Akira continued looking out the window, his hand pressed against it. “Safe? But didn’t you say it was dangerous just a moment ago?”

  “Ah, well, the terminal should’ve technically been a safe zone the moment we entered it, but those guards crossed the boundaries of their jurisdiction to chase after us, right? So technically nowhere’s really safe anymore.”

  “Then aren’t we still in trouble?”

  “Nah, here in the container we’ll be fine. Now that we’ve taken off, it’s a straight shot for us from the factory to the business district. The guards are here to defend the factories in the first place. Sectors are one thing, but they wouldn’t have a reason to cross over districts,” Carol stated confidently.

  That made enough sense to Akira, and he nodded, impressed. But then something else came to mind. “Wait, how do you know all this, Carol?”

  Carol’s face stiffened slightly, as if she’d been a bit too careless and ended up saying something she shouldn’t have. But the look was so brief that Akira didn’t even notice, and it was immediately replaced with a cheerful grin. “That’s classified. Or rather, stuff only a professional surveyor would know. Sorry, but for information of that caliber, a paltry twenty million won’t even begin to cover it.”

  Akira’s smile grew strained, but he understood. While he couldn’t begin to imagine how she’d gotten the info, it sufficed for now that she’d be willing to tell him provided he had the funds. So at least she wasn’t getting her info through some shady method she couldn’t divulge.

  “I see. Then tell me twenty million’s worth. I mean, you can’t possibly think just leading me to this container is actually worth that much, right?” He grinned knowingly, as if to get under her skin.

  Carol responded with the same kind of look. “All right, deal. You’ve done an exemplary job protecting me this far, so I suppose I can educate you a bit while we’re en route.”

  After rising a considerable distance in the air, the container began to move horizontally, carrying them toward its destination. As they traveled, Carol began to divulge some of her secrets.

  Alpha stayed silent all the while. She’d caught on to Carol’s attempt to cover up her mistake, but deliberately didn’t point it out. Akira had already suspected that Alpha knew more than she was letting on; but he automatically assumed Alpha’s secret must be similar to Carol’s, namely on par with the secrets surveyors tended to be privy to. So Carol unwittingly ended up soothing Akira’s suspicions of Alpha, which proved incredibly convenient for the latter. As always, Alpha smiled as she kept Akira informed of only what he needed to know, and nothing else.

  Chapter 108: Déjà Vu

  The container carrying Akira and Carol headed for the business district. Among the many things she taught him while they were traveling was why the container had nothing in it apart from them.

  “A bunch of bins in the terminal are empty like this one,” Carol explained. “Normally they’d be packed with all sorts of things, but the factories making them are now defunct. Even so, the transport system itself is still online, so it keeps moving the containers even though they’re all empty. That’s what I infer, anyway.”

  “Makes sense, but doesn’t that mean that the ruin’s management system is still active? And wouldn’t it check to see if they’re empty or not? Given how high-tech everything from the Old World seems, I’d think one of their systems wouldn’t let something like that slide.”

  Carol shook her head. “Actually, it’s the opposite. It’s because this ruin’s management is so lax that the hunters show up in droves. If the Old World system really was as foolproof as you’re thinking, no one would set foot in here.”

  The mechanical guards stationed around a ruin would attack the hunters who intruded upon their turf—but that was all they did. Regardless of how many thieves from the outside descended upon the city daily, the system had limits on what it could do.

  In the past, Mihazono would have had a human military presence to make up for the holes in its automated security. Just as Kugamayama City had previously dispatched its defense force to take care of the horde heading toward it, Mihazono had a duty to take care of the thieves threatening its own territory. But the fact that so many hunters were able to slip in and out made it clear that the ruin’s system had suffered some sort of degradation, damage, or other error.

  Akira nodded. “I suppose that all checks out. And that’s also why we were able to escape to safety relatively easily, right?” He looked out the window and saw a sweeping view of the business district, a mosaic of fresh-looking buildings randomly interspersed with piles of debris. This hodgepodge of areas is also due to the system malfunctioning, he thought.

