Black Bullet - Volume 1 - Chapter 3.2

2 IT WAS 9:00 P.M.

Listening to the wasplike groan of the rotor, Rentaro looked carefully at the dark forest spread out below them. It was the first time he had ever ridden on a helicopter twice in such a short interval. The forest was shrouded in a deep darkness that the moonlight could not pierce.

Rentaro had been in the hospital on the brink of death, so he had missed the Seitenshi’s personal briefing, but based on the course of the helicopter, it looked like Kagetane’s hideout was around the Boso Peninsula of the old Chiba prefecture. The pilot had pointed out the site of the New Tokyo International Airport earlier, but it was too dark to see. It was probably just ruins that had been converted into plant seedbeds, anyway. Rentaro wasn’t really interested.

Other than Abiko, Usui, and some other areas near Tokyo, most of Chiba prefecture had not been surrounded by the Monoliths in time. The helicopter had passed the Monolith border much earlier. They were already in the dangerous area where Gastrea tread, the Unexplored Territory. Somewhere here, a pair that had once held an IP Rank of 134 was hiding. It was about time the other civil officer pairs were dropped off by helicopters or other transport vehicles in the areas they were assigned to cover.

Rentaro tapped his feet nervously as he rubbed his hands together. This was the full force that had been called out to hunt the Kagetane pair down. He had heard that there were many pairs other than himself involved in this operation. Among them, there should be pairs higher ranked than the Kagetane pair, as well. There was an extremely low likelihood that Rentaro would be the first one to find the Kagetanes’ hideout and engage in combat with them. Even so, as time passed, he grew more and more nervous. What was this indescribable impatience he felt?

Before they left, Rentaro stopped by the university hospital to visit Sumire. Looking at his face, Sumire threw a large shopping bag at him. Rentaro took it, tottering, and was surprised when he opened it up and looked inside.

“It’s from your patron,” Sumire said. “She said everything she thought you might need was inside. Is that enough?”

“Wow…it’s more than enough…” Thanking the student council president in his heart, Rentaro attached the waist pouch and holster to his belt, filled the pouch with the different tools he needed, and changed the XD barrel for one with a silencer. He tried jumping lightly, and he didn’t feel much difference in weight. Since his patron knew that Rentaro avoided wearing equipment like battle dress uniform, headgear, and bulletproof vests, she kept things that changed his appearance or added weight down to a minimum. Miori Shiba, the daughter of the CEO of Shiba Heavy Weapons. She really knew Rentaro well.

“Man, how annoying,” said Rentaro. “Now I have to thank her the next time I see her.”

“She has high hopes for you, doesn’t she?” said Sumire. “Thank her by achieving great things.”

He instantly caught what she threw into his chest. There were five small syringes connected together like bells. Inside each was a red liquid, and a cap was on each needle.

“That’s my going away present,” she said. “It’s something I made while researching Gastrea. You know what I’m talking about when I say it’s the AGV test drug?”

Rentaro gazed at them in wonderment and kept looking at the drug inside.

“Don’t use it unless you have to,” she continued. “If you go away, there will be fewer visitors to this basement room, and that’ll be problematic.”

He didn’t know what he could say to thank her, so he just stood still for a moment.

“I have one important piece of advice,” said Sumire. “Do you want to hear it?”

“Y-yeah.” Rentaro straightened.

Sumire put her hands on his shoulders. “You know…if you die, you should die neatly.”

“Huh?”

“I would prefer you to freeze to death if possible. No, no, that’s asking too much. In this case, starving to death would be fine, too. I’ll pour turpentine down your anus and cover you with natron salts and put you out to dry in the sun.”

“A-are you planning on turning me into a mummy and using me to decorate your lab?!”

“You understand things quickly. That’s right. Don’t worry, as a burial accessory, I’ll put a pair of Kisara’s underwear on your head and put you up in the university where everyone can see!” She laughed evilly.

“I’ve just decided! When I die, I’m going to die with a bunch of hand grenades in my arms. I’m gonna rest in pieces!” Asking himself what kind of threat that was supposed to be, he became a little depressed that he couldn’t even die carelessly.

“Rentaro, can I just say one more thing?” Sumire sat down and crossed her legs. Rentaro sat like he wasn’t going to be tricked by her again.

But he was wrong.

