by Kamiya Yuu
RyuZU was obviously looking uppity—and so, she unwillingly, picked Marie up in a cradle before moving.
She leaped off the roof.
They were headed towards Naoto who was at the roof of a building in front of the station, stating his ‘criminal intent’ alone. That would be the place where they would meet up.
Holding Marie, RyuZU raced through the streets of Akihabara. It seemed there was a tense, wary atmosphere from the streets passing by below them due to the ‘criminal statement’.
“—uu, let’s begin!”
Marie muttered briefly as she raised her finger.
She was pointing at the red steel tower in the night sky—the ancient relic called the Tokyo Tower could be seen gradually frozen white.
“It’s about time for the final phase of this operation.”
The frozen Tokyo Tower was shattered, and it was to show to the entire Tokyo a visible threat.
It was a show of power to affirm that Grid Akihabara was under control. Once that was done, they would immediately end the declaration and proceed to the next phase.
With an icy tone, RyuZU continued,
“More importantly, and something I have been worried about right from the beginning, is that the enemy has taken action 2 minutes and 37 seconds faster than what I expected.”
RyuZU tilted her head aside slightly, looking afar.
Marie looked over at where RyuZU was looking at, and found 3 large shadows flying silently through the night sky.
“Silent helicopters…!”
Those were military weapons with assault-type automata’s stored within them. All three of them were headed in the same path as them—headed towards the roof where Naoto was.
As there was real information revealed when Naoto stated his intent, it was to be expected that they would have grasped his actual location, yet it was faster than what they expected.
There was also a difference in speed between the silent helicopters flying in the air and RyuZU who was jumping around on the roofs, causing the distance between them to pull upon.
—If this kept up, Naoto would be attacked by the silent helicopters before RyuZU could even reach him.
“And I can see that there are security automatas on the ground.”
Marie looked down upon hearing RyuZU’s words, and found that the security automatas were chasing towards the building Naoto was at with rotating red lights. There were dozens of them.
They were a lot weaker in threat compared to the silent helicopters, but they still could not be left ignored. They had the appearances of walking cylinders, but a single one was sufficient in suppressing a human of flesh and blood.
—What do I do?
Just when Marie was frowning and wondering how to respond, RyuZU whispered,
“Master Marie, do you have a weapon, am I correct?”
“Eh? Of course, I do have the Coil Spear, but why…?”
Marie nodded in affirmation, and RyuZU stoically responded,
“Now then, I have to hasten myself, so I shall leave the small fries below to you.”
“Eh? —Kyaaa!!!?”
Marie was thrown into orbit before she could even answer, and shrieked.
While spinning around, she hurriedly drew the anchor wire from her holster, and fired it.
And on the other hand, RyuZU, having thrown her ‘excess baggage’ aside, chased after the helicopters with increased speed.
“Ow-owowow…that shitty automata…!”
Marie cussed as she lifted her face, but gasped,
“““Suspicious persons discovered—”””
Warning sirens blared.
She landed right in the middle of the security automatas that were racing through the streets.
And at this moment, they were surrounding this suspicious girl who fell from the sky, and was armed with a weapon.
“Wai…!”
Marie hurriedly drew the Coil Spear from the holster on her waist.
And at the same time, the security automatas, having determined the increased threat level, poked out the barrels of their riot guns.
“““Resistance determined—eliminating.”””
“If you’re going to drop me off somewhere, at least put me in a better place, you piece of scrap—!”
Marie yelled, neither screaming nor growling, and retreated away from that place.
Gunshots could be heard immediately afterwards.
● ● ●
Afterwards,
Marie broke through countless dangerous situations, before finally wiping out all the security automatas.
Once she was sure she did not miss out on any enemy, she hurriedly raced to the roof of the building.
She ran up the emergency staircase, ignoring the severed wreckages of the burning helicopters.
And once she arrived at the roof, she found the automata that were reduced to scraps, Halter with his back facing her, Naoto who was sprawled on the floor for some reason, and—
“—!”
A nonchalant looking RyuZU.
Once she found RyuZU, Marie fired the Coil Spear without a second thought.
The bullet raced towards RyuZU without deviating—only to miss because the latter took a step back.
“…That was dangerous, Princess.”
“Halter.”
The girl quickly approached as she greeted Halter, who was giving off cold sweat.
“Go catch that relic there. I must open her apart and create her personality structure today.”
Halter shrugged and sighed,
“Please don’t make me do something so impossible, Milady. How do you expect me to do that?”
“How else are you going to show off your real ability? Go catch that relic with that marine-style, close combat fighting skills or something—it’s fine if you break it though.”
“I’ve always been in the armed forces. Anyway, what’s going on?”
Marie did not answer as she swung the small gunblade—the Coil Spear in her right hand to the ground, and changed it into its blade form.
“THIS DAMNED RELIC—LEFT ME BEHIND AND RAN OFF JUST WHEN WE WERE SURROUNDED BY THE SECURITY AUTOMATONS!”
Having lost her patience, Marie raised her voice.
