Suddenly, Kikunojo Tendo’s words replayed themselves in the back of his mind.
“If you do not want to die, survive, Rentaro.”
As he pointed with his unbelievably white hand, the doctor said, “Good boy,” and smiled with satisfaction. Then, Rentaro lost consciousness.
BLACK BULLET
CHAPTER 03
THE GASTREA THAT DESTROYED THE WORLD
1
The first thing Rentaro heard was a scratching sound. He felt like he was wrapped in something very soft. It was warm and comfortable. Then the strong smell of medicine pierced the membrane of his nose. He felt a faint light on the other side of his eyelid. A bitter taste remained in his mouth, and he grimaced.
He returned to consciousness feeling like he was crawling at the bottom of a swamp. He was still surprised that he was even conscious. He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids were so heavy that his eyelids just flickered. After a while, he could see the ceiling fuzzily. Unlike the wooden ceiling in his apartment, this was a bluish-white ceiling. He was lying in a bed.
Kisara came into his line of sight. She was wearing her Miwa Academy uniform, and her eyes were wet as she looked down at Rentaro. He could smell the scent of shampoo coming from the tips of Kisara’s hair that were tickling his nose. It was such a deep, glossy black that it looked tinged with green. Thinking she was pretty, Rentaro gazed at her for a while, his head still fuzzy.
“Hey, Kisara.” He tried to make it sound as peaceful as he could.
Kisara squeezed her eyes tightly and bit her lip, her eyelids fluttering, finally smiling earnestly through teary eyes. “Welcome back, Satomi.”
Rentaro smiled wryly. “Is this heaven?”
“It’s still hell, you idiot.”
Rentaro looked at the side table. “You peeled an apple and cut it for me?”
Kisara wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “Do you want some?”
“No, even though I don’t think I ate anything, I don’t really feel hungry.” Forcing his troublesome body to turn his head, he looked out the window and saw that the sky had cleared and a crescent moon was peeking at them.
Rentaro turned back to Kisara. “How long did I sleep?”
“A full day and about three hours. It was a major operation. The doctor was about to give up. But at the very end, your heart started to beat. You hadn’t given up on living. You did well.” Kisara traced Rentaro’s chest with her index finger and tapped twice above his heart. Rentaro’s heart fluttered a little.
As he tried to force his upper body up, Kisara held him down, but when Rentaro shook his head slightly, she didn’t try to stop him any longer. He checked to make sure he had his right arm and leg and gently touched his left eye.
“You’re really supposed to be resting completely,” said Kisara.
“Kisara, how did you know where I had been washed off to?” asked Rentaro.
“Because of this.” Saying that, she dug in her bag and pulled out Rentaro’s gun. The slide stop was raised and the slide lock was on. It was his XD in the “hold-open” position. If he remembered correctly, he had dropped it during the fight. “This had fallen next to the river. That’s why I thought maybe you were downstream, so we searched there.”
He finally understood the reason he was alive. Rentaro opened and closed his hand to make sure everything was working. Suddenly, he realized that Kisara was peering at him intently.
“A lot happened while you were sleeping, Satomi,” she said. “Hmm… Where should I start?” Kisara lifted her chin prettily as she forced her mouth into a smile. “We might die soon.”
“What?” said Rentaro.
“More accurately, all the residents of Tokyo Area might die soon.”
“Don’t tell me Kagetane Hiruko is…”
“All the civil officer representatives were just gathered and told the truth behind this job. Listen calmly. Inside that case is a catalyst of some kind that can summon a Stage Five Gastrea.”
He couldn’t react right away. Before he knew it, his palm was damp with sweat. “Stage Five—as in the eleven Gastrea who destroyed the world…right?”
“What else is there?”
I see. That’s why there would be a Great Extinction… Aloud, Rentaro said, “But Kisara, there’s no way anyone would be able to just call out a Stage Five!”
“It is possible. That was the first I’d heard of it, too. Apparently, someone important from the Seitenshi faction was covering it up.”
Rentaro clicked his tongue as an image of the Seitenshi and Kikunojo came to mind. That’s why he hated people in authority. “Please, keep going.”
