by Yuu Kamiya
However, people—especially women; in other words, Marie—didn’t know.
That men can risk their lives for transient emotions like that.
That men are foolish, yet noble creatures like that.
“...Say, princess. Is it really a good idea to count on these guys...?” Halter whispered to Marie.
“Could you not ask...?” Marie groaned as she shook her head.
●
Once Naoto decided to go to the core tower, the group of four began to advance briskly through the corridors of the hotel.
They were heading for the underground parking lot. Naoto and RyuZU were told that Halter had a car parked there. They cut through the lobby, which was in a state of pandemonium from the chandelier falling down, and entered the stairway.
There, Halter stopped and turned around.
“Now then, first, what should we do about them? Though we already know, there’ll be nuisances trying to hinder us so long as we try to head to the core tower,” Halter said, squinting one eye ever so slightly as he glanced suggestively at the wall.
Understanding what Halter was alluding to with his gaze, Marie nodded. “...We need to do something about that. If we’re captured on our way to the core tower, the staff left underground might be taken hostage.” She sighed and shrugged in irritation.
Naoto spoke up from beside her. “What now? Aren’t we gonna head to the core tower?”
“Yes, we are.”
“There’s no time, right? So let’s get going.”
“...I’m telling you that at the moment, we’re thinking about what to do from here so we get to the core tower safely. Understand?” Marie clicked her tongue in displeasure.
Seeing her reaction, Naoto tilted his head and looked puzzled. “Are you referring to those guys keeping watch on us over there? Are they really a problem that we have to stop moving for?”
Hearing a keen observation out of Naoto made Marie furrow her eyebrows sourly. “...If you’ve already noticed, then could you use your brain a bit more? Do you think they’re only here to watch us and they’ll just silently see us off as we leave?”
“Well, I mean,” Naoto continued as he looked up at Halter’s giant frame. “This old man is a cyborg soldier, and RyuZU is here as well. Aren’t we good if we just dispose of them before they send out communications?”
Halter smiled wryly, somewhat taken back. “...Now that you’re on board, you’ve become awfully aggressive, eh, mister.”
Marie let out a sigh before saying in a subdued voice, “If we could, I’d want to do that as well. But this isn’t such a simple problem. Politics are involved. The military’s clocksmiths may be incompetent, but their ability to organize effectively is—”
“I’m not talking about that. When all is said and done, what are you trying to do? Play political house?”
“—Ngh.”
Marie raised her fist at Naoto—then stopped herself. She glared at him with her pair of blazing, emerald eyes as her body trembled all over with anger.
Her voice loaded with indignation she wouldn’t be able to conceal even if she tried, Marie spat out, “...Just what could you know.”
“I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking, isn’t it?” Naoto replied. “This stuff about politics and organization, is it more important than the urgent mission of going to the core tower and repairing it?”
With a sunny expression.
Without any other considerations whatsoever.
Without any bonds or fetters, possible precisely because he was just an ordinary citizen.
The boy who had resolved to act freely for nothing but his own desires stated his concise and straightforward philosophy:
“—Frankly, isn’t everything aside from that simply ‘whatever’?”
——
Marie closed her eyes and turned her brandished fist toward the wall, punching it mightily.
After that, she let out a grand sigh before turning to the giant man standing next to her and saying, “Halter.”
“Yo.”
“To lose an argument to someone like—someone like this dimwit is mortifying beyond belief. What am I supposed to do with all this frustration within me?”
“Hey, don’t call me a dimwit.”
Ignoring Naoto’s protest, Marie continued, “But I’ll still ask. Looking at things fairly, who’s right?”
“Who knows... Well, if you’re looking for an argument an adult would find sound, you’re probably in the right, princess.” Halter stroked his chin and shrugged his shoulders. “—But, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a brats agreeing with each other as brats do, you know? Cleaning up after brats is a job for an old man like me, after all.”
...Brat, Marie muttered inside her mouth before nodding. “Oh—I see. Now that you mention it, I am a brat, aren’t I.”
“Yep, you aren’t even a clocksmith right now; you’re just a sheltered, cheeky little princess, no?” Halter grinned broadly. He extended his bulky palm towards her and teasingly asked, “Will you give me some work to do, Marie?”
“...I suppose.” Marie nodded lightly as she smiled bitterly.
From her side, RyuZU interjected coldly, “Is everything settled then? As we speak, precious time is being squandered. May I expect you to have the ability to at least reflect on that?”
“I know already. ...I’m going to ask just in case: I can count you as part of our combat force, yes?”
To Marie’s question, RyuZU smiled gracefully as she curtsied and said, “Slashing down obstacles blocking the path of Master Naoto’s will is my job.”
Marie nodded at RyuZU; next, she turned back towards Naoto. “Naoto, after running your big mouth to the great Marie Bell Breguet like that, you’d better lend a hand as well.”
“Let me just say beforehand that I’m super bad at fighting.”
“I’m not expecting anything from you in that department. More importantly—” Marie placed her hands on her hips and threw a challenging glance at Naoto. “Your ‘talent’ that RyuZU mentioned—I’ll have you show it to us, got it?”
