Volume 7, 36: Hope for the Next Generation

Volume 7, Chapter 36: Hope for the Next Generation

I once had a certain thought

I am now not so sure

And if I think on it further…

The light and noise of the battle in the city reached the white building that acted as 3rd-Gear’s base.

The concept space had been formed at around 9:00 PM. Kurashiki was a tourist city, but the lights of its train station, roads, and amusement park had gone out. The stores were closed and the homes were quietly illuminated.

The lights of the homes and the streetlights revealed the roads and empty lots with pale darkness.

Currently, a lot of fire, light, and sound were appearing in that paleness.

Next to the large hangar door, the fighting in the city was visible from the southeast.

Three people were watching it where they stood before the elevator to the side of the lit hangar.

One was Gyes in her red suit and she spoke to the man before her.

“Hajji, keep it quick. The time to settle this has come.”

She looked at Hajji in his white summer coat and then turned to the right. A girl with a sword at her waist stood next to him. She had sharp facial features and had her long black hair tied back.

“Her name is Mikoku. Do you like her? She’s one of my precious children. What do you think? Hm?”

“Did you come all this way just to introduce her?”

Despite the question, the girl named Mikoku did not look at Gyes. She instead looked at the small red pendant in her hand. Gyes recognized it as the cloisonné the area was known for.

Hajji gave a bitter smile when he noticed.

“You shouldn’t take out souvenirs like that, Mikoku. I’m sure Shino will like it. Am I wrong? Hm?”

“You have time to check on your decorations before our battle? How carefree.”

Gyes mentally constructed a method of driving Hajji away.

The battle in the city was enough of an issue, but something else required her attention too.

…Lord Apollo and Lady Miyako are gone.

Before the battle, she had investigated the automatons’ base abilities and acquired abilities and divided them between a firing team and a hand-to-hand combat team accordingly. Afterwards, she had planned to wake Apollo and Miyako and urge them to either surrender or flee.

Ultimately, she had been unable to think up a good method of saving Apollo.

The best option she could come up with was to have them surrender and have Typhon’s cockpit removed. That would at least prevent Typhon’s body from struggling.

With that, she had planned to leave the final decision to Apollo.

She had gone to wake them on the upper floors and make that suggestion, but Miyako’s room had been empty. She had only noticed the elevator was lowered after searching the living floors in their entirety. They had apparently just missed each other while she was climbing the internal stairs from the hangar.

In that case, they would have been in the hangar, but once she quickly called the elevator up and rode it down, she had found these two people in front.

“At any rate, you need to leave. I cannot let you see what is inside here.”

“Really? Are you sure, Gyes? Don’t you think it’s about time to send Typhon out? Hm? Based on the sounds, I think your sixth god of war was just destroyed. Am I wrong? Hm?”

He was right.

The god of war piloted by the descendant of Hiba was destroying Moira 2nd’s gods of war.

Their opponent’s machine was based on the wreckage of a normal god of war retrieved sixty years before. Their machines should have been more powerful due to the improvements they had since made, but…

“Most likely, the enemy’s craft is more balanced. And its pilot is better. He uses the feedback missing from remote control to take actions only he can.” She nodded. “Moira 2nd is putting up a good fight. She is not even a combat automaton, but she is piloting multiple craft at once while opposing the god of war that fought 3rd-Gear in the past.”

“I see. So that’s a clear weakness in remote control, is it? Yeah, we’ll have to remember that.”

“Why would you need to remember it?”

“It’s simple. It’s so very simple, Gyes. As promised, we will be taking Typhon’s wreckage if UCAT takes the Concept Core. Once we do that, we’ll probably rig it for remote control.”

Gyes’s eyebrows shot up a bit as she thought about what Hajji had just said.

“You have determined that we will lose?”

“We are here because there is a possibility you will, Gyes. We want to make sure this opportunity doesn’t escape us. Do you understand what an opportunity is, Gyes?”

Gyes sighed as he spread his arms and indicated the city with his chin.

He then shrugged.

“Now, let’s get to the real issue. What if I asked you to let Apollo escape?”

“What? Lord Apollo does not need-…”

“You’ve sent out all your forces, but Typhon remains here. Also, Cottus pulled UCAT’s flight-capable fighter to the north. There’s still the threat of a sniper, but the sky is at least clear. You can easily have him escape now, can’t you? Hm?”

Gyes said nothing.

“We want to do whatever we can for 3rd-Gear. I’m being honest. This is a good deal for both of us. After all, if we save 3rd-Gear’s king, you automatons will be thankful. Right? That’s right, isn’t it?”

