Chapter 8

“Huh? Ah, yeah, that’s right. But is that really what you came here to ask? After all this, you still don’t believe me?” “I believe you regarding that part. The military police confirmed as much.” “That isn’t believing me, then. It just means you went and got evidence.” He ruffled his hair with his hand in exasperation. Unfortunately, that was the sort of thing Rusalka preferred to be absolutely sure about, so she would rather he just let that part go. Either way, she had gotten confirmation that he had been there that night. All that remained was— “Could you please tell me about last night in a little bit more detail? According to your story, I started to go wild when the topic of Valkyries came up…” “Whoa, there. You should be precise when it comes to reports. Let’s review, Captain Evereska.” “” “I can’t hear you. Or is it just that your memory is lacking when it comes to topics you would prefer to avoid?” He dramatically raised his long legs high up before bringing them down to rise to his feet in a single, smooth motion. He slowly approached the door and looked Rusalka in the eye through the bars. Rusalka was taller than average, but this man was even taller. There was such a large difference in their heights that she was forced to look up slightly when standing right in front of him. But mysteriously, she didn’t feel intimidated. She simply stood tall and continued to listen. “If it’s about this morning, I’m quite confident that the exact statement I made was ‘The reason you got into a fight was because of an issue involving Valkyries.’” The quiet, careful correction he spoon-fed Rusalka triggered her memory. Remembering their exchange that morning, she was forced to acknowledge that he was correct. It had only a slightly different nuance, but it was not uncommon for imprecise language to have a significant impact on meaning. And in the army, it was absolutely necessary to accurately repeat an order to avoid errors in transmission. “The reason I went wild was an issue involving Valkyries.” “But why are you so interested in what happened last night? You got out after half a day. The brass decided to let this go without it turning into a big scandal, so why are you here digging it up again?” “…The dried-up tears…” Rusalka touched her cheeks. The man furrowed his brow at that, while Rusalka glared straight at the wrinkles on his forehead. “I—I heard that I was sobbing.” “…What, that? You were still plenty pretty even if you were crying.” “But I’m nineteen…almost twenty at this point. And a career soldier to boot. For me to do that in front of other people…” And to sob in terror of the consequences of a crime I committed of all things. Hearing that self-admonition, the man nodded and closed one eye as he said, “I see…” For a moment, Rusalka tensed, on edge about what he might say. But what followed was not a taunt at all. “You think it’s normal for a soldier to not feel free to cry? It’s a bit frustrating, but there’s a kernel of truth to that, I suppose. But what about a Valkyrie?” “Huh?” She had come to find out why she had cried. She had been prepared for him to make fun of her for it even. But he didn’t comment on her motive at all. It had only been for a short moment, but he had seriously thought about what she said before responding. So she decided to do the same as the man behind bars continued his line of thought. “The current Valkyries are mostly third-generation Valkyries chosen for their potential. They’re not soldiers at heart; they’re Valkyries first and foremost…so they should be free to cry, shouldn’t they?” “Even if that were true, I’m different. I’m a second-generation—” “—Valkyrie.” Rusalka froze at his decisive conclusion. And she also realized that even if he had not said it, she would have. Even though she denied it time and time again to everyone who tried to say otherwise. Even though she had decided she didn’t have the right to call herself a Valkyrie anymore. She gritted her teeth as a swell of powerful emotions surged inside her. “—‘I am a Valkyrie.’” His words caught her off guard. Her mind ground to a halt as unease cast a shadow over her thoughts. She stopped breathing, looking straight ahead. The man’s gaze remained unchanged as he looked down at Rusalka and spoke. He repeated it again: “‘I am a Valkyrie.’” She furrowed her brow in confusion, unable to grasp what he was getting at. It was an unpleasant feeling. She couldn’t explain why, but it was uncomfortable on a deep level because she could not understand what he was doing. “…What is your point?” So she finally decided to ask him directly. And faced with her desperately searching question, his response was incredibly simple. “That was what you said while you were crying and rampaging around the pub.” “—!” She wanted to say that was impossible, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t remember. She had no evidence to disprove his claim. No, there is proof. The proof is how much my heart aches. The pain in her chest. As long as that shame remained, she would never be able to say something like that, no matter how broken her spirit. She shouldn’t have been able to utter those words. “You…” Her voice was trembling in pain, but what was she even trying to ask? She didn’t understand it herself. And no one else