8 It was the beginning of August. A still, clear morning without so much as a breeze. The thin water’s surface reflected the sky above like a mirror, and the bright hues of the shellsand made it look as if one were walking through a sky of multicolored diamonds. This was the Calvero Shellsand Sea, about fifty kilometers north of Imihama. This vast lake atop a sand made of beautiful seashells spread all the way from the northern reaches of Tochigi to southern Shimobuki. Once, this was the realm of one of Fukushima’s great megacorps, known as Calvero Jewelry. They perfected a method by which jewels could be crafted from synthetic seashells instead of being dug out of the ground, but when the Rust Wind came, it ground down their factories like it did to so many others. Here and there, you could still spot ruined tower blocks jutting out of the landscape, but the rest of the land was covered in a fine sand of jeweled seashells. The miniscule water-and-salt content of the shellsand led to a thin film of water that covered the Shellsand Sea and gave it an indescribable beauty quite far from the deserts of Saitama. However, the two young Mushroom Keepers had little time to contemplate such beauty as they moved across the land atop their giant crab, their bodies racked with hunger and unease. “Actagawa, please find us some food. I’m begging you, please…” As the party was forced to detour from their initial route through the Ashio Bonecoal Mines, they decided to head to Shimobuki by way of the Shellsand Sea. It was the only choice given how little time Jabi had remaining. “Ohh… So…so hungry…,” Milo muttered to himself. Despite the Shellsand Sea’s beauty, journeying across it was harsh. The vast expanse of water held nothing fit for human consumption. Even if they grew their stock of edible mushrooms nearby, the mushrooms themselves contained next to no calories and would do little to sate their ravenous hunger. Even Actagawa, who could normally subsist on almost anything, found nothing to eat in this land, and as his strength faded, his walking speed slowed. The foodstuffs left by the jellyfish girl had come in handy—and probably saved their lives, all things considered. But the bulk of it had gone to Actagawa, and they had reached the end of their stores some time ago. “…Bisco…” Milo looked over at his partner, who seemed irritated even during the best of times. Now he appeared particularly upset, not only from the hunger clawing at his belly, but also because the fate of his master loomed ever present at the back of his mind. Though Milo was starving, he didn’t want to bother him with his whining and, instead, was trying to put on a brave face, when… “…Milo. Are you hungry?” asked Bisco. “…Y-yeah!” Bisco slapped Milo on the back of the head. “Next time I hear you complain, you’re getting two slaps.” “I wouldn’t have said it if you didn’t ask!” “…Hey, what’re they?” Milo followed where Bisco was pointing and saw a short plant growing out of the shellsand, with large leaves that swayed in the water. At its center were four large red fruits, glistening and juicy. “Th-they’re watermelons!” “Watermelons!” Milo’s cadaver-like face brightened up in a flash at the sight of the fruit, known as redball melons, and Bisco pulled the reins with newfound vigor, excited to finally find Actagawa something decent to eat. But just then, a small shadow jogged up and approached the plant. As Bisco and Milo looked on in horror, the figure swept up all four of the fruits and tossed them one by one into a basket on their back, before returning the way they had come. The figure had some sort of large snail shell on their head as a helmet and was wearing a shirt and pants of simple make. They didn’t look to be much more than a child. “What’s a child doing all the way out here? Could there be some sort of settlement nearby? What do you think, Bis—?” But as Milo turned to Bisco, he saw the rage on his partner’s face and held his tongue. “Get the hell back here, kid! Give us that basket!” Bisco’s hunger gave rise to incredible rage, and he whipped Actagawa into gear and started chasing the young child down. The kid looked over his shoulder to see a giant steelcrab bearing down on him, a veritable demon atop the saddle. He leaped into the air with a yelp and took off across the shellsand like a lightning bolt. “B-Bisco! Let him go! Look at how scared he is; don’t you feel sorry for him?!” “You should be feelin’ sorry for us! That kid just stole our food!” Bisco pressed on despite Milo’s pleading, when all of a sudden, the crack of a rifle rang out in the air, and a bullet hole at his feet stopped Actagawa in his tracks. “…!” Bisco grimaced and looked up in the direction of the shot. “Don’t you