“I don’t take orders from you.” Saying that, Kagetane left for the thicket they had seen earlier.
Rentaro was dumbfounded for a moment but then soon followed him, pushing Kagetane aside with his shoulder. “You can’t do anything with your attack power. Stay back.”
His shoulder was shoved back. “Injured people should stay back. That’s my prey.”
“Y-you bastard…”
Just then, a nearby Gastrea finally noticed them. Rentaro and Kagetane clicked their tongues at the same time and moved forward in the rain side by side. Rentaro was in a good mood, and Kagetane held down his silk hat. It was the walk of people who had given up trying to hide and had resolved themselves.
Rentaro’s heart beat loudly. They had to do this in one hit.
Rentaro’s explosive-style artificial limbs and Kagetane’s repulsion field were both techniques that were far from being silent, and it was not hard to imagine the fearsome counterattack that would follow upon letting off such an attack in the Gastrea base. Therefore, their plan could only be to take one attack and withdraw quickly.
Pleiades noticed them. It looked at them with reddish eyes that looked like they had a film of oil over them, but it did not look like it was going to take any action. Rentaro had seen it before. Those eyes were eyes that had given up on everything. Rentaro looked beyond his own position and couldn’t help but sympathize with the monster. It had evolved only its ability to slaughter until it was unable to move freely, and was only being kept alive because it was being fed by other Gastrea.
“Well then, shall we?”
“Yeah.”
It was a strange feeling. In the past, during the many times he had fought against this mysterious man, he could not bear the reality that they were both alive and breathing at the same time. When Rentaro’s spirit of justice mixed with hatred and clashed with Kagetane’s logical evil, Rentaro and Kagetane could only deny the other’s existence with their whole souls. That was the only way they could see to resolve their situation.
But then why—how could he feel that he could rely on a man like that right now? What was this uplifting feeling he felt in his chest?
The Gastrea around them screeched warnings to their comrades in response to the humans that had suddenly appeared in their base, but it was too late. There was a high sound, almost like the air itself was being cut, as Rentaro and Kagetane pulled back their arms.
“Tendo Martial Arts First Style, Number 3—”
“Endless—”
Phosphorescence gathered around Kagetane’s hands and formed into a sharp spear. At the same time, three empty golden cartridges flew out of Rentaro’s right arm and bounced on the ground with metallic clangs.
Rentaro’s and Kagetane’s eyes met.
“—Rokuro Kabuto, Burst!”
“—Screeeam!”
The right fist with great mastery of technique in it and the shining demon spear of darkness drove into the abdomen of the Gastrea Pleiades at the same time. The sound of the impact reverberated out right afterward and blew the leaves off the tops of the trees, making the forest shake. The center of the explosion caved in, lifting up the bedrock and blowing it backward.
As Rentaro’s rotating arm thrust powerfully, he felt his arm swing through. Pleiades’ skin, which had been reinforced to keep it from getting crushed by gravity, was split open and scattered in all directions. The creature was extinguished from the earth without even having a chance to scream.
Under the Gastrea’s shocked gazes, Rentaro tended to his fist that had heated up and took the Infinite Stance and focused; meanwhile, Kagetane put his silk hat back into place.
Rentaro realized that he had completed the mission to defeat the
Gastrea Pleiades. He groaned involuntarily. There was an intense pain in his side, and he fell to his knees and coughed, unable to bear it.
His wound had opened up.
“Papa, hurry!” said Kohina.
Kagetane did an about-face and started running. Immediately, there were angry bellows in succession behind them, and the air shook. Almost three thousand Gastrea contacted their comrades to report an enemy attack.
One side of Rentaro’s face twisted with the dull pain, and he ordered his body to move, but his movements were slow, and he naturally protected his side as he ran. His vision turned hazy and his legs became tangled. He almost fell. He had used up the last of his strength with that last attack.
“You’re too slow!” He was suddenly pulled so hard he felt like he would dislocate his shoulder, and his body felt like it would be torn apart with the sudden acceleration. Opening his eyes while he gritted his teeth against the assaulting wind pressure, he realized that Kohina had taken him by the shoulder and was flying through the air.