Naoto nodded and quietly let out a small sigh.
Then, he slowly removed his cheap, fluorescent-green headphones.
Immediately after,
—Noise so colossal it was nauseating assaulted him and made Naoto stumble forward.
“Ghh...ngh.” He grimaced, clenching his teeth. He felt as if everything around him was crawling into his ears.
It must have been because of the gravitational fluctuation. There were not only the sounds of malfunctions ringing from the city’s gears, but also of the damage being caused by the fluctuation and of the hysteria of the people. Together, they reached Naoto’s ears as a blasphemous symphony.
“Master Naoto.” RyuZU gently supported Naoto, who was about to collapse involuntarily, with her hands. “You’re fine. If it’s Master Naoto—it can be done.”
“Yeah,” Naoto spilled out a sharp breath. “If I couldn’t answer the faith of the world’s greatest automaton, my reputation as a machine geek would be ruined.”
He closed his eyes.
—In the midst of the raging storm of noise was a clear melody in a hidden calm. It was the sound of RyuZU operating. A beautiful, elegant, perfect—and fateful melody.
With RyuZU’s melody as his auditory pillar, Naoto began to pick only the things he needed from the massive stream of information infiltrating his brain.
And then—
“...Now then—Let’s go.”
Naoto began counting them up.
●
Marie descended with an elegant stride down the spiral stairwell as they headed towards the underground parking lot, and Naoto walked gingerly behind her. However, two men showed up standing on the landing ahead so as to block their path. Both were big and brawny, and side by side, they gave off an aura intimidating enough to flatten someone like Marie.
One of the men glared sharply at her and said, “I take it that you’re ex-Meister Marie Bell Bregu
et?”
Marie grinned, saying, “If I said I’m not, would you believe me?”
The men didn’t laugh.
“We’re from the military. We want to ask you about the disappearance of Ryoji Nijima of Technical Force.”
“I seeeeeeee, so you’re going to use that as the pretext. How well prepared you are.”
One of the men stepped forward and grabbed Marie’s wrist; that instant—
Marie’s body sank.
With a sweep of her foot, she tripped the man who had grabbed her, toppling him, then pulled her foot back and kicked his head as it came falling down from above. It was an intense blow, so much so that the sound of his cranium cracking was audible.
Looking down on the man who had been knocked down unconscious without even getting a word out, Marie clicked her tongue.
“—Who gave you permission to touch me, huh? Know your place, won’t you.”
The other man became enraged and reached out to grab Marie. “You bitch! Do you intend to resist—?!”
Marie brushed his hand away coolly with a simple stroke. She traced an arc with her hand as she followed through, punching the man’s chin with her clenched fist. The man couldn’t help but stumble forward, covering his torso as he lost his footing.
In that instant, Marie danced.
At the end of a sharp spin, she gouged the man’s temple with the heel of her boot using the ample amounts of centrifugal force she had gathered. The blow knocked the large man over, and a thud echoed out as the heavy lump of meat hit the floor.
“——”
Marie landed as her coat fluttered about. Without even taking a look at the men she’d brought down, she fetched a piece of candy from her pocket and tossed it into her mouth, crunching it into pieces. Naoto, who had been watching from behind, reflexively knelt down.
“I’m sorry for the conceited things I said, so please don’t use those moves on me,” Naoto pleaded.
“Good, I’m glad you understand.” Marie nodded, then turned around.
Her gaze was turned towards the corridor at the bottom of the stairwell that led to the parking lot. There, she saw that a military automaton that had gone unnoticed until now.
It was a lightly armed, bipedal model. Its silhouette was close to that of a human, but its arms bulged awkwardly. The muzzle at the end of its right arm was pointed at precisely where they stood.
When she saw the weapon, which could easily turn two living children into mincemeat, Marie’s eyes widened.
“You’re kidding me. It’s almost scary,” she muttered; however, she wasn’t addressing the automaton. Despite currently being exposed to mechanical murderous intent, her face showed no signs of fear. “Halter.”
As if to answer her, Halter leaped down the center of the stairwell.
Boom. The heavy sound of impact thundered.
With the full momentum from his free fall, Halter’s fist smashed into the automaton, greatly mangling its body all the way down to its frame. As it stumbled forward, Halter landed so he was shielding Marie and the others from the automaton’s muzzle.
The automaton instantly recalculated the threat level of the enemy target that had abruptly assaulted it. Judging from the targets’ physical capabilities and the distance between them, the automaton acknowledged that the full-body cyborg soldier was its greatest threat, and as such, turned its muzzle away from where Marie and the rest were.
However, by that time, Halter had already slipped up against the automaton’s chest. Grappling its bulging right arm, he leveraged his own weight in addition to using his full strength and tore it off.
“—!”
Upon being severed, its wires swung down with a jerk, and its gears and springs flew and scattered everywhere.
The automaton retreated as it stumbled —However, Halter crouched down all the way and then kicked off from the floor, sending himself flying towards it.
The automaton swung down its remaining arm as quickly as the blade of a guillotine drops.
The blow would have flattened and burst a human with a body of flesh—but Halter easily stopped it with one hand.
