Estimated reading time: 15–19 minutes
Chapter 20: You and my words, for the last time
「Whoa, that’s some serious firepower. But as expected of an armor-type, it’s still holding up.」
「You alright!?」
「Umm, let me run the mech’s anomaly detection program… no anomalies detected, it can still move, so no issues there. I guess this is the kind of damage you take from a direct hit from a UYK… that thing is a bad news」
「No, the Moon UYK only had this much firepower because it didn’t have enough transferable material. Plus, it takes those tentacles years to regenerate, so there’s the issue of them not being able to shoot bullets. Five years ago, the barrage raining down on this colony was enough to blanket the whole thing.」
“That’s why its defenses are so weak too. Any shots that didn’t reach it back then could hit it now,” Momiji explains. I’ve heard enough complaints about not sharing that kind of intel beforehand, so I’ll refrain. As I pull myself together again, the moth has almost disappeared over the horizon, with only its wings still peeking out. But we’re not out of the woods yet. The next time that thing shows its face, I have a gut feeling my death will be certain.
Can I really afford to lose here? Getting shoved into some random event alone and defeated in front of millions, no way I can take that lying down. Failing a one-time only event would make me a total laughingstock on the boards. Quest failure memes with my name Orange. My crappy reputation is inflated enough as is without tacking more on.
It was supposed to be a hot comeback from the brink of despair to avenge myself, but this goddamn game is so shitty all I can think about is that. I operate the touch panel to check the cannon’s status.
「『Apollyon Fusion Incendiary Weapon Model UK-02 manufactured by Kōmitsu Solutions』…so that’s this cannon’s name. The base is damaged and can’t swivel, there’s a shell jammed in the loading mechanism, and the recoil control unit is cracked. It’s pretty beat up.」
「Well, it hasn’t been repaired at all since the battle 5 years ago, so no surprise it’s held up this much.」
「So what should I do?」
「You still wanna fight? I feel like the update would trigger even if you just ended it here…」
「…Don’t care about reasons. What should I do?」
I bite back my frustration at this shitty game and force out the question. Momiji seems to see right through me and says “Well, I’d be pissed in your shoes too” before sending me several files.
「You raised your Mechanic job skill right? This is Apollyon gear, so you should be extra good at repairing it.」
「Do I get a bonus!?」
「Can’t see one. Okay, first let’s detach the lower section of the cannon. That part just swivels it around anyway, so it’s fine. We’ll get the repairs done while it goes around once, then when that thing comes back we’ll slam some shells into it.」
「I didn’t think anything except the sun could rise over the horizon and bum me out」
「By the way, why’s that?」
「School’s starting.」
「You shouldn’t be gaming this late into the night…」
Anyway, lame chatter aside, I detach the so-called “Incendiary Weapon UK-02” cannon. I take out the AP repair kit I have equipped on my back. Yup, the specs match. Since I can’t exit my mech into the oxygen-less environment, I ponder what to do next when I notice the attachments currently connected to the cannon have spots to connect a driver and robotic arms.
I connect a powered driver and small robotic arms, then manipulate them to unscrew each bolt one by one. The first layer uses normal screw fasteners. For the second layer and on, I have to send an internal signal for them to detach. The third layer is completely bonded so I’ll have to pry it open with a blade, she informs me.
『You have learned the skills《Maintenance: Apollyon Armaments》and 《Modification: Apollyon Armaments》』
I struggle through disassembling the cannon. As the skill acquisition notifications pop up, my hands grow more precise in their movements. Before I know it, removing the cannon feels like second nature, as if I’d been doing it all along. Next I pull out the ammunition magazine to fix the jam.
I gaze up at the sky. The beast is gone and one sun has already disappeared below the horizon. Silent debris and mummies floating in the blackness look quietly down upon me. From my comm device, a calm Kansai dialect speaks up.
「I commissioned Mr. Tanaka to repair and maintain Incendiary Weapon UK-02. If all goes well, it should still exist in the year 2060.」
「…?」
「Orange, would you mute the audio streaming to viewers?」
What a tremendously meta thing to say. Those aren’t lines an NPC should have. But I don’t have any reason to refuse, so ignoring pleading comments I flip on mute mode so our voices don’t get picked up on the stream. With that, only Momiji and I occupy this completely silent world. Quietly, conveying emotions I’ve never seen from her before – grief? joy? – all tangled up together in a way I can’t describe, she begins to speak. Under the slowly drifting sky, only words are exchanged as the final hour ticks by.
