by <unknown>
The policemen in Rentaro's surroundings entered a clamor.
The television switched to show the broadcast room where the newscaster reminded viewers that as soon as war broke out, they should stay as far away as possible from civilian weapons companies and SDF facilities that might become targets for attack. Then the newscaster reported simple anti-disaster knowledge.
Rentaro fearfully looked to the side. Seitenshi was showing solemn eyes under the edge of her hood, also staring at the television screen.
"Before I sneaked out of the Sacred Residence, I did send an emissary to the Sendai Area, but diplomatic negotiations have apparently reached an impasse."
Seitenshi looked up at Rentaro.
"Mr. Satomi, have you noticed? Despite looking furious, Prime Minister Inou still maintains some rationality in his manner of speech. If one were to think in reverse, despite issuing a speech with such a tough stance, the Sendai Area is hesitating about whether to start a war, is that not correct? Those who understand such signs would naturally know that the other side is expressing their willingness to wait until the final moment, would they not?"
Rentaro was utterly impressed with Seitenshi to the point of speechlessness.
Naturally, she was not someone who became the national symbol through physical appearance and idol worship alone.
After a while, when there was no longer any worthwhile information on the television, Seitenshi relaxed her tense shoulders and said "Let us take a break over there?" with a tired expression and pointed to a corner in the cafeteria.
Hence, Rentaro pulled out a chair to sit down. Although it was still early morning, a tempting aroma was coming out of the kitchen.
"This must be the breakfast prepared by the prison catering staff for the police officers who had spent the whole night cleaning up the aftermath. Mr. Satomi, I shall ask if we may partake in their breakfast."
Before Rentaro could stop her, she stood up and walked to the kitchen to speak with the chef in charge of cooking. Soon after, Seitenshi bowed deeply to the other person.
By the time she returned while saying "sorry for the wait," she was already carrying in her hands a tray with curry.
Although it only arose by chance, to think that the Tokyo Area's highest authority was carrying food out for him...
Rentaro thought to himself: if the female attendants serving Seitenshi were to see this, they would surely clamor loudly. At the same time, he was also greeted by the warm steam from the curry presented before him. He breathed the fragrant aroma of the spices into his nasal cavity all at once.
Although he did not feel hungry, he still dug a spoonful and delivered it to his mouth.
Rentaro was so surprised that his eyes almost popped out of his head.
The combination of sweetness, spiciness and saltiness was absolutely superb. The sweet-tasting onion and potato flowed into his throat together with the curry spreading in his mouth. Rentaro was completely defeated by this strong feeling of happiness.
To be honest, Rentaro had no appetite at all before eating this mouthful, but by the time he noticed, he was already holding the plate up, shoving the food into his mouth ravenously.
But then he looked ahead to see Seitenshi simply holding a spoon, staring at the steaming plate.
"What's with you...?"
"Well... Since my diet in the Sacred Residence is controlled on the level of milligrams to maintain the balance of nutrients, I wonder what they would say if they saw this..."
"You're the head of state. Just eat whatever you like."
Seitenshi quietly shook her head.
"I am not a monarch lording over the populace but simply a spokesperson chosen by the common people. Hence, I must do everything I can for the people."
Seitenshi closed her eyes and stroked her cheek.
"Fortunately, many people praise me for my looks. They hope for me to remain this beautiful forever. If this allows my voice to reach people far away, I will continue to maintain this beauty while carrying the notion that even my body does not belong to me. Once nutritional balance is broken, beauty will be lost and the unstated relationship of trust between myself and the people shall—Mmmmph!"
Finding a spoon suddenly stuffed into her mouth, Seitenshi blinked hard.
The culprit who had inserted the spoon, Rentaro, was rubbing his own shoulder with his free hand.
Just listening to her speak was giving him a back ache.
Seitenshi shuddered slightly and stood up from her chair.
"W-What are you doing!? E-Even my own mother has never been so rude to me—"
"—Anyway, finish eating the food in your mouth before talking."
Faced with what he pointed out, Seitenshi realized she was speaking while chewing food. Instantly, she covered her mouth and went red in the face.
After swallowing the spoonful of food, it was her turn to stare wide-eyed in amazement.
"...Quite delicious."
"I know, right? Forget about the pain in the ass stuff for now, just enjoy the food first. While you're with me, forget the fact that you represent a state. If you can't do that, go home immediately."
"In that case, you do have a point... Thank you, Mr. Satomi."
With a gentle blooming smile, Seitenshi's face was truly too dazzling. Rentaro had no choice but to turn his face away. In order to hide his embarrassment, he started eating the assorted pickles but the taste was unexpectedly sweet and sour.
After that, neither of them engaged in conversation, simply eating quietly for quite a while.
In the end, it was Seitenshi who slowly broke the silence.
"Mr. Satomi, you have made a round through this floating prison, yes?"
