Chapter 1: The Hero Reincarnated

Chapter 1:
The Hero Reincarnated

 

…And then he woke up.

Flesh tones swam before his eyes, the body of a woman he’d never seen before. The front of her shirt was undone, and she cradled him in her arms, smiling down at him. He felt so warm.

For some reason, he was certain she was his mother.

Was his life flashing before his eyes? Was he dredging up memories from when he’d been a baby? Maybe the Gate had sent his mind alone back into the past and he was hungry hungry hungry.

Hmm.

It was hard to think straight.

“Oh!” the woman said, overjoyed. She glanced at the man next to her. “Takkun, Kuon just looked at me! Heheheh.”

“No way, Yuki-chan. Oh, he did! Never seen a baby focus like this. He must be a genius.”

A placid wife and a childish husband; they seemed like a nice young couple. Wait, who was Kuon? Also, he was hungry. So hungry.

“Okay, Kuon. Time to eat!”

Yay!

The wife, Yuki-chan, pulled him to her breast. Food! Food!

“Drink up, Kuon! It’s all for you!” the husband said.

“You’re not the one making it.”

“Good point! Ahaha!”

They both laughed. How sweet.

Who was Kuon?

…

No, he got it. He’d figured it out by now. He just…didn’t want to jump to any conclusions. It was awfully hard to believe. Had he… Had he really been reborn as a baby?

Why? How? What for?

He didn’t know. He didn’t know. He didn’t know.

And not knowing was uncomfortable and frustrating.

Before he knew it, he had begun crying, the ultimate battle technique only babies could use.

Surprised by the sudden change in their son (probably a son), his mother and father set to work trying to soothe him.

He couldn’t control his body or his thoughts.

No good. This was too hard to think about. His brain was too new for it. He had to focus on what he could do right now.

And that…

Was drinking a lot of milk until his tummy was full, then he fell asleep.

He felt more peaceful now than he’d ever felt in his entire life.

Then again, his life had only just begun.

 

***

 

One day, massive holes in space opened around the world. Later known as “Gates,” these are portals linking our world with the one the Jave come from. In the decades since these Gates opened, the Jave have continuously poured through them.

Possessing conical bodies primarily colored a dark purple, these hideous creatures have countless mouths and tentacles. Each Jave boasts a total length of several meters, and their tentacles grab humans, whom they then consume whole. They make nests near the Gates and lay eggs, increasing their numbers on our side.

One day, a Gate appeared above Tokyo, the imperial capital.

There were no warnings, no time to prepare.

Before the imperial government and armies could do anything, the heart of the Japanese Empire had been conquered. Aircraft were quickly reserviced to evacuate key government personnel and military leaders, taking off as soon as they were loaded.

The majority were shot down by the Jave.

The Imperial Air Force sent its Maneuver Cavalleria to the scene, Suzuka Hachishiki among them. Even when all his companions had fallen to the invaders, he fought on alone, until…

 

—Excerpt from Portrait of the Hero.

 

***

 

If you looked at a map, you’d see a semicircle of islands stretching across the Pacific from the Empire’s mainland to the Southeast.

Those were the Jogen Islands.

Survivors of the Jave attack on the capital evacuated and settled on those southern islands, and that was where Okegawa Kuon was born, inheriting the soul of the former Hero.

By the time he was two, he was gradually learning to speak. His first word was “choco,” for “chocolate.” He’d loved it in his previous life, but rarely managed to get any during the war.

His next word was “Gate.”

There was a saying that words hold power. Even if that wasn’t true, saying things aloud could remind you of your purpose.

At two years and four months old, Kuon had realized the meaning of his rebirth.

He, Okegawa Kuon, had been reborn to kill the Queen when she returned. To drive the Jave out of our world for good.

Maybe because he’d come in contact with the Queen’s soul back in that Gate, he had a sense of how much time he had until then.

Twenty years. That was roughly how long it would take the Queen’s wounds to heal.

