With a quiet, “Ready, set, go—!” the two girls turned flirtatious and announced in unison, “We’ll give your heart divine Tenchu punishment!” Everything Rentaro had worried about today seemed foolish all at once. That was right—Tina was sleeping over today. Rentaro put a floor cushion down next to the low table in the living room and sat down. Looking at the clock, he saw that it was past 7 p.m. He turned on the TV but was too concerned about the goings-on behind him to focus on it. In the kitchen, he saw the two girls excitedly swinging something shaped like a cotton swab. “We will cook today so that you should quietly be waited on, Rentaro!” It had been some time since Enju had sat him down and said that, earlier in the evening. It was not just because Rentaro’s usual spot in the kitchen had been taken that he was unable to sit calmly. What is it with their clothes, anyway? At his seated eye level, Rentaro saw two pieces of cloth that were so short they could barely be called skirts fluttering on their hips. Rentaro wasn’t sure who the target audience for the anime that mixed and matched Ako samurai and magical girls was, but it was probably the generation of innocent girls, with the addition of adults with impure spirits that could not be called innocent by any means. Rentaro got that feeling from the flashes of underwear he glimpsed under the skirts of Tenchu Red and Tenchu Pink. Rentaro put his hand in his chin, and before he knew it, he was staring at the cooking team. Tina’s face, covered in flour, was full of energy, unlike the soundly sleeping countenance she had this morning. Thanks to the Owl Factor in her body, she was extremely nocturnal. Who would believe that out of the 240,000 civil officer pairs in the world, she ranked in the top hundred? That she was an assassin who could hit a target over a kilometer away and deliver the finishing blow? In the midst of their hustling and bustling, a fragrant smell wafted toward him, and soon Enju and Tina returned to him with their hands under a large plate. Looking at the large dish placed on the table, Rentaro let out an involuntary sound of awe. It was a gigantic pizza that was almost extralarge. The rich smell of bubbling cheese covering a bright red layer of pizza sauce made his stomach growl. The toppings were simple, with just salami and mushroom. There was nothing to criticize about it. “Come, Rentaro. We made this with everything we have. Please eat it,” said Tina. Looking sideways at Tina, who was covered with flour from the dough, Rentaro brought a slice to his mouth. The full-bodied flavor of the slightly burnt parts of the cheese, along with the juices from the salami, seemed to mix with the dough to give it a crispy texture as the bite spread through his mouth. Enju and Tina didn’t blink as they stared sideways at Rentaro, giving a suggestive cough. “Yup, it’s good,” he said. “You think so?” Tina’s eyes crinkled as she smiled. Rentaro laughed teasingly as he gave Enju a sideways glance. “You get especially high points for not adding honey cake or steamed cheese bread into the crust.” The girl leaped to her feet. “I-I know not to add that now!” “Enju, you want to feed that kind of food to Rentaro?” Tina sighed. Rentaro turned to face Tina. “No, it’s just that the girls around me have a knack for catastrophic cooking, so I had been about to give up on you, too, but this was delicious. But why did you make pizza?” Tina put the palms of her hands together and smiled softly. “Pizza and Pepsi are traditional foods from my country, America.” (Tina’s words would have made an Italian very angry.) “Hey, Tina, I have a favor to ask. Will you cook for Kisara like that, too? If I leave her alone, all she eats are frozen dinners from the convenience store.” “Then, next time, I’ll make anchovy pizza.” “What? No, I mean, you can make other food.” “Then, I’ll make carbonara pizza.” “I said, something else.” “Marinara pizza.” “Why is it all pizza?” “I only know how to make pizza, you know.” “Seriously?” Tina was a pizza machine. Rentaro sighed. Tina Sprout. She was the criminal behind the Seitenshi assassination attempt, but she was also under probation thanks to that very same Seitenshi, so she was currently living as a freeloader with Kisara. It had only been about a month since the incident, but Enju had no problem treating her as a friend, and Kisara had no problem treating her like a little sister. Rentaro could not suppress a wry smile, thinking of the irony of that fate. At one point, both Enju and Kisara had fought against Tina with their lives on the line. When he asked how they could change their minds so easily, they both said unanimously, “There’s no need to bear a grudge after the fight,” which honestly bewildered Rentaro. Was that really how it was? He didn’t understand it. “Tina, by the way, those clothes…” When Tina looked down at the Tenchu Pink clothes covered with frills, she looked awkwardly embarrassed. “Is it…cute…?” she asked. “You know about Tenchu Girls?” “Yes, Enju let me watch the whole first season the other day.” “How was it?” “It was quintessential Japanimation.” “You think it’s that good?” Tina sidled up next to Rentaro and suddenly grabbed his arm, leaning her head against his shoulder. She was a soft weight, with her sleek platinum blond hair giving off the nice, light scent characteristic of girls. “I am grateful to you, Rentaro. I’m living a dreamlike life I definitely would not have been able to experience if I had remained with Professor Rand. I always wanted a big brother like you, you know.” She paused for a moment and looked up at Rentaro through her lashes. “Can I call you ‘Big Brother’?” Rentaro’s heart skipped and he looked away, scratching his cheek. With Kisara and Enju, the Tendo Civil Security Agency sure wasn’t lacking in beautiful girls, he muttered to himself. “You can’t, Tina! You’re not allowed to get a head start!” Enju stood hurriedly and squeezed between Rentaro and Tina, looking at Rentaro like she was about to bite. “You, too, Rentaro! You looked lovestruck and careless just now, even though you never look happy when I press my bosom against you!” Rentaro scratched the back of his head. “You scrape against me like a washboard, and it hurts.” Enju stamped her feet in frustration then and there. “What?! I, too, will become one with elite breasts one day! So you should just endure it for now!” What the heck are “elite breasts”…? Just then, Tina erased the expression from her face and stood up quickly, looking at Enju. “Enju, I do not want to make a