2 - A True Hero
2 - A True Hero
“The Empress’s ship has vanished?” Lily asked. Junko had brought her this piece of classified information. The two of them were facing each other across the student council desk.
“It just happened a moment ago. Of course, this is extremely classified, so I wanted to make sure you heard it and nobody else did,” Junko whispered.
“Who’s responsible?” Lily asked. There was a mix of anger and suspicion on her face. She clearly had a possible culprit in mind, but Junko didn’t have an answer for her.
“There’s no information yet. But no matter who it was, he’s with her, so it should be fine..”
Lily tapped her fingers on the desk, annoyed.
“Akuto Sai? Of course, it’s stupid to worry about the Empress herself. What I’m asking is whether C-MID8 is responsible.”
“What do you want to do about this?” Junko asked. Lily grimaced.
“You must be an idiot, if you don’t know the answer. I’m going to crush C-MID8 because I don’t like them. Ever since that Nonimora girl showed up, everybody else has been really concerned with the fate of the Empire. But for me, this is all I’m interested in.”
“Then it’s a personal vendetta? I came to you because I wanted to protect the others from whatever plot is unfolding...”
Junko leaned forward, her face flush, but Lily was unmoved. She reached out a hand and thwapped Junko’s forehead with an index finger.
“Idiot. Just come out and say that it’s for Akuto Sai. And let me tell you something. Whether it’s politics or anything else, most of the world is dictated by personal objectives. You could even say that selfish vendettas were the driving force behind humanity’s evolution. Remember that. Someday, we’re going to be priests. And when that happens, if you’re still unsure of yourself, it’ll be too late.”
“That’s crazy...” Junko said, putting a hand to her forehead.
“Whether you believe it or not, someday you’ll see for yourself. Nobody does this job just to protect the empire. It’s possible that C-MID8 could even issue an order to your family, the Hattoris. Well, you violated an order like that once, so you already understand that.”
“No, I...”
“No need to defend yourself. If you understand what I just said, then go persuade your father.”
“Huh?” Junko was confused by this sudden change of topic.
“Royal guard ships were shot down. The knights aren’t gonna like this. Though I’m sure that C-MID8’s got a way around the problem. Probably they’ll blame the Marlay or something.”
“Oh... I see.”
“Which means that the Hattori will be the ones commanding our forces for war. No, we can’t even let things get to that point. War’s easy enough to start when a country’s leaders see that the people want it.”
What Lily said made sense, and Junko was embarrassed that she hadn’t thought of it herself. She drew away from the desk slightly.
“Yes... I understand.”
“Civilian rule is pointless. Whoever is the best at manipulating the populace comes out on top. And that’s the problem with it.”
Lily laughed.
Suddenly a message came in from Hiroshi.
“...Excuse me. What’s up?”
It was Hiroshi’s voice. He sounded like he was in a hurry.
“I’m about to initiate pursuit. I’ve found one of them.”
“Got it. Send me regular updates on your position.” Lily ended the call, and grinned.
“Okay, they’ve started to make their move.”
“You’re going to follow Hiroshi, right? Should I go with you?” Junko asked. Lily shook her head.
“No. You handle your dad, first. And if Hiroshi found someone, that somebody is a decoy. He’s terrible at tracking people down, and there’s no way he wasn’t noticed. But the one thing we do know is that they’re on the move, so I’m going to go the opposite direction of Hiroshi. I need to wait for his next update and then get the trio ready.”
Junko nodded, but she said to herself that there was no way she could ever beat the student council president at anything.
○
Lily’s guess was right. Kei and The One were watching Rubbers race out of the capital city center, with Hiroshi in hot pursuit.
“Alright, our idiot pursuer is following the rubber man.”
There were people around them, so The One was communicating telepathically. They were in the government district, in late afternoon. Kei and The One looked like a handsome young boy taking his big dog for a walk.
“Even when he’s not in rubber form, he’s still a giant skinhead,” Kei laughed.
“Rubbers seems to know the kid, anyway.”
“Probably from the war at the school. I don’t know the details, though. But I don’t like the kid in the Brave Suit. He’s probably met Kento.” For a single instant Kei’s smile vanished, as he glared coldly at the rapidly-fading Hiroshi.
“Did USD say something?” The One asked.
“We met yesterday. I was able to talk to him for a while, but nothing much had changed. He doesn’t suspect me at all.”
“Did he say anything about the Faceless Power?”
“Nothing more than what you said,” Kei replied. “It’s a power we need more than anything. That’s all.”
“I see. So, are you ready?” The One said suddenly.
“Stop asking that. I’m fine.” Kei laughed again, as the two of them entered a nearby building.
○
“Dey thought dey outsmarted us, but we outsmarted ’em instead!” Michie Ootake laughed to herself on top of a nearby building. She was one of the student council trio. Her specialty was the use of small mechanical bats, which made her great at pursuit missions.
“I’m curious about that building, though,” Yoshie said. She hadn’t seemed to have heard Michie at all. She lifted the goggles she was using as binoculars, and turned to the small Liradan at her side, Keisu.
“Keisu, you remember anything?”
“I’m afraid not. You know I’m not the type who remembers anything.”
It was not just humility. Keisu was the rare Liradan who was an idiot, to the point where she was inferior even to a human. With her old clothes and manner of speech, she was practically the first Liradan.
“That’s right. Now, how shall we pursue them?” Yoshie asked Michie.
Yoshie and Keisu were working with the trio. Yoshie had built a new type of mana canceler using her analysis of Keisu’s abilities. Keisu’s body was unable to be detected by the modern system of the gods. Yoshie had used this to create a field around her that would shield them from the gods’ detection. While Hiroshi was attracting C-MID8’s attention, they’d used it to hide themselves completely from their eyes.