Two years and four months had already passed, so he only had seventeen years left. He had to make himself strong by then.

In his past life, Hachishiki had lost. Even with the Hero’s magic level, he’d been unable to win. He’d failed to take out the Queen for good, allowing her to escape.

This was now the life where he had to finish the job.

Okegawa Kuon swore an oath, staring at his chubby little two-year-old palm. His parents squealed about how noble he looked, snapping a ton of pictures, and he struck the coolest pose he could manage, the attention not entirely unwelcome.

To kill the Queen, he needed strength.

He needed a Division Maneuver.

The world’s primary combat weapon, its effectiveness against the Jave had proven to be the salvation of mankind. In his previous life, he’d enrolled in his homeland’s air force and became a Division Maneuver pilot (a Maneuver Cavalleria). His unparalleled talent had made him their ace.

He had to pilot one again. There was no other way for him to kill the Jave Queen.

Right, Kuon thought. First off, I need to tell them I’m the Hero.

But that was the hard part. Nobody believed he was Suzuka Hachishiki’s reincarnation. “I’m the Hero born again!” he told his mother, and she just laughed. “Kuon wants to be a hero!” She didn’t take him seriously. He got angry and tried explaining it logically, but he couldn’t put it into words, so all he could manage was, “It’s true! I’m the Hero!”

He could think it, but he couldn’t communicate it. It was frustrating. Was it always this hard being a child? That was a depressing thought. He ate dinner and forgot about it.

Meanwhile, he learned something from watching Jogen TV.

Thanks to the Hero, no Gates had opened in the last few years. The Gate above the capital was one of several Gates in the Empire, but all were covered in a dark mist which prevented anyone from seeing inside. Occasionally, stray Jave would appear nearby, but these were quickly exterminated by the Maneuver Cavalleria. Mankind was currently living in relative peace.

The million or so residents displaced from the capital to the Jogen Islands were growing accustomed to life there.

On these islands, they no longer gathered orphaned children and trained them to be Maneuver Cavalleria the way they had with Hachishiki. It seemed they were training Cavalleria on a volunteer basis, preparing for emergencies.

They were now the military elite, as becoming a Cavalleria afforded you any number of privileges within the Empire. In emergencies, you’d be sent into battle, but experts said it would be a while before the capital’s Gate reopened. Even children thought the Division Maneuver looked cool.

For that reason, several children began receiving training to be Maneuver Cavalleria from a very young age. Kuon was part of that first generation.

When the Queen returns, I’ll kill her, destroy the Gate, and banish the Jave from our world, he thought.

To do that, he had to get his new body accustomed to the Division Maneuver. His arms and legs were still short, and he had little to no muscle, but childhood had given him one advantage: He was quick to learn. If he trained hard now, he could be even stronger than he’d been in his previous life.

It was no dream; it was a firm belief with a clear purpose.

 

On his fifth birthday, Kuon begged his parents (on his hands and knees, which they mistook for a hilarious new game) to take him to the Division Maneuver training grounds so they could buy him a junior frame.

However, when Kuon pointed to the frame he wanted, a man in a white lab coat shook his head. “Okegawa Kuon-kun, I’m afraid you’re unable to operate this.”

The frame hanging in the functionally-designed hanger was a special one that stood out from the other junior frames. It was a Division 5 frame.

Kuon didn’t get it. He felt like he was being told to stop at a green light.

“This happens a lot,” the scientist said, scratching his head. Perhaps he just assumed all children went for the strongest-looking frame.

But he was the Hero, Suzuka Hachishiki, born again!

Oblivious to Kuon’s confusion, the scientist pointed to the mountain of mass-produced frames to the left, then past those to the beat-up old frames lying in a corner out of the way. “Your magic level is 1. That’s only good enough for those old ones. As long as you’re just walking around.”

It took Kuon quite a long time to understand these words, process them, and understand the predicament he was in.

