BLACK BULLET 3
CHAPTER 02

DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD BY FIRE

1

“It’s time. Stop.” Rentaro pushed the stopwatch, and groans of people relaxing could be heard here and there.

“Ahh.…”

“Whoa…”

Kisara clapped her hands. “Okay, pass your answer sheets to the front!”

The students of the outdoor classroom calmly passed their papers forward. The foremost student represented the others and handed the papers to Rentaro. He bundled the stiff, low-quality papers together on the crude table, put them in his bag, and then lifted his head.

“How was it?” he asked them.

He was met with reproaches of “I couldn’t do it!” and “It was hard!”

Kisara, who made the questions, looked conflicted, but after noticing the smiling Enju and prim Tina, it looked like at least a couple of them had passed.

Rentaro had checked the questions ahead of time, but multiplying two-digit numbers together looked to still be a little too hard for the children of the Outer District. Rentaro had known before he enrolled Enju, but it looked like he had no choice but to say that the children of the Outer District were at a lower academic level than normal ten-year-olds. However, that did not mean that the IQ of the children of the Outer District was lower.

In fact, Rentaro and Kisara were the ones who were surprised at how quickly they absorbed new information. Generally, grades were determined by the total value of three main parameters: memory, critical thinking to apply things memorized, and interest. Rentaro, who had a vast difference in his grades for biology and history even though they were both memorization subjects, was painfully aware that he could not underestimate the power of interest.

Like an Italian artist once said, eating against one’s will is injurious to health, and study without interest makes the memory retain nothing it takes in. Of course, the Outer District had few recreations, so to the girls, even studying seemed to be fun, and that was a big part of it. However, even though Rentaro had not known them for very long, he felt like outside of that, they also knew that studying was something that would be beneficial to their futures.

Rentaro tilted his head and squinted at the rays of sunlight shining down on them. Conversely, what about himself? His earliest memories were of burned fields after the Great Gastrea War, of collapsed homes and buildings, people crying and shouting, black smoke that stung his eyes, and the stink of decay.

After everything had been taken away from him, the empty Rentaro was able to stand again after being filled with hatred. Hatred became the fuel that drove his body, and it had provided temporary relief.

But in the end, that was nothing more than a stopgap measure. Eventually, he ran out of fuel, of course, and he came to see everything as meaningless, finally losing his ability to keep up his enthusiasm for study and dropping out of school. Even so, he had been praised as a prodigy and whatnot when he was young.

To Rentaro, the students in front of him were dazzling. He was sure these girls were the hope of Tokyo Area. Rentaro found this personal opinion an unyielding one, even if everyone else in the world chanted opposition. But Rentaro shook his head and pushed back the sentiment. He had other things to do at present. “Please pass these handouts around,” and distributed sheaves to the front row of pupils.

Once the handouts were passed around, the students looked at each other with unconcealed confusion. One student raised her hand nervously to speak for the class. “Mr. Rentaro, what does this ‘Future Dream’ mean…?”

Rentaro put both hands on his hips and exhaled through his nose. “It’s just as it says. Write about what you want to be in the future.”

The students looked like they were not quite satisfied with this explanation. Apparently, they had never done this kind of recreation before. This was supposed to be a break after the test, but he might have made them more confused instead.

Oh no. He looked up at the sky, scratching the back of his head. “Well, if you don’t want to do it, then—”

There were scritching sounds, and when he looked at the girls, they were already giving the papers their full attention, pencils moving intently.

So you will do it. Rentaro sighed as he looked at the students, and asked himself why they were spending the precious time they had left in the Outer District’s outdoor classroom.

There were less than three days left before the collapse of the Monolith.

Currently, Rentaro and the others were sleeping in the civil officer squad tent, and he and Kisara had told their high schools by phone that they would be taking a temporary absence. His homeroom teacher had accepted it silently and said, “Do your best,” with casual insistence.

Under Commander Gado, they had standard training in the morning, but it was all in the classroom, learning about simple formations and the different types and meanings of signal flares. Well, he thought, that was only natural. There was a limit to how much training they could do in the remaining three days, and they weren’t expecting something as organized as the SDF, which had been training for years, from civil officers who were “just a bunch of ruffians.” The fact that they had the whole afternoon off was further proof of how low the expectations were for them.

So Rentaro, Kisara, Enju, and Tina chose to spend the rest of their time in the outdoor classroom. It may have been that part of their hearts wanted that peace of mind. Rentaro had heard that routine work like this helped to lessen stress. He was sure that that was the reason why he was here, too.

Just then, Enju called out, “I’m finished!” and stood up, excitedly turning in the paper to Rentaro. It read: “My future dream is to become Rentaro’s wife and kiss him as much as I want every day.” Underneath the scrawl was a sketch of a strange-looking monster face with large googly eyes. Is this supposed to be me? he thought.

“You do something similar every day already, don’t you?” he said.

Enju laughed and locked her hands behind her back as she returned to her seat. “Then, I am happy every day.”

Rentaro smiled wryly and returned back to his interrupted thoughts. On the other hand, there were big changes happening in the city. The large underground shelter that had been made after the Great War had been opened, and thirty percent of the residents of Tokyo Area who were chosen by lottery were already starting to be evacuated by block. Naturally, even within families, there were those who had been chosen and those who had not, and there were embraces and promises to reunite seen all over the place.

The remaining seventy percent were completely divided into two types. The first type believed that the mixed troops of the SDF and COs would be victorious and tried to maintain normal societal operations. The second type believed that the troops would lose.

The latter were escaping overseas, even selling off their household goods at low prices to scrape together enough money to buy the aircraft tickets that had suddenly jumped in price. Those that could not do even this were going around town crushed with despair, struggling to do whatever they could to forge or steal shelter spots.

Public order was disrupted mainly by the second type of people, and riots broke out as a result. Vigilante groups organized and strengthen patrols, but the current situation was that it was not nearly enough compared to the number of riots breaking out.

All of Tokyo Area was being torn apart by fear and worry. However, Rentaro thought their unease was justified.

A person’s mental state was able to stay calm because of ignorance. If people were able to count on their fingers the number of days until their deaths, they would not be able to sleep peacefully.

Whether they were aware of it or not, people expected each day to proceed according to plan. However, currently, the kind veil of ignorance had been lifted, and the truth had been exposed to all the residents of Tokyo Area. The truth said this: “Your lives will come abruptly to an end in three days, and it is possible that you will be eaten alive.”

Large parts of the population became depressed in each district, and the whole town was still. But even so, the days passed solemnly.

The cool fresh air touched his skin, and he tilted his head. Rentaro gazed at the blue sky that seemed to stretch forever and then looked back at the students scribbling away silently as they sat on the grass. Rentaro thought that the outdoor classroom where he was teaching seemed to be isolated from the worry and confusion, and time passed gently. For a moment, he succumbed to those strong feelings.

However, of course, the Outer District was not such a leisurely place that it could hold onto that tranquility for long. The triggers of violence that were building up in the whole area had not yet reached the Outer District. However, it was probably just a matter of time.

Rentaro prayed. He prayed that it would pass away without anything happening.

Just then, there was another voice that announced, “I’m finished.” Tina stood up and brought her paper to him.

Her paper said, “My future dream is to become Big Brother’s wife and kiss him as much as I want every day.” Rentaro froze, mouth agape.

When he lifted his gaze to Tina, she blushed with embarrassment and ducked her head. “C-can’t I?”

Rentaro didn’t know what to say and was mumbling something ambiguous when the stopwatch went off. Rentaro clapped his hands to tell everyone to stop and then collected the papers.

“All right, that’s it for today’s—” As he was trying to end the class, he stopped before the last word.

The children were all staring at their desks with gloomy faces. For the girls, the fact that they still had classes to attend had allowed them to stop thinking about the destruction they faced and had probably saved them mentally, at least until now.

Rentaro crossed his arms and thought for a moment. “Hey, Miss Kisara, how much do you have in your wallet right now?”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Kisara asked, confused.

“Just tell me.”

Kisara opened her worn-out coin purse and made a sour face, then held up three fingers. If she had that much, combined with what he had in his wallet, they should have enough for round-trip train tickets.

Rentaro nodded once and faced forward, shouting from his gut. “All right! We’re going on a field trip, so raise your hands if you want to go!”

With the excited and restlessly moving girls in the lead, Rentaro and the others changed trains, got off at District 14, and followed the signs from the station. As they got closer to their destination, there was more forest, and the peaceful smell got stronger; even the chatter of the students turned to wonder. In the forest with knotty roots echoed the chirps of cuckoos, and the sunlight sparkled as it filtered in between the branches of the trees. After they passed the forest of light, there was a large group of abandoned buildings standing in front of them.

