in the animal kingdom, clocking speeds upward of 110 kilometers an hour. An Initiator's strength in battle was far from wholly dependent on their animal-based Gastrea element. But, Rentaro thought, if it's a cheetah we're talking about, that's practically a thoroughbred among Initiators. "What's her IP Rank?" The Seitenshi paused for a moment before reluctantly blurting out the number. Rentaro reacted by rubbing his arms nervously, a chill coming over him. If that number was for real, this might turn out to be the toughest job assignment he'd ever taken. "You haven't run into her before, have you, Mr. Satomi?" "If we had run into her half a year ago," Rentaro said, embittered, "Enju and I would be dead right now." The Seitenshi fell silent at this statement, taking a sip of tea from the low table. "Ten years ago," she said, "when Belarus was by and large obliterated by the viruses released by the King of Plagues, Yulia Kochenkova's mother just barely managed to flee to Russia safely. She gave birth to her at a refugee camp set up by the Russian government, but she died soon after from a postpartum infection and fever. Any well-equipped medical facility would have been able to save her life, but that just didn't exist at the time." "…How are Cursed Children treated in Russia?" "About as bad as it gets," came the melancholy reply. "Moscow Area is the largest colony in Russia, and they agreed to take in all refugees without any restrictions, leading to a severe financial crunch that affected the lives of all Russians. That, to say the least, led to discontent. Rumors went around that the Belarusians were all infected with delayed-action viruses from the King of Plagues. "This ultimately led to a sort of caste system put in place across Russia after the war. Refugees from Greater Minsk were the low rung on the ladder, and among them, the Cursed Children—they're literally called the House of Witches in Russian—are barely even treated as human. They were almost wiped out from the region entirely before the Russians realized the threat from outside Gastrea and formed the Witch Squadron to fight them. Kochenkova was lucky to still be alive when she joined them. She was found curled up in some alleyway, eating rotten food, and she didn't even have the strength to bat away the flies around her face." The Seitenshi closed her eyes. Rentaro had known her long enough to understand what she was thinking. She was at it again—feeling personal sympathy, personal pain for the plight of people she had no chance on earth of saving. He didn't see that as a waste of time per se, but in her position, he thought, it was important to pick her battles. She continued her silence. Was she just being stubborn? Or was she truly as holy as the aura she portrayed, still searching in the darkness for a better answer to the problems Rentaro had resigned himself to abandoning long ago? "So?" he asked, breaking his chain of thought. "What happened then?" "She received a high level of education in the squadron, something she still feels an enormous debt of gratitude for. Reportedly she met Litvintsev around the same time." The Seitenshi turned toward Rentaro. "Mr. Satomi, if you don't mind me asking about your gut feeling on this… How did you do with Litvintsev?" "He's definitely pulling the strings." Rentaro bit his lip as he recalled the previous afternoon. "He's a dangerous man, and he's sharp as a knife, too." Damn it all. There's so little time left, too. Then Rentaro noticed something warm on top of the clenched fists over his knees. Surprised, he looked up to find the Seitenshi, in all her pale beauty, right next to him. He swiveled his eyes back down, only to find her smooth, velvety long gloves covering his own hands. "This hasn't ended yet. We need to place our hopes on tomorrow." "Y-yeah…" Rentaro found himself reflexively rearing back at the sight of the beautiful, snowlike face, the glossy lips, just a few centimeters from his body. Her breath, the breath of a woman who a rich real-estate developer once reportedly expressed a desire to spend his entire fortune on a pair of lace gloves for, was beating against his neck. This situation—the two alone in a man's apartment with only the crystal's erratic illumination to light them—was probably something he should have been better prepared for. He gave her a look. "What is it, Mr. Satomi?" she replied innocently. He turned back toward the photo of Yulia, racked with guilt from the assorted unpleasant situations his mind conjured up. "…So we're basically one hundred percent sure she's in Tokyo Area, right?" "Her current whereabouts are unknown. She managed to evade our investigators, and I'm sure it'll be all but impossible to get a bead on her again." The lights went back on, the crystal automatically turning off in response. "I'm back!" Turning around, Rentaro found Enju at the light switch, removing her shoes by the front door. "I made a new Initiator friend today. You wanna hear about her?" Rentaro waved his hand in front of his face. After their conversation just now, he preferred not to think about Initiators for a while to come. "Welcome back, Enju," the Seitenshi said graciously. "Why's Lady Seitenshi acting