She roared with all her might as she swung the blade at RyuZU. The sharp swing, combined with the momentum from the upper body, was easily dodged by RyuZU however as she lightly leapt to dodge it.
“Oh my, the plating has worn off.”
“YOU’RE TOO NOISY!”
“If it had been Miss Marie, who always proclaims herself to be a genius girl who can do everything, the mere disposable Automatons should not have been a problem, no matter if there were 10 or 20 of them, am I correct?”
“HOW IN THE WORLD IS THAT POSSIBLE!? I NEARLY THOUGHT I WOULD DIE BACK THEN!!”
“Such—”
RyuZU widened her eyes in surprise.
“…I am sorry. Though I have tried my best to underestimate Miss Marie as much as I could, I never thought you would be such a perfect small fry…please allow me to express my deepest apologizes.”
“…I’ll rip you apart! I’ll definitely rip you apart…!”
Marie’s Coil Spear changed form, and just when she was about to deploy its blade…
“Quiet—”
Naoto was still sprawled on the concrete floor, muttering with a hushed voice.
The trio reacted to this voice, ceased their actions, and turned their stares silently at him.
Naoto placed his ear on the concrete roof, and continued:
“Those guys—are headed to the “Activation Bureau”, just as we had planned.”
Things are going well. Marie thought.
The Tokyo ‘military’ gathered at the Tokyo Core Tower were led to the underground due to the false information they leaked. If things were to proceed so smoothly, the gigantic weapon would meet the ‘military’ at the bottom of the city.
“3021 Automatons, and 1765 foot soldiers.
>
“…I guess that’s all the stationed troops they could immediately deploy.”
Halter scratched his head and smiled, while Marie kept her Coil Spear, and said,
“But our location has been confirmed, right?”
“From what I can hear from here, there are seven of them coming—not the silent helicopters though. They’re real Gatling assault helicopters—without any Automatons in them.”
“Those are the heavy arms helicopters Japan currently has that it can mobilize…the PTK-A74, huh?”
RyuZU asked:
“Do they possess a significant amount of threat?”
“These are independent unmanned assault helicopters with two Resonance Cannons on them…to put it this way, seven of them can turn this area into complete ash without resupply.”
“Alright, let’s go. Hey, Naoto, how much time do we have left?”
Halter asked, and Naoto then suddenly got up.
“They’ll arrive in—another 372 seconds.”
“Let us retreat before we meet any enemies then. I will carry the luggage.”
RyuZU stacked Naoto’s equipment together and raised it easily.
In the meantime, Naoto pulled out the unnecessary cables from his headphones, and put his headphones on again. He then switched on the Noise Canceller.
…Ahh. He took a deep breath.
…It’s finally peaceful now.
Upon seeing Naoto like this, Marie asked softly,
“Hey, Naoto, are you alright?”
“…Hm, sorta.”
Though Naoto nodded, to Marie, it seemed he was forcing himself.
His face was ridiculously pale, and there was a lot of sweat dripping from his forehead.
—I guess she thought.
No matter how much of an extraordinary talent that was, it was not some convenient miracle. It was a power that was beyond an equivalent price.
While Naoto staggered to his feet, Marie expressed her concerns, saying,
“You do feel some burden from that, after all…”
“No. It’s my fault…sorry.”
Then, Naoto gave a thumbs up behind him.
“It seems there’s a brothel in that building over there.”
“………………………………Huh??”
“They’re always—~ yapping here and there, making a ruckus without reading the moo—”
Before she could hear the rest, an utterly blushing Marie punched Naoto right in the chin.
And while Marie was silently stomping on the back of Naoto’s head whilst the latter had collapsed, Halter spoke up,
“Forget about it, Milady. That brain juice will affect the world’s future.”
“The ways of this world are too crazy.”
“…Well, how exactly, does it sound absurd coming from you?”
While Naoto groaned from right under Marie’s foot, Halter sighed, saying,
“Let’s hurry up. It’s not the time for some small play.”
“…Ah, don’t worry, Halter.”
Naoto said as he staggered to his feet, patted off the dust on his clothes, and adjusted his headphones.
“As long as we work together, a metropolis with a population of 40 million will be in our hands.”
“…It’ll be great if that happens.”
Halter patted his bald head as he muttered,
And the 4 of them ran down the emergency staircase.
They passed the helicopters that had exploded upon landing, and ran to the rotary in front of the station.
The large monitor in front of the station was displaying an emergency broadcast, clearly reporting this unprecedented terrorist attack.
They stopped in the plaza packed with evacuees, and Halter said,
“Now then, as Milady and I have agreed, once we make sure the professors have evacuated, we’ll be working for you in the workshop.”
“We’ll leave AnchoR to you guys. Don’t get careless and die there.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
Naoto merely smiled back at Marie’s words.
But at this moment, RyuZU interrupted, trying to convince her to stay,
“No, my apologies, but do you mind coming along with us, Master Marie?”
Marie tilted her head in skepticism,
“—Me too?”
