by Kamiya Yuu
With tears appearing at the side of her eyes, she stared at the massive body behind you.
“You…”
“Anything you want to say?”
“…Why did you beat me…?”
“The issue this time is clearly between this crazy Marie and that overly sensitive Missy RyuZU down there. That Missy hasn’t done anything to me, and I don’t want her dismantling anything in her counterattack.”
He said, and looked over at RyuZU,
“I do earnestly apologize for causing you much trouble—and for not doing anything to me.”
He said as he lowered his head earnestly. With a smile, RyuZU let out a little sigh,
“…You always do some surprising things there, Mr Scrap Metal. I do find it a pity that if I am to exclude Master Naoto here, you will be the wisest amongst all .”
“That’s an honor. Now then, you alright, Naoto?”
Now released from Marie’s hands, Naoto was panting for breath as he said,
“Ah…yeah, I guess I can be called alright? Why did she suddenly do that to me? Mind giving me a acceptable reason?”
“Well, I guess that’s the case. Hm…I know this will be somewhat troubling you, but I need you to hear out something…hey, Milady, you cooled down already?”
With Halter prompting her, Marie slowly got to her feet.
Her eyes were still teary, probably due to the pain, and she rubbed the bump on her head, saying,
“…I want you to help me trace the source of a message.”
“Trace? You shouldn’t be asking me then. You can just check with the relay station instead of me.”
As far as Naoto knew, all transmission was done through the cable transmissions processed through the conducting gears, or wireless transmissions through the resonating vibrations through long distance. If they were to check the path, the other end of the line would be the sender.
As for why they were asking him,
“No, it’s not a transmission through a relay station. To be honest here, it’s a short wave transmission.”
And Naoto simply answered Halter with skepticism,
“…And I just learned that it’s an ‘illegal’ thing to do that, isn’t it? Such timing.”
“Well there, you’ll get bald if you worry about the details, alright?”
Ahem. Halter inadvertently grinned as he patted his bald head.
And RyuZU gave him a tender look, muttering quietly,
“Master Naoto, if I may say from experience, it is better to live a steady life by thinking small, no? It may not be very convincing, but I do wish you will listen here.”
Halter nodded, his lips moving slightly,
“—It’s useless if we do abide by the law and end up losing.”
Those sarcastic voices were such that no ordinary person could hear, yet Naoto was able to hear them clearly.
“It’s a ‘special work’ where rules can be damned here. No matter how forbidden it is, since there’s a possibility the ‘enemy’ will be using it, we have to respond in kind. Electromagnetic transmissions aren’t really that useful nowadays. Don’t mind”
…He said.
A mere human ill-fated for fighting scenes, Naoto gave a painful wince,
“…No way, I don’t want to be arrested and put in jail here…”
“On a side note, it’s undoubtedly against the law for a civilian to actually have an automata like RyuZU, far beyond normal capabilities limits.”
“So what about the law here! Anyway, let’s hear what you have to say, Mr Halter!”
Naoto gently swung his palms, and clasped Halter’s firm hands.
—And RyuZU too had nothing much to say. A crime had to be discovered before it is established.
And so, Marie looked around, asking,
“It’s a little sudden—but Naoto, you can hear ‘a strange sound’, right?”
“A strange ‘sound’? I’m able to hear your growling non-stop, Marie.”
“That’s not what I mean! …I’m saying that instead of a voice, are you able to hear a wave of a higher frequency. If I have to say it’s a voice, that’ll be an ‘abnormally high pitched sound’.”
“An ‘abnormally high pitched sound’…?”
Naoto frowned, folded his arms, and pondered deepy.
Halter let out a sigh, muttering,
“I guess this is too much to request of, isn’t it…?”
And RyuZU, seemingly pondering over the same question, nodded as well.
“—So, when you stared at the ceiling, you were communicating with outer space after all, Master Naoto.”
“Ah? That’s an ‘Electro wave’? No wonder it’s a sound I’m not used to hearng.”
“—Huh?”
The moment Naoto answered without hesitation, Halter widened his eyes.
“…Hey, wait, Naoto. This seems like a joke no matter what.”
The wave detector Halter received was an electromagnetic wave of 30 Mega Hertz.
That was an ultrasonic wave beyond 1,500 times that of a normal human’s hearing range. However, he was able to hear the Electromagnetic waves personally, and with headphones that was 100% soundproof—?
—What exactly was this person ‘hearing’?
Halter wondered, and inadvertently shuddered.
But Marie beside him nodded away, looking as if she expected all of that.
“This is nothing much compared to identifying all the gears in the Core Tower—anyway, Naoto.”
Marie left Halter behind, and continued on,
“Which direction do you hear that sound from? Do you know?”
“Erm, it’s right above…no, about 88 degrees, no? —Wait, what are you planning?”
Before Naoto could finish, Marie forced herself into the couple’s suite where Naoto and RyuZU were at, and snatched the stationery and a notebook that were laid out on the table.
She then stepped on Naoto’s knee, and quietly did her calculations with a pencil.