“All the civil officer representatives were brave,” said Kisara. “No one fainted or fell into a panic, and only a few people rushed to the sink. The rest were quiet.”
Rentaro said nothing.
“I heard from Enju that you fought Kagetane Hiruko. How was it?”
“He’s too strong… He’s not human.”
“The Seitenshi’s group gave us information about them. Promoter Kagetane Hiruko. Apparently, his repulsion field can repel antitank rifle bullets and stop the iron ball at the end of those tower cranes used in construction. His Initiator is Kohina Hiruko. She is a Model Mantis—in other words, she is an Initiator with the genes of a praying mantis, and with long-enough blades, she is invincible in a close fight. This pair had their license revoked because they caused too many problems, but before that, their IP Rank was 134. You’re lucky to be alive.”
“They were ranked 134?!” Rentaro’s eyes opened wide. No wonder they were crazily strong. It was the first time he had ever seen such a high-ranking pair with his own eyes. He thought again that it was amazing he was still alive.
“Kagetane Hiruko and Kohina have currently run to the Unexplored Territory outside of the Monoliths and are making preparations to call the Stage Five into Tokyo Area. The government is spearheading plans for a large-scale operation.”
“I can’t believe all that happened while I was sleeping…” Suddenly, they both stopped talking, and they were wrapped in the stillness of the night.
Kisara’s eyes narrowed sharply. “Now, Enju, isn’t it about time you came out?”
“Huh? Enju?!”
“Perverted bastard!” Rentaro heard Enju’s voice close by. At that moment, the blanket in Rentaro’s bed was lifted, and Enju appeared. Rentaro was the most startled of them all.
“Woah, hey…you little…don’t tell me you were there the whole time…?”
“I slept next to you this whole time. And I heard everything. I heard your love-struck voice. What’s so great about Kisara, anyway? Kisara’s just a pair of boobs!”
Kisara made a disgusted face at being called a pair of boobs.
“Anyway, I was comatose until just now,” said Rentaro. “I can’t believe you could sleep next to me like that.”
Enju held her head up proudly. “It’s because the nurses and doctor were idiots.”
“I wasn’t asking about your methodology. Don’t crawl into my bed. At least let me rest while I’m comatose.”
“It’s none of your business where I sleep.”
“Hey, you little…”
“Rentaro,” Kisara cut in. “Don’t you have something more important to say to Enju?”
Rentaro paused. “That’s right, I’m sorry for giving you that order.”
An arm wrapped tightly around Rentaro’s neck. Silently, Rentaro hugged Enju’s thin body back. “I’m a failure as a guardian, huh?”
“Completely. You are completely hopeless as a guardian.” Contrary to her words, Enju looked like she was about to cry. “Do you know how I felt when I thought you were about to die…?”
Rentaro patted Enju’s shoulder to comfort her. “I’m really sorry…”
At that moment, Kisara’s cell phone rang. Her ring tone was Ravel’s Pavane for a Dead Princess. After saying a few words, Kisara gave the phone to Rentaro.
“Satomi, it is I.”
Renta
ro stared at the phone in surprise for a brief moment.
“What do you want now, Lady Seitenshi?” said Rentaro.
“Satomi, the pursuit of Kagetane Hiruko has begun,” the Seitenshi informed him. “Many civil officers are participating in this, the largest operation of its kind to date. I am sorry to ask this of you while you are still recovering, but I would like you to participate in this operation.”
“There’s one thing I want to ask. That man, Kagetane Hiruko, is…”
“I’m sure you’ve already heard some of it from President Tendo, but ten years ago, he killed many of the staff at a government hospital and deserted. In the confusion following the war, he changed his name and became a civil officer. We, the government, had been covering up the fact that he deserted.”
Rentaro gripped the cell phone so hard that he almost crushed it. “Why didn’t you take any countermeasures against him?”
“Satomi, the New Humanity Creation Project is a project that does not exist. A soldier who did not exist cannot desert.”
“What the hell?! Do you know how many people he’s killed? It’s all your fault! Why should I clean up after your mess? Like hell I will!”
