Kafka, as well as Reno and the other officers in combat, instantly turned their heads toward the source of the massive sound. A splash of water several dozen meters in height was rising from the middle of the lake. From the shock wave, it looked as though there had been a meteorite impact. In the center of a great column of water was a honju of enormous size. For a moment, Kafka wondered if it had jumped up out of the lake, but that wasn’t what had happened. He could tell because one of the honju’s log-like limbs had been completely blown off. The officers who beheld this sight all understood the situation.
Once again, Kafka clenched his fist and instinctively shouted, “Mina!”
“Mr. Hibino,” Reno shouted back, “if you use the captain’s first name, you’ll have to do push-ups again.”
“It’s fine. My transmitter’s turned—”
“You came through loud and clear, Kafka!”
Kafka felt his blood curdle at the familiar sound of Kansai dialect in his ear. “Huh? Did I, uh, by any chance forget to turn it off?” he said.
“I hear that one loop around Lake Kawaguchi is twenty kilometers. Shall I have you run it once this is over?” Hoshina asked dryly. “It’ll do double duty as a patrol operation.”
“Y-yes, sir!”
Far away from Kafka and the others was the large bridge spanning Lake Kawaguchi. Mina Ashiro boldly stood in the middle, pointing the barrel of her gun. At her side was her white tiger, Bakko.
Supposing the honju emerged from the water, severe damage could be dealt to urban areas. And taking the length of Lake Kawaguchi’s perimeter into account, it would take time for officers to arrive on the scene once the creature came ashore. Given that, it would be preferable to put down the kaiju while it was still in the lake, but the honju was hardly ever showing itself on the water’s surface.
Ashiro and her group had come up with something of a crazy plan. First, they would get a rough idea of the honju’s location, and then they would blow it up along with the lake itself. It was a power play made possible only by the massive firepower that Ashiro possessed.
Many drones were flying high above the lake. From the ripples on the water’s surface, they deduced a rough idea of the kaiju’s whereabouts and relayed the data to Ashiro via operator. The angle of fire, the force, and so on were calculated, but Ashiro did the fine aiming adjustments with her own hands—and opened fire.
The recoil was so powerful that a shooter of ordinary unleashed combat power would have been blasted backward into the air. Large cracks appeared in the road leading up to the bridge where Ashiro had braced herself. A mighty rumble shook the air as a massive pillar of water was blasted upward, carrying the kaiju along with it. One of the kaiju’s limbs was blown off in the process.
“Round two, loaded!” Ashiro shouted. Still swept up in midair, the kaiju turned its ferocious visage on her. It sprayed a torrent of water from its mouth. Ashiro reacted instantly by jumping to the side. A linear stream containing tens of thousands of liters of water spread out toward her, utterly obliterating the spot where she’d been standing only seconds before. A part of the bridge crumbled and was blown backward by the force of the water. But during it all, Ashiro remained calm and focused on the kaiju.
“Bakko.”
As Ashiro fired the second round, her tiger moved in to support her body. The round raced straight toward the kaiju just as it was splashing down. Again, a massive gout of water erupted. Water that had been vaporized by the round’s impact enveloped the area in a thick fog. For just an instant, the kaiju’s form was concealed in the mist.
Even so, drones patrolling the area had a good view of the water’s surface. The honju was swimming toward the south end of the bridge as if to put distance between itself and Ashiro.
“Honju still active!” the operator said. “Swimming toward opposing shore—I’ll recalculate its position.”
“Round three, loaded!”
“Roger! Prepare to fire!”
Even having lost one of its limbs, the kaiju’s swimming speed was still incredible. It placed one limb on shore and attempted to climb up onto land from the foot of the bridge.
“Oh no, you don’t!”
Hoshina was waiting for it there. With a flash of his katana, the kaiju’s foreleg went flying. Having lost its anchor, the kaiju fell tailfirst into the lake. “There you go, thank you for playing!” Hoshina said. He immediately withdrew from the spot, knowing he was in Ashiro’s line of fire.
“Good job, Hoshina,” Ashiro said, and she immediately unleashed round three.
A huge hole appeared in the kaiju’s backside, and a massive spray of water and chunks of meat were scattered across the area. The kaiju roared out a shrill death scream. Soon its dead body bobbed in the lake.
“Honju vital responses, lost!”
Even with notice from her operator, Ashiro didn’t let up. She stared at the kaiju, shouted “Round four, loaded!” and braced herself to fire the round. There had been cases where supposedly neutralized kaiju had suddenly come back to life. They had to be thoroughly destroyed to the point where any hope of revival was impossible.
Once the finishing shot had been delivered, Ashiro pulled off her goggles and let out a breath. Hoshina came walking toward her from the foot of the bridge.
“Captain, good work neutralizing the honju. Though once again, you really didn’t do things halfway. Isn’t this why people complain about Third Division being a nightmare to clean up after?”
“It’s not like that’s anything new,” Ashiro replied.
“That’s certainly true,” Hoshina said with a loud, jovial laugh.
“How goes the yoju neutralization?” she asked.
“They’re in the process of being eliminated. It seems the newcomers on the shore over there are putting in a hard day’s work for us. Once those are mopped up, we’re probably 90 percent done here. Only—”
Ashiro picked up Hoshina’s sentence. “Only something feels off?”
“You think so too, Captain? What bothers me is Kaf—Officer Hibino’s hypothesis.”
“Yes, I heard it,” Ashiro confirmed. “According to his analysis, the ones coming ashore are juveniles, right? Going by the maturity of their reproductive organs, that’s probably factual. Still, if it’s true, it raises another problem, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Hoshina agreed. “The question of why kaiju are coming ashore as juveniles, eh?”
“Do you think they ran out of food in the lake?” Ashiro asked.
“I don’t think that’s plausible,” Hoshina said. “According to the analysis unit, these fellas have been known to engage in cannibalism in the past. With this many yoju present, food is plentiful. I think there must be another reason.”
“If so—”
Just then, a transmission came through for both of them, from Okonogi at the field headquarters. “Captain Ashiro, Vice-Captain Hoshina! I have an emergency report!”
“What’s the matter?” Hoshina asked. “You sound panicked.”
“It’s the estimated fortitude of the honju Captain Ashiro just killed. It’s 6.5!”
Hoshina and Ashiro looked at one another in surprise.
“As I recall, the estimate in the initial report was 7.1, wasn’t it?”
When it came to fortitude, the initial report put out numbers early, so they sometimes differed from precise measurements. In this case, however, the difference was too great to be an error.
That’s when Hoshina’s eyes snapped wide open. “Miss Okonogi, get drones covering the entire area inside the lake!” he ordered. “Confirm whether or not there are any peculiar ripples somewhere. Then check to see if there are any faint tremors.”
“The lake’s whole interior, sir? Please wait a moment. Th-there it is. There’s definitely one point where faint vibrations are being detected. It’s on the shore opposite from your present position.”
Hoshina examined the data that Okonogi sent to his map, then nodded. “Captain, this couldn’t be—”
“Yes, I doubt it myself.” Ashiro opened a channel. “Ikaruga Platoon, can you hear me? Move immediately to the sector I’m about to designate.”