by Kamiya Yuu
“Can I ask you another thing?”
“What is it?”
“I never asked this before—what basis is it that you recognize Naoto as your master?”
Upon hearing that question, RyuZU raised her eyebrows in surprise,
“—Now this is a strange one. I did remember emphasizing it over and over again. No, please pardon me. I did not have any expectations for you, Master Marie, when your feeble memory is as lacking as your chest.”
“—”
While Marie endured her rage silently, RyuZU continued,
“Because amongst the humans who continued to wander pathetically, Master Naoto is the most outstanding of them all.”
She paused, and smiled,
“—And no matter where Master Naoto goes to, I can believe that this is ‘where I should follow to’.”
AnchoR, still sobbing away, continued to whimper in an interrupted manner,
“…I don’t, have to destroy, anything? I don’t have, to kill?”
“Yes, you don’t have to do that!”
Naoto continued to hug the trembling girl as he nodded firmly.
And at that moment,
The cube hanging in front of AnchoR’s chest let out a deep twisting sound.
And at the same time, a large ripple appeared in space.
Over there was the opening leading to the ‘armory’ not belonging to this world.
And so, just like how AnchoR pulled her weapons previously, there was a certain thing popped out from that hole, rolling on the floor of this workshop.
Interlude: 04:30 Out-breaker
“…A cyborg?”
Marie took a little while to realize that it was a human.
It was not because the thing was converted into one through certain means.
But that this thing in front of her was not left in human form.
The thing was completely destroyed, not a single part intact, to a point where there were large holes in him; looking at this devastation, it looked as though his body was completely wasted. The only thing barely left in shape were his head, chest and right arm.
Naoto, hugging AnchoR tightly, widened his eyes in surprise,
“What’s with this uncle who looks like he’s going to die? And he’s still alive?”
“Well, the 6th generation of cyborgs are able to take this much damage at least, but—”
Marie said as she knelt down beside the cyborg that’s lying on the floor.
She pried the wreckage apart, checking the remaining structure that was left.
“Hm…though this very unique Royal Oak surely looks like it’s made by the Odemas…visually, it doesn’t look like it can be bought in the market. Maybe it’s a special order that uses secret technology.”
“Ahh~ so it’s like uncle Halter?”
“I guess so. That thing’s the 8th generation model of the Breguets, but if we’re looking at how thoroughly damaged this thing is, I guess it fought against masked AnchoR before this…”
Marie glanced aside at the girl in red and white, the latter still clinging to Naoto.
At this point, it seemed she could not ask about anything.
But if she were to deduce from the current situation,
“…I guess he was erased by AnchoR’s space manipulation, and ‘contained’ all this while until just now.”
After pondering about it, Marie naturally got down to repair it as per muscle memory.
She ignored the unnecessary parts as she connected the vitals spring and the minimal interface with the brain that was in suspend mode.
Naoto stared at her fluid motions,
“You’re able to repair it even after he’s this damaged?”
“I just did some emergency repairs to the parts above the head. A little chat would be fine at least.”
Marie said as she continued to spin the spring attached to the man’s head.
And like a spasm, the man’s cyborg body jumped violently.
“—! Ga—!”
The man’s eyes opened as he awakened.
The creaking sound was not because he was in pain, but because of the noise caused by the damaged vocal cords.
The spasms of the cyborg quickly stilled, and the parts above the neck began to move smoothly.
After about 10 seconds of waiting the man to calm down, Marie spoke up,
“Hi, you awake?”
“!!—What, in the—”
The cyborg man muttered with a wince.
Marie reached her hand out, and tapped her finger twice in front of the man’s eyes.
“Can you hear me? Who are you? Please tell me your affliation and name.”
“—…”
The man did not answer.
What replaced it was a little turning of the head, and the prosthetic eyes showed Marie’s face.
Those eyes widened, showing a little surprise.
“—Marie Bell Breguet?”
“You’re looking upbeat.”
Marie nodded.
“Ha—so, this is hell?”
“I won’t say that you’re dead yet, but I’m still alive and kicking. This is reality.”
“In other words, we didn’t meet in hell.”
Hmph. The man showed a cynical smile, and said his name,
“Vermouth. Do take care of me, Princess.”
Marie stared at him with skepticism.
“Is that your real name? Or just a codename?”
“Of course it’s an alias, but I hope you let me off here. Look, what’s the use of a real name for mere scrap like me? Isn’t it too much for me to wish for?”
“…So you’re a secret agent. Affiliated to the Odemas?”
“Well, who exactly do I belong to anyway?”
Vermouth continued to play dumb.
“Well, at least I’m currently unemployed, so actually, there’s no reason for me to hide. Scrap themselves do have their own moral codes, so spare me in this regards.”
“…Well, whatever. It’s not a huge problem anyway.”
“May I ask something here? Where am I? What’s the day today?”
“This is Grid Akihabara in Japan. It’s before dawn, February 8th.”
Marie answered, and Vermouth seemed to be rather surprised as he frowned.
