It was the first day of reporting at the shooting range. Kikoru’s and Reno’s interviews were already concluded when the director pointed his microphone at Kafka. “Officer Hibino, would you mind if we interviewed you?” he asked.
Maybe it was nerves, but Kafka’s mouth felt awfully dry as he said, “Uh, sure!”
The director started his line of questioning by asking, “Officer Hibino, you joined the Defense Force at the age of thirty-two. How is the life of an officer treating you?”
“Let me see.” Kafka began warily. “Uh, to be honest, there’s a lot of tough parts about it, and there’s also the problem of physical strength. After all, the officers around me are all young people. Still, I wanna grit my teeth and hang in there!”
“What kind of work did you do before you joined the Defense Force?”
“Ah, I worked as a kaiju dismantler. Um, it was for a company called Monster Sweeper,” Kafka said nervously.
“I see, so your previous job was also in a kaiju-related profession. Did you decide to build up experience there and then put your own abilities to good use in the Defense Force?”
“Well, um, not quite,” Kafka explained. “You’re right, of course, about wanting to make the most of my experience from my last job, but the real reason I joined the Defense Force, um, is because that’s been my goal since elementary school. I’ve taken the entrance exam many times in the past, but I’ve always flun—I mean, failed it!”
Kafka was sweating a little and fumbling his way through his answers. The director put a strained smile on his face, trying to ease the air of nervous tension. This is no good. I really ain’t used to being interviewed like this! Hurry up and end it already, will ya?
No sooner had those words crossed his mind than the director asked Kafka another question.
“Your goal since elementary school? In that case, was there some kind of incident that led you to make joining the Defense Force your goal?”
Kafka’s answers thus far had all come out haltingly, but this time the words flowed from his mouth. “Back then, the area I lived in was damaged by a kaiju. A good friend of mine even had her house destroyed. That was why we made a promise together: someday, we’d become Defense Force officers and kick kaiju butt together.”
The trees that had lined the sidewalks, the roads, the houses, the park, the school—the town where Kafka and Mina had lived had been destroyed piece by piece by the overwhelming force of the kaiju. Kafka could remember those scenes clearly even now. But when faced with such scenes of despair, his and Mina’s will had remained unbroken, and they had sworn to become Defense Force officers. Reality had been cruel to Kafka, however. He kept failing the entrance examination. There was also an age limit to enlisting, and he had given up—until he met Reno and set his sights on the Defense Force once more.
“All right, that’ll do it,” the director said. “Thank you. Sorry for interrupting your training.”
“Th-thank you too,” Kafka replied. “I really appreciate it!”
When Kafka asked Kikoru how he’d done, her response was frank.
“Let’s see. You were nervous and said ‘um’ way too many times. They’ll either cut your interview down or not use it.”
Kafka blurted out, “Well, excuse me for not being an old hand at this like you!”
He silently clenched his fists. It seemed so far away, but even so, Kafka vowed in his heart, Someday, I’ll stand by Ashiro’s—by Mina’s—side.