surprise attack, so I will tell you clearly right now: I am serious about Big Brother. I will not let you or President Tendo have him.” Enju looked like she had been stabbed in the back by a comrade in arms. “T-Tina…? B-but, you said we should work together to defeat the Great-Breasted Queen, Kisara, whom we faced…” Tina shook her head slightly. “That’s what I believed at first, too. It’s true that President Tendo’s resilient breasts are a threat. In terms of Gundam, she would be Big Zam. However, there is only one Big Brother. Even if we were able to steal him from President Tendo, after that, there would be a bloody battle between you and me. In that case, I would rather not have any allies from the start.” Enju widened her eyes in shock and earnestly gripped the fabric on her chest. The letters C.B. were written on a pin arranged there. “Then, what about the anti-boob organization we formed, Counter Breasts?” Tina shook her head again. “Today, we will disband.” Tina tore off the C.B. pin on her chest and threw it to the ground, stepping on it with her heel. “Whoaaaaaa! Wh-what are you doing, Tina? After we went through all the trouble to make it!” Enju fell at Tina’s feet in tears and hugged the pin close. Tina snickered coldly, gazing down at Enju. “Besides, look. I have a bigger chest than you do.” “T-Tina. You traitor! Homewrecker! Female panther! Female cat!” Enju screamed. It was hard to believe that this was a conversation between two ten-year-old children. Rentaro sighed as he watched the political violence of the Counter Breasts as their internal rift started. In any case, Tina appeared to be getting along in the Tendo Civil Security Agency just fine. The warm night air floated through the eight-tatami-mat room. It was filled with the medicinal smell of mosquito repellant, but outside the window, Rentaro could hear the reserved chirping of bell crickets and pine crickets. It was past 10 p.m., and it had been a while since they turned off the lights. Rentaro’s eyes were already used to the darkness. He was deep in thought as he lay in the middle futon between Enju and Tina, gazing at the complex wood grain in the ceiling. As they ate, during the height of their feast, Rentaro tried explaining to the two of them about the collapse of the Monolith and the worst-case scenario of the Gastrea invasion after that. As expected, the two of them paled for a second, but then Enju retorted angrily, without a moment’s delay: “We will fight as well! It’ll be fine as long as we do something, right?” “Enju, are you…okay with that…?” You might die, you know, he started to say. Enju and Tina had experienced battling against the Gastrea many times as civil officers. He did not think that they misread the threat that a faction of two thousand Gastrea would be. “Big Brother,” Tina said as she stepped forward. She had a stern look on her face. “The Initiator ranked ninety-eighth by the International Initiator Supervision Organization, Tina Sprout, once fought the one thousandth–ranked Rentaro Satomi and lost. She died once. The life I’m living now is without a doubt my second life. Please use it as you wish.” Rentaro was taken aback both by Tina looking up to him and by Enju’s dignified eyes. Rebelling against death, or resigned to living—where did the core of their strength come from? Even he and Kisara, who were closer to being adults than the two of them, could not come to an immediate decision after hearing the Seitenshi’s request. Rentaro shook his head. “Very well. I will definitely tell Kisara of your determination.” He found Enju snoring on the futon to his right as his consciousness came back to him. The silence hurt his ears. The sound of the clock’s second hand ticking away seemed louder than usual in his ears. “Big Brother, are you awake?” He heard a voice that sounded like the buzz of a mosquito. It was Tina. Rentaro tried to sound as calm as he could. “You can’t sleep?” “Yeah.” It wasn’t surprising. With the nocturnal animal factor in her, this was when she would have been the most active. “Will you talk to me for a little bit?” she asked. “Yeah, sure.” “I thought it over, and I was thinking of taking sleeping pills at night to change my sleep cycle so I can wake up in the morning.” “You don’t have to force yourself.” “No, I want to. Because I want to live in the same time as you, Enju, and President Tendo.” After hearing her say that, it would be unfair to stop her. She continued. “I said so during dinner, as well, but I am grateful to you, Rentaro. The Tendo Civil Security Agency is warm and comfortable, and I want to stay here forever. I’m the happiest I have ever been in my life.” Tina’s words were becoming more and more passionate. Rentaro hesitated, but he opened his mouth slowly. “Tina, there’s just one thing I think I should tell you. This life will probably not continue for long.” “Is it about Aldebaran? Then, you don’t have to worry.” “That’s not it.” Wind blew outside, and the window shook. Then the wind was completely gone, and there was the sound of leaves rustling against each other. “Is it about…Enju’s body’s corrosion rate…?” Rentaro looked sideways at the girl in question. She had kicked off her blanket and was sleeping with her underwear displayed for all to see. She made a small sound and turned a little. “There’s that, too,” he said. “Is there something else, as well?” Rentaro put both hands behind his head and looked at the ceiling. “That’s right, Tina, this concerns you now, too. Tina, why do you think Kisara and I started the Tendo Civil Security Agency in the first place?” Tina didn’t seem to understand where the question was going, and he could almost see a question mark appear on top of her head. “To defeat Gastrea and protect the peace of the citizens, right?” “In other words, you’re saying it was in the spirit of justice? Unfortunately, that’s not the case. We became civil officers purely for revenge. My arm, leg, and eye were eaten by Gastrea, and Kisara’s parents were killed by them, too. That’s why we started the agency: with hatred, and the desire to get revenge by annihilating all the Gastrea in the world. Like most of the rest of the Stolen Generation, I also hated the Cursed Children, so I really didn’t want to partner up with an Initiator, and if that Initiator had done something strange, I would have shot and killed her on the spot. But the one who came was Enju, who had been betrayed by humans many times before, and she had even colder eyes than we did.” In the darkness, he could hear Tina holding her breath. She