Vengeance Is Mine (8 page)

“Those numbers are hopeless,” said Rentaro.

“I have nothing to say in response to that…,” replied Gado. “On top of that, today we must give an even more painful ruling.”

“What?” Slowly, the pressure from the gazes around Rentaro became even stronger, and he felt intense pressure from them.

The corner of Gado’s eyes narrowed sharply. “Leader Satomi, do you know why you were called here today?”

“What are you…talking about…?”

“You were not called here today so we could ask you to analyze Aldebaran and Pleiades. The fact of the matter is, we want to ask you about the independent action your adjuvant took when you left Hidehiko’s formation during the operation.”

When Rentaro understood what Gado was trying to say, he got chills down his spine. “Please, wait. We noticed the Gastrea that had gone to the back of the formation to prepare for a surprise attack and went to intercept them—”

“We have confirmed the corpses of the Gastrea to the rear of the main battle formation. However, appearances are appearances, and disobeying orders is disobeying orders. We must think of these two as separate.” Unlike earlier, Gado’s voice now had coldness mixed into it.

Rentaro realized that the winds were blowing in a strange direction and wiped the sweat on his palms hard on his pants.

“In order to maintain appearances in the army, even if just one person from the civil officer troops disobeys orders, I’m sure you can imagine what would happen. From the perspective of the other civil officers who did not know the circumstances behind your actions, what you did looks like deserting under enemy fire. In addition, you and your Initiator are a high-ranking pair with an IP rank of 300. Your actions caused a fatal disturbance in the other civil officers who were desperately enduring their shaking knees to stand in line. I must have you pay for that.”

“B-but—”

Even as Rentaro tried to argue vehemently, Gado cut him off completely. “It was rash, Leader Satomi. I hereby disband your adjuvant and sentence you to capital punishment. I will not hear any excuses. You disobeyed the orders of your superior officer and deserted under enemy fire. Those are serious crimes even among serious crimes. If I do not punish you, it will set the bad precedent that even if one disobeys orders, they will not be punished. Military troops with warped rules can no longer be called military troops. They are just a disorderly crowd. Especially now that the mood of defeat has grown stronger, discipline must be tightened.”

At Gado’s words, a heavy weight fell on Rentaro with a thud.

Capital punishment. In other words, death.

“S-stop messing around!” The instant Rentaro stood from his chair to try to get closer to Gado, a strong fist sank into his stomach, and he almost passed out from the blow.

“Oof.” Rentaro couldn’t bear it, and his knees bent. As he gritted his teeth against the pain, he looked next to him and saw the Initiator, Asaka, looking down at him with a bored look on her face.

The little—!

“If you move, you will send your life flying,” she said.

Rentaro was forced to his knees, and pressing into his throat was the cold blade of a Japanese sword. Behind his back, he could hear multiple guns cocking, and as he glared at Gado with his teeth gritted, he received a pitying look. “Leader Satomi,” Gado said, “I personally expected a lot out of you. It’s unfortunate.”

Damn it.
Rentaro cursed his own carelessness as his clenched fists shook above his knees. When he had been summoned by Gado, why had he not sensed any danger? If he had been able to predict that this would happen, he could have thought of a way to deal with it. Instead, he just nonchalantly…

Rentaro lamented his own foolish actions and the fact that he could not find anything wrong with Gado’s logic. Gado’s reasons were completely valid. If the rules of the corps were to be the most important, then he had to punish whoever broke the rules, no matter who it
was. If their positions were reversed, then Rentaro likely would have imposed the same grave punishment on Gado.

Resignation slowly took its toll. Rentaro’s stomach felt as heavy as lead, and he started to feel dizzy.

“My…” He saw Enju’s smile in his head. He felt stunned, and his vision grew dark as he sweat profusely. Then, finally, words of defeat passed Rentaro’s lips. “My adjuvant… Please do not punish them… They were just following my orders. Please.”

Gado snorted. “To think that the hero who defeated the Zodiac Gastrea Scorpion and saved the country is now on death row. Fate is ironic to the bitter end, isn’t it?”

“Commander. There is no need to have pity on him. Let us execute this man here and now!” demanded one of Gado’s subordinates.