"Yeah, Litvintsev has already escaped."
"Did you notice anything else?"
Rentaro instantly stopped the spoon he was bringing to his mouth.
"There's one point which makes me very concerned. An Initiator was killed at the doorway to the supervision and control room. She was sent by the IISO to assist in guarding. IP ranking of 550 formerly. The killer is most likely the one you said to pay extra attention to yesterday, Yulia Kochenkova."
"Is it already confirmed?"
"Come on, someone ranked 550 was defeated in one hit after all."
Rentaro recalled the abdominal wound that looked like it had been ripped open by a tiger, as well as the expression of shock on the victim's face.
He slowly shook his head.
"I got played...! That Yulia Kochenkova girl is undoubtedly even stronger than Enju, the kind of Initiator I absolutely cannot send Enju to fight..."
"Mr. Satomi, I too have pondered Litvintsev's actions, but why did he intentionally take the risk to summon you the day before he was going to escape from prison?"
"......"
"My guess is that this is likely to be a personal message to you, Mr. Satomi. Something along the lines of 'catch me if you can.'"
Rentaro's memory of the pair of unblinking dark eyes, staring at him intently from behind the bars.
Rentaro rubbed his arms for warmth to prevent his teeth from chattering.
In other words, this massive conspiracy, enough to shake the world, was caused by you alone?
By you singlehandedly.
To be honest, Rentaro already wanted nothing to do with them. Just by understanding Litvintsev and his partner Yulia's power level, Rentaro wanted to retreat.
If he continued his pursuit of Litvintsev, intuition told him that he would definitely fall to an irrevocable result.
The enemies were soldiers, all professionals every one of them. A merciless organization with no scruples against murder as means to their ends. A world completely different from his own.
But Rentaro also understood at the same time that he could not falter lightly here.
After all, the price of not taking action would be the sacrifice of unimaginable numbers of people.
"The fight is not over. Now's the time to rack our brains to figure out Litvintsev's possible hiding
places."
Rentaro exhaled forcefully, barely maintaining his mental balance.
"Good point. Then first of all, let us imagine where Litvintsev and his gang might have gone off to."
Seitenshi smiled gently.
"I am very honored to be fighting by your side."
Even if it were all bravado, Rentaro commanded himself to only look forward. Leaning his weight on the back of the chair, he crossed his legs.
"Can't we narrow down where those guys might be hiding? It's not like they could escape out of the Tokyo Area in just one day."
"I have considered this point too. No matter how reinforced with varanium the hull of a motor boat, it is insufficient to oppose the threat of marine Gastrea. Very likely, they had landed some place to hide inside the Tokyo Area."
"What about the possibility of escaping the Area by air transport."
"Due to extremely tense relations with the Sendai Area right now, not even an ant can crawl out of the Tokyo Area's air defense net. Although chances of this route are not zero, it should be negligible."
Rentaro cautiously pushed his thoughts further.
"You said the day before yesterday that Litvintsev's gang was using Solomon's Ring and the Scorpion's Head to control Libra, right?"
"Indeed, because Stage Vs are equipped with the ability to communicate with one another using electromagnetic and sound waves, it is possible to use electric currents to stimulate the vocal cords retrieved from the Scorpion's corpse to make them emit electromagnetic signals and sound waves, sending them out through the translation device of the Ring. More simply stated, it is possible to fool Libra into thinking the Scorpion is still alive."
"But if you really think about it, how could electromagnetic waves be sent over to Libra over at Nasu in the Tochigi Prefecture? I remember that the direct distance from here to Nasu is over 150 km, right? Although I don't understand signal engineering completely, can electromagnetic waves travel that far without weakening?"
"That answer is right over your head, Mr. Satomi."
Following Seitenshi's suddenly extended index finger, Rentaro could only see the filthy ceiling and the tear gas vents.
But of course, she was not referring to the ceiling.
Suddenly hit by a flash of inspiration, Rentaro could not help but go "Ah!"
"I see, a satellite...!"
Seitenshi nodded firmly.
"As expected of you, Mr. Satomi, a fast reaction. With a satellite in a geostationary orbit outfitted with a relaying device known as a transponder, electromagnetic waves are first sent to the satellite from a ground facility then amplified using the transponder and finally sent back to the ground. With that, the limitation of physical distance poses almost no hurdle. Litvintsev's gang is most assuredly using this method."
"H-Hold on a sec."
Rentaro extended his hand to interrupt her then organized the chaos in his mind.
"Wait up. Something as expensive as a satellite, how could just anyone use it..."
"Indeed. In the current year of 2031, police, civilian security and military activities are essentially the only ones capable of connecting to satellites. Launching satellites on their own, Shiba Heavy Industries is an exception among exceptions. For example, the satellite phonecall function in your cellphone, Mr. Satomi, was something you only gained the right to buy after receiving your CivSec license."