thugs feel ashamed, trying to kidnap a child?!” echoed a voice from up above. A voice rich in determination—but with a high pitch that suggested it belonged to a young boy. “You aren’t getting away this time! I’m sending you back to Kurokawa full of holes!” Bisco and Milo found themselves surrounded, rifles pointing at them from out of strange structures that towered before them and looked like giant dolls. It seemed that, in their hunger, the Akaboshi party had gotten themselves tangled up in quite a sticky situation. “We ain’t interested in the kid,” said Bisco, pushing the terrified Milo down into his seat. “We just want somethin’ to eat. I dunno who these guys are you’re talking about, but we ain’t your enemies. We just happened to be passin’ through!” There was a small pause, then the boy replied. “Then turn yourselves right back around, strangers. Try anything funny, and we’ll blow your brains out!” “You’re unhinged, kid. Look, we just need some food; now hand it over.” Bisco refused to back down. “This crab—and this guy, he’s a doctor—they both need feedin’. We got money. We can pay.” “I don’t care; just get out of here! We Calvero fishermen don’t make empty threats!” “He must be in his rebellious phase,” Bisco said, sighing as he fiddled around in the pack on Milo’s back and pulled out a single scrap of paper. “Sure am glad I kept one of these.” “Kept one of…what…?” asked Milo as his eyes fell upon the paper in his hand. Bisco held it up alongside his head so two identical faces leered back at the boy. It was his own wanted poster. “I’m Bisco Akaboshi, the Man-Eating Redcap! Japan’s most wanted! Take me back to Imihama alive, and you’ll be given eight hundred thousand sols! That’s enough to buy a dozen houses within the city walls instead of living out here in the sticks!” “W-w-waaaah! Bisco, what on earth are you doing?!” Forgetting his fear, Milo shook Bisco by the lapels. “What are you thinking?! If you get caught, that’s not just the end of our journey; you’ll be killed!” Meanwhile, a buzz of voices passed through the hole-filled buildings of the village. Strangely, they all seemed to belong to young children, boys and girls. “Akaboshi?” “The Man-Eating Redcap!” “He’s here? For real?” “Did you hear that? Eight hundred thousand sols!” While they were distracted, Bisco took the opportunity to whisper to Milo without breaking his wicked grin. “It’s the only way we’re gonna be able to feed Actagawa. They’ve got a village here, so there must be somewhere we can get food. Once we fill him up, we just wait for our chance and get the hell outta here. I’d like to take all they got, but from the looks of things, it’s just a bunch of kids out here. I don’t wanna leave ’em without anything at all.” “…Yeah, okay,” replied Milo. It was strange. When Bisco spoke, suddenly the impossible didn’t sound so impossible anymore. “Hey, what should I do? Do you have a plan?” “Of course not,” said Bisco. “Don’t need one.” Just as they finished conferring, a troupe of young children, all armed and wearing their own unique shell helmets, marched in front of Actagawa, crunching the shellsand beneath their feet as they walked. The boy at their front was wearing a shark mask and the shell of a turban snail on his head. From his speech earlier, it sounded as if he was their leader. “…Huh. I guess you really are Akaboshi. Now why would you show up on our doorstep, ready to turn yourself in?” “I forgot outlaws still need to eat. The crab, the panda, and me, we all need food. Give us some, and then you can take me to Imihama.” “We can tie you up, but how do we know that panda’s not going to try anything?” “He won’t. If he does, you can shoot all three of us.” Bisco appeared to be quickly getting tired of arguing every little detail. “So? Are you tying me up or what? Get on with it!” The turban snail boy thrust his rifle in Bisco’s face and was a little perturbed to get no response. Attempting to regain his pride, he called out to two of his subordinates. “Plum, Kousuke! Tie him up and take away his things. As for this crab… Ugh… He’s pretty big… He might get mad if we try to tie him up. Go get Kewpie and have him help.” “I wonder if Kewpie will be enough, Nuts. He looks really strong. Maybe we should feed him some numbing toxins or something…” As the children conferred among themselves in worried tones, a single bright, cheery voice rang out. “Oh! It’s okay!” said Milo. “Actagawa will stay calm if Bisco and I ask him to!” As he clumsily descended from the saddle, he tripped and fell face-first into the colorful shellsand below. Picking himself up, he shook his head like a dog, sending bits flying out of his sopping-wet blue hair. He gave an embarrassed cough and then whispered into