Clockwork Planet - Volume 02

by Kamiya Yuu

  Muroi soggy face was covered in tears and snort, and he yelled in anguish,.

  The girl merely looked down at him coldly,

  “Did you not say the wrong answer there? You must have been gravely mistaken to think that I’ll continue to coddle and educate you.”

  “B-both sides here coexist by sharing our lots…!”

  He slumped his neck weakly, and continued to eke out his voice,

  “Isn’t it because there’s a massive weapon here!? If-if the fact that they are in this Mie is discovered, we’ll be in danger too. Be-because of this, we’re providing protection for them…”

  “…I do not get what you mean.”

  The girl chided, and frowned.

  “Do you mind explaining so that I can understand? Or not?”

  “Th-they…aren’t Mie’s ‘military’…”

  “…What do you mean?”

  The girl frowned further.

  His breathing erratic due to fear and the impacts he took, Muroi blurted,

  “They’re the ‘military’ from Grid Shiga, which got purged 30 years ago…!”

  ● ● ●

  It was a story which happened before Marie was born.

  There was a sudden mass scale fatal malfunction that occurred in Grid Shiga, and due to the dire situation, the government back then quickly passed the Special Disasters Counteract Law. They forcefully carried out a Purge without waiting for the ‘Guild’ to be dispatched.

  Of course, that was a major issue by itself that caused the cabinet to be dissolved. After the investigations that occurred afterwards however, the outcome was that ‘if they were to delay any longer, it would have affected the Western Japanese Grids.

  Because of that result, there were critical voices stating that currently, it might have been a decisive, unfettered counteract without fear for the losses, rather than it being a reluctant decision of much distress.

  However,

  “…That was all a lie.”

  Morikatsu Muroi’s trembling voice denied that history.

  “Back then, there was research on electromagnetic technology done in Grid Shiga. It was a large scale, national project…and there were almost 10,000 of the Technical Forces gathered there.”

  “Electromagnetic technology…!”

  Marie’s face became ominous as she said this. That technology was used as a contemporary technology in the old era, but in this modern world that was completely driven by gears, —

  “Yes, it violated the international treaty. After that, the massive electromagnetic fields formed from the experiments leaked out, causing the city functions to break down. The government decided to eliminate all of that before the ‘Guild’ that got dispatched would find out about such a thing…that’s the truth of the purge.”

  The expression vanished from Marie’s face.

  Her emerald eyes were the only think flickering, staring at the Prefectural governor’s face.

  “All the documents related to the purge were prepared, and all sorts of preparations were already completely. As long as the Chief Cabinet Secretary made the signature, anything could be purged. This includes the evacuation of the citizens, and the document stated that most of them were able to escape safely. They were taken in by, this place, Mie.”

  “…”

  “Thus, most of them are technicians who were abandoned but managed to survive, and by taking advantage of the excuse of being ‘refugees’, they lived in Mie. Everything was done quickly and quietly behind the scenes.”

  While saying this, he lifted his head. His face, covered with wrinkles, was completely damp, and he was sweating profusely. The black eyes gave a strange glint as they stared at Marie,

  “…12 years. That was how long it took for them to take control of the city.”

  “Why? Was there a need for such a thing?”

  With a deep voice, Marie asked,

  “They carried out illegal research on the country’s orders, and were silenced because matters were revealed. Everything’s fine till this point. In that case, why didn’t you reveal this truth?”

  “…Because in that case, Mie will be the next one to go down, you know?”

  Muroi took a deep sigh, and shook his head,

  “Shiga was sunk just to hide the truth, so how can you possibly conclude that…after finding that they’re still alive, the government can’t possibly let Mie sink?”

  “Because…you can’t possible force a purge because of such a retarded reason, right? And Shiga just got purged too.”

  In other words, cities were part of the land. Current technology alone would not allow them to develop cities and rebuild them, so purging would mean losing the land. They decided to sink Shiga to hide the fact that she violated the treaty, and that was clearly because everything was too late. If they were to continue purging cities, there would naturally be interrogative questions coming from all the foreign countries.

  In response to Marie’s words, he curled his lips,

  “Fair enough. But I would say ‘don’t you mess around with us’. To us, who just saw Shiga fall at the closest possible place, and to them, who went through abandonment, you expect us to believe in the sanity of those crazy guys, the government, that they’ll risk the lives of themselves and their families—are you really saying that?”

  “…”

  Marie could not answer.

  Muroi’s face was contorted, and he excitedly smiled,

  “Back then, I was just an aide to a congressman. Occasionally, I would interact with their leaders, and I quickly understood the situation. If any of them were to find out about this, Mie would be sunk. Before that happened, I felt that there had to be ‘a certain something’ we could use to negotiate with the government no matter what.”

  “…That’s the massive weapon underground?”

  Muroi nodded.

  “I’m not too sure of the details, but they’re seeking a tangible ‘power’, that even if the government decides to purge the city and deploys the ‘military’ to fight us, we have a counter force that could fight against them and send them back.”

