Clockwork Planet - Volume 03

by Kamiya Yuu

  “…”

  “I don’t know anything about electromagnetic technology…but it can’t move without a power source, right?”

  “Well…I guess there’s probably a battery or a generator or something.”

  Marie’s words seemed to confirm Naoto’s doubts, and he nodded,

  “It’s probably powered by gears.”

  “Huh?”

  Marie opened her mouth in shock.

  This weapon contained technology and armaments that destroyed all gear functions, but the weapon itself was built through gear technology…? Would it not be self-destruction?

  While Marie showed a look of doubt on her face, Vermouth said,

  “I think they combined the use of insulators and conducting gears. It’s not simply a usage of old technology–I’ll say it’s a hybrid that fuses clockwork and electromagnetism.

  Marie frowned upon hearing Vermouth’s words,

  “I understand the theory…but is such a thing really possible?”

  “It’s already possible. That’s why that large weapon is giving off electromagnetic power and moving.”

  Vermouth continued.

  “The Hybrid Electromagnetic Tactical Class weapon ‘Yatsukahagi’–I think that’s the official name. It’s funny, isn’t it? The ones who gave that name isn’t those guys, but the government.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “My team found a few formal words ‘plans’ on that blueprint–do you think those guys now will write it down?”

  Before Marie could answer, Vermouth sarcastically noted,

  “–‘A Research Agreement on the Clockwork Year 985, March 25th regarding the research on a hybrid electromagnetic tactical class weapon’–the Prime Minister, the Chief Cabinet Minister and Defense Ministers signed that agreement. Isn’t it funny!?”

  Nobody could laugh.

  Marie’s face appeared completely frozen, and Vermouth said to her,

  “…Well, in other words, that big thing’s power source probably isn’t any different from the others. It’s a spring generator that uses gravity and converts it to energy, though I don’t know the total number in there…”

  “–1033.”

  Naoto confirmed.

  “It sounds weird, but there’s no doubt it’s the sound of springs. Also, those guys seem to be ‘recharging’.”

  Marie and Vermouth’s eyes got sharper.

  Naoto never noticed them as he frowned and continued,

  “I guess the initial light, and that forbidden…whatever, electric pulse? Anyway, that depleted all its power. I don’t know why, but it’s continuing to replenish almost 10% of its power, and at the same time, it’s recharging steadily. Until it regains full mobility again–from when I heard it in Akihabara, there was 71 hours, 32 minutes and 12 seconds. It’s been 5 hours since then…so about 66 and a half hours. Until then, it can’t move.”

  Upon hearing that, Vermouth widened his eyes.

  “Hey brat, did you have a look at the blueprint–no, even that can’t explain this. Who the hell are you?”

  Marie ignored this obvious question, and pressed on,

  “–So you’re saying that the weapon can only stay there during this 66 hours and 30 minutes? Unable to move? Are you sure?”

  She questioned, and Naoto shook his head,

  “I don’t understand anything about electromagnetism at all. If they give up on a lot of armaments and allocated the power too, maybe it’ll get moving before then. Just to add on, I don’t know what’s the 10% power used for, so maybe it’ll recover faster if it stops depleting–but this isn’t the problem.”

  “What do you mean…is there still something?”

  Marie frowned in surprise, and Vermouth said,

  “It’s Checkmate, and they want to ‘begin recharging again’. Do you still not understand, you naive Princess?”

  “–!”

  Marie raised her eyebrows as she turned around, and Vermouth sneered, telling her,

  “This is no longer a terrorist act–it’s a ‘coup d’etat’. They’re waiting for the government to break and self-destruct, and then–they’ll come up with something.”

  Marie immediately understood.

  She was speechless, remained blank as she widened her emerald eyes in shock.

  Linking all the prior clues together, there was only one conclusion.

  That was–a chokehold.

  Of course, that was the reason why Vermouth called it a ‘checkmate’.

  A terrorist act? It was not something that obvious. As the term ‘Checkmate implied’, the enemy had an ace that could topple the country. The little stunt Marie and the others did far paled in comparison.

  One had to wonder how much time, how much obsession, how much of that limitless malice did the forces of Mie–no, the old Shiga forces, were able to come up with this strategy, and considering that–

  It was to be expected that Marie and the others would be crushed when the enemy simply moved.

  –Now that we’ve realized this, think of what you can do now, Marie.

  The enemy was at the center of the Multigrid Tokyo, and shoved a knife into the throat.

  Grid Akihabara was magnetized, and the bypass they worked so hard to set up could not be used.

  And just as they had planned, the Cabinet was caught in an awkward situation.

  As for what they should do later, Naoto and the others did not understand.

  However, the government would certainly head down the path of self-destruction. To make matters worse, as long as news of that weapon reached the other countries, it would result in the worst possible situation of of the ISS interfering to discuss military intervention due to security reasons.

  And if they decided to fire the God’s Staff, ‘Tall Wand’–the anti-Earth satellite cannon, Tokyo itself would vanish from this planet.

  No, even if they did not do anything, it was only a matter of time.

