It warranted no mention that Natsuki Hatano the kabukimono samurai girl and her katana-shaped monomolecular sword were an indomitable force on the day’s battleground. Dozens of merfolk were now nothing but rust upon her blade. Presently, though, there were no more fish people in need of slaying, so she had returned home with Yu.
It was twilight. The only light that remained was the last of the evening, and the setting sun’s reddish hue tinted the neighborhood trailer houses a dark orange. The provisional housing area had originally been planned for use as an emergency refuge, hence the mobility of the shelters that occupied it. Technically that was still what it was, just without the “provisional” and “emergency” aspects.
Two residences had been allocated to Yu and his friends. He and Ijuin shared one together, much to Ein’s annoyance, while she ultimately, and reluctantly, ended up rooming with Natsuki and several of her female acquaintances.
“Looks like we’re the first ones back,” Natsuki commented.
“It is the busiest time of day for the food stand,” said Yu. “We should be there helping them.”
It was right about dinner time, and bellies would be calling for food before the power went out at 2100. Natsuki, however, showed no inclination to get back up now that she had already sat down and thrown off her peony furisode—her “coat,” for all intents and purposes. The living room carpet was comfortable on her bare, leisurely crossed legs, the former quality standing out most uncomfortably to the young middle schooler.
Natsuki seemed to either not notice or, more likely, not care for his discomfort. “Eh, I already did work today. And you’ve been out hunting all day. Figured you’d be beat.”
“Well, yeah.”
“Then boy, do I have a proposition for you—you and me...doing absolutely nothing! All work and no play makes Yu a dull boy, y’know?”
The cramped trailer house offered little room for furniture, not even enough for a table and chairs. So Yu plopped down on the carpet like Natsuki. And it was only then that he realized that he’d never had the chance to be alone with her before.
“Think I’ll pull out something special for today,” she said. She reached over to a box by the wall—pretty much the only thing that could amount to her own private storage, given the circumstances—and rummaged through it, eventually pulling out a coffee mill and a jar of beans. Both rather rare sights in Nayuta.
“Oh, I’ll grind them for you,” Yu offered.
“Nuh-uh, you cook everything. I’ve got this one,” Natsuki insisted.
“If you say so.”
“Don’t get me wrong, though, I’d have no shame if this were anything even remotely more complicated.”
Natsuki put a kettle on, and while waiting for the water to boil, she ground a few handfuls of beans in the mill. The smell quickly became hard to resist. When the water started to boil, she replaced the paper filter on the coffee dripper, filled it with the powdered beans, and slowly poured the water through.
“Here.” Natsuki handed Yu a mug of the steaming black beverage.
He took a sip. “I don’t know what it is about someone brewing coffee for you that makes it taste...better. Maybe it’s just me.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s just you. I could always make it for myself, but I’m like, what’s the point? Feels a little empty. Bein’ alone.” She lifted her own mug to her lips.
Yu dared not take this rare opportunity for granted, and he savored every sip. After a long while, he set his empty cup on a tray on the carpet. Natsuki had long finished hers. Her taste for the drink was more than a little evident.
“So...” Yu fiddled with a question that had been on his mind for a while. “Where were you augmented, Natsuki?”
Their ages weren’t so far apart, really. They weren’t so different. She would have been studying for college entrance exams in any other time. Like any other seventeen-year-old.
“Same place as you guys, probably,” she said. “Went to school in Kyoto. They determined my nano-fitness during physicals. Without actually telling us they were probing for it, of course.”
“I remember hearing there was another nano-tech facility in the west.”
“Yup. Everyone with a high-enough number got rounded up and augmented. And then crazy things started happening to my body. Lucky me, right?”
Natsuki’s nanomachines manifested primarily in her physical abilities. In her strength, durability, eyesight, hearing... The effects of her augmentations were conspicuous and easily the most extensive out of everyone Yu knew. Natsuki was extraordinary, even without the Asura Frame.
“My dad was a stuntman, fun fact,” she said. “When he retired, he got into choreography, stage fighting, that sorta thing. He used to teach me kendo and how to box when I was a kid.”
“Wow,” said Yu. “Sounds like a cool dad.”
“So I was, y’know, always the tough girl. But the nanomachines made me into a straight-up action hero. And that’s how I felt. Like a superhero. All I needed was a shield to throw or a web to sling!”