The glass of the windows was cracked, and the buildings themselves were slanting; in the place of people, it had become nesting grounds for different species of birds. But in their golden age, these were proud to be some of the few intelligent buildings in Japan. There was a small park, too, courtyard-size, around the building. This was the only part that was well taken care of, and it did not have the shadowlike atmosphere of most abandoned buildings.

When Rentaro’s group got to the center, Rentaro walked up the steps and stopped in front of the monument that came up to his chest. On the top half was written in large letters: FLAME OF RETURN.

“Mr. Rentaro, what’s this…?”

Looking back to answer his student’s question, Rentaro glanced at each student in turn as he started to talk. “Do any of you know about the Second Kanto Battle?”

All the girls shook their heads at once.

Rentaro put his hand on the monument and rubbed its rugged metallic skin. Even in the summer, it felt cool to the touch against Rentaro’s hand. “There were two Kanto Battles in the past. The first time, it was during the war ten years ago. In what is now called the Outer District, the SDF clashed with Gastrea, and it suffered a crushing defeat.”

“They lost?” Enju asked, her eyes wide.

Rentaro nodded. “That’s right. And so, the self-defense force was forced to regroup by retreating to old Saitama, and they lost a lot of ground. If they had won that battle, the current Tokyo Area would have been much, much bigger. And the Second Kanto Battle happened right where you’re standing now.”

There was a stir, and the students looked at each other. “Did they lose again?” one of the girls asked.

Rentaro shook his head. “No; this time, they won.”

Sighs of relief swept among the girls.

“In fact, it’s because they forced back the war front and put up the Monolith blockade that Tokyo Area has the shape it does now.”

Tina raised her hand. “Why were they suddenly able to win if they lost the first time?”

“That’s a good question. The first time, it was still early in the Great Gastrea War, so mankind did not yet understand what the organisms called Gastrea were. Even if they wounded the Gastrea with normal weapons, if they hit anything other than the brain or heart, the Gastrea were able to recover.”

The girls smiled bitterly. The fact was that with the Gastrea factors inside their bodies, they were probably better acquainted than him with the self-regenerative abilities.

“Are you saying that the second time, they had more information?”

“That’s right. Using the surviving communication networks, information was shared around the world. By that time, the fact that that Gastrea showed a strong aversion to Varanium was already so widespread, it was considered a self-evident truth. That’s why by adding Varanium to tank gun bullets, they were even able to kill Gastrea with hard shells with one hit. This Flame of Return has two meanings—one, to commemorate the day we won the war, and two, as a memorial to the souls of those who lost their lives during the Gastrea battles up to that point. Actually, this monument was made by melting two thousand guns used during the Second Kanto Battle.”

As one the girls breathed an awed, “Really?”

Having such a great audience, Rentaro congratulated himself a little and asked, “Do you know what the Genan Festival is?”

They all raised their hands. “I know! It’s that pretty festival where the sky shines with lights, right?”

It was Rentaro’s turn to be impressed. The lights must have been bright enough to be seen even from the Outer District. “That’s right. People make small palm-size balloons, and then when night falls, everyone releases them at once, so some of you may have seen it before. 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.”

There, Rentaro suddenly realized something and lifted his eyes to count in his head. “There are five days left before this year’s Genan Festival, huh?” After he said that, he looked back at the children.

For some reason, they all looked downcast with their shoulders slumped. “Mr. Rentaro… Are we going to die? Will we be able to live…to see the next Genan Festival…?”

Rentaro exhaled from his nose and put his hand on the student with chestnut brown hair. “Dummy. You still don’t know why we came here for our field trip?”

“Huh?”

Rentaro looked at each and every one of his students. “The fact is, I brought you here today because I wanted you to know about the Second Kanto Battle. I think you already know that the fight that will start after the Monolith collapses will be called the Third Kanto Battle. But even after the Monolith falls, the self-defense force that won the Second Kanto Battle will be protecting us, so you won’t be dying.”

One of the students looked at Rentaro nervously. “Mr. Rentaro, is that really true?”

“Yeah, it’s true.”

“But the self-defense force’s missiles and planes crashed, didn’t they?”

Startled, Rentaro started to say, “How did you know that?” but shook his head almost immediately after. Even these girls would be naturally greedy for information if their lives were at stake.

Rentaro put his hand on his chin and considered. Last night, he had called the Seitenshi to ask about the effect of the lynching of a regular person by the Cursed Children on the Outer District. At the time, she had told him something baffling.

In the first place, when he had seen the report of the gathering of Gastrea, he thought that if the Gastrea were concentrated in one place, then it was the perfect chance to get them all at once with a missile or other weapon of mass destruction. And apparently, Rentaro was not the only one to think that. Timing their movements with the mass of Gastrea, an Aegis cruiser in the water, under orders from the JNSC, fired a precision-guided munition—a Tomahawk missile. However, what was baffling was that there was no confirmation that the missile had hit its mark before its signal completely disappeared.

Before they even had a chance to be puzzled, two fighter aircraft, the treasure of the self-defense force, sent missiles from the air to hit the targets, but these gave a last indistinct scream before communication was lost.

The last one even Rentaro knew. It was the TV news crew that was lost after broadcasting live from the Unexplored Territory the other day. From a picture taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle from high above, apparently, they had been able to find the wreckage of the two fighter aircraft and the news helicopter.

The news helicopter had been cut cleanly in two and then mangled, and the fighter aircraft had been made into perfect cross sections with their wings sheared off. The Tomahawk missile had not been found yet, but the Seitenshi predicted that it would be found in a shape beyond what they could imagine before long.

As he listened, Rentaro rubbed his upper arms unconsciously with the chills crawling up his spine. In other words, nothing that had gone to the mass of Gastrea had returned safely. But was it because of Aldebaran, as well, or…?

“We also have no idea what happened,” said the Seitenshi. “I have heard that you know about the habits of Gastrea, Satomi. I’m sorry, but with our shortage of personnel, we would even want the opinion of a civilian like you. Do you have any idea what might be going on?”

Rentaro was bewildered. If it had just been the helicopter, then it would have been reasonable to deduce that a strong flying Gastrea caught it and tore it apart. However, fighter jets that could fly at supersonic speeds and cruise missiles that were even faster than that had been shot down, so this was no ordinary situation.

Japan’s airborne self-defense force had been one of the organizations to suffer the most losses in the Great Gastrea War ten years ago, but that was why the surviving pilots had had plenty of real combat experience and were called some of the most powerful in the world. For Gastrea up to Stage Three, unless things went very wrong, it was hard to think that they would fall behind.

But considering further… What if it was a peregrine falcon–type Gastrea? It was the fastest bird on earth and could reach speeds of up to three hundred kilometers per hour in nature.

Rentaro thought that much and then shook his head. No. The fighter aircraft that had been found had their wings cut off cleanly, according to the Seitenshi. It was too hard for even a peregrine falcon Gastrea to slice off wings made of a tough metal alloy.

In the first place, if a Gastrea that flew at almost the speed of sound came into contact with a fighter aircraft, neither would be able to leave unscathed. If that was the case, then it would be hard to explain why there were no Gastrea corpses at the scene.

Since the Seitenshi was counting on him, he wanted to solve this for her somehow, but he didn’t have the slightest idea. However, there was already a suspicion in the corner of his mind, and it had put down roots.

Just then, Kisara poked him with her elbow, and the students all looked at him together with strangely uneasy expressions. Wondering just how long he had been lost in thought, Rentaro hurriedly cleared his throat. “The fighter aircraft getting shot down and losing the missile is no more than a rumor. Miss Kisara and I will both be fighting on the front lines as civil officers. You all can stop worrying.”

“You guys are fighting, too?” a student asked.

“Yeah.”

The children looked at each other and finally started to look a little relieved.

Thinking it was a suitable time, Rentaro put one hand on the Flame of Return and considered the students. “I’m sure you know about the lynching of the regular person by the Cursed Children—”

The second he brought up that topic, the students’ expressions clouded over. One girl lifted her face to speak for everyone. “It…wasn’t us, you know.”

“I know. But there’s something I want you all to hear. There’s the saying that all humans are born equal—” Rentaro closed his eyes and exhaled. “That saying is a lie.”

“Huh?” questioned a bunch of different voices.

When Rentaro opened his eyes, he looked at his pupils one by one. “A crime committed by one of the Stolen Generation is judged as a crime by that one person, but a crime committed by one of the Cursed Children has an impact on all of you. I want you all to know this, too. Humans are not born equal at all.”

“Then…” He heard a hoarse voice, and one of the students asked, shaking, “Then…what are we supposed to do?”

