Chapter 3: Operation Jave World Annihilation
Chapter 3:
Operation Jave World Annihilation
It was one week after the Jave attacked the school.
The Empire, the Alliance, and the human race had no time left, so Operation Jave World Annihilation was put in action. They would open a pseudo-Gate, send in Tooka’s final weapon, and wipe out their enemy.
Accordingly, Jogen Maneuver Academy was disbanded and repurposed as the Imperial Air Force Jogen Base. Squad makeup and frame adjustments were proceeding at a feverish pitch. Their former headmaster, Nanahoshi Kaede, was appointed consultant/advisor and went to the Capital to secure frames. Tooka Nürburg was busy making adjustments to the final weapon and the Kiryu. After a mass funeral for their friends, the Fuji Squad was incorporated into the Air Force, with Kuon, Hanabi, and Fuji joining the operation. Rin, with her injuries, was on standby.
Scouts had confirmed a large number of Queens in Europe, incubating their eggs. The one country still holding their ground had finally fallen. On the Imperial mainland, Gate activity was high, and the defenses in Fukuoka had proven inadequate; it was lost once more. Nanahoshi Kaede reported no changes in the capital yet, but that would not last forever.
After more than twenty years since they’d first appeared, the Jave were finally beginning their full-scale invasion. Mankind had been desperately struggling to survive against what had turned out to be merely their scouting parties.
To put it mildly, humanity was dangling on the edge of a cliff.
It was 8:58 AM, three hours before the operation was to begin. Hanabi was on the seventh floor of the Jogen 3rd Municipal Hospital, visiting Rin.
This was hardly her first visit. When she heard Rin had lost a leg, Hanabi had felt like she’d lost her own. She couldn’t even stand for a while. Rin’s injuries were recovering well, but what she’d lost wasn’t coming back.
It was my fault, Hanabi thought. She’d been right next to Rin when it happened. She should have helped her before heading to the Gate. How had she not noticed? If she’d just been paying a little more attention or waited for the DM diagnosis to run, she’d have known. Yet, no matter how many times she apologized, Rin insisted it wasn’t her fault.
But it is my fault.
Alone together in a spacious private room, neither Hanabi nor Rin spoke. Every time Hanabi came to visit, she just sat with her head down while Rin stared out the window, saying nothing. They didn’t know what to say to each other.
Eyes still on the window, Rin broke the silence. “You’re deploying soon, Hanabi.”
“…Mm.”
“You okay? You’re not bothering Kyuu-kun, are you?”
“No. Wait, I probably am.”
“I know you are! You’ve been crying on his shoulders this whole time. You know, it’s actually kind of a relief that I don’t have to be your only sob pillow now?”
“Mm.”
“Did…did you ask him about it?” Hanabi shook her head. Rin smiled faintly. “You’re really feeble when it comes to that, huh?”
“But—”
“No, it’s scary, I know. If I were in your shoes, I doubt I could ask.”
“Mm…”
“Oh, I know!” Rin said, unconvincingly brightening up all of a sudden. “Yesterday, Okayama came by, even though I told him not to.”
“Okayama-kun?” Hanabi looked up.
Rin gave her a sheepish smile. “He is too funny. You know what he said?”
“N-no idea…”
“He was all, ‘I’ll always protect you.’ I went so red! He’s such an idiot. I end up like this, but he still says he loves me. I’ve lost a leg! But he says he doesn’t care. What an idiot. He should just forget about me.”
“Don’t talk like that!”
“Hanabi…” There was a sudden sob. “Don’t you go anywhere, Hanabi.” Rin’s expression crumpled. “Nao…Nao’s gone, but…I can’t lose you, too.” Tears started falling. “They took my leg away. They took Nao, and not just her. Sachikou and the Amakusa sisters and everyone else are gone! I’ll never see them again, no matter how hard I look. No matter how long I wait, they’ll never come back. There was so much I wanted to say to them. But I can never talk to them again.”
“Rin…Rin…!”
“I miss them… I wanna see them again…” Still crying, Rin put her arms around Hanabi. Hanabi softly hugged her back. “So…Hanabi, promise me you won’t die. Promise me you’ll come back…!”
Hanabi remembered the first time she met Rin. The Hero had saved her, put her on an escape ship, and she’d found herself all alone at a Jogen refugee center until she was brought to the Motegi home. The head of the family heard what happened to her, grew sympathetic, and brought her into his home in the hopes that she’d be a friend to Rin, who was always lonely since her mother and father were too busy to pay much attention to her.
At first, Hanabi couldn’t find it in herself to like Rin, and they fought a lot. Even then, all she had to do was stare hard enough, and Rin would always give in. Now she knew she’d been taking advantage of her sister. Rin always held her tight during her episodes. She even started taking lessons with her, lessons on things she’d hated doing and quit once before. She was nice. Hanabi was happy. She loved her. So Hanabi knew what to say.
“I promise! I promise I’ll come back to you…!”
Goodbye, she said in her mind, bidding her sister farewell. Their embrace ended.
Rin gave her a sweet smile. “Good luck out there, Hanabi.”
Hanabi left Rin’s room, closed the door behind her, and didn’t take another step. Lately, her thoughts kept looping around the same idea.
I can’t be the Hero.
She couldn’t be like Suzuka Hachishiki. She’d been trying desperately to be, had wanted to be like him ever since he’d saved her, but there was just no way.
She let far too many people die in Europe. She wasn’t able to save her school or Nao or Rin. Command and the world at large acted like she was one of a heroic duo, but she didn’t have the right. The word “Hero” was for people like Kuon. People who could go up against an impossible choice, pick “both,” and actually pull it off, like he did.
She couldn’t do that. Not only could she not pull it off, she couldn’t even make the choice. She would just start crying and slump to the ground.
So Suzuka Hanabi wasn’t a hero. Could never be a hero.
“The media are all talking about an idealized version of you, so of course the real you doesn’t live up to it,” her doctor said.
“You don’t have to be a hero,” Rin had told her.
She was done. She couldn’t keep doing this. She didn’t need to keep trying, and that thought made her feel so much better. Oh, she thought. That’s a weight off my chest.
She gave up on her dream.
“Unh…hah…guh…enhhhhhh…”
The tears came streaming out of her. She felt so relieved, so much better, so why couldn’t she stop crying? Leaning against the wall in the hospital corridor, Hanabi hid her face, ignoring the people passing by, not even trying to hide, just letting the sobs come.
***
It was 9:58 AM, two hours before the operation was to begin.
In the 1st Storage Bay of the Imperial Air Force Jogen Base—formerly Jogen Maneuver Academy—a girl stood in front of the completed new Kiryu model. Someone came up behind her and spoke.
“Tooka.”
“…Onii-chan.”
Okegawa Kuon and Tooka Nürburg. Brother and sister in a previous life, sharing what would almost certainly be their last conversation.
Tooka had called him here, and he’d made up his mind to act upbeat about it, since it was their last time together. He stood behind his sister, looking up at the massive frame. “You finished her new Kiryu, then.” Tooka nodded. Kuon was impressed. Even with the Core, getting it built in this short a time? “You really are a genius,” he said.