Actagawa’s ear while stroking his belly. “We’re going to be stopping here for a while. It’s okay; don’t be nervous…” At Milo’s gentle behavior, one of the soldiers delicately lowered her rifle. “Wh-what a wonderful person…” “H-hey, Plum! Don’t let Nuts hear you say that!” “I can hear all of you, you idiots!” The two lackeys froze in fright at the sound of the turban snail boy’s voice. It seemed he was called Nuts, and judging by the conversation, it sounded like even in this desolate place, these kids had not lost their childlike curiosity and emotion. “O-okay, we’ve tied up Akaboshi. I-i-is that too tight? I can loosen it if you want…” “You blockhead! He’s a villain; don’t you know that?! Too tight is too good for him! Now start walking, buddy!” “Heh-heh-heh. What bright young kids. The future’s in good hands.” Annoyed by Bisco’s joviality, Nuts gave him a kick in the rear. Meanwhile, the girl named Plum struggled with a pair of handcuffs as she attempted to place them on Milo’s outstretched hands. “I think you’re supposed to put the key in that hole there. Here, if I turn my hands around…” “L-like this?” “Yeah, then the key goes in there… There you go; well done!” Milo held up his manacled wrists and smiled at Plum. Beneath her spider conch cap, the girl’s face went red as a beet, and she pulled Milo along with her head hung in embarrassment. As several kids on the upper levels turned a handle, the elevator containing the five people began to rise. Even by the standards of a world where human civilization was all but forgotten, this village had a rather primitive way of doing things. Milo leaned over so Nuts couldn’t hear and whispered in Kousuke’s ear. “Hey, there’s something strange about the shape of this town. What is it built on?” “T-Tetsujin,” the boy took great pains to whisper back, as if he had trouble controlling the volume of his own voice. “The thing that destroyed Tokyo. We drilled inside it and built this town. At least, that’s what the grown-ups used to say.” This is Tetsujin? They made a town inside its body? Upon closer inspection, Milo could make out the iron giant’s upper torso. Tents and hammocks were hung from the metal ribs that extended from its exposed spine, creating an eclectic mix of personalized living spaces. Above them, the head of the giant looked down on the town, its mouth agape, whatever expression it once had on its face now long gone. Tetsujin, the source of the explosion that wiped out the Greater Tokyo Area and set the Rust Wind upon the land, blighting it. This baleful symbol of humankind’s ruin ought to have been shunned in disgust, and for many years it was. But as calamity became memory, and memory became words in a history book, this tombstone was born anew as a town for an emerging era of humanity. As Milo gazed upon it, he felt the weight of its history bearing down on him. And for a while, he could do nothing but stare in wonder, forgetting to even blink. As the elevator settled into position, Nuts stepped off in the direction of a staircase leading up even higher. “Plum, you look after the panda. Akaboshi, you’re coming with me. Kousuke, you come, too.” “Should we feed them?” asked the girl. “That was the deal… Pass the news on to Kewpie as well.” Nuts disappeared up the staircase, pulling Bisco behind him by the rope. Kousuke rushed off after him, looking over his shoulder anxiously a few times, his pond snail hat wobbling atop his head. “Come here; I’ll make you something to eat,” said Plum afterward, and she led Milo to a tent where there were some simple cooking utensils. There she sat Milo down and left, returning a short while later with a bowl of food that looked as though it was left over from the night before. “Oh my gosh, what a lovely stew!” “Don’t be silly; it’s just clams boiled in milk— Whoa, hold on! Don’t spill it!” “Mm, mng, mm… Paaah! Wow, this is so good!” Milo noisily slurped down the stew, still in his handcuffs. The satisfaction on his face was no lie. He had been without food and drink for quite some time, and Milo, who was rather slim at the best of times, was now starting to look as though he might snap in half like a twig. From the enthusiastic way he devoured his meal, Plum received a pretty good idea of how much his body had been craving even just a single bowl of soup. Plum looked a little uneasy at having to watch Milo fumble with the dish, and eventually she undid Milo’s cuffs. “Thank you… Wait, are you sure?” said Milo. “Well, I can’t leave you like that; it’s too dangerous… Hey, if you’re so hungry, you can have some of my sea slug sashimi. I have some that’s about to turn.” “You’re going to make me something else?” “Wait here; I’ll go make it now…” As he watched Plum retrieve some