Vol 2 Chapter 2.5 (1/2)

Peac.o.c.ks wear fanciful plumage to get noticed by peahen as mates. Peahen evolved for survival, having no unnecessary extravagance to instead blend better with the environment.This seemed to describe the history of the Asa race.

“That’s why a Harakal is a very dangerous being. I know you’re very powerful yourself, Lezirth, but please don’t challenge a Harakal on your own, okay?” Sergeant Aroha warned, breaking into various lockers around the locker room. She was looking for a PDA, but there were none around.

When we were caught by the Asa, our PDAs were taken from us and we had no way to contact Admiral Luise. We were scavenging around this locker room in desperation.

“Do you know about the Asa well, Sergeant?” I asked while inspecting the lockers myself.

“Considering I grew up as an Asa around other Asa, sure. Anyway, are we gonna be fine with... that?” She jutted her chin towards Kiske. He was cowering in the corner of the room, shaking in his handcuffs.

To think I just found a scared, shaking boy cute... I thought I should poke my eyes out. ...But none of this is my own doing! Everything is because of his existence!

“Then why would the Asa consider humans as potential mates, too?”

The fact that different aliens could mate and form an offspring was insanely unlikely in the first place. How did a race with a culture like that ever consider mating with males from entirely different species?

“The upper-cla.s.s Asa tend to want stronger genes inheriting the family. Of course, the measure of strength here is extremely ancient: you need to accomplish great things. And human men are likelier to fit that need than Asa males.”

“Accomplishments...”

“Before the war, accomplishments would have had to do with trivial things like hunts, but these became war achievements after the war with the Federation began. The Asa males who hurried to join the war and prove themselves were quickly killed off. That’s when the women began looking towards humans, too, as the history of the Asa goes. Why? Are you interested, Lezirth? The life of being a stud horse destined to make babies for the rest of your life?”

...I’ll get punched again if I said that doesn’t sound too bad, right?

Sergeant Aroha looked grave as she talked about the Asa. She wasn’t in the mood for joking around.

“Why do you look so angry about this? Ah, I mean, I already knew that you wouldn’t like seeing other Asa again, but...”

“I’m not angry, but... no, it’s nothing.” Sergeant Aroha glared at Kiske and sighed.

After looking through the last locker, I produced nothing but a few bottles of ionized sports drinks. I opened up the drink, at least, since I was quite thirsty.

Then Sergeant Aroha resumed. “...I’d been lying to you.”

“Hmm?”

“In truth, my dad never loved my mother all that much, but... an Asa man.”

“----Pwargh!” My mouth shot out the drink in surprise. I coughed.

Sergeant Aroha had a bittersweet smile. “The Asa don’t believe in romance between men and women. They only consider the genes involved, and form offsprings. The Onbira need an achievement in order to prove that they are worthy. Those that manage will be chosen by the Asa females, and... they can sell their bodies to many different females.”

“...”

“How could there be any love in a culture like that? Although I was born between my mother and dad, I lived most of my life as an Asa being taught by the Black Sisters, and my dad occasionally came to see me. Him and his real partner in life, that is.”

“A-Aroha...”

“All I wanted was love and attention from my mother and dad. But being chosen by the Black Sisters as an Umea was apparently something amazing-- my mother was very happy to hand me over to them. My dad at least visited me from time to time, but you have to understand, Lezirth, I was just a kid at the time. For a kid that I was, the man that brought me to life, the single family member who bothered to show me family love, he was too important to me. I wanted all of his attention and love! But...”

She was calling her father “dad” but her mother remained as “mother.” Was I right to pity her for her past? Would it have been an insult to her? I didn’t know, but it was hard to not pity her.

“And in the end, instead of living his life as a father, he...” She shook her head violently. “...And that’s why I’m not fond of seeing another Onbira. Sorry, Lezirth, for my tantrum.”

I gently put my hand on her shoulder. Then Sergeant Aroha suddenly hugged me.

“Sergeant?”

“Sorry... can I hug you for a bit?”

“But you already did!”

“....Heh.”