“Hm…February 8th in Tokyo? I still can’t completely understand why I’m still alive till this point..but this means that everything I planned went better than I expected?”
Marie titled her head as she asked,
“…? What do you mean by that?”
“If you’re here, this means that you received the transmission that’s sent to a ghost as a recipient, right?”
At that instant, Marie’s face took a similar form to that of a Hannya.
“—Ahh, so you’re the one I’m looking for? Are you the suicidal idiot who sent me that shitty joke of a message?”
“That’s the case. You would pursue me to the depths of hell just because of that sort of taunt. To be expected of the rumored violent Princess of the Breguets. Well, it looks like you did better than what I expected, better than expected.”
“Ahahaha—how daring you are. Are you ready!?”
“Of course. However, there are some unfulfilled urges at least—especially at my age. If you want to be my partner, shake your ass and beg me.”
“—”
Marie suddenly stood up, showed a cute angelic smile filled will pure innocence, raised a leg, and slammed it down.
Vermouth’s head got grounded by Marie’s heel, and the latter said,
“Hey, stupid dog, if you dare say anything after experiencing this massage, I’ll chop your head off and flush it down the toilet bowl ♥ .”
Naoto watched this with cold eyes, and spoke up,
“Miss Marie, this uncle here will definitely die, so hold back at little here. This isn’t good education for AnchoR, so please do this somewhere else.”
“This cyborg’s functions are such that he can survive even if a head left; there’s no proble
ms here. Also, what sort of education is needed for an automata that’s been running for 1000 years?”
Vermouth, who continued to remain under Marie’s foot, merely mocked with a belittling tone,
“Anyway, Princess, isn’t that underwear of yours too kiddish? How about you just wear something more sexy, or just go commando altogether?”
“You wanna get killed, you bastard!!?”
Marie roared as she stamped him over and over again.
And from outside the room came a deep, hoarse male voice,
“Hey, Milady? What’s with the interrogation sounds coming out from there?”
The door to the room over, and Halter poked his face in, seemingly peeking.
At that instant, Vermouth, who got stamped by Marie, yelled loudly,
“—Are you Vainney Halter?”
“Ah…? Hey, what’s this, Milady? What’s with this young blood who looks like he’s going to kick the bucket?”
Halter answered calmly, and Vermouth curled his lips, saying,
“How cold you are. It’s not much, but I’m your fan. The Scarborough Fair incident is still a talking point in this industry, you know?”
“Scarborough Fair?”
Naoto blankly tilted his head.
“Don’t mind it. It’s an old, moldy story.”
Vermouth showed a thin smile as he said,
“I did feel it was a pity when you took up the job of being the Breguet Princess’ bodyguard, but I felt thankful as well.”
Halter asked in surprise,
“Thankful?”
“That I don’t have to meet a monster like you at my workplace—or so I thought. I never thought we would meet under such circumstances. I guess life really is filled with surprises here.”
“You’re rather noisy for someone left with a head, young blood. Nice guts you have. Shut up if you want to get a signature.”
“If I don’t want a signature, you mind helping me out here? Looks like I’m going to be killed by this Princess.”
“Isn’t this a good scene? Just kick the bucket like that.”
Halter bluntly retorted, and turned to ask Marie,
“Seriously, where did this eyesore of a young blood come from?”
“It seems he was taken in by AnchoR’s space manipulation, and he’s the one who sent us that shitty joke of a transmission. Now I’m thanking you in full.”
Bump Marie’s heel slammed Vermouth’s skull.
Ahh, Halter nodded briefly,
“Isn’t it better to just get killed like that? Anyway, why aren’t you dead yet?”
“Ahh, it looks like AnchoR has a policy of not killing people. Isn’t that the reason here?”
Naoto interrupted while hugging a still sobbing AnchoR.
Vermouth widened his eyes, and asked in terror,
“Hey, isn’t that the Initial-Y series that completely annihilated me?”
“I guess so?—But as I said, she didn’t.”
“Brat, please don’t do this to me.”
Vermouth’s face showed a complete incomprehension of Naoto, the latter hugging AnchoR tightly while indicating his thorough ownership of her. His lips twitched as he said,
“What’s going on here? Anybody that obeyed her quietly wouldn’t have been killed? My name got wiped out entirely. Is it because cyborgs aren’t counted as humans?”
“—Hm? I’m curious about that too.”
Halter said as he rubbed his chin and looked at AnchoR.
“When we first met, I was one of the attack targets too, right? This annoying young blood’s allies were done in, yet he’s the only one alive? …What’s the basis of that?”
If Vermouth did die, the derived explanation would be that he did not have a biological body.
But in reality, the cyborg Vermouth was stored in the space, and survived.
—In that case, what was the factor that determined whether AnchoR would kill?
In response to Halter’s question, Naoto stared blankly into space for a little while, his eyes wandered.
And then, he answered.
“I guess it’s more or less…humanity?”
“…Huh?”