Wait, he thought to himself. Calm down. Take it one step at a time.

Humans had life energy—magical energy—and they used that to operate Division Maneuver. One’s magic capacity was set at birth and was impossible to increase later in life. This value was called the Potential Magic Value.

Suzuka Hachishiki’s value had been abnormally high. Most humans in the world were Division 2 (Magic Value 10-99). If you were Division 3 (Magic Value 100-999), you could brag about it at school. Division 4 (1000-9999) was so rare there were probably fewer than a hundred in the entire Empire. Hachishiki’s Magic Value had been 88,888, which made him the highest possible Division: 5. At the time, he was said to be the only one.

Your Division determined the functionality of the Division Maneuver—your raw strength. The stronger your magic value, the more magic you could produce, and you could operate stronger, more advanced frames. Those with very little magic had a low power output and could only operate low spec frames. To be a Cavalleria, you had to be Division 2 or above. They didn’t even make frames a Division 1 could operate.

Then… Then I can’t be a Cavalleria, Kuon realized. So why was I reborn?!

If he wasn’t a Cavalleria, he couldn’t defeat a single Jave, let alone close the Gate. He’d suffered through early childhood for five long years and had thought he could finally, finally…

He felt a burning behind his nose. Five-year-old Kuon tried standing up to the wave of emotion, but there was no holding it back. He was a man, a Hero reborn; he’d been alive longer than either of his parents; but those words crashed against the levee with such force they soon broke through.

Kuon cried, howling like a little baby again.

No other children were this upset by it. The scientist freaked out a bit. He could handle sulking, but full-on crying clearly made him panic.

Then, a very small woman came walking by, her words like a whip. “Don’t cry, you fool.”

No words wasted, no mercy shown. A phrase polished like she’d said it hundreds, even thousands of times. But that was all it took to stop Kuon’s tears in their tracks, even though he’d been too young to control them himself. This verbal attack carved its way into his very soul.

Kuon spun around to see…

… a pair of boobs, attached to a woman who definitely looked like she belonged in junior high. She had a baby face, petite frame, short black hair, and was rocking a tiny suit that must have been custom tailored. When she put a hand on her hip and puffed out her chest, her nonsensically-huge breasts jiggled.

Were… Were these loli big boobs? Kuon thought. No, wait…she looks like a little girl, but she’s definitely already gone through pu—

“Yo, little brat. You aren’t thinking any dumb crap about my life experiences, are you?”

How did she know?!

Kuon realized suddenly that he knew this girl—or rather, Suzuka Hachishiki had. He knew exactly who this murderously scowling dynamo was.

“Master?”

She was Hachishiki’s former master, Nanahoshi Kaede.

Hachishiki had found Kaede intolerable, worse than any demon or devil or Jave. She was the most powerful Cavalleria mankind had, the master of Shichisei Kenbu.

Kuon stared up at her, mouth open. Kaede looked him over.

“Those eyes, that dumb face, that magic… You’re exactly like that idiot student.”

He thought his heart would stop. “Master! It’s me! I’m Hachishiki!”

At last he’d found someone who would understand he was the Hero reborn, and it was his former master. If he explained what was going on and got her on board, she could solve everything.

But Kaede put her hand on her chin, fixing him with a look of deep suspicion. “You don’t say?” She snarled like a loan shark in an old movie. “Hachishikiii? Dunno any Hachishiki. Who’s that again?”

“Suzuka Hachishiki! Your best student!”

“Suzuka Hachishikiii? You can’t mean him. That idiot ignored what I said, and I had to kick his ass out.”

“Yes! That same idiot!”

“…Is you?”

“Yes!”

Kaede’s eyes turned to ice. Her tone was every bit as frosty. “Right…”

Kuon shivered, every inch of him trembling. He didn’t know why, but he was convinced he was moments from death.

“Right, Hachishiki. There is one thing I never tried with him.”

He didn’t dare ask what.

“Kuon!”

