Chapter Three / 23 : 20 / Avenger

—Naoto fell.

Before Marie could swallow that fact, Halter turned the gears of his artificial body to full throttle and carried his mistress away from the vicinity of the hole. As the distance between her and the abyss grew at a vehement pace, Marie yelled, “Wait! Stop Halter!”

Halter didn’t wait.

He didn’t stop.

A cutting-edge cyborg operating at full throttle—even as she struggled to breathe from the violent speed at which she was being carried, Marie swung both her hands, bashing Halter’s back. “Turn back, you idiot! We have to save those two, or else...!!”

“It’s useless,” Halter replied with a stony dispassion causing Marie to become speechless. “They fell into the great abyss, you know that. It might be one thing if it was just me or that Miss, but that isn’t an environment a human with flesh and blood can survive. You understand, don’t you?”

—Of course I know that!

Falling into the great abyss was the equivalent of falling into outer space. It was a hollow void down there. As the mantle of the Earth had been fully mined out, it had become a vacuum containing only the Earth’s cooled core. Naturally—it wasn’t an environment that humans could survive in.

However, “Are you telling me to abandon them?!” Marie yelled, clenching her fists. “I was the one who got that guy—Naoto—involved; I was the one who brought him along, you know?!”

“I’m saying that it’s futile, princess.” In contrast to Marie’s voice, Halter’s was absolutely calm and cold. He asserted decisively in a dry voice, “Naoto Miura is dead.”

“———”

“There’s no way he’s alive after falling into the great abyss. Are you going to commit suicide to confirm it? What point would there be in doing that?”

“——ugh!” Marie ground her teeth. Her passions were raging. Her fists clenched. She was assaulted by the impulse to smash something into pieces while feeling that her gut was being wrenched at the same time. “Ah—Ahh...” The corners of her eyes were heating up.

How great would it be if I could just scream and bawl my eyes out.

...But that isn’t acceptable. I can’t do that.

She had brought Naoto along, she had gotten him involved. Marie couldn’t do something as shameless as pity herself over the consequences of her actions. That wouldn’t be allowed. Marie Bell Breguet didn’t have the right to do that.

This was something she should have been prepared to face the moment she took a boy who never had any training to such a dangerous place just because he had a somewhat unique talent. As such, this was nothing but the obvious conclusion to things, an end that would have come someday, sooner or later.

“Still...!”

Even so, it should have come someday. For it to happen now, so suddenly—

“———”

Halter adjusted his hold of the convulsively sobbing girl before jumping. He jumped with so much force that the floor beneath him cracked as he rose twenty to thirty meters above the ground. As he reached the height of his jump, he kicked off against a pillar and jumped again just before he would begin to fall. By repeatedly springing off of pillars in a triangle, he dashed up through the empty space.

In the midst of that, “——Look at that. Lucky us.” Finding a small tunnel in the walls, Halter clung onto that stroke of luck. While taking care not to let Marie bump into anything, he slipped into the opening. Halter advanced through the passage while ducking his head. Upon reaching the end, he kicked open the shutter blocking the exit carelessly and stuck his head out. There, he found a large shaft that extended vertically.

Its diameter was around thirty meters. It wasn’t clear how far it went downwards or upwards, but along its walls was a spiral staircase. At that point, Halter stopped and lowered Marie onto the ground.

They couldn’t use the path they had entered from. Their infiltration had already been discovered. A tight security web should already have been set throughout the facility. Even so, they couldn’t just stay here dilly-dallying either. Even at this very moment, their pursuers should be on their way.

Without RyuZU, combat wasn’t feasible, not to mention, if they were to be assaulted by AnchoR they wouldn’t even have the means to resist.

“...Have you calmed down yet, princess?” Halter asked.

Marie was sitting silently on the spiral staircase, unmoving.

“...You can understand the situation we’re in without me having to tell you, right? With those two gone, our current combat strength is nothing like it was before. We’re in a real pickle.”

“...” Marie didn’t answer him.

Sighing, Halter continued, “Even if we were to bet on a slim ray of hope and try to fight back somehow, if we stop here, even that’ll be impossible. First and foremost, we have to escape to the surface somehow.”

“...”

“I’ve memorized the full layout of the factory that Naoto revealed for us, but we can’t go back the way we entered. So, we have no choice but to look for other exits, right? As such, from here on out, we have to slip past the enemy’s security web without cheating. Sounds fun doesn’t it, oy!”

“......”

“Should I be frank with you?” Halter rubbed his smooth, bald head as he narrowed his eyes sharply, “We have to evade the military’s security without prior information now. If we’re not careful, we’ll be assaulted by heavily armored M.A.’s and the Initial-Y Series. —It makes things harder for me if you keep playing at being dead weight, you know.”

“—Don’t, make light of me!” Marie raised her face and glared at Halter. Her eyes had become wet and swollen, but Halter didn’t mention that. Marie raised her shoulders a great deal as she took in a deep breath, then lowered them as she breathed out.

“...This is probably where they transported the parts.” While looking at the altimeter wound around her wrist, Marie continued, “Considering that they managed to create such a thing in secret, they couldn’t have been bringing the parts in through the warehouse entrance on the surface. They likely made the parts in the factory on the surface then transported them underground for assembly on that hidden floor.”

“...In that case, does that mean that this shaft is connected to some of the factories on the surface?”

“No, it’d simply be too inefficient to bring in parts all the way from the surface to the ghost floor every time they needed something. There should be a storage place for the parts midway somewhere... which should be connected to multiple factories.”

“Hmm... We might be able to escape somehow if that’s the case,” Halter said as he looked up through the shaft and stroked his chin. “It’d probably take the ones pursuing us around... an hour to give up, upon which it’d take them another hour to contact their allies above and suspend the lifts and elevators. If we quickly climb up this shaft and slip into that storage place before then... well, we should be able to escape one way or another.”

...The problem is, Halter thought as he looked at the girl sitting by his feet, Marie’s stamina.

This shaft is more than seventy kilometers tall even by the most modest estimate. They would have to dash their way up that height in about two hours. It wouldn’t be impossible for Halter’s cyborg body, but it was questionable whether Marie’s physique would be able to handle such a grueling climb. Though she had more stamina than typical girls her age due to her training—she was still only human.

However, “Don’t mind me,” Marie said as she returned Halter’s gaze.

Halter asked doubtingly, “Can you handle it?”

“Are you saying that there’s another way? If I can’t make it then just leave me behind.”

“I very well can’t do that, now can I?” Daunted by Marie’s self-abandonment, Halter furrowed his brows.

Marie stood up slowly. Halter could see that her arms and legs were trembling slightly. It wasn’t from fatigue, it was psychological—she had taken a blow to her psyche. Naoto Miura’s death had crushed Marie Bell Breguet’s heart violently.

...I guess it’s to be expected. Halter sighed internally, masking his thoughts from his face and voice. Even an idealist, girl genius whose assertiveness bordered on arrogance—was ultimately, still, just a girl.

This girl wasn’t perfect enough to be able to immediately swallow the death of someone close to her. However—the current situation wouldn’t forgive such weakness. Halter said sternly, “Listen up, Marie. Get this through your head.”

“...”

“We don’t have time to rest. I’m going to dash up as fast as I can starting now, so cling onto me expecting to die if you stop. If you really can’t bear it any further, no matter what, then say so. Otherwise, keep your mouth closed.”

Marie gulped for a moment before nodding silently.

“Good,” Halter nodded back. “—Well then, let’s go.”

●

“——ah” Marie fell from Halter’s back onto the floor of the staircase. She couldn’t move a single finger anymore— Correction, they were moving, but the twitching of her arms and legs had nothing to do with her will. Her muscles had completely stiffened like a dead body.

In an hour, fifty-eight minutes, and thirty-four seconds, Halter scaled the roughly seventy-two kilometers high shaft. Marie had clung on the whole time as Halter ran up the spiral staircase in a leaping dash. Facing the instant acceleration and deceleration made possible by his extraordinary cyborg functionality as he ran, Marie narrowly managed to endure a level of G-force that would knock an average person unconscious.

However, she was at her limits.

...I can’t stand. Marie groveled on the floor, gasping violently. Her lungs squeaked, her heart was crying as if it would sunder at any moment. Her entire body was drenched in nasty sweat, and tears welled in her eyes from the racking pain. Her vision was flickering as she felt herself gag. Her bones were aching dully as if they had been broken—but...

So what—

“ah...gh, ha—”

So what if that’s the case?

Halter crouched down next to Marie and whispered stoically, “Are you unable to stand, princess?”

—Who do you think you’re saying that to, bastard. Marie tried to curse, but failed. Only a moan of a stomped on frog came out. From her vision, blurry from the tears, she saw Halter’s cool face. A human versus a full-body cyborg. Comparing the two would be unreasonable, but even so, Marie couldn’t help but be angry. How is he completely fine when I’m in such a sorry state from just clinging on.

However, thanks to that, her willpower had returned. She flexed her trembling hands, folding her fingers inward one by one starting with her pinky, in order to make a fist. Still on the ground, she punched the floor and pushing up against it, flipped her body over. She then pulled her knees in under herself and lifted her waist up. She breathed deeply and clenched her jaw.

—I can still move. She was still alive, unlike that boy...

“Don’t push yourself,” Halter said as he picked her up, causing Marie to choke. Her face flushed from the anger and humiliation of being treated like a young child. She wanted to complain, but she kept her mouth shut. It was true that she was in no shape to walk right now even if she could stand.

“Let’s get away from here for the time being. Continue being luggage for a bit longer.”

Nodding lightly in return, Marie closed her eyes. She thought about what they should do from now on. In other words, she reflected on what had happened up to now.

——Naoto Miura died. She bit her lip. She didn’t have intuition as good as his, she could only assemble the pieces of information she had in a way that made sense.

Just what was that massive weapon that we saw on the bottommost floor? It definitely wasn’t something made with noble intentions. Even if one ignores the fact that it violates the treaty, what legitimate use could there be for it? How could that monster possibly be used effectively? It’s something that can only be used to ruin and destroy, nothing else. As far as a group that would need such a thing... terrorists?

——I got him involved.

Her heart jarred. As if something so silly could be true. There was no way some terrorist organization could pull off making something on this scale using a hidden floor of the city in secret. There was no way they would have enough funds or materials or manpower. In the first place, who could be so incompetent that he doesn’t realize that all this is happening right under his nose?

——Incompetent? Like I’m one to talk...

Her eyes were hot. The enemy is the military—or perhaps someone who is capable of controlling the military. Furthermore, the enemy is also someone who recycled an entire clock tower into that monster. If that’s the case, then not just the military, but even Mie’s parliament is surely a fellow conspirator.

——This information is something you were only able to obtain thanks to the boy who died because of you.

Her head hurt. And one more thing. Why was AnchoR here? Though RyuZU ridiculed the trustworthiness of my sources, that report should have been accurate. So, AnchoR, who had first been taken to Tokyo was then moved to Mie? If that’s the case, why Mie? She had originally been something that Kyoto’s military possessed, so wouldn’t it make more sense for her to have returned to Kyoto? This strangeness has to be related to that massive weapon somehow. Is this detail the key to this entire mystery?

——At this point, no matter what I do, I can’t bring him back.

Unable to endure any longer, Marie tumbled down from Halter’s arms. Groveling on the floor, she assumed a fetal position. Unable to suppress the bile that had gradually risen in her throat, she threw up.

“Ugh, gu, gueeeEEeeeeeeeeEE...gh!”

She vomited onto the floor of the staircase over and over again. Despite the intensity, there was no blood mixed in.—Ahh, my internal organs aren’t injured, Marie thought. She despised herself from the bottom of her heart for noticing such a menial detail.

“...I must look pretty pathetic.”