Her body was quite curvy and I had no idea where my arms were supposed to move next. If I moved them around her waist, the... pressure would have been too great on me. I ended up awkwardly putting my arms around her shoulders.

I still had her past as a little kid in my mind. She would have wanted to flaunt her beauty and charm around that time, but she never could, and maybe she was looking for attention now. ...But I felt it was rude to try and a.n.a.lyze her past like an armchair psychiatrist, so I stopped the train of thought.

“...Thanks for coming to save me. I didn’t want to return to my life as an Asa.” Her body shook. She may have acted tough in front of the camera before, but she was surely scared after all. She had more reasons to be scared than anyone else I knew, considering her past.

“No need to thank me. You’re my Sergeant and my precious squadmate, so I couldn’t let you get taken over by the Alliance.”

“Tch! I’m just a squadmate?” Sergeant Aroha grumbled.

It then came to my attention that Kiske was still in the corner, throwing dirty looks at us from time to time. ...I had forgotten about him entirely.

“...Chosen by the Black Sisters? When even the Harakals are rarely chosen?”

Sergeant Aroha moved away from me after Kiske made his presence known by muttering to himself. “A-alrighty, shall we move out?”

“...Excuse me, I am quite thirsty.” said Kiske out of the blue.

I was about to hand my bottle of drink to Kiske. Sergeant Aroha interrupted me with a shocked look. “Wait, Lezirth? Isn’t that bottle what you’ve been drinking from, so far?”

“Hmm? So what?”

“Isn’t that an indirect kiss?”

“I don’t believe in indirect kisses because I’m a realist, and-- no, wait! But he’s a guy!”

“Didn’t you hear me before, Lezirth? I said the Asa don’t believe in romance between men and women, but between just men...!”

“.............”

Wait, seriously?! I looked at Kiske to confirm. He blushed and shook his head. “I am dedicated to Lady Riznah, and I definitely do not have such... I-I’m really thirsty. I don’t believe that you will ever take my handcuffs off, and so I asked despite my shame.”

“And so he says.”

I looked at back Sergeant Aroha, but she had snuck behind me, trying to loosen my belt.

“Whoah! Wh-what are you doing?!”

“Here, Lezirth, try showing off your abs! Let’s see if his body will be honest!”

“Wh-what’s wrong with you! Sergeant, I wouldn’t...”

“Eheheheh, you don’t have to be embarra.s.sed! It’s nothing new over yesterday night.”

Yesterday night? The time when I blanked out for a while after drinking too much? What happened in that time period?!

Dodging away from Sergeant Aroha’s s.e.xual hara.s.sment, I brought the bottle to Kiske. He closed his eyes and opened his mouth wide. His small red tongue revealed itself from between his bright pink lips.

Whoa...

I placed the end of the bottle against his lips and tipped the bottle up, sending the green liquid down his throat. His marble-pale face lit up in red as he drank-- probably embarra.s.sed from being made to drink like this as a prisoner, right? If so, why was I also feeling a little embarra.s.sed too?

I pulled back the bottle so he could have a little time to breathe. A stream of the liquid fell from the top of the bottle and down my hand. Kiske stared at the dripping stream with an empty expression, and soon extended his tongue to lick the liquid off.

“Hrk!”

I pulled back my hand in surprise. I thought my heart would stop at the feel from the tip of his tongue. Kiske jolted back, too, realizing what he had done without thinking.

“Ah, um.... Th-the drink was really delicious, and...”

“I-is that so? Th-that’s right!”

The Asa had the technology and culture equivalent to those during the fifteenth century on Earth, so it must have been his first time having such a refined, flavoured drink. Yeah, that must have been it!

“Having fun over there?”

Sergeant Aroha approached and hugged me from behind. Her voluminous upper body pressed against my back. I felt a shock course across my spine-- what was she thinking?!

“This is mine! Don’t even think about it! Grrrr!”

...I belong to the Sergeant?! Wait, that sounds like it could be understood in very wrong ways!

Before I could respond, Kiske gave a snooty look before turning his head away with a ‘hmph’. “My heart belongs only to Princess Riznah! And, also, I am a manly personal guard! I am only doing this to quench my thirst so that I may resist you both in the future!”