「Having fun with the game?」
「It’s shit.」
「Thought you’d say that.」
「Well, I did get to see you again thanks to it, so there’s that at least.」
「I was planning to get in touch after starting university, Kanji.」
「…? So you knew I was going to that university?」
「Of course. It’s where my first love was headed, and those feelings are still ongoing after all.」
「The devs should get chewed out for this. Taking liberties interpreting other people’s feelings for crap like this.」
「But I’m grateful to the devs. Even if it’s just as quoted information that’ll disappear, it let us meet one more time like this.」
「So why ‘first love’? Never got any vibe like that from you.」
「I wasn’t conscious of it as that either. But during second year of high school, I got confessed to by a male classmate.」
「A handsome, rich guy from Class 1 with a great personality. But I didn’t feel even a little stirred up turning him down.」
「Cold move.」
「My friends gave me endless crap about it too. But I just wasn’t feeling it for some reason. When I thought about why… there you were. In my precious photos, scattered through notebooks I’d left lying around for some reason… you were there, Kanji.」
「……」
「Without any huge trigger, I realized my first love had begun and never ended. So to get closure on this thing I’d dragged around, I threw myself into entrance exam prep―and ended up on the road to ruin. It was in early third year when I became a cyborg.」
「An attack by 『SOD』 remnants. One blow from a psychic blast. My spinal cord and limbs got replaced, turning me into a cyborg. And at the same time, information about the coming ruin started flowing in from my father too. Like your situation now – disconnected information, missing causality, just the conclusion presented.」
「It was sheer despair. The only definite thing was the world ending in 2050. If love had blossomed carrying all that… I wasn’t nearly optimistic enough to think I could enjoy things till the ruin arrived.」
「……」
「My first love dragged on, eternally extended without fading away. And then 2050 came. I managed to force you onto this artificial planet orbiting the artificial sun through my power. But then the Moon UYK appeared and you died, Kanji.」
「There’s no one left here now. Just me. Everyone else is gone, but I had things I still wanted to tell you, Kanji. So I kept waiting these five years.」
「That’s why I’ll say it now. Kanji, I love you. Go out with me.」
「If only I could beat that Moon UYK…」
「That a joke?」
「As if I could joke in this situation. I still haven’t… fallen for anyone. But picturing that now, it doesn’t seem like it’d be bad」
「You embarrassed?」
「Yeah…」
「Just seeing you react like that is enough for me. We’ve got half the time left. The artificial planet has rotated halfway.」
「I managed to repair the recoil control unit on my end. Just emergency fixes, but it should hold awhile.」
「I’m routing all power your way, so connect the spare power cable too, ‘kay?」
「Got it.」
「Hey, where do you wanna go after this is over?」
「We got somewhere to actually go?」
「Poor phrasing. If we were dating in 2040, where would you have wanted to visit?」
「Hmm…」
「You were totally gonna say the Kōmitsu Solutions head office, right?」
「Dead on」
「Well, forcing you places you’re not interested in sucks. Anywhere else?」
「Somewhere outdoorsy maybe? Hiking up a small mountain or fishing?」
「Ooh, fishing gets my vote!」
「What about you then? Where are you dying to go, Momiji?」
「Hmm…first an animal cafe, then an amusement park!」
「Typical.」
「The amusement park especially. I wanna see you on ride after ride till you’re teary-eyed and I can fuss over ya.」
「What a kink…」
「All you can manage is two kanjis!? Weren’t you the one who coded that!? Didn’t I see you pretty worn out and teary at the sports festival!?」
「Whose fault!?」
「We’ve got 1/4 left… it’ll be over in a flash.」
「Loaded the spare ammo magazine. I can fire 7 shots now. But is that enough to win?」
「Told you, that thing’s a weakened UYK that got weakened again. It’s just got the threat level of a strain at most now.」
「So beating it will demonstrate the AP’s usefulness, huh.」
「Knew your eyes would go there. Go ahead and crush it properly.」
「Oh I will. Hey, once I finish sniping I wanna come meet you, but where are you at?」
「Who knows?」
「C’mon, you promised to go out.」
「Maybe I’ll tell you if you beat it?」
「As if.」
「Wouldn’t be a pretty sight to see me anyway…」
「I see.」
「…fine.」
「Well, I’ll come find you regardless. Otherwise next time I’m the one doing the dragging」
「I guess so. Sending data over now, come get me when you’re done ‘kay?」
「Thanks.」
「And take a screenshot of me here to show the other me later. She’ll make good use of it」
「『Rejuvenation……』…Dammit, can’t read it. But fine, I’ll do it」
「Please do.」
「We’ve got 5 minutes left…」
「Sights aligned. No errors.」
「I won’t be able to contact you once power gets switched over. Anything you wanna say before that?」
「When this is over, we’re going to the amusement park. Got it?」
「Okay, I’ll leave it to you then. Here we go, diverting power!」
At her words, our quiet world for two comes to an end. The ground shakes abnormally as power gets focused into Incendiary Weapon UK-02. Excess current splits water to generate massive oxygen which the cooling system traps as liquid oxygen and charges into the ammo magazine. At this size, directly introducing oxygen is cheaper than preparing a chemical propellant to combust the liquid fuel.
The heat from oxygen generation and cooling causes the equipment around the cannon to grow hotter. I set the front of the barrel into fixed position like a normal rifle’s tripod using the recoil control unit’s braces. Half carrying, half dragging the jagged, blade-pried section, I take aim for the predicted point of emergence.
