The Destruction of the World by Fire (13 page)

“It’s time. Stop.” Rentaro pushed the stopwatch, and groans of people relaxing could be heard here and there.

“Ahh.…”

“Whoa…”

Kisara clapped her hands. “Okay, pass your answer sheets to the front!”

The students of the outdoor classroom calmly passed their papers forward. The foremost student represented the others and handed the papers to Rentaro. He bundled the stiff, low-quality papers together on the crude table, put them in his bag, and then lifted his head.

“How was it?” he asked them.

He was met with reproaches of “I couldn’t do it!” and “It was hard!”

Kisara, who made the questions, looked conflicted, but after noticing the smiling Enju and prim Tina, it looked like at least a couple of them had passed.

Rentaro had checked the questions ahead of time, but multiplying two-digit numbers together looked to still be a little too hard for the children of the Outer District. Rentaro had known before he enrolled Enju, but it looked like he had no choice but to say that the children of the Outer District were at a lower academic level than normal ten-year-olds. However, that did not mean that the IQ of the children of the Outer District was lower.

In fact, Rentaro and Kisara were the ones who were surprised at how quickly they absorbed new information. Generally, grades were determined by the total value of three main parameters: memory, critical thinking to apply things memorized, and interest. Rentaro, who had a vast difference in his grades for biology and history even though they were both memorization subjects, was painfully aware that he could not underestimate the power of interest.

Like an Italian artist once said, eating against one’s will is injurious to health, and study without interest makes the memory retain nothing it takes in. Of course, the Outer District had few recreations, so to the girls, even studying seemed to be fun, and that was a big part of it. However, even though Rentaro had not known them for very long, he felt like outside of that, they also knew that studying was something that would be beneficial to their futures.

Rentaro tilted his head and squinted at the rays of sunlight shining down on them. Conversely, what about himself? His earliest memories were of burned fields after the Great Gastrea War, of collapsed homes and buildings, people crying and shouting, black smoke that stung his eyes, and the stink of decay.

After everything had been taken away from him, the empty Rentaro was able to stand again after being filled with hatred. Hatred became the fuel that drove his body, and it had provided temporary relief.

But in the end, that was nothing more than a stopgap measure. Eventually, he ran out of fuel, of course, and he came to see everything as meaningless, finally losing his ability to keep up his enthusiasm for study and dropping out of school. Even so, he had been praised as a prodigy and whatnot when he was young.

To Rentaro, the students in front of him were dazzling. He was sure these girls were the hope of Tokyo Area. Rentaro found this personal opinion an unyielding one, even if everyone else in the world chanted opposition. But Rentaro shook his head and pushed back the sentiment. He had other things to do at present. “Please pass these handouts around,” and distributed sheaves to the front row of pupils.

Once the handouts were passed around, the students looked at each other with unconcealed confusion. One student raised her hand nervously to speak for the class. “Mr. Rentaro, what does this ‘Future Dream’ mean…?”

Rentaro put both hands on his hips and exhaled through his nose. “It’s just as it says. Write about what you want to be in the future.”

The students looked like they were not quite satisfied with this explanation. Apparently, they had never done this kind of recreation before. This was supposed to be a break after the test, but he might have made them more confused instead.

Oh no
. He looked up at the sky, scratching the back of his head. “Well, if you don’t want to do it, then—”

There were scritching sounds, and when he looked at the girls, they were already giving the papers their full attention, pencils moving intently.

So you
will
do it
. Rentaro sighed as he looked at the students, and asked himself why they were spending the precious time they had left in the Outer District’s outdoor classroom.

There were less than three days left before the collapse of the Monolith.

Currently, Rentaro and the others were sleeping in the civil officer squad tent, and he and Kisara had told their high schools by phone that they would be taking a temporary absence. His homeroom teacher had accepted it silently and said, “Do your best,” with casual insistence.

Under Commander Gado, they had standard training in the morning, but it was all in the classroom, learning about simple
formations and the different types and meanings of signal flares.
Well
, he thought,
that was only natural
. There was a limit to how much training they could do in the remaining three days, and they weren’t expecting something as organized as the SDF, which had been training for years, from civil officers who were “just a bunch of ruffians.” The fact that they had the whole afternoon off was further proof of how low the expectations were for them.

So Rentaro, Kisara, Enju, and Tina chose to spend the rest of their time in the outdoor classroom. It may have been that part of their hearts wanted that peace of mind. Rentaro had heard that routine work like this helped to lessen stress. He was sure that that was the reason why he was here, too.

Just then, Enju called out, “I’m finished!” and stood up, excitedly turning in the paper to Rentaro. It read: “My future dream is to become Rentaro’s wife and kiss him as much as I want every day.” Underneath the scrawl was a sketch of a strange-looking monster face with large googly eyes.
Is this supposed to be me?
he thought.

“You do something similar every day already, don’t you?” he said.

Enju laughed and locked her hands behind her back as she returned to her seat. “Then, I am happy every day.”

Rentaro smiled wryly and returned back to his interrupted thoughts. On the other hand, there were big changes happening in the city. The large underground shelter that had been made after the Great War had been opened, and thirty percent of the residents of Tokyo Area who were chosen by lottery were already starting to be evacuated by block. Naturally, even within families, there were those who had been chosen and those who had not, and there were embraces and promises to reunite seen all over the place.

The remaining seventy percent were completely divided into two types. The first type believed that the mixed troops of the SDF and COs would be victorious and tried to maintain normal societal operations. The second type believed that the troops would lose.

The latter were escaping overseas, even selling off their household goods at low prices to scrape together enough money to buy the
aircraft tickets that had suddenly jumped in price. Those that could not do even this were going around town crushed with despair, struggling to do whatever they could to forge or steal shelter spots.

