“Oh, hello. Are you with the Defense Force?” An elderly lady walking her Shiba Inu gave a polite bow. Kafka and Reno, walking together, lowered their heads in response.
“Hello there,” said Kafka cheerfully. “We’re on patrol right now, but—whoa!” It was a gentle-looking dog, but the moment it noticed Kafka, it started barking loudly. It bared its canines and acted as though it might bite him at any moment.
“Oh, dear. I’m sorry!” the old lady apologized. “She’s usually such a sweet dog.”
Even some time after the officers had moved on, the dog was still barking. “Lately, I get the feeling that small animals are avoiding me.” Kafka said.
“Maybe animals instinctively know about you,” Reno mused.
“Does this mean I’m gonna be setting dogs and cats on edge for the rest of my life?”
Reno and Kafka were both wearing their suits, doing patrol duty along the Tama River. The fish-type kaiju that had appeared in Lake Kawaguchi had been neutralized along with all its known yoju, but their numbers had exceeded expectations. It was possible that some had escaped and made their way to other areas via the river. In particular, Tachikawa had been seeing a lot of fish types lately, meaning a second investigation of the area was now in order.
“Finished for the day, Shinomiya?” asked Reno, seeing Kikoru up ahead. “How’d it go?”
“None over this way either,” replied Kikoru. “This area’s clear, so the next place to patrol is—”
“Hey, before that,” Kafka interrupted, “why don’t we all go cool off somewhere? It’s gotten pretty hot.”
“I still feel all right,” said Reno.
“I’m okay too,” said Kikoru.
But when they both looked at Kafka’s face, they changed their minds. Great beads of sweat were running down his cheeks. The low, dark clouds that had recently hung overhead had vanished at last, and the sky over Tachikawa was now as clear as glass. Rising like mountain peaks above the distant sea were towering cumulonimbus clouds. When had it started to feel like summer?
“Would you like to rest for a bit, Mr. Hibino?” asked Reno.
“I guess we’d better,” said Kikoru reluctantly. “It’ll be a hassle to deal with if him if he gets heat exhaustion.”
The trio came to an old-fashioned sweets shop by the riverside and seated themselves on a bench near the entrance. Kafka went in and bought drinks and handed one each to Reno and Kikoru outside.
“Check this out, Kikoru,” said Kafka.
“What’s with this bottle?” she asked. “Hey! Is this ramune?”
“You said before that you wanted to try it.”
“I didn’t say I wanted to—you said you’d treat me to some. Anyway, thanks. I’ll take it. Hold on, what is this? Is that a marble jammed in the neck?”
“How about it, Kikoru? Can you get it open? You can’t get to the ramune inside if you can’t!” Kafka teased.
“Of course I can do it. This is nothing,” Kikoru said confidently. Then she added, “Hey! What’s with this green lid?”
Kafka erupted with laughter. “Bwa ha ha ha! You’re having a little trouble, I see!”
“No, I am not! You do this, then push here, and there you go! I did it, see?”
The marble fell, making a clinking sound, and then came the hiss of fizzing soda pop.
“Ooh! You did it! Way to go!” Kafka said.
“It’s an easy win for me.” Laughing, Kikoru tried a sip of the ramune. “Too sweet. But, hmm, I do like the flavor.”
Kafka also opened up his ramune and took a swig. The soda water and refreshing sweetness passed along his throat, replenishing his body moisture. How long had it been since he’d last had ramune? The flavor took him all the way back to his boyhood and festivals at local shrines and temples.
“By the way, sir,” Reno said as he drank his ramune, “did you hear they took disciplinary action against the director who came to report on us?”
“Huh? Really?”
“Yes. Unauthorized entry into a neutralization zone. After all, he really did put lives in danger. However, the Lake Kawaguchi neutralization op got too much media coverage, and that story got buried by all the rest.”
“Well.” Kafka said. “I guess things turned out all right. He’s still alive, after all.”
“I think ‘Thank goodness we’re still alive’ is our line,” Kikoru said, with a sharp glance at Kafka. “If you had turned up in that video, we’d have had a huge mess on our hands.”
