The sun had sunk partly behind the ridgeline of the mountains, and a shadow was falling across the city. Things were moving steadily toward resolution. Mina Ashiro had destroyed the honju. All that remained now was to mop up the yoju in each zone that were running around trying to escape.
“There were way more of them than I expected,” Ebina said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “We were in danger when even the freeze rounds ran out.”
It had been an especially long operation, and exhaustion was showing on the platoon members’ faces. There had even been officers wounded by the kaiju’s solvent liquid who had headed to the first aid station. Still, they hadn’t suffered any serious injuries.
Third Division. Impressive.
Hoshina silently exhaled. It wasn’t just the platoon. The whole unit had functioned like a well-oiled machine, dealing with the kaiju efficiently. Hoshina had offered to back them up, but that might have been arrogance on his part.
“Captain Ashiro is impeccable too—”
Hoshina’s soft murmur reached Ebina’s ear. He nodded and said, “Yeah, she is. If only it weren’t for that.”
“‘That’?” Hoshina asked.
Taking a closer look, he saw that Ebina and his officers had dark expressions. It looked like something was really bothering them. Ashiro had a graceful beauty, and her character seemed sterling as well. There was no fault in her that Hoshina could see.
“Is there something about Captain Ashiro you’re concerned about?” he asked.
“There is. That woman, that woman, that woman—”
Ebina look grim. Hoshina didn’t notice himself swallowing.
At last, in a voice that seemed wrung from his very soul, Ebina said, “That woman is unbelievably terrible at cooking!”
“Huh?” Hoshina couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Officers all around were nodding their heads in agreement.
“Her cooking? That’s what the grave faces are for?”
“Because it’s a grave situation!” Ebina shouted. “We had wilderness training in the mountains. The officers made curry and rice, but the squad she was in had a truly horrible time of it. She tries to throw whole vegetables into the pot without even slicing them up!”
“People who do that actually exist?” Hoshina asked.
“She did!” Ebina continued. “And she isn’t slow. She says herself she can’t use a kitchen knife, so it can’t be helped. Actually, we tried making her hold one, and that’s when things really went off the rails. I wondered if we’d have fatalities.”
“What kind of emergence scenes did she handle?” Hoshina asked.
“We told her, ‘If you can’t use a kitchen knife, at least use a peeler to get the skins off.’ Then she said with a serious face, ‘I can’t use any kind of knife.’”
“Do peelers count as knives?” Hoshina asked.
“Honestly, that woman is really—”
Following Ebina, other officers began chiming in with their own complaints, one after another.
From what Hoshina had been told, he gathered that Ashiro’s cooking skills were truly horrible. It was shocking that she couldn’t even hold a kitchen knife.
They still like her, though.
Ashiro was young for a captain, but her officers all seemed to think of her favorably.
“All right,” Ebina said. “This area seems to be all right. I’m going back to field HQ.”
“You’re right,” Hoshina agreed. “There don’t seem to be any yoju left—”
There came a noise from behind. Hand on his katana, Hoshina swiftly looked back. Near the veranda of a lone house facing the road that stretched away toward the mountains, there was a young boy. In his arms he was holding a dachshund.
Hoshina wondered aloud, “Was he still hiding?”
“That’s the kid who has a search request out on him from the emergency shelter,” Ebina said. “The characteristics of his appearance and clothing all match.”
“Looks like he was chasing his dog that got away,” Hoshina said. “Doesn’t appear to be injured.”
The boy was looking timidly in their direction.
“It’s okay now! You did fine. Come over here.”
The boy nodded at Hoshina’s words. He began walking toward them, but suddenly the dog he was holding began barking loudly, as if it was frightened of something.
Then it happened. A transmission came from an operator for Hoshina and the others. “Ebina Platoon!” The voice sounded very strained. “Exercise caution! In Neutralization Zone L—”
Before the message was finished, a large black shadow suddenly ran past right before their eyes. It was a kaiju, over ten meters in length.