Public order was disrupted mainly by the second type of people, and riots broke out as a result. Vigilante groups organized and strengthen patrols, but the current situation was that it was not nearly enough compared to the number of riots breaking out.

All of Tokyo Area was being torn apart by fear and worry. However, Rentaro thought their unease was justified.

A person’s mental state was able to stay calm because of ignorance. If people were able to count on their fingers the number of days until their deaths, they would not be able to sleep peacefully.

Whether they were aware of it or not, people expected each day to proceed according to plan. However, currently, the kind veil of ignorance had been lifted, and the truth had been exposed to all the residents of Tokyo Area. The truth said this: “Your lives will come abruptly to an end in three days, and it is possible that you will be eaten alive.”

Large parts of the population became depressed in each district, and the whole town was still. But even so, the days passed solemnly.

The cool fresh air touched his skin, and he tilted his head. Rentaro gazed at the blue sky that seemed to stretch forever and then looked back at the students scribbling away silently as they sat on the grass. Rentaro thought that the outdoor classroom where he was teaching seemed to be isolated from the worry and confusion, and time passed gently. For a moment, he succumbed to those strong feelings.

However, of course, the Outer District was not such a leisurely place that it could hold onto that tranquility for long. The triggers of violence that were building up in the whole area had not yet reached the Outer District. However, it was probably just a matter of time.

Rentaro prayed. He prayed that it would pass away without anything happening.

Just then, there was another voice that announced, “I’m finished.” Tina stood up and brought her paper to him.

Her paper said, “My future dream is to become Big Brother’s wife and kiss him as much as I want every day.” Rentaro froze, mouth agape.

When he lifted his gaze to Tina, she blushed with embarrassment and ducked her head. “C-can’t I?”

Rentaro didn’t know what to say and was mumbling something ambiguous when the stopwatch went off. Rentaro clapped his hands to tell everyone to stop and then collected the papers.

“All right, that’s it for today’s—” As he was trying to end the class, he stopped before the last word.

The children were all staring at their desks with gloomy faces. For the girls, the fact that they still had classes to attend had allowed them to stop thinking about the destruction they faced and had probably saved them mentally, at least until now.

Rentaro crossed his arms and thought for a moment. “Hey, Miss Kisara, how much do you have in your wallet right now?”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Kisara asked, confused.

“Just tell me.”

Kisara opened her worn-out coin purse and made a sour face, then held up three fingers. If she had that much, combined with what he had in his wallet, they should have enough for round-trip train tickets.

Rentaro nodded once and faced forward, shouting from his gut. “All right! We’re going on a field trip, so raise your hands if you want to go!”

With the excited and restlessly moving girls in the lead, Rentaro and the others changed trains, got off at District 14, and followed the signs from the station. As they got closer to their destination, there was more forest, and the peaceful smell got stronger; even the chatter of the students turned to wonder. In the forest with knotty roots echoed the chirps of cuckoos, and the sunlight sparkled as it filtered
in between the branches of the trees. After they passed the forest of light, there was a large group of abandoned buildings standing in front of them.

The glass of the windows was cracked, and the buildings themselves were slanting; in the place of people, it had become nesting grounds for different species of birds. But in their golden age, these were proud to be some of the few intelligent buildings in Japan. There was a small park, too, courtyard-size, around the building. This was the only part that was well taken care of, and it did not have the shadowlike atmosphere of most abandoned buildings.

When Rentaro’s group got to the center, Rentaro walked up the steps and stopped in front of the monument that came up to his chest. On the top half was written in large letters:
FLAME OF RETURN
.

“Mr. Rentaro, what’s this…?”

Looking back to answer his student’s question, Rentaro glanced at each student in turn as he started to talk. “Do any of you know about the Second Kanto Battle?”

All the girls shook their heads at once.

Rentaro put his hand on the monument and rubbed its rugged metallic skin. Even in the summer, it felt cool to the touch against Rentaro’s hand. “There were two Kanto Battles in the past. The first time, it was during the war ten years ago. In what is now called the Outer District, the SDF clashed with Gastrea, and it suffered a crushing defeat.”

“They lost?” Enju asked, her eyes wide.

Rentaro nodded. “That’s right. And so, the self-defense force was forced to regroup by retreating to old Saitama, and they lost a lot of ground. If they had won that battle, the current Tokyo Area would have been much, much bigger. And the Second Kanto Battle happened right where you’re standing now.”

There was a stir, and the students looked at each other. “Did they lose again?” one of the girls asked.

Rentaro shook his head. “No; this time, they won.”

Sighs of relief swept among the girls.

“In fact, it’s because they forced back the war front and put up the Monolith blockade that Tokyo Area has the shape it does now.”

Tina raised her hand. “Why were they suddenly able to win if they lost the first time?”

“That’s a good question. The first time, it was still early in the Great Gastrea War, so mankind did not yet understand what the organisms called Gastrea were. Even if they wounded the Gastrea with normal weapons, if they hit anything other than the brain or heart, the Gastrea were able to recover.”

The girls smiled bitterly. The fact was that with the Gastrea factors inside their bodies, they were probably better acquainted than him with the self-regenerative abilities.

“Are you saying that the second time, they had more information?”

“That’s right. Using the surviving communication networks, information was shared around the world. By that time, the fact that that Gastrea showed a strong aversion to Varanium was already so widespread, it was considered a self-evident truth. That’s why by adding Varanium to tank gun bullets, they were even able to kill Gastrea with hard shells with one hit. This
Flame of Return
has two meanings—one, to commemorate the day we won the war, and two, as a memorial to the souls of those who lost their lives during the Gastrea battles up to that point. Actually, this monument was made by melting two thousand guns used during the Second Kanto Battle.”