“Ten years ago, from the day Gastrea first started exterminating mankind, my world changed completely. Heaps of bodies, streams of blood, mangled corpses… No matter how many words you used, it would not be nearly enough to describe that hell. However, even if that was the case, what I did to you cannot be forgiven.” Sumire shook as she clutched the locket on her chest. Rentaro knew that there was a picture of her lover inside. “My conduct was abnormal at the time. I don’t know what I can say to apologize.”

Rentaro hesitated a few times and then finally spoke. “Doc… I have never once resented you, ever since that day.”

Sumire didn’t say anything for a while.

Rentaro snuck a glance at the locket before returning his gaze to Sumire. Rentaro silently put his XD into its holster and turned to leave. As he was leaving, Rentaro looked at her shelves with her Western film collection and suddenly gave a thumbs-up. “I-I’ll be back,” he said falteringly.

Sumire looked at him blankly for a moment like she didn’t know what he meant. Rentaro was suddenly embarrassed, but he couldn’t just pretend it didn’t happen at this point, so he tried yelling it one more time in desperation. “I said…I-I’ll be back!”

The next instant, Sumire was holding her stomach with laughter. “Oh man, you think you have the face of a Hollywood star? Even if I forgave your terrible acting, you need to at least be able to say that without getting embarrassed. And you need to become a man worthy of that line. Don’t die.”

He was suddenly pulled back to reality by a tug on his sleeve. The sound of the helicopter’s rotors returned to his ears.

“What’s wrong?” Enju asked. “What are you thinking about, Rentaro?”

“Nothing…,” he said.

Enju, bundled up in an extra layer of green flight jacket, was staring up at him. Her mouth had been clamped shut for a while as she fidgeted nervously.

“Now that I think about it, is it your first time going to the Unexplored Territory?” asked Rentaro.

Enju nodded. Rentaro understood. Things that one had to do outside the Monolith were definitely not something you thought about if you lived inside. He braced himself, thinking that he would have to provide her with the best support he could. “Is there anything you want to ask about before we start the operation?”

“What is this helicopter called?” Enju asked.

Rentaro looked around inside the aircraft. “It looks like parts of it have been upgraded, but it’s probably the Japanese version of a Black Hawk.”

“I know that name! It’s one of those weaklings from that retro movie I borrowed from Sumire where two of them crashed. Rentaro, is this going make a nosedive and fall headfirst, too?”

The pilot looked over at them with an unpleasant look on his face. “Hey, idiot! What are you saying?”

Rentaro apologized with a look, and was about to complain to Enju, but when he turned to her, she had such a dark look on her face that he couldn’t finish what he was about to say. She was probably trying to get rid of her nervousness in her own way. No matter how much her strength surpassed the human norm, she was still a ten-year-old child. Looking at Enju, sometimes he forgot that. Rentaro decided he would stay with her to the bitter end, and nodded slightly with resolve.

“Do you have any other…questions you want to ask?” said Rentaro.

“Then…what part of this helicopter is upgraded?” asked Enju.

“The helicopter again? You really like helicopters, don’t you? The rotor has probably been changed to a newer model that makes as little noise as possible.” The sound of the rotors interrupted every break in their conversation.

“It’s still really loud, Rentaro.”

“We’re pretty high up, so from the ground, it should be a lot quieter. Inside a helicopter, you’d normally have to talk a lot louder to hear each other.”

Enju looked like she still wasn’t satisfied with the answer and swung her legs. “Why do we need to be quiet?”

“So we don’t wake the Gastrea. There are some that wake up in the morning and sleep at night like us humans, but there are also nocturnal ones that are active at night. If we make too much noise, we won’t just catch the attention of the nocturnal Gastrea, but we’ll also wake up the ones that are sleeping right now, and it’ll be troublesome. I’ll teach you how later, but when we get to the ground, you need to make sure you move without making any loud noises. If not, terrible things will happen.”

Enju murmured, “I see,” and looked up at him. “What was the Stage Five you were talking about in the hospital room? I thought Gastrea only went up to Stage Four.”

“Oh, that?” Letting his eyes look out the window, he could see the ghost town of a city below. Suddenly, he saw a small shadow in the window of a residential house. That was probably some kind of animal, or a former human. Inwardly, he thought, She’s finally asked the question, huh?

Rentaro answered her. “Where should I start…? Normally, Gastrea start with Stage One, and then move on to Stage Two and Stage Three, growing bigger as they mature, with their skin growing harder, right? In that process, they take genes from various animals, so each one takes on a unique appearance as it matures. Because of that, there is no one way to deal with Gastrea.”