But she shook her head. “I’m not.”
“What?”
“I’m not a genius. I just ‘knew’ everything from the very start.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Crystal II, the Heavy Magic Engine; these were all things researched over there. I got those memories from the Mother.”
“W-wait…‘over there’? ‘Mother’? What—” And then it dawned on him what that meant.
No.
“I remembered when I came in contact with them at Mid-Blue. I know who I am, where I came from, and why I’m here.”
“Over there” was the Jave world. The “Mother” was a Jave Queen. Kuon didn’t want to believe it, but Tooka said it anyway.
“I’m…” Suzuka Hachishiki’s sister, eaten by the Jave, and reincarnated. “I was born from the Jave and dropped into this world.”
It was unthinkable. The Queen who’d eaten Akigase Tooka thirty years before had made this fake thing, this monster, to resemble a human and investigate the world on this side. Tooka was half-human, half-Jave, a hybrid thing. Kuon nearly passed out.
“On the other side, there were people called Witches. They had powers that let them use magic without wearing a DM. But mankind used the Witches’ power for war and transformed them into monsters known as Gévaudan.”
Kuon didn’t realize how similar that power was to the Eight Hidden Forms. He just listened in stunned silence.
“The humans only maintained control of the Witches for the first three years. Then the Witches attacked, killed, and consumed the humans. In no time at all, mankind was completely wiped out. That’s why the Jave opened the Gate.” Tooka went on. “The Heavy Magic Engine works on the same principle as a Gate. That’s how I could develop it. Fragments of the memories of the Queen who bore me were copied to my body.”
“Copied…”
“That’s why both my body and magic are the same as they were in my previous life. I was dropped into Nürburg without my memories, let free for a single purpose.”
“And that is?”
“To find Okegawa Kuon.”
“Me?”
“More accurately, to find Suzuka Hachishiki’s new body. The one person on this side who stood a chance against the Jave. They knew the Gate had caused him to be reborn somewhere. That’s why I was given memories telling me I was the heir to Shichisei Kenbu, like Suzuka Hachishiki had been. If I told people that, then you’d find me.”
It seemed likely that at the end of his last life, when Hachishiki’s soul had mingled with the Queen’s, those memories had flowed into her. It was the same as how Kuon had known when the Queen would return.
Just as the enemy intended, Nanahoshi Kaede found Tooka. The rest, Kuon already knew. With no memories, Tooka discovered and developed Heavy Magic Technology, not knowing it was Jave technology, and eventually created an imitation Gate. She’d even secured the perfect position as Okegawa Kuon’s sister. And now…
“The Academy was destroyed, and Europe fell…because of me,” Tooka said. Tears streamed down her face. “When I opened that Gate, the soldiers that came out extracted data from me. Everything I learned over here is in their hands now. We’re an open book. They knew what was going on in Europe, they knew where Suzuka Hachishiki’s new body was, and they knew where the nest that threatened them was.”
The school.
The school where Suzuka Hanabi and her Kiryu were, where Okegawa Kuon and the Shichisei Kenbu were, run by Nanahoshi Kaede, the strongest humanity had to offer, the biggest threat to the Jave the military had—Jogen Maneuver Academy.
“I’m sorry.” Her expression never changed—perhaps that was the way she’d been made—but the tears flowed as Tooka apologized again. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I’m so sorry. So many of your friends died, Squad Leader Fuji’s fiancée died, Motegi Rin lost her leg, and it’s all my fault.”
Kuon couldn’t say a word. He couldn’t say anything to help her. It was all he could do to restrain the rage threatening to erupt within him. No, not her, Kuon thought, begging the part of him that was Suzuka Hachishiki for help. Not her.
Tooka sensed this struggle within him. “I wouldn’t mind if you killed me right now. I know just how much Suzuka Hachishiki hates the Jave. I know he won’t leave a single one of them alive. But…but…please wait until this operation is over.” She paused. “I will destroy them and their world.”
Even if it costs me my life, she thought. With that, Tooka turned and walked past him.
This was it. His last chance.
He could grab her shoulders; cut off her head.
Okegawa Kuon just stood there, unable to do either. His head was spinning. Hachishiki’s soul was screaming for him to kill Tooka. Kuon was using all his magic and muscles to control it. Not her, no. She’s not one of them.
How long did he stay like that? When he finally calmed down, Kuon checked the time on his Device. There was only an hour and a half left before the operation commenced. He still had time.
He turned to leave the storage bay…
“Kuon-kun.”
And found Suzuka Hanabi standing there, a look of grim determination on her face.
***
Earlier…
Tooka had told Hanabi she wanted to talk, so she’d managed to get herself to the storage bay somehow, wiping the tears that just wouldn’t stop. She’d overheard everything from just outside.
Hanabi knew Tooka had deliberately let her hear. What she said made the world spin around Hanabi. She had to lean against the wall for support, struggling to keep herself from hyperventilating.
Why?
After a while, Tooka stopped talking to Kuon and went over to Hanabi. Her face was expressionless, so much so that it made alarm clocks look more approachable. Then, like before, Tooka bowed her head. “I’m the one who hurt your sister—Rin-san.”
That’s not true, Hanabi thought. But she couldn’t speak. She was sure she’d lash out.
Head still bowed, Tooka spoke flatly. “I have memories of my previous life. I was onii-chan’s little sister. But in that life, we never lived together. In this life, too, I’m unable to stay with him, no matter how much I want to.”
Her expression never changed, her voice devoid of emotion, so why were the tears rolling down her cheeks so convincing?
Tooka really, genuinely didn’t want to leave Kuon behind. She hated the idea so much it left her in tears.
Hanabi understood that so much it hurt. She felt the same way.
“But don’t worry,” Tooka reassured her. “When onii-chan is with you, he always looks happy. Hanabi-onee-sama, if you’re with him, I believe the odds of him having a happy life improve.”
“I…”
“Please look after him.” Tooka bowed like a machine and went away.
Why? Hanabi thought. This was all too much. Her head was spinning. She had to make up her mind. Had to make a decision. Had to steel herself.
Tooka had left him in her hands and told her to look after him. But if she didn’t hear the truth from him, she could never truly trust him.
***
“Kuon-kun.”
At the sound of his name, Kuon turned and saw Hanabi.
Her eyes were swollen from crying, clearly beside herself. She wasn’t at all ready for this operation. Kuon didn’t blame her. They were all on the brink. “Hanabi-senpai. Don’t worry. This operation will end everything,” he said, trying to encourage her.
But she just said, “Kuon-kun…” again. Then she asked, “Is it true you have memories of your previous life like Tooka-chan does?”
She finally asked, he thought. But he hadn’t expected it now. He took a breath and then let it out. “Yes.”
Hanabi’s shoulders shook, sobbing. “Then, you were…” She tilted her head down, not looking at him. “You were the Hero?”
He’d kept that to himself all this time. The least he could do was be honest now. “Yes.”