  Something moved at the top of his vision, and he glanced up to see a rift opening in midair. What the heck? Puzzled, he stared at it some more—

  Akira! Enemy incoming! Alpha warned, her expression grim.

  “What?!” Akira yelped, caught completely off guard.

  Alpha was already moving his suit for him. Once his pack of ammo was back on his shoulders, she snatched up his CWH and DVTS from the ground, one in each hand.

  “Akira?! What’s going on?!” Carol shouted.

  “We’re being targeted!” he shouted back.

  “Huh?!” She peered outside the window Akira had just been looking through, and her face went rigid.

  The “rift” was actually the side door of a gigantic transport aircraft, and it was opening up. As it widened, they could clearly make out the cargo within—an enormous multilegged machine resembling a tank. Its artillery cannons were aimed right at the container they were traveling in.

  Carol reflexively leaped out of the line of fire, avoiding a direct hit. But they were still inside a floating bin, which meant there was nowhere to truly escape. Shells bombarded them, and Carol was tossed into the sky. In the brief moment she hung suspended in midair, she got a glimpse of the ground far below.

  Shit, I’m way too high up! If I fall from this height...

  The awareness that she was about to die hit her like a truck. She was wearing a powered suit, so an impact from a shell like that wouldn’t harm her. But as high performance as it was, the suit could only help so much, and she knew it wouldn’t do any good against a fall from this height. The sensation of impending death made everything feel like it was moving in slow motion. But in the air her movements were severely restricted, and so this sensation only served to needlessly prolong her terror. Her face twisted in despair.

  Then Akira dropped out of the sky, slamming into her.

  “Akira?!”

  “Grab on or die!” Akira pulled Carol closer so she could grip him tightly. Still holding his guns in both hands, he opened fire.

  Even before the artillery shells had destroyed the container, Alpha had already sensed what was going to happen and had planned out the best course of action for Akira. By calculating where the shells would land and how much damage the container would receive and where, she’d helped Akira evade the blast. Then, he’d kicked off from the container (which was now so ruined it barely resembled its original shape) with his suit’s strength, giving him the necessary speed to reach Carol in time.

  Now that he had her secure, he used the recoil from his CWH and DVTS to propel them both toward a nearby skyscraper. They “landed” on the wall, and he ran down the side of the building, just as he’d done when fighting the Serantal guards.

  This was all too much for Carol, who could scarcely grasp what was happening. Grabbing onto him for dear life, she screamed, “Akira?! What the hell’s going on?!”

  “Later! Just hang on!” Fighting this way was now déjà vu for Akira, so while his expression remained tense, unlike Carol he was able to keep his composure as he scanned the skies for the enemy. But try as he might, he couldn’t spot anything. Was this due to optical camouflage?

  But Alpha pointed up to the building’s roof. Above you, Akira!

  The moment he looked up, the building quaked under his feet. One of the tanklike machines had dropped from the transport aircraft onto the side of the building. It had tires on the bottom of its many legs, and on these it pivoted sharply in Akira and Carol’s direction. Even as it charged toward them, it lined up its next shot.

  No way?! How can something that massive move so fast?!

  It’s a machine, Akira. Unlike humans, it’s designed to move easily along walls without falling off. Come on, this should be far less surprising than seeing a container fly through the air.

  Well, sure, but—

  More importantly, hurry up and get rid of this thing. Now would be a good time to show some of that resolve of yours!

  Roger! Panicking wouldn’t change anything, so he focused on getting rid of the monstrosity instead. Silently psyching himself up, he held his CWH at the ready as he practically slid down the building. With perfect aim, he opened fire.

  At almost the same moment, the tank discharged. The bullet from his rifle and the shell from the cannon streaked by each other at high speeds as they each headed for their respective targets.