“Enough nonsensical delusions. We are a Gear that dislikes running. Back during the war, we always chose to invade.” She chose her words carefully. “Besides, most any god of war can fly. Is there anything you could do to help?”

“Yes. We could take the villain’s role.”

When Gyes frowned, Hajji hid his mouth yet his smile was visible in his eyes.

“There is a woman of 2nd-Gear descent in this building, isn’t there? We will take her to buy you the time you need. We will tell UCAT to give us some time if they care about her life.”

It took several seconds for Hajji to finish speaking.

The entire time, he watched her with his smile hidden behind his hand and she made up her mind while looking at that smile.

“This goes beyond being incompatible.” She sharply narrowed her eyes. “UCAT is better than you.”

“Now that’s a terrible insult.”

“It would be the greatest of insults for us to continue this relationship with you any longer. You claim to want Typhon, but it would be impossible to take it away with you while UCAT is here.”

“If we could take it away regardless, would you give it to us right now? Hm?”

Hajji narrowed his eyes too, but it was not Gyes who answered him.

“You sound pretty hostile to me,” said a male voice behind Hajji.

It was Aigaion. He leaped over the underbrush to leave the forest down below. He landed about three meters behind Hajji and the girl named Mikoku. The two of them would need to turn around and take a step to reach him, but Aigaion could use gravity techniques.

“I will shut down your life functions.”

The scenery grew distorted above his raised right hand. He had created an ultra-heavy bullet from an isolated mass of gravity.

If fired and released, it would badly dent even an opponent with god of war class defenses. With a human target, it would constrict their entire body inwards along with the surrounding scenery, so they would die instantly.

With his right hand raised, he faced his targets before turning to Gyes and speaking via their shared memory.

…You haven’t lost sight of what you must do, have you?

His gaze turned to the city.

…If we take any more of their help, we will be betraying Lady Miyako.

“Hajji was it?” asked Aigaion. “I have a question. Is UCAT your enemy?”

“Hm, how should I put it? To be blunt, UCAT is our only enemy.”

“I see,” said Aigaion.

…They are an enemy of Lady Miyako’s Gear.

And…

…That means they are our enemy.

Gyes carved his words into her memory and finally nodded.

“I will leave it to you. Aigaion, I will be leaving.”

With that, she turned her back.

She had something to do: find Apollo and Miyako.

She faced the light of the hangar and ran inside.

As she cut through the wind, she heard Hajji’s voice behind her.

“It’s too bad, Gyes. It really is. Now I can’t tell you our true intentions. But I am hoping for your victory. I really am. And I am also hoping to take Typhon.”

She heard a sudden noise behind her.

It sounded like a large amount of dirt bursting upwards.

It was the sound of Aigaion releasing the gravity bullet.

It was also the sound of the enemy being crushed along with the surrounding landscape.

The attack was impossible to avoid.

Without turning around, Gyes ran into the hangar.

In the darkness, a large hole had appeared near the base of the white building.

Aigaion’s mass of gravity had created it.

He stood still in the night air while a compressed clump of dirt and grass crumbled within a five meter half circle in the ground.

The hole also contained something other than the terrain: human limbs.

Torn clothing and a broken sword could be glimpsed among the dirt and their owner’s body lay broken below the scattered clothing.

However…

“Only one.”

Aigaion turned to the right and saw a man standing at the white building’s wall on the other side of the hole.

It was Hajji. His limbs were spread out as if he had been plastered to the wall.

“That was quite a wonderful attack. I really would like to bring you to our side. How about it? Hm?”

“No, thank you.”

But Aigaion looked into the hole along with the pile of fallen dirt and the human body within.

“So she pushed her leader out of the way and died herself? Did you call her your precious child because she could ensure your own life, Hajji?”

“No, I call her that because she is an important part of correcting this mistaken world.”

“What?”

As he gave that question, Aigaion gathered gravity in his left hand. Hajji was approximately five meters away, so he was well within range and he did not have anyone to cover for him this time.

…I will not miss this time.

He determined Hajji’s words were meant to buy time until his death.

“In that case…”

He gathered strength in his left hand in order to destroy the balance of the gravity and fire it.

However, he suddenly noticed something odd.

Below his left arm, something was sticking out from his left side.

It was a thin and narrow panel that reflected the weak lighting.

It was a blade.

“…!”

He looked to his left. A girl had stabbed a broken sword into his side while using the blind spot created by his raised arm. She held the sword in both hands in the stance for a jab.

