Chương 85: Interlude3: Warriors of the Outer Ring (Part 2)

We promised we would run it again tomorrow. But when I went to sleep and woke up, there was no time for that anymore. I rubbed my sleepy eyes as I got up for school and turned on the TV. There was an evacuation advisory for the area around the Akihabara Gate, along with a broadcast calling for volunteers. Rumors were flying around online that First had said things were bad, so people were speculating that the situation must be extremely dangerous.

"Mom, I'm heading out for a bit."

"You! You're not going to volunteer, are you!? Don't go! It's dangerous! You're a university student, so stay home and study! If I'd known this was going to happen, I never would have let you enter the Gate!" Mom kept yelling at me. Thank you for worrying about me. But I couldn't stay behind. Because I had remembered what it meant to swing a sword.

"... Yeah. Sorry. And thanks for worrying about me. But if monsters spill out from there, you guys are probably going to be in danger too... So I'm sorry, but I'm going."

"No! Absolutely not! You could die!"

"Yeah, I know. But I want to go. I want to go there and help the people fighting! So I'm sorry!" Mom, who didn't have a job that could physically stop me, couldn't hold me back. I slipped past her and out the front door. I could hear her shouting behind me, but I think I had probably found my own path.

"Yo, partner. You ready to go?" I contacted Suguru on my phone. If he didn't come, I couldn't blame him. This was a place where lives were on the line. It wouldn't have been strange for him to follow the evacuation order and run. The only information available was telling people to evacuate, after all.

"Yeah. I just snuck out of the house. Where should we meet?"

"Hmm. How about the north side of the Gate?"

"Sounds good. Let's go." Two disobedient sons who had both defied their parents. When we met on the north side of the Gate, the atmosphere was tense, with volunteers, police officers, and members of the Self-Defense Forces filling the area. We went to the volunteer registration desk and wrote our names and addresses on the roster. Nearly fifty volunteers had gathered at the supply station. Tachibana-san, whom I had seen on streams, explained the situation to us.

Our main jobs were to hunt down any monsters that slipped through and provide first aid to the wounded. We were told that monsters could appear within a four-kilometer radius, and that survival rates changed depending on where we were. In other words, the place where we were standing was still safe.

"You two. You're young, so why'd you come here?"

"Huh?" I turned toward the voice. A worn-out middle-aged man was standing there, smoking a cigarette. His hair was messy, and he couldn't exactly be called well-dressed, but he didn't give off a dirty impression.

"No, I mean, you're young. You've got a future ahead of you. You're both at the age when you should still have all kinds of dreams, right?"

"Well, I found something I want to do." Suguru answered the man with a bashful smile. Yeah. That was right. We had both defied our parents. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. I had decided that this was the path I wanted to walk. That was why I was here.

"Same here. There's something I've gotta do here." When I answered, the man narrowed his eyes as though looking at something dazzling and held out a cigarette toward us.

"I don't know what it is, but being young is a good thing. Reckless, full of dreams... fearless. Want one as a keepsake? Once you're dead, you can't smoke." I looked at Suguru. He shook his head. I... I...

"I'll take one. Um, do I just put it in my mouth and smoke it?" The first cigarette I ever smoked was smoky, made me cough when it hit my throat, and tasted fucking awful. I had no idea what First or this old man liked about smoking them. Seeing me like that, the man burst out laughing.

"Kid, they say cigarettes ward off evil spirits. It's just a good-luck charm, a good-luck charm. If we make it through this alive, I'll give you another one. See ya." With those words, he disappeared into the crowd. I still had the cigarette he had given me. I nervously took another puff. Suguru suddenly reached over, snatched it from me, took a puff himself, and spat.

"This tastes like fucking shit. Why do adults smoke this stuff?"

"Who knows? Maybe because they're adults."

"Is that how it works?" As we exchanged those words, an announcement came over the speakers in a woman's voice. The message said that monsters were going to be expelled from the Gate. Almost immediately, from the direction of the normally quiet streets of Akihabara, we heard the sound of a helicopter crashing, followed by the shouts and screams of the people inside. I was scared. Only then did I realize it. I was scared. The me who had thought he was invincible was pathetic.

Even though we were standing in an area where we had been told monsters wouldn't appear, the screams and explosions crashing over us like an avalanche were enough to crush me.