“—,—”
Its upper body jittered. Halter sneered as he pinned down the military automaton operating at full throttle with all his might.
“What a pathetic combat algorithm you’ve got, jeez. Did you really think you could take on a complete cyborg like me with the power of a lightly armed model? —You lookin’ down on me?”
Crack. The automaton’s arm was being crushed flat.
Halter was pinning down the arm with his hand. He squeezed with his fingers, warping its plating, breaking its shaft, and crushing its structural frame.
“You—idiot!”
Immediately after,
Halter stomped down on its body, and massive fissures radiated outward from where his foot landed. Then, after drawing it back all the way, he unleashed his fist. His punch came so quickly that the fragments that had broken off from his stomp hadn’t even flown into the air yet. With all his internal gears working together, Halter smashed through the military automaton’s plating with his fist and destroyed its nucleus, forcing it to shut down. —He tore the central spring out and tossed it onto the ground; the cracked cylinder clattered as it rolled around on the floor.
As Halter tossed the automaton that was now nothing but scrap metal, Marie addressed him from behind. “As expected, Halter. Thanks for your hard work.”
Looking back at the girl walking down the staircase, he shrugged his shoulders. “Not a problem. However—” Glancing at Naoto, Halter spilled out, “Calculating both the number of enemies and their positions this perfectly... Are your ears a sonar system or something like that?”
That’s right—The information that Naoto had gauged with his ears had been frighteningly accurate and precise.
Though Halter couldn’t even begin to comprehend how Naoto could discern who and what bore hostility towards them in the first place, the boy had known everything in advance—the number of enemies, their positions, and even their weapons.
Just how advantageous is that strategically—?
However, the boy in question didn’t answer. Instead, he asked him with a somewhat excited look on his face, “Hey, old man! You’re not just a military cyborg, are you!”
“Oh, you can even tell that much? That’s right. As you can see, I’m a stud on the outside, but I’m just as great on the inside, you know? My body is the ‘Eighth Generation’ model made by the Breguet Corporation.”
“Huh, eighth? The current ones on the market should only go up to the ‘Sixth Generation’...”
“It’s a prototype a generation above the next model to be released on the market. This is as high-end as it gets.” Halter took a pose, flexing his forearms to show off his muscles. “I’m the princess’s bodyguard, so I get to use the Breguet Corporation’s top-secret technology because of my affiliation with her.”
“Hah—! Hey hey, show me what your arm looks like disassembled lat—”
“What are you two men chattering between yourselves for? About disgusting things no less. We’re going already!”
Urged on by Marie, Naoto and Halter shut their mouths.
Walking down the stairs and through the corridor, they exited into the parking lot in no time. A black car was parked right next to the entrance to the corridor. However, when Marie approached the vehicle’s doors—
“Don’t move!” A booming voice echoed from a megaphone and through the underground parking lot. Marie zoned in on where the sound had come from.
A short and stout steel giant appeared as it turned off its optical camouflage. It was blocking the tunnel leading to the surface.
“VS-08 [Goliath]—An armored soldier! Seriously? You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Halter muttered as his face broke out in a cold sweat.
Developed by the Vacheron Corporation, it was a clockwork mobile suit piloted by a live human aboard it. Because of its thoroughly sound-dampened mechani
sms, it operated silently, and its thermo-optical camouflage gave it an invisibility function—its trump cards for battles in special environments. It possessed overwhelming power that the lightly armed automaton they had encountered earlier would be no match for even if it ganged up with other automata of the same model. Its cannon could pulverize even the cutting-edge artificial combat body that Halter used.
With a smooth motion, its muzzle turned towards Marie’s group.
—It roared.
●
The report he’d just received on the phone made Limmons swallow his breath.
...What did this clown say just now?
He felt sweat slowly ooze from the palm that was holding the receiver.
“.........Could you repeat that for me one more time?”
“I’m saying, because Marie Bell Breguet and her bodyguard resisted vehemently, I had no choice but to shoot the two of them dead. Aside from them, a civilian was caught up in the combat as well—”
“I don’t care about that!” Limmons clicked his tongue loudly before continuing, “Who gave you permission to kill her?! I believe I told you to restrain them!”
“Yes, however—”
Feeling the irritation within himself boil from the ambiguous reply, Limmons spat out in a low voice, “You guys were borrowing our corporation’s Goliath and you couldn’t even capture what is, at best, a single brat?”
“...With all due respect, to compare the target to an ordinary civilian is a little...”
“She’s just a brat,” he stated sharply. While tapping the phone with his index finger, Limmons curled his lips. “Yes, a brat. That’s all she was in the end. She was but a brat who had quick hands when it came to handling machines at most.”
“Shot her dead, you say... I see, so she died, huh?” Limmons licked his lips as he breathed in and out once. “Considering that you showered her with rounds from Goliath’s machine gun, I take it that her body wasn’t left in one piece, yes?”
His voice seemed to harbor some sort of expectation, and the one reporting answered in the affirmative. “...Yes. As the corpse has been severely mangled, it’ll take a bit of time to confirm its identity—”