“Yeah, I already know all that,” said Enju.

“Yeah, I’m sure you do. You could say that the Stage Five is something outside of that general knowledge we have of Gastrea. Normal Gastrea go up to Stage Four—in other words, the complete form, where they are not supposed to grow anymore… But Stage Fives certainly exist. We confirmed their existence ten years ago, when Gastrea appeared repeatedly around the world at the same time. No one knows how they came to be, or where they came from, but anyway, they’re so gigantic that they make Stage Fours look like children. Besides that, in order to not be crushed by their own weight, their muscles, skin, bones, and even their organs have been reinforced and are hardened. Doc once said that the Gastrea virus is like a designer that designs creatures, but this is the idea to its extreme.”

“But since we have the Monoliths, no matter what Gastrea comes, none can come into Tokyo Area, right? It doesn’t matter how big they are, does it?”

“That’s a good point. That’s where the problem is. The long and short of it is that the magnetic field given off by Varanium doesn’t affect Stage Fives.”

Enju’s eyes widened. She was clever enough to have noticed right away. Mankind made Monoliths out of lumps of Varanium and holed up like badgers in winter, preserving this delicate peace for the past ten years. But there was the possibility that that peace could be shattered.

“That’s not all. The most frightening thing is if even one part of a Monolith gets destroyed by a Stage Five. If that happens, Stage One through Stage Four Gastrea will come flooding in through that broken line like an avalanche. If that happens…”

Enju held her breath as Rentaro trailed off, lost in his words. “Wh-what’ll happen?”

“We call cases like that Great Extinctions. In the past, it happened in the Middle East and Africa, but in a word, it’s hell.”

Enju’s face paled. In his head, Rentaro critically asked himself what he was trying to do, scaring her like that. After thinking about it for a while, Rentaro shook his head firmly. He couldn’t treat Enju like a child anymore. She had a right to know the full extent of the dangerous situation occurring right now.

“You understand, right, Enju? This is the critical moment that will decide whether or not Tokyo Area faces Great Extinction. Even I still have a hard time believing that there’s a way to summon a Stage Five to Tokyo Area, but with the government spearheading such a large-scale operation, it is probably possible. And its origin is that duralumin case that was stolen from us. That’s why we have to defeat Kagetane and his partner and stop it.”

“Are there a lot of Stage Fives?” Enju asked.

“There were eleven that were seen,” said Rentaro. “Miraculously, two were defeated. Generally, cells with the Gastrea virus automatically repair and regenerate their telomeres, so theoretically they won’t die of old age. The ultimate goal of the civil security agencies is to destroy the remaining nine Stage Fives. No—you could say that’s the wish of all mankind.”

Just then, the pilot’s voice said, “We’re here,” over Rentaro.

Rentaro stretched his hand out to Enju. “Now, let’s go, Enju. Let’s save Tokyo Area.”

Looking at the helicopter starting its way back after it dropped them off, Rentaro began feeling discouraged. The next time he would ride in a helicopter would either be when they successfully completed the operation, or when his corpse was carried out in a bag.

From here on out, they would need to clear the path themselves.

Rentaro and Enju had been dropped off in the middle of an extensive forest. The tall, dense evergreens grew thick, and the fact that it was nighttime contributed to the low visibility. Because of the torrential rains the other day, the whole forest was wet, and their nostrils were filled with the thick smell of humidity and the night.

In any case, they couldn’t keep standing there forever. Rentaro took the lead, and Enju followed him. Rentaro took the bush knife from his hip and cut away the branches that looked like they would get in Enju’s way as she followed after him. With Enju’s strong regenerative ability, a scratch caused by a branch on her arm would be healed in a second, but she still felt pain, so he never felt like it was acceptable for her to get hurt.

A canopy of tall trees about thirty meters high covered the moon, and the forest was extremely dark. Unexpectedly, the map he had received ahead of time was completely useless. The map was ten years old, so he had naturally expected there to be differences, but it wasn’t just a matter of vegetation—even detailed topography had changed.

Rentaro quickly surrendered and was forced to use the light he had brought. He had not wanted to use the light because it would reveal their position to the enemy Gastrea and to Kagetane, whose location they didn’t know, but he had no choice.

He twisted the bottom of the switch cover. The 180-lumen circle of light cut through the darkness and illuminated various things. Rentaro looked at the scene and was dumbfounded.