“Yeah, you look quite awful,” Halter frankly agreed.

“...I failed. They beat us to a pulp.”

“Yeah. We screwed up big time. It’s a crushing defeat,” Halter affirmed quietly.

Right now, Marie was thankful for his bluntness. She was glad that he didn’t offer her cheap consolation. She asked to confirm it for herself, “—Naoto is really dead, isn’t he?”

“Yeah. There’s no way he’d survive down there,” Halter nodded coldly.

——Everything is your fault.

“—I’m sure you’re right!!” Leaving herself to vengeful passion, Marie punched the floor with both hands. The pain that reached the core of her bones stung her sharply, but she didn’t care. Compared to this discomfort that felt like her organs had been entirely flipped inside out, it was nothing. Sharpening her gaze, her emerald eyes filled with a dark flame— “I’m going to make the payback extravagant.”

“Of course. You’re going to pull out all their hair including their ass hair right?”

Nodding to Halter’s words, Marie stood up. There was something she had to do immediately, even a second sooner if possible.

Ahh, that’s right. She had gotten him involved. When she had poked the bushes just to kill time, a tiger had appeared. He had lost his life because of that, so she had to take responsibility for his death. She didn’t have the time to bask in regret or be crushed by guilt.—I can enjoy that luxury after everything’s been dealt with.

Wiping her soiled lips on the sleeve of her coat, Marie spoke. “...The fact that AnchoR, who was transported to Tokyo, is here, in Mie, has something to do with that massive weapon.”

“Yeah, it would be natural to think that.”

“In that case, that would mean that Mie and Tokyo are connected. At the very least, it would mean that someone in a position capable of dispatching the Initial-Y Series that was in Tokyo is backing Mie.”

“One more thing, don’t overlook the fact that that person also has the technological prowess to manipulate that AnchoR or whatever.”

Marie nodded. When AnchoR had assaulted them, RyuZU was extremely shocked. In other words, to RyuZU, AnchoR’s actions were something that she never would have thought possible. At the very least, she should have been certain of that. To begin with, AnchoR should have simply been sleeping under Kyoto until now.

“...Someone either internally modified her or hijacked her will through an external device.”

“At the very least, that mask is suspicious. Well, in any case, if the one responsible has the technology to accomplish something like that, then one of the Five Great Corporations has to be involved.” Halter stroked his chin, continuing, “The Vacherons, the Pateks... you can’t discount the Langes either. Though I hear the Audemars keep their hands relatively clean, I can’t say for sure that they’re innocent either.

“...Whoever it may be, that’s a question to answer after we return to the surface.” Marie sighed. “We’ll have to ask our people in Tokyo first.”

●

By the time they returned to the surface, it was near daybreak. The place that had turned out to be their exit was an abandoned factory in otherwise good condition. After leaving its property and walking for a short while, they immediately arrived at the station for the ring line.

After having boarded and been on the train for a bit, the streets of Ise came into view. It was a district with a cylindrical train station like the one that the four of them had gotten off at last night. However, they couldn’t return to Kyoto just yet.

Marie and Halter patted off the dirt on their clothes as they exited Ise station and walked onto a nearby side street by the shopping district. It was dawn so the shutters of the stores along the road were lowered, but there were people traveling to and fro. Unlike the shopping district right in front of the industrial complex, it appeared that the streets here were alive.

After turning several corners, the two of them ran into an old derelict hotel. It was the kind of establishment that someone who had had too much to drink might rent to pass the night. It had an exterior that made one question whether it was really operating or not, but upon entering, its interior was surprisingly in order.

After booking a room and entering it, Marie headed straight for the communications device installed in the room. Picking up the receiver, she dialed the number for the Breguets’ encrypted line. Shortly after, she heard the robotic voice of the operator and declared her authentication code as well as the number she wished to reach. Using the line, she’d be able to contact her people in Tokyo.

After a few seconds of ringing, she heard a voice from the other end. “—Hey, Dr. Marie. It’s been a while, hasn’t it.” The other party said intimately.

Marie replied in a curt, tense voice, “It’s been a while.”

“...Did something happen?”

“Something, huh... indeed. A whole lot has happened—truly.” Muttering as if to spit the words out, Marie cast her eyes downward. If she faced the events of the last twenty-four hours head-on, she might truly break down.

While stifling her emotions, she continued in as even a voice as possible through the receiver, “I apologize. I don’t have time for pleasantries today so... cutting to the chase, do you know where the Initial-Y Series that I had you investigate the other day is right now?”

“No, what’s this about?”

“Several hours ago—I encountered it here.”

“What did you say?!” The other party raised his voice, sounding shocked, “By here, do you mean Kyoto?!”

“No, I’m currently in Mie Grid.”

“Mie?”

“I was infiltrating the bottom floors of the city due to a certain... anonymous report I had received when I discovered something dreadful.”

After that, Marie explained the massive weapon she had seen on the floor that shouldn’t exist. She did her best to cover its appearance and functionalities based on what she could tell with her eyes.

She also mentioned AnchoR, who had appeared to guard it, and her insane combat strength.

Furthermore, there was also the fact that the culprit was likely Mie’s city council and the military, and by conjecture, that behind them was one of the Five Great Corporations—

When Marie had finished explaining everything, the other party groaned, “...To think that there’s a conspiracy that can exist on that level.”

“As such, I want to confirm: Are you certain that the Initial-Y Series was transported to Tokyo?”

“...The military had sent it to Tokyo at least temporarily. We have both the records of the transfer and eyewitness accounts. We had confirmed it ourselves, so we’re certain.”

“In that case, that would mean that it was then sent to Mie from Tokyo.”

“As you say... I can’t imagine that it doesn’t have anything to do with that weapon you mentioned.”

“I think so too. Mie and Tokyo are connected by this incident somehow. As such, could I have you investigate who the current handler of the Initial-Y Series in question is?”

“I see. So you suspect that the one managing the Initial-Y Series is cooperating with the brass of Mie.”

“Yes.”

“If you could give me a little time, I should be able to discover something.”

“Thanks. I’m counting on you.”

Marie was about to hang up when the other party stopped her, “On a separate note—or probably not—there’s been something strange going on in Tokyo as well.”

“......”

“Tokyo’s military is rallying all of its forces in one place. Considering that Tokyo is a federation made up of multiple grids, and almost all of its military force has been stationed in one area, right now the respective core tower and the clock towers of many other grids have been left defenseless.”

That’s— Marie groaned. The suspicious actions of the military—the core tower and clock towers that were currently defenseless. She couldn’t help but be reminded of the incident that had just recently taken place in Kyoto. The incident where Kyoto’s military had tried to purge the city along with its twenty million residents...

The other party proceeded cautiously, to try to assure Marie. “Leaving history aside, in the end, Kyoto is nothing but a regional tourist city. On the other hand, if the entire domain of Tokyo were to fall, it would surely affect all of Asia.”

“Are you suggesting that there’s no way the military would purge Tokyo? However, that’s...” For a moment, she lost hope. Marie tightened her grip on the receiver, lowering her voice. “But by that logic, Kyoto wouldn’t have been purged either.”

Ultimately, it was a question of one’s moral bindings—

How could one assert that the people, organizations, and school of thought that had determined that it was “right” to slaughter twenty million people would even care to consider the effects that their actions would bring to all of Asia? Even if there was a drawback for themselves as well, it still wouldn’t be out of the question—it would just mean that they would need more of a reason to do it.

The other party replied in a cheerless voice, “...It’s as you say. Indeed, you’re right.”

“At any rate, please look into the matter we discussed earlier. I’m going to stay here a little longer and continue my investigation on my own. There are many places that seem like they would yield clues if I just dig a little.”

“Understood,” the other party affirmed before warning, “Please be careful, Dr. Marie. The enemy is a fearful one.”

“...I will. Thank you.” Replying briefly, Marie hung up for real this time. She let out a bitter sigh. Unable to contain her irritation, Marie kicked the bed by her side with all her might, yelling, “Really! Every last one of them!”

“You sure are throwing quite a fit, princess,” Halter teased her from behind.

Marie looked back over her shoulder, glaring at the face of the large man leaning against a chair. “Yes, that’s right, I’m throwing a fit! What, are you volunteering to be my punching bag?”

“If that would satisfy you, then sure, punch me.” Halter curled his lips provokingly.

That moment, Marie knit quite the knot with her eyebrows—before flipping her hair like a dog shaking water off. “How stupid,” she spat out. “Forget it. Let’s get going since we’ve already decided on the next step.”

“...Oy oy, we just barely managed to escape intact, you know? Can’t say I’m feeling eager,” Halter chided.

To which Marie snorted in displeasure, “Very well then. I’m going, even if I have to do it alone.”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about, princess. Try to calm down a bit—actually, I guess you’re calm, but your methods are needlessly reckless.”

“—So what? What’s the problem?” Marie continued, her face not showing any emotion, “I’m only alive because Naoto died, you know? Considering RyuZU’s functionality, she just might be able to return from that great abyss. If that happens—she’ll probably kill me.” Marie hugged her own shoulders, shivering. “If my time is limited anyway, then I might as well use it effectively. I want to fulfill my duties before I’m killed by RyuZU.”

Halter listened to her words with a puckery face. He was frowning as if he looked like he wanted to say something, but ended up not saying it. He sighed once instead, nodding. “I get it, princess. Do as you wish. But let me warn you sincerely as a pro: Rest right now. If you want to fully dedicate yourself to this cause, then you should be in your best condition for the greatest possible result, right?”

“......”

“Take a shower and drink some sweet cocoa or something. Then get some ample sleep. First, recover your stamina and clear your head. You can flatten anyone you don’t like afterwards to your heart’s content.”

“......”

“That would be more rational, right?”

“...Yeah. It’s just as you say.” Perhaps she liked the ring of the word “rational,” because Marie nodded obediently. Halter confirmed that she had entered the shower before exiting the room.

Buying a sandwich and hot cocoa from a small nearby shop, he quickly returned to their room. When Halter returned, he could still hear the sound of running water coming from the bathroom. He sat down on a chair. While waiting for Marie to come out, Halter suddenly wondered, There’s no way she’d go and slit her wrist in the shower, right? But he immediately laughed it off. Nah. Impossible. I know Marie. She would never do that, no matter what.

Shortly after, Marie stepped into the room while blow drying her hair. Halter’s conviction was correct. She was only wearing a bath robe as she walked on the floor with her wet feet. Seeing Marie’s dejected look, Halter silently handed her the cocoa and the sandwich. “Thanks,” she muttered weakly before stuffing the sandwich into her mouth. She finished her cocoa silently, then crawled into bed sluggishly.

Halter moved his chair next to the room’s door and settled there. Seeing the girl with her back to him in a fetal position, he had a sudden thought. He opened his mouth hesitantly. “Say, Marie. I think that as an adult, I’m obligated to say this just in case.”

“...What?”

“You’re just a kid. A brat. You said that yourself before, right?”

“...Yes, and?”

“No one’s going to complain if a brat cries.”

Marie didn’t answer him. She kept silent for a long time, but just when Halter figured that she had fallen asleep, she finally gave him a grave answer. “—Someone will complain. Even if no one else does, I will. I absolutely wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. If I break down and cry here, I’d—I’d be ruined.”

Marie didn’t stir at all. She didn’t tremble either. Her voice was flat and calm, not wavering in the slightest. Halter decided to leave it at that.

And then—he silently thought, Marie Bell Breguet’s talent—is not an omnipotent one. I know that.

A girl genius who became a Meister at the youngest age ever in history. If one hears that, one would be sure to have a certain kind of image of her... that she’s smart and can do anything... but that’s definitely not the case.

The real reason she’s a “genius” is this: Marie Breguet’s overwhelmingly strict level of self-discipline is simply baffling. That’s exactly why the details behind her supreme talent of hard work have been simplified to the single word “genius.”