could possibly know, either. Before her question could take form, something happened— “” All of a sudden, alarms started blaring across the entire base. “That’s… It can’t be…?!” Rusalka could hardly believe it. These were emergency sirens she had heard so often she had lost count long ago. Sirens that triggered an instinctive unease, forcing everyone listening into a tense state of alertness. There was no mistaking what they meant. A pillar must have been detected by the base. “But we just pushed them back last night!” She paid no heed to the weak, almost pleading voice that escaped her lips. That was just how devastating it was to have to face pillars two days in a row. They had driven the pillars back the other day because they had kept their enemy occupied until their time limit was up. A second attack coming so soon would mean they wouldn’t be able to depend on that rule anymore, which was gravely concerning. And more importantly— “The only people on base capable of enduring another battle so soon are…” “Evereska!” “Gh!” As Rusalka thought back to the attrition and exhaustion of last night, despair started to well in her heart, but a sharp voice called her back to her senses. Spinning around, she realized the blond man had called her name. As he looked at her through the bars, there was a seriousness to his gaze that he had not shown before. “Quit grumbling and get to your post!” “…Who are you?” “Those are orders from a superior officer. There are things that only you can do right now.” The man’s voice pulled her back to reality, but she was immediately unsure how to deal with him. But he was already looking far beyond the moment. He had decided to worry about his own situation later and focus on pummeling Rusalka with a powerful sense of responsibility. “Do your duty, Rusalka Evereska!” “Yes, sir.” He seemed an expert at issuing orders, and Rusalka quickly accepted his latest one, dashing out of the stockade. She left the military police behind as they started shouting while the sirens blared. “I’m going to my post! Take care of him!” She didn’t explicitly tell them to release him. But it was an unspoken agreement that people in the stockade would be let out in the event of an emergency. There was no sense in letting them die because a stray round from an air raid hit the stockade, and more importantly, the base would be shorthanded no matter how many people they scrambled to find. “I should also…” Rusalka trailed off as she rushed away, not waiting to see the young military police officer nod. But for a moment, her feet were unsure where exactly that was. She was currently a tactical adviser attached to the command staff as well as a radio operator, so her natural place would be in the command post. But when the image of her crimson Spitfire flashed through her head, she hesitated. “—No.” But that indecision lasted for only a moment. After a split second, it was clear what she had chosen. She didn’t run to the hangar; her destination was the command post. This was the natural conclusion. The army had to operate as a single organism. The head had its role, as did the arms and legs and organs. If one part decided to act independently on a whim, the entire organism would cease to function properly. She was just one of the cogs in the army’s machine. And a cog’s role was to rack its brain and figure out how best to work in sync with the rest of the machine’s moving parts. In order to do that— “Alma…Natalie…” She prayed the two girls she had left in the mess hall would fight hard. They were still inexperienced Valkyries, but they were Hamburg base’s strongest assets in combat. Fortunately, none of the Valkyries’ Deus ex Machinas had been damaged in the fighting yesterday. The base’s overall readiness had been badly degraded, but the key Valkyrie flight had been unscathed and should be able to fight in almost-peak condition. “If it’s them, I’m sure…” Unlike Rusalka, they could make the correct choice. Even as she clung to thoughts like that, she ran through the base as the sirens continued to blare. She was greeted by the grand scene of the entire base scrambling to get to their positions and do their jobs, everyone’s hearts racing from the sudden alert. She was filled with awe at the way humans could act when they knew exactly what their duty was and set out to do it. The way they ran in hopes of making their dreams come true. To Rusalka, the army was a gathering of people like that—people truly worthy of respect. Even as she acknowledged that at some point, she had slipped off those same rails. “—?” Moreover, when soldiers who had such a powerful drive hammered into them stopped moving to look up at the sky in shock, they always stood out like sore thumbs. “” Looking over to see what had caught their attention, Rusalka inhaled sharply. Subconsciously, she slowed and then stopped, too. She couldn’t peel her eyes away from it. There was a pillar of light to the east of the base, just kilometers away from the city proper. It was natural. Whenever pillars appeared, that pillar of light was always there, too. But the towering, colossal figure slowly appearing from inside the pillar of light was different. It was obvious for all to see that it defied common sense. And Rusalka knew exactly what it was. “A secondary pillar…”