colorful sea slugs from the fridge and set about preparing them with a kitchen knife in hand, he cast a glance outside at the town. All the boys were holding dangerous-looking guns, half of them so badly corroded by the Rust that it was dubious whether they would even still fire. “Hey,” he said. “How come everyone in this town is armed? Are there bandits around?” “…A long time ago, some army guys from Imihama used to come and fight with the grown-ups. Now, though, we hardly ever use them on people.” “So you use them to fight animals?” “Yeah. Flocks of flying fugu come in winter. Loads of them… And there are less of us every year. Some of the guns don’t work anymore. I don’t even know if we’ll make it through this year…” The flying fugu were a terrifying evolved species of flying fish that filled their bodies with gases, allowing them to float in the air. Their cute exterior belied a powerful jaw that could close with enough force to crush bone. “…If only the grown-ups were here. If only they came back. Then, we could… We could… Ouch!” In her frustration, Plum slipped and nicked her finger with the knife. Milo dashed to her side and took her hand. He took some jellyfish oil from his pocket and rubbed it on the wound. Just then, at the base of Plum’s fingers, Milo spotted a gray dryness and cracked skin. “Th-thank you…” Plum shyly looked up at Milo and met his eyes. His look was grave, with no trace of the mild-mannered doctor from before. As the girl stared deeply into those azure stars, her cheeks burned crimson. “I-I-I-I’m okay… Y-you can let go now…” “Your skin,” Milo whispered, still holding on to the girl’s hand. “On your fingers. That’s shellskin disease. Have you had it long?” “…Huh?!” Plum’s breath caught in her throat. She was unsure where to begin, but in her heart she already trusted the man before her completely, and there was no way she could stop the words from forming. “I… I’ve had it…as long as I can remember. And it’s not just me; most of the kids here have it… This disease, it’s called the Rust, isn’t it? The grown-ups wanted to cure us…but the medicine is really expensive. So they went to work in Imihama to pay for it. The governor there, Kurokawa… He made them wear these weird masks…and then…” Plum was fighting back tears to get the words out. Milo was normally kind and gentle, but now his eyes shook with anger like searing blue flames. “…Kurokawa. He did this. To a bunch of children, no less…!” Milo fished out his medicine case from his pocket and retrieved several vials. Then he wet a cloth with one and gently wiped it over the girl’s cracked, gray skin. Astonishingly, it slowly returned to its former softness and color, before the girl’s very eyes. “A-amazing! H-how did you…?” “Your disease is not the Rust,” he said with a strange temperament that was neither kindness nor anger. “Anyone with a little medical knowledge can treat shellskin disease. Where are the others? Bring them here if you can. I’ll cure all of them today.” Bisco was held atop Tetsujin’s head, where Nuts’s private quarters were located. His hands wrapped in chains, he poked his head through the bars of a cage made from Tetsujin’s teeth and looked around the room. “Pretty fancy for a kid’s room,” he said. “What the hell you got a prison cell in here for anyway?” “Silence, prisoner!” shouted Nuts. “You want me to blow off some of your toes?” “What’re those harpoons on the walls?” said Bisco, ignoring his threat. “Those are some pretty fine weapons.” A sharp pair of crossed harpoons hung on the far wall, their metallic sheen glinting in the sunlight. Nuts was about to lose his temper with Bisco, when he stopped for a moment and quietly began to answer. “…They were my dad’s. He used to be the head of this village. He fought against the Imihama army, and they blew him to pieces. I’ve kept them all this time, so that I don’t ever forget what they did to him.” Nuts’s voice wavered, and Bisco could feel the emotion starting to come through in his voice. “I clean them, polish them, keep them free of rust. As long as they shine, so does my hatred…” By the end, Nuts’s voice was barely a whisper, trembling with rage and regret, forced through gritted teeth. Kousuke looked on at his leader in solemn silence, while beside him, Bisco smiled a wicked grin, flashing his pearly canines. “Well, sob story aside, they’re nice weapons. Give ’em to me.” “…Wh-what?!” “Give ’em to me. I mean, what’re they gonna do up there on the wall? Might as well get some use out of ’em, don’cha think? And let’s be honest, they’re a bit too big for you.” “Y-you… you jerk!” Nuts’s hair bristled with rage as he raised his rifle and pointed it at Bisco. Just then, there came a joyful voice from downstairs. “Nuts! Nuuuts!” As