She tries her best to be wise.

She tries her best to be strong.

She tries her best to be virtuous.

In other words, she strives to manifest her ideals with her entire being. In Halter’s eyes, the strength of her faith was equivalent to madness at this point. The goal line where a normal human would have had his heart crushed and given up was the fervent starting point for this girl. She had this destructive will to endlessly improve herself even when her internal engine was already being scorched. She was strict to others and even stricter to herself due to her indomitable self-restraint.

—That is the core of Marie Bell Breguet.

That’s why this girl wouldn’t break. She knew that if she broke down just once, she would decline into being just another ordinary person. She was afraid of that more than anything else. She wouldn’t pamper herself. She had stipulated to herself that she would live this way. She understood that that was what made her Marie Bell Breguet.

To compromise—would mean death.

“Alright— So, where should we raid when you wake up? I think I know what you’re thinking, but I can’t say I recommend it.”

“......Then you should also know that I have no intention to back down whatsoever.”

“I figured as much,” Halter nodded.

Marie continued in a soft, yet menacing voice, “You know what they say, ‘if you want to take down the enemy general—begin by ripping off his head.’”

●

“—Damn it!” Morikatsu Muroi agitatedly turned the communication device’s dial. He was the governor of Mie Grid. After finishing his work for the night and eating dinner with his family in a hurry, he had holed himself up in his study. He would usually enjoy drinking with his remarkably fat wife after dinner, but tonight, he didn’t have the time.

Ever since he had assumed the office of the governor, every day had felt tepid—his work consisted of simply performing set routines. It was plain, boring, and meaningless.

However, he had been satisfied with that. There was a time when he had been burning with the ideals of his youth, but upon reaching middle age, and now nearing his golden years, he could only laugh bitterly at how naive he used to be.

After all, in the end he was nothing but a replaceable cogwheel in society, but that was just how he liked it. He wanted to live out his days simply working his job and receiving his pay, buying his daughter’s contempt with his fault-finding and being scolded by his wife.

—It’s fine like that, he thought. He didn’t need change. No one wanted such a thing in the end. Which was all the more reason why the incident today was unacceptable. It appeared that there had been infiltrators on the bottommost floor of the city. Together, they had somehow breached an exceedingly classified area, and what’s more, the guards had failed to capture the perpetrators.

When he had received that report in the morning, he laid bare his anger, something he rarely ever did. He remained in a bad mood through dinner and offended his wife and daughter with his conduct.

...I have to apologize to them later. While troubling himself over how best to please his wife and daughter in the corner of his mind, he turned the dial. Shortly after, the line was connected.

“—It’s me.”

“———”

“...Yes, about the incident this morning. Just what is the situation now? I do believe that you assured me that preservation of secrecy is guaranteed.”

“———”

“That was the deal, you know, if we close our eyes and shut our mouths then you won’t threaten our everyday life either. Are you breaching our agreement at the eleventh hour?”

“———”

“Threatening you? Please don’t jest. I’m making a request of you: If nothing else, just don’t betray me when the chips are down. Yes— Yes, I believe I understand your situation as well. However, hate and ideals alone won’t put food on the table.”

“———”

“That’s fine. Well then, please hurry and put up some results. It’s been thirty years since then. It can’t be helped that it’s a bit looser now than before, but this isn’t something that we can let end like this—for both you and me.”

With those last words, the line was cut. Muroi sighed deeply as he returned the receiver to its holder. Just now noticing the sweat on his forehead, he dabbed it with his handkerchief as he sat down in his chair.

...Thirty years. Thinking back on the lengthy years that had flown by in no time, Muroi spit out a bitter sigh.

Up to now, his job had been to keep Mie turning without a hitch. Sure, there had been trouble along the way, some bigger than others, but even so, he had been able to fulfill his job. His job wasn’t really anything worthy of boasting about. It was simply to feign ignorance of the bomb that could explode at any time and take all of Mie with it.

However, to have this arrangement spoiled at this late hour was unbearable. Whether it be the infiltrators who expressly came to prod his sore spot or “they” who had easily let that happen, he couldn’t contain his enmity towards either of them.

Why is it that every last one of them can’t keep their mouth shut?

“...Damn it,” Muroi cursed bitterly.

He felt thirsty for some strong liquor. That’s it for tonight, let’s go to bed after a shot of whiskey. I can apologize to the wife tomorrow. While massaging his temples, he stood up.

It was then that he was suddenly pulled back into his chair with a forceful jerk of his collar. His heart jumped.

A soft piece of cloth was stuffed into his mouth just as he was about to scream. Something was wound around his wriggling body—it was duct tape. The perpetrators finished binding Muori to his chair with the adhesive in no time. For the moment, the one who had bound him to the chair had remained silent, but their intention was clear.

—Be quiet,

—Or else.

Sensing the threat which he had no chance of opposing, a great amount of cold sweat perspired onto his face all at once. This wasn’t someone’s prank. Someone with malicious intent had snuck into his study. He couldn’t immediately believe that fact. This was the official residence of the governor.

Though the security may not be on the level of the top-secret facility in town, there were guards who were permanently stationed here. Muromi had remained completely unaware that there had been someone hiding in the room from the time he entered the room to the end of his call.

As a result, he had just been bound to his chair by someone. With his body wrapped from his feet to his shoulders, the one who had been pinning him down came right before him. He was a tall, broad man wearing a black rubber suit. He was exuding an intimidating air that spoke volumes of his experience in this kind of dirty work. That man whispered in a low voice, “I’m going to remove your gag now. If you want to keep all of your limbs, then don’t say anything unnecessary.”

Muroi nodded, his shoulders shaking. The man removed the cloth from his mouth, upon which Muroi exhaled roughly. Just as he thought that the interrogation would begin, the man reached out his hand and grabbed onto the back of the chair, turning it around off-handedly.

“—!” Muroi widened his eyes from astonishment.

What had been behind Morikatsu Muroi was a young girl. She was wearing a black rubber suit too. Muroi could distinctly make out her slender body line, but by no means did she give off the impression that she was some frail girl. Her brilliant blond hair as well as her emerald eyes that shined like a cat’s in the darkness made sure of that. She was just like boiling magma. That was the atmosphere she gave off.

Morikatsu Muroi recognized the face of that girl. “Ma, Marie Bell Breguet... You’re alive?!” The younger daughter of Breguet should have died three weeks ago—yet, here was a girl with the exact same face as her. The girl pulled out a baton, and swung it casually.

Swoosh, it connected with a crack.

Muroi’s right temple ached from what he imagined was his fractured skull. He groaned, because he couldn’t scream. For the first time in his life, Muroi discovered that screaming actually requires a certain sense of composure.

The girl ground the tip of her baton lightly against his throat as he desperately gasped for air. “—Who said you could speak?” the girl said in a light, indifferent voice.

Hearing the bored ring to her voice, Muroi flared up, “Y, You bastards, d, don’t think that you’ll get away scot-free with something like t—”

The reply he received was another blow from the baton. It was a merciless strike. His vision flickered. As Muroi was writhing in agony unable to even let out a cry, the girl asked in chilling stone-cold voice, “I’ll say it in a way that even that feeble mind of yours can understand. I’m not making a request. I’m giving you an order. You and I aren’t equals.”

“gh...D, Don’t mess with me!” Muroi’s face turned grotesque with rage. “I, I’m the governor of Mie you know! You won’t be let off the hook pulling a stunt like this!”

“That so,” the girl said with a mocking nod, then shifted her gaze to the large man. “Go downstairs and bring his wife up here. It seems like it’d be a good idea to show him just how serious I am. His daughter would be fine too.”

“Stop, please!” Muroi cried out, “I beg you! Don’t hurt my family! I’ll answer your questions.”

“I was hoping for that attitude from the beginning.”

Muroi was terrified by her dry tone. Unreadable emerald eyes were staring at him, just like that of a praying mantis, he thought. Though her sharp eyes seemed almost inhuman, they harbored a fierce will that he couldn’t comprehend.

“Always begin by saying, ‘Yes.’ Answer what you are asked frankly. Do not continue to trouble my hand with the chore of beating a worthless creature like yourself.”

Muroi nodded while trembling. The girl didn’t think anything of him. He was made to realize that if he hesitated even a little—she would do just as she had threatened.

“In that case, let’s begin with an easy question, shall we?” The girl sat onto his desk and crossed her legs at ease. “Now then, it sounds like you didn’t know that I’m alive from your words just now?”

“...R, Right, I thought you had died.”

“Halter, hang him up.”

Being suddenly lifted up by his collar from behind with staggering force, Muroi couldn’t breathe. Suspended in midair and strangled with the weight of his body stressing his neck, he squirmed. The girl announced coldly, “Your speech is lacking due respect. —Also, begin your answers with ‘Yes.’”

The man let go of his collar. Muroi dropped back down on his chair and began to cough violently. While his shoulders trembled in fear, he uttered an apology in tears, “Y, Y...Yes, I, I’m terribly sorry...”

“This is why I hate training ignorant dogs. It’s such a hassle.” Curling her lips, the girl asked, “Next question. You know of the massive weapon that was constructed in secret on the bottommost floor of the city, yes?”

“Y—Yes. I do.”

“And also the fact that it’s a weapon of mass destruction that violates the international treaty on military force.”

“Yes... I, I don’t know the details myself, but I hear that that is the case.”

“My-my, how convenient,” the girl scoffed, raising an eyebrow. “You say that you don’t know the details and yet you’ve allowed for such a dangerous thing to be built underneath your own city? Just how incompetent are you? Do you think that anyone would be stupid enough to believe that?”

“I, I’m telling the truth! It was decided that we would leave such things to them.”

“It was decided? The one with the greatest authority in Mie Grid is you, isn’t it? It follows naturally then that the ringleader of any conspiracy taking place here has to be you.”

“I, I am but a mere representative...! All of Mie’s current council is like this. We merely perform routine work on the city’s mechanisms. We had come to an agreement with them not to interfere with each other.”

“What kind of gibberish are you spouting? Are you suggesting that the military created that weapon by themselves and you simply turned a blind eye to it?”

“...Y, Yes, that is correct.”

“What reason is there for me believe you?”

“T, That’s... You see, we councilmembers were threatened by the military...”

“Don’t,” the girl said, looking down on Muroi with a gaze that was below freezing. “There’s no way that the military would be able to take over an entire city just by threatening military force. Mie—at the very least, Mie’s city council, including you—must have proactively assisted the military.”

“T, That’s...”

“What I don’t understand is the reason for it. At first, I thought it would be something like financial gain through bribery, but there wasn’t anything that suggested that in the city council’s financial account. Just the opposite, you were the ones sending the money. I couldn’t piece together what you might have received in return in the slightest. —What a truly unnatural relationship, right?”

“......”

“Explain yourself.”

Muroi stayed silent, not answering.

The girl sighed and signaled Halter with a jerk of her chin. “It’s penalty time. Go kill one of them.”

“Don’t, stop!!” Muroi yelled in a fluster.

The man slowly pulled out a knife from his waistband and turned towards the girl. “Which one should we kill?”

“Good question...?” The girl tilted her head slightly in a cute manner, then smiled at Muroi. “I’ll let you choose. —Your wife or your daughter, which would you prefer?”

“Please. Stop, I’m begging you...!” Muroi yelled in agony, his face a mess from the dripping tears and snot.

The girl looked down on him coldly. “Shouldn’t you be saying something else? You’re gravely mistaken if you think that I’m going to continue disciplining you gently forever.”

“We share the same lot with them...!” Losing his will, he hung his head as he squeezed out, “Not because there’s a massive weapon! If it came to light that they are in Mie, we would be in danger as well. That’s the reason we cover and aid them...”