Yu snorted. Her jokes reminded him of the way Ein would always cheer him up, but in a completely different way.
Natsuki’s shoulders dropped. “And then the Evacuation happened, and I think that sorta speaks for itself. Without any leaders, police, or military, it was up to me to protect my friends and family. From Anomalies. From people... No matter what.”
“You fought people?”
“Yup. It wasn’t very fun, I’ll tell ya that much!”
Yu hadn’t expected a straight answer. But it made sense. Not everyone had taken shelter with the Defense Force like he had. They had met Natsuki in a dissolute, lawless refugee town. There had been no elves, no local government, no militia, and certainly no surveillance droids.
Natsuki had said it well enough herself at the time.
“It was like, three whole seasons worth of drama.”
“Gave a few bad guys what for, maybe gave a few badder guys a little more.”
Humans were at least good at one thing—constantly fighting with each other.
Her carefree smile returned. “I’ve done a lot of thinking about who I was back then. Ultimately, I decided it was time for a bit of a class change. And so I evolved from ‘high school girl’ to ‘defender of the people’!”
The people. There it was again. The very thing plaguing Yu’s mind.
He straightened his back and looked Natsuki in the eye. “What does ‘defender’ mean to you?” he asked.
“I’m strong,” she replied. “So I protect people who aren’t. Everyone. And my pay for a job well done is just a simple ‘thank you.’” Natsuki thought for a moment before correcting herself. “Not that I’ll turn a donation down or anything! But what I mean is that’s not what I do it for.”
“I...” Yu’s voice was hoarse. “I don’t know if I can be that kind of person. There are so many people in the world, and they say bad things, and they hurt my friends. It’s just, I don’t know if I can bring myself to risk my life for them.”
Last June, Kanto became the bottom of the ocean. The heart of Tokyo was lost, the government in shambles, and ever since, Yu had only been betrayed by the adults in his life.
Like the military. They abandoned the people and left them to die while demanding respect and authority, all the while abusing them in Maizuru.
Like the barbarians who would have rather bickered and pointed their guns at each other than the Anomalies.
Like the racists who rejected any incongruence with their own little bubbles. Who treated Ein, Aliya, and all the other elves with blatant disrespect. Who were too blind to see the potential for friendship and family, simply because of a petty difference in race.
“I don’t think I’m cut out to be a hero,” Yu confessed. “I can’t say the things the last Devicer Three could. I can’t pretend to fight for ‘my people and country’ like he always talked about in the interviews.”
“Hey, that makes two of us.”
“And I just... I don’t like killing. Even someone who’s supposed to be my enemy,” he said. “So I think, if I really do plan on being Number Three, then I need to be something else. Something other than some random middle schooler. I need to become something more than I am.”
Yu and Ein had once talked about masked heroes before. She had told him something then that he hadn’t quite understood. That she was witnessing the birth of something incredible. But Yu didn’t know if he could meet those expectations—to become something greater than she could possibly imagine.
Yu noticed the prolonged silence. “Is everything all right, Natsuki?”
“Yeah, uh. Just thinking a little,” she laughed. “You know, I think you’re onto something. Yeah, all that cliché ‘I’ll fight for myself, my way’ crap’s old news these days! I really like the way you think!”
Here Yu was, opening up about his struggles, and his confidant was smiling? And it wasn’t a comforting smile either. It was the exact same grin Natsuki had on her face at pretty much any given moment, but there was something more to it. It was an expression of willful defiance against these dark times. An invitation to be one of the few who smiled in the face of adversity.
And a statement of respect for the man called Yu Ichinose.
“I might be starting to get what Ein sees in you,” Natsuki said.
“What do you mean?” Yu asked with a puzzled expression.
“Oh, stop. Loosen up a little, we’re friends now! Use that big brain your girlfriend likes to brag about all the time, will ya? C’mere!”
Natsuki yanked Yu directly into her bosom.
“Owowow! That hurts! Also, y-your chest!”
“What about it? Hush and let your big sis rub that smart head o’ yours! Lemme mess up that hair, you rascal!”
Perhaps noogies were simply Natsuki’s love language, but Yu was finding it hard to appreciate with his face pressed against her less than subtle bust, and her meager tank top and hot pants did very little to suppress the soft sensation of her skin.