Even though it was chilly, ferns and shrubs that only grew in tropical rain forests stretched as far as the light shone. Among them, there was even a plant he had never seen before that twisted its trunk around the surrounding trees. It was like a strangler fig, but he had never seen one with a mottled black and red pattern.

The strangest part was the sound. At night in rain forests near the equator, it would be noisy with the chorus of bugs, birds, and frogs, but this fake forest was dead silent and seemed as if it had already died out.

“R-Rentaro…” Enju was spooked, too, and drew closer to Rentaro.

“This is my first time out this far away from Tokyo Area,” said Rentaro. “Isn’t this terrible?”

The distribution of plants and animals in an area taken over by Gastrea was always crazy, but this was the worst Rentaro had ever seen. Of course, there should have been living things that hadn’t been made into Gastrea, but perhaps they were in hiding. In any case, they were nowhere to be seen. “Enju, we’re gonna get out of here and head to a nearby town.”

“Weren’t we told to look in this area?” she asked.

Rentaro put his hand on his chin and thought a little. Currently, in the First District of Tokyo Area was the headquarters of this operation being spearheaded by the Seitenshi. Somehow, these government officials had decided that they would use a human wave attack to draw Kagetane out, and as Enju had said, Rentaro had been given instructions to search this area before they left. But, he thought as he shook his head. “No, let’s go to the town after all. No human in their right mind would want to stay in a place like this for long. I’m sure Kagetane and his partner are somewhere else.”

Enju didn’t object.

After a while, they found themselves on a forest path. Under their feet, the soft ground changed to paved asphalt. From both sides of the road, the forest looked like it was trying to cover the road. The asphalt was cracked and broken.

Enju started to jump on the road with a strange look on her face. “What lousy work. The Japan Highway Public Corporation is a tax thief.”

“Hey now,” said Rentaro. “After we humans leave, the roads are more fragile than you think. Weeds start growing soon after, and then cracks develop, and when water gets in there and freezes and melts, the cracks start getting bigger and bigger. It’s not necessarily cracked because the government wasn’t doing its job.”

“I see. Then, let me correct myself. The Japan Highway Public Corporation is a good tax thief.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rentaro smiled wryly and looked up at the sky. Because there was a lot of oxygen, at least the air was fresh. They followed the road. When they got out of the fake tropical rain forest, they finally saw more familiar trees like dawn redwoods and maples. However, even though it was spring, the maple had red leaves, and the undergrowth showed signs of root rot and was a dark reddish brown, giving off a rank smell. When mankind one day beat the Gastrea, would they be able to find a way to restore the environment that had been destroyed this thoroughly?

“Enju, someone in our line of work said they saw a quetzal in the Unexplored Territory before,” said Rentaro.

“A quetzal?” said Enju.

“Yeah, the bird Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix was modeled after, the legendary birds whose males are said to be the most beautiful birds in the world. Of course, there aren’t any in Japan, so I always thought he was lying, but with the ecosystem this messed up, I think it might actually be possible.”

“Rentaro, you really like animals, don’t you? Do you wish to see one?”

Rentaro pouted. “What, something wrong with that?”

“No, if you want to see one, then so do I. If they are so beautiful, then they will surely be delicious.”

“You want to eat one?! They’re legendary birds!”

Just then, there was a growl in the distance, and Rentaro reflexively turned off the light and crouched down. Removing the XD from his hip, he pulled out the one-touch mountable silencer, fixed it on the muzzle of the XD, and slowly approached the sound. He could hear the sound of a small stream in the distance. That sound grew louder as they approached. Moving forward silently for about a minute, they slowly pushed their way through the thicket.

It was closer than Rentaro had expected. He was paralyzed for a moment before he rushed back and crouched in the thicket.

The first thing he saw was the thin pupils in the glowing yellow eyes. Its long, narrow snout was crammed full of teeth. From its head to its long tail, it was covered with a hard armorlike skin that glittered slimily. Placed as it was with only half of its body out of the river and with its thick skin, it looked like a heavy tank.

“It’s a gator,” said Rentaro. “A gavial…I think? But…” Its long, thin snout was definitely different from that of an alligator or crocodile. But Rentaro still felt uncertain about that conclusion. It wasn’t even worth being surprised at the body enlarged by the Gastrea virus, but it had five legs, and there were four extra eyes in places eyes would not normally be.