“...I can’t follow what you’re saying.” The girl furrowed her brows, irritated. “Do you intend to explain clearly? Yes or No?”

“T, They... are not Mie’s military...”

“...What’d you just say?” The girl frowned.

With his breathing in disarray from fear and shock, Muroi spat out, “They’re the military of Shiga Grid, the city that was purged thirty years ago...!”

●

It was something that had happened before Marie was born.

In response to a sudden and large-scale fatal malfunction in the city mechanisms, the federal government had speedily approved a disaster management measure. They followed through with the compulsory purge without waiting for Meister Guild to even arrive.

Of course, this led to quite a ruckus and the cabinet had been pressured to resign. However, when a later investigation established that if they had delayed their decision, the effects of the malfunction would have reached all the grids in western Japan, public opinion changed.

As such, it was now seen as an unavoidable, albeit difficult decision. In fact, there were even those who praised the federal government for having taken decisive measures and accepted the necessary sacrifices.

However, “...That’s nothing but a lie,” Morikatsu Muroi denied that piece of history, his voice trembling. “At the time, research on electromagnetic technology was being conducted in Shiga Grid. It was a grand-scale national project... For that reason, close to ten thousand Technical Force officers were gathered there.

“Electromagnetic technology...!” Marie muttered with grim eyes. It was something that had been used ubiquitously in ancient times, but in the modern world where everything operated on gears—

“That’s right... It was a violation of the international treaty. A large electromagnetic field had leaked out from the research facility in the middle of an experiment, causing the city mechanisms to malfunction. ‘Dispose of everything and cover it up before Meister Guild arrives and realizes the truth’—that is the true reason for Shiga Grid’s purge.”

Marie’s face became expressionless. Only her emerald eyes were blazing as she stared at the governor’s face.

“—The Paperwork necessary for purging the city had been prepared beforehand for such a contingency. It had been ready to be enforced at any time with simply the signature of the Chief Cabinet Secretary. According to the records, the vast majority of Shiga’s residents were able to successfully escape to the prearranged city of refuge. That city—is Mie.”

“......”

“However, they... the clocksmiths who had been discarded by the federal government survived. They decided to permanently settle in Mie, taking advantage of their refugee status as a camouflage to hide from the government authorities. Everything happened behind the scenes quietly, and rapidly.”

Pausing, he raised his head. Sweat had oozed onto his old, wrinkly forehead. “...Twelve years. That was how long it took for them to gain control of Mie.”

“Why would that be necessary?” Marie asked in a low voice. “They had been engaged in illegal research on the nation’s orders. The project had been about to become exposed so they had been silenced. I get it up to that point. But if that’s the case, then why didn’t they simply expose the truth?”

“...Then what? Have Mie, their only refuge, be the next city to sink into the earth?” Letting out a deep sigh, Muroi shook his head. “Shiga was sunk for the sole purpose of a coverup. How can you say that the federal government wouldn’t sink Mie if they realized that Shiga’s clocksmiths were still alive—wiping the slate clean?”

“That’s... There’s no way they could have purged another city so hastily, the loss of Shiga alone must have been painful.”

Cities were national territory. So long as modern technology wasn’t capable of reconstructing cities, to purge a city mean to lose territory.

That Shiga had been sunk for the sake of concealing the illegal research there should have already been a measure that had been decided narrowly.

In the first place, if Japan continued to purge its cities one after another, the questioning from foreign countries would naturally become severe.

However, Muroi curled his lips upon her words. “That’s some sound reasoning. However, if I may—quit joking. We saw the feds sink Shiga firsthand. Shiga’s Technical Force was actually left to die, themselves.

Don’t tell me you’re seriously saying that we should believe in the rationality of the insane bunch working at the top of what we call our federal government. Are you really asking us to bet the lives of ourselves and our families on that?”

“......”

Marie couldn’t answer him.

A stiff, agitated smile appeared on Muroi’s face. “At the time, I was merely an aid to a councilmember. Upon coming in contact with ‘their’ leader by chance, I understood the situation immediately. If ‘their’ existence was discovered one day, Mie would be sunk. Before that happened, I needed something I could use to negotiate with the federal government at any cost.”

“...Are you saying that something is the enormous underground weapon?”

Muroi nodded. “I haven’t been told any of the specifics, but I know that Shiga’s Technical Force is pursuing tangible power. A deterrent so strong that even if the federal government were to dispatch the national army to purge Mie, it could repel them.”

Marie scowled at Muroi, her expression still grim. “Is that end worth cannibalizing even your own clock tower?”

“There weren’t enough raw materials from just Shiga’s ruins... or so I’m told. We determined that it was unavoidable ourselves, as well,” Muroi said flatly, his face turning pale.

Marie narrowed her eyes. “For the sake of a deterrent?”

“That’s right,” Muroi squeezed the words out, practically gasping. “It’s as effective as we anticipated. The existence of Shiga’s Technical Force was discovered by the federal government a few years back; however, them being in de facto control of Mie while also possessing a powerful military deterrent allowed them to somehow negotiate a pact of confidentiality with the government.

“Its monstrous power is one obvious factor, yes, but the very existence of that enormous weapon being none other than the proof of the illegal purge that they had forced upon Shiga is also important. As such, we have never had to use it, even though we’ve had it all this time.”

Muroi had made a feverish appeal of his circumstances; however, Marie looked down on him silently. She understood what he was saying. Even if they should have known that Mie couldn’t have been purged so easily, they couldn’t believe in that logic. Driven by their fear, they had sought a more definite power.

However, that’s— “You’re lying.”

“It’s the truth!” Muroi yelled, his expression desperate.

Marie peered at his face, then asked, fully articulating each syllable, “If that’s the case, why has that weapon been left on standby?”

“...What did you say?” Muroi widened his eyes, dumbfounded.

Surprised by his reaction, Marie continued, “We’ve actually been underground and seen that weapon. It’s been set for deployment at any time. If you don’t actually plan to use it, there shouldn’t be a need for that.”

“......”

Muroi sank into silence. His silence wasn’t that of someone keeping his lips sealed nor that of a liar who just had his lie exposed. His eyes simply widened in shock as his broad shoulders trembled dramatically.

“—I see, so that’s how it is!” Suddenly, he dropped his shoulders. While Marie and Halter sent him quizzical gazes, he took a long breath and shook his head lifelessly. “It’s over. It’s all over...”

“...I’d appreciate it if you don’t just decide things all by yourself, you know. Do you have no intention to explain?” Marie inquired.

Muroi laughed scoffingly. The governor of Mie raised his head and stared right into Marie’s eyes. Though the rest of his face was pale and trembling in fear, his mouth was distorted into a sneer. “Haah... It appears that you really don’t understand anything. Even though you made such a clamor of lecturing me, in the end you’re nothing but a naive little princess, huh.”

“—!” Marie knit her brows at his reckless remark.

Halter, who was standing behind Muroi, pulled him up by his collar over his shoulder behind and whispered, “Oy, don’t get cocky. Watch your words.”

“Shut your mouth!!” Muroi shouted. His expression was so threatening that Halter inadvertently let go of him. He glared at Marie and Halter alternatingly. “You still don’t get it?! That weapon was originally supposed to be a deterrent that wouldn’t ever be used. It was insurance to avoid being purged at most! Yet, it’s ready to boot now? Even an idiot would know what happened!”

He paused for a breath.

“—The deal is off! The feds plan to dispose of us. And they, Shiga’s military, surely plan to resist. This is all your fault, Marie Bell Breguet!”

Marie furrowed her brows. She couldn’t understand his rationale in suddenly denunciating her; however, Halter appeared to have gotten it as he gulped slightly.

“Hah! It looks like the big thug gets it now. Can you even imagine how many losses the feds and the national army suffered, how much trust they lost from the international community?!”

“———”

“It’s become necessary for them to find an enemy that they can use to justify their existence!!”

“—!” In an instant, everything connected in Marie’s head.

Tokyo was rallying its military while Mie’s military—or rather, the former military of Shiga—was readying the enormous weapon for battle. The federal government had been turning a blind eye to their existence but were now trying to crush them. Why?

The only incident that could have led to this—was Kyoto’s attempted, premeditated purge.

It had been the design to sink Kyoto along with all of its twenty million residents into the earth. After the plan had been thwarted, the full story had been brought to light by an anonymous whistleblower.

Damage had been done to the dignity of the nation. The citizens had lost trust in both their government and the corporations—in such a situation, what should the government do to quickly and easily recover from these injuries?

The answer was simple—they simply needed to accomplish a feat that everyone would recognize as meritorious. For example, the annihilation of a rebel army that had secretly constructed a weapon that violates the international treaty. That would be very convenient indeed—

“Get it now? It’s all your fault!” Muroi cried out, shaking so violently that the chair he was bound to shook along with him. “The whistleblowing was your doing too, right? What a shocker! Do you fancy yourself some hero of justice? It’s time to grow up, little girl! What you did only unnecessarily stirred the world into mayhem, nothing else!”

“———”

“Thanks to your meddling, the feds were driven to the wall! That’s why they plan to paint us as the villain and play the hero! You were the one who forced them to write this scenario!!”

“......”

Marie didn’t reply. Her face, which was fair to begin with, became even whiter, like paper, as it paled further. Her lips were tied together stiffly.

Seeing her like that, the governor snorted as he sneered. “However, it appears that the feds don’t get it either. How Shiga’s military... no, how we’ve felt living like this for the last thirty years.”

He curled his lips as he continued, “...This whole time, for the last thirty years... We’ve been afraid: When will the feds sniff out ‘their’ existence and decide to purge us? We were tormented by despair; our fear became an obsession— What if the trump card we created out of desperation turned out to be just an empty threat...?”

Marie understood what he meant.

—The enormous weapon I saw on Mie’s deepest underground floor.

Just how much damage would be done if such a thing were to be unleashed? Even if Tokyo’s military rallied together and got serious, there was no way they would be able to annihilate Mie one-sidedly.

“...”

Marie grunted, stifling her breath by biting her lips. She had started wheezing at some point. The man in front of her probably didn’t know the details of the weapon. However, he did know something else very well; He was absolutely certain that the weapon, the culmination of the fear and obsession of Shiga’s clocksmiths—could not be something half-baked.

Muroi smiled. “I imagine you understand what choice we must make to survive by now, Miss Self-Proclaimed Genius. History is written by the victor. Shiga’s military will mercilessly pulverize our enemies in the name of ‘justice.’”

“Though,” he paused, adding with a dry voice, “who knows how much damage will be done in the process. It could be that a grid or two somewhere might fall—now then, once more, who’s responsible for this again?”

Marie didn’t reply. She couldn’t reply. Her eyes were stretched wide open from the intense mental shock, her limbs were trembling. An audible gulp sounded from her throat as she swallowed the saliva that had been accumulating in her mouth.

“—It’s you!!” Muroi yelled, his voice seeping with unending hatred. His face was distorted from spite, as he glared at Marie, seething. “If you would have just shut your mouth and died quietly—it wouldn’t have come to this, you stupid brat!!”

●

—Since when?

When Marie came to her senses, she was walking through an unknown street at night.

It was a street that she had no recollection of, a narrow path formed by the gap between tall buildings. There was no sign of others—a dark path without its own source of lighting, an alleyway that the dim lights from the surrounding streets didn’t reach. The hustle and bustle of the city sounded distant.

What am I doing here...?

Halter was following behind her, matching her pace.

Her shoulders felt cumbersome as her gait dragged. Turning around, saying something, it felt like too much trouble. She spat out a long sigh.

My memory ends in the middle of the interrogation. I have no idea how we dealt with the governor or cleaned up the scene whatsoever, but, seeing as Halter isn’t saying anything, he must have taken care of it.

“......”

Their stratagem was a success.

