The battle dragged on, and the date and year changed—January 2, year 2151 of the Stellar calendar.
The fighting on the third northern front was finally winding down, and news of that was spreading across the other fronts. The media reported on it as well. Commanders on the other nine fronts encouraged their troops, and soldiers egged on their comrades, saying they only needed to fight a little longer, and then kicked fleeing soldiers—who interpreted the news and improving situation as a sign to try to run again—back into the trenches.
The next day, January 3. Slightly before midday, the fighting in the Rüstkammer theater finally died down as well. The Eighty-Six had been able to defend their new hometown.
As Shin heard the Legion from surrounding sectors also begin to fall back, he breathed a long sigh of relief. Fighting continued to rage all over the western front as a whole, but still.
“Lena, Colonel Grethe, the enemy forces are retreating from the Rüstkammer theater, and there are no signs of them launching another attack. The back of the enemy lines and units in every theater are starting to fall back as well. The battle over the western front should end soon.”
“Roger that. I’ll report it to the higher-ups, Captain… Can you still keep going, stamina-wise? Can we rely on you to gather intel on the enemy movements across the front for a while longer?”
Several days of combat had passed, and despite Shin’s ability being a necessary precaution in case the Legion launched another attack, Grethe’s voice carried a tinge of concern. You can say no if you feel like you can’t.
Shin closed his eyes. Honestly, he’d have liked to get some rest immediately if he could, and he was so fatigued that just closing his eyes now made his consciousness start fading off into sleep. However—
“It’s possible…assuming you could get me something special to motivate me.”
He suggested candy in an offhanded manner, to which Grethe smiled.
“Acceptable terms… You heard us, Colonel Milizé. Could you arrange him a prize?”
Lena was flustered at having the conversation directed at her so suddenly. “Aah, hmm, yes… I’ll kiss you when I get back, Shin!”
…This was spoken through Para-RAID, and not by the Processor himself, so it wasn’t picked up by the mission recorder this time. But hearing Grethe and the staff officers who were listening in stifle their laughter left him perplexed.
✦ ✦ ✦
The immediate fighting ended, and the Legion were retreating. Anju could only watch with a vast sense of disbelief.
…It’s over?
I survived.
Just that thought made her head spin, like reality was growing distant.
But Dustin’s gone.
But Dustin never made it back in the end.
So why did I survive?
Her warrior’s mind was able to hold on to a sliver of composure, given the end of combat hadn’t been announced yet. If nothing else, all the grief and regret she felt didn’t surge up in the gaping hole torn into her heart.
She opened Snow Witch’s canopy and wobbled out of the machine—a reckless, meaningless act that could result in grave danger, but no one stopped her. And in the end, fighting all over the area died down. There were no stray bullets or shell fragments flying around to shoot through her.
“Anju… Anju!”
That call pulled her out of her thoughts, and she saw Kurena hurrying over. She hopped between broken concrete and fallen trees like a rabbit and sprinted over to her. Some vague part of Anju’s mind pondered that it was dangerous running outside her unit. What if there were unexploded shells lying about?
Kurena grabbed Anju’s hand roughly, pulling her along. She looked like a child about to burst into tears.
“Come! Hurry!”
“Kurena, what’s wrong?”
Her voice came out flat, almost off-key, which seemed to finally push Kurena into crying outright as she pulled her hand.
“Just come with me, quick!”
No, in fact, she’d been crying ever since she hurried over.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Dustin came back!”
✦ ✦ ✦
“…!”
The shock made Anju freeze for a second. All the emotions she’d kept bottled up rose to the surface. She pulled her arm out of Kurena’s grasp almost roughly, then ran along the path Kurena had just come from.
✦ ✦ ✦
The momentum of Anju pulling her arm out of her grasp, coupled with fatigue from the battle, made Kurena stumble back.
“Ow!” she yelped, but her lips were curled into a smile.
Thank goodness… Really, thank God.
Tohru, who was passing by, approached her with a sardonic smile and offered her a hand, which she gladly took.
“All right?”
“Yeah. It’s all right now.”
Both me and Anju.
✦ ✦ ✦
When Kurena, with her sniper’s eyesight, spotted Dustin, he was still relatively far-off; by the time Anju hurried over to him, he’d just arrived at the gate to Rüstkammer base. The moment he saw her, his dirtied face softened into a smile. But at that point, Anju stopped in her tracks.
“—Dustin.”
She had no idea what to say. She hadn’t been there with Dustin when it happened, and she didn’t go looking for him, either. She prioritized her duties as a commander in the Strike Package over him. So she had no idea what to tell Dustin, who’d come back on his own.
Dustin, however, simply smiled at Anju, who stood frozen before him. It was a carefree smile.
“Anju… I’m glad you’re all right. I only made it because of you.”
“…Eh?”
What does he mean by that? I wasn’t there for him, I didn’t look for him, and I didn’t do anything for him.
“I heard your voice telling me to come back… You wished for it, right?”
“…!”
“That wish reached me. It made me feel like I had to make it back. That’s how I stayed alive and came back here. I may have cheated, I may have been so weak that I had to resort to cheating, but knowing you were waiting for me kept me going… It’s thanks to you. Thanks to your words.”
—So tell yourself you’re doing it for me. And come back.
—Don’t let your purity drive you to death and return to me at all costs.
“I’m back, Anju… I told you, didn’t I? I won’t leave you behind.”
I won’t make you grieve.
“…!”
The emotions surging up filled her heart. She felt something warm run down her cheeks. Unable to manage any words, Anju was driven into her surviving beloved’s chest, holding on to him. Her arms wrapped around his back, and as he felt her silent tears, Dustin thought:
Anju told him to cheat. But she didn’t tell him to abandon others or discard his sense of justice. All she wanted was for him to return alive. All she wished was for him to avoid following that justice, that sense of mission, the arrogant, presumptuous ambition to save anyone and everyone until it drove him off the edge.
Even if he ended up beaten and broken, unable to save anyone. Even if he had to drag himself back, powerless and weeping—she would always accept and take him back.
That’s all she was trying to do.
✦ ✦ ✦
Once she calmed down, Anju looked down, spotting a small seven-year-old girl who’d been clinging to Dustin’s leg the whole time.
“Who’s this, Dustin?”
“Oh…” Dustin paused for thought, then jokingly picked the girl up. “She’s our daughter. Yours and mine.”
“What are you saying…?!”
She poked him gently, but Dustin was so thoroughly exhausted that it was enough to make him wobble and sit down on the ground. Deciding he was probably fine if he had enough cheer in him to joke around, Anju ignored Dustin and looked at the girl at eye level. Siri, who’d been watching over from afar, deemed the time was right and approached to collect Dustin, throwing him over his shoulder like a sack.
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
“You’re a Mascot, right?” asked Anju.
The girl nodded timidly… She explained, her voice thin and nervous from speaking to someone she didn’t know, that the nice mister saved her.
“I see. The man is very sweet, but I know you must have been scared on the battlefield. Good on you for being brave… Come here. We’ll get you something warm to eat at our base.”
“…I can come in?”
“Of course.”
The girl looked up at her, surprised, and Anju nodded with a smile. A little Mascot girl, all on her own on the battlefield. Her unit must have abandoned her.
“Dustin—our precious comrade—brought you here, after all. So let’s go back.”
To our home.