For an instant, he could not determine who this was. His mind tried to say it was Mikoku.

“There are two of her!?”

But that was not it. The human remains were gone from the hole that was to his left now that he had turned toward Hajji. He also noticed what Mikoku was wearing.

“I went all the way to Shinjuku to buy this, but you’ve turned it into an indecent short-sleeved, midriff-baring outfit.”

She twisted the blade she held bare-handed. That twisted and loosened his artificial muscles and allowed her to pull out the broken sword.

She made a second attack, but he took action this time.

He had shut off his sense of pain from the moment he prepared for battle and she likely knew that, so he released the limiters on his artificial muscles and raised his speed. This was enough speed to prevent her from reacting even if she had predicted it.

He moved.

“!”

He turned around at high speed.

He moved the gravity gathered in his left arm to the front of his left fist and threw a backhand strike toward Mikoku.

He looked at her.

From his perspective, her heart was located to the right slightly below the breasts that the remnants of her shirt just barely covered.

She raised her eyebrows at the speed of his fist and she tried to use both legs to leap backwards. She planned to escape no matter what while ignoring the hole behind her.

She was fast, but he caught her.

His fist would normally have felt flesh, but he had shut down even that sense of pain.

His backhand fist gouged into the center of her chest.

The gravity tore into her. The mass of gravity had already begun to break down, so he could not estimate how much damage it would do.

The area inside her chest that contained her heart was crushed.

“————!”

She bent forward. The flow of high blood pressure created in the instant her heart was crushed caused her entire body to violently shake and then her lower chest caved in.

“…”

She collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut, but Aigaion had already created a new mass of gravity in his right hand.

“Don’t run, Hajji. This one is for you.”

He raised his right hand and faced Hajji, but he then noticed Hajji had a hand over his mouth and a smile in his eyes.

Automaton minds could not feel premonitions, but they could make predictions.

He went over what Hajji had said in the conversation and the response patterns of normal humans from the data he had accumulated working at the greengrocer.

…This is not a normal reaction!

Then what about the situation was not normal?

The answer was to the left of his feet. No, it had already risen to his left thigh.

Mikoku was standing up.

“How is this possible!?”

She was human. Her reaction to having her heart crushed and everything else had been human. He could compare this to all the accumulated data from 3rd-Gear’s human experimentation. And yet Mikoku was standing up and her rising motion was gradually picking up speed.

“!”

He fired the mass of gravity in his right hand toward Mikoku even though he would be caught in the blast.

Mikoku stood up as she faced Aigaion.

He was nearly two heads taller than her and he was swinging his right hand toward her.

She realized it would hit and a hit would eat up more time.

…And that will put Hajji in danger.

She did not really know how skilled he was. Since he was the former commander of 9th-Gear’s military, he was likely powerful, but he had never taken part in training even once.

Even so, she trusted his strength.

…But…

She was his bodyguard.

…Even if he can win here with ease, I must protect him.

She raised her head. She could not gather much strength in her legs and her heart was still not back to normal. Blood was not being sent to her limbs properly and the strength she wanted came with an unwanted trembling.

She could not move properly.

…What do I do?

Aigaion’s right arm was already moving toward her left side.

She sensed she could not evade it, but she frowned and thought.

…This may be hopeless, but…

She continued her thought.

…I will gain the proper experience!

“————!”

As she took in a breath, she recalled Tatsumi’s training just before coming here. Tatsumi always turned aside Mikoku’s movements with the smallest movement possible and then threw her own attack.

How did she manage that? Mikoku could not move in the same way.

…But I must have my own way of moving.

She groaned and thought about her own body. First, her left hand was out of the question because she still could not gather strength in it, but her right hand was strong enough to somewhat grab something. Her left leg was of no use, but her right had some strength.

She decided to start with her right leg.

“—————”

She noticed Aigaion release the mass of gravity, but it was on top of his palm. The back of his hand was a safe zone.

For that reason, she did not use her right leg. She instead started on her unusable left leg.

She charged below his right arm and her left leg naturally collapsed underneath her.

However, that was fine. Her body swayed to the left as if falling and not even she could predict the movement.

…I can escape.

Her falling body slipped just beneath his right hand and she took her next step with the usable right leg.

She thrust her right heel forward and stepped a bit left of her center to stop her leftward fall. Once she stopped it, she sent her body forward to stand up.

…My right hand.

She reversed the blade in her hand and drove it toward Aigaion’s side along a parabolic trajectory.