—Wringing information out of Mie’s governor. That goal had been thoroughly accomplished. What was going on in this city, how things would proceed... She had more or less learned everything that she had wanted to know.

However, she couldn’t feel happy about it at all. Her mood right now, was, frankly—that of someone who had suffered defeat.

“———”

Marie stopped.

When one tries to do something, one’s efforts could end up having the opposite effect.

Like if one tried to turn a clock hand to synchronize the time and ended up breaking the clock entirely instead.

Marie wasn’t naive enough to think that striving for justice alone was enough to keep the world turning. Even so, she had tried her best to live a life that she could puff up her chest and be proud of.

—And this is the result, huh.

She had gotten full of herself after saving Kyoto and exposed the misdeeds of society’s VIPs. Because of that, she had suffered a crushing defeat and lost Naoto in the midst of it. And now, because of her, Tokyo and Mie were about to enter into war.

—I can’t leave things like this.

Marie reached what was, to her, a very natural conclusion. However, a problematic question then arose in her mind.

—But what should I do?

Everything that happened was a result of acting upon her sense of justice. She couldn’t make any excuses, everything was her fault. As such, she had to take responsibility. But how? What would enable her to take on this burden? Just what could she do to overturn the current situation?—

“What exactly am I supposed to do about all of this...” she muttered in a moment of weakness.

—Rain began to fall.

Just as Marie thought that it was a tepid drizzle, it immediately turned into a violent downpour. Marie didn’t seek shelter from it, she simply stayed right where she was standing.

“—You don’t need to do anything.”

Halter had stopped behind her.

“This situation isn’t something that should weigh on your conscience to begin with. The governor’s words were just sophistry. ‘The one responsible?’ Who else could it be but the feds who sank Shiga in the first place?”

“Yeah... I know that much.”

The ones who started it all by promoting illegal research in Shiga were the feds. The ones who purged Shiga to conceal that truth, were also the feds.

On the other hand, choosing not to deal with that through the proper method of indictment is the fault of the refugees from Shiga; it doesn’t justify Mie creating a weapon that ignores the international treaty.

There’s no way that saving Kyoto was the wrong thing to do, and the whistleblowing afterwards was just karma for those responsible, no?

As such, Marie Bell Breguet bears no responsibility whatsoever for this situation—?

—There’s no way that’s true.

“But, I can’t leave it be.” Even if the actions that Marie took in the process had harbored no ill intent, her actions were still a factor in bringing about the present result. How can you pretend that you don’t see that, Halter?

“That’s not the problem,” Halter rejected in a cold voice. “The situation is far too gargantuan. It’s long past the domain of things that you could do something about as a clocksmith.”

“That’s not...!”

“Then what are you going to do? Leak this information? I’d be willing to bet that that wouldn’t accomplish anything but expedite the feds’ plans.

“In the first place, it’s just idle gossip without proper evidence. They could lie their way through with any number of excuses. While we’re at it, they could also just say something like this, you know? Some BS like: ‘We had attempted to purge Kyoto for the same reason as Shiga’s case.’

“You know that bunch, they wouldn’t have any qualms lying through their teeth. The attempted purge of Kyoto was a bitter pill they had to swallow for that reason.”

“In that case...!” Marie turned around and glared at Halter.

Halter withstood her glare without even a tiny flinch. “In that case, what? Are you going to put a stop to things behind the scenes? How? You’d be up against the governments of both sides, their armies, and one of the Five Great Corporations. What are you suggesting that you could do as you are now?”

His tone was calm, even gentle. “Did you forget that you’re supposed to be dead? In the first place, you’re in a situation where normally you should be quietly living the life of a student in Kyoto until things settle down. That holds true even now.”

“Then what are you saying I should do!!” Marie yelled indignantly. “Are you telling me to quietly watch what’s about to happen from the sidelines?!”

“That’s an option, yes.” Halter nodded, letting out a light sigh. “The feds are probably going to use Tokyo’s army to crush that massive weapon. If they could do that, they would probably recover a minimum level of trust with the public.

“A good-for-nothing bunch and an incorrigible bunch are going to try to destroy each other of their own accord. There wouldn’t really be anything wrong with just observing.”

“...Are you being serious?”

Halter shrugged. “I’m not much of a joker, unfortunately.”

Marie scoffed, “You saw it too, didn’t you? That underground weapon... Having seen it, do you seriously think that the might of Tokyo’s army could restrain that thing? Remember that Mie has AnchoR as well. If that weapon and an Initial-Y Series assault Tokyo together, do you still think the feds can win?”

“It might be too much for them, yeah.” Halter nodded readily. “So, is there a problem? Is it important whether the feds win or lose? As the governor said, the feds’ script might be turned against them—but so what? It’s not like that really troubles us in any way, no?”

“Lots of people will die!”

“Yeah, true.”

“There’s no way that things will end without consequence if a weapon like that goes on a rampage. Regardless of who wins, some city somewhere is going to suffer fatal damage!”

“Yeah, probably.”

“If that happens—if that happens, the death toll would easily exceed the twenty million lives that were almost lost in Kyoto, you know?!”

“You’re not wrong princess, however, if I may repeat myself, that would be the result of idiots doing stupid things. It’s not something that a little brat needs to feel responsible for and fret over.”

Flabbergasted, Marie stepped back. She couldn’t understand what Halter was saying—no, she could understand, at the very least, she recognized that his logic was sound. Whatever happens from now, even if she can’t do anything about it, it wouldn’t really be her responsibility—that was what he was saying.

“Quit joking!!” Marie shouted angrily, clenching her teeth. Her pride had been wounded. Are you seriously going to strip me of accountability when things have already come to this?

Halter took a breath, loosening his expression as he shook his head. “I’m not really joking. I’m simply stating the truth, princess. If you’re saying that you don’t like that, then... very well. I’ll abide by your decision.”

“So,” Halter asked, “what are you going to do?”

Marie couldn’t answer him. There was nothing she could do. She knew that best herself. She understood both her abilities and her limits. She had come this far by making the impossible possible by pushing her abilities beyond those limits. It had become her way of life, but... at present, she had no cards she could play.

“———”

Her knees buckled.

As she dropped down on the spot, she felt her underwear soak up the dirty rain water that had pooled on the ground. It felt disgusting, but she didn’t care.

She had become unable to stand as her mind filled with the feeling that something precious inside her heart could snap at any moment.

She pursed her lips tightly. Marie was fully aware of her powerlessness. She understood that there were things that she couldn’t accomplish just by conducting herself in a way she could be proud of.

Even so—she felt like if Naoto was with her, she could overcome it somehow. Now that she had gotten him killed, there was nothing left that her paltry self could do.

“...No.” That line of thought was just an excuse. She smashed both her fists on the ground. Water and mud splattered as numbing pain shot through her arms.

—Don’t get the wrong idea.

What could be done, even if he was here? Just how convenient of a gimmick do you think he is?

Thinking of his talent as some kind of magic or miracle because she couldn’t understand it was exactly what had led to this situation. She couldn’t give up. She couldn’t do that even if it meant she would die. However, there was nothing she could do. She couldn’t change anything.

—She was spinning her wheels.

The downpour became stronger still.

Being pounded by the incessant rain, Marie felt like her body was getting heavier and heavier. She couldn’t see anything in front of her on this unlit path.

The only thing she could make out was herself, who had become unable to advance in any direction.

“...Why—”

—did things turn out this way? If I had quietly died like the governor said, would things really have turned out better? The lives of twenty million people had almost been thrown away just to save face. After I had managed to save them through furious effort, now even more people than that are about to be killed because of it?

“What’s up with this...”

Marie couldn’t understand it.

—There was always someone pulling her down. It had been like this her whole life.

Even if one were right, from the other perspective, one would be wrong as well. Justice didn’t exist anywhere. Fidelity and passion could both be easily corrupted by even the tiniest bit of malice. Only what is convenient is true, everything else is just a lie.

—She had troubled herself over that fact. She had understood the way the world worked and resolved herself accordingly. Lamenting it wouldn’t change anything. She had accepted that it was the world she lived in every time reality strived to remind her of it.

Even so, the truth was, that always, ever since she was a kid, she had been irritated by this disgusting world.

Marie wheezed slightly as she looked up at the sky. The sky that could be seen from between the tall buildings was narrow and dark. The relentless rain continued to hit her face, tracing a line from the outer corners of her eyes and down her cheeks before falling.

Words that shouldn’t be said, that she had always kept inside her heart, spilled out—

“...What value does a world like this have?”

She was aware that such a thought was the height of insolence. A single person questioning the value of the world was simply laughable. The world was what countless people continually made better by solving problems little by little while crying and laughing along the way—she understood that that was the answer to her question.

—Fuck that.

I’m sick of it. I’m tired of pretty ideals.

The Clockwork Planet is littered with patches here and there that extend its lifespan—but isn’t it already too late? Haven’t the people living on it long since set in motion their own undoing?

So—even if this crappy world is overhauled, so what?

It’s been roughly a thousand years since we humans miraculously managed to force this dead planet to continue to function. The end result of all that is the situation we have now. To just what extent has the nature of man improved in that time, if at all—?

Marie lost her strength. Her fists which had been tightly clenched unraveled.

—It was then.

Clank!

In conjunction with a rather light sound, a nearby manhole was popped open. The narrow hole was just large enough for a human to barely pass through.

After that, a boy with a rather dull face poked his head out. “Wow, what the hell, it’s raining! Seriously?! Right after we escape the water below it comes falling down from above! Damn it!”

“If you consider that the filth will be washed away, it should quell your anger to some degree, master. Then again, if this rain is the result of poor maintenance then I would very much like the supervisor of the weather system to take responsibility and allow me to bury him in the earth for sullying my clothes.”

“................................................”

This isn’t real, Marie concluded arbitrarily.

It appears that my reason has blown so far off course that I’m even seeing hallucinations now. Even the great Marie Bell Breguet has finally hit rock bottom, huh.

From the corner of her eye, she could see a boy and a girl whom she knew all too well ploddingly crawling out of the nearby manhole, but it was nothing but a mirage. A nonexistent delusion. It could be the rain’s fault.

...I mean, after all, this definitely can’t be real.

“—Christ, it’s freakin’ steaming! If you’re going to have it rain at least lower the damn temperature! God, what’s up with this city?!”

“Master Naoto, is it really so upsetting that you will be unable to see me in my swimsuit, even though it is finally Sunday, due to this rain?”

“Ah——! There’s that too! Gah, dammit! Talk about kicking a man while he’s down! Ahh, but that person just now... Hm? Ah, it’s Marie. Crap, let’s avoid her.”

“Master Naoto?! Could it be that you have finally acquired the high-level skill of ‘learning’?!”

......No, as real as they seem, it’s a hallucination. This is too much, even for a breakdown, Marie. Immersing yourself in a convenient delusion like this and ending up as an invalid would be disgraceful beyond belief. Even if you discarded your name, you mustn’t discard your pride. Even if life is sad and painful, keep facing forward. Be gracious even in defeat— Wait.

She stopped her breath.

Placing her hands on the ground, Marie pushed all of her strength down into her legs. As she relaxed her joints, she felt all the muscles in her body coil into a spring.

Pouncing, Marie bounced up in spite of her wet clothes weighing down on her and, like an acrobat, flew spinning through the air—

And drove a flying roundhouse kick with all her might right into the phantom who couldn’t possibly exist—!!

“—Gehwaha?!”

“Master Naoto—?! Such inhumane violence! I see that you care little for the value of your life, Mistress Marie. Very well, if you wish to be turned into mincemeat so badly then I shall oblige y—”

“Wait, wait! Both of you calm down, especially you, princess, come to your senses already!”

“GwaHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!” Naoto cried out in agony. Notwithstanding, Marie grabbed him with her hands, upon which she let out a gasp in shock.