"It's almost like the Reverse Tottori Starvation."

"Huh? What the hell is that?"

"It was a tragedy that happened during a siege after the defenders' supply lines were exhausted, but they weren't allowed to surrender. The people inside can escape, but the monsters won't let them. Even if we want to go inside... we can't. If a hole opens up, the monsters will get out through it." I never knew watching could be this painful. The black smoke rising into the sky looked like— like darkness covering the entire sky! Wasn't there anyone? Wasn't there anything we could do? Anything at all!

"Hm? What's that?"

"That's First's smoke... Is she fighting inside too... Huh?" Amid the echoing shouts, purple smoke rose and covered the buildings, weathering them away like sand. It was an unbelievable sight. But there was no mistake. That smoke was hers. I knew because I had been blinded by that smoke myself. I looked at Suguru beside me. He was watching the same thing, but he seemed to be deep in thought.

"Think of something?"

"No. I was wondering if destroying the buildings meant she was having trouble seeing.... Sorry, that was a lie. I was thinking about whether I could do that."

"What's the answer?"

"Even if I stood on my head, I couldn't do it. Not as I am now.... It's frustrating. She's so far ahead of us." As we both felt the helplessness of our own abilities, the situation changed. I could see several fighters running toward us. They were all battered. There wasn't a single clean spot on them. They were covered in blood, sweat, and dirt, exhausted to the point where it seemed their legs could give out at any moment. Ah. That was something precious.

People who had thrown away their own safety for the sake of protecting others. People who were irreplaceable. If so, then those of us here had to welcome them. We had to welcome those who had returned from the battlefield.

"Suguru, let's go. We're going to help them!"

"Yeah, partner. Let's go!" Several people followed us as we ran forward. We treated the returning fighters by pouring healing potions over them and giving them other first aid. Even then, some of the more severely wounded couldn't walk. Someone had to support them by the shoulder and drag them toward the rear.

"You okay!? Medicine! Can you drink it?"

"... Ah... ah. S-still... he... held the rear... he..." The soldier was breathing with an unpleasant wheezing sound. We poured medicine over him and made him drink it, then asked someone else to carry him away. The man he had called the rear guard appeared soon afterward. He was missing his right arm and dressed in rags. And yet, he was still walking forward, dragging himself along while controlling flames and slaughtering monsters.

"Are you okay!? Your injury—your arm!"

"I-I... I left it to her! I-I left it to her! On that battlefield! I left everything to her!" He collapsed to his knees as he approached us, tears streaming down his face as he sobbed. Her... He had to mean First. I didn't know about the other locations, but I hadn't seen any female police officers or members of the Self-Defense Forces.

"Yuji! Get him back! They're here!" At Suguru's voice, I raised my eyes. There were monsters I had never seen before. Amid the echoing shouts and explosions, the monsters stood there in their usual silence. Shit. There was no one around us. The soldiers who had arrived earlier had already been taken back. Could Suguru hold them off by himself?

"... You gonna be okay on your own?"

"I'm not going to pretend I'm fine... Probably not." What should I do? Leave the battered man here and fight? Take him back and leave Suguru to die? No. I couldn't do that. I couldn't choose either. I couldn't lose the partner I had only just found. And I couldn't leave this precious man to die.

"Yuji! Don't hesitate! She told you what you should do, didn't she!?" I couldn't choose. But I had to. Then... Did I have no choice but to trust my partner?

"... Yeah. Can you stand?"

"... Give me some medicine. I'll fight here, too."

"You could die."

"I came here prepared to die, and she told me to live as though my life depended on it. If that's the case, then I can't die here." Without a word, I handed him the medicine. He gulped it down. His legs were still unsteady, but he definitely— yes, definitely— looked at the monsters.

"Suguru. I'm the vanguard. I'll be in front, you stay behind. I'll leave the support to you."

"Yeah, obviously. Seeing his flames makes me feel so small it pisses me off. But I'm your rear guard." I raised my sword. My specialty was the two-stage slash from the side stance. In actual kendo, only strikes to the head are valid, so the stance hides the shinai and makes it difficult for the opponent to read your distance. But I was a swordsman. If you were a swordsman, you cut. It didn't matter whether it was a strike to the head. This wasn't a match.

What was happening here was a fight to the death for survival.