by Shouji Gatou
The International Exhibition Center was in sight. But just as Kaname was wondering why they’d come here...
“Is that it?” Sousuke whispered.
She turned her eyes forward, following his gaze. Just ahead of them and slightly to the right—what he might call 2 o’clock—a cylindrical capsule hung in the air, dangling from three parachutes. It was descending from the sky, heading for the cluster of giant silver buildings that made up the Exhibition Center.
“I’ve seen that before...” Kaname remembered it from North Korea. The capsule was designed to burst in midair and release the AS inside.
“Not good,” Sousuke muttered. “It’s completely exposed.”
Hoh... hoh hoh hoh... The Behemoth had seen the capsule, too. Letting out its muffled laughter, it changed the aim of its machine cannons. White streaks tore through the air...
A direct hit. The parachutes were shredded, and the wires holding it were cut. The capsule, now riddled with holes, crashed into the Center with a shower of metal fragments. There had been no explosion, but...
“They got it!” Kaname cried out.
“No, not yet,” Tessa said, her tone confident. “It would take more than that to destroy that machine. Sagara-san?”
“Roger,” he replied. “Chidori, I need a favor.”
“Huh?” Kaname asked, startled by the request. “What favor?”
“Drive.” Sousuke released the wheel and opened the driver’s side door.
“What?! I’m just in high school! I don’t know how to drive!” Kaname argued, grabbing the abandoned wheel in panic. They were nearing an overpass that would temporarily hide the truck from view. “Can’t you have Kurz-kun do it?!”
“There’s no time. It’s up to you,” he said, then jumped out of the truck. He threw himself clear and rolled along the ground, getting further away as Kaname watched. The Behemoth, not noticing Sousuke’s move, simply vaulted the overpass in pursuit of the truck.
“What the hell is he doing?!” Kaname shrieked.
“Turn, Kaname!” Kurz called.
Kaname, now in the driver’s seat, instinctively yanked the wheel to the right. The truck plowed into the intersection in front of the Center and veered, tires squealing, despite the red light. Fortunately, it was late enough at night that there was nobody there to hit them.
But I can’t drive a car! Kaname thought. She was just about to slam the brakes when Tessa shouted at her from behind, “Keep driving! If we stop, we’re dead!”
Kaname groaned. Tessa was right, of course—That impossibly huge, reckless AS was still after them. If they stopped, they’d be crushed underfoot, and it would all be over. This is too crazy, she thought. Should I jump out and run? No, I can’t do that now. Besides—
“Whatever! Just don’t blame me later!” Kaname slammed her foot on the gas.
What a complicated building, Sousuke thought. The International Exhibition Center was made up of several layers of intricately laid out floors, which opened out onto vast interior spaces. He ended up having to take bizarre detours just to get from one floor to another, and many of the routes ended up in shuttered dead ends. In the end he decided to shoot his way through glass, grenade his way through shutters, and all-in-all force his way to the capsule’s landing site. He passed in front of a “West Hall” sign, and at the bottom of a frozen escalator, he found the capsule he was after.
There it is! he thought. The hall was enormous, large enough to fit an entire other building inside. The capsule lay on its side at the center, riddled with smoking holes. It was about the size of a fuel truck’s tank and surrounded by fragments of metal framework and glass—a result of its breaking through the roof on its way down. Sousuke took the escalator three steps at a time and ran to the capsule. The AS should be inside it. White smoke wafted from the bullet holes.
The lever to trigger its explosive bolts should be here somewhere... he thought frantically. But it wasn’t. Sousuke spent ten seconds circling the capsule, desperately searching, but he couldn’t find the panel for the manual release.
Is it... underneath? The capsule might have fallen with the release panel down. That meant there was no way to break it open—Which meant the AS was locked inside!
Even after taking a flurry of 30-millimeter shots, the capsule remained tightly shut. There was no way he’d be able to pry it open himself. His gun wouldn’t do him any good; he had no explosives and only one grenade.