Choking, Marie surrendered herself to the torrent of emotion that overcame her. She felt like all her mental anguish over his death had been for nothing. Still, the physical sensation of restraining the idiot that she felt from her hands was definitely real, so with great pains, she forced herself to accept the situation.

“—If you were alive then why didn’t you say so?!”

“Gu, gueh... A, are you freaking kidding me!? We just got back to the surface moments a—”

“Shut up! Don’t talk back to me!”

“Master Naoto, please wait a moment. I will immediately tear this mad dog to shreds.”

“I’m telling you two to calm the hell down already!”

—Somehow, it appears that this isn’t a convenient delusion, Marie thought.

●

Turning the clock back twenty hours...

Upon waking, Naoto wondered where he was.

It’s a dimly lit and pretty spacious area. The distance to the ceiling is more than several hundred meters. It’s almost like I’m outside... Wait, outside? He suddenly remembered. We were fighting AnchoR when we fell, me in RyuZU’s arms.

As Naoto recalled the chain of events up to that point, a voice came from above his head. “Have you awoken, Master Naoto?” Glancing up slightly, he saw RyuZU’s face. She was looking down at him. He finally understood the situation.

RyuZU is providing me with a lap pillow. Once he understood that, he felt like getting up now would not only be troublesome but wasteful, so he simply nodded slightly and closed his eyes again. Underneath his head—was the softness of RyuZU’s thighs. He focused all the nerves in his brain on that sensation.

“You appear to be tired, Master, so please listen as you continue to rest. We are currently beneath Mie, stuck deep in an underground floor. Normally, Master Naoto would have died within about ten seconds in a place like this, which should be equivalent to outer space—”

“GahhhhhhhHHHHHHHH?!”

Naoto leapt up in a fluster. As precious as RyuZU’s lap pillow was, what she had just said was too important to ignore.

“C, Crap, if we don’t get back soon I’ll die— Wait, h, huh...? We’ve already been here for way longer than ten seconds though, haven’t we?” Naoto asked as he used his hands to feel himself over.

RyuZU nodded, answering, “—Yes. That should have been the case, but strangely enough, it appears that an environment suitable for human life is being maintained in this area. ...Actually, hm? Was it not because you had sensed this that you gave me such an order, Master Naoto?”

“Eh? No, I just said that because it seemed like there was footing for you further below. I sort of thought that if there’s another floor below, then falling wouldn’t really be a big deal...” That was all. Naoto was about to say that, but then he suddenly shut up.

RyuZU was staring at him, any expression gone from her face. With a look as dreary as a Noh mask, she began, “Master Naoto.”

“...Yes.”

“As you stand above all other humans, you are, relatively speaking, quite sapient; however, I have determined that, from an absolute point of view, you are hopelessly foolish.”

“Uh, umm...”

“Allow me to explain concisely. These are the remains of the scaffolding that were made for a mining project more than a thousand years ago.”

“Scaffolding...?” Naoto repeated in a daze as he surveyed his surroundings. Straining his eyes, he observed the dark space around him and saw countless intersecting aisles in the shape of a web. They looked old but sturdy. One could see that they were being maintained. For some reason—it reminded Naoto of a construction site. That, or a stupidly gigantic, complex jungle gym.

Seeing Naoto catch on, RyuZU continued, “This Clockwork Planet was made by using the Earth’s mantle as its material. As an obvious consequence, scaffolding was necessary to extract the mantle. After the mining was finished, it was then put to another use, serving as the foundational framework of the Clockwork Planet itself—as such, similar frameworks exist underground throughout the entire planet.”

“Uhh, that’s...”

“In the present day, where the planet’s construction is already complete and every city is operating normally, these floors are not being maintained by the Clockwork Planet’s environmental management system.”

“Which means...”

That while there was scaffolding and as such, footing, everywhere in the deepest underground floors, it was just Naoto’s mistaken assumption that it would be a place that humans could survive in—

“Yes.” RyuZU nodded, correctly guessing Naoto’s thoughts. “To put it bluntly, you should have died. Thank goodness we had been lucky. It must be a reward for the good deeds I do day in and day out that put even an angel to shame.”

“Gyahhhhhhhhhhhhhh?!” Understanding now what a dangerous gamble his actions had been, Naoto let out a cry. Despite it being in the past, he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat as his heart furiously pounded.

RyuZU coldly stared at Naoto who was so flustered he was practically foaming at the mouth, saying, “Master Naoto, once we return home I will be strictly lecturing you on matters outside of your school subjects as well, so prepare yourself. You have a rare and exceptional talent, yes, but even so, continuing to live your life without the bare minimum level of common sense would be extremely dangerous. This is what I have determined.”

“Yes... I am terribly sorry for my actions.” Naoto prostrated himself before RyuZU. Still— Naoto thought as he tilted his head. Another question popped up in his mind in place of the old one. Why is this place an exception?

He asked RyuZU this. “There is only one possible answer for that, Master. Someone has been maintaining this place.”

“Who do you mean by someone?”

“I do not know. However, I suspect that it has something to do with that unsightly enormous weapon.”

“Hmm.” Naoto nodded.

It’s true that an irregularity right under that ridiculous thing is probably not a coincidence. Above all—this place is new no matter how you look at it.

It’s worn down, yes, but not as much as something from a thousand years ago should be. On top of that, it’s dim here—in other words, there is some kind of light source when there should be absolute darkness.

The light is unreliably faint, but nonetheless, there are light gears installed here.

“In other words,” Naoto muttered, “someone is taking care of this place, right? As a transport route for that enormous weapon, or... well, I’m not sure, but in any case,” Naoto strained his ears, “we have to get back to the surface.”

If maintenance was being done on this area, then naturally there should be an entrance and an elevator somewhere as well. And so, Naoto discerned where they should head from his hearing. Turning around, he said, “Over there. Though it feels pretty far from here, there’s a bunch of sounds of mechanical operation... not to mention people as well, it seems.”

RyuZU nodded. “In that case, let us proceed. Please hold onto my hand, Master Naoto.”

The two of them held hands as they began to cautiously test the worn-down aisles. With Naoto’s super-hearing and RyuZU’s high tech sensors, they wouldn’t be inconvenienced much, even if this place was pitch black, but... even so, if they were to miss their footing, then they really would fall into the abyss this time.

They hurried on gingerly. The paths intersected each other complexly. They were also irregular—after a downward slope steep enough to slide down, there would be a gentle ascending slope and so on.

Despite what a labyrinth the place was, Naoto’s ears unfailingly guided them in the right direction. After continuing like this for a little under an hour, the path became wider, as if they had been walking on the branches and had now reached the trunk of a very large tree. In accordance, the aisles became sturdier as well, the maintenance here seeming to be more thorough.

Let’s take a short break. Just as Naoto was about to say that aloud, light entered into his field of sight. It came from a slightly different direction than where they were heading. Lots of light was being scattered from the ceiling all the way down to the bottom of this abyss.

“...What’s going on here?” Naoto tilted his head. Somehow or another, he felt like it was a gigantic building, and one that hadn’t been built that way originally, at that. It felt almost as if it were a building that had collapsed and gotten caught in a spider web of scaffolding, somehow.

Though puzzled at the surreal sight, he quickly found the answer upon straining his ears. It was— “The city... No, the core tower?”

If one were to be even more precise, it was the ruins of the core tower. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t operating. Its interior had been considerably gouged out as well. Naoto could sense just how hollow the structure was with his ears.

Next to him, RyuZU tilted her head slightly. “Considering the direction the light is coming from, the tower likely belonged to the purged Shiga Grid. To think that it stopped at this depth, it must have been awfully light... Well, it was a city with holes everywhere to begin with, I suppose.”

“Holes?”

“In ancient times, it was the region that held Japan’s largest lake. Indeed, a sixth of its surface domain was occupied by the lake, and the majority remainder, the boondocks. It was said to have been a plain, gawky provincial city.”

Naoto stared at RyuZU with a sidelong gaze. “...Hey, do you have a grudge against Shiga or something?”

“No? Not at all. It is simply described as such in my records,” RyuZU denied with a composed face before continuing, “When Shiga was mechanized, it was made into the water source for the entire region of western Japan. Mie’s climate being so sultry most likely comes from Shiga being purged.”

“Ah— Now that you mention it, I think Marie said something like that before.” Naoto nodded as he gazed at RyuZU, who had finished giving her smooth explanation. “Even so, aren’t you oddly well-informed about it, RyuZU?”

“If you have forgotten, then allow me to regretfully introduce myself again for the umpteenth time—the one who created me is the person who designed this planet.”

“Ah, I see. That’s why you’re so knowledgeable about this, makes sense.” Naoto nodded.

“———”

“...Hm? Is something the matter, RyuZU?” Naoto asked. He had noticed that she had sunk into silence and was fixing her eyes on him intently.

“Yes... It is about AnchoR,” RyuZU said. Fully facing Naoto, she lowered herself, feet touching, in a deeply proper bow. “I know this is late, but I deeply apologize for what I did.”

“Eh...? Wait, RyuZU, what’s this about all of a sudden?”

“Due to my negligence, I ended up exposing Master Naoto to grave danger. The disrespect towards you from my failure of a little sister could never be atoned for in any way, but... please forgive her. I beg you.”

Naoto was dumbfounded, his mouth agape. He couldn’t see RyuZU’s face because she was still bowing, but seeing the way she was wringing her skirt—her quivering shoulders, Naoto said in a hurry, “Please stop. Lift your head up, RyuZU.”

“......”

“You know, I’m not mad about that at all. I’m not even annoyed by it.”

“......But.”

“—Isn’t calling AnchoR a failure of a little sister going too far? I feel bad for her. Though she tried to kill us, she did say that she wanted us to stop her after all,” Naoto said in a bright, nonchalant voice.

Upon those words, RyuZU raised her head, her beautiful golden eyes were opened wide, “—You heard AnchoR’s voice?”

“Hm? Ahh, well, probably? If I wasn’t mistaken.” Naoto nodded.

RyuZU relaxed her expression ever so slightly. “To be frank, I am surprised. That girl was the one who was the worst at expressing her emotions among us sisters, but...”

“Hmmm? It didn’t seem that way to me though...”

“No, what surprises me is that someone like Master Naoto, a social reject whose communication skills are exceedingly questionable, was capable of apprehending what AnchoR was feeling. It is a miraculous feat, to say the least. I do not think anyone can dispute this.”

“Please stop, I’ll cry.” I’m sorry for being a loner, Naoto thought as he trembled.

Paying him no mind, RyuZU knit her brows and continued, “Still, if it wasn’t AnchoR’s will to attack us, then, as expected, it has to be...?”

“Ah... Yeah. That suspicious mask is probably the culprit. Like, it was the only thing that was making an awful sound too. The mask seemed like it was suppressing AnchoR-chan’s sound.”

RyuZU cast her eyes downward. She made a fist with one hand and covered it with the other as if enduring to hold herself back. She spat out just two words, “—How unforgivable.”

“Yeah. AnchoR-chan isn’t at fault at all. When we find the ones responsible, we’ll demand reparations for it until they cry.”

“Of course,” RyuZU said with a sweet smile like that of a saint. “I’ll slice them, bit by bit, starting with their toenails. I’ll drill the revelation of their mistaken birth into their very bones. And when they at last beg for death, I shall offer them a cruel public execution on such a level of despairing agony that it will leave a mark in history— a warning for anyone who ever dares to try such a thing again.”

“...Try your best to restrain yourself from painting a grotesque scene, okay?” Naoto added fearfully, to which RyuZU smiled and nodded. It was an equivocal smile that could mean either yes or no.

“...Well, whatever. Let’s keep going, shall we?”

