Clockwork Planet: Volume 1

by Yuu Kamiya

  The boy of small stature yelled all that out in one breath before lowering his head. Marie looked at him with seeming disgust before turning to Halter. “Halter, is this idiot complaining? Or is he thanking us?”

  “Who knows. I think he’s probably doing both.”

  “In—any—case! As compensation for the financial losses as well as the mental anguish I suffered, I’m making RyuZU mine! I decided that just now that’s right I’ve decided so leave already you cursed lumps of protein!”

  “Stop babbling nonsense, you idiot!” Marie promptly shouted back, huffing violently.

  Feeling a headache coming on, she pressed her hand against her throbbing temple as she slowly calmed her breathing before trying to pacify Naoto with a placid voice. “...Listen, okay? I sympathize with your misfortune. The cargo falling off was due to the ineptitude of the airport; still, I’ll apologize in their place as many times as necessary. However, RyuZU is an irreplaceable, precious asset to our family. I firmly request that you return her immediately. The compensation that is properly due to you shall be processed as a priority under my na—”

  “No way. I refuse. RyuZU is mine,” Naoto cut Marie off and discarded her proposal childishly.

  Marie, whose face had crumbled in disbelief, turned her head and looked at Halter.

  “Let’s kill this guy and bury him. That would solve everything.”

  However, Halter waved his hand, warning in a low voice, “...Cut it out, princess.”

  ”What? We’re in an emergency right now. We don’t have time to waste on dealing with an idiot like h—”

  “I told you to knock it off, Marie!”

  Startled by Halter suddenly raising his voice, Marie shut her mouth.

  Immediately afterwards, she realized.

  “Wha...?!”

  Just when had...?

  Rising from underneath the table, two black scythes surrounded Marie’s neck.

  RyuZU, who seemed to have unleashed those objects from under her skirt without stirring at all, was reflecting Marie’s stiffened face in her eyes, which were unreadable, as always.

  —As someone who had disassembled her body for maintenance before, Marie knew that that was the one and only weapon RyuZU was armed with—and also that it possessed the ability to easily sever alloy-armored military tanks, much less a human, in just an instant.

  Sweat immediately started to pour from Marie’s entire body.

  The angelic-looking girl looked like she had transformed into a man-eating tiger from the jungle. Marie couldn’t even feel the blades that simply enveloped her neck gently, but she understood that they were literally ready to nip her neck like the fangs of a beast at any moment.

  She only had one question—Why was she still alive?

  “......Ah-, ah-.”

  She couldn’t breathe. Her body wouldn’t move one bit. Even so, she managed to move just her eyeballs to glance at Halter. He was pointing his gun and ready to shoot, a tense expression on his face.

  But the muzzle wasn’t aiming at the automaton.

  It was turned towards—the petrified boy next to her with his mouth agape.

  RyuZU was ready to kill Marie and Halter was ready to kill Naoto—As the two murderous intents intersected, a drop of sweat ran down Halter’s face. He proposed in a tranquil voice, “Alright Miss, let’s calm down, shall we?”

  “—At just whom do you think you are pointing that gun?”

  Even as he was being stared at viciously by those golden eyes, Halter smiled gently and continued, “Let me apologize for my companion running her mouth. She was entirely in the wrong. Something unpleasant just happened, so she’s feeling a bit hysterical, you see. She wasn’t serious, just a tad irritated. Please excuse her.”

  RyuZU whispered softly, “If you don’t even have the intelligence to read between the lines, then let me rephrase. If a patchwork piece of junk like yourself, more inferior than humanity who are themselves lowlier than fleas, thinks it is acceptable to point a toy like that at Master Naoto, then I shall collectively tear both of you to pieces. Are you fine with that?”

  Her voice was cold enough to make a demon cower and cry.

  Though her eyes were inorganic, her gaze clearly harbored murderous intent.

