by Takehaya
“Jeez... This is all that girl’s fault. Next time I see her, I’ll— Wait, that’s...!”
Shortly after Koutarou began his trek down the mountain, he spotted a familiar face a ways off in a rocky area. It was Clan, who Koutarou was anxious to get ahold of for several reasons. Not far from her was her spaceship, the Cradle. It was on its side, revealing the belly of its hull.
“Clan! Us meeting here was the end of your luck!”
Koutarou was more than ready to give Clan a piece of his mind, so the moment he spotted her, he hurriedly climbed down towards the rocky area where she was. Despite his shouting, however, Clan remained motionless as she lay on the rocks with her eyes closed.
“Hey, Clan!”
Koutarou continued to yell as he made his way over to her.
“Huh?”
But Clan still wasn’t responding. She wasn’t even moving. Koutarou finally realized something was amiss and leaned down, bringing his face close to hers as he stared at her.
“...She’s unconscious.”
Clan may have been unconscious, but her complexion was fine and she was breathing calmly and steadily. It didn’t seem like her life was in any danger.
“Hey, wake up, Clan! Now’s not the time to be sleeping!”
Koutarou began shaking Clan with enough force that her glasses almost fell off her face.
“Uhn, hnngh...”
But even then, Clan didn’t wake up. All she did was let out a pained groan and wrinkle her brow. She was out cold.
“Damn, no good...”
Based on Clan’s response, or lack thereof, Koutarou gave up on trying to wake her up. Even though she might have been an enemy, he couldn’t just continue shaking someone in pain.
“Now then, what to do...?”
Koutarou took his hands off Clan and put his mind to figuring out what to do. With Clan unconscious here, he couldn’t just leave her behind and head back to school.
Right, I should make a call first.
After thinking for a moment, Koutarou pulled out his cellphone and turned it on. He decided the best course of action now was to try and get in touch with someone. Since Clan had the most to do with Theia, he was planning on calling her first. He hoped that she would make the decision about what to do with Clan for him. With her spaceship here and everything, it wasn’t like he could figure out what to do with it on his own anyway.
“Huh? That’s weird.”
However, when he turned on his phone, it didn’t seem to be getting a signal. Seeing that, Koutarou shook it a couple of times. There was no way anywhere on this mountain so close to Harukaze High School didn’t get reception. Since the school was designated as an emergency shelter in the event of something like a natural disaster, extra antennas had been put up along the mountain. Even at the top of the mountain at Koutarou’s worksite, he still usually got full bars. And since he wasn’t picking up any now, Koutarou figured it was more likely that his phone was broken.
“I guess shaking it won’t fix it.”
No matter how many times he shook his phone, he still couldn’t get a signal. After letting out a heavy sigh, he shoved the cellphone back inside his armor.
“Guess I have to bring her with me then...”
Although he was worried about leaving the spaceship out in the open, he couldn’t just leave Clan in her current state. So Koutarou picked up Clan and carried her as he began climbing down the slope again.
Even though he was carrying Clan, Koutarou’s footsteps were light. Since the armor he borrowed from Theia was power-assisted, it moved according to his movements. Because of that, it was essentially like the armor was carrying Clan. Koutarou barely felt any weight from her at all. It made it easier to check out his surroundings as he continued to move down the mountain.
“What kind of tree is that?”
As he looked around more, he started to notice strange things about the forest around him. This was the first time he realized that the trees here were unlike anything he’d ever seen before. Koutarou then cast his glance downward and realized the grass growing beneath his feet didn’t look familiar either.
“What a strange forest...”
With his head tilted, Koutarou continued climbing down the slope. Everything around him—plants, scenery, and all—was completely new to him. He felt like he was walking through a CG forest from a movie, but what he was seeing was absolutely real.
“To think there was someplace like this so close to school...”
I’ll have to tell Sanae and Yurika later. They’ll love this.
While Koutarou was thinking about that, he heard something just as he reached the open area where the Cradle was grounded.
“Cooo, cooo!”
A large bird flew past Koutarou with a shrill cry. It must have been at least thirty centimeters long.
“Wh-What is that?!”
The moment he saw it, Koutarou’s eyes locked on to it and his jaw dropped. At first glance it certainly looked like a bird, but upon closer inspection, it was a reptile with extremely birdlike features.
“It looks like a lizard you’d fight in a video game...”
It reminded Koutarou of some low-level monster from a game, and it was an apt description of the strange flying reptile. The reptile, however, completely ignored Koutarou as it flew off. By spreading its large wings, it grabbed the air like a bird and soared away in mere moments.
“Crap, I should have taken a picture.”
Discovering a new species would be a major achievement, so Koutarou regretted not taking a picture of it with his phone.
“Sheesh, all of this is her fault.”
Koutarou adjusted Clan’s position as she was about to slip off his back. Carrying her was keeping his hands occupied, so there was no way he would have been able to react fast enough to get a picture anyway. Even if he spotted another one, he still wouldn’t be able to photograph it. That slightly irritated Koutarou, but his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a woman screaming in the distance.
