Kaguya turned away awkwardly. “That’s, well—I’m sorry for the mess my director has made… I’m afraid she can be very self-absorbed at times…”
Kaguya’s superior officer, the director of Technical Research Lab No. 2, was notorious for doing things a certain way.
“But…my answer remains the same. I’m against this transfer,” Kaguya objected, finding her backbone once again. “I don’t need to ‘forget about’ the transfer because I never knew about it in the first place. And since you don’t seem to want me there, either, why don’t we just…”
“Not so fast!” Mari interrupted. “Lieutenant, come with me for a second!”
She practically dragged Kaguya over to a corner and began whispering furtively to her.
“Don’t you remember talking to the director about a special ops squad?”
“I did? In Tactical Infantry?”
“Yes—the thing six years ago!”
“Six…?”
It only took Kaguya a moment to realize what Mari was referring to.
Six years ago. For Kaguya—no, everyone in the Extermination Bureau—that could mean only one thing.
The incident in Chiba when a lone hero decimated the prefecture in the blink of an eye. The ensuing explosion had completely wiped out the entire northern half of Chiba, along with every soul within it.
It was a tragedy. Unable to see heroes, the adults believed that the area had been struck by a meteor.
“You’re talking about the disaster six years ago…?” Kaguya asked Mari.
“Precisely! A group of children who survived the incident were brought together to form a small special ops squad. The one known as Charon…!”
The young men and women of Charon were the sole survivors from the incident. They had somehow managed to survive the devastation without a single scratch, despite being inside the blast’s radius.
These children were placed under surveillance, supposedly for their own protection, and eventually trained as an exclusive combat unit known as the Hero Extermination Bureau Tactical Infantry Branch Special Ops Squad—AKA, Charon. The word Charon meant “beauty” in ancient Greek. The squad survivors had apparently chosen that name for themselves out of irony.
But why had they, alone, been able to survive the hero’s attack? The reason still wasn’t clear. This lack of answers inspired fear and distrust among the Bureau. As a result, all members of the squad had been placed under “priority monitoring and review.”
Priority review was essentially a last warning within the Extermination Bureau. Any further incidents could lead to immediate “disposal.” It was not a status to be taken lightly.
“Why would a group like Charon be padding its ranks…?” Kaguya wondered.
“I don’t know! But something strange is clearly going on,” said Mari. “And why take people from Technical, of all places—?”
“Hey!” Azuma cut in. “I don’t know what you two are squawking about over there, but the order came from above. It’s time to go.”
“Fine… If that’s the way it has to go, then so be it,” said Kaguya, stepping protectively in front of Mari. “But why from Technical? We try to save heroes here, not kill them. You and I clearly have nothing in common.”
“If you say so,” said Azuma, not interested. An order was an order, after all. “It’s not like I want anything to do with a bunch of weirdos who spend their time chopping up heroes, either.”
Kaguya’s brow twitched. Azuma’s comment was clearly meant to be hurtful.
“You two are supposed to be soldiers, aren’t you? Technically speaking, at least,” Azuma added. “If you’ve got so much time to spare on personal hobbies and idle curiosity, why don’t you go pick up a weapon and join the fight instead? The only thing that matters when it comes to heroes is defeating them. There’s no arguing with that; it’s a fact.”
“Ridiculous… That kind of thinking is just begging for trouble…” Kaguya was not about to back down. “What happens when a hero you can’t defeat shows up? Like the one from six years ago? One that’s too powerful to fight? Not to mention that in a few years you won’t even be able to see them anymore. We need to find some way, before then, to address the root cause of the problem.”
It was Azuma’s turn to be quiet. Even he could see the writing on the wall.
“Besides…at the end of the day, heroes used to be human, too,” Kaguya added. “It’s not right to let them die as monsters.”
Heroes were humans once, just like they were.
“I’m not doing this work out of private interest or idle curiosity. I have convictions just like you do.”
“Heroes are homicidal monsters… Nothing more and nothing less.”
“Then you and I do not agree. Heroes were once human. That’s an absolute fact. So if—”
“Now, now,” said Sakura, intervening. She looked distressed. “We’re going to be on the same team soon. This is no time to start fighting. Azuma, you went too far. And Lieutenant Shinohara, it wouldn’t kill you to be a little more diplomatic.”
Azuma clicked his tongue, making it obvious how he felt. Kaguya also turned away, her face no less angry.
From this brief interaction, it was clear these two were never going to find common ground. Kaguya couldn’t relate to the extremism of Azuma and his squad, nor could Azuma see from Kaguya’s point of view.
“Sakura’s right; there’s no use bickering with the likes of you. This is a complete waste of time,” Azuma said coldly.
He began to walk away until his anger boiled over again. Then he turned around and addressed Kaguya one more time.
“Just remember, missy. The next time we meet, I’ll be your superior and you will be my subordinate officer. Trust me, you’re going to regret the things you’ve said today.”
“I’m sorry, was that power harassment just now, in broad daylight? Well, in that case, you can look forward to getting contacted by Personnel!”
“Running to HR to fight your battles for you? That’s cute. If you’ve got something to say, why don’t you say it to my face?”
“Guys, guys,” said Sakura, clutching her head. “You’re both acting like children.”
“Go tell that to Dr. Science over there.” Azuma turned on his heel and began to walk away.
“Wait a second!” Kaguya shouted after him before he could leave. “You never introduced yourself. What’s your name?”
“Yuuri Azuma, lead officer of Charon, the Hero Extermination Bureau Tactical Infantry Branch Special Ops Squad. My rank is captain,” he said, sounding extremely bored.
His mouth twisted into a smile, but his eyes remained cold.
“Welcome to the unit, Technical Lieutenant Kaguya Shinohara. I doubt you’ll be staying with us for long.”