“Bear it. And don’t even think about getting even. Right now, I think all you can do is bear it for a while. No matter how bad the cards you were dealt, you must make a hand out of those and win somehow. This is the same for all of you.” Rentaro scratched the back of his head. “Th-that’s why, well, even if it’s something that can’t be helped, since I’ve become your teacher, I’ll teach you a bunch of stuff, if you’ll have me—”

“Everyone, gather round!” one of the students shouted, and in no time, the twenty students huddled with their foreheads touching and started whispering to each other. After a while, the students started to steal glances toward Rentaro, and Rentaro watched uncomfortably as he heard a voice say, “That teacher’s pretty good.”

“Wh-what’s that about?” he asked Kisara, who was standing next to him.

Kisara put her hand to her chin. “Who knows?”

Finally, they finished their discussion and the students adjourned with solemn faces, only to make an Okay symbol with their hands. “Mr. Rentaro, you pass.”

“Wh-what?” Rentaro stammered.

“It means we like you.”

“I-I see.”

“There are five of us who would like to date you with marriage in mind.”

Rentaro didn’t say anything.

“I am one of those five.”

There was an even longer pause.

Kisara pointed at herself, looking like she was about to cry. “Wh-what about me?”

“We haven’t decided about you yet, Miss Kisara.”

“What?!”

Finally, the students swarmed around them with shrill voices and pulled both of Rentaro’s hands. Pulled along, Rentaro looked up at the sky and gave a big sigh.

2

By the time Rentaro and Kisara took the children back to District 39 and returned to the squad tent with Enju and Tina, it was already dusk. All four lined up at the field kitchen to get food, then went back to the tent and sat in a circle.

From the smell of spices that wafted toward them, Rentaro had already somewhat guessed that today’s meal was curry. Since he didn’t expect much from the taste, it ended up being better than he expected. That itself left a strong impression, but it helped that his stomach was empty. He cleaned his plate in no time. To the members of Tendo Civil Security Agency, who were always in needy circumstances, today’s food was a happy miscalculation.

After the meal, the Initiators had their corrosion-inhibiting injection. Kisara announced, “I’m going to the restroom,” and similarly took her bag and walked aimlessly somewhere. She probably didn’t want to be seen taking her chronic diabetes’ insulin shot.

When Kisara finally came back, inside the tent, in the dim light of the camp lantern, everyone had spread out the foodstuffs and junk food they brought from home and were letting loose.

They told stories of Gastrea they had bravely defeated, as well as encounters and eyewitness accounts of mysterious Gastrea. Tamaki, who was old enough to drink, had beer and enthusiastically sang songs he composed himself, his face red.

Strangely enough, even though it hadn’t even been two days yet, living crowded together in a tent like this, it was like they had been friends for years.

Rentaro also let loose a little, shaking a can of cola and spraying it at Tamaki, but in general he was coldly observing the situation.

Everyone was relaxed and laughing, which was unusual for them. However, it was likely that this was their only chance to play around. Everyone was probably this relaxed because they were afraid. The others had probably also noticed this, but there was no one who dared to say it out loud.

Finally, when Enju started to rub her eyes sleepily, that was everyone’s signal to break up for the day. The half tent that Rentaro brought and didn’t end up needing was reappropriated by Kisara and Tina.

Tamaki didn’t even try to hide his ulterior motives when he said, “Ma’am, you should sleep in the same tent as us.”

Kisara stuck out her tongue in reply and blushed as she snuck a sideways glance at Rentaro. “I don’t want Satomi to do something weird to me while I’m sleeping…,” she replied, and turned away in a huff.

Tina’s face made it obvious that she wanted to sleep in the big tent, but when Kisara said, “Tina, you’re not going to betray me, too, are you?” Tina lost to peer pressure and let herself be persuaded to go to the other tent.

A little while after turning out the light, Enju, Yuzuki, and Tamaki soon fell asleep and started snoring, Enju and Yuzuki holding each other. A little ways away from Rentaro, Midori was sleeping in a very proper position. And Rentaro thought Shoma was awake, but he seemed to be sleeping sitting up and cross-legged, leaning on the wall of the tent.

Just me, huh? Rentaro sighed, gazing at the curtains of the tent fluttering in the wind. His mind wandered to the conversation with his students during the day. Even if it had been to calm the hearts of children fraught with worry, it pricked his conscience a little that he had lied and said, “We have the self-defense force, so it’ll be fine,” without any basis for that statement.

Truth be told, he was worried, too.

In the self-defense force that had won the Second Kanto Battle, aside from the traditional conservatives, there were also the war advocates who wanted to open up the Monoliths and decisively get rid of the Gastrea. They had recently gained power, and lately, it appeared that these men and women did not even obey the commands of the Seitenshi.

The man named Takuto Yasuwaki, whom Rentaro had met and had intense confrontations with during the Seitenshi assassination attempt, was one of those in the war advocacy group that had been created after the Second Kanto War. And he had heard that the group camped out in front of the Monolith were all of the same type as Yasuwaki. If they underestimated Aldebaran’s strength, then that could come back and turn into a crisis for Tokyo Area. Rentaro held at bay his uneasiness that wouldn’t go away and took a deep breath, praying that he was worrying needlessly.

Just then, a voice that sounded like the buzz of a mosquito entered the tent. “Satomi, are you awake?”

Rentaro slowly lifted his eyelids. “Kisara?”

“Yeah, do you want to go for a walk?” Her voice came from outside the tent. Rentaro got up quietly to keep from waking Enju next to him and went out of the squad tent.

Yesterday, it had been hot and humid and hard to sleep, so he had braced himself, but the wind that hit his skin didn’t feel especially hot or cold and was instead a comfortable temperature. The undergrowth swayed with a rustling sound in time to the sound of the insects, and in the midst of that stood Kisara, holding down her hair to protect it from the wind. For some reason, Kisara’s smile showed both loneliness and embarrassment. “Did I wake you?”

Rentaro shook his head. “How far are we going?”

“Let’s see.” Kisara kept her hands clasped behind her and spun around, looking at the sky. “Let’s go to Monolith 32.”

“That’s a little far.” After a moment’s thought, he suddenly had the brilliant idea of taking Kisara to the frontline headquarters.

Seeing a sentry standing on watch next to the motorcycle parking area, he saluted. “Commander Gado asked me to take a message,” he said smoothly.

Three minutes later, Rentaro had the keys to a motorcycle in his hands. Taking the helmet off the Kawasaki motorcycle with a sidecar he had chosen, he handed it to Kisara, who took it in astonishment, then finally gave up and shook her head, fastening the buckle under her chin.

“Do you remember how to drive?” she asked.

“I haven’t driven since getting my civil officer license, so it’s been about a year. But I’m sure it’ll be fine.” He turned the key in the ignition and started off. At first, he had a hard time with the rough, unpaved roads, but eventually, his hands remembered what to do, and the rest of the time passed quickly.

After about twenty minutes, they saw the front line facilities of the self-defense force. Rentaro casually passed through the base, but in fact, he was burning the whole of the facilities into his memory.

The troops were probably composed of foot soldiers called the Infantry Brigade. He could only estimate the number of people based on the scale of the facilities, but there were probably around six thousand. There were armored vehicles and tanks lined up in rows and a missile silo. The sentry was holding a Shiba Heavy Weapons Type 21 rifle; he was well equipped and seemed to be in high spirits. This was the full strength of the SDF…

Rentaro slowed the motorcycle at the side of the Monolith and suddenly felt all signs of life disappear. They were probably trying to stay away from the Monolith to protect themselves from the fragments and mineral dust produced by its collapse.

Cutting through the wind on the motorcycle, Rentaro lifted his gaze and thought, It can’t be helped. The Monolith stood sternly in front of them to protect Tokyo Area, but it would soon succumb to its incurable disease and be stained white, falling to pieces. Even just looking at it was horrifying, and it was human nature to not want to be caught up in that.

Twenty meters in front of the Monolith, Rentaro stopped the motorcycle and told Kisara, “We’re here.”

She took off her helmet and shook her head. Her beautiful black hair, which sparkled even in the dark night, fell to her waist in waves. “Thanks for driving,” she said, and started walking briskly to the Monolith.

“H-hey, Kisara!” He was about to say it was dangerous, but since Kisara didn’t show any sign of stopping, he scratched his head and, left with no other choice, followed behind her.

She went all the way to the base of the Monolith and stretched out a hand to touch the Monolith through the clamp on its side. “Satomi, try this.”

Rentaro couldn’t tell what Kisara was trying to say but went to stand by her dubiously, attempting a light touch of the Monolith. He’d felt a Monolith many times in the past; he remembered them being smooth and cold. However, the sensation Rentaro felt on the palm of his hand was completely different from what he had remembered from the past. This was dry and crumbling; it felt like crushing dried leaves. He thought it was some kind of mistake and reached his hand up to run it down the side. When he did, the pieces that came off the surface fell into a pile at his feet.

He didn’t speak.