She had gathered speed, but she had not intended to gather strength. Nevertheless, she heard a sound.

It was the sound of something flexible being sliced through.

She saw Aigaion’s right hand fly through the air.

The mass of gravity exploded in midair.

The air moved and wind washed over her.

She found it ticklish how the bottom of her torn clothing whipped in the wind.

She staggered forward and ran clockwise to Aigaion’s back. This prevented her from seeing his movements, but she had a way to know what they were.

The flow of air within the blowing wind told her.

His large body threw a backhand her way using his remaining left hand. She could feel that smaller wind blowing directly toward her.

As his arm arrived, she lowered down using her next step on her left leg.

After making sure his powerful arm passed by overhead, she stepped onto her right leg.

She practically stabbed her heel into the ground and used her right hand to throw the blade into the air.

She swung her working right elbow backwards and used the acceleration to rotate clockwise.

She used the momentum of the rotation to fully turn around and she saw Aigaion there.

They were now face to face. She was rotating and he was defenseless after his backhand had missed.

In between them, she saw the sword she had previously thrown.

While maintaining the momentum of her rotation, she grabbed the midair blade with her limply extended left hand.

Aigaion’s expression changed when he saw the blade tip.

He smiled.

“That move was a mistake!”

His words made her realize she was moving.

…Does this mean I’m as strong as Tatsumi and the others now?

She did not know, but she did know something.

“I will grow stronger.”

She swung the sword in her left hand without gathering any strength in it.

It flew toward his neck and a nice sound rang out.

The battle in front of Kurashiki Station was one-sided.

The bombardment from Moira 1st and the other maids prevented the enemy from approaching, but UCAT was not making any clear counterattack or retreat.

The maids’ bullets easily pierced through buildings. The impacts had caused a few buildings to collapse and UCAT’s movements were severely limited.

Despite seeing no clear counterattack, Moira 1st did not stop firing toward the road.

Her supply of plates was already running low, so she was primarily using the knives and forks she had brought along as well.

Moira 2nd had contacted them via their shared memory to say she had switched the functioning gods of war to a combat program and was on her way to join them.

Only two gods of war remained. The combat program had been created from the data taken in this battle and was made to fight short-term without making any mistakes. To prepare for Moira 2nd’s arrival, the maids were firing a few shots to the south of Kurashiki Station. They were firing blind toward the many enemies there, but it would at least slow their advance.

There was also something else Moira 1st needed to target.

A single person stood two hundred meters away in the center of the road running southwest.

The gray-haired old man in a lab coat could hardly be called a soldier.

“They referred to you as Ooshiro, didn’t they?”

The old man named Ooshiro stood boldly in the center of the road and held up a camera.

“Ha ha ha! You’re no match for me now that I’ve awoken to the wonders of video!”

She fired on him regardless.

However, he evaded it. He swiftly slid just his hips to the side to avoid the bullet with the smallest possible motion without changing the height of his center of gravity.

“That was a close one. I almost shook the camera.”

One of the maids turned toward her.

“Lady Moira 1st! There’s something weird about that old man!”

“I had come to the same conclusion, but we must not let that affect our decisions. It may look like that, but it is the director of UCAT. That must come with a certain level of strength.”

“Oh. That serious expression on the head maid is just plain wonderful!”

Moira 1st fired another shot with unparalleled accuracy, but Ooshiro once more twisted his body as little as possible to evade it.

…What a dreadful opponent.

She then heard an odd noise.

The sound of a dry branch breaking came from Ooshiro’s lower back.

“Ah.”

His small voice of realization brought everyone to a stop. A boy near Ooshiro looked up from among the UCAT soldiers taking cover. He held a giant white Cowling Sword in one hand and spoke in all seriousness.

“Make sure the next one hits.”

“Do you really have to give orders to the enemy, Izumo-kun!? And what with my back and all, could you maybe help me?”

“Don’t be stupid. If I save you, Chisato’ll get mad at me.”

“Y-you shouldn’t put the blame on Kazami-kun.”

“Why not?”

“Because I can’t oppose her.”

The two of them exchanged a look and laughed, but then Izumo nodded.

“How about you get hit and die? I’ll get you a nice tombstone that says ‘human trash’.”

Ooshiro laughed and turned toward Moira 1st.

“Hey, head maid! Do you mind targeting this young man first!? I can’t dodge or even move, so you might as well wait until later for me, right?”

She fell silent and the maids reorganized. They formed a row of 18 gravity acceleration lenses and she threw a plate inside. The lift gave it a tendency to hop, but this was at relatively close range.