“I dun think we can get inside da building... I’ll contact Arnoul and Kanna...” She sent an encoded message to Arnoul and Kanna Kamiyama, the other two members of the student council trio, who’d already gone on ahead. But the answer that came back was a negative one.
“We can’t follow them anymore, gyah. But we saw them get into the elevator, and there’s only two sub-basements, so we’ll just have to look at how far down they went...”
But her next words were surprising.
“The elevator light went out on sub basement 2 and didn’t come back, gyah.”
“So there’s basements below it...” Yoshie put a hand to her forehead in thought, as if she had some idea what might be down there.
And then she clapped her hands together in surprise, and immediately sent a telepathic message. Its target was Fujiko.
“Hey, Eto, do you remember that set of coordinates?”
○
“Alright... I’ll talk to the student council president. Until then, don’t do anything reckless,” Fujiko said. Her voice was calm, but inside her blood felt like it was about to boil over. The only reason she didn’t do anything immediately was that her self-preservation instincts had won out over her rage. She went to the student council room, and skipped all the introductions, assuming that Lily had already heard it from the trio.
“It would take too long to explain.”
“Everything they told me, they heard from Yoshie Kita, and she doesn’t make any damn sense. So what’s the deal? I understand that there’s something down there in the basement of that building,” Lily asked. Fujiko spoke in hushed tones, even though nobody was listening.
“That building’s basement. I figured out what it is when I investigated the coordinates. Only Keena Soga and I went there, so nobody remembers it, but that’s the spot where we did the ritual of the Demon King’s rebirth.”
“I remember that...” Lily said, astonished. “Rebirth... I only heard about it, I didn’t see for myself, but that’s when he became a real Demon King, right?’
“Yes, that’s right. I’m the one who put him into the device,” Fujiko sounded slightly proud.
“But then... don’t tell me that they’re...” For once, Lily looked a little uneasy.
Fujiko nodded.
“They’re trying to give birth to a new Demon King.”
“But Akuto Sai was born somewhere else right? Probably, at least. So why go there...?”
“When a human is born to be a Demon King, like Akuto Sai, they’re first born as a child. It’s possible that only one person like that can exist at a time.”
“Then that means there’s no way at all a normal person can become a demon king,” Lily said, as if trying to make herself feel better, but Fujiko shook her head.
“I feel like an idiot, being proud of something embarrassing I did, but you remember when Akuto fought here at the academy, right?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Back then, I was cultivating his cells to create a wave that could control the demon beasts. And that rubber man stole them.”
“That guy they call Rubbers, huh? Akuto’s not so stupid as to allow anybody to cultivate his cells now, but maybe he was before. So you’re telling me there’s a chance they might use those cells to turn a normal person into a demon king?”
Lily stood up.
“We know the coordinates, so let’s teleport there. If we do it from inside the school, we can use the school’s budget to fund it.”
Fujiko shrugged.
“I guess we don’t have a choice.”
○
“Come back, you say? They already know we’re following them?” Hiroshi said into his communicator, astonished. He’d already spent a decent amount of time tracking his foe. By the time he’d gotten the message, he’d left the city’s downtown and entered a section that was full of buildings still under construction. He was starting to wonder what he was doing there. He looked again at the skinhead he’d been chasing. The man turned around. The skinhead’s skin began to turn black, as it took on the consistency of rubber. By the time he was looking at Hiroshi’s face, his own was completely flat and featureless. It was Rubbers. The man he’d seen before.
“So I was tricked,” Hiroshi whispered, but surprisingly, Rubbers answered.
“That’s right.” The fat man spoke, and then his right arm shot out. Hiroshi realized he couldn’t dodge, so he simply whispered “Brave.”
The field that appeared when the suit teleported in blocked the arm.
Maybe he didn’t feel any pain, because despite the loud noise as the arm was smacked away, Rubbers just grinned.
“It feels a little different when a man does it, compared to a woman. Of course, a woman is better.” Hiroshi narrowed his eyebrows. His voice was different from usual. It sounded perverted.
“You say some weird stuff. I don’t have time to deal with you. Go play with yourself if you want to have fun.”
They were in a construction site, and work had finished for the day. There was nobody there to see them. Hiroshi tried to use the power of his suit to fly upwards.
“Hey! The one thing they told me was that I had to buy time!”
Rubbers reached out another hand to grab Hiroshi’s leg.
“Tch!”
Hiroshi gave up on climbing, and gripped the high-frequency blade in his right arm, instead. Rubbers let go and pulled his hand back.
“’Cause you know you can’t beat me in a straight up fight?” Hiroshi said, mockingly. But Rubbers seemed unbothered.
“I know that. Nobody’s dumb enough to go head-on against a guy holding a mana canceler.”
Hiroshi glared as he quickly began to advance on Rubbers.
“Then I guess I’ll have to make the first move, won’t I?”
But Rubbers was unafraid of Brave’s charge.
“That’s fine. I’ll just run.” Rubbers quickly hid himself inside a nearby half-finished building. “I’m faster than you...”
Hiroshi accelerated, but he stopped when he saw that the space Rubbers had entered was too small for a normal human to enter. Rubbers had slid himself between the floor and ceiling of the partially constructed building, where the air conditioning would eventually go.
“Damn rubberman!”
“I know what that suit’s flaws are. And what your usual combat patterns are, too.” Rubbers’ voice echoed throughout the half-finished building.
“So what? You don’t seem to have the field that can shut out the suit’s energy, or shut down the suit itself.”
The former empress, Kazuko, had used a special field to neutralize the overwhelming anti-magic combat power of Brave’s suit. By surrounding the area with a VPS field, she could shut off the transfer of energy to it. But only mages of Kazuko or Akuto’s level were capable of such a feat.