“RyuZU?”
Naoto did not understand her question, and RyuZU lowered her eyes slightly, looking docile,
“I can be certain that I cannot beat AnchoR by myself when the latter is at full power. What I proposed to Master Naoto was a chance to make the impossible possible—if anything is to happen to Master Naoto, I suppose I may not be able to operate.”
“…”
“For that reason, I wish to have Master Marie come along too just in case.”
And after saying that, RyuZU gave a deep bow.
Marie silently widened her eyes.
Even after considering the spiteful tongue filter that RyuZU had, Marie was unable to accept the former’s attitude towards anyone other than Naoto as mere bugs, and yet RyuZU actually lowered her head.
Marie gulped, and slowly nodded,
“—Okay then. I don’t think I have a way to deal with AnchoR, but if you think that’s the case, I guess it’s fine to just go along with you. Live or die, I’ll be with you guys until the very end.”
“That is a nice resolve you have, Master Marie.”
RyuZU lifted her head, and spoke that with a straight face.
Marie turned back to look up at Halter’s massive body
“Halter, are you able to handle all that alone?”
“Yeah, there’s still Professor Conrad. That old man isn’t an amateur there. Even without you around, Milady, it’s just commanding all the workers to leave.”
“…If you dare show any disrespect to Professor Conrad, I’m going to choke you later.”
Marie glared furiously at a joking Halter.
And from aside, Naoto interrupted in surprise,
“Hey, Professor Conrad’s that old man, right? Is this really alright?”
“Yeah. Don’t be fooled by his appearance—”
Marie shrugged,
“He’s able to beat a dozen of light-armored automatas or so with just a screwdriver.”
“…What!?”
Naoto exclaimed, and Halter complained,
“To be honest, I’m really not good at dealing with that man. He had to insist that he knows all the structures of my prosthetics, and can beat be down without using any external force…”
“…No no no, that should be a lie, right? Was that too much of an exaggeration?”
“He really isn’t bluffing, you know?”
Marie firmly concluded.
And from the bottom of his heart, Naoto asked with a skeptical look.
“I didn’t think it’s possible…but are the people in the ‘Guild’ martial oriented like Marie?”
“That’s not possible, is it? It’s basically an Intelligence organization.”
“…Of course!”
Naoto heaved a sigh of relief, and Marie continued,
But since maintaining the Clock Towers is a battle of physical strength, everyone would have trained their bodies somewhat, you know? On a side note, Professor Conrad’s the one who taught me self-defense.”
“…That nasty thing’s self-defense?”
Naoto recalled the leg techniques Marie used to take down two ‘military’ soldiers in an instant, and his back shivered in fear.
—That has to be a technique to kill no matter how I think about that.
“Well, besides,”
Marie curled her lips into a smile, saying,
“When fighting against the Earth’s ‘military’, I have to at least do some crush—self-defense.”
“You just said ‘crushing’ there, didn’t you!?”
Naoto shrieked, and Marie replied with a grin.
After that, Halter bid them farewell, and the trio departed the scene.
They were headed towards the underground parking lots in front of the station.
To wait for AnchoR, they chose a very spacious place that was devoid of perrsons.
Though they took a position where they could observe the entrance, RyuZU muttered,
“…Will she really come here?”
“She will.”
“She’ll.”
In response to RyuZU’s question, both Marie and Naoto concluded this based on different reasons,
“Our actions are probably not within the plans of those guys; there’s no way they can predict someone starting a terrorist attack to hijack the city’s functions. In that case, all the parties involved can’t possibly ignore us here, and AnchoR’s the only one able to fight RyuZU.”
“…That girl will definitely come, to meet you, AnchoR. To be precise, it’s to get you, RyuZU—to destroy her.”
Naoto narrowed his eyes, and stared into RyuZU’s eyes as he said,
“But there’s no way I’ll allow that. I’ll end this with both sides safe and sound. So RyuZU—please stop AnchoR.”
“Yes, since it is as you wish, Master Naoto. Furthermore—”
RyuZU placed her hand on her chest,
“…Conservatively put, I wish to avoid hurting my little sister as much as I can.”
She lowered her eyes, stating her true thoughts.
—Afterwards,
AnchoR appeared from the entrance of the underground parking lots.
● ● ●
The basement was dim.
And this place, far from the chaos on the surface, was filled with a tranquil atmosphere.
The two Initial-Y series units faced off against each other, from about 30m apart.
That was a distance so close for both sides, they could instantly shrink it.
On one side was a young girl automata in a red and white dress—AnchoR.
On the other side was a silver-haired girl automata in a black and white dress—RyuZU.
Though there were Naoto and Marie, standing still and gulping tensely behind RyuZU, AnchoR was looking at her big sister through the mask.
And with a calm tone, RyuZU said,
“Do you hear me, AnchoR?”
There was no answer.
But RyuZU did not mind as she continued,
“Your voice is heard by my Master. You are restrained by a filthy machine, your soul trampled. I thoroughly understand the humiliation you’re suffering, but—”