“Uh, I said I was sorry about that,” Kafka said meekly.
“So get your act together,” Kikoru snapped. “You’re a general officer now, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
It had happened that very morning. Kafka had been summoned to the captain’s office, where he’d been given his letter of appointment by Third Division captain Mina Ashiro and had been made a general officer.
“Kafka Hibino, on this date and time, I hereby revoke your status of cadet and officially designate you a general officer of the Defense Force.”
Those words had been spoken to him directly by Mina, the childhood friend whom he had promised to fight alongside, and Kafka was in high spirits now. He was putting even more spirit than usual into his duties too.
“All right! Let’s get back to patrolling!” he said merrily.
“Who was it who wanted this break in the first place?” Kikoru asked under her breath. “Make up your mind, already.”
Hoshina, standing in front of the captain’s office, knocked on the door. Suddenly, he had a feeling of déjà vu. Back when Ashiro had just been installed as Third Division captain, he had knocked on this door in just the same way. The circumstances were completely different from back then, however. Now, he was also this division’s vice-captain.
“Excuse me. Soshiro Hoshina, reporting.”
Behind her work desk, Ashiro was standing with her back turned toward him. Light streaming in through the windowpanes accentuated her silhouette. “Sorry to call you here so suddenly,” she said.
“What’s the matter?” Hoshina asked. “Do I have something stuck to my face?”
“Uh, no, no. Not at all,” she replied.
Back then, youthful softness had still been present in Ashiro’s face, and her hair only came down as far down as her shoulders. Now, she gave a completely different impression. Lustrous raven hair spilled down her back, she had a brave, heroic countenance, and a hardness could also be seen in her expressions. There were probably many people who thought Ashiro had changed a lot over time.
Hoshina knew better, however. Her eyes when she looked at him were just like that other time, clear and direct.
“What was it you wanted to talk about, Captain Ashiro?” Hoshina said. “Isn’t it about time for your business trip?”
“Yes, as soon as we’re done here, I’m heading straight over to the main office building. This is about the recent matter at Lake Kawaguchi.”
“Some kind of follow-up?” Hoshina asked.
The Lake Kawaguchi neutralization operation—the emergence of fish-type kaiju in the vicinity of Lake Kawaguchi. There had been a mass emergence of yoju there as well, but all those that had been confirmed had been neutralized. With the cooperation of nearby JGSDF troops, the harm to civilians had been kept to a minimum. Some time would be needed to restore the city to what it had been, however.
“This is the data that arrived from the analysis unit. The fortitudes that were calculated that day near Lake Kawaguchi.” Ashiro held out a report, and Hoshina took it from her. On it was printed waveform graphs showing the changes over time. The little waves were yoju, most likely. In the latter half, two waveforms rose up high above the others. One was the fish-type honju, and the other was the kaiju that had been estivating. The important thing was what came next. It was a wave that vastly exceeded 7.1.
“Estimated fortitude: 9.8—” Hoshina said in disbelief.
Ashiro continued, “At the moment it was measured, the kaiju I had shot was just about to fall. As you can see from the graph, it was only there for an instant. They suspected a malfunction or error in measurement, because the kaiju was on the brink of death, but—”
“It’s Kaiju No. 8, isn’t it?” Hoshina replied right away. He didn’t hesitate to utter those words, even for an instant.
“You think so?” Ashiro asked.
“Yes, ma’am. I don’t think there’s any doubt that Kaiju No. 8 was present. It delivered a single blow to the kaiju that you had just finished off, then withdrew from the battlefield. I don’t know what it’s thinking, but—”
“As if No. 9 wasn’t a threat enough already,” Ashiro said regretfully. “This matter will be on the agenda when I go talk with HQ. The base is in your hands while I’m gone.”
“I’ll take care of things for you.”
Hoshina bowed toward Ashiro, turned, and was about to leave the room when Ashiro added, “Oh, I forgot to tell you. I gave Kafka Hibino his official letter of appointment this morning.”
“Oh, so he’s now a general officer like us, is he?” Hoshina said. “Hard to believe he didn’t get thrown off the team instead.”
“You were the one who recommended him,” Ashiro pointed out.