Approximately two months had passed since Charon had severed connections with Kaguya Shinohara.
The number of heroes was steadily decreasing. Naturally, as the larval hero forms diminished in numbers, so too did the adult Goddesses. At this point, they were only encountering about one hero per month. The frequency continued to drop, and the prospect of total extermination was now in sight.
The members of Charon had started to think differently, their minds naturally turning to what might come next—after the Extermination Bureau was totally gone.
“…”
That included Koyuki.
She was still lying in her bunk bed in the new barracks, in the room she shared with Haru. Koyuki was on the bottom bunk this time around.
On that particular morning, after waking up, Koyuki just didn’t feel like moving. As she lay in bed, a voice called out to her from above.
“Koyuki, what are you doing?”
“Oh… Haru.”
At some point, Koyuki had just started calling Haru by her first name instead of her title. She slowly got out of bed. After getting herself ready, she left the room, somehow managing to drag her feet to the meeting hall, where everyone was gathering today.
They were all present—their Chronoses already placed on the table.
That’s right. Today was the day they were going to destroy the remaining Chronoses.
Charon’s numbers had dwindled, and there were plans to dissolve the unit entirely in the near future. The formalities were still a month away, but the Chronoses were no longer being used.
The looks on everyone’s faces were complicated.
The pair of brass knuckles. The anti-materiel-class rifle, which had been propped up against the table, was too large to fit on top. Two handguns. And Azuma’s katana.
Koyuki had spent a little time investigating the weapons. She hadn’t been able to find out their names, but she had learned their ages and sexes. The brass knuckles used by Rindou had once been a twelve-year-old boy. The anti-materiel-class rifle used by Koyuki had been an eighteen-year-old girl. And the handgun she used had been a seventeen-year-old boy.
Of course, they knew who was in Azuma’s weapon. The gun that Kaguya had used once upon a time, meanwhile, had been a sixteen-year-old boy.
“Let’s get started. We’ll use this gun to destroy them… I know watching this will be painful for some of you, so feel free to leave if you need to.”
However, no one left. Even Haru, who had almost no involvement with the Chronoses, remained in the room.
Normal bullets worked fine. He loaded the Chronos gun, cocked the hammer, and lined up the sights. He placed his finger on the trigger.
Just as he was about to fire the gun and destroy the first Chronos—
“Wait,” Koyuki said, stopping him. A thought had just occurred to her. “What…will we do for this one?” She meant the gun in Azuma’s hand. “Chronoses can only be destroyed by other Chronoses, right? Then how will we free the person trapped inside the last Chronos?”
“I figured we could induce a hero to destroy it,” Azuma said offhandedly. He had already given the matter some thought.
He had never even considered leaving either Koyuki’s or Rindou’s weapons for last. It felt right that they should destroy them themselves. He had chosen the gun instead out of purely personal feelings—favoritism, essentially. He didn’t want to make Sakura suffer any longer than she had to.
“Once this is done, everything will be over. All of it…”
And then he pulled the trigger.
It took two shots to reduce Rindou’s brass knuckles to smithereens.
The anti-materiel-class rifle took a little more work, requiring three shots to get it into a state that could finally qualify as being destroyed.
The other handgun, the one that had been wielded by Koyuki, was soon shattered into pieces as well, leaving behind silence.
That left only one weapon to destroy.
“Sakura.”
The katana-shaped Chronos that Azuma had been using, which even now supposedly contained Sakura’s consciousness.
They were all there to see Sakura off in her final moments—Rindou, Koyuki, and even Haru, who had never even met Sakura. Koyuki realized that unbidden tears had risen to her eyes. Rindou turned his face away. Apparently, even he was crying… This farewell would be forever.
But it’s better this way.
They couldn’t leave Sakura in pain any longer.
There was a cocking sound as Azuma readied the pistol. His hand trembled ever so slightly, but he quickly got himself under control.
“Farewell, Sakura.”
The sound of the gunshot was surprisingly soft as the katana split in two.
Sakura Arakawa was finally free of this world.
“Oh, look! They’ve changed the menu! When did that happen…?!” shouted a young woman with scarlet hair and pale violet eyes.
It was Lieutenant Kaguya Shinohara. Her eyes went wide with excitement.
They were in the cafeteria at Technical No. 3. She opened the menu, her attention fixated on one item in particular. And that item was…
“A limited-time, seasonal pasta set…?! And it says it’s back by popular demand. I don’t remember this being on the menu before…”
“They had it while you were asleep. They just brought it back last week, so I guess you’re in luck.”
Lieutenant Kaguya Shinohara was taking a late lunch together with her junior colleague, Warrant Officer Mari Ezakura.