  “I get it, I’ll put my gun down. I wasn’t serious. See, I didn’t even release the safety.” Halter slowly turned his gun around and showed its safety mechanism to RyuZU before discreetly lowering his weapon. “So please, could you not decapitate our princess in kind?”

  It seemed like she accepted those words as Halter had hoped, for the black scythes folded up without a sound and returned back under her skirt in an instant. During that entire time as well, RyuZU didn’t stir one bit.

  “——Hah... Haah...”

  Released from the mechanical murderous intent, Marie flopped onto her seat while rubbing her neck over and over again. Perhaps she couldn’t believe she was still alive, for her emerald eyes seemed somewhat out of focus and their lids were quivering.

  “W, What just...”

  “Listen here, princess...” Grasping Marie’s shoulder with his hand to calm her down, Halter said, “I’m irritated as well, but these two aren’t involved in our situation yet. Don’t say something thoughtless like that a second time. Otherwise, you really will be bidding farewell to your head.”

  Marie angrily glared at him. “Halter! I was almost murdered just now! You know that, right?!”

  “Yeah, you were. I’m glad you’re quick to understand.”

  “Why can an automaton that isn’t even military-use kill a person?!”

  Without hesitating, Halter said something preposterous. “She obviously doesn’t have a code of ethics programmed into her.” He glanced at the automaton, who was putting on a lucid face. “This Miss here hasn’t taken her eyes off you for even one second since the moment you showed malice towards that boy over there. That’s why I kept my guard up against her the whole time. Even so—I couldn’t even react to her speed just now. ...Do you understand what this means?”

  “......That’s—”

  It meant that even Halter, who had been reinforced with the latest cyborg technologies, didn’t have a fast enough reaction time to make out this automaton’s combat movements. Despite having kept his guard up the whole time, the best he could do was to take a hostage after the fact.

  “—To tell you the truth, if she really intended to kill you, I surely wouldn’t have had time to make that boy a hostage.”

  In other words, that was simply a warning just now. If RyuZU felt like it, that threat wouldn’t remain just a threat. Marie and Halter would both be shredded into bits and pieces before they could realize what had happened.

  And by no means would there be any way for them to defend against that.

  Halter waited for that fact to sink into Marie’s head before continuing, “...Understand? First, calm down. After that, forget the fact that she was the Breguet family’s personal asset. Even if it angers you, bear with it. Those are the rules in this situation.”

  RyuZU smiled in a carefree manner and said, “I retract my words calling you a less-than-human piece of junk. You appear to be rather perceptive for a human.”

  “I’m glad you understand.” Putting both his hands up, Halter said, “We apologize for our rudeness. Still, we want you to hear what we have to say. This is a momentous problem that doesn’t just concern us, but the lives of the twenty million residents of this city.”

  After that, Halter explained the situation.

  The abnormal fluctuations in gravity occurring here in Kyoto. The dispatch of Meister Guild, which was too rushed no matter how one looked at it, and the conspiracy and motives behind that. The military abandoning all responsibility and planning to conceal the truth, and the design of some in Meister Guild to try to turn that into an opportunity for political gain within the organization. And above all, the hopelessly insufficient time they have to work with—

  Naoto, who had finished liste
ning to Halter’s explanation, was left holding his head, speechless.

  After a while, he barely managed to get himself together and said, as if gasping, “Wait wait, this city will be purged? Letting the residents die? —Are you saying this with a sober mind?”

  “We couldn’t say something like this as a joke.” Marie continued, “I’m sorry to say that it’s all true. The military and a portion of Meister Guild have lost their minds. There are eight hours left—no, seven now, I think? This city will collapse. It’ll be annihilated, without a trace left behind. They’re totally insane, aren’t they.”

  “That can’t be... Can’t you do something?”

  “...To tell you the truth, we’ve got nothing.”

  Marie cast her eyes downward and made fists with her hands as if vexed.

