by Kamiya Yuu
That was the five-storied pagoda, one of the iconic places of Kyoto.
“…Hm, I guess it’s really as impressive as they say. That guy’s ‘advice’ is only useful here.”
Marie grimaced as she opened the hand drawn tourist map.
At a corner of that paper was a signature of crude handwriting, ‘Naoto Miura’.
When she asked him what she and Halter should do while he was having his remedials, his reply was,
“Well, go on a tourist trip like a student staying overseas.’
And he handed over this drawn piece of paper as he said this.
This piece of paper listed the 12 most iconic tourist attractions in Kyoto.
—But that’s just how they seem on the surface They’re all ‘Clock Towers’.
They were not items simply used to tell time. These are the 12 pillars supporting the environment pillars of this Grid Kyoto—the ‘clock tower’.
And this five-storied pagoda was once of them.
A 20m tall wooden Buddhist tower.
As an important facility related to the functions of the city, its existence was actually as classified information for the ‘military’.In this sense, the appearance was simply that of a monastery building befitting of a tourist attraction, but the inside was completely modified into a clockwork installlation.
Marie stared at this perfect disguise that would have fooled anyone if not for Naoto mentioning it, and pulled out a small instrument from her slingbag as she wandered around the building without anyone noticing.
This was an observation instrument clockwork technicians use.
The vibration wave measurement device, an instrument that does precise observations withut breaking apart the machines moving the gears.
Marie then switched it on, and stared at the device that displayed the numbers with the sound effect of a typewriter.
A little while later, she gave an emotionless look, and clicked her tongue,
“I guess this toy alone isn’t going to help me understand this.”
“You’re calling an instrument you stole from the ‘Guild’ as a toy…”
“I know it’s the latest technology that’s yet to be released on the market. It’s easy to carry around, but there’s a limitation to that. It’s not an item that can be used precisely at this distance.”
—3 weeks ago.
Marie was in this Kyoto, and foiled the plan to purge this city.
The ‘Government’, ‘Military’, and ‘Meister Guild’ plotted a major incident that was unprecedented, wanting to purge a city and kill the 20 million citizens living in it. Marie worked together with Naoto to prevent this massive tragedy, and for the time being, took control of the ‘absolute gear’ that formed Kyoto.
And so, Marie visited this clock tower to investigate on the weather interference, which caused a series of phenomena, including the forceful override of gravity.
However, as she had lost her identity as a Meister, Marie was simply walking around as a civilian. She had no privilege to enter the clock tower, let alone the ‘core tower’ the ‘military managed’.
And thus, she had no choice by to carry out investigations on the outside using her portable devices.
“—Guess there’s no point.”
And as Marie showed an uneasy look, Halter immediately chimed in,
“Milady, please don’t do illegal acts while having the attitude of buying snacks, okay? You’re just an ordinary civilian now.”
And upon those words, Marie pouted,
“I know that. I don’t want to continue causing commotions because of such things, okay?”
—That’s what you’re hoping for, right?
Halter knew very well of the girl’s ‘history’, but he decided to remain silent.
And Marie, not comprehending Halter’s heart, continued,
“I’m thinking about that idiot~~!”
There was a strange tone in the way she emphasized the word ‘idiot’.
And then, she seemed to realize something as she steadied her breath, folded her arms, and closed her eyes.
“……”
And pricked her ears.
—Once.
She recalled the anomaly she saw Naoto Miura display, the person who was nonchalantly attending remedials.
It felt like a miracle witnessed in the midst of a gut-churning conspiracy drama.
He, Naoto Miura mentioned to observe all the functioning gears, amount to at least ten quadrillion, at that place and time using his own ears.
Perhaps it could be easy to explain it as ‘abnormal hearing’, to dismiss it as a ‘talent’.
But that was not the case…and so, Marie, tried to understand this herself.
No matter how many potent observation facilities were activated, none could match that ‘talent’. There simply was no comparison there.
She tried to listen like he died, but she was unable to even imitate, let alone concentrate.
She was only able to hear the rustling breeze, the birds chirping, the buzzing of the crowds, and the dull vibrations from underground. That was all.—This was to be expected. ‘Sounds’ are ‘vibrations’.
If waves are to interfere with each other, it is obvious the shapes would change.
And furthermore, there were countless sound waves. It was ‘common sense’ that the initial waves were indistinguishable.
There were quadrillions of gears within, with sounds of countless gears overlapping each other, and yet he ‘understood it all’, so the question was—how exactly did he hear them?
The miraculous talent that could never be replicated in anyone’s perspective was terrifying, to say the least.
And yet, because of the ridiculous reason that he flunked his high school examinations—
“…Ah, goodness! How ridiculous is it that the guy has such an extraordinary talent, and yet he’s really a good-for-nothing who can’t even understand the basic education of high school sufficiently! Am I taken for a fool here?”
And as Marie packed her instrument while growling away,
“I suppose he is more adorable than a perfect superhuman. But even so, I guess the balance’s not quite there yet.”