As Kuon stood paralyzed with fear, his mother came running. Saved in the nick of time, Kuon thought. But when she realized he was talking to humanity’s strongest Cavalleria, she started talking for him. He stood frozen stiff, listening to their conversation like it was happening very far away, too scared to speak himself.

“Nanahoshi-san, my boy wants to be a Cavalleria. He’s Division 1, but he insists he’s going to be a hero.”

At this, Nanahoshi Kaede looked down at Kuon and smiled. “Fascinating.”

Her smile was terrifying.

He didn’t know why, but once again, he was certain he was about to die.

 

***

 

…his innate magic value meant that Hachishiki was given the strongest frame the Empire had. He was also given the best master around and was the only student Nanahoshi Kaede ever took. Although she was Division 4, she was known as the Demon God, the strongest Cavalleria the Imperial Air Force had.

Shichisei Kenbu:

Martial arts designed to make use of magic while piloting a Division Maneuver were collectively known as “Machine Fencing.” Shichisei Kenbu was one school of Machine Fencing. Widely considered the strongest of them, the arts it taught were like magic spells.

Tensetsu used the Division Maneuver to amplify your magic, using it to alter one’s perception of time so everything appeared frozen. Chijin created a force field at one’s feet, using it to move the user and field so quickly it was almost like teleporting. Ryusui combined the two with a sword draw.

Personality conflicts caused Hachishiki to leave his master, but, armed with mankind’s greatest magic value and strongest sword arts, Suzuka Hachishiki became a demon who existed only to hunt the Jave.

His final destination: the Gate which had appeared over Tokyo.

His final goal: to destroy that Gate, dying in the process.

Suzuka Hachishiki longed for death, to go out in a blaze of glory like the twelve companions who’d flown out with him that day and were shot down by Jave. They were killed just like all the Cavalleria who’d enlisted in the air force when he had; like the kind nuns at the orphanage; like the other orphans he’d fought with, made up with, laughed with, vowed to grow up with, and called family; like the mother and father he couldn’t even remember. Suzuka Hachishiki was ready to join them.

The Hero was looking for a place to die.

Relying on his natural-born talent, he’d thought nothing of plunging headlong into the thick of enemy forces. For anyone else, this would be suicide, but, fortunately (or unfortunately), Suzuka Hachishiki was a genius. He always survived, setting new records for monsters slain, and the lives of allies were saved as a result.

Thus, he became the Hero.

This never made him arrogant, but neither did it afford him the opportunity to change his approach.

That was why his master had kicked him out before he learned the school’s ultimate art. Nanahoshi Kaede was notoriously opposed to the very concept of self-sacrifice. Machine Fencing was designed to keep you from dying, so using it in pursuit of death could only lead to expulsion…

—Excerpt from Portrait of the Hero.

 

***

 

A week later, Kuon learned that what Nanahoshi Kaede had never tried giving Hachishiki was a proper scolding.

This was his first practice session. After discussing things with his mother, Kuon had become Nanahoshi Kaede’s student, just as he had in his previous life. More accurately, he’d been enrolled in the private school she’d opened, and was currently the only student.

Right now, they were in an outdoor training area Kaede had set up. Like a proper class, it began with instructions from the teacher.

“I hate the Hero,” Kaede stated. “I also hate the army for forcing everything on him alone. I loathe the world itself for idolizing a single man and making him fight for them. More than anything else, though, I despise that misguided fool for not valuing his own life and running off to die. We don’t need a Hero like that. Don’t you agree, Suzuka Hachishiki?”

“You’re right.”

“So, you’re Suzuka Hachishiki reborn or something?”

“I am,” Kuon said.

He never considered anything but an honest answer. The fear of Kaede he’d inherited from his previous life—the result of her instruction—had left him incapable of lying to her.

Kaede shot him an ear-splitting grin and made him kneel before her. She then gave him a five-hour lecture. This was clearly the karma he’d earned in his past life. His failure to live a virtuous life had come back to haunt him. He had to endure it.

