“That’s what he said.”
I had been half listening from the corner of the staff room, and wow, talk about a lack of ambition. It went beyond humility; he wasn’t even interested.
“He credits his results to the mech, huh? Well, he’s not wrong. His combat record is thanks to Mikage’s performance. But the fact remains that he’s the only one who can actually pilot the thing right now.”
The theory that anyone could do what he’d done if they just had the same unit had already been blown out of the water. Did Keita not understand that?
“The military command wants Ensign Kawakami to keep piloting it to gather more data.”
“Of course they do. It can take down a horde of monsters—including ten large-class—all on its own. They’d mass-produce it in a heartbeat if they could.”
Which was exactly why they had strong-armed us into giving up our second prototype unit, torn it apart without asking, then slapped together a downgraded version and started mass-producing it. Naturally, all they’d gotten out of that was a pile of half-baked mechs that no one could operate properly. Not that it was my problem. They could deal with the mess they had made themselves.
“Right. I understand.”
At least the major had a decent enough grasp of the situation. She wasn’t shameless enough to say they were doing this for the mass-produced imitation units—not to the man whose prototype had been confiscated. Not out loud, at least. Though it didn’t make much of a difference.
“Anyway, let’s get to the point. I’m guessing you want to stake a claim on the delivery rights for the third unit and beyond?”
“…If I’m being blunt, yes.”
Good. No beating around the bush for once.
I could only hope the rest of the discussion went this smoothly.
“Hmm. We don’t object to supplying the third unit and onward to the First or Second Divisions. But as things stand, I have to say, assembling that third unit is going to be difficult…”
“Why? If it’s funding, I’m sure both divisions would be willing to allocate a substantial budget.”
Ha! Just a while back, we were the ones begging to run tests and offering to pay them for the privilege.
And now they were willing to throw money at us to make the thing. Funny how fast the world could change.
“…President Mogami?”
Oh. Right, we were still in the middle of a negotiation.
“Sorry. Even with the data and funding, we can’t build a new Monster-Armored Combat Unit. You know why, Major.”
“The materials.”
“Exactly. Right now, the materials we need are tied up with the corporations producing the mass-produced hybrid models. We can’t get our hands on what we need, even with money.”
Theirs was a national-level project, after all. It wasn’t only the mechs—their weapons had to be custom-built, too. No matter how much they gathered, it would never be enough. I understood that. But that didn’t make it any less frustrating when none of that material ever made its way over to us.
“So if you want the third unit and up, we’ll need you—the First and Second Divisions—to provide the materials. Shouldn’t be too hard at the moment, right? You guys just got a major haul, after all.”
“You’re referring to the materials recovered during the recent defense operation? Normally, those would be earmarked for the military’s own factories and labs. But in this case…”
“In this case, the haul was unusually large. And let’s not forget who made that possible. Ensign Kawakami and the mech that we at Mogami Heavy Industries built. Emphasize that point to whoever makes the decision, and we should be able to get a decent share, don’t you think?”
If it was just us, they would shut us down with the old national priority excuse. But if the First and Second Divisions pushed for it, that might shift the needle enough.
“Yes. I’d say it should be doable.”
“Perfect.”
Yes! That should secure us a decent supply of materials. Now we just had to build the damn thing.
Heh. When they took the second prototype unit off us, I had been this close to raising hell. But if I could leverage that mess into funding and materials, then I could let it slide…for the most part. Though that didn’t mean I had forgiven them for how they’d gutted our work without permission.
Just you wait, damn military cronies! We’ll build something even stronger than Mikage, with even more backing and better parts, and rub it in your smug faces!