Brave’s suit, however, was a gift from Boichiro Yamato. Which meant that anyone who knew the code could shut it down from the outside. Right now, USD was the only one known to have that code. And he wasn’t here. Which meant there was no way he was going to lose to Rubbers.
“I told you, my goal is to buy time. You can’t destroy the building. You’re a hero, after all. So all I have to do is keep you busy.”
“...Why is USD having you attack me while letting me keep the suit?” Hiroshi said, confused by the apparent contradiction.
“Who the hell knows what USD is thinking. This thing has nothing to do with USD, anyway.” Rubbers’ answer only confused him further.
“What did you say?”
“As you guessed, the plan is underway. The plan itself is something USD started. But we’ve moved it up a bit. And that’s got nothing to do with USD.”
“What are you planning on doing?”
“Of course I’m not going to tell you! Don’t you understand? As long as you’re wearing that suit, you’re nothing but a pawn on USD’s chessboard. You’re a part of his game. That’s the only reason I’m bothering to say anything in the first place!”
He was trying to confuse Hiroshi, or maybe just enjoyed tormenting others. Either way, it was clear that there was no point in talking to him. But it was also clear that Rubbers was telling the truth.
“There’s no need for you to tell me that. I know it already.” Hiroshi said, and tried to end the conversation, but Rubbers was persistent.
“No way. I don’t understand why Boichiro Yamato chose a guy like you. No, I don’t even know what he was trying to get you to do. You’ve got no grand dreams. No philosophy. No noble lineage. No special powers. Your one attractive trait is that you’re easily moved by what others say. In other words, you’re easily manipulated by a certain type of person.”
“...Shut up!”
Hiroshi swung the high-frequency blade to chop off Rubbers arm as it attacked, but at the same time, he forgot to activate the mana canceler. The blade couldn’t pierce the rubber arm, and instead just dug into it and made it twist.
“Let me give you a tip from a veteran fighter. Don’t rush things.” Rubbers laughed at Hiroshi’s mistake.
“Tch...”
Hiroshi began to think of a way of to get out of here, but when he moved to retreat, an arm came from the direction he was fleeing in.
“...Damn it!”
Now he was mad. But not only could he not easily escape, everything Rubbers was saying was right on the mark.
○
“You guys meet up with Hiroshi,” Lily said to the trio. The five of them (including Keisu and Yoshie) were surprised, but they gave an affirmative.
“So it’s just us two?” Fujiko asked Lily. The two of them were in the area below the school that served as the Demon King’s castle. Akuto had stopped coming down here ever since Peterhausen was gone. Part of the reason was that Fujiko had remodeled the place into some kind of horror show.
“Do you not like that?’
“Of course not. We’re going somewhere dangerous. It feels like you’re trying to keep the trio out of danger.”
“That’s right. Well, Hiroshi is probably in danger too, so it’s not that bad of an idea. But I’ll be the one doing most of the work, so it’s fine, right? You’re pretty good at running, so if it gets dangerous you can just scram. But you’re the one who knows more about the Demon King.”
“...Fine, let’s go then.” Fujiko went inside the teleportation circle, and after waiting for Lily to follow, put in the coordinates. The circle began to glow as the scenery around them changed. Fujiko had seen it before, but Lily hadn’t. She gasped in surprise.
“It’s huge... So this whole space is underground?”
The ceiling was incredibly high for an underground space. Pillars the size of buildings were standing some distance apart from each other, visible in the faint light. It was impossible to tell how far the pillars stretched. It was easily larger than a soccer field.
“It’s big, but since we know the coordinates, our goal is right in front of us,” Fujiko said.
“Yeah, so it seems.”
Lily was looking right in front of them. A huge tube was stretching down from above. It was attached to the coffin that Akuto had once used. Before, there had simply been a coffin in the empty space, but it seemed to have been modified in a short time. Different types of new machines were attached to it. The tube, for instance, hadn’t been there before. It was probably an extension of an elevator. In front of the coffin was a long-haired dog, sitting as if to guard it.
“A dog?” Fujiko said, confused.
The trio had said that there was a dog. But they didn’t expect to find it in front of the coffin.
“You should be careful. There’s something strange about his eyes.”
“His eyes? I can’t see them. He’s too hairy.” Fujiko said, and Lily gritted her teeth.
“That’s not what I meant. Some things you can see if you just change the way you look, a little.”
She immediately stretched out a fist to punch the dog. But only Fujiko was surprised by this.
“What...?!”
“Hah. I’m telling you, it’s no ordinary dog.”
But Lily’s fist came to a stop right in front of the dog’s face. A mana shield was formed there.
“I see. So it’s not just an ordinary dog, huh?” Fujiko backed away.
“Hmph. C-MID8’s just full of surprising weirdos, huh? This one’s not even human.”
Lily’s insult was met with a response.
“You’re a nasty little girl. I can tell you grew up somewhere poor.”
The dog spoke. Fujiko couldn’t believe it, but Lily seemed unsurprised by a talking dog. She seemed more angry about being called “little.”
“And who the hell knows what bitch sired you! I’m gonna chop you up and turn you into dog stew, and then throw you out without even eating you!”
Lily charged towards the dog.
“My heritage is a rather complex subject. But my code name is The One. And you’re about to find out how it feels to be killed by a furry animal!”
He said as he blocked Lily’s charge head-on. Lily’s specialty was physical combat, and he’d matched her not with magic, but with his canine body.
“Orryaaah!” Lily howled, and the dog howled back. A moment later, Lily gasped in surprise. Her punches were being matched blow for blow by the dogs front paws.