  After hearing these words, Marie glared sternly back at Muroi,

  “So because of that, you sacrificed the Clock Tower in Mie?”

  “The remains of Shiga alone would not be enough material…or so we heard, and we decided that it was something that had to be done.”

  With a pale face, he concluded.

  Marie narrowed her eyes, and asked,

  “As a counter balance?”

  That’s how it is. Muroi eked out these words with much difficulty.

  “In fact, it used to be effective. Their existences were discovered by the government many years ago, but they basically had control of Mie, and had a powerful military force, so in any case, both sides struck a secret deal. The fighting strength’s undoubted, and the existence of that weapon, created from the purged Shiga, is clear evidence that the government once carried out an illegal purge on Shiga itself.”

  Thus, they kept it till this day, and never used it.

  While Muroi complained so passionately, Marie wordlessly lowered her head.

  She understood. She knew it would not be easy to refute such a reason, but she could not believe them. They were simply driven by fear, and sought a stronger, definite, power.

  However, that—

  Marie said.

  “You’re lying.”

  “I’m serious!!”

  Muroi hollered with such desperation on his face.

  Marie stared intently at this face, and slowly asked,

  “Since you said so, now tell me. Why’s that weapon in standby phase?”

  “…What?”

  Stunned, Muroi widened his eyes.

  Thinking that this reaction was unexpected, Marie continued,

  “We went down to look at that weapon for ourselves. That weapon was readied to the point that it can be activated at will. If you don’t intend to actually use it, there’s no need to prepare t
hat much.”

  “…”

  Muroi went silent. It was not an answer of refusal, and neither was it silence because a ie was exposed. He merely widened his eyes in shock, his wide shoulders quivering greatly.

  “…I see. So that’s how it is!”

  He suddenly lowered his shoulders weakly. While Marie and Halter watched on in surprise, he took a long breath, and shook his head weakly.

  “It’s over, there’s nothing…”

  “…I hope that you don’t become the only one understanding what’s going on yourself, but you don’t have any intention of explaining?”

  After hearing Marie’s question, Muroi let out a laugh from his throat.

  Mie’s Prefectural governor slowly lifted his head and stared right at Marie. His face was full of fear, white and quivering, but the lips were curled in a mocking manner,

  “Haa…looks like you don’t know anything. You barged into someone’s house, yapped always so arrogantly ‘yeah’ like that, but you’re just a haughty little Princess, huh?”

  “!!”

  In response to his slander, Marie raised an eyebrow.

  Halter, standing behind Muroi, reached beyond the latter’s shoulder and grabbed the collar, whispering,

  “Hey, don’t get cocky here. If you speak that way.”

  “Shut up!!!”

  Muroi bellowed. He glared back and forth between Marie and Halter with such aggression that Halter inadvertently let go.

  “Do you still not understand!? That weapon was originally not to be used because it was intended as a deterrence. t’s just a guarantee for equal negotiations to avoid us being purged here! Looking at how it’s going to come alive, even an idiot can understand what just happened!!”

  He paused.

  “—There’s a breakdown in negotiations! The government has abandoned us! So those guys, the Shiga ‘military’, decided to fight against them, you know? Don’t forget that it’s all your fault here, Marie Bell Breguet!!”

  Marie frowned hard, unable to understand this sudden lashing from him. On the other side, Halter gasped, seemingly understanding the intent behind the words,

  “Hah! The punk here looks like he understands, huh? This is the result of you guys stopping Kyoto from being purged, and revealed all the information! Can you imagine how much loss the government and ‘military’ took here, how much of the International Society’s trust in them was lost!?”

  “!!”

  “To those guys, there’s a need for such a thing. To define the meanings of their existences, they need an ‘enemy’!!”

  “!!!”

  At that moment, everything in Marie’s head was linked together.

  The Tokyo ‘military’ focused their forces, all for the sake of fighting against the Mie—former Shiga ‘military’ that would activate the gigantic weapon. The government had known of its existence till this point, but pretended not to see anything, so why was it that they decided to crush them at this point?

  The only cause would be because—of the foiled purge attempt in Kyoto.

  They left 20 million people to their demise as they planned to sink Kyoto. After that, because of an anonymous (Marie) tip off, the incident was bared completely to the entire world.

  In the end, that damaged the country’s credibility, and they lost the trust of the citizens, causing distrust in the Enterprises. How exactly were they supposed to swiftly regain them?

  It was simple—and anyone’s eyes would be able to see this clearly. They just needed to create an ‘opponent’. Yes, for example, it would be suitable to exterminate a rebel force that was violating the treaty and building a massive weapon.

  “Do you understand now!? It’s all your fault!!”

  His body, tied up, was wriggling with the chair as he hollered,

  “You’re the one who revealed all that information, right!? You wanted to play the role of a hero!? You’re being the times here, shitty brat! All you did is just a prank that increased the chaos in the world!”

  “!!”