“…My apologies, Master Marie, but may I ask who gave you the permission to get on Master Naoto like that—”
“Ah, RyuZU’s face is looking really nice now! If it’s my knee, you can do so anytime—”
“You two are really noisy, stupid couple!”
Marie yelled sharply, and then quickly switched over to a presentation tone as she continued,
“This is a transmission of short wave. Since the ‘Planet Governor’ at the North and South Poles protect the planet from the sun rays, forming electromagnetic fields, the short waves will then reflect here. Using trigonometry, we can pick up the source of the signal. Since it’s a message coming from around above, it’s nearby—if considering the time that elapsed and the movement of the gears…”
Seemingly getting the answer, she enthusiastically circled the coordinates she obtained through her rough calculations, saying,
“The place is—Mie. The next gear city. Looking at the relative coordinates, it’s the industrial complex. Let’s go over now.”
“No, I say…”
Naoto, unable to comprehend what he just heard, shook his head.
He still could not understand why this land mine of a blond girl was being so furious.
He turned his sight to a fuming Marie, sitting on his knee, and asked skeptically,
“So, what exactly was in that transmission?”
Upon hearing those words, Marie was taken aback, frozen.
“Th-that’s, erm…wah!! What are you doing!?”
While Marie was stammering,
RyuZU poked her sharp scythes out from under her skirt, skilfully positioning them right at Marie’s collar, lifted her up, and threw her off the couple’s seat.
“—And then?”
RyuZU then asked, showing a gentle expression that would kill even a bug,
“No matter how much of an emergency message it is, it is absolutely unforgivable to do an outrageous thing like standing on Master Naoto for so long. Of course, we are still willing t
o hear you out no?”
Of course, leaving aside her eyes that were showing skepticism, even her smile, blooming like a flower, was filled with the terror of Absolute Zero.
“Ah, yes, well…”
Halter gave a look at a wordless Marie, and seemingly left with no choice, he spoke up.
He coughed, and sighed,
“—Hey Bitch.”
Marie shuddered, her body frozen.
And Halter glanced aside at Marie while the latter shivered all over again, trying his best not to show any emotion as he spoke with a stoic voice,
“Aren’t you getting all too jumpy over there, you ghost girl? Are you not satisfied because your little hole hasn’t received anything?”
“—”
There was silence.
Marie was clenching her fists tightly, slamming the floor hard.
And Halter ignored that unsightliness as he read the last paragraph,
“Are you waiting for the little big cock to fuck that thing you have? Shake your cute little ass and beg me here, you Nympho. Well, that was the message received.”
“Was that sent to Marie?”
“Maybe? It’s a short wave transmission, so anyone ‘within the region’ can receive it. I just so happened to receive it.”
That’s weird. And Naoto tilted his head as he stared at Marie, now shuddering on the floor.
“Then, why is Marie able to be certain that it was sent to her?”
“Master Naoto…being dense is a privilege for a protagonist, but this really is depressing to say. Humans do feel enraged regarding certain issues, normally because that is a fact. Master Marie, if you are really yearning for it, there is a shop nearby selling such toys—”
“That’s not it, enough already!”
Marie leapt to her feet, her face flushed as she yelled,
“Ghost! Girl! This is it! This clearly is pointing for me here, right?”
“Speaking of which, how do you even know of that kind of shop, RyuZU?”
“That is to be expected. It is the duty of a follower to satisfy the desires of Master Naoto, who is so distorted to a point of being unidentifiable. When I am asked it, I can quickly—”
“Listen up already!”
Marie growled, and hugged her head in lethargy.
“Ahh, I can’t stand this anymore. I’m going to collapse while talking to you….! Anyway, you guys are coming with me now.”
“…Eh, buy those toys?”
“I’ll kill you! Of course I’m going to tie the idiot who sent this message and hang him up. Also, I want to get you roped in for practice, you know!?”
“Please leave me out of this highly difficulty sex play…”
Naoto groaned in agony, and RyuZU beside him nodded, saying,
“I do find myself unable to comprehend the meaning of going off together. It is not my wish in the slightest, but Master Naoto has to go for remedials and break out from a state of being frowned upon by imbeciles, and I do have personal tuition to attend to. In that case, please head there alone.”
She answered curtly.
And Halter stepped up in place of the flabbergasted Marie, calmly saying,
“Yo Naoto. It’s Sunday tomorrow. No remedials, right?”
“Hm, well, you can say that?”
“Assuming that the coordinates this Milady said is correct, if I remember correctly, located near the Industrial complex is a seawater bathhouse, rare even in Japan.”
Shocked!
A seawater bathhouse. This line alone caused Naoto to freeze.
Halter raised his lips the moment he saw that response, and continued to shamelessly prod away.
“And especially in this season, February’s the perfect season for seawater bathing. A season that really shows swimsuits—”
“Ah, ‘cuse me, I’ll like to check out. Please give me the bill.”
This voice came from behind Halter, at the counter, and even Halter was left dumbfounded as he turned his head back.