Gado rejected his subordinate’s suggestion with a wave of his hand and looked straight at Rentaro with a sigh. Then, he said, “Leader Satomi, are you ready to die once more?”

“Huh?” said Rentaro, startled.

“Commander!” said Gado’s subordinate.

“Now, wait a minute,” said Gado. “Leader Satomi, as you know, the battle we are fighting right now is a defensive battle to hold out until the construction of the replacement Monolith. However, there are also people who think we should not just be defending. If we were able to eliminate the symbol of the civil officers’ current fears, the Gastrea Pleiades, then I believe we can find a way out of this blockade. However, we do not have enough troops that I can deploy elite troops to do the job.” Gado stopped talking for a moment and gave a bold smile. “So I have a request to ask of you.”

Gado stood with one hand on his cane, schooled his gaze, and spoke from his belly. “What I ask is for you to infiltrate enemy territory by yourself and exterminate the unknown long-distance sniper Gastrea Pleiades.”

Rentaro felt like he had been hit hard on the side of the head. He couldn’t react for a good while.

“What I really want to say is to go and defeat Aldebaran, but it would be rash to go up against an immortal Gastrea without a plan.

“Asaka.” Gado gave her an order, and she calmly operated the PDA device next to her. When she did, a giant 3-D image that seemed to
bury the whole room appeared. In front of them spread the expanse of flat plains connected to the ruins that Rentaro and the others had requisitioned, and through the forest behind that was the memorial monument, the Flame of Return.

It looked to be a scale model of District 40, where Rentaro and the others were. There was something similar in Miori Shiba’s student council room, but the accuracy and color of this was nowhere near as good as the one owned by the daughter of a multimillionaire.

From where Rentaro was, he could see the small mountain of powder in the back that was what remained of the Monolith.

“Currently, the civil officer and Gastrea troops are positioned equidistant from the Monolith with the Monolith between them,” said Gado.

As if their hearts were beating as one, as Gado spoke, Asaka turned the model and drew a line. The line disappeared into an oval-shaped forest quite far away and outside the city wall. The forest was expansive, and there was a river that seemed to pierce its center. With a tree canopy that high, even a Stage Four Gastrea could hide in it.

Gado continued. “Because of the Gastrea virus, this forest has seen abnormal growth and diverse ecosystems. Somewhere in this forest, the twenty-seven hundred-plus Gastrea we were discussing are resting.”

“Do you know what part of the forest Aldebaran and Pleiades are in?” Rentaro hedged.

“Unfortunately, no. Not even the highest resolution artificial satellite could tell us this. We do also have sixth-generation unmanned reconnaissance crafts, but the JNSC cabinet ministers are extremely unmotivated to send them.”

“Pleiades, huh…?”

“That’s right. A being that the JNSC higher-ups are afraid to shoot down even with cruise missiles and support fighter aircraft. They had guaranteed us mastery of the air, but they have not brought that promise to fruition yet. Thanks to that, the flying Gastrea dealt us a lot of damage, and it was all we could do to defend ourselves. They really gave us a beating.”

The joke that even one powerful Gastrea could change the tide of a war was happening in real life. And the still unseen Pleiades that
shot compressed mercury… According to Tina, it measured about ten meters on all sides. Since it was on land, its archerfish genes must have mixed with those of a land-dwelling animal, so Rentaro wondered what form it would take.

“Leader Satomi… No, Former Leader. Destroy it. You have no right to refuse. You only have a small chance of succeeding, but since you were supposed to die anyway, it will be no great loss if you go. Dead heroes are very easy to use, after all.”

Fury pierced Rentaro’s spinal cord, and he brushed off the men at his sides who were holding him down, pushed away the other subordinates trying to stop him, and pressed on determinedly toward Gado. Slamming the palms of his hands on Gado’s steel desk, Rentaro got so close to the man that he practically head-butted his nose. “You’ve finally shown your true nature, huh? You old weasel…!”