“Kyaaaaaaaah!”
“...What was that?”
As Koutarou turned his head in the direction the scream had come from, he could hear other noises too, but nothing as clearly as the scream. The sounds were all being scattered through the forest, so he couldn’t even tell what was making them.
“Aaaaah!”
Then there was another scream. The voice seemed more desperate than before, but despite that, it wasn’t as loud as the first one had been.
“Sounds like trouble. I should go take a look.”
Koutarou swiftly made up his mind and rushed towards the middle of the empty area where the Cradle was.
“Looks like this is the entrance...”
Koutarou approached a hatch on the Cradle and put his hand on a nearby lever. As he pulled it, the hatch opened by sliding to the side. Past the hatch was a lustrous passageway, similar to the ones on Theia’s ship.
“Good!”
Relieved that the hatch had actually opened, Koutarou laid Clan down inside the ship. He then returned the lever to its original position to close the hatch.
“That solves the Clan problem for now.”
Koutarou put Clan on board the Cradle to keep her safe. There were unknown animals about and he’d just heard screaming. Carrying her unconscious body around with him might be dangerous, but he couldn’t just dump her in the wild. Leaving her inside the Cradle seemed like the best possible option right now.
“Next is, um... What’d Ruth call it?”
Koutarou turned back towards the direction he’d heard the screams and began fiddling with the armor’s right arm, which functioned much the same way Theia and Ruth’s bracelets did.
“Activating battle mode or something, wasn’t it?”
After his faltering order, Koutarou began running much faster than he had before.
The armor Koutarou was wearing had several different modes for a variety of situations. Koutarou primarily used cruise mode and battle mo
de.
Cruise mode was the most convenient setting. In this mode, the suit’s energy distribution prioritized frequently used functions and equipment, and the computer performed calculations and made accommodations accordingly. By doing that, it efficiently supported the wearer. This was the mode Koutarou normally used, or rather the one he was made to use.
Battle mode had the opposite settings of cruise mode. Energy distribution and power assistance gave combat functions priority. Compared to cruise mode, it had far more power and mobility, but that largely came at the expense of nimbleness and comfort. Weapon usage, defensive measures, and flight capabilities were programmed to this mode. They were rarely used in everyday situations, but were necessary in emergencies.
Koutarou was now using battle mode, which increased his running speed a great deal. Gravity was being controlled to reduce his weight, and on top of that, the power assistance supplemented his leg strength. Because of all that, Koutarou tore through the forest like some wild beast in its element.
“The source of the sound has been located, my lord. There is a 94 percent probability that there are eleven people present.”
“Whereabouts?”
Koutarou didn’t slow down even a little as the AI in the armor reported its findings to him. He conversed with it as he ran, but he wasn’t even out of breath thanks to the armor’s power assist.
“Forward at 1:30.”
“That doesn’t help me.”
“Ahead and a little to the right.”
“Got it.”
Heeding the computer’s instructions, Koutarou turned a little to the right as he ran. At the same time, two 3D images overlaid his vision. An upside-down triangle marked the sounds’ origin, and something like a filter indicated nearby heat sources.
“That’s very thorough.”
“Your praise honors me.”
Koutarou adjusted his direction so that the upside-down triangle was right in front of him, and he took a careful look at the heat sources that were registering near it. They still seemed to be some distance away. They were all clumped together, but based on the way the clump was moving, it certainly seemed to be human.
“There is a 90 percent probability that ten of the heat sources are chasing after the eleventh one.”
“That’s enough with the images! Let’s go!”
“As you wish, my lord.”
After ordering for the images to be removed, Koutarou started running even faster.
It seems like I’ve stumbled across an even bigger problem than I thought. Now then, what to do...?
Koutarou was overwhelmingly faster than the eleven in question. Because of that, he didn’t have much time to think about what he was going to do when he caught up to them.
A few seconds later, Koutarou was already upon them.
Well, I don’t know what’s up yet...
Koutarou didn’t join up with the group right away, but rather hid in a nearby bush to watch over the situation. He still didn’t know who had screamed or why.
The group was now gathered on a sheer cliff. Koutarou couldn’t see the bottom of it from where he was, but since he couldn’t see any trees peeking up over the lip of the precipice, he assumed it was probably quite a drop.
“Hmm... They’re surrounding that woman?”
Koutarou squinted his eyes. The evening sun was level with the cliff opposite where he was now, making it hard for him to see, but it looked like a lone girl was being surrounded by the other ten men.
“To think you won’t even scream or beg for your life in this situation...”
“If it’s a scream you want, I gave you one earlier.”
“A scream of surprise from falling off your horse is hardly worth bragging about.”
“Then I suppose you’re out of luck.”
The people were talking among themselves.
It’s not Japanese? What does all this mean...?
But Koutarou couldn’t understand what they were saying. He was sure that they weren’t speaking English, but he couldn’t imagine what language it might be. Despite the language barrier, however, he could hear the tension in their words.