“What...?”
The dog had stood up on its hind legs, and was swiftly flailing its front legs about like an animal playing with its master. But it was Lily who was being played with.
“You bastard...”
Lily paused her attack and took a step back. The One took a breath and bared his fangs.
“I’m not trying to insult you. This is my body, and this is just how I have to fight.”
“I appreciate your concern.” Lily said, and she glanced towards Fujiko. Fujiko knew what she meant. They hadn’t come here to fight a dog.
“Alright, let’s continue.”
Lily charged the dog again. The One took her head on, just like before. A fierce battle of fists and paws commenced, but it was Fujiko who moved. She didn’t join the strange battle against the dog. Instead, she moved around to the side, a good distance away from The One, and started to run.
“This was our goal the whole time. If I can just have her stop the Demon King Transformation...!”
“I knew you’d do that. And I do wish you’d think about what it means that I was sent to guard it alone, even if this is a secret mission,” The One whispered, and without much concentration created a mana barrier between Fujiko and the coffin.
“We knew you’d do that, too! I can break through it...” Fujiko reached out to deploy her own mana. Normally, the further away mana was from your body, the weaker it got.
Thus, even if he created a field of concentrated mana without much concentration, if a mage touched it directly it would be easy to break. But Fujiko’s hand failed to destroy the shield.
“...Impossible!”
Fujiko was blocked by a translucent blue shield, just a few steps away from the coffin.
“Why can’t you break a simple barrier?” Lily screamed, but Fujiko was wondering that herself.
“I don’t know! It feels like it’s made... differently, somehow! I should be able to at least dissolve a little!”
“I’ve woven the mana in a way difficult for humans to notice. You’ll never dissolve it the normal way.”
“Are you really a dog?” Lily shouted, and tried to break past The One, but he used his dog speed to get in front of her. She had no choice but to continue the battle.
“It doesn’t matter to you who I am. Now, it’s time. If Kei Sakura, the boy inside, isn’t dead.”
Just as his sentence finished, Fujiko began to see a replay of the same thing she’d seen last time. Light and steam poured out from a small gap in the coffin. The only thing different was the person inside.
“Oh...!”
At this point, Fujiko knew it was too late. All they could do was watch the unknown person inside rise. The coffin opened completely, and someone came out. Their movements were elegant and seductive, completely out of place for the room they were in.
“What...?”
Fujiko was, for a moment, entranced, and stopped trying to break through the barrier. The boy’s neck stretched upwards as his long hair spread out like a butterfly’s wings. It was like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. Akuto’s rebirth had been filled with strength and awe-inducing horror, but this seemed like the birth of a beautiful demon.
“I didn’t think a human could survive that... but I guess one did,” The One said, a cruel smile on his doggy face.
“He can’t be...” Lily stopped punching and fell back, worried by what she saw.
“He... awoke?” Fujiko whispered.
As if in answer, the new Demon King spread his hands up towards a sky he couldn’t see.
“This is... amazing. I can see them. I can see everybody’s records.”
Kei wasn’t wearing clothes. That was how Fujiko, who’d assumed he was a woman, knew she was wrong. But still she couldn’t look away. There was indeed a certain beauty in his movements.
“So this is the power of the Demon King? I can use all resources. In a way, I can use the whole world.” Kei raised a hand, and clothes came down and wrapped themselves around him.
“Even I don’t know if I teleported them here or created them.”
And then he turned to look at Fujiko. Fujiko shivered, but she couldn’t move a muscle. Kei smiled softly.
“You’re the one who prepared the Demon King’s cells for me, aren’t you?”
There was nothing she could say.
“W-What... what if I was?”
“Part of the man you love is inside me now, so I wanted to ask if you loved me too.”
Fujiko was shocked by the innocence in his voice.
“I-I don’t know...”
“I see. We’ve just met, after all. But that’s not quite right. I can tell. You won’t fall in love with me. You just thought I was pretty, didn’t you? People who look at me that way never feel like they understand me.”
Kei turned away to gaze at the surroundings, as if her answer didn’t matter to him. His eyes were strangely clear.
“I thought that if I could look at the data for everyone in the empire, I might find somebody like me. And then I might find someone who understood me, at least a little. But this is amazing. There wasn’t anyone. I’m here, all alone. Like I’m alone underneath an endless blue sky. It feels good, but also a little worrying. This is what it’s like to see everything, huh?”
Kei spoke sadly, with a face like a beautiful girl’s. But in the next moment, he waved his hand, and his face changed. A typhoon began to blow.
“Hyaah!”
“Tch!”
Fujiko and Lily tried their best to stay standing, but they were blown backwards in an instant. Fortunately, the space was so huge there were no walls for them to slam into. They were able to land on their feet, without taking much damage. If there were walls, they would’ve been slammed into them and badly hurt.
“This isn’t quite right. I was hoping you’d be stronger,” Kei said, disappointed, as he looked from Lily to Fujiko.
“Sorry we’re not,” Lily said, and began to walk towards Kei with long strides. Kei seemed surprised for a moment, before snapping his fingers as if he noticed something.
“Oh, no, that’s not it. I was thinking I’d feel some kind of recoil. Like, I’d fire it off and then feel a little rumble, or something.”
“You mean we’re not even worth your real power?” Lily spat.
But there was nothing else she could do. She couldn’t even walk another step. Kei was looking at her with cold eyes. That was the only reason. And then, for some reason he began to speak to her.
“Murder has a deep meaning. I learned that after I became Demon King. In other words, I just learned it right now. You see, if you kill someone, that means stealing away all the possibilities they had. Kei’s eyes were shining like a child’s at this newly discovered concept.