The Gastrea virus was not perfect. There had probably been some sort of error after the body was designed when the cells were dividing that made it turn into that. Perhaps it could be called God’s aesthetics, but most living things were created with symmetry. When that symmetry was altered, it was hard not to be revolted. The long, thin snout of the gavial had evolved into a shape suitable for catching fish, but, it was hard to believe that it subsisted entirely on river fish given the size of its body.

The creature had also noticed Rentaro. It still didn’t seem like it was about to attack, but it stared at Rentaro sideways. Cold sweat broke out on his palms. What should I do? Fight it? Rentaro dropped his gaze to his gun.

Currently, in order to allow the silencer to work at maximum efficiency, his gun was loaded with what were called “weak charges,” subsonic Varanium bullets that used less gunpowder and dropped the initial velocity to below the speed of sound. Thinking about the naturally tough gator skin being reinforced by the Gastrea virus, he thought that he if he aimed at its head, the cranium would probably stop the bullet.

Enju pulled at his sleeve and shook her head slightly with uneasy eyes. He knew that she was telling him to ignore it. That was the last straw. Rentaro held out his gun and stepped back slowly so as not to provoke the creature. He didn’t know what the five-legged gavial was thinking, but it kept its eyes on him, watching his every move. As soon as he lost sight of it, he ran as fast as he could away from it. Once he got to a place he thought was safe, he let out a long breath. His heart was still hammering loudly in his chest. He suddenly felt cold and started shivering. He didn’t even have enough composure to laugh off his own cowardice.

“If I hadn’t stopped you, you would have started attacking, huh?” Enju said in an unhappy voice.

Rentaro couldn’t answer.

“Even though you are more fragile than I am, you desire too much to walk in front of me.”

Once he thought things through calmly, he realized that there were too many problems with his risk and ammunition management. Thinking about what might have happened if he had tried to defeat the creature like that made him shake his head. “Sorry. I’ll be more careful—”

However, before he could finish, the vibration of a low explosion ripped through the air. Rentaro knew immediately what had caused it and clicked his tongue. “That idiot! Some civil officer pair used explosives in the forest… Why did they have to do that?”

At that moment, although it wasn’t clear where they had been hiding, from inside the forest, a cloud of bats flew out all at once, calling shrilly and flying above Rentaro’s head as if going mad.

Rentaro broke out in a cold sweat. This was the worst thing that could have happened. The forest was going to wake up. Calamity soon appeared. With a thud, a low sound different from before could be felt beneath their feet. It was the rumble of large bodies treading on the ground. It reverberated in all directions, and Rentaro couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

Next was a low growl that echoed in his stomach and made him look hurriedly around him. He thought it was the growl of the gavial from earlier, but it was something more twisted and sinister.

Suddenly, Enju’s face paled, and she stared at a single point. “Rentaro… What’s that?”

Even when he looked in the direction Enju was looking, all he could see was a large shadow. Rentaro turned on the light and then almost dropped it in shock.

From deep within the canopy, a pair of large eyes were fixed on them. Its body was over six meters long. It had the fierce face characteristic of reptiles, with a long neck and a flickering red tongue. Small warts covered its face like boils, and Rentaro and Enju could smell the stink of rotting flesh on its breath wafting downwind toward them. Its body was green, and the bones of its arms had evolved to form wings, so it went without saying that it had mixed with some sort of bird Gastrea.

It looked like a fairy-tale dragon.

There was no doubt that this was a Stage Four Gastrea. It probably had a number of different bird and lizard species mixed in, but with its evolution progressed this far into the stages, it was hard to pinpoint exactly what the original animal was.

Just then, Rentaro noticed that there were what looked like remnants of cloth caught in the Gastrea’s fangs, and he let out an involuntary groan. With the government pushing through this operation without regard for material resources, he had known in the corner of his mind that there would be victims sacrificed, but he had blocked that out of his consciousness. Nevertheless, it bothered him.

The dragon started to kick the ground nervously with its right leg, as if it were a runner getting ready to start running before a race.

Keeping his eyes on it, Rentaro fished around in his pouch with shaking hands, but he soon realized that he didn’t have a weapon that could work against such a large creature. At that size, without a heavy machine gun or antitank rifle outfitted with Varanium bullets, he wouldn’t have a chance.

“Enju,” he said, “can you carry me and run?”

Enju showed her understanding with just her eyes.