“It’s terrible, isn’t it?” said Kisara. “It’s still okay because the corrosion hasn’t reached the inside yet, but…to think that corrosion fluid can do this to Varanium…”

“The Monolith…will really collapse, huh?” Rentaro tilted his head and looked up at the tip of the Monolith that thrust into the sky, lost in his complicated feelings.

In the past, science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke defined the stone monoliths that appeared in his story as objects installed by God to stimulate mankind’s evolution. If that were the case, had mankind been able to learn anything important from the Gastrea War and evolve to a higher dimension? Thinking about it that way, was the destruction that spread out before him related to the death of God?

He shook his head. Stop, you’re just avoiding the issue. The only thing he could say was that the Monolith was definitely going to collapse. And he needed to hold back the death that would result from that in order to connect to the future of the world.

Kisara stepped back as she looked up at the Monolith. “Hey, Satomi, do you know how Monoliths are made?”

“Now that you mention it…I’ve never seen it in person. Since we say that Monoliths are assembled, I’d say the parts are all brought to the location and—”

Kisara looked at Rentaro with an expression that seemed to express her disgust. “Idiot. With an answer like that, I can’t even give you partial credit. The answer is, well, it would be easier if you imagined how ancient pyramids were built.”

“Pyramids?”

“Pyramids were built by taking cut stone blocks and using special tools to stack them on top of each other, right? Monoliths are also made from masses of blocks. Those are flown in with transport aircrafts or helicopters and stacked onto each other at the site. Of course, if they were just stacked, they’d quickly be blown over by the wind, so they’re stuck together by adhesive stronger than the stuff used in military aircraft and spaceships.”

“Then this is made of piles of blocks? I can’t see where they’re joined, though.”

“That’s because the precision of Japan’s Monoliths is considered top class even among the rest of the world.” Kisara boldly stuck a finger in the air. “It starts with a hundred meters.” She slid the finger she lifted and pointed at the Monolith. “When this Monolith 32 collapses, the initial construction will stack blocks up to a hundred meters high. With that, normal Gastrea won’t be able to come in anymore. After that, they’ll continue building for about a month until it reaches its final height of 1.6 kilometers. Satomi, you might not remember this, but after the War, the Monoliths didn’t start out this tall.”

Rentaro shook his head silently. He did remember. The Monoliths after the Great War were a lot shorter. The endless fear of the Gastrea made humans create gigantic walls that were 1.9 kilometers high. “How long will it take to build it up to a hundred meters?” he asked.

“If the materials and transport vehicles are all here, then it would take about half a day.”

“That fast?”

“Well, yeah. It’s not an individual or a company, but the Tokyo Area government that’s hiring all the general contractors to build this. Of the ten days it all takes, most of the time is spent making the Varanium the right shape. Well, in the end, even if it’s restored to 1.6 kilometers, that still doesn’t prevent the flying Gastrea from wandering in from a high altitude, though—”

“That’s not all, is it? There will still be those Gastrea who run away from freak shows, research institutions, and collectors with unusual tastes, and those who run into the area protected by Monoliths with infected body fluids, and…”

“Initiators whose corrosion rates went above fifty percent.”

“Wait a minute, Kisara. Don’t you think this is weird? In the first place, why is the government trying to rebuild a Monolith here? Even if they desperately built a Monolith, if Aldebaran came to inject Varanium corrosion fluid again, it’d be all over, right?” He paused. “Wait, that’s not it.” Rentaro tried to put into words the doubts that were lurking in his mind. “Why hasn’t Aldebaran attacked any other Monoliths? Rather than attacking one place, wouldn’t it be more efficient to attack a number of different places at the same time to create a hole?”

“That’s it. That’s the problem.” Kisara thrust her index finger at him. “Somehow, after observing for the past few days, the government has come to the conclusion that Aldebaran can’t attack other Monoliths. And in reality, Aldebaran hasn’t interfered with any other Monoliths.”

“Is there a reason for that?”

“The government looks like they have some theories, but in truth, they don’t actually know. Hey, Satomi, since the two of us are here together, do you want to try reasoning it out?”

Rentaro nodded silently. Ever since Rentaro heard the explanation of the contents of the job directly from the Seitenshi herself, he had doubts about the indifference toward other Monoliths held by Aldebaran, which was no more than a Stage Four Gastrea. It was reassuring to be thinking about this with Kisara, whose knowledge and insight surpassed his.

Kisara held up three fingers to show him. “I have three hypotheses. The first is, when Aldebaran attacked Monolith 32, it used up all its strength and then needed to rest for a long time.”

Rentaro put his hand on his chin. That was possible. If Aldebaran was a normal Gastrea, then just coming near Varanium electromagnetic waves would be enough to make it waste away. However—“It’s already been four days since that first incident, right? Wouldn’t it have recovered by now?”

“No, there are individual differences, so we can’t necessarily rule that out. My second hypothesis is that because of where it’s situated, the Monolith’s effects are lessened.”

Rentaro looked around them, but there were just plains as far as the eye could see. “Is there any difference between this place and the adjoining Monoliths 31 and 33?”

Kisara raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms. “You could say they’re exactly the same.”

“Is it possible that there’s something buried under ground?”

Kisara shook her head. “Before the Monoliths are built, they do a simple soil test, so it’s hard to believe.”

“Then that’s not it.”

“Right, so the third hypothesis is, Aldebaran is not very smart, so it did not think of attacking multiple Monoliths at the same time.”

“That’s not it.” Rentaro could deny that promptly; it was the least likely. “That guy even used the loyal ant Gastrea to stall for time in order to attack this place. Aldebaran is smart, provokingly so.”

“That’s true.” Even though she had come up with this explanation, she did not seem to put much faith in it and withdrew it easily, folding her arms again.

“But thanks to you, I’ve been able to organize my thoughts,” said Rentaro. “I have one more conjecture.” Rentaro looked up at the top of the Monolith that was being cruelly bleached. “What if there was some sort of problem with this Monolith in particular?”

Kisara gasped and put a hand to her mouth. “But that’s…”

“But if that’s the case, that would give a reason for why this Monolith was targeted and the others were not.”

Kisara put a hand to her chin. “That’s true… You’re right… I didn’t think of that.” Kisara looked straight at Rentaro. “I’ll try looking into this Monolith a little more.”

“Please do.”

To discuss this further without waiting for the results of her research would just be piling inference on top of inference, so it was not constructive. His wise childhood friend also seemed to realize this, and she stopped the conversation with a “Yeah,” and gave a big stretch. She went to the sloped meadow and lay down facing the sky, patting the grass with her hand as she looked at him. “Satomi, why don’t you come lay down next to me?”

Suddenly, his heart gave a big leap.

“R-right.” Rentaro told himself to keep Kisara from suspecting that his heart was pounding inside and moved awkwardly to lie down next to her. There was a rustling sound, and the smell of warm earth reached his nostrils. Looking quietly next to him, he saw Kisara’s white arm stretched out on the grass, her pretty thigh and the line of her body, and the bulge of her chest pushing up the fabric of her clothes.

“Hey, Satomi, look at the sky! Look!”

Rentaro had only been looking at Kisara, so he didn’t look at the sky until she told him to, but when he did, he let out an involuntary exclamation of wonder. In the clear summer night sky with no moon, the Milky Way twinkled. There were so many stars that it was hard to find the Big Dipper. “Wow…” he breathed. “Amazing. That’s all I can say.”

“We live in the middle of all the lights in Tokyo Area. Because of them, the light of the stars is drowned out. Even though they’re actually this beautiful.”

Stealing another glance at Kisara’s profile, he saw that she had her mouth open slightly, her eyes fixed on the stars with a childlike expression on her face. You’re even more beautiful, you know. If he could speak the words that welled from his chest, it would be so much easier to figure out his relationship with her.

Employee and boss, childhood friends, foster brother and younger sister born only a few months apart, student of the Tendo Style and senior disciple. Adjuvant leader and member. There were a lot of words that could be used to describe them, but none of them hit the mark.

For some reason, her left hand stretched out on the grass seemed far away. If he could just muster the courage, it would have been possible for him to gently cover it with his palm. Rentaro shook his head softly. “Kisara, do you know what light pollution is?”

“Light pollution?”

“Yeah, pollution caused by light.” Still lying down, Rentaro wrote the words out in the air for her. “Just as you say, the lights from the city are man-made, so they’re not good for natural organisms. It can be so bright that it can even be seen from man-made satellites.”

“Really?”

“Birds will fly in circles around the searchlight of a lighthouse until they finally fall from exhaustion. Bats and mice have also become easier to see by their predators because of the light, so they’ve become more cautious. Migratory birds think that the day is longer and eat for longer, making them too fat. Just-hatched baby sea turtles look for the ocean based on the reflection of light, so some get confused and end up going not to the ocean but to a hill. And fireflies who look for their mates using light can’t find their lovers because of the artificial lights leaking out.”