Could he use the grenade to turn the capsule over? There was no way to be sure, but Sousuke couldn’t afford to hesitate. Every moment he wasted here was a moment the giant would spend chasing Kaname and the others. It could tear them apart any second.
I’ll just have to try it. Sousuke made up his mind, took the pin out of the grenade, and shoved it between the capsule and the floor. He released the lever and ran away. A few seconds later, it exploded.
The large capsule rocked. Sousuke held his breath. The metal tube tilted just a bit... then returned to its original position.
Just pretend you’re in a go-kart, Kaname told herself. You can handle some silly car. Though it’s a good thing kei trucks are automatics...
“Yeah... that’s right...” she realized. The path ahead was a straightaway with good visibility. If she kept driving that way, that thing would hit them with its machine gun barrage. She had to get them somewhere with more cover!
“Turning now!” Kaname yelled to her passengers. She jerked the wheel as hard as she could. There was a sturdy gate blocking the entrance to the Center’s parking lot, to keep cars from coming in overnight. She couldn’t afford to hit it. She turned the wheel again; the truck plowed through the roadside bushes and smashed through the fence.
It was a miracle that they didn’t end up tumbling. The car rocked up and down and back and forth, and the wheel jerked back at her in protest. Kaname felt a dull pain in her right hand; the rebellious wheel had jammed her thumb.
She swallowed the pain; she didn’t have time to think about it now. Breaking through all those obstacles had slowed the truck down, and the Behemoth’s feet were coming closer and closer. It blacked out the sky—
“Go faster!” Kurz urged her.
“I’m trying!” Kaname screamed back. The tip of the giant’s toe grazed the back of the truck, shaving off the license plate. The kei truck wheezed in protest, but valiantly picked up speed. The wall of the Center, like a warehouse scaled up a few dozen times, grew larger in her vision. She just managed to avoid a collision with the outer wall. The truck’s left side scraped it, but Kaname managed to regain control, continuing to rocket around the building’s lengthy perimeter. “If we stay here... it’ll shoot us!” she insisted.
“Get us inside! Break through a shutter!” Kurz shouted, pounding on the partition between the bed and the cabin.
The Behemoth fired. The shots pulverized the wall next to them; razor-sharp shards embedded themselves in the passenger seat—uninhabited now, but the place Kaname had been sitting just minutes ago. Rather than chilling, she found it funny.
A hesitant laughter leaked from her throat. Her awareness expanded. She felt alive. The flying shards of glass and asphalt seemed to slow, and even though Kurz and Tessa were behind her, she felt like she could see them.
The pain in Kaname’s thumb was gone now. She skillfully turned the wheel, yanked the parking brake for an instant, and forced the car into a sideways slide. It felt like the most natural thing in the world.
Gas again. Keep moving. Giant coming. Still okay. The kei truck sped toward the Center’s shutters. I can do it. I can do it. I know I can do it.
The shutters came closer, closer—Impact. Her vision went black. The shutter had proven tougher than expected. She hadn’t had time to buckle her seatbelt before, so her head had slammed into the steering wheel with enough force to cause a depressed fracture.
And yet... the truck had broken through and come clear into the Center. The muffler must have fallen out, causing the space around them to ech
o with the rumble of the exhaust.
Despite her hazy consciousness, Kaname kept her foot on the gas, but the kei truck’s endurance seemed to have hit its limit. The gears must have gotten fouled up, and she couldn’t pick up any speed.
The hall itself was large enough to hold a cargo ship. She couldn’t see any exhibits, just darkness—a vast, open ocean of nothing. Inertia carried them some way through the dark, and then at last, the car stopped.
“Tessa? Hey, Tessa?!” Kurz cried out.
Tessa was lying limp in the truck bed. Kaname couldn’t tell if she was unconscious or dead, but there was blood trickling down her forehead.
Kaname’s own head was feeling fuzzy. She felt like the world around her was pulling away. What... is this? I’ve felt this way before...
“Ah...” She heard a creaking from the wall and the ceiling behind her. Steel was ripped, concrete was broken, and moonlight came pouring in.