“That can’t be true.”
“It’s true.”
“It can’t be. I mean…”
“I was Suzuka Hachishiki. I remember everything.”
“Don’t—”
“I remember saving you thirteen years ago. I remember dying shortly after. Everything.”
“Why?” she whispered. “Why didn’t you say so? Why didn’t you tell me? When we first met, when we first started working together…that night. This is too cruel, Kuon-kun. Too awful.”
“I’m really sorry. Master told me not to—”
“The headmaster? That’s why you didn’t say anything?” she said, her voice raised in anger.
“N-no, not just—”
“You knew how much I admired you! You knew how much I admired him!”
“…Yeah.”
“But you didn’t trust me with this?”
“That’s not…this was my—”
When Kuon spluttered, Hanabi cut him off, crying. “I mean, I mean, you didn’t say the thing that matters most…!”
She was right. Kuon hadn’t told her. That he’d been told not to was just a cowardly excuse. He’d simply been afraid to tell her. He was afraid it would disillusion her, afraid she would push him away. He’d just wanted to avoid getting hurt, and this was the result. He’d made her cry instead.
She was crying because of him.
“You didn’t tell me anything… You kept it all from me. There was so much I wanted to talk about, but…I always wanted to tell you…to thank you for saving me. I never thanked you properly…so why…why…” Hanabi buried her face in her hands. “Why did you only show yourself to me now?” Her voice was strangled, like it was forcing its way out of her. “I already know I can never be like you…!” Her legs buckled out from under her, and she fell to the floor of the storage bay.
“Senpai,” he said, about to touch her shoulder.
“I’m sorry. I can do this. I’ll do it right. I won’t sully your name. I’ll be fine…” She brushed his hand away, muttering, eyes fixed on the cold floor.
“Senpai…?”
“I’ve always looked up to you. I wanted to be like you…but I can’t be. I’ve given up. But if you’re here now…” She looked up at Kuon—at Hachishiki. The Bushi Hime got to her feet. “We will win.”
“Um, Senpai…? Are you okay…?”
“Sorry… No, that’s not right. Mm, yes. I know. I lost control for a moment there, Kuon-kun. Or should I call you Hero?”
It hurt to see her fake it like this.
To become a hero, Hanabi had unconsciously divided herself into two people, the weaker Maiden and the stronger Bushi. She was forcing herself into the latter role now because that was the only way she could stand upright.
“No, Kuon’s better…but…”
“Right, okay. I’ll go on ahead. See you later.” She turned on her heel and walked away. Kuon was left staring blankly after her, unable to say a word.
***
It was 11:45 AM, fifteen minutes before the operation was to begin. Nearly all forces the alliance and Empire had were assembled in Mid-Blue airspace near Aohime Island. Preparations for the operation were nearly complete. The “mirror” was set up, and the Nürburg, with Tooka on board, was in position.
The flagship Kuou was surrounded by an intimidating number of motherships. From there, the fleet commander Admiral Shirota addressed all assembled. He was a grizzled veteran. His hair was turning white, but years in the field had kept him in prime physical shape with no signs of deterioration. The conscience of high command, he’d furiously argued both publicly and privately against the decision to send the Student Echelon alone into the pseudo-Gate last time. He was the kind of macho grandpa who’d earned the trust of his wife, HQ, and the fiercest Air Force Cavalleria.
“The goal of this operation is to send the Nürburg to the Jave’s world and destroy their solar system. The fate of the Empire and the human race will be decided here!” Shirota said.
Tooka and the mechanics had barely slept the last week getting things ready. As a result, they’d finished in time for the operation—the product of sheer desperation. All that remained were the final checks, and those would be completed in the next fifteen minutes, at which point they’d open another pseudo-Gate.
Kuon was waiting in the storage bay of a mobile mothership at 30,000 meters, along with Hanabi and her Kiryu. Hanabi only managed to deploy her Maneuver after a military doctor had given her some simple hypnosis and a few drugs to calm her down. Before that, she had been unable to use a DM at all.
Fuji joined them, his Division Maneuver already active. Surprised, Kuon asked, “You’re good already, Squad Leader?”
After his fiancée’s death, Fuji went on leave until right before the operation. He’d gone to visit Nao’s family for the wake. “Yeah, sorry, Okegawa-kun. The time for grieving’s over. Now it’s time to avenge Nao and the others.”
Fuji looked just like he always did, so Kuon nodded. “Yeah. Let’s win this thing.”
Hanabi was already docked with the Kiryu, so she popped open a window. “You came, Fuji-kun?”
She sounded cold, and Fuji picked up on it immediately. “Sorry I’ve troubled you. And thanks.”
“That goes for all of us. Don’t worry about it.” Then she whispered, “Either way, it ends today.”
The Fuji Squad and the majority of the other squads were deployed on the far side of the mirror. When the Nürburg opened the Gate and the enemy came flooding out, they’d be ready for them. They’d laid traps for them. A terrifying number of hover mines were scattered everywhere, enough to darken the sky. When the pseudo-Gate opened, the enemies would charge headlong into that minefield. The ensuing fireworks would be the signal for the Fuji Squad’s Kiryu to drop a bomb from above, buying time for the Nürburg to enter the pseudo-Gate. It would then open a door on the other side and enter the Jave world. Tooka would eject, the Nürburg would blow itself up, and the Jave solar system would collapse into a magical black hole.
That was command’s plan, anyway.
But the best laid plans often go awry, especially when those plans have the fate of the human race at stake.
Admiral Shirota’s speech was still in progress. “May you all fight well,” he said.
And then the sky split open.
“Multiple Heavy Magic Reactions near the Pseudo-Gate!”
“What?! The operation hasn’t begun!”
“These are…enemy Gates! Four…no, five! Five Gates!”
“Jesus!”
“The Gates are opening!”
Black fields appeared above and around the mirror. Crackling, sparks flying, five Jave Gates yawned open.
Manta came flying out in the opposite direction from the last fight, headed right towards the Nürburg. In other words, the minefield was useless, and the troops were positioned in the worst possible place.
Admirable Shirota was flooded with reports from his staff.
“They’ve avoided the minefield!”
“Enemy mantas swarming the Nürburg!”
“Commence operation!” Shirota yelled. “Get that pseudo-Gate open!”
“But the final checks…”
“Forget them! They’ll destroy the Nürburg! We’ll be too late!”
“Roger that!”
A moment later, dozens of mantas penetrated the Heavy Magic Field surrounding the Nürburg.
The operation had begun.
The Air Force units began attacking the Jave clustered on the far side of the pseudo-Gate. The attackers dove in, the snipers backed them up, and the enemy didn’t budge. After all, there were five Gates with five times the number of enemies in most battles. And if there were Gates…
“Enemy Queens! Five of them!”
“Damn it, they’re already arriving?!”
Queens to the side of the Nürburg were slowly emerging from the five black moons around the pseudo-Gate. Cavalleria fighting the manta nearby were quickly snagged by their tentacles and hurled into countless mouths, eaten alive in passing.
“Arghhhhh!”