  The rifle round hit its mark. The sheer amount of impact conversion luminescence scattering from the enemy’s force-field armor showed just how powerful the shot had been. Still, that wasn’t enough to destroy the monster. The bullet had dented its armor but failed to pierce through.

  Meanwhile, the shell missed Akira and streaked on through the air. With the strength his suit gave him and the DVTS recoil, Akira quickly leaped to the side, out of the shell’s range.

  The projectile struck the ground and exploded. As far away as he was, Akira could still feel the scorching heat on his back—the shell had been incredibly powerful.

  One hit from those, and I’m a goner!

  But you can handle it! Keep shooting! Alpha urged.

  Roger! As the tank monster pursued Akira down the building, they continued exchanging gunfire. Carol was so dumbfounded that she could only manage a vacant smile as she held on to Akira.

  Over the course of the battle, Akira fired three more proprietary rounds at the tank. While they all dealt serious damage to its armor, none of them could deliver a fatal blow. Akira began to look a bit nervous.

  Damn, this thing’s tough! Wouldn’t we have a better chance fighting it on the ground? He supposed that on level terrain he could focus all his firepower at the enemy instead of using the recoil for mobility. Perhaps then he’d have the force necessary to finish it off.

  But Alpha shook her head. No, it would be best for you to defeat it before you reach the bottom. The enemy will be able to move more freely below—right now, on the side of the building, its movement is restricted. We can’t let that handicap go to waste.

  What a pain... All right, fine. I might have to get a bit reckless, but I’ll finish this!

  At the same instant, Carol came to a resolution of her own—she let go of Akira and joined the fight. Her previous expression, tinged with desperation, was now overwritten by a forced but bold grin as she held her large one-handed firearm and launched powerful bullets at the tank. Of course, she could hardly aim accurately in this situation, but the bullets reached the tank’s body nonetheless. Impacts like those from Akira’s CWH rounds were visibly knocking the enemy back.

  Whoa, now that’s what I’m talking about! Akira exclaimed Hey, you think her gun’s even more powerful than my CWH?

  Now having two threats to deal with instead of one, the tank fired a shot at Carol as well. She didn’t have the added support Akira did, so she would have had a tougher time avoiding its blast. But Akira nipped that concern in the bud by aiming at the incoming shell and knocking it off course.

  With the enemy’s attention divided between the two of them, they had more leeway to directly attack the machine. Slowly but surely, Akira and Carol gained the upper hand. Overwhelmed by the concentrated gunfire, the tank couldn’t keep up with the onslaught and was quickly filled full of holes. Eventually the monster was unable to resist any longer, and fell from the side of the building to its doom.

  Elated at their victory, the two relaxed their concentration slightly. For Akira that was no problem, since he had Alpha’s support to back him up. But Carol was unable to maintain her balance and began tumbling from the wall.

  Immediately, Akira kicked off the building, flinging himself downward faster than normal freefall. Thus he reached the bottom before she could and, discarding both his weapons, stretched out his arms and caught Carol before she hit the ground.

  Their eyes met. For a moment, their minds processed what had just happened. Finally Carol embraced Akira in joy.

  “I’m alive—I can’t believe it! Akira, you really saved me! Aaah, that was close! I was almost a goner! I thought for sure I was dead! But I’m alive!”

  Akira was more relieved and exhausted than elated. Setting Carol down, he heaved a huge sigh. “Yeah, looks like I managed... Thank goodness! And here I thought having to do that once in a single day was enough.”

  “Once is enough for you?!” Carol asked, incredulous. “I personally wouldn’t want to do anything like that ever if I could help it! No thank you! But if you can say something like that with a straight face, you must be even stronger than I thought!”

  Of course, if Akira were to deny his own strength at this point, it would have sounded far too unnatural to be taken as mere modesty. In truth, part of him did wonder how she would react if he told her that this was his second time running down a building today, but he didn’t say that either. Instead, he tried to pry Carol off of him. “Okay, time to get down now. Don’t press your chest against me like that—your powered suit feels like a rock, and it hurts.”