After they had continued walking for some time, with several breaks in between, they finally arrived at their destination. At first glance, it appeared to be the ruins of a town. Above the scaffolding were heaps of scrap material taking the form of crude but satisfactory dwellings. The tower in the center somehow soared far above all the way to the ceiling—it appeared to be connected to the base of the city of Mie.

—However, there were no signs of people anywhere. There were traces of the fact that several thousand people had once lived here, but every decaying house around was now filled with dust.

After taking a look at several of the houses, RyuZU said, “If we consider things logically, this is probably where the survivors from Shiga Grid used to live.”

“Surviving a purge... Uh, is that possible?”

“They must have been very fortunate. Or perhaps one could say that they were very unfortunate, but...” RyuZU paused, breathing out in admiration of the sight before her. “...Still, to think that they would build a town in a place like this to survive. I see that humans are much more tenacious than I thought.”

“Well, they say that home is where the heart is, but I wouldn’t want to live here if I had a choice...” While agreeing with RyuZU’s sentiment, Naoto pricked up his ears.

This town was a deserted ruin that had been abandoned by its inhabitants—however, Naoto could definitely hear the sound of just one person living here somewhere. After sounding out the rough location, Naoto asked, “What should we do, RyuZU?”

“How about we ask him what he knows? He’s living in a place like this alone. That fact alone makes him reek terribly of a loser who’s leading a worthless life, but we might be able to acquire some clues on the insolent bunch who manipulated AnchoR—in any case, I could deal with a single human in any number of ways, so...”

Naoto felt a chill run down his spine. “...Well, let’s keep it friendly for now, okay?”

They walked through the town ruins towards the central tower. Doing so, they stumbled upon a small cabin before long. It was a barracks made of scrap material just like the other dwellings, but there was no dust around its entrance. A dull operating sound of a small power tool could be heard from the rear of the cabin—someone was here.

Naoto knocked on the door casually two, three times before calling out loudly, “Umm~, excu~se me! We’d like to ask you about a few things if possible~”

A voice answered him from beyond the door. “...Who are you. What did you come here for.” It was the raspy voice of an old man.

“We’re lost and just happened to be passing by. We’d like to know how to return to the surface if possible.”

“.........”

After a considerably long silence, the old man said, “...The door’s not locked. Come in if you’d like.”

Naoto exchanged glances with RyuZU, then resolved himself and slowly opened the door.

The room they had entered was as suffocating as it looked. The ceiling was low and the lighting dim. There was a bookcase along the wall of one side. Old books and bundles of papers had been stuffed into it messily. If one shifted one’s gaze to the side a little, one could see a simple kitchen and a small bed as well. The cabin had everything necessary for a single human to live.

Illuminated by a light gear lamp in the center of the room was an old, large man sitting in a rocker. He was stout and broad-shouldered. Tempered muscles covered his entire body beneath his aged skin. While both his crumpled hair and the beard that laced his chin were gray like ash, they more exuded the gravity of a lifetime’s experience over the feebleness of old age.

The old man propped his head up with one hand, resting his elbow against the arm of the rocker. He was watching his two guests with his radiant, moss-green eyes. “...Who are you guys? Where did you come from?”

“Ah— Well, you see, we had accidentally, that is...” Naoto stumbled verbally, his words vague.

Next to him, RyuZU explained, “We fell down 34,258 meters from the base of the city.”

“Right right. Umm... Well, something like that I guess? So, how can we return? Dammit. All this is that damn Marie’s fault. That walking landmine is a damn goddess of pestilence, I tell you.”

The old man gazed at the two of them suspiciously, but eventually, he shook his head slowly. He sighed gloomily, “...You can’t return to the surface.”

“Ah— Could you please do something about that? You see, I have a duty to hurry and return to the surface so I can rescue a girl called AnchoR-chan.”

“This is a town where everything has already been thrown out and abandoned. The only things that remain are myself and a modest manufacturing plant. The elevator to the surface has long been out of order.”

“In that case, why don’t you just start it up again— Hey, would you get a move on grandpa! AnchoR-chan is suffering even as we sp—?!” Suddenly, Naoto felt suffocated. His vision dimmed and his balance became unsteady. He was about to fall over when RyuZU supported him with her hands.

“Master Naoto, while it is true that there is air here, its oxygen content is extremely low. Even if you are close to the level of a being that has ascended from humanity into godhood, at present, you are still human and have not yet actually become a higher dimensional lifeform capable of surviving without oxygen. As such, I would suggest that you calm down so as not to die.”

“What, I’m going to die?!” Shocked, Naoto widened his eyes.

As she patted the forehead of his pale face, RyuZU continued, “...First your remedial lessons, then being dragged all the way here to Mie on Mistress Marie’s exceedingly selfish whim, followed by infiltrating a military facility, suddenly entering into battle with AnchoR, falling down a distance of more than thirty thousand meters, and finally a long and continuing march in thin air...”

“—I am already plenty impressed with the level of proactiveness you have shown when it comes to pursuing your perverted desire for automata, so please, rest for a little while, Master.”

“...If you want to let him have some rest, have him sleep on my bed over there,” the old man said.

RyuZU turned her gaze towards the bed silently, then nodded. Naoto had lost his strength. She picked him up and carried him over to the bed by the corner of the room. After she confirmed that Naoto had fallen asleep, she turned to face the old man.

“Now then, I will be asking the questions in Master Naoto’s place.”

“...”

“I have absolutely no interest in who you are, where you are from, or what you are doing here. However, Master Naoto has something he must do, and I have a duty to assist my master in realizing his wishes with all the abilities I have at my disposal. Not to mention, this place is not good for his health—”

RyuZU said dispassionately as a black scythe popped out from underneath her skirt. Like a snake targeting its prey, she lifted the pointy end of the blade up.

“I request that you give me, as quickly as possible, information on how to return to the surface from here. Be aware that I am prepared to utilize the full measure of my knowledge and abilities to inflict all sorts of agony upon your person should you refuse.”

“I see now, you’re an Initial-Y Series huh.”

—The scythe flew forth. It was caressing the old man’s neck as he continued to prop up his head up with one hand.

“You sure are devoted to your master.” The old man smiled bitterly, sighing. There was no sign of fear in his eyes despite the danger of being decapitated at any moment.

RyuZU inquired, “What do you know?”

“It isn’t really strange for me to deduce that you’re an Initial-Y. You survived a bout with ‘that’ and fell all the way down to this floor, right? Yet, you’re unscathed—the only automata who would be capable of such a feat are you sisters.”

“...”

“I heard that just the other day, Breguet’s daughter was caught up in a large scuffle to save Kyoto from being purged. My guess is that you are the First of the Initial-Y Series, the one that she owned, am I right?”

RyuZU didn’t answer him, her eyes narrowing sharply. “To know of such a recent event, it appears that you are not a shut-in who, after losing in life, began fancying himself a hermit after all.”

“You’re not really wrong. It’s true. I am someone who was defeated.” The old man continued, “I wasn’t lying when I said that the elevator to the surface is out of order. It’ll move if you power it though.”

“Then do so,” RyuZU ordered.

To which the old man replied, a gentle smile still on his face, “Sure, if you would be so kind as to humor a story an old man has to share first.”

●

“—And so, that’s how we got back to the surface,” Naoto said, tying things up. The four of them had been exchanging information with each other after returning to the hotel room that Marie and Halter had rented out.

Marie was in a daze from Naoto’s story, “So, you didn’t expect to die from pulling a stunt like that...?”

“Hah? Me? Die? Why?”

“Uh, well, I thought that you had sacrificed yourself to protect me and Halter...”

“The heck are you saying?” Naoto shot her down immediately and continued, “I just wanted to stop AnchoR-chan. In the first place, who would die to save a walking landmine like you? It would make RyuZU sad if I died. Plus, I wouldn’t be able to help AnchoR-chan either. Marie, could it be that... you’re actually an idiot? How would me dying help anyone? Use some common sense.”

“———”

Receiving Naoto’s pitying gaze, Marie trembled all over.

“...Well, figures, I guess,” Halter muttered quietly.

Not letting Halter’s verbal shrug slip by, Marie turned around and asked with a growl that sounded like it rang from the bottom of hell, “Halter—surely, you’re not going to tell me that you knew, right...?”

“I mean, I wasn’t sure, you know?” While being glared at by Marie, Halter shook his head, adding, “After all, we were mistaken in thinking that he would die from falling into the deepest underground layers. Though, it is true that I couldn’t quite buy into the narrative that this boy had risked his life to save you, princess.”

“If that’s the case, then why—!”

“If I had said something like that back then, would you have believed me? If you couldn’t actually confirm that Naoto was alive, my words wouldn’t have comforted you in the slightest, right? I kept quiet on the matter thinking that I shouldn’t add oil to the fire, but...”

“———”

Marie fell into silence. There were some details that didn’t seem to fit, that much is true. For instance, Halter was unusually composed about Naoto and RyuZU’s fall, but I thought that that was just his soldier’s spirit—the grit forged through years of training and actual combat experience...

But it all makes sense now.

In other words, I’ve simply been dancing around like a clown by myself, huh? The despair and the anguish, the tears and the vomit, my determination nonetheless to face what had happened head-on and figure out how best to atone despite my heart feeling like it was being grinded down were all—all just my misunderstanding, a comical one-man show.

—Great, I’m gonna kill him, Marie quietly determined. If I don’t sink everyone involved with this to the bottom of the earth and purge all proof that this ever happened, I’ll never be able to regain my thoroughly smashed dignity...!

“You three...” With a large sway, Marie stood up.

Yet, despite that, Naoto was laying out a map on the ground, completely ignoring her. “Well, leaving that aside, shall we head to Tokyo?”

“—Huh?” Marie stopped moving at Naoto’s words. She hadn’t told him about the information they had gathered on their end yet. Neither the truth behind why Shiga Grid was purged nor that things were heading closer and closer toward a headlong clash between Mie and Tokyo by the hour. And yet, how do you know?

Receiving her baffled gaze, Naoto answered, “Hm? Did I say something strange? AnchoR-chan is here protecting that enormous weapon, but she was originally in Tokyo, right? In that case, that weapon should be heading towards Tokyo now that it’s begun moving—or so I thought, am I wrong?”

“You’re not... wrong, but...” Half giving up her case, Marie sighed. I’ve slowly gotten more and more used to it, but his thought patterns completely ignore the need for proof and the circumstances behind a situation. Such things are trivial to him.

“...So, what do you want to accomplish by going to Tokyo?”

“Huh? I’m going to save AnchoR-chan, duh. How could anyone say no to a plea for help from such an adorable automaton? Unthinkable. He’d have to be a real brute.”

...This guy’s an idiot after all, isn’t he. Marie massaged her temples, warding off a vengeful headache. “...You probably don’t know this considering you just got to the surface, but FYI, that weapon intends to attack Tokyo.”

“Well, yeah, I mean, it’s a weapon. That’s what they do, what’s your point?”

“‘What’s my point’? —Now, look here, you...”

But Naoto cut her off. “I’ve been trying to tell you that AnchoR-chan asked me to help her, you know? Rescue AnchoR-chan and wreck that enormous weapon. Wouldn’t that clean everything up nicely? Incidentally, the mastermind behind this or the last boss—whatever you want to call him, he’s gotta be in Tokyo too, no? Why not just round them all up at once and resolve this incident?”

“......” Marie sighed deeply as she grimaced.

Next to her, Halter interjected, “...See, the thing is, Naoto: It’s easy to say that, but the question is what to actually do about it. Are the four of us enough to stop that weapon now that it’s started up?”

“Isn’t that exactly what we’re going to work on starting now?” Naoto snorted.

Halter stroked his chin, continuing dispassionately, “Tokyo has rallied its army and Mie has booted its enormous weapon. From my assessment, Mie should be the one with the initiative. So it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go to Tokyo and lie in wait, but if they start fighting in Tokyo, Tokyo itself won’t get away scot-free, you know?”