“So... what? That’s obvious,” Lily said, unsure of what he was getting at, when he nodded.
“That’s right. It’s obvious. But nobody thinks of it the other way around. It means it’s okay to kill somebody who might steal other people’s possibilities, or who has no possibilities at all.” Kei’s expression was bright.
“So you realized that by looking at lots of people’s logs?” Lily asked. “Do you think you’re god?” Her words were bitter. Kei, however, seemed unmoved by her words.
“God? Perhaps the devil would be a better term. But no matter. Anyway, I don’t want to kill you, and that’s why. You’ve got nothing to do with the job I have to do. You could say, in other words, that I’ve discovered who I can kill and who I can’t. Like a real god could, you see,” he said in a leisurely tone.
“And what is your job?
“It’s... See? Look. It’s already begun. I have to protect this place from them.” Kei looked up at the sky. He seemed to have sensed something.
“What’s begun?” Lily asked, but Kei’s reply was short.
“You’ll know soon,” he said, as he grabbed The One. And then he stepped off the ground and flew upwards. Neither Fujiko nor Lily could do anything. When they fought Kazuko, at least she was human. But this time was different.
“Are we just going to let him go?”
“This is the first time I’ve ever fought someone who I didn’t even think I could resist...”
Fujiko and Lily whispered to each other.
“That’s right. You’ve never seen Akuto fight when he was serious.”
“Maybe I’ll be less of an ass to Sai Akuto when I meet him next time... But it looks like somebody’s arrived who can help us.” Lily looked up and grinned. As Kei and The One ascended, an opening was forming in the ceiling far above them.
“Something’s coming from above...?” Fujiko whispered.
“That’s why I sent the trio that way. If I’d known we were up against a Demon King I could’ve used him better than I did. I’m just glad he made it in time.” Lily grinned.
The roof began to crumble, as if that was a signal. Someone jumped down through the opening. It was Brave.
“Him. Shoot him down!” Lily screamed. Either Hiroshi heard her, or the suit detected a Demon King, because Hiroshi headed straight for Kei. Kei tossed The One into the air and prepared to defend himself. The One stopped in mid-air under his own power. Hiroshi charged towards the unmoving Kei. But just when they were about to collide...
Hiroshi’s body suddenly lost power and began to descend.
“Huh... Wait...”
“Oh dear...”
Lily and Fujiko both were stunned. Hiroshi wasn’t wearing his suit. He was just a boy in casual clothing, falling head-first towards the ground.
“What is he doing...?”
Lily stretched out an arm to grab him. Hiroshi knew how to use flying magic, so he was probably just so astonished he forgot to. The problem was what had astonished him.
“Look...” Fujiko said, poking Lily as she turned around and looked uneasily behind them. A summoning circle had formed, and somebody was coming out of it.
“Tch. There’s somebody else?” Lily groaned, but it was Hiroshi who reacted first.
“Then that’s USD...?”
Indeed. It was USD — Kento — who emerged from the circle.
“I disabled the suit,” he said, in a voice so calm it was infuriating.
“So you were waiting the whole time?” Lily said angrily, but Kento’s reaction wasn’t what she expected. He was looking up at Kei, with a mixture of scrutiny and concern.
“Why did you do this without my permission?” Kento said to him.
There was a unique atmosphere in between the two. Despite the distance between them, both Lily and Fujiko could feel it.
“I don’t need your permission, do I?” Kei said, disappointed, as he looked from Lily to Fujiko.
“I didn’t know if your body could survive the process. That’s why I delayed this.”
“But I was fine. I was right to try.”
“That’s not the issue. If we lost you, the plan would become impossible.” His voice was impossibly calm, but the words that came back from Kei were terribly cruel.
“But it all worked out, didn’t it? Which means from now on, it’s my plan. If you’re here, you’ve realized that it’s already begun, right? So I’m going to follow the plan.”
His voice seemed filled with irritation. He turned around, grabbed The One, and flew out through the hole Hiroshi had made.
“Well, that’s a problem...” Kento said as he watched him go. He shrugged, like it wasn’t much of a problem at all.
“It feels like we just had to watch a lover’s quarrel.” Lily sighed, but her face was filled with anger.
“We need to get an actual explanation as to what’s going on here,” Fujiko said, looking coldly at Kento.
“The plan to create a Demon King in the post-birth phase has been around ever since Rubbers stole Akuto Sai’s cells. But for a while, we abandoned it due to a lack of data. This plan was mine.” It was odd how friendly he was being, but Lily decided to ask a question.
“Then what does it mean, that the plan’s already begun? Is the plan so important it needs the power of a Demon King?”
“It’s a war,” Kento said.
“A war?” Fujiko said, suspiciously. War, for the Empire, meant nothing more important than what Akuto had once done. There were no countries on earth strong enough to challenge the empire. Which meant that war was something the Demon King caused. Creating a Demon King to fight a war made no sense. However, Kento continued.
“There’s a country that will declare war on the empire. No, one that will be reluctantly forced to.”
“What the hell’s going on? How many surprises are we in store for today?”
Lily shook her head.
○
“As a member of the Hattori clan, I’d like to think you’re ready for this, but...” It was Yozo Hattori who spoke. He was the leader of the Hattori clan and Junko’s father. And also the high priest in charge of rebuilding the god Suhara. He was speaking in a tatami room in the Hattori’s mansion. Junko and Yuko were sitting in front of him. They were all in their ordinary clothes, but there was a dignity in the air that made it clear that this was no dinnertime conversation, but a meeting of the Hattori, the clan tasked with the nation’s defense.
“We are,” Junko said.
“We are prepared to not sully the family name,” Yuko said.
