“Then how are you supposed to defeat them?!”
Just then, a dark shadow covered them, and Tadashima let out a short scream.
The smell of rotten eggs hit their noses, and Rentaro turned around slowly after feeling a chill run up his back. There was the giant spider with all eight legs opened wide. Opening and closing its mouthparts and fangs with venom glands on them, its stomach faced him. Its physical form and flashy coloring brought on a visceral feeling of disgust, and its spinnerets made a grating sound.
Seeming to suddenly notice something, the Gastrea quickly turned its body to face the small girl. Pointing its spinneret at the girl, it trembled and suddenly covered the girl’s body with something that looked like a casting net, and changed positions.
“Eww, what is this? It’s rather sticky.”
The girl tried pulling at it with her hands, but whenever she did, the viscous threads wound themselves around her more.
At that moment, Rentaro glanced sharply at the glowing, slimy green strands, completely unlike a normal spider’s silk. It was the same as the stuff he had seen in the victim Sumiaki Okajima’s house.
“Get down, Enju!”
“Huh?”
The girl couldn’t react to the quick order. Her frail body was thrown to the side, and she flew almost twenty meters, scraping the ground so violently that she left a mark.
“Enju!” Rentaro shouted as he quickly drew his gun from his belt and pulled the trigger. His arm jumped with the recoil from the intense discharge. The second the bullet hit, the Gastrea let out a loud scream and tried to protect itself with its eight legs as it retreated. There was no sign of the wound starting to heal itself.
All right, this is good, thought Rentaro to himself. He fired again. He fired bullets continuously at the spot where a leg had been blown off and its body was shaking violently off balance. Its hard exoskeleton ripped open, its bodily fluids gushed out, and the .40-caliber bullet drilled a black hole in its mark.
Rentaro fired about ten shots before the gun’s slide release stopped, telling him that it was out of bullets. In the distance, the Gastrea’s body was curled into a ball, and it didn’t even twitch. Approaching it carefully, he saw that one shot had taken one of its venomous fangs off, along with part of its face. But then Rentaro stopped. Oh? he thought. Not only had less than half of his bullets hit, but there was also no trace of any bullets hitting the vital organs. He gulped. He had a bad feeling about this.
In that instant, the spider jumped up and uncovered its venom glands, rushing straight at Rentaro. His body couldn’t react quickly enough to the surprise attack. Rentaro was hit, and his body stiffened.
Just then, with the sound of a fierce impact, the Gastrea’s body was thrown alongside the ground, bouncing once, crashing into the stone wall next to him, destroying it and making the utility pole collapse along with it, blowing up a great pile of dust. For a second, he didn’t understand what had happened. “Oh, was that you, Enju?” he said finally.
Enju stood where the Gastrea had just been a moment ago, a proud look on her face. “Hah! You’re always letting down your guard too soon, Rentaro. I cannot bear to watch you.”
Tadashima’s mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. He surely couldn’t believe that this slight girl’s kick had sent flying the sixty-kilogram Gastrea that had been there a moment ago.
On the outside, the girl didn’t really look any different from a normal girl—except for one thing. Her eyes, black until just a moment ago, were now shining red. She had crimson eyes, just like the Gastrea.
The shock on Tadashima’s face slowly turned to understanding. “Ah, so this kid’s the Initiator.”
“I’m Rentaro’s partner, Enju Aihara. Remember that, you public servant,” she informed him deliberately, with a triumphant look. Her arrogance was improper for her age, yet at the same time charmingly beautiful.
Rentaro had learned his lesson after the ten-year-old girl pointed out his worthlessness, and reloaded before he approached the Gastrea with his gun out. Stretching its many legs up toward the sky, the spider gave a final spasm, and then was really dead.
Rentaro turned toward Tadashima and bowed his head seriously. “Sorry, Inspector. I let my guard down because it was a Stage One.”
“Hey, wait, weren’t you going on earlier about how regular bullets weren’t effective on Gastrea?” asked Tadashima.