probably couldn’t believe that the Tendo Civil Security Agency now was the same as the bloodthirsty Tendo Civil Security Agency back then. “You were able to reach the state you’re in now just a year after that?” she asked. “That’s right. First, Enju and I changed. And then that spread to Kisara. But that’s all it is.” Tina responded with silence, thinking in the darkness. “I would like to hear more about that. May I ask President Tendo about it, too?” “No.” Before he knew it, he had thrown off his covers and gotten close to Tina. Surprised, he put his hand to his mouth and shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry… But don’t touch Kisara’s past.” As he looked at Tina, who was tilting her head, he saw panic in her eyes. “Tina, what’s the Kisara you know like?” “She’s…kind, of course, good at her job, broad-minded, and cool.” “Then you should definitely not talk to her about the past.” “Why not?” “Because she’ll turn into a different Kisara than the one you know.” “What?” Rentaro exhaled slowly through his nose and closed his eyes. His sleepiness was mostly gone. “Tina, the three of us each have our own goals. I want to know the truth about my parents’ deaths, Enju Aihara is looking for her birth parents—and Kisara Tendo lives to kill the people who killed her family.” Tina trembled and pulled her blanket up to her shoulders. “No way… President Tendo is…” “Tina, I’ll tell you more later. As much as I remember about my parents. Why Enju’s last name is Aihara. Kisara’s regret. But go to sleep for today.” Rentaro put his hand on top of Tina’s head. Tina was silent for a while, but then finally lifted her gaze. “Then, please let me use your arm as a pillow.” “What?!” He had no idea why that warranted a “Then.” Without Rentaro’s consent, Tina crawled into his blankets. When he reluctantly offered his left arm as a pillow, Tina happily put her head on it and started sniffing his sleeve. Wondering what she was doing with a bitter smile, he let his gaze return to the ceiling. He wouldn’t be able to fall asleep for a while, anyway. That’s what he thought, but strangely, the warmth of a body next to him was comforting. His eyelids grew heavy, and he finally went under. Light flickered behind his eyes. A gentle breeze, filled with the fresh scent of morning air, blew over the back of his neck and his shoulders. Something swayed in the wind, causing a fluttering sound. Opening his eyes slightly, Rentaro lifted his head. The wind came in from a crack in the window, which was blowing the curtains, which in turn was causing the light to flicker. But it looked like it would be a nice day, along with yesterday. Getting up and looking at the clock, he saw that it was 6 a.m. Enju, a morning person, was already out of bed. When she noticed Rentaro, she raised a hand as she swung her pigtails. “Are you awake, Rentaro?! I’m making the morning coffee.” Just then, as if Enju’s words had given a signal, the teapot whistled, and the TV announced that it was six o’clock with up-tempo music as a new program started. The morning became noisy all at once. “Hey, Satomi? I’m coming in.” Just as he heard the voice outside the door, there was the sound of the spare key being inserted roughly into the lock, and Kisara appeared in her black sailor school uniform, looking angry with a hand on her hip. “All right, I’ll have you return Tina now.” Rentaro pleaded as he smoothed the stray hairs from his bedhead. “What do you mean, ‘return’? It’s not like I stole her.” “You might as well have. Yesterday, I was lonely sleeping by myself. Recently, I haven’t been able to sleep without cuddling Tina. So return her immediately. Besides, I’m worried that you’ll do something weird to her.” “I wouldn’t do anything like that.” “By the way, where is Tina?” Enju asked. At the question, Rentaro and Kisara looked around, but they saw no sign of the girl anywhere in the eight-tatami-mat room. Just then, something shifted in Rentaro’s blankets near his groin. Rentaro looked up at the ceiling and prayed. No way, give me a break here. But his prayer was in vain, and Tina crawled out from under his blankets, rubbing her eyes sleepily. The sweatpants she had been wearing had come off along with her underwear, and all she wore was the dress shirt he had lent her as pajamas. Not noticing Enju and Kisara, who had been stunned speechless, Tina looked at Rentaro’s face and tried earnestly to smile with her sleepy eyes. “Good morning, Big Brother. Last night was fun. You were so desperate, and there were scary parts, too, but I’m glad you taught me a lot of different things.” Kisara paled and looked at Rentaro, pulling out her cell phone with shaking hands. “I-I’m going to report you…to the police…” “Wait! Wait a minute! I just talked to the night version of Tina! That’s all!” Rentaro said. “What do you mean, ‘night version of Tina,’ you perv! You’re the worst! I can’t believe you! Tina is only ten years old!” Enju screamed, looking like she was about to cry. “Tina got ahead of me!” Kisara pushed some buttons on her cell phone and yelled, “Oh, hello? Is this the police?” Just as it seemed like Rentaro was about to start a life on the run, from behind them they heard someone say with a sigh, “The Cursed Children have finally started even this, huh?” and everyone stopped in their tracks. Behind them was the TV that had been left on. But because his senses were honed to expect biased news about the Cursed Children based on what was regularly broadcast, it was almost animal instinct that told Rentaro the news would not be good. Looking back fearfully, he saw on the TV that a reporter at the scene was talking with a commentator in the studio. The reporter held the mike with both hands and seemed to look right at Rentaro. The caption in the upper right corner of the screen said in harsh brush strokes, VIOLENT ACT BY ONE OF THE CURSED CHILDREN! ACTIVIST MURDERED!!! The room froze, and Rentaro’s temple pulsed with burning pain. Tensions had already mounted to the point where there was no doubt about who the perpetrator was. According to the reporter, the Tokyo Area branch chief of a secret anti-Children organization with almost one hundred thousand members in Japan was found dead in a park a few kilometers north of his home in Tokyo Area District 2. The park was a gathering spot for young delinquents, so at first, it was thought to be their doing, but that was not the case. According to the eyewitness report, the man was attacked by a group of children who looked like they were from the Outer District, and in