Chapter 71

11 “We made it past the blockade!” shouted Milo. “And look, they even held a party for us!” “From here on out it’s a straight shot to Tokyo!” said Pawoo. The red carpet stretched southward across the Saitama Iron Desert. At its head rode Pawoo in her wedding dress. Behind her was Actagawa, and behind him were the army’s most elite fighters. Thanks to Hope’s plan, they had made it through Apollo’s robots with little more than a light scattering of flower petals to show for it. “Can I take this thing off yet?” yelled Bisco. “This kimono’s heavy as shit!” “Come on, Bisco, Pawoo’s still wearing hers,” Milo replied. “By the way, I didn’t know Mushroom Keeper bridal gowns were so revealing. Are they all like that?” “That’s Pawoo’s fault. Most Mushroom Keepers ain’t usually so big.” “Big? In what way, exactly?” “Her height!” “Bisco! Get it together, lad!” came Jabi’s voice from the rear, riding atop the venerable champion steelcrab, Ogai. “Those robots have come down on us! The rear guard’s fightin’ ’em off as we speak, but they ain’t gonna last long!” “He reactivated the White?!” asked Hope. “Dammit! Joy must have modified the code of etiquette!” He looked back to the rear of the formation, where he saw the blue light of the urbanization guns blasting away. “It’s no use. Tokyo is still some distance farther. We’ll never reach it before they catch up with us…” “Founder, if I may.” Ochagama showed his fluffy head, riding over on a chariot pulled by a two-headed hippo, before leaping across to Actagawa’s saddle and kneeling in front of Hope. “Please leave this to me, Your Godliness. As the high priest of Banryouji, I have safeguarded your teachings for one hundred years, never straying for a second.” “My friend, what are you saying? You cannot possibly go. It is suicide!” “Yes, it is.” Within the cotton wool ball of his hair, two big round eyes gleamed. “But I should be dead already. It was my fate to die in battle with Kelshinha, but that man, Akaboshi, robbed me of that duty. Now, let me join the rear guard, lest my life go to waste!” “…You are prepared, aren’t you?” Hope’s red eyes went wide at the old man’s noble wish. “You would lay down your life for the good of humanki—?” Just then, something strange happened. Midway through his sentence, Hope’s eyes suddenly welled with tears. “Founder…?” “Don’t…go… Don’t leave me behind, Grandpappy!” “““Tirol!””” they all shouted, hearing the voice that came from Hope’s mouth. His two red eyes flickered before reverting to the brilliant golden color of the jellyfish girl’s. “If you go, Grandpappy…I’ll be all alone! I don’t want that…! Please don’t go. I’ll come back to the temple! I’ll be a good girl this time!” Perhaps it was her weak consciousness fighting for control, but Tirol was acting almost like a little girl. She wrapped her arms around her grandfather with such force that she nearly knocked them both off the crab. Bisco and Milo were about to jump in to catch them, but the cotton wool priest possessed an uncanny sense of balance and managed to retain both his and Tirol’s footing. He gently stroked his granddaughter’s head as she cried, and closed both his eyes, thinking back on the memories her warm skin evoked. “My dear Tirol, it is not safe to come out so recklessly. Stay within the Founder.” “I don’t wanna! Grandpappy, you’re gonna…!” “When have I ever said I’m going to die and then actually gone through with it? Have a little faith, my dear… Come now, Tirol, look at me.” Ochagama took Tirol’s tearstained face in his hand and smiled. “You’ve grown up nicely, young lady. The thorns on your heart are all gone. You’ve made yourself some friends.” “…Yeah.” “Make sure you stay friends, okay? When you are hurt in battle, seek them out. When they are hurt in battle, let them take solace in you.” “…Yeah…!” “Good girl. Now, go back to sleep. You don’t know how much you mean to me, Tirol…” “Grandpappy…” Ochagama stroked her back, and then once he saw she had fallen asleep at last, he sprang to his feet and bowed to Bisco and Milo. “Akaboshi. Dr. Panda. You had better take good care of my Tirol, or else.” “No worries, you got— Wait. What?! Would it kill ya to ask nicely?!” “It’s time for me to go. I’ll leave the rest to you, boys!” Then the fluffy-headed high priest hopped back over to his hippo-drawn chariot and veered away, heading toward the rear of the convoy. “Bisco, shouldn’t we stop him?! He’ll die out there!” “…” Bisco looked back in pain, when a slender arm grabbed him and pulled him forward again. “Tirol!” “Let’s go.” Her irises were bright red once more. It was Hope now. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he looked ahead, his face grim and resolute, and pointed to their destination. “Tirol is telling us to go as well. We can’t let her grandfather’s sacrifice be for naught. We have no time. We must enter Tokyo and defeat Apollo as soon as possible!” “…All right! You got it!” In Bisco’s jade-green eyes, there was a flicker of determination. He lashed Actagawa’s reins, quickening his pace, and led by Pawoo’s white motorcycle, humanity’s last hope rode on to Tokyo. “Hyo-ho! Look how many of them there are!” Ochagama hopped up and down on his two-headed hippo, swinging his arms in anticipation of the upcoming fight. “How long has it been? Ten years? Fifty?” “Ochagama!” “Hyo-ho?” The head priest turned to see an Escargot Plane flying directly overhead, and several warrior monks from the Kusabira sect dropped out, taking up a defensive formation around Ochagama’s chariot. Then the little girl with the glass eye hopped across their shoulders and landed beside him. “I admire your valor, Mr. Ochagama, sir, but I fear your recklessness will lead you to ruin! The Kusabira sect shall assist you in this matter!” “’Tis not recklessness, my dear. You should focus your efforts on protecting the Founder.” “I’m afraid it is he who has ordered us to be here. He said that keeping Apollo’s forces occupied would use up his…memory, I think it was? Some sort of spiritual power, at any rate.” “The Founder said that?” “High Priest Ochagamaaa!” From the other side came a second shout, and a glittering, sweat-drenched Kandori showed up, alongside a troop of similarly muscular monks from the Wizened sect. “By the orders of our Lord Akaboshi, we have come to assist! Men, keep High Priest Ochagama safe at all costs!” Kandori’s followers gave a sharp yell in confirmation and surrounded the monks from the Kusabira sect, creating yet another protective layer. Then the three sects rode out to meet the armies of Tokyo. “Ochagama,” said Raskeni. “Once Akaboshi defeats Apollo, his robots should power down. We have to hold them off until then!” Ochagama looked down, his expression unreadable behind his long whiskers. And here I was looking forward to testing my skills once more, he thought. Then he pulled out a wooden staff from somewhere and held it high overhead. “So be it!” he said. “Do you children know how to create a barrier?” “I think you’ll find our arts at least as capable as anything they teach at Banryouji,” Raskeni replied. “Well said! Then, with me!” “Men! Perform the Mantra of Protection!” yelled Kandori, and his monks issued a single cry in response. All together, they sat down on the sand and began to chant. The robots flying overhead found their targets and lined up a barrage of blue particles. What a tiresome man he was. And yet, as much as it pains me, I require the mantra he taught me. Amli’s violet eye twinkled, and she spoke the words. “Father, lend me your strength!” “Here they come! Hold it steady now!” The robots fired. The hail of blue cubes raced toward the army. And then… “Won/shandaliba/syed/snew!!” “Lawnch-woll-proteict!!” …the two holy words of the two sects gave rise to twin hemispherical barriers, violet and pink, that expanded to cover the area. The wall of light reflected the attackers’ shots back at them, knocking some of them out of the sky and into the barrier itself, where they were smashed to bits. Seeing the barrier, the robots increased the intensity of their assault, the blue cubes now raining down like meteors. Each time one crashed against the wall, the monks’ eyes and noses ran red with blood, and one by one, the monks passed out from exhaustion. “Let’s see who can hold out longer—us or them!” shouted Ochagama. “You think such a measly assault…will make me fall?” Blood dripped from around Amli’s glass eye, but she pushed on with her mantra, funneling even more power into the defensive shield. “I will not allow you to get in my brother’s way…even if it kills me! Even if all I am is a ghost, my spirit shall not let a single one