Glancing next to him, he saw that Kisara was looking at him with a faint smile. “Am I boring you?” he asked.

“No, not at all,” she said. “I think it’s wonderful.”

Rentaro paused for a moment. “Hey, Kisara, why did you ask me to come to a place like this with you? You should be able to tell me now, right?”

Kisara gazed at the stars in silence.

Rentaro looked at her profile and asked as quietly as he could. “Are you scared? Of the Monolith collapsing?”

She shook her head quietly. “Saying something like this might be inconsiderate, but right now, I’m so happy it’s scaring me.”

“Happy?”

“Yeah, I’m really happy right now. Even though we keep hearing about the Monolith collapsing, it still hasn’t sunk in yet.”

“I…get that.”

“And at the Tendo Civil Security Agency, we have Enju, and Tina, and you. We’re like a family. We aren’t making money at all, as usual, but we have enough to survive.”

“Tina said she was happy right now, too, you know. I’m sure Enju is, too.”

“What about you?” she asked.

“I am too, of course.”

Kisara closed her eyes quietly. “Recently, I’ve been having this dream.”

“A dream?”

“Yeah. When I come to, I’m on a bridge surrounded by the morning mist as far as the eye can see. I don’t know how I got there or why I’m there, but I just know that I have to move forward. So I move forward in one direction on the bridge, but there’s no one there. Eventually, the bridge ends abruptly and my body is swallowed up by this black swamplike thing. I just watch it silently until finally even my head goes under, but eventually, I figure out how to breathe and eventually feel better.”

Rentaro didn’t say anything.

“When I wake up in the morning and look in the mirror, I realize that my face is streaked with tears, and after that, I kept seeing the same dream over and over, so I started to think about it. And then I realized.”

Looking next to him, his eyes met Kisara’s. Kisara looked like she was about to be crushed with worry, and her eyes were wet.

“I realized that I was crying because I understood that this happiness had to end someday.” Kisara shook her head with delicate eyes. “I killed them. I killed everyone in the world.”

“Idiot.” Rentaro put his hand on top of Kisara’s and squeezed it. She was warm and slightly sweaty. “You’ve become overly sensitive without realizing it. Don’t worry. Neither Enju, nor Tina, nor I will disappear.”

“Yeah… You’re right.”

Looking sideways at her, he saw a slight hint of relief on her face, but in Rentaro’s heart, slight ripples were spreading. During puberty, people saw a lot of different dreams, so it might not have been worth mentioning or making a fuss about, but when interpreting dreams, bridges were important metaphors that connected this world from the next, and the present to the future. And swamps represented wicked feelings or spite, envy, or jealousy, and the color black also had similar meanings.

Generally, people who dreamed that they sank into swamps were very stressed and struggled to get out, but even when Kisara realized she was sinking, she was unimpressed and accepted it, which was somewhat eerie.

What did that mean?

Rentaro suddenly shook his head to clear it of the thoughts he was having. No way, what am I thinking? Whatever he was thinking definitely didn’t apply to Kisara.

“Satomi?” she said.

“Huh? What? Oh, what’s wrong?”

Suddenly, Kisara lifted her left hand and tapped her watch. “Today will end in five minutes. And then we will be one day closer to the collapse of the Monolith.”

“I-it’ll be fine. I-I’ll protect you, Kisara.”

Kisara looked a little surprised but immediately turned bashful and smiled back at him. “Thank you, Satomi.”

Rentaro felt his cheeks grow hot and looked away. And then the second hand went around the dial four times, and the countdown began. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four—”

Rentaro felt a squeeze from the hand he was holding, and Kisara’s nails dug into his skin a little.

And then, the next moment, Japan entered the next day. Rentaro let out the breath he had been holding. The Milky Way still hung above them, unchanging.

There were two days left until the collapse of the Monolith.

3

After sleeping for two nights in a tent in District 40, Rentaro had gotten used to life there. However, Tina and Midori, who seemed more delicate, could not really stand the rugged floor of the tent and sleeping bags, and complained lightly.

Under Gado’s command, this morning they were making barbed wire and sandbags and setting concrete blocks normally used to stop tanks in the areas where they predicted Gastrea would enter. The remaining time was spent in the classroom reviewing what they went over the day before, and as a final top off they were given details about the punishments for disobeying orders directly from Gado himself.

Apparently, Gado was pretty nervous about the civil officers not being able to agree on a course of action, so he was trying to prevent that by implementing a harsh punishment. Well, that was only natural, Rentaro thought. Even if the civil officers were a bunch of show-offs, if just one person turned and ran when the Gastrea attacked, it would have an effect on everyone’s morale. If he was the commander, he would want to eliminate those rotten eggs who thought of themselves before everything else to the detriment of the group as soon as possible. He had no objections to Gado’s way of doing things.

After they were dismissed, Rentaro dropped off Enju, Tina, and Kisara at the outdoor classroom, changed trains, and got off at Magata City. Sadly, even though Rentaro had brought a tent with him, he had completely forgotten to bring a change of clothes and underwear. Enju had already run out of underwear and was currently renting Tina’s. Himself aside, as Enju’s guardian he couldn’t make her do something so crass.

Therefore, “Mr. Rentaro” was taking a day off today. When he got off at Magata City and started walking around, he immediately felt tension in the air and stopped. The first thing that met his eyes were the large amount of flyers covering the ground that looked like they had been blown over by the wind. Picking one up, he saw that there were conspiracy theories written on them, like “Don’t forgive the tyrannical government! The government had already decided all who would be evacuated to the shelters from the start!”

Now that he thought about it, it had been two days since he had been home to Magata City, but in those two days, the city had turned into this. Near the concourse, there was an old man with white hair and a white beard, outfitted like someone homeless, standing on a wooden crate yelling in a high voice about the destruction of the world and the new hope that would come after that. Normally, no one would pay any attention to such incoherency, but Rentaro could see many cheering him on.

The bottoms of Rentaro’s shoes crunched as he walked through the shopping arcade in front of the station. Display windows had been destroyed and looted. A little while later, Rentaro passed a truck with looted goods on it and was shocked when he realized that the driver had a vigilante group armband around his arm. So even those who had previously maintained society had become accomplices to criminality. He had heard about it on the news, but the situation was worse than he had imagined.

There were few people walking around outside. Naturally, evacuation had already started for this block. It was easy to forget when in the Outer Districts, but right now, the whole city-state of Tokyo Area was in an emergency evacuation.

While he was thinking this, he reached his apartment. It was still peaceful around here, but it would probably be caught up in the looting soon. Thinking that, he stuffed necessities and consumables into his overnight bag, not letting his hand stop. When he finally lifted his swollen bag, he felt its weight at the base of his arm.

Standing at the entrance to lock the door, he gazed at the eight-tatami-mat room with a swell of emotion—it was possible that he wouldn’t return to this room again. But Rentaro brushed off the sentiment and pushed the sadly creaking door shut. He inserted the key and twisted the lock, shutting away the room and his memories. The next time he came, it would be to unlock it with Enju.

Putting the bag on his shoulder, he got on the train to head back to District 40. Even though there were not many people inside the train car, it was tense with the feeling of forcibly repressed panic. It was suffocating.

Looking for an escape for his eyes, he noticed a hanging advertisement near the roof. The headline of the handwritten ad said, BLOOD RETRIBUTION AGAINST THE CURSED CHILDREN! LYNCHING IN DISTRICT 3!!! The deterioration of public order had gathered in the easiest place for it to be vomited out.

The image of a certain girl recalled itself to his mind, and his heart skipped. No way. He shook his head, but the idea wouldn’t leave once it had taken root. Rentaro wasn’t able to contain himself, and stuck his hand in the closing door to get off the train.

Rentaro had gotten off at the District 9 station he had stopped by when he visited the Katagiri Civil Security Agency. Moving through the sparse pedestrians as he rushed out of the station, he pushed aside a couple and overtook an elderly walker as he strode with impatient steps. He couldn’t explain why he was in such a hurry, but he didn’t falter either.

Finally, he approached a five-road junction and climbed up the steps of a wide pedestrian bridge. She shouldn’t be here. That’s what he told himself over and over. She had promised.

He heard clamoring from above and felt murderous intent prickling on his skin; he could see a crowd of people. Panting, Rentaro dashed up the steps, and everything came into view. He saw a rush mat spread near the middle, and the metal bowl the girl had used was knocked over, with coins spilled out on the ground. There she was: Lying facedown on the ground was the caped girl. Around her was a band of grown adults. There were eight, in a wide range of ages from twenties to forties.

“What are you doing?!” Rentaro rushed over in front of the waif.