He has such an irrational ‘talent’ . What else can you say even if he has illogically bad grades’? Halter mumbled,
“Goodness…we could have been in Tokyo now if things go to plan.”
“To me, I hope you’re be able to mature a little more now…it’s been 3 weeks since that incident. We can’t say that the aftershock of it has completely cooled down, right?”
Having solved the Kyoto Inferno, Marie revealed much classified information that resulted in a massive commotion, and it seemed it would be hard for this to end within one or two months. On the surface, it seemed the commotion had gradually cooled off, but the matter was yet to be concluded to a point of anyone forgetting about it.
And as Halter sighed while saying this, Marie pouted her lips unhappily,
“…Hm, let’s talk about Tokyo then. There’s still no contact from there after that?”
Marie was originally being very impatient, on teeters because ever since they got word of the events in Tokyo, they were embroiled in some unimportant matters.
And in response to Marie’s question, Halter answered,
“’Thank goodness’ there isn’t. If I have to say which anomaly it is—is it the important Initial-Y series being moved, and the ‘military’ having some strange movements for some reason? How about you calm down and think about it, Milady?”
“That Initial-Y series is called AnchoR, isn’t it? Confirming that alone is enough reason for us to head to Tokyo. Since we saw ‘that thing’ about RyuZU, you know?”
“…I guess.”
Halter shrugged his shoulders slightly as he rubbed his bald head.
Naoto’s abnormal hearing was not the only miracle…no, illogical matter they witnessed 3 weeks ago
—The Initial-Y series.
The legendary
Automatas left behind by ‘Y’, who designed this Clockwork Planet.
The first entry of this series was RyuZU, and she thoroughly rendered all of Marie’s logic haphazard.
When the imaginary time ran, in the eternally still world, she destroyed a massive military Automata force using her ‘Mute Scream’. Such a function was a threat no matter what.
And yet RyuZU, being like this, declared herself to be the weakest.
And it was a perilous thing to let the other machines fall into anyone’s hands.
But in this situation, it was an indisputable truth, that it was meaningless for them to enter Tokyo without any added information.
“It’s a rare thing to come to Japan to study. How about you just laze around and live a life as a commoner.”
“2 weeks of this is more than enough.”
Marie showed a heinous glare as she pouted her lips.
“The foreign student Maribel Halter is just a disguise, an assumed identity to carry out secret terrorist acts to save the world. Do you understand this, ‘big brother’?”
Marie deliberately greeted the massive Cyborg man beside her, deliberately emphasizing this.
This was the initial identity set when Marie Bell Breguet attended a Japanese school along Halter.
“I still can’t get used to…this character setting.”
Halter gave a disgusted look as he shivered.
And in response, Marie showed a sadistic smile.
“Hey, is big brother, as in onii-chan better? Or big brother, as in ‘aniki’?”
“Alright, spare me already, Milady. I’m about to puke.”
“Huh? Why’re you still unhappy to have such a cute little girl saying such things to you? You don’t like our established relationship as siblings? Then…I see.”
Marie brought her lips to Halter’s ears,
“—’Papa ♪ ‘ shall I call you that?”
“!!!!”
The moment he heard those words, Halter rolled back in surprise, taken aback.
Marie looked down, grinning at the massive frame of the bodyguard cum secretary unable to handle the agony of irresistible itch and shivers, and muttered,
“Well, never mind. It’s a waste of time to be here. Let’s just hurry up and go back now.”
“—Ahh, renting out the suite room of a top-class hotel as a ‘home’ is not an example of the commoner’s life I just said.”
As Halter muttered this while standing up, Marie frowned and answered,
“We got no other choice, right? It’s important for a clock technician to have a workshop and equipment. We need space to put the important equipment, the bare minimum, and the only place with perfect security for that is—”
“—Milady, wait.”
Suddenly.
Halter raised his hand to stop the grumbling Marie,
“—? What?”
And as Marie asked in surprise, Halter frowned as he stroked his chin,
“…Ah, Milady. I just received a strange ‘message’.”
“Is it related to the aftermath of that Tokyo incident?”
“No, this looks like it’s received from the hotel’s terminal installation. Ah…no, I don’t know whether it’s okay to say this.”
And as Halter looked perturbed, Marie said,
“…? Alright now, just tell me what it’s all about.”
And in response, Halter adamantly let out a sigh,
“Well…if you wish, Milady. Remember though that I just told you that I can’t say this, okay?”
And after affirming and stating this, Halter let out a cough.
Then, he slowly opened his mouth,
And read what he had just heard.
● ● ●
At the same time,
“…Hm?”
Naoto, being in the manga cafe, lifted his head to look.
And seated beside him was RyuZU, clinging to him like a couple, opening the textbooks as she grumbled with her eyes half-closed.
“—Master Naoto, if my personal tuition is too uninteresting for you, would you please tell me that at least?”
“Eh? Ah, no, that’s definitely not it—”
RyuZU’s voice was as delightful to listen to as always, filled with elegance, without any chaos.
But Naoto could clearly distinguish any slight change in it.