...What part about him was manly?

In any case, it seemed like we weren’t going to be finding a PDA for us anytime soon. It was a smarter idea to get away from the area as much as possible. We exited the locker room and entered the hallway that connected the seating area and the exits.

“There they are!”

[Over there!]

A soldier and a Tri-Walker simultaneously shouted as they noticed our entry into the halls. But Sergeant Aroha’s Colion rifle was faster than their reaction. She shot the soldier and the Tri-Walker one after another, and jumped over the glowing, charred remains of the Tri-Walker. Kiske screamed in horror. I followed after Sergeant Aroha, pulling Kiske with me.

“Tch.”

Sergeant Aroha had been busy honing her skills. She was rampaging through her path to the exit, shooting down everything in her way.

But then,

--Swooooooooooooo-!

A loud, booming noise echoed throughout the stadium. The building vibrated along with the noise, shaking the dust out of the ceiling.

From the various monitors around the hallways, we could see the inner area of the stadium. Many scared people were huddled around the area, while Saika watched over them. Saika dismantled its plate-skirts and threw the parts into the air. The plates spun up and made a spherical formation around the edges of the stadium, creating a forcefield that surrounded the civilians. It looked like the field was encapsulating the stadium in a dome.

“What is that?!”

“I think they’re about to teleport. Maybe they’re using that field to protect the civilians against the Hypers.p.a.ce during the warp, with the Black Magic of the ancient Asa.”

“What’s the Black Magic?”

“You know how the Elcro pray to Artus the White and borrow the White Magic?”

“Yes.”

“In contrast, the Asa use the powers of some unknown number of beings within the Hypers.p.a.ce.”

“...”

Using the beings of the Hypers.p.a.ce? I never knew that was even possible. I shrugged.

When it came to developing a technology relating to the Hypers.p.a.ce, the biggest concern was always the corruption of the Hypers.p.a.ce. The Hypers.p.a.ce was home to beings of greater dimensions that were utterly incomprehensible by humanity; greater dimensions, not as in the metaphorical sense that they have superior cultures and technology, but that they literally inhabit a world of different dimensions. And they were all extremely dangerous.

For example, imagine if we were in the 2D world, on a paper. If a being in the 3D world picked up a pencil and drew a point on the page, we could only imagine that the point had appeared from nowhere, and without an explanation. As such, making contact with otherworldly beings, those without explanations, was extremely dangerous for us. But the Asa had a way to make use of them.

“So, they use the magic to transport people, and block the corruption from the Hypers.p.a.ce with that s.h.i.+eld? The Asa have some amazing powers.”

“Of course, it’s expected of the Harakals to use such a powerful magic.”

“The caste matters?”

“The powers of the Asa depend on the bloodlines, so yes. Also, only the females are known to make use of the Black Magic, and none of the males.”

Aroha’s statement reminded me and drew my attention back to Kiske. If that was the case, then it seemed natural that the Asa culture ended up being a very matriarchal society. The males of the Asa had no strength, no magic, and the only positive seemed to be that they looked nice. But that’s a really nice positive, of course!

I sighed and let go of Kiske.

“Lezirth?”

“Sergeant Aroha, take him and run away.” I turned around. The Alliance was about to kidnap a city of people. Not only was it a war crime to kidnap civilians, the Alliance was dominated by groups whose cultures were still back in fifteenth-century Europe.

“No way! You’re thinking of going back in there to fight? The enemy has a Kis.h.i.+n! And she’s a seasoned Alter-Armour pilot who’s capable of moving a Kis.h.i.+n remotely! She’s nothing like Diablo back from the Azoran system! And not even you could easily handle a Harakal’s Black Magic!”

Despite Sergeant Aroha’s insistence, I shook my head. “I can’t let them kidnap civilians, you know?”

“Then take a hostage with you!” Sergeant Aroha pushed Kiske back to me.

I shook my head once more. A hostage wasn’t going to help my situation. Even if he was the Princess’s favourite, the situation did not allow being dragged down by a hostage and restricting my own movement. Also, even if the Princess and the Asa were fond of the hostage, what about the rebels?

