Surely, Marquis Nouzen and Marquess Maika weren’t so old and senile that they’d let the heroic Eighty-Six steal all the glory from their family, with the situation being what it was.
At least, that’s what a certain Nouzen youth said with a brave face and a hint of smugness.
Joschka shrugged in a friendly manner, a smirk he couldn’t restrain on his lips. They were discussing the outcome of the forces that would be participating in Operation Overlord.
“It’s not just Shin; the entirety of the Nouzen clan will be coming out to the front. Isn’t that right, Division Commander Yatrai Nouzen of the Nouzen clan’s prided, elite Crazy Bones Division?”
“…I think it’s a better use of that elite unit compared with being worn out while fighting in the mud,” Yatrai grumbled, waving a hand in displeasure. “And it’ll be a joint operation with the Pyropes, so we won’t be going out alone. That’s why House Maika, with its claims of neutrality, decided to send out your Strix Division, too.”
But this wasn’t much of a retort against Joschka, who replied with a grin. They were close in age and both military officers, meaning they knew each other well enough to talk occasionally, but in the end, Yatrai was an Onyx and a Nouzen, at that. He couldn’t stand Joschka.
“Good for you. Despite already being close to the current family head, the youngest child of a branch family gets to be successor. That’ll do wonders for your prestige.”
“Nooooo!” Yatrai grabbed his head and shouted.
Sipping tea elegantly with an unconcerned expression beside Yatrai was his fiancée, a daughter from a major Nouzen branch family and vice commander of the Crazy Bones Division. She raised her head, calling up the controls for the holo-screen that broadcast news in the background and raising the volume. This cut off Joschka and Yatrai’s argument.
“Pardon, Princess. Were we loud?”
“No, Sir Joschka,” she said, her eyes fixed on the screen.
Her lush black hair was done up and wavy. Her black eyelashes hung over her jet-black eyes.
“It’s just…the contents of this news are a bit disturbing, with regards to public order in the civilian front.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Speaking of reinforcements, Rito recalled something.
“Shouldn’t Yuuto be back by now? I guess fractures take a long time to heal…”
Saki, who was Yuuto’s substitute commander of the 4th Battalion in his absence, grumbled like a cat, “His injuries are already mostly healed, though.”
Saki had long black bangs, which hid her golden catlike eyes, and a lithe, feline physique that made the origin of her Personal Name, Grimalkin, abundantly clear.
“But apparently, they still can’t send him into battle right after he’s been discharged from the hospital. He’s supposed to go home for rest and recuperation.”
Normally, a patient would remain under the care of doctors and nurses while in serious condition, and once they were past that point, they would be sent to heal at home. That was normally the situation, at least.
“But we’re Eighty-Six; our home is this base. When he called me last time, he said they weren’t letting him go back to base because they knew he’d do something reckless during his recovery period. It happened because he ignored the nurses when they scolded him for moving around too much.”
“…Yeah, I’d say he earned that lack of trust,” Tohru remarked.
“Honestly, I really need him to come back sometime soon.” Saki fell over grumpily. “Being substitute commander doesn’t suit me… Don’t you know when he’s supposed to return, Kurena?”
Kurena nodded, sensing Saki’s gaze. She didn’t know, of course, but either Shin or Grethe were bound to know, as they were both commanding officers.
“I’ll ask.”
✦ ✦ ✦
I have to avoid populated places.
And despite coming to that conclusion, when her consciousness cleared somewhat, she could hear the sound of countless people speaking. She looked around, her head still hazy.
They were in the corner of a plaza early in the day. The sunlight glowed through the cold, clear air of a winter morning, with countless people moving about in that scarce light. Adults clad in warm coats and capes, small children running around with their scarfs trailing after them. Stalls were set up, selling metallic and glass-made ornaments for the Holy Birthday, which was coming up at the end of the month, or blocks of golden butter and large cakes with sugar sprinkled on them like powder snow.
No good. We have to get away from here.
She couldn’t rendezvous with the others, and she didn’t have enough time to stay with them, either. And at the very least, she also didn’t want to get uninvolved people caught up in it.
But for all those intentions, she couldn’t stand anymore. Unable to muster the strength to slip to the side of the civilian traffic, she unsteadily sank to the aged flagstone road. She felt bad. Her vision was swimming, she was breaking into a cold sweat, and her consciousness was fading again.
The foreign objects hidden inside her body were rapidly maturing, threatening to eat her from the inside out even now.
There was no time left. In the truest sense of the words, not a single moment.
But she lacked the strength to get up or even crawl away, and her crumpling body couldn’t even produce a sound anymore. Even her sense of duty to at least move to where there were fewer people, along with her fear of her impending fate, was melted away by the slow, dull churning of her thoughts.
A darker shadow fell over her hazy, dark field of vision. She managed to look up, finding a figure kneeling before her. A woman several years older bent over in concern, having spotted her curled up on the ground.
“What’s wrong? Are you anemic? Should I take you somewhere where you can lie down? Maybe I can get you something warm to drink?”
Her voice sounded genuinely concerned. Suddenly, all the passersby seemed to look at her. No one raised their voice in annoyance. A stall owner approached her to help, and an old lady got up from a bench to give her somewhere to lie down.
Aaah. I don’t want to get them involved. They’re nice people; they shouldn’t get caught up in this.
With all her mind, she forced her throat to move, uttering a single word.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Run…”
✦ ✦ ✦
That was the final word she ever spoke.
✦ ✦ ✦
The black dog seemed to have intuited that Lena’s recuperation period was about to end. It loitered around her more possessively than ever before, as if to say, You’re leaving already? Stay longer! Lena was loath to leave it—and was a little, no, extremely inclined to take it with her, but she knew she couldn’t because Shin would be jealous.
But as it frolicked around her, she looked up at a news broadcast from the western front.
Since the sanatorium didn’t want to burden the minds of its patients, news programs—and especially those that dealt with the war—weren’t broadcast in places open to everyone, like the dining hall. But at the same time, people grew anxious when they were entirely shut off from the news, so only one of the lounges allowed these broadcasts.
Since she was about to return to service, Lena had decided to come to the lounge and check the TV, but unfortunately, the black dog rushing in after her blocked the screen with its large body.
“…An explosion?”
“In Garenike City…a town on the southern side of the old Imperial border,” a sergeant sitting nearby appended. “There was an explosion at the morning market.”
The dog blocking her field of vision finally moved away, its tail wagging happily, allowing Lena to somewhat see the screen. The newscaster kept talking, their words running as subtitles at the bottom of the screen.
The cause of the explosion was unknown, but an investigation was ongoing under the assumption this could have been an accident.