Rentaro turned to face Tadashima. It wasn’t really a secret, so Rentaro didn’t say a word. He just showed his spare magazine—or rather, the bullets in it.
Tadashima’s small eyes widened in understanding. “I see, they’re Varanium bullets.”
Rentaro nodded and took one out, rolling it on his palm to show him. The tip of the golden cartridge—the Varanium-black bullet—reflected the setting sun sharply. “As you know, this is made of the metal Varanium, which inhibits the Gastrea’s ability to heal wounds.”
And it’s because we have this that mankind has barely been able to avoid extinction, he thought inwardly. The Gastrea hated this metal vehemently, and if they were thrown into a room lined with it, they were said to waste away and die.
“There are things you can do to a bullet, too, huh?” asked Tadashima.
“There are civsec officers who stand out more with swords and spears made of this metal, but mine is a bullet. The bullets are special, but the gun is just an ordinary gun,” Rentaro said. “Look.” He held out the XD he used to show him, and Tadashima put his hand on his chin and looked impressed.
Suddenly, Rentaro felt a few light tugs on the sleeve of his uniform and turned to see Enju smiling and vigorously pointing at herself. “I know, I know. You were amazing. Good job. And you saved my life. That’s what you wanted to hear, right?”
“I also have something to say to you.” Enju beckoned him, so Rentaro had no choice but to lean in to her eye level. He figured she just wanted to tell him that his finishing move was too weak, or that he should get stronger, which made him want to sigh.
Then, he found his head being quickly rotated, and like a surprise attack, something soft pressed against his lips.
Wha—?! His body stiffened, and Enju moved away in a flash, hands clasped behind her back bashfully.
She laughed. “Thanks, Rentaro. You still have a long way to go as my partner, but when I let my guard down, you stood in the way of the enemy alone. That was kind of cool.”
“Y-you…”
“What, did you want to do it more? If it’s you, you can do some other things, too.”
Rentaro felt the blush rising in his cheeks. “I… Idiot! Don’t even say that kind of stuff as a joke! What’ll you do if there are people around who misundersta—”
Feeling a sudden chill on the back of his neck, he turned and saw Tadashima pull handcuffs from his hip and sidle over.
“You’ve got some strange tastes, you pig,” said Tadashima.
Rentaro broke out in a cold sweat. Tadashima continued glaring at him.
“Recently, there’s been an idiot playing pranks on girls in the area. His physique is about the same as yours, and his weight is about the same as yours, too… What do you think about that?”
“Y-you’ve gotta be kidding me. It’s a misunderstanding, a false accusation! I plead not guilty!”
“I’ll hear what you have to say at the station.”
“Y-you bastard!”
Rentaro and Tadashima chased after each other around Enju.
“E-Enju, please! Say something!”
Enju puffed her chest out as if to tell everyone to listen to her. “We have a deep relationship that cannot be summed up in one word.”
Tadashima cocked his revolver. What? Was he going to be shot dead?
“She’s a freeloader!” said Rentaro.
“He’s always so amazing at night that I can’t sleep,” said Enju.
“I toss and turn in my sleep!”
“Our futures are sworn to each other.”
“No, they’re not!�
��
Tadashima looked back and forth from Rentaro to Enju, comparing them. Finally, he put the handcuffs away. “Man, I was gonna put a pair of shiny bracelets on you, too.”
“P-please stop, Inspector. Your joke’s going too far.”
Rentaro drew a deep breath as his gaze dropped to Enju’s back. The skin on her back was peeled off, and it was completely red. It must have happened when she took the blow from that thing’s body earlier and scraped her back against the ground.
“Does it hurt, Enju?” he asked.
The girl snorted with triumphant eyes and looked at him unwaveringly. “I’m fine. It’ll heal soon. I’m more angry about my clothes being ruined. It even broke one of the straps of my camisole.”
As if to back up the girl’s words, what she said came to pass. The painful-looking scratches that covered her back got smaller as they all watched. Eventually, the wounds healed as if nothing had happened, and all that was left was the beautiful, smooth skin of a young girl, along with her ripped clothes.