The gist of Kaede’s lecture went like this:

Five years had passed since Hachishiki’s death. Kuon had been born at approximately the same time Hachishiki died. Although Kaede never allowed a student to return after she expelled them, she figured that, since Hachishiki had died, she wouldn’t count that against Kuon.

Hachishiki was an idiot for flying into a zone after the order to retreat, a big idiot for plunging into the Gate, and a total idiot for using a self-destruct art and dying. If he ever tried that again, Kaede would turn his ass to ash, put it in an urn, and strap it to a rocket before shooting it into the sun so he’d never come back to life again.

Then, she gave him a big hug. Kuon found his little five-year-old head trapped between breasts both noticeably larger than it.

“Good job coming back, you nitwit,” Kaede said, tears leaking from her eyes.

He’d never heard her cry before. Kuon once again realized just what an idiot Suzuka Hachishiki had been. He would have to spend a while relearning what really mattered. He still had plenty of time.

 

That was the first and last time Nanahoshi Kaede was ever soft on her student.

Machine Fencing was all about donning Division Maneuver and using your magic. Shichisei Kenbu was a school of Machine Fencing. It was fundamentally designed for those not magically gifted. Understanding this was how Kaede had become mankind’s strongest Cavalleria despite being a Division 4.

“You fool.”

During his fourth training session, Kuon had engaged in a mock battle with Kaede. He was wearing a practice Division Maneuver; she wasn’t. She’d utterly defeated him. He was lying in a heap on the floor, receiving the gift of her lecture.

“God. You always did just try and force your way through everything, drowning in your own natural magic ability. I’m so, so glad to see death didn’t make you less stupid. Listen, I’m here to drill how the not-so-gifted fight into you once more. Weep or rejoice, because, from today forward, you’re going to be living in Hell. Feel free to be afraid—it’ll make you stronger. Faaar stronger than when they called you the Hero.”

There’s no way I could be stronger than a Division 5, he thought. Kuon was lying face-down on the ground, exhausted from his first DM fight in five years. He summoned the last ounce of strength he had and rolled over. The unit was already disengaged, and the plugsuit he wore was soaked with sweat.

The sky was blue, with no black Gates obscuring its endless expanse. As he lay there, belly exposed, something landed on his nose.

It was a little fairy. There was no other word that described it.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Kuon-sama,” the fairy said. She bowed her head.

“Master… I’m seeing things.”

“You aren’t! I’m your Guide, an AI Device.”

“Seriously…?”

“Seriously, Kuon-sama.” The fairy Guide smiled. It was a female model, wearing a uniform that looked like a modified silk kimono. It somewhat reminded him of the conductors on local train lines.

AI Devices were magically linked to their owners. They were certainly useful, but they also burned through magic quickly and weren’t in widespread use. Even Division 4s were reluctant to use them.

“Aren’t they hard to use…?” he asked Kaede.

“One of the Shichisei Kenbu ultimate arts is a breathing technique that reduces magic expenditure by 1 kei,” she replied. “I know a certain idiot who got himself kicked out before he learned it.”

“What’s a kei?”

“Ten quadrillion.”

Good lord. He really had been an idiot.

“That Guide’s yours. Don’t worry, the magic is still linked to mine.”

That meant it would be running on his master’s magic, and all the info the Guide obtained would be sent back to her as well.

“So…it’s monitoring me?”

“Remote teaching,” Kaede corrected.

Well, that’s one way to look at it.

“I might run a school, but it ain’t open every day. I’m a busy woman, and it’s all your fault.”

“My fault?”

“The Queen’s coming back in fifteen years. Now that I know that, I can’t exactly enjoy my retirement.”

Kuon didn’t dare point out that that was hardly his fault. He’d already told Kaede all about the end of his previous life. She was putting many things into motion to prepare for what was to come, but…

He scrambled back up. “Master, is there anything I can do? We’ve only got fifteen years till they come back! So little time!”