the heat of the fight, he hit his head on the handrail near the stairs. His skull was cracked, and he died at the hospital he was brought to due to a cerebral contusion. Before he died, he was also confirmed to have traumatic cuts. The Pureblood Japan Association was a large organization said to have many politicians and influential people from different Areas. The chairman was subsequently reported as harshly denouncing the savagery and brutality of the case. The female reporter was polite. She kept to the broadcast codes and continued speaking respectfully. However, the words she used dripped with contempt for the Cursed Children. Rentaro shook his head softly. “Kisara!” Kisara had turned pale with her eyes open wide and was hugging his body. “This is bad, Satomi… This will greatly change public opinion.” Kisara’s misgivings soon turned to reality. The Seitenshi’s measure that was going through the House of Councillors that would respect the basic human rights of the Cursed Children, the New Gastrea Law, was rejected. In its place, a newly prepared measure on “the reevaluation of the danger of transmission of the Gastrea virus from the Children to humans and countermeasures against it” was efficiently submitted and passed through the lower house of the Diet. This measure was popularly known as the Family Register Revocation Law, and the moment this measure went into effect, Enju and the others had their family registration and citizenship taken away, losing all protection under the Japanese Constitution. It was an extremely cruel law. 4 “I see, then there aren’t any particular problems there, huh? ……Yeah, I know. Sorry for the trouble. I owe you one…… Yeah, okay, I’m hanging up.” Rentaro pushed the END CALL button and sighed, moving off the wall he was leaning on. “All right!” he yelled, lifting his head and looking with gloomy eyes at the field the soccer and baseball clubs were sharing as they ran around cheerfully. Rentaro was in front of the sports field of Magata High School. There were only four days left until the Monolith would be destroyed. That news still had not been made public, and Tokyo Area maintained a temporary peace. But when that was made public, this peaceful scene… Rentaro stuffed his hands into his pockets, hunched his shoulders, and walked out of the shadows of the school building. When he did, the scorching sun shone down on him, and he longed for the shade of the trees. He pulled at his uniform to send some cool air to his chest, but the sweat pouring out of him showed no sign of stopping. He couldn’t believe they could do club activities under this blazing sun. As he neared the statue in front of the school, he noticed a small crowd of people there and stopped in surprise for a moment, but as he got closer, he realized that it was nothing he needed to worry about. “It’s a foreigner!” “Her hair’s so smooth and pretty!” “I want to touch it!” “Her eyes are blue!” “She’s like a doll!” When Rentaro forcibly slipped through the opening in the crowd with difficulty and got to the front, he saw an uncomfortable Tina standing in the middle of the curious stares. “Oh, do you want some candy?” and then more slowly, “Do you eat candy?” A group of three girls nervously offered Tina wrapped candies, representing the group. “I do not want any.” “She talked!” they exclaimed. Of course she can talk. “Sorry I’m late,” Rentaro said aloud, using a loud voice on purpose, waving his hand as he got closer. “Big Brother!” Tina rushed over to him and hugged him around the waist with both arms. “Big Brother?” the three girls exclaimed in unison. Looking at the little chorus, Rentaro thought he had seen them before somewhere and then suddenly realized that they were his classmates. He couldn’t remember their names, though. “Satomi, don’t you keep another young girl at home, too? Did you get another one?” “I don’t keep her, she’s a freeloader!” “Hey, introduce me to this girl.” Everyone in the crowd around them seemed to be murmuring the same thing. Everyone wanted to meet Tina. Rentaro sighed. He couldn’t stay here. “Tina, let’s go.” Without waiting for a response, he pulled Tina’s hand and ignored the cries of, “Hey, wait!” from the female students trying to stop them. He escaped with haste. “They were interesting.” “Sorry I was late. How was school?” “Today was fun, too.” Tina looked shyly at Rentaro. “Did you call Mr. Matsuzaki?” He glanced at Tina, who was walking next to him. Thinking there was no use hiding it, he nodded. “Yeah, I did.” A few days had passed since the news report, but rather than calming down, the situation had turned into an even bigger deal. The Stolen Generation finally had a target for their anger, and their actions were quick, and their grudges deep. There was criticism against the Seitenshi, a supporter of the Children, and demonstrations at the Seitenshi’s palace. The news gathered fervor, and groups that had been dying down—like the anti-Children citizens group and ones even more extreme—instead increased their activities. There were even groups that started interfering with the Outer District, which had been left alone by silent agreement before, so Rentaro could not just stand by quietly. And so, whenever he had a free moment, he would call Matsuzaki to ask about the conditions in the Outer District, because based on the report, it could directly affect the safety of Enju and Tina, who were going to school out there. Rentaro and Tina went to Magata Station together, and Rentaro inserted coins into the ticket machine and bought two tickets. In the short time before the change and tickets were spit out, Rentaro glanced at Tina, who gazed at the train map as if everything she looked at was strange. Tina had started addressing her nocturnal sleep cycle the day after sleeping over at Rentaro’s house. Even though it was the middle of the day, she did not seem sleepy at all, so she must have achieved some success. Rentaro asked himself if he should tell her. Earlier, when he saw Tina surrounded by a crowd of people at the statue in front of the school, his heart almost stopped for a moment with worry. In the past, he had seen a similar sight. Back then, it was Enju who had been surrounded, and it was because she had been exposed as one of the Children with the Gastrea virus inside her and was about to be expelled from school. Rentaro did not know how Initiators were treated in America, but he knew they were not worshipped as gods. Which meant that even Tina must understand that she needed to hide her red eyes. It wasn’t something