The fallen girl used her left had to try to push herself up with all her might and looked at Rentaro with her unseeing eyes. “That voice…are you that civil officer from before…?”

The girl had scratches all over her face, and the wound on her right arm that she was pushing down on had a spreading bloodstain that showed no sign of regenerating. Surprisingly, the girl’s smile did not go out even after all this.

“Damn it, what a disgusting brat!” Facing front, Rentaro saw that the oldest man in front of him was holding a Varanium switchblade dripping with blood, his face twisted with hatred. It was a thin knife with a blade about twelve centimeters long; it was too short to fight off a Gastrea, so it was hard to think of what it could be used for other than to deliver a fatal wound to one of the Cursed Children.

The beggar girl shook her head, still bent over on the ground. “I’m sorry, Mr. Civil Officer. Even though I promised…I deserve what I got, but I, I just…”

“It’s fine. I get it. Don’t talk.”

Just then, the middle-aged man with the knife took a step forward out of rage. He had a wide forehead and was plump, with flesh sagging underneath his chin. If he smiled, he probably would have looked very kind. Rentaro was shocked that even someone who seemed good would commit an act of violence against a defenseless girl.

“Move!” the man yelled. “That girl mixed in with the rest of us with an innocent look on her face and attacked when she found a chance. She’s worse than the Gastrea! We have to eliminate the Cursed Children from the city!”

Rentaro knew the reason for the man’s thoughtless anger. In short, this crowd was scared. Ever since that news, they were afraid of the Cursed Children coming after them for revenge.

Rentaro closed his eyes and drew his XD gun from his belt. Then, lifting his arm, he fired one shot into the sky. The kickback roiled through his arm and the gun’s explosion roared into the sky. The agitated men stopped in surprise.

“I’m a civil officer.” Rentaro very calmly took his license out of his breast pocket and held it in front of the men. Quietly, he said, “Try taking one more step closer. Next time, I’ll shoot you.”

Facing the men, who were stirring nervously, Rentaro continued. “You’re not done yet?” The men snuck glances at one another for a while, but it was obvious that they had lost their spirit. The middle-aged man in front turned on his heel and spat, “The ones you civil officers are protecting are those brats after all, huh?”

The good-for-nothings snuck spiteful glances back at him and finally retreated like an ocean wave. As Rentaro looked around, the onlookers around them also hurriedly scattered.

Why was everyone afraid of them? Even though they were desperately protecting Tokyo Area, why were all the looks at them of spite or fear?

Outside, there were two thousand Gastrea. Inside, there were violent people who discriminated against them. Even though this was the time for the whole Area to come together as one…

“Excuse me…” Looking back, the girl was standing with a smile of gratitude mixed with remorse. Rentaro looked at the girl’s blood dripping onto the ground and silently took out a handkerchief from the inside pocket of his uniform, applying pressure to the wound as he bandaged it. The wounds that had not been applied by the Varanium knife were already on their way to healing naturally.

After the first-aid treatment was completed, she seemed to calm down somewhat, and the girl lifted her face gently, suddenly stretching out her hand toward him. Rentaro pulled away for a second, but she did not seem to mean him any harm, so he let her brush her hands over his face and shoulder.

“I remember your voice and face, Mr. Civil Officer.” The girl smiled more deeply and blushed. “You’re my type.”

“Idiot. You don’t have to thank me. Just get out of here right now. Try coming here again, and next time, I’ll be the one to hurt you! Got it?”

He meant to scold her, but the girl did not seem the least bit afraid. She just kept smiling and picking up money, rolling up her rush mat and putting it under her arm, thanking him over and over. “Please allow me to thank you one day when I have time.”

“Don’t come!”

The beggar girl waved her hand at the busy street as she left.

Rentaro pressed his temple with his left hand. Damn it, does she really get it? But he was glad he made it in the nick of time to save her. As he turned on his heel with that sense of satisfaction, something suddenly gave him the chills.

Behind him, there was nothing particularly out of the ordinary. The wind blew on Rentaro’s cheek and then blew away.

As he rode the train, he couldn’t get the eyes of the crowd out of his head.

4

A little while after he got back to the tent, Enju came back from the outdoor classroom along with Tina and Kisara. “I have returned!”

“How was school?” Rentaro asked.

Enju couldn’t contain her excitement and flapped her arms. “Today was fun, too. Kisara wasn’t popular at all.”

“Huh? Kisara?”

Tina looked confused. “Big Brother, you are very popular. When President Tendo said you were off today and that she would be teaching all day, there was a lot of booing…”

When he looked at the woman, she turned away in indignation. “Miss Kisara is not popular at all!” she parroted.

“Well…I like Miss Kisara?” he offered.

“Stop trying to console me.”

Then what am I supposed to say?

As Rentaro floundered, a voice interrupted them with, “Ma’am.” It was Tamaki. “While you were gone, a strange man came by and brought this—” He pulled out a sealed manila envelope from his chest.

“Oh, that was fast. They finished looking into it, huh?” Kisara gave Tamaki a curt “Thanks” and took the envelope, unsealing it carefully.

“Kisara, what is that?” Rentaro asked.

“Remember, Satomi? You said yesterday that maybe there was a problem with the Monolith, right? I got someone to look into it.”

Kisara twitched as she read over the few pages of materials in the envelope. She crumpled the papers in her hand, and her fingers trembled and turned white.

Rentaro could tell something was strange. Wondering what was going on, he snuck a look at Kisara’s face—and he almost died from shock. “H-hey, Kisara…?”

“I’m going outside for a minute.”

“Hey!” Rentaro’s words were left behind as Kisara quickly turned and left.

He had no time to hesitate. Stumbling, Rentaro quickly pulled on his shoes and rushed outside the tent, looking around. He didn’t have to look for long to find Kisara walking in front of him, heading toward another party that was sitting around a campfire. Without saying a word, she threw the documents into the fire.

The people sitting around the campsite looked up in surprise, but their intruder walked away without a word after making sure the documents were aflame.

After it was obvious she wasn’t coming back, Rentaro ran to the fire pit, pushing the people around it out of the way. There it was. Without a moment’s hesitation, Rentaro stuck his right arm into the conflagration. He hadn’t thought to cut off the pain sensors in his arm, and he gritted his teeth in pain.

Even so, Rentaro’s arm remembered what it had to do. Sticking his arm into the depths of the brightly burning flames, when he finally passed his limit and had to pull his arm out, his smoking artificial arm was grasping a half-burned piece of paper.

“H-hey, what are you guys doing?” Ignoring the bewilderment of the neighboring party, Rentaro apologized silently to Kisara and unfolded the scrap of paper.

He groaned involuntarily and staggered a few steps. What is this? Why…was this name…? Rentaro followed Kisara’s back with his eyes, and seeing that she was far away, looked back at the scrap of paper that now sported blackened edges. It appeared to be the end of the document.

Kazumitsu Tendo. The grandson of Kikunojo Tendo and one of Kisara’s much older brothers. In the past, when Rentaro had lived in the Tendo residence, Kazumitsu had also still lived there, so Rentaro saw him many times.

Why was Kazumitsu’s name here?

It was hard to deduce the rest of the document’s contents from the excerpt. However—

Rentaro’s shoulders shook. In the back of his mind, he recalled the profile of Kisara’s face he had seen earlier in the tent. She had been sneering. She had on her revenge face, one that she would never show in front of the girls.

5

The wind was blowing strong the next morning, making the curtains of the tent flutter. The weather wasn’t bad, but the clouds drifting in the sky were passing by at great speeds.

“You’re going today, too?” Tamaki stood by the doorway to see them off, but he looked more solemn than usual.

“Yeah,” said Rentaro.

“Why do you still have to go to school at a time like this? I don’t get it,” said Yuzuki, furiously combing down her blond hair.

Next to her, Enju raised her hand energetically and answered, “It’s because it’s a time like this!”

“Huh?” Yuzuki sounded like she truly couldn’t understand.

Rentaro thought she had a point. He also wasn’t confident that he could explain his actions to other people.

From the adjacent two-person tent, there were the sounds of hurried morning preparations. When Rentaro went to wake its residents this morning, Kisara and Tina were both still sound asleep. The two of them seemed to have trouble falling asleep the night before and finally slept, but only when the sky was already turning light.

Rentaro looked up behind him and gazed at the bleached Monolith. There was one day left.

Gado had decided to let everyone have the whole day free. Apparently, because today was the last day, he intended for everyone to enjoy it. It was true that if they didn’t see their loved ones now, it was possible that they would never see each other in this world again.

And Rentaro naturally chose to spend his last free day as Mr. Rentaro. It was a strange feeling, though. At first, he had been forced to do it against his will, and he hadn’t planned on getting into it that much.

Tamaki looked at him with an even more dubious expression. “Won’t this just increase your regrets?”

“Maybe, but I need to at least say good-bye.”