Looking at Tadashima’s gaping mouth from the corner of his eye, Rentaro thought, That’s the normal reaction.
An ordinary human would first get a scab over the wound, and then the wound would slowly heal over time under that. The fact that she skipped that process when her wound healed emphasized the fact that she was no ordinary human.
Superhuman powers of healing. That was one of the benefits they had as Initiators—girls who could control the Gastrea virus under certain conditions. The extraordinary muscular strength and agility they possessed also fell into that category. And when she was not using her powers, like now, her eyes were always black.
Rentaro was a Promoter, someone who supported the Initiators, and he had the responsibility of directing her onto the right path. “Oh yeah, Enju. You talked to the victim before he experienced shape collapse, right? Did he say anything?”
“Yes, he said to say ‘hi’ to his wife and daughter.”
“I see…” Rentaro looked at his watch, straightened his back, and gave Tadashima a salute. “On April 28, 2031, at 1630 hours, Initiator Enju Aihara and Promoter Rentaro Satomi eliminated the Gastrea.”
“Good work, civil officers.”
Even if it was ritualistic, Rentaro bowed back at the highest-ranking officer on the scene. Exchanging glances with Tadashima, they both let smiles escape.
At that point, an innocent voice that didn’t understand what it meant to read the situation broke the mood.
“Hey, more importantly, are you going to make it back in time for the sale?”
“Huh…? Oh!” Rentaro hurriedly pulled out the day’s insert flyer from his pocket. The blood drained from his face.
“Oh, you’re going already?” asked Tadashima.
“Yeah, if you’ve got more work, let me know.”
Tadashima seemed to be mumbling something for some reason. “Well, you know, that…when you, uh, helped me earlier… Oh, never mind. Anyway, what’s the important business you’re rushing off to?”
“Bean sprouts are six yen a bag!”
Watching the young man’s shadow as he ran away, followed by the playful smaller shadow following him like a puppy, Shigetoku Tadashima grumbled. “Bean sprouts…?”
He had thought about thanking him for protecting him earlier, but it seemed silly now.
“You made it out in one piece, Chief?”
Turning around, he saw his subordinates who had split up to search for the Gastrea start arriving late to the scene.
“They looked like new faces. Do you think we can use them?”
“Who knows. Speaking of which, I forgot to ask for their IP Rank.” Tadashima pulled out a cigarette from his chest pocket almost unconsciously and lit it. Seeing that, his younger subordinates gazed at the cigarette without a word.
“You gonna work with the cigarette in your mouth?” one said.
“Don’t be so stuffy. I almost died just now.” Ignoring his subordinate’s knit eyebrows, he took a deep puff into his lungs and blew it out. It had been clear all day, so even the Monoliths standing far in the distance could be seen in one glance. The enormous rectangular walls standing 1.618 kilometers high and one kilometer wide dotted the scene like steel towers at regular intervals. Even though they seemed out of place in the natural landscape, there was also a feeling of reverence for them for some reason.
Within the Monolith barrier that completely surrounded a portion of the Kanto Plain was one of the last paradises left for mankind. What looked like a forest of black chrome stone blocks were actually slabs of metal made of Varanium. They were the same as what surrounded the Kanto Plain, extending into Old Tokyo, Old Kanagawa, Old Chiba, and Old Saitama.
Gastrea hated Varanium. With the special magnetic field given off by Varanium acting as a natural barrier, Tokyo Area was able to avoid large-scale Gastrea attacks. To put it another way, outside of the five remaining areas in Japan including Tokyo, the rest of the land was teeming with nonhuman monsters and nonhuman monsters that used to be human. If a mere human were to take one step outside of the Monolith, he would either be devoured in an instant or end up as one of them.
And this wasn’t just happening in Japan.
Before Tadashima knew it, forensics and other police had gathered, gathering evidence and putting up caution tape that said KEEP OUT.
Ten years ago, these Gastrea began to appear around the world, and with their infectious capacity, their destruction of humanity accelerated with incredible momentum. One infected person became two, two became four, four became eight… When humanity finally began to worry about the multiplying Gastrea, it was already too late. There was nothing they could do.