worth mentioning specifically, but because of the current situation, he couldn’t help but feel anxious. “Rentaro, what is the matter?” Before he knew it, Tina was looking up at him with a wondering look on her face. “Oh, it’s nothing,” he said. The train going into the city wasn’t especially crowded or empty. Letting Tina have the seat he got, Rentaro grabbed the strap in front of it. His body swayed a little from the inertia of the train as the departure bell rang noisily. He allowed his body to move with the slight vibrations from the train tracks. He raised his eyes casually, only to feel uncomfortable. A train ad with the caption VIOLENT ACT BY RED-EYES!!! ARE THESE GIRLS TURNING INTO GASTREA INSIDE TOWN LIMITS?! came into view. Rentaro quietly slipped his body sideways so that the ad would not enter Tina’s line of sight. If only the world could become a place where he didn’t have to do something like this, sooner rather than later… “By the way, where are we going now?” Tina asked. As they got off the train and walked into the throng of people in the city, Rentaro lifted his face from the GPS on his cell phone and looked at Tina next to him. “Didn’t I tell you? We’re going to invite some civil officers.” “Invite?” “I think I told you about this before, but adjuvants fight in teams. That’s why we need to gather people who will team up with us first.” Rentaro felt around in his pocket and pulled out the slip of paper Kisara had given him. On it was a list of names and addresses, and the top fifteen had already been crossed out. This was the list of possible adjuvants that Rentaro and Kisara had put their knowledge together to come up with. Rentaro glared at the sixteenth name on the list. “Right now, we’re heading to a place called the Katagiri Civil Security Agency. I met them on the field once. They’re a small agency like us, run by siblings. Can’t say much about their personality, but they’re definitely strong.” Tina gave him a dubious look in return. “You can’t say much about their personality…?” “Yeah, you know. They’re kind of weird. But they’re definitely strong.” “But why did you bring me?” “Because otherwise I won’t have a chance to show you around Tokyo Area.” Tina’s look turned to one of surprise and she looked down shyly. “A date with Big Brother,” she murmured passionately. Rentaro tried his best not to hear. A lot of people were sitting at the edge of the bronze fountain in front of the station, and there were fresh leaves above them giving shade with their deep glossy color. There were sweet smells coming from the ice cream shop they passed, mixed with the fresh smell of summer coming from the watermelons near the entrance of the supermarket and the strong cinnamon scent from the fried bread store. They wafted over together and stimulated his nostrils. Tina entwined both arms around Rentaro’s and cheerfully passed the department store. For some reason, Tina looked so funny acting like a new wife with her chin stuck up in the air as she walked that Rentaro let out a small laugh. He was chided with an angry look. He wished that this time would continue forever. He really wanted to enjoy the time he could spend with Tina. But a part of him knew in his heart that this was all an illusion. The incident with the Family Register Revocation Law the other day definitely woke up the feelings of hatred Tokyo Area citizens had for Gastrea. He needed to be ready for the kind gazes those around him had for Tina to turn into ice once it was revealed that Tina carried something in her body that a normal girl definitely would not have. As they approached a five-road junction in the middle of the city, Rentaro suddenly heard singing and stopped. It was the characteristic soprano of a young girl, and a hymn at that. Turning his head toward the sound, he soon realized that it was coming from the wide pedestrian bridge above. He could have just ignored it and continued on, but for some reason, Rentaro was extremely curious about the voice and urged Tina up the stairs of the pedestrian bridge. There was a rush mat spread out near the middle of it, and the voice was coming from there. It seemed different from a street performance, somehow. As he got closer and realized what it was, Rentaro soon regretted coming. The singer was a beggar girl clad in rags. Even though she had good features, they were stained, and the cape she wore was greasy, giving an overall shabby impression. The girl held out a beggar’s bowl with both hands and sang at the people who were heading to the road. On a piece of scrap wood next to her were the words, “I am one of the Cursed Children from the Outer District. I need money to feed my little sister. Please give what you can.” Standing in front of her, even though it was rude to say so of a girl, he could smell body odor. Rentaro became worried that Tina would be shocked, but she was unexpectedly calm. She just looked on with solemn eyes. There were surely slums in her country, as well, so other countries must have been in a similar situation as Tokyo Area. “Hey, you…,” said Rentaro. “Yes?” The girl stopped singing and smiled, lifting her face, and Rentaro thought something was strange. The girl’s eyelids were still closed. He suspected that she was blind, but soon realized that wasn’t it. The Cursed Children were protected from disease thanks to the Gastrea virus. “Hey, what happened to your eyes?” “Oh.” The girl gently rubbed around her two eyes. “They were mutilated by the lead that was poured into them.” Rentaro was speechless. Was this part of the beggar business? Where they try to make people feel sorry for them by having their eyes mutilated or doing something cruel to paralyze their arms or legs so that they could get money? Was that something that could be overlooked in this wide world? The girl seemed to sense Rentaro’s hesitation with her skin and shook her head gently. “This wasn’t done to me by someone else. I did it to myself.” “Why…?” “Because I couldn’t think of another way to feed my little sister… And because the mother who abandoned us hated my red eyes.” Rentaro muttered inwardly, had a bitter taste in his mouth. Gastrea shock. The eyes that shone red and were the same in all Gastrea. During the war, there were people traumatized by fear from seeing them, and the red eyes became the trigger for attacks of convulsions or cramps or other symptoms. It became the most widespread disease of society after the Gastrea War. In cases where one of the Cursed Children was born to a family where someone had Gastrea shock, the