“Why are you…?”
Kohina pretended not to hear, and jumped off of boulders and tree trunks, making Rentaro’s vision shake.
He felt like he was being shaken in all directions by her violent running, and he started to feel nauseous. Still, he held on tight so that he wouldn’t fall off. He definitely did not want to scream, so he gritted his teeth. Behind him, he could hear angry bellows here and there that seemed to bunch together into a single roar. Danger signals resounded in the back of his mind.
Their restless enemies had finally started to follow them in earnest. Of course, there was the threat of the fast-moving Gastrea, but if flying Gastrea also started following them…
Ignoring Rentaro’s misgivings, Kohina jumped from tree trunk to tree trunk as fast as a tornado. He grazed his cheek slightly on a giant tree, and the rough leaves cut his face.
Light suddenly appeared on the opposite side. Kohina darted over with a vast leap and they continued on that road in the opposite direction, running through the forest where they could see the cloudy sky, light rain, and the swamp they were following.
“Over there! There’s a small hollow in the back of that waterfall!” Rentaro pointed at the three-tiered waterfall downstream of the river.
Kohina didn’t spare a single glance in his direction, but Rentaro could tell that they were on the same page by the way Kohina made her steps lighter. She silenced her footfalls and ran in the direction of the waterfall.
With just two jumps, she brought them to the waterfall and let go of Rentaro without warning.
He couldn’t deal with the unexpected floating feeling and awkwardly flapped his arms in midair. Immediately after, he spun over and over with sharp pain hitting all over his body. He felt like he had just jumped out of a speeding train—and decelerated like it, too.
Before he knew it, he was lying facedown. The rocks along the mountain stream hit him, and he thought he would lose consciousness in another moment. His joints hurt. Just breathing made his lungs hurt.
Damn it, is she trying to kill me?
“Hurry!” When he looked, he saw that Kohina was beckoning him, unconcerned about the details. Behind them echoed the sound of the earth rumbling as their pursuers followed them, and he desperately used his hands to push himself up and walk through the catwalk of the basin of the waterfall, practically hurling himself into the hollow in the back to hide himself.
Not five seconds passed before a soaked Kagetane also rushed in, looking like a drowned rat. “Will they really pass by us if we stay here?” he asked.
“There’s nowhere else!” Rentaro snapped.
“You two are both too loud!” Rentaro was taken aback by Kohina’s roar and shut his mouth. After that, they didn’t talk anymore and just holed themselves up in the crowded hollow, trying to quiet their breathing and hide.
The short and shallow rise and fall of Rentaro’s shoulders quieted down, but it meant that he could more clearly hear the vibrations of Gastrea pounding on the ground, and his world shook. In front of them was a curtain of water, and because of the rain, the Gastrea were not supposed to be able to pursue them by smell.
Rentaro closed his eyes and made a hard fist.
After a while, the loud cries passed over them, and the large group of Gastrea went by. This didn’t feel like real life.
Finally, their cries faded away with the Doppler effect.
Rentaro was about to give a sigh of relief when the ground shook loudly, and just as he was about to fall into the waterfall basin, Kagetane grabbed both his arms.
There was another loud vibration. Rentaro’s body floated in the air, and his feet danced. He broke into a cold sweat. This time, it was an outrageously large Gastrea walking toward them.
“Last night, because of our encounter with the repulsive monster, none of us slept one wink.”
Gado’s words echoed through Rentaro’s head. Could this possibly be what he had been talking about? The general over all the enemy, the Gastrea Aldebaran?
The low rumble of its breath made the air vibrate, and the stink of animal attacked Rentaro’s nose.
It was here. He couldn’t see it, but he could tell by its overwhelming presence.
A giant Gastrea was plopped right above the hollow where Rentaro and the others were hiding. What in the world did it look like?
What’s wrong? What’s it doing? Hurry up and leave. Why isn’t it moving?
Rentaro started to panic.
Don’t tell me it’s noticed where we are?
Just then, the waterfall in front of them split open, and the earth quaked as something large poked into the waterfall basin.