“No, noooo!”
“Damn iiiiit!”
Cavalleria screams echoed. In their midst, the Queens’ conical bodies turned towards the sky, gathering light.
“Evasive actions!” Admiral Shirota yelled. “All ships, move to—”
Bam bam bam bam bam! Five massive white lights flashed. The mobile motherships ringing the Kuou exploded one after the other, going up in flames, and a number of them fell to the ocean below. Half the forty ships in the fleet were lost in an instant, and the Queens were charging another round.
“Second barrage, incoming!”
“Don’t let them fire!”
“Too late, interference can’t make it in time!”
The lights grew larger. Then…
“Roger, counterattacking.”
Two even larger bullets swallowed up one of the Queens, detonating it. Those bullets were High Nova Launcher shots, which meant…
“The Kiryu! You made it in time!”
It took time to get the Heavy Magic Engine for their newest weapon running, and the battle had started unexpectedly, so the Kiryu had only just dropped down. It fired another round before the Queens could react.
“Twin Nova Launcher, firing,” the Bushi Hime whispered calmly. As she did, two bullets fired at once. The targeted Queen tried to flee to the side but wasn’t fast enough. A direct hit vaporized her. The two bullets didn’t overlap but left a gap between them, preventing the enemy’s escape.
The three remaining Queens fired back, but the Kiryu made no attempt to dodge, flying straight at their bullets and meeting them head on. With the Heavy Magic Field at maximum output, the enemy bullets easily slid off it, and the Kiryu’s twin heads opened, howling.
Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…!
A Queen howled as it was bathed in light bullets, dissolving as the Kiryu swooped by. The two-headed dragon flew between the pseudo-Gate and the ocean surface, turned 180 degrees, and targeted the two remaining Queens.
The rider spoke. “Reimei (Second Drag Ride), exterminating opposition.”
Tooka Nürburg had used the recovered Kiryu Core to make a new mechanical dragon, the Second Drag Ride. Wearing it was one of the Twin Star Heroes—the Division 5, Suzuka Hanabi. Kuon and Fuji rode tandem on her back, both for protection and for backup.
The Queens moved.
Screeeeeeeeeeeee!
The mantas attacking the Air Force wheeled back, charging the Kiryu, in a Jave assault designed to smash through the Heavy Magic Field.
“Hmph,” Hanabi snorted, sounding bored. She launched weapon containers from both the Kiryu’s wings. Hundreds of Servants flew out, firing a torrent of light bullets that easily halted the wave of trash Jave. Before that torrent died down, she fired her main weapon.
Bwam!
Piercing through the Jave’s red mist and shock waves, the two bullets passed below the pseudo-Gate, swallowing a Queen. Her death throes echoed. Mankind’s mortal enemy, so threatening a moment before, vanished without a trace.
That was easy, thought Hanabi. She could tell she was strangely unemotional. Maybe it was the shock of forcing her personality change, or the influence of the hypnotism. To protect the fragile screams of her psyche, she was processing everything like it was taking place far away, somewhere with no connection to her. There was a lid on her emotions.
So perhaps what happened next didn’t even count as letting her guard down.
“Suzuka-kun!”
The cry from her squad leader barely registered. What’s he all worked up about? she thought. The enemy attacks can’t affect them, and the last one isn’t even facing us.
Isn’t facing us?
It took her two full seconds to realize that was strange.
A fatal two seconds.
“Nürburg, major damage!”
“What?!”
The flagship crew and admiral’s screams echoed in her ears. On the other side of the pseudo-Gate, in the shadow of her minions’ desperate cover, the last Queen’s bulk was wrapped around the Nürburg. Countless tentacles writhed around it. For two full seconds, Hanabi stared blankly as the Queen squeezed.
She couldn’t do anything.
The mirror split. Cracks ran across its surface right before it shattered. On the Kuou’s bridge, they watched, helpless to do anything.
“Pseudo-Gate has collapsed! Nürburg’s Gate functions ceasing. Admiral!”
“Has the operation failed?”
“Wait…”
“Now what?”
“No! Nürburg moving! Entering enemy Gate!”
“That fool!” Shirota roared. He opened a comm immediately. “Don’t, Tooka-kun! The enemy Gate isn’t stable! We can’t maintain it! You’ll never make it back!”
“Doesn’t matter,” Tooka replied.
“It does! Wait till we repair your machine!”
“More enemy Gates will open before that happens. Next time it’ll be more than five. This time they will wipe us out.”
“But—”
“This is my decision, Admiral. You know the truth about the Nürburg, and you still gave me this opportunity, for which I am grateful.”
“Tooka-kun, don’t!”
The massive black egg changed course. With the last Queen still clinging to it, it dove into the enemy’s Gate, and there…
“Tooka!”
Kuon came racing after her, leaving the Kiryu behind. He remembered what Tooka had said: “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”
Why couldn’t he just have said, “It isn’t”?
He could have told her, “This was all the Jave’s doing. You didn’t know. You were just used. You were eaten, killed. It isn’t your fault. You did nothing wrong.”
Why hadn’t he just said that?
The Nürburg was entirely inside the enemy Gate. Tooka opened a private comm to Kuon. “Goodbye, onii-chan. I’m going back to the world where I was born.”
“No, wait!”
“I’m glad we could be together, even if only for a little while.”
Those were parting words. A wave of anger he couldn’t understand coursed through Kuon’s entire body. Tooka was prepared to sacrifice her life to save the world. Once again, a member of his family was about to die right before his eyes at the hands of the Jave.
Suzuka Hachishiki’s sister.
His sister.
Just like his father and mother and the nuns and his friends at the orphanage and his friends in the Air Force. He couldn’t let that happen. “You hideous mutant monsters…!”
Did the Jave Queen hear him whisper? Or sense something else? The Queen clinging to the Nürburg turned, reaching her tentacles towards Kuon as he approached.
“Outta my way!”
Dodging with Tensetsu, he took the Shitotsu stance…
Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesccrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
The Queen’s light of life scattered, turning to mist. Without hesitation, he’d unleashed the ultimate art he’d been forbidden to use.
Kuon went silent.
And then he went after Tooka and was about to enter the collapsing Gate when…
“Kuon-kun!”
Hanabi came after him. Fuji wasn’t with her, so she must have cut him loose. She was trying to use the Kiryu’s Heavy Magic Engines to maintain the Gate. “The Gate’s closing!” she yelled, grabbing Kuon’s arm. “It’ll collapse before you can catch Tooka-chan!”
“Let go of me.”
“You won’t make it in time!”
“Let. Go.” Kuon brushed her arm off him. As he did so, the Kiryu’s engine stalled again.
“No…why…?” Hanabi cried.
“You’re going to live,” said the other half of the Twin Star Heroes—no, the man once called the Hero. He turned back to look at Hanabi. “I’ve got to go avenge everyone.”
She’d heard those words before. Hearing them again now stopped her, like she’d frozen up. This is my fault, Hanabi thought. If only I’d realized what the Queen was doing faster. If I’d just killed them all without letting them do anything.