  “At any rate, there’s no time. I was divested of my authority, so just to return to the core tower I’d have to break through the military’s obstruction. Moreover, even if I arrive at the site, there are no prospects whatsoever of being able to repair the system in time.”

  “That can’t be...”

  “It’s especially fatal that we can’t locate the point of malfunction. Our observation squad calculated that it would take two weeks to find it. It goes without saying that we don’t have that kind of time. But...”

  Pausing there, Marie turned her face towards RyuZU, whose expression remained wholly unchanged even after hearing of such a hopeless matter, and she hesitantly asked, “If it were you, couldn’t something be done about this situation?”

  Keeping silent, RyuZU didn’t answer her.

  As if to speak up for her, Naoto interjected. “Hey, wait up, now. From what you’ve said, you guys are a group of Meisters, right? What’s RyuZU supposed to do on her own about something that would take you guys a whole two weeks at full force to accomplish?”

  Without answering him, Marie peered into RyuZU’s golden eyes and said, “I know your legend. The Initial-Y Series. The supreme automata that the creator of this Clockwork Planet, the legendary ‘Y,’ left behind. You’re one of them. A mysterious automaton girl that wouldn’t budge a millimeter, even though nothing should have been broken...”

  RyuZU gazed back at Marie without a word. Recalling the sensation of having almost been killed not too long ago, Marie stiffened her body and continued as if muttering to herself. “A little more than two hundred years ago, you suddenly stopped functioning. Afterwards, several thousands of clocksmiths, including me, took on the challenge of repairing you, but were left frustrated. Y’s ultimate treasure—the First of the Initial-Y Series. It’s said that he who gathers all the automata of the series will rule the world, will inherit Y’s legacy, but... well, let’s suppose that that’s just idle gossip. In any case, we, the Breguet family, have fragmented information on you as the ones who have had you in our custody.”

  RyuZU didn’t reply. Marie licked her dry lips and continued, “The automata of the Initial-Y Series each have their own unique inherent abilities. You, the First, have the ‘Acceleration’ ability—It’s said that you’re an automaton specialized for ultra-high speed movements.”

  Naoto’s eyes widened. He had been listening to everything from off to the side.

  —I see, if that’s the case, it would explain all the questions I had.

  The movements that allowed her to escape the apartment while holding Naoto right after starting up. The ultra-high speed movements that peeled the clothes off the three playboys in an instant, and the action earlier that didn’t allow Halter to even react.

  That must undoubtedly be the inherent ability that Marie was talking about.

  The high level of functionality she displayed that left even current military aircraft in the dirt would make sense if the great “Y” was her creator—I buy it.

  Marie said, “You see, with the limited information I had, I interpreted the existence of you and your sisters thus: As this Clockwork Planet’s—maintenance machines that Y left behind for posterity.”

  “I’m right, aren’t I?” Marie asked. She sounded like she was praying.

  The Clockwork Planet that reproduced the planet’s mechanisms in their entirety was simply too complicated.

  A mere human couldn’t possibly—No, not even a single one of the clocksmiths who had devoted themselves wholeheartedly to their profession in the last one thousand years had caught up to “Y.” None of them could understand the technology he left behind. With all their efforts, humanity had just barely been able to reproduce a portion of the Clockwork Planet through imitation, and even that process wasn’t perfect yet.

  —In order for this planet to never perish again after his own death,

  Did he not perhaps create his own successors that would neither grow old nor die?

  “The children who inherited the now-lost technology of ‘Y.’ The stuff about ‘inheriting Y’s legacy’ was probably derived from that. The fact that you’re operating now when this city is about to collapse is—”

  Marie looked at RyuZU with eyes filled with expectation. “The very proof of that.”

  “Hoo...!” Halter’s eyes widened in admiration at Marie’s deduction.

  Naoto turned towards RyuZU as well, unable to conceal his excitement.

  I see. If what Marie’s saying is true, then there would be no doubt that it’s this very silver-haired beauty who will become the angel of salvation for this city facing the imminent danger of collapse.

  However.