“Using the shockwave, we can blow you both away at once!”

They prepared for the incoming attack.

Sayama and Shinjou ran around the city.

They were being pursued.

On the other side of the houses that they ran between and hid behind, their scattered comrades indicated their own locations and the locations of the enemies they could see using whistles. A short whistle gave their own location and a long one gave an enemy’s.

The streets of Kurashiki were complicated, but they knew their comrades’ locations, their enemies’ locations, and their own location.

“We can provide quick firing support. Shinjou-kun! Between the houses to the right!”

Shinjou nodded and fired Ex-St between the white-walled houses she heard a long whistle come from. The light was not at its maximum power, but the recoil was enough to knock her feet from the ground.

Sayama caught her back and ran without watching where the light went.

A long, high reverse whistle filled the air from the direction Shinjou had fired. That indicated an enemy had been defeated. They also heard some gunfire suddenly stop.

“Another one of ours was taken out. I think we are taking slightly more damage.”

However, there was something odd about these maids.

“According to the communications officer, whenever one of ours is defeated or surrenders, the maids help heal their injuries.”

“Why?” asked Shinjou as she looked up.

He nodded toward her as the ends of her eyebrows lowered.

“They are not combat models. Their decisions are based on the standards of a maid, so they must want to help once their job of killing is complete. They possess both the will to kill and to save. Quite a strange Gear, don’t you think? Also, none of our injured comrades have returned to the battle. That silence could be out of respect for the maids’ efforts.”

He thought for a moment.

“Or they might not want to ruin the pleasure of having been healed by a maid.”

“That one sounds more likely.”

Shinjou sighed and then frowned when she heard gunfire cut out about two buildings over.

“Sayama-kun, it sounds like someone else was defeated. Why are we taking more damage? I thought you said they aren’t combat models.”

That was a simple matter.

“It is an issue of movement speed, numbers, and weaponry. They were waiting for us and they scattered us once the battle began. Yes, they intentionally scattered us. Someone likely gave them that as a strategy.”

“But…why?”

“Most of us are carrying submachine guns. They can fire quickly and are powerful, but they can of course only attack in a straight line. What happens if an enemy charges in at extreme close range while moving left and right at high speed? Remember, UCAT’s submachine guns weigh about five kilos.”

Shinjou thought for a moment as she ran.

“It would be hard to swing your arm to keep up with them.”

“Rather than running, automatons move with small leaps and burst of acceleration from their gravitational control. While scattered, we cannot act as a group to suppress their speed and agility.”

He glanced toward his waist where he carried a ten centimeter charm that functioned as a handheld explosive.

“Doctor Chao handed these out to everyone, but they are useless when we cannot hit with them. Winning while fighting as an individual will not be easy.”

“Is there a way to overcome this?”

“Ending our fixation on firearms, working together with as many others as we can meet up with, and not letting the genre of maids lead us astray.”

“I’m not sure what you mean by that last one, but I can think of one more: a weapon that can fire over a wide area like my Ex-St.”

“The higher ups asked that we destroy as little of Kurashiki as possible even if it is a concept space. …Of course, the other side is destroying it too now that the battle has begun.” He took a breath. “I do wish we had a lot more weapons. That is my responsibility for accepting this battle on such short notice, but it is true we lack the weaponry needed to match them.”

Shinjou nodded as if hanging her head, but Sayama saw something falling from above.

“Shinjou-kun!”

He tackled her aside and brought Georgius to his back. He carried a knife there as standard equipment and the large combat knife had a 20 cm blade.

He raised the blackened blade overhead and stepped back.

A metallic noise rang from near his left hand and something was lightly deflected.

He saw someone land on the ground at a speed that ignored gravity.

The person lowered down toward the ground a little in front of him.

“Violet-kun.”

“Yes, sir. I was looking for you so that I could be your opponent.”

“Why is that? There are plenty of other enjoyable opponents for you.”

“Lady Moira 1st appointed me as the one to entertain the guest of honor.”

She said “yes, sir” once more and took a stance with gently spread legs as Sayama stepped back. She held a kitchen knife in her right hand and a pot lid in her left.

Noticing her lean forward in preparation to move, Sayama went on his guard.

He then heard Shinjou’s voice to the right. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her aiming Ex-St his way while sitting up after falling to her butt earlier.

“Sayama-kun! Get down!”

But Violet’s decisions and movements outdid Shinjou.

With a snap of the wrist, the automaton threw the pot lid toward Shinjou.

“!”