After seeing Halter’s confused look, Naoto continued,
“Then, uncle, at that time, when you abandoned RyuZU and me, you didn’t care about your own death, and just thought of how to get Marie to escape, right?”
“…”
Halter went silent.
He could not answer. Truly, he recalled.
At that time, he discarded his humanity when he encountered AnchoR.
From a human filled with emotions to a soldier ready to fight. He changed his mind to that of a machine.
That was the most basic of skills he learned to survive; the Mindset. There was nothing he could spare himself from doing on the battlefield. That meant that all choices were equal, and thus, he had to decide a course of action through the most logical decision. In this sense, emotions would be an obstacle.
Halter’s mission was to protect Marie Bell Breguet.
If he were able to send her back safely, he would even choose to calmly cast aside Naoto and RyuZU as bait.
And for that matter, naturally—he would even discard his own life.
—As a result, AnchoR did not view Halter as ‘human’.
“!!”
He looked down at the floor.
There was Vermouth, who got stomped by Marie. This guy probably reverted from being a soldier to a human when he thought of sending the mail to Marie, he thought.
What exactly did he intend to do? That sort of action was neither logical nor rational Why would a personnel from another company send such a message to the supposedly-dead Princess of the Breguets?
The ones able to do such a vague action—would surely be humans, of course.
Halter remained silent as he pondered, and Naoto seemed to understand his thoughts as he continued,
“Ah, uncle, I don’t have any intention of criticizing you even if I do say so, especially since it’s your job. Anyway, I think it’s amazing that you’re so prepared yourself.”
“…Ahh, don’t tease me now. Seriously.”
After hearing Naoto’s words, Halter gave a wry smile.
There were so many things he could say.
Anyway, did Naoto actually grasp his psychological state at that time? Even if Naoto could hear the vibrations of the prosthetics, the brain itself was biological.
—Seriously, what exactly did this brat actually hear that time…?
Halter shrugged his shoulder, and let out a huge, deep sigh,
“…Was my humanity actually doubted and nitpicked by an automata?”
That hurts.
Halter rubbed his bald head as he let out a mutter.
● ● ●
5.38am, the Eastern sky began turn white as dawn broke.
Marie looked around the factory,
“Now then, we settled everything in the Central facilities. All possible evidence has been discarded, right?”
She muttered these things she had to affirm before they retreated, and Halter nodded,
“Yes, Master Conrad’s term has evacuated. We’re the only ones left.”
“Yeah, the alibis for all those involved in this incident—”
“Yep, they’ll be done—except for Naoto.”
Yes, yes, Marie nodded as she turned back with a smiling face,
“Good for you Naoto. Your name will be recorded in the textbooks.”
After waiting for that smile to vanish, Naoto answered,
“…Well, it’s much more important for RyuZU and AnchoR to be safe, more than anything else. If you think about it, it’s impossible for me to carry out such a large scale terrorist act alone, right?”
And RyuZU on standby nearby, seemed pleased as she said,
“Or rather, you may think of it this way. You may finally be able to escape from the foolish constrained society called school, Master Naoto. You finally have a chan
ce to be appraised by the world.”
“But I’m the baddest man of the century.”
“What value is the subjective view of good and evil from a flea? Only those with merits will understand this very well, no?”
“Papa, you’re amazing!”
AnchoR beamed innocently as she leaped into Naoto’s arms.
And Naoto immediately broke into a smile,
“This is bad…maybe I’ve awakened because of this happiness today hehehehe…”
“Don’t do stupid things. Retreat now.”
Marie coldly told him off.
Halter seemed a little displeased as he knocked the ball that was tucked under his armpit,
“Speaking of which, Princess, is it alright for me to just throw this thing aside?”
“Hey, I’m not just a thing here. Even if I do look this way, I’m a man of much honor. I’ll definitely work well if you get me a new body and repay what I owe.”
The ball—correction, Vermouth, who was left only with the head, let out a little sneer.
His appearance at this point would cause children to cry upon seeing him, and his attitude was extremely brazen.
Marie merely snorted as she said,
“Hm, be prepared to be used well as an antique.”
“Thanks for your kind mercy, Princess—ahh, anyone got a cigarette?”
He frivolously stated his wish, only to be ignored by all that was present.
And then,
At that moment
“Hey, wait a sec.”
Naoto, who’s image had collapsed, let out a sharp voice,
Marie turned her head back, and frowned in surprise,
“What? You forgot something?”
“That’s not it! …Hey, seriously, what’s this sound here—from underground!?”
Naoto let out a shriek.
And immediately afterwards,
Rubbling came from down below, and an intense impact and tremor shook the city.
Everything his eyes could see were tumbling sideways.
Marie was unable to steady her footing, and immediately fell on her butt.
Naoto covered his ears as he rolled on the floor, shrieking; RyuZU and AnchoR immediately stepped forward to look.
“—What’s going on here!?”
Marie yelled, but nobody answered.
It was not an earthquake. The tremors and rumbles showed no signs of abating, instead getting progressively stronger.