  Having gazes of expectation and admiration from the three of them turned towards her, the legendary automaton in question put on a somewhat out of place expression, as if being the one contrarian to laugh at a joke that fell flat with everyone else, and informed them thus: “—I am clueless as to what you are speaking of. With all due respect, the current situation is gravely perilous—regarding your sanity, that is.”

  ●

  A queer silence befell them.

  Marie had frozen solid mid-smile, and Halter was digging into his ears with an indescribable expression on his face. Baffled, Naoto was repeating a sequence going back and forth, comparing RyuZU’s and Marie’s expressions and cocking his head in confusion.

  Halter managed to mentally reboot the fastest out of the three of them.

  “.........Ah—, excuse me, Miss.” He tilted his neck slightly as he calmly asked, “I want to confirm, just in case; in other words, are you saying that everything the princess here just said is wrong?”

  “Yes.” RyuZU faced Halter and nodded. “She looked so exceedingly confident and smug as she graced us with her grand hypothesis that it was terribly difficult to speak up, but—yes, her conjecture was a complete whiff. It is almost comical how it fails to even scratch the truth.”

  Marie’s face slammed onto the table. Her body was twitching and trembling while her face remained buried into it. Perhaps she had become unable to bear all the shame.

  RyuZU continued dispassionately, “It is true that I was made by the one you call ‘Y’ and that I possess an inherent ability that belongs only to me. That I’m the world’s supreme automaton is, well, a self-evident truth that goes without saying, though.”

  Marie’s head flew up, and she opened her mouth as if reciting a prayer. “I, In that case...!”

  “However, it is not really my mission to maintain the planet’s mechanisms. I have neither the knowledge and skills necessary nor was I given an order along the lines of, ‘Protect the city.’”

  Taking over for Marie, who had stiffened up again, Halter asked, “Then what are you actually here for?”

  “—‘The Follower,’” RyuZU uttered, placing her hand on her chest and casting her eyes downward, as if to nonverbally assert that that is the most important thing of all. “That is the categorical imperative etched into me—To serve my master, Master Naoto, at his side and devote all of my being to him. That is my one and only reason for existing.”

  Halter kept silent, his face indescribable.

  Glancing at Marie,
who was on the verge of fainting, RyuZU added, “Also, I would like you not to call my native ability a trivial contrivance like ‘Acceleration.’ Regardless, I don’t have the ability to locate a malfunction, and as for the problem you are facing—frankly, I have no interest in it whatsoever.”

  After RyuZU declared that with a very pleasant smile, there was a drawn-out silence.

  Marie was looking up at the ceiling while holding her face with both hands, and Halter was hanging his head with an exhausted expression on his face. Seeing a scene before him that could be titled “Despair,” Naoto couldn’t find any words to say, so he simply stayed silent.

  When—

  “...However, there’s just one person.” RyuZU muttered softly, to which Halter slowly raised his head.

  “There’s just one person who may be able to answer your expectations.”

  “Who would that be?!”

  Marie turned towards RyuZU with a start as she vigorously latched onto the automaton’s words.

  With their eyes on her, RyuZU slowly pointed—

  At the dumbfounded boy on her left, before casually informing them, “I’m speaking of Master Naoto.”

  “—Hah?”

  “Huh?”

  Being mentioned so abruptly, Naoto pointed at himself in a fluster, looking confused.

  RyuZU nodded at him in response, then turned towards Marie and said, “Based on what I have heard from you, I believe that Master Naoto, who was able to repair me, may also be able to save this city.”

  “Wait a second—He repaired you?!” Marie yelled out in astonishment. “What are you saying?! You weren’t broken anywhere!”

  She was supposed to be the mysterious automaton precisely because she wouldn’t move even though she wasn’t broken.

  “That simply means that you all are even more incompetent than Master Naoto.”

  “Ah—I was just casually called incompetent as well. That’s fine, I guess...” Naoto grumbled in a small voice.