Naoto answered without a shred of hesitation, “In that case, let’s think of a method that would keep Tokyo safe.”

“To do that would mean to not only make an enemy of that enormous weapon, but also Tokyo’s army.”

“They weren’t our allies in the first place. It’ll be fine. We can just manipulate them for our purposes with some clever trick.”

“Well then, that would mean that—”

“Arrrggh, you’re soooooo annoying! It’ll be fine if we just cross that bridge when we come to it, you idiots!!” Naoto shouted, exasperated.

He faced Halter and Marie then continued to slam them. “No matter how many ‘buts’ you come up with, what we have to do doesn’t change in the end! At the very least, I don’t have even the slightest intention of giving up on AnchoR-chan. I don’t care who prattles at me or how sound their argument is. If they’re gonna get in my way, I’ll cut them to pieces, whoever they are, even if they’re the president!”

“———”

Marie found herself unable to respond. Seeing that, Naoto went even further, “So? When all’s said and done, what is it that you two want to do! If it’s just escaping responsibility by making excuses for why we can’t do anything, even an idiot could do that! Huh?!”

Marie’s seethed from his provocative tone. Before she realized it, she was shouting back angrily—

“Don’t look down on me!!”

Her emerald eyes were blazing as she shot those words off on impulse. Naoto and Marie faced each other down, foreheads nearly touching, their eyes glaring.

“Who do you think you’re talking down to? Just who do you think I am?!”

“I don’t care, stupid! With all those complaints stuck in your throat, you’re nothing but a landmine crybaby!”

Neither of them would back down even one step. Sparks were flying between the pairs of ashen and emerald eyes.

“It’s not like you actually even have a concrete plan, so quit drooling in your selfish delusions, idiot!”

“If your idea of a concrete plan is to just give up cuz it’s too much trouble, then who needs such a thing!”

“Haah?! Who said we can’t do anything?! Don’t just shove words into my mouth!”

“Huh, really?! Cuz it looks to me like you guys have been making excuses one after the other for a while now!”

Marie reached her hands out and grabbed Naoto by the collar in a fit of rage.

“———”

She was about to shout some curses, but seeing Naoto’s expression, she swallowed her words instead. Marie regarded the ashen eyes right in front of her while sensing the clear disappointment in his unwavering gaze. She felt her body flaring up. The humiliation made her shoulders tremble. Fury was roasting her heart.

She was fine with him thinking that she’s cheeky. Arguing with someone was a fresh experience too. She didn’t need him to pay respect to her. As far as spewing vitriol goes, they were both at fault. However, even so, there was one thing that she absolutely could not stand.

Being pitied by this guy is the one thing I won’t stand for—!!

That moment. Like a flash of lightning suddenly cutting through a dark night, she remembered something.

“I’m—!!”

Something just like this had happened before, with her and Naoto glaring at each other. At that time, she had said something—words that she had believed in unwaveringly, which she had somehow, to her shame, forgotten somewhere along the way until just now. They were a few words of pride that defined who Marie Bell Breguet was.

Marie yelled, her emerald eyes shining vigorously,

“I’m a woman who’ll never believe that something’s impossible!!”

“Yeah.” Naoto nodded as he relaxed his expression. “—That’s right. If you weren’t that, you’d ‘just be’ a walking landmine, right?”

Marie began laughing aloud, finding something amusing in his words. “Fufu... Haha, ahahahahahah!” Naoto, Halter, and RyuZU merely watched her, taken aback, but that didn’t bother her much either.

Good lord.

To think that I had forgotten such an obvious thing until just now.

Marie sighed, “Let’s confirm something. —You’re an outrageous idiot.”

“Oy.”

“—And at the same time, an idiot who’s a much better person than me,” Marie promptly added before shaking her head.

RyuZU addressed Marie from the side, her voice betraying a sense of astonishment. “It certainly is unusual for you to say something that I can wholeheartedly agree with—did you hit your head or something, Mistress Marie?”

“Yeah, I feel like my head’s been smashed in with a hammer. Being an idiot feels good, doesn’t it?” She looked happy and carefree as her tension crumbled, her posture loose, she simply shrugged her shoulders.

—It’s true, she thought. The whole of humanity might just be nothing but a big group of idiots, just like RyuZU said.

Like the words I uttered in my moment of weakness, there might not be any value in this world.

But, even if that’s the case, so what?

“In short, there’s nothing but idiots in this world. Every last one of us is an irrational, obstinate, and selfish creature—and yet we all still expect to be loved. There might not be any value in this tattered world, but there is meaning in it: After all, even if one’s worth is something acknowledged by others, the meaning of one’s life is something determined by the self.”

That’s why everyone lives out their lives trying to find their own meaning in having been born.

—At the very least, Naoto Miura understands that, unlike me.

Marie declared, “Okay, as you said, going to Tokyo isn’t a bad idea. Very well. Let’s pick a fight with both Mie and Tokyo and flip the world upside down, shall we?”

“I’m not really sure what you’re saying, but I won’t budge on the matter of saving AnchoR-chan, got that?”

“I know that. Our goals haven’t changed. You save AnchoR and I’ll save the world. We’ll do it because we want to—we’ll do whatever it takes to fulfill our duties.”

Halter interjected, “Oy oy, princess, I’m glad that your spirits are back, but what are you planning on doing?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Whatever it takes.”

—That’s right. I have no obligation to uphold in choosing an honorable method. Whether there is leeway to do so doesn’t change that fact.

“My goodness, what a terrible misunderstanding I had. Hey, we’re not allies of justice—we’re terrorists, right?” The cogs in Marie’s brain began to turn at a speed that was something fierce. As she plotted, an unrestful aura began to emanate from the petite young girl.

“I regret how I’ve been acting—I understand that I’ve lacked resolve up to now.” Marie squeezed her fists tight.

Seeing her like that, Naoto was awfully taken aback, muttering, “Uh... could it be that I just unknowingly spurred on a monster?”

“Rest assured, Naoto. Thanks to you spurring me on, you’ll be able acquire AnchoR, I promise.”

“Then I’ll spur you on as much as you’d like! I’ll push you forward with a truck, if that’s what it takes, leave it to me.” Naoto changed his attitude at the speed of light.

Seeing them like that, Halter pursed his lips, grumbling, “I don’t know what you plan to do... but seeing how you’re behaving, it can’t be something good.”

Marie nodded, “Isn’t that obvious? We’re going to do bad things.” She grinned sweetly at Halter before turning to Naoto. “Now then, Naoto, I’ll have you answer two questions for me.”

“Right... I have a rea—lly bad feeling about this, but what is it?”

Marie stuck up her index finger. “First, going by the way you’ve been talking, it seems that you think that you can restrain AnchoR, but can you really?”

“We can,” he answered immediately.

However, RyuZU objected, “...With due respect, Master Naoto, no automaton can win against that girl in com—”

“That’s not true. If it’s you, RyuZU, it’s possible. I don’t think I even have to mention this, but I won’t let either you or AnchoR-chan be destroyed. Just as she begged of us, we’re going to save her. That’s absolute.”

“That so. Then, I’ll leave the details of her case to you. I won’t ask for the basis for your confidence, but in exchange.” Marie prefaced her second question with another finger before asking, “How far would you be willing to go to see both of them safe and sound?”

“That’s obvious. I’d do anything.”

Marie curled her lips into a smirk, “—Halter, you heard him. Did you get that on tape?”

“Yeah, I guess...”

“You said you’d do anything, right? Yep, you did, you said it. As such, I won’t let you run away making excuses, got it?” Marie pressed him menacingly.

Naoto began to feel a bit of doubt, he was getting cold feet. “Uh, Umm... If RyuZU and AnchoR will both be safe at the end of it all, yeah, I’ll do anything, but... I’ll pass on dying, as RyuZU probably wouldn’t accept that.”

RyuZU stepped forward, her eyes grim, to stick up for Naoto. “—Though this is obvious, if you are hoping for a situation that would conclude with Master Naoto dying, or being on the verge of death, then prepare yourself accordingly. As it is, I already have something to say to you concerning how carelessly you have gotten Master Naoto involved with this incident to the point of nearly getting him kill—”

“Rest assured. I won’t let him die. Not him, not anyone.” Marie smiled bitterly as she relaxed her shoulders. “I’d just like to have him... Hmm, right. Naoto, what subject was your next remedial lesson again?”

“Huh? It’s modern history, why...?”

“That so? Perfect. That textbook will have been rewritten by the time we get back, so you won’t need it anymore.”

“...Hm?”

“We’re going to have them record us in that textbook. As the vilest terrorists in history, probably ♪.”

“Say,” Halter interjected, “you’re putting on quite the airs, but in the end, what are you planning to stir up, princess?”

Being asked that, Marie answered with a smile, “It’s simple.”

She paused for a breath.

“We’re going to attack Tokyo before Mie’s enormous weapon can get there.”

Marie waited for the three of them to take in what she had just said before continuing, “Adding the information we acquired on our end to the things you just told us about in your report, I now have a pretty good idea of how that weapon operates. I was unsure of how they were going to send such an enormous weapon to Tokyo, but now—”

Never mind how tough the plating of the grids are, if a gargantuan body like that walked on the ground, it would destroy everything in its path on its way from Mie to Tokyo.

If that happened, forget just Tokyo, the military of every grid in its path would intercept it, and if they struggled to deal with it, the armies of other countries would probably set out to control the situation.

To begin with, no matter powerful of a weapon it is, there’s no way it could move very quickly with a body like that. If a city was to be purged while it was traveling through the city, it would be helplessly brought down along with the grid.

“In other words,” Marie began, “That thing’s a weapon that moves underground. The reason it was made underground isn’t just to conceal it. That hangar itself also serves as the docking area that connects directly to the deepest underground layers.”

And, that should also be the greatest factor in Mie’s prospects of winning. There’s no way an army could be deployed against them in the deepest underground layers in the first place. That was because no one would take a weapon that moves underground into consideration to begin with.

No matter how big of an army they amass on the surface, if they were ambushed from underground, it would be absolutely over. From there, the enormous weapon could just destroy all of Tokyo, or perhaps even take all of its core towers as hostages instead.

“That’s why we’re going to terrorize them instead, before that weapon gets there.”

“Terrorize you say, but what are you thinking of specifically? Are we gonna blow up the National Diet Building?” Naoto asked with a puckery face.

Marie gazed at him as if fed up with his stupidity. “What would that accomplish, even if we succeeded, dummy? What I’m thinking of is much more impressive—we’re going to take over one of the grids of Tokyo at the perfect moment.”

“So... umm, just like what we did in Kyoto?”

Last month, Naoto and Marie had usurped control of all of Kyoto’s core tower in order to save the city.

“You want to do that again?” Naoto asked.

Marie nodded. “That’s right. If we pull that off, not only could we evacuate the residents first, but also bait Tokyo’s army to the city’s underground actuator as well. If we do that, their Technical Force would surely notice the enormous weapon advancing underground. If we leave the rest to both sides... Now that would be a real duel between men of honor, right?”

“I’d like to nitpick you on the details, but... well, I get what you want to do,” Halter interjected. “But, princess, we’re a bit short on the necessary manpower to execute that plan. We don’t have the time to thoroughly prepare for it either. Even if we brute force our way through, no faction would be able to willingly ignore us. In the worst-case scenario, we might even be assaulted by AnchoR.”

“That’s exactly what I’m hoping for though—well, it’s not a problem in any case.” Smiling sweetly, Marie shrugged her shoulders. “You might already know this, but I have lots of friends that I can count on too, you know?”

“—Is crushing the heart of an outcast fun for you?” Naoto muttered in response, his warped personality on full display.