A bucket-shaped head and two hollow eyes—through a newly-made fissure in the outer wall, the Behemoth looked down at them, head tilted. All done now? it seemed to say.
“No more games...” Takuma whispered after a small, trembling breath. Inside the cockpit, his lower half was soaked with blood—blood from his wound. His eyes wouldn’t quite focus; the letters on the screen were blurry.
You’ve certainly prolonged the inevitable, he thought. But now, it’s over. I’m going to crush you, and the time I wasted will all be worth it. My wound will heal then, too; I’m sure of it.
The AI offered a warning. 《Lambda driver Function A decreasing. Interference occurring in skeletal structure.》 The machine was beginning to make sounds of protest, groaning and trembling.
Not good. Need to focus. Takuma shook his head a little and redirected his consciousness back into his body, filling every inch of it. The machine couldn’t work without that.
《Function A restored.》
Good. He worked his machine arms and legs to pry away more of the Center’s outer wall. Then he took a step inside.
The kei truck containing Testarossa and the others showed no sign of taking off again; it seemed to have broken down entirely. She herself was lying in the bed of the truck, apparently unconscious, in the arms of another man, a Caucasian. It was the man who had defied him with the rifle before—He would have to die, as well.
The driver’s side door opened and Chidori Kaname got out. With one hand pressed to her head, she staggered, and grabbed the truck bed for support.
Injured, is she? Serves her right, Takuma thought. Then he realized something: Sagara Sousuke wasn’t there.
Where is he? He should have been in the driver’s seat... He has to be there! If I can’t squash him, what’s the point?!
“Where is Sagara Sousuke?” he boomed through the Behemoth’s speakers.
Chidori Kaname didn’t answer.
But I know she can hear me! Takuma thought furiously. “Speak!” he demanded. “Where has Sagara Sousuke gone?”
The ant-sized Chidori Kaname took a shaky step forward and looked up at Takuma. She was trying to say something. He turned his machine’s high-sensitivity directional microphone toward her.
“—hell should I know, idiot? Why don’t you ask your big sister?”
Takuma’s complexion purpled. Fine, then. You can die. I was a fool to even ask!
He turned his head-mounted machine cannons toward her and the others. They tensed up, as if resigned to their fate. Perhaps it’s for the best that Testarossa is unconscious... I’ll tear them to shreds and then step on them... Yes, there won’t be a single glob of flesh remaining...
“Die,” Takuma said simply, and squeezed the trigger. He felt a powerful impact. His head snapped hard to the right. It wasn’t recoil from the cannons; something else had—
Takuma was baffled. His head had taken fire from the side. And it wasn’t simply machine gun fire; it was bigger. Yes, like an AS—
“You called?” said a voice.
Takuma turned his head.
On the roof of the Exhibition Center’s north side, kneeling in the moonlight was a lone AS. It held a short-barreled shotcannon in one hand, which it had pointed at the Behemoth.
What? he wondered.
Its body was pure white, its silhouette powerful yet elegant. It looked less like a weapon and more like an object of worship. Where its mouth would be was a large hardpoint for holding a weapon, bringing to mind a ninja with a scroll in its mouth.
“Licking your chops in front of your prey... It’s a third-rate move,” came a voice from its external speakers—the voice of Sagara Sousuke.
“What did you say?” Takuma demanded.
“I’ll take you on. Come on and try me.” The white AS, its shotcannon still pointed, beckoned him with just the index finger of its other hand. Like it was mocking him...
Who does he think he is? He thinks he can beat me with that minuscule machine?! A dark fire began to burn in Takuma’s chest. “Very well, then,” he said coldly. The Behemoth turned and charged the white AS.
He’d just made it in time. Safe inside the cockpit of the ARX-7 Arbalest, Sousuke breathed a sigh of relief.
The grenade had failed to move the capsule containing the machine, but it must have nudged the explosive bolts just past the threshold; just as Sousuke was ready to sink into despair, they had activated, and the capsule’s outer plates had gone flying. He had been dumbstruck, naturally.