Keeping his eyes fixed on the dragon, he put his arms around Enju’s shoulders. Because of the difference in their heights, he was practically leaning on her, but this was no time to worry about that. “Enju, if you can’t get away, leave me.”

“I cannot do that!” As she spoke, she kicked sideways with enough force to send them into the air. The cold wind hit Rentaro’s cheeks, and when he opened his eyes slightly against the pressure of the wind, they were already in midair. Enju had hopped. She had jumped almost twenty meters while carrying Rentaro on her back.

The cuffs of his clothes fluttered, and they stopped for one brief instant in midair. Right after that instant, they fell on the curve of a free fall, and the forest drew near with intense speed. Enju found a thick branch to land on with both legs on it and then leapt up again. This time, she made short jumps from branch to branch between trees that were about five meters apart, jumping faster than the eye could follow.

Rentaro clung pitifully to Enju. Every time Enju jumped, he was swung about by strong G’s and felt like he was about to fall off. Looking behind them, his eyes widened with shock. The fierce hunter was leaning forward in pursuit, trampling the trees in its way. The snapping sound of live trees being torn apart chased after them from behind. The pressure was more than he imagined, and it made him want to scream.

Rentaro fought against the pressure of the wind and opened his eyes narrowly to look behind them. But he realized one thing. Those wings probably didn’t function, or, like those of the giant pterosaurs of the past, had only limited functionality. If it could fly, then it would have followed them through the air. If it followed them on the ground, it would eventually hit its limit. It probably couldn’t breathe fire like the dragons in picture books, either. Convinced that they could get away, he made a fist.

But then, when he faced front again, he almost lost consciousness with despair. “Enju, it’s a cliff.”

A cliff rose perpendicularly in front of them, and it was about a hundred meters above the vast forest below it.

“Hang on tight, Rentaro!” said Enju.

“Hey, don’t tell me you’re gonna—?!”

Enju bent her knees low on the trunk she had just landed on and made a huge jump. Rentaro almost bit his tongue. The scenery passed by with amazing speed, and they leapt over the cliff and into the air. The strong wind whisked by, and Rentaro and Enju experienced a strange climbing sensation for an instant. Inertia and gravity cancelled each other out and they were completely still in midair.

Rentaro’s mouth gaped. There was forest as far as he could see. It was like a miniature scene. It was a moment when all his worries, thoughts, decisions, and past travels—nothing seemed to matter anymore. It was the moment he realized his own insignificance. Looking in front of him, the yellow moon seemed closer than usual. Even though he knew what he was doing was foolish, he stretched out his hand to grab it. He gave a small laugh.

Just then, in the space between the forest and the moon, about ten kilometers away, he saw something strange and rubbed his eyes. A long man-made cylinder was stretching smoothly toward the sky. With just the silhouette, it was hard to gauge its size, but it looked to be about two kilometers in length.

I see. So that’s the Stairway to Heaven…? At that moment, Rentaro felt an unpleasant drifting feeling, and the inertia disappeared and gravity pulled at his body. Rentaro felt like he was about to be torn away from Enju, who was carrying him, and clung on hurriedly. He gritted his teeth and concentrated on not screaming.

Enju was completely calm, and selecting two branches on the ground, she grabbed one as she fell. When the branch bent to its limit, Enju let go and grabbed the branch below it. Enju’s thin arms were overloaded, and there was a snapping sound. However, the force of their drop did not decrease, and the two fell like lightning bolts into the middle of the forest.

Countless leaves and branches scratched Rentaro’s cheeks, and fresh blood spurted out. Enju landed with both legs on a large rock, and shattered pieces of rock flew in all directions. Thrown by the force, the two of them rolled on the ground a few times before finally coming to a stop.

Holding back his body in a fit of coughing, Rentaro used his hands to push himself up and looked up at the cliff they had fallen from. Far up at the top of the cliff, the dragon looked frustrated at missing out on eating dessert and turned several times before letting out a howl and returning to the forest. Rentaro felt the strength leave his hands as exhaustion suddenly closed in on him in response. He almost collapsed as he let go of his focus.

After all that, Rentaro and Enju didn’t start moving again for another thirty minutes. Enju had hurt the joints in her body during the fall and needed some time to recover. Of course, compared to the weak Rentaro, her recovery time was amazingly fast.