At first, Rentaro thought that a stone pillar had fallen from the sky. But no, it was a leg. One of the Gastrea’s gigantic legs had stepped into the waterfall basin by chance.
That did not mean that they had been noticed yet.
Rentaro pushed his back deep into the hollow as far as he could.
Finally, the giant leg was pulled out of the waterfall basin, and the Gastrea’s steps gradually faded away.
Rentaro slid down the back of the hollow.
In the next two hours, Gastrea came near them intermittently, but none of them came as close as Aldebaran. Rentaro didn’t know where
it had gone. Right now, all he could hear was the sound of the muddy water flowing past them.
However, since they’d been spotted, the Gastrea were on guard; if they were seen again, it was less likely that they would be able to escape again. The three of them were in agreement about not moving until nightfall.
After they waited another two hours, the dim, lead-colored sky had quickly turned into an indigo blue, and now, it was completely dark. It was hard to tell from the back of the waterfall basin, but it looked like the rain had also stopped.
For Rentaro, having to hide himself in the hollow with a constant sheet of spray flying in was a cruel trial. Blood loss had made him pale, and he was shivering uncontrollably from the cold. Earlier, he’d injected himself with morphine, but it seemed to be wearing off, and now he was being attacked by stabbing pains.
He’d sewn up his side with the needle and thread in his first-aid kit, which lay at the bottom of his survival knife under the back flap. Multiple times, he’d almost lost consciousness from the ordeal, but he was determined to survive despite it all. In the end, he covered the affected area with a pad of biological glue called fibrin and wrapped a bandage over it.
When his mind was fuzzy from the morphine, various memories ran through it unchecked. He remembered how, at the Tendo Civil Security Agency lit orange by the setting sun one day, Kisara started complaining about how they didn’t have any clients, and Tina mollified Kisara as she served tea. Enju stuck her head into the fridge without permission and started rifling through the stockpile of food, and Rentaro, who had been put in charge of accounting, glared at the unforgiving finance software as he desperately grappled with the numbers.
Even though the memory wasn’t that old, it seemed to be fading into sepia, slightly blurred with tears. For some reason, the casual everyday scenes had become irreplaceable. They were like an edited movie of happy endings with all the kissing scenes strung together and pressed in on his heart.
“Rentaro.”
A voice suddenly called his name. The outline of the person was blurry, but a clearer image slowly focused on his retina. A
square face with rectangular glasses, with hair that was over half-white, and rounded cheeks with deep laugh lines that gave the impression of being overwhelmingly kind.
“Dad.”
Takaharu Satomi. The father who had passed away ten years ago when Rentaro was six years old.
“Mom and I will be there soon, too.”
Saying that, Takaharu had pushed Rentaro onto a full train and told him the name where he was to evacuate—
Tendo
.
Don’t go.
However, Rentaro knew what happened next: He knew that his father would not evacuate to Tokyo Area. The next time he saw his parents, they were in coffins.
“Rentaro.”
His father kept calling his name.
Tears ran down Rentaro’s face. Why didn’t his parents come for him? His father said that they would be there soon…
Liar. I believed you. I loved you.
“…tomi…Satomi…”
“Dad.”
The blurry square face he had been looking at turned into a cold white mask before he realized it. The path between dream and reality was severed, and he reflexively jumped up.
“Did your father wear a mask or something?”
“Sh-shut up.” Rentaro turned away to hide his hot cheeks, but when he did, the pain in his side returned immediately. He shook his head as he pressed down on his eyes, rolling with pain. “Where are we?”
“We’re still in the waterfall basin. However, there’s something strange going on outside. Go out and look for a second.”
Rentaro’s head still felt like it had been stuffed full of mud. But he crouched and, when he got outside of the water, saw large, round footprints pressed into the ground, with tracks of something crawling in their center. It looked like Aldebaran didn’t walk upright, and had at least six legs.
The wind was blowing too hard and cold.
At first, he was on guard for Gastrea outside, but when he looked around, he soon noticed the strange feeling Kagetane had.
It was too quiet.