The Destruction of the World by Fire (14 page)

As one the girls breathed an awed, “Really?”

Having such a great audience, Rentaro congratulated himself a little and asked, “Do you know what the Genan Festival is?”

They all raised their hands. “I know! It’s that pretty festival where the sky shines with lights, right?”

It was Rentaro’s turn to be impressed. The lights must have been bright enough to be seen even from the Outer District. “That’s right. People make small palm-size balloons, and then when night falls, everyone releases them at once, so some of you may have seen
it before. The balloons are supposed to be filled with thanks to the people who died fighting in the Gastrea War, and the festival started after the Second Kanto Battle.”

There, Rentaro suddenly realized something and lifted his eyes to count in his head. “There are five days left before this year’s Genan Festival, huh?” After he said that, he looked back at the children.

For some reason, they all looked downcast with their shoulders slumped. “Mr. Rentaro… Are we going to die? Will we be able to live…to see the next Genan Festival…?”

Rentaro exhaled from his nose and put his hand on the student with chestnut brown hair. “Dummy. You still don’t know why we came here for our field trip?”

“Huh?”

Rentaro looked at each and every one of his students. “The fact is, I brought you here today because I wanted you to know about the Second Kanto Battle. I think you already know that the fight that will start after the Monolith collapses will be called the Third Kanto Battle. But even after the Monolith falls, the self-defense force that won the Second Kanto Battle will be protecting us, so you won’t be dying.”

One of the students looked at Rentaro nervously. “Mr. Rentaro, is that really true?”

“Yeah, it’s true.”

“But the self-defense force’s missiles and planes crashed, didn’t they?”

Startled, Rentaro started to say, “How did you know that?” but shook his head almost immediately after. Even these girls would be naturally greedy for information if their lives were at stake.

Rentaro put his hand on his chin and considered. Last night, he had called the Seitenshi to ask about the effect of the lynching of a regular person by the Cursed Children on the Outer District. At the time, she had told him something baffling.

In the first place, when he had seen the report of the gathering of Gastrea, he thought that if the Gastrea were concentrated in one
place, then it was the perfect chance to get them all at once with a missile or other weapon of mass destruction. And apparently, Rentaro was not the only one to think that. Timing their movements with the mass of Gastrea, an Aegis cruiser in the water, under orders from the JNSC, fired a precision-guided munition—a Tomahawk missile. However, what was baffling was that there was no confirmation that the missile had hit its mark before its signal completely disappeared.

Before they even had a chance to be puzzled, two fighter aircraft, the treasure of the self-defense force, sent missiles from the air to hit the targets, but these gave a last indistinct scream before communication was lost.

The last one even Rentaro knew. It was the TV news crew that was lost after broadcasting live from the Unexplored Territory the other day. From a picture taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle from high above, apparently, they had been able to find the wreckage of the two fighter aircraft and the news helicopter.

The news helicopter had been cut cleanly in two and then mangled, and the fighter aircraft had been made into perfect cross sections with their wings sheared off. The Tomahawk missile had not been found yet, but the Seitenshi predicted that it would be found in a shape beyond what they could imagine before long.

As he listened, Rentaro rubbed his upper arms unconsciously with the chills crawling up his spine. In other words, nothing that had gone to the mass of Gastrea had returned safely. But was it because of Aldebaran, as well, or…?

“We also have no idea what happened,” said the Seitenshi. “I have heard that you know about the habits of Gastrea, Satomi. I’m sorry, but with our shortage of personnel, we would even want the opinion of a civilian like you. Do you have any idea what might be going on?”

Rentaro was bewildered. If it had just been the helicopter, then it would have been reasonable to deduce that a strong flying Gastrea caught it and tore it apart. However, fighter jets that could fly at
supersonic speeds and cruise missiles that were even faster than that had been shot down, so this was no ordinary situation.

Japan’s airborne self-defense force had been one of the organizations to suffer the most losses in the Great Gastrea War ten years ago, but that was why the surviving pilots had had plenty of real combat experience and were called some of the most powerful in the world. For Gastrea up to Stage Three, unless things went very wrong, it was hard to think that they would fall behind.