Rentaro nodded.
Indeed, when certain jobs brought CivSecs to taking action in unexplored territory, satellite phones capable of making calls without cellphone reception were clearly indispensable. Likewise, high-accuracy GPS functions also required authorization.
"Are satellites still that precious nowadays?"
"Yes, a geostationary satellite's lifespan only ranges from five to fifteen years. Hence, they must be launched frequently, but after the Gastrea War, almost all countries have lost satellite launching capabilities. Besides, during the war, many satellites were also shot down by Sagittarius."
"Now that you mention it, that's true..."
Enduring the bitter spit in his mouth, Rentaro looked down.
"As a result, Litvintsev's hideout must be equipped with devices for satellite uplinks and downlinks. Locations ought to be limited by narrowing down to this range."
"Uplink means what you just mentioned, sending signals to a satellite, right? And downlink means receiving signals sent by a satellite to the ground... Right?"
"Indeed."
"Then that's the same as uploading and downloading on the internet."
Tilting her head with her index finger against her chin, Seitenshi raised her eyebrows.
"Completely different, is it not?"
Rentaro pretended not to hear her and continued to think deeply.
"So, a facility capable of uplink and downlink, how many are there in the Tokyo Area?"
"One."
"Huh?"
Rentaro was stunned.
"Then haven't we found those guys' hideout!?"
Seitenshi solemnly shook her head.
"Not that place."
"Eh, but—"
"—That place is absolutely impossible, which is why my staff at the Sacred Residence have been out of ideas."
Feeling inexplicably intimidated by her, Rentaro did not know if he should pursue the matter further.
But since she already said that place was impossible, then he should rule it out from the list of suspected locations for now.
Damn it, in the end, all of his superficial thinking had already been covered by Seitenshi's contemplation a long time ago.
Had all clues reached dead ends now? Was there nothing he could do except gnash his teeth and watch Litvintsev instigate total war between the Tokyo and Sendai Areas?
Just as his thoughts were about to hit rock bottom, a savior appeared from an unexpected place.
Suddenly squeezing his way next to Rentaro's side, making a "ooph" kind of sound like an old man, taking a seat in a forceful manner, it was Superintendent Akutsu holding a plate of curry in his hand.
The eyes, deeply set in his dry and skinny face, glared at Rentaro sharply.
"You asshole of a brat, how could you shameless eat the breakfast that was prepared for us? And you even brought your woman to a crime scene."
Seitenshi stood up, causing her chair to make a noise. Her face was completely red while her mouth opened and closed.
"W-We are most certainly not Mr. Satomi's... w-woman or whatever, okay!?"
"Huh? We?"
"A-Anyway, putting that aside, what's the matter?"
Rentaro forced a change in subject. Although Akutsu muttered "somehow I find this voice familiar from somewhere" with his head tilted in puzzlement but in the end, he oriented his entire body towards Rentaro.
"You two are trying to track down Litvintsev's whereabouts, right?"
"Yeah."
Akutsu narrowed his eyes and smiled malevolently:
"—Then you're in luck. I've already found an eye witness who might know where Litvintsev went."
Author's Notes
Holding this book in your hand, dear reader, I'm sure you must be surprised by the unexpectedly low thickness, right?
In the Black Bullet series where each installment was always three hundred pages or so, this volume might be relatively thin.
During preliminary conceptions, because Volumes 3 and 4 and Volume 5 and 6 were paired up as duologies, I wanted Volume 7 to be a single volume story like Volume 1 or 2. However, my writing speed ran into trouble so I had no choice but to cut things off halfway, thus presenting the story in the current form.
I am extremely sorry to all the readers who were expecting this volume to have an equal amount of content as previous installments.
But that being said, regrets are not going to help. I will do everything I can to make the next volume more interesting.
About the comic adaptation
The March 27 issue of comic magazine Dengeki Maoh will be featuring the Black Bullet
manga adaptation's second installment of Black Bullet Interlude FAQ! will start serializing. Its subject (probably) belongs to the super hilarious type. If you want to see abua-sensei's uniquely sensitive personality, illustrating the frequently screaming and crying Black Bullet characters, you must not miss out.
Now for the acknowledgements.
Still extending deadlines to the extreme this time and fighting a tough battle, there is the editor in charge, a certain Mr. Kurosaki; fulfilling deadlines despite a schedule demanding a master juggler's skills, illustrator Ukai-sensei; Morinohon-sensei, abua-sensei and everyone in the editorial department who is in charge of the comic adaptation; I wish to offer my sincere thanks to all staff involved with this series.
Finally, there is every single one of you, dear readers. By the time this book is published, the anime adaptation will be about to air. I hope that the anime version of Black Bullet will be interesting for everyone too.
I am truly grateful to you for picking up this book. I wish for God's blessings to all the dear readers of my work.
Shiden Kanzaki
