Tooka’s consciousness faded to black.
The mantas that flew out of the Gate had her surrounded in no time. Like sharks circling their prey, they wheeled around, above, and below her. The sheer number of them blocked the sunlight, and everything within the sphere of mantas went black. Fear made every hair on her body stand on end, leaving her paralyzed with horror. One manta turned towards her, tentacles reaching out…dozens of them, hundreds of them.
She felt like this had happened to her before.
She couldn’t remember when. The tentacles wrapped around her like a cocoon. Only when her vision was completely cut off did Tooka finally scream. Dark red Jave tentacles tightened around her arms and legs, binding them, and more tentacles with warts on them went in Tooka’s mouth and ears and nose probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing probing…
Stop please
H…help
<Who?>
Everyone
✦ ✦ ✦
She felt like someone…
Something…
Laughed.
✦ ✦ ✦
In the end, everyone lived. Everyone who participated in the Aohime Island Pseudo-Gate Opening Operation survived intact.
The mantas that swarmed the squads never attacked the Cavalleria. They simply flew past and went back into the pseudo-Gate. Once they were all back inside, the Gate closed behind them.
By the time the Fuji Squad got there, everyone was preparing to leave. It was as if the Jave had never appeared at all. That was partly because experienced soldiers weren’t rattled by a little trouble, but…naturally, it wasn’t that simple.
Tooka Nürburg was taken to the medical ward, where she remained unconscious. She was uninjured and appeared to just be sleeping. Had her experiment been successful? They had not managed to cross over to the other side, but the Jave’s appearance proved that a path across had been made. That meant Tooka’s research could progress to the next stage. Namely…
“We invade their world?”
In a briefing room on the mothership Tooka and the Sagara Squad had retreated to, Kuon was being brought up to speed.
“Yes. First step is armed reconnaissance,” Fuji said after taking his drink’s straw out of his mouth to answer. “We’ll be using the pseudo-Gate created today, along with the final weapon, the Nürburg.”
The large screen in the briefing room showed an aquarium filled with all sorts of digital fish. Naturally, there weren’t any manta.
“And we’ll be included in this mission?”
“Likely. Two weeks out, at the earliest. Oh, Sagara-kun, you okay?”
The Sagara Squad were filing in, and the squad leaders began talking. Kuon had been training one of the attackers on this team, Okayama-senpai. Just as Kuon remembered that, he saw Rin break off her conversation with Hanabi and head over to said attacker. She looked a little awkward. He’d heard they were classmates, but this seemed different.
“Kuon-kun,” Hanabi said, coming up to him. Even with that windbreaker on, she couldn’t hide how large her breasts were. Her lower half was still in a skin-tight plugsuit, so half her butt was still visible, and her thighs—
Hanabi suddenly crouched a bit, placing herself at his eye level.
“Ah!” Kuon gasped. “Sorry, Senpai! What is it?”
“I guess boys don’t just like boobs. You really like everything, huh?” She sighed, shaking her head. Yes, he definitely liked all parts of her body. “And here I was going to clue you in on Rin getting a little romance of her own.”
“Rin-san is?”
“See her with Okayama-kun? He asked her out.”
“Wow…he asked Rin-san? What, really?!”
“You seem a little too surprised. Everyone else already knows.”
“Ugh, gossip never seems to reach me. This is when the gap between classes—or between high school and junior high school—really shows itself.”
“You’re his Fencing teacher, right? I guess students and teachers don’t talk about that stuff.”
“Did Rin-san agree?”
“She hasn’t given him an answer yet. I’m glad he’s safe.”
“Yeah…really.”
They nodded at each other. Both of them watched Rin and Okayama talking.
Rin handed Okayama a drink, being a little more curt than usual. “You hurt? Kyuu-kun’s Fencing help out at all?”
“Not hurt. I think…it helped? Less wasted movement?”
“Yeah, I thought the same thing while I was watching. Uh, not just you! I was watching all the attackers.”
“I know,” he said with an awkward smile. Then it turned into a mischievous grin. “You actually saved me, you know.”
“Huh? How so?”
“I mean, if you’d given me the okay, I’d have been all, ‘If I make it back alive, let’s get married!’”
“You idiot.” This came out way nicer than she’d expected, and Rin panicked a little. Her worries had all melted away and now there were tears in her eyes, so she got even more flustered. She pretended to adjust her glasses to hide wiping her tears. “The Lunatic Order takes those death flags and cuts them down,” she said.
“That only goes for the Fuji Squad.”
They both laughed. Oh, good, Rin thought. We can still laugh like this together. We’re both still alive.
In that moment, she’d already found her answer. Later, she’d be glad she didn’t say so out loud, given what happened afterwards.
“Okayama, let’s go,” the Sagara squad leader said.
“Okay!” Okayama said. “Then I’ll see you tomorrow at school,” he told Rin and left the room.
Not a line you hear often in the belly of a mothership, Rin thought. But she waved after him.
Their lives were still normal.
A week later, a report came in that multiple Gates had appeared over Europe. Nearly all territories had fallen.