They were facing a war like none the Empire had seen before. Of course, even at his age, Yozo had never experienced it. He was maintaining a dignified air, but he didn’t know much more than Junko did. It had nothing to do with the god Suhara’s disappearance, but the priests of Suhara were being kept away from the developing situation. The three of them were watching a news broadcast on a mana screen.
“An undersea nation that split off from the Empire over a 1000 years ago has now named itself the rightful heir to the empire, and has made contact with the government.”
“The Cabinet is negotiating with them, but they believe there is a possibility that the kingdom took action to harm towards the Empress, who is currently vacationing to the south, and is taking a strong stance.
“The Empress’s whereabouts remain unknown, and her safety is a matter of national concern. It’s believed likely that the undersea kingdom may have harmed her. Their king insists that he is heir to the throne, which is being taken as casting doubt on the legitimacy of the Empress...”
The screen showed several ships, which were different from imperial designs. From their cylindrical shape, they almost certainly had undersea capability. These were no doubt the ships that were sent by the undersea kingdom.
“It’s a fact that word came in from the Liradans in the patrol fleet. And it’s also true that the empress is missing. But all that information was being kept hidden. From us, that is,” Yozo said.
The Hattori clan also conducted its own intelligence activities as part of its duty protecting the country. Information warfare was a speciality of theirs. But something was wrong this time. Information the cabinet shouldn’t be publicizing, was being publicized.
“If this information goes public, it means war, right Father?” Yuko asked. Her experience as an idol made her sensitive to this sort of thing. Yozo nodded.
“Even if the cabinet is manipulating the people, we still need to follow the people’s will.”
“It’s just like being an idol,” Yuko said, and laughed.
Yozo scolded her for her attitude, but he was smiling, happy that he’d gotten his point across. Junko didn’t seem to agree.
“I’m ready for this, but I believe that if the people are wrong, it’s our job to correct them,.”
“Junko,” Yozo began, a sternness in his voice, “It’s not our job to decide what’s right. If we think about whether something is right or not, we won’t be able to protect anybody. That’s just how it works.”
“But...”
“We fight for the people who do not. We kill for the sake of others. That’s why it’s wrong for us to decide who it is right to kill.”
“I understand that, as a concept, at least. But somebody is controlling the information that’s getting out. And we know essentially who that person is.” Junko began to speak more confidently. But Yozo still shook his head.
“We just have to believe that the people will make the right choice. No matter how many times we’ve been betrayed in the past, it’s all we can do. I know that the people are capable of it.”
“If only Keena and Akuto came back...” Junko whispered.
“It’s fine to trust them, but you should work to become someone that they can trust. That’s how you must live your life,” Yozo said. And then, one of the Hattori ninja knelt behind the sliding doors of the room. Yozo sensed his presence and asked what he wanted. An answer came.
“A report has come in from our naval patrols. Someone is ignoring our warnings and approaching the target.”
“Who is ‘someone’?” Yozo asked, impatiently. There was a tension in the voice that answered.
“It’s one man.”
“What?”
“Yes. One man appeared above the sea and is approaching the target.
“Someone would do that?”
“It’s unbelievable, but true. And the reports say that it’s a Demon King.”
“A Demon King?” Yuko and Junko looked towards the ninja.
“Yes. However, it’s not Akuto Sai. But its aura and mana level have the same power as a Demon King.”
Junko looked confused when she heard the ninja’s words.
—What’s going on here?
○
“An undersea nation?” Lily frowned, but when she saw the news on the mana screen Fujiko displayed, she nodded, satisfied. Lily, Fujiko, Hiroshi, and Kento were still underground. More precisely, Kento had stopped them from leaving.
“They call themselves the Republic. But they’re a feudal nation, with a king. In that sense, they’re rather unique.” Kento began to explain.
“So they’re organized similar to the Empire?” Lily asked. Kento nodded.
“But their values are quite different than ours. They have a magical civilization, but it has its own god, who places no restrictions on the use of magic.”
That surprised Fujiko.
“Isn’t that what we Black Mages have always dreamed of?”
“It would be, yes. But that’s not the issue. No, it’s possible that our differing values may cause an issue in the future. That country’s king is aboard the ships. What he thinks of us is going to affect things going forward.”
Kento’s explanation seemed rather roundabout, but Lily knew why that was.
“I see. So the King’s come in response to the Jeweled Branch?”
“That’s right. It’s the only thing that could’ve brought him up here. And it’s the only thing he could want.”
“You mean he wants the Branch, or the Empire itself?” Lily said, lost in thought.
“He’s likely after the Faceless Power that the Jeweled Branch can give him. He’s never made contact with us before, so that can only be why. But that’s all C-MID8 was able to learn when we made contact with him earlier.”
“So you had made contact with him earlier,” Lily said, glaring at him. Kento ignored her stare.
“Of course. But at that point, he was friendly, which is why didn’t bother researching further. He wanted to participate in the selection of the next ruler fairly.”
“What’s the problem with that? Why not let him?” Fujiko asked. Kento shrugged.
“It’s sad to say, but people who take that attitude are never trusted. The priests of the god Mowpha, who handle relationships with foreign countries, remained consistently on guard.”
“It would’ve been different if they could’ve just come busting in like Nonimora,” Lily said. Kento’s face took on an odd expression.
“That’s true. But the fact that Nonimora possessed secrets relating to the Jeweled Branch and the Faceless Power were a major factor. In other words, what this country probably hopes to do is steal something from the Marlay.
“That would explain things, but what exactly is the Faceless Power?”
“We’re at the point where we can only make guesses. It has to do with what The One is planning right now, too.”
“Why would that pretty boy want to be Demon King, anyway? That’s The One’s doing, right?”
“The One is deceiving all of them.”