Kuon wouldn’t have turned back into him.
In front of her was the Hero who’d died thirteen years ago. Once again, he was going to leave her behind and head into a Gate.
While she reeled, Kuon turned his back on her and went inside the closing Gate. With the Kiryu’s engine stalled, she couldn’t go after him. Fuji called her name, and at last she resumed functioning.
“Wait, don’t go! Hero!” She reached out, shouting, but it didn’t reach him. The Gate swallowed Kuon, closing in front of her. He never once looked back.
“Why…?”
The Kiryu was falling. It faced the sky as gravity dragged her towards the ocean. Before her eyes, the black moon with the Soukyu inside vanished completely.
“No…no…”
Her hands reached out towards the sky, and then she covered her face with them.
“Whyy….?!”
She hit the water. The Reimei’s bubble protected her, and as she sank below the surface, she let out a wail that no one heard.
“Whyyyyyy….?!”
She’d been left behind again. He hadn’t chosen her.
She was alone once more.
***
There was a rainbow flowing past Tooka.
It felt like tumbling into a valley or climbing a sheer cliff face, like both and neither at the same time. The wall was covered in a pattern of light in all colors of the rainbow, and it flowed past her like a river or a waterfall. Each part of the flow was a “time” and a “world”, and in the cockpit of her giant cracked egg, Tooka Nürburg was certain of one thing.
She was crossing over multiple axes in time, across multiple lines between worlds, on her way to the Jave world.
She was inside the Gate. The door on the other side was open, and she was on her way through. In a sense, that was home—where her current body was born. Akigase Tooka had been eaten, and the mother that had caused her to be reborn as Tooka Nürburg was on that side.
Maybe…
Maybe that side was a world of beauty. There were no humans. Perhaps it was filled with primordial forests. Then the rainbow abruptly ended, and she was through the Gate.
At least, she should have been. But this didn’t make sense.
The landscape before her was exactly like the capital.
The images shown on her cockpit’s screens showed the ruins of a city, as if people had been living there until quite recently. There were reddish-black conical shapes like Jave eggs around, but this world didn’t seem like their nest. However, Tooka’s memories said otherwise. She knew this was another Earth, a parallel world to the one Kuon and his friends lived on.
The area around the Capital was unnaturally dark, but she could see sunlight in the distance. She looked up to find the reason. The sky was covered by a massive disc-shaped Jave floating overhead with a terrifying number of mouths and eyes staring at Tooka and the Nürburg.
I have to do this.
Before the enemy attacked her, while it was still just watching, she needed to activate the magic black hole and destroy this solar system.
She booted the program. Heavy Magic Engines were at full power. The field was active, disseminating the energy from the Crystal II. She would open two Gates inside it, and they’d expand until a black hole large enough to swallow—
Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssccccccccrreeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
It shook her entire body. It took ages for her to realize the shock wave her sensors picked up was a sound.
It required even more processing before she knew this was the voice of the Jave covering the sky. It was a war cry, the brutal scream of a carnivore who’d spotted prey and was summoning its pack.
Like a swarm of locusts, black shadows closed in on the Nürburg from all directions. Every one of those was a manta-type Jave, and with this machine using its Heavy Magic Field to generate a black hole Gate, it would never stand a chance.
She was about to die.
Somehow, she found herself crying. She was supposed to be half-Jave, yet she was afraid to die. But her hands never stopped advancing the program. She’d removed the last safety device, and all she had left to do was pull the trigger. If she did, the Nürburg would become multiple Gates, swallow the Jave nest, and vanish. And she would be the first to die.
She hesitated for a tiny moment. She closed her eyes.
The face she pictured was the master who’d essentially raised her. The mother who’d taken in a total stranger, a fraud pretending to be the heir to her precious Fencing school, and raised her like her own daughter. Nanahoshi Kaede was strong, kind, and cool. Tooka loved her.
Mother, thank you for everything. And goodbye.
She pulled the trigger.
The next moment felt endless. She forgot to breathe. A single second seemed to take hours. She felt faint. A tear fell from Tooka’s face, falling slowly like a feather. The tear hit the floor of the cockpit, and smaller droplets splattered around it, and she felt like she’d been watching it fall for a full day.
But nothing happened.
“Huh…?”
She pulled the trigger again. No change. Her eyes swept across the monitors around her. Engine good, field out, oil and electric gauges normal, subsystems all clear…except one.
Magic Pressure was at 99.98%.
So close. The magic pressure required to generate the first Gate wasn’t functioning because of the damage it took when the Queen attacked her back on Earth.
No!
The mantas were almost here. She hurriedly expanded her Heavy Magic Field. She had to buy herself enough time to repair the machine. The high capacity field barely withstood the enemy assault. The mantas stopped, as if stabbed into the Nürburg’s field. She had approximately eight seconds before they broke through. That much time to repair the—
A massive hand reached down from the sky, a tentacle from the disc Jave. Its tip touched the field around the Nürburg and pulsed, sending ripples across the surface of the field.
Vorp.
“Unghhh….?!”
It felt like something stirring her brain. A scream tore out of her. Electricity ran from her brain down to her tailbone, and her back arched itself. She was inside the cockpit, but the disc Jave had created a magical link to her.
“Augh…ghhh, ah, no, st-stoppp, eek, ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
It was kneading the inside of her head. Her vision warped, twisted, flipped. Waves of pain ran across her body as though her skin were being peeled. Her body convulsed like every fluid in it was flowing backwards, and she was not even allowed to pass out, only scream and cry. Forgive me. Save me. Kill me. Those three wishes came out as screams, and even as they did, she knew what it was they were after.
Okegawa Kuon floated across the back of her mind.
The Jave contact was pulling up his memories.
Onii…cha—
Tooka was just happy she’d remembered him before she died. She was even grateful to the Jave for it. It saved her. Now she could die in peace. She closed her eyes.
Shichisei Kenbu.
Just then, she heard a familiar voice and was released from all pain. On the screens, she saw the manta around the Nürburg and the disc Jave’s tentacle sliced to pieces by a blue Blade. Before she could process what that meant, Tooka passed out.
Wrapped in a black cloak, a single Cavalleria swept out of the Gate behind the Nürburg just before it vanished. Running sideways across the sky, he fired the boosters that lined his cloak and jumped. “Jumped” was definitely more accurate than “flew.” He might not be able to move freely through the air, but he could launch himself. He landed on one knee on empty space a few centimeters above the Nürburg’s Heavy Magic Field and rose to his feet.
“The Black Hole Gate hasn’t been activated. She failed?”
It was Okegawa Kuon, wearing Soukyu (Pleiades Wind) and sporting a new extra weapon Tooka had made specifically for him. One he hadn’t had a chance to use while serving as the Kiryu’s backup.