“Well, as long as you get it, just make sure you don’t come back all gloomy.”

“What about you guys?”

This time, the Katagiri siblings looked at each other. Tamaki shrugged. “I guess I’ll eat something delicious to prepare for tomorrow and then go to sleep.”

“You guys don’t have anything else to do?”

“Our family and extended relatives were almost entirely killed by the Gastrea. There’s no one to say good-bye to.”

Rentaro regretted his question, and paused before his next question, considering it. “Did you guys become civil officers to get revenge on the Gastrea?”

Tamaki put both hands behind his head. “Hmm, I wonder. I don’t think about really tedious stuff like that.”

“But I can’t believe you can just not think about it—”

Tamaki cut him off. “The guys who bring grudges to fights with Gastrea are the ones who die early.”

Rentaro felt like he had suddenly been stabbed in the chest. Tamaki pushed up the bridge of his sunglasses with his middle finger, as if he didn’t want Rentaro to see his sharp eyes peaking out from over the top. “Well, if I had to say, I’d say I was fighting for someone’s smile. All right, my sweet, shall we go back to sleep to prepare for tomorrow?”

Yuzuki must have been sleepy, because she just nodded in agreement and somehow the two of them made it over to their sleeping bags.

Rentaro had mixed feelings after catching a glimpse of Tamaki’s expression, but he forced himself to switch gears. Sticking his head into the tent, he called out to Shoma, who was in the corner of the tent taking apart his gun and cleaning it. “What’ll you do today, Bro?”

Shoma shrugged and looked at Midori next to him. “We’re planning to start training in a little bit. ’Cause it’ll be problematic if my body doesn’t move when I need it to.”

Both the Katagiri siblings and Shoma pair had simple plans. Well, from their point of view, Rentaro and the others going to school without a care might have seemed like they were unaware of the looming danger.

But just then, Tina rushed out of the smaller tent and said with an apologetic expression, “Please go on ahead.” She followed it with a bow.

He gave an amicable wave to show he understood and guided Enju forward with a hand on the back of her shoulders. If they left now, even if they got there in the shortest amount of time, they would still be quite late.

And so, the last day started quietly.

Rentaro bought tickets for District 39, and they got on the train. On the trains between the Outer Districts early in the morning there were almost no passengers, and it wasn’t that hard to find a train car that was completely empty.

Turning their backs toward the orange sunlight shining from the east, they sat next to each other on the red velvet seats. As the train left the station, their bodies swayed and the hanging straps quivered. Finally, the train car accelerated slowly, and there was the rhythmical vibration of the train passing over the tracks. The shape of the shadows changed by the second, and moved from left to right.

Rentaro’s back, which had absorbed the morning sunlight, was nice and warm. It was hard to believe that today might be Tokyo Area’s last. Once tomorrow came, they would be fighting a decisive battle against two thousand Gastrea, led by Aldebaran, a force that would be unimaginably strong. It was sure to be a fierce battle unlike anything Rentaro and the others had ever experienced before; there was no guarantee that Rentaro or Enju would be alive to breathe after these next battles.

Because they both understood this implicitly, the early morning air seemed fraught with tension. Because of how short the time they had left was, even this casual time seemed like something irreplaceable, a halo that made the world sparkle.

“Enju, are you having fun at school?” Rentaro asked.

She narrowed her eyes and rubbed her head against Rentaro’s chest comfortably. The girl smelled sweet, like sunlight. “Yes, I am having so much fun. Thank you, Rentaro.”

“If you’re having fun, it’s because you’re working hard.”

Enju lifted her head and shook it, still clinging to Rentaro’s chest. “I know that you and Kisara secretly stayed up at night looking for the best school for me to attend while tapping on the calculator.”

Rentaro was taken aback. “You were watching?”

Seeing Enju smile wryly, Rentaro had mixed feelings. He didn’t really want a child to know about this kind of real-life cost-benefit analysis.

“I am grateful to you, Rentaro…,” said Enju. “And I guess I’m a little grateful to Kisara, too.”

Putting his arm around the pouting Enju, he hugged her to his chest. “It was worth the hard work, then.”

Enju’s upturned eyes blinked and wavered with unease as she looked at him. “Rentaro, is it not fun for you to be a teacher, after all?”

“Well…” Rentaro looked at the groups of ruins passing by the window. Most of the buildings had collapsed, and only the sky was vast. “I’m having fun.”

“What?”

Once he admitted it, he felt the worry lift from his chest. The next words he spoke came out pretty honestly. “No matter what started it, I’m having fun right now. It’s because of you, Enju. Thanks.”

At first Enju’s eyes widened, but then slowly her expression changed to a smile, and she hugged Rentaro’s arm, overcome with emotion.

Rentaro was about to protest, but seeing the charming expression on Enju’s face, he held his tongue and let her hold him. The sound of the train shunting along the rails and ties was softly buried in silence, and time passed peacefully.

Rentaro didn’t know how much time had passed when it was announced that the train had reached District 39, and he urged the reluctant Enju to get off. When they left the station, wind came from below that seemed to roll up and push at their backs. Walking with the girl on the already familiar streets in front of the station, their view was soon filled with ruined buildings.

As they walked, he collected his thoughts. Today’s classroom would probably also be full of kids from the Outer Districts. But since today might be the last day, he decided he’d talk about hope and happiness.

After they walked for a while, Rentaro saw a mountain of trash blocking their way. Once they got past that, the open meadow would be spread out in front of them. And as long as they had a blackboard and students, it didn’t matter where they were—it was a classroom.

The closer Rentaro got to their destination, the more nervous he got. But for some reason, it wasn’t a comfortable nervousness but an ominous premonition. Just then, Rentaro noticed an unpleasant smell and covered his mouth and nose with his hand.

Was it the smell of something burning? Why? When he saw a police officer from afar, Rentaro’s heart skipped. The whole area was cordoned off with caution tape. That was exactly the place Rentaro and the others used for their outdoor classroom. Even though he had no idea why the policeman was there, all his hairs stood on end nervously.

The eyes of the hoodlums from the city flashed through his mind. “The ones you civil officers are protecting are those brats after all, huh?”

As the distance between them shrunk to ten meters, the policeman also noticed them and walked over.

“Enju, stay here…,” Rentaro whispered.

“R-Rentaro?”

Leaving Enju, Rentaro went to face the officer and exchanged a few words. There was sadness in his face. Finally, the man opened his mouth. His words were few, and cruel.

The blood drained from Rentaro’s face. The things around him faded into oblivion, and the scene twisted. He didn’t hear anything else the officer had to say. He even forgot to thank the officer as he turned around and returned to Enju.

When Enju saw his face, she froze. Fearfully touching his face with his hands, he felt his dried-out skin and tense muscles. “Enju, let’s go home. You don’t have to go to school today.”

“Wh-why? Why all of a sudden—?”

Rentaro didn’t say anything.

“Then, early tomorrow morning for just a little bit…”

“You don’t have to go tomorrow, either.”

Enju gasped. “Then, then, after we finish fighting—”

“You don’t have to go the day after, or the day after that, or the day after that.” Rentaro put both hands on Enju’s shoulders and met her eyes. “Enju, listen to me calmly—”

His nails almost dug into her shoulders. He couldn’t meet her eyes and looked down. “A bomb exploded in our class. Because of that news report.”

6

Rentaro followed along as he was taken through the gloomy building with moldy black concrete and was made to wait in front of the door. He lifted his eyes to read the words on the sign over and over and tried to reconnect with the reality that he had lost, but he couldn’t focus, and his thoughts were disordered and fragmented.

Finally, the door opened, and a police officer in his late thirties appeared wearing white nitrile rubber gloves, and he beckoned Rentaro listlessly. It would have been nice if it had been Inspector Tadashima, whose face he knew, but it appeared to be a different jurisdiction. Rentaro made a silent bow and went inside.

It was a concrete room with an area of about six tatami mats. The lighting was dim, and it smelled of incense. The inside was full of stretchers covered with white cloths, and because it was summer, a sour smell was mixed in. There were a total of nine inside. There were apparently more in the room next door.

Rentaro shook his head. He just wanted to yell at them to stop messing around. There was no way this was reality. Just let me wake up from this ridiculous dream right now. He was overcome with the desire to yell that out. However, no matter how long he waited, the nightmare would not end.

The inspector with the tired eyes spread his arms perfunctorily. “Well, it’s great that you can confirm these. It’s kind of soon but take a look.” Saying that, he roughly flipped back the first white sheet.

As he did so, the cloying smell of blood spread, and Rentaro gagged and covered his mouth, squeezing his eyes shut. The body in front of Rentaro forced him to confront the reality that he had been half avoiding. He would be having nightmares every night for a while and did his best to swallow his nausea.