family circumstances usually ended in tragedy. “How can you smile?” Tina asked the girl hesitatingly. Rentaro wanted to know, too. The girl seemed to smile persistently in the face of unimaginable adversity. Although this was a word used very rarely for a girl of ten, she was like a saint. The girl did not answer the question but quietly stretched her hands out to Tina. Tina was surprised at first, but once she realized the girl meant no harm, Tina let her do as she wished. In place of her unseeing eyes, the girl’s hands traced Tina’s features, from her hair and face to her neck, collarbone, and shoulders, brushing over them, until finally the girl lifted her face slowly. “Are you one of the Cursed Children, too?” Rentaro looked around him hurriedly in surprise. The people coming and going on the pedestrian bridge passed quickly with indifference, and there was no sign of anyone finding fault with what she said. “How did you know…?” said Tina, dumbfounded. Facing Tina, the girl’s smile grew bigger. “You’re pretty. I’ll bet the boys can’t leave you alone, right?” Tina glanced for a second at Rentaro before saying, “That is not true,” shaking her head dejectedly. “You know, I can’t live without depending on others, so I naturally learned to smile. Besides, I don’t know what face to make other than this anymore.” After the girl’s face twisted in a bitter smile, she said, “But,” and slouched her shoulders a little. “Recently, I have been hit more and have had dirty words yelled at me more often, which is a little painful. Did something happen?” Just then, a passerby threw something metallic into her metal bowl. The girl smiled softly and quietly made a deep bow. Rentaro looked at the pull tab of a canned drink that had been thrown into her bowl and felt disgusted. He glared at the snickering man wearing a double-breasted suit, but the man soon disappeared from view. Rentaro slouched and looked at Tina. “Actually,” he started, and he and Tina proceeded to tell the girl the circumstances of the murder of a civilian by Cursed Children. “I see, something like that happened…” The girl nodded meekly. “That’s why you shouldn’t beg in the Inner Districts until this settles down. Everyone’s bloodthirsty, so it’s dangerous for you to be here.” Then, the girl stammered for the first time. “But…” Rentaro put his hands on the girl’s shoulders and looked directly at her. “Promise me.” The girl squirmed indecisively but finally faced Rentaro and said, “Okay” loudly. Rentaro exhaled through his nose. He could rest easy for now. Rentaro put his hand in his wallet and pulled out a bill, putting it in the girl’s hand. “Is that enough?” The girl took the bill and put it between her fingers. After rubbing it slowly, she lifted it to her nose and breathed in the smell deeply through her nostrils. “Wow, this much? Thank you!” As if to thank him, the girl crossed her hands in front of her chest and lifted her chin, then started singing low and quiet. When her voice eventually grew louder and went higher, the solemn and clear soprano pushed back the tumult of the city and spread gently through the air. She was singing “Amazing Grace.” Rentaro quietly put his hands on Tina’s shoulders to urge her on, leaving quietly so that the girl would not notice. After putting enough distance between them, Rentaro looked back a little, reluctantly. The voice singing a blessing continued. But for some reason, it sounded a little sad. 5 Going through two more thoroughfares and into an alley, it seemed like they had arrived at another world; like the deep ocean where the light of the sun did not reach. The smell of perspiring grease, rust, and mold thriving in the humid twilight drifted through the narrow confines. When Rentaro pushed open the building’s iron door, creaking and thick with rust, he entered, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong with the GPS on his phone. However, he realized too soon that his feeling was wrong. After climbing the stairs of the run-down building with no elevator, he was at his destination. Even the sun, which was shining brightly when he left school, was now slanted, and threw orange light onto the ground. From somewhere off-site was the clang of heavy construction equipment, ringing hollowly through the building like the rumble of distant thunder. Rentaro and Tina stood for a while before the door that was beyond worn out and practically at “dilapidated.” The wall that was probably originally white was a completely different color, and there was graffiti on the lacquer in all directions. “Is this really the place?” Tina asked in shock. Rentaro, who could just barely make out the sign that said KATAGIRI CIVIL SECURITY AGENCY, responded with a “Probably.” From the information he got beforehand about how there were only two officers, Rentaro had predicted that it was not a large agency, but he had never imagined that he would find a civil security agency shabbier than his own employer in the entire universe. There was no doorbell, so he knocked on the door, yelling “Hey!” a few times, but there was no response. Just as he was about to go home, an energetic voice suddenly called out, “Oh, Rentaro Satomi the Pervert!” Turning to look, Rentaro saw a blond girl appear at the stairs they had just climbed up. Suddenly, she leapt back and bared her teeth, starting to growl. He knew this face. She was clad from head to toe in black pleather with a choker collar and engineer boots. Her dyed-blond hair was split in the middle and tied on each side. In the midst of all that punk fashion, the bright red backpack she carried looked extremely out of place. It looked like she had just gotten home from school. “Little Sister Katagiri, huh?” he shot back. “It’s Yuzuki, Rentaro Satomi! Fuck you! Don’t come near me, you letch! I’m gonna catch your pervy-ness!” Oh yeah, this was what she was like, he recalled with a touch of irritation, but getting angry here would be just what she wanted, so he chanted quietly to himself, Calm down, calm down. “It’s been a while, Little Sister Katagiri. Haven’t seen you since the manhunt three months ago, huh?” Yuzuki crossed her arms, feigning boredom. “Hmph, you were just a lowly low-ranking civil officer back then, but now you’re the savior of Tokyo Area who defeated a Zodiac, huh? What do you want? Don’t tell me you came to rub it in? If that’s why you’re here, then you can turn right around and go home, you letch.” “That’s not why I’m here. I came because I have work for your brother.” “We don’t need work from a perv!” Rentaro