But considering further… What if it was a peregrine falcon–type Gastrea? It was the fastest bird on earth and could reach speeds of up to three hundred kilometers per hour in nature.

Rentaro thought that much and then shook his head. No. The fighter aircraft that had been found had their wings cut off cleanly, according to the Seitenshi. It was too hard for even a peregrine falcon Gastrea to slice off wings made of a tough metal alloy.

In the first place, if a Gastrea that flew at almost the speed of sound came into contact with a fighter aircraft, neither would be able to leave unscathed. If that was the case, then it would be hard to explain why there were no Gastrea corpses at the scene.

Since the Seitenshi was counting on him, he wanted to solve this for her somehow, but he didn’t have the slightest idea. However, there was already a suspicion in the corner of his mind, and it had put down roots.

Just then, Kisara poked him with her elbow, and the students all looked at him together with strangely uneasy expressions. Wondering just how long he had been lost in thought, Rentaro hurriedly cleared his throat. “The fighter aircraft getting shot down and losing the missile is no more than a rumor. Miss Kisara and I will both be fighting on the front lines as civil officers. You all can stop worrying.”

“You guys are fighting, too?” a student asked.

“Yeah.”

The children looked at each other and finally started to look a little relieved.

Thinking it was a suitable time, Rentaro put one hand on the
Flame of Return
and considered the students. “I’m sure you know about the lynching of the regular person by the Cursed Children—”

The second he brought up that topic, the students’ expressions clouded over. One girl lifted her face to speak for everyone. “It…wasn’t us, you know.”

“I know. But there’s something I want you all to hear. There’s the saying that all humans are born equal—” Rentaro closed his eyes and exhaled. “That saying is a lie.”

“Huh?” questioned a bunch of different voices.

When Rentaro opened his eyes, he looked at his pupils one by one. “A crime committed by one of the Stolen Generation is judged as a crime by that one person, but a crime committed by one of the Cursed Children has an impact on all of you. I want you all to know this, too. Humans are not born equal at all.”

“Then…” He heard a hoarse voice, and one of the students asked, shaking, “Then…what are we supposed to do?”

“Bear it. And don’t even think about getting even. Right now, I think all you can do is bear it for a while. No matter how bad the cards you were dealt, you must make a hand out of those and win somehow. This is the same for all of you.” Rentaro scratched the back of his head. “Th-that’s why, well, even if it’s something that can’t be helped, since I’ve become your teacher, I’ll teach you a bunch of stuff, if you’ll have me—”

“Everyone, gather round!” one of the students shouted, and in no time, the twenty students huddled with their foreheads touching and started whispering to each other. After a while, the students started to steal glances toward Rentaro, and Rentaro watched uncomfortably as he heard a voice say, “That teacher’s pretty good.”

“Wh-what’s that about?” he asked Kisara, who was standing next to him.

Kisara put her hand to her chin. “Who knows?”

Finally, they finished their discussion and the students adjourned
with solemn faces, only to make an
Okay
symbol with their hands. “Mr. Rentaro, you pass.”

“Wh-what?” Rentaro stammered.

“It means we like you.”

“I-I see.”

“There are five of us who would like to date you with marriage in mind.”

Rentaro didn’t say anything.

“I am one of those five.”

There was an even longer pause.

Kisara pointed at herself, looking like she was about to cry. “Wh-what about me?”

“We haven’t decided about you yet, Miss Kisara.”

“What?!”

Finally, the students swarmed around them with shrill voices and pulled both of Rentaro’s hands. Pulled along, Rentaro looked up at the sky and gave a big sigh.

By the time Rentaro and Kisara took the children back to District 39 and returned to the squad tent with Enju and Tina, it was already dusk. All four lined up at the field kitchen to get food, then went back to the tent and sat in a circle.

From the smell of spices that wafted toward them, Rentaro had already somewhat guessed that today’s meal was curry. Since he didn’t expect much from the taste, it ended up being better than he expected. That itself left a strong impression, but it helped that his stomach was empty. He cleaned his plate in no time. To the members of Tendo Civil Security Agency, who were always in needy circumstances, today’s food was a happy miscalculation.

