Meanwhile, a German exchange student was arriving at the Jogen Maneuver Academy. She was in the Exchange Program for Mobile Maneuver and Heavy Magic Research. There were many people surprised that Germany still existed, but it would be more accurate to say that it had returned from the dead.
Forty years ago, a Gate appeared over Nürburg Castle (as did Gates all across Europe), spewing countless Jave that ran roughshod over Western Europe. But one day, thirty years ago, they stopped completely. The Gate ceased to function.
To the naked eye, the Gate remained unchanged—a wide black hole creepily hovering over Nürburg. But for thirty years, not one Jave emerged. In those thirty years, Germany and the countries around it fought back. All of the Jave which had emerged from the Gate, as well as the Jave born on this side of it, were eliminated by the Mobile Maneuver Corps. It was a massive, fantastic victory.
Several hundred years before the invention of Division Maneuvers had been the Great Disaster of the previous era. The very same people who overcame that threat to mankind now preserved their culture via the Division Maneuvers.
However, the Gate remained.
All who looked up at the sky wondered the same thing: How can we rid ourselves of that black moon? They’d driven the monsters out, and Europe was at peace, but the people looking up at the sky also thought: Is it really?
Enemies had suddenly stopped pouring out of the Gate, and they’d polished off all the ones that remained, but did that really mean they were rid of them?
According to the account of the German Air Force’s military actions, after the Gate appeared over Nürburg Castle, the Germans repeatedly retreated, withdrawing their front lines. Eventually, they were forced to make the tough call to abandon their country altogether. The next day, the Gate abruptly ceased all activity. Putting aside the differences of the previous era, the Mobile Maneuver Corps of each Western European country banded together, and there was a period of intense fighting until the territories of man were recovered.
Weirdly, nowhere in the records were the words “massive,” “mothership,” “boss,” or “Queen” mentioned. The words “Rochen” and “Oktopus” appeared countless times, alongside words for devils or monsters, but the word “Königin”? Not once.
They didn’t know.
The tens of thousands of monsters slaughtered in Europe were all weak monsters sent by a Jave Queen as a test to see if they could survive on the other side. In other words, these monsters were more intelligent than the famous fictional aliens who came all the way from Mars only to be killed by the common cold.
The Germans had just realized this fact six months ago.
It was a few days after Mid-Blue had been eliminated. After school let out at the Jogen Maneuver Academy, the Fuji Squad was gathered in their meeting room. Without warning, the door opened, and a girl stepped in the room.
“Guten tag.”
She had pale skin and black hair in a bob. Her eyes were brown, and she looked very young—ten years old at most. She wore a dress with some goth-loli touches, but something about her still looked like an old Japanese doll. She was clearly Japanese, yet something about her seemed very much not.
“Guten tag,” she said again, expressionless. Her eyes were wide open but unmoving. The phrase “eyes like ice” did not quite seem to suffice. Ice melted. It moved. This girl didn’t. Her gaze locked on nothing, just stared fixedly at empty space. It was as if she’d just stopped there, unmoving, utterly without any facial expression.
Like a thing.
Like a machine.
Like a doll.
This level of expressionlessness was downright astonishing. In fact, neither the squad leader, Fuji Jindo, nor the sniper, Motegi Rin, managed to respond at all.
Only Hanabi, in Warrior Mode, managed to splutter, “U-uh, so you’re the one the headmaster managed—”
The girl’s head turned—only her head. Like a doll. “Guten tag,” she repeated a third time.
Hanabi let out a little squeak, overwhelmed, and managed nothing further. It was much too creepy.
Kuon was forced to take over just by process of elimination. “Um…you’re the exchange student from Germany… Tooka-chan, was it?” Their ages weren’t all that different, but he was going with -chan anyway.
Once again, only her head turned, her eyes staring blankly at him, but Kuon had seen it before and was ready for it. He braced himself like he was preparing to enter combat.
“Onii-chan…” Tooka went still again. Without her expression wavering one iota, she said, “Are you my brother?”
A tear rolled down her cheek without warning.
“Er? What? Sorry, huh?”
Kuon was thoroughly rattled now. Of course he was. A total stranger had just called him her brother and started to cry. But the real surprise was yet to come.
“Onii-chan…!” Tears streaming down her cheeks, Tooka threw her arms around Kuon. She might have been about three years younger than him, but their heights were very similar. Her teary face was right next to his, her little chin rested on his shoulder. Her hands were clasped behind his back, hugging him very tightly.
“Whaaaaaaat…?!” Kuon froze up, question marks pouring out of him. His eyes were locked on Fuji, who looked like a pigeon shot by a satellite cannon, and Rin, who’d recovered first and was aiming her Device camera at him.
Hanabi, on the other hand, looked like a market crash had just wiped out all her stocks. Her expression had drained so thoroughly that Kuon instantly started formulating his defense. This isn’t…!
The cause of this horror finally detached herself from him, saying, “I finally found you, onii-chan.” She didn’t seem particularly happy about this, but then she kissed him tenderly on the cheek. “Now we can be together forever,” she whispered.
Her voice seemed so very far away.
“Do you believe in past lives?” she whispered.
This seemed extremely sketchy.
“We were brother and sister in a past life.”
“P-past life…?” His heart skipped a beat. Anyone else would have laughed this off but not Kuon. After all, he had clear memories of his own previous life, when he’d been…
“Yes, in my previous life I was Akigase Tooka. And you were Suzu—”
She was cut off by a loud noise. Everyone turned, startled.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought would happen,” Kaede said, looking annoyed. She’d slammed the door open and was glaring at Tooka. “Didn’t I tell you not to bring that up yet?”
“Right. Sorry, Mother,” Tooka said, bowing her head.
Kaede sighed and turned to the Fuji Squad. “Let me introduce you. This is my other student, Tooka Nürburg. She’ll be representing the Drag Ride developers and serving as the team mechanic. Try to get along.”
There was a brief silence, and then Fuji and Rin glanced at each other, muttering…
“Drag Ride developer?”
“The headmaster’s student?”
Kaede rephrased. “She made Hanabi’s new frame, and she’s a Shichisei Kenbu student—Kuon’s ‘sister’ in that sense.”
Either of those things alone would be impressive. All eyes focused on Tooka, who was still clinging to Kuon. She finally let him go, turned towards the others, and spoke with her expression completely unchanging. “Nice to meet you,” she said, her voice clear as a bell. She bowed, a clean, robotic movement.
“You’re sunk, Hanabi,” Rin whispered.
Hanabi had yet to move a muscle.