  “Thanks to all the unnecessary things you did, the government’s cornered here! We’re the bad guys now, and they’re the good guys! This is the scenario that’s formed! Thanks to you!!”

  “…”

  Marie could not answer. Her already white face was turning pale like paper, and she bit her lips together.

  Sneering at her face at this point, the Prefectural governor snort,

  “But those guys doesn’t seem to realize, what sort of memories they…we, lived over the past 30 years.”

  He curled his lips, and continued,

  “We were always so terrified, when would the government sniff them out, and when will they begin the purge…it has been ongoing for 30 years. We were always tortured by such despair and the fear we can’t shake off. Is the creation of such a trump merely meant to be used as a threat?”

  Marie was able to understand the meaning behind these words.

  —The massive weapon she saw at the lowest level of Mie.

  If that sort of thing was to run riot, how much devastation would it cause. Even if the Tokyo ilitary was to gather and fight it seriously, there was no way it would be a one-sided wipeout.

  “…!”

  Marie stopped her panting, and bit her lips.

  This man in front of him probably did not know of such details. On the other hand, he was so familiar and so confident. The design of that weapon, the terror and tenacity of the Shiga technicians who built that thing, were definitely not simple matters at all.

  Smiling, Muroi said,

  “We had to make a choice to survive. You understand that, self-proclaimed genius!? They’ll use this scenario planned by the government to fight it head on and crush it. History is written by the winners. They’ll crush any enemy that obstructs them without mercy, and those guys will be deemed evil while we’re justice.”

  He then continued on with a dry voice,

  “How much devastation will be caused in the process? Maybe one or two Grids may end up sinking, I don’t know. Now then, whose fault do you think that is?”

  Marie did not answer. She could not answer. Shocked by the tremendous impact, she widened her eyes, her limbs shaking. She gulped her saliva, and her throat croaked.

  “—YOU!”

  Muroi yelled, his voice filled with such brutal hatred. The face was contorted with such fury and malice, and his expression that was staring at Marie was filled with vengeance.

  “IT’S ALL ON YOU! IF YOU HAD DIED SILENTLY AND OBEDIENTLY HERE—NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED, YOU SHITTY BRAT!!!”

  ● ● ●

  —Without knowing.

  The moment Marie noticed it, she was walking down a street she did not know of.

  It was a street she had no impression of, and she passed through the gaps between the buildings. There was no crowd, and they were far from the buzz; the dim lights outside the could not reach her in this place.

  Why did I walk to such a place here? Marie wondered.

  Halter too followed her with a similar speed.

  Marie’s shoulders were heavy, her footsteps slow. She did not want to look back, and was too lazy to speak up; she merely let out a long sigh.

  Her memories were interrupted midway through the interrogation, and she could no longer remember what she did thereafter. Seeing Halter remain silent, it seemed they managed to deal with it appropriately.

  “…”

  The operation was a success.

  —She abducted the Prefectural governor of Mie. That objective was completed very well. As for what was happening in this district, and what would happen later on, those that wanted to know would probably know about it all already.

  However, she was not delighted in the slightest. At this point, she could be said to be—dejected.

  “—”

  Marie stopped.

  If she wanted to achieve something, logically, a paradox would occur.

  If the clock was to spin anti-clockwise,
the resistance caused would affect the entire structure, and fail as a result.

  Yes, she knew at least that if it was to simply favor the kind, society would not be able to run. Even so, till this point, she did all she could, and yearned to be a person who could stand proudly with her head held as high.

  —And yet, it ended up in such a situation.

  She saved Kyoto, revealed the atrocities, got too cocky, lost completely, and Naoto died.

  And at this point, her reward was that Tokyo and Mie would end up in a state of war.

  —She could not leave it alone.

  That was the conclusion Marie naturally derived, but at the same time, she had doubts.

  —What should I do here?

  She did what she believed to be correct, and ended up with such a situation. Marie could not even think of looking for an excuse; it was all because of her, and thus, she had to bear responsibility for it. What should she do, what sort of responsibility, and how was she to bear it all? How did matters unfold to such an extent, and what exactly did she—

  “Tell me, what shall I do…”

  A weak voice rang,

  —Rain began to fall.

  The little, warm drizzle that looked to be drifting away quickly became a torrential downpour splattering upon Marie. She did not avoid it in the slightest possible way, and remained where she was.

  “—You don’t have to do anything.”

  Halter said,

  “It’s just some painless, harmless words to you, right? That Prefectural governor’s just defending himself. If we trace it back to the original source, the government that caused Shiga to fall in the first place should be the culprit this time.”

  “I know…that much at least.”

  It was the government that carried out illegal research in Shiga, and it was the government that tried to cover up their misdeeds and carried out the purge. The Shiga refugees were the ones who carried out their form of justice, and it was illogical for Mie to view these as reasons and build the weapon while violating the International Treaty. Saving Kyoto itself was undoubtedly not a wrong here, and the information she divulged after that was not some karma hitting back at her.

  Thus, to Marie Bell Breguet, the responsibility she has over this situation—was none?