Chapter 3:
Operation Jave World Annihilation
It was one week after the Jave attacked the school.
The Empire, the Alliance, and the human race had no time left, so Operation Jave World Annihilation was put in action. They would open a pseudo-Gate, send in Tooka’s final weapon, and wipe out their enemy.
Accordingly, Jogen Maneuver Academy was disbanded and repurposed as the Imperial Air Force Jogen Base. Squad makeup and frame adjustments were proceeding at a feverish pitch. Their former headmaster, Nanahoshi Kaede, was appointed consultant/advisor and went to the Capital to secure frames. Tooka Nürburg was busy making adjustments to the final weapon and the Kiryu. After a mass funeral for their friends, the Fuji Squad was incorporated into the Air Force, with Kuon, Hanabi, and Fuji joining the operation. Rin, with her injuries, was on standby.
Scouts had confirmed a large number of Queens in Europe, incubating their eggs. The one country still holding their ground had finally fallen. On the Imperial mainland, Gate activity was high, and the defenses in Fukuoka had proven inadequate; it was lost once more. Nanahoshi Kaede reported no changes in the capital yet, but that would not last forever.
After more than twenty years since they’d first appeared, the Jave were finally beginning their full-scale invasion. Mankind had been desperately struggling to survive against what had turned out to be merely their scouting parties.
To put it mildly, humanity was dangling on the edge of a cliff.
It was 8:58 AM, three hours before the operation was to begin. Hanabi was on the seventh floor of the Jogen 3rd Municipal Hospital, visiting Rin.
This was hardly her first visit. When she heard Rin had lost a leg, Hanabi had felt like she’d lost her own. She couldn’t even stand for a while. Rin’s injuries were recovering well, but what she’d lost wasn’t coming back.
It was my fault, Hanabi thought. She’d been right next to Rin when it happened. She should have helped her before heading to the Gate. How had she not noticed? If she’d just been paying a little more attention or waited for the DM diagnosis to run, she’d have known. Yet, no matter how many times she apologized, Rin insisted it wasn’t her fault.
But it is my fault.
Alone together in a spacious private room, neither Hanabi nor Rin spoke. Every time Hanabi came to visit, she just sat with her head down while Rin stared out the window, saying nothing. They didn’t know what to say to each other.
Eyes still on the window, Rin broke the silence. “You’re deploying soon, Hanabi.”
“…Mm.”
“You okay? You’re not bothering Kyuu-kun, are you?”
“No. Wait, I probably am.”
“I know you are! You’ve been crying on his shoulders this whole time. You know, it’s actually kind of a relief that I don’t have to be your only sob pillow now?”
“Mm.”
“Did…did you ask him about it?” Hanabi shook her head. Rin smiled faintly. “You’re really feeble when it comes to that, huh?”
“But—”
“No, it’s scary, I know. If I were in your shoes, I doubt I could ask.”
“Mm…”
“Oh, I know!” Rin said, unconvincingly brightening up all of a sudden. “Yesterday, Okayama came by, even though I told him not to.”
“Okayama-kun?” Hanabi looked up.
Rin gave her a sheepish smile. “He is too funny. You know what he said?”
“N-no idea…”
“He was all, ‘I’ll always protect you.’ I went so red! He’s such an idiot. I end up like this, but he still says he loves me. I’ve lost a leg! But he says he doesn’t care. What an idiot. He should just forget about me.”
“Don’t talk like that!”
“Hanabi…” There was a sudden sob. “Don’t you go anywhere, Hanabi.” Rin’s expression crumpled. “Nao…Nao’s gone, but…I can’t lose you, too.” Tears started falling. “They took my leg away. They took Nao, and not just her. Sachikou and the Amakusa sisters and everyone else are gone! I’ll never see them again, no matter how hard I look. No matter how long I wait, they’ll never come back. There was so much I wanted to say to them. But I can never talk to them again.”
“Rin…Rin…!”
“I miss them… I wanna see them again…” Still crying, Rin put her arms around Hanabi. Hanabi softly hugged her back. “So…Hanabi, promise me you won’t die. Promise me you’ll come back…!”
Hanabi remembered the first time she met Rin. The Hero had saved her, put her on an escape ship, and she’d found herself all alone at a Jogen refugee center until she was brought to the Motegi home. The head of the family heard what happened to her, grew sympathetic, and brought her into his home in the hopes that she’d be a friend to Rin, who was always lonely since her mother and father were too busy to pay much attention to her.
At first, Hanabi couldn’t find it in herself to like Rin, and they fought a lot. Even then, all she had to do was stare hard enough, and Rin would always give in. Now she knew she’d been taking advantage of her sister. Rin always held her tight during her episodes. She even started taking lessons with her, lessons on things she’d hated doing and quit once before. She was nice. Hanabi was happy. She loved her. So Hanabi knew what to say.
“I promise! I promise I’ll come back to you…!”
Goodbye, she said in her mind, bidding her sister farewell. Their embrace ended.
Rin gave her a sweet smile. “Good luck out there, Hanabi.”
Hanabi left Rin’s room, closed the door behind her, and didn’t take another step. Lately, her thoughts kept looping around the same idea.
I can’t be the Hero.
She couldn’t be like Suzuka Hachishiki. She’d been trying desperately to be, had wanted to be like him ever since he’d saved her, but there was just no way.
She let far too many people die in Europe. She wasn’t able to save her school or Nao or Rin. Command and the world at large acted like she was one of a heroic duo, but she didn’t have the right. The word “Hero” was for people like Kuon. People who could go up against an impossible choice, pick “both,” and actually pull it off, like he did.
She couldn’t do that. Not only could she not pull it off, she couldn’t even make the choice. She would just start crying and slump to the ground.
So Suzuka Hanabi wasn’t a hero. Could never be a hero.
“The media are all talking about an idealized version of you, so of course the real you doesn’t live up to it,” her doctor said.
“You don’t have to be a hero,” Rin had told her.
She was done. She couldn’t keep doing this. She didn’t need to keep trying, and that thought made her feel so much better. Oh, she thought. That’s a weight off my chest.
She gave up on her dream.
“Unh…hah…guh…enhhhhhh…”
The tears came streaming out of her. She felt so relieved, so much better, so why couldn’t she stop crying? Leaning against the wall in the hospital corridor, Hanabi hid her face, ignoring the people passing by, not even trying to hide, just letting the sobs come.