After he calmed his heaving stomach, the first thing he heard was the sound of the air conditioner running. Rentaro shook his head desperately with his hand still covering his mouth. “This is terrible… I can’t believe something like this happened…”

“In order to increase its destructive power, a large amount of Varanium fragments were stuffed inside. It was terrible. The victims were Children who didn’t belong to any family registers, much less have IDs. You’ll have to verify their identities.”

“What about Mr. Matsuzaki?”

“Oh, that old man? He’s fine, but he’s laid up in bed from the shock.”

Rentaro turned his head and, looking over the depressing number of stretchers around him, took a pair of rubber gloves selflessly.

Had all of these been his students? There was no way. Yet his instincts told him that if he didn’t do something, the despair would swallow him up whole, and freeze his feet to the floor. However, that feeling was soon overwritten by hellish despair. Every time Rentaro lifted a sheet, his eyes encountered a new hell.

He girded his breaking heart and carefully told the names of the girls one by one to the inspector next to him, who was taking notes with a binder in one hand. It was surprisingly similar to the morning roll call.

He wondered how the perpetrators felt right now. Were they holding their stomachs and laughing because they were successful? Were they satisfied? Or did they feel the slightest bit of remorse?

When the long hand on the clock made about one circle, the hellish torture finally ended. He was so completely exhausted that he could barely stand.

Signing the documents and turning his back on the voice that said, “Good work,” he went outside, dragging his feet until he came to sit in the waiting room. He wanted to fall asleep then and there.

Just then, a “Let go!” ripped through the hall. In front of him, he saw Enju struggling desperately as she was held down by two police officers. Shaken for a moment, Rentaro took a deep breath to calm his heart and walked briskly over to the girl, a stern expression on his face. “Why did you come here? I told you to go home!”

“I want to see Micchan! I promised Sasana I’d show her Tenchu Girls next time!” Enju yelled.

“Enju, you understand, right? They’re already—”

“It’s a lie! They’re all lies!”

Enju, you… Rentaro closed his eyes and rebuked his half-flinching heart. He knew what he had to do. Rentaro looked quietly at the police officer near him. “Throw her out.”

Enju looked at him like he had betrayed her. “Rentaro? Rentaro? Rentaro…!”

Listening to her wails grow farther away as she was pinned down on both sides and dragged away, Rentaro’s fist shook and he gritted his teeth. Just as she was out of Rentaro’s field of vision, suddenly, the officers on either side of her were knocked down, and Enju rushed back toward him.

Her eyes were red. She had released her power.

“Hey, idiot. Stop—” Before he could finish his sentence, he was blown back by a strong force, and the next thing he knew, his hands were on the ground. Looking back reflexively, he realized that she had gone into the morgue behind him.

What had just—? The air trembled for a moment, but it could also have been Enju’s sob. But the next instant, a shriek echoed inside the police station. It was a scream the regular Enju would never have screamed that could crush the hearts of those who heard it.

Rentaro closed his eyes hard and held his ears as hard as he could. He wanted to avert his eyes for just an instant from the harsh reality of it all.

7

When he pushed the iron door open, a strong, slanted gust of wind greeted him. The clouds were moving surprisingly fast, just like they had been that morning.

Rentaro went to the fence and held it with his left hand, staring at the bleached Monolith in the distance. Civil officers couldn’t cry every time someone died. Hardening their hearts was something they all had to master sooner or later.

Seeing that Enju had calmed down after crying herself to exhaustion, Rentaro went to the roof of the police station. Right before he left her, Enju was even able to muster the strength to smile at him to thank him for his consideration, but when Rentaro saw that, it made him feel the impending danger even more.

Rentaro pulled out the bundle of handouts from his bag with his right hand. They were the future dreams he had his students write for fun after the quiz. Idol singer, actress, pastry chef, nurse, wife. It brimmed with various hopes that would never come true.

Lynching and killing with bombs. What made the hearts of the citizens of Tokyo Area so devastated that they would do such things? In the past, Rentaro had been taught that humans possessed both high intelligence and virtue and were true social animals, that they were the beings closest to God. Then why did they kill each other like beasts? How could they destroy each other’s hopes and dreams? Why in the world could they machinate such stupid things?

Damn it, he muttered in his heart. What in the world was I looking at? The ones who really needed a helping hand were those girls.

There was a gust of wind on the roof, and Rentaro’s uniform fluttered. The papers in his hand were also blown up, making an arc in the sky, spinning and undulating as they danced in the air. Rentaro gripped the fence tightly with both hands, his body shaking. Sorry, everyone. It was my fault. I’m truly sorry.

Rentaro gritted his teeth and looked up at the sky. The Monolith in the distance seemed to be pressing near to his chest.

It was then that the cell phone in his breast pocket started to vibrate. Seeing the name on the screen, he hesitated for a moment but then finally pressed the button to pick up.

“Can you talk now?” said the voice on the other end.

Rentaro looked up at the Monolith and closed his eyes miserably. “I’m embarrassed to be part of the Stolen Generation. Even though they trample the Children and laugh, they still expect us to defeat Aldebaran… But we still have to do it… Damn it!”

“You knew that when you first became a civil officer, didn’t you? You must carry it out, Satomi. That is what a civil officer does.”

“But Kisara, don’t you always say to carry out justice? Tell me, where is the justice in this vat of filth that is Tokyo Area?”

“That’s not it, Satomi. That’s why we have to fight. If we win and save Tokyo Area, then there may be a few more people who will abandon their swords of hate and change the way they think. Satomi, didn’t you say it in front of those girls, too? ‘Bear it. And don’t even think about getting even.’ Did you say that even though it wasn’t what you thought just because you wanted to look cool in front of those girls? That’s not it, right? Please, Satomi, let your mind be filled with righteous light. Don’t abandon your heart of justice.”

Rentaro put his hand to his temple as he shook his head. “I don’t know what face to make as I fight beside Enju…”

“I don’t know either. But you can’t run from her.”

“…Being a civil officer is a terrible trade, isn’t it?”

“But that’s why it’s worth doing.”

Rentaro looked up at the sky and exhaled deeply.

“Have you calmed down a little?”

“Yeah, thanks, Kisara.”

Kisara teased, “I’m actually a pretty devoted woman, you know.”

“How’s Tina?”

“She’s fine. She’s calmed down.”

“Then, what about you…?”

“I’m fine, too.”

“I see…” If that’s what she said, then he was probably supposed to ignore the slight shaking in her nasally voice. Still, the anger that was budding inside him was like a banked fire, burning brightly at a high temperature. But right now, he would not think about the absurdity of it. He had to aim that spearhead at Aldebaran.

Rentaro felt optimistic as he looked out over the Outer Districts. “Then, I’ll go back soon to see how Enju’s doing.”

After Kisara gave herself some time to think, she was sure to say, “Got it.” But she stopped in the middle of those words, and the Kisara at the other end of the line shook violently, and he could hear her gasping breaths.

“Hey, Kisara—”

“It’s begun, Satomi.”

Rentaro frowned. But before he could say another word, the woman on the other end of the phone spoke again. “Look at the Monolith.”

Rentaro raised his gaze from the ground. 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. The large body of the cracked Monolith finally couldn’t stand up against the Varanium corrosion fluid and let out a scream, and then nothing could stop the chain reaction.

From where Rentaro was, he couldn’t hear the sound of the collapse, but that made the shriek of the Monolith even clearer. Abruptly, the whole bleached Monolith became fatally cracked, and the Monolith looked like it was shrugging its shoulders as it completely disintegrated. Chills shot down Rentaro’s spine.

The collapsing structure looked like time-lapse photography, falling from its base with fragments peeling off. It would crash to the ground in no time. There was a roar, and Rentaro was suddenly hit with a rumbling from the ground—a shock wave—making Rentaro raise his arms and grit his teeth. The intense vibration shook Rentaro from his feet to his guts, and the shock wave blew away the surrounding debris, rotting signs, and sheet metal.

When Rentaro looked up again, he saw the sky covered with a cloud of dust and fine particles. “No way…”

There was no way. There should have been one more day before the collapse. Wasn’t that what the precise calculations done by the Seitenshi’s office said?

Rentaro’s clothes flapped in a sudden gust of wind, and at the same he had a sudden realization: “The wind…”

Currently, in the year 2031, it was still hard to completely predict the weather, and they could not accurately predict the chaotic air currents. The people at the Japanese National Security Council had read the flow of wind wrong.

It was starting. The Third Kanto Battle was starting—and not when they were planning.

“Satomi!” Kisara yelled.

“I know!” Rentaro hung up and fixed his eyes on the Monolith once more, running toward the battlefield.

July 12, 2031 at 3:16 p.m. This moment in time was the start of what would be remembered in history as Tokyo Area’s worst war, the Third Kanto Battle.