  “Oh? How rude! Isn’t this sort of thing supposed to make you pleased?”

  “Dunno. But it hurts. So get off.”

  Akira wasn’t being shy or embarrassed. Carol’s powered inner wear was thin enough that it clearly showed the shape of her chest, but it was also high-level defensive apparel. The inside material was so flexible it allowed her breasts to jiggle, but the outside was sturdy enough to protect the wearer. The same was true of the harness she wore—it looked soft at a glance but felt like a steel block jammed into him.

  Carol also realized this and obediently released him. Then she removed the chest portion of her harness and unzipped her suit all the way down to her stomach, exposing her skin underneath. Finally, she embraced him once more. Pressing his face into her massive cleavage, Carol grinned. “Now it doesn’t hurt, right?”

  She was still giddy from her brush with death moments before, and the thrill of being alive made her feel closer to Akira than she usually would have. And having experienced the same thing, Akira found he no longer felt like pushing her away. She was right—it didn’t hurt anymore, so with a sigh he let her do as she wished.

  Alpha grinned teasingly. Hmm. It seems that the real thing really does elicit a completely different reaction from you. I guess I can’t compete after all.

  Shut up, Akira said, more tersely than normal.

  For some time afterward, Carol clung to Akira blissfully.

  Once she had finally calmed down, Akira peeled her off of him and spoke up. “All right, Carol, I think we should get moving. My job lasts until we get to the Hunter Office branch, right?”

  Even after being immersed in a chest that had charmed numerous men, Akira showed no sign of embarrassment or even interest, Carol noted wryly. “Sure, let’s go.” Even so, she was still in a good mood. Akira’s strength and attitude had made her take quite a shine to him. “Then I’ll be counting on you for just a bit longer,” she added, grinning amicably.

  They were ready to move out. But they’d only taken a few steps forward when Akira stopped in his tracks.

  “Akira, what’s wrong?” Carol asked.

  But Akira didn’t reply.

  Carol thought that was strange, but when she saw him collapse to his knees in front of her, she screamed in horror, “Akira?!” Wondering if perhaps he’d just been pretending to be in good condition when he’d really reached his limit, Carol ran to him and began checking him over.

  Akira had both arms limp at his sides, and his head was bowed down. She could hear quiet sobs.

  “M-My relic...” he seemed to be saying.

  “Huh?” Dumbfounded, Carol caught sight of something ahead of Akira.

  The relic that he’d been dragging with him all this time was in pieces, scattered all along the ground.

  His find had been encased inside a sturdy Old World box, but it had fallen from a great height, gotten caught in the enemy’s gunfire, and—to add insult to injury—suffered the giant multilegged tank landing directly on top of it. The pack had been torn to shreds from the gunfire, the box had gone flying out of the container, and the mechanical part inside had been smashed to pieces on the ground. Akira’s reward for all his hard work that day was now irreparably destroyed.

  “It took so much work to find... And it was so hard to carry...” There was no getting around the fact that the relic was now worthless. As reality sank in, Akira was caught in the throes of despair.

  Carol looked taken aback. “Um, Akira, you’re okay to go on, right?”

  “Do I look okay?! What part of this seems ‘okay’ to you?!” Without meaning to, Akira snapped at her.

  Seeing he was well enough to bite back, she relaxed, but she asked just in case, “Er, you’re not hurt anywhere or anything, right? You’re physically okay? I mean, you were kind of reckless back there—”

  “Hm? Oh, yeah, I’m fine on that point.” Sensing that she was worried about his body’s condition, Akira’s expression returned to normal for a moment, and he nodded. But then he immediately looked sorrowful once more. “My relic...”

  While Carol did feel sorry for him, she found his exaggerated despair amusing and couldn’t help but let out a snort. He could take down a multilegged tank while running down a skyscraper and saw that as completely natural, showing almost no sign of pride at his accomplishment—and yet here he was, bawling like a baby over a lost relic. Carol found that strangely adorable.

 

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