“Don’t rush it, idiot. It’s the other way around. We’ve got fifteen whole years. We’re gonna plan this thing out and be waiting for ’em.”

“What kind of plan? Can I help—”

“You focus on training. You’re so damn weak…snerk.”

“Ngggh…” Kuon knew his own weakness better than anyone. He didn’t need her snorting at him about it.

“When you can’t come here, do what that Guide says to train yourself. Don’t forget to rest. I’ll know if you rush it and overwork yourself.”

“Right…” He nodded, and the Guide smiled at him.

“I’ll do what I can, Kuon-sama!”

“Mm. Thanks… Do you really have to tell her everything?” he asked the Guide.

“If I don’t, I’ll cease functioning.”

“We’ve both got it rough, huh?”

The Guide giggled. She flew over to Kuon’s ear and whispered, “My owner’s just worried. She doesn’t want another student going off to die.”

“I can hear you!” Kaede said.

The Guide stuck her tongue out. She was definitely passing that Turing test.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to turn Kuon-sama into a great Maneuver Cavalleria!” she said, saluting. “Call me your Guide, your familiar, your ghost, whatever you like.”

“Do you have a name?”

“No.”

“Can I give her one?” he said, glancing at his master.

“Do what you want,” she replied.

“A name!” the Guide said, eyes glittering.

“What’s your model number?”

“NSR-250R-SE92.”

NSR…

“Then I’ll call you En.”

“En…En…” she said, trying it out. Then En smiled happily. “Thank you so much, Kuon-sama! It’s stupidly literal and you clearly have no naming sense at all, but I like it!”

She was definitely his master’s Device.

 

Seven years passed.

Kuon’s life was exactly as hellish as he’d wanted.

After starting primary school, he visited the training school three times a week. He usually fell sound asleep in the car on the way home. En supervised his self-training the rest of the week. The first four years were all fundamentals, and he rarely donned the Division Maneuver. Shichisei Kenbu was fundamentally a martial art and he worked on every aspect, from endurance-building runs to body management to swinging a sword until he had calluses. His parents were bemused by the whole thing.

The next three years involved a lot of training in the DM. In the third year, Kuon won the Junior Cup for his Division class in the Jogen Islands DM Combat Championships. To anyone who watched, the difference in skills was clear, but not that many people cared to watch the Division 1 tournament.

But Kuon was satisfied so long as his father, mother, master, and En saw him.

Holding the trophy on the podium, he saw his parents running toward him, far happier about it than he was, and he realized his life goals had changed somewhere along the line. He would kill the Queen; that much hadn’t changed. But he would do it so these people could live in peace.

His victory in this tournament was enough to let him enter the famed Cavalleria training school, Jogen Maneuver Academy, even as a Division 1. Nanahoshi Kaede was the headmaster of this school as well as her own, and she planned on training many Cavalleria, every bit as powerful as the Hero had been, before the Jave Queen returned.

Joining their ranks made Kuon feel like he was finally taking the first step on his path to becoming a Maneuver Cavalleria. Though, he was still a bit short of that goal.

But he was ready for it.

It was three days before a talentless no-name would astonish the assembled geniuses at the entrance ceremony.

 

***

 

Intermission:
Hanabi’s Diary 1

 

Imperial Era 356. April 5th. Suzuka Hanabi.

The cover to Portrait of the Hero fell off. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read it. I feel like it’s my origin story. I want to be as strong as the Hero, to live as he did. Any time I get a long break like this, I find myself thinking about that.

The entrance ceremony is tomorrow. I’ll have to find a new member to join our squad, as well as replace the one who graduated. In the meeting, we’ll be selecting one of the high school first years. We’ll only have a year to watch over them, but we’ll make the most of it. I hope we find a good one…

 

***

 

Unofficial Records

 

Imperial Air Force: Assault Reconnaissance Unit. Today’s MIA Count: 6.