All of it. Their friends who had turned into heroes; the countless deaths that had occurred at the hands of heroes; the family members who had been taken away from them. Everything. Not one of them had been spared the sorrow, so all eyes were fixed on the creature now, ready to see how it ended.
Kaguya wielded her gun with a flourish, ready to deliver that conclusion. The cold look in her eyes made it hard to believe she was really a scientist. Those eyes were also clouded by pity, ever too kind—but that lasted for a mere moment. She then pointed her gun at the head of the faltering Goddess and pulled the trigger.
Gunpowder exploded inside the body of the gun, and the ordinary bullet that had been loaded inside hurled forward at a speed of 250 meters per second. The body of the gun was swept with a wave of heat and force beyond what any human body could withstand. Despite this, the trigger did its duty.
The gun had long since grown used to and had accepted this experience, but it suffered all the same. Just because it was used to the pain and heat did not mean it felt it any less.
Which was precisely why they wanted to choose who they defeated.
They couldn’t point themselves toward other heroes. They had refused those who had attempted to make them do so until now by rebounding, although there were still those they could not refuse.
But if it was to strike at their enemy? If it was revenge?
As if it recognized Kaguya. As if it gave permission. As if it called out to her: Use me—use me to kill the Goddess—
The bullet passed through the barrel of the gun and shot out into space. For the one pulling the trigger, this seemed like an unremarkable act. For the one being fired, however, it was an act of desperate courage—it was blistering, all-consuming pain. A gunshot spat out that pain.
At that moment, there was a high-pitched scream and an explosive rupture. The Goddess crumpled to the ground.
Once the massive Goddess collapsed, silence fell.
Everyone was exhausted and in shock.
For Haru, this had been her first time ever seeing a Goddess—in fact, it was the first time for almost everyone there. It had resembled a bee, but was it a living creature? Despite the similarities, it was quite different from a real bee; the resemblance seemed forced.
Haru knew it was her enemy, but instead of hatred, she just felt empty inside. Who would have thought these creatures were so easy to defeat?
Even now, nothing about their situation had really changed.
“Hah… That was a surprise.”
Haru turned around. Kaguya was breathing heavily, and seemed to be in pain, but she forced herself to smile.
“You…you always look so cool and detached, but you’re actually quite the firecracker…aren’t you?”
“I could say the same for you… I guess you’re not a princess so much as a lady knight.”
“Ha-ha… I don’t know about that… I think I ran too hard…”
“You should work on your stamina if you’re going to go the route of a knight. It would be a shame to let all that go to waste.”
“Go to waste…?”
“Your courage. You’ve got surprising guts.”
She used to think Kaguya was the princess and Azuma was her knight in shining armor, but maybe she had things backward. If Kaguya had chosen to fight…
“If you’re the knight…,” said Haru, slowly glancing in Azuma’s direction, “then maybe that would make him the real princess.”
Haru had meant it as a joke, of course, but Kaguya burst out laughing as if that was the funniest thing she’d ever heard. Kaguya’s laughter was infectious; for the first time since arriving at Charon, Haru smiled.
Suzume Amayuri was immediately taken away by ambulance. Azuma was also too injured to ignore at this point, and was to be taken to a military hospital. His wound wasn’t that deep, though—and maybe they had a personal grudge against him now, because he was left lying in the dirt, completely ignored.
I guess I had that coming…, thought Azuma.
How had Azuma made it to Yoyogi Park, and why had he decided to come? The how was simple: he had simply threatened the driver of the transport vehicle while he was being taken to the hospital. He had left it up to the driver’s final judgment in the end, so it wasn’t really a threat, but of course he had wrapped an arm around the driver’s neck, which some might construe as an act of violence…
As for why he had decided to do something like this in the first place…
The first reason was that Major Mirai had contacted him to let him know that a suspicious fog had appeared in the park, and that communication with Rindou had been lost as soon as the fog appeared.
However, Mirai hadn’t contacted Azuma because she wanted to send him in as well.
“I just imagined it must be tough for you not knowing what’s going on out there,” she said, figuring she should at least fill him in. “We adults really are useless, aren’t we?”
Azuma could hear her shaky voice clearly in his mind.
“We can’t even watch, all we can do is make contact like this from far away.”
Hence why Mirai felt she should at least let him know what was happening. Obviously she wasn’t going to ask someone who was injured to go into battle, but she must have thought it was too cruel to wait until he was in a hospital bed and it was all over to give him the news.
The other reason he had gone was because of the audio recording he had heard.
The way Kaguya had sounded when she screamed “Wait!!” didn’t even sound like her.
After hearing that voice, Azuma had decided to go. It wasn’t that he didn’t have faith in them, and yes, he was still scared of turning into a hero. But it didn’t matter.
Because he was Charon’s captain.
Fear was nothing to be embarrassed about. Azuma understood that now. But he still didn’t want to become the kind of person who averted his eyes because he was afraid of loss; he didn’t want to use that as an excuse not to fight.
Besides, even if he did turn into an aberration, there was someone there to stop it. She was there then, and she was here now.
“Captain Azuma…”
Kaguya had approached at some point. Her expression visibly changed when she saw how covered in blood he was.
“What were you thinking…?” she asked.
Kaguya crouched down next to Azuma. They made eye contact.
“Actually,” she said, “I guess you figured out the dilemma we were in.”
“Yeah. I spoke to Major Mirai.”
“I know you’re not the type to stay away, Captain Azuma.” Her gaze was directed at Azuma’s wound. “But are you sure it was such a good idea to come? You’re pretty hurt…”
“Of course. If anything, I feel guilty for not coming in the first place, with a little scratch like this.”
“It’s…more than just a little scratch.” Kaguya smiled. Gratitude, with perhaps some exasperation mixed in. “In any case, thank you for coming…for saving me. Even if it was a surprise.”
“From the way you reacted, you could have fooled me.”
“Hmph. It’s not my fault you’re so persistent, Captain,” she said.
A moment later she gasped softly in realization.
“Speaking of which, everything seemed all right earlier.”
“What do you mean…?”
“Remember, you saved me when I was almost hit by that hero attack. We came into pretty close contact when that happened, but you didn’t have any of your symptoms, did you?”
“I guess not.”
Azuma had lost everything from his knees down at that point. He had pulled Kaguya toward him to protect her when that ax had come flying.
And then.
“…”
Azuma pursed his lips shut, remembering what he had done after that.
It must have been the adrenaline from being injured, and the stress of battle, but now that it was over the memory left him feeling tongue-tied. Ordinarily, he would have never done something like that.
Although, no…at the time, it couldn’t be helped. If I hadn’t done that, the lieutenant would have died…and besides, it’s important to keep your field of vision open when you’re wielding a gun. Obviously.
Kaguya seemed a little confused by Azuma’s silence as he sat there, making excuses for himself. She soon clapped her hands together in understanding.
“The symptoms must not be a problem during battle, what with all the other stresses happening. This is an important discovery!”
“Of course…”
Let’s just leave it at that, thought Azuma.
“All the same, Azuma, it was pretty impressive how you could find the hero. Sound barely traveled at all in that fog. Wait. Was there something special about the sound of its egg?”
“No. Sometimes there are little differences, but the sound of the eggs don’t really change that much between heroes.”
“So then, how…?”
As Kaguya stared at him blankly, Azuma flashed a teasing grin. Finally, some payback.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
It wasn’t the pulsing of the hero’s egg he had been listening to. It was the sound of the egg inside Kaguya.
But I’m not about to tell her that.
He recognized it immediately. Hers was the sound he knew best. Better than anyone’s.