Inside, the Arbalest was safe and sound. It had taken hits in places, but nothing was compromised, thanks to its cutting-edge armor. The drive system had a few complaints about the damage from the fall, but that was it.
The enormous AS, the Behemoth, tore through the Center on its way toward him. It was surprisingly nimble for its size.
《Proximity alert!》 shouted Al, the Arbalest’s AI.
I know, Sousuke thought. The approaching enemy machine, rushing toward him with arms outstretched like a hostile tsunami, was taking up the entirety of his screen.
Silently, Sousuke braced the shotcannon with both of his machine’s arms to reduce recoil, and pulled the trigger. The Arbalest’s palms transmitted a high-voltage percussion signal to the shotcannon, causing it to fire on full automatic. The rat-at-at-at-at-at echoed through the air until he’d emptied its entire stock.
Any one of the depleted uranium APFSDSes could destroy an armored truck with one shot, and he’d fired six in all... but it was naïve of him to think that that would be enough.
The air in front of the Behemoth warped. An invisible wall repelled all of his shells, causing each of the six shots to burst into futile sparks. Sousuke was stunned.
A giant arm was swinging down. The Arbalest just managed to dodge it with a leap to the side. The hit tore through a part of the roof, sending more fragments and dust showering down.
Is this...?! Sousuke recognized it. Two months ago, he’d been in combat with an AS that had possessed the same powers; its so-called “lambda driver” let it create strange force fields just like that. He didn’t know how it worked, exactly, but it was apparently capable of repelling any and all physical attacks.
Rolling down the roof of the Center, the Arbalest pulled from its underarm equipment rack an anti-tank dagger—a powerful throwing knife that came packed with a shaped charge. He threw it with a whip-like underhand, aiming right at the Behemoth’s neck.
But the dagger, again, detonated without contact. Another deflection. I’ll need more, he thought.
“Hoh hoh...”
The Behemoth laughed as it fired its head-mounted machine cannons. 30-millimeter shells rained down from the sky. The Arbalest weaved through the barrage—if the kei truck could do it, this machine certainly could—then stuck another clip into its spent shotcannon.
Projectiles won’t work on it, Sousuke realized. Just how am I supposed to beat it, then?
It’s back, Kaname thought. This sensation—this dark, heavy, strange feeling of floating. How many times has it been, now? She’d found herself he
re several times in these last two months. Sometimes it was just before she woke up in the morning, sometimes during class... while she was resting, in the bath, and a few other times.
She hadn’t told anyone: not Kyoko, not Sousuke. If someone pointed it out, she’d just waved it off with, “I’m not feeling well.” But that wasn’t the real reason.
It’s here. Is it because I decided he needed it? When did I think that?
It’s back... baback, it’s baback... Backackack... Somewhere inside of her, something was pushing its way to the fore; something with the power of words. If she let it run rampant, it would completely take her over... a whispering voice. Cacalling callingling call Callingling youcalled?
It sounds just like my voice, Kaname thought. And then, a voice just like mine, mine, mimimine, as her thoughts and the voice blended together.
Shut up, she thought frantically.
Shushut upup. Gegege tout, get out. Die. Hey, die, the voice went on.
Shut up, she thought at it again.
Shutshutup, shut up really? Eally really? Need me memeneed, didn’t you? the voice responded.
Yes. I need you, Kaname admitted. You taught me that, didn’t you?
Sosososuke Sousuke will die unless you dododo something he’ll diedie didie. Poor baby!
Why can’t you just talk normally? Kaname demanded.
Let me tatalk talk then. Open upupup. Surrender. Go on and die, the voice coaxed. Little, justa lilittle.
Kaname clutched at her head, clamped a hand to her mouth, tore at her shirt.
Don’t get smart... just tell me, Kaname thought back. What is it about that giant? What kills him? What should he do?
Don’t you fefeel sick? the voice replied.
Yeah... I feel awful. Now answer me. I won’t lose. Wowon’t lose. Ah... Kaname winced.
Can’t cacan’t do it. Kaname, you cacan’t do it, dummy, the voice told her.