“Then why did you disable the suit?” Lily said as she turned to Hiroshi.
“Of course, because nothing will come of killing them,” was Kento’s answer. And then he walked over to Hiroshi.
“But I do want to ask for your help.”
“My help?” Hiroshi looked upset. Kento ignored him and continued.
“Correct. You’re the only one who can fight the Demon King. I want you to stop The One’s plot.”
Hiroshi didn’t answer, but Lily spoke instead.
“That tells us nothing. What is this plot?”
“Probably, in the end, the annihilation of humanity,” Kento said, calmly.
For a moment, everyone fell silent in confusion. Lily finally opened her mouth, but now all the sarcasm was gone.
“Annihilation, huh? That’s going a bit far, isn’t it?”
But Kento crossed his arms and shook his head, as if to say it was the truth and there was nothing he could do about it.
“The One isn’t human. He’s a survivor from a species from another dimension, or, put simpler, an alien.”
“What.”
“Oh my...”
Both Lily and Fujiko seemed like they couldn’t believe it
“It’s understandable if you don’t believe me. But the Faceless Power probably came from somewhere that we couldn’t detect. The plan was to get the Jeweled Branch that acts as its key, and then get the power itself. And only someone who has the blood of the imperial family can use it.”
“Then shouldn’t they just have gone after Nonimora?” Lily asked, and then she realized.
“...No, that’s right. She’s protecting it.” Kento nodded.
“That’s why instead of talking to the Marlay, they waited for the Republic to make contact with us. That was my plan, at the beginning.”
“Plan?”
“My plan for us to get the Faceless Power. As long as things were resolved peacefully, Akuto wouldn’t intervene. As long as it was the people’s decision, you see. In other words, if we came to terms with the Republic and were able to reach an agreement. But we were ready for war as well. The Republic’s system of government has the potential to shake the empire to its very foundation.”
“I see. So the King’s come in response to the Jeweled Branch? And The One is trying to start that war, then.”
“Correct. He was thinking that if he could kidnap their king, the number of casualties would be small.”
“It’s an evil plan, but an effective one,” Lily said, with bared teeth.
“So right now they’re censoring any infromation on the truth, while the Demon King and Republic ships are facing off, huh?” Fujiko looked exasperated.
“Correct. That’s why I want you to stop the new Demon King. That’s the surest way to save the Empire.” Kento offered a hand to Hiroshi. Hiroshi looked up at Kento, before averting a single eye like a pouting child.
“Knowing you, you’ve already got a plan for if I refuse, right?”
Kento’s eyes narrowed, as if to say, “You get it.”
“Of course. But I’m counting on your conscience to choose the right path.”
“Conscience? Bullshit. You just think you can use me to do whatever you want.” Hiroshi shook his head. He turned his back to Kento.
“That’s part of it, yes. But the fact remains that you don’t have a choice.” Kento said, but Hiroshi didn’t turn around.
“I’m out. I’m not doing what you want me to.” Lily followed after him as he began to leave.
“Well, I abuse him too. So his tantrum’s partially my fault. But I don’t think I want to get involved, either. I want to fight you, but your attitude is killing the mood.” Fujiko sighed and left, as well.
“After hearing what you said, I have my own thing that I want to do. You seem to have a lot of hidden plans and secrets. You should know that it’s only women who become more attractive by hiding things and lying about how they feel,” Hiroshi entered the teleportation circle, leaving behind Kento, who seemed not at all shocked. Lily stepped in it too, but turned around at the last second.
“Oh, right. You have one thing wrong.”
“What’s that?” Kento asked. Lily grinned.
“He’s been a real hero for a while now,” Lily said, as she and Fujiko disappeared into the circle, and at last Kento was alone.
○
—Maybe I am just being a child. Hiroshi thought to himself as he sat down on a bench. With the help of Yoshie and the Trio, he’d been able to escape, but the words Rubbers said to him were still stuck in his heart.
—It’s true that I don’t have any kind of ideals, so what he’s saying is true. That’s why I just do whatever the President tells me to.
“What’s wrong? You look out of it.” The sudden voice startled Hiroshi out of his reverie.
“H-Hi!”
It was Yuko. She was laughing.
“Hahaha. What are you doing, silly?”
She was wearing a hat and glasses, and looked different than usual. Nobody in the park recognized her.
“I was just thinking,” Hiroshi said as he sat down on a bench. Yuko took his hand and started to walk.
“Well, think later. Yuko the idol personally made you a lunch!”
The two of them looked for a spot to eat in the park. Normally the mana screens in the park showed peaceful scenes, but today they were showing news programs with chryons. The standoff with the Republic ships was continuing. The news was saying that a clash was unavoidable.
Hiroshi and Yuko both knew the truth, and were praying that nothing happened, but the public was leaning towards demanding the Republic ship’s destruction. Both hawks and doves agreed that the battle would be easy, and would only be a small conflict. Of course, that would mean work for Yuko too. This would probably be her last break for a long time. And she’d chosen to spend it with Hiroshi.
“Let’s eat over there,” Yuko said, and then laid down a blanket on top of a small grassy knoll.
“I put a new type of flavoring I got from a sponsor on the rice...”
“You’re pushing a lot of rice flavorings lately, aren’t you?” Hiroshi said. The two of them began to eat, but at times there was an awkwardness between them.
“The Republic is meaningless in the face of the Empire’s righteousness...!”
A group had deployed a big mana screen in the park and was broadcasting a speech. Passerby were giving it a moment’s notice before returning to their walk. Nobody was listening, but nobody was telling them to stop, either. Small groups of two or three people were chatting in a low voice. Nobody seemed to want to let people know what they were thinking.
“Want to sit somewhere else?”