looked at the decrepit hallway and office door and knocked on the wall. The vibration made a corner of the plaster fall off. “Wouldn’t it be better to at least hear what I have to say?” Yuzuki looked annoyed as she pulled out the key from the back of her choker and put it in the door, stealing a look at Rentaro as she opened the door. “Big Bro! You have a guest!” Following the girl inside, he was first overwhelmed by the choking smell. All families had their own smell that permeated everything, but the Katagiri Civil Security Agency’s was the smell of a cloth that had wiped up milk and was dried in the shade. Scattered around the reception area were empty containers of instant noodles and junk food. There were shed clothes scattered everywhere, a hanging plant dangling from the ceiling, and tall piles of comics. From floor to ceiling, it was so messy that it seemed like it was done on purpose to make visitors shrink back. Just then, something moved a little. Rentaro looked to see a sleeping man sitting on a stool with his combat boots resting on the table. “Yo, Bro! Wake up!” said Yuzuki, shaking him. “What is it, my sweet?” said the man in a sleepy voice, pulling off the adult magazine covering his face and glancing at Rentaro. Then, he uttered “Whoa…” and put the magazine back on his face. “Hey, you! What do you mean, ‘Whoa…’?” “Try to understand, boy. Right after I wake up, a guy with a face so unfortunate that I feel like I’ll be cursed just by looking at it is standing right there. For a second, I thought the Grim Reaper had come for me.” So saying, he grunted and jumped out of the chair. Because of Rentaro’s height, he had to look up at the man just a little. He wore black cargo pants, a field jacket, and amber sunglasses. He had dark blond hair like his little sister, but with earrings and half-finger gloves. With his muscular build, he gave off an overbearing air. The words I am an American printed on his jacket were in such bad taste that the American girl next to Rentaro was clearly annoyed. Tamaki Katagiri. Even though he wore clothes that looked like they belonged to a thug, he was the president of the Katagiri Civil Security Agency. Rentaro looked around the messy office with distaste. “Well, what can I say? Looks like you’re doing well.” “Hmph, I don’t need your sarcasm, boyo.” Tamaki looked appraisingly at Rentaro and then flopped back into his president’s chair. “It’s been a while. What do you want?” Rentaro scratched the back of his head. “Actually—” “Shall I take a guess? The Monolith’s motherfucking destruction is drawing near, so you have no choice but to form an adjuvant, so you’re going around asking people to join you, but they’ve turned you down everywhere else, so you had no choice but to come here. Right?” Rentaro had nothing to say in response. He had gotten it exactly right. Rentaro thought back on the fifteen crossed-out names on the list of possible adjuvants and almost let out a sigh. In the two days since he informed the Seitenshi that he would accept the job, he had gone around knocking on the doors of various civil security agencies to gather strong allies, but his progress could not be called satisfactory by any means. Some got really angry, others had unpleasant expressions on their faces that looked like they had been insulted, he was turned away at the door of some, and there were even some others who just stole the advance and then ran away. He was at the end of his rope. Tamaki crossed his arms and looked so triumphantly proud that Rentaro couldn’t say anything in response. “Well, it’s only natural. Upstart brats like you are hated by civil officers around Japan.” “Shut up,” Rentaro said sulkily, but he had to agree with Tamaki on the inside. Rentaro and Enju’s IP Rank had been 123,452 just a few months ago. Among the civil officers, they were no better than the middle zone, who could neither hurt nor help. As a civil officer like that who had two consecutive and amazing successes, in short time he had risen to a rank of 300. Because he had risen in social status by his own abilities, Rentaro had also accumulated a number of interested stakeholders. But this was natural to any era, and, similarly, had the effect that most of the other civil officers disliked him. On top of that, another factor that made him hated was the fact that he was a sixteen-year-old high school student. Obviously, there were not many high schoolers who were constantly risking their lives as civil officers. The average age of a Promoter was around twenty-eight. And generally speaking, Japanese culture valued years of experience over anything else, so from child to adult, those living beings called Japanese tended to stick to the outdated way of thinking that they did not want to take orders from someone younger than them. With just the combination of his age and the increased stakeholders, it was more than enough to make all fifteen of the civil security agencies he had visited before this turn him down spectacularly. Tamaki shifted in his seat, and the springs of his chair creaked. “Well, how much prey are we talking?” Rentaro said, “It hasn’t been put on the news yet, but there are two thousand. The head of the enemy is Aldebaran.” Yuzuki’s eyes widened, and Tamaki raised his sunglasses and rubbed the corner of his eye. “The exit is that way. Hey, Yuzuki, the visitor’s going home now.” “I’m not done talking yet!” “Stupid, idiotic boy. That’s called a suicide mission. It’s like a praying mantis threating a horse carriage by raising its front legs. It’s beyond pathetic. It’s funny.” “If we don’t do anything, then it’s over for Tokyo Area. You two will die, too.” “That news hasn’t been spread past the civil officers, right? If that’s the case, then the smartest thing to do would be to get my hands on some plane tickets to escape Tokyo.” “Then you guys can laugh cheerfully from another Area with a beer in one hand as you watch the Tokyo Area citizens who didn’t have time to run away get killed by the Gastrea.” Tamaki didn’t say anything. “If we had the assistance of civil officers like you two, we’d have the strength of a hundred men. Please lend me your strength, Katagiri.” Tamaki silently stood up from the chair and started to circle Rentaro menacingly. “The most important thing for us in deciding whether or not we take a job is if the returns outweigh the risks. That thing called Aldebaran is a monster of a Gastrea. The story of how it turned three cities into ruins with Taurus is famous. I don’t know how many civil officers the government