  She thought of the best case and worst case scenarios that could occur.

  The best would be–their plan succeeded, and they usurped the power of this country.

  For them, so well-versed in electromagnetism, perhaps Akihabara could be demagnetised and be the same as before. The price however would be that the entire world would view this country as dangerous, and a subduing war would be a moment’s away.

  The worst case scenario–would be the military intervention of the other countries in Tokyo.

  It was likely that they would deal with this situation in the fastest manner possible. However, that would imply the destruction of Tokyo, and affect the region around East Asia, resulting in a global scale world.

  Though I’m guessing that this theory is rather out there–Marie mocked herself.

  …If the situation is going to end up like this, what can we do right now?

  But more importantly, they lost two fighting forces in RyuZU and Halter, while AnchoR remained in an unusual state of being unable to battle.

  No, even if all members were gathered, what could they do?

  The government was on the brink of self-destruction, and the massive weapon was already a threat to the global situation. Surely it would be deemed as a threat by the major powers in the world, no?

  In such a situation, what could a few self-proclaimed terrorists–do?

  There was only one answer…nothing, at all.

  The moment Marie got this conclusion.

  Naoto suddenly stood up with an extremely grim look, saying,

  “Hey, Anchor, let’s go out.”

  “…Go out?”

  The young girl automata tilted her little head in confusion.

  “Yeah, AnchoR, you weren’t able to do anything over the 1000 years because of that shitty limiter, isn’t it? Let’s check out all kinds of things.”

  “…Wah–”

  AnchoR’s smile widened as she grabbed Naoto’s outstretched hand.

  Marie’s narrowed her eyes, speechless as she watched them.

  “
Is your heart and nerves made of some super alloy or something? Do you still have the luxury to go out shopping when you’re a wanted terrorist?”

  She noted sarcastically, but once she met Naoto in the eyes, she felt suffocated.

  It was not a manner of speech, for her heart was certainly griped.

  Naoto’s eyes remained undaunted, having discarded her who had determined that ‘nothing could be done’.

  “It’s obvious.”

  And with a will able to reignite the hope in Marie, who had all but given up, Naoto noted adamantly,

  “Let’s do what we can do”–and so,

  AnchoR tugged at Naoto’s sleeves.

  She fidgeted as though she was fawning, saying,

  “…I want, an order.”

  “Right right, anything will do~! What exactly~?”

  Naoto nodded, giving a leery smile without any hesitation,

  AnchoR continued to beam as she pointed at the convenience stores just two stores away.

  “…Can I, have a look…at that shop?”

  “Any shop will do! I’ll buy you the entire shop no matter what it is, as long as you want it!”

  “Hey, Naoto.”

  Marie looked completely exhausted to sigh, and seeing this, she asked with a weary look.

  “Mind telling me what are you doing right now?”

  “Doing what I have to do now!”

  Naoto’s grey eyes were glittering as he said,

  “AnchoR has a lot of things she wants to do, but can’t do, so NOW I’m gonna fulfill them with my hands–! What else other than that?”

  Marie did not answer.

  All she showed was a hollow, dry smile, looking up at the sky as the sun blared upon them.

  “…The weather’s fine. Speaking of which, I remember there’s an ice cream shop. How about we go check it out before Tokyo sinks…”

  She muttered to herself in devastation, clearly feeling as though she had seen through everything.

  They were in the shopping street of Grid Ueno–the Grid above the Grid Akihabara they escaped from.

  The arcade signboard had the old words ‘Ameya Alley’ written on it.

  One would feel that what happened the previous night was just a nightmare, as this place was bustling.

  It was an ordinary day, but there were people passing through.

  The streets were filled with shops boasting items that were filling out from their stands, and they were coupled with the calls from the stalls lined side by side–one would have a strange melancholy to such a scene…but it was to be expected of them.

  –For there was a verbal blackout

  They did not know anything about the massive weapon that appeared on this particular morning.

  The collaborator who infiltrated the government did contact them, but even without his report, it was obvious that the government would come up with such a method.

  On a certain day, there suddenly appeared an electromagnetic weapon that broke the International Treaty. Its aim was a coup d’etat, and it currently occupied Akihabara, Tokyo was on the brink of destruction–and so on,

  There was no way such a thing could be explicitly mentioned.

  The government–or rather, all those pessimistic about this situation, would probably make use of all their authority to control the reports.

  –An expected action.

  The situation was so dire, and the government doing anything troublesome would bring about a terrible outcome.

  It was what as Naoto thought, what Vermouth had said, that the weapon was simply there so that the government knew ‘it was there’, delivering a fatal bomb to it.

  Never mind the civilians knowing–what was worse would be that the foreign countries affiliated to

  the ISS knew.

  It’s really ironic, Marie thought.

  The one silver lining in this series of unfortunate events for the government–was that the electromagnetic pulse unleashed by that weapon nullified all equipment that could prove its existence.

  And furthermore, thanks to the terrorism forewarning from Marie and Naoto in the middle of the night, the residents of Akihabara had evacuated. It was possible to divert the attention of the people.