The boy let go of the dog. Before anyone could even take a breath, the yoju opened its enormous mouth and swallowed the boy whole.
Hoshina was about to spring into action when the yoju turned toward him and sprayed out a large amount of saliva. The acidic liquid landed on houses and trees, which erupted with steam. And just like that, the kaiju was running for all it was worth toward the mountains.
“Shoot it! Shoot it!” Orders flew from Ebina, and his officers opened fire at the kaiju’s back. But the kaiju’s silhouette was already dwindling to the size of a tiny speck. It was out of range.
“Neutralization Zone L—yoju emergence confirmed! Be alert to your surroundings!”
The evening glow bathed a town from which all signs of human life had disappeared. There, only the whimpering of a little dog that had lost its master and the transmission from the operator reverberated meaninglessly.
“I’m going after it!” Hoshina declared.
If he started now and ran as hard as he could, he could catch up with the kaiju. Having made his decision, Hoshina was just about to take off after it when his shoulder was gripped by a strong hand from behind. Ebina was looking at him with a grim expression.
“Let it go, Hoshina.”
“Please don’t stop me.”
“We’re out of freeze rounds,” Ebina said. “The odds wouldn’t be in our favor against that thing. We’ll wait for another platoon to get here.”
“And what’s going to happen to that boy who got eaten in the time it takes reinforcements to get here?” Hoshina asked.
The yoju was mature enough. It had plenty of saliva saved up in its mouth too. A small child would take precious little time to digest.
“We have to go after it right here and now,” Hoshina insisted.
“Forget it. I won’t allow it,” Ebina said sternly.
“Why not?”
“Because you can’t beat it alone. That thing was pretty big even as yoju go. It’s too much for you. And I won’t send an officer entrusted to me into a fight he has no chance of winning.”
“And you’re fine with that, even if a child dies?” Hoshina asked.
“No way am I fine with it!” Ebina shouted. His body was trembling, and blood was running down from where he’d just bitten his lip. Ebina continued, “No way am I fine with it, but still the answer’s no. I can’t let you go.”
A civilian had been attacked right before their eyes. It was most certainly infuriating to Ebina. Maybe he was thinking that under normal circumstances, he’d want to take off after it himself as well. But Ebina’s job was to lead the platoon. He was setting aside his feelings, calmly analyzing the situation, and making a judgment call about the best way to proceed.
I see now. This is why his officers look up to him.
Hoshina looked straight at Ebina and said, “I understand your orders very well, sir. But still I ask—please let me go.”
“Why, you, what are you saying—”
Suddenly, a transmission broke in. “Soshiro Hoshina.”
“That voice—is this Captain Ashiro?” asked Hoshina.
“Yes, it is. I’m headed your way as soon as I’ve finished mopping up the yoju here. Can he last until then?”
“Probably not. Every second counts.”
“Hoshina—can you beat that yoju?” Ashiro asked.
“If I go, that kid will be saved.”
Hoshina cut the transmission and said, “I’m sorry, Platoon Leader Ebina.”
“Hey, Hoshina! Wait a minute!”
Shrugging off Ebina’s calls to stop, Hoshina took off running. He leapt up onto a rooftop and began to pursue the kaiju that had already receded to a little black speck in the distance, at maximum speed.
“I wanna be a strong officer like you, Daddy.”
Whenever Hoshina had said that as a child, his father had laughed and tousled his hair. Hoshina’s father was an officer in the Defense Force, had slaughtered countless kaiju with his exquisite swordplay, and had risen to the rank of platoon leader. After taking part in one particular neutralization operation, however, he had withdrawn from the front lines and became an instructor of sword-slay techniques. This was in spite of having never received a serious injury.
One day, Hoshina had been practicing his swordplay in the yard by the veranda. As his father looked on, Hoshina had told him that he wanted to be a Defense Force officer. He had been expecting him to tousle his hair, like always.
His father called Hoshina to come to the drawing room, and there, with a forlorn look on his face, he said, “Give up on that idea, Soshiro. In this day and age, a katana alone can’t protect what needs protecting.”