And then, an even louder noise permeated the stadium.

Fireworks.

The stadium vibrated to a different tune-- loud music. Fireworks exploded to the skies like a fountain, and the bottom of the stadium opened up.

The stadium was multi-purpose, able to accommodate different sports such as baseball and soccer, but also musical concerts, by reforming the floor of the stadium. The floor was being controlled by someone.

Sergeant Aroha and I were taken off guard by the sight of the moving stadium floors. When the floor began rearranging, Kis.h.i.+n Saika too stopped moving, its attention taken by the center of the stadium.

At the center was a girl, with hazel-blonde, short hair.

“L-Luise?!” I exclaimed. What in the world?!

Admiral Luise had made a personal appearance in the stadium, within the center of all attention from our enemy. She was wearing a long, one-piece dress, a hat with a wavy brim on her head. She pressed down on her hat with one hand, and waved at the camera with the other.

[What’s an idol singer doing here?]

[What’s going on now?]

We could clearly hear some of the confused exclamations from the civilians through the broadcast. Amongst the panicked people clearing away from the moving floors, Admiral Luise stood alone, winking at the camera. Rabbitte the Rabbit, sitting on her shoulders, also winked with by forming the expression with its LED-lit eyes.

...Was she actually going to perform in the middle of a battle?! Before that, wasn’t she super shy?!

And the song...

The song was called “Supernova,” a popular new song a hundred and twenty years ago, though an ancient song at this point.

By the time my head began clicking together again, the instrumental intro had already gone by. The part with the lyrics was coming up.

Admiral Luise extended her arms high up towards the sky and began singing with more emotion than any professional singer I’d seen.

When I was left alone amidst the dark,

You lit my path like a newborn nova,

And eyes like fire brought light to my world.

Your bright, burning spirit and mind

I fell in love with your lasting fire,

Unquenched desires, unending dreams,

Lone supernova, s.h.i.+ning alone.

...3...2...1...0!

Save me from this dark, I beg you,

I asked the supernova, s.h.i.+ning in the sky,

Brighter than a comet of wishes and hope.

But you s.h.i.+ne alone, burning in silence,

Dreams of a girl, clouded in darkness.

Blinded by selfishness, frozen with pain,

I couldn’t see the dark around you.

Fighting the dark with burning light,

The girl fell in love with the lasting fire.

s.h.i.+ning alone, lone supernova,

I want to s.h.i.+ne, but as two

Even if the desire burns my body.

...3...2...1...0!

I’ll save you from the dark, and soon,

Though a lone stranger I might be,

I was saved, by your light,

Light that called me by your fire,

Dreams of a girl, like a supernova.

“Holy c.r.a.p.” Sergeant Aroha, with her jaw agape, blankly stared at the monitor.

The girl that stood on the stage to dance and sing, Luise Maynard, had a powerful and amazing voice. She might as well have been a professional singer. But why? Why sing in the first place?

“Three, two, one, zero!”

With the countdown that took the song to the back to the refrain, Admiral Luise brought her hands to her lips and kissed towards the audience(?). At the same time...

--Pwoos.h.!.+

A strange thing suddenly happened.

All the Alter-Armours that watched on simultaneously ejected their pilots into the air.

An Alter-Armour c.o.c.kpit was a middleware between a human being and the mind of the Alter-Armour, a living being itself. So, as a part not native to the Alter-Armour’s body, it was possible to eject the c.o.c.kpit in disregard of the will of the armours.

Kis.h.i.+n Saika also ejected its c.o.c.kpit into the distance. It flew up into the sky, smas.h.i.+ng into the barrier field and gaining even greater force away from the stadium, disappearing into the distance.

As the Alter-Armour c.o.c.kpits flew out everywhere and embedded themselves into various areas in the stadium, the Alliance army was at a complete disarray. The panicked Alliance soldiers and rebels pulled out their guns to retaliate, but their guns had also been disabled and became paperweights.