It was merely a little contorted, merely a little shrill; she was hurt
And to prevent this fact from developing awkwardly any further, Naoto frantically shook his head.
And while Naoto was like that, RyuZU continued calmly.
“All I would ask for is, please explain to me in a way why you are more willing to stare at the stain on the ceiling instead of me? For a being like you, I do comprehend that you do have a very noble reason for this—you are wishing to accomplish the great work of communicating with aliens, no?”
—The peerless beautiful girl was expressing jealousy at the stain on the ceiling.
RyuZU’s tranquil, beautifully clear voice echoed in the manga cafe, causing many a click of the tongue echoing I Naoto’s ears.
He could already heard the mutters, ‘ahh, that shitty idiot couple again’.
….Yes, this was the couple suite of the now personalized manga cafe.
And this was the ‘home’ of Naoto and RyuZU.
In other words, they were refugees of the manga cafe.
But even so, this was not because they were lingering on the line of poverty.
If they were to use the money RyuZU got through ‘investments’, they would definitely be able to buy a new house, even if it is a mansion, and still have lots of money leftover. However, Naoto did not have a strong heart capable of accepting this fact.
And most importantly,
“Or is it…that your wish to ‘stick close together with RyuZU’…is all a lie.
DON.
An astounded, unified slamming on the wall could be heard from the shop booths.
Even without Naoto’s abnormal hearing, anyone could have heard that sound. It was a loud thud on the wall that echoed throughout the manga cafe , clearly expressing to anyone her intentions.
While enduring this unbearable, perilous atmosphere, Naoto stared at RyuZU’s face.
It was a beautiful, dignified face as usual.
The radiant, pure silver hair and the silky white skin were coupled with the peach colored lips and the rosy cheeks. The golden eyes, dazzling like a crown, could be said to be gemstones of life, a beautiful face one could say to be otherworldly.
—But at this point, it was wavering uneasily.
Naoto intended to divert the topic, and added on to RyuZU’s sarcasm.
“A-ahaha, e-erm, eh, hm, are there really aliens out there?”
“…Please pardon me. I have stated sarcasm I am not used to saying, so please allow me to say this again. There are moments when humans are too outstanding. Your mind, Master Naoto, exceeds that of the human limit, surpassing even my comprehension, even crossing a ‘line’, and breaking into oblivion, is it not?”
And Naoto, upon seeing that RyuZU’s eyes were becoming frosty, hurriedly shook his head, answering,
“Th-that’s not it! It’s because I heard a sound, it’s like ‘this kind of feeling if there’s an alien around’.”
“…Master Naoto, it is true that you are currently the most outstanding human on this planet. If you are able to hear a sound that does not exist, normally speaking (beep)—”
“Please pardon us!”
BAM!!
The manga cafe door was kicked away hard, overriding RyuZU’s voice.
An agitated voice could be heard approaching little by little, with the momentum of a storm that could ostensibly blow this entire building apart.
“Naoto Miura! To Naoto Miura who’s a pervert in all ways, answer me within a second!”
And upon hearing that voice, Naoto hurriedly got up from the couple suite.
On the narrow corridor between the booths, he spot
ted the showy blond girl shouting.
“Yes! But ‘please pardon us’ here is supposed to be a polite form of speech! Don’t use it as a ‘declaration’, you French!”
But the blond girl did not care about those words.
The girl, Marie, glared at Naoto while the latter poked his head out, and leaped at him.
“So you’re here, you pervert! Now’s the time for you to use that talent that’s far beyond that of a pervert now! Alright, tell me now, you pervert!!”
“W-wait, I’m suffering!!”
And Marie was slamming at Naoto’s chest on the partition separating the rooms.
“E-erm, dear customer? Please be quiet here—no, it’s nothing. Please continue to enjoy yourself.”
The brave shop attendant who made the snap decision of reminding Marie escaped like a hare without hesitation after a glance from the latter.
And in contrast, the one standing still there was RyuZU.
She looked down at Marie, who’s on a destructive rampage, and jabbed sharply,
“Oh, Master Marie? A scholar who has been away 3 days has be to looked at with new eyes, but you are still as immature as ever today, and also extremely energetic…I do find this a massive pity.”
“Sorry for not being a scholar and being so energetic!”
“No, actually, no matter whether it is in terms of mentality—or in terms of body size, I do determine that it is difficult to distinguish your gender.”
I”m really going to break you up today!!”
And in face of Marie’s heinous glare, RyuZU shot back a death glare.
“—But even if you do say so, if you are going to continue clinging onto Master Naoto and not let go of your hands, Master Marie, it may seem that I will have to sever your hands from your body, and the one to be dissected shall be—”
And as she said this, her skirt was swaying unsteadily—
“Alright now, calm down, you brats.”
And the moment Halter said this, he sent his fist landing on the top of Marie’s head.
“nyaa~ 11:34, 3 August 2015 (UTC)!”
You had enough? Marie was left cuddling her head after the cyborg Halter’s punch landed on her, groaning in pain.