The next day, after the night with the monkeys, the sky was clear, and Yu Ichinose’s breakfast that morning was a mouthful of grass and dirt.
“Takeda,” he spat, both literally and figuratively. “Doesn’t he ever get bored?”
About twenty minutes ago, Yu had been dragged into the shade behind one of the many inconspicuous buildings around camp. His mistake: letting Leading Private Takeda catch him out alone. The private claimed that the boy owed him the time Professor Chloe had so rudely interrupted yesterday. After many merciless whacks to the head and several sucker punches to the gut, Takeda concluded the beating by quieting Yu’s pained groans with handfuls of grass that he shoved into the boy’s mouth.
He never got back up. He simply laid there, tasting the earthy tang of dirt that never seemed to leave his mouth no matter how many times he spat. The look in Takeda’s eyes, the sheer apathy and thoughtlessness, still terrified Yu to remember.
“He’s been getting a lot less subtle lately.”
It used to be more underhanded. He’d make them get naked in front of everyone, force them to eat weeds, burn them with a lighter. But these days, it didn’t take much for him to get violent. It spoke to how far things had deteriorated. Physical abuse was simply part and parcel of everyday life.
The aching was starting to fade. Yu sat up and leaned against the building. He sighed.
“Looks like they got you worse than me.”
Yu looked at his full-formed friend. “Ijuin. Well, had to make up for yesterday.”
Ijuin rubbed his round gut. Apparently he’d gotten off easy—that is, easy enough for him to make his way all the way here by himself. A punch in the stomach or two.
He plopped down next to Yu. Together, they stared idly at the sky.
“This place seriously sucks.”
“Hey, Ichinose. Remember that glasses guy from the other day? Military arrested him.”
“What? Why?”
“He was sneaking in and stealing supplies from camp.”
“I hope they let him off with just a beating.” But compassion was in short supply lately. Yu imagined a black and blue corpse, but quickly stopped himself before it darkened his mood even more.
“We gotta make sure our escape plan doesn’t get out. Play it safe.”
“You said your family might be in Kyushu?” asked Yu.
“That’s what they said the last time I talked to ’em. And we’re in Kansai, so not too far from Fukuoka. I’d say that’s where we oughta be headed.”
“Sounds like a plan. I just wish we could take everyone with us. Everyone but the military guys, I mean.”
“I getcha,” Ijuin mumbled under his breath. “At least Aliya and Professor Chloe, y’know?”
The two heard a noise and quickly went quiet, praying they hadn’t been heard. Their hearts beat in their throats.
It was the young mother of the lost child they’d found.
“Hang in there,” she said, placing two cans of coffee in front of them, a precious delicacy. “And thank you.”
And then she left. She must have seen what Takeda had done to them.
Yu cracked the can open and took a sip. The cuts in his mouth stung, but the drink was sweet.
“I wish...” His eyes began to water. “I just wish I could help these people. I want to do what’s right.”
“I don’t know if it’ll help you with that,” Ijuin said, “but I do have some new info on that Replicant elf girl.”
An hour later, Yu was walking down the hallway of one of the research facilities alone. Professor Chloe had asked to see him that afternoon. He thought back to what Ijuin had told him.
“Get this. Last night, while we were doing the remote testing for the Mark III, I got into one of the research computers and took a peek at some confidential stuff.”
Yu remembered how his friend recounted the results of his hacking foray.
“...So a Replicant is basically what they call a ‘living access point.’”
“...They’re clones of elves who had some kinda telepathic ability or something, and they use that power to transmit special cloud data to the Asura Frame that unlocks its adaptive functionality. It’s usually something related to magic.”
“...Yeah, I don’t get it either. There were a ton of those complicated words and terms you know elf scientists use all the time, so a lot of it didn’t make sense to me.”
“...But if we can get Aliya and Professor Chloe on our side, we could take that Replicant girl and the Mark III and book it outta here! It’d be so easy. And we could protect people!”
Yu calmly stifled the excitement in his chest as he entered the office.
“Excuse me.”
Chloe’s office was on the third floor, although it would be more apt to call it a lab. She and her daughter lived in a larger room next door. The professor was standing next to the window.
“You wanted to see me?”
“Yu,” she said, “you accessed the Astral Library’s satellite data archive last night. Is that right?”
“Is it?”
The professor waved her hand and a stereoscopic image appeared above her desk. It replayed footage captured by a miniature drone of the Mark III transforming the Holy Shroud into a blade.
“I’ve seen the logs, but that’s redundant. The Holy Shroud simply cannot be unlocked without accessing the Astral Library.”
“It can’t?”
“No. It’s impossible. The last Devicer could only use the function twice in his entire career.”
“Um, okay?”
“What I want to know is what fancy trick you pulled to manage that during remote operation.”
Chloe stared straight into Yu’s eyes. He looked away awkwardly.
For a lab, the professor’s was surprisingly barren. Her spacious desk didn’t even have a mouse, only a thin monitor and keyboard. There were no documents, books, or references scattered across the floor, or anywhere for that matter. It was all digital. Everything could be instantaneously displayed with 2D or 3D holograms. In fact, the entire room was a motion-controlled computer. On the exterior, though, it was like a showroom, decorated with only the most fashionable furniture and tasteful decor. The dirty refugee camp had nothing on it.
The elegant room’s elegant owner exhaled. “I take it that means you’re clueless.”
“I’m sorry, it just kind of happened.”
“The queen...” Chloe muttered quietly to herself, “or the princess, I suppose I should say. Has she chosen him?”
“You mean the girl at the top of the observation tower?!” Yu blurted out.
“How do you know about her?”
“Uh, I...” He couldn’t help himself. “Sorry.”
The professor shrugged, unfazed. “Forget it, no need to explain. I think I can guess. Your nano-fitness levels have been climbing for a while now. It was only a matter of time before you got past security.”
“Aliya and Ijuin, maybe, but I’m nothing special.”
“The numbers say you’re right. But what if...” Her words trailed off. She produced a keycard from her lab coat pocket. “Here. Pay Her Highness a visit.”
“You’re just gonna let me?!”
“Yes. Allowing the two of you to meet may change something, and if that means I don’t need to protect her anymore then we’ll have no more reason to be here.” She flashed a devilish smirk. “What, you thought you were the only ones with a plan?”
Yu felt like he was walking on air. With both the professor and, by extension, Aliya on board with the escape plan, there was no reason left to hesitate. He arrived at the observation tower’s entrance before long and inserted the card into the slot next to the door. It slid right open.
“Yes!”
The place was barren, just like the time he and Ijuin had snuck in. Yu made straight for the elevator, rode it to the top, and approached the sleeper pod without delay. The elf girl slumbered before him.
“What is she?” he asked no one. “What even is a ‘Replicant?’”
“We are the keepers of the key of wisdom, the enlighteners of the child of man and elf—the Asura. Also, you look a bit lost. I believe I can help with that as well.”
Yu recoiled with a start. He’d heard a girl’s voice, clear as day. But how? He was the only one in the room. He looked at his right palm to see the ring of light glowing. Someone was communicating with him through the nano-augmented cells in his body. And that someone could be no one else.
Yu looked up at the pod. “Are you talking to me?”
“Indeed I am. I’ve been waiting for you—my fated one.”
The girl in the pod at last opened her eyes. They were sharp, almost almond-shaped, and distinctly elvish. But it wasn’t their beautiful, bright shade of blue that enchanted Yu. It was the power, the sheer spirit and passion that burned in them, unlike anything he’d seen before.