Chapter 50

The girl’s arm went around his waist. “You idiot.” “Sorry, Enju. Really…I’m sorry.” Regrets flowed up from the bottom of his heart. He should have explained the situation to Enju, at least. He really thought so now, after he had seen how painful it was to spend time apart. “Why did you leave without informing me? I was worried.” As she said that, she half-sobbed and punched his sides. “Argh, that hurts, stop it. I’m injured there! Don’t touch it.” “Satomi……?” Pushing Enju away from him, Rentaro looked toward the voice and gulped. Kisara’s black hair and white skin were covered with soot and blood, and she had a cut above her eyes that forced her left eye closed from blood. When he looked more carefully, he saw that Enju’s clothes also had traces of cuts and tears all over them. Even so, Kisara let her tears gather at the edge of her vision as she put a hand firmly on her hip and looked at him sharply. “Jeez, you’re late!” “Sorry.” Kisara looked like she was about to say more, but no more words came out. Clasping her hands in front of her chest like she was praying, she looked down, shoulders shaking. Rentaro was racked with guilt and scratched his head, not knowing how to deal with it. Just then, a voice called out, “Hey, isn’t that Rentaro Satomi?” Rentaro raised his head as the surviving civil officers looked at him as if he had returned from Hades, surrounding him from far away. He heard voices raise a commotion: “I heard he’d been banished…” “Then, the missiles that flew over were…” “Did he defeat Pleiades and come back?” “No way…” From their reaction, he understood at once what the others had been told about his mission to subjugate Pleiades. He desperately controlled his expression to make sure his inner thoughts did not make it to his face. From their hollow eyes, he could tell that everyone was more exhausted than their visible wounds allowed. Thankfully, he still saw Tina, Tamaki, Yuzuki, and Shoma, but what was the deal with having their five-hundred-person-strong troops reduced to about sixty people before the second wave came? He wanted this to be a joke. He wanted to hear the sound of footsteps bringing the remaining civil officers saying, “Don’t tell me you thought we died?” and laughing it off. He would feel annoyed for a moment, but then he would be grinning happily with them. “Where’s…everyone else?” His voice sounded stiff, dry, and flat as he spoke. Kisara wiped her eyes with her sleeve and looked at Rentaro solemnly. “Satomi…Leader Satomi.” Kisara saluted and looked at Rentaro sharply. “Commander Gado has died in battle.” He felt like he had just been hit hard in the head. Died? Gado did? The war veteran with an IP rank of 275 died? “According to the Adjuvant System in the civil officer manual, article 40, if the commander dies, then the authority to command the troops will pass to the civil officer with the next highest rank.” “Then who’s in right now?” Rentaro asked. All the Promoters and Initiators around them looked their way. No way… Rentaro shook his head slowly as he backed away. It’s impossible, Kisara. There’s no way I can do it. “From here on out, we will fight with you in command. Please lead us, Satomi.”