He had been planning on walking in front and getting rid of anything suspicious, but he changed his mind and decided to have Enju help, too. He lectured her as they walked side by side. “You have to be careful of the antitank land mines, the spring-type land mines, the guided mines, and the unexploded cluster bombs. These were scattered by the retreating self-defense force during the Great Gastrea War and left behind, so occasionally civil officers doing jobs in the Unexplored Territory will get hurt.” He traced simple outlines of the shapes of the dangerous objects she should be careful of.

“I see,” said Enju. “But why did they do something that would mess up their own country so much during the war? Did they not realize that they would be the ones who would have to deal with it later?”

Enju made such a good point that Rentaro was caught off guard, and he pondered for a moment. “You’re right… Now that you mention it, that’s exactly right, but ten years ago, mankind was cornered and would do anything. Land mines and poison gas were just the tip of the iceberg. At the time, in order to survive, a bunch of inhumane things were allowed, so no one would’ve batted an eye at things like that.”

Looking at the small girl walking next to him, he thought to himself that this was the difference in perception between the Stolen Generation, who experienced the horrors of ten years ago, and the Innocent Generation. He uncharacteristically felt a generation gap.

Enju grinned. “Don’t worry. Now there are strong people like me fighting, so everything will be fine. If the enemy finds us, I’ll carry you again and jump away.”

“Thanks to you, I don’t think I’ll be scared of the free-fall rides at the amusement park anymore.”

“I’m glad. You should thank me.”

Rentaro let out a large sigh. She didn’t understand sarcasm when she heard it.

“But something seems strange…,” said Enju. “Ever since coming here, I’ve been feeling excited for some reason.” Enju opened and closed her hands curiously.

Of course you would, agreed Rentaro silently. The Varanium that Gastrea hated also had an effect on Enju and the other girls, who were infected with small amounts of the virus. Most Initiators, when they went outside of the Monoliths, felt temporarily better, or even high. Their wounds also healed faster.

Even as they talked, they proceeded with caution. Even though they were a considerable distance away, the surrounding forest had been woken up once, so they couldn’t be too careful. Once in a while, Rentaro would put his ear to the ground and send Enju high up into a tree to check for danger. It slowed their progress considerably, but in the end, that gave them early notice of a light that was burning far away.

As they approached warily, there was a break in the brush, and they could see an obviously man-made stone building. It was a small, one-floor stone building, and at the entrance was a wall of piled sandbags.

It was a pillbox shelter built during the Great Gastrea War. It was dilapidated and had lost most of its function, but it still served as a place to get out of the wind. Light leaked from inside. Rentaro’s heart started beating faster at the thought that it could be Kagetane.

Giving Enju a hand signal, he took the gun from his hip and approached from the back. Enju approached from the front. He could hear the crackling of the firewood burning.

Apparently, there was a fire burning inside. From the holes in the pile of rocks, he could see the changing shadows created by the flames. Rentaro stood with his back to the wall and took two deep breaths. Then, he held out his gun and rushed inside.

“Don’t move!” he said. Rentaro’s XD and the muzzle of his opponent’s shotgun intersected at almost the same time.

Rentaro was speechless when he saw his opponent. “You’re…”

His opponent panted, looking at him with blank eyes. She was wearing a dark, long-sleeved dress with tights. It was an outfit unsuitable for the hell of the Unexplored Territory. However, his eye was drawn to the painful-looking wound on her arm that blood was gushing out of nonstop. It looked like she had been bitten by a giant beast, and the wound had been gouged out with tooth marks.

Rentaro remembered seeing the girl before.

“If you do not put the gun down, I shall kick your head off.” With that cold threat, Enju, who had snuck in from behind, kicked her leg out to lay it on the back of the girl’s neck.

“Wait, Enju,” said Rentaro. “She’s not our enemy.”

“Wha…?” Enju looked from Rentaro to the girl a few times and finally put her leg down reluctantly.

Rentaro went to where the girl was sitting weakly and looked her in the eye. “Hey, we met once at the Ministry of Defense. Do you remember me?”

“Yes, of course.” The girl spoke as she exhaled painfully.

“Anyway, let’s stop the bleeding and get this bandaged up. We can talk after that.”

Then he noticed Enju watching them from the side, grinding her teeth. “Wait a moment,” she said. “I do not know this woman. Explain your relationship with her, Rentaro.”

Rentaro turned back to face Enju. “Oh yeah, this is your first time meeting. She’s the Initiator partner for a Promoter named Shogen Ikuma.”