Gado smiled without changing the cool expression on his face. “But Satomi, these are also my honest, true feelings. Among the civil officers, there are those who mistakenly believe that we don’t need to fight Aldebaran anymore and can sit pretty for another three days. Unfortunately, once Aldebaran completely heals the injury I gave it, it will definitely attack again. This is the only chance we have to attack. Satomi, if you accept this mission, I promise that I will not charge your adjuvant for this crime. But if you refuse, I will punish you all together. It looks like you have an Initiator who adores you as if you were her father and a lovely childhood friend in your adjuvant. I’m sure you could not bring yourself to let them undergo such severe punishment.”

“Just try laying even a finger on Enju or Kisara… I’ll kill you!”

“Then, it’s decided. We will prepare the equipment for you. Go say your good-byes to your friends today.”

Rentaro closed his eyes and exhaled, then slowly opened them again. “There’s one last thing I want to ask. You all saw Aldebaran with your own eyes, right? What did it look like?”

The moment he asked, a startled expression crossed over everyone in the room. Gado had a frighteningly stern expression on his face and looked like he was about to shoot fire from his angrily narrowed eyes. “Satomi, unfortunately, I cannot answer your question. No, I do not
want
to answer your question. Last night, because of our encounter
with the repulsive monster, none of us slept one wink. We will probably not be able to sleep well tonight, either. Do your best. I pray from the bottom of my heart that you will be able to complete your mission without running into Aldebaran.”

“Oh, Rentaro!” Enju welcomed him back cheerfully as she bounced out of the abandoned hotel, her pigtails swinging.

Enju’s voice started off a chorus of flurried others.

“What, Satomi?”

“He’s back?”

—And other such calls. All of Rentaro’s friends gathered around the door, noisily welcoming him back. Thinking they were overreacting, he checked the clock and was a little surprised. Apparently, he had been talking with Gado and the others for over three hours.

Kisara looked at him uneasily. “Did you get a talking-to for what we did yesterday after all?”

Rentaro said, “Let’s talk inside,” and they returned to the dining room en masse. He waited until everyone had sat down and calmed; he didn’t know where to start, but thinking that everything was important, he falteringly gave a full account of what happened with Gado. It was a shock, as expected, and the part about Aldebaran’s immortality and its attack after it healed its wound resulted in an air of silent despair among his team.

And then, Rentaro deliberately hid the fact that he had been ordered on a mission to subjugate Pleiades. “Sorry, everyone. It looks like our adjuvant will be disbanded after all. It doesn’t look like we can avoid it.”

“N-no… Wait a minute!” It was Yuzuki. Her gaze wavered, and she was obviously shaken. “I was finally able to make friends with Tina and everyone… R-Rentaro Satomi! Do something about it!”

“No, what bothers me is how light the punishment is.” It was Shoma, who had been silent until now, murmuring with a hand on his chin. “The commander said from the very beginning that disobeying orders would be punished severely. Don’t you think just getting our adjuvant disbanded is letting us off too easy, Satomi?”

As expected of Shoma
, Rentaro thought admiringly, without letting it show on his face.

“Shoma, I’m sure that is because the commander also took into consideration the results of our battle and made the punishment lighter,” Midori interjected with a smile.

Shoma did not look convinced but accepted her opinion. Midori’s kindhearted reasoning was completely off the mark, but Rentaro was at least grateful that it kept Shoma from asking him more questions.

“Then, what’ll happen to us?” Tina asked, her face clouding over.

Rentaro chose his words carefully to keep from upsetting her. “Maybe we’ll be sent to support those adjuvants that have lost members? I don’t really know, either.”

“I-I see…,” said Tina.

As if she had sensed the mood growing melancholy, Enju suddenly stuck her fist in the air above her head and snorted as she stood. “But even if we get separated, it’s not as if we’ll never meet again!”

“That’s…true, too.” Kisara nodded a beat later.

Beneath his sunglasses, Tamaki rubbed his eyes and sniffed. “It’s just as that bunny girl over there says. It’s a little sad to be sayin’ good-bye tonight, but that’s why I’ll turn this into a grand good-bye party!”

Everyone else looked at each other, grinning.

The time after that passed like a dream. They lavishly used up the rest of the food they had been rationed for the three days and recooked it desperately, filling their half-empty bellies to bursting. Inside the room, large candles burned brightly and turned everyone’s faces red. It put the room in a festive, birthday party-esque mood, and the dimly burning flames reflected in the eyes of Enju, Tina, and the other girls, shining lovely.