“Well, we can just come back before Monday. Alright, let’s go everyone. No time to waste.”
“As expected of you, Master Naoto. The energy of your distorted desires, originally limited to Clockwork Automatas, can be used in other areas too. If you are able to get full marks in your retests, I shall grant you any request.”
“Alright, once I come back, I’m going to memorize everything in the textbook within a day. Leave it to me.”
And while the commotion lasted, Marie watched the backs of Naoto and RyuZU sprint out of the manga cafe, and let out a conflicted sigh,
“…You really know how to get those two moving.”
“When asking others for help, we have to talk about the benefits. That’s a principle of negotiations, Milady.”
Halter rubbed his bald head, and said,
“Now then, let us get going, Milady. It’ll be a hassle leaving them like this.”
Though he prompted Marie, Halter felt that there was something strange about it.
He wondered, As expected, was that mail really just a taunt…?
Chapter 2: 18:10 – Searcher
…I’m sleepy.
The girl thought as the thick mist descended upon her.
She could not ascertain where she was, what she was doing, This situation had continued on for a long for a long time, and it had been like this all this time, especially recently when it got severe.
Her heart felt cold and dejected, like a winter freezing everything.
The puzzles, trumps, drawings, all that were interesting in the past did not seem this way anymore. There were none of those things around in the first place. And thus, there was no fun in tidying up either.
…Ahh, the girl thought.
Yes. That’s why I’m always sleeping here.
There’s nothing I have to do. I don’t know what I want to do. That’s why I can’t help but want to sleep and dream.
—I wanna go back.
The sudden suddenly thought of this faintly.
Once she recalled the memory, the slightly dazed head became clear.
The room that was shone upon by the gentle sunlight, filled with toys.
There was the puzzles of words and symbols, the bear with a spring, the folding chess set, the mirror that contorts in strange ways, the barrel organ that rings when spun in reverse, and the flying bat that runs on spring energy.
She surely would be scolded by her older sister if she were to leave her toys lying about and fall asleep on that luxurious feeling, but surely it would feel very relieving.
…But the moment she thought of this again, her thoughts would be clouded. She could not recall any prior events.
Where exactly was the home she longed for…?
● ● ●
The sun was setting, about to fall.
The sky on the other end of the outer sea was gradually dyed crimson, coloring the planet of metallic armor red.
—The Clockwork Planet.as
In this world, recreated completely through gears, humans lived in cities built on gigantic gears that were several kilometers, even dozens, in diameter. These gears spun slowly, and the teeth linked the cities, causing the equator spring to generate massive energy that would circulate through the entire world.
Amongst the millions of city gears, there was one particular gear.
Grid Kyoto was at this point about to meet the neighboring city gear, Grid Mie.
It was a colossal gear, the other end nary to be seen.
There were numerous holes peppered on it, each of them approximately 10m in diameter, neatly lined together like a beehive.
Naturally, the other meshing gear that was to mesh too had similar holes.
The massive city gears slowly meshed together, and the moment both holes met,
Both gears let out a booming noise.
It was a sharp, shrill explosion echoing, akin to thousands of cannons firing in unison.
This boom lingered for a while, ostensibly wanting to crus
h the gears, and immediately calmed down when the gears spun without meshing again.
—This was the cylinder train, a method of transport between cities., a scene of ‘transit’.
When the city gears mesh, the ‘connecting station’ would shoot out large cylinders containing passengers and cargo, allowing a simultaneous exchange.
The massive cylinder would then stop at the ‘platform’, where they would be sorted according to the various freight functions in the city…
Within a city, one could see spring-powered cars and buses, unmanned taxis roaming, but the cities would continue to spin without fail, and there were no permanent roads connecting one city to another.
Thus, there was a need for such unique transportation methods. However,
“…Wait, Naoto. You look like you’re about to die. You alright?”
Marie, who got off from the passenger-use cylinder to the ‘platform’, sounded extremely astounded as she called out to Naoto, who was walking like a walking zombie.
“Shut up…I wanna ask why are you guys fine…my head still seems like it’s spinning.”
Naoto retorted as he groaned, pressing down on his headphones.
The passenger-use cylinders had a soundproof construct built in it, and Naoto’s headphones had soundproof functions, but it seemed the noise from the ‘transit’ caused him much discomfort.
“…An ordinary person like me really can’t imagine what a pervert who can hear even electromagnetic waves actually heard back then. Looks like those ears cause you much hardship in your daily life, huh?”
RyuZU continued to nurse the reeling Naoto, and though her presence was as normal, she spoke with an ominous tone.
“It really is an artless method of transportation. While it surely is fine for transporting cargo and organisms in the lower ranks, you do not know how to prepare a seat for the elites, and coerced Master Naoto into this suffering. Perhaps you do not know of the term Barrier-free?”
“How can there be a seat for the one and only super pervert in this world?”
Marie coldly muttered, and Halter then apologized and he continued,
“Sorry, but I didn’t think about that beforehand. I first thought it would be too ridiculous to just fly to a neighboring city, and didn’t think such a thing will happen.”