All the countries that suffered damage during the large-scale war used the Monoliths, which were barely good enough for practical use, to build barriers. Now, ten years later, they continued to desperately barricade themselves with them.
Humanity lost the Great Gastrea World War.
The cigarette smoke that rose into the air soon dispersed in the setting sun.
In those ten years, Japan had healed the wounds of its defeat and finally gotten its cultural compass back to the levels of the early 2020s.
Tadashima crushed the shortened cigarette butt with his foot and looked out of the corner of his eye at his subordinate, who was moving briskly to the scene.
Occasionally, to prevent a Pandemic, they would have to hunt an early-stage Gastrea that had wandered in. At first, that was the job of the police and the riot squads under their command, or the self-defense force, but now, civsec had a firm hold on a large share of the fighting jobs. The police were left to deal with the aftermath.
Feeling the thick spring air on his skin, Tadashima looked at the two disappearing backs with uncharacteristic sentimentality. Initiator and Promoter. Fighters who came in pairs. They used the power mastered by their bodies to fight the Gastrea.
They were mankind’s last hope.
2
“Do you have anything left to say before you die, Satomi? Do you?”
Cold sweat ran down Rentaro’s cheek, and he backed away from the voice, but his back was soon against the wall.
The girl with the dangerous-sounding voice had a frown on her face and her arms crossed, and her foot tapped impatiently. He knew that this would happen. She was extremely angry.
In front of Rentaro’s eyes was a beauty in black. In sharp contrast with her smooth skin white as light snowfall, her long straight hair was jet-black. The only places where her skin was exposed were her face, the nape of her neck, her hands, and the part of her thigh that could be seen between her skirt and her high socks. Everything else was covered in black with the school uniform of Miwa Girls Academy, and other than the red ribbon tied at her chest, it could be said that she was completely black and white. Her turned-up almond eyes were sharp. She was cute when she smiled, but she was usually in a sullen mood, which seemed like kind of a waste.
Rentaro was trying his best to protest while bein
g overpowered, but he kept his voice low. “Wh-what’s done is done, right?”
“You moron!” Her shouting echoed in the small, cramped room, and when Rentaro avoided her sharp punch at the last moment, she seemed to snarl as she glared at him.
“Why did you dodge? You’re making me angry.”
“Don’t be unreasonable!”
When Rentaro made a move to escape, the girl followed, fists flying, chasing him around the reception area’s furniture.
Damn it, the whole day’s been like this.
“The only thing…you’re good at…is running…” The girl had no stamina and shortly fell back, her shoulders heaving as she caught her breath.
“C’mon, I’ll work hard when we get a new job, all right, Kisara?” said Rentaro.
“Don’t be stupid! This was our last chance!” the girl said. “And,” she continued, glaring at Rentaro, “at work, you are to call me ‘President,’ not Kisara.” Flipping her long hair, she briskly returned to her work desk. “Useless thing,” she said as she sat in her office chair.
Rentaro sighed. When he got back to the office, it wouldn’t be a mere butt-kicking waiting for him, it was an iron-fisted punishment that knew no moral bounds.
There was a large ebony work desk about the size of a grand piano and a well-tanned leather office chair. Seeing a girl wearing a sailor school uniform sitting there looked very strange.
Kisara Tendo. The youngest daughter of the Tendo family that took Rentaro in ten years earlier, and the president of the Civil Security Agency, that Rentaro worked for.
“In other words, is this what happened? You rushed off to buy the sale items that are sitting on that desk right now, and didn’t realize until you were halfway there that you had forgotten to get paid by the police?”
“Yeah…,” Rentaro mumbled brusquely as he averted his gaze.
He had hurriedly called Tadashima, who said, “What? I thought for sure that it was a pro bono service you were doin’ for us. Well, what’s done is done, so why don’t we just call it a free trial? If more jobs come up, I’ll make sure to work you good and hard!” he said, laughing as he hung up.
Black Bullet, Vol. 1: Those Who Would Be Gods Page 3