like a newlywed wife around you, Rentaro?" "Huh?" "Rentaro," she angrily continued, "I want my customary welcome-back peck on the cheek." "We never do that." This made Enju jump up and down indignantly. "I don't care! I wanna kiss!" Why she was choosing this hill to make her last stand on, Rentaro had to wonder as he tossed Enju into the bathroom and made her wash her hands and gargle. "I'm gonna skip school tomorrow, Rentaro," she said, sticking her head out the doorway with a cup in her hand, "so I can help you find the terrorists, okay?" "You've got school tomorrow?" Rentaro asked. He had just gotten word that Magata High School was giving students the day off tomorrow, in light of the whole King of Plagues scare. "Yeah. They're going on a field trip to some power plant in the Outer Districts. The teacher said it didn't see any action during the Third Kanto Battle, so it won't get caught up in a war this time, either, so…" This exasperated Rentaro. What a place I got Enju into, he thought to himself. But then he realized this could be a good chance for him. "Yeah, you go to school tomorrow, Enju. You just got into it; you oughta take every chance you have to get into the swing of things. You don't have to worry about us." "But isn't there gonna be a war if we don't…?" Rentaro patted Enju a few times on the head. "It's fine. If I need your help, I promise I'll contact you." She nodded, albeit with some reservations. Enju's already had two schools taken from her, Rentaro thought. I won't let it happen a third time. 5 The ocean wind running between the iron bars set off the wind chime again. From within the eternal darkness surrounding the moon, the sound of the waves continued incessantly, and the sharp scent in the air seemed to attach itself to everything that it found. It was past lights-out time, and Andrei Litvintsev's eyes were closed as he sat on his bed and counted the number of wave crashes. In the single cell across from his, a large man with an eerily porcine body lay sound asleep. He had the sleeves on his prison outfit rolled up and he unconsciously scratched his stomach as he snored. Other people, in other cells, could be heard either weeping or muttering to themselves. It made Litvintsev feel like he was traversing the space between dreams and reality. There was no telling how much time he spent in this state. Suddenly, he heard a single word—Captain—in the air. Slowly, he opened his eyes, only to find another pair illuminated in the darkness on the other side of the bars. And it wasn't alone—there were others behind it, although they were trying to hide themselves. "You're right on time." He stood up and walked to the iron-bar door. The electronic lock was disengaged, as if by magic, and with quiet footsteps Litvintsev's late-night visitors crammed into the cramped cell. Among them were five men and two young women. "Great to see you again, Captain," a man in a balaclava and full tactical gear said, almost overcome with emotion. Litvintsev knew him. The other men followed his lead, removing their masks and saluting. Litvintsev nodded and sized up each one individually. "Max, Misha…and Sonia, too, eh? Great to see all of you. Where's Yulia?" "Right here." Another girl entered the dark cell. Her silvery hair and ice-blue eyes reflected the moonlight as she stood bolt upright and gave a brisk salute. After she put her hand down, her face twisted, grimacing, and she hugged Litvintsev's midsection, burying her face in his side. "I've wanted to see you for so long, Captain." "Everything going well?" "Exactly as you commanded." Remembering her role in the current mission, Yulia took a step back and kneeled. "I'm off to support our people occupying the monitor control room." She stood back up, turned around, and soundlessly disappeared. In her place, the man Litvintsev had identified as Max stepped forward and saluted. "We need you to prepare to leave in twenty seconds, sir. Your escape ship is waiting out back. We'll be detected any moment now." As if on cue, a shrill alarm cut through the night. The sleeping prisoners jumped to their feet, yelling confusedly at one another. "Speak of the devil," observed Max as he replaced his balaclava and removed the safety on his rifle. "Please hurry, sir. We're here to guide you out of here. We have the Neck and the Ring for you, too. You'll have a front-row seat for the final events." Another member of the team provided Litvintsev with his favorite coat to wear over his uniform. He sized them all up one more time. "Okay. We've been wanting this long enough. Let's do it." They moved out in perfect sync—Litvintsev's people taking the lead with rifles slung over their shoulders, the rescued prisoner coursing through the wind behind them. The prison, forced awake by the alarm, was transformed into a whirlwind of chaos. The bars that should have slapped upward from the floor to prevent escapes never deployed. No contact was made with authorities outside the prison. And the guards who headed for the monitor control room after the alarm went off were more than a bit surprised by the hail of bullets that greeted them there. The gunshots thundered across the whole facility, sparking off the steel