Admiral Luise was exacting a revenge for me, back when I had also been forcibly ejected out of my Alter-Armour’s c.o.c.kpit. And what a stylish way to get revenge!

“Fufufu! Now this is how you do it!”

She was a little too sure of her own skills. She was so occupied in the compet.i.tion with that Eiredith girl that she was losing her usual self. The shy girl had disappeared off somewhere, and the personality of a scary, provocative lady took place in her body instead, throwing a charming smile at the camera.

It was beautiful. And I was also happy. The girl who had been constantly swamped in the computer-filled bas.e.m.e.nt of the Federation operations room still had a feisty spirit left in her, and I found myself grinning at the television screen.

...Wait, wasn’t I forgetting something? Oh, no, Saika doesn’t need its pilot to move!

I looked at Aroha. She seemed to be thinking what I had in mind.

“Let’s go!”

We bolted towards the stadium.

The stadium had really been transformed into a heated concert. The beam projector now displayed a 3D broadcast, now showing an angry blonde girl shaking her fist towards the viewer.

[Gaaaaaaaaaaah! I’m going to kill you! Like, seriously kill you!] The chief of the Alliance, Eiredith, was screaming in rage.

Admiral Luise was smiling, looking around the stadium that was under her control with panicked soldiers running about. A bike appeared and raced towards her-- it was Ensign Meihowa, now wearing a biker getup with a black leather suit and sungla.s.ses, however she found the time to change into that.

-Screeeeeee!

With the sound of tires screeching against the stage floors, the bike turned to the side and slowed. When did she learn how to drive like that?! She spun the bike around, pivoting by the front wheel as she performed a spinning burnout with the rear wheel while slowing to a halt in front of Admiral Luise.

The soldiers that attempted to crawl up the stadium backed away, intimidated by Ensign Meihowa’s entrance. She was holding a presumably functioning Colion rifle, after all, and the Tri-Walkers from outside the stadium had joined in while blaring Federation ident.i.ties. Even Kis.h.i.+n Saika had lost its pilot, so it seemed like a complete disaster for the Alliance who had no quick technicians to recover from the situation.

But Saika did not need its pilot within to be controlled!

“Luise!” I called her, running down the hallway.

I slammed into the stadium door, almost breaking it open. But a huge wave of civilians was on the other side, who then attempted to barge through the now-open door. d.a.m.n! I should have known that the civilians were hanging by the exits of the stadium.

“Agh!”

“Aroha! Hold onto my hand!” I grabbed Sergeant Aroha by her arms and lifted her up. Kiske got pulled up along with her. With Sergeant Aroha in my hands and Kiske around my arms, I ran up against the wall to get past the crowd safely.

“Hey! Why am I held by your hands while your friend’s around your arms?!”

Sergeant Aroha was never jealous of the other girls, but Kiske seemed to be special... but that was probably my narcissism talking.

I kicked against the end of the wall, hopping over the last crowd, and landed on the stadium’s front seats.

--Fwoooooos.h.!.+

A stream of fireworks exploded behind me.

I dropped Kiske and Aroha down and looked towards the stadium. Ensign Meihowa and Admiral Luise were still standing on the stage floor, and all Alter-Armours were frozen still with their pilots gone.

But Kis.h.i.+n Saika began moving.

The Tri-Walkers simultaneously opened fire. A hailstorm of plasma rounds rained upon the armour. Of course no amount of anti-infantry weaponry could even leave a scratch on a Kis.h.i.+n-- they instead fired upon the pilot outside, Princess Riznah.

“Agh!”

She controlled Saika to have it kneel down, covering her with its arms. Yet, some Tri-Walkers were equipped with smart bombs instead of plasma rounds. The bombs curved around, exploding on top of Saika’s arms.

“Kyaah!” Princess Riznah screamed, a lot more feminine than the other Asa.

Kiske was shocked. “What are you doing to the Harakal?! Cease fire! Please, stop this at once!” He bolted forward, handcuffs still on his arms. He couldn’t get very far, tripping on the stadium bench.

I followed after him, jumping from one bench to another, and landing on the stage floor. “Meihowa!”