Black Bullet - Volume 3 - Chapter 2.7

7

When he pushed the iron door open, a strong, slanted gust of wind greeted him. The clouds were moving surprisingly fast, just like they had been that morning.

Rentaro went to the fence and held it with his left hand, staring at the bleached Monolith in the distance. Civil officers couldn’t cry every time someone died. Hardening their hearts was something they all had to master sooner or later.

Seeing that Enju had calmed down after crying herself to exhaustion, Rentaro went to the roof of the police station. Right before he left her, Enju was even able to muster the strength to smile at him to thank him for his consideration, but when Rentaro saw that, it made him feel the impending danger even more.

Rentaro pulled out the bundle of handouts from his bag with his right hand. They were the future dreams he had his students write for fun after the quiz. Idol singer, actress, pastry chef, nurse, wife. It brimmed with various hopes that would never come true.

Lynching and killing with bombs. What made the hearts of the citizens of Tokyo Area so devastated that they would do such things? In the past, Rentaro had been taught that humans possessed both high intelligence and virtue and were true social animals, that they were the beings closest to God. Then why did they kill each other like beasts? How could they destroy each other’s hopes and dreams? Why in the world could they machinate such stupid things?

Damn it, he muttered in his heart. What in the world was I looking at? The ones who really needed a helping hand were those girls.

There was a gust of wind on the roof, and Rentaro’s uniform fluttered. The papers in his hand were also blown up, making an arc in the sky, spinning and undulating as they danced in the air. Rentaro gripped the fence tightly with both hands, his body shaking. Sorry, everyone. It was my fault. I’m truly sorry.

Rentaro gritted his teeth and looked up at the sky. The Monolith in the distance seemed to be pressing near to his chest.

It was then that the cell phone in his breast pocket started to vibrate. Seeing the name on the screen, he hesitated for a moment but then finally pressed the button to pick up.

“Can you talk now?” said the voice on the other end.

Rentaro looked up at the Monolith and closed his eyes miserably. “I’m embarrassed to be part of the Stolen Generation. Even though they trample the Children and laugh, they still expect us to defeat Aldebaran… But we still have to do it… Damn it!”

“You knew that when you first became a civil officer, didn’t you? You must carry it out, Satomi. That is what a civil officer does.”

“But Kisara, don’t you always say to carry out justice? Tell me, where is the justice in this vat of filth that is Tokyo Area?”

“That’s not it, Satomi. That’s why we have to fight. If we win and save Tokyo Area, then there may be a few more people who will abandon their swords of hate and change the way they think. Satomi, didn’t you say it in front of those girls, too? ‘Bear it. And don’t even think about getting even.’ Did you say that even though it wasn’t what you thought just because you wanted to look cool in front of those girls? That’s not it, right? Please, Satomi, let your mind be filled with righteous light. Don’t abandon your heart of justice.”

Rentaro put his hand to his temple as he shook his head. “I don’t know what face to make as I fight beside Enju…”

“I don’t know either. But you can’t run from her.”

“…Being a civil officer is a terrible trade, isn’t it?”

“But that’s why it’s worth doing.”

Rentaro looked up at the sky and exhaled deeply.

“Have you calmed down a little?”

“Yeah, thanks, Kisara.”

Kisara teased, “I’m actually a pretty devoted woman, you know.”

“How’s Tina?”

“She’s fine. She’s calmed down.”

“Then, what about you…?”

“I’m fine, too.”

“I see…” If that’s what she said, then he was probably supposed to ignore the slight shaking in her nasally voice. Still, the anger that was budding inside him was like a banked fire, burning brightly at a high temperature. But right now, he would not think about the absurdity of it. He had to aim that spearhead at Aldebaran.

Rentaro felt optimistic as he looked out over the Outer Districts. “Then, I’ll go back soon to see how Enju’s doing.”

After Kisara gave herself some time to think, she was sure to say, “Got it.” But she stopped in the middle of those words, and the Kisara at the other end of the line shook violently, and he could hear her gasping breaths.

“Hey, Kisara—”

“It’s begun, Satomi.”

Rentaro frowned. But before he could say another word, the woman on the other end of the phone spoke again. “Look at the Monolith.”

Rentaro raised his gaze from the ground. A ripple of shock went from the top of his head to the tips of his toes.

First, a corner of the rectangle collapsed. But that immediately led to the next collapse. The large body of the cracked Monolith finally couldn’t stand up against the Varanium corrosion fluid and let out a scream, and then nothing could stop the chain reaction.

From where Rentaro was, he couldn’t hear the sound of the collapse, but that made the shriek of the Monolith even clearer. Abruptly, the whole bleached Monolith became fatally cracked, and the Monolith looked like it was shrugging its shoulders as it completely disintegrated. Chills shot down Rentaro’s spine.

The collapsing structure looked like time-lapse photography, falling from its base with fragments peeling off. It would crash to the ground in no time. There was a roar, and Rentaro was suddenly hit with a rumbling from the ground—a shock wave—making Rentaro raise his arms and grit his teeth. The intense vibration shook Rentaro from his feet to his guts, and the shock wave blew away the surrounding debris, rotting signs, and sheet metal.

When Rentaro looked up again, he saw the sky covered with a cloud of dust and fine particles. “No way…”

There was no way. There should have been one more day before the collapse. Wasn’t that what the precise calculations done by the Seitenshi’s office said?

Rentaro’s clothes flapped in a sudden gust of wind, and at the same he had a sudden realization: “The wind…”

Currently, in the year 2031, it was still hard to completely predict the weather, and they could not accurately predict the chaotic air currents. The people at the Japanese National Security Council had read the flow of wind wrong.

It was starting. The Third Kanto Battle was starting—and not when they were planning.

“Satomi!” Kisara yelled.

“I know!” Rentaro hung up and fixed his eyes on the Monolith once more, running toward the battlefield.

July 12, 2031 at 3:16 p.m. This moment in time was the start of what would be remembered in history as Tokyo Area’s worst war, the Third Kanto Battle.