The pot lid was given speed and rotation with gravitational control and it crashed into Ex-St with a metallic noise before being intentionally sent into the asphalt. The force of the attack knocked Ex-St upwards from below.

Violet spoke quietly as she ran toward Sayama.

“I was always the one washing dishes and utensils, so this is my specialty.”

Shinjou frowned and cried out as she shot Ex-St, but she could not aim properly.

Nevertheless, she fired.

A clear sound filled the air and a white beam of light let out a roar as it raced across. The chopping beam of light flew in the arc of a punch from down low, so it circled over Violet and Sayama’s heads and struck the building behind them.

However, it did not cause an explosion. All it caused was destruction and the sound of shattering glass.

The building was a mid-sized electronics store with a parking lot in back.

The front entrance had been destroyed.

“…!”

Sayama leaped inside with a back step, but Violet accelerated and reached him in an instant. The eyes behind her glasses contained a smile as she prepared her kitchen knife at the waist.

“Welcome and please come in.”

Sayama gave an expressionless nod in response.

“I see. Thank you for your hard work. …But how about I give you your tip up front?”

He swung his right hand and threw the explosive charm that had been attached to his waist.

He placed the paper in the air between the two of them and spoke.

“Welcome.”

The charm exploded.

Gyes ran through the hangar.

Rather than use the stairs up to the hanger deck, she took a single leap up.

There, she saw Miyako sleeping on the hanger deck sofa.

“Typhon!”

The white god of war had begun to walk and it had a definite yellow light in its eyes.

She frantically grabbed the railing.

“Lord Apollo!” she shouted. “Where are you going!?”

And…

“Why are you abandoning Lady Miyako!?”

Typhon gave no answer. It instead walked right up to her.

“…”

It nodded once, turned its back, and continued walking. Amid the rumbling of its footsteps, she attempted to pursue it, but she stopped after taking the first step.

“———”

Miyako’s eyes opened a little and Gyes’s shoulders shook.

“Lady Miyako!”

“Oh, Gyes?”

She frowned, but her eyes regained their focus in an instant and she sat up.

“Where’s Apollo!?”

She looked straight toward the hangar entrance. Beyond it were the white back of the leaving god of war and its six wings.

Seeing that, she opened her mouth.

“——————”

She took a breath.

“Apollo!!”

She moved forward from the sofa. Her knees slipped from the edge and she nearly fell. Gyes supported her, but she was too frantic to notice.

“Wh-what the hell are you doing!?”

She wanted to move toward him and those white wings, so she struggled to break free of Gyes’s support as if swimming. Gyes realized that something had to have happened to her.

“Lady Miyako!”

When she shouted into her ear, Miyako finally turned toward her.

She was crying.

“…”

Gyes saw an expression she had never before seen on a human face. It was not especially lacking in strength, but it seemed to have crumbled and lost all focus. That expression was now looking directly at her.

“Why?” Miyako took in a breath. “Why did it turn out like this?”

Gyes tried to answer. She was almost embracing Miyako and she tried to use precise decisions to provide the words that would supply her with absolute relief.

However…

…I can’t think of anything.

She had not realized her accumulated data and decision-making ability were so undeveloped.

However, the answer arrived from elsewhere. It came from a small figure walking their way from the door to the internal corridor connecting the hanger deck to the living floors.

“I don’t know why it turned out like this, Miyako,” said Moira 3rd.

While still crying, Miyako took another breath and turned toward Moira 3rd.

“The truth is, Lord Apollo woke up before you. He called my middle sister and had her check.”

“Check what?”

“Whether a child was forming within you.”

Gyes saw Miyako’s expression change from tearful to surprised.

“A kid?”

The collapsed part of her expression regained a bit of strength. That strength came from doubt.

“It can’t be confirmed yet,” said Moira 3rd. “But my middle sister used some precise gravitational control to fix things in place, so it should be fine. Also, my middle sister had this.”

Moira 3rd held out what she had been hiding behind her back.

It was a flower pot.

“She said to give this to the child when it’s born. …Lord Apollo was delighted too. He said he wanted you to give it to the child.”

There was nothing in the flower pot. It had no seeds or even dirt.

“He said he wanted you to fill it with what can be seen in this world.”

Miyako closed her eyes.

A blast of wind could be heard outside as Typhon left.

“That bastard made the decision for me. …A husband and wife have equal rights these days, you idiot!”

Her voice trembled, but she still spoke with her eyebrows raised.

“And don’t think a wife isn’t going to want to see her husband’s decision through to the end!”