After the meal, the Initiators had their corrosion-inhibiting injection. Kisara announced, “I’m going to the restroom,” and similarly
took her bag and walked aimlessly somewhere. She probably didn’t want to be seen taking her chronic diabetes’ insulin shot.

When Kisara finally came back, inside the tent, in the dim light of the camp lantern, everyone had spread out the foodstuffs and junk food they brought from home and were letting loose.

They told stories of Gastrea they had bravely defeated, as well as encounters and eyewitness accounts of mysterious Gastrea. Tamaki, who was old enough to drink, had beer and enthusiastically sang songs he composed himself, his face red.

Strangely enough, even though it hadn’t even been two days yet, living crowded together in a tent like this, it was like they had been friends for years.

Rentaro also let loose a little, shaking a can of cola and spraying it at Tamaki, but in general he was coldly observing the situation.

Everyone was relaxed and laughing, which was unusual for them. However, it was likely that this was their only chance to play around. Everyone was probably this relaxed because they were afraid. The others had probably also noticed this, but there was no one who dared to say it out loud.

Finally, when Enju started to rub her eyes sleepily, that was everyone’s signal to break up for the day. The half tent that Rentaro brought and didn’t end up needing was reappropriated by Kisara and Tina.

Tamaki didn’t even try to hide his ulterior motives when he said, “Ma’am, you should sleep in the same tent as us.”

Kisara stuck out her tongue in reply and blushed as she snuck a sideways glance at Rentaro. “I don’t want Satomi to do something weird to me while I’m sleeping…,” she replied, and turned away in a huff.

Tina’s face made it obvious that she wanted to sleep in the big tent, but when Kisara said, “Tina, you’re not going to betray me, too, are you?” Tina lost to peer pressure and let herself be persuaded to go to the other tent.

A little while after turning out the light, Enju, Yuzuki, and Tamaki
soon fell asleep and started snoring, Enju and Yuzuki holding each other. A little ways away from Rentaro, Midori was sleeping in a very proper position. And Rentaro thought Shoma was awake, but he seemed to be sleeping sitting up and cross-legged, leaning on the wall of the tent.

Just me, huh?
Rentaro sighed, gazing at the curtains of the tent fluttering in the wind. His mind wandered to the conversation with his students during the day. Even if it had been to calm the hearts of children fraught with worry, it pricked his conscience a little that he had lied and said, “We have the self-defense force, so it’ll be fine,” without any basis for that statement.

Truth be told, he was worried, too.

In the self-defense force that had won the Second Kanto Battle, aside from the traditional conservatives, there were also the war advocates who wanted to open up the Monoliths and decisively get rid of the Gastrea. They had recently gained power, and lately, it appeared that these men and women did not even obey the commands of the Seitenshi.

The man named Takuto Yasuwaki, whom Rentaro had met and had intense confrontations with during the Seitenshi assassination attempt, was one of those in the war advocacy group that had been created after the Second Kanto War. And he had heard that the group camped out in front of the Monolith were all of the same type as Yasuwaki. If they underestimated Aldebaran’s strength, then that could come back and turn into a crisis for Tokyo Area. Rentaro held at bay his uneasiness that wouldn’t go away and took a deep breath, praying that he was worrying needlessly.

Just then, a voice that sounded like the buzz of a mosquito entered the tent. “Satomi, are you awake?”

Rentaro slowly lifted his eyelids. “Kisara?”

“Yeah, do you want to go for a walk?” Her voice came from outside the tent. Rentaro got up quietly to keep from waking Enju next to him and went out of the squad tent.

Yesterday, it had been hot and humid and hard to sleep, so he
had braced himself, but the wind that hit his skin didn’t feel especially hot or cold and was instead a comfortable temperature. The undergrowth swayed with a rustling sound in time to the sound of the insects, and in the midst of that stood Kisara, holding down her hair to protect it from the wind. For some reason, Kisara’s smile showed both loneliness and embarrassment. “Did I wake you?”

Rentaro shook his head. “How far are we going?”