  Upon lifting their heads, they could see the cable TV airing reports of the ‘Akihabara Terrorist Incident’ that happened the prior night.

  “Due to the prior announcement of a terrorist act to freeze Akihabara, Grid Akihabara is currently being sealed. The government has called for people to be safe and avoid approaching and entering the danger zone. Also, the identity of the terrorist group that preluded the crime has been confirmed, and the government is currently looking at clues to find out where they are. With this regards to this matter, Chief Cabinet Secretary Ohatake–”

  –So it went. Of course, Marie’s whereabouts were not revealed.

  Even at this point, it appeared the government had no intention to admitting that thing’s existence.

  Just like a bunch of fools Marie mocked.

  If that weapon was to finish recharging and begin action, the news would surely spread, let alone a mere information censor. Once any greedy broadcasting studio hoping for a scoop fly in with a helicopter, it would be over.

  However, if what Naoto and Vermouth said was correct, it appeared the enemy was hoping for the situation to turn out like this. The more the government tried to conceal the news of a massive weapon of destruction, once the news was leaked, the public and the other countries would feel outraged at the government–and the effect caused would be beyond that of the weapon.

  As for what the government would do later on, it would be to protect themselves–

  “Hmph.”

  Marie snorted, and through her sunglasses, looked up at the sky.

  She watched the helicopter fly above her, and curled her lips.

  She dared say that the people seated in there were the government officials who were preparing to escape.

  “They’re escaping as victims here…I guess it’s a matter of time until the neighboring countries know of it.”

  –In other words, this lively, peaceful daily life was to come to an end in a few hours.”

  Surely, what would happen later was…

  “…Pa–mama, I want an order.”

  “Okie~dokie! Pa…no, mama will agree to anything here~”

  Marie weakly lowered her shoulders.

  …Seriously, what am I doing?

  AnchoR called out mama, but it was not for Marie. No, Marie did not agree to this title, so that meant,

  She was referring to that stupid looking Naoto, who was looking so tense in front of the Automata.

  Or in other words–Naoto in ‘female clothing’.

  They were going onto the streets, so there was a need for him to disguise himself.

  Saying that itself was not anything much, but the process itself was a nightmare.

  Conrad left Halter at the unlicensed doctor, and returned, introducing a theater person who was in charge of make-up. That person was a complete pervert.

  This flashy woman, a literal anthropomorphism of the term ‘night sister’, immediately squealed the moment she entered the room and saw Naoto and Marie,

  “Kyaa~! How amazing! Professor Conrad, can I really dress these kids so cutely!? I’m going all out here, you know!?”

  “Yes, please go ahead.”

  “Ufufu~♪ It has been a while since I dressed up a human! Time to get my arms moving♥”

  –And in an instant, what happened was a nightmare that was hard to describe.

  In fact, Naoto was looking a little uneasy at first, but…

  He watched himself get stripped, had makeup dossed on him, a wig on, girls clothing, and she stood in front of the mirror.

  “Uh…huh? Man, I guess, I——–might actually be cute♥”

  –He was infected by pervertedness.

  Marie was engulfed in despair, and beside her, AnchoR’s eyes were dazzling.

  “…Pa, pa
, so cute…”

  And with such a praise, Naoto awoke at that instant.

  “I see–I see! Papa is cute after all~! If AnchoR says that, that means it’s God saying that that I’m cute?”

  Naoto squealed as he embraced AnchoR, swirling around as he pranced and exited the theater.

  Certainly he was an amazing pervert, one to be envied. In this situation, Marie hoped to be a butterfly that could forget everything and fly about without a care in the world.

  “Now then♪ It’s your turn now–”

  “Thanks but no thanks–!!”

  Marie yelled, denying the poisonous fangs of the pervert with all her might.

  If she was to leave it all to this woman, one had to wonder how she would turn out like.

  She did a quick change of hairstyle, nabbed some suitable sunglasses and clothes, and finally escaped from this place with much difficulty, such that it could be said to be miraculous…

  Marie shook her head to rid herself of the unpleasant memories, muttering,

  “This bomb now is going to blow, and it’s going to end up becoming an East Asian–no, an international crisis. What is he doing now, seriously…”

  One had to wonder if Naoto heard Marie’s grumble, as he chided her,

  “We got no choice here. Nobody will go crazy over anything they don’t know. I did think of this back when I was in Kyoto, so I guess that’s how it is for being normal, right?”

  “I’m talking about you–you big pervert!”

  While this crossdressing Naoto boldly declared that he understood, Marie impatiently lashed out,

  “You do know what’s going on now, right? Be a little tense now! And also…!”

  Having noticed that the crowd’s stares were increasingly gathered upon their commotion, Marie hurriedly hushed her voice.

  Yet her rage could not be suppressed, as with a grim face, she glared at Naoto,

  “Just think a little. Or do you actually have a crossdressing fetish!? You’re almost a lost cause already!”

  Do what I had to do. Naoto declared.

  This boy once indicated that if there was a need, he was prepared to sacrifice himself.