“It’s gonna be the same no matter where we go.”
“The town’s not a happy place right now.”
“Yeah... not after what happened.”
“You’re acting weird too, Hiroshi! You’ve got the famous Yuri Hoshino next to you, so cheer up!” Yuko poked him in the cheek.
Hiroshi smiled, but his smile was forced.
“I’m just worried, is all.”
“Worried? Don’t worry, I’m not going to the front lines.”
“No, I’m not worried about you.”
“Huh? That’s kind of mean, isn’t it?”
“No, I just mean that even if you did go to the front lines, I’d protect you myself. I wouldn’t have to worry then.”
“Ooh, you’re so cool.” Yuko laughed. But there was still a grimness to his smile.
“So are you worried about something else, then?”
“Hmm, yeah, I suppose I am.”
“You’re so indecisive. That’s not the Hiroshi I thought was cool,” Yuko said, and cheerfully leaned her head on his shoulder. Hiroshi’s heart began to pound as her face was shockingly close to his, and he mustered up the courage to speak.
“Um... Yuko, if you were being forced to do something big you thought you couldn’t do, or something you didn’t want to do, what would you do?” He began.
The answer came faster than he expected.
“Huh? I’d refuse.”
“S-Sure, but what if the reason you didn’t want to do the thing they were telling you to do was that you really didn’t have anything that you wanted to do, but the thing that you had to do was something that was really important, and so you didn’t think it had to be you that did it...”
Hiroshi didn’t even know what he was saying anymore, but Yuko must have understood, because she cut him off.
“Oh, you mean work, right? My job is weirder than most people’s, so I understand that. They make me wear weird clothes, which I don’t like, but there’s so many staff around me that it feels like I can’t turn them down. If you refuse, they say you think you’re too good for it and want to be an artist, and you get less work, you know? If you really do want to be an artist, you can get by anyway, but that’s only if you have something you really want and are really aggressive about it.”
What Yuko was saying had nothing to do with Hiroshi’s problem, but it made a strange sort of sense to him.
“Yeah. That’s how it is. It feels like I’m being forced to fight, basically,” Hiroshi said. “But everybody around me has their own plans, and they’re trying to use me for them... That’s what it’s like.”
“From my experience, that’s...” Yuko paused for a moment and held up a finger.
“That’s?”
Hiroshi leaned forward and waited for her answer.
“That’s... something you’ll just have to give up on.”
“Huh?”
Yuko laughed, and Hiroshi didn’t know what to say. But she continued.
“It’s just like being an idol. Nobody cares about how idols feel. If they found out you’re dating a boy, your fans will panic and say they’ve been betrayed!”
“Haha... That’s true, I bet.”
“So you just have to give up. It’s not me they’re talking about, it’s Yuri Hoshino. Of course, you can’t completely separate the two, so I’ve had the same worries you have. The Yuri Hoshino everybody loves is a lot more wonderful than I am. But that just means I was unlucky.”
“Unlucky?”
“Yeah. I became Yuri Hoshino because I was unlucky. It was pure chance that what I did became popular. It was pure chance that somebody liked my face. All that matters is whether you know it was chance or not,” Yuko said, and smiled.
“Then my suit was...”
“Of course. The ultimate in random chance. So maybe somebody will take it away from you, but that’s just like me being Yuri Hoshino. Being an idol is something I’m borrowing from my friends. So if it ever gets out that I’m behaving badly, or dating somebody, they’ll take it away from me.”
“Yeah, that’s right...”
“So as long as I’m borrowing it, I’m going to use it how I want.”
“But there’s nothing I really want to do.”
“Hmm? Of course there is. You want to protect the people around you, right?” Hiroshi felt like she had seen through him to his very core, and he felt a little sad. He felt like he was a very simple person.
“Well... You’re right. I’m a boring person. There’s not much more to me.”
“That’s normal, and there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s surprisingly common for people who think like you to be given really important jobs. But there are some things that only a person like you can do.” Yuko laughed mischievously.
“What is it that only a normal person can do?”
“Bare their emotions. Everybody around you is really concerned with the country, and society, and all those big things, right? When you’re thinking about that, you’re not thinking about the feelings right in front of you. So help them remember.”
Her words made sense to him. A lot of the people around him seemed to no longer have any emotions of their own at all.
“Yeah, you’re right, actually.”
“Yeah. So be the hero that you can become. A hero who can express everyone’s feelings.”
“I see... Maybe you’re right. No, you are right. There’s still things I wanted to do,” Hiroshi said, as if talking to himself.
“Heheh. I’m glad I made you feel better. I guess all that idol work paid off,” Yuko said proudly.
Just then, an unsettling noise came from her tablet. Her expression changed. Hiroshi sensed something was wrong, and froze.
“Don’t tell me...” Yuko stared at the tablet. There was an encrypted message on it.
“It’s begun... It’s really started.”
Yuko looked at Hiroshi nervously.
“The war?” Hiroshi asked, and Yuko shook her head.
“No. Some weird guy appeared in front of the Republic’s ships and started attacking, ignoring our orders.”
“The new Demon King... Kei Sakura,” Hiroshi whispered.
“I’m sorry. I have to go.” Yuko stood up. In that instant, the light returned to Hiroshi’s eyes.
“Let’s go. I’m coming with you.”
“Huh?” Yuko looked at him. Hiroshi stood up.
“I can finally see it. The thing I need to do. And the thing I can do.” Hiroshi slapped his cheeks to wake himself up. And then he smiled at Yuko.
“You helped me realize it. Thank you, Yuko.”
Yuko blushed. It was the first time she’d seen Hiroshi look like that.
“W-Wow, it’s like, ‘Who is this boy’?”