Tooka’s not responding. She’s alive, but…
He wanted to get inside the Nürburg and slap her awake, but he didn’t have time. He’d used Ryuenbu to slash away all the enemies around them, but reinforcements would be coming quickly. Most of all…
“Don’t you look down at me, monster,” Kuon muttered, glaring at the massive disc-shaped Jave floating above him. He’d never seen this type before, and it seemed likely this one even outranked the Queens. If he couldn’t kill it, they’d never get a black hole Gate open, even if Tooka did wake up. The soul of Suzuka Hachishiki that had awakened within Kuon forced his face into a grin. The fury of a hero whose parents and family and friends and sister had all been murdered was tainting Kuon’s own heart. Kuon had seen his friends and school and the people he’d tried to save in Europe slaughtered in the same way, and found it intensely satisfying to let himself bathe in the flames of that fury.
“Perfect. You’ll be the ideal test for my new form.”
He pulled the Ultra Magic Hardened Blade from his hip. The thruster nozzles inside his cloak lifted him up. A horrific quantity of eyes stared down at him from the disc above. He took a breath.
“Let’s go, Pleiades Wind!”
The disc Jave fired several hundred light bullets, and Kuon vanished.
As the invisible bullets slid off the Nürburg’s field and slammed into the ground, Kuon appeared diagonally above where he’d been. He hung there for a moment and then kicked off the air, leaping again. Cloak fluttering, he shot upwards towards the enemy looming far above.
Pleiades Wind was a hell of a thing Tooka had created for the Gate extermination operation. It kept the Shichisei Kenbu’s Nine-count Strike intact but took the bulky, cumbersome additional boosters, minimized them, and lined his cloak with them. The cloak itself was a cooling system for the thruster nozzles.
It also had one more feature.
“This is perfect, Tooka,” Kuon grinned, having stair-jumped all the way above the disc Jave. The cloaks thrusters were capable of momentary bursts of power, enabling large jumps but not the continuous output of your average DM. Division 1 power simply wasn’t suited for aerial combat.
But this gave Kuon the means to overcome that weakness.
He paused again in mid-air. At his feet was a round space approximately three meters wide. In that one place, the color of the sky and the flow of the clouds changed. Light reflected off of it like a round mirror.
Kuon was standing on a transparent, glass-like disc. The blue of the sky and the flow of the clouds and the light of the sun were all reflected off this virtual image. This was the Pleiades Wind’s secondary function, the Hortensie Felt—a function that generated an invisible foothold in mid-air.
The principle was simple: a portion of the Witch Bubble that normally surrounded him was instead solidified at his feet. This had been a common function in the first-generation DMs, but as time went on, the focus shifted to aerial combat using high-level magic. Since generating the foothold minimized the energy directed to the Witch Bubble and left the Cavalleria nearly defenseless, the technology was soon deprecated and eventually forgotten entirely. Tooka had happened across it in a German museum, displayed like a relic of ancient times. But for someone with magic as low as Kuon’s, a foothold was huge help.
The Witch Bubble was a magical weapon from the previous century, allowing operation in outer space or the ocean depths alike. It was an invincible shield of magic impenetrable by any physical attack, whether it be a nuclear missile or an orbital strike. Kuon was moving faster than the speed of sound, but the impact of his landing would never shatter it, which was ideal.
It was a Witch Wall that could not be harmed except by Jave attacks, since both their flesh and bullets were made of magic.
Countless eyes on the top of the disc Jave turned towards him. By then, a hail of light bullets had already shattered his foothold. The remains of it reverted to invisible particles, pulled after Kuon—who had leapt away a few moments ago—like iron filings drawn to a magnet.
Kuon made a foothold directly above it. He landed on it upside down and spread his cloak.
Shichisei Kenbu.
Bam! An ear-splitting crack echoed as the Cavalleria easily broke through the sound barrier, lunging towards the disc Jave. With the Jave’s aim thrown off, Kuon didn’t even need to dodge its bullets; they passed harmlessly by. It gathered several hundred tentacles in an attempt to block his path, but…
Chijin.
He was suddenly somewhere else—at the edge of the disc. This art combined his shukuchi with the thruster’s output. His left arm thrust forward, heedless of his master’s warnings.
Ultimate Art: Mumyo Tosen.
The Blade in Kuon’s hand shot forward. It struck the light of life he saw within the disc Jave, generating Magical Dispersal.
Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
As the disc Jave fired bullets in Kuon’s direction, more tentacles burned away the area Kuon had stabbed. The disc was cutting a portion of its own flesh away, like amputating a gangrened limb.
“…Tch.”
Kuon frowned as he leapt wildly through the air, struggling to calm his ragged heartbeat. Was this why he’d seen several lights of life? Was this thing not a single Jave but several fused together? He couldn’t see a brain or any sort of command center. He supposed that meant he’d just have to kill all of them.
“Nine-count Strike.”
As Kuon bounded around, nine arms fanned out from the outside of the cloak on his back. With this halo backing him, Kuon swung his Blade sideways, focusing his magic.
“Shijin—Reppakuzan!”
A massive, seemingly infinite red light flew towards the disc Jave. It threw up hundreds of glowing tentacles, blocking Kuon’s red sword with a crackle that shook the air. Two seconds later, the Reppakuzan’s power weakened and the sword dispersed, the particles scattering through the air. One side of the disc had melted a little, but he’d been unable to significantly damage the disc Jave.
“Damn it…!”
Nine-count Strike allowed him to boost his magic to Division 5 for a mere nine seconds. He’d used six of those seconds and barely scratched it. While back on his foothold, he tried to catch his breath and accept that fact.
The disc Jave fired bullets in Kuon’s direction. He used Tensetsu to predict the future, searching for evasion routes, and saw a surprising attack line. There weren’t just lines in front of him but also an insane number of them coming from below. Retreating, he dodged them all, and then he spied the source.
A few dozen Queens were gathering on the surface.
“…Tch.”
The click of his tongue was inaudible over the roar of the enemy attacks, even to him. Light bullets fired at him in such huge quantities that it was barely even a metaphor for rain anymore. He dodged with a bound, knocking them aside with his twin Blades, but he couldn’t keep that up forever. Even using shukuchi to rapidly move around, even using Tensetsu to predict the future, there was nothing he could do if there was nowhere to dodge to. He fled higher and higher, and the enemy followed. Kuon spied a swarm of mantas through the bullets and quickly swung a Blade, but he never saw the other group coming from his blind spot. With time frozen by Tensetsu, he saw gnashing teeth behind and below him, realizing there was no way to dodge.
Don’t screw this up, he told himself. If you make the wrong move, you’re dead. Kuon spent what felt like fifteen full seconds staring at the inevitable future a second ahead. Before Tensetsu ran out, he made his choice.
Not to die, though. This wasn’t the time for that.
No, he’d made up his mind to leave one of them behind.
A manta whooshed by on his right. Kuon threw himself left, avoiding instant death. A burning heat ran through his right arm. The Witch Bubble quickly stopped the bleeding, covering his arm in bubble-like light.
Everything below his right elbow had been eaten.
“Shit! That really hurt, asshole…!”
The pain and shock left him dizzy, but he didn’t have time to cry about it. Watching the manta fly off as it chewed his arm, Kuon turned and braced himself. The rain of bullets had died down, but the Queens had started producing a flood of mantas. Kuon laughed out loud. Alone like this, they were giving him a real run for his money.