Nuts turned to look at the source, a bunch of children came flooding into the room, pushing the furniture aside. “Wh-what are you all doing here? Why aren’t you keeping an eye on the panda?!” “That’s just it, Nuts! Look at this! My arm’s all better! I can move it again! Look, my ears and foot, too!” “And my eyes! I can see much better now, Nuts! I can go on watchtower duty again! I bet I’ll be even better than before!” “Wh-what happened…?!” Nuts was faced with a crowd of children, all yelling over one another about how their disease was somehow cured. And sure enough, it seemed they were telling the truth. Their dry, pale skin had become warm and healthy once again. “It was that panda! He’s like the Buddha! He’s like Jesus! He used some magic medicine on us, and it went away in a flash! Hey, Nuts, you should go, too; I bet he can do yours as well!” “You what…?! Don’t be stupid! He’s playing tricks on you, can’t you see? I’ll go sort him out; take me to him!” Nuts barked commands at the children and headed down the stairs. When Kousuke started to follow after him, Nuts shouted, “Kousuke, you stay here and keep an eye on Akaboshi. We don’t know what he’s going to try!” before running off. “Whaaat? By myself? You’re so mean, Nuts!” There was no reply. Kousuke hung his head dejectedly. For a while, he milled around the room with nothing to do, until eventually he took out a scrap of paper from his pocket, unrolled it, and gazed at it in wonder. “…Is that a railroad map?” said Bisco, and Kousuke jumped. “Y-y-you can tell just by looking?” “Kinda. Jabi and I… My master and I used one to get around a checkpoint once. An underground railway. Went from Nara to Mie… The Keikyu–Benibashi Line, I think they called it.” “Y-you used one of the abandoned railways?! A-a-amazing!” Kousuke shiftily stole a glance down the staircase to make sure no one was coming, then excitedly shuffled up closer to Bisco. “Hey, mister. You’re really a Mushroom Keeper, aren’t you? That’s so cool; I bet you’ve been to loads of places…” “Hey, you’re quite different from that turban snail kid, ain’t ya? Not afraid of Mushroom Keepers?” “M-m-my dad said that once when I was sick…a Mushroom Keeper saved my life. S-so he…really liked them…” Kousuke rubbed the freckles by his nose. “S-so…I always wanted to talk to a Mushroom Keeper…’c-cause…you saved my life. Wh-wh-where were you going anyway, mister?” “Up north, to Akita,” said Bisco. “There’s a mushroom there I’ve gotta find. I was on my way to get it when Actagawa…my crab, he ran out of food. That’s why we stopped here.” “In that case…!” Kousuke’s face lit up. “T-t-take this map with you! M-m-my dad used to look at it…and say we’d all take a trip north one day. A-all the railway lines up there are on it! I-i-it’s really old, so maybe some of them aren’t open anymore…b-but I bet there are still trains you can use!” “Listen, kid. I’m supposed to be your prisoner. I don’t think you’re cut out for this job,” said Bisco as the map was forced into his hands. Then he reluctantly put it in his pocket and turned back toward the annoyingly innocent child before him. “You shouldn’t be so trusting all the time. When I was your age, I thought ninety percent of everything people told me was a lie.” “I-it’s okay! I’ve read it so many times already that I know it all by heart!” Bisco wasn’t sure that addressed his concerns, but Kousuke simply adjusted his pond snail hat and looked at Bisco with sparkling eyes. “M-m-my dad always said…he wanted to pay back the Mushroom Keepers for what they did. H-he’s dead now, b-b-but I can do it in his place!” As Kousuke was talking, he suddenly seemed to remember something and rushed upstairs to the rooftop. Bisco called out to him in concern. “Hey! Aren’t you supposed to be keeping an eye on me? Your leader’s gonna kick your ass if he finds out!” “I—I just need to go pee-pee!” Bisco flashed a toothy grin and sat down in resignation. Then he pulled out the crumpled map from his pocket and chuckled to himself as he looked at it. “Giving a map to a guy in a jail cell. What are you tryin’ to make me do, kid?” In a way, that was what made him so endearing, Bisco thought as he slowly tensed his arm muscles and pulled at his bound wrists. “Wh-what the heck did you do…?” His shark mask removed, Nuts placed his fingers to his lips and felt the once-soft skin around his mouth restored. He looked repeatedly in the mirror like he didn’t believe what he was witnessing. “The medicine Imihama sold you was a scam. You never needed it.” Milo’s calm words barely concealed his rage. He reached into his bags and pulled out several vials of yellow medicine. Then he took out a piece of paper, scrawled something on it, beckoned Plum