“Satomi, if you do not fight now, many more people will die. Your dear friends, the people you love. Could you bear that?”
Rentaro hid his face in his hands and shook his head weakly. “Why…? Why me…?”
“You know him best. You are the only one who can stop Kagetane Hiruko.”
Rentaro let out a deep breath. “All right. But I’m not doing this for you guys. Don’t forget that.”
“That’s fine. Good luck, Satomi.”
Rentaro ended the call and threw the phone back to Kisara. He felt like his arm was being pulled by something, and looking by his pillow, he saw a number of vital sign numbers. Rentaro checked to make sure he wouldn’t sound the alarm, then unplugged it, pulling off the electrodes and needles one by one.
When he touched his wounds, he grimaced with the intense pain, but he could do it somehow. It was probably thanks to the latest treatments he received in the ICU. On top of his wounds were recovery patches to promote fast healing, so as long as he took things easy, he should live. Checking to see that it was his own uniform in the paper bag on the shelf, he took off his hospital clothes and started changing. Kisara blushed and called him an idiot before she turned her back to him.
“Satomi, can you win?” she asked.
“I can’t lose,” he said.
“You’ll die.”
“I’m prepared for that.”
Rentaro could hear a squeak as Kisara bit her lip hard behind his back. “Must you go?” she said. “There’s me and Enju, and the three of us together make up the Tendo Civil Security Agency. Isn’t that good enough?”
Rentaro paused. “Sorry, Kisara. I…”
“It’s all right. I won’t ask you anymore. There’s something that’s been bothering me, as well, so I will look into that. When Kagetane Hiruko went outside the Monoliths to call the Stage Five, information was almost leaked to some of the media outlets. The Seitenshi managed the information quickly and just barely stopped it, though. I’m going to look into this matter some more.”
Rentaro thought that was strange as he tightened his necktie. If a Stage Five was about to take Tokyo Area, at worst, that could mean the whole Tokyo Area would be wiped out. If that news was broadcast, regular citizens would probably fall into a panic. Would it help anyone to have that information? Was there still a trump card hidden somewhere after all this?
Rentaro announced that he was done changing.
Righting herself, Kisara flipped her black hair, the moon behind her. “This is an order as your boss. Crush the Kagetane-Kohina pair and stop them from calling the Stage Five Gastrea. Satomi, I need you to work a hundred times harder than you’ve ever worked for me. And I’m going to work a thousand times as much as I ever did, for you.”
“I will definitely stop it,” said Rentaro firmly. “I’ll do it for you, too!”
2 IT WAS 9:00 P.M.
Listening to the wasplike groan of the rotor, Rentaro looked carefully at the dark forest spread out below them. It was the first time he had ever ridden on a helicopter twice in such a short interval. The forest was shrouded in a deep darkness that the moonlight could not pierce.
Rentaro had been in the hospital on the brink of death, so he had missed the Seitenshi’s personal briefing, but based on the course of the helicopter, it looked like Kagetane’s hideout was around the Boso Peninsula of the old Chiba prefecture. The pilot had pointed out the site of the New Tokyo International Airport earlier, but it was too dark to see. It was probably just ruins that had been converted into plant seedbeds, anyway. Rentaro wasn’t really interested.
Other than Abiko, Usui, and some other areas near Tokyo, most of Chiba prefecture had not been surrounded by the Monoliths in time. The helicopter had passed the Monolith border much earlier. They were already in the dangerous area where Gastrea tread, the Unexplored Territory. Somewhere here, a pair that had once held an IP Rank of 134 was hiding. It was about time the other civil officer pairs were dropped off by helicopters or other transport vehicles in the areas they were assigned to cover.
Rentaro tapped his feet nervously as he rubbed his hands together. This was the full force that had been called out to hunt the Kagetane pair down. He had heard that there were many pairs other than himself involved in this operation. Among them, there should be pairs higher ranked than the Kagetane pair, as well. There was an extremely low likelihood that Rentaro would be the first one to find the Kagetanes’ hideout and engage in combat with them. Even so, as time passed, he grew more and more nervous. What was this indescribable impatience he felt?