All I need is one arm, Kuon thought. I can still use my ultimate art. He was going to die here anyway, so no point worrying about the consequences. Let it chip his life away.
As he’d run, he’d been climbing; now he was at 20,000 meters. The former Hero glared down, letting hatred burn within.
“Come at me.”
His eyes no longer saw the present. He was seeing distant memories, monsters swarming over towns that had burned just like this one. There was someone he loved, but he’d forgotten who.
He couldn’t afford to remember.
***
Nearly three days had passed since Kuon and Tooka vanished through the Gate.
There were no reports of Gates vanishing anywhere in the world or any signs that a Heavy Magic Collapse had been triggered. The Empire and the Alliance concluded that Tooka had failed.
Humanity had only one hope remaining: use the Heavy Magic Engine on the Kiryu to force open a Gate, locate the Nürburg where it lay on the other side, and this time generate a magic black hole. It was their only chance.
But they had no way of knowing if the Nürburg was intact. No way of knowing the situation beyond the Gate. Comms couldn’t go through. All they knew was that no further Gates had opened.
The biggest impediment to their plan was that the only person who could fly the Kiryu, Suzuka Hanabi, had yet to recover from that battle. She was the sole Division 5 remaining.
Rin had chosen crutches over a wheelchair. She’d come running from her own hospital, moving through the ship on her remaining leg and the crutches. The sensation that her missing leg was still there was a trick of the mind, but she had phantom pains from everything below the thigh.
Medication hadn’t been enough for Hanabi. Therapy wasn’t helping her, either. Squad Leader Fuji had called Rin to the Kuou’s medical bay, saying that Hanabi needed Rin’s voice. So dumb. Her voice wasn’t magic. If she could help at all, it would be some other way.
Hanabi.
She thought about slapping her and dragging her along, no matter how much she cried and wailed. Just grabbing her by the scruff of her neck and pulling her out. She was certain this was her duty as her friend and adopted sister.
But this resolve died the moment she saw Hanabi’s face.
“She thought she was five years old until yesterday,” a nurse whispered.
Yeah, Rin thought. The situation was far too similar.
The girl here had lost the will to live. Rin’s sister lay there, expressionless, tears flowing without end. No trace of the Bushi Hime or any kind of hero remaining. Rin felt like murdering anyone who’d try and make this girl fight again.
Then I suppose the first thing I oughta do is kill myself, Rin thought, laughing to herself.
She had to say it. If she didn’t, they were all dead.
“Hanabi…” Saying the rest of it felt so much harder than just dying. If only it were just her who would die here. She took a deep breath and finished the sentence. “Get up. Open the Gate. Fight for us.”
Hanabi looked at Rin as if she’d given up on everything. Ignoring the unspoken plea, Rin glared back at her, confident she was doing the cruelest possible thing. “You can’t be weak now. Got it? If you don’t fight, we all die. When this is done, feel free to come kill me. But first, you’ve got to go kill those monsters.”
Trembling, Hanabi shook her head. “I can’t… I can’t do it anymore…”
“You can. Hanabi, you can do it. I know you better than anyone, and I say you can do it. Trust me. You’ve got this. I promise. Open that Gate, save Kyuu-kun and Tooka-chan, and blow their world to hell. See? Easy.”
“Then…then why don’t you—” Hanabi stopped herself. Clearly she’d been about to suggest that Rin do it.
“I can’t do it, Hanabi. I’m not Division 5. I know you never asked to be that strong. But you chose to be a Cavalleria because you wanted to be like the Hero, right?”
“But…but…”
Rin tried a new tactic. “Don’t you want to save Kyuu-kun?”
“I…!”
“Yeah, it sucks he didn’t tell you about his past life. One thing to keep that from us, total dick move to keep it from you. But you still love him, right?”
Hanabi said nothing.
“Otherwise, you wouldn’t be this upset just because he left you behind. Clearly, at the end, his mind was Suzuka Hachishiki’s again. ‘Cause he’s a huge idiot. Anyone who’d drop the girl they love to go avenge some crap from their past life is definitely the dumbest idiot who ever lived. You with me there, Hanabi?”
Hanabi still said nothing.
“Of course, if the girl that idiot dropped is gonna be all sad like this, you’re almost as dumb as he is. And the fact that our lives are in the hands of this pair of nitwits is the dumbest thing about this!”
Even now, Hanabi said nothing. But Rin could see her grip on the sheets getting tighter. “Tell me, Hanabi,” she said. “Why do you think Okegawa Kuon doesn’t need you?”
Hanabi’s lips moved wordlessly, but instead of sound, tears started flowing. Sobbing, she finally said, “He… He didn’t tell me about his past life…he left me behind…”
Hmph, Rin thought. But… “He didn’t tell you because he’s a nitwit, and he left you behind so you’d survive. Right?”
“But, but…”
“Get a grip, Hanabi.” She put her hands on Hanabi’s shoulders, her knee on the bed, letting the crutches fall to the floor. “Get a grip, Suzuka Hanabi!” she yelled. “Are you or are you not a Motegi?!”
“Huh…?” Startled, Hanabi let out a strange noise. Rin ignored her. She took a deep breath.
“Listen! Suzuka Hachishiki probably thinks you’re the last girl he saved or some trumped-up bullshit like that! But Okegawa Kuon doesn’t think like that, does he? ‘Oh, the Hero didn’t need me, he didn’t trust me!’ Who cares? That boy isn’t Suzuka Hachishiki! He’s Okegawa Kuon! And Kyuu-kun is totally in love with you! Anyone can see he’d straight-up die for you! Otherwise, he’d never have pulled off what he did to save you back at the Capital! Come the hell on, Hanabi! Maybe his anger got the best of him and he reverted to Suzuka Hachishiki or whatever, but if you do nothing, he’ll die! You’ve got to make him turn back into Okegawa Kuon before that happens! You don’t want Kyuu-kun dying, do you?!”
“No…no…!”
“Then get up! Go save him! Got it?! You’re the only one who can save Okegawa Kuon! You’re the only person in the entire world who can do that! Kyuu-kun needs you, Hanabi!!”
“If…if he doesn’t…?”
Rin scowled. “Hmm…yeah, well, maybe that’s possible. I mean, he does tend to do everything himself.”
“See! See?”
But Hanabi, there’s only one thing to say at a time like this. Listen up. “That’s not the point! What do you want? Forget about what Kyuu-kun thinks! Let me say it again! You don’t want Kyuu-kun dying, do you?!”
“I don’t want him dying…!”
“Then the answer is obvious! Whether he needs you or not doesn’t matter! If you want to save him, go save him! That’s all that matters! Go! Just like Kyuu-kun ignored what the headmaster said to come save you! Now it’s your turn to go save him! To hell with the Hero’s self-sacrificing bullshit! That kinda Hero is long gone!”
“Rin…?” Hanabi asked, her head down. “What if I just really don’t want to fight? What if I don’t care about Kuon-kun anymore?”