of you pass!” “There it is! That’s Tokyo!” Pawoo yelled from atop her motorcycle. Across the Iron Desert, where previously there had been nothing more than a huge hole in the ground, now stood an enormous city. While Bisco, Milo, and Hope had originally been backed up by the most elite soldiers the allied army had to offer, one by one, they had broken off to deal with Apollo’s robots, and now it was only Pawoo and Jabi remaining. “Finally!” said Bisco, relieved. “Now all we gotta do is get in there and beat Apollo to a pulp, right?!” “That’s right… No, wait!” Hope noticed a strange glimmer in the air before them and frowned. “…He’s set up a force field around the entire city! I wasn’t expecting this…” “A force field?” “It works on a similar principle to your mantra barriers, Milo,” Hope explained. “But Apollo’s are far stronger. I’ll have to hack the system and find the shutdown codes.” “We ain’t got time for all that!” yelled Bisco, lashing Actagawa’s reins. The crab, understanding his master’s motive, began to charge the wall. “Pawoo, Jabi! Hop on! Actagawa’ll tear this thing down!” “Okay!” “Good work, Ogai! Now go back to Kousuke, you hear?” Pawoo leaped off her motorcycle, and Jabi off his crab, and the two of them landed atop Actagawa alongside Hope. “H-he will?! B-Bisco, that’s impossible!” “Yeah? Well, fine by me. I do the impossible every day!” “No, you don’t understand! Apollo’s barrier is harder than diamond! No living thing can break it!” “You’ve got it all backward, Hope. It’s this artificial crap that’s never gonna measure up to Actagawa here!” “Bisco…!” Hope was stunned. What Bisco was saying sounded foolish, and yet the way he said it came from a place of such utter conviction, he had no choice but to believe it. Milo, Jabi, Pawoo. None of them had doubted Bisco’s words for a second. They stood by his side, looking straight ahead, eager to face down whatever came next. “Bisco, my boy, how about usin’ that old technique again?” “The Rashomon Split?! Heh, sure. You better hang on to your hat, old man!” “Hyo-ho-ho! Don’t you worry about me, boy. Now let’s do it!” “Yeah!” Jabi and Milo drew their bows together and fired King Trumpet arrows into the soil in front. At Bisco’s command, Actagawa leaped on top of them. Gaboom! In a cloud of sand, the mushrooms sprouted to full height, catapulting Actagawa and his passengers high into the air. “Now it’s our turn, Actagawa! Won/shad/viviki/snew! (Grant target desired weapon!)” Milo’s mantra transformed Actagawa’s claw, covering it in a shimmering emerald casing, a marked contrast against his orange shell. As he flew over the central part of the city, he gleamed in the sunlight. “My word…it’s a mantra claw!” “Hang on, Pawoo!” Actagawa spun around, building up centrifugal force. The Tornado Throw, a technique he used to fling his masters, was actually just another application of this, Actagawa’s secret technique—an all-or-nothing strike that put even the rider’s life at risk. “““Go, Actagawa!””” the three Mushroom Keepers yelled out in unison. Actagawa whirled with such speed that those on his back were nearly ripped from their saddles. He whipped around his emerald greatclaw and brought it down like a sledgehammer on the force field around the city. Ker-rash! The impact nearly made their teeth fall out. Actagawa’s mighty blow opened up a crack in the barrier…but it was only that, a crack, and the city beyond still seemed far from their grasp. Crack. Crack. The emerald coating on Actagawa’s claw lost out to the hardness of the barrier, and piece by piece it fell away, becoming nothing more than rust on the wind. “Aaah! We were so close, too!” “Dumbass. Look.” “…Whaaat?!” After a second, Actagawa’s claw glimmered in the sunlight. Then an earth-shaking rumble rang out over the city. One by one, even larger cracks formed in the invincible barrier, then large pieces of it fell away before at last the entire thing collapsed around them. “See that? That’s the Rashomon Split. Tore this city wide open!” “Now’s not the time to show off, Akaboshi! We’re falling!” “Damn right we’re fallin’! We’re gonna fall right on top of them!” Then the five people and one crab tore through the sky, plunging deep into the unplumbed valleys of those soaring skyscrapers, their weapons underpinning the determination in their hearts.