Before they left, Rentaro stopped by the university hospital to visit Sumire. Looking at his face, Sumire threw a large shopping bag at him. Rentaro took it, tottering, and was surprised when he opened it up and looked inside.
“It’s from your patron,” Sumire said. “She said everything she thought you might need was inside. Is that enough?”
“Wow…it’s more than enough…” Thanking the student council president in his heart, Rentaro attached the waist pouch and holster to his belt, filled the pouch with the different tools he needed, and changed the XD barrel for one with a silencer. He tried jumping lightly, and he didn’t feel much difference in weight. Since his patron knew that Rentaro avoided wearing equipment like battle dress uniform, headgear, and bulletproof vests, she kept things that changed his appearance or added weight down to a minimum. Miori Shiba, the daughter of the CEO of Shiba Heavy Weapons. She really knew Rentaro well.
“Man, how annoying,” said Rentaro. “Now I have to thank her the next time I see her.”
“She has high hopes for you, doesn’t she?” said Sumire. “Thank her by achieving great things.”
He instantly caught what she threw into his chest. There were five small syringes connected together like bells. Inside each was a red liquid, and a cap was on each needle.
“That’s my going away present,” she said. “It’s something I made while researching Gastrea. You know what I’m talking about when I say it’s the AGV test drug?”
Rentaro gazed at them in wonderment and kept looking at the drug inside.
“Don’t use it unless you have to,” she continued. “If you go away, there will be fewer visitors to this basement room, and that’ll be problematic.”
He didn’t know what he could say to thank her, so he just stood still for a moment.
“I have one important piece of advice,” said Sumire. “Do you want to hear it?”
“Y-yeah.” Rentaro straightened.
Sumire put her hands on his shoulders. “You know…if you die, you should die neatly.”
“Huh?”
“I would prefer you to freeze to death if possible. No, no, that’s asking too much. In this case, starving to death would be fine, too. I’ll pour turpentine down your anus and cover you with na
tron salts and put you out to dry in the sun.”
“A-are you planning on turning me into a mummy and using me to decorate your lab?!”
“You understand things quickly. That’s right. Don’t worry, as a burial accessory, I’ll put a pair of Kisara’s underwear on your head and put you up in the university where everyone can see!” She laughed evilly.
“I’ve just decided! When I die, I’m going to die with a bunch of hand grenades in my arms. I’m gonna rest in pieces!” Asking himself what kind of threat that was supposed to be, he became a little depressed that he couldn’t even die carelessly.
“Rentaro, can I just say one more thing?” Sumire sat down and crossed her legs. Rentaro sat like he wasn’t going to be tricked by her again.
But he was wrong.
“Ten years ago, from the day Gastrea first started exterminating mankind, my world changed completely. Heaps of bodies, streams of blood, mangled corpses… No matter how many words you used, it would not be nearly enough to describe that hell. However, even if that was the case, what I did to you cannot be forgiven.” Sumire shook as she clutched the locket on her chest. Rentaro knew that there was a picture of her lover inside. “My conduct was abnormal at the time. I don’t know what I can say to apologize.”
Rentaro hesitated a few times and then finally spoke. “Doc… I have never once resented you, ever since that day.”
Sumire didn’t say anything for a while.
Rentaro snuck a glance at the locket before returning his gaze to Sumire. Rentaro silently put his XD into its holster and turned to leave. As he was leaving, Rentaro looked at her shelves with her Western film collection and suddenly gave a thumbs-up. “I-I’ll be back,” he said falteringly.
Sumire looked at him blankly for a moment like she didn’t know what he meant. Rentaro was suddenly embarrassed, but he couldn’t just pretend it didn’t happen at this point, so he tried yelling it one more time in desperation. “I said…I-I’ll be back!”
The next instant, Sumire was holding her stomach with laughter. “Oh man, you think you have the face of a Hollywood star? Even if I forgave your terrible acting, you need to at least be able to say that without getting embarrassed. And you need to become a man worthy of that line. Don’t die.”
Black Bullet, Vol. 1: Those Who Would Be Gods Page 14