over, and put it in her hand. “Come here, Plum,” he said. “This is the medicine that cures shellskin disease. Don’t be shy about using it, especially on the kids who have it the worst. Just keep applying it until the skin is all cleared up. This should be enough for quite a while, but just in case, I’m giving you the recipe as well. The ingredients should all be things you can find around here. Just be careful when going outside the village, okay?” “Are you an angel, mister?” said Plum. “You cured everyone in the village… Just like magic…” “Hey, Nuts,” said one boy. “We gotta do something to pay this guy back. The Calvero fishermen prize duty above all. Isn’t that what the grown-ups used to say?” “That’s right!” said a girl. “If he hadn’t been here, eventually we’d have gone all hard and died! We have to show our thanks somehow!” “…” Frowning, Nuts listened to the voices around him with his arms crossed, eventually caving to the pressure and responding. “…Do we even have anything he wants? There’s nothing of value here.” “There is, actually,” said Milo. “One thing.” His cerulean eyes gave a sly glimmer. “My partner, Bisco Akaboshi. Let him go and hand him over to me.” “!!” “Ah!” “Of course!” “Akaboshi…!” At this, the children with the seashell hats all turned to one another and clamored among themselves. It seemed that up until now they had fully forgotten that the nice doctor man had been an accomplice to the villain Akaboshi. But as they talked, it became clear that the children had quite taken to Milo, and the majority were receptive to his request. “Well, as long as he stays quiet…” “He did save us, after all…” And so on. Plum approached Nuts, who was still standing, arms folded. “Come on,” she said. “No.” “Come on, Nuts!” “We’re not handing over Akaboshi! Ask for something else, Panda!” H-huh? I thought that would work. Did I have the wrong read on him? thought Milo. A cold sweat broke out on his face as his trust in the child’s innate goodness proved to be misplaced. He could tell that behind the kid’s tough exterior, a part of him truly wanted to pay Milo back, but some other obligation was nagging at him and closing off his heart. “Come on, Nuts! Akaboshi is this doctor’s companion!” said Plum. “He can’t be such a bad guy! He’s his friend! Let him go!” But Nuts shot back, shaking his head wildly. “It’s not about that; it’s about the money! Eight hundred thousand sols, we’re talkin’! We could buy new weapons for the whole town. Our guns are nearly all rusted, and we ain’t got much ammo left, neither. If nothing changes before winter, the flying fugu’ll come and eat everyone in the village! You okay with that?” Nuts’s sharp rebuke sent the other boys into silence. It wasn’t as if he was any less sympathetic than the other kids, but the desire to save his village compelled him to make these tough decisions. Nuts turned and walked away. “If we’re done here, I’m leaving. Your crab’s been well fed, so it’s about time you left,” he said without looking back. Milo scratched his lip with his fingernail, pondering his next move. Just as Nuts stepped onto the stairs, a voice rang out from above. “Fugu! The fugu are here!” “Huh?! Kousuke? Where are you?” The boy’s scream echoed through the whole village and sent the children into a panic. Nuts rushed up the staircase out of the kitchen and into the town’s central plaza that jutted out of Tetsujin’s chest. Looking to the sky, he spotted a single flying fugu around the head of the giant, its body swelled up and its mouth open as if to feed. “What’s it doing here in the middle of summer?!” asked Nuts. “Did it get separated from the pack?” As he aimed his rifle, Plum’s trembling voice reached his ears. “I—I don’t think so. Nuts… Look at that… It’s even bigger than last year’s flock!” He followed her gaze to see dozens of inflated fugu descending out of a low cloud toward the town. Whatever the cause, the village’s peace had quickly turned to turmoil, and now it lay on the verge of utter destruction. “N-Nuts, there’s too many of them! We don’t gots enough guns!” “M-my gun won’t work! Dang it, why now?!” Nuts heard his friends call out in despair, and he scowled. Normally, he could calm them down with a shout, but in this situation, that would be no different than asking them to wait to be eaten. As indecision racked his mind, he let out a quiet whine. “Arghhh, what should I doooo…?” “…There’s only one way you can save everybody.” At the sound of this calm voice, Nuts and Plum turned to see Milo standing behind them. He wore a stern expression and looked directly into Nuts’s eyes. “Wh-what way?” asked Nuts. “Tell me!” “There’s a guy I know who eats creatures like this for breakfast. He’ll take care of them all in ten minutes