「5, 4, 3…」
I brace myself to contain the recoil. This thing is apparently meant to be bundled in groups of 10 and used as a rotary cannon – a terrifying thought. Firing an incendiary weapon of this size should penetrate a Strain’s armor no problem. And to think I can barely lift a mass production model…
I have to take it down in 7 shots before it gets away. The strain’s terrifying trait Reina described – its ability to escape. This isn’t some RPG enemy. When it takes damage, it will flee and recover. That’s why Apollyon Fusions with the mobility to pursue it and firepower to defeat it across the Torrent Phenomenon-ravaged land are supreme, while mass production models only served as transporters.
But if I can beat it here and now… If I can set a precedent…
「2, 1…」
My heart grows still. Estimated range is around 12 km. Considering artificial satellites orbiting Earth, that’s a low altitude, but conversely makes it easier for the enemy to snipe me too. I shake off my timid apprehensions. Let’s do this.
「0!」
The instant its wings emerge, I pull the trigger. Liquid oxygen explosively yet evenly combusts thanks to the catalyst, creating tremendous pressure within UK-02’s cannon to launch the artificial metal alloy anti-UYK round with a deafening blast. Wincing at the ear-piercing noise of it piercing armor, I watch for the hit. Recording an initial velocity of 3000 m/s – surpassing even railguns – the round misses as the Moon UYK evades.
「Well of course it’d dodge! Reloading next shell!」
Couldn’t make out the Moon UYK’s expression to begin with. But where it should have a slender proboscis to sip flower nectar, a savage beast’s mouth splits open instead. That grinning bastard combining the moth’s compound eyes and wicked smile rains down mass rounds from its reloaded tentacles.
Their projectiles are far slower than mine, and the low accuracy while flying leaves much to be desired. But one good hit means it’s over.
「Barrel cooled, second shot!」
Once more, impact and sound shake my body within the machine. I only graze its wings though, unable to hit the Moon UYK flitting through space like it owns the place. Then in the next moment, its mass rounds touchdown around me.
As if that matters. No time to cower when I can’t escape anyway. Better to just keep firing shots. Ignoring its attack, I launch the third round.
『You have learned the skills《Marksmanship: Sniping》and《Marksmanship: Apollyon Armaments》』
Messages blasting through my vision, the fourth and fifth rounds are unleashed. At the same time, a mass round grazes my AP’s body, blowing off its left arm. My machine staggers, losing balance. The Moon UYK, seemingly unable to restrain its grinning delight, continues dancing across the heavens.
Then as if to deliver the finisher, the Moon UYK dumps a tidal wave of mass rounds from the sky. Seeing that, I finally manage a laugh. The sixth shot finds its mark.
Though it likely can’t hear me, I tell the dumbstruck, no longer smiling Moon UYK anyway.
「Just as I thought. For that last decisive blow, you’d stop moving to take steady aim. So I made a show of losing balance to lure you in. Take this – my last round!」
I fire the final artificial metal alloy bullet at the Moon UYK writhing in pain. Scoring a beautiful headshot that steals its ability to move, it lets out an ear-piercing shriek neither beast nor insect, then goes still. Without waiting to confirm, I race underground. The next moment, mass rounds reduce the artificial planet to scrap.
Oxygen reserves are low. With all electric lights dead, I have no choice but to rely on my AP’s searchlights.
『An emergency update will be executed starting at 8 PM. Maintenance is expected to take around 40 minutes.』
Ignoring the system message, I shove through completely collapsed passageways to advance. My goal requires no explanation, and following the navigation it’s easy to arrive before long.
It’s a room like a patient’s quarters, filled with all kinds of equipment. Barely big enough for an AP to fit through the door. Scattered mummy corpses lay among the machines, but one thing looks out of place – an enormous coffin. I nervously peer inside and find exactly what I expected.
――What was once Kōmitsu Momiji.
Visually, she seems only a little older than the Momiji I knew. But she’s missing both arms and legs. Rot has set in near her heart, and her skull has been opened with various cords attached to her brain. Moreover, the system of devices she’s plugged into has lost power. Life support consumes energy, so she had no choice but to cut it. I’d known. Surviving unharmed for five whole years after 2055 was impossible… But still, this is…
「……?」
A gust of wind from me forcing the AP into the cramped room sends a slip of paper fluttering through the air. Scrawled by one of the robotic arms plugged into her life support, it reads:
『You dummy. I left the amusement park plans to my other self. Be happy.』
She was supposed to be an NPC. A character from some game inaccurately cribbing details of a real person for a distasteful gag. But there she was – the girl who kept feeling, who kept waiting through five long years. My first love.
The world crumbles away. The forced logout display mercilessly blankets my vision.
And so my short-lived romance ends.
『Updated to Ver 1.08
・Britain and Japan have cancelled their space evacuation plans
・Anti-UYK armaments prepared in Old Osaka
・Stable supply of negative mass materials improves resource stock
・Ruin in 2050 remains unavoidable.
・Success rate for 2055 operations remains 0%.』
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