is planning on trying to scrape together, but there’s obviously a slim chance that we’ll make it back alive. What is the government prepared to give us for that?” Rentaro hesitated. “A promotion in rank and reasonable pay, I suppose. Of course, we can give you a little, as well—” “Motherfucker,” Tamaki interrupted. “That’s all I can say. I can only take it as an insult that they expect us to risk our lives for something like that.” “If you’re not happy with that, I can talk it over with the Lady Seitenshi to see if she can raise the pay and rank promotion.” “You don’t understand it at all, boyo. It’s not about money.” “Then—” Rentaro lifted his face and looked straight at Tamaki. “What do you think about fighting for my sake?” Tamaki looked taken aback for a second, then met Yuzuki’s eyes. The next instant, the two of them started laughing, holding their stomachs. Tina couldn’t help herself and stepped forward to get closer to them, but Rentaro kept her back with his hand. “You say interesting things, brat. You’ve changed in the short time since I last saw you.” Tamaki shrugged his shoulders. “There’s one thing I forgot to say. I won’t work under someone weaker than me.” “Then…,” said Rentaro. “Yeah, that’s right.” Tamaki stuck out a fist, baring his canines with a carnivore’s smile. “If you can beat me, then I’ll think about joining your adjuvant. If you’re a man, then prove to us that you’ve got balls.” The battle was to be held at a public gym that they rented out near the Katagiri Civil Security Agency. Or rather, Tamaki marched in and said, “Scram! Kids should go home and play games!” to the good citizens who were exercising there, quickly chasing them away. Gym No. 3, which Tamaki had obtained, was smaller than both Gym No. 1 and Gym No. 2, but it was still twenty meters long on each side and had a high ceiling. Spectators who were now gathered at the entrance clamored and shouted as they watched the takeover with interest. It wasn’t every day that they got to watch a skirmish between civil officers. Rentaro and Tina faced off against the Katagiri siblings, putting distance between them and looking at their equipment. The older brother, Tamaki, had a gauntlet wrapped with showy chains over his half-finger gloves, and at his hip was an automatic revolver, a Mateba Unica. Since they were in a public place, they probably wanted to avoid gunfire, but Rentaro and Tina would have to be careful of the gauntlet. In contrast to that, taking a loose stance was the unarmed Yuzuki. If Rentaro’s memory served him right, then the Gastrea factor inside her body was…“I’ll tell you my name, Rentaro Satomi! With an IP Rank of 1,850, I’m the Model Spider Yuzuki Katagiri!” That’s right, she had the spider factor. Rentaro didn’t have any pleasant memories with Model Spiders. “And I’m Tamaki Katagiri, with the same IP Rank of 1,850.” Realizing that there were high-ranking civil officers in a public gym on the outskirts of town, the spectators gulped. Tamaki waved a practiced hand at the spectators before turning toward Rentaro and snorting. “Hey, kiddo. I thought your Initiator was a noisy little bunny girl? Are you planning on taking us on with an impromptu pair?” “Yes, and we will win.” It was Tina who spoke. She too slid into a calm, relaxed stance. Rentaro looked at her without being able to laugh off Tamaki’s ridicule. Tina was a long-distance type Initiator who specialized in night sniping. However, right now, Tina’s hands did not carry a sniper rifle, and it was not a dark night where she could draw out her full potential, either. Tina seemed to understand his concerns and smiled. “Do not worry, Big Brother. If we’re going to do this, let us win.” Tina stared ahead and continued. “Besides, I think this is a good opportunity. Because not only can we see their power, but I can also display my strength for you, too. I want you to know what I can do.” Tina lifted her forearms, and from her loose sleeves, three round, fist-size objects tumbled out. Right before the Bits touched the ground, they floated up gently, acting like living, conscious beings as they flew around Tina, tracing geometric patterns in the air. Shenfield—It was the thought-drive interface used by the neurochip buried in her brain. “Formation Delta, and maintain autonomous trajectory Foxtrot.” Tina made a horizontal sweeping motion with her hands and the Bits started flying in triangles as they spread out and rotated above her head, which caused a stir among the spectators. Tina then pulled out a black glove from her pocket and put it on her right hand. Apparently, she only had one glove, and on her wrist, there were two small metal rings that shook at the edge of the glove. Rentaro was curious about her equipment, but he didn’t have time to ask her about it. Tina looked at the Katagiri siblings. “I’ll tell you my name. I am Model Owl, Tina Sprout. I have no rank because it was revoked. Please be gentle with me.” “H-hey, what’re those weird things flying around you?” Tamaki asked. “W-wait, what do you mean, your rank was revoked…?” Yuzuki asked fearfully. Rentaro understood her unease. She must have started to realize a little that Tina was no ordinary Initiator. Having one’s rank revoked was a pretty severe punishment among the many punishments a civil officer could receive. People who became civil officers in the first place were generally a bloodthirsty bunch, with many would-be yakuza and people who liked violence and fighting. Therefore, having a death or two in skirmishes between civil officers was no big deal. If their licenses were taken away every time something like that happened, there would soon be no civil officers to protect Tokyo Area; so unless they committed a serious crime like injuring a civilian, the current situation was that a certain level of violence was tolerated. The demon, Kagetane Hiruko, and his partner, whom Rentaro had faced off against before, were truly atrocious psychotic killers. In the end, their licenses were taken away, and their rank was frozen, but to put it another way, it took killing as much as they did before civil officers received such a severe punishment. Yuzuki was probably wondering what Tina did that made her receive the punishment to have her rank revoked. And it wasn’t like Tina could say with all the spectators milling around that she was the one who attempted to assassinate the Seitenshi. Tamaki and Yuzuki closed rank and stuck out their fists, their eyes sharply narrowed. Rentaro could understand the sudden seriousness.
Chapter 35
47 min read