Chapter 33 (1/2)

Chapter 33

The train arrived on the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line, and its turret slowly rotated out towards the sea The grinding sounds of its gears and hout the area What lied on the other side was none other than the group of <unknowns> that had appeared

The battlefield itself was tre The ocean waves intensified, and the atmosphere tensed up From above, the sky split violently apart, and even the clouds were twisting and turning Unknowns started conjugate below, like heat rising fro from water

The light fro rainbow split far off into the distance A dark light seehts illuhly

Strange things peered froh they were neither animals nor plants In fact, they looked ical Their numerous limbs were indeed very animal-like, but they also looked like withered branches, devoid of any leaves The limbs looked as if they had been hastily attached onto their bodies Their ht Even though their skin ave off a sense of softness and warmth

The ave off a hideous roar, as if they were laughing It was unnerving to say the least They were a disgrace, carved per memory, and the source of the humiliation felt by us all They were the <unknowns>, an abnormal lifeform that caused ide destruction With huave a bloodthirsty grin

In front of the train, on the Aqua-Line, thesole base served as the deployment point for many of the troops and equipment Of course, it also served as cover in the front lines

“Alright you people, get in position!” heroically yelled Natsuhest point in the base so that people could see her no ain! I don’t wanna see fear in any of your eyes, got it? Let’s go!!”

Illustration

The turrets were manned and the artillery was ready to fire The students prepared their weapons and charged forward We were far behind them, towards the side of the Kisarazu base, but ere able to see as going on clearly No, actually it would be more accurate to say that ere only able to watch and see There was nothing we could really do We were in the front lines, but even so, ere still in the back The real battlefield was about a kiloh to see, but not close enough for them to attack us directly In other words, ere still pretty uess it was safe, and I could still see everything pretty clearly Not a bad position to be in

Renge leaned off the bridge and observed Natsu, “Wow!” and was clearly fascinated by what Natsuhtly, afraid that Renge ht fall into the water Asuha, a few steps away from us, sat nonchalantly on the handrail She didn’t pay any attention to us Rather, she kept fidgeting with her pistols

The pistols, huh…

“Natsue, amazed as she watched on

In contrast, Asagao stood there with a cold expression “Everyone’s following directions pretty well,” she added

“I don’t think she gives any orders in actual co with her pistols “Well, , so…”

Asagao was astonished “Oh I see… Speaking of which, why is this girl not using honorifics? I’ht?”

“Tsurube-senpai?” asked Asuha

Asagao was cold hearted as she sternly folded her arms“Hmm, I don’t really like that either…”

Asuha frowned, looking annoyed “Then, forehead Asagao it is!” she exclaimed

“hell no!” shouted Asagao “Why do you have to add that unnecessarily? You wanna die?”

“Calao looked like she was about to grab Asuha, but Renge grasped both hands around Asagao and stopped her I’irl Sorry about my sister… I really should have warned her not to do this kind of thing…

“Asuha, please don’t say that,” I said, trying to calao was probably bullied about this kind of thing when she was younger”

“Exactly! Exactly that!” said Asagao “Wait, how did you know that Chigusa?!?”

“I can guess that ao ere both younger, I probably would have teased her about it too… All boys are like that, right? They always tease the girls they liked or so like that…

“You know I’roaned

“Ahh!! I’ve had it!” shouted an annoyed Asagao “This is getting annoying Then I’ll just say Kasumi instead…”

“Umm… What’s this all of a sudden…”I said, surprised to hear ao looked at me suspiciously

“Huh? You are Kasuht?”

“Well you do call ao, don’t you?”

“What kind of reason is that…”

Asagao was a bit drawn back She clearly didn’t getIe itself It was in bad taste though to suddenly call people, especially the self-conscious ones, by their first naure out if there was any particular reason for the change After all, except for the ti, it’s hard to find out what they were trying to do But, from time to time, there were people like that

“Ah,her hand She se already!”

Well, Renge was great at cos unconsciously, so for theThat’s why it was very easy for Renge to get along with everyone, includingor anything like that I’e

…Wait a second, Asagao had always acted this way to everyone, I think Is it confidence? Or determination? Or cockiness? It’s definitely cockiness, huh I nodded in satisfaction as I made up my mind

Asuha juuardrail soon after “In any case, it’s fine to call me Asuha too”

Asagao looked puzzled for a moment “Sure, yeah,” she said as she rubbed her hand on her chin

“I mean, I really don’t uardrail and stared out into the sea

Just as I thought that she would watch the battle a bit o? I wanna end this quickly so I can shower…” She acted detached to the whole situation, but looked restless fidgeting with her hair It seeer to join the battle She was on track for a promotion too, so I’ us

“Sure,” I said, nodding “Good luck”

In response, Asuha silently pumped up her fist at me “Take care of the rest,” she said quickly and prepared to head out

But Renge soon called out to her, bewildered “Umm… Uh… What should we…” her voice trailed off

Asagao sternly interjected, “You… Natsuht?” Asuha frowned

“Ah… It’s alright, isn’t it?” assured Renge “We are pretty far from the battlefield”

“Yeah,” I said as I agreed “Plus, I’m here too”

Asuha sighed upon hearing us both “Huh? That’s hilarious,” she laughed “You? I’m still orried”

“It’s not hilarious, not at all,” I said, picking up the nearby sniper rifle that I snatched fro it to her “For real though, don’t worry about it”

“Kasue, fascinated “With you having that, I’m relieved!”

“…Relieved?” anxiously asked Asagao She looked at me Well, it’s no surprise that she would think this way It’s impossible to expect people to trust the military capabilities of those transferred out of the military branch, after all

“It’ll be okay! I trust Kasuao a thu too powerful, at least!”

“Don’t put too hed

“…Well, if Renge says so, then okay,” said Asagao, but she still looked uncertain In any case, it’s unlikely that the <unknoould attack here anyway, so she was just having some needless anxiety

Asuha observed halfheartedly She then walked up to Asagao and started poking her back Asagao turned around only to be waved closer by her

“Hold on, hold on”

“Uhh… Hold on, hold on…”

“Like I said, what is it…”

Asagao moved closer to Asuha But then, Asuha ran up behind me and leaned in to whisper in irls to hear

“You don’t have to push yourself so hard…” she whispered Her voice still sounded cold, and her words were bluntly delivered

But I could see the worry in her eyes… “You know that’s not happening,” I said as I smiled at her Sometimes, people who trust in their abilities too much are the ones who suffered the h, since I knew myself well I didn’t even trust myself, let alone my abilities After all, I was the one fired froy like my sister

“Besides, have I ever pushed myself too hard?” I added

“No, I guess not, huh”

“You agreed too quickly, too quickly… Shouldn’t you say, ‘That’s not true!’ or so like that?”