About seventy days had passed since Kaguya had woken up. During that time, she learned that she had lost her memory, had once been in a place called Technical Research Lab No. 2—which had been abolished—and had learned Technical No. 3 was newly established to take its place. At first, Kaguya had been very confused, but Mari had been patiently teaching her everything she needed to know, so she now had a basic grip on things once again.
“So we were trying to turn heroes back into humans…”
She still found it hard to believe they had actually been carrying out that sort of research.
She had forgotten about the existence of heroes as well. When she saw videos of the creatures, they just seemed like monsters to her. She certainly couldn’t see how they could possibly be turned back into humans again.
“But you already succeeded, right?”
“Yes, thanks to the Director’s hard work.”
According to Mari, a lot of things happened while Kaguya was in her coma.
First of all, there had been the death of this person known as the Director. She had supposedly died in an accident related to the weapons known as Chronoses.
Unfortunately, as Kaguya’s knowledge of the Director was purely intellectual, she was unable to feel any acute sense of sadness over that person’s death. She did feel oddly forlorn about it, however.
From what Mari told her, this Director had taken Kaguya under her wing. The Director had been carrying out research into the Chronoses but had died before she could finish.
“She could be all over the place at times…but she was a very good person. I suppose you don’t remember her, though…”
“…”
“Oh! I shouldn’t have said that. I can’t imagine how it must make you feel.”
“N-no… It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”
From what Kaguya had been told, there were only three people stationed at Technical No. 2 to begin with. After the Director’s accidental death and with Kaguya in a coma, Mari must have been all alone over there.
“I’m impressed. It’s amazing that you were able to accomplish all of this on your own.”
“Well, actually… I mean, yes, I suppose.”
It sounded like Mari had been about to say something but then thought better of it. After a moment, she thrust her chest out with pride.
“It was so hard! I had to struggle so much to get by, with nothing to go on but the little bit of information the Director had left behind. I really wish you had been there to see it.”
“Ha-ha, I would have liked that.” Kaguya meant it. She would have loved to have seen what Mari was capable of. “But…if what you said is true, we already know how to turn the heroes back into humans, right? So why does Technical even still exist?”
A frown, part distress and part sadness, appeared on Mari’s face.
“I told you about the Goddesses, right?”
“The Goddesses? Oh, the creatures that turn humans into heroes, right…? They were originally humans, too, weren’t they?”
“They were. I’m working on a different project now. I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way to turn Goddesses back into humans.”
Kaguya tried to look impressed. “Wow, Mari, that’s incredible. If anyone can do it, I know it’s you! Give it your best!”
“Ha-ha… I guess I should have expected that…” Mari smiled, although, for some reason, she looked closer to tears. “Anyway, I’ll try. But I still expect you to help, Kaguya.”
“You can count on me. Not that I have any idea about what needs to be done!”
Kaguya laughed in what she meant to be a self-deprecating way. After all, she really couldn’t remember a thing.
Well, not exactly. She still had her semantic memory—the kind of stuff required for daily living. That was why the information entered her head so easily when Mari started teaching her the basics. But even now, she didn’t understand why any of it was supposed to be significant for her. She knew she had been working on something called the Revival Project—but none of that felt real to her. It just didn’t seem very important.
She turned her eyes toward the cafeteria menu.
“All these options look so delicious. Which one was my favorite before?”
“Hmm? Well… I wouldn’t really say you had a favorite. Or I guess I could say all of them.”
“Of course,” Kaguya muttered absently, not really meaning anything by it.
“There wasn’t really any food you didn’t like, to be honest. You even cooked for yourself sometimes.”
“Really? I did?”
Kaguya was somewhat interested to hear that. She wondered what kind of food she used to make.
“You know, things like instant noodles or microwavable pasta.”
“I’m not sure that really qualifies as cooking.”
“And lots of soup in pouches. You know, the kind you heat up in the microwave.”
“Ah…” Kaguya’s thoughts began to wander. “Now that you mention it, I do remember something like that. In retort pouches, right? I remember I was heating it up like you’re supposed to, but there was someone else who just threw the whole pouch into a fry pan.”
Kaguya was piecing together her words as she spoke. Her attention, along with her eyes, was still pointed toward the menu in front of her, and she wasn’t investing much significance in what she was saying.
“After that, they tried to stick some eggs straight into the microwave as well. Isn’t that funny?”
Mari was sitting next to Kaguya. With her eyes still on the menu, Kaguya didn’t notice the look on Mari’s face. It was only after glancing up because Mari wasn’t responding that she noticed the look of fear in Mari’s eyes.
“That’s… Who are you talking about…?”
“What?”
Kaguya was taken aback. Why was Mari reacting so strangely?