Hoshina hadn’t been able to ask what had happened during that last operation. Yet he felt his father’s words and expression were telling him everything he needed to know.
The firearm was the main tool of the present-day Defense Force. Burst rounds, freeze rounds, lightning rounds—by using different ammunition for different effects, it was possible to deal with many kinds of kaiju. Since soldiers could attack them from a safe distance, the number of casualties during operations was fewer than in the days when close-combat weapons were standard for officers.
Hoshina placed a hand on the katana at his waist.
I know better than anyone else that the age of the katana is finished.
On modern kaiju hunts, such weapons couldn’t be the primary means of attack.
Even so, this is what I was put on this earth for.
Even on rainy days, snowy days, birthdays, and New Year’s—ever since childhood, every day, Hoshina had lived to swing his katana. If by his katana, by the sword-slay techniques he had cultivated, by this slender iron demon, even a few of those who could be saved were spared—
—then I must swing the katana.
The kaiju’s backside came into view. Already, it was closing on the foot of the mountain. If it went any farther, neutralizing it would become extremely difficult.
I’m definitely going to kill it here.
Hoshina pulled the pin and threw a stun grenade. In midair, it let loose a resounding wail and an intense flash of light. The kaiju turned toward Hoshina, and its enormous eyeballs fixed themselves on him.
All around the kaiju’s neck, the scarf-like organ was inflating. A large quantity of solvent was stored in there. At this very moment, the child trapped inside must be burning from the acidic fluid.
Hoshina leapt at the kaiju. He dodged the saliva the kaiju spat at him and closed in.
Good boy! Keep right on spitting! The more you spit, the longer it’ll take to dissolve that kid you ate!
Based on his experience earlier in the day, Hoshina knew he couldn’t cut a kaiju of this size down in a single stroke. So, he would aim for the core in its pharynx instead.
Hoshina kicked off the ground and sprung into the air. Closing in on the kaiju’s throat, he drew his katana.
“Technique Number One—Air Slicer!”
Hoshina looked back in passing. A single line ran along the kaiju’s neck, and blood came gushing out. The position of the cut was a little off from the core. Worse still, his blade had been impeded by thick subcutaneous fat, so the wound wouldn’t be fatal.
Did he twist away and dodge it? This one’s different from the yoju up till now! Given that it was also lurking out of sight, it seems like it’s learned a thing or two!
The kaiju’s tail swung around sideways and smacked into Hoshina’s airborne body. He was flung away at great speed and slammed into the ground.
The impact knocked the wind out of Hoshina. When he tried to stand up, his body didn’t want to move. Because he’d been unleashing combat power for so long, his suit was on the verge of overheating.
In this condition, I can’t pour on the speed anymore!
Thoom! There was a rumble in the ground that reverberated all the way to the pit of Hoshina’s stomach. The kaiju was approaching. Spittle overflowed from its mouth and fell to the ground, where it made a sizzling sound. Somehow, Hoshina squeezed out the last of his strength and tried to move, but—
“Sheesh, will you stop, already?” Hoshina asked aloud. It seemed hopeless. Hoshina decided to give up on fleeing. He looked up at the kaiju closing in on him. He lowered his katana and showed it not the slightest sign of resistance.
The kaiju opened its enormous mouth. A sour stench from its mouth hung in the air. Hoshina, as though throwing away his own life, allowed himself to be swallowed whole on the spot. He found himself in a dark place where almost no light penetrated. He was inside the kaiju’s oral cavity. There was a sizzling sound, and burning pain ran through Hoshina’s bare skin. Saliva was eating into his body.
From out of the gloom, Hoshina could hear a child moaning, “Uhhh. It huuurts. It hurts—”
The boy was still alive. Hoshina stretched out his hands toward the sound. The child and Hoshina’s hands met one another. Oh, how it must have hurt to have been inside the kaiju for so long.
That’s why.
“Leave the rest to me,” Hoshina said to the child.
Blocked by the subcutaneous fat, his attack from outside had failed to reach the core.
In that case, how about attacking from inside, where there are countless capillaries jam-packed together?
Hoshina unleashed his suit’s combat power. With all the power at his disposal, he swung his katana.
“Technique Number Four—Wild Slicer!”
The air shook with the kaiju’s earsplitting scream, and the evening light streamed inside. The bag of its cheek split apart, and Hoshina leapt outside. Cradling the child’s body, he readied his katana. The kaiju’s throat was right before his eyes.
There’s no way to dodge at this distance! But I can reach the core!
Hoshina’s sword techniques had been refined again and again since childhood. The stroke that boasted unparalleled power in a close quarters fight was Technique Number Six, named “Eightfold Slasher.” The power of this technique was such that Technique Number One did not even bear comparison to it. Even a yoju of this size would be cut to pieces. Hoshina rose to the occasion and didn’t miss his mark. Cuts shaped like flower petals spread out across the kaiju’s epidermis.
Surely, he’d killed it. So Hoshina thought, but the kaiju didn’t fall. Even though he was slashing through its epidermis, he was still falling just short of the inner core. The reason for that was plain to see. The katana in Hoshina’s hand was being corroded as it cut. The kaiju’s saliva had dulled the katana’s edge.
Crap!
Holding on tightly to the child, Hoshina fell to the ground. Full release unlock—the suit was at its limit. That strike just now had taken all the power he could wring out of it. His body wouldn’t so much as twitch anymore.
The kaiju glared intensely at Hoshina, and dripping blood flowed from its ruined cheek. Hatred seemed to burn in those eyes for the creature that had harmed it.
What a sneak I am.
“Hoshina—can you beat that yoju?” Ashiro had asked Hoshina a short while ago.
He had replied, “If I go, that kid will be saved.” But deep down in his subconscious mind, maybe he had known there was no way he could ever defeat a kaiju this big.
The kaiju swung its immense foreleg down at Hoshina. Without the power of his suit to aid him, Hoshina was now just a flesh and blood human. If the kaiju trampled him, he would be crushed like an eggshell.
Is this it? At least let this kid—!
Hoshina tried to push the child clear as best he could.
And then it happened. The air shook.
The kaiju was closing in, and then—the upper half of its body was completely blown away.
“Huh?”
A few seconds later, the roaring of the gun arrived. The velocity of the rounds had exceeded the speed of sound. Spurting fountains of bright blood, the lower half of the kaiju’s body tilted and then fell over onto the ground.
Not understanding what had happened right before his eyes, Hoshina could only stare blankly.
“Hoshina, I appreciate the help.” With a buzz, the transmission arrived. The channel had been forced open, apparently. “Since you got the kid out of there, I was able to shoot a hole through the kaiju’s core.” Ashiro’s graceful and strong voice was reaching his ears.
“Captain Ashiro—”
Hoshina spotted Ashiro standing on the roof of an apartment building in the distance, holding a gun. White smoke was rising from the high-caliber barrel.
Her timing was amazing. Don’t tell me she believed in me?
“If I go, that kid will be saved.”
Mina Ashiro had sincerely kept believing in Hoshina’s words—words that not even Hoshina, who’d said them, had been able to truly believe in. But Mina had believed him, and that was why she had waited on the rooftop and fired as soon as he had rescued the child.
“Hoshina! You alive?”
He looked toward the source of the voice. Ebina and the others were running toward him. They had arrived too quickly for them to have started out after the kaiju was shot. As soon as Hoshina had taken off after the kaiju, they had come running after their comrade.
Every last one of you guys. What a division—
Hoshina was hurting all over. He closed his eyes and gradually fell into the depths of sleep.