flat.” “Wh-who?! Where could we possibly find someone like that?!” “Why, he’s locked up in your room,” said Milo. As Plum grew nervous, he stopped and flashed her a reassuring smile, before turning back to Nuts and taking a step toward him. “Nuts. You have to let Bisco go! He’s the only one who can save us! Or are you willing to sit back and watch your friends get eaten for eight hundred thousand sols?” As Nuts wrestled with the choice before him, beads of sweat dripped down his face. Just then: Crash! There was a loud noise from above as one of the fugu tore into the giant’s iron head. As clouds of dust and rubble fell down on the town below, Nuts looked up to see a small figure being carried out between the beast’s thick lips. “Waaah! Nuuuts!” Kousuke let out an earsplitting scream as the fish pinched him by the scruff of his jacket and hoisted him up into the air. “Kousukeee!” Nuts leveled his rifle, but fearful of hitting his friend, he was unable to bring himself to pull the trigger and closed his eyes. Just as Kousuke was about to become fish food, a red flash streaked across the clear-blue sky. Like a meteor, it struck the fish in midair and lifted some sort of spear in its hand before bringing it down between the fish’s eyes. Then, with tremendous strength, it sliced the creature clean in two from head to tail. That spear was one of Nuts’s treasured harpoons. “Bweeeehhh…” The fish gave a dopey-sounding cry as its body deflated like a balloon. The red figure whisked Kousuke up onto its shoulders before kicking off, landing once more atop the iron giant’s head. “Turban snail. You know how to use this?” said Bisco, tossing the harpoon in his hand down to Nuts below and shooting him a friendly grin. “If it’s your daddy’s weapon, I expect he wants it back. So don’t keep it preserved on your wall as a symbol of hate; wear it out and send it on after him.” “A-Akaboshi!” Nuts staggered as he caught the harpoon and looked up in shock. “B-but your chains! Your cage! How did you break free? I have the only key!” “You need to come up with something better than this to keep me down.” Bisco lifted his arms, revealing the broken chains dangling from his wrists. “That rusted-up cage was no better. I admit, it was fun to play along with you kids for a while, though.” “Wh-wh-what?!” “Milo, my bow!” Milo drew his gaze away from Nuts, who was clenching his teeth in anger. “Here!” he cried, tossing up Bisco’s emerald bow and a quiver of arrows. Bisco caught them, nocked an arrow, and drew his bow tight, his red hair flapping in the wind like a battle flag. “Kousuke. Thanks for the map, but there’s something wrong with it.” “H-huh? Th-th-that’s not possible!” Bisco appeared a little lost for words. He ducked his head slightly to try to hide his embarrassment before answering, “…I actually can’t read super-well. So here’s the deal. My bow for your knowledge. Tell me each of the stations along the Tobu–Shirakaba line. For each one, you get one shot. Deal?” “Wh-whaaat?!” Bisco flashed a childish grin at the boy clinging to his neck for dear life. “What’s wrong? Those fish are gonna eat your friends otherwise. Give ’em in order. You know ’em all by heart, right?” “O-o-o-okay, fine! The Shirakaba line. The first station is…er…” After witnessing the death of one of their number, the rest of the fugu flock singled out Bisco and descended upon him like piranhas. “You better remember quick, ’cause they’re gonna eat us!” “O-oh yeah! The first station is Kitsunezaka!” “Kitsunezaka. Okay!” Bisco’s arrow arced across the sky and lodged itself in one of the fugu. The creature twitched in the air, before a flood of little dark-gray mushrooms swarmed across its body with a Gaboom! Gaboom! and the fish immediately fell head over heels toward the ground. Bisco’s arrows were coated with the spores of the anchorshroom, a mushroom of incredible weight. “Oh? Only one station? There’s a lot more fish, you know!” “Err… The second one is…Kagamiboshi! The third…Tsueoki!” Two more draws of Bisco’s bow sent another pair of fugu tumbling out of the sky. “Hinariyama! Kamegoshi! Shougaiwa! Kabutobashi!” With each new name, Bisco’s arrows launched one after the other. The terrifying swarm of killer fugu was steadily whittled down, until at last only a single fish remained. “Last one, gimme a name!” “O-oh, phew, just enough. It’s the final station: Konakidani, the Weeping Valley!” At Kousuke’s shout, Bisco released his final arrow. As the last of the flying fugu crashed to the ground with a dull thud, the entire village erupted into cheers. As for Bisco himself, he simply cracked his neck in a rather bored fashion but then turned to the child on his back and gave him a cheeky smile.
Chapter 12
30 min read