“The processed footage is ready for viewing.”
“Please bring it up.”
When Koutarou gave the computer the order, another 3D image appeared in his field of vision. It was a recording of what he’d just seen, processed to remove the evening sun.
“What is...”
The moment Koutarou saw that footage, he was left quite perplexed. What he saw was a girl in a dress surrounded by men wielding swords and spears. The outfits they were wearing felt familiar. They looked somewhat like the costumes Koutarou and the others were using for aristocrats and soldiers in their play.
“Is this a continuation of the play? But why are they doing it in a place like this? It’s not like anyone could come see it here.”
Between the costumes and the staging in the woods by the school, Koutarou’s first thought was that this was some continuation of the play. He just didn’t understand why they were doing it here. Whether it was a performance or a rehearsal, he couldn’t think of a reason to do it on a mountain cliff.
As he tried to process this, the evening sun dipped below the cliff and Koutarou was finally able to see the faces of the people ahead of him without the assistance of the armor.
“Sakuraba-senpai?!”
The girl on the cliff looked just like Koutarou’s upperclassman Sakuraba Harumi.
“N-No, there’s no way! That’s not Sakuraba-senpai!”
But Koutarou quickly realized that it wasn’t her. Her costume and her part in the scene certainly made it seem like it was, but there was one major difference. Harumi had black hair, but the girl on top of the cliff had shining silver hair. It fluttered in the breeze, reflecting the orange glow of the fading sun.
“Alert: The weapons possessed by target group B are all capable of causing injury. Upgrading threat level from 1 to 2.”
“They’re real?!”
Koutarou’s eyes opened wide in surprise after hearing the computer’s warning.
“The probability is near 100 percent. The chances of detecting false positives 28 consecutive times is virtually zero.”
The ten men were carrying a total of 28 weapons between them. The armor had used its sensors to examine each and every one of them, and it concluded that they were all capable of spilling blood. In other words, unless it was mistaken 28 times in a row, the men surrounding the girl were all armed with real weapons.
“So, what? This isn’t a play... It’s exactly what it looks like?!”
Koutarou gradually came to understand what was going on. It was a remarkable coincidence, but something very close to a scene from the play was unfolding in front of his very eyes. There was no way they would use real weapons for the play without appropriate protective barriers around them like what Koutarou’s sword used.
So the scream from earlier came from her and these guys are the reason? And now they’ve cornered her on a cliff?!
Even though he knew what was happening now, Koutarou still didn’t know the reason for it or how it had escalated to this. It could be that the girl was an evil criminal and the men were here to capture her. Or it could be the other way around and the girl was being attacked by villains.
What do I do?! Should I really just be sitting here?!
As Koutarou was contemplating what to do, the men circled around the girl slowly closed ranks. The girl, who had her back to the edge of the cliff, stood frozen. There was nowhere left for her to run.
“Looks like that long-lived royal bloodline of yours ends here.”
“Blood has nothing to do with it. My only regret is not being able to protect the citizens.”
“A brave declaration. But don’t worry. After the royal bloodline has been discontinued, His Excellence the Minister will protect the people.”
“I can only hope that’s true...”
The cliff edge crumbled slightly by
the girl’s feet. After taking a glance at her footing, the girl closed her eyes. Whether she fell or was cut down, she was aware that she couldn’t escape death.
“Information: Based on the situation, it is likely that target group B is intent on the murder of target A.”
“They’re trying to kill that girl?! Are you sure?!”
“There is a 92 percent probability.”
Koutarou clenched his fist. Meanwhile, the men closed in on the girl. She clasped her hands together in front of her chest as if in prayer. The men were planning on killing her.
“Damn, I can’t just let this happen!”
Koutarou still didn’t fully understand the situation, but he knew if he did nothing that there was a high chance the girl would be killed. He didn’t have the time or ability to call for the police. To save the girl, Koutarou would have to do it himself. And since the men after her clearly weren’t the police or any other kind of law enforcement, it only seemed right to stop them.
“Let’s go! We’ll stop that target group B or whatever and—”
“Setting group B as an enemy force in the IFF.”
However, what drove Koutarou to action more than anything was the girl’s face. Those eyes that held a powerful will, her sharp eyebrows, her firmly closed lips. She looked just like Harumi when she stood on stage. That’s why Koutarou couldn’t find it in himself to just abandon the girl to her fate. Even if she was a criminal, he still wanted to help her.
“Select your weapon.”
“I want to go with my sword, but can you make it so it won’t kill them?”
After jumping out from the bush, Koutarou ordered the AI in his armor to only use nonlethal force. He still didn’t fully understand the situation and he didn’t want to kill anyone.
“As you wish, my lord. Equipping the blade with a sonic impact barrier.”
Koutarou drew the sword from its sheath at his waist and rushed the ten men.
“Hey, you! What kind of adults would gang up on a lone girl like that?!”
In order to distract the men from the girl, Koutarou shouted loudly on purpose as he approached. And just as he’d hoped, the men’s attention shifted from the girl to him.