desks used as impromptu barriers. "Get back!" one of the guards shouted over the furor. "That's a professional team that's taken over the control room! We can't beat 'em with our equipment!" One of his coworkers found a free moment to jump over the barricade and fire a volley with his shotgun. He immediately threw himself back down after a swarm of bullets was sent his way. "Damn it," he growled. It went without saying that the prison guards were not professionally trained soldiers. They had a modicum of firepower, mostly meant for riot suppression, but asking them to take on a clearly sophisticated squadron of well-supplied fighters was beyond their abilities. Just as they were trying to figure out what to do, they realized the gunfire had stopped. One of them looked up to scope out the room. Just as he did, a masked man tossed something out from behind his barricade. The guard froze as he observed the circular object—a fragmentation grenade. He drew his head back, anticipating the intense pain about to greet him. There was the sound of something hitting against metal, followed by an explosion. A shockwave struck any body parts not hidden behind the barricade. Dust filled the air as bits of plaster blew off the walls. "Get out of here! You're too weak!" Am I alive? The man honestly wasn't sure when he opened his eyes. There he saw the back of a compactly framed young girl. She stood there wielding a pair of Varanium cutlasses, each one about sixty centimeters long. She whirled around at the stunned guard, earrings spinning in the air. There was a spade mark painted under her right eye. "Oh! The Initiator!" The girl grunted sullenly at him. "Ritsu Urabe, Initiator Rank 550. You—get out of here and call for backup. I'll take care of these guys." Few of the guards appreciated the presence of an Initiator among their ranks before, but—as they discovered now—she had just kicked the grenade away from them. It put the guards in a daze. "Uh, okay. Be careful. There's two of them stationed in front of the control room." The guard gave Ritsu a pat on the shoulder before running off. She watched him go, then turned toward the door. She grinned at the barricade, teeth grinding, as she spotted something moving behind it. The next moment, a barrage of muzzle flashes was quickly followed by a mass of bullets. Ritsu, reading it perfectly, jumped away. Amid the insane rush of gunfire, she dashed to and fro, slashing right through the barricade once she reached it. The look of sheer shock on the face of the enemy soldier behind it was exactly the kind of thing she savored in life. She gave him no time to regroup, burying her fist in his collar. He screamed and dropped his rifle. Then her animal instincts told her to jump. She did so, and a rifle bolt pierced through the air she had occupied a second earlier, sending concrete pieces flying as it embedded itself in the wall. "You picked the wrong girl to mess with!" She flipped her body and kicked off the ceiling, falling toward the armed enemy and slashing diagonally with both swords when she landed. The Varanium blades easily sliced through the body armor, neatly placing the soldier out of the picture. "Gr…ahh…" The skirmish was over. The masked man fell to his knees, gushing blood as he looked up, mortified, at his attacker. Ritsu licked her lips in excited anticipation. There was nothing she liked more than seeing this—taking those who underestimated her and making them crawl away in pain. "I'm not gonna kill you yet," she said. "I got a ton of things I wanna ask you." She turned around to visit the control room. Then, sensing another threat, she turned around again. From the other end of the corridor, a girl appeared. She had silver hair, ice-blue eyes, and a khaki military uniform. In another place and time, one might think she was just a tiny little girl who had gotten separated from her parents. However, this was neither that place nor that time. The enemy terrorists must have had an Initiator on their side, too. The silver-haired newcomer eyed her downed comrades, then nodded in understanding. She knew what needed to be done. It was Initiator against Initiator; no need to exchange words. Both knew this wouldn't end until blood was spilled. But as the girl stalked her prey, Ritsu couldn't help but speak up. "What's up with that? You're actually gonna fight with those things?" She had on a pair of knuckle guards, a metal pole attached to each arm with four long claws per hand and rings to put her thumb through. It was a pair of bagh naka, tiger claws, made for assassins to give their victim deep stab and claw wounds, as if they were attacked by a vicious animal. Ritsu was dubious. They were Varanium, yes, and lightweight enough to keep the user agile, but they had essentially no reach. They were a relic from a past era. "Ritsu Urabe, Initiator Rank 550. Model Shark." The girl bowed respectfully in reply. A moment later: "…What?" The girl raised an eyebrow, wondering if Ritsu didn't hear her. Then she lowered herself, ready for combat. Her eyes looked straight ahead. "I said, Yulia Kochenkova, Model Cheetah. Initiator Rank 77. This is over."

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.