Rin just smiled patiently. “Then I’ll give up. And then I’ll give you a big hug. And thank you for all the hard work you’ve done this far.”
“…Do that now.”
“Okay.”
As Hanabi cried, Rin wrapped her in her arms, stroking her head. “You work harder than anyone, Hanabi. You’re amazing.”
“…Mm.”
“Whatever the subject or the lesson, you were always way better than me. I was so proud to have a sister like you.”
“That’s ’cause you never took them seriously.”
“But I was better at sniping.”
“Heh heh, that’s true.”
“Hanabi.”
“Hm?” She looked up at Rin.
“If you really don’t want to, you don’t have to fight anymore.”
“After that whole big speech, you’re saying that now?”
“I mean, you just looked so sad! And it was real cute.”
“You started with ‘fight for us,’ and then somewhere along the way you started asking what I wanted.”
“You noticed?”
“Of course! I get it, Rin. I know I have to go get Kuon-kun. I know I’m the only one who can.”
“Gasp,” Rin said, like she was on stage. “Look what fate has in store for you!” They stopped hugging. Rin leaned back, they looked at each other, and they both laughed. “You okay now?” Rin asked.
“I’m good,” Hanabi answered, and took a deep breath.
In.
Out.
Innnnn…
Ouuuut.
Then she opened and closed her hands several times and stared at her palms a moment. Those palms had gotten Kuon all excited when he saw them turning into the palms of a Fencer. Then she slapped her cheeks.
She was still scared. But Kuon was on the other side of that Gate. She was sure he was fighting.
I’ve got to save him.
This thought finally rang true. She could still fight. She was a Division 5. She was a Maneuver Cavalleria. She didn’t want to give up on him.
She peeled back her sheets, getting out of bed and back on her feet. She looked down at Rin and said, “Thank you, Rin.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
They high-fived each other, and then Hanabi left the med bay without looking back. Her stride was confident. No bluffing, no hesitating. Just Suzuka Hanabi as herself.
She cut a gallant figure.
***
With the Heavy Magic Engines stopped, the Kiryu was running on electrical reserves. Unable to move or fly, it was simply receiving electronic maintenance, more or less just sleeping.
In the Kuou’s storage bay, a little fairy hovered in front of the dormant Kiryu, her eyes closed. “I see.”
It was En. They hadn’t made it in time for the operation, but Nanahoshi Kaede had reached the ship at the same time as Motegi Rin. “So that’s why you stopped Hanabi-sama?” En whispered, like she was talking to the Kiryu. Then she turned towards the entrance.
“En-kun, you’ve come?”
Suzuka Hanabi came into the bay, wearing her plugsuit. Hanabi looked up at the Kiryu and said, “We’re headed out. I’m going to borrow her power again.”
“Hanabi-sama, she…”
“Mm, don’t worry. I know.”
Hanabi turned and flashed En a smile. Oh, En thought. Hanabi seems different, in a good way. Like she’s finally loosened up…
Hanabi powered up her Device, donned Reimei, and stood before the Kiryu’s twin heads, rubbing them. The electric reserves gave the Kiryu enough power that this formed a magic link. “Can you hear me, Kiryu?” Hanabi said. “You know what I’m thinking, right? That’s why you didn’t approve.”
During the Fukuoka Gate Battle and Operation Jave World Annihilation, Hanabi’s connection to the Kiryu was severed. She’d been wondering why that was, but her earlier conversation with Tooka had given her a clue.
“There’s autonomously intelligent growth-type—NSR-type—AI Device functionality incorporated into portions of it, so it is absolutely ‘thinking.’ Even if it weren’t, I personally believe all machines have a form of consciousness. Spiritual, electrical, or magical.”
Like En, the Kiryu had its own will and magic. It got those from its creator, Tooka, which meant…
“I know you stopped me because that’s what Kuon-kun wanted.”
The Kiryu was Tooka. She and Tooka felt the same way about Kuon.
“At Fukuoka, I doubted Kuon-kun, so you rejected me. At Aohime, Kuon-kun wanted me to stay behind, so you made sure the Gate closed without me. Right?” Across the magic link, a tiny, tiny light flickered like a star. She was sure the Kiryu had nodded.
Such a good girl, Hanabi thought. I bet she likes donuts. She summoned her courage and asked, “Do you hate me?”
Two flickers. That was a huge relief.
“Thank you. I love you, too. I can feel such strong, sincere magic from you. That directness is just like Tooka-chan.”
This time it flickered once.
“I’ve got a favor to ask, Kiryu.”
No response. It felt like it was waiting for her to continue.
“I want to save him.” She could tell the Kiryu was listening. “I want to save Kuon-kun,” she said. “I don’t want to let my Hero die a second time. You feel the same way, don’t you?”
There was a long pause, and then it flickered once.
“I’m going to be real selfish about it. Even if Kuon-kun said not to come, I’m going to ignore that and go save him.”
Flick flick, flick. The star blinked irregularly. Hanabi smiled.
“Sure. He might…he might not choose me. But I don’t care if he just tells me not to get in his way. Once I’ve saved him, we can fight it out and forget all about it. And this time I’ll win. Gotta get him back for the entrance ceremony.” Hanabi took a deep breath. She kept her eyes on the Kiryu and leaned in close. “I want…” she said. “I want to save him. I don’t want to let him die. So please, Kiryu. Lend me your power. Let me wear you once more.”
The Kiryu did not respond. For a long time, it was silent, neither nodding nor shaking her off. Hanabi saw the link between them in her mind as just black, no stars twinkling at all. Eventually the electric reserves ran out, as if signaling an end to their conversation.
“Kiryu…” Her words hadn’t reached it. Hanabi let her hand fall, on the verge of giving up.
But then…
“…Huh?” In her peripherals, to her left, she saw a dial twitch, rising from white to yellow to green to blue to purple…and from purple to the Red Zone, indicating full revolution. Before Hanabi’s eyes, the Magic Gauge on the other side of their link switched from electric reserves to full power. The Kiryu fired its Heavy Magic Energy, waking itself up. The heads lifted up, looking down at Hanabi.
Let’s go, its mechanical eyes spoke.
“You’re sure?” she asked, stunned. “Kiryu?”
As if in response, it nuzzled Hanabi. Its twin heads rubbed against the sides of Hanabi’s face like an affectionate cat. Then it lowered its heads to her feet, like a knight swearing fealty to a master.
Hanabi knelt and put her arms around it. “Thank you, Kiryu. Let’s save Kuon-kun together.”
En had been watching in tears. Now she yelled, “Then I’ll come, too!”
“En-kun…thanks,” Hanabi said, turning around. Surprised, she said, “I didn’t know you could cry.”
“If my emotional values go over a certain threshold, yes.”
“I see. Well, glad to have you.”
“Let’s go, Hanabi-sama! Kuon-sama is waiting for us!”
“Yes, let’s go.”
Hanabi stood up. Three days had passed since Kuon and Tooka went through the Gate. They couldn’t afford to waste any more time.